pictures of jewish home-life fifty years ago by hannah trager author of _stories of child-life in palestine_ _festival stories of child-life in palestine_ _pioneers in palestine_ with a prefatory letter by leo jung with four plates and a glossary new york bloch publishing co., inc. printed in great britain by the stanhope press, ltd. rochester to my beloved parents in reverence and gratitude for their beautiful and holy example foreword my dear mrs. trager, it gives me great pleasure to write a preface to your new book. i consider it a real privilege, since it represents the fulfilment of a hope expressed some five years ago. when you sent me the first article for "the sinaist" i told you that your pen would win the love and the esteem not only of the child, but essentially also of the adult readers. the simple joyousness of your style, the beauty and freshness of the atmosphere, which you very well succeed in bringing to the pages of your books, the strength of your faith, and the vividness of your description, the love of jew above the love of palestine, all these combine to render your volumes valuable additions to the small stock of good jewish literature in english. it is not only that you teach, while talking so pleasantly; that you instruct while you interest and amuse; that you have your own personality in the stories; that you convey the charm of eretz israel, and the beauty of holiday spirit; but because your stories help us to feel the depth of faith and the height of ideal as the self-evident, normal factors of jewish life. for the children of our age, both young and old, should know that that god-consciousness of the jew, that wondrous sense of eternity in his mission, is not a laboriously acquired conviction, not the result of some spasmodic effort of grasping the innermost meaning of our history, but the natural pervading spirit of jewish life, the air which the jew breathes, when he lives with torah as his guide and mitzvah as his ladder towards heaven. they who read your stories conceive a deep love of judaism, they find a desire growing in them to live the life which produces such happiness and goodness, they will want to study the law and lore, of which that life is an outward expression. i have given your tales to children in various countries and all of them were enchanted with them, regretting that "there were only two books by mrs. trager." i am glad indeed to find that another one is coming out. and it is in the interest of our youth that i hope you will give us every year some of these nourishing and very palatable fruits of your pen. you will thereby be doing an additional bit for our god and our people whom you are serving so loyally. you reinterpret to the jewish youth of to-day the treasures they are so carelessly abandoning, you will shed light and reawaken love and hope in the heart of many a jew, who seemed to feel that our glorious faith had no message for the child of to-day, unless it were shorn by our 'religious' barbers, robbed of its native beauty and reduced to some platform-commonplace. as a lamented london maggid told me, "there still live some real soldiers of god." such are those who use persuasion from the pulpit, such as shine through the example of their own humane jewishness and such as capture our hearts by artless beautiful tales of jewish life and lore. i wish you every success in the world, yours very sincerely, leo jung contents the arrival in jerusalem the welcome the celebration of purim the baking of matzos lag b'omer the sabbath in palestine the succah how charity is given father frost in jerusalem engagement and wedding ceremonies jubilee of zorach barnett glossary list of illustrations the father teaching the child the meaning of the tsitsith chadar (school) yenshva (talmudical school) the old lady the arrival in jerusalem on a friday afternoon everyone was very busy in benjamin's home washing and dressing to go to shule. the mother was getting the living-room clean and tidy for the sabbath. the offence the family lived in a few rooms off commercial road, in one of the many back streets. the underground kitchen had to be used as the dining-and sitting-room, for they had not been many years in england and it was a hard struggle for benjamin's parents to make ends meet and provide for a large family. the father and the elder boys were dressing as best they could in this room. just then the mother came in, very excited, and said to her husband: "what will you say to this? i gave benjamin his sabbath clothes and a clean tsitsith, and what do you think he did?" "what?" asked the father, and stopped brushing his clothes. "why, he took the tsitsith and threw it on the floor, and said he would never wear it again. i punished him, and told him to put it on again. so you had better go to him and give him what he deserves." "you are rather hasty, my dear wife," said the father; "for, before punishing him, you should have asked him why he did such a thing." "what!" exclaimed the mother, "do you think i have nothing else to do but to stand and argue with him just before sabbath, when i have so much work? you are far too easy-going, jacob--you should really be firmer with the children." "no, no!" said jacob, who was a kindly man and understood human nature better than his hasty, but well-meaning and loving, wife. the struggle and constant hard work in keeping the home of a large family was telling upon her, and any disobedience in the children irritated her very much. "we must not be hasty with the children," continued jacob, "especially now-a-days, for they live under different circumstances from those we knew when we were young. instead of hastily scolding and punishing them, let us rather quietly reason with them, when possible, and show them where they are wrong." "perhaps you may be right," said benjamin's mother; "so let us leave the matter till you return from shule and have had our sabbath meal--then you can quietly ask benjamin why he acted as he did." the boy benjamin an elder brother was sent to call benjamin to go to shule with his father and brothers. benjamin expected a scolding from his father similar to that which he had had from his mother, so he came into the room looking very sulky. as nothing was said to him on the subject when he came into the room, he took his prayer-book, and followed his father to shule. benjamin was like many other boys of , not very clever, but blessed with a good deal of common sense. his great ambition was to become a teacher, and so he worked steadily at his lessons. his reason for wishing to be a teacher was that he wanted to rule and to punish boys as his master did. whenever he had a caning from his headmaster he always consoled himself with the thought that _his_ turn would come some day--when he was a teacher--to do the same to other boys. when they returned from shule and nothing was said, even at the evening meal, about the way benjamin had annoyed his mother, he was rather surprised. his mother, during the time they were at shule, had made the living-room, which was really the kitchen, look so clean and bright with the five lighted candles placed on the snow-white table-cloth, and the old stove so well polished, that it almost looked as bright as a looking glass. what interested the young ones most was the saucepan which stood on one side of the stove waiting for its contents to be put on the table, and, oh, how they enjoyed the sweet savour which came from it! friday eve they all gathered round the table to welcome the princess sabbath. the father made kiddush, and the wine cup was handed round to all. then they washed their hands and said a prayer before sitting down to the evening meal, which passed off very pleasantly, and zmires (or songs or psalms of praise) were sung at intervals during the meal. when the meal was ended, and the grace said by the father, they all separated: one or two went out for a walk, while the other members of the family took a newspaper or a book and quietly read. when the table was cleared, the mother sat down to rest. grateful, indeed, was she for this sabbath rest after her week's hard work. she often said that, for such as herself, no blessing was as great as the command: "thou shalt not do any work on the sabbath." word of love when all were quietly settled down, benjamin's father took him between his knees, and said: "my son, i wish to ask you something, and i want you to answer my question frankly and truly. what made you throw the tsitsith down on the floor this afternoon and say to your mother that you would not wear it?" the boy benjamin dropped his head and was silent for a minute or two, for to hear his father speak in a kindly way made benjamin far more ashamed of himself and his deed than if his father had scolded him and given him a whipping--in fact, he felt so wretched that he longed to run out of the room and hide himself from everybody. his father's knowledge of human nature made him understand what was passing through benjamin's mind, and he said: "do not fear to tell me, my son, why you acted in such an unusual way, for there must be some reason for a jewish boy to act so." with his head still down, benjamin said: "when i go swimming in the baths, my school-fellows see my tsitsith when i undress, and they make fun of it and pull it about, and say all sorts of nasty things to me for wearing it, and it makes me feel i cannot stand it any longer. i will gladly put on my tsitsith at home in the morning when i say my prayers, but, father, do let me go to school without wearing it?" "i expected something like this," said his father, looking at his wife. "listen to me, my child--instead of being ashamed, you should feel it a privilege to wear tsitsith." "but i can't see why," said benjamin. "well," said his father, "i will tell you the idea of the tsitsith. when you say the shema twice a day, as every good jew is expected to do, you read in it that god commanded us, through moses, to wear a fringe on our garment--the tsitsith, a visible sign to remind us of his commandments, just in the same way as a table, spread ready for a meal, reminds us of our meals. our religion is not a thing to be kept only for the sabbath and the holy days, and left out of our minds on all other days. our religion must be a living influence, always with us, so the tsitsith is a very simple kind of symbol to be ever worn to remind a jew of his god, his duty to him and to his neighbour. it is not only we jews who have religious symbols; every other religion has them. now imagine if you were to go up to a christian boy and mock him and say nasty words to him for wearing a cross, or crucifix, he would turn round and fight you, and he would be right in doing so, for no one has a right to insult another for wearing or doing what he believes to be holy. instead of being ashamed when you were mocked and laughed at by christian boys for wearing your tsitsith, you should have asked them to hear you explain the reason for wearing it. i am sure they would not have laughed at you any more. they would respect you for trying to be true and to live up to your convictions. "we jews have, in the past, made a great mistake in not letting the outside world know more of the deeper spiritual meaning of each of our symbols. had we not done this, we should have been better understood by non-jews, and our children would not have suffered as you and many others also have done, through the ignorant mocking of your christian schoolmates. "i know that in palestine the jews, whether old or young, greatly love to wear their tsitsith, and take a pride in letting them be seen, so that the arabs and the turks look upon the tsitsith as a sacred garment." [illustration: the father teaching the child the meaning of the tsitsith (sacred garment)] uncle's letter "how do you know this, father?" said benjamin. by this time all in the room had dropped their papers and books, and were listening to their father. "well, this is how i know: nearly thirty years ago my uncle and his family went to live in jerusalem, and for many years one of my cousins used to write to me about once a month. his letters were most interesting. when his letters came i could almost imagine, when reading them, that i was living in bible times. "have you any of his letters still, father?" they all exclaimed. "yes," said the father, "i have many of them." "oh, do read some of them to us!" they pleaded. "all right, i will; and i will first try to find the one about the tsitsith." the father went up to his bedroom, and soon came down with a bundle of letters wrapped in a newspaper. he started looking through them while all the family stood around him, watching as eagerly as if he were searching for an heirloom. "i will choose a very short one," said the father, "for it is on the subject i have spoken to benjamin about; but if you like i will make it a rule every friday evening, after our sabbath meal, to read some of the letters to you." the holy city when all were quietly and comfortably seated, their father started reading: "my dear cousin,--after a great many adventures and suffering (which i will write to you about another time) we arrived safely in jerusalem. to me, it seemed rather dull after london, but both father and mother shed tears of joy when they at last arrived in the holy city. some people met us a little way out, for father had written telling them we were coming. we were almost royally received and heartily welcomed, for very few jews come here with their young families. "we must have looked a sight--you in london could not imagine anything like our cavalcade! first went father riding on a mule, with mother following on another mule. mother's saddle was made with pillows, for it is impossible for a woman to ride for sixteen or eighteen hours without a soft, comfortable seat. "you go up high hills, and then down again, imagining every time you go down that you will topple over and fall over the precipice and be killed. in fact, your heart is in your mouth every five minutes, so that by the time you arrive in jerusalem (which is surrounded by hills) you are almost too weak to rejoice at the beauty that greets your sight, for nowhere in the world can, i think, anything be seen more beautiful than a sunrise over the mountains around jerusalem. "oh, i forgot to tell you that we youngsters were put into baskets on a camel's back, and how we were shaken! i felt as if i were praying and shaking all the time, for it seemed as if we could never get to jerusalem alive in this way." the proud boys of jerusalem "at last we entered the holy city, and arrived at father's friend's house, where we were made very welcome and treated most kindly. i soon made friends with the boys, for, you know, i can speak yiddish quite well. "they are funny little chaps. they look like old men, with long kaftans (coats) and side ear-locks of hair, carrying their prayer book or bible to shule. the first thing i noticed was the tsitsith. they wear really long ones, with long fringes hanging down about a quarter of a yard or more. they wear them as we do a waistcoat, so that they can be seen by everyone, not as we wear them in england, tucked away out of sight. here young and old, even little boys who can only just walk and lisp their prayers, wear them, and, what is more, take a real pleasure in wearing them. i asked some of them why they wore them so openly, and they answered: 'because when we look at them we always remember that our chief duty in life is to try to obey god's commands, and if we had them tucked away out of sight we should forget to be obedient.' 'besides,' they said, 'we are commanded in the torah to do so openly.' then i told them if we wore them so openly in europe we should perhaps be laughed at by some people and made fun of. they said: 'why should doing so make us be laughed at by other nations? do we laugh at the symbols and charms that many of them wear? every nation,' they said, 'has its tokens and symbols, and we jews have ours, and we should rejoice in wearing ours when they are to help us to feel that god is near us when we think and act rightly.' all this made me think very seriously, and in a way i had never thought before. i began to realize that they were more in the right than we jews are in england. "so now i have decided to wear my tsitsith, too, on the outside, as the jerusalem boys do. the boys never play except on the quiet, just now and then, for their parents think that their only duty in life is to study and do as many mitzvoth as they can. really, the boys are as full of fun and pranks as we english boys, and they just love a bit of play and larking when they can get it. "i must now end this letter, but i have a lot more to tell you, and i will keep my promise and write you by degrees of all i see. meanwhile, i send you the greeting of zion and sabbath. rachael wanted to put a letter into my envelope to your sister, but she says she has not finished it yet, although she has already written ten pages. so i will wait no longer, in case i miss the post, as it goes only once a week from here, and sometimes only once a month." thus ended the first letter, and benjamin's brothers and sisters were so pleased with it that they were delighted that one of the bundle of letters should be read aloud after the sabbath meal on every friday evening. benjamin was quite happy now, for, although he had done a thing which was not right, now that he had repented good would come out of it, for there was a chance of their now having pleasanter and more instructive sabbath evenings than they had ever had before. besides, he now made up his mind always to wear his tsitsith. the welcome on the following friday, after the sabbath evening meal, the boys asked their father to read them another letter from his cousin in jerusalem. he was pleased at their eagerness, and, while upstairs getting the letter, some of the boys' friends came in and settled comfortably down, for all were eager to hear the letter read. mr jacob said: "this time i will read a letter from your cousin dora to my sister which will certainly interest you, my dear," turning to his daughter, "but at the same time, i think it will interest you all." "my dear milly,--isaac must have written to jacob all about our arrival, so i will begin by giving you some idea of our life here and my impressions. the people, who so kindly asked us to stay with them till father finds a dwelling, have a few rooms in a house, which has a marble paved courtyard. six other families also have two or three rooms each. all the work is done in the courtyard, even the cooking; for each family uses tiny stoves, made of mud, into which they put a little lighted charcoal and cook just outside or near their own doors; for there are no kitchens or fireplaces in any of the rooms, and thus we see what each family cooks. the sephardim (jews who have lived here for years) eat their meals in the courtyard. they lay a mat on the marble tiles, on which they place a small low table, and they sit on the mat and eat. two sephardim families have rooms in the house and they speak arabic and spanish, and their ways of living are more like those of the turks, just as the jews in england live more like the english. "everyone seems most interested in us. many people have come to visit us, to see the new arrivals! "the evening of the day on which we arrived was friday; there was a clear moonlight such as you would not often see in england, and it was very warm, too; so we and our visitors sat in the courtyard. all eagerly asked us many questions, till quite late; and thus the evening passed very quickly and pleasantly. "after prayers on sabbath some people sent a bottle of wine and a most delicious pudding, which is made nowhere but in jerusalem. it tastes like milk and honey, with other tasty things mixed up in it. others sent a lovely sponge cake, coated with different-coloured sugar-icing: many other good things were also given to us; and they lasted us for nearly a month. "later in the day the people who sent the eatables paid us visits, and ate some of the good things. it is rather a nice custom, i think, for new arrivals to have no bother to prepare food for their visitors, as it gives them time to enjoy their company. what a lot of talking there was! the men discussed several things with father, while the women wanted to know many things about england which mother could tell them. the boys and girls could not take their eyes off our clothes, so much did they admire them! it was quite amusing, the funny questions they asked us about them. they all promised to help us look for a dwelling; and they kept their promise. i can tell you it was a great help and comfort to us that they did, for i don't know what would have become of us out here, away from our old friends, where the ways of living are so different from what we have been used to. whether it will always be so or not, of course i can't say--time alone will show. "very soon afterwards they found us a vacant dwelling, which father was very thankful to get, and in my next letter i will tell you something of our life after we had moved in; but i must tell you more of what happened when we were staying with our kind host. the first afternoon, one of our visitors insisted on our i going to her home; so, when i and our youngsters arrived, we were taken to a room, and in it was a table covered with lovely apricots, and delicious-looking pastries and jams; also wine which only cost d. a bottle, so it is very nearly as cheap as buying water. when they handed us some of the good things we naturally took them and ate them. "suddenly i saw our host's children move away from us saying: 'she is a shiksa,' and 'he is a shakitz,' and they kept on whispering and pointing to us. i could not think what we had done to make them act in such a way, and so asked their mother. she answered: 'they are surprised to see you eating without making a brocha (a blessing), for our children unless they first make a brocha never taste anything.' "you know, dear milly, that, though we too were taught to do as they here, yet the hurry and scurry of going to school and the busy life in london have made us forget to practise these religious laws. we, however, felt very uncomfortable and ashamed of ourselves, and made up our minds to get into the habit of doing it--that is to remember to thank our creator for every blessing we receive, including food--so that it should become a matter-of-course. "now i must tell you about our water-supply, for the scarcity of water struck us, very much, coming from london; for here every drop is precious and is used for several things, as every drop has to be bought, and money amongst our jerusalem brethren is very scarce. in fact, it often costs more than the wine of the country. "a water-carrier brings us up every morning a skin bag of water (it is made of skins sewn together, with a small outlet at the top); for it we pay twopence, which is equal to more than a shilling in london. the water that he brings he pours into a large earthern jar, which keeps it cool, and to it is attached over the mouth of the jar a sieve which is made of thick unbleached calico: if this were not done, hundreds of little red worms would get into the jar, because the water in palestine is full of them. a law was made by the jews that to drink water that had not been passed through a sieve was a sin; and, as little children are taught not to commit any sin, they do not drink any water that has not been passed through a sieve; owing to this, many illnesses are prevented among the jews that are rampant among the arabs and others. "the jews are also very careful about their water for ordinary use, yet they really employ it more plentifully than we do in london when used in connection with laws of health as laid down in the shulchan aruch (a book of laws). for example, as soon as you step out of your bed, you pour water over your hands, wash your face, gargle your throat, and rub your teeth with a clean finger and rinse your mouth. no one would think of moving out of the room without doing this. i know among the very orthodox jews in london they do the same thing, but the average jew does not do it, and here it is done by everyone--even a baby is taught to do it the same way. "later in the day, or when the men go to synagogue, and we have finished with our household duties, we have the regular soap-and-water wash. then again, everytime we have a meal we have to wash our hands and repeat a blessing; and, as this is done at various other times in a large family, it takes a good deal of water, but as it is used for cleaning purposes we need not stint ourselves. this law is especially valuable here, for it is very hot, and, if we were not very clean and especially careful about cleansing our eyes and mouths and throat, we should run the risk of catching a great many diseases which are quite common in the holy land at present. "i remarked to some women that it surprised me how much water was used for personal washing considering how scarce it was, but they told me that they were as careful with every drop of water as they were with food; none was wasted. where the religious laws commanded the use of water for personal washing and cleansing they did not grudge it; for was not the body of man the temple where the holy spirit of god dwelt? god's spirit is in each one of us, and, therefore, we must do our best to keep our bodies clean for the presence of our heavenly king, just as carefully as we should keep a house or palace clean in which our earthly king dwelt--more carefully indeed. what would courtiers around an earthly king say if they saw us take our food in the presence of the king, and praise him, with dirty hands? "they save water in many ways that are rather amusing to a stranger until he gets to know the reason for it. for instance, they do not, at meals, use different plates on the sabbath, when they have a few courses: they eat the fish on one side of the plate, and then they wipe it and turn the plate over, and have soup and meat on the deeper side--thus saving the washing of many plates. "in my next letter i will write you all my tribulations and struggles in getting used to the new life when we moved into our own house. my great comfort is that we have got to know an american family, and they have been so kind to us and so cheery that it has made us feel a bit brighter, and mother says that in time we shall get used to our new life. but i doubt it after living in london." when mr jacob had finished reading the letter the young folks began talking, the older ones listening and giving a smile now and then. one said: "i should not like to be there." "neither should i," said another girl; "it must be awful after london." "the only thing that i like about the life," said the former, "is the hospitality and the friendliness that they show to one another, and the jolly good time they give to people who are utter strangers to them. we don't do that here--we seem cold and unfriendly." the celebration of purim as had now become a custom, the young friends of the jacobs had all collected on the next friday evening in the bright and warm kitchen-sitting room. after a short friendly chat with them mr jacobs said: "as purim will begin in two days, perhaps you would like to hear how our cousins saw it celebrated when they went to palestine, so i have chosen this letter to read to you this evening: "in jerusalem a week is none too long to prepare for purim. as you know, when we lived in london we always were strict about keeping our holy days; but while there i never realized the pleasure and excitement during purim that one sees in jerusalem. "old and young are equally full of fun and joy, and there is plenty of rushing about with sleeves tucked up. at other times the women here gossip a great deal, and the girls naturally copy their elders and gossip too; but, when preparing for purim, they are all too busy to talk or even to ask questions. the boys, too, up to the age of twelve, are allowed to help. some break up the big pieces of loaf-sugar, and beat up the eggs, and take the cakes, when ready, to the public ovens, for here there are no proper ovens as there are in london houses, so a public oven is built not far from the synagogue. it is very large, and each family sends its cakes in its own tins to be baked in it. generally about half a dozen tins are carried by each boy. nothing i have seen before can be compared with the many kinds of delicious cakes and stuffed monkeys that are seen here. my mouth waters even when i think of the delicious strudels filled with sesames and plenty of raisins and shiros! these things are very cheap here. "as there are not many boys free to help, you see quite young children, as well as young women and even grandmothers, going to and from the public oven, carrying tins of all the purim delicacies. as they wait while the cakes are being baked, or waiting their turn to have their cakes put in, oh! what a chatter there is, and i imagine nowhere else can there be anything like it. i called it the 'female club' instead of 'an old maids club,' as mr zangwill did, for there were no old maids waiting near the oven. "most of them come as early as a.m., and none care to leave till they have their cakes baked, for, if you do, your tins will be pushed aside as you are not there to scream at and scold the baker--if someone slips a copper into his hand he, on the quiet, puts their tins in first, though they may have come later! "besides, if you are not there to watch carefully (for the tins are not named or numbered), someone might take your tins in exchange for his own, if the cakes, etc., look more tempting. during purim this is not looked upon as stealing, but merely as a joke or a bit of fun. the youngsters will not move an inch unless they can trust someone to take their place. so i leave you to try to imagine the noise and the chatter. there is probably not a thing that has happened in jerusalem during the last two months that is not discussed around the public oven while people are waiting for their cake-tins; and, as everyone wants to talk rather than to listen, the noise is like the buzz in a factory. "after all the cooking and so forth was finished, of course we had to keep the fast of esther, and everyone, even babies went to shule to hear the megilla (the _book of esther_) read; and, when the chazan came to haman, the gragers went off with just such a noise as they do in the london shules in old montague street or booth street. then we went home; and after the evening meal the joyfulness began, for they did not wait till the next day, as we do in england. "as only one room was lighted up by each family to economize light and for other reasons--there are no curtains or blinds to draw down--we were able to go through all meah sheorim and stop a minute or two at every lighted window and watch the goings on. we heard nothing but singing and clapping of hands, while the children danced. sometimes one of the elders looking on could not resist joining in the fun, and tied his kaftan behind his back so as to leave his legs free, put one of the youngsters on his shoulders, and danced like a chassid or a jolly irishman. "as we went from house to house peeping in at the windows, sometimes some of the family would come out and drag us in by force, and make us drink wine and eat cakes. if we did not wish to join in the dancing, but wanted to leave, they would just say 'shalom'--'go in peace but come again.' i can tell you it was jolly, and nowhere else in all the world could yomtov be kept up as it is here. "we were given wine in so many houses that from the eldest to the youngest we were beginning to feel rather funny. next morning, after being well shaken up by father, and after we had had a wash with cold water in the open air, we made up our minds to be firmer at the next purim. "after going in the morning to hear the chazan again, and coming home and enjoying the hamantaschen and other good things, then begins the pleasure and excitement of sending shalach-manoth to friends, acquaintances, and chiefly to the poor, and even to enemies if you have any. as you are supposed, if possible, to send back to the sender something similar to what is sent to you, things cannot be made ready beforehand. to the poor you always send useful presents as well as delicacies which are likely to last them for months or longer. "as to the beggars, i never imagined there could be so many in one country. we generally get enough beggars coming to us on fridays and before holy days, but at yom kippur and purim they come in crowds. most of them are sephardim and yeminites. it is true you give each of them only a para, which is about a quarter of a farthing, and they give you a blessing for it; but, if they come to a rich class of home and are not given there according to the style of the house, they upbraid the people, and even curse them, so the children are told to stand at the doors with paras and cakes, etc. at some houses they are invited in. each carries a sack on his shoulder, expecting, i suppose, that it will be filled with good things by the time purim is over; and, as they never pass a door without begging, they are not likely to be disappointed. "the fun i enjoyed best was the uncovering of our plates and seeing what shalach-monus had been sent to us. a cap had been sent to father, made of velvet, with tails of sable and other skins round it. father felt very downcast, for he did not at all like the idea of giving up wearing the high hat that he always wore in london on sabbaths and holidays. whether he will wear the velvet schtramel or not i cannot tell, but i will wait and see who wins--father or the community--for we have some idea who sent it. "mother received a beautiful, soft silk kerchief to wear on her head, and it seemed a sign that the community wanted her to put her wig aside and wear a kerchief instead. i was most thankful they did not send me a pair of scissors. if they had, i should have thought they wanted me to cut my plaits off. well, i should have fought for my hair as i would for life! "in the afternoon i went to visit some friends, and i found a house full of men, young and old, with their schtramel on their heads, and their kaftans tied back, singing at the very top of their voices (and some have very fine voices); others were clapping their hands, while eight men, four on each side, were dancing what looked like a pantomime ballet that i once went to. it was simply grand to watch them, for some were old men with long, white beards, while others were serious-looking young men who are to be seen daily in the street walking to and from their homes and shules, always deep in thought and so very serious-looking that you would imagine that they did not know how to smile. here they were, on this purim afternoon, dancing with all their might, and with bright, smiling eyes! you could see it was not wine that had made them bright and cheery: it was the spirit, or fire, of their religious zeal commemorating with thankfulness the anniversary of the day when their nation was saved from destruction. of course i was too fascinated watching them at the time to think this was the reason for this unusual sight. "after a while, they went to pay visits to the rav and to others who were scholars or pious men in the community. often when walking to the various houses they would catch hold of others and dance with them in the open streets as you see children doing when an organ-grinder plays. "i was so attracted by them, and so was everyone who saw them, that we followed them at a respectful distance. sometimes someone had had a little too much wine when visiting and it had gone to his head. then some of the party would say: 'ah well, it is purim--there is no shame.' "i told father this when i returned home, and he explained to me that their rejoicing during purim did not mean simply a material satisfaction--it was a spiritual rejoicing, as on simhath torah, when the reading of the law was started again, so that during purim and simhath torah allowance is made if a little more wine is taken than is usually the case. "then we had purim schpielers, who visited every house, dressed up very funnily and full of jokes; some acted, and some were disguised. in fact, it was the happiest purim i have ever spent, and i doubt if there is any other place where it could be spent so happily. for here in jerusalem we are all like one large family: respect is paid to the righteous and to worthy scholars, whether they are poor or rich. money has not the same power here. there is a good deal of quarrelling and mischief going on among our female neighbours, but the quarrels are not very serious but more like quarrels in a large family. in another letter i will write about our 'female club.'" the baking of the matzos friday evening came round again, and the friends of the jacob family were comfortably seated in the bright cellar-kitchen, eagerly waiting to hear another letter read, for old and young were equally interested in hearing details of life in palestine so many years ago. on coming in with a letter mr jacob said: "as preparation for the passover is not far off, i think it will interest you to hear how it was done in palestine." they all agreed, so he began: "my dear jacob,--please forgive my not having written sooner, but i have really been too busy. we have just had passover. i think you will be glad to hear how we prepared for it here. each family is forced to bake its own matzos, as none can be bought from abroad. it was no easy matter, i can tell you, especially the baking, and it is a good thing we had strong teeth, as the matzos are not rolled out as thin as in london and are pretty hard to eat. there's a lot of fun attached to making matzos, but i am thankful the baking comes only once a year. "as each family in turn gets the use of the public baking-oven, it is necessary to start soon after purim to prepare the special flour used for matzos. in every house a room is set apart and thoroughly cleansed for the wheat, which is laid out on large trays. then during the winter it is examined by the mother and girls to see that no dust be mixed with it, and sometimes neighbours come in and help. all who enter this room must have very clean hands; even the finger-nails must be carefully cleaned, and clean clothes put on, so that there is no chance of any chometz. when enough of the best grains have been selected, they are washed, dried, and then ground into flour. "as each family's turn comes round for the use of the bakehouse, those who help always wash very carefully and put on clean overalls; also new cooking-utensils are always used. "water is carried by a few of the elder men of the family, as the youngsters would not be trusted to carry it without spilling it. adventures "there is great talking among those waiting their turn for the use of the oven, and great teasing, and sometimes fighting, amongst the boys. now and then one of the elder men pulls their ears with a vengeance for being 'shkotzim', as he calls it. then they keep quiet till he goes away. when our turn came, millie kneaded the flour, while father poured the water on for her. you remember what a strong girl she is, and she did the kneading with such a will that i warned her not to get too hot. no flour-dredgers are used. my duty was to roll out the dough, but mother wasn't satisfied with the way i did it, and sent me to put more wood in the oven. when the oven was hot enough, i had to sweep all the burnt wood and ashes out to get it nice and clean. [illustration: chadar (school)] "then we started to put the matzos in, one by one. oh, it was hot work! i hardly knew what to do, it was so hot. mother came and pushed me aside, saying to herself i was good for nothing. in fact, my dear jacob, one wants training to stand such heat, as one does to be a blacksmith. mother said that making matzos teaches us to realize what some of the hardships were that our forefathers went through in egypt. i hope it will become easier in time, for all the others are quite happy making and baking them, singing at the same time. "well, well! to be a true jew is a hard matter. as i grow older and get more knowledge and sense i shall find a pleasure in doing these things. temptation--and jonathan "after a few hours of hard work all the newly baked matzos were put in a basket, in which had been laid a clean table-cloth; and, when all had been carefully packed in, they were covered with another white cloth. what i felt most was not being allowed to taste a bit, for it is forbidden till seder to eat any of the matzos. as i was carrying the basket home, i felt as if the devil was in me, and the temptation was so strong that i undid the cord and took one out. hearing someone coming up behind me, i slipped it hurriedly into my pocket and took up the basket and started off again. "i heard the footsteps coming closer until who should come up to me but my best friend, jonathan? he glared at me and said: 'oh you sinner in israel!' 'why, what have i done?' i exclaimed. 'i saw you put a matzo in your pocket!' he said. "i felt hot all over, for i did not want him to have a bad opinion of me, as we had sworn friendship to each other like jonathan and david. "so i took the matzo out of my pocket, threw it in the gutter, and jumped on it. "'why have you done that?' he said. 'because i don't want you to think badly of me.' 'yet you did not care for what god thought!' he said. 'don't you know that our rabbis say that a bad thought is just as evil as a bad deed; for, if we check a bad thought or wish, it helps us not to put the bad thoughts or wish into action. if we were as anxious to please god as we are to please our friends, and to be as well thought of by him, we should check our bad thoughts before they led us to do bad deeds.' "he said, too, that he was sorry to see that i cared more for his approval than i did for god's approval. i promised for the future to try to overcome any evil thoughts or wishes that came into my mind so that i should not be so tempted to do wrong--in fact i would try to check a bad thought in the bud. "then he forgave me, and we parted good friends, for i love him. he is exactly what i think jonathan must have been to david, and i will write more about him in another letter. "when i arrived home, we had to prepare and cleanse the house for passover. we had to do all the work ourselves, for we could not hire any helpers except, by a stroke of luck, the 'white-washers,' as they are called. spring cleaning "all the furniture is put out of doors, not even a pin is left in the house. as everyone does the same, a stranger passing by would think there must be a 'jumble sale' going on. "passover time is usually like lovely english summer weather. as very little water can be got, guess how everything is scrubbed and rubbed! "outside meah sheorim there are large holes from which clay has been taken for building purposes, and during the winter-rains they get filled with water and they look nearly as large as ponds. "we carried or pushed all the furniture to one of these ponds, took sand moistened with a little water, and rubbed the furniture till it was white and clean. this we have to do three times: such is the rule. if any of the furniture was polished, you can imagine that not much of the polish was left after all this scrubbing and rubbing. "we threw into the pond whatever we could, and as it was not deep, we pulled up our trousers, and washed those pieces of furniture in the water. some threw in boards, and we made see-saws and played on them till one of us fell in. it was such fun! sometimes the furniture got mixed, and it was hard to tell to whom it belonged. indeed, i never enjoyed myself so much as on this erev passover. even more than in london when i went to see _sindbad the sailor_. there is plenty of fun going on when we are left free, but that is not often, you may be sure. the best fun we had was when someone threw a chair into the pond and sat on it while other boys pushed it along. somebody else threw in a barrel and a few of us got on it, and then over we went into the water. lots of fun "we were not anxious to go home, even for meals, when our mothers called us. when we did get home, we found all the walls looking lovely with fresh whitewash. for a few days we were not allowed to go into the house unless we took our outer clothes off to prevent our bringing in some chometz. the weather was beautifully warm, so that we really enjoyed eating our meals out of doors and calling out to other boys as they ate theirs. "on the eve before passover we had the fun of going to the turkish bath and then to mikva and help to have all new things 'tavelt', and then the greatest enjoyment was on the day for the preparation of the seder! the bonfire "before i stop writing i must tell you of the bonfire we had on erev passover, when over a hundred of us each threw the wooden spoon and remnants of chometz on the lighted fire, and then there was such a blaze for nearly two hours! we caught hold of each other's hands and danced round the bonfire. oh! it was a grand sight. now i'm called to go to a bar mitzvah, but will write you again very soon. how i wish you were here with me, jacob!" "i wish i was, too," exclaimed benjamin, who had sat listening quietly whilst the letter was being read. on the faces of several of the elder people there was a far-away look and sometimes a smile, for the scenes described in the letter brought back memories of their own childhood when the holidays and the preparations for them were similar to those in palestine. how to enjoy the passover in london one of the boy-listeners said: "i see now why some of us in london do not enjoy the holidays. it is due to our surroundings. many of us here have to work or go to business whether it is a holiday or not, and so we do not enjoy them in the same spirit as the boys and girls in palestine, where they are freer to carry out the teaching of our religion." "well!" said benjamin; "there's one thing at least i can do, and that is to help my mother to prepare for the passover in my spare time." "and i, too," and "i, too," exclaimed others. "bravo, boys!" said mr jacob. "even if you do not enjoy it so much physically, you will do so spiritually, for anyone who tries to help his mother to keep up our fine old customs will be blessed." lag b'omer it was a week before lag b'omer, and the friends of the jacobs family continued to attend every friday evening to hear a letter from jerusalem read. there was only one drawback to these friday re-unions, and that was that every week the little cellar-kitchen sitting-room got more and more crowded, for each friend became so interested that he brought another with him without asking permission. however, as no one complained, mr and mrs jacobs said nothing, and were indeed thankful that so many were interested in those old letters; and mr jacobs at once started reading as follows:-- "dear millie,--i want to tell you how we spent lag b'omer here, for in london we used not to make much of a holy day of it. here days are taken in preparing for it, baking cakes and preparing tasty meals. both old and young spend that day in visits to the graves of our great rabbis and in picnics on the mount of olives or in the cool shade of the many caves in the neighbourhood. those who have large families have their hands full, for the walks in the open air give the children huge appetites; and, unless you are prepared for such appetites it is difficult to supply all that is needed, for you cannot buy extra food, as in england, except perhaps a few nuts and a drink of water. "before dawn, our youngsters awakened us and hurried us to get ready to start, as if we should not have quite enough of their pranks even if we left a few hours later. as we have to form ourselves into large groups, we arrange these a day or two beforehand, for there are a great number of arabs and turks about, and many of them are very wild. if you go alone, or even in pairs, they are often known to attack you, especially in the case of a girl or a woman. at first i laughed at the girls fearing to go alone when in the country, but, after having had an unpleasant adventure myself, i determined to be more careful and obey those who knew better than i did as to what was safe and what not. "it happened in this way. one sabbath afternoon i went out of the suburb with a few girls, who, like myself, had the spirit of adventure. as we went along chatting merrily together, we felt ourselves caught from behind by some turks. fortunately we had not got far, so that when we shrieked out our cries were heard in the town, and to our great relief we soon heard a horse galloping in our direction. we kept on screaming, and one turk put his hand over my friend's mouth; but she bit and scratched his hand. then, suddenly, we were let loose, and the turks took to their heels, for they saw europeans galloping up to us. two of them jumped off their horses and asked if we were hurt, for we had been so frightened that we could not quickly leave off crying. they kindly brought us home, and after that experience i never wanted to go out without enough men in our party to guard us. "now this lag b'omer a number of girls wanted to go to see some special places, so we formed ourselves into a large party and started very early, for you rarely get such an outing. it was a most glorious spring morning, and a few of us had donkeys to ride. to do so is not as much pleasure as you might think, for the donkeys in palestine stop every few minutes, and, unless you beat them cruelly, which we did not like doing, they will not budge an inch. sometimes they consent to be led, but they will not be driven, and you have a weary time of it. now and then a donkey will suddenly start off on a quick trot, and, being thus taken unawares, the rider often falls off. you can imagine the laughter of your friends and how stupid the girl feels, but somehow it is always taken in good part. "our visit first was to david's tomb, but we were not allowed to go in. next we walked round the walls of jerusalem, climbed up the mount of olives, then rested under the shade of a large olive-tree, where we spread out our table-cloth and arranged on it all the good things we had brought with us. the long walk had given us good appetites. after we had finished our meals, other groups of friends came close to us, and then some of the men in turns told us tales of our nation's ancient glory, and each one had something interesting to relate. then a middle-aged man with a group of boys came near us. i think he must have been a teacher, for he started telling the boys about bar cochba and his struggle with the romans. "'fierce struggles for jewish freedom went on for three years, and the jews were proving so successful under the leadership of bar cochba that the romans thought it necessary to bring their greatest general, julius severus, from britain to command the roman army in palestine. at last the samaritans betrayed our people: our last remaining fortified city, bethar, fell, and bar cochba died in defending it on th of ab, c.e. "'the jews were the last people under roman rule in those days to fight for freedom, and over half-a-million of them lost their lives in this long struggle. rabbi akiba, the wise and dearly-loved jewish scholar, was taken prisoner and scourged, until he expired under his sufferings. jerusalem was turned into a roman colony called aelia capitolina, and no jew dared appear in the neighbourhood of jerusalem, under penalty of death. jews under the roman rules were forbidden to practise their religion, and anyone found teaching or preaching judaism was horribly tortured.' "the rabbi, continuing, reminded his boys that, in remembrance of the brave deeds of bar cochba and his jewish soldiers, jewish boys to this present time play with bows and arrows on lag b'omer. "i was most interested to hear all the rabbi had to tell his boys, and glad to feel i was at last living in the holy land where so many of our noble heroes of past ages lived and fought and suffered martyrdom. i could not prevent tears coming to my eyes when thinking on our nation's past glory and praying silently we may come again into our own; but i believe it will not be so much by the power of the sword, but as the prophet zachariah foretold unto zerubbabel: 'not by might, nor by power (or arms), but by my spirit, saith the lord.' those who have been born here or lived here for many years cannot understand our feeling thus, though they love their country and their nation dearly. "when the rabbi had ended, we all stood up and received his blessing. we then went on to the grave of rabbi shiman, which was in a beautiful, cool, and shady spot. there we found numbers of people. some groups were having a lively time singing and clapping their hands, while the men were dancing; but none of the women or girls danced, as it would be thought immodest of them, but they helped by singing and clapping their hands. then other folks came to pray at the saint's grave for the health of some of their children that were ailing. others dropped letters or pieces of paper into the rabbi's tomb with special requests written on them. some put money into the charity-boxes hanging at different parts around the tomb. there was also no end of beggars there. one nice-looking man went about with a red handkerchief tied up by the four corners, asking people to put in as much as they could spare to uphold the yeshibas and the hospital or the home for the aged, and other institutions. but as most of the people there around the rabbi's grave lived on charity, i could not see what they could spare. "i happened to mention this to father and said how i disliked seeing people living on chalukha (alms sent them from europe), and i could not understand why they were not ashamed to take it, for they did not look like ordinary beggars, but quite the reverse--independent, studious, and refined-looking, as i found out later when i spoke to them. they seemed indeed to think they were conferring a favour by accepting alms. father said to a certain degree they were wrong, but from another point of view it is difficult for a man to progress in business and at the same time devote many hours to the study of the torah. our ancient rabbis realized this, and said that those who had not the leisure or the inclination to devote much time to the study of the torah should make it their duty to give of their means towards the up-keep of those who did. if they did this god would bless them. so it is now a recognized duty for every jew in europe who has any respect for the torah and other religious learning or teaching to send his 'bit' towards the yearly support of the scholars here. "the latter, who do nothing but study the torah, think that it is through their efforts in this direction that israel is saved. they do not consider the money given for their support a charity, but believe they hold a similar position in palestine to that of professors and students who hold scholarships in the various universities in great britain and europe. the jews in certain countries send more money for the support of their fellow-countrymen who are teachers and scholars than the jews of some of the eastern european countries, and that is why some appear to be better off than many of their fellow-teachers and scholars. "this chat with father helped me to understand other things as well which had puzzled me before. about this i will write more in another letter. "now i must return to lag b'omer, and tell you what struck me as very strange on that day. as i went with a few of my girl-friends from group to group to see and hear all i could about what was going on, we came to a group of women, girls, and youngsters, and in the centre of them all a lovely little child about three years of age sitting dressed in silk, and a plate near by with some lovely black curls lying on it. i, of course, asked what it all meant, and was told that those people who had only one boy, or who had lost some by death, never cut the hair of their children till they were between three and four years of age. then, when it was cut, they put all they had cut off upon a scale, and upon the other side of the scale copper, silver, or gold money, according to their means. if poor, they put copper coins upon the scales to test the weight of the hair, and then distributed these copper coins among the poor. in fact, it just looks as if those who receive charity take it in one hand and distribute it with the other. [illustration: yeushiva (talmudical school)] "nowhere have i ever seen so much almsgiving as here. alms-boxes are hung up in various places, where in europe you would see only ornaments. for every joy or blessing and for those who have relatives or friends ill or in danger, money is freely dropped into the box. this money is given towards the up-keep of the hospital for the very poor, and so on. really, it must be very hard for those people who have little to spare, but father says this is one of the means by which every jew in palestine is trained to love his neighbour as himself. i feel he is right, for i never saw so much kindness and thoughtfulness for others as i have seen since we arrived here. everyone naturally does what the others do, and it has proved to me how true it is that example is far more powerful than preaching or teaching. "as we appeared so interested in what they told us, they kindly invited us to sit down and offered us wine, cake, delicious pasties, and jams, and later on baked nuts, though we were quite strangers to them. it is this kindliness that surprised me so much. altogether we spent a very joyful day, returning home by moonlight, when we girls and women thoroughly enjoyed listening to the groups of men and boys who sang and danced on the way home. "i don't think i could ever make you realize all the drawbacks to the life here; but yet it has a very pleasant and happy side too, and you really see far more pleasure than you ever do in london. in my next letter i'll tell you about the engagement and marriage of my friend who is only fifteen years old. now i must stop, hoping that we may see you here some day soon." the older folks started discussing the life in palestine. directly mr jacobs had finished reading the letter, they agreed that it could only be in palestine that a truly jewish life could be lived, for everything depends so much on environment. "in london the surroundings are against a consistently jewish religious life," said one; "if you try, it is just like swimming against a strong current." "but here comes our chance," replied another, "for if we fight or swim against the current, we gradually become stronger, and at last we are able to swim well in spite of it, and so win the race and prize. if we just swim with the current, or just suit our life to our environment, which of course at first is much easier and pleasanter, the current at last carries us along so rapidly that we are unable to avoid rocks or crags in the river, and then we 'go under,' or make shipwreck of our lives." "that's true indeed," said all the elders, shaking their heads solemnly. "then," replied mr jacobs, "our greatest duty is to have one thought and one aim constantly in our minds, no matter what our environment may be, and that thought is that god's holy spirit is in and around all who try to obey him, no matter where they are; and it is only by the guidance and help of his holy spirit that we can lead true, consistent, jewish lives, live up to the old familiar words of the shema, and love our neighbours as ourselves." the sabbath in palestine when mr jacobs' family and friends assembled again on friday evening, he said: "you know what discussions there have been lately in england about the proper way to keep the sabbath, so it may interest you to hear a letter from my cousin, giving an account how sabbath was kept in jerusalem." "my dear millie,--i will explain as well as i can what it means to prepare for sabbath here, and how it is spent. about four o'clock on friday mornings mother and i get up and prepare the sabbath loaves. i can tell you it is no easy matter, for, even when the weather is not frosty, the exertion of kneading the dough makes you perspire. if you finish kneading early enough, you get back to bed while the dough is rising. "early on friday mornings beggars start going from house to house (especially the sephardim and yemenites or arabian jews). at each house they are given small, fresh-baked chola, bun, or beigel. no one refuses to give this. later on, two respectable men or women go from house to house collecting in a large bag whatever anyone gives them, such as cholas, meat, cereals, oil, wine, or money. the community know that these things are not for themselves, but are to be distributed amongst the sick and the most needy, who cannot beg for themselves. sometimes we have as many as six or seven people who come collecting, and no one ever thinks of refusing them. in fact, everyone prepares for this, and gives most willingly, knowing that the sabbath must be celebrated by rich and poor alike with the best one has. "in a future letter i will tell you more about certain people who give up a part of their time to works of charity, and how they do it; for there is no board of guardians here, as there is in london. "then when father and the boys go to synagogue, we start to prepare for the day's work. first we take all the furniture we can out of the house, so as to leave the rooms free for the lower part of the walls to be whitewashed and the marble floors cleaned. of course, we try to use as little water as possible, as it is scarce, but even so the floors must be clean and look well polished, and the wooden furniture washed and rubbed well with sand. "then the tea-urn and all the saucepans and trays, which are either brass or copper, have to be cleaned and brightened; and, as we cannot get brass-polish here, we rub them with fine sand. it needs plenty of 'elbow grease' to make them look bright, but the rubbing well repays us. since we came here i quite understand how brass or copper looking-glasses were used by our ancestors, for, after rubbing very hard with fine sand and a piece of lemon peel, you can see your face clearly reflected in the trays. some who had no mirror used the trays for looking-glasses. "mother prepares our sabbath meals, whilst we girls are doing the hard work--hanging up our best curtains or putting our best covers on the beds and cushions, and spreading the sabbath table-cloth. these are put away again on saturday evenings. those who have them also use special sabbath china, glass, and silver for their meals. "this work keeps us busy nearly all day. about three hours before sunset father and the boys go to the public baths, and by the time they return we are all dressed in our best clothes, the samovar (the urn) is placed on a table in the porch, and we all sit there to rest and drink tea, awaiting the coming in of 'princess sabbath.' a matter of an hour before sabbath a voice is heard calling out: 'sabbath is in, friends! sabbath is in!' "the first time i heard the call i could not understand the reason until father told me that, as there are no bells in the suburb and very few people have clocks, one of the highly-respected members of the community undertakes the job of going right round meah sheorim every friday, so that the women may know when to light their sabbath lamps--for directly the sabbath call is heard all the women stop whatever work they are at and go to light the sabbath lamp, which has seven wicks, in a basin of oil hanging from the ceiling, for there are no candles here. when this is done the men and children go to synagogue, and some of the women too. as they all love bright colours, when you see them from a distance walking to synagogue, the suburb looks like a flower-garden. "after sabbath dinner, which consists of the _cholent_ baked on the previous day, father gathers the boys round the table to hear what lessons they have learnt during the week. he discusses and explains part of the torah to them, while mother and we girls read the zeene ureene (a commentary on the bible for women), the ethics of the fathers, and the like. this goes on for some time, and then we are free to go and visit our friends. we and several of our friends often go to an old lady's house, where we spend pleasant sabbath afternoons. "years ago this dear old lady came from russia to end her days in the holy land. she is well provided for by her children, so she has the time and means to lead a happy and useful life here, and does a lot of good quietly, by the cheery, sensible way she often gives a "helping hand" to those who need it. "she so understands all our fun that we sometimes forget she is old. we just talk things over with her as we would with our young friends. not only we girls, but young married women, just love spending part of the sabbath afternoons with her. the room is often so full that we have to sit cross-legged, like the turks, on the marble floor, which in summer time is quite the coolest seat. "we then play 'nuts.' each one puts a certain number into a cap, but to win the game one has to be very quick and sharp: it is really quite exciting. what we like best is when the old lady sits amongst us and reads us a tale from a book, or some of the papers sent her from abroad. the stories are very tantalizing, for they always leave off at the most interesting part, and then we may have to wait a week or two before we get the next number! during the week we try to imagine what the next chapter will be like. "sometimes she reads from the ethics of the fathers--those wise sayings of the ancient rabbis. i remember last week she told us of one of the rabbis who wrote that 'those who control or overcome their hasty tempers are greater than those who take a city from an enemy,' she, as usual, asks us to give our views on what she has read, and an excited discussion follows. those of us who naturally have a calm, good temper said that they did not agree with the rabbi, because they did not think it at all hard to keep their temper when provoked. others, who had hasty passionate tempers, said the rabbi was quite right: it would be far easier, they felt sure, to take a city than to control their tempers, for the whole nation would help them to take a city, as it was considered a grand thing to do, but very few people would help them to control their tempers. in fact, even their relatives and friends provoked them to be hasty and passionate. when provoked or irritated the blood rushes so quickly to the head that it makes it very, very hard to remain calm, and then we often say or do things we are really sorry for afterwards. "as we could not agree, we turned to the old lady, for she is full of wisdom and understanding. she tried to pacify us, for we were nearly on the verge of quarreling. she said that if, when young, we tried, with the almighty's help, to keep our hasty tempers under control, it would be easier to do so every time we were provoked, but the older we were before beginning, the more difficult it would be to be successful. even then we had always to keep a watch over ourselves, for one of our wise sages wrote: 'one is never sure of himself till the day of his death.' we all saw the wisdom of her advice, and made up our minds that we must all help each other, for very often the calm quiet natures are those who love teasing and provoking the hasty-tempered ones, for the fun of seeing them get into a temper; and this, we realized after her talk with us, was not pleasing to god. [illustration: the old lady] "after we leave her we take a walk outside the suburb. at sunset, when we return home, until the time to go to bed, we are kept very busy washing up all the things used at meals, as no washing up is done during the sabbath. then, too, all the sabbath curtains, coverlets, glass, china, and silver have to be carefully put away. "in my next letter i will write you more about our old lady." when mr jacobs had finished the letter, the usual talk started. one said that "such a sabbath might be all very well in palestine!" an elderly friend said: "well! in palestine they at least _know_ what the sabbath is, whilst here in london, unless one keeps it strictly and remains indoors all day, except to go to synagogue, one never sees any difference between the sabbath and any other day of the week." mr jacobs said: "i think what you both say is true, and the only way is to try to keep our sabbath in the spirit, as well as in the letter as much as possible. if each of us tried to do this in his own home, even in london, gradually a difference would be seen in the neighbourhood in which we live. a wise man wrote: 'all reforms begin with _man_ and not with _men_.' the first important step is to think good thoughts; for 'thoughts have wings,' and, when expressed, they are readily impressed upon the minds of those in sympathy with the thinker." "true, very true!" exclaimed the others. "let us each, with god's help, strive to remember more often those thoughts of our prophet isaiah (chap. ): 'if thou call the sabbath a delight, and the holy of the lord honourable, and shalt honour it, not doing thy wonted ways, nor pursuing thy business, nor speaking thereof, then shalt thou delight thyself in the lord, and i will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and i will feed thee with the heritage of jacob thy father: for the mouth of the lord hath spoken it.'" by this the prophet meant that we were to drive all thoughts of business from our minds on the sabbath. no thoughts of scandal, evil, or uncharitableness were to be harboured, but our minds and hearts were to delight in words of prayer, in the study of the holy law. it was to be truly a day of peace, a day of rest. the succah mr jacob told his friends the next friday evening, when they arrived as usual, that he thought they would be interested in the letter describing the succah. "my dear millie,--after the day of atonement, everyone was very busy preparing for the feast of tabernacles, which is still celebrated here as it must have been in bible times. "with great merriment all the young people decorate their succahs, while their mothers with the baby in their arms watch the young folks at work. "the succahs in palestine are not made as they are in europe. the saplings are covered with palm-leaves woven together, the roof with branches of trees, as there is no chance of rain at this time of the year in palestine. everything that is beautiful in the home is brought out to decorate the interior of the succah. the poor make their succahs of doors or wooden boxes. "as this was the first succah since our arrival, we were invited by our neighbours to join them. the father, a patriarchal looking old man with a saintly face, sat at the head of the table, and we were fascinated by his looks. his eldest son came in soon after, followed by his other grown-up sons and his daughters. he greeted his aged father with a smile, and wished him good 'yom tov' and bowed his head for his father's blessing. then one by one all the children came to greet him and receive his blessing, with quite a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and last but not least the little great-great-grandchild. "when my parents looked astonished at the number, one of the daughters quietly said: 'you see that here we marry our children while very young, so that the psalmist's words are very often fulfilled in palestine, and nearly everyone has his quiver full.' when all were quiet, our aged friend repeated a prayer over the wine, and the large silver cup was passed from one to the other. this was very solemnly and reverently done. "after this, our aged neighbour's children who had large families went to their own homes, while those of his children who had small families remained to celebrate the feast with him. when he had washed his hands before eating and repeated the blessing upon the meal, he took his youngest great-grandchild on his knee. "the only thing that saddened the scene was the empty chair beside our aged friend--his wife had died during the course of the year. the family all looked at the empty chair and sighed, and the great-great-grandfather, with tears glistening in his eyes, also gave a sigh, and then turned with a smile to his large family and said: 'let us begin. my little samuel will start a brocha,' and the rest listened to hear how the little one lisped the words after his great-grandfather. "the following day our aged friend sat like a king in his succah, while relatives and friends came to pay their respects to him, and all was joy and merriment. "some of the younger grandchildren wanted to show their grandfather what they had lately learned, and there was quite a scramble around his knees to try and be first heard. with a wave of his hand he said: 'i will hear you all in turn, my children.' this quietened the eager little souls, and they waited patiently for their turns to come. "while the children were thus busy with their grandfather, the elder sons and sons-in-law and their wives sat around, discussing quietly various topics of interest, till the time for mincha came round. "then the great grandfather went to shule, followed by all his children. "visiting other neighbours during the succah weeks, we found that they preserved this beautiful and ancient way of keeping the festival. "i never realized till then what a great influence for good the surroundings and teaching in childhood can be, and how a father and mother can leave the impress of their teaching in early life upon both sons and daughters. it is the mother specially who forms the child's soul, quite as clearly on the boys as on the girls from their cradle-days, and the father and the teacher only builds on the foundation laid by the mother: this is seen here more than elsewhere." "very true," exclaimed the others; "a great deal is done by the mother; but the environment has a great influence on the character." this caused a good deal of discussion and the meeting did not close till one o'clock in the morning. how charity is given on the following friday evening, the next letter that mr jacob chose for reading to his family and friends was on the way almsgiving, or charity, was managed in palestine. before starting to read, he advised his hearers not to forget that the jewish community in palestine was very small when this letter was written, and the majority of the people were very poor. many had spent most of their money and worldly goods in the expenses of travelling there, with the object of ending their days in their beloved land, and being buried with their forefathers. mr jacob then began the letter. "my dear millie,--you seem so interested in all i have so far told you about our life in palestine, that i think you will like to hear of some of the ways that our poorer brethren are helped in palestine. "many of the ways will appear strange to you; yet i think some of them are really better than those adopted by our community in england. "here, there is no board of guardians, so that the giving of charity, or a 'helping hand' to the sick or needy, is more of a direct personal matter. the givers strive to be wise and tactful, so that our people may not lose their self-respect; for, as a rule, they are naturally very sensitive, and if self-respect is lost some are encouraged to become beggars proper. "mother tells us that our jewish ethics teaches 'that true charity, or almsgiving, is to make personal sacrifices when helping others. there is no self-sacrifice in giving what you cannot make use of yourself.' indeed, one jewish ethical teacher wrote: 'if one who has lived a luxurious life becomes sick and in need, we should try to deny ourselves, in order to give the sick one dainties such as chicken and wine.' "really some of our neighbours here seem to rejoice in giving away not only all they can spare, but also in making personal sacrifices in helping to relieve a needy neighbour. "from early childhood they were trained to give. in every jewish home in palestine we see from two to perhaps more than a dozen boxes placed in various parts of the house, and written on each is the special charity to which the box is devoted. into these boxes even tiny children are trained to drop a coin at special times, and it is considered a happy privilege to do so at times of thanksgiving to god. the coins thus collected are from time to time distributed amongst the sick and the needy. "there is one hospital near us; and, though it is known to be well managed, very few jews whom we know go there for treatment, for it is a missionary hospital, and we strongly object to the methods of christian missionaries. instead of many of them as formerly, persecuting us for clinging to our dearly beloved religion, they now try, by acts of kindness in times of sickness and poverty, to influence our people in favour of accepting their religion. "indeed, i have heard some of our people say that they would rather go to the arabs for treatment than enter the missionary hospital! therefore those who cannot nurse the sick ones at home take them to the bikkur-holim, which a doctor visits once every few days. a mother, wife, or father goes with the patients to give them the necessary food and medicine, for in the bikkur-cholem there are no trained nurses. the relatives also keep the patients clean and tidy; but little cooking is done there, as the food is generally brought cooked from the patients' homes. "i once went to visit the bikkur-cholem. one patient i saw had a jug of cold water brought to her, and, though her own lips were very parched, she would not take even one sip, but had the water given to those near her, who, in a very high state of fever, were clamouring for water. other patients i saw were cheerfully and willingly sharing their food with those who had none. until i had visited that bikkur-cholem i had never realized what real charity meant. for these sufferers, in their love and thoughtfulness and genuine self-sacrifice towards fellow-sufferers less fortunate than themselves, were obeying in spirit as well as in the letter the time-honoured commandment given us 'to love one's neighbour as oneself.' "the arrangements in the bikkur-cholem are most insanitary; disinfectants are unheard of; and i greatly pitied the poor unfortunates that have to go there." mr. jacob was too overcome by his feelings to continue--so for a few minutes there was a deep silence. then one of the listeners said: "one is thankful to remember that this letter was written fifty years ago, and conditions must have improved since our writer first went to palestine." "yes, thank god!" replied kind-hearted mr jacob; and then he continued reading the letter. "most of the patients die; but a few get cured and leave. if they do, it is certainly more through faith in god's love and mercy than through the remedies they receive while there. "now, i want to tell you of a voluntary service which respectable, well-to-do men and women, and even scholars, do, for the poor who die. these kind folk are called 'the chevra kadisha.' no doubt because of the heat, there is a strict law that no one who dies in palestine is allowed to remain unburied long; and it is believed here that the dead continue to suffer until they are entombed. so the custom is to bury within twelve hours every one who dies. the chevra kadisha look upon such a deed as a mitzvoth. if a poor woman dies, one of these kind women at once goes to wash the corpse and lay it out ready to be put on the bier--then when all the relatives and friends of the deceased have given vent to their sorrow by weeping, some men and some scholars belonging to the chevra kadisha voluntarily carry the bier on their shoulders to the place of burial (which i think is the mount of olives), while others dig the grave and a scholar or two read the prayers over the dead. "by the chevra kadisha beggars and tramps are thus washed and buried when dead, free of expense, by these good, self-sacrificing people, at all times and in all weathers, as a sign that in death all are equal. the people who can afford it leave enough money to pay all their own burial expenses or these are paid for by their relatives. "acts of charity towards very poor girls who have no dowry or suitable wedding-clothes are very touching and generous. it is considered a disgrace to the community if a poor girl is not given the opportunity to marry, and a community not only provides a dower, but also seeks for a bridegroom for her. the housewives willingly and generously prepare the wedding-feast, for everyone is willing to give something from their store-room. no shame is attached to poor girls accepting such help; for it is considered a duty by all our brethren to provide what is necessary for a bride who has not the means to get things for herself. "i am sorry that i cannot write more by this mail." one listener interrupted, saying: "most of what you have read mr jacob happens in russia and in other parts of the world where jews live in ghettos." "quite true," said mr jacob, "for wherever jews live together they keep up old customs, and all old customs are more or less alike in all ghettos. it is only when we jews live outside the ghettos, under different surroundings, that we are tempted to throw over many religious customs. the unfortunate thing is, that we are too often inclined to throw off the really good customs rather than the useless ones, and more inclined to adopt the bad traits and customs of our neighbours rather than the good ones amongst whom we live, be it in england, france, germany, india, or elsewhere. this is a bad habit, and we must do our utmost in the future to guard against it; for, if we all made an effort to retain our own ancient customs that are really good and beneficial to ourselves and others and adopt only the good and healthy customs of our neighbours, then, indeed, we might feel we had a right to call ourselves and be recognized by those we live amongst as 'god's chosen people.'" father frost in jerusalem the next friday evening mr jacob read the following letter. "my dear cousin mill,--i have not yet written to tell you how we manage during cold weather. before we arrived, we were under the impression that it was always warm in palestine. certainly the sun does shine more in winter here than in england, and while it shines the weather is very pleasant; but we get very cold weather, too, especially in jerusalem. we get very little snow, but a good deal of frost, which no one enjoys. no doubt you wonder why, because we all enjoyed the cold and frost in england, and loved the skating and the snowballing. "the reason is very clear, for here we have no cheery open fireplaces, which give out so much heat in england; in fact there are not even any steel or iron ovens, and the result is, the palestinian houses are intensely cold in frosty weather. the ceilings are all lofty and in the shape of a dome, which, with the very thick stone walls is very pleasant in summer but very cold in the winter. then there is very little firewood to be had here, as the turks try to prevent much tree-planting, so fire wood is a luxury which very few can afford. instead, we have all copper buckets pierced with holes standing on a tripod and filled with burning charcoal, which is placed in the middle of the room. "how we all eagerly cluster round it and watch the red hot charcoal, hoping that by _looking at it_ the warmth will go into our bodies! such a small amount of charcoal as we can afford does not warm a room very much, so all the windows are closed tightly to prevent any cold air coming in. this also prevents the fumes of the burning charcoal from escaping, so naturally the air gets very stuffy, and many suffer from headaches or fall into a heavy sleep. "you will wonder why it is many people do not get frozen. well, the old proverb holds good here, that 'necessity is the mother of invention,' so even in the coldest weather we have a remedy; for we heat also our brass samovar, which holds about thirty glasses of tea, and we drink a glass of hot tea every now and then. "as the samovar boils all day the steam also sends out some warmth into the room. "then, again, the younger children are during the very cold weather kept warm in bed with feather coverlets and pillows, which the elder people try to keep warm in doing the necessary household duties. very few go out in the streets, except the men when they go to shule, and the elder boys when they go to the yeshiba or cheder, and even they are very often kept at home. "one comfort is that 'father frost' does not stay long, so we can manage to bear his icy breath: the greatest hardship is when he visits us on a sabbath, for of course on that day we cannot heat the samovar and so we have to do with less tea. "we prepare our sabbath meals in a small scullery, or porch, in which a small brick oven is built to keep the food hot for the sabbath. a few pieces of wood are put in, and, when well lighted, the oven is half-filled with charcoal-dust--this again is covered by pieces of tin or lime, and, on top of all, the saucepans are put containing food for the sabbath meals: also bottles or jars of water are thus kept hot for tea or coffee. neighbours who are not lucky enough to have such an oven bring in their food, and we let them put it in our ovens. in this way we have enough for every one to drink who may come in. sometimes twenty poor people come in on a sabbath day and say: 'spare me, please, a little hot water?' no one would think of refusing to give them some, even if they had to share their last glass with them. "generally on cold sabbath afternoons our parents have a nap after eating the nice hot cholent, and we girls and the young married women go and spend a few hours with our old lady friend, who always entertains us with stories and discussions on various interesting subjects. so the time passes very quickly and so pleasantly that we forget how cold it is. about twenty or thirty of us all sit close together on her divan covered up with rugs, and this with the excitement over the tales she tells us, helps to keep us warm. "last sabbath our old lady was not very well, and we were feeling very miserable without her entertaining tales. suddenly, one of my girl-friends asked me to tell them about our life in london. "as they had never read or heard about life outside jerusalem, it was most amusing to hear their exclamations of wonder; for they could hardly believe what i told them was true, till our old lady confirmed our statements. "first, they wanted to know how young men and women behaved toward each other. "i told them that every man and every woman, whether young or old, either in the street or in-doors, always shook hands with friends--at this they looked very surprised and some seemed even horrified, exclaiming: 'what a sin to commit.' i asked them where it was written that this was a sin? 'well,' some replied, 'our parents or husbands say it is a sin,' 'i don't think it is a sin, but only a custom,' said i. 'but it _is_ a sin,' insisted one little wife of fifteen 'to touch one another's hands.' i tried to explain to her, but she would not listen to me and we were on the verge of quarreling but as usual, when there was a difference of opinion between any of us, we always appealed to our old lady and she agreed with me that there was no sin in shaking hands. 'sin,' she said, 'comes from thoughts--if while talking or laughing or even shaking hands, evil thoughts pass through the minds of men or women then, and then only, is the act likely to be a sin. in europe,' she went on to say, 'it is quite a natural thing for men and women to shake hands and talk to each other naturally.' "then i asked my new friend huldah (a young wife of fifteen years of age) to tell us all about her own love-affair and marriage. she was greatly shocked to hear me speaking of love _before_ marriage--'such a thing could never happen to a modest jewish maiden in those days,' she said. "i told her that it did happen in europe. 'may be,' she replied; 'it may happen in lands where jews mix with non-jews and copy their ways!' "as i rather liked to tease her, i said she was mistaken, for here in jerusalem did the great rabbi akiba fall in love with his wife before marriage. 'oh, that was quite different!' she replied. 'not at all,' said i, for were not feasts and rejoicing held so that youths and maidens could meet one another in the vineyards and dance in the meadows?--look in the bible,' i continued, 'and you will see it is mentioned there.' then all looked abashed. the only one who smiled was our old lady. "'don't unsettle their minds, dear,' she whispered softly to me. 'i don't want to,' i said; 'i only want to show them that, though such things are done in other countries, there is no sin in it as they have been brought up to believe.' 'well, well!' she said, 'let us hope god will restore our beloved land to us in his own good time, and then we shall again, as in days of old, celebrate such festivals!' "we all said 'amen,' most heartily, to this wish. "in my next letter i will tell you of our friend's engagement and marriage. your loving cousin, millie." engagement and wedding ceremonies the hearers waited with eagerness for the next friday evening, as they enjoyed so much hearing those interesting letters. the next mr jacobs read was this: "hulda is only fifteen years of age, and has already been married six months. if she were dressed as girls are dressed in england, she would really look beautiful; but her beauty is, i think, marred by the silk handkerchief she wears on her head, which covers half her forehead and her ears, so that none of her hair can be seen, i mean that part of it that was shaved off. over the silk handkerchief she wears a black velvet band, to which gold coins are attached and these are put on so coquettishly that it makes the head-gear look quite artistic. sometimes she wears ornaments with pearls in them. these special trinkets are, of course, worn only on sabbaths and festivals or some other special occasions. "the shaving of part of the young wife's head the day after her marriage is a custom to prevent young married women from being tempted by vanity to show off their hair, which is generally in palestine very beautiful. the poor things cover up the part so well that there is no fear of any of it being seen. "hulda is tall and well-developed for her age, and lively as a cricket, always ready to play and laugh and joke with us. she started by telling me: 'i was invited to visit my betrothed's family during the holidays, and my future mother-in-law let me help her with the baking and cooking, and was specially pleased with the way i stretched out the dough for the lockshen--i made it look so thin, like a paper wrapper. she told me that i would make a good housewife. then i showed all the family some of the linen garments i had made and had with me, and the crochet i had trimmed them with.' "here hulda turned to me and said: 'our mothers encourage us at eight years of age to begin to make garments for our trousseaux, and at the age of ten we start to crochet lace and embroider, so by the time we get married we have all our things ready, for they cannot be bought ready-made in palestine. when we become betrothed we work our future initials on our things and make our dresses.' "'while i was staying at my betrothed's home, we never spoke to each other, except to say good-morning and good-night. sometimes when no one saw us we looked at one another, for already i liked my young man, though he was not handsome. a wise girl does not want good looks in a husband so much as that he should be a good talmudist and be a good character; this he is, and i could listen to him for ever,' she said, blushing like a rose; 'when he sings zmires, his voice is like a nightingale, and even in the mornings, when he thinks i am asleep, it is just lovely to hear his sing-song as he studies--it is to me the sweetest of all music,' she said. "'so it should be, my child,' said our old lady, 'and it is a privilege for us women to help them to study.' "'so my mother says,' said hulda, naturally. "at the same time i thought to myself: 'a nice thing it would be if only our men were to study and our women to work, as they mostly do here and in russian ghetto towns. no,' i thought, 'i would rather that the men did some manual labour as well as study, and the women have some time for study as well as for household work.' "but i kept these thoughts to myself, while hulda continued to tell me what a longing she had to see more of her betrothed; but she did not see him again till after the marriage ceremony. "i will try to describe the ceremonies to you in detail, as i have now been to several weddings here, and i think you would like to know. "a week before the wedding, all the relations and friends come to help bake and prepare the wedding-feast; for, as these proceedings last about eight days, it is no easy matter to celebrate them. "the bride's trousseau is shown to the guests who come, and everything is examined and counted by all, especially the relations of the bridegrooms. when there happens to be less than expected, woe betide the bride, for she is always reproached about it by her mother-in-law or his other relatives. "on the sabbath before the marriage the bridegroom is called up to read the law, and friends pay him visits.--first they send him nicely baked cakes or puddings and a bottle of wine. (it is a good thing that this is the custom, or else a poor man would be ruined by the cost of all the feasting that he is expected to provide). "during the week the bride's friends come every evening and dance and sing in her home, coffee and cakes and baked nuts being handed round. "the morning of the wedding, both bride and bridegroom fast, and each goes with his or her parents to the wailing wall in jerusalem, to pray for a blessing on their married life, and then they go to be blessed by the rav. "when the bride returns home, she is dressed in her bridal dress. then she is led up to a chair that has been raised off the floor; her hair is unloosed and allowed to hang over her shoulders; and this is the last time, for the next day most of it is shaved off. "her young friends stand near her and each sings a song, bidding good-bye to her maiden days; and the bride weeps, fearing what the future may hold in store for her. then the bridegroom comes in, led by his friends, who carry candles. he is given a veil, which he throws over his bride's head, and then leaves with his friends for the synagogue. "though some parts of the ceremony look ridiculous, yet all is carried out so solemnly that one feels very much impressed. "the bride is then led by two of her relatives or friends, who carry candles, and all the other friends follow them through the streets, some also carrying candles. as there are no carriages to be had in jerusalem, they have sometimes to walk some distance to the synagogue. "the usual bridal canopy is in the synagogue, and they walk round it seven times; then prayers are said, and the glass is broken; mazzeltov is said, and with songs and clapping of hands the bridal pair is led home again. near the home a large bagel is held by a friend, and as the couple cross the threshold it is broken over their heads, and the pieces are distributed among the guests. the bride and bridegroom are then led into a room, and the door is closed for five minutes--i suppose to be sure that they are the right persons, anyhow the bridegroom lifts the bride's veil and gives her the first kiss he has ever given her. (i do not know if she kisses him, for she may be too shy: they will not tell when i ask). "after the five minutes have passed, the bride is led out of the room to a room where the women-guests are assembled, while the bridegroom goes to a room where the men-guests are. the feasting lasts for a few hours in each room. then the bride is led by some of her women friends to the room where the men are, and the bridegroom takes her by the hand and starts dancing; the other guests follow suit. it is amusing to see the old grey-bearded scholars, who, one would think, could not move their legs, dance and rejoice while the lookers-on clap and sing. it is far more exciting than a wedding in london, for it is considered a 'mitzvah' to rejoice with a young bridal couple. "the dancing goes on for some time, the only miserable pair, i expect, are the bride and bridegroom, who generally become very weary of it all, for they started their wedding pilgrimage very early in the morning and had fasted till the feasting began late in the afternoon--i often wonder that they have any energy left in them, poor things, for they cannot retire till late at night. "the next day comes the ceremony of cutting off the bride's hair. the bridegroom's mother hands her a few silk handkerchiefs to be worn on her head on special occasions. sometimes the poor little bride is so young that she cries while her beautiful plaits are being cut off. "at times a quarrel begins between the two mothers: the bride's mother sometimes insisting that her child's hair shall only be cut short and not shaved, and she generally gets her way. "some brides do not mind being shaved, for they like the idea of wearing the pretty coloured silk handkerchiefs. "at nearly every wedding a table is spread for the poor, and i was present at a wedding when more than a hundred poor men came regularly for eight days, and the table was spread as bountifully for them as for the other guests. here in palestine the poor share in the joys of their richer brethren. "when the eight days of festival are over, the young couple usually settle down close by or in one of their parents' homes, who give them a room. a great deal of the happiness of young couples depends on the character of the mother-in-law, for they have the power of making or marring their happiness more than anyone else. "huldah told me that she would have been quite happy in her mother-in-law (for she really was a good kind woman) if only she would more often allow her to talk to her husband, 'and i do so like a talk with him,' she said to me with a sigh, 'for he is so wise. when my mother-in-law sleeps after the sabbath dinner, we go into the next room and we sit talking, and he tells me tales from the talmud, and sometimes reads aloud from it. i do so enjoy those sabbath hours,' she continued, 'for i have only my bedroom which i can call my own, but i am not allowed to be much in it,--the little time i have with my husband each day makes me very happy, for i know he loves me dearly (although he does not say so), for when he comes home his first word is for me,' "'sometimes, when my mother-in-law is in a good temper, she lets us eat out of the same dish, and then he jokingly puts the daintiest bits on my side; often when i wake in the mornings i find pinned to my pillow a few words he has copied from the _song of songs_, put there before leaving for the synagogue.' then huldah added 'after returning himself from the synagogue on sabbath eve, my dear husband always looks at me with a loving smile when he reads that part where it says: ''the price of a virtuous woman is far above rubies, the heart of her husband trusteth in her.' 'yes indeed,' she said, 'thanks be to god--i am a very happy wife, and when god blesses us with children, my cup of joy will be very full.' "and this child-wife of fifteen did indeed look very happy as she spoke--and i, deep down in my heart, thought, 'what would they say to such match-making in england and western europe,' and yet in palestine such marriages arranged by the parents are nearly always happy. "i must close now, your loving millie." when mr jacob had finished reading, some of his young listeners said they thought it was a very foolish way to arrange marriages. one of them remarked: "how could there be any love, if a couple rarely met each other before marriage." another said: "for my part, i would never marry unless i felt sure that i was in love with my husband to-be and that he also was in love with me. love is everything in life, _i_ think." then said a middle-aged lady, much loved and respected by all the listeners: "how often has many a marriage not turned out well, even when as young people a husband and wife had a passionate love for each other. the seed of love may be sown before or after marriage; but, unless carefully cultivated during married life by both husband and wife, through deeds of kindness and thoughtfulness and forbearance and mutual sympathy and understanding, the tender plant may soon wither and die. the old customs of our race, which this letter shows are still kept up in palestine and i believe in other parts where ghetto life still obtains, if they are not carried to extremes, are, i think, very wise; but, unfortunately, our people are very tempted to go to extremes, and a good custom can thus be distorted and brought to ridicule." "true, true," murmured some of the older people. "in all things moderation and balance are safe guides to follow," said mr. jacobs. the next book will be all about millie's love affairs and marriage and her life, impressions, and tribulations in palestine. appendix the celebration of the jubilee of zorach barnett (translated from the _palestine daily mail_ of friday, december nd, ). those who felt stirred to celebrate the jubilee of this illustrious old pioneer did very well indeed. for a young man who leaves all his business enterprises far behind him in london and who migrates to eretz-israel over fifty years ago--at a time when jaffe did not posses even a minyan foreign jews; and at a time when the way from jaffe to jerusalem was a very long and tedious one--aye, a way fraught with all possible dangers, and moreover, teeming with robbers, a journey which lasted three whole days, such a jew is indeed entitled to some mark of appreciation and respect. a jew who has worked for the re-building of our land for over fifty consecutive years in which period he visited the lands of the diaspora fifteen times and all that he did and profited there was afterwards invested in the re-building of eretz-israel such a jew has indeed merited to be praised even during his life-time. a jew who was one of the first to found the colony of petah-tikvah and therefore merited that people in jerusalem should mark him out as an object of derision and scorn because he was a dreamer--a man who built the first house in this petah-tikvah--who was one of the founders of the "me'ah shearim in jerusalem--who constructed perfect roads in jaffe--who founded zionist societies in the lands of the diaspora at a time when zion did not occupy such a foremost part in the heart of the jew--such a jew is indeed worthy that a monument of his splendid achievement be erected for him even during his life-time!" it must, moreover, be mentioned that z. barnett and his wife are one of the remnant of those noble men who participated in that famous assembly of kattovitz--that noble gathering of illustrious men which can be verily described as the aurora as the dawn of the conception of the restoration of the land of israel. the celebration took place on sunday, november th, in the private house of mr. barnett. those who had assembled were many, in fact, there were present representatives of every shade and section of jewish communal life in palestine. thus there came along rabbis of all the various congregations, various jewish communal workers, heads of colonies, teachers, business men and workpeople and even beggars who came to enjoy the material blessings of this great national festivity. mr. joseph lipshitz opened the proceedings by explaining the importance of this great red letter day for mr. barnett and then called upon rabbi auerbach of jerusalem who had come specially to take part in this celebration. rabbi auerbach delivered a long talmudical dissertation in which he recited the great merits of the jubilant. he compared z. barnett to a king, because he based himself on a talmudic statement concerning omri which asserts that he who builds a little town or village is worthy to be called a king. the learned rabbi also emphasised the importance of acquiring land in palestine by many pithy remarks. then spoke the rabbis: joseph ha-levi, shneiur lenskin, joseph arwatz and joseph rabbi. all these testified to the great qualities of their host, who besides being a great idealist was also a very practical man too. after the rabbis, mr. s. nissim, chief of the colony of petah-tikvah spoke. he narrated in a very realistic and eloquent way how that pioneer zorach barnett came fifty years ago to build up the ruins of the land and how he bought up the land of petah-tikvah, which was now a flourishing colony, but which was then a howling desert wilderness, such as only insane men could ever think of converting this into an habitation of men. at the present day, thousands of pioneers are flocking to the land, but they are only a continuation of the pioneering of z. barnett and his stalwart companions. the speaker concluded by blessing the jubilant that he should survive to see thousands of jewish colonies in palestine and tens of thousands of pioneers flocking here from every part of the world. mr. i. adler, chief representative of the council at jaffe, also spoke on this great member of the jewish community at jaffe. such men are really a blessing to the whole of israel; they are not only banim (sons) of the jewish people, but also bonim (builders). many were the letters and telegrams of congratulation received on this occasion from various ranks of jewish representatives in palestine. the private secretary of sir herbert samuel wrote: "i am commanded by his excellency, the high commissioner, to acknowledge your invitation to partake in your celebration of the th inst. his excellency, is, however, restrained from accepting this invitation owing to the various duties which occupy him at present. he sends you his blessing and hopes that all your ambitions will be realised with, the greatest success." the chief rabbi of eretz-israel, rabbi a.i. kook, wrote: "i should very much have wished to be present at the occasion of the jubilee of my dear and respected friend, who first trod upon this holy soil over fifty years ago and who has since then been building up the ruins of our land, but, unfortunately, to my great pain, i am not able to realise this my wish, owing to the present troubled state of the jewish community. please accept my heartiest blessings for a happy old age, in which you may verily see the re-birth of our people and of our land." rabbi rabbinowitz wrote: "i bless our jubilant from the depths of my heart. this occasion is not only a happy one for him, it is also for us. this shows that though the enemies of re-building palestine were, and are still, many, palestine is, nevertheless, steadily but surely being rebuilt." mr. diznoff, in the name of the colony of tel-avis wrote: "on this great occasion, we should like to say, that as you have merited to see that the "howling desert" you have found, you have succeeded in creating into a "garden of eden," thus may you merit to see the flourishing state of the whole of palestine." mr. ephraim blumenfeld wrote: "though i should have very much have liked to be present, yet my present bad state of health does not enable me to do so. this is a happy moment for all lovers of zion. may you merit to see with your own eyes the restoration of israel on its own land." messages and telegrams were also received from the yeshivah me'ah shearim, mr. d. slutskin, from the scholars of the yeshivah "or zoraiah" of jaffa and many synagogues. also from mr. friedenberg of jerusalem, mr. s. tolkovsky, dr. eliash, from the chief rabbi of alexandria, from the "old aged" home in jaffe, from the mizrachi, from rabbi s.l. shapiro of jerusalem, etc., etc. at the request of the host, who is a british subject, a special prayer was offered up for the divine protection of king george the fifth, and also prayers in the name of r. barnett for the health of the high commissioner, the secretary, the leaders of the zionist movement--weitzman, sokolov and usishkin, for the chief rabbis of palestine and for the rabbi sonnenfeld, rabbis diskin, epstein, etc., etc. mr. barnett offered a certain sum in the name of each, and among the numerous institutions to which he contributed were the following: hebrew archaeological society at jerusalem, the building of a synagogue on the site of the old temple wall, the school for the blind, the poor of jaffe, the home for aged jews, etc., etc. mr. barnett was then enrolled in the golden book by those present. great indeed was the honour which r. zorach barnett and his wife received on that day, but they were really worthy of it. may theirs be an example to others! glossary bar cochba. the heroic jewish leader who led the final revolt against the romans in the year a.d. . bar mitzvah. confirmation of a boy at the age of thirteen. bezel. a cake made in the shape of a ring. bikkur-holim. used to denote a hospital. brocha. a blessing or a thanksgiving used on various occasions. challah. white bread shaped as a twist used for the sabbath sanctification. chassid. pietist; a name assumed by a sect of jews mainly in galicia established by "baal shemtob." chazah. a cantor, or synagogue reader. chevra-kadisha. a burial society. cholent. a dish of various vegetables and meat, eaten on the sabbath. chometz. leavened bread. erev. evening. hamantaschen. a triangular cake eaten on purim, shaped according to the hat haman was supposed to have worn. kaftan. a long coat, worn by jews in eastern europe. kiddush. a blessing of sanctification over wine, said at the ushering in of sabbath and of festivals. lag b'omer. the rd day of the seven weeks between passover and pentecost: a students' holiday. mazzeltov. a greeting signifying good luck. meah sheorim. a hundred gates: the name of a suburb of jerusalem. mincha. the afternoon service. mitzvoth. acts of piety. para. a turkish coin of small value. pesach. passover. princess sabbath. a poetical expression, used for welcoming the sabbath. purim. the festival referred to in _the book of esther_. rav. one learned in rabbinical lore. samovar. a tea-urn. schpielers. strolling-players. schtramel. head-gear worn by chassidim. seder. the service on the first two nights of passover. sephardim. jews of spanish or of portuguese origin. shalach manoth. gifts--especially used with reference to distributions on purim (vide _the book of esther_). shalom. peace. shiros. oil made from the sesame seed. shulchan aruch. the jewish religious code; compiled in the middle of the th century and regarded as of high authority. shule. synagogue, derived from the german _schule_ (school). simhath torah. the festival of the law, following the tabernacle festival when the reading of the _pentateuch_ is completed and recommenced amid great rejoicing. strudel. a sweet pudding or cake. succah. the tabernacle used as a dwelling on the feast of tabernacles. tavelt. immersed; used in reference to the ritual bath. torah. the law; specially referring to the mosaic code and its derivatives. tsennah urennah. a jewish german translation of the _pentateuch_, embellished with legends for the use of women. tsitsith. knotted fringes worn by men according to mosaic injunction on tallith or praying-scarf, and also used for a small four-cornered fringed garment worn on the chest, under the coat. yemenites. south-arabian jews. yeshibah. a jewish theological academy. yom kippur. the day of atonement. yomtov. holy-day proofreading team patriarchal palestine by the rev. a.h. sayce professor of assyriology, oxford with a map published under the direction of the tract committee london: society for promoting christian knowledge, northumberland avenue, charing cross, w.c.; , queen victoria street, e.c. brighton: , north street. new york: e. & j.b. young & co. richard clay & sons, limited, london & bungay. [illustration: the chief places mentioned in the books of genesis and exodus] preface a few years ago the subject-matter of the present volume might have been condensed into a few pages. beyond what we would gather from the old testament, we knew but little about the history and geography of canaan before the age of its conquest by the israelites. thanks, however, to the discovery and decipherment of the ancient monuments of babylonia and assyria, of egypt and of palestine, all this is now changed. a flood of light has been poured upon the earlier history of the country and its inhabitants, and though we are still only at the beginning of our discoveries we can already sketch the outlines of canaanitish history, and even fill them in here and there. throughout i have assumed that in the narrative of the pentateuch we have history and not fiction. indeed the archaeologist cannot do otherwise. monumental research is making it clearer every day that the scepticism of the so-called "higher criticism" is not justified in fact. those who would examine the proofs of this must turn to my book on _the higher criticism and the verdict of the monuments_. there i have written purely as an archaeologist, who belongs to no theological school, and consequently readers of the work must see in it merely the irreducible minimum of confidence in the historical trustworthiness of the old testament, with which oriental archaeology can be satisfied. but it is obvious that this irreducible minimum is a good deal less than what a fair-minded historian will admit. the archaeological facts support the traditional rather than the so-called "critical" view of the age and authority of the pentateuch, and tend to show that we have in it not only a historical monument whose statements can be trusted, but also what is substantially a work of the great hebrew legislator himself. for those who "profess and call themselves christians," however, there is another side to the question besides the archaeological. the modern "critical" views in regard to the pentateuch are in violent contradiction to the teaching and belief of the jewish church in the time of our lord, and this teaching and belief has been accepted by christ and his apostles, and inherited by the christian church. it is a teaching and belief which lies at the root of many of the dogmas of the church, and if we are to reject or revise it, we must at the same time reject and revise historical christianity. it is difficult to see how we can call ourselves christians in the sense which the term has borne for the last eighteen hundred years, and at the same time repudiate or modify, in accordance with our individual fancies, the articles of faith which historical christianity has maintained everywhere and at all periods. for those who look beyond the covers of grammars and lexicons, the great practical fact of historical christianity must outweigh all the speculations of individual scholars, however ingenious and elaborate they may be. it is for the individual to harmonize his conclusions with the immemorial doctrine of the church, not for the church to reconcile its teaching with the theories of the individual. christ promised that the spirit of god should guide his apostles and their followers into "all truth," and those who believe the promise cannot also believe that the "spirit of truth" has been at any time a spirit of illusion. oriental archaeology, at all events, is on the side of those who see in the hebrew patriarchs real men of flesh and blood, and who hold that in the narratives of the pentateuch we have historical records many of which go back to the age of the events they describe. each fresh discovery made by the archaeologist yields fresh testimony to the truth of the old testament stories. since the manuscript of the present work was ready for the press, two such discoveries have been made by mr. pinches, to whom oriental archaeology and biblical research are already under such deep obligations, and it has been possible only to glance at them in the text. he has found a broken cuneiform tablet which once gave an account of the reign of khammurabi, the contemporary of chedor-laomer and arioch, of the wars that he carried on, and of the steps by which he rose to the supreme power in babylonia, driving the elamites out of it, overthrowing his rival arioch, and making babylon for the first time the capital of a united kingdom. unfortunately the tablet is much broken, but what is left alludes to his campaigns against elam and rabbatu--perhaps a city of palestine, of his reduction of babylon, and of his successes against eri-aku or arioch of larsa, tudghulla or tidal, the son of gazza ... and kudur-lagamar or chedor-laomer himself. the hebrew text of genesis has thus been verified even to the spelling of the proper names. the other discovery of mr. pinches is still more interesting. the name of ab-ramu or abram had already been found in babylonian contracts of the age of khammurabi; mr. pinches has now found in them the specifically hebrew names of ya'qub-ilu or jacob-el and yasup-ilu or joseph-el. it will be remembered that the names of jacob-el and joseph-el had already been detected among the places in palestine conquered by the egyptian monarch thothmes iii., and it had been accordingly inferred that the full names of the hebrew patriarchs must have been jacob-el and joseph-el. jacob and joseph are abbreviations analogous to jephthah by the side of jiphthah-el (josh. xix. ), of jeshurun by the side of isra-el, or of the egyptian yurahma by the side of the biblical jerahme-el. as is mentioned in a later page, a discovery recently made by prof. flinders petrie has shown that the name of jacob-el was actually borne not only in babylonia, but also in the west. scarabs exist, which he assigns to the period when egypt was ruled by invaders from asia, and on which is written the name of a pharaoh ya'aqub-hal or jacob-el. besides the names of jacob-el and joseph-el, mr. pinches has met with other distinctively hebrew names, like abdiel, in deeds drawn up in the time of the dynasty to which khammurabi belonged. there were therefore hebrews--or at least a hebrew-speaking population--living in babylonia at the period to which the old testament assigns the lifetime of abraham. but this is not all. as i pointed out five years ago, the name of khammurabi himself, like those of the rest of the dynasty of which he was a member, are not babylonian but south arabian. the words with which they are compounded, and the divine names which they contain, do not belong to the assyrian and babylonian language, and there is a cuneiform tablet in which they are given with their assyrian translations. the dynasty must have had close relations with south arabia. this, however, is not the most interesting part of the matter. the names are not south arabian only, they are hebrew as well. that of khammu-rabi, for instance, is compounded with the name of the god 'am, which is written 'ammi in the name of his descendant ammi-zaduqa, and 'am or 'ammi characterizes not only south arabia, but the hebrew-speaking lands as well. we need only mention names like ammi-nadab or ben-ammi in illustration of the fact. equally hebrew and south arabian is _zaduqa_ or _zadoq_; but it was a word unknown to the assyrian language of babylonia. when abraham therefore was born in ur of the chaldees, a dynasty was ruling there which was not of babylonian origin, but belonged to a race which was at once hebrew and south arabian. the contract tablets prove that a population with similar characteristics was living under them in the country. could there be a more remarkable confirmation of the statements which we find in the tenth chapter of genesis? there we read that "unto eber were born two sons: the name of the one was peleg," the ancestor of the hebrews, while the name of the other was joktan, the ancestor of the tribes of south arabia. the parallelism between the biblical account and the latest discovery of archaeological science is thus complete, and makes it impossible to believe that the biblical narrative would have been compiled in palestine at the late date to which our modern "critics" would assign it. all recollection of the facts embodied in it would then have long passed away. even while i write prof. hommel is announcing fresh discoveries which bear on the early history of the book of genesis. cuneiform tablets have turned up from which we gather that centuries before the age of abraham, a king of ur, ine-sin by name, had not only overrun elam, but had also conquered simurru, the zemar of gen. x. , in the land of phoenicia. a daughter of the same king or of one of his immediate successors, was high-priestess both of elam and of markhas or mer'ash in northern syria, while kimas or northern arabia was overrun by the babylonian arms. proofs consequently are multiplying of the intimate relations that existed between babylonia and western asia long before the era of the patriarchs, and we need no longer feel any surprise that abraham should have experienced so little difficulty in migrating into canaan, or that he should have found there the same culture as that which he had left behind in ur. the language and script of babylonia must have been almost as well known to the educated canaanite as to himself, and the records of the patriarchal age would have been preserved in the libraries of canaan down to the time of its conquest by the israelites. perhaps a word or two is needed in explanation of the repetitions which will be found here and there in the following pages. they have been necessitated by the form into which i have been obliged to cast the book. a consecutive history of patriarchal palestine cannot be written at present, if indeed it ever can be, and the subject therefore has to be treated under a series of separate heads. this has sometimes made repetitions unavoidable without a sacrifice of clearness. in conclusion it will be noted, that the name of the people who were associated with the philistines in their wars against egypt and occupation of palestine has been changed from zakkur to zakkal. this has been in consequence of a keen-sighted observation of prof. hommel. he has pointed out that in a babylonian text of the kassite period, the people in question are mentioned under the name of zaqqalu, which settles the reading of the hieroglyphic word. (see the _proceedings_ of the society of biblical archaeology for may .) a.h. sayce. _september_ , . the kings of egypt and babylonia during the patriarchal age. egypt. dynasties xv., xvi., and xvii.--hyksos or shepherd-kings (from manetho). dynasty xv.-- yrs. mths. . salatis reigned . beon, or bnon reigned . apakhnas, or pakhnan reigned . apôphis i reigned . yanias or annas reigned . assis reigned of the sixteenth dynasty nothing is known. of the seventeenth the monuments have given us the names of apôphis ii. (aa-user-ra) and apôphis iii. (aa-ab-tani-ra), in whose reign the war of independence began under the native prince of thebes, and lasted for four generations. dynasty xviii.-- manetho. . neb-pehuti-ra, ahmes (more than amosis. years). . ser-ka-ra, amon-hotep i., his son ( years amenophis i. months.) . aa-kheper-ka-ra, thothmes i., his son, and chebron. queen amen-sit. . aa-kheper-n-ra, thothmes ii., his son, and amensis. wife hatshepsu i. (more than years). . khnum-amon, hatshepsu ii., mâ-ka-ra ... his sister (more than years). . ra-men-kheper, thothmes iii., her brother misaphris. ( years, months, day, from march , b.c. to feb. , b.c. ). . aa-khepru-ra, amon-hotep ii., his son misphragmuthosis. (more than years). . men-khepru-ra, thothmes iv., his son touthmosis. (more than years). . neb-mâ-ra, amon-hotep iii., his son (more amenophis ii. than years), and queen teie. . nefer-khepru-ra, amon-hotep iv., khu-n-aten horos. (also called khuriya), his son (more than years). . ankh-khepru-ra and queen meri-aten. akherres. . tut-ânkh-amon khepru-neb-ra, and queen rathotis. ankh-nes-amon. . aten-ra-nefer-nefru-mer-aten. ... . ai kheper-khepru-ar-mâ-ra, and queen ... thi (more than years). . hor-m-hib mi-amon ser-khepru-ka (more armais. than years). dynasty xix.-- . men-pehuti-ra, ramessu i. (more than years). ramesses. . men-mâ-ra, seti i., mer-n-ptah i. (more than sethos. years), his son. . user-mâ-ra, sotep-n-ra, ramessu ii., mi-amon ... (b.c. - ), his son. . mer-n-ptah ii., hotep-hi-ma ba-n-ra, mi-amon, ammenephthes. his son. . user-khepru-ra, seti ii., mer-n-ptah iii., his sethos ramesses. brother. . amon-mesu hik-an mer-khâ-ra sotep-n-ra, usurper. amenemes. . khu-n-ra sotep-n-ra, mer-n-ptah iv., si-ptah thuoris. (more than years), and queen ta-user. dynasty xx.-- . set-nekht, merer-mi-amon (recovered the kingdom from the phoenician arisu). . ramessu iii., hik-an, his son (more than years). . ramessu iv., hik-mâ mi-amon (more than years). . ramessu v., user-mâ-s-kheper-n-ra mi-amon (more than years). . ramessu vi., neb-mâ-ra mi-amon amon-hir-khopesh-f (ramessu meri-tum, a rival king in northern egypt). . ramessu vii., at-amon user-mâ-ra mi-amon. . ramessu viii., set-hir-khopesh-f mi-amon user-mâ-ra khu-n-amon. . ramessu ix., si-ptah s-khâ-n-ra mi-amon ( years). . ramessu x., nefer-ka-ra mi-amon sotep-n-ra (more than years). . ramessu xi, amon-hir-khopesh-f kheper-mâ-ra sotep-n-ra. . ramessu xii., men-mâ-ra mi-amon sotep-n-ptah khâ-m-uas (more than years). * * * * * dynasty i. of babylon-- . sumu-abi, years, b.c. . . sumu-la-ilu, his son, years. . zabû, his son, years. . abil-sin, his son, years. . sin-muballidh, his son, years. . khammu-rabi, his son, years (at first under the sovereignty of chedor-laomer, the elamite; by the conquest of eri-aku and the elamites he unites babylonia, b.c. ). . samsu-iluna, his son, years. . ebisum, or abi-esukh, his son, years. . ammi-satana, his son, years. . ammi-zaduga, his son, years. . samsu-satana, his son, years. dynasty ii. of uru-azagga, b.c. -- . anman, (or ) years. . ki-nigas, years. . damki-ili-su, years. . iskipal, years. . sussi, his brother, years. . gul-kisar, years. . kirgal-daramas, his son, years. . a-dara-kalama, his son, years. . a-kur-du-ana, years. . melamma-kurkura, years. . bel-ga[mil?], years. dynasty iii., of the kassites, b.c. -- . gandis, or gaddas, years. . agum-sipak, his son, years. . guya-sipak, his son, years. . ussi, his son, years. . adu-medas, ... years. . tazzi-gurumas, ... years. . agum-kak-rimi, his son, ... years. * * * * * (the following order of succession is taken from dr. hilprecht.) . kallimma-sin. . kudur-bel. . sagarakti-buryas, his son. . kuri-galzu i. . kara-indas, . burna-buryas, his nephew, b.c. . . kara-khardas, son of kara-indas. . nazi-bugas, or su-zigas, an usurper. . kuri-galzu ii., son of burna-buryas, . years. . nazi-maruttas, his son, years. . kadasman-turgu, his son, years. . kadasman-burias, his son, years. . gis-amme ti, years. . saga-rakti-suryas years. . kasbat, or bibe-yasu, his son, years. . bel-nadin-sumi, year months. . kadasman-kharbe, year months. . rimmon-nadin-sumi, years. . rimmon-sum-utsur, years (including years of occupation of babylon by the assyrian king, tiglath-ninip). . mile-sipak, years. . merodach-baladan i., his son, years. . zamania-nadin-sunii i., year. . bel-sum-iddin, years. chapter i the land patriarchal palestine! there are some who would tell us that the very name is a misnomer. have we not been assured by the german critics and their english disciples that there were no patriarchs and no patriarchal age? and yet, the critics notwithstanding, the patriarchal age has actually existed. while criticism, so-called, has been busy in demolishing the records of the pentateuch, archaeology, by the spade of the excavator and the patient skill of the decipherer, has been equally busy in restoring their credit. and the monuments of the past are a more solid argument than the guesses and prepossessions of the modern theorist. the clay tablet and inscribed stone are better witnesses to the truth than literary tact or critical scepticism. that moses and his contemporaries could neither read nor write may have been proved to demonstration by the critic; yet nevertheless we now know, thanks to archaeological discovery, that it would have been a miracle if the critic were right. the pentateuch is, after all, what it professes to be, and the records it contains are history and not romance. the question of its authenticity involves issues more serious and important than those which have to do merely with history or archaeology. we are sometimes told indeed, in all honesty of purpose, that it is a question of purely literary interest, without influence on our theological faith. but the whole fabric of the jewish church in the time of our lord was based upon the belief that the law of moses came from god, and that this god "is not a man that he should lie." and the belief of the jewish church was handed on to the christian church along with all its consequences. to revise that belief is to revise the dogmas of the christian church as they have been held for the last eighteen centuries; to reject it utterly is to reject the primary document of the faith into which we have been baptized. it is not, however, with theological matters that we are now concerned. patriarchal palestine is for us the palestine of the patriarchal age, as it has been disclosed by archaeological research, not the palestine in which the revelation of god's will to man was to be made. it is sufficient for us that the patriarchal age has been shown by modern discovery to be a fact, and that in the narratives of the book of genesis we have authentic records of the past. there was indeed a patriarchal palestine, and the glimpses of it that we get in the old testament have been illustrated and supplemented by the ancient monuments of the oriental world. whether the name of palestine can be applied to the country with strict accuracy at this early period is a different question. palestine is philistia, the land of the philistines, and the introduction of the name was subsequent to the settlement of the philistines in canaan and the era of their victories over israel. as we shall see later on, it is probable that they did not reach the canaanitish coast until the patriarchal age was almost, if not entirely, past their name does not occur in the cuneiform correspondence which was carried on between canaan and egypt in the century before the exodus, and they are first heard of as forming part of that great confederacy of northern tribes which attacked egypt and canaan in the days of moses. but, though the term canaan would doubtless be more correct than palestine, the latter has become so purely geographical in meaning that we can employ it without reference to history or date. its signification is too familiar to cause mistakes, and it can therefore be used proleptically, just as the name of the philistines themselves is used proleptically in the twenty-first chapter of genesis. abimelech was king of a people who inhabited the same part of the country as the philistines in later times, and were thus their earlier representatives. the term "palestine" then is used geographically without any reference to its historical origin. it denotes the country which is known as canaan in the old testament, which was promised to abraham and conquered by his descendants. it is the land in which david ruled and in which christ was born, where the prophets prepared the way for the gospel and the christian church was founded. shut in between the desert of arabia and the mediterranean sea on the east and west, it is a narrow strip of territory, for the most part mountainous, rugged, and barren. northward the lebanon and anti-lebanon come to meet it from syria, the anti-lebanon culminating in the lofty peaks and precipitous ravines of mount hermon ( feet above the level of the sea), while lebanon runs southward till it juts out into the sea in its sacred headland of carmel. the fertile plain of esdraelon or megiddo separates the mountains of the north from those of the south. these last form a broken plateau between the jordan and the dead sea on the one side and the plain of sharon and the sea-coast of the philistines on the other, until they finally slope away into the arid desert of the south. here, on the borders of the wilderness, was beersheba the southern limit of the land in the days of the monarchy, dan, its northern limit, lying far away to the north at the foot of hermon, and not far from the sources of the jordan. granite and gneiss, overlaid with hard dark sandstone and masses of secondary limestone, form as it were the skeleton of the country. here and there, at carmel and gerizim, patches of the tertiary nummulite of egypt make their appearance, and in the plains of megiddo and the coast, as well as in the "ghor" or valley of the jordan, there is rich alluvial soil. but elsewhere all is barren or nearly so, cultivation being possible only by terracing the cliffs, and bringing the soil up to them from the plains below with slow and painful labour. it has often been said that palestine was more widely cultivated in ancient times than it is to-day. but if so, this was only because a larger area of the cultivable ground was tilled. the plains of the coast, which are now given over to malaria and beduin thieves, were doubtless thickly populated and well sown. but of ground actually fit for cultivation there could not have been a larger amount than there is at present. it was not in any way a well-wooded land. on the slopes of the lebanon and of carmel, it is true, there were forests of cedar-trees, a few of which still survive, and the assyrian kings more than once speak of cutting them down or using them in their buildings at nineveh. but south of the lebanon forest trees were scarce; the terebinth was so unfamiliar a sight in the landscape as to become an object of worship or a road-side mark. even the palm grew only on the sea-coast or in the valley of the jordan, and the tamarisk and sycamore were hardly more than shrubs. nevertheless when the israelites first entered canaan, it was in truth a land "flowing with milk and honey." goats abounded on the hills, and the bee of palestine, though fierce, is still famous for its honey-producing powers. the perizzites or "fellahin" industriously tilled the fields, and high-walled cities stood on the mountain as well as on the plain. the highlands, however, were deficient in water. a few streams fall into the sea south of carmel, but except in the spring, when they have been swollen by the rains, there is but little water in them. the kishon, which irrigates the plain of megiddo, is a more important river, but it too is little more than a mountain stream. in fact, the jordan is the only river in the true sense of the word which palestine possesses. rising to the north of the waters of merom, now called lake hûleh, it flows first into the lake of tiberias, and then through a long deep valley into the dead sea. here at a depth of feet below the level of the sea it is swallowed up and lost; the sea has no outlet, and parts with its stagnant waters through evaporation alone. the evaporation has made it intensely salt, and its shores are consequently for the most part the picture of death. in the valley of the jordan, on the other hand, vegetation is as luxuriant and tropical as in the forests of brazil. through a dense undergrowth of canes and shrubs the river forces its way, rushing forward towards its final gulf of extinction with a fall of feet since it left the lake of tiberias. but the distance thus travelled by it is long in comparison with its earlier fall of feet between lake hûleh and the sea of galilee. here it has cut its way through a deep gorge, the cliffs of which rise up almost sheer on either side. the jordan has taken its name from its rapid fall. the word comes from a root which signifies "to descend," and the name itself means "the down-flowing." we can trace it back to the egyptian monuments of the nineteenth and twentieth dynasties. ramses ii., the pharaoh of the oppression, has inscribed it on the walls of karnak, and ramses iii., who must have reigned while the israelites were still in the wilderness, enumerates the "yordan" at medînet habu among his conquests in palestine. in both cases it is associated with "the lake of rethpana," which must accordingly be the egyptian name of the dead sea. rethpana might correspond with a hebrew reshphôn, a derivative from resheph, the god of fire. canaanite mythology makes the sparks his "children" (job v. ) and it may be, therefore, that in this old name of the dead sea we have a reference to the overthrow of the cities of the plain. eastward of the dead sea and the jordan the country is again mountainous and bare. here were the territories of reuben and gad, and the half-tribe of manasseh; here also were the kingdoms of moab and ammon, of bashan and the amorites. here too was the land of gilead, south of the lake of tiberias and north of the dead sea. we can read the name of muab or moab on the base of the second of the six colossal statues which ramses ii. erected in front of the northern pylon of the temple of luxor. it is there included among his conquests. the statue is the only egyptian monument on which the name has hitherto been found. but this single mention is sufficient to guarantee its antiquity, and to prove that in the days before the exodus it was already well known in egypt. to the north of moab came the kingdom of ammon, or the children of ammi. the name of ammon was a derivative from that of the god ammi or ammo, who seems to have been regarded as the ancestor of the nation, and "the father of the children of ammon" was accordingly called ben-ammi, "the son of ammi" (gen. xix. ). far away in the north, close to the junction of the rivers euphrates and sajur, and but a few miles to the south of the hittite stronghold of carchemish, the worship of the same god seems to have been known to the aramaean tribes. it was here that pethor stood, according to the assyrian inscriptions, and it was from pethor that the seer balaam came to moab to curse the children of israel. pethor, we are told, was "by the river (euphrates) of the land of the children of ammo," where the word represents a proper name (num. xxii. ). to translate it "his people," as is done by the authorized version, makes no sense. on the assyrian monuments ammon is sometimes spoken of as beth-ammon, "the house of ammon," as if ammon had been a living man. like moab, ammon was a region of limestone mountains and barren cliffs. but there were fertile fields on the banks of the jabbok, the sources of which rose not far from the capital rabbath. north of gilead and the yarmuk was the volcanic plateau of bashan, ziri-basana, or "the plain of bashan," as it is termed in the cuneiform tablets of tel el-amarna. its western slope towards the lakes of merom and tiberias was known as golan (now jolân); its eastern plateau of metallic lava was argob, "the stony" (now el lejja). bashan was included in the haurân, the name of which we first meet with on the monuments of the assyrian king assur-bani-pal. to the north it was bounded by ituraea, so named from jetur, the son of ishmael (gen. xxv. ), the road through ituraea (the modern jedur) leading to damascus and its well-watered plain. the gardens of damascus lie feet above the sea. in the summer the air is cooled by the mountain breezes; in the winter the snow sometimes lies upon the surface of the land. westward the view is closed by the white peaks of anti-lebanon and hermon; eastward the eye wanders over a green plain covered with the mounds of old towns and villages, and intersected by the clear and rapid streams of the abana and pharphar. but the abana has now become the barada, or "cold one," while the pharphar is the nahr el-awaj. the damascus of to-day stands on the site of the city from which st. paul escaped, and "the street which is called straight" can still be traced by its line of roman columns. but it is doubtful whether the damascus of the new testament and of to-day is the same as the damascus of the old testament. where the walls of the city have been exposed to view, we see that their greek foundations rest on the virgin soil; no remains of an earlier period lie beneath them. it may be, therefore, that the damascus of ben-hadad and hazael is marked rather by one of the mounds in the plain than by the modern town. in one of these the stone statue of a man, in the assyrian style, was discovered a few years ago. an ancient road leads from the peach-orchards of damascus, along the banks of the abana and over anti-lebanon, to the ruins of the temple of the sun-god at baalbek. the temple as we see it is of the age of the antonines, but it occupies the place of one which stood in heliopolis, the city of the sun-god, from immemorial antiquity. relics of an older epoch still exist in the blocks of stone of colossal size which serve as the foundation of the western wall. their bevelling reminds us of phoenician work. baalbek was the sacred city of the bek'a, or "cleft" formed between lebanon and anti-lebanon by the gorge through which the river litâny rushes down to the sea. once and once only is it referred to in the old testament. amos (i. ) declares that the lord "will break the bar of damascus and cut off the inhabitant from bikath-on"--the bek'a of on. the name of on reminds us that the heliopolis of egypt, the city of the egyptian sun-god, was also called on, and the question arises whether the name and worship of the on of syria were not derived from the on of egypt. for nearly two centuries syria was an egyptian province, and the priests of on in egypt may well have established themselves in the "cleft" valley of coele-syria. from baalbek, the city of "baal of the bek'a," the traveller makes his way across lebanon, and under the snows of jebel sannîn--nearly feet in height--to the old phoenician city of beyrout. beyrout is already mentioned in the cuneiform tablets of tel el-amarna under the name of beruta or beruna, "the cisterns." it was already a seaport of phoenicia, and a halting-place on the high road that ran along the coast. the coastland was known to the greeks and romans as phoenicia, "the land of the palm." but its own inhabitants called it canaan, "the lowlands." it included not only the fringe of cultivated land by the sea-shore, but the western slopes of the lebanon as well. phoenician colonies and outposts had been planted inland, far away from the coast, as at laish, the future dan, where "the people dwelt careless," though "they were far away from the sidonians," or at zemar (the modern sumra) and arka (still called by the same name). the territory of the phoenicians stretched southward as far as dor (now tanturah), where it met the advance guard of the philistines. such was palestine, the promised home of israel. it was a land of rugged and picturesque mountains, interspersed with a few tracts of fertile country, shut in between the sea and the ravine of the jordan, and falling away into the waterless desert of the south. it was, too, a land of small extent, hardly more than one hundred and sixty miles in length and sixty miles in width. and even this amount of territory was possessed by the israelites only during the reigns of david and solomon. the sea-coast with its harbours was in the hands of the phoenicians and the philistines, and though the philistines at one time owned an unwilling allegiance to the jewish king, the phoenicians preserved their independence, and even solomon had to find harbours for his merchantmen, not on the coast of his own native kingdom, but in the distant edomite ports of eloth and ezion-geber, in the gulf of aqabah. with the loss of edom judah ceased to have a foreign trade. the negeb, or desert of the south, was then, what it still is, the haunt of robbers and marauders. the beduin of to-day are the amalekites of old testament history; and then, as now, they infested the southern frontier of judah, wasting and robbing the fields of the husbandman, and allying themselves with every invader who came from the south, saul, indeed, punished them, as romans and turks have punished them since; but the lesson is remembered only for a short while: when the strong hand is removed, the "sons of the desert" return again like the locusts to their prey. it is true that the beduin now range over the loamy plains and encamp among the marshes of lake hûleh, where in happier times their presence was unknown. but this is the result of a weak and corrupt government, added to the depopulation of the lowlands. there are traces even in the old testament that in periods of anarchy and confusion the amalekites penetrated far into the country in a similar fashion. in the song of deborah and barak ephraim is said to have contended against them, and accordingly "pirathon in the land of ephraim" is described as being "in the mount of the amalekites" (judges xii. ). in the cuneiform tablets of tel el-amarna, too, there is frequent mention of the "plunderers" by whom the beduin, the shasu of the egyptian texts, must be meant, and who seem to have been generally ready at hand to assist a rebellious vassal or take part in a civil feud. lebanon, the "white" mountain, took its name from its cliffs of glistening limestone. in the early days of canaan it was believed to be the habitation of the gods, and phoenician inscriptions exist dedicated to baal-lebanon, "the baal of lebanon." he was the special form of the sun-god whose seat was in the mountain-ranges that shut in phoenicia on the east, and whose spirit was supposed to dwell in some mysterious way in the mountains themselves. but there were certain peaks which lifted themselves up prominently to heaven, and in which consequently the sanctity of the whole range was as it were concentrated. it was upon their summits that the worshipper felt himself peculiarly near the god of heaven, and where therefore the altar was built and the sacrifice performed. one of these peaks was hermon, "the consecrated," whose name the greeks changed into harmonia, the wife of agenor the phoenician. from its top we can see palestine spread as it were before us, and stretching southwards to the mountains of judah. the walls of the temple, which in greek times took the place of the primitive altar, can still be traced there, and on its slopes, or perched above its ravines, are the ruins of other temples of baal--at dêr el-'ashair, at rakleh, at ain hersha, at rashêyat el-fukhâr--all pointing towards the central sanctuary on the summit of the mountain. the name of hermon, "the consecrated," was but an epithet, and the mountain had other and more special names of its own. the sidonians, we are told (deut. iii. ), called it sirion, and another of its titles was sion (deut. iv. ), unless indeed this is a corrupt reading for sirion. its amorite name was shenir (deut. iii. ), which appears as saniru in an assyrian inscription, and goes back to the earliest dawn of history. when the babylonians first began to make expeditions against the west, long before the birth of abraham, the name of sanir was already known. it was then used to denote the whole of syria, so that its restriction to mount hermon alone must have been of later date. another holy peak was carmel, "the fruitful field," or perhaps originally "the domain of the god." it was in mount carmel that the mountain ranges of the north ended finally, and the altar on its summit could be seen from afar by the phoenician sailors. here the priests of baal called in vain upon their god that he might send them rain, and here was "the altar of the lord" which elijah repaired. the mountains of the south present no striking peak or headland like hermon and carmel. even tabor belongs to the north. ebal and gerizim alone, above shechem, stand out among their fellows, and were venerated as the abodes of deity from the earliest times. the temple-hill at jerusalem owed its sanctity rather to the city within the boundaries of which it stood than to its own character. in fact, the neighbouring height of zion towered above it. the mountains of the south were rather highlands than lofty chains and isolated peaks. but on this very account they played an important part in the history of the world. they were not too high to be habitable; they were high enough to protect their inhabitants against invasion and war. "mount ephraim," the block of mountainous land of which shechem and samaria formed the centre, and at the southern extremity of which the sacred city of shiloh stood, was the natural nucleus of a kingdom, like the southern block of which hebron and jerusalem were similarly the capitals. here there were valleys and uplands in which sufficient food could be grown for the needs of the population, while the cities with their thick and lofty walls were strongholds difficult to approach and still more difficult to capture. the climate was bracing, though the winters were cold, and it reared a race of hardy warriors and industrious agriculturists. the want of water was the only difficulty; in most cases the people were dependent on rain-water, which they preserved in cisterns cut out of the rock. this block of southern mountains was the first and latest stronghold of israel. it constituted, in fact, the kingdoms of samaria and judah. out of it, at shechem, came the first attempt to found a monarchy in israel, and thus unite the israelitish tribes; out of it also came the second and more successful attempt under saul the benjamite and david the jew. the israelites never succeeded in establishing themselves on the sea-coast, and their possession of the plain of megiddo and the southern slopes of the lebanon was a source of weakness and not of strength. it led eventually to the overthrow of the kingdom of samaria. the northern tribes in galilee were absorbed by the older population, and their country became "galilee of the gentiles," rather than an integral part of israel. the plain of megiddo was long held by the canaanites, and up to the last was exposed to invasion from the sea-coast. it was, in fact, the battle-field of palestine. the army of the invader or the conqueror marched along the edge of the sea, not through the rugged paths and dangerous defiles of the mountainous interior, and the plain of megiddo was the pass which led them into its midst. the possession of the plain cut off the mountaineers of the north from their brethren in the south, and opened the way into the heart of the mountains themselves. but to possess the plain was also to possess chariots and horsemen, and a large and disciplined force. the guerilla warfare of the mountaineer was here of no avail. success lay on the side of the more numerous legions and the wealthier state, on the side of the assailant and not of the assailed. herein lay the advantage of the kingdom of judah. it was a compact state, with no level plain to defend, no outlying territories to protect. its capital stood high upon the mountains, strongly fortified by nature and difficult of access. while samaria fell hopelessly and easily before the armies of assyria, jerusalem witnessed the fall of nineveh itself. what was true of the later days of israelitish history was equally true of the age of the patriarchs. the strength of palestine lay in its southern highlands; whoever gained possession of these was master of the whole country, and the road lay open before him to sinai and egypt. but to gain possession of them was the difficulty, and campaign after campaign was needed before they could be reduced to quiet submission. in the time of the eighteenth egyptian dynasty jerusalem was already the key to southern palestine. geographically, palestine was thus a country of twofold character, and its population was necessarily twofold as well. it was a land of mountain and plain, of broken highlands and rocky sea-coast. its people were partly mountaineers, active, patriotic, and poor, with a tendency to asceticism; partly a nation of sailors and merchants, industrious, wealthy, and luxurious, with no sense of country or unity, and accounting riches the supreme end of life. on the one hand, it gave the world its first lessons in maritime exploration and trade; on the other it has been the religious teacher of mankind. in both respects its geographical position has aided the work of its people. situated midway between the two great empires of the ancient oriental world, it was at once the high road and the meeting-place of the civilizations of egypt and babylonia. long before abraham migrated to canaan it had been deeply interpenetrated by babylonian culture and religious ideas, and long before the exodus it had become an egyptian province. it barred the way to egypt for the invader from asia; it protected asia from egyptian assault. the trade of the world passed through it and met in it; the merchants of egypt and ethiopia could traffic in palestine with the traders of babylonia and the far east. it was destined by nature to be a land of commerce and trade. and yet while thus forming a highway from the civilization of the euphrates to that of the nile, palestine was too narrow a strip of country to become itself a formidable kingdom. the empire of david scarcely lasted for more than a single generation, and was due to the weakness at the same time of both egypt and assyria. with the arabian desert on the one side and the mediterranean on the other, it was impossible for canaan to develop into a great state. its rocks and mountains might produce a race of hardy warriors and energetic thinkers, but they could not create a rich and populous community. the phoenicians on the coast were driven towards the sea, and had to seek in maritime enterprise the food and wealth which their own land refused to grant. palestine was essentially formed to be the appropriator and carrier of the ideas and culture of others, not to be itself their origin and creator. but when the ideas had once been brought to it they were modified and combined, improved and generalized in a way that made them capable of universal acceptance. phoenician art is in no way original; its elements have been drawn partly from babylonia, partly from egypt; but their combination was the work of the phoenicians, and it was just this combination which became the heritage of civilized man. the religion of israel came from the wilderness, from the heights of sinai, and the palm-grove of kadesh, but it was in palestine that it took shape and developed, until in the fullness of time the messiah was born. out of canaan have come the prophets and the gospel, but the law which lay behind them was brought from elsewhere. chapter ii the people in the days of abraham, chedor-laomer, king of elam and lord over the kings of babylonia, marched westward with his babylonian allies, in order to punish his rebellious subjects in canaan. the invading army entered palestine from the eastern side of the jordan. instead of marching along the sea-coast, it took the line of the valley of the jordan. it first attacked the plateau of bashan, and then smote "the rephaim in ashteroth karnaim, and the zuzim in ham, and the emim in the plain of kiriathaim." then it passed into mount seir, and subjugated the horites as far as el-paran "by the wilderness." thence it turned northward again through the oasis of en-mishpat or kadesh-barnea, and after smiting the amalekite beduin, as well as the amorites in hazezon-tamar, made its way into the vale of siddim. there the battle took place which ended in the defeat of the king of sodom and his allies, who were carried away captive to the north. but at hobah, "on the left hand of damascus," the invaders were overtaken by "abram the hebrew," who dwelt with his amorite confederates in the plain of mamre, and the spoil they had seized was recovered from them. the narrative gives us a picture of the geography and ethnology of palestine as it was at the beginning of the patriarchal age. before that age was over it had altered very materially; the old cities for the most part still remained, but new races had taken the place of the older ones, new kingdoms had arisen, and the earlier landmarks had been displaced. the amalekite alone continued what he had always been, the untamable nomad of the southern desert. rephaim or "giants" was a general epithet applied to the prehistoric population of the country. og, king of bashan in the time of the exodus, was "of the remnant of the rephaim" (deut. iii. ); but so also were the anakim in hebron, the emim in moab, and the zamzummim in ammon (deut. ii. , ). doubtless they represented a tall race in comparison with the hebrews and arabs of the desert; and the israelitish spies described themselves as grasshoppers by the side of them (numb. xiii. ). it is possible, however, that the name was really an ethnic one, which had only an accidental similarity in sound to the hebrew word for "giants." at all events, in the list of conquered canaanitish towns which the pharaoh thothmes iii. of egypt caused to be engraved on the walls of karnak, the name of astartu or ashteroth karnaim is followed by that of anaurepâ, in which mr. tomkins proposes to see on-repha, "on of the giant(s)." in the close neighbourhood in classical days stood raphôn or raphana, arpha of the dekapolis, now called er-râfeh, and in raphôn it is difficult not to discern a reminiscence of the rephaim of genesis. did these rephaim belong to the same race as the emim and the anakim, or were the latter called rephaim or "giants" merely because they represented the tall prehistoric population of canaan? the question can be more easily asked than answered. we know from the book of genesis that amorites as well as hittites lived at hebron, or in its immediate vicinity. abram dwelt in the plain of mamre along with three amorite chieftains, and hoham, king of hebron, who fought against joshua, is accounted among the amorites (josh. x. ). the anakim may therefore have been an amorite tribe. they held themselves to be the descendants of anak, an ancient canaanite god, whose female counterpart was the phoenician goddess onka. but, on the other hand, the amorites at hebron may have been intruders; we know that hebron was peculiarly a hittite city, and it is at mamre rather than at hebron that the amorite confederates of abram had their home. it is equally possible that the anakim themselves may have been the stranger element; we hear nothing about them in the days of the patriarchs, and it is only when the israelites prepare to enter canaan that they first make their appearance upon the stage. og, king of bashan, however, was an amorite; of this we are assured in the book of deuteronomy (iii. ), and it is further said of him that he only "remained of the remnant of the rephaim." the expression is a noticeable one, as it implies that the older population had been for the most part driven out. and such, in fact, was the case. at rabbath, the capital of ammon, the basalt sarcophagus of the last king of bashan was preserved; but the king and his people had alike perished. ammonites and israelites had taken their place. the children of ammon had taken possession of the land once owned by the zamzummim (deut. ii. ). the latter are called zuzim in the narrative of genesis, and they are said to have dwelt in ham. but zuzim and ham are merely faulty transcriptions from a cuneiform text of the hebrew zamzummim and ammon, and the same people are meant both in genesis and in deuteronomy. in deuteronomy also the emim are mentioned, and their geographical position defined. they were the predecessors of the moabites, and like the zamzummim, "a people great and many and tall," whom the moabites expelled doubtless at the same time as that at which the ammonites conquered the zamzummim. the "plain of kiriathaim," or "the two cities," must have lain south of the arnon, where ar and kir haraseth were built. south of the emim, in the rose-red mountains of seir, afterwards occupied by the edomites, came the horites, whose name is generally supposed to be derived from a hebrew word signifying "a cave." they have therefore been regarded as troglodytes, or cave-dwellers, a savage race of men who possessed neither houses nor settled home. but it is quite possible to connect the name with another word which means "white," and to see in them the representatives of a white race. the name of hor is associated with beth-lehem, and caleb, of the edomite tribe of kenaz, is called "the son of hur" ( chron. ii. , iv. ). there is no reason for believing that cave-dwellers ever existed in that part of palestine. the discovery of the site of kadesh-barnea is due in the first instance to dr. rowlands, secondly to the archaeological skill of dr. clay trumbull. it is still known as 'ain qadîs, "the spring of qadis," and lies hidden within the block of mountains which rise in the southern desert about midway between mount seir and the mediterranean sea. the water still gushes out of the rock, fresh and clear, and nourishes the oasis that surrounds it. it has been marked out by nature to be a meeting-place and "sanctuary" of the desert tribes. its central position, its security from sudden attack, and its abundant supply of water all combined to make it the en-mishpat or "spring of judgment," where cases were tried and laws enacted. it was here that the israelites lingered year after year during their wanderings in the wilderness, and it was from hence that the spies were sent out to explore the promised land. in those days the mountains which encircled it were known as "the mountains of the amorites" (deut. i. , ). in the age of the babylonian invasion, however, the amorites had not advanced so far to the south. they were as yet only at hazezon-tamar, the "palm-grove" on the western shore of the dead sea, which a later generation called en-gedi ( chron. xx. ). en-mishpat was still in the hands of the amalekites, the lords of "all the country" round about. the amalekites had not as yet intermingled with the ishmaelites, and their beduin blood was still pure. they were the shasu or "plunderers" of the egyptian inscriptions, sometimes also termed the sitti, the sute of the cuneiform texts. like their modern descendants, they lived by the plunder of their more peaceful neighbours. as was prophesied of ishmael, so could it have been prophesied of the amalekites, that their "hand should be against every man, and every man's hand against" them. they were the wild offspring of the wilderness, and accounted the first-born of mankind (numb. xxiv. ). from en-mishpat the babylonian forces marched northward along the western edge of the dead sea. leaving jerusalem on their left, they descended into the vale of siddim, where they found themselves in the valley of the jordan, and consequently in the land of the canaanites. as we are told in the book of numbers (xiii. ), while "the amalekites dwell in the land of the south, and the hittites and the jebusites and amorites dwell in the mountains, the canaanites dwell by the sea and by the coast of jordan." the word canaan, as we have seen, meant "the lowlands," and appears sometimes in a longer, sometimes in a shorter form. the shorter form is written khna by the greeks: in the tel el-amarna tablets it is kinakhkhi, while canaan, the longer form, is kinakhna. it is this longer form which alone appears in the hieroglyphic texts. here we read how seti i. destroyed the shasu or amalekites from the eastern frontier of egypt to "the land of kana'an," and captured their fortress of the same name which major conder has identified with khurbet kan'an near hebron. it was also the longer form which was preserved among the israelites as well as among the phoenicians, the original inhabitants of the sea-coast. coins of laodicea, on the orontes, bear the inscription, "laodicea a metropolis in canaan," and st. augustine states that in his time the carthaginian peasantry of northern africa, if questioned as to their descent, still answered that they were "canaanites." (_exp. epist. ad rom._ .) in course of time the geographical signification of the name came to be widely extended beyond its original limits. just as philistia, the district of the philistines, became the comprehensive palestine, so canaan, the land of the canaanites of the coast and the valley, came to denote the whole of the country between the jordan and the sea. it is already used in this sense in the cuneiform correspondence of tel el-amarna. already in the century before the exodus kinakhna or canaan represented pretty nearly all that we now mean by "palestine." it was in fact the country to the south of "the land of the amorites," and "the land of the amorites" lay immediately to the north of the waters of merom. in the geographical table in the tenth chapter of genesis canaan is stated to be the son of ham and the brother of mizraim or egypt. the statement indicates the age to which the account must go back. there was only one period of history in which canaan could be geographically described as a brother of egypt, and that was the period of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties, when for a while it was a province of the pharaohs. at no other time was it closely connected with the sons of ham. at an earlier epoch its relations had been with babylonia rather than with the valley of the nile, and with the fall of the nineteenth dynasty the asiatic empire of egypt came finally to an end. the city of sidon, we are further told, was the first-born of canaan. it claimed to be the oldest of the phoenician cities in the "lowlands" of the coast. it had grown out of an assemblage of "fishermen's" huts, and said the god of the fishermen continued to preside over it to the last. the fishermen became in time sailors and merchant-princes, and the fish for which they sought was the murex with its precious purple dye. tyre, the city of the "rock," which in later days disputed the supremacy over phoenicia with sidon, was of younger foundation. herodotus was told that the great temple of baal melkarth, "the city's king," which he saw there, had been built twenty-three centuries before his visit. but sidon was still older, older even than gebal, the sacred city of the goddess baaltis. the wider extension of the name of canaan brought with it other geographical relationships besides those of the sea-coast. hittites and amorites, jebusites and girgashites, hivites and the peoples of the southern lebanon, were all settled within the limits of the larger canaan, and were therefore accounted his sons. even hamath claimed the right to be included in the brotherhood. it is said with truth that "afterwards were the families of the canaanites spread abroad." hittites and amorites were interlocked both in the north and in the south. kadesh, on the orontes, the southern stronghold of the hittite kingdom of the north, was, as the egyptian records tell us, in the land of the amorites; while in the south hittites and amorites were mingled together at hebron, and ezekiel (xvi. ) declares that jerusalem had a double parentage: its birth was in the land of canaan, but its father was an amorite and its mother a hittite. modern research, however, has shown that hittites and amorites were races widely separated in character and origin. about the hittites we hear a good deal both in the hieroglyphic and in the cuneiform inscriptions. the khata of the egyptian texts were the most formidable power of western asia with whom the egyptians of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties had to deal. they were tribes of mountaineers from the ranges of the taurus who had descended on the plains of syria and established themselves there in the midst of an aramaic population. carchemish on the euphrates became one of their syrian capitals, commanding the high-road of commerce and war from east to west. thothmes iii., the conqueror of western asia, boasts of the gifts he received from "the land of khata the greater," so called, it would seem, to distinguish it from another and lesser land of khata--that of the hittites of the south. the cuneiform tablets of tel el-amarna, in the closing days of the eighteenth dynasty, represent the hittites as advancing steadily southward and menacing the syrian possessions of the pharaoh. disaffected amorites and canaanites looked to them for help, and eventually "the land of the amorites" to the north of palestine fell into their possession. when the first pharaohs of the nineteenth dynasty attempted to recover the egyptian empire in asia, they found themselves confronted by the most formidable of antagonists. against kadesh and "the great king of the hittites" the egyptian forces were driven in vain, and after twenty years of warfare ramses ii., the pharaoh of the oppression, was fain to consent to peace. a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, was drawn up between the two rivals, and egypt was henceforth compelled to treat with the hittites on equal terms. the khattâ or khatâ of the assyrian inscriptions are already a decaying power. they are broken into a number of separate states or kingdoms, of which carchemish is the richest and most important. they are in fact in retreat towards those mountains of asia minor from which they had originally issued forth. but they still hold their ground in syria for a long while. there were hittites at kadesh in the reign of david. hittite kings could lend their services to israel in the age of elisha ( kings vii. ), and it was not till b.c. that carchemish was captured by sargon of assyria, and the trade which passed through it diverted to nineveh. but when the assyrians first became acquainted with the coastland of the mediterranean, the hittites were to such an extent the ruling race there that they gave their name to the whole district. like "palestine," or "canaan," the term "land of the hittites" came to denote among the assyrians, not only northern syria and the lebanon, but southern syria as well. even ahab of israel and baasha the ammonite are included by shalmaneser ii. among its kings. this extended use of the name among the assyrians is illustrated by the existence of a hittite tribe at hebron in the extreme south of palestine. various attempts have been made to get rid of the latter by unbelieving critics, but the statements of genesis are corroborated by ezekiel's account of the foundation of jerusalem. they are, moreover, in full harmony with the monumental records. as we have seen, thothmes iii. implies that already in his day there was a second and smaller land of the hittites, and the great babylonian work on astronomy contains references to the hittites which appear to go back to early days. assyrian and babylonian texts are not the only cuneiform records which make mention of the "khata" or hittites. their name is found also on the monuments of the kings of ararat or armenia who reigned in the ninth and eighth centuries before our era, and who had borrowed from nineveh the cuneiform system of writing. but the khata of these vannic or armenian texts lived considerably to the north of the hittites of the bible and of the egyptian and assyrian monuments. the country they inhabited lay in eastern asia minor in the neighbourhood of the modern malatiyeh. here, in fact, was their original home. thanks to the egyptian artists, we are well acquainted with the hittite physical type. it was not handsome. the nose was unduly protrusive, while the chin and the forehead retreated. the cheeks were square with prominent bones, and the face was beardless. in colour the hittites were yellow-skinned with black hair and eyes. they seem to have worn their hair in three long plaits which fell over the back like the pigtail of a chinaman, and they were distinguished by the use of boots with upturned toes. we might perhaps imagine that the egyptian artists have caricatured their adversaries. but this is not the case. precisely the same profile of face, sometimes even exaggerated in its ugliness, is represented on the hittite monuments by the native sculptors themselves. it is one of the surest proofs we possess that these monuments, with their still undeciphered inscriptions, are of hittite origin. they belong to the people whom israelites, egyptians, assyrians, and armenians united in calling hittites. in marked contrast to the hittites stood the amorites. they too are depicted on the walls of the egyptian temples and tombs. while the hittite type of features is mongoloid, that of the amorite is european. his nose is straight and somewhat pointed, his lips and nostrils thin, his cheek-bones high, his mouth firm and regular, his forehead expressive of intelligence. he has a fair amount of whisker, ending in a pointed beard. at abu-simbel the skin is painted a pale yellow--the egyptian equivalent for white--his eyes blue, and his beard and eyebrows red. at medînet habu, his skin, as prof. petrie expresses it, is "rather pinker than flesh-colour," while in a tomb of the eighteenth dynasty at thebes it is painted white, the eyes and hair being a light red-brown. the amorite, it is clear, must be classed with the fair-skinned, blue-eyed libyans of the egyptian monuments, whose modern descendants are the kabyles and other berber tribes of northern africa. the latter are not only european in type, they claim special affinities to the blond, "golden-haired" kelt. and their tall stature agrees well with what the old testament has to tell us about the amorites. they too were classed among the rephaim or "giants," by the side of whom the israelite invaders were but as "grasshoppers." while the canaanites inhabited the lowlands, the highlands were the seat of the amorites (num. xiii. ). this, again, is in accordance with their european affinities. they flourished best in the colder and more bracing climate of the mountains, as do the berber tribes of northern africa to-day. the blond, blue-eyed race is better adapted to endure the cold than the heat. amorite tribes and kingdoms were to be found in all parts of palestine. southward, as we have seen, kadesh-barnea was in "the mountain of the amorites," while chedor-laomer found them on the western shores of the dead sea. when abraham pitched his tent in the plain above hebron, it was in the possession of three amorite chieftains, and at the time of the israelitish conquest, hebron and jerusalem, jarmuth, lachish and eglon were all amorite (josh. x. ). jacob assured joseph the inheritance of his tribe should be in that district of shechem which the patriarch had taken "out of the hand of the amorite" (gen. xlviii. ), and on the eastern side of the jordan were the amorite kingdoms of og and sihon. but we learn from the egyptian inscriptions, and more especially from the tel el-amarna tablets, that the chief seat of amorite power lay immediately to the north of palestine. here was "the land of the amorites," to which frequent reference is made by the monuments, among the ranges of lebanon and anti-lebanon, from hamath southward to hermon. on the east it was bounded by the desert, on the west by the cities of phoenicia. in early days, long before the age of abraham, the amorites must already have been the predominant population in this part of syria. when the babylonian king, sargon of akkad, carried his victorious arms to the shores of the mediterranean, it was against "the land of the amorites" that his campaigns were directed. from that time forward this was the name under which syria, and more particularly canaan, was known to the babylonians. the geographical extension of the term was parallel to that of "hittites" among the assyrians, of "canaan" among the israelites, and of "palestine" among ourselves. but it bears witness to the important part which was played by the amorites in what we must still call the prehistoric age of syria, as well as to the extent of the area which they must have occupied. of course it does not follow that the whole of this area was occupied at one and the same time. indeed we know that the conquest of the northern portion of moab by the amorite king sihon took place only a short time before the israelitish invasion, and part of the amorite song of triumph on the occasion has been preserved in the book of numbers. "there is a fire gone out of heshbon," it said, "a flame from the city of sihon: it hath consumed ar of moab, and the lords of the high places of arnon. woe to thee, moab! thou art undone, o people of chemosh: he hath given his sons that escaped, and his daughters, into captivity unto sihon king of the amorites." (num. xxi. , .) in the south, again, the amorites do not seem to have made their way beyond hazezon-tamar, while the tel el-amarna tablets make it probable that neither bashan nor jerusalem were as yet amorite at the time they were written. it may be that the amorite conquests in the south were one of the results of the fall of the egyptian empire and the hittite irruption. between the hittite and the amorite the geographical table of genesis interposes the jebusite, and the book of numbers similarly states that "the hittites and the jebusites and the amorites dwell in the mountains." the jebusites, however, were merely the local tribe which in the early days of the israelitish occupation of canaan were in possession of jerusalem, and they were probably either hittite or amorite in race. at any rate there is no trace of them in the cuneiform letters of tel el-amarna. on the contrary, in these jerusalem is still known only by its old name of uru-salim; of the name jebus there is not a hint. but the letters show us that ebed-tob, the native king of jerusalem and humble vassal of the pharaoh, was being hard pressed by his enemies, and that, in spite of his urgent appeals for help, the egyptians were unable to send any. his enemy were the khabiri or "confederates," about whose identification there has been much discussion, but who were assisted by the beduin chief labai and his sons. one by one the towns belonging to the territory of jerusalem fell into the hands of his adversaries, and at last, as we learn from another letter, ebed-tob himself along with his capital was captured by the foe. it was this event, perhaps, which made jerusalem a jebusite city. if so, we must see in the enemies of ebed-tob the jebusites of the old testament. the girgashite is named after the amorite, but who he may have been it is hard to say. in the egyptian epic composed by the court-poet pentaur, to commemorate the heroic deeds of ramses ii. in his struggle with the hittites, mention is twice made of "the country of qarqish." it was one of those which had sent contingents to the hittite army. but it seems to have been situated in northern syria, if not in asia minor, so that unless we can suppose that some of its inhabitants had followed in the wake of the hittites and settled in palestine, it is not easy to see how they could be included among the sons of canaan. the hivites, whose name follows that of the girgashites, are simply the "villagers" or fellahin as opposed to the townsfolk. they are thus synonymous with the perizzites, who take their place in gen. xv. , and whose name has the same signification. but whereas the perizzites were especially the country population of southern palestine, the hivites were those of the north. in two passages, indeed, the name appears to be used in an ethnic sense, once in gen. xxxvi. , where we read that esau married the granddaughter of "zibeon the hivite," and once in josh. xi. , where reference is made to "the hivite under hermon in the land of mizpeh." but a comparison of the first passage with a later part of the chapter (vv. , , ) proves that "hivite" is a corrupt reading for "horite," while it is probable that in the second passage "hittite" ought to be read for "hivite." the four last sons of canaan represent cities, and not tribes. arka, called irqat in the tel el-amarna tablets, and now known as tel 'arqa, was one of the inland cities of phoenicia, in the mountains between the orontes and the sea. sin, which is mentioned by tiglath-pileser iii., was in the same neighbourhood, as well as zemar (now sumra), which, like arvad (the modern ruâd), is named repeatedly in the tel el-amarna correspondence. it was at the time an important phoenician fortress,--"perched like a bird upon the rock,"--and was under the control of the governor of gebal. arvad was equally important as a sea-port, and its ships were used for war as well as for commerce. as for hamath (now hamah), the khamat and amat of the assyrian texts, it was already a leading city in the days of the eighteenth egyptian dynasty. thothmes iii. includes it among his syrian conquests under the name of amatu, as also does ramses iii. the hittite inscriptions discovered there go to show that, like kadesh on the orontes, it fell at one time into hittite hands. such then was the ethnographical map of palestine in the patriarchal age. canaanites in the lowlands, amorites and hittites in the highlands contended for the mastery. in the desert of the south were the amalekite beduin, ever ready to raid and murder their settled neighbours. the mountains of seir were occupied by the horites, while prehistoric tribes, who probably belonged to the amorite race, inhabited the plateau east of the jordan. this was the palestine to which abraham migrated, but it was a palestine which his migration was destined eventually to change. before many generations had passed moab and ammon, the children of his nephew, took the place of the older population of the eastern table-land, while edom settled in mount seir. a few generations more, and israel too entered into its inheritance in canaan itself. the amorites were extirpated or became tributary, and the valleys of the jordan and kishon were seized by the invading tribes. the cities of the extreme south had already become philistine, and the strangers from caphtor had supplanted in them the avim of an earlier epoch. meanwhile the waves of foreign conquest had spread more than once across the country. canaan had been made subject to babylonia, and had received in exchange for its independence the gift of babylonian culture. next it was egypt which entered upon its career of asiatic conquest, and canaan for a while was an egyptian province. but the egyptian dominion in its turn passed away, and palestine was left the prey of other assailants, of the hittites and the beduin, of the people of aram naharaim and the northern hordes. egyptians and babylonians, hittites and mesopotamians mingled with the earlier races of the country and obliterated the older landmarks. before the patriarchal age came to an end, the ethnographical map of canaan had undergone a profound change. chapter iii the babylonians in canaan and the egyptian conquest it is in the cuneiform records of babylonia that we catch the first glimpse of the early history of canaan. babylonia was not yet united under a single head. from time to time some prince arose whose conquests allowed him to claim the imperial title of "king of sumer and akkad," of southern and northern babylonia, but the claim was never of long duration, and often it signified no more than a supremacy over the other rulers of the country. it was while babylonia was thus divided into more than one kingdom, that the first chaldæan empire of which we know was formed by the military skill of sargon of akkad. sargon was of semitic origin, but his birth seems to have been obscure. his father, itti-bel, is not given the title of king, and the later legends which gathered around his name declared that his mother was of low degree, that his father he knew not, and that his father's brother lived in the mountain-land. born in secrecy in the city of azu-pirani, "whence the elephants issue forth," he was launched by his mother on the waters of the euphrates in an ark of bulrushes daubed with pitch. the river carried the child to akki the irrigator, who had compassion upon it, and brought it up as his own son. so sargon became an agriculturist and gardener like his adopted father, till the goddess istar beheld and loved him, and eventually gave him his kingdom and crown. whatever may have been the real history of sargon's rise to power, certain it is that he showed himself worthy of it. he built himself a capital, which perhaps was akkad near sippara, and there founded a library stocked with books on clay and well provided with scribes. the standard works on astronomy and terrestrial omens were compiled for it, the first of which was translated into greek by berossos in days long subsequent. but it was as a conqueror and the founder of the first semitic empire in western asia that posterity chiefly remembered him. he overthrew his rivals at home, and made himself master of northern babylonia. then he marched into elam on the east, and devastated its fields. next he turned his attention to the west. four times did he make his way to "the land of the amorites," until at last it was thoroughly subdued. his final campaign occupied three years. the countries "of the sea of the setting sun" acknowledged his dominion, and he united them with his former conquests into "a single" empire. on the shores of the mediterranean he erected images of himself in token of his victories, and caused the spoil of cyprus "to pass over into the countries of the sea." towards the end of his reign a revolt broke out against him in babylonia, and he was besieged in the city of akkad, but he "issued forth and smote" his enemies and utterly destroyed them. then came his last campaign against northern mesopotamia, from which he returned with abundant prisoners and spoil. sargon's son and successor was naram-sin, "the beloved of the moon-god," who continued the conquests of his father. his second campaign was against the land of magan, the name under which midian and the sinaitic peninsula were known to the babylonians. the result of it was the addition of magan to his empire and the captivity of its king. the copper mines of magan, which are noticed in an early babylonian geographical list, made its acquisition coveted alike by babylonians and egyptians. we find the pharaohs of the third dynasty already establishing their garrisons and colonies of miners in the province of mafkat, as they called it, and slaughtering the beduin who interfered with them. the history of naram-sin shows that its conquest was equally an object of the babylonian monarchs at the very outset of their history. but whereas the road from egypt to sinai was short and easy, that from babylonia was long and difficult. before a babylonian army could march into the peninsula it was needful that syria should be secure in the rear. the conquest of palestine, in fact, was necessary before the copper mines of sinai could fall into babylonian hands. the consolidation of sargon's empire in the west, therefore, was needful before the invasion of the country of magan could take place, and the invasion accordingly was reserved for naram-sin to make. the father had prepared the way; the son obtained the great prize--the source of the copper that was used in the ancient world. the fact that the whole of syria is described in the annals of sargon as "the land of the amorites," implies, not only that the amorites were the ruling population in the country, but also that they must have extended far to the south. the "land of the amorites" formed the basis and starting-point for the expedition of naram-sin into magan; it must, therefore, have reached to the southern border of palestine, if not even farther. the road trodden by his forces would have been the same as that which was afterwards traversed by chedor-laomer, and would have led him through kadesh-barnea. is it possible that the amorites were already in possession of the mountain-block within which kadesh stood, and that this was their extreme limit to the south? there were other names by which palestine and syria were known to the early babylonians, besides the general title of "the land of the amorites." one of these was tidanum or tidnum; another was sanir or shenir. there was yet another, the reading of which is uncertain, though it may be khidhi or titi. mr. boscawen has pointed out a coincidence that is at least worthy of attention. the first babylonian monarch who penetrated into the peninsula of sinai bore a name compounded with that of the moon-god, which thus bears witness to a special veneration for that deity. now the name of mount sinai is similarly derived from that of the babylonian moon-god sin. it was the high place where the god must have been adored from early times under his babylonian name. it thus points to babylonian influence, if not to the presence of babylonians on the spot. can it have been that the mountain whereon the god of israel afterwards revealed himself to moses was dedicated to the moon-god of babylon by naram-sin the chaldæn conqueror? if such indeed were the case, it would have been more than two thousand years before the israelitish exodus. nabonidos, the last king of the later babylonian empire, who had a fancy for antiquarian exploration, tells us that naram-sin reigned years before his own time, and therefore about b.c. the date, startlingly early as it seems to be, is indirectly confirmed by other evidence, and assyriologists consequently have come to accept it as approximately correct. how long syria remained a part of the empire of sargon of akkad we do not know. but it must have been long enough for the elements of babylonian culture to be introduced into it. the small stone cylinders used by the babylonians for sealing their clay documents thus became known to the peoples of the west. more than one has been found in syria and cyprus which go back to the age of sargon and naram-sin, while there are numerous others which are more or less barbarous attempts on the part of the natives to imitate the babylonian originals. but the imitations prove that with the fall of sargon's empire the use of seal-cylinders in syria, and consequently of documents for sealing, did not disappear. that knowledge of writing, which was a characteristic of babylonian civilization, must have been carried with it to the shores of the mediterranean. the seal-cylinders were engraved, sometimes with figures of men and gods, sometimes with symbols only. very frequently lines of cuneiform writing were added, and a common formula gave the name of the owner of the seal, along with those of his father and of the deity whom he worshipped. one of the seal-cylinders found in cyprus describes the owner as an adorer of "the god naram-sin." it is true that its workmanship shows it to belong to a much later date than the age of naram-sin himself, but the legend equally shows that the name of the conqueror of magan was still remembered in the west. another cylinder discovered in the lebanon mentions "the gods of the amorite," while a third from the same locality bears the inscription: "multal-ili, the son of ili-isme-anni, the worshipper of the god nin-si-zida." the name of the god signified in the old pre-semitic language of chaldæa "the lord of the upright horn," while it is worth notice that the names of the owner and his father are compounded simply with the word _ili_ or _el_, "god," not with the name of any special divinity. multal-ili means "provident is god," ili-isme-anni, "o my god, hear me!" many centuries have to elapse before the monuments of babylonia again throw light on the history of canaan. somewhere about b.c. , a high-priest was ruling in a city of southern babylonia, under the suzerainty of dungi, the king of ur. the high-priest's name was gudea, and his city (now called tel-loh by the arabs) was known as lagas. the excavations made here by m. de sarzec have brought to light temples and palaces, collections of clay books and carved stone statues, which go back to the early days of babylonian history. the larger and better part of the monuments belong to gudea, who seems to have spent most of his life in building and restoring the sanctuaries of the gods. diorite statues of the prince are now in the louvre, and inscriptions upon them state that the stone out of which they were made was brought from the land of magan. on the lap of one of them is a plan of the royal palace, with the scale of measurement marked on the edge of a sort of drawing-board. prof. petrie has shown that the unit of measurement represented in it is the cubit of the pyramid-builders of egypt. the diorite of sinai was not the only material which was imported into babylonia for the buildings of gudea. beams of cedar and box were brought from mount amanus at the head of the gulf of antioch, blocks of stone were floated down the euphrates from barsip near carchemish, gold-dust came from melukhkha, the "salt" desert to the east of egypt which the old testament calls havilah; copper was conveyed from the north of arabia, limestone from the lebanon ("the mountains of tidanum"), and another kind of stone from subsalla in the mountains of the amorite land. before beams of wood and blocks of stone could thus be brought from the distant west, it was necessary that trade between babylonia and the countries of the mediterranean should have long been organized, that the roads throughout western asia should have been good and numerous, and that babylonian influence should have been extended far and wide. the conquests of sargon and naram-sin had borne fruit in the commerce that had followed upon them. once more the curtain falls, and canaan is hidden for a while out of our sight. babylonia has become a united kingdom with its capital and centre at babylon. khammurabi (b.c. - ) has succeeded in shaking off the suzerainty of elam, in overthrowing his rival eri-aku, king of larsa, with his elamite allies, and in constituting himself sole monarch of babylonia. his family seems to have been in part, if not wholly, of south arabian extraction. their names are arabian rather than babylonian, and the babylonian scribes found a difficulty in transcribing them correctly. but once in the possession of the babylonian throne, they became thoroughly national, and under khammurabi the literary glories of the court of sargon of akkad revived once more. ammi-satana, the great-grandson of khammurabi, calls himself king of "the land of the amorites." babylonia, therefore, still claimed to be paramount in palestine. even the name of the king is an indication of his connection with the west. neither of the elements of which it is composed belonged to the babylonian language. the first of them, ammi, was explained by the babylonian philologists as meaning "a family," but it is more probable that it represents the name of a god. we find it in the proper names both of southern and of northwestern arabia. the early minsaean inscriptions of southern arabia contain names like ammi-karib, ammi-zadiqa, and ammi-zaduq, the last of which is identical with that of ammi-zaduq, the son and successor of ammi-satana. the egyptian sinuhit, who in the time of the twelfth dynasty fled, like moses, for his life from the court of the pharaoh to the kadmonites east of the jordan, found protection among them at the hands of their chieftain ammu-ânshi. the ammonites themselves were the "sons of ammi," and in numerous hebrew names we find that of the god. ammi-el, ammi-nadab, and ammi-shaddai are mentioned in the old testament, the assyrian inscriptions tell us of ammi-nadab the king of ammon, and it is possible that even the name of balaam, the aramaean seer, may be compounded with that of the god. at all events, the city of pethor from which he came was "by the river (euphrates) of the land of the children of ammo," for such is the literal rendering of the hebrew words. ammi-satana was not the first of his line whose authority had been acknowledged in palestine. the inscription in which he records the fact is but a confirmation of what had been long known to us from the book of genesis. there we read how chedor-laomer, the king of elam, with the three vassal princes, arioch of ellasar, amraphel of shinar, and tidal of goyyim invaded canaan, and how the kings of the vale of siddim with its pits of asphalt became their tributaries. for thirteen years they remained submissive and then rebelled. thereupon the babylonian army again marched to the west. bashan and the eastern bank of the jordan were subjugated, the horites in mount seir were smitten, and the invaders then turned back through kadesh-barnea, overthrowing the amalekites and the amorites on their way. then came the battle in the vale of siddim, which ended in the defeat of the canaanites, the death of the kings of sodom and gomorrha, and the capture of abundant booty. among the prisoners was lot, the nephew of abram, and it was to effect his rescue that the patriarch armed his followers and started in pursuit of the conquerors. near damascus he overtook them, and falling upon them by night, recovered the spoil of sodom as well as his "brother's son." arioch is the eri-aku of the cuneiform texts. in the old language of chaldea the name signified "servant of the moon-god." the king is well known to us from contemporaneous inscriptions. besides the inscribed bricks which have come from the temple of the moon-god which he enlarged in the city of ur, there are numerous contract tablets that are dated in his reign. he tells us that he was the son of an elamite, kudur-mabug, son of simti-silkhak, and prince (or "father") of yamut-bal on the borders of elam and babylonia. but this is not all. he further gives kudur-mabug the title of "father of the amorite land." what this title exactly means it is difficult to say; one thing, however, is certain, kudur-mabug must have exercised some kind of power and authority in the distant west. his name, too, is remarkable. names compounded with kudur, "a servant," were common in the elamite language, the second element of the name being that of a deity, to whose worship the owner of it was dedicated. thus we have kudur-lagamar, "the servant of the god lagamar," kudur-nakhkhunte, "the servant of nakhkhunte." but mabug was not an elamite divinity. it was, on the contrary, a mesopotamian deity from whom the town of mabug near carchemish, called bambykê by the greeks, and assimilated by the arabs to their membij, "a source," derived its name. can it be from this syrian deity that the father of arioch received his name? the capital of arioch or eri-aku was larsa, the city of the sun-god, now called senkereh. with the help of his elamite kindred, he extended his power from thence over the greater part of southern babylonia. the old city of ur, once the seat of the dominant dynasty of chaldæan kings, formed part of his dominions; nipur, now niffer, fell into his hands like the seaport eridu on the shores of the persian gulf, and in one of his inscriptions he celebrates his conquest of "the ancient city of erech." on the day of its capture he erected in gratitude a temple to his god ingirisa, "for the preservation of his life." but the god did not protect him for ever. a time came when khammurabi, king of babylon, rose in revolt against the elamite supremacy, and drove the elamite forces out of the land. eri-aku was attacked and defeated, and his cities fell into the hands of the conqueror. khammurabi became sole king of babylonia, which from henceforth obeyed but a single sceptre. are we to see in the amraphel of genesis the khammurabi of the cuneiform inscriptions? the difference in the names seems to make it impossible. moreover, amraphel, we are told, was king of shinar, and it is not certain that the shinar of the fourteenth chapter of genesis was that part of babylonia of which babylon was the capital. this, in fact, was the northern division of the country, and if we are to identify the shinar of scripture with the sumer of the monuments, as assyriologists have agreed to do, shinar would have been its southern half. it is true that in the later days of hebrew history shinar denoted the whole plain of chaldæa, including the city of babylon, but this may have been an extension of the meaning of the name similar to that of which canaan is an instance. unless sumer and shinar are the same words, outside the old testament there is only one shinar known to ancient geography. that was in mesopotamia. the greek geographers called it singara (now sinjar), an oasis in the midst of deserts, and formed by an isolated mountain tract abounding in springs. it is already mentioned in the annals of the egyptian conqueror thothmes iii. in his thirty-third year (b.c. ), the king of sangar sent him tribute consisting of lapis-lazuli "of babylon," and of various objects carved out of it. from sangar also horses were exported into egypt, and in one of the tel el-amarna letters, the king of alasiya in northern syria writes to the pharaoh,--"do not set me with the king of the hittites and the king of sankhar; whatever gifts they have sent to me i will restore to thee twofold." in hieroglyphic and cuneiform spelling, sangar and sankhar are the exact equivalents of the hebrew shinar. how the name of shinar came to be transferred from mesopotamia to babylonia is a puzzle. the mesopotamian shinar is nowhere near the babylonian frontier. it lies in a straight line westward of mosul and the ancient nineveh, and not far from the banks of the khabur. can its application to babylonia be due to a confusion between sumer and sangar? whatever the explanation may be, it is clear that the position of the kingdom of amraphel is by no means so easily determined as has hitherto been supposed. it may be sumer or southern babylonia; it may be northern babylonia with its capital babylon; or again, it may be the mesopotamian oasis of sinjar. until we find the name of amraphel in the cuneiform texts it is impossible to attain certainty. there is one fact, however, which seems to indicate that it really is either sumer or northern babylonia that is meant. the narrative of chedor-laomer's campaign begins with the words that it took place "in the time of amraphel, king of shinar." chedor-laomer the elamite was the leader of the expedition; he too was the suzerain lord of his allies; and nevertheless the campaign is dated, not in his reign, but in that of one of the subject kings. that the narrative has been taken from the babylonian annals there is little room for doubt, and consequently it would follow from the dating that amraphel was a babylonian prince, perhaps that he was the ruler of the city which, from the days of khammurabi onward, became the capital of the country. in that case we should have to find some way of explaining the difference between the hebrew and the babylonian forms of the royal name. lagamar or lagamer, written laomer in hebrew, was one of the principal deities of elam, and the babylonians made him a son of their own water-god ea. the elamite king chedor-laomer, or kudur-lagamar, as his name was written in his own language, must have been related to the elamite prince kudur-mabug, whose son arioch was a subject-ally of the elamite monarch. possibly they were brothers, the younger brother receiving as his share of power the title of "father"--not "king"--of yamutbal and the land of the amorites. at any rate it is a son of kudur-mabug and not of the elamite sovereign who receives a principality in babylonia. in the book of genesis arioch is called "king of ellasar." but ellasar is clearly the larsa of the cuneiform inscriptions, perhaps with the word _al_, "city," prefixed. larsa, the modern senkereh, was in southern babylonia, on the eastern bank of the euphrates, not far from erech, and to the north of ur. its king was virtually lord of sumer, but he claimed to be lord also of the north. in his inscriptions eri-aku assumes the imperial title of "king of sumer and akkad," of both divisions of babylonia, and it may be that at one time the rival king of babylon acknowledged his supremacy. who "tidal king of goyyim" may have been we cannot tell. sir henry rawlinson has proposed to see in goyyim a transformation of gutium, the name by which kurdistan was called in early babylonia. mr. pinches has recently discovered a cuneiform tablet in which mention is made, not only of eri-aku and kudur-lagamar, but also of tudkhul, and tudkhul would be an exact transcription in babylonian of the hebrew tidal. but the tablet is mutilated, and its relation to the narrative of genesis is not yet clear. for the present, therefore, we must leave tidal unexplained. the name even of one of the canaanite kings who were subdued by the babylonian army has found its confirmation in a cuneiform inscription. this is the name of "shinab, king of admah." we hear from tiglath-pileser iii. of sanibu, king of ammon, and sanibu and shinab are one and the same. the old name of the king of admah was thus perpetuated on the eastern side of the jordan. it may be that the asphalt of siddim was coveted by the babylonian kings. bitumen, it is true, was found in babylonia itself near hit, but if amiaud is right, one of the objects imported from abroad for gudea of lagas was asphalt. it came from madga, which is described as being "in the mountains of the river gur(?)ruda." but no reference to the place is to be met with anywhere else in cuneiform literature. when abram returned with the captives and spoil of sodom, the new king came forth to meet him "at the valley of shaveh, which is the king's dale." this was in the near neighbourhood of jerusalem, as we gather from the history of absalom ( sam. xviii. ). accordingly we further read that at the same time "melchizedek, king of salem," and "priest of the most high god," "brought forth bread and wine," and blessed the hebrew conqueror, who thereupon gave him tithes of all the spoil. it is only since the discovery and decipherment of the cuneiform tablets of tel el-amarna that the story of melchizedek has been illustrated and explained. hitherto it had seemed to stand alone. the critics, in the superiority of their knowledge, had refused credit to it, and had denied that the name even of jerusalem or salem was known before the age of david. but the monuments have come to our help, and have shown that it is the critics and not the biblical writer who have been in error. several of the most interesting of the tel el-amarna letters were written to the pharaoh amenôphis iv. khu-n-aten by ebed-tob the king of jerusalem. not only is the name of uru-salim or jerusalem the only one in use, the city itself is already one of the most important fortresses of canaan. it was the capital of a large district which extended southwards as far as keilah and karmel of judah. it commanded the approach to the vale of siddim, and in one of his letters ebed-tob speaks of having repaired the royal roads not only in the mountains, but also in the _kikar_ or "plain" of jordan (gen. xiii. ). the possession of jerusalem was eagerly coveted by the enemies of ebed-tob, whom he calls also the enemies of the egyptian king. now ebed-tob declares time after time that he is not an egyptian governor, but a tributary ally and vassal of the pharaoh, and that he had received his royal power, not by inheritance from his father or mother, but through the arm (or oracle) of "the mighty king." as "the mighty king" is distinguished from the "great king" of egypt, we must see in him the god worshipped by ebed-tob, the "most high god" of melchizedek, and the prototype of "the mighty god" of isaiah. it is this same mighty king, ebed-tob assures the pharaoh in another letter, who will overthrow the navies of babylonia and aram-naharaim. here, then, as late as the fifteenth century before our era we have a king of jerusalem who owes his royal dignity to his god. he is, in fact, a priest as well as a king. his throne has not descended to him by inheritance; so far as his kingly office is concerned, he is like melchizedek, without father and without mother. between ebed-tob and melchizedek there is more than analogy; there is a striking and unexpected resemblance. the description given of him by ebed-tob explains what has puzzled us so long in the person of melchizedek. the origin of the name of jerusalem also is now cleared up. it was no invention of the age of david; on the contrary, it goes back to the period of babylonian intercourse with canaan. it is written in the cuneiform documents uru-salim, "the city of salim," the god of peace. one of the lexical tablets from the library of nineveh has long ago informed us that in one of the languages known to the babylonians _uru_ was the equivalent of the babylonian _alu_, "a city," and we now know that this language was that of canaan. it would even seem that the word had originally been brought from babylonia itself in the days when babylonian writing and culture first penetrated to the west. in the sumerian or pre-semitic language of chaldæa _eri_ signified a "city," and _eri_ in the pronunciation of the semites became _uru_. hence it was that uru or ur, the birthplace of abraham, received its name at a time when it was the ruling city of babylonia, and though the semitic babylonians themselves never adopted the word in common life it made its way to canaan. the rise of the "city" in the west was part of that babylonian civilization which was carried to the shores of the mediterranean, and so the word which denoted it was borrowed from the old language of chaldæa, like the word for "palace," _hêkâl_, the sumerian _ê-gal_, or "great house." it is noteworthy that harran, the resting-place of abraham on his way from ur to palestine, the half-way house, as it were, between east and west, also derived its name from a sumerian word which signified "the high-road." _harran_ and _ur_ were two of the gifts which passed to canaan from the speakers of the primaeval language of chaldæa. we can now understand why melchizedek should have been called the "king of salem." his capital could be described either as jeru-salem or as the city of salem. and that it was often referred to as salem simply is shown by the egyptian monuments. one of the cities of southern palestine, the capture of which is represented by ramses ii. on the walls of the ramesseum at thebes, is shalam or salem, and "the district of salem" is mentioned between "the country of hadashah" (josh. xv. ) and "the district of the dead sea" and "the jordan," in the list of the places which ramses iii. at medînet habu describes himself as having conquered in the same part of the world. it may be that isaiah is playing upon the old name of jerusalem when he gives the messiah the title of "prince of peace." but in any case the fact that salim, the god of peace, was the patron deity of jerusalem, lends a special significance to melchizedek's treatment of abram. the patriarch had returned in peace from an expedition in which he had overthrown the invaders of canaan; he had restored peace to the country of the priest-king, and had driven away its enemies. the offering of bread and wine on the part of melchizedek was a sign of freedom from the enemy and of gratitude to the deliverer, while the tithes paid by abram were equally a token that the land was again at peace. the name of salim, the god of peace, was under one form or another widely spread in the semitic world. salamanu, or solomon, was the king of moab in the time of tiglath-pileser iii.; the name of shalmaneser of assyria is written sulman-asarid, "the god sulman is chief," in the cuneiform inscriptions; and one of the tel el-amarna letters was sent by ebed-sullim, "the servant of sullim," who was governor of hazor. in one of the assyrian cities (dimmen-silim, "the foundation-stone of peace") worship was paid to the god "sulman the fish." nor must we forget that "salma was the father of beth-lehem" ( chron. ii. ). in the time of the israelitish conquest the king of jerusalem was adoni-zedek (josh. x. ). the name is similar to that of melchi-zedek, though the exact interpretation of it is a matter of doubt. it points, however, to a special use of the word _zedek_, "righteousness," and it is therefore interesting to find the word actually employed in one of the letters of ebed-tob. he there says of the pharaoh: "behold, the king is righteous (_zaduq_) towards me." what makes the occurrence of the word the more striking is that it was utterly unknown to the babylonians. the root _zadaq_, "to be righteous," did not exist in the assyrian language. there is yet another point in the history of the meeting between abram and melchizedek which must not be passed over. when the patriarch returned after smiting the invading army he was met outside jerusalem not only by melchizedek, but also by the new king of sodom. it was, therefore, in the mountains and in the shadow of the sanctuary of the most high god that the newly-appointed prince was to be found, rather than in the vale of siddim. does not this show that the king of jerusalem already exercised that sovereignty over the surrounding district that ebed-tob did in the century before the exodus? as we have seen, ebed-tob describes himself as repairing the roads in that very "kikar," or "plain," in which sodom and gomorrha stood. it would seem then that the priest-king of the great fortress in the mountains was already acknowledged as the dominant canaanitish ruler, and that the neighbouring princes had to pay him homage when they first received the crown. this would be an additional reason for the tithes given to him by abram. long after the defeat of chedor-laomer and his allies, if we are to accept the traditional belief, abraham was again destined to visit jerusalem. but he had ceased to be "abram the hebrew," the confederate of the amorite chieftains in the plain of mamre, and had become abraham the father of the promised seed. isaac had been born to him, and he was called upon to sacrifice his first-born son. the place of sacrifice was upon one of the mountains in the land of moriah. there at the last moment the hand of the father was stayed, and a ram was substituted for the human victim. "and abraham called the name of that place yahveh-yireh; as it is said to this day, in the mount of the lord it shall be seen." according to the hebrew text of the chronicles ( chron. iii. ), this mount of the lord where abraham's sacrifice was offered was the temple-mount at jerusalem. the proverb quoted in genesis seems to indicate the same fact. moreover, the distance of the mountain from beer-sheba--three days' journey--would be also the distance of jerusalem from abraham's starting-place. it is even possible that in the name of yahveh-yireh we have a play upon the first element in the name of jeru-salem. the word _uru_, "city," became _yeru_ or _yiru_ in hebrew pronunciation, and between this and _yireh_ the difference is not great. yahveh-yireh, "the lord sees," might also be interpreted "the lord of yeru." the temple-hill was emphatically "the mount of the lord." in ezekiel (xliii. ) the altar that stood upon it is called har-el, "the mountain of god." the term reminds us of babylonia, where the mercy-seat of the great temple of bel-merodach at babylon was termed du-azagga, "the holy hill." it was on this "seat of the oracles," as it was termed, that the god enthroned himself at the beginning of each year, and announced his will to mankind. but the mercy-seat was entitled "the holy hill" only because it was a miniature copy of "the holy hill" upon which the whole temple was erected. so, too, at jerusalem, the altar is called "the mount of god" by ezekiel only because it represents that greater "mount of god" upon which it was built. the temple-hill itself was the primitive har-el. the list of conquered localities in palestine recorded by thothmes iii. at karnak gives indirect testimony to the same fact. the name of rabbah of judah is immediately preceded in it by that of har-el, "the mount of god." the position of this har-el leads us to the very mountain tract in the midst of which jerusalem stood. we now know that jerusalem was already an important city in the age of the eighteenth egyptian dynasty, and that it formed one of the egyptian conquests; it would be strange therefore if no notice had been taken of it by the compiler of the list. may we not see, then, in the har-el of the egyptian scribe the sacred mountain of israelitish history? there is a passage in one of the letters of ebed-tob which may throw further light on the history of the temple-hill. unfortunately one of the cuneiform characters in it is badly formed, so that its reading is not certain, and still more unfortunately this character is one of the most important in the whole paragraph. if dr. winckler and myself are right in our copies, ebed-tob speaks of "the city of the mountain of jerusalem, the city of the temple of the god nin-ip, (whose) name (there) is salim, the city of the king." what we read "salim," however, is read differently by dr. zimmern, so that according to his copy the passage must be translated: "the city of the mountain of jerusalem, the city of the temple of the god nin-ip is its name, the city of the king." in the one case ebed-tob will state explicitly that the god of jerusalem, whom he identifies with the babylonian nin-ip, is salim or sulman, the god of peace, and that his temple stood on "the mountain of jerusalem"; in the other case there will be no mention of salim, and it will be left doubtful whether or not the city of beth-nin-ip was included within the walls of the capital. it would seem rather that it was separate from jerusalem, though standing on the same "mountain" as the great fortress. if so, we might identify jerusalem with the city on mount zion, the jebusite stronghold of a later date, while "the city of beth-nin-ip" would be that which centred round the temple on moriah. however this may be, the fortress and the temple-hill were distinct from one another in the days of the jebusites, and we may therefore assume that they were also distinct in the age of abraham. this might explain why it was that the mountain of moriah on the summit of which the patriarch offered his sacrifice was not enclosed within the walls of jerusalem, and was not covered with buildings. it was a spot, on the contrary, where sheep could feed, and a ram be caught by its horns in the thick brushwood. in entering canaan, abraham would have found himself still surrounded by all the signs of a familiar civilization. the long-continued influence and government of babylonia had carried to "the land of the amorites" all the elements of chaldæan culture. migration from ur of the chaldees to the distant west meant a change only in climate and population, not in the civilization to which the patriarch had been accustomed. even the babylonian language was known and used in the cities of canaan, and the literature of babylonia was studied by the canaanitish people. this is one of the facts which we have learnt from the discovery of the tel el-amarna tablets. the cuneiform system of writing and the babylonian language had spread all over western asia, and nowhere had they taken deeper root than in canaan. here there were schools and teachers for instruction in the foreign language and script, and record-chambers and libraries in which the letters and books of clay could be copied and preserved. long before the discovery of the tel el-amarna tablets we might have gathered from the old testament itself that such libraries once existed in canaan. one of the canaanitish cities taken and destroyed by the israelites was debir in the mountainous part of judah. but debir, "the sanctuary," was also known by two other names. it was called kirjath-sannah, "the city of instruction," as well as kirjath-sepher, "the city of books." we now know, however, that the latter name is not quite correct. the massoretic punctuation has to be emended, and we must read kirjath-sopher, "the city of the scribe(s)," instead of kirjath-sepher, "the city of book(s)." it is an egyptian papyrus which has given us the exact name. in the time of ramses ii. an egyptian scribe composed a sarcastic account of the misadventures met with by a tourist in palestine--commonly known as _the travels of a mohar_--and in this mention is made of two adjoining towns in southern palestine called kirjath-anab and beth-sopher. in the book of joshua the towns of anab and kirjath-sepher are similarly associated together, and it is plain, therefore, as dr. w. max müller has remarked, that the egyptian writer has interchanged the equivalent terms kirjath, "city," and beth, "house." he ought to have written beth-anab and kirjath-sopher. but he has given us the true form of the latter name, and as he has added to the word _sopher_ the determinative of "writing," he has further put beyond question the real meaning of the name. the city must have been one of those centres of canaanitish learning, where, as in the libraries of babylonia and assyria, a large body of scribes was kept constantly at work. the language employed in the cuneiform documents was almost always that of babylonia, which had become the common speech of diplomacy and educated society. but at times the native language of the country was also employed, and one or two examples of it have been preserved. the legends and traditions of babylonia served as text-books for the student, and doubtless babylonian history was carried to the west as well. the account of chedor-laomer's campaign might have been derived in this way from the clay-books of ancient babylonia. babylonian theology, too, made its way to the west, and has left records of itself in the map of canaan. in the names of canaanitish towns and villages the names of babylonian deities frequently recur. rimmon or hadad, the god of the air, whom the syrians identified with the sun-god, nebo, the god of prophecy, the interpreter of the will of bel-merodach, anu, the god of the sky, and anat, his consort, all alike meet us in the names sometimes of places, sometimes of persons. mr. tomkins is probably right in seeing even in beth-lehem the name of the primeval chaldæan deity lakhmu. the canaanitish moloch is the babylonian malik, and dagon was one of the oldest of chaldæan divinities and the associate of anu. we have seen how ready ebed-tob was to identify the god he worshipped with the babylonian nin-ip, and among the canaanites mentioned in the letters of tel el-amarna there is more than one whose name is compounded with that of a babylonian god. writing and literature, religion and mythology, history and science, all these were brought to the peoples of canaan in the train of babylonian conquest and trade. art naturally went hand in hand with this imported culture. the seal-cylinders of the chaldæans were imitated, and babylonian figures and ornamental designs were borrowed and modified by the canaanitish artists. it was in this way that the rosette, the cherub, the sacred tree, and the palmette passed to the west, and there served to adorn the metal-work and pottery. new designs, unknown in babylonia, began to develop; among others, the heads of animals in gold and silver as covers for metal vases. some of these "vases of kaft," as they were called, are pictured on the egyptian monuments, and thothmes iii. in his annals describes "the paterae with goats' heads upon them and one with a lion's head, the productions of zahi," or palestine, which were brought to him as tribute. the spoil which the same pharaoh carried away from the canaanitish princes gives us some idea of the art which they patronized. we hear of chariots and tent-poles covered with plates of gold, of iron armour and helmets, of gold and silver rings which were used in the place of money, of staves of ivory, ebony, and cedar inlaid with gold, of golden sceptres, of tables, chairs, and footstools of cedar wood, inlaid some of them with ivory, others with gold and precious stones, of vases and bowls of all kinds in gold, silver, and bronze, and of the two-handled cups which were a special manufacture of phoenicia. iron seems to have been worked in canaan from an early date. the israelites were unable to drive out the inhabitants of "the valley" because of their chariots of iron, and when the chariot of the egyptian mohar is disabled by the rough roads of the canaanite mountains the writer of the papyrus already referred to makes him turn aside at once to a worker in iron. there was no difficulty in finding an ironsmith in canaan. the purple dye of phoenicia had been famous from a remote antiquity. it was one of the chief objects of the trade which was carried on by the canaanites with egypt on the one side and babylonia on the other. it was doubtless in exchange for the purple that the "goodly babylonish garment" of which we are told in the book of joshua (vii. ) made its way to the city of jericho, for babylonia was as celebrated for its embroidered robes as canaan was for its purple dye. we hear something about the trade of canaan in one of the cuneiform tablets of tel el-amarna. this is a letter from kallimma-sin, king of babylonia, to the egyptian pharaoh urging him to conclude a treaty in accordance with which the merchants of babylonia might trade with egypt on condition of their paying the customs at the frontier. gold, silver, oil, and clothing are among the objects upon which the duty was to be levied. the frontier was probably fixed at the borders of the egyptian province of canaan rather than at those of egypt itself. babylonia and the civilized lands of the east were not the only countries with which canaanitish trade was carried on. negro slaves were imported from the soudan, copper and lead from cyprus, and horses from asia minor, while the excavations of mr. bliss at lachish have brought to light beads of baltic amber mixed with the scarabs of the eighteenth egyptian dynasty. a large part of the trade of phoenicia was carried on in ships. it was in this way that the logs of cedar were brought from the forests at the head of the gulf of antioch, and the purple murex from the coasts of the _Ægean_. tyre, whose wealth is already celebrated in one of the tel el-amarna tablets, was built upon an island, and, as an egyptian papyrus tells us, water had to be conveyed to it in boats. so, too, was arvad, whose navy occupies an important place in the tel el-amarna correspondence. the ships of canaan were, in fact, famous from an early date. two classes of vessel known to the egyptians were called "ships of gebal" and "ships of kaft," or phoenicia, and ebed-tob asserts that "as long as a ship sails upon the sea, the arm (or oracle) of the mighty king shall conquer the forces of aram-naharaim (nahrima) and babylonia." balaam's prophecy--"ships shall come from chittim and shall afflict asshur and shall afflict eber," takes us back to the same age. the aram-naharaim of scripture is the nahrina of the hieroglyphic texts, the mitanni of the native inscriptions. the capital city mitanni stood on the eastern bank of the euphrates, at no great distance from carchemish, but the naharaim, or "two rivers," more probably mean the euphrates and orontes, than the euphrates and tigris. in one of the tel el-amarna tablets the country is called nahrima, but its usual name is mitanni or mitanna. it was the first independent kingdom of any size or power on the frontiers of the egyptian empire in the age of the eighteenth dynasty, and the pharaohs thothmes iv., amenophis iii., and amenophis iv. successively married into its royal family. the language of mitanni has been revealed to us by the cuneiform correspondence from tel el-amarna. it was highly agglutinative, and unlike any other form of speech, ancient or modern, with which we are acquainted. perhaps the speakers of it, like the hittites, had descended from the north, and occupied territory which had originally belonged to aramaic tribes. perhaps, on the other hand, they represented the older population of the country which was overpowered and displaced by semitic invaders. which of these views is the more correct we shall probably never know. along with their own language the people of mitanni had also their own theology. tessupas was god of the atmosphere, the hadad of the semites, sausbe was identified with the phoenician ashteroth, and sekhrus, zizanu, and zannukhu are mentioned among the other deities. but many of the divinities of assyria were also borrowed--sin the moon-god, whose temple stood in the city of harran, ea the god of the waters, bel, the baal of the canaanites, and istar, "the lady of nineveh." even amon the god of thebes was adopted into the pantheon in the days of egyptian influence. how far back the interference of aram-naharaim in the affairs of canaan may have reached it is impossible to say. but the kingdom lay on the high-road from babylonia and assyria to the west, and its rise may possibly have had something to do with the decline of babylonian supremacy in palestine. the district in which it grew up was called suru or suri by the sumerian inhabitants of chaldæa--a name which may be the origin of the modern "syria," rather than assyria, as is usually supposed, and the semitic babylonians gave it the title of subari or subartu. the conquest of suri was the work of the last campaign of sargon of accad, and laid all northern mesopotamia at his feet. we gather from the letters of tel el-amarna that the babylonians were still intriguing in canaan in the century before the exodus, though they acknowledged that it was an egyptian province and subject to egyptian laws. but the memory of the power they had once exercised there still survived, and the influence of their culture continued undiminished. when their rule actually ceased we do not yet know. it cannot have been very long, however, before the era of egyptian conquest. in the tel el-amarna tablets they are always called kassites, a name which could have been given to them only after the conquest of babylonia by the kassite mountaineers of elam, and the rise of a kassite dynasty of kings. this was about b.c. for some time subsequently, therefore, the government of babylonia must still have been acknowledged in canaan. with this agrees a statement of the egyptian historian manetho, upon which the critics, in their wisdom or their ignorance, have poured unmeasured contempt. he tells us that when the hyksos were driven out of egypt by ahmes i., the founder of the eighteenth dynasty, they occupied jerusalem and fortified it--not, as would naturally be imagined, against the egyptian pharaoh, but against "the assyrians," as the babylonians were called by manetho's contemporaries. as long as there were no monuments to confront them the critics had little difficulty in proving that the statement was preposterous and unhistorical, that jerusalem did not as yet exist, and that no assyrians or babylonians entered palestine until centuries later. but we now know that manetho was right and his critics wrong. jerusalem did exist, and babylonian armies threatened the independence of the canaanite states. in one of his letters, ebed-tob, king of jerusalem, tells the pharaoh that he need not be alarmed about the babylonians, for the temple at jerusalem is strong enough to resist their attack. rib-hadad the governor of gebal bears the same testimony. "when thou didst sit on the throne of thy father," he says, "the sons of ebed-asherah (the amorite) attached themselves to the country of the babylonians, and took the country of the pharaoh for themselves; they (intrigued with) the king of mitanna, and the king of the babylonians, and the king of the hittites." in another despatch he speaks in a similar strain: "the king of the babylonians and the king of mitanna are strong, and have taken the country of the pharaoh for themselves already, and have seized the cities of thy governor." when george the synkellos notes that the chaldæans made war against the phoenicians in b.c. , he is doubtless quoting from some old and trustworthy source. we must not imagine, however, that there was any permanent occupation of canaan on the part of the babylonians at this period of its history. it would seem rather that babylonian authority was directly exercised only from time to time, and had to be enforced by repeated invasions and campaigns. it was the influence of babylonian civilization and culture that was permanent, not the babylonian government itself. sometimes, indeed, canaan became a babylonian province, at other times there were only certain portions of the country which submitted to the foreign control, while again at other times the babylonian rule was merely nominal. but it is clear that it was not until canaan had been thoroughly reduced by egyptian arms that the old claim of babylonia to be its mistress was finally renounced, and even then we see that intrigues were carried on with the babylonians against the egyptian authority. it was during this period of babylonian influence and tutelage that the traditions and myths of chaldæa became known to the people of canaan. it is again the tablets of tel el-amarna which have shown us how this came to pass. among them are fragments of babylonian legends, one of which endeavoured to account for the creation of man and the introduction of sin into the world, and these legends were used as exercise-books in the foreign language by the scribes of canaan and egypt who were learning the babylonian language and script. if ever we discover the library of kirjath-sepher we shall doubtless find among its clay records similar examples of chaldæan literature. the resemblances between the cosmogonies of phoenicia and babylonia have often been pointed out, and since the discovery of the chaldæan account of the deluge by george smith we have learned that between that account and the one which is preserved in genesis there is the closest possible likeness, extending even to words and phrases. the long-continued literary influence of babylonia in palestine in the patriarchal age explains all this, and shows us how the traditions of chaldæa made their way to the west. when abraham entered canaan, he entered a country whose educated inhabitants were already familiar with the books, the history, and the traditions of that in which he had been born. there were doubtless many to whom the name and history of "ur of the chaldees" were already known. it may even be that copies of the books in its library already existed in the libraries of canaan. there was one babylonian hero at all events whose name had become so well known in the west that it had there passed into a proverb. this was the name of nimrod, "the mighty hunter before the lord." as yet the cuneiform documents are silent about him, but it is probable that he was one of the early kassite kings who established their dominion over the cities of babylonia. he is called the son of cush or kas, and "the beginning of his kingdom" was babylon, which had now for six centuries been the capital of the country. his name, however, was as familiar to the canaanite as it was to the inhabitant of chaldæa, and the god before whom his exploits were displayed was yahveh and not bel. it was about b.c. that the hyksos were finally expelled from egypt. they were originally asiatic hordes who had overrun the valley of the nile, and held it in subjection for several centuries. at first they had carried desolation with them wherever they went. the temples of the egyptian gods were destroyed and their priests massacred. but before long egyptian culture proved too strong for the invaders. the rude chief of a savage horde became transformed into an egyptian pharaoh, whose court resembled that of the ancient line of monarchs, and who surrounded himself with learned men. the cities and temples were restored and beautified, and art began to flourish once more. except in one respect it became difficult to distinguish the hyksos prince from his predecessors on the throne of egypt. that one respect was religion. the supreme object of hyksos worship continued to be sutekh, the baal of western asia, whose cult the foreigners had brought with them from their old homes. but even sutekh was assimilated to ra, the sun-god of on, and the hyksos pharaohs felt no scruple in imitating the native kings and combining their own names with that of ra. it was only the egyptians who refused to admit the assimilation, and insisted on identifying sutekh with set the enemy of horus. at the outset all egypt was compelled to submit to the hyksos domination. hyksos monuments have been found as far south as gebelên and el-kab, and the first hyksos dynasty established its seat in memphis, the old capital of the country. gradually, however, the centre of hyksos power retreated into the delta. zoan or tanis, the modern san, became the residence of the court: here the hyksos kings were in close proximity to their kindred in asia, and were, moreover, removed from the unmixed egyptian population further south. from zoan, "built"--or rather rebuilt--"seven years" after hebron (num. xiii. ), they governed the valley of the nile. their rule was assisted by the mutual jealousies and quarrels of the native feudal princes who shared between them the land of egypt. the foreigner kept his hold upon the country by means of the old feudal aristocracy. thebes, however, had never forgotten that it had been the birthplace and capital of the powerful pharaohs of the twelfth and thirteenth dynasties, of the mighty princes who had conquered the soudan, and ruled with an iron hand over the feudal lords. the heirs of the theban pharaohs still survived as princes of thebes, and behind the strong walls of el-kab they began to think of independence. apophis ii. in his court at zoan perceived the rising storm, and endeavoured to check it at its beginning. according to the story of a later day, he sent insulting messages to the prince of thebes, and ordered him to worship sutekh the hyksos god. the prince defied his suzerain, and the war of independence began. it lasted for several generations, during which the theban princes made themselves masters of upper egypt, and established a native dynasty of pharaohs which reigned simultaneously with the hyksos dynasty in the north. step by step the hyksos stranger was pushed back to the north-eastern corner of the delta. at length zoan itself fell into the hands of the egyptians, and the hyksos took refuge in the great fortress of avaris on the extreme border of the kingdom. here they were besieged by the theban prince ahmes, and eventually driven back to the asia from which they had come. the eighteenth dynasty was founded, and ahmes entered on that career of asiatic conquest which converted canaan into an egyptian province. at first the war was one of revenge; but it soon became one of conquest, and the war of independence was followed by the rise of the egyptian empire. thothmes ii., the grandson of ahmes, led his forces as far as the euphrates and the land of aram-naharaim. the territories thus overrun in a sort of military reconnaissance were conquered and annexed by his son thothmes iii., during his long reign of fifty-four years (march , b.c. to february , b.c. ). canaan on both sides of the jordan was made into a province, and governed much as india is to-day. some of the cities were allowed still to retain their old line of princes, who were called upon to furnish tribute to the egyptian treasury and recruits to the egyptian army. from time to time they were visited by an egyptian "commissioner," and an egyptian garrison kept watch upon their conduct. sometimes an egyptian resident was appointed by the side of the native king; this was the case, for example, at sidon and hazor. where, however, the city was of strategical or political importance it was incorporated into the egyptian empire, and placed under the immediate control of an egyptian governor, as at megiddo, gaza, gebal, gezer, and tyre. similarly ziri-basana, "the field of bashan," was under the government of a single _khazan_ or "prefect." the troops, who also acted as police, were divided into various classes. there were the _tsabi yidati_ or "auxiliaries," the _tsabi saruti_ or "militia," the _khabbati_ or "beduin plunderers," and the _tsabi matsarti_ or "egyptian soldiers of the garrison," as well as the _tsabi bitati_ or "house-guards," who were summoned in cases of emergency. among the auxiliaries were included the serdani or sardinians, while the sute--the sati or sitti of the hieroglyphic texts--formed the larger portion of the beduin ("bashi-bazouks"), and the egyptian forces were divided into the cavalry or rather charioteers, and the misi (called mas'u in the hieroglyphics) or infantry. fragments of the annals of thothmes iii. have been preserved on the shattered walls of his temple at karnak. here too we may read the lists of places he conquered in palestine--the land of the upper lotan as it is termed--as well as in northern syria. like the annals, the geographical lists have been compiled from memoranda made on the spot by the scribes who followed the army, and in some instances, at all events, it can be shown that they have been translated into egyptian hieroglyphs from babylonian cuneiform. the fact is an indication of the conquest that asia was already beginning to make over her egyptian conquerors. but the annals themselves are a further and still more convincing proof of asiatic influence. to cover the walls of a temple with the history of campaigns in a foreign land, and an account of the tribute brought to the pharaoh, was wholly contrary to egyptian ideas. from the egyptian point of view the decoration of the sacred edifice should have been theological only. the only subjects represented on it, so custom and belief had ruled, ought to be the gods, and the stereotyped phrases describing their attributes, their deeds, and their festivals. to substitute for this the records of secular history was assyrian and not egyptian. indeed the very conception of annalistic chronicling, in which the history of a reign was given briefly year by year and campaign by campaign, belonged to the kingdoms of the tigris and euphrates, not to that of the nile. it was a new thing in egypt, and flourished there only during the short period of asiatic influence. the egyptian cared comparatively little for history, and made use of papyrus when he wished to record it. unfortunately for us the annals of thothmes iii. remain the solitary monument of egyptian chronicling on stone. the twenty-second year of his reign (b.c. ) was that in which the egyptian pharaoh made his first determined effort to subdue canaan. gaza was occupied without much difficulty, and in the following year, on the fifth day of the month pakhons, he set out from it, and eleven days later encamped at ihem. there he learned that the confederated canaanitish army, under the command of the king of kadesh on the orontes, was awaiting his attack at megiddo. not only were the various nations of palestine represented in it, but contingents had come from naharaim on the banks of the euphrates, as well as from the gulf of antioch. for a while thothmes hesitated whether to march against them by the road which led through 'aluna to taanach or by way of zaft (perhaps safed), whence he would have descended southward upon megiddo. the arrival of his spies, however, determined him to take the first, and accordingly, after the officers had sworn that they would not leave their appointed posts in battle even to defend the person of the king, he started on his march, and on the nineteenth of the month pitched his tent at 'aluna. the way had been rough and impassable for chariots, so that the king had been forced to march on foot. 'aluna must have been close to megiddo, since the rear of the egyptian forces was stationed there during the battle that followed, while the southern wing extended to taanach and the northern wing to megiddo. the advanced guard pushed into the plain below, and the royal tent was set up on the bank of the brook of qana, an affluent of the kishon. the decisive struggle took place on the twenty-first of the month. thothmes rode in a chariot of polished bronze, and posted himself among the troops on the north-west side of megiddo. the canaanites were unable to resist the egyptian charge. they fled into the city, leaving behind them their horses and their chariots plated with gold and silver, those who arrived after the gates of the town had been shut being drawn up over the walls by means of ropes. had the egyptians not stayed behind in order to plunder the enemy's camp they would have entered megiddo along with the fugitives. as it was, they were compelled to blockade the city, building a rampart round it of "fresh green trees," and the besieged were finally starved into a surrender. in the captured camp had been found the son of the king of megiddo, besides a large amount of booty, including chariots of silver and gold from asi or cyprus. two suits of iron armour were also obtained, one belonging to the king of kadesh, the other to the king of megiddo. the seven tent-poles of the royal tent, plated with gold, also fell into the hands of the egyptians. the catalogue of the spoil was written down on a leather roll which was deposited in the temple of amon at thebes, and in it were enumerated: prisoners and hands belonging to the slain, chariots plated with gold, ordinary chariots, mares, foals, bows, and suits of armour. before the campaign was ended the egyptian army had penetrated far to the north and captured inuam, south of damascus, as well as anugas or nukhasse, and harankal, to the north of the land of the amorites. all these places seem to have belonged to the king of kadesh, as his property was carried away out of them. when thothmes returned to thebes the quantity of spoil be brought back with him was immense. "besides precious stones," golden bowls, phoenician cups with double handles and the like, there were swords, pounds of gold rings and pounds of silver rings, which served as money, a statue with a head of gold, tables, chairs, and staves of cedar and ebony inlaid with gold, ivory and precious stones, a golden plough, the golden sceptre of the conquered prince, and richly embroidered stuffs. the fields of the vanquished province were further measured by the egyptian surveyors, and the amount of taxation annually due from them was fixed. more than , measures of wheat were moreover carried off to egypt from the plain of megiddo. the canaanitish power was completely broken, and thothmes was now free to extend his empire further to the north. accordingly in the following year (b.c. ) we find him receiving tribute from the assyrian king. this consisted of leather bracelets, various kinds of wood, and chariots. it was probably at this time that carchemish on the euphrates was taken, the city being stormed from the riverside. five years later the first part of the annals was engraved on the wall of the new temple of amon at karnak, and it concluded with an account of the campaign of the year. this had been undertaken in northern syria, and had resulted in the capture of uarrt and tunip, now tennib, to the north-west of aleppo. no less than one hundred pounds of silver and as many of gold were taken from tunip, as well as lapis-lazuli from babylonia, and malachite from the sinaitic peninsula, together with vessels of iron and bronze. some ships also were captured, laden with slaves, bronze, lead, white gold, and other products of the greek seas. on the march home the egyptian army took possession of arvad, and seized its rich stores of wheat and wine. "then the soldiers caroused and anointed themselves with oil as they used to do on feast days in the land of egypt." the next year kadesh on the orontes, near the lake of horns, was attacked and destroyed, its trees were cut down and its corn carried away. from kadesh thothmes proceeded to the land of phoenicia, and took the cities of zemar (now sumra) and arvad. the heirs of four of the conquered princes were carried as hostages to egypt, "so that when one of these kings should die, then the pharaoh should take his son and put him in his stead." in b.c. the land of the amorites was reduced, or rather that part of it which was known as takhis, the thahash of genesis xxii. , on the shores of the lake of merna, in which we should probably see the lake of homs. nearly prisoners were led to egypt. the syrian princes now came to offer their gifts to the conqueror, bringing with them, among other things, more than pounds of silver, chariots covered with silver ornaments, and leathern collars covered with bronze scales. at the same time the whole country was thoroughly organized under the new egyptian administration. military roads were constructed and provided with posting-houses, at each of which relays of horses were kept in readiness, as well as "the necessary provision of bread of various sorts, oil, balsam, wine, honey, and fruits." the quarries of the lebanon were further required to furnish the pharaoh with limestone for his buildings in egypt and elsewhere. two years later thothmes was again in syria. he made his way as far as the euphrates, and there on the eastern bank erected a stele by the side of one which his father thothmes ii. had already set up. the stele was an imperial boundary-stone marking the frontier of the egyptian empire. it was just such another stele that hadad-ezer of zobah was intending to restore in the same place when he was met and defeated by david ( sam. viii. ). the pharaoh now took ship and descended the euphrates, "conquering the towns and ploughing up the fields of the king of naharaim." he then re-ascended the stream to the city of ni, where he placed another stele, in proof that the boundary of egypt had been extended thus far. elephants still existed in the neighbourhood, as they continued to do four and a half centuries later in the time of the assyrian king tiglath-pileser i. thothmes amused himself by hunting them, and no less than were slain. on his way home the tribute and "yearly tax" of the inhabitants of the lebanon was brought to him, and the corvée-work annually required from them was also fixed. thothmes indulged his taste for natural history by receiving as part of the tribute various birds which were peculiar to syria, or at all events were unknown in egypt, and which, we are told, "were dearer to the king than anything else." he had already established zoological and botanical gardens in thebes, and the strange animals and plants which his campaigns furnished for them were depicted on the walls of one of the chambers in the temple he built at karnak. before his return to egypt he received the tribute of "the king of sangar," or shinar, in mesopotamia, and "of the land of khata the greater." the first consisted for the most part of lapis-lazuli, real and artificial, of which the most prized was "the lapis-lazuli of babylon." among the gifts was "a ram's head of real lapis-lazuli, pounds in weight." the land of the hittites, "the greater," so called to distinguish it from the lesser hittite land in the south of palestine, sent rings of silver, pounds in weight, besides "a great piece of crystal." the following year thothmes marched through "the land of zahi," the "dry land" of the phoenician coast, to northern syria, where he punished the king of anugas or nukhasse, who had shown symptoms of rebellion. large quantities of gold and bronze were carried off, as well as chariots, plated with gold and silver, iron tent-poles studded with precious stones, and asses. lead and various kinds of wood and stone, together with jars of lebanon wine, jars of oil, and jars of balsam, were also received from southern syria, and posting-houses were established along the roads of the land of zahi. a fleet of phoenician merchant vessels was next sent to egypt laden with logs of wood from the forests of palestine and the lebanon for the buildings of the king. at the same time, "the king of cyprus," which now was an egyptian possession, forwarded his tribute to the pharaoh, consisting of bricks of copper pounds in weight, bricks of lead nearly , pounds in weight, pounds of lapis-lazuli, an elephant's tusk, and other objects of value. the next year (b.c. ) there was a campaign against the king of naharaim, who had collected his soldiers and horses "from the extreme ends of the world." but the mesopotamian army was utterly defeated. its booty fell into the hands of the egyptians, who, however, took only ten prisoners, which looks as if, after all, the battle was not on a very large scale. in b.c. thothmes was again in northern syria. among the booty acquired during the expedition were "bowls with goats' heads on them, and one with a lion's head, the work of the land of zahi." horses, asses and oxen, slaves, jars of wine, jars of butter, elephants' tusks, pounds of gold besides copper and lead, were among the spoils of the campaign. the annual tribute was only received from cyprus, consisting this time of copper and mares, as well as from aripakh, a district in the taurus. the next year the pharaoh led his troops against some country, the name of which is lost, in "the land of the hostile shasu" or beduin. the plunder which was carried off from it shows that it was somewhere in syria, probably in the region of the lebanon. gold and silver, a silver double-handled cup with a bull's head, iron, wine, balsam, oil, butter and honey, were among the spoils of the war. tribute arrived also from "the king of the greater hittite land," which included a number of negro slaves. revolt, however, now broke out in the north. tunip rebelled, as did also the king of kadesh, who built a "new" fortress to protect his city from attack. thothmes at once marched against them by the road along "the coast," which led him through the country of the fenkhu or phoenicians. first he fell upon the towns of alkana and utterly destroyed them, and then poured his troops into the neighbouring land of tunip. the city of tunip was taken and burnt, its crops were trodden under-foot, its trees cut down, and its inhabitants carried into slavery. then came the turn of kadesh. the "new" fortress fell at the first assault, and the whole country was compelled to submit. the king of assyria again sent presents to the pharaoh which the egyptian court regarded in the light of tribute. they consisted chiefly of large blocks of "real lapis-lazuli" as well as "lapis-lazuli of babylon." more valuable gifts came from the subject princes of syria. foremost among these was "a king's daughter all glorious with [a vesture of] gold." then there were four chariots plated with gold and six chariots of gold, iron armour inlaid with gold, a jug of silver, a golden helmet inlaid with lapis-lazuli, wine, honey and balsam, ivory and various kinds of wood, wheat in such quantities that it could not be measured, and the sixty-five slaves who had to be furnished each year as part of the annual tax. the annals of the next two years are in too mutilated a condition to yield much information. moreover, the campaigns carried on in them were mainly in the soudan. in b.c. the record closes. it was in that year that the account of the pharaoh's victories "which he had gained from the rd until the ( ) nd year" were engraved upon the wall of the temple. (the inscription has " nd year," but as the wars extended beyond the th year of the king's reign this must be a sculptor's error.) and the chronicle concludes with the brief but expressive words, "thus hath he done: may he live for ever!" thothmes, indeed, did not live for ever, but he survived the completion of his temple fourteen years. his death was followed by the revolt of northern syria, and the first achievement of his son and successor, amenôphis ii., was its suppression. ni and ugarit, the centres of disaffection, were captured and punished, and among the prisoners from ugarit were "canaanite" merchants with their slaves. the name of canaanite had thus already acquired that secondary meaning of "merchant" which we find in the old testament (is. xxiii. ; ezek. xvii. ). it is a significant proof of the commercial activity and trading establishments of the canaanite race throughout the civilized world. even a cuneiform tablet from kappadokia, which is probably of the same age as the tablets of tel el-amarna, gives us the name of kinanim "the canaanite" as that of a witness to a deed. it was not always, however, that the canaanites were so honourably distinguished. at times the name was equivalent to that of "slave" rather than of "merchant," as in a papyrus [anast. , , .] where mention is made of kan'amu or "canaanite slaves from khal." so too in another papyrus we hear of a slave called saruraz the son of naqati, whose mother was kadi from the land of arvad. the egyptian wars in palestine must necessarily have resulted in the enslavement of many of its inhabitants, and, as we have seen, a certain number of young slaves formed part of the annual tax levied upon syria. the successors of thothmes iii. extended the egyptian empire far to the south in the soudan. but its asiatic limits had already been reached. palestine, along with phoenicia, the land of the amorites and the country east of the jordan, was constituted into an egyptian province and kept strictly under egyptian control. further north the connection with the imperial government was looser. there were egyptian fortresses and garrisons here and there, and certain important towns like tunip near aleppo and qatna on the khabûr were placed under egyptian prefects. but elsewhere the conquered populations were allowed to remain under their native kings. in some instances, as, for example, in anugas or nukhasse, the kings were little more than satraps of the pharaoh, but in other instances, like alasiya, north of hamath, they resembled the rulers of the protected states in modern india. in fact, the king of alasiya calls the pharaoh his "brother," and except for the obligation of paying tribute was practically an independent sovereign. the egyptian dominion was acknowledged as far north as mount amanus. carchemish, soon to become a hittite stronghold, was in egyptian hands, and the hittites themselves had not yet emerged from the fortresses of the taurus. their territory was still confined to kataonia and armenia minor between melitênê and the saros, and they courted the favour of the egyptian monarch by sending him gifts. thothmes would have refused to believe that before many years were over they would wrest northern syria from his successors, and contend on equal terms with the egyptian pharaoh. the egyptian possessions on the east bank of euphrates lay along the course of the khabûr, towards the oasis of singar or shinar. north of the belikh came the powerful kingdom of mitanni, aram-naharaim as it is called in the old testament, which was never subdued by the egyptian arms, and whose royal family intermarried with the successors of thothmes. mitanni, the capital, stood nearly opposite carchemish, which thus protected the egyptian frontier on the east. southward of the belikh the frontier was formed by the desert. syria, bashan, ammon, and moab were all included in the pharaoh's empire. but there it came to an end. mount seir was never conquered by the egyptians. the "city" of edom appears in one of the tel el-amarna tablets as a foreign state whose inhabitants wage war against the egyptian territory. the conquest of the edomites in their mountain fastnesses would have been a matter of difficulty, nor would anything have been gained by it. edom was rich neither agriculturally nor commercially; it was, in fact, a land of barren mountains, and the trade which afterwards passed through the arabah to elath and ezion-geber in the gulf of aqabah was already secured to the egyptians through their possession of the gulf of suez. the first and last of the pharaohs, so far as we know, who ventured on a campaign against the wild tribes of mount seir, was ramses iii. of the twentieth dynasty, and his campaign was merely a punitive one. no attempt to incorporate the "red land" into his dominions was ever made by an egyptian king. the sinaitic peninsula, the province of mafkat or "malachite," as it was called, had been in the possession of the egyptians since the time of zosir of the third dynasty, and it continued to be regarded as part of the egyptian kingdom up to the age of the ptolemies. the earliest of egyptian rock-sculptures is engraved in the peninsula, and represents snefru, the founder of the fourth dynasty, slaughtering the beduin who inhabited it. its possession was valued on account of its mines of copper and malachite. these were worked by the egyptian kings with the help of convict labour. garrisons were established to protect them and the roads which led to them, colonies of officials grew up at their side, and temples were built dedicated to the deities of egypt. even as late as the reign of ramses iii. the amount of minerals produced by the mines was enormous. they existed for the most part on the western side of the peninsula, opposite the egyptian coast; but ramses iii. also opened copper mines in the land of 'ataka further east, and the name of the goddess hathor in hieroglyphics has been found by dr. friedmann on the shores of midian. vanquished syria was made to contribute to the endowments of the egyptian temples. thus the temple of amon at thebes was endowed by thothmes iii. with the revenues of the three cities anugas, inu'am, and harankal; while seti i., the father of ramses ii., bestowed upon it "all the silver, gold, lapis-lazuli, malachite, and precious stones which he carried off from the humbled land of syria." temples of the egyptian gods, as well as towns, were built in syria itself; meneptah founded a city in the land of the amorites; ramses iii. erected a temple to amon in "the land of canaan, great as the horizon of heaven above, to which the people of syria come with their gifts"; and hieroglyphic inscriptions lately discovered at gaza show that another temple had been built there by amenophis ii. to the goddess mut. amenophis had suppressed the rebellion in northern syria with little trouble. seven amorite kings were carried prisoners to egypt from the land of takhis, and taken up the river as far as thebes. there six of them were hung outside the walls of the city, as the body of saul was hung by the philistines outside the walls of beth-shan, while the seventh was conveyed to napata in ethiopia, and there punished in the same way in order to impress a lesson of obedience upon the negroes of the soudan. amenophis ii. was succeeded by thothmes iv., who was called upon to face a new enemy, the hittites. it was at the commencement of his reign that they first began to descend from their mountain homes, and the frontier city of tunip had to bear the brunt of the attack. it was probably in order to strengthen himself against these formidable foes that the pharaoh married the daughter of the king of mitanni, who changed her name to mut-em-ua. it was the beginning of those inter-marriages with the princes of asia which led to the asiatized court and religion of amenophis iv., and finally to the overthrow of the eighteenth dynasty. the son of mut-em-ua was amenophis iii., whose long reign of thirty-seven years was as brilliant and successful as that of thothmes iii. at soleb between the second and third cataracts he built a temple to his own deified self, and engraved upon its columns the names of his vassal states. among them are tunip and kadesh, carchemish and apphadana on the khabûr. sangar, assyria, naharaim, and the hittites also appear among them, but this must be on the strength of the tribute or presents which had been received from them. the pharaoh filled his harîm with asiatic princesses. his queen teie, who exercised an important influence upon both religion and politics, came from asia, and among his wives were the sisters and daughters of the kings of babylonia and mitanni, while one of his own daughters was married to burna-buryas the babylonian sovereign. his marriage with gilu-khipa, the daughter of sutarna, king of aram-naharaim, was celebrated on a scarab, where it is further related that she was accompanied to egypt by three hundred and seventeen "maids of honour." besides allying himself in marriage to the royal houses of asia, amenophis iii. passed a good deal of his time in syria and mesopotamia, amusing himself with hunting lions. during the first ten years of his reign he boasts of having killed no less than one hundred and two of them. it was in the last of these years that he married queen teie, who is said on scarabs to have been the daughter of "yua and tua." possibly these are contracted forms of tusratta and yuni, who were at the time king and queen of mitanni. but if so, it is curious that no royal titles are given to her parents; moreover, the author of the scarabs has made yua the father of the queen and tua her mother. tuya is the name of an amorite in one of the tel el-amarna letters, while from another of them it would seem as if teie had been the daughter of the babylonian king. one of the daughters of tusratta, tadu-khipa, was indeed married to amenophis, but she did not rank as chief queen. in the reign of meneptah of the nineteenth dynasty the vizier was a native of bashan, ben-mazana by name, whose father was called yu the elder. yua may therefore be a word of amorite origin; and a connection has been suggested between it and the hebrew yahveh. this, however, though possible, cannot be proved. when amenophis iii. died his son amenophis iv. seems to have been still a minor. at all events the queen-mother teie became all-powerful in the government of the state. her son, the new pharaoh, had been brought up in the religious beliefs of his mother, and had inherited the ideas and tendencies of his asiatic forefathers. a plaster-cast of his face, taken immediately after death, was discovered by prof. petrie at tel el-amarna, and it is the face of a refined and thoughtful theorist, of a philosopher rather than of a king, earnest in his convictions almost to fanaticism. amenophis iv. undertook no less a task than that of reforming the state religion of egypt. for many centuries the religion of the priests and scribes had been inclining to pantheism. inside the temples there had been an esoteric teaching, that the various deities of egypt were but manifestations of the one supreme god. but it had hardly passed outside them. with the accession of amenophis iv. to the throne came a change. the young king boldly rejected the religion of which he was officially the head, and professed himself a worshipper of the one god whose visible semblance was the solar disk. alone of the deities of egypt ra, the ancient sun-god of heliopolis, was acknowledged to be the representative of the true god. it was the baal-worship of syria, modified by the philosophic conceptions of egypt. the aten-ra of the "heretic" pharaoh was an asiatic baal, but unlike the baal of canaan he stood alone; there were no other baals, no baalim, by the side of him. amenophis was not content with preaching and encouraging the new faith; he sought to force it upon his subjects. the other gods of egypt were proscribed, and the name and head of amon, the patron god of thebes, to whom his ancestors had ascribed their power and victories, were erased from the monuments wherever they occurred. even his own father's name was not spared, and the emissaries of the king, from one end of the country to the other, defaced that portion of it which contained the name of the god. his own name was next changed, and amenophis iv. became khu-n-aten, "the splendour of the solar disk." khu-n-aten's attempt to overthrow the ancient faith of egypt was naturally resisted by the powerful priesthood of thebes. a religious war was declared for the first time, so far as we know, in the history of mankind. on the one side a fierce persecution was directed against the adherents of the old creed; on the other side every effort was made to impede and defeat the pharaoh. his position grew daily more insecure, and at last he turned his back on the capital of his fathers, and built himself a new city far away to the north. the priests of amon had thus far triumphed; the old idolatrous worship was carried on once more in the great temple of karnak, though its official head was absent, and khu-n-aten with his archives and his court had fled to a safer home. upper egypt was left to its worship of amon and min, while the king established himself nearer his canaanite possessions. here on the eastern bank of the nile, about midway between minyeh and siût, the new capital was founded on a strip of land protected from attack by a semi-amphitheatre of cliffs. the city, with its palaces and gardens, extended nearly two miles in length along the river bank. in its midst rose the temple of the new god of egypt, and hard by the palace of the king. both were brilliant with painting and sculpture, and inlaid work in precious stones and gold. even the floors were frescoed, while the walls and columns were enamelled or adorned with the most costly materials that the egyptian world could produce. here and there were statues of alabaster, of bronze or of gold, some of them almost greek in form and design. along with the reform in religion there had gone a reform in art. the old conventionalized art of egypt was abandoned, and a new art had been introduced which aimed at imitating nature with realistic fidelity. the mounds which mark the site of khu-n-aten's city are now known as tel el-amarna. it had a brief but brilliant existence of about thirty years. then the enemies of the pharaoh and his work of reform finally prevailed, and his city with its temple and palaces was levelled to the ground. it is from among its ruins that the wondering fellah and explorer of to-day exhume the gorgeous relics of its past. but among these relics none have proved more precious than the clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform characters, which have revolutionized our conceptions of the ancient east. they were preserved in the foreign office of the day. this formed part of the public buildings connected with the palace, and the bricks of which it was built were stamped with an inscription describing its character. many of the tablets had been brought from the archive chamber of thebes, but the greater part of the collection belongs to the reign of khu-n-aten himself. it consists almost entirely of official correspondence; of letters from the kings of babylonia and assyria, of mesopotamia and kappadokia, and of despatches from the egyptian governors and vassal-princes in syria and palestine. they furnish us with a living and unexpected picture of canaan about b.c. fragments of dictionaries for the use of the scribes have also been recovered from the _débris_ of the building, as well as the seal of a servant of samas-akh-iddin who looked after the cuneiform correspondence. like several of the canaanitish governors, he bore a babylonian name. even the brother of amenophis iii., who had been made king of nukhasse, had received the babylonian name of rimmon-nirari. no stronger proof could be found of the extent and strength of babylonian influence in the west. at khut-aten, as the "heretic" pharaoh called his new capital, he was surrounded by the adherents of the new faith. many of them were doubtless egyptians, but many, perhaps the majority, were of asiatic extraction. already under his father and grandfather the court had been filled with canaanites and other natives of asia, and the great offices of state had been occupied by them. now under khu-n-aten the asiatic character of the government was increased tenfold. the native egyptian had to make way for the foreigner, and the rule of the syrian stranger which seemed to have been expelled with the hyksos was restored under another form. canaan was nominally a subject province of egypt, but in reality it had led its conqueror captive. a semi-asiatic pharaoh was endeavouring to force an asiatic form of faith upon his subjects, and entrusting his government to asiatic officials; even art had ceased to be egyptian and had put on an asiatic dress. the tombs of khu-n-aten's followers are cut in the cliffs at the back of the city, while his own sepulchre is towards the end of a long ravine which runs out into the eastern desert between two lofty lines of precipitous rock. but few of them are finished, and the sepulchre of the king himself, magnificent in its design, is incomplete and mutilated. the sculptures on the walls have been broken, and the granite sarcophagus in which the body of the great king rested has been shattered into fragments before it could be lifted into the niche where it was intended to stand. the royal mummy was torn into shreds, and the porcelain figures buried with it dashed to the ground. it is clear that the death of khu-n-aten must have been quickly followed by the triumph of his enemies. his capital was overthrown, the stones of its temple carried away to thebes, there to adorn the sanctuary of the victorious amon, and the adherents of his reform either slain or driven into exile. the vengeance executed upon them was national as well as religious. it meant not only a restoration of the national faith, but also the restoration of the native egyptian to the government of his country. the feelings which inspired it were similar to those which underlay the movement of arabi in our own time, and there was no english army to stand in the way of its success. the rise of the nineteenth dynasty represents the triumph of the national cause. the cuneiform letters of tel el-amarna show that already before khu-n-aten's death his empire and power were breaking up. letter after letter is sent to him from the governors in canaan with urgent requests for troops. the hittites were attacking the empire in the north, and rebels were overthrowing it within. "if auxiliaries come this year," writes ebed-tob of jerusalem, "the provinces of the king my lord will be preserved; but if no auxiliaries come the provinces of the king my lord will be destroyed." to these entreaties no answer could be returned. there was civil and religious war in egypt itself, and the army was needed to defend the pharaoh at home. the picture of canaan presented to us by the tel el-amarna correspondence has been supplemented by the discovery of lachish. five years ago prof. flinders petrie undertook to excavate for the palestine exploration fund in the lofty mound of tel el-hesi in southern palestine. tel el-hesi stands midway between gaza and hebron on the edge of the judaean mountains, and overlooking a torrent stream. his excavations resulted in the discovery of successive cities built one upon the ruins of the other, and in the probability that the site was that of lachish. the excavations were resumed by mr. bliss in the following year, and the probability was raised to practical certainty. the lowest of the cities was the lachish of the amorite period, whose crude brick walls, nearly twenty-nine feet in thickness, have been brought to light, while its pottery has revealed to us for the first time the characteristics of amorite manufacture. the huge walls bear out the testimony of the israelitish spies, that the cities of the amorites were "great and walled up to heaven" (deut. i. ). they give indications, however, that in spite of their strength the fortresses they enclosed must have been captured more than once. doubtless this was during the age of the egyptian wars in canaan. as at troy, it is probable that it was only the citadel which was thus strongly fortified. below it was the main part of the town, the inhabitants of which took refuge in the citadel when an enemy threatened to attack them. the fortified part, indeed, was not of very large extent. its ruins measured only about two hundred feet each way, while the enclosure within which it stands is a quarter of a mile in diameter. here a regular series of pottery has been found, dating from the post-exilic age through successive strata back to the primitive amoritish fortress. to prof. petrie belongs the credit of determining the characteristics of these various strata, and fixing their approximate age. the work begun by prof. petrie was continued by mr. bliss. deep down among the ruins of the amoritish town he found objects which take us back to the time of khu-n-aten and his predecessors. they consist of egyptian beads and scarabs of the eighteenth dynasty, and on one of the beads are the name and title of "the royal wife teie." along with them were discovered beads of amber which came from the baltic as well as seal-cylinders, some of them imported from babylonia, others western imitations of babylonian work. the babylonian cylinders belong to the period which extends from to b.c., while the imitations are similar in style to those which have been found in the pre-historic tombs of cyprus and phoenicia. but there was one discovery made by mr. bliss which far surpasses in interest all the rest. it is that of a cuneiform tablet, similar in character, in contents, and in age to those which have come from tel el-amarna. even the egyptian governor mentioned in it was already known to us from the tel el-amarna correspondence as the governor of lachish. one of the cuneiform letters now preserved at berlin was written by him, and ebed-tob informs us that he was subsequently murdered by the people of his own city. here is a translation of the letter discovered at tel el-hesi:-- "to ... rabbat (?) [or perhaps: to the officer baya] (thus speaks) ... abi. at thy feet i prostrate myself. verily thou knowest that dan-hadad and zimrida have inspected the whole of the city, and dan-hadad says to zimrida: send yisyara to me [and] give me shields (?) and slings and falchions, since i am prefect (?) over the country of the king and it has acted against me; and now i will restore thy possession which the enemy took from thee; and i have sent my ..., and ... rabi-ilu ... has despatched his brother [with] these words." (this translation differs in some respects from that previously given by me, as it is based on the copy of the text made from the original at constantinople by dr. scheil (_recueil de trailaux relatifs à la philologie et à l'archéologie égyptiennes et assyriennes_, xv. , , ). as i stated at the time, my copy was made from a cast and was therefore uncertain in several places. i am doubtful whether even now the published text is correct throughout.) yisyara was the name of an amorite, as we learn from one of the tel el-amarna tablets, where he is mentioned along with other rebels as being sent in fetters of bronze to the king. of dan-hadad we know nothing further, but zimrida's letter is as follows:-- "to the king my lord, my god, my sun-god, the sun-god who is from heaven, thus (writes) zimridi, the governor of the city of lachish. thy servant, the dust of thy feet, at the feet of the king my lord, the sun-god from heaven, bows himself seven times seven. i have very diligently listened to the words of the messenger whom the king my lord has sent to me, and now i have despatched (a mission) according to his message." it was towards the end of khu-n-aten's reign, when the egyptian empire was falling to pieces, that the murder of zimrida took place. ebed-tob thus describes it in a letter to the secretary of the pharaoh: "the khabiri (or confederates) are capturing the fortresses of the king. not a single governor remains among them to the king my lord; all are destroyed. behold, turbazu thy officer [has fallen] in the great gate of the city of zelah. behold, the servants who acted against the king have slain zimrida of lachish. they have murdered jephthah-hadad thy officer in the gate of the city of zelah." we hear of another governor of lachish, yabni-el by name, but he probably held office before zimrida. at all events the following despatch of his has been preserved:-- "to the king my lord, my god, my sun-god, the sun-god who is from heaven, thus (writes) yabni-el, the governor of the city of lachish, thy servant, the dust of thy feet, the groom of thy horses; at the feet of the king my lord, my god, my sun-god, the sun-god who is from heaven, seven times seven i bow myself. glorious and supreme [art thou]. i the groom of [the horses] of the king my lord, listen to the [words] of the king my lord. now have i heard all the words which baya the prefect has spoken to me. now have i done everything." zimrida of lachish must be distinguished from another canaanite of the same name who was governor of sidon. this latter was a personal enemy of rib-hadad the governor of gebal, whose letters to khu-n-aten form a considerable portion of the tel el-amarna collection. the authority of rib-hadad originally extended over the greater part of phoenicia, and included the strong fortress of zemar or simyra in the mountains. one by one, however, his cities were taken from him by his adversaries whom he accuses of rebellion against the pharaoh. his letters to egypt are accordingly filled with imploring appeals for help. but none was sent, and as his enemies equally professed their loyalty to the egyptian government, it is doubtful whether this was because the pharaoh suspected rib-hadad himself of disaffection or because no troops could be spared. rib-hadad had been appointed to his post by amenophis iii., and in one of his letters he looks back regretfully on "the good old times." when his letters were written he was old and sick. abimelech, the governor of tyre, was almost the only friend who remained to him. not content with fomenting rebellion in his district, and taking his cities from him, his enemies accused him to the pharaoh of disloyalty and misdoing. those accusations were in some cases founded on truth. he confesses to having fled from his city, but he urges that it was to save his life. the troops he had begged for had not been sent to him, and he could no longer defend either his city or himself. he also alleges that the excesses committed by some of his servants had been without his knowledge. this seems to have been in answer to a despatch of ammunira, the prefect of beyrout, in which he informed the king that he was keeping the brother of the governor of gebal as a hostage, and that the latter had been intriguing against the government in the land of the amorites. chief among the adversaries of rib-hadad was ebed-asherah, a native of the land of barbarti, and the governor of the amoritish territory. several of his sons are mentioned, but the ablest and most influential of them was aziru or ezer, who possessed a considerable amount of power. the whole family, while professing to be the obedient servants of the pharaoh, nevertheless acted with a good deal of independence, and sought to aggrandise themselves at the expense of the neighbouring governors. they had at their disposal a large body of "plunderers," or beduin from the eastern desert, and rib-hadad accuses them of forming secret alliances with the kings of babylonia, of mitanni and of the hittites. the authority of aziru extended to the northern frontier of the empire; we find him sent with the egyptian general khatip, or hotep, to oppose the hittite invasion, and writing to the king as well as to the prime minister dudu to explain why they had not succeeded in doing so. tunip had been invested by the enemy, and aziru fears that it may fall into their hands. the hittites had already made their way into the land of nukhasse, and were from thence marching up into the land of the amorites. on the heels of these despatches came a long letter from the people of tunip, complaining of the conduct of aziru, and protesting against his doing to them what he had done to the city of ni. he was at the time in the land of the hittites, doubtless carrying on the war against the general enemy. to these accusations aziru made a full reply. "o my lord," he begins, "hearken not to the wicked men who slander me before the king my lord: i am thy servant for ever." he had been charged with want of respect to the pharaoh, on the ground that he had not received the royal commissioner khani on his arrival at tunip. but, he replies, he did not know that the commissioner was coming, and as soon as he heard that he was on the road he "followed him, but failed to overtake him." in his absence khani was duly received by the brethren of aziru, and belti-el (or bethuel) furnished him with meat and bread and wine. moreover, on his way home he was met by aziru himself, who provided the commissioner with horses and mules. a more serious charge was that of seizing the city of zemar. to this aziru answers that it was done in self-defence, as the kings of nukhasse had always been hostile to him, and had robbed him of his cities at the instigation of khatip, who had also carried away all the silver and gold which the king had placed under his care. moreover he had not really seized zemar, but had won the people over to himself by means of gifts. lastly, he denied the accusation that he had received the envoy of the king of the hittites and refused to receive the egyptian messenger, although the country he governed belonged to the king, and the king had appointed him over it. let the egyptian envoy make inquiries, he urges, and he will find that aziru has acted uprightly. the capture of zemar forms the burden of many of the letters of rib-hadad. it had been besieged for two months by ebed-asherah, who had vainly attempted to corrupt the loyalty of the governor of gebal. for the time rib-hadad managed to save the city, but aziru allied himself with arvad and the neighbouring towns of northern phoenicia, captured twelve of rib-hadad's men, demanded a ransom of fifty pieces of silver for each of them, and seized the ships of zemar, beyrout, and sidon. the forces sent from gebal to zemar were made prisoners by the amorite chief at abiliya, and the position of rib-hadad daily became more desperate. pa-hor, the egyptian governor of kumidi, joined his opponents, and induced the sute or beduin to attack his sardinian guards. yapa-hadad, another governor, followed the example of pa-hor, and zimridi the governor of sidon had from the first been his enemy. tyre alone remained faithful to his cause, though an "ionian" who had been sent there on a mission from egypt had handed over horses, chariots, and men to ebed-asherah, and it was accordingly to tyre that rib-hadad sent his family for safety. tyre, however, now began to suffer like gebal in consequence of the alliance between zimridi and ebed-asherah. zemar eventually fell into the hands of ebed-asherah and his sons, its prefect khayapa or khaip being slain during the assault. abimelech, the governor of tyre, accuses zimridi of having been the cause. whether this were so or not, it placed the whole of northern phoenicia under the government or the influence of the amorite chiefs. if rib-hadad spoke the truth, ebed-asherah had "sent to the soldiers in bit-ninip, saying, 'gather yourselves together, and let us march up against gebal, if therein are any who have saved themselves from our hands, and we will appoint governors throughout all the provinces;' so all the provinces went over to the beduin." provisions began to be scarce in gebal, and the governor writes to egypt for corn. rib-hadad now threatened the pharaoh with deserting to his enemies if succour was not forth-coming immediately, and at the same time he appealed to amon-apt and khayapa, the egyptian commissioners who had been sent to inquire into the condition of affairs in canaan. the appeal was so far successful that troops were despatched to zemar. but it was too late: along with arka it had already been occupied by ebed-asherah, who thereupon writes to the pharaoh, protesting his loyalty to khu-n-aten, declaring that he is "the house-dog" of the king, and that he guards the land of the amorites for "the king" his lord. he further calls on the egyptian commissioner pakhanate, who had been ordered to visit him, to bear witness that he was "defending" zemar and its fields for the king. that pakhanate was friendly to ebed-asherah may be gathered from a despatch of rib-hadad, in which he accuses that officer of refusing to send any troops to the relief of gebal, and of looking on while zemar fell. ebed-asherah goes on to beg the king to come himself, and see with his own eyes how faithful a governor he really was. the letters of abimelech of tyre told a different tale, and the unfortunate pharaoh might well be excused if he was as much puzzled as we are to know on which side the truth lay, or whether indeed it lay on either. abimelech had a grievance of his own. as soon as zimridi of sidon learned that he had been appointed governor of tyre, he seized the neighbouring city of usu, which seems to have occupied the site of palætyros on the mainland, thereby depriving the tyrians of their supplies of wood, food, and fresh water. the city of tyre was at the time confined to a rocky island, to which provisions and water had to be conveyed in boats. hence the hostile occupation of the town on the mainland caused many of its inhabitants to die of want. to add to their difficulties, the city was blockaded by the combined fleet of sidon, arvad, and aziru. ilgi, "king of sidon," seems to have fled to tyre for protection, while abimelech reports that the king of hazor had joined the beduin under ebed-asherah and his sons. it may be noted that a letter of this very king of hazor has been preserved, as well as another from ebed-sullim, the egyptian governor of the city, whose powers were co-extensive with those of the king. soon afterwards, however, the sidonian ships were compelled to retreat, and the tyrian governor made ready to pursue them. meanwhile he sent his messenger elimelech to khu-n-aten with various presents, and gave the king an account of what had been happening in "canaan." the hittite troops had departed, but etagama--elsewhere called aidhu-gama--the _pa-ur_ or "prince" of kadesh, in the land of kinza, had joined aziru in attacking namya-yitsa, the governor of kumidi. abimelech adds that his rival zimridi of sidon had collected ships and men from the cities of aziru against him, and had consequently defeated him, but if the pharaoh would send only four companies of troops to his rescue all would be well. zimridi, however, was not behindhand in forwarding his version of events to the egyptian court, and assuring the king of his unswerving fidelity. "verily the king my lord knows," he says, "that the queen of the city of sidon is the handmaid of the king my lord, who has given her into my hand, and that i have hearkened to the words of the king my lord that he would send to his servant, and my heart rejoiced and my head was exalted, and my eyes were enlightened, and my ears heard the words of the king my lord.... and the king my lord knows that hostility is very strong against me; all the [fortresses] which the king gave into [my hand] had revolted" to the beduin, but had been retaken by the commander of the egyptian forces. the letter throws a wholly different light on the relations of the two rival parties in phoenicia. the assertions of rib-hadad, however, are supported by those of his successor in the government of gebal, el-rabi-hor. rib-hadad himself disappears from the scene. he may have died, for he complains that he is old and sick; he may have been driven out of gebal, for in one of his despatches he states that the city was inclined to revolt, while in another he tells us that even his own brother had turned against him and gone over to the amorite faction. or he may have been displaced from his post; at all events, we hear that the pharaoh had written to him, saying that gebal was rebellious, and that there was a large amount of royal property in it. we hear also that rib-hadad had sent his son to the egyptian court to plead his cause there, alleging age and infirmities as a reason for not going himself. however it may have been, we find a new governor in gebal, who bears the hybrid name of el-rabi-hor, "a great god is horus." his first letter is to protest against khu-n-aten's mistrust of gebal, which he calls "thy city and the city of [thy] fathers," and to assert roundly that "aziru is in rebellion against the king my lord." aziru had made a league (?) with the kings of ni, arvad, and ammiya (the beni-ammo of num. xxii. ) (see above, p. .), and with the help of the amorite palasa was destroying the cities of the pharaoh. so el-rabi-hor asks the king not to heed anything the rebel may write about his seizure of zemar or his massacre of the royal governors, but to send some troops to himself for the defence of gebal. in a second letter he reiterates his charges against aziru, who had now "smitten" adon, the king of arka, and possessed himself of zemar and the other towns of phoenicia, so that gebal "alone" is on the side of the king, who "looks on" without doing anything. moreover a fresh enemy had arisen in the person of eta-gama of kadesh, who had joined himself with the king of the hittites and the king of naharaim. letters to khu-n-aten from akizzi the governor of qatna, which, as we learn from the inscriptions of assur-natsir-pal, was situated on the khabûr, represent aziru in the same light. first of all, the egyptian government is informed that the king of the hittites, together with aidhu-gama (or eta-gama) of kadesh has been invading the egyptian territory, burning its cities, and carrying away from qatna the image of the sun-god. khu-n-aten, it is urged, could not allow the latter crime to go unpunished. the sun-god had created him and his father, and had caused them to be called after his own name. he was the supreme object of the pharaoh's worship, the deity for whose sake khu-n-aten had deserted thebes. the hittite king had been joined in his invasion of syria by the governors of some otherwise unknown northern cities, but the kings of nukhasse, ni, zinzar (the sonzar of the egyptian texts), and kinanat (the kanneh of ezek. xxvii. ) remained faithful to the egyptian monarch. the rebel governors, however, were in the land of ube,--the aup of the hieroglyphics,--which they were urging aidhu-gama to invade. another letter brings aziru upon the scene. he is accused of having invaded the land of nukhasse, and made prisoners of the people of qatna. the pharaoh is prayed to rescue or ransom them, and to send chariots and soldiers to the help of his mesopotamian subjects. if they come all the lands round about will acknowledge him as lord, and he will be lord also of nukhasse; if they do not come, the men of qatna will be forced to obey aziru. it is probable that the misdeeds of aziru which are here referred to were committed at the time he was in tunip, professedly protecting it against hittite attack. it would seem from what akizzi says, that instead of faithfully performing his mission, he had aimed at establishing his own power in northern syria. while nominally an officer of the pharaoh, he was really seeking to found an amorite kingdom in the north. in this he would have been a predecessor of og and sihon, whose kingdoms were built up on the ruins of the egyptian empire. a despatch, however, from namya-yitsa, the governor of kumidi, sets the conduct of aziru in a more favourable light. it was written at a somewhat later time, when rebellion against the egyptian authority was spreading throughout syria. a certain biridasyi had stirred up the city of inu'am, and after shutting its gate upon namya-yitsa had entered the city of ashtaroth-karnaim in bashan, and there seized the chariots belonging to the pharaoh, handing them over to the beduin. he then joined the kings of buzruna (now bosra) and khalunni (near the wadi 'allân), in a plot to murder namya-yitsa, who escaped, however, to damascus, though his own brothers turned against him. the rebels next attacked aziru, captured some of his soldiers, and in league with etu-gama wasted the district of abitu. etakkama, however, as etu-gama spells his own name, professed to be a loyal servant of the egyptian king, and one of the tel el-amarna letters is from him. we next hear of namya-yitsa in accho or acre, where he had taken refuge with suta, or seti, the egyptian commissioner. seti had already been in jerusalem, and had been inquiring there into the behaviour of ebed-tob. the picture of incipient anarchy and rebellion which is set before us by the correspondence from phoenicia and syria is repeated in that from the centre and south of palestine. in the centre the chief seats of the egyptian government were at megiddo, at khazi (the gaza of chron. vii. ), near shechem, and at gezer. each of these towns was under an egyptian governor, specially appointed by the pharaoh. the governor of khazi bore the name of su-yarzana, megiddo was under the authority of biridî, while the governor of gaza was yapakhi. there are several letters in the tel el-amarna collection from the latter official, chiefly occupied with demands for help against his enemies. the district under his control was attacked by the sute or beduin, led by a certain labai or labaya and his sons. labai, though of beduin origin, was himself professedly an egyptian official, the egyptian policy having been to give the title of governor to the powerful beduin sheikhs, and to attach them to the egyptian government by the combined influence of bribery and fear. labai accordingly writes to the pharaoh to defend himself against the charges that had been brought against him, and to assure khu-n-aten that he was "a faithful servant of the king"; "i have not sinned, and i have not offended, and i do not withhold my tribute or neglect the command to turn back my officers." labai, it would seem, had been appointed by amenophis iii. governor of shunem and bene-berak (joshua xix. ), and had captured the city of gath-rimmon when it revolted against the pharaoh; but after the death of amenophis he and his two sons had attacked the egyptian officials in true beduin style, and had taken every opportunity of pillaging central and southern palestine. as we shall see, labai and his ally, malchiel, were among the chief adversaries of ebed-tob of jerusalem. on one occasion, however, labai was actually made prisoner by one of the egyptian officers. there is a letter from biridî stating that megiddo was threatened by labai, and that although the garrison had been strengthened by the arrival of some egyptian troops, it was impossible to venture outside the gates of the town for fear of the enemy, and that unless two more regiments were sent the city itself was likely to fall. whether the additional forces were sent or not we do not know. labai, however, had to fly for his life along with his confederate yasdata, who was the governor of some city near megiddo, as we learn from a letter of his in which he speaks of being with biridî. of yasdata we hear nothing further, but labai was captured in megiddo by zurata, the prefect of acre, who, under the pretext that he was going to send his prisoner in a ship to egypt, took him first to the town of khinatuna ('en'athôn), and then to his own house, where he was induced by a bribe to set him free along with his companion, hadad-mekhir (who, by the way, has bequeathed to us two letters). it was probably after this that labai wrote to the pharaoh to exculpate himself, though his language, in spite of its conventional submissiveness, could not have been very acceptable at the egyptian court. in one of his letters he excuses himself partly on the ground that even "the food of his stomach" had been taken from him, partly that he had attacked and entered gezer only in order to recover the property of himself and his friend malchiel, partly because a certain bin-sumya whom the pharaoh had sent against him had really "given a city and property in it to my father, saying that if the king sends for my wife i shall withhold her, and if the king sends for myself i shall give him instead a bar of copper in a large bowl and take the oath of allegiance." a second letter is still more uncompromising. in this he complains that the egyptian troops have ill-treated his people, and that the officer who is with him has slandered him before the king; he further declares that two of his towns have been taken from him, but that he will defend to the last whatever still remains of his patrimony. malchiel, the colleague of labai in his attack upon gezer, as afterwards upon ebed-tob of jerusalem, does not appear to have been of beduin origin. but as long as the beduin chief could be of use to him he was very willing to avail himself of his assistance, and it was always easy to drop the alliance as soon as it became embarrassing. malchiel was the son-in-law of tagi of gath, and the colleague of su-yardata, one of the few canaanite governors whom the egyptian government seems to have been able to trust. both su-yardata and malchiel held commands in southern palestine, and we hear a good deal about them from ebed-tob. "the two sons of malchiel" are also mentioned in a letter from a lady who bears a babylonian name, and who refers to them in connection with an attempt to detach the cities of ajalon and zorah (joshua xv. ) from their allegiance to egypt. the female correspondents of the pharaoh are among the most curious and interesting features of the state of society depicted in the tel el-amarna tablets; they entered keenly into the politics of the day, and kept the egyptian king fully informed of all that was going on. the letters of ebed-tob are so important that it is as well to give them in full. they all seem to have been written within a few months, or perhaps even weeks, of one another, when the enemies of the governor of jerusalem were gathering around him, and no response came from egypt to his requests for help. the dotted lines mark the words and passages which have been lost through the fracture of the clay tablets. (i.) "to the king my lord [my] sun-god, thus [speaks] ebed-tob thy servant: at the feet of the king my lord seven times seven i prostrate myself. behold, the king has established his name at the rising of the sun and the setting of the sun. slanders have been uttered against me. behold, i am not a governor, a vassal of the king my lord. behold, i am an ally of the king, and i have paid the tribute due to the king, even i. neither my father nor my mother, but the oracle (or arm) of the mighty king established [me] in the house of [my] fathers.... there have come to me as a present [women] and slaves. suta (seti) the commissioner of the king has come to me: female slaves and male slaves captured in war have been given into the hands of suta as a gift for the king my lord, as the king has ordained for his country. the country of the king is being destroyed, all of it. hostilities are carried on against me as far as the mountains of seir (joshua xv. ) and the city of gath-karmel (joshua xv. ). all the other governors are at peace, but there is war against myself, since i see the foe, but i do not see the tears of the king my lord because war has been raised against me. while there is a ship in the midst of the sea, the arm (or oracle) of the mighty king shall conquer the countries of naharaim (nakhrima) and babylonia. but now the confederates (khabiri) are capturing the fortresses of the king. not a single governor remains among them to the king my lord; all have perished. behold, turbazu, thy military officer, [has fallen] in the great gate of the city of zelah (josh, xviii. ). behold, zimrida of lachish has been murdered by the servants who have revolted against the king. jephthah-hadad, thy military officer, has been slain in the great gate of zelah.... may the king [my lord] send help [to his country]! may the king turn his face to [his subjects]! may he despatch troops to [his] country! [behold,] if no troops come this year, all the countries of the king my lord will be utterly destroyed. they do not say before the face of the king my lord that the country of the king my lord is destroyed, and that all the governors are destroyed, if no troops come this year. let the king send a commissioner, and let him come to me, even to me, with auxiliary troops, and we will die with the king [our] lord.--[to] the secretary of the king my lord [speaks] ebed-tob [thy] servant. at [thy] feet [i prostrate myself]. let a report of [my] words be laid before the king [my] lord. thy [loyal] servant am i." (ii.) "to the king my lord thus speaks ebed-tob thy servant: at the feet of the king my lord seven times seven i prostrate myself. what have i done against the king my lord? they have slandered me, laying wait for me in the presence of the king, the lord, saying: ebed-tob has revolted from the king his lord. behold, neither my father nor my mother has exalted me in this place; the prophecy of the mighty king has caused me to enter the house of my father. why should i have committed a sin against the king the lord? with the king my lord is life. i say to the officer of the king [my] lord: why dost thou love the confederates and hate the governors? and constantly i am sending to the presence of the king my lord to say that the countries of the king my lord are being destroyed. constantly i am sending to the king my lord, and let the king my lord consider, since the king my lord has appointed the men of the guard who have taken the fortresses. let yikhbil-khamu [be sent].... let the king send help to his country. [let him send troops] to his country which protects the fortresses of the king my lord, all of them, since elimelech is destroying all the country of the king; and let the king send help to his country. behold, i have gone down along with the king my lord, and i have not seen the tears of the king my lord; but hostility is strong against me, yet i have not taken anything whatever from the king my lord; and let the king incline towards my face; let him despatch a guard [for me], and let him appoint a commissioner, and i shall not see the tears of the king my lord, since the king [my] lord shall live when the commissioner has departed. behold, the countries of the king [my lord] are being destroyed, yet thou dost not listen to me. all the governors are destroyed; no governor remains to the king the lord. let the king turn his face to his subjects, and let him send auxiliaries, even the troops of the king my lord. no provinces remain unto the king; the confederates have wasted all the provinces of the king. if auxiliaries come this year, the provinces of the king the lord will be preserved; but if no auxiliaries come the provinces of the king my lord are destroyed.--[to] the secretary of the king my lord ebed-tob [says:] give a report of my words to the king my lord: the provinces of the king my lord are being destroyed by the enemy." (iii.) "[to] the king my lord [speaks] ebed-tob [thy] servant: [at the feet of the king] my lord seven [times seven i prostrate myself. behold, let] the king [listen to] the words [of his servant].... let [the king] consider all the districts which are leagued in hostility against me, and let the king send help to his country. behold, the country of the city of gezer, the country of the city of ashkelon and the city of la[chish] have given as their peace offerings food and oil and whatsoever the fortress needs. and let the king send help to his troops; let him despatch troops against the men who have rebelled against the king my lord. if troops come this year, there will remain both provinces [and] governors to the king my lord; [but] if no troops arrive, there will remain no provinces or governors to the king [my lord]. behold, neither my father nor my mother has given this country of the city of jerusalem unto me: it was an oracle [of the mighty king] that gave it to me, even to me. behold, malchiel and the sons of labai have given the country of the king to the confederates. behold, the king my lord is righteous towards me. as to the babylonians, let the king ask the commissioner how very strong is the temple-[fortress of jerusalem.].... thou hast delivered (?) the provinces into the hands of the city of ash[kelon]. let the king demand of them abundance of food, abundance of oil, and abundance of wine until pa-ur, the commissioner of the king, comes up to the country of the city of jerusalem to deliver adai along with the garrison and the [rest of the people]. let the king consider the [instructions] of the king; [let him] speak to me; let adai deliver me--thou wilt not desert it, even this city, sending to me a garrison [and] sending a royal commissioner. thy grace [is] to send [them]. to the king [my lord] i have despatched [a number of] prisoners [and a number of] slaves. [i have looked after] the roads of the king in the plain (_kikkar_, gen. xiii. ) and in the mountains. let the king my lord consider the city of ajalon. i am not able to direct my way to the king my lord according to his instructions. behold, the king has established his name in the country of jerusalem for ever, and he cannot forsake the territories of the city of jerusalem.--to the secretary of the king my lord thus speaks ebed-tob thy servant. at thy feet i prostrate myself. thy servant am i. lay a report of my words before the king my lord. the vassal of the king am i. mayest thou live long!--and thou hast performed deeds which i cannot enumerate against the men of the land of ethiopia.... the men of the country of the babylonians [shall never enter] into my house...." (iv.) (the beginning of the letter is lost, and it is not certain that ebed-tob was the writer of it.) "and now as to the city of jerusalem, if this country is still the king's, why is gaza made the seat of the king's government? behold, the district of the city of gath-carmel has fallen away to tagi and the men of gath. he is in bit-sani (beth-sannah), and we have effected that they should give labai and the country of the sute to the men of the district of the confederates. malchiel has sent to tagi and has seized some boy-slaves. he has granted all their requests to the men of keilah, and we have delivered (or departed from) the city of jerusalem. the garrison thou hast left in it is under the command of apis the son of miya-riya (meri-ra). hadad-el has remained in his house in gaza...." (v.) "to the king my lord thus [speaks] ebed-tob thy servant: at the feet of my lord [the king] seven times seven [i prostrate myself]. behold, malchiel does not separate himself from the sons of labai and the sons of arzai to demand the country of the king for themselves. as for the governor who acts thus, why does not the king question him? behold, malchiel and tagi are they who have acted so, since they have taken the city of rubute (rabbah, josh. xv. ).... (many lines are lost here.) there is no royal garrison [in jerusalem]. may the king live eternally! let pa-ur go down to him. he has departed in front of me and is in the city of gaza; and let the king send to him a guard to defend the country. all the country of the king has revolted! direct yikhbil-khamu [to come], and let him consider the country of the king [my lord].--to the secretary of the king [my lord] thus [speaks] ebed-tob thy servant: [at thy feet i prostrate myself]. lay [a report] of my words [before] the king. mayest thou live long! thy servant am i." (vi.) "[to] the king my lord thus speaks ebed-tob thy servant: at the feet of the king my lord seven times seven i prostrate myself. [the king knows the deed] which they have done, even malchiel and su-ardatum, against the country of the king my lord, commanding the forces of the city of gezer, the forces of the city of gath, and the forces of the city of keilah. they have seized the district of the city of rabbah. the country of the king has gone over to the confederates. and now at this moment the city of the mountain of jerusalem, the city of the temple of the god nin-ip, whose name is salim (?)," (or, adopting the reading of dr. zimmern, "the city whose name is bit-nin-ip.") "the city of the king, is gone over to the side of the men of keilah. let the king listen to ebed-tob thy servant, and let him despatch troops and restore the country of the king to the king. but if no troops arrive, the country of the king is gone over to the men even to the confederates. this is the deed [of su-ar]datun and malchiel...." the loyalty of ebed-tob, however, seems to have been doubted at the egyptian court, where more confidence was placed in his rival and enemy su-ardata (or su-yardata, as the owner of the name himself writes it). possibly the claim of the vassal-king of jerusalem to have been appointed to his royal office by the "mighty king" rather than by the "great king" of egypt, and consequently to be an ally of the pharaoh and not an ordinary governor, may have had something to do with the suspicions that were entertained of him. at all events we learn from a letter of su-yardata that the occupation of keilah by ebed-tob's enemies, of which the latter complains so bitterly, was due to the orders of the egyptian government itself. su-yardata there says--"the king [my lord] directed me to make war in the city of keilah: war was made; (and now) a complaint is brought against me. my city against myself has risen upon me. ebed-tob sends to the men of the city of keilah; he sends silver, and they have marched against my rear. and the king knows that ebed-tob has taken my city from my hand." the writer adds that "now labai has taken ebed-tob and they have taken our cities." in his subsequent despatches to the home government su-yardata complains that he is "alone," and asks that troops should be sent to him, saying that he is forwarding some _almehs_ or maidens as a present along with his "dragoman." at this point the correspondence breaks off. malchiel and tagi also write to the pharaoh. according to tagi the roads between southern palestine and egypt were under the supervision and protection of his brother; while malchiel begs for cavalry to pursue and capture the enemy who had made war upon su-yardata and himself, had seized "the country of the king," and threatened to slay his servants. he also complains of the conduct of yankhamu, the high commissioner, who had been ordered to inquire into the conduct of the governors in palestine. yankhamu, it seems, had seized malchiel's property and carried off his wives and children. it was doubtless to this act of injustice that labai alludes in his letter of exculpation. the territory of which jerusalem was the capital extended southward as far as carmel of judah, gath-carmel as it is called by ebed-tob, as well as in the geographical lists of thothmes iii., while on the west it reached to keilah, kabbah, and mount seir. no mention is made of hebron either in the tel el-amarna letters or in the egyptian geographical lists, which are earlier than the rise of the nineteenth dynasty. the town must therefore have existed under some other name, or have been in the hands of a power hostile to egypt. the name of hebron has the same origin as that of the khabiri, who appear in ebed-tob's letters by the side of labai, babylonia, and naharaim as the assailants of jerusalem and its territory. the word means "confederates," and occurs in the assyrian texts; among other passages in a hymn published by dr. brünnow, where we read, _istu pan khabiri-ya iptarsanni_, "from the face of my associates he has cut me off." the word, however, is not assyrian, as in that case it would have had a different form, but must have been borrowed from the canaanitish language of the west. who the khabiri or "confederates" were has been disputed. some scholars see in them elamite marauders who followed the march of the babylonian armies to syria. this opinion is founded on the fact that the khabiri are once mentioned as an elamite tribe, and that in a babylonian document a "khabirite" (_khabirâ_) is referred to along with a "kassite" or babylonian. another view is that they are to be identified with heber, the grandson of asher (gen. xlvi. ), since malchiel is said to be the brother of heber, just as in the letters of ebed-tob malchiel is associated with the khabiri. but all such identifications are based upon the supposition that "khabiri" is a proper name rather than a descriptive title. any band of "confederates" could be called khabiri whether in elam or in palestine, and it does not follow that the two bands were the same. in the "confederates" of southern canaan we have to look for a body of confederated tribes who made themselves formidable to the governor of jerusalem in the closing days of the egyptian empire. it would seem that elimelech, who of course was a different person from malchiel, was their leader, and as elimelech is a canaanitish name, we may conclude that the majority of his followers were also of canaanitish descent. the scene of their hostilities was to the south of jerusalem. gath-carmel, zelah, and lachish are the towns mentioned in connection with their attempts to capture and destroy "the fortresses of the king." "the country of the king" which had "gone over to the confederates" was the territory over which ebed-tob claimed rule, while the district occupied by labai and his beduin followers was handed over "to the men of the district of the confederates." the successes of the latter were gained through the intrigues of malchiel and the sons of labai. all this leads us to the neighbourhood of hebron, and suggests the question whether "the district of the confederates" was not that of which hebron, "the confederacy," was the central meeting-place and sanctuary. hebron has preserved its sacred character down to the present day; it long disputed with jerusalem the claim of being the oldest and most hallowed shrine in southern palestine, and it was for many years the capital of judah, moreover, we know that "hebron" was not the only name the city possessed. when abram was "confederate" with the three amorite chieftains it was known as mamre (gen. xiii. ), and at a later day under the rule of the three sons of anak it was called kirjath-arba. according to the biblical narrative hebron was at once amorite, hittite, and canaanite. here, therefore, there was a confederation of tribes and races who would have met together at a common sanctuary. when ezekiel says that jerusalem was both hittite and amorite in its parentage, he may have been referring to its conquest and settlement by such a confederacy as that of hebron. at all events we learn from su-yardata's letter that ebed-tob eventually fell into the hands of his enemies; he was captured by labai, and it is possible that his city became at the same time the prey of the khabiri. but all this is speculation, which may or may not prove to be correct. all we can be sure of is that the khabiri or "confederates" had their seat in the southern part of palestine, and that we need not go outside canaan to discover who they were. ebed-tob, at all events, carefully distinguishes them from either the babylonians or the people of naharaim. in his letters, as everywhere else in the tel el-amarna correspondence, the babylonians are called kassi or kassites. the name is written differently in the cuneiform texts from that of the ethiopians, the kash of the hieroglyphic inscriptions. both, however, are alike represented in hebrew by cush, and hence we have not only a cush who is the brother of mizrairn, but also another cush who is the father of nimrod. the name of the latter takes us back to the age of the tel el-amarna tablets. nahrima, or naharaim, was the name by which the kingdom of mitanni was known to its canaanite and egyptian neighbours. mitanni, in fact, was its capital, and it may be that lutennu (or lotan), as the egyptians called syria and palestine, was but a mispronunciation of it. along with the babylonians the people of naharaim had made themselves formidable to the inhabitants of canaan, and their name was feared as far south as jerusalem. even the governor of the canaanite town of musikhuna, not far from the sea of galilee, bore the mitannian name of sutarna. it was not, indeed, until after the israelitish conquest that the last invasion of canaan by a king of aram-naharaim took place. gaza and joppa were at one time under the same governor, yabitiri, who in a letter which has come down to us asks to be relieved of the burden of his office. ashkelon, however, which lay between the two sea-ports, was in the hands of another prefect, yidya by name, from whom we have several letters, in one of which mention is made of the egyptian commissioner rianap, or ra-nofer. the jurisdiction of rianap extended as far north as the plain of megiddo, since he is also referred to by pu-hadad, the governor of yurza, now yerzeh, south-eastward of taanach. but it was more particularly in the extreme south of palestine that the duties of this officer lay. hadad-dan, who was entrusted with the government of manahath and tamar, to the west of the dead sea, calls him "my commissioner" in a letter in which he complains of the conduct of a certain beya, the son of "the woman gulat." hadad-dan begins by saying that he had protected the commissioner and cities of the king, and then adds that "the city of tumur is hostile to me, and i have built a house in the city of mankhate, so that the household troops of the king my lord may be sent to me; and lo, bâya has taken it from my hand, and has placed his commissioner in it, and i have appealed to rianap, my commissioner, and he has restored the city unto me, and has sent the household troops of the king my lord to me." after this the writer goes on to state that beya had also intrigued against the city of gezer, "the handmaid of the king my lord who created me." the rebel then carried off a quantity of plunder, and it became necessary to ransom his prisoners for a hundred pieces of silver, while those of his confederate were ransomed for thirty pieces of silver. the misdeeds of beya or bâya did not end here. we hear of him again as attacking and capturing a body of soldiers who had been sent to defend the royal palace at joppa, and as occupying that city itself. he was, however, subsequently expelled from it by the king's orders. beya, too, professed to be an egyptian governor and a faithful servant of the pharaoh, to whom he despatched a letter to say that yankhamu, the high commissioner, was not in his district. probably this was in answer to a charge brought against him by the egyptian officer. the official duties of yankhamu extended over the whole of palestine, and all the governors of its cities were accountable to him. we find him exercising his authority not only in the south, but also in the north, at zemar and gebal, and even among the amorites. amon-apt, to whom the superintendence of phoenicia was more particularly entrusted, was supplied by him with corn, and frequent references are made to him in the letters of rib-hadad. malchiel complained of his high-handed proceedings, and the complaint seems to have led to some confidential inquiries on the part of the home government, since we find a certain sibti-hadad writing in answer to the pharaoh's questions that yankhamu was a faithful servant of the king. the country east of the jordan also appears to have been within his jurisdiction. at all events the following letter was addressed to him by the governor mut-hadad, "the man of hadad." "to yankhamu my lord thus speaks mut-hadad thy servant: at the feet of my lord i prostrate myself. since mut-hadad has declared in thy presence that ayab has fled, and it is certified (?) that the king of bethel has fled from before the officers of the king his lord, may the king my lord live, may the king my lord live! i pray thee ask ben-enima, ask ... tadua, ask isuya, if ayâb has been in this city of bethel for [the last] two months. ever since the arrival of [the image of] the god merodach, the city of astarti (ashtaroth-karnaim) has been assisted, because all the fortresses of the foreign land are hostile, namely, the cities of udumu (edom), aduri (addar), araru, mestu (mosheh), magdalim (migdol), khinianabi ('en han-nabi), zarki-tsabtat, khaini ('en), and ibi-limma (abel). again after thou hadst sent a letter to me i sent to him (i.e. ayâb), [to wait] until thy arrival from thy journey; and he reached the city of bethel and [there] they heard the news." we learn from this letter that edom was a "foreign country" unsubdued by the egyptian arms. the "city of edom," from which the country took its name, is again mentioned in the inscriptions of the assyrian king esar-haddon, and it was there that the assyrian tax-gatherers collected the tribute of the edomite nation. it would seem that the land of edom stretched further to the north in the age of khu-n-aten than it did at a subsequent period of history, and that it encroached upon what was afterwards the territory of moab. the name of the latter country is met with for the first time among the asiatic conquests of ramses ii. engraved on the base of one of the colossal figures which stand in front of the northern pylon of the temple of luxor; when the tel el-amarna letters were written moab was included in the canaanite province of egypt. a curious letter to khu-n-aten from burnaburyas, the babylonian king, throws a good deal of light on the nature of the egyptian government in canaan. between the predecessors of the two monarchs there had been alliance and friendly intercourse, and nevertheless the canaanitish subjects of the pharaoh had committed an outrageous crime against some babylonian merchants, which if left unpunished would have led to a rupture between the two countries. the merchants in question had entered palestine under the escort of the canaanite ahitub, intending afterwards to visit egypt. at Ên-athôn, near acre, however, "in the country of canaan," sum-adda, or shem-hadad, the son of balumme (balaam), and sutatna, or zid-athon, the son of saratum, [his name is written zurata in the letter of biridî, the governor of megiddo; see above, p. .] who was governor of acre, set upon them, killing some of them, maltreating others, and carrying away their goods. burna-buryas therefore sent a special envoy, who was instructed to lay the following complaint before the pharaoh: "canaan is thy country and the king [of acre is thy servant]. in thy country i have been injured; do thou punish [the offenders]. the silver which they carried off was a present [for thee], and the men who are my servants they have slain. slay them and requite the blood [of my servants]. but if thou dost not put these men to death, [the inhabitants] of the high-road that belongs to me will turn and verily will slay thy ambassadors, and a breach will be made in the agreement to respect the persons of ambassadors, and i shall be estranged from thee. shem-hadad, having cut off the feet of one of my men, has detained him with him; and as for another man, sutatna of acre made him stand upon his head and then stood upon his face." there are three letters in the tel el-amarna collection from sutatna, or zid-atna ("the god zid has given") as he writes his name, in one of which he compares akku or acre with "the city of migdol in egypt." doubtless satisfaction was given to the babylonian king for the wrong that had been done to his subjects, though whether the actual culprits were punished may be questioned. there is another letter from burna-buryas, in which reference is again made to the canaanites. he there asserts that in the time of his father, kurigalzu, they had sent to the babylonian sovereign, saying: "go down against qannisat and let us rebel." kuri-galzu, however, had refused to listen to them, telling them that if they wanted to break away from the egyptian king and ally themselves "with another," they must find some one else to assist them. burna-buryas goes on to declare that he was like-minded with his father, and had accordingly despatched an assyrian vassal to assure the pharaoh that he would carry on no intrigues with disaffected canaanites. as the first part of his letter is filled with requests for gold for the adornment of a temple he was building at babylon, such an assurance was very necessary. the despatches of rib-hadad and ebed-tob, however, go to show that in spite of his professions of friendship, the babylonian monarch was ready to afford secret help to the insurgents in palestine. the babylonians were not likely to forget that they had once been masters of the country, or to regard the egyptian empire in asia with other than jealous eyes. the tel el-amarna correspondence breaks off suddenly in the midst of a falling empire, with its governors in canaan fighting and intriguing one against the other, and appealing to the pharaoh for help that never came. the egyptian commissioners are vainly endeavouring to restore peace and order, like general gordon in the soudan, while babylonians and mitannians, hittites and beduin are assailing the distracted province. the asiatic empire of the eighteenth dynasty, however, did not wholly perish with the death of khu-n-aten. a picture in the tomb of prince hui at thebes shows that under the reign of his successor, tut-ankh-amon, the egyptian supremacy was still acknowledged in some parts of syria. the chiefs of the lotan or syrians are represented in their robes of many colours, some with white and others with brown skins, and coming before the egyptian monarch with the rich tribute of their country. golden trays full of precious stones, vases of gold and silver, the covers of which are in the form of the heads of gazelles and other animals, golden rings richly enamelled, horses, lions, and a leopard's skin--such are the gifts which they offer to the pharaoh. it was the last embassy of the kind which was destined to come from syria for many a day. with the rise of the nineteenth dynasty and the restoration of a strong government at home, the egyptians once more began to turn their eyes towards palestine. seti i. drove the beduin before him from the frontiers of egypt to those of "canaan," and established a line of fortresses and wells along "the way of the philistines," which ran by the shore of the mediterranean to gaza. the road was now open for him to the north along the sea-coast. we hear accordingly of his capture of acre, tyre, and usu or palætyros, from whence he marched into the lebanon and took kumidi and inu'am. one of his campaigns must have led him into the interior of palestine, since in his list of conquered cities we find the names of carmel and beth-anoth, of beth-el and pahil or pella, as well as of qamham or chimham (see jer. xli. ). kadesh, "in the land of the amorites," was captured by a sudden assault, and seti claims to have defeated or received the submission of alasiya and naharaim, the hittites and the assyrians, cyprus and sangar. it would seem, however, that north of kadesh he really made his way only along the coast as far as the gulf of antioch and cilicia, overrunning towns and districts of which we know little more than the names. seti was succeeded by his son ramses ii., the pharaoh of the oppression, and the builder of pithom and ramses. his long reign of sixty-seven years lasted from b.c. to b.c. the first twenty-one years of it were occupied in the re-conquest of palestine, and sanguinary wars with the hittites. but these mountaineers of the north had established themselves too firmly in the old egyptian province of northern syria to be dislodged. all the pharaoh could effect was to stop their further progress towards the south, and to save canaan from their grasp. the war between the two great powers of western asia ended at last through the sheer exhaustion of the rival combatants. a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, was drawn up between ramses ii. and khata-sil, "the great king of the hittites," and it was cemented by the marriage of the pharaoh to the daughter of the hittite prince. syria was divided between the hittites and egyptians, and it was agreed that neither should under any pretext invade the territories of the other. it was also agreed that if either country was attacked by foreign foes or rebellious subjects, the other should come to its help. political refugees, moreover, were to be delivered up to the sovereign from whom they had escaped, but it was stipulated that in this case they should receive a full pardon for the offences they had committed. the hittite copy of the treaty was engraved on a silver plate, and the gods of egypt and the hittites were called upon to witness the execution of it. the legendary exploits of sesostris, that creation of greek fancy and ignorance, were fastened upon ramses ii., whose long reign, inordinate vanity, and ceaseless activity as a builder made him one of the most prominent of the old pharaohs. it was natural, therefore, at the beginning of hieroglyphic decipherment that the greek accounts should be accepted in full, and that ramses ii. should have been regarded as the greatest of egyptian conquerors. but further study soon showed that, in this respect at least, his reputation had little to support it. like his monuments, too many of which are really stolen from his predecessors, or else sacrifice honesty of work to haste and pretentiousness, a large part of the conquests and victories that have been claimed for him was due to the imagination of the scribes. in the reaction which followed on this discovery, the modern historians of ancient egypt were disposed to dispute his claim to be a conqueror at all. but we now know that such a scepticism was exaggerated, and though ramses ii. was not a conqueror like thothmes iii., he nevertheless maintained and extended the asiatic empire which his father had recovered, and the lists of vanquished cities which he engraved on the walls of his temples were not mere repetitions of older catalogues, or the empty fictions of flattering chroniclers. egyptian armies really marched once more into northern syria and the confines of cilicia, and probably made their way to the banks of the euphrates. we have no reason for denying that assyrian troops may have been defeated by his arms, or that the king of mitanni may have sent an embassy to his court. and we now have a good deal more than the indirect evidence of the treaty with the hittites to show that canaan was again a province of the egyptian empire. the names of some of its cities which were captured in the early part of the pharaoh's reign may still be read on the walls of the ramesseum at thebes. among them are ashkelon, shalam or jerusalem, merom, and beth-anath, which were taken by storm in his eighth year. dapul, "in the land of the amorites," was captured at the same time, proving that the egyptian forces penetrated as far as the hittite frontiers. at luxor other canaanite names figure in the catalogue of vanquished states. thus we have carmel of judah, ir-shemesh and hadashah (josh. xv. ), gaza, sela and jacob-el, socho, yurza, and korkha in moab. the name of moab itself appears for the first time among the subject nations, while we gather from a list of mining settlements, that cyprus as well as the sinaitic peninsula was under egyptian authority. a sarcastic account of the misadventures of a military officer in palestine, which was written in the time of ramses, is an evidence of the complete occupation of that country by the egyptians. all parts of canaan are alluded to in it, and as dr. max müller has lately pointed out, we find in it for the first time the names of shechem and kirjath-sepher. similar testimony is borne by a hieroglyphic inscription recently discovered by dr. schumacher on the so-called "stone of job" in the haurân. the stone (_sakhrat 'ayyub_) is a monolith westward of the sea of galilee, and not far from tel 'ashtereh, the ancient ashtaroth-karnaim, which was a seat of egyptian government in the time of khu-n-aten. the monolith is adorned with egyptian sculptures and hieroglyphs. one of the sculptures represents a pharaoh above whose likeness is the cartouche of ramses ii., while opposite the king, to the left, is the figure of a god who wears the crown of osiris, but has a full face. over the god is his name in hieroglyphics. the name, however, is not egyptian, but seems to be intended for the canaanite yakin-zephon or "yakin of the north." it is plain, therefore, that we have here a monument testifying to the rule of ramses ii., but a monument which was erected by natives of the country to a native divinity. for a while the hieroglyphic writing of egypt had taken the place formerly occupied by the cuneiform syllabary of babylonia, and egyptian culture had succeeded in supplanting that which had come from the east. the nineteenth dynasty ended even more disastrously than the eighteenth. it is true that the great confederacy of northern and libyan tribes which attacked egypt by sea and land in the reign of meneptah, the son and successor of ramses ii., was successfully repulsed, but the energy of the egyptian power seemed to exhaust itself in the effort. the throne fell into the hands of usurpers, and the house of ramses was swept away by civil war and anarchy. the government was seized by a syrian, arisu by name, and for a time egypt was compelled to submit to a foreign yoke. the overthrow of the foreigner and the restoration of the native monarchy was due to the valour of set-nekht, the founder of the twentieth dynasty and the father of ramses iii. it was under one of the immediate successors of ramses ii. that the exodus of the israelites out of egypt must have taken place. egyptian tradition pointed to meneptah; modern scholars incline rather to his successors seti ii. and si-ptah. with this event the patriarchal history of canaan ought properly to come to an end. but the egyptian monuments still cast light upon it, and enable us to carry it on almost to the moment when joshua and his followers entered the promised land. palestine still formed part of the kingdom of meneptah, at all events in the earlier years of his reign. a scribe has left us a record of the officials who passed to and from canaan through the frontier fortress of zaru during the middle of the month pakhons in the third year of the king. one of these was baal- ... the son of zippor of gaza, who carried a letter for the egyptian overseer of the syrian peasantry (or perizzites), as well as another for baal-[sa]lil-ga[b]u, the vassal-prince of tyre. another messenger was sutekh-mes, the son of 'aper-dagar, who also carried a despatch to the overseer of the peasantry, while a third envoy came in the reverse direction, from the city of meneptah, "in the land of the amorites." in the troubles which preceded the accession of the twentieth dynasty the asiatic possessions of egypt were naturally lost, and were never again recovered. ramses iii., however, the last of the conquering pharaohs, made at least one campaign in palestine and syria. like meneptah, he had to bear the brunt of an attack upon egypt by the confederated hordes of the north which threatened to extinguish its civilization altogether. the nations of asia minor and the Ægean sea had poured into syria as the northern barbarians in later days poured into the provinces of the roman empire. partly by land, partly by sea, they made their way through phoenicia and the land of the hittites, destroying everything as they went, and carrying in their train the subjugated princes of naharaim and kadesh. for a time they encamped in the "land of the amorites," and then pursued their southward march. ramses iii. met them on the north-eastern frontier of his kingdom, and in a fiercely-contested battle utterly overthrew them. the ships of the invaders were captured or sunk, and their forces on land were decimated. immense quantities of booty and prisoners were taken, and the shattered forces of the enemy retreated into syria. there the philistines and zakkal possessed themselves of the sea-coast, and garrisoned the cities of the extreme south. gaza ceased to be an egyptian fortress, and became instead an effectual barrier to the egyptian occupation of canaan. when ramses iii. followed the retreating invaders of his country into syria, it is doubtful whether the philistines had as yet settled themselves in their future home. at all events gaza fell into his hands, and he found no difficulty in marching along the mediterranean coast like the conquering pharaohs who had preceded him. in his temple palace at medînet habu he has left a record of the conquests that he made in syria. the great cities of the coast were untouched. no attempt was made to besiege or capture tyre and sidon, beyrout and gebal, and the egyptian army marched past them, encamping on the way only at such places as "the headland of carmel," "the source of the magoras," or river of beyrout, and the bor or "cistern." otherwise its resting-places were at unknown villages like inzath and lui-el. north of beyrout it struck eastward through the gorge of the nahr el-kelb, and took the city of kumidi. then it made its way by shenir or hermon to hamath, which surrendered, and from thence still northward to "the plain" of aleppo. in the south of palestine, in what was afterwards the territory of judah, ramses made yet another campaign. here he claims to have taken lebanoth and beth-anath, carmel of judah and shebtin, jacob-el and hebron, libnah and aphek, migdal-gad and ir-shemesh, hadashah and the district of salem or jerusalem. from thence the egyptian forces proceeded to the lake of reshpon or the dead sea, and then crossing the jordan seized korkha in moab. but the campaign was little more than a raid; it left no permanent results behind it, and all traces of egyptian authority disappeared with the departure of the pharaoh's army. canaan remained the prey of the first resolute invader who had strength and courage at his back. chapter iv the patriarchs abraham had been born in "ur of the chaldees." ur lay on the western side of the euphrates in southern babylonia, where the mounds of muqayyar or mugheir mark the site of the great temple that had been reared to the worship of the moon-god long before the days of the hebrew patriarch. here abraham had married, and from hence he had gone forth with his father to seek a new home in the west. their first resting-place had been harran in mesopotamia, on the high-road to syria and the mediterranean. the name of harran, in fact, signified "road" in the old language of chaldæa, and for many ages the armies and merchants of babylonia had halted there when making their way towards the mediterranean. like ur, it was dedicated to the worship of sin, the moon-god, and its temple rivalled in fame and antiquity that of the babylonian city, and had probably been founded by a babylonian king. at harran, therefore, abraham would still have been within the limits of babylonian influence and culture, if not of babylonian government as well. he would have found there the same religion as that which he had left behind him in his native city; the same deity was adored there, under the same name and with the same rites. he was indeed on the road to canaan, and among an aramaean rather than a babylonian population, but babylonia with its beliefs and civilization had not as yet been forsaken. even the language of babylonia was known in his new home, as is indicated by the name of the city itself. harran and mesopotamia were not the goal of the future father of the israelitish people. he was bidden to seek elsewhere another country and another kindred. canaan was the land which god promised to "show" to him, and it was in canaan that his descendants were to become "a great nation." he went forth, accordingly, "to go into the land of canaan, and into the land of canaan he came." but even in canaan abraham was not beyond the reach of babylonian influence. as we have seen in the last chapter, babylonian armies had already penetrated to the shores of the mediterranean, palestine had been included within the bounds of a babylonian empire, and babylonian culture and religion had spread widely among the canaanitish tribes. the cuneiform system of writing had made its way to syria, and babylonian literature had followed in its wake. centuries had already passed since sargon of akkad had made himself master of the mediterranean coast and his son naram-sin had led his forces to the peninsula of sinai. istar of babylonia had become ashtoreth of the canaanites, and babylonian trade had long moved briskly along the very road that abraham traversed. in the days of the patriarch himself the rulers of babylonia claimed to be also rulers of canaan; for thirteen years did the canaanite princes "serve" chedor-laomer and his allies, the father of arioch is also "the father of the land of the amorites" in his son's inscriptions, and at a little later date the king of babylon still claimed sovereignty over the west. it was not, therefore, to a strange and unexplored country that abraham had migrated. the laws and manners to which he had been accustomed, the writing and literature which he had learned in the schools of ur, the religious beliefs among which he had lived in chaldæa and harran, he found again in canaan. the land of his adoption was full of babylonian traders, soldiers, and probably officials as well, and from time to time he must have heard around him the language of his birthplace. the introduction into the west of the babylonian literature and script brought with it a knowledge of the babylonian language, and the knowledge is reflected in some of the local names of palestine. the patriarch had not escaped beyond the control even of the babylonian government. at times, at all events, the princes of canaan were compelled to acknowledge the suzerainty of chaldæa and obey the laws, as the babylonians would have said, of "anu and dagon." the fact needs dwelling upon, partly because of its importance, partly because it is but recently that we have begun to realize it. it might indeed have been gathered from the narratives of genesis, more especially from the account of chedor-laomer's campaign, but it ran counter to the preconceived ideas of the modern historian, and never therefore took definite shape in his mind. it is one of the many gains that the decipherment of the cuneiform inscriptions has brought to the student of the old testament, and it makes us understand the story of abraham's migration in a way that was never possible before. he was no wild nomad wandering in unknown regions, among a people of alien habits and foreign civilization. we know now why he took the road which we are told he followed; why he was able to make allies among the inhabitants of canaan; why he understood their language and could take part in their social life. like the englishman who migrates to a british colony, abraham was in contact with the same culture in canaan and chaldæa alike. but when he reached canaan he was not yet abraham. he was still "abram the hebrew," and it was as "abram the hebrew" that he made alliance with the amorites of mamre and overthrew the retreating forces of the babylonian kings. abram--abu-ramu, "the exalted father,"--is a babylonian name, and is found in contracts of the age of chedor-laomer. when the name was changed to abraham, it was a sign that the babylonian emigrant had become a native of the west. it was under the terebinth of moreh before shechem that abraham first pitched his tent and erected his first altar to the lord. above him towered ebal and gerizim, where the curses and blessings of the law were afterwards to be pronounced. from thence he moved southward to one of the hills westward of beth-el, the modern beitin, and there his second altar was built. while the first had been reared in the plain, the second was raised on the mountain-slope. but here too he did not remain long. again he "journeyed, going on still towards the south." then came a famine which obliged him to cross the frontier of egypt, and visit the court of the pharaoh. the hyksos kinsmen of the race to which he belonged were ruling in the delta, and a ready welcome was given to the asiatic stranger. he was "very rich in cattle, in silver and in gold," and like a wealthy arab sheikh to-day was received with due honour in the egyptian capital. the court of the pharaoh was doubtless at zoan. among the possessions of the patriarch we are told were camels. the camel is not included among the egyptian hieroglyphs, nor has it been found depicted on the walls of the egyptian temples and tombs. the name is first met with in a papyrus of the time of the nineteenth dynasty, and is one of the many words which the egyptians of that age borrowed from their canaanitish neighbours. the animal, in fact, was not used by the egyptians, and its domestication in the valley of the nile seems to be as recent as the arab conquest. but though it was not used by the egyptians, it had been a beast of burden among the semites of arabia from an early period. in the primitive sumerian language of chaldæa it was called "the animal from the persian gulf," and its semitic name, from which our own word _camel_ is derived, goes back to the very beginnings of semitic history. we cannot, therefore, imagine a semitic nomad arriving in egypt without the camel; travellers, indeed, from the cities of canaan might do so, but not those who led a purely nomadic life. and, in fact, though we look in vain for a picture of the camel among the sculptures and paintings of egypt, the bones of the animal have been discovered deep in the alluvial soil of the valley of the nile. abraham had to quit egypt, and once more he traversed the desert of the "south" and pitched his tent near beth-el. here his nephew lot left him, and, dissatisfied with the life of a wandering bedawi, took up his abode in the city of sodom at the northern end of the dead sea. while abraham kept himself separate from the natives of canaan, lot thus became one of them, and narrowly escaped the doom which afterwards fell upon the cities of the plain. in forsaking the tent, he forsook not only the free life of the immigrant from chaldæa, but the god of abraham as well. the inhabitant of a canaanitish city passed under the influence of its faith and worship, its morals and manners, as well as its laws and government. he ceased to be an alien and stranger, of a different race and fatherland, and with a religion and customs of his own. he could intermarry with the natives of his adopted country and participate in their sacred rites. little by little his family became merged in the population that surrounded him; its gods became their gods, its morality--or, it may be, its immorality--became theirs also. lot, indeed, had eventually to fly from sodom, leaving behind him all his wealth; but the mischief had already been done, and his children had become canaanites in thought and deed. the nations which sprang from him, though separate in race from the older people of canaan, were yet like them in other respects. they formed no "peculiar people," to whom the lord might reveal himself through the law and the prophets. it was not until lot had separated himself from abraham that the land of canaan was promised to the descendants of the patriarch. "lift up now thine eyes," god said to him, "and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward, and eastward and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will i give it, and to thy seed for ever." once more, therefore, abraham departed southward from shechem; not this time to go into the land of egypt, but to dwell beside the terebinth-oak of mamre hard by hebron, where the founder of the davidic monarchy was hereafter to be crowned king. it is probable that the sanctuary which in days to come was to make hebron famous had not as yet been established there; at all events the name of hebron, "the confederacy," was not as yet known, and the city was called kirjath-arba. whether it was also called mamre is doubtful; mamre would rather seem to have been the name of the plateau which stretched beyond the valley of hebron and was occupied by the amorite confederates of the hebrew patriarch. it was while he "dwelt under the terebinth of mamre the amorite" that the campaign of chedor-laomer and his babylonian allies took place, and that lot was carried away among the canaanitish captives. but the triumph of the conquerors was short-lived. "abram the hebrew" pursued them with his armed followers, three hundred and eighteen in number, as well as with his amorite allies, and suddenly falling upon their rear-guard near damascus by night, rescued the captives and the spoil. there was rejoicing in the canaanitish cities when the patriarch returned with his booty. the new king of sodom met him in the valley of shaveh, "the king's dale" of later times, just outside the walls of jerusalem, and the king of jerusalem himself, melchizedek, "the priest of the most high god," welcomed the return of the victor with bread and wine. then it was that abram gave tithes of the spoil to the god of salem, while melchizedek blessed him in the name of "the most high god." outside the pages of the old testament the special form assumed by the blessing has been found only in the aramaic inscriptions of egypt. here too we find travellers from palestine writing of themselves "blessed be augah of isis," or "blessed be abed-nebo of khnum"! it would seem, therefore, to have been a formula peculiar to canaan; at all events, it has not been traced to other parts of the semitic world. the temple of the most high god--el elyôn--probably stood on mount moriah where the temple of the god of israel was afterwards to be erected. it will be remembered that among the letters sent by ebed-tob, the king of jerusalem, to the egyptian pharaoh is one in which he speaks of "the city of the mountain of jerusalem, whose name is the city of the temple of the god nin-ip." in this "mountain of jerusalem" it is difficult not to see the "temple-mount" of later days. in the cuneiform texts of ebed-tob and the later assyrian kings the name of jerusalem is written uru-salim, "the city of salim." salim or "peace" is almost certainly the native name of the god who was identified with the babylonian nin-ip, and perhaps isaiah--that student of the older history of his country--is alluding to the fact when he declares that one of the titles of the messiah shall be "the prince of peace." at any rate, if the most high god of jerusalem were really salim, the god of peace, we should have an explanation of the blessing pronounced by melchizedek upon the patriarch. abram's victory had restored peace to canaan; he had brought back the captives, and had himself returned in peace. it was fitting, therefore, that he should be welcomed by the priest of the god of peace, and that he should offer tithes of the booty he had recovered to the god of "the city of peace." this offering of tithes was no new thing. in his babylonian home abraham must have been familiar with the practice. the cuneiform inscriptions of babylonia contain frequent references to it. it went back to the pre-semitic age of chaldæa, and the great temples of babylonia were largely supported by the _esra_ or tithe which was levied upon prince and peasant alike. that the god should receive a tenth of the good things which, it was believed, he had bestowed upon mankind, was not considered to be asking too much. there are many tablets in the british museum which are receipts for the payment of the tithe to the great temple of the sun-god at sippara in the time of nebuchadrezzar and his successors. from one of them we learn that belshazzar, even at the very moment when the babylonian empire was falling from his father's hands, nevertheless found an opportunity for paying the tithe due from his sister; while others show us that cyrus and cambyses did not regard their foreign origin as affording any pretext for refusing to pay tithe to the gods of the kingdom they had overthrown. the babylonian army had been defeated near damascus, and immediately after this we are told that the steward of abraham's house was "eli-ezer of damascus." whether there is any connection between the two facts we cannot say; but it may be that eli-ezer had attached himself to the hebrew conqueror when he was returning "from the slaughter of chedor-laomer." the name of eli-ezer, "god is a help," is characteristic of damascus. more often in place of el, "god," we have hadad, the supreme deity of syria; but just as among the israelites eli-akim and jeho-iakim are equivalent, so among the aramaeans of syria were eli-ezer and hadad-ezer. hadad-ezer, it will be remembered, was the king of zobah who was overthrown by david. sarai, the wife of abraham, was still childless, but the patriarch had a son by his egyptian handmaid, the ancestor of the ishmaelite tribes who spread from the frontier of egypt to mecca in central arabia. it was when ishmael was thirteen years of age that the covenant was made between god and abraham which was sealed with the institution of circumcision. circumcision had been practised in egypt from the earliest days of its history; henceforth it also distinguished all those who claimed abraham as their forefather. with circumcision abraham received the name by which he was henceforth to be known; he ceased to be abram, the hebrew from babylonia, and became abraham the father of ishmael and israel. the new rite and the new name were alike the seal and token of the covenant established between the patriarch and his god: god promised that his seed should multiply, and that the land of canaan should be given as an everlasting possession, while abraham and his offspring were called upon to keep god's covenant for ever. it could not have been long after this that the cities of the plain were destroyed "with brimstone and fire from the lord out of heaven." the expression is found in the cuneiform tablets of babylonia. old sumerian hymns spoke of a "rain of stones and fire," though the stones may have been hail-stones and thunderbolts, and the fire the flash of the lightning. but whatever may have been the nature of the sheet of flame which enveloped the guilty cities of the plain and set on fire the naphtha-springs that oozed out of it, the remembrance of the catastrophe survived to distant ages. the prophets of israel and judah still refer to the overthrow of sodom and its sister cities, and st. jude points to them as "suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." some scholars have seen an allusion to their overthrow in the tradition of the phoenicians which brought their ancestors into the coastlands of canaan in consequence of an earth-quake on the shores of "the assyrian lake." but the lake is more probably to be looked for in the neighbourhood of the persian gulf than in the valley of the jordan. the vale of siddim, and "the cities of the plain," stood at the northern end of the dead sea. here were the "slime-pits" from which the naphtha was extracted, and which caused the defeat of the canaanitish princes by the babylonian army. the legend which placed the pillar of salt into which lot's wife was changed at the southern extremity of the dead sea was of late origin, probably not earlier than the days when herod built his fortress of machaerus on the impregnable cliffs of moab, and the name of gebel usdum, given by the modern arabs to one of the mountain-summits to the south of the sea proves nothing as to the site of the city of sodom. names in the east are readily transferred from one locality to another, and a mountain is not the same as a city in a plain. there are two sufficient reasons why it is to the north rather than to the south that we must look for the remains of the doomed cities, among the numerous tumuli which rise above the rich and fertile plain in the neighbourhood of jericho, where the ancient "slime-pits" can still be traced. geology has taught us that throughout the historical period the dead sea and the country immediately to the south of it have undergone no change. what the lake is to-day, it must have been in the days of abraham. it has neither grown nor shrunk in size, and the barren salt with which it poisons the ground must have equally poisoned it then. no fertile valley, like the vale of siddim, could have existed in the south; no prosperous canaanitish cities could have grown up among the desolate tracts of the southern wilderness. as we are expressly told in the book of numbers (xiii. ), the canaanites dwelt only "by the coast of jordan," not in the desert far beyond the reach of the fertilizing stream. but there is another reason which excludes the southern site. "when abraham got up early in the morning," we are told, "he looked towards sodom and gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace." such a sight was possible from the hills of hebron; if the country lay at the northern end of the dead sea, it would have been impossible had it been south of it. moreover, the northern situation of the cities alone agrees with the geography of genesis. when the babylonian invaders had turned northwards after smiting the amalekites of the desert south of the dead sea, they did not fall in with the forces of the king of sodom and his allies until they had first passed "the amorites that dwelt in hazezon-tamar." hazezon-tamar, as we learn from the second book of chronicles (xx. ), was the later en-gedi, "the spring of the kid," and en-gedi lay on the western shore of the dead sea midway between its northern and southern extremities. in the warm, soft valley of the jordan, accordingly, where a sub-tropical vegetation springs luxuriantly out of the fertile ground and the river plunges into the dead sea as into a tomb, the nations of ammon and moab were born. it was a fitting spot, in close proximity as it was to the countries which thereafter bore their names. from the mountain above zoar, lot could look across to the blue hills of moab and the distant plateau of ammon. meanwhile abraham had quitted mamre and again turned his steps towards the south. this time it was at gerar, between the sanctuary of kadesh-barnea and shur the "wall" of egypt that he sojourned. kadesh has been found again in our own days by the united efforts of dr. john rowlands and dr. clay trumbull in the shelter of a block of mountains which rise to the south of the desert of beer-sheba. the spring of clear and abundant water which gushes forth in their midst was the en-mishpat--"the spring where judgments were pronounced"--of early times, and is still called 'ain-qadîs, "the spring of kadesh." gerar is the modern umm el-jerâr, now desolate and barren, all that remains of its past being a lofty mound of rubbish and a mass of potsherds. it lies a few hours only to the south of gaza. here isaac was born and circumcised, and here ishmael and hagar were cast forth into the wilderness and went to dwell in the desert of paran. the territory of gerar extended to beer-sheba, "the well of the oath," where abraham's servants digged a well, and abimelech, king of gerar, confirmed his possession of it by an oath. it may be that one of the two wells which still exist at wadi es-seba', with the stones that line their mouths deeply indented by the ropes of the water-drawers, is the very one around which the herdsmen of abraham and abimelech wrangled with each other. the wells of the desert go back to a great antiquity: where water is scarce its discovery is not easily forgotten, and the beduin come with their flocks year after year to drink of it. the old wells are constantly renewed, or new ones dug by their side. gerar was in that south-western corner of palestine which in the age of the exodus was inhabited by the philistines. but they had been new-comers. all through the period of the eighteenth and nineteenth egyptian dynasties the country had been in the hands of the egyptians. gaza had been their frontier fortress, and as late as the reign of meneptah, the son of the pharaoh of the oppression, it was still garrisoned by egyptian troops and governed by egyptian officers. the pulsata or philistines did not arrive till the troublous days of ramses iii., of the twentieth dynasty. they formed part of the barbarian hordes from the shores of asia minor and the islands of the Ægean, who swarmed over syria and flung themselves on the valley of the nile, and the land of caphtor from which they came was possibly the island of krete. the philistine occupation of the coastland of canaan, therefore, did not long precede the israelitish invasion of the promised land; indeed we may perhaps gather from the words of exod. xiii. that the philistines were already winning for themselves their new territory when the israelites marched out of egypt. in saying, consequently, that the kingdom of abimelech was in the land of the philistines the book of genesis speaks proleptically: when the story of abraham and abimelech was written in its present form gerar was a philistine town: in the days of the patriarchs this was not yet the case. at beer-sheba abraham planted a tamarisk, and "called on the name of the lord, the everlasting god." beer-sheba long remained one of the sacred places of palestine. the tree planted by its well was a sign both of the water that flowed beneath its soil and of its sacred character. it was only where fresh water was found that the nomads of the desert could come together, and the tree was a token of the life and refreshment they would meet with. the well was sacred; so also was the solitary tree which stood beside it, and under whose branches man and beast could find shade and protection from the mid-day heat. even mohammedanism, that puritanism of the east, has not been able to eradicate the belief in the divine nature of such trees from the mind of the nomad; we may still see them decorated with offerings of rags torn from the garments of the passer-by or shading the tomb of some reputed saint. they are still more than waymarks or resting-places for the heated and weary; when standing beneath them the herdsman feels that he is walking upon consecrated ground. it was at beer-sheba that the temptation came to abraham to sacrifice his first-born, his only son isaac. the temptation was in accordance with the fierce ritual of syria, and traces of the belief which had called it into existence are to be found in the early literature of babylonia. thus in an ancient babylonian ritual-text we read: "the offspring who raises his head among mankind, the offspring for his life he gave; the head of the offspring for the head of the man he gave; the neck of the offspring for the neck of the man he gave." phoenician legend told how the god el had robed himself in royal purple and sacrificed his only son yeud in a time of pestilence, and the writers of greece and rome describe with horror the sacrifices of the first-born with which the history of carthage was stained. the father was called upon in time of trouble to yield up to the god his nearest and dearest; the fruit of his body could alone wipe away the sin of his soul, and baal required him to sacrifice without a murmur or a tear his first-born and his only one. the more precious the offering, the more acceptable was it to the god; the harder the struggle to resign it, the greater was the merit of doing so. the child died for the sins of his people; and the belief was but the blind and ignorant expression of a true instinct. but abraham was to be taught a better way. for three days he journeyed northward with his son, and then lifting up his eyes saw afar off that mountain "in the land of moriah," on the summit of which the sacrifice was to be consummated. alone with isaac he ascended to the high-place, and there building his altar and binding to it his son he prepared to perform the terrible rite. but at the last moment his hand was stayed, a new and better revelation was made to him, and a ram was substituted for his son. it cannot be accidental that, as m. clermont-ganneau has pointed out, we learn from the temple-tariffs of carthage and marseilles that in the later ritual of phoenicia a ram took the place of the earlier human sacrifice. where was this mountain in the land of moriah whereon the altar of abraham was built? it would seem from a passage in the second book of chronicles (iii. ) that it was the future temple-mount at jerusalem. the words of genesis also point in the same direction. abraham, we read, "called the name of that place jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, in the mount of the lord it shall be seen." it is hard to believe that "the mount of the lord" can mean anything else than that _har-el_ or "mountain of god" whereon ezekiel places the temple, or that the proverb can refer to a less holy spot than that where the lord appeared enthroned upon the cherubim above the mercy-seat. it is doubtful, however, whether the reading of the hebrew text in either passage is correct. according to the septuagint the proverb quoted in genesis should run: "in the mountain is the lord seen," and the same authority changes the "moriah" of the book of chronicles into _amôr-eia_, "of the amorites." it is true that the distance of jerusalem from beer-sheba would agree well with the three days' journey of abraham. but it is difficult to reconcile the description of the scene of abraham's sacrifice with the future temple-mount. where isaac was bound to the altar was a solitary spot, the patriarch and his son were alone there, and it was overgrown with brushwood so thickly that a ram had been caught in it by his horns. the temple-mount, on the contrary, was either within the walls of a city or just outside them, and the city was already a capital famous for its worship of "the most high god." had the moriah of jerusalem really been the site of abraham's altar it is strange that no allusion is made to the fact by the writers of the old testament, or that tradition should have been silent on the matter. we must be content with the knowledge that it was to one of the mountains "in the land of moriah" that abraham was led, and that "moriah" was a "land," not a single mountain-peak. (we should not forget that the septuagint reads "the highlands," that is, _moreh_ instead of _moriah_, while the syriac version boldly changes the word into the name of the "amorites." for arguments on the other side, see p. .) abraham returned to beer-sheba, and from thence went to hebron, where sarah died. hebron--or kirjath-arba as it was then called--was occupied by a hittite tribe, in contradistinction to the country round about it, which was in the possession of the amorites. as at jerusalem, or at kadesh on the orontes, the hittites had intruded into amoritish territory and established themselves in the fortress-town. but while the hittite city was known as kirjath-arba, "the city of arba," the amoritish district was named mamre: the union of kirjath-arba and mamre created the hebron of a later day. kirjath-arba seems to have been built in the valley, close to the pools which still provide water for its modern inhabitants. on the eastern side the slope of the hill is honeycombed with tombs cut in the rock, and, if ancient tradition is to be believed, it was in one of these that abraham desired to lay the body of his wife. the "double cave" of machpelah--for so the septuagint renders the phrase--was in the field of ephron the hittite, and from ephron, accordingly, the hebrew patriarch purchased the land for shekels of silver, or about £ . the cave, we are told, lay opposite mamre, which goes to show that the oak under which abraham once pitched his tent may not have been very far distant from that still pointed out as the oak of mamre in the grounds of the russian hospice. the traditional tomb of machpelah has been venerated alike by jew, christian, and mohammedan. the church built over it in byzantine days and restored by the crusaders to christian worship has been transformed into a mosque, but its sanctity has remained unchanged. it stands in the middle of a court, enclosed by a solid wall of massive stones, the lower courses of which were cut and laid in their places in the age of herod. the fanatical moslem is unwilling that any but himself should enter the sacred precincts, but by climbing the cliff behind the town it is possible to look down upon the mosque and its sacred enclosure, and see the whole building spread out like a map below the feet. more than one english traveller has been permitted to enter the mosque, and we are now well acquainted with the details of its architecture. but the rock-cut tomb in which the bodies of the patriarchs are supposed to have lain has never been examined by the explorer. it is probable, however, that were he to penetrate into it he would find nothing to reward his pains. during the long period that hebron was in christian hands the cave was more than once visited by the pilgrim. but we look in vain in the records which have come down to us for an account of the relics it has been supposed to contain. had the mummified corpses of the patriarchs been preserved in it, the fact would have been known to the travellers of the crusading age. (see the _zeitschrift des deutschen palästina-vereins_, .) like the other tombs in its neighbourhood, the cave of machpelah has doubtless been opened and despoiled at an early epoch. we know that tombs were violated in egypt long before the days of abraham, in spite of the penalties with which such acts of sacrilege were visited, and the cupidity of the canaanite was no less great than that of the egyptian. the treasures buried with the dead were too potent an attraction, and the robber of the tomb braved for their sake the terrors of both this world and the next. abraham now sent his servant to mesopotamia, to seek there for a wife for his son isaac from among his kinsfolk at harran. rebekah, the sister of laban, accordingly, was brought to canaan and wedded to her cousin. isaac was at the time in the southern desert, encamped at the well of lahai-roi, near kadesh. so "isaac was comforted after his mother's death." "then again," we are told, "abraham took a wife," whose name was keturah, and by whom he was the forefather of a number of arabian tribes. they occupied the northern and central parts of the arabian peninsula, by the side of the ishmaelites, and colonized the land of midian. it is the last we hear of the great patriarch. he died soon afterwards "in a good old age," and was buried at machpelah along with his wife. isaac still dwell at lahai-roi, and there the twins, esau and jacob, were born to him. there, too, he still was when a famine fell upon the land, like "the first famine that was in the days of abraham." the story of abraham's dealings with abimelech of gerar is repeated in the case of isaac. again we hear of phichol, the captain of abimelech's army; again the wife of the patriarch is described as his sister; and again his herdsmen strive with those of the king of gerar over the wells they have dug, and the well of beer-sheba is made to derive its name from the oaths sworn mutually by isaac and the king. it is hardly conceivable that history could have so closely repeated itself, that the lives of the king and commander-in-chief of gerar could have extended over so many years, or that the origin of the name of beer-sheba would have been so quickly forgotten. rather we must believe that two narratives have been mingled together, and that the earlier visit of abraham to gerar has coloured the story of isaac's sojourn in the territory of abimelech. we need not refuse to believe that the servants of isaac dug wells and wrangled over them with the native herdsmen; that beer-sheba should twice have received its name from a repetition of the same event is a different matter. one of the wells--that of rehoboth--made by isaac's servants is probably referred to in the egyptian _travels of a mohar_, where it is called rehoburta. isaac was not a wanderer like his father. lahai-roi in the desert, "the valley of gerar," beer-sheba and hebron, were the places round which his life revolved, and they were all close to one another. there is no trace of his presence in the north of palestine, and when the prophet amos (vii. ) makes isaac synonymous with the northern kingdom of israel, there can be no geographical reference in his words. isaac died eventually at hebron, and was buried in the family tomb of machpelah. but long before this happened jacob had fled from the well-deserved wrath of his brother to his uncle laban at harran. on his way he had slept on the rocky ridge of bethel, and had beheld in vision the angels of god ascending and descending the steps of a staircase that led to heaven. the nature of the ground itself must have suggested the dream. the limestone rock is fissured into steplike terraces, which seem formed of blocks of stone piled one upon the other, and rising upwards like a gigantic staircase towards the sky. on the hill that towers above the ruins of beth-el, we may still fancy that we see before us the "ladder" of jacob. but the vision was more than a mere dream. god appeared in it to the patriarch, and repeated to him the promise that had been made to his fathers. through jacob, the younger of the twins, the true line of abraham was to be carried on. when he awoke in the morning the fugitive recognized the real character of his dream. he took, accordingly, the stone that had served him for a pillow, and setting it up as an altar, poured oil upon it, and so made it a beth-el, or "house of god," henceforward it was a consecrated altar, a holy memorial of the god whose divinity had been mysteriously imparted to it. the semitic world was full of such beth-els, or consecrated stones. they are referred to in the literature of ancient babylonia, and an english traveller, mr. doughty, has found them still existing near the tema of the old testament in northern arabia. in phoenicia we are told that they abounded. the solitary rock in the desert or on the mountain-side seemed to the primitive semite the dwelling-place of deity; it rose up awe-striking and impressive in its solitary grandeur and venerable antiquity; it was a shelter to him from the heat of the sun, and a protection from the perils of the night. when his worship and adoration came in time to be transferred from the stone itself to the divinity it had begun to symbolize, it became an altar on which the libation of oil or wine might be poured out to the gods, and on the seals of syria and the sculptured slabs of assyria we accordingly find it transformed into a portable altar, and merged in the cone-like symbol of the goddess ashêrah. the stone which had itself been a beth-el wherein the deity had his home, passed by degrees into the altar of the god whose actual dwelling-place was in heaven. the canaanitish city near which jacob had raised the monument of his dream bore the name of luz. in israelitish days, however, the name of the monument was transferred to that of the city, and luz itself was called the beth-el, or "house of god." the god worshipped there when the israelites first entered canaan appears to have been entitled on,--a name derived, perhaps, from that of the city of the sun-god in egypt. bethel was also beth-on, "the temple of on," from whence the tribe of benjamin afterwards took the name of ben-oni, "the onite." beth-on has survived into our own times, and the site of the old city is still known as beitîn. it is not needful to follow the adventures of jacob in mesopotamia. his new home lay far away from the boundaries of palestine, and though the kings of aram-naharaim made raids at times into the land of canaan and caused their arms to be feared within the walls of jerusalem, they never made any permanent conquests on the coasts of the mediterranean. in the land of the aramaeans jacob is lost for awhile from the history of patriarchal palestine. when he again emerges, it is as a middle-aged man, rich in flocks and herds, who has won two wives as the reward of his labours, and is already the father of a family. he is on his way back to the country which had been promised to his seed and wherein he himself had been born. laban, his father-in-law, robbed at once of his daughters and his household gods, is pursuing him, and has overtaken him on the spurs of mount gilead, almost within sight of his goal. there a covenant is made between the aramaean and the hebrew, and a cairn of stones is piled up to commemorate the fact. the cairn continued to bear a double name, the aramaean name given to it by laban, and the canaanitish name of galeed, "the heap of witnesses," by which it was called by jacob. the double name was a sign of the two populations and languages which the cairn separated from one another. northward were the aramaeans and an aramaic speech; southward the land of canaan and the language which we term hebrew. the spot where the cairn was erected bore yet another title. it was also called mizpah, the "watch-tower," the outpost from which the dweller in canaan could discern the approaching bands of an enemy from the north or east. it protected the road to the jordan, and kept watch over the eastern plateau. here in after times jephthah gathered around him the patriots of israel, and delivered his people from the yoke of the ammonites. once more "jacob went on his way," and from the "two-fold camp" of mahanaim sent messengers to his brother esau, who had already established himself among the mountains of seir. then came the mysterious struggle in the silent darkness of night with one whom the patriarch believed to have been his god himself. when day dawned, the vision departed from him, but not until his name had been changed. "thy name," it was declared to him, "shall be called no more jacob, but israel; for as a prince hast thou power with god and with men, and hast prevailed." and his thigh was shrunken, so that the children of israel in days to come abstained from eating "of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh." the spot where the struggle took place, beside the waters of the jabbok, was named penu-el, "the face of god." there was more than one other penu-el in the semitic world, and at carthage the goddess tanith was entitled peni-baal, "the face of baal." the name of israel, as we may learn from its equivalent, jeshurun, was really derived from a root which signified "to be straight," or "upright." the israelites were in truth "the people of uprightness." it is only by one of those plays upon words, of which the oriental is still so fond, that the name can be brought into connection with the word _sar_, "a prince." but the name of jacob was well known among the northern semites. we gather from the inscriptions of egypt that its full form was jacob-el. like jeshurun by the side of israel, or jephthah by the side of jiphthah-el (josh. xix. ), jacob is but an abbreviated jacob-el. one of the places in palestine conquered by the pharaoh thothmes iii., the names of which are recorded on the walls of his temple at karnak, was jacob-el--a reminiscence, doubtless, of the hebrew patriarch. professor flinders petrie has made us acquainted with egyptian scarabs on which is inscribed in hieroglyphic characters the name of a king, jacob-bar or jacob-hal, who reigned in the valley of the nile before abraham entered it, and mr. pinches has lately discovered the name of jacob-el among the persons mentioned in contracts of the time of the babylonian sovereign sin-mu-ballidh, who was a contemporary of chedor-laomer. we thus have monumental evidence that the name of jacob was well known in the semitic world in the age of the hebrew patriarchs. jacob and esau met and were reconciled, and jacob then journeyed onwards to succoth, "the booths." the site of this village of "booths" is unknown, but it could not have been far from the banks of the jordan and the road to nablûs. the neighbourhood of shechem, called in greek times neapolis, the nablûs of to-day, was the next resting-place of the patriarch. if we are to follow the translation of the authorised version, it would have been at "shalem, a city of shechem," that his tents were pitched. but many eminent scholars believe that the hebrew words should rather be rendered: "and jacob came in peace to the city of shechem," the reference being to his peaceable parting from his brother. there is, however, a hamlet still called salîm, nearly three miles to the east of nablûs, and it may be therefore that it was really at a place termed shalem that jacob rested on his way. in this case the field bought from hamor, "before the city of shechem," cannot have been where, since the days of our lord, "jacob's well" has been pointed out (s. john iv. , ). the well is situated considerably westward of salîm, midway, in fact, between that village and nablûs, and close to the village of 'askâr, with which the "sychar" of s. john's gospel has sometimes been identified. it has been cut through the solid rock to a depth of more than a hundred feet, and the groovings made by the ropes of the waterpots in far-off centuries are still visible at its mouth. but no water can be drawn from it now. the well is choked with the rubbish of a ruined church, built above it in the early days of christianity, and of which all that remains is a broken arch. it has been dug at a spot where the road from shechem to the jordan branches off from that which runs towards the north, though shechem itself is more than a mile distant. we should notice that s. john does not say that the well was actually in "the parcel of ground that jacob gave to his son joseph," only that it was "near to" the patriarch's field. if jacob came to shechem in peace, the peace was of no long continuance. simeon and levi, the sons of the patriarch, avenged the insult offered by the shechemite prince to their sister dinah, by treacherously falling upon the city and slaying "all the males." jacob was forced to fly, leaving behind him the altar he had erected. he made for the canaanitish city of luz, the beth-el of later days, where he had seen the great altar-stairs sloping upward to heaven. the idols that had been carried from mesopotamia were buried "under the oak which was by shechem," along with the ear-rings of the women. the oak was one of those sacred trees which abounded in the semitic world, like another oak at beth-el, beneath which the nurse of rebekah was soon afterwards to be buried. at beth-el jacob built another altar. but he could not rest there, and once more took his way to the south. on the road his wife rachel died while giving birth to his youngest son, and her tomb beside the path to beth-lehem was marked by a "pillar" which the writer of the book of genesis tells us remained to his own day. it indicated the boundary between the territories of benjamin and judah at zelzah ( sam. x. ). at beth-lehem jacob lingered a long while. his flocks and herds were spread over the country, under the charge of his sons, browsing on the hills and watered at the springs, for which the "hill-country of judah" was famous. in their search for pasturage they wandered northward, we are told, "beyond the tower of the flock," which guarded the jebusite stronghold of zion (mic. iv. ). beth-lehem itself was more commonly known in that age by the name of ephrath. beth-lehem, "the temple of lehem," must, in fact, have been the sacred name of the city derived from the worship of its chief deity, and mr. tomkins is doubtless right in seeing in this deity the babylonian lakhmu, who with his consort lakhama, was regarded as a primaeval god of the nascent world. at beth-lehem jacob was but a few miles distant from hebron, where isaac still lived, and where at his death he was buried by his sons jacob and esau in the family tomb of machpelah. it was the last time, seemingly, that the two brothers found themselves together. esau, partly by marriage, partly by conquest, dispossessed the horites of mount seir, and founded the kingdom of edom, while the sons and flocks of jacob scattered themselves from hebron in the south of canaan to shechem in its centre. the two hallowed sanctuaries of the future kingdoms of judah and israel, where the first throne was set up in israel and the monarchy of david was first established, thus became the boundaries of the herdsmen's domain. in both the hebrew patriarch held ground that was rightfully his own. it was a sign that the house of israel should hereafter occupy the land which the family of israel thus roamed over with their flocks. the nomad was already passing into the settler, with fields and burial-places of his own. but before the transformation could be fully accomplished, a long season of growth and preparation was needful. egypt, and not canaan, was to be the land in which the chosen people should be trained for their future work. canaan itself was to pass under egyptian domination, and to replace the influence of babylonian culture by that of egypt. it was a new world and a new civilization into which the descendants of jacob were destined to emerge when finally they escaped from the fiery furnace of egyptian bondage. the egypt known to jacob was an egypt over which asiatic princes ruled, and whose vizier was himself a hebrew. it was the egypt of the hyksos conquerors, whose capital was zoan, on the frontiers of asia, and whose people were the slaves of an asiatic stranger. the egypt quitted by his descendants was one which had subjected asia to itself, and had carried the spoils of syria to its splendid capital in the far south. the asiatic wave had been rolled back from the banks of the nile, and egyptian conquest and culture had overflooded asia as far as the euphrates. but it was not egypt alone which had undergone a change. the canaan of abraham and jacob looked to babylonia for its civilization, its literature, and its laws. its princes recognized at times the supremacy of the babylonian sovereigns, and the deities of babylonia were worshipped in its midst. the canaan of moses had long been a province of the egyptian empire; egyptian rule had been substituted for that of babylon, and the manners and customs of egypt had penetrated deeply into the minds of its inhabitants. the hittite invasion from the north had blocked the high-road to babylonia, and diverted the trade of palestine towards the west and the south. while abraham, the native of ur, and the emigrant from harran, had found himself in canaan, and even at zoan, still within the sphere of the influences among which he had grown up, the fugitives from egypt entered on the invasion of a country which had but just been delivered from the yoke of the pharaohs. it was an egyptian canaan that the israelites were called upon to subdue, and it was fitting therefore that they should have been made ready for the task by their long sojourn in the land of goshen. how that sojourn came about, it is not for us to recount. the story of joseph is too familiar to be repeated, though we are but just beginning to learn how true it is, in all its details, to the facts which egyptian research is bringing more and more fully to light. we see the midianite and ishmaelite caravan passing dothan--still known by its ancient name--with their bales of spicery from gilead for the dwellers in the delta, and carrying away with them the young hebrew slave. we watch his rise in the house of his egyptian master, his wrongful imprisonment and sudden exaltation when he sits by the side of pharaoh and governs egypt in the name of the king. we read the pathetic story of the old father sending his sons to buy corn from the royal granaries or _larits_ of egypt, and withholding to the last his youngest and dearest one; of the beduin shepherds bowing all unconsciously before the brother whom they had sold into slavery, and who now holds in his hands the power of life and death; of joseph's disclosure of himself to the conscious-stricken suppliants; of jacob's cry when convinced at last that "the governor over all the land of egypt" was his long-mourned son. "it is enough; joseph my son is yet alive: i will go and see him before i die." jacob and his family travelled in wagons along the high-road which connected the south of palestine with the delta. it led past beer-sheba and el-arîsh to the shur, or line of fortifications which protected the eastern frontier of egypt. the modern caravan road follows its course most of the way. it was thus distinct from "the way of the philistines," which led along the coast of the mediterranean, on the northern edge of the sirbonian lake. in egypt the israelitish emigrants settled not far from the hyksos capital in the land of goshen, which the excavations of dr. naville have shown to be the wâdi tumilât of to-day. here they multiplied and grew wealthy, until the evil days came when the egyptians rose up against semitic influence and control, and ramses ii. transformed the free-born beduin into public serfs. but the age of ramses ii. was still far distant when jacob died full of years, and his mummy was carried to the burial-place of his fathers "in the land of canaan." local tradition connected the name of abel-mizraim, "the meadow of egypt," on the eastern side of the jordan, with the long funeral procession which wended its way from zoan to hebron. we cannot believe, however, that the mourners would have so far gone out of their road, even if the etymology assigned by tradition to the name could be supported. the tradition bears witness to the fact of the procession, but to nothing more. with the funeral of jacob a veil falls upon the biblical history of canaan, until the days when the spies were sent out to search the land. joseph was buried in egypt, not at hebron, though he had made the israelites swear before his death that his mummy should be eventually taken to palestine. the road to hebron, it is clear, was no longer open, and the power of the hyksos princes must have been fast waning. the war of independence had broken out, and the native kings of upper egypt were driving the foreigner back into asia. the rulers of zoan had no longer troops to spare for a funeral procession through the eastern desert. the chronicler, however, has preserved a notice which seems to show that a connection was still kept up between southern canaan and the hebrew settlers in goshen, even after jacob's death, perhaps while he was yet living. we are told that certain of the sons of ephraim were slain by the men of gath, whose cattle they had attempted to steal, and that their father, after mourning many days, comforted himself with the birth of other sons ( chron. vii. - ). the notice, moreover, does not stand alone. thothmes iii., the great conqueror of the eighteenth egyptian dynasty, states that two of the places captured by him in palestine were jacob-el and joseph-el. it is tempting to see in the two names reminiscences of the hebrew patriarch and his son. if so, the name of joseph would have been impressed upon a locality in canaan more than two centuries before the exodus. the geographical lists of thothmes iii. and the fragments of early history preserved by the chronicler would thus support and complete one another. the egyptian cavalry who accompanied the mummy of jacob to its resting-place at machpelah, would not be the only evidence of the authority claimed by joseph and his master in the land of canaan; joseph himself would have left his name there, and his grand-children would have fought against "the men of gath." but these are speculations which may, or may not, be confirmed by archaeological discovery. for the book of genesis canaan disappears from sight with the death of jacob. henceforward it is upon egypt and the nomad settlers in goshen that the attention of the pentateuch is fixed, until the time comes when the age of the patriarchs is superseded by that of the legislator, and moses, the adopted son of the egyptian princess, leads his people back to canaan. joseph had been carried by midianitish hands out of palestine into egypt, there to become the representative of the pharaoh, and son-in-law of the high-priest of heliopolis; for moses, the adopted grandson of the pharaoh, "learned in all the wisdom of the egyptians," it was reserved, after years of trial and preparation in midian, to bring the descendants of jacob out of their egyptian prison-house to the borders of the promised land. chapter v egyptian travellers in canaan palestine has been a land of pilgrims and tourists from the very beginning of its history. it was the goal of the migration of abraham and his family, and it was equally the object of the oldest book of travels with which we are acquainted. allusion has already been made more than once to the egyptian papyrus, usually known as _the travels of a mohar_, and in which a satirical account is given of a tour in palestine and syria. the writer was a professor, apparently of literature, in the court of ramses ii., and he published a series of letters to his friend, nekht-sotep, which were long admired as models of style. nekht-sotep was one of the secretaries attached to the military staff, and among the letters is a sort of parody of an account given by nekht-sotep of his adventures in canaan, which was intended partly to show how an account of the kind ought to have been written by an accomplished penman, partly to prove the superiority of the scribe's life to that of the soldier, partly also, it may be, for the sake of teasing the writer's correspondent. nekht-sotep had evidently assumed airs of superiority on the strength of his foreign travels, and his stay-at-home friend undertook to demonstrate that he had himself enjoyed the more comfortable life of the two. nekht-sotep is playfully dubbed with the foreign title of mohar--or more correctly muhir--a word borrowed from assyrian, where it primarily signified a military commander and then the governor of a province. long before the days of the nineteenth dynasty, however, there had been egyptian travellers in palestine, or at least in the adjoining countries. one of the egyptian books which have come down to us contains the story of a certain sinuhit who had to fly from egypt in consequence of some political troubles in which he was involved after the death of amon-m-hat i. of the twelfth dynasty. crossing the nile near kher-ahu, the old cairo of to-day, he gained the eastern bank of the river and made his way to the line of forts which protected egypt from its asiatic enemies. here he crouched among the desert bushes till night-fall, lest "the watchmen of the tower" should see him, and then pursued his journey under the cover of darkness. at daybreak he reached the land of peten and the wadi of qem-uer on the line of the modern suez canal. there thirst seized upon him; his throat rattled, and he said to himself--"this is the taste of death." a bedawi, however, perceived him and had compassion on the fugitive: he gave him water and boiled milk, and sinuhit for a while joined the nomad tribe. then he passed on to the country of qedem, the kadmonites of the old testament (gen. xv. ; judges vi. ), whence came the wise men of the east ( kings iv. ). after spending a year and a half there, 'ammu-anshi, the prince of the upper land of tenu, asked the egyptian stranger to come to him, telling him that he would hear the language of egypt. he added that he had already heard about sinuhit from "the egyptians who were in the country." it is clear from this that there had been intercourse for some time between egypt and "the upper tenu." it is probable that dr. w. max müller is right in seeing in tenu an abbreviated form of lutennu (or rutenu), the name by which syria was known to the egyptians. there was an upper lutennu and a lower lutennu, the upper lutennu corresponding with palestine and the adjoining country, and thus including the edomite district of which 'ammu-anshi or ammi-anshi was king. in the name of 'ammu-anshi, it may be observed, we have the name of the deity who appears as ammi or ammon in the kingdom of the ammonites, and perhaps forms the second element in the name of balaam. the same divine name enters into the composition of those of early kings of ma'in in southern arabia, as well as of babylonia in the far east. (see above, p. .) 'ammu-anshi married sinuhit to his eldest daughter, and bestowed upon him the government of a district called aia which lay on the frontier of a neighbouring country. aia is described as rich in vines, figs, and olives, in wheat and barley, in milk and cattle. "its wine was more plentiful than water," and sinuhit had "daily rations of bread and wine, cooked meat and roast fowl," as well as abundance of game. he lived there for many years. the children born to him by his asiatic wife grew up and became heads of tribes. "i gave water to the thirsty," he says; "i set on his journey the traveller who had been hindered from passing by; i chastised the brigand. i commanded the beduin who departed afar to strike and repel the princes of foreign lands, and they marched (under me), for the prince of tenu allowed that i should be during long years the general of his soldiers." sinuhit, in fact, had given proof of his personal prowess at an early period in his career. the champion of tenu had come to him in his tent and challenged him to single combat. the egyptian was armed with bow, arrows, and dagger; his adversary with battle-axe, javelins, and buckler. the contest was short, and ended in the decisive victory of sinuhit, who wounded his rival and despoiled him of his goods. a time came, however, when sinuhit grew old, and began to long to see once more the land of his fathers before he died. accordingly he sent a petition to the pharaoh praying him to forgive the offences of his youth and allow him to return again to egypt. the petition was granted, and a letter was despatched to the refugee, permitting him to return. sinuhit accordingly quitted the land where he had lived so long. first of all he held a festival, and handed over his property to his children, making his eldest son the chief of the tribe. then he travelled southward to egypt, and was graciously received at court. the coarse garments of the beduin were exchanged for fine linen; his body was bathed with water and scented essences; he lay once more on a couch and enjoyed the luxurious cookery of the egyptians. a house and pyramid were built for him; a garden was laid out for him with a lake and a kiosk, and a golden statue with a robe of electrum was set up in it. sinuhit ceased to be an asiatic "barbarian," and became once more a civilized egyptian. the travels of sinuhit were involuntary, but a time came when a tour in palestine was almost as much the fashion as it is to-day. the conquests of thothmes iii. had made syria an egyptian province, and had introduced syrians into the egyptian bureaucracy. good roads were made throughout the newly-acquired territory, furnished with post-houses where food and lodging could be procured, and communication between egypt and canaan thus became easy and frequent. the fall of the eighteenth dynasty caused only a momentary break in the intercourse between the two countries; with the establishment of the nineteenth dynasty it was again resumed. messengers passed backward and forward between syria and the court of the pharaoh; asiatics once more thronged into the valley of the nile, and the egyptian civil servant and traveller followed in the wake of the victorious armies of seti and ramses. _the travels of a mohar_ is the result of this renewed acquaintance with the cities and roads of palestine. the writer is anxious to display his knowledge of syrian geography. though he had not himself ventured to brave the discomforts of foreign travel, he wished to show that he knew as much about canaan as those who had actually been there. a tour there was after all not much to boast of; it had become so common that the geography of canaan was as well known as that of egypt itself, and the stay-at-home scribe had consequently no difficulty in compiling a guide-book to it. the following is the translation given by dr. brugsch of the papyrus, with such alterations as have been necessitated by further study and research. "i will portray for thee the likeness of a mohar, i will let thee know what he does. hast thou not gone to the land of the hittites, and hast thou not seen the land of aupa? dost thou not know what khaduma is like; the land of igad'i also how it is formed? the zar (or plain) of king sesetsu (sesostris)--on which side of it lies the town of aleppo, and how is its ford? hast thou not taken thy road to kadesh (on the orontes) and tubikhi? hast thou not gone to the shasu (beduin) with numerous mercenaries, and hast thou not trodden the way to the maghar[at] (the caves of the magoras near beyrout) where the heaven is dark in the daytime? the place is planted with maple-trees, oaks, and acacias, which reach up to heaven, full of beasts, bears (?), and lions, and surrounded by shasu in all directions. hast thou not ascended the mountain of shaua, and hast thou not trodden it? there thy hands hold fast to the [rein] of thy chariot; a jerk has shaken thy horses in drawing it. i pray thee, let us go to the city of beeroth (beyrout). hast thou not hastened to its ascent after passing over the ford in front of it? "do thou explain this relish for [the life of] a mohar! thy chariot lies there [before] thee; thy [feet] have fallen lame; thou treadest the backward path at eventide. all thy limbs are ground small. thy [bones] are broken to pieces, and thou dost fall asleep. thou awakest: it is the time of gloomy night, and thou art alone. has not a thief come to rob thee? some grooms have entered the stable; the horse kicks out; the thief has made off in the night, thy clothes are stolen. thy groom wakes up in the night; he sees what has happened to him; he takes what is left, he goes off to bad company, he joins the beduin. he transforms himself into an asiatic. the police (?) come, they [feel about] for the robber; he is discovered, and is immovable from terror. thou wakest, thou findest no trace of them, for they have carried off thy property. "become [again] a mohar who is fully accoutred. let thy ear be filled with that which i relate to thee besides. "the town 'hidden'--such is the meaning of its name gebal--what is its condition? its goddess [we will speak of] at another time. hast thou not visited it? be good enough to look out for beyrout, sidon, and sarepta. where are the fords of the land of nazana? the country of authu (usu), what is its condition? they are situated above another city in the sea, tyre the port is its name. drinking-water is brought to it in boats. it is richer in fishes than in sand. i will tell thee of something else. it is dangerous to enter zair'aun. thou wilt say it is burning with a very painful sting (?). come, mohar. go forward on the way to the land of pa-'aina. where is the road to achshaph (ekdippa)? towards which town? pray look at the mountain of user. how is its crest? where is the mountain of sakama (shechem)? who can surmount it? mohar, whither must you take a journey to the land of hazor? how is its ford? show me how one goes to hamath, dagara, [and] dagar-el, to the place where all mohars meet? be good enough to spy out its road; cast a look on yâ.... when one goes to the land of adamim, to what is one opposite? do not draw back, but instruct us. guide us, that we may know, o leader! "i will name to thee other cities besides these. hast thou not gone to the land of takhis, to kafir-marona, tamnah, kadesh, dapul, azai, harnammata, and hast thou not seen kirjath-anab, near beth-sopher? and dost thou not know adullam [and] zidiputa? or dost thou not know any better the name of khalza in the land of aupa, [like] a bull upon its frontiers? here is the place where all the mighty warriors are seen. be good enough to look and see the chapel of the land of qina, and tell me about rehob. describe beth-sha-el (beth-el) along with tarqa-el. the ford of the land of jordan, how is it crossed? teach me to know the passage that leads to the land of megiddo, which lies in front of it. verily thou art a mohar, well skilled in the work of the strong hand. pray, is there found a mohar like thee, to place at the head of the army, or a _seigneur_ who can beat thee in shooting? "beware of the gorge of the precipice, cubits deep, which is full of rocks and boulders. thou turnest back in a zigzag, thou bearest thy bow, thou takest the iron in thy left hand. thou lettest the old men see, if their eyes are good, how, worn out with fatigue, thou supportest thyself with thy hand. _ebed gamal mohar n'amu_ ('a camel's slave is the mohar! they say'); so they say, and thou gainest a name among the mohars and the knights of the land of egypt. thy name becomes like that of qazairnai, the lord of asel, when the lions found him in the thicket, in the defile which is rendered dangerous by the shasu who lie in ambush among the trees. they measured four cubits from the nose to the heel, they had a grim look, without softness; they cared not for caresses. "thou art alone, no strong one is with thee, no _armée_ is behind thee, no _ariel_ who prepares the way for thee, and gives thee information of the road before thee. thou knowest not the road. the hair on thy head stands on end; it bristles up. thy soul is given into thy hands. thy path is full of rocks and boulders, there is no outlet near, it is overgrown with creepers and wolf's-bane. the precipice is on one side of thee, the mountain and the wall of rock on the other. thou drivest in against it. the chariot jumps on which thou art. thou art troubled to hold up thy horses. if it falls down the precipice, the pole drags thee down too. thy _ceintures_ are pulled away. they fall down. thou shacklest the horse, because the pole is broken on the path of the defile. not knowing how to tie it up, thou understandest not how it is to be repaired. the _essieu_ is left on the spot, as the load is too heavy for the horses. thy courage has evaporated. thou beginnest to run. the heaven is cloudless. thou art thirsty; the enemy is behind thee; a trembling seizes thee; a twig of thorny acacia worries thee; thou thrustest it aside; the horse is scratched till at length thou findest rest. "explain to me thy liking for [the life of] a mohar! "thou comest into joppa; thou findest the date-palm in full bloom in its time. thou openest wide thy mouth in order to eat. thou findest that the maid who keeps the garden is fair. she does whatever thou wantest of her.... thou art recognized, thou art brought to trial, and owest thy preservation to being a mohar. thy girdle of the finest stuff thou payest as the price of a worthless rag. thou sleepest every evening with a rug of fur over thee. thou sleepest a deep sleep, for thou art weary. a thief steals thy bow and thy sword from thy side; thy quiver and thy armour are cut to pieces in the darkness; thy pair of horses run away. the groom takes his course over a slippery path which rises before him. he breaks thy chariot in pieces; he follows thy foot-steps. [he finds] thy equipments which had fallen on the ground and had sunk into the sand, leaving only an empty space. "prayer does not avail thee, even when thy mouth says, 'give food in addition to water, that i may reach my goal in safety,' they are deaf and will not hear. they say not yes to thy words. the iron-workers enter into the smithy; they rummage in the workshops of the carpenters; the handicraftsmen and saddlers are at hand; they do whatever thou requirest. they put together thy chariot; they put aside the parts of it that are made useless; thy spokes are _façonné_ quite new; thy wheels are put on; they put the _courroies_ on the axles and on the hinder part; they splice thy yoke, they put on the box of thy chariot; the [workmen] in iron forge the ...; they put the ring that is wanting on thy whip, they replace the _lanières_ upon it. "thou goest quickly onward to fight on the battle-field, to do the deeds of a strong hand and of firm courage. "before i wrote i sought me out a mohar who knows his power and leads the _jeunesse_, a chief in the _armée_, [who travels] even to the end of the world. "answer me not 'this is good; this is bad;' repeat not to me your opinion. come, i will tell thee all that lies before thee at the end of thy journey. "i begin for thee with the palace of sesetsu (sesostris). hast thou not set foot in it by force? hast thou not eaten the fish in the brook ...? hast thou not washed thyself in it? with thy permission i will remind thee of huzana; where is its fortress? come, i pray thee, to the palace of the land of uazit, even of osymandyas (ramses ii.) in his victories, [to] saez-el, together with absaqbu. i will inform thee of the land of 'ainin (the two springs), the customs of which thou knowest not. the land of the lake of nakhai, and the land of rehoburta thou hast not seen since thou wast born, o mohar. rapih is widely extended. what is its wall like? it extends for a mile in the direction of gaza." the french words introduced from time to time by dr. brugsch into the translation represent the semitic words which the egyptian writer has employed. they illustrate the fashionable tendency of his day to fill the egyptian vocabulary with the words and phrases of canaan. it was the revenge taken by palestine for its invasion and conquest by the armies of seti and ramses. thus _armée_ corresponds to the semitic _tsaba_, "army," _jeunesse_ to _na'aruna_, "young men." the egyptian scribe, however, sometimes made mistakes similar to those which modern novelists are apt to commit in their french quotations. instead of writing, as he intended, _'ebed gamal mohar na'amu_ ("a camel's slave is the mohar! they say"), he has assigned the canaanite vowel _ayin_ to the wrong word, and mis-spelt the name of the "camel," so that the phrase is transformed into _abad kamal mohar n'amu_ ("the camel of the mohar has perished, they are pleasant"). (it is curious that a similar mistake in regard to the spelling of _'ebed_, "_slave_" or "_servant_" has been made in an aramaic inscription which i have discovered on the rocks near silsileh in upper egypt, where the name of ebed-nebo is written abed-nebo.) most of the geographical names mentioned in the papyrus can be identified. aupa, the ubi of the tel el-amarna tablets, was on the borders of the land of the hittites, and not far from aleppo. the zar or "plain" of sesostris makes its appearance in the lists of conquered towns and countries which were drawn up by thothmes iii., seti i., ramses ii., and ramses iii., in order to commemorate their victories in syria. the word probably migrated from babylonia, where the _zeru_ denoted the alluvial plain which lay between the tigris and the euphrates. kadesh, the southern capital of the hittites, "in the land of the amorites," lay on the orontes, close to the lake of horns, and has been identified by major conder with the modern tel em-mindeh. tubikhi, of which we have already heard in the tel el-amarna letters, is also mentioned in the geographical lists inscribed by thothmes iii. on the walls of his temple at karnak (no. ); it there precedes the name of kamta or qamdu, the kumidi of tel el-amarna. it is the tibhath of the old testament, out of which david took "very much brass" ( chron. xviii. ). the maghar(at) or "caves" gave their name to the magoras, the river of beyrout, as well as to the mearah of the book of joshua (xiii. ). as for the mountain of shaua, it is described by the assyrian king tiglath-pileser iii. as in the neighbourhood of the northern lebanon, while the city of the beeroth or "cisterns" is probably beyrout. the mohar is now carried to phoenicia. gebal, beyrout, sidon, and sarepta, are named one after the other, as the traveller is supposed to be journeying from north to south. the "goddess" of gebal was baaltis, so often referred to in the letters of rib-hadad, who calls her "the mistress of gebal." in saying, however, that the name of the city meant "hidden," the writer has been misled by the egyptian mispronunciation of it. it became kapuna in the mouths of his countrymen, and since _kapu_ in egyptian signified "hidden mystery," he jumped to the conclusion that such was also the etymology of the phoenician word. in the "fords of the land of nazana" we must recognize the river litâny, which flows into the sea between sarepta and tyre. at all events, authu or usu, the next city mentioned, is associated with tyre both in the tablets of tel el-amarna and in the inscriptions of the assyrian kings. it seems to have been the palætyros or "older tyre" of classical tradition, which stood on the mainland opposite the more famous insular tyre. phoenician tradition ascribes its foundation to usôos, the offspring of the mountains of kasios and lebanon, and brother of memrumus, "the exalted," and hypsouranios, "the lord of heaven," who was the first to invent a clothing of skins, and to sail upon the water in boats, and who had taught mankind to adore the fire and the winds, and to set up two pillars of stone in honour of the deity. from usu the mohar is naturally taken to the island rock of tyre. next comes a name which it is difficult to identify. all that is clear is that between zar or tyre and zair'aun there is some connection both of name and of locality. perhaps dr. brugsch is right in thinking that in the next sentence there is a play upon the hebrew word _zir'âh_, "hornet," which seems to have the same root as zair'aun. it may be that zair'aun is the ancient city south of tyre whose ruins are now called umm el-'amûd, and whose older name is said to have been turân. unfortunately the name of the next place referred to in the mohar's travels is doubtful; if it is pa-'a(y)ina, "the spring," we could identify it with the modern râs el-'ain, "the head of the spring." this is on the road to zib, the ancient achshaph or ekdippa. "the mountain of user" reminds us curiously of the tribe of asher, whose territory included the mountain-range which rose up behind the phoenician coast. but it may denote mount carmel, whose "crest" faces the traveller as he makes his way southward from tyre and zib. in any case the allusion to it brings to the writer's mind another mountain in the same neighbourhood, the summit of which similarly towers into the sky. this is "the mountain of shechem," either ebal or gerizim, each of which is nearly feet above the level of the sea. it is the first mention that we have of shechem outside the pages of the old testament. shechem, however, did not lie in the path of the mohar, and the reference to its mountain is made parenthetically only. we are therefore carried on to hazor, which afterwards became a city of naphtali, and of which we hear in the letters of tel el-amarna. from hazor the road ran northwards to hamath, the hamah of to-day. hazor lay not far to the westward of adamim, which the geographical lists of thothmes iii. place between the sea of galilee and the kishon, and which is doubtless the adami of naphtali (josh. xix. ). here the tour of the mohar comes to an abrupt close. after this the writer contents himself with naming a number of syrian cities without regard to their geographical position. he is anxious merely to show off his knowledge of canaanitish geography; perhaps also to insinuate doubts as to the extent of his correspondent's travels. takhis, the thahash of gen. xxii. , was, as we have seen, in the land of the amorites, not very far distant from kadesh on the orontes. kafir-marona, "the village of marona," may have been in the same direction. the second element in the name is met with elsewhere in palestine. thus one of joshua's antagonists was the king of shim-ron-meron (josh. xii. ), and the assyrian inscriptions tell us of a town called samsi-muruna. tamnah was not an uncommon name. we hear of a tamnah or timnah in judah (josh. xv. ), and of another in mount ephraim (josh. xix. ). dapul may be the tubuliya of the letters of rib-hadad, azai, "the outlet," seems to have been near a pass, while har-nammata, "the mountain of nammata," is called har-nam by ramses iii., who associates it with lebanoth and hebron. the two next names, kirjath-anab and beth-sopher, are of peculiar interest, since they contain the first mention that was come down to us of kitjath-sepher, the literary centre of the canaanites in the south of palestine, which was captured and destroyed by othniel the kenizzite. in the old testament (josh. xv. , ) kirjath-sannah or kirjath-sepher and anab are coupled together just as kirjath-anab and beth-sopher are by the egyptian scribe, and it is therefore evident that he has interchanged the place of the equivalent terms kirjath, "city," and beth, "house." but his spelling of the second name shows us how it ought to be punctuated and read in the old testament. it was not kirjath-sepher, "the city of book(s)," but kirjath-sopher, "the city of scribe(s)," and dr. w. max müller has pointed out that the determinative of "writing" has been attached to the word _sopher_, showing that the writer was fully acquainted with its meaning. kirjath-sannah, "the city of instruction," as it was also called, was but another way of emphasizing the fact that here was the site of a library and school such as existed in the towns of babylonia and assyria. both names, however, kirjath-sopher and kirjath-sannah, were descriptive rather than original; its proper designation seems to have been debir, "the sanctuary," the temple wherein its library was established, and which has caused the egyptian author to call it a "beth," or "temple," instead of a "kirjath," or "city." like anab and kirjath-sopher, adullam and zidiputa were also in southern canaan. it was in the cave of adullam that david took refuge from the pursuit of saul, and we learn from shishak that zidiputa--or zadiputh-el, as he calls it--was in the south of judah. from hence we are suddenly transported to the northern part of syria, and the mohar is asked if he knows anything about khalza in the land of aupa. khalza is an assyrian word signifying "fortress," and aupa, the ubi of the tel el-amarna tablets, was not far from aleppo. the allusion to the "bull" is obscure. then once more we are summoned back to palestine. in the annals of thothmes iii. we are told that "the brook of qina" was to the south of megiddo, so that the name of the district has probably survived in that of "cana of galilee." rehob may be rehob in asher (josh. xix. ), which was near kanah, though the name is so common in syria as to make any identification uncertain. beth-sha-el, on the contrary, is beth-el. we first meet with the name in the geographical lists of thothmes iii., and the fact that it is babylonian in form, bit-sa-ili being the babylonian equivalent of the hebrew beth-el, is one of many proofs that the lists were compiled from a cuneiform original. the name of beth-sha-el or beth-el calls up that of tarqa-el, which contains the name of the hittite god tarqu. but where tarqa-el was situated it is impossible to say. towards the end of the book reference is made to certain places which lay on the road between egypt and canaan. rapih is the raphia of classical geography, the rapikh of the assyrian inscriptions, where two broken columns now mark the boundary between egypt and turkey. rehoburta is probably the rehoboth where the herdsmen of isaac dug a well before the patriarch moved to beer-sheba (gen. xxvi. ), while in the lake of nakhai we may have the sirbonian lake of classical celebrity. there still remain two allusions in the papyrus which must not be passed over in silence. one is the allusion to "qazairnai, the lord of asel," the famous slayer of lions. we know nothing further about this nimrod of syria, but professor maspero is doubtless right in believing that asel ought to be written alsa, and that the country meant was the kingdom of alasiya, which lay in the northern portion of coele-syria. several letters from the king of alasiya are preserved in the tel el-amarna collection, and we gather from them that his possessions extended across the orontes from the desert to the mediterranean sea. egyptian papyri tell us that mares were imported into egypt from alasiya as well as two different kinds of liquor. in the age of samuel and saul alasiya was governed by a queen. the second allusion is to the ironsmith in canaan. it is clear that there were many of them, and that it was to the worker in iron and not to the worker in bronze that the traveller naturally turned when his chariot needed mending. even the word that is employed to denote the metal is the canaanitish _barzel_, which has been adopted under the form of _parzal_. nothing could show more plainly how characteristic of canaan the trade of the ironsmith must have been, and how largely the use of iron must have there superseded the use of bronze. the fact is in accordance with the references in the annals of thothmes iii. to the iron that was received by him from syria; it is also in accordance with the statements of the bible, where we read of the "chariots of iron" in which the canaanites rode to war. indeed there seems to have been a special class of wandering ironsmiths in palestine, like the wandering ironsmiths of mediæval europe, who jealously guarded the secrets of their trade, and formed not only a peculiar caste, but even a peculiar race. the word kain means "a smith," and the nomad kenites of whom we read in the old testament were simply the nomad race of "smiths," whose home was the tent or cavern. hence it was that while they were not israelites, they were just as little canaanites, and hence it was too that the philistines were able to deprive the israelites of the services of a smith ( sam. xiii. ). all that was necessary was to prevent the kenites from settling within israelitish territory. there was no israelite who knew the secrets of the profession and could take their place, and the canaanites who lived under israelitish protection were equally ignorant of the ironsmith's art. though the ironsmith had made himself a home in canaan he never identified himself with its inhabitants. the kenites remained a separate people, and could consequently be classed as such by the side of the hivites, or "villagers," and the perizzites, or "fellahin." if the _travels of a mohar_ are a guide-book to the geography of palestine in the age of the nineteenth egyptian dynasty, the lists of places conquered by thothmes iii., and engraved by his orders on the walls of his temple at karnak, are a sort of atlas of canaanite geography in the age of the eighteenth dynasty. the name of each locality is enclosed in a cartouche and surmounted by the head and shoulders of a canaanitish captive. the hair and eyes of the figures are painted black or rather dark purple, while the skin is alternately red and yellow. the yellow represents the olive tint of the mediterranean population, the red denotes the effects of sunburn. an examination of the names contained in the cartouches makes it clear that they have been derived from the memoranda made by the scribes who accompanied the army of the pharaoh in its campaigns. sometimes the same name is repeated twice, and not always in the same form. we may conclude, therefore, that the memoranda had not always been made by the same reporter, and that the compiler of the lists drew his materials from different sources. it is further clear that the memoranda had been noted down in the cuneiform characters of babylonia and not in the hieroglyphs of egypt. thus, as we have seen, the name of beth-el is transcribed from its babylonian form of bit-sa-ili, the assyrian equivalent of the hebrew beth-el. the names have been copied from the memoranda of the scribes in the order in which they occurred, and without any regard to their relative importance. while, therefore, insignificant villages are often noted, the names of important cities are sometimes passed over. descriptive epithets, moreover, like _abel_ "meadow," _arets_ "land," _har_ "mountains," _'emeq_ "valley," _'ên_ "spring," are frequently treated as if they were local names, and occupy separate cartouches. we must not, consequently, expect to find in the lists any exhaustive catalogue of palestinian towns or even of the leading cities. they mark only the lines of march taken by the army of thothmes or by his scouts and messengers. besides the canaanitish lists there are also long lists of localities conquered by the pharaoh in northern syria. with these, however, we have nothing to do. it is to the places in canaan that our attention must at present be confined. they are said to be situated in the country of the upper lotan, or, as another list gives it, in the country of the fenkhu. in the time of thothmes iii. accordingly the land of the upper lotan and the land of the fenkhu were synonymous terms, and alike denoted what we now call palestine. in the word fenkhu it is difficult not to see the origin of the greek phoenix or "phoenician." the lists begin with kadesh on the orontes, the head of the confederacy, the defeat of which laid canaan at the feet of the pharaoh. then comes megiddo, where the decisive battle took place, and the forces of the king of kadesh were overthrown. next we have khazi, mentioned also in the tel el-amarna tablets, from which we learn that it was in the hill-country south of megiddo. it may be the gaza of chron. vii. which was supplanted by shechem in israelitish days. kitsuna, the kuddasuna of the tel el-amarna tablets, follows: where it stood we do not know. the next name, "the spring of shiu," is equally impossible to identify. the sixth name, however, is tubikhu, about which the cuneiform tablets of tel el-amarna have told us a good deal, and which seems to be the tibhath of chron. xviii. . it was in coele-syria like kamta, the kumidi of the tablets, which follows in one list, though its place is taken by the unknown bami in another. after this we have the names of tuthina (perhaps dothan), lebana, and kirjath-niznau, followed by marum or merom the modern meirôm, by tamasqu or damascus, by the abel of atar, and by hamath. aqidu, the seventeenth name, is unknown, but mr. tomkins is probably right in thinking that the next name, that of shemnau, must be identified with the shimron of josh. xix. , where the septuagint reads symeon. that this reading is correct is shown by the fact that in the days of josephus and the talmud the place was called simonias, while the modern name is semûnieh. the tablets of tel el-amarna make it samkhuna. six unknown names come next, the first of which is a beeroth, or "wells." then we have mesekh, "the place of unction," called musikhuna in the tel el-amarna correspondence, qana and 'arna. both qana and 'arna appear in the account of the battle before megiddo, and must have been in the immediate neighbourhood of that city. one of the affluents of the kishon flowed past qana, while 'arna was hidden in a defile. it was there that the tent of thothmes was pitched two days before the great battle. the brook of qana seems to have been the river qanah of to-day, and 'arna may be read 'aluna. we are now transported to the eastern bank of the jordan, to 'astartu in the land of bashan, the ashtaroth-karnaim of genesis, the tel 'ashtarah of modern geography. with 'astartu is coupled anau-repa, explained by mr. tomkins to be "on of the rephaim" (gen. xiv. ). at any rate it is clearly the raphon or raphana of classical writers, the er-rafeh of to-day. next we have maqata, called makhed in the first book of maccabees, and now known as mukatta; lus or lius, the biblical laish, which under its later name of dan became the northern limit of the israelitish kingdom; and hazor, the stronghold of jabin, whose king we hear of in the tel el-amarna tablets. then come pahil or pella, east of the jordan, famous in the annals of early christianity; kennartu, the chinneroth of the old testament (josh. xi. , kings xv. ), from which the sea of galilee took one of its names; shemna, the site of which is uncertain; and atmam, the adami of josh. xix. . these are followed by qasuna, in which we find the kishion of issachar (josh. xix. ); shanam or shunem, now sôlam, north of jezreel; mash-al, the misheal of scripture; and aksap or ekdippa on the phoenician coast. then after a name which cannot be identified we read those of ta'anak, the ta'anach of the bible, the ta'anuk of to-day; ible'am, near which ahaziah of jadah was slain by the servants of jehu; gantu-asna, "the garden of asnah"; lot-melech, "lot of the king"; 'aina, "the spring"; and 'aak or acre. from acre we are taken along the coast southward to rosh kadesh, "the sacred headland" of carmel, whose name follows immediately under the form of karimna. next we have beer, "the well," shemesh-atum, and anakhertu. anakhertu is the anaharath of josh. xix. , which belonged to the tribe of issachar. of shemesh-atum we hear again in one of the inscriptions of amenophis iii. a revolt had broken out in the district of the lebanon, and the king accordingly marched into canaan to suppress it. shemesh-atum was the first city to feel the effects of his anger, and he carried away from it eighteen prisoners and thirteen oxen. the name of the town shows that it was dedicated to the sun-god. in hebrew it would appear as shemesh-edom, and an egyptian papyrus, now at leyden, informs us that atum or edom was the wife of resheph the canaanitish god of fire and lightning. in shemesh-atum or shemesh-edom we therefore have a compound name signifying that the shemesh or sun-god denoted by it was not the male divinity of the customary worship, but the sun-goddess edom. in israelitish times the second element in the compound seems to have been dropped; at all events it is probable that shemesh-atum was the beth-shemesh of the old testament (josh. xix. ), which is mentioned along with anaharath as in the borders of issachar. after anaharath come two unknown ophrahs; then khasbu and tasult, called khasabu and tusulti in the tel el-amarna letters; then negebu, perhaps the nekeb of galilee (josh. xix. ), ashushkhen, anam, and yurza. yurza is now represented by the ruins of yerza, south-eastward of ta'anach, and there are letters from its governor in the tel el-amarna collection. its name is followed by those of makhsa, yapu or joppa, and "the country of gantu" or gath. next we have luthen or ruthen, which is possibly lydda, ono, apuqen, suka or socho, and yahem. among the cartouches that follow we read the names of a migdol, of shebtuna, the modern shebtîn, of naun which reminds us of the name of joshua's father, and of haditha, now hadîtheh, five miles to the west of shebtîn. the list has thus led us to the foot of mount ephraim, and it is not surprising that the next name should be that of the har or "mountain" itself. this is followed by a name which is full of interest, for it reads joseph-el or "joseph-god." how the name of joseph came to be attached in the time of thothmes to the mountainous region in which "the house of joseph" afterwards established itself is hard to explain; we must remember, however, as has been stated in a former chapter, that according to the chronicler ( chron. vii. , ), already in the lifetime of ephraim his sons were slain by the men of gath, "because they came down to take away their cattle." (mr. pinches tells me that in early babylonian contracts of the age of chedor-laomer he has found the name of yasupu-ilu or joseph-el, as well as that of yakub-ilu or jacob-el. the discovery is of high importance when we remember that abraham migrated from ur of the chaldees, and adds another to the many debts of gratitude due to mr. pinches from biblical students. see preface for further details.) three names further on we find another compound with _el_, har-el, "the mount of god." in ezek. xliii. har-el is used to denote the "altar" which should stand in the temple on mount moriah, and mount moriah is itself called "the mount of the lord" in the book of genesis (xxii. ). it may be, therefore, that in the har-el of the egyptian list we have the name of the mountain whereon the temple of solomon was afterwards to be built. however this may be, the names which follow it show that we are in the neighbourhood of jerusalem. one after the other come lebau, na'mana or na'amah (josh. xv. ), meromim "the heights," 'ani "the two springs," rehob, ekron, hekalim "the palaces," the abel or "meadow" of autar'a, the abel, the gantau or "gardens," the maqerput or "tilled ground," and the 'aina or "spring" of carmel, which corresponds with the gath-carmel of the tel el-amarna tablets, the carmel of judah of the old testament. then we have beth-ya, a name which reminds us of that of "bithia, the daughter of pharaoh," whom mered, the descendant of caleb, took to wife, and whose stepson was yered, "the father of gedor" ( chron. iv. ). beth-ya is followed by tapun, which was fortified by the greeks after the death of judas maccabaeus ( macc. ix. ), by the abel of yertu or yered, perhaps the district of the jordan, by halkal, and by jacob-el, a name formed in the same way as that of joseph-el. we may see in it an evidence that the memory of the patriarch was kept alive in the south of palestine. the next two names are unknown, but they are followed by rabatu or rabbah of judah, magharatu, the ma'arath of josh, xv. , 'emequ, "the valley" of hebron, sirta and bârtu, the _bar has-sirak_, or "well of sirah" of sam. iii. . then come beth-sa-el or beth-el in its babylonian dress; beth-anta or beth-anath (josh. xv. ), where the babylonian goddess anatu was worshipped; helkath ( sam. ii. ); the spring of qan'am; gibeah of judah ( sam. vi. , ; see josh. xviii. ); zelah (josh. xviii. ), called zilu by ebed-tob of jerusalem; and zafta, the biblical zephath (judges i. ). the last three names in the catalogue--barqna, hum, and aktomes--have left no traces in scriptural or classical geography. the geographical lists of thothmes iii. served as a model for the pharaohs who came after him. they also adorned the walls of their temples with the names of the places they had captured in palestine, in northern syria, and in the soudan, and when a large space had to be filled the sculptor was not careful to insert in it only the names of such foreign towns as had been actually conquered. the older lists were drawn upon, and the names which had appeared in them were appropriated by the later king, sometimes in grotesquely misspelt forms. the climax of such empty claims to conquests which had never been made was reached at kom ombo, where ptolemy lathyrus, a prince who, instead of gaining fresh territory, lost what he had inherited, is credited with the subjugation of numerous nations and races, many of whom, like the hittites, had long before vanished from the page of history. the last of the pharaohs whose geographical list really represents his successes in palestine was shishak, the opponent of rehoboam and the founder of the twenty-second dynasty. the catalogue of places engraved on the wall of the shrine he built at karnak is a genuine and authentic record. so too are the lists given by the kings who immediately followed thothmes iii., amenophis iii. of the eighteenth dynasty, seti i. and ramses ii. of the nineteenth, and ramses iii. of the twentieth. it is true that in some cases the list of one pharaoh has been slavishly copied by another, but it is also true that these pharaohs actually overran and subjugated the countries to which the lists belong. of this we have independent testimony. at one time it was the fashion to throw doubt on the alleged conquests of ramses ii. in western asia. this was the natural reaction from the older belief, inherited from the greek writers of antiquity, that ramses ii. was a universal conqueror who had carried his arms into europe, and even to the confines of the caucasus. with the overthrow of this belief came a disbelief in his having been a conqueror at all. the disbelief was encouraged by the boastful vanity of his inscriptions, as well as by the absence in them of any details as to his later syrian wars. but we now know that such scepticism was over-hasty. it was like the scepticism which refused to admit that canaan had been made an egyptian province by thothmes iii., and which needed the testimony of the tel el-amarna tablets before it could be removed. as a matter of fact, egyptian authority was re-established throughout palestine and even on the eastern bank of the jordan during the reign of ramses ii., and the conquests of the pharaoh in northern syria were real and not imaginary. such has been the result of the discoveries of the last three or four years. we have no reason to doubt that the campaigns of ramses iii. in asia were equally historical. the great confederacy of northern barbarians and asiatic invaders which had poured down upon egypt had been utterly annihilated; the egyptian army was flushed with victory, and syria, overrun as it had been by the invaders from the north, was in no position to resist a fresh attack. moreover, the safety of egypt required that ramses should follow up the destruction of his assailants by carrying the war into asia. but it is noticeable that the places he claims to have conquered, whether in canaan or further north, lay along the lines of two high-roads, and that the names of the great towns even on these high-roads are for the most part conspicuously absent. the names, however, are practically those already enumerated by ramses ii., and they occur in the same order. but the list given by ramses iii. could not have been copied from the older list of ramses ii. for a very sufficient reason. in some instances the names as given by the earlier monarch are mis-spelt, letters having been omitted in them or wrong letters having been written in place of the right ones, while in the list of ramses iii. the same names are correctly written. seti i., the father of ramses ii., seems to have been too fully engaged in his wars in northern syria, and in securing the road along the coast of the mediterranean, to attempt the re-conquest of palestine. at qurnah, however, we find the names of 'aka or acre, zamith, pella, beth-el (beth-sha-il), inuam, kimham (jer. xli. ), kamdu, tyre, usu, beth-anath, and carmel among those of the cities he had vanquished, but there is no trace of any occupation of southern canaan. that seems to have come later with the beginning of his son's reign. on the walls of the ramesseum at thebes there are pictures of the storming and capture of the palestinian cities. most of them are now destroyed, but we can still read the names of ashkelon, of salem or jerusalem, of beth-anath and qarbu[tu], of dapul in the land of the amorites, of merom, of damascus, and of inuam. elsewhere we have mention of yurza and socho, while at karnak there are two geographical lists which mark two of the lines of march taken by the troops of ramses ii. the first list contains the following names: ( ) the district of salem; ( ) the district of rethpana; ( ) the country of the jordan; ( ) khilz; ( ) karhu; ( ) uru; ( ) abel; ( ) carmel; ( ) the upper district of tabara or debir; ( ) shimshon; and (n) erez hadashta, "the new land." in the second list we read: ( ) rosh kadesh, or mount carmel; ( ) inzat; ( ) maghar; ( ) rehuza; ( ) saabata; ( ) gaza; ( ) the district of sala'; ( ) the district of zasr; ( ) jacob-el; and ( ) the land of akrith, the ugarit of the tel el-amarna tablets. we have already seen that long before the time of ramses ii. jerusalem was an important city and fortress, the capital of a territory of some size, known by the name of uru-salim, "the city of the god of peace." "the city of salem" could easily be abbreviated into "salem" only; and it is accordingly salem which alone is used in the fourteenth chapter of genesis as well as in the inscriptions of ramses ii. and ramses iii. the name of rethpana, which follows that of salem, is faultily written in the list of ramses ii., and it is from that of ramses iii. that we have to recover its true form. ramses iii., moreover, tells us that rethpana was a lake, and since its name comes between those of jerusalem and the jordan it must represent the dead sea. the canaanite form of rethpana would be reshpon, a derivative from the name of resheph, the god of fire and lightning, whose name is preserved in that of the town arsuf, and whose "children" were the sparks (job v. ). the name was appropriate to a region which was believed to have been smitten with a tempest of flames, and of which we are told that "the lord rained upon sodom and upon gomorrah brimstone and fire." khilz, the fourth name in the list, is probably the babylonian _khalzu_, or "fortress." at all events it was the first town on the eastern side of the jordan, and it may well therefore have guarded the ford across the river. karhu is the korkha of the moabite stone, perhaps the modern kerak, which was the capital of moab in the age of ahab, and uru is the babylonian form of the moabite ar, or "city," of which we read in the book of numbers (xxi. ). the land of "moab" itself is one of the countries which ramses claims to have subdued. the carmel mentioned in the list is carmel of judah, not the more famous carmel on the coast. as for tabara or debir, it will be that ancient seat of canaanite learning and literature, called kirjath-sepher and debir in the old testament, the site of which is unfortunately still unknown. it must have lain, however, between carmel and shimshon, "the city of the sun-god," with which it is probable that the biblical ir-shemesh should be identified (josh. xix. ). erez hadashta, "the new land," is called hadashah in the book of joshua (xv. ), where it is included among the possessions of judah. the second list, instead of taking us through judah and moab, leads us southward along the coast from mount carmel. maghar is termed by ramses iii. "the spring of the maghar," and is the magoras or river of beyrout of classical geography. the river took its name from the _maghdrat_ or "caves" past which it runs, and of which we have already heard in the _travels of a mohar_. the two next names which represent places on the coast to the north of gaza are quite unknown, but sala', which is written selakh by ramses iii. (from a cuneiform original), is possibly the rock-city sela ( kings xiv. ), better known to us as petra. of jacob-el we have already had occasion to speak. it is in the ruined temple of medinet habu that ramses iii. has recorded his victories and inscribed the names of the peoples and cities he had overcome. we gather from the latter that his armies had followed the roads already traversed by ramses ii., had marched through the south of palestine into moab, and had made their way along the sea-coast into northern syria. one after the other we read the names of hir-nam or har-nam, called har-nammata in the _mohar's travels_, of lebanoth, of beth-anath and qarbutu (josh. xv. ), of carmim, "the vineyards," and shabuduna or shebtîn, of mashabir (?), of hebron and its 'Èn or "spring," of the "district of libnah," of 'aphekah and 'abakhi (josh. xv. ), of migdal--doubtless the migdal-gad of josh. xv. --and qarzak, of carmel of judah and the upper district of debir, of shimshon and erez hadasth, of the district of salem or jerusalem and the "lake of rethpana," of the jordan, of khilz the fortress, of korkha and of uru. a second list gives us the line of march along the shores of the mediterranean sea. first we have 'akata, perhaps joktheel in judah (josh. xv. ), then karka and [zidi]puth, abel and the district of sela', the district of zasr and jacob-el, rehuza, saaba and gaza, rosh-kadesh, inzath and the "spring," lui-el, which we might also read levi-el, bur, "the cistern," kamdu, "qubur the great," iha, tur, and finally sannur, the saniru of the assyrian texts, the shenir of the old testament (deut. iii. ). this brings us to mount hermon and the land of the amorites, so that it is not surprising to find after two more names that of hamath. one point about this list is very noticeable. none of the great phoenician cities of the coast are mentioned in it. acre, ekdippa, tyre, sidon, and beyrout are all conspicuous by their absence. even joppa is unnamed. after gaza we have only descriptive epithets like "the spring" and "the cistern," or the names of otherwise unknown villages. with kamdu in coele-syria the catalogue of cities begins afresh. it is plain that the northern campaign of the pharaoh was little better than a raid. no attempt was made to capture the cities of the coast, and re-establish in them the egyptian power. the egyptian army passed them by without any effort to reduce them. possibly the philistines had already settled on the coast, and had shown themselves too strong to be meddled with; possibly the egyptian fleet was acting in concert with the troops on land, and ramses cared only to lead his forces to some spot on the north syrian coast, from whence, if necessary, the ships could convey them home. whatever may have been the reason, the fact remains that gaza alone of the cities of the canaanitish coast fell into the hands of the pharaoh. it was only in the extreme south, in what was so soon afterwards to become the territory of judah, that he overran the country and occupied the large towns. with the lists of ramses iii. our knowledge of the geography of patriarchal palestine is brought to a close. henceforward we have to do with the canaan of israelitish conquest and settlement. the records of the old testament contain a far richer store of geographical names than we can ever hope to glean from the monuments of egypt. but the latter show how little change after all was effected by the israelitish conquest in the local nomenclature of the country. a few cities disappeared like kirjath-sepher, but on the whole not only the cities, but even the villages of pre-israelitish canaan survived under their old names. when we compare the names of the towns and villages of judah enumerated in the book of joshua with the geographical lists of a thothmes or a ramses, we cannot but be struck by the coincidences between them. the occurrence of a name like hadashah, "the new (land)," in both cannot be the result of chance. it adds one more to the many arguments in favour of the antiquity of the book of joshua, or at all events of the materials of which it consists. geography, at all events, gives no countenance to the theory which sees in the book a fabrication of later date. even the leading cities of the israelitish period are for the most part already the leading cities of the earlier palestine. the future capital of david, for example, was already called jerusalem long before the birth of moses, and already occupied a foremost place among the kingdoms of canaan. chapter vi canaanitish culture and religion we have already learned from the annals of thothmes iii. how high was the state of civilization and culture among the merchant princes of canaan in the age of the eighteenth egyptian dynasty. artistically finished vases of gold and silver, rich bronzes, furniture carved out of ebony and cedar, and inlaid with ivory and precious stones--such were some of the manufactures of the land of palestine. iron was excavated from its hills and wrought into armour, into chariots, and into weapons of war; while beautifully shaped vessels of variegated glass were manufactured on the coast. the amber beads found at lachish point to a trade with the distant baltic, and it is possible that there may be truth after all in the old belief, that the phoenicians obtained their tin from the isles of britain. the mines of cyprus, indeed, yielded abundance of copper, but, so far as we know, there were only two parts of the world from which the nations of western asia and the eastern mediterranean could have procured the vast amount of tin needed in the bronze age--the malayan peninsula and cornwall. the malayan peninsula is out of the question--there are no traces of any commercial intercourse so far to the east; and it would seem, therefore, that we must look to cornwall for the source of the tin. if so the trade would probably have been overland, like the amber trade from the baltic. canaan was marked out by nature to be a land of merchants. its long line of coast fronted the semi-barbarous populations of asia minor, of the Ægean, and of the northern shores of africa, while the sea furnished it with the purple dye of the murex. the country itself formed the high-road and link between the great kingdoms of the euphrates and the nile. it was here that the two civilizations of babylonia and egypt met and coalesced, and it was inevitable that the canaanites, who possessed all the energy and adaptive quickness of a commercial race, should absorb and combine the elements of both. there was little except this combination that was original in canaanitish art, but when once the materials were given, the people of palestine knew how to work them up into new and graceful forms, and adapt them practically to the needs of the foreign world. if we would realize the change brought about by this contact of canaan with the culture of the stranger, we must turn to the rude figures carved upon the rocks in some of the valleys of phoenicia. near tyre, for example, in the wadi el-qana we may still see some of these primitive sculptures, in which it is difficult even to recognize the human form. equally barbarous in style are the early seals and cylinders made in imitation of those of babylonia. it seems at first sight impossible to believe that such grotesque and child-like beginnings should have ended in the exquisite art of the age of thothmes iii. at that period, however, canaan already had behind it a long civilized past. the country was filled with schools and libraries, with richly-furnished palaces, and the workshops of the artisans. the cities on the coast had their fleets partly of merchantmen, partly of warships, and an active trade was carried on with all parts of the known world. the result was that the wealth of palestine was enormous; the amount carried away by thothmes is alone sufficient to prove it. apart from the natural productions of the country--corn, wine, and oil, or the slaves which it had to furnish--immense quantities of gold, silver, and precious stones, sometimes in their native state, sometimes manufactured into artistic forms, were transported into egypt. and in spite of this drain upon its resources, the supply seems never to have failed. the reciprocal influence of the civilizations of canaan and egypt one upon the other, in the days when canaan was an egyptian province, is reflected in the languages of the two countries. on the one hand the canaanite borrowed from egypt words like _tebah_ "ark," _hin_ "a measure," and _ebyôn_ "poor," while canaan in return copiously enriched the vocabulary of its conquerors. as the _travels of a mohar_ have shown us, under the nineteenth dynasty there was a mania for using canaanitish words and phrases, similar to that which has more than once visited english society in respect to french. but before the rise of the nineteenth dynasty the egyptian lexicon was already full of semitic words. frequently they denoted objects which had been imported from syria. thus a "chariot" was called a _merkabut_, a "waggon" being _agolta_; _hurpu_, "a sword," was the canaanitish _khereb_, just as _aspata_, "a quiver," was _ashpâh_. the canaanitish _kinnor_, "a lyre," was similarly naturalized in egypt, like the names of certain varieties of "syrian bread." the egyptian words for "incense" (_qadaruta_), "oxen" (_abiri_), and "sea" (_yum_) were taken from the same source, though it is possible that the last-mentioned word, like _qamhu_, "wheat," had been introduced from syria in the earliest days of egyptian history. as might have been expected, several kinds of sea-going vessels brought with them their native names from the phoenician coast. already in the time of the thirteenth dynasty the larger ships were termed _kabanitu_, or "gebalite"; we read also of "boats" called _za_, the canaanite _zi_, while a transport was entitled _qauil_, the phoenician _gol_. the same name was imported into greek under the form of _gaulos_, and we are told that it signified "a phoenician vessel of rounded shape." the language of canaan was practically that which we call hebrew. indeed isaiah (xix. ) speaks of the two dialects as identical, and the so-called phoenician inscriptions that have been preserved to us show that the differences between them were hardly appreciable. there were differences, however; the hebrew definite article, for instance, is not found in the phoenician texts. but the differences are dialectal only, like the differences which the discovery of the moabite stone has shown to have existed between the languages of moab and israel. how the israelites came to adopt "the language of canaan" is a question into which we cannot here enter. there have been other examples of conquerors who have abandoned the language of their forefathers and adopted that of the conquered people. and it must be remembered, on the one hand, that the ancestors of israel had lived in canaan, where they would have learnt the language of the country, and, on the other hand, that their original tongue was itself a semitic form of speech, as closely related to hebrew as french or spanish is to italian. the tel el-amarna tablets have told us something about the language of canaan as it was spoken before the days when the israelites entered the land. some of the letters that were sent from palestine contain the canaanite equivalents of certain babylonian words that occur in them. like the babylonian words, they are written in cuneiform characters, and since these denote syllables and not mere letters we know exactly how the words were pronounced. it is an advantage which is denied us by the phoenician alphabet, whether in the inscriptions of phoenicia or in the pages of the old testament, and we can thus obtain a better idea of the pronunciation of the canaanitish language in the century before the exodus than we can of the hebrew language in the age of hezekiah. among the words which have been handed down to us by the correspondents of the pharaoh are _maqani_ "cattle," _anay_ "a ship," _súsi_ "a horse," of which the hebrew equivalents, according to the masoretic punctuation, are _miqneh_, _oni_, and _sûs_. the king of jerusalem says _anuki_, "i," the hebrew _anochi_, while _badiu_, the hebrew _b'yado_, and _akharunu_, the hebrew _akharono_, are stated to signify "in his hand," and "after him." "dust" is _ghaparu_, where the guttural _gh_ represents the canaanitish _ayyin_ ('); "stomach" is _batnu_, the hebrew _beten_; while _kilubi_, "a cage," corresponds with the hebrew _chelûb_, which is used in the same sense by the prophet jeremiah. elsewhere we find _risu_, the hebrew _rosh_, "a head," _har_ "a mountain," _samama_ "heaven," and _mima_ "water," in hebrew _shâmayim_ and _mayim_, which we gather from the cuneiform spelling have been wrongly punctuated by the masoretes, as well as _khaya_ "living," the hebrew _khai_, and _makhsû_, "they have smitten him," the hebrew _makhatsu_. it was the use of the definite article _ha(n)_ which mainly distinguished hebrew and phoenician or canaanite one from the other. and we have a curious indication in the tel el-amarna tablets, that the same distinction prevailed between the language of the canaanites and that of the edomites, who, as we learn from the old testament, were so closely related to the israelites. in the letter to the pharaoh, in which mention is made of the hostilities carried on by edom against the egyptian territory, one of the edomite towns referred to is called khinianabi. transcribed into hebrew characters this would be 'en-han-nabi, "the spring of the prophet." here, therefore, the hebrew article makes its appearance, and that too in the very form which it has in the language of israel. the fact is an interesting commentary on the brotherhood of jacob and esau. if the language of canaan was influenced by that of egypt, still more was it influenced by that of babylonia. long before palestine became an egyptian province it had been a province of babylonia. and even when it was not actually subject to babylonian government it was under the dominion of babylonian culture. war and trade alike forced the chaldæan civilization upon "the land of the amorites," and the canaanites were not slow to take advantage of it. the cuneiform writing of babylonia was adopted, and therewith the language of babylonia was taught and learned in the schools and libraries which were established in imitation of those of the babylonians. babylonian literature was introduced into the west, and the canaanite youth became acquainted with the history and legends, the theology and mythology of the dwellers on the euphrates and tigris. such literary contact naturally left its impress on the language of canaan. words which the semites of babylonia had borrowed from the older sumerian population of the country were handed on to the peoples of palestine. the "city" had been a sumerian creation; until brought under the influence of sumerian culture, the semite had been contented to live in tents. indeed in babylonian or assyrian--the language of the semitic inhabitants of babylonia and assyria--the word which signified "tent" was adopted to express the idea of "city" when the tent had been exchanged for city-life. in canaan, on the other hand, the sumerian word itself was adopted in a semitic form, _'ir_, _'ar_, or _uru_, "city," was originally the sumerian _eri_. the canaanitish _hêkâl_, "a palace," again, came from a sumerian source. this was _ê-gal_, or "great house." but it had passed to the west through the semitic babylonians, who had first borrowed the compound word under the form of _êkallu_. like the city, the palace also was unknown to the primitive semitic nomads. it belonged to the civilization of which the sumerians of chaldæa, with their agglutinative language, were the pioneers. the borrowing, however, was not altogether one-sided. palestine enriched the literary language of babylonia with certain words, though these do not seem to have made their way into the language of the people. thus we find words like _bin-bini_, "grandson," and _înu_, "wine," recorded in the lexical tablets of babylonia and assyria. doubtless there were writers on the banks of the euphrates who were as anxious to exhibit their knowledge of the language of canaan as were the egyptian scribes of the nineteenth dynasty, though their literary works have not yet been discovered. the adoption of the babylonian system of writing must have worked powerfully on the side of tincturing the canaanitish language with babylonian words. in the age of the tel el-amarna tablets there is no sign that any other system was known in the west. it is true that the letters sent to the pharaoh from palestine were written in the babylonian language as well as in the babylonian script, but we have evidence that the cuneiform characters were also used for the native language of the country. m. de clercq possesses two seal-cylinders of the same date as the tel el-amarna correspondence, on one of which is the cuneiform inscription--"hadad-sum, the citizen of sidon, the crown of the gods," while on the other is "anniy, the son of hadad-sum, the citizen of sidon." on the first, hadad-sum is represented standing with his hands uplifted before the egyptian god set, while behind him is the god resheph with a helmet on his head, a shield in one hand and a battle-axe in the other. on the seal of anniy, set and resheph again make their appearance, but instead of the owner of the cylinder it is the god horus who stands between them. when the cuneiform syllabary was superseded in palestine by the so-called phoenician alphabet we do not know. the introduction of the new script was due probably to the hittite invasion, which separated the semites of the west from the semites of the east. the hittite occupation of carchemish blocked the high-road of babylonian trade to the mediterranean, and when the sacred city of kadesh on the orontes fell into hittite hands it was inevitable that hittite rather than babylonian influence would henceforth prevail in canaan. however this may be, it seems natural to suppose that the scribes of zebulon referred to in the song of deborah and barak (judges v. ) wrote in the letters of the phoenician alphabet and not in the cuneiform characters of babylonia. as long, indeed, as the old libraries remained open and accessible, with their stores of cuneiform literature, there must have been some who could read them, but they would have been rather the older inhabitants of the country than the alien conquerors from the desert. when the moabite stone was engraved, it is clear from the forms of the letters that the phoenician alphabet had long been in use in the kingdom of mesha. the resemblance of these letters to those found in the earliest of the greek inscriptions makes it equally clear that the introduction of the alphabet into the islands of the Ægean must have taken place at no distant period from the age of the moabite stone. such an introduction, however, implies that the new alphabet had already taken deep root among the merchants of canaan, and driven out before it the cumbrous syllabary of chaldæa. it was in this alphabet that hiram and solomon corresponded together, and it is probable that moses made use of it. we may even conjecture that the israelitish settlement in palestine brought with it the gift of the "phoenician" alphabet. as we have already seen, the elements of babylonian art were quickly absorbed by the canaanites. the seal-cylinder was imitated, at first with but indifferent success, and such babylonian ornamental designs as the rosette, the sacred tree, and the winged cherub were taken over and developed in a special way. at times the combination with them of designs borrowed from egypt produced a new kind of artistic ornament. but it was in the realm of religion that the influence of babylonia was most powerful. religion, especially in the ancient world, was inextricably bound up with its culture; it was impossible to adopt the one without adopting a good deal of the other at the same time. moreover, the semites of babylonia and of canaan belonged to the same race, and that meant a community of inherited religious ideas. with both the supreme object of worship was baal or bel, "the lord," who was but the sun-god under a variety of names. each locality had its own special baal: there were, in fact, as many baals, or baalim, as there were names and attributes for the sun-god, and to the worshippers in each locality the baal adored there was the supreme god. but the god resembled his worshipper who had been made in his image; he was the father and head of a family with a wife and son. the wife, it is true, was but the colourless reflection of the god, often indeed but the feminine baalah, whom the semitic languages with their feminine gender required to exist by the side of the masculine baal. but this was only in accordance with the semitic conception of woman as the lesser man, his servant rather than his companion, his shadow rather than his helpmeet. the existence of an independent goddess, unmarried and possessing all the attributes of the god, was contrary to the fundamental conceptions of the semitic mind. nevertheless we find in canaan an ashtoreth, whom the greeks called astarte, as well as a baal. the cuneiform inscriptions have given us an explanation of the fact. ashtoreth came from babylonia. there she was known as istar, the evening star. she had been one of those sumerian goddesses who, in accordance with the sumerian system, which placed the mother at the head of the family, were on an equal footing with the gods. she lay outside the circle of semitic theology with its divine family, over which the male baal presided, and the position she occupied in later babylonian religion was due to the fusion between the sumerian and semitic forms of faith, which took place when the semites became the chief element in babylonia. but sumerian influence and memories were too strong to allow of any transformation either in the name or in the attributes of the goddess. she remained istar, without any feminine suffix, and it was never forgotten that she was the evening-star. it was otherwise in the west. there istar became ashtoreth with the feminine termination, and passed eventually into a moon-goddess "with crescent horns." ashtoreth-karnaim, "ashtoreth with the two horns," was already in existence in the age of abraham. in babylonia the moon-god of ancient sumerian belief had never been dethroned; but there was no moon-god in canaan, and accordingly the transformation of the babylonian goddess into "the queen of the night" was a matter of little difficulty. once domesticated in palestine, with her name so changed as to declare her feminine character, ashtoreth soon tended to lose her independence. just as there were baalim or "baals" by the side of baal, so there were astaroth or "ashtoreths" by the side of ashtoreth. the semites of babylonia themselves had already begun the work of transformation. they too spoke of istarât or "istars," and used the word in the general sense of "goddesses." in canaan, however, ashtarôth had no such general meaning, but denoted simply the various ashtoreths who were worshipped in different localities, and under different titles. the individual ashtoreth of gebal was separate from the individual ashtoreth of bashan, although they alike represented the same divine personality. it is true that even in the west istar did not always become the feminine complement of baal. here and there the old form of the name was preserved, without any feminine suffix. but when this was the case, the necessary result was that the female character of the deity was forgotten. istar was conceived of as a god, and accordingly on the moabite stone ashtar is identified with chemosh, the patron-god of mesha, just as in southern arabia also atthar is a male divinity. the worship of ashtoreth absorbed that of the other goddesses of canaan. among them there was one who had once occupied a very prominent place. this was ashêrah, the goddess of fertility, whose name is written asirtu and asratu in the tablets of tel el-amarna. ashêrah was symbolized by a stem stripped of its branches, or an upright cone of stone, fixed in the ground, and the symbol and the goddess were at times confounded together. the symbol is mistranslated "grove" in the authorized version of the old testament, and it often stood by the side of the altar of baal. we find it thus represented on early seals. in palestine it was usually of wood; but in the great temple of paphos in cyprus there was an ancient and revered one of stone. this, however, came to be appropriated to ashtoreth in the days when the older ashêrah was supplanted by the younger ashtoreth. we hear of other canaanitish divinities from the monuments of egypt. the goddess edom, the wife of resheph, has already been referred to. her name is found in that of the gittite, obed-edom, "the servant of edom," in whose house the ark was kept for three months ( sam. vi. ). resheph, too, has been mentioned in an earlier page. he was the god of fire and lightning, and on the egyptian monuments he is represented as armed with spear and helmet, and bears the titles of "great god" and "lord of heaven." along with him we find pictures of a goddess called kedesh and kesh. she stands on the back of a lion, with flowers in her left hand and a serpent in her right, while on her head is the lunar disk between the horns of a cow. she may be the goddess edom, or perhaps the solar divinity who was entitled  in babylonian, and whose name enters into that of an edomite king a-rammu, who is mentioned by sennacherib. but, like istar, a considerable number of the deities of palestine were borrowed from babylonia. in the tel el-amarna tablets the god of jerusalem is identified with the warlike sun-god of babylonia, nin-ip, and there was a sanctuary of the same divinity further north, in phoenicia. foremost among the deities whose first home was on the banks of the euphrates were arm and anat, and rimmon. anu, whose name is written anah in hebrew, was the god of the sky, and he stood at the head of the babylonian pantheon. his wife anat was but a colourless reflection of himself, a grammatical creation of the semitic languages. but she shared in the honours that were paid to her consort, and the divinity that resided in him was reflected upon her. anat, like ashtoreth, became multiplied under many forms, and the anathoth or "anat" signified little more than "goddesses." between the ashtaroth and the anathoth the difference was but in name. the numerous localities in palestine which received their names from the god rimmon are a proof of his popularity. the babylonian rimmon or ramman was, strictly speaking, the god of the air, but in the west he was identified with the sun-god hadad, and a place near megiddo bore the compound title of hadad-rimmon (zech. xii. ). his naturalization in canaan seems to belong to a very early period; at all events, in sumerian he was called martu, "the amorite," and seal-cylinders speak of "the martu gods." one of these has been found in the lebanon. the assyrian tablets tell us that he was also known as dadu in the west, and under this form we find him in names like el-dad and be-dad, or ben-dad. like rimmon, nebo also must have been transported to palestine at an early epoch. nebo "the prophet" was the interpreter of bel-merodach of babylon, the patron of cuneiform literature, and the god to whom the great temple of borsippa--the modern birs-i-nimrud--was dedicated. doubtless he had migrated to the west along with that literary culture over which he presided. there his name and worship were attached to many localities. it was on the summit of mount nebo that moses died; over nebo, isaiah prophesies, "moab shall howl;" and we hear of a city called "the other nebo" in judah (neh. vii. ). another god who had been borrowed from babylonia by the people of canaan was malik "the king," a title originally of the supreme baal. malik is familiarly known to us in the old testament as moloch, to whom the first-born were burned in the fire. at tyre the god was termed melech-kirjath, or "king of the city," which was contracted into melkarth, and in the mouths of the greeks became makar. there is a passage in the book of the prophet amos (v. , ), upon which the assyrian texts have thrown light. we there read: "have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, o house of israel? yet ye have borne sikkuth your malik and chiun your zelem, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves." sikkuth and chiun are the babylonian sakkut and kaivan, a name given to the planet saturn. sakkut was a title of the god nin-ip, and we gather from amos that it also represented malik "the king." zelem, "the image," was another babylonian deity, and originally denoted "the image" or disk of the sun. his name and worship were carried into northern arabia, and a monument has been discovered at teima, the tema of isaiah xxi. , which is dedicated to him. it would seem, from the language of amos, that the babylonian god had been adored in "the wilderness" as far back as the days when the israelites were encamping in it. nor, indeed, is this surprising: babylonian influence in the west belonged to an age long anterior to that of the exodus, and even the mountain whereon the oracles of god were revealed to the hebrew lawgiver was sinai, the mountain of sin. the worship of sin, the babylonian moon-god, must therefore have made its way thus far into the deserts of arabia. inscriptions from southern arabia have already shown us that there too sin was known and adored. dagon, again, was another god who had his first home in babylonia. the name is of sumerian origin, and he was associated with ami, the god of the sky. like sin, he appears to have been worshipped at harran; at all events, sargon states that he inscribed the laws of that city "according to the wish of anu and dagon." along with arm he would have been brought to canaan, and though we first meet with his name in the old testament in connection with the philistines, it is certain that he was already one of the deities of the country whom the philistine invaders adopted. one of the canaanitish governors in the tel el-amarna correspondence bears the assyrian name of dagon-takala, "we trust in dagon." the phoenicians made him the god of corn in consequence of the resemblance of his name to the word which signifies "corn"; primarily, however, he would have been a god of the earth. the idea that he was a fish-god is of post-biblical date, and due to a false etymology, which derived his name from the hebrew _dag_, "a fish." the fish-god of babylonia, however, whose image is sometimes engraved on seals, was a form of ea, the god of the deep, and had no connection with dagon. doubtless there were other divinities besides these whom the peoples of canaan owed to the babylonians. mr. tomkins is probably right in seeing in the name of beth-lehem a reminiscence of the babylonian god lakhmu, who took part in the creation of the world, and whom a later philosophizing generation identified with anu. but the theology of early canaan is still but little known, and its pantheon is still in great measure a sealed book. now and again we meet with a solitary passage in some papyrus or inscription on stone, which reveals to us for the first time the name of an otherwise unknown deity. who, for instance, is the goddess 'ashiti-khaur, who is addressed, along with kedesh, on an egyptian monument now at vienna, as "the mistress of heaven" and "ruler of all the gods"? the votive altars of carthage make repeated mention of the goddess tanit, the peni or "face" of baal, whom the greeks identified with artemis. she must have been known in the mother-land of phoenicia, and yet no trace of her worship there has as yet been found. there were "gods many and lords many" in primitive palestine, and though a comprehensive faith summed them up as its baalim and ashtaroth they yet had individual names and titles, as well as altars and priests. but though altars were numerous, temples were not plentiful. the chief seats of religious worship were "the high-places," level spots on the summits of hills or mountains, where altars were erected, and the worshipper was believed to be nearer the dwelling-place of the gods than he would have been in the plain below. the altar was frequently some natural boulder of rock, consecrated by holy oil, and regarded as the habitation of a god. these sacred stones were termed beth-els, _bætyli_ as the greeks wrote the word, and they form a distinguishing characteristic of semitic faith. in later times many of them were imagined to have "come down from heaven." so deeply enrooted was this worship of stones in the semitic nature, that even mohammed, in spite of his iconoclastic zeal, was obliged to accommodate his creed to the worship of the black stone at mekka, and the kaaba is still one of the most venerated objects of the mohammedan faith. but the sacred stone was not only an object of worship or the consecrated altar of a deity, it might also take the place of a temple, and so be in very truth a beth-el, or "house of god." thus at medain salih in north-western arabia mr. doughty discovered three upright stones, which an inscription informed him were the _mesged_ or "mosque" of the god aera of bozrah. in the great temple of melkarth at tyre herodotus saw two columns, one of gold, the other of emerald, reminding us of the two pillars, jachin and boaz, which the phoenician architect of solomon erected in the porch of the temple at jerusalem ( kings vii. ). similar columns of stone have been found in the phoenician temple, called that of the giants, in gozo, one of which is still standing in its place. while certain stones were thus regarded as the abode of deity, the high places whereon so many of them stood also received religious worship. the most prominent of the mountains of syria were deified: carmel became a penu-el or "face of god," hermon was "the holy one," and mount lebanon was a baal. the rivers and springs also were adored as gods, and the fish which swam in them were accounted sacred. on the phoenician coast was a river kadisha, "the holy," and the canaanite maiden saw in the red marl which the river adonis brought down from the hills the blood of the slaughtered sun-god tammuz. the temple of solomon, built as it was by phoenician architects and workmen, will give us an idea of what a canaanitish temple was like. in its main outlines it resembled a temple in babylonia or assyria. there, too, there was an outer court and an inner sanctuary, with its _parakku_ or "mercy-seat," and its ark of stone or wood, in which an inscribed tablet of stone was kept. like the temple of jerusalem, the babylonian temple looked from the outside much like a rectangular box, with its four walls rising up, blank and unadorned, to the sky. within the open court was a "sea," supported at times on oxen of bronze, where the priests and servants of the temple performed their ablutions and the sacred vessels were washed. the canaanitish altar was approached by steps, and was large enough for the sacrifice of an ox. besides the sacrifices, offerings of corn and wine, of fruit and oil were also made to the gods. the sacrifices and offerings were of two kinds, the _zau'at_ or sin-offering, and the _shelem_ or thank-offering. the sin-offering had to be given wholly to the god, and was accordingly termed _kalil_ or "complete"; a part of the thank-offering, on the other hand, might be carried away by him who made it. birds, moreover, might constitute a thank-offering; they were not allowed when the offering was made for sin. such at least was the rule in the later days of phoenician ritual, to which belong the sacrificial tariffs that have been preserved. in these sacrificial tariffs no mention is made of human sacrifices, and, as m. clermont-ganneau has pointed out, the ram takes in them the place of the man. but this was the result of the milder manners of an age when the phoenicians had been brought into close contact with the greeks. in the older days of canaanitish history human sacrifice had held a foremost place in the ritual of syria. it was the sacrifice of the firstborn son that was demanded in times of danger and trouble, or when the family was called upon to make a special atonement for sin. the victim was offered as a burnt sacrifice, which in hebrew idiom was euphemistically described as passing through the fire. side by side with these human sacrifices were the abominations which were performed in the temples in honour of ashtoreth. women acted as prostitutes, and men who called themselves "dogs" foreswore their manhood. it was these sensualities practised in the name of religion which caused the iniquity of the canaanites to become full. it is pleasanter to turn to such fragments of canaanitish mythology and cosmological speculation as have come down to us. unfortunately most of it belongs in its present form to the late days of greek and roman domination, when an attempt was made to fuse the disjointed legends of the various phoenician states into a connected whole, and to present them to greek readers under a philosophical guise. how much, therefore, of the strange cosmogony and history of the gods recorded by philon of gebal really goes back to the patriarchal epoch of palestine, and how much of it is of later growth, it is now impossible to say. in the main, however, it is of ancient date. this is shown by the fact that a good deal of it has been borrowed directly or indirectly from babylonia. how this could have happened has been explained by the tel el-amarna tablets. it was while canaan was under the influence of babylonian culture and babylonian government that the myths and traditions of babylonia made their way to the west. among the tablets are portions of babylonian legends, one of which has been carefully annotated by the egyptian or canaanite scribe. it is the story of the queen of hades, who had been asked by the gods to a feast they had made in the heavens. unable or unwilling to ascend to it, the goddess sent her servant the plague-demon, but with the result that nergal was commissioned to descend to hades and destroy its mistress. the fourteen gates of the infernal world, each with its attendant warder, were opened before him, and at last he seized the queen by the hair, dragging her to the ground, and threatening to cut off her head. but eris-kigal, the queen of hades, made a successful appeal for mercy; she became the wife of nergal, and he the lord of the tomb. another legend was an endeavour to account for the origin of death. adapa or adama, the first man, who had been created by ea, was fishing one day in the deep sea, when he broke the wings of the south wind. the south wind flew to complain to anu in heaven, and anu ordered the culprit to appear before him. but adapa was instructed by ea how to act. clad in a garment of mourning, he won the hearts of the two guardians of the gate of heaven, the gods tammuz and gis-zida ("the firmly-fixed post"), so that they pleaded for him before anu. food and water were offered him, but he refused them for fear that they might be the food and water of death. oil only for anointing and clothing did he accept. "then anu looked upon him and raised his voice in lamentation: 'o adapa, wherefore atest thou not, wherefore didst thou not drink? the gift of life cannot now be thine.'" though "a sinful man" had been permitted "to behold the innermost parts of heaven and earth," he had rejected the food and water of life, and death henceforth was the lot of mankind. it is curious that the commencement of this legend, the latter portion of which has been found at tel el-amarna, had been brought to the british museum from the ruins of the library of nineveh many years ago. but until the discovery of the conclusion, its meaning and character were indecipherable. the copy made for the library of nineveh was a late edition of the text which had been carried from babylonia to the banks of the nile eight hundred years before, and the fact emphasizes once more the babylonian character of the culture and literature possessed by palestine in the patriarchal age. we need not wonder, therefore, if it is to babylonia that the cosmological legends and beliefs of phoenicia plainly point. the watery chaos out of which the world was created, the divine hierarchies, one pair of deities proceeding from another and an older pair, or the victory of kronos over the dragon ophioneus, are among the indications of their babylonian origin. but far more important than these echoes of babylonian mythology in the legendary lore of phoenicia is the close relationship that exists between the traditions of babylonia and the earlier chapters of genesis. as is now well known, the babylonian account of the deluge agrees even in details with that which we find in the bible, though the polytheism of chaldæa is there replaced by an uncompromising monotheism, and there are little touches, like the substitution of an "ark" for the babylonian "ship," which show that the narrative has been transported to palestine. equally babylonian in origin is the history of the tower of babel, while two of the rivers of eden are the tigris and euphrates, and eden itself is the edin or "plain" of babylonia. not so long ago it was the fashion to declare that such coincidences between babylonian and hebrew literature could be due only to the long sojourn of the jews in babylonia during the twenty years of the exile. but we now know that the traditions and legends of babylonia were already known in canaan before the israelites had entered the promised land. it was not needful for the hebrew writer to go to chaldæa in order that he might learn them; when moses was born they were already current both in palestine and on the banks of the nile. the babylonian colouring of the early chapters of genesis is just what archaeology would teach us to expect it would have been, had the pentateuch been of the age to which it lays claim. here and there indeed there are passages which must be of that age, and of none other. when in the tenth chapter of genesis canaan is made the brother of cush and mizraim, of ethiopia and egypt, we are carried back at once to the days when palestine was an egyptian province. the statement is applicable to no other age. geographically canaan lay outside the southern zone to which egypt and ethiopia belonged, except during the epoch of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties, when all three were alike portions of a single empire. with the fall of that empire the statement ceased to be correct or even conceivable. after the era of the israelitish conquest canaan and egypt were separated one from the other, not to be again united save for a brief space towards the close of the jewish monarchy. palestine henceforth belonged to asia, not to africa, to the middle zone, that is to say, which was given over to the sons of shem. there is yet another passage in the same chapter of genesis which takes us back to the patriarchal age of palestine. it is the reference to nimrod, the son of cush, the beginning of whose kingdom was babel and erech, and accad and calneh in the land of shinar, and who was so familiar a figure in the west that a proverb was current there concerning his prowess in the chase. here again we are carried to a date when the kassite kings of babylonia held rule in canaan, or led thither their armies, and when the babylonians were called, as they are in the tel el-amarna tablets, the kassi or sons of cush. nimrod himself may be the kassite monarch nazi-murudas. the cuneiform texts of the period show that the names borne by the kassite kings were strangely abbreviated by their subjects; even in babylonia, kasbe and sagarta-suria, for instance, being written for kasbeias and sagarakti-suryas, the latter of which even appears as sakti-surias, while nazi-murudas itself is found under the form of nazi-rattas. similarly duri-galzu and kurigalzu take the place of dur-kurigalzi. there is no reason, therefore, why nazi-murudas should not have been familiarly known as na-muruda, more especially in distant canaan. indeed we can almost fix the date to which the lifetime of nimrod must be assigned. we are told that out of his kingdom "one went forth into assyria," and there "builded" nineveh and calah, the cuneiform inscriptions have informed us who this builder of calah was. he was shalmaneser i., who was also the restorer of nineveh and its temples, and who is stated by sennacherib to have reigned six hundred years before himself. such a date would coincide with the reign of ramses ii., the pharaoh of the oppression, as well as with the birth-time of moses. it represents a period when the influence of babylonia had not yet passed away from canaan, and when there was still intercourse between the east and the west. ramses claims to have overcome both assyria and shinar, and though the shinar he means was the shinar of mesopotamia and not chaldæa, it lay within the limits of babylonian control. the reign of ramses ii. is the latest period down to which, with our present knowledge, we can regard the old influence of babylonia in canaan as still continuing, and it is equally the period to which, if we are to listen to the traditional teaching of the church, the writer of the pentateuch belonged. the voice of archaeology is thus in agreement with that of authority, and here as elsewhere true science declares herself the handmaid of the catholic church. index  (deity), abel (place), abel-mizraim, abiliya, abimelech, , , , abram (in babylonian), achshaph or ekdippa, , , acre (akku), , , , , , adai, adami, , adapa or adama, addar, adon, adoni-zedek, adullam, , ahitub, ahmes i., , aia, ajalon, , akizzi, akkad, alasiya, , , , 'aluna or 'arna, , amalekites, , , , , amanus, , amber, , amenôphis ii., , amenôphis iii., , , amenôphis iv. or khu-n-aten, , , _et seq._ ammi, , , ammi-anshi, , ammi-satana, ammiya, ammon, , , , , ammunira, amon (god), , , , amon-apt, , amorites, , , , , , , , _et seq._, , , , , , , , _et seq._, , , , , amorites, god of, amraphel, , , anab, anaharath, anakim, , anat, , , anu, , , , , anugas or nukhasse, , , , aphekah, apphadana, aqabah, gulf of, , aram-naharaim (mitanni), , , , , , , , , , , , , ararat, argob, _ariel_, arioch (_see_ eri-aku), , arisu, arka, , , , article, definite, arvad, , , , , arzai, asher, ashêrah, , ashiti-khaur, ashkelon, , , , ashtaroth-karnaim, , , , , , ashtoreth, , _et seq._, asphalt, assyria, , , , , aten-ra, augustine, st., aupa (_see_ ube), avim, ayâb, , aziru, _et seq._, , , baal, baalbek, babylon, , , , , babylonia, , , , , , , , , , babylonians, , balaam, , , bashan, , , , , , , , bedad, beduin, , , , , , , , , , beer-sheba, , , , bek'a, belshazzar, bene-berak, beth-anath, , , , , , , beth-el, , , , _et seq._, , , , , bethels, _et seq._ beth-lehem, , , , , beth-on, beth-sannah, bethuel, beth-ya, beya or bâya, beyrout, , , , , , , bin-sumya, biridasyi, biridî, , bliss, mr., , bosra, botanical gardens at thebes, burna-buryas, , _et seq._ buzruna, calah, camel, cana, canaan, _et seq._, , , ; art of, _et seq._; merchants in, , canaanite words, , - canaanites, , carchemish, , , , , , , carmel of judah, , , , , , , , carmel, mount, , , , , , cedars, chedor-laomer, , , chimham, , chinneroth, chiun, circumcision, copper, , , , , creation legends, cush, , , cyprus, , , , , , , dagon, , , damascus, , , , , , , , dapul, , , dead sea, , , , , debir, , , , , deluge story, dor, dothan, doughty, mr., dragoman, dudu, ea, ebed-asherah, , _et seq._ ebed-sullim, ebed-tob, , , , , , , , , , _et seq._, , _ebyôn_, edom, town of, ; god, , edomites, , , , , ekron, elam, , , elephants, eliezer, elimelech, , elimelech of tyre, ellasar (larsa), , el-rabi-hor, emim, , , en-athon, , en-gedi, en-han-nabi, ephraim, mount, ; sons of, , eri-aku (arioch), , _et seq._ eta-gama (or aidhu-gama), , , , ethiopia, , euphrates, , fenkhu, , _galeed_, gath, , , , , , gath-carmel, , , , , hadad, , hadad-dan, hadad-el, hadad-rimmon, hadad-sum, hadashah, , , , , , , hamath, , , , , , , harankal, , har-el, , , harran, , , havilah, hazezon-tamar, , , hazor, , , , , heber, hebrew language, _et seq._; words in tablets, hebron, , , , , , , , , , _et seq._, , , , _hêkâl_, etymology of, , _hêkalim_, helkath, hermon, , , , , , herodotus, , _hin_, gath-rimmon, _gaulos_, gaza, , , , , , , , , , , gaza or khazi, , gebal, , , , , , _et seq._, , , gebel usdum, gerar, , gezer, , , , , , gibeah, gilu-khipa, girgashites, , goshen, gudea, , hittites, , , _et seq._, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , hivites, , horites, , , , horus, hui, hyksos, , _et seq._, , ibleam, ihem or iha (_see_ yahem), , ilgi, inuam, , , , , , ionian, _'ir_, ir-shemesh, iron, , , isaiah, israel, meaning of name, istar (ashtoreth), , , ituraea, jabbok, jachin and boaz, , jacob-el, , , , , , , jacob's well, jebusites, , jehovah-jireh, jephthah-hadad, , jerusalem (_see_ salem), , , , , , , _et seq._, , , , , , , , ; etymology of name, joktheel, joppa, , , , jordan, , , , , joseph, _et seq._ joseph-el, , kadesh on the orontes, , , , , , , , , , , , kadesh-barnea, , , , , kadmonites, , kaft, , kana'an, , kanneh, kassites, , , , kedesh (goddess), keilah, , , , kenites, khabiri, , , , , , , _et seq._ khalunni, khammurabi, , khani, khata, khata-sil, khatip (hotep), , khayapa, khazi (gaza), khu-n-aten (amenôphis iv.), , _et seq._, _kikar_, , , kinanat, kinza, kiriathaim, , kirjath-sepher, , , , kishion, kudur-lagamar (chedor-lao-mer), , kudur-mabug, , kumidi (or kamdu), , , , , , , , , kuri-galzu, labai, , _et seq._, , , lachish, , , , , , lagamar, laish, , lakhmu, , larsa (ellasar), , , lebanon, , , , , levi-el, libnah, , lot, lotan (lutennu), , , , ma'arath, mabug, machpelah, , mad-ga, mafkat (sinai), , magan (sinai), , magoras, , , , malachite, , malchiel, _et seq._, , , , , manahath, max müller, dr. w., , , , mearah, megiddo, , , , _et seq._, , , , , , melchizedek, _et seq._, melkarth, meneptah, , , , merom, , , midian, , migdol, , , , , misheal, misi, mitanni (aram-naharaim), , , , , , , miya-riya (meri-ra), mizraim, moab, , , , , , , , _mohar, travels of a_, , , _et seq._, moloch, , moriah, , _et seq._ moses, mosheh, most high god, musikhuna, mut-hadad, na'amah, namya-yitsa, , , naram-sin, , , , nazi-murudas, nebo, , negela, ni, , , , , nimrod, , nin-ip, , , , , ; bit, , nukhasse (anugas), , , , , , on, , , pa-hor, pakhanate, palasa, pa-ur, , pella, , , penuel, or peniel, , perizzites, , , pethor, , petrie, prof., , , , philistines, , , , phoenicia, , , , , phoenician alphabet, phoenicians, , pinches, mr., , pu-hadad, purple-dye, , qana or qina, qatna, , ra, rabbah, , , , , ramses ii., , , , , , _et seq._, , , , ramses iii., , , , , , _et seq._, , , raphia, raphon, , rehob, , rehoboth, , rephaim, , , , , resheph, , , , rethpana, lake of, , , , rianap, rib-hadad, , _et seq._, rimmon, , rimmon-nirari, rowlands, dr., , sacrifice of the firstborn, , sacrifices, salem or shalem (jerusalem), , , , , , salim (god), , , , , samas-akh-iddin, sangar (_see_ singara), , saratum or zurata, , sarepta, sardinians, , sargon of akkad, , , , scheil, dr., schumacher, dr., seal-cylinders, , , , seir, , , , , sela, , , set, seti i., , , , seti or suta, , shalem or salem, shasu (_see_ beduin), , , shaveh, shechem, , , , , , , , , , shenir, , , , shiloh, shimron, shimron-meron, shinab, shinar, , , ships, , shunem, , sibti-hadad, siddim, , , , , sidon, , , , , , , , sihon, sin (city), sin (god), , , sinai, , , , , , singara (_see_ sangar), , , . sinuhit, , _et seq._ sirah, sirion, sitti or sati, socho, , , sodom, , , , , sonzar, stone of job, subari, subsalla, sum-adda, sumer, , sumerian, suri, sutarna, , sutatna or zid-athon, , sutekh, sute, , , , , su-yardata or su-ardatum, , , su-yarzana, taanach, , , tadu-khipa, tagi, , , takhis, , , , tamar (tumur), tammuz, tanit, , tapun, tarqu, _tebah_, teie, , tel el-amarna, _et seq._ tel-loh, temple, terebinth, thahash, , thothmes ii., , thothmes iii., , , , , , , _et seq._, , , , , thothmes iv., tibhath, , tidal, , tidanum, , timnah, tithes, tomkins, mr., , tree, sacred, trumbull, dr., , tunip, , , , , _et seq._, turbazu, , tusratta, tut-ankh-amon, tyre, , , , , , , , , , , , , ube or ubi, , , ugarit, , ur, , _uru_, , usu, , , , , winckler, dr., yabitiri, yabni-el, yahem (_see_ ihem), yamutbal, , yankhamu, , yapa-hadad, yapakhi, yasdata, yerzeh, , , , yidya, yikhbil-khamu, , yisyara, zahi, , zakkal, zamzummim, , _zedek_, zelah, , , , zelem, zemar, , , , , _et seq._, zephath, zimmern, dr., zimrida or zimridi, , , , , , , , zinzar, zion, zippor, zoan, , , zorah, zurata or saratum, , zuzim, generously made available by internet archive/million book project (http://www.archive.org/details/millionbooks) note: images of the original pages are available through internet archive/million book project. see http://www.archive.org/details/orientalencounters +-------------------------------------------------------------+ | transcriber's note: | | | | inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has been | | preserved. inconsistent spellings of arabic terms have been | | preserved. | | | | obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this | | text. for a complete list, please see the end of this | | document. | | | +-------------------------------------------------------------+ oriental encounters palestine and syria ( - - ) by marmaduke pickthall london: pall mall w. collins sons & co. ltd. glasgow melbourne auckland copyright contents chap. page. introduction i. rashÎd the fair ii. a mountain garrison iii. the rhinoceros whip iv. the courteous judge v. nawÂdir vi. nawÂdir (_continued_) vii. the sack which clanked viii. police work ix. my countryman x. the parting of the ways xi. the knight errant xii. the fanatic xiii. rashÎd's revenge xiv. the hanging dog xv. tigers xvi. pride and a fall xvii. tragedy xviii. bastirma xix. the artist-dragoman xx. love and the patriarch xxi. the unpopular landowner xxii. the caÏmmacÂm xxiii. concerning bribes xxiv. the battlefield xxv. murderers xxvi. the trees on the land xxvii. buying a house xxviii. a disappointment xxix. concerning crime and punishment xxx. the unwalled vineyard xxxi. the atheist xxxii. the selling of our gun xxxiii. my benefactor introduction early in the year i was a candidate for one of two vacancies in the consular service for turkey, persia, and the levant, but failed to gain the necessary place in the competitive examination. i was in despair. all my hopes for months had been turned towards sunny countries and old civilisations, away from the drab monotone of london fog, which seemed a nightmare when the prospect of escape eluded me. i was eighteen years old, and, having failed in one or two adventures, i thought myself an all-round failure, and was much depressed. i dreamed of eastern sunshine, palm trees, camels, desert sand, as of a paradise which i had lost by my shortcomings. what was my rapture when my mother one fine day suggested that it might be good for me to travel in the east, because my longing for it seemed to indicate a natural instinct, with which she herself, possessing eastern memories, was in full sympathy! i fancy there was some idea at the time that if i learnt the languages and studied life upon the spot i might eventually find some backstairs way into the service of the foreign office; but that idea, though cherished by my elders as some excuse for the expenses of my expedition, had never, from the first, appealed to me; and from the moment when i got to egypt, my first destination, it lost whatever lustre it had had at home. for then the european ceased to interest me, appearing somehow inappropriate and false in those surroundings. at first i tried to overcome this feeling or perception which, while i lived with english people, seemed unlawful. all my education until then had tended to impose on me the cult of the thing done habitually upon a certain plane of our society. to seek to mix on an equality with orientals, of whatever breeding, was one of those things which were never done, nor even contemplated, by the kind of person who had always been my model. my sneaking wish to know the natives of the country intimately, like other unconventional desires i had at times experienced, might have remained a sneaking wish until this day, but for an accident which freed me for a time from english supervision. my people had provided me with introductions to several influential english residents in syria, among others to a family of good position in jerusalem; and it was understood that, on arrival in that country, i should go directly to that family for information and advice. but, as it chanced, on board the ship which took me to port said from naples i met a man who knew those people intimately--had been, indeed, for years an inmate of their house--and he assumed the office of my mentor. i stayed in cairo, merely because he did, for some weeks, and went with him on the same boat to jaffa. he, for some unknown reason--i suspect insanity--did not want me in jerusalem just then; and, when we landed, spun me a strange yarn of how the people i had thought to visit were exceedingly eccentric and uncertain in their moods; and how it would be best for me to stop in jaffa until he sent me word that i was sure of welcome. his story was entirely false, i found out later, a libel on a very hospitable house. but i believed it at the time, as i did all his statements, having no other means of information on the subject. so i remained at jaffa, in a little _gasthaus_ in the german colony, which had the charms of cleanliness and cheapness, and there i might have stayed till now had i awaited the tidings promised by my counsellor. there for the first two weeks i found life very dull. then mr. hanauer, the english chaplain, and a famous antiquarian, took pity on my solitary state, walked me about, and taught me words of arabic. he was a native of jerusalem, and loved the country. my sneaking wish to fraternise with orientals, when i avowed it after hesitations, appeared good to him. and then i made acquaintance with a clever dragoman and one of the most famous jokers in all syria, who happened to be lodging at my little hostelry, with nothing in the world to do but stare about him. he helped me to throw off the european and plunge into the native way of living. with him i rode about the plain of sharon, sojourning among the fellâhîn, and sitting in the coffee-shops of ramleh, lydda, gaza, meeting all sorts of people, and acquiring the vernacular without an effort, in the manner of amusement. from dawn to sunset we were in the saddle. we went on pilgrimage to nebi rubîn, the mosque upon the edge of marshes by the sea, half-way to gaza; we rode up northward to the foot of carmel; explored the gorges of the mountains of judæa; frequented turkish baths; ate native meals and slept in native houses--following the customs of the people of the land in all respects. and i was amazed at the immense relief i found in such a life. in all my previous years i had not seen happy people. these were happy. poor they might be, but they had no dream of wealth; the very thought of competition was unknown to them, and rivalry was still a matter of the horse and spear. wages and rent were troubles they had never heard of. class distinctions, as we understand them, were not. everybody talked to everybody. with inequality they had a true fraternity. people complained that they were badly governed, which merely meant that they were left to their devices save on great occasions. a government which touches every individual and interferes with him to some extent in daily life, though much esteemed by europeans, seems intolerable to the oriental. i had a vision of the tortured peoples of the earth impelled by their own misery to desolate the happy peoples, a vision which grew clearer in the after years. but in that easy-going eastern life there is a power of resistance, as everybody knows who tries to change it, which may yet defeat the hosts of joyless drudgery. my syrian friend--the suleymân of the following sketches--introduced me to the only europeans who espoused that life--a french alsatian family, the baldenspergers, renowned as pioneers of scientific bee-keeping in palestine, who hospitably took a share in my initiation. they had innumerable hives in different parts of the country--i have seen them near the jaffa gardens and among the mountains south of hebron--which they transported in due season, on the backs of camels, seeking a new growth of flowers. for a long while the government ignored their industry, until the rumour grew that it was very profitable. then a high tax was imposed. the baldenspergers would not pay it. they said the government might take the hives if it desired to do so. soldiers were sent to carry out the seizure. but the bee-keepers had taken out the bottom of each hive, and when the soldiers lifted them, out swarmed the angry bees. the soldiers fled; and after that experience the government agreed to compromise. i remember well a long day's ride with emile and samuel baldensperger, round by askelon and ekron, and the luncheon which a village headman had prepared for us, consisting of a whole sheep, roast and stuffed with nuts and vegetables; and a day with henri baldensperger in the hebron region. the friendships of those days were made for life. hanauer, the baldenspergers, suleymân, and other natives of the country--those of them who are alive--remain my friends to-day. in short, i ran completely wild for months, in a manner unbecoming to an englishman; and when at length, upon a pressing invitation, i turned up in jerusalem and used my introductions, it was in semi-native garb and with a love for arabs which, i was made to understand, was hardly decent. my native friends were objects of suspicion. i was told that they were undesirable, and, when i stood up for them, was soon put down by the retort that i was very young. i could not obviously claim as much experience as my mature advisers, whose frequent warnings to me to distrust the people of the country thus acquired the force of moral precepts, which it is the secret joy of youth to disobey. that is the reason why the respectable english residents in syria figure in these pages as censorious and hostile, with but few exceptions. they were hostile to my point of view, which was not then avowed, but not to me. indeed, so many of them showed me kindness--particularly in my times of illness--that i cannot think of them without a glow of friendliness. but the attitude of most of them was never mine, and the fact that at the time i still admired that attitude as the correct one, and thought myself at intervals a sad backslider, made it seem forbidding. in my oriental life they really were, as here depicted, a disapproving shadow in the background. with one--referred to often in these tales--i was in full agreement. we lived together for some months in a small mountain village, and our friendship then established has remained unbroken. but he, though not alone, was an exception. owing to the general verdict on my arab friends, i led what might be called a double life during the months of my first sojourn in jerusalem; until suleymân, the tourist season being ended, came with promise of adventure, when i flung discretion to the winds. we hired two horses and a muleteer, and rode away into the north together. a fortnight later, at the foot of the ladder of tyre, suleymân was forced to leave me, being summoned to his village. i still rode on towards the north, alone with one hired muleteer, a simple soul. a notion of my subsequent adventures may, perhaps, be gathered from the following pages, in which i have embodied fictionally some impressions still remaining clear after the lapse of more than twenty years. a record of small things, no doubt; yet it seems possible that something human may be learnt from such a comic sketch-book of experience which would never be derived from more imposing works. chapter i rashÎd the fair the brown plain, swimming in a haze of heat, stretched far away into the distance, where a chain of mountains trenched upon the cloudless sky. six months of drought had withered all the herbage. only thistles, blue and yellow, and some thorny bushes had survived; but after the torrential winter rains the whole expanse would blossom like the rose. i traversed the plain afterwards in spring, when cornfields waved for miles around its three mud villages, wild flowers in mad profusion covered its waste places, and scarlet tulips flamed amid its wheat. now all was desert. after riding for four days in such a landscape, it was sweet to think upon the journey's end, the city of perennial waters, shady gardens, and the song of birds. i was picturing the scene of our arrival--the shade and the repose, the long, cool drinks, the friendly hum of the bazaars--and wondering what letters i should find awaiting me, all to the tune of 'onward, christian soldiers'--for the clip-clap of a horse's hoofs invariably beats out in my brain some tune, the most incongruous, against my will--when a sudden outcry roused me. it came from my companion, a hired muleteer, and sounded angry. the fellow had been riding on ahead. i now saw that he had overtaken other travellers--two men astride of one donkey--and had entered into conversation with them. one of the two, the hindmost, was a turkish soldier. except the little group they made together, and a vulture, a mere speck above them in the blue, no other living creature was in sight. something had happened, for the soldier seemed amused, while my poor man was making gestures of despairing protest. he repeated the loud cry which had disturbed my reverie, then turned his mule and hurried back to meet me. 'my knife!' he bellowed 'my knife!--that grand steel blade which was my honour!--so finely tempered and inlaid!--an heirloom in the family! that miscreant, may allah cut his life!--i mean the soldier--stole it. he asked to look at it a minute, seeming to admire. i gave it, like the innocent i am. he stuck it in his belt, and asked to see the passport which permitted me to carry weapons. who ever heard of such a thing in this wild region? he will not give it back, though i entreated. i am your honour's servant, speak for me and make him give it back! it is an heirloom!' that grey-haired man was crying like a baby. now, i was very young, and his implicit trust in my authority enthralled me. i valued his dependence on my manhood more than gold and precious stones. summoning all the courage i possessed, i clapped spurs to my horse and galloped after the marauder. 'give back that knife!' i roared. 'o soldier! it is thou to whom i speak.' the soldier turned a studiously guileless face--a handsome face, with fair moustache and a week's beard. he had a roguish eye. 'what knife? i do not understand,' he said indulgently. 'the knife thou stolest from the muleteer here present.' 'oh, that!' replied the soldier, with a deprecating laugh: 'that is a thing unworthy of your honour's notice. the rogue in question is a well-known malefactor. he and i are old acquaintance.' 'by the beard of the prophet, by the august coran, i never saw his devil's face until this minute!' bawled the muleteer, who had come up behind me. 'give back the knife,' i ordered for the second time. 'by allah, never!' was the cool reply. 'give it back, i say!' 'no, it cannot be--not even to oblige your honour, for whose pleasure, allah knows, i would do almost anything,' murmured the soldier, with a charming smile. 'demand it not. be pleased to understand that if it were your honour's knife i would return it instantly. but that man, as i tell thee, is a wretch. it grieves me to behold a person of consideration in such an unbecoming temper upon his account--a dog, no more.' 'if he is a dog, he is my dog for the present; so give back the knife!' 'alas, beloved, that is quite impossible.' with a wave of the hand dismissing the whole subject the soldier turned away. he plucked a cigarette out of his girdle and prepared to light it. his companion on the donkey had not turned his head nor shown the slightest interest in the discussion. this had lasted long enough. i knew that in another minute i should have to laugh. if anything remained for me to do it must be done immediately. whipping my revolver from the holster, i held it close against the rascal's head, yelling: 'give back the knife this minute, or i kill thee!' the man went limp. the knife came back as quick as lightning. i gave it to the muleteer, who blubbered praise to allah and made off with it. equally relieved, i was about to follow when the utterly forlorn appearance of the soldier moved me to open the revolver, showing that it was not loaded. then my adversary was transfigured. his back straightened, his mouth closed, his eyes regained their old intelligence. he stared at me a moment, half incredulous, and then he laughed. ah, how that soldier laughed! the owner of the donkey turned and shared his glee. they literally hugged each other, roaring with delight, while the donkey underneath them both jogged dutifully on. before a caravanserai in a small valley green with fruit-trees, beside a slender stream whose banks were fringed with oleander, i was sitting waiting for some luncheon when the donkey and its riders came again in sight. the soldier tumbled off on spying me and ran into the inn like one possessed. a minute later he brought out the food which i had ordered and set the table for me in the shade of trees. 'i would not let another serve thee,' he informed me, 'for the love of that vile joke that thou didst put upon me. it was not loaded. after all my fright!... it is a nice revolver. let me look at it.' 'aye, look thy fill, thou shalt not touch it,' was my answer; at which he laughed anew, pronouncing me the merriest of adam's race. 'but tell me, what wouldst thou have done had i refused? it was not loaded. what wouldst thou have done?' his hand was resting at that moment on a stool. i rapped his knuckles gently with the butt of the revolver to let him know its weight. 'wallahi!' he cried out in admiration. 'i believe thou wouldst have smashed my head with it. all for the sake of a poor man of no account, whom thou employest for a week, and after that wilt see no more. efendim, take me as thy servant always!' of a sudden he spoke very earnestly. 'pay the money to release me from the army. it is a largeish sum--five turkish pounds. and allah knows i will repay it to thee by my service. for the love of righteousness accept me, for my soul is thine.' i ridiculed the notion. he persisted. when the muleteer and i set forth again, he rode beside us, mounted on another donkey this time--'borrowed,' as he put it--which showed he was a person of resource. 'by allah, i can shoe a horse and cook a fowl; i can mend garments with a thread and shoot a bird upon the wing,' he told me. 'i would take care of the stable and the house. i would do everything your honour wanted. my nickname is rashîd the fair; my garrison is karameyn, just two days' journey from the city. come in a day or two and buy me out. no matter for the wages. only try me!' at the khan, a pretty rough one, where we spent the night, he waited on me deftly and enforced respect, making me really wish for such a servant. on the morrow, after an hour's riding, our ways parted. 'in sh'allah, i shall see thee before many days,' he murmured. 'my nickname is rashîd the fair, forget not. i shall tell our captain thou art coming with the money.' i said that i might think about it possibly. 'come,' he entreated. 'thou wouldst never shame a man who puts his trust in thee. i say that i shall tell our captain thou art coming. ah, shame me not before the commandant and all my comrades! thou thinkest me a thief, a lawbreaker, because i took that fellow's knife?' he asked, with an indulgent smile. 'let me tell thee, o my lord, that i was in my right and duty as a soldier of the sultan in this province. it is that muleteer who, truly speaking, breaks the law by carrying the knife without a permit. and thou, hast thou a passport for that fine revolver? at the place where we had luncheon yesterday were other soldiers. by merely calling on them to support me i could have had his knife and thy revolver with ease and honesty in strict accordance with the law. why did i not do so? because i love thee! say thou wilt come to karameyn and buy me out.' i watched him jogging on his donkey towards a gulley of the hills along which lay the bridle-path to karameyn. on all the evidence he was a rogue, and yet my intimate conviction was that he was honest. all the europeans in the land would lift up hands of horror and exclaim: 'beware!' on hearing such a story. yet, as i rode across the parched brown land towards the city of green trees and rushing waters, i knew that i should go to karameyn. chapter ii a mountain garrison the long day's ride was uneventful, but not so the night. i spent it in a village of the mountains at a very curious hostelry, kept by a fat native christian, named elias, who laid claim, upon the signboard, to furnish food and lodging 'alafranga'--that is, in the modern european manner. there was one large guest-room, and an adjoining bedroom of the same dimensions, for some thirty travellers. i had to find a stable for my horse elsewhere. a dining-table was provided, and we sat on chairs around it; but the food was no wise european, and the cooking was degraded greek. a knife, fork, and spoon were laid for every guest but several cast these on the floor and used their fingers. in the long bedroom were a dozen beds on bedsteads. by offering a trifle extra i secured one to myself. in others there were two, three, even four together. an elderly armenian gentleman who had a wife with him, stood guard with pistols over her all night. he was so foolish as to threaten loudly anyone who dared approach her. after he had done so several times a man arose from the bed next to mine and strolling to him seized him by the throat. 'o man,' he chided. 'art thou mad or what, thus to arouse our passions by thy talk of women? be silent, or we honest men here present will wring thy neck and take thy woman from thee. dost thou understand?' he shook that jealous husband as a terrier would shake a rat. 'be silent, hearest thou? men wish to sleep.' 'said i not well, o brother?' said the monitor to me, as he got back to bed. 'by allah, well,' was my reply. the jealous one was silent after that. but there were other noises. some men still lingered in the guest-room playing cards. the host, devoted to things european, had a musical-box--it was happily before the day of gramophones--which the card-players kept going all night long. i had a touch of fever. there were insects. sleep was hopeless. i rose while it was yet night, went out without paying, since the host was nowhere to be seen, and, in some danger from the fierce attacks of pariah dogs, found out the vault in which my horse was stabled. ten minutes later i was clear of the village, riding along a mountain side but dimly visible beneath the stars. the path descended to a deep ravine, and rose again, up, up, interminably. at length, upon the summit of a ridge, i felt the dawn. the mountain tops were whitened like the crests of waves, while all the clefts and hollows remained full of night. behind me, in the east, there was a long white streak making the mountain outlines bleak and keen. the stars looked strange; a fresh breeze fanned my cheek and rustled in the grass and shrubs. before me, on an isolated bluff, appeared my destination, a large village, square-built like a fortress. its buildings presently took on a wild-rose blush, which deepened to the red of fire--a splendid sight against a dark blue sky, still full of stars. a window flashed up there. the sun had risen. some english people, when informed of my intention to buy a man out of the turkish army had pronounced it madness. i did not know the people of the land as they did. i should be pillaged, brought to destitution, perhaps murdered. they, who had lived in the country twenty, thirty years, were better qualified to judge than i was. for peace and quiet i pretended acquiescence, and my purpose thus acquired a taste of stealth. it was with the feelings of a kind of truant that i had set out at length without a word to anyone, and with the same adventurous feelings that i now drew near to karameyn. two soldiers, basking in the sunshine on a dust-heap, sprang up at my approach. one was the man i sought, the rogue rashîd. they led me to their captain's house--a modest dwelling, consisting of a single room, with hardly any furniture. a score of soldiers followed after us. the captain--hasan agha--an old man, with face scarred and heavy white moustache, was in full uniform, and, as i entered, was engaged in putting on a pair of cotton gloves. he was one of the old 'alaïli,' turkish officers--those whose whole knowledge of their business was derived from service in a regiment or 'alaï,' instead of from instruction at a military school; and his manner towards the men had nothing of the martinet. he addressed them as 'my children,' with affection; and they, though quite respectful, conversed freely in his presence. hasan agha paid me many compliments, and repeatedly inquired after my health. he would not hear about my business till i had had breakfast. luncheon had been arranged for me, he said, but that could not be ready for some hours. would i be so kind as to excuse a makeshift? even as he spoke, a soldier entered with a tray on which were slabs of arab bread, a pitcher of sour milk, and heaps of grapes. another soldier began pounding coffee, while yet another blew upon the charcoal in a brazier. i refused to eat unless my host ate with me, which he did only after much polite resistance. after the meal, we sat and talked, the soldiers joining in the conversation. they told me of old wars and deeds of valour. hasan agha was, it seemed, a famous fighter; and the men did all they could to make him tell me of his battles. they brought an old man in out of the town to see me because he had fought in the crimean war, and knew the english. before it grew too hot, they took me out to see the barracks and a ramshackle old fieldpiece which they seemed to idolise. then followed luncheon with its long array of arab dishes, of which the soldiers had their share eventually. rashîd assured me afterwards that all the food on this occasion had been 'borrowed.' that was in abdul hamid's golden days. after luncheon, there was coffee with more compliments; and then at last we got to business. a public writer was brought in. he wrote out a receipt for me, and also the discharge rashîd required. hasan agha stamped both documents with an official seal, and handed them to me, who gave him in exchange the money. 'bismillah!' he exclaimed. 'i call all here to witness that rashîd, the son of ali, called the fair, is free henceforth to go what way he chooses.' to me he said: 'rashîd is a good lad, and you will find him useful. the chief fault i have found in him is this: that, when obeying orders, he is apt to think, and so invent a method of his own, not always good. also, he is too susceptible to female charms, a failing which has placed him in some strange positions.' the last remark evoked much laughter, relating, evidently to some standing joke unknown to me. rashîd looked rather sheepish. hasan agha turned to him, and said: 'my son, praise allah for thy great good fortune in finding favour in the sight of one so noble and benevolent as our beloved guest, who is henceforth thy master. remember, he is not as i am--one who has been what thou art, and so knows the tricks. serve him freely with thy mind and soul and conscience, not waiting for commands as in the army. come hither, o my son, grasp hands with me. i say, may god be with thee now and always! forget not all the good instruction of thy soldier days. be sure that we shall pray for thy good master and for thee.' the old man's eyes were wet, so were rashîd's, so were the eyes of all the soldiers squatting round. rashîd, dismissed, went off to change his uniform for an old suit of mine which i had brought for him, while hasan agha, talking of him as a father might, explained to me his character and little failings. at last i took my leave. rashîd was waiting in my cast-off clothes, a new fez of civilian shape upon his head. he held my stirrup, and then jumped on to a raw-boned beast which had been 'borrowed' for him by his friends, so he informed me. it might be worth my while to buy it for him, he suggested later--the price was only eight pounds turk, the merest trifle. the whole garrison escorted us to the last houses, where they stood a long while, waving their farewells. two hours later, on the mountain-ridge, beyond the wady, we turned to look our last on karameyn. it stood amid the flames of sunset like a castle of the clouds. we returned, then, to the 'alafranga' hostelry; but rashîd, having heard the story of my sleepless night, would not allow me to put up there. i paid my debt to the proprietor, and then he found for me an empty house to which he brought a mattress and a coverlet, a lot of cushions, a brazier, and the things required for making coffee, also a tray of supper--all of them borrowed from the neighbouring houses. i might be pillaged, brought to destitution, and eventually murdered by him, as my friends had warned me. at least, the operation promised to be comfortable. chapter iii the rhinoceros whip 'where is the whip?' rashîd cried, suddenly, turning upon me in the gateway of the khan where we had just arrived. 'merciful allah! it is not with me. i must have left it in the carriage.' rashîd threw down the saddlebags, our customary luggage, which he had been carrying, and started running for his life. the carriage had got half-way down the narrow street half-roofed with awnings. at rashîd's fierce shout of 'wait, o my uncle! we have left our whip!' the driver turned and glanced behind him, but, instead of stopping, lashed his horses to a gallop. rashîd ran even faster than before. the chase, receding rapidly, soon vanished from my sight. twilight was coming on. above the low, flat roofs to westward, the crescent moon hung in the green of sunset behind the minarets of the great mosque. i then took up the saddle-bags and delicately picked my way through couchant camels, tethered mules and horses in the courtyard to the khan itself, which was a kind of cloister. i was making my arrangements with the landlord, when rashîd returned, the picture of despair. he flung up both his hands, announcing failure, and then sank down upon the ground and moaned. the host, a burly man, inquired what ailed him. i told him, when he uttered just reflections upon cabmen and the vanity of worldly wealth. rashîd, as i could see, was 'zi'lân'--a prey to that strange mixture of mad rage and sorrow and despair, which is a real disease for children of the arabs. an english servant would not thus have cared about the loss of a small item of his master's property, not by his fault but through that master's oversight. but my possessions were rashîd's delight, his claim to honour. he boasted of them to all comers. in particular did he revere my gun, my service revolver, and this whip--a tough thong of rhinoceros hide, rather nicely mounted with silver, which had been presented to me by an aged arab in return for some imagined favour. i had found it useful against pariah dogs when these rushed out in packs to bite one's horse's legs, but had never viewed it as a badge of honour till rashîd came to me. to him it was the best of our possessions, marking us as of rank above the common. he thrust it on me even when i went out walking; and he it was who, when we started from our mountain home at noon that day, had laid it reverently down upon the seat beside me before he climbed upon the box beside the driver. and now the whip was lost through my neglectfulness. rashîd's dejection made me feel a worm. 'allah! allah!' he made moan, 'what can i do? the driver was a chance encounter. i do not know his dwelling, which may god destroy!' the host remarked in comfortable tones that flesh is grass, all treasure perishable, and that it behoves a man to fix desire on higher things. whereat rashîd sprang up, as one past patience, and departed, darting through the cattle in the yard with almost supernatural agility. 'let him eat his rage alone!' the host advised me, with a shrug. having ordered supper for the third hour of the night, i, too, went out to stretch my limbs, which were stiff and bruised from four hours' jolting in a springless carriage, always on the point of overturning. we should have done better to have come on horseback in the usual way; but rashîd, having chanced upon the carriage, a great rarity, had decided on that way of going as more fashionable, forgetful of the fact that there was not a road. the stars were out. in the few shops which still kept open lanterns hung, throwing streaks of yellow light on the uneven causeway, a gleam into the eyes of wayfarers and prowling dogs. many of the people in the streets, too, carried lanterns whose swing made objects in their circle seem to leap and fall. i came at length into an open place where there was concourse--a kind of square which might be called the centre of the city. the crowd there, as i noticed with surprise, was stationary, with all its faces turned in one direction. i heard a man's voice weeping and declaiming wildly. 'what is it?' i inquired, among the outskirts. 'a great misfortune!' someone answered. 'a poor servant has lost a whip worth fifty turkish pounds, his master's property. it was stolen from him by a miscreant--a wicked cabman. his lord will kill him if he fails to find it.' seized with interest, i shouldered my way forward. there was rashîd against the wall of a large mosque, beating himself against that wall with a most fearful outcry. a group of high-fezzed soldiers, the policemen of the city, hung round him in compassion, questioning. happily, i wore a fez, and so was inconspicuous. 'fifty turkish pounds!' he yelled. 'a hundred would not buy its brother! my master, the tremendous count of all the english--their chief prince, by allah!--loves it as his soul. he will pluck out and devour my heart and liver. o high protector! o almighty lord!' 'what like was this said cabman?' asked a sergeant of the watch. rashîd, with sobs and many pious interjections, described the cabman rather neatly as 'a one-eyed man, full-bearded, of a form as if inflated in the lower half. his name, he told me, was habîb; but allah knows!' 'the man is known!' exclaimed the sergeant, eagerly. 'his dwelling is close by. come, o thou poor, ill-used one. we will take the whip from him.' at that rashîd's grief ceased as if by magic. he took the sergeant's hand and fondled it, as they went off together. i followed with the crowd as far as to the cabman's door, a filthy entry in a narrow lane, where, wishing to avoid discovery, i broke away and walked back quickly to the khan. i had been there in my private alcove some few minutes, when rashîd arrived with a triumphant air, holding on high the famous whip. the sergeant came across the court with him. a score of soldiers waited in the gateway as i could see by the light of the great lantern hanging from the arch. 'praise be to allah, i have found it!' cried rashîd. 'praise be to allah, we have been enabled to do a little service for your highness,' cried the sergeant. therewith he pounced upon my hand and kissed it. i made them both sit down and called for coffee. between the two of them, i heard the story. the sergeant praised rashîd's intelligence in going out and crying in a public place until the city and its whole police force had a share in his distress. rashîd, on his side, said that all that would have been in vain but for the sergeant's knowledge of the cabman's house. the sergeant, with a chuckle, owned that that same knowledge would have been of no effect had not rashîd once more displayed his keen intelligence. they had poured into the house--a single room, illumined only by a saucer lamp upon the ground--and searched it thoroughly, the cabman all the while protesting his great innocence, and swearing he had never in this world beheld a whip like that described. the soldiers, finding no whip, were beginning to believe his word when rashîd, who had remained aloof, observing that the cabman's wife stood very still beneath her veils, assailed her with a mighty push, which sent her staggering across the room. the whip was then discovered. it had been hidden underneath her petticoats. they had given the delinquent a good beating then and there. would that be punishment enough in my opinion? asked the sergeant. we decided that the beating was enough. i gave the sergeant a small present when he left. rashîd went with him, after carefully concealing the now famous whip. i suppose they went off to some tavern to discuss the wonderful adventure more at length; for i supped alone, and had been some time stretched upon my mattress on the floor before rashîd came in and spread his bed beside me. 'art thou awake, o my dear lord?' he whispered. 'by allah, thou didst wrong to give that sergeant any money. i had made thy name so great that but to look on thee was fee sufficient for a poor, lean dog like him.' he then was silent for so long a while that i imagined he had gone to sleep. but, suddenly, he whispered once again: 'o my dear lord, forgive me the disturbance, but hast thou our revolver safe?' 'by allah, yes! here, ready to my hand.' 'good. but it would be better for the future that i should bear our whip and our revolver. i have made thy name so great that thou shouldst carry nothing.' chapter iv the courteous judge we were giving a dinner-party on that day to half a dozen turkish officers, and, when he brought me in my cup of tea at seven-thirty a.m., rashîd informed me that our cook had been arrested. the said cook was a decent muslim, but hot-tempered, and something of a blood in private life. at six a.m., as he stood basking in the sunlight in our doorway, his eyes had fallen on some christian youths upon their way to college, in european clothes, with new kid gloves and silver-headed canes. maddened with a sense of outrage by that horrid sight, he had attacked the said youths furiously with a wooden ladle, putting them to flight, and chasing them all down the long acacia avenue, through two suburbs into the heart of the city, where their miserable cries for help brought the police upon him. rashîd, pursuing in vain attempts to calm the holy warrior, had seen him taken into custody still flourishing the ladle; but could tell me nothing of his after fate, having at that point deemed it prudent to retire, lest he, too, might be put in prison by mistake. it was sad. as soon as i was up and dressed, i wrote to hamdi bey, the chief of our intended visitors, informing him of the mishap which would prevent our giving him and his comrades a dinner at all worthy of their merit. by the time that i had finished dressing, rashîd had found a messenger to whom the note was given with an order to make haste. he must have run the whole way there and back, for, after little more than half an hour, he stood before me, breathless and with streaming brow, his bare legs dusty to the knee. rashîd had then gone out to do some marketing. the runner handed me a note. it said: 'why mention such a trifling detail? we shall, of course, be charmed with anything you set before us. it is for friendship, not for food, we come!' there was a postscript:-- 'why not go and see the judge?' suleymân was in the room. he was an old acquaintance, a man of decent birth, but poor, by trade a dragoman, who had acquired a reputation for unusual wisdom. when he had nothing else to do, he came to me unfailingly, wherever i might chance to be established or encamped. he was sitting cross-legged in a corner, smoking his narghîleh, capriciously illumined by thin slants of light, alive with motes, from the venetian blinds. he seized upon the postscript, crying:-- 'it is good advice. why not, indeed? let us approach the judge.' therewith he coiled the tube of his narghîleh carefully around the bowl thereof, and, rising with the same deliberation, threw upon his shoulders a white dust-cloak, then looked at me, and questioned: 'are you ready?' 'but i do not know the judge.' 'no more do i. but that, my dear, is a disease which can be remedied.' without much trouble we found out the judge's house. a servant told us that his honour had already started for the court. we took a carriage and pursued his honour. at the court we made inquiry of the crowd of witnesses--false witnesses for hire--who thronged the entrance. the judge, we heard, had not yet taken his seat. we should be sure to find his honour in the coffee-shop across the road. one of the false witnesses conducted us to the said coffee-shop and pointed out our man. together with his clerk and certain advocates, one of whom read aloud the morning news, the judge sat underneath a vine arbour in pleasant shade. he smiled. his hands were clasped upon a fair round belly. suleymân, his dust-cloak billowing, strolled forward coolly, and presented me as 'one of the chief people of the franks.' the company arose and made us welcome, placing stools for our convenience. 'his highness comes to thee for justice, o most righteous judge. he has been wronged,' observed suleymân, dispassionately. the judge looked much concerned. 'what is the case?' he asked. 'our cook is snatched from us,' was the reply, 'and to-night we have invited friends to dinner.' 'is he a good cook?' asked the judge, with feeling. 'if your excellency will restore him to us, and then join us at the meal----' 'how can i be of service in this matter?' i motioned to suleymân to tell the story, which he did so well that all the company were soon in fits of laughter. the judge looked through the cause list till he found the case, putting a mark against it on the paper. 'how can we dine to-night without a cook?' i sighed, despairingly. 'fear nothing,' said the judge. 'he shall be with you in an hour. come, o my friends, we must to business! it grows late.' the judge took leave of me with much politeness. 'now,' said suleymân, when they were gone, 'let us go into the court and watch the course of justice.' we crossed the narrow street to an imposing portal. suleymân whispered to a soldier there on guard, who smiled and bade us enter, with a gracious gesture. the hall inside was crowded. only after much exertion could we see the dais. there sat the judge, and there stood our lamented cook, the picture of dejection. a soldier at his side displayed the wooden ladle. the christian dandies whom he had assaulted were giving their account of the adventure volubly, until his honour, with a heavy frown, bade them be silent. then they cowered. 'be careful what you say,' the judge enjoined. 'you have not hesitated to impute the anger of this cook to religious fanaticism. the nazarenes are much too ready to bring such a charge against the muslims, forgetful that there may be other causes of annoyance. nay, many of the charges brought have proved upon investigation to be altogether groundless. you nazarenes are often insolent in your demeanour. confiding in the favour of the foreign consuls, foreign missionaries, you occasionally taunt and irritate, even revile, the muslims. now, even supposing your account of this affair to be correct--which i much doubt, for, on the one hand, i behold a wooden ladle of no weight; while, on the other, there are two fine walking-sticks with silver heads'--one of the christian youths let fall his stick in trepidation--'and you are two, while this poor cook is one. even supposing what you say is true, are you certain that nothing in your appearance, conversation, or behaviour gave him cause for anger? i incline to conjecture that you must have flouted him, or uttered, it may be, some insult to his creed.' 'he beat us for no reason, and most grievously,' moaned one of the assailed. such language from a muslim judge in a court filled with muslims made the two christians tremble in their shoes. 'we did not even see him till he started beating us. by allah, my poor head is sore, my back is broken with that awful beating. he was like a madman!' the speaker and his fellow-plaintiff wept aloud. 'didst thou beat these youths, as he describes?' inquired the judge, turning towards the cook with like severity. 'no, o excellency!' came the bitter cry. 'i am an ill-used man, much slandered. i never set eyes upon those men until this minute.' he also began weeping bitterly. 'both parties tell me lies!' exclaimed the judge, with anger. 'for thou, o cook, didst beat these youths. the fact is known, for thou wast taken in the act of beating them. and you, o nazarenes, are not much injured, for everyone beholds you in most perfect health, with clothes unspoilt. the more shame to you, for it is evident that you bring the charge against this muslim from religious hatred.' 'by allah, no, o excellency. we wish that man no harm. we did but state what happened.' 'you are a pack of rogues together,' roared the judge. 'let each side pay one whole mejîdi[ ] to the court; let the parties now, this minute, here before me, swear peace and lifelong friendship for the future, and never let me hear of them again!' the christian youths embraced the cook, the cook embraced the christian youths repeatedly, all weeping in a transport of delight at their escape from punishment. i paid the money for our man, who then went home with us; suleymân, upon the way, delivering a lecture of such high morality, such heavenly language, that the poor, simple fellow wept anew, and called on allah for forgiveness. 'repentance is thy duty,' said suleymân approvingly. 'but towards this world also thou canst make amends. put forth thy utmost skill in cookery this evening, for the judge is coming.' footnotes: [ ] about four shillings. chapter v nawÂdir[ ] we had arrived in a village of the mountains late one afternoon, and were sauntering about the place, when some rude children shouted: 'hi, o my uncle, you have come in two!' it was the common joke at sight of european trousers, which were rare in those days. but suleymân was much offended upon my account. he turned about and read those children a tremendous lecture, rebuking them severely for thus presuming to insult a stranger and a guest. his condemnation was supported on such lofty principles as no man who possessed a particle of religion or good feeling could withstand; and his eloquence was so commanding yet persuasive that, when at length he moved away, not children only but many also of the grown-up people followed him. the village was high up beneath the summit of a ridge, and from a group of rocks within a stone's throw of it could be seen the sea, a great blue wall extending north and south. we perched among those rocks to watch the sunset. the village people settled within earshot, some below and some above us. presently an old man said: 'thou speakest well, o sage! it is a sin for them to cry such things behind a guest of quality. their misbehaviour calls for strong correction. but i truly think that no child who has heard your honour's sayings will ever be so impudent again.' 'amân!'[ ] cried one of the delinquents. 'allah knows that our intention was not very evil.' i hastened to declare that the offence was nothing. but suleymân would not allow me to decry it. 'your honour is as yet too young,' he said severely, 'to understand the mystic value of men's acts and words. a word may be well meant and innocent, and yet the cause of much disaster, possessing in itself some special virtue of malignity. you all know how the jânn[ ] attend on careless words; how if i call a goat, a dog, or cat by its generic name without pointing to the very animal intended, a jinni will as like as not attach himself to me, since many of the jânn are called by names of animals. you all know also that to praise the beauty of a child, without the offer of that child to allah as a sacrifice, is fatal; because there is unseen a jealous listener who hates and would deform the progeny of eve. such facts as those are known to every ignoramus, and their cause is plain. but there exists another and more subtle danger in the careless use of words, particularly with regard to personal remarks, like that of these same children when they cried to our good master: 'thou hast come in two,' directing the attention to a living body. i have a rare thing in my memory which perhaps may lead you to perceive my meaning darkly. 'a certain husbandman (fellâh) was troubled with a foolish wife. having to go out one day, he gave her full instructions what to do about the place, and particularly bade her fix her mind upon their cow, because he was afraid the cow might stray, as she had done before, and cause ill-feeling with the neighbours. he never thought that such a charge to such a person, tending to concentrate the woman's mind upon a certain object, was disastrous. the man meant well; the woman, too, meant well. she gave her whole mind to obey his parting words. having completed every task within the house, she sat down under an olive tree which grew before the door, and fixed her whole intelligence in all its force upon the black-and-white cow, the only living thing in sight, which was browsing in the space allowed by a short tether. so great did the responsibility appear to her that she grew anxious, and by dint of earnest gazing at the cow came to believe that there was something wrong with it. in truth the poor beast had exhausted all the grass within its reach, and it had not entered her ideas to move the picket. 'at length a neighbour passed that way. she begged him, of his well-known kindness, to inspect the cow and tell her what the matter really was. this neighbour was a wag, and knew the woman's species; he also knew the cow as an annoyance, for ever dragging out its peg and straying into planted fields. after long and serious examination he declared: "the tail is hurting her and ought to be removed. see how she swishes it from side to side. if the tail is not cut off immediately, the cow will die one day." '"merciful allah!" cried the woman. "please remove it for me. i am all alone, and helpless." 'the man lifted up an axe which he was carrying and cut off the cow's tail near the rump. he gave it to the woman and she thanked him heartily. he went his way, while she resumed her watch upon the cow. and still she fancied that its health was not as usual. 'another neighbour came along. she told him of her fears, and how the sheykh mukarram, of his well-known kindness, had befriended her by cutting off the damaged tail. '"of course," cried the newcomer, "that accounts for it! the animal is now ill-balanced. it is always a mistake to take from one end without removing something also from the other. if thou wouldst see that cow in health again, the horns must go." '"oh, help me; i am all alone! perform the operation for me," said the woman. 'her friend sawed off the horns and gave them to her. she exhausted thanks. but still, when he was gone, the cow appeared no better. she grew desperate. 'by then the news of her anxiety about the cow had spread through all the village, and every able body came to help her or look on. they cut the udder and the ears, and then the legs, and gave them to her, and she thanked them all with tears of gratitude. at last there was no cow at all to worry over. seeing the diminished carcase lying motionless, the woman smiled and murmured: "praise to allah, she is cured at last; she is at rest! now i am free to go into the house and get things ready for my lord's return." 'her lord returned at dusk. she told him: "i have been obedient. i watched the cow and tended her for hours. she was extremely ill, but all the neighbours helped to doctor her, performing many operations, and we were able to relieve her of all pain, the praise to allah! here are the various parts which they removed. they gave them to me, very kindly, since the cow is ours." 'without a word the man went out to view the remnant of the cow. when he returned he seized the woman by the shoulders, and, gazing straight into her eyes, said grimly: "allah keep thee! i am going to walk this world until i find one filthier than thou art. and if i fail to find one filthier than thou art, i shall go on walking--i have sworn it--to the end."' suleymân broke off there suddenly, to the surprise of all. 'i fail to see how that rare thing applies to my case,' i observed, as soon as i felt sure that he had finished speaking. 'it does not apply to your case, but it does to others,' he replied on brief reflection. 'it is dangerous to put ideas in people's heads or rouse self-consciousness, for who can tell what demons lurk in people's brains.... but wait and i will find a rare thing suited to the present instance.' 'say, o sea of wisdom, did he find one filthier than she was?' 'of course he did.' 'relate the sequel, i beseech thee.' but suleymân was searching in his memory for some event more clearly illustrating the grave risks of chance suggestion. at length he gave a sigh of satisfaction, and then spoke as follows: 'there was once a turkish pasha of the greatest, a benevolent old man, whom i have often seen. he had a long white beard, of which he was extremely proud, until one day a man, who was a wag, came up to him and said: '"excellency, we have been wondering: when you go to bed, do you put your beard inside the coverings or out?" 'the pasha thought a moment, but he could not tell, for it had never come into his head to notice such a matter. he promised to inform his questioner upon the morrow. but when he went to bed that night he tried the beard beneath the bedclothes and above without success. neither way could he get comfort, nor could he, for the life of him, remember how the beard was wont to go. he got no sleep on that night or the next night either, for thinking on the problem thus presented to his mind. on the third day, in a rage, he called a barber and had the beard cut off. accustomed as he was to such a mass of hair upon his neck, for lack of it he caught a cold and died. 'that story fits the case before us to a nicety,' said suleymân in conclusion, with an air of triumph. 'what is the moral of it, deign to tell us, master!' the cry arose from all sides in the growing twilight. 'i suppose,' i hazarded, 'that, having had attention called to the peculiar clothing of my legs, i shall eventually have them amputated or wear turkish trousers?' 'i say not what will happen; god alone knows that. but the mere chance that such catastrophes, as i have shown, may happen is enough to make wise people shun that kind of speech.' i cannot to this day distinguish how much of his long harangue was jest and how much earnest. but the fellâhîn devoured it as pure wisdom. footnotes: [ ] rare things. [ ] equivalent to 'pax.' [ ] genii. chapter vi nawÂdir (_continued_) 'what happened to the man who went to seek one filthier than she was? how could he ever find one filthier?' inquired rashîd, reverting to suleymân's unfinished story of the foolish woman and her husband and the hapless cow, when we lay down to sleep that evening in the village guest-room. i also asked to hear the rest of that instructive tale. suleymân, sufficiently besought, raised himself upon an elbow and resumed the narrative. rashîd and i lay quiet in our wrappings. 'we had reached that point, my masters, where the injured husband, having seen the remnant of the cow, said to his wife: "now, i am going to walk this world until i find one filthier than thou art; and if i fail to find one filthier than thou art i shall go on walking till i die." well, he walked and he walked--for months, some people say, and others years--until he reached a village in mount lebanon--a village of the maronites renowned for foolishness. it was the reputation of their imbecility which made him go there.' 'what was his name?' inquired rashîd, who liked to have things clear. 'his name?' said suleymân reflectively, 'was sâlih.' 'he was a muslim?' 'aye, a muslim, i suppose--though, allah knows, he may perhaps have been an ismaîli or a druze. any more questions? then i will proceed. 'he came into this village of the maronites, and, being thirsty, looked in at a doorway. he saw the village priest and all his family engaged in stuffing a fat sheep with mulberry leaves. the sheep was tethered half-way up the steps which led on to the housetop. the priest and his wife, together with their eldest girl, sat on the ground below, amid a heap of mulberry boughs; and all the other children sat, one on every step, passing up the leaves, when ready, to the second daughter, whose business was to force the sheep to go on eating. this they would do until the sheep, too full to stand, fell over on its side, when they would slaughter it for their supply of fat throughout the coming year. 'so busy were they in this occupation that they did not see the stranger in the doorway until he shouted: "peace upon this house," and asked them for a drink of water kindly. even then the priest did not disturb himself, but, saying "itfaddal!" pointed to a pitcher standing by the wall. the guest looked into it and found it dry. '"no water here," he said. '"oh," sighed the priest, "to-day we are so thirsty with this work that we have emptied it, and so busy that the children have forgotten to refill it. rise, o nesîbeh, take the pitcher on thy head, and hasten to the spring and bring back water for our guest." 'the girl nesîbeh, who was fourteen years of age, rose up obediently, shaking off the mulberry leaves and caterpillars from her clothing. taking up the pitcher, she went out through the village to the spring, which gushed out of the rock beneath a spreading pear tree. 'there were so many people getting water at the moment that she could not push her way among them, so sat down to wait her turn, choosing a shady spot. she was a thoughtful girl, and, as she sat there waiting, she was saying in her soul: '"o soul, i am a big girl now. a year or two and mother will unite me to a proper husband. the next year i shall have a little son. again a year or two, he will be big enough to run about; and his father will make for him a pair of small red shoes, and he will come down to this pleasant spring, as children do, to splash the water. being a bold lad, he will climb that tree." 'and then, as she beheld one great bough overhanging like a stretched-out arm, and realised how dangerous it was for climbing children, she thought: '"he will fall down and break his neck." 'at once she burst out weeping inconsolably, making so great a din that all the people who had come for water flocked around her, asking: "o nesîbeh, what has hurt thee?" and between her sobs, she told them: '"i'm a big girl, now." '"that is so, o beloved!" '"a year or two, and mother will provide me with a husband." '"it is likely." '"another year, and i shall have a little son." '"if god wills!" sighed the multitude, with pious fervour. '"again a year or two, he will be big enough to run about, and his father will make for him a pair of small red shoes. and he will come down to the spring with other children, and will climb the tree. and--oh!--you see that big bough overhanging. there he will slip and fall and break his neck! ah, woe!" 'at that the people cried: "o cruel fate!" and many of them rent their clothes. they all sank down upon the ground around nesîbeh, rocking themselves to and fro and wailing: '"ah, my little neighbour. my poor, dear little neighbour! ah, would that thou had lived to bury me, my little neighbour!"[ ] 'meanwhile the stranger waiting for the water grew impatient, and he once more ventured to interrupt the work of sheep-stuffing with a remark that the young girl was long returning with her pitcher. the priest said: "that is true," and sent his second daughter to expedite the first. this girl went running to the spring, and found the population of the village sitting weeping on the ground around her sister. she asked the matter. they replied: "a great calamity! thy sister--poor distracted mother!--will inform thee of its nature." she ran up to nesîbeh, who moaned out: "i am a big girl now. a year or two, our mother will provide me with a husband. the next year i shall have a little son. again a year or two he will be old enough to run about. his father will make for him a pair of small red shoes. he comes down to the spring to play in childish wise. he climbs that tree, and from that overhanging branch he falls and breaks his neck." 'at this sad news the second girl forgot her errand. she threw her skirt over her head and started shrieking: "alas, my little nephew! my poor, dear little nephew! would god that thou had lived to bury me, my little nephew!" and she too sat down upon the ground to hug her sorrow with the rest. 'the priest said: "that one too is long in coming; i will send another child; but thou must take her place upon the steps, o stranger, or else the work of stuffing will be much delayed." 'the stranger did as he was asked, while child after child was sent, till he alone was left to do the work of carrying the fresh leaves up from the ground and stuffing them into the sheep. still none returned. 'the priest's wife went herself, remarking that her husband and the stranger were able by themselves to carry on the work. they did so a long while, yet no one came. 'at last the priest rose, saying: "i myself will go and beat them for this long delay. do thou, o stranger, feed the sheep meanwhile. cease not to carry up the leaves and stuff him with them, lest all the good work done be lost through negligence." 'in anger the priest strode out through the village to the spring. but all his wrath was changed into amazement when he saw the crowd of people sitting on the ground, convulsed with grief, around the members of his family. 'he went up to his wife and asked the matter. 'she moaned: "i cannot speak of it. ask poor nesîbeh!" 'he then turned to his eldest daughter, who, half-choked by sobs, explained: '"i am a big girl now." '"that is so, o my daughter." '"a year or two, and you and mother will provide me with a husband." '"that is possible." '"another year, and i shall have a little son!" '"in sh' allah!" said her father piously. '"again a year or two, and my son runs about. his father makes for him a pair of small red shoes. he came down to the spring to play with other children, and from that overhanging bough--how shall i tell it?--he fell and broke his darling little neck!" nesîbeh hid her face again and wailed aloud. 'the priest, cut to the heart by the appalling news, tore his cassock up from foot to waist, and threw the ends over his face, vociferating: '"woe, my little grandson! my darling little grandson! oh, would that thou had lived to bury me, my little grandson!" and he too sank upon the ground, immersed in grief. 'at last the stranger wearied of the work of stripping off the mulberry leaves and carrying them up the staircase to the tethered sheep. he found his thirst increased by such exertions.' 'did he in truth do that, with no one looking?' said rashîd. 'he must have been as big a fool as all the others.' 'he was, but in a different way,' said suleymân. 'he walked down to the spring, and saw the congregation seated underneath the pear tree, shrieking like sinners at the judgment day. among them sat the priest, with features hidden in his torn black petticoat. he ventured to approach the man and put a question. the priest unveiled his face a moment and was going to speak, but recollection of his sorrow overcame him. hiding his face again, he wailed: '"alas, my little grandson! my pretty little grandson! ah, would that thou hadst lived to bury me, my little grandson!" 'a woman sitting near plucked at the stranger's sleeve and said: '"you see that girl. she will be soon full-grown. a year or two, and she will certainly be married. another year, and she will have a little son. her little son grows big enough to run about. his father made for him a pair of small red shoes. he came down to the spring to play with other children. you see that pear tree? on a day like this--a pleasant afternoon--he clambered up it, and from that bough, which overhangs the fountain, he fell and broke his little neck upon those stones. alas, our little neighbour! oh, would that thou had lived to bury us, our little neighbour!" and everyone began to rock and wail anew. 'the stranger stood and looked upon them for a moment, then he shouted: "tfû 'aleykum!"[ ] and spat upon the ground. no other word did he vouchsafe to them, but walked away; and he continued walking till he reached his native home. there, sitting in his ancient seat, he told his wife: '"take comfort, o beloved! i have found one filthier."' suleymân declared the story finished. 'is there a moral to it?' asked rashîd. 'the moral is self-evident,' replied the story-teller. 'it is this: however bad the woman whom one happens to possess may be, be certain it is always possible to find a worse.' 'it is also possible to find a better,' i suggested. 'be not so sure of that!' said suleymân. 'there are three several kinds of women in the world, who all make claim to be descended from our father noah. but the truth is this: our father noah had one daughter only, and three men desired her; so not to disappoint the other two, he turned his donkey and his dog into two girls, whom he presented to them, and that accounts for the three kinds of women now to be observed. the true descendants of our father noah are very rare.' 'how may one know them from the others?' i inquired. 'by one thing only. they will keep your secret. the second sort of woman will reveal your secret to a friend; the third will make of it a tale against you. and this they do instinctively, as dogs will bark or asses bray, without malevolence or any kind of forethought. 'that same priest of the maronites of whom i told just now, in the first days of his married life was plagued by his companion to reveal to her the secrets people told him in confession. he refused, declaring that she would divulge them. '"nay, i can keep a secret if i swear to do so. only try me!" she replied. '"well, we shall see," the priest made answer, in a teasing manner. 'one day, as he reclined upon the sofa in their house, that priest began to moan and writhe as if in agony. his wife, in great alarm, inquired what ailed him. '"it is a secret," he replied, "which i dare not confide to thee, for with it is bound up my earthly welfare and my soul's salvation." '"i swear by allah i will hide it. tell me!" she implored. '"well," he replied, as if in torment, "i will risk my life and trust thee. know thou art in the presence of the greatest miracle. i, though not a woman, am far gone with child--a thing which never happened on the earth till now--and in this hour it is decreed that i produce my first-born." 'then, with a terrific cry, he thrust his hand beneath his petticoat, and showed his wife a little bird which he had kept there hidden. he let it fly away out through the window. having watched it disappear, he said devoutly: '"praise be to allah! that is over! thou hast seen my child. this is a sacred and an awful mystery. preserve the secret, or we all are dead!" '"i swear i will preserve it," she replied, with fervour. 'but the miracle which she had witnessed burned her spirit. she knew that she must speak of it or die; and so she called upon a friend whose prudence she could trust, and binding her by vows, told her the story. 'this woman also had a trusted friend, to whom she told the story, under vows of secrecy, and so on, with the consequence that that same evening the priest received a deputation of the village elders, who requested, in the name of the community, to be allowed to kiss the feet of his mysterious son--that little, rainbow-coloured bird, which had a horn upon its head and played the flute. 'the priest said nothing to his wife. he did not beat her. he gave her but one look. and yet from that day forward, she never plagued him any more, but was submissive.' 'the priest was wise on that occasion, yet so foolish in the other story!' i objected. 'the way of the majority of men!' said suleymân. 'but women are more uniformly wise or foolish. a happy night!' said suleymân conclusively, settling himself to sleep. the usual night-light of the syrian peasants--a wick afloat upon a saucerful of oil and water--burned upon the ground between us, making great shadows dance upon the walls and vaulting. the last i heard before i fell asleep was rashîd's voice, exclaiming: 'he is a famous liar, is our wise man yonder; yet he speaks the truth!' footnotes: [ ] 'yâ takbar jârak, yâ jâri!'--a very common cry of grief in syria. [ ] something like 'pooh-pooh to you!' but more insulting. chapter vii the sack which clanked the sand which had been a rich ochre turned to creamy white, the sea from blue became a livid green, the grass upon the sand-hills blackened and bowed down beneath a sudden gust of wind. the change was instantaneous, as it seemed to me. i had observed that clouds were gathering upon the mountain peaks inland, but i had been riding in hot sunlight, only a little less intense than it had been at noon, when suddenly the chill and shadow struck me. then i saw the sky completely overcast with a huge purple cloud which bellied down upon the land and sea. the waves which had been lisping all day long gave forth an ominous dull roar. white horses reared and plunged. a wind sang through the grass and thistles of the dunes, driving the sand into my face. rashîd, who had been riding far behind, in conversation with our muleteer, came tearing up, and i could hear the shouts of the mukâri urging his two beasts to hurry. 'there is a village on the headland over there--a village of circassian settlers,' cried my servant, breathless. 'it has a bad name, and i had not thought to spend the night there. but any roof is good in such a storm. ride fast! we may arrive before the downpour.' my horse had broken to a canter of his own accord. i urged him to a gallop. we flew round the bay. the village on the headland took shape rapidly--a few cube-shaped, whitewashed houses perched amid what seemed at first to be great rocks, but on a close approach revealed themselves as blocks of masonry, the ruins of some city of antiquity. from time to time a jet of spray shot up above them, white as lilies in the gloom. the sea was rising. i discerned an ancient gateway opening on the beach, and set my horse towards it, while the rain came down in sheets. i saw no more until the ruins loomed up close before me, a blind wall. 'your right hand!' called rashîd; and, bearing to the right, i found the gateway. we waited underneath its vault until the muleteer, a dripping object, shrouded in a sack, came up with his two mules; and then we once more plunged into the deluge. the path, a very rough one, wavered up and down and in and out among the ruins. there were, perhaps, a dozen scattered houses without gardens or any sign of cultivation round them. only one of them possessed an upper storey, and towards that, supposing it to be the guest-room, we now picked our way. it stood alone right out upon the promontory, topped by clouds of spray. a little courtyard gave us partial shelter while rashîd ran up some rough stone steps and hammered at a door, exclaiming: 'peace be on this house! my master craves for food and shelter, and we, his servants, ask the same boon of thy goodness. o master of the house, god will reward thy hospitality!' the door was opened and a man appeared, bidding us all come in, in allah's name. he was of middle height and thick-set, with a heavy grey moustache. an old-fashioned, low-crowned fez, with large blue tassel, was bound about his brow with an embroidered turban. a blue zouave jacket, crimson vest and baggy trousers of a darker blue completed his apparel, for his feet were bare. in his girdle were a pair of pistols and a scimitar. he bade us welcome in bad arabic, showing us into a good-sized room--the upper chamber we had seen from far. its windows, innocent of glass, were closed by wooden shutters, roughly bolted, which creaked and rattled in the gale. a very fine-looking old man rose from the divan to greet us. 'what countryman art thou? a turk, or one of us?' he asked, as i removed my head-shawl. 'an englishman, sayest thou?' he seized my hand, and pressed it. 'an englishman--any englishman--is good, and his word is sure. but the english government is very bad. three englishmen in kars behaved like warrior-angels, fought like devils. and while they fought for us their government betrayed our country. what? thou hast heard about it? praise to allah! at last i meet with one who can confirm the story. my son here thinks that i invented it.' i happened to have read of the defence of kars under the leadership of three heroic englishmen--general williams, captain teesdale, and doctor sandwith--and of the betrayal of the circassian rising under shamyl at the time of the crimean war. the old man was delighted. 'listen, o my son!' he called out to the person who had let us in. 'it is true what i have often told to thee. this englishman knows all about it. so does all the world, except such blockheads as thyself and thy companions.' his son begged to be excused a minute while he put his crops into the barn. therewith he dragged a sack out of the room. what crops he may have grown i do not know; but this i know--the contents of that sack clanked as he dragged it out. when he returned, he brought a bowl of eggs cooked in clarified butter, two slabs of bread, and a great jug of water, apologising for the coarseness of the fare. we all supped together, the old man babbling of the days of old with great excitement. his son stared at me with unblinking eyes. at last he said: 'i like thee, o khawâjah. i had once a son about thy age. say, o my father, is there not a strong resemblance?' thereafter he talked quite as much as the old man, giving me the history of their emigration from the caucasus to escape the yoke of the accursed muscovite, and enumerating all the troubles which attended their first coming into syria. 'we are not subjects of the government,' he told me, 'but allies; and we have special privileges. but the dishonoured dogs round here forget old compacts, and want us to pay taxes like mere fellâhîn.' we sat up talking far into the night, while the storm raged without, and the rain and the sea-spray pounded on the shutters; and never have i met with kinder treatment. it was the custom for chance comers to have food at evening only and leave betimes next morning. but our host, when i awoke in splendid sunlight, had breakfast ready--sour milk and arab bread and fragrant coffee--and when i went out to my horse he followed me, and thrust two roasted fowls into my saddle-bags, exclaiming 'zâd!'--which means 'food for the road.' and much to my abashment he and the old man fell upon my neck and kissed me on both cheeks. 'good people! the very best of people! they would take no money. god reward them,' chanted rashîd, as we rode out of the ruins inland through a garden of wild flowers. the storm had passed completely. not a cloud remained. after an hour we came in sight of a large khan outside a mud-built village on the shore. before it was a crowd, including several soldiers. as we drew near, rashîd inquired the meaning of the throng. 'a great calamity,' he was informed. 'a man, a foreigner, is dying, killed by highwaymen. one of his companions, a poor servant, is already dead.' we both dismounted, and rashîd pushed in to learn more of the matter. presently a soldier came to me. 'your honour is an englishman?' he questioned. 'praise be to allah! i am much relieved. this other also is an englishman, they tell me. he is severely wounded, at the gate of death.' i went with him at once to see the sufferer, who seemed relieved to hear me speak, but could not answer. rashîd and i did what we could to make him comfortable, giving the soldiers orders to keep out the crowd. we decided to ride on and send a doctor, and then report the matter to a british consul. 'he was going down to start some kind of business in the city over there,' the leader of the soldiers told me, nodding towards the south. 'he had a largeish company, with several camels. but near the village of ---- he was attacked by the circassians, and was so foolish as to make resistance. they took everything he had of worth--his arms, his money--and killed a camel-driver, besides wounding him. it happened yesterday before the storm. they say i should take vengeance for him. what am i--a corporal with six men--to strive with huseyn agha and his cavalry! it needs a regiment.' he went grumbling off. rashîd and i were staring hard at one another; for the village named was that where we had spent the night, and huseyn agha's roasted fowls were in our saddle-bags. rashîd, as i could see, was troubled upon my account. he kept silence a good while. at last he said: 'it is like this, my lord. each man must see with his own eyes and not another's. people are as one finds them, good or bad. they change with each man's vision, yet remain the same. for us those highway robbers are good people; we must bless them; having cause to do so. this other man is free to curse them, if he will. good to their friends, bad to their enemies. what creature of the sons of adam can condemn them quite?' chapter viii police work having to dress for dinner on a certain evening, i took off my money-belt, and quite forgot to put it on again. it happened to contain twelve english pounds. i left it lying on the table in the hotel bedroom. when i came back in the small hours of the morning it was gone. rashîd--who slept out at a khan in charge of our two horses--came in at eight o'clock to rouse me. hearing of my loss, he gave me the worst scolding i have ever had, and then went out to blow up the hotel proprietor. it was, for once, a real hotel with table d'hôte, hall-porter, and a palm-lounge--everything, in fact, excepting drains. the owner was a fat, brown individual, whom i had generally seen recumbent on a sofa in his office, while someone of his many sons did all the work. but that he could show energy upon occasion i now learnt. hearing from rashîd that i, a guest in his hotel, had suffered robbery, he sprang on to his feet and danced with rage. when i arrived upon the scene, which was the palm-lounge--an open courtyard shaded by an awning--he was flourishing a monstrous whip, with dreadful imprecations, literally foaming at the mouth. i begged him to do nothing rash, but he seemed not to hear me. with the squeal of a fighting stallion, he rushed off to the servants' quarters, whence presently there came heartrending shrieks and cries for mercy. his sons, in fear of murder, followed him, and added their remonstrance to the general din. the women of his house appeared in doorways, weeping and wringing their hands. rashîd seemed gratified by this confusion, regarded as a tribute to our greatness, his and mine. 'be good enough to go away,' he told me. 'the scene is quite unworthy of your dignity. i will take care that all is done to raise your honour.' i remained, however. presently, the host returned, perspiring freely, mopping his brown face with a crimson handkerchief. he smiled as one who has had healthy exercise. 'it is no use,' he told me, with a shrug. 'i beat them well, and every one of them confessed that he alone, and not another, was the thief. each, as his turn came, wished to stay my hand at any cost.' he sank down on a sofa which was in the court. 'what further is your honour's will?' he asked. 'i will beat anyone. the story is so bad for the hotel. i should be ruined if it reached the ears of cook or baedeker.' the cries of those unhappy servants having shamed me, i told him that i was content to count the money lost rather than that harmless folk should suffer for my carelessness. rashîd protested, saying twelve pounds was no trifle, although i might, in youthful folly, so regard it. he, as my servant, had to guard my wealth. 'the gold is lost. it is the will of allah. let it be,' i answered irritably. 'thou wilt not tell the english consul?' cried the host, with sudden eagerness. 'thou wilt refrain from saying any word to cook or baedeker to bring ill-fame and ruin on the place? our lord augment thy wealth and guard thee always! may thy progeny increase in honour till it rules the world!' 'but something must be done,' rashîd remonstrated. 'a crime has been committed. we must find the culprit.' 'true,' said the host, 'and i will help with all my strength. the consul would not help at all. he would but frighten the police, with the result that they would torture--perhaps hang--a man or two, but not the man who stole your belt of money. our police, when not alarmed, are clever. go to them and give a little money. they will find the thief.' 'i go this minute,' said rashîd. i bade him wait. knowing his way of magnifying me and my possessions, i thought it better to be present at the interview, lest he should frighten the police no less than would the intervention of a consul. we went together through the shady markets, crossing here and there an open space of blinding sunlight, asking our way at intervals, until at last we entered a large whitewashed room where soldiers loitered and a frock-coated, be-fezzed official sat writing at a desk. this personage was very sympathetic. 'twelve pounds!' he cried. 'it is a serious sum. the first thing to be done is to survey the scene of crime. wait, i will send with you a knowing man.' he called one of the soldiers, who stepped forward and saluted, and gave him charge of the affair. 'you can place confidence in him. he knows his business,' he assured me, bowing with extreme politeness, as we took our leave. with the soldier who had been assigned to us we sauntered back to the hotel. the man abounded in compassion for me. he said it was the worst case he had ever heard of--to rob a man so manifestly good and amiable of so great a sum. alas! the badness of some people. it put out the sun! at the hotel he spent a long while in my room, searching, as he said, for 'traces.' rashîd, the host and all his family, and nearly all the servants, thronged the doorway. after looking into every drawer, and crawling underneath the bed, which he unmade completely, he spent some minutes in debating whether the thief had entered by the window or the door. having at last decided for the door, he turned to me and asked if there was anybody i suspected. when i answered 'no,' i saw him throw a side-glance at rashîd, as if he thought him fortunate in having so obtuse a master. as he was departing, rashîd, at my command, gave him a silver coin, for which he kissed my hand and, having done so, said: 'i know a clever man, none like him for such business. i will send him to your presence in an hour.' three hours passed. i had finished luncheon, and was sipping coffee in the lounge, when a sleek personage in gorgeous robes was brought to me. he had a trick of looking down his nose at his moustache, the while he stroked it, with a gentle smirk. 'your excellency has been robbed,' he murmured in a secret tone, 'and you would know the robber? there is nothing simpler. i have discovered many thieves. i think it likely that i know the very man. i will disguise myself as an old woman or a begging dervish. there are many ways. but, first, your honour must bestow on me an english pound. that is my fee. it is but little for such services.' i answered languidly that the affair had ceased to thrill me; i wished to hear no more about the money or the thief. he stayed a long while, wheedling and remonstrating, depicting his own subtlety in glowing terms; but in the end departed with despairing shrugs and backward glances, hoping that i might relent. rashîd, who had been out to tend the horses, came presently and asked if i had seen the great detective. when i described our interview, he nearly wept. 'the people here think me the thief,' he told me. 'they say nothing, but i feel it in their bearing towards me. and now you give up seeking for the culprit! am i to bear this shame for evermore?' here was a new dilemma! no way out of it appeared to me, for even if we did employ the great detective, our chance of finding the delinquent seemed exceeding small. i was thinking what could possibly be done to clear rashîd, when a familiar figure came into the court and strolled towards us. it was suleymân! i had imagined him three hundred miles away, at gaza, in the south of palestine. loud were our exclamations, but his calm rebuked us. i never knew him show excitement or surprise. he heard our story with deliberation, and shook his head at the police and the detective. 'no use at all,' he scoffed. 'the one man for your purpose is the chief of the thieves. i know him intimately.' 'ma sh'allah! is there then a guild of thieves?' 'there is.' 'the sheykh of the thieves must be the greatest rogue. i do not care to have to do with him.' 'you err,' remarked suleymân, with dignity. 'your error has its root in the conviction that a thief is evil. he may be evil as an individual; all men are apt to be who strive for gain; but as a member of a corporation he has pride and honour. with europeans, it is just the opposite. they individually are more honourable than their governments and corporations. the sheykh of the thieves, i can assure you, is the soul of honour. i go at once to see him. he can clear rashîd.' 'if he does that, he is the best of men!' exclaimed my servant. an hour later one of the hotel men, much excited, came to tell me that some soldiers were approaching, who had caught the thief. the host and all his family ran out into the hall. rashîd and all the servants came from kitchen purlieus. four soldiers entered with triumphant exclamations, dragging and pushing forward--suleymân! the prisoner's demeanour had its usual calm. 'i have regained the belt,' he called to me. 'these men were watching near the house, and found it on me. they would not hear reason. the man who stole the belt--a greek--has left the city. he gave the sheykh the belt, but kept the money.' the soldiers, disappointed, let him go. 'how dost thou know all that?' inquired their leader. 'the headman of the thieves informed me of it.' 'ah, then, it is the truth,' the soldier nodded. 'he is a man of honour. he would not deceive thee.' i do not claim to understand these things. i but relate them. chapter ix my countryman one summer, in the south of syria, amid that tumbled wilderness of cliff and chasm, shale and boulder, which surges all around the sea of lot, we had been riding since the dawn without encountering a human being, and with relief at last espied a village, having some trace of cultivated land about it, and a tree. rashîd was on ahead. suleymân had been beside me, but had dropped behind in order to perform some operation on his horse's hoof. as i came down the last incline on to the village level i heard angry shouts, and saw a crowd of fellâhîn on foot mobbing rashîd. urging my horse, i shouted to him to know what was happening. at once a number of the villagers forsook him and surrounded me, waving their arms about and talking volubly. i had gathered, from their iteration of the one word 'moyeh,' that water was the matter in dispute, even before rashîd succeeded in rejoining me. he said: 'i rode up to the spring which flows beneath that arch, and was letting my horse drink from the stone trough of water, when these maniacs rushed up and dragged my horse away, and made this noise. they say the water in the spring is theirs, and no one else has any right to touch it. i offered to make payment, but they would not hear me. i threatened them with vengeance, but they showed no fear. is it your honour's will that i should beat a few of them?' seeing their numbers, i considered it the wiser plan for us to let them be till their excitement had cooled down, and till suleymân arrived to help us with advice. accordingly, i smiled and nodded to the villagers, and rode back up the path a little way, rashîd obeying my example with reluctance, muttering curses on their faith and ancestry. then we dismounted and lay down in the shadow of some rocks. it wanted still two hours before the sun would set. suleymân came on us, and dismounted at a call from me. 'what is the noise down there?' he questioned, looking at the village with that coolness, like indifference, habitual to his face when meeting problems of importance. 'they will not let us touch the water--curse their fathers!' growled rashîd. 'heard anyone the like of such inhospitality? it would but serve them right if we destroyed their houses.' suleymân screwed up his eyes, the better to survey the crowd of villagers below, who now sat guard around the spring, and murmured carelessly: 'it is evident that thou hast angered them, o son of rashness. we shall do well to wait before approaching them again with our polite request.' therewith he stretched his length upon the ground, with a luxurious sigh, and would, i think, have gone to sleep, had not rashîd, conceiving himself blamed, thought necessary to relate in full the whole adventure. 'what else could man have done?' he asked defiantly. 'say in what respect, however trifling, did i act unwisely?' 'by allah, thou didst nothing wrong, and yet thou mightest have done better, since thy efforts led to failure,' said the sage, benignly. 'thou art a soldier yet in thought, and thy one method is to threaten. if that avails not, thou art helpless. there are other ways.' 'i offered money,' cried rashîd indignantly. 'could man do more?' 'what are those other ways? instruct us, o beloved!' i put in, to save rashîd from feeling lonely under blame for ignorance. 'no truly great one ever argues with a crowd. he chooses out one man, and speaks to him, him only,' said suleymân; and he was going to tell us more, but just then something in the wadi down below the village caught his eye, and he sat up, forgetting our dilemma. 'a marvel!' he exclaimed after a moment spent in gazing. 'never, i suppose, since first this village was created, have two franks approached it in a single day before. thou art as one of us in outward seeming,' he remarked to me; 'but yonder comes a perfect frank with two attendants.' we looked in the direction which his finger pointed, and beheld a man on horseback clad in white from head to foot, with a pith helmet and a puggaree, followed by two native servants leading sumpter-mules. 'our horses are in need of water,' growled rashîd, uninterested in the sight. 'it is a sin for those low people to refuse it to us.' 'let us first wait and see how this newcomer fares, what method he adopts,' replied suleymân, reclining once more at his ease. the frank and his attendants reached the outskirts of the village, and headed naturally for the spring. the fellâhîn, already put upon their guard by rashîd's venture, opposed them in a solid mass. the frank expostulated. we could hear his voice of high command. 'aha, he knows some arabic. he is a missionary, not a traveller,' said suleymân, who now sat up and showed keen interest. 'i might have known it, for the touring season is long past.' he rose with dignified deliberation and remounted. we followed him as he rode slowly down towards the scene of strife. when we arrived, the frank, after laying about him vainly with his riding-whip, had drawn out a revolver. he was being stoned. his muleteers had fled to a safe distance. in another minute, as it seemed, he would have shot some person, when nothing under allah could have saved his life. suleymân cried out in english: 'don't you be a fool, sir! don't you fire!' the frank looked round in our direction, with an angry face; but suleymân bestowed no further thought on him. he rode up to the nearest group of fellâhîn, crying aloud: 'o true believers! o asserters of the unity! bless the prophet, and inform me straightway what has happened!' having captured their attention by this solemn adjuration, he inquired: 'who is the chief among you? let him speak, him only!' although the crowd had seemed till then to be without a leader, an old white-bearded man was thrust before him, with the cry: 'behold our sheykh, o lord of judgment. question him!' rashîd and i heard nothing of the conversation which ensued, except the tone of the two voices, which appeared quite friendly, and some mighty bursts of laughter from the crowd. no more stones were thrown, although some persons still kept guard over the spring. at length suleymân returned to us, exclaiming: 'all is well. they grant us leave to take what water we require. the spring has been a trouble to these people through the ages because the wandering tribes with all their herds come here in time of drought and drink it dry. but now they are our friends, and make us welcome.' he called out to the frank, who all this while had sat his horse with an indignant air, more angry, as it seemed, to be forgotten than to be assailed: 'it is all right. you take the water and you pay them five piastres.' 'it is extortion!' cried the frank. 'what right have they to charge me money for the water of this natural spring, which is the gift of god? i will not pay.' 'no matter. i pay for you,' shrugged suleymân. i tried to make the missionary--for such he proved to be upon acquaintance--understand that the conditions in that desert country made the spring a valued property, and gave a price to every pitcherful of water. 'what! are you english?' was his only answer, as he scanned my semi-native garb with pity and disgust. 'and who, pray, is that person with you who was rude to me?' 'his name is suleymân. he is a friend of mine.' 'a friend, i hardly think,' replied the frank, fastidiously. he was a big man, with a dark complexion and light eyes. 'i am going to camp here to-night. i have a tent. perhaps you will be good enough to come and sup with me. then we can talk.' 'with pleasure,' i made answer, taken by surprise. 'where is your camp?' he asked. 'we haven't got one. we put up in the guest-room if there is one, or under the stars.' 'well, there's no accounting for tastes,' he murmured, with a sneer. rashîd, through all this conversation, had been standing by, waiting to tell me that suleymân had gone before into the village to the headman's house, where it had been arranged that we should pass the night. thither we went, when i had finished speaking to the missionary; and there we found suleymân enthroned among the village elders in a long, low room. he stood up on my entrance, as did all the others, and explained: 'we have a room near by where we can throw our saddle-bags, but it is verminous, and so we will not sleep inside it, but outside--on the roof. for supper we are the invited guests of the good sheykh, and i can tell you he is getting ready a fine feast.' with deep regret and some degree of shame i told him of my promise to take supper with the missionary. he looked reproach at me, and told the villagers what i had said. they all cried out in disappointment. suleymân suggested that i should revoke the promise instantly, but that i would not do, to his annoyance; and after that, till it was time for me to go, he and rashîd were sulky and withdrew their eyes from me. i knew that they were jealous of the frank, whom they regarded as an enemy, and feared lest he should turn my mind against them. chapter x the parting of the ways it was dusk when i set out for the missionary's tent, and starlit night before i reached it--so fleeting is the summer twilight in that land. rashîd went with me, as in duty bound, and insisted on remaining with the servants of the missionary by the cook's fire, although i told him to go back repeatedly, knowing how his mouth must water for the headman's feast. the dudgeon which he felt at my desertion made him determined not to let me out of sight, and called for the martyrdom of someone, even let that someone be himself. the missionary called: 'come in!' while i was still a good way off the tent. entering, i found him stretched on a deck-chair, with hands behind his head. he did not rise upon my entrance, but just smiled and pointed to another chair beyond a little folding table laid for supper. he spoke of the day's heat and the fatigues of travel and the flies; and asked me how i could endure to sleep in native hovels full of fleas and worse. i told him that, by suleymân's arrangement, we were to sleep upon the roof for safety. he sniffed. i then related a discussion i had overheard between rashîd and suleymân as to the best way of defeating those domestic pests, thinking to make him laugh. rashîd had spoken of the virtues of a certain shrub; but suleymân declared the best specific was a new-born baby. this, if laid within a room for a short while, attracted every insect. the babe should then be carried out and dusted. the missionary did not even smile. 'the brutes!' he murmured. 'how can you, an englishman, and apparently a man of education, bear their intimacy?' they had their good points, i asserted--though, i fear, but lamely; for the robustness of his attitude impressed me, he being a man, presumably, of wide experience, and, what is more, a clergyman--the kind of man i had been taught to treat with some respect. he said no more till we had finished supper, which consisted of sardines and corned beef and sliced pineapple, tomatoes and half-liquid butter out of tins, and some very stale european bread which he had brought with him. confronted with such mummy food, i thought with longing of the good, fresh meal which i had left behind me at the headman's house. he may have guessed my thoughts, for he observed: 'i never touch their food. it is insanitary'--which i knew to be exactly what they said of his. the man who waited on us seemed to move in fear, and was addressed by his employer very curtly. after the supper there was tea, which, i confess, was welcome, and then the missionary put me through a kind of catechism. finding out who i was, and that we had some friends in common, he frowned deeply. he had heard of my existence in the land, it seemed. 'what are you doing here at all?' he asked severely. 'at your age you should be at college or in training for some useful work.' 'i'm learning things,' i told him rather feebly. his point of view, the point of view of all my countrymen, imposed itself on me as i sat there before him, deeply conscious of my youth and inexperience. 'what things?' he asked. and then his tongue was loosed. he gave me his opinion of the people of the country, and particularly of my two companions. he had summed them up at sight. they were two cunning rogues, whose only object was to fleece me. he told me stories about englishmen who had been ruined in that very way through making friends with natives whom they thought devoted to them. one story ended in a horrid murder. he wanted me to have no more to do with them, and when he saw i was attached to them, begged me earnestly to treat them always as inferiors, to 'keep them in their place'; and this i promised, coward-like, to do, although i knew that, in the way he meant, it was not in me. it seemed that he himself was travelling in these wild places in search of an old greek inscription, mention of which he had discovered in some book. he half-persuaded me to bear him company. 'you are doing no good here, alone with such companions,' he said, as i at last departed. 'think over my advice to you. go back to england. come with me for the next few days, and share my tents. then come and stay with me in jerusalem, and we can talk things over.' there was no doubt of the kindliness of his intention. i thanked him, and strolled back toward the village in the starlight, rashîd, who, at my first appearance, had detached himself from a small group which sat around the missionary's kitchen fire, stalking on before me with a lantern. it seemed a wonder that the village dogs, which had made so great a noise on our arrival in the place so short a while before, now took no notice, seeming to recognise our steps as those of lawful inmates. at the headman's house suleymân still sat up talking with the village elders. he expressed a hope that i had much enjoyed myself, but with a hint of grievance which i noticed as a thing expected. looking round upon those eager, friendly faces, i compared them with the cold face of the missionary, who suddenly appeared to me as a great bird of prey. i hated him instinctively, for he was like a schoolmaster; and yet his words had weight, for i was young to judge, and schoolmasters, though hateful, have a knack of being in the right. at last we three went up on to the roof to sleep. we had lain down and said 'good night' to one another, when suleymân remarked, as if soliloquising: 'things will never be the same.' 'what do you mean?' i questioned crossly. 'that missionary has spoilt everything. he told you not to trust us, not to be so friendly with persons who are natives of this land, and therefore born inferior.' i made no answer, and suleymân went on: 'a man who journeys in the desert finds a guide among the desert people, and he who journeys on the sea trusts seamen. what allegations did he make? i pray you tell us!' 'he told me stories of his own experience.' 'his experience is not, never will be, yours. he is the enemy. a tiger, if one asked him to describe mankind, would doubtless say that they are masters of the guile which brings destruction, deserving only to be clawed to death. question the pigeons of some mosque, upon the other hand, and they will swear by allah men are lords of all benevolence.' rashîd broke in: 'his boys, with whom i talked, inform me that he is devoid of all humanity. he never thanks them for their work, however perfect, nor has a word of blessing ever passed his lips. he frowns continually. how can he be the same as one like thee who laughs and talks?' we had all three sat up, unconsciously. and we continued sitting up, debating miserably under the great stars, hearing the jackals' voices answer one another from hill to hill both near and far, all through that night, drawing ever closer one to another as we approached an understanding. 'an englishman such as that missionary,' said suleymân, 'treats good and bad alike as enemies if they are not of his nation. he gives bare justice; which, in human life, is cruelty. he keeps a strict account with every man. we, when we love a man, keep no account. we never think of what is due to us or our position. and when we hate--may god forgive us!--it is just the same--save with the very best and coolest heads among us.' 'but you are cunning, and have not our code of honour,' i objected, with satirical intention, though the statement sounded brutal. 'your honour says so!' cried rashîd, half weeping. 'no doubt you are referring to that theft in the hotel, of which you thought so little at the time that you would take no action. that was the doing of a greek, as was established. say, can you of your own experience of children of the arabs say that one of us has ever robbed you of a small para, or wronged you seriously?' 'i cannot,' was my answer, after brief reflection. 'but the experience of other, older men must weigh with me.' 'let other men judge people as they find them, and do thou likewise,' said suleymân. 'he urged me to give up this aimless wandering and go with him in search of an old greek inscription, not far off. within four days he hopes to see el cuds again; and thence he urged me to return to england.' at that my two companions became silent and exceeding still, as if some paralysing fear hung over them. it was the hour immediately before the dawn, and life seemed hopeless. the missionary's voice seemed then to me the call of duty, yet every instinct in my blood was fierce against it. 'your honour will do what he pleases,' said my servant mournfully. 'the lord preserve thee ever!' sighed suleymân. 'thou art the leader of the party. give command.' a streak of light grew on the far horizon, enabling us to see the outlines of the rugged landscape. a half-awakened wild-bird cried among the rocks below us. and suddenly my mind grew clear. i cared no longer for the missionary's warning. i was content to face the dangers which those warnings threatened; to be contaminated, even ruined as an englishman. the mischief, as i thought it, was already done. i knew that i could never truly think as did that missionary, nor hold myself superior to eastern folk again. if that was to be reprobate, then i was finished. 'saddle the horses. we will start at once,' i told rashîd. 'before the missionary is afoot--towards the east.' for a moment he sat motionless, unable to believe his ears. then suddenly he swooped and kissed my hand, exclaiming: 'praise be to allah!' 'praise be to allah!' echoed suleymân, with vast relief. 'the tiger in thee has not triumphed. we shall still know joy.' 'i resign myself to be the pigeon of the mosque,' i answered, laughing happily. five minutes later we were riding towards the dawn, beginning to grow red behind the heights of moab. chapter xi the knight errant we had left damascus after noon the day before, and had spent the night at a great fortress-khan--the first of many on the pilgrims' road. we had been on our way an hour before rashîd discovered that he had left a pair of saddle-bags behind him at the khan; and as those saddle-bags contained belongings of suleymân, the latter went back with him to retrieve them. i rode on slowly, looking for a patch of shade. except the khan, a square black object in the distance, there was nothing in my range of vision to project a shadow larger than a good-sized thistle. between a faint blue wave of mountains on the one hand and a more imposing but far distant range upon the other, the vast plain rolled to the horizon in smooth waves. i was ascending such an undulation at my horse's leisure when a cavalier appeared upon its summit--a figure straight out of the pages of some book of chivalry, with coloured mantle streaming to the breeze, and lance held upright in the stirrup-socket. this knight was riding at his ease till he caught sight of me, when, with a shout, he laid his lance in rest, lowered his crest and charged. i was exceedingly alarmed, having no skill in tournament, and yet i could not bring myself to turn and flee. i rode on as before, though with a beating heart, my purpose, if i had one, being, when the moment came, to lean aside, and try to catch his spear, trusting in allah that my horse would stand the shock. but the prospect of success was small, because i could see nothing clearly, till suddenly the thunder of the hoof-beats ceased, and i beheld the knight within ten yards of me, grinning and saluting me with lance erect, his horse flung back upon its haunches. 'i frightened thee, o faranji?' he asserted mockingly. i replied that it would take more than such a wretched mountebank as he could do to frighten me, and showed him my revolver, which, until the fear was over, had escaped my memory. it pleased him, and he asked for it immediately. i put it back. 'a pretty weapon,' he agreed, 'but still i frightened thee.' i shrugged and sneered, disdaining further argument, and thought to pass him; but he turned his horse and rode beside me, asking who i was and where i came from, and what might be my earthly object in riding thus towards the desert all alone. i answered all his questions very coldly, which did not disconcert him in the least. hearing that i had attendants, one of whom had skill in warfare, he said that he would wait with me till they came up. i tried to frighten him with tales of all the men rashîd had slain in single combat: he was all the more determined to remain with me, saying that he would gain much honour from destroying such a man. 'but i do suspect that thou are lying, o most noble faranji, and that this boasted champion is some wretched townsman whose only courage is behind a wall,' he chuckled. at that i was indignant, and i lied the more. thus talking, we came near a piece of ruined wall, which cast sufficient shadow for a man to rest in. the knight dismounted and tied up his horse. i was for riding on, but he made such an outcry that, wishing to avoid a quarrel, i alighted also and tied up my horse. we lay down near together in the strip of shade. he passed me a rough leathern water-bottle, and i took a draught of warmish fluid, tasting like the smell of goats. he took a longer draught, and then exclaimed: 'there are thy friends.' far off upon the plain two specks were moving. i could not have told man from man at such a distance, but the knight was able to distinguish and describe them accurately. 'the younger man who sits erect upon his horse--he is no doubt the warrior of whom thou speakest. the other, plump and lolling, has the air of greatness--a pasha, maybe, or a man of law.' i told him that suleymân was a man of learning, and then let him talk while i took stock of his appearance. the figure out of books of chivalry was shabby on a close inspection. the coloured surcoat was both weather-stained and torn, the coat of mail beneath so ancient that many of the links had disappeared completely; the holes where they had been were patched with hide, which also was beginning to give way in places. his age was about three-and-twenty; he had bright brown eyes, a black moustache and beard, and a malicious air. he looked a perfect ragamuffin, yet he spoke with condescension, talking much about his pedigree, which contained a host of names which i had never heard before--a fact which, when he realised it, filled him first with horror, then with pity of my ignorance. he expatiated also on his horse's pedigree, which was as lengthy as his own. when my friends came up, i quite expected them to rid me of the tiresome knight. but they did nothing of the sort. they took the man and his pretensions seriously, exchanging with him compliments in striking contrast with the haughty tone i had till then adopted. rashîd refused his challenge with politeness, and, much to my dismay, suleymân, the older and more thoughtful man, accepted it upon condition that the combat should stand over till some more convenient time; and when the knight proclaimed his sovereign will to travel with us, they seemed pleased. 'he will be useful to us,' said rashîd, when i complained to him of this deception, 'for his tribe controls a great part of this country. but it will be best for me to carry our revolver while he rides with us. then i and not your honour can deny him, which is more becoming.' the knight had asked for my revolver thrice already. that evening, near a lonely village of the plain, the battle with suleymân was fought with equal honours, each rider hitting his man squarely with the long jerideh--the stripped palm-branch--which is substituted for the spear in friendly combat. the heroes faced each other at a regulated distance. then one--it was suleymân--clapped spurs into his horse's flanks and fled, keeping within a certain space which might be called the lists; the other flying after him, with fearful yells, intent to fling the missile so that it should strike the victim in a certain manner. this lasted till the throw was made, and then the order was reversed, and the pursuer in his turn became the hunted. the knight applauded his opponent's skill reluctantly, and with regret that he himself had not been in his usual form. he journeyed with us after that for many days. it seemed that he was out in search of exploits, so did not care a jot which way he rode. in former days, he told me, there used to be a tournament in every town each friday, where any stranger knight might show his prowess, winning honour and renown. but in these degenerate times it was necessary for the would-be champion to cry his challenge in some public place, or else arrange the fight beforehand meanly in some tavern. i should have been delighted with him on the whole, if he had not been quarrelsome and had not expected us, as his companions, to extricate him from the strife in which his arrogance involved him. we dreaded the arrival at a town or village. if he had possessed the prowess of his courage, which was absolutely reckless, he would have been a more endurable, if dread, companion. but in almost every quarrel which he brought upon himself he got the worst of it, and was severely beaten, and then would talk to us about the honour of the arabs till we fell asleep. one night in the small town of mazarib we rescued him from two circassian bravoes whom he had insulted wantonly. they had nearly stopped his mouth for ever when we intervened. i cannot say he was ungrateful upon that occasion. on the contrary, he swore that he would not forsake us until death--a vow which filled us with dismay, for even suleymân by that time saw that he was useless; and rashîd, our treasurer, resented his contempt of money. he had a way, too, of demanding anything of ours which took his fancy, and, if not forcibly prevented, taking it, peculiarly obnoxious to rashîd, who idolised my few belongings. we were his friends, his manner told us, and he, the bravest of the brave, the noblest of the noble arabs, was prepared to give his life for us at any time. any trifles therefore which we might bestow on him were really nothing as compared with what he gave us every hour of every day. it grew unbearable. the people in the khan at mazarib were laughing at us because that wretched bedawi, a chance adherent, ruled our party. we plotted desperately to get rid of him. at length suleymân devised a scheme. it was that we should change the whole direction of our journey, turning aside into the mountain of the druzes. the druzes were at war with many of the bedu--probably with this man's tribe; at any rate, a bedawi, unless disguised, would run grave risk among them while the war was on. accordingly, when we at length set out from mazarib, suleymân, with many compliments, informed the knight of a dilemma which distressed us greatly. i had been summoned to the bedside of a friend of mine, a great druze sheykh, now lying very ill, whose one wish was to gaze on me before he died. rashîd chimed in to say how tenderly that druze chief loved me, and how depressed i was by sorrow for his grievous illness. in short, it was imperative that we should go at once to the druze mountain. what were our feelings when we suddenly bethought us that there was danger in that region for an arab knight! must we then part from our beloved, from our souls' companion? suleymân declared that we had wept like babes at such a prospect. no, that must never be; our grief would kill us. we had been obliged to think of some contrivance by which our hearts' delight might bear us company without much risk, and with the help of allah we had hit upon a splendid plan, yet simple: that he should lay aside his lance and armour, dress as a christian, and become our cook. 'why need he seem a christian?' asked rashîd. 'because all cooks who go with english travellers are christians,' was the earnest answer, 'and because no man would ever think to find a bedawi beneath a christian's cloak.' 'a person of my master's standing ought to have a cook,' murmured rashîd, as one who thought aloud. never have i seen such horror in the face of man as then convulsed the features of the desert knight. he, a cook! he, the descendant of i know not whom, to wear the semblance of a heathen and degraded townsman! rather than that he would encounter twenty spear-points. if we were going to the mountain of the druzes, we might go alone! we all were eager to express regret. he listened with a sneer, and answered nothing. after a while he beckoned me to speak apart with him, and, when we were beyond the hearing of the others, said: 'i leave thee now, o faranji, and journey towards nejd to seek adventures. thou lovest me i am aware, and so i grieve to part from thee; but thy adherents are low people and devoured by envy. if ever we should meet again i will destroy them. if thou shouldst travel south and eastward through the belka, remember me, i beg, and seek our tents. there thou shalt find a welcome far more hospitable than the druze will give thee. i shall never cease to pray for thee. my grief will be extreme until we meet again. i pray thee give me that revolver as a souvenir.' chapter xii the fanatic a european hat in those days was a rarity except in the large towns, and it attracted notice. that is the reason why i generally discarded it, with other too conspicuously western adjuncts. where the inhabitants were not well-mannered, the hat was apt to be saluted with a shower of stones. one afternoon i happened to be riding by myself along a so-called road in the bare mountain country round jerusalem, wearing a hat, when i came on a pedestrian resting in the shadow of a rock by the wayside. he was a native christian--that much could be detected at a glance; but of what peculiar brand i could not guess from his costume, which consisted of a fez; a clerical black coat and waistcoat, quite of english cut, but very much the worse for wear; a yellow flannel shirt, and a red cord with tassels worn by way of necktie; baggy turkish pantaloons; white stockings, and elastic-sided boots. beside him, a long staff leaned up against the rock. he sprang upon his feet at my approach, and, with an amiable smile and bow, exclaimed: 'good afternoon. i think you are an english gentleman?' i pleaded guilty to the charge, and he asked leave to walk beside me until past a certain village, not far distant, of which the people, he assured me, were extremely wicked and averse to christians. i readily consented, and he took his staff and walked beside me, pouring out his soul in fulsome flattery. the village which he dreaded to approach alone was the abode of muslims, devilish people who hate the righteous christians and persecute them when they get the chance. he said that he looked forward to the day when the english would take over the whole country and put those evil-doers in their proper place, below the christians. it would be a mercy and a blessing to the human race, he gave as his mature opinion, if the english were to conquer the whole world. they were so good and upright and so truly pious. he did not think that any wrong was ever done in england. and then: 'you are a brûtestant?' he asked. i answered that i was a member of the church of england. 'ah, thank god!' he cried. 'i also am a brûtestant--a babtist.' he seemed to think that my avowal made us brothers. it seemed, from the account he gave me of himself, that he was an evangelist, working to spread the truth among his wicked country-people; for the christians of the greek and latin churches were both wicked and benighted, he informed me, and would persecute him, like the muslims, if they got the chance. it was hard work, he told me, turning up his eyes to heaven. he grieved to say it, but there seemed no other way to purge the land of all those wicked people save destruction. he wondered that the lord had not destroyed them long ago. yet when i said that i did not agree with him, but thought that they were decent folk, though rather backward, he came round to my opinion in a trice, exclaiming: 'ah, how true you speak! it is that they are backward. they will neffer be no better till they get the gosbel light, the liffin water.' i told him he was talking nonsense; that, for my part, i thought the missionaries did more harm than good, and once again he changed his standpoint, though less boldly, saying: 'it is so delightful to talk thus freely to a noble english gentleman. god knows that i could listen for a day without fatigue, you talk so sweet. and what you say is all so new to me.' and he proceeded to relate with what severity the english missionaries treated native converts like himself, mentioning many wicked things which they had done in his remembrance. i could not but admire his versatility and total lack of shame in his desire to please. thus talking, we approached the village of his fears. 'if i was by myself i should be much afraid,' he fawned; 'but not with you. these wicked beoble do not dare to hurt an english gentleman, who wears the hat and is brotected by the bowers of eurobe.' we had not really got into the place before some boys at play among the rocks outside the houses, spying my hat, threw stones in our direction. one hit my horse. i raised my whip and rode at them. they fled with screams of terror. glancing back, i could perceive no sign of my devout companion. but when i returned at leisure, having driven the young rogues to cover, i found him vigorously beating a small boy who had fallen in the panic flight and, finding himself left behind, had been too frightened to get up again. never have i seen a face of such triumphant malice as then appeared on that demure evangelist. he beat the child as if he meant to kill it, muttering execrations all the while and looking round him furtively for fear lest other muslims should appear in sight, in which case, i believe, he would at once have turned from blows to fondling. 'the wicked boy!' he cried, as i came up, 'to throw stones at a noble english gentleman. he well deserfs to be deliffered ofer to the bowers of eurobe.' i bade him leave the child alone, or it would be the worse for him. aggrieved, and, in appearance, shocked at my unsympathetic tone, he left his prey, and i endeavoured to speak comfort to the victim; who, however, took no notice of my words, but ran hard for the village, howling lustily. 'the wicked boy! the wicked children!' the evangelist kept moaning, in hesitating and half-contrite tones. 'it is a bity that you let him go. he will perhabs make trouble for us in the fillage. but you are so brafe. i think the english are the brafest kind of beeble.' i also thought it possible there might be trouble; but i decided to go on, not wishing to show fear before that craven. he cried aloud in awe and wonder when i told him that little boys threw stones in christian england. 'but only upon unbelievers!' he exclaimed imploringly, as one who would preserve his last illusion. i replied to the effect that members of the church of england would, no doubt, have stoned a baptist or a roman catholic with pleasure, if such heretics with us had dressed in a peculiar way; but that, in my opinion, it was only natural instinct in a boy to throw a stone at any living thing which seemed unusual. the shock this information gave him--or his private terrors--kept him silent through the village; where the people, men and women, watched us pass with what appeared to be unfriendly faces. i was ill at ease, expecting some attack at every step. as luck would have it, at the far end of the place, when i could see the open country, and was giving thanks for our escape, a great big stone was thrown by a small boy quite close to me. it struck me on the arm, and hurt enough to make me really angry. 'for god's sake, sir!' implored my terrified companion, 'ride on! do nothing! there are men obserfing.' i heard him taking to his heels. but i had caught the culprit, and was beating him. his yells went forth with terrible insistence: 'o my father, o my mother, help. ya muslimin!' and, in a trice, i was surrounded by a group of surly-looking fellâhîn, one of whom told me curtly to release the boy. i did so instantly, prepared for trouble. but no sooner had i left off beating than that man began. the boy's appeals for help went forth anew; but this time he addressed them to his mother only, for his father held him. i begged the man to stop, and in the end he did so. all those ferocious-looking fellâhîn returned my smile at this conclusion, and wished me a good evening as i rode away. i never saw that bright evangelist again. no doubt he ran till he had reached some place inhabited by altogether righteous christian people. but the way he started running was a clear inducement to pursuit to any son of adam not evangelised. chapter xiii rashÎd's revenge we were staying with an english friend of mine--a parson, though the least parsonical of men--who had a pleasant little house in a druze village of mount lebanon, and nothing to do but watch, and do his utmost to restrain, the antics of a very wealthy and eccentric lady missionary. he had gone away for a few weeks, leaving us in possession, when another sort of clergyman arrived--a little man with long white beard, sharp nose, and pale, seraphic eyes. he was, or fancied that he was, on duty, inspecting missionary establishments in those mountains. the master of the house had once invited him to stay there if he passed that way. he seemed surprised to find us in possession, and treated us as interlopers, though i was in fact his host, regarding our small dwelling as a clergy house. his gaze expressed an innocent surprise when i sat down to supper with him and performed the honours on the night of his arrival. he gave his orders boldly to my servant, and his demeanour plainly asked what business i had there, though he would never listen to my explanation. i took the whole adventure philosophically, but rage and indignation took possession of rashîd. and his indignation was increased by the popularity of our insulter with the girls and teachers of the mission-school hard by. our guest was innocence itself, if silly and conceited. but rashîd watched all his movements, and could tell me that the old 'hypocrite,' as he invariably called him, went to the school each day and kissed the pupils, taking the pretty ones upon his knee, and making foolish jokes, talking and giggling like an imbecile, bestowing sweetmeats. with them--for the most sinful motives, as rashîd averred, and, i suppose, believed--he was all sugar; but when he came back to the house he was as grumpy as could be. rashîd would have destroyed him at a nod from me one evening when he said: 'i think i must have left my glasses over at the school. will you be good enough to go and ask?' 'now your honour knows how we feel when we meet a man like that; and there are many such among the franks,' my servant whispered in my ear as i went out obediently. 'by allah, it is not to be endured!' the parson occupied the only bedroom; and i slept out upon the balcony on his account. yet he complained of certain of my garments hanging in his room, and flung them out. it was after that revolting episode, when i was really angry for a moment, that rashîd came to me and said: 'you hate this hypocrite; is it not so?' 'by allah,' i replied, 'i hate him.' he seemed relieved by the decision of my tone, and then informed me: 'i know a person who would kill him for the sake of thirty english pounds.' it became, of course, incumbent on me to explain that, with us english, hatred is not absolute as with the children of the arabs--mine had already reached the laughing stage. he was evidently disappointed, and answered with a weary sigh: 'may allah rid us of this foul oppression!' it was a bitter pill for him, whose whole endeavour was for my aggrandisement, to see me treated like a menial by our guest; who, one fine evening, had me summoned to his presence--i had been sitting with some village elders in the olive grove behind the house--and made to me a strange proposal, which rashîd declared by allah proved his perfect infamy. his manner was for once quite amiable. leaning back in a deck-chair, his two hands with palms resting on his waistcoat, the fingers raised communicating at the tips, he said, with clerical complacency: 'it is my purpose to make a little tour to visit missionary ladies at three several places in these mountains, and then to go on to jezzîn to see the waterfall. as you appear to know the country and the people intimately, and can speak the language, it would be well if you came too. the man rashîd could wait upon us all.' rashîd, i knew, was listening at the door. 'us all? how many of you are there, then?' he hemmed a moment ere replying: 'i--er--think of taking the miss karams with me'--miss sara karam, a young lady of syrian birth but english education, was head teacher at the girls' school, and her younger sister, miss habîbah karam, was her constant visitor--'i thought you might take charge of the younger of the two. the trip will give them both great pleasure, i am sure.' and they were going to jezzîn, where there was no hotel, and we should have to herd together in the village guest-room! what would my arab friends, censorious in all such matters, think of that? i told him plainly what i thought of the idea, and what the mountain-folk would think of it and all of us. i told him that i had no wish to ruin any woman's reputation, nor to be forced into unhappy marriage by a public scandal. he, as a visitor, would go away again; as an old man, and professionally holy, his good name could hardly suffer among english people. but the girls would have to live among the mountaineers, who, knowing of their escapade, would thenceforth scorn them. and as for me---- 'but i proposed a mere excursion,' he interpolated. 'i fail to see why you should take this tone about it.' 'well, i have told you what i think,' was my rejoinder. i then went out and told the story to rashîd, who heartily applauded my decision, which he had already gathered. i did not see our simple friend again till after breakfast the next morning. then he said to me, in something of a contrite tone: 'i have been thinking over what you said last night. i confess i had not thought about the native gossip. i have decided to give up the expedition to jezzîn. and it has occurred to me that, as you are not going, i could ride your horse. it would save the trouble and expense of hiring one, if you would kindly lend it.' taken fairly by surprise, i answered: 'certainly,' and then went out and told rashîd what i had done. he wrung his hands and bitterly reproached me. 'but there is one good thing,' he said; 'sheytân will kill him.' in all the months that we had owned that horse rashîd had never once before alluded to him by the name which i had chosen. it was ill-omened, he had often warned me. but nothing could be too ill-omened for that hypocrite. 'i do not want to lend the horse at all,' i said. 'and i am pretty sure he could not ride him. but what was i to say? he took me by surprise.' 'in that case,' said rashîd, 'all is not said. our darling shall enjoy his bath to-day.' the washing of my horse--a coal-black arab stallion, as playful as a kitten and as mad--was in the nature of a public festival for all the neighbours. sheytân was led down to the spring, where all the population gathered, the bravest throwing water over him with kerosene tins, while he plunged and kicked and roused the mountain echoes with his naughty screaming. on this occasion, for a finish, rashîd let go his hold upon the head-rope, the people fled in all directions, and off went our sheytân with tail erect, scrambling and careering up the terraces, as nimble as a goat, to take the air before returning to his stable. our reverend guest had watched the whole performance from our balcony, which, from a height of some three hundred feet, looked down upon the spring. i was up there behind him, but i said no word till he exclaimed in pious horror: 'what a vicious brute! dangerous--ought to be shot!' when i inquired to what he was alluding. 'whose is that savage beast?' he asked, with quite vindictive ire, pointing to sheytân, who was disporting on the terrace just below. 'oh, that's my horse,' i answered, interested. 'he's really quite a lamb.' 'your horse! you don't mean that?' he said no more just then, but went indoors, and then out to the mission school to see the ladies. that evening he informed me: 'i shall not require your horse. i had no notion that it was so strong an animal when i suggested borrowing it. old câsim at the school will hire one for me. i should be afraid lest such a valuable horse as yours might come to grief while in my charge.' that was his way of putting it. we watched the party start one early morning, the clergyman all smiles, the ladies in a flutter, all three mounted on hired chargers of the most dejected type, old câsim from the school attending them upon a jackass. rashîd addressed the last-named as he passed our house, applying a disgraceful epithet to his employment. the poor old creature wept. 'god knows,' he said, 'i would not choose such service. but what am i to do? a man must live. and i will save my lady's virtue if i can.' 'may allah help thee!' said rashîd. 'take courage; i have robbed his eyes.' i had no notion of his meaning at the time when, sitting on the balcony, i overheard this dialogue; but later in the day rashîd revealed to me two pairs of eyeglasses belonging to our guest. without these glasses, which were of especial power, the reverend man could not see anything in detail. 'and these two pairs were all he had,' exclaimed rashîd with triumph. 'he always used to put them on when looking amorously at the ladies. the loss of them, please god, will spoil his pleasure.' chapter xiv the hanging dog our english host possessed a spaniel bitch, which, being well-bred gave him much anxiety. the fear of mésalliances was ever in his mind, and furiously would he drive away the village pariahs when they came slinking round the house, with lolling tongues. one brown and white dog, larger than the others and with bristling hair, was a particular aversion, the thought of which deprived him of his sleep of nights; and not the thought alone, for that persistent suitor--more like a bear than any dog i ever saw--made a great noise around us in the darkness, whining, howling, and even scrabbling at the stable door. at length, in desperation, he resolved to kill him. one night, when all the village was asleep, we lay out on the balcony with guns and waited. after a while the shadow of a dog slinking among the olive trees was seen. we fired. the village and the mountains echoed; fowls clucked, dogs barked; we even fancied that we heard the cries of men. we expected the whole commune to rise up against us; but after a short time of waiting all was still again. rashîd, out in the shadows, whispered: 'he is nice and fat,' as if he thought that we were going to eat the dog. 'and is he dead?' i asked. 'completely dead,' was the reply. 'then get a cord and hang him to the balcony,' said my companion. 'his odour will perhaps attract the foxes.' another minute and the corpse was hanging from the balcony, while we lay out and waited, talking in low tones. the bark of foxes came from vineyards near at hand, where there were unripe grapes. 'our vines have tender grapes,' our host repeated; making me think of the fable of the fox and the grapes, which i related to rashîd in arabic as best i could. he laughed as he exclaimed: 'ripe grapes, thou sayest? our foxes do not love ripe grapes and seldom steal them. i assure you, it was sour grapes that the villain wanted, and never did they seem so exquisitely sour as when he found out that he could not reach them. how his poor mouth watered!' this was new light upon an ancient theme for us, his hearers. after an hour or two of idle waiting, when no foxes came, we went to bed, forgetting all about the hanging dog. the house was close beside a carriage road which leads down from the chief town of the mountains to the city, passing many villages. as it was summer, when the wealthy citizens sleep in the mountain villages for coolness' sake, from the dawn onward there was a downward stream of carriages along that road. when the daylight became strong enough for men to see distinctly, the sight of a great brown and white dog hanging from our balcony, and slowly turning, struck terror in the breasts of passers-by. was it a sign of war, or some enchantment? carriage after carriage stopped, while its inhabitants attempted to explore the mystery. but there was nobody about to answer questions. my host and i, rashîd as well, were fast asleep indoors. inquirers looked around them on the ground, and then up at the shuttered house and then at the surrounding olive trees, in one of which they finally espied a nest of bedding on which reclined a blue-robed man asleep. it was the cook, amîn, who slept there for fresh air. the firing of the night before had not disturbed him. by dint of throwing stones they woke him up, and he descended from his tree and stood before them, knuckling his eyes, which were still full of sleep. they asked: 'what means this portent of the hanging dog?' he stared incredulously at the object of their wonder, then exclaimed: 'some enemy has done it, to insult me, while i slept. no matter, i will be avenged before the day is out.' the tidings of the mystery ran through the village, and every able-bodied person came to view it, and express opinions. 'the dog is well known. he is called barûd; he was the finest in our village. he used to guard the dwelling of sheykh ali till he transferred his pleasure to the house of sheykh selîm. it was a sin to kill him,' was the general verdict. and amîn confirmed it, saying: 'aye, a filthy sin. but i will be avenged before the day is out.' at last rashîd, awakened by the noise of talking, came out of the stable where he always slept, and with a laugh explained the whole occurrence. some of the villagers were greatly shocked, and blamed us strongly. but rashîd stood up for us, declaring that the dog belonged in truth to no man, so that no man living had the right to blame his murderer; whereas the valuable sporting bitch of the casîs (our host) was all his own, and it was his duty therefore to defend her from improper lovers. he then cut down the body of the dog, which no one up till then had dared to do; and all the people gradually went away. the coast was clear when we arose towards eight o'clock. rashîd, with laughter, told the tale to us at breakfast. we had been silly, we agreed, to leave the hanging dog; and there, as we supposed, the matter ended. but hardly had we finished breakfast when a knock came at the open door, and we beheld a tall and dignified fellâh depositing his staff against the doorpost and shuffling off his slippers at the call to enter. he said the murdered dog was his, and dear to him as his own eyes, his wife and children. he was the finest dog in all the village, of so rare a breed that no one in the world had seen a dog just like him. he had been of use to guard the house, and for all kinds of work. the fellâh declared his worth to be five turkish pounds, which we must pay immediately unless we wished our crime to be reported to the government. with as nonchalant an air as i could muster, i offered him a beshlik--fourpence halfpenny. he thereupon became abusive and withdrew--in the end, hurriedly, because rashîd approached him in a hostile manner. he had not been gone ten minutes when another peasant came, asserting that the dog was really his, and he had been on the point of regaining his possession by arbitration of the neighbours when we shot the animal. he thus considered himself doubly injured--in his expectations and his property. he came to ask us instantly to pay an english pound, or he would lay the case before the turkish governor, with whom, he could assure us, he had favour. i offered him the beshlik, and he also stalked off in a rage. we were still discussing these encounters with rashîd when there arrived a vastly more imposing personage--no other than the headman of the village, the correct sheykh mustafa, who had heard, he said, of the infamous attempts which had been made to levy blackmail on us, and came now in all haste to tell us of the indignation and disgust which such dishonesty towards foreigners aroused in him. he could assure us that the dog was really his; and he was glad that we had shot the creature, since to shoot it gave us pleasure. his one desire was that we should enjoy ourselves. since our delight was in the slaughter of domestic animals, he proposed to bring his mare--of the best blood of the desert--round for us to shoot. we felt exceedingly ashamed, and muttered what we could by way of an apology. but the sheykh would not accept it from us. gravely smiling, and stroking his grey beard, he said: 'nay, do what pleases you. god knows, your pleasure is a law to us. nay, speak the word, and almost (god forgive me!) i would bring my little son for you to shoot. so unlimited is my regard for men so much above the common rules of this our county, and who are protected in their every fancy by the powers of europe.' his flattery dejected us for many days. chapter xv tigers the fellâhîn who came to gossip in the winter evenings round our lamp and stove assured us there were tigers in the neighbouring mountain. we, of course, did not accept the statement literally, but our english friend possessed the killing instinct, and held that any feline creatures which could masquerade in popular report as tigers would afford him better sport than he had yet enjoyed in syria. so when the settled weather came we went to look for them. for my part i take pleasure in long expeditions with a gun, though nothing in the way of slaughter come of them. my lack of keenness at the proper moment has been the scorn and the despair of native guides and hunters. once, in egypt, at the inundation of the nile, i had been rowed for miles by eager men, and had lain out an hour upon an islet among reeds, only to forget to fire when my adherents whispered as the duck flew over, because the sun was rising and the desert hills were blushing like the rose against a starry sky. i had chased a solitary partridge a whole day among the rocks of en-gedi without the slightest prospect of success; and in the jordan valley i had endured great hardships in pursuit of wild boar without seeing one. it was the lurking in wild places at unusual hours which pleased me, not the matching of my strength and skill against the might of beasts. i have always been averse to every sort of competition. this i explain that all may know that, though i sallied forth with glee in search of savage creatures, it was not to kill them. we set out from our village on a fine spring morning, attended by rashîd, my servant, and a famous hunter of the district named muhammad, also two mules, which carried all things necessary for our camping out, and were in charge of my friend's cook, amîn by name. we rode into the mountains, making for the central range of barren heights, which had the hue and something of the contour of a lion's back. at length we reached a village at the foot of this commanding range, and asked for tigers. we were told that they were farther on. a man came with us to a point of vantage whence he was able to point out the very place--a crag in the far distance floating in a haze of heat. after riding for a day and a half we came right under it, and at a village near its base renewed inquiry. 'oh,' we were told, 'the tigers are much farther on. you see that eminence?' again a mountain afar off was indicated. at the next village we encamped, for night drew near. the people came out to inspect us, and we asked them for the tigers. 'alas!' they cried. 'it is not here that you must seek them. by allah, you are going in the wrong direction. behold that distant peak!' and they pointed to the place from which we had originally started. our english friend was much annoyed, rashîd and the shikâri and the cook laughed heartily. no one, however, was for going back. upon the following day our friend destroyed a jackal and two conies, which consoled him somewhat in the dearth of tigers, and we rode forward resolutely, asking our question at each village as we went along. everywhere we were assured that there were really tigers in the mountain, and from some of the villages young sportsmen who owned guns insisted upon joining our excursion, which showed that they themselves believed such game existed. but their adherence, though it gave us hope, was tiresome, for they smoked our cigarettes and ate our food. at last, towards sunset on the seventh evening of our expedition, we saw a wretched-looking village on the heights with no trees near it, and only meagre strips of cultivation on little terraces, like ledges, of the slope below. our friend had just been telling me that he was weary of this wild-goose chase, with all the rascals upon earth adhering to us. he did not now believe that there were tigers in the mountain, nor did i. and we had quite agreed to start for home upon the morrow, when the people of that miserable village galloped down to greet us with delighted shouts, as if they had been waiting for us all their lives. 'what is your will?' inquired the elders of the place, obsequiously. 'tigers,' was our reply. 'say, o old man, are there any tigers in your neighbourhood?' the old man flung up both his hands to heaven, and his face became transfigured as in ecstasy. he shouted: 'is it tigers you desire? this, then, is the place where you will dwell content. tigers? i should think so! tigers everywhere!' the elders pointed confidently to the heights, and men and women--even children--told us: 'aye, by allah! hundreds--thousands of them; not just one or two. as many as the most capacious man could possibly devour in forty years.' 'it looks as if we'd happened right at last,' our friend said, smiling for the first time in three days. we pitched our tent upon the village threshing-floor, the only flat place, except roofs of houses, within sight. the village elders dined with us, and stayed till nearly midnight, telling us about the tigers and the way to catch them. some of the stories they related were incredible, but not much more so than is usual in that kind of narrative. it seemed unnecessary for one old man to warn us gravely on no account to take them by their tails. 'for snakes it is the proper way,' he said sagaciously, 'since snakes can only double half their length. but tigers double their whole length, and they object to it. to every creature its own proper treatment.' but there was no doubt of the sincerity of our instructors, nor of their eagerness to be of use to us in any way. next morning, when we started out, the headman came with us some distance, on purpose to instruct the guide he had assigned to us, a stupid-looking youth, who seemed afraid. he told him: 'try first over there among the boulders, and when you have exhausted that resort, go down to the ravine, and thence beat upwards to the mountain-top. please god, your honours will return with half a hundred of those tigers which devour our crops.' thus sped with hope, we set out in good spirits, expecting not a bag of fifty tigers, to speak truly, but the final settlement of a dispute which had long raged among us, as to what those famous tigers really were. rashîd would have it they were leopards, i said lynxes, and our english friend, in moments of depression, thought of polecats. but, though we scoured the mountain all that day, advancing with the utmost caution and in open order, as our guide enjoined, we saw no creature of the feline tribe. lizards, basking motionless upon the rocks, slid off like lightning when aware of our approach. two splendid eagles from an eyrie on the crags above hovered and wheeled, observing us, their shadows like two moving spots of ink upon the mountain-side. a drowsy owl was put up from a cave, and one of our adherents swore he heard a partridge calling. no other living creature larger than a beetle did we come across that day. returning to the camp at evening, out of temper, we were met by all the village, headed by the sheykh, who loudly hoped that we had had good sport, and brought home many tigers to provide a feast. when he heard that we had not so much as seen a single one he fell upon the luckless youth who had been told off to conduct us, and would have slain him, i believe, had we not intervened. 'didst seek in all the haunts whereof i told thee? well i know thou didst not, since they saw no tiger! behold our faces blackened through thy sloth and folly, o abandoned beast!' restrained by force by two of our adherents, the sheykh spat venomously at the weeping guide, who swore by allah that he had obeyed instructions to the letter. our english friend was much too angry to talk arabic. he bade me tell the sheykh he was a liar, and that the country was as bare of tigers as his soul of truth. some of our fellâh adherents seconded my speech. the sheykh appeared amazed and greatly horrified. 'there are tigers,' he assured us, 'naturally! all that you desire.' 'then go and find them for us!' said our friend, vindictively. 'upon my head,' replied the complaisant old man, laying his right hand on his turban reverently. 'to hear is to obey.' we regarded this reply as mere politeness, the affair as ended. what was our surprise next morning to see the sheykh and all the able men, accompanied by many children, set off up the mountain armed with staves and scimitars, and all the antique armament the village boasted! it had been our purpose to depart that day, but we remained to watch the outcome of that wondrous hunting. the villagers spread out and 'beat' the mountain. all day long we heard their shouts far off among the upper heights. if any tiger had been there they must assuredly have roused him. but they returned at evening empty-handed, and as truly crestfallen as if they had indeed expected to bring home a bag of fifty tigers. one man presented me with a dead owl--the same, i think, which we had startled on the day before, as if to show that their display had not been quite in vain. 'no tigers!' sighed the sheykh, as though his heart were broken. 'what can have caused them all to go away? unhappy day!' a lamentable wail went up from the whole crowd. 'a grievous disappointment, but the world is thus. but,' he added, with a sudden brightening, 'if your honours will but condescend to stay a week or two, no doubt they will return.' chapter xvi pride and a fall there was to be a grand fantasia at the castle of the greatest of druze sheykhs in honour of a visit from the english consul-general in syria; and as an englishman i was invited to be there. it was a journey of a day and a half. upon the second morning rashîd and i had not gone far ere we fell in with other horsemen wending in the same direction as ourselves, well mounted and in holiday attire. all greeted us politely, but we kept apart, because they nearly all rode mares while we rode stallions--a fruitful source of trouble and a cause of war. at length a young man mounted on a stallion overtook us with most cordial greetings. i had met him often. he was the son of a rich landowner in a neighbouring valley, and, i think, the most beautiful human creature i ever saw. that day he was particularly good to look at, his complexion of clear olive slightly flushed, his violet eyes beneath their long dark lashes dancing, his perfect white teeth gleaming with excitement and delight. he wore a cloak, broad striped, of white and crimson, a white frilled shirt of lawn showing above a vest of crimson velvet, fawn-coloured baggy trousers, and soft sheepskin boots. a snow-white turban crowned his whole appearance. his horse was thoroughbred and young, and he controlled its ceaseless dance to admiration. he told me that the stallion was his own, an uncle's gift, and quite the best in all the mountains; although mine, he added out of mere politeness, was undoubtedly a pearl of breeding and high spirit. he hoped with such a steed to gain renown in that day's horsemanship, and, if it might be, win the notice of the consul-general and his lady. 'my father wished me to take out another horse,' he said; 'but i love this one, and am used to all his ways. i could not do myself full justice on another, nor would rustem do his best for any other rider.' he proceeded to discuss the horses which we saw before us on the road, pointing out in each of them some defect, and exclaiming: 'i shall excel them all, in sh' allah! does not your honour also think my horse the best?' i assured him that i did indeed, and all my wishes were for his success, 'because,' said i, 'i know and like you, and i do not know the others.' 'but some thou knowest for a certainty, for all the mountain will be there. come, let me name them to thee one by one.' and some of those he named were certainly well known to me. 'when thou seest hasan, son of ali, nicely mounted, wilt thou not think he is the better man?' 'no, no, by allah!' i disclaimed such fickleness. 'be sure that if good wishes can ensure success, all mine are with thee in to-day's event.' 'allah increase thy wealth!' he cried in joy, as if i had bestowed on him a gift of price. there was a crowd of many colours on the well-made road which wanders up through orchards to the village and ends on the meydân before the castle gate. there the crowd halted, making fast their horses to the many rings and tie-holes which were in the walls. rashîd took charge of my horse and his own, while i went on up steps on to a higher platform intersected by a stream of ice-cold water plunging down into the valley in a fine cascade whose spray and murmur cooled the air. that rush of water was the greatest luxury in such a land, and the lord of the castle took much pride in its contrivance. i went up to a door where soldiers and domestics lounged, but was informed: 'our lord is out of doors.' a soldier pointed to a bunch of trees above the waterfall and overlooking the meydân, where many notables in black frock coat and fez sat out on chairs. he ran on to announce my coming. i was soon a member of the formal group, replying to the usual compliments and kind inquiries. coffee was handed round. then came a tray of different kinds of sherbet, then a tray of eatables. the chiefs around me talked of harvests and the price of land, but, most of all, of horses, since it was a horsey day. the screaming of a stallion came persistently from the meydân--a naughty screaming which foreboded mischief. i recognised the voice. the culprit was my own sheytân. the screams were so disturbing, so indecent, that several of the great ones round me frowned and asked: 'whose horse is that?' in accents of displeasure. i was ashamed to own him. at length the lord of the castle called a servant to his side and whispered, pointing with his hand in the direction whence the screams proceeded. the servant hurried off, but presently returned and whispered something in his master's ear. his master looked at me and nodded gravely. he then addressed me in a deprecating tone, remarking: 'your honour's horse is too high-spirited; the crowd excites him. will you allow him to be tethered in some other place?' from the excessive smoothness of his manner i could guess that, had i been a native of the land, he would have told me to remove the vicious brute and myself likewise. i rose at once to go and see to it. 'pray do not give yourself the trouble!' he exclaimed, distressed. the servant went along with me, and, when we got to the meydân, rashîd came running. sheytân was then indeed a terrifying sight, with streaming tail, mane bristling, and a wicked bloodshot eye, tearing at his head-rope, one minute pawing at the wall as if to climb it, the next kicking wildly with his head down. i know little of horses in general, but i knew that particular horse, and he knew me. i went up quietly and talked to him, then loosed the rope and led sheytân away without much difficulty, rashîd meanwhile explaining to the servant of the house that no one else could possibly have done it. we tied him at the further end of the meydân. then i went back on to the terrace, where the notables had risen and were looking at the youths who were to take part in the fantasia, among them my companion of the road, the young sheykh abdul hamid. these were now on the parade-ground with their horses. my neighbour in the group of great ones said, politely: 'your honour should go with them; it is only proper, since their going is to compliment the representative of england. and you are, i see, a very skilful cavalier. the way you quieted that horse of yours was wonderful. we have all been talking of it. ride with them!' i begged to be excused. the essence of the fantasia is to show off one's own prowess and one's horse's paces while careering madly in a widish circle round some given object--an open carriage with some great one in it, or a bridal pair--taking no note of obstacles, dashing over rocks and gulleys and down breakneck slopes, loading and firing off a gun at intervals, in full career. i had tried the feeling of it once at a friend's wedding, and had been far from happy, though my horse enjoyed the romp and often tried to start it afterwards when there was no occasion. remembering abdul hamid and his desire for praise that day, i said: 'there is only one good horseman here--abdul hamid, the son of the sheykh mustafa. all the rest of us, compared with him, are mere pedestrians.' i pointed out the youth in question to my neighbour, who was a man of power in the mountains, and he praised the beauty of his form on horseback. 'by allah, right is with thee,' he assented. 'there is none but he.' away they went--jinblâts, talhûks, and abdul meliks--all in clean white turbans, with coloured cloaks a-stream upon the breeze, on horses gorgeously caparisoned. we waited half an hour--in silence, as it seemed; and then we heard the noise of their return, the shouts, the firing. i swear i saw a horse and man surmount a housetop in the village and then leap down upon the other side. at last, with yells and reckless gunshots and a whirl of dust, the crowd of horsemen came full tilt on the meydân. their leader--in appearance a mad angel--was my friend, abdul hamid. suddenly he drew his rein, flinging the steed right back upon his haunches. in so doing, looking up at me with a triumphant smile, he somehow missed his balance and pitched clear over his horse's head, just at the very moment when a carriage and pair containing the beaming consul-general and his lady, with a glorious cawwâs upon the box, arrived upon the scene. i ran to help him, but another person was before me. a tall old man, whose garb bespoke him an initiated druze, rushed out among the horses and the dust and beat the wretched lad about the shoulders, heaping curses on that lovely head for bringing shame upon an honoured house before such company. it was the lad's own father, the sheykh mustafa. i helped to drag the old man off, and would have gone on to console the son; but just then i beheld sheytân approaching with a broken head-rope. i contrived to catch him and to mount without attending to the girths; and, once on horseback, i was glad to be there; for quite fifty of the tethered steeds had broken loose in the excitement, and were rushing here and there and fighting in a most alarming way. i have always had a dread of horse-fights, and this was not a single fight; it was a mêlée, fresh horses every minute breaking loose to join it. right in my way two angry stallions rose up, boxing one another like the lion and the unicorn, and a little boy of ten or thereabouts ran in between and, jumping, caught their head-ropes. i escaped at last and rode down through the village to the bottom of the valley, where a grove of walnut trees cast pleasant shade beside a stream. there rashîd found me later in the day. he told me that my disappearance had caused consternation and alarm, the consul-general and his lady having asked for me. bidding him remain with the two horses, i went back on foot to the castle, where i stayed only the time necessary to pay my respects. as i was returning towards the valley, a litter borne between two mules was leaving the meydân. beside it walked the stern sheykh mustafa, and in it, i had little doubt, reclined the beautiful abdul hamid. i asked the serving-man who led the foremost mule if his young lord was seriously hurt. he answered: 'yes; for he has broken his elbow and his shoulder and his collar-bone. but that is nothing, since he has disgraced our house.' a bitter wail of 'woe the day!' came from within the palanquin. chapter xvii tragedy the sun was sinking down over the sea, the mountain wall with all its clefts and promontories wore a cloak of many colours, when we saw before us on a rock a ruined tower. we were looking for some human habitation where we might get food and shelter for the night; but we should have passed by that building, taking it to be deserted, had not we espied a woman's figure sitting out before it in the evening light. experience of late had taught us to shun villages, belonging thereabouts to a peculiar sect, whose members made a virtue of inhospitality. at noon that day, when wishing to buy food, we had been met with such amazing insults that rashîd, my henchman, had not yet recovered from his indignation, and still brooded on revenge. on seeing that the ruined tower had occupants, he said: 'if these refuse us, we will force an entrance mercilessly; for see, they dwell alone, with none to help them.' he rode before me towards the tower, with shoulders squared and whip upraised. it surprised me that the woman sitting out before the door appeared indifferent to his approach, until, upon a closer view, i saw that she was old and blind. she must, i thought, be deaf as well, since she had failed to move at sound of hoof beats; which sound brought out an aged man, who shattered rashîd's plan of vengeance by exclaiming: 'itfaddalû! (perform a kindness!' that is, 'enter!'). 'it is thou who doest kindness,' i replied, by rote. 'we are thy suppliants for food and rest this night.' 'all mine is thine,' the old man answered, coming to hold my horse's head, while i dismounted. his wrinkled face was moulded to a patient, sad expression, which became more noticeable when he smiled; and he was always smiling. i went into the tower and down a flight of much-worn steps, which ended in a heap of fallen masonry. 'deign to proceed,' called out the tenant from behind me; when, climbing over the obstruction, i found myself in a large room, of which the only furniture consisted in a heap of bedding and some cooking things. rather to my surprise the place was clean. the old man flung himself upon the ground and blew upon the mass of charcoal in a brazier, and presently a smell of coffee stewing filled the dungeon; for such it doubtless had been in the past, its only window being high above our heads, yet only just above the level of the rock, as i discovered when i went to seek rashîd, who, by our host's direction, had bestowed the horses in a cavern by the sea. the blind old woman still sat out before the door. i walked all round the tower and noticed small fields neatly fenced below it on the landward side, and a few hobbled goats upon a strip of herbage near the shore; which, with some fishing-nets spread out upon the rocks to dry, informed me how our host obtained a livelihood. as i went back towards the door, i met rashîd bringing our saddlebags. he nodded to the woman, who still sat there motionless, and told me: 'she is mad, the poor old creature--but not dangerous. fear nothing. they are quite good people. it is strange, but he informs me she is not his mother nor his wife, nor anyone by birth allied to him. and yet he waits upon her, helpless as she is.' just then, the master of the tower appeared, and, going to the woman, took her hand and raised her. 'itfaddalû!' he said, with just the same polite alacrity with which he welcomed us on our arrival, as if she, too, had been an honoured guest. we all went down the broken steps into the dungeon. a meal of fish and bread was set before us. the woman took her food apart. the master of the house did not sit down till she was satisfied; and, after supper, he set out a bed for her, and then washed out the vessels, before he came again and sat with us. by that time the old woman was asleep. two lighted wicks, passed through a piece of cork which floated in a bowl of oil and water, roused the shadows of the vault. a sudden outcry at the far end of the room made us both jump. 'fear nothing!' said our entertainer. 'she is dreaming. ah, poor lady! our lord repay her goodness in the next life for all the evil she has borne in this!' 'is it permissible to ask to hear her story?' said rashîd. the old man looked at me with a reluctant smile, as who should say: 'it is a sad tale. would you really care to hear it?' i nodded gravely, and, with a deep sigh, he began: 'many years ago--how many it is now impossible for me to say, for, dwelling here, i have lost count of time--a certain chieftain of the desert arabs had a son who loved the daughter of his father's enemy. there was no intercourse between the houses, but the young prince of whom i speak contrived to see the maiden and to meet her stealthily, even riding in among the dwellings of her people at risk of his own life and mine; for i must tell you that i am his foster-brother, though not by blood a scion of the desert, and so i served him, as was usual with us, in the quality of an esquire. 'both tribes were of those arabs which have villages for their headquarters, without renouncing the old life of war and wandering. our village was upon the borders of the belka, and hers far north towards the hauran. in those days there were no turkish military posts beyond the jordan. the feuds and customs of the tribes were then the only law; though now, they tell me, that that country is made safe for travel. 'there was no means to bridge the gulf which custom fixed between the lovers; and so my foster-brother, being mad with longing for the maid, decided to abduct her and escape into the settled country. i, loving him, applauded all his schemes. the princess amîneh--for she was the daughter of a sovereign chief--was of a spirit equal to his own. she rode out from her father's town by night upon the best mare of the tribe with but one girl attendant. my lord and i were waiting by a certain well. and then we rode, well knowing that both tribes would hunt us, towards the wilâyet, where there was law and turkish power to protect us. the princess amîneh lacked a man's endurance, and her woman suffered greatly from fatigue. their weakness had to be considered, and there came a time when it was evident that they could go no further without rest. 'we were then within a short day's journey of the nearest government post, attaining which we should have been in safety. we took refuge in a ruined sheepcote. i was keeping the look-out while all the others slept, when i noticed a small cloud of dust uprising in the distance. i roused my lord, and told him: "the pursuers come." he looked upon the princess and her maiden: they lay fast asleep, exhausted by fatigue. '"let be," he said. "there is no hope for us in flight. lie low. perhaps they will pass by without perceiving us." 'and so they might have done, god knows, had not our horses neighed, winding the other horses.' the old man wrung his hands, then hid his eyes with them. 'never, never can i tell the details of what followed. we fought, and the princess fought beside us, snatching a scimitar which i was wearing from my side. her boldness helped us somewhat to delay the end, for our assailants were her father's people, and they feared to hurt her. but the end came; it was from the first inevitable. i was lying helpless on the ground, wounded, but fully conscious, when they slew my lord. at once they hewed his body into fragments, each of which was soon exalted on a spear. the princess, wounded in the face, and pinioned, witnessed that. her damsel lay inanimate, and at the time i thought her dead. she was my promised bride. then the emir approached with a great spear--as i suppose, to kill his daughter, but just then there were loud shouts, and then another battle, in which i heard the war-cry of our tribe. the father of my lord, pursuing also with intent to punish us, had come upon his ancient enemy at unawares. he won the day. the other arabs broke and fled. the noblest of our braves pursued them; but several of the lewder sort remained behind to torture and dishonour my unhappy lady. i tried to rise and rescue her, but, with the effort, my spirit left my body, and i lay as dead--the praise to allah!--which is the reason why i am alive to-day. 'so great a fight could not take place so near the guarded country without coming to the knowledge of the government. ten turkish soldiers, armed with carbines, and an ombashi, coming to the spot next day, discovered us, and carried the survivors to a place of safety. the princess was then, as you yourselves have seen her, except that she was young and now is old. her damsel had survived the fight without much hurt, by god's protection, having lain upon the ground so still that she was left for dead. when i recovered from my wounds, i married her. 'so tragic was our tale that all men pitied us. the governor himself protected the princess, and placed her with the women of his household. but she could not be happy in the city, in that kind of life; her soul grew restless, pining. my wife, who visited her every day, was grieved for her; and when i found that it was as she said, i went and asked the governor's permission to support our lady. perceiving that she was not happy in his house, he yielded; and we three wandered through the settled country for long months, the people showing kindness to us through compassion, for our tale was known. at last we reached this ruin by the sea, which pleased our lady because, my wife believed, the mountains are so like a wall raised up between her and the country of her grief. that must be thirty years ago; but she has never wandered since. 'my wife died and i buried her beside the shore; for years i have performed her duties to our lady. the people of these parts are wicked, but they let us be, because they think that we are under some enchantment. my prayer is always that i may survive my lady, for how could she, poor creature, fare alone? so far, we have been very fortunate, praise be to allah!' rashîd was loud in his expressions of amazement at the story, his mind intent upon the central tragedy. he said no word of praise or wonder at our host's self-sacrifice. that he accepted, as a thing of course. this attitude of his, which i observed, prevented me from uttering the words of pity and condolence which were on my tongue; and i am glad those words were never uttered, for they were impertinent, and would have seemed absurd to orientals, who have not our sentiment. so, after the conclusion of the tale, we went to bed. chapter xviii bastirma the moon began to shine upon the gardens of damascus, casting pale shadows, though the daylight had not quite departed, and the sky behind the trees to westward was still green. we were sitting out on stools under the walnut trees, beside a stream which made a pleasant murmur. the air was laden with the scent of unseen roses. behind us was a little tavern with a lantern lighted in its entrance arch, a solitary yellow eye amid the twilight. we were the centre of a crowd, as usual when suleymân was with us. his voice attracted people like a drum, and the matter of his talk had power to hold them. it was a weighty voice of studied modulations, which promised wisdom on the brink of laughter. he generally chose some moral or religious subject for discourse, and illustrated it by what we call 'nawâdir' (rare things) selected from his vast experience of life. by his own account he had journeyed to the world's rim, and had associated not alone with men, but also with jinn and ghouls. on the other hand, he had been to europe several times, and knew the streets of paris and of london. somehow, one never doubted any of his stories while he was telling them, the accents of his voice had such conviction. one was conscious that his tales--even the most extravagant--were true in some mysterious, intrinsic way. this time he chose to speak to us of guilt and innocence, of good and evil works, and their effect on man's salvation. he aired the theory, which roused approving murmurs in the listening circle, that to have a good intention was the chief desideratum for every son of adam on his journey through the world, no matter though his works might turn out bad or unsuccessful. 'to lie with good intention is better than to tell the truth with bad intention,' he declared. 'to lie is the salt of a man; the shame is to him who believes,' put in rashîd, my servant, who was great at proverbs. suleymân paid no heed to the interruption. 'a sin committed thoughtlessly,' said he, 'is light compared with one which thou hast hatched and planned.' 'nay, o beloved, a sin is a sin, appointed so by the most high; and the duty of a man is to avoid it. the hurt to man's salvation is the same, however he approach it,' said an old man in the audience. 'if i cut my hand, is the wound less, is it not rather likely to be more--for being thoughtless?' there was a murmur of applause as all eyes turned on this objector, whose likeness could not be distinguished in the gloaming. i spoke in approbation of the view expressed, and the old man, emboldened, laughed: 'to lie is bad, to kill is bad, to steal is bad. our lord destroy this rogue of an intention, which plain men cannot catch nor understand!' 'nay, listen!' suleymân became persuasive and profoundly earnest, as was his manner always under opposition. 'thou hast not altogether caught my meaning. i say a man should trust in the most high, not think too much beforehand of his ways. by thinking beforehand, he may form a bad intention, since man's thoughts are naturally fallible. let him think afterwards, thus he will learn to shun such snares in future, and by repentance place a good work to his credit. men learn wisdom from their sins, not from their righteous deeds. and the consciousness of sin, the knowledge that they may at any moment fall into it, preserves them from the arrogance of goodness.' 'there may be some small grain of sense in what thou sayest,' chuckled the objector, 'but not enough to make sin righteous, nor yet to abrogate the sacred law.' suleymân pursued unheeding: 'i have a rare thing, which will show you what i mean. 'a new judge had been appointed to the holy city. he was departing from stambûl by ship to take up his appointment. on the quay, a jew of his acquaintance came to him with reverence, and begged him kindly to convey a basket of bastirma to his (the jew's) son at the holy city, which the jews in their own language call jerusalem. you all know what bastirma is. it is dried and salted mutton--very tasty--a dish of which the turks are most inordinately fond. the cadi graciously consented, bidding his major-domo take the basket, and bestow it carefully among the things. the jew departed. the cadi and his party journeyed till they reached their destination, where, upon arrival, they discovered a young jew inquiring earnestly about a basket of bastirma. the cadi had forgotten its existence. "ah, to be sure!" he cried. "i gave it my major-domo for safe keeping." 'he called that servant, and commanded him to give the basket of bastirma to the jew there waiting. the major-domo bowed his head, folded his hands upon his breast, and said: "i ask forgiveness, o my lord. the basket still remains, but the bastirma was so excellent that, having tasted but a piece of it, i wanted more, so that, in fact, i ate it all upon the journey. i wish to pay the price of it to this young jew." 'the cadi thought his servant's offer fair enough, but the young jew went mad. flying at the throat of the major-domo, he flung him to the ground, and tried to tear the soul out of his body with his teeth and nails. the cadi called upon the bystanders for help. the jew was dragged with difficulty from his victim. then the cadi asked: '"why, pray, did you attack my servant in that savage way?" '"that man," said the jew, still white with rage, and pointing with his tallow finger at the major-domo, who had risen from the ground--"that man contains my grandfather." '"what words are these? explain yourself!" the cadi cried. '"three weeks ago, o gracious excellency, my grandfather died in stambûl. it had ever been his dearest wish to be buried in the holy city, near the scene of judgment; and that wish of his was law on us his offspring. but how could we fulfil it? how, i ask? no skipper, whether nazarene or muslim, would receive a dead jew on his ship for less than the corpse-weight in gold. and we are poor. to take him overland was quite impossible. and so my father and my mother in stambûl cured his dead limbs, and made of them bastirma, and sent him hither in the way thou knowest. it follows that thy servant has committed a most dreadful crime. let him be killed, i pray, and buried in the tomb we have prepared, that so my grandfather's great wish may be fulfilled." 'the major-domo was more dead than living as he heard that story. he rent his clothes and fell down on the ground insensible. 'the cadi answered the young jew with wisdom, saying: "thou art entitled to the price of one basket of bastirma, and no more, from this my servant; but he, on his side, has a right to all thou ownest. what wealth can ever compensate him for the haunting fear that on the last day he may rise inextricably mingled with thy worthy grandfather? go, i say, and never venture to approach him any more, or i shall surely act upon this judgment and denude thee quite." the major-domo--' cries of 'miskîn! miskîn!' (poor fellow!) interrupted the narrative. one said: 'i once ate pig's flesh by mistake, but this man's plight is much more horrible.' suleymân's opponent cried: 'it was a judgment on him, evidently, for his theft of the bastirma. say, what became of him thereafter, o narrator?' 'the major-domo, who, till then, had been a precious rogue--i knew him intimately from a child, and so can vouch for it--became from that day forth the saintliest of men. he thought about his crime and mourned for it, and deemed himself an unclean beast until he died--may god have mercy on him--and was buried in the holy city as the jew desired. he thought of nothing but good deeds, yet without seeking merit, knowing that nothing he could do would ever cleanse him. he became the humblest and the best of men, who had before been arrogant and very wicked. therefore i say that it is well for men to think of their sins after rather than before committing them.' 'but the intention!--what of the intention, o my master? his intention was not good. he stole!' 'his intention went no further than a basket of bastirma. the jew was only an unpleasant accident, in respect whereof no guilt attached to him. the case is clear, and yet, although i used to argue with him on the subject, i never could contrive to make him see it. one thing is certain, and will prove to you the worth of good intentions. he only meant to eat a basket of bastirma; therefore he felt great remorse when he devoured a jew, and so became a saint for paradise. had he intended to devour a jew he could not possibly have felt such great remorse. what say you?' and everyone agreed that it was so. chapter xix the artist-dragoman of suleymân in his capacity of dragoman i saw little but heard much both from himself and others. the english residents in palestine and syria--those who knew of him--regarded him as but a doubtful character, if one may judge from their repeated warnings to me not to trust him out of sight. his wisdom and his independent way of airing it did not please everybody as they did me; and reverence in dealing with a fellow-man was not his strong point. by travellers, i gather from innumerable testimonials which he showed me, he was either much beloved or the reverse, though none could say he did not know his business. his english, though voluminous and comprehensive, was sometimes strange to native english ears. he had read the bible in a german mission school, and spoke of 'billiam's donkey' and 'the mighty simson' where we should speak of balaam's ass and samson. he called the goatskins used for carrying water 'beastly skins,' and sometimes strengthened a mild sentence with an expletive. i do not think he ever went so far in this way as another dragoman who, riding out from haifa one fine morning with an english lady, pointed to mount carmel and observed: 'bloody fine hill, madam!' he knew how to adapt his language to his audience. but it is curious that a man whose speech in arabic was highly mannered, in english should have cultivated solecisms. that he did cultivate them as an asset of his stock-in-trade i can affirm, for he would invent absurd mistakes and then rehearse them to me, with the question: 'is that funny? will that make the english laugh?' for clergymen he kept a special manner and a special store of jokes. when leading such through palestine he always had a bible up before him on the saddle; and every night would join them after dinner and preach a sermon on the subject of the next day's journey. this he would make as comical as possible for their amusement, for clergymen, he often used to say to me, are fond of laughter of a certain kind. one english parson he bedevilled utterly by telling him the truth--or the accepted legend--in such a form that it seemed false or mad to him. as they were riding out from jaffa towards jerusalem, he pointed to the mud-built village of latrûn and said: 'that, sir, is the place where simpson catch the foxes.' 'ah?' said the clergyman. 'and who was simpson?' 'he was a very clever gentleman, and liked a bit of sport.' 'was he an englishman?' 'no, sir; he was a jew. he catch a lot of foxes with some traps; he kill them and he take their skins to jaffa to the tailor, and he tell the tailor: "make me one big skin out of these little ones." the tailor make one thundering big fox's skin, big enough for simpson to get inside of it. then simpson, he put on that skin one night, and go and sit out in the field and make the same noise what the little foxes make. the little foxes come out of their holes to look; they see one big fox sitting there, and they not know it's really simpson. they come quite near and simpson catch hold of their tails and tie their tails together. then they make the noise, and still more foxes come, and simpson catch hold of their tails and tie their tails together, till he got hundreds and hundreds.' 'whatever did he do with them?' inquired the parson. 'he set fire to them.' 'what on earth did he do that for?' 'that, sir, was to annoy his wife's relations.' 'and would you believe it,' added suleymân when he told me the story, 'that foolish preacher did not know that it is in the bible. he took it all down in his notebook as the exploit of a jewish traveller. he was the heavy one.' the last remark was in allusion to an arabic proverb of which suleymân was very fond: 'when the heavy one alights in the territory of a people there is nothing for the inhabitants except departure.' which, in its turn, is an allusion to the following story: a colony of ducks lived on an island in a river happily until a certain day, when the carcase of an ox came drifting down the current and stuck upon the forepoint of that island. they tried in vain to lift it up or push it off; it was too heavy to be moved an inch by all their efforts. they named it in their speech the heavy one. its stench infected the whole island, and kept on increasing until the hapless ducks were forced to emigrate. many heavy ones fell to the lot of suleymân as dragoman, and he was by temperament ill-fitted to endure their neighbourhood. upon the other hand, he sometimes happened on eccentrics who rejoiced his heart. an american admiral, on shore in palestine for two days, asked only one thing: to be shown the tree on which judas iscariot had hanged himself, in order that he might defile it in a natural manner and so attest his faith. suleymân was able to conduct him to the very tree, and to make the journey occupy exactly the time specified. the american was satisfied, and wrote him out a handsome testimonial. it must have been a hardship for suleymân--a man by nature sensitive and independent--to take his orders from some kinds of tourists and endure their rudeness. if left alone to manage the whole journey, he was--i have been told, and i can well believe it--the best guide in syria, devoting all his energies to make the tour illuminating and enjoyable; if heckled or distrusted, he grew careless and eventually dangerous, intent to play off jokes on people whom he counted enemies. one englishman, with a taste for management but little knowledge of the country, and no common sense, he cruelly obeyed in all things, with the natural result in loss of time and loss of luggage, sickness and discomfort. that was his way of taking vengeance on the heavy ones. 'and yet the man was happy, having had things his own way, even after the most horrid and disastrous journey ever made,' he told me with a sigh. 'some men are asses.' one afternoon, when i was riding round the bay from akka towards the foot of carmel, supposing suleymân to be a hundred miles away, i came upon a group of tourists by the river kishon, on the outskirts of the palm grove. they had alighted and were grouped around a dragoman in gorgeous raiment, like gulls around a parrot. the native of the land was holding forth to them. his voice was richly clerical in intonation, which made me notice that his audience consisted solely of members of the clergy and their patient women. 'this, ladies and gentlemen,' the rascal was declaiming like a man inspired, 'is that ancient riffer, the riffer kishon. it was here that the great brophet elijah bring the brophets of baal after he catch them with that dirty trick which i exblain to you about the sacrifice ub there upon that mountain what you see behind you. elijah he come strollin' down, quite habby, to this ancient riffer, singin' one little song; and the beoble they lug down those wicked brophets. then elijah take one big, long knife his uncle gif him and sharben it ubon a stone like what i'm doin'. then he gif a chuckle and he look among those brophets; and he see one man he like the look of, nice and fat; and he say: "bring me that man!" they bring that man; elijah slit his throat and throw him in the riffer. then he say: "bring his brother!" and they bring his brother, and he slit his throat and throw him in the riffer ... till they was all gone. then elijah clean his knife down in the earth, and when he'd finished laughin' he put ub a brayer. 'that was a glorious massycration, gentlemen!' the preacher was suleymân, at struggle with the heavy ones. he was not at all abashed when he caught sight of me. chapter xx love and the patriarch i was staying for some weeks at howard's hotel in jerusalem (iskender awwad, the dragoman, had transformed himself into the chevalier alexander howard, a worthy, if choleric, gentleman, and a good friend of mine), and i rode out every day upon a decent pony, which i had discovered in the stables at the back of the hotel. one afternoon a nephew of the stable-owner, who was something of a blood, proposed that we should ride together out towards bethlehem. his horse was a superb and showy stallion, quite beyond his power to manage properly. my modest steed was fired to emulation, and, once beyond the outskirts of jerusalem, we tore away. at a corner where the road was narrow between rocks, i do not know exactly how, the big horse cannoned into mine and overturned him. i pitched headlong on some stones. my first impression was that i had struck a wet spot in that arid wilderness. then i saw my horse at a great distance, galloping, and heard the nephew of the owner saying that he must pursue it, while i must mount his horse and ride on slowly. 'not half a mile from here, upon that hill,' he said, 'is katamûn, the country seat of the greek patriarch. there you are certain to find people who will have compassion. would god that i had never lived to see this day! would god that i were in the grave instead of you!' he seemed beside himself with grief and fear on my account; and yet the sense of property remained supreme. his first concern was to retrieve the runaway. bewildered and unable to see clearly, i did not mount the horse, which would have mastered me in that condition, but led him slowly up the hill to katamûn. upon the top there was a grove of trees, above which peeped some flat roofs and a dome. at length i reached the gate of this enclosure. it was open, and i led the horse along a sort of drive, on which were many chickens and a tethered sheep, which, bolting round a tree at our approach, became inextricably tangled in its rope. in a court between a little church and other buildings, a grim old woman in a coloured head-veil looked at me out of a doorway. i called to her that i had had an accident, and asked the favour of some washing-water and a bandage. she stared at me in doleful wise, and shook her head. 'water! bring me water!' i insisted. she went indoors and fetched a man of the same breed, whose eyes grew large and dull with horror at the sight of me. again i asked to be allowed to wash my head and face. i heard the woman whisper: 'shall i bring it?' and the man reply: 'let be! this blood-stained form is half a corpse already. he will surely die. the horse, perhaps, is stolen. there has been a fight. if we should touch him we might be concerned in it. wait till the end. then we will summon his beatitude, and have our testimony written down to prove our innocence.' amazed at their stupidity, i took a step towards them, arguing. they vanished headlong, when i realised for the first time that my appearance was in truth alarming. perceiving the advantage that appearance gave me, i pursued them, promising them plagues in this world and perdition in the next unless they brought some water instantly. the horse, which i was leading all this while, had been as quiet as a lamb; but, frightened by my shouts and gestures, he became unmanageable. i was struggling with him in the doorway of the house when a large and dignified ecclesiastic came upon the scene, the jewelled cross upon his cassock flashing in the sun. in the twinkling of an eye, it seemed to me, he had subdued the horse and tied him to a ring in the wall which i, in my bewilderment, had failed to see; had seized me by the collar of my coat and driven me before him through a kind of tunnel to a second court in which there was a cistern and a pump. he worked that pump and held my head beneath it, cursing the servants for a pack of imbeciles. the man and woman reappeared, completely tamed. he sent them running, one for stuff to make a bandage, the other for medicaments, but said no word to me until the work was ended, when he grinned and asked: 'art happy now?' i told him that i felt a great deal better. 'good,' he said, and led me by the hand into an upper chamber, richly carpeted, and furnished with a cushioned divan, of which the windows framed a wide view eastward over the judæan wilderness. there, sitting comfortably, he asked who i was and of what country; and, hearing that i came from england, questioned me about the high church and the low church in that land, and whether they formed one communion or were separate--a problem which he seemed to think of great importance. he was glad, he said, that i was not a roman catholic, a sect which he regarded as the worst of heretics. but his concern with all these matters seemed perfunctory compared with the delight he took in farming; for when i noticed from the window some sleek cows munching in a small enclosure, he brightened up and told me they were recent purchases. he talked about his poultry and his sheep and goats, all of which he would be pleased to show me if i cared to see them. accordingly, when we had drunk some coffee, which completed my revival, he took me out and showed me round his small demesne. we were standing in the shade of trees, discussing turkeys, when my companion of the road arrived upon the truant horse. he was a member of the orthodox greek church. what was my amazement when, having tied up the horse, he came with reverent haste and knelt at my companion's feet, kissing his hand with pious and devoted fervour. the grey-bearded priest, with full brown eyes, and hair that curled below the tall black head-dress like a trimming of grey astrakhan, with whom i had been talking so familiarly, was no other than the successor of st. james, the orthodox patriarch of jerusalem. i had supposed him some sub-prior or domestic chaplain. his beatitude acknowledged my surprise by an ironic grin. the new arrival, still upon his knees, embarked on a long story, told in lamentable tones, about a man who was in love, and like to die of it, with a young girl who was the sister of his brother's wife. it is forbidden by the canons of the eastern church for two brothers to marry two sisters. 'is there no way by which he may obtain her lawfully?' the suppliant asked. the patriarch assumed an air of weariness, and shook his head. 'if he were a catholic or a protestant he could obtain her lawfully.' the patriarch assumed an air of pitying scorn. 'the case is very hard,' the suppliant moaned, as he rose up from the ground at last and cleaned his knees. the patriarch, with a shrug, remarked that it was so. the young man should not have cast eyes upon a maid unlawful to him. 'the only way,' he said, 'is to obtain annulment of the brother's marriage by proving it to be illegal in some way.' with that he left the subject and resumed his talk concerning poultry. my companion of the road was plucking at my sleeve. i took leave of the patriarch respectfully, with many thanks. he clapped me on the shoulder, saying: 'come again! and never seek to wed the sister of thy brother's wife. your church does not forbid such marriage--does it?--being still tainted with the latin heresy. why does the orthodox church forbid it? because it brings confusion into families, and is indecent.' he seemed to jest, but the look he gave to my companion as we rode away was stern, i thought, and more than half-contemptuous. excepting that my head was bandaged, i felt well again; so we rode on, as we had first intended, towards bethlehem. over a rocky land with patches of pink cyclamen, black crows were wheeling in a sky of vivid blue. we came into the olive groves beneath the hill on which stands the greek priory of mâr elias, when my companion said ingratiatingly: 'if you please, we will call at the monastery and take refreshment. the monks are friends of mine. it was with the object of this visit that i led our ride in this direction.' as i raised no objection, we tied up our horses in the garden of the monastery and went in. we found the prior in the middle of a tea-party, a number of greek neighbours, of both sexes, being gathered in a very comfortably-furnished room. my friend, ere entering, implored me in a whisper not to tell them that my accident was owing to his clumsy horsemanship. instead, he put about some story which i did not clearly overhear--something about a fight with desert arabs, redounding to my credit, i conclude, from the solicitude which everyone expressed on my account when he had told it. some of the ladies present insisted on a second washing of my wounds with rose-water, and a second bandaging with finer linen than the patriarch had used. some monks, their long hair frizzed coquettishly and tied with ribbon, helped in the work. i did not like the look of them. my friend meanwhile was talking to some pretty girls. when we rode off again towards jerusalem he asked me questions about the anglican and roman churches, and seemed to think it a sad defect in the former that it lacked the faculty of dispensation with regard to marriage. after a space of silence, as we were riding down the hill by the ophthalmic hospital, with the tower of david and the city walls crowning the steep before us, he inquired: 'did you observe those girls with whom i was conversing--especially the one with pale-blue ribbons. it is her i love.' and, when i complimented him on his good taste, he added: 'i think i shall become a catholic,' and started weeping. i then learnt from his broken speech that he was himself the hapless lover of his story to the patriarch. the girl whom i had seen at mâr elias was the sister of his brother's wife. i was as sympathetic in appearance as i could be; but somehow all my sympathy was with the patriarch, who seemed to me the only man whom i had seen that day. chapter xxi the unpopular landowner i had decided to buy land and settle down in syria; and had obtained consent from home upon condition that i did not spend more than a certain sum of money, not a large one, which, suleymân had told me, would be quite sufficient for the purpose. he pointed out how lands, at present desert, and to be bought for a mere song, could be rendered profitable for the cost of bringing water to them. there was such a tract of land adjacent to the village where he had a house, with water running under it at no great depth. rashîd, my servant, did not like this notion of converting deserts into gardens. he called it simple waste of time and labour, when gardens ready made were going cheap. there was a nice estate, with two perennial springs within its boundaries, near his village in the north. his people would be proud and gratified if i would honour their poor dwelling while inspecting it. suleymân lamented that his house was quite unworthy of my occupation, but proposed to have a fine pavilion pitched outside it, if i would deign to grace the village as his guest. 'depend upon it,' said an englishman whom i consulted on one of my rare visits to the city, 'the land they recommend belongs to their relations. they will sell it you for twenty times the market value, and then adhere to you like leeches till they've sucked you dry.' he added: 'i advise you to give up the whole idea,' but i was used to that advice, and firm against it. his warning against native counsellors, however, weighed with me to this extent, that i determined to ignore the lands they recommended in their neighbourhood. each was at first cast down when i announced this resolution. but presently rashîd exclaimed: 'no matter where we dwell. i still shall serve thee'; and suleymân, after smoking his narghîleh a long while in silence, said: 'each summer i will visit thee and give advice.' all three of us then set to work upon inquiries. innumerable were the sheykhs who seemed to be in money difficulties and wished to sell their land. some owners journeyed forty miles to come and see me, and explain the great advantage of their property. but, knowing something of the land code, i inquired about the tenure. i wanted only 'mulk' or freehold land; and 'wakf' (land held in tail or mortmain) of various and awful kinds is much more common. at last a sheykh came who declared his land was 'mulk,' and certain of our neighbours, men of worth, testified of their certain knowledge that he spoke the truth. the village where the property was situated was a long day's journey from our own. a fortnight after my discussion with the owner suleymân and i set out on our way thither, having sent rashîd ahead of us to find a decent lodging, since it was our intention to remain there several days. the village was arranged in steps upon a mountain side, the roofs of houses on the lower level serving as approach to those above. on all the steep slopes round about it there were orchards, with now and then a flat-roofed house among the trees. rashîd came out to meet us, accompanied by certain of the elders, among whom i looked in vain for the owner of the land we were to visit. my first inquiry was for him. rashîd replied: 'he is unpopular. i went to the chief people of the village'--he waved his hand towards the persons who escorted him--'and they have set apart a house and stable for your honour's use.' the house turned out to be a single room, cube-shaped, and furnished only with some matting. the stable, part of the same building, was exactly like it, except that it was open at one end. we had our supper at a tavern by the village spring, surrounded by a friendly crowd of fellâhîn. again i looked for the old gentleman whom i had come to see, and whispered my surprise at not beholding him. rashîd again replied: 'he is unpopular.' returning to the house with me, rashîd arranged my bed; put candle, matches, cigarettes within my reach; fastened the shutters of two windows; and retired, informing me that he and suleymân were sleeping at the dwelling of the headman of the place. i had got into my bed upon the floor when there came a knocking on the solid wooden shutters which rashîd had closed. i went and opened one of them a little way. it was moonlight, but the window looked into the gloom of olive trees. a voice out of the shadows questioned: 'is it thou, the englishman?' it was the owner of the land, who then reproached me in heartbroken tones because i had not let him know the hour of my arrival, that he and his three sons might have gone forth upon the road to meet me. the owners of the place where now i lodged were his chief enemies. he begged me to steal forth at once and come with him. when i refused, he groaned despairingly and left me with the words: 'believe not anything they say about us or the property.' i closed the shutter and went back to bed. but it was hot. i rose again and opened both the windows so as to secure whatever breeze there was, and, after a long spell of angry tossing due to sandflies, fell asleep. when i awoke the room was full of daylight and a murmur which i first mistook for that of insects, but soon found out to be the voice of a considerable crowd of human beings. at every window was a press of faces and of women's head-veils, and children raised upon their mothers' shoulders. i heard a child's sad wail: 'o mother, lift me up that i, too, may behold the unbeliever!' i made haste to cover myself somehow, for in my sleep i had kicked off the bedclothes, and commanded all those women to be gone immediately. they merely grinned and wished me a good day, and then discussed my personal appearance, the whiteness of my skin, and more particularly my pyjamas, with much interest. this went on till rashîd appeared upon the scene, bringing my india-rubber bath and a kerosene tin full of water. he closed and bolted all the shutters firmly, with stern reflections on the lack of shame of my admirers. i told him of the visit of the owner of the land. he answered as before: 'he is unpopular.' i asked the reason, and he told me: 'there are in this part of the country two factions which have existed from old time. all the people in this village are adherents of one faction, except that old man and his children, who uphold the other. the people would not mind so much if he kept silent, but he gibes at them and vaunts his party upon all occasions. they intend to kill him. that is why he wants to sell. it is good to know this, since it gives us an advantage.' suleymân arrived. we all three breakfasted on slabs of country bread and a great bowl of curds, and then went out to view that old man's land. the sheykh--whose name was yûsuf--and his sons were there to show us round, and, though the property was not extensive, they contrived to keep us there till noon, when a round meal was spread for us beneath some trees. and after that was finished, the sheykh availed himself of some remark of mine to start the whole perambulation once again. at last it came to mention of the price, which seemed to me excessive, and i said so to my friends. rashîd replied: 'of course! the business has not yet begun. to-morrow and the next day we shall view the land again; and after that we shall arrange for the appointment of two valuers, one for us and one for him, who will inspect the land, first separately, then together; and after that we shall appoint an arbiter who will remonstrate with the owner of the land; and after that----' 'but the business will take months.' 'that is the proper way, unless your honour wishes to be cheated.' 'what is your opinion?' i inquired of suleymân. 'the land is good, and capable of much improvement,' he replied, 'and all the trees go with it, which is an advantage. also the source of water will be all our own.' suleymân repeated this remark in presence of the crowd of villagers whom we found awaiting our return before my house. at once there rose a cry: 'that yûsuf is a liar. some of the trees do not belong to him. the water, too, does not originate upon his property, but on the hill above, so can be cut from him.' suleymân was talking with the village headman. when he returned to me his face was grave. 'what is it?' i inquired. 'has the sheykh yûsuf been deceiving us?' he shook his head with a disgusted frown before replying: 'no, it is these others who are lying through dislike of him. is your heart set upon the purchase of that land?' 'by no means.' 'that is good; because this village is a nest of hornets. the headman has long marked that land out for his own. were we to pay sheykh yûsuf a good price for it, enabling him to leave the neighbourhood with honour, they would hate us and work for our discomfort in a multitude of little ways. we will call upon the sheykh to-morrow and cry off the bargain, because your honour caught a touch of fever from the land to-day. that is a fair excuse.' we proffered it upon the morrow, when the sheykh yûsuf received it with a scarce veiled sneer, seeming extremely mortified. directly after we had left him, we heard later, he went down to the tavern by the village spring and cursed the elders who had turned my mind against him in unmeasured terms; annoying people so that they determined there and then to make an end of him. next morning, when we started on our homeward way, there was a noise of firing in the village, and, coming round a shoulder of the hill in single file we saw sheykh yûsuf seated on a chair against the wall of his house, and screened by a great olive tree, the slits in whose old trunk made perfect loopholes, blazing away at a large crowd of hostile fellâhîn. he used, in turn, three rifles, which his sons kept loading for him. he was seated, as we afterwards found out, because he had been shot in the leg. i was for dashing to his rescue, and rashîd was following. we should both have lost our lives, most probably, if suleymân had not shouted at that moment, in stentorian tones: 'desist, in the name of the sultan and all the powers of europe! desist, or every one of you shall surely hang!' such words aroused the people's curiosity. the firing ceased while we rode in between them and their object; and suleymân assured the villagers politely that i was the right hand and peculiar agent of the english consul-general, with absolutely boundless power to hang and massacre. upon the other hand, we all three argued with sheykh yûsuf that he should leave the place at once and lay his case before the governor. 'we will go with him,' said suleymân to me, 'in order that your honour may be made acquainted with the governor--a person whom you ought to know. his property will not be damaged in his absence, for they fear the law. the heat of war is one thing, and cold-blooded malice is another. it is the sight and sound of him that irritates them and so drives them to excess.' at length we got the sheykh on horseback and upon the road; but he was far from grateful, wishing always to go back and fight. we could not get a civil word from him on the long ride, and just before we reached the town where lived the governor he managed to escape. rashîd flung up his hands when we first noticed his defection. 'no wonder that he is unpopular,' he cried disgustedly. 'to flee from us, his benefactors, after we have come so far out of our way through kindness upon his account. it is abominable. who, under allah, could feel love for such a man?' chapter xxii the caÏmmacÂm though the reason of our coming, the sheykh yûsuf, had deserted us, we rode into the town and spent the night there, finding lodgings at a khan upon the outskirts of the place, of which the yard was shaded by a fine old carob tree. while we were having breakfast the next morning in a kind of gallery which looked into the branches of that tree, and through them and a ruined archway to the road, crowded just then with peasants in grey clothing coming in to market, suleymân proposed that he and i should go and call upon the caïmmacâm, the local governor. i had spent a wretched night. the place was noisy and malodorous. my one desire was to be gone as soon as possible, and so i answered: 'i will call on no one. my only wish to see him was upon account of that old rogue who ran away from us.' 'the man was certainly ungrateful--curse his father!' said rashîd. 'the man is to be pitied, being ignorant,' said suleymân. 'his one idea was to defend his house and land by combat. he did not perceive that by the course of law and influence he might defend them more effectually, and for ever. he probably did not imagine that your honour would yourself approach the governor and plead with him.' 'i shall see nobody,' i answered crossly. 'we return at once.' 'good,' said rashîd. 'i get the horses ready.' 'and yet,' said our preceptor thoughtfully, 'his excellency is, they say, a charming man; and this would be a golden opportunity for us to get acquainted with him and bespeak his favour. thus the sheykh yûsuf, though himself contemptible, may be of service to us. already i have told the people here that we have come on an important errand to the governor. rashîd, too, as i know, has spoken of the matter in a boastful way. if, after that, we should depart in dudgeon without seeing him, there would be gossip and perhaps--god knows--even political disturbance. the governor, coming to hear of it, might reasonably feel aggrieved.' he argued so ridiculously, yet so gravely, that in the end i was obliged to yield. and so, a little before ten o'clock, we sauntered through the narrow streets to the government offices--a red-roofed, whitewashed building near which soldiers loitered, in a dusty square. there we waited for a long while in an ante-room--spacious, but rather dingy, with cushionless divans around the walls, on which a strange variety of suitors sat or squatted. some of these appeared so poor that i admired their boldness in demanding audience of the governor. yet it was one of the most wretched in appearance who was called first by the turbaned, black-robed usher. he passed into an inner room: the door was shut. then suleymân went over to the usher, who kept guard upon that door, and held a whispered conversation with him. i know not what he said; but, when the wretched-looking man came out again, the usher slipped into the inner room with reverence and, presently returning, bowed to us and bade us enter. i went in, followed by suleymân, who swelled and strutted like a pouter pigeon in his flowing robes. the caïmmacâm was a nice-looking turk of middle-age, extremely neat in his apparel and methodical in his surroundings. he might have been an englishman but for the crimson fez upon his brow and a chaplet of red beads, with which he toyed perpetually. he gazed into my eyes with kind inquiry. i told him that i came with tidings of a grave disturbance in his district, and then left suleymân to tell the story of sheykh yûsuf and his neighbours and the battle we had witnessed in the olive grove before his house. suleymân exhausted all his powers of language and of wit, making a veritable poem of the episode. the governor did not appear profoundly interested. 'sheykh yûsuf! who is he?' he asked at the conclusion of the tale. i explained that the sheykh yûsuf was a landowner, whose acquaintance we had made through my desire to buy some property. 'your honour thinks of settling here among us?' cried his excellency, with sudden zest, appearing quite enraptured with the notion. he asked then if the french tongue was intelligible to me, and, hearing that it was, talked long in french about my project, which seemed to please him greatly. he said that it would be a blessing for his district to have a highly civilised, enlightened being like myself established in it as the sun and centre of improvement; and what a comfort it would be to him particularly to have an educated man at hand to talk to! he hoped that, when i had set up my model farm--for a model it would be, in every way, he felt quite sure of that, from my appearance and my conversation--i would not limit my attention solely to the work of agriculture, but would go on to improve the native breeds of sheep and oxen. he heard that splendid strains of both were found in england. he wished me to import a lot of english bulls and rams, assuring me of the assistance of the government in all that i might do in that direction, since the sultan ('his imperial majesty' he called him always) took the greatest interest in such experiments. all this was very far from my original design, which was to lead as far as possible a quiet life. but i promised to give thought to all his excellency's counsels. he made me smoke two cigarettes and drink a cup of coffee which his secretary had prepared upon a brazier in a corner of the room; and then, with a sweet smile and deprecating gestures of the hands, he begged me to excuse him if he closed the interview. it was a grief to him to let me go, but he was very busy. i rose at once, and so did suleymân. 'but what of the sheykh yûsuf?' i exclaimed, reminding him. 'ah, to be sure!' rejoined the governor with a slight frown. 'of what religion is he?' 'i suppose a druze.' 'and the people who attacked him so unmercifully?' 'are druzes too.' 'ah, then, it is all in the family, as the saying goes. and, unless some deputation from the druze community appeals to me, i should be ill-advised to interfere in its affairs. our way of government is not identical with that which is pursued with such conspicuous success in highly civilised and settled countries like your own. we leave the various communities and tribes alone to settle their internal differences. it is only where tribe wars on tribe, religion on religion, or their quarrels stop the traffic on the sultan's highway that we intervene. what would you have, mon ami? we are here in asia!' with these words, and a smile of quite ineffable indulgence for my young illusions, his excellency bowed me out. in the ante-room suleymân drew close to my left ear and whispered sharply: 'give me four mejîdis.' 'whatever for?' i asked in deep amazement. 'that i will tell you afterwards. the need is instant.' i produced the four mejîdis from a trouser-pocket, and, receiving them, he went back to the door by which the usher stood, and whispered to the man, who went inside a moment and came back with the private secretary of the caïmmacâm. the compliments which passed between them seemed to me interminable. i paced the pavement of the waiting-room, the only figure in the crowd whose attitude bespoke impatience. the others sat or squatted round the walls in perfect resignation, some of them smoking, others munching nuts of various kinds, of which the shells began to hide the floor adjacent to them. a few of the suppliants had even had the forethought to bring with them bags full of provisions, as if anticipating that their time of waiting might endure for several days. at last, when i was growing really angry with him, suleymân returned and told me: 'all is well, and we can now be going, if your honour pleases.' 'i do please,' i rejoined indignantly. 'why have you kept me waiting all this while? i never wished to come at all into this place, and allah knows that we have done no good by coming. we have spoilt a morning which we might have spent upon the road.' 'allah, allah!' sighed suleymân long-sufferingly. 'your honour is extremely hard to please. did not his excellency talk to you exclusively, with every sign of the most lively pleasure for quite half an hour; whereas he scarcely deigned to throw a word to me, although i wooed his ear with language calculated to seduce the mind of kings? i have some cause to be dejected at neglect from one so powerful; but you have every cause to be elated. he is now your friend.' 'i shall never see him in my life again most likely!' i objected. 'nay, that you cannot tell,' replied my mentor suavely. 'to be acquainted with a person in authority is always well.' chapter xxiii concerning bribes 'why did you want those four mejîdis?' i inquired severely. suleymân shrugged up his shoulders and replied: 'i had to pay the proper fees, since you yourself showed not a sign of doing so, to save our carefully established honour and good name.' 'you don't mean that you gave them to the caïmmacâm?' 'allah forbid! consider, o beloved, my position in this matter. to put it in the form of parables: suppose a king and his vizier should pay a visit to another king and his vizier. if there were presents to be made, i ask you, would not those intended for the king be offered personally by the king, and those for the vizier by the vizier? it will be obvious to your honour, upon slight reflection, that if, in our adventure of this morning, a present to the governor was necessary or desirable, you personally, and no other creature, should have made it.' 'merciful allah!' i exclaimed. 'he would have knocked me down.' 'he would have done nothing of the kind, being completely civilised. he would merely have pushed back your hand with an indulgent smile, pressing it tenderly, as who should say: "thou art a child in these things, and dost not know our ways, being a stranger." yet, undoubtedly, upon the whole, your offer of a gift, however small, would have confirmed the good opinion which he formed at sight of you. 'but let that pass! out of the four mejîdis which you gave me so reluctantly (since you ask for an account) i presented one to the usher, and three to his excellency's private secretary, in your name. and i have procured it of the secretary's kindness that he will urge his lord to take some measures to protect that ancient malefactor, the sheykh yûsuf.' 'if i had tipped the governor, as you suggest that i ought to have done,' i interrupted vehemently, 'do you mean to say he would have taken measures to protect sheykh yûsuf?' 'nay, i say not that; but he would at least have had complete conviction that your honour takes a lively interest in that old churl--a person in himself unpleasant and unworthy of a single thought from any thinking or right-minded individual. thus, even though he scorned the money, as he would no doubt have done, the offer would have told him we were earnest in our application, and he might conceivably have taken action from desire to do a pleasure to one whom, as i said before, he loved at sight.' 'the whole system is corrupt,' i said, 'and what is worse, unreasonable.' 'so say the franks,' replied suleymân, shrugging his shoulders up and spreading wide his hands, as though before a wall of blind stupidity which he knew well could never be cast down nor yet surmounted. 'our governors, our judges, and the crowd of small officials are not highly paid, and what they do receive is paid irregularly. then all, whether high or low, must live; and it is customary in our land to offer gifts to persons in authority, because a smile, god knows, is always better than a frown from such an one. we are not like the franks, who barter everything, even their most sacred feelings, even love. it gives us pleasure to make gifts, and see them welcomed, even when the recipient is someone who cannot in any way repay us for our trouble, as a frank would say.' 'but to sell justice; for it comes to that!' i cried, indignant. 'who talks of selling justice? you are quite mistaken. if i have to go before a judge i make a gift beforehand to his honour, whose acceptance tells me, not that he will give a verdict in my favour--do not think it!--but merely that his mind contains no grudge against me. if he refused the gift i should be terrified, since i should think he had been won completely by the other side. to take gifts from both parties without preference, making allowance, when there is occasion, for the man who is too poor to give; and then to judge entirely on the merits of the case; that is the way of upright judges in an eastern country. the gifts we make are usually small, whereas the fees which lawyers charge in western countries are exorbitant, as you yourself have told me more than once and i have heard from others. and even after paying those enormous fees, the inoffensive, righteous person is as like to suffer as the guilty. here, for altogether harmless men to suffer punishment in place of rogues is quite unheard-of; though occasionally one notorious evildoer may be punished for another's crime when this is great and the real criminal cannot be found and there is call for an example to be made upon the instant. this generally happens when a foreign consul interferes, demanding vengeance for some slight offence against his nationals. things like that take place occasionally when the court is flustered. but in its natural course, believe me, turkish justice, if slow-moving, is as good as that of europe and infinitely less expensive than your english law.' i made no answer, feeling quite bewildered. suleymân was always serious in manner, which made it very hard to tell when he was joking or in earnest. among the natives of the land, i knew, he had the reputation of a mighty joker, but i had learnt the fact from the applause of others. i never should have guessed from his demeanour that he jested consciously. he also held his peace until we reached our hostelry. there, some half-hour later, when i had given orders for our horses to be ready for a start directly after luncheon--a decision against which suleymân protested unsuccessfully, declaring it would be too hot for riding--i overheard him telling the whole story of our visit, including the donation of the four mejîdis, to rashîd, who was lazily engaged in polishing my horse's withers. 'that secretary is a man of breeding,' he was saying, in a tone of warm approval; 'for i noticed he was careful to receive the present in his left hand, which he placed behind his back in readiness, with great decorum. nor did he thank me, or give any token of acknowledgment beyond a little friendly twinkle of the eyes.' at once i pounced on this admission, crying: 'that shows that he regarded the transaction as unlawful! and your remark upon it shows that you, too, think it so.' suleymân looked slowly round until his eyes met mine, not one whit disconcerted, though until i spoke he had not known that i was anywhere in earshot. 'your honour is incorrigible,' he replied, with a grave smile. 'i never knew your like for obstinacy in a false opinion; which shows that you were born to fill some high position in the world. of course they all--these fine officials, great and small--regard it as beneath their dignity to take a present which they sorely need. to take such presents greedily would be to advertise their poverty to all the world. and government appointments swell a man with pride, if nothing else--a pride which makes them anxious to be thought above all fear of want. for that cause, they are half-ashamed of taking gifts. but no one in this country thinks it wrong of them to do so, nor to oblige the giver, if they can, in little ways. it would be wrong if they betrayed the trust reposed in them by their superiors, or were seduced into some act against their loyalty or their religion. but that, praise be to god, you will not find. it is only in small matters such as acts of commerce or politeness, which hardly come within the sphere of a man's conscience, that they are procurable, and no one in this country thinks the worse of them, whatever people say to you, a foreigner, by way of flattery. it is very difficult for foreigners to learn the truth. your honour should be thankful that you have suleymân for an instructor--and rashîd, too,' he added as an after-thought, seeing that my bodyservant stood close by, expecting mention. and after more than twenty years' experience of eastern matters, i know now that he was right. chapter xxiv the battlefield our road, the merest bridle-path, which sometimes altogether disappeared and had to be retrieved by guesswork, meandered on the side of a ravine, down in the depths of which, in groves of oleander, there flowed a stream of which we caught the murmur. the forest was continuous on our side of the wadi. it consisted of dense olive groves around the villages and a much thinner growth of ilex in the tracts between. the shade was pleasant in the daytime, but as night came on its gloom oppressed our spirits with extreme concern, for we were still a long way off our destination, and uncertain of the way. the gloom increased. from open places here and there we saw the stars, but gloom filled the ravine, and there was little difference between the darkness underneath the trees and that outside in open spaces of the grove. we trusted to our horses to make out the path, which sometimes ran along the verge of precipices. i cannot say that i was happy in my mind. rashîd made matters worse by dwelling on the risks we ran not only from abandoned men but ghouls and jinnis. the lugubrious call of a hyæna in the distance moved him to remark that ghouls assume that shape at night to murder travellers. they come up close and rub against them like a loving cat; which contact robs the victims of their intellect, and causes them to follow the hyæna to its den, where the ghoul kills them and inters their bodies till the flesh is ripe. he next expressed a fear lest we might come upon some ruin lighted up, and be deceived into supposing it a haunt of men, as had happened to a worthy cousin of his own when on a journey. this individual, whose name was ali, had been transported in the twinkling of an eye by jinnis, from somewhere in the neighbourhood of hamá to the wilds of jebel câf (mount caucasus), and had escaped a hideous and painful death only by recollection of the name of god. he told me, too, how he himself, when stationed at mersîn, had met a company of demons, one fine evening in returning from an errand; and other tales which caused my flesh to creep. the groves receded. we were in an open place where only a low kind of brushwood grew, when suddenly my horse shied, gave a fearful snort, and sturdily refused to budge another inch. i let him stand until rashîd came up. he thought to pass me, but his horse refused as mine had done. 'it is no doubt some jinni in the way,' he whispered in a frightened tone; then, calling out: 'dastûr, ya mubârak' (permission, blessed one!), he tried to urge his horse, which still demurred. so there we were, arrested by some unseen hand; and this became the more unpleasant because a pestilential smell was in the place. 'better return!' muttered rashîd, with chattering teeth. 'give me a match!' i said distractedly. 'my box is empty.' 'better return!' he pleaded. 'a match, do you hear?' i cried, made cross by terror. he gave the match, and i believe i shouted as i struck it. for a brief space it made a dazzle in my eyes, preventing me from seeing anything, and then went out. 'there is something lying in the path!' rashîd was gibbering. i got down off my horse and lit a second match, which i took care to shelter till the flame was strong. a human arm lay in the path before us. my horror was extreme, and grew uncanny when the match expired. but the ghastly object had restored his courage to rashîd, who even laughed aloud as he exclaimed: 'the praise to allah! it is nothing which can hurt us. no doubt some murder has been here committed, all unknown. the lord have mercy on the owner of that arm! we will report the matter to some high official at our journey's end.' we turned our horses to the right and made a long detour, but scarcely had they found the path again when mine (which led the way) demurred once more. 'another piece,' exclaimed rashîd excitedly. he got down off his horse to look. 'nay, many pieces. this, by allah, is no other than a battlefield unknown to fame.' 'how can a battle take place without public knowledge?' i inquired, incredulous. 'the thing may happen when two factions quarrel for unlawful cause--it may be over stolen gains, or for some deadly wrong which cannot be avowed without dishonour--and when each side exterminates the other.' 'how can that happen?' i exclaimed again. rashîd could not at once reply, because in our avoidance of those human relics we found ourselves on broken ground and among trunks of trees, which called for the address of all our wits. but when the horses once more plodded steadily, he assured me that the thing could happen, and had happened often in that country, where men's blood is hot. he told me how a band of brigands once, in anti-lebanon, had fought over their spoils till the majority on both sides had been slain, and the survivors were so badly wounded that they could not move, but lay and died upon the battlefield; and how the people of two villages, both men and women, being mad with envy, had held a battle with the same result. i interrupted him with questions. both of us were glad to talk in order to get rid of the remembrance of our former fear. we gave the rein to our imaginations, speaking eagerly. reverting to the severed limbs which we had seen, rashîd exclaimed: 'now i will tell your honour how it happened. a deadly insult had been offered to a family in a young girl's dishonour. her father and her brothers killed her to wipe out the shame--as is the custom here among the fellâhîn--and then with all their relatives waylaid the men of the insulter's house when these were cutting wood here in the forest. there was a furious battle, lasting many hours. the combatants fought hand-to-hand with rustic weapons, and in some cases tore each other limb from limb. when all was done, the victors were themselves so sorely wounded that they were able to do nothing but lie down and die.' 'how many do you think there were?' i asked, believing. 'to judge by scent alone, not one or two; but, allah knows, perhaps a hundred!' said rashîd reflectively. 'it is strange they should have lain there undiscovered.' 'not strange, when one remembers that the spot is far from any village and probably as far from the right road,' was his reply. this last conjecture was disquieting; but we were both too much excited for anxiety. 'it is an event to be set down in histories,' rashîd exclaimed. 'we shall be famous people when we reach the village. such news is heard but once in every hundred years.' 'i wish that we could reach that village,' was my answer; and again we fell to picturing the strange event. at length we heard the barking of a dog in the far distance, and gave praise to allah. a half-hour later we saw lights ahead of us. but that did not mean that the village was awake, rashîd explained to me, for among the people of that country 'to sleep without a light' is to be destitute. a little later, rashîd hammered at a door, while savage dogs bayed round us, making rushes at his heels. 'awake, o sons of honour!' was his cry. 'a great calamity!' and, when the door was opened, he detailed the story of an awful fight, in which both parties of belligerents had been exterminated. 'they are torn limb from limb. we saw the relics,' he explained. 'if you have any doubt, question my lord who is out here behind me--a great one of the english, famed for his veracity.' and i was ready to confirm each word he said. in a very little while that village was astir. it was the seat of a mudîr who had two soldiers at his beck and call. the great man was aroused from sleep; he questioned us, and, as the result of the inquiry, sent the soldiers with us to survey the battlefield. a crowd of peasants, armed with quarter-staves and carrying lanterns, came with the party out of curiosity. our horses having had enough of travel, we went back on foot amid the noisy crowd, who questioned us incessantly about the strange event. the murmur of our going filled the wood and echoed from the rocks above. by the time we reached the place where we had seen the human limbs, the dawn was up, to make our lanterns useless. rashîd and i were certain of the spot. we came upon it with a thrill of apprehension. but there was nothing there. 'i seek refuge in allah!' gasped rashîd in pious awe. 'i swear by my salvation it was here we saw them. the name of god be round about us! it is devilry.' our escort was divided in opinion, some thinking we had been indeed the sport of devils, others that we lied. but someone sniffed and said: 'there is a smell of death.' there was no doubt about the smell at any rate. then one of the mudîr's two soldiers, searching in the brushwood, cried: 'i have the remnant of an arm.' and then an old man of the village smote his leg and cried: 'o my friends, i see it! here is neither lies nor devilry.' laughing, he seized me by the arm and bade me come with him. we went a little way into the wood, and there he showed me three druze tombs deep in the shade of ilex trees--small buildings made of stone and mud, like little houses, each with an opening level with the ground, and a much smaller opening, like a window, at the height of a man's elbow. 'thou seest?' cried my tutor. 'those are graves. the openings on the ground were made too large, and jackals have got in and pulled the bodies out. the men who made those graves are foolish people, who have wandered from the truth. they think the spirits of the dead have need of food and light, and also of a hole for crawling in and out. i heard thee ask thy servant for a match just now. come, i will show thee where to find one always.' he led me to the nearest tomb, and thrust my hand into the little hole which served as window. it touched a heap of matches which he bade me take and put into my pocket, saying: 'it is not a theft, for the matches have been thrown away, as you might say. those foolish people will suppose the dead have struck them. they used to put wax candles and tinder-boxes with them in the niches, but when these sulphur matches came in fashion, they preferred them for economy. when i am working in this wood i take no fire with me, being quite sure to find the means of lighting one. praise be to allah for some people's folly!' i thanked him for the wrinkle, and went back to join rashîd, who was exclaiming with the others over our deception. but everyone agreed that the mistake was natural for men bewildered in the darkness of the night. chapter xxv murderers rashîd and i were riding down to tripoli, and had long been looking for a certain 'kheymah' or refreshment booth beside the road, which an enterprising christian of that town had opened in the summer months for the relief of travellers. when at length we came in sight of it, we saw a crowd of men reposing on the ground before its awning. we soon lost sight of them again in a ravine, and it was not till we were close upon them, climbing up the other bank, that i remarked that most of them were shackled and in charge of a small guard of turkish soldiers. 'criminals upon their way to the hard labour prison,' said rashîd. 'what have they done?' i asked, as we dismounted. he strolled across and put a question to their escort, then returned and told me: 'they are murderers.' after that information it surprised me, while we ate our luncheon, to observe their open faces, and to hear them laugh and chatter with their guards. already i had learnt that crime in eastern countries is not regarded altogether as it is with us; that orientals do not know that shrinking from contamination which marks the englishman's behaviour towards a breaker of his country's law. but i was unprepared for this indulgence towards a gang of murderers. it interested me; and, seeing that rashîd was talking with them in a friendly way, i gathered there was nothing to be feared from their proximity, and myself drew near when i had finished eating, and gave them cigarettes. they thanked me loudly. the smile of pleasure on each face expressed a childlike innocence. one only sat apart in gloom, conforming in some measure to my preconceived idea of what a murderer upon his way to prison ought to look like. i noticed with surprise that this one wore no chain. i went and touched him on the shoulder. it was only then that he looked up and saw that i was wishing him to take a cigarette. he did so quickly, and saluted me without a word. one of the others said in tender tones: 'blame him not, o my lord, for he is mad with sorrow. he is more luckless than the rest of us--may allah help him! he killed the person he loved best on earth--his only brother.' 'then it is true that you are murderers?' i asked, still half-incredulous. 'by allah, it is true, alas! and we are paying for it by a year's enslavement.' 'a year! no more than that,' i cried, 'for killing men?' 'and is it not enough, o lord of kindness? it is not as if we had killed men from malice or desire of gain. we killed in sudden anger, or, in the case of three among us, in a faction-fight. it is from allah; and we ask forgiveness.' 'how did that man kill?' i questioned, pointing to the apathetic figure of the fratricide, which attracted my imagination by its loneliness. 'he suffered persecutions from a rich man of his village, who was his rival for the favour of a certain girl--so it is said. those persecutions maddened him at times. one day when he was mad like that, his brother came to him and spoke some word of blame upon another matter. he killed him, as he might have killed his wife and children or himself, being in that state of mind devoid of reason. when he awoke and saw what he had done, he wished to kill himself.' 'it is from allah! his remorse is punishment,' exclaimed rashîd. 'why should he go to prison? he has had enough.' 'nobody of this country would have thought of punishment for him,' replied the spokesman of the murderers, with rueful smile. 'but his brother was the servant of a foreign merchant--a greek from overseas, i think it was--who put the business in his consul's hands, and so----' the speaker clicked his thumbnail on his white front teeth to signify finality. 'but the poor man himself does not object; it seems indeed that he is glad to go with us. perhaps by labour and harsh treatment he may be relieved.' as there were still provisions in our saddle-bags, rashîd, by my command, divided them among the company, the soldiers and the murderers alike, who were delighted. it was a merry party which we left behind, with the exception of the fratricide, who ate the food, when it was set before him, ravenously, but said not a word. 'may allah heal him!' sighed the other murderers. 'our lord remove this shadow from his mind!' rashîd and i pursued our way on an interminable path meandering in zig-zags down through brushwood, which smelt sweet of myrtle and wild incense. i tried to make him understand that he had quite misled me by the term he had applied to men who had been guilty of no more than manslaughter. the distinction had to be explained with much periphrasis, because the arabic word 'câtil' means a slayer, and is given indiscriminately to all who kill. he caught my meaning sooner than i had expected. 'ah!' he said. 'your honour thought from what i said that they were "cutters of the road,"[ ] or hired assassins, who kill men for gain. those are the greater criminals, whose punishment is death. few such exist among us. here a robber will seldom kill a man unless that man kills him.' [i translate literally] 'when it is just retaliation; and as for hired assassins, i have known several of them in my time, and they are not bad people, but unfortunate, having fallen early in the power of cruel and ambitious men. most of the killing in this country is done without a thought, in anger or mad jealousy.' 'is it for man to judge them?' he exclaimed, with a high shrug, when i remarked upon their friendly treatment by the turkish guards. 'they are punished by authority down here, so we are better; but afterwards, when comes the judgment of the lord, we may be worse. it is hard upon those men we met just now. they go to prison, most of them, because they were not rich enough to pay the sum demanded as the price of blood. for men of wealth, or who have rich relations, it is easy to compound the matter for a sum of money, in return for which the dead man's relatives regard his death as due to natural causes, and forswear revenge. it is hard, i say, upon those men we met just now; and especially upon the man who slew his brother--may our lord console him!' a few days later i was strolling in the town and happened to pass by the public gaol. in the middle of the gate, behind some iron bars, a wretched man stood shaking a tin can, in which some small coins rattled, and calling on the passers-by for alms for the poor prisoners. a little group of english tourists--a gentleman and two fair ladies--came that way, led on by a resplendent dragoman. they stared at the wild figure at the prison gate. 'you like to give a trifle to the brisoners?' inquired the guide. 'what are they in for?' asked the gentleman. 'murders, i guess, mostly,' shrugged the dragoman. 'certainly not,' replied the gentleman, with indignation. i ventured to approach and tell him that they were not murderers in our sense of the word, and that they depended for a bare subsistence upon public charity. the only thanks i got were a cold stare from the man, a fastidious grimace from the two ladies, and an 'oh, indeed!' so arrogant in tone that i retired discomfited. my ill-success may be attributable to the fact that i was wearing a 'kufiyeh' and 'acâl' and so appeared to them as what is called a 'native.' i myself have always, since that day, felt it my duty to give alms to murderers in eastern lands. footnotes: [ ] _i.e._, highwaymen. chapter xxvi the trees on the land my search for an estate provided us with an excuse for visiting all sorts of out-of-the-way places, and scraping acquaintance with all sorts of curious people. in some villages we were greeted with unbounded glee; in others with a sullen, gruff endurance far from welcome. but, though the flavour of reception varied, we were everywhere received with some degree of hospitality, and shown what we desired to see. thus we surveyed a great variety of properties, none of which fulfilled my chief requirements. i wanted both a house in which i should not feel ashamed to live, and cultivable land enough to yield a revenue; and the two together seemed impossible to find, at least for the sum of money which was placed at my disposal. one piece of land attracted us so much that we remained in the adjacent village a full week, returning every day to wander over it, trying to see if it could not be made to fit my needs. it consisted of a grove of fine old olive trees, with terraces of fig and mulberry trees and vegetables, spread out to catch the morning sun upon a mountain side sloping to a wooded valley walled by rocky heights. water was there in plenty, but no house to speak of; the three small, cube-shaped houses on the property being in the occupation (which amounts to ownership) of workers of the land, who, according to the custom of the country, would become my partners. upon the other hand, the land was fairly cheap, and after paying for it, i should have a balance with which i might begin to build a proper house; for, as suleymân remarked, 'here all things are done gradually. no one will expect to see a palace all at once. begin with two rooms and a stable, and add a fresh room every time that you have forty pounds to spare.' the price of building appeared fixed in all that countryside at forty pounds a vault, which in ordinary buildings means a room, since every room is vaulted. the trouble was to see just where to put the house without encroaching upon profitable land. at last i hit on a position in the middle of the highest terrace on which grew olive trees so very old that they could well be sacrificed. having arrived at this decision i sat down among those trees and gazed in rapture at the view across the valley. it was indeed a grand position for a house. rashîd exclaimed: 'our dwelling will be seen afar. the traveller on distant roads will see its windows flashing, and will certainly inquire the owner's name. yet would i rather it had faced the evening sun, because more people are abroad at sunset than at dawn.' 'the morning sun is better for the growth of plants, and it comports the evening shadow, which is most agreeable,' murmured suleymân, who stretched his length upon the ground before us, chewing a flower-stem with an air of wisdom. as we were there conversing lazily, one of the peasant-partners in the land came through the trees, bringing a tray with cups of coffee, which he had prepared for our refreshment. 'the lord preserve thy hands, o câsim,' sighed suleymân. 'thou comest at the very moment when my soul said "coffee."' the peasant câsim beamed with pleasure at the thanks we showered on him, and, squatting down, inquired if we had yet decided anything. 'aye,' i replied. 'in sh'allah we shall cut down these three olive trees and put the house instead of them.' at that his smile gave place to grave concern. he said: 'that may not be.' 'why not?' i asked. 'because we have no right to touch these trees.' 'but the sheykh ali told me that this terrace was his property.' 'that is so, as to the land. the trees are different.' 'to whom, then, do these trees belong?' 'to different people.' 'how can i know which trees are ours, which theirs?' 'your honour need not trouble. they are able to distinguish.' 'but they must walk upon our land to reach their trees!' 'without a doubt.' 'but it is unheard of!' 'perhaps; but it has been the way since noah's flood.' 'if your honour condescends to read the bible he will notice that, in the bargain which our lord abraham made for the cave of machpelah, the trees upon the land are mentioned separately,' put in suleymân, who had a well-stored mind. i took no notice, but continued my alarmed inquiries. 'how many people own these trees?' 'twenty or thirty.' 'and they trample on our land?' 'the case is so.' 'who is their chief?' 'i know not; but the largest share, they say, is vested in muhammad abu hasan. his share of all the trees is twelve kîrâts, as much as all the others put together. they say so. only allah knows the truth!' 'i should like to speak to this muhammad abu hasan.' 'upon my head; i go to fetch him,' answered câsim, touching his brow in token of obedience. when he was gone, suleymân observed significantly: 'have naught to do with all these fathers of kîrâts. when once the word "kîrât" is mentioned, flee the place, for you may be assured that it is the abode of all bedevilment. when once a man is father of but one or two kîrâts, he has the power of forty thousand for unreasoning annoyance.' 'and what, in mercy's name, is a kîrât?' i questioned. 'a kîrât,' replied rashîd, as usual eager to explain, 'is that term into which all things visible and invisible are resolved and subdivided secretly, or may be subdivided at a person's pleasure. a kîrât is that which has no real existence unless a group of men agree together saying: "it is here or there." a kîrât----' suleymân cut short his explanation, saying simply: 'a kîrât is the twenty-fourth part of anything. if my soul is sick, i ask the doctor: "how many kîrâts of hope?" and according to his answer "four" or "twenty" i feel gladness or despair. to own but one kîrât, in this concern of property, is sometimes better than to own all the remaining three-and-twenty, as witness the affair of johha, the greatest wiseacre this country has produced. johha owned a house, consisting of a single room. wishing to make a little money, he let his house to people for a yearly rent (which they paid in advance), reserving to himself the use of only one kîrât of it. to show where his kîrât was situated johha drove a peg into the wall inside. after the tenants had been in a week he brought a bag of beans and hung it on his peg. no one objected; he was exercising his free right. a few days later he removed the bag of beans and hung up garlic in its place. again a few days and he came with an old cat which had been some time dead; and so on, bringing ever more offensive things, until the tenants were obliged to leave the house and forfeit their year's rent, without redress, since johha was within his rights. therefore i say to you, beware. these fathers of kîrâts will spoil the property.' rashîd gave an appreciative chuckle, and was going to relate some story of his own; but just then câsim reappeared, attended not by one man only but a score of men--the owners of the trees, as it immediately appeared, for they cried out, as they came up, that it would be a sin for us to cut them down. i asked them to elect a spokesman, as i could not deal with all at once, and muhammad abu hasan was pushed forward. he squatted, facing me, upon the ground, his men behind him. the twigs and leaves of olives overhead spread a filigree of moving shade upon their puckered faces. they were evidently much perturbed in mind. i asked them for how much they would consent to sell those trees--showing the three i wished to fell to clear a space for building. 'the freehold, meanest thou?' inquired their spokesman anxiously. 'not for five hundred pounds. but we would sell a share.' 'i want no share. i want to cut them down.' at that there was a general outcry that it must not be. 'the trees would remain yours until the end,' i told them, 'for i would let you have the wood for your own purposes, and, in addition, you would have a pretty sum of money.' there ensued a long and whispered consultation before muhammad abu hasan answered me. at length he said: 'it may not be. behold, we all are the descendants of one man who owned these trees in ancient days. but we are not brothers, nor yet uncles' children, and there is jealousy among us. we quarrel near to fighting every year about the produce of these trees, each man perceiving that he has been cheated of his proper share. but that is not so very serious, for each man hopes that next year he will get a larger share in compensation. suppose, instead of trees which bear fruit every year, we had a sum of money. in that case the division would admit of no redress, and those who thought themselves defrauded would bear lifelong malice. therefore i say: we will not have those trees cut down; but we are prepared, upon the other hand, to sell you all our trees upon this terrace if you, on your side, will assign to us but two kîrâts of all your trees, these trees included.' 'allah destroy the dwelling of your two kîrâts,' i cried out angrily. 'i will have none of them. nor will i make my dwelling in the neighbourhood of men so foolish. i shall seek elsewhere.' the peasants chuckled at my curse on the kîrâts. they murmured an apology, but seemed relieved, as they went off. suleymân, who had to leave us on the following day, then gave me good advice. he said: 'it is no use for thee to deal with little people who wish to make the most of their small lands, who have mean, dirty houses. thou hast a friend among the great sheykhs of the drûz. go to him in his castle and explain thy wish. he owns a score of noble houses which he does not use, and for the love of thee he will not count the price too closely. moreover, he will think that, showing favour to an englishman, he will earn the good opinion of the british government. he has political ambitions. all great men are fools or malefactors.' 'that is the best of counsel,' said rashîd. and, having nothing else in mind, we acted on it. chapter xxvii buying a house even great men in the east rise early; so, when i arrived before the castle of the great druze chief at six o'clock of a summer's morning, i was not surprised to find a crowd of black-cloaked and white-turbaned mountaineers already waiting for an audience of his grace; nor yet, when i had gained admittance as a favoured person, to find the chief himself afoot and wide awake. what did surprise me was to see him clad in stambûli frock-coat and all its stiff accompaniments at an hour when even the most civilised of pashas still wears native dress. he heard of my desire to settle in his country with surprise and seeming pleasure, and made me sit beside him on a sofa in an upper chamber of magnificent proportions--spoilt, to my taste, by gaudy frankish furniture and certain oleographs of the crowned heads of europe which adorned its walls. he thought, as is the way of orientals, visibly, with finger pressed to brow. then he exclaimed: 'i have a house close by, across the glen--a little ruinous, perhaps, but we can soon repair it. come to the window; you can see the place from here.' he pointed out a kind of thickset tower which crowned a pretty village set in orchards. 'if you care to see it we will go there when i have received my people.' he invited me to go with him to the reception; but, having seen the crowd outside, i thought it wisdom to go back rather to the village khan where i had left my horse, to warn rashîd to have things ready for a start, and get some breakfast. i returned in two hours' time, to find the chief already mounted on a splendid charger, led by a no less splendid servant, setting forth in search of me, 'with half the world for tail,' as rashîd put it. it was in truth a long procession which meandered down the steep and rocky pathway, deep in the shade of walls and overhanging trees, to the ravine, forded the stream, and climbed the other bank. the village, when we reached it, was in great commotion, all its people crowding to the wide meydân, or levelled ground for horsemanship, spread out before the house which might be mine. in the midst of this meydân there was a fine old carob tree, with a stone bench all round the foot of its enormous trunk. the house itself was an old fortress, built of solid stone, with arrow slits as well as modern windows, and an arched doorway at the top of wide stone steps. against it nestled lesser houses of the village which seemed to climb up towards it for protection. some men of consequence came forth to greet the chief, who then dismounted with their servile aid. he introduced me to a turbaned druze of reverend appearance, who (he said) at present occupied the house, and also to the son of the said turbaned druze, who knew a little french and longed to air it. the turbaned one, whose name was sheykh huseyn, was called on to refresh his chieftain's memory with regard to various details of the house and property and all the feudal rights and privileges appertaining thereunto. he did so, as in duty bound, but in a very mournful tone. his son explained: tu fiens habiter, nous defons quitter. mon bère n'aime bas quitter. très bon marché'--from which i guessed that they had occupied the house rent-free till they had come to look upon it as their own. leaving aside the land, which we should visit presently, the owner of the house, i was informed, had jurisdiction over the meydân, which was in times of peace the village square, and owned one-fifth part of the great tree in its midst. he also owned a fifth of all the water flowing or to flow from the great village spring; and had the right to call upon the fellâhîn for one day's work a year in return for his protection of their land from enemies. when i inquired by what means i could possibly secure my fifth share of the water from the spring, the chief informed me that the stipulation was in case the source diminished in dry seasons, which, thank the lord, it never yet had done. we viewed the house, and i was pleased with the great vaulted rooms, in which the pots and pans and bedding of the sheykh huseyn appeared like nothing, and the women of the family of sheykh huseyn, close-veiled against our inroad, made themselves exceeding small; and then, remounting, we went off to view the land. this was scattered all about the mountain side--a terrace here, a terrace there. it took us a long while to see the whole of it. the chief, fatigued, alighted and sat down beneath some walnut trees. he ordered sheykh huseyn to cause refreshments to appear. the latter shouted, and a dozen villagers went tearing off. in a very little time a meal of honeyed cakes and fruit was set before us, and the ceremony of making coffee was in progress on a brazier near us in the shade. 'allah! allah!' sighed the sheykh huseyn, telling his beads. 'mon bère est triste, tu vois. il aime bas quitter,' murmured his hopeful son in tones of high delight, the feeling proper to express before a new acquaintance of my quality. 'curse the religion of these flies! it is extremely hot!' exclaimed the chief in momentary irritation. the trees went with the land without exception, i was glad to hear. one-fifth of all the produce of that land of any kind whatever would be mine, the rest belonging to the husbandmen by immemorial right. there was never such a thing as wages for the cultivation of the land. the sheykh huseyn implored us to return to luncheon at his house, protesting that he had commanded a great feast to be prepared; but the chief declared we were too busy to allow ourselves that pleasure. as we were then some way below the village, we did not go back thither, but rode off along a path through orchards till we found the road to the ravine. at taking leave, the eyes of sheykh huseyn met mine a moment. they were large, benevolent, brown eyes, and they expressed much inward sorrow, while on his lips there broke the smile demanded of politeness. 'au refoir, mon cher! au blaisir!' cried his hopeful son. rashîd came up behind me as we rode along, and poured into my ear a wondrous tale of how the sheykh huseyn was our ill-wisher and would do his best to make things lively for us if we took the place. he had conversed with people of the village while we viewed the house. 'but the majority are in our favour,' he assured me, with grave satisfaction. 'they do not love the sheykh huseyn, who is a miser and a hypocrite. they say, please god, we shall humiliate him to the very depth of shame.' he spoke as if we were at war, and within sight of victory, as if we were already settled in the place. and i was glad, because it augured well for my content if i should buy the place, which i was now resolved to do if i could anyhow afford it. 'the price will be too great, i fear,' was my reply; whereat he sighed, observing that the place was of a nature to exalt our honour. returning to the castle of the chieftain, i was ushered to his private chamber, where i broached at once the burning question of the price. he said: 'god knows i wish to give thee house and land since thou desirest them. but i have a mortgage on some other lands of mine which vexes me, because, though i can find the interest--which is exorbitant--each year, i cannot in this country lay my hands upon the principal. discharge that debt for me and, god reward thee, take the house and land.' he named a sum of money. i could not believe my ears, it was so little as compared with what i judged to be the value of the property. it was well within the sum at my disposal. i wished to write a cheque out there and then; but he forbade me, saying: 'allah knows i might mislay the paper or destroy it in a moment of forgetfulness. do thou in kindness pay my creditor and bring me the discharge.' he named an armenian gentleman of my acquaintance--an amiable, learned man of modest means, the last person in the country whom i should have thought a usurer. nor was he one habitually, for he himself informed me that this loan to the druze chieftain was his sole investment of the kind. i called on him one afternoon in the city, and handed him my cheque, explaining how the matter stood. 'you do me a bad turn. unlucky day!' he sighed as he received it. 'my little fortune was more safe with him than in a bank, and every year it brought me in a pretty income. where can i find another such investment.' with groans he wrote out the receipt, which in due time i carried to the chief, who thanked me and assured me that the house was mine and should be made so formally. i then rode over to the house again, and with rashîd planned out the changes we desired to make, the sheykh huseyn following us about gloomily, and his cheerful son bestowing on us his advice in broken french. they knew their tenancy was at an end. the sheykh, resigned at length to the inevitable, sought to establish good relations with me; and he also gave us counsel, which rashîd, who viewed him as our deadly foe, at once rejected. under these rebuffs the old man became quite obsequious. his son exclaimed excitedly: 'mon bère est heureux, tu vois. if feut bas quitter. il feut rester afec toi comme chef de serfice.' chapter xxviii a disappointment considering that i had bought a house and land exactly to my taste, and likely, as rashîd declared, to raise our honour in the country, i felt that i had earned the right to take a holiday. whenever i have done anything decisive it is my instinct to withdraw myself a little from the scene of action and inure myself by contemplation to the new position of affairs. accordingly, having surveyed the house and land as owner, i set off with rashîd upon a ten days' journey beyond the reach of telegrams and letters. at the end of the ten days we rode into beyrout, and put up at a little hostelry, which we frequented, built out on piers above the sea. there i found two letters waiting for me, one from the great druze chief who sold to me my house and land. 'never,' he wrote, 'have i had to endure such disrespect and ignominy. it is not at all what i expected from your friendship. in obedience to the consul's order, i wrote express to the khawâjah ----, my creditor, informing him that there had been some error and entreating him to send your cheque in to the british consulate. i hope to god you have received it safely before this. my health has suffered from this huge indignity. i shall not long survive this cruel shame.' the second letter was from her britannic majesty's consul-general, enclosing my cheque written to the order of the armenian gentleman for the amount of the mortgage which he held upon my druze friend's property, and adjuring me to pay a visit to the consulate without delay. i went that afternoon. the outer office was crowded with the usual set of english and would-be english persons who went there for gossip. my appearance called forth more or less derisive shouts. i was a nice young man to go and buy a village--from a native, too!--without the forethought to secure a title to the property! it was plain that they knew more about the matter than i did myself. i felt ashamed, and must have looked dejected, i suppose, for they changed their tone for one more genial, crying: 'cheer up, man! we've all been through it. you know now what these devils really are. they'll always do you, if they can. it's no shame to you at your age. they're so devilish clever.' i did not know then, nor do i know to-day, that i had ever been defrauded seriously, or deceived, by any native of the country, but the legend ran, and doubtless runs, to that effect. then i was called into the consul's presence and strongly blamed by him for running off just at the moment when my presence was most needed. i had written joyously to tell him of my purchase. i now heard that i should have waited for his reply before concluding it. a man does not buy tracts of land like that, i was severely told. and as i was so very young and (he implied it) idiotic, he had intervened to stop the sale, pending inquiries and the discharge of certain formalities which were legally required. if the seller went into the court and had the transfer registered and a proper deed of sale made out, then well and good; but he understood that there was some objection on the seller's part. if not, then he advised me to give up the whole idea. profoundly conscious of my youth, and mindful of past kindness on the consul's part, i was, of course, impressed. i thought i had indeed been foolish, even mad; and promised to do all that he required of me. as i went through the outer office, looking more than ever downcast, i was hailed with further adjurations to cheer up, for they had all been through it. rashîd was more depressed than even i was when i told him of the sudden downfall of our hopes. he cursed the consul and the druzes indiscriminately. but on our journey up into the mountains his reconstructive mind transfigured my misfortunes, making of them an event well calculated to 'exalt our honour.' so great was my consideration in my native country that the queen herself had written to the consul-general to take care of me and see that i was not defrauded when i bought my land. the consul, who had been neglectful of me, and knew nothing of the land i wished to buy, had been afraid of the queen's anger, hence his mad activity. i did not hear that version at the time, nor from rashîd's own lips; but it came to my ears eventually, after its vogue was past. we both hoped, however, that the house and land would yet be ours. i found the druze chief prostrate with humiliation and bewilderment. he greeted me with monstrous sighs, and told me how ashamed he was, how very ill. his eyes reproached me. what had he ever done to me that i should loose upon him such a swarm of ignominies. i felt humiliated and ashamed before him, an honourable man who had been treated like a rogue on my account. 'i shall not survive these insults, well i know it. i shall die,' he kept lamenting. 'all my people know the way i have been treated--like a dog.' i told him that there had been a misunderstanding, and that the shame which he had suffered had been all my fault, because i had been absent for my selfish pleasure at the moment when i might have saved him by a simple statement of the facts. 'i shall not easily recover,' the chief groaned. 'and then that debt which i was so delighted to pay off is once again upon my shoulders.' i explained then that the consul's stopping of the sale was not conclusive, but provisional; his only stipulation being that, before i paid, all the legal formalities necessary to the transfer should have been fulfilled. 'he asks no more than that your excellency will condescend to go before the caïmmacâm with witnesses, and have a proper title-deed made out.' at those words, uttered in all innocence, the great man shuddered violently and his face went green. i feared that he would have a fit, but he recovered gradually; and at last he said: 'it is a cruel thought, and one which must have been suggested to him by my enemies. know that the caïmmacâm at present is my rival and most deadly foe. we have not met on terms of speech for many years; our servants fight at chance encounters on the road. it is but five years since i held the post of governor which he now occupies. when, by means of calumny and foul intrigue against me at stamboul, he managed to supplant me, i swore a solemn oath that i would never recognise the government nor seek its sanction so long as he remained its representative. and now the consul bids me have recourse to him. by allah, i would sooner be impaled alive.' he paused a moment, swallowing his rage, then added: 'this, however, i will do. i will summon all the chiefs of all my people--every head of every family--hither to your presence and command them all to witness that the property is yours. i will make them swear to defend you and your successors in possession of it with their lives if need be, and to leave the obligation as a sacred charge to their descendants. that, i think, would be sufficient to assure you undisturbed possession if i die, as well i may, of this unheard-of treatment. and if i live till happier times--that is, to see the downfall of my enemy--then you shall have the government certificate which the consul deems of such immense importance.' i now know that the kind of treaty which he thus proposed, laying a solemn charge on all his people--who would have been, of course, my neighbours--to defend my right, would have been worth a good deal more than any legal document in that wild country. the armenian gentleman, who was delighted that his mortgage still held good, told me as much when next i saw him in the city. he thought me foolish not to jump at it, particularly when the land was offered to me for a song. but the consul's prohibition, and the warnings of the english colony, possessed more weight with me just then than his opinion, or, indeed, my own, for i was very young. i told the chieftain it was not enough. 'then i am truly sorry,' he replied, with dignity; 'but there the matter ends. i have told your honour the reason why i cannot go to court at present.' rashîd was sad when i informed him of my failure. once more he cursed the druzes and all consuls. and as we rode back through the mountains he was wrapped in thought. he came at length to the conclusion that this, too, redounded to our honour, since anybody less exalted than ourselves would certainly have jumped at such an offer as the chief had made to me. but everything, for us, must be performed in the most perfect manner. we were tremendous sticklers for formality. there was only one thing he could not get over. 'it is the triumph of our enemy, that sheykh huseyn,' he told me. 'i hate to think of him in comfort in our house.' chapter xxix concerning crime and punishment if we wished to stay in any place for more than a day or two, rashîd, upon arrival, wandered through the markets and inquired what dwellings were to let, while i sat down and waited in some coffee-house. within an hour he would return with tidings of a decent lodging, whither we at once repaired with our belongings, stabling our horses at the nearest khan. my servant was an expert in the art of borrowing, so much so that no sound of disputation on that subject reached my ears. it seemed as if the neighbours came, delighted, of their own accord to lend us pots and pans and other necessaries. he also did the cooking and the marketing without a hitch, giving a taste of home to the small whitewashed chamber, which we had rented for a week, it might be, or a month at most. when obliged to go out upon any errand, rashîd was always worried about leaving me alone, regarding me as careless of my property and so untrusty from the point of view of one who idolised it. 'if your honour should be seized with a desire to smell the air when i am absent,' he would say, 'do not forget to lock the door and place the key in the appointed hiding-place where i can find it. there are wicked people in the world. and while you sit alone, keep our revolver handy.' he told me that in cities robberies of private dwellings are oftener committed at high noon, when many houses are left empty, than at night, when they are full of snoring folk. i did not doubt the truth of this assertion, but differed from him in believing that we harboured nothing likely to attract a thief. 'i would not lose the buckle of a strap, a single grain of sesame, by such foul means,' he would reply with vehemence. one morning--it was in damascus--he went out, after imploring me as usual to take care of everything. the room we occupied was at the end of a blind alley, up a flight of nine stone steps. the alley led into a crowded, narrow street, bordered with shops of many-coloured wares, which at that point was partly shaded by a fine old ilex tree. from where i sprawled upon a bed of borrowed cushions in the room, reading a chap-book i had lately purchased--_the rare things of abu nawwâs_--i saw the colour and the movement of that street as at the far end of a dark kaleidoscope, for all the space between was in deep shadow. when a man turned up our alley--a most rare occurrence--i noticed his appearance. it was rather strange. he wore an old blue shirt, and on his head a kind of turban, but of many colours and, unlike any i had ever seen upon the natives of the country, with an end or streamer hanging loose upon one side. in complexion, too, he was a good deal darker than a syrian, and yet had nothing of the negro in his looks. something furtive in his manner of approach amused me, as suggestive of the thief of rashîd's nightmares. i moved into the darkest corner of the room and lay quite still. he climbed our steps and filled the doorway, looking in. it happened that rashîd had left a bag of lentils, bought that morning, just inside. the thief seized that and, thinking he was unobserved, was going to look round for other spoil, when i sat up and asked to know his business. he gave one jump, replied: 'it is no matter,' and was gone immediately. i watched him running till he vanished in the crowded street. rashîd returned. i told him what had happened in his absence, but he did not smile. he asked me gravely to describe the man's appearance, and, when i did so, groaned: 'it is a nûri (gipsy). who knows their lurking-places? had it been a townsman or a villager i might perhaps have caught him and obtained redress.' he said this in a manner of soliloquy before he turned to me, and, with reproachful face, exclaimed: 'he stole our bag of lentils and you watched him steal it! you had at hand our good revolver, yet you did not shoot!' 'why should i shoot a man for such a trifle?' 'it is not the dimensions or the value of the object stolen that your honour ought to have considered, but the crime! the man who steals a bag of lentils thus deliberately is a wicked man, and when a man is wicked he deserves to die; and he expects it.' i told him that the gipsy was quite welcome to the lentils, but he would not entertain that point of view. after trying vainly to convince me of my failure to perform a social duty, he went out to the establishment of a coffee-seller across the street, who kept his cups and brazier in the hollow trunk of the old ilex tree, and set stools for his customers beneath its shade, encroaching on the public street. thither i followed after a few minutes, and found him telling everybody of the theft. those idlers all agreed with him that it was right to shoot a thief. 'all for a bag of lentils!' i retorted loftily. 'god knows i do not grudge as much to any man.' at that there rose a general cry of 'god forbid!' while one explained: 'it were a sin to refuse such a thing to a poor man in need who came and begged for it in allah's name. but men who take by stealth or force are different. think if your honour had destroyed that thief, the rascal would not now be robbing poorer folk, less able to sustain the loss! suppose that bag of lentils had been all you had! there may be people in the world as poor as that.' 'why should i kill a man who offered me no violence?' i asked defiantly. 'why should you not do so, when the man is evidently wicked?' 'why do the franks object to killing wicked people?' asked the coffee-seller with a laugh. 'why do they nourish good and bad in their society?' 'it is because they are without religion,' muttered one man in his beard. an elder of superior rank, who overheard, agreed with him, pronouncing in a tone of gentle pity: 'it is because they lose belief in allah and the life to come. they deem this fleeting life the only one vouchsafed to man, and death the last and worst catastrophe that can befall him. when they have killed a man they think they have destroyed him quite; and, as each one of them fears such destruction for himself if it became the mode, they condemn killing in their laws and high assemblies. we, when we kill a person, know that it is not the end. both killed and killer will be judged by one who knows the secrets of men's breasts. the killed is not deprived of every hope. for us, death is an incident: for them, the end. moreover, they have no idea of sacrifice. killing, with them, is always the result of hate.' 'what does your honour mean by that last saying?' i inquired with warmth. the old man smiled on me indulgently as he made answer sadly: 'be not offended if we speak our mind before you. we should not do so if we wished you ill. here, among us, it is not an unheard-of thing for men to kill the creatures they love best on earth; nor do men blame them when, by so doing, they have served the cause of god, which is the welfare of mankind. thus it was of old the rule, approved of all the world, that every sultan of the line of othman had to kill his brothers lest they should rise against him and disturb the peace of all the realm. was it not like depriving life of all its sweetness thus to destroy their youth's companions and their nearest kin? yet, though their hearts were in the bodies of their victims, they achieved it. and the victims met their death with the like fortitude, all save a few of less heroic mould. 'now, i have read some histories written by the europeans. they do not understand these things at all. they think us merely cruel--just as we, in the same unperceiving manner, think them merely covetous. yet i disagree with your good servant in the present case. i think that you were right to spare that nûri.' rashîd, who, with the rest of the assembly, had listened to the old man's speech with reverence, exclaimed: 'it is not just this nûri or that bag of lentils, o my lord! my master is thus careless always. he never locks the door when he goes out during my absence, though all that we possess is in that room.' 'thy lord is young.' the old man smiled upon me kindly, and proceeded then to read me a mild lecture on my carelessness, detailing to me the precautions which he took himself, habitually, when shutting up his house or place of business, including pious formulas which he made me repeat after him. while he was thus instructing me, rashîd went off, returning in about three minutes with a face of indignation strangely and incongruously mixed with triumph. taking his stand before me in the very middle of the seated crowd, he said: 'you left the door wide open even after you had seen that nûri steal the bag of lentils. i have this minute been to look and i have seen. with our revolver lying in the full light of the doorway! merciful allah! what is to be done with you?' the old man, my preceptor, laughed aloud; and at the sound rashîd, whose desperation was not acted, wept real tears. the people round us tried in vain to comfort him. chapter xxx the unwalled vineyard one morning, as we rode along, we came to vineyards on a valley-side. rashîd dismounted and began to pick the grapes. suleymân dismounted likewise, and invited me to do the same. 'but it is stealing,' i objected. 'allah! allah!' moaned suleymân, as one past patience. he hung his head a moment, limp all over, as if the spirit had been taken out of him; then called out to rashîd, who was devouring grapes: 'return, o malefactor, o most wicked robber! thou art guilty of a fearful crime. thy master says so.' rashîd came back to us immediately, bringing a purple bunch, which he was going to give to me when suleymân prevented him, exclaiming: 'wouldst dishonour our good lord by placing in his hands the fruit of infamy, as if he were a vile accomplice of thy crime? for shame, o sinful depredator, o defrauder of the poor!' rashîd gaped at him, and then looked at me. i held out my hand for the grapes. 'touch them not, for they are stolen!' cried suleymân. 'i know not what thou wouldst be at, o evil joker,' said rashîd, with warmth; 'but if thou callest me a thief again, i'll break thy head.' '_i_ call thee thief? thou art mistaken, o my soul! by allah! i am but the mouthpiece of thy master here, who says that to pluck grapes out of this vineyard is to steal.' rashîd looked towards me, half incredulous, and, seeing that i ate the grapes with gusto, answered with a laugh: 'he does not understand our customs, that is all. by allah! there is no man in this land so churlish or so covetous as to begrudge to thirsty wayfarers a bunch of grapes out of his vineyard or figs or apricots from trees beside the road. to go into the middle of the vineyard and pick fruit there would be wrong, but to gather from the edge is quite allowable. if we were to come with sumpter-mules and load them with the grapes, that would be robbery; but who but the most miserly would blame us for picking for our own refreshment as we pass, any more than he would stop the needy from gleaning in the fields when corn is cut. what your honour thinks a crime, with us is reckoned as a kindness done and taken.' 'aye,' said suleymân, whose gift was for interpretations, 'and in the same way other matters which your honour blames in us as faults are in reality but laudable and pious uses. thus, it is customary here among us to allow the servant to help himself a little to his master's plenty in so far as food and means of living are concerned. the servant, being wholly given to his master's service, having no other means of living, still must live; aye, and support a wife and children if he have them; and it is the custom of our great ones to pay little wages, because they have but little ready money. upon the other hand, they have possessions and wide influence, in which each servant is their partner to a small extent. no one among them would object to such small profits as that cook of yours, whom you condemned so fiercely, made while in your service. if the master does not care to let the servant gain beyond his wages, he must pay him wages high enough for his existence--certainly higher wages than you paid that cook.' 'i paid him what he asked,' i said indignantly. 'and he asked what he thought sufficient in consideration of the profits he felt sure of making in your service--a foreigner and a young man of many wants.' 'i had told him that thou art of all men living the most generous!' put in rashîd. my dismissal of that cook had long been rankling in his mind. 'it is the custom of the country,' he subjoined, defiantly. 'it is a custom which i very heartily dislike,' i answered. 'it seems to me that people here are always grasping. look at the prices which the merchants ask, the way they bargain. they fight for each para as if it were their soul's salvation. they are mad for gain.' 'again you are mistaken,' answered suleymân. 'they do not ask too much from avarice, but for the sake of pastime. indeed, you will find sometimes that the price they ask is less than the real value of the object, and still they let the buyer beat it down--for mere amusement of the argument and for the sake of seeing what devices he will use. in addition, they will give the buyer a nice cup of coffee--sometimes two cups of coffee if the argument is long--and as many glasses full of sherbet as he cares to drink.' 'and if the buyer will not pay the price, though much reduced, the merchant often will present the object to him, as happened to your honour in aleppo only the other day,' put in rashîd. 'that was only a device to shame me into buying it.' 'no, by your honour's leave!' 'rashîd may well be right,' said suleymân, 'although i cannot judge of the peculiar instance since i was not present.' just then we came around a shoulder of the hill, and saw some people, men and women, harvesting the grapes in a much larger vineyard. 'now you shall see!' exclaimed rashîd exultantly. he got down off his horse and stooped over the nearest vines. the workers, seeing him, set up a shout of 'itfaddalû!' (perform a kindness), the usual form of hospitable invitation. since we refused to join them in the middle of the vineyard a man came wading towards us, bearing on his head a basket tray piled up with grapes. suleymân picked out three monstrous clusters, one for each of us, with blessings on the giver. to my offer of payment the fellâh opposed a serious refusal, saying: 'it would be a shame for me.' 'you see now!' said rashîd, as we resumed our way. 'it is not robbery for wayfarers to take refreshment.' 'and as for the custom of the merchants,' added suleymân, 'in asking a much higher price than that which they at last accept, what would you have? those merchants are rich men, who have enough for all their needs. their aim is not that of the frankish traders: to increase their wealth by all means and outdistance rivals. their object is to pass the time agreeably and, to that end, detain the customer as long as possible, the more so if he be a person like your honour, who loves jokes and laughter. the greatest disappointment to our merchants is for the customer to pay the price first asked and so depart immediately. i have a rare thing in my memory which hits the case. 'everyone has heard of abdu, the great egyptian singer, who died recently. his only daughter met her death in a distressing way. it was her wedding night, and bride and bridegroom died of suffocation owing to the scent of flowers and perfumes in the bedroom where they lay. at sight of the two corpses abdu broke his lute and swore a solemn oath never to sing again. 'he was rich--for he had earned much by his singing, often as much as a hundred pounds a night--and he sought some means to pass the time till death should come for him. he took a shop in cairo, and hoped for pleasant conversation in the course of bargaining. but the egyptians wished to hear him sing again, and men of wealth among them planned together to buy up his whole stock-in-trade immediately. this happened thrice, to the despair of abdu, who saw his hope of pastime taken from him. in the end he was compelled to get the câdi to release him from his vow, and sing again, although he would have much preferred to be a merchant. that shows the difference between a trader in our cities and one in any city of the franks, whose sole desire is to sell quickly and repeatedly.' 'there is no accounting for tastes,' was my reply. 'for my part i detest this bargaining.' 'when that is understood by decent merchants they will not afflict thee. they will ask thee a fair price and let thee go--though with regret, for they would rather spend an hour in talk with thee,' said suleymân indulgently. 'it is a game of wits which most men like.' he shrugged his shoulders. 'your honour was relating yesterday,' observed rashîd, with grievance in his tone, 'how an englishman of your acquaintance in our country accused his servants of dishonesty. doubtless he distrusted them and locked things up, which is the same as saying to them: "it is my locks and my vigilance against your wits." few men of spirit could resist a challenge such as that, which is indeed to urge men on to robbery. but where the master trusts his servants and leaves all things to their care, only a son of infamy would dream of robbing him.' 'let me propound the matter otherwise for understanding. seeing that open vineyard, with a wall but two stones high, no man would think of plundering the crop of grapes. but surround that vineyard with a high, strong wall, and every son of adam will conceive the project of clearing it of every cluster.' 'i should never think of such a thing.' 'that is because your honour is accustomed to restraints and barriers,' said suleymân. 'we, in the sultan's dominions, have more freedom, praise to allah! for us a high wall is an insult, save in cities.' chapter xxxi the atheist though i had known suleymân for nearly two years, and had had him with me for some six months of that time, i had never seen him in his function of a dragoman, by which he earned enough in two months of the year to keep a wife and children in a village of the coasts of tyre and sidon, of which he spoke with heart-moving affection, though he seldom went there. it was only after much insistence that he allowed us to conduct him thither on one memorable occasion, when i could not but admire his perfect manners as a despot. when first i met him he had been a gentleman at large, and it was as that, and a familiar friend, that he repaired to me whenever he had nothing else to do. judging from his gifts of conversation, which we all admired, and his unbounded knowledge of the country, i thought that, as a guide for tourists, he would be invaluable. so, when i heard that english friends of mine were coming out to palestine, i wrote advising them to ask for him, him only; and i was glad to hear soon afterwards that he was with them. when they came north, i joined the party at damascus and travelled with them for their last fortnight. it did not take me many minutes in the camp to see that suleymân was not himself, and that my friends were not so charmed with him as i had thought they would be. on the first evening in their tent i heard complaints. they told me he was most unconscionably lazy, and would not take them to the places they desired to visit. the trouble was, as i soon learnt, that they possessed a map and guidebook which they studied reverently every night, finding out places said therein to be of interest. suleymân, on his side, had, at setting out, possessed a plan to make their tour the most delightful one imaginable. he hoped by visiting selected spots and people to give it sequence and significance. in a word, he was an artist in travel, wishing to provide them with delicious memories, while they were english and omnivorous of facts and scenes. when he learnt from various rebuffs that they would not confide themselves to him, he lost all pleasure in the tour. it was a listless and disgusted upper servant, most unlike the man i knew, whom i found in gorgeous raiment sitting by the cook's fire in the gardens of damascus, which were then a wilderness of roses. he did not explain matters to me all at once. when i reproached him for neglecting friends of mine, he answered only: 'it is the will of allah, who made men of different kinds, some sweet, some loathsome.' but my arrival mended things a little. at least, my english friends professed to see a great improvement in the conduct of suleymân and all the servants. i think it was because the poor souls knew that they had someone now to whom they could express their grievances, someone who would condescend to talk with them; for nothing is more foreign to the oriental scheme of life than the distance at which english people keep their servants. in the democratic east all men are equal, as far as rights of conversation are concerned. it is a hardship for the oriental to serve europeans, and only the much higher and more certain wages bring him to it. my english friends had few good words to say for any of their arab servants; but i found they had conceived a perfect hatred for the cook, who had undoubtedly a villainous appearance. he was a one-eyed man with a strong cast in his surviving eye. a skull-cap, which had once been white, concealed his shaven poll, and his long pointed ears stood out upon it. he wore a shirt of indigo impaired by time, over which, when riding, he would throw an ancient frankish coat, or, if it chanced to rain, a piece of sacking. his legs were bare, and he wore scarlet slippers. to see him riding on an ass hung round with cooking tins, at the head of the procession of the beasts of burden, suggested to the uninformed spectator that those beasts of burden and their loads had all been stolen. i spoke about him to suleymân one day when in my company he had regained his wonted spirits, telling him of the extreme dislike my friends had taken to the man. 'they are foolish,' he replied, 'to grumble at the figure of a mill which grinds good flour. they profit by his cooking, which is excellent. indeed, he is the best cook in the world, and most particular. i took great trouble to secure him for this expedition, knowing that the khawâjât were friends of yours.' the tone of grievance in his voice became acute. i feared that he was going to cry, so answered quickly: 'it is not that. they like his cooking. but his manners----' 'what know they of his manners? has he ever entered the saloon or bed-tent to defile them? has he ever spoken insult in their hearing? inform me of his crime, and i will beat him bloody. but well i know he has done nothing wrong, for i have kept him in the strictest order all these days. it is only his appearance they object to; and that is god's affair, not theirs. the lord repay them!' 'you say that you have kept him in strict order? is that necessary?' 'of course it is, for the poor man is mad. i thought his madness would amuse them; it is very funny. but allah knows that there is not a laugh in all their bodies. so i have kept him from approaching them.' the word 'majnûn,' which i have here translated 'mad,' has often, as i knew, a complimentary value; and i gathered from suleymân's way of speaking that the cook was not a raving maniac, but rather what in english country-places we should call 'a character.' i cultivated his acquaintance after that, and was astonished by his powers of story-telling and of mimicry; still more, perhaps, by a curious, dry scepticism, expressed facetiously and sometimes with profanity, which was evident in almost everything he said. this it was which chiefly pleased the waiter and the muleteers, who were his usual listeners, since they were together on the road. they would laugh and curse him in religious terms for a blasphemer and a wicked atheist, reproofs which he received as high applause. it was his custom to salute his friends with insults, which they took kindly from him, being what he was. they told me in low tones of awe, yet with a chuckle, that he had even sold his father's grave in a facetious way. but i could never get them to relate that story clearly. i could understand then why suleymân had kept him in strict order on the journey; for my english friends were quite incapable of seeing any fun in such a character. nor did i ever tell them of the great adventure of that journey, in which their cook was very nearly done to death. it happened near the village of mejdel esh-shems, down in the valley underneath mount hermon. we remained in camp there over sunday, and on sunday afternoon my friends were resting in their tent. suleymân and i had seized that opportunity to go off for a ramble by ourselves, which did us good. we were returning to the camp in time for tea, when a crowd of fellâhîn came hurrying from the direction of our tents, waving their arms and shouting, seeming very angry. suleymân called out to them to learn the matter. 'zandîq!' (an atheist) they cried. 'zandîq! zandîq!' 'where?' i asked, eagerly. 'there, in yonder tent,' an old white-bearded man informed me, with wide eyes of horror. he pointed to the canvas windscreen against which our famous cook sat gazing at the kettle he had set to boil for tea. 'we go to fetch the wherewithal to kill him properly.' 'stop!' said suleymân peremptorily. 'you are mistaken. that is our cook--a good, religious man, but mad occasionally.' 'no, there is no mistake, o lords of honour,' cried a score of voices; while the old man who had pointed out the cook to me, explained: 'he said--may god protect us from the blame of it!--he said: "you see that mountain! it is i who made it. prostrate yourselves before me for i made the world." we had been standing round him inoffensively, asking him questions, as the custom is, about his parentage, his trade, and so forth. but when we heard that awful blasphemy we rent our clothes, and ran in haste to fetch our weapons, as thou seest. delay us not, for he must surely die.' 'commit not such a wickedness! the man is mad.' 'no; he is sane.' 'quite mad, i do assure you. return with us, and i will prove it to your understanding,' cried suleymân. i added my assurance. they came back with us, but murmuring, and in two minds. i could not but admire the simple piety which prompted them at once to kill a man whose speech betrayed him as an atheist. but i was very much afraid of what might happen, and of the sad impression it would make upon my english friends. and everything depended on the cook's behaviour. 'i tell you he is mad,' said suleymân, advancing towards the fire. 'it were a sin for you to slay a fellow-creature thus afflicted. come hither, o mansûr,' he cried as to a dog. the cook rose up and came towards us with a foolish air. 'lie down before my horse. i would ride over thee.' the cook fell prostrate, then turned over on his back. his mouth hung open idiotically; his tongue lolled out. 'now rise and kiss my boot.' the cook obeyed. by that time there were murmurs of compassion from the would-be slayers. 'spake i not truly?' asked suleymân. 'aye, o sun of verity! he is quite mad, the poor one,' said the old man who had acted spokesman. 'it were a sin for us to kill him, being in that state. his manner at the first deceived us. allah heal him! how came the dreadful malady upon him?' 'it came upon him through the pangs of unrequited love.' 'alas, the poor one! ah, the misery of men! may allah heal him!' cried the women, as the group of villagers moved off, contented. just when the last of them passed out of sight the longest tongue i ever saw in man emerged from the cook's mouth, and the rascal put his finger to his nose in a derisive gesture. those portents were succeeded by a realistic cock-crow. 'what makes the cook like that, devoid of reverence?' i asked of suleymân. 'it is because he was born in jerusalem,' was the astonishing reply. 'he is a christian, and was born poor; and the quarrels of the missionaries over him, each striving to obtain his patronage for some absurd belief, have made him what he is--a kind of atheist.' selîm, the waiter, who was near and overheard this ending, burst out laughing. 'an atheist!' he cried. 'your honour understands? it means a man who thinks there is no god. just like a beetle!' and he held his quaking sides. both he and suleymân appeared to think that atheism was a subject to make angels laugh. and yet they were as staunch believers as those fellâhîn. chapter xxxii the selling of our gun i had been ill with typhoid fever. just before my illness, the son of a sheykh in our neighbourhood had asked me to lend him my gun for a few days, since i never used it. there was nothing really which i cared to shoot. the village people rushed out in pursuit of every little bird whose tweet was heard, however distant, in the olive groves or up the mountain side. jackals there were besides, and an occasional hyæna; and, in the higher mountains, tigers, so the people still persisted in declaring, meaning leopards, i suppose, or lynxes; for ignorant arabs lump together a whole genus under one specific name, in the same way that they call all wild plants, which have neither scent nor market-value, grass. it was after we had sought those tigers vainly that i put away my gun. the sheykh's son asked me for the loan of it, and i consented in the absence of rashîd; who, when he heard what i had done, defiled his face with dust and wailed aloud. suleymân, who happened to be with us at the moment, also blamed me, looking as black as if i had committed some unheard-of sin. it is unlucky for a man to lend his gun to anybody, even to the greatest friend he has on earth, they told me sadly; and that for no superstitious reason, but because, according to the law, if murder be committed with that weapon, the owner of the gun will be considered guilty no matter by whose hand the shot was fired. 'how do they know the owner of the gun?' i answered, scoffing. 'for every gun there is a tezkereh,'[ ] answered rashîd; 'and he who holds the tezkereh is held responsible for every use to which that gun is put.' it was, in fact, a rough-and-ready way of saying that the gun licence was not transferable. i remarked with satisfaction that i had no tezkereh, but that did not appear to reassure them in the least. they still were of opinion harm might come of it. then i fell ill and knew no more of daily life until i found myself in a hospital of the german knights of st. john of jerusalem, where the good sisters nursed me back to health. among the arab visitors from far and near who came to see me as i lay in bed, was the youth who had borrowed my gun, together with his father and his brethren, who wept real tears and prayed for my complete recovery, talking as if they were beholden to me in some signal way. their manner puzzled me a little at the time; but i had quite forgotten that perplexity when, discharged at last from hospital, i travelled back into the mountains with rashîd. on the very day of my return i got an invitation from that young man's father to dine with him at noon upon the morrow. rashîd made a grimace at hearing of it and, when i asked him why, looked down his nose and said: 'he has our gun.' 'aye, to be sure, and so he has!' i said. 'to-morrow i must not forget to ask him for it.' rashîd looked big with tidings, but restrained himself and merely growled: 'you will not ask for it. i know your honour! nor will that rogue return it of his own accord.' at the sheykh's house next day i found a largeish company assembled in my honour, as it seemed. innumerable were the compliments on my recovery, the pretty speeches and remarks, to which i made reply as best i could. the meal consisted of some thirty courses, and was set on trays upon the floor in the old, country fashion, everybody eating with his fingers from the dish. when it drew near an end, the son of the house glanced at his father meaningly, and getting in return a nod, rose up and left the room. he soon came back, carrying my gun, which he brought first to me as if for benediction, then handed round for the inspection of the other guests. there were cries of 'ma sh'allah!' while they all praised its workmanship, one man opining that it must have cost a mint of money, another wishing he possessed its brother, and so forth. these exclamations and asides were evidently aimed at me, and it was somehow carried to my understanding that this exhibition of the gun, and not the public joy on my recovery, was the true reason of the feast and all attending it; though why it should be so i could not think. 'one thing that is remarkable about this gun,' explained the master of the house, 'is that it cannot miss the object aimed at. we have tried it at a target nailed upon a tree--i and my sons--at fifty and a hundred paces--aye, and more! and, by the lord, the bullet always strikes exactly on the spot at which the gun is pointed, even though that spot be not much bigger than a gnat.' and then, quite unaccountably, the whole assembly rose and tried to kiss my hands, as if the virtues of my gun were due to me. it was obviously not the moment to reclaim the weapon. when i got home after that strange ovation, rashîd received me coldly and observed: 'you do not bring our gun! you feared to ask for it! did not i know how it would be? oh, allah, allah!' 'i had no opportunity,' i told him; 'but i am going now to write and ask him to return it. be ready for the letter. you will have to take it.' 'upon my head and eye, with all alacrity,' rashîd replied. 'never did i rejoice so much in any errand. that rascal has been telling everybody that it is your gift to him, and boasting of his gun through all the mountains. no doubt, he counts upon your illness having dimmed remembrance, and hopes that you yourself may be deluded into thinking that it was a gift and not a loan.' 'why did you not tell me this before?' i asked. 'was it my business, till the question rose?' i wrote a civil note to the young man, asking him to let me have the gun in a few days, as i was collecting my belongings for the journey back to england. i thanked him for the care which he had taken of my property, which was much better kept than when i lent it to him, as i had remarked that day. rashîd received the missive and went off exulting. within an hour that young man came to me, without the gun, and in a state of most profound affliction and despair. having shut the door with great precaution to make sure we were alone, he fell upon the ground and burst out crying, confessing that his passion for the gun had made him dream that it was his each night as he lay thinking ere he fell asleep. 'but i did not tell a soul that it was mine--did but dream it--until i knew your honour was abed and like to die,' he told me naively, as something which might make his fault seem natural. 'i thought that you would die and leave it with me.' so, thinking me as good as dead, he had told his father and his brothers that it was a gift from me, or, as it were, a legacy; and now the fame of my munificence, my love for him, had gone abroad. an hour ago, when he received my letter, he had confessed the truth at last and privately to his beloved father, who, while strongly blaming him for his deceit, was willing to pay any price i chose to put upon the weapon to save him from the horrid scandal of exposure. if the story became public in the country he would die of grief. the honour of a noble house was at my mercy. the gun, so much admired, was quite a cheap one in reality. i had bought it for ten pounds three years before, in london, on the advice of an uncle skilled in all such matters. after a moment's thought, i said: 'eight english pounds.' never in my life before or since have i beheld such transports of relief and gratitude, nor heard such heartfelt praises of my generosity. he told the money out before me there and then, insisted on embracing me repeatedly, and then rushed out, intent to tell his father. when he had gone, rashîd appeared before me, stern and aloof as the recording angel. 'it is a crime you have committed,' he exclaimed indignantly. 'that rascal told me as we came along together that his father was prepared to pay a hundred pounds to save their honour. he had sinned; it is but right his house should bear the punishment.' 'you would have done as i have done, in my position,' i assured him, laughing. 'in the position of your honour,' was the dignified reply, 'i should either have made him pay a hundred pounds for our gun, or else persuaded him that it was worth a hundred pounds, and then presented it. in either case i should have crushed those people utterly. but, for a man in your position to accept eight pounds for such a weapon--and proclaim it worth no more--that is a shame! if your desire was money, you should not have touched the matter personally, but have left it altogether in the hands of me, your servant, who am always careful of your honour, which is mine as well.' he sulked with me thereafter for two days. footnotes: [ ] licence. chapter xxxiii my benefactor when i knew at length that i was going to leave syria, i was seized with a desire to buy all kinds of notions of the country to show to my people at home--a very foolish way of spending money, i am now aware, for such things lose significance when taken from their proper setting. in after days, when leaving syria for england, the one thing i would purchase for myself was a supply of reed pens for arabic writing. but on that first occasion i wished to carry the whole country with me. there was an old, learned christian of beyrout, who had given me lessons in arabic at various times, and always waited on me honourably whenever i alighted in that loveliest and most detestable of seaport towns. he wore the baggiest of baggy trousers, looking just like petticoats, a short fez with enormous hanging tassel, a black alpaca coat of french design, a crimson vest, white cotton stockings, and elastic-sided boots, convenient to pull off ere entering a room. he always carried in the street a silver-headed cane, which he would lean with care against the wall of any room he chanced to enter, never laying it upon the ground, or on a chair or table. in all the time of my acquaintance with him i never, that i can remember, saw him really smile, though something like a twinkle would occasionally touch his eyes beneath great bushy eyebrows, between black and grey. an extraordinarily strong and heavy grey moustache, with drooping ends, gave him a half-pathetic, half-imposing likeness to some aged walrus; so that some of the common people actually called him 'sheykh el bahr' (the old man of the sea)--which is the proper arabic designation of a walrus. he came to see me after i had left the hospital and was staying with some english friends for a few days before returning to the wilds for a farewell; and repeatedly praised allah for my safe recovery. there never was a man more thoroughly respectable, more perfectly correct in every word and movement. he disapproved of poor rashîd as a companion for me, because the latter dealt in vulgar language; and i feel certain that he would have disapproved of suleymân, if he had ever seen that sun of wisdom in my company, for pandering to my desire for foolish stories. he was known as the mu'allim costantîn, a worthy man. with his usual ceremonious salutation, suggestive of his high position as a representative of learning, he placed himself at my command for any purchases i wished to make; knowing, he said, that i was likely to be busy in the weeks before departure. and his offer was extremely welcome to me at the time. i wished, as i have said already, to buy lots of things; among others--why, i cannot now imagine--the whole costume of natives of the country. the mu'allim costantîn praised my intention, gravely declaring that it could not fail to interest my honoured relatives and lovers, and enlarge their minds, to know the details of a dress the most becoming in the world. in order that a full idea of syrian raiment might be given, two suits and two long garments (corresponding to two other suits) were necessary, he pronounced. these, with the various articles of clothing which i then possessed and had grown used to wearing in the country, would be sufficient for the purposes of exhibition. upon the following day, as i was dressing, about ten o'clock (for i was still to some extent an invalid), there came a light knock at the door, and the mu'allim costantîn appeared, ushering in a friend of his, who was a tailor--a man as grave and worthy as himself, who there and then proceeded to take measurements, praising the proportions with which nature had endowed me, and asking allah to fill out those parts which now were lean through illness. the moment of a man's uprising is--or was at that time, for old customs are now dying out--the one which servants, tradesmen, pedlars, and all who wished to ask a favour chose for visiting. on the morning after my arrival in an eastern city where i happened to be known i have had as many as twelve persons squatting round upon the floor, watching a barber shave me, while a little boy, the barber's 'prentice, bearing towels, jug, and basin, waited upon him like an acolyte. the tailor, having made the necessary notes, withdrew with many compliments. the mu'allim costantîn remained behind a moment, to assure me, in a loud stage-whisper, that the said tailor was a man whom i could trust to do the best for me, and that i might think myself extremely fortunate to have secured his services, as, being much sought after by the fashionables, he generally had more work than he could really do; but that, having taken, as he said, a fancy to me, he would certainly turn out a set of garments to enslave the heart. having said this in the finest classic phraseology, he went out to rejoin the tailor in the passage; nor did i see him any more until the very day of my departure, when, at the english consul-general's hospitable house, i was waiting for the carriage which would take me to the quay. i was told that someone wished to see me upon urgent business, and, going to the great liwân or entrance-hall, i found my friend, his silver-headed cane leaned carefully against the wall as usual. he carried underneath his arm a number of large books. these he presented to me with a solemn bow. 'it occurred to me,' he said, 'that as your honour has a predilection for all those curious and often foolish tales which circulate among the common people, you might not perhaps disdain these four poor volumes which i chance to have in my possession. deign to accept them as a parting gift from me.' i thanked him kindly, though in truth i was embarrassed, not knowing where to stow the books, since all my things were packed. and then he handed me the tailor's bill, which, with the clothes which i had ordered, had escaped my memory. 'where are the clothes?' i asked, 'i had forgotten them.' he pointed to a bundle pinned up honourably in a silken wrapper, reposing on the floor hard by the silver-handled cane. i tore the envelope and opened out the bill. it came to twenty pounds. and i had got my money ready for my journey. i was going to visit some of the greek islands, smyrna, and constantinople, on my way to england, and had hoped, besides, to see a little of the balkan states. to pay out twenty pounds was to reduce that journey by at least a fortnight. and, as i said, i had forgotten all about the clothes, regarding all my syrian debts as fully paid. the hall was empty; we were quite alone. i fear i stormed at the mu'allim costantîn, reminding him that he had promised that the clothes should not be dear. 'but,' he persisted, 'they are very cheap for the materials. if your honour's wish was to pay less, you ought not to have chosen fabrics three parts silk. i did not know that you were counting money.' he was right. throughout my stay in syria, until that moment, i had never counted money. compared with england, living in the country was absurdly cheap, and on my small allowance i had lived at ease. he might quite reasonably have supposed me to be very wealthy. but i was not in reasonable mood just then. i paid the bill, but in an angry manner; and while i was still talking to him, the cawwâs arrived, and, close upon his heels, rashîd in tears, to tell me that the carriage was in waiting. the grief i felt at leaving syria, at parting from rashîd and our sheytân and many friends took hold of me. hurriedly i said goodbye to the mu'allim costantîn, and i am glad to say i changed my tone at that last moment, and had the grace to bid him think no more of the whole matter. but i shall carry to my grave the recollection of his face of horror while i scolded, the look that told his grief that he had been deceived in me. i went and shoved the books into my luggage here and there, gave rashîd orders to send on the clothes, took leave of my kind hosts, and drove down in a hurry to the quay. it was not till some time after i arrived in england that i realised that the volumes which he had presented to me were a complete bûlâc edition of the _thousand and one nights_--a valuable book--which is my greatest treasure. nor have i ever had the chance of thanking the giver in a manner worthy of the gift, and wiping out the bad impression left by my ill-temper, for a letter which i wrote from england never reached him i am told, and when i next was in his country the mu'allim costantîn had gone where kindness, patience, courtesy, and all his other virtues are, i hope, rewarded. glasgow: w. collin's sons and co. ltd. * * * * * +--------------------------------------------------------------+ | typographical errors corrected in text: | | | | page : yusûf replaced with yûsuf | | | +--------------------------------------------------------------+ with our army in palestine by antony bluett late of "a" battery, h.a.c., and egyptian camel transport corps london: andrew melrose ltd. york street, covent garden, w.c. to my wife foreword little has been said, and less written, of the campaigns in egypt and palestine. this book is an attempt to give those interested some idea of the work and play and, occasionally, the sufferings of the egyptian expeditionary force, from the time of its inception to the armistice. severely technical details have been reduced to a minimum, the story being rather of men than matters; but such necessary figures and other data of which i had not personal knowledge, have been taken from the official dispatches and from the notes of eye-witnesses. here i should like most cordially to thank the following old comrades for their generous help: capt. b. t. hinchley, r.a.s.c., late of the egyptian camel transport corps, and l. allard stonard, esq., late of "a" battery, the honourable artillery company, for permission to print their excellent photographs, which will, i am sure, add materially to the interest of the book; and r. arrowsmith, esq., late of "a" battery, the honourable artillery company, whose admirable notes have been of the greatest assistance to me in compiling some of the later chapters. antony bluett. highgate, _july _. contents chap. page i. mersa matruh and the senussi ii. "somewhere east of suez..." iii. on 'untin'--and some other matters iv. kantara and the railway v. the wire road vi. "the long, long trail" vii. on the fringe of the holy land viii. the first battle of gaza ix. the retreat x. the second attempt xi. tel el jemmi and the camels xii. cave dwellers and scorpions xiii. in the wadi xiv. the attack on beersheba xv. gaza at last xvi. the road to jerusalem xvii. oÙ l'on s'amuse xviii. in the jordan valley xix. the valley of chaos xx. in full cry xxi. over the ladder of tyre xxii. deserted villages in lebanon list of illustrations facing page native market at mersa matruh sunday morning in the gulf of suez feluccas bringing supplies to kantara (see p. ) "the long, long trail" i. camouflaging a tent with desert scrub (see p. ) ii. a camel convoy summer in the wadi ghuzzee in the jordan valley--wadi auja i. a water convoy ii. the valley of chaos--before the turkish retreat the valley of chaos--after the bombing raid (see p. ) with our army in palestine chapter i mersa matruh and the senussi it is a little difficult to know the precise place at which to begin this narrative. there are, as it were, several _points d'appui_. one might describe the outward voyage, in a troopship packed to three or four times its normal peace-time capacity; where men slept on the floors, on mess-tables, and in hammocks so closely slung that once you were in it was literally impossible to get out until the whole row was ready to move; and where we were given food (!) cooked and served under conditions so revolting as to turn the stomach at the bare sight of it. and there were other things.... but i do not think any useful purpose would be served by such a course. it was an unspeakably horrible voyage, but most of the troops travelling east experienced the same conditions; moreover, the praise or blame for those responsible for the early chaos will doubtless be meted out at the proper time and in the proper place. again, as far as most people at home are concerned, the great crusade began with the taking of jerusalem and ended when the turks finally surrendered in the autumn of . this view, entirely erroneous though it be, is not unreasonable, for a thick veil shrouded the doings of the army in egypt in the early days, and the people at home saw only the splendid results of two years' arduous preparation and self-sacrifice. now the tale of these weary months ought to be told that justice be done to some of the biggest-hearted men who ever left the shores of great britain and australasia, and that the stupendous difficulties confronting them may be properly appreciated. it is no tale of glamour and romance; it is a tale of sheer, hard graft, generally under terrible conditions--for a white man. before we could even think of moving eastwards towards palestine we had to set our own house in order. egypt was seething with sedition, and the flame of discontent was sedulously fanned by the young excitables from al azhar, who probably were themselves stimulated by turko-german propaganda--and "baksheesh." these had to be suppressed; and the task was not easy. further, as far south as aden there were turkish garrisons, and troops in considerable numbers had to be detached to overcome them; this, too, was no small undertaking. finally, a flowery gentleman called the high sheikh or the grand sheikh of the senussi had ideas above his station--and he had to be disillusionised. this was a more serious matter, for the senussi were the largest native tribe in egypt, and turkish and german officers had been very busy amongst them. some account of the operations against them has already been published, but i believe it concerns mainly the duke of westminster's spirited dash with his armoured cars to rescue the shipwrecked survivors of the _tara_, who were grossly ill-treated by the senussi. yet right up to the end of they were a source of trouble, and in the situation became so serious that a strong punitive force had to be sent to mersa matruh, on the western frontier of egypt, to cope with it. here, i think, is where we must make our bow, for we had some small place in these operations; it was, in fact, our introduction to actual fighting, though we had already spent many torrid weeks on the suez canal. and no better _mise en scène_ could we have than the old _missa_, for the story of the campaign would be incomplete without mention of her; she was unique. besides, everybody in egypt knows the _missa_. those who had the misfortune to know her intimately speak of her with revilings and cast slurs upon her parentage. far back down the ages, possibly about the time when the admirable mr. stephenson was busy practising with his locomotive, the _missa_ might have been a respectable ship, but her engines had been replaced so many times by others more pernicious and evil-smelling, and new boards had been nailed so frequently and promiscuously about the hull, that she resembled nothing so much as an aged female of indifferent repute decked in juvenile and unseemly clothes; and her conduct matched her looks. most men in the army will have noticed that the authorities nearly always order a move or begin a "show" on the day of rest. i am no statistician, but if the tally of these lost hours in bed of a sunday morning were kept, the army would have a few weeks' arrears of sleep to make up. on this particular occasion we went one better than sunday; we began on a day when normally peace and goodwill go ringing round the world: christmas day, . if there was any peace and goodwill about we failed to notice it, for it was blowing and raining hard, and we had to get half a battery of horse-artillery on board that deplorable ship. it is no joke at the best of times embarking horses and mules; and as, in addition to the weather, we had the _missa_ to deal with, the humour of the proceedings did not strike any one--except the onlookers. for she rolled and pitched and plunged and dived as she lay there at her moorings. she was never still a moment, and, in a word, behaved like the graceless, mercurial baggage she was. but she was beaten in the end. by dint of that curious mixture of patience and profanity characteristic of the british soldier when doing a difficult job, horses and guns were at length safely stowed away. just before we sailed an old salt on the quay kindly proffered the opinion that it would be dirty weather outside. he was right. if the old _missa_ had behaved badly in gabbari docks, she was odious once we got out to sea. she did everything but stand on her head or capsize--and did indeed nearly accomplish both these feats. normally the journey from alexandria to mersa matruh, whither we were bound, occupies about sixteen hours. on this occasion the _missa_ took five days! a few hours after we left harbour the pleasing discovery was made that some one had mislaid a large portion of the rations for the voyage, though by a fluke several crates of oranges had been put on board--"in lieu," perhaps. not that the question of food interested any one very much just then, for by this time sea-sickness was taking its dreadful toll. men were lying about the wave-washed decks too ill even to help themselves; indeed, the only thing possible was to seize the nearest firm object and hang on. watering and feeding the horses was a horrible nightmare, but somehow it was done. the former was carried out by means of horse-buckets--an interminable business, interrupted at frequent intervals when the men were shaken and torn by awful bouts of sickness as they staggered or crawled along the foul, evil-smelling hold. feeding was rather easier and quicker, for there was little to give the poor brutes, even had they wanted it. so it went on for four ghastly days. on the fifth day, rations, water, and even those blessed oranges had almost given out, and to add to our joy the skipper, who was afterwards discovered to be a bulgarian, had not the remotest notion of our whereabouts and lost his nerve completely. a big australian actually did take the helm for a time and made a shot for the right direction. we had almost given up hope of reaching the land when, in a smother of foam and spray, there appeared a patrol-boat, the commander of which asked in his breezy naval way who we were and what the blazes we thought we were doing. on being informed he told us we were steering head-on for a minefield, and that if we wanted mersa matruh we must alter course a few points and we should be in before nightfall. also, he added a few comments about our seamanship, but we were much too grateful to mind--besides, they really applied to the bulgarian skipper. it sounds rather like an anti-climax to say that we landed safely. true, men and horses were too apathetic and ill to care a great deal whether they were landed or no. many felt the effects of that turbulent trip for weeks after, and certainly no one wished to renew acquaintance with the _missa_! the only pleasing feature about the business was, if report be true, that the bulgarian skipper died suddenly from a violent stoppage of the heart. those of us who expected to find a great camp seething with activity and alive with all the pomp and circumstance of war were disappointed to see a mere collection of tents scattered about promiscuously, as it were, within handy reach of the shore. here and there were piles of timber, r.e. stores, and the beginning of the inevitable ration dump; it was, in fact, a typical advanced base in embryo. nobody seemed more than mildly interested in our arrival, with the exception of a supply officer who was making agitated inquiries about a consignment of forty crates of oranges which he said should have been on board. when we were sufficiently recovered to sit up and take notice of every-day matters again, we learnt that there had been some very heavy fighting during december, culminating in a fine show on christmas day and boxing day, when the senussi, although they took full advantage of the extraordinarily difficult country, were trounced so severely that more fighting was unlikely for some weeks. curiously enough, this cheerful news rather damped our enthusiasm. we had come expecting to find a large and exciting war on the beach waiting for us. instead, we found battery-drills innumerable for the better training of our bodies and the edification of our minds. also, there were fatigues, long and strenuous, which our souls abhorred. it is curious how the british soldier loathes the very word "fatigue." he will make the most ingenious excuses and discover that he has extraordinary and incurable diseases in order to dodge even the lightest. possibly the authorities, who sometimes see more than they appear to, had this in mind when later they changed the word to "working-party." there is a more dignified sound about it, though i don't know that it made the work any more acceptable. in the evening we forgathered in an aged marquee used as a canteen, and cultivated the acquaintance of our new comrades, the australian light horse, of which splendid corps more in the proper place. they were an independent but friendly crowd. indeed, the word "friendly" is not quite enough; the army one "matey" expresses so much better our attitude towards each other, after the first tentative overtures had been made. and this "matey" feeling animated the whole campaign against the senussi, to a greater degree, i think, than any other. perhaps the conditions drew us closer together, for they were deplorable. it rained all day and almost every day; tents were water-logged and one moved about in a slough of sticky mud. we ate mud, we drank it in our tea, we slept in it, for our wardrobes had been left behind in cairo. harness-cleaning was another bugbear, but even that succumbed to the mud after a time; and as the weeks flew by and inspections, infallible finger-posts to a "scrap," became more frequent we knew that all was not in vain and that very soon we should have the chance of justifying the long, arduous days of preparation. and quite suddenly it came. one evening in the canteen the whispered news--"straight from the horse's mouth"--was passed round that we should be in action in two days! it was laughed to scorn. how often had we heard that tale before! there had certainly been an inspection of field-dressings in the morning, which usually meant something, yet even that had been done before and nothing had come of it. we were frankly sceptical. however, this time the doubting thomases were wrong, for the very next day we were roused at a depressingly early hour by the guard, who told us in a hoarse whisper that we were "for it." we were sufficiently experienced in turning out to get the preliminaries over quickly and without the amazing chaos that usually attends the efforts of the beginner. it is indeed remarkable how soon one becomes accustomed to working in the dark. breast collars seem to slide into their places and buckles and trace-hooks find their way into one's hands of their own volition. by sun-up we were well on our way across the desolate, dreary waste. it was terribly heavy going, over fetlock-deep in mud, as hour after hour we toiled along. beyond small bodies of cavalry dotted here and there on the desert, there did not appear to be any signs of a battle. men were riding at ease, smoking and talking, when, almost unnoticeably, the plain became alive with soldiers. infantry appeared from nowhere in particular, the cavalry seemed suddenly to have increased considerably in numbers and to be massing as if for a charge, and before we realised it, we were unlimbering the guns and the horses were struggling through the mud back to the waggon-lines. in a few seconds the roar of an explosion proclaimed that the guns were firing their first shots against an enemy, and presently over the waggon-lines came a persistent whining sound indicating that the enemy had a few remarks to make on his own account. the senussi of course had the advantage of ground, but fortunately for us they had only light field-pieces which did little damage. they made astonishingly good use of their machine-guns, however, and soon had the cavalry, who had made an impetuous charge, in difficulties. so serious did the situation become that a gun had to be swung round--and extremely difficult it was to move in the mud--until it was almost at right angles with its fellow, in order to prevent our being surrounded. for some hours the senussi made desperate attempts to outflank us, and both cavalry and infantry suffered considerably, nor did the artillery have much time for rest and reflection, for at one stage in the proceedings they were firing over open sights--and as any artilleryman knows, when that happens the enemy is quite near enough. it is of course impossible for one to describe an action like this in detail or say exactly when the turning-point came. there was the general impression of the infantry at long last heaving themselves out of the mud and going forward in real earnest, of the cavalry on the flanks speeding the heels of the retreating senussi horsemen, and of the artillery firing as fast as they could load at any target they could pick up. the whole engagement seemed to last only a few minutes, yet the artillery alone had been firing steadily for some five hours. when it was all over we were rather astonished to find ourselves still alive, somewhat dazed with the excitement and noise and with the cantankerous whine of machine-gun bullets still in our ears. a violent desire for a smoke was the first real sensation, but that desire was not destined to be gratified for some time, for our troubles were only just beginning. the sticky mud had completely beaten the horses and mules, which latter had made a very praiseworthy attempt to stampede earlier in the day, and almost all the vehicles had to be man-handled along. rain was coming down in a pitiless downpour and we had to face the prospect of a bitterly cold night with neither blankets nor greatcoats, for everything had been left behind to enable us to travel as light as possible. the plight of the wounded was pitiable. there were practically no medical comforts for them, most of the transport being stuck in the mud a considerable distance away. some of the slightly wounded men rode on the gun-limbers, others with more serious hurts in such ambulances as had managed to get up, a few on camel-back, while the remainder were actually carried in stretchers by their unwounded comrades. that these men with their heavy loads ever managed to lift their feet out of the mud was a miracle. i do not know what system of reliefs was adopted, but by the time the wounded were safely brought in, a whole battalion must have taken its turn merely to carry its own few casualties. it was a magnificent example of devotion and dogged fortitude; and withal, the outstanding feature of the whole affair was the incorrigible cheerfulness of everybody, rising superior to all discomforts. it may be thought that undue prominence has been given to an affair which after all was one in which a few thousands only took part--little more than a skirmish, perhaps, judged by european standards. it has been done partly because this was the first time most of us had been under fire, but chiefly because the battle was so typical of many in the subsequent desert fighting. as will be seen later, the cumulative effect of these minor victories was out of all proportion to the numbers engaged. moreover, this particular action again rammed home the lesson that native guerilla troops cannot hope to tackle with success, well-armed, well-disciplined white troops supported by artillery. well, we had been blooded--lightly, it is true--and we were ready for the next job. we had learnt one or two lessons, for no one goes into his first action and comes out exactly the same man. he is rather like the good, but young and untried cricketer nervously going in to bat. the bowler looks about seven feet high and the stumps seem absurdly large; but the moment he is in the crease the mist clears away from his eyes and he is ready to set about his business. so it is with war: it is the fear of showing fear that makes many a good man unhappy in his first action; until he finds that he is not there merely to be shot at but to do a little shooting on his own account. after that he has little time to think about himself; he is too busy. a plethora of fatigues occupied the next few weeks. a column started on a sweeping drive towards sollum, but for us, beyond dropping a few shells into a native village, there was no further artillery action. life resolved itself into an affair of g.s. waggons and patrol-duty, which latter chiefly concerned the cavalry. there were lines of communication to be formed, contact with the railhead at dabaa to be established and maintained, which meant, amongst other things, a constant carting of telegraph-poles out to unlikely spots in the desert, and dumping them there for "signals," who immediately decided they would like them taken somewhere else even more remote and inaccessible. then, too, we were almost our own a.s.c. in the first place stores had to be brought by boat from alexandria to mersa matruh, and the harassed and long-suffering troops were told off as unloading parties. at rare intervals a consignment of canteen stores would arrive, on which occasions the unloading party would be at the beach bright and early; things get lost so easily. there were some crates of oranges once.... two things the authorities at the base never troubled to send: clothes and boots. apparently they were under the impression that we had taken to troglodytic habits and required none. almost every man wore a patch; not like the tiny, black ornament worn on the face by ladies in the old corinthian days, but a large, comprehensive affair more or less securely sewn on the shirt or the seat of one's riding-breeches. the quartermaster-sergeant complained bitterly over a shortage of grain-sacks: the reason for it was walking about before his eyes all day long. it was dreary work at best, however, with only these uninspiring and never-ending fatigues to occupy our time. even our little social haven, the canteen, did not stay the urgent need for something more active. the appalling thought came that we had been dumped down in this lonely desolate spot and left there, utterly forgotten, like kipling's "lost legion." there came a day, however, when our fears were dispelled by an urgent order to trek back to alexandria. apparently the war had broken out in a fresh place, and there was work to be done after all. whatever the reason, there was joy in the camp. tents were quickly struck and incinerators soon were working double shifts, for it is astonishing how things accumulate, even in the desert. moreover, the army insists--and rightly--that camps be left clean and free from rubbish. rations, forage and water were the chief things to be considered--or rather, the problem of packing them on to limbers and in waggons--for they had to last us to railhead, some days' march away. officially, once a unit is on the move, it ceases to exist till it reaches the next place on the time-table; and if rations or water are lost in the desert you go hungry, and, worse still, thirsty, for there are no more to be had. most of those who took part in it will remember that trek when others are forgotten. rations were short, forage was short, everything was short, especially the ropes by which the horse-buckets were lowered into the wells; which last remark perhaps needs explanation. all journeys in the desert are regulated by the distances between wells, which may be twenty, thirty, and sometimes more miles apart. at some of them we found the old-fashioned "shadouf," or native pump, which, clumsy though it was, helped matters considerably. usually, however, we had to rely on horse-buckets, and it was any odds that our ropes were too short to reach the surface of the water. the experienced driver would take a rein to the well with him, for lengthening purposes if necessary, but often some unfortunate wight, having found his rope two or three inches too short, would be seen struggling to hold his thirsty horses with one hand while with the other he endeavoured to unfasten his belt to make up the extra inches. it was a maddening business, this watering the horses. poor brutes! they would come in after a long day's trek, on short rations, with often a twenty-four hours' thirst to quench, and then have to stand round a well and wait perhaps for hours! even the quietest of them began to fidget and strain at their head-ropes the moment they scented the water. as for the mules, there was simply no holding them. on one occasion--it was after a forty-mile march--a mule, frantic with thirst, broke away from his owner, and in a desperate attempt to get to the water, fell headlong down the well! a crowd of infuriated soldiers, with drag-ropes and everything that wit of man could devise, laboured for hours to get him out, while their comrades, equally infuriated, held anything up to a dozen animals apiece and made strenuous efforts to prevent them from following his deplorable example. [illustration: native market at mersa matruh. [_to face p. _.] but, if the watering difficulty was the worst of our troubles, the shortage of forage was almost as bad, for the meagre ration of grain was about as satisfying to the horses and mules as alfred lester's famous caraway seed was to him. the mules were the worst; they were insatiable. they ate the head-ropes that fastened them to the horse-lines, and the incensed picket spent half the night chasing them and tying them up again with what was left of the rope. fortunately we obtained chains at railhead, and as these were uneatable they turned their attention to the horse-blankets and ate them! soon it was impossible to "rug-up" at night, for there was not enough rug left. we used as pillows the nose-bags containing the following day's grain, and many a time were awakened by a half-famished mule poking an inquisitive muzzle under our heads. our own personal worries mainly concerned washing and shaving. water was much too precious to be used for such purposes, so the problem was easily solved; we did neither. and in any case we had little time. we were up and away before dawn, we trekked anything from twenty-five to thirty-five miles a day, and when we had attended to the needs of the animals and had something to eat and drink ourselves, we were too tired to do anything but roll into the blankets and sleep until a disgruntled picket roused us for another day. occasionally some sybarite would be seen using the remains of his evening tea as shaving-water and laboriously scraping a three days' growth of hair from his face; but he was the exception. we were a ragged, unwashed, unshaven crew--yet mighty cheery withal. and so we came to alexandria, where baths, new clothes and boots, and, best of all, a mail awaited us. chapter ii "somewhere east of suez..." if you look at the map of egypt and follow the line of the suez canal to its southernmost point, then continue a little down the eastern shores of the gulf of suez, you will see--if the map be a good one--the words "ayun musa," which being interpreted mean: "the wells of moses." now let your finger continue its journey due east, pausing not for mountains nor yet rivers, and it will inevitably arrive at a spot the name of which is variously spelt nekhl, nakhl or nukul. concentrate on this for a moment and you will see that in enemy hands it formed a very effective jumping-off place for an attack on the southern terminus of the most important commercial waterway in the world and a vital artery of the british empire. moreover, it was very difficult of attack, for it was defended by a range of exceedingly unpleasant and precipitous hills, the passes through which were held by the turks. hence the agitation of the authorities and the sudden importance of ayun musa as a defensive barrier to suez. it was to this lonely spot that we were ordered to proceed with the least possible delay. having collected all the stores and camp equipment we could lay hands on, and after the usual circus in entraining the horses, we started for suez. incidentally, this was the last time we boarded a train as a complete unit for more than two years. with suez the last vestige of green was left behind us, and turning south after crossing the canal we entered upon that vast desert trodden by the israelites thousands of years ago when they fled from the persecuting hand of pharaoh. it is to be admitted that we failed to observe, till later, the undoubted grandeur of the scene, for we were mainly concerned with getting our guns and overloaded vehicles along. time after time they sank almost up to the axle-trees in the heavy sand and time after time did the sweating horses pull them out and struggle on again. one g.s. waggon, laden till it resembled a pantechnicon, was soon in dire straits. originally starting with a six-horse team it acquired on the journey first one extra pair, then another--with a spare man mounted on each of the off-horses--and finally arrived in camp at the gallop with twelve horses and eight drivers. nobody saw anything funny in it. when you are dog-tired, hungry, and, worse still, when you arrive after dark in a new camp, nothing short of a cold chisel can gouge humour out of anything. all you want is a large and satisfying meal, after which your blankets. in the morning we found that our usual fate had overtaken us: we were again pioneers in a new land. there it was, just our allotted square on the map, as flat and bare as a billiard-table. yet the country was not unimpressive. a thousand yards away to our right were the tamarisks of moses' grove, the only spot of verdure in sight; far in our rear and to our left ran range upon range of low, even-topped hills of unimaginable barrenness, the approach to which lay over a vast plain, broken by innumerable smaller hills, grand in its utter desolation; and in front of us stretched a level, shimmering expanse of sand as far as the silvery ribbon of the gulf of suez, beyond which, and dominating the whole scene, the gaunt, black mass of gebel atakah (mountain of deliverance) thrust its mighty pinnacle into the sky. such was the place destined to be our home for six torrid months; and we had to transform it into a fortified camp! small wonder that we quailed at the prospect of work more punishing than any we had yet known, for literally everything had to be done; we had what we managed to bring with us, and that was all. there followed days of unremitting toil. we turned our attention to road-making and with bowed backs and blistered hands shovelled up half the desert and put it down somewhere else; the other half we put into sandbags and made gun pits of them. we dug places for the artificers, kitchens for the cooks, walled-in places for forage, and but for the timely arrival of a battalion of indian infantry we should have dug the trenches round the camp; we were mercifully spared that, however. by way of a change we dug holes: big holes, little holes, round holes, square holes, rectangular holes; holes for refuse; wide, deep holes for washing-pits; every kind of hole you can think of and many you can't. we never discovered for what purpose most of these holes were dug, but we dug them; and as a special treat we were allowed to dig an extra big hole, lined and roofed with sandbags, wherein to hide two hundred thousand rounds of s.a. ammunition lest the turks in a moment of aberration should drop a bomb on it. all this in a temperature of over ° in the shade at nine o'clock in the morning! for summer was leaping towards us with giant strides, and it was one the like of which egypt had not known for seventy-five years. day by day the sun waxed stronger until work became a torture unspeakable and hardly to be borne. with the slightest exertion the perspiration ran in rivulets from face and finger-tips; clothes became saturated and clung like a glove to our dripping bodies; and if a man stood for a time in one place the sand around was sodden with his sweat. then, too, we had the usual difficulty about drinking water, for there was none in the camp. the wells of moses, twelve in number, were brackish and only fit for the horses. consequently every drop had to be brought from the quarantine station, three miles away, on the shores of the gulf of suez; and twice daily did the water-cart plough a laborious way through the sand. i think it was the very worst water we ever had, all but undrinkable, in fact. it was so heavily chlorinated and nauseous that one drank it as medicine. it tasted the tea, it spoilt the lime-juice, and even the onions failed to disguise it in the daily stew. fortunately there was washing-water in abundance, as we quickly discovered in our digging operations. two or three feet down the sand was quite moist, and if the hole was left for a time, brackish water percolated through in sufficient quantities for a bath. it was the daily custom, after evening-stables, to rush across to the washing-pits, peel off our saturated clothes and stand in pairs, back to back, while a comrade poured bucket after bucket of water over our perspiring bodies until we were cool enough to put on a change of clothes. and how we revelled in it! it was one of the few alleviations of those torrid, arduous days. you who dwell in temperate climes, with water--hot and cold--at a hand's turn, will perhaps accuse me of labouring the point. i cannot help it; no words of mine can express what it meant to have that clean feeling just for an hour or two. it was ineffable luxury; it helped us to endure. for there were other things to add to our daily burden. you will doubtless remember the plagues of egypt.... at least three of these survived at ayun musa to harass, thousands of years later, unfortunate soldiers who were trying to win a war. we had lice, boils and blains, and flies--particularly and perpetually, flies. the first-named were not so terrible, for as wood was fairly plentiful we soon made rough beds and thus kept our clothes and blankets off the sand. the second and third caused the medical authorities in the east more trouble and anxious experiment than all the other diseases put together. the slightest scratch turned septic. it was the rule rather than the exception for units in the desert to have per cent. of their strength under treatment for septic sores. there was no help for it; active service is a messy business at best. it was appallingly difficult to give adequate treatment. sand would get into the wound; if it were cleansed and covered up, the dry, healing air of the desert had no chance; if it were left open the flies made a bivouac of it--and the result can be imagined! there were men who were never without a bandage on some part of their person for months on end, and it was a common sight to see a man going about his daily work literally swathed in bandages. it was not until we had advanced well into palestine, where there was fruit in abundance, that this plague diminished and was in some measure overcome. but infinitely worse than any other was the plague of flies. when we arrived at ayun musa there was not a fly to be seen. within a week you would have thought that all the flies in the universe had congregated about us. they were everywhere. did you leave your tea uncovered for a minute the flies around you hastened to drown themselves in it! and as for jam! successfully to eat a slice of bread and jam was a feat, and one requiring careful preparation. you had to make a tunnel of one hand, wave the required mouthful about with the other for a few seconds in order to disturb the flies on it, then pass it quickly through the tunnel and into the mouth before they could settle again. one man nailed a piece of mosquito-netting to the front of the mess table and with himself as the pole made a kind of tent, so as to eat his food in comfort. but meal-times were among the minor evils; it was in the tents, during the hours when we could do no work, that we suffered most. rest was impossible. the mere touch of clothing was almost unbearable in the heat, but it was better to swathe the head in a fly-net and roll a blanket round the outlying portions of the body, than to strip to the buff and lie exposed to the attacks of those damnable flies. it is no light thing that sends a strong man into hysterics or drives one sobbing from his tent, to rush about the camp in a frenzy of wild rage. yet the flies did this--and more; they were carriers of disease. behind the clouds of flies lurked always the grim spectre of dysentery; and of all our troubles perhaps this is the best known to the people at home. the mesopotamian commission ventilated it so thoroughly that there is no need to pile on the agony here. one may say, however, that the sufferings of the men in egypt from this terrible disease were, certainly in somewhat less degree, those of their comrades farther east. and we will let it go at that. meanwhile, what of the turks? during the six weeks we spent putting the camp into a state of defence they kindly refrained from annoying us, and beyond an occasional encounter with our patrols and a false alarm or two, nothing occurred to disturb the even tenor of our digging. when we had finished this strenuous pursuit, every ten days or so flying columns were organised to look for them and, if possible, drive them out of their rocky fastnesses thirty miles away. one of the few vulnerable points in these hills was the raha pass and incredibly difficult it was even to approach. the joys of trekking over the sandy desert we knew, the desert in the rainy season we knew, but they were as nothing compared with the rocky desert of sinai. not only was there the deep sand to contend with but one had to climb hills and descend valleys covered with huge boulders. it was a creditable feat merely to get over the ground at all; manoeuvring was out of the question. an eight-horse team could with difficulty pull a gun and its limber over fairly level ground; frequently twelve horses were required and sometimes as many as sixteen! and it was really wonderful to see them intelligently thrusting all their weight on the breast-collars, heaving and straining to get their load over a nasty place. these were the days, too, when the heat whipped off the rocks in waves and the sun's rays beat upon the back like strokes from a flail; when it was impossible to march during the noontide hours and one crawled under the limbers for shelter; and when a man looked longingly at his water-bottle, even though the water therein was almost boiling. for the most part these flying columns drew blank. rarely did the turks and their bedouin allies come out and fight, but confined themselves to sniping and harassing our cavalry-patrols at night. every day these would return to camp bearing the body of a comrade, killed without seeing the hand that killed him; and once, saddest of all, two riderless horses, famished and almost mad with thirst, dashed up to the watering-troughs in camp. their riders were never found. we had to wait long weeks before our chance came. (even then it came only just in time, for we left ayun musa for good the following day.) it was rather a curious affair. the solution to the whole question lay in our being able to get the guns to the top of a certain hill commanding the raha pass. if this could be accomplished things would be very warm indeed for the people in the pass. it took twenty-six horses to pull the gun to the top of that hill! the rest was easy; almost too easy. the turks had no heavy artillery, so we sat about in the open smoking and watching our guns shell them out of their holes into the arms of the indian infantry, who went forward with a pleased smile to receive them. but the urgent need in those days of the army in the east was aircraft; fast, modern machines, that is. there was a lamentable lack of anything that could go near the fokker or taube; the men were willing, but the machines were woefully weak. almost with impunity the turks came over and bombed the camps in the area; the one at el shatt always received particular attention, possibly on account of its proximity to suez, more probably because it was the largest and most strongly-fortified camp in the vicinity. suez itself was attacked many times, as might have been expected, both on account of its immense oil-tanks and its position as the southern entrance to the canal. curiously enough, turkish aircraft never troubled us much at ayun musa, though of course there was the usual "wind-up." as a start we were ordered to convert our eighteen pounders into anti-aircraft guns. this meant digging pits with a weird kind of platform in the middle; this was for the reception of the gun-wheels alone. the trail was thus left free, which enabled the gun to be tilted sufficiently for high-angle fire. we never did fire at any aircraft from these pits; they looked very nice, however. nor did this finish the business. about this time the word "camouflage" appeared in the east and curiously enough, synchronising with its arrival, the mandate went forth that our tents were to be camouflaged. now the army is a very wonderful place for teaching one to make bricks without straw, but if the other materials are lacking----? matters were at a deadlock till a bright lad suggested that there might be a little desert-scrub about if we looked for it. he was quite right; there was a little, a very little. about one bush to the half-mile was the average, and usually under a boulder at that. every morning we rode forth and scoured the desert for that elusive scrub. as we had, by the process known in the army as "wangling," acquired sufficient tents and marquees for a battalion, there was a large quantity to find. ultimately, after weeks of searching, we obtained enough, and to stimulate keenness, a prize was then offered for the best camouflaged tent. the winners' was really a very beautiful affair, but apparently the honour--or the scrub--was too much for the tent, for it collapsed during the night. shortly after this we had a further insight into the infinite possibilities of the desert. for a fortnight it had been intolerably hot, and rarely was the noon temperature below ° in the shade. no work was done between the hours of a.m. and p.m., except at midday when the horses were watered and fed; and we loathed the whistle that summoned us from our tents into the blinding sunlight to perform this duty, necessary though we knew it to be. we literally prayed for the night and the cool breeze from the sea. the mountain of deliverance was in truth a symbol to us; for as we watched the sun sink slowly behind its sheltering bulk we knew that another day was done. we wondered wearily what this devastating heat could mean; it was like nothing in our experience. one evening the whole sky was aflame with lurid light and we missed the revivifying breeze. in its place came a hot wind from the south-east, and although the sun was setting we could feel the sickly heat increasing momentarily. presently, far over the eastern desert could be seen a gauzy cloud of immense size travelling towards us at a tremendous pace. in a few moments we were in the midst of an inferno of swirling sand and suffocating heat. it was the dreaded khamseen. men rushed blindly for their tents and swathed their heads in shirts or blankets in order to keep out as well as might be the flying particles of sand. fortunately for us the high embankment in our rear protected the camp to some extent and we never got the full force of the sandstorm. for three days it raged. little work was possible beyond watering and feeding the horses. the short walk from the horse-lines to the watering-troughs was sheer torment, for the hot wind came down the slope like blasts from a furnace. it did literally turn the stomach. many a man staggering blindly along with his three or four horses would pause, vomit violently and carry on. the horses neither drank nor ate much, poor brutes, but all day long stood dejectedly with drooping heads, their backs turned to the scorching wind. it was a scarifying experience. when, on the evening of the third day, the familiar wind came up from the sea we had the feeling one has on coming out of a turkish bath into the cooling-chamber. another welcome tonic was the news that the brigade was ordered to salonica. we felt that any change would be for the better; in any case it could not well be worse. and so we fell to making our preparations with light hearts, confident that in a few days we should be on the move again, perhaps--who could say?--towards a real war. at the last moment a wire came cancelling the move. the disappointment was so bitter that it knocked all the life out of us for days. we felt like a boxer who, after a knock-down blow, rises at the count of nine, say, and is at once sent down again for good. the knock-out blow was that in our case the rest of the brigade did actually leave the camp, in addition to which the indian infantry who had lain alongside us also went elsewhere. we felt thoroughly aggrieved. i suppose every unit at some time or other during a period of enforced stagnation has had this grievance. nobody loves you. you feel that some one in the high places has a grudge against you. you can hear him saying to his underlings: "let me see. so-and-so is a pretty rotten camp, isn't it? i'll keep this battalion or that squadron or the other battery there. do 'em good. mustn't coddle 'em." and you are kept "there" for weary months. most of us knew that the conditions in salonica were as bad as, if not worse than, those obtaining in egypt, so why on earth were we pining to go there? there is no prize for the answer, but i suspect it was the eternal desire for a change, of whatever nature. besides, except for the heat, flies, septic sores, the khamseen, bad water, dysentery, vaccination, inoculations many and various, digging holes, and a depressing sameness about the scenery, we had, according to some, little to grumble at. [illustration: sunday morning in the gulf of suez. [_to face p. _.] we were not unduly harassed by the turks; indeed, it was our function to harass them. we slept peacefully in our beds o' nights except for a pernicious system of false alarms. we had now a metre-gauge line on which our forage was brought into camp, thus saving us a fatigue. moreover, on this line we could take an occasional joy-ride in a tram like an irish jaunting-car, drawn by two mules probably also of irish descent, who invariably ran away with the tram, and, desiring later to rest awhile, were as invariably thrust forward again by the violent impact from behind of the oncoming vehicle. we had a very passable canteen with sometimes real beer in it. and above and beyond all these joys we had recently made an ice-chest. true, we were dependent upon a somewhat fortuitous supply of ice, brought by boat across the gulf from suez to the quarantine station, thence by special fatigue-party, armed to the teeth, into camp; and it usually suffered considerably _en route_. but think of a long, really cold drink waiting for you at the end of a three-days' stunt into those iniquitous hills, when you came in covered with sand and with a throat like a dust-bin! half of it went at a gulp to wash the sand down; the rest one drank slowly and with infinite content. that ice-chest had the prestige of a joss. looking back, however, on the summer of and taking count, as it were, of the things that amused us and helped us to carry on, i find that we were for the most part self-supporting. to the best of my recollection, except for visits of inspection by the great ones, which of course do not count, there were only two occasions when we had strangers within our gates. the first was when the navy, some forty strong, in high spirits and a g.s. waggon, came to cheer us up. and here i should like to ask why it is that the moment the sailorman is ashore he goes forth and looks for a horse, quite regardless as to whether he has ever put a leg across one before or no. for them, too, a horse has but one pace: a full-stretch gallop. it took hours to catch all the riderless horses after the navy had started for their gentle exercise, but we got heaps of fun out of it and it was very good to see somebody from the outside world. the other time was when we had a concert in moses' grove and a regimental band came from el shatt to entertain us. it was fine to sit there under the tamarisks around an immense camp-fire and listen to a really good band playing the old favourites again and giving us a few new ones, to be whistled or sung about the camp for weeks. the mail, of course, kept us happy where nothing else could, for not only was it the single link with home and all that it meant, but it brought us newspapers which, while carefully avoiding all reference to the armies in the east, did tell us of the war as they waged it in france. also, it introduced bairnsfather to us. "the better 'ole" became almost an institution; we could speak with authority on "'oles." and "when the 'ell's it goin' to be strawberry?" was the unfailing jest at meal-times, as we scraped the layer of flies from the top of the inevitable tickler. no doubt these things will strike you as trivial. quite so. but when you remember our complete isolation, that for six months we saw no one but ourselves, so to speak, you will understand that if one did not laugh at trivial things one simply did not laugh at all--and in the desert that way madness lies. for there were days when one hated the sight of one's best friend, when the mere sameness of everything drove one almost to distraction, and when the heat and the little exasperations of our daily work kept the temper constantly on edge. one had to laugh at something; it was the only way to keep sane. so, if there should occasionally creep into these pages a somewhat frivolous tone, i crave your indulgence, for it was truly the atmosphere in which we, in common with other lonely outposts, lived and worked. it was fatal to take life too seriously; wherefore, as we had little else to laugh at, we laughed at ourselves. but to all things an end. the weary time of waiting and preparation was almost over. sparse news filtered through that the northward advance towards palestine had already begun; that there had been heavy fighting at katia, where the turks, under cover of a desert mist, surprised and cut up--but failed to defeat--our cavalry; and that we had at romani inflicted the most summary defeat on the enemy since he made his abortive attack on the canal in . all of which, said the wiseacres, seemed to point in one direction; that all the available troops would very soon be required for the more considerable business at the northern end of the desert; in other words, that we should shortly be on the move again. and for once the prophets were right, for suddenly there was a great to-do in the camp; such a polishing of guns and a burnishing of stirrup-irons and bits and chains, such a cleaning of harness and saddlery as had never been known. when it was done one of the elect came down and inspected us, after which we went out into the desert beyond and fired at targets the ranges of which had been carefully taken days before, so as not to disappoint the great man by bad shooting. whereupon, when he had expressed himself satisfied with the accuracy of our fire and the smartness of our drill, he went away; and presently came others, still more elect, for whom there was more cleaning and burnishing, and who further declared their entire approval. finally the commander-in-chief himself came and inspected all the troops in the area; and the work was as before, only more so. now, when he too was pleased, we knew that a move was what the americans call a "cinch." and so it proved. to wind up with a flourish, as it were, we went out to the hills again for a last--and, as it happened, most successful--attempt on the raha pass, when we climbed the hill mentioned earlier in this chapter. marching orders were awaiting us on our return. we were to trek to el kubri, a post on the canal near suez, there to await train accommodation. this time the orders were not cancelled. chapter iii on 'untin'--and some other matters having got us to el kubri and told us to wait for a train, the authorities apparently washed their hands of the whole affair and forgot all about us. for six weeks we waited at a siding which seemed to be ashamed to look a train in the face. certainly we never saw one approach it, and we kept a careful look-out for fear we should miss one. on our arrival we did not, of course, make a camp, believing that we should entrain in a day or two at most. but as day followed day and no train appeared we began to think that this was a joke in deplorable taste. why, after working for six months like niggers are supposed to work making a comfortable camp, should we be taken therefrom, dumped down on an inhospitable siding and forgotten? it was not playing the game; and a sinister rumour spread that we were not going north after all but were to be sent down the red sea to the assistance of the cherif of mecca, who was having a little war on his own account. we knew what that meant. the assisting force would be sent to some evil-smelling native town with an unpronounceable name, miles from anywhere, left there to garrison the place and impress the inhabitants with the might of british arms, while the cherif and his wild horsemen charged about the desert firing rifles in the air and emitting extraordinary yells to frighten away the few stray, half-starved turks in the vicinity. and the prospect of travelling in a horse-boat down the red sea, even in november, did not appeal to us in the least. however, tired of sleeping in culverts and disused drains we pitched our camp on the top of a plateau overlooking the canal and prepared to await developments. it was not unpleasant waiting, for there was the daily bathe in the canal, and the big ships and liners passing up and down seemed to bring us once more in touch with civilisation. it used to be the kindly practice of the passengers to throw tins of cigarettes and tobacco overboard whenever the boat passed one of the numerous outposts guarding the canal. it was quite an ordinary occurrence for a man to dive in with all his clothes on and swim after the coveted tins. tobacco was so scarce that a mere wetting was nothing; besides, our clothes were dry in an hour. also, we hunted the fox--or rather, jackal. now the egyptian native undoubtedly looks on the british soldier as "magnoon," afflicted of allah, to be treated kindly, but to be relieved of as much of his hard-earned pay as possible. and further, if the faithful are able to obtain something for nothing from these amiable madmen, it is to be done. so we made ourselves popular with the fellaheen by hunting jackals, which had the same predilection for other people's chickens as has brother fox in england. we had no hounds, except a fox-terrier who was too fat to run; only our horses and our prodigious enthusiasm. the method of procedure was to assemble the hunt near a likely place and send forward a fatigue-party to dig out the jackal. when he appeared--and he usually did appear in a hurry--we gave him a couple of minutes' start and then tally-ho! and away after him over the plain. we had, of course, no fences to leap, but there were deep nullahs and irrigation dykes wide enough to give one something to think about. moreover, the jackals were astonishingly speedy; they would twist and turn and double on their tracks for half an hour at a stretch, and they were game to the end. christmas came and was made endurable and even enjoyable by the kindness of the y.m.c.a., who lent us tables, yea and cloths, in addition to other things. but the outstanding event of this period of waiting was the visit of one of miss lena ashwell's concert parties to el kubri. it will ever remain a fragrant memory, for it was the first time we had seen english ladies for nearly a year and it brought home very near to hear them sing. they gave their concert in a specially constructed "hall" in the desert. sandbags were the mainstay of the platform and a large tarpaulin, g.s., formed the drop-scene. the walls were of rough canvas, upon which it was inadvisable to lean, lest the whole structure collapsed. primitive, no doubt, but it suited the environment; and i have never seen in the most elaborate west-end theatre anything like the enthusiasm here. you called for a popular song or recitation and you got it, and as many more as you liked to ask for. one of these talented ladies used to give a recitation which became a permanent feature of her programme in egypt. she would come to the front of the stage and say confidentially to the audience, "do you know lizzie 'arris?" and back would come a mighty bellow, "aiwa!" this rite was always insisted upon before the artiste could proceed, though she obviously enjoyed it almost as much as we did. she might probably be amused to know that--such is fame!--amongst the thousands of troops who heard her recite she was always known as "lizzie 'arris." early in the new year the mecca myth was finally dissipated, for we moved--no, the train never arrived--to the big concentration camp at suez, and there started preparations in real earnest. it was strange to be amongst people again after so many months of comparative solitude, and stranger still to see houses and streets and civilians. not that we had much time to look around, for with the coming of the cool weather the hours of work became appreciably longer. every day long columns of infantry went forth to get themselves into hard condition by strenuous route marches. dotted about the camp were little groups of specialists and others practising their several trades. here was a bombing-school urgently killing imaginary turks; there a squad of bayonet-fighters engaged in the same pleasurable pursuit; while farther away an eager band of signallers with their handy little cable-waggons laid a wire at incredible speed. away out on the plain a string of harassed recruits trotted round a rough manege lustily encouraged to a rigid observance of the good old maxim, "'eels an' 'ands low; 'eads an' 'earts 'igh," by the astonishing profanity of their riding-master; and beyond them their more proficient comrades charged with wild yells upon a long line of stuffed sacks representing a terror-stricken foe waiting patiently to be spitted. hard by these perspiring cavalrymen a battery of horse-artillery struggled to master the intricacies of driving with fourteen-horse teams. these were arranged in three rows of four abreast with one pair in lead, while of the drivers three rode the near-horses and three the off-horses, with one driver riding the near-horse of the leading-pair; a complicated business requiring much skill and nicety of judgment in order to get the best out of the horses. occasionally an apparently wild chaos of guns and limbers and horses proclaimed that the battery had been successfully brought into action; usually, however, the work was confined to getting the vehicles along under these novel conditions. alongside our own, french artillery with their natty little " 's" daily strove to put the finishing touches to their preparation. it was to the confines of the camp that one went for the final signs that a "show" was surely preparing, for here were all the dumps of material which was to minister to the needs of an army in the field. sacks of grain and bales of tibbin stood in huge pyramidal mounds; multitudinous rows of boxes containing bully-beef, condensed milk, dried fruit, biscuits, cocoa, and tea, seemed to stretch for miles. one walked down streets of bully-beef, as it were; loitered in squares bounded by biscuit-tins; dodged up alleys flanked by tea-chests and cases of "ideal" milk. through the streets and squares came an endless procession of lorries and g.s. waggons, passing on their lawful occasions. after all, the final word rests with the a.s.c. all your preparation, all your study of new methods, all your concentrations of guns and men and horses are futile--and how futile!--if the army service corps says: "sorry, gentlemen, but we can't feed you; and if we could, there's nothing to carry the food in." in the beginning this was especially true of egypt; for there was a lamentable shortage of nearly everything that goes to the successful waging of war. it took nearly two years of patient endeavour before an advance could really be considered, and by far the greater part of that time was devoted to amassing supplies and organising means of transport. it was a colossal task, the magnitude of which was never even imagined by the people at home. there was practically nothing in the country. we wanted sleepers, rails, and locomotives for the railway; pipes, pumps, and other materials for the water-supply; waggons, motor-lorries and light-cars for transport purposes; sand-carts, cacolets, and ambulances for the r.a.m.c.; and, with the exception of most kinds of vegetables, food. all this had to be brought overseas. there may not at first sight seem to be any striking connection between an enemy submarine and the date of an offensive. when, however, that submarine torpedoes and sinks a vessel containing two million pounds' worth of absolutely essential material, such as locomotives or motor-lorries, the connection becomes less, as the date of an offensive becomes more, remote. in fact, as neither a locomotive nor a motor-lorry, nor a boat wherein to carry them can be built in five minutes, the offensive temporarily recedes from view, until the next boatload of material is safely landed. add to this the facts that a hundred and fifty miles of desert had to be cleared of an enemy who fought with the most bitter determination all the way, that a railway had to be constructed, and an adequate water-supply had to be maintained over the same desert, before an offensive on a large scale could even be dreamt about, and the connection mentioned above becomes strikingly obvious. those people at home who, from time to time, asked querulously, "what are we doing in egypt?" should have seen kantara in , and then again towards the end of . failing that i would ask them, and also those kindly but myopic souls who said: "what a picnic you are having in egypt!" to journey awhile with us through kantara and across the desert of northern sinai. for the former there will be a convincing answer to their query; the latter will have an opportunity of revising their notions as to what really constitutes a picnic. and we will start now, while the scent is hot, for already the infantry have begun their march and guns and waggons are rumbling along the roads from suez to kantara, the gate of the desert. chapter iv kantara and the railway at this point it would be as well to confer with the map once more. be pleased to imagine that we have trekked northwards from suez, through the beautiful little town of ismailia, "the emerald of the desert," thence to ferry post, which was a position of considerable importance when the turks attacked the canal in february , and finally to kantara, where we will pause to see if an answer can be found to the query propounded in the preceding chapter. if our inquiring friends had sailed down the canal in they would have seen at kantara--had they noticed the place at all, which is unlikely--a cluster of tents, a few rows of horse-lines, some camels, a white-walled mosque, and a water-tank close to the water's edge; while their nostrils would have been pungently assailed by the acrid smell of burning camel-dung. it is at least probable that the last-named would have made the most striking impression. (it is still a powerful characteristic of kantara.) certainly they would never have guessed from its appearance what kantara was destined to become: the terminus of the great military railway running across the desert and through palestine, a military port of the utmost value, the beginning--or end--of the main road into palestine, and the biggest base in egypt. they are to be excused; no one would. kantara did not unduly lift its head in those days, and one did not, perhaps, at a first glance fully appreciate its unique geographical position; for it is situated within easy reach of port said and suez, the two great termini of the canal, and is thus conveniently near the sea. moreover, the turks were only some fourteen miles away, and the time was not yet ripe. it is illustrative of our early limitations that our postal designation was "mediterranean expeditionary force, canal defences." note that no idea was then entertained of anything beyond defending the great waterway. nothing else could be done. we had simply to hold off the turks and make shift as best we could, meanwhile collecting materials and making preparations for a definite offensive when the psychological moment arrived. originally the troops were on the west bank, near the station, which is on the state railway from port said to cairo and alexandria, until some one high in authority suggested that as we were supposed to be defending the canal, and not the canal defending us, it would be as well to move over to the other side. the fact is, this would have been done much sooner had it not been that the turkish attack in february caused what is called a vertical draught in political circles in egypt, and it needed a very great man indeed to order the move. we were still dependent on port said for rations and supplies, while all the water was brought up from the same place by boat and stored in the big tank. the means of communication between the east and west banks were somewhat primitive. at kantara a pontoon bridge and a decrepit chain ferry of uncertain moods maintained irregular intercourse with the other side. it used to be one of our diversions to watch the ferry bringing across the daily ration-waggon, whereof the horses, frightened by the clank of the chains, frequently bolted the moment the "door" of the ferry was lowered. to the right, in the direction of the camp, was a particularly nasty incline, so the waggon usually decided to go to the left through the lines of the bikanir camel corps; whereupon the horses, having an unconquerable aversion to camels, at once stampeded, and our rations were in dire jeopardy. there were, too, a few rowing-boats for passengers, but these were either on the other side when you wanted them or were too full of holes to use. patrol-duty and spy-hunting were our principal occupations, as in most of the other canal stations; certainly few dreamed of the greatness in store. it was not until the spring of that kantara dropped its mantle of obscurity and began to take its place as our principal base of operations. from then onwards the place hummed with ever-increasing activity, for the danger of a further attempt on the canal was now somewhat remote, and work could be carried on in comparative safety. one day, perhaps, a scribe will rise up and write of the doings of the royal engineers in this war, more particularly of their deeds in such places as salonica, mesopotamia, east africa, and egypt; where, in addition to the usual shortage of tools and material, they had to wrestle with every conceivable kind of geographical obstacle that a bountiful nature could place in their way. the present scribe can only write of what they did in egypt and palestine, and not half of that can be told. as far as kantara is concerned they came, they saw, they conquered. what they saw was a desert which they proceeded to transform into a city, certainly of tents and huts, but "replete with every convenience"--as the house-agents say. as a start they pensioned off the aged chain ferry into decent retirement and built a goodly swing bridge, over which were brought timber to be cut into beams and joists; nuts and bolts and screws, and an olla podrida of materials. when this was done a gentleman called the assistant director of works came and made a plan of the city. here a difficulty arose. in this climate a white man has his limitations, and one of them is that hard manual labour when the sun is summer-high is exhausting in the extreme, and is, moreover, explicitly forbidden between the hours of a.m. and p.m. by the authorities. it was then that the voice of the egyptian labour corps was heard in the land. little is known outside the country of this admirable corps, yet it is scarcely too much to say that they saved the situation here as elsewhere. recruited from almost every class of the native community, from the towns and cities, from the delta, from their "belods" in the far-off soudan, they came in thousands to dig and delve, to fetch and carry, to do a hundred things impossible for a white man to do in that climate. it is difficult to over-estimate their usefulness; though not as a rule big men, they would carry for considerable distances weights that a far bigger white man failed even to lift. their staple diet consisted of bread, onions, lentils, rice, dates, and oil--with perhaps a little meat after sunset. they drank prodigious quantities of water, and could not in fact go for long without. firmly but fairly treated by their british officers and non-commissioned officers, they went anywhere and did anything; and wherever you found the sappers, there, too, you would see the khaki galabeahs and hear the eternal chant: "kam leila, kam yom?" of the e.l.c. under their hands kantara took shape. supervised and directed by the engineers, gangs of them made roads, workmanlike affairs calculated to stand the strain shortly to be imposed on them by the daily passage of thousands of lorries and waggons. eastward from the canal what had been a mere track, fetlock deep in sand, became a broad road macadamised for ten kilos, from which radiated similar roads in all directions, and on which abutted presently the great camps that seemed to spring up like mushrooms in a night. alongside the roads other gangs laid watermains connected directly with port said, for it soon became utterly impossible to bring an adequate daily supply of water by boat. at certain points stand-pipes were erected so that working-parties and other troops could fill their water-bottles without having to go far to do so; in the hot weather every extra yard tells. this was the beginning of the pipe-line laid stage by stage as the army advanced, across the desert and far into palestine. we shall see more of it later. then the a.d.w. collected his carpenters and bricklayers and bade them instruct their dusky labourers in the building of gigantic mess-huts, in size and shape not unlike a hangar, capable of providing meal accommodation for hundreds of men at a time; ration and store-huts for the numerous camps; brick enclosures for the kitchens; incinerators, and a thousand and one things necessary for the troops. it was a liberal education to watch a british n.c.o. working with the gang of natives under his command. usually his entire vocabulary of arabic consisted of about ten words, of which the following are a fair sample:-- aiwa--yes. la--no. quais--good. mush quais--no good. igri!--quickly! imshi!--clear out! ta-ala henna--come here. with these, comically interpolated with english expletives, he performed marvels, from stone-breaking to bridge-building. presumably he gave his instruction by some process of thought-transmission, an art that seems peculiarly suited to the genius of the british soldier. "quais!" he would say, when a man had done a job to his liking, and the man's comrades crowded round carefully to examine the work, after which they went away and copied it faithfully. if on the other hand, the man failed to do what was required of him, there would be an aggrieved bellow of: "la! mush quais!" and the perspiring native would get down to it once more, while the others charged up again to see what in future to avoid. moreover, whatever mistakes they made subsequently it was rarely that one. "igri, johnny!" or alternatively and more forcibly, "get a bloomin' igri on, johnny!" was the favourite ejaculation of an n.c.o. when he wanted to cure that tired feeling peculiar to the egyptian native. (all natives answer to the name of johnny, by the way.) "imshi!" was the n.c.o.'s great word, however; he used it on all occasions implying a departure from his presence; when a man's face displeased him, for instance, and when he dismissed them for the day. they made a weird combination, these two, the dominant white man and the dusky native; but they built kantara--and a few other places. as the camp grew and grew so also did its needs. the army service corps arrived in force and demanded for themselves a great depôt, covering many acres, which was to be the main supply of the army advancing into palestine. materials and stores could not now be brought in sufficient quantities by the state railway on the other bank, and the traffic over the canal bridges was becoming increasingly heavy. accordingly the engineers found another outlet for their energies: they created a fleet! jetties and wharves were built on the east bank, and to them came presently numbers of strange vessels, broad in the beam like a barge, and with monstrous lateen sails that looked too unwieldy to be furled or set; and on their bows they bore the painted letters "i.w.t., r.e." and a numeral. they were native feluccas, garnered from every canal and waterway in egypt. they brought grain and fodder for the horses, rations for the men, vegetables of all kinds from the fertile province of fayoum, stores for the roads; and at port said and suez material from the outside world was trans-shipped on to them for conveyance to kantara. loaded almost down to the water's edge they came to the jetties, tied up, emptied, and went away for more. great wooden warehouses were built to receive the cargoes, and almost daily the number grew until they extended for miles down the canal bank. it would appear that the zenith of construction had now been reached, but as it became increasingly evident that the turks would never again reach the canal, so it was obvious that something more ambitious must be attempted, if the great advance was to be carried out successfully. for the feluccas were limited by their size to carrying articles of small compass, capable of being unloaded by hand; the larger implements of war were beyond them. thus the engineers had to tackle the enormously difficult problem of widening and deepening the canal sufficiently to allow ocean-going steamers to come close in to the bank and discharge their cargoes directly on to the shore; this would serve the double purpose of time-saving in the transport of material, and lightening the strain on the ports of alexandria and port said, which had borne a heavy burden since the war began. it was no mean undertaking to make fundamental alterations in a great artery like the suez canal. no diminution in the traffic was permissible, since not only ourselves but the larger needs of the troops in france had to be considered. supplies were being brought from australia and india in large quantities, and most of the vessels had to pass through the canal. thus the alterations had to be carried out while, as it were, the day's work was going on, and it took months of patient toil before the end was in sight. indeed, i am not sure that the troops were not already in palestine before the first ocean-going steamer drew up to its berth in the newly-made docks. what made the business more difficult still was the incredible shortage of skilled labour. owing to our deplorable predilection in the army for putting square pegs into round holes, there were trained engineers sweeping out mess-huts or carrying stretchers; capable mechanics digging holes or grooming horses; and skilled draughtsmen addressing envelopes and writing: "passed to you, please, for information and necessary action," on documents referring to the momentous question as to whether no. dr. jones, r.h.a., should have a pair of new breeches at the public expense or pay for them out of his beer-money. all were very necessary tasks, no doubt, but requiring the right men to do them; and the engineers very urgently wanted the right men, too, not merely for making the docks, but for their multifarious activities in the field. in their search for them they went through the army like a scourge. a trade-testing centre was established at kantara to which from every unit in the field or at the base came butchers, bakers, miners, moulders, brass-founders, electrical, mechanical, and civil engineers, draughtsmen, men accustomed to all kinds of steel and iron work, and railwaymen. all were tested practically in their respective trades by an expert in that trade, after which they were graded according to their proficiency and knowledge, transferred to the engineers, and sent about their proper business. by this system the cream of the skilled trades was obtained; and there was the double satisfaction that the men were not only working at the jobs for which they were best suited, but were helping materially to win the war. the scheme went further. as the supply of really skilled men was necessarily somewhat small, and the need great, the apprentices and semi-qualified men were eliminated from other units by the same process of selection, sent to kantara and given the opportunity of learning more of their trade, being tested from time to time to learn the measure of their progress, until they could take their places amongst the qualified men. thus a constant supply was more or less assured, and the o.c. of a field company of engineers requiring, say, a fitter or a wheelwright or a moulder, merely asked for them in much the same way as one orders a ton of coal; if the goods, so to speak, were to be had, he got them. so sedulously were the records of trades kept that the authorities never lost touch of the men, especially of those engaged in intricate or delicate trades. on one occasion a skilled instrument-maker journeyed miles to kantara in order to do a job for which he happened to be the only man at the moment available! and similar cases might be multiplied almost indefinitely. while provision was laboriously being made to fit kantara for its mission as a great base, means had to be prepared to send forward supplies and material to the army in the desert, now feeling its way towards romani. one of the delights of the egyptian campaign was that no sooner was one obstacle overcome than another rose up to bar the way. it was a useful aid to the development of character, no doubt, and at any rate a powerful incentive to the acquirement of a comprehensive vocabulary. there was this ever-recurring question of transport. hitherto the bulk of the carrying-work had been done by the much-abused camel, the ideal animal for the job, for he thrives where a horse will starve, and he need not be watered more than once every three days, or even less often, if necessary. his only drawback is his comparative slowness of gait. he can do his steady two and a half miles an hour for ever and ever, but if an army suddenly takes it into its head to advance twenty miles the camel must somehow go with it, and some quicker form of transport must be organised behind to supplement his work. thus, born of urgent need, the railway operating division came into being, and set about the construction of a railway. the difficulties at the outset were enormous. not only was the line required quickly to follow in the wake of the now steadily advancing army, but transport had to be arranged to bring material from the docks to the railway in embryo. again the camels stepped into the breach, and daily long convoys carrying stones and sleepers and rails went forward into the desert and dropped their loads at places appointed along the proposed route. another and more serious trouble was the lack of men; for if the engineers had to scour the army for men to make and organise the water-transport, they had to use a fine comb to get the railwaymen, since only a small percentage had been allowed to enlist in the first place. however, by the aid of the system aforementioned, they got together sufficient to meet the needs of the moment. the bulk of the men had originally been recruited from two of the great english railways, and either by accident or design, probably the latter, the authorities kept the men from each railway in separate companies. the keenness was terrific. right from the moment when the railway first thrust its shining tentacles across the desert, there was a competition between the two as to which could lay the longer stretch of line in a day's work. aided and abetted by the "camels" and the e.l.c., they progressed at an astonishing pace, and in spite of all drawbacks from sand and the terrible heat, an average rate of one mile of line a day was maintained. to the uninitiated it may seem that railway-making in the desert is a mere matter of dropping sleepers on to the sand as far as you want to go, bolting the rails on to them, and running non-stop expresses at once. on the contrary, except that no rivers had to be bridged nor tunnels made, laying a line over the desert requires at least as much care and preparation as elsewhere. for if there is one thing certain about this unchanging land, it is that the contours of the desert are eternally changing. the sand is continually silting, and a khamseen may alter the whole surface of the land, yet to the eye it remains substantially the same. it is only when you come to study the desert in terms of the theodolite, so to speak, that you discover its mutability; that which is a hill to-day may be a plain to-morrow. all this had to be considered in making the railway-bed, which must have a firm foundation of stones and a suitable embankment. to put a mile of line down in a day and maintain that rate is, then, a fairly creditable feat. each company worked alternate days; sometimes one company would beat the record by a few yards, sometimes the other; there was little to choose between them from the point of view of efficiency. here is a story, which i like to think is true, of their intense rivalry and its results. as the railway was approaching romani--this was just before the battle--one company laid down a stretch of line beating the previous best by some distance, after which they mentioned the matter casually to their rivals, and retired to rest in the fond belief that they had effectually "put it acrost 'em." life is full of surprises, however. in the chill hour before dawn the next day a band of soldiers, breathing profanity and determination, crept across the desert to the line, and made an attack on that record. all through the day they toiled, pausing seldom for rest or refreshment, and oblivious to everything but their work. towards sunset a triumphant shout proclaimed that victory had been won. at about the same moment from the rear came another shout, which had in it nothing of triumph, the shout of a man anxious to do some one grievous bodily hurt. it was a heated staff-officer who had been sent by the general to know what the dickens they meant by getting in advance of the troops, whether they knew that they were pushing the railway right into the turkish lines, and whether it was intended for our use or the turks', etc. etc. it had apparently taken the staff most of the day to see what was going on, but the facts were none the less correct; for the railwaymen in their enthusiasm had failed to notice anything but their general direction, which was, of course, perfectly accurate; the fact that they had indeed advanced beyond our lines had utterly escaped them! later, the general is reported to have written praising the keenness of the two companies, but recommending that in future zeal should be tempered with discretion. whether the story be true or not is really immaterial, because the incident could quite easily have happened with these railwaymen; it took much to stop them. not only here but at kantara a like activity prevailed. a line was laid running alongside the canal bank, so that the wharves, and later the docks, were in direct connection with the main line: thus ships and feluccas could be unloaded direct on to a train. from this line also branch lines were made running through the main supply and ordnance depôts, again to preserve continuity and save time. a network of sidings was constructed, and soon covered many acres of ground; sheds were built for the locomotives; repairing plant was installed and signalling apparatus erected; handsome stone buildings sprang up as station offices; and, in short, one morning kantara woke up to find itself the possessor of a railway terminus complete in every essential detail, even down to a buffet for the troops. up to the end the engineers were incessantly extending and improving kantara. in time substantial churches were built alongside dueidar road; playing areas were laid out and cinemas erected for the troops; and the y.m.c.a. built lounges, concert-halls, and tea-rooms. of these it is not necessary to speak, for they were but the trimmings of the place. the principal attempt has been to present kantara as it looked to us when we crossed the bridge that moonlight night in the early spring of : a cluster of feluccas with their great masts bared to the sky; long lines of neat huts fringing the canal; behind them a vast white city; away to the north the twinkling lights of the railway station; then, when the last gun and the last waggon had rumbled over the bridge, the broad highroad leading eastward to the desert and thence into palestine. it seemed a very miracle to us, who had lived there little more than a year before, that so much had been done. possibly our inquiring friends, had they been riding with us that night, through those _five miles_ of sleeping tents, would have believed the evidence of their own eyes. if visual testimony were insufficient, let the simple fact be recorded that we had to stop and ask the way! chapter v the wire road i suppose there is on each of our many battle-fronts at least one familiar road; by which i mean a road traversed regularly of necessity by the many, and remembered afterwards with feelings either of anger, of respect, or of loathing, almost as one regards a human being. i have heard men who fought in france speak of a certain road between bapaume and peronne with a metaphorical lift of the cap; a famous irish division who came to egypt from salonica, utter winged words when they refer to a heart-breaking road in that malaria-stricken hole; and presumably it is the same elsewhere. we, too, have our road--perhaps the most famous, as it is the oldest, of them all. it is famous not merely in its present aspect, but chiefly for its history, extending almost as far back into antiquity as time itself, and for its hallowed memories; it has, moreover, seen many, many wars. it is the great caravan route from egypt into palestine. eastwards from kantara it runs, across the desert of northern sinai to el arish, thence onwards to jerusalem and damascus. phoenicians, romans, moslems, and jews have traded and fought over it. napoleon came this way in his hurried dash into egypt, and here, too, most of his army left their scattered bones. it is hallowed by the journey of joseph and mary with the infant christ, fleeing into egypt from the wrath of herod. nineteen hundred odd years later the british soldier fought his way eastwards and northwards over the same route on his mission to free the holy land from the ambitions of a modern herod. almost the sole reason for its existence is the wells. the original road, considered as such, is singularly unimpressive; it is, in fact, little more than a mere track in the desert, when it is visible at all, for the ever-shifting sand obliterates as fast as they are made the imprints of marching feet. the wells regulate the general direction, as on all the great caravan routes, and also the distance of a day's march. one may be quite certain that the ancients did no unnecessary wandering in the desert, but took the shortest cut from one well to another. hence, the track follows its milestones, as it were, and not _vice versa_. we did the same, and until the laying of the pipe-line rendered the army more or less independent of them, all the marching and fighting in this desert were for the possession of the wells that marked the old-time halting-places. nowadays, the military road runs alongside the older one. [illustration: feluccas bringing supplies to kantara see p. . [_to face page _] it is no ponderous affair of logs, or stones, or asphalt; a very simple, homely thing went to its making: just wire-netting, with a two-inch mesh, the kind one uses for the fowl-run! laid in three rows, and pegged down on to the sand, it is wide enough for infantry comfortably to march four abreast. simple though it sounds, it is astonishingly effective, and, indeed, the sensation is almost that of walking on a hard, macadamised road. the cavalry may not use the road, nor the transport, nor the artillery; it is exclusively for the infantry, and deservedly so, for only they, who, carrying a rifle and pack, have trudged along ankle-deep over that blistering desert, know what a relief it is to march for an hour or two on a good road. and further, it is the infantry who bear the heat and burden of the day. all through the summer of --and i have said elsewhere what manner of summer it was--they fought and died that the way might be made clear for those to follow them, and that the engineers could lay the road some of them would never use. people at home generally are under the impression that there was no fighting in egypt at all for two years; that the troops there had no difficulties to encounter nor hardships to endure; and that life, in fact, was one grand, sweet song. ask the men from lancashire, or the scottish territorial division who came from the horrors of gallipoli, or the yeomanry, or the australian light horse, what they think of the song of the sinai desert, as they heard it in ! i fear that in this matter i am somewhat like mr. dick with king charles' head; yet it is maddening, and indeed most monstrously unfair, that the work of these splendid men should pass unnoticed and unsung. it need hardly be said that i am not complaining on my own behalf. heaven forbid! at the time the wire road was being made, we were away out east of suez, digging holes and making other roads, with merely the discomforts peculiar to the place to endure. but to the pioneers the glory, who conquered both the desert and the turks. there was none of the pomp and circumstance of war about their work, no great concentration of men and horses and guns, no barrage nor heavy gunfire for days in preparation for an attack, no aircraft--though the ancient buses in use did wonderful work, considering their limitations--nothing but a few thousand men in their shirt sleeves; and it was out of their sweat and blood that the way was made clear for them that followed. everywhere and in every respect, save courage and endurance, the enemy held the advantage. during his slow retreat the choice of ground almost invariably lay with him; and the turk has a nice eye for position, as we found on many occasions bitterly to our cost. nor did he miss any opportunity of making a surprise attack, as on that black easter sunday of , when he crept up and fell upon the yeomanry at katia and oghratina, two cavalry posts east of kantara. under cover of a desert mist the turks crawled past the outposts and fell upon the sleeping men in overwhelming numbers. yet even these odds were not too great. taken completely by surprise as they were, the yeomanry fought with everything they could lay their hands on: sabres, rifles, bayonets, mallets, pegs, even with bare fists, asking no quarter and with no thought of surrender. they knew that no help could possibly arrive in time, for the turks attacked simultaneously at both places; yet they fought on with desperate courage until the turks at length retired, unable to break the gallant little band. and who now remembers the names of these places, except the relatives of those who fell there, and the few who, fighting, came safely through? they were little affairs of outposts, mere skirmishes, perhaps, but they paved the way for the larger task. and who now speaks of romani? yet it was one of the decisive battles of the war. here the turks made a magnificently organised attempt to break through our defences and reach the canal. it was indeed a wonderful feat to bring an army of nearly , men across a sparsely watered desert, with their nearest railhead a hundred and fifty miles away. we found it difficult enough later with the help of the railway. not only did they bring an army, but dragged, on sledges, heavy guns up to inches in calibre with them--a very rude shock to our experts, who pronounced it impossible until they saw our observation posts on the summit of kattigannit literally plastered with heavy shells. for nearly a fortnight the turks struggled to get through. first they tried to break down our defences between romani and the sea. foiled in this they swung across to the other flank and fought for possession of the chain of hills dominating this region. mount royston, mount meredith, and the long, whale-backed wellington ridge all changed hands at least once, and the last-named became the principal turkish position, around which a terrible struggle raged for nearly two days. the infantry and dismounted cavalry advancing to the attack had first to cross a broad stretch of uneven country as bare as the back of the hand, and swept from end to end by machine-guns. they sank over the boot-tops into the sand at every step, they were hampered by their equipment, and the blazing august sun made their rifles almost too hot to hold. painfully the long line struggled on, halted a little while and lay down, for human endurance has its limits, then went forward again. so, alternately forcing themselves through the sand, and lying down for very want of breath, the sweating men came to the foot of the ridge, sadly decimated in numbers, but unconquerable in their determination to get to the top. now they made a last great effort, and, swearing, sliding, sometimes sinking up to the knees, sometimes crawling, and all the time swept by a murderous fire, these wonderful men reached the redoubt and at length got to grips, only to be thrust back again by the no less determined turks. again they came, a mere handful, and again they were driven back. now a second wave reached the slope, and with the shattered remnant of the first made a great rush, obtained a footing and kept it. it was sheer hand-to-hand fighting of the fiercest kind; every man marked his man and went for him with the bayonet. the turks gave back thrust for thrust; they yielded no ground, but died where they stood. quarter was neither asked nor given. men fought in little groups until one or the other was wiped out, when the survivors rushed away and gave a hand elsewhere. and at last victory was to the strong, and wellington ridge was won--at a price. yet although the capture of the ridge turned their position, the turks elsewhere retired but slowly, contesting every attempt at an advance with most bitter determination. all through these scorching days the battle raged, and even the fine work of the cavalry failed to break them, for they knew that with every yard they retreated, their cherished dream of crossing the canal receded farther and farther. it was not a question of "reculer pour mieux sauter"; the turks knew that if they were driven out of a position they left it for good; wherefore they fought with the courage of despair. they had to go, however, for nothing human could stand against the inexorable advance of our men. but the fighting, bloody and desperate though it was, was not the worst of the hardships endured by both victor and vanquished; many things pass unnoticed in the heat of battle. it is afterwards, when the pursuit is spent, and a man thinks of a meal and a drink, that he counts up his hurts. in the fight he has perhaps thrown away his haversack to give himself more freedom of movement, or a chance bullet has pierced his water-bottle; and there he is, miles from anywhere, with neither rations to eat nor water wherewith to slake the thirst that seems to be gnawing his throat away. nor has he the chance of obtaining more, except from a comrade. there were small parties of men concerned in the remoter fighting who advanced too far, and when night fell, lost touch with the main body. for forty-eight hours some of them were lost in the desert; water and rations were soon all gone, and they suffered intolerably with the heat. hunger they could endure, but they were driven to dreadful and unnameable expedients to quench the thirst that consumed them. when at last they did find their comrades, their tongues and lips were so blackened and swollen that the first drinks had to be given through a straw. imagine the plight of the wounded, lying on the slopes of wellington ridge and elsewhere, racked with pain, and tortured almost to madness by flies and thirst, exposed for hours to the merciless rays of the sun, until the stretcher-bearers, working though they were like men inspired, had the opportunity to carry them away to the rear. and then, what? here were no swift, easy-running cars, no comfortable hospital-trains to whirl them down to a base where there were baths, clean linen, and kindly sisters to make them forget what had passed. instead, two or three bell-tents wherein doctors and orderlies, worked almost to a standstill and rocking on their legs with fatigue, strove to dress the wounds of the maimed and shattered men. nor was this the worst. after the wounds had been cleansed and bound up as well as might be, came the journey down to kantara. the lucky few were carried in sand-carts, but the large majority went on camel-back, lying in a cacolet. a cacolet is a kind of stretcher-bed with a rail round it, and a hood over the top to protect the occupant from the sun. each camel carried two cacolets, one clamped to each side of a specially constructed saddle. to a wounded man the motion was the very refinement of torture, especially if the other cacolet were occupied by a heavier man. at one moment the cacolet swung high in the air, and the sufferer was banged against the lower rail; the next, it was at the other extreme, and he was almost thrown out--there was no rest from the maddening motion until a merciful unconsciousness brought relief to the tortured body. by means of cunningly placed blankets the medical authorities did all that was humanly possible to mitigate the terrible jolting, but with all their care and ingenuity even the shortest journey in a cacolet was a nightmare. the miracle was that even the uninjured men could endure so much. one could--and did--live on bully-beef and biscuits for weeks at a time and take no harm, provided one could get water. but the turks had a habit of poisoning the wells as they retreated, and the most stringent orders had therefore to be issued, forbidding men to drink of water unexamined by a medical officer. it was pitiful to see the horses, too, after two or three days' hard riding, watered perhaps once in all that time; for the lightest driver or cavalryman, with his equipment, rides at least eleven stone, a heavy burden to carry over the sand in the heat. out of such troubles was the victory of romani won. it meant that a few more miles of railway could be built; that the wire road could go forward once more; that the pipe-line could carry onward its precious freight; and that the canal was safe. of like nature, too, were the victories at bir el abd, where the turks held on to their positions with such extraordinary tenacity that it was literally touch-and-go which side retreated; but those dour scotchmen could take a deal of hammering, and the turks had to go in the end; at mazar, at maghdaba, and at rafa, on the border, where the turkish dream of an ottoman egypt was shattered for ever. so they retreated into palestine, with the shadow of yet a greater cataclysm upon them. this, then, was the work accomplished by those early pioneers, and scarcely the half of it has been told. let those who sat in their arm-chairs in england demanding querulously what we were doing in egypt judge of their achievement. they marched and toiled and fought--a few scattered, solitary graves mark the places where some of them lie buried. if they fought only in their thousands and not in their tens of thousands, the reason is simple: in all the peninsula between kantara and el arish the wells may be numbered on the fingers, and before an army can be used, its means of procuring food and drink must be assured. water did not exist in sufficient quantities for a big army, nor was there any transport available for food. dysentery, heat, flies, bad water, no water--they took them as a matter of course, and went forward nor stayed for any man. in the course of twelve months they cleared the enemy out of a hundred and fifty miles of desert over which they built the railway, laid the pipe-line, and made the wire road, that their comrades who followed later might come safely and quickly to the great adventure over the border. and these are their memorials, for they did a great work. chapter vi "the long, long trail" the british soldier on the march is really rather a wonderful person; he is so entirely self-contained. this, by the way, refers not so much to his manners as to his methods. to begin with, he has to carry all his goods and chattels on his person. the infantryman has his pack and equipment, a wonderful assortment of articles that bristle out from him like the quills on a porcupine, and which he generally describes as "the christmas tree"; with which, too, he can do most things, from preparing a meal for himself to digging a trench. the "gunners" and the cavalry, while fortunately for them not obliged to carry a pack, may take only what they can cram into their haversacks or pack on to their saddles, and that is necessarily somewhat limited in quantity. kit bags and tents are of course left behind. in fact, when we struck the caravan road leading into palestine we were destined for many months to a nomadic, gipsy-like existence, sleeping under the stars, and scratching for our meals with what means our ingenuity could devise. i remember seeing, the morning we left kantara, a steam-roller puffing stolidly along the road--a ludicrous sight, too, there in the desert--and it seemed when we left it behind that we were snapping the last link which bound us to civilisation. as it transpired later, this particular trek was considerably more civilised than any we had hitherto taken; we had, in fact, most of the ha'pence and few of the kicks experienced by our predecessors. indeed, we had ample opportunity of seeing how much they had accomplished, and how extraordinarily well it had been done. as i have said, the railway for the most part ran parallel with the road, and at no time was it more than a mile away. every third day the train brought a load of forage and rations to the appointed stations on the line, to which each unit sent its representatives to bring back supplies for three days. we had, if i remember rightly, fresh meat and bread for one day, and the remaining two bully-beef and biscuits; in any case we certainly did not starve. watering was rather more difficult, particularly just now, for the bedouins, who somehow manage to exist in this barren land, were very fond of tampering with the pipe-line and then fading quietly away, with the result that exasperated engineers were dashing up and down with white lead and repairing tools, so that water was generally unobtainable from this source. the trouble was that although the main was covered up, the continual movement of the sand left it exposed to the tender mercies of these bedouins. later, the engineers gathered scrub from the surrounding desert and replanted it in the embankment covering the pipe, thus binding the sand, and forming a firm and permanent barrier to future depredations. to obviate the present difficulty, large cisterns were erected at most of the stations on the line, and were fed from two-thousand gallon tanks brought up from kantara on the train. always our first business at the end of a day's trek was to ride away and look for the railway station, with its one solitary hut and the half-dozen tents occupied by the water-guard. i have ventured to mention these details in order to show how very carefully the move across the desert of even one small unit, especially a mounted unit, had to be planned out from beginning to end, if it was to have rations and water in the right place at the right time; the least hitch and men had to go foodless for a day or even longer. at pelusium we had an exciting moment: the country hereabouts consists of a series of hillocks from behind one of which, without the slightest warning, reared up a monster of grotesque shape emitting unseemly noises. simultaneously the horses reared up and made a spirited attempt to return to home and friends, and it was not until the turmoil had subsided a little that we realised what this uncouth beast was. it was a tank. we had been mightily intrigued by hearing of the appearance in france of these monstrous engines of war, but as a cloud of secrecy hung over all their movements, had never up to that moment seen one. those used on this front were much smaller than their french relations, and were as a matter of fact a comparative failure in palestine. whether the sand was too much for them, or the rough country over which they had to operate, i do not know, but after the third attempt on gaza i believe they were never used. one could easily understand their striking terror into anybody, however, especially if their appearance on the scene were the least bit unexpected, for they were uncanny objects. another shock, but one we were able to bear with equanimity, was when we came across those desirable residences occupied (freehold) by the gentlemen of the expeditionary force canteens. even the most confirmed pessimist brightened up when we sighted one. then there would be a searching in wallets for the very needful "feloos," and a careful scrutiny of nosebags to see if there were any holes large enough to allow one precious tin to escape. you would see a man staggering along with a nosebag slung across his shoulder and a wild look in his eye, while his lips mumbled incessantly. "one tin oxfordancambridge sausages; one tin chickenanhampaste; one tin pears...." then he would butt into some one similarly engaged, and in the exchange of pleasantries that ensued both would forget what they wanted. and the pandemonium once you did get inside the marquee! how anybody was ever served was a wonder, for the air was thick with the names of all the dainties and comestibles under the sun; but the people behind the counter were lightning calculators, jugglers, and equilibrists combined. one of them, balanced perilously on the top of a couple of packing-cases, was hurling tins of fruit in all directions; and another performed incredible feats with an armful of bottles; while a third, standing over an immense crate, shied packets of biscuits across the counter to the clamorous throng on the other side. a weary-looking youth who had been for some time chanting dolefully: "two packets of biscuits, please--two packets of biscuits, please...." stopped one packet with his eye. in the confusion the next man to him, on the same errand, helpfully removed the packet, placed two piastres on the counter, and departed swiftly to his own place, leaving the weary one ruminating, possibly, on, "where did that one go to, 'erbert?" at another place, i remember, besides the packets on which were the magic names of cadbury or fry, the veal patties, the tins of paste, and bottles of sauce, there were large bottles of sustenance brewed by one bass--at half a crown the bottle--and others with black, red, or white labels on them, containing a more potent but very nourishing liquid. at such times as these, it was the custom, when the day's trek was done, to "win" as much wood as possible from the nearest station--a sleeper was extremely useful--build a huge fire, and sit round it in the approved manner, singing songs and drinking wassail, which latter occasionally worked out to as much as one tot per man, if you got there early. these were special occasions, however. as a general thing we were too tired to do more than roll into the blankets very soon after the evening meal. it was so cold at nights, too, that some nicety of judgment was necessary in order to get the best out of our blankets, of which we had two, together with a greatcoat, cardigan-waistcoat, and cap-comforter or balaclava helmet, this last a very stout bulwark against the cold blast. the first business was to dig a shallow, coffin-shaped trench large enough to contain two; it was much better for two men to bivouac together, since by putting one blanket only to sleep on, we had three with which to cover ourselves, besides our greatcoats. nobody took any clothes off, with the exception of boots and putties. one man who did so, protesting he was unable to sleep in his clothes, found in the morning a couple of large beetles preparing to set up house in his riding-breeches, which materially and permanently altered his views. [illustration: "the long, long trail." [_to face p. ._] the pillow universally used was a nosebag filled with the next day's feed, and very comfortable it was, especially now that there were no ravenous mules to break loose and poke an inquisitive muzzle under our ears. then with our cap-comforters on, and perhaps the spare shirt wrapped round the head, we were snug for the night. in the mornings there was little temptation to linger between the blankets, for we were usually awakened by the remarkable change in the temperature of that hour just before dawn; it was precisely as if a stream of cold air had suddenly been turned on. besides, the horses had to be fed, our belongings had to be made into the neat roll which is strapped on the front of the saddle, the daily maconachie had to be devoured, after which came the saddling-up ready for an early start. for the first hour or two the journey in the fresh morning air was pleasant enough; pipes and cigarettes were lit and chaff bandied about. but the very monotony of the country soon banished any attempt at conversation, and hour after hour we jogged along in silence. with the exception of ourselves there was no living thing in sight, no sign of human habitation; even the wire road was deserted. as the nearest line of low hillocks loomed up and was passed, you knew the next would be precisely the same, and the next, as far as the remote horizon. in places the route was strewn with bones of horses and camels, while here and there a human arm or leg protruded from the sand, for the turks did not dig very deeply, and the desert soon gives up its dead. at romani especially the ground was littered with bones, great ravens hung over the putrifying bodies of animals, and a horrid, fetid smell pervaded the atmosphere. we were glad to get away from this golgotha of the desert. another rather curious feature was the appearance in the midst of the dunes of a broad, flat expanse of sand covered with glittering white particles, damp and salty to the taste, and exactly like the bed of a shallow lake. curious, because these "subkuts," as they are called, were seldom found near a well, and it was difficult to see whence came the water with which obviously at some time of the year they were covered. we welcomed them for strictly utilitarian reasons; it was a great relief to the horses to pull the guns and waggons over the firm sand for an hour or two. sometimes, indeed, it took half a day to cross a subkut. at one point we came across one of the strangest things i have ever seen in the desert. this was a small hill literally blazing with poppies! whether some migrating birds had dropped the seeds here or whether there was some botanical reason for their appearance, i do not know, but it was a beautiful and wonderful sight; a riot of scarlet in a barren land. it was worth a bad quarter of an hour from nostalgia to get a glimpse of home, after the horror we had just left. occasionally the dreary monotony of the days was broken by the visits of turkish scouting aeroplanes which hovered about us for a quarter of an hour or so, until they had found out all they wanted to know, while the long line of guns and waggons broke up and scattered itself over the desert, lest the turks should also feel inclined to drop a little present. this kindness was always denied to us, however. apart from these visits mile followed mile almost without incident. but there came a day, to be marked prominently as one of these days when nothing seems to go right. we awoke to a bluster of blinding sand so that the morning was darkened with it. breakfast in consequence was a fiasco, and very empty, very angry, we faced the trail head-on to the sandstorm. hour after hour it continued with no sign of abatement, and with caps pulled down to shield the eyes and handkerchiefs tied over nose and mouth we struggled on. the day seemed a thousand years long; and when at last we did come to a halt, it was found that we had overshot the watering-place by some miles! back we trailed wearily to the right place and there made the pleasing discovery that the water had to be pumped up by hand, with the aid of the cumbersome old "shadouf." we felt then that the gods had no more to offer us. how many hours passed i do not know, but the stars had come out and the storm had almost spent its violence, when we rode back sleepily to the camping-ground. i may add that this was the only time i was really and earnestly grateful for an army-biscuit; it was the sole article of food untouched by the sand! a day or two later our route took us on to the sea-shore and we knew then that we were approaching the end of the journey; moreover, if further indication were necessary, every halting-place now was populous with men, all, like ourselves, marching towards el arish, which is the only native town in the whole desert. it was here that the ancient river of egypt once flowed until some violent upheaval of the earth's surface caused it completely to disappear. arab tradition has it that the river now flows underground, which probably accounts for the fertility of the wadi, or valley, and ultimately for the existence of the town. approaching the place we passed a very large grove of date-palms beyond which the white roofs and walls shimmered in the setting sun. the turks were expected to make a great stand here, not only because of its strategic position but also for its value as a port. when our aircraft reconnoitred the ground about the middle of december, they discovered that for some unknown reason the enemy had departed bag and baggage in the night, and the cavalry, after a terrible march of nearly thirty miles, had nothing to do but walk in and take possession. this was something of an anti-climax, considering the preparations the turks had made for putting up a stern fight. but as usual they retired with a sting in their tails. at maghdaba, some twenty miles down the wadi, they left a garrison in immensely strong positions, with orders, apparently, to delay our advance at all costs. our horses and men were deadly tired after their long march, and the watering problem was acute. there was literally no water between el arish and maghdaba, and the wells at the latter place were in the hands of the turks. however, the imperial camel corps, the anzacs, and the royal horse artillery, entirely oblivious to everything but their objective, captured the whole series of redoubts and the survivors of the garrison, who fought on till they were completely surrounded. el arish was chiefly remembered by us because we were able to take all our clothes off for the first time in ten days, and indulge in the unwonted luxury of sea-bathing. throughout all our subsequent wanderings in palestine no joy ever approached that of a complete bath; indeed, it is ludicrous to note the number of places about which everything was obliterated from the memory save the fact that one had a bath there. from el arish onwards the track was now thick with marching men, and at sheikh zowaid, another spot of green in the desert, we came to a great camp, where it was easy to read the signs of a coming "show." the bivouac areas were crowded with troops of all arms, and as fast as one brigade left another marched in to take its place. there is a subtle difference between a concentration camp near the front line and one down at a base; something more purposeful, perhaps, in the former than in the latter. there is, withal, considerable less ceremony. here there were canteens--observe the plural--of surpassing magnificence. in the mere attempt to get near them we experienced something of what our people were going through at home. the queues were prodigious! as two canteens were rather close together we had carefully to note which queue we were in lest we should inadvertently find ourselves at the end of one when we ought to have been at the head of the other, or _vice versa_. in the latter case the unobservant one would have his correct and ultimate destination described with a wealth of epithet and in a variety of dialects. the ever-enterprising y.m.c.a. had a marquee, too, where we could sit in comparative comfort, where we met men from other units with whom we exchanged views on how the campaign should be run, on the appalling iniquity of those a.s.c. people at the base, who lived on the fat of the land while the fighting men starved--a slight but very popular exaggeration with the troops--on the possibility of a mail within the next year or two, and on similar great matters. after this we gave each other cap-badges or buttons as a sign of mutual goodwill and returned to our palatial burrows in the sand, a perilous journey in the dark across an area literally honeycombed with similar burrows, into which we fell with monotonous regularity. our progress was punctuated by a series of muffled but pungent remarks from people whose faces we had stepped on, or who had been suddenly interrupted in a snore of powerful dimensions by the violent impact of a hard head against the diaphragm. by the time we had reached our own place the remarks had swelled to a chorus with a deplorable motif. next day we started for rafa, the last stage of the march, which brought us to the southern border of palestine. and, let me record the fact with due solemnity, we celebrated our arrival by cleaning harness! chapter vii on the fringe of the holy land after the decisive victory of the th january, rafa had been formed into an advanced base for the next attack on the turks, who had retreated some twenty miles to immensely strong positions, of which gaza formed the right and beersheba the left flank, with sheria in the centre. during the whole of february, troops of all arms had been steadily marching eastwards across the desert. by the middle of march rafa presented an inspiring spectacle. every day brigade after brigade of cavalry, artillery, and infantry poured in, dusty, thirsty, and leg-weary, but in high spirits at leaving the desert behind at last. one infantry division in particular--the nd lowland--had good reason to be thankful, for, coming straight from gallipoli to egypt, they marched and fought every yard of the way across sinai. the mounted division certainly did the same, but it takes an infantryman thoroughly to appreciate the joys of tramping in full marching order over the sand. the nd, moreover, did most of their marching before the wire road was laid. where all did so well, it is rather invidious to single out any one division, but i do not think any one will object to throwing a few bouquets at the scotsmen, except possibly the turks, who heartily disliked them, especially behind a bayonet. by now the railway had caught us up again, and almost daily long supply trains come in from kantara with loads of rations and forage. also the egyptian labour corps arrived in hundreds and once more made the day hideous with their mournful dirge. but if this eternal chant made one yearn to throw something large and heavy at the performers, their work compelled profound admiration. they must have beaten all previous records in laying the line from sheikh zowaid to rafa and were preparing to carry it forward at the same pace. it was a characteristic of the railway now and later, to appear in all sorts of unlikely places, and it was quite a common experience to be awakened two or three days after our arrival in some remote spot, by the shrill whistle of a locomotive. the most striking thing at rafa, however, was the organisation of the water-supply. the great tanks that had done duty farther down the line were brought up and long rows of them stood by the side of the railway. there were fanatis literally by the thousand, ready to be filled and carried forward when the time came. this apparently liberal provision was very necessary, for except at khan yunus, six miles away to the north-east, rafa represented the only place for twenty miles whence to obtain water. though we could see the promised land, we were not there yet, nor did we know much about the state of the wells after the turks had finished with them. until we had advanced into and consolidated the country near to gaza, therefore, we had to carry every drop of water with us, sufficient, moreover, to last for several days. what the infantry would have done without the camels, one shudders to contemplate, for they were practically the only means of water-transport. right into the firing line they would come at sundown, drop their fanatis and fade away again. nobody bothered to find out whence the camels came or whither they went, but they were always there when wanted. it is no exaggeration to say that the desert and subsequent campaigns would have been impossible without the camels, both in their carrying and fighting capacity. the mounted units for the most part used water-carts, though these in turn were filled from fanatis brought up as far as possible by camels. by the time headquarters arrived at rafa on the th, preparations had about reached their zenith, and on the rd we moved out, with six days' marching rations for men and horses loaded on to the limbers, which looked uncommonly like business. our destination we did not of course know, and we were content at the moment to be crossing the border into the holy land. before us lay the gently undulating plain, in the midst of which nestled the smiling village of khan yunus, a beautiful sight, and one never to be forgotten. everywhere was green; fields of young barley rippled in the light breeze, palms and almond trees nodded to the morning, and between the rows of cactus and prickly pear ran the slim grey ribbon of the caravan road winding away to the north. peeping out from amongst the trees were the flat-topped roofs of the village, at the entrance to which in the most commanding position stood the ruins of an old castle. only the grey weather-beaten walls remained, but the odour of antiquity was on the place, for it was built by saladin, prince of saracen fighters and conqueror of our own richard the lion-hearted. how appropriate and impressive a place for the beginning of the great crusade! many places of historical and biblical interest did we see in our wanderings, but i think the memory of our first real glimpse of the land of goshen will ever remain the most vivid. disillusionment came later, as it does everywhere in the east, yet on that spring morning khan yunus, shining like an emerald, came as balm to eyes weary with the aching barrenness of the desert. the turks had originally intended to hold the place, probably on account of its valuable water-supply, but thought better of it and retired to gaza. when we rode through the village the engineers were already busy repairing the walls of the deep well in the market-place, one that had probably done duty for hundreds of years, to judge from the state of the steps leading up to it; they were in some places worn almost flat. the water was ice-cold and wonderfully refreshing after the lukewarm, chlorinated stuff which had corroded our insides for so long. it was easy to see that an enemy of unpleasant habits had recently been in the place. few inhabitants were abroad, with the exception of the crowd of dirty, ragged children watching the engineers at their work, but nothing short of a bomb would upset the average arab urchin. it was the custom of the turks here and elsewhere in palestine to allow the unfortunate fellaheen to grow and garner their harvest of barley or millet without let or hindrance, after which they commandeered the major portion and gave in payment--a promise! most of the inhabitants are still waiting for the redemption of that promise. when they found that the british were prepared to pay in cash for what they took, they acted on the sound principle that what is lost on the swings may be gained on the roundabouts. until a fixed and reasonable tariff was adopted, we performed the function of roundabouts with great spirit and dash, though at considerable cost. meanwhile the fellaheen refilled their pockets or wherever they keep their money, and lived in fatted peace. we had scarcely halted to await orders on the outskirts of khan yunus before an aged arab, rather the worse for wear, arrived with a basket of large and luscious oranges for sale. ye gods, oranges! and we had seen no fresh fruit for months! the old gentleman was fairly mobbed, and we cleared his stock for him in a very few seconds. when he had recovered he went away to spread the glad news abroad that a large body of madmen had arrived thirsting for oranges, and, moreover, eager to pay for them. presently the ladies of the village came out _en masse_, all with baskets of oranges, some as big as the two fists. we had a glut of them. personally i ate ten--this is not claimed as a record--and never enjoyed fruit so much in my life; it was a very satisfying experience. later in the day we rode into the village again to water the horses and fill the water-carts. as the well was not yet in full working order the engineers had dug a large shallow hole in the ground, lined with a tarpaulin, and not unlike a swimming bath in appearance. this was filled with water from fanatis brought up by the camels, and connected up by hand-pumps to the canvas troughs erected alongside, by which ingenious means we were enabled to water the horses in comparative comfort. for this blessing we were truly grateful after our recent experiences in the desert. coming back we met some wretched half-starved bedouins fleeing into the village for safety. one mournful little cavalcade struck the eye arrestingly as it passed. at the head of the party and mounted on a white donkey rode the handsomest arab i ever saw in palestine, with clean-cut features and large, sorrowful eyes. behind him, also on donkeys, rode his womenfolk, heavily veiled, and his retainers in burnous and flowing robes. hereabouts the road was strewn with leaves and branches blown from the trees, and the whole made a picture startlingly suggestive of that representing christ's entry into jerusalem. it must be remembered, lest this scene be set down as a figment of the imagination, that the people of this land are still the people of the bible: their dress, their habits, their methods of travelling are precisely as they were two thousand years ago. the husbandman still uses the cumbersome wooden plough of the old testament, the women still go with their "chatties" down to the well at sunset, to draw water and gossip with their neighbours, as did rachel before them, and any day can be seen, tending their flocks, shepherds the exact prototype of those who followed the wise men of the east to the cradle of the world. i am not going to suggest that this incident of the fugitive sheikh was instantly linked up with the sacred picture, the process was gradual. there was first a sense of being on familiar ground, of having witnessed the whole scene before somewhere, which was followed by the transition to the bible stories of childhood's days. then came the inevitable dénouement, and the picture was complete. similar scenes constantly recurred the farther we advanced into palestine, and it was impossible that they should leave no impression. we found our orders waiting for us when we arrived back at our halting place and at once hooked in and started again, only to be held up a little way out by the congestion of troops who had marched into the village during the morning. the cactus-hedges bordering the lanes afforded admirable protection from observation by enemy aircraft, some of which were hovering in the neighbourhood. dispatch-riders on motor-cycles threaded their way to the front in and out amongst the horses with amazing skill, the cavalry swung forward _en route_ for the open country, staff officers galloped along the lanes, and in a few short moments the whole atmosphere had changed from pastoral peace to the tense excitement of military activity. every few moments an enemy plane came over to have a look at khan yunus, though it is doubtful whether they saw very much, for an army could easily have hidden itself between the hedgerows of the village. so great was the bustle that most of us fully expected that the first battle in the holy land was about to begin. it was by now high noon and insufferably hot, and the soft alluvial dust churned up by motor bicycles and galloping hoofs rose in suffocating clouds. we were penned in by the high cactus-hedges and not a breath of air could reach us to dissipate the choking dust. we had, it would appear, escaped the sand only to encounter a worse enemy, and to add to our discomfort, we were still wearing the serge tunics of the winter months. nor could we ease ourselves by taking them off, for this was a lengthy business, first necessitating the removal of water-bottles, haversacks, bandoliers, and revolver-belts; and orders to move might arrive while we were _in medias res_. the early morning rhapsodies about palestine were, like ourselves, rapidly melting away under the influence of these trials to the flesh, and as the blazing hours wore on with no change in the situation, we began strongly to feel that the country was vastly overrated. all through the afternoon generals, colonels, and minor constellations charged past and disappeared, and with every fresh layer of dust on our already begrimed faces, we thought that the moment had surely come to move out of that atrocious lane. but for the entire absence of gunfire, you would have thought that a frightful battle was going on somewhere beyond our narrow prison. not until sundown did we at last receive orders to go forward till we were clear of the village--and camp for the night! for most of us whose imaginations had been fired by the scenes we had witnessed, this order came as a bitter disappointment. later in the evening we learnt what has already been told earlier in this chapter: that we had still some fourteen miles of the country to cover before we could get in touch with the turks. while we had been waiting in the lane the cavalry had made a reconnaissance in some strength, in order to see if any turkish patrols were in the neighbourhood. apparently the "all clear" had been reported, hence our peaceful return with the instructions to be ready to start on the longer journey at a moment's notice. the horses, at any rate, were satisfied to stay the night at khan yunus, for they were mad with delight at finding themselves amongst the green again. they broke loose and charged into the fields of young barley, they trampled on it, they lay down and rolled in it. finally they ate it and had to be treated for pains in their insides. the men who were doing picket-duty in a mounted unit during the first few weeks we were in palestine aged perceptibly with the responsibility of preventing the horses from stuffing themselves with the unaccustomed green food. it was quite enough to keep our horses fit in the ordinary way without having colic to add to our joys. chapter viii the first battle of gaza early next morning we started for deir el belah, which was to be our jumping-off place for the attack on gaza, whither the turks had now retreated. it was a beautiful trek. if there were not "roses, roses, all the way," the green fields and the almond blossom made very acceptable substitutes. but for the cactus and prickly pear which lined the lanes we might have been riding leisurely over an english countryside. we saw as many trees during this nine or ten miles' ride as during the whole of our time in egypt. there were few palms. the sycamore, which grows to greater perfection in palestine than i have seen elsewhere, was in the majority and cast a beneficent shade on us. there were limes, too, and a tree which looked something like a laburnum, together with the almond tree now covered with its delicately-tinted bloom. the utter tranquillity of the place made one wonder if the grim business upon which we were engaged was indeed real, for here there was none of the dust and bustle of the previous day. the clear freshness of the morning made us feel glad to be alive, and there was, moreover, no disillusionment in the shape of dirty mud houses, nor anything to spoil our enjoyment. it was just nature at her very best, and in her spring dress she is very pleasant indeed in palestine. as i have said, it was probably by contrast with the desert that this lovely country appealed so strongly to us. even the morning pipe had a different flavour. for a few brief hours we could forget that our ultimate mission was to kill as many turks as possible and could plod along on our horses as though all time were our own, wanting nothing to our infinite content. an agreeable aroma hangs over the memory of that day though it was absolutely uneventful in itself. we arrived at our destination in a state of peace with all the world, which is a most inappropriate condition to be in for a soldier--even amateurs like ourselves. however, it was only temporary. at belah we learnt something of the order of battle in so far as it affected ourselves. while the infantry were making a frontal attack on the positions defending gaza, we--that is, the mounted divisions--were to strike out east and north with the double object of holding up turkish reinforcements from beersheba and hereira (s.e. of gaza), huj (e. of gaza), and cutting off the retreat of the main body should the town be taken. what to do should the attack fail we were not informed. presumably we were to trust to what mr. kipling aptly calls "the standing-luck of the british army" to pull us through. be that as it may, there was--to anticipate a little--something badly wrong with the information respecting the forces opposed to us. according to this we had to beat only the meagre remains of the division that had been so severely mauled in the recent fighting on the desert, together with a few thousand infantry and cavalry from the places mentioned above. the impression most of us received was that the whole affair would be a "cake-walk." we were to take gaza _en passant_, as it were, and reach jerusalem by whitsuntide. "the best laid schemes...." we started at a.m. the next day, march th, while it was yet dark, and steering east for some four or five miles came to a narrow, steep-sided riverbed. this was the soon-to-be famous wadi ghuzzee. by some extraordinary oversight, the turks had neglected either to fortify the wadi or even to leave outposts there; at any rate the crossing was accomplished with difficulty but without interference. arrived on the other side we halted to wait for the sunrise to dissipate the fog through which we had so far travelled. so far from lifting, as the dawn approached it grew denser, until it was impossible to discern any object more than a few yards away. it was eerie waiting in the clammy atmosphere with the feeling that we were shut off from the rest of the world by the thick wall of fog. memories of katia and oghratina sprang unbidden to the mind, and a repetition of those disastrous affairs seemed not unlikely. we felt with relief the sudden cold that precedes the dawn, and in a little while it grew lighter. presently the sun appeared dimly over the eastern horizon and we waited hopefully for the fog to lift. we waited.... at seven o'clock we unhooked the horses from the guns and ammunition-waggons and let them graze on the herbage. no sound of battle came to our ears; indeed, so profound was the silence that enveloped us, we might have been in a tomb. then, perhaps half an hour later, the fog suddenly lifted like the drop-scene in a theatre, and we found ourselves in the middle of a wide undulating plain stretching to the remote horizon. then we saw that the stage was set and the actors were ready. on our left, their approach unnoticed by us in the fog, our infantry were marching in fours; from away to the south-west, as far as the eye could see, came three mighty columns of marching men, sunburnt, silent, inexorable. they looked immensely efficient, these veterans of gallipoli, tramping steadily along in their shirt sleeves--best of all fighting kit--and there were two divisions of them. alongside them came another long column of ambulance-carts drawn by mules, beyond which, again, marched the auxiliary branch of the medical service, the camels, soft-footed and supercilious, with the white hoods of the cacolets swaying unevenly as they marched. then came the light armoured-car batteries and in the centre the horse-artillery. out on the flank the plain was black with the horses of the mounted divisions, disposed in brigades, and on the right the imperial camel corps had a roving commission. so the army marched steadily forward to the assault, a wonderful spectacle. there was this to be said for the fighting in palestine: you fought in the open most of the time; with certain limitations you could see your enemy and he could see you. the personal element, therefore, played a more important part than when there was an overwhelming concentration of artillery on one side or the other, and as a rule battles were won because the victors were both collectively and individually the better men. soon the infantry diverged to the left, and the columns, moving toward the sea, were presently lost to view beyond the low western hills. we continued our flanking movement eastward, with cavalry screens thrown forward and the remainder advancing in beautiful order over the undulating plain. within a couple of hours or so we had reached our appointed place, whereupon some of the cavalry galloped forward to keep in touch with the other mounted division operating toward the north, the armoured cars disappeared swiftly on their lawful occasions, and the imperial camel corps went off to attend to the needs of such turkish reinforcements as were to be found. we had not long to wait before an enemy aeroplane arrived and, locating us at once, dropped a smoke bomb. hardly had the little puff dispersed when the first shell arrived with a hideous, screaming whine, and exploded with a shattering roar on the hillside some hundred and fifty yards in our rear. it was followed instantly by another which burst a similar distance in front--a perfect bracket, and we were in the middle of it. it looked any reasonable odds that the third shell would arrive in the middle of _us_, for we offered a splendid target: thousands of horses and men in a shallow saucer-shaped depression the range of which the enemy evidently had to a yard. even the most confirmed optimist could scarcely help feeling that in a few seconds we were likely to be put out of action--polite euphemism!--before striking a blow. but the god of battles was with us, for the third shell, to our utter astonishment, not unmingled with relief, never came! the reason was soon apparent: a battery of horse-artillery was seen galloping madly over the stretch of level plain a mile or so in our rear, in the direction of the turkish big guns. with beautiful precision they swung into action and in a few seconds were firing round after round in a determined effort to put their larger adversary _hors de combat_. whether the turkish gun-positions were known beforehand and this effort part of a pre-arranged plan i do not know. as we saw it, it looked like a spontaneous and magnificent act of self-sacrifice. it was david and goliath over again, but unfortunately the luck on this occasion was with the latter. he plastered the battery with his heavy shells; one of them, bursting near the battery-staff, put almost the entire party out of action from the concussion alone. there was not a scrap of cover either for horses or guns, and soon the gallant gunners were forced to withdraw. they had, however, succeeded in their object--if it were indeed to create a diversion in our favour--and had in addition completely destroyed the crew of one enemy gun. with the exception of a parting round which burst near the field-ambulance on our left we had no further trouble in this direction. subsequently we went forward without let or hindrance, except from enemy aircraft, whose bombs disturbed quite a quantity of earth. meanwhile on our left the infantry were heavily engaged. their lot was not an enviable one. the natural defences of gaza are immensely strong, and these were in addition strengthened by every conceivable human device. the town stands in the midst of a chain of sandy ridges, inside which is a smaller ring, with a wide stretch of open country absolutely devoid of cover between the two. the extreme niceness of the position lay in the fact that any one ridge was well within range of most if not all of the remainder. without much difficulty, the infantry captured two of these outer ridges--mansura and shalouf--and immediately prepared for the attack on the central positions. the chief of these was the place to which samson carried the gates of gaza: ali muntar--how familiar we were destined to be with that name!--a great, bleak rock, whose terraced slopes rose far above the rest and commanded a wide field of fire over the plains of gaza. it was defended in its several tiers by machine-guns cunningly placed, concealed rifle pits, trenches protected by rows of cactus and prickly pear, the broad leaves of which are almost impervious to rifle-bullets and even shrapnel, and heavy guns hidden in cavities in the rock itself. it was, i think, about noon and intensely hot when the infantry began the attack. from our position on the flank it was, of course, impossible to see in detail what was going on, or much beyond the actual deployment of the troops. but the machine-gun fire, which during the morning had reached us in purring waves of sound, now increased to such awful intensity that the rattle became a roar incessant and deafening. from the moment the first waves started to advance across the open country they came under a devastating fire. they were bespattered with shrapnel from the guns, enfiladed on three sides by machine-guns whose fire swept them away in scores, rifle-pits spat death at them, and from the crowded trenches came a terrible volume of rifle-fire. it seemed impossible that any one could live to reach the slopes of ali muntar; yet these men from wales and east anglia went forward with a steadiness almost past belief, and ultimately, with ranks sadly thinned, did reach the foot of the hill. from this point they fought their way inch by inch and drove the desperately resisting turks back through their cactus hedges and over each successive terrace until, late in the afternoon, the summit was won. the cost was terrible: some battalions had lost three-quarters of their effectives, many had lost half, and all had suffered very heavily. true, a very large percentage of the casualties were lightly wounded in arms and legs; nevertheless, they were out of action and the battle was by no means won. earlier in the afternoon we on the flank had at last got on the move. aeroplane reconnaissance showed that large bodies of turkish infantry and cavalry were marching swiftly from beersheba and hereira, to the assistance of their comrades in gaza, and we went forward to delay their advance. a squadron of anzacs operating from the north-east fought with such dash that they found themselves at the outskirts of gaza itself. they charged an austrian battery, slew the gunners and captured two of the guns. not content with this, with characteristic impudence they swung the guns round on to the town at point-blank range! then they sent a message to the battery of horse-artillery operating with them to ask for gunners to give them instruction in the art of gunnery, as they were not doing enough damage themselves! i cannot say whether the instructors arrived or not, but the anzacs clung to their captured guns like leeches and continued to use them in spite of the furious counter-attacks immediately delivered by the incensed turks. indeed, so uplifted were the anzacs by their recent performance that not only did they repel all attempts to regain the guns but they charged the town and got into the streets, where the bayonet fighting was of the fiercest and most desperate kind. here they suffered very heavy casualties, for machine-guns in numbers were on the flat-topped roofs and the bullets swept the narrow streets like hail, killing friend and foe indiscriminately. in spite of this they managed to drive the turks out of a portion of the town, and from this they refused to be dislodged, though the greater part of the men were wounded, some of them severely. farther east, meanwhile, another party of australians were supplying a little comic relief. their function originally had been to prevent the escape of any turks should the town be captured, but as the refugees failed to appear, for obvious reasons, the australians rode forth to inquire into the matter. a mist of obscurity hangs over their doings until the moment when they saw before them an open landau--or gharry, as it is termed in egypt--with an escort bearing all the trappings of high officialdom, proceeding at a gentle trot some distance away over the plain. this seemed to be fair game, so with a wild "coo-ee" the light horse charged down upon the totally unsuspecting party. the driver of the gharry lost his head and his seat simultaneously, the vehicle overturned and pinned the unfortunate occupant underneath, and the escort surrendered hurriedly several times over. this last was perhaps as well, for the attackers were so weak with laughter at the sight of a very dignified turkish general in full regalia crawling from under the gharry that they were in no condition to put up a serious fight. it transpired later that the general so ignominiously and comically made prisoner was a divisional commander who, with all his staff, was apparently proceeding to his advanced headquarters with no thought of danger. it was humiliating for him and his entourage but was a highly important capture for us, in that he was one of the cleverest turkish generals. another brigade of the light horse, under general royston--"galloping jack"--operating in this area, were fighting desperately hard to drive a large force of turks from a ridge, east of gaza, which they had unexpectedly occupied and from which they were trying to get in touch with cavalry coming from huj. in their successful attempt to defeat this project the light horse had the spirited assistance of the armoured cars whose utter disregard of danger saved the situation time after time. one group of half a dozen cars ran into half a division of turkish reinforcements and were given up as lost by the brigade. but no! instead of surrendering tamely the inspired madmen in the cars ran amok and played a merry game of follow-my-leader up and down and round and through the ranks of the enemy, until they had fired off most of their ammunition. whereupon they made a final burst and got away almost unscathed--they had less than half a dozen casualties--leaving some four hundred turkish killed and wounded on the field and the remainder probably wondering, like the nigger when the meteorite hit him, "who frowed dat brick"! as far as our part of the front was concerned it was a day out for the armoured cars and the imperial camel corps. the latter were early engaged with some of those unsuspected reinforcements from hereira and elsewhere and suffered terribly heavy casualties in beating off their attempts to get through. the turks were overwhelmingly superior in numbers, yet a brigade was held up for half the day by one company of the "cameliers"! another company formed up like cavalry and actually charged--and took--a position, the camels taking the hurriedly vacated trenches in their stride, as a horse leaps a ditch! i should think this charge is almost unique in the annals of war. yet a third company fought on until only one officer and seventy men were left and few of those were without a wound of some sort. it is not too much to say that their amazing efforts saved a large number of the mounted division from destruction, or, at least, capture. for the greater portion of the day we ourselves had performed the rôle of spectators. with the exception of the contretemps already mentioned not a single shot came near us; we occupied an oasis of calm in the midst of a hell of fire--and looked on. at certain intervals we walked or trotted, and once we galloped madly for half a mile, expecting at the end of it to hear the order: "halt--action front!" it was a false alarm. we halted for two hours--till about five o'clock, when, judging from the firing, gaza was hemmed in on all sides. we were then in a kind of shallow nullah situated about half-way down a gently sloping hill. suddenly, over the top of the hill came a "signals" waggon at the gallop laying a line at tremendous speed. the battery was galvanized into action by a sharp order, and in a few seconds the guns were unlimbered in a position facing due east, whence the rattle of musketry came in increased volume. another battery tore down the hill, across the valley, and swung into action behind the crest opposite. soon they were firing salvoes as fast as they could load, while our guns were yet idle. something seemed to have gone wrong. anxious eyes were turned to the west, for the sun had by now nearly reached the horizon and in half an hour at most it would be too dark to fire. how precious those three fog-spoilt hours of the early morning would have been, could we have had them now! the minutes dragged on and still no orders came. gradually, as the sun sank, the hideous din of firing around us died down and then ceased abruptly, as if some unseen hand had descended and shut off all the guns simultaneously. we limbered up and withdrew a little way up the hill, and unhooked again for the night. i cannot hope to describe the bitter disappointment of that moment. that we had been spectators all day was bad enough, that the horses had been waterless for thirty hours and that we ourselves were hungry, thirsty, and very weary, was worse, but that the pernicious fog should have prevented us from loosing off at any rate one round was the last straw. we found a small grain of comfort in the shape of a well at the bottom of the hill, to which, without removing their harness, we took the horses. after the usual wearisome process of dragging up the water in canvas buckets we found it to be muddy, yellow stuff, and the horses, thirsty though they were, would have none of it. perhaps they were wiser than we knew.... from the western end of the valley, travelling at a tremendous pace, came a small cloud of dust making straight for us. it was a dispatch-rider, bringing word that the turks were on the other side of the farther hill in great force and ordering us to clear out at once to avoid capture. it never struck us till afterwards that the fact of the water being undrinkable saved us. had it not been that we had spent something like half an hour dragging it from the well and trying to persuade the horses to drink, the harness would have been removed and we should have been in our blankets and fast asleep. as it was, the turks were in our position twenty minutes after our hurried departure. chapter ix the retreat bewildered by this sudden turn of events, we hurriedly hooked the horses in again to guns and ammunition-waggons, slung on the personal equipment recently discarded--though our water-bottles were now, alas, empty--and quickly vacated the nullah. where we were going to nobody save those in command knew; most of us were too weary to care. our deadened senses were hardly capable of realising that the relieving turks had somewhere broken through the cordon; we had to clear out and, in spite of what the firing had told us at sundown, we had failed to take gaza. that much was now obvious; victorious troops do not as a rule retreat, especially at our present pace. hence we had no option but to keep moving as fast as we could until we were ordered to stop. a mile or two out of the nullah we encountered the rest of the brigade, and gradually a troop from one unit or a squadron from another joined the column. by now it was pitch dark, but as far as one could judge we were taking a different route from that by which we had come. our present direction was due west, and had we persisted in following it this route would have led us straight into the turkish lines at gaza. the reason, which i give with some reserve, was learnt later. a german officer speaking perfect english and dressed in the uniform of a british staff-officer, rode up to the head of the column and announced that he had been sent by headquarters as a guide. thereupon the column followed this audacious gentleman's leadership for some miles, until a pukka british officer, who had providentially spent some years surveying this very country, asked his commander whether he knew that we were making a bee-line for the turkish defences. a startled ejaculation burst from the general, who turned to the guide to ask him if he was quite sure of the way. but he asked in vain, for the man had disappeared! whether this explanation be true or no, there are in connection therewith two somewhat significant points: one was that some days later a german, masquerading as a british staff-officer, was undoubtedly captured, and paid the customary penalty; the other was that after we had trekked for perhaps a couple of hours in a westerly direction, we turned sharply to the left and continued almost due south, at right angles to our previous route. we had not proceeded far this way when we came across the remainder of the mounted divisions, and fell in beside them, a heterogeneous mass. troopers of the light horse were riding with gunners from the artillery; cacolet camels, whose native drivers had their heads shrouded in blankets, trudged beside ambulance carts; here and there a man who had lost his horse stumbled wearily along, first in one column then in another; guns and ammunition-limbers were mingled with cable-waggons; and all followed blindly man or waggon in front of them. the army slept as it marched. men slid gradually down into the saddle, with bowed heads, until the tired horses stumbled and jerked them again into a hazy consciousness for a few yards. then the heads drooped once more, the nerveless hands loosed the reins, and bodies swayed unevenly back and forth. here and there a man, utterly overcome by sleep, lurched from his saddle, pitched headlong and lay where he had fallen until one more wakeful picked him up and set him on his waiting horse again or in an ambulance. some tied themselves on gun-limbers and slept there, while their riderless horses gregariously followed the column. a slumbering, ghostly army, moving like automata. what sounds there were seemed to come from a great distance: the soft pad-pad of the camels, the creaking of the cacolets swaying high and low and the moans of the tortured men in them, the uneven beat of hoofs, and mingled with every sound was the monotonous crunching of waggon-wheels on the rough ground. it was terribly difficult work for the drivers in the engineers and artillery, for the country now was broken by great boulders, dust rose in clouds obscuring the vision, and no semblance of a road was to be found. the lead-drivers had to keep a sharp look-out lest they ran down somnolent stragglers wandering across their path, and if the column halted suddenly they had to throw off quickly to one side to avoid running into the waggon immediately in front and telescoping the whole team. this was a particularly onerous task, for the dust made it impossible to see more than a yard or two ahead. the wheel-drivers were in no better case and in addition they had the waggon-pole to look after, and the centre-drivers were betwixt the devil and the deep sea. besides the rough country there were deep, narrow nullahs to be crossed, some of them with sides as steep as the roof of a house. then the wheel-drivers reined in till the pole-bars almost lifted the weary horses from the ground, and those in front picked a perilous way step by step over the rocky surface of the incline. nearing the floor of the nullah the drivers loosed the reins and flogged their horses into some semblance of a gallop in order to gain enough impetus to carry them up the ascent on the other side. one of these nullahs was a fearsome place: half-way down the descent the path had a twist in it and at the angle of the turn was a gigantic boulder almost blocking the way. in the inky darkness it was hideously difficult to get down without overturning the vehicles. the very path itself was a mere narrow cleft in the side of the nullah, and the lead horses, thrown out of draught to allow those in the wheel to bring their waggon round the boulder, had to scramble up the rocky slope again until they were almost level with the waggon itself. many encompassed the journey in safety, but soon the inevitable happened: a limber failed to clear the boulder. as the horses were making the turn the off-wheel crunched against the side, lifted, hung poised for a second, then, as the other wheel continued to move, swung farther over, and the waggon overturned with a sickening crash, dragging men and horses to the earth in inextricable confusion. the way was completely blocked, and meanwhile those behind, ignorant of what had passed, were preparing to make the descent! a terrible débâcle was prevented by the quick presence of mind of one who scrambled to the lip of the nullah and called a halt. how the waggon was righted and set on its way again nobody could say clearly. men tugged at drag-ropes and strained at the wheels, it seemed for hours. but the task was at last done--horses and men were providentially unhurt. one of the drivers, who had been pinned between his two horses by the fall, had fallen asleep while waiting to be extricated, and lay peacefully oblivious to the pother around him. when all was clear and the waggon once more sent on its way, the remainder started to come down, the dangerous turn now being lighted by a hurricane-lamp, held by an officer mounted on a boulder. by the disastrous delay, however, the column was riven into two parts and there was grave danger of one losing touch with the other. for some miles the pace of those in the rear was accelerated in the hope of catching up, but the country was so rough that real speed was impossible. moreover, during the long wait men had fallen into a stupor of sleep so profound that even the incessant jogging failed to rouse them. occasionally we encountered a level stretch of ground, and the horses were urged into a trot which set the drooping figures on them bobbing in their saddles like marionettes on strings. for some seconds the absurd motion continued until the riders, becoming unbalanced, instinctively clutched the pommel of their saddles to save themselves or dug their heels into their horses' sides. whereupon the startled animals broke into a shambling canter for a few yards till for very weariness they dropped again into a walk. so it went on for hours--walk march--trot--halt, till the gaps were closed; then: walk march--trot--halt again. even the wheels beat out the words with damnable iteration and made of them a maddening refrain. we seemed to be marching to the ends of the earth. during a brief moment of wakefulness i found myself wondering, in a detached kind of way, if we should ever stop. it did not appear to matter much anyway, for we could only go on till we dropped, and then perhaps should be able to sleep. at last we caught up with a long line of camels softly plodding along, which seemed to be at the rear of the leading column. shortly afterwards we reached the wadi ghuzzee and attempted the crossing, which was the worst we had yet encountered by reason of its precipitous nature. indeed, seen afterwards by daylight, it was difficult to understand how the horses managed even to keep their feet, so steep was the path. at the foot of the farther slope, lying in the bed of the wadi, was an overturned ammunition-waggon by the side of which was a dead horse--a silent warning of the danger of the ascent. there was no room here for a final gallop to help the waggons up the hill; it was simply sheer, steady tugging all the way. if the strain were relaxed for a moment the waggons began to slide down the slope, and the gunners had hurriedly to scotch the wheels till the horses were ready to take hold and pull again. when the gallant brutes did eventually reach the top they were shaking in every limb as if with ague. but the worst was now over. some time or other we must have reached our destination; i cannot remember. i have the vaguest recollection of placing a nosebag for a pillow, but that is all; the rest of that night is lost in deep oblivion. it was a curious sight that presented itself next morning. men were lying just where they had fallen. some were stretched straight out with faces upturned to the sky; others huddled up in strange attitudes; others again lay with their heads pillowed on their saddles; and all had utter weariness stamped in every line of their bodies. nearly all the horses were lying down, a sure indication of extreme fatigue, for as a rule they slept standing. one by one the men stirred, stretched, and looked dazedly about them. presently, when consciousness returned, we began to remember that it was twenty-four hours since we had eaten. haversacks were searched for what remained of the bully-beef and biscuits, which were very hard to get down without water, and of that we had none. in this respect the horses were in worse plight than we. it was forty hours since they had been watered. in no country, save mesopotamia, did the exigencies of the campaign lie so heavily upon our four-legged comrades as in egypt and palestine. but for the fact that all animals in the army are better treated and looked after than any in the world, it would have fared very hardly with them. you should have seen some of the captured turkish horses! it made us heartsick to look at them, so emaciated were they from ill-usage and neglect. the eastern has no idea of kindness to animals; it was a common practice for them to ride horses with open sores as big as the hand on the withers and elsewhere, day in and day out, with no thought of giving the tortured creatures treatment for their ills. it is a poor day for the british soldier when he cannot find some little dainty for his horse, or "win" an extra handful of grain when the quartermaster-sergeant is looking the other way; his first thought is always for his horse. when we had snatched a hurried meal we set out to look for water. the only known wells were at deir el belah, whither we proceeded. we had apparently crossed the wadi some distance to the east, for we went seven miles or thereabouts before we reached the wells, which were, however, only for the use of the men. the horses were watered at a large lagoon, bordered with tall reeds, considerably nearer the sea, which lagoon i shall remember. there were no troughs, and we had to ride the horses some yards into the water to clear the reeds before they could drink. the bed was covered to the depth of nearly a yard with black sticky mud, and my horse, plunging forward to get at the water, stepped into a steep hole where the mud was of stygian blackness and incomparable stickiness, and we investigated these qualities together. as i was leading another horse as well, my position was exceedingly uncomfortable, for in the confusion a trace slipped over my head and was caught by the back of my helmet, pinning me under the water. nor were the most desperate efforts to free myself of any avail, for the horse was struggling like a mad thing to get his--or rather, her--head above the surface. i had reached the stage where one's hectic past is supposed to pass in mournful panorama across the mental vision, when the chin-strap of my helmet broke and the trace was released, jerking my head above the surface of the water with a force that nearly dislocated my neck. the pent-up wrath--and mud--inside me came out in a yell which almost drowned the shouts of laughter from the bank, and covered with black slime from head to foot i scrambled out. this personal reminiscence is here obtruded because the incident made the rest of the day a blank. orders to harness up and go out again came almost immediately the watering was finished. we went somewhere and came back again towards nightfall, but what happened in the interim i know not. at every halt i was engaged in scraping the mud off myself with a jack-knife, an indifferently successful implement for the purpose. an officer gave me half a pailful of water wherewith to wash myself, but as my entire wardrobe was at the moment modestly hiding under a thick layer of mud, his kindly act did not help very much. however, as the troops bellowed with joy every time they looked at my piebald countenance, somebody was pleased, which was all to the good. that lagoon loomed very large on our horizon for some days. we camped near it on our return and, hoping to make up some arrears of sleep, settled down very early. the plan went awry, however. we had neighbours so anxious to make our acquaintance that they called--nay, thrust themselves upon us--at sundown. mosquitoes! they came in clouds and very nearly caused a panic. this was a new terror. we had suffered most of the plagues of egypt--which did not include mosquitoes; those of palestine were beginning their operations already. even the tiniest creature on the earth has its function in life, we are told, but for the life of me i cannot see the use of the mosquito, which may sound uncharitable. but when, after lying down for a rest that you know is well-earned, thousands of these pernicious insects fasten on you and bite you and raise large lumps on your person, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness are the only emotions you are capable of feeling. and these mosquitoes from the lagoon were of surpassing virulence. presumably they had been living on a diet of lean and hungry bedouin for many months and had found no sustenance therein; for they made of our well-nourished bodies a feast of lucullus and gorged themselves to repletion. a doctor once told me that the female mosquito hums but does not bite, while the male bites but does not hum. that is just the kind of immoral trick a mosquito would practise. while the female is creating a diversion--and a disturbance--by her vocal camouflage, the other criminal silently puts in his deadly work. having stuffed himself till he can hold no more he goes into a corner, well out of reach, and pretends to weep over his evil deeds. this is merely pecksniffian; indigestion is his trouble. another neighbour we had was the frog--several thousands of him--and his voice was out of all proportion to his size. just after sundown the chief frog made a loud noise like stones rattling in a can, apparently calling the tribe to attention. for a moment there was deep silence. then the chorus burst forth, rose to a hideous crescendo and descended to a monotonous rattle; and this was the motif of the song. frogs must have very powerful lungs, for these never seemed to draw breath; theirs was, as it were, a continuous performance and a most infernal din withal. we became accustomed if not reconciled to the nightly chorus during the three weeks we camped by the lagoon, and after that first night the row failed to disturb our rest, which is more than can be said of the mosquitoes. familiarity with them breeds anything but contempt; it is generally malaria. although the mounted divisions had been obliged to retreat the battle was by no means over. during the night of the th turkish reinforcements, now unopposed, poured into gaza from all over the country. next day the turks counter-attacked ali muntar in great strength, and though our infantry, who had suffered and were suffering great privations from want of water, put up a magnificent resistance, they were at length driven from the positions gained at such heavy cost. the turks followed up this success by capturing a ridge farther east, from which they could shell our positions at mansura practically with impunity, and could, moreover, prevent supplies and water from reaching the beleaguered garrison. the daring little band of anzacs who had penetrated into gaza were also cut off and captured, though the turks failed to retake their lost guns, which were proudly brought in by the remnants of the brigade. the situation now looked extremely serious, for the turks, growing bolder, launched a most determined attack on mansura, and in spite of numerous counter-attacks rapidly made the ridge untenable. the "cameliers" again sacrificed themselves in a gallant effort to raise the siege and played sad havoc with the turkish cavalry. temporarily the advance was held, but as death from starvation and thirst was the only alternative to ultimate capture by the turks, the garrison made good their escape in the second night of the battle, and the following day all our troops were on the western bank of the wadi. i wish it were possible to speak here of some of the countless acts of gallantry and self-sacrifice performed by our infantry during this three days' battle. most of these, however, reached me at second-hand, and it is as well to write mainly of things seen. the story of one may perhaps be told as being typical of many, and this story i know to be true. a man taking part in the first assault on ali muntar was shot through both legs, and for many hours lay exposed to the heat of the sun. succour could not reach him and his sufferings from thirst and the pain of his wounds can faintly be imagined. his constant and semi-delirious cries for water were heard by a comrade lying, shot through the lungs, some thirty yards away. this man had still a little water left in his water-bottle, and, in spite of his own intolerable agony, dragged himself painfully across the intervening space. the exertion killed him; he died in the act of raising the bottle to the lips of his comrade. chapter x the second attempt the business was to begin over again. we had failed; and if our defeat was as proud as victory it was none the less a defeat. our firm belief at that time was that the fog had been solely responsible; certainly it was through no dereliction of duty that we had been unsuccessful. looking back, however, after the lapse of two years, it is difficult to see what other result could have been obtained even with the aid of the extra hours of daylight. we might, and probably should, have taken gaza; that we could have held it against the undreamt-of reinforcements who poured down in their thousands from as far north as anatolia is extremely doubtful. further, the difficulties of maintaining a large army in this almost waterless region were enormous. the turkish railhead was on their doorstep, as it were; ours was then twenty miles away at rafa. from that place all supplies and most of the drinking-water had to be brought up by any transport available--chiefly camels; this obviously could not go on for long. opinions differ as to the wisdom of delivering the attack at all until the railway had been brought as far as belah. the chief reason was, i believe, that the authorities were afraid that the turks would retire without fighting right back to the judæan hills where, during the months that must necessarily have elapsed before we could attack them, they would have so fortified their naturally strong positions as to render them, if not impregnable, at least infinitely more difficult to take than those defending gaza. but, as an end to speculation, the hard facts were these: we had the wadi, the turks still had gaza--and intended to keep it. inside of a fortnight, moreover, they had concentrated six divisions for that purpose. also, they fortified an important ridge, east of gaza, from which to prevent another attempt at encircling the town. this was a nasty blow, especially for the mounted divisions. the next attack would have to be delivered frontally, and as the turks held all the important positions it was likely to prove expensive. our counter-preparations were begun as soon as the infantry were firmly established on the western bank of the wadi. by dint of the most extraordinary exertions on the part of the engineers, assisted gamely by the coloured sportsmen in the e.l.c., railhead was brought up to belah by the first week in april. approximately fourteen miles of broad-gauge line were laid in well under a fortnight, which feat was a great deal more impressive than it looks on paper; for the country was now undulating and hilly, in sharp contrast to the desert. the first cutting was being made at khan yunus when we passed through on the way north, and there were several more subsequently, all of which needed time and hard work. but the single line was now insufficient for the needs of the army. another division had been brought up, and the nd lowland division, who, by way of a startling change, had not been engaged in the first battle, also arrived from khan yunus to swell the tide of troops. accordingly a branch line was laid from belah down to the seashore, where immense quantities of ammunition and stores were landed from cargo-boats coming direct from port said or alexandria. landing the stores was a particularly difficult task. all the ships had to stand about a mile off-shore and discharge their cargoes into lighters and smaller craft. nor was this too easy, for the currents hereabouts were exceptionally strong--several men were drowned while bathing--and the coast was rocky and dangerous; nevertheless the work was done at express speed. at the beginning of april a notable arrival was that of the tanks. we had left them behind at pelusium and had not seen them since, for it was a slow business bringing them across the desert. extraordinary precautions were taken to hide them from observation by turkish aircraft; indeed, so effectually were they screened that even we failed to spot them. enemy machines now hovered over us daily, seeking information and dropping powerful reminders of their presence. in this latter respect they paid particular attention to the long trains arriving daily and also to a large shell-dump near the station, which they bombed unmercifully. a remarkable and, to my mind, deplorable feature here and elsewhere was the frequency with which a field-ambulance or hospital of some sort found itself alongside an ammunition-dump. so common was the practice that a man seeking temporary treatment would first look for the dump, and sure enough the hospital was hard by. we used to strafe the turks for bringing up ammunition to the firing-line under cover of the red cross, but it seems to me that in effect we were doing much the same thing. you cannot expect the enemy to play the game according to the geneva convention if you yourself fail to observe the rules. turkish airmen used to drop messages asking us kindly to move our hospitals lest they should be hit by bombs intended for the dumps. presumably out of pure cussedness the hospitals stayed where they were; and inevitably they were bombed. then they moved. as a case in point: there was a large field ambulance alongside the main shell-dump at belah upon which several bombs were dropped with disastrous results. one marquee full of sick and wounded men was completely destroyed. several others were badly damaged, and the occupants, many of whom were desperately ill with dysentery, while helping their weaker comrades out of the débris were bespattered with bullets from the low-flying machines above. little imagination is needed to picture what would have happened to the hospital _in toto_ had a bomb hit the fringe of the dump. apart from this it was uncanny how the turks spotted the places where our heavy guns were concealed ready for the coming show. in broad daylight they came over and dropped bombs with amazing precision. under cover of darkness the guns would be moved and profane gunners laboured half the night to make them invisible--and in one case their work was so well done that twenty yards away it was impossible to see any signs of a battery. yet the turks found them the very next morning and made the position very hot indeed. obviously this was not the result of direct spotting; somewhere there was a leakage; and presently it was found--and stopped. at belah there was a native village of sorts, a mere hotch-potch of mud-huts, whose inhabitants scratched a precarious living by tending sheep belonging to other people. ancient and withered bedouins--or turks disguised as such--used to come into the camps and supply dumps and pester the troops for empty kerosene or biscuit tins, to be used ostensibly for carrying water. as these are the native receptacles all over the east they were readily handed over without question. one morning, however, a gunner, casually looking round, observed the remarkable phenomenon of a kerosene tin perched on the top of one of several trees near which his battery was placed, and glinting in the bright sunlight. continuing the movement he noticed another tree similarly crowned, and yet another. some queer accident might have accounted for the presence of one tin, but three...! he reported the phenomenon to his commanding officer, who, pausing not to reason why, immediately moved his battery from what he thought was likely to be an extremely unhealthy spot. he was right; he had barely got the guns under cover elsewhere when the turks, flying low, came over and heavily bombed the place he had just left! of course the kerosene tins had been almost as useful as a heliograph, and who would dream of looking for such a thing at the top of tree? another accident led to the discovery of a much more elaborate means of sending information. one night a trooper of the light horse was returning to his bivouac from a visit to a friend in another squadron. standing by a little mound was a figure which he took to be the sentry, which gentleman he was rather anxious to avoid, the hour being somewhat late. to his astonishment the figure suddenly disappeared into thin air; the trooper rubbed his eyes and advanced cautiously towards the spot: not a trace. he was just beginning sorrowfully to think of the quantity of liquor he had consumed that evening, and to ask himself: "do i sleep, do i dream, or is wisions about?" when he was challenged lustily from behind by the real sentry. when he had sufficiently recovered from the shock the trooper described what he had seen to the sentry, who urged him to go to bed and he would probably be better in the morning. however, the trooper persisted in his tale, and finally the sentry promised to keep a sharp look-out on the place and to warn his relief to do the same. the next day the trooper, his conviction still unshaken, collected a few friends and together they dug round the mysterious spot. they found an underground chamber with telephone apparatus complete, which was found to be connected with the turkish defences at gaza! the trap-door leading down to it was hidden under sods of earth indistinguishable from the surrounding soil and the place was ingeniously ventilated by a pipe through the stump of a tree close by. the two occupants had rations enough for a siege; only they knew how long they had been installed and how much information they had gathered. the sublime effrontery of the thing! it might have gone on for ever had not one of the prisoners crawled out for a breather at the precise moment when the convivial trooper was returning to home and friends. after this episode there was a long and rigorous hunt for spies and several more were captured, most of them carrying on very innocent-looking pursuits. what made the risk of detection less for these people was the british policy, in the main a sound one, of non-interference up to a certain point with the natives of the country in which we were fighting; any old bedouin, therefore, was a potential spy. by the middle of april the preparations for a second attempt on gaza were complete. this time there was no intention of confining the issue to a one- or even two-day battle. there might be another fog.... on the th we packed six days' rations and forage on to the limbers and moved to the outskirts of belah, there to cover the infantry and wait till they had carried out their part of the programme, which was to capture the outer defences of gaza. the lowlanders and east anglians did this in great style the next morning, and spent the rest of that and the following day consolidating the gains and preparing for the big "show" on the th. at dark on the th we moved forward and crossed the wadi once again: the journey this time was made comparatively easy by the fine work of the engineers during the past fortnight. by cutting deep into the steep sides of the wadi they had made several really admirable roads sloping gradually down to the bed and up the other side. the way led through fields of barley now standing almost waist-high. it seemed a monstrous pity that the harvest would never be garnered, that soon it would be crushed by gun-wheels and trodden underfoot by thousands of horses. as we drew nearer the turkish lines we proceeded with extreme caution lest we ran into their patrols, and shortly after midnight halted, noiselessly unlimbered the guns and dug them in. we had to tie the horses' heads up to prevent them from grazing on the barley around us, and muffled their bits and other steel work on the harness with bits of rag, for the least sound carries a long way in this clear atmosphere. then, the drivers in each team taking turns to watch their horses, we lay down in the barley and slept. "zero" was at , when it was just light enough to fire, and by dawn we were up and about, tightening girths and preparing for a quick move, if necessary--in one direction or the other. the turkish batteries discovered us at the precise moment when we opened fire, possibly a few seconds before, for their first shells arrived and exploded in a smother of barley-stalks and dust ere we had fairly begun. they must have had some previous suspicion of our presence, for they had the range to a yard right from the opening chorus and peppered our position with extraordinary precision. fortunately for us their guns, like our own, were light field-pieces, or casualties would have been heavy. as it was the turkish shells destroyed most of the barley in the vicinity without doing any material damage to our guns or horses. after about an hour's steady firing, on the same lines as the strophe and anti-strophe of a greek chorus--noise and damage about equal, that is--the excitement began in real earnest. the guns were limbered up and we advanced out of the barley fields and galloped under heavy fire across a sandy stretch to a position right in the open. we had a lively half-minute unlimbering the guns. one team advancing into line struck a patch of heavy soil which caused the pace sensibly to decrease. they were lucky, for a shell had previously burst in the exact spot where the gun was unlimbered a second or two later, which would certainly have obliterated the entire team had it not been for that providential patch of heavy ground. another shell passed underneath an ammunition-waggon, ploughed a deep furrow in the earth and--failed to explode! there were very few "duds," however. the red flashes from the turkish guns were distinctly visible, and every few seconds their shells exploded in a long line about ten yards in front of our position. our responses must have been very much to the point, for the shelling from one quarter diminished appreciably after one particularly heavy burst of firing from our guns, and soon ceased altogether. by way of retaliation the batteries immediately in front of us redoubled their fire and spouts of earth shot into the air all round the guns. so hot did it become that once the horses were called up to bring the battery out of action; it was impossible to approach within a hundred yards, however--indeed, as soon as the teams appeared out of the nullah in which the waggon-line had been placed the turks instantly turned their guns on to them and shelled them out of sight again. but now another battery came up on our right, and the two, by accurate and steady shooting, gradually wore down the opposition; one by one the red flashes disappeared and the spouts of earth diminished in number. finally there was a lull; the turks had had enough for the time being. this of course was only on a very small portion of the front, and only affected the movements of our particular brigade, who were heavily engaged on their own account. on our left the advance was making little progress. the turks had fortified every ridge to the last degree and refused to be dislodged from even the smallest positions, fighting on till every man was killed. the welsh division were making towards samson's ridge, and being nearest the sea were compelled to move in a restricted area in which there was no cover whatever. standing a few miles off-shore were some british monitors and a french battleship, the last-named aptly called the _requin_, and these did some fine shooting throughout the day. it was discovered that the turks were using the big mosque in gaza as an o.p. from which to direct their artillery fire. the navy promptly dropped a . in. shell on it--a fine shot considering the range. even with the aid of the battleships the welshmen could make little progress, so heavy was the fire, and they suffered terrible losses. not until the afternoon, when most of the turks were killed or wounded, did they capture the ridge. on the right the "jocks" managed at heavy cost to seize a hill, known afterwards as outpost hill, and were at once enfiladed from every ridge in the vicinity and compelled to withdraw. they came again and held on in spite of their casualties, for it was hoped to reach from here their ultimate objectives. it was a forlorn hope. all the troops, either attacking or in support, were compelled to lie in the open. they were swept by bullets from every side and plastered with shells from guns of all calibres. the turkish action in fortifying atawina ridge, east of gaza, had narrowed the front by many miles, and so well were the defences elsewhere arranged that unless ali muntar itself, which dominated them all, were taken it was impossible to hold on to any one ridge even if it were captured. farther over towards the right the east anglian division, the "cameliers," and a brigade of light horse--to the last-named of which we ourselves were attached--began just before noon to advance, after the "pipe-opener" of the early morning. the infantry had a few tanks operating with them, but these met with little success, for everything was against them. one stopped a direct hit when immediately in front of a turkish redoubt and was soon reduced to impotence by the concentrated fire poured into it. as a matter of fact the poor remains of the tank permanently occupied this position, and until it was taken months later tank redoubt was ever a thorn in the side of our infantry. by eleven o'clock in the morning we had advanced some four or five miles, after which the infantry were temporarily held up. the camel corps and the light horse made a magnificent attempt to break through between atawina and ali muntar. this was the hottest period of the day; the turks turned on every gun they could bring into action. as all their "heavies" were mounted on rails they could be swung from one end of the front to the other with the utmost ease. i cannot speak with knowledge of what happened to the camel corps, but the light horse had a terrible time. both units had been successful in capturing a line of trenches, which were at once shelled out of existence by the turkish fire. the casualties here were very heavy. in support of our brigade we galloped about a mile over very broken and dangerous country and eventually came into action astride a road, with a small crest in front and a larger one in rear of our positions. turkish aircraft spotted us at once and dropped smoke-bombs. again we were lucky, for the heavy shells which came over a few seconds later burst behind us on the large hill. unfortunately another battery coming up to assist caught most of these shells and had a very bad time. one gun was dismantled by a direct hit and all its crew wounded, but the remainder fought their guns with magnificent coolness. word came that our brigade and the camel corps were being beaten back by the turks, now advancing steadily and in great force, and a third battery dashed up on our right to help repel them. for five hours the three batteries were firing as fast as the guns could be loaded. the crash of the turkish shells bursting over our positions, the roar of the explosions as our guns were fired, and the rattle of machine-guns on our left combined to make an appalling din. for a long time the ranges continued to decrease as the turks pressed slowly forward, and casualties from the brigade streamed past in increasing numbers, some on stretchers, some walking, and one carried pick-a-back by a huge australian, towards the field-ambulance away to the rear. three enemy aeroplanes came over to make things unpleasant, but their aim was bad. one bomb dropped dangerously near the horses, who were standing the racket exceedingly well, and that did little damage. these machines did, however, harass a line of ammunition waggons, which were proceeding to a dump about a mile away, coming down low and turning on their machine-guns in the hope of killing the horses. there are few things more unpleasant than being fired at from an aeroplane: you feel so utterly impotent; and what aggravates the grievance is the fact that you cannot hit back--unless you happen to belong to a battery of "archies." when you are a mere gravel-crusher or a driver in the artillery you have to grin and abide; and the grin is apt to deteriorate into a grimace. you can become accustomed, if not reconciled, to shell-fire; but i personally never heard the drone of an enemy plane overhead without a prickly sensation down the spine and an urgent desire for a large dug-out forty feet below ground; and there were very few of these in palestine. at one stage in the journey to the dump a wounded australian made a spirited, if inadequate attempt to bring down a plane by rapid rifle-fire, aiming at each of the three in turn! but this was the only effort at retaliation and is mentioned for that reason. we had no "archies"; and the only british aeroplane i saw on this part of the front, at any rate, was brought down in flames as we were returning from the dump. good men gone in a hopelessly inferior machine. god forgive us, we cheered, thinking it to be a taube. shortly after our return to the battery the turkish advance began to waver. they had been sprayed by an incessant hail of shrapnel and high explosive for over three hours, and even their fatalistic courage could not stand the strain. the light horse were now holding their own, and soon a monotonous voice from the o.p. chanting over the wire, told that the turks were retreating. slowly the range increased-- -- -- --until the enemy had passed out of reach of the guns; then for the first time since early morning we ceased fire. but elsewhere on the front the situation was almost _in statu quo_. though the welshmen had, as stated, carried samson's ridge and had even advanced some miles along the coast, ali muntar still remained untaken. all day the lowland division had made the most desperate attempts to storm the position, going forward again and again with sublime disregard of their losses. but to no purpose. they were hemmed in by an inferno of fire which came from all directions: an attacking wave was swept away almost before it began its forward move. it was horrible, useless slaughter. when it was found that no headway could be made in the centre the lowlanders were ordered to cease their heroic attempts, which they did most unwillingly. as the order to withdraw reached a brigade which had been hammered unmercifully all day with little chance of retaliation, one of the men shook his fist at ali muntar and, almost choking with rage, cried out: "damn ye! we'll hae ye yet!" in the late afternoon the order to withdraw came to the mounted divisions and, pivoting on the centre, we swung back some five miles in order to come into line with the infantry, who themselves retired a very short distance. it was no question of a sudden, urgent retreat to avoid capture, for the turks had had far too severe a gruelling to attempt pursuit. it was the reluctant withdrawal of stubborn, angry, and above all, superlatively brave men from positions too strong and well-organised to be taken by the means that had been adopted. as it afterwards transpired, we had the meagre consolation of knowing that, though gaza was still intact, we had achieved some small measure of success east and west of the town. the gains on the east were unfortunately neutralised by the deadlock in the centre; those on the west were consolidated and held. chapter xi tel el jemmi and the camels in reporting our second attempt on gaza the newspapers, no doubt officially inspired, gave us half a dozen lines all to ourselves. one of them described it, i think, as a "minor engagement"; from another we learnt to our surprise that we had been "in touch" with the turks. as our casualties for the day were officially estimated to be between seven thousand and eight thousand, by far the bulk of which were from the lowland and welsh divisions--who went into action possibly twenty thousand bayonets strong--one may perhaps be excused for thinking that the above descriptions err on the modest side. secrecy is a very necessary thing in war--we learnt the bitter lesson in south africa--but it ought not to drive bereaved mothers and sisters and sweethearts to riot and to demand the truth, as they did in glasgow when, months later, the fateful telegrams announcing that their men had been killed or wounded in this "minor engagement" began to arrive in hundreds. [illustration: camouflaging a tent with desert scrub (see p. ).] [illustration: a camel convoy. [_to face p. ._] we used to wonder sometimes whether the people at home knew there was an army at all in egypt and palestine; an army, moreover, longing wistfully for the merest crumb from the table of appreciation, just to show that our "bit" was known and recognised. even the rugged scotsmen and the independent men from australia and new zealand liked a mead of praise, or at least encouragement, once in a while; and when men have spent two years on end--as most of us had--in a desert land, with no one to speak to save their own comrades, nothing to look forward to beyond their daily, deadly monotonous work, they need a little encouragement, if only to save them from melancholia. the only means of getting to civilisation, of knowing again the decencies of life, was to "go sick" as it is termed, and be sent down the line for a spell in hospital; and no one but a congenital idiot took more liberties with his constitution than his work made necessary; the climate alone was more than sufficient for any ordinary man to tackle. but what about leave, you say? it worked out on the average to four men per battery per week--per-haps; the proviso being that no "show" was imminent, when all leave was stopped. as a "show" usually _was_ imminent, it took about eighteen months, with luck, to work through a battery; and other units in proportion. leave to england was all but unobtainable. though your father died sorrowing that his son should be in distant lands, though your wife committed the supreme indiscretion, it was regretted "that owing to lack of transport this application cannot at present be considered." urgent financial reasons--and they had to be urgent--sometimes provided the coveted ticket. there were men who, despairing of legitimate means, "wangled" leave; i did myself see an application which would have wrung scalding tears from the eyes of a stoat, whose moving theme originated entirely in the fertile brain of one of the man's comrades. the letter was sent home, copied; the copy was sent to palestine as a genuine tale of woe. the man obtained his leave! sometime in a wag in the house of commons announced unctuously to a somnolent assembly that all men with eighteen months' service, or over, in the egyptian expeditionary force had been granted, or were in process of being granted, leave to england. he was an optimist; or else he looked on the veiled lady through smoked glasses. the first part of this cheerful statement was ludicrous; the latter part was true, but the process was so lengthy that the war ended leaving it still incomplete! what actually happened at the time stated was that a return was demanded from the various units in the e.e.f. showing the numbers of men with eighteen months' service, or over, in the country; this with a view to granting leave. as practically the whole army sent in its name, with a pleased smile of expectation, the return suffered the fate of most returns: it sank into profound oblivion. perhaps this optimistic gentleman, together with the majority in england, had accepted the view of the arm-chair critics, that having reached the promised land by easy stages we were continuing the "picnic" begun in egypt some two years before; and on this account, therefore, we did not mind waiting an indefinite period for leave. all this is not entirely a digression. there were times--and just after the battle of gaza was one of those times--when the utter futility of war in general, and this one in particular, pressed heavily upon us. for the most part we worked by the day alone nor took thought for the morrow; but sometimes the desire to see well-loved faces and familiar scenes again took hold and bit deeply. if you were wise you strangled the desire at birth, for if you nursed it the result was very much more than a bad quarter of an hour. by the same token let us continue. on the night of the battle, after withdrawing about five miles, we took up a position alongside some batteries of sixty pounders, in a saucer-shaped valley, dug the guns in and prepared to hold on till further orders. the following day the turks counter-attacked unsuccessfully in various places, and without pressing their attacks too closely presently left us in possession of the three ridges we had captured at so great a cost. the problem now was to maintain the troops in these positions. for obvious reasons the railway could not be brought too near the wadi; indeed, it was at this stage, i believe, that the branch line running eastward to our right flank was begun, and despite the constant attentions of enemy aircraft this work was carried on steadily and without pause. belah had now usurped the position of rafa as railhead and the station had been greatly enlarged by the addition of numerous sidings for the reception of the heavy trains daily arriving from kantara. the few wells in the place had been medically tested and numbered and were now in use, supplemented by those of khan yunus and the supply of water sent up by rail. in the wadi itself the engineers had been labouring incessantly since its capture to bore wells for the troops holding it. this was no light task, for with the summer drought drawing nearer every day the wadi was drying up rapidly. even now, except for a few small "pockets" of water not unlike the hill tarns in the north of england, the bed was for all practical purposes dry. eventually sufficient wells were sunk to provide a fairly ample supply of water, which not only relieved the army service corps of some of its heavy burden, but released a large quantity of transport for other duties. by far the most pressing of these was to supply the mounted divisions on the right flank with food and water; and of all the amazing feats performed by the engineers and the transport service, either combined or separately, this effort was surely one of the most wonderful. our position was near tel el jemmi, one of the three high hills, each artificially built in the form of a double cross, that once marked the southern boundary of the land conquered by the early crusaders. it was too far away from the wadi for us to draw our water there; nor in point of fact was there sufficient for our needs had we been conveniently near. there were at least six thousand horses to be watered daily, in addition to which their forage and the men's rations and drinking water had somehow to be brought, and quickly. about two miles from our position and under the shadow of tel el jemmi was a nullah, probably an off-shoot of the wadi, perhaps half a mile long by a couple of hundred yards broad. to the eye it was as if a large slice had been cut out of the earth's crust, leaving a tapering cavity not unlike the shape of a battleship; fortunately, however, the floor was fairly flat and even. the engineers immediately seized upon the nullah and proceeded to transform it into a gigantic reservoir. along one side of the nullah was dug a series of large shallow tanks shaped like a swimming-bath, the counterpart, in fact, of the one used for the same purpose at khan yunus. these were lined with tarpaulins. next to the tanks was a long row of canvas water-troughs, handy affairs which can be erected in a few minutes; and finally the two were connected by means of hand-pumps, each tank supplying a certain number of troughs. other parties of engineers were busy making the nullah easy of access and exit, for, except in one place, the sides were too precipitous to allow one even to climb down with safety. there were, i think, six approaches to the nullah, all of which had to be blasted and cut out of the sides, as sandstone was encountered after the top layer of soil had been removed; and not the least difficult part of the business was to make the inclines safe and convenient for all traffic. all this, it should be stated, was not the leisurely work of weeks or even days; the main part of it had to be completed in twenty-four hours, to supply the thousands of thirsty horses waiting to be watered. meanwhile at railhead transport was rapidly arranged to carry the water, most of which had already been brought a hundred and thirty miles on the train, to the nullah. camels only were used, in such numbers that from belah to khan yunus the country was like a vast patch-work quilt of greys and blacks and browns. it seemed as if all the camels in the world were assembled here; sturdy little black algerians; white long-legged beasts from the soudan; tough grey "belody" camels from the delta; tall, wayward somalis; massive, heavy-limbed maghrabis--magnificent creatures; a sprinkling of russet-brown indian camels; and, lest the female element be neglected, a company of flighty "nitties," very full of their own importance. the native drivers were of as many shades as the camels they led, from the pale brown of the town-bred egyptian to the coal-black nubian or donglawi. twenty-five thousand camels carrying water! the first relays were filing stolidly into the nullah in the early hours of the morning after the battle, as though their business were the most ordinary thing in the world! they entered the nullah by one of the hastily constructed roads and "barracked" in a long row in front of the big tanks. then the two twelve-and-a-half-or fifteen-gallon fanatis carried by each camel were unloaded and their precious contents poured into the tanks, after which the empty fanatis were reloaded on to the saddles and the camels passed out of the nullah by another road, and returned to belah or khan yunus for another supply. there was no confusion and hardly any noise but the grunting and snarling of the camels as they "barracked" and got up again, the whole process of unloading and reloading being like a piece of well-oiled machinery. indeed, so well was the work done that troops coming in to water their horses scarcely noticed it. day and night the two long columns--the one with full, the other with empty fanatis--passed in and out of the nullah; and for twelve miles there was no break in the slow-moving chain. by noon on the day following the battle two thousand horses at a time were able to water comfortably, without congestion and without interfering with the work of the camels. they entered the nullah by a different route, drank their fill and went out again by yet another road. needless to say this was not carried on without molestation by the turks. it was impossible to conceal our presence in the nullah, since even one battery of artillery moving along in watering order raised tremendous clouds of dust visible many miles away, and when several such clouds approaching from different directions were seen converging on the one place, it was obvious that a splendid opportunity had arisen for a little bombing practice; one, moreover, of which the turks took full advantage. hardly had we left the comparative shelter of our position than the familiar hum of an enemy plane was heard, and in a few minutes a peculiar swishing sound heralded the rapid approach of some of his detestable ironmongery. sometimes he would hover overhead and follow the long line till we were almost at the lip of the nullah before releasing his bombs, and this was the very refinement of torture. during the whole of the two-mile journey we sat waiting for the swish-swish of the bombs, wishing that saddles were placed on the bellies of the horses instead of on their backs. then as we were descending into the nullah he would let fly in the hope of catching us in the narrow defile. the extraordinary thing was that though we must have made an excellent target, no one to the best of my recollection was ever hit. many times bombs dropped on the very edge of the road as horses were passing, but providentially the splinters all went wide. for this immunity we had, in great measure, to thank our own aircraft, who, out-classed though they were for speed, invariably went up to harass the turk and put him off his aim, in which gallant attempt they nearly always succeeded. bombs dropped in the nullah itself had no better effect, and if the object of the turks was to stampede the horses, it failed miserably. frequently they would transfer their attentions to the camel convoys with even worse results; it required a great deal more than mere bombs to upset the camels, who padded steadily along, eternally chewing and supremely indifferent to the agitated people overhead. considering our unprotected positions and the undoubted superiority of their machines over ours, the turks were not very enterprising. once or twice they came over the batteries, flying low and sniping--with indifferent success--at the gunners. but that was the limit of their boldness; and when our solitary "archie" in the valley briskly opened fire on them they turned tail and scuttled abjectly out of range. near the nullah a day or two after our arrival a few more anti-aircraft guns came up for the protection of watering parties, which function they performed most successfully, though if british airmen had been operating the turkish machines i doubt if we should have escaped unscathed. perhaps the hard-fighting qualities of the british troops led the turks habitually to over-estimate the numbers and defences opposed to them, for they rarely attacked even a small post save in great force. as a defensive fighter, however, especially behind a machine-gun, the turk has few equals, and, assisted no doubt by his fatalistic temperament, he will take the severest hammering for days without flinching. tel el jemmi being by far the most considerable hill in the neighbourhood, an observation post was established on the summit from which the whole wide plain of gaza lay open to the view. northwards stretched fields turning brown under the hot sun, with here and there a flicker of white in a patch of dark green marking the presence of a native dwelling; westwards was ali muntar thrusting its sombre height through fringes of cactus; gaza tucked away behind, almost hidden in foliage; and beyond, the shining waters of the mediterranean. to the south numerous black patches indicated the presence of our troops and something of the activity at belah; but most striking of all to the eye was the endless chain of camels extending to the distant horizon. what an enormous amount of wasted effort there is during a campaign! herculean labour to meet the need of the moment. troops are thrust into a forward position, and to keep them provided with the necessaries of life transport is organised to the very pitch of perfection. often the position is occupied for a few days only, when the troops are sent elsewhere and the whole business starts again. so it happened at tel el jemmi. we had thought that we were merely resting there preparatory to taking part in a third attempt on gaza. but that time was not yet. after the first two days our guns were never fired, and though a brigade went out on a reconnaissance there were no signs of renewed activity by the turks. on our left the infantry were now securely entrenched on the captured ridges and were obviously settling down for the summer. there appeared to be no need for the mounted divisions _en masse_ to remain on the right flank, especially with transport strained to its utmost limits to maintain them there. the "heavies" were the first to leave the valley, then the anti-aircraft gun rumbled away on its lorry, and finally we were left in sole possession. at dusk on the fifth day after our arrival we too departed; and the engineers were busy striking the canvas water-troughs in the nullah as we passed. all through the night we travelled, and the journey was a repetition of our first retreat from gaza, except that this was a voluntary retirement. we seemed to cross the wadi half a dozen times and might, in fact, have done so, for it wound fortuitously across the whole of our front, and we were everlastingly climbing into or out of steep-sided places. the heavy traffic of the last few days had churned up the whole countryside into a powdery dust, which rose in such heavy clouds as to make breathing difficult, and to see even the man immediately in front was next to impossible. in the early hours of the morning we came to sheikh nuran, a position which had been very strongly fortified by the turks but evacuated without a struggle, like those previously at rafa, when we attacked gaza the first time. i remember little about this camp save that the turks had left it in an unspeakably filthy condition, causing us to spend days clearing away their refuse. chapter xii cave dwellers and scorpions it soon became evident that we should make no more attempts on gaza during the summer, and while both sides were preparing for the inevitable finale, a species of trench warfare began. this had little resemblance to the kind that obtained in france, where the rival trenches were frequently within a stone's throw of each other. here, the nearest point to the turks was on our left flank, where the trenches were perhaps eight hundred yards apart. then the line, which for the most part was that taken by the wadi in its meanderings, gradually swung south-eastwards till on the right flank we were at least ten miles away from the enemy; which does not mean that profound peace reigned in this region--on the contrary. the main reason for this wide divergence was the old difficulty of maintaining mounted troops--or indeed, troops of any kind--in a waterless country. though officially we had crossed the border into palestine, we were actually a long way from the land of milk and honey; and it may here be stated that the troops saw little milk and less honey even when they did at last reach that delectable spot. in the coastal sector--we rose to the dignity of "sectors" when trench warfare began--the infantry amused themselves by making a series of night-raids the cumulative effect of which was considerable. they were carried out on a small scale with meticulous regard for detail, as was very necessary if only because the storming parties had rarely less than a thousand yards to cover before they reached their objectives. most of these operations were for possession of the sandstone cliffs on the turkish side of the wadi and the terrain was generally the beach itself, which from belah to beyond gaza was rocky and dangerous and in few places more than fifty yards wide. at the mouth of the wadi, which had to be crossed, there were shifting sands extremely difficult to negotiate especially at high tide. after some weeks of successful nibbling, which exasperated the turks into a vast, useless expenditure of ammunition, the infantry firmly established themselves along the coast to a point just south of gaza, beyond which it was not expedient to go. here they proceeded to make homes for themselves by digging holes in the face of the cliffs and lining them with sand-bags. they became, in fact, cave-dwellers, though they certainly had army rations to eat in place of the raw bear of their troglodytic ancestors; and their caves were not dug here and there according to the indiscriminating taste of the diggers. they were cunningly conceived with a keen eye to defence as well as comfort. so elaborate was the system that it was universally known as the "labyrinth," and no apter name could have been devised. long months afterwards, when "the strife was o'er, the battle done," i rode along this stretch of beach where the cliffs for upwards of a mile were honeycombed with caves of different sizes, all of them made by the hand of man. there were neat steps cut in the sandstone leading from one to the other; narrow ledges along which you crawled, clinging like a fly to the face of the cliff; and outside some of the caves was a kind of sandstone chute which presumably served the same purpose as did the banisters of irresponsible boyhood's days. i cannot imagine what else the occupants could use them for, nor when they had reached the bottom, how they climbed the steep incline again, except on hands and knees. there were wells, too, sunk in various places about the labyrinth and adequately protected with sand-bags. rations were brought up by camels who made the stealthy and perilous journey across the mouth of the wadi nightly from belah. towards the centre the distance between the trenches was too great to allow of much "nibbling" and the activity here was confined mainly to a regular daily "strafe" on the part of the artillery, and listening-patrols, who occasionally came across a party of turks similarly engaged, whereupon silent work with the bayonet ensued, until one or other party was wiped out. the royal air force provided the _pièce de résistance_ of this period of comparative stagnation. by way of retaliation for a heavy turkish bombing raid on one of the dumps at belah, where amongst other things a field-hospital had suffered severely, they collected about thirty machines and flew over to gaza. their objective was a large shell-dump, said to be nearly a mile in area, situated near the big mosque. though the night was pitch dark and landmarks difficult to detect, the raid was a huge success. many bombs must have hit the dump simultaneously for the roar of the explosion was appalling. the force of it shook the earth for miles round and the sky in the north-west was a vast sheet of red flame. all through the night the racket went on, as first one part of the dump and then another exploded. seen from our position on the right flank, the blaze of light after each explosion was like the great blast-furnaces of sheffield as you see them from the night train. not for days after did we understand what had actually happened; at the time it was thought to be the beginning of another attack on gaza, and one man was profoundly convinced that the day of judgment had arrived. what the turks thought about it is not known, but the raid taught them a terrible lesson; and they did not, in fact, send over another bombing expedition till long afterwards. the mounted troops were disposed in various places along our right flank, some in the wadi, others more or less conveniently near; and they led an existence peculiar to themselves. for our part, after resting for a short time at sheikh nuran, we moved eastwards to el chauth, one of the positions gallantly captured by the imperial camel corps in the first battle of gaza. the turkish trenches enclosed a lovely little spinney of fig-trees and almond-trees in full bloom, under which we concealed the guns and beneath whose sheltering branches we slept. preparations for sleeping in those days were very simple: you dug a hole for the hip-bone with a jack-knife and you were ready. the army authorities had not yet adopted the turkish idea of bivouac-sheets, two of which, buttoned together and propped up with a couple of poles, made an admirable shelter accommodating two persons. there are many worse things, however, than dropping gently to sleep in the open air with the faint scent from the almond-blossom titillating the nostrils. el chauth at first sight appeared to be the kind of spot where every prospect pleases and only man is vile; and as we had not had a really comprehensive wash for some considerable time and were very hairy withal, the adjective was aptly descriptive. apart from this trifling handicap and the fact that we should have to travel fourteen miles a day for water, the place seemed an ideal one for a rest-cure. considering that we had been incessantly on the move for the past five months the time for a "stand-easy" was about due. we prepared everything to that desirable end. the cooks built a cunningly-contrived kitchen in a section of one of the old turkish trenches and firmly announced their intention of cooking for us every kind of delicacy that could be made--out of army beef, onions, and potatoes!--for which pleasant piece of optimism we were duly grateful. then we heard that an e.f. canteen had set up house about a day's trek to the south-west, whereupon a limber went forth and returned on the third day heavily laden with tins of fruit, biscuits, various meats, and something in bottles that maketh glad the heart of man, especially if he has a palestine thirst. most of us had one from egypt in addition. after about four days of comparative peace and quietness the blow fell--in fact, two blows. as a trooper in the yeomanry said, when he found a frog in his boot: "there's allus summat in this dam country." he spoke a great truth. it is unsafe to trust palestine very far, fair of aspect though she be. the first blow fell, literally, while we were having dinner one evening, when a turkish aeroplane arrived and dropped bombs first on the horse-lines and then on us. fortunately his aim was as bad as his taste was deplorable in coming at a time when decent folk were having a meal. neither men nor horses were hit and we had the ironic satisfaction of sheltering from his bombs in the trenches his countrymen had made. even that failed to keep the dinner warm, however. the second and heavier blow was that the inhabitants of our little spinney suddenly and unmistakably made their presence felt. just as at belah the mosquitoes battened shamelessly upon us and the frogs burst into mighty pæans of welcome, so at el chauth the scorpions extended the glad hand--if i may venture thus euphemistically to describe the spiked atrocity they wear lengthwise on their backs. apparently on strike for better conditions of living they decided upon an army blanket as a desirable residence and were quite indifferent as to whether you shared their quarters or not. often they were already in possession when blankets were unrolled for the night, and if not then, one was usually to be found in the morning nestling coyly in the folds. the moment you touched him with a stick he elevated his poisonous battering-ram, which was as long as himself, and struck and struck again in an ecstasy of rage, until sometimes he actually poisoned himself and died from his own blows! i believe a few men died after being stung by scorpions, certainly many were temporarily incapacitated with poisoned arms and legs. this pleasing possibility made a careful scrutiny of the blankets very necessary before you settled down to sleep; and on waking in the morning you made no unnecessary movement until you had first assured yourself that a scorpion was not within striking distance. after a time somebody made the brilliant discovery that every scorpion hates all other scorpions with a deep and abiding hatred. this provided us with a new game. instead of killing them out of hand we caught the biggest scorpions, made a ring in the sand about a couple of feet in diameter, and matched them in single combat. they never went outside the ring, however low was the barrier of sand, but would manoeuvre round the edge glowering at each other till one found an opening; whereupon he sprang in, tail or battering-ram first, and hammered away vigorously while his opponent tried his utmost to get round to the other's head; then he started rapid fire on his own account. generally they ended by standing back to back and belabouring each other till one, or both, dropped dead. sometimes, instead of putting two scorpions in the ring, by way of variation we used to catch another sworn foe and match him against a scorpion. this was the tarantula, a great hairy spider with a leg-spread covering the palm of the hand, another of the unpleasant inhabitants of el chauth. against this creature, however, it was always a shade of odds that the scorpion would win, though there was a surprise occasionally. talking of odds reminds me that nearly always at these fights some sportsman would open a little book and announce that he was prepared to lay "evens on the field." nor was it unprofitable, for the british as a race, and particularly the british soldier, will bet on anything. one man, a sapper, made quite a good thing out of backing a scorpion which he carried about with him in a tobacco-tin. it was a great scrapper, and as it was a very undersized creature, he usually managed to obtain good odds from men who were backing larger and more powerfully developed specimens. what this sapper fed his gladiator on was a mystery; but it won many fights. with the exception of almost daily visits from turkish aircraft, whose aim did not improve, and a few false alarms, the days passed in uneventful monotony. towards the end of may, however, a big raid was organised on one of the turkish lines of communication. if you look at the map you will see, south-south-east of beersheba, a spot called el auja, and south of that another one called maan. this latter is on the main line of the hedjaz railway from medina to damascus and beyond, to which the turks had clung with limpet-like tenacity in spite of their retreat in the west. presumably their chief reason for holding on so long was to impress the mahommedan followers of the cherif of mecca. this dignitary had come in on our side on account of the revolting cruelties practised by the turks on the inhabitants of mecca, medina, and other parts of his kingdom. there seems little reason to doubt that these atrocities were committed at the direct instigation of that arch-villain enver pasha himself. such treatment from those who were supposed to be protectors of his religion stung the cherif of mecca to open revolt. about the middle of , he turned the turks out of mecca, killing or capturing the entire garrison, and proclaimed the independence of the hedjaz; in which courageous action he had the support of the british government. as his army was mainly composed of undisciplined arabs he confined himself thereafter to guerilla warfare and made constant attacks on the turkish lines of communication, especially on the hedjaz railway. so well did the cherif succeed that the turks were compelled to send large numbers of their best troops in order to retain their hold on the railway. at various places on the line strong posts were established, fully equipped with the latest guns and material of all kinds. these posts were a constant menace to our right flank. one of the largest garrisons was at maan, from which troops could easily be sent via el auja to beersheba if needed. our raid, therefore, was for the purpose of blowing up a large section of the railway between beersheba and el auja, and it was planned and carried out with consummate skill. the demands made on the endurance of both men and horses were tremendous. the cavalry and demolition parties operating farthest south had to cover upwards of seventy miles in order to reach their objectives, and even those operating nearest home had over forty miles to go. moreover, it was a dash right into the midst of the enemy's country with beersheba almost at our backs. this, together with the impossibility of concealing the movements of a large body of mounted troops for any length of time, owing to the dust, made speed an essential part of the proceedings. we started after dark and travelled, with no more than an occasional stop for ten minutes, until about two o'clock the following afternoon. then the cavalry struck a strong turkish outpost and had to beat them off before the work of demolition could begin. one of our aeroplanes reconnoitred and came back with the news that a viaduct might profitably be destroyed, and a sixty-pounder battery, which had casually come up while we were waiting, started leisurely to work and laid the bridge in ruins, after which they dropped a few shells on a turkish train farther down the line and demolished that, which concluded their part in the entertainment. then they made tea, at which we looked with envious eyes, having tasted none for thirty-six hours, limbered up their guns, and started back as casually as they had come. it seemed to be a pleasant life in the "heavies." as our brigade had succeeded in driving the turkish cavalry back our guns were not needed in support, so we watered the horses at a well eighty feet deep and had to use reins and drag-ropes and anything else we could find in order to reach the surface of the water with the canvas buckets. it was as well that we had time on our hands, for the whole business took three hours. then _we_ had some tea. it was the only bright spot in what was for us a very uninspiring day. meanwhile the raiders elsewhere had successfully reached their objectives. then the demolition parties put in some deadly work, and about eighteen miles of turkish railway scattered itself over the surrounding country. this ended the menace of enemy reinforcements from the south, though maan itself hung out stubbornly for a long time against the repeated onslaughts of the arabs. the journey back will not easily be forgotten by some of those who took part in the raid. the australians, having completed their work, started back just before sunset. moving more rapidly than we they were soon well ahead; but their dust lingered and most of it settled on us. later, other parties, also ahead of us, came from other directions and added their quantum. ultimately we must have taken the dust spurned by the whole division. it was indescribable in the wadi, where we arrived towards midnight. the battery was cut in two by the last brigade of cavalry to cross. one section crossed over safely, advanced a short distance and waited for the other to make the journey. this, too, was accomplished, after which the two sections tried to find each other in the clouds of dust. for nearly two hours we rode round and round each other, hardly ever out of earshot but unable to meet! this may sound incredible, but it is the plain fact. those who have tried even to cross the road in a london fog of the old pea-soup variety will best appreciate our predicament. in the end a driver from one section rode into a gun belonging to the other, and the situation was saved. another driver briefly expressed our unanimous view when he said: "if this is blooming palestine, give me two yards of piccadilly and you can have all of it!" finally, as it never rains but it pours, we had the cheering news that we were not returning to el chauth, that we were to have a couple of hours' sleep, the first since starting out, after which we had a further twenty miles to go! the last five miles of those twenty were the hardest i ever remember. the horses had not had the saddles off their backs for over two days and were almost dropping with fatigue; nor were their riders in much better state. the heat was terrific, and the greater part of the journey was over country on which scarcely a vestige of green remained; indeed, the last few miles were through heavy sand powerfully reminiscent of the desert. we camped at last in a great grove of fig-trees near the sea. chapter xiii in the wadi at fig-tree camp we had what the army calls a "rest," which must not in any way be confused with the word that implies repose. there is nothing of a reposeful nature about an army "rest." it means that you come out of the line for periods varying from two hours to two months, usually a great deal nearer the former than the latter, and spend the time doing what the authorities term "smartening up," after the gay and festive season through which you have just passed. this generally takes the form of parades every other hour, when the officers prattle amiably of matters to which you have long been a stranger, and the sergeant-major takes the opportunity of preventing his vocabulary from falling into disuse. also, if you are in the artillery, you clean your harness and polish up the steel-work thereon till it twinkles like a heliograph in the sun. then you go out and dirty everything again. when you come to examine the various forms of army discipline there are usually to be found sensible and logical reasons for their existence; but we amateur soldiers could never understand the necessity, on active service, for polishing and burnishing steel-work, especially in a country of strong sunlight; and there was certainly nothing in our daily duties that we loathed half so much. for ceremonial parades, of course, you turned out as "posh" as the next man, but in a parched land where you could with difficulty keep your own person clean, it seemed a grievous waste of time and energy polishing bits and chains and stirrup-irons merely for the sake of doing it. besides, think of the hours so spent which might have been devoted to sleep! the afternoon we arrived at fig-tree camp most of us would have liked to follow the sound example of that lord chesterfield who, when he felt tired, used to say to his servant: "bring me a dozen of sherry and call me the day after to-morrow!" we rested (army pattern) for five days, and, amongst all the pother of parading and cleaning up, knew again the glorious delight of a daily dip in the sea. then we took the trail again and in due course took up a position in another part of the wadi, tel el fara by name, the second of the great boundary-hills built by the crusaders. here our position was at the edge of the wadi, fortunately in one of the places where water was fairly abundant both for horse and man. as an off-set to this we had ten miles a day to travel for rations and forage, so the balance was about even as things were in palestine. at dawn on the first morning of our arrival the familiar crash of bombs was our réveillé, and for a month the turks repeated the performance every morning as soon as it was light and every evening just before sunset. with enormous difficulty, for the ground here was mainly sandstone, we dug burrows for ourselves on the bank of the wadi. some of them were just large enough to contain the body stretched at full length; others, more ambitiously conceived, bore an uncanny resemblance to a grave; and a few strenuous people made shelves for their belongings in the sides of their burrows. here we extended our acquaintance amongst the inhabitants of these regions. scorpions we knew well, tarantulas we had nodded to, but the visitor who now invaded our narrow dwellings was the homely beetle; a monstrous fellow this, as big as a crown piece. his correct name is, i think, the scavenger-beetle, though we used a much more uncomplimentary term. he was quite harmless, but he would treat blankets as a rubbish-bin. he would seize a lump of earth or refuse much bigger than himself and push it in front of him till he came to a convenient blanket, where he dropped his load and went away for more. but his star turn was an attempt to crawl up the perpendicular side of a burrow, pushing his load in front of him. the side generally selected for this attempt was the one nearest your head as you lay; and often the first intimation you had that the performance had begun was the abrupt descent on to your face of beetle and load. neither the fall nor the subsequent profanity discouraged him in the least; on the contrary, it spurred him to greater efforts. the next attempt would land him an inch or two higher up, when down he would come again. i used to have the most profound admiration for the legendary spider of the late king bruce of scotland, but after a scavenger-beetle had fallen on my face for the fifth time just when i was trying hard to go to sleep, i thought that even perseverance had its limits. so i picked up the beetle and threw him into the next burrow, and, in order that he could give his performance there, sent the piece of earth after him. judged by his remarks, however, the occupant was no naturalist. the outstanding feature of those days at tel el fara was eternal weariness; we were always tired. "stand-to" was at half-past two in the morning, when we harnessed up and waited for orders. often our cavalry would sight a turkish patrol and away we went across the wadi into no-man's-land playing hounds to the turkish hare. rarely did we approach near enough to get a shot at him for he departed at the gallop at first sight of us, and in addition to his start he had the foot of us for speed. then we trailed back, generally after dark, scratched a hurried meal and went to earth again till . a.m. the next day, when the whole business perhaps had to be done once more. the australians thoroughly enjoyed chasing old johnny back to his lair, and sometimes landed themselves in a tight corner through over-keenness. they always managed to scramble out again somehow, occasionally with the aid of our guns, most often without any help but their own mother wit. the australians were rather difficult fellows to know intimately, mainly i think, on account of their self-consciousness and an inordinate fear of ridicule. with our brigade we had been good "cobbers" since the second show at gaza, where we were able to help them out of a nasty hole, and once their confidence was gained the australians were very stout allies. but they were drawn more to the scottish than to any other british troops. perhaps it was the scots clannishness that attracted them. they influenced enormously troops brigaded with them, as far as externals were concerned. it was the habit of the australians to cut off the sleeves of their graybacks at the shoulder, thus making the shirt look like a loose kind of gymnasium vest. we copied this, and it did certainly make for comfort and freedom of movement. you would see a squadron going to water with scarcely a shirt-sleeve between them; and some of the men also dispensed with the shirt and rode mother-naked to the waist! the usual state of their saddlery would have sent a british general of the "spit and polish" type into a fit of apoplexy, for a harness-cleaning parade was a thing unheard of amongst the australians. they used to say that the horses needed all the care; bits and stirrup-irons did not matter. the popular idea, i believe, is that all australians are born in the saddle and that they dash about doing wonderful things with a lariat before they are out of long clothes. this is ludicrously wide of the mark. the percentage of australians who can ride at all is less than that in england; and very few even of the good horsemen are comfortable for some time on an ordinary english trotting-horse. their own horses have only two gaits: the lope and the gallop. of course the real boundary-rider or cattleman is without equal in his own way. there was one grizzled sportsman in our brigade at tel el fara who could do extraordinary things with a horse, and nothing could dislodge him from the saddle. his own pony had come to him in the ordinary way from remounts and had been a wild, half-broken creature; five months later the same horse would follow him about like a dog. the australian never mounted in the ordinary way but would give a peculiar little chirrup; whereupon the horse at once barracked, as a camel does to be loaded, and the rider had merely to stretch his leg across the saddle and sit down. similarly when dismounting he would chirrup and the horse again went down on his knees. any one else trying the same trick with the horse would be received with a stare of blank indifference; and woe betide the one who tried to mount! the highest percentage of good riders was to be found in the men from queensland; even the men from the other states said that, though they would die rather than admit that any other good thing could possibly come from a rival state. [illustration: summer in the wadi ghuzzee. [_to face p. ._] as fighting men there was nothing to choose between them; and the turks hated and feared them all impartially. in this connection a good story went the rounds. the turks holding a certain advanced section of the line sent a messenger under the white flag across no-man's-land to our trenches to ask the nationality of the troops holding them. if it was english, the messenger said, his comrades were prepared to surrender. as it chanced, a battalion of men from the home counties was in possession of the trenches, and the messenger returned with information to that effect. within ten minutes the whole party of turks were in our lines! later, they were asked why they had been so anxious for their captors to be english; the reply was that they had been told, with much circumstantiality of detail, that the australians were cannibals and habitually ate their prisoners; and that the scottish and welsh troops went one better than this, for they never took prisoners--alive! a tall story, of course, but it is reasonably certain that some such rubbishy propaganda was from time to time circulated amongst those simple anatolian peasants, whose sole desire was to return to the meagre farms from which they had been dragged by the heavy hand of war. in the wadi the engineers were incessantly trying to improve the conditions. when the horses had been catered for, they constructed a small dam across a portion of the watering-place and made a bathing-pool where you could stand up to your middle in clear, cold water. as we were not supposed to remove even our putties except for bathing, or washing clothes, the pool was soon working overtime. on a broad, flat ledge jutting out into the wadi the engineers made a place where you could wash your clothes, with gutters and channels for carrying away the soapy water cut in the face of the cliff. when this was done a powerful clothes-washing offensive was begun, for few of us had more than one shirt and that, of course, was on our backs. of our socks it could be said that the welts were good; the toes and heels had perished of overwork. one of the few charitable things men ever said about the sun was that it dried your clothes quickly; you could take your shirt off your back, wash it, and in an hour or so put it on again, bone-dry. this was a consideration in a place where, while your shirt was drying, you wore your tunic over the bare skin and prayed that there would not be an alarm turn-out for, at any rate, an hour. when supplies are scarce you cannot afford to lose many articles of kit, nor can you call for an armistice while you wait for your shirt to dry. elsewhere i have mentioned, perhaps too frequently, the remarkable speed with which the railway followed the troops. on the fourth day after our arrival, it reached tel el fara. this was the branch line running eastwards across our flank from khan yunus to shellal, on the extreme right. just below the crusaders' hill the sides of the wadi sloped gently down and it was possible to cross in comparative comfort. here a group of engineers and e.l.c. were working in a casual, aimless sort of way, apparently building a bridge for the branch line. turkish aircraft very soon found this party, who, indeed, seemed anxious to advertise their efforts, and bombed it incessantly with considerable success. every day joists and beams and stones went up in the air and every day, when the strafe was ended, the e.l.c. put them back again and added a few more. but the turks were very persevering and literally gave the workers no rest. the bridge made little progress, but nobody worried very much. the men appeared to be content to advance three yards, as it were, and slip back two; there was no hurry over the business. indeed, it looked like a lapse on the part of the engineers to choose such an unsheltered and unsuitable spot for a bridge; it would almost certainly be swept away by the floods of the rainy season. curiously enough, moreover, their comrades a mile away laying the line parallel with the wadi were working at a snail's pace now, compared with their previous efforts, and were not making the slightest attempt to swing the line in toward the crossing. this was unpardonable, but the turks noticed nothing out of the ordinary, and unerringly bombed the working-party in the wadi, quite content at finding so obvious a target. but the whole business seemed a gross waste of time and labour--unless you followed the wadi for about a mile farther along. this very unusual negligence on the part of the engineers was then fully explained. at this point the wadi narrowed appreciably, though there was little else to the uninitiated eye to recommend it as a crossing. the engineers, however, were well satisfied, for here, out of sight of inquisitive aeroplanes, men were toiling as if for their lives; there was nothing casual or lackadaisical about this effort. while the turks were assiduously bombing the dummy, the real bridge was being built at a great pace and without interference. the shaped stones for the foundations were brought by the railway as far as it had then reached and transported thence by night into the wadi. the rough stones for the approaches and embankments came from higher up, where the turks by their bombing activities had kindly saved the engineers the trouble of blasting. at the appointed place and time the line curved in towards the bridge, crossed it, and having reached shellal proceeded along the wadi to gamli, thence to karm, some ten miles from beersheba. this last stretch of line was not completed till later, for the turks, doubtless becoming uneasy, made serious efforts to hamper the work of construction. for three months they made repeated attacks on the yeomanry and australians screening the engineers but met with no success, and the line was carried on inexorably, if slowly, towards the appointed goal. it was fairly obvious now from which direction our third attempt on gaza was to be made: everything pointed to the eastern flank, though it should be said that the turks right up to the last moment were in ignorance as to where the main blow would fall. a frontal attack was out of the question. if, during the summer months, we had been stealthily and laboriously preparing for the assault the turks had been no less active in strengthening their defences. gaza itself was almost impregnable; and from the sea to beersheba they had constructed a series of enormously strong works, of which those at atawina ridge and between sheria and hereira were the chief. these defences were absolutely up-to-date in every respect. they were connected by telegraph and telephone, and it could with truth be said that as far as sheria the turkish front was one continuous tangle of wire. beersheba itself was in a measure isolated from the rest of the line. indeed the only real opening in the whole chain of defences was between that place and sheria, the turks no doubt trusting to the exceptionally difficult country, which hereabouts was a maze of small wadis and nullahs, to prevent any attempt at a break through. similarly they relied on the desert south-east of beersheba to make an outflanking movement impossible in that direction. in both these beliefs they were sadly deceived, as will be seen later. in addition to these defences the turks were well served by their railways on both flanks and in the centre. beersheba was in direct connection with the north, _via_ sheria, and gaza, although not actually on the railway, was only about four miles from the railhead--beit hanun--of the other branch of the northern line. their roads both laterally and longitudinally were in the main excellent, and they were in the midst of a country where water was plentiful and the land fertile. finally, their immediate reserves and supplies were at such places as hebron and huj, both of which were within easy reach of the front. from about the middle of june our "nibbles" at the turkish line became more frequent and more ambitious. the scots made a characteristic raid on umbrella hill, one of the ridges south-east of gaza, and found out all they wanted to know without firing a shot and with, i believe, only four casualties. the turk at night-time was very susceptible to the bayonet. this raid was typical of many, and the combined result was that our line in the neighbourhood of gaza was materially advanced and the positions taken consolidated. at the end of june general allenby arrived in palestine to take over the duties of commander-in-chief. shortly after his arrival there was a notable increase in the quantity and quality of our rations, and beer in barrels--yea, barrels--came up the line for the troops. i am not going to suggest that the two events were in point of fact connected, but i do know that the sudden and welcome change was universally attributed to general allenby, and that thenceforward the e.e.f. was "on him," as the phrase goes, to a man. i wonder if many of our big commanders realised as fully as did general allenby the enormous influence the "personal touch" had on the troops they commanded? just to see your chief wandering about more or less informally, finding things out for himself, watching you--not on parade, but at your ordinary daily jobs; to know that he was not above getting out of his car to ask a question personally, or, during operations, to sit on a gun-limber digging his bully-beef out of a tin with a jack-knife, like any other man. these things went a mighty long way. you get more willing and selfless service out of men if you are seen of them, known of them, and if, perhaps, you suffer with them for a space. chapter xiv the attack on beersheba by the middle of october everything was ready. the railway had been brought forward as far as possible and the army at the gates of gaza had been largely increased in numbers. that irish division which had had such a terrible time during the serbian retreat in and the th (london) division, which had fought both in france and macedonia, had come from salonica to help. there were now english, scotch, irish, and welsh troops on various parts of the front; large numbers of indian cavalry had also been added to the mounted divisions, and our artillery was at least equal, if not superior, to that of the turks. every scrap of transport available had been concentrated for the tremendous task of supplying the army when it began to move forward. some idea of the magnitude of this task may be gathered from the fact that thirty thousand camels, practically the entire strength of the camel transport corps, were needed for the troops on the right flank alone since they were farthest from railhead. for these it was estimated that at least a week's supply of water would have to be carried, to say nothing of forage and rations, until beersheba with its water-supply was captured. this was to be the first part of the enterprise, and the whole plan hinged on its success. two divisions, one of infantry and the other of dismounted yeomanry--which latter had done so well as infantry that they were rewarded by being further employed as such--were to make for the gap between beersheba and sheria and make things unpleasant for the turks occupying the defences of the former place. the part assigned to the mounted troops was that they should disappear into the desert land south-east of beersheba and wait there till the time appointed, whereupon they were to perform the outflanking movement which, as has been stated, was utterly unforeseen by the turks. for the moment we will, if you please, follow the fortunes of the cavalry. if you have persevered so far with this narrative you will have noticed throughout that the troops had little assistance from nature in beating the turks. here, doubtless relenting, she had with kindly forethought provided two small oases--one about twenty miles from el chauth, the other ten miles farther away--in the desert where the cavalry was to hide. at both places there was a moderate supply of water, sufficient for a few days at any rate, which was all that was required. during the night of october th, what time the turks were being severely trounced in an attempt on the branch railway, two columns of cavalry started for these providential hiding-places, following substantially the same route as that taken when the railway between beersheba and el auja was blown up. the dust was still there, in greater quantities than ever after six months of drought, and the fond illusion that we had taken most of it on our persons during the railway raid was rudely shattered. fortunately the turks were profoundly ignorant of the move, and the two columns reached their respective destinations without discovery. they remained unseen until the night of the th, when the long trek northwards began. if you can imagine a mighty column of dust well over ten miles in length, in the midst of which were many thousands of half-suffocated men and horses, you have no need of further words to picture that night's march, which lasted for ten hours. at dawn all the troops were in their assigned positions. the infantry had marched all night and were to open the performance as soon as it was light enough for the gunners to get on to their targets. at the outset these consisted of the barbed-wire entanglements with which the defences south of beersheba were surrounded. unfortunately the light was not too good for accurate shooting, and although most of the wire was destroyed a few patches were left which caused considerable trouble to infantry when they went forward to the assault. moreover the turkish--or rather austrian--artillery fire was very heavy and accurate; they had the range of every spot in the vicinity of their defences, which our own guns found very difficult to locate. despite the volume of fire the storming-parties pressed on, tearing down the wire with their hands or forcing themselves through it, until at last they got to close quarters with the bayonet. after that nothing could stop them, and by the early afternoon all the defences south of beersheba had been taken. also, the artillery by admirable shooting had succeeded in putting the railway out of action: a great feat. by this time the turks had received a rude shock from another direction: east-north-east. our cavalry, having unseen closed the northern exits from the town, suddenly swooped down and seized positions menacing the town from the east. here some topographical details will be necessary. the only way to approach beersheba from the desert is by crossing the steep-sided wadi es saba--from which the town and a small village near by take their names. on the beersheba side of the wadi and forming almost a semi-circle round the town is a broad, flat plain commanding which was tel es saba, the highest of all the surrounding hills. this had to be captured before any direct attack on the town could be made. all day long the australians, on foot, made desperate attempts to carry the hill by storm, but the turks, well served by their magnificent position, held on stubbornly. another party of the australians scrambled across the wadi and made an attempt to cross the plain in face of the appalling fire that was poured into them. they did succeed in capturing saba village, though the place was a death-trap after it was taken. just before sunset tel es saba succumbed to the incessant hammering it had received all day, and one great obstacle was removed from the path. but fundamentally we were "no forrader." although the outlying positions had been taken beersheba itself was still intact, and its immediate capture was urgently necessary; the whole adventure turned upon it. with the coming of night, the artillery had ceased fire, and of course no further support could be expected from them. the town had to be taken by direct assault with the bayonet; there was nothing else for it. first the wadi had to be crossed, no easy matter, then the plain, which was heavily trenched. the yeomanry, who had not been needed during the day, were ordered to tackle the job--of course, dismounted. they did actually start from their reserve positions, but they were forestalled. from under the shadow of tel es saba a vast cloud of dust was seen sweeping over the moonlit plain. inside it was the th light horse brigade, who, tired of waiting and with their usual cheerful disregard of the conventions, had decided to take the town themselves. also, having had sufficient fighting on foot during the all-day struggle for tel es saba, they determined that the horses should share in the excitement. so, using as lances their rifles with bayonets fixed, the whole brigade--and any one else with a horse and rifle and bayonet--charged yelling upon the town. over trenches, rifle-pits and obstacles of all sorts they leapt and burst into beersheba like a tornado. the turks were literally paralysed by the audacity of the effort and made a mere travesty of resistance, in comparison with their stubbornness during the day. it was all over in a very short time and beersheba was ours. the yeomanry, astonished to find so little resistance, came in at the death in time to help round up the large numbers of prisoners captured by the australians. speaking without the book i should say that this mounted bayonet charge is without parallel in military history. it was at any rate worthy of the best traditions of australian resourcefulness. their motto seemed always to be: "if you haven't the right tools for a job, do it with anything that's handy and trust to the luck of the british army to pull you through." a very sound maxim, on the whole, if their headstrong adherence to it did sometimes land them in a tight corner. it was difficult to realise in the midst of a jostling crowd of soldiers, with guns and all the impedimenta of war in the background, that once on a time old father abraham had lived at beersheba with his family and developed the water-supply for his flocks. impossible, too, to visualise the past splendours of beersheba, as became the city on the southern border of palestine, on the main caravan-route through the land of goshen, across the sinai desert into egypt, and through which on account of its wells, travellers for countless ages had passed on their leisurely journey south. nowadays, it is but a collection of exaggerated mud-huts of the usual native type, with the addition of a few modern works and the railway. though i saw it frequently enough later on the sight of a railway-station in or near a native village always seemed strangely incongruous. do not for a moment imagine that by railway-station i mean anything so elaborate as the merest village station at home; except at kantara even the best and largest of ours did not rise to such heights. the platform, if there was one, was of sleepers piled almost haphazard one upon another with sand shovelled into the interstices and spread over the top. occasionally cinders were used to form an extra hard surface; but this was a luxury. unless a stationary train marked its presence the station was very difficult to find at all, for one bit of the railway looks very much like another at a distance. i remember a party of us trying for a long time to find one of these elusive places. we found the railway all right but the only sign of human habitation was a tiny wooden hut, almost invisible against the background of sand, towards which we made our way. a lance-corporal in the r.e. was the sole inmate. "where's the station, chum?" he was asked. he looked at us suspiciously for a moment. "don't come it over me," he said then; "yer standin' on it." and he was right; you could even see the platform if you peered about carefully. at beersheba the turkish station was rather a pretentious affair, all things considered. there were quite a number of adequate buildings, most of them connected with the water-works just outside. the turks, thanks in the first place to the fine shooting of our artillery, had had no chance of getting their rolling-stock away; and secondly, the spirited dash of the australians had overwhelmed them before they could destroy any of it. in fact there was a train in the station, fully laden with stores and ready to start for sheria had it been possible, when the light horse burst into the town. beersheba that night presented an indescribable spectacle. it is literally impossible to describe it, for every detail was obscured by the immense clouds of dust that hung over the place like a pall, clinging and opaque. the water-works and wells were fortunately intact, but until everything had been carefully tested and examined, the horses, who had drunk nothing since the previous day, had to remain thirsty. in the morning the town was systematically searched. there were mines and bombs and infernal-machines everywhere, all obviously made in germany. the turk usually limited his nefarious practices to poisoning the wells when he retreated--a sufficiently damnable thing to do, _bien entendu_. but the germans despised crude methods of this kind. they were not content with poisoning the water but must needs fix their devilish contraptions so that a man blew himself to pieces in the act of drawing his drink. many of the wells were mined, but the germans had slightly overreached themselves either through haste or clumsiness, and all the mines were removed without mishap. elsewhere we were not so fortunate. some of our native camel-drivers saw tins of preserved meat conspicuously lying about without owners. following the invariable native principle of obtaining something for nothing whenever possible, one or two seized them. it is a melancholy fact that the act was their last in this world, for the tins were simply--potted death. after this men gave a wide berth even to the most innocent-looking objects, though in truth the more innocent a thing looked the more devilish was the contrivance hidden under it. now observe further the workings of the german mind. in one dug-out there was--of all books--a copy of ruskin's _sesame and lilies_, tattered and dog's-eared by constant use, and a torn piece of--the _sporting times_! also, hanging on a nail in one of the beams was a german tunic, stretched neatly on a coat-hanger. the dug-out looked very innocent and had quite a domesticated atmosphere; and the unwary, lulled into security by it, might have been tempted casually to reach for the tunic as a trophy. providentially no one pulled it down until the engineers had inspected the dug-out, and then only from the end of a very long rope. there was little left of the dug-out after the explosion. what can you make of a mind that can appreciate and enjoy the incomparable beauty of _sesame and lilies_, and yet can conceive so hidden and treacherous a means of destruction? of course the book might have come fortuitously into the possession of the occupant of the dug-out, might even have been left there and forgotten by some passing british soldier when the place was captured; but the latter at least is unlikely. when inquisitiveness had such dire results no one did much prying until everything had been examined and pronounced safe. but that the wells were safe was the great thing and their importance could hardly be over-estimated. they must be amongst the oldest in the world. for thirty-seven centuries there has been water at beersheba, since, in fact, abraham sank the wells in the neighbourhood, and these have known many vicissitudes. when he died the philistines came and rendered them all useless by filling them up with sand: a precedent, you will have noticed, much favoured by the turks, though their methods were more modern. years after came isaac and excavated the wells again; whereupon he had to fight with the men of gerar for the possession of them. tiring of strife he dug the well at beersheba which gives the town its name, and this he retained, having made peace with the philistines. finally, history repeating itself nearly four thousand years later, british soldiers fought for, and won, these self-same wells, which were substantially in as good condition as when they were first made. but what had been an ample supply for the flocks of the patriarchs and passing caravans proved inadequate for the needs of the thousands of men and horses and camels thronging into beersheba. a hundred thousand gallons is a big tax on the capacity of any well, and this is a very moderate estimate of the amount required daily by the troops. from the moment they were pronounced fit for use the watering-places by the station were crowded with thirsty men and animals, and the supply soon decreased alarmingly. to add to the trouble most of the stored water, accumulated previously with such care and labour, was delayed somewhere _en route_ to beersheba and ultimately had considerable difficulty in reaching the place at all. meanwhile the "cameliers," whose mounts could last in fair comfort for a week without water, went off into the parched hills north of beersheba to perform their usual function of protecting our flank. then all the mounted troops took the road towards sheria, so as to be in readiness for the main blow when the transport difficulty had been solved. chapter xv gaza at last during the days immediately following the capture of beersheba the mounted troops were kept exceedingly busy, for our position was yet by no means secure. every day the turks in the hills made an attempt to drive us eastwards into the desert and every day we strove to push them back on to their defences at sheria. it was a series of battles for the wells, in effect, for here the eternal problems of transport and water were acute. the former was more or less solved in time for the big operations; the latter was the difficulty it had always been for the past two years, but in a different way. in the desert, whilst the wells were few and far between they were seldom more than fifty or sixty feet deep; in the district around beersheba there were, to exaggerate a little, almost as many wells as in the whole of the sinai desert, but you could not get at the water! scarcely a well was less than a hundred feet deep and most of them were anything over that up to a hundred and eighty; of course there were no pumps. the old shadouf of the desert, unwieldy though it was, would have been a veritable godsend to the troops here. a cavalryman could not pack a two-hundred foot coil of the lightest rope on to his saddle; it was as much as he could do to climb into it over the conglomeration of picketing-pegs and ropes, rifle-bucket, and sword which constituted his full marching order, and it was more or less the same in the artillery. those patriarchs of old who built the wells would doubtless have been vastly diverted to see a trooper sit down and solemnly remove his putties with which to lengthen a "rope" already consisting of reins, belts, and any odds and ends of rope he had acquired, and when even these additions proved insufficient--! it was a joke which matured but slowly. imagine half a brigade of cavalry clustered round a well frantically devising means to reach the cavernous depths, while the other half were fighting like tigers to keep off the turks a few miles away! it was nothing out of the ordinary for a squadron or battery to take five hours to water their horses; and it added a piquancy to the situation that you were never quite sure when a marauding party of turks would appear over the top of a neighbouring hill. ultimately the extraordinary exertions of the engineers saved the situation; with incredible labour and ingenuity they fixed pumping-appliances to the wells. they must have used most of the kinds known to science, and assuredly a great many not in the textbooks. in the course of their work they performed the functions of a hundred trades--including divers: in fact a large part of their time was of necessity spent in the water, and a singularly unpleasant business it must have been, dangling for hours at the end of a rope in the dank atmosphere of a well. practically everything had to be done in the first two days after the capture of beersheba in order to secure our precarious hold on that place; and with the lack of quick transport--for the country was too rough for motors, and camels are very slow--the shortage of rope and appliances, with, in fine, everything against them, the engineers in successfully accomplishing the feat added one more to their already imposing list of miracles. let there be no mistake about it; it _was_ a miracle and one performed only by the most complete abnegation of self. men who doubtless would have groused at home had they been asked to work for a couple of hours overtime at bank or office or works, here slaved for twenty-four hours at a stretch without bite or sup, and then after a short rest went on for another twenty-four. it is astonishing what the human frame can be made to do, when it is driven by that indescribable thing variously called _morale_ or _esprit de corps_ or duty. the same feeling of superb confidence in the outcome animated the whole army, from the men clinging tenaciously to beersheba to those straining impatiently at the leash in front of gaza. the turn of the latter came on november st, and the account of their exploits must be taken from official sources, since by some inexplicable oversight on the part of nature, a man cannot be in two places at once. according to general allenby's dispatches, it was decided to make a strong attack on some of the ridges defending gaza, for the purpose chiefly of preventing the enemy from sending reinforcements or reserves across to the other flank. also, any gains would be of material assistance when the time came for striking the big blow in the centre. the first part of the attack was made by the scotch division on umbrella hill, previously mentioned in this narrative as being the scene of a raid by the same troops in the middle of june. just before sunset the artillery put up a tremendous bombardment which lasted until dusk, and shortly before midnight the scotsmen attacked the hill. to many of them it must have been reminiscent of their desperate assault on wellington ridge, during one phase of the battle of romani, for umbrella hill was somewhat similarly shaped and the approach to it was over a wide expanse of heavy, yielding sand. but here the turks were partially taken by surprise, and the jocks were amongst them and had bundled them out of their trenches almost before they knew, though as usual they fought desperately hard once they were alive to the situation. thus the first part of the enterprise was safely accomplished with comparatively little loss; the second and more difficult attempt began before daylight the next morning. the main objective was sheikh hassan, a ridge sloping gently down to the mediterranean north-west of gaza. this was nearly two miles from the nearest british trenches, and the ground to be covered by the attacking infantry was of the rough and difficult nature characteristic of this part of the coast. the artillery, including the heavy guns of the battleships off the coast, kept up an intense barrage while the troops were in the open, and, in addition to knocking the trenches on sheikh hassan out of shape, completely destroyed some works nearer gaza. with these as a foothold the infantry stormed the main position with the bayonet, though the turkish machine-gun fire was deadly and their resistance stubborn in the extreme. but this was the opportunity of "getting a little of their own back" for which our men, especially the nd and th divisions, had been waiting for six months, and it was more than the turks could do to keep them out. besides, sheikh hassan was no more than the _hors d'oeuvre_ to the feast, so to speak, and it was swallowed with gusto. in this action, for the first time, i believe, the french and italians assisted the british on land as well as from the sea. it was also the last occasion on which the baby tanks were used, for in the subsequent fighting amongst the judæan hills the country was too rough even for the larger specimens successfully to have negotiated. of the important defences in the immediate neighbourhood of gaza, only grim old ali muntar now remained unconquered, and still reared a defiant head above his humbler satellites. as was fitting, and indeed very necessary, its capture was left till the last. meanwhile, the preliminaries being completed more or less successfully, the main blow at the centre had to be struck. during the night of november th the great move toward sheria was begun, and by the morning all the troops were in the positions assigned to them. the principal turkish position was on kauwukah ridge, as usual very difficult to approach and positively crawling with machine-guns and wire. as was a customary feature with the turkish defences, if one position was captured it could immediately be enfiladed from another portion; and very little was left to chance to make the place secure. the th division attacked the eastern and more vulnerable end first, and with such amazing élan did they fight--and it was all the more remarkable in that these troops were dismounted yeomanry--that by the early afternoon they had swept the turks out of their trenches in this part of kauwukah, and were firmly established in what remained of the position. at the other end of the ridge two more divisions were fighting towards a maze of wire, which was rapidly being uprooted by the accurate and devastating fire of our artillery. this was the heaviest bombardment of the battle; some of the turkish trenches were simply swept out of existence, and the defenders irretrievably buried in the débris. one of the attacking divisions was irish, who as a pleasing change from road-making in that malarial hole, salonica, gave of their best with the bayonet, in which bright pastime they were capably aided and abetted by the th division. it is the fashion to speak of successful military operations as being carried out "like clockwork." if extreme dash and gallantry in the face of every obstacle that brain of man could devise constitute the "clockwork," then the attack that led to the capture of kauwukah ridge merits the above description. i cannot write of the attack as an eye-witness but, months afterwards, i saw the turkish system of defences, and little imagination was needed to picture the terrible struggle it must have been to take them by storm. late in the afternoon the two divisions had captured all their objectives as far as, and including, sheria railway-station. on the right flank, too, where success was no less important, the troops had done their share; and here in the hills north of beersheba the fighting was terribly severe. it is one thing to attack with numbers at least equal, if not superior, to those of the enemy; it is quite another when the advantage of numbers lies heavily with the enemy, and the attack has still to be made. this was the predicament in which the welshmen found themselves; they had not only to prevent themselves from being cut off, but had to drive a vastly superior force out of commanding positions they had taken, and not all the hammering of the turks could oust them permanently. it was attack and counter-attack from one hill to another all day long, but the advantage at the end of the day lay with the welshmen, who simply refused to be beaten and fought the turks to a standstill. like the scotsmen they had to wipe off a few old scores, in addition to which there was the accumulated interest of six months of waiting. by these operations gaza was isolated except from the north but, as the turks had no more reserves immediately available, little danger was to be feared from that direction. during the night the turkish commander, seeing that the game was up, skilfully evacuated all the defences of gaza, with the exception of those at atawina ridge, from which, as will be seen by a glance at the map, the defenders could best protect his rear from the onslaught of the victorious troops advancing from the east. there was no necessity, therefore, for an assault on ali muntar; its deserted slopes were occupied without opposition the next day. it thus remained unconquered to the end, and no one begrudged the barren victory, for many thousands of british lives were saved in consequence. by the time gaza was occupied by our troops, the remaining turkish defences except atawina had fallen into our hands. this, too, was evacuated when the garrison had done their work of delaying our advance and protecting the main retreating body. it was due to their dogged defence that a larger number of prisoners were not taken by the british, and the two almost bloodless retirements were admittedly very ably carried out. thus, in six days the patient labours of six months had on the one hand been brought to nought, and on the other had been crowned by complete success. the fall of gaza gave us the key to the whole of the maritime plain of palestine. it was one of the five great cities of the philistines, and the only one that had retained even a degree of its former greatness; with the others the cry is "ichabod!" of the town itself it is unnecessary to say more than that while there are several fine modern buildings, amongst them a german school, and a mosque which had suffered from our shells on account of the turkish persistence in using it as an observation post, the greater part of the town is like every other eastern town in its utter disregard of the elementary laws of sanitation. the white roofs in a ring of cactus and amid the scarlet blossoms of the pomegranate make a delightful picture seen from the top of a neighbouring hill, but there is the usual complete disillusionment when you have passed the outskirts of the town. not all the dirt and squalor, however, could minimise the intense feeling of satisfaction amongst the troops at having at last conquered the bogy that had for so long prevented the advance into the holy land. as usual the turks did as much damage as they could before leaving. the more pretentious houses had scarcely anything of value left in them; their owners and, in fact, all the chiefs of the native population of gaza had long since been deported. most of these were grossly ill-treated, and some had been hanged, for what crime other than a desire to live at peace with their neighbours only the criminals who executed them knew. it took many weeks of labour before the engineers could repair the damage done to the water-supply, which, in and around gaza, was fairly ample. but now, the turks having been driven out of their strongholds, it was necessary to keep them on the move northwards, to fight them whenever they could be brought to the sticking-point and to harass them night and day. after six months of comparative stagnation the troops were ready, and more than willing for operations of this nature. they wanted a little moving warfare for a change, and general allenby supplied the need. when the capture of the turkish lines was complete, the whole army was ordered to advance, and for the next fortnight the pursuit never slackened. the story would fill a volume could you collect but half of the incidents of those stirring days. it was an epic of endurance and utter indifference to hardship. few men, however, could tell a connected tale of what happened, for, obedient to the command, the enemy was attacked whenever he was encountered, which was every day. the turks were beaten, but they were by no means demoralised. on all parts of the front our advance was stubbornly resisted. on our left flank they fought with most bitter determination to save their railhead for long enough to get their guns and stores away, and having succeeded in doing this retired farther up the coast and prepared to fight again. on our right flank the mounted divisions, who had started from beersheba on the night gaza was evacuated to perform their usual function of cutting off the enemy's retreat, were assaulted vigorously by a strong rearguard of turks who fought in anything but a beaten manner. it was here that the yeomanry made a charge reminiscent of the charge of the light brigade at balaclava. there was no blunder about this charge, however, which was made in face of point-blank fire from " . 's" and other guns, all of which were captured. it is no more than bare justice to say that the austrian gunners gallantly stuck to their guns till the yeomanry swept through them and cut them down where they stood. later, the yeomanry had further opportunities of which they availed themselves to the full; they, too, had a few painful memories to wipe out. after the occupation of huj, where the turks had an enormous depôt, the pursuit quickened, as could be seen by the increasing litter of stores the enemy left behind. some idea of the amount of material used in a modern battle may be gathered from the fact that one of our cable-sections salved forty thousand pounds' worth of copper wire alone, all of which had been employed on the battlefield. infantry and mounted troops marched and fought to their utmost capacity, ignoring their hardships. rations arrived--when they arrived, and some days they came not at all. if there were but four men to share in one tin of bully-beef or one pound of biscuits they counted themselves fortunate. almost every man carried a "billy" slung on to the hook at the back of his tunic, a habit learnt from the australians. this was generally made out of an empty fruit tin, with a piece of wire for a handle. perhaps the drivers of one team would have one billy-can, the genuine article, between them, and this is large enough to hold about four mugs of tea. the scarcity of wood was a great difficulty. every man in the team was strictly enjoined to "scrounge" any scrap of wood he could find en route, and it was a common sight to see a driver suddenly hop off his horse, dart across the road triumphantly to seize a stick he had spotted, after which he rushed after his team and scrambled into the saddle again, the horses meanwhile plodding patiently along. then, the moment word of a halt for a quarter of an hour came down the long line, every man in the team quickly dismounted and a toll of sticks was collected from each by the "cook." then the billy was placed precariously on the heap and in a few minutes you would see the tiny fires all along the column. what wonderful tea that was! in hot countries there is no drink to equal it, either taken scalding hot to prevent heat apoplexy or as cold as you can get it, without milk or sugar, to be carried in your water-bottle. many a man was saved from collapse by a timely mug of hot tea, and if there was a rum ration to go with it, so much the better. but, alas, one of the essentials for making tea was often lacking; the farther we advanced the scarcer did water become, and now there were no pumps to draw it from the wells. horses went three days and more without drinking, and hundreds died from thirst and exhaustion. infantry, starting with empty water-bottles, marched thirty miles across country, with a bayonet-charge thrown in, and found perhaps a pint of water per man at the end of the day. then the rain came. roads, at best no more than a travesty of the name and already battered by turkish transport, became quagmires of mud through which artillery-horses, weakened by thirst and meagre rations, could scarcely draw the guns. the transport, toiling along in the rear, had the utmost difficulty in bringing up supplies, and as for the men, they were unwashed, unshaven, and covered with mud from head to foot. through all the strongholds of the philistines, through villages with historic names the army passed as the line of pursuit swung north-westwards across the plain of philistia. past ruined ascalon on the coast; mejdel, farther inland, one of the largest native towns on the plain, with many ancient industries established there; esdud, the ancient ashdod, where later a station on the military railway was built; gath, where the turks made a most desperate attempt to delay our advance; akron, the once great frontier fortress of the philistines; these were among the chief. in addition there were modern jewish colonies, depleted of their male inhabitants but otherwise untouched, where a kind of coarse red wine was obtained which helped greatly to ward off ill-effects from cold and wet. at last, after five days of hot pursuit, the turks made a last great stand in defence of the junction between the jerusalem railway and the main line, and also of et tineh, which connected the gaza and beersheba railway. the yeomanry, acting with the scotch infantry, distinguished themselves in the action for possession of the former, taking the main turkish position after a wild gallop for a couple of miles under heavy fire all the way. the light horse captured et tineh and a host of prisoners besides. everywhere the turks were forced back. their army was cut in two, one half retiring on jerusalem, the other going north towards jaffa. in their efforts to speed the heels of the former the yeomanry again made a wonderful charge against a high hill, a few miles from latron on the jerusalem road, strongly defended by the turks. it is an unusual feat for cavalry even to attack a hill of considerable dimensions, but the yeomanry not only did this but galloped to the top of it and killed or captured all the defenders. yet at the beginning of the war there were people who said that the day of cavalry was over! the campaign in egypt and palestine was one long and continued refutation of this view. on november th british troops occupied lydda, or ludd, as it was afterwards called, which town, according to legend, contains the tomb of our patron-saint st. george. with the capture of jaffa the next day, the advance for the moment ended. chapter xvi the road to jerusalem since the fall of beersheba the twentieth-century crusaders had marched and fought across one-third of the most famous battle-ground in all history. it is a melancholy and ironic fact that this land, hallowed by the gentle footsteps of the prince of peace, has seen more bloodshed than any country on the earth. there is scarcely a village from dan even unto beersheba which has not been the scene of desperate carnage at some time or other in its history; and around jerusalem the hills and valleys have run with blood at any time these four thousand years. across these valleys and into these hills climbed the british cavalry, for though jaffa, the most considerable port in palestine, had been captured and held, a greater objective was in view. all roads now led to jerusalem. this expression, let me hasten to add, is merely figurative. the exasperating fact was, that all roads did _not_ lead to jerusalem; most of them led nowhere except over a precipice; and they were but glorified goat-tracks at best. you needed the agility of a monkey, the leaping powers of a "big-horn" and the lungs of a marathon runner successfully to negotiate them. moreover, by some oversight, the authorities had neglected to provide the troops with alpenstocks. without these adventitious aids the cavalry penetrated the northern defiles of the hills, following substantially the route taken by all the ancient invaders from the north. before the disorganised turks were fully alive to their advance they had reached the historic pass of beth-horon. through here that picturesque assyrian warrior sennacherib must have passed when he "came down like a wolf on the fold; and his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold." it is to be hoped that the invasion did not take place in the rainy season or the cohorts would have been sadly bedraggled before they had reached michmash. it will be remembered by most as the scene of joshua's passionate exhortation: "sun, stand thou still upon gibeon; and thou, moon, in the valley of ajalon," on that day when, having defeated the amorites with great slaughter, he was fearful lest night should fall before he could turn the defeat into a rout. it must have been a wonderful and uplifting day for the israelites, after so many years of oppression. through beth-horon, twenty-five centuries later, passed our own richard coeur de lion on his last crusade; when, finding to his bitter mortification that his forces were so depleted by disease and death that he could not go on, he turned his back and refused even to look upon the city he could not save. after which brief incursion into the past let us return to history in the making, not that the cavalry as a whole troubled themselves greatly about anything so high-falutin'. their immediate concern was to maintain their precarious foothold in these melancholy hills; and if they worried at all it was over the important question as to whether rations in satisfactory quantities could be brought to them. with complete unanimity they cursed the mist-like rain that shut out the surrounding hills from view; for they, together with the whole army, had bitter reason for mistrusting fog, after katia and the first battle of gaza. despite increasing pressure from the turks, now awake to the seriousness of their position, the cavalry held on to their positions and even advanced a little, so affording the necessary protection for the advance of the infantry farther to the south. these were marching on jerusalem from the british positions at ludd and ramleh, which latter place had been turkish g.h.q. from the west to jerusalem there is but one road which can properly be described as such, but it is one of the most travelled roads in the world, and certainly amongst the most famous. in every age and from all countries thousands of pilgrims landing at jaffa have trodden this ancient road to the holy city. the first part of it is indescribably beautiful, leading as it does through some of the orange groves which surround jaffa. in the springtime, if you turn your horse a mile or two away from the town an incomparable view is spread before your eyes. on every hand stretch the orange groves, great splashes of white and green, the scent from which is almost overpoweringly sweet. here and there you see the darker green of the olive and the blazing scarlet of the pomegranate blossom, divided into patches by hedges of prickly pear; and scattered about promiscuously are oleanders, cypresses, and the stately sycamores. in the midst of it all lies jaffa the beautiful, almost virginal in its whiteness, and beyond, in almost incredible harmony of colour, the purple waters of the mediterranean. across the southern end of the plain of sharon the road leads through cultivated fields, past vineyards and orchards, as far as ramleh, where the somewhat monotonous beauty of the plain ends abruptly. some miles beyond, the road, at the time the infantry advance was made, had degenerated into a cart-track from the battering it had received from turkish traffic. about ten miles from ramleh was latron, a malaria-haunted swamp in the rainy season and a plague-spot of flies in summer, and from here onwards the road became increasingly difficult and dismal. you could see the imprint of the oppressor in the very land itself, for though there are a few patches of cultivation, the greater part of the countryside is abandoned to a stony barrenness. the first check to the infantry came at bab el wad, a rocky, desolate pass, which, had the turks been allowed time properly to fortify it, would have held up the advance and delayed the fall of jerusalem probably for months. as it was they fought desperately hard to retain it, but having come so far in their pilgrimage, the infantry did not allow this obstacle to stand in their way and carried the pass at the point of the bayonet. after which spirited effort they proceeded onwards as far as enab, the "hill of grapes," a beautiful little place some six miles from jerusalem where later a desert corps rest camp was established. here the advance for the moment ended. in the midst of the hills and valleys between the position of the infantry and that of the cavalry near beth-horon towered the hill called nebi samwil, the highest point in palestine. this was a great serried mass of rock rising by sharp degrees to a height of nearly feet, where the infantry in some places had to sling their rifles and pull themselves up by their hands, during their successful attack on the ridge. this kind of alpine-climbing-cum-fighting was as different from the fighting on the desert as it could well be, and only the infantryman, who did most of it, could tell you which he detested the more. as one of them said, in the judæan hills you were mountaineer, pack-mule, and soldier all in one; and it is not for a mere helpless artilleryman to paint the lily. when nebi samwil had been captured and consolidated the whole line took root, as it were, and prepared to beat off the increasingly violent attacks of the turks, while the engineers started to improve the roads and other means of communication. the railway had to be brought up from belah, no easy task in the rainy season; for if laying the line across the desert had been difficult, it was infinitely worse building it from belah across the shephaleh to the british line. the wadi ghuzzee was a raging torrent by now, and even a few miles from its mouth the turbulent waters were a constant source of worry and anxiety to the engineers. i believe i am right in saying that three times in the winter months was the bridge over the wadi washed away by the floods, and each time the engineers had incredible difficulty in building it up again. while it was down all traffic beyond belah was necessarily suspended and troops coming up the line from kantara were often three weeks on the journey to their respective units. frequently enough when men did at last arrive at their destinations it was only to find that their battery or battalion had moved to some other part of the front, generally with an unpronounceable name of which nobody had ever heard! few things are more wearisome than searching for a unit in such a country as palestine, especially in that part which comprises the judæan hills. men coming up from the base in those winter months were often given three, four, and sometimes six days' rations, so difficult was it for a man to reach his unit. the turkish railway from beit hanun relieved the pressure to some extent, when the damage it had suffered from our shells had been made good. the only way it could be used was in conjunction with the mercantile marine, who landed stores on to the beach as they had done at belah before the second battle of gaza. one such landing-place was at wadi sukerier, a bleak, inhospitable swamp north of ascalon, where a great dump was established in the mud, the supplies from which were transported north by camel convoys. the great obstacles in the way of landing stores from ships were the extremely dangerous coast and enemy submarines. the mediterranean, as elsewhere, was alive with "u" boats in the summer and autumn of . they levied a heavy toll on "troopers" and supply-ships coming out east, and the navy in its work of guarding the coast of palestine during the landing of supplies did not escape unscathed. that this was carried on successfully and the troops in the judæan hills were fed was very largely owing to the untiring vigilance of british and allied monitors and destroyers. the port of jaffa was also used, and here the conditions were even worse. strictly speaking jaffa is a port only in name, for all vessels have to anchor off-shore and passengers and stores have to be landed in surf-boats. in the rainy season the bar is almost impassable four days in the week and the roar of the breakers can be heard miles away. even when the sea was calm enough for stores to be landed, the ground swell was such as to make the ordinary landsman agree with dr. johnson's remark "that he would rather go to gaol than to sea." it is easy to understand why the materials for solomon's temple were brought to jaffa on rafts; no other craft of those days would have withstood the buffetings of the breakers. but why jonah ever chose this place from which to start his long journey to tarshish passes my comprehension unless, indeed, it was hobson's choice. he must certainly have been violently ill ere ever his flimsy boat had crossed the bar--a feat his whale could never have accomplished at all--and for a man of his temperament, soured by many trials, this must have been the last straw. patience, by the way, was a powerful characteristic of the sailors engaged in landing stores on the coast. a supply-ship, finding the sea at the wadi sukerier too high to permit of stores being landed, went on to jaffa, found the breakers impossibly high there and returned to sukerier. this amusing pastime went on for three days, when the waters abated somewhat and the stores were safely landed. as there was a "u" boat in the offing most of the time, however, the humour of the situation did not strike the sailors till afterwards. such were some of the difficulties confronting those who were responsible for supplying the army with rations; and those whose business it was to carry them to the troops holding the line could tell a similar story. although the engineers made roads where none had previously existed, and blew the side out of a cliff in order to improve one already in use, the lot of the transport services, and more particularly of the "camels," was not a happy one. everything was against them, especially the weather. rain and cold are the camels' worst enemies, and thousands perished of exposure, but the work still went on at all hours of the day and night, in all weathers, and over every imaginable kind of road but a good one. troops holding outlying positions in the hills were inaccessible to any form of transport but camels, and these had frequently to climb up steep, rocky paths just wide enough to take them and their burdens. on the one side was a precipice; on the other an abyss. each camel-driver usually led a couple of camels, marching abreast, but when the narrowness of the path made it necessary for them to climb in single file, one was tied by his head-rope to the rear of the other camel's saddle. this, though it was absolutely necessary, rather added to the dangers of the climb. the incessant rains had made the paths slippery in the extreme, and the camel at the best of times is not the most adaptable of creatures; his conformation, moreover, is all against him in so far as scaling a cliff is concerned. the merest slip on one of these treacherous paths meant destruction. the rear-most camel would stumble, oscillate violently for a moment, and over the side he would go, probably dragging his fellow with him and not infrequently the unfortunate driver as well. sometimes a camel out of pure cussedness would "barrack" in the middle of a precipitous, narrow path, and only by crawling through the legs of the halted camels could he be reached by the exasperated officer or n.c.o. in charge of the party. now a camel has all the obstinacy of a mule and, in addition, is almost impervious to pain. flogging has little effect on him and profanity none whatever; violence is necessary. frequently the only way to shift one of these obstinate beasts was by lighting a fire under him! then he moved, sometimes in such a hurry that he fell over the precipice and broke his neck. i am aware that this method is not mentioned in field service regulations, but a great many things are done on active service which do not come within the scope of that admirable volume. further, when men's lives were dependent on their receiving food and water at stated times, any methods were justifiable. you could not stop the war and wait till one recalcitrant camel was ready to allow six hundred of his fellows to pass on their lawful occasions. i speak not without some small personal experience of the vagaries of the camel, though fortunately i was never driven to the extreme measures described above, for some time before the operations about jerusalem began i retired to "another place" _via_ a cacolet-camel and the hospital train; and when i again emerged it was in another guise and under the ægis of the "camels." this must also be my excuse for omitting further details of the fall of jerusalem; but as this part of the campaign at least attained the fullest publicity and has already been described by many more capable pens than mine, the omission need cause the reader no loss of rest. i would say, however, that the deliverance of the holy city after four centuries of turkish tyranny and oppression was the signal for extraordinary rejoicing amongst the jews not only in jerusalem but all over egypt. general allenby's unassuming entry, on foot, into the holy city and his assurance that every man might worship without let or hindrance according to the tenets of the religion in which he believed, whether christian or mussulman, profoundly impressed the inhabitants and made the whole proceedings a triumph for british diplomacy and love of freedom. moreover, our prestige, which for three years had been at a very low ebb, by the capture of jerusalem leapt at one bound to a height never before attained in egypt, always a country of sedition and intrigue. finally, to the notice of those interested in prophecy, i would commend the following: "blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days" (book of daniel, chap, xii., verse ). jerusalem fell in the year of the hegira, which is in the christian era. chapter xvii oÙ l'on s'amuse if i set out to make a categorical list of the things that existed or were made for our amusement in palestine, it would, i think, consist of no more than four items, viz.: sea-bathing, military sports, sight-seeing, and concert parties; and i am not sure that the last-named ought to be included, for it was not until the final year of the campaign that they played any considerable part. certainly palestine was a difficult country in which to set up any of the more usual forms of relaxation. there were no neat little towns just behind the lines where a man could drink his glass of beer while he sat and watched the pictures, for example; nor were the judæan hills exactly the ideal place wherein to set up a cinema or theatre of your own. those who were fortunate enough to be stationed near jaffa could, of course, visit that delectable spot, with its glorious surroundings and incredibly filthy streets; where they could see the alleged house of simon the tanner, or tread the sands whereon napoleon slaughtered some three thousand prisoners in cold blood because he had no idea what else to do with them; and where, if they had a mind to renew the agony of their schooldays, they could pick out the extremely common-place rocks to which that unfortunate lady andromeda was chained before her sensational rescue by perseus. these about exhausted the amusements of jaffa, and you will notice that they do not exactly make for hilarity. a few miles away to the south were the jewish colonies at richon and duran, whose inhabitants were extremely hospitable, and any troops quartered there subsequent to the fall of jerusalem were assured of a warm welcome. at the former there was a considerable vine-growing industry and, as a natural concomitant, the troops showed commendable industry in drinking the produce. personally, i remember richon chiefly because a tragedy befell me there. the village contained a real barber's shop, if one may judge from the word "coiffeur" writ large on the sign outside, and having heard of this startling phenomenon i rode over one evening for a hair-cut and shampoo. my foot was on the very threshold when a large person clad in fine raiment and wearing an armlet inscribed with the mystic letters "a.p.m." emerged from the shop, banged the door and pinned thereon a notice: "out of bounds." i pointed dramatically to my tangled mop of hair. "eight weeks," i murmured brokenly. whether or no that young man thought i was repeating the name of an erotic novel i cannot say, but he made a very tactless answer. i retired discomfited to find that my camel, having succeeded in breaking his head-rope, had returned to home and friends, leaving me to trudge back to camp and the tender mercies of the horse-clippers. i never heard for what crime the barber had been arraigned, though it would appear that the word "coiffeur" can be sometimes misinterpreted; but i find it hard to forgive the a.p.m. for not allowing him to continue in his nefarious career, whatever it was, for another quarter of an hour. successfully to cut your own hair needs, i imagine, considerable agility and a complicated arrangement of mirrors; and a pair of horse-clippers, the only alternative, was a fearsome weapon in the hands of a man whose sole experience in the hair-cutting profession was a murderous performance every morning with an army razor. elsewhere on the western portion of the front there were one or two similar small towns, but either they were out of bounds for sanitary reasons or were negligible in the matter of amusement; the average native village offered no inducement whatever for a visit. even ludd, which in the spring and summer of became a mighty depôt and the terminus of the military railway for the time being, never rose to the dignity of a cinema. like the inhabitants of a certain country village in the north of england, if you wanted distraction at ludd you went to the station and watched the trains shunt. after the turks had made the last of a series of costly but abortive counter-attacks to regain jerusalem and were finally and for ever driven back, the city was placed strictly out of bounds until borton pasha and the medical authorities had thoroughly purged it of all unpleasantness: the germans and turks were extremely uncleanly in their habits. later, when this had been done, desert corps established a rest camp at enab, about six miles from jerusalem, and from time to time organised parties to visit the tombs and other holy places in the neighbourhood. as these were very well arranged and were usually in charge of padres from the various denominations they were much appreciated by the tired men coming up from the jordan valley for a rest. it is no part of my purpose to take the reader on a kind of personally conducted war-time tour of jerusalem; the guide books will supply him with all the information he wants. besides, he would inevitably be disappointed, unless his first glimpse of the holy city was from the summit of nebi samwil or, coming out of the jordan valley on a moonlit night, he saw the shimmering radiance of the mosque of omar at the top of mount moriah. but the rest camp at enab was strictly limited both in size and scope. it was for the use of the mounted divisions only, and men went there chiefly for a rest; amusement, such as could be had in the form of sight-seeing, was of secondary importance. a more universal camp was at beni saleh, on the coast near khan yunus, where glorious sea-bathing was to be had; it was, in fact, the only thing to do. you started the day by a wild sprint across the short stretch of beach between the tents and the sea, finishing up with a headlong dash into the water, which was just cold enough to make the body tingle, but imparted none of the shock that comes with the morning tub at home. this gave you an appetite for breakfast, if any such aid were needed. when the sun grew hot towards the middle of the morning you went in the sea again and stayed there for an hour or two, with an occasional sprawl on the warm sand by way of a sun-bath. if you felt particularly energetic a pair of ancient drill shorts rolled up and tied with a piece of a head-rope made quite an adequate ball for water-polo, until it became water-logged and sank to the bottom; then you had to fish it out and spread it on the sands until it was dry enough to resume duty. a few units used footballs for water-polo, but this was mere luxury. ours, worse luck, always had a puncture somewhere in its internal economy. another camp on a similar but larger scale was the attractively named "change of air" camp at el arish, which could accommodate some thousands of men at a time. here the tents were pitched almost at the water's edge. men divided their day between lounging about in their pyjamas and bathing, whilst in the evening they could sit and listen to one of the numerous concert parties who came up the line from egypt. there was also a library of sorts; it was, rather, an olla podrida of books, some left by the troops themselves, but largely cast-offs from the stately homes of england, ranging in variety from the admirable racing-stories of mr. nat gould to a learned treatise on bee-keeping, the latter evidently intended by the sender as a guide to budding colonists in the land of canaan. many thousands of the troops in palestine will, i fancy, have pleasant memories of these two camps, if only because you could, if you wished, bathe for twenty-four hours every day; and it was a wonderful sensation to feel really clean. those who had the misfortune to sojourn for a while at deir sineid, however, will remember the rest camp there with quite different feelings. this was established during the rainy season of - , and most of the rain in palestine fell on the rest camp. troops returning from kantara to rejoin the desert corps stopped at deir sineid _en route_. sometimes, more particularly when the railway was flooded, the congestion was so great that one tent to sixteen men was considered a liberal allowance by the authorities. the men thought otherwise. once the sixteen were safely wedged in, there they stopped for the night. there was, indeed, no encouragement to wander abroad even if you could get out without the aid of a shoe-horn. frequently a tent collapsed under the weight of its responsibilities, and there are few things more disconcerting to a sleeping man than suddenly to be enveloped in a mass of cold, clammy canvas. mr. jerome, in _three men in a boat_, speaks amusingly of his efforts at putting up a tent; by the same token, his description as an onlooker of the efforts of sixteen sleepy but infuriated soldiers, indifferently protected by a ground-sheet against the cold blast and the pouring rain, struggling to erect a tent in ankle-deep mud would have been deliriously comic. one party acquired a number of wooden boxes--once the home of tins of "ideal" milk--with which to make a floor for their tent. this answered satisfactorily for a time, until the heavens opened and the rain descended almost solidly for three days. on the third night the sleepers were awakened by the sound of rushing waters. their floor was afloat, a raft on a sea of mud and rain, and in a few moments the tent made an unsuccessful attempt to act as a sail. subsequently the use of makeshift floor-boards was strongly discouraged; it was better to sleep in the mud. it is a relief to turn from these doubtful amusements to the more solid joy of a little horse-racing. it is safe to say that no form of relaxation was more popular amongst the troops. considering that we made our own race-courses, with all the appurtenances thereto, the military race meetings were astonishingly successful. there was even a totalisator for those, which meant everybody who could obtain an advance on his pay-book, who liked what is called in racing circles "a flutter"; and there were always several amateur "bookies" as well. the only adjunct familiar to the race-courses at home missing from our meetings was the professional tipster, with his information "straight from the horse's nosebag." as was natural in an army largely composed of cavalry, there were several crack riders well known at home, amongst them at least one who had won the grand national. this officer, by the way, so the story goes, was turned out of a riding-school one morning because the instructor considered that he did not know how to ride! it would be interesting to know what standard of attainment was required! wherever a meeting was held everybody who could beg, borrow, or steal a horse, a mule, or a camel entered it, entirely indifferent of the feelings of the animal in the matter or whether its best distance was five furlongs or five miles. the camel races, while not exactly regarded as a medium for speculation, were the most amusing to watch. no course was too large for a camel. he zig-zagged all over the countryside, and as often as not finished the race with a fine burst into the midst of the spectators. the mules had their moments too; and some of them were nearly as fast as a horse. there was a great deal of speculation, in the literal sense of the word, over the mules; some of them would start, others "dwelt," and others whipped round and made for their stables. one n.c.o. entered a mule whose chance was esteemed so lightly that the owner-rider was the sole purchaser of a twenty-piastre ( s.) ticket at the totalisator. in the race, however, the mule was on his best behaviour and walked away with the prize; his courageous rider received £ for his faith and his one ticket! this glorious uncertainty was one of the features of military racing and added not a little to the excitement. army horses, except officers' chargers, are notoriously gregarious by reason of their training, and you could generally be sure of a close finish in any race confined to horses belonging to "other ranks" of the cavalry and artillery. i believe the infantry on the whole were a great deal worse off in the matter of amusement than were the mounted troops; regimental sports formed the staple joys of their leisure hours, except for boxing matches when they could be arranged; and the latter ran racing very close in the matter of popularity. when all is said, however, there was singularly little beyond what we made for ourselves which could legitimately be called amusements. the wonder is not that there was actually so little but that there was so much. our nomadic existence hardly lent itself to the more permanent forms of relaxation. men occupying a portion of the jordan valley one week and the next holding the line on the banks of the river auja, had neither the time nor the inclination for anything but sleep; we were nearly always on short rations of both water and sleep. so in the end it came to this: if you wanted a complete change from palestine you had to go to egypt for it, either _via_ hospital or on leave. in the latter case, when you had succeeded in the superhuman task of convincing the orderly-room clerk that your name was next on the roster, there came first a long trek across country to railhead. here you were harassed by an officious person called the r.t.o. who inspected your papers and then scrutinised your person in order to satisfy himself that you were not a criminal escaping from justice. then you were handed over to an underling who led you to a glorified cattle-truck, whose interior was an amazing jumble of boots, bare knees, helmets, rifles, packs, faces, and drill clothing, and courteously invited you to step inside. regardless of the howl of protest from within the truck you thrust a tentative leg over the side, to be met immediately with a muffled but earnest request that you removed your boot from the speaker's face. this little difficulty overcome, perseverance was necessary before you could add _your_ person and kit to the heterogeneous collection already filling the truck. this resolved itself presently into some thirty fellow-sufferers, who, by dint of shuffling and squeezing, made room for yet another on the floor. then came the thirteen-hour journey to kantara, followed by another four hours on the egyptian state railway to cairo, or seven to alexandria. if you accomplished the whole journey without going into hospital you could, on your arrival, consider yourself on leave. now in seven days it was impossible to do more than touch the fringe of cairo. the first three were occupied in accustoming yourself to sleeping in a real bed and to being caged within four walls at night. then you set yourself to discover interesting places to visit. by the time you had made a selection for the day, it was too late to start for the place and you retired to groppi's for a "mélange," with which to console yourself for the disappointment. i knew quite a number of men who neither went to the pyramids, nor saw the sphinx, nor climbed up to the citadel to see the mosque of mahomet ali, nor penetrated into the bazaars, nor even visited the zoo. they all said that it took them so long to make up their minds where to go that the day was spent ere they had decided, so they went nowhere. i fancy that a large number of men were so overcome by the unaccustomed sight of shops and streets and people that they did naught but wander round looking at them, breaking off at intervals to eat large and variegated meals. when you think about it this was not a bad way of spending a short leave, especially in a city like cairo where there was so much to see and so little time to see it in. moreover, by the time you had settled down to your leave it was over, and you had to face the cattle-trucks once more. all things considered, since home-leave was out of the question, it saved at least a bad attack of nostalgia if you stayed with your comrades up the line and made your own fun. chapter xviii in the jordan valley the outstanding events of the weeks following the capture of jerusalem were a brilliant exploit by the nd division on the banks of the river auja, north of jaffa, and the establishment of a through connection by rail from egypt to jerusalem. the former enterprise was carried out just before christmas, partly to suppress the turks who were very active in this region, but chiefly to make the position of our left flank secure. the turks were very strongly entrenched at muannis and elsewhere, and between them and the attacking troops, as an additional protection, they had the river, now swollen to many times its usual dimensions by the recent rains, which had also made the ground on either bank little better than a morass. also, what fords there were had been rendered impassable by the floods, and it was only after prolonged and searching examination, which had always to be undertaken at night and by swimming the river many times, that fairly suitable places were marked out as crossings. one thing only favoured the scotsmen on the night of the attack: the weather was as tempestuous as could be desired, and the roar of the wind effectually drowned any unavoidable noise and prevented the turks from receiving intimation of impending trouble. most of the troops crossed by means of rafts which, after the first one had safely reached the other side, were hauled across by ropes and eventually formed into a rough bridge. some men, however, actually waded through the raging torrent in water up to the arm-pits, and had the utmost difficulty in getting across safely. when the division was in position on the other side the attack began at once, in absolute silence, and everywhere the turks were taken completely by surprise. practically all the enemy positions were taken at the point of the bayonet, which weapon in the hands of the scotsmen the enemy disliked exceedingly, and not until shortly after dawn did the firing begin upon those who had not already been killed or captured. by this excellently stage-managed operation the british line on this part of the front was secured against attack and the important work in connection with the transport could be carried out in safety. the railway was first continued from gaza to ludd, after which it swung eastwards to artuf, where the old turkish line was utilised as far as jerusalem; and early in it was possible to leave cairo at . p.m. and be in the holy city by a quarter to twelve the next morning, the whole journey, with the exception of the ninety-eight miles between cairo and kantara, being made on the military railway. by this fine feat and by their incessant labours on the roads round about jerusalem the engineers made it possible for an attempt to be made to improve our position on the right. the operations here were of a curiously similar character to those on the left just described, for in each case a swollen and turbulent river loomed large amongst the obstacles to be overcome, and the object--to secure strong flank positions--was in each case the same. but in the second attempt the geographical difficulties alone were enormous. eastwards from jerusalem ran what was euphemistically called a road, surely the worst in all palestine, which led to jericho and the jordan valley. from a height of two thousand feet above sea level it descended in a series of jerks, sometimes abruptly, sometimes across a short plateau; it wound round innumerable and execrable corners, it was crossed by wadis and streams from all directions, through nearly twenty miles of unimaginable desolation, and finally, after passing the awful travesty that once was jericho, it reached the river. this road was the main artery in our communications on the right flank. el ghor, which comprises the whole of the jordan valley, lies thirteen hundred feet below the level of the sea and is without parallel in the universe. even in march the atmosphere is like that of a turkish bath and between the river and the mountains of moab stretches a vast expanse of mud and slippery rocks; a country less suitable for military operations could scarcely be imagined. thirty miles east of jericho was the turkish stronghold amman, a town on the hedjaz railway and the objective of the attack, which was undertaken mainly by the th (london) division, the anzacs, and the "cameliers." difficult as had been the crossing of the auja, that of the jordan was infinitely worse, for the turks had destroyed the ghoraniyeh bridge; the river was unfordable there by reason of the floods and it was very nearly impossible to cross by swimming elsewhere. eventually, after many attempts, some men of the th division did succeed in performing the feat, after which rafts were towed across filled with troops who hid in the dense undergrowth lining the banks of the river. it was nearly two days before all the raiding force was safely transported to the other side, for the men as they landed had to beat off the attacks made by the turks to prevent the crossing and they were under heavy fire all the time. on march th, when the enemy had been cleared out of the high ground near the jordan, the london division started off through the mud to attack the pass of shunet nimrin, which commanded the road to es salt, a town in the mountains of moab and the first objective in the assault on amman, a dozen miles beyond. the cavalry struck across country farther to the south, making for an important section of the hedjaz railway which they hoped to blow up before the turks could rally in its defence. it was fortunate that the delay in crossing the jordan had been no greater; as it was, the th division had incalculable trouble in storming shunet nimrin, though their difficulties came not so much from the opposition, desperately as the turks fought, as from the nature of the country leading to the pass, which virtually precluded the use of artillery in support and forced the infantry to bear the whole burden of the attack. now struggling through the heavy mud, now scrambling over the rocks, in places so steep that the men had to climb on to each other's shoulders in order to proceed, the londoners rushed the turkish positions, and following up their success hustled the enemy to such purpose that es salt was captured practically without opposition. but the advance did not stop here, for every moment was of value, and though they had now been marching and fighting for four days in unspeakable conditions, the infantry began their twenty-mile march to amman. the road was utterly impossible for wheeled traffic, and, in the pitiless downpour, next to impossible for the infantry, bowed down by the weight of saturated packs and clothing, whose boots were clogged with mud and hampered the already dragging feet. it was _three days_ before the amman plain was reached! the cavalry and the "cameliers," advancing from the south, were obliged to travel over tracks which would have given a mountain goat the horrors, across wadis and nullahs so steep that the horses had to be let down by ropes and hauled up the other side, while the "cameliers" had to build their roads as they went along, a camel being rather an inconvenient beast on which to scale the slippery sides of a cliff. so, slithering, scrambling, and fighting all the way, they came at last to amman, like the infantry, almost too spent for further exertions. with never a pause for rest, however, the combined forces on march th made an attack on the turkish positions, having little artillery support--two batteries of r.h.a. had, i think, succeeded in getting their guns through the mud--and already weakened by their terrible privations. [illustration: in the jordan valley--wadi auja. [_to face p. ._] for three days the battle raged, wave after wave of infantry staggering forward undaunted, hardly knowing their direction except that it was towards the enemy, while the cavalry made repeated efforts to storm the great hill defending the town and the "cameliers" operated in the centre. but the odds were too great: not only did the turks possess all the advantage of ground, for their positions could only be approached across a plain swept from end to end by rifle, machine-gun and artillery fire, but from the judæan hills reinforcements poured into amman to aid in its defence and to cut off if possible the whole of the raiding force. it was this latter contingency as well as the utter futility of persevering in the assault, that made a retirement imperative, and on the third night of the battle the exhausted men began their march back to the jordan, picking up on their way the garrisons left at shunet nimrin and es salt, together with some hundreds of prisoners. a large proportion of the christian inhabitants of the latter place who feared, with good reason, ill-treatment by the turks, also joined the column with such meagre belongings as they could hurriedly snatch together. this influx of extra mouths to feed strained the already overburdened resources to the utmost, but the refugees were well looked after both on the retreat and afterwards in jerusalem, and most of the children were brought along by the mounted troops so that they should not suffer undue fatigue. it is but piling on the agony to dwell upon the details of the retreat to the jordan; it is sufficient to say that it seemed to be the concentrated essence of all that had gone before, and that on the eleventh day after the commencement of the raid the crossing was again safely accomplished. although it was unsuccessful, i suggest that as a triumph over privation and fatigue, and for extreme gallantry under most trying conditions of battle, the venture is without parallel in british military history, especially in regard to the infantry, who had marched and fought almost continuously for ten days. the mounted troops would, i think, be the first to grant them pride of place, for, as i have tried to show elsewhere, whatever happened, we counted ourselves fortunate who had a horse or a camel to ride in palestine. poor brutes! those who returned from the raid on amman were in a pitiable plight. some of the camels had not had their heavy saddles off for eight days, and when at last they were removed the flesh of the flanks and back came away with them. the net result of this affair was the formation of a bridgehead at ghoraniyeh, which during the first fortnight in april the turks made strong attempts to retake, without success; and they finally contented themselves with fortifying the pass of shunet nimrin and placing a powerful garrison there in order to frustrate any further raids on amman. with the end of the rains and the rapid approach of summer came a period of sheer torment for our troops in the jordan valley. the mud changed to a fine, powdery dust, which rose in clouds at the slightest movement, myriads of flies awoke from their long winter sleep, and clouds of mosquitoes arrived for their annual feast. drill shorts, which formerly had been the general summer wear, were now strictly forbidden to the mounted troops, who were forced to endure the sticky agony of riding-breeches every hour of the twenty-four in order to expose as little as possible of their persons to the unremitting attacks of these pestilential insects. also, the bivouac areas were infested with small but poisonous snakes who had, like scorpions, a fondness for army blankets; and it is no exaggeration to say that a man went to sleep every night with the full consciousness that he might never wake again. finally, as if these inflictions were not enough, droves of turkish aeroplanes came over daily and scientifically bombed all the camps in the valley. the camels in particular made an excellent mark and suffered severely, though apart from this, they were the only living creatures appertaining to the army who flourished and waxed fat in that blistering lime-kiln. towards the end of april a heavy concentration of cavalry round jericho made it evident that another attempt was to be made east of the jordan, and on the night of the th- th the st australian mounted division crossed the river and advanced due north, between the east bank and the foothills, towards the turkish road from nablus to es salt and the ford known as jisr ed damieh, whence they were to march east for the purpose of cutting off the retreat of the garrison at shunet nimrin should the attack of the th division on that place prevail. soon after dawn the cavalry came under very heavy fire, but pushed forward and attained their objectives, where two brigades, without artillery, went off to help the londoners. the latter marched all night, and, taking the turks by surprise in the early hours, stormed part of the pass, but despite all their efforts could make no further headway. meanwhile the th light horse and a brigade of horse-artillery were heavily engaged till dusk in holding off reinforcements from nablus who were attempting to cross by the jisr ed damieh ford. after nightfall this brigade and the batteries retired a short distance and took up a position commanding the road, in a deep wadi where the guns had to be man-handled into place, after which the waggons and limbers were let down the sides of the wadi by means of drag-ropes, and the horses scrambled down as best they could. dawn brought the news that the turks had successfully crossed the jordan during the night, and had followed the river southwards in the direction of our second bridgehead at el auja, intending to come at the left flank of the light horse, which was absolutely in the air. at seven o'clock they attacked, and plastered the batteries in the wadi with shells till, at the end of two hours, the position became untenable, and an attempt was made to shift the guns. it was incomparably more difficult to get out of the wadi than it had been to get in, and moving was but out of the frying-pan into the fire, for one wadi led into another, and the sides were so precipitous that the horses were almost useless for dragging out the guns. four teams were hooked into a gun, but the ground made it impossible for more than half a dozen horses at a time to be in draught, and when at last the position was cleared the horses slithered down the sides of the wadis, and guns and waggons overturned at the bottom in hopeless and inextricable confusion. frantically the gunners strove to get them out, some harnessing themselves to the drag-ropes and others shoving on the wheels; but every effort was to no purpose, and meanwhile horses and men were being shot down on all hands by the advancing turks, whose cries of "allah! allah!" could now be plainly heard. at last the inevitable order was given to clear out with such horses as remained, for it was impossible to move, much less save the guns, and after these had been rendered useless to the enemy, the gallant gunners reluctantly withdrew. the moment they were clear of the foothills they galloped into an inferno of machine-gun fire at close quarters from the germans and turks occupying wadis and shell-holes all over the plain. horses were shot down right and left, and a team of eight which had not been unhooked were all hit, together with two of the drivers, who fortunately managed to get safely away. finally the shattered remnants of the artillery brigade assembled at ghoraniyeh bridgehead, while the light horse fell back towards es salt, which the other two brigades had succeeded in occupying. by their clever manoeuvring, however, the turks had rendered the position both of the australians in es salt and the th division in front of nimrin so precarious that another withdrawal was urgently necessary, and after the londoners had made a last desperate attempt to storm the pass, the retirement was carried out successfully and without loss, though in bitter disappointment at a second failure; that it was the only time in the whole campaign when british guns were captured by the turks was remarkably poor consolation. chapter xix the valley of chaos during the summer of great changes took place in the personnel of the army in palestine. the early success of the great german offensive in france had caused the "s.o.s." to be sent out for other and more men to stem the tide of advance, and all the other british fronts were denuded of white troops, in whose place, so far as palestine was concerned, came indians, many of whom had only a few months' service to their credit. the infantry of the nd lowland division, who apparently had not done sufficient fighting for one war, left to give a hand to their comrades in france, as did the th, still acting as infantry, and all the remaining divisions sent at least one brigade; large numbers of cavalry and artillery also went overseas. practically all the summer, therefore, was devoted to re-organising the forces and training the levies from india. the principle adopted in the infantry was to brigade one british battalion to every three indian battalions right through the divisions; and this acted very well indeed, for the white troops provided just that leaven of steadiness lacking in the young indians. in the cavalry much the same principle was adopted, but the artillery first tried the experiment of employing egyptians as drivers in the ammunition-waggon teams, retaining the british drivers for the guns. for a time all went well with the training of these egyptians, until, as a test of their efficiency, night operations were ordered, which included a dash into a wadi and out the other side. this effort produced what can only be described as a "shemozzle": horses, waggons, and men piled themselves up in a hopeless tangle at the bottom of the wadi, and the night operations came to an abrupt end. in the searching inquiry which followed it was discovered by the medical authorities that less than twenty-five per cent. of these egyptians could see clearly at night, a further twenty-five per cent. were stone-blind after sunset, and of the remainder, the most that could be said was that they could just see in the dark and that was all! when the weeding-out process was completed the british personnel returned as lead-drivers; indians were added to make up the numbers, and this curious mixture acted satisfactorily. a remarkable feature of the spring and summer was the gradual rise to power of the royal air force, culminating in complete supremacy over the turks immediately before and during the autumn campaign. presumably a ship had at last arrived with adequate machines, for all through the summer long-distance bombing raids were undertaken with conspicuous success; and for the first time our planes "had the wings" of the turks. one great raid was carried out after a report had been received that three german divisions were on their way south from constantinople to reinforce the turk. the trains containing two of the divisions were almost completely destroyed before they reached damascus; the third division arrived more or less intact, and went into action in the jordan valley, where they were so badly mauled by the australians that the fragments that remained bolted incontinently, and for the future stayed behind the line. in august the r.a.f., in conjunction with the forces of the king of the hedjaz, who were working their way northwards across the desert east of amman, made an attack on the hedjaz railway at der'aa, at which place the line was completely demolished and all communication severed with the north. in single combats, too, our airmen now more than held their own, for the turkish planes either fled at first sight or, if they stayed to argue the point, were generally brought down. from the camel camp on the hill overlooking general allenby's headquarters at bir salem we saw several battles in the air, for g.h.q. was a favourite mark of the turks, and these almost invariably went in favour of the british. by the end of august the intensive training of the new troops and the work of re-organisation were complete; and it is interesting to note, as an indication of the way in which the army had been for the most part, made "on the premises," as it were, that it comprised british, french, italian, jewish, west indian, arab, indian, algerian, armenian, and egyptian troops, to say nothing of the tribes of mixed race but mahommedan faith who assisted the king of the hedjaz in the final struggle. at this stage a word as to the disposition of the turkish forces is necessary: their main position was at nablus, (the ancient shechem), which was well protected naturally by mt. gerizim in the south and mt. ebal in the north, and had been fortified with german thoroughness and ingenuity during the summer months. from here the line extended in a south-westerly direction towards the sea, including _en route_ another immensely strong position at jiljulieh, immediately to the north of which was the village of kalkilieh, also well fortified; another turkish force operated west and east of the jordan. a frontal attack on nablus was out of the question; an army of goats might have successfully scaled the mountains of samaria, but it was no place for troops; nor was the jordan valley any more inviting. the best chance of success lay in the coastal sector, where the conformation of the ground was not so much in favour of the turks, and it was decided that our main attack should be made here. the plan was for the infantry to make a wide breach in the turkish line by storming the defences between jiljulieh and the sea, whereupon the cavalry were to sweep forward on to the esdraelon plain and close all possible lines of retreat to the turks, while at the same time an outflanking movement was to be carried out by the troops in the eastern sector. the main difficulties were to concentrate unseen a large force of infantry in the plain of sharon, and to bring the remainder of the cavalry from the jordan valley without observation by the enemy. the vast olive-groves round about ludd and jaffa comfortably concealed the infantry, whose movements were carried out at night and with the utmost caution, but the transport of the cavalry was a tougher problem, for the turks were very much on the alert in the jordan valley, and did in fact expect the attack to be made in this direction. considerable guile was therefore necessary, into which entered a little innocent fun. it was a general and strictly enforced rule that no lights should be shown after dusk, on account of bombing raids, yet during the last weeks of august long lines of bivouac fires twinkled nightly in the jordan valley; and the authorities seemed to be singularly blind to this flagrant disobedience of orders. during the day at stated hours groups of men riding aged and infirm horses were strung out at -yard intervals, engaged in the gentle pastime of dragging sacks and branches along the roads; they made so much dust that it might easily have been caused by, say, a cavalry division going to water. also, thousands of tiny tents sprang up round the bivouac areas, in front of which were equally diminutive soldiers in squads and companies, whose function it was to stand rigidly to attention all day long, and who treated the frequent bombing raids with utter contempt. a careful observer would have noticed a certain woodenness about them, but enemy airmen were profoundly impressed by this large concentration of troops. meanwhile every night brigade after brigade of british cavalry left the jordan valley on their fifty-mile ride across country to the friendly shelter of the orange-groves of jaffa and sarona, and the men left behind complained bitterly of the increase of work in having to light so many extra bivouac fires! the whole concentration was carried out without the turks being any the wiser, and by the middle of september thirty-five thousand infantry were ready to pour forth from their hiding-places, with four divisions of mounted troops to follow hard upon their heels; it was scarcely possible to move in the coast sector without falling over a battery of artillery, and tucked away round richon and duran were thousands of transport camels of every shade and breed. at dusk on the night of september th the orange-groves began to erupt, and for eight hours horse and foot in orderly columns marched silently forward, the infantry to their battle positions and the cavalry to the beach between arsuf and jaffa, there to wait till the breach had been made. at half-past four the next morning the shattering roar of artillery proclaimed that the offensive had begun, and at dawn the infantry attacked the turkish positions, swept over those nearest the coast at the first onslaught, and then swung eastwards. one after another from et tireh to jiljulieh, strongholds upon which months of labour had been expended fell before the irresistible élan of our men, though the turks fought magnificently to hold their line. by noon the whole of the coastal sector was in our hands, and the plain of sharon lay open to the cavalry, who had started on their historic ride north soon after our first attack. in the meantime the infantry, driving before them the demoralised remnants of the turkish th army, captured tul keram, turkish g.h.q., together with a host of prisoners, and then continued east to help the welsh and irish divisions in their assault on nablus. the turks here had no information of the débâcle on their right, for the r.a.f. had started out at dawn and had destroyed every means of communication, except the roads, between the two armies. they therefore fought with the utmost determination, and aided by their well-chosen and well-fortified positions, held off our attacks all that day and the next, though the irishmen by extraordinary exertions crumpled up one flank. then the last message ever sent from the north informed them that the british cavalry had overrun the whole country in their rear, so far as they knew the only line of retreat left open to them was eastward across the jordan, and this loophole, too, was soon to be closed. panic reigned; the roads leading east were black with long columns of guns and transport and men mingled in hopeless confusion, fleeing with no thought of anything but their own safety; a routed, utterly demoralised rabble. nablus was occupied without difficulty on the st, but the infantry, who had been scrambling about the hills of samaria for three days, could not run fast enough to catch the turks, who were making their way through the wadi farah towards the jisr ed damieh ford. half-way through the wadi the road has on one side a deep, gloomy gorge, while on the other stretch gaunt hills terrible in their desolation and stony barrenness. the whole aspect of the place is sinister and forbidding in the extreme, and one can imagine the panic-stricken turks hurrying through yet a little faster, eager to sight the yellow waters of the jordan. but they never reached the goal, for the royal air force found the column half-way through the gorge. relays of machines joined in the attack, first dropping bombs and then flying low and spraying the column with bullets. in five minutes the road eastwards was blocked, and driven by the slow but remorseless advance of our infantry far in the rear, with impassable hills on the one hand, and a precipice on the other, the column was caught in a trap. a part of it tried to escape, before being driven into the gorge, by a road leading to the north, but were bombed back again into the shambles. mad with terror, some of the turks tried to scramble up the steep hills, others made an attempt to descend into the deep gorge; anywhere to escape from the awful hail of bombs and bullets. for four hours the slaughter continued, and when "cease fire" was ordered, the road for nine miles was literally a vast charnel-house. guns, limbers, commissariat-waggons, field-kitchens, every conceivable form of vehicle, including a private barouche, lay heaped together in monstrous confusion; and when night fell ragged, half-starved bedouins descended upon the stricken valley, stealing from pile to pile of débris in search of loot, nor could the rifles of the guards deter them from the ghoulish task. it took an entire division three weeks to clear the roads and bury the dead. isolated columns from the turkish th army did succeed in reaching the jordan, but were all killed or captured by the mounted troops left in the valley. daily the toll of prisoners increased, as hundreds of turks who had been in hiding in the hills round samaria and nablus were driven by hunger to give themselves up to the searching parties. ras el ain, which had been a part of our front line, presented an extraordinary spectacle, for most of the prisoners passed through here on their way south to wilhelma and beyond. for thirty-six hours there was hardly a break in the procession shambling towards the great hill on which stand the ruins of herod's castle, where salome danced for the head of john the baptist, and where now the prisoners were caged. there was a marked difference between the condition of the turkish prisoners and that of the germans: the former were ragged, half-starved, and yellow with privation and fatigue, but all the germans i saw were sleek, well-clad, and bearing every sign of good living. it was impossible to cage them together, for they fought like cats with each other on every possible occasion, and caused endless trouble to the guards, who had to go amongst them with the bayonet in order to separate them. [illustration: a water convoy.] [illustration: the valley of chaos--before the turkish retreat. [_to face p. ._] meanwhile, what of the cavalry whose business it had been to cut the turkish lines of communication with damascus and the north? their chief objectives were el afule, which might briefly be described as a place where all roads meet, nazareth, a few miles farther north, the headquarters of the german general, liman von sanders, the commander-in-chief of the turks, and jenin, the headquarters of the enemy air force. they met with practically no opposition until they reached the entrance to the esdraelon plain, which is approached through a narrow pass, where a weak garrison was easily overwhelmed and captured. had the turks had time to fortify this pass it is possible that the whole course of events might have been changed, for it commanded the way to the main arteries in the turkish communications, upon the capture of which everything depended. but the surprise was complete; the fine work of the british airmen had prevented news of the destruction of the front line from reaching enemy headquarters, and their first intimation of our success was the sight of the cavalry streaming over the esdraelon plain towards afule. most of the small garrisons on the way were literally taken in their beds, and when the few stragglers who escaped brought the tidings to afule it was too late to make any great show of resistance. thousands of turks surrendered here, without attempting to fight, and when the germans also had been roped in, the number of prisoners far exceeded that of the attacking cavalry. the loot was prodigious, for afule was one of the main depôts of the enemy, and every house occupied by germans showed signs of the extreme solicitude they had for their personal comfort; that of the turks did not matter. in the hill upon which the town stands were numerous caves filled to overflowing with choice wines, cognac, tobacco and delicacies which made the mouths of the beholders, who had had neither bite nor sup for thirty-six hours, water in anticipation. an australian trooper told me afterwards that there was sufficient wine in afule and nazareth for every man in the expeditionary force, at a bottle per head, and added naïvely that he had had his bottle just at the time it was most needed! the column advancing on nazareth had met with equal though not quite bloodless success. arriving at dawn they, too, found the town asleep, and clattered through the streets in search of liman von sanders. he was warned in the very nick of time, however, and the cavalry had an interesting back view of a swiftly disappearing car in which sat liman von sanders in his pyjamas, followed at a respectful distance by some of his staff not so discreetly clad. undisturbed by the defection of their chief, the germans resisted stoutly for a time, both in the streets of nazareth and in the hills north of the town, but ultimately all were gathered in and sent across the ancient battlefield of armageddon to join the rest at afule. the aerodromes at jenin were captured, or, to be more exact, rendered useless by our aircraft, who had hovered over them ever since the beginning of the battle, dropping an "egg" whenever enemy machines attempted to come out. when the cavalry arrived, practically all they had to do was to tie up the hordes of men who were only too anxious to surrender. in five days the combined forces had smashed up two turkish armies and had taken forty thousand prisoners. i cannot do better than end this chapter by giving in full general allenby's letter to the troops thanking them for this remarkable achievement: "i desire to convey to all ranks and all arms of the force under my command, my admiration and thanks for the great deeds of the past week, and my appreciation of their gallantry and determination, which have resulted in the total destruction of the th and th turkish armies opposed to us. such a complete victory has seldom been known in all the history of war." chapter xx in full cry at this stage the campaign developed into a species of fox-hunt on an enormous scale, with the turk very adequately playing the part of the fox. although some forty thousand of the enemy had been captured in the grand attack, a similar number still remained at large who were running very hard in the direction of beyrout and damascus, and these it was our business to pursue. also, the king of the hedjaz emerged from the desert east of amman, and in conjunction with the australians, fell upon the th turkish army, who were still making some show of resistance in the mountains of moab, captured most of them, and started the remainder on the long road to damascus. thus the hunt was up on both flanks, the infantry for the most part following the coast route and the hedjaz column riding _via_ der'aa. in the centre, with a long start, the cavalry who had poured through the first gap in the turkish line were still riding hard after the enemy. the cavalry travelled so quickly that they missed, i think, much of the interest of the journey, which took them through the centre of a country wherein almost every village has a history; the reader, therefore, will perhaps find the slower gait of the "camels" more to his taste. the prisoners were still pouring in when we left ras el ain, and in the eyes of those we passed was an awful glassy stare as of men who had come through great torment: these were they who had come out of the valley of chaos alive. here and there a german officer walked alone at the head of a batch of turks, and as this was a sufficiently unusual sight, i asked one of the guards the reason. he replied that many of the turkish battalions were commanded by german officers, whose principal asset was a firm belief in discipline as practised in the fatherland. hated and feared by turkish officers, and contemptuously regarded as inferiors by officers of their own blood, in captivity neither party would own them: they were ishmaelites. the attitude of our camel drivers towards the turks was somewhat amusing, though it is to be feared that pity is a quality but little understood by eastern nations. "turkey finish!" they would say with an indescribable shrug of the shoulders, and this expression, about the only english they knew, seemed to afford them infinite satisfaction. in the early stages our route lay across the recent battlefield, where on every hand were the terrible signs of a routed army: dead horses, the wreckage of guns and waggons, rifles with the murderous saw-bayonet attached--a monstrous weapon for any nation to use, little clusters of shells near dismantled battery positions, long rows of sharpened stakes in front of a trench smashed almost out of recognition, and endless barbed-wire torn and blown into grotesque piles by the violence of our bombardment; and through the débris slunk the predatory bedouin with his dingy galabeah full of loot. at one place a turkish camel with a gaily caparisoned saddle trotted up to us and joined the column for company; he earned his keep, too, after he had recovered from the effects of his long fast and had been fattened up again. while on the subject of animals let me state that on this first day a goat, an ass, another camel, and numerous pariah dogs added themselves to our ration strength. the goat earned opprobrium and early demise by eating one of my notebooks, which contained a nominal roll of some two hundred camel-drivers; and as each native has at least four names--abdul achmed mohammed khalil is a fair example--the fact that we made several meals off the goat was not adequate compensation for the labour of re-writing the roll. the ass performed the duty to which he has been accustomed from time immemorial in the holy land: he carried the aged. in the company we had a number of old men who had joined the corps probably because they had sons already serving, and we used to allow the old fellows to ride in turn upon the ass, particularly towards the end of a long day's march. the number of these "abu's" (fathers) who developed a pronounced limp at some time or other during the day was astonishing, but the sudden and miraculous cure that was effected by the appearance of the bash-rais (native sergeant-major) completely bewildered the uninitiated. the second camel, being too young to carry a load, was killed, and gave me my first taste of camel-steak, which in flavour is not unlike veal. of the pariah dogs i dare not trust myself to say much. they would follow the convoy all day long, with the furtive air characteristic of those to whom life means nothing but a constant dodging of half-bricks violently hurled; and at night they would sit around in a circle and perform the mournful operation known as baying the moon, which they did with prodigious enthusiasm and complete indifference as to whether there was a moon or not. it will convey much when i add that there was a deplorable lack of suitable stones along the roadside. after leaving tul keram, a hill town whose white mosque was a landmark for miles, we turned westwards and struck across the plain of sharon towards the sea. hereabouts the country with its red soil and glorious verdure is not unlike some parts of somerset in appearance. the harvest had been gathered in, and we passed through vast fields of stubble, which were divided one from another by strips of curious coloured grass. indeed, this bluish grass and the cactus-hedges were the only forms of boundary used in palestine and syria; i never saw a wall except one built by the troops for defensive purposes. at one part of the trek the road led through a tunnel, very nearly half a mile in length, which was formed by a double row of vines whose branches bent over a kind of trellis-work; and on either side of this leafy tunnel were orchards of pomegranate and fig-trees. dessert was plentiful for some days. there was little evidence now of the destructive hand of war, except that no one was working in the orchards and vineries, and the inhabitants of the small native villages through which we passed mostly remained behind closed doors, with not even an inquisitive eye at the window. cæsarea seemed quite busy by contrast, when we arrived in the cool of evening, though it is only a tiny fishing-village whose tumbledown mud-huts are completely overshadowed by the great masses of ruins with which the rocks are covered. as with other ruined sites in this country of ruins, it was difficult to realise that cæsarea once represented the might of rome, as an imperial city and the most considerable port in palestine. jaffa must have been small and mean by comparison, for herod the great not only built after the pattern of rome a great city of pillars and columns, but constructed an artificial harbour deep enough to float any ship of his time; nor were the defences neglected, for the city was once in its history besieged for seven years! of the harbour nothing now remains, and, to come back to the present, the water was scarcely deep enough to float the lighters of the merchant-ships landing rations for the division. we had the mediterranean for company after leaving cæsarea, except for an occasional brief incursion inland where the coast was too dangerous for traffic. on one of these détours we passed through zimmerin, a german colony magnificently situated on a hillside and surrounded by a great forest. here in times of peace lumbering was carried on, though whether the germans followed solomon's example, and floated rafts of timber down to jaffa or north to haifa, i was unable to ascertain. at any rate there seemed to be no other way to get their timber to the markets. i wonder how many people are aware of the extent to which the germans carried their policy of "peaceful penetration" in palestine and syria? whenever in our wanderings we came across a neat, modern town or village, be sure that the inhabitants were mainly german; that in many cities they were also jews does not, i suggest, make a great deal of difference. the language of all was german, and their extraordinary thoroughness in devising means to overcome the climatic and other difficulties of the country was also german, with the result that they waxed fat and prosperous, while the people indigenous to the soil scraped a precarious living by tending the flocks and tilling the land of the interlopers. all through the country from gaza, where there was actually a german school, to haifa, of which the largest and wealthiest portion of the population was german, you will find these colonies occupying almost invariably the most commanding sites and situated in the midst of the most fertile tracts of land. it was, i think, by contrast with these prosperous places that the ruins of palestine and syria took on an added desolation and loneliness: you could with difficulty visualise the past splendours of a crumbling mass of mighty pillars when on the hill opposite stood a town of bijou villas with modern appurtenances. a mournful example of this was at athlit, the remains of whose greatness lay half-buried almost at the foot of mt. carmel. for a brief moment you could capture the spirit of a bygone age; the massive walls seemed to ring again with the clash of arms and the shouts of that little band of crusaders who were fighting their last fight in their last stronghold on holy soil. then your eyes lit on the great barrack of a german hotel on the top of carmel, and the great fortress dissolved into a crumbling, shapeless pile at your feet. beyond athlit lay the port of haifa, a town of considerable size, which contained the largest german colony in the country. the road leading into and out of haifa is typical of the eastern mind; that is, it is anything but straight. after you have left what might be called the west-end of the town, which is inhabited by the germans, the road winds interminably through the native quarter apparently undecided what to do. eventually it turns and climbs the lower slopes of mt. carmel until, very nearly at the top, for no reason whatever that i could see, it makes up its mind to descend again. after about four hours of meandering you find yourself on the outskirts of the town, wiping a heated brow and wondering aggrievedly why the wretched road could not do its business properly. seen from the vicinity of the "brook kishon," where we camped that night, haifa is a beautifully clean-looking town of modern stone houses each with its little cluster of trees round it, built on the mountain-side high above the malaria-infested flats which stretch eastwards towards the esdraelon plain. the inhabitants seemed uncommonly glad to see british troops, and gave the sailors who were granted shore-leave a particularly warm welcome. it was pleasant to hear some news, after being "off the map" for five days. the cavalry had been doing amazing things, for they started from nazareth almost immediately after its capture and rode westwards to haifa, which they stormed in face of strong opposition. another party rode on to acre, twelve miles away, capturing it without difficulty; after which the two forces joined up and turned east again towards the sea of galilee. meanwhile the cavalry coming from the jordan valley had been fighting constantly with the stray bodies of turks encountered on the northward march. resistance was for the most part unorganised; but at semakh, a town at the southern end of the sea of galilee, the turks made a most determined effort to save the railway. the australians, however, were in a hurry; they wanted to be the first troops to reach damascus, and would brook no delay. semakh was taken by a brilliant and impetuous charge which carried the australians through the defences and ended in the sea of galilee, as also did large numbers of the enemy! royal tiberias was occupied next, after which both the eastern and western forces started on the hundred-mile ride to damascus, which necessitated a climb from six hundred feet below sea level to nearly three thousand above. again there was some desultory but bitter fighting, notably at the jordan soon after the march had begun, but the cavalry carried everything before them, and, riding day and night, reached damascus on october st, after a final burst of thirty-six hours in the saddle. in the ten days since the opening of the offensive they had covered upwards of two hundred and fifty miles, a feat which for endurance alone on the part of men and horses has not been equalled in this war. in that time they had cleared the greater part of syria of the enemy, and had captured or driven into the hands of the more slowly advancing infantry over eighty thousand prisoners, with practically all the guns and transport in the turkish army. virtually the fighting was over, since almost the entire enemy force had been accounted for, the few thousands still at large being a disorganised rabble, incapable of further resistance. but news of a greater peril than war reached haifa. famine stalked naked through the land of lebanon; and it was urgently necessary to send help to the starving inhabitants of beyrout and the surrounding country. political reasons, too, demanded that we should occupy as much territory as possible. on october rd, therefore, we marched out of haifa and began the long journey north. chapter xxi over the ladder of tyre behold us, then, once more on the high road--or, to be more accurate, the broad firm sands leading to acre. we were all mighty pleased to be on the move again, partly because haifa was not a deliriously exciting place to be in, but chiefly because the neighbourhood of the famous river kishon was singularly uninviting, and when the rains came, would be a veritable plague-spot of malaria and blackwater fever. we did not need the history books to tell us that acre was, and is, a fortress; for the great battlements are still standing, and the massive walls show little signs of decay. magnificently situated on a promontory at the northern end of the bay, it rears its head proudly, as becomes a city that in twelve hundred years has withstood more sieges than almost any city in palestine. it is, too, essentially english in its associations: from the time of the crusaders, whose chief stronghold it was, down to within hailing distance of our own day. except for an itinerant stone-merchant the country around has few attractions; and as we proceeded it grew rougher and more difficult to negotiate, until it reached a point where all progress seemed likely to come to an abrupt end. a huge spur of rock, jutting far out into the sea and shutting off the beach, completely blocked the way; it was as though we had come to the limits of one country with this great sentinel to bar our entrance into another. it was the ladder of tyre, the geographical barrier between palestine and the land of canaan; and we had to climb over it somehow. having negotiated a small hill in the foreground we descended into a steep gully with innumerable twists and turns, ever growing more difficult and dangerous. as the place was strewn with boulders the camels had great trouble in finding a foothold, particularly with the additional handicap of two bales of tibben or sacks of grain, which oscillated dangerously with the uneven movement. presently the slope became more gradual, though not less rough in surface, and finally the path began to ascend towards the ladder itself. cut in the face of the rock were broad but shallow steps, in some places worn almost flat by the passage of countless thousands of feet. indian pioneers were hard at work on the ladder and had already, in the short time at their disposal, done wonders in the way of removing the litter of stones that covered the steps, blasting away portions of overhanging rock, and building rough ramparts on the side nearest the sea. the camels approached it very gingerly at first, but after one or two had "refused," tackled the climb. about half-way up the cliff there was a sort of platform which marked the turn in the ladder; here a false step meant destruction, for it was a sheer drop down to the sea three hundred feet below. a pioneer chose the precise moment at which i reached this platform to touch off a small blasting charge, the noise of which so startled my mare that she very nearly stepped off the edge; and a piece of rock hit a camel and all but started a stampede. after that, being a person of small courage, i dismounted and walked. the descent was even worse than the ascent for the camels, for the steps were not only broad but wide from back to front, and it needed a big stride successfully to negotiate them. i found it difficult enough on foot; how the camels accomplished it without mishap, carrying their heavy burdens, will ever remain a mystery. eventually we reached the level ground on the other side, and continued along the shore as far as tyre, a town nowadays of poverty-stricken fishermen, with scarcely anything visible of the ancient city. "i will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the lord god"; thus spoke ezekiel the prophet concerning the fate of tyre, and his words are literally true to-day. [illustration: the valley of chaos--after the bombing raid (see p. ). [_to face p. ._] we began shortly to come upon the real beauties of the land of canaan. the road was bordered in many places by fruit trees of all kinds, overhanging so far that you had only to reach out your hand to pick the fruit as you rode along. also, there were numerous orchards and kitchen-gardens with whose owners we used to bargain for the produce. curiously enough we had extraordinary difficulty in persuading the people to take egyptian money: they would insist on having turkish money in spite of our reiterated assertions that it had suffered a serious slump in value. one old lady to whom i showed a turkish one pound note--worth about the cost of printing--simply jumped at it, and immediately fished out an enormous bag of small change. she was quite upset at my refusal to part with the note; and we haggled for a quarter of an hour about whether she would give me, roughly, sixteen shillingsworth of turkish silver for a piece of worthless paper, or whether she would accept five piastres egyptian in exchange for a hatful of limes. the camel-drivers thoroughly enjoyed this part of the trek; indeed, they were in amazingly high spirits the whole way, despite the long daily march. they had as much water as they could drink, a great thing for the egyptian native, there was fruit for the picking on the trees, and everything was free! so they imagined, but the exasperated ladies who were continually coming to complain that a sportsman in a blue galabeah was rifling their orchards evidently thought otherwise. all the camel-men had the predatory instinct strongly developed, and they were adepts at concealing the "evidence," which sometimes was very much more than fruit or eggs. on one occasion the convoy passed an old man driving a flock of sheep, of which one mysteriously disappeared. i happened to be riding immediately behind the flock and saw nothing unusual, yet some time after the old man caught us up at the midday halt and complained that one of the camel-men had stolen a sheep. we searched the convoy from end to end and found no trace; we even went so far as to search the men's clothing! and ultimately the old man had to go away without his sheep. curiously enough, a leg of mutton appeared in the mess that night; and a very welcome change it was, too, from bully-beef. i can offer no explanation of the phenomenon; i only know that we searched the convoy conscientiously and thoroughly and there was no sign of mutton, dead or alive. it must have needed marvellous sleight-of-hand to conceal a full-grown sheep from view! that was the reverse side of the medal: the obverse was much brighter. it was impossible not to admire the extraordinary endurance of the camel-men. they would march fifteen to twenty miles a day for days, and even weeks at a time, provided only that they had enough water; and, well led, they would go anywhere and do anything. on the fifth day out from haifa we marched into sidon, whose inhabitants turned out _en masse_ and welcomed the column with great and spontaneous enthusiasm, which left no doubt as to its genuineness, though at times it became a trifle embarrassing. on the surface the people looked little the worse for four years' privations and ill-treatment at the hands of the turks, but a glance into the shops as we passed showed little else but fruit in the shape of food; and this is not very satisfying as a sole diet. in some parts of the town pinched faces and wan cheeks were frequent; and one group consisting of an elderly man with his wife and two daughters especially attracted my attention. their faces were dead-white, as if they had been living below ground for years, and the dull, stunned look of misery in their eyes was terrible to see; obviously they had not yet fully realised their deliverance. the old gentleman, a french syrian, told me that when, three years before, he had heard of the coming of german troops to sidon, he gave out to his neighbours that he and his family were going to the north, leaving the empty house in charge of the native caretaker. the family disappeared, and until the hurried departure of the germans nothing more was seen of them, when they--apparently--returned once more to their home. in reality, they had never left it. they had retired to a disused wing of the house, barricaded themselves in so skilfully that no one but the old caretaker who looked after the supplies suspected their presence; and there they had lived for three years, never venturing out except to walk at night in their extensive garden! on one occasion the house was occupied by a german staff-officer, and their walks ceased for three weeks; but for the greater part of the time it had remained untenanted. during the period previous to our coming they had been almost entirely without food, other than fruit and dried legumes. that was the story told to me as nearly as i can remember it, and the lifeless pallor of the old frenchman's face and those of his family certainly gave colour to the narrative. it is very hard to believe in starvation when you are surrounded on all sides by beautiful gardens and orchards abounding in fruit; and those at sidon were surely the loveliest on earth. all round the town stretched great masses of green, in the midst of which, like diamonds in a sea of emeralds, were white cupolas and summer-houses, with scores of fountains playing all day long. on the hills behind the gardens were many modern houses admirably built after the italian fashion, whose mellow terra-cotta blended effectively with the green mass below. riding through the umbrageous lanes between countless orchards you could believe anything but that people here were starving. the division had been promised a rest at sidon for the remainder of the day, but shortly after two o'clock in the afternoon an urgent message came ordering us to make a forced march in order to reach beyrout, thirty-five miles away, the following night! at four o'clock we left the beach and climbed steadily past those glorious gardens, until we struck the highroad. a few miles outside sidon, we passed an inn which could not have changed much in character since the time of christ. it formed a bridge across the road, and thus gave shelter to the passer-by from the noonday heat in summer and the torrential rains in winter; on one side there were the living rooms for the traveller and on the other side the stables wherein his ass or his horse could rest for the night. there were a few men lying in the shade of the "bridge" as we passed, and, peering into the stable, i could just see a donkey contentedly munching at the manger: the whole scene seemed to have come straight out of the new testament. later in the afternoon i noticed a beautiful little house standing in its own garden, and rode over to examine it more closely. one thing only i saw; the rest was blotted out. nailed to his door was the body of the owner, and beneath lay the charred--yes, charred--remains of what had once been his legs. he had been crucified and burnt alive; the twisted body, and the awful, tortured expression on the martyred man's face, left no room for doubt. after a halt for a couple of hours at midnight we began the final stage. while it was yet dark we had tremendous difficulty with those camel-drivers who were unable to see at night, the "mush-shuf-bi' leil's" ("can't see-at-nights") we used to call them; and as we had a few blind camels as well the situation called for some ingenuity. the only way to solve the problem was to tie the men's wrists to the saddles of the camel immediately in front of them. they then allowed themselves to be towed along, keeping the rope just taut enough to act as a guide. the blind camels were similarly treated, though even then there were accidents. one came shortly before dawn as we were crossing a viaduct with neither wall nor protection of any kind against a thirty-foot drop. a blind camel blundered towards the edge, slipped, and crashed down into the riverbed, and as he had lbs. of biscuits on his back to speed his fall, it looked like a certain casualty. with some difficulty we clambered down to him, and found him not only alive but calmly grazing on the herbage around! and when the biscuits were removed he got up, grunting and snarling, but absolutely uninjured and ready to carry his load again. as we approached beyrout the signs of distress among the people grew more and more pronounced. along the route were several tiny villages whose inhabitants gathered by the roadside to beg for food, and it was awful to see the wolfish way they ate the biscuits we gave them. at many places women stood with jars of water which they offered to the camel-drivers, not, i am sure, as a _quid pro quo_, but because it was all they had to offer. just at the entrance to the olive-groves, which extend for six miles out of beyrout, i saw a dead child lying by the roadside, and from that point the journey became a succession of heartrending sights. gaunt, lean-faced men, women thin to the point of emaciation, and children whose wizened faces made them look like old men, lined the route weeping for joy at their deliverance. every one of our men as he passed handed over his day's rations of bully-beef and biscuits to the starving people; i saw one woman hysterically trying to insert a piece of army biscuit into the mouth of the baby in her arms, and groups of little boys fighting for the food thrown to them. it was pitiful to see the gratitude of people who succeeded in catching a biscuit or a tin of bully; and the way they welcomed our camel-drivers, who, of course, spoke arabic like themselves, was a revelation. a man, haggard with want, came out of his little wine-shop and offered me a glass of aniseed, apologising courteously for its poor quality, and explaining that it was the only drink he had been able to obtain for sale during the war! a glance at the rows of empty bottles in his shop-window confirmed the statement. god knows how he had earned his living during the past three years. towards evening the head of the long column entered beyrout: from miles behind on the hills we could see the swinging kilts of the highlanders, while the sound of the bag-pipes floated faintly back to us. by eight o'clock, we, too, were marching into the town through crowds of delirious people, who clung to the troops as they passed and kissed the boots of the mounted men; it was the most painful, pitiful experience of all. as we swung down the hill towards the beach a man said: "you are just in time, monsieur; in six days we should all have been dead." that was the main thing: we had marched ninety-six miles in six days, we were dog-tired after a last continuous trek of eighteen hours, but--we were in time! chapter xxii deserted villages in lebanon sixty thousand people died of starvation in beyrout during the war, out of a total population of one hundred and eighty thousand. there is overwhelming proof that this was a part of the brutal policy of systematic extermination adopted by the turco-germans towards the weaker races of syria and palestine. when beyrout was evacuated the enemy collected all the food they could lay hands on, including the recently garnered harvest; and what they were unable to carry away with them they dumped in the harbour rather than give it to the starving people. four hundred tons of foodstuffs were wantonly destroyed in this manner; and as an example of callous and spiteful vengeance, towards a people whose chief fault apparently was that they were hungry, this would be hard to beat. the mortality amongst children was appalling. you could not ride out of the town without seeing their dead bodies lying by the roadside, where they had dropped from the arms of mothers too weak to carry them, often enough themselves lying dead a few yards farther on. in the poorer quarters of the town, especially near the docks, the dreadful death-roll lengthened every day. the turks had gone out of their way to destroy many of the houses, with the result that hundreds of people were wandering about, foodless, homeless, and utterly friendless. for the first few days most of our work was carried on in and around the docks, where crowds of women and children congregated daily in the hope of obtaining food. i saw one small boy walking in front of me with a curious, unsteady gait, and just as i drew level with him he pitched forward on to his face without a sound. he was stone-dead when i turned him over; and judging by the terrible emaciation of his body he had died of protracted starvation. until the foodships arrived the british army fed most of the people; i use the word "most" advisedly, for even here there were fat profiteers who had made fortunes out of the war, and who cared nothing for the sufferings of others. the poorer inhabitants literally thronged the various camps in search of food, and with characteristic generosity the troops tried to feed them all! they gave away bully-beef and biscuits to those most in need, and, whenever possible, their tea and sugar rations also; it was painful to see the gratitude of the recipients. except amongst the very wealthy both tea and sugar had been literally unknown for four years. when we entered beyrout the price of tea was four hundred piastres (£ s.) per lb.--and chemically-treated stuff at that; and sugar, which was all but unobtainable by anybody, cost three hundred piastres per lb.! within a week of our arrival you could buy both commodities in the shops at about twenty piastres and five piastres per lb. respectively. but distress and suffering were not confined to beyrout alone. on the pleasant hills of lebanon north of the town are numerous villages through which the turks had swept like a plague. here the policy had been not so much starvation as extermination: whole villages were stripped of their inhabitants, who had been forcibly carried away, the men to slavery or death; the women to something worse. you could ride through village after village without seeing a soul, save perhaps an old man who would tell you that he was keeping the keys of the houses for their owners--who would never return. it is impossible to describe the pall of desolation that hung over those silent villages, a desolation that seemed to be accentuated by the beauty of the surrounding country. upwards of a quarter of a million people were either deported or massacred by the turks in the lebanon hills alone; and only in the villages occupied by circassians, whom the turks themselves had subsidised, were there any signs of even moderate prosperity. these people, moreover, showed marked hostility towards our troops, and had to be suppressed. when the th division left beyrout in the middle of october to march farther north to tripoli the situation was considerably easier. foodships had arrived, and arrangements had been made for regular supplies to be given to the people, though at first they needed medical aid rather than food, so weakened were they by long privation and want. the chief difficulty in the distribution of supplies was the shortage of labour, for the advance had been so rapid that it had quite outdistanced the administrative branches of the service. half a dozen r.a.s.c. clerks and a small party of the egyptian labour corps, assisted by the "camels," toiled night and day at the docks: we were dock-labourers, stevedores, and transport all in one. the fact that beyrout was the only real port in the whole country nearer than port said did not tend to relieve the strain, for the natural disadvantages of jaffa as a port prevented its being utilised to the full, while haifa, although it possesses a magnificent harbour, had not as yet enough accommodation for ships. our own men now began to feel the effects of the arduous campaign. the rainy season was imminent, and malaria and blackwater fever claimed their victims by the score. the troops who had spent the previous five months stewing in the hothouse atmosphere of the jordan valley suffered particularly heavily through malignant malaria, contracted during those months, which lay dormant while operations were actually in progress and appeared when men were run down and weakened by their tremendous exertions. the australian mounted division, who had been the first to enter damascus, were amongst the hardest hit by the disease, for the oldest city in the world is also one of the most unhealthy--or was, at all events during the time of our occupation. the river abana, which runs through the city, was choked with dead horses and turks for ten days. hundreds of turks wandered about, nominally prisoners, but with no one to guard them; they were far more numerous than our own men; and as the turks generally had little idea of sanitation and less of personal cleanliness they were extremely unpleasant people to have about the place. there were no regrets at leaving damascus, for though the odour of sanctity may hang over the venerable city, it is as naught compared with the other odours, of which it has a greater and more pungent variety than any city in the country. with the capture of beyrout and damascus hostilities had not ended, although the greater part of the turkish army had ceased to exist. while the th division were _en route_ to tripoli the cavalry were making a corresponding advance in the centre, despite the ravages caused in their ranks by malaria. indeed, with cheerful indifference to the geographical, to say nothing of the other difficulties in the way, they proposed to ride as far as constantinople; that, it was felt, would be the crowning point of a great ride! however, for the moment they contented themselves with occupying homs, a town on the caravan route about a hundred miles north of damascus. then general allenby ordered a further advance on aleppo, the last stronghold of the turks in the country; and on october st the th cavalry division with the armoured cars started on what was to be their last ride. it was a worthy effort: in five days they covered a hundred miles, entering the city on october th, preceded the day before by the troops of the king of the hedjaz, who had driven all the turks away during the night. after the capture of aleppo, turkey, having no army left, threw up the sponge, much to the disgust of the australian mounted division, who, having reached homs, hoped to be in at the death. still, since theirs had been the honour of entering damascus, it was but fitting that the th cavalry division should be the first into aleppo, for the exploits of the two forces had been almost parallel throughout the campaign. thus in forty days, in the course of which the army had advanced upwards of five hundred miles, turkey had been brought to her knees, her armies had been completely destroyed, and a country that had suffered from centuries of misrule had been cleared of the oppressor. it is, however, significant of the bitter hatred the turks bear towards the armenians and other races of asia minor, that even after the armistice one of the chief troubles of our troops was to prevent the turkish prisoners, who were awaiting transportation to the great camps in egypt, from maltreating armenians wherever and whenever they came into contact with them! drastic measures with turkey will have to be adopted by the allies if these little nations are to live in comfort and security in the future. the weeks following the surrender of turkey were occupied by the army in feeding the people, in reinstating them on the land, and in setting up a stable form of government in the country. it is unnecessary here to enter into detail, but it may be stated that the policy which had met with universal approval in palestine was adopted in syria. subject to certain obvious limitations every man was free to come and go as he pleased; and, with no restriction whatever, he could worship as he pleased, whether christian, mussulman, or jew. to quote one example of the goodwill that prevailed: the head of the greek church in homs offered his cathedral to the army for the thanksgiving service held after the signing of the general armistice, and members of nearly every religious denomination were present at a most impressive ceremony. the arabs took over the government of damascus and the surrounding country, which presumably they will retain for the future; the french, who have large interests in beyrout and lebanon, will, i believe, be the paramount influence there--though curiously enough, the one question we were constantly asked by the people of beyrout was whether the british were going to take over the town; and from fifteen miles north of acre down to the suez canal the country will probably be under the protection of the british. as this includes the desert of northern sinai the conquest of which had taken two long years, it is unlikely that we shall be accused of land-grabbing! it is reasonably certain that palestine will need material help for some time, for turkish maladministration, and the iniquitously heavy taxes imposed upon the people, have almost killed initiative. so far as real development is concerned, it is almost a virgin land, and although the efforts of those responsible for the work of reconstruction are both vigorous and successful, it will be many years before palestine is producing up to her full capacity. at present the grain crop of the entire country could be brought to england in about seven ships; in fact, before the war most of it was bought by a well-known firm of whisky distillers! whether the jews as a nation will ever settle in palestine is a question the future alone will solve; certainly the wise policy of the british and french governments offers them every inducement, if they really wish to become a nation again in their own ancient land. if the prophets are to be believed jerusalem will one day be the capital of the world--but it will not be in our day. printed by morrison and gibb ltd., edinburgh. transcriber's notes list of fixed issues p. --inserted missing period after "train accomodation" p. --typo corrected, "siege" instead of "seige" p. --typo corrected, "slightest" instead of "slighest" p. --typo corrected, "resourcefulness" instead of "resorcefulness" p. --inserted missing period after "by the troops" p. --inserted missing period after "from the wells" p. --inserted missing period after "of the party" p. --inserted missing comma after "amazing things" p. --typo corrected, "edinburgh" instead of "edinburrgh" file made from images generously made available by seforim online.) [illustration: reproduced from a photograph on porcelain in the possession of mrs loewe taken at the age of heliog lemercier et cie paris] diaries of sir moses and lady montefiore comprising their life and work as recorded in their diaries from to . with the addresses and speeches of sir moses; his correspondence with ministers, ambassadors, and representatives of public bodies; personal narratives of his missions in the cause of humanity; firmans and edicts of eastern monarchs; his opinions on financial, political, and religious subjects, and anecdotes and incidents referring to men of his time, as related by himself. edited by dr l. loewe, member of the royal asiatic society of great britain and ireland of the societe asiatique of paris of the numismatic society of london, etc (one of the members of the mission to damascus and constantinople under the late sir moses montefiore bart, in the year ). assisted by his son. in two volumes _with illustrations_ vol. i. chicago: belford-clarke co. . [illustration: ancient coat of arms of the montefiore family, _explained on page _.] (_the rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved._) copyright--belford-clarke co., chicago. preface. in submitting to the public the memoirs, including the diaries, of sir moses and lady montefiore, i deem it desirable to explain the motives by which i have been actuated, as well as the sources from which most of my information has been drawn. the late sir moses montefiore, from a desire to show his high appreciation of the services rendered to the cause of humanity by judith, lady montefiore, his affectionate partner in life, directed the executors of his last will "to permit me to take into my custody and care all the notes, memoranda, journals, and manuscripts in his possession written by his deeply lamented wife, to assist me in writing a memoir of her useful and blessed life." the executors having promptly complied with these instructions, i soon found myself in possession of five journals by lady montefiore, besides many valuable letters and papers, including documents of great importance, as well as of no less than eighty-five diaries of sir moses montefiore, dating from to , all in his own handwriting. in addition to such facilities for producing a memoir, i had the special advantage of personally knowing both sir moses and lady montefiore for many years. there is an entry in the diaries referring to a dinner at the house of one of their relatives on the th of november (where i met them for the first time), and to a visit i subsequently paid them at east cliff lodge, ramsgate, by special invitation, from the rd to the th of december of the same year. i also had the privilege of accompanying them on thirteen philanthropic missions to foreign lands, some of which were undertaken by both sir moses and lady montefiore, and others by sir moses alone after lady montefiore's death. the first of these missions took place in the year , and the last in . a no less important circumstance, which i may perhaps be allowed to mention, is, that i was with sir moses on the last day of his life, until he breathed his last, and had the satisfaction of hearing from his own lips, immediately before his death, the expression of his approval of my humble endeavours to assist him, as far as lay in my power, in attaining the various objects he had in view. however desirous i might have been to adhere strictly to his wishes, i found it impossible to write a memoir of lady montefiore without making it, at the same time, a memoir of sir moses himself, both of them having been so closely united in all their benevolent works and projects. it appeared to me most desirable, therefore, in order to convey to the reader a correct idea of the contents of the book, to entitle it "the diaries of sir moses and lady montefiore." in order, however, to comply with the instructions of the will, i shall, in giving the particulars of their family descent, first introduce the parentage of lady montefiore. to assist the reader in finding the exact month and year referring to hebrew communal affairs, i have always given the hebrew date conjointly with that of the christian era, more especially as all the entries in the diaries invariably have these double dates. l. loewe. oscar villas, broadstairs, kent, _ st june _ ( a.m.). contents. chapter i. page birth of sir moses montefiore at leghorn--his family--early years chapter ii. early education--becomes a stockbroker--his marriage chapter iii. extracts from the diaries--financial transactions--public events before and after waterloo--elected president of the spanish and portuguese hebrew community chapter iv. daily life--death of his brother abraham--an early panama canal project chapter v. first journey to jerusalem chapter vi. mr and mrs montefiore leave alexandria--a sea voyage sixty years ago chapter vii. arrival in england--illness of mr montefiore--the struggle for jewish emancipation chapter viii. lady hester stanhope--her eccentricities--parliament and the jews chapter ix. mr montefiore presented to the king--spanish and portuguese jews in london in chapter x. interview with the duke of wellington in furtherance of the jewish--cause--the duke's dilatory tactics--laying the foundation-stone of the synagogue at hereson chapter xi. lord brougham and the jews--the jewish poor in london--mr montefiore hands his broker's medal to his brother--dedication of the synagogue at hereson--the lords reject the jewish disabilities bill chapter xii. illness of mr montefiore--his recovery--sir david salomons proposed as sheriff--visit of the duchess of kent and princess victoria to ramsgate--mr montefiore's hospitals--naming of the vessel _britannia_ by mrs montefiore--a loan of fifteen millions chapter xiii. death of mr n. m. rothschild--mr montefiore visits dublin--becomes the first jewish member of the royal society--death of william iv.--mr montefiore elected sheriff chapter xiv. the jews' marriage bill--mr montefiore at the queen's drawing-room--his inauguration as sheriff chapter xv. death of mr montefiore's uncle--mr montefiore rides in the lord mayor's procession--is knighted--his speech at the lord mayor's banquet--presents petition on behalf of the jews to parliament chapter xvi. destruction of the royal exchange--city traditions--"jews' walk"--sir moses dines at lambeth palace chapter xvii. another petition to parliament--sir moses intercedes successfully for the life of a convict--death of lady montefiore's brother chapter xviii. bartholomew fair--sir moses earns the thanks of the city--preparations for a second journey to the holy land--the journey--adventures on road and river in france chapter xix. genoa, carrara, leghorn, and rome--disquieting rumours--quarantine precautions--arrival at alexandria--travel in the holy land chapter xx. reception at safed--sad condition of the people--sir moses' project for the cultivation of the land in palestine by the jews--death of the chief rabbi of the german congregation in jerusalem--tiberias chapter xxi. invitation from the portuguese congregation at jerusalem--sanitary measures in the holy city--the wives of the governor of tiberias visit lady montefiore--a pleasant journey--arrival at jerusalem chapter xxii. the tomb of david--spread of the plague--mussulman fanaticism--suspicious conduct of the governor of jerusalem--nayani, beth dagon, jaffa, emkhalet, and tantura chapter xxiii. encampment near mount carmel--state of the country--child marriages in the portuguese community at haifa--arrival in beyrout chapter xxiv. on board the _acheron_--sir moses' plans on behalf of the jews in palestine--interview with boghoz bey--proposed joint stock banks in the east chapter xxv. arrival at malta--home again--boghoz bey returns no answer--touching appeal from the persecuted jews of damascus and rhodes--revival of the old calumny about killing christians to put their blood in passover cakes chapter xxvi. indignation meetings in london--m. crémieux--lord palmerston's action--sir moses starts on a mission to the east--origin of the passover cake superstition chapter xxvii. arrival at leghorn--alexandria--sir moses' address to the pasha--action of the grand vizir chapter xxviii. authentic accounts of the circumstances attending the accusations against the jews--terrible sufferings of the accused--evidence of their innocence--witnesses in their favour bastinadoed to death chapter xxix. affairs in the east--ultimatum from the powers--gloomy prospects of the mission--negotiations with the pasha--excitement in alexandria--illness of lady montefiore chapter xxx. the english government and the pasha--mohhammad ali and the slaves--the pasha promises to release the damascus prisoners--he grants them an "honourable liberation" chapter xxxi. interview with the pasha--liberation of the jews of damascus--public rejoicings and thanksgiving--departure of sir moses for constantinople chapter xxxii. constantinople--condition of the jewish residents--interview with rechid pasha--audience with the sultan--he grants a firman chapter xxxiii. distress among the jews at salonica--oppressive laws with regard to them--text of the firman--its promulgation chapter xxxiv. departure from malta--naples--rome--a shameful inscription--prejudices against the jews at the vatican chapter xxxv. monsignor bruti and his hints--cardinal riverola--ineffectual attempts to interview the pope--returning homewards--alarming accident--the governor of genoa--interview with king louis philippe chapter xxxvi. home again--sir moses presents a facsimile of the firman to the queen--her majesty's special mark of favour--reform movement among the london jews--appeal for english protection from the jews in the east chapter xxxvii. presentation from hamburg--sir moses meets the king of prussia--address to prince albert--attempt on the queen's life--petitions to sir moses from russia chapter xxxviii. address and testimonial from the jews--sir moses' speech in reply--death of the duke of sussex--the deportation ukase in russia--opening of the new royal exchange--sir moses made sheriff of kent chapter xxxix. affairs in morocco--letter to the emperor--his reply--deputation to sir robert peel--death of lady montefiore's brother isaac--sir moses sets out for russia chapter xl. perils of russian travelling in winter--arrival at st petersburg--interviews with count nesselrode and the czar--count kisseleff's prejudices chapter xli. count kisseleff is more conciliatory--sir moses sets out for wilna--arrival at wilna--the jews' answers to the charges of russian officials chapter xlii. the jewish schools at wilna--wilcomir--deplorable condition of the hebrew community in that town--kowno--warsaw chapter xliii. deputation from krakau--the polish jews and their garb--sir moses leaves warsaw--posen, berlin, and frankfort--home chapter xliv. sir moses receives the congratulations of his english co-religionists--his exhaustive report to count kisseleff--examination of the charges against the jews--their alleged disinclination to engage in agriculture chapter xlv. report to count ouvaroff on the state of education among the jews in russia and poland--vindication of the loyalty of the jews chapter xlvi. report to count kisseleff on the state of the jews in poland--protest against the restrictions to which they were subjected chapter xlvii. the czar's reply to sir moses' representations--count ouvaroff's views--sir moses again writes to count kisseleff--sir moses is created a baronet diaries of sir moses and lady montefiore chapter i. birth of sir moses montefiore at leghorn--his family--early years. the neighbourhood of the tower of london was, a hundred years ago, the centre of attraction for thousands of persons engaged in financial pursuits, not so much on account of the protection which the presence of the garrison might afford in case of tumult, as of the convenience offered by the locality from its vicinity to the wharves, the custom house, the mint, the bank, the royal exchange, and many important counting-houses and places of business. for those who took an interest in hebrew communal institutions, it possessed the additional advantage of being within ten minutes or a quarter of an hour's walk of the spanish and portuguese synagogue and the great german synagogue, together with their colleges and schools, and several minor places of worship. tower hill, the minories, and the four streets enclosing the tenter ground were then favourite places of residence for the merchant; and in one of these, great prescott street, lived levi barent cohen, the father of judith, afterwards lady montefiore. he was a wealthy merchant from amsterdam, who settled in england, where fortune favoured his commercial undertakings. in his own country his name is to this day held in great respect. he not only during his lifetime kept up a cordial correspondence with his friends and relatives--who were indebted to him for many acts of kindness--but, wishing to have his name commemorated in the house of prayer by some act of charity, he bequeathed a certain sum of money to be given annually to the poor, in consideration of which, he desired to have some of the daily prayers offered up from the very place which he used to occupy in the synagogue of his native city. he was a man, upright in all his transactions, and a strict adherent to the tenets of his religion. he was of a very kind and sociable disposition, which prompted him to keep open house for his friends and visitors, whom he always received with the most generous hospitality. he was first married to fanny, a daughter of joseph diamantschleifer of amsterdam, by whom he had three children: two sons, solomon and joseph, and one daughter, fanny. solomon became the father-in-law of the late sir david salomons, and joseph the father of the late mr louis cohen. fanny married salomon hyman cohen wessels, of amsterdam, a gentleman who was well known at that time for his philanthropy, and whose family, at the period of napoleon i., was held in great esteem among the aristocracy of holland. mrs levi barent cohen unfortunately died at an early age, and mr cohen married her sister lydia, by whom he had seven children: five daughters--hannah, judith, jessy, adelaide, and esther; and two sons--isaac and benjamin. hannah became the wife of mr n. m. rothschild; judith was married to mr moses montefiore; jessy to mr davidson; adelaide to mr john hebbert; and esther to mr s. m. samuel, the father of mr george samuel, and grandfather of baron henry de worms, m. p. isaac became the father-in-law of baron meyer de rothschild, and benjamin the father of mr arthur cohen, q. c., and mr nath. b. cohen. judith, one of the subjects of these memoirs, was born, according to the entry in one of sir moses' diaries, on the th february ; her birthday, however, was generally celebrated at east cliff lodge in the month of october, in conjunction with another festivity held there on the first saturday after the tabernacle holidays. with regard to most persons noted for their character or ability, there exists a tradition of some unusual occurrence happening during their early life. in the case of lady montefiore, there is an event which she once related to me herself. "when i was a little girl," she said, "about three or four years old, i fell over the railing of a staircase, quite two storeys high, into the hall below. everybody in the house thought i must be killed, but when they came to pick me up they found me quietly seated as if nothing in the world had happened to me." it was a characteristic of hers which was subsequently much noticed by those around her, that, no matter in what circumstances she was placed, when others were excited or depressed by some painful event or the fear of approaching peril, she would remain calm, and retain her presence of mind. she would endeavour to cheer and strengthen others by words of hope, and where it was possible to avoid any threatened danger, she would quietly give her opinion as to the best course to be pursued. she received from her earliest childhood an excellent english education, and her studies in foreign languages were most successful. she spoke french, german, and italian fluently, and read and translated correctly the hebrew language of her prayers, as well as portions of the pentateuch, generally read in the synagogues on sabbaths and festivals. nor were the accomplishments of music and drawing neglected; but that which characterised and enhanced the value of her education most was "the fear of god," which, she had been taught, constituted "the beginning of knowledge." by the example set in her parents' house, this lesson took an especially deep root in her heart. one day at park lane the conversation happened to turn on the practice of religious observances, and lady montefiore related what had occurred when she was still under the parental roof. "once," she said, "on the fast-day for the destruction of jerusalem, we were sitting, as is customary, in mourning attire, on low stools, reciting the lamentations of jeremiah. suddenly the servant entered the room, closely followed by admiral sir sidney smith, and several other gentlemen. my sisters became somewhat embarrassed, not liking to be thus surprised in our peculiar position, but i quietly kept my seat, and when sir sidney asked the reason of our being seated so low, i replied, this is the anniversary of the destruction of jerusalem, which is kept by conforming jews as a day of mourning and humiliation. the valour exhibited by our ancestors on this sad occasion is no doubt well known to you, sir sidney, and to the other gentlemen present, and i feel sure that you will understand our grief that it was unavailing to save the holy city and the temple. but we treasure the memory of it as a bright example to ourselves and to all following generations, how to fight and to sacrifice our lives for the land in which we were born and which gives us shelter and protection." "sir sidney and the other gentlemen," she said, "appeared to be much pleased with the explanation i gave them; they observed that it was a most noble feeling which prompts the true patriot to mourn for the brave who have fallen on the field of battle for their country; and that the memory of the struggles of the jews in palestine to remain the rightful masters of the land which god had apportioned to them as an inheritance, would ever remain, not only in the heart of every brave man in the british realm, but also in that of every right-thinking man in all other parts of the world as a glorious monument of their dauntless valour and fervent devotion to a good and holy cause." lady montefiore not only appreciated the education she received, but also remembered with deep gratitude all those who had imparted instruction to her. her friends have often been the bearers of generous pensions to gentlemen who had been her teachers when she was young, and they never heard her mention their names without expressions of gratitude. in addition to her other good qualities, there was one which is not always to be met with among those who happen to be in possession of great wealth, and with whom a few shillings are not generally an object worth entering in an account-book. with her, when her turn came among her sisters to superintend the management of the house, the smallest item of expense was entered with scrupulous accuracy, and whilst ever generous towards the deserving and needy who applied to her for assistance, she would never sanction the slightest waste. i shall presently, as i proceed in my description of her character, have an opportunity of showing how, in her future position as a wife and philanthropist, all the excellences of her character were turned to the best account for the benefit of those to whom she and her husband rendered assistance in times of distress. the reader being now in full possession of all that is necessary for him to know of the parentage and education of miss judith cohen, i propose to leave her for the present under her parental roof, in angel court, throgmorton street, with a loving father and a tenderly affectionate mother, and surrounded by excellent brothers and sisters; some of them employed in commercial pursuits, others in study, but all united in the contemplation and practice of works of brotherly love and charity towards their fellow-beings. to proceed with the lineage of sir moses. sir moses montefiore was born at leghorn, whither his parents happened to repair, either on business or on a visit to their relations, a few weeks before that event took place. according to an entry in the archives of the hebrew community of that city, he first saw the light on the th of héshván a.m., corresponding to the th of october . during his visit to leghorn in the year , an opportunity was offered to him, when visiting the schools of the community, to inspect the archives in my presence, and he expressed his satisfaction at their accuracy. some doubt having been entertained by several of his biographers of the correctness of the date of his birth, and sir moses having generally received and accepted the congratulations of his friends on the the th of héshván, it will not be out of place to give here an exact copy of the original entry in the archives in the italian language, just as it has recently been forwarded to me by the cavaliere costa of leghorn. it reads as follows:-- "_nei registri di nascite che esistone nell' archivìe delle università israelitica a c. , si trova la seguente nascita_:-- " héshván, -- ottobre . "domenica. "a joseph di moise haim e raquel montefiore un figlio, che chiamarone moise haim." (_translation._) "in the registers of births, which are preserved in the archives of the hebrew community, there is to be found on p. the following entry of birth:-- " th héshván a.m., th october . "sunday. "unto joseph, son of moses haim, and rachel montefiore, a son was born, whom they call moses haim." sir moses never signed his name "haim," nor did his mother in her letters to him ever call him so. his father joseph, after recovering from a dangerous illness, adopted the name of eliyáhoo (the eternal is my god) in addition to that of joseph. various opinions have been expressed respecting the early history of sir moses montefiore's ancestors, and the place whence they originally came, to modena, ancona, fano, rome, and leghorn. a manuscript in the library of "judith lady montefiore's theological college" at ramsgate--containing a design of the original armorial bearings of the montefiore family, surrounded by suitable mottoes, and a biographical account of the author of the work to which the manuscript refers--will greatly help us in elucidating the subject. the manuscript is divided into two parts: one bears the name of "kán tsippor" ([hebrew]), "the bird's nest," and treats of the massorah of the psalms, _i.e._, their divisions, accents, vowels, grammatical forms, and letters necessary for the preservation of the text; and the other, the name of "gán perákhim" ([hebrew]), "the garden of flowers," containing poems, special prayers, family records, and descriptions of important events. the hereditary marks of honour which served to denote the descent and alliances of the montefiore family consisted of "a lion rampant," "a cedar tree," and "a number of little hills one above the other," each of these emblems being accompanied by a hebrew inscription. thus the lion rampant has the motto-- [hebrew] hoy gibor caari laasot ratson avikha shebashemaim "be strong as a lion to perform the will of thy father in heaven." the hills bear the motto-- [hebrew] esa aynai el heharim meain yavo ezri "(when) i lift up mine eyes unto the hills (i ask) whence cometh my help? [answer] my help cometh from the eternal." and the cedar tree-- [hebrew] tsadik katamar vefrakh caerez balebanon isgeh "the righteous shall flourish like a palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in lebanon." these emblems are precisely the same as those which sir moses had in his coat-of-arms, with the exception of the inscriptions. probably he thought they were too long to be engraved on a signet, and he substituted for them the words "jerusalem" and "think and thank." the author of the manuscript bears the name of joseph, and designates himself, on the title-page, as the son of the aged and learned jacob montefiore of pesaro, adding the information that he is a resident of ancona, and a son-in-law of the rev. isaac elcostantin, the spiritual head of the hebrew congregation in that place. the manuscript bears the date of a.m.-- . in his biography, the author, after rendering thanks to heaven for numerous mercies which had been bestowed on him, gives the following account of himself and family:-- "i was eleven years old when i was called upon to assist, conjointly with my three brothers, moses, raphael, and mazliakh, and five sisters, in providing for the maintenance of the family." moses, the eldest of his brothers, died at the age of thirty-two, and joseph (the biographer) entered the business of sabbati zevi morini of pesaro. being prosperous in his commercial pursuits, he provided for his sisters, probably by giving to each of them a suitable dowry. one of them, flaminia by name, became the wife of a celebrated preacher, nathaniel levi, the minister of the congregation of pesaro. the father, jacob montefiore, died at the age of eighty-three, and his sons went into business with a certain cartoni of lisina. they appear at first to have met with success, but the sudden death of the head of the firm caused the collapse of the business. joseph montefiore subsequently married justa or justina, the granddaughter of the rev. abraham elcostantin of ancona. with a view of carrying on their business to greater advantage the brothers separated and removed to different parts of italy, and joseph himself, guided by the counsel of his wife, left pesaro for ancona for a similar purpose. his brother-in-law died at that time in modena, and joseph was in a sufficiently prosperous position to be able to assist the widow and her children. the latter grew up and married. one of them, a daughter, went with her husband, samuel nachman, to jerusalem, where, from religious motives, they settled. one of his nephews, nathaniel montefiore, became a distinguished poet, and the manuscript in question contains a very beautiful composition of his in praise of the book (kán tsippor) and its author. joseph montefiore resided for some time in rome, also in fano. there are prayers in the book which he composed during his stay in each of those places. from these statements it would appear that the family of montefiore, from which sir moses descended, first came to pesaro. signor p. m. arcantoni, the syndic of the municipality of montefiore dell'aso, in the province of ascoli-picerno, expressed his strong belief, on the occasion of his offering to sir moses the congratulations of the commune on his completing the hundredth year of his life, that the ancestors of sir moses had settled in that place. from ancona, as has been stated, several members of the montefiore family came to leghorn, from which city at a very early period they emigrated to england. the grandfather of sir moses, moses haim (or vita) montefiore, and his grandmother, esther racah, a daughter of mássa'ood racah of leghorn, also left italy and settled in london, where their son joseph (born th october , died th january ) married rachel, the daughter of abraham lumbroso de mattos mocatta, who became the mother of sir moses. they resided after their marriage at no. kennington terrace, vauxhall, and were blessed with eight children, three sons, moses (the subject of these memoirs), abraham, and horatio, and five daughters, sarah, esther, abigail, rebecca, and justina. abraham first married a daughter of mr george hall, of the london stock exchange; on her death, he married henrietta rothschild, a sister of the late n. m. rothschild, by whom he had two sons, joseph meyer of worth park, and nathaniel meyer of coldeast, and two daughters, charlotte and louise. the latter became the wife of sir antony de rothschild. [illustration: house at leghorn in which sir moses was born. _see vol. i., page ._] horatio married sarah, a daughter of david mocatta, by whom he had six sons, one of whom (mr emanuel montefiore) is now a lieutenant-colonel in the british army, and six daughters. after her death he married a daughter of abraham montefiore. sarah, the eldest daughter of joseph and rachel montefiore, became the wife of mr solomon sebag, and was the mother of mr joseph sebag (now j. sebag-montefiore) and of mrs jemima guadalla, who is married to mr haim guadalla. after the death of her husband, mrs sebag married mr moses asher goldsmid, the brother of sir isaac goldsmid. esther, the second daughter, unfortunately lost her life at the age of fifteen through an accident she met with during a fire that broke out in the house. abigail, the third, married mr benjamin gompertz, a distinguished mathematician. rebecca, the fourth, married mr joseph salomons, a son of levi salomons, of crosby square, father of the late sir david salomons, bart. justina, the fifth, became the wife of mr benjamin cohen, the brother of lady montefiore, and mother of mr arthur cohen, q. c., m. p., and mr nathaniel b. cohen. the reader is now invited to retrace his steps, for it is to moses, the first-born son of joseph and rachel montefiore, that i have to direct his attention. he must leave no. kennington terrace and follow me in imagination to leghorn. mr joseph montefiore having some business in that city, informed his wife of his intention to proceed to italy, and mrs montefiore prevailed upon him to take her with him. after they arrived at leghorn, we find them in the house of signer moses haim racah, celebrating the happy event of the birth of a son, destined to become the champion of israel. the festivity on the day of naming (the eighth day after the birth of a son) is generally an occasion which brings together relatives, friends, heads of the congregation, and officers of the synagogue. offerings are made by all present for charitable institutions, and prayers recited for the life and prosperity of the child. it is therefore not a matter of surprise that there was a large assembly of the hebrew community of leghorn on that occasion. signor racah, being his great-uncle, performed the duties of godfather and ever from that day, and up to the year of his death, he evinced the liveliest interest in the welfare of his godson; when the latter was grown up the affection proved mutual. sir moses when speaking of him used to say that he had greatly endeared himself to the people in leghorn by his abilities and high character. he cherished the most benevolent feelings towards all good and honest men, and often, in times of grief and calamity, rendered help and consolation to all classes of the community. sir moses held him in great veneration, and during his stay in italy gave special orders to have a copy of his likeness procured for him. a facsimile of the portrait is here given, with an inscription in sir moses' own handwriting. in his will, sir moses, referring to him and to the synagogue at leghorn, thus expresses himself-- "to the trustees of the synagogue at leghorn in italy, of which my honoured godfather (deceased) was a member, in augmentation of the fund for repairing that building, i bequeath £ ; and to the same trustees, as a fund for keeping in repair the tomb of my said godfather and my godmother, esther racah, his wife, £ ." two or three years before his death, sir moses ordered a coloured drawing of these tombs, with a complete copy of the epitaphs, to be sent to him, and it is now preserved in the library of the college at ramsgate. after a stay of several months at leghorn, mr and mrs montefiore returned to england. i have often heard descriptions of that homeward journey from mrs montefiore, when she used to visit her son at park lane. "moses," she said, "was a beautiful, strong, and very tall child, but yet on our return journey to england, during a severe winter, i was unwilling to entrust him to a stranger; i myself acted as his nurse, and many and many a time i felt the greatest discomfort through not having more than a cup of coffee, bread and butter, and a few eggs for my diet." "no meat of any description," she added, "passed my lips; my husband and myself being strict observers of the scriptural injunctions as to diet." "but i am now," she said, with a pleasant smile, "amply repaid for the inconvenience i then had to endure." "what i thought a great privation, in no way affected the state of my health, nor that of the child; and i feel at present the greatest satisfaction on account of my having strictly adhered to that which i thought was right." [illustration: moses racah of leghorn, godfather and great uncle of sir moses. _see vol. i., page ._] in the course of time several more children were born to them, all of whom they reared most tenderly, and over whose education they watched with the greatest care. they had the happiness of seeing them grow up in health and strength, endowed with excellent qualities, moses, the eldest, and the subject of these memoirs, being already conspicuous for his strength of understanding and kindness of disposition. they continued for many years to reside at kennington terrace, vauxhall, in the same house in which they took up their residence immediately after their marriage. after their death it was occupied by members of their family till a few years ago, when it passed into the hands of strangers. it was there that mr benjamin gompertz (the author of the "principles and application of imaginary quantities") resided and the mother of sir moses breathed her last. joseph eliahu, his father, was a well educated and god-fearing man, upright in all his dealings. he was extremely fond of botany and gardening. there is still in the library of lady montefiore's theological college at ramsgate, a book which formerly belonged to him, and in which remarks on the cultivation of plants are written in his own handwriting. sir moses, when speaking of him, used to say, "he was at one time of a most cheerful disposition, but after he had the misfortune to lose one of his daughters at a fire which occurred in his house, he was never seen to smile." chapter ii. early education--becomes a stockbroker--his marriage. at an early age, we find young moses montefiore attending school in the neighbourhood of kennington. after he had completed his elementary studies, he was removed to a more advanced class in another school, where he began to evince a great desire to cultivate his mind, independently of his class lessons. he was observed to copy short moral sentences from books falling into his hands, or interesting accounts of important events, which he endeavoured to commit to memory. afterwards, as he grew up in life, this became a habit with him, which he did not relinquish even when he had attained the age of ninety years. his diaries all contain either at the beginning or the end of the record of his day's work, some beautiful lines of poetry referring to moral or literary subjects: mostly quotations or extracts from standard works. young montefiore showed on all occasions the greatest respect for his teachers, bowing submissively to their authority in all cases of dispute between his fellow-students and himself. he was acknowledged to be most frank and loyal in all his intercourse with his superiors. the respect due to constituted authorities he always used to consider, when he had become a man in active life, as a sacred duty. he was in the habit of saying, in the words of the royal philosopher, "fear thou the lord and the king, and meddle not with them that are given to change." whatever might be his private opinion on any subject, he would in all his public and private transactions be guided only by the decision of an acknowledged authority. montefiore did not remain many years at school. there was at that time no prospect for him to enter life as a professor at a university, or as a member of the bar. there was no sphere of work open to him in any of the professions; and even to enter the medical profession would have been difficult. there was nothing left for him, therefore, but to enter a commercial career. he used often to speak about the days of his apprenticeship in the business of one of their neighbours in kennington, and how hard he had to work; when subsequently he was in a counting-house in the city, the hours were late, and he sometimes had to take letters to the post on the stroke of midnight. there were no copying machines, and all letters had to be copied by hand. he also spoke of the great distance he had to walk every night from the city to kennington terrace, during the cold winter months as well as in the summer time. there were then no omnibuses or other conveyances at hand such as we have now, and if there had been, he was of too saving a disposition to make any unnecessary outlay on his own person; he used to keep a strict account of the smallest item of his expenses. it was not with the object of complaining, or of regretting his early mode of life that he gave his friends these descriptions; his object was to impress on the mind of the rising generation the necessity of working hard and spending little, in order to make their way in the world. by his habits of industry, by his strict compliance with the instructions of his superiors, and more especially by his own clear judgment in all matters connected with the business entrusted to him, he soon succeeded in obtaining promotion. having had the opportunity of seeing business transactions among brokers on the stock exchange, he decided upon securing for himself the privilege of being one of the limited number of jewish brokers. according to the law of england at that time only twelve such brokers could be admitted, but moses montefiore had the satisfaction of soon seeing himself in possession of the much-coveted privilege. he took an office, and this owing to the prosperity with which his straightforward dealing and courteous manners were rewarded, he soon had to change for a larger one, which again he did not keep long. as his business had now to be conducted near the bank, he took up his quarters in bartholomew lane, where he remained to the last day of his life. it was there, after nearly the whole of that thoroughfare had become the property of the alliance life and fire assurance company, and the houses had been rebuilt, that many an important meeting of the board of deputies of british jews and other boards of benevolent institutions was held; and the very book-case, in which all important papers connected with his business in that office were preserved, is now in one of the houses of lady montefiore's college, where he used now and then to take his breakfast on a sabbath morning, when it was his intention to be present at a lecture in the college. his brother abraham, seeing young moses successful in business, subsequently joined him as a partner, and the firm of montefiore bros. soon became known in england as one entitled to the respect of all honourable men. however profitable or urgent the business may have been, the moment the time drew near, when it was necessary to prepare for the sabbath or solemn festivals, moses montefiore quitted his office, and nothing could ever induce him to remain. sir moses was scrupulously honourable in all his transactions, and it is a noteworthy fact, that during all his long life no whisper was ever heard against his reputation, although he was intimately connected with the management of financial and commercial undertakings of great magnitude and international character. his name stood so high, that thousands of people from all parts of the world entrusted him with money to be forwarded to the holy land, or for other charitable purposes, never asking for a receipt, and in many instances leaving the distribution of it to his own discretion. in the year , in the reign of george iii., an act of parliament was passed enabling his majesty to establish a local militia force for the defence of the country. young montefiore, who was then twenty-five years old, having attained his majority in , deemed it his duty to be one of the first volunteers. loyalty to the country in which he lived and prospered, and sincere devotion to his king, afterwards proved to be special traits in his character. in all foreign countries whither his philanthropic missions subsequently led him, his addresses to the people and his counsels, even to those who suffered under heavy oppression, contained exhortations to them to remain firm in their loyalty to their government. we must now salute him as captain montefiore, for thus we find him styled, on a card among his papers, third surrey local militia, colonel alcock, no. i, seventh company. "captain montefiore." [illustration: lady montefiore when young, copied from an oil painting in the montefiore college, ramsgate. _see vol. i., page ._] there are still in the gothic library, at east cliff lodge, details of guard mounted by the rd regiment of surrey local militia, standing orders, &c., also the orderly books showing that he was in the service from the year to . on the nd february in the latter year, after the parade on duppas hill, croydon, when the regiment arrived at the depôt, the commanding officers of companies had to receive the signatures of all those who wished to extend their services, when called upon for any period in that same year not exceeding forty-two days. the feeling of the regiment on the subject was obtained in less time than was anticipated, and the commanding officer ordered the men to be paid and dismissed immediately. sir moses used to say, when speaking to his friends on this subject, "i did all in my power to persuade my company to re-enlist, but i was not successful." in the same year, he took lessons in sounding the bugle, and also devoted several hours a week to the study of french; it appears that he would not allow one hour of the day to pass without endeavouring to acquire some useful art or knowledge. he was very particular in not missing a lesson, and entered them all in his diary of the year . in the midst of business, military duties, and studies, in which he passed the five years, to , there was one date which he most justly considered the happiest of his life. i am alluding to the th of june (corresponding, in that year, to the th of siván, a.m., according to the hebrew date), on which day he was permitted to take to himself as a partner in life, judith, the daughter of levi barent cohen. he thoroughly appreciated the great blessing which that union brought upon him. henceforth, for every important act of his, where the choice was left to him, whether it was the laying of a foundation stone for a house of prayer, a charitable institution, or a business office, he invariably fixed the date on the anniversary of his wedding day. setting out on an important mission in the month of june, he would, when a short delay was immaterial, defer it to the anniversary of his wedding. this was not, as some might suppose, from mere superstition, for in all his doings he was anxious to trust to the will of god alone; it was with the idea of uniting every important act in his life with one which made his existence on earth, as he affirmed, a heavenly paradise. his own words, taken from the diary of , will best express his feelings on the subject. "on this happy day, the th of june," he writes, "thirty-two years have passed since the almighty god of israel, in his great goodness, blessed me with my dear judith, and for ever shall i be most truly grateful for this blessing, the great cause of my happiness through life. from the first day of our happy union to this hour i have had every reason for increased love and esteem, and truly may i say, each succeeding year has brought with it greater proofs of her admirable character. a better and kinder wife never existed, one whose whole study has been to render her husband good and happy. may the god of our fathers bestow upon her his blessing, with life, health, and every other felicity. amen." as a lasting remembrance of the day he treasured the prayer-shawl which, according to the custom (in spanish and portuguese hebrew communities), had been held over his head and that of his bride during the marriage ceremony and the offering up of the prayers. in compliance with his wish the same shawl was again put over his head when his brethren performed the melancholy duty of depositing his mortal remains in their last resting-place. but i will not further digress, and i resume my narrative of his happy life after his union with his beloved wife. henceforth the reader may consider them as one person, and every act of benevolence recorded further on in these memoirs must be regarded as an emanation of the generous and kindly impulses which so abundantly filled the hearts of both. in order to indicate the places to which the young couple would resort after the duties of the day, i need only remind the reader of the residences of their numerous relatives, with whom they were always on affectionate terms. at highgate, clapham, lavender hill, and hastings, in all of these places they were most heartily welcomed, and they often went there to dine, take tea, or spend a few days in the family circle. but the place to which they repaired for the enjoyment of a complete rest, or for considering and maturing a plan for some very great and important object, was an insignificant little spot of the name of "smithembottom" in surrey. they used to go there on sunday and remain until the next day, sometimes until the middle of the week, occasionally inviting a friend to join them. they greatly enjoyed the walk over hills, while forming pleasing anticipations of the future; and they always found on their return to the little inn, an excellent dinner, which their servants had brought with them from london--never forgetting, by the order of their master, a few bottles of his choice wine. "wine, good and pure wine," mr montefiore used to say, "god has given to man to cheer him up when borne down by grief and sorrow; it gladdens his heart, and causes him to render thanks to heaven for mercies conferred upon him." in holy writ we find "give wine unto those that be of heavy heart;" also, "wine maketh glad the heart of man." no sanctification of our sabbaths and festivals, and no union between two loving hearts, can be solemnised, without partaking of wine over which the blessing has been pronounced. it was his desire to be happy, and make others around him happy, for such he said was the will of god (deut. xxvi. ii). when certain friends of his, who intended taking the total abstinence pledge, ventured to raise an argument on the desirability of his substituting water for wine, he would reply in the words which the vine said to the trees when they came to anoint him as king over them, "should i leave my wine which cheereth god and man" (judges ix. )? his friends smiled at this reasoning, and on their next visit to him drank to each other's health in the choice wine of his cellar. i invariably heard him pronounce the blessing before he touched the exhilarating beverage, in such a tone as to leave no doubt in the minds of those present that he fully appreciated this gift of god. he never gave up the habit of taking wine himself, and it was his greatest pleasure to see his friends enjoy it with him. to the sick and the poor he would frequently send large quantities. the year passed very happily. every member of the family was delighted with the young couple. they said, "such a suitable union of two young people had not been seen for many years." in no. new court, where they took up their abode, they had mr n. m. rothschild their brother-in-law (in whose financial operations montefiore was greatly interested), for a neighbour and friend. young mrs montefiore had but a short distance to walk to see her parents, at angel court, throgmorton street, where mrs barent levi cohen now lived. the stock exchange and the bank being in their immediate neighbourhood, where all their relatives had business transactions every day in the week except sabbath and festivals, they often had the opportunity of seeing the whole family circle in their house. chapter iii. - . financial transactions--public events before and after waterloo--elected president of the spanish and portuguese hebrew community. i am now at the starting point of my narrative of the public life and work of sir moses and lady montefiore in connection more especially with the communities of their own race, and this i propose to give in the form of extracts from their diaries. these extracts contain the most material references to important events, accompanied by explanatory remarks of my own. with a view of making the reader acquainted with the passing opinions and feelings of sir moses and lady montefiore and their earnestness of purpose and energy in every good cause, as well as with a desire to draw attention to the variety and multiplicity of the work they would accomplish in a single day, i shall frequently give these entries as i find them, in brief and at times abrupt sentences. ( a.m.).--owing to the eventful vicissitudes of european wars, the greatest activity prevails on the stock exchange. mr montefiore is in constant intercourse with mr n. m. rothschild, through whose prudence and judicious recommendations with regard to the bullion market and foreign exchanges, he is enabled not only to avoid hazardous monetary transactions, but also to make successful ventures in these difficult times. ( a.m.).--the first peace in paris is signed. the allied sovereigns visit england, and are received by the prince regent. great festivities in the city, while considerable excitement prevails in all financial circles. commerce is stagnant; taxation excessive, in consequence of the great debt the country had incurred during the war; the labouring classes cry out; food is scarce; there is no demand for labour, and wages are low. nevertheless, mr montefiore and his wife entertain the hope of a continuance of peace, which, they say, will soon remedy all evils. they frequently visit highgate, where mr n. m. rothschild has his country house; go to hastings, where their brother-in-law mr s. m. samuel, has taken a summer residence, and visit their mother, mrs montefiore, at kennington terrace. they contrive to devote a portion of the day or evening to the study of the french language and literature. mr montefiore, as captain of the local militia, continues taking lessons on the bugle. ( a.m.).--mr montefiore agrees with lord mayor birch (grandfather of dr samuel birch of the british museum) to pay £ , for the transfer to himself, of medina's broker's medal (at that time the few jewish brokers admitted had to pay an extraordinarily high fee for the privilege); he is engaged in his financial transactions with mr n. m. rothschild, and goes, in the interest of the latter and in his own, to dunkirk and yarmouth. on his return he frequently attends the meetings of the representatives of the spanish and portuguese synagogues; checks and signs the synagogue books, as treasurer, and is present at the meetings of a committee, representing four hebrew congregations in london, for devising proper regulations to ensure the provision of meat prepared in accordance with scriptural injunctions. ( a.m.).--he frequently attends the meetings of the velhos (elders) of the spanish and portuguese community, and the society for granting marriage portions to orphans. his work in connection with finance daily increases. great agitation prevails throughout the country; the government having, in the previous year, passed a corn act to favour the english farmer, forbidding the importation of foreign grain, the price of wheat had reached s. per quarter; political societies, under the name of "hampden clubs," are formed all over the country. there is a cry for reform in the house of commons; the ministry, influenced by lord castlereagh, refuses all change; the price of wheat continues to rise daily after the peace. financiers feel very anxious about the result, but mr and mrs montefiore, less apprehensive of serious disturbances, and desirous of change of scene and climate, purpose setting out to visit france and italy. ( a.m.).--they travel in france and italy, visit public institutions, and make it a rule to see every object of interest. they take notice and make memoranda of the explanations given them by their _ciceroni_, independently of the information derived from guide-books; they frequent theatres and operas as well as hospitals and schools. a beautiful and comfortable travelling chariot, procured in paris from beaupré, a famous coach builder, at the price of francs, and abundant provisions for themselves and friends, making them independent of inferior hotels for food, make their travels most agreeable to themselves and to all who accompany them. mr montefiore and his wife were not only diligent observers of whatever they saw, but also possessed the good quality of never objecting to any difficulties to be overcome in order to add to their stock of knowledge or experiences. during their travels in france and italy, their pleasure was greatly enhanced by the kind attention they received at the hands of their friends, especially in paris, where mr solomon de rothschild and all the members of the family vied with each other in their efforts to make their stay as agreeable as possible. at lausanne, mr montefiore was very ill for three days with rheumatism in the face and ear, but he soon recovered, and was able to continue his journey. on august the th, after an absence of three months from england, they returned and arrived safely at dover. on september th he is appointed treasurer to the "beth holim" hospital of the spanish and portuguese hebrew community. _november th._--a private account is opened with jones, lloyd & co. and the bank of england; on the th of the same month he dissolves partnership with his brother abraham, "god grant," he says, "it may prove fortunate for us both." ( a.m.).--this was a year of riot in england; in spite of the royal proclamation against unlawful assemblages the riots increased; the habeas corpus act was suspended, but the seditious meetings continued. a motion in the house of commons for reform had only seventy-seven supporters, two hundred and sixty-six voting for its rejection. mr montefiore, like most financiers in london, was in constant anxiety, his state of health suffered, and it was desirable for him to leave england again for change of climate. he completes the purchase of tinley lodge farm on july th. on october th he signs his will; and on the th of the same month, accompanied by his wife and several of their relatives, sets out on his second journey to france and italy. on the road, he and mrs montefiore resume their hebrew studies. they visit paris, lyons, turin, milan, and carrara; the latter place being of special interest to them on account of their meeting with persons who had been connected in business transactions with mr montefiore's father. ( a.m.).--they arrive on the st of january at leghorn, and meet several members of their family. they visit the house where mr montefiore was born, and are welcomed there by mr isaac piccioto, who occupied the house at that time; they proceed thence to the burial ground to see the tomb of their uncle racah, and on the following day leave for pisa. there they visit the house and garden of the said uncle racah, mr montefiore observing, that it is a good garden, but a small house; thence they continue their journey to sienna. "i had a dispute," he says, "with the postmaster at a place called bobzena, and was compelled to go to the governor, who sent with me two gendarmes to settle the affair." "the road to viterbo," he observes, "i found very dangerous; the country terribly dreary, wild and mountainous, with terrific caverns and great forests." "on the th of january," he continues, "we became greatly alarmed by the vicinity of robbers on the road, and i had to walk upwards of seven miles behind the carriage until we arrived at rome, whither we had been escorted by two gendarmes." "in rome," he says, "we saw this time in the church of st john, the gate of bronze said to be that of the temple of jerusalem; we also revisited the workshop of canova, his studio, and saw all that a traveller could possibly see when under the guidance of a clever cicerone. "we left rome on the th of february, and passed a man lying dead on the road; he had been murdered in the night. this incident damped our spirits and rendered the journey, which would otherwise have been delightful, rather _triste_." on the rd of april they arrive at frankfort-on-the-main; in may they are again in london, and on the st inst., mr montefiore, dismissing from his mind (for the time) all impressions of gay france and smiling italy, is to be found in the house of mourning, expressing his sympathy with the bereaved, and rendering comfort by the material help which he offers in the hour of need. it is in the house of a devoted minister of his congregation, the rev. hazan shalom, that we find him now performing the duties of a lavadore, preparing the dead for its last resting-place. the pleasures of his last journey, and the change of scene and climate appear to have greatly invigorated him, for we find him on another mournful occasion, exhibiting a degree of physical strength such as is seldom met with. his mother-in-law having been taken ill on saturday, the th of november, he went on foot from smithembottom to town, a walk of five hours, in order to avoid breaking one of the commandments, by riding in a carriage on the sabbath. unfortunately on his arrival, he found she had already expired. prompted by religious fervour and attachment to the family, he attended during the first seven days the house of mourning, where all the relatives of the deceased assembled, morning and evening, for devotional exercises, and, with a view of devoting the rest of the day to the furtherance of some good cause, he remained in the city to be present at all the meetings of the representatives of his community. in the month of december he went down to brighton to intercede with general bloomfield for three convicts. (the particulars of the case are not given in the diary), and on his return he resumed his usual financial pursuits. ( a.m.). he is elected president of the spanish and portuguese congregation. "i am resolved," he says, "to serve the office unbiassed, and to the best of my conscience." mr montefiore keeps his word faithfully, for he attends punctually all the meetings of the elders; and, on several occasions, goes about in a post-chaise to collect from his friends and acquaintances contributions towards the fund required for the hospital "beth holim" of his community. this was the year in which the political crisis came, when public meetings, in favour of parliamentary reform were held everywhere, and parliament passed six acts restricting public liberty. in the midst of these troubles, on the th of may, the princess victoria, daughter of the duke of kent, the fourth son of the king, was born at kensington palace. ( a.m.). the diary opens this year with observations on the life of man, and with a view of affording the reader an opportunity of reflecting on mr montefiore's character, i append a record of his pursuits such as we seldom meet with in a man in the prime of life, at the age of . in full enjoyment of health, wealth, and every pleasure a man could possibly desire, he thus writes on the first page:-- "he who builds his hopes in the air of men's fair looks, lives like a drunken sailor on the mast, ready with every nod to tumble down into the fatal bowels of the deep. "with moderate blessings be content, nor idly grasp at every shade, peace, competence, a life well spent, are blessings that can never fade; and he that weakly sighs for more augments his misery, not his store." chapter iv. - . daily life--death of his brother abraham--an early panama canal project. mr montefiore's occupations may best be described in his own words, and may furnish a useful hint to those who neglect to keep an account of the way in which their time is spent. he writes:-- "with god's blessing,--rise, say prayers at o'clock. breakfast at . attend the stock exchange, if in london, . dinner, . read, write, and learn, if possible, hebrew and french, . read bible and say prayers, . then retire. "monday and thursday mornings attend the synagogue. tuesday and thursday evenings for visiting." "i attended," he says, "many meetings at the city of london tavern, also several charitable meetings at bevis marks, in connection with the spanish and portuguese synagogue; sometimes passing the whole day there from ten in the morning till half-past eleven at night (january , ), excepting two hours for dinner in the committee room; answered in the evening petitions from poor women, and also made frequent visits to the villa real school." in the course of the year he went to cambridge and to norwich, visiting many of the colleges, the fitzwilliam museum, and other interesting institutions, and on february the th he attended the funeral sermon of his late majesty george the third (who died on the th of january). he often went to his farm, near tinley lodge, and sometimes for special recreation to the english opera, together with his wife and members of the family, always finding time for work and pleasure alike. "mr n. m. rothschild," he records in an entry, "being taken ill, i stayed with him several days at stamford hill." subsequently mr montefiore had some very important business in connection with a loan, and experienced much uneasiness, owing to a riot among the soldiers of the third regiment of the guards, which, no doubt, affected the financial world. he frequently went to the house of commons and the house of lords to ascertain the state of politics, and the progress of the jews emancipation bill in particular; for the roman catholic emancipation bill, which, side-by-side with parliamentary reform, and the demand for free trade, was at that time agitating the public mind, naturally prompted the jews to bring before the house their own grievances. mr montefiore also visited the female freemasons' charity, and generously supported the craft which, as has been said, has had a being "ever since symmetry began and harmony displayed her charms." _october ._--an important event in his financial career takes place: he gives up his counting-house. ( a.m.)--the first day of this year corresponding with the hebrew date, tebet , on which his father, he writes, entered into eternal glory, th of january ( a.m.), he repairs morning and evening to the house of prayer, offering up the customary prayer in memory of the dead. "i visited his tomb, distributing gifts to the poor and needy, and on my return passed the whole of the day in fasting and religious meditation." the next entries refer to his frequent visits to the hospital, "beth holim," going to see king george iv. at drury lane, dining with the directors of the atlas fire assurance company at the albion, going afterwards with the lord mayor of dublin to covent garden theatre to see his majesty again, his excursions to the country, together with his wife, and their visits to finchley lodge farm, where they sometimes pass the day together. on his return to london, he attends, as in the preceding year, the meetings of the elders of his community and those of the communal institutions. on th may they set out for scotland. of this tour mrs montefiore kept an interesting journal, which not only describes the state of the country and the mode of travelling sixty six years ago, but shows her good temper under difficulties, her gratitude to providence for the blessings they enjoyed, and for their safety after apparent danger, as also her keen appreciation of the beauties of nature and art. it contains, however, no information likely to be serviceable to the present generation travelling in scotland. in october we meet them again in london, in the house of prayer, offering up thanks for their safe return from scotland. during the rest of the year mr montefiore resumed his usual occupations, always combining the work of finance with that intended for the welfare of his community and charitable institutions of all classes of society, while mrs montefiore devoted herself to responding to every appeal for help commensurately with the merit of the case, comforting every sufferer by her kind acts of sympathy, and promoting peace and harmony among those whose friendship seemed likely to be interrupted. an incident which, at the time, afforded mr montefiore special gratification, he refers to as follows:-- "i was present, on the feast of haunkah (the anniversary of the victory of the maccabees), at a discourse delivered by the spiritual head of the congregation, in the college of the spanish and portuguese hebrew community. the interest was greatly enhanced by the completion of the study of one of their theological books in the presence of all the students. the latter evinced great love for their study, and appeared well acquainted with the subject to which the lecturer referred." mrs montefiore presented each student with a generous gift, as an encouragement to continued zeal in their work. ( a.m.).--he agrees to rent east cliff lodge for one year from the th of april, for £ clear, and signs the agreement on th february. on the eve of the day of atonement, in the presence of his assembled friends, he completes, by adding the last verse in his own handwriting, a scroll of the pentateuch, for the use of the synagogue, offering on the following day £ for the benefit of various charitable institutions of his community as a token of his appreciation of the synagogue service. the depressed state of trade in this and the preceding year, owing to serious apprehensions of war, had caused a great diminution in the importation and manufacture of goods, so that much anxiety prevailed. referring to this subject, mr montefiore makes an entry to the effect that a statement had been made in high quarters by the duke of wellington, that peace would be maintained, in consequence of which, says mr montefiore, all the public funds rose. ( a.m.).--opens with a joyous event in the family. his brother horatio, on the first of january, marries a daughter of david mocatta, thus allying more closely the two most prominent families in the hebrew community. _august th._--mr and mrs montefiore leave england for the third time for france, germany, and italy. the entry this day refers to something which happened to him seventeen years previously ( ), (for obvious reasons i do not give the name, which is written in full in the diary):--"n. n. robbed me of all and more than i had. blessed be the almighty, that he has not suffered my enemies to triumph over me." on their arrival at rome they find mr abraham montefiore very ill; much worse, mr montefiore says, than they had expected. his critical state induces them to remain with him to the end of the year. about the same time, his brother horatio was elected an elder in his synagogue: "affording him many opportunities," mr montefiore observes, "to make himself useful to the congregation." ( a.m.).--his brother abraham continues very ill, but montefiore can remain with him no longer, his presence being much required in london. _february th._--mr and mrs montefiore arrive in london, and on the th he again goes to the stock exchange, this being the first time for more than a year that he has done so. _july th._--the deed of settlement of the alliance life assurance company is read to the general court. on august th he has the gratification of affixing his name to it. "on the same day," he says, evidently with much pleasure, "i have received many applications for shares of the imperial continental gas association." the diary introduces the subject of insurance companies by quoting the words of suetonius. "suetonius conjectures," mr montefiore writes on the first page of the book, "that the emperor claudius was the original projector of insurances on ships and merchandise." "the first instances of the practice recorded in modern history," he observes, "occur in , in consequence of the extensive wool trade between england and the netherlands; though it was probably in use before that period, and seems to have been introduced by the jews in ." "it is treated of in the laws of oleron, relating to sea affairs, as early as the year ." "about the period of the great fire in london, , an office was established for insuring houses from fire." this information is probably no novelty to the reader, but my object in quoting it is to show how attentively mr montefiore studied every subject connected with his financial and other pursuits. we have in the college library a great variety of books bearing on insurance offices, all of which, it appears, he had at some time consulted for information. of both the above companies he was elected president, offices which he held to the last moment of his life. they are now numbered among the most prosperous companies in england. his presence at the board was always a cause of the highest satisfaction, not only to the directors and shareholders, all of whom appreciated his sound judgment, cautious disposition and energy in the promotion and welfare of the company, but also to all the officers and employees of the respective offices. in conversing with his friends on this subject, he used to say, "when our companies prosper, i wish to see everyone employed by us, from the highest to the lowest, derive some benefit from them in proportion to the position he occupies in the office." he also strongly advocated the promotion of harmony and friendliness among the officers of the companies, for which purpose, he used annually to give them an excellent dinner in one of the large hotels, inviting several of his personal friends to join them. when travelling on the continent, he invariably made a point of visiting every one of the branches of the imperial gas association, making strict enquiries on every subject connected with the operations, and inviting all the officers to his table. i have frequently (after the year ) accompanied him on such occasions, and often wondered at his minute knowledge of every item entered in the books of the respective offices. he often gave proof, in the last years of his life, of his special interest in the prosperity of these companies by the exertions he would make in signing every document sent down to him at ramsgate for that purpose, even when he appeared to experience a difficulty in holding a pen. he strongly objected to a system of giving high dividends to the shareholders. "let us be satisfied," he used to say, "with five per cent., so that we may always rest in the full enjoyment of undisturbed life on the firm rock of security,"--the emblem represented on the office seal of the alliance. on august the th of that year he received a letter from genoa stating that his brother abraham was getting worse, and on saturday, the th, he received the sad news of his death, which took place at lyons whilst on his way back from cannes. "it was only in the month of january last," mr montefiore says of his brother, "that when his medical attendant recommended him to take a sea voyage, he agreed to go with me to jerusalem, if i would hire a ship to take us there." "seize, mortal," mr montefiore continues, quoting the words of the poet: "seize the transient hour, improve each moment as it flies; life a short summer--man a flower; he dies, alas! how soon he dies." ( a.m.).--the lessons he sets for himself this year are given in quotations from authors, the selections showing the reflex of the impressions made on his mind by current events. the first is an italian proverb: "chi parla semina, chi tace racolta," corresponding to the english, "the talker sows, the silent reaps." those which follow are from our own moralists:-- "a wise man will desire no more than what he may get justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and live upon contentedly." "he that loveth a book will never want a faithful friend, a wholesome counsellor, a cheerful companion, or an effective comforter." "the studies afford nourishment to our youth, delight to our old age, adorn prosperity, supply a refuge in adversity, and are a constant source of pleasure at home; they are no impediment while abroad, and attend us in the night season, in our travels, and in our retirement." "he may be well content that need not borrow nor flatter." he attends this year regularly all the meetings of eight companies or associations: the alliance british and foreign life and fire assurance, the alliance marine assurance, the imperial continental gas association, the provincial bank of ireland, the imperial brazilian mining, the chilian and peruvian mining, the irish manufactory, and the british colonial silk company. with all this, no doubt often very exciting work, he still finds time for attending all the meetings of charitable institutions of which he is a member, more especially those of his own community; while he is often met in the house of mourning performing duties sometimes most painful and distressing to a sympathising heart. _february th._--he attends for the first time the general board of the provincial bank of ireland. being now considered an authority of high standing in the financial world, various offers were made to him by promoters to join their companies or become one of their directors. among these undertakings is one which i will name on account of the interest every man of business now takes in it. i allude to a company which had for its object the cutting of a ship canal for uniting the atlantic and pacific oceans. he refused the directorship of that gigantic undertaking, which, after having been abandoned for nearly sixty years, was again taken up, under the name of the panama canal, by m. de lesseps. thirty years later mr montefiore also refused to take a leading part or directorship in the suez canal company, which m. de lesseps had offered him when in egypt. i happened to be present at the time when m. de lesseps called on him with that object. it was in the year , when mr montefiore had become sir moses montefiore, and was enjoying the hospitality of his late highness said pasha, who gave him one of his palaces to reside in during his stay at alexandria. m. de lesseps spoke to him for several hours on the subject, but he could not be persuaded that so great an undertaking was destined to be a pecuniary success. _may th._--mr and mrs montefiore leave for paris. on their return they proceed in july to oxford; and, at the end of the same month, we see them in ireland, whither mr montefiore went as a member of the deputation sent by the provincial bank. in recognition of the services rendered to the board by himself and the other members of the deputation, a resolution was passed, a copy of which is here subjoined. "provincial bank of ireland, "_friday, september th, _. "at a meeting of the court--present:--john morris, esq., in the chair; m. attwood, esq., m. p.; h. a. douglas, esq.; s. a. madgan, esq.; j. t. thorp, esq.; jas. brogdon, esq., m. p.; j. r. macqueen, esq., m. p.; c. e. prescott, esq.; s. n. ward, esq. "resolved unanimously, that the cordial thanks of the court are due to messrs medley, montefiore, and blount for the zeal and ability they have evinced in the management of the business committed to their care, the result of which has fully realised the expectations of the court, and will conduce most essentially to the prosperity of the company. "the chairman is requested to communicate the resolution to the gentlemen of the deputation on their return from ireland." ( a.m.).--the diary begins with the prayer, "renew in me, o lord, the right spirit." for the information of the general reader i quote a short statement from some historical records of the state of financial transactions in this and the previous year which will explain the importance of the entries mr montefiore made in these years, referring to monetary transactions. on the th of january there is an entry stating "the government will lend the merchants five millions of exchequer bills, and the bank directors have agreed to advance the money. they will not fund till june or july, and then only five or six millions." "this," mr montefiore thinks, "is much in favour of stocks." one of his acquaintance died suddenly at this time, an unfortunate event which he considered was the fatal result of large speculations. "these two years," the historian says, "were characterised by an extraordinary activity in all departments of trade and commerce. mr huskisson, a minister who was a high authority on commercial matters, originated several important measures, especially those relating to the repeal of all duties on goods passing between great britain and ireland, an alteration in the duties affecting the silk manufacture, and the repeal of the combination laws and of the law against the emigration of artisans; while the executive formed commercial treaties, on the reciprocity system, with various countries in europe, and, acknowledging the independence of the revolted spanish colonies in america, drew them as additional customers into the british market. capital now so far exceeded the ordinary means of its employment, that many joint-stock companies were formed as a means of giving it a wider scope. some of these associations professed objects which were by long established usage the proper business of individuals alone, and others involved hazardous and visionary projects to be carried into effect in remote countries. the depressed state of trade in and had led to a diminished importation and production of goods, and was succeeded by an advance of prices in . the consequence was a sudden and unusually large demand and a powerful reaction of supply, which did not cease till production had far exceeded the bounds of moderation. through the facilities afforded by a large issue of paper money, the delusion was kept up longer than it would otherwise have been. the first symptom of something wrong was the turning of the exchange against england. a diminution of issues at the bank followed. merchants began to experience difficulties in meeting pecuniary obligations. then took place a run upon the banks, some of which, both in london and the country, were obliged to stop payment. between october and february , fifty-nine commissions of bankruptcy were issued against english country banks, and four times the number of private compositions were calculated to have taken place during the same period. while merchants and manufacturers were without credit, their inferiors were without employment, and distress reached almost every class of the community. some liberal pecuniary measures on the part of the bank of england helped in a short time, rather by inspiring confidence than by actual disbursement of money, to retrieve in some measure the embarrassed circumstances of the country. "on the same day," mr montefiore says, "when the death of an unfortunate speculator caused a general gloom to prevail in the financial world, i was asked by a gentleman if i had the courage to join him in a speculation, my reply was i would see to-morrow." "i fear," mr montefiore observes, "this day's awful lesson is quite lost upon him." the entries i am now giving are very brief, sometimes abrupt, showing (probably) the excited state of affairs in the political and financial world, which appear to have induced him to form a resolution to withdraw entirely from all the turmoil of london. _march th._--heard there will be no war. the ministers' plan of funding and repaying six millions of the bank has lowered the funds. _march th._--attended the meeting of the schools; meeting of the society for granting marriage portions to orphans (spanish and portuguese hebrew community). _march th._--the king of portugal died; the emperor of austria dangerously ill; our good king much better. _april th._--dined with mr n. m. rothschild; met there prince esterhazy, duke of st albans, his brother and two sisters, lady augusta cotton, a son of lord coventry, and the earl of lauderdale. _april th._--the emperor nicholas insists upon the turks evacuating moldavia. _april th._--attended meeting of the elders (sp. and port. synagogue); signed cheques, dividends of the alliance, sixteen shillings per share. _june th._--war commences again in india, after bhurtpore had been stormed by lord combermere and peace made with the burmese, when they had to pay £ , sterling, and cede a great extent of the territory. during the following three months he again devotes much time to communal affairs, attending committees of schools and charitable institutions. _october th._--political events of great importance attract his attention. he calls with mr n. m. rothschild on prince esterhazy, who says that canning and villele are trying every means to settle a representative constitution for spain. _october nd._--the entry states, "received an express that the differences between the russians and turks are amicably settled." _october th._--he frequently attends meetings of the elders in this and the following month, also orders blankets for distribution among the poor. _december th._--the king sends a message to the house to the effect that five hundred troops would be sent to portugal. _december th._--the king of france's speech is considered very warlike. the diary concludes with the following memorandum:-- "by the blessings of god, prepare for a trip to jerusalem. get letters of introduction from lord auckland for malta, and from j. alexander for constantinople. study italian, french, and hebrew." chapter v. . first journey to jerusalem. the reader having accompanied mr and mrs montefiore through the first period of their life and work, and seen them deservedly raised to a position enabling them, if so disposed, to take a prominent part in important public movements, i shall now describe all the incidents of note in connection with their pursuits in the second period of their lives. in the year they decided to visit jerusalem. their sole reason for this determination was a wish to visit the holy land, a land with which their race is connected by so many associations, and of which the name is kept in loving remembrance in the prayers recited daily by every true israelite. mrs montefiore has given a most interesting account of that journey in her private journal, printed, but not published, and the following narrative is based upon the entries made therein, and in the diaries of mr montefiore. for the better understanding of those extracts which bear upon politics, it may not be out of place to briefly recapitulate the circumstances of the one important event that occurred in the administration of viscount goderich (mr robinson), who succeeded canning as premier under george iv. this event was the battle of navarino, which was followed by the establishment of greek independence. the cause of greece was supported, from different motives (see brewer's "hume"), by russia, france, and england. these powers had their squadrons in the levant, the english being under the command of sir edward codrington. war had not yet been declared; the turkish and egyptian fleet, under ibrahim pasha, lay in the bay of navarino, and there was an understanding that it should remain till the affairs of greece were arranged. as the turks attempted to violate this agreement a general engagement ensued, and the turkish and egyptian fleets were completely destroyed in the course of a few hours. by this impolitic act england and france played into the hands of russia, who was anxious to weaken the power of turkey, and thus they gave some help towards the long-cherished object of her ambition--the possession of constantinople. on may st, ( - a.m.), mr and mrs montefiore repaired to synagogue as was their custom early in the morning before undertaking any important work, for the purpose of invoking the blessing of divine providence on this their first and long-projected journey to jerusalem. fortified with letters of introduction, in the first instance, to admiral codrington, then commanding on the mediterranean station, and taking with them their own carriages, they travelled _viâ_ dover, calais, turin, milan, florence, and rome to naples. here a nephew of mr amschel rothschild assisted them in obtaining a vessel to take them to malta, where they visited the plantations of the silk company on the ditch of porto reale. there were about mulberry trees at this place, as well as about at sal marson, "all looking healthy. we were present," says mrs montefiore, "at a dinner given by us in the palace to the men, women, and children, who were and had been employed by the silk company, to the number of . the hall was beautifully decorated with shrubs and flowers, and 'welcome' was written in large letters at the top of the room. there were many joints of beef, a sheep roasted whole, macaroni, rice, bread, cheese, water melons, and good wine. everyone had as much as he could eat and drink. the broken victuals and wine were afterwards distributed among the poor to the number of thirty. a band of music then entered the hall, and all present danced, as happy as people could be." at the palace mr montefiore delivered lord auckland's and lord strangford's letters to the governor, the hon. f. c. ponsonby, who advised him to go to the east in a ship of war, on account of the greek pirates. amidst numerous kind and flattering attentions from the residents, amongst whom were sir john stoddart, mr and mrs st john, captain roberts, colonel bathurst, and miss hamilton, amidst amusements and excursions to gozo and marfa, mr and mrs montefiore did not forget on thursday, the nd of august, the fast which was kept on the day of the anniversary of the destruction of the temple in jerusalem. "thank god," he says in his diary, "we are quite well after breaking our fast, which we did at . , several stars being then visible. the day has been dreadfully hot and fatiguing. my poor wife suffered so much that i endeavoured to persuade her to break her fast about four o'clock, but she would not. i felt extremely weak, but was free from headache." the next day, captain anderson of the _leonidas_ called and agreed to take mr and mrs montefiore and two servants to alexandria, for a consideration of £ , and to wait there twenty days, and then take them to jaffa. at this stage mrs montefiore was taken ill, but owing to the kind attention of lady stoddart, and the assistance of mr milan, the governor's medical adviser, she soon recovered. mr and mrs montefiore now embarked on board the _leonidas_, and sailed under convoy of the _garnet_, with four other vessels to alexandria. from here they proceeded to cairo and the pyramids, where, by the courtesy of mr salt, the british consul general, mr montefiore had the honour of being presented to mohhammad 'ali pasha in full divan. mr maltass, the vice consul, acted as interpreter, the pacha speaking turkish and his visitor french. "we were graciously received," mr montefiore says, "and remained in conversation three quarters of an hour. we had coffee with him. he spoke much of his wishes to improve his people, enquired where i was going, if i was pleased with egypt, and paid me some compliments. after the interview i rode to the obelisk. on my return i called on mr salt. i found him much alarmed at the non-arrival of a despatch which had been sent by an english sloop of war. the porte had refused the mediation, and the english admiral had orders to act. mr salt was to see the pasha in the morning, and would then set off for alexandria. the pasha wrote to him saying that mr canning had died on the nd." the party now returned to alexandria, where they heard conflicting news with regard to the possibility of war. meanwhile they visited all places of interest, especially the synagogues, where the services appeared somewhat strange to them. special mention is made of the synagogue of signor fua, which they visited on new year's day, many of the tunes sung there being the same as those used in the london synagogues. the portion of the sacred scriptures was admirably read there by a young boy, "more in the german manner than in the portuguese." the scroll of the pentateuch was in a wooden case, over which was the cloak, and the president called up as many as twenty to hear the law read to them. the day of atonement and the tabernacle holidays had to be spent here in consequence of the impossibility of obtaining means of proceeding further. "i have still every desire," says mr montefiore, "to proceed to jerusalem, but cannot find any person willing to go with me. although the plague was at acre, the whole of syria in revolt, the christians fleeing to the mountains for safety, the question of peace or war still undecided, he himself ill, and mrs montefiore by no means recovered from her recent attack, he nevertheless determined at all risks to proceed to jaffa and jerusalem." "i find," he observed to his anxious wife, "my health and strength failing me so fast in this city, that i deem it now prudent to flee from it, even at the chance of encountering the 'greek pirates.'" he engaged for this purpose the _henry williams_, a brig of tons, under captain jones, to take them to jaffa and bring them back for £ . "i think," he says, "i more ardently desire to leave egypt than ever our forefathers did. no one will ever recite the passover service" (which gives an account of the exodus from egypt) "with more true devotion than i shall do, when it pleases providence to restore me to my own country, and redeem me and my dear wife from this horrible land of misery and plague, the hand of god being still upon it." these are expressions to which most persons in egypt might frequently give utterance, when in a state of great pain and irritation, tormented by thousands of mosquitoes, and more especially when living in small confined apartments like those of the casino then occupied by mr montefiore. only those who have been in egypt fifty or sixty years ago can form an idea of the discomfort a traveller then had to put up with, and this was naturally keenly felt by those who, like mr montefiore, had been used to every comfort and attention in an english home. _tuesday, october th._--they arrive at jaffa. the governor at first refused to allow any franks to land, and ordered captain jones off, but the british consul having procured permission for them, they landed at mid-day. they found the road level and very sandy, lined with prickly pear, pomegranate, fig, orange, and lemon trees, the finest they had ever seen. on reaching ramlah, mr montefiore was so fatigued he could scarcely dismount; almost too weak to walk. _wednesday, october th._--they left ramlah at a.m., and entered the gate of david at jerusalem at p.m. on approaching the holy city they dismount, manifesting their grief at the sight of jerusalem in ruins, as mourners do when bewailing the loss of some dear relative. mr and mrs montefiore then offered up a fervent prayer, giving thanks to god for having brought them safely to jerusalem, the great and long desired object of their journey, and praying for his blessing on all they loved. they then repaired to the house of mr joseph amzalak, while the gentlemen who accompanied them took up their quarters in the greek convent. _thursday, october th._--they attend synagogue at break of day in the house of their host. "thanks to providence," mr montefiore says, "i feel better, though still very weak." they receive visits from the head and representatives of the spanish hebrew community, also from the head and representatives of the german hebrew community, all making the kindest offers of their services. great complaints were made of poverty in jerusalem, and oppression by the governors, who were for ever calling for more money. "there are," they said, "fifty portuguese families, consisting of about individuals; forty german families, or persons; and near elderly widows in great distress." mr and mrs montefiore subsequently went to see the foundation stones of the ancient temple, generally called the "western wall"; also to a house, from the roof of which they had a fine view of the mosque of omar, which is built on the site of solomon's temple. on their return they called on the rev. hahám moses soozin (the spiritual head of the portuguese community), but as he happened to be out, they went to take coffee with the rev. rabbi mendel, who occupied a like position in the german community. "he had prepared an excellent room for us," writes mr montefiore, "but our kind host would not allow us to leave him." during their absence from home the governor sent to say, that he expected mr montefiore to come and take coffee, and that he regretted that mr montefiore should have gone to the jews: if he did not like going to the convent, he would have given him a house in the city. mr montefiore, on hearing the message, said, "i hope i shall ever live and die in the society of my brethren of israel." _friday, th._--this being the mohammedan sabbath, the governor was at the mosque, and mr montefiore could not call on him. mrs montefiore, accompanied by some ladies and travelling companions, went to see the tomb of rachel. mr montefiore and his host, mr amzalak, proceeded to a college bearing the name of "etz-khayim" (tree of life), for the cultivation of theological studies. it belongs to the portuguese community, and was established years ago by an english gentleman of the name of "franco." mr montefiore then went to the ancient burial ground, where he obtained some terra santa to take home with him. on his return to the house of his host, he found every member of the family prepared to welcome the sabbath. the apartments were beautifully clean and ready one hour before the time fixed for the commencement of prayers. after having attended synagogue, they had an excellent dinner, their host and hostess being most kind and chatty. "i was in better spirits," said mr montefiore, "than i had been for months." _saturday, october th._--they again attended the house of god. mr montefiore took the opportunity to offer a special prayer in grateful recognition of the great mercy it had pleased heaven to bestow upon him and his wife, in permitting them to behold the land of promise. the president of the congregation requested mr montefiore not to make any offering of a large amount, otherwise the local authorities might hear of it, and would still further raise their taxes. at o'clock they called on the rev. hahám moses soozin, after which they went to dine with the rev. rabbi mendel. here mr montefiore expressed his hope that both the german and portuguese communities would always remain united in the blessed bonds of harmony. in the afternoon he paid his respects to the governor at the palace. the governor offered him coffee and other refreshments, and was extremely civil and friendly. on mr montefiore's expressing a wish to see jerusalem again, his excellency said he would be happy to let him have his guard. mr montefiore sent him a valuable telescope as a souvenir of the pleasant interviews, while hoping that the governor might behave better to the jews in future. his excellency, in return, as a token of his appreciation of mr montefiore's visit, affixed the visa to his passport in most flattering terms. as these were very peculiar, i append a translation. "we declare that to-day arrived at jerusalem our friend the english gentleman, mr montefiore. he has visited all the holy places, and all the grandees of the town, as well as several of lesser note, who have been highly gratified by making his acquaintance, he being a person of the greatest merit, and unequalled among the nation for propriety and amiability of manners; and having ourselves experienced the highest pleasure in his society we have written this to testify our sense of his politeness. "given in the last day of rubic-el-owal, . "el hha'jj háfiz mohhammad ráshid sathashour (or selhhoor) hassa, _governor of jerusalem_." "no city in the world," mr montefiore observes in his diary, "can have a finer situation than this; nor is there a better climate;" and he concludes his record of his day's proceedings by wishing "many happy returns of the day to his dear judith." the th of october being his wife's birthday, which was generally signalised, whether at home or abroad, by the distribution of numerous gifts to the poor and to the charitable institutions, it was, as a matter of course, thus observed in the holy city, and in an unusually liberal spirit. _sunday, october st._--their short sojourn in jerusalem was now concluded. mr montefiore rose at half-past two in the morning, and joined a number of persons who had been sitting up all night in the house of his host praying for his safe return, and for the welfare of all friends and lovers of zion. both the rev. moses soozin and the rev. rabbi mendel, accompanied by more than one hundred of the principal inhabitants, came to see them off. at . they took leave of their kind host and hostess, who had most liberally housed and fed them without asking for the smallest remuneration, and had loaded them with cakes, wine, &c., for their journey. after a charming ride of over five hours between the mountains they came to the first well at the commencement of the plains, and arrived at the greek convent of ramlah. the road was very stony, rough, and steep, but no precipices; on the sides of the mountains were olives and fruit trees; the valleys well cultivated, the plain sandy. they saw nothing of aboo-goosh, who was then the terror of the land, but they went rather in fear of him. _tuesday, rd._--they started from ramlah at a.m., and reached jaffa at . , where they stayed a day, and then embarked on board the _henry williams_. the next day, being the anniversary of mr montefiore's birthday, he makes an entry of the event in his diary in the following words:-- "this day i begin a new era. i fully intend to dedicate much more time to the welfare of the poor, and to attend synagogue as regularly as possible on monday, thursday, and saturday." _thursday, october th._--they were hailed about . p.m. by seven large boats, turkish men-of-war, full of soldiers, who mistook them for greeks. these boats came alongside and continued very close, appearing to entertain great suspicions of them, as several greek vessels had been cruising off the port during the day. at dawn, however, they were convinced of their mistake. the following day, when close to the harbour of alexandria, the travellers saw a turkish corvette blown up. it had been used as a training ship for the pasha's midshipmen, and it was supposed that two hundred persons perished. this awful occurrence greatly terrified them. they offered up additional thanks to heaven for having hitherto held them under its merciful protection. at . a.m. they returned to the harbour of alexandria, went on shore, and paid a visit to mr and mrs barker, where they met the austrian consul. they also called on other friends, who were pleasantly surprised to see them return so speedily, having been uneasy about them on account of the many greek vessels which had been off the harbour for some time past. in the evening they went on board the _leonidas_, where they purposed remaining. _saturday, october th._--mr and mrs barker, captain richard of the _pelorus_, messrs bell and harris, paid them a visit, bringing the news that the pasha had received an account of the british admiral having fired on a turkish ship, obliging her to put back into port. mr barker said that the pasha had told him on the previous night that he expected war, that it would be one of religion, and would last fifty years. "these were the words," mr montefiore writes in his diary, "mr salt had uttered to me on the th of september. captain richards also thought there would be war. six vessels came into the harbour, and every one had been plundered by greek pirates. a fine genoese sloop which they passed on thursday near rosetta had been boarded in the evening and robbed; two other ships were also plundered in sight of the harbour of alexandria on the same day, and although witnessed by the men-of-war, the wind prevented any of them giving chase." "in truth," mr montefiore says, "i have every reason to believe that for the last three months we are the only persons, sailing without a convoy, who have escaped." _tuesday, october th._--they went on shore to be present at the naming of mr s. m. fua's infant son. the women who generally attend on festive as well as on mournful occasions, made a horrid noise, which, however, appeared to please the egyptian guests very much. mr montefiore called on mr barker, and the latter gave him the firman from the pasha, which was to facilitate his travelling in egypt. mr barker also begged of him, in the event of mr salt's death, to use his influence to obtain for him the post of consul general. mr salt, it afterwards appeared, must have been already dead when mr barker made this request, but, in all probability, he did not like to break the sad news to one just coming from a place of festivity. "i little expected," says mr montefiore, "when i took leave of him on the th of this month, previous to my departure for jerusalem, that it would be the last time i should see him. upon my enquiring then of him if i could do anything for him in the holy city, he thanked me, and said, 'only pray for me.' to the will of god we must all submit." _wednesday, october st._--the pasha has this day made a proclamation in alexandria, calling upon all true mussulmans to come forward immediately for the protection of their religion, and to commence work at the fortification instantly. capt. richards, who paid mr and mrs montefiore a late visit in the evening, said that he should sail the next day after the funeral. he had just come from the pasha, who told him that the grand signor (the sultan) had given orders to proceed to sea at all hazards. _thursday, november st._--mr montefiore attended the funeral of mr salt. all the foreign consuls were present in full uniform, also capt. richards of the _pelorus_, with his officers, and many others--merchants, captains, &c. "the procession," he writes, "was headed by two handsome horses of the pasha, without riders, then followed twelve of his janizaris (yenitjeri), twelve english marines, with arms reversed, and the english naval officers. the coffin was carried by six british sailors, and the pall was supported by six consuls, mr barker acting as chief mourner, and being followed by other consuls, merchants, captains, &c. mr salt was buried in the garden attached to his cottage, the latin convent having refused him burial, although his wife is interred there, he being a protestant." after the funeral service, the marines fired three rounds. the _pelorus_ fired minute guns during the procession. the distance was nearly half-a-mile, and the dust and heat were so unbearable that mr montefiore says, "i was apprehensive of getting the fever." _friday, nd._--a turkish corvette brings news that the allied admirals off navarino had, a fortnight before, sent word to ibrahim pasha to send the egyptian fleet to alexandria and the ottoman fleet to constantinople, which he had refused to do. the allied fleet then entered the ports in defiance of all the batteries, destroyed thirteen of the pasha's finest ships, and thirty-two of the sultan's, with a reported loss of or lives on the side of the turks. the allied fleet then sailed from navarino, probably for constantinople. all the franks in alexandria are in the greatest alarm, dreading the revenge of the soldiers and turks. _saturday, november rd._--mr barker sent a note with an extract of the admiral's letter to him, confirming yesterday's news. the battle was fought on the th october, the turks being said to have been the aggressors. the turco-egyptian fleet was annihilated, with a loss of men. "we are extremely uneasy," mr montefiore says, "at the prospect of not being allowed to sail next tuesday with the french convoy, the french captain having refused to give instructions to, or to take charge of, any but french ships. he said we might sail at the same time, and if we could keep up with him, he would defend us, but he could not stop one moment, or shorten sail for us to keep company. mr barker has promised to go on board the _commodore_ and solicit the captain, as a personal favour, to direct the schooner to give us instructions. _sunday, november th._--mr barker has been with the pasha, who spoke lightly of the loss of his fleet, and said he would soon have another. his sentiments continued unchanged with regard to the franks, and he pledged himself for their security; he said it was contrary to the mooslim religion to destroy christians, and in the event of the sultan permitting such violence, he could not be called a good mooslim afterwards. "a poor satisfaction for those he murdered," writes mr montefiore. _monday, november th._--they went on shore to take leave of all their friends. mr barker gave mr montefiore a letter to lord dudley, soliciting the post of consul-general. he advised capt. anderson, as a friend, not to start, and the person who had chartered the captain's vessel also insisted on her waiting for a proper convoy, as the french schooner had refused to be delayed at sea for any but french ships. mr barker advised mr montefiore to go by one of the french vessels. "they had the conscience," mr montefiore says, "to ask , francs. capt. anderson, however, has resolved to go, and we shall go with him." chapter vi. - . mr and mrs montefiore leave alexandria--a sea voyage sixty years ago. _wednesday, november th, ._--mr and mrs montefiore left egypt. at a.m. they were out of the harbour, sailing under the protection of the french schooner _la dauphinoise_, capt. auvray, the convoy consisting of four french, one austrian, three english, and one russian vessel. _tuesday, wednesday, and thursday._--they proceeded with some difficulty, but on friday, november , all on board thought they would be able to enter the harbour of malta, as the weather was favourable, and captain anderson had resolved to make the attempt, although the sun had already set. in about two hours they were so near the shore that they could see the lights distinctly, and they could not have been more than a mile from the mouth of the port. all were extremely happy, expecting to anchor within an hour. "how frail are human joys," exclaims mr montefiore; "most suddenly the wind had changed again to the west, and commenced blowing in a terrific manner. thus, in an instant, were our hopes gone, and we were blown off the land, a tremendous sea obliging us to take to our beds. god only knows when we shall reach malta." _saturday, december ._--"the last was a dreadful night," he writes, "it blew almost a hurricane: a frightful sea: the ship rolled and pitched so as to occasion serious alarm to all on board. poor judith suffered severely. the captain had never in his life experienced a worse night, and to prevent our being blown further off malta, he carried a press of sail. i shall never forget the night, but on each sabbath eve shall recollect with gratitude god's mercy in saving us from destruction. this morning, at daybreak, we were five miles off malta, having retained this situation by tacking backwards and forwards during the night. the weather continued rough and stormy, but thanks be to the almighty god, we anchored safely in the quarantine harbour at half-past seven, after a long and boisterous voyage of twenty-four days." in commemoration of this merciful event, it became a custom of mr montefiore, from the year in which it took place, to the last year of his life, to read on the first night of the passover festival, the entry he then made in his journal, consisting of several appropriate verses from the psalms of david. "sir john stoddart wrote me a very friendly note, and came to the waterside to see us. after dinner we left the _leonidas_, having spent more than three months in captain anderson's company, and slept sixty-eight nights on board his ship. he was most attentive and obliging, and we left him with regret." at five minutes past five they entered the lazaretto. _sunday, december nd._--the governor sent his private secretary to thank them for a turtle which they had brought him as a present, and to enquire after their health, requesting particularly to be informed how the news of the battle of navarino had been received at alexandria. mr montefiore replied by a special letter. sir john stoddart, the chief judge, with his daughter and mr maxwell, came to pay them a visit, but they were not allowed to approach within two yards of them. captains anderson and jones called and brought the news that the _martha_, captain smart, had come into harbour; they had been plundered and dreadfully ill-treated by the greeks. in the course of their stay at malta, mr and mrs montefiore had the pleasure of receiving a visit from captain lewis davies of the _rose_, the hero of navarino; they had met him before at the houses of mr barker and the late mr salt in alexandria. he remained with them a full hour, giving a most interesting description of the battle. after so long an absence abroad, mr montefiore, one might have thought, would have been longing to be back in england to take a rest, but he has no such idea; on the contrary, he is already planning another tour in connection with business. on sunday, december th, he writes, "i much wish it may be in my power, after our return to england, to see vienna, and visit our gas establishments at berlin, hanover, rotterdam, and ghent. i shall strive to do so, provided i succeed in reaching london by the end of february. as soon as we get pratique, we shall endeavour to procure a vessel for palermo, remain there a couple of days, thence to naples, where i hope to get letters from our dear mother and friends." in the course of this narrative we shall have frequent opportunities of witnessing a peculiar characteristic of his. when he had achieved some great work, and was yet engaged in affixing his signature to a report on the same, whilst all his fellow-workers were exhausted with fatigue, his restless activity would impel him to begin a fresh scheme for the alleviation of distress or for the cause of humanity, notwithstanding his own exertions, and in spite of many nights of anxiety which may have attended his former enterprise. _thursday, december th._--this being the th anniversary of the victory of the maccabees, mr and mrs montefiore celebrated it by special prayers and thanksgivings, an additional number of lights being burnt in honour of the occasion. a russian officer, who happened to be their neighbour in the lazaretto, spoke in glowing terms of the bravery of jewish soldiers in russia, and of their wonderful endurance in the days of want and distress so often experienced during the war. when mr (then sir moses) montefiore appeared before the emperor nicholas in the year to plead the cause of his brethren, he had the satisfaction of hearing similar remarks from his majesty's lips. _friday, th december._--lady stoddart and her son paid them a visit; captain and mrs copeland also came to see them. the captain said there was great probability of war, adding that the franks had escaped from constantinople, and that the ambassadors were expected to leave immediately. _monday, december th._--they visited every part of the lazaretto, and found the hospital clean, and in excellent order, but untenanted. they also went to see the english cemetery, where those who die whilst in quarantine or on board ship in the harbour are buried. about a dozen graves are always kept ready for immediate use. describing the process of fumigating letters and papers, which they saw that day, mr montefiore says: "the letters are opened and placed in an iron closet, or on an iron grid; a saucepan containing burning bran and sulphur is then placed on the ground beneath them, and the closet is shut for fifteen minutes. they are then taken out again, and the process is complete." _tuesday, december th._--several vessels came into the quarantine harbour, and mr montefiore had an interesting conversation with mr de wimmer, a "lieutenant au corps de chasseurs d'ordonnance de s.m. l'empereur de toutes les russies," who had been with the emperor alexander at the time of his death. they also received a letter from monsieur peynado correa, informing them that the governor had confirmed the constitution given to the jews by sir thomas maitland. _wednesday, december th._--a ship arrived from constantinople, having performed the journey in twelve days. it brought the news that the ambassadors had left the same day, and that all ships of the allied powers were put under embargo. while at dinner mr montefiore received a polite note from mr greig, containing the welcome intelligence that they should have pratique on the next day. "this indulgence," mr montefiore observes, "is extremely kind on the part of the governor, although we have been very comfortable, and had not one irksome hour during the whole time we have been confined in the lazaretto." _thursday, december th._--they left the lazaretto. _saturday, december nd._--mr montefiore, accompanied by sir john stoddart, called on admiral codrington. he had a very polite reception both from the admiral and lady codrington. the admiral said he had been very much interested in the account which mr montefiore sent him of the manner in which the pasha received the news of the battle of navarino, and took much pains to explain his motives for commencing hostilities. he said the ministers did not seem aware of all the instructions he had received from stratford canning. in reply to mr montefiore's enquiry, the admiral said that if the turks would not listen to his speaking-trumpet, he would have to make use of the cannon. he had on several occasions made signal for battle before the th of october, but his good star had attended him, and he had been prevented; the first time by adverse winds, and on the second occasion the french fleet came up in time to over-awe the turks, and they returned. the pasha had expressed his intention of throwing off his allegiance to the porte, and professed great friendship for the french admiral, commanding his son, ibrahim pasha, to follow his directions; he also wished to write to the english himself afterwards. admiral codrington did not give the pasha credit for much sincerity. he then spoke about the greek pirates and greek government, and promised mr montefiore a passage to naples, after which the latter took his leave. _sunday, december rd._--they took a walk over the silk company's estate, which they had visited early in the autumn. since that time about young trees had been transplanted, new walls had been erected, ditches cut, and ground prepared for the reception of french and neapolitan shrubs. they were disappointed to learn that the sale of the garden produce scarcely brought enough to cover the expense of sending it to market, fruit and vegetables being so plentiful and cheap. the orange trees were almost breaking down under their load of fruit, which scarcely paid for the gathering. the "nopal" or prickly pears have been rooted up, as well as most of the vines and figs. a few young nopals have been planted, and some preparation made for experiments in cochineal. mr montefiore writes: "the ditches discovered on the south side of the valley have evidently been ancient tombs. those on the hill, round and near the palace, were no doubt planted with trees, and there is every reason to believe that they may be found running in every direction on the estate." sir edward codrington offered them a convoy for the next day, but mr montefiore requested him to permit the _mastiff_, captain copeland, to take them to naples, which request was kindly granted. _sunday, december th._--in the evening the admiral sent his secretary to mr montefiore with the letters, requesting that he would deliver them personally--one to lord burghersh at florence, and another to the duke of clarence. _monday, december st._--"a very tempestuous day," he writes; "the wind is so high that it is impossible for any vessel to get out of the harbour. we must have patience, and wait a little longer. i feel rather better," he adds, "but my neck still continues troublesome." this being the last day of the civil year, a feeling of deep thankfulness prompts him to end his diary with a prayer similar to the one he uttered on the conclusion of the jewish year. the homeward journey was not marked by any incidents which call for special description. wherever the travellers halted they followed the daily itinerary, which, once settled, was never departed from, and it was as follows:--first they repaired to synagogue, then they went to the principal jewish communal schools and institutions, and in the course of the afternoon exchanged visits with friends or with those to whom they had letters of introduction, whilst the local sights were by no means forgotten. _friday, january th, ._--the _mastiff_, having left malta on the nd of january, was towed into the harbour of naples, where they anchored. mr and mrs montefiore proceeded at once to the hotel, where they met baron and baroness amschel rothschild, their handsome son, baron charles rothschild, and baroness charlotte rothschild. a few days later they visited herculaneum and pompeii. _wednesday, january th._--mrs montefiore dined at baron charles', but mr montefiore was not well enough to accompany her. it was a large dinner party, and the guests included the austrian ambassador with his wife, the duke and duchess d'ascoli, the duke and duchess theodore, sir henry and lady lushington, and others. _thursday, january th._--mr montefiore was still obliged to keep his room the whole day. captain copeland gave an entertainment on board the _mastiff_ to baroness charlotte rothschild, mrs montefiore, and barons charles and anselm rothschild, who afterwards dined with mr montefiore. in the evening mrs montefiore accompanied baroness charlotte to a ball at the sardinian embassy, to which both she and mr montefiore had been invited by the marquis and marchioness di s. saturius. mrs montefiore said there were about five hundred of the nobility present, who had been invited in honour of the princess salerno, a daughter of the emperor of austria, whom she saw there enjoying a waltz. _friday, january th._--the duke and duchess d'ascoli paid mrs montefiore a long visit. the duchess appeared to take great interest in the holy land, making many enquiries on subjects connected with sacred scripture. when she had obtained all the information mrs montefiore could give her, she asked to see the curiosities which the latter had brought with her. mrs montefiore produced the whole of her collection. the duchess seemed especially pleased with a shell engraved with historical subjects by a bethlehem artist. mrs montefiore requested her acceptance of it, and the duchess appeared much gratified. _sunday, january th._--mr montefiore called on the secretary of the british legation, with whom he left the admiral's letter for lord burghersh. _thursday, january th._--we find them at rome, visiting some of the principal studios of the sculptors, albertus thorwaldsen, canova, his successor cincinnato baruzzi, and others. at the studio of guiseppe pacetti in the via sisterno they saw an ancient statue of a negress with flowers, for which mr montefiore intended to make an offer. _friday, january th._--they visited the vatican, and all the museums, galleries, and places of interest. _sunday, january th._--in the course of the day they received a deputation from the community, who informed them that there were in rome of their brethren, of whom the majority were poor, and mr montefiore requested their acceptance of his and mrs montefiore's offerings to alleviate the distress. he purchased the female figure, in black marble, representing abundance, which he had seen on the previous thursday in the via sisterno, with the intention of placing it in the hall of his house at park lane. the next day they left rome. _friday, february st._--they reached leghorn safely, where mr montefiore at once offered up the following prayer:-- "praise and most humble and sincere thanks to the giver of all good, the creator of heaven and earth, for all his manifold mercies towards me, for having preserved me from so many perils and brought me safe to the city of my birth, and in the enjoyment of one of the greatest blessings providence has bestowed on me, the company of my dear judith, the companion and sharer of all my danger." _saturday, february nd._--they visited the synagogue. it was crowded. the state of mr montefiore's health not being as satisfactory as he could have wished, he sent for a physician. _sunday, february rd._--they remained in the hotel, mr montefiore not feeling well. "were it not," he writes, "for the extreme anxiety i feel to see my dear mother, i should, without the slightest hesitation, resolve upon remaining in italy for six months at the baths of casciana, about twenty miles from here. i find my complaint gets worse every day. god help me!" _monday, february th._--they visit the schools. a deputation from the institution "or tora," consisting of messrs joseph uzielli, abram pardo, michael buznah, and salomoni mortara, received them. "i was much delighted," says mr montefiore, "with the appearance and behaviour of the boys, who have made great progress in their studies. most of the seniors, although not more than fourteen, are perfect masters of the hebrew language, and can write in the same on any subject of their studies that may be given them. they receive a most liberal education, even music and drawing. there are about sixty boys; some few pay six francs a month. after the portion of the pentateuch is read on sabbath in the synagogue, the boys draw lots which one should read the portion from the prophets. all must therefore be well prepared." mr montefiore next went to a school open to all children of poor jews who are in leghorn. there were about boys present. they are taught reading, writing, and arithmetic on the lancastrian principle. they then proceeded to the girls' schools, where, in addition to the above subjects, children are taught needlework and straw-plaiting for bonnets. some of the girls, not more than eight or nine years old, translated the hebrew prayers. mr and mrs montefiore, in token of the satisfaction they had felt at the inspection of the schools, left generous presents for the pupils. they then journeyed through la spezia, chiavari, genoa, novi, turin, suza, lanslebourg, maltaveme, sava, les echelles, lyons, la palisse, and neuville, in their own carriage, then on to paris and calais, where they arrived on wednesday. "i am still," mr montefiore says, "very unwell indeed. i feel that some disorder is making daily and rapid strides; am most anxious to reach home for the benefit of rest and quiet. the newspapers appear very warlike, and i think there can be but little doubt as to the truth of their reports. i hope i shall not be induced to enter into any large speculation; never having been endowed with courage in my younger days, it would now be nothing less than downright folly. may heaven guard me from my friends as well as from my enemies." chapter vii. - . arrival in england--illness of mr montefiore-the struggle for jewish emancipation. _thursday, february th._--they arrived safely in dover harbour, and had the pleasure of seeing some of their near relatives who had come down to welcome them. they proceeded next day to their home in london, where they immediately paid a visit to mr montefiore's mother. having discharged this pleasing duty, they repaired to the admiralty, to leave the letters which had been entrusted by admiral codrington to mr montefiore for delivery. they reached their home at five o'clock, again to enjoy their sabbath, a day of hallowed peace and rest, at park lane. the following morning they attended synagogue to offer up prayers for their safe return, and were received by the ecclesiastical authorities and representatives of the community with manifestations of pleasure at their reappearance among them. later in the day mr montefiore waited on the duke of clarence to deliver into his hands the letter from the admiral. mr montefiore returned much pleased with the audience he had had with his royal highness. the great object which mr and mrs montefiore had in view, when setting out for the holy land, had so far been accomplished, that they had made a sojourn of three days in the city of jerusalem, a gratification, however, which they had been permitted to enjoy only in return for unusually great sacrifices. mr montefiore now placed himself under the care of an eminent physician, who for a long time visited him almost daily. as his doctor did not, however, forbid mr montefiore's leaving the house or following his usual pursuits, he went regularly, except on the sabbath and festivals, to the city, attending the boards of the alliance marine and alliance life and fire offices, the imperial continental gas association, the silk company, and those of all his various communal and charitable institutions. his physician would often accompany him on his way to the city. in accordance with the injunction in deut. xxiii. , "that which has gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform," he endeavoured to fulfil the promises he had made in egypt, jaffa, and malta. he spoke to sir robert farquhar in favour of mr barker's appointment as consul general in egypt in place of the late mr salt. he gave signor damiani's letter to mr george canning, first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer, soliciting him to appoint young damiana british consul at jaffa, in succession to his father. finally, he called on dr lee of doctors' commons, leaving the manuscript, "the story of gaiffa," which the author had requested him, when at malta, to take there. he had the satisfaction of hearing afterwards that his friendly intercession on behalf of the applicants had been partially successful. he was now called upon to fulfil a promise of a mournful nature, which, previously to his setting out for the holy land, he had made at the request of the ecclesiastical chief of his community. _ th sivan_ a.m.--"it was sunday morning, the st of june , when the rev. hazan de sola informed me that it had pleased heaven to call to eternal glory our most worthy haham meldola, this morning suddenly, and that he had appointed me his executor conjointly with two other gentlemen. "tuesday has been a very fatiguing day. at half-past eight i was at mansell street attending as lavador. i took care to see that all the rev. haham's requests were strictly complied with. at twelve the funeral cortege proceeded to bevis marks. the rev. dr hirschel preached an excellent discourse over the coffin at the old burial ground. the body was carried by all the representatives of the congregation. i assisted in lowering it into the grave. i subsequently returned to the house of the mourners, there joining the assembly at vesper prayers. it was seven o'clock when i left." mr montefiore frequently called at the house of the bereaved relatives, conveying to them his sympathy and making friendly offers of his services. always feeling an interest in objects connected with the holy land, he went to look at the drawings and sketches made by mr thomas wyse, jun. (son-in-law of lucien bonaparte), during his stay in that part of the world. some of them he found beautiful and faithful representations of views in and about jerusalem. but what engages his mind most now is the desirability of procuring the necessary means for the support of educational institutions in the holy land. the spread of education and the establishment of schools and colleges have justly been regarded by all enlightened nations as a barometer of civilisation, a sign of the pulsation of life in the heart of a people, and the gladdening light and comforting joy for both rich and poor. but all who are acquainted with the history of the jews, both ancient and modern, will readily admit that no other nation or class of people have ever shown their appreciation of it under more unfavourable circumstances and at a greater sacrifice. they never relaxed their exertions to benefit by education, notwithstanding the numerous and painful checks from which their progress has often suffered. as the grain of seed under the rough and stony surface, trodden down by the heavy steps of the wanderer, only after turning and twisting in many directions, finally sends forth its tender blade into the pure atmosphere and reviving light of the sun, so the seed of intellect in the brain of the jew had to pass through many trials and troubles before its first shoot was permitted to show itself and to thrive in the beneficent rays of liberty. an opportunity presented itself to mr montefiore to assist the good cause of education by the arrival of a special messenger from jerusalem, sent to draw his attention to an important case referring to a legacy bequeathed to a theological college in the holy city. this messenger, the rev. a. j., who was a member of the college in question belonging to the spanish and portuguese community in jerusalem, said that he was sent by the representatives of that institution to make their case known to the head of the spanish and portuguese community in london, and to receive £ consols from a certain person. the interest of that stock having been bequeathed to the said college by two friends of zion residing in england, the representatives should have received the same in regular remittances. the person mentioned, however, being the only surviving trustee, had sold the stock, and had for some years discontinued the remittance of dividends. mr montefiore gave the messenger a most polite and friendly reception, and called on two gentlemen who, he knew, would take an interest in the case, asking them to associate themselves with him in furtherance of the above object. a few days later he gave an entertainment at park lane, inviting most of the leading and influential members of the community to meet the messenger from jerusalem, who, it was here suggested, should be asked to deliver a discourse in the portuguese synagogue. the rev. a. j. consented to do so, and gave an interesting address to the community in pure biblical hebrew. mr montefiore went with his friends to the solicitor to hear the trustee's answer to the bill filed in chancery, and he promised to give them his opinion on the subject in a few days. whilst awaiting the solicitor's opinion, the rev. a. j. was taken seriously ill, and was received into the hospital of the spanish and portuguese community, where at mr montefiore's expense he was visited by the most eminent physicians. eventually he recovered. ten days later the rev. a. j. sent for j. m. b., a particular friend of the trustee, to whom he made the following proposition:--"that the trustee should pay him (the rev. a. j.) his expenses and all law charges, and also £ down, the balance to be invested in the names of trustees, and the present trustee to enjoy the interest during his lifetime, the capital at his decease reverting to jerusalem." j. m. b. promised to communicate the offer to his friend. the solicitor informed mr montefiore that this gentleman's attorney had returned to england, and would lose no time in giving an answer to the messenger's amendment bill in the court of chancery. some time afterwards mr montefiore met by appointment with two other friends at the house of the messenger, leaving him the power of attorney, to act for the recovery of the funds. three months later, however, he and two friends had to undertake the very unpleasant task of informing the rev. gentleman that, in their opinion, he would not be able to obtain any money from the trustee, and a sum of money had to be given him to enable him to return to jerusalem. with a sorrowful heart at the result of his mission he left england. "but never," he writes in a letter addressed to mr montefiore from jerusalem, "will the recollection of the great kindness, sympathy, and attention which i have met from yourself and my many friends be effaced from my memory." this misappropriation of trust funds intended for poor students in the holy city roused the utmost indignation in the community. it was deemed a sacrilege, and the strongest terms of reprobation were expressed against the individual who had thus outraged the feelings of humanity. "there can be no doubt," said mr montefiore many years later, speaking on the same subject, "that trusts connected with charitable or strictly religious institutions are more liable than others to be, if not strictly speaking misappropriated, at least misdirected, though it may probably be unintentional, more especially when the religious views of the trustees differ from those of the testator. the trust in this particular instance being connected with the study of a language held in esteem by all religious denominations, the act becomes much aggravated, nay, unpardonable." the fervent attachment which mr montefiore evinced to the holy land did not in any way interfere with his devotion to england. i have already pointed out to the reader the great zeal which he manifested for the defence of his country when serving as a volunteer, and on all occasions he continued to declare that he was ever ready to fulfil his duties by going on active service. in common with his brethren in all parts of the world, he felt it most painfully that, in a country like england, where so many well-meaning citizens evinced their sympathy with the sufferers from oppression, he as a jew should still be debarred from many of those rights and privileges to which every loyal subject is fully entitled. the sacrifices which the jews all over europe had made during the war of , by shedding their blood in defence of the country in which they lived, and by their liberal contributions to the funds for the relief of the wounded, and the support of the soldiers' widows and orphans, had been acknowledged and appreciated. in holland and france the jews were fully emancipated, filling high municipal offices in their respective districts, whereas in england the jews who, since the year , when the ministry was compelled to withdraw the naturalisation act, after it had passed the house of lords, had been in vain endeavouring to secure their civil rights, thought that the time had now arrived when they might hope to be more successful in the just demands they made upon an enlightened assembly of legislators in both houses of parliament. on june th mr montefiore went with mr i. l. goldsmid to the duke of norfolk to meet various committees of dissenters and catholics, for the purpose of consulting as to the best mode of obtaining privileges for the jews. they there met messrs blount, c. butler (catholics), foa, bowany, and aspenhill (dissenters), and interchanged views on the subject of obtaining relief from all religious disabilities. similar meetings were held in other localities which were attended by several members of the community, the result being, as is well known, the repeal of the test and corporation act. greatly encouraged by the result of these meetings, mr montefiore, conjointly with mr n. m. rothschild, mr i. l. goldsmid, and others, pursued with great energy the object in view. in the month of august, mr and mrs montefiore set out for a little excursion to exeter, bath, and other places, for the purpose of giving mr montefiore a short respite from the fatigue entailed upon him by his onerous duties. we find them again at park lane about the end of that month. the diary of continues to record the great exertions made by mr montefiore and other members of his community to attain their civil rights. he attends besides to all his various duties, and has headed the volume by the three following lessons for his own guidance:-- "be content with what god has allotted you, and you are rich." "to learn, listen. to be safe, be silent." "no man can be happy who does not devote at least five or six hours daily to some useful employment." on sunday, nd february, he writes: "mr isaac l. goldsmid paid me a long visit, consulting as to the best mode of procuring general toleration for the jews. judith and self took a ride to see hannah rothschild and her husband. we had a long conversation on the subject of liberty for the jews. he said he would shortly go to the lord chancellor and consult him on the matter. hannah said if he did not, she would. "the spirit manifested here by mrs rothschild, and the brief but impressive language she used, reminded me most strikingly of her sister, mrs montefiore." mr montefiore called the next day on mr i. l. goldsmid and mr moses mocatta, and conversed with them on the present state of the jews. subsequently he went with mr n. m. rothschild to sir james mackintosh, to request him to bring a bill into parliament to allow aliens (jews) to hold freehold land and to vote for members of parliament. in the cause of emancipation friendly dinners and entertainments were occasionally given for the purpose of affording friends of religious and civil liberty an opportunity of exchanging their views on the subject. to many of these, given by n. m. rothschild at piccadilly, mr and mrs montefiore were invited. at one of them they met the duke and duchess of st albans, lady louisa beauclerk, the hon. shaw stewart, lord and lady kinnwell, sir william and lady rowly, the spanish ambassador and his wife, the brazilian ambassador, sir charles beresford, sir william abdy, mr george harrison, mr kelly addenston. "twenty-three," says mr montefiore, "sat down to table. moschelles came in the evening, played on the piano, and accompanied miss rothschild. it was near twelve before the party broke up." mr montefiore was highly gratified with the result of the conversations he had with several influential noblemen on the subject he had so much at heart. on a similar occasion at the house of mr john pearce, st swithin's lane, he met a number of gentlemen interested in the emancipation of the jews. he there spoke to daniel o'connell and his son, to the o'gorman mahon, i. l. goldsmid, young attwood, samuel gurney and his son, fowell buxton, charles pearce, pearce mahony, and dr hume. o'connell and the o'gorman were very chatty. on the th of march, mr and mrs montefiore called on mr n. m. rothschild. they read there the petition of the jews to both houses of parliament prepared by mr tooke, and "both hannah and rothschild," he observes, "approve of it." on the evening of the same day he attended a meeting of deputies from the several london synagogues held at the mocattas', in russell square. mr mocatta was elected chairman, and joseph cohen honorary secretary. there were also present dr joshua van oven, lyon samuel, levy solomon, hart micholls, david brandon, moses montefiore, jun. mr isaac lyon goldsmid, who had written a letter to the chairman, was sent for. he came in shortly afterwards, and laid before the meeting a statement of the favourable prospect of obtaining the removal of the jewish disabilities. "it was half-past ten," says mr montefiore, "before we separated, first passing a vote of thanks to mr i. l. goldsmid and to our chairman." a few days later mr i. l. goldsmid informed him of what had passed between mr n. m. rothschild and the lord chancellor on tuesday, th march. he went to the house of lords with mr rothschild. the chancellor was very polite, and regretted that he had not time that day to go into the business, but requested him to come the following wednesday at half-past four. chapter viii. . lady hester stanhope--her eccentricities--parliament and the jews. on his return to park lane from the house of lords he found that mr pope (upper marylebone) had brought letters from the holy city for him and lord stanhope, the purport of which was to endeavour to recover a debt against lady hester stanhope, of djouni, or "the tower of lebanon," as it is generally called, near zidon in the holy land. i had the privilege of spending several very pleasant days with lady hester stanhope in that tower. my visit to her has been mentioned in a book entitled "the memoirs of lady hester stanhope, as related by herself in conversation with her physician, &c.," pp. and . i may therefore be justified in expressing an opinion on the merits of her case. lady hester stanhope, the niece of mr pitt, chancellor of the exchequer in , undertook the self-imposed and benevolent task of educating the maronite, druze, and mahommedan children. it was her pleasing endeavour to help, according to her means, every distressed person requiring relief, to disseminate feelings of humanity among husbands, who in the east treated their wives like slaves, and even to expostulate with emirs and pachas if they happened to disregard the laws of justice in the performance of their duties. she reprimanded abdallah pasha for his cruel treatment of his household, and particularly for having caused one of his wives to be brutally disfigured for some wrong which he thought she had done him. for these her good qualities she was held in high regard by all classes of society, not only in syria, but also among all the nomadic tribes of the desert. any traveller wishing to proceed to palmyra unmolested by the marauding bedouins of the desert, had only to provide himself with a tezkeree (kind of passport) from lady hester stanhope, and he was not only at liberty to move about safely in any direction he pleased, but was welcomed with the utmost cordiality by every chief on the road. lady hester was very fond of biblical studies, and of entering into discussions on these matters, although very few of those who visited her were competent to guide her in these studies. in consequence of this she imbibed some strange notions, among others, the belief that there existed only three correct bible manuscripts in the world; unfortunately of the three she believed in, one is of doubtful authenticity, and one contains only the new testament. she was greatly astonished when i told her that many correct bible manuscripts exist, and on hearing my description of the celebrated farkhi bible manuscript at damascus, which has been valued at £ , she became quite excited, and declared her intention of going as soon as possible to damascus to inspect this treasure. when conversing with her on religious subjects, her ideas at first appeared peculiar, but on hearing the reasons she gave for them, one could not but appreciate her noble intentions. she abhorred the idea of cruelty to any dumb creature. having convinced herself that the jewish mode of slaughtering animals for consumption is less cruel than any other, and that the examination of the meat prescribed by the jewish law is most beneficial from a sanitary point of view, she adopted both, and kept for the purpose a person at djouni, competent to perform these duties in her household. one day she invited me to accompany her to her stables; here two beautiful horses, one grey, and the other chestnut, came towards her, and laid their heads on her shoulder. she called my attention to the peculiar formation of their backs, which showed a tendency to rise in two places at a slight distance from each other, leaving room for the rider to sit between them as in a turkish saddle. according to the certificate she held from the person who sold them, they were descended from a famous sire in a stud belonging to one of the kaleefahs. "one of these," she said, "might well be suitable for such a man (referring to the much hoped for emissary of peace) when entering the city known by the name of the 'city of peace,' on his mission of humanity, and the other for myself, when co-operating with him in the work of establishing tranquillity and happiness among the inhabitants of syria." she complained of her words being often misinterpreted by strangers who came to visit her, hence her great reluctance to admit travellers into her presence. mr montefiore, mr hope, and lord stanhope would have done all in their power to satisfy the party who sent the letters to england, as well as to co-operate with lady hester stanhope in all her benevolent exertions, but it had been suggested to them to communicate first with the consul at beyrout, before taking any decisive steps in the matter, and the letters from the holy land had to be laid aside for a time. returning again to mr montefiore's exertions for emancipation, it should be mentioned that he went to a dinner given by mr i. l. goldsmid to meet lords lansdowne, suffield, and auckland, the dutch minister, the american minister, daniel o'connell and his son, p. mahony, the o'gorman mahon, thos. wyse, tooke, fowell buxton, &c. he spoke to all of them on the subject he had so much at heart. the o'gorman was very sociable; he wished to see the portuguese synagogue, also to have the opportunity of presenting the jews' petition to parliament. on the st of april, mr montefiore accompanied mr n. m. rothschild to the house of lords. on their entry they were informed that the lord chancellor had just sent word that he would not come down to the house that day. lowdham however promised them to make an appointment for the following monday. on his return from the house mr montefiore repaired to the city, to attend the anniversary dinner of the jews' hospital at the city of london tavern. mr bing, the member for middlesex, took the chair. j. alexander, t. a. curtis, and j. m. pearce were present, and made excellent speeches in favour of civil and religious liberty. a few days later he went again with mr n. m. rothschild to the house of lords to see lord lyndhurst, but it being five o'clock, his lordship was obliged to go into the house immediately, promising however, to see them on the following wednesday. they saw the duke of wellington, who said he wished to see mr rothschild on wednesday, on his own private affairs. on the appointed day they again went to the house of lords to see the lord chancellor. he said they were at the time so occupied with the catholic business, they could attend to nothing else. he advised them to remain quiet till this was settled, but if they thought it more to their own interest to bring the matter forward immediately, to set lord holland to do so, and he would support him, as he considered it right that the jews should be relieved from their present disabilities; at the same time they must be guided by public opinion. they assured the lord chancellor they would be entirely guided by his advice, and would do nothing for the present. he said he would consult the duke of wellington, and would write to mr rothschild what had best be done. on leaving the house, mr montefiore called on mr i. l. goldsmid to tell him what had passed. the th of april was one of those days which he spent in attending to his companies and associations. he then called on messrs garry & curtis to solicit a presentation to christ's hospital for captain anderson's boy. attended the irish bank, and in the evening was present, together with mrs montefiore, at a dinner given by mr fairlie of york terrace. they found there "a most splendid party and elegant entertainment." they met lord fife, sir herbert and lady taylor, sir thomas clark, sir john ogleby, mr towncan, mr p. and his wife, mr j. pearce, bank director, colonel blackburn and his wife, sir james shaw, and sir thomas, an indian general, who had been confined in irons for three years and four months at seringapatam. they had the opportunity of hearing the opinion of most of the party on the subject of civil and religious liberty, and it proved in every case highly satisfactory. what occupied mr montefiore's mind this day more than other subjects was his intended presentation to the king at the approaching levee. mr edward blount said he believed it would be sufficient if the duke of norfolk merely sent his card with mr montefiore's to the lord chancellor's office, but he would enquire further of the duke. mr montefiore, however, differed from him, and did not wish to be introduced at the levee in that way, unless mr blount was so convinced of its propriety as to be introduced in the same way with him. the next day mr blount showed him a note he had received from sir george naylor of the herald's office, who said that any gentleman introduced at the levee by a peer who has the privilege of the _entrée_, has his name announced by the lord-in-waiting in the usual manner, the peer standing at the same time near the king. in this way mr blount was to be introduced, and mr montefiore was to accompany him. the duke of norfolk, mr blount said, would send mr montefiore's card with his own to the lord chamberlain's office. there is an incident of a touching nature recorded in his diary about this time. "on the th april i called on mrs zaccaria laurence at bury court, and gave her the receipt for the further share of the residue of the estate of my much respected grandmother, esther hannah montefiore. with gratitude i recall to my mind her words to me on her deathbed. she lamented not having left me more in her will, and added, 'god bless you, and god will bless you.' peace be to her memory. o that i may follow her excellent and most exemplary conduct, and may my deathbed be as happy as it pleased providence to make hers. amen." on april th, accompanied by mr n. m. rothschild, he attended a meeting of the deputies at mr m. samuels' house, leman street. there were present messrs moses mocatta, joseph cohen, michells, van-oven, goodman, levy salamon, david and joseph brandon, moses montefiore, i. l. goldsmid, s. samuel, and john m. pearce. after a long debate it was resolved that pearce should prepare a petition, and that they should then meet again. a few days later he called with mr moses mocatta on mr pearce, to read and make alterations in the proposed petition of the jews to parliament. the feast of the passover was now approaching. those who know the distance from park lane to bevis marks in the city, will appreciate mr and mrs montefiore's zeal which led them to walk from their own home in all weather to the spanish and portuguese synagogue in bevis marks. as they always desired to be in their places even before the prayers commenced, they were obliged to leave home at a very early hour of the morning. after the conclusion of the service, which lasted about two hours and a half, they breakfasted with one of the officers of the synagogue, and then proceeded to pay visits to all their friends in the vicinity. it was often nearly four o'clock when they again walked back to park lane, where in the evening they entertained the members of their family and several friends at dinner. the second day of the festival was passed in the same manner. few would now willingly undergo such fatigue, but mr and mrs montefiore's religious fervour and warm attachment to their friends would not allow them to plead weariness as an excuse either for not joining their community in the house of prayer, or for neglecting their friends. they continued this practice until their advanced age and uncertain state of health no longer permitted it. chapter ix. - . mr montefiore presented to the king--spanish and portuguese jews in london in . immediately after the passover festival mr montefiore was present at an important meeting, convened by the elders of the spanish and portuguese congregation, to consider the propriety of introducing the english language for the delivery of sermons and addresses in the synagogues and colleges. the debate was very long and stormy, as many members of the congregation were greatly attached to the spanish tongue, in which their ancestors in many cases had made their names famous. this is scarcely to be wondered at, when we consider that the jews at one time were highly esteemed in spain. from the works of abbot bartolocci de cellens, we learn that they were regarded among the learned as scholars, and among financiers as honorable, intelligent, and enterprising men; and that they filled high offices in colleges and universities, as well as in the councils of kings and assemblies of merchants and bankers. we must, therefore, not be surprised that they still clung to that language in spite of the terrible persecutions which drove them from the spanish peninsula, but which do not seem to have weakened the affection they felt for their native land. the language of the country must always constitute the strongest bond of union between that country and its people, although intelligent men emigrating to a land where all are treated with justice and humanity, must consider it their first duty to make themselves thoroughly acquainted with its language. in a land where justice and humanity are unknown, however, or hidden under the dark shadows of prejudice, ignorance, and fanaticism; where some of the children of the land would scarcely dare to speak of it as "my fatherland" or "my mother country," because it disowns those who would designate it by these terms; in such a land the language is often disliked by its oppressed children themselves, who long for some other country where they may learn to forget the injustice they have encountered there. yet, as it may appear, this was not the case with the spanish jews. although the many years of prosperity which they had enjoyed in spain had terminated in persecutions, almost unparalleled in history; although thousands of them perished under the terrible reign of the inquisition, in the awful tortures of the "auto da fé," and the rest were finally banished in the year , yet, as their continued use of the spanish language seems to prove, they only remembered their days of happiness in that land. even those who settled in turkey, morocco, algiers, egypt, palestine, austria, or holland, still used the spanish language in their prayer-books, bibles, and codes of communal laws. such was also the case with the jews who settled in england. though they had all gladly adopted the language of the land which they had made their home under the sway of a just and enlightened monarch, they still clung to the spanish tongue as that of their fatherland, and were loth to banish its use entirely. but in all the schools and colleges in england so much time was in those days devoted to the various branches of english study, that little was left for the acquirement of what was now to them a foreign language. the rising jewish generation was, therefore, not well acquainted with the language into which the prayers had been translated, and hence the desire of several members of the community to replace it by the english tongue. the struggle between the two parties--those advanced in years, who naturally wished to adhere to the old ways, and the young and energetic members, who desired to adopt the innovation--proved long and hard. finally, a resolution was carried by eighteen votes to eleven, "to have all religious discourses delivered in the synagogues in english, and also henceforth to have all proclamations made in the same tongue." the meeting, which opened its deliberations at a.m., did not adjourn until half-past four. on tuesday, april th, mr montefiore called at the lord chamberlain's office and left his card, on which he had written, "to be presented by the duke of norfolk." after communicating with mr n. m. rothschild, he went, accompanied by messrs i. l. goldsmid and moses mocatta, to mr pearce to consider some points in connection with the petition, and subsequently resolved to consult lord brougham and dr lushington on the matter. later in the day he went with mr n. m. rothschild and i. l. goldsmid to see the lord chancellor, who recommended their presenting the petition either through lord bexley or lord holland; he preferred the former, as the latter, he thought, would make some sensation. when presented, he said, they would see how it was received; if quietly, they could immediately bring in a bill. in the event of its occasioning any unpleasant feeling, they would not attempt to advance farther that session, more particularly as the public, and even the king himself, were not yet reconciled to the measure in favour of the catholics. mr montefiore and mr rothschild afterwards spoke with lord bexley, and explained their wishes to him. he appeared to be doubtful of their obtaining all the privileges that year, but said he would speak to the chancellor, and see them again the following thursday. mr montefiore dined that day with mrs rothschild, at whose house he met several political friends, as well as mr i. l. goldsmid, who told him that lord auckland had requested the marquis of lansdowne to introduce him (mr goldsmid) at the levee. _wednesday, april th._--he gives the following particulars of his first presentation to the king:-- "at p.m. mr g. blount, with his son and his nephew sir edward blount, bart., came for me. i accompanied them to the levee. our carriage fell into the rank about the middle of bond street. it was twenty minutes past two when we reached st james palace. we entered the first room, and gave a card to the page-in-waiting--'mr montefiore, presented by the duke of norfolk.' there appeared to be four or five hundred persons in the waiting-room, mostly naval and military officers in full uniform, also many bishops, clergymen, and barristers. the crush was most fatiguing and annoying. it was four o'clock when we reached the second room. here, as only a few were admitted at a time, we were much more at our ease. in the third room the king was seated about ten paces from the entrance, surrounded by, or rather having on each side of him, his grand officers. six or seven persons entered at a time; those who had been introduced before merely gave their cards to the lord-in-waiting, made their bow, and passed on. when i reached his majesty, i gave my card to the lord-in-waiting, who was standing on his right hand, and who announced in a distinct voice, 'mr montefiore, presented to your majesty by the duke of norfolk.' i thereupon bent my left knee to the ground. the king very graciously smiled, and held out his right hand to me, which i kissed. i then rose, and made my bow, and passed on. we passed the king from left to right, and not as i expected from right to left. we were only permitted to remain a few minutes in the audience room. "colonel french was standing a few paces from his majesty, on the right; he spoke with me in a very friendly manner. i was much pleased with the gracious reception i met with. it was twenty-five minutes past four when we left the audience room. we then had to get through a great crowd before we could reach the doors of the palace." on the following day mr montefiore, together with messrs rothschild and goldsmid, went to lord bexley, and gave him their petition to read. he read it over, and said he would speak to lord eldon and the bishops, and would see them the next day. he recommended that mr thomas baring should bring the bill into the commons. in the course of the afternoon he called at new court, and there heard the report of the duke of wellington's going out of office, also of the funding of eight millions of exchequer bills, important topics for consideration to the financiers of the day. mr montefiore, however, did not allow this news to disturb his peace of mind, for we find him the same evening accompanying his wife to a grand fancy dress ball given by mr goldsmid on the occasion of the coming of age of his eldest son. on returning home after the ball, a little incident occurred as a consequence of the rumours of a change of ministry. their coachman, considering himself somewhat of a politician, took the opportunity, while they were at the ball, of entering one of the neighbouring taverns, where the reported change in the ministry was being discussed in a lively manner by a large number of his friends. it appears that during the excitement of the debate he had indulged too much in "the cup that cheers," but, unfortunately, does inebriate, although whether from joy or grief at the anticipated change does not transpire; anyhow, the result was that on attempting to drive mr and mrs montefiore back from the ball he was found totally incapable of guiding the horses, and, notwithstanding the efforts made by the footman to come to his assistance, they had to leave the carriage before arriving at their destination, and complete the journey on foot. the next morning mr montefiore proceeded, in company with messrs goldsmid and rothschild, to the house of lords, where they spoke to lord bexley. he had not yet had an opportunity of conversing with lord eldon or the bishops on the subject of the jews' petition, but said he would endeavour to do so before tuesday, on which day he agreed to meet them again. he had conferred with the chancellor, who said the duke would not make it a government measure, but expressed himself in favour of it. the arrival of the baroness anselm de rothschild and her brother lionel from paris took mr and mrs montefiore to piccadilly. but mr montefiore allowed himself no relaxation in the furtherance of the great cause he had at heart. on sunday, th of may, he attended in the morning a meeting of the elders, which lasted from eleven o'clock till a quarter to five. in the evening he was present at a meeting of the deputies of several synagogues at mr mocatta's residence in russell square, where after considerable discussion the petition was finally agreed to, and was to be signed the next day. mr montefiore, in his diary, gives a further account of the matter. "i accompanied mr rothschild," he says, "to the house of lords. lord bexley had already left, so we proceeded to his own house. he said he had spoken with lord eldon and several of the bishops, and ascertained that they had no objection to a bill to omit the words, 'on the true faith of a christian,' introduced into the dissenters' act last session. what would be its effect in law he could not state; he would, however, confer with lord brougham and dr lushington. he suggested some slight alteration in the wording of the petition. we are to bring it back to him signed on thursday, and he has promised to present it. he again recommended that sir thos. baring should present it the commons." at the meeting of the deputies they at first objected to the petition as altered by lord bexley, but finally agreed to sign it. mr montefiore then went, with messrs rothschild and goldsmid, to lord bexley with the petition. the latter thought that everything would be granted to the jews except seats in parliament. before he could present it, he said, he must confer once more with the lord chancellor and the duke of wellington. lord bexley further said, that he would have to see dr lushington the next day, but as that would be saturday, mr montefiore declined attending. a few days later lord bexley stated distinctly that the duke of wellington would decidedly oppose any application the jews might make this year in parliament, but would not pledge himself as to next session. dr lushington and lords bexley and holland strongly advised a delay till next year. mr montefiore, in his diary, gives some account of a dinner at which he and mrs montefiore were present, given by mr n. m. rothschild to mr mahoney, in payment of a wager which he had lost to that gentleman, on the subject of the agitation for the removal of the jewish disabilities. he says: "the party included many important personages. many of the nobility with whom we conversed on the subject expressed themselves much in favour of the bill. the lords darnley, lauderdale, and glenelg, sir robert farquhar, and messrs spring-rice, jennings, otway, cave, and horace twiss, whom we met there, were most zealous for the success of the cause. admiral sir ed. codrington and a russian prince, who were among the guests, discussed the subject with great warmth until a late hour." it was the month of june, and mr montefiore required relief, even if only for a short time, from this incessant mental work, accompanied as it often was by the anxiety which falls to the lot of most prominent men in the financial world. he therefore gladly accepted for mrs montefiore and himself an invitation to make a tour in the isle of wight with the baron and baroness anselm de rothschild, and messrs nathaniel and meyer de rothschild. the genial atmosphere of the island, and the cheerful conversation of their friends and relatives, coupled with the polite attention he received from sir john campbell, the governor, and his officers, soon made mr montefiore forget for a while banks, insurance offices, stock exchanges, and gas associations, whether in england, france, or germany. the time for resuming his usual business pursuits now arrived, and his own words show how well every hour of his day was employed. " a.m. at st james' palace to thank colonel boten for the general post book he left for me. . . at alliance and marine. . attended committee of irish bank till . . . signed policies at marine. called on mr rothschild at new court; solicited him to speak with wertheimer the printer to take n. n.'s son as apprentice. . . attended board of gas till nearly . a special meeting of directors summoned for next thursday to receive the report of the special committee." at the close of the year mr montefiore was invited by a friend to go to paris, to be present at the bidding for a new french loan, but he thought proper to decline, remaining firm in his resolution not to further extend his financial operations. he deemed it important to enter that year in his diary a kind of census of the spanish and portuguese jews in london--another proof of the great desire he felt to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the affairs of his community. i bring it under the notice of the reader whom it may interest, to enable him to compare it with the census of that community at the present day. privileged members and their families, about unprivileged members and their families, " persons receiving relief from the synagogues, " ---- total, in consequence of unsuccessful speculations in connection with political changes in england, france, and spain, there was a general panic in the financial world at the beginning of , but mr montefiore, by cautious foresight and firm resolution, had withstood all temptations and remained unaffected by it. referring to this panic, he says, on finding several persons very depressed: "i have a thousand times given them my opinion on that subject, and can only regret that they have not benefited by it. i am most uneasy and unhappy about them; god only knows what the result of this state of things will be." after entering into further details, he concludes by observing, "at all events i stand relieved from reproach, having so repeatedly cautioned them against what appeared to me a desperate situation." there are several entries, important as historical records, concerning the steps taken in the jewish emancipation movement. on the th january he consulted m. mocatta and i. l. goldsmid respecting the application to parliament in favour of removing the disabilities of the jews. on the st january he attended a meeting of the deputies of the synagogues at the house of moses mocatta; there were twelve present, besides mr i. l. goldsmid and mr thomas m. pearce. they read the opinions of dr lushington and mr humphries on the present state of the civil disabilities of the jews. it was resolved to petition parliament for the removal of the said disabilities, and to request messrs n. m. rothschild, i. l. goldsmid, and moses montefiore to see the duke of wellington on the subject. the following day mr montefiore received a note from mr i. l. goldsmid, requesting that he would endeavour to see mr n. m. rothschild, and persuade him to go that day at twelve to the duke of wellington. accordingly he went out in his carriage with the intention of proceeding to stamford hill. mr montefiore here introduces a little incident which may perhaps please some of my readers, and i give it in his own words-- "on reaching newington, i met n. m. rothschild in his carriage. lionel and anthony were with him; the two latter got into my chariot, and i drove with the former to prince esterhazy, whither he was proceeding with the intention of conferring with him on the subject of emancipation in austria. "on our arrival i remained for some time with anthony in the prince's dining-room. an elderly gentleman, who had the appearance of a catholic priest, was taking his lunch there. when he had finished his repast, he moved to one of the windows, and kneeling down, continued in that position for about ten minutes, apparently deeply engaged in his devotions. he then rose, and bowing to us, left the room." "i fear," observes mr montefiore, "that some of my brethren would have hesitated to have even put their hats on to say the blessing after their meal, instead of acting as this good man did." chapter x. . interview with the duke of wellington in furtherance of the jewish cause--the duke's dilatory tactics--laying the foundation-stone of the synagogue at hereson. resuming the thread of our narrative, we find that mr n. m. rothschild promised to see the duke of wellington. on the th of february this interview with the duke took place. mr n. m. rothschild, having addressed him on financial subjects connected with the affairs of government, said to him, "god has given your grace power to do good--i would entreat you to do something for the jews," to which the duke replied, that god bestowed benefits moderately, but that he would read over the petition that day, and mr n. m. rothschild might call any morning for his answer. mr rothschild then began to speak of prince polignac, the minister of charles x. (who, a few months later, had to fly from the country with all the other members of the ministry, in consequence of the conflicts in paris between the populace and the army), but the duke instantly stopped him, saying he did not wish to know anything of foreign politics. "the next day," writes mr montefiore, "charles grant declined to present the petition in favour of the jews, and mr n. m. rothschild thought it would be better to defer calling on the duke for his answer, as, he was much plagued by the unsettled state of parties in the house of commons. this determination, however," observes mr montefiore, "is greatly against the wishes of i. l. goldsmid and those whom he has consulted on the subject." _february th._--mr montefiore went with messrs n. m. rothschild, i. l. goldsmid, and lionel rothschild to the duke, who told them that he would not commit the government on the question of the jews, and advised them to defer their application to parliament, or, if they did not, he said, it must be at their own risk, and he would make no promise. mr montefiore thought the answer on the whole favourable, that is, that the duke had no determined prejudice against the removal of the civil disabilities of the jews, but would, nevertheless, take no active steps in their favour. should the commons suffer it to pass quietly, mr montefiore had no doubt the duke would take no part against them. the th of the same month mr montefiore says: "robert grant gave notice last night in the house of commons that he would on monday next present a petition in favour of the jews." it was accordingly presented on february nd. it was tolerably well received, w. ward and d. o'connell speaking in its favour, sir r. inglis against it. a few months later mr grant desired to be informed whether the jews insisted on obtaining the privilege of sitting in parliament, and if they would refuse all other privileges if this was not obtained. it was mr montefiore's opinion that they should take what they could get. _april th._--mr n. m. rothschild and his son lionel came to report that they had seen mr herries, who informed them that the government had determined to consult dr lushington and r. grant on the following morning. i. l. goldsmid, they said, had declared he should prefer losing all, than to give up parliament. "i," observed mr montefiore in return, "decidedly differ with him; we should accept all we can get." two days later he writes: "i returned from the house of commons delighted with the speeches of robert grant, mr macaulay, sir james mackintosh, lord morpeth, and mr w. smith, in our favour. sir robert inglis, the chancellor of the exchequer, and the solicitor-general (sugden) were against us. the numbers were--for, ; against, ,--majority, . we called to congratulate n. m. rothschild and hannah on the result of last night's debate." on the st, at a dinner given by mr i. l. goldsmid, he met lord holland, sir robert wilson, a. j. robarts, ---- tooke, john abel smith, macaulay, easthope, robinson (the member for worcester), dr lushington, and lord nugent, all of them most friendly to the cause. on a previous occasion, at a meeting held at the house of mr moses mocatta, mr montefiore, i. l. goldsmid, d. brandon, j. m. pearce, and others being present, it was resolved to advertise that petitions to both houses in favour of the jews were lying for signature at several places as named. for his own community, the spanish and portuguese, and for the german jewish congregation, he worked with equal zeal. on the th we find him, together with several other members of a committee appointed for that purpose, visiting the houses of all the jewish poor. "we were," he says, "from soon after in the morning till p.m. about petticoat lane and the alleys, courts, &c. we there visited the rooms of about persons. to we gave cards to obtain relief from the general committee on thursday. we witnessed many very distressing scenes: parents surrounded by children, frequently six or seven, seldom less than two or three, with little or no fire or food, and scarcely a rag to cover them; without bed or blanket, but merely a sack or rug for the night, a bed being almost out of the question. few had more than one room, however large the family. the rent was from s. d. to s. per week. of those who had two rooms, the upper one was most miserable, scarcely an article of furniture. in fact, the distress and suffering appeared so great, that although we had agreed, according to a resolution of the general committee, only to give cards, we could not refrain from giving what money we had in our pockets. we only met with six or eight cases of sickness, which is really surprising, considering their destitute condition." he attends a meeting of the elders, where he strongly supports a resolution for the delivery of a moral discourse every alternate saturday afternoon in the synagogue; he is also present at a meeting of the society for the cultivation of the hebrew language and its literature, where he offers encouragement to those who excel in literary work. mr montefiore seeks the society of learned and distinguished men of all classes, and is elected on the rd of july a member of the "athenæum." in the month of july he sets out, in company with his wife, on a tour through france, holland, belgium, and germany. in september we find them again in england, and mr montefiore is presented by the duke of norfolk to the king at the levee, "on his return from the continent." it was in this year that mr and mrs montefiore first visited east cliff lodge, which was about to be sold by auction. they felt a great desire to purchase it, although much out of repair. after discussing with his wife the probable price it would fetch, he said, "if, please god, i should be the purchaser, it is my intention to go but seldom to london, and after two or three years to reside entirely at ramsgate. i would build a small but handsome synagogue, and engage a good and clever man as reader." leaving the limit of his offer with an agent in broadstairs, mr and mrs montefiore left ramsgate and proceeded on a journey to the continent. whilst in berlin they received information that the estate had been bought by the duchess of st albans. "it fetched so much more," he says, "than i had anticipated, that i can only regret it was thought so valuable." he, however, soon recovered from his disappointment, and took a suite of rooms for business purposes in the new house of the alliance marine assurance. politics again caused considerable uneasiness in the financial world. dr hume informed mr montefiore that the duke of wellington and all the ministers had resigned, and that the duke would communicate the fact to the lords on that day at four o'clock, the king having accepted their resignation. mr montefiore, notwithstanding, did not for a moment cease in his exertions on behalf of the emancipation, and on november th, he and mr mocatta signed the jews' petition to both houses, it being the same petition as that of last year. serious disturbances having taken place, he left london, at the request of his wife, without entering into any speculations, and proceeded to hastings, where they remained till the end of december. we find an entry at the conclusion of his diary for that year, to the effect that he had resolved to persuade a few of his friends, as well as two gentlemen well versed in the law of moses and hebrew and theological literature, to dine with them regularly every week, for the purpose of conversing on those subjects. the year ( - a.m.) presents the reader with a record of events equally stirring and important in their career. political, financial, or communal matters follow each other rapidly, continually occupying the thoughts of mr and mrs montefiore, until the day when they succeeded in becoming the owners of east cliff lodge, the much wished for estate in ramsgate, after which they devoted for several months the greater portion of their time to settling and arranging all matters connected with their new property. early in the year is the following entry: "the irish bank is under considerable alarm owing to a letter published by daniel o'connell, threatening, in the event of the press being assailed, to cause a run on the banks, so that in a week's time there shall not be a single bank-note in circulation." this exciting entry is followed by one referring to the holy land. "the rev. enoch sundel of jerusalem brought letters of introduction to enable him to proceed to the west indies and america, in the interests of the holy land; a noble cause, which the rev. dr hirschel, who accompanied him to park lane, strongly advocates." a little later comes a report that the duke of wellington will be appointed commander-in-chief; the french will have war: prince esterhazy said, "france had offered to disarm if the other powers would do the same." mr montefiore then turns from the apprehensions of war abroad to enter into the struggle for emancipation at home. "robert grant, lord holland, the lord chancellor, and others of the administration," he says, "all advise us to put off the 'jewish relief bill' till next session, the ministers having so much important business now on hand. at all events, robert grant is desirous of seeing the same gentlemen who were with him last year on monday next." mr montefiore then went to mr mocatta, who had called a meeting of the committee of deputies for next day, and proceeded with mr i.l. goldsmid, by appointment, to dr lushington. [illustration: east cliff lodge, ramsgate. _see vol. i., page ._] dr lushington advised that the same bill should be brought forward again, that the jews should not accept less than all privileges, and that no application for an audience should be made to earl grey, lest he should recommend deferring the measure. mr montefiore informed dr lushington that he was sure the deputies, if asked, would gladly accept anything the government might offer, however short of the repeal of all their disabilities. lord holland, who was afterwards consulted by mr i.l. goldsmid, concurred in opinion with dr lushington. mr montefiore here observes that mr i.l. goldsmid was greatly displeased with the deputies, saying that he did not care about the measure, and would establish a new synagogue with the assistance of the young men; he would alter the present form of prayer to that in use in the synagogue at hamburg. thus it often happens that two parties, both with the best intentions, will, according to certain impressions made on their minds, differ more or less in their mode of obtaining an object dear alike to the hearts of both; and unless some equally zealous, yet impartial, friend steps in to remove or lessen the cause of their dissension, grave consequences, to the disadvantage of both, commonly follow. "ireland," says mr montefiore, "is in a very disturbed state, and the continent ripe for war." under these circumstances he thought he could not do better than leave london, the seat of financial struggles, and go to ramsgate. there he completed the purchase of east cliff lodge, with twenty-four acres of land belonging to the estate, henceforth his marine residence to the day of his death. so much interest being centred in this spot, i give many entries made on the subject. "i met john cumming; he signed the conveyance of east cliff to me. i paid him" (the purchase money and the value of the furniture), "after he had executed all the deeds. i also paid messrs dawes and chatfield for the conveyance, &c., £ , s. d. may the almighty bless and preserve my dear judith and myself to enjoy the possession of it for many years, that we may also have the happiness of seeing our intended synagogue completed, and always have a large congregation." they engaged mr a. d. mocatta as architect; he submitted drawings for the synagogue, which were at once put into the hands of the builders. the architect estimated the cost for erecting the synagogue at between £ and £ , exclusive of the interior, which was to cost £ or £ . the work was commenced, and on the th of july the excavations for the foundation walls were complete. "please heaven," said mr montefiore to his wife as they walked round the adjoining field, "to-morrow night, after sabbath, we shall have the happiness of placing the two first bricks preparatory to our laying the foundation stone on the eve of the new moon of tamooz," a.m. ( th august ). in accordance with this arrangement, they proceeded to hereson the next evening at nine o'clock, accompanied by mrs justina cohen, her daughter lucy, and mr benjamin gomperz. on the ground they were met by cresford the builder, with his nephew, also grundy with his son, and craven his partner. everything having been properly prepared, mr montefiore covered the part on which the wall near the holy ark for the reception of the sacred scrolls of the pentateuch was to be built, with _terra santa_, which they had brought with them from jerusalem. upon this mr montefiore, having spread some mortar, fixed four bricks. mrs montefiore, mrs cohen, miss lucy cohen, and mr gomperz each spread some _terra santa_, and fixed two bricks, praying the almighty to prosper the undertaking and bless them. the following is the account given by mr montefiore of the ceremony of laying the foundation stone. "_tuesday, th august._--new moon of tamooz. after reading my prayers and reciting the psalms cxiii. and cxviii., i called at seven a.m. on david mocatta, the architect, and informed him that we should lay the first stone at eight o'clock. we walked to hereson, and with the blessing of the almighty, we laid the first stone of a holy synagogue, assisted by our dear and honoured mother, by abby gompertz, her daughter juliana, solomon and sarah sebag, rebecca salomons, justina cohen, and her daughter lucy, louis cohen, floretta, his wife, and their son henry, nathaniel lindo, david mocatta, my dear judith, and myself. the builders were also present. after the stone was placed, we deposited in a hole, made in it for that purpose, a glass bottle containing the inscription, signed by myself and my dear judith; a large stone was then placed above it, they were then firmly riveted together with iron bolts and boiling lead. louis cohen, solomon sebag, rebecca, and i went afterwards into the cottage, and read the psalms known by the hebrew name of hallel (special praise). they all breakfasted with us at the albion hotel, where we were joined by adelaide israel, whose delicate state of health would not permit her to witness the ceremony." mr montefiore gives the following: "this day, th august, five and twenty years ago, in , j. e. d. robbed me of all i possessed in the world, and left me deeply in debt; but it pleased the almighty in his great mercy to enable me in the course of a few years to pay everyone who had been a sufferer through me to the full extent of their loss." chapter xi. - . lord brougham and the jews--the jewish poor in london--mr montefiore hands his broker's medal to his brother--dedication of the synagogue at hereson--the lords reject the jewish disabilities bill. on his return to london he called on mr wood at the earl marshal's office, and paid him £ , s. d., the fees on the grant for having the word jerusalem in hebrew characters in his crest. in october his friends brought him the account of the reform bill having been thrown out at its second reading by the lords--majority, . mr montefiore, on hearing that lord-chancellor brougham had spoken in a very illiberal spirit of the jews, observed, "so much for whig friends." still he did not despair, and entertained the belief that their just cause would ultimately meet with better success. a month later he attended an important meeting of the board of representatives of the spanish and portuguese community, established to watch over the general sanitary condition of the poor of the congregation. he generously contributed to the funds to enable the board to purchase warm clothing, blankets, &c., for the poor. in the same year he completed the purchase, and took possession of, a cottage and garden near the site on which his synagogue was being erected. the rev. dr hirschel having submitted for his approval a number of circular letters addressed to the hebrew communities in america, wherein he reminds them of their duty to support their indigent brethren in the holy land, mr montefiore affixes his name to each letter as requested by the chief rabbi, in token of his appreciation of the good cause. among the entries referring again to financial matters is the following interesting record:-- "on the st of january i was admitted a sworn broker of the city of london. this day, th may , i signed over my medal to my brother horatio, free; it cost me £ . may heaven prosper his endeavours with it." on the th of the same month he gave £ to be handed to the lord mayor for the transfer of the said medal. happily in our days it is less difficult for a jew to become a sworn broker. a gentle breeze of justice for all human beings alike has begun to disperse the dark clouds of prejudice and oppression, and the more the light of wisdom and truth illumines the world, the greater will be the happiness and loyalty of those who have hitherto been deprived of the rights of ordinary citizens. on wednesday evening, the th of june ( - a.m.), corresponding this year to the hebrew date of the anniversary of their wedding day, they took possession of east cliff lodge, mr montefiore having, in accordance with an injunction of the sacred scriptures (deuteronomy vi. ), previously affixed mezuzas (phylacteries) to all the doors. mr and mrs montefiore had intended to have an inscription placed over the entrance to the synagogue. it appears, however, that the idea was finally abandoned, though there is a square moulding over the door, and a parallelogram on the northern wall of the synagogue purposely made for it. i once asked him the reason of this omission, and from his reply i gathered that he did not wish the building to unduly attract the attention of strangers. the modest appearance of the synagogue as it now stands, having neither steeple nor turret, windows in the walls nor arches over the door, evidently confirms this idea. mr h. lehren, of amsterdam, a gentleman well known for the interest he took in promoting the welfare of the inhabitants of jerusalem, had appealed to him this year for his intercession in a lawsuit which brought him to england, and mr montefiore gladly helped him by his personal exertions to accomplish his object. mr lehren, thus encouraged, asked of mr montefiore yet another favour, which was to permit his name to be enlisted in the ranks of the "friends of zion." mr montefiore, in answer, assured mr lehren that his heart had ever been filled with a love for jerusalem, and that he had been a staunch supporter of a resolution, recently adopted at a committee consisting of members of his congregation, to the effect that £ should be sent annually to the holy land as a contribution to the fund intended for the support of the poor. mr lehren expressed great satisfaction at what he had heard, and enquired in what proportion the above amount would be distributed among the four holy cities. mr montefiore informed him that the committee had divided the sum into thirty shares, of which they gave twelve to jerusalem, seven to safed, six to hebron, and five to tiberias. to complete the number of sacred scrolls which mr montefiore wished to deposit in his synagogue, he made a purchase of one particularly recommended to him, and also procured prayer-books for the members of the congregation. in this year, , mr and mrs montefiore had the happiness of seeing their heartfelt wish realised in the completion of the synagogue at hereson. invitations were sent out on the rd of may to the ecclesiastical chiefs of both the spanish and portuguese and the german congregations; to the readers, wardens, and other officers of the synagogue; to presidents and representatives of all important institutions, and to more than two hundred private friends and acquaintances, requesting the honour of their company at the dedication of the synagogue at ramsgate on sunday, the th of june, at o'clock, and at dinner after the ceremony at east cliff lodge. bands of music and first-class singers were engaged, lamps for the illumination of the gardens were ordered, fireworks and balloons tastefully prepared, and a large temporary room erected, occupying the whole quadrangle of the court at east cliff lodge. handsome chandeliers and large tablets beautifully inscribed with the prayer for the royal family were ordered for the synagogue. [illustration: view of interior of ramsgate synagogue, taken from the ladies' gallery. _see vol. i., page ._] the morning of the th was ushered in by a deluge of rain and a heavy gale of wind, much to the mortification of the visitors. mr montefiore and his brother horatio, who had brought a silver cup and spice-box as a present for the synagogue, went together to ramsgate, and engaged all the sedan chairs in the town to take the ladies from the public road to the synagogue, and ordered several loads of sand to cover the walk. about two o'clock the rev. dr hirschel arrived. the rain was actually falling in torrents at the moment, but he consoled mr and mrs montefiore, saying, "all things must not go as we wish, since the destruction of the temple in jerusalem." he had, however, scarcely been in the house ten minutes when the clouds dispersed and the sun appeared. at ten o'clock, when they had a rehearsal in the synagogue, all were much out of spirits at the deplorable appearance of the weather; but by three the rain had ceased, and the evening proved delightful. the dedication commenced at six o'clock. the founder and his friends brought the sacred scrolls of the law to the door of the synagogue, where, standing, they chanted: "open unto us the gates of righteousness, we will enter them and praise the lord." "this is the gate of the lord, the righteous shall enter therein." the doors being then opened, they said on entering: "how goodly are thy tents, o jacob! thy tabernacle, o israel! o lord, i have ever loved the habitation of thy house and the dwelling-place of thy glory. we will come unto thy tabernacle and worship at thy footstool." they then advanced, and the readers and choristers sang, "blessed be he who cometh in the name of the lord: we will bless ye from the house of the lord," and other verses from the sacred scriptures bearing on the same subject. the procession then went round the almember in the synagogue seven times, during each circuit one of the seven psalms--xclxi., xxx., xxiv., lxxxiv., cxxii., cxxx., c.--being chanted, after which mr montefiore ascended the pulpit and offered up a hebrew prayer, of which the following is a translation:-- "almighty god! whose eyes are upon all the ways of the sons of men, and by whose will their paths are established; wherewith shall i come before thee, how shall i acknowledge the kindness thou hast shown me from my youth? how great the goodness thou hast vouchsafed unto me, in granting the fulfilment of the ardent desire thou didst awaken in my heart and in that of the companion of my life, to visit the inheritance of our forefathers, to traverse the sea and behold the holy land, a land which is under thy special providence. thou hast protected us on our departure and aided our return: our steps failed not, we have passed through the land, our feet have stood within thy gates, o jerusalem! from the sight of our own eyes are we conscious of the refulgent light that once shone brightly on our country, and which yet faintly glimmers, though she has become desolate. thou hast inspired us with a contrite spirit to perceive and declare thy almighty power over all the inhabitants of the world, therefore has thy servant found in his heart to offer this public thanksgiving for thy past bounties, and earnestly to implore thy future protection in this humble sanctuary. out of thine own gifts i dedicated it to thee as a freewill offering and a lasting testimony to show forth thy loving-kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness every night. o lord god of israel! incline thine ear to the prayer of thy servant. bless, i beseech thee, my revered and honoured mother, grant her length of days in the fulness of joy, and happiness with me, my beloved wife, my brothers and sisters, and with all their descendants, even unto the third and fourth generation. strengthen our hearts to observe thy precepts at all times. truly nothing has failed of that of which thou hast forewarned us through moses thy servant, for we have broken thy covenant and not observed thy commandments; so are we surely convinced that we shall receive from thee the promised good, and our days will be renewed as of old; thou wilt fulfil thy words unto ezekiel thy prophet, that 'the nations shall know that i the lord rebuild the ruined places and plant that which was desolate; i the lord have spoken it; i will do it.' let our prayer and supplication, which we offer towards thy chosen city, ascend to heaven, thy dwelling-place. gather together our dispersed in our days and in the lifetime of the whole house of israel, that all nations, even from the ends of the earth, shall approach thee, to call, all of them, on the name of the lord, and the lord shall be king over all the earth. then the lord alone shall be acknowledged, and his name be one. amen." mr montefiore, having concluded the prayer, descended from the pulpit, and the congregation chanted several hebrew hymns. the prayer for the royal family was then said, and the service concluded with psalm cl. "at eight o'clock," writes mr montefiore, "the dedication finished, all delighted with the ceremony as well as with the music. may heaven's blessing attend it." at nine about eighty-two sat down to dinner. the gardens were beautifully illuminated, and during dessert a band played in the tent. the next morning mr montefiore accompanied dr herschel to the synagogue, followed by all their friends and visitors. after prayers they returned to east cliff lodge, where the time was spent in receiving the congratulations of their friends. the day was brought to a close by a most agreeable entertainment, a description of which i give in his own words. "soon after nine in the evening our company began to assemble, consisting of all our neighbours as well as our own party. the wind had been exceedingly high, almost too much for the lamps to keep alight. providence kindly allayed it, and the night was beautifully calm. our garden was splendidly illuminated; we had a band of twenty-four performers on the lawn and another in the dining-room. all our rooms were filled, many visitors strolling about the grounds to witness the illumination. before eleven the fireworks were displayed, and exceeded our most sanguine expectations; the company was delighted. this over, the tent-room was opened for supper; it made a splendid appearance. all seemed happy and gratified; dancing was kept up till about two o'clock. the gardens looked magnificent, nothing could have added to the grandeur of the scene. i glory in the occasion, and that the almighty has most bountifully provided us with the means. to my dear and much-valued wife i am indebted for the success of the entertainment. we can never forget the two last days." the next day his mother and the greater number of relatives and friends left ramsgate, and in the month of july we find mr and mrs montefiore again in london, mr montefiore following his usual vocations, though only for a short time; for on the th of the same month there is an entry in his diary dated east cliff, which gives striking evidence of the love and veneration he felt for the sacred edifice he had raised to the honour and glory of god. "we had the happiness," he writes, "of attending our synagogue morning, afternoon, and evening. thanks to heaven for a very happy day. our synagogue looked like paradise. i pointed out to my dear judith the spot, not more than ten or fifteen steps from the synagogue, in which i should like my mortal remains to rest when it shall please the almighty to take my soul to eternal glory, should i depart this world at or near east cliff." his wife consented. their love was great, and they did not wish even in death to be parted. mr montefiore's attention having now been drawn to the urgency of continued exertions in the furtherance of the emancipation bill, he requested mr g. r. dawson to intercede with his brother-in-law, sir robert peel, to withdraw his opposition to the bill, and also took other steps in the interest of the cause. a bill was again brought before the committee of the whole house of commons, "that it is expedient to remove all civil disabilities affecting her majesty's subjects of the jewish religion with the like exceptions as are provided by the catholic emancipation act of , with reference to her majesty's subjects professing the roman catholic religion." the second reading was carried by a majority of ; it was also read a third time, but in the upper house, where the duke of sussex presented a petition signed by inhabitants of westminster in favour of the jews, the bill was thrown out by a majority of . mr montefiore continued to take the greatest interest in all important meetings of various committees, especially in those of his own community. referring to one of the latter charged with the appointment of a lecturer, mr montefiore says: "the committee recommended a salary of £ a year, but afterwards reduced it to £ . the resolution, however, was amended, and only £ was granted." the particulars of this salary are interesting when compared with a salary to which a competent lecturer of the present day may consider himself fully entitled. it sounds strange to hear of fixing the salary for the services of a gentleman who has completed a university education, combined with special studies of theology, much lower than that which is generally offered to an upper servant in a gentleman's house. it can only be explained by the supposition that the candidate may have been simultaneously filling another and more lucrative office, which did not interfere with his duties as lecturer. chapter xii. - . illness of mr montefiore--his recovery--sir david salomons proposed as sheriff--visit of the duchess of kent and princess victoria to ramsgate--mr montefiore's hospitals--naming of the vessel _britannia_ by mrs montefiore--a loan of fifteen millions. in the year much anxiety was felt for mr montefiore by his friends in consequence of a severe illness by which he was attacked. for several months he was under the treatment of eminent surgeons, and on his recovery his strength was so low, that a journey to the south of france was deemed necessary. he accordingly left england, accompanied by his devoted wife, who had during his whole illness tended him with loving care. mr ashton rey, one of his medical advisers, in a letter he once wrote to mr montefiore, observed that mrs montefiore was one of the best wives he had ever seen, never moving from her husband's bedside day or night except to snatch a few hours' necessary repose. they remained abroad till august, the change of air having had the desired effect upon him, and on his arrival at east cliff he was again in the enjoyment of his usual health. they were both much disappointed on their return to hear the result of the jewish disabilities bill, which, after having been passed in the lower house, had been sent to the upper house, where it was lost by votes against . but still they did not lose courage, and hoped for the ultimate victory of the good cause. there is only one entry after this referring to political matters. it is to the effect that mr n. m. rothschild had been with the duke of wellington and advised him to form a liberal government, and to consent to some reforms; saying to his grace that he must go with the world, for the world would not go with him. on the last page of the diary he writes: "this night ( st december) brings me to the end of my book as well as to that of the year . when i reflect on the situation i was in during a long period of this year, languishing on a bed of sickness, in severe pain and affliction, on the eve of undergoing a dangerous operation, how can i be sufficiently thankful to the almighty for manifold blessings i now enjoy, saved by his great mercy from the grave." praying for a continuation of former mercies, he concludes with a copy of the th psalm. the year will ever be noted in the history of civilisation as one in which the dawning light of liberty began to inspire comfort in the hearts of the unwearied strugglers for equal rights for the jews. on may the th mr montefiore writes: "i called at downing street on the right hon. spring-rice, chancellor of the exchequer. i was immediately admitted, and received by him in the most friendly manner. i thanked him for having at my request appointed jacob montefiore one of her majesty's commissioners for the colonisation of south australia. the chancellor spoke of the many new schemes now afloat of companies with small capital, and said he would always be glad to see me." a month later he went to the guildhall, and heard david salomons proposed to the livery as one of the sheriffs for london and middlesex. sir john campbell having introduced a measure, the sheriffs declaration bill, which by the repeal of the test and corporation act in enabled a jew to enter into the office without violating his own religious convictions, mr david salomons was elected without opposition and "made a very good speech," mr montefiore observes, "in returning thanks." the arrival in ramsgate of the duchess of kent and princess victoria (her present majesty) is described by mr montefiore as follows:-- "this (september th) is a very busy day. at ten i was at the town hall; at the committee and many of the inhabitants, both on horse and on foot, went to the extremity of the parish to receive their royal highnesses the duchess of kent and princess victoria. the deputy of the town and myself headed the procession; we walked by the side of the royal carriage bareheaded all the way to albion house. thousands of people were in the streets, the houses all gaily ornamented with flags and boughs of trees. the duchess, on entering the house, sent sir george conroy to request that the gentlemen of the committee would come in to receive her thanks for their attention. i went in among the number, and was introduced. she expressed herself delighted; the princess was also much pleased. they had appointed to-morrow at eleven o'clock to receive the address. about four i again joined the committee at the head of the pier. sir william curtis was most polite. the belgian ambassador, with whom i had dined at n. m. rothschild's, was also there, and introduced me to sir john conroy. soon after five one of the king's steamers entered the harbour with the king and queen of the belgians. several members of the committee went on board to welcome them on their arrival, i among the number. they had had a very rough passage from calais. the king appeared greatly altered, looking very old, the queen is young and pleasant looking. they proceeded on foot to the albion hotel. the town was handsomely decorated and the principal streets illuminated, but the wind was so high as to put out most of the lamps." the next morning at half-past ten mr montefiore went to the town hall, and accompanied sir william curtis, mr warren, mr tomson (the deputy), colonel clarke, and about a dozen more to albion house, to present to the duchess of kent and princess victoria the address from the inhabitants and visitors of ramsgate and its vicinity. they were all introduced, and were most kindly received by the royal party. the duchess honoured the committee with a gracious reply, which she read. the committee then returned to the town hall, and prepared an address to the king and queen of the belgians, and at one o'clock walked to the albion hotel. they were introduced and very graciously received, the king speaking to mr montefiore and several other members of the committee. the king read a reply to the address, and after a few minutes the committee withdrew, much gratified with their reception. subsequently mr and mrs montefiore attended a ball given by the master of the ceremonies at the albion hotel, where they met many acquaintances. sir john conroy was particularly polite to them. mr montefiore offered him the use of the key of his grounds for the duchess, which he accepted with pleasure. accordingly both mr and mrs montefiore called the next day on the duchess, and left a key there for the use of her royal highness, sir john conroy and his family. on wednesday, october st. the duchess, accompanied by one of her ladies of honour, and attended by a footman, made use of the key, and walked through their grounds. sir john conroy, meeting mr montefiore next day at burgess' library, said that the duchess regretted that his gardener had suddenly disappeared yesterday, which had prevented her sending to inform mrs montefiore that she was in the grounds as she had wished to have done. her royal highness having repeated her visits to his grounds, mr montefiore ordered an opening to be made in the field on the side next to broadstairs for the convenience of the duchess. in recognition of this attention he received the following note from sir john conroy:-- "sir john conroy presents his compliments, and in obedience to a command he has just received from the duchess of kent, hastens to acquaint mr montefiore that her royal highness is exceedingly gratified and obliged by his attention in making a new access to his charming grounds from broadstairs for her convenience, but her royal highness fears she has given a great deal of trouble. "ramsgate, _ th october _. there were several incidents which afforded them much gratification this year. mrs montefiore was invited to name a new steamer. "this morning," writes mr montefiore on july , "we embarked from the custom house stairs on board the _harlequin_, to witness the launch of a new steamship built by fletcher & fearnaly. on reaching the dockyard near limehouse, mr woolverly attwood and judith went on shore; i followed with horatio at half-past one. my dear wife named the ship by throwing a bottle of wine against the side of the vessel at the moment she left the stocks and plunged into the water. 'may every success,' she said, 'attend the _britannia_.' we then went on board the _royal sovereign_. there was a large party; about a hundred sat down to dinner. several members of parliament with their ladies were present, g. r. dawson, medley, t. m. pearce, pepys, and col. lawrence. many speeches, all drinking my dear wife's health." another entry refers to his having been admitted to the freedom of the merchant taylors company. mr montefiore received a letter from mr matthias attwood, informing him that he had proposed his name at the court of the above company for admission to the freedom and livery of the same. the proposition, said mr attwood, was carried unanimously, many of the members expressing the high respect they entertained for mr montefiore's personal character. on the th of november he was accordingly admitted and sworn a freeman of the said company. "matthias attwood," says mr montefiore, "has acted with the greatest kindness in procuring me this honour, i being the first jew admitted to their company. at the next meeting of the court i am to be made one of the livery." a printed slip of a newspaper is affixed to one of the leaves of the diary, referring to a loan raised under the authority of the act and of william iv., cap. , for the compensation to owners of slaves; it reads as follows:-- "the parties to the contract for the £ , , loan are n. m. rothschild and moses montefiore on the one part, and lord melbourne, mr f. spring-rice, lord seymour, and messrs w. h. old, r. steward, and r. more, on the other; witnesses, messrs james pattison, governor, and t. a. curtis, deputy-governor of the bank of england." there is another slip attached to it, showing the interest on this loan to have been lower than several preceding ones. the interest on the loan of was £ , s. d., and of , £ , s. second loan of , £ , s. d.; , £ , s. d.; , £ , s. d.; , £ , s. d.; , £ , s. d.; and on the present loan, £ , s. d. the particulars of that loan are given in the _money market and city intelligence_, dated monday evening, rd august : "the bidding for the west indian loan took place this morning. mr rothschild and his friends waited upon lord melbourne and the chancellor at ten o'clock. mr rothschild's tender, the only one prepared, the other lists having been withdrawn, was then opened, when that gentleman's bidding was found to be s. d. in long annuities. the offer having been declined, the sealed minimum of ministers, as previously arranged, was opened, and it appeared they were not willing to give more than s. d. of annuities in addition to £ consols and £ redeemed per cents, for every £ in money subscribed. it was for mr rothschild, therefore, either to agree to those terms or to abandon the contract. that gentleman and his friends retired for a short time to consult on the subject, and finally agreed to accept them. an important concession was, however, obtained in regard to the discount for paying up the instalments, which is to be at the rate of per cent. on the payment, as in all former contracts for loans, and gives a bonus of £ , s. d. in favour of the contractors. the subscribers to the loan have now an inducement which did not exist under the arrangement at first proposed, for completing the instalments and turning their omnium into stock. though it is an advantage, therefore, to them, it is considered somewhat against the present price of consols, as a large supply may at any time be thrown upon the market. the chancellor of the exchequer assured the gentlemen who attended the bidding, that all means would be taken on his part to bring back into circulation the money that might come into his hands beyond the amount called for to meet the west indian claims. on the subject of debentures (they are not named in the contract specially) against which, as a security not yet created, there were many objections, it is agreed that they shall be at all times made receivable to the instalments of the loan. when the terms were first made known, the scrip bore a premium of - / to per cent., but they produced a decline in consols, which went back to , a fall of nearly per cent. at the highest price of the morning. a large amount of business was done both in the stock and in the scrip; the fluctuations in them were not, however, very considerable afterwards. the following are the concluding quotations:-- "consols for the account, - / to ----; omnium - / , premium; exchequer bills, s. to s. premium." on the same day he makes the following entry in his journal: "i accompanied n. m. r. pattison and j. a. curtis to the city; called at the alliance, irish bank, &c.; at six we dined, and took our fast, &c., this being the anniversary of the destruction of the temple in jerusalem." few financiers, perhaps would feel inclined, after all the excitement incidental to the successful contracting of a loan for £ , , , to comply with so exacting a religious observance as a fast of twenty-four hours duration. with a mind pre-occupied with business details, the rise and fall of the public funds, and other matters, such an observance must be more than ordinarily trying. nevertheless mr montefiore would not, on this occasion any more than any other, allow worldly interests to prevail over religious duties. the loan for the abolition of slavery reminded him of the words of the prophet isaiah (ch. lii., v. ) to israel: "ye have sold yourselves for nought, and ye shall be redeemed without money," and attuned his mind to reflection on the former glory of zion and its present state of sorrow. on the nd of november we find a record of his having paid £ to the blue coat school to constitute him one of the governors. the manner in which he was led to take this step is noteworthy. a young man who was a complete stranger to them, wrote and implored mr and mrs montefiore to take his wife and child under their protection. he acknowledged that, as a stranger and one professing a different religion, he had no claim whatever to make such a request, but he had heard so much of their kind-heartedness that he felt sure they would not refuse to accede to the dying prayer of one who was driven by unmerited misfortunes to despair and suicide. sir moses enquired into the case, and finding that the poor man had really deserved a better fate, he assisted the widow in her distressing position, and bought the governorship, as recorded, for the express purpose of being able to provide for the boy. there is another entry of his having attended a meeting of the committee of the cock court alm's houses, which he had erected and presented to the spanish and portuguese community. his object in attending was to remind the elders to rebuild some of the houses on one side of the court, at an expense not exceeding £ , the funds in hand being £ . turning to politics, he mentions a dinner party at sir robert campbell's, where mr and mrs montefiore met the duke and duchess of cleveland, lord and lady darlington, lady augusta powlett, colonel lushington, and other friends of emancipation. the reader having seen mr and mrs montefiore in the circle of royalty and high nobility, i will ask him to accompany me into the circle of their own family and friends. on november th i was invited to a dinner party given by one of his relatives in london, the late mr louis cohen. it was here that i met mr and mrs montefiore for the first time. during the course of the evening i had many opportunities of conversing with them, and before parting, they invited me to spend a week with them at east cliff lodge, ramsgate. a few days later i was informed that a place had been taken for me to ramsgate, at the spread eagle, gracechurch street, in the name of mr montefiore. there is a special entry of this little journey, which i copy. _thursday, rd december ._--"walked with judith to gracechurch street. we met louis and florette (the late mr louis cohen, of south street, finsbury, their nephew, and his wife) and dr loewe. we all went with the tally-ho at three o'clock; they having the whole inside, and i riding outside on the box seat. we took tea at sittingbourne, and proceeded from canterbury about ten o'clock by the night stage coach with post horses to east cliff. "i found it extremely cold; it was near one when we arrived at east cliff, thanks to heaven, in safety, and found all well. our library looked delightfully comfortable, with a good fire and lamps. i was almost perishing with cold. we took tea, &c., and when our visitors retired to their chambers it was near two o'clock." the inconvenient mode of travelling at that time did not prevent his making such journeys whenever required, and however much he may have suffered by taking his seat outside the coach (which he evidently always did from politeness to his visitors), his comfortable home soon made him forget the unpleasantness of a long cold ride. during my stay in east cliff, the time of the party was generally devoted either to little excursions in the neighbourhood, or to conversations on literary subjects. sometimes mr and mrs montefiore entertained us by giving their reminiscences of travels in italy, france, and egypt. there was a kind of charm which the visitor felt in their company; a very short time after his arrival a delightful sensation of comfort overcame him, and soon made him feel at home. the amiability of both the hostess and host made the days pass agreeably and rapidly, and they were always loth to retire when the midnight hour was announced. mrs montefiore showed us all the curiosities she brought with her from egypt, and told us how much she had been entertained in that country by the number of languages spoken around her. there was an amusing incident that day, which particularly induced her to speak on the study of languages. mr montefiore had laid a wager with her to the effect that if, at a stated time, she would be able to pass an examination by him in italian grammar, he would give her a cheque for £ . she was fortunate enough to acquit herself most creditably in our presence, and received the amount in question. mr montefiore was delighted at the perseverance and ability displayed by his wife, and she was truly happy to have again succeeded (as she always did) in obtaining the approbation of her husband. the conversation of the visitors being frequently in french and german, many an hour was spent in reading letters and poems addressed to mr and mrs montefiore in these languages. mrs montefiore, however, was not content with the study of modern languages, and expressed a wish to acquire also a knowledge of eastern languages, especially of turkish and arabic. to give her an idea of the grammatical construction of the latter, i used to write out lessons for her, and she at once commenced to learn them. the following morning she surprised the whole party by saying by heart every turkish and arabic word that i had written out. it was amusing to all of us, and to mr montefiore a cause of great delight, to notice the zeal with which she took up the subject. one day she produced from her cabinet a scarabæus and a little egyptian clay figure, which had been given to her by mr salt, the english consul in egypt. both the scarabæus and the little figure had hieroglyphical inscriptions, and she requested me to give her a translation of the same. in compliance with her request i explained the inscriptions, and gave her a short account of the rosetta stone and the works of young and champollion and other egyptologists. i concluded my visit to east cliff lodge on the th of december. mr montefiore requested me to draw up a plan for some future travels in the holy land; i promised to comply with his wish, and then took leave. there is an entry of this date in the diary, in which he says: "if my dear judith consents to our again visiting the holy land, i should be glad to obtain the company of the doctor on our pilgrimage." a few days later i sent him the plan for the journey, also a second copy of the translation which i had made of the hieroglyphical inscription on the osiris or sepulchral figure. he acknowledged the receipt of the same in two letters, one written in mrs montefiore's handwriting, the other in his own. mr montefiore subsequently told me that his wife now commenced to take a special interest in antiquities, enriching her cabinet with curiosities whenever an opportunity presented itself. the year is also noted for the particular interest which mr montefiore took in the affairs of his own community. he was elected president of the london committee of deputies of british jews, his predecessor, mr moses mocatta, having resigned the office. [illustration: hand-written letter] chapter xiii. - . death of mr n. m. rothschild--mr montefiore visits dublin--becomes the first jewish member of the royal society--death of william iv.--mr montefiore elected sheriff. in the diary for , the first entry is on the th july, which is accounted for by its being the second journal for that year, the one containing his entries for the early months having been lost. on the date mentioned he records his grief at the death of an aunt to whom he was much attached, and for whom he entertained a sincere respect. about this time he was also much affected by the illness of mr n. m. rothschild, and on the th we find him busily engaged in making preparations for a journey to frankfort-on-the-main, on purpose to visit this "kind friend." only ten months ago they had together signed the contract for the loan of £ , , , and now they were to see each other for the last time. mr montefiore writes: "we arrived there in time to see him alive, but death was fast approaching. at four o'clock on the same day ( th july) his brother, anselm, asked him to say prayers, which he did, and all present joined him; he then kissed his wife and said 'good night' quite distinctly. at five he breathed his last, and passed away without the slightest struggle. i was with him the whole time, and remained in the room an hour after all the others had left it. i had thus the melancholy satisfaction of paying the last respect to his remains. oh! may this mournful sight remind me of the nothingness of this world's grandeur, and may i daily become more prepared for a blessed eternity! he was a good friend to me and my dear judith in our early life. peace to his memory. hannah (his wife) did not leave him for a moment during his illness, and remained in the room for some time after his death, returning there again the same evening." on the day of the funeral, which took place in london, mr montefiore writes: "i remained at the burial ground above an hour after the mourners had left, and saw the grave of my kind and truly lamented friend arched over, filled up, and a large slab of yorkshire stone placed upon it. thus have i witnessed all that was mortal of my dear friend consigned to the earth; his spirit the almighty, in his great mercy, has taken to a better world, there to enjoy in glorious eternity the reward of his charitable actions." we will now, however, turn to more cheerful matters. on october th he writes: "i had the honour of receiving a card of invitation to dine with her royal highness the duchess of kent on tuesday next;" then, true to his motto, which bids him "think and thank," he adds, "praised be he from whom all honour and distinction flows." _tuesday, the th._ the words of his entry are as follows:--"i attended synagogue, and a little before seven went in our chariot to west cliff, where i had the honour of dining with their royal highnesses the duchess of kent and the princess victoria. the other guests were, sir john conroy, the dean of chester, mr justice gaselee, the rector of st lawrence, the hon. col. stopford and his wife, the ladies jane and charlotte seymour, and one other lady and gentleman. i took down the colonel's wife and sat opposite to the princess. there were thirteen at table, and it was impossible for it to have been more agreeable. i never felt myself more at ease at any dinner party within my recollection. the behaviour of the duchess was most kind and condescending, and all the party were extremely amiable and chatty. the entertainment was truly royal, and after dinner, when the gentlemen had joined the ladies in the drawing-room, where tea and coffee were served, the duchess again spoke to each of us. the princess sophia matilda was also present. i returned home quite enraptured with the very kind and obliging manner in which i had been distinguished by her royal highness." in the same year mr and mrs montefiore received the congratulations of their friends on a providential escape from the horrors of shipwreck. they had left margate in the _magnet_ at nine o'clock in the morning of the th october. the weather was foggy, but they thought it would soon clear up. they had only proceeded a short distance, however, when they got on to a sandbank, where they were obliged to remain for two hours, feeling the gravest anxiety all the time. at last the tide floated them off again, and they endeavoured to grope their way through the fog, passing several vessels, which were only visible when quite close upon them. mr montefiore was standing near the bow of the ship, when suddenly a steamer was seen to be quite close to them, and before it was possible to avoid her, she struck their bow with a dreadful crash. mr montefiore threw himself on deck to escape injury. the screams of the people on board both boats were terrible. it was soon seen that the _red rover_, the vessel they had encountered, was sinking fast. her passengers and crew lost no time in getting on board the _magnet_, and in five minutes the _red rover_ was engulfed in the sea, which was immediately covered with spars, boxes, and other wreckage. the alarm was dreadful. the _magnet_, having sustained serious damage, her situation was most critical. she was making a great deal of water, and the pumps were instantly set to work, while the vessel made for the shore. happily they were boarded by a fishing smack and taken to sheerness, where they landed, but where, unfortunately, their troubles did not end. no sort of conveyance was to be found in sheerness, and they were obliged to go by boat to chatham, and thence in a post-chaise to town. it was nearly p.m. when the marine office was reached. "my poor dear wife," writes mr montefiore, "conducted herself with her usual admirable courage. we were, in all probability, never in our lives in more imminent danger. god be praised for his great mercy for granting us his protection." at seven o'clock the next morning mr montefiore proceeds to the synagogue, where he renders thanks to the almighty. at the same time he gives £ in charity--£ for the portuguese and £ for the german poor in london, and £ for the poor of jerusalem. the journal of this year contains but few entries relating to politics. in the session of the ministry, in their attempt to carry several important measures of reform, were defeated in the house of lords, but succeeded in passing an act enabling dissenters to be married otherwise than by the established clergy. bills were also passed for commuting tithes into a corn-rent charge payable in money, and for a general registry of births, deaths, and marriages. the second reading of the bill for the removal of civil disabilities from his majesty's jewish subjects was postponed in the house of lords. the jews were, however, satisfied with the progress their cause had hitherto made, and they considered themselves justified in hoping for a speedy and complete emancipation. the election of mr david salomons as sheriff of london and middlesex, and alderman for the ward of aldgate, took place about this time. the particulars i shall give of the next few years will show the progress of good feeling between the jews and their fellow-citizens, and, in particular, the esteem in which mr montefiore was held by men of all sects. on the st of january we meet mr montefiore in dublin, whither he had gone with a deputation from the provincial bank of ireland (in london). "my companions, messrs th. masterman and james marshall," he writes, "accompanied me to the new house of our agency, and we were present at the commencement of business. we remained there till five o'clock, and found that all was conducted comfortably." he then called with the directors on lord morpeth and other influential persons, in the interests of their business. whilst in ireland he gave handsome donations to various charitable institutions, including £ to the dublin bluecoat school. he also visited the synagogue, where he made generous offerings. on the th he is again in london, receiving the thanks of the board of directors of the irish bank for the valuable services he and his colleagues had rendered by their visit to ireland. on the rd february, at the royal society, he is introduced to the vice-president, the earl of burlington, by mr w. h. pepys, mr montefiore being the only jewish member as yet admitted. writing in his journal on the subject, he says: "i think i may be proud of the honour of enrolling my name in the same book which has already been signed by several of the kings of england." in march mr montefiore had a deed of gift prepared by t. m. pearce, conferring the "upper french farm" on his brother horatio and his children. he also returns £ to a friend who had repaid that sum which he had borrowed from him in the year to commence business with; mr montefiore observing that he was more than repaid in witnessing his friend's success. on the th of the same month i find the first entry referring to an offer of the shrievalty of london and middlesex. mr a. h. thornborough called on mr montefiore, saying he was deputed by some of the most influential members of the corporation of london to offer him the shrievalty at the ensuing election, if he would accept the office. mr montefiore candidly stated that he was not desirous of the honour, but if he were elected, he wished to be free either to accept or decline it; he also stated that he could not attend church, but had no objection to send his money, and at all the city feasts he must be allowed to have his own meat, dishes, &c. to all of which mr thornborough said there could be no possible objection. it was nearly twelve o'clock before he left. "i suppose," writes mr montefiore, "i shall hear nothing more of the business, but whatever is, is for the best. praise be to god alone." till the nd of june there is no entry of any importance in the diary, but on that day the death of the king of england (william iv.) is recorded, and a further reference is made to the subject of the shrievalty. mr montefiore says, "this morning at a.m. it pleased the almighty to call to a better world our beloved king william iv. oaths of allegiance were taken to-day by the members of both houses of parliament to the queen alexandrina victoria. may her reign be long, glorious, and happy. amen." after entering various particulars relating to his financial transactions, and to some visits which he paid to different friends and relations, he writes: "mr lucas, one of the aldermen, having written to me yesterday to ascertain my intention respecting the proposal made to me some time ago to be sheriff next year, i requested he would inform the parties that i did not give my consent to my being proposed to the livery, and in the event of its being done, and of my being elected, i most distinctly stated that i considered myself perfectly free either to accept or decline the honour." on the nd of june he wrote a note to l. lucas, begging him to inform mr thornborough that his state of health would not allow him to accept the office of sheriff if the citizens of london did him the honour to elect him. he also acquainted t. m. pearce with his intention of declining the shrievalty in the event of its being conferred on him. it appears, however, that many friends and relatives spoke to him on the subject, and prevailed on him to accept the office if elected. on the th june mr huffam called to bring the news that mr montefiore had been unanimously elected sheriff of london and middlesex. he had been proposed by mr t. a. curtis, governor of the bank of england, the resolution being seconded by mr samuel gurney. mr huffam said that both gentlemen had spoken most highly of him, and that there were over four hundred persons present. in the evening, mr montefiore, accompanied by his good wife, paid a visit to his mother, to tell her of the honour he had received from the livery of london, and to ask and receive her blessing on his undertaking. he then prayed for the blessing of heaven, so to guide his conduct that he might discharge the duties of the office to the satisfaction of his own conscience, to the gratification of the citizens, and to the honour of the jews. he received congratulations from numerous friends and relatives, which seemed however to give him but little satisfaction. the following extract from his diary will show why this was so:--"i shall have the greatest difficulties to contend with," he writes, "in the execution of my duty; difficulties which i shall meet with at the very outset. the day i enter on my office is the commencement of our new year. i shall therefore have to walk to westminster instead of going in my state carriage, nor, i fear, shall i be able to dine with my friends at the inauguration dinner which, from time immemorial, is given on the th of september. i shall, however, endeavour to persuade my colleague to change the day to the th of october. some of our readers will perhaps smile at his difficulties, but when his friends observed how differently other persons would act in a similar position, he used to say: "very well, i will not deviate from the injunctions of my religion; let them call me a bigot if they like; it is immaterial to me what others do or think in this respect. god has given man the free will to act as he may think proper. he has set before him life and death, blessing and curse (deut. ch. xxx, v. ). i follow the advice given in holy writ, and choose that which is considered life, which is accounted a blessing." his first visit in the city was to messrs t. a. curtis and samuel gurney, to thank the former for having proposed the resolution for his election, and the latter for having seconded it. he then received congratulations from messrs pearce, thornborough, and wire at the alliance office, and appointed mr wire as his under-sheriff. on the same day he addressed a formal letter of thanks to "the worthy and independent livery of london." the next day messrs thornborough, lucas, and carrol called, and it was agreed to have the sheriffs' inauguration dinner on the th october instead of the th september. sir james duke, one of the outgoing sheriffs, also came, and was most friendly. he offered mr montefiore every assistance, and invited him to dine at the old bailey on thursday, the th july. two days later he attended with his colleague, mr george carrol, a meeting of the subscribers to the sheriffs' fund, at the city of london coffee house, ludgate hill, where he was introduced to mr sheriff johnson, who was in the chair. there he also met sir james duke, mr wire, mr anderson, the governor of bridewell, and other gentlemen, and a committee was appointed to prepare a plan for a more extensive employment of the funds of the above-named charity. both sheriffs were most polite to messrs carrol and montefiore, and invited them to be present on all occasions at the sessions in the old bailey, when they were also to breakfast and dine with them. _july the th._--mr t. a. curtis kindly accompanied mr montefiore to the court of aldermen, where both he and mr george carrol signed bonds engaging to take upon themselves the office of sheriff, under penalty of £ fine. "the lord mayor," writes mr montefiore, "and every alderman present shook hands with me, each paid me some neat compliment, and every attention was shown to my religious feelings." at a meeting of the livery, where a resolution to send an address to the queen was proposed by mr david salomons and carried unanimously, twelve of the livery were appointed to present the same, amongst whom, besides the lord mayor, sheriffs, and aldermen, were messrs david salomons, g. carrol, and m. montefiore. _july th._--mr montefiore went to the old bailey at half-past eight, and breakfasted with the under sheriff, mr g. carrol, and other gentlemen. the sheriffs and aldermen came in a little before ten, at which time baron vaughan, baron alderson, and the lord mayor also came. he was introduced, and received by all in a very friendly manner, and then went with them into court. at eleven he went with sheriff johnson and mr george carrol over every part of newgate. "it was half-past one before we had finished our tour of inspection. i find my new post will give me very serious occupation, and much more trouble than i had expected, but i hope the blessing of heaven will attend my endeavours to fulfil its various duties to the satisfaction of my fellow-citizens." this did, however, not prevent him from turning his mind, when necessary, also to the affairs of his own community. he accompanied t. m. pearce to downing street, and had an interview with mr lister, the registrar-general. "we agreed," he says, "that it would not be safe for jews to marry by licence under the present marriage bill, and that they must give twenty-one days' notice to the registrar." on the same day he dined at five with the lord mayor, sheriffs, and other distinguished persons at the old bailey. "a capital dinner," he observes, "dessert and wine; i had part of a fowl which had been sent from home." every one was most attentive to him. the judges and the lord mayor left at seven, but the sheriffs stayed till eight o'clock. chapter xiv. . the jews' marriage bill--mr montefiore at the queen's drawing-room--his inauguration as sheriff. on july th he called on the chief rabbi to discuss the marriage laws, a subject which was causing much uneasiness in the community. he was detained there so long that it became too late for him to attend the committee meeting at the irish bank. he wrote a letter to the archbishop of dublin on the subject of the jews' marriage bill, requesting him to take charge of it in the house of lords. in the course of the day he received a card of invitation to a dinner of the merchant taylors company from j. allison, the new master, with a most friendly note, requesting him to name the dishes he would wish to have placed before him. on july th mr montefiore went with a member of the board of deputies to consult t. m. pearce on the subject of the jews' marriage bill, and in the evening attended a meeting of the deputies, at which it was resolved to petition the house of lords in favour of the measure. he writes: "i am most firmly resolved not to give up the smallest part of our religious forms and privileges to obtain civil rights." one of the members of the board also gave notice of a motion for "a more popular election of the deputies." on july th mr montefiore met t. m. pearce at the house of lords. mr blake, the legal adviser of the archbishop of dublin, made several important alterations in the bill, which, in mr montefiore's opinion, greatly improved it. he then called at downing street to see mr spring-rice, but that gentleman had just left town for cambridge. mr montefiore immediately resolved to go and see him there. at p.m. he again met pearce, also mr buxton, at the house of lords. the archbishop of dublin and several other lords had declined to propose the second reading of the marriage act bill. mr buxton exerted himself greatly, and spoke to several peers in his presence without success. at last he prevailed on lord glenelg to promise that he would speak with lord duncannon, and would give notice the next day. in accordance with his resolution, mr montefiore went the same day by the "cambridge mail" to see mr spring-rice. on his return he went to the house of lords with pearce and saw lord glenelg. "but," writes mr montefiore, "he would have nothing to do with the bill, and pearce could get no peer to move the second reading, consequently, the bill will be lost, and with it all the expenses, £ ." _wednesday, july ._--he attended the queen's first levee at st james' palace; it was very crowded. he was one of the deputation of the livery of london, by whom an address of congratulation was to be presented to her majesty. the lord mayor introduced them. mr montefiore was afterwards presented a second time. on his card was written, "mr montefiore, presented by the duke of norfolk." "the queen," he observes, "looked very pretty and most interesting." "may she be happy!" is his prayer to heaven. it was after four o'clock when he left the palace. he had spoken to a great number of acquaintances there. the next day he went with mrs montefiore to st james' palace to attend the queen's drawing-room. mrs montefiore was presented to her majesty by the countess of albemarle, and was most graciously received. "i followed her," writes mr montefiore. "the queen smiled good-humouredly at me, and the duchess of kent said she was pleased to see us. no reception at a drawing-room could have been more flattering." at five o'clock he went to dine at the merchant taylors hall. mr alliston, the master, was most civil and kind to him, and to mr george carrol. it was a most splendid banquet, about one hundred and twenty sat down to table. the entertainment was given by the merchant taylors to the skinners company, in accordance with an old custom, which owed its origin to the following occurrence. a difference having arisen between the two companies, it was referred to the lord mayor, who decided that "they were both wrong and both right," and decreed that each company should annually entertain the other at a dinner. this has been kept up, without a single exception, ever since the lord mayor gave his verdict, which was more than three hundred years ago. "nothing," says mr montefiore, "could have been more magnificent than the entertainment. i sat next to mr charles culling smith, the duke of wellington's brother-in-law, and my health and that of mr george carrol was drunk." mr montefiore now wished to go to ramsgate for a few days' rest, but before leaving town he sent a letter to the master, wardens, and assistants of the worshipful company of merchant taylors, requesting the use of their hall for the inauguration dinner in october. in august we find him again in london, attending a dinner of the skinners' company, where he meets mr attwood and his colleague mr george carrol, also several friends belonging to the merchant taylors' company. his health is proposed, and he returns thanks. one of the party, dr knox, the master of the skinners' company's school at tonbridge, expressed himself in very flattering terms to mr montefiore after the entertainment, but observed that he ought not to be one of the court assistants, as the latter had to protect their church. mr montefiore, in reply, assured him that he would never ask anything of the company that they might not be willing to grant. dr knox appeared fully satisfied with what he heard, and continued the conversation in a friendly spirit. on the th of august there is a very affectionate entry, dated from tonbridge, and referring to his brother, horatio montefiore. "horatio," he writes, "joined us this morning at breakfast; he left ramsgate and his family last evening, and travelled all night. at eleven o'clock my dear judith, horatio, mr ridge, and myself went in the britzka to tinley lodge, upper french farm. the houses, barns, stables, and outhouses had all been put in the most substantial and complete repair, and looked extremely well, as did the land. with the full and willing consent of my dear wife, i informed horatio that i made him a present of the estate, and after him to his children, strictly entailing it on the eldest son from generation to generation, and recommended him to grant shetfield, the present tenant, a lease at a moderate rent for fourteen years, say at £ . horatio appeared well pleased with the gift." this entry is followed by another equally pleasing. he dined with his sister-in-law, mrs hannah rothschild, and met there, among others, the count and countess ludolf. in the course of conversation, the count said that several english physicians had offered to go to naples, where the cholera was then raging, and assist in relieving the sufferers, but, unfortunately, they had no funds. mr montefiore, upon hearing this, immediately promised £ for the purpose, and of course kept his word. in the following record of a visit paid by mr and mrs montefiore to h.r.h. the princess sophia matilda during her stay at ramsgate, we find one of the many gratifying instances of the esteem in which they were both held by the highest in the land. on september the th he writes:--"at three we went in our britzka with post horses, through a torrent of rain, to west cliff house, by appointment, to visit h.r.h. the princess sophia matilda. she received us most kindly, and was very chatty. she spoke on many different subjects, including the slave trade and the prevailing epidemics; also of her proposed visit to brighton, which she hoped would agree with her. we then spoke of the queen and the duchess of kent. judith said she hoped the queen would build a palace at ramsgate. her royal highness replied, she could not recommend the expense, as it would be talked of a hundred years after; it was all very well just at first. we remained more than half-an-hour, and on our taking leave, her royal highness shook hands with judith most kindly, and said she was happy in having made her acquaintance. during our visit she also spoke of her brother, the late king, and on each occasion the tears came into her eyes. she appeared in very good health, and fond of retirement." on the th of september mr montefiore writes:--"her royal highness the princess sophia matilda paid judith a visit yesterday, and remained with her an hour and a half. she had first appointed to come on friday if i had been at home, then on monday or tuesday, but judith wrote that we were going to london in the middle of the week, and would be happy to see her royal highness on saturday. she was most gracious and agreeable." _wednesday, september th._--mr montefiore called at the mansion house and saw the lord mayor and mr croft, who accepted the new sheriffs' invitation for wednesday, the th october. according to an ancient custom mr montefiore, as sheriff, should have dined with the lord mayor on friday, the th, but he apologized for his inability to do so on account of the sabbath commencing in the evening. _thursday, the th._--"i cannot," he says, "but reflect with gratitude on the almighty's goodness to me: may he bless my endeavours to be useful." he then gives the following account of the day's proceedings:--"at ten i entered our state carriage, mr wire having come for me in his, and we drove to cavendish square, where mr george carrol in his state carriage took the lead, he being the senior sheriff, on account of his having been proposed to the livery by the lord mayor. we proceeded to the merchant taylors' hall, where we found sixteen of their members, and sixteen of the spectacle makers, besides some few friends of mr george carrol. the following gentlemen were also present:--barons lionel, nathaniel, and anthony de rothschild, messrs t. a. curtis, benjamin cohen, isaac cohen, solomon cohen, s. m. samuel, john helbert, and m. davidson, the six last named being the brothers and brothers-in-law of my dear wife. at one o'clock we went in grand procession to the guildhall, accompanied by a band of music. at two we were sworn into office, and about three i returned to park lane. i changed my official costume for plain clothes, and went at half-past five to cavendish square. mr george carrol then accompanied me to the london tavern, and we dined with sir james duke and mr sheriff johnson." _monday, nd october._--mr montefiore and his colleague went to newgate. in the afternoon they proceeded to windsor, and inscribed their names in the duchess of kent's visitors' book. the next day mr montefiore called on the lord mayor, who introduced him to alderman cowan, the lord mayor elect; he also attended the hustings at the guildhall in his violet gown, the lord mayor and mr george carrol being present. he afterwards settled, with messrs maynard, carrol, and wire, the toasts and the grace before dinner, and proceeded with these gentlemen to the lord mayor to submit them for his approval. this having been obtained, he went to the merchant taylors' hall to see that the arrangement of the tables was satisfactory. the inauguration dinner of the new sheriffs took place at the merchant taylors' hall in threadneedle street. the number of guests who sat down to dinner was not less than four hundred; and the lord mayor presided. after the cloth was removed, the usual toasts were proposed by the lord mayor, and the two sheriffs returned thanks, each in a separate speech. mr sheriff montefiore said: "my lord mayor, my lords and gentlemen, if i consulted my own feelings of diffidence on this occasion, i confess i should have remained silent, and have allowed my friend and colleague to return our united thanks for the honour conferred on us by the distinguished company. but as custom demands that i should say a few words, i rise to express briefly, and i fear imperfectly, my feelings of gratitude for the flattering manner in which my health has been proposed, and the warm and affectionate greeting with which it has been received. new to the high and important office i have been called upon by the kind wishes of my fellow-citizens to fill, it will readily be conceived that i cannot be acquainted with all its various duties. but i can assure you it shall be my study to understand their nature, and my earnest endeavour to fulfil them in such a manner as to justify my fellow-citizens in the choice they have made. although i cannot pretend to say that i will do what your late sheriffs have done, still less to surpass them in their efforts to be useful, yet i hope, so far, to imitate their example as to show my anxiety to transmit to my successors the functions of my office unimpaired in their usefulness, and its privileges undiminished in their value. believing that it is not a political office, and yet that it has duties both to the queen and to the public, i hope, in the execution of those duties, to swerve neither to the right nor the left, but on the one hand to uphold the rightful prerogatives of the crown, and on the other to support the just liberties of the people. called upon by the free, intelligent, and wealthy citizens of this great city to fill so important an office, i trust that i shall never be found wanting in any efforts to prove that the great privilege of electing their own sheriffs may be safely entrusted to the people. may i add that in choosing the humble individual before you to fill so important an office, they have shown that private character, when based on integrity, will secure public honour and respect? nor is it less gratifying to find that, though professing a different faith from the major it of my fellow-citizens, yet this has presented no barrier to my desire of being useful to them in a situation to which my forefathers would in vain have aspired; and i hail this as a proof that those prejudices are passing away, and will pass away, which prevent our feelings from being as widely social, as just, as comprehensive in their effect as the most amiable and best-instructed mind can desire. nor can i forget, while alluding to kindly feelings, how much i am indebted to those friends who, unasked and unsolicited, proposed and elected me to the office which now gives me the opportunity of addressing you. to them, to you, to the livery at large, i again tender my thanks, and i beg to assure you that, whatever may be necessary to enhance the high, respectability of my office, to support its splendour, to maintain its rights, to add to its honour, and to make it more useful to my fellow-citizens--if it can be made more useful--i will attempt, and with your countenance and support, i trust, accomplish. thus acting, i shall hope to receive the only reward i seek--the thanks of my fellow-citizens, and the approbation of my own conscience." the attorney-general in replying to the toast, "the health of her majesty's ministers," given by the lord mayor, alluded to mr montefiore in the following words:--"there could be no more honourable or important office than that of sheriff, and although mr montefiore differed in faith from the established religion, there could be no doubt that he would discharge the duties which devolved on him with equal credit to himself and advantage to the city. he (the attorney-general) was one of those who thought that the only qualification which should exist for such offices was that the holder should be a good citizen; and he recollected with no small degree of satisfaction, that it was he who had brought in the bill, a measure that passed through the legislature by, he might say, the unanimous vote of both houses of parliament, which entitled mr montefiore to occupy the position he then held. he was happy to say that the ancient prejudices, founded on difference of religious belief, were fast wearing away, and he only hoped the time was at hand when objections on such grounds would altogether cease to operate. it was the desire of her majesty's government to promote such a state of things by all the means in their power; and for his own part, his opinion was that, so far from injuring the constitution, it would tend materially to uphold and strengthen it." mr and mrs montefiore returned to park lane at two o'clock from the inauguration dinner, much pleased with the reception they had met with from their fellow-citizens. chapter xv. . death of mr montefiore's uncle--mr montefiore rides in the lord mayor's procession--is knighted--his speech at the lord mayor's banquet--presents petition on behalf of the jews to parliament. we may now consider mr montefiore as almost entirely occupied with the discharge of the duties of his office as sheriff. we shall give here the entries he made referring to the subject, some of which are particularly interesting. from the following entry one can form an idea of the way in which he spent his days during his year of office:-- " . a.m., left park lane; o'clock, breakfasted at the old bailey; , attended the recorder into the court, was present at a meeting of the subscribers to the sheriffs' fund, met the lord mayor at the guildhall, and attended the hustings. at . went back to the old bailey, had lunch there, re-entered court, and remained there till near five, then returned to park lane. accompanied by my wife, proceeded at . to the mansion house, where we dined with the lord mayor and lady mayoress, and a very large and elegant party; had music, and singing and dancing; returned home at one o'clock." on the th of october mr montefiore in his turn gave a dinner to the lord mayor and lady mayoress, the sheriffs and aldermen and their ladies, after which mrs montefiore held a reception, which was followed by a concert. the next day he went to newgate, and saw the prisoners who had just been received. he went through the male and female wards, and spoke to many of the prisoners. he then proceeded to whitecross prison, and gave mr barrett, the governor, a cheque for £ for distribution among such cases of distress as he thought most deserving. there are entries in the diary which show that on many occasions mr montefiore did not leave the old bailey before nine o'clock in the evening. "sometimes," he remarks, "the duties of shrievalty cause me much trouble." but however numerous or onerous his duties may have been, they never prevented his leaving the old bailey in time to attend synagogue, on the eve of the sabbath and festivals, the judges in court always, in the most kind manner, giving him permission to do so. about that time one of his near relatives happening to be dangerously ill, he more than once, after having performed the daily duties of his office, and been present at an entertainment which lasted till midnight or later, instead of returning home, proceeded to the house of sickness, where he watched at the bedside of the patient till morning. on monday, november th, his uncle died. "i have always," mr montefiore said, "regarded him as a second father, but i must not grieve at his being taken from us, for he is gone to receive the reward of a well-spent life in a better world; very many of his relatives will miss his kind liberality." mr montefiore remained with the family that day for a considerable time, but had afterwards to leave them to attend to the necessary preparations for the important day of the th of november. if the many thousands of spectators who fill the streets and occupy the balconies and windows on lord mayor's day, and witness the glorious institutions of the livery of the largest and most wealthy city of the world, and to gaze at the magnificent cavalcade preceding the state carriage of the lord mayor, think that the aldermen, sheriffs, and under-sheriffs have but to mount their chargers, and be comfortably seated in the saddle, to receive the shouts of approbation from the multitude, they are in error. as the glorious entry of a victorious army on its return from the field of battle requires previous organisation, so as to ensure the perfect regularity of the marching and evolution of each respective battalion, even thus does the entry into the metropolis of the assembly of citizens, almost equal in number to a powerful army, require much previous organisation. mr montefiore, in order to prepare himself for the duties he would have to perform at the forthcoming procession, went to davis' riding school, where he met the lord mayor and the lord mayor elect, as also most of the aldermen, sheriffs, and court of common council. they each had a horse appointed for their use. a troop of artillerymen, with their horses, headed by colonel jones, were also present. after trying the horses they went through the plan of the procession, and it was five o'clock before they returned home. on november th he called at the mansion house, attended the court of hustings in the guildhall, went with the lord mayor, the lord mayor elect, and mr george carrol to the entertainment committee, and then to downing street to see the lord chancellor. on finding him absent he went to his house, where he met with a most friendly reception. in the evening he went to the house of his late uncle. while the lavadores were performing their mournful duties, he and his wife read, in an adjoining room, the prayers which his lamented uncle had selected during his extreme illness. greatly fatigued, they both returned to park lane, with the intention of retiring to rest. they had scarcely been home an hour when mr montefiore's colleague, mr george carrol, called. the cause of his coming at so late an hour, that gentleman said, was his desire to be the first to inform him that lord john russell had that day acquainted the city remembrancer with his intention of recommending her majesty to bestow a baronetcy on the lord mayor, and to confer the honour of knighthood on the sheriffs. "it was very kind," mr montefiore said, "of carrol to come, and to acquaint me with the pleasing news, for which i am very grateful to the almighty." on wednesday, the th november, he left home soon after eight in the morning, and was at the mansion house at nine. it was half-past when the lord mayor elect made his appearance; there was a large party assembled. at ten they set out in procession for the guildhall, where alderman cowan was sworn into office; the hall was very full. mr montefiore introduced chevalier benthausen and two russian noblemen to the lord mayor, and then left the hall. he then went to the alliance marine, attended the board of the alliance life and fire assurance company, returned to the guildhall, and thence repaired again to the house of mourning, to attend the funeral of his late uncle. at six he was again at the mansion house, to be present at the farewell dinner of the retiring lord mayor. many aldermen, he says, were present; also the companies of the two lord mayors. at half-past nine he went for the third time to the mourners to read prayers with them, and afterwards he and his wife took up their quarters for the night at their chambers at the marine office in the city. "a very fatiguing day," he says, "and one in which i have seen the last of a dear and near relative. i hope i may imitate his virtues." _thursday, th of november._--"with unspeakable but heartfelt gratitude to the almighty god," he writes, "i note the occurrences of the day, a day that can never be forgotten by me; it is a proud one: with the exception of the day i had the happiness of dedicating our synagogue at ramsgate, and the day of my wedding, the proudest day of my life. i trust the honour conferred by our most gracious queen on myself and my dear judith may prove the harbinger of future good to the jews generally, and though i am sensible of my unworthiness, yet i pray the almighty to lead and guide me in the proper path, that i may observe and keep his holy law. "at half-past eight i went to the mansion house, at nine set off in grand procession to london bridge; there i embarked with the lord mayor, &c., for westminster. the new lord mayor was presented to the judges in several courts. we then returned the same way to the mansion house. i went to the marine. my dear judith was beautifully dressed, but very unwell. we went to the mansion house, and soon left there in procession. our state carriage being in advance, i got out at temple bar, and the carriage went on with judith to the guildhall. i mounted on horseback, with my brother sheriffs, some aldermen, and members of the common council. after many of the royal carriages had passed, we set forward two and two before the queen. on her arrival in the hall she reposed herself for some time. the recorder then read the address, to which she replied. the lord mayor was introduced, and made a baronet; the aldermen were introduced, and then the sheriffs were knighted, first george carrol. on my kneeling to the queen, she placed a sword on my left shoulder and said, 'rise, sir moses.' i cannot express all i felt on this occasion. i had, besides, the pleasure of seeing my banner with 'jerusalem' floating proudly in the hall. i hope my dear mother will be pleased. the entertainment was most magnificent, but my poor wife dreadfully ill." _friday, november th._--the new knight, now sir moses, proceeded to buckingham palace to enter his name in the duchess of kent's visiting-book. on his return he received numerous visits of congratulation. he then went to the house of the mourners in the city, and also visited his mother. _saturday, november th._--although sir moses might have gone on that day to a place of worship near park lane, he preferred walking to the city on the first sabbath after the honour of knighthood had been conferred upon him, to return thanks to the almighty in the ancient spanish and portuguese synagogue in bevis marks, a structure which commemorates the first step towards religious liberty in england, and which had from his earliest days been an object of love and veneration to him. he started from home early in the morning, and joined the congregation before nine o'clock. after service he attended an entertainment given by one of his friends on the occasion of his son attaining his thirteenth year (the age which constitutes religious majority). the remainder of the day he passed in visiting his relatives, and again attending the synagogue to join in prayers with the mourners. on sunday, november th, he went to newgate, where he found all well; his colleagues had already been there three hours. he then went to the residences of the duke of cambridge, the princess sophia matilda, the duchess of gloucester, the duke of sussex, the princess sophia, and princess augusta, and entered his and lady montefiore's names in their visitors' books. on his return to park lane he dined with his wife, and spent a pleasant evening in reading and writing. "one of our old-fashioned happy east cliff evenings," he says. on monday, november th, he attended the general meetings of some of his companies, and in the evening dined with the directors of the imperial continental gas association. the next day he was actively engaged in performing the duties of his office, attending the lord mayor at the court of hustings, and afterwards making arrangements with his under-sheriff respecting the invitations for the dinner on the th inst. having sent fifty invitations, and received but twenty-eight tickets, "i passed the whole day," he says, "in a state of much anxiety as to the best mode of acting. at last i have determined to seat the ladies, and send the gentlemen tickets for the council chamber, should they be unable to find seats in the hall. i most sincerely hope i may give no offence, as i am sure none was intended; my desire to oblige the family has brought me into this dilemma." on thursday, the th of november, sir moses walked to the city in the morning, called at the alliance, guildhall, and mansion house, returning home at two o'clock. a few minutes before four, he and lady montefiore started in their state carriage, with the servants in full livery, for the guildhall. "we called," he says, "at cavendish square, and followed sir george and lady carrol in their state carriage to the guildhall. at five the lord mayor and lady mayoress made their appearance long after many of her majesty's ministers had arrived. we sat down to dinner soon after six. the hall presented a splendid appearance; there were between eleven and twelve hundred present, including nearly all the ambassadors, ministers, and judges." the health of the sheriffs was not drunk till long after the ladies had left the table. each of them returned thanks, sir moses doing so in the following words:-- "my excellent friend and colleague has so fully expressed my sentiments and feelings, that i ought, perhaps, to apologise for trespassing on your attention, but as this is the first time i have had the honour of addressing so large an assembly of distinguished guests and of my fellow-citizens, i cannot resist the temptation of offering you my congratulations on the auspicious event which has distinguished the commencement of our year of office. the recent visit of our most gracious queen to this ancient hall, the kindness which induced her majesty to present herself, at the earliest possible period, to her faithful subjects of this great and opulent city, must have made a deep impression on every heart, must have strongly rooted the feelings of loyalty with which britons naturally regard their sovereign; and, if i may judge of others by myself, must have awed all emotions save those of fervent hope and prayer, that the reign of our now youthful queen may be long and peaceful, and that her greatest glories may be connected with the universal education of her subjects, the diffusion of the most comprehensive principles of benevolence, charity, and love--principles which shall unite all in a desire to accomplish the proud wish that england may possess and exercise the great prerogative of teaching other nations how to live. what we have seen is a proof, in my opinion, that we are fairly on our way to the full completion of the wish: for do not the recent events demonstrate to us, and will they not demonstrate far beyond the precincts of our city, that the purest freedom, and the warmest attachment to religion, may co-exist, and may safely co-exist, with the forms of monarchy and with feelings of affection to the sovereign, especially when that sovereign evinces the dispositions which we all recognise in our amiable, youthful, and illustrious queen? let, then, other countries boast of natural advantages, denied perhaps to ours, let our pride be in our civil advantages, in the security of our person and property, under a system of law and government which, whatever be its defects--and what is perfect on earth?--is at least as near to perfection as any government that has existed, or does now exist. but i am carried away by my feelings from the main object i had in view in rising to address you. that object was to tender you my thanks, warm from the heart, for the honour you have conferred on myself and colleague. i can sincerely say that the kindness of our fellow-citizens is a full reward for the performance of our duties, and will be a full inducement to devote ourselves cheerfully to the service of those who, unasked, have placed us in a position of so much trust and honour. we feel satisfied that in the performance of our duties we shall not betray the trust reposed in us, nor tarnish the honour of the corporation. no; it will be our pride and pleasure to enhance the dignity of our office, in order that the distinction it confers may be more and more an object of laudable ambition to the most worthy and opulent of our fellow-citizens. connected with the corporation by high office, i feel a deep interest in its prosperity; and i pray that it may long exist to prove that popular corporate institutions are a bulwark to the throne, while they offer to the people a security for the preservation of their laws, and pure administration of justice." sir moses was much pleased with the manifest approbation of the sentiments he expressed. "lord glenelg," he says, "spoke in a very friendly manner with me, as did the lord lieutenant of ireland. the vice-chancellor also made a very complimentary speech, saying he hoped to see me enjoy high city honours." most of the time of sir moses was now occupied in the discharge of the duties imposed on him by his office, which included his attendance at numerous meetings, dinners, and balls. some of them are recorded in the diary. in making an entry of the polish ball, which took place on the st of november, he says: "we left home at nine o'clock, and got to the guildhall with great care between eleven and twelve. the hall was crowded, and presented a splendid appearance. there were above people present, including the lord mayor, the duke and duchess of somerset, miss burdett-coutts, mr p. m. stewart, lord dudley coutts stewart, &c. all were most friendly. in consequence of the absence of the lady mayoress, lady carrol and my wife did the honours. it was quite a fairy scene; i never saw anything like it before, and i daresay it will be some time before we again witness so brilliant an assembly. before the hall became crowded, i was much pleased with the effect of my crest and arms, which had been chalked in colours on the floor, the crest with the word 'jerusalem' in hebrew being nearest the throne." from the hall of splendour our attention is directed to the home of misery. we find him next visiting the whitecross street prison. "i went," he says, "over the whole building, and found unfortunate individuals confined within its walls. the men's wards were very unclean, but the women's extremely clean; there were only twenty-four females. the day rooms of the male prisoners were crowded with visitors. the prisoners were in good health, not more than seventeen in the infirmary, and all only slight cases of cold." on monday, the th of november, he went at half-past eight in his state carriage to the mansion house, and at . he and his colleague accompanied the lord mayor, in grand state, to open the first session in his lordship's mayoralty at the old bailey. on the th he attended a meeting of the deputies of british jews, and a sub-committee was appointed to endeavour to get mr baines--the originator of a bill for the purpose of altering the declaration contained in the act george iv., cap. , to be made by persons on their admission to municipal offices--to obtain an extension of its provisions to the jews. the bill, as it then stood, limited the indulgence to quakers and moravians. when, on the following day, the lord mayor, accompanied by the sheriffs, attended the meeting of the first common council, mr david salamons presented a petition, calling on the court to petition both the houses of parliament to amend mr baines' bill. "charles pearson," sir moses says, "proposed the motion, which was carried unanimously." on the rd of december, sir moses was particularly requested by mr david salamons, to go with him to h.r.h. the duke of sussex, to inform him of their intentions respecting mr baines' bill; but his royal highness was not well enough to see them. on the same day, barons lionel and nathaniel rothschild called on sir moses, to say that sir robert peel had appointed the following monday to see a deputation of the jews. in accordance with that appointment they called, with mr david salamons, on sir moses, the next day at the old bailey, and requested him to go with them to sir robert peel; but, as it was expected that the recorder would pass the sentences at twelve, he could not leave the courts. the recorder, however, did not make his appearance till three o'clock, and then made great difficulty before permitting him and sir george carrol to go to the house of commons with the petition, positively refusing to allow their under-sheriffs to accompany them, under the penalty of a fine. at about five o'clock sir moses and sir george carrol proceeded in their state carriages with their servants to the guildhall for the remembrancer, who went with them to the house of commons with the three petitions. on entering the house, led by the sergeant-at-arms with the mace, the speaker said: "sir george carrol and sir moses montefiore, what have you there?" "a petition from the lord mayor and common council to the honourable house," replied sir george. "you may withdraw," returned the speaker. they then withdrew in the same manner as they had advanced, bowing three times. they took their seats under the gallery, and listened to the debate on mr baines' bill. "i very much regret," sir moses says, "that we, the jews, allowed the house to divide." a week later, on december th, after having gone over every part of newgate prison, and spoken with the prisoners, both male and female, he called, on his way back to park lane, on dr sims at cavendish square, to inform him that lord john russell would see that the jews were relieved from the effect of the resolution passed by the london university, as to the examination of candidates for the degree of bachelor of arts, &c. he then accompanied messrs isaac cohen and david salamons to kensington. the duke of sussex saw them immediately, and was most kind. he approved of the jews getting a bill into the house of commons to relieve them from the declaration on taking municipal offices, but not before the bill relieving the quakers had passed the lords. on sunday, th december, he wrote a letter to lord melbourne to solicit the honour of an interview, previously to the municipal corporation declaration bill going into committee. in the course of an hour his lordship sent him a note in his own handwriting, saying he would be glad to see him the next day at half-past three, at downing street. sir moses immediately communicated with messrs david salamons and i. l. goldsmid, and requested them to accompany him there on the following day. agreeably to this intimation they were at the appointed time in downing street. lord melbourne received them at once, the marquis of lansdowne being with him. both of them, sir moses says, were very polite, but gave them to understand that they could not include the jews in the present bill, as they would not be able to carry it through the lords. on the same day he was officially informed of his having been elected president for the year of the jews' free school, but the duties of the shrievalty prevented his accepting the honour. after calling at newgate and whitecross street prison, and speaking to all the prisoners, he attended at doctors commons to administer the will of his late uncle. on december th he wrote a letter to mr alteston, master of the merchant taylors' company, offering to give £ as a prize to the best hebrew scholar in the company's schools, as a token of his appreciation of the benevolence of the company. the diary of the year concludes with an entry referring to a banquet given at the london coffee house by the commercial travellers' society, under the presidency of sir chapman marshall, at which sir moses was present. two hundred persons sat down to table, among whom £ was collected for the benefit of the institution. this entry is followed by an account of a narrow escape of sir moses and lady montefiore. "we have been much alarmed," he writes, "by some person firing a pistol at us, near welling, on the road from rochester to london; happily it missed both horses and carriage; the postboy was much frightened." chapter xvi. . destruction of the royal exchange--city traditions--"jews' walk"--sir moses dines at lambeth palace. the diary of , like that of the preceding year, abounds in descriptions of sir moses' official duties, as well as records of events. _january th._--early in the morning, before he was dressed, sir moses was informed that the royal exchange had been burnt down in the night. he at once rode to the alliance, and found the news true; only the walls of the exchange were still standing. "i called at the mansion house," he says, "and accompanied a deputation of the gresham company to see the ruins; the loss of books, papers, and securities is said to be immense. in the evening i repaired again to the mansion house to attend a court of aldermen, which sat till after ten. it was a full meeting; the town clerk and all the law officers of the city were present. there were long and grave discussions respecting the making of a new city seal, the old one, as it was thought, having been destroyed in the fire at the royal exchange." on january th he was present at a meeting of the elders of his community at bevis marks. the resignation of the deputies was received, and a resolution passed, that "for the future deputies be elected by the elders and seat-holders, generally known by the appellation of 'yehidim,' and out of either body." after the meeting he called at newgate, and went over the female wards and the infirmary. it may interest some of my readers to hear that the ancient custom of presenting each of the sheriffs with three does by the crown is still kept up. when sir moses was told that those intended for him were at richmond, he sent a person (authorised by the ecclesiastical board) to kill the does in accordance with the jewish custom, and then distribute them among his friends. he attended the first dinner given by the new lord mayor at the mansion house on the th. the next day he dined at the london tavern with the city committee for general purposes, and in the evening was present at a ball for the benefit of the watch and clock makers' institution. on the th, sir moses, in his turn, gave a dinner to the vice-chancellor, and there were also present, sir l. shadwell and lady shadwell, the common sergeant and his wife, sir john conroy and his daughters, mr j. a. curtis and his daughters, the baron and baroness de rothschild, baron nathaniel and baroness louisa de rothschild, and many other guests of distinction. the following extracts from the diaries show the nature of sir moses' multifarious duties at this time:-- "_february nd._--was sworn in as commissioner of the london lieutenancy, consisting mostly of the court of aldermen and their deputies, the directors of the bank of england and of the east india company. "_february th._--proceeded with my colleague, the city remembrancer, and alderman venables to the house of commons, to present two petitions; one respecting the night watch, and the other respecting a new street from farringdon street. "_february th._--attended the meeting of the sub-committees of the several synagogues at p.m. it was within a few minutes of twelve when the meeting broke up. "_february th._--attended the queen's levee. was presented to her majesty by lord john russell, and had the honour of kissing hands, after which i drove to my mother, that she might see the state carriage and liveries. "_february th._--present at the court of common council, where they voted the freedom of the city of london to mr stephenson, the american minister, to be presented to him in a gold box of the value of guineas. the following evening i went to kensington palace to a soiree given by the duke of sussex to the members of the royal society. the rooms were crowded. spoke with a great many persons i knew, mr spring-rice, the dean of chester, and others." _february nd._--on the occasion of the funeral of a friend which he attended, sir moses observes: "it was a funeral such as i much approve. i think no funeral should have more than eight mourning coaches, and the coachmen should wear neither cloaks nor bands; in fact, in my opinion, the less pomp on such an occasion the better." in the evening he dined at the london orphan society; "took my own cold beef," he says. the duke of cambridge presided. the collection amounted to £ . _february th._--after having been occupied all day with the duties of his office, he went in the evening to a meeting of conference of all the synagogues, to consider the subject of the constitution of the new board of deputies. "there was a full meeting," he says, "and we remained in debate till after eleven o'clock. the conference was carried on in the most friendly manner; and, with some alterations, the resolutions of the great synagogue were agreed to." i give these entries referring to the board of deputies in the interest of those of my readers of the hebrew community in england who may wish to trace the development and progress of that institution. the th of march is a day which will be remembered with much gratification by the promoters of civil and religious liberty. the occurrence noted in the diary will always remind them of the lesson, never to neglect an opportunity of serving a good cause when it presents itself. when returning, in company with the lord mayor and sir george carrol, from the court of hustings to the place where the words "jews' walk" were written up, sir moses mentioned to the lord mayor that many persons had complained that, in these enlightened times, the walls of the guildhall should be disgraced by such a mark of intolerance as the tablet bearing the above inscription. the lord mayor very kindly ordered it to be taken down immediately. the same tablet was subsequently given to sir moses by the lord mayor, and is now preserved in lady montefiore's theological college in ramsgate as a souvenir of bygone times. march th records an instance of the danger to which, as sheriff, he was sometimes exposed in the discharge of his official duties, as also his sympathy with others who equally endangered their lives in the service of the livery. sir moses attended on that day a committee of criminal justice, and accompanied them all over the gaol; later he and his colleague had to be present at the inquest on a prisoner who had died of fever. "i am sorry to say," he remarks, "that something like typhoid fever is prevailing in the prison; the matrons and turnkeys are greatly alarmed." on his return home he sent a dozen of port to the keeper of newgate and a dozen to the matron. wishing for a day's repose, he and lady montefiore repaired to their favourite spot, smithambottom. "the appearance of the red lion" (the inn in which they usually took up their abode), he says, "we found much altered for the worse. the house, its inmates, and furniture, all wear a decayed look; they have very little custom there. caroline paget, daughter of pearce the landlord, having heard of our arrival, came immediately to see us. she is also much altered; time, poverty, and care have made sad havoc with her appearance. fourteen years have passed since we were last in pearce's house, and we viewed the place with mingled feelings of pleasure and pain. in spite of the gloom of the house, i dearly like the place, and shall be most grateful to providence to be permitted the enjoyment of frequent walks over the downs. but we must see what we can do for the pearces." he assisted both father and daughter by providing for their immediate wants, and, on his return to town, procured, not without great personal exertion, a presentation to the blue coat school for caroline paget's daughter. as president of the jews' free school, sir moses took the chair at a dinner given at the london tavern in aid of that institution. he was supported on his right and left by sir george carrol, mr t. a. curtis, the governor of the bank; mr m. attwood, m. p.; mr david salamons, mr jno. alteston, mr edward fletcher, mr t. m. pearce, mr aston key, mr nugent daniel, mr f. h. goldsmid, mr b. cohen, mr isaac cohen, mr under-sheriff wire, and a large company of friends. some excellent addresses were delivered by sir moses and others of the gentlemen present. in the entry he made of the proceedings, he observes, "i did my best, and had the pleasure to find the company was satisfied, for £ was collected." it was nearly twelve when he left the london tavern in company with sir george carrol, and went to hanover square rooms, where they met their ladies at the polish ball. on the rd of april he was summoned to the guildhall to a court of lieutenancy to take the oath and subscribe to the declaration; but he could not do so, and therefore did not attend. in the evening he was present at the conference of the deputies from all the synagogues, who, he says, would not agree to reconsider their former resolution. on april th lady montefiore had a narrow escape from what might have proved a most serious accident. she had promised to dine with her sister, mrs hannah de rothschild (sir moses, owing to his official duties, was unable to accompany her). while driving to piccadilly the horses took fright, broke the pole and harness, and much injured the carriage. fortunately no one was hurt. the next day sir moses and lady montefiore attended the queen's drawing-room, accompanied by sir george and lady carrol, mr and mrs maynard, and mr and mrs wire, all in their state carriages. the ladies of the party were presented by the marchioness of lansdowne. the queen and the duchess of kent were most gracious to sir moses and lady montefiore. on april th he writes: "i was at the old bailey at . , and breakfasted at nine; attended the common-sergeant into the new court; at ten i attended the chief-justice tindall to the old court. the common-sergeant having left the new court, i accompanied baron parke into it. being the eve of passover, i had to my regret to leave the old bailey at five o'clock. it caused great inconvenience, there being a judge in each court, and most important trials being on, not likely to be finished before to-morrow evening." it was the duty of the sheriffs to attend on the following day, first at the old bailey, then on the lord mayor in state at the court of aldermen, to witness the swearing in of the new alderman (magnay), then to accompany him in state to the mansion house to dine with his lordship and a large party. on the following monday and tuesday he had again to attend the lord mayor and lady mayoress in state to receive the blue coat boys at the mansion house, then to be present at a sermon at the hospital, and to return and dine with the lord mayor, the aldermen, &c., it being easter monday, a public day. they were also expected on the following morning again to breakfast at the mansion house. sir moses, however, observes, "my duty to god, and my respect for our holy religion, are above all other duties, and i must give up my official occupations for these days," a resolve which he acted upon. after having attended the levee of the queen, which was held on wednesday, nd may, sir moses proceeded to the london tavern to be present at the anniversary festival of the city of london school for the benefit of the children of the indigent, under the presidency of the duke of wellington. there was a very large and representative gathering, and the amount collected and handed to his grace, including the steward's fines, was £ . _thursday, may rd._--sir moses attended a state dinner, which the lord mayor gave the judges, at the mansion house. the entries continue as follows:-- _monday, may th._--presided at the dinner of the spanish and portuguese hebrew schools; persons were present, and mr samuel gurney addressed the assembly before the children left. _may th._--attended a meeting at the city of london tavern for the abolition of slavery, and in the evening joined sir george carrol at a dinner of the city dispensary, given at the same place. the same evening he also went to lady cottenham's party. _may th._--dined with the corporation of the sons of the clergy. it was a very large assembly, and sir moses' donations amounted to £ . mr justice parke introduced him to the archbishop of canterbury, who most politely invited him for tuesday, the nd inst. _may th._--gave a grand dinner at park lane to the lord mayor and the lady mayoress, sir george and lady carrol, and the aldermen. several friends and relatives were also present at this dinner. _may th._--attended the court of hustings, and at sir moses' request the lord mayor consented to adjourn it over the th inst., to enable him to go to ramsgate for the holy days. he went to the old bailey, and in the evening was present at the anniversary dinner in aid of the magdalen hospital, mr justice parke being in the chair. he was informed that the sheriffs had received the "entrée" from the duke of argyll during their shrievalty. _thursday, may th._--sir george and lady carrol came in their state carriage to park lane, in order to go with sir moses and lady montefiore to the queen's drawing-room. this being the queen's birthday, the drawing-room was very crowded, and the ladies had some difficulty in reaching the palace. it was five o'clock when they returned to park lane. sir moses then called at buckingham palace, where he placed his and lady montefiore's name in the duchess of kent's visitors' book. in the evening he dined with lord john russell, and there met the lord chancellor, the judges, the master of the rolls, lord morpeth, the city members, the lord mayor, and his colleague as sheriff. afterwards he attended, with lady montefiore, the marchioness of lansdowne's party. "nothing," he observes, "could have been more splendid." _friday, may th._--at five o'clock he went to a dinner at the mansion house, given by the lord mayor to the bishops. there were sixteen bishops present, besides several aldermen, the sheriffs, and about half-a-dozen ladies. the bishop of exeter asked for an introduction to sir moses, and was extremely civil to him. after six the company adjourned to the dining-room, but sir moses withdrew and returned to park lane, it being near the time for the commencement of sabbath. _monday, may st._--he went in full court dress, in his state carriage, with his servants in full state liveries, to dine at lambeth palace with the archbishop of canterbury. on his way he called for the recorder, who went with him. "it is impossible," says sir moses, "to describe the magnificence and splendour of the palace, and equally so the great kindness and urbanity shown to me by the primate. about forty sat down to table, including the duke of sussex, the duke of cambridge, prince george, several bishops, the lord mayor, john capel, jno. alteston, and many aldermen. the duke of sussex told me he would send me an invitation for the th inst. after dinner i requested of his royal highness a card for my dear wife and lady carrol, which he kindly promised me. the recorder returned home with me, appearing much pleased at the reception he had met with." chapter xvii. . another petition to parliament--sir moses intercedes successfully for the life of a convict--death of lady montefiore's brother. _wednesday, may rd._--sir moses and lady montefiore drove to kensington palace, and put their names in the visitors' book of the duke of sussex; they then called on the archbishop of canterbury and left cards there. in the evening sir moses attended the anniversary dinner of the north london university hospital, lord brougham in the chair. "i sat next to him on his right," he writes. "there was a large collection, mr i. l. goldsmid alone bringing £ ." _thursday, may th._--the two sheriffs proceeded in their state carriages to the guildhall to attend a meeting of the common council. in the afternoon they drove to the house of commons, and presented two petitions respecting the rebuilding of the royal exchange and the registering of voters. at five they sat down to a dinner at bellamy's, having invited several members, sir matthew wood being in the chair. sir moses returned to park lane at seven o'clock, and then accompanied lady montefiore to an entertainment given by one of their relatives. _friday, may th._--he again went to the house of commons with his colleague, and presented a petition from the city, returning to park lane before the commencement of sabbath. _may th._--in the morning sir moses walked to the st alban's synagogue, and on his way back called on mr n. m. de rothschild. on the evening of the same day he attended the anniversary meeting of the society for the management and distribution of the literary fund, the marquis of lansdowne in the chair, supported by the marquis of northampton, the chancellor of the exchequer, and many literary celebrities, including thomas moore, bulwer, and dickens. the president paid the sheriffs a handsome compliment in proposing their healths. messrs rothschild had requested sir moses to give £ in their names, which, he remarked, was extremely well received. _may th._--he went in the forenoon to the vestry of the spanish and portuguese hebrew community, it being the day appointed for the election of their deputies. the ballot was to close at three o'clock, and he was subsequently told that he had been elected. _may th._--on his way to the city sir moses called on his colleague, and gave him an invitation he had received from the duke of sussex for himself and lady carrol. they then went to the lord mayor and invited him to take the chair at their dinner on the th june, at the merchant taylors' hall, which he agreed to do. sir moses writes: "he had not yet received his invitation from the duke of sussex, and seemed rather uneasy about it." _may th._--as this was the first day of the pentecost festival, sir moses walked to the city, and attended service in the synagogue there. on his return to park lane he walked with lady montefiore to the king's arms, kensington, where they had taken rooms the day before, and where they found a cold collation spread for them. this last, as well as both their court dresses, had been conveyed there from park lane on the preceding day. "from our sitting-room," sir moses writes, "we had an excellent view of the company going to the palace, as well as of the queen and her attendants in three royal carriages, escorted by a troop of horse guards. after ten o'clock dear judith went to the palace in a sedan chair, and i walked there. there were many hundred carriages, and thousands of persons. the appearance of the rooms, galleries, and company was magnificent beyond description. the duke of sussex received the company, and spoke very kindly to judith and myself. in the second chamber lady cecilia underwood was at the door, and greeted us most kindly. the queen was also in this room, and near to her the duchess of kent and the other members of the royal family. on our making our bow to the queen, she smiled most graciously, and the duchess left her side, came out of the circle, and spoke to us. she said she was pleased to see us, and enquired whether we had lately been to ramsgate. this was a most distinguished honour, and we were highly gratified with the same. we remained at the palace till one o'clock, then returned in same way as we came to the hotel. we changed our dresses and walked home, where we arrived dreadfully fatigued, but highly delighted with our reception." _wednesday, june th._--sir moses and lady montefiore went to richmond, where they met the duke of cambridge whilst walking in the gardens. he came up and spoke to them, and was extremely polite. the duke was walking with the bishop of winchester, who had come to richmond to preside at some charitable meeting. sir moses only learned after he and lady montefiore had left the gardens the purpose for which the bishop was there, so he returned and begged to be allowed to contribute his mite, giving at the same time £ , with which they seemed greatly pleased. on thursday, june th, he had to be present in his official robes at st paul's cathedral; lady montefiore was with him. "we witnessed," he says, "the most splendid of sights: nearly six thousand charity children, and double that number of poor men and women. the duke of cambridge, lord eldon, the lord mayor and sheriffs, and many others were present. later in the day sir george carrol and i attended the anniversary dinner of the society of patrons of charity schools. the lord mayor was in the chair, and the bishop of rochester on his right, the latter being extremely civil to me and speaking in the most friendly manner. sir frederick pollock, who was on my left, made a beautiful speech: he said he had been educated at st paul's school and sent thence to college, after leaving which he had been obliged to work hard, his talents being the only patrimony he possessed." _friday, june th._--sir moses attended the queen's levee. "her majesty," he writes, "appeared in very good spirits; nearly all the company wore stars, orders, or ribbons." _june th._--he dined at the merchant taylors' hall. there were present the duke of cambridge, prince george, the archbishop of armagh, the bishop of exeter, lord londonderry, and many other noblemen--in all, about two hundred. several ladies were in the gallery, lady montefiore among the number. _june th._--sir moses attended a meeting at the city of london tavern, for the benefit of the london fever hospital; lord devon in the chair. it was not well attended, but the collection was good. he was afterwards present at a dinner given by the sheriffs to the judges. justice allan parke sat next to him, and the vice-chancellor next to sir george carrol, who was in the chair. _friday, june th._--sir moses left home at twelve o'clock in his state carriage, the servants in full livery, and himself in black court dress, sword and chain. he called on the recorder, who accompanied him to the mansion house, where a luncheon was prepared. at one o'clock the lord mayor in his half-state carriage with four horses and outriders, the sheriffs in their state carriages, and some of the aldermen in theirs, set out in procession for the swan tavern, stratford. they held there a court of conservancy for the county of essex, after which they proceeded to blackwall, and crossed the water in the city state barge, which was decorated in grand style with banners and flags. at four they held a court for the county of kent, at the crown and sceptre, and dined there. _june th._--sir moses accompanied the common sergeant to the court at the old bailey, after which he attended the lord mayor at the mansion house, and proceeded in state to the borough town hall, where a court of conservancy was held for the county of surrey. thence the procession moved on towards the swan hotel, near westminster bridge, where a court was held for the county of middlesex. "afterwards," says sir moses, "we drove to the city, and i left the recorder at the old bailey. then i joined the lord mayor and sir george carrol, and held a court of hustings." _thursday, june st._--after spending the morning at the old bailey, he went with lady montefiore to the queen's drawing-room, sir george and lady carrol accompanying them in their state carriage. on june nd sir moses and lady montefiore went to ramsgate for a few days, where they celebrated the anniversary of the dedication of their synagogue, and that of their wedding day, returning three days later to london. the time having arrived for the election of sheriffs for the ensuing year, sir moses went in his state carriage to the mansion house, thence in procession with the lord mayor in his state carriage (drawn by six horses with six footmen walking before him) and sir george carrol in his state equipage, to the guildhall. "about six hundred of the livery were present," he says, "and the show of hands was in favour of josiah wilson and a. moore, but a poll was demanded for alderman johnson and thomas ward." _tuesday, june th._--the recorder passed the sentences at the old bailey, and "thanks to heaven!" sir moses exclaims, "the sessions ended at one o'clock." the numbers at the close of the poll for sheriffs that day were: ward, ; wilson, ; johnson, ; and moore, . in the evening sir moses and lady montefiore dined with the vice-chancellor and lady shadwell, where they met lady and miss denman, baron and baroness bolland, and justice coleridge. _june th._--sir moses attended a meeting of the common council, where it was resolved to invite the foreign ministers to a dinner at the guildhall. on returning home in the evening he found the park sparkling with lamps from booths and tents, erected in preparation for the coronation festival. he at once gave orders to have the balcony of his house propped and got ready for the illumination. "the park," he writes, "was all life and bustle, brilliantly illuminated, and the booths thronged with people. i understand that dancing was carried on in most of the booths, and that refreshments of all kinds and qualities were to be had." _june th._--lord john russell gave a grand dinner on this day to the lord chancellor, the judges, the members for the city of london, and the sheriffs. being sabbath, sir moses did not accept the invitation, but called there and left his card. during the day, he and lady montefiore walked in the park, and were much amused by the fair. afterwards they watched the scene from their drawing-room window. thousands of people took part in the amusements, and as soon as it was dark, the whole park was again brilliantly illuminated. on the th sir moses had to attend an entertainment at the guildhall, given by the corporation to distinguished foreigners, and representatives of sovereigns at the coronation. the duke of sussex and many others of the highest nobility were present, but sir moses only remained there until they were seated at dinner, and then left in his state carriage. _july th._--accompanied by his under-sheriff, mr wire, and mr maynard, he went to the home office to intercede on behalf of a prisoner named rickie. the man was a soldier, who had always borne an excellent character, but, in a state of drunkenness, had fired at an officer and killed him. rickie had been condemned and sentenced to death. sir moses and his friends were soon admitted to an audience with lord john russell, to whom they fully explained the subject. his lordship said he would like to see them again. _wednesday, july th._--sir moses went in full state to the queen's levee, calling on his way at cavendish square for sir george carrol. "it was very splendid," he writes. "the queen looked very happy and beautiful; she was most gracious, as was also the duke of sussex." on his return home he went with lady montefiore to a splendid fête at gunnersbury park, the seat of the baroness rothschild. about five hundred persons were present, including foreign princes of distinction, the ambassadors, the duke of sussex, prince george of cambridge, the duchess of cambridge, the dukes of wellington and somerset, and most of the highest nobility of the land. the proceedings commenced with a concert, at which several great artistes, including grisi, lablache, tamburini, and rubini performed. this was succeeded by a déjeuner, and in the evening a grand ball was given in a magnificent tent erected for the purpose. the gardens were illuminated with six thousand variegated lamps. the company remained until near midnight, all the guests complimenting the rothschild family most highly on their taste and hospitality. _saturday, july st._--sir moses went by appointment to the home office, and had an interview with lord john russell and mr phillips, sir george carrol, mr maynard, and mr clark being also present. his lordship informed them that he had "consulted the legal advisers of the crown, and they had decided that rickie's sentence could not be commuted. the sheriffs must therefore fix the day for his execution." _monday, july d._--the prince and princess of schwarzenberg invited sir moses and lady montefiore to a breakfast at richmond, which sir moses describes as a magnificent fête. "on our arrival at the castle," he says, "prince esterhazy, at lady montefiore's request, very kindly introduced us to the princess of schwarzenberg, our beautiful hostess. i never witnessed a more splendid party. in the evening seven hundred sat down to dinner, and there was every luxury that could be imagined. the princess walked round the rooms to see that all her guests were seated comfortably before she would take her own seat. the duke of sussex, the duchess of cambridge, prince george and princess mary of cambridge, all the foreign princes in london, and great part of the english nobility were present. the gardens were beautifully illuminated, and a grand display of fireworks concluded the entertainment. it was near midnight when we left, but the place was so crowded that we had great difficulty in reaching the hotel where we had taken rooms." _tuesday, july th._--after the enjoyment of the previous day's fête came a day of great sorrow for them, lady montefiore sustaining a severe loss in the death of her brother, mr joseph cohen. this occurrence caused the deepest grief to herself and every member of the family. on the same day sir moses was obliged to attend at newgate to speak with rickie, a reprieve having, after all, been sent to him by lord john russell. _thursday, july th._--sir moses went to the funeral of his brother-in-law, while lady montefiore remained with the ladies of the family. the funeral was largely attended by friends and relatives, mr cohen having been highly esteemed by all who knew him. sir moses had then to interview prisoners at newgate, which occupied him three hours. having fulfilled this duty, he returned to the house of the mourners, where he was present at evening prayers. he remained there with lady montefiore till ten o'clock. _monday, july th._--sir moses accompanied mr pearce to the house of lords, and was present at the committee on the royal exchange bill; the clause affecting the alliance was not inserted in the bill. _tuesday, july st._--this being a fast-day, in memory of the destruction of the temple at jerusalem, he attended the service held in prescot street at the residence of the late mr cohen. he remained there till twelve o'clock, when prayers were concluded. he then walked to the guildhall, and attended the court of hustings with the lord mayor and sir george carrol, this being the last that these two sheriffs would hold. subsequently he attended the court of aldermen, the irish bank, and the alliance marine office. at seven o'clock he again repaired to prescot street, where he joined the mourners and a large congregation in the recital of evening prayers, after which they all broke the fast, and enjoyed a good breakfast. the reader will no doubt feel surprised at the amount of work sir moses was able to accomplish on a fast-day, when for twenty-four hours neither a crumb of bread nor a drop of water passed his lips; but we shall yet have many other instances of his extraordinary powers of endurance. the next day, august st, we find him at a public gathering which took place at the london tavern. the meeting was called to consider the erection of a public monument as a memorial of the achievements of lord nelson. the duke of wellington was in the chair, and the great room was crowded to overflowing. the amount collected was about £ , of which sir moses gave £ , s., in addition to £ which he had given previously. _friday, august rd._--he visited whitecross street prison and newgate. he there met lady harriet de blanquiere of hampton court palace. she had seen rickie, and expressed a hope that his sentence might be commuted to transportation. the th of august of this year was an important day for sir moses, as the prospect of a speedy release from his official duties as sheriff enabled him to make the following entry in his diary. "now," he writes, "with the blessing of the almighty we will commence preparations for revisiting the holy land." _sunday, august th._--the first meeting of the new board of deputies of british jews taking place on this day, sir moses attended as president. he appears to have apprehended some difficulty in managing the new board. _wednesday, august th._--at eight o'clock in the morning he left home for the old bailey. he and his colleague accompanied the recorder and alderman sir c. marshall into court at nine, when sentence was pronounced on several prisoners. "a most solemn and affecting scene," sir moses remarks. "sir j. carrol and i went into the prison, and spoke with most of them afterwards. we then went to the alliance, and from there to canonbury place, to intercede with two ladies who had prosecuted their servant for robbery, but they gave her such a bad character that we could not further interfere." chapter xviii. . bartholomew fair--sir moses earns the thanks of the city--preparations for a second journey to the holy land--the journey--adventures on road and river in france. on monday, september rd, sir moses went in full state to join his colleague, and proceeded with him to the mansion house. the lord mayor, in his state coach, drawn by six horses, and preceded by a body of police, went with the sheriffs, and the city marshal on horseback, to smithfield, and proclaimed "bartholomew fair." sir moses observes, "there were not so many booths and shows as in former years, but all were crowded to excess." _thursday, september th._--he attended the dedication of the new synagogue at great st helens. "it is," he says, "a most splendid edifice, and does the greatest credit to all concerned in the building. the music and psalms on the occasion were very similar to those used at the dedication of my own synagogue at ramsgate." the following day he and lady montefiore went to spend a couple of days at gunnersbury with their sister, mrs n. m. de rothschild. in the entry he makes of the sabbath, sir moses writes: "we all assembled in the library, where louise rothschild read the sabbath morning service aloud exceedingly well. at three o'clock we lunched, and then walked in the garden, after which we re-entered the house and recited the afternoon prayers. about eight we were seated at dinner. there were twenty-four at table, including the duke and duchess of cambridge, prince george and the princess mary, two foreign princes with a lady, and col. jones, who accompanied them. there were also present sir c. bagot, lord and lady cawdor, and miss wellesley, baron bulow, monsieur didel, and lady maryborough. the entertainment, or rather the banquet, was magnificent, and the guests did not leave till after eleven. wester on the guitar, and benedict on the piano, amused the company at the conclusion of the dinner, and louise sang one song beautifully. we left about twelve and returned home." _tuesday, september th._--"my dear judith," he writes, "with the baronesses charlotte, anselm, and lionel de rothschild, came to the session house at three o'clock, and sat on the bench till near five, but no trial of interest took place. a few minutes later i joined the dinner in the hall, as it was the last time i should have to visit the old bailey in my capacity as sheriff of london and middlesex. there were present: alderman lawson, in the chair; common-sergeant s. arabin, ed. blount, john masterman, henry alexander, matthias attwood, h. de castro, g. h. mine, mr maynard, mr wire, sir george carrol, and two or three others. it was a most pleasant party; a kind of leave-taking dinner, and the sheriffs had the gratification of hearing that their conduct during their year of office had given general satisfaction. it was impossible to leave the room without a feeling of regret at parting from very pleasant acquaintances whom we were so little likely to see again. very quickly has the year flown away, with its pleasures and fatigues, leaving only the satisfaction of having accomplished our arduous duties to the best of our abilities." _wednesday, september th._--he went early to the old bailey, and breakfasted there, as he had generally done during the year when his attendance was required. "these early repasts," he observes, "have been, without exception, most comfortable; although they preceded long days of confinement in a hot and close court, they have left pleasing remembrances of the many marks of attention and kindness shown to me by the city judges who used to join these early meals." after this, his last breakfast there, he accompanied lady carrol, her daughters, and some other visitors round the prison and cells. he then left some money for the prisoners, and conducted the judges and a large party into the dining-room, after which he bade adieu to the old bailey, "i expect," he says, "for ever." he then returned home and prepared for the holy days which were to commence the same evening. on monday, october st, the following official notice appeared:-- "cowen, mayor.--in a meeting or assembly of the mayor, aldermen, and liverymen of the several companies of the city of london, in common council assembled, at the guildhall of the said city, on saturday, the th day of september . resolved unanimously, that the thanks of this common hall are eminently due, and are hereby given, to sir george carrol and sir moses montefiore, knights, sheriffs of this city, and sheriffs of the county of middlesex, for the past year, for the splendour with which they have maintained the dignity of that high office; for their hospitality; for the punctuality, zeal, and judgment with which they have executed their various official duties; for their munificent and constant support of the charities which adorn the metropolis; for their humanity to the prisoners entrusted to their care; for their various efforts to preserve, unimpaired, the privileges of this city; and for their universal courtesy to all their fellow-citizens. "woodthorpe." the particulars of that meeting are thus given:--"mr timothy curtis, the governor of the bank of england, came forward to move a vote of thanks to the late sheriffs, sir george carrol and sir moses montefiore, for the dignity, splendour, humanity, and hospitality with which they had distinguished themselves in the high situation to which they had been chosen by the unanimous voice of their fellow-citizens. mr gurney, in seconding the motion of thanks, said he rejoiced that the day had arrived when the citizens could be served by any one, whatever his religious opinions might be." mr t. curtis then read the following letter--a letter of thanks to the livery--from sir moses montefiore, in the course of which he said:-- "i need not tell you that many of the duties of office myself and colleague have just passed through are of a painful nature. we have often been called upon to witness scenes of agony occasioned by want and crime. some of this distress, however painful, we could not alleviate; but we have endeavoured to mitigate the sufferings of the prisoners, and to open to them better and happier courses of life, as far as public justice and the necessarily strict rules of a prison would permit. "if, on the one hand, there have been scenes of distress to witness, on the other i have found many sources of unmingled gratification. i have had opportunities of forming friendships with the members of the corporation, and of cementing a friendship of long standing with my excellent colleague--friendships which i am sure, as regards my own wishes, will still remain, and cause me to look back on the past year as one of the happiest of my life." whilst these proceedings took place at the guildhall, sir moses was fasting and reciting prayers with his community in the ancient and venerable synagogue called "the gate of heaven," as the day on which the meeting took place happened to be the day of atonement, appointed in the bible as a day of repentance and prayer for the forgiveness of sins. the fast does not seem to have affected sir moses' health or spirits in the least, as we find him attending service again in the house of prayer at twenty minutes before seven the next morning. his devotions concluded, he takes an early opportunity of visiting his friends and enquiring how they have passed the previous day. the same evening he dined with his mother, who, he writes, "was, thanks to heaven, pretty well after her fast." _monday, october st._--he called on mr curtis, the governor of the bank of england, to thank him for proposing the vote of thanks to the sheriffs; also on mr gurney, who seconded the vote. later in the day he accompanied sir george carrol to westminster, and at three o'clock the lord mayor, aldermen, the recorder, and sheriffs elect came there to receive her majesty's approval of the newly elected sheriffs. the recorder in his address to the bench again highly complimented sir george and sir moses on the efficient manner in which they discharged their duties. sir moses then returned in great haste to the city, having summoned a meeting at the alliance office at four, for the election of a solicitor to the board of deputies. at five o'clock he had to attend the new sheriffs' inauguration dinner at the london tavern. "there were persons present," he says, "the lord mayor in the chair. we had the foremost places, next to the new sheriffs, and our health was drunk in a most complimentary manner." _wednesday, october rd._--sir moses and lady montefiore went to ramsgate, where they spent the tabernacle holidays very happily, surrounded by relatives and friends whom they had invited for the occasion. on the th they returned again to london. here they had the satisfaction of finding letters of introduction from lord palmerston to her majesty's ambassadors and consuls in paris, florence, rome, naples, malta, alexandria, and constantinople, as also to the admiral on the mediterranean station, which sir moses had asked for through mr spring-rice. _monday, october nd._--at a meeting of the deputies of the british jews, sir moses resigned the presidency on account of his going abroad. the next day he called at the foreign office to thank lord palmerston for the letters of introduction he had so kindly sent; he also called on mr spring-rice, who was very friendly, and promised him a letter to the governor of malta, at the same time requesting sir moses to write to him from the east. a few days later he received several letters from baron lionel de rothschild, which baron anthony, at the request of baron anselm de rothschild, had procured for him from the french ministry, to the french admiral on the mediterranean station, and to their ministers and consuls. before leaving england sir moses sent for his solicitor to read over the will he had prepared, and which he signed in his presence, and in the presence of another gentleman whom he had brought as witness. i notice this item in the entries of his diary to show the completeness of all his arrangements. there is a book entitled "notes from a private journal of a visit to egypt and palestine by way of italy and the mediterranean," written by lady montefiore, and printed in the year : a second edition was printed shortly before the death of sir moses. both, having only been intended for private circulation among friends, are unpublished. the account of the journey which i give here is taken partly from sir moses' and lady montefiore's diaries, and partly from my own, which i kept when travelling with them, with a view of supplying the reader with information on subjects which they have omitted to write down. _thursday, november st._--"we have finished," sir moses writes, "all the preparations for our journey, and have taken leave of all our dear relatives. i have left to benjamin cohen the key of a box in which there are portuguese bonds which i have destined for the poor of the holy land; if necessary he is to sell them for me. after that we set out from park lane in our travelling carriage with four post horses, attended by our servants. may the blessing of the almighty accompany us. we stopped a short time at kennington for the blessing of our dear mother, whom i pray god to protect, that we may have the happiness to find her in health on our return, and then proceeded as far as sittingbourne, where we remained overnight." travelling _viâ_ strasburg and avignon they reached lyons, where they rested for sabbath. thus far their way had been through the most lovely scenery, but their enjoyment was marred by the inclemency of the weather, and the difficulty of the roads, which lay for the most part at the sides or on the top of high steep mountains, close to immense precipices or rushing rivers, which were swollen by the torrents of water streaming down the sides of the mountains from the melting snow. "my dear judith," says sir moses, "was often so frightened that she persisted in getting out of the carriage, although the snow was deep on the ground. our courier and the postillions had to walk a great part of the way, and to lead the horses, as the ice had made the roads so slippery. i certainly would not recommend this season for travelling." from lyons they took the steamboat to avignon, thinking this mode of travelling would be an improvement on the roads, but they were mistaken. the boat was to start at six o'clock in the morning. the moon still shone brightly, but the gale was so strong that for some time the captain was doubtful whether he should start. after much consideration he decided to venture. the boat went at a good speed until they came to the first bridge, where it was found that the river was so swollen that it did not seem possible to pass under. the vessel was moored to the bank by the side of the bridge, and the captain proceeded in a small boat to measure the height of the arch. it was pronounced to be just sufficient; the funnel was lowered nearly flat. sir moses says he was certain there was not six inches between the top of the funnel and the bridge; the smallest wave might have dashed their boat against it, and they might have been drowned. twice more they had to undergo this anxiety; all the passengers were panic stricken. "i must confess," says sir moses, "i would rather be in the open sea in a hurricane." the second day's journey was not so bad, as during the night the river had fallen a foot, and they reached avignon in safety. "but i am mortified," he writes, "to find that, though there are many jews in this place, there is no synagogue. no meat, prepared according to jewish law, can be procured. we could manage with fish and vegetables, but i exceedingly regret not being able to join public worship on sabbath. tomorrow will be the first time we have omitted so doing since we left london, and shall be happy if it is the last." leaving avignon, they proceeded, _viâ_ marseilles, toulon, and cannes, to nice. writing from here, sir moses says: "we find the climate here very different to that of england, the sun even now, at the end of december, being almost too powerful to be pleasant. notwithstanding all the advantages nice may afford, nothing would induce me to live here. i was shocked and grieved to hear that our brethren are treated in the most intolerant manner, not being allowed even to educate their children for any profession. i was told that when the king and queen of sardinia visited nice in , all classes of the inhabitants, jews among the number, tried to show their loyalty, by sending deputations to present addresses, but the king refused to receive the deputation from the jews. they then addressed him through the minister of state, and solicited permission to erect an obelisk in commemoration of the royal visit, and the joy they felt, in common with their fellow-subjects, at seeing their king and queen. after some time this humble petition was granted, and the column stands now in the city, bearing a hebrew and italian inscription." amongst the many friends and acquaintances they had met at this place, there was one of some historical importance, isaak samuel avigdor, who, on account of his knowledge of the french and italian languages, acted as one of the secretaries to the french synhedrion under napoleon i., in the year . at the last session of that assembly he had moved a resolution to the effect that "the jews in france, germany, and italy do now forget all the misfortunes (_i.e._, persecution) which befell them, and only engrave in their hearts the kind acts which have been done towards them, and that they acknowledge with deep gratitude the kind reception which the popes and other representatives of the catholic church had given them at a time when barbarity, prejudice, and ignorance had persecuted and expelled them from society." the resolution was unanimously adopted, and entered in the minutes of the proceedings. unfortunately, pius vii., the pope who declared that he represented aaron, the prophet of god, cannot be numbered among those who protected the jews. immediately after the restoration of the bourbons, in the year , as soon as he was able to resume the government of the papal states, he re-established the inquisition. monsieur avigdor had the mortification of witnessing the distressing consequences of the pope's new edicts. the jews in rome were obliged to quit the houses which, under the french government, they had been permitted to own in all parts of the city, and return to the ghetto. they had to give up counting-houses and other places of business which they had in the corso. in vain did they offer large sums of money to induce the minister of state to withdraw his order. the applications made by numerous deputations from jewish communitiesin various towns likewise proved fruitless. they were even forced to attend sermons preached in the churches for the purpose of their conversion, heavy fines being imposed upon all those who absented themselves; and those who were detected either asleep, or not paying sufficient attention to the sermon, were unceremoniously aroused by one of the priests. i noticed during my stay in rome a hebrew inscription over the entrance of one of these churches (chiesa della divina pietà), which runs as follows: "i have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts, a people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face." (isaiah lxv., and ) mr avigdor often spoke on the above subject to sir moses and lady montefiore. he related some interesting incidents in connection with the synhedrion, how the members were put to much inconvenience on the first day of the opening of their sessions, the day fixed by the emperor being their sabbath. mr avigdor pressed sir moses and lady montefiore to prolong their stay in nice, but they were anxious to proceed, without unnecessary delay, on their projected pilgrimage, and they left on the st of december. chapter xix. . genoa, carrara, leghorn, and rome--disquieting rumours--quarantine precautions--arrival at alexandria--travel in the holy land. they reached genoa on january nd, , and after a few days' rest, continued their journey to carrara. on the following day, the dottore a. passani, an advocate of carrara, called, and brought sir moses several of his father's letters, some dated as far back as ; they were all in italian, and beautifully written. both sir moses and lady montefiore were much pleased at the sight of the handwriting of their father, and would have been glad if the gentleman had been willing to part with them, but it appears he desired to preserve them himself as souvenirs of the late mr montefiore. on their way to rome they visited leghorn, a period of eleven years having elapsed since their last sojourn in that place, and made special arrangements there for having the graves of their kind god-parents, moses and esther racah, kept in proper order. "i was desirous," writes sir moses, "once more to offer up prayers in the synagogue so near to the house in which i was born; we therefore drove to synagogue, where my dear judith and i humbly thanked the almighty for all his great goodness to us. we left leghorn on the th january; it was a beautiful day, the sun smiling on us, and returned to carrara, where we wished to purchase some more souvenirs of italy, and also gave orders to vincenzo bonami for our coat-of-arms to be executed in marble for east cliff lodge." on the th january we find them at florence, where they remained until the nd february. it appears that the climate there did not agree with either lady montefiore or sir moses. they had to take medical advice, and dr usiglio strongly dissuaded them from going to jerusalem, advising them on the contrary to return to england before the hot season. but they were reluctant to give up their cherished object, and, trusting in god, who had always protected them, they started for rome, where they arrived on the th february. "i am informed," observes sir moses, "that there are jews here, two-thirds poor. four times a year, are obliged to attend a sermon preached in church for their conversion. leo xii. had deprived them of their privilege of keeping shops and warehouses out of the ghetto. but the present most excellent pontiff, gregory xvi., has permitted them to have warehouses in the city. he frequently sends them money from his own purse, and is always willing to give an audience to their deputies and to attend to their requests. "yesterday we were shown some very rich and splendid silk damask, embroidered in silver and gold, for hangings for the synagogue, holy ark, and pulpit. there are many silver bells, crowns, and chains, enriched with precious stones, for the scrolls of the holy law, and in the synagogue there are beautiful marbles, mosaics, and columns." sir moses and lady montefiore did not prolong their stay in rome. on the th february they quitted the city for naples, remaining there till march nd, when they again returned to rome, apartments having been previously taken for them at via della fontanella di borghese. it was now nearly four years since i had first the pleasure of meeting sir moses and lady montefiore in london. i had since that time been travelling in egypt, nubia, ethiopia, syria, and the holy land, and had during these travels the gratification to receive some letters from sir moses. it was therefore a very pleasant surprise for me to meet them in rome and to visit with them the museums, picture galleries, and most places of importance. they spoke to me of their intended pilgrimage to jerusalem, and invited me to accompany them. having had many opportunities when in eyn zetoon, upper galilee, during the revolt of the druses, to become fully acquainted with the character and peculiarities of the various classes of inhabitants of the land, i felt a great interest in all measures that could be devised for the improvement of their condition; and, anticipating good results from sir moses' visit to the holy land, i gladly accepted the invitation. on the th march they received a letter from the baroness james de rothschild, in which she informed them that intelligence had been received from the austrian consul of great military preparations being made in alexandria, and that war would not long be delayed between the pasha of egypt and the sultan. sir moses and lady montefiore, nothing daunted by the news, determined not to relinquish their plans. they were frequently visited by the abbate farrari and monsignor bruti, two ecclesiastics of liberal ideas and agreeable manners, who kept them _au fait_ of all interesting ceremonies and festivals in the church, presenting them with tickets for the best places on all important occasions. signor pietro rittig, of coblenz, having called their attention to one of his pictures in the museum of modern painters, entitled "students in the academy of painting," they bought it, together with several others, namely, "a greek girl," by isidore; "a buffalo," by linden; "a mandolino," by cavalleri; "two peasants," by pelletti, and others. signor salvadore taglicozzo recommended an eminent scribe, to whom sir moses gave the order to write a pentateuch scroll for him, also to procure a richly embroidered mantle for it. during the passover festival they attended synagogue, which was very crowded and splendidly decorated. they were much struck by the presence of several gendarmes and soldiers. two, with fixed bayonets, were placed opposite the ark containing the sacred scrolls of law; each time one of the latter was removed or returned, they presented arms as a mark of respect. sir moses remembered having seen something similar in the great synagogue of leghorn, yet it had always appeared strange to him that in a building bearing the appellation, "temple of peace," the representatives of war should be on duty, carrying with them implements of destruction: the altar of the lord being considered according to an injunction of holy writ, as desecrated by the mere touch of a sword. _friday, april th._--we left rome, embarking on the following sunday in the _sesostris_ for malta, where we arrived on the th. sir moses and lady montefiore, requiring some rest after the voyage, resolved to remain there a few days. he called on the governor, sir henry bouverie, to present to him his letter of introduction from mr spring-rice, also on admiral sir robert stopford, and on many friends whose acquaintance they had made on a former visit to malta. he had not long returned to the hotel when an invitation came from the governor for sir moses, lady montefiore, and myself to dine at the palace on the following saturday. to spend her time usefully and agreeably, lady montefiore applied herself with much diligence to the study of arabic, and both she and sir moses read daily three psalms in hebrew, which they requested me to translate into english, and explain. the old agent of the silk company called on them, and also captain austen of the _bellerophon_, with his wife and daughter. the representatives of the hebrew community in the island came to pay their respects, and report on the affairs of the synagogue. _april th._--they attended divine service, after which they paid a few visits, and returned to their hotel, where they remained till the evening, when they proceeded to the palace. the sabbath not being yet terminated, lady montefiore went in a sedan-chair, while sir moses and i walked. the governor was in full uniform, wearing all his orders. about twenty-four sat down to table, amongst whom were the duke of devonshire (just out of quarantine, on his return from constantinople), admiral sir robert stopford and his family, captain hyde parker, sir hector gray, secretary of government, lady stopford's sister with her daughter, the duke's physician, and many military officers. admiral stopford took lady montefiore down to dinner, and promised to do all in his power to obtain a steamboat to take them to jaffa. both sir moses and lady montefiore were much pleased with their reception at the palace. _monday nd._--sir moses and i dined with sir hector grey; it was a gentleman's party. the governor, the admiral and his son, the duke of devonshire, sir john lewis, mr frere (uncle of the late sir bartle frere), mr bourchier (who was private secretary to sir frederick c. ponsonby, governor of the island in ), captain best, captain goulbourne, and two other gentlemen were present. on wednesday we all dined with the admiral, and met there sir john and lady mackenzie, captain cosnier, captain fisher, and several other naval officers of distinction. lady stopford held a reception afterwards, which was well attended. _sunday, april th._--the french consul sent us the _journal de smyrne_, in which it was stated that accounts had been received that the plague had broken out in jerusalem, and that the mortality in that city had already reached from forty to fifty per day. in another number of the same paper information was given to the effect that letters had been received from cairo that hostilities had commenced in syria. though very little credit was attached to these articles they gave us all some uneasiness, and in consequence of a renewed report of the plague, sir moses and lady montefiore went to the quarantine harbour, where they saw the captain of the _blazer_, lately arrived from beyrout. he informed them that mr and mrs freemantle were in fort manuel, after returning from the holy land. sir moses and lady montefiore then called on mr and mrs freemantle, who informed them that while they were in jerusalem the plague was raging there, and they had to perform eighteen days quarantine before entering beyrout, but they believed the city to be now healthy, although sir moses would probably find jerusalem shut up, as the warm weather would bring back the plague. they gave a most distressing account of the jews under the present government. all were more or less ill-treated, many being actually in slavery. mr freemantle said that the jews were looking most anxiously for the arrival of sir moses. _friday, may rd._--sir moses took leave of the admiral, and then went to the palace, and there met h.r.h. prince george of cambridge, who received him most kindly, and they had a friendly conversation. soon after twelve, having taken leave of his remaining friends, sir moses went with lady montefiore to the quarantine harbour, thence in a boat to the _megara_, a steam vessel. captain goldsmith, the commander, received them on board, and at two o'clock we left the harbour for alexandria. _wednesday, may th._--this morning, soon after six, land was discovered, the masts of the ships in the harbour being the first objects caught sight of. a pilot came on board about eight. as we entered the port the french steamer for marseilles left, so that we just missed the opportunity of sending letters by her. we were much amused at the great precautions taken by the people who came alongside in the boat belonging to the board of health. they received our bill of health, which we had brought from malta, with a pair of tongs, every one alarmed lest he should touch it; it was opened with the aid of the tongs and a thin iron rod; but as soon as they saw that it was a clean bill, certifying that at the date of our leaving malta was free from plague and every other contagious distemper, the officers came on board with colonel campbell's janissary. sir moses and lady montefiore now landed, proceeding to an hotel, where they remained overnight; and the next morning we all rode off to the custom house, opposite to which we found the _megara's_ boat, which captain goldsmith had politely sent to take us on board. sir moses took particular note of the pasha's troops. there were on the quay about a thousand soldiers; they all appeared to him to be quite little boys, scarce able to carry a musket; he did not believe any were above fourteen years old, while some seemed not more than nine. "if the troops are all like these," he said, "heaven help mohhammad ali!" _saturday, may th._--at an early hour the anchor was cast in the bay of beyrout, but we remained on board ship till the evening, when the commander conducted us on shore in his boat. as the boat left the ship all the company on board, comprising officers and men, saluted sir moses and lady montefiore with many huzzas. we repaired to the house selected for us by mr niven moore, the british consul, and in the morning sir moses paid his respects to the governor, mohamed bey, who received him most politely. he asked him for letters of introduction to the governors of several towns which it was probable we should visit, also his assistance to procure horses for us, all of which he promised. we then went to the english consul, who sent in the course of the day his janissary to attend sir moses while we continued in beyrout. several representatives of the hebrew community called to welcome them, and many letters from jerusalem, hebron, safed, and tiberias were handed to them by special messenger. they have all been anxiously looking forward to their arrival in the holy land, "but our visit," sir moses observed, "is not the most timely for our comfort, pleasure, or safety; the political state of the country is most unsatisfactory and uncertain; a single day may bring about a complete change in the government of syria and palestine. the forces of the sultan have certainly crossed the frontier, and ibrahim pasha will positively resist any further advance. mohhammad ali has sent his son every man he had at his disposal." _monday, th._--sir moses and lady montefiore rode on horseback to the synagogue, which was very full in honour of their visit. we were told that there were sixty jewish families in beyrout, none of them rich. during the day they received visits from the rev. mr and mrs thompson of the american mission, and also from many ladies and gentlemen of the jewish community. mr ed. kilbee, of the firm of kilbee, haugh & co., bankers, came to inform sir moses that he could find no one to take charge of the money for jerusalem. sir moses immediately wrote to the governor to request that he would provide him with messengers to carry the money to safed, tiberias, and jerusalem. the governor wrote a very civil answer, but regretted he could not comply with this request. he then addressed himself to the british consul, but no answer reached him that day. the next morning the consul's dragoman came with a message that he had been with the governor, who was extremely sorry not to be able to provide us with an escort, but the roads were not so unsafe as reported, and he hoped a large party, well armed like ours, would travel with safety. sir moses was much troubled in making the arrangements, to divide the money into smaller parcels, putting these into bags and baskets, altogether eleven. this we were obliged to do ourselves. mr kilbee passed some time with us, giving us much encouragement, though he was unable to find any person who would risk taking the money, either to safed, tiberias, jerusalem, or hebron, in spite of the most tempting offers. sir moses imploring the protection of the almighty, we set forward on our pilgrimage at p.m. the way was over sand and through stony lanes, which opened on a sandy plain; we rested at beer hássán, till our luggage came up. there were fourteen mules and three horses, besides several donkeys for the moukeries. having taken some coffee we proceeded on our way. the scenery was beautiful, especially the mountains of lebanon, many of the highest being covered with snow. at eight we reached khán kháldáh, the "mutatio heldua," according to pococke, in the jerusalem itinerary. "thanks to heaven," says sir moses, "we rested well in our tent, and set forward on our journey the next day, may th, at five. we rode on till one, then reposed till three o'clock under a mulberry tree; they were cutting off the young boughs and gathering the leaves. the road ran on the sands and rocks close to the sea. at three we sent off our tents and baggage to náhr el kasmiyah, said to be three hours' distance, and we followed. before reaching sidon, we were met by many jews, the representatives of congregations; they said they had been waiting three hours for us. they accompanied us to the tomb of zebulon, where we recited prayers. we then took leave of our brethren and continued riding till seven o'clock, when i was so fatigued i could go no further. a mat was spread in a garden near the water, and i gladly threw myself upon it. we sent a man to order our tents to be brought back. in about an hour great screams were heard; we sent to see what was the matter, when it was ascertained that the cries proceeded from our messenger who had gone for the tent. he said he had been attacked, severely beaten, and his donkey almost killed. this intelligence alarmed dr loewe very much for the safety of our lives, to say nothing of our luggage. he remained walking round our mats during the night, with his loaded pistols, judith and i having ours under our heads. about midnight we with difficulty persuaded two men to ride after our luggage to see what had become of it; they returned at three in the morning with the news of its being all safe. our road after passing sidon was like going through a beautiful garden. at a short distance on our right we had a view of the sea, on our left mountains; they were pretty well cultivated--wheat, barley, figs and mulberries; but few can imagine the anxiety we suffered during the night, when we were exposed to the winds of heaven." _thursday, may th._--we started at a.m., and rode till nine, after which we reposed for some time. we met three persons sent from safed with letters from the spiritual head of the community to welcome us; he was at tiberias, and prevented by indisposition from coming to meet us. we rested in a beautiful valley, noticing much cattle, small cows, calves, and a number of goats. we then crossed the náhr el kasmiyah, a river which divides the lot of asher from that of dan. there was a heavy dew in the night. sir moses was much fatigued, and still felt the bad effects of having slept exposed to the night air on the previous day. the next morning was cloudy; we started at five o'clock, riding over mountains and through fertile valleys till ten. while resting, we received a letter by a private messenger from the three representatives of the hebrew congregation at safed, where each had prepared his own house for our use, and was waiting to receive us. about two hours later we caught the first glimpse of safed. the town looked very beautiful, being situate on the summit of the mountain, which was crowned with beautiful olive trees of immense growth and great age. chapter xx. . reception at safed--sad condition of the people--sir moses' project for the cultivation of the land in palestine by the jews--death of the chief rabbi of the german congregation in jerusalem--tiberias. after four hours' ride we met two of the chiefs of the portuguese community, sent to escort us as a guard of honour. on reaching half-way up the mountain, the ecclesiastical chief of the german hebrew community, accompanied by many of his congregation, came to welcome us. he is an old man of benevolent countenance. i dismounted, giving the chief my horse to ride. this special mark of respect i showed to him in commemoration of the holy resignation manifested by the venerable chief only a year before on the occasion of the revolt of the druses against mohhammad ali. these marauders, having pillaged and maltreated the whole community, wished to enforce from them an additional sum of five hundred turkish purses or £ , a sum which of course the hebrews could not produce. the druses thereupon bound the aged chief hand and foot, and laying the edge of a naked sword upon his neck, threatened to instantly sever his head if the demanded sum were not handed over without delay. the good man did not ask them to spare his life, which he would willingly sacrifice to save his community; all he requested of them was to allow a little clean water to be poured over his hands, that he might recite a prayer and acknowledge the justice of god in all his ways. at this a heartrending cry burst from all present, and even the druses themselves appear to have been touched. they withdrew the sword and entered upon some arrangements with the community, who had to borrow the required amount from some of the convents. i had been to see him the day after this occurrence, and found him reciting his morning prayers as calmly as if nothing had happened. sir moses in his description of the journey continues--"as we were descending the mountain a man, who had been placed there to give notice to the inhabitants of our approach, fired a musket, and the salute was answered by our party, who discharged their guns and pistols. our firing had a cheerful effect, as the echo was taken up by the distant hills. we were soon met by signor mirrachi (ecclesiastical chief of the portuguese community) with a great number of his congregation. he expressed his regret that i would not accept the house he had prepared for us. the scene became most interesting. men, women, and children covered the sides and top of the hill as well as the roofs of all houses; but i was nearly dead with fatigue." as soon as sir moses and lady montefiore reached their apartments, preparations were made for the sabbath, but sir moses had not the strength to walk to synagogue. he had for some time expressed uneasiness lest we should not reach the town before sunset, yet he had the happiness of seeing the sun above the horizon, after we had entered our house. by special invitation ten gentlemen were soon with him in his room, and the evening service was commenced, but he could scarcely stand, and as soon as prayers were ended he retired. the following day sir moses being still too unwell to leave his bed, numbers of visitors called to enquire after his health, all expressing their regret at his indisposition. during the next two days, on which the festival of pentecost was celebrated, sir moses recovered sufficiently to accompany lady montefiore to the portuguese synagogue, where a sacred scroll of great antiquity is preserved. on sir moses being called to the rostrum to pronounce the blessing, the portion of the day was read to him out of the above scroll. on the following day, sir moses and lady montefiore received visits from the governor, judge, and all other dignitaries of the place. some of the druses also intimated their desire to come and pay their respects, but upon my suggestion this was declined, it being considered undesirable to encourage their presence in safed. having been amongst the sufferers at the time of their invasion of this place the year before, i surmised the object they had in view, in seeking to come with their friends to see the english pilgrims. _tuesday, may st._--sir moses now occupied himself in obtaining information as to the actual state of the jews in this city, as well as the probable prospect of success for his project, viz., to encourage the jews and enable them to gain a livelihood by the cultivation of the land. they had frequent interviews with t. and n. drucker, two clever and enterprising men, father and son, who had come originally from poland, and had possessed a handsome fortune. they had brought with them a printing press, and had printed prayer-books. they had also begun to print a bible, when the druses came, destroyed their press, robbed them of all their property, and beat them most unmercifully, breaking the father's thigh, so that he barely escaped with his life. _wednesday, may nd._--all the afternoon was spent both by sir moses and lady montefiore in seeing people, in listening to their complaints and sorrows, and also in obtaining information respecting the cultivation of land. the german and portuguese chief rabbis came, and after some conversation, sir moses decided to distribute personally the money he had brought for the relief of the sufferers by the earthquake, according to the number of souls. a spanish dollar was given to every man, woman, and child over thirteen, while two dollars were given to the blind, and no distinction was made between portuguese and german. the money sent from london soon after the earthquake had been distributed by the portuguese, who gave the greatest part to those learned in our holy law, leaving but little for all the other sufferers, which sir moses considered unjust. the spiritual head of the german congregation, the rev. a. dob, said that the money was divided amongst their congregation according to the amount of loss sustained by each individual. nor did the german committee ever retain one penny more for themselves than for the other members of the congregation. "this," said sir moses, "appears to me the most honest way of acting." the portuguese gentlemen, however, in justification of their own course of action in this matter, explained that those who are engaged in imparting religious instruction to the community, taking charge of all their institutions, devoting their time to the interest of the rising generation, having no business or occupation that would adequately secure their maintenance, ought naturally to have some additional share in the offerings of their wealthier brethren abroad, offerings intended not only for the relief of distress, but also for the preservation of a religious community. the same, they said, would be done in europe, where the teachers in schools and colleges, or the managers of communal institutions, happen to be without income or salary for their maintenance. sir moses having inspected the new buildings, regretted to find that most of them were but poor miserable hovels, built over the ruins of the old ones, high up the hill, close to the edge of the mountain, so that the slightest shock of earthquake would bury the inhabitants one above the other without hope of escape. the houses were built on the side of the mountain, row above row. on inquiring the reason of this, he was informed that by building over the old houses they were saved the expense of making excavations, these being already there; they had no fear of earthquakes, all they dreaded being the mooslemin inhabitants and the visits of the druses. _thursday, may rd._--at ten we rode to djermek, a village two hours distant, to the farm of israel drucker, one of his tenants having a son who was to be received that day into the covenant of abraham. sir moses and lady montefiore had been invited to act as god-parents to the child. on reaching the house sir moses and lady montefiore were most respectfully saluted, and the ceremony was immediately performed. we then sat down for a short time to partake of some refreshment; and, having offered presents and congratulations to the parents of the infant, we descended the mountain, to visit the tomb of r. simeon ben yókháï, in miroon. there we were met by the principal inhabitants of safed. we then visited the tomb of hillel, celebrated in jewish history for his great learning and for his noble character and humility. "one of the most interesting sights," says sir moses, "i have seen in the holy land. there is one cave within the other, a spring of the clearest water flowing through both; it appears to spring from the spot where the mortal remains of hillel repose. in the vicinity of the tomb we saw a splendid marble portal of a synagogue now in ruins; the marble was handsomely carved, and many of the stones adjoining the portal were still standing, all of them being of great size." _friday, may th._--sir moses was again engaged from nine to six with the distribution of the money. he also gave special donations to the heads of schools and colleges, and endeavoured to alleviate the distress among the poor of all non-israelitish communities. sir moses found his brethren most anxious to be employed and to earn their own bread. they appeared to prefer the cultivation of land as the most likely means to raise them from their present destitute condition. there were a few jews who had some interest with mussulmans in cultivating some small farms about three or four hours from safed, but their means were so limited that they could ill afford to keep a pair of oxen to till the ground. there was no lack of spirit, and sir moses thought that some trifling assistance from the proper persons in europe would speedily restore health and plenty, should such be the will of heaven. on the same day we received the sad tidings of the death of the rev. israel, chief rabbi of the german congregation in jerusalem, which had taken place at tiberias on the nd inst. it had been his intention to come to sir moses to welcome him and lady montefiore on their entry into the holy land. he was renowned for his great learning and noble character, which he had so often manifested in the performance of his official duties, as spiritual guide of the community; and being a disciple of the celebrated rabbi eliahu wilna, he was held in high esteem by all the congregations in the four holy cities. both sir moses and lady montefiore were much affected by the mournful event, and lost no time in considering what steps should be taken to evince their sympathy with the bereaved family. the following day being sabbath, they attended divine service, afterwards receiving numerous visits from the inhabitants of the place. one gentleman from tiberias gave a most melancholy account of the state of the country; he assured them that the roads to jerusalem were very unsafe, and the plague actually in the city. only a few days before the holidays the son-in-law of the late rev. israel, and his servant, had died of it. the visits they received from the druses caused us much uneasiness, as we apprehended an attack from their body to plunder not only us, but all jews in the town; and we should have proceeded early the next morning to tiberias had we not feared such a course would give the appearance of flight. the heads of the portuguese and german congregations came to pay their respects to sir moses and lady montefiore. two of these gentlemen, the rev. abraham shoshana and samuel aboo, were land owners in a neighbouring village, and gave their opinion on the subject of agriculture. sir moses, referring in his diary, to their conversation, says: "from all information i have been able to gather, the land in this neighbourhood appears to be particularly favourable for agricultural speculation. there are groves of olive trees, i should think, more than five hundred years old, vineyards, much pasture, plenty of wells and abundance of excellent water; also fig trees, walnuts, almonds, mulberries, &c., and rich fields of wheat, barley, and lentils; in fact it is a land that would produce almost everything in abundance, with very little skill and labour. i am sure if the plan i have in contemplation should succeed, it will be the means of introducing happiness and plenty into the holy land. in the first instance, i shall apply to mohhammad ali for a grant of land for fifty years; some one or two hundred villages; giving him an increased rent of from ten to twenty per cent., and paying the whole in money annually at alexandria, but the land and villages to be free, during the whole term, from every tax or rate either of pasha or governor of the several districts; and liberty being accorded to dispose of the produce in any quarter of the globe. this grant obtained, i shall, please heaven, on my return to england, form a company for the cultivation of the land and the encouragement of our brethren in europe to return to palestine. many jews now emigrate to new south wales, canada, &c.; but in the holy land they would find a greater certainty of success; here they will find wells already dug, olives and vines already planted, and a land so rich as to require little manure. by degrees i hope to induce the return of thousands of our brethren to the land of israel. i am sure they would be happy in the enjoyment of the observance of our holy religion, in a manner which is impossible in europe." the scene we witnessed yesterday amply repaid us for the fatigues of the journey. we saw nearly every individual inhabitant of safed. sir moses gave to each at least one spanish dollar, and some fathers of families received eight or ten dollars. to those persons who came to meet him and lady montefiore at náhr el rasmiyah, fifteen hours' journey from safed, and who, when invited to sleep in the tent, preferred, from their intense love to the country, to sleep in the open air of the holy land, he made handsome presents. "i hope," said sir moses in the course of conversation, "that the money i have had the pleasure of distributing yesterday, will produce some comfort and give assistance to the jews in safed, especially in their present forlorn situation. their sufferings during the last five years must have been truly deplorable. first the plundering of the inhabitants, then the earthquake, and finally the attack by the druses, to fill the cup of their misfortune. at the present moment the ruins of the town present an awful spectacle of destruction; the few miserable hovels they have erected are for the most part little better than caves, more fit for the beast of the field than for human beings. many are merely four mud walls, with a mat for a roof. i think the poverty of the jews in safed to be great beyond anything that can be imagined either in england or on the continent of europe; it must be seen to be credited. i am informed, and do believe, that many are actually starving, and that great numbers died last year of hunger. nearly all are stamped with want and wretchedness, though many of them are tall men and have handsome features. the women are very pretty; they have large black eyes, are of refined manners, and exhibit much intelligence in their conversation. i have found all the men anxious to be employed in agriculture." _monday, may th._--we repaired early in the morning to the house of the spiritual head of the german congregation, where we attended divine service. his wife, who had prepared quite a treat for us, consisting of coffee, sweetmeats, wine and cakes, gave us a most hearty welcome. in the presence of the reverend gentleman sir moses engaged one of the scribes to write a scroll of the pentateuch for his synagogue at ramsgate. the first sheet of the parchment was at once prepared, and he had the happiness of writing the first three words. sir moses on his return affixed his signature to an arabic letter, which he had requested me to prepare at the urgent entreaties of all the inhabitants, praying the governor of st jean d'acre to send them some soldiers for their protection. on the same day at half-past twelve we set out on our way to tiberias. in spite of sir moses' entreaties for them to return, we were accompanied for about half-an-hour by the principal authorities and most of the people of the town, who, in taking leave, called down upon sir moses and lady montefiore all the blessings of heaven. we passed through a beautiful country, a very long descent, winding round hills covered with olives, figs, and pomegranates. in the plain we saw the richest land imaginable, though but a very small part of it was under cultivation, large fields being covered with thistles five and six feet high. the path was rocky and difficult. after riding three hours we reached the plain, and dismounting near a stream of water reposed for an hour. our road then lay near the foot of the mountains; it was one continual ascent and descent. when we were about two hours' ride from tiberias, while saying the afternoon prayers, we heard the sound of the dárábuca (turkish drum), with shouts of joy, and soon beheld a large party coming to meet us, dancing and singing. they joined us in prayer, and when we had finished, the head of the german congregation bade us welcome in glowing terms. we then proceeded on our way, the people dancing and running before us, playing on the drum and fife, and singing in hebrew in a general chorus. the spiritual heads of both german and portuguese communities and the principal representatives of all scholastic and charitable institutions of the town now joined our cavalcade. they were all singing in arabic and hebrew, to express their delight at our visit to their city. we had gone but a short distance when we were met by the mooselim or governor, well mounted and armed, and attended by about a dozen officers and servants. he told sir moses he came to offer him his services and to do him honour, and that in this holy land he respected persons of all religions. he directed his soldiers to skirmish up and down the sides of the mountain, charging and retreating for our amusement. the cadi (judge) and his son also joined our party, paying sir moses and lady montefiore many compliments. "the evening," says lady montefiore, "was beautiful, and the gaiety of the scene beyond my feeble powers of description; the music, singing, and dancing of the people, the firing of guns, the horsemen at full gallop up and down the steep sides of the mountain, discharging their pistols, throwing the jareed, stopping their horses when at full speed, and then riding round our party; and now, as we approached the town, the moon shone brightly on the lake; it was a complete fairy scene. at a short distance from the town we were met by a great concourse of people, men, women, and children, many bearing large torches. they formed, as it were, a lane on either side for us to pass through, the same merriment, music, singing, and dancing continuing. we found the whole town illuminated, it was as light as in the day; we were saluted on all sides with expressions of joy and heartfelt wishes. not only were the streets crowded, but even the roofs of houses were covered with gaily-attired females. all cheered us as we passed, joining in the chorus, 'they are come, they are come, our happiness is come.' never will the scene be effaced from our memory." we proceeded to the house of rev. h. n. abu-el-afia, which he had prepared for our reception. here the governor and good people took their leave, thinking we must need repose after so much fatigue. all appeared greatly pleased, mussulmans as well as jews. the house looked very clean and comfortable, with good sized rooms neatly furnished in the turkish style. mrs abu-el-afia, a pretty and clever woman, made us partake of some coffee and sherbet, which was soon followed by a good supper. chapter xxi. . invitation from the portuguese congregation at jerusalem--sanitary measures in the holy city--the wives of the governor of tiberias visit lady montefiore--a pleasant journey--arrival at jerusalem. _tuesday, may th._--the heat was very great. sir moses and lady montefiore did not leave the house till nine o'clock, when they went for a little while to the shore of the lake. sir moses received letters from the heads of the portuguese congregation at jerusalem, dated ten days back, informing him that they had prepared a house for him, but were sorry they could not come out of the town to receive him, as there was a cordon round the city. they did not mention one word as to the state of the city, but in two other letters brought by the same messenger, we learned that many jews, whose names they gave, had died of the plague, all the individuals in four houses being stricken with it. in conversation with the messenger, the latter informed sir moses that the plague was in jerusalem and in all the villages surrounding it; also at gaza and jaffa, adding that sir moses might cut off his head if he had not spoken the truth. sir moses determined to despatch a messenger to mr w. t. young, the british consul at jerusalem. on applying to the governor of tiberias to let him have a messenger with a good horse, he immediately sent us a fine, handsome fellow, armed with pistols, sabre, &c. sir moses gave him the letters, and he started instantly, at three o'clock in the afternoon. the governor sent early in the morning to say that he wished to come and pay his respects; at the same time he sent a small, very beautiful gazelle for lady montefiore, which was there considered a valuable present. sir moses and lady montefiore, having appointed twelve o'clock for the interview, he came punctually at that hour, accompanied by the judge of the town and some half dozen of their officers. pipes, coffee, and sherbet were handed round. the governor was most friendly. he said he had made that day a holiday in the town in honour of their visit, which had given joy and peace to all the inhabitants, and that sir moses might command his services in any way he pleased. houses, servants, horses, &c., all were at his disposal. he much regretted being obliged to leave the town himself with some soldiers he had collected, who had to join ibrahim pasha. he would be away about twenty days, but had desired his secretary to attend to any request sir moses might make in his absence. he added a hope that sir moses would come and settle in that part of the world, as the jews were in great need of a chief or leader; they could then take land and engage in agriculture. soon after he left, lady montefiore received an invitation from the governor's wives to come and dine with them, saying that they had had a lamb killed and prepared for the occasion by a person specially sent by the jewish authorities of the place. lady montefiore was anxious to accept the invitation that she might see the interior of the harem, but it was thought she had better not go, and an apology was sent, she pleading fatigue from the journey. the jews all agree in acknowledging that the present governor is an excellent friend to them. the judge is not friendly to them, but the governor prevents him from doing them any mischief. the representatives of the german and portuguese congregations, each attended by about twenty of their members, paid them visits, remaining for about an hour in earnest conversation. they promised to have ready, by the next day, statistical accounts of their communities, which sir moses desired to have for his special guidance in the distribution of the money he had brought for them. _wednesday, may th._--the heat during the night was most oppressive. most of the inhabitants placed their mattresses either on the roofs of their houses or in the yards, and slept in the open air. in the morning, before five, we rode on horseback to the hot baths, about half-an-hour's distance from the town. these are natural hot springs. sir moses did not find them sulphurous, but rather salt. they are situated close to the lake, but the hot spring has its source in the mountains. ibrahim pasha had erected a handsome building, with some rooms for the use of bathers. the large bath, which is circular, would accommodate one hundred persons. there are also two chambers with handsome marble baths. there is a room, commanding a beautiful view of the lake and distant mountains, where, after having taken the bath, one can enjoy an hour's rest, and partake of coffee and sherbet prepared by the attendants there. on their return from the bath they visited the tombs of some distinguished teachers in israel, whose resting-places were pointed out by the gentlemen who accompanied them. in the course of the day the governor's wives sent to say they wished to have the pleasure of paying lady montefiore a visit. they also sent for her acceptance a fine large sheep. lady montefiore, in her diary, gives full particulars of the visit. the governor, she was told, had four wives, but only three of them came. they were attended by a black girl, and by a man as their guard, as well as by the mother of the governor's youngest wife. the first wife, who is considered to be, and is also called, "the great lady," was a pleasing and intelligent woman; the other two were somewhat younger, but equally good-looking, the age of the youngest being about eighteen, and the eldest thirty. all of them were exceedingly good-tempered. when sir moses asked them if they could read, the eldest one replied in the negative, "but," said she, "the agha intends marrying another lady, so that she may teach us to do so; we shall all be pleased if he does." they became very chatty, and were most desirous that lady montefiore should visit them, and go on the water with them to the bath. "the great lady" smoked a chibouk, but did not offer it to the others. lady montefiore made each of them a present of a neat gold ring set with mosaics, with which they were much pleased. they said it was the first visit they had ever paid; they were not even allowed to visit their own brothers, but the agha was so pleased with lady montefiore, that he wished his wives to see her. the ladies remained two hours, and i had to act as interpreter. about fifty members of the portuguese community came to see us, and we had a long conversation with them on the subject of the cultivation of land in the vicinity of the town. many members of the german congregation arrived at the same time to pay their respects to sir moses and lady montefiore, and also joined our conversation on the subject. the early marriages, which are customary in the east amongst all classes of society, were warmly discussed by all present. to europeans the custom appears strange, and a great drawback to the promotion of happiness among the contracting parties, as well as to society in general. orientals, on the contrary, think it most desirable to preserve a custom which they consider beneficial, and conducive to the happiness of families. _thursday, may th._--on this day the distribution of money took place. sir moses and lady montefiore themselves put their gifts into the hand of every man, woman, and child of the hebrew, as well as of the mussulman and christian congregations. their labour was not finished before ten in the evening, the trouble and fatigue of the distribution being exceptionally great, in consequence of the lists containing the names and descriptions of the recipients not having been correctly prepared. of the sheep brought to lady montefiore by the governor's wives, sir moses distributed to the descendants of aaron those parts which, according to an injunction of holy writ, belong to them, a proceeding which afforded much gratification both to donor and the recipients. _friday, may st._--another visit was paid to the different localities in which the tombs of the renowned teachers in israel had been pointed out to them. in the afternoon they attended the portuguese synagogue, and in the evening, after the sabbath repast, hundreds of members of the community sat down in the spacious courtyard in order to enjoy a full view of the honoured pilgrims, who were singing psalms and sabbath hymns. the evening was beautiful; the whole place was illuminated with variegated lamps, and the oriental holiday attire of the many ladies who surrounded the fountain of cool and refreshing water, made the scene charming and picturesque in the extreme. the next day they attended divine service in the german synagogue, and were present at the naming of a child, the son of a distinguished member of the community, to whom they had been requested to act as god-parents. in the afternoon, having attended service in the russian place of worship, they visited the heads of that congregation, and spent the evening at home in receiving the numerous friends who called on them. _sunday, june nd._--at half-past p.m. we left tiberias. hundreds of persons came to see us off, and followed us. the officers of the governor (he having gone with some troops to damascus), with about a dozen soldiers and some attendants, also accompanied us for nearly half-an-hour. we rode for two hours and a half over the hills. towards the west the land was very rich, and sown with wheat, barley, and oats, but not well cultivated. we pitched our tents at eyn louba. the effect of the numerous glowworms and fireflies in the darkness of the night was extremely beautiful. late in the evening a messenger arrived from caiffa, bringing sir moses a letter from beyrout. there had been no battle, but both parties were in daily expectation of hostilities. the plague, it was reported, had broken out in damascus, and the country, both around that city and beyrout, had begun to be in a very disturbed state. several travellers had been robbed, but the post still passed. all vessels from alexandria had to perform quarantine; most of the villages in palestine were infected with the plague. _monday, june rd._--we started at five and halted at . for the mules with our luggage. we were not travelling the usual way, as we wished to avoid the villages as much as possible. we were then near the highest point of mount tabor; we had crossed some of the richest land imaginable, and seen many fig and almond trees, pomegranates, prickly pears, &c. we reposed under an almond tree till our luggage came up. the servants had mistaken the way, and one of the janissaries was obliged to go in search of them. we set forward again at eight, and rode till . p.m. we then rested near a rivulet, in the shade of a small cavern in the front of the mountain, commanding an extensive view of the rich plain, nearly the whole of which was in a state of cultivation. almost all the crops were cut. on the mountain above us, jacob and laban made their league together, and called it gál-éd. we started again at p.m., and rode till seven, when we pitched our tents in a very pretty orchard of fig-trees and pomegranates, the latter covered with blossoms. _tuesday, june th._--after taking a cup of coffee, we set off at five in the morning from djouni, riding through a lovely country of mountains, hills, dales, valleys, and plains, all truly splendid, and in the highest state of cultivation (wheat, barley, oats, &c.). we passed many towns and villages, but did not enter them. this part of the country appeared well populated. the inhabitants were good farmers, and possessed horses, cows, oxen, sheep, and goats in great abundance. there were also olive and mulberry trees of very great age, apparently many centuries old, and there was more skill displayed in their cutting than we had hitherto noticed in the holy land. it was a complete garden. "i have never seen," sir moses observed, "any country so rich and beautiful. we rested under a grove of fig-trees, in a garden surrounded by the most magnificent scenery; the spot might well have been termed, 'a garden of eden, a very paradise.'" we amused ourselves by discussing the writings of hillel the elder, and reading extracts from the works of maimonides. at two we proceeded on our journey till six. the road was very rocky, and the ride, especially the descent to nablous, the ancient city of shéchém, exceedingly difficult. we encamped close to the well of jacob. many of our brethren came from the city to welcome us, and brought with them some fine poultry and fruit, which they requested sir moses and lady montefiore to accept. they did not enter our tents, as we were fearful of contagion. sir moses had, eight or ten days previously, sent them a number of printed forms, for the purpose of inserting under particular headings any statistical information they could give respecting their own community. these he now requested them to let him have, as he desired to distribute some money among those who stood in need of assistance. fortunately they had already prepared the papers required, and it did not take long to send a messenger to the synagogue, who brought them without delay. _wednesday, june th._--we visited the tomb of joseph, and copied the inscription on the wall. we said our prayers there, and proceeded to the village of awarta, where we copied the samaritan and arabic inscriptions on the tombs of phineas, eleazar, and ithamar, the sons of aaron the high priest. we also visited the tombs said to be those of the seventy elders, and then continued our way to jerusalem. at twelve o'clock we rejoined our attendants, who had already prepared various refreshments for us in a tent pitched for our accommodation, near a well called "eyn" or khán lebbán. we were much fatigued, and the heat was excessive. while we were partaking of our repast, many persons, travellers and others, came to water their beasts. some of the mussulmans, after performing their ablutions at the well, said their prayers, and a number of young women, with pitchers on their heads, came from the neighbourhood to fetch the cool water from the inexhaustible spring of laban. at four o'clock we left this pleasing scene, and ascended a high mountain by a desperately stoney road, on the edge of precipices. on the summit we were surprised at finding a very lovely plain, well cultivated, and with many gardens, containing fig, olive, and almond trees, as well as vines. we erected our tents at six o'clock in the corner of a field near the village of snidgil. both on that and the previous day we met many families, jews, christians, and mussulmans, flying from jerusalem to escape the plague; the accounts which they gave us were extremely alarming. _thursday, june th._--we were on horseback at half-past four in the morning. the day was cool and pleasant. our road lay between the mountains, in a narrow pass, formed by the dry bed of a torrent, with gardens on each side. the mountains were cultivated in terraces, and planted to the summit with vines and olives--"a lovely scene," sir moses observed. indeed it would have been impossible to travel through a richer or more beautiful country. we stopped to rest and take some refreshments, and started again, ascending an extremely barren mountain, and at two o'clock reached shabia, or gibeah, the commencement of the scene of destruction. we dismounted, and read some of the lamentations of jeremiah, then continued our journey till three o'clock, when we had the first view of jerusalem. dismounting once again, we recited the usual prayers. hearing that the plague was yet in the city, sir moses deemed it prudent not to enter. we therefore passed the walls and went up the mount of olives, where we pitched our tents on a spot commanding a magnificent view of the holy city and mosque of omar, near the tomb of "huldah" the prophetess. for two hours before reaching jerusalem, the road by which we travelled was stoney and deserted. not a blade of grass or a tree was visible. "most fervently do i pray," sir moses remarked, "that the wilderness of zion may again be like eden, and her desert like the garden of the lord." _friday, june th._--before sir moses was up, the governor of the city came to pay him his respects, and waited till he was ready to receive him, which he did under one of the olive trees, as we had declared ourselves in quarantine. the governor was exceedingly friendly, and offered to accompany sir moses to the jordan, dead sea, and hebron, and to do him any service in his power; he also sent a present of five sheep. all the representatives of the portuguese and german congregations, accompanied by crowds of their members, came up to give a heartfelt welcome to their future champion and his excellent wife, bringing with them numerous presents of choice wines, fruit, and cakes, besides articles of rich embroidery. _saturday, june th._--we recited our prayers under the shade of an olive tree, directly opposite the spot where stood the temple of solomon. our situation commanded a splendid view of every part of the city and the surrounding mountains. our happy moments were unfortunately disturbed by the wailing of the mohammedan mourning women who followed no less than four funerals. in the course of the day all the leading members of the community came to visit us. when sir moses spoke to them on the desirability of procuring work for the poor, the majority of those present expressed themselves in favour of agriculture. in the evening, while sitting in our tent, a jackal stole noiselessly in. sir moses and lady montefiore were a little alarmed at the incident, which recalled to their minds the words of the prophet, "for this our heart is faint, for these things our eyes are dim, because of the mountain of zion, which is desolate, the foxes (jackals) walk upon it" (lamentations v. , ). in the course of conversation with mr young, the english consul, the latter expressed his approval of the jews being employed in agriculture. he advised beginning in a small way, so as not to excite the suspicions of mohhammad ali. mrs young gave lady montefiore some distressing accounts of the poverty of the people, and pointed out the necessity of at once finding them some means of earning a livelihood. money, the consul said, was very scarce in jerusalem; he had lost by every bill he had cashed for travellers. five weeks previously he had sent his servant to beyrout for £ , and he was fearful he had either been robbed of the money, or else had run away with it. _sunday, june th._--more than three hundred visitors came to see sir moses and lady montefiore. the governor also called again to say that he was very anxious they should enter the city, that the people might have an opportunity of showing their esteem for them. sir moses, in reply, said that he and lady montefiore would visit the city on the following wednesday. the governor then arranged that he would come himself with some soldiers to conduct them, that they might run no risk, and begged sir moses would ride his horse. _monday, june th._--we rose early and rode round the walls of the city, and through the valley of jehoshaphat. having descended mount zion, we passed the pool of siloam, and crossing the bridge over the brook kidron, visited all the important tombs and monuments in the valley. we then read our psalms, and returned to our tents for breakfast. again hundreds of visitors arrived, amongst whom were four scotch clergymen, who were making a tour in the holy land to enquire into the state of the jews there; they intended going through poland for the same purpose. the following day, being the anniversary of sir moses and lady montefiore's wedding, they gave a special feast to all their attendants, which prompted the janissaries, guides, and moukaries to sing praises of the devout pilgrims, and invoke heavenly blessings on their benefactors. chapter xxii. . the tomb of david--spread of the plague--mussulman fanaticism--suspicious conduct of the governor of jerusalem--nayani, beth dagon, jaffa, em-khalet, and tantura. _tuesday, june th._--we rode before breakfast through the valley of jehoshaphat, then to the tomb of king david. the keeper of the place produced an order from ibrahim pasha, which prohibited the entrance of europeans to the tomb. we addressed a letter to the governor, informing him that the keeper would not admit us. a short time afterwards the governor arrived. he approved of the conduct of the keeper, but thought, nevertheless, that the pasha's order did not refer to a gentleman who, like sir moses, was the bearer of letters of introduction from the highest authorities in the land, and, leading the way, he invited us all to follow him to the tomb. it was a spacious vaulted chamber, supported in the centre by a column. at the further end we saw a trellised window, on the right of which was an arched folding door. being led to the spot, we beheld through the lattice the tomb, covered with richly embroidered carpets. in the centre was an arabic inscription, "this is the tomb of our lord david," on either side of which were the double triangles known by the name of "the shield of david." on one corner of the tomb hung a rich silk sash and a pistol, the offerings of ibrahim pasha. the governor, addressing sir moses and lady montefiore, said, "i will now leave you to your religious devotions," and then left the place. we recited several psalms, and went away much gratified with the opportunity which we had had of visiting the sacred spot. on our return we visited the cave of jeremiah and the tombs of the kings. in the evening a number of people came up to pass the night on the mount of olives, so as to be ready in the morning to join the procession which had been arranged for our entry into the city. many of our brethren from hebron, including the spiritual heads and representatives of their congregations, came to offer us their congratulations, and to accompany us the next day to the synagogue. in the evening a large number of friends, and students from the colleges, assembled round our tents, to recite the evening prayers in front of the place formerly occupied by solomon's temple. _wednesday, th._--we rose before four o'clock. the governor offered to attend us at daybreak, but sir moses said he would let him know when we were ready. at six o'clock sir moses sent for the governor, who came attended by the representatives of the several congregations, a number of soldiers, and many of his officers and servants. they took coffee, pipes, etc., and after sitting down some time we set out at eight o'clock in procession. sir moses rode a beautiful white arabian horse, which the governor had sent him the day before; lady montefiore rode her own. we entered the city by the gate of the tribes, and passed through most of the streets, which were crowded with men, women, and children, the governor having made it a holiday. we proceeded to the portuguese synagogue, where the governor left us. his officers and men remained with us till we again reached the mount of olives. the synagogue was beautifully decorated, and attended by as many of the congregation as space would permit. special prayers were offered up by the ecclesiastical chief, who invoked the blessings of heaven on the pious pilgrims. at the conclusion of the service we received a hearty welcome to the holy city from all present. we then went to the german synagogue, where a similar service was held, addresses delivered, and prayers offered up for the friends of zion, after which we proceeded to the western wall, and recited there the usual prayers in the presence of a large assembly. having thanked the representatives of the several communities, we repaired to the house of the governor, lady montefiore awaiting our return in the synagogue of the late mr lehren. sir moses then rejoined lady montefiore, and paid a visit to mr and mrs young and some other friends, returning to the mount of olives about four o'clock p.m. the record of this day in his diary concludes with the following words, expressive of the grateful sentiments which filled his heart:-- "the lord god of israel be praised and thanked for permitting our feet to stand a second time within thy gates, o jerusalem, may the city soon be rebuilt, in our days. amen." "i believe," he continues, "the whole population was looking at us, and bestowing blessings on us." _thursday, th._--we were engaged all day in speaking to persons who came with petitions. some of sir moses' friends, fearing the ravages of the plague, informed him of their intention to accompany him to hebron. a man to whom we had spoken, only a few days previously, had since died of the plague, so that their apprehensions of serious danger seemed to be fully justified. sir moses distributed the money he had brought with him from england, and made arrangements for the further distribution of £ , which he promised to send either from beyrout or alexandria. _friday, th._--with feelings of deep regret we left the mount of olives for hebron, and after three hours' journey reached rachel's tomb. seeing that it was greatly out of repair and going fast to ruin, lady montefiore gave directions for an estimate for its restoration to be made. half way to hebron we rested for an hour near a fortress and a great reservoir. our route lay through a mountainous country, little cultivated. on the summit of a mountain at some distance we saw the tombs of nathan the prophet and gad the seer. about an hour's ride from hebron we were met by the representatives of the hebrew community, accompanied by hundreds of their members, many of whom danced and sang psalms to manifest their delight. they preceded us to the place where we pitched our tents, in an olive grove near the town. the vicinity of the town was beautiful, very mountainous, but covered with vines, olives, and pomegranates. we attended the portuguese synagogue, and then returned to our tent. _saturday, th._--early in the morning, the representatives of the community came to accompany us to synagogue, where both sir moses and lady montefiore were received with the highest respect. at the conclusion of the service the same gentlemen accompanied us back to our encampment. whilst at breakfast the governor was announced; he brought with him a present of four sheep. as we kept ourselves in quarantine, and our place of encampment was surrounded by a cordon, sir moses and lady montefiore could not receive him in the tent. after having finished their repast, however, they went out to him, although they did not consider it advisable to accept his present, as he had not paid the pilgrims the attention due to them on their arrival. the governor, feeling that he had not acted as he should have done, offered profound apologies, but blamed the community for not having given him due notice of their arrival. in consideration of his polite excuses, his present was accepted. when he offered his services, sir moses asked whether he could take us to the cave of machpelah, but he could not give a favourable reply. we had visitors the whole day. _sunday, th._--there were assembled in front of our tents no fewer than two hundred people, men, women, and children, including all the representatives of the congregation, together with their wives and children. they presented us with certificates entitling us to free seats in their several synagogues, both portuguese and german. they also requested sir moses and lady montefiore to accept the presidency of their charities and schools. the governor also paid them another visit, as a special mark of respect, repeating his apologies for not having come to meet them, and volunteering his services during our visits to the holy places. after he left, the whole congregation united in prayers for the evening service. the scene was most interesting. numerous presents had again been sent by various members of the community; also a jar of fresh butter and another of honey, by the sheik of the place. after the prayers, the four sheep which the governor had sent were prepared for the repast. the parts appropriated to the descendants of aaron, the high priest, were given to them, the hind quarters were presented to the mussulman and druse attendants and moukaries, and the forequarters to poor jewish families. all present appeared happy. singing, playing, dancing, and performances with sword and gun, afforded amusement to old and young, to druse, mussulman, christian, and jew. _monday, june th._--the governor and sheik having, on the previous day, promised to accompany us to the cave of machpelah, they came this morning before nine o'clock, together with their attendants. after having partaken of coffee and sherbet, with the usual accompaniment of a chibouk, we set out for the tombs of our forefathers, abraham, isaac, and jacob. many members of the hebrew community followed us. on reaching the steps of the mosque, even before we had dismounted, there was a great cry against us entering. we nevertheless ascended the steps, and entered the passage leading to the interior of the mosque. it was filled with people, all screaming and threatening us with sticks. but the situation soon became much more serious. the mussulmans began to beat back those of the jews who had followed us, and the screams were truly frightful. the soldiers of the governor of beyrout and the janissary from mr moore, the english consul, behaved admirably; they struck right and left with all their might, and the entrance gate was soon closed. we remained inside, and following the governor, attempted to enter the mosque, but we were for some time prevented by the cries of the people, which were greatly increased by a dervish, who threw himself before the door, shrieking in a most frightful manner, and calling on the people not to allow us to enter. sir moses, however, drew lady montefiore along past him, and we made good our entrance; but, perceiving that we were in great danger, the mosque being filled with at least five hundred persons, many of whom were armed with sticks, sir moses did not deem it prudent to remain. we therefore immediately passed through the opposite door, and left the mosque by a different gate to the one through which we had entered. the only objects we saw in the passage deserving notice were two large stones in the wall; they were similar to those in the western wall at jerusalem, at least nine yards long and one yard broad. we also saw an iron gate which, we thought, might perhaps lead to the cave, but sir moses felt certain that they were determined we should not enter to see any part of it. the governor appeared in great alarm, and had not the least influence with the people. "to say the truth," sir moses remarked, "i did not see him make any exertions for our safety." he accompanied us to our tents, making many apologies for the unhappy result of our visit; but sir moses would not speak to him, as he (the governor) was bound in honour and duty not to have subjected us to such an insult. we were scarcely in our tents before many people came running to us from the jews' quarter, saying that the mussulmans were beating them most unmercifully, and they were fearful of being murdered. sir moses received letters from the representatives of the community, one of whom had been so severely beaten that he was obliged to write from his bed. several others called who had also been very much ill-used. we feared that perhaps we should also be attacked as soon as it was dark, although sir moses felt no serious apprehension, should such an event take place, as we had seventeen people with us, many of them well armed. nevertheless, as we strongly recommended it, he wrote a letter to the governor of jerusalem, acquainting him with what had occurred, and requesting him to send a few men as a guard. sir moses and lady montefiore then attended both the german and portuguese synagogues, and distributed their benevolent gifts to the men, women, and children in the same way as at safed and tiberias. we then returned to our tents, took our dinner, and afterwards received many visitors. having looked to our arms and said our prayers, we retired to rest, "confiding," sir moses observed, "in the protection of heaven." _tuesday, june th._--our tents and luggage having been placed on our mules, we left the olive ground, followed by the heads of the community and many of our brethren. a few minutes later we were joined by the governor of the town and the sheik, with his officers. they again made many apologies for the occurrences of the previous day, and accompanied us on our road for half-an-hour. the jews also followed us, singing psalms. sir moses entreated them to leave us, which they did, after bestowing thousands of blessings on him and on lady montefiore. in less than a quarter of an hour we met the janissary whom sir moses had sent to the governor of jerusalem. he came at full gallop, and had several horsemen with him. he brought sir moses an answer from the governor, who had sent him twenty brave fellows, all well mounted and armed. we waited a few moments till they all came up. they were commanded by an agha, who promised to defend us with his blood and that of his men. sir moses then requested our co-religionists to return to the town, giving them numerous tokens of his love for the holy city of abraham "the beloved." (this latter attribute the mussulmans always attach to the name of abraham.) they departed with many blessings for their devoted friends and protectors. the soldiers, janissaries, moukaries, and our own attendants continued feasting and firing their muskets the whole night, and making so desperate a noise as to render sleep impossible. sir moses afterwards learned that the governor of hebron had already commenced showing his authority, much to the advantage of the jews. having heard that one of them had been ill-treated by a mussulman, the governor immediately caused the offender to be severely punished in his presence as a caution to the mussulmans against again committing a similar offence. _wednesday, june th._--we left our encampment at seven, reaching the tombs of nathan the prophet and gad the seer at half-past nine. our guards amused us on the way with a complete sham fight with lance, sabre, musket, and pistol, advancing and retreating at full gallop. they were all capital horsemen, and it was a most pleasing and lively sight. we read our prayers at the tombs, which are situated near the village of halhool. our road lay between the mountains, a continuous desert, until we reached the plain. sir moses there discharged our escort, made presents to the agha and every one of his soldiers, and sent a letter of thanks to the governor of jerusalem, accompanied by a valuable telescope. we encamped for the night near the village of zaccariah, and started again the next morning at six. _thursday, th._--we proceeded _viâ_ nayani to beth dagon, near ashdod, and reached jaffa the next day. we encamped on the sands close to the sea. the british and russian consuls soon after called, bringing with them the sad intelligence that the plague was in the town and neighbourhood. the superintendent of the quarantine then came to see sir moses, and gave him a certificate which, we thought, would enable us to proceed to beyrout without performing quarantine. the cadi and the governor of the town also called to pay their respects. the latter, being the brother of the governor of jerusalem, was particularly attentive, and sent presents of sheep and various kinds of fruit. we left jaffa on sunday, reached the village of emkhalet in the evening, and encamped in a large and beautiful plain near mount carmel. the next day we started at two o'clock in the morning, and at seven arrived at cæsarea, where once stood the proud city of herod. it must have been a place of great magnificence, to judge from the splendid remains of the granite columns; there is also every appearance of its having had a fine harbour, most beautifully situated. it is now, with the exception of some portions of the wall which formerly surrounded the city, little more than an immense pile of ruins. we had a very pleasant ride nearly the whole way, on the sands close to the sea. we left emkhalet early in the morning. it was very dark, and we ran great risk of serious accident, having to pass many deep holes, like wells, in which the corn is laid up for the year. these were at that time being filled in, so that they were left uncovered. we breakfasted and rested till twelve, when we again set forward and encamped in the evening at tantura, the ancient city of dor, of which we read in the first book of kings that it was inhabited by the son-in-law of king solomon. we left our tents a few minutes after one o'clock. we had a pleasant ride, great part of the way through a beautiful plain between mount carmel and the sea. we passed not far from some splendid ruins of a castle and town. on proceeding to the spot, we found it to be "athlit," some of the arabs called it "atlik," the castellum perigrinorum frequently mentioned by the crusaders. there are still many arches and vaults to be seen, as well as some granite pillars. the remains of a church also attract the traveller's attention; by the style of its architecture it is supposed to be of christian origin. there are some stones in the walls round the building as large as, and similar to, those in the western wall at jerusalem. chapter xxiii. . encampment near mount carmel--state of the country--child marriages in the portuguese community at haifa--arrival in beyrout. at p.m. we reached the quarantine cordon at the foot of mount carmel, a narrow pass between the sea and the mountain, about two miles from haifa, where we had intended to rest, fully relying on our certificate from the superintendent of the quarantine at jaffa. having always kept ourselves in quarantine since we left beyrout, and lodged in our own tents, avoiding all villages, we expected to have been allowed to pass without any detention, but to our great mortification the officer in command informed sir moses that, having come to his cordon, he and his party must perform quarantine, but that he might send a messenger to the governor of beyrout, under whose orders he acted. this sir moses at once did, and having addressed an arabic letter to him, he charged one of the soldiers of his suite to take it to the governor with all possible speed. in the meanwhile, the superintendent suggested that we should have all our things dipped twice into the sea, once on that day, and after seven days a second time. some members of the hebrew community came to us and promised to bring us all the provisions we might require during our stay in quarantine, and we became reconciled to our detention. mr young, the british consul in jerusalem, when forwarding to sir moses his letters from england, took the opportunity of adding some information respecting the state of the holy city, which was far from satisfactory. he also informed sir moses that several of his friends had been attacked by serious illness. mr kilby, of beyrout, sent a report, in which he said that war was inevitable, that all the country was in a disturbed state and the roads infested with robbers. several assassinations had taken place even at beyrout, and he recommended us to apply to the governor of acre for an escort. "last week," he wrote, "two jews left beyrout with three hundred dollars for hebron, which had been sent from amsterdam for the congregations; they were stopped near kasmia, robbed of the money and dreadfully beaten, one of them being shot in the struggle. although severely injured, the wounded man contrived to reach sidon, but died there." "how wonderful are the ways of heaven!" observed sir moses. "the second night after we left beyrout we thought ourselves most unfortunate in being compelled to sleep in the open air, as we were too fatigued to reach our tents and luggage, which were already at kasmia. had we continued our journey and succeeded in reaching that place, we should in all probability have shared the same fate as the other two jews." a messenger had also been robbed, and had lost several of his fingers by a sword cut. signor m. di a. finzi, the british consular agent at st jean d'acre, came to present his respects to sir moses, and brought some valuable information respecting agriculture in the environs of tiberias and safed. this gentleman had acted most benevolently towards the unfortunate people who had been attacked by druses. the british consul of haifa also came to see sir moses, and reported that ibrahim pasha had advanced on aleppo. it was rumoured that there had been some fighting, and all the troops in quarantine had received orders to leave the next day and join ibrahim pasha. all the country was in a most disturbed state, and the jews of safed were so much alarmed, that they fled from their homes and had reached haifa in a very distressed condition. the people at safed had received information that the druses were coming to pillage the place. the governor of the town had left it with the few soldiers he had under his command. every one appeared very uneasy at the unprotected state of the country, as a hundred men from the mountains could, with the greatest facility, have plundered every town and village in palestine. on the previous evening the governor of acre had brought his thirty-five wives to the carmellite convent as a place of security; he remained there overnight and left in the morning. the convent was just above the spot where the quarantine ground was situated. _thursday, th june._--even the discomforts of a detention in quarantine were sometimes varied by pleasing incidents, such as making the acquaintance of distinguished travellers. in this case we had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with several eminent men, including the rev. dr alex. keith and dr black, who happened to be performing their quarantine in the same locality. these gentlemen called on sir moses, and he returned their visit the next day. the time passed so agreeably to all that these visits were frequently renewed. the superior of the convent on mount carmel addressed a very polite letter to sir moses, regretting that our being in quarantine prevented his having the pleasure of receiving us in his convent, but making an offer of his services, and sending a present of the best wine of mount lebanon. _saturday, june th._--the day was spent in repose, with prayers and reading the sacred scriptures. being so close to mount carmel, our thoughts naturally turned to the prophet elijah; and in addition to the usual sabbath prayers, sir moses read to us the th chapter of st kings in a most solemn manner, and with such fervour that every one present was deeply affected. in the course of the day the messenger returned, bringing the following reply to sir moses' letter:--"the governor cannot allow a shorter quarantine than seven days." in the evening, after the conclusion of sabbath, letters from mr kilbee were opened, containing the correspondence from england. there had been disturbances in some of the manufacturing towns at home and in paris; the melbourne ministry had resigned, but had again accepted office. this was all the news we received from england, but mr kilbee added unsatisfactory intelligence from beyrout. he wrote that the druses had plundered damascus, and the whole country was in a state little short of rebellion, and that poor lady hester stanhope had died on the night of the st inst., having been without medical aid or the attendance of any european. mr moore, the british consul, and the rev. mr thomson had been to her house on the rd, and they buried her the same night by moonlight. the accounts which the messenger brought from beyrout of the disturbed state of the country induced some of our men to beg sir moses to discharge them, as they were fearful of continuing the journey, and all appeared much alarmed. both sir moses and lady montefiore were undecided by which way they should proceed to alexandria, as they were unwilling to go by sea, the boats from haifa to alexandria being very small; nor did they wish to risk an attack of the druses by going to beyrout. _sunday, june th._--we heard heavy firing at acre, about two hours' ride from here, which caused some uneasiness; but at ten o'clock the guardians informed us that ibrahim pasha had defeated the sultan's army near aleppo, and had taken many prisoners. the firing of cannon at acre was in celebration of the victory. sir moses feared it was but a proof of hostilities having actually commenced. many gifts arrived daily from the agha of the place, from the superior of the convent, and from several sheiks in the neighbourhood; and as sir moses invariably returned handsome presents to these parties, as well as to their servants, it is not surprising that, in every town and village which they visited, the gifts they received were so numerous. the chief of the quarantine visited us with the physician, and requested me to feel the pulses of every one of our party, including sir moses and lady montefiore, and to declare on my honour whether they were in good health. they evidently mistook me for a doctor of medicine, and i gladly complied with their request. i felt the pulse of everyone, and reported it to be in a most satisfactory state. during this examination sir moses was in a state of great uneasiness, as the least indisposition would have subjected him and the rest of the party to an addition of forty days extra quarantine at the least, which he prayed heaven to avert, as he feared it would make us all seriously ill. the same evening drs keith and black came to our tents and acquainted us with the news they had just received from haifa. the road to beyrout by the sea shore was infested with thieves, and the road they had intended to take, through nablous, was quite impassable; they had therefore determined to proceed by sea, and intended leaving at six o'clock the next morning. sir moses, however, relying on the almighty's protection, decided to go by land with mr finzi, the english consular agent at acre, who had offered to accompany us. _monday, july st._--"we left with a grateful heart," writes sir moses, "the place of our encampment in the morning, and were accompanied by the superintendent of the quarantine, the british consul at haifa, and signor finzi, who rode with us as far as the synagogue in haifa. they wished to wait for us there, and then accompany us to acre, but i thanked them for their intentions and begged them not to do so; they therefore took leave of us with many good wishes." we entered the synagogue, which was but a small and mean looking room, and after divine service sir moses and lady montefiore distributed gifts to the poor to the same amount he had given in the other towns. he expressed his displeasure to the portuguese community for allowing marriages among such very young people to take place, and begged them to follow the example of their co-religionists in jerusalem, who allowed no such early marriages as those which must have taken place in haifa. of the few german jewish families whom he saw there he spoke in terms which showed his great satisfaction with them. _tuesday, july nd._--we set off this morning at two. our road for three hours lay through a well cultivated plain, but after that we had to cross a steep and rugged mountain. at seven o'clock we stopped in a beautifully situated spot to rest. we sat down under a fine tree in a garden which commanded an extensive sea view, but we were informed that snakes had been seen in the garden, so we started again at p.m. our road led over a mountain pass, one of the most difficult, sir moses said, he had ever seen. the pass ran many hundred feet above the sea and close to the edge of a precipice nearly all the way. on descending into the plain we found it well cultivated, being almost covered with white mulberry trees. we noticed several women engaged in stripping them of their foliage, whilst others were winding the silk off the cocoons. at three o'clock we reached the fountain, "ain el gaml," or "sebeel iskandrooni," and from there to "ain el medfooni;" the road was again very rocky and in some parts precipitous. lady montefiore being an excellent rider, galloped along rather heedlessly, and her horse rushed right into the sea. apprehending danger, i galloped after and succeeded in overtaking her, and in seizing the bridle of her horse. in doing so my own horse stumbled and threw me rather heavily, but fortunately the fall was not attended by any serious consequences. the waters of the fountain just named bear a great reputation among the natives in that neighbourhood for their healing qualities, and numerous invalids may always be found there, who come for the cure of their various ailments. at six we encamped near the famous fountain known by the name of "râs el-'ain," where the ruins of its great aqueduct leading to "el ma'-shûk" (an isolated hill in the plain) and the ancient tyre were still to be seen. this fountain and those previously named were considered by several writers of the middle ages to be identical with those alluded to by king solomon in the song of songs (iv. ): "a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from lebanon." _july rd._--we rose about one o'clock, set off at three, and reached "nahr el kasimiyah" at five. when we had crossed the river of that name, we saw a wolf under some rocks, about thirty yards distant. one of our guards fired immediately, but only succeeded in frightening it, and it ran away. the shock of the musket threw the man off his horse! "so much for guards!" exclaimed sir moses. "this was one of the three men we took from acre, on account of the dangerous condition which the roads were reported to be in." afterwards we saw four beautiful young deer bounding along the sea shore, and the british consular agent hurried on in the hope of getting a shot at them; but he was disappointed, much to the satisfaction of the soldier who had been so unsuccessful in attempting to kill the wolf. he slyly observed that he was pleased to find some one equally clever in the party; nevertheless, he continued, "our will was good, even if we failed in the deed." we rested at "el kantare." during the day we came across quantities of wheat that was being cut and carried, and observed many men in the fields, but they were all druses. they were the only able-bodied men we had seen engaged in agriculture during the whole of our tour. the crops were everywhere most abundant, and of excellent quality. indian corn and tobacco covered much land, and had likewise a most promising appearance. sir moses now sent a messenger to mr kilbee, of beyrout, requesting him to engage a house for us. we started at four, and reached bassatin towards the evening, where we encamped for the night. on the road we met three men, who were recognised as belonging to the sect of the metouáli by the peculiar turbans which they wore. our guides begged them to let us have a little water to drink, but this they refused to do. as it is a most unusual thing in the east not to allow a traveller to quench his thirst, they were ultimately compelled to hand us their jars of water, though not before some unpleasant arguments as to their right of giving or withholding had taken place. our people, having slaked their thirst, returned the jars to the metouális, who took them, and immediately dashed them against the stones, where they were shattered to pieces. the strangers assigned as their excuse for doing so, that their religion forbade their using any vessel after it had been touched by a person of a different creed. _july th._--we rose soon after midnight, and started at two o'clock. our road lay for some distance along the sands, close to the sea, and over rocks, from which we obtained fine views of the distant mountains. we reached "chadi" at eight, and reposed there till p.m., when we again set forward, and proceeded as far as "bir khassan," a small tavern on the road side. here we recited a prayer of thanks for our safe return. a number of our brethren came to meet us, and in their company we continued our journey to beyrout, which place we reached at eight o'clock. the afternoon's ride had been extremely beautiful, our route taking us through what seemed a succession of gardens. sir moses, however, felt very weak, and thought he could not have endured another day's journey. we found a house, which had formerly been inhabited by the rev. mr thomson, comfortably prepared for us. _friday, july th._--_beyrout._--sir moses received a visit from the governor of the town, who said he was happy to see us safely returned, as he had been uneasy on our account. "indeed," he observed, "you displayed more courage than prudence in attempting such a journey under existing circumstances, and i am delighted to think you met with so little inconvenience." he also gave us the official account he had received of the victory. he said , prisoners had been captured, besides pieces of cannon, and , stands of arms, the killed and wounded on both sides being . the victory had been most decisive, and the whole of the turkish army was annihilated. "before this battle," the governor continued, "the country was in a state little short of open rebellion. there being no troops left to keep the druses in check, they came down from the mountains, and pillaged the towns at their pleasure. many of the inhabitants of damascus and safed fled to beyrout and acre for refuge." the residence which sir moses and lady montefiore occupied was so pleasant, that it contributed greatly towards their recovery from the fatigue and excitement of the journey. the house stood very high, in the midst of a beautiful garden. it was about three quarters of an hour's ride from the town, and commanded beautiful views of the sea, the adjacent country, and the mountains of lebanon. the gardens in the neighbourhood were mostly filled with mulberry trees (white) for the cultivation of silk-worms, and, at a short distance, we noticed several sand hills. these hills move progressively, and destroy the country in their course by burning the land and trees. of many fig trees only the tops remain visible. in the evening several visitors belonging to the hebrew community arrived, and joined in divine service for the sabbath. _july th._--the austrian steamer from jaffa arrived, bringing reports that russia had chartered transports to convey , troops from odessa to constantinople. _july th._--many visitors came to offer their congratulations on our safe return from the journey; among others, mr moore, the british consul, who told us that english, french, and austrian steamers were expected with further information respecting the political state of egypt, turkey, and syria. chapter xxiv. . on board the _acheron_--sir moses' plans on behalf of the jews in palestine--interview with boghoz bey--proposed joint stock banks in the east. _monday, july th._--we sent the greater part of our luggage on board the _acheron_, under the command of captain kennedy, and prepared to start at a moment's notice. sir moses occupied himself with writing letters to mr young, the british consul at jerusalem, to whom he sent money for distribution among the indigent christians of the holy city, as well as for their burial ground. to mr joseph amsaleg he sent £ for the poor of the hebrew communities, and to the rev. mr thomson he sent a donation for the christian poor of beyrout, as well as a souvenir for himself, in consideration of the accommodation afforded to sir moses in his house. to the poor of safed he gave, through r. moses schmerling, , piastres, and to those of hebron he gave, through nissan drucker, , piastres, being the amount he had promised for these two holy cities. the following day sir moses concluded his arrangements with the representatives of the hebrew community in beyrout, respecting the distribution of his gifts for their synagogue and poor. this being accomplished, his work for the day was over. "i am now anxious," said sir moses, "to have an interview with the pasha at alexandria, for the purpose of claiming of his highness security for the persons and property of the jews in palestine, and particularly for those at safed and tiberias where they are continually exposed to insult, robbery, and murder. i have also several other requests to make of him, viz., that he will order the walls of tiberias to be repaired; that he will admit the evidence of jews in cases brought before the judges or governors of the land; that he will permit land and villages to be rented on a lease of fifty years, free from all taxes or claims of governors, the rent to be paid at alexandria; that he will allow me to send people to assist and instruct the jews in a better mode of cultivating land, the olive, the vine, cotton, and mulberries, as well as the breeding of sheep; finally, that he will give me a firman to open banks in beyrout, jaffa, jerusalem, and cairo. i sincerely pray," he continued, "that my journey to the holy land may prove beneficial to the jews; not only to those who are already there, but to many others who may come to settle in the holy cities, either from love for the land of promise, or from a desire to quit countries where persecution prevents their living in peace. i shall then be amply repaid for the fatigue and anxiety of my journey." _july th._--sir moses had been extremely unwell on tuesday and confined to his room, but feeling a little better the next morning, he gave orders for our immediate departure, as the english consul had informed us of the arrival of the indian mail packet, adding that we must embark at once, as the boat would get under weigh about noon. having taken leave of all our friends, we proceeded to the wharf, where captain kennedy's boat took us on board the _acheron_. we were under weigh at seven o'clock. the weather was extremely sultry, and a terrible swell, with a head wind, contributed greatly to the discomfort of all on board. _july th._--at five o'clock in the morning we had a sight of land off rosetta, and at half-past nine we passed the egyptian fleet; fourteen ships under full sail, standing to the east, about twelve miles from alexandria. they made a very imposing appearance. all had new sails; they kept an equal distance ship from ship, a cable and a half's length apart ( feet), and formed an excellent line. the second ship, with a flag at the foremast, was the vice-admiral's. the admiral was in the centre of the line, which consisted of eleven line of battleships with three tiers of guns, two large frigates, and one large corvette. the rear-admiral's flag was at the mizzen of the last ship. we anchored safely in the harbour of alexandria at a.m. the men-of-war in the harbour were all dressed with flags, and over the houses of the consuls floated the flags of their several nations. the captain took us on shore in his boat, and at one o'clock we reached the hotel. the first news we learned on our arrival was that the sultan was dead, and that his son and successor had accorded the dominion of egypt to mohhammad ali and his successors. sir moses called on colonel campbell, but he had to wait some time before seeing him, as the colonel was with the pasha. the colonel willingly consented to introduce sir moses to boghoz bey, and fixed four o'clock for the purpose. colonel campbell said he would call for sir moses, and bring one of his horses for him. the colonel was punctual, and we rode together to the residence of boghoz bey. sir moses gave him his three requests in writing, and he promised to lay them before mohhammad ali and explain them to him. the bey appeared well inclined to forward his requests, and offered to present him to the pasha either the same evening or the next morning. sir moses fixed nine o'clock the next day, although colonel campbell wished it to be the same evening, sir moses was, however, desirous that the pasha should have time to consider and talk over the matter with his minister before the interview, and it being near sabbath, he knew not how to get there. _july th._--we rose at five in the morning; recited the sabbath morning prayers. about half-past seven we proceeded to the pasha's palace. the sardinian consul kindly lent sir moses his sedan chair, the only one to be found in egypt at that time. we could not ride in a carriage on account of the sabbath. sir moses was in full uniform, and wore his sheriff's chain. the palace was situated about half-an-hour's distance from the hotel de l'europe, and commanded an extensive view of both harbours, as well as the outer roads. the pasha's fleet was in full sail nearly opposite to his window. sir moses gives the following account of his interview with the pasha:-- "i had to wait," he writes, "for colonel campbell in one of the attendance rooms, being before the time i had appointed to meet him; he came very punctually at nine o'clock. we were immediately admitted to the presence of mohhammad ali. he received me standing, then taking his seat on the divan, he motioned me to a seat on his right hand, dr loewe next to me, and colonel campbell on the left of the pasha. his highness gave me a very gracious reception, and spoke on each of my requests. referring to the one for renting land of him in palestine, he said he had no land there, but any contract i might make with the mussulmans should have his approval, and he would send it to constantinople for confirmation. "on repeating that i had been led to believe that his highness possessed land there, from information i had received when in the country, he replied that if i could point out the parts belonging to him, i could have them. "he said he would be glad to see the land better cultivated, and i might send proper persons with agricultural implements. "i then spoke to him on the subject of the jews being admitted as witnesses at safed, tiberias, and hebron, in the same manner as in jerusalem. he first said that on account of their religion they could not be permitted to give evidence against mussulmans, but on my again repeating that they were so permitted in jerusalem, he replied that jews and christians should be treated alike, and there should be no difference between them. "i then spoke to him as to the rebuilding of the wall round the town of tiberias, which had been destroyed by the earthquake. i said there were plenty of stones on the spot, and people willing to do the work free of expense, as the inhabitants were at present so much exposed to robbers. at first he misunderstood me, and asked which wall it was that the jews wished to repair. i explained to him that both mussulmans and jews were equally anxious that the city wall should be repaired: both had written and spoken to me on the subject whilst i was at tiberias, begging me to represent to him the present insecure state of the city; all that was required was his order to have the work done. he said he would order a report to be made immediately to him, and the wall repaired. "i told him that in the cultivation of land, security was necessary for both land and person, and i hoped they would have it. this he also promised. "i then spoke of establishing joint stock banks with a capital of £ , , sterling, with power to increase it, if necessary. his eyes sparkled at this; he appeared delighted, and assured me the bank should have his protection, and he should be happy to see it established. "i mentioned the branches: alexandria, beyrout, damascus, jaffa, jerusalem, and cairo. "i said i was happy to see him looking so well; he did not appear to me older than when i had the honour of being presented to him at cairo in . this is really the fact. i then congratulated him on the fine appearance of his fleet, which i had passed yesterday. he replied, 'at present it is very small.' "i presented him with a bronze medal of our most gracious queen, struck by the city of london to commemorate her majesty's visit to the guildhall on the th of november . he appeared pleased, examined it attentively on both sides, asked me if it was a good likeness of the queen, then thanked me for it. i took leave, and returned to the hotel the same way i came, being followed the whole way by crowds of curious people. "boghoz bey, the pasha's minister of commerce, had read over and explained my requests to him on, the previous evening, that he might be fully aware of the object of my visit to him. being anxious to have mohhammad ali's answers in writing, which he said boghoz bey should give me, as he had been present at our interview, i called on the bey, but he had not returned from the palace. "between four and five i walked there with dr loewe. boghoz bey received me most politely, and said as i had not put my signature to the written requests, he could not give me an answer in writing, but he hoped i was perfectly satisfied with what mohhammad ali had promised me this morning. he added that as soon as i had made my several requests in writing, and signed them, he would write me the answer, agreeably with the pasha's words, as he had accorded me all i required. "i thanked him, and immediately after the conclusion of sabbath i wrote, and sent the several requests to boghoz bey, properly signed in the form of letters." numbers of visitors came to pay their respects to sir moses and lady montefiore, and offered congratulations on their safe return from palestine. mr waghorn (the originator of the short overland route between england and india), read to sir moses the letters he had just addressed to lord palmerston, mr hobhouse, and the _times_ newspaper on the subject. the heat was intense, and we were so terribly persecuted by insects that the pleasure of our interesting discussions was greatly marred. sir moses indeed observed that he could not live in egypt, even to be king of the land. _sunday, july th._--a deputation from the hebrew community, headed by their ecclesiastical chief, and the representatives of their schools and charitable institutions, waited on sir moses to report on the state of their synagogues, &c. sir moses, with his usual liberality, contributed towards the funds of all their charities. he then requested me to wait on boghoz bey to receive the letter which the minister had promised him. accompanied by lady montefiore, sir moses afterwards paid some visits, and took leave of all who had called on them; and, this being accomplished, they proceeded to the harbour, where a boat belonging to the pasha was waiting to take them on board the _acheron_. the peculiar phraseology of the conversation i held with boghoz bey, partly in arabic and partly in turkish, made it desirable to give sir moses, on my return, an exact translation of it in writing, but it may be briefly related as follows. after the usual exchange of compliments, i endeavoured to obtain a definite answer to the letter addressed by sir moses to the pasha, but the bey did not care to express himself on any other subject than that of the proposed bank, and the elaborate manner in which he sought to induce sir moses to establish the bank without delay, the enticing promises of protection, patronage, and personal profit which he held out, left no room for doubt as to the interest he took in the scheme. i, on my part, enumerated in detail all the points to which sir moses attached so much importance, and the concessions which he asked in favour of religious toleration, justice, and the practice of agriculture and the establishment of colonies. upon my pressing for an early reply, the bey again endeavoured to gain time, and for that purpose changed the subject by opening a religious discussion, taking for his theme the interpretation of the prophet's words, "and the eternal shall be king over all the earth; on that day there shall be one lord, and his name one." he seemed to be under the impression that this would be an earthly king. i soon succeeded in allaying his fears, and convincing him that the words of the prophet zachariah referred to the king of kings, the almighty in heaven. eventually he fixed ten o'clock as the time for receiving my reply, and after a repetition of the customary eastern complimentary phrases i withdrew. it had struck me that the strange question the minister had put to me regarding the expectation of having one king over all the world, had been brought to his mind by the promoters of the colony which he told me intended to settle in syria. possibly they might have been informed of sir moses' plans, and made some remarks which had come to the ears of the minister. i therefore deemed it right to reassure him on the subject, so that no one should for a moment be led to believe that sir moses had any other object in view than that distinctly stated in his letter to the pasha. i went once more to boghoz bey, but not finding him at home, proceeded at once to the palace. on my arrival there, i went to the secretary's hall and wrote a few lines, stating that i had come to see his excellency boghoz bey for the promised reply, intending to send it in to him, notwithstanding his being with the pasha. as i was in the act of handing the note to one of the attendants, the minister came out saying, "come, my friend, immediately with me to his highness." after having made my first and second bow, boghoz bey said to the pasha, "this is the very person," alluding probably to the subject of their recent conversation. the pasha smiled. artim bey then said, "you will hear word for word just as i said to you yesterday." the pasha--"i received the letter from sir moses just this very moment, that is, the official letter, and i shall send him two letters in reply, one which will reach him when he will be performing quarantine in malta; acknowledging the receipt of his letter, and informing him that i will take steps to ascertain all particulars respecting the land he wishes to take on lease; but with regard to the protection of the people, the admission of evidence given by jewish witnesses, and the repair of the wall of tiberias, i shall immediately give orders. the latter shall be done, whether the stones and materials are to be found there or not, whether people will come forward willing to work or not; all will be done. i shall also write to sir moses in the same letter respecting the establishment of banks; all will be satisfactory. the second letter, in which all particulars respecting the contract, and the pointing out of land which belongs to me, or which i shall have to take for sir moses from others, he will receive as soon as we shall have obtained all the required information. be sure of all i have told you." i thereupon said: "but perhaps his highness would be so gracious as to give me even these few words in writing." upon this both boghoz bey and artim bey at once began: "my dear l., yesterday was your sabbath and to-day is ours; i know you are strict in the observance of your religious tenets, therefore we beg you will not insist on our writing." the pasha smiled, so did all present. boghoz bey made several observations to the pasha respecting our conversation of yesterday. having expressed my thanks to the pasha, in the name of sir moses, i withdrew from his presence. at p.m. the _acheron_ left the harbour. our bill of health from alexandria stated, "with regard to the health of the place, occasional cases of plague occur in this town." this was signed by john wingfield larking, her britannic majesty's consul. we were naturally all glad to quit the place. chapter xxv. . arrival at malta--home again--boghoz bey returns no answer--touching appeal from the persecuted jews of damascus and rhodes--revival of the old calumny about killing christians to put their blood in passover cakes. _july th._--about ten o'clock at night we entered the quarantine harbour at malta, where we were ordered to remain till august th. to be confined for twenty days, during the hot summer months, with three hundred pilgrims, at fort manoel, was already a cause of great discomfort to sir moses and lady montefiore, but the circumstances were here made especially painful to them by the loss of a faithful servant, whose death occurred during their stay in the lazaretto. in addition to this they received news that the turkish fleet had been delivered up to mohhammad ali, in alexandria, by kapoudan pasha; that the sultan was dead, and , russian troops had arrived at constantinople. this change in the political horizon frustrated almost all sir moses and lady montefiore's hopes of seeing their schemes for the amelioration of the condition of syria realised. there was no chance now of receiving letters from mohhammad ali. _august th._--the captain of the lazaretto was there before five o'clock in the morning to give us _pratique_. sir moses and lady montefiore went to the synagogue, presented some ornaments for the ark, and various gifts to the officers. they also called on the governor, and after paying visits to sir hector grey and their many other friends, went on board our steamer the _lycurgus_. _august th._--about twelve o'clock the steamer moved out of the harbour, and we all bade farewell to the island. on saturday we cast anchor in the roads of leghorn. when leaving that place, sir moses remained looking at the city as long as it continued in sight. "heaven only knows," he said, "whether i have seen the place of my birth for the last time; the state of my health and my age would lead me to believe that i can scarcely hope to visit it again. may peace, happiness, and prosperity attend my relatives and all its other inhabitants!" _august th._--at marseilles, sir moses visited the gas-works, and expressed great pleasure at seeing the new gas holder and coal shed nearly finished. in the evening he invited all the gentlemen connected with the imperial continental gas association to take tea with him. _august th._--we left marseilles and proceeded _viâ_ aix, avignon, valence, and lyons to châlons. here we had an instance of the great attention which sir moses invariably paid to everything he saw. having noticed a man lighting the street lamps without the aid of a ladder, he sent for the man to come to our hotel, desiring him to bring with him the long stick he had used in lighting the lamps. the man came and showed it to him; it had a small lantern near the top, and was furnished with a hook. in explaining its use the man pointed out that the burners had no taps but valves, which were raised or lowered by the hook. "it appears to me," said sir moses, "a very simple and neat contrivance, a saving of time, and consequently expense, both in lighting and extinguishing the flame." he requested me to make an exact drawing of the stick, with the lantern and hook attached to it, and before leaving the hotel, made the man promise to bring him one of the burners to look at. _thursday, august nd._--we reached paris. baron anselm de rothschild, who had been with the king at eu, told sir moses that the pasha had refused to give up the turkish fleet, and the king would not compel him. sir moses called on mr bulwer, who informed him that the king would probably be in paris in five or six days, and wished sir moses to remain there, so as to be presented to him. mr bulwer also promised to take him to an evening party, to be given on september rd by marshal soult. but sir moses was longing to return to england, and would not prolong his stay. _august th._--we left the french capital for beauvais, where we remained over sabbath. on sunday we proceeded to boulogne, and on thursday, september th, we arrived safely at dover. sir moses and lady montefiore continued their journey on the same day to ramsgate, where they arrived in time to be present at the evening service in their synagogue, and to offer up fervent thanks to the most high for their safe return after so long an absence and so dangerous an excursion. the next day they left ramsgate for richmond, where they were received with most tender affection by their mother, sisters, and brothers, and every member of their family. on their return their correspondence with the east increased rapidly, and engaged much of their attention. messengers frequently arrived from jerusalem to entreat them to do what they possibly could to improve the condition of the jews there. both sir moses and lady montefiore took great pleasure in relieving, as far as in their power, every deserving case. at the end of december sir moses thought he might, without impropriety, remind his excellency boghoz bey, minister of finance in egypt, of the promise the viceroy had made him, when he was at alexandria, respecting the purchase of land in syria, and the establishment of banks there and in egypt. he addressed a letter to boghoz bey, recapitulating all the particulars which he had verbally explained to him and the pasha. weeks and months passed, and no reply came from egypt. sir moses meanwhile occupied himself with other subjects, thinking that perhaps another and more favourable opportunity might present itself for bringing the matter forward again. his duties in connection with his financial companies took up his time till about the month of march, when the report of an outrage in the east roused sorrow and indignation in the heart of every upright man. in a letter from the elders of the hebrew community in constantinople, addressed to messrs de rothschild in london, dated march the th, , we read:-- "independently of the tie which so strongly binds together the whole jewish community, of which you, gentlemen, are distinguished ornaments, having always been prominent in assisting our distressed brethren, whose appeals to you are not infrequent, your hearts cannot but be greatly moved to sympathise with two jewish communities (viz., that of damascus, under the egyptian jurisdiction, and that of rhodes, one of the ottoman states) oppressed by the tyrannies of the pashas who govern them. "these persecutions originated in calumnies, which the oppressors themselves have invented, and which have been long rankling in their hearts, to the prejudice of the jewish community. our brethren are accused of being accomplices in murder, in order to make their passover cakes with the blood of the murdered men--a thing in itself incredible, as being forbidden in our holy religion. this report has, however, found credence with the governing pashas of damascus and rhodes, and they have oppressed and incarcerated not only several old men and rabbins, but even a number of children, putting them to tortures, of which it makes men shudder to hear. such is the afflicting picture drawn in the letters of our persecuted brethren, of which, with deep regret, we hand you copies. "the community now addressing you, although implored by the sufferers to put an end to these persecutions, and to prevent, if possible, their recurrence, is deeply grieved to find itself incapacitated from affording any relief, in consequence of being subject to a government not on friendly terms with the pasha of egypt. "there remain, therefore, no means of salvation for the oppressed, except an appeal to your innate goodness and pity. we entreat you to interpose your valuable mediation, in such manner and with such persons as you may deem most desirable, for the safety of our unhappy brethren languishing in chains and in prison, so as to obtain, from the pasha of egypt, the liberation of the jews of damascus, and a compensation, not only from the governing pasha of damascus, commensurate with the excesses committed by him, but also from the consular agents at rhodes, who have oppressed persons not subject to them. "we, the rabbins and elders of this place, impressed with the urgency of the case, and moved by compassion for our brethren, and further induced by the report which is current throughout the world, of the generous and philanthropic sentiments which animate you and fill your hearts, ever open to the miseries of the oppressed, feel persuaded that you will exert yourselves to do all you possibly can, in these distressing circumstances. "(signed) i. camondo. salamon qm. mco. fua. samuel de n. treves. "the jews of damascus, addressing messrs abram conorte and aaron cohen, elders of the congregation at constantinople, after expressing their wishes for their health, say as follows:-- "to our deep regret, we address you these few lines to inform you of the continued state of misery in which our brethren, inhabitants of damascus, still remain, as communicated to you in my letter of the th of adar (february), forwarded to you by the steam-packet. we had hoped to advise you in this letter that the circumstances of the murder, respecting which the jewish community were calumniated, had been ascertained, but in this hope we have been sadly disappointed. we will now, therefore, repeat everything in detail, and it is this:-- "on wednesday, the st day of the month of adar (february) there disappeared from damascus a priest, who with his servant had dwelt for forty years in the city. he exercised the profession of physician, and visited the houses of catholics, jews, and armenians, for the purpose of vaccination. "the day following, viz., thursday, there came people into the jewish quarter to look for him, saying they had seen both him and his servant in that quarter on the previous day. in order to put into execution their conspiracy they seized a jewish barber, telling him that he must know all about the matter, and took him to the governor, who on hearing the accusation, immediately ordered him to receive five hundred stripes. he was also subjected to other cruelties. during the intervals between these inflictions he was urged to accuse all the jews as accomplices, and he, thinking by this means to relieve himself, accused messrs david, isaac, and aaron harari, joseph legnado, moses abulafia, moses becar juda, and joseph harari, as accomplices, who had offered him three hundred piastres to murder the above mentioned priest, inasmuch as the passover holidays were approaching, and they required blood for their cakes. he said that he did not, however, give ear to their instigations, and did not know what had happened to the priest and his servant. upon this the pasha caused the persons named to be arrested as instigators, and punished with blows and other torments of the most cruel nature; but as they were innocent they could not confirm as true that which was a calumny, and therefore, in contradiction, they asserted their innocence, appealing to the sacred writings, which strictly prohibit the jews from feeding upon _any_ blood, much less that of a fellow-creature, a thing totally repugnant to nature. nevertheless they were imprisoned with chains round their necks, and had daily inflicted on them the most severe beatings and cruelties, and were compelled to stand upright without food of any kind for fifty hours together. "subsequently the hebrew butchers were cited to appear; they were put in chains together with the rabbins jacob antubi, salomon harari, and asaria jalfon; and they too were beaten to such an extent that their flesh hung in pieces upon them; and these atrocities were perpetrated in order to induce them to confess that they used blood in making the passover cakes. they replied that, if such had been the case, many jewish proselytes would have published the fact. this, however, was not sufficient. "after this, the same governor went to the boy's college; he had the boys carried to prison, bound them with chains, and forbade the mothers to visit their imprisoned children, to whom only ten drachms of bread and a cup of water per day were allowed, the governor expecting that the fathers, for the sake of liberating their children, would confess the truth of the matter. "subsequently a jew, who was still at liberty, presented himself before the governor, stating that the calumny of our using blood for our passover cakes had been discussed before all the powers, who, after consulting their divines, had declared the falsehood of the charge; and he added that either others had killed the priest and his servant, or they had clandestinely absented themselves from the country, and that the barber, in order to save himself from persecution, had stated that which, was not true. "upon this the governor replied that, as he had accused other persons of killing them, he must know who the murderers were; and in order that he should confess, he was beaten to such an extent that he expired under the blows. "after this, the governor, with a body of six hundred men, proceeded to demolish the houses of his jewish subjects, hoping to find the bodies of the dead, but not finding anything, he returned, and again inflicted on his victims further castigations and torments, some of them too cruel and disgusting to be described. at last, being incapable of bearing further anguish, they said that the charge was true!!! "the governor, hearing this statement, asked them where they had secreted the blood of the murdered men, to which one of them replied, that it had been put into a bottle, and delivered to moses abulafia, who, however, declared he knew nothing of it. in order to make him confess he received a thousand stripes, but this infliction not extorting any confession from him, he was subjected to other insupportable tortures, which at length compelled him to declare that the bottle was at home in a chest of drawers. upon this the governor ordered him to be carried on the shoulders of four men (for he could not walk), that he might open the bureau. this was opened, but nothing was found in it, except a quantity of money which the governor seized, asking at the same time where the blood was. whereupon abulafia replied that he made the statement in order that the governor should see the money in the bureau, trusting by this means to escape. upon this the tortures were again repeated, and abulafia, to save himself, embraced the mohammedan religion. "in this manner they treated all the prisoners who have been for one month in this misery. in beyrout and in damascus the jews are not permitted to go out. "after this an individual came forward, and stated that by means of astrology he had discovered and ascertained that the seven individuals above named assassinated the priest, and that the servant was killed by raphael farkhi, nathan and aaron levy, mordecai farkhi, and asher of lisbon. the two first were immediately arrested, the others, it appears, sought safety in flight. "you will judge from this--the elders of damascus say--what sort of justice is administered by means of astrology, and how such justice is exercised. and there is no one who is moved to compassion in favour of the unfortunate victims. even bekhor negri, the governor's banker, unable to bear these afflictions, became a mussulman. "read this, dearest friends,--they continue,--to messrs camondo, hatteni, and carmona, in order that they may co-operate for the safety of our unfortunate and calumniated brethren, with such persons as they may deem most fitting. "the jews of rhodes describe their state of misery to the elders of the congregation in constantinople in the following statement:-- "a greek boy, about ten years old, son of an inhabitant of the country, is said to have been lost, and the christians have calumniated us by saying that we have killed him. all the european consuls came forward to demand an elucidation of the affair. they went in a body, with the exception of the austrian consul, to the pasha, and requested that he would entrust to them the conduct of the business, which request the pasha granted. they then summoned before them two greek women who dwelt near the city, who stated that on tuesday some jews were passing from the villages to the city, and that one of them had a greek boy with him. the consuls immediately cited the jew to appear before them, and questioned him on the subject. he replied that he could prove that during the whole of tuesday he was in the village, and did not come into the city until wednesday. he added, moreover, that even if this boy did enter the city by that road, and at the time the jews were going into it, it ought not therefore to be believed that the jews had killed him, as the road was the chief and public thoroughfare through which any one might pass. "these reasons were not admitted by the consuls, and the unfortunate jew was immediately put in irons, and tortured in a manner never yet seen or heard of. having been loaded with chains, many stripes were inflicted on him, red hot wires were run through his nose, burning bones applied to his head, and a heavy stone was laid upon his breast, so that he was reduced to the point of death; all this time his tormentors were accusing him, saying, 'you have stolen the greek boy, to deliver him up to the rabbi--confess at once, if you wish to save yourself." "their object was to calumniate our rabbi, and to take vengeance on all the community; and they stated openly that this was done for the purpose of exterminating the jews in rhodes, or to compel them to change their religion, so that they might be able to boast in europe of having converted an entire community. "meanwhile the poor jew cried out in the midst of these torments, praying for death as a relief, to which they replied, that he must confess to whom he had given the boy, and then he should be immediately set at liberty. the poor jew, oppressed by tortures beyond endurance, resorted to falsehood in order to save himself. he calumniated first one and then another, but many whom he accused had been absent from the town some time, which clearly proved that his assertions had no other object than to free himself from these tortures. nevertheless all those who could be found were immediately imprisoned, and subjected to insupportable torments, to extort from them the confession that they had delivered the boy to the chief rabbi, or to the elders of the community, and night and day they were tormented, because they would not accuse innocent persons. meanwhile, goaded by continual tortures, these poor creatures cried out and prayed that they might be killed rather than be subjected to the endurance of such anguish; especially seven of them, who anxiously courted death, and indeed were all but dead in consequence of these tortures. to increase the misery, the jewish quarter was closed and surrounded by guards, in order that none might go out, or learn what had happened to their unfortunate brethren. "you must know--they say--that during the day at such times as there is no one in the jewish quarter, the christians are going about endeavouring clandestinely to leave the dead body of a turk or christian in the court of some jewish house, for the purpose of having the individual brought before the governor, in order to give a colouring to their calumny. such is the misery that weighs upon our hearts and blinds our eyes. we have even been refused the favour of presenting a petition to the pasha of the city. "after three days spent in this wretchedness, they refused even to supply us with bread in our quarter, for our families shut up with us; but by dint of entreaty we have obtained, as a favour, the supply at high prices of salt fish and black bread. "from what we can gather from the europeans who are about the pasha, he acts in concert with the consuls, as he has done from the beginning. we except the austrian consul, who at first endeavoured to protect us, but who was at length compelled to join with the multitude." chapter xxvi. . indignation meetings in london--m. crÉmieux--lord palmerston's action--sir moses starts on a mission to the east--origin of the passover cake superstition. these communications, together with all the letters which had been addressed to sir moses on the same subject, were submitted to the consideration of the board of deputies and others at a meeting held at grosvenor gate, park lane, the residence of sir moses. there were present--mr joseph gutteres henriques, president; baron de rothschild, sir moses montefiore, messrs moses mocatta, i. l. goldsmid, jacob montefiore, isaac cohen, henry h. cohen, samuel bensusan, dr loewe, messrs louis lucas, a. a. goldsmid, louis cohen, h. de castro, haim guedalla, simon samuel, joel davis, david salamons, abraham levy, jonas levy, laurence myers, solomon cohen, barnard van oven, m.d., s. j. waley, and f. h. goldsmid. the following resolutions were unanimously adopted:-- "that this meeting has learned with extreme concern and disgust that there have been lately revived in the east those false and atrocious charges, so frequently brought against the jews during the middle ages, of committing murders in order to use the blood of the murdered as an ingredient in the food during the religious ceremony of passover, charges which, in those times, repeatedly served as a pretext for the robbery and massacre of persons of the jewish faith, but which have long disappeared from this part of the world, with the fierce and furious prejudices that gave them birth. "that this meeting is anxious to express its horror at finding that, on the ground of these abominable calumnies, numbers of jews have been seized at damascus and at rhodes; that many children have been imprisoned, and almost totally deprived of food; that of the adults seized, several have been tortured till they died, and others have been sentenced to death, and, it is believed, executed, although the only evidence of their guilt was the pretended confessions wrung by torture from their alleged accomplices. "that this meeting earnestly request the governments of england, france, and austria to remonstrate with those governments under which these atrocities have taken place, against their continuance. "that this meeting confidently relies on the sympathy and humanity of the british nation to exert its influence and authority to stay such abominable proceedings, and that the president, joseph gutteres henriques, esq.; the baron de rothschild, sir moses montefiore, and messrs i. l. goldsmid, jacob montefiore, david salamons, a. a. goldsmid, and f. h. goldsmid do form a deputation to request a conference on the subject with her majesty's secretary of state for foreign affairs. "that these resolutions be advertised in the newspapers." a letter was read from the rev. dr hirschel, chief rabbi, expressive of his regret that his infirmities prevented his attendance at the meeting, and declaring his concern at the revival of such false and calumnious assertions, and his horror at such atrocious cruelties. the meeting was attended by monsieur crémieux, vice-president of the _consistoire central des israelites français_, who addressed the meeting, expressing his concurrence and sympathy in its proceedings. on april th the committee proceeded to downing street, and were most kindly received by lord palmerston. he promised to use his influence with mohhammad ali and the turkish government to put a stop to such atrocities. sir moses mentioned on this occasion, when lord palmerston was speaking of his visit to palestine, mr young's humanity at jerusalem, and also the fact that the jews were desirous of being employed in agricultural pursuits. on june th at a meeting of the deputies and representatives of all the synagogues, including the rev. dr hirschel, rev. d. meldola, monsieur crémieux, and rev. d. bibas, sir moses was requested to proceed, with monsieur crémieux, to alexandria and damascus, to which request he acceded. on june rd he attended a meeting at the great synagogue, where the resolutions adopted at the previous meeting (june th) were confirmed, and he declared his readiness to go. on the th of june he went with baron lionel de rothschild to the foreign office. lord palmerston was most friendly, and read to them the despatches to colonel hodges and lord ponsonby. that to colonel hodges was most strongly worded, calling on him to address mohhammad ali in writing to urge him to compensate the sufferers and remove those officers who had misconducted themselves in damascus. lord palmerston further said he would give sir moses letters to colonel hodges, telling him to afford him every protection and assistance, and desiring him to apply to mohhammad ali to give him (sir moses) every facility for the investigation of the affair. his lordship also added that he would give him any other letters he might require. on friday, july rd, there was a crowded and enthusiastic meeting in the egyptian hall at the mansion house, of bankers, merchants, and many influential and learned british christians, for the purpose of expressing their sympathy with the israelites, and their earnest wishes for the success of sir moses montefiore previous to his starting on the mission to the east. mr alderman thompson took the chair. the principal speakers were the lord mayor, sir chapman marshall, j. abel smith, john masterman, s. gurney, sir charles forbes, dr bowring, daniel o'connell, and the hon. and rev. noel. the result of the meeting was highly satisfactory. in the interval between these meetings sir moses attended the queen's drawing-room, and was most graciously addressed there by prince george of cambridge, who said he was glad to see him, and reminded him of his having met him at malta. at a meeting of the board of deputies on the th sir moses was unanimously elected their president, on the resignation of mr j. h. henriques. he attended the annual festival dinner of the jews' hospital, when the duke of sussex presided. on the th of june he went to the merchant taylors' hall to meet the duke of cambridge and prince george, the latter being made an honorary member of the company. taking special interest in the abolition of slavery, sir moses and lady montefiore both attended the grand meeting of the society for the abolition of the slave trade, when prince albert took the chair and addressed the company. on june th he was present at a meeting of the board of deputies of the british jews, and agreed to the addresses of congratulation prepared by the hon. secretary, to be sent to her majesty, prince albert, and the duchess of kent, on the occasion of the escape of the queen from the attempt made on her life in the park on the th of june. the address to her majesty was subsequently presented by him, as president of the board of deputies, accompanied by four other gentlemen, at st james' palace; and sir moses was then presented to the queen by the duke of norfolk, on his going to the east. the next day sir moses and the same four gentlemen presented the address to the duchess of kent, who received them most amiably, and enquired particularly after sir moses' health. he then proceeded with them to buckingham palace, and presented the address to prince albert, who also received them very graciously. sir moses, as the representative of the jews in the british empire, now commenced making his arrangements for the departure of the mission, and monsieur crémieux, as representative of the jews in france, took similar steps. sir moses selected for his companions mr d. w. wire (his former under-sheriff and afterwards lord mayor of london), dr madden, a distinguished author and well-known traveller in the east, and myself. monsieur crémieux engaged as his companion monsieur solomon munk, a distinguished savant of paris. before i proceed to give the account of the present mission, as taken from the entries in sir moses' diary and from my own personal observation, i deem it necessary to direct the attention of the reader to the origin of accusations similar to those made at damascus, which were brought against the jews in former times; and to point out the reason why, even to this day, they are not without effect in some of the most enlightened countries. tertullianus (j. septimus florens), one of the fathers of the church, who lived in the second century, complains in his work entitled "apologet. advers. gentes" (chap. ), of the adherents to the religion to which he himself belonged being accused of sacrificing and eating children. upon which, pamelius, in his commentary on the same chapter (which he dedicated to philip ii. and pope gregory viii.), observes, that the accusation has its origin in the misunderstanding of the sense of all those passages in the new testament which refer to the agapes. these verses have been taken by the uninitiated in their literal sense. the heathens at that time asserted that the christians used human blood at their passover. thus we find the origin of that horrible accusation in the first three centuries of the christian era; not until the thirteenth century was it brought against the jews, viz., in the year in fulda, in spain, in london, in bachrach, moravia, in munich. if these charges were true, it might be asked, how is it that the jews, who celebrated the passover festival fifteen hundred years before the christian era, had never been accused of such a crime before? the answer to this question is to be found in the history of the thirteenth century. it was in this century, when fanaticism and hatred of race prevailed, and when persecutions for witchcraft and the burning of heretics and sorcerers were of frequent occurrence, that it appeared opportune to bring against the jews the same accusation which had been formerly brought against the ancestors of their accusers, viz., the using of christian blood for the passover. the wealth of the jews in several parts of europe, as well as the high position to which they were raised in spain by the rulers of the land, had aroused the jealousy of their adversaries. the unfounded nature of the accusation against them was so palpable that the heads of the church deemed it necessary to defend and protect them. thus pope innocent iv. published a bull on the th of july , addressed to the heads of the church in france and germany, officially refuting the demoniacal accusation (s. baronitas annales eccles. ad annum , no. ). i give here a translation of it in order to afford the reader the opportunity of acquainting himself with the contents of that important document:-- "lyons, _ rd july _. "pope innocent, the servant of the servants of god, sends his apostolic greeting and blessing to the right reverend fathers, bishops, and archbishops in germany. "we have received from germany the sad news that in your towns and dioceses there is a wish to despoil the jews, in an illegal manner, of their property, and that, for this purpose, malicious counsels and different false accusations are brought against them. without considering that they were, in a certain way, entrusted with the care of the christian faith; that the command of holy scripture, 'thou shalt not commit murder,' was given to them; and that, by their law, they are forbidden to touch corpses on the passover, they are accused of eating in company the heart of a murdered child, and if the dead body of any human being is found, they are believed to be the murderers, although such practices are in direct contradiction to their laws. by such false accusations they are oppressed, and deprived of all their goods, although they have never been brought before any judge and found guilty, in spite of the privileges graciously granted them by the apostolic chair. this is against all human and divine law, and brings these said jews into a worse condition than that of their forefathers under the pharaohs of egypt, and forces them, in their misery, to leave the places where their fathers had been settled from time immemorial. in their fear of being exterminated entirely, they have sought the protection of the apostolic chair, and we hereby forbid every unjust oppression of the said jews, whose conversion we trust to the mercy of god, according to the promise of the prophet, that those of them who remain shall be saved; and we commend them to you, our brethren, through this apostolic letter, that you may show favour to them, and help them to their right, when they have been unjustly imprisoned; and that you in no case permit them to be oppressed for the said or similar causes. those who are guilty of molesting them in this way are to be punished by doing penance in the church, without regard to their station. "given at lyons, on the rd of july, in the fifth year of our pontificate." in the emperor rudolf of hapsburgh confirmed this bull, in a decree, sealed with his great seal, which is still to be seen in the archives of the town of cologne. the title of this decree is, "i, rudolphus, rex rom., do hereby confirm the privileges granted to the jews by popes gregory and innocent, and declare to be untrue, that which some christians say, that they do eat the heart of a dead child on the day of their passover." the contents of this decree are a literal translation of the bull given above. another bull issued by gregory, says, amongst other things:-- "gregory, &c.... following the example set us by our predecessors of blessed memory, calixt, cugen, alexander, cölöstin, honorius, and gregory, we agree to the prayer of the jews, and will hold the shield of our protection over them. we also strictly forbid, that any christian force them, against their will, to be baptised, as only those can be considered as christians who, from their own free will, accept baptism. nor shall any christian dare, without a judgment from us, to wound or to kill them, to deprive them of their money, or in any way to molest them in the privileges granted to them in the places where they live." the emperor concludes his decree with the following words: "we confirm and permit, in our royal mercy, by this act to the said jews, all and everything which was granted and given to them by the roman popes, so that they may live securely under the shadow of our protection, and that they shall not be condemned, in any case whatever, unless properly judged and found guilty by the righteous testimony of jews and christians." considering that m. achille laurent has published a book, in which he presumes to give what he calls a "procédure complète dirigée en contre des juifs de damas,"--a book which is replete with outbursts of hatred against the jews, and has, since its publication, unfortunately served almost as a text-book in the hands of their adversaries,--i think it desirable, in addition to the declaration of the pope given above, to introduce to the reader the names of some eminent christian scholars, who have but recently (since the accusations of kohling and geza roused the attention of the public) expressed their opinion in the works they have published; some of which were written by the special order of the courts of law in austria, and the universities of amsterdam, leyden, utrecht, and copenhagen. the right rev. bishop dr kopp, of fulda; the right. rev. dr j. h. reinkens, in bonn; professor dr franz delitzsch; professor dr a. dillman; professor dr g. ebers; professor dr h. l. fleischer, in leipzig; professor dr h. kalkar, in copenhagen; professor dr paul de lagarde, in göttingen; professor dr merx, in heidelberg; dr alois muller, in vienna; professor dr th. nöldecke, in straszburg; professor dr riehm, professor dr carl siegfried of vienna, professor dr b. stade of gieszen, professor dr sommer of königsberg, professor dr strack of berlin, and dr august wunsche of dresden. a book entitled, "christliche zeugnisse gegen die blutbeschuldigung der juden," published by walther and apolant, berlin, , gives a compilation of all the statements on the subject made by these authors, all proving the accusation to be a calumny. to take possession of the wealth accumulated by the industrious and sober habits of the jews, and to deprive them of the important positions which they had, by their uprightness and ability, obtained, was the object their adversaries had in view in raising this accusation in the thirteenth century, and the same object can be traced in the persecutions which, in the present century, in some parts of the world, continue to affect individuals, and sometimes even whole communities. _july th._--we proceeded to the london bridge wharf, where we were met by the members of the ecclesiastical courts, both of the german and portuguese congregations, and many others of our brethren. "i should think," sir moses observes in his diary, "there were more than one hundred jews waiting to see us set off, all giving us their blessing, and wishing us health, success, and a safe return. may the almighty hearken to their prayers, and grant their petition." it was blowing very hard when we reached gravesend, and we determined to land, which was not effected without some difficulty and inconvenience. sir moses and lady montefiore were much fatigued, having spent nearly the whole of the previous night in writing letters and arranging various important matters relative to the mission. _july th._--we went on board the _arrow_ a little before eight, and reached the french coast before eleven o'clock. the weather being squally and the sea rough, we and several others remained on board till the vessel could enter the port. we came to anchor, and continued to roll about till half-past four, when we landed in safety. _thursday, july th._--found our carriages, and servants all well at boulogne, and ready to receive us. having taken some refreshment, we proceeded to abbeville, and travelled all night, arriving shortly after mid-day in paris. during our stay there we had frequent interviews with the members of the rothschild family, who took a deep interest in our mission. a meeting of the consistoire de france on the subject was held at the house of baron anselm de rothschild, which i attended together with dr loewe and mr wire. monsieur crémieux made a fervent appeal to all present, and the result was very satisfactory. we left paris on the th july, together with dr madden, who had come from london to join us. monsieur and madame crémieux joined our party at avignon, and together we reached marseilles on the th. the grand rabbin, with the principal members of the community, immediately came to welcome us; afterwards we went on board the _minos_ to inspect our cabins. _tuesday, july st._--repaired early in the morning to the synagogue, and prayed for the safety and success of our mission. at . p.m. we went on board the _minos_; messrs palmer and taylor, of the imperial continental gas association, accompanied us. mr moore, the queen's messenger, and mr doyle, of the _chronicle_, were fellow passengers. the wind blew very fresh when first we started, but the evening was very fine. chapter xxvii. . arrival at leghorn--alexandria--sir moses' address to the pasha--action of the grand vizir. _july rd._--landed at leghorn, and went at once to the hotel du globe. many visitors called. a deputation from the synagogue came, and sir moses and lady montefiore asked to have the evening prayers read in the presence of all their brethren. they accordingly gave notice to the members of the community, who assembled in great numbers. before the service commenced we all joined them. subsequently the ecclesiastical chief opened the holy ark, and offered up a special prayer for the mission. at the conclusion of the service we returned to our ship, accompanied by the representatives of the community, and at four o'clock we left the harbour. _july th._--at ten we dropped anchor at civita vecchia. we had been advised in leghorn not to land in the city, as there had been some little movement against the israelites, occasioned by the writings of a priest called meyer, a converted jew. we were visited by signor scala and signor samuel alatri, a deputation from rome. their account was very unfavourable as to the opinion of the papal government, and murmurs, not loud but deep, were heard in rome. they strongly recommended our going from malta in an english steamboat to egypt. they related an incident which had taken place a few days previously, and caused them much uneasiness. a hebrew woman was delivered of a daughter by a christian midwife, who immediately baptized the child, and the authorities refused to restore her to the mother. at leghorn, just before passover, a woman had lost a child, and accused the jews of stealing it, but the governor put her in prison, saying she should remain there till the child was found. this had the desired effect, and the child was discovered the next day. we left civita vecchia at p.m. and anchored the following day at a.m. in the harbour of naples. baron charles de rothschild and his son came on board to see us, and to converse with us respecting the mission. it was nine when our captain and his companions returned, and we immediately started. _july th._--entered the harbour of malta at a.m.; landed, and went to dunford's hotel. subsequently paid our respects to the governor, at the palace, also to sir hector grey. _tuesday, july ._--rose at five. went to synagogue. having left cards at the palace and called on some friends, we went on board the _eurotas_ at half-past eleven. the sea was terribly rough and disagreeable. "those who have the happiness of remaining at home," said sir moses, "can have no idea of the miseries of the sea." _july th._--had some heavy squalls. while lady montefiore was sitting on deck, a lurch of the vessel threw her backwards with great force. both she and sir moses were much alarmed. the weather continued very rough. _july st._--were close in with falkner's island and the island of milo to the e.s.e.; every one was delighted with the change in the weather. the appearance of the islands was barren and monotonous. at five o'clock we cast anchor in the bay, pretty close to syra. the water here is extremely blue, and so clear that we could see the-bottom at a depth of sixty feet. we had made all preparations for immediately embarking on board the vessel which was to take us to alexandria, but we learnt, to our regret, that she had not yet arrived from athens. we were consequently compelled to remain on the _eurotas_. _august st._--at twelve left the _eurotas_ and went on board the _tancrede_, which had arrived in the night from athens, having made the voyage in seven and a half hours. we had very few passengers besides our own party,--one a brother of count capo d'istria. he had been imprisoned during eight months, and was being sent out of greece. a boat with soldiers remained close to the steamer till we left syra. _august nd._--in sight of candia, near cape soloman. the morning was fine, with a pleasant breeze. lady montefiore was well and in very good spirits, active and studious as ever. _tuesday, august th._--dropped anchor in the harbour of alexandria at a quarter to eight in the morning. the harbour was filled with ships of war, turkish and egyptian. we noticed particularly the _mahmudie_, guns, and two vessels of sixty-eight guns. we immediately went on shore to see the ecclesiastical chief of the hebrew community, and ascertain from him the latest news from damascus. later sir moses went to colonel hodges, the english consul general, who received him most politely. the colonel said he wished to go over the whole business with him. it had assumed, he said, a political character. sir moses would find monsieur cochelet, the french consul, very plausible, but very firm; another consul, he remarked, had been charged with taking bribes. colonel hodges recommended sir moses to keep clear of all parties, and requested him to call again in two hours. the colonel had seen, with much satisfaction, dr hirschel's letter addressed to sir moses previous to his departure from england, which had been translated into the arabic, turkish, armenian, and modern greek languages, for distribution in the east. he had shown it to mohhammad ali. at twelve colonel hodges accompanied sir moses to the french consul, where they met mons. crémieux. they afterwards called on mons. laurin, the austrian consul, with whom they saw the prussian consul. they finally called on the russian consul, who, however, happened to be asleep. _august th._--it was nearly two o'clock this morning before we could retire, having read over and arranged various documents. we rose soon after five, and at eight colonel hodges called to accompany us to the palace. sir moses was dressed in uniform, and the gentlemen who went with him wore either their court or official costume. messrs crémiere and munk did not join us, as their appearance before mohammad ali on that day was not considered advisable by monsieur cochelet, for reasons best known to himself. sir moses, who rode in the carriage with colonel hodges, read to him the petition which he had to present to the pasha. he said he approved of it and hoped it would be granted, but did not appear from his manner to think it would. on our arrival we were immediately ushered into the hall of audience. mohhammad ali was seated in the same spot as when last we had seen him. colonel hodges presented sir moses, saying he had the pleasure of presenting an old acquaintance of his highness. the pasha greeted sir moses very graciously, after which we were all introduced. colonel hodges then said that sir moses desired to present a petition to his highness on behalf of his government, to which the pasha gave a most gracious assent. sir moses addressed his highness as follows:-- "your highness,--we have heard in europe that false accusations have been brought against the israelites of damascus, who are the subjects of your highness, and that tortures and fearful sufferings have been inflicted upon them, in order to extract evidence against themselves. as it is well known that our religion not only does not approve the crime of which they are accused, but strictly commands us to abhor the use of blood in every form, we have been delegated by our co-religionists in the whole of europe, to implore your highness' justice for our brethren. it gives us the highest satisfaction to hear that your highness, as soon as informed of the tortures, gave orders to suspend them immediately. being firmly convinced that your highness, who has already earned such great renown in europe for bravery in war, wisdom in council, and tolerance towards all your subjects without distinction, will, with your usual benevolence, grant our request, we appear before your highness. we come, not in anger nor with hatred, but solely with the most earnest desire to have the truth made known. we therefore entreat your highness to grant us authority to go to damascus, and there to institute such enquiries as will lead to satisfactory information on the subject of this accusation, which has caused consternation to the jews of the whole world, and untold sufferings to the jewish population of damascus; that the information thus obtained may be officially authenticated by the governor of damascus and put before your highness. "we further beg that your highness will cause every facility to be given us for procuring evidence, and will grant absolute protection to the members of this mission, and perfect security to all who give evidence. "we entreat your highness to grant us permission to see and interrogate the accused as often as may be necessary, and that the authority and permission, which your highness will be pleased to grant us, may be, by a firman, registered in the archives, and sent officially to the governor of damascus, who shall cause its contents to be proclaimed in the streets of that town. "in conclusion, we beg to be permitted to state that the eyes of all europe are fixed on your highness, and that by your granting our prayer the whole civilised world will be much gratified. it is well understood that the great man, who has already earned such a glorious name, must love justice dearly. there cannot be a greater homage rendered to your highness' genius and benevolence, than this mission sent to you by the israelites of the whole world, to appeal for justice. it is the highest tribute paid to your genius, to your love of truth, and to your earnest desire to secure justice to all your subjects, that this mission addresses itself to your highness with the greatest confidence, and feels sure that its appeal will not have been in vain." the pasha had kept his eyes upon him the whole time. sir moses, when he had finished, requested that his interpreter might be permitted to read it to his highness in turkish. the pasha said it was too long; he would have it translated, and would then read it and give an answer. sir moses then begged that the heads of the petition might be read to him; he repeated, "it is long, it is long; shall be translated!" sir moses then stated that the petition referred to the jews of damascus, to which the pasha replied, "i know it." dr madden then presented an address of thanks on behalf of the society for the abolition of slavery. the pasha appeared pleased to be able to turn the conversation from the petition, and spoke at considerable length on the subject of slavery. sir moses tried, through colonel hodges, to bring his business again to the fore. an ineffectual attempt was made several times, when colonel hodges said sir moses should leave it to him. before leaving, sir moses told his highness that the english people were looking forward with great anxiety to his answer, for which he would wait on his highness in two days' time. the pasha told sir moses to come, and he should have it, adding that if it was an affair of justice, and sir moses had brought a french advocate with him for that purpose, then this could not be permitted. upon which colonel hodges informed the pasha that monsieur crémieux, though an advocate, had come solely from motives of humanity, and was himself a jew. sir moses, on his return, remarked that nothing could have been less satisfactory than this interview, very different from the two former occasions, when his highness was most friendly and chatty. sir moses now heard that monsieur cochelet, the french consul, had been with his highness for an hour and a half on the previous night. _august th._--we had many visitors; the captains of two english war-ships were of the number, and also captain lyons. sir moses, on receiving a message from colonel hodges, informing him that the pasha was going to the delta early on the following morning, immediately went to the consul. the latter read to him the letter he had sent to the pasha on the subject of the jews in damascus; it could not have been stronger. sir moses determined upon going to the pasha. it was nearly nine when he entered the palace. his reception was most affable and kind, very different from that of the previous day. sir moses said he had heard that his highness was going away. the pasha replied that he would be back on friday. _august th._--monsieur laurin sent a message to the effect that the pasha had told him that he would grant our request. colonel hodges called to confer with sir moses on the subject. _august th._--the grand vizier directed a letter to the pasha, of which the following is a translation:-- "his excellency, the ambassador of great britain, to the sublime porte, stated in a letter which he presented, that sir moses montefiore, mr david william wire, and dr madden, english subjects and distinguished members of society, also mr adolphe crémieux and dr louis loewe, form a distinguished deputation to the east, for the purpose of making a thorough investigation respecting the persecutions to which the jews have been subjected at damascus and the island of rhodes. the above-named ambassador asked that the members of the deputation should be treated with due respect, and should have every facility afforded them for accomplishing their mission. "this is the purpose of my writing to your highness. " gema-zil-akhar, . "reouf." we attended divine service morning and evening, and received visits from the leading members of the community. colonel hodges and monsieur laurin conferred a long time with us on the subject of the mission. _monday, august th._--sir moses, monsieur crémieux, monsieur munk, mr wire, and i went to monsieur laurin, who read to us all the papers and despatches respecting the damascus affair. we remained with him for more than three hours, making notes of all that appeared likely to serve our cause. from the following letters _subsequently_ addressed to sir moses by the rev. joseph marshall, chaplain of h.m.s. _castor_, lieutenant shadwell of the same ship, and the rev. schlientz, of malta, all referring to their visit to damascus on the th august, in the year , the reader will be able to gather important information respecting the accused. chapter xxviii. . authentic accounts of the circumstances attending the accusations against the jews--terrible sufferings of the accused--evidence of their innocence--witnesses in their favour bastinadoed to death. _copy of a letter from the rev. joseph marshall, chaplain of h.m.s. "castor."_ sir,--in reference to the enquiries you make concerning your brethren in damascus, i have much pleasure in informing you, that when i visited that city about the middle of last august, i took considerable pains in making myself acquainted with the nature of the charge preferred against them, the evidence on which it rested, the treatment to which they were exposed. the result of my enquiries i will briefly submit to you. that two men, the padre tommaso and his servant, are missing, is beyond dispute. there is not the least reason to believe that the servant is murdered or dead; there is but little evidence that the padre has been murdered, and not the slightest that he was murdered by jews; on the contrary, evidence _a priori_ is entirely in their favour, and that extorted by torture, if fairly considered, is equally so. however, as some others who have visited damascus have expressed a contrary opinion, i think it necessary to state, in a few words, some of the grounds upon which i establish mine. i need not allude to their ceremonial and moral law; both are equally abhorrent of the act imputed to them; but perhaps they were fanatics influenced by an inward light stronger than their law. fanaticism is not usually found among such men as soloman murad and meyer farki, with their compeers, the leading men of a highly respectable and wealthy community, as was evident from the appearance of their families even in distress. indeed i was answered by both moslem and franks, that the higher order of jews at damascus were less to be remarked for enthusiasm than coldness in religion. i have the same authority for believing that worldly competitions and commercial jealousy made it very improbable that they would unite so closely as the commission of such a crime would imply. what testimony is there then to overcome these probabilities? confession wrung from mortal agony and unsupported by circumstantial evidence. their enemies do, to be sure, appeal to certain circumstances, such as the identity of the extorted confession itself: true, i believe it to be so perfectly identical as to lose all character of independence. but there were other circumstances. there were animal remains found twenty-five days after the friar had disappeared, in a running sewer in closer proximity to a butcher's stall than to david arari's house. there was said also to be the mark of fire on the white marble pavement of the same gentleman's court. i saw it not, though the stone was pointed out. this mark, which did not exist, was supposed to be caused by the burning of the padre's clothes, but there were certain stains on a wall which might be blood; i thought they might be anything else rather. again, with the aforesaid animal remains there was found a piece of cloth such as might identify it with part of the friar's cap. is this circumstance consistent with the burning of his apparel, or did they spare that part only, which would most easily lead to detection? but there was another circumstance much dwelt on, viz., the posting of a notice at the barber's door, at too great a height for the friar's stature; therefore, evidently the work of a jew. i can positively say, it was at the natural height for such fixtures, within the reach of any middle-sized person, and with the slightest trouble might be placed there by anyone. but what was the object of the gigantic jew in posting the advertisement at all? he had taken it, it was _supposed_, from the synagogue door, where it was _supposed_ the friar had posted it. and for the purpose of destroying all trace of the friar having been in the jews' quarter, he transferred it to the barber's door, which was actually within the jews' quarter. he might, to be sure, have destroyed it and all trace of the padre at once; but this would have been an expedient too simple for the sagacity of this hebrew, which appears to have been in an inverse ratio to his bulk. the dulness of such reasoning defeats its malice. and this is all the evidence for the charge procured by the bastinadoing of one hundred and twenty persons, in several instances to death. i think its meagreness proves the negative, viz., that the poor victims had nothing really to confess; and this in addition to the positive evidence of those who died under the torture, sealing their testimony with their blood. but might not the accused have brought forward positive evidence in their favour? one person did come forward to prove that he had seen the friar in another part of the town subsequently to the date of the supposed murder. he was bastinadoed to death--a consummation not likely to encourage other witnesses to come forward; and indeed the jews assert that moslems of the first rank in damascus, if they dared speak, could have established an _alibi_ for them in many cases. to have anything like an adequate idea of what these unfortunate people suffered, after the heads of their families had been thrown into prison, you must be on the spot to hear, as one of themselves expressed it, "their hearts speaking." insults of all kinds heaped upon them by the refuse of mankind, their houses broken into and plundered with impunity, jewels torn from the persons of their female relatives, young children imprisoned and tortured with starvation, the son bastinadoed before the mother's eyes to make her betray her husband's place of concealment, the most exorbitant bribes demanded to permit the common necessaries of life to pass the gates of the prison for its bruised and wretched inhabitants. these, sir, were some of their sufferings, and of these i had undoubted evidence. surely the correspondent of the _times_, to whom you allude, if he had not confined himself while in damascus to frank society, and that, too, of a particular caste, would have seen and heard enough to make him hesitate before he declared his belief in the guilt of the jews, the mildness of their sufferings, and the mercy of their persecutors! had he gone to the house of david arari, he would have learned that _women_ had been tortured, and in vain. he might have seen with his own eyes the heroic conduct of the poor negro girl, a moslem and a slave, whom the torture could not force to bear false witness against the jew, her master. he might there also have learned that if madame arari had consented to sacrifice her daughter's virtue, she might have preserved her husband's person from violence, his property from plunder, and her people from slander. he might have ascertained the amount of sympathy and mercy which madame lagnado received at the hands of a european functionary, when she visited him on behalf of her husband, who died under the torture. had he visited signor merlato, the austrian consul, a man whom all christendom must respect, he might have satisfied his eyes respecting the barbarity of the torture, and that the sufferers had not at that time recovered from its effects. long after that period i saw men who, after the lapse of five months from the infliction of the bastinado, had their feet and legs swelled to a form as if produced by elephantiasis. the correspondent of the _times_, whose very just description of the state of syria and palestine lends an undue importance to his opinion on the case of the jews, would have been persuaded that there were cases in which foreign influence was used with the pasha to encourage the application of the torture when some old men, too feeble to survive for a moment the infliction of the bastinado, were subjected a second time to the torment of sleeplessness, under the bayonets of the egyptian soldiers. but it is indeed too unreasonable and unjust to lay on the pasha of damascus the whole blame of these proceedings, unequalled in atrocity since the days of the fourth antiochus. the guilt must be equally shared by those who delivered up an innocent people into his hands; indeed, their share is greater. he may plead that he was obliged to do these things by the nature of his office. the persecutors of the jews cannot even shelter themselves under such a plea as that. indeed, if they be blameless, then is the spanish inquisition blameless also; the auto-da-fé being, in the last result, certainly the result of the civil power. in short, the charges and recommendations of the jews against their persecutors are of such enormity as to make them, it is to be hoped, if they be conscious of their innocence, anxious that the whole matter should be sifted to the bottom by a process more rational than the bastinado, and before a judge less suspected of foreign influence than sheriff pasha. although i trust you will persevere in your meritorious exertions for the sake of humanity and truth, yet, as you ask my opinion as to the practicability or prudence of proceeding at once to damascus, i must say that i do not think it advisable. though damascus may have submitted to the sultan, and the emir béshir would be happy to grant you, if necessary, an escort through the mountains, yet i am afraid a short time must elapse before the people of damascus can be made aware of the important changes in their social condition, when the hatti sherif of gulhane shall be no longer to them a dead letter, when violence shall no longer usurp the place of justice, nor men endanger their lives by bearing witness to the truth. you will be able to return to syria in a few months under better auspices, and cover the slanderers of your people with confusion. the example of rhodes should give you encouragement. i was there last summer when the atrocious charge of the same malignity which was made against the jews of that place, resulted in like violence, and which, if tried by a similar process, would have led to the same results as at damascus. justice was done to them at constantinople, and they triumphed. in the same way will you find the cloud clearing away from damascus. indeed, there exists not at present the shadow of evidence against them, except you so call a most unnatural and suspicious identity of confession, to be found in all false accusations where torture has been applied, such as in trials for witchcraft. a remarkable instance of this you may have seen recorded in _chambers' journal_ a few months ago. it happened in the reign of james i. of england. the accused, if i rightly remember, was the "wise wife of kent." in the meantime, if this testimony of mine can be of any service in comforting your distressed people, i shall not consider i have visited damascus in vain. accept, sir, my best wishes and esteem, and believe me to be your very obedient servant, joseph marshall. to sir moses montefiore, bart, &c., &c., &c. _copy of a letter addressed to sir moses montefiore by lieutenant shadwell of h.m.s. "castor."_ h.m.s. _castor_, malta, _december th, _. sir,--in compliance with your request, i beg leave to submit to you some observations relative to the affairs of the jews at damascus, which i was enabled to make in my recent visit to that city, and also to lay before you the general impression on my mind at that time, as to the weight and credibility of the evidence addressed in support of the charges which have been advanced against them. my visit to damascus took place in the early part of the month of august of the present year, my fellow-travellers being the rev. mr marshall, chaplain of h.m.s. _castor_, and the rev. mr schlientz, of malta, and his lady. on the th of august, soon after my arrival at damascus, accompanied by mr marshall, i went to the jewish quarter of that city, and proceeded in the first instance to the house of david arari, one of the accused persons, who was then in confinement, and at whose house the father tommaso is said to have been murdered. we were shown into an apartment where the atrocious deed is said to have been committed. it is a small room to the left of the divan, with windows in front looking into the interior court, and high windows behind looking into the street. the latter circumstance is important as tending to throw doubts on the credibility of the accusation, as it is scarcely possible to conceive that any person could submit quietly to the pains of death without uttering cries for assistance, and that, if those cries had been uttered, they should not have been heard in the street outside. in the corresponding apartment on the other side of the divan, we were shown a stain of dirt upon the wall, which the zeal of the accusers branded with the imputation of being blood. this room was in a dismantled state, all the furniture having been removed, and the marble flooring torn up in order to search for bones or other remains of the supposed crime. we afterwards visited the house of mourad farki, mayer farki, and solomon farki. the two former, being accused of participating in the murder, were in confinement. we were shown the room where the murder of tommaso's servant is said to have been perpetrated, and saw the privy and the sewer in the street where the remains of the two are alleged to have been thrown. we also went to the house of halil said naivi, one of the accusers, and saw that individual. he is the keeper of a low grog-shop of disreputable character. it must be admitted that the nature of the man's calling does not afford any guarantee for the credibility of his testimony. on the following day, august , we went to visit the latin convent of the capuchins, of which father tommaso was an inmate. in the chapel is a tomb with an inscription to the following effect:-- "qui reposano le ossa de pre. tommaso da sardegna missionano cappuccino assassinato dagli ebrei il giorno di febrajo ." i will not be exactly certain whether the above is a literal copy of the inscription, having written it down from memory after my return home, but i can confidently state that it is substantially correct, especially in so far as concerns the use of the obnoxious word "assassinato." by this it will be seen that these enlightened capuchins, following the example of popular credulity, assume the murder of their colleague as a fact before it has been proved judicially. on the same day, in company with mr and mrs schlientz, we repeated our visit to the jewish quarter, and afterwards, having obtained permission from sheriff pasha through the british consul, mr werry, went to the seraglio to see the jewish prisoners. sixteen individuals were implicated in the charge of murder; of these, two had died under torture, four had absconded. one, mr picchioto, being, fortunately for himself, an austrian subject, was under the protection of the imperial consulate, the remaining nine were then in prison, and also a venerable rabbi. we were accompanied on our visit by the british consul's dragoman and a writer in the service of the pasha. the rooms in which the prisoners were confined were in the second floor of a large exterior building attached to the pasha's palace, principally used as a barrack. the apartment opened into a covered corridor or gallery running round the whole length of the building. none of the doors were closed, but sentries were planted at intervals along the gallery. the prisoners were almost all of them elderly men, and seemed very unhappy. mr schlientz, who is both an arabic and a hebrew scholar, spoke to several of them on the subject of religion, pointing out to them, in their affliction, the consolations of scriptures, which appeared greatly to excite the mirth of our attendants and other bystanders. the prisoners confined here were either six or seven in number, the remainder, amongst whom was the rabbi, were in custody in another part of the seraglio, in apartments on the ground floor. the chambers in which the prisoners were lodged were tolerably comfortable, and spacious enough to afford them the means of taking partial exercise. an obvious desire existed on the part of our attendants to represent matters in the most favourable light, and to convince us that the prisoners, in their confinement, were treated with the greatest leniency. i have been particular, at the risk of being thought tedious, in giving a circumstantial detail of our various visits, as it will impress upon this statement the stamp of authenticity, and at least serve to show that we were anxious by all the means in our power to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. in the course of these visits we had a great deal of conversation with the families and friends of the accused, persons who, far from appearing desirous of concealing anything, seemed on the contrary anxious to have everything fairly enquired into, and submitted to the most ample investigation. we saw several people who had been subjected to torture, amongst whom was one woman, a female servant of david arari; we saw their wounds yet unhealed, and heard from their own lips the description of the sufferings they had endured. the tortures to which they had been subjected were of the most cruel and disgraceful nature, and some of them even too disgusting to be mentioned with propriety. we also had, during our stay at damascus, many opportunities of discussing the question with various people with various shades of opinion, and of canvassing the evidence adduced in support of the charges. my own opinion, in which i may, i believe, also safely state my fellow-travellers fully concur, is that the jews of damascus are not guilty of the atrocious charges which have been preferred against them. my grounds for this opinion are simply this, that there is no admissible evidence to support the charge. i at once reject _in limine_, as repulsive to every principle of reason and equity, and as unworthy to be considered as legal evidence, all the admissions and confessions of the witnesses and accused persons which were extorted by torture or the fear of torture, however plausible they may seem, or however compatible with one another they may appear, particularly when i find them at variance with conflicting testimony on the one hand, and inconsistent with the general probabilities on the other. any absurdities, as the annals of witchcraft fully show, might be proved by the agency of torture. it was through fear of the application of this beauteous engine for the elucidation of the truth, that the inquisition extorted from galileo the admission that the doctrine of the earth's motion was heretical; yet, notwithstanding this confession, as that illustrious man observed on rising from his knees, "e pur si muove." so also might the unhappy jews of damascus, whilst yielding to bodily suffering and confessing their guilt, exclaim the moment afterwards, "but yet we are innocent." the whole of the pretended evidence against the prisoners was obtained either by torture or fear of torture, and the alleged agreement between the statements of the different witnesses, on which great stress has been laid, may easily be accounted for when it is considered how impossible it would be for people writhing under agonies of intense bodily suffering to give their evidence in a clear and connected manner, and how absolutely necessary it would be to extract their confession from them word by word, affirmatively or negatively--yes or no--through the agency of leading questions. on the other hand, the only two witnesses who appeared in favour of the jews were conveniently disposed of by being bastinadoed to death. these were a young man, who deposed to having spoken to tommaso and his servant on the evening of the alleged murder as they were proceeding from the jewish quarter, and the porter of the gate near the house of david arari, who stated that he had heard or seen nothing of the priest's remains being thrown into the sewer. the evidence was awkward, and not at all suited to the wishes of the prosecutors; and it proved fatal to the witnesses who gave it. but, exclaim those who argue in favour of the guilt of the jews, even although there is not sufficient legal evidence to convict them of the crimes laid to their charge, surely you must admit that, morally speaking, there can be no doubt that they are actually guilty. far from it. every reasonable consideration appears to my mind to throw discredit on the statements of their accusers, while the whole of the evidence teems with obvious and palpable improbabilities. for instance, to say nothing of the absence of any rational assignable motive which could induce frontier merchants--men of rank and influence among their own people--men of wealth and consideration among their neighbours--with everything to lose and nothing to gain, to conspire together to commit two such atrocious murders, is it likely for one moment, even if they did so, that they should be so utterly devoid of all common prudence, and so grossly infatuated, as to place themselves in the power of two such inferior persons as a barber and a servant as accomplices? and again, even on the hypothesis that they had been actuated by some such fanatical motive as has been imputed to them, is it at all probable that they would have selected for their victim an individual so certain to be missed as the father tommaso? from his long residence at damascus, and the nature of his calling, his absence was sure to be noticed. why not have selected for their victim some more obscure individual, on whom their barbarous fanaticism might have exercised their impious rites with impunity? bah! why waste time by pursuing the ridiculous absurdities of these suppositions any further? then, again, all the accusers, with halil said naivi at their head, were persons of low degree and disreputable character, whose testimony on any ordinary occasion would have been received with extreme caution; while the recollection of the pillaging and extortions to which the jewish families have been subjected, affords a clue to the motives which have instigated the persecutors. considerable importance has been attached to the finding of the bones, but it should be remembered that they were not discovered till twenty-five days after the disappearance of father tomasso; that the sewer where the bones were found was the common receptacle of all the filth and offal of the neighbourhood, and that considerable difference of opinion existed among the medical men by whom they were examined as to the fact of their being human bones at all; while there are strong grounds for believing in the existence of the most fraudulent collusion with reference to their discovery. in conclusion, to the reiteration of my already expressed opinion, i can merely add that i conceive the whole charge to be a base and odious calumny, unsupported by any credible testimony; a mere renewal of those disgusting persecutions which disgraced the annals of the dark ages, and one which would not for one moment be tolerated in the present day among a civilised and enlightened people. it is much to be regretted that the disturbed condition of the east at the period of your mission to alexandria prevented mohhammad ali from ordering a full and fair judicial enquiry into the whole of the proceedings of the damascus affair, as there is no doubt that the enemies of the jews will not be slow to represent the edict which mohhammad ali has accorded to your requests, as granted more through pressure of external political embarrassments than freely given as a mere matter of justice and righteous dealing; more as a political compromise of a difficult and troublesome question than as the solemn act of the government of the country, vindicating the jews from the aspersions which had been foully cast upon them, and branding with the stamp of official disapprobation those who had dared to utter them. you have, however, done all that circumstances permitted you to accomplish. in the present excited condition of these countries, your attempting to reach damascus would be highly dangerous, if not altogether impracticable; and even if you got there, i do not see how you could accomplish any good while the government is yet unsettled, and in the absence of any constituted authority to aid your efforts with the influence of the british government. "magna est veritas et prævalebit." go on and prosper in your righteous endeavours to protect the cause of innocence and truth. let us hope for better times, when the advancing tide of knowledge and civilisation will sweep away the last remains of ignorance and fanaticism, and the vindictive spirit of persecution flee at the scowl of the genius of truth. trusting you will excuse my having so long trespassed on your attention, i have the honour to be, sir, your obedient servant, charles f. a. shadwell. the evidence of two such witnesses, given in an english court of justice, would surely have been considered decisive. chapter xxix. . affairs in the east--ultimatum from the powers--gloomy prospects of the mission--negotiations with the pasha--excitement in alexandria--illness of lady montefiore. _tuesday, august th._--we called on colonel hodges, who informed us of the arrival of a turkish steamer from constantinople. he said it must have brought the ultimatum of the four great powers to the pasha; that the door of negotiation was now not only shut, but locked, and the pasha must give an immediate answer. colonel hodges advised sir moses to act in the same way as he should do; if he (colonel hodges) left alexandria, sir moses should do the same, and also go to the same place as he did. he said he expected every hour some ships belonging to the english fleet, but did not wish sir moses to mention this fact. sir moses said this interview and conversation reminded him forcibly of those he had had in with the late mr salt, english consul general in cairo, but he felt even less uneasy than he did at that time, as he did not apprehend war, though things looked serious. _wednesday, august th._--a french war steamer arrived from toulon, and returned the same afternoon to smyrna; the reports were all very black. we called on colonel hodges, but seeing he was occupied on important business, we left him. mr thorburn called, and told us that mr larkin had summoned a meeting of all the british residents at his house at one o'clock, to inform them that the four great powers had sent their ultimatum to mohhammad ali. colonel hodges warned them to limit their credits as much as possible, and to prepare for the worst. the meeting occasioned much alarm. in the afternoon sir moses and lady montefiore, with their friends, visited the turkish line of battleship _mahmudie_, under colonel reale bey, who received them most politely, and showed them over his ship. on their return they found that one of their party had been taken ill. _august th._--mr and mrs tibaldi called, and sir moses and lady montefiore accompanied them to a small palace near the pasha's, where they were introduced to sa'eed bey, mohhammad ali's son, a very chatty and good-tempered young man about eighteen years of age. he understood english and spoke french well. he conversed about his studies, his horses, &c., and had his favourite grey led under the window where the party were assembled. mr thurburn was present. they afterwards went over the pasha's palace, were much pleased with the building, and admired the elegance with which it was furnished. in the evening monsieur and madame laurin, monsieur and madame crémieux, captain lyons, captain austin, and mr thurburn dined with us. they told sir moses that the count de walewski, a natural son of napoleon, had arrived from france, and it was confidently stated that he brought offers of men, money, and ships from the king of the french to the pasha. the news was credited in the town, and it was therefore supposed that the pasha would not accept the ultimatum of the powers, and a general war in europe as well as in the east would be the consequence. sir moses did not believe that this would be the case, but thought the affair would be arranged satisfactorily. the pasha had ten days to consider his answer, and by that time sir moses hoped to be at damascus. _august th._--sir moses called on colonel hodges, who gave him mr werry's reply to the enquiries respecting the unfortunate jews at damascus; the colonel also showed him a letter from beyrout, dated the th inst., from which it appeared that the insurrection in syria had not been entirely put down; and he advised sir moses not to venture just then to damascus, as our situation there might be very perilous, in the event of the pasha's not agreeing to the ultimatum of the powers. in the evening we attended the european synagogue, which was beautifully illuminated, while the floor was thickly strewn with flowers. the building was crowded, and the utmost decorum prevailed during the service. subsequently the representatives of the community were invited to join our dinner party, on which occasion many excellent speeches, in various oriental and european languages, were made, referring principally to the object of our mission. _august th._--we selected the synagogue of the natives for attending divine service on this day. the heat there was very great and oppressive, but the devotion of the congregation and the mode of chanting the prayers afforded us much satisfaction. between two and three sir moses called on colonel hodges to express his extreme regret that mr werry had done so little towards improving the condition of the unhappy men at damascus, and to request him to write to the consul, which the colonel promised to do. the sabbath did not prevent sir moses from attending to the object of his mission, as in a case like this, where life and death are at stake, exertion and work are considered permissible. colonel hodges said that the pasha would give us no answer till the political question was settled. monsieur de wagner, the prussian consul-general, was present and confirmed this. both advised sir moses not to venture on a journey to damascus while affairs were in such a serious state. syria was in open rebellion, and in damascus he would only be looked upon as a jew coming to screen the guilt of his brethren, while the fanaticism of the christian populace of that place was so great, that he would certainly be murdered. both colonel hodges and the prussian consul said that the pasha would refuse the ultimatum, and war was inevitable. sir moses returned home, very unhappy on account of the nine unfortunate prisoners at damascus, but determined to do everything in his power, and to go to the palace after sabbath. at seven he proceeded to the pasha's residence, accompanied by monsieur crémieux and the members of the mission. his highness received us kindly, but said he was so much engaged with affairs of high importance, that he could not give us an answer then. sir moses urged him strongly, in the cause of humanity, to give his decision, as there were nine prisoners; he replied that he had given orders for their being well treated, and he would send a letter to sir moses next day to the same effect. sir moses then asked pardon for the trouble he had given him, but the pasha said, on the contrary he ought rather to apologise to sir moses. mr s. briggs, who was present at the audience, very frequently added kind words, which appeared to influence the pasha. we took leave much dispirited; but scarcely had we returned to our hotel, when mr briggs came, and informed sir moses that the pasha had given him more than half a promise that he would liberate all the prisoners, declaring at the same time his entire belief in their innocence of the murder, and of the other charges made against them. _august th._--having prepared with great care the document proposed by mr briggs for the approval and signature of the pasha, sir moses took it to mr briggs. the petition had been drawn up in strict accordance with what mr briggs said his highness would agree to. on his return he sent for monsieur crémieux, so that his signature might also be attached to it. mr and mrs briggs then called, and sir moses gave them the document for the pasha. in the evening mr briggs called again, and informed us that he had seen the pasha, to whom the paper had been explained, but he had declined to grant the request it contained, saying that there was so much excitement on the subject that he could not determine; he appeared, however, willing to allow the prisoners their freedom, and so end the matter. mr briggs had afterwards spoken with the secretary, who took the paper, said he would alter it, and show it him the next day. "the fact is," said sir moses, "they wish the atrocious transaction to be hushed up, but i will never consent to that." in the morning we went to the austrian consul to obtain from him the names of all the prisoners, as well as a list of those who had already fallen victims to the outrageous tyranny of sheriff pasha and of the french consul rattimenton. monsieur laurin informed us that the four ambassadors had arrived from constantinople with the ultimatum, and would visit the pasha. _monday, august th._--sir moses called on mr briggs, and gave him copies of several bulls of the pope, with some letters and smyrna papers; also a list of merchants at damascus, with their supposed amount of capital. mr briggs promised he would see the pasha in the evening, but his manner of speaking was much less sanguine of success. on the same day dr madden and mr wire left us for a trip to cairo and the pyramids. sir moses writes: "i would gladly have accompanied them with my dear wife and dr loewe, as i am sure it would have been most beneficial to our health, but it did not appear to me right to leave my post, even for an hour." _august th._--mr briggs went in the morning to the pasha. colonel hodges informed sir moses (confidentially) that three of his highness' transport ships, with provisions and arms, had left the harbour for syria, and that he (colonel hodges) had sent the _gorgon_ to bring them back. they were not to be allowed to land on the coast; if they refused they were to be compelled to return, and if force was used they were to be sent to malta. when this was accomplished, notice would be given to the pasha that none of his war-ships would be allowed to leave the harbour. nothing could be more warlike than the momentary aspect of affairs. the pasha sent mr briggs and one of his secretaries to sir moses with a copy of a despatch he had received from sheriff pasha, of damascus, giving an account of the manner in which prisoners were treated by him. of course it was stated to be most lenient, and it was denied that tortures had been used. monsieur cochelet made the following proposal to monsieur crémieux for the solution of the damascus difficulty:-- that the pasha was to declare that the jews who had died had committed the murder from motives of private vengeance, but that the nine jews still in prison were innocent, and were to be set at liberty. the pasha would also publish his opinion that there was nothing in the jewish religion or writings that in any way sanctioned the shedding of blood for the passover. sir moses told monsieur crémieux that it was impossible for him to consent to such an arrangement. he never would allow that any jew committed the murder of father tommaso and his servant, either from vengeance or any other motive; were he base enough to admit such a thing, its effect would be most mischievous, for in every part of the world it would be said that the jews were guilty, and the same awful charges would be brought against them over and over again. this proposal of monsieur cochelet caused a most painful sensation in the heart of every member of the mission; but, from a man whose official position compelled him to justify the proceedings of rattimenton, a different suggestion could scarcely have been anticipated. _august th._--all this anxiety preyed so much on the minds of sir moses and lady montefiore that their health was greatly affected by it, and lady montefiore became so ill that the immediate attendance of a physician was required. the weather, also, was extremely close and oppressive, which greatly aggravated the discomfort of both. monsieur crémieux called, and brought the news that the british fleet, with albanian troops which they intended landing, was off beyrout. he requested sir moses not to go to the pasha, as monsieur cochelet did not deem it prudent; but sir moses did not feel justified in making a promise to that effect, and explained to monsieur crémieux, as his reason, that it would not be advisable to adopt any suggestion made to the latter by monsieur cochelet. the town had been in a state of great consternation all day, and most warlike reports were spreading everywhere. nevertheless sir moses would not agree to the proposal which had been made by monsieur cochelet. _august th._--lady montefiore felt somewhat better, and the doctor entertained hopes of her speedy recovery. early in the morning sir moses called on colonel hodges, and remained with him fully two hours. captains napier and walker were off the coast of syria with six thousand albanians, and had summoned beyrout. a serious occurrence took place in the forenoon, which added greatly to the already troubled state of the town. the dutch vice-consul, whose horse had accidentally kicked one of the national guards, was immediately set upon by the mob and grossly ill-treated. it was with great difficulty that some of the officers rescued him from being murdered. two large austrian frigates anchored near the _bellerophon_, and the _cyclops_ took soundings outside the harbour. mr briggs called to inform sir moses that he was going to england in three days. he brought a paper which he had drawn up, similar to that which sir moses had given him for the pasha's signature, but not couched in such strong terms. he wished sir moses to see it, and he would then take it to the pasha, and endeavour to procure his consent to it. sir moses sent for monsieur crémieux to approve it, and then returned it to mr briggs, who promised to speak to the pasha either the same evening or the next evening. _august st._--lady montefiore continued poorly, and dr laidlow advised our removing to the nile. sir moses was also unwell, and the uncertain state of politics did not afford any consolation; every person we saw had alarm depicted on his countenance. monsieur crémieux spoke of leaving on the following tuesday for athens or constantinople in the french steamer. sir moses wrote to mr wire and doctor madden, begging them to hasten their return. mr briggs called to say that he feared the pasha would do nothing against the wishes of monsieur cochelet. mr galloway and mr tibaldi also paid us a visit, both much out of spirits. sir moses said he would not move till dr madden and mr wire returned, unless colonel hodges left, in which case he almost feared he would be compelled to do so. the weather was dreadfully oppressive; the sickly season had commenced, and fever was prevalent. we attended divine service in the evening, and afterwards monsieur and madame crémieux dined with us. monsieur crémieux told sir moses that clot bey had introduced him to the pasha in the garden, and that he (monsieur crémieux) had made a speech to the pasha, wishing him success with egypt and syria, but had _not referred to the mission_. _saturday, august nd._--lady montefiore continued ill, and too weak to leave the house. at seven o'clock in the morning we repaired to the synagogue where we attended service. a large and devout congregation was assembled. on our return mr larkins, the english consul, called. he had just left the pasha, with whom he had been conversing for more than an hour on the subject of our mission. he had read to his highness the letters he had received from england from colonel campbell, mr thurburn, and dr bowring, all entreating him, in his own interest, to grant our request, that he might stand well in the opinion of europe. they also assured him that the affair had caused a great sensation in england; but mr larkins said that the pasha remained firm, and declared it was impossible for him to do anything in the business just then. mr briggs also spoke to the pasha, but without success. he gave the papers we had prepared for the pasha's signature to khosrev, the principal interpreter at the palace, so that he should be fully acquainted with the contents. mr larkins told the pasha that sir moses intended coming for his answer in the evening. in reply to his application for a simple "firman" to go to damascus, the pasha said that syria was in too disturbed a state to permit of his travelling there with security. in the evening, after the conclusion of sabbath, as we were setting out for the palace, sir moses received a note from mr briggs, enclosing one from khosrev, requesting sir moses to defer the visit to his highness, as it was a most unfavourable moment. affairs appeared decidedly alarming, and the english fleet was expected every moment with admiral stopford. captain austen of the _bellerophon_ and captain austen of the _cyclops_ both called on sir moses, and most kindly offered to receive us on board their ships in the event of our being obliged to leave alexandria for safety. the pasha was making great preparations for war, including new batteries and arrangements for the better armament of the fleet. it was rumoured that he intended leaving alexandria in a few days. _august rd._--lady montefiore passed a very bad night, and her illness caused sir moses much anxiety. the doctor came twice during the day. in the evening he found her less feverish, and reported more favourably upon her state of health generally. he advised her to change her bedroom, which appeared damp, and might have caused the fever. madame crémieux came to tell us that she intended spending the day in the country, and talked of visiting cairo as soon as the french boat arrived. colonel hodges, mr bell, mr and mrs briggs, and mr stephens also called. the latter informed us that it was generally believed that the pasha had agreed to leave the settlement of the whole question to the king of the french. it was also stated that monsieur guizot was to have an audience with his majesty on the th inst., and the result would be known in alexandria on the following tuesday. it was thought that the troops in syria would probably be influenced by the sultan's money, as they had not received any pay for the last eleven months. the english admiral with the fleet was expected to arrive on the following day. monsieur crémieux called, and we agreed to send a letter to the pasha, soliciting him to set at liberty the unfortunate jews at damascus. monsieur laurin, the austrian consul, promised to call upon all the other consuls, and, if possible, prevail on them to sign a recommendation to the pasha to grant our request. sir moses did not think he would succeed with monsieur cochelet or the sardinian consul. mr briggs announced his intention of going to the former with the original document that we prepared for the pasha, and of using his influence to remove monsieur cochelet's hostility. _august th._--dr laidlaw found lady montefiore rather better and tolerably free from fever. chapter xxx. . the english government and the pasha--mohhammad ali and the slaves--the pasha promises to release the damascus prisoners--he grants them an "honourable" liberation. the french steamer from marseilles arrived; our letters from london gave confident hopes of peace being preserved. the ministry was stronger than ever, being supported by both whigs and tories. there would be no half measures, and the pasha would be obliged to submit. baron charles de rothschild wrote from naples, that lord palmerston had made a pacific speech on the th, and amicable relations would be preserved with france. baron charles enclosed a letter of introduction to the neapolitan consul for sir moses. we immediately went there to present the same, and had a very long conversation with him. he knew all about the damascus affair, and the painful reports of sheriff pasha. he told us that the latter was an adopted son of mohhammad ali, who had had him educated with his own children. sheriff pasha's own father had been an officer, and was killed in battle when he (sheriff) was only four months old. the consul observed that the trial of the jews had been conducted according to turkish law, and any interference would be improper. he had sent all the accounts to his government. he considered the business had been badly managed by the consuls, but he could not sign any paper, as it would do no good with the pasha. on the same day we received a letter from constantinople, enclosing a firman from the sublime porte in favour of the deputation of the jews; from the grand vizier to mohhammad ali, and to the governor of the island of rhodes. we called on colonel hodges and monsieur laurin, who had both signed the petition which sir moses and monsieur crémieux had prepared on the preceding evening. the consuls of the four powers signed it very readily, but monsieur de wagner called on sir moses and recommended his not presenting it to the pasha, as it would do no good unless signed by monsieur cochelet. it is impossible to describe the distress of sir moses as he became more and more convinced that, with a few exceptions, every one in the place, great and small, was opposed to the object of his mission. dr madden and mr wire returned from cairo, and admiral stopford arrived with part of the fleet. sir moses thought we should be obliged to leave very shortly. _august th._--lady montefiore continued to mend, but was not sufficiently recovered to venture out. sir moses went at an early hour to monsieur crémieux, and requested him not to part with the petition bearing both their signatures. the rest of the day we were engaged in preparing letters and reports for the london committee. mr charles allison called and reported that the aspect of affairs was less warlike, but there appeared no doubt of the pasha's refusal. we were only to have a military blockade of the port and the coast of syria, and all merchants would be allowed to pass freely. this sort of blockade would cause but little annoyance, and the pasha would no doubt laugh at the english and their allies. at eight o'clock the following morning the consuls of the four powers were to wait on mohhammad ali for his answer. _august th._--lady montefiore was much better and able to leave her room. while we were at breakfast, mr briggs called and took leave of us. he expressed great regret that his endeavours with the pasha on behalf of the damascus prisoners had failed. afterwards sir moses visited the slave-market, accompanied by dr madden, as he was desirous of learning how far the present state of the market corresponded to the humane act of the pasha in abolishing slavery. during the first interview which sir moses had had with mohhammad ali, the latter had spoken for a considerable time on the subject, and appeared much pleased with the address of thanks presented to him by dr madden from the london society for the abolition of the slave trade. the conversation led sir moses to hope that a heart which could be thus moved by humane sentiments, would surely not sanction such tortures and sufferings as the damascus prisoners had been made to endure. at the slave-market, sir moses found about one hundred slaves, mostly girls and boys; he noticed a few women among them, but no men. the price of the girls was piastres (£ ), and of the boys, or £ . there were two albanian women for whom they asked or piastres (£ to £ ). the girls appeared to be well treated and contented with their situation, but not so the boys. he observed two boys weeping most bitterly, and on enquiring the cause, he heard that the children had been brought from nubia together, that they were most likely brothers, much attached to each other, and one had just been sold. he spoke to the man who had purchased the youth, and he said he had paid piastres. the master took the lad away, and in all probability the boys never saw each other again. "oh! the horrors of slavery!" exclaimed sir moses, and added, "perhaps mohhammad ali may not be aware of what we have seen, else he could not conscientiously have spoken as he did, and evinced such pleasure in the vote of thanks which the london society would certainly not have sent had they known the true state of affairs." sir moses returned home much depressed by what he had witnessed. there was nothing new in politics, but two english men-of-war had left for the east. _august th._--about nine o'clock in the morning sir moses received a letter from monsieur crémieux, informing him that he had started for cairo. sir moses, who felt himself in duty bound not to quit his post for fear of injuring his cause, determined, notwithstanding the disheartening state of politics, to go to the pasha and ask for an answer to the petition that he had presented on the day after his arrival. at two o'clock we went to the palace. we were shown into the audience hall, and a beautiful pipe was handed to sir moses. about twenty minutes afterwards we heard that the pasha was leaving his room for the hall of audience. on sir moses going to the door, the pasha smiled and beckoned him to follow him. sir moses did so, and the pasha motioned him to be seated. sir moses then informed his highness that he came for an answer to the paper which he had presented at his first interview. mohhammad ali replied that he would release all the prisoners, upon which, sir moses said his desire was to have the guilty punished, and requested therefore a "firman" to go to damascus. the pasha said he had better not go there, as that place was in a very excited condition; the country was disturbed and politics unsettled. sir moses agreed to postpone his journey for a short time, but begged for the firman, that he might proceed there as soon as things changed, and the pasha then promised to give it him. sir moses further petitioned for permission for the jews who had fled to return to damascus, and the pasha granted his request. finally sir moses requested mohhammad ali to give him a copy of his letter to the governor of damascus. his highness promised to send it to him with the firman, and desired him to write to his co-religionists at damascus, and he (the pasha) would send the letter by his post, by which means they would receive it in five days. "thanks to heaven," sir moses said, "the mission has gained something; the lives of nine innocent persons are thus preserved." sir moses wrote immediately to monsieur crémieux, and mr galloway sent a man off with it to cairo. he also sent for messrs sonino, valencen, and toria, and the spiritual head of the hebrew community, to acquaint them with the good news, enjoining them at the same time to keep it secret till the papers arrived from the pasha. sir moses then prepared for sabbath, and attended divine service in the european synagogue. subsequently went to the palace for a copy of the letter to the governor of damascus, but we had to wait there several hours, as the ambassador from constantinople and the consuls of the four great powers were with the pasha. they remained with him some time, and on their withdrawal, the capudan basha had an interview with his highness, lasting fully two hours; then the french consul came and also stopped a couple of hours, so that it became very late. on our enquiring whether we should still wait, monsieur boufort told me to come the following morning, when i should be able to take with me the firman enabling us to go to damascus, and a copy of the order for the governor at that place. it was after ten o'clock when we returned to our hotel, at which hour monsieur crémieux also came. _august th._--in the morning we attended divine service. seeing monsieur crémieux and monsieur munk there, sir moses desired me to invite the latter to accompany me to the palace. on our arrival there we went to the room of negib effendi (one of the chief secretaries of the pasha), to order several copies of the firman and the letter to the governor of damascus. on perusing a copy of the original, we noticed the word "afoo" (pardon), and pointed it out to negib effendi. i told him that sir moses would never be satisfied with such an expression, as the jews could not for one moment be considered guilty, according to the proceedings which had taken place at damascus. negib effendi and another secretary, who happened to be present at the time, entered into an argument with me on the subject, maintaining their idea that the word in question might be used and understood without absolutely conveying the meaning of "_pardon_." nevertheless, i insisted on the necessity of removing that word altogether. as i could not leave the palace, i requested monsieur munk, who had with him an arabic translation of the turkish order, to go and inform sir moses and monsieur crémieux that it was desirable they should immediately tell the pasha that they could not sanction the introduction of a word so grossly misrepresenting the truth, and request him to substitute a word which would correctly convey his sentiments. monsieur munk went at once to monsieur crémieux, but apparently forgot to call on sir moses. monsieur crémieux, being probably anxious to see the misleading word removed as soon as possible, came at once to the palace, without informing sir moses of what had occurred. the pasha, without the least hesitation, immediately ordered that the word "afoo" should be taken out, and the words "itlak ve tervîhh," signifying "an honourable liberation," substituted (literally an order for their liberation, and for procuring them peace). on my return from the palace i acquainted sir moses with what had taken place, and he expressed much regret at not having being informed of it in time. he said, "had i known it, i should have been most indignant with the pasha for inserting the word, it being in complete opposition to my request, as i would never, for an instant, admit any guilt, either of the living or the dead." he went again to the pasha, and his highness told him that he had given the order to remove the objectionable word. the neapolitan consul and his wife, and monsieur laurin came to offer their congratulations. _august th._--we hastily sent despatches to london and other places, and on the following day a letter of thanks to his highness the pasha was signed by sir moses and monsieur crémieux. wishing to do all the good in their power, they added to the letter a petition in which they entreated him to abolish the use of torture in his dominions. in the morning, admiral sir robert stopford came on shore, and went immediately to colonel hodges. sir moses went to see the admiral, who gave him a very kind reception. about three o'clock the pasha sent a strong body of horse guards in full uniform, accompanied by a capital military band, to attend the admiral. it was a handsome compliment on the part of mohhammad ali, but the admiral declined it, and they soon returned. about four o'clock sir robert stopford and his suite, the austrian admiral and his suite, with the english and austrian consuls, proceeded to the palace to pay their respects to the pasha. the pasha's carriage with four horses had been placed at their service, as well as boghoz bey's carriage and that of mr anastasia. they were preceded by sixteen janissaries, the two captains austen, and many others on horseback. they were absent about an hour. admiral rifaat bey gave the "four combined powers," and colonel hodges, the "five powers," meaning that he included the sublime porte. after dinner, admiral stopford inquired whether sir moses intended going to damascus, and said he would send a brig with us. sir moses replied that he wished to wait till thursday, when he would inform sir robert of his plan of action. the two admirals and the english and austrian consuls were to dine with the pasha on the following day. sir moses, accompanied by mr alison, then paid visits to rifaat bey, sáeed bey, and colonel hodges. on his return he found that the austrian admiral (contre-amiral baron baudiera), the austrian consul, and mr andrew doyle, had called. mr galloway informed sir moses that sáeed bey had obtained the permission of his father, mohhammad ali, to dine with him any day he liked. sir moses thereupon invited him for thursday, september rd, and also sent invitations to admiral stopford, the austrian admiral, and others. the day's reports led sir moses to believe that the pasha would refuse to give an answer to the four powers on saturday. the admiral would do nothing without further orders from home, and it was sir moses' opinion that the pasha would laugh at them all, and most probably succeed at last, or involve europe in war. _september nd._--during the morning we were occupied in examining numerous papers and documents referring to the mission, while lady montefiore amused herself by taking daguerreotype views of cleopatra's needle. _september rd._--sir moses went this morning on board the turkish steamer, _bird-of-the-sea_, rifaat bey having invited him to a _déjeuner_ he was giving to admiral stopford and sáeed bey on board that vessel. the guests included captains fisher and austin, colonel hodges, count medem, monsieur de wagner, monsieur laurin, mr alison, mr stoddard, and others. the wind was so high that the admiral could scarcely get to the ship. while they were at breakfast sáeed bey invited admiral stopford and sir moses to go over his corvette. the latter, with captains fisher and austin and colonel hodges, accompanied the admiral in his boat after they had taken leave of rifaat bey, and all went on board the corvette. sáeed bey received the party in a distinguished manner; he took them over the vessel, and made his men go through their exercises with great guns and small arms. sir moses then landed with the admiral, and drove him to colonel hodges. _september th._--the french papers continued very warlike, and great demonstrations had been made in france. sir moses and monsieur crémieux decided that we should go next evening to present the letter they had prepared to the pasha. should the english consul leave egypt, sir moses thought that it would be useless for us to remain there any longer. dr madden informed sir moses that he would be obliged to leave us on the following monday. _september th._--we called on colonel hodges, and saw admiral stopford; the latter supposed our going to damascus was out of the question. sir moses told him that he should remain a short time longer at alexandria, unless the british consul left, in which case we should leave also. rifaat bey (conseilleur d'etat au département de l'intérieur) paid us a visit previous to his departure; also mr charles alison, attaché to her britannic majesty's embassy at constantinople; also captain austen and lieutenant ralph, r.n. mr alison had been present at the interview with the pasha's minister. the pasha being ill, could not see the four ministers, but had sent his answer. "he accepted the sovereignty of egypt, and would petition the sultan for syria." this was virtually a refusal, but the consuls did not intend striking their flags. the admiral went on board this morning. at five we walked in the square and met colonel hodges. from his conversation he expected the pasha would order them to quit egypt in about a week. he told sir moses the admiral had left him the _cyclops_, and that he was going in her, on the following monday, to beyrout. _september th._--we called on colonel hodges. sir moses told him that he had determined to leave as soon as the colonel should do so. colonel hodges said he was going on the following day for a few days to beyrout, but assured sir moses he need be under no apprehensions; there would be no hostilities till the admiral received orders from england, which he did not expect for another fortnight; and that if he (colonel hodges) should be obliged to leave, he would give sir moses timely notice, and both he and lady montefiore should go with him in his vessel. from his manner of speaking, we gathered that he expected an outbreak in syria, but no direct attack on the part of the english; admiral stopford had told him that we were by no means prepared; the ministers had been much deceived. the letter to the pasha could not be presented that day. _september th._--we met colonel hodges; he told us that the pasha had seized £ in bullion, british property, and if it was not given up to-morrow morning, he would strike his flag and go on board ship. he told sir moses that he must be prepared to leave at a moment's notice, and that he had spoken to captain fisher of the _asia_, who had kindly promised to take us in his ships in the event of our being obliged to leave. chapter xxxi. . interview with the pasha--liberation of the jews of damascus--public rejoicings and thanksgiving--departure of sir moses for constantinople. we arranged with monsieur crémieux to go to-morrow to the pasha and present our letter. _september th._--we drove this morning to mohharem bey's garden, where the pasha is staying. we found him in the garden, with his admiral, also anastasi, the turkish consul, and mr tibaldi. he desired us to be seated. sir moses then said to him, "we come to offer to your highness our thanks," and presented to him the letter, to which we had added the request to abolish the use of torture. there was a turkish translation affixed to the letter. the pasha gave the letter to one of his officers, who put it in his pocket; but on sir moses expressing a desire that the pasha should have it read, he took it himself and appeared to read several lines, when one of his secretaries came and read the whole to him. we remained some moments in silence. mr tibaldi then told sir moses that the pasha had been pleased to give him a granite column from the ancient temple of serapis in alexandria. sir moses thanked his highness in suitable terms. after waiting some time in silence, the pasha having twice looked at his watch, we took our leave without having uttered a single sentence on the principal subject of our visit. sir moses was much out of spirits. on our return we went to colonel hodges, who said that boghoz bey had refused to give up the bullion seized on the previous day, but added that he should go himself to the pasha, and if it was not restored in twenty-four hours, he would strike his flag and go on board the _asia_, and would take sir moses and lady montefiore with him. sir moses hoped the pasha would not hasten his ruin by his rashness. colonel hodges replied that he was already ruined; he had been declared a rebel by the sultan; another pasha had been appointed for egypt and one for syria; and the russian fleet with the russian troops was already moving. this news the colonel had received from constantinople. sir moses begged him, should any vessel be going to that city, to procure a passage for us; this he promised to do. sir moses was now anxious to leave egypt, thinking he could do no more good there. _september th._--monsieur crémieux came in the morning to ascertain sir moses' intentions, as he wished to go on the following monday to cairo, and should sir moses decide to remain in egypt, he would go to thebes. sir moses suggested taking three days' time for consideration. _september th._--we called on colonel hodges. the pasha had not yet given up the bullion; the colonel said he should write to him the same evening at five, and send at eight the next day for an answer, and should tell him that unless he received satisfaction he should strike his flag and embark, leaving the english under the protection of the dutch consul. colonel hodges had already sent on board several camel-loads of books, papers, &c. sir moses felt confident that the colonel would soon follow, whether the pasha gave up the money or not, and believed the best thing for us to do would be to go by the next french packet, which would leave alexandria on the th, pass the quarantine at syra, and afterwards proceed to constantinople, thank the sultan for all he had done in the affair of rhodes, and then, should the state of syra permit, go to damascus, and failing this, to return _viâ_ vienna to england. _september th._--again visited colonel hodges. he still talked of embarking, but advised us to wait for the french steamers, and if it should still be our intention to visit damascus before leaving the east, he would recommend our making quarantine at syra, thence to proceed to constantinople, and await events. "it would be madness," he added, "to go now to damascus. i will hold myself responsible for the advice i now give." _saturday, september th._--attended divine service, afterwards called on the spiritual head of the congregation, who showed us his large and valuable library. later in the day sir moses and lady montefiore received many visitors: two gentlemen from salonica especially interested them in their accounts of communal matters in that city. they informed us that there were about five thousand jewish families, and they possessed thirty-six synagogues, and fifty-six colleges for the study of hebrew and theological literature, and over one thousand gentlemen were distinguished for their knowledge of hebrew. they had suffered greatly by the fire which had broken out (in the previous year) in their city, and had destroyed over two thousand houses belonging to the jews. our dinner party on that day included colonel hodges, monsieur laurin, captain and mrs lyons, mr paton, mr stoddart, mr drummond hay, and monsieur and madame crémieux. colonel hodges said he had given the pasha time till monday at twelve o'clock for his reply, failing to receive which he would strike his flag. sir moses informed monsieur crémieux that he felt convinced of the impossibility of obtaining anything more from the pasha, owing to the present serious state of politics. the consuls, he said, were making every preparation for leaving alexandria, and as our proceeding to damascus at that time was considered to be not only a most rash and unwarrantable act, but almost an impossibility, he was of opinion that we should proceed to constantinople, and there await a favourable change in politics. should damascus hereafter belong to the sultan, then to request from him the same justice for the jews of that city as he had afforded to those of rhodes, but if damascus continued under the pasha, then we should be forced to return to egypt and thence to damascus, and should then, if politics still continued unsettled, return to europe. monsieur crémieux agreed with sir moses, and said he would go to constantinople, but first to cairo. he then proposed to sir moses to build an hospital for the jews in cairo, as he (monsieur crémieux) intended building a house there for school purposes, having in hand one thousand ducats from the baroness de rothschild in paris for that purpose. sir moses, however, did not feel justified in spending large sums in egypt. "were it for the holy land," he said, "i should be delighted to establish both hospital and school." _september th._--it was reported that st jean d'acre was being bombarded by the english fleet; everything looked most threatening. we met colonel hodges, who was hourly expecting to receive orders from constantinople to quit egypt. a russian and an austrian ship of war had arrived. the french steamer due that morning had not arrived; they said it had been detained at syra for the mail from constantinople. _september th._--we were caused much anxiety by the absence of any account from damascus, and by hearing that mohhammad ali had had a despatch from sherif pasha, stating that he had received his highness' orders for the liberation of the jews, but without further notice of it. monsieur cochelet, we were told, had had a letter from rattimenton, violently exclaiming against the viceroy's order, by which he had been compromised, adding that he had warmly protested to sherif pasha against his complying with his highness' order. but soon after this, writes sir moses, "thanks to heaven, this day has happily put an end to our fears for the delay of the execution of the pasha's firman. we have received letters that all the jews were liberated on the th inst, in the most gracious manner, by sherif pasha, to the great joy, not only of the jews of damascus, but also of all the mussulmans of that city. the unfortunate men were accompanied by bands of music, and thousands of persons, jews and moslems. they first went to synagogue to return thanks for their delivery, and then to their respective dwellings. all the distinguished mussulman merchants paid them visits of congratulation, expressing their firm belief in their innocence. the christians maintained silence, denoting thereby their dissatisfaction at the justice of the pasha. the blood of the four unhappy men who have died under torture has not been sufficient to satisfy these people. the suffering of the jews appears to have been unbounded, as is their gratitude to god for their deliverance." the copy of the pasha's order, which we sent by a courier with our letters to the prisoners, had not arrived on the th when the mail left. we were all anxious for news from the unfortunate men themselves, but as we knew that all were at liberty, sir moses considered that no further good could be achieved by remaining in egypt. syria was in a state of revolt, and the post between beyrout and damascus closed. the british consul, with all the other european consuls, excepting the french, had left beyrout, and were on board the ships of war. commodore napier had given notice that he should bombard the town on the following day. monsieur cochelet, we were told, had heard accounts of several thousand men having been landed from the fleet between beyrout and sidon; no action had, however, as yet taken place. sulieman pasha had declared he would destroy beyrout, though he should be compelled to withdraw his troops. _september th._--sir moses writes in his diary: "i sent to monsieur crémieux, but he and madame crémieux, with monsieur munk and signor morpurgo, had already left for cairo. mr wire, dr loewe, and i went to mohhammad bey's palace. he is the son-in-law of mohhammad ali. we entered the garden. as soon as the pasha saw us he beckoned me to approach him. he was seated in a kiosk. boufort, the interpreter, was translating to him one of galignani's papers. on our entering the kiosk, he motioned me to be seated. i took my seat opposite him, dr loewe next to me, and mr wire next to the doctor. i informed the pasha that we had received letters from damascus, and that, agreeably to his orders, the jews had been honourably liberated by sherif pasha on saturday, september th. the mussulman population had expressed much joy on the occasion. they had accompanied the unfortunate men, when liberated, to the synagogue, and the jews had thrown themselves on the ground before the holy ark, blessing the god of israel for their deliverance from the hands of their persecutors, and praying for the happiness of his highness, whose justice and humanity had restored them with honour to liberty. i also told the pasha how they had been visited and congratulated by all the mussulmans of damascus, who confidently believed in their innocence. mohhammad ali replied he was glad to hear it, and informed me that he had received letters from sherif pasha with the same intelligence, and also that that jews who had fled from the city had returned. this we did not know. i expressed much gratitude to his highness for his humanity, and entreated him to protect my brethren in his dominion. i also said that as it was impossible for me to go to damascus at present, i intended returning to europe, and therefore begged to take leave of his highness; but before doing so i hoped he would allow me to speak a few words in favour of the poor jews who had suffered by pillage at safed, and that he would graciously make them compensation. he replied he would see; he would do it. i again repeated my thanks, and rose to leave, but he motioned me to remain. in a few moments he beckoned me to come quite close to him, which i did. he then said that he frequently gave orders for ships, guns, and other things to be sent from england, that six months elapsed before they were ready to be shipped, and that as i was going there he would like to make some arrangement with me to guarantee the parties, and said that i should always have the money before the things were shipped. he repeated several times that he did not desire that i should ever be in advance, as he would always send the money beforehand. he did not wish the arrangement to take place immediately, but as soon as affairs were settled. i told his highness that i would consult with my friends in england, and would write to him as soon as i got back to london; he expressed his satisfaction, and we retired. "i have omitted to notice that i gave mohhammad ali a copy of dr hirschel's letter to me, respecting the charge brought against the jews of using blood in their religious ceremonies. i gave him copies of the same in turkish and french; he looked at them, and promised to read them. "we then went to the palace of sáeed bey. mr thurburn was with him. 'excellency,' i said, 'i have come to take leave of you previous to my return to europe,' and repeated to him all the accounts we had from damascus. he was very civil to us, and invited us to take wine and coffee, but, being much pressed for time, we declined. i said i hoped to see him in london. he replied that as soon as affairs were settled he should travel, and would certainly pay us a visit. we then took leave of count medem, the russian consul. he congratulated me on the success of our mission, having attained all that was possible in the present unfortunate state of affairs. i told him i was most anxious to visit damascus, to trace the whole transaction respecting the charges against the jews. he said it was quite impossible to go just now, the country was in revolt; beyrout was threatened with bombardment, and all accommodation for travellers stopped. "we next went to monsieur de wagner, the prussian consul (who expressed the same opinion), and to colonel hodges and monsieur laurin, expressing to both our sincere thanks for what they had done in favour of the jews in damascus, safed, and the holy land in general." _september th._--we embarked in one of the pasha's large boats, being escorted to the water side by three janissaries, and were safely on board the _leonidas_ at p.m. _september th._--we are detained in the harbour for despatches. mr reinlin, the dutch vice consul, came on board with letters. he went with me into our berth, and informed me that news had been received last night from beyrout; the english had entirely destroyed that town, and had landed two thousand english and four thousand turks. the french consul had taken a house in a garden about a mile out of town, with the french flag flying on it, nevertheless four cannon balls had struck the house. ibrahim pasha was at beyrout, and suleiman pasha was in the neighbourhood. at a.m., the anchor being weighed, we started, and were soon safely out of the port. "then," sir moses writes in his diary, "we sang the 'song of moses,' and with joy and thanks, left the land of egypt." _september st._--after eighty hours at sea, with a strong north wind, we arrived at five in the morning at syra. the captain and the surgeon went on shore with letters and despatches; they soon returned. when a boat with the health officers came alongside, we learned to our great dismay that we had a man dangerously ill on board. the officers insisted on seeing him. the poor man was carried on deck with much difficulty; they asked him many questions, but he was so weak that he could scarcely answer. the officers then left us, to make their report to their superior; they did not know whether we should be allowed to go that night into the lazaretto. this was a serious matter, as the _leonidas_ was to start at twelve for alexandria. our ship was soon surrounded with boats, occupied by turks, male and female, with their luggage, who had secured their berths for alexandria. the captain would not allow them or their luggage to be received on board till he had got rid of those he had brought with him. the noise and confusion that arose in consequence were dreadful. it was nearly nine o'clock when permission arrived for our leaving the ship for the lazaretto; the captain put us in his long boat. it was blowing hard, the sea was rough, and the night very dark. sir moses was dreadfully uneasy, but there was no choice. we all went in the same boat, which was long and narrow. it was half-an-hour before we reached the landing place, and it was not without great difficulty that we scrambled up the rocks in the dark. on getting into the lazaretto we found that the guardian and officers had left for the night, and there were but two miserably dark rooms for the whole party. we were told to make the best we could of them for the night. all our luggage had been left at the water's edge, and there was not a soul to assist in bringing it to the lazaretto. after much time and trouble, our servants got one bedstead and mattress for sir moses and lady montefiore, and a few mattresses for the rest of our party. in our small room, more than nine of us, including a greek lady, her servant and one child, had to remain the whole night; the servants and all other passengers were obliged to manage as they could in the other room. after a night passed with little or no sleep, we rose from our weary couches. mr ralli, the son-in-law of mr wilkinson, called. he had procured us an order from the superintendent of the lazaretto, giving us the apartments set aside for noblemen. we were soon admitted to them. they were very comfortable rooms, beautifully situated, commanding a fine view of the town and port. they were quite empty, but our servants soon brought up our bedsteads and camp-stools, and we hired two or three tables, which was all we required. being informed that we might shorten our confinement by five days, if we and our servants took a bath and changed all our clothes, and had all our luggage fumigated, we readily consented. by two o'clock, all our boxes having been opened, and the contents spread over the room and hung up on lines, dishes with pots of burning sulphur were placed in each room, and the doors kept closed for half-an-hour. in the meantime we took a bath and changed every article of dress. sir moses put the whole quarantine into confusion, and compelled a repetition of the fumigating ceremony, by inadvertently putting his finger on the wrapper which contained lady montefiore's dress. this caused much vexation to all the "guardiani" and ourselves. however, the fumigation was performed once more, and by four o'clock the whole ceremony was ended. september th being the first day of the jewish new year, we all met early in the morning, and read the service appointed for the day. it was nearly twelve before we breakfasted. the afternoon we spent in reading subjects connected with hebrew literature. sir moses and lady montefiore spent a most happy day, and said they had only felt the want of their synagogue and of the society of their relatives. the physician paid us a visit on the same day, and said we might, if we pleased, go out of quarantine on the morrow. he enquired if we were all well, then desired us to strike our fists under each arm and other parts of the body. having seen this ceremony performed, he made his tour round the lazaretto. we were much amused at seeing him go through the same ceremony with more than one hundred persons, who were to leave the next day. the following day, being the ninth day of our quarantine, and having performed the "spoglio" the morning after our arrival, we could have received _pratique_ this morning; but as we were most comfortable, sir moses requested to be allowed to remain till thursday. we received the greatest kindness from all the officers of the quarantine, who came frequently to enquire if they could do anything to promote the comfort of sir moses and lady montefiore. we all quitted the lazaretto on the st of october, grateful to the almighty for permitting us to pass the ten days we spent there so pleasantly. we walked to the town, which was built round the bay, nearly opposite the lazaretto. the road was very rough, and sir moses and lady montefiore were extremely fatigued by the walk. syra was very gay; the town was thronged with well-dressed people, as the king and queen were expected that day from athens. on the wharf, which was strewn with laurel, there were some four hundred little boys and girls dressed in white with blue ribbons, some of them carrying branches of laurel, and others the greek flag. it was four o'clock when the first cannon announced the arrival of the steamboat with the king and queen on board. from terenzio house, where we were accommodated, we had a good view of them as they landed. the king was dressed in a greek uniform, and the queen in western costume. to our great disappointment, the steamer which was to take us to constantinople had not arrived, and at syra we could not even find a room to pass the night, so that we were compelled to return to the lazaretto. lady montefiore was most fatigued and poorly, and quite happy when she could throw herself on the ground with the luxury of a mattress. we received an invitation from the governor of the town to a grand ball, to be given to the king and queen. the next morning at five o'clock we were informed that the _mentor_ had not yet arrived, but about two hours later we ascertained that she had come into port in the night. we lost no time in preparing to embark, and before eight again took leave of the lazaretto, very thankful for the accommodation it had afforded us. at eight we were on board, but it was nearly twelve before we started. we expected to reach smyrna towards noon on the following day, but not to be able to land, as it would be our sabbath. we entered the harbour of smyrna on the rd october. sir moses received immediately a large number of letters and visits from the heads of the congregation and principal inhabitants, all offering their services. the dutch consul spoke much of the sad state of the jews at smyrna, and requested sir moses' intercession on their behalf. chapter xxxii. . constantinople--condition of the jewish residents--interview with rechid pasha--audience with the sultan--he grants a firman. from smyrna we went to constantinople. of our arrival in that place sir moses gives the following account:-- "_constantinople, october th._--the appearance of the city was most beautiful from the steamboat; we anchored at half-past eleven. many persons came on board to welcome us, including monsieur commundo, who had prepared one of his houses for us. lady montefiore and mr wire went there immediately. dr loewe and i, accompanied by mr nugent, a queen's messenger, who had special despatches for lord ponsonby, started for terapia, and were allowed to leave the vessel at once. it took two hours to row there, the current being very strong. on reaching terapia we went to lord ponsonby's, and found that he was out. mr nugent remained, but we returned. there was a strong wind blowing against the current, which made a heavy sea. i passed two hours in the utmost anxiety, and would gladly have landed and walked back, but it was impossible; we should not have found our way. at last we landed safely, but our troubles were not over. we had the greatest difficulty in finding monsieur commundo's house. we found two germans in a little tailor's shop, and they became our guides. i found my dear judith in a state of great anxiety on our account. it being between seven and eight before we arrived, they had sent in every direction after us; however, we sat down to a good supper, and soon forgot our troubles." the day after our arrival the spiritual heads of the hebrew communities, accompanied by several of their members, came to pay their respects to sir moses and lady montefiore, and to invite them to attend divine service in one of their synagogues on the day of atonement, which commenced the same evening, an invitation which was accepted. during the whole of the following day (the day of atonement) sir moses and lady montefiore remained in synagogue, returning in the evening at the conclusion of the service, accompanied by many members of the congregation. they were preceded by two men bearing two large wax candles, which had been lighted in the synagogue the evening before. they received a hearty welcome from their host, monsieur commundo, and, having broken their fast, soon retired to rest. _october th._--signor commundo, with his wife, two sons, and a daughter, paid us a visit in the morning. the little girl, a lovely child about seven years of age, was already engaged, as well as the two boys, aged nine and ten respectively, both handsome, intelligent lads. it reminded sir moses of what he had once found fault with when at haifa. certain allowances, however, must be made for the peculiarities of the east. turkey would certainly not yield in this respect to any remonstrances. we called on the british consul general, and in the evening sir moses received a deputation from the european hebrew community; they spoke much of the necessity for an hospital and schools. _october th._--we set off to the porte to-day, as soon as our visitors had left, with the intention of going later on to terapia to see lord ponsonby. after rowing nearly two hours and a half, we found that it would take us a full hour longer to reach our destination, and that, wind and current being both against us, we should not be able to get back before the sabbath. sir moses, therefore, gave orders to return home. _saturday, october th._--we attended divine service in a very large synagogue; all the worshippers appeared to be natives of turkey. at the conclusion of the service we accompanied the chief rabbi to his house. he was preceded by three soldiers and six attendants; on passing the guard-house we found the officer with his men in front. they saluted him with every token of respect, as did all the people in the densely-crowded streets. his house was full of people. we partook of some refreshment, and took leave. as we appeared again in the street we noticed a guard of honour walking before us, and an officer with two soldiers following in the rear. sir moses wished them to return after going a few paces, but they insisted on accompanying us to the end of the street, an honour sir moses was but little desirous of receiving. _sunday, october th._--we afterwards went into three large and handsome synagogues in the same quarter; adjoining one of these we observed three school-rooms, occupied by about boys. we entered the school, and found the boys divided into three classes, their ages varying from three to twelve. at the request of sir moses i examined two boys. they read the talmud and translated it into spanish very fluently. sir moses was much pleased. the children all appeared to belong to the poorest classes. we had much difficulty in escaping the importunities of the people; many seemed to be in very distressed circumstances. in one room, scarcely six feet square, we saw a mother and five children. _october th._--an austrian steamer arrived in the afternoon from smyrna, with an english messenger from syria. it was reported that commodore napier had concluded a treaty with the emir besheer, by which the latter had engaged to join his forces to the sultan's. napier had landed with his marines, and, assisted by the turks and the troops of the emir, was in pursuit of ibrahim pasha. many of the pasha's soldiers had joined the sultan's party. _october th._--sir moses went to lord ponsonby. having thanked him for his great assistance in the affair of the jews at rhodes and damascus, he informed him that he wished to have an audience with the sultan, to thank him for his justice to the jews, to claim his special protection for them in all his dominions, and to obtain from him a declaration similar to that made by selim the second. lord ponsonby said he would give sir moses a letter of introduction to rechid pasha, who would perhaps be able to forward his wishes. lord and lady ponsonby then begged him to fix a day to dine with them, and sir moses returned, much pleased with the interview. the next five days were spent by sir moses in making himself acquainted with the communal affairs of various congregations. being very anxious to assist them in their endeavours to introduce improvements in their method of education, he had frequent communications with their teachers and school committees. in support of his exertions, at the special request of the ecclesiastical chief and representatives of the congregation, i delivered an address in one of their large synagogues at galata, on the last day of the feast of tabernacles, the aim of which was to exhort the audience to give more attention than hitherto to the acquisition of a liberal education. _october nd._--mr george samuel, mr pisani, mr wire, and myself accompanied sir moses to an interview with rechid pasha, who received us most kindly. sir moses informed his excellency that he had come to express his thanks, and those of all his co-religionists in europe, for the humanity and justice which his excellency and the sultan had shown in respect to the affair at rhodes. the pasha said he was sorry they had not been able to do the same at damascus. sir moses hoped that his excellency would do him and the gentlemen who accompanied him the honour of introducing them to the sultan, to which he replied that he thought it might be done. sir moses then said that formerly sultan selim had issued a hatti-sherif, declaring his conviction of the innocence of the jews of the charge brought against them, and it would be a great satisfaction if the present sultan would do the same. sir moses had prepared a paper, which he requested his excellency to hear read. mr pisani read it to him in french; he thought it very good, and said it might be done. having had pipes and coffee, we returned home, being engaged to dine with lord ponsonby. we had great difficulty in procuring a carriage to take us, and at last agreed with a man to take sir moses and lady montefiore, and fetch them back, for the sum of £ sterling. it was a miserable four-horse concern. mr wire and i preferred riding on horseback. it was a most agreeable party, and we met there several of our acquaintances. his lordship spoke with sir moses on the subject of a bank for constantinople, and said he wished him and another gentleman, whom he named, to speak with rechid pasha about it, and he would be present at the interview. sir moses said he would do so, but could not say anything before he returned to england. on the following day the rev. dr samuel bennet, the chaplain of the embassy, lunched with us. he had just delivered an excellent sermon in favour of the jews in the damascus affair. _october th._--as no appointment had been made, and that evening was the commencement of the rámázan, during which month the turks attend to no business, sir moses determined to call on mr pisani to inquire if he had heard from rechid pasha. we went accordingly, and mr pisani informed him that he had just received a letter from the minister of foreign affairs, acquainting him that the sublime porte would receive a deputation headed by sir moses montefiore on wednesday evening, three hours after sunset, at the palace of beshik tash. "how great and good," exclaimed sir moses, "is the almighty! at the moment when i most despaired of success, he has granted our petition." mr pisani said he had no doubt he should get the hatti sherif, but he could not say when. before we reached home it was six o'clock, and we found by the brilliant illumination of the minarets and mosques that the rámázan had been declared. _tuesday, october th._--in the course of the day the háhám bashi, signor m. h. fresco, came to sir moses by appointment, together with several leading members of the community and the secretary of the congregation. sir moses recommended him to issue an order that every school should have a well-qualified master, to teach the children to read and write the turkish language. sir moses offered to pay the first expenses they would have to incur. the háhám readily consented. an order to that effect had been drawn up in the turkish, spanish, and hebrew languages, and promulgated all over the country. the háhám bashi is the head of all the jews in the turkish empire, and his decrees are law. sir moses promised him to speak on the subject to rechid pasha before leaving constantinople. the following is the account, as given in sir moses' diary, of his audience with the sultan:-- "_wednesday, october th._--sir david wilkie, mr pisani, and george samuel dined with us, and at seven afterwards we set out. our cavalcade consisted of one carriage with four horses, and one with two horses, six kávásses or police officers, eight men carrying large wax torches, two horsemen with each coach, a sedan chair with each coach, and three men to close the procession. as the carriages could not drive up to our door i was carried in a sedan chair to the foot of the hill, the other gentlemen walked, and i went in the first carriage with mr pisani, the british dragoman; george samuel, mr wire, and dr loewe in the second. i wore my full uniform. the streets were crowded; many of the jews had illuminated their houses. we reached the palace in rather less than an hour. on descending from the carriages we found in the courtyard a large guard of honour, who presented arms. we were shown into a handsome drawing-room, furnished in the european style. two magnificent silver candlesticks with large wax candles stood on the ground in the centre of a richly embroidered velvet carpet. we had not been seated two minutes when rechid pasha entered; he was most friendly in his manner. we were soon joined by rizá pasha, and all were served with coffee and pipes, the mouthpieces and bowls of the latter being richly embellished with diamonds. "rechid pasha asked me how long i remained at alexandria, how often i had seen mohhammad ali, and how he looked? in a few moments it was announced that the sultan was ready to receive us. the two pashas walked first, i next, and the rest of our party followed, a large throng of officers bringing up the rear. "we crossed a garden about sixty yards in length, and entered a handsome marble hall; having descended a grand staircase, likewise of marble, we entered into the presence chamber. "the sultan was seated on a sofa, clad in his cloak of state, which was fastened at the neck with two large clasps of the finest diamonds. the cloak itself was of a violet colour, similar in cut to our own. he was a good-looking young man, and appeared about twenty-six years of age, though in reality but nineteen. the two pashas took their station on his left, i and my party on his right. after having received some courteous signs of welcome from him, i delivered the speech i had intended to have read to him, but instead of reading it, i spoke it, as i knew it well by heart, and there was not sufficient light to read it without spectacles. i said as follows:-- "'may it please your imperial majesty,--in the name of my brethren, who have deputed me, i come to lay at the foot of your imperial throne the grateful homage of their respect. "'england, my country, and other enlightened nations of the earth, heard the cries of the suffering and persecuted jews at damascus and at rhodes, and they hastened to offer to the sufferers their sympathy and affection. but the lord god, who ruleth over all, prevented the necessity of their aid at rhodes, and inspired your imperial majesty with wisdom, justice, and the love of truth. under your righteous direction the oppressor was laid low, the designs of the wicked made known, and the innocent delivered. i therefore crave permission to offer to your imperial majesty the profound gratitude of the hearts of our people, and to utter our prayers that the merciful god may bless your imperial majesty with length of days, with wisdom, honour, and riches, and so direct all your actions, that your name may be inscribed in golden characters for ever, and the memory of your deeds smell as sweet as a garden of roses. "'in ancient times the lord god brought our people out of egypt, and for ages they dwelt in palestine; to them were committed the oracles of god, and though now dispersed among the nations of the earth, they are numbered with the most peaceful and loyal subjects, and by their industry they have augmented the riches and prosperity of the countries in which they live. "'they look with love and veneration upon that land where their forefathers dwelt; they pray that all who live therein may enjoy the shadow of your sublime protection, and in peace be permitted to worship the god of their fathers. "'their prayers ascend to him whose wisdom is absolute, whose decrees are fixed and immutable, whom none can withstand, imploring that he will make your enemies eat the dust, that they may vanish as the morning dew, and flee away as chaff before the wind; that your throne may endure for ever, and that all who live under your sceptre may have peace, sitting under their own vine and their own fig-tree, none daring or wishing to make them afraid.' "the sultan listened with great attention, and as soon as i had finished, mr pisani repeated it in turkish. the sultan smiled whilst he was reading, and showed that he well understood the address and was pleased with it. as soon as mr pisani had concluded, the sultan fixed his eyes on me, and spoke in a mild and pleasing voice. 'i am perfectly satisfied,' he said, 'with the communication made and the sentiments expressed by the deputation. "'i have been affected by the events which have taken place in damascus, but i have endeavoured to offer some satisfaction to the israelitish nation, by giving orders that justice should be done in the affair of rhodes. "'the israelitish nation shall always have, from me, the same protection and enjoy the same advantages as all other subjects of my empire. "'i will grant the deputation the firman they have asked. "'i know, gentlemen, how to appreciate the pure philanthropy which has led you to this capital.' "having given his reply, the sultan requested me to come nearer. rechid pasha again presented me by name. the sultan smiled most graciously, and said, 'present your friends to me.' i first presented george samuels, my relative, then mr wire of the city of london, and dr loewe. when mr pisani repeated the last name and the doctor made a bow, mr pisani informed the sultan that the doctor had presented to the late sultan a translation of the hieroglyphical inscription on the obelisk in the hippodrome. the sultan spoke with rechid pasha to explain it, and then said he remembered seeing it, and seemed much pleased, and said the doctor must be a learned man. "the sultan could not have given us a more flattering reception; it was at the same time most dignified. the room in which he received us was well proportioned, and neatly furnished in european style. the curtains were of rich yellow satin and embroidered damask and velvet, most probably of french manufacture; the carpet was english; there were two large wax torches standing in elegantly carved candelabras. we descended a flight of marble stairs, and were shown into a large and handsome room, splendidly furnished, and more brilliantly illuminated than the other room. we chatted with rechid and riza pashas, expressed our thanks to them for their great kindness in procuring for us at so unusual a time an audience with his imperial majesty, and our gratitude to his majesty for his gracious reception and reply. i asked rechid pasha when i might hope to receive the firman which the sultan had promised me, as i was most desirous of returning to england the moment i got it. he replied that he supposed i should not go before the next steamer left (on the th of november), and that i should have it by that time; but as it was the rámázan, there was some difficulty in preparing it. we returned in state as we came, the guard of honour saluting us as we passed them in the court of the palace. we were again served, after the audience, in the lower room of the palace with sherbet in elegant glasses, and we had splendidly embroidered table napkins. a military band played during the greater part of the time we were at the palace. we found the streets still more crowded than when we went; not a window in the whole street through which we passed but was filled with female faces. as we approached the jewish street we experienced even more difficulty in passing. at the end of the same street signor commundo, with the ecclesiastical chief of galata and about twenty of our acquaintances, insisted on walking with us to our house. i was delighted to see my dear judith, and to acquaint her with our happy reception and the complete success of our mission, for which we return our grateful thanks to heaven." chapter xxxiii. . distress among the jews at salonica--oppressive laws with regard to them--text of the firman--its promulgation. on the th of october all the representatives of the hebrew congregations called to express their thanks to sir moses for introducing the study of the turkish language and its literature in their schools. the letter on the subject, addressed by the háhám bashi to all the congregations, had been printed, and was to be read publicly on the following day in all the synagogues in constantinople. on saturday we had the happiness of receiving from mr pisani the answer of his imperial majesty, which he had delivered to sir moses in reply to his address on wednesday evening, which his majesty promised should be delivered in writing. rechid pasha sent it by mr pisani, saying that he was preparing the firman which sir moses had requested from the sultan. the same day the letter of the háhám bashi was read in all the synagogues, and caused great satisfaction to all present, as they considered that the introduction of the turkish language in the jewish schools would raise the jews in the estimation of both moslems and greeks. we had again many visitors, and received a deputation from salonica, where there were jewish families. much distress, they said, prevailed there, in consequence of a fire which had destroyed , houses, of which belonged to jews. they had presented a petition to the sultan for assistance to rebuild the houses, as he had sent money for that purpose to the other inhabitants, but not to the jews. they also complained that they were forced to pay the governor large sums of money before he would allow them to bury any one. sir moses asked them if persons of other religions were also charged for the privilege of burying their dead; they replied in the affirmative, but said the sum that others paid was very trifling as compared to the charges made to the jews. mr isaac picciotto, who had just arrived from damascus, paid us a visit. he was one of the unfortunate persons accused there, and had only been saved from torture by the protection of the austrian consul, he being an austrian subject. he was kept seven months in the consul's house, and had only had courage to leave it that week, after the other persons had returned to their homes. he expressed great gratitude for our exertions on their behalf, and shed tears on seeing us. _november st._--mr alison called, with a request from rifaat bey to sir moses to fix a day to dine with him, and he would invite colonel hodges to meet him. sir moses accepted the invitation for the following wednesday. the intervening days were spent in receiving deputations and friends, and visiting various charitable institutions, where he distributed generous gifts. _november th._--having seen much poverty at kháskoey, sir moses went there, accompanied by lady montefiore and myself, to attend prayers at the synagogue "major." on leaving the synagogue, sir moses, according to previous arrangements, commenced distributing among the poor the money he had brought with him. but he was overpowered by the crowd, and had he not been rescued by the guard (two officers and six men) who attended him as a mark of honour, he would not have been able to pass. it required all their force to keep back the crowd till we had reached our abode. sir moses was obliged to leave the money with the wardens of the synagogue to be distributed by them, observing that he had never in any other place witnessed so much poverty and distress. poor, however, as the people of kháskoey were, they devoted a great part of their humble earnings to education, and not only to the education of their children, but also to that of grown-up members of their community; nor did they neglect to contribute to the support of their synagogues. my attention was here called to a rather amusing notice affixed to the portals of the synagogue, containing strict orders and regulations, issued by the heads of the congregation, regarding the best mode of effecting economy in the affairs of the community, collectively and individually. the members and their families were interdicted from wearing costly furs, dresses and head-dresses embroidered with gold or silver. expensive shawls, gold and silver fringes on the costume, and similar luxuries are likewise prohibited. the women are not to bring their jewellery to the hamám (public bath), where they were in the habit of spending hours chatting with their friends and exhibiting their wealth. similar restrictions were placed on festivities at weddings and at the naming of boys. even at funerals the use of costly shawls on the biers of females was not permitted. the poor of galata were considered the following day, and we repaired to the synagogue, there to distribute sir moses and lady montefiore's gifts. in the course of the day mr pisani called, informing sir moses that he would receive a decoration from the sultan. subsequently sir moses called on lord ponsonby, who promised to do what he could to relieve the distress in rhodes. being pressed for time we soon returned, and proceeded to rifáat bey's. "it was already late," says sir moses, "when we came there, and found waiting there lords canning and louvain, colonel hodges, captain gordon, dr m'carthy, mr c. alison, rifáat bey, and several turkish gentlemen." the conversation on the events in syria was very interesting. about nine o'clock we left the party, much pleased with the novelty of the scene. _november th._--we went first to the austrian ambassador and then to rechid pasha. the latter, who received us in a very friendly manner, said that the hatti-sherif was ready, but had not yet been signed by the sultan. sir moses expressed his anxiety to have it as soon as possible, as he was desirous of leaving the next day. the pasha said that if mr pisani came at ten o'clock the same evening to the porte, he should have it, as he himself would go to riza pasha about it, and appointed twelve o'clock the next day to see sir moses. _saturday evening, november th._--sir moses writes in his diary: "i sat up last night till after twelve, awaiting with great anxiety the return of mr wire, who had gone to mr pisani's house to fetch the firman for me as soon as mr pisani should return from the porte, where rechid pasha had appointed him to be at ten o'clock. i had just fallen asleep when mr wire knocked at my door, and showed me the firman which the sultan had signed. it was beautifully written on thick parchment, and was enclosed in a coloured satin bag. i sent it to dr loewe, who had also retired, begging of him to read it and let me know if it was all we could desire for the satisfaction of our brethren. in a little while mr wire returned it to me, saying that dr loewe had read it, and had assured him it was written in the strongest possible terms as to the innocence of the jews, as well as for their future protection. "i then blessed the lord god for his great goodness, placed the firman under my pillow, and fell asleep." the next day i walked with dr loewe to rechid pasha's residence. i took the firman with me, as it had to be deposited in the archives of the ottoman empire, and the pasha had only sent it to me that i might be convinced of its authenticity. an official copy was, by order of the sultan, forwarded to the háhám bashi. his excellency, rechid pasha, received us immediately, and said he hoped i was satisfied with what the sultan had done for us. mr pisani then handed me an official copy of the firman, and i gave the original to the pasha. i had first begged to be allowed to keep it, but his excellency said it was impossible, and my copy of it was in every respect accurate. the following is an exact translation of the firman hatti-sherif (addressed to the chief judge at constantinople), at the head of which his imperial majesty the sultan abd-ool-medjid wrote with his own hand the following words: "let that be executed which is prescribed in this firman:"-- "an ancient prejudice prevailed against the jews. the ignorant believed that the jews were accustomed to sacrifice a human being to make use of his blood at their feast of passover. "in consequence of this opinion, the jews of damascus and rhodes (who are subjects of our empire) have been persecuted by other nations. the calumnies which have been uttered against the jews, and the vexations to which they have been subjected, have at last reached our imperial throne. "but a short time has elapsed since some jews dwelling in the island of rhodes have been brought from thence to constantinople, where they have been tried and judged according to the new regulations, and their innocence of the accusations made against them fully proved. that, therefore, which justice and equity required has been done on their behalf. "besides which the religious books of the hebrews have been examined by learned men, well versed in their theological literature, the result of which examination is, that it is found that the jews are strongly prohibited, not only from using human blood, but even that of animals. it therefore follows that the charges made against them and their religion are nothing but pure calumny. "for this reason, and for the love we bear to our subjects, we cannot permit the jewish nation (whose innocence of the crime alleged against them is evident) to be vexed and tormented upon accusations which have not the least foundation in truth, but in conformity to the hatti-sherif which has been proclaimed at gulhani, the jewish nation shall possess the same advantages and enjoy the same privileges as are granted to the numerous other nations who submit to our authority. "the jewish nation shall be protected and defended. "to accomplish this object, we have given the most positive orders that the jewish nation, dwelling in all parts of our empire, shall be perfectly protected, as well as all other subjects of the sublime porte, and that no person shall molest them in any manner whatever (except for a just cause), neither in the free exercise of their religion, nor in that which concerns their safety and tranquillity. in consequence, the present firman, which is ornamented at the head with our 'hoomaioon' (sign-manual), and emanates from our imperial chancellerie, has been delivered to the israelitish nation. "thus you, the above-mentioned judge, when you know the contents of this firman, will endeavour to act with great care in the manner therein prescribed. and in order that nothing may be done in opposition to this firman, at any time hereafter, you will register it in the archives of the tribunal; you will afterwards deliver it to the israelitish nation, and you will take great care to execute our orders, and this our sovereign will. "given at constantinople, th rámázan, (november th, )." i gave rechid pasha the order issued by the háhám bashi respecting the instruction henceforth to be given in all the hebrew public schools in the turkish language. he read the paper carefully, and said he was much pleased; he also made the following remark: "if you had done nothing else in constantinople than that, you ought to consider yourself amply compensated for the trouble and fatigue you have undergone, by the consciousness of having been instrumental in affording your brethren the opportunity of raising their position, by a knowledge of the turkish language." he then told me of his having written to the pasha of rhodes to take special care that the jews were always under proper protection, so that, if they wished to leave the town, they might do so without fear of molestation. on our return home we found a great many visitors who had come to bid us farewell. towards evening the representatives of all the congregations called, and prayers were recited at the conclusion of the sabbath. soon after dark, monsieur le goff, who had promised to call for us when it would be time to embark, came, and we all went on board. hundreds of people pressed round us as we embarked, offering prayers and good wishes for our safe return to england. on the th november we landed at smyrna, where sir moses left greek translations of the firman, as well as many charitable gifts for distribution. six days later we arrived at malta, where we learned that st jean d'acre had been taken, after three hours' fight, but with very little loss. this, sir moses thought, would settle the affair of syria, and he had some hope that egypt itself would soon return to the sultan. the officer of the lazaretto came, and advised us to remain on board that day and the next. he told us we should have excellent apartments in fort manoel, as the emir besheer and his attendants, about persons, would then leave the lazaretto. sir moses agreed to this, and the next day the commandant, monsieur le goff, took us in his boat to fort-manoel. the emir besheer and his suite only left at nine o'clock. we saw them going in two boats on their way to st antonio. the emir besheer was in the governor's boat with some of the attendants; the ladies, about twelve of them, were in another boat. the emir was a noble-looking old man, with a long white beard; the ladies were all dressed in white, and had their faces veiled. i once had the opportunity of seeing the emir in his mountains at ebtedeen. his proper name was emir sa'ad ed-deen esh-shehâbi. his political movements, as well as his general course of life, from a religious point of view, could not stand the test of a strict investigation. he spoke on one occasion, in the presence of french officers, disrespectfully of the queen, and also of the sultan. the british consul at damascus, now sir richard wood, escorted him to constantinople, where he received a serious reprimand from the english ambassador and the turkish authorities. we found that our apartments were not ready for immediate occupation, and we therefore had to remain a long time in the open air, until they had undergone a process of fumigation and ventilation. _november th._--a french war steamer arrived in the morning from alexandria, reporting the recall of ibrahim pasha from syria, and the countermanding of troops under orders for syria, and of the levy of bedáwees. we also learned that the pasha had given up the turkish fleet, and contented himself, with the vice-regal power in egypt; and that all this had been approved by a council. sir moses remarked, "that all this might be true, but if the sultan allowed mohhammad ali to retain egypt, he would not suffer syria to remain quiet for twelve months, but would excite insurrections. the english government," he said, "had the game in their own hands, and he hoped they would not throw it away; syria would never be safe while mohhammad ali ruled in egypt." _september rd._--sir hector grey sent the welcome tidings that our imprisonment would be reduced to fifteen days instead of twenty. a few days later, captain h. m. austin, of her majesty's steam frigate _cyclops_, arrived from beyrout, and gave us a most interesting account of all that had been passing in syria. he expected that ibrahim pasha would be taken, and that mohhammad ali would retain egypt, as our ministers, he said, wished it. _friday, september th._--we had many visitors at fort manoel lazaretto (malta) this day: lady stopford and her daughter, captain and mrs copeland, and the greek consul; also captain le goff of the _minos_. all of them gave accounts of the state of politics. the french steamer brought us letters from signor communda, in which he informed sir moses, that rechid pasha had sent his chief secretary, accompanied by many officers, to the jews with the hatti-sherif. it was publicly read amidst the universal joy of the people, and prayers were offered up for the sultan, also for sir moses. chapter xxxiv. . departure from malta--naples--rome--a shameful inscription--prejudices against the jews at the vatican. _november th._--sir hector grey called, bringing news (in confirmation of previous reports) to the effect that commodore napier had made a convention with mohhammad ali: the latter was to give up syria, recall ibrahim pasha, and restore the turkish fleet, on being guaranteed by the four powers in his authority over egypt. having accepted an invitation from the governor to dine with him, we repaired to the palace, and met a very pleasant party of twenty-four persons. the governor repeatedly expressed, to sir moses his satisfaction with the result of his mission. _december nd._--major churchill called, bringing with him colonel hugh rose and colonel golquhoun; all offered to take letters and parcels for us to damascus. sir moses availed himself of their kindness, and entrusted major churchill with a box containing letters, newspapers, and copies of the sultan's hatti-sherif for transmission to the representatives of the hebrew community at damascus. at ten in the evening we went, by invitation from colonel winchester and officers of the nd highlanders, to a splendid ball. all the _élite_ of the island were present, the governor, the admiral, &c. sir moses was introduced to general mitchel and all the officers then going to syra. they offered him every assistance he might desire, and promised to protect the jews. lady lewis called to invite lady montefiore to go with her to see the emir besheer's lady, báheeyát eddoonyá (the beauty of the world), and sir moses and party to accompany them, and call on the emir. the invitation was gladly accepted. we were detained there a long time, the emir having a great deal to say to sir moses respecting his own affairs, as he wished him to intercede on his behalf with the english government. _saturday, december th._--attended divine service early in the morning, and received in the course of the day the representatives of the hebrew community. they came to thank sir moses and lady montefiore for what they had done for them, and wished us a safe voyage home. the emir besheer sent his bishop to sir moses, and begged he would speak with lord palmerston. he had written himself to the queen, praying her majesty for his return to the mountains. he wished him to say that his family had ruled there two hundred years, and himself fifty. sir moses promised the emir to comply with his request, and lady montefiore returned compliments and good wishes to the princess báheeyát eddoonyá. _december th._--early in the morning we went on board the french steamer _dante_ at malta, and after a two days' pleasant sea voyage, dropped anchor in the bay of naples. _december th._--sir moses was very anxious to prepare here for the important work he would have to do at rome regarding the removal of a scandal that might, at some future period, become a source of great vexation and misery to thousands of innocent jews. i allude to the libellous epitaph which the capuchins at damascus had inscribed on the stone erected over an opening in which some bones of animals had been put. the inscription, which had been copied by two monks, was in the italian and arabic language, as follows:-- "d. o. m. "qui riposano le ossa del p^re tomaso da sardegna miss^o cappuccino assassinato dagli ebrei il giorno de febraro l'anno ." _translation of italian inscription._ "here rest the bones of father tomaso of sardinia, a capuchin missionary, murdered by the hebrews on the th of february ." _translation of arabic inscription._ "the outward appearance of the tomb of father tomaso the capuchin, and its place of wailing. he zealously discharged the duties of his calling as one of the missionaries in damascus--the jews slaughtered him--his goodness did not save him. "the laying down of his bones took place on the th of february ." the baron and the baroness charles de rothschild called soon after our arrival. they considered with us what was best to be done to facilitate the intended proceedings at rome, and agreed to seek an interview with the pope's nuncio. permission was obtained the same day from the minister of police to have the hatti sherif printed and published in italian papers. his excellency had them printed for sir moses, and forwarded him several hundred copies for distribution among friends. mr briggs paid them a visit, and having discussed all that had taken place in alexandria, expressed much pleasure at the result of the mission. _naples, december th._--sir moses went with baron charles to the pope's nuncio, who received them most kindly. he complimented sir moses, saying that he was an excellent ambassador, as was proved by his success. on acquainting him with the object of his visit, and asking for his advice as to the best mode of proceeding when at rome to procure the removal of the stone in the latin convent of the capuchins at damascus, the nuncio said that the business must be hinted with much delicacy at rome; he was going there on the th january, and would do it himself if sir moses would remain at naples. sir moses, however, could not remain so long, and the nuncio promised to prepare a letter, to a friend at rome and send it to him. in the evening we all dined with the baron and baroness de rothschild. the entertainment was given in honour of sir moses and lady montefiore; twenty-four at table--princes and princesses, dukes and duchesses, the _élite_ of the neapolitan nobility, as well as admiral gowley and other distinguished officers in the navy. we were also invited to a ball, but sir moses was not sufficiently well to go, and lady montefiore would not go without him. _december th._--a visit was paid to the austrian ambassador, count de lebselter. both sir moses and baron de rothschild were much pleased with his remarks on the recent events in the east. _december th._--sir moses and baron charles went to the french ambassador, who received them most kindly. sir moses recounted to him count ratti-menton's conduct in the affair of damascus, with the full particulars. he also told him what he had effected in constantinople, and he had the happiness of hearing the ambassador state that it had been his opinion from the first that the jews were innocent of the crime imputed to them. he several times congratulated sir moses on his success; said that he was glad the latter intended going to paris, and that he should make the government acquainted with the conduct of ratti-menton, but without publishing it to the world. the duke was the first frenchman that sir moses had heard express in so decided a manner his conviction of the innocence of the jews. it was reported that the sultan had refused to ratify commodore napier's convention, at the request of the ambassadors of the four powers. they would not consent to the pasha having candia. _naples, december th._--"we entered our good old carriage this morning," sir moses writes in his diary, "at eight; the weather was mild and pleasant. we had four horses to our carriage, and only a pair to the carriage for mr wire and dr loewe, though i was obliged to pay for three, as we do not intend travelling at night, and are anxious to get on as fast as we can. we hope to save much time and obtain better accommodation on the road by having a courier." _december nd._--through the carelessness of the postilions, sir moses' carriage was driven against a cart, the pole of the former being broken. our carriage also met with an accident, but we nevertheless all reached rome safely. soon after entering the gates of the city we were greeted by a deputation of our brethren, who followed us to our hotel, and expressed their pleasure at seeing us return in good health. we then proceeded to the synagogue, which had been most brilliantly illuminated in our honour. the people of rome were delighted with our success at constantinople; the firman, they considered, gave some reparation for the past and security for the future. _december rd._--sir moses presented his letter of introduction to prince alexander torlonia, who likewise congratulated him on the success of the mission. another deputation from the jews of rome came to express their thanks to sir moses for his exertions on behalf of his co-religionists, regretting that it was not in their power to prove their gratitude by something more than words. _rome, december th._--we then called on baron de binder, the attaché to the austrian embassy. sir moses intimated his desire to be introduced to the austrian ambassador, in order to thank him for the lively interest he had taken in favour of the jews of damascus. the baron said he should be happy to introduce him, but as the following day was christmas day, and the new year holidays were so near, he feared some few days must elapse before he would be able to get an appointment. sir moses informed the baron of his earnest desire to be presented to the pope, to express his gratitude to him for not having permitted the public press of rome to insert the charges made against the jews at rhodes and damascus, also to present his holiness with a copy of the firman granted by the sultan, and to intimate the great act of kindness it would be on his part to advise the removal of the inscription from the stone in the convent at damascus, over some bones said to be those of father tommaso. the sultan would doubtless, if applied to, order the removal of the stone, as soon as his governor was in the city; but sir moses, well knowing his holiness' love of truth and peace, felt confident that, if made known to him, he would not permit such a libel to remain. _december th._--sir moses and lady montefiore, while visiting one of the public institutions, met the princess augusta of cambridge, who spoke to them most kindly. prince a. torlonia sent them the key of his box at the opera. they availed themselves of this kindness in company with several friends. "being the first representation of the season," writes sir moses, "the house was filled to overflowing in every part. the queen of spain, the duchess of cambridge and her daughter were present, as well as every person of note in rome. it is customary for the governor of the city, on the first night of the season, to offer to the audience in the second and third tiers of boxes, ices, cakes, &c., twice during the evening, between the acts. simultaneously, as if by magic, two waiters entered into each of the sixty-two boxes, one bearing wax candles in silver candlesticks and the other trays with the choicest refreshments. we had one of the best and largest boxes in the house, and remained till nearly twelve." the following day sir moses and lady montefiore received a beautiful address from the consistoire israélite of france, offering congratulations and deep gratitude for their noble exertions. _december th._--sir moses went with baron binder to count lebselter, the austrian minister. the count expressed himself most handsomely, saying that he was perfectly convinced of the innocence of the jews, and that he knew the people well, having been ambassador at constantinople for four years. he said he had frequently spoken with the cardinals on the subject of the damascus affair, but he did not succeed in converting them to his opinion. he recommended sir moses to see mr aubin, who then acted as agent for the british government, and to request mr aubin to present him to signor capuccini, under secretary of state, and explain to him his wishes. _december th._--sir moses had a long conversation with mr aubin, who consented to speak to signor capuccini and acquaint him with sir moses' desire to be introduced to the pope. mr aubin said, as to the presentation he feared he should not succeed, but thought perhaps he might with the request referring to the firman. at four o'clock sir moses saw mr aubin again. he had been with signor capuccini, but could not succeed in any way, and was, indeed, most anxious that sir moses should not even call upon him. mr aubin said that all the people about the pope were persuaded that the jews had murdered father tommaso, and even _if all the witnesses in the world were brought before the pope to prove the contrary_, neither he nor his people would be convinced, and he could do nothing more. sir moses, on hearing this, determined at once to leave his card, together with his letters of introduction, with signor capuccini and the cardinal tosti, which he did, also leaving cards on monsignor bruti and the abbé ferrari, and was informed two days later that the secretary of state had appointed eleven on the following day to receive him. sir moses called on torlonia, and spoke to him respecting his introduction to the pope, to solicit his directions for the removal of the stone. the prince promised to consult his brother, the duke, and see what could be done; personally he thought it should be done through the propaganda. sir moses left him a translation of mr shadwell's letter on the subject. it was again reported that the sultan would not ratify commodore napier's convention with mohhammad ali, but that lord palmerston would insist upon the ratification. we then visited the ghetto, where we were met by a deputation of our brethren, who took us to see the workshops. we saw many jewish children at work, some weaving, others making shoes. sir moses gave to each child a spanish dollar, and two napoleons to each teacher. we next went to the four schools. sir moses gave to each boy half a dollar, and fourteen dollars to the students, for the study of the holy law. on our return, sir moses found that cards had been left by the abbé ferrari; monsignor bruti, private chamberlain to the pope; and baron de binder kriegelstein. great anxiety was felt by sir moses as to the result of his endeavours to get an audience with the pope. his petition was already prepared, and he hoped by some means to get it into the pope's hands. if this could be effected, he thought some good might be done. "heaven only knows," he said, "my fears are much greater than my hopes; neither the austrian minister nor baron de binder will do anything." the hanoverian minister had expressed to baron de binder his total inability to assist sir moses in obtaining an audience with his holiness. mr aubin said he had done all he could, but ineffectually, and signer capuccini entreated that sir moses would not insist upon seeing the pope, as the cardinal tosti had taken no notice of either sir moses' letter or card. "this is the last night of the year ," sir moses said. "it has been a year of much anxiety, fatigue, and danger to lady montefiore and myself, but thanks to the god of our fathers, we trust its fruits will be productive of much good to his children, not only in the east, but in the west as well." chapter xxxv. . monsignor bruti and his hints--cardinal riverola--ineffectual attempts to interview the pope--returning homewards--alarming accident--the governor of genoa--interview with king louis philippe. at rome, st january , sir moses writes: "monsignor bruti called on us, and i asked his advice as to the best means of obtaining the removal of the stone, &c. he advised my first trying the head of the capuchins here, also of the propaganda, before i went to the secretary of state, and offered, if i would postpone my visit to the secretary of state, which i had arranged with mr kolb for to-morrow, to make enquiries in some influential quarters, and see me again to-morrow to acquaint me with the best mode of proceeding. he spoke in a liberal manner, and appeared to think i might succeed. in consequence of this, mr wire wrote to mr kolb to postpone the appointment. "_january nd._--monsignor bruti came in. he said he had spoken to several influential persons, but the one he particularly wished to see was out of town; if he did not return in a few days, he would go to him. monsignor bruti thought the petition i had prepared for the pope very likely to meet with success, if i first gained the concurrence of some of the capuchins, and he advised my making some presents of money. i instantly stopped him, and assured him that, in the execution of my mission, i had not given a single dollar, nor would i do so in rome, even if i was sure to obtain by it the object i had so much at heart. this information had a great effect on his manner of speaking, and he left us in two minutes. i daresay we shall see little more of him." _january th._--mr kolb went with us to the monastery to endeavour to see cardinal riverola, the head of the capuchins; he was unwell, but appointed to see us the next day at twelve. monsignor bruti called; he seemed very desirous to know how sir moses was going on; the latter, however, did not think monsignor bruti could assist him. _january th._--"i received a letter," sir moses writes in his diary, "from prince torlonia, expressing his regret that he had not succeeded in his application for me, and enclosing a letter he received from the chamberlain of his holiness, stating that at present his holiness did not give any audiences. at twelve, i and dr loewe went to monsieur c. de kolb; he joined us, and we went to the monastery. we were admitted immediately to his eminence, cardinal agostino riverola. mr kolb introduced me. i acquainted the cardinal with the object of my visit to him, as he was the chief of the capuchins. i urged the injustice of allowing such a libel to exist in the convent at damascus, pointing out that the inscription stated that padre tommaso was assassinated by the hebrews. i said that both mohhammad ali and the sultan were satisfied as to the innocence of the accused, and they had both given me firmans confirming their opinion. the cardinal said the firman was most important, and he would at once sanction the removal of the stone, whether the firman had been obtained by rothschild's fortune or by other means. i instantly stopped the cardinal, and assured him that i had not given a dollar for the firman, nor would i have attempted to obtain justice by bribery. he said that was immaterial, he would not enter into the subject; the firman was of great importance. the inscription, he said, was most improper, as it charged all the israelites with the murder. what would be said if a florentine committed a crime, and all florentines were charged with it? i assured the cardinal that padre tommaso had not been murdered by a jew, but he did not seem to credit my assurance. i said i thought it possible that the padre might still be living in one of the monasteries of lebanon. the cardinal laughed, and turning to mr kolb, said, perhaps cardinal fesch was still living. it was his opinion, however, that the stone should be removed, and he would confer with the general of the capuchins on the subject, as he could not give instructions for its removal without his concurrence. i asked if he would see him to-day, but he replied, 'look at the weather; it is impossible, but i will in a day or two.' i enquired when i might call again; he said, 'whenever i pleased.' i gave the cardinal two copies of the firman, also translations of the letters sent me by mr shadwell and the rev. j. marshall. the result of my interview leads me to hope that with patience and perseverance i may succeed in getting the inscription removed. "_january th._--signer scala paid us a visit, and advised me to forward the petition i had prepared for his holiness to the cardinal. i and dr loewe then went to the cardinal's house; we sent in the petition, enclosed in one to himself. we then had an interview with him in his library. he told us that he had read the petition, but that it was not his department to present petitions to his holiness. i asked him kindly to inform me in whose department it was. he replied, the cardinal's secretary of state for foreign affairs. i gave him two of my pamphlets with the firman, and we took our leave. we returned to our hotel, and i immediately wrote to cardinal luigi lambruschini, secretary of state for foreign affairs. we took the letter to his house, but he was at dinner, and the servant informed us he must not be disturbed. we could leave the paper, and it would be given to the cardinal. if we returned at six o'clock we should have an answer. we left the papers. at six, dr loewe went to cardinal lambruschini. his servant said the cardinal had read the papers, but he had nothing to do with them; that the application had been made before, and that he returned them. thus, it appears, all doors are closed against my petition finding its way to his holiness. "mr kolb said i must be prepared to hear bad news to-morrow from the cardinal riverola, as the cardinal felt great surprise at my boldness in replying to him respecting the rothschilds having purchased the firman with their fortunes, and also about the jews not having murdered father tommaso. i believe it is not of much consequence, but, at all events, i would not suffer any one to suppose for a moment that i had been base enough to bribe any one for the purpose of freeing the jews from false and base accusations. at twelve i went with dr loewe and mr wire to mr kolb. he joined us, and we proceeded to the convent of the frati di st marcello to cardinal riverola, the protector of the capuchins. we were all presented to him. i took my seat next to him by his desire. he informed me that he would write to advise the removal of the stone from the convent of the capuchins at damascus; that he could not order the removal of the stone, but would advise it; that the convent was under the protection of the french authority, who had caused it to be erected; that all the monks belonging to that convent, except one, had died, and that several monks would be sent there as soon as syria became more tranquil. the cardinal was most friendly in his manner. before i left he returned me the copies of the letters of mr shadwell, &c., i gave him to read at my last interview, but he kept the copy of the firman, as well as the copy of the firman of mohhammad ali which i gave mr kolb for him. cardinal riverola had consulted with the chief of the capuchins at rome. it was this person who assured the cardinal that he had not the power to remove the stone, but if he advised it, the advice would certainly be followed. i must see when i get to paris what can be done with the french minister." sir moses then called on baron binder and prince torlonia, and informed them of what he had done. in the course of the day signor scala came to inform him that the pope had appointed the next day at eleven o'clock to receive the deputation of the jews of rome who annually paid their homage to him at that season. _january th._--we called on mr aubin to ask his advice respecting the petition to his holiness. he was of opinion that sir moses had better not present it unless cardinal riverola advised it. we afterwards called on mr kolb. he said he was satisfied the cardinal would keep his promise, and sir moses would only do mischief if he attempted to petition the pope. signor scala and the deputation that accompanied him were received by the pope, who said he was well satisfied with his hebrew subjects, and would grant them all the privileges his religion permitted. we quitted rome on monday evening (january th), and travelling _viâ_ viterbo and sienna, reached leghorn on the th january. "most grateful do i feel," said sir moses, "to the almighty for having conducted me and my dear judith in safety and peace to this my native city." _saturday, january th._--about one o'clock the chancellor of the congregation came, saying that he had received an intimation from the governor of the town that the latter wished to make the acquaintance of sir moses, but that etiquette prevented his calling on him, and he had therefore sent his card by his aide-de-camp. in consequence of this we all went to his excellency, accompanied by the chancellor, signer basevi. he received us most politely, and paid sir moses a great many compliments. he said, among other things, that every friend of humanity owed him a debt of gratitude. he was delighted to have made his personal acquaintance, and hoped to see him again. _january th._--accompanied by signor basevi, we went to the old burial-ground, where we met seventeen old men who knew signor r. h. racah, sir moses' uncle and godfather. sir moses distributed money among them, and proceeded to the new burial-ground, where, on seeing the grave of one of his relations without a tombstone, he gave the order to have one made at his expense. _ th january._--we left leghorn at p.m., sir moses being obliged to leave by a side door to escape the great numbers of people who were waiting in front of the hotel to pay their respects to the champion of israel. about two o'clock we were all much alarmed by lady montefiore being suddenly taken seriously ill, with a numbness of her hand and arm, and a dizziness and great pain in the head, which almost deprived her of speech and motion. she was just able to ask for the prayer book. gradually she recovered from the attack, which sir moses hoped was only spasmodic, though she remained weak and very unwell. from genoa we made our way to savona, but in consequence of a serious carriage accident, in which buck, one of the servants, was badly hurt, we immediately returned to genoa to obtain medical assistance. by some misunderstanding which had arisen between our couriers and the postillions of another carriage on the road, that of the prince and princess marc de beauvaix, in changing horses, ours took fright and went off down a hill. on the one side there was a deep precipice, of at least a hundred feet, into the sea; on the other a deep ditch. the carriage was thrown into the ditch, and fell on the side of the hill, which prevented it from being entirely overturned. sir moses, on getting lady montefiore out of the carriage, found she had lost all power to help herself, and placed her on the side of the road, while he endeavoured to restore her. as soon as the carriages were ready again, the invalids were carefully placed in them, and we all returned to the hotel croce di malta, our old quarters, where we found everything prepared for us, all having been ordered by the young couple who were the innocent cause of our misfortune. we soon had robert carried to bed, and dr bennett, an english surgeon and a very clever man, very carefully examined the patient, and did all that was necessary for his comfort and recovery. he said the wound in his leg would be of no consequence, but if it had been extended the hundredth part of an inch it would have cut the artery, and he would have bled to death before we could have even placed him in the carriage. sir moses and lady montefiore were much fatigued and agitated, but full of deep gratitude to heaven for the mercy shown to them and to their faithful servant, robert, whom they would not leave; and they remained at genoa till he was sufficiently recovered to travel. _january th._--mr yates brown, the british consul, called with the compliments of the governor of genoa, who desired to make sir moses' acquaintance. the latter agreed to accompany him the next day to his excellency. _january th._--i accompanied sir moses to his excellency the marchese paulucca, the governor of genoa, who received him most kindly, enquired as to the result of his voyage to the east, and was happy to hear of its success. "he had never," he said, "for a moment believed the charges against the israelites; he had been governor of georgia, where there were many of that nation, and he had never heard of such a thing; he had known many jews for eighteen years, and respected them. he had allowed a contradiction of the charge to appear in the genoa _gazette_, for which he said he had been reprimanded by the government; nevertheless, he was glad he had done it. sir moses gave his excellency two copies of the firman, with which he seemed much pleased. the rev. e. bondi subsequently related to sir moses an anecdote concerning the marchese. about three months previously an englishman, a protestant, with a large family, had given much trouble to the british government respecting a claim he had on the sardinian government, but not having succeeded in gaining his object, in a fit of spleen he embraced the catholic religion with all his family. the ceremony took place in the great church at genoa, in the presence of the king, the royal family, and the great officers. on the following day the king inquired of the marchese paulucca if he was not delighted with the beautiful ceremony (supposing him to have been present), but the latter informed his majesty that he was not in the church at the time. the king expressed his surprise, and inquired the reason. the marchese replied that he disliked hypocrisy of all kinds. the king was silent, but did not speak to him for three days." monsieur blaurie, the consul general of france, sent us the key of his box at the opera, and begged we would go there in the evening, but sir moses declined the favour. _friday, january th._--mr wire left us to-day to proceed by sea to marseilles and thence to england, accompanied by a french courier whom sir moses engaged to attend him. the _gazette_ of genoa (a paper which contained many articles unfavourable to the jews) now published the firman, and other journals followed the example. the representatives of the hebrew community requested to be favoured with some copies, to be distributed among their acquaintances, not only in this city, but in every town where there were israelites, as they had all suffered more or less by the infamous calumny. in genoa a song had been printed and sung about the streets, relating the particulars of the supposed murder of padre tommaso, and the confessions of the persons accused of the crime. _february st._--lord and lady roden and lady stratford canning came to see sir moses and lady montefiore. they spoke much on the subject of our mission. his lordship told sir moses that the upper classes even of that place were ignorant and fanatic. an italian lady only three days before told him at a large party that a young woman was missing in the city, and she believed the jews had taken her, with the intention of keeping her for a time to see if her blood was pure, and then to kill her to use the blood in the passover cakes. his lordship asked her the name of the person who gave her the information, and on what authority they did so, but she could not answer that question. _february th._--we travelled by marseilles and avignon, and reached lyons the next day. _february th._--reached auxerre. during the last three days we had noticed some reports in the papers to the effect that sherif pasha, the late governor of damascus, had incurred the displeasure of ibrahim pasha, the latter having threatened to have him tried by court martial. his troubles were therefore beginning, and he would perhaps regret the injustice he committed when enjoying the favour of his highness. _february th._--on our arrival at paris, mr s. almosnino, the secretary of the spanish and portuguese hebrew congregation of london, came expressly to sir moses to deliver some letters to him from the representatives of that body. sir moses was much pleased to see this worthy and faithful officer of his community, and gave him a hearty welcome. after paying visits to the barons james and solomon de rothschild, to report to them on the result of the mission, sir moses left his card at lord granville's. _friday, february th._--sir moses called on lord granville, and told his lordship that he was anxious to present to his majesty the king a copy of the firman hatti-sherif granted by the sultan to the israelites in his dominions. his lordship said, as monsieur thiers had taken a prominent part in the affair of damascus, it was probable the king might not wish to receive the firman. sir moses replied that he thought his majesty too great a lover of justice to refuse his request. his lordship then asked him whether he would publish the refusal, in case the king's reply should be unfavourable. sir moses immediately replied in the negative; that his object was to promote peace, and not to create animosity. upon which his lordship said he would consult monsieur guizot, and let him know the result. the next day sir moses received a note from lord granville, informing him that his majesty had notified his willingness to receive him at the tuileries the same evening. _saturday, february th._--at half-past eight his lordship also informed him in a second note that he would be at the palace to present him. the following is an account of the interview with the king in sir moses' own words:-- "i was so fatigued that i could eat no dinner, but dressed myself in my uniform, and at half-past eight i went to the palace, accompanied by dr loewe. a minute or two afterwards lord granville came in, and we were immediately conducted into the presence of the king and the royal family. there were a number of officers in the room. his majesty came up the moment we entered. lord granville presented me. i then offered to the king the translation of the hatti-sherif; he accepted it of me in a most gracious manner, said he was happy to receive it, and enquired if i had been at damascus. i informed him that the disturbed state of the country had prevented me, but his majesty would perceive by the firman i had the honour of placing in his hands, that there was no longer any occasion for my going, as the sultan had expressed his entire conviction that the accusations against the jews at damascus were calumnies. his majesty said he was happy it was so. he said he feared he had put me to some inconvenience by the very short notification he had given me, but as to-morrow was sunday, he was fearful it would be detaining me longer at paris than i wished. he then turned to lord granville, and said he also feared he had occasioned him some inconvenience. dr loewe was then presented, and lord granville took me to the queen, and afterwards to the king's sister; both were very gracious, and spoke to us in french for a long time. "there was a member of the chamber who appeared to know me, and spoke to me about the damascus affair. he began to rail against monsieur thiers, but i stopped him, saying that the result of my mission had been so completely successful, i was desirous of having everything of an unpleasant nature forgotten." sir moses expressed himself to all his friends as being greatly pleased with his reception by the king. numerous visitors called and left cards. some of them came expressly from england, so as to be able to offer their hearty welcome to sir moses and lady montefiore a few days sooner than they could have done by awaiting their arrival at home. _february nd._--sir moses went to monsieur guizot, who was very civil, and spoke much on the mission. he requested sir moses to give him copies of the letters he had received from the rev. joseph marshall, lieutenant shadwell, and the rev. e. schlientz. on his return to the hotel the members of the consistoire israélite, the spiritual chiefs of the community, and deputations from all the charitable institutions called, and presented to him and lady montefiore addresses of congratulation. _february th._--we left paris, and reached dover on friday, where we rested over the sabbath. chapter xxxvi. . home again--sir moses presents a facsimile of the firman to the queen--her majesty's special mark of favour--reform movement among the london jews--appeal for english protection from the jews in the east. _february th._--in the evening we arrived at park lane, london, where sir moses and lady montefiore received a hearty welcome from their relatives and friends. the next morning, and for many days afterwards, visitors called in great numbers. deputations from various communal institutions, literary societies, and financial companies arrived and presented addresses. in most of the synagogues special services were held, and the exertions of sir moses and lady montefiore in the cause of suffering humanity, and in the vindication of the purity of the religious tenets of israel, were warmly acknowledged by all present. the hebrew communities of paris, hamburg, frankfort-on-the-main, and magdeburg, together with those established in italy, the united states of america, the barbary states, egypt, and turkey, all sent testimonials, which are now preserved in judith, lady montefiore's theological college at ramsgate. _march rd._--sir moses went to lord palmerston to thank him for his great kindness and assistance in his mission, and to give him an account of all that had occurred at alexandria and constantinople. he also spoke to him of the emir béshir, having promised the latter when at malta to intercede in his behalf with the british government. sir moses asked his lordship whether he might present the queen with a copy of the firman hatti-sherif, to which lord palmerston replied that he had no doubt her majesty would be happy to receive it. in accordance with his lordship's permission, sir moses presented the copy of the firman to the queen on wednesday, the th of march. the following is a copy of his entry in the diary referring to the subject:--"attended the marine board at . ; the alliance board at ; at . returned home and dressed in my uniform. mr h. de castro, mr waley, mr h. h. cohen, mr wire, and dr loewe came, and we proceeded to st james' palace to attend the levee. i had the honour to present the queen with the firman. the following is the copy of the card that was read to her majesty:--'sir moses montefiore, f.r.s., presented by the right honourable viscount palmerston on his return from the east, to present a facsimile and translation of the firman granted by the sultan to his imperial majesty's subjects professing the jewish religion.' mr wire and dr loewe were presented by me to the queen. i had a most gracious reception, and kissed hands." as a token of royal approbation, sir moses had the satisfaction of being informed, three months later, that lord normanby would have great satisfaction in recommending the grant of supporters to his armorial bearings. "the supporters i wish for," sir moses writes in his diary, "are to exalt our holy religion by displaying 'jerusalem' in a more distinguished manner than i could otherwise have done." my readers may perhaps care to have the opportunity of perusing the material portions of this document, which are as follows:-- "victoria r. "victoria, by the grace of god, &c.--whereas it has been represented unto us, that our trusty and well-beloved sir moses montefiore, &c., &c., in consequence of information having been received from the east, that a number of jews had been imprisoned and tortured at damascus and at rhodes, and that he had, in conformity to a voluntary offer, made at a general meeting of the london committee of deputies of the british jews and others, held on the th of june last, proceeded (accompanied by lady montefiore) to alexandria, with the view of proving the falsity of the accusation, and of advocating the cause of his unfortunate and persecuted brethren." [here follows an account of what sir moses had accomplished in the east.] "we, taking the premises into our royal consideration, and being desirous of giving an especial mark of our royal favour to the said sir moses montefiore, in commemoration of these his unceasing exertions on behalf of his injured and persecuted brethren in the east, and the jewish nation at large, have been graciously pleased to allow him to bear supporters to his arms, although the privilege of bearing supporters be limited to the peers of our realm, the knights of our orders, and the proxies of princes of our blood, at installations, except in such cases wherein, under particular circumstances, we have been pleased to grant our licence for the use thereof." the document proceeds to describe the supporters as follows:-- "on the dexter side, lion guardant, and on the sinister side, a stag, each supporting a flagstaff, therefrom flowing a banner to the dexter, inscribed 'jerusalem' in hebrew characters." during his stay at alexandria, and on his return to london, sir moses addressed letters to the jews at damascus, advising them to endeavour to conciliate the christians in that city, as well as those who were known to be their most violent enemies. in connection with these letters, raphael farkhi, the principal representative of the damascus community, now forwarded to him the following important communication, wherein he satisfactorily refuted certain calumnies, which, according to the _times_ newspaper, had been renewed against the jews in damascus. "in addition to what i have already stated," signor farkhi writes, "i have already mentioned to sir moses, in a former letter, that as soon as the pashas of his majesty the sultan arrived at damascus, they reinstated me in my former office, the duties of which are to assist in the magistrates' department in managing the affairs of the city; this honour was conferred on me in accordance with a direction in the sultan's firman. when the english consul (mr wherry) and the detractors whom i have spoken of, heard of this distinction, so auspicious to our people, they were moved with the same mortification as that which they had exhibited when the arrival of sir moses at alexandria destroyed their plans and rescued us from the cruel fate to which they had destined us; and the english consul immediately repaired to the governor of the city, and recommended him to dismiss me and put a non-israelite in my place, under whom i might act as servant or deputy. but, by the blessing of the almighty, this attempt against my interest utterly failed; for the governor declined to adopt the plan thus suggested to him. in consequence of their envious scheme being thus defeated, they are seeking other means to inflict injury on us, by making a false charge against the israelites of having insulted their religion, which they communicated to his excellency the governor ali pasha, and to the three consuls, in order that the charge might be circulated in other and distant countries, and a universal prejudice created against the israelites. "as a further proof that the israelites are innocent of the crime imputed to them, i have to mention that his excellency ali pasha sent for me one day, and after having received an assurance from myself that such a deed would be contemplated with abhorrence by all our nation, he made many rigid enquiries amongst various honourable and respectable gentlemen concerning what had been disseminated by our enemies, the result of which was, that he declared himself convinced of the utter groundlessness of the foul report; and he replied to the heads of the christians in the city that henceforth they ought to treat us with justice and equity; and he then commanded me that i should take upon myself to see that my people should behave themselves as might best become them, which commands i have been mindful to fulfil. "our enemies endeavoured to engage the russian consul at beyrout on their side, but he was not disposed to give any credit to their statement, and therefore despatched his faithful interpreter to damascus, to make proper inquiries; and the result of his interpreter's labours was an opinion which to us was most flattering. the most reverend the patriarch of the greek church has also recorded his testimony, with the russian consul at beyrout, that the accusation was utterly false, and could only have emanated from a malicious spirit. "every member of our community behaves with the greatest courtesy to every christian, whether rich or poor, and often with marked humility. we seek not to gratify any revengeful feeling for what has passed, but yet all our endeavours have hitherto proved ineffectual. there can be no other reason for that than the anger and jealousy of the men, for they wished and intended to kill us, and since moses, our brother, rescued us from their hands, destroyed their plans, and frustrated their intentions, this jealousy has rankled in their hearts, and they seek to bring more accusations against us, although we are not guilty of any wrong." sir moses sent a letter on the subject, with a translation of the original, to the _morning chronicle_, which was inserted on the th july . his attention after this time was directed to matters of a business character. on the th of may mr hananel de castro, who rendered most efficient services in connection with the mission to damascus, informed sir moses that he had been elected president of the london committee of deputies of the british jews. on the th of that month he attended an important meeting of the elders of his synagogue, at which a motion was brought forward respecting a reform movement in the community. four days later he presided over a meeting of the board of deputies held at his own house for the same purpose, at which every member of the board, with only one exception, attended. the debate was warm, but not personal. sir moses, nevertheless, apprehended great agitation in the community, and felt much anxiety as to the result. he entertained the most liberal principles in matters of religion; although himself a staunch supporter of the time-honoured usages of his religion, he did not interfere with the opinions or acts of those who differed from him unless compelled to do so by actual duty. but when, as president of the board of deputies, or of any other institution, he had to give his opinion on religious matters, he invariably referred to the spiritual head of the community for guidance; he regarded a word from him as decisive, and obeyed its injunctions at whatever cost to himself. there was never any doubt in his mind as to the spirit which should prevail in their deliberations on the intended reform in the community; and he maintained that the religious tenets of israel, as revealed in the code of sinai, would invariably stand the test of reason. "they are," he would add in the words of scripture, "to show our wisdom and understanding in the sight of nations;" and he did not consider that he would be acting in accordance with the dictates of truth and justice if he were to accept laymen, however learned they might be, as authorities on religious subjects for the guidance of the whole community. some of his colleagues at the board, however, did not acknowledge the authority of the ecclesiastical chief of the community, and relying entirely on their own judgment, would not accept the dictates of the ancient teachers by whose decisions and interpretations of the sacred text hebrew communities had been guided for thousands of years. the result was that the debates at their meetings became very heated, and bore evidence of the fervour displayed in a cause they had so deeply at heart, thus foreshadowing a struggle which threatened to extend beyond the confines of the board. _may st._--sir moses and lady montefiore attended the queen's drawing-room, and met with a most gracious reception. the duchess of kent and the princess sophia matilda expressed pleasure at seeing them. the duke of cambridge shook sir moses by the hand in a very friendly manner, and said he was glad to see him safe back, that his efforts had done him great honour, and that he deserved much praise. _may rd._--he presented an address to mr h. de castro, voted to him by the deputies, in appreciation of his services in connection with the mission of damascus. on this occasion all the deputies were entertained by sir moses at his house in park lane. a week later he attended a meeting to consider the means for establishing a branch synagogue in the west end, which, when opened to the community, would afford a practical proof that the statutes of their ancient community hitherto prohibiting divine service to be held in any other building than that at bevis marks, had been reconsidered. the events of the year continued to bring with them much anxiety, owing to the agitated state of the community in connection with the reform movement. in the month of august the ecclesiastical chief took what he considered necessary measures to express his opinion publicly for the guidance of those who adhered to his rule, which naturally raised the excitement of the contending parties, and not unfrequently disturbed the peace of many a family circle. the death of the mother of sir moses, a most virtuous daughter of israel, spread a deep gloom over the whole family, and more especially over her beloved son moses, and judith his wife. his brethren in the east appealed to sir moses to intercede with the english government to take them under their protection. they complained of being compelled by local governors to pay heavier taxes than any of the non-israelite inhabitants. both lord palmerston and his successor, lord aberdeen, listened with great kindness to the statements made to them on that subject by sir moses. lord palmerston, in reply to his representations, said the christians had suffered more than the jews from the governor being a fanatic, and added that he (sir moses) had his authority to write to the jews in the east that if they had any serious complaints to make, the english consuls would attend to them, and forward them to the ambassador at constantinople, who would represent them to the ministers of the porte. sir moses took the opportunity of speaking to his lordship respecting smyrna, safed, and damascus, and he had the satisfaction of hearing from him that the governor of the latter city would be changed in consequence of the reports which had been made. lord aberdeen, with whom he subsequently had an interview on the same subject, said that he saw no objection to the british consul receiving the statements of grievances made by the jews, and transmitting such statements to the british ambassador at constantinople, who would be directed to confer thereon with the ministers of the porte, with a view to the redress of the grievances complained of. on sir moses pressing the desire of the jews in the east to be brought under british protection, his lordship replied that he did not see how it could be accomplished. all the european powers were extremely jealous of any interference on the part of england. his lordship added, however, that he would consider the best means to afford the jews protection for the sake of humanity and justice. on the th of november, sir stratford canning, previous to leaving for constantinople, called on sir moses, and afterwards sent him a note, appointing to see him on the following day at twelve o'clock. sir moses accordingly went to him. the purport of this interview was to solicit protection for the israelites in the east. sir moses informed him of the directions given by lord palmerston, and sir stratford said he should be happy to do all that his duty permitted, and to hear from sir moses whenever he pleased. they had a long and interesting conversation respecting the jews and the holy land, and sir moses was exceedingly gratified by sir stratford's kindness. amongst the numerous letters received by sir moses on this matter was one from messrs grindlay, christian & matthews, east india agency, containing an extract from a letter from commodore brucks, of the indian navy, which showed that the great esteem in which both sir moses and lady montefiore were held by the people in the far east sometimes proved detrimental to the interest of their admirers. "a jew," it stated, "and his wife had been passing themselves off for sir moses and lady montefiore. under this supposition the government agent at muscat, a jew of the highest respectability, received them, and did all in his power to make them comfortable. they eventually left, telling him they would pay when they came back, leaving him more than a thousand dollars out of pocket." on reading this, sir moses at once expressed a desire to ascertain the name of the victim of the fraud, in order that he should not suffer any loss on his account. chapter xxxvii. . presentation from hamburg--sir moses meets the king of prussia--address to prince albert--attempt on the queen's life--petitions to sir moses from russia. the entries of the next five years in the diaries refer to numerous important events, interspersed with appeals from communities to sir moses to plead the cause of their brethren before the emperor of russia. the hamburg jews, who were among the first to support their british friends in the mission to damascus, had a gold medal struck, which was presented to sir moses and lady montefiore by mr h. de castro. the complimentary address which accompanied it, in speaking of the queen, says:-- "god bless her majesty, and prosper her, whose enlightenment knows how to appreciate and reward such exertions as are performed for the benefit of us and ours." the obverse of the medal bears a representation of the arms of sir moses montefiore. the margin has a verse in hebrew, taken from psalm cxxii. : "[hebrew] lemann akhai vereai adabera na shalom bekha" ("for the sake of my brethren and companions i will declare peace unto thee"); and a chronogram in hebrew: [hebrew] "shnat gaon isreal lep'ak" signifying, "the year of the pride of israel," the numerical value of the dotted lines representing the date of the damascus mission, viz.: . the reverse has a german inscription, which, rendered in english, is: "dedicated to sir moses and lady montefiore, after their return from egypt, in the year , by their co-religionists of hamburg." my esteemed friend, the late mr m. haarbleicher, exerted himself greatly in this matter. unfortunately, one night burglars got into the drawing-room of sir moses' house at park lane, and took the medal, together with many other valuable articles. there is only a facsimile of the medal in bronze now left in my cabinet, which the committee in hamburg kindly presented to me. _january st._--sir moses and lady montefiore received an invitation from the duke of sussex and the duchess of inverness to lunch with them on the first of february, as his majesty the king of prussia had intimated to them his intention of honouring them with his company. sir moses went early in the morning of the following day to somerset house to see the king of prussia admitted as fellow of the royal society, together with baron alexander von humboldt; and before two o'clock he and lady montefiore were at kensington palace. the duke and duchess received them very kindly, and the duke promised to introduce them to his royal visitor. he said he was anxious that his invitation should be forwarded in time, as he was desirous of introducing sir moses to the king of prussia, which he did almost as soon as the king entered; informing his majesty, at the same time, of the journey of sir moses and lady montefiore to the east. the king, sir moses says, was very gracious; but remarked (speaking of padre tommaso), "but the poor man is dead;" upon which sir moses ventured to point out to his majesty, that it was by no means certain that the man was dead. "it was a truly royal banquet," sir moses writes, "about sixty persons being present. the duke made a liberal and excellent speech about religions in general, but the king did not notice it in his reply." they were delighted with the kindness of their royal highnesses, and of those they knew. lord lansdowne hoped they had not forgotten him. lord palmerston enquired what reports he had from the east, and whether the english consuls were behaving better. on the following day, mr attwood, one of the directors of the imperial continental gas association, expressed a wish that sir moses should accompany him to see the king of prussia, who had consented to receive a deputation from the association; and in compliance with this wish he went with them. he met sir j. l. goldsmid at the office, and they proceeded to buckingham palace. "there were," sir moses observes, "many persons waiting." he saw there lord roxley, sir robert inglis, sir robert adair, and many noblemen and clergymen. they were soon admitted to the king's presence, and were very graciously received. mr attwood read the address, and the king spoke a few words to each of them. he recognised sir moses, observing that he had spoken to him on the previous day, and enquired whether he was settled in england; the king thought he lived in italy. he spoke to mr attwood about parliament and the new buildings, and laughingly said, he supposed that the association would light them. _february th._--about this time sir moses pointed out the spot at ramsgate where it was his wish, when it should please the almighty to call him, that his earthly remains might repose, with those of his beloved wife. the spot was marked out by four hurdles, which he assisted in placing there. possibly the illness of his brother's wife, which, a few days after, terminated in her death, cast a gloom over his mind, which made him consider it advisable to prepare himself for such an event. he was much grieved by this family affliction, and remained in the house for several days; owing to which he was unable to present an address of congratulation to the queen on the birth of the prince of wales. mr de castro and two other deputies of the london committee of the board had to present it instead; as also an address to prince albert, and later on, one to the duchess of kent. they were most graciously received, and her royal highness desired them to express her great regret at sir moses' absence, and at the cause of it. colonel cooper, the next day, by desire of the duchess, wrote him a letter, to assure him of her sympathy on this melancholy occasion. in the same month he made a donation of £ for the repair of the ancient synagogue of the spanish and portuguese community, as it was greatly needed, and thereby induced others to follow his example. he also took steps to have the synagogue included in the clause of exemption from property tax, in which he succeeded, by the kindness of mr john masterman, who wrote a letter to mr goulbourn on the subject. the chancellor of the exchequer promised that he would so alter the wording of the income-tax bill as to meet sir moses' wishes. sir robert peel also wrote to him a letter to the same effect. _may st._--there is an entry referring to an attempt on the queen's life. "last evening," he writes, "an attempt was made on the life of our gracious sovereign, which, through the protection of almighty god, was happily preserved. it is most difficult to believe that any mortal in his senses could attempt such a thing. may the god of israel shield the queen from all harm, and bless her with every happiness and long life. i convened a meeting of deputies to forward letters of congratulation to the queen, prince albert, and the duchess of kent, on the providential escape of the queen, and went with lady montefiore and dr loewe to kensington palace to enter our names in the visitors' books of the duke of sussex and the duchess of inverness; afterwards to buckingham palace, in prince albert's book; and clarence house, to the duchess of kent." _july nd._--attended a meeting at the thatched house tavern, st james street, for the purpose of selecting an artist to carry out the resolution agreed to at a previous meeting for the erection of a statue to sir david wilkie. sir r. peel, who took the chair, proposed that a sub-committee should be appointed, consisting (in addition to the officers already appointed) of the duke of sutherland, the duke of buccleuch, lord mahon, sir francis clark, sir thomas mahon, sir martin archer shee, sir william newton, mr phillips, sir moses montefiore, mr burnett, mr rogers, and mr henry labouchere, m.p. sir moses was also one of the committee appointed to watch the progress of the statue. he had entertained a high regard for sir david since making his acquaintance at constantinople, and was glad to have the opportunity of showing it on this occasion. _july th._--sir moses and lady montefiore were honoured by a visit from viscount and viscountess ponsonby. his lordship, who had shown them much kindness and attention during their sojourn in the turkish capital, spoke of the benefit which the people of the east would derive from the encouragement of industry among them. this reminded sir moses of a promise which he had made to a very industrious person in the holy land, and on the same day he sent a printing press and fount of type to the value of £ to israel drucker in jerusalem, whose acquaintance he had made at safed, during his second journey to the holy land. it was this same printing press which the recipient, out of gratitude to sir moses and lady montefiore, called "massat moshe ve yehoodit" (a gift of moses and judith), that, forty-three years later, caused professor röhling of prague to accuse sir moses of having printed a book which he (professor röhling) said was intended to prove the use of blood for jewish ritual purposes. the printing press which sir moses sent was accompanied by a beautifully written scroll of the pentateuch. _august nd._--sir moses received a deputation from the representatives of the new synagogue at liverpool, requesting his mediation in a communal dispute. he strongly advised their reunion with the old synagogue, and promised to see the deputation again. a few days later he and lady montefiore left england for paris, to be present at the wedding of the daughter of baron james de rothschild. he describes that event in the following words:-- "_paris, hotel windsor, wednesday, august th._--the great day has at length arrived, and, happily, our presents also: they were sent last night to the bois de boulogne. ours was similar to that we gave to baron charles and louisa de rothschild; a large and handsomely-carved ewer and basin, worth £ . we left paris before twelve o'clock, and on reaching the bois de boulogne, found the party already assembled, all the ladies most elegantly dressed. a procession was formed by a number of choristers, led by the _ministre officiant_, and preceded by the grand rabbin. then followed the bridegroom with his brother, baron lionel de rothschild, as best man, and on his left baron james; afterwards, barons salamon, anthony, and the other relatives and friends present. we proceeded to a magnificent canopy of white satin and gold embroidery, erected in the garden: the ground was covered with velvet carpets. the path leading to the canopy was covered with crimson cloth strewn with roses. the choir was singing hebrew hymns all the time. then followed the bride, led by her mother and mrs de rothschild, the other ladies following. under the canopy stood the bride and bridegroom, their parents, barons anselm, lionel, and myself. the marriage ceremony was performed by the grand rabbin, who delivered an excellent discourse in french. after the ceremony the whole party walked to the swiss cottage in the garden, where a sumptuous breakfast was laid. no toasts or healths were drunk, but grace was said. afterwards the gentlemen went back to paris to dress, the ladies being accommodated in the house. we were back again by four o'clock, and now found the ladies most magnificently attired. at seven we entered the banquetting room. it was in a perfect blaze of light: only once, at the archbishop of canterbury's, have i seen such splendour. the repast consisted of all the luxuries the world produces. the gardens were brilliantly illuminated. the host and hostess were most attentive. it was past eleven when we left." on the day after the wedding he called on rechid pasha, the turkish ambassador, and writes in his diary:-- "the pasha received me instantly, and told me how pleased he was to meet me in paris, and how happy it made him that he was able to assist me in constantinople to further the cause of justice and humanity. he said he hoped to see me again in turkey. he asked me whether i had seen lord ponsonby, and what i thought of the disturbances in manchester and the manufacturing districts. i assured him that they were of no consequence. he asked me to be permitted to introduce his sons to me: three very fine boys, the eldest about sixteen, the others ten and eight years old. the youngest was very fair, and appeared to be the favourite. the ambassador told me that the note he had sent me yesterday was written by the youngest. after chatting a little longer i took my leave, the pasha begging of me to preserve him my friendship. i gave him dr loewe's circassian-turkish and english dictionary, with which he seemed much pleased, and asked me to thank dr loewe in his name for it. later we paid our farewell visits to all the barons de rothschild and their families, and prepared for our departure." _september th._--sir moses and lady montefiore received at park lane, through the baroness lionel de rothschild, a beautiful silver gilt cup made from a design by professor oppenheim, and sent to them as a present by the hebrew community of frankfurt-on-main, accompanied by an address signed by all the members. he also received a splendid album from magdeburg, the covers of which were ornamented with two beautiful paintings, also executed by professor oppenheim, one representing moses installing joshua in his office as leader of israel, and the other a copy of benda's picture "by the rivers of babylon there we sat down; yea, we wept when we remembered zion" (psalm cxxxvii.), copied by the same artist, and signed by dr philipson, the spiritual head of the hebrew congregation of magdeburg, and near other persons, many of them non-israelites belonging to the clergy and nobility. these two testimonials are now, with many others, preserved in the lecture hall of the college in ramsgate. _october th._--colonel c. h. churchill paid them a visit at ramsgate previous to his leaving england for the east. the colonel having married a young widow at damascus was very anxious to return to her at beyrout, where he intends residing, having adopted syria as his country. sir moses and lady montefiore requested him to take with him some contributions towards the support of the poor jews in the east, which he gladly promised to do for them, expressing his high regard for the character and industrious habits of the jews. _october th._--a petition was received from the hebrew congregation of riga, imploring sir moses to intercede on their behalf with the emperor of russia. many others, from various places, on the same subject followed. most of the principal communities in germany, france, italy, and america entreated him to accede to the petitions of their brethren in russia and poland; and sir moses now began seriously to consider the desirability of serving the cause of humanity anew. in the same month he and the hebrew communities in england sustained a severe loss by the death of their ecclesiastical chief, the rev. dr solomon hirschell. "i was at bury street at twelve o'clock," he writes in his diary, "on october st, and found our esteemed chief rabbi apparently in a state of insensibility; his chamber was filled with his friends, and his bed closely surrounded by the members of the ecclesiastical court, and other persons. they were saying prayers; he was very calm, and at . his spirit fled from its earthly tenement to receive that reward which his righteousness in this world secured to him; eternal happiness and peace to his memory!" sir moses was entirely guided by him in all matters concerning religion, and felt the loss of such a friend and counsellor acutely. he appears to have been roused by that sorrowful event to fresh acts of benevolence, and believing it possible to render some service to the jews in russia, he thought it necessary now to make himself fully acquainted with all the recent publications referring to that country and its inhabitants, and obtained information from german and english travellers who had just returned from visiting warsaw, st petersburg, moscow, and other important cities in the czar's vast empire. _november th._--the entry in his diary contains the following lines:--"extremely cold morning; nevertheless dear judith and i left park lane before eight o'clock to walk to synagogue. it was very well attended, and prayers were offered up for the late lamented chief rabbi. we remained in the city, and attended afternoon and evening prayers at our own (the portuguese) synagogue. afterwards we rode home to park lane. dr loewe accompanied us, and agreed to go with us to russia and poland whenever that should seem necessary." _november th, th, and th._--the number of petitions to go to russia increased considerably, especially entreating sir moses to accept an invitation from count ouvaroff, the minister of public instruction, who wished him to be present at the deliberation of the government referring to the improvement of the method of education among the hebrews in the russian empire. the following entries refer to the subject:-- "_december th._--went to chevalier benkhausen, the russian consul-general, and spoke with him respecting a letter i had received from dr lilienthal of st petersburg, referring to an invitation from count ouvaroff to proceed to the russian metropolis, and he recommended my seeing the russian ambassador. "accordingly i wrote to the latter, requesting the honour of an interview with him, and received his reply that he would receive me the next day. "_december th._--had an audience of the russian ambassador, baron brunnow, and spoke to him regarding our intended journey. he entered into all particulars with me, and promised to make all necessary enquiries. "the next day we dined at mrs de rothschild's, and met baron and baroness brunnow, the austrian ambassador and his wife, lady pellew and her daughter lady walpole, and many other distinguished persons. baron brunnow spoke to me about dr lilienthal's letter, and said he would write to count ouvaroff, and would ascertain for him the authenticity of dr lilienthal's communication. the baron advised me, if i went to russia, to proceed in the first instance to st petersburg, and speak with the emperor himself, and not to go, as i had intended, to the several cities in poland previously to my going to st petersburg." _december th._--notwithstanding the multiplicity of matters referring to the north which now filled his mind, he did not for a moment neglect the interest of the east. he made an agreement with a physician, dr s. frankel, to allow him a salary for three years, to furnish the requisite medicines, and to pay his expenses to jerusalem, on condition that he should attend the poor of the holy land gratuitously. chapter xxxviii. . address and testimonial from the jews--sir moses' speech in reply--death of the duke of sussex--the deportation ukase in russia--opening of the new royal exchange--sir moses made sheriff of kent. _january th, ._--sir moses ordered from the apothecaries' hall drugs, surgical instruments, and fittings for a dispensary in jerusalem, and saw them packed and forwarded to the holy city. _february th._--a large number of his jewish brethren in the united kingdom, jamaica, barbadoes, and gibraltar, presented him with a testimonial of respect and gratitude in commemoration of the many personal sacrifices made, and the philanthropy displayed by him and lady montefiore during his mission to the east, anno mundi ( ). it was designed by sir george hayter, modelled by e. bailey, r.a., and executed by messrs mortimer & hunt, and is an exquisite piece of workmanship, both as regards the design and execution. it is exclusively ornamental, adapted for no special purpose, and is, as it were, a kind of miniature monument. it is three and a half feet high, weighs ounces of silver, and has a large base. the most prominent figure, which surmounts the whole work, represents david conquering the lion and rescuing the lamb (as in first book of samuel xvii. and ), and is emblematical of the victory over oppressive force, and the delivery of innocence effected by the mission. this is the _chef d'oeuvre_ of the work, which is full of fine allegorical details. immediately under this figure are four bas-reliefs, representing respectively, ( ) the landing of sir moses and his party at alexandria; ( ) the audience with the sultan at constantinople on the granting of the firman; ( ) the liberation of the prisoners at damascus; and ( ) the public thanksgiving on the return of sir moses and lady montefiore to london. on the four corners of the base are exquisite figures in frosted silver, two representing moses and ezra, the great deliverers of their people in ancient times, and the other two some of the accused jews of damascus, one in chains, bowed down by grief, the other in an attitude of thanksgiving, with the fetters lying broken at his feet. the chairman (mr h. de castro), accompanied by the committee, prefaced the presentation by reading an address, engrossed on vellum. a vellum scroll was also added, containing the series of resolutions adopted at the public meeting in , and the name of every contributor to the testimonal, copied from the lists furnished to the committee, and arranged according to residence. the following is a copy of the address:-- "esteemed sir,--we have long looked forward to the present as a moment of high and honourable gratification, when we should come forward on behalf of the jewish community to present to you this manifestation of their gratitude and esteem. the services which, at a period of excitement, you rendered, in a foreign clime, to religion and humanity, were such as are rarely called into requisition. the alacrity, spirit, and zeal with which you embarked into the cause, were only equalled by the liberality, judgment, and decision you evinced in the accomplishment of the end you had in view. the restoration of the oppressed to liberty, and a full refutation of the vile calumnies brought against our faith--both these great objects, by the aid of gracious providence, have been attained. the grateful thanksgivings of the liberated prisoners pronounce you their deliverer. the firman of the sultan, denies these calumnies, of which they had been the unfortunate victims. "it may be truly said of you, sir, and of your amiable lady--the companion of your anxieties and dangers--that your services were 'the labours of the heart,' works of all others most deserving of distinction and reward. "may you ever be the 'harbinger of glad tidings to zion,' and long live to continue your watchful care to all who need your solace and support. how will your suffering brethren in jerusalem hail your late acts of munificence--the founding a dispensary for the poor of our community, now dwelling in the land of our fathers. "in the name of the jewish people we present to you this testimonial of your great and successful labours, with the hope that the blessing of our heavenly father may vouchsafe, to you and lady montefiore, many, many happy years to contemplate and enjoy it.--on behalf of the committee, "hananel de castro, _chairman_." " adar -- th february ." [illustration: testimonial of respect and gratitude, presented to sir moses and lady montefiore by their jewesh brethen in the united kingdom and the colonies. _see vol. i., page ._] to this address. sir moses made the following reply:-- "mr de castro and gentlemen,--i receive with unfeigned satisfaction, and, i trust, with humility, the address which you have offered to me. i accepted with fear and trembling the responsible yet honourable task confided to me by my brethren, not trusting in my own strength or wisdom, but relying upon the saving strength of the lord our god. i felt that i should be sustained by the prayers and sympathies of my brethren, and of the enlightened friends of humanity throughout the world. aided by these prayers and sympathies, and supported by the government of our country, your mission was permitted by divine providence, while in egypt, to become the instruments of giving liberty to the captive, of opening the prison to them that were bound, of restoring to their wives and families those who, by unjust persecution, had been compelled to abandon their homes. we have everywhere asserted their innocence of the atrocious crime laid to their charge, and in the face of all men have vindicated the purity and divinity of our holy religion. "at constantinople our success was complete. there we had the satisfaction of obtaining from the sultan a haiti sherif, which asserts the innocence of our brethren after a full examination of the witnesses against them, and of their religious writings, and declares that the accusations against our religion were based in falsehood, and entertained only by the prejudiced and the ignorant. that noble writing has also laid the foundation for improving the civil condition of our brethren in the turkish dominions. to that, as well as to the documents which have been transmitted to the committee, i refer with exultation, as proofs that the rulers of the east have imbibed more liberal notions, have set themselves against the use of torture, have secured to our brethren an equality of civil rights, and thus given them a deeper interest in the prosperity of the countries in which they reside. that you approve of these acts, and testify your approbation of the whole proceedings of the mission, and believe that i have, to the best of my ability, fulfilled its objects, will be to me a source of continual satisfaction through life, and when i am about to quit this earthly scene will cheer the last moments of my existence. "you are pleased to speak of the dangers and perils to which i have been exposed. i assure you that i count them as nothing when i consider the noble object of the mission, and the entire success with which it has pleased god to crown our labours. without, however, your continual advice and support, i might not have been able to accomplish that which has been done, because, when all around appeared gloomy and dark, and i thought that amidst the contending struggles of nations for power the rights of humanity would be sacrificed and the liberties of our brethren utterly destroyed, i was cheered and sustained by the recollection of your prayers and support, and, relying upon the god of our fathers, i persevered until i was satisfied that the objects of the mission had been fully accomplished. nor is it one of the least consequences attending our labours, that, in accomplishing such objects, we have been enabled to dissipate prejudice and to remove ignorance, so that now our persecutors are compelled to look with respect upon our nation. may i not, therefore, assert that a new and brighter era is dawning upon those who have for ages been the subjects of calumny and oppression. "in prosecuting the labours of your mission i received most valuable assistance from our friends the family de rothschild, from each of its members at london, paris, naples, frankfort, and vienna, both by introductions to their extensive connections in the east, as well as by their unremitted personal exertions in europe; nor can i forget my friend mr george samuel, who was ever ready to lend his aid at constantinople. i should also be doing great injustice to my own feelings were i to let this opportunity pass without referring to the valuable assistance of my friends, mr wire and dr loewe, who accompanied me throughout the whole of my long journey, and whom i shall ever esteem as men devoted to the interests of humanity. "i cannot conclude this short and imperfect reply to your congratulations without referring to the kind expressions in which you speak of my beloved wife, whom you truly characterise as the participator in all my toils and anxieties. she has, indeed, shared my toils but diminished my anxieties, and aided me in the prosecution of my labours. "gentlemen, to you, to your excellent president, but, above all, to the god of our fathers, i offer thanks that i have been permitted to fulfil the objects of your mission, and with devout gratitude i resign into your hands the trust committed to my care, praying that peace, prosperity, truth, and union may ever prevail in israel." the death of the duke of sussex took place at this time, and sir moses deeply lamented the loss sustained by his demise. the lord chamberlain sent him a command to attend the funeral on the th of may, and lord dinorben wrote a letter to inform him that a card of invitation had been sent, and that he would be permitted to follow in his own carriage. sir moses, describing the funeral, says:-- "i left home after six in the morning, and was at kensington palace a quarter before seven. the company began to assemble between seven and eight: i suppose there were more than one hundred and fifty persons. the procession commenced at half-past eight; the roads were lined with people, every window filled, also many scaffoldings. the chapel at kensal green was solemn and grand, being filled with the grand officers of state, the duke of wellington, sir robert peel, &c., &c. we saw none of the tories or royal family at the palace, but in the chapel there were the duke of cambridge, chief mourner; prince albert, &c. the ceremony was over at twelve. i reached home at a quarter to one, and after breakfast proceeded at once with lady montefiore to the city to attend the funeral service in the portuguese synagogue, where dr loewe (who filled the office of oriental linguist and hebrew lecturer to his late royal highness) delivered a discourse, at the conclusion of which we repaired to the great synagogue of the german community. there was a funeral service, but no discourse." "the jews," sir moses says, "have lost an excellent friend: may he be rewarded with eternal bliss for his kindness to suffering humanity." on may th the earl of thanet informed sir moses that lord lyndhurst had given directions for the insertion of his name in the commission of the peace for the county of kent. on july th the first step was made for the repeal of the deportation ukase in russia. "i called at baron brunnow's," he writes. "he was just stepping into his carriage, dressed in full uniform, going to celebrate a mass on some public occasion; but he very kindly insisted on my going into his library, and returned with me. i gave him the letter i had received from königsberg, which he read, also the ukase. he said he believed the minister of justice thought it was an act of mercy to remove the jews from the temptation of smuggling, of which crime many had been guilty, and, no doubt, the emperor was of that opinion, which was the cause of the order. 'it was possible,' he continued, 'if i were to be at st petersburg, by speaking with one and another, my influence might cause its revocation;' but he advised me to write to count ouvaroff, and, if i showed him the letter, he would suggest such alterations as he thought would be advisable. he recommended that no public steps should be taken in the way of petition to the emperor, as there were two years still before the ukase would take effect; he thought it a bad measure." this statement corroborated what some of the letters from russia previously addressed to him on the subject had already stated. a few days later sir moses and lady montefiore were present at an entertainment given by mrs rothschild to the king of hanover, and met the duke of cambridge, the duchess of gloucester, and most of the nobility, besides all the ambassadors. they were introduced to the marchioness of ely at her own request, and she complimented them on the result of the damascus mission. several of the ambassadors spoke to him on the recent reports respecting the state of the jews in russia. _june st, ._--the emperor of russia arrived in london. _june th._--the entry states:--"i have been looking with deep anxiety from morning till evening for a letter from baron brunnow. i wrote this week to lord aberdeen, soliciting an interview to-morrow. i will do everything i possibly can to approach the emperor, and pray for our brethren in his dominions. i also wrote to mr dawson on the same subject; it engrosses all my thoughts." _june th._--"baron lionel de rothschild accompanied me to see lord aberdeen. he said baron brunnow had intimated to him the impossibility of his imperial majesty receiving any deputation. i showed his lordship the address from the london committee of deputies of the british jews, and asked his advice about sending it to baron brunnow, for him to present it on our behalf, and whether he thought there was anything in it that could do harm. his lordship thought there was not: the emperor, he said, was very firm when he had once made up his mind on a subject. "lionel and i then walked to sir robert peel's. he was just going to mount his horse, on his way to the queen. he heard all we had to say respecting the address, and said he had heard it whispered that the emperor would see sir moses montefiore, but the emperor's stay was so short that he could not tell whether he would be able to do so." the address was subsequently given by sir moses to baron brunnow, who promised to send it to st petersburg. in the following month, on july th, an entry states that the emperor received the address graciously, but his visit to this country would be so short that it was impossible for him to receive the deputation. on august th sir moses and lady montefiore proceeded to birmingham, in company with several of their relatives and friends, sir moses having been invited by the hebrew congregation of that town to lay the first stone of a hebrew national school, a task which he performed amid the cheers of many hundreds of persons of various religious denominations. _september st._--the cause of two poor poles who had been imprisoned for hawking without a licence attracted sir moses' attention. the men having excellent characters, he determined on going to chelmsford, to see them there in the springfield gaol, where they were then confined under sentence for three months, and to endeavour, if possible, to obtain their release. they had only been six or seven weeks in england, and could speak but a few words of english. next morning he went to springfield gaol and saw the governor, who had the two men brought to him. one had been a dyer, and the other had kept a hardware shop near warsaw. both men lived whilst in prison on bread and water, refusing to eat either the soup or meat allowed to the prisoners. the governor recommended him a man to draw up a petition for them. sir moses immediately sent for him, and instructed him as to the matter of the petition. the governor kindly sent a man to wait till it was written, and sir moses then forwarded the petition to the prison, where the governor had it signed by the two prisoners, and returned to sir moses, who was just able to take the last train back. _september rd._--he called at somerset house, and left the petition from springfield gaol, and three days later had the gratification of receiving a letter from the secretary of stamps and taxes to say that the board had been pleased to remit the crown's share of the penalties against the two prisoners. _october th._--sir moses is present at the opening of the new royal exchange by the queen; he had a seat in the subscribers' room, where the royal banquet was given. the queen, prince albert, the duke of cambridge, &c., presided at the head table: about two hundred persons dined there. _october th._--the baroness brunnow invited him to meet the grand duke of russia; and sir moses, entertaining the hope of finding there the opportunity to serve the cause of his brethren, gladly accepted the invitation. _november th._--he was nominated sheriff of kent, and on the th inst. his friends and most of his neighbours congratulated him on being elected to that high office. his mind, however, was not joyfully attuned to the occasion. his thoughts at one moment were wandering away from happy england to the burning sands of the african deserts, and at another, to the frozen rivers and the snow-covered forests of the north of russia. this was owing to a visit which he had received from mr erith, a mogador merchant, who gave him a very cheering prospect of the success which might be expected if he were to appeal to the emperor of morocco for a firman, to place the jews in the same position as his other subjects; and to some letters he received from several trustworthy sources, giving disheartening accounts of the state of the jews in russia, to the following effect:-- "the ukase ordering the jews to remove from the frontier provinces to the interior is now being carried into effect. this measure affects nearly one hundred thousand persons. the families receive passports, delivered by the magistrates, indicating the place to which they are to go, and only a few days after they have received the passport, they must sell all their property and convert it into money." chapter xxxix. . affairs in morocco--letter to the emperor--his reply--deputation to sir robert peel--death of lady montefiore's brother isaac--sir moses sets out for russia. the first few months of the year appeared, according to a statement in the _königsberg gazette_, to give some hope for an improvement in the condition of sir moses' co-religionists in russia. the paper says:-- "the famous ukase against the jews, of the th april ( nd may), seems to be adjourned. the emperor himself has given orders to the minister of the interior to present him with a minute report on the situation and property of the jews in the villages and frontier towns, before the terrible ukase is put into execution. this sudden change has produced so much the more joy among the unfortunate jews, as rigorous measures had already been taken for the execution of the ukase, as well as the decree of the senate, dated january ( ) . it is to sir moses montefiore and the interference of many members _of the nobility_ that thirty thousand jews perhaps owe the entire revocation of this law." as for morocco, where, during the bombardment of mogador, the jews, together with other inhabitants, had been great sufferers, sir moses wrote a letter to the editor of the _times_, directing his attention to the fact, and showing that the committee in london had correctly estimated the number of the sufferers. consignments of money, food, and clothing, had, he observed, already been transmitted to mogador to trustworthy agents, for immediate distribution among the sufferers. the subscriptions to the day he wrote exceeded £ . sir moses also attended a meeting of the mogador committee, at which they agreed to send a letter to the emperor of morocco, and to request the earl of aberdeen to instruct mr e. w. drummond hay, h.b. majesty's consul-general at tangiers, to forward it to the emperor. by desire of sir moses i wrote an arabic letter to the emperor, which sir moses signed and despatched to his lordship, for transmission to his majesty. _february th._--sir moses proceeded to the judges' chambers, chancery lane, accompanied by mr d. w. wire, and then went before baron parke, and was sworn into office (as sheriff of the county of kent). the baron very kindly wished him a pleasant year, and hoped to have the pleasure of coming down and seeing him at the assizes. mr wire was also sworn as his under-sheriff. _february th._--the fees due for his shrievalty, £ , s. d., had already been offered to him, but on seeing mr temple, he requested him to send them to his under-sheriff. notwithstanding the duties his new office imposed on him, he endeavoured scrupulously to discharge those of his presidency of the board of deputies of british jews. agreeably to a resolution adopted at a previous meeting of that body, held for the consideration of a petition to parliament for the removal of all civil disabilities, he and the other members of the board waited the next day on sir robert peel. the subject being of interest to friends of civil and religious liberty, i here give the words of sir moses, and those of sir robert peel's reply. sir moses, addressing sir robert, said: "we have the honour of waiting on you as a deputation from the metropolitan and provincial congregations of british jews, to ascertain whether her majesty's government be favourably disposed to meet their wishes for the removal of the civil disabilities under which they labour, and, from the advancement of liberal feeling in all classes where religious questions are concerned, they are led to believe the present moment most fitting for them to be placed on an equal footing with their fellow-subjects." sir robert replied that he had been considering some measure on the subject to propose to his colleagues, when he received a letter from sir j. l. goldsmid, which stated that the jews would not be satisfied with any measure less than the whole. seeing there was some difference he would not proceed. however, after some consideration, he said he would see sir j. l. goldsmid, and would write to them to come to him within a fortnight, adding that he was fully aware that they would feel as well satisfied with a part, and that they should not thereby be precluded from hereafter getting more. _march rd._--as high sheriff of the county of kent, sir moses opened the court at canterbury for the election of a member of parliament in the room of sir e. knatchbull. after delivering an appropriate address to the electors, the meeting was proceeded with, and eventually mr william deedes was returned. the meeting was conducted in a most orderly manner. mr william deedes of sandling park was elected to represent them in parliament, and thanks were voted to the high sheriff. _march th._--sir moses and lady montefiore attended the levee, where sir moses was presented to the queen by sir james graham, and had the honour to kiss hands on his appointment as sheriff of the county of kent. sir robert peel, who was standing within three or four paces of the queen, came out of the circle as sir moses came up, and spoke to him. he said the suggestion made the previous day respecting the removal of civil disabilities seemed good; and he requested sir moses to be so good as to communicate with baron rothschild and sir david salomons. _march th._--at maidstone sir moses went in state to meet lord denman. about a mile from town his lordship got out of his own carriage and entered that of sir moses, the rev. g. w. sicklemore being with the latter. they proceeded to the sessions house, and opened the commission; then went to the judge's lodgings, where lord denman robed, and received the mayor and corporation. they left to go before the judge to church. lord denman said to him that he was ready to go, but sir moses might do as he pleased. the latter therefore only conducted him to his carriage, and returned to his lodgings to wait there for him instead of accompanying him and the rev. g. w. sicklemore to church. they went there in sir moses' carriage. baron alderson arrived a few minutes after they had left, and remained with sir moses till lord denman returned, when sir moses took his leave and went home. at seven he and rev. g. w. sicklemore went to fetch the judges, and dined with lord and lady romney. _march th._--at nine sir moses went, as usual, to fetch the judges--the lord denman and sir edward hall alderson. on their way to the court they called for mr serjeant dowling. as they were going there sir moses requested their lordships' permission to be absent the next day, as it was his sabbath, to which they very kindly consented. sir moses sat for some time in each court. lord denman told him he had received a letter from the bishop of durham, expressing his desire to vote for the jews' relief bill, and sent his proxy for the purpose; but lord denman said there would be no occasion for it, as their lordships would not divide. at five, on his asking baron alderson's consent to his leaving, the latter most kindly said to him, "i know; six o'clock," and shook him warmly and kindly by the hand. sir moses then took leave, and returned to his lodgings. _friday th._--"i received a letter," the entry in his diary reads, "from mr addington, forwarding another to me by desire of the english ambassador in morocco. dr loewe read to me his translation of the same. it is from ben idrees, the wazeer of the emperor of morocco, written to me by order of his majesty, in reply to the petition of the mogador committee. it states that the hebrew nation enjoys throughout the empire the same privileges as the mooslimeen, and the hebrew nation is highly regarded by him." _may th._--sir moses and lady montefiore attended her majesty's state ball at buckingham palace. sir moses was dressed in his uniform, and lady montefiore wore a dress of superb tissue "d'or et cerise," elegantly trimmed with gold lace and ribbons, and a profusion of diamonds. they left park lane at nine, and it was ten when the long string of carriages allowed them to reach the palace. "during the evening," sir moses wrote, " persons were there; the rooms were magnificently decorated; the dancing was in two rooms; supper at two o'clock. nothing could have been more splendid. the queen, god bless her, looked very beautiful, and in good health and spirits. we left much delighted and pleased with the honour we had enjoyed." after witnessing the splendour of the state ball we find him actively engaged at birmingham and preston, visiting most of the humble dwelling-houses of the working classes. being desirous of having three persons from jerusalem taught the art of weaving, he went to see a man in preston, who had been recommended to him as an intelligent and clever workman, and made an agreement with him for the above purpose. "i wish," sir moses said, "to help our brethren in the holy land in all their efforts to get bread by their own industry, and pray to heaven they may succeed." _july st._--sir moses and lady montefiore went to welcome the rev. dr n. m. adler, chief rabbi elect of the german hebrew congregations in the british empire, on his arrival at dover, and were present the next day at his installation in the great synagogue in london. the synagogue was handsomely decorated, and crowded with the _élite_ of all the jewish congregations. a most appropriate and solemn service was performed, and our gentile brethren showed their interest in the event, by causing the bells of the neighbouring churches to be rung. _november th._--a special delegate arrived from poland to entreat sir moses, in the name of many thousands of his brethren, to intercede in their behalf with the russian government, and to proceed at once to st petersburg to make known their cause to the emperor himself. the subject at that time greatly engrossed his mind; he had no rest, either by day or by night, on account of his anxiety to hasten to their succour, and determined to set out on his journey as soon as his year of shrievalty expired. meanwhile he called on baron brunnow, who promised to give him letters of introduction to his friends, and to several ministers at st petersburg, if he went there. he thought the emperor would ask him to visit his co religionists in his empire. his going to st petersburg could do no harm, or he would not give him letters. sir moses, baron brunnow remarked, had received an invitation from the minister of public instruction, two years previously, to go there, as he wished to have the benefit of his counsel respecting the establishment of hebrew schools, and he thought this constituted a claim on sir moses to go. baron brunnow also recommended sir moses to obtain permission to act as he thought best, with reference to the address of the board of deputies of the british jews to the emperor; and advised his going as an english gentleman, his character being so well known, remarking that the cause would not be benefited by his acting as representative of the board of deputies. the year begins with a sad occurrence in the family. mr isaac cohen, the brother of lady montefiore, a man highly esteemed for his excellent character and benevolent disposition, died suddenly. though this was a cause of much grief to both sir moses and lady montefiore, they did not consider themselves in any way justified in delaying the necessary preparations for their self-imposed mission to russia. sir moses called again on baron brunnow, who said that he could neither advise him to go or to stay, but said he might be assured that the emperor's object was not that of conversion, but rather to render the jews more useful subjects. he advised him not to go till count nesselrode returned from rome to st petersburg. soon after this interview, sir moses again saw the ambassador at which the latter recommended him not to go to russia, and held out very little hope of the object of his journey being accomplished. nevertheless, sir moses resolved on going, saying that as he had been invited to discuss the subject of schools, and was then out of office, he should go. baron brunnow then advised its being kept as quiet as possible. he promised to give him a letter to count nesselrode, and suggested that he should go direct, and as quickly as possible. subsequently he advised him to see lord aberdeen, and get a letter of introduction to lord bloomfield, the british ambassador at st petersburg; also, to see sir roderick murchison, who could give him useful advice, and to endeavour to obtain an introduction to prince michael. _february th._--sir moses called on lord aberdeen, who received him kindly, and promised to give him letters to the british ministers at st petersburg and berlin. _february th._--a solemn prayer was offered by the united congregations of the british empire for the success of his philanthropic mission to russia. _march st._--sir moses and lady montefiore went to dover, and arrived safely the same day at ostend; and on the following sunday i met them in berlin, according to our previous arrangement, to accompany them to st petersburg. _march th._--sir moses called on the earl of westmoreland to present to him his letter of introduction from the earl of aberdeen. having acquainted him with the object of his journey to st petersburg, and mentioned baron brunnow's suggestion to facilitate our journey, his lordship replied that the russian ambassador was absent, but that he would give him a letter to monsieur fonton, his representative. his lordship hoped to see him on his return. we then went to the russian embassy, and delivered to monsieur fonton his lordship's letter. that gentleman said he would give sir moses a letter to the officer at the frontier, but he had chosen a very unfavourable time for his journey, and had better remain five or six days longer at berlin. the waters were out, it would be impossible to pass, and he would be detained on the road. there was a gentleman present in the office who told us he had arrived on the previous night from st petersburg, but had experienced the greatest difficulty, and was the only person who had succeeded in getting through, as it was quite out of the question for a carriage to pass, and we should be compelled to remain on the road. this information was very distressing, but sir moses was determined to go on, and only stop when we should find it too dangerous to go forward. the same day we left berlin, and proceeded _viâ_ königsberg and tilsid to mitau. _friday, the th march._--a deputation of the hebrew community came to welcome sir moses and lady montefiore at the post house, at st olia, the last stage before mitau, to express their gratitude to them for what they had effected in the damascus mission, and to beg they would accept their hospitality during their sojourn at mitau. sir moses thanked them for their kindness in coming so many miles to meet us, but declined accepting their offer, as he wished to travel as privately as possible. as we entered the town, hundreds of persons ran by the side of the carriage to the hotel. we had splendid apartments there, and were grateful for our safety, as we had suffered very much from cold, heavy snows, and horrible roads, and had frequently been obliged to travel all night. not wishing to attract any notice (in compliance with the suggestion of baron brunnow), we refrained from leaving the house for the whole day, and from attending synagogue, which was a painful deprivation to sir moses and lady montefiore. many persons called, but sir moses was under the necessity of refusing to see anyone. we had excellent dinners--a dozen dishes, served on silver; but when, in the evening, we sent for the bill, wishing to pay for our dinners of that and the previous day, we found that they had been prepared at the house of madame johanna davidoff, a lady of this town, and she would not allow us to pay for anything. sir moses wanted to give her a costly present, but she declined accepting it. "i am," she said, "amply repaid by the great happiness afforded me to prepare a humble meal for those who come from a distant land, and brave the inclemency of a russian winter, to serve the cause of humanity. may all the heavenly blessings alight on them!" we left mitau in the evening. in front of the hotel hundreds of persons were waiting to see us set off. when we reached obay, on the south side of the dwina, opposite riga, at . , we found the river still covered with ice, but in a weak and dangerous condition. our carriages were deemed too heavy to be passed over; but after considerable hesitation, they were allowed to be conveyed across, though at a great expense and at our own risk. the wheels were taken off, as well as all the luggage, and they were then placed on sledges and drawn by men to the opposite side of the river. sir moses and lady montefiore and their attendants were waiting at the inn till . p.m., when we all walked across. we had great difficulty in walking; the ice was wet and slippery, with numerous dangerous holes. not two minutes before we passed, a man fell into one of these holes, and was drowned. a similar accident nearly awaited one of our party: the ice broke under him, and one leg went through, but his body falling across the ice, he was soon extricated from his perilous position. it was impossible, sir moses said, "to express the alarm we felt in crossing." it took us twenty minutes to accomplish. we walked to the hotel, and were followed by hundreds of people. shortly afterwards a deputation of the hebrew community, and many others, came to welcome us, but sir moses declined seeing them, for the reasons already stated. he requested me to see them, and explain to them his object in depriving himself of the pleasure of expressing personally to them his thanks for their civilities and attention. we only remained at riga a short time, to recover a little, and to dry our clothes, and then proceeded on our journey. _march th._--we arrived at narva, where we remained over sabbath. the weather was most dismal. chapter xl. . perils of russian travelling in winter--arrival at st petersburg--interviews with count nesselrode and the czar--count kisseleff's prejudices. _march th._--snow had again fallen heavily, and on arriving at jamburg we found the ice in such a bad state that grave fears were entertained as to the possibility of crossing the river lugu. the officer in charge repeatedly refused to allow us to cross. neither bedsteads nor bedding being obtainable, sir moses and lady montefiore had a kind of bed prepared on the floor in a very small and low room, and i had a bundle of straw, in another room, for my couch; it was, however, so warm there, and the air so very oppressive, that i was obliged to get up in the middle of the night, and take a walk outside the house. _jamburg, march th._--at seven in the morning i crossed the lugu; there was not much ice on the river. the officer told me he would have three boats lashed together to take the carriages over. i returned to sir moses to bring him the good news, and to prepare for our departure. i had scarcely been at home an hour when the ice came down the river in great quantities. sir moses accompanied me to look at it, and decided not to cross, as we should have incurred a great risk by doing so. at last towards evening the officer came and told us that he would employ soldiers to launch the great barge, and would come for us when he was ready. we continued in painful suspense awaiting his arrival till a few minutes before seven, when he came and said "all was ready." sir moses and lady montefiore went in their carriage. i and the rest of the party walked down to the water side. the carriages were safely put on a large barge, and soon launched into the stream, but when in the middle it struck on some large stones, and they were in the greatest peril. the barge remained for nearly an hour fixed to one spot. happily, after great exertions on the part of the soldiers, it was got off. the officer then conducted us into his own boat, in which, besides sir moses and lady montefiore, were also two servants, the officer, and a gentleman with despatches from the russian government, and we were towed across, though not without some danger from the ice which was driving down the current in great masses, and which our boatman found great difficulty in avoiding. had they struck it must have proved fatal, but heaven guarded us, and we landed in safety. we were one hour in crossing from the house on the west bank to the post house at jamburg, and had more than a hundred men to assist us. the officer was most civil and attentive, and refused to accept any present. _march st._--we left jamburg last night with the intention of travelling through the night, but we found the road so dreadfully bad, in many places covered with snow and ice and full of ruts, that sir moses and lady montefiore deemed it most prudent to stop at opolje, which was reached at one in the morning. we found warm and excellent accommodation at the station, and instantly threw ourselves on the sofas in our clothes, and slept soundly. we started again after six. the roads were so extremely bad that we were at last compelled to leave our carriages, sir moses and lady montefiore, as well as myself and the rest of our party, having to walk through the snow, between six and seven versts, and arrived dreadfully fatigued at ischerkowitz, where we remained three hours for rest and refreshment. we then had a pleasant drive in a little open carriage placed on a sledge and drawn by two horses, but it was very cold. we reached kaskowa one hour before our own carriages. _april st._--we left kaskowa, passed through kipeen, and a stage later arrived at stretna. from this place to st petersburg is seventeen and a half versts. the road is here well macadamised; on either side of it are the country seats of the nobility. up to this place we had had as many as eight, ten, or twelve, and sometimes even a greater number of horses put to the carriage, now the number was limited to three, we were told, by order of the government. the driver remained standing all the time (while driving furiously) on a small piece of iron, which served as a step to get up to the coachman's seat. at about three o'clock we arrived at st petersburg. after our passports had undergone the necessary examination, we drove to the place where apartments had been taken for us, but found them unsuitable, and had to search some time before we succeeded in engaging rooms at the hotel de prusse. _st petersburg, april nd._--we went to his excellency the hon. t. a. d. bloomfield, who received us immediately. sir moses gave him his letters of introduction, and acquainted him with the object of his visit to the russian metropolis. he also showed him the letters of introduction to count nesselrode which he had received from sir robert peel and baron brunnow. his excellency received sir moses very kindly, wrote to count nesselrode, enclosing sir moses' letters to him, and eventually obtained an appointment for sir moses for the following sunday. _april th._--both sir moses and lady montefiore found the climate very trying. visitors who called on them reported that there was not a house in the city that had not three or four of its inmates confined by illness (an epidemic catarrh, generally called in russia and germany, "grippe"), which had greatly increased the mortality of the city. _april th._--at one o'clock sir moses visited count nesselrode. we were at once received by him in a very friendly manner. he said he had already spoken to the emperor about sir moses. the latter informed the count of the two purposes for which he came to st petersburg, viz., the establishment of jewish schools, and the repeal of the two ukases for the removal of the jews from the frontiers. this, the count said, was not in his department, but the government was at present engaged on the amendment of those ukases, and that he should be happy to render sir moses all the assistance in his power in furtherance of his objects. sir moses then spoke to him respecting the cultivation of land, and the count said that his views were in strict accordance with those of the government; that he wished to raise the jews, and make them more useful members of society; that the cream of the jews were in england, france, and germany, but that those in the ancient provinces of the russian empire and poland were engaged in low traffic and contraband pursuits. sir moses expressed his deep regret to hear the minister's opinion, for which he was not prepared. he then said to his excellency that he should be happy to be presented to the emperor; the count told him he would ask his majesty, and requested sir moses to call on count ouvaroff, the minister of public instruction, at one o'clock on the following day. he again repeated his desire to render him every assistance. in the course of the day sir moses left his card and letters of introduction at count orloff's. _april th._--we called to-day on count ouvaroff, with whom we remained an hour and a half in conversation. he assured sir moses, for himself and on the part of his colleagues, that the measures of the government for the organisation of the jewish schools were designed for their improvement and happiness, and not with the slightest intention of conversion to another religion, but to make them more useful members of society, and to fit them for advancement. he also assured sir moses that the government had some plans for a more liberal treatment, but that the jews must first prepare themselves. "the jews of russia," he said, "were different from the jews in other parts of the world; they were orthodox, and believed in the talmud," which he considered false. "they were ignorant of their own religion; and he was obliged to force them to study hebrew, their own language." sir moses defended the principles of those who strictly adhere to the doctrines of their religion. as to the talmud, he pointed out to the minister the great esteem in which that work is held by pious and learned christians. in support of this view, i reminded his excellency of what buxtorf said on the subject in his "abbreviations,"[a] and in the preface to his great chaldaic and talmudical lexicon:-- "the talmud," that christian divine states, "is a learned work, or a large corpus of erudition; it contains manifold learning in all sciences; it teaches the most explicit and most complete, civil and canonical law of the jews, so that the whole nation, as well as their synagogue, might live thereby in a state of happiness,--in the most desirable way. "it is the most luminous commentary of the scriptural law as well as its supplement and support. "it contains much excellent teaching on jurisprudence, medicine, natural philosophy, ethics, politics, astronomy, and other branches of science, which make one think highly of the history of that nation and of the time in which the work was written." [footnote a: de abreviat. hebr. (auct. joh. buxt. i.), p. .] i mentioned to his excellency the names of buxtorf the younger, dr johannus reuchlin, johannes meyer, selden, joh. morinus, sebastian munster, surenhusius, and quoted most of their statements on the subject. with reference to the russian jews' knowledge of hebrew and of their own religion, i called his excellency's attention to the numerous works they had produced on all subjects connected with hebrew literature and poetry. the minister, however, resumed his arguments, saying they should first be educated before full facilities to gain a living should be given them; although he allowed that, to a certain degree, persecution had made them what they are. he further said that the government were now adopting a new plan, and were treating the jews with toleration, liberality, and love, but it would take a long time, he remarked--perhaps a century--before any difference would be perceptible. he did not consider the present generation, and only thought of the future. he concluded by observing the jews were loyal subjects, and immediately complied with every order of the government. sir moses pressed repeatedly upon his excellency the necessity of relieving them from the anxiety and suffering to which they were subjected in respect to the ukases for their removal from the frontiers and villages; upon which the minister observed, "they were not executed, and were very different in effect to what they appeared on paper, and that the government were engaged on their consideration;" and he several times repeated that the government were desirous of raising the jews and removing the prejudices which still exist against them, but it required time, and the jews must assist by their improvement and attendance at the schools. sir moses assured him that the fear of attempts at conversion was the only cause of their hesitation to conform to his wishes. the interview then terminated, his excellency having throughout been most friendly and polite. on our return home mr and mrs bloomfield paid a long visit to sir moses and lady montefiore, and spoke principally on the subject connected with our visit to st petersburg. he gave sir moses a letter just received from count nesselrode, stating that the emperor would receive him on the following day at one o'clock. sir moses showed him the address which he wished to deliver to his majesty. his excellency thought it would do very well. sir moses then said he was anxious that count nesselrode should see it. mr bloomfield thought he might call on him to-morrow morning. sir moses, however, was of opinion that it would be better to go there at once, and take his chance of seeing him. immediately after the british ambassador and his wife had left us we went to count nesselrode, who received us, read the paper over, and suggested some alterations. in the evening we dined with the british ambassador. mr bloomfield being unwell, could not join the company at table. there were present count nesselrode's daughter and her husband, the saxon ambassador, the austrian ambassador, mr and mrs buchanan, and several other gentlemen. _wednesday, april th._--sir moses, in order to be ready to attend his majesty, had just put on his uniform when he received a message from count nesselrode, saying that the emperor would see him on the morrow instead of on that day. _april th._--the entry of this day in the diary records the audience with his majesty the emperor:--"praised be the god of our fathers. at one o'clock this day i had the honour of an interview with his imperial majesty the emperor. i made the strongest appeal in my power for the general alteration of all laws and edicts that pressed heavily on the jews under his majesty's sway." the following is a copy of the address to the emperor:-- "may it please your imperial majesty. with deep veneration for your majesty's person and government, and with fervent prayers to the most high, that your majesty may continue to be for many, many years the happy and exalted ruler of a powerful, virtuous, and prosperous people, i crave your majesty's permission to offer my humble thanks for the honour conferred upon me by your majesty's government, by the intimation that my presence in your imperial metropolis might become beneficial to my brethren of the hebrew nation in the organisation of schools for the education of their youths; a measure which emanated from your majesty's watchful and paternal care for the improvement of their situation and the promotion of their happiness. may i be permitted to embrace this favourable moment to express my earnest prayer that your majesty may deign to give your most humane consideration to the condition of my co-religionists under your majesty's sway, and that your majesty may exert that power which god has placed in your august hands, to alleviate, to the utmost extent, which your majesty's justice and wisdom may think fit, all such laws and edicts as may be proved to press heavily upon the israelites. i implore your majesty, therefore, to bend an eye of merciful consideration upon them, and thus, by the revival of their hopes, they may be restored to their proper standing among their fellowmen, and have the opportunity of proving themselves most loyal and faithful subjects, as well as useful and honourable citizens, true to the eternal god, to whom their prayers daily ascend, that your majesty's throne may endure to the latest generations, and that your majesty may long live to secure and to witness the happiness and the prosperity of a great and mighty nation." the entry in the diary continues:-- "his imperial majesty said that i should have the satisfaction of receiving his assurance, as well as that of his ministers, that they were most desirous for the improvement of their situation in every way possible. his majesty spoke for about twenty minutes. he said i should go and see them; and referring to the army, that he had put jews in his guards. i expressed a hope that he would promote them if found as deserving as his other soldiers, to which he assented. i repeatedly said that the jews were faithful, loyal subjects, industrious and honourable citizens. he said, 's'ils vous ressemblent' ('if they are like you'). his majesty heartily shook hands with me as i entered and on my retiring. it is a happiness to me to hear from every person, from the very highest to the lowest classes, that my visit to this country will raise the jews in the estimation of the people, and that his majesty's reception of me will be of the utmost importance." _april th._--several persons left their cards, among which we noticed those of count orloff, lieutenant-general doubett, chief of the secret police, the chevalier russi di castilevala. in the course of the day we went to the office of the secret police; they were very civil. we were given to understand that it was customary for visitors to st petersburg to pay a visit to that office. at two o'clock we called, by appointment, on count kisseleff, the minister in whose charge jewish affairs are placed. he received sir moses most politely, and we were with him more than an hour. sir moses went over all the particulars referring to the alleviation of the unfortunate position of the jews. the minister (like count nesselrode and count ouvaroff) said they were great fanatics, and he complained of the talmud being the cause of their degraded position. again sir moses and myself defended the talmud, giving the names of christian divines who have spoken in high praise of that ancient work. count kisseleff wished the jews to cultivate the land, to establish manufactories, to undertake more laborious work than that to which they had hitherto been accustomed; and, respecting the removal from the frontiers, he said they might go fifty versts on either side. he did not wish to keep them, five or six hundred thousand might leave altogether. sir moses might, if he liked, take ten thousand or more to palestine or elsewhere. he shewed him a ukase about to be published, which gave them some privileges, but compelled them, within a certain number of years, to adopt some occupation of an active nature, or to be punished as vagrants. he said many jews had gone to settle in siberia, but the governor had taken steps to prevent more of them going there. the count further said that the jews were fanatics, praying for the coming of the messiah and their return to the holy land, and that they starved themselves all the week in order to have candles and fish for the sabbath. sir moses having explained to his excellency the groundlessness of these charges, the minister then said he should always be pleased to see us, that his doors would be open to sir moses every day, and requested he would call again. _april th._--at about twelve o'clock an officer came from the minister of war to inform sir moses that the emperor, having been informed of his wish to assist at the service in the soldier's synagogue at the barracks, had desired him to escort sir moses, and to say that the service was held at seven in the evening, and from eight till twelve in the morning. at . we walked through the rain to the barracks, a very long distance from our hotel. the synagogue was a large room, well fitted up, with the ark, containing the sacred scrolls of the pentateuch, and the pulpit and reading desk. the prayer for the ruling sovereign and the royal family was painted on a tablet affixed to the wall, as in other places of worship among hebrew communities. the prayers were read by one of the soldiers, who officiated as precentor to a congregation of three hundred of his companions. they all appeared very devout, and joined loudly in the prayers. sir moses was so much fatigued that it was with the greatest difficulty and pain that he walked to the synagogue and back through mud and rain. the barracks were near the english quay, at least two miles distant. chapter xli. . count kisseleff is more conciliatory--sir moses sets out for wilna--arrival at wilna--the jews' answers to the charges of russian officials. _april th._--we went to see count kisseleff. his excellency told sir moses that the emperor had inquired what he thought of the synagogue. the count assured him they had determined to adopt a new plan with the jews, more mild and conciliatory. the emperor wished them to amalgamate with their fellow subjects, and to cultivate the land. but he would not force them; they would be left to their own free will, and less under the control of the police than they had been, and all who wished to leave the empire might do so. the count said he would write to sir moses to that effect, and would give him the list of towns to be visited, but the roads, he observed, were dreadfully bad. sir moses expressed a strong desire to see wilna, to which the minister acceded, giving him introductions to the different places, and writing to the postmasters for horses. when sir moses spoke of religion, count kisseleff said he did not care what was between man and his god, but he wished the jews to become useful citizens, and that they had as many privileges as those in england. he spoke much of their poverty and distress. sir moses was pleased to observe that his manner of speaking of the jews was more friendly. count kisseleff said that jewish artisans and mechanics might come and work at st petersburg, but that they might not bring their wives and children. he promised to give sir moses copies of the ukase relating to their removal from the villages, and he showed him the _journal des débats_, which stated that mr gilbert had put a question to sir robert peel on the subject. "i am satisfied," sir moses records in his diary, "that the jews will be better off in consequence of our visit to this city. praise be to god alone!" _april th._--we attended service in the soldiers' synagogue. two of the superior officers accompanied sir moses to the gate of the barracks, and expressed a hope that he was satisfied with the arrangements. the soldiers told us that the coming of sir moses had been of the utmost benefit to them, and that their officers treated them much better since his arrival. _april th._--we proceeded to count ouvaroff, and remained with him one hour. he offered sir moses a letter of introduction to the inspector of public instruction at wilna, and promised to attend to any suggestion that he might send to him after his tour. we then called and took leave of count kisseleff, who assured sir moses that his report and suggestions should have his best consideration, that he would put his letter into the hands of the emperor, and that he would send sir moses an answer. he could not have been more friendly. count ouvaroff was equally amiable. orders were sent to all the postmasters along the route to have horses ready for us. at one o'clock we visited count nesselrode, and were equally well received. his excellency said that he would send sir moses a letter of introduction to the governor of wilna, and promised to give every consideration to any suggestion he might send him for the improvement of the condition of his co-religionists. sir moses again received the assurances of all the ministers that their measures for the better education of the jews was in no way actuated by a desire for their conversion, and that this might be depended upon. count kisseleff told him, in reply to his inquiry, that the jews did not serve as long in the army as others. he spoke much in favour of the establishment of manufactories, and said that the government would grant them privileges. returning to the hotel sir moses, accompanied by lady montefiore, went to take leave of mr and mrs bloomfield, from whom they had received the kindest attention and assistance. his excellency said that if sir moses wanted anything at st petersburg he should recollect he was there, and would always be happy to render his best assistance. he gave him a letter of introduction to the british consul at warsaw. this was a memorable day here. the emperor inspected the guards, and gave each soldier one and a half silver roubles. the isaac square was thronged with holiday folks, enjoying the national sports. count kisseleff told sir moses that four hundred recruits had just arrived from a place near wilna without a single man having fallen sick or deserted. the emperor had seen them, was pleased with them, and gave them money. sir moses spoke with several of the jews who had served from ten to fifteen years. they said that after twenty years they were free, if they served in the guards; but if they were attendants, or served in the hospitals, or as mechanics, then their service was extended to twenty-five years. as far as sir moses could judge, they did not appear to be discontented with their situation, and observed their religion. they were together in barracks, with their wives and children. among the visitors who called during the day was sheikh mouhhammad ayyád ettántáwy, professor of the arabic language and literature in the asiatic institution (who had been my arabic master during my stay at cairo). the sheikh expressed great admiration for the character of sir moses and lady montefiore, and their noble exertions to ameliorate the condition of their brethren; and he composed two poems in commemoration of their visit to st petersburg, which he himself copied in the arabic language in their diaries. he had been sent to st petersburg at the instance of count medem, the russian consul general in alexandria. owing to his great learning the mooslim professor had already received two decorations--the orders of st anne and of st stanislas--from the emperor nicholas, and had become a great favourite with all the students who attended his lectures. the hebrew soldiers brought the books from the charitable institutions and schools which they had established among themselves. various authors and poets sent their literary compositions in honour to sir moses and lady montefiore's arrival, hospitals, schools, and institutions of all kinds sent their representatives to enlist their sympathies for a good cause, and the latter endeavoured, as much as possible, to satisfy all deserving applicants. the number of visitors from the nobility, since sir moses had been received by the emperor, greatly increased; but there was no time for him to return their visits or accept their invitations, as he was anxious to proceed without further delay to visit the places pointed out to him by the government. a great many israelites from different parts of the empire came and gave us their blessings; nearly all were soldiers. one of them had two distinguished orders for his bravery in poland; he had been in the army eighteen years. count nesselrode sent a letter of introduction to the governor of warsaw, and count kisseleff one to the postmaster of wilcomir, that we might find no difficulty in proceeding from that place to wilna. all arrangements for our departure being now completed, sir moses gave the order to start. for the first two days of our journey the weather was beautiful and the roads excellent, as smooth as a bowling green; but just before entering ostroff we encountered terribly rough weather and desperately bad roads, full of ruts and holes. we were ferried over several rivers before reaching roubelove, where we resolved on remaining for the night. _regiza, friday, april th._--"we find," as the entry in the diary says, "the post stations get worse as we proceed, both in respect to cleanliness and comfort. last night there was no bread, no beer, wine, or spirits, and very bad water, and beds out of the question. we have slept on sofas since we left st petersburg, with the greater part of our clothes on, being covered with our cloaks. it is indeed roughing it. we have travelled - / posts. this is the first town from st petersburg inhabited by israelites, and poor indeed they appear. my dear judith has a very bad cough, but bears the fatigue and deprivation of all comfort most admirably; she is cheerful and content. we noticed the land ready to be cultivated, and observed many ploughs at work, but with only one horse to each. we continue to pass through large forests of firs, birch, &c.; the ground being very sandy and marshy, very poor for cultivation." the sabbath enabled us to enjoy the repose we so much required. _sunday, april th._--we proceeded to düneberg, thence to wilcomir, where, on our arrival, a deputation from wilna came to bid us welcome. _april th._--we continued our journey to wilna. this town may be described as the most important centre of hebrew literature in russia, and numbers among its inhabitants very many distinguished hebrew authors and poets. the works written by them on all subjects connected with the elucidation of the sacred scriptures may be counted by hundreds. they also excel in works of industry of every description, and are the principal artisans in the place. in their commercial transactions they show great ability, and are often, for their sound judgment, consulted by their non-israelite neighbours on subjects which require special consideration. the jewish settlement in wilna dates from long before . according to a statement given in the _otsherki wilenskoi gubernii_ (wilna, ), they had at that time (in the year ) already in their community a special chamber of commerce, which they could only have established there after a long residence in the country. cardinal commendoni, the nuncio of the pope at the court of king sigismund-auguste in the year , though he reproached the poles for having granted too many privileges to the infidels, nevertheless expressed himself favourably when speaking of the jews in lithuania, of which wilna is the capital. the following is the substance of his remarks on the subject, as given in the book entitled "rosprawa o zydach, czackiego," p. :--there are still a great many jews in these provinces, including lithuania, who are not, as in many other places, regarded with disrespect; they do not maintain themselves miserably by base profits; they are landed proprietors, are engaged in commerce, and even devote themselves to the study of literature, and more especially to medicine and astrology. they hold almost everywhere the commission of levying the customs duties; they are classed among the most honest people; they wear no outward mark to distinguish them from christians, and are permitted to carry a sword and walk about with their arms; in a word, they enjoy the same privileges as other citizens. the jews of wilna determined to give a most hearty welcome to sir moses and lady montefiore. the spiritual head of the community, all the members of his ecclesiastical court, the representatives of all the educational, industrial and charitable institutions, and all the officers connected with them, came to meet sir moses and lady montefiore at a place called krisanke (krigeanki), seventeen versts from wilna. a deputation from among them proceeded five versts further. on meeting us they presented sir moses and lady montefiore with a poem written in the purest biblical hebrew, which was gratefully acknowledged by sir moses. they then left in great haste to apprise their colleagues of our approach. on our arrival at krisanke we found all the members of the committee of welcome drawn up in a line. as the carriage stopped, the spiritual head of the community, accompanied by the representatives of the various institutions, approached sir moses and lady montefiore, and delivered an address to them, which sir moses answered in his own name and that of lady montefiore. they were then requested to alight and enter a room, most tastefully decorated for the occasion, and where an excellent breakfast awaited them. we left krisanke and directed our course towards wilna. for the whole distance of seventeen versts the fields to the right and left of the road were crowded by people, who shouted in hebrew, "blessed be those who come in the name of the lord;" and when, on approaching the carriage of sir moses, they beheld the hebrew word "jerusalem" on the banner attached to the supporters of his coat of arms, joy filled their hearts, and they showered innumerable blessings on the heads of its occupants. we arrived safely at the house of mr isaac a. l. setil, which had been specially prepared for our reception, and there met three gentlemen of the hebrew community waiting to receive sir moses' orders. a comfortable night's rest made both sir moses and lady montefiore soon forget the discomforts which they had to endure on the road from st petersburg. i now give sir moses' own words, as entered in the diary. "_wilna, april th._--i took my letter of introduction to the governor, and he received me instantly. dr loewe accompanied me. the governor was extremely polite, and spoke much of the jews. he attributed their present unhappy state to great poverty, but could not suggest any other remedy than colonisation; the want of capital will render this measure very slow. he did not think the jews could be removed from the villages till the autumn, when some arrangement would be adopted for their employment. the jews might have land near to christians, and he thought it desirable that they should be more together. i am of opinion that the jewish population has increased more rapidly than the others, and consequently their means of obtaining a livelihood by barter is more difficult. we were introduced to the governor's wife, a very handsome and agreeable lady, and extremely well informed. she expressed the kindest sentiments towards the jews. i called with monsieur ouvaroff's letter on his excellency monsieur e. gruber, councillor of state. he was much in favour of the jews. at five i received those persons who formed the deputation and came twenty versts to see me. dr loewe addressed them in german, related all that had passed at st petersburg, and read them the papers i had received. they will write me their observations." the reader will probably remember the charges which the ministers brought against the jews; also the special reports referring to the unsuccessful endeavours to raise their status, with which the russian government provided sir moses, to enable him to ascertain the exact state of the hebrew communities. it was therefore necessary, however painful it must have been to him, to make fully known to the deputation all the wrong-doings of which they stood accused before the government, and to afford them the opportunity of clearing their character. i addressed them in the name of sir moses, saying that "this fatiguing journey over land and sea had been exclusively undertaken by him for their sakes. the guiding hand of the eternal god, which always accompanied him on his travels, had not forsaken him on the present occasion, and made him arrive at an opportune time at st petersburg, when his majesty the emperor had just returned from a journey to moscow. he was fortunate enough to be received by his imperial majesty in a private audience, where his majesty deigned to receive him most kindly, and afterwards sent him to his three imperial ministers, count nesselrode, minister of state; count ouvaroff, minister of public instruction; and count kisseleff, minister of the crown lands, to receive from them their reports. his majesty had promised sir moses that he would treat the jews paternally, and with forbearance. but to sir moses' great sorrow, he had also heard complaints against them. he therefore entreated the deputation to give him all the information they could on all the subjects to which he had drawn their attention." having listened, with tears in their eyes, to the accusations brought against them, the deputation promised to provide him, with a statement in which all the questions brought to his notice would be treated _seriatim_, and containing many historically interesting notices on the civil condition of the russian jews, also many letters from jewish families that had, at that time, been expelled from villages and taverns. "the civil governor of the town," sir moses enters in his diary, "sent the chief officer of police to say he should be happy to accompany me at any time i might fix, to the several public institutions. we cannot move a step without being surrounded by hundreds of people, all giving us their blessing." _wilna, may st._--sir moses went to the civil governor, and was with him an hour. the governor repeated all that the other ministers had said, and told him that the jews were not obliged to leave the villages, but only to discontinue selling brandy. this, at least, was something gained. during our absence, monsieur e. gruber left his card. the military governor paid us a visit, and invited sir moses and lady montefiore to a ball on sunday, the th inst. sir moses, not expecting to be present at a ball in wilna, had left his uniform at wilcomir, and intended for this reason to decline accepting the invitation; but the governor at once observed that a special messenger would bring his uniform from wilcomir in due time, and hoped to see him at the ball. many members of the aristocracy called, among whom was count wittgenstein. chapter xlii. . the jewish schools at wilna--wilcomir--deplorable condition of the hebrew community in that town--kowno--warsaw. on the following morning, sir moses and lady montefiore offered up prayers amidst thousands of their brethren, and many visitors, who "from curiosity," as they said, "came to see the english philanthropist." the rest of the day was devoted to the reception of the members of the community, their wives and children, so as to have the opportunity of becoming acquainted with their manners and mode of conversation. it being customary in that place to send wine and sweetmeats of every description to a person of distinction on the first sabbath of his arrival, many hundreds of bottles of the best wine, with cakes and sweetmeats from the most skilful confectioners, were sent to us, and these were several times handed round by sir moses and lady montefiore themselves. the amiability with which they received every new comer induced the visitors to speak without restraint on all subjects. in the evening a scribe of great ability was summoned before sir moses, to prepare a scroll of parchment, upon which the latter was desirous to commence writing the first line of the pentateuch for synagogual purposes. the scribe soon made his appearance, and sir moses, in the presence of the chief rabbi and the principal lecturer of the community, performed the task assigned to him. _wilna, may rd._--sir moses paid a visit to the governor, where he met most of the nobility of the place, and representatives of various communities, who came to pay their respects on the occasion of the birthday of the czarewitch. among those present we also noticed the ecclesiastical chief of the hebrew community. on our return from the governor, we proceeded to inspect the various colleges and schools, where we examined the pupils, and conversed with the teachers and directors regarding the subjects to which sir moses' attention had been called at st petersburg. from each of these establishments full accounts were given to us, of which sir moses made the best use in his report to the czar. in the evening, by special invitation from the governor, sir moses visited the theatre, and subsequently, he, lady montefiore, and myself attended the ball at his excellency's. we were received by all present with every possible attention and courtesy, and the appearance of sir moses and lady montefiore made a most favourable impression. on our return from the entertainment we found some beautiful embroidery, poems, drawings, &c., sent to lady montefiore by the pupils of some of the girls' schools of the place. we had had an opportunity, in the morning, of inspecting the schools. in some of them the pupils acquitted themselves satisfactorily in the french, russian, german, and hebrew languages; their handwriting was beautiful, and in arithmetic they were far advanced. _monday, may th._--we went to-day to see the printing office of the brothers rom, rundsinsky, königsberg, and torkin. sir moses was accompanied by his excellency the civil governor terebzow. they presented us with a number of valuable works, each of which was adorned with a poem written by the gifted poet a. b. lebensohn. we then proceeded to the jewish hospital, the infant school, under the patronage of the wife of the military governor, the orphan asylum of mr chiya danzig, and many schools and colleges, everywhere exhorting the pupils to study the russian language and literature, and everywhere leaving charitable gifts. sir moses took every means to make himself thoroughly acquainted with all the matters on which he had been asked to report to the emperor, and invited ten of the most prominent men of the community to attend morning and evening prayers at his hotel, and afterwards to report and discuss matters generally. _may th._--with a view of showing his respect for the chief rabbi and the representatives of the community, and, at the same time, of forming an idea of the domestic arrangements for the comfort of their families, sir moses devoted many hours to calling on those persons. he had the satisfaction of seeing among them many well-educated wives, sons, and daughters; their dwellings were scrupulously clean, the furniture plain, but suitable for the purpose, and the appearance of the family healthy. some of them were very good looking. the number of letters from jews and christians hourly increased; whole nights were often devoted to reading them, and making extracts from those which required special and immediate attention. _may th._--we were indoors all this day, engaged from morning till evening in conversation with numerous persons on the subject of our journey. his excellency, monsieur gruber, came just when the room was filled with visitors, including the chief rabbi, the principal lecturer of the synagogue, and many of the leading members of the community. taking advantage of the opportunity, these gentlemen spoke of the state of the jews in russia, and stated to him that the government would not permit them to have land, nor would they employ them as labourers; adding that they could bring to his excellency, within a few minutes, if he desired it, five thousand men, women, and children who would be ready to do any work, however laborious, merely for a piece of bread a day. they had frequently petitioned the government, they said, for liberty to take land, but had never received the required permission. the conversation was carried on with great spirit. subsequently a large deputation was introduced, who requested sir moses to remain till after sabbath. the burgomaster of wilna being present, joined in the request, and sir moses at last consented, especially as the deputation observed that they could not sooner get their papers ready for him. _friday, may th._--the representatives of the hebrew congregation of this town, together with those of other hebrew congregations from some of the principal towns in russia, under the presidency of the chief rabbi, held a meeting for the purpose of examining the papers which had been prepared for presentation to sir moses, in reply to the charges brought against them at st petersburg. it was arranged to request sir moses to appoint the following day, in the evening, after the termination of the sabbath, for their reception, and to invite the writer of these lines to address the congregation on the following morning in the principal synagogue of the town, so as to afford to thousands of their brethren and visitors the opportunity of becoming acquainted with any suggestion which it might be deemed desirable to communicate to them relative to the mission of sir moses and lady montefiore. with this view a deputation waited on sir moses, and he agreed to receive them at the appointed time. the same deputation also brought me the invitation to deliver an address in their synagogue, which i willingly accepted. _saturday, may th._--divine service was held in the apartments of sir moses early in the morning. in the afternoon, at about two o'clock, he and lady montefiore proceeded to the synagogue, where i delivered the address in the presence of a very large assembly of members of various communities and visitors. in the evening all the representatives of wilna, and those of the principal towns in russia, together with the gentlemen who wrote the reports in the hebrew, french, and russian languages, and others of high standing in the community, headed by their ecclesiastical chief, presented the papers which sir moses was so anxiously expecting. it is often a grave and exciting moment for those present in a court of justice, when the accused, however humble his station in life may be, pleads his cause and vindicates his innocence against a vigorous prosecutor; graver, however, and considerably more exciting was the scene which i now witnessed, when not merely a private individual, but the representatives of three millions of loyal subjects of the emperor of russia, pleaded their cause and vindicated their innocence against the most serious charges brought against them and their religious tenets by the ministers of the empire. i repeatedly noticed tears rolling down the cheeks of the venerable elders of the community. sir moses and lady montefiore themselves could hardly suppress their emotion. every word contained in the written statements had been translated by me into english, and the whole was read aloud to the assembly. sir moses addressed questions to the representatives of the various communities, and elicited numerous replies; but the more voluminous ones had to be taken away with us, to be read next day by sir moses on the road. thus many hours of the night passed; it was two o'clock in the morning when the conference terminated. refreshments were handed round. sir moses drank to "better times, and to the health and prosperity of his brethren in russia." the chief rabbi, the representatives of the community, and all present shed tears at the contemplation of our departure. sir moses and lady montefiore left many souvenirs to those who had so kindly attended them during their stay in wilna, and sent hundreds of bottles of the best wine, and many kinds of meat, and cakes of every description to the hospitals. all the charitable institutions and all deserving cases were remembered by most generous gifts, and nothing more was left for him to do. the favourable impression which the people of wilna made on sir moses prompted him to say to those present, as he stepped into his carriage: "i leave you, but my heart will ever remain with you. when my brethren suffer, i feel it painfully; when they have reason to weep, my eyes shed tears." at four o'clock in the morning, when no one in the town expected our departure, we left wilna for wilcomir. the recent rains had made the roads very bad; heavy sand and numerous ruts prevented our proceeding at the average rate of travelling. in one spot our conveyance stuck fast in a deep hole, and we were detained for fully half-an-hour. this unpleasant circumstance was much aggravated by the hundreds of poor russian men, women, and children following the carriage for miles on the road. the more they had given to them, the more they appeared to want. after a ride of seventy-six and a half versts we reached wilcomir, where a deputation from the hebrew community brought us wine and cake. the account which they gave of their brethren was but sorrowful. of five hundred families, they said, one-fourth died last year from destitution. we visited the school and charitable institutions, and next day continued our journey to kowno. hundreds of persons, with lighted candles in their hands, greeted us on our arrival at kowno. we found an elegant house prepared for us, all the rooms and passages brilliantly lighted with wax candles. the host and hostess, mr and mrs kadisohn, attended on sir moses and lady montefiore themselves. "we have not had," lady montefiore said, "such beds or accommodation since leaving england." sir moses had an important interview with the governor of the town respecting the employment of jews to repair the high roads, they being willing to work for twenty kopeks a day, while labourers of other denominations receive thirty. we here received information regarding the jews, in general, living in that district; and the representatives of the community, headed by their chief rabbi, supplemented this by numerous statements made to sir moses in writing. _may th._--we left kowno early in the morning, were ferried over the river, and detained two hours on the frontier of the former kingdom of poland. proceeded through calvarie, souvalky, stavesey. in each of these places we had interviews with the authorities, and elders of the hebrew community, and visited their schools and charitable institutions. _may th._--our arrival at warsaw was announced to thousands of the hebrew community who were anxious to see sir moses and lady montefiore. mr blumberg, one of the leading merchants, came to request sir moses' acceptance of his house during our stay at warsaw; but sir moses, while thanking him for his hospitality, thought it desirable to live at an hotel, in preference to a private house. the first visit paid by sir moses was to colonel du plat, the british consul for poland; he was absent from home, but sent in the course of the day, a message to sir moses that he would be pleased to see him on the following day. the chief rabbi and the representatives of the hebrew community came to congratulate us on our safe arrival. they said it had been their wish to have made a more public display of their gratitude to sir moses and lady montefiore, but they were prevented from doing so. they had asked the governor if they might go out of the city to meet us, and received the reply that he could say neither "yes" nor "no." the accounts which sir moses continued to receive from the jews, of their position in this country, were most distressing. _warsaw, may th._--"this morning," sir moses writes in his diary, "i called on colonel du plat with dr loewe. he proposed to accompany me immediately to the minister of foreign affairs, the minister of the interior, and the military governor of the city. we accordingly visited each of them, and i was received with much politeness. the two former ministers conversed with me for a considerable time about the condition of the jews. the minister of foreign affairs is to ask his highness the viceroy for an audience for me. i have heard repeated the same complaints, that the jews will not cultivate the land, and from the jews themselves that they cannot get permission to purchase land. this afternoon i received a letter from the minister of foreign affairs, that his highness will be happy to see me to-morrow at twelve. i received a deputation, consisting of the principal jews of this city, headed by the chief rabbi. they give a deplorable account of the present position of the jews in this kingdom. "_may th._--colonel du plat came and accompanied me and dr loewe to the palace. we were received by prince paskiewitch (who is the viceroy of the kingdom) with much politeness. i was in full uniform. we were one hour and a half in conversation respecting the jews. he expressed the same sentiments as those we heard in st petersburg; also said that the jews would not cultivate the land, though the law allowed them to purchase it. i said that hundreds of jews had expressed to me their ardent desire to obtain land, and that i feared there existed some difficulty in the requisite formalities. the prince does not wish for further education, and is by no means disposed to give any privilege to them. his highness invited me and the consul to dine with him at six. it was a very pleasant and chatty party. i sat on the right of the prince, but took nothing except asparagus, salad, ices, and dessert. the princess was most agreeable, and conversed freely with me; indeed, all were most friendly. "the countess rzewuska, _née_ princess lubomirska; m. de hilferilling, conseiller d'etat-actuel, head of the chancellerie diplomatique of the prince; the minister of the interior, general l. se ater storozenko; the postmaster-general, prince galitzin; the head of the police, general abramowicz; and the governor-general of warsaw, general okouneff, were also present on that occasion. "_warsaw, may th._--a deputation, consisting of at least twenty gentlemen from all the charitable institutions belonging to the jews, presented my dear wife and myself with a beautiful address and a very elegant silver cup, as a mark of their gratitude for our exertions on their behalf. the house has been surrounded from morning till night by hundreds of our co-religionists, anxious to get a glimpse of us. two gendarmes and a police officer have had great difficulty in keeping the people out of the house. we had the honour of a long visit to-day from the military governor." chapter xliii. . deputation from krakau--the polish jews and their garb--sir moses leaves warsaw--posen, berlin, and frankfort--home. "_sunday, may th._--my dear wife, dr loewe, and myself paid a visit to the princess paskiewitch, the wife of the viceroy. she was very kind in her manner, and spoke for a considerable time with us. we afterwards accompanied mr epstein to the jewish hospital, where we found the directors and most of the governors and their ladies waiting to receive us." in order to show how desirous the jews here are, under the most unfavourable circumstances, to promote the welfare of their poorer brethren, sir moses gives a long description of the hospital, containing beds, baths, kitchens, a dispensary, laundry, and synagogue; and of mr matthias rosen's aged needy asylum, and speaks in terms of the highest praise of all the arrangements. he also alludes to the important fact that the poor children are taught and apprenticed to various trades. after inspecting the whole establishment, we were conducted to the committee room. sir moses was here presented with a beautiful little statue of moses, a copy in bronze of the statue by michael angelo, the president delivering a most suitable address. it is now in the lecture hall of judith, lady montefiore's theological college in ramsgate, and is an object of great interest to visitors. they were there met by the governor and directors, with their ladies. the way was covered with green baize, and about a dozen children walked before them strewing flowers. "on our return home," sir moses continues in his diary, "i found colonel du plat waiting to accompany me to monsieur hilferilling, head of the chancellerie diplomatique of the prince. i thanked him for the paper he sent me yesterday, and also for the ukase published last evening, allowing the jews to retain their present costume for three months, till after the st of july. this will be a great relief to the poor, though i am happy to find that there will be no difficulty made by the jews in complying with the wishes of the government." the dress worn by the jews in poland is that which was formerly worn in that country by christians as well as by jews. in the course of time the jews became so used to it that the change for the european dress appeared to them almost a transgression of some religious injunction. the appearance of sir moses, dressed in european costume, while rigidly observing the injunctions of his religion, contributed greatly to their conviction that a change of dress need not involve any serious consequences. turning again to the entry of the diary, sir moses says: "i then informed his excellency that i should be very happy if it were possible to have an audience of the emperor, as his majesty is every moment expected to arrive; that i did not ask for it, but i should be glad if it could be made known to his majesty that i was in the city. his excellency said he would speak with count orloff to-morrow morning." _may th._--this morning sir moses received a note from colonel du plat, stating that his majesty was going to the greek cathedral, and recommending him to put on his uniform, and to be there, as it would most likely obtain for him an earlier intimation of his majesty's wishes; but sir moses thought it advisable not to avail himself of the opportunity in a place of public worship. the stream of visitors continued all day long, some even remaining in the house as a "guard of honour." our rooms were comfortable, and the attentions of our friends unceasing, and yet there was a great drawback, inasmuch as we could not even converse with friends without the subject being immediately made known to others. i remember an instance of this. on one occasion sir moses received a letter in the evening relative to an appointment with a gentleman at six o'clock the next morning. i entered his room to confer with him on the subject, and before the appointed hour, a letter arrived from that gentleman, repeating almost word for word what sir moses had said to me, concerning him and the appointment. we could not explain to ourselves how it was possible for him thus to have received information of what we thought no one had heard. but on looking round in the room, we noticed, not far from the sofa, a large portrait, the eyes of which had round holes instead of pupils. we at once went into the corridor, and, to our great surprise, we found we could hear every word spoken within by lady montefiore and others. _may th._--sir moses and lady montefiore received a deputation from praga, who presented them with a very small, beautifully written scroll of the pentateuch, with a costly silver crown thereon, ornamented with precious stones; also with a silver pointer for the use of the reader, all being deposited in a beautiful little ark. the deputation invited them to visit their elementary schools and rabbinical colleges. at the appointed hour sir moses and lady montefiore proceeded to the house of mr blumberg, where they met a very considerable number of students. in compliance with a request from the college and school committees, and from sir moses, i examined the rabbinical students for nearly three hours. the result being most satisfactory, sir moses consented to become the patron of the college. on our return from praga, a deputation from the hebrew congregation of krakau was introduced. they had important communications to make, relating to questions in connection with the state of education among jews in poland; and several hours passed in conversation with them. _may th._--sir moses being apprehensive that his continued stay in this city might not be agreeable to the government, as there were always hundreds of people near his hotel, and many more following him about in the streets, he called on the british consul, colonel du plat, and informed him of his feelings on the subject; adding that he thought he had better leave on the morrow. the consul said he would first see the minister, and acquaint him with sir moses' sentiments, and he would let him know the minister's reply. the united committee of the elementary schools and the new synagogue presented to sir moses and lady montefiore a beautifully written scroll of the pentateuch, somewhat larger than that they had previously received, with a silver crown, accompanied by an ark for its reception. like other souvenirs, it is now preserved in the lecture hall of the college in ramsgate. colonel du plat paid us a long visit, and discussed the object of sir moses' mission to russia, and subsequently we went to the garden of the "little palace," in which the emperor resided. we saw his majesty there, in an open carriage, and met the viceroy, all the cabinet ministers, their ladies, and the _élite_ of the city. the princess paskiewitch and the ministers spoke to sir moses and lady montefiore, and appeared most friendly in their conversation. _may nd._--"i received to-day," the entry in the diary records, "two or three deputations from congregations, distant from thirty to three hundred miles, with addresses, and called at one o'clock on colonel du plat. he had just returned from a review, where count orloff told him 'he had received my card; that he was much pleased with the whole of my conduct; it had given general satisfaction; that i was a man _comme il faut_, and that my visit would be very useful.' "dr loewe and i rode to the prince marshal to take leave, unless his highness had any commands for me. dr loewe got out of the carriage to enquire if he was at home, and, at the instant, his highness was leaving the house to attend the council. he regretted he could not stop to speak with me, but requested i would come to him to-morrow at six. as i could not walk as far as the palace (the sanctity of the sabbath not permitting me to ride in a carriage), i requested dr loewe to call on the minister of diplomacy, and to beg of him to arrange with the prince for paying my respects on sunday instead of to-morrow, which he promised to do, and to acquaint me with the result." the same day a deputation of that pre-eminently conservative class of the hebrew community, known by the appellation of "khasseedim," paid us a visit. they wore hats, according to european fashion, instead of the polish "czapka," or the "mycka," which is similar to that of the circassian's. they were headed by mr posener, a gentleman who had done much for the promotion of industry in poland, and his son; and he informed sir moses that he would, though an old man, comply with the desire of the government, and change the polish for the german costume. being a man held in high esteem by the jews, and well spoken of by the prince, his example would have a most favourable effect upon others. _warsaw, saturday evening, may rd._--divine service was held in our apartments in the morning, afternoon, and evening. we had intended going to the new synagogue, but were deterred from doing so by the great difficulties which we had encountered last evening in going to and returning from the great synagogue. thousands of persons had followed us nearly the whole way, and the gallery of the synagogue was so dreadfully crowded with ladies, that serious apprehensions were entertained lest it might fall, when hundreds must have been killed. a strong body of police had secured our retreat. at least five hundred ladies, the wives and daughters of our co-religionists, called on lady montefiore. a girl twelve years old sang several hebrew melodies; she had a fine voice. in the evening we had with us, for the second time, a little boy, eight years old, who played exquisitely on the violin. he also recited the portion of the pentateuch selected for the sabbath reading in the synagogue, with several of the commentaries on the same, by heart; a very handsome child. by his extraordinary talent he supports his parents and family--in all ten persons. sir moses made him a present of a sum of money to enable him to pay for a master. we again noticed that the walls of our room were admirably arranged, so that every word we speak could be distinctly overheard outside in a dark passage. _warsaw, sunday, may th._--colonel du plat called, having been requested by sir moses to accompany him to the palace. going there, we met the prince as he was descending from his carriage; he was most polite, and begged us to come into the palace. he was very sorry he could not see sir moses on friday. sir moses told his highness that he had come to take leave of him, and to inquire if he had any commands for him. the prince said he was very sorry that he had been prevented from showing him more attention, but since the arrival of the emperor his presence was required every quarter of an hour. sir moses spoke of the great desire of the jews to be allowed to purchase land, and to cultivate it themselves; he also told the prince that mr posener had promised to change his dress, which pleased him greatly, and his example would, he said, have great effect, and he had no doubt that sir moses' visit would produce much good. they then had some conversation respecting the repeal of the corn laws in england, the bill having passed by a majority of ninety-three. they also spoke of the death of an english admiral, and our victories in india. their parting was most friendly. sir moses and lady montefiore then left cards on the princess, all the ministers, the spiritual head of the hebrew community, and the representatives of the several institutions they had visited; and orders were given for their departure at three o'clock in the morning. in the course of the day, colonel du plat called to bid us farewell. a great number of persons came in the evening for a similar purpose, and remained till one o'clock in the morning. sir moses then entrusted some of the gentlemen with his generous donations for the poor of all denominations, also for schools, hospitals, and charitable institutions; and, with the most favourable impressions of the good intentions of his brethren in poland, we left warsaw at the appointed hour. on the same day, may th, we arrived at posen. wherever we had stopped on the road, even at the post-houses, where we could only remain for a few minutes to change horses, deputations with addresses awaited our arrival. early in the morning of tuesday, a deputation from the old synagogue came to conduct sir moses and lady montefiore to divine service. the venerable edifice, which is very ancient, large, and of handsome proportions, was lighted up, and the paths leading to the seats strewn with flowers. at eleven o'clock the rev. s. eger, chief rabbi of the community; the rev. s. plessner, chief lecturer; the officers, of the synagogue, and the representatives of all the hebrew charities, in all about sixty gentlemen, waited upon them with an address. the streets were crowded, and on reaching the synagogue, all the passages were filled with ladies and gentlemen, with lighted wax candles in their hands, a number of young and beautiful girls strewing roses and other fragrant flowers before us. the synagogue was one blaze of light, from hundreds of wax candles, ornamented with flowers. sir moses was placed in the body of the synagogue, and lady montefiore in the ladies' gallery, under beautiful canopies with rich drapery and flowers. the rev. s. plessner presented a beautiful poem, in which he expressed a hearty welcome and the deep gratitude of his community; others, equally zealous in conveying their appreciation of sir moses' and lady montefiore's services, presented addresses in german or french; and we found it necessary to have special cases made to contain them. we left posen in the evening, travelled the whole night, and reached berlin next day at ten o'clock in the evening, taking up our quarters at the hotel de st petersbourg. _berlin, friday, may th._--called at the british embassy, but learned that lord and lady westmoreland were in england. sir moses saw sir george b. hamilton (who was acting for him), and expressed his desire to be presented to his majesty, the king of prussia; but his majesty, sir george said, was at torgau, and would not return before the th of june. sir moses then left his card on monsieur fonton, at the russian embassy. mr bleichroder, father of the present consul general for england, called, also the chief rabbi, and three gentlemen from krakau, to present an address to sir moses, requesting him to speak to the king of prussia in favour of the jews of that place. the following three days, being the sabbath and pentecost festival, most of the time was taken up by attending divine service and receiving visitors. _june nd._--we went to take leave of sir george hamilton. sir moses expressed regret at not being able to have the honour of being presented to his majesty, as he had hoped to have the opportunity of praying for his gracious efforts to cause the jews of cracow to be placed in the same position as their brethren in his majesty's other dominions. sir george said that if sir moses wrote him a letter to that effect, he would place it in the king's hands. in the course of conversation, sir george told sir moses that he had received an express from lord aberdeen, desiring him to repair to florence, as things were in so uncertain a state in london (alluding to the corn bill); he could not tell how soon a change might take place; but lord brougham and lady westmoreland, he said, had written, that they thought sir robert peel would weather the storm. _berlin, june rd._--soon after six, an elegant carriage sent by the deputies of the hebrew community of the city, stopped at our door to convey sir moses and lady montefiore to the railway station. there were also thirty other carriages with a deputation, and the ladies of their families, to accompany us; but as sir moses had not yet received the memorial from the cracow deputation, which sir george hamilton so kindly promised to put into his majesty's hands for him, we could not leave until half-past twelve. at eleven o'clock, when the memorial was brought, we at once proceeded to sir george, and gave it to him. sir moses stated all the particulars of the degraded and oppressed state of the jews, and sir george repeated the promise he had made, adding that he should be most happy to render every service in his power for their relief; and he would call upon sir moses at park lane when in london. on our arrival at the station, we found all the principal jewish families waiting to bid us farewell. _june th._--at frankfort-on-the-main a brilliant reception awaited them. the rothschild family and all the principal jewish inhabitants of the city, together with the spiritual heads of the community, vied with each other in evincing their appreciation of the noble work that sir moses and lady montefiore had done in the cause of humanity. between eleven and twelve o'clock in the night they were serenaded by a band of jewish musicians (permission having been previously obtained from the governor). the streets were crowded, and numbers of coloured lamps gave animation to the scene. when sir moses appeared on the balcony, bowing his warm acknowledgments, hearty cheers re-echoed from all sides. among the numerous persons who called was professor oppenheim, of whose works of art there are three fine specimens in lady montefiore's theological college. _june th._--they left calais and arrived safely at dover, on their way to ramsgate; but on hearing a report that an epidemic of scarlet fever had broken out near east cliff, they altered their route and proceeded direct to london. chapter xliv. sir moses receives the congratulations of his english co-religionists--his exhaustive report to count kisseleff--examination of the charges against the jews--their alleged disinclination to engage in agriculture. in london, as at dover, numerous friends were waiting to welcome them, but sir moses did not remain long in their company; he deemed it his duty, before entering his house at park lane, to call on sir robert peel, lord aberdeen, and baron brunnow, and leave his cards. the next day he called again on the latter, and remained with him for an hour; also on sir robert peel, and on lord aberdeen at the foreign office. his lordship said he should be most happy at all times to do what he could. sir moses also called on sir roderick murchison, and left his card, with the letter from colonel de helmerson of st petersburg; thence he went to the palace, to enter his name in prince albert's visitors' book, and also called on lord bloomfield. _saturday, june th._--prayers and thanksgivings were offered up in all the synagogues for the safe return of sir moses and lady montefiore from russia; and, during the week following, numerous addresses from all the hebrew congregations in england, as well as from those in other parts of the world, were presented. all these are now preserved in the lecture hall of the college at ramsgate. notwithstanding his natural desire for rest, after the labours of his recent missions, sir moses felt that the greatest and most important part of his work yet remained to be done. he had to make a report to the emperor of russia. he had to show his majesty the groundlessness of the accusations brought against his brethren, and to place before the emperor their humble petition for the removal of all those causes which prevented them from attaining that degree of prosperity which his majesty so graciously desired that they, in common with his other faithful subjects, should enjoy. he also had to report on the state of their education, with a view to removing from the minds of his majesty's ministers the unfavourable impressions which incorrect representations had made on them. sir moses having made the subject in question his principal study, was enabled, after mature consideration, to draw up and forward to the ministers, to be placed in the emperor's hands, three reports--one, on the state of the jews in russia; another, on that of the jews in poland; and the third, on the state of their education in russia and poland. sir moses, however, being mindful of the condescension shown to and confidence reposed in him by his late imperial majesty the emperor nicholas, considered the reports as private and confidential communications, and would not publish them during his majesty's lifetime. now that both the emperor and sir moses are no more in the land of the living, history demands the publication of what sir moses communicated to his majesty. i therefore place before the reader in the following pages exact copies of the reports in question, the full particulars of which he has undoubtedly, in the interests of humanity, the right to know. i shall also give the ministers' reply, made by command of the emperor, showing that his majesty was fully informed of all the communications which sir moses made to him, and had given orders for the formation of a committee to examine the statements therein made to him, with a view to improve the condition of his jewish subjects. the first and second of sir moses' reports are addressed to count kisseleff, and the third to count ouvaroff. "to his excellency, le comte de kisseleff, ministre du domaine de l'empire, de sa majesté l'empereur de russie, &c., &c., &c. "may it please your excellency,--in addressing your excellency after my return from russia to this country, i deem it an imperative duty to express again to your excellency the deep sense of gratitude i feel for the distinguished honour which has been conferred upon me by his imperial majesty, in granting me so gracious a reception, and to assure your excellency that the kind promises which i have received from that most exalted and magnanimous monarch, and his enlightened ministers, to promote the welfare of my co-religionists dwelling in his majesty's vast empire, have not only been a source of great delight to the israelites in russia, and to their brethren in england, but have very extensively afforded great satisfaction to the friends of humanity throughout europe. "the perusal of the very important documents which your excellency was pleased to place in my hands previously to my departure from saint petersburg, gave me an additional proof of the paternal principle entertained by his imperial majesty towards his hebrew subjects; and when that august monarch graciously intimated to me that i should go and see the state of my brethren, i hailed the opportunity which was thus afforded to me to communicate to them the good intentions of the government, and to persuade them cheerfully to conform to the benevolent intentions of their wise and powerful monarch. "it is now my momentous task in compliance with your excellency's benign suggestion, to report to your excellency the result of my visit to his majesty's hebrew subjects, and i feel confident that your excellency will deign to regard my communication with the indulgent attention and consideration which the cause of philanthropy has ever received from your excellency, the more so as i have the gratifying promise of your excellency to place my representation in the hands of his majesty, whose great object it has ever been to adopt every suitable measure for securing the moral and physical welfare of every subject under his imperial sway. "from the information which i gathered during my sojourn among the various hebrew congregations in russia, confirmed by my own personal observation, i am enabled to affirm that my brethren in his majesty's empire are fully sensible of the good intentions of his majesty's government, that they speak with enthusiasm of the magnanimity of their mighty sovereign; and declare their readiness at all times and under all circumstances to serve their country to their latest breath. "it did not, however, escape my notice that there exist some obstacles which prevent the benign rays of his majesty's mercy from imparting to his hebrew subjects the full measure of comfort to which the wise and just general laws of the russian government would entitle them; i therefore, with your excellency's permission, will now briefly repeat the advantages granted to them by their excellent monarch, and venture to describe briefly to what extent and by what measures they are administered to the israelites. i shall, at the same time, not withhold from your excellency some observations upon the charges preferred against them, which i will leave to the wise and profound judgment and candid and indulgent consideration of your excellency. "in the document your excellency was pleased to hand me it is stated to the effect--that the union of the polish provinces with russia was for the israelites a new epoch; that the imperial government not only allowed them, like its other subjects, to partake of all civil rights, and granted them permission to be received in the corporation of the body of town merchants, but also accorded them the privilege of taking part in the elections, and of being themselves eligible to become members of common councils, and to fill other local offices. besides this, they were permitted to acquire immoveable property, and to settle as agriculturists, either on their own estates or on the lands of the crown, in which latter case government also granted them support and freedom from all taxes, the israelites also enjoying the right of settling in seventeen governments (a superficies of , square miles) among a population of twenty millions of inhabitants, in countries where, by means of the harbours of the black sea (and in part through those of the baltic), a lively commercial intercourse is kept up both in russia and with foreign countries, have had, it is stated, all possible means in their hands of turning their activity to useful objects, and of establishing their prosperity upon a safe basis. "the knowledge that such privileges have been accorded cannot but excite a deep and universal gratitude towards his imperial majesty for the paternal care which has thus been taken of his hebrew subjects. but on a careful examination into the condition of the israelites in some places situated within the above named , square miles, causes appear to prevail owing to which they do not actually derive from these enlightened measures the advantages they were intended to confer. "i would respectfully invite your excellency's attention to the circumstance that in the entire government of livonia there is only the city of riga in which the israelites are permitted to dwell, and there only to the number of about one hundred families. in courland only those israelites who were present in the year and their families are permitted to remain, but even those who have acquired the rights of citizenship are greatly restricted in their respective trades, for a ukase, dated in april , declares the israelites in mitau, in consequence of a privilege granted to the christians of that city in the year , disqualified to be received into the christian corporations of the body of tradesmen or mechanics. the result of such a restriction is that the israelite is never regarded as a master tradesman, and therefore cannot employ in his service either a journeyman professing the christian religion or one who adheres to the principles of his own religion. he is likewise prohibited from keeping apprentices even of his own creed. thus the israelite is prevented from following any trade that requires particular assistants; he cannot with any prospect of success become a joiner, locksmith, blacksmith, or bricklayer, nor can he do the work of any mechanic where the aid of other persons is absolutely requisite. the disadvantages which he must labour under are indeed numerous. where there is a large family, and the children are of tender ages, it becomes scarcely possible for the parent to maintain them, and it must be evident that when men become enfeebled by old age, or afflicted by bodily infirmity, they can no longer exert personally the labour which their business requires, and thus they become utterly destitute; and when a parent dies his children, if not sufficiently advanced in years to have acquired from him a knowledge of his trade (to which he dared not apprentice them), must relinquish it altogether. "your excellency may perhaps think me wrong in this assertion, the former governor general, the marquis paulucci, having in the year interceded in the israelites' behalf, and obtained permission that they should in future enjoy the privilege of teaching their children their respective trades. this privilege has, however, again been taken away from them. in the course of time most of the operative class thus naturally became poor, to such a frightful degree that the community is obliged to furnish them with the necessaries of life. it may be said that israelites who cannot follow the trade of their parents need not become a burthen on the congregation; an imperial ukase having been issued in april to the effect that the israelites in courland should enjoy the right of keeping, either by rent or obrok, farms, inns, or baiting stables; but your excellency will please to remember that this privilege was soon recalled. and, moreover, for some cause the hebrews were ordered to quit the frontiers of courland, as well as all the other places situated near the sea shores; and to withdraw fifty wersts into the interior of the country, which latter decree deprives them of the right to inhabit nearly one-third of that gubernium. in the same province the israelites are not only prohibited from settling with their families, but are prevented by the law from becoming contractors to the crown and undertaking the erection of any government building, even though they might be merchants of the first or second guild. neither are they suffered to sell goods by wholesale under their own firm. "your excellency will give me leave also to advert to the expulsion of my brethren from the city of kiew, where they are at present not allowed to remain even a single night; from the city of nicolaiew, in the gubernium of kherson; the city of swart-opol, in the gubernium of ekat-erinaslow; and all the villages situated in the gubernium of whitebsk, moghilew, tchornigow, and voltawa, as well as all the other villages of those guberniums situated within fifty wersts along the frontiers. "if in consequence of the last ukases the israelites are also to be removed from all the towns and villages situate within fifty wersts of the austrian and prussian frontiers, and must quit every house where the sale of spirituous liquors is offered to the peasant, the number of exiles would surely equal the number of those who are already settled in the interior, and their fate cannot be any other than epidemic, disease, destitution, and starvation. this, as i had the honour of hearing personally from your excellency, is not and never can be the intention of that great and most benevolent monarch whose anxiety for the welfare of all his faithful subjects is so well known to all the world. "with respect to commerce, the above-named space of land of seventeen thousand square miles, if available to the israelites, as was originally intended, would, in the opinion of most of them, afford sufficient scope for securing a flourishing state of commerce amongst them. there are, however, some disadvantages against which the hebrew merchants have daily to contend, and unless these be removed, the mere extent of land constituting the field for their exertions would not insure to them those advantages which they might have expected to realise from the benevolent intentions of their illustrious monarch. merchants professing any other faith, either purchase their stock in the interior of russia, or proceed to foreign countries and import it from them. but the hebrew merchants have no permission to travel into the interior of russia, with the exception only of those of the first and second guilds, whose privilege is restricted to making one journey for goods in the course of the year to moscow; their sojourn in that city being limited--as respects the former to six months, and the latter to three months. were they permitted to visit moscow and other places at such times as their business might require, they would thus have sufficient opportunity for the necessary replenishment of their warehouses with the newest fashions in proper season during the year, which they cannot do if they are bound to lay in at once a stock for the whole year; and it is often the case that the purchases they have made in moscow by the time they arrive at their destination are out of fashion. the hebrew merchant is obliged to appear personally at moscow, and dares not send his agent there to transact his business. "your excellency will be pleased to consider the great expenses he must incur before he has the opportunity of offering his goods for sale, and the impossibility of his becoming prosperous in business whilst he is obliged to repair to moscow for such goods as his christian neighbour can import from the nearest factory in the interior of the land. "the imperial city of saint petersburg the israelite must never visit on commercial business; he is only allowed to appear there in connection with a law suit, or in some other particular occasion, of very rare occurrence. the hebrew merchant thus has to contend with numerous difficulties in being obliged to import his goods from foreign countries, for the duty he has to pay on them is exceedingly high, therefore making it impossible for him to compete with his christian neighbour. these disadvantages have reduced the commerce of the israelites to a deplorably low ebb, and are banishing prosperity from amongst them. and it is a fact that in one of the principal cities where formerly there were thirty hebrew moscow merchants, there are at present only two, and these can only preserve their commercial standing by extreme exertion. "your excellency will further condescend to take into consideration that there are various other disadvantages which the israelites have to contend with, and which i shall merely mention in a few words for fear of encroaching upon your excellency's most valuable time. his majesty's hebrew subjects are deprived of their congregational unions known by the hebrew term kahal, and are thus debarred from the advantage of any great measure for their common relief, which might otherwise be effected through the community. the kahal served as a central point in which every individual had an interest, and there were able to do something for the amelioration of their own town in particular cases, which cannot be done now. it is true their financial affairs are generally under the best care, being administered by the members of the town hall (dume), where according to his majesty's gracious ukase, israelites are entitled to be admitted; yet it appears they are excluded from the enjoyment of this privilege in some important cities where they were first refused admission as members of the magistracy, and subsequently excluded from participating in the administration in the town hall. the israelites, under these circumstances, greatly suffer from the dissolution of their congregational unions. a hebrew is not allowed to engage the assistance of any christian servant, neither is he permitted to settle as an agriculturist within four or five wersts from the habitation of a christian. he is not permitted to keep posting establishments. he is further prohibited from keeping brewhouses either in towns or villages. a hebrew, when serving in the army or navy of his majesty, can never rise even to become a subaltern. the israelite suffers from all the above-named restrictions, notwithstanding the distinct desire of his imperial majesty that he should be allowed to partake of all civil rights like all the other subjects of his imperial majesty. i have thus endeavoured to present to your excellency a brief view of some of the causes which operate to deprive my brethren of the full enjoyment of those privileges intended for them by their illustrious and most humane sovereign. "there are, however, other causes which i fear also tend to this unhappy result. i refer more particularly to certain charges made against the israelites, too important to be passed over unnoticed, and which, entreating your excellency's kind attention, i will now proceed to enumerate and comment upon. "i have ascertained on enquiry that the following charges are preferred against the israelites, viz.: "that they are inclined to an idle course of life, and prefer petty commerce to agriculture; hence the prohibition not to live in old russia. "that they impose upon the peasant, and in return for a small quantity of spirit, deprive him of all his property (hence the removal from all the villages in the guberniums of whitebsk and moghelew). "that all of them living near the frontiers have the reputation of dealing in contraband goods; hence the removal from all the towns and villages within the fifty wersts. "in answer to the above accusations in general, your excellency will permit me to say that i am far from being inclined to aver that an israelite of a bad disposition is less capable of doing wrong than any other individual of bad principles belonging to any other creed, but i feel confident that a wise and just government, like that of his imperial majesty, will not deem it right to punish many thousands of its hebrew subjects for the transgressions of a few. let him who offends against the law of the country, or violates the rights of his fellow creatures, be punished, but let all the rest enjoy the comfort designed for them by their magnanimous monarch. i entreat your excellency to consider that the number of hebrews who maintain themselves by commercial enterprises is but a small portion of the whole, for, as i had the opportunity of seeing, most of them are either mechanics or common labourers; they do not appear to be of idle disposition; on the contrary, they seek work as far as they are permitted to extend their movements. in all those guberniums where israelites have the privilege of settling, there are some of them who are tailors, shoemakers, farriers, glaziers, &c., &c., others who employ themselves with a more laborious occupation, as that of a blacksmith, locksmith, bricklayer, carpenter, &c. there is a class which may be reckoned amongst the artizans, such as watchmakers and goldsmiths, and another, which may be considered as a most numerous one, is that which consists of people who break stones on the chaussees, cut wood for fuel, or dig the ground and carry water, or remove heavy loads from one place to another. your excellency will, i believe, bear me out in this statement, for the israelites to this very day remember with gratitude when your excellency, in the spring of , feelingly expressed your approbation to general bulmering of his having allowed the israelites to break stones on the road. there is also another instance which speaks favourably for the israelites in this respect. i allude to two of the finest houses at wilna, the one belonging to count teschkewetz, and the other to the nobleman wilgatzke, but inhabited by the present civil governor, both of which were entirely constructed by the israelites. this, i venture to say, is a satisfactory proof of their being most anxious to work, and if the fact of their being seen walking about the streets without any occupation be urged against my assertion, i may be permitted to answer in their defence that want of work (within the boundary of those places where they are authorised to live) may be assigned as the cause of it; for the israelite cannot, like his christian neighbour, quit one gubernium and repair to another, where he may be sure to find occupation. "indeed there are often a great many christian labourers to be seen in the jewish guberniums, in consequence of their business being slack in their own district. "your excellency will now permit me to state my humble opinion with regard to the accusation of the israelites feeling disinclined to cultivate the land. the great facilities which his majesty's benevolent government afforded me for the purpose of having the necessary intercourse with my brethren, enabled me to learn that they were always desirous, and are at present most anxious to devote themselves to agriculture. i shall adduce the following statement in support of this assertion:--in the year , when his imperial majesty most graciously declared that the israelites should cultivate the land, a great many of them shewed their willingness to desert their homes and move even to the remotest parts of the country. unfortunately after several hundreds of israelites had sold all their moveable and immoveable property to repair to tobolsk and omsk, in siberia (these two places having been assigned to them), and actually succeeded, though not without great sufferings on the road, in reaching, with their wives and children, the above-named colonies, it was intimated to them that the land was not to be cultivated by the israelites. in the year , a great many families went to kherson for the same purpose, but a considerable number of them on their arrival found their plans frustrated. they were most kindly treated, it is true, by his excellency the governor of wilna. every adult received forty-eight copecks banco assignations, and every child half that sum. they were also provided with the necessary vehicles for their conveyance, one being assigned to each family; but as they proceeded thence into the other guberniums the adults received only twenty-four copecks banco and the children twelve copecks banco each, and the number of vehicles was reduced to one for every two families. the emigrants had to wait several days before the vehicles were ready for their use, during which time they were not provided with the necessary diet money. they were further furnished with boats for the purpose of performing part of the journey on the river berezina and dnieper. the money requisite to pay the hire of these boats was deducted from the amount allotted for their diet. the israelites were assured that it would take them only a fortnight's time to make the passage on the rivers, and for this reason only received money to defray the expenses of their diet during that period; but the passage occupied seven weeks, and they had to sustain themselves out of their own means. many of them were great sufferers from severe cold and hunger, and a considerable number who had not even the smallest coin beyond that which they received from government, being left without food, whilst they had to endure the inclemency of the season, necessarily perished. "the survivors, on arriving at the places of their destination, found that they could not obtain possession of the houses, agricultural implements, and cattle assigned for them in the month of may in accordance with the decree of his majesty's government, but had to wait for them until the month of august, and for the articles furnished to them which were of a very bad description, they were subject to a charge considerably exceeding their value. "the rye seed which the israelites ought to have received in the month of august, was not given to them before the month of october; the consequence was, that the crops of the first year did not prosper, and they were obliged to take provision from the government for the next year also. the seed for the summer crops which ought to have been given them in the month of march, they did not receive before the month of may; thus they were obliged to put the seed into the ground very late in the season, and heavy rains which followed again caused the crops to fail. the habitations assigned for their occupation being of very bad materials, and badly constructed, most of them soon fell to the ground. "then followed an epidemic disease among the cattle, and the israelites suffered a considerable loss. in consequence of this misfortune the government benevolently ordered passports to be granted in order that they might repair to other places for the purpose of gaining their daily bread; but instead of paying for a passport valid for a year, according to the law of the country, they had sometimes to pay most exorbitantly. "in addition to this and other similar hardships, i may mention the fact of the poll tax being demanded from the old settlers who are not liable to it. "in the year , when an imperial ukase appeared again inviting the hebrews to agriculture, with a grant of support out of the korabka, his majesty's hebrew subjects, desirous to avail themselves of this ukase, not only forwarded their humble petitions on the subject to the governors of their respective towns and villages, but even made voluntary offers to defray the necessary expenses from their own means. your excellency has full evidence of this fact in the numerous applications addressed to your illustrious person, and i feel convinced that your excellency will be surprised to hear that difficulties are thrown in the way on occasions like the following. "some crown land situate in the vicinity of wilna and kowno was offered to the public by auction, and israelites were prohibited from being amongst the applicants, although many of them distinctly declared their willingness to cultivate the land in question personally. all this, i trust, will be sufficient to satisfy your excellency that the israelites are not averse to agricultural pursuits, and that there is no foundation for the charge brought against them in this respect. "having thus, i trust, convinced your excellency that there is no just ground for the accusation that my brethren are disinclined to work laboriously and cultivate the land, i now humbly request your excellency to consider with your wonted justice the two other charges brought against them, viz.:-- "that they impose upon the peasant and deal in contraband goods, these vices being traceable to a disposition to idleness. i trust, however, i have succeeded in proving that idleness is unjustly charged against them, and in further refutation of these two imputations against the israelites generally, i may also be justified in observing that a man, however inclined he may be to accumulate riches, will not readily give up an occupation which insures him bread in comfort, and respectability for a business that is attended with little profit and great risk of life. i have already stated to your excellency that only the fourth part of the hebrew population in each town or village is engaged in commercial pursuits, and supposing even for a moment, that all the merchants in any one town might be liable to transgress the law of excise and customs (which case, i think, almost impossible, as the hebrew law distinctly forbids such transgressions), surely so wise and benevolent a government will not cause the removal of the entire hebrew population from the austrian and prussian frontiers, because a few among them may have acted in opposition to the law? for these delinquents i do not intercede, his majesty's wise and paternal government will treat them like similar offenders in the imperial cities of saint petersburg and moscow, where i believe it will appear from the records preserved by his majesty's minister of finance, there exists a great number of them notwithstanding the entire absence of israelites. i implore only the extension of its merciful protection to the rest of the hebrew inhabitants. "the presence of the israelites in the various villages throughout the empire is said to be pernicious to the peasants. from the information i received, your excellency will perceive that this cannot be the case. my informants assured me that since the israelites were obliged to leave the guberniums of white russia and little prussia, the peasants have found themselves in a most deplorable state, and are very often in such an unfortunate condition that they are even without the seeds necessary for the future crops, which never happened whilst the israelites were amongst them. "there is also another striking proof which your excellency, i am confident, will agree with me to be in their favour. if the israelites had indeed imposed upon the peasants and impoverished them, the former, as they were obliged to quit the villages and join their brethren in the towns, would undoubtedly have carried some property with them, but their utter destitution was apparent from almost all of them becoming immediately a heavy burthen on the congregation, and many of them actually perished from want before they could reach the town fixed upon for their future abode. "your excellency will also be pleased to reflect that the proprietors of the various establishments let on rent to the israelites being themselves good and charitable christians, and naturally most benevolently inclined towards their brethren in faith, would not have suffered their hebrew tenants to impose upon them, and had the israelites in reality been guilty of the crime, the proprietors would of themselves have driven them away. "the circumstances, explanations of which i have now had the honour of submitting to your excellency, have, however, in consequence perhaps of similar endeavours not having been made previously to the present moment, produced an unfavourable impression on the mind of his majesty's government; so much so, that his majesty the emperor, in his august solicitude for the welfare of the hebrew population resident in his dominions, appointed a special committee to investigate the causes of the unsatisfactory state in which the population remains to this day, and to deliberate on the means fittest to be applied as remedies. the result of these enquiries was that the israelites were represented to the committee in very erroneous and unfavourable colours. those who were characterised as rebellious and disobedient were therefore subjected to coercive measures as idlers who prove a burthen to the society of which they are members, and in order to be able to institute a just discrimination between such israelites as have sought to make themselves useful, and such as do not yet carry on a trade or some other legal occupation, his majesty's government calls upon the latter to enrol themselves in one of the four following classes: st, one of the three guilds of merchants; nd, the burgess of a town by the purchase of a piece of land or a house; rd, a corporation of artizans, after having given the proof of ability required by the law; or th, the grand body of agriculturists, whether on their own property or under a proprietor. and such israelites as shall not have placed themselves by the appointed time (the st january ) in one of the four classes are to be subject to such restrictive measures as the government shall think it right to employ. "believing that in consequence of such classification more than four-fifths of the hebrew population will necessarily have to be enlisted amongst those who, according to the above declaration, will be regarded as a burthen on society at large, i feel it a duty humbly and earnestly to make a few observations to your excellency, and beg at the same time that your excellency will be pleased to give credit to my assurance that in this instance i am regarding the israelites not with the sympathy natural to a brother in faith, but with the impartiality of a perfect stranger; the sentiments which i now shall have the honour to express to your excellency being those only of a friend to humanity. "there cannot exist a doubt that the above imperial decree will be a most beneficial incentive to a large number of the hebrew communities to enrol themselves in some one of the four classes in question; and his most gracious majesty will now have the high gratification of knowing that in future those amongst his hebrew subjects can, under no pretence whatever, be accused of idleness, the nature of their occupation being registered in the archives of the respective guberniums they inhabit. i, however, humbly venture to suggest the addition of two other classes to the four already specified, as a proceeding in accordance with the enlightened views of his majesty's government. i allude, first, to labourers of every description, domestic servants, clerks, commercial agents, brokers and employees, water-carriers, porters, waggoners and carmen, provision dealers, cutters of wood for fuel, and persons engaged in similar occupations. the nature of their pursuits does not qualify them to be enrolled in any of the four classes, yet they are a body of people who, as your excellency will admit, deserve to be looked upon with an eye of mercy for two reasons. first, because they are continually exerting themselves by their incessant labours to maintain themselves and their families in an honest and respectable way; and, secondly, because the existence of such individuals is most essential to the promotion of the welfare and comfort of his majesty's hebrew subjects belonging to any of the four classes. for if the latter were obliged to devote their time and attention to all the work originally intended to be executed by their inferiors, what would become of their business? would it then not appear quite natural that in the course of time their situation would become precarious to such a degree that they would have to give up their avocations altogether. another class of people which i am particularly anxious to introduce to the consideration of his majesty's government is that which comprises the spiritual leaders of the congregations, assessors of the hebrew ecclesiastical courts, scribes qualified to write the sacred scrolls of the pentateuch, and other religious documents, persons qualified to slay animals for food in conformity with the jewish law, readers of prayers in the synagogue, readers of the pentateuch to the congregation, operators of circumcision, students who devote themselves to the study of hebrew theology, and teachers of religion. the body of people just mentioned, your excellency will give me leave to say, i regard as the very soul of the congregation, for it is religion alone that makes a man true and faithful to his fellow creatures, and sincere and loyal to the government under which he lives. "his imperial majesty being sensible of this sacred truth, in his great mercy and paternal love to all his subjects without reference to their religious creeds, granted permission to his hebrew subjects, the soldiers at st petersburg, to have synagogues of their own, and i assure your excellency that i cherish with feelings of the deepest gratitude to his majesty, the memory of those days when, by his gracious permisssion, i was enabled to join my brethren in prayer. this event alone is a sufficient assurance to me that his majesty's government will in its wisdom add all those individuals to the classes of those who are considered as subjects useful to society. there are also individuals, though they cannot be brought under any of these various classes, to whom the government will, i dare hope, extend its mercy. i mean persons advanced in age, or in an infirm state of health, and others who have no choice but to cultivate the soil, but have not the means to purchase land and agricultural implements. in short, these observations are merely to show that an immense number of people still exist who may be in every respect useful, honest, industrious, learned, and distinguished in various branches without finding a place in any of the four classes. a wise and humane government then will surely not suffer them to be regarded as a burthen to the congregations, and cause them to be subjected to coercive measures. "i have now shown (i trust clearly) to your excellency that the reasons advanced for not extending to the israelites the mercy of their most illustrious and benevolent monarch are unfounded incorrect representations, a circumstance which, of course, i am far from attributing to the most honourable and distinguished committee appointed for the purpose, but to parties for unaccountable reasons inimically inclined towards the israelites. i have further proved to your excellency that the israelites in general are not of an idle disposition; that, moreover, most of them are anxious to cultivate the land, and even pray for such occupation; that the majority of the israelites dwelling near the austrian and prussian frontiers are so circumstanced that an accusation of transgressing the laws of excise and customs cannot in justice be preferred against them. i have also represented to your excellency that the numerous restrictions under which the israelites of all classes suffer are a cause that their commerce can have no chance whatever of prospering, but that, on the contrary, they must from day to day sink into deeper distress; and, further, that the last measure adopted for the amelioration of their condition would tend to a contrary effect, unless the number of classes be increased. it is an unquestionable fact that the great body of the israelites in his majesty's empire are in a state of extreme misery. i do not venture to discuss again the causes of these evils, but only speak of the reality and depth of their existence. his majesty himself has seen them, the special commission has verified the fact, and i myself having had his majesty's most gracious permission to visit my brethren, have been a sorrowful witness of it. this, then, being so, i am convinced his majesty and his government will bear with me while, with heartfelt gratitude for the goodness which his majesty has already extended to the house of israel in his solicitude to be made acquainted with their real condition, i venture to submit to your excellency my own very humble but earnest belief of the principles of policy which, if brought into action, would surely remedy most extensively the evils already described, and bring the work of investigation which his majesty and his government have begun to a most happy, glorious, and honourable consummation. "i venture to hold my own views on this subject with confidence and decision, only because i know most intimately the feelings of my brethren. i have observed them closely in different parts of the world; have watched over them through a long life with very anxious attention; and could now, if it would benefit them, lay down that life for what i know to be their true character. "their natural disposition as a body, your excellency, is not what it may have appeared to be. expelled long ago with fearful slaughter from their ancient country, and dispersed in every land under heaven, the oppression of ages may have given them, in the eyes of his majesty's government, the semblance of a character which is not their own. that which they may appear to have may be artificial and superficial, forced upon them by long existing, most extraordinary, and peculiar circumstances. for these evils his majesty the emperor holds the full and most efficacious remedy in his own most gracious heart and most powerful hands, under the blessing of almighty god, which would surely rest upon him in the prosecution of such an unspeakably benign object. "will his majesty deign to hear my most humble and most earnest petition, and graciously put this remedy into application? "i beseech indulgent consideration while, confiding in the nobleness of his majesty's mind, and in the high wisdom of his majesty's ministers, i proceed to describe it. "it consists primarily in nothing more than the full and real accordance to israelites of the boon which his majesty's ministers have informed me has been already designed for them by the imperial government--videlicit, "equal rights with all other subjects of the empire." this great favour bestowed by his majesty publicly, immediately, and without reserve would, i am deeply persuaded, produce the most beneficial results. it would cancel at once the heavy despondency produced by the degradation of ages; it would call forth the ardent gratitude which i assure your excellency abounds in the hearts of my brethren, and it would present to his majesty's other subjects, and to the world at large, a most distinguished proof of his majesty's paternal mercy, wisdom, condescension, and high magnanimity. "i would not argue that this favour, if it had been granted without limit at other times, and under other circumstances, would have been productive of the same advantages. i would only humbly urge that now at this moment, when the minds of my brethren and of other men have been so powerfully drawn to observe his majesty's attention to their condition, such a measure must be followed by most happy consequences. "entering with the deepest respect into the details of this subject, i would most earnestly solicit and supplicate-- "_ st._ that my brethren should enjoy without reserve the fullest and completest right of settling at their own choice in any part of the russian territory comprised within seventeen governments or provinces, a surface occupying , square miles, and that to this end his majesty the emperor would be most graciously pleased to cancel all laws and customs which prevent them from settling in any towns and villages of the guberniums of livonia and courland, in the cities of kiew (formerly a most considerable hebrew congregation), nicolaiew, and swatopol, and in the villages situated in the guberniums of whitebsk, mogilew, tschornigow, and poltawa, and that his majesty would further graciously and mercifully deign to cancel entirely the ukases which order the removal of all israelites for fifty wersts from the frontiers and sea shores, leaving to summary individual punishment any evil disposed persons who might participate in offences against the revenue, and by his majesty's great kindness exciting the good and loyal to combine amongst themselves to put down all such nefarious practices, as i faithfully believe that moved by his majesty's high policy and favour they would do. "_ nd._ that they should be allowed to live in every town or village situated within the already mentioned space of , square miles without being confined to any particular street or restricted locality, and to establish manufactories. it should be borne in mind that the hebrew population has greatly increased since the period (december , ) when they were first confined to the above-named space. from my own observation i can affirm that in many places the hebrew people live crowded together to such a degree, that four or five families have no more room to occupy than that which would barely suffice for one family in any other gubernium inhabited by his majesty's subjects of another creed. "_ rd._ the suspension of the ukase respecting the removal from the inns in the villages, and permission to the hebrew inhabitants of the gubernium of courland to keep farms, inns, and baiting stables agreeably to an imperial ukase of the th april - . "_ th._ the admission of the hebrew mechanics, artizans, and tradesmen inhabiting courland into the christian corporations of their respective trades, or to substitute the privilege of forming their own corporations so that the israelite might have the advantage of being allowed to keep his journeymen, apprentices, or other assistants to his trade belonging to his own creed or to any other, and thus avert inevitable distress. "_ th._ permission to hebrew merchants throughout russia belonging to any one of the three guilds to travel into the interior of russia for commercial purposes, and to visit moscow and st petersburg with the same freedom as the merchants of other creeds, and the extension of this permission to their agents, and also to mechanics of every description, and to carmen, waggoners, and labourers for the more successful prosecution of their business; of course upon the condition of their being provided with the customary passports. respecting those individuals who do not belong to any of the four classes, my humble petition to his majesty's government would be to permit them to go into the neighbouring guberniums for the purpose of their making purchases of the produce of the land and necessary provisions. such privileges to hebrew merchants and others, instead of being a disadvantage to commercial persons of other creeds, would, i think, operate to their great benefit, for competition and activity are the mainsprings of prosperous commerce, and these elements would become increased universally amongst the trading classes by this act of favour. "_ th._ permission to re-establish the congregational unions called kahals, which serve them as their natural point of centralization; and to leave all congregational offices in the hands of israelites, so that their finances, their charitable institutions, and their minor duties may be under their own administration. this boon would, i am sure, be particularly satisfactory to my brethren, and would especially call forth at the same time their confidence and affection towards his majesty's person and his government, and that proper feeling of self-respect without which they cannot be expected to rise from their present condition of despondent degradation. "_ th._ permission to israelites to avail themselves of the assistance of christians in the various occupations of life--a measure which would tend strongly to soften down those feelings of difference which now exist between these two classes of his majesty's subjects, and to obliterate that line of demarcation which his majesty and his government justly regard with so much regret. "_ th._ permission to the israelites to live as agriculturists in the vicinity of their christian neighbours. "_ th._ the right of keeping brewhouses. "_ th._ promotion from the ranks of hebrew soldiers or sailors who distinguish themselves in the imperial army or navy. "_ th._ and, in fine, the removal from the israelites of all such taxes and restrictions as at present they are made to bear in a greater number and to a greater extent than other classes of his majesty's subjects, and in particular that of the sabbath light, which presses so heavily on the poor. "such are the general details of the request that i most respectfully solicit your excellency to lay before his majesty the emperor. i most humbly and earnestly pray, that in the great opportunity which divine providence has opened to his majesty, he will raise the fallen, relieve the oppressed, cheer the desolate, and by a high and magnanimous measure of policy set an example which the whole world, and especially my brethren, will never cease to remember with gratitude and admiration. "your excellency will observe that what i here entreat in the name of my brethren, as well as in that of every friend of humanity, amounts in fact to nothing more than that which your excellency's most enlightened and benevolent sovereign has already accorded to his hebrew subjects, by the declaration contained in the document with which your excellency obligingly furnished me. "under existing circumstances, deprived as they are of the means adverted to in that declaration, of turning their activity to useful objects, and of establishing their prosperity upon a safe basis, poverty, distress, and the annihilation of all hope must be the fate of his imperial majesty's most faithful and loyal hebrew subjects, and indeed they appear already reduced to the lowest depth of distress. "i therefore most humbly approach his majesty's philanthropic government with my fervent prayer, that it will be pleased to carry out without delay the good and humane intentions of his most gracious majesty the emperor, manifested in his decrees. "with respect to the real disposition of my brethren, i feel it right to mention that from communications which i held with the russian authorities during my permitted visit to the israelites in his majesty's dominions, i have reason to think that my co-religionists have been generally exempt from the commission of capital crimes, and that even in regard to ordinary morality and the greater proportion of minor offences, their conduct is of a very exemplary kind. i sincerely hope that this statement will accord with the reports in the possession of his majesty's government. i feel confident that his majesty's government will reflect upon another pleasing fact of which i was also informed, that the israelites have never been connected with the formation of any plot or scheme against those in authority, but on the contrary have endeavoured on all occasions to serve their country with earnest zeal, and with most unanimous sacrifices of life and property. as an instance, i shall only mention their exertions in favour of the empire which they have the happiness to inhabit, during the presence of the french in russia, in the year , and more particularly in the revolt of the year . on the latter occasion the israelites were highly gratified by a proclamation, which their magnanimous monarch caused to be issued in his name, by the adjutant general prince nikolai andrewitz dolgarukow, in which his majesty condescended to express his great satisfaction with my brethren, and, moreover, renewed his assurance to them that they should find in russia, under the glorious sceptre of their exalted monarch, a fatherland and security of their property and privileges. "i am happy to repeat my statement to your excellency that the same loyal sentiments towards his majesty's government, which they have invariably cherished, still animate their hearts, and that they embrace with avidity every opportunity to accede to the wishes of the government. "the following fact will, i trust, bear me out in my assertion. on his majesty's desiring that the israelites should change their costume, for which, as having been peculiar to themselves and their ancestors, they had a natural predilection, they have shown their obedience to this desire, though this was not done without considerable pecuniary sacrifice and ruinous loss to many whose warehouses were well provided with furs and silks. "i beg to assure your excellency they are ready to cultivate the land; they are prepared to undertake any work however laborious; they wish to establish manufactories of every description; they are desirous to cultivate their minds to the best of their power by the study of modern science and literature. be assured that poverty, restriction, and disproportioned taxation have alone heretofore prevented them from effecting these objects. but it is in the power of his majesty's government to raise and revive them all, by simply decreeing the removal of existing impediments to their full enjoyment of all the privileges which their most humane and paternal emperor has granted them. "i beg to assure your excellency that i well know how to appreciate the great confidence which his majesty's government has placed in me, in granting the privilege of personally witnessing the state of my brethren in russia. the influence which i flatter myself that i have with them, i have exercised for the purpose of strengthening them in their continual efforts to meet the wishes of his majesty's government. "with your excellency's kind permission i shall have the honour from time to time to address your excellency on the important matter which forms the subject of my present communication, and to which his majesty's enlightened government has devoted itself with so much zeal and humanity. "i shall ever gratefully remember the kindness and attention which your excellency was always pleased to evince towards me during my stay in the imperial city, and your excellency will give me leave to say that my visit to russia will ever be remembered with heartfelt gratitude for the greatest condescension and humanity of the most illustrious and magnanimous emperor nicholas, from whose royal lips i heard that i should have the satisfaction of taking with me his assurances and the assurances of his ministers that he was desirous to improve the condition of my co-religionists. "in most fervent prayers i unite with two millions of his majesty's faithful hebrew subjects, supplicating the most high to grant long life and everlasting glory to their beneficent sovereign, who we further pray may behold the fruition of his desire to ensure the happiness of every class in his dominions, and thus reap the sincerest gratitude of every humane and philanthropic heart. "it may be proper to observe that, mindful of the condescension and confidence reposed in me by his imperial majesty, i consider this report, together with the two reports by which it is accompanied, a private and confidential communication. "in conclusion, i entreat your excellency's indulgence to pardon the length at which i have ventured to intrude on your excellency's attention, and with feelings of the most profound respect, i have the honour to be your excellency's most faithful and devoted humble servant, (signed) "moses montefiore." chapter xlv. . report to count ouvaroff on the state of education among the jews in russia and poland--vindication of the loyalty of the jews. the report to count ouvaroff, minister of public instruction at st petersburg, was as follows:-- "to his excellency, le comte ouvaroff, ministre de l'instruction publique de sa majesté l'empereur de russie, &c., &c., &c. "may it please your excellency,--the zealous and untiring energy which your excellency evinces in continual efforts to promote education, and to diffuse amongst all classes of his imperial majesty's subjects that important blessing, knowledge, will, i feel assured, induce you to pardon me if i venture to lay before your excellency such observations on the present condition of my brethren in russia, with respect to their educational establishments, as by your excellency's favour i have been enabled to make. "previously to my doing so, i beg leave to present my warmest acknowledgments for the very kind and condescending manner in which your excellency was pleased to convey to me the sentiments of his imperial majesty's government. i shall ever remember with gratitude the assurances your excellency gave me, that the russian government was anxious to promote only such education as is based upon pure religion; that it did not entertain sentiments inimical to the jewish faith; that on the contrary the government was anxious to institute with respect to the israelites such measures as would tend to prove to them the paternal kindness of his majesty; and that for this reason the government had called together a committee of chief rabbis, eminent for their piety, in order to gain the perfect confidence of all their brethren. "these assurances enabled me with pleasure to undertake the task, the result of which i now have the honour to submit to your excellency, feeling convinced that your excellency's noble and enlightened sentiments will induce you to give a due consideration to a subject of such infinite importance. "it must be to your excellency a source of the highest gratification to hear that his imperial majesty's hebrew subjects are far from depreciating the advantages which the human mind in general derives from education. wherever and whenever i had an opportunity of addressing them on that subject, they assured me that they were ever ready most zealously to assist in the promotion of their mental and social improvement, and they joyfully hailed every opportunity presented to them of enriching their minds by pure and wholesome knowledge. 'an israelite,' they said, 'cannot underrate the value of knowledge. every page in our history proves the reverse. our ancestors, from the earliest period of that history, have been remarkable for their zeal to uphold science and literature as the greatest and holiest acquisitions. we refer the enquirer to the works of bartholocci, wolf, de rossi, rodriguez de castro, by which it will be at once ascertained that israelites have always kept pace in useful learning with their neighbours, and that all circumstances considered, they possess in most instances fully as much general knowledge as falls to the share of their non-israelite fellow-subjects in a corresponding grade of society.' and in corroboration of this statement, i beg to inform your excellency that many of the israelites in his imperial majesty's dominions have distinguished themselves by their writings in hebrew theology and literature, and that their works are very highly appreciated by the learned in germany. 'to improve the mind and promote every kind of useful and sound information which tends to elevate a man before god and his fellow-creatures, they deem to be an important injunction of the sacred law.' i therefore had no difficulty whatever in persuading them of the good intentions which his majesty's government entertained with respect to the organisation of schools for their benefit. they overwhelmed me with quotations from the sacred writings, tending to show that with the israelite it is an imperative duty to give the best effect to such benevolence. "their notions of religion in general, and of the sacred books which treat thereon, are not less correct, and i had opportunities of hearing them frequently elucidate many scriptural texts, in a manner which proved to me that they were possessed with the true spirit of their religion, and that they derive from the perusal of the oral law such beneficial instruction as must tend to make them faithful to their god, loyal to the government of the country in which they live, and good men to all their fellow creatures. "their arguments on this subject, and the excellent quotations which they advanced in support of them, appeared to me to be of so much importance that i cannot forbear submitting them to your excellency's kind consideration, bearing particularly in mind that the adherents to the oral law, as the sacred and only authorized commentary to the holy scripture, have been represented to your excellency in a light certainly not calculated to throw much lustre on israel at large. "the talmud distinctly forbids us appropriating unlawfully from our neighbour, whether he be israelite or non-israelite, any object whatever, even of the smallest value. ('khoshen mishpat, hálákhot génébah,' ch. ccclxxviii., secs. , .) every kind of deception is interdicted without respect to the person subject thereto being israelite or non-israelite. (maimonides, 'hálákhot déot,' ch. ii., sec. .) by the same authority we are bound to act with equal fairness in the sale of any article, be the purchaser israelite or the follower of any other faith. ('khoshen mishpat,' ch. ccxxviii.; maimonides, 'hálákhot makhiva,' ch. xviii., sec. .) that every temptation to do wrong may be avoided, an israelite is enjoined not to keep under his roof any bad coin, unless he deface it so that it cannot be used as current coin in dealing with any person, whatever be his religious faith. ('peroosh hamishnayot tehárámbam tract kelim,' ch. xii., mishna .) the prohibition of such practices is understood in the sacred text in deuteronomy, ch. xxv., v. : 'for all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the lord thy god.' "principles like these must surely tend to create good feeling between all israelites and their neighbours of every faith. "sincere attachment and perfect obedience, the strictest loyalty we are enjoined to evince towards the government of the country in which we live, and this is a truth, my brethren rightly aver, prominently taught in our sacred writings. therefore, in the first place, we look upon the monarch, though of another faith and nation, as the anointed of the lord (isaiah ch. xlv., v. ), and consider his government as a resplendence of the heavenly government ('tract berakhot,' p. ). we are enjoined to fear the eternal being and the king, and not to confederate with those who are given to change (proverbs xxiv., v. ). the prophets, in speaking of a non-israelite ruler, say: 'serve the king of babylon, and ye shall live;' and they also command us to 'seek the peace of the city whither the almighty has caused us to be carried away captives, and pray unto the lord for it' (jer. xxix., v. ). the reverence we are enjoined to testify towards our earthly sovereign is further shown in our glorifying the almighty power for conferring a similitude of his boundless majesty upon a mortal. we are enjoined not to swear against the king even in thought (kohelit ch. x., v. ), and to regard the decrees of the monarch as inviolable ('tract baba kama,' p. ). we are distinctly ordered not to act in opposition to the king's laws relating to the customs and excise, _even though the israelite be the most heavily taxed_ ('baba kama,' ; 'pesakhim,' cxii. p. ; maimonides, 'hálákhot melakhim,' ch. iv., sec. ; 'khoshen mishpat,' ch. ccclxix., sec. ); and from the same authority it is incumbent on us to show the same veneration to those who are representatives of the monarch as to himself ('tract shébuot,' xlvii. p. ). "the high esteem in which the israelite holds every human being who is distinguished by moral and mental qualities, is clearly stated in maimonides, 'hálákhot shemita weyóbel,' ch. xiii., sec. , and of this the most striking confirmation is found in the words of our talmud ('baba kama,' xxxviii. p. ), where we are told that a gentile who applies himself to the study of the sacred law is to be held in equal esteem with the high priest, which is likewise declared in the book 'tana debé eliyahoo,' in the beginning of the ninth chapter. "i had another most gratifying instance of the sound and clear perceptions which they have of the pure doctrines of our religion and the traditional commentary to the sacred scripture, in the sublime elucidation which they gave to that most important point in our creed which refers to the messiah. "'we are praying for a time,' said they, 'when the ideas of mankind at large are to be noble and sublime; for a time when, as the prophet describes, gentiles will come to the light of zion and kings to the brightness of her rising (isaiah lx., v. ); when nations will fear the name of the lord, and all the kings of the earth his glory (psalms ch. cii., v. ; daniel ch. vii., v. ). "our sentiments are more distinctly stated by the immortal maimonides in the following words ('hálákhot melakhim,' ch. xii, secs. , ): 'the wise men and the prophets did not desire the advent of the messiah, that they might attain the power of any terrestrial government, that they should be elevated in worldly rank by the nations, or enjoy every terrestrial comfort. no! this was not the object of their fervent prayer; their object was, in that glorious period, to be enabled to devote themselves wholly and in perfect freedom to the study of the holy law and its sacred literature, through which they might, at the end of their worldly career, attain the bliss of immortality. that period is expected to be full of peace; no war, no disturbance, no hatred; no jealousy between men will then exist; happiness will be the lot of every creature, and the whole world will only be anxious to acquire the knowledge of the law. then will israel be enlightened by the word of god, for the world is to be filled with the knowledge of the lord, even as the waters cover the sea.' "a most remarkable feature in the purity of that particular article of our creed is, that whilst the prayer for the messiah regards the welfare of the whole human race, it also strongly inculcates a sentiment that no kind of coercive measures ought to be used by any person for the purpose of hastening the advent of that blissful period. our talmud declares that the omnipotent enjoined the israelites not to press events to bring on that promised season of peace, nor ever to oppose the nations ('tract ketubot," . cx. p. ). "having made these preliminary remarks, i shall now proceed to describe to your excellency the state of the schools which i visited in the course of my journey through russia and poland. "being anxious to convince myself of the real condition of my brethren, i often took them by surprise, and i am happy to say, although they had not teachers of profane sciences, still most of the pupils in some schools knew how to write and to read in the russian, hebrew, and german languages. in wilna i found the schools organised agreeably to the command of his imperial majesty's government; they were well provided with competent masters, and the pupils answered most satisfactorily questions in the various branches of tuition--in latin, russian, and german grammars, geography, arithmetic, and history. "in hebrew, however, they could only obtain instruction during three hours each week. the pupils who frequent the gymnasium also attended whilst i was there the schools thus organised, and i had an opportunity of ascertaining that a considerable number of them were well versed in various branches of science and secular education. the girls' schools are in a most flourishing state, and your excellency will be pleased to hear that the pupils excel in the knowledge of the russian, polish, french, hebrew, and german languages, in addition to their knowledge of geography, russian history, and arithmetic. with respect to the talmud tora schools (your excellency having expressed so zealous a desire to advance the study of the hebrew language and its literature), i feel much pleasure in assuring your excellency that i examined a great number of pupils, and their knowledge of hebrew was surprising. sometimes they were addressed in that language, and they translated it into german, or _vice versâ_; on various occasions they continued to recite any sacred text in the bible after the first word of the chapter or verse was given to them. at warsaw also i found the schools organised upon the principles laid down by his imperial majesty's government in a flourishing state. the pupils are well versed in the russian, polish, french, hebrew, and german languages, independently of their knowledge of geography, history, arithmetic, and composition. i was equally satisfied in inspecting the girls' school. like those at wilna, these schools may be regarded as models, for they are upon an equality with similar establishments in my own country. the school of industry i also found to be a most excellent establishment, which, in the course of time, will confer great benefits upon the rising generation. with respect to the talmud tora schools, in which a knowledge of hebrew language and its literature is exclusively taught, i beg leave to assert that there is not any school in the most distinguished hebrew congregation in europe that deserves to rank higher than those established in warsaw and wilna. of the various hebrew schools which i visited in the smaller towns on my route, i was frequently surprised in a most agreeable manner. at those where i expected it the least the pupils were well acquainted with the hebrew language and its literature, and on many occasions wrote in my presence various sentences in the russian, hebrew, and german languages. "i particularly inquired the reason why the talmud tora schools had no professors appointed for the russian language and other branches of secular science and literature, this deficiency having struck me the more after having heard such powerful arguments in favour of studying these, showing that a knowledge of worldly science and literature, when combined with that of hebrew and the observance of pure religion, was well adapted to improve an israelite. the answer to my inquiry was, that they had not the means to procure such professors; that to have a master of that description would have given them the highest pleasure, but that having themselves to contend with innumerable difficulties in obtaining the ordinary and most urgent necessaries of life, they deemed it their first duty morally and religiously to procure, with the limited means they had, such instruction for their children as is essential for the enjoyment of their religion, leaving other kinds of learning for more favourable opportunities. of their real feeling on this head the following incident is an example. i offered the means of procuring masters for the russian language, geography, history, writing, and arithmetic in several schools, and my offer was most eagerly accepted, and the following day masters were engaged. "with respect to the inclination of the israelites to frequent public schools, i found that a considerable number of the jewish youth do attend these institutions, and many more would do so were it not that a most difficult question arises to their parents, who say, 'we thoroughly appreciate the great advantages derivable from additional acquirements, but what is to become of our children after their minds shall have been so instructed in the higher branches of knowledge and their sensibilities thereby necessarily refined? or how are we to provide them with proper habiliments and books required for the purpose if we can hardly afford to satisfy them with bread?' very many israelites are also much afraid that the mode of instruction at some public schools, and at some established for the israelites exclusively, may induce their children to abjure the jewish faith, which of course is dear to israelites, and which they are ready to defend with their lives. for there are schools where persons, who are apostates from the hebrew religion, are allowed to instruct the pupils, a course of tuition which must give rise to the most painful anxiety in the minds of those by whom that religion is still cherished. "i beg leave now to state, with the most profound respect for your excellency's judgment on this important subject, that i have given it most serious consideration, and knowing from ample evidence that my brethren in the russian empire are most anxious to advance their mental and social improvement, i humbly submit to your excellency that they are in a fit condition for receiving the benefits which their most benevolent and merciful monarch intended to bestow upon them. "my humble petition to your excellency is, that by your humane and kind intercession supplications may be brought effectually before his imperial majesty's government. "those supplications i will thus set forth. in the first place, that they may be permitted to have the management themselves of their hebrew theological schools. this is essential to their dearest sympathies and interests, as no other persons could promote the study of hebrew literature more effectually. in all regions where civilisation has made any marked progress, wherever its blessings are really experienced, hebrew literature is regarded as its most precious feature, and all nations ardently cultivate its study and render homage to its worth. may it therefore please the imperial government to allow the israelites themselves, the people by whose agency this boon has been given to mankind, to have the direction of those establishments in which they are to be trained in the true knowledge of their own inalienable inheritance. for the acquirement of knowledge in secular science and literature they should also have the appointment of their own teachers, such whose competency may be approved of by his majesty's minister of public instruction, or should be allowed to avail themselves of the public educational establishments, subject, of course, to such periodical examinations as may be deemed necessary to test the progress of the pupil. "secondly, they consider it a just regulation that, in those schools which his majesty's government has originated solely for their benefit, no convert from judaism be appointed a teacher. particular allusion is here made to the rabbinical school at warsaw, where a person who was tutor, whilst belonging to that faith, continues to hold that situation even after having abjured it and embraced another. no permanent satisfaction can result from such an anomaly, which will surely deter sincere israelites from sending their children to institutions placed in similar circumstances, as they will naturally suppose that his imperial majesty's government encourages conversion, but which i am assured, by a statement from your excellency, it does not desire. such appointments of instructors should be made as would remove all misconception on this vitally important subject. "thirdly, i submit to your excellency that it is just that the ukase issued on the th november , declaring that all such hebrew books as are pronounced by the chief rabbi not to contain inimicable sentiments to the government of the country, be permitted to remain with the israelites, do continue in full force, because unfortunately during the last eleven months, the hebrew libraries of private individuals have been in the hands of the police, and many books which they were authorized to keep by the chief rabbi, having thereon his seal and signature, were taken away from them, and even those books on which the committee of censors would find nothing wrong, are still kept back by the committee. may it therefore please your excellency to order that the books be returned to the owners. "finally, i have to petition your excellency to take seriously into consideration all that i have here advanced on my suffering brethren's behalf. your excellency, i am aware, entertains the most philanthropic views, and when your excellency reflects on the earnest desire of my brethren in his imperial majesty's dominions to benefit by education in the most comprehensive and useful sense of the word, and the restrictions which as israelites impede a beneficial progress therein, i am sure that your excellency's enlightened judgment will accord them your powerful advocacy with his imperial majesty's government. "your excellency may indeed believe that i assert as my solemn conviction, that when they shall fully enjoy those privileges and opportunities which their paternal and beneficent sovereign has designed for them, the result will be surprising to those who have underrated their talents and inclinations, and most gratifying to all who like your excellency have evinced a sincere desire to promote their welfare, equally with that of the other numerous people over whom his imperial majesty reigns.--i have the honour to be, with the highest consideration and the most profound respect, your excellency's most faithful servant. (signed) "moses montefiore." chapter xlvi. . report to count kisseleff on the state of the jews in poland--protest against the restrictions to which they were subjected. the last of the three important reports made by sir moses montefiore to the ministers of the emperor of russia was to count kisseleff, and ran as follows:-- "to his excellency le comte de kisseleff, ministre du domaine de l'empire de sa majesté l'empereur de russie, &c., &c., &c. "may it please your excellency,--my first and principal report had reference, as your excellency will have seen, to the condition and wants of my brethren in russia. in obedience, however, to the permission which his majesty the emperor most graciously gave me, and to your excellency's most benevolent desire, it is incumbent on me to make some remarks (which for the sake of clearness i prefer submitting in a distinct paper) in regard to those who are inhabitants of the kingdom of poland. in so doing, i would humbly beseech his majesty the emperor, your excellency, and his majesty's government at large, so far as it may be made acquainted with the subject, to receive such remarks, and any requests that may stand connected with them, with great and indulgent consideration. "humble as is my position in life, when compared with the most exalted stations of the high persons to whom i venture to address myself, i nevertheless have laid upon me by the high benevolence itself which i have experienced, a heavy responsibility to almighty god, to his majesty the emperor and his government, to my brethren, and i believe to the whole civilized world. "i most sincerely believe that the human race at large would experience solid and lasting benefit, if his majesty would deign to carry out fully and completely his gracious expressions of desire for the welfare of his hebrew subjects. with these views i would most humbly and earnestly supplicate that the great and sublime course of proceeding already commenced by his majesty, which i have ventured to solicit for the israelites in russia, should be extended as fully to those of my brethren who are resident in poland. i supplicate the powerful russian government to prove to the whole civilized world that the amelioration of the condition of the hebrew race, for which it is so graciously desirous, can be produced with completeness and effect, by measures that would appeal to the gratitude and love of a loyal and warm-hearted people. "permit me in the first place to direct your excellency's attention to two paragraphs, the fifth and seventh of the organization statute of poland promulgated in the year , and which are immediately connected with the subject in question. "therein his majesty the emperor and king of poland declares that 'the difference from the christian modes of worship cannot be regarded as a cause of exclusion to any person whatever from the rights and privileges granted to all other inhabitants professing the christian religion. "'the protection of the law equally extends to all the inhabitants of the kingdom without any distinction of rank or social condition.' "with the profoundest respect i will now proceed to lay before your excellency the following brief enumeration of serious restrictions under which my brethren in poland are weighed down. "_ st._ concerning their confined habitations. "(_a_) there are towns in poland in which israelites are never allowed to reside. "(_b_) in these towns or marts where they have permission to live it extends only to a few streets. "(_c_) from every habitation situated near the high roads they are entirely excluded. "(_d_) they are prohibited from settling within three geographical miles of the frontier, which, in a country of the dimensions of poland, excludes them from a considerable tract of territory. "_ nd._ regarding mechanics (trade). "(_a_) an israelite following any trade or mechanical operation is not allowed to keep apprentices, neither can he declare such as journeymen. this naturally involves the hebrew mechanic in innumerable difficulties, for he is entirely dependent upon his own personal exertions, and can never avail himself of the assistance of his fellow-mechanics. "(_b_) he is prohibited from working with a christian master, and in consequence of his not being acknowledged as a master among the corporations, he is always considered as a person who injures the trade. "_ rd._ with respect to agriculture, crown lands, or ecclesiastical property. "the israelite is prohibited from taking on lease, nor is he ever allowed to be the proprietor of any lands, however small in extent; for even the property of private individuals he can only rent by paying heavy taxes for the patent, and then even is not allowed to employ christian assistants. "_ th._ additional taxes. "(_a_) an israelite has to pay a tax of three kopecs, besides the usual tax, upon each pound of beef or veal lawfully prepared for his use; fifteen kopecs silver for a turkey, five kopecs silver for a fowl, eight kopecs silver for a duck, and nine kopecs silver for a goose. "(_b_) a hebrew labourer living in the vicinity of warsaw cannot enjoy the advantage of bringing his goods or the produce of his land into the capital, there being a law that every israelite from the provinces who comes to town should pay, daily, ten silver kopecs for permission to stay, and seven and a-half silver kopecs for the duty on the stamp. "(_c_) an israelite dealing in spirituous liquors lies exclusively under taxes for such a privilege. thus an individual having a brewhouse and brandy distillery has to pay dollars to the city exchequer, - / dollars to the finances of the state, - / for the distillery, - / for the brewery, amounting to - / dollars annually; and although he pays for such a privilege dearly, he cannot bequeath it to his child, for only those are allowed to enjoy it who obtained permission in the year . "_ th._ other restrictions. "(_a_) an israelite is not allowed to appear as a witness in a case of lawsuit against a christian, for his evidence is not considered valid. the great injury he must sustain from such a law or practice is incalculable. "(_b_) as soldiers, although they may distinguish themselves in the army or navy, they are not permitted to rise in rank. the mode of enrolling recruits is also most painful; for, notwithstanding a distinct decree having been issued by his majesty's government in the year , that recruits should be given up to the authorities by the community, without the interference of any officer, still great wrongs are committed by some of the petty officers, which cause the ruin of numerous families. "(_c_) they have not the advantage, like other subjects of his majesty, of renting the local revenues derived from the sale of spirits. not, however, that i would consider this restriction a hardship, excepting so far as it is a distinctive mark upon the israelites in poland. "(_d_) they are excluded from the great advantages derivable from the acquirement of science and literature, by being prohibited from following the professions of chemists, architects, lawyers, and several other similar avocations. "like their brethren in russia, the israelites of poland are accused of great aversion to every kind of manual labour, preferring to gain a livelihood by devotion to petty commerce. it is alleged also, that they are disinclined to agriculture, avoid every mechanical pursuit, and defraud the government of the excise and customs; that they distinguish themselves from the rest of the inhabitants by their particular costume; and finally, that the precepts of their religion, to which they most scrupulously adhere, are of antisocial tendency. "i entreat your excellency's kind consideration of the few observations which i deem it essential to offer, in reference to the foregoing imputations. the statistical accounts of poland shew that, in proportion to the number of hebrew inhabitants, there are more mechanics amongst them than amongst any other class of his majesty's polish subjects; they devote themselves to the most laborious occupations, and it may be easily ascertained that there is not only a great number of hebrew brickmakers, blacksmiths, paviors, and carpenters, but there may be found two thousand israelites who break stones on the chaussees. as a most striking instance, i shall name to your excellency a small town of the name of kalnary, where there exist no less than families following mechanical pursuits, amongst a hebrew population of families, as i believe may be proved by the official accounts of the police. "your excellency, i am confident, will be of opinion that it may be justly inferred, if, under the restrictions against which the hebrew mechanic has daily to contend, he still perseveres in his pursuits with honesty, and remains spotless in his character, this class of persons would be greatly augmented if all those obstacles were to be removed which now press so heavily on industrial exertion. "with respect to agriculture, permit me to mention that in the year , when the decree was issued, under his late majesty, the emperor alexander of blessed memory, that the polish jews should cultivate the land, though they were denied the privilege of becoming proprietors, and though they had to contend with various other restrictions connected with agriculture, under the hand of an israelite, to which i have already alluded in the preceding pages, nevertheless a considerable number of them offered themselves to cultivate the land, but, unfortunately, could not succeed in their applications. the local authorities always replied to the petitioners that the land in question was not qualified for them as israelites, that they should look out for some other piece of ground which the government could dispose of to them. in consequence of these answers, the applicants petitioned for a list of all the land which might be accessible to israelites, yet i regret to say that twenty-three years have since passed without any reply having been given to this humble request. thus circumstanced, they petitioned to the effect that the wealthier classes amongst them might be permitted to purchase land from private individuals, either to cultivate the same in person, or to let it out in small portions to the poor, yet under the condition that the space of land should not extend to more than would be sufficient for five or ten farmers to cultivate. moreover, the proposed purchasers declared their willingness to relinquish any right and privilege any other (non-israelite) proprietor of land might be entitled to. they went still further, for in their anxious desire to secure the honest object of their petition, they offered the forfeiture of the land in case any of the parties connected with its agriculture were to be found withdrawing from personally cultivating it, or were to be proved guilty of calling in christian peasants, however few, for the assistance of the new agriculturists. "i have no doubt that, equally with their russian brethren, the israelites of poland are most desirous to adopt agricultural pursuits. "it has been charged against the israelites of poland, that they do not render any personal service to the country in which they live. this charge might not have been without foundation eighteen or twenty years ago, when they paid an annual tribute of many hundred thousand dollars for the privilege of being exempted from personal military service, but not so at present, for many thousand israelites have evinced their devotion to the cause of their native land, by sacrificing their lives on numerous occasions, and their services in the army and in the navy have already been appreciated by their exalted monarch himself. "with respect to the peculiar costume which most of the israelites have been accustomed to wear for many centuries, from what i had an opportunity of seeing i can assure your excellency that most of them have already adopted the european habit, and i have not the least doubt that, in the course of time, the ancient dress will have entirely disappeared. it is erroneous to suppose that the ancient costume is enjoined by, or has any foundation in religion. such is not the fact. it originated from a decree of the government in existence three hundred years ago, when the israelites were commanded under a most severe punishment to assume this garb to distinguish them as members of the jewish faith. the truth of this statement may be ascertained by referring to 'vol. leg. polon. sub. anno ,' vol. i., p. . "having now, as i trust to the satisfaction of your excellency, refuted all the arguments which have hitherto been held of sufficient moment to deprive many hundred thousands of israelites of the rights and privileges which, as faithful subjects, they, in accordance with his imperial majesty's humane intention, ought to enjoy, i most humbly implore his majesty's government in its great wisdom to remove from his majesty's hebrew subjects all restrictions which may prove obstacles to their honest pursuits in life, and in particular those restrictions which i have previously alluded to, and which i have endeavoured to classify. "possibly your excellency, though animated with the noblest feelings of humanity, may, in the fulfilment of the duty your high position imposes, deem it necessary to call my attention to the existence of certain restrictions which, on account of the pecuniary advantages the state derives from them, cannot easily be removed; such, for instance, as the meat tax, which annually amounts, to , silver roubles. but in answer to this, permit me to observe that in conformity to his majesty's most gracious decree issued in the year , the israelites were, on entering the army or navy, to be free from paying the exemption money, and in addition to this were to enjoy the same privileges in every respect as all the other inhabitants of the country. "the israelites are now acting to the very letter of the imperial ukase, for they serve personally in the army and navy, and are acknowledged to be good, brave, and faithful. i submit, therefore, that they are now entitled to the same privileges as are granted to all other inhabitants, and as a matter of course, to be free from the payment of exemption money. considerations of economy will not, i feel persuaded, be permitted to overrule the just and humane intentions of his imperial majesty. "i entreat your excellency distinctly to understand that i have not written with this comparative brevity on the subject of the israelites in poland, because i think their position less deserving the attention of the imperial government than that of the russian brethren. on the contrary, in poland affliction and degradation are the more severe; and what stronger fact can be offered in support of the urgency of the claim of the israelites of the last named country on the justice and humanity of his imperial majesty than this, that these persons constitute one fourth of the whole population. "i have written less fully concerning my polish brethren, only because i am most unwilling to trespass more than my absolute duty requires upon the gracious consideration which i supplicate; and i would further observe, that my report as to my brethren in russia has been drawn up with the intention that those who are resident in poland should be included in its general arguments. "it would be to me a source of the deepest regret, if from any observations made in this or the preceding letter the impressions were produced on the mind of his majesty that i had responded to his most gracious conduct towards me by a tone of unsuitable complaint in regard to the state of my brethren. such a course, i earnestly assure your excellency, i have been most desirous to avoid. i have given the most anxious care to the investigation of the facts to which i have adverted, and i have made no representation of the truth of which i have not received very strong evidence. "i have endeavoured to elucidate the causes which tend to produce the evils to which i have directed the attention of your excellency, and if i have commented on them with frankness, i trust it will be conceded that this was my duty, and that in so doing i have best fulfilled the wishes of his imperial majesty, who, by experience, i know to be as condescending as he is powerful. "i therefore call upon the unbounded justice of his majesty's government; i pray, in the name of suffering humanity, to that most exalted and mighty monarch, whose noble heart is filled with love and deep affection towards his faithful subjects, to consider the case of my brethren, and show mercy to the many hundred thousands of them who daily send up to the eternal ruler of myriads of worlds their most devout and fervent prayers to prolong the glorious life of his majesty, their emperor and king. i feel myself in sacred duty bound to impress upon your excellency's noble mind that the benign words i had the honour of hearing from your illustrious person, to promote the welfare of israel, was one of the principal causes which emboldened me to lay the case of my brethren so close at your heart. i therefore entreat your excellency's powerful influence with his majesty's government on behalf of those who look up for help with the greatest anxiety to their benevolent and magnanimous sovereign. "everlasting blessings will be showered down from him in whose hand the welfare of every creature lies upon the exalted throne of his imperial majesty. generation to generation will proclaim his glory and righteousness; every mouth will sing praise to the lord, and every heart will bear gratitude for being permitted to live under the benign rays of the merciful sceptre of russia.--i have the honour to be, with the highest consideration and the most profound respect, your excellency's most faithful servant, (signed) "moses montefiore." chapter xlvii. . the czar's reply to sir moses' representations--count ouvaroff's views--sir moses again writes to count kisseleff--sir moses is created a baronet. the reports given in the foregoing chapters were forwarded to lord bloomfield, the british ambassador at st petersburg, who in letter dated january rd, , informed sir moses that he had forwarded them to their respective addresses. lord bloomfield, having read the reports, adds: "i need scarcely assure you that i have perused them with great interest, and have gleaned much useful information from this result of your labours." count kisseleff prefaces his reply to sir moses, dated november th, , with the following words:-- "monsieur,--j'ai en l'honneur de recevoir les deux memoires que vous avez bien voulu m'adresser en date du novembre dernier ( ) sur la situation des israélites de l'empire et du royaume de pologne. l'une et l'autre de ces pieces out été placées sous les yeux de l'empereur, et sa majésté impériale, appréciant les sentimens de philantropie qui les out dictées, a daigné a cette occasion exprimer une fois de plus tout l'intérêt qu' elle porte à ses sujets israélites, dont le bien-être et l'avancement moral ne cesseront d'être l'objet de sa constante sollicitude. "vos deux mémoires seront portés, par ordre de l'empereur, à la connaissance du comité, et serviront à appeler son attention sur différens détails. cette disposition vous prouvera, combien sa majésté impériale s'est plue à rendre justice aux intentions qui ont dicté votre travail et à l'esprit dans lequel il est conçu. "agréez, monsieur, l'assurance de ma considération distinguée, "le cte. de kisseleff." (_translation._) "sir,--i have had the honour to receive the two memorials which you addressed to me on the th of november last ( ) respecting the situation of the israelites in the empire and in the kingdom of poland. "both documents have been placed before the emperor, and his imperial majesty, appreciating the feelings of humanity which have dictated them, has been pleased to express once more the interest which he takes in his israelite subjects, whose welfare and moral advancement will not cease to be the object of his constant solicitude. "your two memorials will be brought to the knowledge of the committee, by order of the emperor, and they will serve to direct its attention to various details. this proceeding will show you how much his imperial majesty has been pleased to do justice to the intentions which have dictated your labour, and to the spirit in which it has been conceived.--i have the honour to be, &c., "count kisseleff." count ouvaroff, the minister of public instruction, acknowledged the receipt of the report addressed to him as follows:-- "monsieur,--j'ai reçu la lettre que vous m'avez fait l'honneur de m'adresser en date du novembre . vos observations, sur l'état, de nos écoles israélites, m'ont vivement intéressé, et je vous sais gré de les juger favorablement car ce ne sont que les premiers commencements, d'une ère nouvelle dans l'éducation de vos corréligionaires en russie. il est cependant permis d'espérer que l'organisation des fonds, spécialement destinés à cet effet, nous applanira la voie des améliorations désirées. "quant à votre sollicitude sur l'éducation réligieuse des israélites, vous connaissez, monsieur, mes sentiments à cet égard et vous avez pu apprécier vous-même le soin, avec lequel on évite dans nos reglements scolaires tout ce qui pourvait choquer, leurs moeurs on exciter leur susceptibilité réligieuse. "agréez, monsieur, l'assurance de ma considération distinguée. "le cte. ouvaroff." "st petersbourg, "_ce février_ _______________ "_ mars ._" (_translation._) "sir,--i have received the letter which you did me the honour to address to me under date of november th, . "your observations on the state of our israelite schools have greatly interested me, and i thank you for expressing a favourable opinion of them, as they are only the first beginning of a new era in the education of your co-religionists in russia. but we may be permitted to hope that the organisation of the funds specially intended for this purpose will smooth the way to the desired improvements. "with regard to your solicitude about the religious education of the israelites, you know my feeling with regard to this matter, and you were able to judge for yourself of the care we take to avoid in our school regulation all that could give offence to their observances or awaken their religious susceptibilities." (signed) "count ouvaroff." sir moses, with a view of both conveying his gratitude to the ministers for their very courteous communications and of making an additional effort to impress on their minds the object of his visit to russia, addressed each of them again in a special letter. to count kisseleff he wrote ( ):-- "may it please your excellency,--i have had the honour to receive, through the kindness of baron brunnow, your excellency's esteemed favour of the th november last, the contents of which were highly gratifying to me. "i was delighted to learn that the reports (in which, by his imperial majesty's gracious permission, i was enabled to represent the condition of the russian and polish subjects of his imperial majesty professing the jewish faith) had come under the personal notice of the emperor, that on that occasion his imperial majesty was pleased to reiterate his anxious desire to promote the welfare of his jewish subjects, and that by his imperial majesty's directions, these reports would be submitted to the consideration of the committee specially appointed to investigate the state of the jews in the vast empire of his imperial majesty, so that the attention of the committee might be called to the several details contained in such reports. these evidences of his imperial majesty's paternal solicitude have made a deep impression on my heart, and cannot fail to be gratefully appreciated by every friend of humanity. "the sentiments which your excellency has been pleased to express in the name of the emperor, fully confirm the high opinion of his majesty's exalted principles, entertained by myself in common with all who have had the good fortune to visit the numerous nations living under his majesty's benignant sway. "i notice with sincerest satisfaction that the honourable committee in question have at present under consideration a measure to facilitate the presence of my co-religionists, for commercial purposes, in the capitals of russia, and also the allowance of the privilege to cultivate land in the vicinity of christian settlements. "these acts of his majesty's high favour cannot fail to elevate the commercial standing of his majesty's jewish subjects, and by affording them still greater encouragement, to the maintenance of social intercourse with their fellow countrymen of other religious denominations, must necessarily lead to the improvement of all as citizens of one great empire. "i am confidently convinced that my brethren in russia and poland understand and appreciate the benevolent intentions of his imperial majesty; that they feel assured that the emperor's sole object is to improve their condition, and that they are impressed with the conviction that their truest wisdom will be to acquiesce cheerfully in the measures designed for their welfare by their powerful and enlightened sovereign, and to adopt with alacrity the course which, in his paternal care, his majesty may direct. "the gracious reception which his imperial majesty has already given to my reports, emboldens me to hope that the existing restrictions calculated to impede the well-being of my russian brethren will be speedily removed. by this means i feel assured will not only their happiness and prosperity be promoted, but their character as good, useful, and most loyal subjects will be abundantly testified. "i trust that the documents to which i have referred will satisfy the committee that the israelites of his majesty's empire are not of an idle disposition, but, on the contrary, most of them are anxious to cultivate land, and even pray for such occupation, and that under the fostering protection of his imperial majesty they will gladly apply themselves to industrial pursuits. "on the whole, my heart is filled with hope that the honourable and distinguished committee will take into consideration, the circumstances of extreme misery in which the great body of israelites in his majesty's empire is placed, and that the committee will kindly and speedily proceed to the arduous, but noble and sacred, task of carrying out the intentions of his imperial majesty to a most happy and glorious conclusion. "in fine i beg to express to your excellency my sincerest acknowledgments for the kind and condescending manner in which your excellency was pleased to convey to me your very gratifying communication; and with fervent prayers that your excellency may soon find the happy opportunity of signifying to me some good tidings of the progress which may have been made in the further extension of his imperial majesty's favour to my brethren, i have the honour to remain, with the most profound respect, your excellency's humble servant, (signed) "moses montefiore." we now return to the diary of , in the entries of which, from june th to the end of the year, we find a succession of pleasing evidences of the motives which prompted him and lady montefiore to undertake the journey to russia. in an interview which he had with sir robert peel, the latter told him that he would be happy to do everything, either privately or publicly, to forward his benevolent objects; that he would write to count nesselrode to say that he had seen the favourable impression made on the public mind by sir moses' report of the promises made to him; and that, if his excellency rightly valued its effect, those promises would in the result be confirmed by their strict fulfilment. _june th._--sir robert conveyed to sir moses, in a letter dated from osborne, isle of wight, the gratifying news that her majesty had conferred on him the dignity of baronet of the united kingdom of great britain and ireland. "i have the satisfaction of acquainting you," he writes, "that the queen has been graciously pleased to confer on you the dignity of a baronet. this mark of royal favour is bestowed upon you in consideration of your high character and eminent position in the ranks of a loyal and estimable class of her majesty's subjects agreeing with you in religious profession, and in the hope that it may aid your truly benevolent efforts to improve the social condition of the jews in other countries by temperate appeals to the justice and humanity of their rulers." the honour thereby conferred on sir moses by her majesty was not only a cause of great happiness to himself, individually, but also a source of the highest gratification to all his brethren in the british empire and on the continent, inasmuch as it undoubtedly manifested her majesty's solicitude for the welfare of all the jews in other parts of the world. a deputation from the elders of the spanish and portuguese jews synagogue, headed by their president, mr hananel de castro, waited on sir moses to request, in the name of their co-religionists, that he would sit for his portrait, to be placed in the vestry-room, to which he consented. sir george hamilton, whom he had requested, when at berlin, to present a petition to the king of prussia in favour of the jews at krakau, informs him (june th) that, when dining with his majesty at sans souci, he had an opportunity of speaking to him on the subject which sir moses had entreated him to explain to his majesty. "the king," he wrote, "was very gracious on the occasion;" and he sent to his majesty the petition prepared by sir moses. the king regretted very much not to have seen him at berlin, and wished sir moses could have remained there until his return. the good offices rendered by sir george in engaging his majesty's favourable consideration on the subject became a cause of much happiness to sir moses. _july th._--he attended the lord mayor's grand entertainment given to his highness ibrahim pasha. his lordship introduced him to the latter before dinner, and proposed his health to the company, which was extremely well received. sir moses concludes his diary for the year with expressions of deep gratitude to heaven for all mercies bestowed on him and his affectionate consort. end of vol. i. transcriber's note: some hebrew text has been transliterated into latin characters if one was not already provided. these passages are marked with [hebrew] where they occur. note: project gutenberg also has an html version of this file which includes the original illustrations. see -h.htm or -h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/ / -h/ -h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/ / -h.zip) transcriber's note: text enclosed between plus signs was in bold face in the original (example: +bold+). the oe-ligature is represented by [oe]. a few typographical errors have been corrected; they are listed at the end of the text. out-of-doors in the holy land * * * * * books by henry van dyke published by charles scribner's sons +the ruling passion.+ illustrated in color. $ . +the blue flower.+ illustrated in color. $ . * * * * * +outdoors in the holy land.+ illustrated in color _net_ $ . +days off.+ illustrated in color. $ . +little rivers.+ illustrated in color. $ . +fisherman's luck.+ illustrated in color. $ . * * * * * +the builders, and other poems.+ $ . +music, and other poems.+ _net_ $ . +the toiling of felix, and other poems.+ $ . * * * * * [illustration: the gate of david, jerusalem.] out-of-doors in the holy land impressions of travel in body and spirit by henry van dyke illustrated new york charles scribner's sons mdccccviii copyright, , by charles scribner's sons published november, to howard crosby butler master of merwick professor of art and archÆology who was a friend to this journey this book is dedicated by his friend the author preface for a long time, in the hopefulness and confidence of youth, i dreamed of going to palestine. but that dream was denied, for want of money and leisure. then, for a long time, in the hardening strain of early manhood, i was afraid to go to palestine, lest the journey should prove a disenchantment, and some of my religious beliefs be rudely shaken, perhaps destroyed. but that fear was removed by a little voyage to the gates of death, where it was made clear to me that no belief is worth keeping unless it can bear the touch of reality. in that year of pain and sorrow, through a full surrender to the divine will, the hopefulness and confidence of youth came back to me. since then it has been possible once more to wake in the morning with the feeling that the day might bring something new and wonderful and welcome, and to travel into the future with a whole and happy heart. this is what i call growing younger; though the years increase, yet the burden of them is lessened, and the fear that life will some day lead into an empty prison-house has been cast out by the incoming of the perfect love. so it came to pass that when a friend offered me, at last, the opportunity of going to palestine if i would give him my impressions of travel for his magazine, i was glad to go. partly because there was a piece of work,--a drama whose scene lies in damascus and among the mountains of samaria,--that i wanted to finish there; partly because of the expectancy that on such a journey any of the days might indeed bring something new and wonderful and welcome; but most of all because i greatly desired to live for a little while in the country of jesus, hoping to learn more of the meaning of his life in the land where it was spent, and lost, and forever saved. here, then, you have the history of this little book, reader: and if it pleases you to look further into its pages, you can see for yourself how far my dreams and hopes were realised. it is the record of a long journey in the spirit and a short voyage in the body. if you find here impressions that are lighter, mingled with those that are deeper, that is because life itself is really woven of such contrasted threads. even on a pilgrimage small adventures happen. of the elders of israel on sinai it is written, "they saw god and did eat and drink"; and the apostle paul was not too much engrossed with his mission to send for the cloak and books and parchments that he left behind at troas. if what you read here makes you wish to go to the holy land, i shall be glad; and if you go in the right way, you surely will not be disappointed. but there are two things in the book which i would not have you miss. the first is the new conviction,--new at least to me,--that christianity is an out-of-doors religion. from the birth in the grotto at bethlehem (where joseph and mary took refuge because there was no room for them in the inn) to the crowning death on the hill of calvary outside the city wall, all of its important events took place out-of-doors. except the discourse in the upper chamber at jerusalem, all of its great words, from the sermon on the mount to the last commission to the disciples, were spoken in the open air. how shall we understand it unless we carry it under the free sky and interpret it in the companionship of nature? the second thing that i would have you find here is the deepened sense that jesus himself is the great, the imperishable miracle. his words are spirit and life. his character is the revelation of the perfect love. this was the something new and wonderful and welcome that came to me in palestine: a simpler, clearer, surer view of the human life of god. henry van dyke. avalon, june , . contents i. _travellers' joy_ ii. _going up to jerusalem_ iii. _the gates of zion_ iv. _mizpah and the mount of olives_ v. _an excursion to bethlehem and hebron_ vi. _the temple and the sepulchre_ vii. _jericho and jordan_ viii. _a journey to jerash_ ix. _the mountains of samaria_ x. _galilee and the lake_ xi. _the springs of jordan_ xii. _the road to damascus_ illustrations _the gate of david, jerusalem_ frontispiece _jaffa_ facing page _the port where king solomon landed his cedar beams from lebanon for the building of the temple_ _the tall tower of the forty martyrs at ramleh_ _a street in jerusalem_ _a street in bethlehem_ _the market-place, bethlehem_ _great monastery of st. george_ _ruins of jerash, looking west_ _propyl[oe]um and temple terrace_ _the virgin's fountain, nazareth_ _the approach to bâniyâs_ _bridge over the river lîtânî_ _a small bazaar in damascus_ i travellers' joy i invitation who would not go to palestine? to look upon that little stage where the drama of humanity has centred in such unforgetable scenes; to trace the rugged paths and ancient highways along which so many heroic and pathetic figures have travelled; above all, to see with the eyes as well as with the heart "those holy fields over whose acres walked those blessed feet which, nineteen hundred years ago, were nail'd for our advantage on the bitter cross"-- for the sake of these things who would not travel far and endure many hardships? it is easy to find palestine. it lies in the south-east corner of the mediterranean coast, where the "sea in the midst of the nations," makes a great elbow between asia minor and egypt. a tiny land, about a hundred and fifty miles long and sixty miles wide, stretching in a fourfold band from the foot of snowy hermon and the lebanons to the fulvous crags of sinai: a green strip of fertile plain beside the sea, a blue strip of lofty and broken highlands, a gray-and-yellow strip of sunken river-valley, a purple strip of high mountains rolling away to the arabian desert. there are a dozen lines of steamships to carry you thither; a score of well-equipped agencies to conduct you on what they call "a _de luxe_ religious expedition to palestine." but how to find the holy land--ah, that is another question. fierce and mighty nations, hundreds of human tribes, have trampled through that coveted corner of the earth, contending for its possession: and the fury of their fighting has swept the fields as with fire. temples and palaces have vanished like tents from the hillside. the ploughshare of havoc has been driven through the gardens of luxury. cities have risen and crumbled upon the ruins of older cities. crust after crust of pious legend has formed over the deep valleys; and tradition has set up its altars "upon every high hill and under every green tree." the rival claims of sacred places are fiercely disputed by churchmen and scholars. it is a poor prophet that has but one birthplace and one tomb. and now, to complete the confusion, the hurried, nervous, comfort-loving spirit of modern curiosity has broken into palestine, with railways from jaffa to jerusalem, from mount carmel to the sea of galilee, from beirût to damascus,--with macadamized roads to shechem and nazareth and tiberias,--with hotels at all the "principal points of interest,"--and with every facility for doing palestine in ten days, without getting away from the market-reports, the gossip of the _table d'hôte_, and all that queer little complex of distracting habits which we call civilization. but the holy land which i desire to see can be found only by escaping from these things. i want to get away from them; to return into the long past, which is also the hidden present, and to lose myself a little there, to the end that i may find myself again. i want to make acquaintance with the soul of that land where so much that is strange and memorable and for ever beautiful has come to pass: to walk quietly and humbly, without much disputation or talk, in fellowship with the spirit that haunts those hills and vales, under the influence of that deep and lucent sky. i want to feel that ineffable charm which breathes from its mountains, meadows and streams: that charm which made the children of israel in the desert long for it as a land flowing with milk and honey; and the great prince joseph in egypt require an oath of his brethren that they would lay his bones in the quiet vale of shechem where he had fed his father's sheep; and the daughters of jacob beside the rivers of babylon mingle tears with their music when they remembered zion. there was something in that land, surely, some personal and indefinable spirit of place, which was known and loved by prophet and psalmist, and most of all by him who spread his table on the green grass, and taught his disciples while they walked the narrow paths waist-deep in rustling wheat, and spoke his messages of love from a little boat rocking on the lake, and found his asylum of prayer high on the mountainside, and kept his parting-hour with his friends in the moon-silvered quiet of the garden of olives. that spirit of place, that soul of the holy land, is what i fain would meet on my pilgrimage,--for the sake of him who interprets it in love. and i know well where to find it,--out-of-doors. i will not sleep under a roof in palestine, but nightly pitch my wandering tent beside some fountain, in some grove or garden, on some vacant threshing-floor, beneath the syrian stars. i will not join myself to any company of labelled tourists hurrying with much discussion on their appointed itinerary, but take into fellowship three tried and trusty comrades, that we may enjoy solitude together. i will not seek to make any archæological discovery, nor to prove any theological theory, but simply to ride through the highlands of judea, and the valley of jordan, and the mountains of gilead, and the rich plains of samaria, and the grassy hills of galilee, looking upon the faces and the ways of the common folk, the labours of the husbandman in the field, the vigils of the shepherd on the hillside, the games of the children in the market-place, and reaping "the harvest of a quiet eye that broods and sleeps on his own heart." four things, i know, are unchanged amid all the changes that have passed over the troubled and bewildered land. the cities have sunken into dust: the trees of the forest have fallen: the nations have dissolved. but the mountains keep their immutable outline: the liquid stars shine with the same light, move on the same pathways: and between the mountains and the stars, two other changeless things, frail and imperishable,--the flowers that flood the earth in every springtide, and the human heart where hopes and longings and affections and desires blossom immortally. chiefly of these things, and of him who gave them a new meaning, i will speak to you, reader, if you care to go with me out-of-doors in the holy land. ii moving pictures of the voyage, made with all the swiftness and directness of one who seeks the shortest distance between two points, little remains in memory except a few moving pictures, vivid and half-real, as in a kinematograph. first comes a long, swift ship, the _deutschland_, quivering and rolling over the dull march waves of the atlantic. then the morning sunlight streams on the jagged rocks of the lizard, where two wrecked steamships are hanging, and on the green headlands and gray fortresses of plymouth. then a soft, rosy sunset over the mole, the dingy houses, the tiled roofs, the cliffs, the misty-budded trees of cherbourg. then paris at two in the morning: the lower quarters still stirring with somnambulistic life, the lines of lights twinkling placidly on the empty boulevards. then a whirl through the _bois_ in a motor-car, a breakfast at versailles with a merry little party of friends, a lazy walk through miles of picture-galleries without a guide-book or a care. then the night express for italy, a glimpse of the alps at sunrise, snow all around us, the thick darkness of the mount cenis tunnel, the bright sunshine of italian spring, terraced hillsides, clipped and pollarded trees, waking vineyards and gardens, turin, genoa, rome, arches of ruined aqueducts, snow upon the southern apennines, the blooming fields of capua, umbrella-pines and silvery poplars, and at last, from my balcony at the hotel, the glorious curving panorama of the bay of naples, vesuvius without a cloud, and capri like an azure lion couchant on the broad shield of the sea. so ends the first series of films, ten days from home. * * * * * after an intermission of twenty-four hours, the second series begins on the white ship _oceana_, an immense yacht, ploughing through the tranquil, sapphire mediterranean, with ten passengers on board, and the band playing three times a day just as usual. then comes the low line of the african coast, the lighthouse of alexandria, the top of pompey's pillar showing over the white, modern city. half a dozen little rowboats meet us, well out at sea, buffeted and tossed by the waves: they are fishing: see! one of the men has a strike, he pulls in his trolling-line, hand over hand, very slowly, it seems, as the steamship rushes by. i lean over the side, run to the stern of the ship to watch,--hurrah, he pulls in a silvery fish nearly three feet long. good luck to you, my egyptian brother of the angle! now a glimpse of the crowded, busy harbour of alexandria, (recalling memories of fourteen years ago,) and a leisurely trans-shipment to the little khedivial steamer, _prince abbas_, with her scotch officers, italian stewards, maltese doctor, turkish sailors, and freight-handlers who come from whatever places it has pleased heaven they should be born in. the freight is variegated, and the third-class passengers are a motley crowd. a glance at the forward main-deck shows egyptians in white cotton, and turks in the red fez, and arabs in white and brown, and coal-black soudanese, and nondescript levantines, and russians in fur coats and lamb's-wool caps, and greeks in blue embroidered jackets, and women in baggy trousers and black veils, and babies, and cats, and parrots. here is a tall, venerable grandfather, with spectacles and a long gray beard, dressed in a black robe with a hood and a yellow scarf; grave, patriarchal, imperturbable: his little granddaughter, a pretty elf of a child, with flower-like face and shining eyes, dances hither and yon among the chaos of freight and luggage; but as the chill of evening descends she takes shelter between his knees, under the folds of his long robe, and, while he feeds her with bread and sweetmeats, keeps up a running comment of remarks and laughter at all around her, and the unspeakable solemnity of old father abraham's face is lit up, now and then, with the flicker of a resistless smile. here are two bronzed arabs of the desert, in striped burnoose and white kaftan, stretched out for the night upon their rugs of many colours. between them lies their latest purchase, a brand-new patent carpet-sweeper, made in ohio, and going, who knows where among the hills of bashan. a child dies in the night, on the voyage; in the morning, at anchor in the mouth of the suez canal, we hear the carpenter hammering together a little pine coffin. all day sunday the indescribable traffic of port saïd passes around us; ships of all nations coming and going; a big german lloyd boat just home from india crowded with troops in khâki, band playing, flags flying; huge dredgers, sombre, oxlike-looking things, with lines of incredibly dirty men in fluttering rags running up the gang-planks with bags of coal on their backs; rowboats shuttling to and fro between the ships and the huddled, transient, modern town, which is made up of curiosity shops, hotels, business houses and dens of iniquity; a row of egyptian sail boats, with high prows, low sides, long lateen yards, ranged along the entrance to the canal. at sunset we steam past the big statue of ferdinand de lesseps, standing far out on the break-water and pointing back with a dramatic gesture to his world-transforming ditch. then we go dancing over the yellow waves into the full moonlight toward palestine. * * * * * in the early morning i clamber on deck into a thunderstorm: wild west wind, rolling billows, flying gusts of rain, low clouds hanging over the sand-hills of the coast: a harbourless shore, far as eye can see, a land that makes no concession to the ocean with bay or inlet, but cries, "hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." there are the flat-roofed houses, and the orange groves, and the minaret, and the lighthouse of jaffa, crowning its rounded hill of rock. we are tossing at anchor a mile from the shore. will the boats come out to meet us in this storm, or must we go on to haifâ, fifty miles beyond? rumour says that the police have refused to permit the boats to put out. but look, here they come, half a dozen open whale-boats, each manned by a dozen lusty, bare-legged, brown rowers, buffeting their way between the scattered rocks, leaping high on the crested waves. the chiefs of the crews scramble on board the steamer, identify the passengers consigned to the different tourist-agencies, sort out the baggage and lower it into the boats. * * * * * [illustration: jaffa. the port where king solomon landed his cedar beams from lebanon for the building of the temple.] my tickets, thus far, have been provided by the great cook, and i fall to the charge of his head boatman, a dusky demon of energy. a slippery climb down the swaying ladder, a leap into the arms of two sturdy rowers, a stumble over the wet thwarts, and i find myself in the stern sheets of the boat. a young dutchman follows with stolid suddenness. two italian gentlemen, weeping, refuse to descend more than half-way, climb back, and are carried on to haifâ. a german lady with a parrot in a cage comes next, and her anxiety for the parrot makes her forget to be afraid. then comes a little polish lady, evidently a bride; she shuts her eyes tight and drops into the boat, pale, silent, resolved that she will not scream: her husband follows, equally pale, and she clings indifferently to his hand and to mine, her eyes still shut, a pretty image of white courage. the boat pushes off; the rowers smite the waves with their long oars and sing "halli--yallah--yah hallah"; the steersman high in the stern shouts unintelligible (and, i fear, profane) directions; we are swept along on the tops of the waves, between the foaming rocks, drenched by spray and flying showers: at last we bump alongside the little quay, and climb out on the wet, gliddery stones. the kinematograph pictures are ended, for i am in palestine, on the first of april, just fifteen days from home. iii rendezvous will my friends be here to meet me, i wonder? this is the question which presses upon me more closely than anything else, i must confess, as i set foot for the first time upon the sacred soil of palestine. i know that this is not as it should be. all the conventions of travel require the pilgrim to experience a strange curiosity and excitement, a profound emotion, "a supreme anguish," as an italian writer describes it, "in approaching this land long dreamed about, long waited for, and almost despaired of." but the conventions of travel do not always correspond to the realities of the heart. your first sight of a place may not be your first perception of it: that may come afterward, in some quiet, unexpected moment. emotions do not follow a time-table; and i propose to tell no lies in this book. my strongest feeling as i enter jaffa is the desire to know whether my chosen comrades have come to the rendezvous at the appointed time, to begin our long ride together. it is a remote and uncertain combination, i grant you. the patriarch, a tall, slender youth of seventy years, whose home is beside the golden gate of california, was wandering among the ruins of sicily when i last heard from him. the pastor and his wife, the lady of walla walla, who live on the shores of puget sound, were riding camels across the peninsula of sinai and steamboating up the nile. have the letters, the cablegrams that were sent to them been safely delivered? have the hundreds of unknown elements upon which our combination depended been working secretly together for its success? has our proposal been according to the supreme disposal, and have all the roads been kept clear by which we were hastening from three continents to meet on the first day of april at the _hotel du parc_ in jaffa? yes, here are my three friends, in the quaint little garden of the hotel, with its purple-flowering vines of bougainvillea, fragrant orange-trees, drooping palms, and long-tailed cockatoos drowsing on their perches. when people really know each other an unfamiliar meeting-place lends a singular intimacy and joy to the meeting. there is a surprise in it, no matter how long and carefully it has been planned. there are a thousand things to talk of, but at first nothing will come except the wonder of getting together. the sight of the desired faces, unchanged beneath their new coats of tan, is a happy assurance that personality is not a dream. the touch of warm hands is a sudden proof that friendship is a reality. presently it begins to dawn upon us that there is something wonderful in the place of our conjunction, and we realise dimly,--very dimly, i am sure, and yet with a certain vague emotion of reverence,--where we are. "we came yesterday," says the lady, "and in the afternoon we went to see the house of simon the tanner, where they say the apostle peter lodged." "did it look like the real house?" "ah," she answers smilingly, "how do i know? they say there are two of them. but what do i care? it is certain that we are here. and i think that st. peter was here once, too, whether the house he lived in is standing yet, or not." yes, that is reasonably certain; and this is the place where he had his strange vision of a religion meant for all sorts and conditions of men. it is certain, also, that this is the port where solomon landed his beams of cedar from lebanon for the building of the temple, and that the emperor vespasian sacked the town, and that richard lionheart planted the banner of the crusade upon its citadel. but how far away and dreamlike it all seems, on this spring morning, when the wind is tossing the fronds of the palm-trees, and the gleams of sunshine are flying across the garden, and the last clouds of the broken thunderstorm are racing westward through the blue toward the highlands of judea. here is our new friend, the dragoman george cavalcanty, known as "telhami," the bethlehemite, standing beside us in the shelter of the orange-trees: a trim, alert figure, in his belted suit of khâki and his riding-boots of brown leather. "is everything ready for the journey, george?" "everything is prepared, according to the instructions you sent from avalon. the tents are pitched a little beyond latrûn, twenty miles away. the horses are waiting at ramleh. after you have had your mid-day breakfast, we will drive there in carriages, and get into the saddle, and ride to our own camp before the night falls." _a psalm of the distant road_ _happy is the man that seeth the face of a friend in a far country: the darkness of his heart is melted in the rising of an inward joy._ _it is like the sound of music heard long ago and half forgotten: it is like the coming back of birds to a wood that winter hath made bare._ _i knew not the sweetness of the fountain till i found it flowing in the desert: nor the value of a friend till the meeting in a lonely land._ _the multitude of mankind had bewildered me and oppressed me: and i said to god, why hast thou made the world so wide?_ _but when my friend came the wideness of the world had no more terror: because we were glad together among men who knew us not._ _i was slowly reading a book that was written in a strange language: and suddenly i came upon a page in mine own familiar tongue._ _this was the heart of my friend that quietly understood me: the open heart whose meaning was clear without a word._ _o my god whose love followeth all thy pilgrims and strangers: i praise thee for the comfort of comrades on a distant road._ ii going up to jerusalem i "the excellency of sharon" you understand that what we had before us in this first stage of our journey was a very simple proposition. the distance from jaffa to jerusalem is fifty miles by railway and forty miles by carriage-road. thousands of pilgrims and tourists travel it every year; and most of them now go by the train in about four hours, with advertised stoppages of three minutes at lydda, eight minutes at ramleh, ten minutes at sejed, and unadvertised delays at the convenience of the engine. but we did not wish to get our earliest glimpse of palestine from a car-window, nor to begin our travels in a mechanical way. the first taste of a journey often flavours it to the very end. the old highroad, which is now much less frequented than formerly, is very fair as far as ramleh; and beyond that it is still navigable for vehicles, though somewhat broken and billowy. our plan, therefore, was to drive the first ten miles, where the road was flat and uninteresting, and then ride the rest of the way. this would enable us to avoid the advertised rapidity and the uncertain delays of the railway, and bring us quietly through the hills, about the close of the second day, to the gates of jerusalem. the two victorias rattled through the streets of jaffa, past the low, flat-topped oriental houses, the queer little open shops, the orange-groves in full bloom, the palm-trees waving their plumes over garden-walls, and rolled out upon the broad highroad across the fertile, gently undulating plain of sharon. on each side were the neat, well-cultivated fields and vegetable-gardens of the german colonists belonging to the sect of the templers. they are a people of antique theology and modern agriculture. believing that the real christianity is to be found in the old testament rather than in the new, they propose to begin the social and religious reformation of the world by a return to the programme of the minor prophets. but meantime they conduct their farming operations in a very profitable way. their grain-fields, their fruit-orchards, their vegetable-gardens are trim and orderly, and they make an excellent wine, which they call "the treasure of zion." their effect upon the landscape, however, is conventional. but in spite of the presence and prosperity of the templers, the spirit of the scene through which we passed was essentially oriental. the straggling hedges of enormous cactus, the rows of plumy eucalyptus-trees, the budding figs and mulberries, gave it a semi-tropical touch and along the highway we encountered fragments of the leisurely, dishevelled, dignified east: grotesque camels, pensive donkeys carrying incredible loads, flocks of fat-tailed sheep and lop-eared goats, bronzed peasants in flowing garments, and white-robed women with veiled faces. beneath the tall tower of the forty martyrs at ramleh (mohammedan or christian, their names are forgotten) we left the carriages, loaded our luggage on the three pack-mules, mounted our saddle-horses, and rode on across the plain, one of the fruitful gardens and historic battle-fields of the world. here the hosts of the israelites and the philistines, the egyptians and the romans, the persians and the arabs, the crusaders and the saracens, have marched and contended. but as we passed through the sun-showers and rain-showers of an april afternoon, all was tranquillity and beauty on every side. the rolling fields were embroidered with innumerable flowers. the narcissus, the "rose of sharon," had faded. but the little blue "lilies-of-the-valley" were there, and the pink and saffron mallows, and the yellow and white daisies, and the violet and snow of the drooping cyclamen, and the gold of the genesta, and the orange-red of the pimpernel, and, most beautiful of all, the glowing scarlet of the numberless anemones. wide acres of young wheat and barley glistened in the light, as the wind-waves rippled through their short, silken blades. there were few trees, except now and then an olive-orchard or a round-topped carob with its withered pods. [illustration: the tall tower of the forty martyrs at ramleh.] the highlands of judea lay stretched out along the eastern horizon, a line of azure and amethystine heights, changing colour and seeming almost to breathe and move as the cloud shadows fleeted over them, and reaching away northward and southward as far as eye could see. rugged and treeless, save for a clump of oaks or terebinths planted here or there around some mohammedan saint's tomb, they would have seemed forbidding but that their slopes were clothed with the tender herbage of spring, their outlines varied with deep valleys and blue gorges, and all their mighty bulwarks jewelled right royally with the opalescence of sunset. in a hollow of the green plain to the left we could see the white houses and the yellow church tower of lydda, the supposed burial-place of saint george of cappadocia, who killed the dragon and became the patron saint of england. on a conical hill to the right shone the tents of the scotch explorer who is excavating the ancient city of gezer, which was the dowry of pharaoh's daughter when she married king solomon. city, did i say? at least four cities are packed one upon another in that grassy mound, the oldest going back to the flint age; and yet if you should examine their site and measure their ruins, you would feel sure that none of them could ever have amounted to anything more than what we should call a poor little town. it came upon us gently but irresistibly that afternoon, as we rode easily across the land of the philistines in a few hours, that we had never really read the old testament as it ought to be read,--as a book written in an oriental atmosphere, filled with the glamour, the imagery, the magniloquence of the east. unconsciously we had been reading it as if it were a collection of documents produced in heidelberg, germany, or in boston, massachusetts: precise, literal, scientific. we had been imagining the philistines as a mighty nation, and their land as a vast territory filled with splendid cities and ruled by powerful monarchs. we had been trying to understand and interpret the stories of their conflict with israel as if they had been written by a western war-correspondent, careful to verify all his statistics and meticulous in the exact description of all his events. this view of things melted from us with a gradual surprise as we realised that the more deeply we entered into the poetry, the closer we should come to the truth, of the narrative. its moral and religious meaning is firm and steadfast as the mountains round about jerusalem; but even as those mountains rose before us glorified, uplifted, and bejewelled by the vague splendours of the sunset, so the form of the history was enlarged and its colours irradiated by the figurative spirit of the east. there at our feet, bathed in the beauty of the evening air, lay the valley of aijalon, where joshua fought with the "five kings of the amorites," and broke them and chased them. the "kings" were head-men of scattered villages, chiefs of fierce and ragged tribes. but the fighting was hard, and as joshua led his wild clansmen down upon them from the ascent of beth-horon, he feared the day might be too short to win the victory. so he cheered the hearts of his men with an old war-song from the book of jasher. "sun, stand thou still upon gibeon; and thou, moon, in the valley of aijalon. and the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the nation had avenged themselves of their enemies." does any one suppose that this is intended to teach us that the sun moves and that on this day his course was arrested? must we believe that the whole solar system was dislocated for the sake of this battle? to understand the story thus is to misunderstand its vital spirit. it is poetry, imagination, heroism. by the new courage that came into the hearts of israel with their leader's song, the lord shortened the conflict to fit the day, and the sunset and the moonrise saw the valley of aijalon swept clean of israel's foes. as we passed through the wretched, mud-built village of latrûn (said to be the birthplace of the penitent thief), a dozen long-robed arabs were earnestly discussing some question of municipal interest in the grassy market-place. they were as grave as the storks, in their solemn plumage of black and white, which were parading philosophically along the edge of a marsh to our right. a couple of jackals slunk furtively across the road ahead of us in the dusk. a _kafila_ of long-necked camels undulated over the plain. the shadows fell more heavily over cactus-hedge and olive-orchard as we turned down the hill. in the valley night had come. the large, trembling stars were strewn through the vault above us, and rested on the dim ridges of the mountains, and shone reflected in the puddles of the long road like fallen jewels. the lights of latrûn, if it had any, were already out of sight behind us. our horses were weary and began to stumble. where was the camp? look, there is a light, bobbing along the road toward us. it is youssouf, our faithful major-domo, come out with a lantern to meet us. a few rods farther through the mud, and we turn a corner beside an acacia hedge and the ruined arch of an ancient well. there, in a little field of flowers, close to the tiniest of brooks, our tents are waiting for us with open doors. the candles are burning on the table. the rugs are spread and the beds are made. the dinner-table is laid for four, and there is a bright bunch of flowers in the middle of it. we have seen the excellency of sharon and the moon is shining for us on the valley of aijalon. ii "the strength of the hills" it is no hardship to rise early in camp. at the windows of a house the daylight often knocks as an unwelcome messenger, rousing the sleeper with a sudden call. but through the roof and the sides of a tent it enters gently and irresistibly, embracing you with soft arms, laying rosy touches on your eyelids; and while your dream fades you know that you are awake and it is already day. as we lift the canvas curtains and come out of our pavilions, the sun is just topping the eastern hills, and all the field around us glittering with immense drops of dew. on the top of the ruined arch beside the camp our arab watchman, hired from the village of latrûn as we passed, is still perched motionless, wrapped in his flowing rags, holding his long gun across his knees. "_salâm 'aleikum, yâ ghafîr!_" i say, and though my arabic is doubtless astonishingly bad, he knows my meaning; for he answers gravely, "_'aleikum essalâm!_--and with you be peace!" it is indeed a peaceful day in which our journey to jerusalem is completed. leaving the tents and impedimenta in charge of youssouf and shukari the cook, and the muleteers, we are in the saddle by seven o'clock, and riding into the narrow entrance of the wâdi 'ali. it is a long, steep valley leading into the heart of the hills. the sides are ribbed with rocks, among which the cyclamens grow in profusion. a few olives are scattered along the bottom of the vale, and at the tomb of the imâm 'ali there is a grove of large trees. at the summit of the pass we rest for half an hour, to give our horses a breathing-space, and to refresh our eyes with the glorious view westward over the tumbled country of the shephelah, the opalescent plain of sharon, the sand-hills of the coast, and the broad blue of the mediterranean. northward and southward and eastward the rocky summits and ridges of judea roll away. now we understand what the psalmist means by ascribing "the strength of the hills" to jehovah; and a new light comes into the song: "as the mountains are round about jerusalem, so jehovah is round about his people." these natural walls and terraces of gray limestone have the air of antique fortifications and watch-towers of the border. they are truly "munitions of rocks." chariots and horsemen could find no field for their man[oe]uvres in this broken and perpendicular country. entangled in these deep and winding valleys by which they must climb up from the plain, the invaders would be at the mercy of the light infantry of the highlands, who would roll great stones upon them as they passed through the narrow defiles, and break their ranks by fierce and sudden downward rushes as they toiled panting up the steep hillsides. it was this strength of the hills that the children of israel used for the defence of jerusalem, and by this they were able to resist and defy the philistines, whom they could never wholly conquer. yonder on the hillside, as we ride onward, we see a reminder of that old tribal warfare between the people of the highlands and the people of the plains. that gray village, perched upon a rocky ridge above thick olive-orchards and a deliciously green valley, is the ancient kirjath-jearim, where the ark of jehovah was hidden for twenty years, after the philistines had sent back this perilous trophy of their victory over the sons of eli, being terrified by the pestilence and disaster that followed its possession. the men of beth-shemesh, to whom it was first returned, were afraid to keep it, because they also had been smitten with death when they dared to peep into this dreadful box. but the men of kirjath-jearim were at once bolder and wiser, so they "came and fetched up the ark of jehovah, and brought it into the house of abinadab in the hill, and set apart eleazar, his son, to keep the ark of jehovah." what strange vigils in that little hilltop cottage where the young man watches over this precious, dangerous, gilded coffer, while saul is winning and losing his kingdom in a turmoil of blood and sorrow and madness, forgetful of israel's covenant with the most high! at last comes king david, from his newly won stronghold of zion, seeking eagerly for this lost symbol of the people's faith. "lo, we heard of it at ephratah; we found it in the field of the wood." so the gray stone cottage on the hilltop gave up its sacred treasure, and david carried it away with festal music and dancing. but was eleazar glad, i wonder, or sorry, that his long vigil was ended? to part from a care is sometimes like losing a friend. i confess that it is difficult to make these ancient stories of peril and adventure, (or even the modern history of abu ghôsh the robber-chief of this village a hundred years ago), seem real to us to-day. everything around us is so safe and tranquil, and, in spite of its novelty, so familiar. the road descends steeply with long curves and windings into the wâdi beit hanîna. we meet and greet many travellers, on horseback, in carriages and afoot, natives and pilgrims, german colonists, french priests, italian monks, english tourists and explorers. it is a pleasant game to guess from an approaching pilgrim's looks whether you should salute him with "_guten morgen_," or "_buon' giorno_," or "_bon jour_, _m'sieur_." the country people answer your salutation with a pretty phrase: "_nehârak saîd umubârak_--may your day be happy and blessed." at kalôniyeh, in the bottom of the valley, there is a prosperous settlement of german jews; and the gardens and orchards are flourishing. there is also a little wayside inn, a rude stone building, with a terrace around it; and there, with apricots and plums blossoming beside us, we eat our lunch _al fresco_, and watch our long pack-train, with the camp and baggage, come winding down the hill and go tinkling past us toward jerusalem. the place is very friendly; we are in no haste to leave it. a few miles to the southward, sheltered in the lap of a rounding hill, we can see the tall cypress-trees and quiet gardens of 'ain karîm, the village where john the baptist was born. it has a singular air of attraction, seen from a distance, and one of the sweetest stories in the world is associated with it. for it was there that the young bride mary visited her older cousin elizabeth,--you remember the exquisite picture of the "visitation" by albertinelli in the uffizi at florence,--and the joy of coming motherhood in these two women's hearts spoke from each to each like a bell and its echo. would the birth of jesus, the character of jesus, have been possible unless there had been the virginal and expectant soul of such a woman as mary, ready to welcome his coming with her song? "my soul doth magnify the lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in god my saviour." does not the advent of a higher manhood always wait for the hope and longing of a nobler womanhood? the chiming of the bells of st. john floats faintly and silverly across the valley as we leave the shelter of the wayside rest-house and mount for the last stage of our upward journey. the road ascends steeply. nestled in the ravine to our left is the grizzled and dilapidated village of liftâ, a town with an evil reputation. "these people sold all their land," says george the dragoman, "twenty years ago, sold all the fields, gardens, olive-groves. now they are dirty and lazy in that village,--all thieves!" over the crest of the hill the red-tiled roofs of the first houses of jerusalem are beginning to appear. they are houses of mercy, it seems: one an asylum for the insane, the other a home for the aged poor. passing them, we come upon schools and hospital buildings and other evidences of the charity of the rothschilds toward their own people. all around us are villas and consulates, and rows of freshly built houses for jewish colonists. this is not at all the way that we had imagined to ourselves the first sight of the holy city. all here is half-european, unromantic, not very picturesque. it may not be "the new jerusalem," but it is certainly a modern jerusalem. here, in these comfortably commonplace dwellings, is almost half the present population of the city; and rows of new houses are rising on every side. but look down the southward-sloping road. there is the sight that you have imagined and longed to see: the brown battlements, the white-washed houses, the flat roofs, the slender minarets, the many-coloured domes of the ancient city of david, and solomon, and hezekiah, and herod, and omar, and godfrey, and saladin,--but never of christ. that great black dome is the church of the holy sepulchre. the one beyond it is the mosque of omar. those golden bulbs and pinnacles beyond the city are the greek church of saint mary magdalen on the side of the mount of olives; and on the top of the lofty ridge rises the great pointed tower of the russians from which a huge bell booms out a deep-toned note of welcome. on every side we see the hospices and convents and churches and palaces of the different sects of christendom. the streets are full of people and carriages and beasts of burden. the dust rises around us. we are tired with the trab, trab, trab of our horses' feet upon the hard highroad. let us not go into the confusion of the city, but ride quietly down to the left into a great olive-grove, outside the damascus gate. here our white tents are pitched among the trees, with the dear flag of our home flying over them. here we shall find leisure and peace to unite our hearts, and bring our thoughts into tranquil harmony, before we go into the bewildering city. here the big stars will look kindly down upon us through the silvery leaves, and the sounds of human turmoil and contention will not trouble us. the distant booming of the bell on the mount of olives will mark the night-hours for us, and the long-drawn plaintive call of the muezzin from the minaret of the little mosque at the edge of the grove will wake us to the sunrise. _a psalm of the welcome tent_ _this is the thanksgiving of the weary: the song of him that is ready to rest._ _it is good to be glad when the day is declining: and the setting of the sun is like a word of peace._ _the stars look kindly on the close of a journey: the tent says welcome when the day's march is done._ _for now is the time of the laying down of burdens: and the cool hour cometh to them that have borne the heat._ _i have rejoiced greatly in labour and adventure: my heart hath been enlarged in the spending of my strength._ _now it is all gone yet i am not impoverished: for thus only may i inherit the treasure of repose._ _blessed be the lord that teacheth my hands to unclose and my fingers to loosen: he also giveth comfort to the feet that are washed from the dust of the way._ _blessed be the lord that maketh my meat at nightfall savoury: and filleth my evening cup with the wine of good cheer._ _blessed be the lord that maketh me happy to be quiet: even as a child that cometh softly to his mother's lap._ _o god thou faintest not neither is thy strength worn away with labour: but it is good for us to be weary that we may obtain thy gift of rest._ iii the gates of zion i a city that is set on a hill out of the medley of our first impressions of jerusalem one fact emerges like an island from the sea: it is a city that is lifted up. no river; no harbour; no encircling groves and gardens; a site so lonely and so lofty that it breathes the very spirit of isolation and proud self-reliance. "beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth is mount zion, on the sides of the north the city of the great king." thus sang the hebrew poet; and his song, like all true poetry, has the accuracy of the clearest vision. for this is precisely the one beauty that crowns jerusalem: the beauty of a high place and all that belongs to it: clear sky, refreshing air, a fine outlook, and that indefinable sense of exultation that comes into the heart of man when he climbs a little nearer to the stars. twenty-five hundred feet above the level of the sea is not a great height; but i can think of no other ancient and world-famous city that stands as high. along the mountainous plateau of judea, between the sea-coast plain of philistia and the sunken valley of the jordan, there is a line of sacred sites,--beërsheba, hebron, bethlehem, bethel, shiloh, shechem. each of them marks the place where a town grew up around an altar. the central link in this chain of shrine-cities is jerusalem. her form and outline, her relation to the landscape and to the land, are unchanged from the days of her greatest glory. the splendours of her temple and her palaces, the glitter of her armies, the rich colour and glow of her abounding wealth, have vanished. but though her garments are frayed and weather-worn, though she is an impoverished and dusty queen, she still keeps her proud position and bearing; and as you approach her by the ancient road along the ridges of judea you see substantially what sennacherib, and nebuchadnezzar, and the roman titus must have seen. "the sides of the north" slope gently down to the huge gray wall of the city, with its many towers and gates. within those bulwarks, which are thirty-eight feet high and two and a half miles in circumference, "jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together," covering with her huddled houses and crooked, narrow streets, the two or three rounded hills and shallow depressions in which the northern plateau terminates. south and east and west, the valley of the brook kidron and the valley of himmon surround the city wall with a dry moat three or four hundred feet deep. imagine the knuckles of a clenched fist, extended toward the south: that is the site of jerusalem, impregnable, (at least in ancient warfare), from all sides except the north, where the wrist joins it to the higher tableland. this northern approach, open to assyria, and babylon, and damascus, and persia, and greece, and rome, has always been the weak point of jerusalem. she was no unassailable fortress of natural strength, but a city lifted up, a lofty shrine, whose refuge and salvation were in jehovah,--in the faith, the loyalty, the courage which flowed into the heart of her people from their religion. when these failed, she fell. jerusalem is no longer, and never again will be, the capital of an earthly kingdom. but she is still one of the high places of the world, exalted in the imagination and the memory of jews and christians and mohammedans, a metropolis of infinite human hopes and longings and devotions. hither come the innumerable companies of foot-weary pilgrims, climbing the steep roads from the sea-coast, from the jordan, from bethlehem,--pilgrims who seek the place of the crucifixion, pilgrims who would weep beside the walls of their vanished temple, pilgrims who desire to pray where mohammed prayed. century after century these human throngs have assembled from far countries and toiled upward to this open, lofty plateau, where the ancient city rests upon the top of the closed hand, and where the ever-changing winds from the desert and the sea sweep and shift over the rocky hilltops, the mute, gray battlements, and the domes crowned with the cross, the crescent, and the star. "the wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the spirit." the mystery of the heart of mankind, the spiritual airs that breathe through it, the desires and aspirations that impel men in their journeyings, the common hopes that bind them together in companies, the fears and hatreds that array them in warring hosts,--there is no place in the world to-day where you can feel all this so deeply, so inevitably, so overwhelmingly, as at the gates of zion. it is a feeling of confusion, at first: a bewildering sense of something vast and old and secret, speaking many tongues, taking many forms, yet never fully revealing its source and its meaning. the jews, mohammedans, and christians who flock to those gates are alike in their sincerity, in their devotion, in the spirit of sacrifice that leads them on their pilgrimage. among them all there are hypocrites and bigots, doubtless, but there are also earnest and devout souls, seeking something that is higher than themselves, "a city set upon a hill." why do they not understand one another? why do they fight and curse one another? do they not all come to humble themselves, to pray, to seek the light? dark walls that embrace so many tear-stained, blood-stained, holy and dishonoured shrines! and you, narrow and gloomy gates, through whose portals so many myriads of mankind have passed with their swords, their staves, their burdens and their palm-branches! what songs of triumph you have heard, what yells of battle-rage, what moanings of despair, what murmurs of hopes and gratitude, what cries of anguish, what bursts of careless, happy laughter,--all borne upon the wind that bloweth where it will across these bare and rugged heights. we will not seek to enter yet into the mysteries that you hide. we will tarry here for a while in the open sunlight, where the cool breeze of april stirs the olive-groves outside the damascus gate. we will tranquillize our thoughts,--perhaps we may even find them growing clearer and surer,--among the simple cares and pleasures that belong to the life of every day; the life which must have food when it is hungry, and rest when it is weary, and a shelter from the storm and the night; the life of those who are all strangers and sojourners upon the earth, and whose richest houses and strongest cities are, after all, but a little longer-lasting tents and camps. ii the camp in the olive-grove the place of our encampment is peaceful and friendly, without being remote or secluded. the grove is large and free from all undergrowth: the trunks of the ancient olive-trees are gnarled and massive, the foliage soft and tremulous. the corner that george has chosen for us is raised above the road by a kind of terrace, so that it is not too easily accessible to the curious passer-by. across the road we see a gray stone wall, and above it the roof of the anglican bishop's house, and the schools, from which a sound of shrill young voices shouting in play or chanting in unison rises at intervals through the day. the ground on which we stand is slightly furrowed with the little ridges of last year's ploughing: but it has not yet been broken this spring, and it is covered with millions of infinitesimal flowers, blue and purple and yellow and white, like tiny pansies run wild. the four tents, each circular and about fifteen feet in diameter, are arranged in a crescent. the one nearest to the road is for the kitchen and service; there shukari, our maronite _chef_, in his white cap and apron, turns out an admirable six-course dinner on a portable charcoal range not three feet square. around the door of this tent there is much coming and going: edibles of all kinds are brought for sale; visitors squat in sociable conversation; curious children hang about, watching the proceedings, or waiting for the favours which a good cook can bestow. the next tent is the dining-room; the huge wooden chests of the canteen, full of glass and china and table-linen and new britannia-ware, which shines like silver, are placed one on each side of the entrance; behind the central tent-pole stands the dining-table, with two chairs at the back and one at each end, so that we can all enjoy the view through the open door. the tent is lofty and lined with many-coloured cotton cloth, arranged in elaborate patterns, scarlet and green and yellow and blue. when the four candles are lighted on the well-spread table, and youssouf the greek, in his embroidered jacket and baggy blue breeches, comes in to serve the dinner, it is quite an oriental scene. his assistant, little youssouf, the copt, squats outside of the tent, at one side of the door, to wash up the dishes and polish the britannia-ware. the two other tents are of the same pattern and the same gaudy colours within: each of them contains two little iron bedsteads, two turkish rugs, two washstands, one dressing-table, and such baggage as we had imagined necessary for our comfort, piled around the tent-pole,--this by way of precaution, lest some misguided hand should be tempted to slip under the canvas at night and abstract an unconsidered trifle lying near the edge of the tent. of our own men i must say that we never had a suspicion, either of their honesty or of their good-humour. not only the four who had most immediately to do with us, but also the two chief muleteers, mohammed 'ali and moûsa, and the songful boy, mohammed el nâsan, who warbled an interminable arabian ditty all day long, and fâris and the two other assistants, were models of fidelity and willing service. they did not quarrel (except once, over the division of the mule-loads, in the mountains of gilead); they got us into no difficulties and subjected us to no blackmail from humbugging bedouin chiefs. they are of a picturesque motley in costume and of a bewildering variety in creed--anglican, catholic, coptic, maronite, greek, mohammedan, and one of whom the others say that "he belongs to no religion, but sings beautiful persian songs." yet, so far as we are concerned, they all do the things they ought to do and leave undone the things they ought not to do, and their way with us is peace. much of this, no doubt, is due to the wisdom, tact, and firmness of george the bethlehemite, the best of dragomans. we have many visitors at the camp, but none unwelcome. the american consul, a genial scholar who knows palestine by heart and has made valuable contributions to the archæology of jerusalem, comes with his wife to dine with us in the open air. george's gentle wife and his two bright little boys, howard and robert, are with us often. missionaries come to tell us of their labours and trials. an arab hunter, with his long flintlock musket, brings us beautiful gray partridges which he has shot among the near-by hills. the stable-master comes day after day with strings of horses galloping through the grove; for our first mounts were not to our liking, and we are determined not to start on our longer ride until we have found steeds that suit us. peasants from the country round about bring all sorts of things to sell--vegetables, and lambs, and pigeons, and old coins, and embroidered caps. there are two men ploughing in a vineyard behind the camp, beyond the edge of the grove. the plough is a crooked stick of wood which scratches the surface of the earth. the vines are lying flat on the ground, still leafless, closely pruned: they look like big black snakes. women of the city, dressed in black and blue silks, with black mantles over their heads, come out in the afternoon to picnic among the trees. they sit in little circles on the grass, smoking cigarettes and eating sweetmeats. if they see us looking at them they draw the corners of their mantles across the lower part of their faces; but when they think themselves unobserved they drop their veils and regard us curiously with lustrous brown eyes. one morning a procession of rustic women and girls, singing with shrill voices, pass the camp on their way to the city to buy the bride's clothes for a wedding. at nightfall they return singing yet more loudly, and accompanied by men and boys firing guns into the air and shouting. another day a crowd of villagers go by. their old sheikh rides in the midst of them, with his white-and-gold turban, his long gray beard, his flowing robes of rich silk. he is mounted on a splendid white arab horse, with arched neck and flaunting tail; and a beautiful, gaily dressed little boy rides behind him with both arms clasped around the old man's waist. they are going up to the city for the mohammedan rite of circumcision. later in the day a jewish funeral comes hurrying through the grove: some twenty or thirty men in flat caps trimmed with fur and gabardines of cotton velvet, purple, or yellow, or pink, chanting psalms as they march, with the body of the dead man wrapped in linen cloth and carried on a rude bier on their shoulders. they seem in haste, (because the hour is late and the burial must be made before sunset), perhaps a little indifferent, or almost joyful. certainly there is no sign of grief in their looks or their voices; for among them it is counted a fortunate thing to die in the holy city and to be buried on the southern slope of the valley of jehoshaphat, where gabriel is to blow his trumpet for the resurrection. iii in the streets of jerusalem outside the gates we ride, for the roads which encircle the city wall and lead off to the north and south and east and west, are fairly broad and smooth. but within the gates we walk, for the streets are narrow, steep and slippery, and to attempt them on horseback is to travel with an anxious mind. through the jaffa gate, indeed, you may easily ride, or even drive in your carriage: not through the gateway itself, which is a close and crooked alley, but through the great gap in the wall beside it, made for the german emperor to pass through at the time of his famous imperial scouting-expedition in syria in . thus following the track of the great william you come to the entrance of the grand new hotel, among curiosity-shops and tourist-agencies, where a multitude of bootblacks assure you that you need "a shine," and _valets de place_ press their services upon you, and ingratiating young merchants try to allure you into their establishments to purchase photographs or embroidered scarves or olive-wood souvenirs of the holy land. [illustration: a street in jerusalem.] come over to cook's office, where we get our letters, and stand for a while on the little terrace with the iron railing, looking at the motley crowd which fills the place in front of the citadel. groups of blue-robed peasant women sit on the curbstone, selling firewood and grass and vegetables. their faces are bare and brown, wrinkled with the sun and the wind. turkish soldiers in dark-green uniform, greek priests in black robes and stove-pipe hats, bedouins in flowing cloaks of brown and white, pale-faced jews with velvet gabardines and curly ear-locks, moslem women in many-coloured silken garments and half-transparent veils, british tourists with cork helmets and white umbrellas, camels, donkeys, goats, and sheep, jostle together in picturesque confusion. there is a water-carrier with his shiny, dripping, bulbous goat-skin on his shoulders. there is an arab of the wilderness with a young gazelle in his arms. now let us go down the greasy, gliddery steps of david street, between the diminutive dusky shops with open fronts where all kinds of queer things to eat and to wear are sold, and all sorts of craftsmen are at work making shoes, and tin pans, and copper pots, and wooden seats, and little tables, and clothes of strange pattern. a turn to the left brings us into christian street and the new bazaar of the greeks, with its modern stores. a turn to the right and a long descent under dark archways and through dirty, shadowy alleys brings us to the place of lamentations, beside the ancient foundation wall of the temple, where the jews come in the afternoon of fridays and festival-days to lean their heads against the huge stones and murmur forth their wailings over the downfall of jerusalem. "for the majesty that is departed," cries the leader, and the others answer: "we sit in solitude and mourn." "we pray thee have mercy on zion," cries the leader, and the others answer: "gather the children of jerusalem." with most of them it seems a perfunctory mourning; but there are two or three old men with the tears running down their faces as they kiss the smooth-worn stones. we enter convents and churches, mosques and tombs. we trace the course of the traditional _via dolorosa_, and try to reconstruct in our imagination the probable path of that grievous journey from the judgment-hall of injustice to the calvary of cruelty--a path which now lies buried far below the present level of the city. one impression deepens in my mind with every hour: this was never christ's city. the confusion, the shallow curiosity, the self-interest, the clashing prejudices, the inaccessibility of the idle and busy multitudes were the same in his day that they are now. it was not here that jesus found the men and women who believed in him and loved him, but in the quiet villages, among the green fields, by the peaceful lake-shores. and it is not here that we shall find the clearest traces, the most intimate visions of him, but away in the big out-of-doors, where the sky opens free above us, and the landscapes roll away to far horizons. as we loiter about the city, now alone, now under the discreet and unhampering escort of the bethlehemite; watching the mussulmans at their dinner in some dingy little restaurant, where kitchen, store-room and banquet-hall are all in the same apartment, level and open to the street; pausing to bargain with an impassive arab for a leather belt or with an ingratiating greek for a string of amber beads; looking in through the unshuttered windows of the jewish houses where the families are gathered in festal array for the household rites of passover week; turning over the chaplets, and rosaries, and anklets, and bracelets of coloured glass and mother-of-pearl, and variegated stones, and curious beans and seed-pods in the baskets of the street-vendors around the church of the holy sepulchre; stepping back into an archway to avoid a bag-footed camel, or a gaily caparisoned horse, or a heavy-laden donkey passing through a narrow street; exchanging a smile and an unintelligible friendly jest with a sweet-faced, careless child; listening to long disputes between buyers and sellers in that resounding arab tongue which seems full of tragic indignation and wrath, while the eyes of the handsome brown bedouins who use it remain unsearchable in their oriental languor and pride; jerusalem becomes to us more and more a symbol and epitome of that which is changeless and transient, capricious and inevitable, necessary and insignificant, interesting and unsatisfying, in the unfinished tragi-comedy of human life. there are times when it fascinates us with its whirling charm. there are other times when we are glad to ride away from it, to seek communion with the great spirit of some antique prophet, or to find the consoling presence of him who spake the words of the eternal life. _a psalm of great cities_ _how wonderful are the cities that man hath builded: their walls are compacted of heavy stones, and their lofty towers rise above the tree-tops._ _rome, jerusalem, cairo, damascus,-- venice, constantinople, moscow, pekin,-- london, new york, berlin, paris, vienna,--_ _these are the names of mighty enchantments: they have called to the ends of the earth, they have secretly summoned an host of servants._ _they shine from far sitting beside great waters: they are proudly enthroned upon high hills, they spread out their splendour along the rivers._ _yet are they all the work of small patient fingers: their strength is in the hand of man, he hath woven his flesh and blood into their glory._ _the cities are scattered over the world like ant-hills: every one of them is full of trouble and toil, and their makers run to and fro within them._ _abundance of riches is laid up in their store-houses: yet they are tormented with the fear of want, the cry of the poor in their streets is exceeding bitter._ _their inhabitants are driven by blind perturbations: they whirl sadly in the fever of haste, seeking they know not what, they pursue it fiercely._ _the air is heavy-laden with their breathing: the sound of their coming and going is never still, even in the night i hear them whispering and crying._ _beside every ant-hill i behold a monster crouching: this is the ant-lion death, he thrusteth forth his tongue and the people perish._ _o god of wisdom thou hast made the country: why hast thou suffered man to make the town?_ _then god answered, surely i am the maker of man: and in the heart of man i have set the city._ iv mizpah and the mount of olives i the judgment-seat of samuel mizpah of benjamin stands to the northwest: the sharpest peak in the judean range, crowned with a ragged, dusty village and a small mosque. we rode to it one morning over the steepest, stoniest bridle-paths that we had ever seen. the country was bleak and rocky, a skeleton of landscape; but between the stones and down the precipitous hillsides and along the hot gorges, the incredible multitude of spring flowers were abloom. it was a stiff scramble up the conical hill to the little hamlet at the top, built out of and among ruins. the mosque, evidently an old christian church remodelled, was bare, but fairly clean, cool, and tranquil. we peered through a grated window, tied with many-coloured scraps of rags by the mohammedan pilgrims, into a whitewashed room containing a huge sarcophagus said to be the tomb of samuel. then we climbed the minaret and lingered on the tiny railed balcony, feeding on the view. the peak on which we stood was isolated by deep ravines from the other hills of desolate gray and scanty green. beyond the western range lay the valley of aijalon, and beyond that the rich plain of sharon with iridescent hues of green and blue and silver, and beyond that the yellow line of the sand-dunes broken by the white spot of jaffa, and beyond that the azure breadth of the mediterranean. northward, at our feet, on the summit of a lower conical hill, ringed with gray rock, lay the village of el-jib, the ancient geba of benjamin, one of the cities which joshua gave to the levites. this was the place from which jonathan and his armour-bearer set out, without saul's knowledge, on their daring, perilous scouting expedition against the philistines. what fighting there was in olden days over that tumbled country of hills and gorges, stretching away north to the blue mountains of samaria and the summits of ebal and gerizim on the horizon! there on the rocky backbone of benjamin and ephraim, was ramallah (where we had spent sunday in the sweet orderliness of the friends' mission school), and beëroth, and bethel, and gilgal, and shiloh. eastward, behind the hills, we could trace the long, vast trench of the jordan valley running due north and south, filled with thin violet haze and terminating in a glint of the dead sea. beyond that deep line of division rose the mountains of gilead and moab, a lofty, unbroken barrier. to the south-east we could see the red roofs of the new jerusalem, and a few domes and minarets of the ancient city. beyond them, in the south, was the truncated cone of the frank mountain, where the crusaders made their last stand against the saracens; and the hills around bethlehem; and a glimpse, nearer at hand, of the tall cypresses and peaceful gardens of 'ain karîm. this terrestrial paradise of vision encircled us with jewel-hues and clear, exquisite outlines. below us were the flat roofs of nebi samwîl, with a dog barking on every roof; the filthy courtyards and dark doorways, with a woman in one of them making bread; the ruined archways and broken cisterns with a pool of green water stagnating in one corner; peasants ploughing their stony little fields, and a string of donkeys winding up the steep path to the hill. here, centuries ago, samuel called all israel to mizpah, and offered sacrifice before jehovah, and judged the people. here he inspired them with new courage and sent them down to discomfit the philistines. hither he came as judge and ruler of israel, making his annual circuit between gilgal and bethel and mizpah. here he assembled the tribes again, when they were tired of his rule, and gave them a king according to their desire, even the tall warrior saul, the son of kish. do the bones of the prophet rest here or at ramah? i do not know. but here, on this commanding peak, he began and ended his judgeship; from this aerie he looked forth upon the inheritance of the turbulent sons of jacob; and here, if you like, today, a pale, clever young mohammedan will show you what he calls the coffin of samuel. ii the hill that jesus loved we had seen from mizpah the sharp ridge of the mount of olives, rising beyond jerusalem. our road thither from the camp led us around the city, past the damascus gate, and the royal grottoes, and herod's gate, and the tower of the storks, and st. stephen's gate, down into the valley of the brook kidron. here, on the west, rises the precipitous temple hill crowned with the wall of the city, and on the east the long ridge of olivet. there are several buildings on the side of the steep hill, marking supposed holy places or sacred events--the church of the tomb of the virgin, the latin chapel of the agony, the greek church of st. mary magdalen. on top of the ridge are the russian buildings, with the chapel of the ascension, and the latin buildings, with the church of the creed, the church of the paternoster, and a carmelite nunnery. among the walls of these inclosures we wound our way, and at last tied our horses outside of the russian garden. we climbed the two hundred and fourteen steps of the lofty belvidere tower, and found ourselves in possession of one of the great views of the world. there is jerusalem, across the kidron, spread out like a raised map below us. the mountains of judah roll away north and south and east and west--the clean-cut pinnacle of mizpah, the lofty plain of rephaïm, the dark hills toward hebron, the rounded top of scopus where titus camped with his roman legions, the flattened peak of frank mountain. bethlehem is not visible; but there is the tiny village of bethphage, and the first roof of bethany peeping over the ridge, and the inn of the good samaritan in a red cut of the long serpentine road to jericho. the dark range of gilead and moab seems like a huge wall of lapis-lazuli beyond the furrowed, wrinkled, yellowish clay-hills and the wide gray trench of the jordan valley, wherein the river marks its crooked path with a line of deep green. the hundreds of ridges that slope steeply down to that immense depression are touched with a thousand hues of amethystine light, and the ravines between them filled with a thousand tones of azure shadow. at the end of the valley glitter the blue waters of the dead sea, fifteen miles away, four thousand feet below us, yet seeming so near that we almost expect to hear the sound of its waves on the rocky shores of the wilderness of tekoa. on this mount jesus of nazareth often walked with his disciples. on this widespread landscape his eyes rested as he spoke divinely of the invisible kingdom of peace and love and joy that shall never pass away. over this walled city, sleeping in the sunshine, full of earthly dreams and disappointments, battlemented hearts and whited sepulchres of the spirit, he wept, and cried: "o jerusalem, how often would i have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her own brood under her wings, and ye would not!" iii the garden of gethsemane come down, now, from the mount of vision to the grove of olive-trees, the garden of gethsemane, where jesus used to take refuge with his friends. it lies on the eastern slope of olivet, not far above the valley of kidron, over against that city-gate which was called the beautiful, or the golden, but which is now walled up. the grove probably belonged to some friend of jesus or of one of his disciples, who permitted them to make use of it for their quiet meetings. at that time, no doubt, the whole hillside was covered with olive-trees, but most of these have now disappeared. the eight aged trees that still cling to life in gethsemane have been inclosed with a low wall and an iron railing, and the little garden that blooms around them is cared for by franciscan monks from italy. the gentle, friendly fra giovanni, in bare sandaled feet, coarse brown robe, and broad-brimmed straw hat, is walking among the flowers. he opens the gate for us and courteously invites us in, telling us in broken french that we may pick what flowers we like. presently i fall into discourse with him in broken italian, telling him of my visit years ago to the cradle of his order at assisi, and to its most beautiful shrine at la verna, high above the val d'arno. his old eyes soften into youthful brightness as he speaks of italy. it was most beautiful, he said, _bellisima!_ but he is happier here, caring for this garden, it is most holy, _santissima!_ the bronzed mohammedan gardener, silent, patient, absorbed in his task, moves with his watering-pot among the beds, quietly refreshing the thirsty blossoms. there are wall-flowers, stocks, pansies, baby's breath, pinks, anemones of all colours, rosemary, rue, poppies--all sorts of sweet old-fashioned flowers. among them stand the scattered venerable trees, with enormous trunks, wrinkled and contorted, eaten away by age, patched and built up with stones, protected and tended with pious care, as if they were very old people whose life must be tenderly nursed and sheltered. their boles hardly seem to be of wood; so dark, so twisted, so furrowed are they, of an aspect so enduring that they appear to be cast in bronze or carved out of black granite. above each of them spreads a crown of fresh foliage, delicate, abundant, shimmering softly in the sunlight and the breeze, with silken turnings of the under side of the innumerable leaves. in the centre of the garden is a kind of open flower house with a fountain of flowing water, erected in memory of a young american girl. at each corner a pair of slender cypresses lift their black-green spires against the blanched azure of the sky. it is a place of refuge, of ineffable tranquillity, of unforgetful tenderness. the inclosure does not offend. how else could this sacred shrine of the out-of-doors be preserved? and what more fitting guardian for it than the order of that loving saint francis, who called the sun and the moon his brother and his sister and preached to a joyous congregation of birds as his "little brothers of the air"? the flowers do not offend. their antique fragrance, gracious order, familiar looks, are a symbol of what faithful memory does with the sorrows and sufferings of those who have loved us best--she treasures and transmutes them into something beautiful, she grows her sweetest flowers in the ground that tears have made holy. it is here, in this quaint and carefully tended garden, this precious place which has been saved alike from the oblivious trampling of the crowd and from the needless imprisonment of four walls and a roof, it is here in the open air, in the calm glow of the afternoon, under the shadow of mount zion, that we find for the first time that which we have come so far to seek,--the soul of the holy land, the inward sense of the real presence of jesus. it is as clear and vivid as any outward experience. why should i not speak of it as simply and candidly? nothing that we have yet seen in palestine, no vision of wide-spread landscape, no sight of ancient ruin or famous building or treasured relic, comes as close to our hearts as this little garden sleeping in the sun. nothing that we have read from our bibles in the new light of this journey has been for us so suddenly illumined, so deeply and tenderly brought home to us, as the story of gethsemane. here, indeed, in the moonlit shadow of these olives--if not of these very branches, yet of others sprung from the same immemorial stems--was endured the deepest suffering ever borne for man, the most profound sorrow of the greatest soul that loved all human souls. it was not in the temptation in the wilderness, as milton imagined, that the crisis of the divine life was enacted and paradise was regained. it was in the agony in the garden. here the love of life wrestled in the heart of jesus with the purpose of sacrifice, and the anguish of that wrestling wrung the drops of blood from him like sweat. here, for the only time, he found the cup of sorrow and shame too bitter, and prayed the father to take it from his lips if it were possible--possible without breaking faith, without surrendering love. for that he would not do, though his soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. here he learned the frailty of human friendship, the narrowness and dulness and coldness of the very hearts for whom he had done and suffered most, who could not even watch with him one hour. what infinite sense of the poverty and feebleness of mankind, the inveteracy of selfishness, the uncertainty of human impulses and aspirations and promises; what poignant questioning of the necessity, the utility of self-immolation must have tortured the soul of jesus in that hour! it was his black hour. none can imagine the depth of that darkness but those who have themselves passed through some of its outer shadows, in the times when love seems vain, and sacrifice futile, and friendship meaningless, and life a failure, and death intolerable. jesus met the spirit of despair in the garden of gethsemane; and after that meeting, the cross had no terrors for him, because he had already endured them; the grave no fear, because he had already conquered it. how calm and gentle was the voice with which he wakened his disciples, how firm the step with which he went to meet judas! the bitterness of death was behind him in the shadow of the olive-trees. the peace of heaven shone above him in the silent stars. _a psalm of surrender_ _mine enemies have prevailed against me, o god: thou hast led me deep into their ambush._ _they surround me with a hedge of spears: and the sword in my hand is broken._ _my friends also have forsaken my side: from a safe place they look upon me with pity._ _my heart is like water poured upon the ground: i have come alone to the place of surrender._ _to thee, to thee only will i give up my sword: the sword which was broken in thy service._ _thou hast required me to suffer for thy cause: by my defeat thy will is victorious._ _o my king show me thy face shining in the dark: while i drink the loving-cup of death to thy glory._ v an excursion to bethlehem and hebron i bethlehem a sparkling morning followed a showery night, and all the little red and white and yellow flowers were lifting glad faces to the sun as we took the highroad to bethlehem. leaving the jaffa gate on the left, we crossed the head of the deep valley of hinnom, below the dirty pool of the sultan, and rode up the hill on the opposite side of the vale. there was much rubbish and filth around us, and the sight of the ophthalmic hospital of the english knights of saint john, standing in the beauty of cleanness and order beside the road, did our eyes good. blindness is one of the common afflictions of the people of palestine. neglect and ignorance and dirt and the plague of crawling flies spread the germs of disease from eye to eye, and the people submit to it with pathetic and irritating fatalism. it is hard to persuade these poor souls that the will of allah or jehovah in this matter ought not to be accepted until after it has been questioned. but the light of true and humane religion is spreading a little. we rejoiced to see the reception-room of the hospital filled with all sorts and conditions of men, women and children waiting for the good physicians who save and restore sight in the name of jesus. to the right, a little below us, lay the ugly railway station; before us, rising gently southward, extended the elevated plain of rephaïm where david smote the host of the philistines after he had heard "the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry-trees." the red soil was cultivated in little farms and gardens. the almond-trees were in leaf; the hawthorn in blossom; the fig-trees were putting forth their tender green. [illustration: a street in bethlehem.] a slowly ascending road brought us to the hill of mâr elyâs, and the so-called well of the magi. here the legend says the wise men halted after they had left jerusalem, and the star reappeared to guide them on to bethlehem. certain it is that they must have taken this road; and certain it is that both bethlehem and jerusalem, hidden from each other by the rising ground, are clearly visible to one who stands in the saddle of this hill. there were fine views down the valleys to the east, with blue glimpses of the dead sea at the end of them. the supposed tomb of rachel, a dingy little building with a white dome, interested us less than the broad lake of olive-orchards around the distant village of beit jâlâ, and the green fields, pastures and gardens encircling the double hill of bethlehem, the ancient "house of bread." there was an aspect of fertility and friendliness about the place that seemed in harmony with its name and its poetic memories. in a walled kitchen-garden at the entrance of the town was david's well. we felt no assurance, of course, as we looked down into it, that this was the veritable place. but at all events it served to bring back to us one of the prettiest bits of romance in the old testament. when the bold son of jesse had become a chieftain of outlaws and was besieged by the philistines in the stronghold of adullam, his heart grew thirsty for a draught from his father's well, whose sweetness he had known as a boy. and when his three mighty men went up secretly at the risk of their lives, and broke through the host of their enemies, and brought their captain a vessel of this water, "he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto jehovah." there was a division of opinion in our party in regard to this act. "it was sheer foolishness," said the patriarch, "to waste anything that had cost so much to get. what must the three mighty men have thought when they saw that for which they had risked their lives poured out upon the ground?" "ah, no," said the lady. "it was the highest gratitude, because it was touched with poetry. it was the best compliment that david could have given to his friends. some gifts are too precious to be received in any other way than this." and in my heart i knew that she was right. riding through the narrow streets of the town, which is inhabited almost entirely by christians, we noted the tranquil good looks of the women, a distinct type, rather short of stature, round-faced, placid and kind of aspect. not a few of them had blue eyes. they wore dark-blue skirts, dark-red jackets, and a white veil over their heads, but not over their faces. under the veil the married women wore a peculiar cap of stiff, embroidered black cloth, about six inches high, and across the front of this cap was strung their dowry of gold or silver coins. such a dress, no doubt, was worn by the virgin mary, and such tranquil, friendly looks, i think, were hers, but touched with a rarer light of beauty shining from a secret source within. a crowd of little boys and girls just released from school for their recess shouted and laughed and chased one another, pausing for a moment in round-eyed wonder when i pointed my camera at them. donkeys and camels and sheep made our passage through the town slow, and gave us occasion to look to our horses' footing. at one corner a great white sow ran out of an alley-way, followed by a twinkling litter of pink pigs. in the market-place we left our horses in the shadow of the monastery wall and entered, by a low door, the lofty, bare church of the nativity. the long rows of immense marble pillars had some faded remains of painting on them. there were a few battered fragments of mosaic in the clerestory, dimly glittering. but the general effect of the whitewashed walls, the ancient brown beams and rafters of the roof, the large, empty space, was one of extreme simplicity. when we came into the choir and apse we found ourselves in the midst of complexity. the ownership of the different altars with their gilt ornaments, of the swinging lamps, of the separate doorways of the greeks and the armenians and the latins, was bewildering. dark, winding steps, slippery with the drippings from many candles, led us down into the grotto of the nativity. it was a cavern perhaps forty feet long and ten feet wide, lit by thirty pendent lamps (greek, armenian and latin): marble floor and walls hung with draperies; a silver star in the pavement before the altar to mark the spot where christ was born; a marble manger in the corner to mark the cradle in which christ was laid; a never-ceasing stream of poor pilgrims, who come kneeling, and kissing the star and the stones and the altar for christ's sake. [illustration: the market-place, bethlehem.] we paused for a while, after we had come up, to ask ourselves whether what we had seen was in any way credible. yes, credible, but not convincing. no doubt the ancient khân of bethlehem must have been somewhere near this spot, in the vicinity of the market-place of the town. no doubt it was the custom, when there were natural hollows or artificial grottos in the rock near such an inn, to use them as shelters and stalls for the cattle. it is quite possible, it is even probable, that this may have been one of the shallow caverns used for such a purpose. if so, there is no reason to deny that this may be the place of the wondrous birth, where, as the old french _noel_ has it: "_dieu parmy les pastoreaux, sous la crêche des toreaux, dans les champs a voulu naistre; et non parmy les arroys des grands princes et des roys,-- lui des plus grands roys le maistre._" but to the eye, at least, there is no reminder of the scene of the nativity in this close and stifling chapel, hung with costly silks and embroideries, glittering with rich lamps, filled with the smoke of incense and waxen tapers. and to the heart there is little suggestion of the lonely night when joseph found a humble refuge here for his young bride to wait in darkness, pain and hope for her hour to come. in the church above, the latins and armenians and greeks guard their privileges and prerogatives jealously. there have been fights here about the driving of a nail, the hanging of a picture, the sweeping of a bit of the floor. the crimean war began in a quarrel between the greeks and the latins, and a mob-struggle in the church of the nativity. underneath the floor, to the north of the grotto of the nativity, is the cave in which saint jerome lived peaceably for many years, translating the bible into latin. that was better than fighting. ii on the road to hebron we ate our lunch at bethlehem in a curiosity-shop. the table was spread at the back of the room by the open window. all around us were hanging innumerable chaplets and rosaries of mother-of-pearl, of carnelian, of carved olive-stones, of glass beads; trinkets and souvenirs of all imaginable kinds, tiny sheep-bells and inlaid boxes and carved fans filled the cases and cabinets. through the window came the noise of people busy at bethlehem's chief industry, the cutting and polishing of mother-of-pearl for mementoes. the jingling bells of our pack-train, passing the open door, reminded us that our camp was to be pitched miles away on the road to hebron. we called for the horses and rode on through the town. very beautiful and peaceful was the view from the southern hill, looking down upon the pastures of bethlehem where "shepherds watched their flocks by night," and the field of boaz where ruth followed the reapers among the corn. down dale and up hill we journeyed; bright green of almond-trees, dark green of carob-trees, snowy blossoms of apricot-trees, rosy blossoms of peach-trees, argent verdure of olive-trees, adorning the valleys. then out over the wilder, rockier heights; and past the great empty pools of solomon, lying at the head of the wâdi artâs, watched by a square ruined castle; and up the winding road and along the lofty flower-sprinkled ridges; and at last we came to our tents, pitched in the wide, green wâdi el-'arrûb, beside the bridge. springs gushed out of the hillside here and ran down in a little laughing brook through lawns full of tiny pink and white daisies, and broad fields of tangled weeds and flowers, red anemones, blue iris, purple mallows, scarlet adonis, with here and there a strip of cultivated ground shimmering with silky leeks or dotted with young cucumbers. there was a broken aqueduct cut in the rock at the side of the valley, and the brook slipped by a large ruined reservoir. "george," said i to the bethlehemite, as he sat meditating on the edge of the dry pool, "what do you think of this valley?" "i think," said george, "that if i had a few thousand dollars to buy the land, with all this runaway water i could make it blossom like a peach-tree." the cold, green sunset behind the western hills darkened into night. the air grew chilly, dropping nearly to the point of frost. we missed the blazing camp-fire of the canadian forests, and went to bed early, tucking in the hot-water bags at our feet and piling on the blankets and rugs. all through the night we could hear the passers-by shouting and singing along the hebron road. there was one unknown traveller whose high-pitched, quavering arab song rose far away, and grew louder as he approached, and passed us in a whirlwind of lugubrious music, and tapered slowly off into distance and silence--a chant a mile long. the morning broke through flying clouds, with a bitter, wet, west wind rasping the bleak highlands. there were spiteful showers with intervals of mocking sunshine; it was a mischievous and prankish bit of weather, no day for riding. but the lady was indomitable, so we left the patriarch in his tent, wrapped ourselves in garments of mackintosh and took the road again. the country, at first, was wild and barren, a wilderness of rocks and thorn bushes and stunted scrub oaks. now and then a greek partridge, in its beautiful plumage of fawn-gray, marked with red and black about the head, clucked like a hen on the stony hillside, or whirred away in low, straight flight over the bushes. flocks of black and brown goats, with pendulous ears, skipped up and down the steep ridges, standing up on their hind legs to browse the foliage of the little oak shrubs, or showing themselves off in a butting-match on top of a big rock. marching on the highroad they seemed sedate, despondent, pattering along soberly with flapping ears. in the midst of one flock i saw a fierce-looking tattered pastor tenderly carrying a little black kid in his bosom--as tenderly as if it were a lamb. it seemed like an illustration of a picture that i saw long ago in the catacombs, in which the infant church of christ silently expressed the richness of her love, the breadth of her hope: "on those walls subterranean, where she hid her head 'mid ignominy, death and tombs, she her good shepherd's hasty image drew-- and on his shoulders, not a lamb, a kid." as we drew nearer to hebron the region appeared more fertile, and the landscape smiled a little under the gleams of wintry sunshine. there were many vineyards; in most of them the vines trailed along the ground, but in some they were propped up on sticks, like old men leaning on crutches. almond and apricot-trees flourished. the mulberries, the olives, the sycamores were abundant. peasants were ploughing the fields with their crooked sticks shod with a long iron point. when a man puts his hand to such a plough he dares not look back, else it will surely go aside. it makes a scratch, not a furrow. (i saw a man in the hospital at nazareth who had his thigh pierced clear through by one of these dagger-like iron plough points.) children were gathering roots and thorn branches for firewood. women were carrying huge bundles on their heads. donkey-boys were urging their heavy-laden animals along the road, and cameleers led their deliberate strings of ungainly beasts by a rope or a light chain reaching from one nodding head to another. a camel's load never looks as large as a donkey's, but no doubt he often finds it heavy, and he always looks displeased with it. there is something about the droop of a camel's lower lip which seems to express unalterable disgust with the universe. but the rest of the world around hebron appeared to be reasonably happy. in spite of weather and poverty and hard work the ploughmen sang in the fields, the children skipped and whistled at their tasks, the passers-by on the road shouted greetings to the labourers in the gardens and vineyards. somewhere round about here is supposed to lie the valley of eshcol from which the hebrew spies brought back the monstrous bunch of grapes, a cluster that reached from the height of a man's shoulder to the ground. iii the tenting-ground of abraham hebron lies three thousand feet above the sea, and is one of the ancient market-places and shrines of the world. from time immemorial it has been a holy town, a busy town, and a turbulent town. the hittites and the amorites dwelt here, and abraham, a nomadic shepherd whose tents followed his flocks over the land of canaan, bought here his only piece of real estate, the field and cave of machpelah. he bought it for a tomb,--even a nomad wishes to rest quietly in death,--and here he and his wife sarah, and his children isaac and rebekah, and his grandchildren jacob and leah were buried. the modern town has about twenty thousand inhabitants, chiefly mohammedans of a fanatical temper, and is incredibly dirty. we passed the muddy pool by which king david, when he was reigning here, hanged the murderers of ishbosheth. we climbed the crooked streets to the mosque which covers the supposed site of the cave of machpelah. but we did not see the tomb of abraham, for no "infidel" is allowed to pass beyond the seventh step in the flight of stairs which leads up to the doorway. as we went down through the narrow, dark, crowded bazaar a violent storm of hail broke over the city, pelting into the little open shops and covering the streets half an inch deep with snowy sand and pebbles of ice. the tempest was a rude joke, which seemed to surprise the surly crowd into a good humour. we laughed with the moslems as we took shelter together from our common misery under a stone archway. after the storm had passed we ate our midday meal on a housetop, which a friend of the dragoman put at our disposal, and rode out in the afternoon to the oak of abraham on the hill of mamre. the tree is an immense, battered veteran, with a trunk ten feet in diameter, and wide-flung, knotted arms which still bear a few leaves and acorns. it has been inclosed with a railing, patched up with masonry, partially protected by a roof. the russian monks who live near by have given it pious care, yet its inevitable end is surely near. the death of a great sheltering tree has a kind of dumb pathos. it seems like the passing away of something beneficent and helpless, something that was able to shield others but not itself. on this hill, under the oaks of mamre, abraham's tents were pitched many a year, and here he entertained the three angels unawares, and sarah made pancakes for them, and listened behind the tent-flap while they were talking with her husband, and laughed at what they said. this may not be the very tree that flung its shadow over the tent, but no doubt it is a son or a grandson of that tree, and the acorns that still fall from it may be the seeds of other oaks to shelter future generations of pilgrims; and so throughout the world, the ancient covenant of friendship is unbroken, and man remains a grateful lover of the big, kind trees. we got home to our camp in the green meadow of the springs late in the afternoon, and on the third day we rode back to jerusalem, and pitched the tents in a new place, on a hill opposite the jaffa gate, with a splendid view of the valley of hinnom, the tower of david, and the western wall of the city. _a psalm of friendly trees_ _i will sing of the bounty of the big trees, they are the green tents of the almighty, he hath set them up for comfort and for shelter._ _their cords hath he knotted in the earth, he hath driven their stakes securely, their roots take hold of the rocks like iron._ _he sendeth into their bodies the sap of life, they lift themselves lightly towards the heavens. they rejoice in the broadening of their branches._ _their leaves drink in the sunlight and the air, they talk softly together when the breeze bloweth, their shadow in the noonday is full of coolness._ _the tall palm-trees of the plain are rich in fruit, while the fruit ripeneth the flower unfoldeth, the beauty of their crown is renewed on high forever._ _the cedars of lebanon are fed by the snow, afar on the mountain they grow like giants, in their layers of shade a thousand years are sighing._ _how fair are the trees that befriend the home of man, the oak, and the terebinth, and the sycamore, the fruitful fig-tree and the silvery olive._ _in them the lord is loving to his little birds,-- the linnets and the finches and the nightingales,-- they people his pavilions with nests and with music._ _the cattle are very glad of a great tree, they chew the cud beneath it while the sun is burning, there also the panting sheep lie down around their shepherd._ _he that planteth a tree is a servant of god, he provideth a kindness for many generations, and faces that he hath not seen shall bless him._ _lord, when my spirit shall return to thee, at the foot of a friendly tree let my body be buried, that this dust may rise and rejoice among the branches._ vi the temple and the sepulchre i the dome of the rock there is an upward impulse in man that draws him to a hilltop for his place of devotion and sanctuary of ascending thoughts. the purer air, the wider outlook, the sense of freedom and elevation, help to release his spirit from the weight that bends his forehead to the dust. a traveller in palestine, if he had wings, could easily pass through the whole land by short flights from the summit of one holy hill to another, and look down from a series of mountain-altars upon the wrinkled map of sacred history without once descending into the valley or toiling over the plain. but since there are no wings provided in the human outfit, our journey from shrine to shrine must follow the common way of men,--which is also a symbol,--the path of up-and-down, and many windings, and weary steps. the oldest of the shrines of jerusalem is the threshing-floor of araunah the jebusite, which david bought from him in order that it might be made the site of the temple of jehovah. no doubt the king knew of the traditions which connected the place with ancient and famous rites of worship. but i think he was moved also by the commanding beauty of the situation, on the very summit of mount moriah, looking down into the deep valley of the kidron. our way to this venerable and sacred hill leads through the crooked duskiness of david street, and across the half-filled depression of the tyrop[oe]on valley which divides the city, and up through the dim, deserted bazaar of the cotton merchants, and so through the central western gate of the haram-esh-sherîf, "the noble sanctuary." this is a great inclosure, clean, spacious, airy, a place of refuge from the foul confusion of the city streets. the wall that shuts us in is almost a mile long, and within this open space, which makes an immediate effect of breadth and tranquil order, are some of the most sacred buildings of islam and some of the most significant landmarks of christianity. slender and graceful arcades are outlined against the clear, blue sky: little domes are poised over praying-places and fountains of ablution: wide and easy flights of steps lead from one level to another, in this park of prayer. at the southern end, beyond the tall cypresses and the plashing fountain fed from solomon's pools, stands the long mosque el-aksa: to mohammedans, the place to which allah brought their prophet from mecca in one night; to christians, the basilica which the emperor justinian erected in honor of the virgin mary. at the northern end rises the ancient wall of the castle of antonia, from whose steps saint paul, protected by the roman captain, spoke his defence to the jerusalem mob. the steps, hewn partly in the solid rock, are still visible; but the site of the castle is occupied by the turkish barracks, beside which the tallest minaret of the haram lifts its covered gallery high above the corner of the great wall. yonder to the east is the golden gate, above the steep valley of jehoshaphat. it is closed with great stones; because the moslem tradition says that some friday a christian conqueror will enter jerusalem by that gate. not far away we see the column in the wall from which the mohammedans believe a slender rope, or perhaps a naked sword, will be stretched, in the judgment day, to the mount of olives opposite. this, according to them, will be the bridge over which all human souls must walk, while christ sits at one end, mohammed at the other, watching and judging. the righteous, upheld by angels, will pass safely; the wicked, heavy with unbalanced sins, will fall. dominating all these wide-spread relics and shrines, in the centre of the inclosure, on a raised platform approached through delicate arcades, stands the great dome of the rock, built by abd-el-melik in a.d., on the site of the jewish temple. the exterior of the vast octagon, with its lower half cased in marble and its upper half incrusted with persian tiles of blue and green, its broad, round lantern and swelling black dome surmounted by a glittering crescent, is bathed in full sunlight; serene, proud, eloquent of a certain splendid simplicity. within, the light filters dimly through windows of stained glass and falls on marble columns, bronzed beams, mosaic walls, screens of wrought iron and carved wood. we walk as if through an interlaced forest and undergrowth of rich entangled colours. it all seems visionary, unreal, fantastic, until we climb the bench by the end of the inner screen and look upon the rock over which the dome is built. this is the real thing,--a plain gray limestone rock, level and fairly smooth, the unchanged summit of mount moriah. here the priest-king melchizedek offered sacrifice. here abraham, in the cruel fervour of his faith, was about to slay his only son isaac because he thought it would please jehovah. here araunah the jebusite threshed his corn on the smooth rock and winnowed it in the winds of the hilltop, until king david stepped over from mount zion, and bought the threshing-floor and the oxen of him for fifty shekels of silver, and built in this place an altar to the lord. here solomon erected his splendid temple and the chaldeans burned it. here zerubbabel built the second temple after the return of the jews from exile, and antiochus epiphanes desecrated it, and herod burned part of it and pulled down the rest. here herod built the third temple, larger and more magnificent than the first, and the soldiers of the emperor titus burned it. here the emperor hadrian built a temple to jupiter and himself, and some one, perhaps the christians, burned it. here mohammed came to pray, declaring that one prayer here was worth a thousand elsewhere. here the caliph omar built a little wooden mosque, and the caliph abd-el-melik replaced it with this great one of marble, and the crusaders changed it into a christian temple, and saladin changed it back again into a mosque. this haram-esh-sherîf is the second holiest place in the moslem world. hither come the mohammedan pilgrims by thousands, for the sake of mohammed. hither come the christian pilgrims by thousands, for the sake of him who said: "neither in this mountain nor in jerusalem shall ye worship the father." hither the jewish pilgrims never come, for fear their feet may unwittingly tread upon "the holy of holies," and defile it; but they creep outside of the great inclosure, in the gloomy trench beside the foundation stones of the wall, mourning and lamenting for the majesty that is departed and the temple that is ground to powder. but amid all these changes and perturbations, here stands the good old limestone rock, the threshing-floor of araunah, the capstone of the hill, waiting for the sun to shine and the dews to fall on it once more, as they did when the foundations of the earth were laid. the legend says that you can hear the waters of the flood roaring in an abyss underneath the rock. i laid my ear against the rugged stone and listened. what sound? was it the voice of turbulent centuries and the lapsing tides of men? ii golgotha "we ought to go again to the church of the holy sepulchre," said the lady in a voice of dutiful reminder, "we have not half seen it." so we went down to the heart of jerusalem and entered the labyrinthine shrine. the motley crowd in the paved quadrangle in front of the double-arched doorway were buying and selling, bickering and chaffering and chattering as usual. within the portal, on a slightly raised platform to the left, the turkish guardians of the holy places and keepers of the peace between christians were seated among their rugs and cushions, impassive, indolent, dignified, drinking their coffee or smoking their tobacco, conversing gravely or counting the amber beads of their comboloios. the sultan owns the holy sepulchre; but he is a liberal host and permits all factions of christendom to visit it and celebrate their rites in turn, provided only they do not beat or kill one another in their devotions. we saw his silent sentinels of tolerance scattered in every part of the vast, confused edifice. the interior was dim and shadowy. opposite the entrance was the stone of unction, a marble slab on which it is said the body of christ was anointed when it was taken down from the cross. pilgrim after pilgrim came kneeling to this stone, and bending to kiss it, beneath the latin, greek, armenian and coptic lamps which hang above it by silver chains. the chapel of the crucifixion was on our right, above us, in the second story of the church. we climbed the steep flight of stairs and stood in a little room, close, obscure, crowded with lamps and icons and candelabra, incrusted with ornaments of gold and silver, full of strange odours and glimmerings of mystic light. there, they told us, in front of that rich altar was the silver star which marked the place in the rock where the holy cross stood. and on either side of it were the sockets which received the crosses of the two thieves. and a few feet away, covered by a brass slide, was the cleft in the rock which was made by the earthquake. it was lined with slabs of reddish marble and looked nearly a foot deep. priests in black robes and tall, cylindrical hats, and others with brown robes, rope girdles and tonsured heads, were coming and going around us. pilgrims were climbing and descending the stairs, kneeling and murmuring unintelligible devotions, kissing the star and the cleft in the rock and the icons. underneath us, though we were supposed to stand on the hill called golgotha, were the offices of the greek clergy and the chapel of adam. we went around from chapel to chapel; into the opulent greek cathedral where they show the "centre of the world"; into the bare little chapel of the syrians where they show the tombs of nicodemus and joseph of arimathæa; into the chapel of the apparition where the franciscans say that christ appeared to his mother after the resurrection. there was sweet singing in this chapel and a fragrant smell of incense. we went into the chapel of saint helena, underground, which belongs to the greeks; into the chapel of the parting of the raiment which belongs to the armenians. we were impartial in our visitation, but we did not have time to see the abyssinian chapel, the coptic chapel of saint michael, nor the church of abraham where the anglicans are allowed to celebrate the eucharist twice a month. the centre of all this maze of creeds, ceremonies and devotions is the chapel of the holy sepulchre, a little edifice of precious marbles, carved and gilded, standing beneath the great dome of the church, in the middle of a rotunda surrounded by marble pillars. we bought and lighted our waxen tapers and waited for a lull in the stream of pilgrims to enter the shrine. first we stood in the vestibule with its tall candelabra; then in the angels' chapel, with its fifteen swinging lamps, making darkness visible; then, stooping through a low doorway, we came into the tiny chamber, six feet square, which is said to contain the rock-hewn tomb in which the saviour of the world was buried. mass is celebrated here daily by different christian sects. pilgrims, rich and poor, come hither from all parts of the habitable globe. they kneel beneath the three-and-forty pendent lamps of gold and silver. they kiss the worn slab of marble which covers the tombstone, some of them smiling with joy, some of them weeping bitterly, some of them with quiet, business-like devotion as if they were performing a duty. the priest of their faith blesses them, sprinkles the relics which they lay on the altar with holy water, and one by one the pilgrims retire backward through the low portal. i saw a russian peasant, sad-eyed, wrinkled, bent with many sorrows, lay his cheek silently on the tombstone with a look on his face as if he were a child leaning against his mother's breast. i saw a little barefoot boy of jerusalem, with big, serious eyes, come quickly in, and try to kiss the stone; but it was too high for him, so he kissed his hand and laid it upon the altar. i saw a young nun, hardly more than a girl, slender, pale, dark-eyed, with a noble italian face, shaken with sobs, the tears running down her cheeks, as she bent to touch her lips to the resting-place of the friend of sinners. this, then, is the way in which the craving for penitence, for reverence, for devotion, for some utterance of the nameless thirst and passion of the soul leads these pilgrims. this is the form in which the divine mystery of sacrificial sorrow and death appeals to them, speaks to their hearts and comforts them. could any christian of whatever creed, could any son of woman with a heart to feel the trouble and longing of humanity, turn his back upon that altar? must i not go away from that mysterious little room as the others had gone, with my face toward the stone of remembrance, stooping through the lowly door? and yet--and yet in my deepest heart i was thirsty for the open air, the blue sky, the pure sunlight, the tranquillity of large and silent spaces. the lady went with me across the crowded quadrangle into the cool, clean, quiet german church of the redeemer. we climbed to the top of the lofty bell tower. jerusalem lay at our feet, with its network of streets and lanes, archways and convent walls, domes small and great--the black dome of the rock in the centre of its wide inclosure, the red dome and the green dome of the jewish synagogues on mount zion, the seven gilded domes of the russian church of saint mary magdalen, a hundred tiny domes of dwelling-houses, and right in front of us the yellow dome of the greek "centre of the world" and the black dome of the holy sepulchre. the quadrangle was still full of people buying and selling, but the murmur of their voices was faint and far away, less loud than the twittering of the thousands of swallows that soared and circled, with glistening of innumerable blue-black wings and soft sheen of white breasts, in the tender light of sunset above the façade of the gray old church. westward the long ridge of olivet was bathed in the rays of the declining sun. northward, beyond the city-gate, the light fell softly on a little rocky hill, shaped like a skull, the ancient place of stoning for those whom the cruel city had despised and rejected and cast out. at the foot of that eminence there is a quiet garden and a tomb hewn in the rock. rosemary and rue grow there, roses and lilies; birds sing among the trees. is not that little rounded hill, still touched with the free light of heaven, still commanding a clear outlook over the city to the mount of olives--is not that the true golgotha, where christ was lifted up? as we were thinking of this we saw a man come out on the roof of the greek "centre of the world," and climb by a ladder up the side of the huge dome. he went slowly and carefully, yet with confidence, as if the task were familiar. he carried a lantern in one hand. he was going to the top of the dome to light up the great cross for the night. we spoke no word, but each knew the thought that was in the other's heart. wherever the crucifixion took place, it was surely in the open air, beneath the wide sky, and the cross that stood on golgotha has become the light at the centre of the world's night. _a psalm of the unseen altar_ _man the maker of cities is also a builder of altars: among his habitations he setteth tables for his god._ _he bringeth the beauty of the rocks to enrich them: marble and alabaster, porphyry, jasper and jade._ _he cometh with costly gifts to offer an oblation: he would buy favour with the fairest of his flock._ _around the many altars i hear strange music arising: loud lamentations and shouting and singing and sighs._ _i perceive also the pain and terror of their sacrifices: i see the white marble wet with tears and with blood._ _then i said, these are the altars of ignorance: yet they are built by thy children, o god, who know thee not._ _surely thou wilt have pity upon them and lead them: hast thou not prepared for them a table of peace?_ _then the lord mercifully sent his angel forth to lead me: he led me through the temples, the holy place that is hidden._ _lo, there are multitudes kneeling in the silence of the spirit: they are kneeling at the unseen altar of the lowly heart._ _here is plentiful forgiveness for the souls that are forgiving: and the joy of life is given unto all who long to give._ _here a father's hand upholdeth all who bear each other's burdens: and the benediction falleth upon all who pray in love._ _surely this is the altar where the penitent find pardon: and the priest who hath blessed it forever is the holy one of god._ vii jericho and jordan i "going down to jericho" in the memory of every visitor to jerusalem the excursion to jericho is a vivid point. for this is the one trip which everybody makes, and it is a convention of the route to regard it as a perilous and exciting adventure. perhaps it is partly this flavour of a not-too-dangerous danger, this shivering charm of a hazard to be taken without too much risk, that attracts the average tourist, prudently romantic, to make the journey to the lowest inhabited town in the world. jericho has always had an ill name. weak walls, weak hearts, weak morals were its early marks. sweltering on the rich plain of the lower jordan, eight hundred feet below the sea, at the entrance of the two chief passes into the judean highlands, it was too indolent or cowardly to maintain its own importance. stanley called it "the key of palestine"; but it was only a latch which any bold invader could lift. the people of jericho were famous for light fingers and lively feet, great robbers and runners-away. joshua blotted the city out with a curse; five centuries later hiel the bethelite rebuilt it with the bloody sacrifice of his two sons. antony gave it to cleopatra, and herod bought it from her for a winter palace, where he died. nothing fine or brave, so far as i can remember, is written of any of its inhabitants, except the good deed of rahab, a harlot, and the honest conduct of zacchæus, a publican. to this day, at the _tables d'hôte_ of jerusalem the name of jericho stirs up a little whirlwind of bad stories and warnings. last night we were dining with friends at one of the hotels, and the usual topic came up for discussion. imagine what followed. "that jericho road is positively frightful," says a british female tourist in lace cap, lilac ribbons and a maroon poplin dress, "the heat is most extr'ordinary!" "no food fit to eat at the hotel," grumbles her husband, a rosy, bald-headed man in plaid knickerbockers, "no bottled beer; beastly little hole!" "a voyage of the most fatiguing, of the most perilous, i assure you," says a little frenchman with a forked beard. "but i rejoice myself of the adventure, of the romance accomplished." "i want to know," piped a lady in a green shirt-waist from andover, mass., "is there really and truly any danger?" "i guess not for us," answers the dominating voice of the conductor of her party. "there's always a bunch of robbers on that road, but i have hired the biggest man of the bunch to take care of us. just wait till you see that dandy sheikh in his best clothes; he looks like a museum of old weapons." "have you heard," interposed a lady-like clergyman on the other side of the table, with gold-rimmed spectacles gleaming above his high, black waistcoat, "what happened on the jericho road, week before last? an english gentleman, of very good family, imprudently taking a short cut, became separated from his companions. the bedouins fell upon him, beat him quite painfully, deprived him of his watch and several necessary garments, and left him prostrate upon the earth, in an embarrassingly denuded condition. just fancy! was it not perfectly shocking?" (the clergyman's voice was full of delicious horror.) "but, after all," he resumed with a beaming smile, "it was most scriptural, you know, quite like a providential confirmation of holy writ!" "most unpleasant for the englishman," growls the man in knickerbockers. "but what can you expect under this rotten turkish government?" "i know a story about jericho," begins a gentleman from colorado, with a hay-coloured moustache and a droop in his left eyelid--and then follows a series of tales about that ill-reputed town and the road thither, which leave the lady in the lace cap gasping, and the man with the forked beard visibly swelling with pride at having made the journey, and the little woman in the green shirt-waist quivering with exquisite fears and mentally clinging with both arms to the personal conductor of her party, who looks becomingly virile, and exchanges a surreptitious wink with the gentleman from colorado. of course, i am not willing to make an affidavit to the correctness of every word in this conversation; but i can testify that it fairly represents the _jericho-motif_ as you may hear it played almost any night in the jerusalem hotels. it sounded to us partly like an echo of ancient legends kept alive by dragomans and officials for purposes of revenue, and partly like an outcrop of the hysterical habit in people who travel in flocks and do nothing without much palaver. in our quiet camp, george the bethlehemite assured us that the sheikhs were "humbugs," and an escort of soldiers a nuisance. so we placidly made our preparations to ride on the morrow, with no other safeguards than our friendly dispositions and a couple of excellent american revolvers. but it was no brief _ausflug_ to jericho and return that we had before us: it was the beginning of a long and steady ride, weeks in the saddle, from six to nine hours a day. imagine us then, morning after morning, mounting somewhere between six and eight o'clock, according to the weather and the length of the journey, and jingling out of camp, followed at a discreet distance by youssouf on his white pony with the luncheon, and paris on his tiny donkey, tiddly-winks. about noon, sometimes a little earlier, sometimes a little later, the white pony catches up with us, and the tent and the rugs are spread for the midday meal and the _siesta_. it may be in our dreams, or while the lady is reading from some pleasant book, or while the smoke of the afternoon pipe of peace is ascending, that we hear the musical bells of our long baggage-train go by us on the way to our night-quarters. the evening ride is always shorter than the morning, sometimes only an hour or two in the saddle; and at the end of it there is the surprise of a new camp ground, the comfortable tents, the refreshing bath tub, the quiet dinner by sunset-glow or candle-light. then a bit of friendly talk over the walnuts and the "treasure of zion"; a cup of fragrant turkish coffee; and george enters the door of the tent to report on the condition of things in general, and to discuss the plan of the next day's journey. ii the good samaritan's road it is strange how every day, no matter in what mood of merry jesting or practical modernity we set out, an hour of riding in the open air brings us back to the mystical charm of the holy land and beneath the spell of its memories and dreams. the wild hillsides, the flowers of the field, the shimmering olive-groves, the brown villages, the crumbling ruins, the deep-blue sky, subdue us to themselves and speak to us "rememberable things." we pass down the valley of the brook kidron, where no water ever flows; and through the crowd of beggars and loiterers and pilgrims at the crossroads; and up over the shoulder of the mount of olives, past the wide-spread jewish burying-ground, where we take our last look at the towers and domes and minarets and walls of jerusalem. the road descends gently, on the other side of the hill, to bethany, a disconsolate group of hovels. the sweet home of mary and martha is gone. it is a waste of time to look at the uncertain ruins which are shown here as sacred sites. look rather at the broad landscape eastward and southward, the luminous blue sky, the joyful little flowers on the rocky slopes,--these are unchanged. not far beyond bethany, the road begins to drop, with great windings, into a deep, desolate valley, crowded with pilgrims afoot and on donkey-back and in ramshackle carriages,--russians and greeks returning from their sacred bath in the jordan. here and there, at first, we can see a shepherd with his flock upon the haggard hillside. "as for the grass, it grew as scant as hair in leprosy." once the patriarch and i, scrambling on foot down a short-cut, think we see a bedouin waiting for us behind a rock, with his long gun over his shoulder; but it turns out to be only a brown little peasant girl, ragged and smiling, watching her score of lop-eared goats. as the valley descends the landscape becomes more and more arid and stricken. the heat broods over it like a disease. "i think i never saw such starved, ignoble nature; nothing throve; for flowers--as well expect a cedar grove!" we might be on the way with childe roland to the dark tower. but instead we come, about noon, through a savage glen beset with blood-red rocks and honeycombed with black caves on the other side of the ravine, to the so-called "inn of the good samaritan." the local colour of the parable surrounds us. here is a fitting scene for such a drama of lawless violence, cowardly piety, and unconventional mercy. in these caverns robbers could hide securely. on this wild road their victim might lie and bleed to death. by these paths across the glen the priest and the levite could "pass by on the other side," discreetly turning their heads away from any interruption to their selfish duties. and in some such wayside khân as this, standing like a lonely fortress among the sun-baked hills, the friendly half-heathen from samaria could safely leave the stranger whom he had rescued, provided he paid at least a part of his lodging in advance. we eat our luncheon in one of the three big, disorderly rooms of the inn, and go on, in the cool of the afternoon, toward jericho. the road still descends steeply, among ragged and wrinkled hills. on our left we look down into the wâdi el-kelt, a gloomy gorge five or six hundred feet deep, with a stream of living water singing between its prison walls. tradition calls this the brook cherith, where elijah hid himself from ahab, and was fed by arabs of a tribe called "the ravens." but the prophet's hiding-place was certainly on the other side of the jordan, and this wâdi is probably the valley of achor, spoken of in the book of joshua. on the opposite side of the cañon, half-way down the face of the precipice, clings the monastery of saint george, one of the pious penitentiaries to which the greek church assigns unruly and criminal monks. [illustration: great monastery of st. george.] as we emerge from the narrow valley a great view opens before us: to the right, the blue waters of the dead sea, like a mirror of burnished steel; in front, the immense plain of the jordan, with the dark-green ribbon of the river-jungle winding through its length and the purple mountains of gilead and moab towering beyond it; to the left, the furrowed gray and yellow ridges and peaks of the northern "wilderness" of judea, the wild country into which jesus retired alone after the baptism by john in the jordan. one of these peaks, the quarantana, is supposed to be the "high mountain" from which the tempter showed jesus the "kingdoms of the world." in the foreground of that view, sweeping from the snowy summits of hermon in the north, past the greek cities of pella and scythopolis, down the vast valley with its wealth of palms and balsams, must have stood the roman city of jericho, with its imperial farms and the palaces, baths and theatres of herod the great,--a visible image of what christ might have won for himself if he had yielded to the temptation and turned from the pathway of spiritual light to follow the shadows of earthly power and glory. herod's jericho has vanished; there is nothing left of it but the outline of one of the great pools which he built to irrigate his gardens. the modern jericho is an unhappy little adobe village, lying a mile or so farther to the east. a mile to the north, near a copious fountain of pure water, called the sultan's spring, is the site of the oldest jericho, which joshua conquered and hiel rebuilt. the spring, which is probably the same that elisha cleansed with salt (ii kings ii: - ), sends forth a merry stream to turn a mill and irrigate a group of gardens full of oranges, figs, bananas, grapes, feathery bamboos and rosy oleanders. but the ancient city is buried under a great mound of earth, which the german _palästina-verein_ is now excavating. as we come up to the mound i pull out my little camera and prepare to take a picture of the hundred or so dusty arabs--men, women and children--who are at work in the trenches. a german _gelehrter_ in a very excited state rushes up to me and calls upon me to halt, in the name of the emperor. the taking of pictures by persons not imperially authorised is _streng verboten_. he is evidently prepared to be abusive, if not actually violent, until i assure him, in the best german that i can command, that i have no political or archæological intentions, and that if the photographing of his picturesque work-people to him displeasing is, i will my camera immediately in its pocket put. this mollifies him, and he politely shows us what he is doing. a number of ruined houses, and a sort of central temple, with a rude flight of steps leading up to it, have been discovered. a portion of what seems to be the city-wall has just been laid bare. if there are any inscriptions or relics of any value they are kept secret; but there is plenty of broken pottery of a common kind. it is all very poor and beggarly looking; no carving nor even any hewn stones. the buildings seem to be of rubble, and "the walls of jericho" are little better than the stone fences on a connecticut farm. no wonder they fell down at the blast of joshua's rams' horns and the rush of his fierce tribesmen. we ride past the gardens and through the shady lanes to our camp, on the outskirts of the modern village. the air is heavy and languid, full of relaxing influence, an air of sloth and luxury, seeming to belong to some strange region below the level of human duty and effort as far as it is below the level of the sea. the fragrance of the orange-blossoms, like a subtle incense of indulgence, floats on the evening breeze. veiled figures pass us in the lanes, showing lustrous eyes. a sound of oriental music and laughter and clapping hands comes from one of the houses in an inclosure hedged with acacia-trees. we sit in the door of our tent at sundown and dream of the vanished palm-groves, the gardens of cleopatra, the palaces of herod, the soft, ignoble history of that region of fertility and indolence, rich in harvests, poor in manhood. then it seems as if some one were saying, "i will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help." there they stand, all about us: eastward, the great purple ranges of gad and reuben, from which elijah the tishbite descended to rebuke and warn israel; westward, against the saffron sky, the ridges and peaks of judea, among which amos and jeremiah saw their lofty visions; northward, the clear-cut pinnacle of sartoba, and far away beyond it the dim outlines of the galilean hills from which jesus of nazareth came down to open blind eyes and to shepherd wandering souls. with the fading of the sunset glow a deep blue comes upon all the mountains, a blue which strangely seems to grow paler as the sky above them darkens, sinking down upon them through infinite gradations of azure into something mysterious and indescribable, not a color, not a shadow, not a light, but a secret hyaline illumination which transforms them into aerial battlements and ramparts, on whose edge the great stars rest and flame, the watch-fires of the eternal. iii "passing over jordan" i have often wondered why the jordan, which plays such an important part in the history of the hebrews, receives so little honour and praise in their literature. sentimental travellers and poets of other races have woven a good deal of florid prose and verse about the name of this river. there is no doubt that it is the chief stream of palestine, the only one, in fact, that deserves to be called a river. yet the bible has no song of loving pride for the jordan; no tender and beautiful words to describe it; no record of the longing of exiled jews to return to the banks of their own river and hear again the voice of its waters. at this strange silence i have wondered much, not knowing the reason of it. now i know. the jordan is not a little river to be loved: it is a barrier to be passed over. from its beginning in the marshes of huleh to its end in the dead sea, (excepting only the lovely interval of the lake of galilee), this river offers nothing to man but danger and difficulty, perplexity and trouble. fierce and sullen and intractable, it flows through a long depression, at the bottom of which it has dug for itself a still deeper crooked ditch, along the eastern border of galilee and samaria and judea, as if it wished to cut them off completely. there are no pleasant places along its course, no breezy forelands where a man might build a house with a fair outlook over flowing water, no rich and tranquil coves where the cattle would love to graze, or stand knee-deep in the quiet stream. there is no sense of leisure, of refreshment, of kind companionship and friendly music about the jordan. it is in a hurry and a secret rage. yet there is something powerful, self-reliant, inevitable about it. in thousands of years it has changed less than any river in the world. it is a flowing, everlasting symbol of division, of separation: a river of solemn meetings and partings like that of elijah and elisha, of jesus and john the baptist: a type of the narrow stream of death. it seems to say to man, "cross me if you will, if you can; and then go your way." the road that leads us from jericho toward the river is pleasant enough, at first, for the early sunlight is gentle and caressing, and there is a cool breeze moving across the plain. it is hard to believe that we are eight hundred feet below the sea this morning, and still travelling downward. the lush fields of barley, watered by many channels from the brook kelt, are waving and glistening around us. quails are running along the edge of the road, appearing and disappearing among the thick grain-stalks. the bulbuls warble from the thorn-bushes, and a crested hoopoo croons in a jujube-tree. larks are on the wing, scattering music. we are on the upper edge of that great belt of sunken land between the mountains of gilead and the mountains of ephraim and judah, which reaches from the lake of galilee to the dead sea, and which the arabs call _el-ghôr_, the "rift." it is a huge trench, from three to fourteen miles wide, sinking from six hundred feet below the level of the mediterranean, at the northern end, to thirteen hundred feet below, at the southern end. the surface is fairly level, sloping gently from each side toward the middle, and the soil is of an inexhaustible fertility, yielding abundant crops wherever it is patiently irrigated from the streams which flow out of the mountains east and west, but elsewhere lying baked and arid under the heavy, close, feverous air. no strong race has ever inhabited this trench as a home; no great cities have ever grown here, and its civilization, such as it had, was a hot-bed product, soon ripe and quickly rotten. we have passed beyond the region of greenness already; the little water-brooks have ceased to gleam through the grain: the wild grasses and weeds have a parched and yellow look: the freshness of the early morning has vanished, and we are descending through a desolate land of sour and leprous hills of clay and marl, eroded by the floods into fantastic shapes, furrowed and scarred and scabbed with mineral refuse. the gullies are steep and narrow: the heat settles on them like a curse. through this battered and crippled region, the centre of the jordan valley, runs the jordan bed, twisting like a big green serpent. a dense half-tropical jungle, haunted by wild beasts and poisonous reptiles and insects, conceals, almost at every point, the down-rushing, swirling, yellow flood. it has torn and desolated its own shores with sudden spates. the feet of the pilgrims who bathe in it sink into the mud as they wade out waist-deep, and if they venture beyond the shelter of the bank the whirling eddies threaten to sweep them away. the fords are treacherous, with shifting bottom and changing currents. the poets and prophets of the old testament give us a true idea of this uninhabitable and unlovable river-bed when they speak of "the pride of jordan," "the swellings of jordan," where the lion hides among the reeds in his secret lair, a "refuge of lies," which the "overflowing scourge" shall sweep away. no, it was not because the jordan was beautiful that john the baptist chose it as the scene of his preaching and ministry, but because it was wild and rude, an emblem of violent and sudden change, of irrevocable parting, of death itself, and because in its one gift of copious and unfailing water, he found the necessary element for his deep baptism of repentance, in which the sinful past of the crowd who followed him was to be symbolically immersed and buried and washed away. at the place where we reach the water there is an open bit of ground; a miserable hovel gives shelter to two or three turkish soldiers; an ungainly latticed bridge, stilted on piles of wood, straddles the river with a single span. the toll is three piastres, (about twelve cents,) for a man and horse. the only place from which i can take a photograph of the river is the bridge itself, so i thrust the camera through one of the diamond-shaped openings on the lattice-work and try to make a truthful record of the lower jordan at its best. imagine the dull green of the tangled thickets, the ragged clumps of reeds and water-grasses, the sombre and silent flow of the fulvous water sliding and curling down out of the jungle, and the implacable fervour of the pallid, searching sunlight heightening every touch of ugliness and desolation, and you will understand why the hebrew poets sang no praise of the jordan, and why naaman the syrian thought scorn of it when he remembered the lovely and fruitful rivers of damascus. _a psalm of rivers_ _the rivers of god are full of water: they are wonderful in the renewal of their strength: he poureth them out from a hidden fountain._ _they are born among the hills in the high places: their cradle is in the bosom of the rocks: the mountain is their mother and the forest is their father._ _they are nourished among the long grasses: they receive the tribute of a thousand springs: the rain and the snow are a heritage for them._ _they are glad to be gone from their birthplace: with a joyful noise they hasten away: they are going forever and never departed._ _the courses of the rivers are all appointed: they roar loudly but they follow the road: the finger of god hath marked their pathway._ _the rivers of damascus rejoice among their gardens: the great river of egypt is proud of his ships: the jordan is lost in the lake of bitterness._ _surely the lord guideth them every one in his wisdom: in the end he gathereth all their drops on high: he sendeth them forth again in the clouds of mercy._ _o my god, my life runneth away like a river: guide me, i beseech thee, in a pathway of good: let me flow in blessing to my rest in thee._ viii a journey to jerash i through the land of gilead i never heard of jerash until my friend the archæologist told me about it, one night when we were sitting beside my study fire at avalon. "it is the site of the old city of gerasa," said he. "the most satisfactory ruins that i have ever seen." there was something suggestive and potent in that phrase, "satisfactory ruins." for what is it that weaves the charm of ruins? what do we ask of them to make their magic complete and satisfying? there must be an element of picturesqueness, certainly, to take the eye with pleasure in the contrast between the frailty of man's works and the imperishable loveliness of nature. there must also be an element of age; for new ruins are painful, disquieting, intolerable; they speak of violence and disorder; it is not until the bloom of antiquity gathers upon them that the relics of vast and splendid edifices attract us and subdue us with a spell, breathing tranquillity and noble thoughts. there must also be an element of magnificence in decay, of symmetry broken but not destroyed, a touch of delicate art and workmanship, to quicken the imagination and evoke the ghost of beauty haunting her ancient habitations. and beyond these things i think there must be two more qualities in a ruin that satisfies us: a clear connection with the greatness and glory of the past, with some fine human achievement, with some heroism of men dead and gone; and last of all, a spirit of mystery, the secret of some unexplained catastrophe, the lost link of a story never to be fully told. this, or something like it, was what the archæologist's phrase seemed to promise me as we watched the glowing embers on the hearth of avalon. and it is this promise that has drawn me, with my three friends, on this april day into the land of gilead, riding to jerash. the grotesque and rickety bridge by which we have crossed the jordan soon disappears behind us, as we trot along the winding bridle-path through the river-jungle, in the stifling heat. coming out on the open plain, which rises gently toward the east, we startle great flocks of storks into the air, and they swing away in languid circles, dappling the blaze of morning with their black-tipped wings. grotesque, ungainly, gothic birds, they do not seem to belong to the orient, but rather to have drifted hither out of some quaint, familiar fairy tale of the north; and indeed they are only transient visitors here, and will soon be on their way to build their nests on the roofs of german villages and clapper their long, yellow bills over the joy of houses full of little children. the rains of spring have spread a thin bloom of green over the plain. tender herbs and light grasses partly veil the gray and stony ground. there is a month of scattered feeding for the flocks and herds. away to the south, where the foot-hills begin to roll up suddenly from the jordan, we can see a black line of bedouin tents quivering through the heat. now the trail divides, and we take the northern fork, turning soon into the open mouth of the wâdi shaîb, a broad, grassy valley between high and treeless hills. the watercourse that winds down the middle of it is dry: nothing but a tumbled bed of gray rocks,--the bare bones of a little river. but as we ascend slowly the flowers increase; wild hollyhocks, and morning-glories, and clumps of blue anchusa, and scarlet adonis, and tall wands of white asphodel. the morning grows hotter and hotter as we plod along. presently we come up with three mounted arabs, riding leisurely. salutations are exchanged with gravity. then the arabs whisper something to each other and spur away at a great pace ahead of us--laughing. why did they laugh? ah, now we know. for here is a lofty cliff on one side of the valley, hanging over just far enough to make a strip of cool shade at its base, with ferns and deep grass and a glimmer of dripping water. and here our wise arabs are sitting at their ease to eat their mid-day meal under "the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." vainly we search the valley for another rock like that. it is the only one; and the arabs laughed because they knew it. we must content ourselves with this little hill where a few hawthorn bushes offer us tiny islets of shade, beset with thorns, and separated by straits of intolerable glare. here we eat a little, but without comfort; and sleep a little, but without refreshment; and talk a little, but restlessly. as soon as we dare, we get into the saddle again and toil up through the valley, now narrowing into a rugged gorge, crammed with ardent heat. the sprinkling of trees and bushes, the multitude of flowers, assure us that there must be moisture underground, along the bed of the stream; but above ground there is not a drop, and not a breath of wind to break the dead calm of the smothering air. why did we come into this heat-trap? but presently the ravine leads us, by steep stairs of rock, up to a high, green table-land. a heavenly breeze from the west is blowing here. the fields are full of flowers--red anemones, white and yellow daisies, pink flax, little blue bell-flowers--a hundred kinds. one knoll is covered with cyclamens; another with splendid purple iris, immense blossoms, so dark that they look almost black against the grass; but hold them up to the sun and you will see the imperial colour. we have never found such wild flowers, not even on the plain of sharon; the hills around jerusalem were but sparsely adorned in comparison with these highlands of bloom. and here are oak-trees, broad-limbed and friendly, clothed in glistening green. let us rest for a while in this cool shade and forget the misery of the blazing noon. below us lies the gray jordan valley and the steel-blue mirror of the dead sea; and across that gulf we see the furrowed mountains of judea and samaria, and far to the north the peaks of galilee. around us is the land of gilead, a rolling hill-country, with long ridges and broad summits, a rounded land, a verdurous land, a land of rich pasturage. there are deep valleys that cut into it and divide it up. but the main bulk of it is lifted high in the air, and spread out nobly to the visitations of the wind. and see--far away there, to the south, across the wádi nimrîn, a mountainside covered with wild trees, a real woodland, almost a forest! now we must travel on, for it is still a long way to our night-quarters at es salt. we pass several bedouin camps, the only kind of villages in this part of the world. the tents of goat's-hair are swarming with life. a score of ragged arab boys are playing hockey on the green with an old donkey's hoof for a ball. they yell with refreshing vigour, just like universal human boys. the trail grows steeper and more rocky, ascending apparently impossible places, and winding perilously along the cliffs above little vineyards and cultivated fields where men are ploughing. travel and traffic increase along this rude path, which is the only highway: evidently we are coming near to some place of importance. but where is es salt? for nine hours we have been in the saddle, riding steadily toward that mysterious metropolis of the belka, the only living city in the land of gilead; and yet there is no trace of it in sight. have we missed the trail? the mule-train with our tents and baggage passed us in the valley while we were sweltering under the hawthorns. it seems as if it must have vanished into the pastoral wilderness and left us travelling an endless road to nowhere. at last we top a rugged ridge and look down upon the solution of the mystery. es salt is a city that can be hid; for it is not set upon a hill, but tucked away in a valley that curves around three sides of a rocky eminence, and is sheltered from the view by higher ranges. who can tell how this city came here, hidden in this hollow place almost three thousand feet above the sea? who was its founder? what was its ancient name? it is a place without traditions, without antiquities, without a shrine of any kind; just a living town, thriving and prospering in its own dirty and dishevelled way, in the midst of a country of nomads, growing in the last twenty years from six thousand to fifteen thousand inhabitants, driving a busy trade with the surrounding country, exporting famous raisins and dye-stuff made from sumach, the seat of the turkish government of the belka, with a garrison and a telegraph office--decidedly a thriving town of to-day; yet without a road by which a carriage can approach it; and old, unmistakably old! the castle that crowns the eminence in the centre is a ruin of unknown date. the copious spring that gushes from the castle-hill must have invited men for many centuries to build their habitations around it. the gray houses seem to have slipped and settled down into the curving valley, and to have crowded one another up the opposite slopes, as if hundreds of generations had found here a hiding-place and a city of refuge. we ride through a mohammedan graveyard--unfenced, broken, neglected--and down a steep, rain-gulleyed hillside, into the filthy, narrow street. the people all have an arab look, a touch of the wildness of the desert in their eyes and their free bearing. there are many fine figures and handsome faces, some with auburn hair and a reddish hue showing through the bronze of their cheeks. they stare at us with undisguised curiosity and wonder, as if we came from a strange world. the swarthy merchants in the doors of their little shops, the half-veiled women in the lanes, the groups of idlers at the corners of the streets, watch us with a gaze which seems almost defiant. evidently tourists are a rarity here--perhaps an intrusion to be resented. we inquire whether our baggage-train has been seen, where our camp is pitched. no one knows, no one cares; until at last a ragged, smiling urchin, one of those blessed, ubiquitous boys who always know everything that happens in a town, offers to guide us. he trots ahead, full of importance, dodging through the narrow alleys, making the complete circuit of the castle-hill and leading us to the upper end of the eastern valley. here, among a few olive-trees beside the road, our white tents are standing, so close to an encampment of wandering gypsies that the tent-ropes cross. directly opposite rises a quarter of the town, tier upon tier of flat-roofed houses, every roof-top covered with people. a wild-looking crowd of visitors have gathered in the road. two soldiers, with the appearance of partially reformed brigands, are acting as our guard, and keeping the inquisitive spectators at a respectful distance. our mules and donkeys and horses are munching their supper in a row, tethered to a long rope in front of the tents. shukari, the cook, in his white cap and apron, is gravely intent upon the operation of his little charcoal range. youssouf, the major-domo, is setting the table with flowers and lighted candles in the dining-tent. after a while he comes to the door of our sleeping-tents to inform us, with due ceremony, that dinner is served; and we sit down to our repast in the midst of the swarming edomites and the wandering zingari as peacefully and properly as if we were dining at the savoy. the night darkens around us. lights twinkle, one above another, up the steep hillside of houses; above them are the tranquil stars, the lit windows of unknown habitations; and on the hill-top one great planet burns in liquid flame. the crowd melts away, chattering down the road; it forms again, from another quarter, and again dissolves. meaningless shouts and cries and songs resound from the hidden city. in the gypsy camp beside us insomnia reigns. a little forge is clinking and clanking. donkeys raise their antiphonal lament. dogs salute the stars in chorus. first a leader, far away, lifts a wailing, howling, shrieking note; then the mysterious unrest that torments the bosom of oriental dogdom breaks loose in a hundred, a thousand answering voices, swelling into a yapping, growling, barking, yelling discord. a sudden silence cuts the tumult short, until once more the unknown misery, (or is it the secret joy), of the canine heart bursts out in long-drawn dissonance. from the road and from the tents of the gypsies various human voices are sounding close around us all the night. through our confused dreams and broken sleep we strangely seem to catch fragments of familiar speech, phrases of english or french or german. then, waking and listening, we hear men muttering and disputing, women complaining or soothing their babies, children quarrelling or calling to each other, in arabic, or romany--not a word that we can understand--voices that tell us only that we are in a strange land, and very far away from home, camping in the heart of a wild city. ii over the brook jabbok after such a night the morning is welcome, as it breaks over the eastern hill behind us, with rosy light creeping slowly down the opposite slope of houses. before the sunbeams have fairly reached the bottom of the valley we are in the saddle, ready to leave es salt without further exploration. there is a general monotony about this riding through palestine which yet leaves room for a particular variety of the most entrancing kind. every day is like every other in its main outline, but the details are infinitely uncertain--always there is something new, some touch of a distinct and memorable charm. to-day it is the sense of being in the country of the nomads, the tent-dwellers, the masters of innumerable flocks and herds, whose wealth goes wandering from pasture to pasture, bleating and lowing and browsing and multiplying over the open moorland beneath the blue sky. this is the prevailing impression of this day: and the symbol of it is the thin, quavering music of the pastoral pipe, following us wherever we go, drifting tremulously and plaintively down from some rock on the hillside, or floating up softly from some hidden valley, where a brown shepherd or goatherd is minding his flock with music. what quaint and rustic melodies are these! wild and unfamiliar to our ears; yet doubtless the same wandering airs that were played by the sons and servants of jacob when he returned from his twenty years of profitable exile in haran with his rich wages of sheep and goats and cattle and wives and maid-servants, the fruit of his hard labour and shrewd bargaining with his father-in-law laban, and passed cautiously through gilead on his way to the promised land. on the highland to the east of es salt we see a fine herd of horses, brood-mares and foals. a little farther on, we come to a muddy pond or tank at which a drove of asses are drinking. a steep and winding path, full of loose stones, leads us down into a grassy, oval plain, a great cup of green, eight or ten miles long and five or six miles wide, rimmed with bare hills from five to eight hundred feet high. this, we conjecture, is the fertile basin of el buchaia, or bekaa. bedouin farmers are ploughing the rich, reddish soil. their black tent-villages are tucked away against the feet of the surrounding hills. the broad plain itself is without sign of human dwelling, except that near each focus of the ellipse there is a pile of shattered ruins with a crumbling, solitary tower, where a shepherd sits piping to his lop-eared flock. in one place we pass through a breeding-herd of camels, browsing on the short grass. the old ones are in the process of the spring moulting; their thick, matted hair is peeling off in large flakes, like fragments of a ragged, moth-eaten coat. the young ones are covered with pearl-gray wool, soft and almost downy, like gigantic goslings with four legs. (what is the word for a young camel, i wonder; is it camelet or camelot?) but young and old have a family resemblance of ugliness. the camel is the most ungainly and stupid of god's useful beasts--an awkward necessity--the humpbacked ship of the desert. the arabs have a story which runs thus: "what did allah say when he had finished making the camel? he couldn't say anything; he just looked at the camel, and laughed, and laughed!" but in spite of his ridiculous appearance the camel seems satisfied with himself; in fact there is an expression of supreme contempt in his face when he droops his pendulous lower lip and wrinkles his nose, which has led the arabs to tell another story about him: "why does the camel despise his master? because man knows only the ninety-nine common names of allah; but the hundredth name, the wonderful name, the beautiful name, is a secret revealed to the camel alone. therefore he scorns the whole race of men." the cattle that feed around the edges of this peaceful plain are small and nimble, as if they were used to long, rough journeys. the prevailing colour is black, or rusty brown. they are evidently of a degenerate and played-out stock. even the heifers are used for ploughing, and they look but little larger than the donkeys which are often yoked beside them. they come around the grassy knoll when our luncheon-tent is pitched, and stare at us very much as the people stared in es salt. in the afternoon we pass over the rim of the broad vale and descend a narrower ravine, where oaks and terebinths, laurels and balsams, pistachios and almonds are growing. the grass springs thick and lush, tall weeds and trailing vines appear, a murmur of flowing water is heard under the tangled herbage at the bottom of the wâdi. presently we are following a bright little brook, crossing and recrossing it as it leads us toward our camp-ground. there are the tents, standing in a line on the flowery bank of the brook, across the water from the trail. a few steps lower down there is a well-built stone basin with a copious spring gushing into it from the hillside under an arched roof. here the people of the village, (which is somewhere near us on the mountain, but out of sight), come to fill their pitchers and water-skins, and to let their cattle and donkeys drink. all through the late afternoon they are coming and going, plashing through the shallow ford below us, enjoying the cool, clear water, disappearing along the foot-paths that lead among the hills. these are very different cattle from the herds we saw among the bedouins a couple of hours ago; fine large creatures, well bred and well fed, some cream-coloured, some red, some belted with white. and these men who follow them, on foot or on horseback, truculent looking fellows with blue eyes and light hair and broad faces, clad in long, close-fitting tunics, with belts around their waists and small black caps of fur, some of them with high boots--who are they? they are some of the circassian immigrants who were driven out of russia by the czar after the russo-turkish war of , and deported again after the bulgarian atrocities, and whom the turkish government has colonized through eastern palestine on land given by the sultan. nobody really knows to whom the land belongs, i suppose; but the bedouins have had the habit, for many centuries, of claiming and using it as they pleased for their roaming flocks and herds. now these northern invaders are taking and holding the most fertile places, the best springs, the fields that are well watered through the year. therefore the arab hates the circassian, though he be of the same religion, far more than he hates the christian, almost as much as he hates the turk. but the circassian can take care of himself; he is a fierce and hardy fighter; and in his rude way he understands how to make farming and stock-raising pay. indeed, this land of gilead is a region in which twenty times the present population, if they were industrious and intelligent and had good government, might prosper. no wonder that the tribe of gad and reuben and the half-tribe of manasseh, on the way to canaan, "when they saw the land of jazer and the land of gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle," (numbers xxxii) fell in love with it, and besought moses that they might have their inheritance there, and not westward of the jordan. no wonder that they recrossed the river after they had helped joshua to conquer the canaanites, and settled in this high country, so much fairer and more fertile than judea, or even than samaria. it was here, in , that laurence oliphant, the gifted english traveller and mystic, proposed to establish his fine scheme for the beginning of the restoration of the jews to palestine. a territory extending from the brook of jabbok on the north to the brook of arnon on the south, from the jordan valley on the west to the arabian desert on the east; railways running up from the sea at haifâ, and down from damascus, and southward to the gulf of akabah, and across to ismailia on the suez canal; a government of local autonomy guaranteed and protected by the sublime porte; sufficient capital supplied by the jewish bankers of london and paris and berlin and vienna; and the outcasts of israel gathered from all the countries where they are oppressed, to dwell together in peace and plenty, tending sheep and cattle, raising fruit and grain, pressing out wine and oil, and supplying the world with the balm of gilead--such was oliphant's beautiful dream. but it did not come true; because russia did not like it, because turkey was afraid of it, because the rest of europe did not care for it,--and perhaps because the jews themselves were not generally enthusiastic over it. perhaps the majority of them would rather stay where they are. perhaps they do not yearn passionately for palestine and the simple life. but it is not of these things that we are thinking, i must confess, as the ruddy sun slowly drops toward the heights of pennel, and we stroll out in the evening glow, along the edge of the wild ravine into which our little stream plunges, and look down into the deep, grand valley of the brook jabbok. yonder, on the other side of the great gulf of heliotrope shadow, stretches the long bulk of the jebel ajlûn, shaggy with oak-trees. it was somewhere on the slopes of that wooded mountain that one of the most tragic battles of the world was fought. for there the army of absalom went out to meet the army of his father david. "and the battle was spread over the face of all the country, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured." it was there that the young man absalom rode furiously upon his mule, "and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between heaven and earth." and a man came and told joab, the captain of david's host, "behold i saw absalom hanging in the midst of an oak." then joab made haste; "and he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of absalom while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak." and when the news came to david, sitting in the gate of the city of mahanaim, he went up into the chamber over the gate and wept bitterly, crying, "would i had died for thee, o absalom, my son!" (ii samuel xviii.) to remember a story like that is to feel the pathos with which man has touched the face of nature. but there is another story, more mystical, more beautiful, which belongs to the scene upon which we are looking. down in the purple valley, where the smooth meadows spread so fair, and the little river curves and gleams through the thickets of oleander, somewhere along that flashing stream is the place where jacob sent his wives and his children, his servants and his cattle, across the water in the darkness, and there remained all night long alone, for "there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day." who was this "man" with whom the patriarch contended at midnight, and to whom he cried, "i will not let thee go except thou bless me"? on the morrow jacob was to meet his fierce and powerful brother esau, whom he had wronged and outwitted, from whom he had stolen the birthright blessing twenty years before. was it the prospect of this dreaded meeting that brought upon jacob the night of lonely struggle by the brook jabbok? was it the promise of reconciliation with his brother that made him say at dawn, "i have seen god face to face, and my life is saved"? was it the unexpected friendliness and gentleness of that brother in the encounter of the morning that inspired jacob's cry, "i have seen _thy face as one seeth the face of god_, and thou wast pleased with me"? yes, that _is_ what the old story means, in its oriental imagery. the midnight wrestling is the pressure of human enmity and strife. the morning peace is the assurance of human forgiveness and love. the face of god seen in the face of human kindness--that is the sunrise vision of the brook jabbok. such are the thoughts with which we fall asleep in our tents beside the murmuring brook of er rumman. early the next morning we go down, and down, and down, by ledge and terrace and grassy slope, into the vale of jabbok. it is sixty miles long, beginning on the edge of the mountain of moab, and curving eastward, northward, westward, south-westward, between gilead and ajlûn, until it opens into the jordan valley. here is the famous little river, a swift, singing current of gray-blue water--nahr ez-zerka "blue river," the arabs call it--dashing and swirling merrily between the thickets of willows and tamaracks and oleanders that border it. the ford is rather deep, for the spring flood is on; but our horses splash through gaily, scattering the water around them in showers which glitter in the sunshine. is this the brook beside which a man once met god? yes--and by many another brook too. iii the ruins of gerasa we are coming now into the region of the decapolis, the greek cities which sprang up along the eastern border of palestine after the conquests of alexander the great. they were trading cities, undoubtedly, situated on the great roads which led from the east across the desert to the jordan valley, and so, converging upon the plain of esdraelon, to the mediterranean sea and to greece and italy. their wealth tempted the jewish princes of the hasmonean line to conquer and plunder them; but the roman general pompey restored their civic liberties, b.c. , and caused them to be rebuilt and strengthened. by the beginning of the christian era, they were once more rich and flourishing, and a league was formed of ten municipalities, with certain rights of communal and local government, under the protection and suzerainty of the roman empire. the ten cities which originally composed this confederacy for mutual defence and the development of their trade, were scythopolis, hippos, damascus, gadara, raphana, kanatha, pella, dion, philadelphia and gerasa. their money was stamped with the image of cæsar. their soldiers followed the imperial eagles. their traditions, their arts, their literature were greek. but their strength and their new prosperity were roman. here in this narrow wâdi through which we are climbing up from the vale of jabbok we find the traces of the presence of the romans in the fragments of a paved military road and an aqueduct. presently we surmount a rocky hill and look down into the broad, shallow basin of jerash. gently sloping, rock-strewn hills surround it; through the centre flows a stream, with banks bordered by trees; a water-fall is flashing opposite to us; on a cluster of rounded knolls about the middle of the valley, on the west bank of the stream, are spread the vast, incredible, complete ruins of the ancient city of gerasa. they rise like a dream in the desolation of the wilderness, columns and arches and vaults and amphitheatres and temples, suddenly appearing in the bare and lonely landscape as if by enchantment. how came these monuments of splendour and permanence into this country of simplicity and transience, this land of shifting shepherds and drovers, this empire of the black tent, this immemorial region that has slept away the centuries under the spell of the pastoral pipe? what magical music of another kind, strong, stately and sonorous, music of brazen trumpets and shawms, of silver harps and cymbals, evoked this proud and potent city on the border of the desert, and maintained for centuries, amid the sweeping, turbulent floods of untamable tribes of rebels and robbers, this lofty landmark of "the glory that was greece and the grandeur that was rome"? what sudden storm of discord and disaster shook it all down again, loosened the sinews of majesty and power, stripped away the garments of beauty and luxury, dissolved the lovely body of living joy, and left this skeleton of dead splendour diffused upon the solitary ground? who can solve these mysteries? it is all unaccountable, unbelievable,--the ghost of the dream of a dream,--yet here it is, surrounded by the green hills, flooded with the frank light of noon, neighboured by a dirty, noisy little village of arabs and circassians on the east bank of the stream, and with real goats and lean, black cattle grazing between the carved columns and under the broken architraves of gerasa the golden. let us go up into the wrecked city. this triumphal arch, with its three gates and its lofty corinthian columns, stands outside of the city walls: a structure which has no other use or meaning than the expression of imperial pride: thus the roman conquerors adorn and approach their vassal-town. behind the arch a broad, paved road leads to the southern gate, perhaps a thousand feet away. beside the road, between the arch and the gate, lie two buildings of curious interest. the first is a great pool of stone, seven hundred feet long by three hundred feet wide. this is the naumachia, which is filled with water by conduits from the neighbouring stream, in order that the greeks may hold their mimic naval combats and regattas here in the desert, for they are always at heart a seafaring people. beyond the pool there is a circus, with four rows of stone seats and an oval arena, for wild-beast shows and gladiatorial combats. the city walls have almost entirely disappeared and the south gate is in ruins. entering and turning to the left, we ascend a little hill and find the temple (perhaps dedicated to artemis), and close beside it the great south theatre. there is hardly a break in the semicircular stone benches, thirty-two rows of seats rising tier above tier, divided into an upper and a lower section by a broader row of "boxes" or stalls, richly carved, and reserved, no doubt, for magnates of the city and persons of importance. the stage, over a hundred feet wide, is backed by a straight wall adorned with corinthian columns and decorated niches. the theatre faces due north; and the spectator sitting here, if the play wearies him, can lift his eyes and look off beyond the proscenium over the length and breadth of gerasa. "but he looked upon the city, every side, far and wide, all the mountains topped with temples, all the glades colonnades, all the causeys, bridges, aqueducts,--and then, all the men!" in the hollow northward from this theatre is the forum, or the market-place, or the hippodrome--i cannot tell what it is, but a splendid oval of ionic pillars incloses an open space of more than three hundred feet in length and two hundred and fifty feet in width, where the gerasenes may barter or bicker or bet, as they will. from the forum to the north gate runs the main street, more than half a mile long, lined with a double row of columns, from twenty to thirty feet high, with smooth shafts and acanthus capitals. at the intersection of the cross-streets there are tetrapylons, with domes, and pedestals for statues. the pavement of the roadway is worn into ruts by the chariot wheels. under the arcades behind the columns run the sidewalks for foot-passengers. turn to the right from the main street and you come to the public baths, an immense building like a palace, supplied with hot and cold water, adorned with marble and mosaic. on the left lies the tribuna, with its richly decorated façade and its fountain of flowing water. a few yards farther north is the propylæum of the great temple; a superb gateway, decorated with columns and garlands and shell niches, opening to a wide flight of steps by which we ascend to the temple-area, a terrace nearly twice the size of madison square garden, surrounded by two hundred and sixty columns, and standing clear above the level of the encircling city. the temple of the sun rises at the western end of this terrace, facing the dawn. the huge columns of the portico, forty-five feet high and five feet in diameter, with rich corinthian capitals, are of rosy-yellow limestone, which seems to be saturated with the sunshine of a thousand years. behind them are the walls of the cella, or inner shrine, with its vaulted apse for the image of the god, and its secret stairs and passages in the rear wall for the coming and going of the priests, and the ascent to the roof for the first salutation of the sunrise over the eastern hills. spreading our cloth between two pillars of the portico we celebrate the feast of noontide, and looking out over the wrecked magnificence of the city we try to reconstruct the past. [illustration: ruins of jerash, looking west. propylæum and temple terrace.] it was in the days of antoninus pius and marcus aurelius, in the latter part of the second century after christ, that these temples and palaces and theatres were rising. those were the palmy days of græco-roman civilisation in syria; then the shops along the colonnade were filled with rich goods, the forum listened to the voice of world-famous orators and teachers, and proud lords and ladies assembled in the naumachia to watch the sham battles of the miniature galleys. a little later the new religion of christianity found a foothold here, (see, these are the ruined outlines of a christian church below us to the south, and the foundation of a great basilica), and by the fifth century the pagan worship was dying out, and the bishop of gerasa had a seat in the council of chalcedon. it was no longer with the comparative merits of stoicism and epicureanism and neo-platonism, or with the rival literary fame of their own ariston and kerykos as against meleager and menippus and theodorus of gadara, that the gerasenes concerned themselves. they were busy now with the controversies about homoiousia and homoöusia, with the rivalry of the eutychians and the nestorians, with the conflicting, not to say combative, claims of such saints as dioscurus of alexandria and theodoret of cyrus. but trade continued brisk, and the city was as rich and as proud as ever. in the seventh century an arabian chronicler named it among the great towns of palestine, and a poet praised its fertile territory and its copious spring. then what happened? earthquake, pestilence, conflagration, pillage, devastation--who knows? a mohammedan writer of the thirteenth century merely mentions it as "a great city of ruins"; and so it lay, deserted and forgotten, until a german traveller visited it in ; and so it lies to-day, with all its dwellings and its walls shattered and dissolved beside its flowing stream in the centre of its green valley, and only the relics of its temples, its theatres, its colonnades, and its triumphal arch remaining to tell us how brave and rich and gay it was in the days of old. do you believe it? does it seem at all real or possible to you? look up at this tall pillar above us. see how the wild marjoram has thrust its roots between the joints and hangs like "the hyssop that springeth out of the wall." see how the weather has worn deep holes and crevices in the topmost drum, and how the sparrows have made their nests there. lean your back against the pillar; feel it vibrate like "a reed shaken with the wind"; watch that huge capital of acanthus leaves swaying slowly to and fro and trembling upon its stalk "as a flower of the field." * * * * * all the afternoon and all the next morning we wander through the ruins, taking photographs, deciphering inscriptions, discovering new points of view to survey the city. we sit on the arch of the old roman bridge which spans the stream, and look down into the valley filled with gardens and orchards; tall poplars shiver in the breeze; peaches, plums, and cherries are in bloom; almonds clad in pale-green foliage; figs putting forth their verdant shoots; pomegranates covered with ruddy young leaves. we go up to see the beautiful spring which bursts from the hillside above the town and supplies it with water. then we go back again to roam aimlessly and dreamily, like folk bewitched, among the tumbled heaps of hewn stones, the broken capitals, and the tall, rosy columns, soaked with sunbeams. the arabs of jerash have a bad reputation as robbers and extortionists; and in truth they are rather a dangerous-looking lot of fellows, with bold, handsome brown faces and inscrutable dark eyes. but although we have paid no tribute to them, they do not molest us. they seem to regard us with a contemptuous pity, as harmless idiots who loaf among the fallen stones and do not even attempt to make excavations. our camp is in the inclosure of the north theatre, a smaller building than that which stands beside the south gate, but large enough to hold an audience of two or three thousand. the semicircle of seats is still unbroken; the arrangements of the stage, the stairways, the entries of the building can all be easily traced. there were gay times in the city when these two theatres were filled with people. what comedies of plautus or terence or aristophanes or menander; what tragedies of seneca, or of the seven dramatists of alexandria who were called the "pleias," were presented here? look up along those lofty tiers of seats in the pale, clear starlight. can you see no shadowy figures sitting there, hear no light whisper of ghostly laughter, no thin ripple of clapping hands? what flash of wit amuses them, what nobly tragic word or action stirs them to applause? what problem of their own life, what reflection of their own heart, does the stage reveal to them? we shall never know. the play at gerasa is ended. _a psalm among the ruins_ _the lizard rested on the rock while i sat among the ruins; and the pride of man was like a vision of the night._ _lo, the lords of the city have disappeared into darkness; the ancient wilderness hath swallowed up all their work._ _there is nothing left of the city but a heap of fragments; the bones of a carcass that a wild beast hath devoured._ _behold the desert waiteth hungrily for man's dwellings; surely the tide of desolation returneth upon his toil._ _all that he hath painfully lifted up is shaken down in a moment; the memory of his glory is buried beneath the billows of sand._ _then a voice said, look again upon the ruins; these broken arches have taught generations to build._ _moreover the name of this city shall be remembered; here a poor man spoke a word that shall not die._ _this is the glory that is stronger than the desert; for god hath given eternity to the thought of man._ ix the mountains of samaria i jordan ferry look down from these tranquil heights of jebel osha, above the noiseful, squalid little city of es salt, and you see what moses saw when he climbed mount pisgah and looked upon the promised land which he was never to enter. "could we but climb where moses stood, and view the landscape o'er, not jordan's stream, nor death's cold flood, should fright us from the shore." pisgah was probably a few miles south of the place where we are now standing, but the main features of the view are the same. these broad mountain-shoulders, falling steeply away to the west, clad in the emerald robe of early spring; this immense gulf at our feet, four thousand feet below us, a huge trough of gray and yellow, through which the dark-green ribbon of the jordan jungle, touched with a few silvery gleams of water, winds to the blue basin of the dead sea; those scarred and wrinkled hills rising on the other side, the knotted brow of quarantana, the sharp cone of sartoba, the distant peak of mizpeh, the long line of judean, samarian, and galilean summits, olivet, and ebal, and gerizim, and gilboa, and tabor, rolling away to the northward, growing ever fairer with the promise of fertile valleys between them and rich plains beyond them, and fading at last into the azure vagueness of the highlands round the lake of galilee. why does that country toward which we are looking and travelling seem to us so much more familiar and real, so much more a part of the actual world, than this region of forgotten greek and roman glory, from which we are returning like those who awake from sleep? the ruined splendours of jerash fade behind us like a dream. samaria and galilee, crowded with memories and associations which have been woven into our minds by the wonderful bible story, draw us to them with the convincing touch of reality. yet even while we recognise this strange difference between our feelings toward the holy land and those toward other parts of the ancient world, we know that it is not altogether true. gerasa was as really a part of god's big world as shechem or jezreel or sychar. it stood in his sight, and he must have regarded the human souls that lived there. he must have cared for them, and watched over them, and judged them equitably, dividing the just from the unjust, the children of love from the children of hate, even as he did with men on the other side of the jordan, even as he does with all men everywhere to-day. if faith in a god who is the father and lord of all mankind means anything it means this: equal care, equal justice, equal mercy for all the world. gerasa has been forgotten of men, but god never forgot it. what, then, is the difference? just this: in the little land between the jordan and the sea, things came to pass which have a more enduring significance than the wars and splendours, the wealth and culture of the decapolis. conflicts were fought there in which the eternal issues of good and evil were clearly manifest. ideas were worked out there which have a permanent value to the spiritual life of man. revelations were made there which have become the guiding stars of succeeding generations. this is why that country of the bible seems more real to us: because its history is more significant, because it is divinely inspired with a meaning for our faith and hope. do you agree with this? i do not know. but at least if you were with us on this glorious morning, riding down from the heights of jebel osha you would feel the vivid beauty, the subduing grandeur of the scene. you would rejoice in the life-renewing air that blows softly around us and invites us to breathe deep,--in the pure morning faces of the flowers opening among the rocks,--in the light waving of silken grasses along the slopes by which we steeply descend. there is a young gileadite running beside us, a fine fellow about eighteen years old, with his white robe girded up about his loins, leaving his brown legs bare. his head-dress is encircled with the black _'agâl_ of camel's hair like a rustic crown. a long gun is slung over his back; a wicked-looking curved knife with a brass sheath sticks in his belt; his silver powder-horn and leather bullet-pouch hang at his waist. he strides along with a free, noble step, or springs lightly from rock to rock like a gazelle. his story is a short one, and simple,--if true. his younger brother has run away from the family tent among the pastures of gilead, seeking his fortune in the wide world. and now this elder brother has come out to look for the prodigal, at nablûs, at jaffa, at jerusalem,--allah knows how far the quest may lead! but he is afraid of robbers if he crosses the jordan valley alone. may he keep company with us and make the perilous transit under our august protection? yes, surely, my brown son of esau; and we will not inquire too closely whether you are really running after your brother or running away yourself. there may be a thousand robbers concealed along the river-bed, but we can see none of them. the valley is heat and emptiness. even the jackal that slinks across the trail in front of us, droops and drags his tail in visible exhaustion. his lolling, red tongue is a signal of distress. in a climate like this one expects nothing from man or beast. life degenerates, shrivels, stifles; and in the glaring open spaces a sullen madness lurks invisible. we are coming to the ancient fording-place of the river, called adamah, where an event once happened which was of great consequence to the israelites and which has often been misunderstood. they were encamped on the east side, opposite jericho, nearly thirty miles below this point, waiting for their first opportunity to cross the jordan. then, says the record, "the waters which came down from above stopped, and were piled up in a heap, a great way off, at adam, ... and the people passed over right against jericho." (joshua iii: - .) look at these great clay-banks overhanging the river, and you will understand what it was that opened a dry path for israel into canaan. one of these huge masses of clay was undermined, and slipped, and fell across the river, heaping up the waters behind a temporary natural dam, and cutting off the supply of the lower stream. it may have taken three or four days for the river to carve its way through or around that obstruction, and meantime any one could march across to jericho without wetting his feet. i have seen precisely the same thing happen on a salmon river in canada quite as large as the jordan. the river is more open at this place, and there is a curious six-cornered ferry-boat, pulled to and fro with ropes by a half-dozen bare-legged arabs. if it had been a new england river, the practical western mind would have built a long boat with a flat board at each side, and rigged a couple of running wheels on a single rope. then the ferryman would have had nothing to do but let the stern of his craft swing down at an angle with the stream, and the swift current would have pushed him from one side to the other at his will. but these orientals have been running their ferry in their own way, no doubt, for many centuries; and who are we to break in upon their laborious indolence with new ideas? it is enough that they bring us over safely, with our cattle and our stuff, in several bands, with much tugging at the ropes and shouting and singing. we look in vain on the shore of the jordan for a pleasant place to eat our luncheon. the big trees stand with their feet in the river, and the smaller shrubs are scraggly and spiny. at last we find a little patch of shade on a steep bank above the yellow stream, and here we make ourselves as comfortable as we can, with the thermometer at °, and the hungry gnats and mosquitoes swarming around us. early in the afternoon we desperately resolve to brave the sun, and ride up from the river-bed into the open plain on the west. here we catch our first clear view of mount hermon, with its mantle of glistening snow, hanging like a cloud on the northern horizon, ninety miles away, beyond the lake of galilee and the waters of merom; a vision of distance and coolness and grandeur. the fields, watered by the full streams descending from the wâdi fârah, are green with wheat and barley. along our path are balsam-trees and thorny jujubes, from whose branches we pluck the sweet, insipid fruit as we ride beneath them. herds of cattle are pasturing on the plain, and long rows of black bedouin tents are stretched at the foot of the mountains. we cross a dozen murmuring watercourses embowered in the dark, glistening foliage of the oleanders glowing with great soft flames of rosy bloom. at the serâi on the hill which watches over this jiftlîk, or domain of the sultan, there are some turkish soldiers saddling their horses for an expedition; perhaps to collect taxes or to chase robbers. the peasants are returning, by the paths among the cornfields, to their huts. the lines of camp-fires begin to gleam from the transient bedouin villages. our white tents are pitched in a flowery meadow, beside a low-voiced stream, and as we fall asleep the night air is trembling with the shrill, innumerable _brek-ek-ek-coäx-coäx_ of the frog chorus. ii mount ephraim and jacob's well samaria is a mountain land, but its characteristic features, as distinguished from judea, are the easiness of approach through open gateways among the hills, and the fertility of the broad vales and level plains which lie between them. the kingdom of israel, in its brief season of prosperity, was richer, more luxurious, and weaker than the kingdom of judah. the poet isaiah touched the keynote of the northern kingdom when he sang of "the crown of pride of the drunkards of ephraim," and "the fading flower of his glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat valley." (isaiah xxviii: - .) we turn aside from the open but roundabout way of the well-tilled wâdi fârah and take a shorter, steeper path toward shechem, through a deep, narrow mountain gorge. the day is hot and hazy, for the sherkîyeh is blowing from the desert across the jordan valley: the breath of jehovah's displeasure with his people, "a dry wind of the high places of the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, neither to fan nor to cleanse." at times the walls of rock come so close together that we have to wind through a passage not more than ten feet wide. the air is parched as in an oven. our horses scramble wearily up the stony gallery and the rough stairways. one of our company faints under the fervent heat, and falls from his horse. but fortunately no bones are broken; a half-hour's rest in the shadow of a great rock revives him and we ride on. the wonderful flowers are blooming wherever they can find a foothold among the stones. now and then we cross the mouth of some little lonely side-valley, full of mignonette and cyclamens and tall spires of pink hollyhock. under the huge, dark sides of eagle's crag--bare and rugged as ben nevis--we pass into the fruitful plain of makhna, where the silken grainfields rustle far and wide, and the rich olive-orchards on the hill-slopes offer us a shelter for our midday meal and siesta. mount ebal and mount gerizim now rise before us in their naked bulk; and, as we mount toward the valley which lies between them, we stay for a while to rest at jacob's well. there is a mystery about this ancient cistern on the side of the mountain. why was it dug here, a hundred feet deep, although there are springs and streams of living water flowing down the valley, close at hand? whence came the tradition of the samaritans that jacob gave them this well, although the old testament says nothing about it? why did the samaritan woman, in jesus' time, come hither to draw water when there was a brook, not fifty yards away, which she must cross to get to the well? who can tell? certainly there must have been some use and reason for such a well, else the men of long ago would never have toiled to make it. perhaps the people of sychar had some superstition about its water which made them prefer it. or perhaps the stream was owned and used for other purposes, while the water of the well was free. it makes no difference whether a solution of the problem is ever found. its very existence adds to the touch of truth in the narrative of st. john's gospel. certainly this well was here in jesus' day, close beside the road which he would be most likely to take in going from jerusalem to galilee. here he sat, alone and weary, while the disciples went on to the village to buy food. and here, while he waited and thirsted, he spoke to an unknown, unfriendly, unhappy woman the words which have been a spring of living water to the weary and fevered heart of the world: "god is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." iii nablÛs and sebaste about a mile from jacob's well, the city of nablûs lies in the hollow between mount gerizim on the south and mount ebal on the north. the side of gerizim is precipitous and jagged; ebal rises more smoothly, but very steeply, and is covered with plantations of thornless cactus, (_opuntia cochinillifera_), cultivated for the sake of the cochineal insects which live upon the plant and from which a red dye is made. the valley is well watered, and is about a quarter of a mile wide. a little east of the city there are two natural bays or amphitheatres opposite to each other in the mountains. here the tribes of israel may have been gathered while the priests chanted the curses of the law from ebal and the blessings from gerizim. (joshua viii: - .) the cliffs were sounding-boards and sent the loud voices of blessing and cursing out over the multitude so that all could hear. it seems as if it were mainly the echo of the cursing of ebal that greets us as we ride around the fierce little mohammedan city of nablûs on friday afternoon, passing through the open and dilapidated cemeteries where the veiled women are walking and gossiping away their holiday. the looks of the inhabitants are surly and hostile. the children shout mocking ditties at us, reviling the "nazarenes." we will not ask our dragoman to translate the words that we catch now and then; it is easy to guess that they are not "fit to print." our camp is close beside a cemetery, near the eastern gate of the town. the spectators who watch us from a distance while we dine are numerous; and no doubt they are passing unfavourable criticisms on our table manners, and on the frankish custom of permitting one unveiled lady to travel with three husbands. the population of nablûs is about twenty-five thousand. it has a turkish governor, a garrison, several soap factories, and a million dogs which howl all night. at half-past six the next morning we set out on foot to climb mount ebal, which is three thousand feet high. the view from the rocky summit sweeps over all palestine, from snowy hermon to the mountains round about jerusalem, from carmel to nebo, from the sapphire expanse of the mediterranean to the violet valley of the jordan and the garnet wall of moab and gilead beyond. for us the view is veiled in mystery by the haze of the south wind. the ranges and peaks far away fade into cloudlike shadows. the depths below us seem to sink unfathomably. nablûs is buried in the gulf. on the summit of gerizim, a mohammedan _wêli_, shining like a flake of mica, marks the plateau where the samaritan temple stood. hilltop towns, asîret, tallûza, yasîd, emerge like islands from the misty sea. in that great shadowy hollow to the west lie the ruins of the city of samaria, which cæsar augustus renamed sebaste, in honour of his wife augusta. if she could see the village of sebastiyeh now she would not be proud of her namesake town. it is there that we are going to make our midday camp. king omri acted as a wise man when he moved the capital of israel from shechem, an indefensible site, commanded by overhanging mountains and approached by two easy vales, to shomron, the "watch-hill" which stands in the centre of the broad vale of barley. as we ride across the smiling corn-fields toward the isolated eminence, we see its strength as well as its beauty. it rises steeply from the valley to a height of more than three hundred feet. the encircling mountains are too far away to dominate it under the ancient conditions of warfare without cannons, and a good wall must have made it, as its name implied, an impregnable "stronghold," watching over a region of immense fertility. what pomps and splendours, what revels and massacres, what joys of victory and horrors of defeat, that round hill rising from the vale of barley has seen. now there is nothing left of its crown of pride, but the broken pillars of the marble colonnade a mile long with which herod the great girdled the hill, and a few indistinguishable ruins of the temple which he built in honour of the divine augustus and of the hippodrome which he erected for the people. we climb the terraces and ride through the olive-groves and ploughed fields where the street of columns once ran. a few of them are standing upright; others leaning or fallen, half sunken in the ground; fragments of others built into the stone walls which divide the fields. there are many hewn and carven stones imbedded in the miserable little modern village which crouches on the north end of the hill, and the mosque into which the crusaders' church of saint john has been transformed is said to contain the tombs of elisha, obadiah and john the baptist. this rumour does not concern us deeply and we will leave its truth uninvestigated. let us tie our horses among herod's pillars, and spread the rugs for our noontide rest by the ruined south gate of the city. at our feet lies the wide, level, green valley where the mighty host of ben-hadad, king of damascus, once besieged the starving city and waited for its surrender. (ii kings vii.) there in the twilight of long ago a panic terror whispered through the camp, and the syrians rose and fled, leaving their tents and their gear behind them. and there four nameless lepers of israel, wandering in their despair, found the vast encampment deserted, and entered in, and ate and drank, and picked up gold and silver, until their conscience smote them. then they climbed up to this gate with the good news that the enemy had vanished, and the city was saved. iv dÔthÂn and the goodness of the samaritan over the steep mountains that fence samaria to the north, down through terraced vales abloom with hawthorns and blood-red poppies, across hill-circled plains where the long, silvery wind-waves roll over the sea of grain from shore to shore, past little gray towns sleeping on the sunny heights, by paths that lead us near flowing springs where the village girls fill their pitchers, and down stony slopes where the goatherds in bright-coloured raiment tend their flocks, and over broad, moist fields where the path has been obliterated by the plough, and around the edge of marshes where the storks rise heavily on long flapping wings, we come galloping at sunset to our camp beside the little green hill of dôthân. behind it are the mountains, swelling and softly rounded like breasts. it was among them that the servant of elisha saw the vision of horses and chariots of fire protecting his master. (ii kings vi: - .) north and east of dôthân the plain extends smooth and gently sloping, full of young harvest. there the chariot of naaman rolled when he came down from damascus to be healed by the prophet of israel. (ii kings v: .) on top of the hill is a spreading terebinth-tree, with some traces of excavation and rude ruins beneath it. there joseph's envious brethren cast him into one of the dry pits, from which they drew him up again to sell him to a caravan of merchants, winding across the plain on their way from midian into egypt. (genesis xxxvii.) truly, many and wonderful things came to pass of old around this little green hill. and now, at the foot of it, there is a well-watered garden, with figs, oranges, almonds, vines, and tall, trembling poplars, surrounded by a hedge of prickly pear. outside of the hedge a big, round spring of crystal water is flowing steadily over the rim of its basin of stones. there the flocks and herds are gathered, morning and evening, to drink. there the children of the tiny hamlet on the hillside come to paddle their feet in the running stream. there a caravan of greek pilgrims, on their way from damascus to jerusalem for easter, halt in front of our camp, to refresh themselves with a draught of the cool water. as we watch them from our tents there is a sudden commotion among them, a cry of pain, and then voices of dismay. george and two or three of our men run out to see what is the matter, and come hurrying back to get some cotton cloth and oil and wine. one of the pilgrims, an old woman of seventy, has fallen from her horse on the sharp stones beside the spring, breaking her wrist and cutting her head. i do not know whether the way in which they bound up that poor old stranger's wounds was surgically wise, but i know that it was humanly kind and tender. i do not know which of our various churches were represented among her helpers, but there must have been at least three, and the muleteer from bagdad who "had no religion but sang beautiful persian songs" was also there, and ready to help with the others. and so the parable which lighted our dusty way going down to jericho is interpreted in our pleasant camp at dôthân. the paths of the creeds are many and winding; they cross and diverge; but on all of them the good samaritan is welcome, and i think he travels to a happy place. _a psalm of the helpers_ _the ways of the world are full of haste and turmoil: i will sing of the tribe of helpers who travel in peace._ _he that turneth from the road to rescue another, turneth toward his goal: he shall arrive in due time by the foot-path of mercy, god will be his guide._ _he that taketh up the burden of the fainting, lighteneth his own load: the almighty will put his arms underneath him, he shall lean upon the lord._ _he that speaketh comfortable words to mourners, healeth his own heart: in his time of grief they will return to remembrance, god will use them for balm._ _he that careth for the sick and wounded, watcheth not alone: there are three in the darkness together, and the third is the lord._ _blessed is the way of the helpers: the companions of the christ._ x galilee and the lake i the plain of esdraelon going from samaria into galilee is like passing from the old testament into the new. there is indeed little difference in the outward landscape: the same bare lines of rolling mountains, green and gray near by, blue or purple far away; the same fertile valleys and emerald plains embosomed among the hills; the same orchards of olive-trees, not quite so large, nor so many, but always softening and shading the outlook with their touches of silvery verdure. it is the spirit of the landscape that changes; the inward view; the atmosphere of memories and associations through which we travel. we have been riding with fierce warriors and proud kings and fiery prophets of israel, passing the sites of royal splendour and fields of ancient havoc, retracing the warpaths of the twelve tribes. but when we enter galilee the keynote of our thoughts is modulated into peace. issachar and zebulon and asher and naphtali have left no trace or message for us on the plains and hills where they once lived and fought. we journey with jesus of nazareth, the friend of publicans and sinners, the shepherd of the lost sheep, the human embodiment of the divine love. this transition in our journey is marked outwardly by the crossing of the great plain of esdraelon, which we enter by the gateway of jenîn. there are a few palm-trees lending a little grace to the disconsolate village, and the turkish captain of the military post, a grizzled veteran of plevna, invites us into the guard-room to drink coffee with him, while we wait for a dilatory telegraph operator to send a message. then we push out upon the green sea to a brown island: the village of zer'în, the ancient jezreel. the wretched hamlet of adobe huts, with mud beehives plastered against the walls, stands on the lowest bench of the foothills of mount gilboa, opposite the equally wretched hamlet of sûlem in a corresponding position at the base of a mountain called little hermon. the widespread, opulent view is haunted with old stories of battle, murder and sudden death. down to the east we see the line of brighter green creeping out from the flanks of mount gilboa, marking the spring where gideon sifted his band of warriors for the night-attack on the camp of midian. (judges vii: - .) under the brow of the hill are the ancient wine-presses, cut in the rock, which belonged to the vineyard of naboth, whom jezebel assassinated. (i kings xxi: - .) from some window of her favourite palace on this eminence, that hard, old, painted queen looked down the broad valley of jezreel, and saw jehu in his chariot driving furiously from gilead to bring vengeance upon her. on those dark ridges to the south the brave jonathan was slain by the philistines and the desperate saul fell upon his own sword. (i samuel xxxi: - .) through that open valley, which slopes so gently down to the jordan at bethshan, the hordes of midian and the hosts of damascus marched against israel. by the pass of jenîn, holofernes led his army in triumph until he met judith of bethulia and lost his head. yonder in the corner to the northward, at the base of mount tabor, deborah and barak gathered the tribes against the canaanites under sisera. (judges iv: - .) away to the westward, in the notch of megiddo, pharaoh-necho's archers pierced king josiah, and there was great mourning for him in hadad-rimmon. (ii chronicles xxxv: - ; zechariah xii: .) farther still, where the mountain spurs of galilee approach the long ridge of carmel, elijah put the priests of baal to death by the brook kishon. (i kings xviii: - .) all over that great prairie, which makes a broad break between the highlands of galilee and the highlands of samaria and judea, and opens an easy pathway rising no more than three hundred feet between the jordan and the mediterranean--all over that fertile, blooming area and around the edges of it are sown the legends "of old, unhappy, far-off things and battles long ago." but on this bright april day when we enter the plain of armageddon, everything is tranquil and joyous. the fields are full of rustling wheat, and bearded barley, and blue-green stalks of beans, and feathery _kirsenneh_, camel-provender. the peasants in their gay-coloured clothing are ploughing the rich, red-brown soil for the late crop of _doura_. the newly built railway from haifâ to damascus lies like a yellow string across the prairie from west to east; and from north to south a single file of two hundred camels, with merchandise for egypt, undulate along the ancient road of the caravans, turning their ungainly heads to look at the puffing engine which creeps toward them from the distance. larks singing in the air, storks parading beside the watercourses, falcons poising overhead, poppies and pink gladioluses and blue corn-cockles blooming through the grain,--a little village on a swell of rising ground, built for their farm hands by the rich greeks who have bought the land and brought it under cultivation,--an air so pure and soft that it is like a caress,--all seems to speak a language of peace and promise, as if one of the old prophets were telling of the day when jehovah shall have compassion on his people israel and restore them. "they that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the grain, and blossom as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of lebanon." it is, indeed, not impossible that wise methods of colonization, better agriculture and gardening, the development of fruit-orchards and vineyards, and above all, more rational government and equitable taxation may one day give back to palestine something of her old prosperity and population. if the jews really want it no doubt they can have it. their rich men have the money and the influence; and there are enough of their poorer folk scattered through europe to make any land blossom like the rose, if they have the will and the patience for the slow toil of the husbandman and the vine-dresser and the shepherd and the herdsman. but the proud kingdom of david and solomon will never be restored; not even the tributary kingdom of herod. for the land will never again stand at the crossroads, the four-corners of the civilized world. the suez canal to the south, and the railways through the lebanon and asia minor to the north, have settled that. they have left palestine in a corner, off the main-travelled roads. the best that she can hope for is a restoration to quiet fruitfulness, to placid and humble industry, to olive-crowned and vine-girdled felicity, never again to power. and if that lowly re-coronation comes to her, it will not be on the stony heights around jerusalem: it will be in the plain of sharon, in the outgoings of mount ephraim, in the green pastures of gilead, in the lovely region of "galilee of the gentiles." it will not be by the sword of gideon nor by the sceptre of solomon, but by the sign of peace on earth and good-will among men. with thoughts like these we make our way across the verdurous inland sea of esdraelon, out of the old testament into the new. landmarks of the country of the gospel begin to appear: the wooded dome of mount tabor, the little village of nain where jesus restored the widow's only son. (luke vii: - .) but these lie far to our right. the beacon which guides us is a glimpse of white walls and red roofs, high on a shoulder of the galilean hills: the outlying houses of nazareth, where the boy jesus dwelt with his parents after their return from the flight into egypt, and was obedient to them, and grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with god and men. ii their own city nazareth our camp in nazareth is on a terrace among the olive-trees, on the eastern side of a small valley, facing the mohammedan quarter of the town. this is distinctly the most attractive little city that we have seen in palestine. the houses are spread out over a wider area than is usual in the east, covering three sides of a gentle depression high on the side of the jebel es-sikh, and creeping up the hill-slopes as if to seek a larger view and a purer air. some of them have gardens, fair white walls, red-tiled roofs, balconies of stone or wrought iron. even in the more closely built portion of the town the streets seem cleaner, the bazaars lighter and less malodorous, the interior courtyards into which we glance in passing more neat and homelike. many of the doorways and living-rooms of the humbler houses are freshly whitewashed with a light-blue tint which gives them an immaculate air of cleanliness. the nazarene women are generally good looking, and free and dignified in their bearing. the children, fairer in complexion than is common in syria, are almost all charming with the beauty of youth, and among them are some very lovely faces of boys and girls. i do not mean to say that nazareth appears to us an earthly paradise; only that it shines by contrast with places like hebron and jericho and nablûs, even with bethlehem, and that we find here far less of human squalor and misery to sadden us with thoughts of "what man has made of man." the population of the town is about eleven or twelve thousand, a quarter of them mussulmans, and the rest christians of various sects, including two or three hundred protestants. the people used to have rather a bad reputation for turbulence; but we see no signs of it, either in the appearance of the city or in the demeanour of the inhabitants. the children and the townsfolk whom we meet in the streets, and of whom we ask our way now and then, are civil and friendly. the man who comes to the camp to sell us antique coins and lovely vases of iridescent glass dug from the tombs of tyre and sidon, may be an inveterate humbug, but his manners are good and his prices are low. the soft-voiced women and lustrous-eyed girls who hang about the lady's tent, persuading her to buy their small embroideries and lace-work and trinkets, are gentle and ingratiating, though persistent. i am honestly of the opinion that christian mission-schools and hospitals have done a great deal for nazareth. we go this morning to visit the schools of the english church missionary society, where miss newton is conducting an admirable and most successful work for the girls of nazareth. she is away on a visit to some of her outlying stations; but the dark-eyed, happy-looking syrian teacher shows us all the classes. there are five of them, and every room is full and bright and orderly. on the christian side, the older girls sing a hymn for us, in their high voices and quaint english accent, about jesus stilling the storm on galilee, and the intermediate girls and the tiny co-educated boys and girls in the kindergarten go through various pretty performances. then the teacher leads us across the street to the two moslem classes, and we cannot tell the difference between them and the christian children, except that now the singing of "jesus loves me" and the recitation of "the lord is my shepherd" are in arabic. there is one blind girl who recites most perfectly and eagerly. another girl of about ten years carries her baby-brother in her arms. two little laggards, (they were among the group at our camp early in the morning), arrive late, weeping out their excuses to the teacher. she hears them with a kind, humorous look on her face, gives them a soft rebuke and a task, and sends them to their seats, their tears suddenly transformed to smiles. from the schools we go to the hospital of the british medical mission, a little higher up the hill. we find young doctor scrimgeour, who has lately come out from edinburgh university, and his white-uniformed, cheerful, busy nurses, tasked to the limit of their strength by the pressure of their work, but cordial and simple in their welcome. as i walk with the doctor on his rounds i see every ward full, and all kinds of calamity and suffering waiting for the relief and help of his kind, skilful knife. here are hernia, and tuberculous glands, and cataract, and stone, and bone tuberculosis, and a score of other miseries; and there, on the table, with pale, dark face and mysterious eyes, lies a man whose knee has been shattered by a ball from a martini rifle in an affray with robbers. "was he one of the robbers," i ask, "or one of the robbed?" "i really don't know," says the doctor, "but in a few minutes i am going to do my best for him." is not this christ's work that is still doing in christ's town, this teaching of the children, this helping of the sick and wounded, for his sake, and in his name? yet there are silly folk who say they do not believe in missions. there are a few so-called sacred places and shrines in nazareth--the supposed scene of the annunciation; the traditional workshop of joseph; the alleged _mensa christi_, a flat stone which he is said to have used as a table when he ate with his disciples; and so on. but all these uncertain relics and memorials, as usual, are inclosed in chapels, belit with lamps, and encircled with ceremonial. the very spring at which the virgin mary must have often filled her pitcher, (for it is the only flowing fountain in the town), now rises beneath the greek church of saint gabriel, and is conducted past the altar in a channel of stone where the pilgrims bathe their eyes and faces. to us, who are seeking our holy land out-of-doors, these shut-in shrines and altared memorials are less significant than what we find in the open, among the streets and on the surrounding hillsides. the virgin's fountain, issuing from the church, flows into a big, stone basin under a round arch. here, as often as we pass, we see the maidens and the mothers of nazareth, with great earthern vessels poised upon their shapely heads, coming with merry talk and laughter, to draw water. even so the mother of jesus must have come to this fountain many a time, perhaps with her wondrous boy running beside her, clasping her hand or a fold of her bright-coloured garment. perhaps, when the child was little she carried him on her shoulder, as the women carry their children to-day. passing through a street, we look into the interior of a carpenter-shop, with its simple tools, its little pile of new lumber, its floor littered with chips and shavings, and its air full of the pleasant smell of freshly cut wood. there are a few articles of furniture which the carpenter has made: a couple of chairs, a table, a stool: and he himself, with his leg stretched out and his piece of wood held firmly by his naked toes, is working busily at a tiny bed which needs only a pair of rockers to become a cradle. outside the door of the shop a boy of ten or twelve is cutting some boards and slats, and putting them neatly together. we ask him what he is making. "a box," he answers, "a box for some doves"--and then bends his head over his absorbing task. even so jesus must have worked at the shop of joseph, the carpenter, and learned his handicraft. [illustration: the virgin's fountain, nazareth.] let us walk up, at eventide, to the top of the hill behind the town. here is one of the loveliest views in all palestine. the sun is setting and the clear-obscure of twilight already rests over the streets and houses, the minarets and spires, the slender cypresses and round olive-trees and grotesque hedges of cactus. but on the heights the warm radiance from the west pours its full flood, lighting up all the flowerets of delicate pink flax and golden chrysanthemum and blue campanula with which the grass is broidered. far and wide that roseate illumination spreads itself; changing the snowy mantle of distant hermon, the great sheikh of mountains, from ermine to flamingo feathers; making the high hills of naphtali and the excellency of carmel glow as if with soft, transfiguring, inward fire; touching the little town of saffûriyeh below us, where they say that the virgin mary was born, and the city of safed, thirty miles away on the lofty shoulder of jebel jermak; suffusing the haze that fills the valley of the jordan, and the long bulwarks of the other-side, with hues of mauve and purple; and bathing the wide expanse of the western sea with indescribable splendours, over which the flaming sun poises for a moment beneath the edge of a low-hung cloud. on this hilltop, i doubt not, the boy jesus often filled his hands with flowers. here he could watch the creeping caravans of arabian merchants, and the glittering legions of roman soldiers, and the slow files of jewish pilgrims, coming up from the valley of jezreel and stretching out across the plain of esdraelon. hither, at the evening hour, he came as a youth to find the blessing of wide and tranquil thought. here, when the burden of manhood pressed upon him, he rested after the day's work, free from that sadness which often touches us in the vision of earth's transient beauty, because he saw far beyond the horizon into the spirit-world, where there is no night, nor weariness, nor sin, nor death. for nearly thirty years he must have lived within sight of this hilltop. and then, one day, he came back from a journey to the jordan and jerusalem, and entered into the little synagogue at the foot of this hill, and began to preach to his townsfolk his glad tidings of spiritual liberty and brotherhood and eternal life. but they were filled with scorn and wrath. his words rebuked them, stung them, inflamed them with hatred. they laid violent hands on him, and led him out to the brow of the hill,--perhaps it was yonder on that steep, rocky peak to the south of the town, looking back toward the country of the old testament,--to cast him down headlong. yet i think there must have been a few friends and lovers of his in that disdainful and ignorant crowd; for he passed through the midst of them unharmed, and went his way to the home of peter and andrew and john and philip, beside the sea of galilee, never to come back to nazareth. iii a wedding in cana of galilee we thought to save a little time on our journey, and perhaps to spare ourselves a little jolting on the hard high-road, by sending the saddle-horses ahead with the caravan, and taking a carriage for the sixteen-mile drive to tiberias. when we came to the old sarcophagus which serves as a drinking trough at the spring outside the village of cana, a strange thing befell us. we had halted for a moment to refresh the horses. suddenly there was a sound of furious galloping on the road behind us. a score of cavaliers in bedouin dress, with guns and swords, came after us in hot haste. the leaders dashed across the open space beside the spring, wheeled their foaming horses and dashed back again. "is this our affair with robbers, at last?" we asked george. he laughed a little. "no," said he, "this is the beginning of a wedding in kafr kennâ. the bridegroom and his friends come over from some other village where they live, to show off a bit of _fantasia_ to the bride and her friends. they carry her back with them after the marriage. we wait a while and see how they ride." the horses were gayly caparisoned with ribbons and tassels and embroidered saddle-cloths. the riders were handsome, swarthy fellows with haughty faces. their eyes glanced sideways at us to see whether we were admiring them, as they shouted their challenges to one another and raced wildly up and down the rock-strewn course, with their robes flying and their horses' sides bloody with spurring. one of the men was a huge coal-black nubian who brandished a naked sword as he rode. others whirled their long muskets in the air and yelled furiously. the riding was cruel, reckless, superb; loose reins and loose stirrups on the headlong gallop; then the sharp curb brought the horse up suddenly, the rein on his neck turned him as if on a pivot, and the pressure of the heel sent him flying back over the course. presently there was a sound of singing and clapping hands behind the high cactus-hedges to our left, and from a little lane the bridal procession walked up to take the high-road to the village. there were a dozen men in front, firing guns and shouting, then came the women, with light veils of gauze over their faces, singing shrilly, and in the midst of them, in gay attire, but half-concealed with long, dark mantles, the bride and "the virgins, her companions, in raiment of needlework." as they saw the photographic camera pointed at them they laughed, and crowded closer together, and drew the ends of their dark mantles over their heads. so they passed up the road, their shrill song broken a little by their laughter; and the company of horsemen, the bridegroom and his friends, wheeled into line, two by two, and trotted after them into the village. this was all that we saw of the wedding at kafr kennâ--just a vivid, mysterious flash of human figures, drawn together by the primal impulse and longing of our common nature, garbed and ordered by the social customs which make different lands and ages seem strange to each other, and moving across the narrow stage of time into the dimness of that arab village, where jesus and his mother and his disciples were guests at a wedding long ago. iv tiberias it is one of the ironies of fate that the lake which saw the greater part of the ministry of jesus, should take its modern name from a city built by herod antipas, and called after one of the most infamous of the roman emperors,--"the sea of tiberias." our road to this city of decadence leads gradually downward, through a broad, sinking moorland, covered with weeds and wild flowers--rich, monotonous, desolate. the broidery of pink flax and yellow chrysanthemums and white marguerites still follows us; but now the wider stretches of thistles and burdocks and daturas and cockleburs and water-plantains seem to be more important. the landscape saddens around us, under the deepening haze of the desert-wind, the sombre sherkîyeh. there are no golden sunbeams, no cool cloud-shadows, only a gray and melancholy illumination growing ever fainter and more nebulous as the day declines, and the outlines of the hills fade away from the dim, silent, forsaken plain through which we move. we are crossing the battlefield where the soldiers of napoleon, under the brave junot, fought desperately against the overwhelming forces of the turks. yonder, away to the left, in the mysterious haze, the double "horns of hattin" rise like a shadowy exhalation. that is said to be the mountain where jesus gathered the multitude around him and spoke his new beatitudes on the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers, the pure in heart. it is certainly the place where the hosts of the crusaders met the army of saladin, in the fierce heat of a july day, seven hundred years ago, and while the burning grass and weeds and brush flamed around them, were cut to pieces and trampled and utterly consumed. there the new kingdom of jerusalem,--the last that was won with the sword,--went down in ruin around the relics of "the true cross," which its soldiers carried as their talisman; and guy de lusignan, their king, was captured. the noble prisoners were invited by saladin to his tent, and he offered them sherbets, cooled with snow from hermon, to slake their feverish thirst. when they were refreshed, the conqueror ordered them to be led out and put to the sword,--just yonder at the foot of the mount of beatitudes. from terrace to terrace of the falling moor we roll along the winding road through the brumous twilight, until we come within sight of the black, ruined walls, the gloomy towers, the huddled houses of the worn-out city of tiberias. she is like an ancient beggar sitting on a rocky cape beside the lake and bathing her feet in the invisible water. the gathering dusk lends a sullen and forlorn aspect to the place. behind us rise the shattered volcanic crags and cliffs of basalt; before us glimmer pallid and ghostly touches of light from the hidden waves; a few lamps twinkle here and there in the dormant town. this was the city which herod antipas built for the capital of his province of galilee. he laid its foundations in an ancient graveyard, and stretched its walls three miles along the lake, adorning it with a palace, a forum, a race-course, and a large synagogue. but to strict jews the place was unclean, because it was defiled with roman idols, and because its builders had polluted themselves by digging up the bones of the dead. herod could get few jews to live in his city, and it became a catch-all for the off-scourings of the land, people of all creeds and none, aliens, mongrels, soldiers of fortune, and citizens of the high-road. it was the strongest fortress and probably the richest town of galilee in christ's day, but so far as we know he never entered it. after the fall of jerusalem, strangely enough, the jews made it their favourite city, the seat of their sanhedrim and the centre of rabbinical learning. here the famous rabbis jehuda and akîba and the philosopher maimonides taught. here the mishna and the gemara were written. and here, to-day, two-thirds of the five thousand inhabitants are jews, many of them living on the charity of their kindred in europe, and spending their time in the study of the talmud while they wait for the messiah who shall restore the kingdom to israel. you may see their flat fur caps, dingy gabardines, long beards and melancholy faces on every street in the drowsy little city, dreaming (among fleas and fevers) of i know not what impossible glories to come. you may see, also, on the hill near the serâi, the splendid mission hospital of the united free church of scotland, where for twenty-three years doctor torrance has been ministering to the body and soul of tiberias in the name of jesus. do you find the building too large and fine, the lovely garden too beautiful with flowers, the homes of the doctors, and teachers, and helpers of the sick and wounded, too clean and healthful and orderly? do you say "to what purpose is this waste?" then i know not how to measure your ignorance. for you have failed to see that this is the embassy of the only king who still cares for the true welfare of this forsaken, bedraggled, broken-down tiberias. on the evening of our arrival, however, all these things are hidden from us in the dusk. we drive past the ruined gate of the city, a mile along the southern road toward the famous hot baths. here, on a little terrace above the lake, between the road and the black basalt cliffs, our camp is pitched, and through the darkness 'we hear the water lapping on the crag, and the long ripple washing in the reeds.' in the freshness of the early morning the sunrise pours across the lake into our tents. there is a light, cool breeze blowing from the north, rippling the clear, green water, (of a hue like the stone called _aqua marina_), with a thousand flaws and wrinkles, which catch the flashing light and reflect the deep blue sky, and change beneath the shadow of floating clouds to innumerable colours of lapis lazuli, and violet, and purple, and peacock blue. the old comparison of the shape of the lake to a lute, or a harp, is not clear to us from the point at which we stand: for the northwestward sweep of the bay of gennesaret, which reaches a breadth of nearly eight miles from the eastern shore, is hidden from us by a promontory, where the dark walls and white houses of tiberias slope to the water. but we can see the full length of the lake, from the depression of the jordan valley at the southern end, to the shores of bethsaida and capernaum at the foot of the northern hills, beyond which the dazzling whiteness of hermon is visible. opposite rise the eastern heights of the jaulân, with almost level top and steep flanks, furrowed by rocky ravines, descending precipitously to a strip of smooth, green shore. behind us the mountains are more broken and varied in form, lifted into sharper peaks and sloped into broader valleys. the whole aspect of the scene is like a view in the english lake country, say on windermere or ullswater; only there are no forests or thickets to shade and soften it. every edge of the hills is like a silhouette against the sky; every curve of the shore clear and distinct. of the nine rich cities which once surrounded the lake, none is left except this ragged old tiberias. of the hundreds of fishing boats and passenger vessels which once crossed its waters, all have vanished except half a dozen little pleasure skiffs kept for the use of tourists. of the armies and caravans which once travelled these shores, all have passed by into the eternal far-away, except the motley string of visitors to the hot springs, who were coming up to bathe in the medicinal waters in the days of joshua when the place was called hammath, and in the time of the greeks when it was named emmaus, and who are still trotting along the road in front of our camp toward the big, white dome and dirty bath-houses of hummam. they come from all parts of syria, from damascus and the sea-coast, from judea and the haurân; greeks and arabs and turks and maronites and jews; on foot, on donkey-back, and in litters. now, it is a cavalcade of druses from the lebanon, men, women and children, riding on tired horses. now, it is a procession of hebrews walking with a silken canopy over the sacred books of their law. in the morning we visit tiberias, buy some bread and fish in the market, and go through the mission hospital, where one of the gentle nurses binds up a foolish little wound on my wrist. in the afternoon we sail on the southern part of the lake. the boatmen laugh at my fruitless fishing with artificial flies, and catch a few small fish for us with their nets in the shallow, muddy places along the shore. the wind is strange and variable, now sweeping down in violent gusts that bend the long arm of the lateen sail, now dying away to a dead calm through which we row lazily home. i remember a small purple kingfisher poising in the air over a shoal, his head bent downward, his wings vibrating swiftly. he drops like a shot and comes up out of the water with a fish held crosswise in his bill. with measured wing-strokes he flits to the top of a rock to eat his supper, and a robber-gull flaps after him to take it away. but the industrious kingfisher is too quick to be robbed. he bolts his fish with a single gulp. we eat ours in more leisurely fashion, by the light of the candles in our peaceful tent. v memories of the lake a hundred little points of illumination flash into memory as i look back over the hours that we spent beside the sea of galilee. how should i write of them all without being tedious? how, indeed, should i hope to make them visible or significant in the bare words of description? never have i passed richer, fuller hours; but most of their wealth was in very little things: the personal look of a flower growing by the wayside; the intimate message of a bird's song falling through the sunny air; the expression of confidence and appeal on the face of a wounded man in the hospital, when the good physician stood beside his cot; the shadows of the mountains lengthening across the valleys at sunset; the laughter of a little child playing with a broken water pitcher; the bronzed profiles and bold, free ways of our sunburned rowers; the sad eyes of an old hebrew lifted from the book that he was reading; the ruffling breezes and sudden squalls that changed the surface of the lake; the single palm-tree that waved over the mud hovels of magdala; the millions of tiny shells that strewed the beach of capernaum and bethsaida; the fertile sweep of the plain of gennesaret rising from the lake; and the dark precipices of the "robbers' gorge" running back into the western mountains. the written record of these hours is worth little; but in experience and in memory they have a mystical meaning and beauty, because they belong to the country where jesus walked with his fishermen-disciples, and took the little children in his arms, and healed the sick, and opened blind eyes to behold ineffable things. every touch that brings that country nearer to us in our humanity and makes it more real, more simple, more vivid, is precious. for the one irreparable loss that could befall us in religion,--a loss that is often threatened by our abstract and theoretical ways of thinking and speaking about him,--would be to lose jesus out of the lowly and familiar ways of our mortal life. he entered these lowly ways as the son of man in order to make us sure that we are the children of god. therefore i am glad of every hour spent by the lake of galilee. * * * * * i remember, when we came across in our boat to tell hûm, where the ancient city of capernaum stood, the sun was shining with a fervent heat and the air of the lake, six hundred and eighty feet below the level of the sea, was soft and languid. the gray-bearded german monk who came to meet us at the landing and admitted us to the inclosure of his little monastery where he was conducting the excavation of the ruins, wore a cork helmet and spectacles. he had been heated, even above the ninety degrees fahrenheit which the thermometer marked, by the rudeness of a couple of tourists who had just tried to steal a photograph of his work. he had foiled them by opening their camera and blotting the film with sunlight, and had then sent them away with fervent words. but as he walked with us among his roses and pride of india trees, his spirit cooled within him, and he showed himself a learned and accomplished man. he told us how he had been working there for two or three years, keeping records and drawings and photographs of everything that was found; going back to the franciscan convent at jerusalem for his short vacation in the heat of mid-summer; putting his notes in order, reading and studying, making ready to write his book on capernaum. he showed us the portable miniature railway which he had made; and the little iron cars to carry away the great piles of rubbish and earth; and the rich columns, carved lintels, marble steps and shell-niches of the splendid building which his workmen had uncovered. the outline was clear and perfect. we could see how the edifice of fine, white limestone had been erected upon an older foundation of basalt, and how an earthquake had twisted it and shaken down its pillars. it was undoubtedly a synagogue, perhaps the very same which the rich roman centurion built for the jews in capernaum (luke vii: ), and where jesus healed the man who had an unclean spirit. (luke iv: - .) of all the splendours of that proud city of the lake, once spreading along a mile of the shore, nothing remained but these tumbled ruins in a lonely, fragrant garden, where the patient father was digging with his arab workmen and getting ready to write his book. "_weh dir, capernaum_" i quoted. the _padre_ nodded his head gravely. "_ja, ja,_" said he, "_es ist buchstäblich erfüllt!_" * * * * * i remember the cool bath in the lake, at a point between bethsaida and capernaum, where a tangle of briony and honeysuckle made a shelter around a shell-strewn beach, and the rosy oleanders bloomed beside an inflowing stream. i swam out a little way and floated, looking up into the deep sky, while the waves plashed gently and caressingly around my face. * * * * * i remember the old arab fisherman, who was camped with his family in a black tent on a meadow where several lively brooks came in (one of them large enough to turn a mill). i persuaded him by gestures to wade out into the shallow part of the lake and cast his bell-net for fish. he gathered the net in his hand, and whirled it around his head. the leaden weights around the bottom spread out in a wide circle and splashed into the water. he drew the net toward him by the cord, the ring of sinkers sweeping the bottom, and lifted it slowly, carefully--but no fish! then i rigged up my pocket fly-rod with a gossamer leader and two tiny trout-flies, a royal coach-man and a queen of the water, and began to cast along the crystal pools and rapids of the larger stream. how merrily the fish rose there, and in the ripples where the brooks ran out into the lake. there were half a dozen different kinds of fish, but i did not know the name of any of them. there was one that looked like a black bass, and others like white perch and sunfish; and one kind was very much like a grayling. but they were not really of the _salmo_ family, i knew, for none of them had the soft fin in front of the tail. how surprised the old fisherman was when he saw the fish jumping at those tiny hooks with feathers; and how round the eyes of his children were as they looked on; and how pleased they were with the _bakhshîsh_ which they received, including a couple of baithooks for the eldest boy! * * * * * i remember the place where we ate our lunch in a small grove of eucalyptus-trees, with sweet-smelling yellow acacias blossoming around us. it was near the site which some identify with the ancient bethsaida, but others say that it was farther to the east, and others again say that capernaum was really located here. the whole problem of these lake cities, where they stood, how they supported such large populations (not less than fifteen thousand people in each), is difficult and may never be solved. but it did not trouble us deeply. we were content to be beside the same waters, among the same hills, that jesus knew and loved. it was here, along this shore, that he found simon and his brother andrew casting their net, and james and his brother john mending theirs, and called them to come with him. these fishermen, with their frank and free hearts unspoiled by the sophistries of the pharisees, with their minds unhampered by social and political ambitions, followers of a vocation which kept them out of doors and reminded them daily of their dependence on the bounty of god,--these children of nature, and others like them, were the men whom he chose for his disciples, the listeners who had ears to hear his marvellous gospel. it was here, on these pale, green waves, that he sat in a little boat, near the shore, and spoke to the multitude who had gathered to hear him. he spoke of the deep and tranquil confidence that man may learn from nature, from the birds and the flowers. he spoke of the infinite peace of the heart that knows the true meaning of love, which is giving and blessing, and the true secret of courage, which is loyalty to the truth. he spoke of the god whom we can trust as a child trusts its father, and of the heaven which waits for all who do good to their fellowmen. he spoke of the wisdom whose fruit is not pride but humility, of the honour whose crown is not authority but service, of the purity which is not outward but inward, and of the joy which lasts forever. he spoke of forgiveness for the guilty, of compassion for the weak, of hope for the desperate. he told these poor and lowly folk that their souls were unspeakably precious, and that he had come to save them and make them inheritors of an eternal kingdom. he told them that he had brought this message from god, their father and his father. he spoke with the simplicity of one who knows, with the assurance of one who has seen, with the certainty and clearness of one for whom doubt does not exist. he offered himself, in his stainless purity, in his supreme love, as the proof and evidence of his gospel, the bread of heaven, the water of life, the saviour of sinners, the light of the world. "come unto me," he said, "and i will give you rest." this was the heavenly music that came into the world by the lake of galilee. and its voice has spread through the centuries, comforting the sorrowful, restoring the penitent, cheering the despondent, and telling all who will believe it, that our human life is worth living, because it gives each one of us the opportunity to share in the love which is sovereign and immortal. _a psalm of the good teacher_ _the lord is my teacher: i shall not lose the way to wisdom._ _he leadeth me in the lowly path of learning, he prepareth a lesson for me every day; he findeth the clear fountains of instruction, little by little he showeth me the beauty of the truth._ _the world is a great book that he hath written, he turneth the leaves for me slowly; they are all inscribed with images and letters, his face poureth light on the pictures and the words._ _then am i glad when i perceive his meaning, he taketh me by the hand to the hill-top of vision; in the valley also he walketh beside me, and in the dark places he whispereth to my heart._ _yea, though my lesson be hard it is not hopeless, for the lord is very patient with his slow scholar; he will wait awhile for my weakness, he will help me to read the truth through tears._ _surely thou wilt enlighten me daily by joy and by sorrow: and lead me at last, o lord, to the perfect knowledge of thee._ xi the springs of jordan i the hill-country of naphtali naphtali was the northernmost of the tribes of israel, a bold and free highland clan, inhabiting a country of rugged hills and steep mountainsides, with fertile vales and little plains between. "naphtali is a hind let loose," said the old song of the sons of jacob (genesis xlix: ); and as we ride up from the lake of galilee on our way northward, we feel the meaning of the poet's words. a people dwelling among these rock-strewn heights, building their fortress-towns on sharp pinnacles, and climbing these steep paths to the open fields of tillage or of war, would be like wild deer in their spirit of liberty, and they would need to be as nimble and sure-footed. our good little horses are shod with round plates of iron, and they clatter noisily among the loose stones and slip on the rocky ledges, as we strike over the hills from capernaum, without a path, to join the main trail at khân yubb yûsuf. we are skirting fields of waving wheat and barley, but there are no houses to be seen. far and wide the sea of verdure rolls around us, broken only by ridges of grayish rock and scarped cliffs of reddish basalt. we wade saddle-deep in herbage; broad-leaved fennel and trembling reeds; wild asparagus and artichokes; a hundred kinds of flowering weeds; acres of last year's thistles, standing blanched and ghostlike in the summer sunshine. the phantom city of safed gleams white from its far-away hilltop,--the latest and perhaps the last of the famous seats of rabbinical learning. it is one of the sacred places of modern judaism. no hebrew pilgrim fails to visit it. here, they say, the messiah will one day reveal himself, and after establishing his kingdom, will set out to conquer the world. but it is not to the city, shining like a flake of mica from the greenness of the distant mountain, that our looks and thoughts are turning. it is backward to the lucent sapphire of the lake of galilee, upon whose shores our hearts have seen the secret vision, heard the inward message of the man of nazareth. ridge after ridge reveals new outlooks toward its tranquil loveliness. turn after turn, our winding way leads us to what we think must be the parting view. sleeping in still, forsaken beauty among the sheltering hills, and open to the cloudless sky which makes its water like a little heaven, it seems to silently return our farewell looks with pleading for remembrance. now, after one more round among the inclosing ridges, another vista opens, the widest and the most serene of all. farewell, dear lake of jesus! our eyes may never rest on thee again; but surely they will not forget thee. for now, as often we come to some fair water in the western mountains, or unfold the tent by some lone lakeside in the forests of the north, the lapping of thy waves will murmur through our thoughts; thy peaceful brightness will arise before us; we shall see the rose-flush of thy oleanders, and the waving of thy reeds; the sweet, faint smell of thy gold-flowered acacias will return to us from purple orchids and white lilies. let the blessing that is thine go with us everywhere in god's great out-of-doors, and our hearts never lose the comradeship of him who made thee holiest among all the waters of the world! * * * * * the khân of joseph's pit is a ruin; a huge and broken building deserted by the caravans which used to throng this highway from damascus to the cities of the lake, and to the ports of acre and joppa, and to the metropolis of egypt. it is hard to realize that this wild moorland path by which we are travelling was once a busy road, filled with camels, horses, chariots, foot-passengers, clanking companies of soldiers; that these crumbling, cavernous walls, overgrown with thorny capers and wild marjoram and mandragora, were once crowded every night with a motley mob of travellers and merchants; that this pool of muddy water, gloomily reflecting the ruins, was once surrounded by flocks and herds and beasts of burden; that only a few hours to the southward there was once a ring of splendid, thriving, bustling towns around the shores of galilee, out of which and into which the multitudes were forever journeying. now they are all gone from the road, and the vast wayside caravanserai is sleeping into decay--a dormitory for bats and serpents. what is it that makes the wreck of an inn more lonely and forbidding than any other ruin? a few miles more of riding along the flanks of the mountains bring us to a place where we turn a corner suddenly, and come upon the full view of the upper basin of the jordan; a vast oval green cup, with the little lake of huleh lying in it like a blue jewel, and the giant bulk of mount hermon towering beyond it, crowned and cloaked with silver snows. up the steep and slippery village street of rosh pinnah, a modern jewish colony founded by the rothschilds in , we scramble wearily to our camping-ground for the night. above us on a hilltop is the old arab village of jaûneh, brown, picturesque, and filthy. around us are the colonists' new houses, with their red-tiled roofs and white walls. two straight streets running in parallel lines up the hillside are roughly paved with cobble-stones and lined with trees; mulberries, white-flowered acacias, eucalyptus, feathery pepper-trees, and rose-bushes. water runs down through pipes from a copious spring on the mountain, and flows abundantly into every house, plashing into covered reservoirs and open stone basins for watering the cattle. below us the long avenues of eucalyptus, the broad vineyards filled with low, bushy vines, the immense orchards of pale-green almond-trees, the smiling wheat-fields, slope to the lake and encircle its lower end. the children who come to visit our camp on the terrace wear shoes and stockings, carry school-books in their bags, and bring us offerings of little bunches of sweet-smelling garden roses and pendulous locust-blooms. we are a thousand years away from the khân of joseph's pit; but we can still see the old mud village on the height against the sunset, and the camp-fires gleaming in front of the black bedouin tents far below, along the edge of the marshes. we are perched between the old and the new, between the nomad and the civilized man, and the unchanging white head of hermon looks down upon us all. in the morning, on the way down, i stop at the door of a house and fall into talk with an intelligent, schoolmasterish sort of man, a roumanian, who speaks a little weird german. is the colony prospering? yes, but not so fast that it makes them giddy. what are they raising? wheat and barley, a few vegetables, a great deal of almonds and grapes. good harvests? some years good, some years bad; the arabs bad every year, terrible thieves; but the crops are plentiful most of the time. are the colonists happy, contented? a thin smile wrinkles around the man's lips as he answers with the statement of a world-wide truth, "_ach, herr, der ackerbauer ist nie zufrieden._" ("ah, sir, the farmer is never contented.") ii the waters of merom all day we ride along the hills skirting the marshy plain of huleh. here the springs and parent streams of jordan are gathered, behind the mountains of naphtali and at the foot of hermon, as in a great green basin about the level of the ocean, for the long, swift rush down the sunken trench which leads to the deep, sterile bitterness of the dead sea. was there ever a river that began so fair and ended in such waste and desolation? here in this broad, level, well-watered valley, along the borders of these vast beds of papyrus and rushes intersected by winding, hidden streams, joshua and his fierce clans of fighting men met the kings of the north with their horses and chariots, "at the waters of merom," in the last great battle for the possession of the promised land. it was a furious conflict, the hordes of footmen against the squadrons of horsemen; but the shrewd command that came from joshua decided it: "hough their horses and burn their chariots with fire." the canaanites and the amorites and the hittites and the hivites were swept from the field, driven over the western mountains, and the israelites held the jordan from jericho to hermon. (joshua xi: - .) the springs that burst from the hills to the left of our path and run down to the sluggish channels of the marsh on our right are abundant and beautiful. here is 'ain mellâha, a crystal pool a hundred yards wide, with wild mint and watercress growing around it, white and yellow lilies floating on its surface, and great fish showing themselves in the transparent open spaces among the weeds, where the water bubbles up from the bottom through dancing hillocks of clean, white sand and shining pebbles. here is 'ain el-belâta, a copious stream breaking forth from the rocks beneath a spreading terebinth-tree, and rippling down with merry rapids toward the jungle of rustling reeds and plumed papyrus. while luncheon is preparing in the shade of the terebinth, i wade into the brook and cast my fly along the ripples. a couple of ragged, laughing, bare-legged bedouin boys follow close behind me, watching the new sport with wonder. the fish are here, as lively and gamesome as brook trout, plump, golden-sided fellows ten or twelve inches long. the feathered hooks tempt them, and they rise freely to the lure. my tattered pages are greatly excited, and make impromptu pouches in the breast of their robes, stuffing in the fish until they look quite fat. the catch is enough for a good supper for their whole family, and a dozen more for a delicious fish-salad at our camp that night. what kind of fish are they? i do not know: doubtless something scriptural and oriental. but they taste good; and so far as there is any record, they are the first fish ever taken with the artificial fly in the sources of the jordan. the plain of huleh is full of life. flocks of waterfowl and solemn companies of storks circle over the swamps. the wet meadows are covered with herds of black buffaloes, wallowing in the ditches, or staring at us sullenly under their drooping horns. little bunches of horses, and brood mares followed by their long-legged, awkward foals, gallop beside our cavalcade, whinnying and kicking up their heels in the joy of freedom. flocks of black goats clamber up the rocky hillsides, following the goatherd who plays upon his rustic pipe quavering and fantastic music, softened by distance into a wild sweetness. small black cattle with white faces march in long files across the pastures, or wander through the thickets of bulrushes and papyrus and giant fennel, appearing and disappearing as the screen of broad leaves and trembling plumes close behind them. a few groups of huts made out of wattled reeds stand beside the sluggish watercourses, just as they did when macgregor in his rob roy canoe attempted to explore this impenetrable morass forty years ago. along the higher ground are lines of black bedouin tents, arranged in transitory villages. these flitting habitations of the nomads, who come down from the hills and lofty deserts to fatten their flocks and herds among unfailing pasturage, are all of one pattern. the low, flat roof of black goats' hair is lifted by the sticks which support it, into half a dozen little peaks, perhaps five or six feet from the ground. between these peaks the cloth sags down, and is made fast along the edges by intricate and confusing guy-ropes. the tent is shallow, not more than six feet deep, and from twelve to thirty feet long, according to the wealth of the owner and the size of his family,--two things which usually correspond. the sides and the partitions are sometimes made of woven reeds, like coarse matting. within there is an apartment (if you can call it so) for the family, a pen for the chickens, and room for dogs, cats, calves and other creatures to find shelter. the fireplace of flat stones is in the centre, and the smoke oozes out through the roof and sides. the bedouin men, in flowing _burnous_ and _keffiyeh_, with the _'agâl_ of dark twisted camel's hair like a crown upon their heads, are almost all handsome: clean-cut, haughty faces, bold in youth and dignified in old age. the women look weatherbeaten and withered beside them. even when you see a fine face in the dark blue mantle or under the white head-dress, it is almost always disfigured by purplish tattooing around the lips and chin. some of the younger girls are beautiful, and most of the children are entrancing. they play games in a ring, with songs and clapping hands; the boys charge up and down among the tents with wild shouts, driving a round bone or a donkey's hoof with their shinny-sticks; the girls chase one another and hide among the bushes in some primeval form of "tag" or "hide-and-seek." a merry little mob pursues us as we ride through each encampment, with outstretched hands and half-jesting, half-plaintive cries of "_bakhshîsh! bakhshîsh!_" they do not really expect anything. it is only a part of the game. and when the lady holds out her open hand to them and smiles as she repeats, "_bakhshîsh! bakhshîsh!_" they take the joke quickly, and run away, laughing, to their sports. at one village, in the dusk, there is an open-air wedding: a row of men dancing; a ring of women and girls looking on; musicians playing the shepherd's pipe and the drum; maidens running beside us to beg a present for the invisible bride: a rude charcoal sketch of human society, primitive, irrepressible, confident, encamped for a moment on the shadowy border of the fecund and unconquerable marsh. thus we traverse the strange country of bedouinia, travelling all day in the presence of the great sheikh of mountains, and sleep at night on the edge of a little village whose name we shall never know. a dozen times we ask george for the real name of that place, and a dozen times he repeats it for us with painstaking courtesy; it sounds like a compromise between a cough and a sneeze. iii where jordan rises the jordan is assembled in the northern end of the basin of huleh under a mysterious curtain of tall, tangled water-plants. into that ancient and impenetrable place of hiding and blending enter many little springs and brooks, but the main sources of the river are three. the first and the longest is the hasbâni, a strong, foaming stream that comes down with a roar from the western slope of hermon. we cross it by the double arch of a dilapidated saracen bridge, looking down upon thickets of oleander, willow, tamarisk and woodbine. the second and largest source springs from the rounded hill of tel el-kâdi, the supposed site of the ancient city of dan, the northern border of israel. here the wandering, landless danites, finding a country to their taste, put the too fortunate inhabitants of leshem to the sword and took possession. and here king jereboam set up one of his idols of the golden calf. there is no vestige of the city, no trace of the idolatrous shrine, on the huge mound which rises thirty or forty feet above the plain. but it is thickly covered with trees: poplars and oaks and wild figs and acacias and wild olives. a pair of enormous veterans, a valonia oak and a terebinth, make a broad bower of shade above the tomb of an unknown mohammedan saint, and there we eat our midday meal, with the murmur of running waters all around us, a clear rivulet singing at our feet, and the chant of innumerable birds filling the vault of foliage above our heads. after lunch, instead of sleeping, two of us wander into the dense grove that spreads over the mound. tiny streams of water trickle through it: blackberry-vines and wild grapes are twisted in the undergrowth; ferns and flowery nettles and mint grow waist-high. the main spring is at the western base of the mound. the water comes bubbling and whirling out from under a screen of wild figs and vines, forming a pool of palest, clearest blue, a hundred feet in diameter. out of this pool the new-born river rushes, foaming and shouting down the hillside, through lines of flowering styrax and hawthorn and willows trembling over its wild joy. the third and most impressive of the sources of jordan is at bâniyâs, on one of the foothills of hermon. our path thither leads us up from dan, through high green meadows, shaded by oak-trees, sprinkled with innumerable blossoming shrubs and bushes, and looking down upon the lower fields blue with lupins and vetches, or golden with yellow chrysanthemums beneath which the red glow of the clover is dimly burning like a secret fire. presently we come, by way of a broad, natural terrace where the white encampment of the moslem dead lies gleaming beneath the shade of mighty oaks and terebinths, and past the friendly olive-grove where our own tents are standing, to a deep ravine filled to the brim with luxuriant verdure of trees and vines and ferns. into this green cleft a little river, dancing and singing, suddenly plunges and disappears, and from beneath the veil of moist and trembling leaves we hear the sound of its wild joy, a fracas of leaping, laughing waters. [illustration: the approach to bâniyâs.] an old roman bridge spans the stream on the brink of its downward leap. crossing over, we ride through the ruined gateway of the town of bâniyâs, turn to right and left among its dirty, narrow streets, pass into a leafy lane, and come out in front of a cliff of ruddy limestone, with niches and shrines carved on its face, and a huge, dark cavern gaping in the centre. a tumbled mass of broken rocks lies below the mouth of the cave. from this slope of débris, sixty or seventy feet long, a line of springs gush forth in singing foam. under the shadow of trembling poplars and broad-boughed sycamores, amid the lush greenery of wild figs and grapes, bracken and briony and morning-glory, drooping maidenhair and flower-laden styrax, the hundred rills swiftly run together and flow away with one impulse, a full-grown little river. there is an immemorial charm about the place. mysteries of grove and fountain, of cave and hilltop, bewitch it with the magic of nature's life, ever springing and passing, flowering and fading, basking in the open sunlight and hiding in the secret places of the earth. it is such a place as claude lorraine might have imagined and painted as the scene of one of his mythical visions of arcadia; such a place as antique fancy might have chosen and decked with altars for the worship of unseen dryads and nymphs, oreads and naiads. and so, indeed, it was chosen, and so it was decked. here, in all probability, was baal-gad, where the canaanites paid their reverence to the waters that spring from underground. here, certainly, was paneas of the greeks, where the rites of pan and all the nymphs were celebrated. here herod the great built a marble temple to augustus the tolerant, on this terrace of rock above the cave. here, no doubt, the statue of the emperor looked down upon a strange confusion of revelries and wild offerings in honour of the unknown powers of nature. all these things have withered, crumbled, vanished. there are no more statues, altars, priests, revels and sacrifices at bâniyâs--only the fragment of an inscription around one of the votive niches carved on the cliff, which records the fact that the niche was made by a certain person who at that time was "priest of pan." _but the name of this_ _person who wished to be remembered is precisely the part of the carving which is illegible._ ironical inscription! still the fountains gush from the rocks, the poplars tremble in the breeze, the sweet incense rises from the orange-flowered styrax, the birds chant the joy of living, the sunlight and the moonlight fall upon the sparkling waters, and the liquid starlight drips through the glistening leaves. but the priest of pan is forgotten, and all that old interpretation and adoration of nature, sensuous, passionate, full of mingled cruelty and ecstasy, has melted like a mist from her face, and left her serene and pure and lovely as ever. here at paneas, after the city had been rebuilt by philip the tetrarch and renamed after him and his imperial master, there came one day a peasant of galilee who taught his disciples to draw near to nature, not with fierce revelry and superstitious awe, but with tranquil confidence and calm joy. the goatfoot god, the god of panic, the great god pan, reigns no more beside the upper springs of jordan. the name that we remember here, the name that makes the message of flowing stream and sheltering tree and singing bird more clear and cool and sweet to our hearts, is the name of jesus of nazareth. iv cÆsarea philippi yes, this little mohammedan town of bâniyâs, with its twoscore wretched houses built of stones from the ancient ruins and huddled within the broken walls of the citadel, is the ancient site of cæsarea philippi. in the happy days that we spend here, rejoicing in the most beautiful of all our camps in the holy land, and yielding ourselves to the full charm of the out-of-doors more perfectly expressed than we had ever thought to find it in palestine,--in this little paradise of friendly trees and fragrant flowers, "at snowy hermon's foot, amid the music of his waterfalls,"-- the thought of jesus is like the presence of a comrade, while the memories of human grandeur and transience, of man's long toil, unceasing conflict, vain pride and futile despair, visit us only as flickering ghosts. * * * * * we climb to the top of the peaked hill, a thousand feet above the town, and explore the great crusaders' castle of subeibeh, a ruin vaster in extent and nobler in situation than the famous _schloss_ of heidelberg. it not only crowns but completely covers the summit of the steep ridge with the huge drafted stones of its foundations. the immense round towers, the double-vaulted gateways, are still standing. long flights of steps lead down to subterranean reservoirs of water. spacious courtyards, where the knights and men-at-arms once exercised, are transformed into vegetable gardens, and the passageways between the north citadel and the south citadel are travelled by flocks of lop-eared goats. from room to room we clamber by slopes of crumbling stone, discovering now a guard-chamber with loopholes for the archers, and now an arched chapel with the plaster intact and faint touches of colour still showing upon it. perched on the high battlements we look across the valley of huleh and the springs of jordan to kal'at hûnîn on the mountains of naphtali, and to kal'at esh-shakîf above the gorge of the river lîtânî. from these three great fortresses, in the time of the crusaders, flashed and answered the signal-fires of the chivalry of europe fighting for possession of palestine. what noble companies of knights and ladies inhabited these castles, what rich festivals were celebrated within these walls, what desperate struggles defended them, until at last the swarthy hordes of saracens stormed the gates and poured over the defences and planted the standard of the crescent on the towers and lit the signal-fires of islam from citadel to citadel. all the fires have gone out now. the yellow whin blazes upon the hillsides. the wild fig-tree splits the masonry. the scorpion lodges in the deserted chambers. on the fallen stone of the crusaders' gate, where the moslem victor has carved his arabic inscription, a green-gray lizard poises motionless, like a bronze figure on a paper-weight. * * * * * [illustration: bridge over the river lîtânî.] we pass through the southern entrance of the village of bâniyâs, a massive square portal, rebuilt by some arab ruler, and go out on the old roman bridge which spans the ravine. the aqueduct carried by the bridge is still full of flowing water, and the drops which fall from it in a fine mist make a little rainbow as the afternoon sun shines through the archway draped with maidenhair fern. on the stone pavement of the bridge we trace the ruts worn two thousand years ago by the chariots of the men who conquered the world. the chariots have all rolled by. on the broken edge of the tower above the gateway sits a ragged bedouin boy, making shrill, plaintive music with his pipe of reeds. * * * * * we repose in front of our tents among the olive-trees at the close of the day. the cool sound of running streams and rustling poplars is on the moving air, and the orange-golden sunset enchants the orchard with mystical light. all the swift visions of striving saracens and crusaders, of conquering greeks and romans, fade away from us, and we see the figure of the man of nazareth with his little company of friends and disciples coming up from galilee. it was here that jesus retreated with his few faithful followers from the opposition of the scribes and pharisees. this was the northernmost spot of earth ever trodden by his feet, the longest distance from jerusalem that he ever travelled. here in this exquisite garden of nature, in a region of the gentiles, within sight of the shrines devoted to those greek and roman rites which were so luxurious and so tolerant, four of the most beautiful and significant events of his life and ministry took place. he asked his disciples plainly to tell their secret thought of him--whom they believed their master to be. and when peter answered simply: "thou art the christ, the son of the living god," jesus blessed him for the answer, and declared that he would build his church upon that rock. then he took peter and james and john with him and climbed one of the high and lonely slopes of hermon. there he was transfigured before them, his face shining like the sun and his garments glistening like the snow on the mountain-peaks. but when they begged to stay there with him, he led them down to the valley again, among the sinning and suffering children of men. at the foot of the mount of transfiguration he healed the demoniac boy whom his father had brought to the other disciples, but for whom they had been unable to do anything; and he taught them that the power to help men comes from faith and prayer. and then, at last, he turned his steps from this safe and lovely refuge, (where he might surely have lived in peace, or from which he might have gone out unmolested into the wide gentile world), backward to his own country, his own people, the great, turbulent, hard-hearted jewish city, and the fate which was not to be evaded by one who loved sinners and came to save them. he went down into galilee, down through samaria and perea, down to jerusalem, down to gethsemane and to golgotha,--fearless, calm,--sustained and nourished by that secret food which satisfied his heart in doing the will of god. * * * * * it was in the quest of this jesus, in the hope of somehow drawing nearer to him, that we made our pilgrimage to the holy land. and now, in the cool of the evening at cæsarea philippi, we ask ourselves whether our desire has been granted, our hope fulfilled? yes, more richly, more wonderfully than we dared to dream. for we have found a new vision of christ, simpler, clearer, more satisfying, in the freedom and reality of god's out-of-doors. not through the mists and shadows of an infinite regret, the sadness of sweet, faded dreams and hopes that must be resigned, as pierre loti saw the phantom of a christ whose irrevocable disappearance has left the world darker than ever! not amid strange portents and mysterious rites, crowned with i know not what aureole of traditionary splendours, founder of elaborate ceremonies and centre of lamplit shrines, as matilde serao saw the image of that christ whom the legends of men have honoured and obscured! the jesus whom we have found is the child of nazareth playing among the flowers; the man of galilee walking beside the lake, healing the sick, comforting the sorrowful, cheering the lonely and despondent; the well-beloved son of god transfigured in the sunset glow of snowy hermon, weeping by the sepulchre in bethany, agonizing in the moonlit garden of gethsemane, giving his life for those who did not understand him, though they loved him, and for those who did not love him because they did not understand him, and rising at last triumphant over death,--such a saviour as all men need and as no man could ever have imagined if he had not been real. his message has not died away, nor will it ever die. for confidence and calm joy he tells us to turn to nature. for love and sacrifice he bids us live close to our fellowmen. for comfort and immortal hope he asks us to believe in him and in our father, god. that is all. but the bringing of that heavenly message made the country to which it came the holy land. and the believing of that message, to-day, will lead any child of man into the kingdom of heaven. and the keeping of that faith, the following of that life, will transfigure any country beneath the blue sky into a holy land. _the psalm of a sojourner_ _thou hast taken me into the tent of the world, o god: beneath thy blue canopy i have found shelter: therefore thou wilt not deny me the right of a guest._ _naked and poor i arrived at the door before sunset: thou hast refreshed me with beautiful bowls of milk: as a great chief thou hast set forth food in abundance._ _i have loved the daily delights of thy dwelling: thy moon and thy stars have lighted me to my bed: in the morning i have found joy with thy servants._ _surely thou wilt not send me away in the darkness? there the enemy death is lying in wait for my soul: thou art the host of my life and i claim thy protection._ _then the lord of the tent of the world made answer: the right of a guest endureth but for an appointed time: after three days and three nights cometh the day of departure._ _yet hearken to me since thou fearest the foe in the dark: i will make with thee a new covenant of everlasting hospitality: behold i will come unto thee as a stranger and be thy guest._ _poor and needy will i come that thou mayest entertain me: meek and lowly will i come that thou mayest find a friend: with mercy and with truth will i come to give thee comfort._ _therefore open the door of thy heart and bid me welcome: in this tent of the world i will be thy brother of the bread: and when thou farest forth i will be thy companion forever._ _then my soul rested in the word of the lord: and i saw that the curtains of the world were shaken, but i looked beyond them to the eternal camp-fires of my friend._ xii the road to damascus i through the land of the druses you may go to damascus now by rail, if you like, and have a choice between two rival routes, one under government ownership, the other built and managed by a corporation. but to us encamped among the silvery olives at bâniyâs, beside the springs of jordan, it seemed a happy circumstance that both railways were so far away that it would have taken longer to reach them than to ride our horses straight into the city. we were delivered from the modern folly of trying to save time by travelling in a conveyance more speedy than picturesque, and left free to pursue our journey in a leisurely, independent fashion and by the road that would give us most pleasure. so we chose the longer way, the northern path around mount hermon, through the country of the druses, instead of the more frequented road to the east by kafr hawar. how delightful is the morning of such a journey! the fresh face of the world bathed in sparkling dew; the greetings from tent to tent as we four friends make our rendezvous from the far countries of sleep; the relish of breakfast in the open air; the stir of the camp in preparation for a flitting; canvas sinking to the ground, bales and boxes heaped together, mule-bells tinkling through the grove, horses refreshed by their long rest whinnying and nipping at each other in play--all these are charming variations and accompaniments to the old tune of "boots and saddles." the immediate effect of such a setting out for a day's ride is to renew in the heart those "vital feelings of delight" which make one simply and inexplicably glad to be alive. we are delivered from those morbid questionings and exorbitant demands by which we are so often possessed and plagued as by some strange inward malady. we feel a sense of health and harmony diffused through body and mind as we ride over the beautiful terrace which slopes down from bâniyâs to tel-el kâdi. we are glad of the green valonia oaks that spread their shade over us, and of the blossoming hawthorns that scatter their flower-snow on the hillside. we are glad of the crested larks that rise warbling from the grass, and of the buntings and chaffinches that make their small merry music in every thicket, and of the black and white chats that shift their burden of song from stone to stone beside the path, and of the cuckoo that tells his name to us from far away, and of the splendid bee-eaters that glitter over us like a flock of winged emeralds as we climb the rocky hill toward the north. we are glad of the broom in golden flower, and of the pink and white rock-roses, and of the spicy fragrance of mint and pennyroyal that our horses trample out as they splash through the spring holes and little brooks. we are glad of the long, wide views westward over the treeless mountains of naphtali and the southern ridges of the lebanon, and of the glimpses of the ruined castles of the crusaders, kal'at esh-shakîf and hûnîn, perched like dilapidated eagles on their distant crags. everything seems to us like a personal gift. we have the feeling of ownership for this day of all the world's beauty. we could not explain or justify it to any sad philosopher who might reproach us for unreasoning felicity. we should be defenceless before his arguments and indifferent to his scorn. we should simply ride on into the morning, reflecting in our hearts something of the brightness of the birds' plumage, the cheerfulness of the brooks' song, the undimmed hyaline of the sky, and so, perhaps, fulfilling the divine intention of nature as well as if we chose to becloud our mirror with melancholy thoughts. * * * * * we are following up the valley of the longest and highest, but not the largest, of the sources of the jordan: the little river hâsbânî, a strong and lovely stream, which rises somewhere in the northern end of the wâdi et-teim, and flows along the western base of mount hermon, receiving the tribute of torrents which burst out in foaming springs far up the ravines, and are fed underground by the melting of the perpetual snow of the great mountain. now and then we have to cross one of these torrents, by a rude stone bridge or by wading. all along the way hermon looks down upon us from his throne, nine thousand feet in air. his head is wrapped in a turban of spotless white, like a druse chieftain, and his snowy winter cloak still hangs down over his shoulders, though its lower edges are already fringed and its seams opened by the warm suns of april. presently we cross a bridge to the west bank of the hâsbânî, and ride up the delightful vale where poplars and mulberries, olives, almonds, vines and figs, grow abundantly along the course of the river. there are low weirs across the stream for purposes of irrigation, and a larger dam supplies a mill with power. to the left is the sharp barren ridge of the jebel ez-zohr separating us from the gorge of the river lîtânî. groups of labourers are at work on the watercourses among the groves and gardens. vine-dressers are busy in the vineyards. ploughmen are driving their shallow furrows through the stony fields on the hillside. the little river, here in its friendliest mood, winds merrily among the plantations and orchards which it nourishes, making a cheerful noise over beds of pebbles, and humming a deeper note where the clear green water plunges over a weir. we have now been in the saddle five hours; the sun is ardent; the temperature is above eighty-five degrees in the shade, and along the bridle-path there is no shade. we are hungry, thirsty, and tired. as we cross the river again, splashing through a ford, our horses drink eagerly and attempt to lie down in the cool water. we have to use strong persuasion not only with them, but also with our own spirits, to pass by the green grass and the sheltering olive-trees on the east bank and push on up the narrow, rocky defile in which hâsbeiyâ is hidden. the bridle-path is partly paved with rough cobblestones, hard and slippery, which make the going weariful. the heat presses on us like a burden. things that would have delighted us in the morning now give us no pleasure. we have made the greedy traveller's mistake of measuring our march by the extent of our endurance instead of by the limit of our enjoyment. hâsbeiyâ proves to be a rather thriving and picturesque town built around the steep sides of a bay or opening in the valley. the amphitheatre of hills is terraced with olive-orchards and vineyards. there are also many mulberry-trees cultivated for the silkworms, and the ever-present figs and almonds are not wanting. the stone houses of the town rise, on winding paths, one above the other, many of them having arched porticoes, red-tiled roofs, and green-latticed windows. it is a place of about five thousand population, now more than half christian, but formerly one of the strongholds and capitals of the mysterious druse religion. our tents are pitched at the western end of the town, on a low terrace where olive-trees are growing. when we arrive we find the camp surrounded and filled with curious, laughing children. the boys are a little troublesome at first, but a word from an old man who seems to be in charge brings them to order, and at least fifty of them, big and little, squat in a semicircle on the grass below the terrace, watching us with their lustrous brown eyes. they look full of fun, those young druses and maronites and greeks and mohammedans, so i try a mild joke on them, by pretending that they are a class and that i am teaching them a lesson. "a, b, c," i chant, and wait for them to repeat after me. they promptly take the lesson out of my hands and recite the entire english alphabet in chorus, winding up with shouts of "goot mornin'! how you do?" and merry laughter. they are all pupils from the mission schools which have been established since the great massacre of , and which are helping, i hope, to make another forever impossible. one of our objects in coming to hâsbeiyâ was to ascend mount hermon. we send for the druse guide and the christian guide; both of them assure us that the adventure is impossible on account of the deep snow, which has increased during the last fortnight. we can not get within a mile of the summit. the snow will be waist-deep in the hollows. the mountain is inaccessible until june. so, after exchanging visits with the missionaries and seeing something of their good work, we ride on our way the next morning. ii rÂsheiy and its americanism the journey to râsheiyâ is like that of the preceding day, except that the bridle-paths are rougher and more precipitous, and the views wider and more splendid. we have crossed the hâsbânî again, and leaving the druses' valley, the wâdi et-teim, behind us, have climbed the high table-land to the west. we did not know why george cavalcanty led us away from the path marked in our baedeker, but we took it for granted that he had some good reason. it is well not to ask a wise dragoman all the questions that you can think of. tell him where you want to go, and let him show you how to get there. certainly we are not inclined to complain of the longer and steeper route by which he has brought us, when we sit down at lunch-time among the limestone crags and pinnacles of the wild upland and look abroad upon a landscape which offers the grandeur of immense outlines and vast distances, the beauty of a crystal clearness in all its infinitely varied forms, and the enchantment of gemlike colours, delicate, translucent, vivid, shifting and playing in hues of rose and violet and azure and purple and golden brown and bright green, as if the bosom of mother earth were the breast of a dove, breathing softly in the sunlight. as we climb toward râsheiyâ we find ourselves going back a month or more into early spring. here are the flowers that we saw in the plain of sharon on the first of april, gorgeous red anemones, fragrant purple and white cyclamens, delicate blue irises. the fig-tree is putting forth her tender leaf. the vines, lying flat on the ground, are bare and dormant. the springing grain, a few inches long, is in its first flush of almost dazzling green. the town, built in terraces on three sides of a rocky hill, , feet above the sea, commands an extensive view. hermon is in full sight; snow-capped lebanon and anti-lebanon face each other for forty miles; and the little lake of kafr kûk makes a spot of blue light in the foreground. we are camped on the threshing-floor, a level meadow beyond and below the town; and there the râsheiyan gilded youth come riding their blooded horses in the afternoon, running races over the smooth turf and showing off their horsemanship for our benefit. there is something very attractive about these arabian horses as you see them in their own country. they are spirited, fearless, sure-footed, and yet, as a rule, so docile that they may be ridden with a halter. they are good for a long journey, or a swift run, or a _fantasia_. the prevailing colour among them is gray, but you see many bays and sorrels and a few splendid blacks. an arabian stallion satisfies the romantic ideal of how a horse ought to look. his arched neck, small head, large eyes wide apart, short body, round flanks, delicate pasterns, and little feet; the way he tosses his mane and cocks his flowing tail when he is on parade; the swiftness and spring of his gallop, the dainty grace of his walk--when you see these things you recognise at once the real, original horse which the painters used to depict in their "portraits of general x on his favourite charger." i asked calvalcanty what one of these fine creatures would cost. "a good horse, two or three hundred dollars; an extra-good one, four hundred; a fancy one, who knows?" we find râsheiyâ full of americanism. we walk out to take photographs, and at almost every street corner some young man who has been in the united states or canada salutes us with: "how are you to-day? you fellows come from america? what's the news there? is bryan elected yet? i voted for mckinley. i got a store in kankakee. i got one in jackson, miss." a beautiful dark-eyed girl, in a dreadful department-store dress, smiles at us from an open door and says: "take my picture? i been at america." one talkative and friendly fellow joins us in our walk; in fact he takes possession of us, guiding us up the crooked alleys and out on the housetops which command the best views, and showing us off to his friends,--an old gentleman who is spinning goats' hair for the coarse black tents (st. paul's trade), and two ladies who are grinding corn in a hand-mill, one pushing and the other pulling. our self-elected guide has spent seven years in illinois and indiana, peddling and store-keeping. he has returned to râsheiyâ as a successful adventurer and built a stone house with a red roof and an arched portico. is he going to settle down there for life? "i not know," says he. "guess i want sell my house now. this country beautiful; i like look at her. but america free--good government--good place to live. gee whiz! i go back quick, you bet." iii anti-lebanon and the river abana our path the next day leads up to the east over the ridges of the slight depression which lies between mount hermon and the rest of the anti-lebanon range. we pass the disconsolate village and lake of kafr kûk. the water which shone so blue in the distance now confesses itself a turbid, stagnant pool, locked in among the hills, and breeding fevers for those who live beside it. the landscape grows wild and sullen as we ascend; the hills are strewn with shattered fragments of rock, or worn into battered and fantastic crags; the bottoms of the ravines are soaked and barren as if the winter floods had just left them. presently we are riding among great snowdrifts. it is the first day of may. we walk on the snow, and pack a basketful on one of the mules, and pelt each other with snowballs. we have gone back another month in the calendar and are now at the place where "winter lingers in the lap of spring." snowdrops, crocuses, and little purple grape-hyacinths are blooming at the edge of the drifts. the thorny shrubs and bushes, and spiny herbs like astragalus and cousinia, are green-stemmed but leafless, and the birds that flutter among them are still in the first rapture of vernal bliss, the gay music that follows mating and precedes nesting. big dove-coloured partridges, beautifully marked with black and red, are running among the rocks. we are at the turn of the year, the surprising season when the tide of light and life and love swiftly begins to rise. from this alpine region we descend through two months in half a day. it is mid-march on a beautiful green plain where herds of horses were feeding around an encampment of black bedouin tents; the beginning of april at khân meithelûn, on the post-road, where there are springs, and poplar-groves, in one of which we eat our lunch, with lemonade cooled by the snows of hermon; the end of april at dimas, where we find our tents pitched upon the threshing-floor, a levelled terrace of clay looking down upon the flat roofs of the village. our camp is , feet above sea-level, and our morning path follows the telegraph-poles steeply down to the post-road, and so by a more gradual descent along the hard and dusty turnpike toward damascus. the landscape, at first, is bare and arid: rounded reddish mountains, gray hillsides, yellowish plains faintly tinged with a thin green. but at el-hâmi the road drops into the valley of the baradâ, the far-famed river abana, and we find ourselves in a verdant paradise. tall trees arch above the road; white balconies gleam through the foliage; the murmur and the laughter of flowing streams surround us. the railroad and the carriage-road meet and cross each other down the vale. country houses and cafés, some dingy and dilapidated, others new and trim, are half hidden among the groves or perched close beside the highway. poplars and willows, plane-trees and lindens, walnuts and mulberries, apricots and almonds, twisted fig-trees and climbing roses, grow joyfully wherever the parcelled water flows in its many channels. above this line, on the sides of the vale, everything is bare and brown and dry. but the depth of the valley is an embroidered sash of bloom laid across the sackcloth of the desert. and in the centre of this long verdure runs the parent river, a flood of clear green; rushing, leaping, curling into white foam; filling its channel of thirty or forty feet from bank to bank, and making the silver-leafed willows and poplars, that stand with their feet in the stream, tremble with the swiftness of its cool, strong current. truly naaman the syrian was right in his boasting to the prophet elisha: abana, the river of damascus, is better than all the waters of israel. the vale narrows as we descend along the stream, until suddenly we pass through a gateway of steep cliffs and emerge upon an open plain beset with mountains on three sides. the river, parting into seven branches, goes out to water a hundred and fifty square miles of groves and gardens, and we follow the road through the labyrinth of rich and luscious green. there are orchards of apricots enclosed with high mud walls; and open gates through which we catch glimpses of crimson rose-trees and scarlet pomegranates and little fields of wheat glowing with blood-red poppies; and hedges of white hawthorn and wild brier; and trees, trees, trees, everywhere embowering us and shutting us in. presently we see, above the leafy tops, a sharp-pointed minaret with a golden crescent above it. then we find ourselves again beside the main current of the baradâ, running swift and merry in a walled channel straight across an open common, where soldiers are exercising their horses, and donkeys and geese are feeding, and children are playing, and dyers are sprinkling their long strips of blue cotton cloth laid out upon the turf beside the river. the road begins to look like the commencement of a street; domes and minarets rise before us; there are glimpses of gray walls and towers, a few shops and open-air cafés, a couple of hotel signs. the river dives under a bridge and disappears by a hundred channels beneath the city, leaving us at the western entrance of damascus. iv the city that a little river made i cannot tell whether the river, the gardens, and the city would have seemed so magical and entrancing if we had come upon them in some other way or seen them in a different setting. you can never detach an experience from its matrix and weigh it alone. comparisons with the environs of naples or florence visited in an automobile, or with the suburbs of boston seen from a trolley-car, are futile and unilluminating. the point about the baradâ is that it springs full-born from the barren sides of the anti-lebanon, swiftly creates a paradise as it runs, and then disappears absolutely in a wide marsh on the edge of the desert. the point about damascus is that she flourishes on a secluded plain, the ghûtah, seventy miles from the sea and twenty-three hundred feet above it, with no _hinterland_ and no sustaining provinces, no political leadership, and no special religious sanctity, with nothing, in fact, to account for her distinction, her splendour, her populous vitality, her self-sufficing charm, except her mysterious and enduring quality as a mere city, a hive of men. she is the oldest living city in the world; no one knows her birthday or her founder's name. she has survived the empires and kingdoms which conquered her,--nineveh, babylon, samaria, greece, egypt--their capitals are dust, but damascus still blooms "like a tree planted by the rivers of water." she has given her name to the reddest of roses, the sweetest of plums, the richest of metalwork, and the most lustrous of silks; her streets have bubbled and eddied with the currents of the multitudinous folk that do inhabit her and make her great. she is the typical city, pure and simple, of the orient, as new york or san francisco is of the occident: the open port on the edge of the desert, the trading-booth at the foot of the mountains, the pavilion in the heart of the blossoming bower,--the wonderful child of a little river and an immemorial spirit of place. every time we go into the city, (whether from our tents on the terrace above an ancient and dilapidated pleasure-garden, or from our red-tiled rooms in the good hôtel d'orient, to which we had been driven by a plague of sand-flies in the camp), we step at once into a chapter of the "arabian nights' entertainments." it is true, there are electric lights and there is a trolley-car crawling around the city; but they no more make it western and modern than a bead necklace would change the character of the venus of milo. the driver of the trolley-car looks like one of "the three calenders," and a gayly dressed little boy beside him blows loudly on an instrument of discord as the machine tranquilly advances through the crowd. (a man was run over a few months ago; his friends waited for the car to come around the next day, pulled the driver from his perch, and stuck a number of long knives through him in a truly oriental manner.) the crowd itself is of the most indescribable and engaging variety and vivacity. the turkish soldiers in dark uniform and red fez; the cheerful, grinning water-carriers with their dripping, bulbous goatskins on their backs; the white-turbaned druses with their bold, clean-cut faces; the bronzed, impassive sons of the desert, with their flowing mantles and bright head-cloths held on by thick, dark rolls of camel's hair; the rich merchants in their silken robes of many colours; the picturesquely ragged beggars; the moslem pilgrims washing their heads and feet, with much splashing, at the pools in the marble courtyards of the mosques; the merry children, running on errands or playing with the water that gushes from many a spout at the corner of a street or on the wall of a house; the veiled mohammedan women slipping silently through the throng, or bending over the trinkets or fabrics in some open-fronted shop, lifting the veil for a moment to show an olive-tinted cheek and a pair of long, liquid brown eyes; the bearded greek priests in their black robes and cylinder hats; the christian women wrapped in their long white sheets, but with their pretty faces uncovered, and a red rose or a white jasmine stuck among their smooth, shining black tresses; the seller of lemonade with his gaily decorated glass vessel on his back and his clinking brass cups in his hand, shouting, "_a remedy for the heat_,"--"_cheer up your hearts_,"--"_take care of your teeth_;" the boy peddling bread, with an immense tray of thin, flat loaves on his head, crying continually to allah to send him customers; the seller of turnip-pickle with a huge pink globe upon his shoulder looking like the inside of a pale watermelon; the donkeys pattering along between fat burdens of grass or charcoal; a much-bedizened horseman with embroidered saddle-cloth and glittering bridle, riding silent and haughty through the crowd as if it did not exist; a victoria dashing along the street at a trot, with whip cracking like a pack of firecrackers, and shouts of, "_o boy! look out for your back! your foot! your side!_"--all these figures are mingled in a passing show of which we never grow weary. the long bazaars, covered with a round, wooden archway rising from the second story of the houses, are filled with a rich brown hue like a well-coloured meerschaum pipe; and through this mellow, brumous atmosphere beams of golden sunlight slant vividly from holes in the roof. an immense number of shops, small and great, shelter themselves in these bazaars, for the most part opening, without any reserve of a front wall or a door, in frank invitation to the street. on the earthen pavement, beaten hard as cement, camels are kneeling, while the merchants let down their corded bales and display their persian carpets or striped silks. the cook-shops show their wares and their processes, and send up an appetising smell of lamb _kibâbs_ and fried fish and stuffed cucumbers and stewed beans and okra, and many other dainties preparing on diminutive charcoal grills. in the larger and richer shops, arranged in semi-european fashion, there are splendid rugs, and embroideries old and new, and delicately chiselled brasswork, and furniture of strange patterns lavishly inlaid with mother-of-pearl; and there i go with the lady to study the art of bargaining as practised between the trained skill of the levant and the native genius of walla walla, washington. in the smaller and poorer bazaars the high, arched roofs give place to tattered awnings, and sometimes to branches of trees; the brown air changes to an atmosphere of brilliant stripes and patches; the tiny shops, (hardly more than open booths), are packed and festooned with all kinds of goods, garments and ornaments: the chafferers conduct their negotiations from the street, (sidewalk there is none), or squat beside the proprietor on the little platform of his stall. [illustration: a small bazaar in damascus.] the custom of massing the various trades and manufactures adds to the picturesque joy of shopping or dawdling in damascus. it is like passing through rows of different kinds of strange fruits. there is a region of dangling slippers, red and yellow, like cherries; a little farther on we come to a long trellis of clothes, limp and pendulous, like bunches of grapes; then we pass through a patch of saddles, plain and coloured, decorated with all sorts of beads and tinsel, velvet and morocco, lying on the ground or hung on wooden supports, like big, fantastic melons. in the coppersmiths' bazaar there is an incessant clattering of little hammers upon hollow metal. the goldsmiths sit silent in their pens within a vast, dim building, or bend over their miniature furnaces making gold and silver filigree. here are the carpenters using their bare feet in their work almost as deftly as their fingers; and yonder the dyers festooning their long strips of blue cotton from their windows and balconies. down there, on the way to the great mosque, the booksellers hold together: a dwindling tribe, apparently, for of the thirty or forty shops which were formerly theirs not more than half a dozen remain true to literature: the rest are full of red and yellow slippers. damascus is more inclined to loafing or to dancing than to reading. it seems to belong to the gay, smiling, easy-going east of scheherazade and aladdin, not to the sombre and reserved orient of fierce mystics and fanatical fatalists. yet we feel, or imagine that we feel, the hidden presence of passions and possibilities that belong to the tragic side of life underneath this laughing mask of comedy. no longer ago than , in the great massacre, five thousand christians perished by fire and shot and dagger in two days; the streets ran with blood; the churches were piled with corpses; hundreds of christian women were dragged away to moslem harems; only the brave abd-el-kader, with his body-guard of dauntless algerine veterans, was able to stay the butchery by flinging himself between the blood-drunken mob and their helpless victims. this was the last wholesale assassination of modern times that a great city has seen, and prosperous, pleasure-loving, insouciant damascus seems to have quite forgotten it. yet there are still enough wild kurdish shepherds, and fierce bedouins of the desert, and riffraff of camel-drivers and herdsmen and sturdy beggars and homeless men, among her three hundred thousand people to make dangerous material if the tiger-madness should break loose again. a gay city is not always a safe city. the lady and i saw a man stabbed to death at noon, not fifty feet away from us, in a street beside the ottoman bank. nothing is safe until justice and benevolence and tolerance and mutual respect are diffused in the hearts of men. how far this inward change has gone in damascus no one can tell. but that some advance has been made, by real reforms in the turkish government, by the spread of intelligence and the enlightenment of self-interest, by the sense of next-doorness to paris and berlin and london, which telegraphs, railways, and steamships have produced, above all by the useful work of missionary hospitals and schools, and by the humanizing process which has been going on inside of all the creeds, no careful observer can doubt. i fear that men will still continue to kill each other, for various causes, privately and publicly. but thank god it is not likely to be done often, if ever again, in the name of religion! the medley of things seen and half understood has left patterns damascened upon my memory with intricate clearness: immense droves of camels coming up from the wilderness to be sold in the market; factories of inlaid woodwork and wrought brasswork in which hundreds of young children, with beautiful and seeming-merry faces, are hammering and filing and cutting out the designs traced by the draughtsmen who sit at their desks like schoolmasters; vast mosques with rows of marble columns, and floors covered with bright-coloured rugs, and files of men, sometimes two hundred in a line, with a leader in front of them, making their concerted genuflections toward mecca; costly interiors of private houses which outwardly show bare white-washed walls, but within welcome the stranger to hospitality of fruits, coffee, and sweetmeats, in stately rooms ornamented with rich tiles and precious marbles, looking upon arcaded courtyards fragrant with blossoming orange-trees and musical with tinkling fountains; tombs of moslem warriors and saints,--saladin, the sultan beibars, the sheikh arslân, the philosopher ibn-el-arabi, great fighters now quiet, and restless thinkers finally satisfied; public gardens full of rose-bushes, traversed by clear, swift streams, where groups of women sit gossiping in the shade of the trees or in little kiosques, the mohammedans with their light veils not altogether hiding their olive faces and languid eyes, the christians and jewesses with bare heads, heavy necklaces of amber, flowers behind their ears, silken dresses of soft and varied shades; cafés by the river, where grave and important turks pose for hours on red velvet divans, smoking the successive cigarette or the continuous nargileh. out of these memory-pictures of damascus i choose three. * * * * * the lady and i are climbing up from the great mosque of the ommayyades into the minaret of the bride, at the hour of 'asr, or afternoon prayer. as we tread the worn spiral steps in the darkness we hear, far above, the chant of the choir of muezzins, high-pitched, long-drawn, infinitely melancholy, calling the faithful to their devotions. "_allah akbar! allah akbar! allah is great! i testify there is no god but allah, and mohammed is the prophet of allah! come to prayer!_" the plaintive notes float away over the city toward all four quarters of the sky, and quaver into silence. we come out from the gloom of the staircase into the dazzling light of the balcony which runs around the top of the minaret. for a few moments we can see little; but when the first bewilderment passes, we are conscious that all the charm and wonder of damascus are spread at our feet. the oval mass of the city lies like a carving of old ivory, faintly tinged with pink, on a huge table of malachite. the setting of groves and gardens, luxuriant, interminable, deeply and beautifully green, covers a circuit of sixty miles. beyond it, in sharpest contrast, rise the bare, fawn-coloured mountains, savage, intractable, desolate; away to the west, the snow-crowned bulk of hermon; away to the east, the low-rolling hills and slumbrous haze of the desert. under these flat roofs and white domes and long black archways of bazaars three hundred thousand folk are swarming. and there, half emerging from the huddle of decrepit modern buildings and partly hidden by the rounded shed of a bazaar, is the ruined top of a roman arch of triumph, battered, proud, and indomitable. * * * * * an hour later we are scrambling up a long, shaky ladder to the flat roofs of the joiners' bazaar, built close against the southern wall of the mosque. we walk across the roofs and find the ancient south door of the mosque, now filled up with masonry, and almost completely concealed by the shops above which we are standing. only the entablature is visible, richly carved with garlands. kneeling down, we read upon the lintel the greek inscription in uncial letters, cut when the mosque was a christian church. the moslems who are bowing and kneeling and stretching out their hands toward mecca among the marble pillars below, know nothing of this inscription. few even of the christian visitors to damascus have ever seen it with their own eyes, for it is difficult to find and read. but there it still endures and waits, the bravest inscription in the world: "_thy kingdom, o christ, is a kingdom of all ages, and thy dominion lasts throughout all generations._" * * * * * from this eloquent and forgotten stone my memory turns to the hospital of the edinburgh medical mission. i see the lovely garden full of roses, columbines, lilies, pansies, sweet-peas, strawberries just in bloom. i see the poor people coming in a steady stream to the neat, orderly dispensary; the sweet, clean wards with their spotless beds; the merciful candour and completeness of the operating-room; the patient, cheerful, vigorous, healing ways of the great scotch doctor, who limps around on his broken leg to minister to the needs of other folk. i see the little group of nurses and physicians gathered on sunday evening in the doctor's parlour for an hour of serious, friendly talk, hopeful and happy. and there, amid the murmur of abana's rills, and close to the confused and glittering mystery of the orient, i hear the music of a simple hymn: "dear lord and father of mankind, forgive our foolish ways! reclothe us in our rightful mind, in purer lives thy service find, in deeper reverence, praise. "o sabbath rest by galilee! o calm of hills above, where jesus knelt to share with thee the silence of eternity interpreted by love! "drop thy still dews of quietness, till all our strivings cease; take from our souls the strain and stress, and let our ordered lives confess the beauty of thy peace." * * * * * corrections made to printed original. p. , 'eygpt' corrected to 'egypt'. p. , 'is is camelet' corrected to 'is it camelet'. p. , 'acqueducts' corrected to 'aqueducts'. p. , added a period after 'generations to build'. p. , added a period after 'immemorial charm about the place'. where accented and non-accented versions of the same place-names exist the non-accented were converted to accented: bakhshîsh ...... bakhshish bâniyâs ........ baniyas haifâ .......... haifa lîtânî ......... litani and litâni serâi .......... serai nablûs ......... nablus jesus the christ a study of the messiah and his mission according to holy scriptures both ancient and modern by james e. talmage one of the twelve apostles of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints published by the church sixth edition twenty-eighth to thirtieth thousand inclusive salt lake city, utah deseret book company copyright september , december , april and november by joseph f. smith trustee-in-trust for the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints copyright, october, by heber j. grant trustee-in-trust for the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints printed in the united states of america preface. the scope of the subject presented in this work is expressed on the title page. it will be readily seen that the author has departed from the course usually followed by writers on the life of jesus christ, which course, as a rule, begins with the birth of mary's babe and ends with the ascension of the slain and risen lord from olivet. the treatment embodied in these pages, in addition to the narrative of the lord's life in the flesh comprizes the antemortal existence and activities of the world's redeemer, the revelations and personal manifestations of the glorified and exalted son of god during the apostolic period of old and in modern times, the assured nearness of the lord's second advent, and predicted events beyond--all so far as the holy scriptures make plain. it is particularly congruous and appropriate that the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints--the only church that affirms authority based on specific revelation and commission to use the lord's holy name as a distinctive designation--should set forth her doctrines concerning the messiah and his mission. the author of this volume entered upon his welcome service under request and appointment from the presiding authorities of the church; and the completed work has been read to and is approved by the first presidency and the council of the twelve. it presents, however, the writer's personal belief and profoundest conviction as to the truth of what he has written. the book is published by the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. a characteristic feature of the work is the guidance afforded by modern scriptures and the explication of the holy writ of olden times in the light of present day revelation, which, as a powerful and well directed beam, illumines many dark passages of ancient construction. the spirit of the sacredness inherent in the subject has been a constant companion of the writer throughout his pleasing labor, and he reverently invokes the same as a minister to the readers of the volume. james e. talmage. salt lake city, utah, september, . preface to the sixth edition. the second edition of this work appeared in december, , and the third in march, . the third edition presented several minor alterations in wording and contained additional notes and references. succeeding issues, including the fifth which was printed on india paper, and the present edition are practically uniform with the third. james e. talmage. salt lake city, utah, october, . contents. chapter . introduction. historicity of jesus the christ.--scope and purpose of the present treatise chapter . preexistence and foreordination of the christ. antemortal existence of spirits.--primeval council in heaven.--rebellion of lucifer.--his defeat and expulsion.--free agency of man insured.--the beloved son chosen to be the savior and redeemer of mankind chapter . the need of a redeemer. spirits of diverse capacities.--entrance of sin into the world foreseen.--god's foreknowledge not a determining cause.--creation of man in the flesh.--fall of man.--atonement necessary.--jesus christ the only being eligible as redeemer and savior.--universal resurrection provided chapter . the antemortal godship of christ. the godhead.--jesus christ the word of power.--jesus christ the creator.--jehovah.--the eternal i am.--proclamations of jesus christ by the father chapter . earthly advent of the christ predicted. biblical prophecies.--revelation to enoch.--the prophet predicted by moses.--sacrifices as prototypes.--book of mormon predictions chapter . the meridian of time. significance of the designation.--epitome of israel's history.--jews in vassalage to rome.--scribes and rabbis.--pharisees and sadducees.--other sects and parties chapter . gabriel's annunciation of john and of jesus. angelic visitation to zacharias.--birth of john the forerunner.--annunciation to mary the virgin.--mary and joseph.--their genealogies.--jesus christ heir to the throne of david chapter . the babe of bethlehem. birth of jesus christ.--his presentation in the temple.--visit of the magi.--herod's evil designs.--the child taken into egypt.--birth of christ made known to nephites.--time of the birth chapter . the boy of nazareth. jesus to be called a nazarene.--at the temple when twelve years of age.--jesus and the doctors of the law.--jesus of nazareth chapter . in the wilderness of judea. john the baptist.--the voice in the wilderness.--baptism of jesus.--the father's proclamation.--descent of the holy ghost.--sign of the dove.--temptations of christ chapter . from judea to galilee. john baptist's testimony of christ.--first disciples.--the son of man, significance of title.--miracle of transmuting water into wine.--miracles in general chapter . early incidents in our lord's public ministry. first clearing of the temple.--jesus and nicodemus.--john baptist's disciples in disputation.--john's tribute to and repeated testimony of the christ chapter . honored by strangers, rejected by his own. jesus and the samaritan woman.--among the samaritans.--while at cana christ heals a nobleman's son in capernaum.--at nazareth christ preaches in synagog.--nazarenes attempt to kill him.--demons subdued in capernaum.--demoniacal possession chapter . continuation of our lord's ministry in galilee. a leper healed.--leprosy.--palsied man healed and forgiven.--imputation of blasphemy.--publicans and sinners.--old cloth, old bottles, and the new.--preliminary call of disciples.--fishers of men chapter . lord of the sabbath. sabbath distinctively sacred to israel.--cripple healed on sabbath day.--accusations by the jews and the lord's reply thereto.--disciples charged with sabbath-breaking.--man with a withered hand healed on sabbath day chapter . the chosen twelve. their call and ordination.--the twelve considered individually.--their characteristics in general.--disciples and apostles chapter . the sermon on the mount. the beatitudes.--dignity and responsibility in the ministry.--the mosaic law superseded by the gospel of christ.--sincerity of purpose. the lord's prayer.--true wealth.--promise and re-assurance.--hearing and doing chapter . as one having authority. healing of centurion's servant.--young man of nain raised from the dead.--john baptist's message to jesus.--the lord's commentary thereon.--death of john baptist.--jesus in house of simon the pharisee.--penitent woman forgiven.--christ's authority ascribed to beelzebub.--the sin against the holy ghost.--sign-seekers chapter . "he spake many things unto them in parables." the sower.--wheat and tares.--seed growing secretly.--mustard seed.--leaven.--hidden treasure.--pearl of great price.--gospel net.--the lord's purpose in parabolic teaching.--parables in general chapter . "peace, be still." candidates for discipleship.--stilling the storm.--quieting the demons in region of gadara.--raising of daughter of jairus.--restoration to life and resurrection.--a woman healed amidst the throng.--blind see and dumb speak chapter . the apostolic mission, and events related thereto. jesus again in nazareth.--the twelve charged and sent out.--their return.--five thousand people miraculously fed.--miracle of walking upon the water.--people seek christ for more loaves and fishes.--christ the bread of life.--many disciples turn away chapter . a period of darkening opposition. ceremonial washings.--pharisees rebuked.--jesus in borders of tyre and sidon.--daughter of syro-phoenician woman healed.--miracles wrought in coasts of decapolis.--four thousand people miraculously fed.--more seekers after signs.--leaven of the pharisees, sadducees, and herodians.--peter's great confession, "thou art the christ" chapter . the transfiguration. visitation of moses and elijah.--the father again proclaims the son.--the apostles temporarily restrained from testifying concerning the transfiguration.--elias and elijah.--the lesser and the higher priesthood chapter . from sunshine to shadow. youthful demoniac healed.--further prediction of christ's death and resurrection.--the tribute money; supplied by a miracle.--humility illustrated by a little child.--parable of the lost sheep.--in christ's name.--my brother and i.--parable of the unmerciful servant chapter . jesus again in jerusalem. departure from galilee.--at the feast of tabernacles.--another charge of sabbath desecration.--living water for the spiritually thirsty.--plans to arrest jesus.--nicodemus protests.--woman taken in adultery.--christ the light of the world.--the truth shall make men free.--christ's seniority over abraham.--sight restored on sabbath day.--physical and spiritual blindness.--shepherd and sheep-herder.--christ the good shepherd.--his inherent power over life and death.--sheep of another fold chapter . our lord's ministry in perea and judea. jesus rejected in samaria.--james and john reproved for revengeful desire.--the seventy charged and sent.--their return.--a lawyer's question.--parable of good samaritan.--martha and mary.--ask and receive.--parable of friend at midnight.--criticism on pharisees and lawyers.--parable of foolish rich man.--the unrepentant to perish.--parable of barren fig tree.--a woman healed on the sabbath.--many or few to be saved?--jesus warned of herod's design chapter . continuation of the perean and judean ministry. in the house of one of the chief pharisees.--parable of the great supper.--counting the cost.--salvation even for publicans and sinners.--parable of the lost sheep repeated.--of the lost coin.--of the prodigal son.--of the unrighteous steward.--of the rich man and lazarus.--of the unprofitable servants.--ten lepers healed.--parable of the pharisee and publican.--on marriage and divorce.--jesus and the little ones.--the rich young ruler.--first may be last and last first.--parable of the laborers chapter . the last winter. at the feast of dedication.--sheep know the shepherd's voice.--the lord's retirement in perea.--lazarus raised from the dead.--jewish hierarchy agitated over the miracle.--prophecy by caiaphas, the high priest.--jesus in retirement at ephraim chapter . on to jerusalem. jesus again foretells his death and resurrection.--aspiring request of james and john.--sight restored near jericho.--zaccheus the chief publican.--parable of the pounds.--the supper in the house of simon the leper.--mary's tribute in anointing jesus.--iscariot's protest.-- christ's triumphal entry into jerusalem.--certain greeks seek interview with jesus.--the voice from heaven chapter . jesus returns to the temple daily. a leafy but fruitless fig tree cursed.--second clearing of the temple.--children shout hosanna.--christ's authority challenged by the rulers.--parable of the two sons. of the wicked husbandmen.--the rejected stone to be head of the corner.--parable of the royal marriage feast.--the wedding garment lacking chapter . the close of our lord's public ministry. pharisees and herodians in conspiracy.--cæsar to have his due.--the image on the coin.--sadducees and the resurrection.--levirate marriages.--the great commandment.--jesus turns questioner.--scathing denunciation of scribes and pharisees, hypocrites!--lamentation over jerusalem.--the widow's mites.--christ's final withdrawal from temple.--destruction of temple predicted chapter . further instruction to the apostles. prophecies relating to destruction of jerusalem and the lord's future advent.--watch!--parable of ten virgins.--of the entrusted talents.--the inevitable judgment.--another and specific prediction of the lord's impending death chapter . the last supper and the betrayal. judas iscariot in conspiracy with the jews.--preparations for the lord's last passover.--the last supper of jesus with the twelve.--the traitor designated.--ordinance of washing of feet.--sacrament of the lord's supper.--the betrayer goes out into the night.--discourse following the supper.--the high-priestly prayer.--the lord's agony in gethsemane.--the betrayal and the arrest chapter . the trial and condemnation. the jewish trial.--christ before annas and caiaphas.--the illegal night court.--the morning session.--false witnesses and unrighteous conviction.--peter's denial of his lord.--christ's first arraignment before pilate.--before herod.--second appearance before pilate.--pilate's surrender to jewish clamor.--the sentence of crucifixion.--suicide of judas iscariot chapter . death and burial. on the way to calvary.--the lord's address to the daughters of jerusalem.--the crucifixion.--occurrences between the lord's death and burial.--the burial.--the sepulchre guarded chapter . in the realm of disembodied spirits. actuality of the lord's death.--condition of spirits between death and resurrection.--the savior among the dead.--the gospel preached to the spirits in prison chapter . the resurrection and the ascension. christ is risen.--the women at the sepulchre.--angelic communications.--the risen lord seen by mary magdalene.--and by other women.--a priestly conspiracy of falsehood.--the lord and two disciples on the emmaus road.--he appears to disciples in jerusalem and eats in their presence.--doubting thomas.--the lord appears to the apostles at the sea of tiberias.--other manifestations in galilee.--final commission to the apostles.--the ascension chapter . the apostolic ministry. matthias ordained to the apostleship.--bestowal of the holy ghost at pentecost.--the apostles' preaching.--imprisoned and delivered.-- gamaliel's advice to the council.--stephen the martyr.--saul of tarsus, his conversion.--becomes paul the apostle.--the record by john the revelator.--close of the apostolic ministry chapter . ministry of the resurrected christ on the western hemisphere. the lord's death signalized by great calamities on western continent.--the voice of the lord jesus christ heard.--his visitations to the nephites.--the nephite twelve.--baptism among nephites.--the mosaic law fulfilled.--address to nephites compared with sermon on the mount.--sacrament of bread and wine instituted among nephites.--name of christ's church.--the three nephites.--growth of the church.--final apostasy of nephite nation chapter . the long night of apostasy. the great falling away as predicted.--individual apostasy from the church.--apostasy of the church.--constantine makes christianity the religion of state.--papal claims to secular authority.--churchly tyranny.--the dark ages.--the inevitable revolt.--the reformation.--rise of church of england.--catholicism and protestantism.--the apostasy affirmed.--mission of columbus and the pilgrim fathers predicted in ancient scripture.--fulfilment of the prophecies.--establishment of american nation provided for chapter . personal manifestations of god the eternal father and of his son jesus christ in modern times. a new dispensation.--joseph smith's perplexity over sectarian strife.--the eternal father and his son jesus christ appear to and personally instruct joseph smith.--visitation of moroni.--the book of mormon.--aaronic priesthood restored by john the baptist.--melchizedek priesthood restored by peter, james, and john.--the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints.--divine manifestations in kirtland temple.--the lord jesus christ appears.--specific authority of olden dispensations conferred by moses, elias, and elijah.--the holy priesthood now operative on earth chapter . jesus the christ to return. ancient predictions of the lord's second advent.--modern revelation affirms the same.--today and tomorrow.--the great and dreadful day near at hand.--kingdom of god and kingdom of heaven.--the millennium.--the celestial consummation index chapter . introduction. it is a matter of history that, at or near the beginning of what has since come to be known as the christian era, the man jesus, surnamed the christ, was born in bethlehem of judea.[ ] the principal data as to his birth, life, and death are so well attested as to be reasonably indisputable; they are facts of record, and are accepted as essentially authentic by the civilized world at large. true, there are diversities of deduction based on alleged discrepancies in the records of the past as to circumstantial details; but such differences are of strictly minor importance, for none of them nor all taken together cast a shadow of rational doubt upon the historicity of the earthly existence of the man known in literature as jesus of nazareth. as to who and what he was there are dissensions of grave moment dividing the opinions of men; and this divergence of conception and belief is most pronounced upon those matters to which the greatest importance attaches. the solemn testimonies of millions dead and of millions living unite in proclaiming him as divine, the son of the living god, the redeemer and savior of the human race, the eternal judge of the souls of men, the chosen and anointed of the father--in short, the christ. others there are who deny his godhood while extolling the transcendent qualities of his unparalleled and unapproachable manhood. to the student of history this man among men stands first, foremost, and alone, as a directing personality in the world's progression. mankind has never produced a leader to rank with him. regarded solely as a historic personage he is unique. judged by the standard of human estimation, jesus of nazareth is supreme among men by reason of the excellence of his personal character, the simplicity, beauty, and genuine worth of his precepts, and the influence of his example and doctrines in the advancement of the race. to these distinguishing characteristics of surpassing greatness the devout christian soul adds an attribute that far exceeds the sum of all the others--the divinity of christ's origin and the eternal reality of his status as lord and god. christian and unbeliever alike acknowledge his supremacy as a man, and respect the epoch-making significance of his birth. christ was born in the meridian of time;[ ] and his life on earth marked at once the culmination of the past and the inauguration of an era distinctive in human hope, endeavor, and achievement. his advent determined a new order in the reckoning of the years; and by common consent the centuries antedating his birth have been counted backward from the pivotal event and are designated accordingly. the rise and fall of dynasties, the birth and dissolution of nations, all the cycles of history as to war and peace, as to prosperity and adversity, as to health and pestilence, seasons of plenty and of famine, the awful happenings of earthquake and storm, the triumphs of invention and discovery, the epochs of man's development in godliness and the long periods of his dwindling in unbelief--all the occurrences that make history--are chronicled throughout christendom by reference to the year before or after the birth of jesus christ. his earthly life covered a period of thirty-three years; and of these but three were spent by him as an acknowledged teacher openly engaged in the activities of public ministry. he was brought to a violent death before he had attained what we now regard as the age of manhood's prime. as an individual he was personally known to but few; and his fame as a world character became general only after his death. brief account of some of his words and works has been preserved to us; and this record, fragmentary and incomplete though it be, is rightly esteemed as the world's greatest treasure. the earliest and most extended history of his mortal existence is embodied within the compilation of scriptures known as the new testament; indeed but little is said of him by secular historians of his time. few and short as are the allusions to him made by non-scriptural writers in the period immediately following that of his ministry, enough is found to corroborate the sacred record as to the actuality and period of christ's earthly existence. no adequate biography of jesus as boy and man has been or can be written, for the sufficing reason that a fulness of data is lacking. nevertheless, man never lived of whom more has been said and sung, none to whom is devoted a greater proportion of the world's literature. he is extolled by christian, mohammedan and jew, by skeptic and infidel, by the world's greatest poets, philosophers, statesmen, scientists, and historian. even the profane sinner in the foul, sacrilege of his oath acclaims the divine supremacy of him whose name he desecrates. the purpose of the present treatise is that of considering the life and mission of jesus _as_ the christ. in this undertaking we are to be guided by the light of both ancient and modern scriptures; and, thus led, we shall discover, even in the early stages of our course, that the word of god as revealed in latter days is effective in illuming and making plain the holy writ of ancient times, and this, in many matters of the profoundest imports.[ ] instead of beginning our study with the earthly birth of the holy babe of bethlehem, we shall consider the part taken by the firstborn son of god in the primeval councils of heaven, at the time when he was chosen and ordained to be the savior of the unborn race of mortals, the redeemer of a world then in its formative stages of development. we are to study him as the creator of the world, as the word of power, through whom the purposes of the eternal father were realized in the preparation of the earth for the abode of his myriad spirit-children during the appointed period of their mortal probation. jesus christ was and is jehovah, the god of adam and of noah, the god of abraham, isaac, and jacob, the god of israel, the god at whose instance the prophets of the ages have spoken, the god of all nations, and he who shall yet reign on earth as king of kings and lord of lords. his wondrous yet natural birth, his immaculate life in the flesh, and his voluntary death as a consecrated sacrifice for the sins of mankind, shall claim our reverent attention; as shall also his redeeming service in the world of disembodied spirits; his literal resurrection from bodily death to immortality; his several appearings to men and his continued ministry as the resurrected lord on both continents; the reestablishment of his church through his personal presence and that of the eternal father in the latter days; and his coming to his temple in the current dispensation. all these developments in the ministration of the christ are already of the past. our proposed course of investigation will lead yet onward, into the future concerning which the word of divine revelation is of record. we shall consider the conditions incident to the lord's return in power and glory to inaugurate the dominion of the kingdom of heaven on earth, and to usher in the predicted millennium of peace and righteousness. and yet beyond we shall follow him, through the post-millennial conflict between the powers of heaven and the forces of hell, to the completion of his victory over satan, sin, and death, when he shall present the glorified earth and its sanctified hosts, spotless and celestialized, unto the father. the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints affirms her possession of divine authority for the use of the sacred name, jesus christ, as the essential part of her distinctive designation. in view of this exalted claim, it is pertinent to inquire as to what special or particular message the church has to give to the world concerning the redeemer and savior of the race, and as to what she has to say in justification of her solemn affirmation, or in vindication of her exclusive name and title. as we proceed with our study, we shall find that among the specific teachings of the church respecting the christ are these: ( ) the unity and continuity of his mission in all ages--this of necessity involving the verity of his preexistence and foreordination. ( ) the fact of his antemortal godship. ( ) the actuality of his birth in the flesh as the natural issue of divine and mortal parentage. ( ) the reality of his death and physical resurrection, as a result of which the power of death shall be eventually overcome. ( ) the literalness of the atonement wrought by him, including the absolute requirement of individual compliance with the laws and ordinances of his gospel as the means by which salvation may be attained. ( ) the restoration of his priesthood and the reestablishment of his church in the current age, which is verily the dispensation of the fulness of times. ( ) the certainty of his return to earth in the near future, with power and great glory, to reign in person and bodily presence as lord and king. footnotes: [ ] as to the year of christ's birth, see chapter . [ ] see chapter . [ ] the holy bible, the book of mormon, the doctrine and covenants, and the pearl of great price constitute the standard works of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. these will be cited alike as scriptures in the following pages, for such they are. chapter . preexistence and foreordination of the christ. we affirm, on the authority of holy scripture, that the being who is known among men as jesus of nazareth, and by all who acknowledge his godhood as jesus the christ, existed with the father prior to birth in the flesh; and that in the preexistent state he was chosen and ordained to be the one and only savior and redeemer of the human race. foreordination implies and comprizes preexistence as an essential condition; therefore scriptures bearing upon the one are germane to the other; and consequently in this presentation no segregation of evidence as applying specifically to the preexistence of christ or to his foreordination will be attempted. john the revelator beheld in vision some of the scenes that had been enacted in the spirit-world before the beginning of human history. he witnessed strife and contention between loyalty and rebellion, with the hosts defending the former led by michael the archangel, and the rebellious forces captained by satan, who is also called the devil, the serpent, and the dragon. we read: "and there was war in heaven; michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels."[ ] in this struggle between unembodied hosts the forces were unequally divided; satan drew to his standard only a third part of the children of god, who are symbolized as the "stars of heaven";[ ] the majority either fought with michael, or at least refrained from active opposition, thus accomplishing the purpose of their "first estate"; while the angels who arrayed themselves on the side of satan "kept not their first estate",[ ] and therefore rendered themselves ineligible for the glorious possibilities of an advanced condition or "second estate".[ ] the victory was with michael and his angels; and satan or lucifer, theretofore a "son of the morning", was cast out of heaven, yea "he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him".[ ] the prophet isaiah, to whom these momentous occurrences had been revealed about eight centuries prior to the time of john's writings, laments with inspired pathos the fall of so great a one; and specifies selfish ambition as the occasion: "how art thou fallen from heaven, o lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! for thou hast said in thine heart, i will ascent into heaven, i will exalt my throne above the stars of god: i will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: i will ascend above the heights of the clouds; i will be like the most high. yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit."[ ] justification for citing these scriptures in connection with our present consideration will be found in the cause of the great contention--the conditions that led to this war in heaven. it is plain from the words of isaiah that lucifer, already of exalted rank, sought to aggrandize himself without regard to the rights and agency of others. the matter is set forth, in words that none may misapprehend, in a revelation given to moses and repeated through the first prophet of the present dispensation: "and i, the lord god, spake unto moses, saying: that satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine only begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying--behold, here am i, send me, i will be thy son, and i will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely i will do it; wherefore give me thine honor. but, behold, my beloved son, which was my beloved and chosen from the beginning, said unto me--father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever. wherefore, because that satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which i, the lord god, had given him, and also, that i should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine only begotten, i caused that he should be cast down; and he became satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice."[ ] thus it is shown that prior to the placing of man upon the earth, how long before we do not know, christ and satan, together with the hosts of the spirit-children of god, existed as intelligent individuals,[ ] possessing power and opportunity to choose the course they would pursue and the leaders whom they would follow and obey.[ ] in that great concourse of spirit-intelligences, the father's plan, whereby his children would be advanced to their second estate, was submitted and doubtless discussed. the opportunity so placed within the reach of the spirits who were to be privileged to take bodies upon the earth was so transcendently glorious that those heavenly multitudes burst forth into song and shouted for joy.[ ] satan's plan of compulsion, whereby all would be safely conducted through the career of mortality, bereft of freedom to act and agency to choose, so circumscribed that they would be compelled to do right--that one soul would not be lost--was rejected; and the humble offer of jesus the first-born--to assume mortality and live among men as their exemplar and teacher, observing the sanctity of man's agency but teaching men to use aright that divine heritage--was accepted. the decision brought war, which resulted in the vanquishment of satan and his angels, who were cast out and deprived of the boundless privileges incident to the mortal or second estate. in that august council of the angels and the gods, the being who later was born in flesh as mary's son, jesus, took prominent part, and there was he ordained of the father to be the savior of mankind. as to time, the term being used in the sense of all duration past, this is our earliest record of the firstborn among the sons of god; to us who read, it marks the beginning of the written history of jesus the christ.[ ] old testament scriptures, while abounding in promises relating to the actuality of christ's advent in the flesh, are less specific in information concerning his antemortal existence. by the children of israel, while living under the law and still unprepared to receive the gospel, the messiah was looked for as one to be born in the lineage of abraham and david, empowered to deliver them from personal and national burdens, and to vanquish their enemies. the actuality of the messiah's status as the chosen son of god, who was with the father from the beginning, a being of preexistent power and glory, was but dimly perceived, if conceived at all, by the people in general; and although to prophets specially commissioned in the authorities and privileges of the holy priesthood, revelation of the great truth was given,[ ] they transmitted it to the people rather in the language of imagery and parable than in words of direct plainness. nevertheless the testimony of the evangelists and the apostles, the attestation of the christ himself while in the flesh, and the revelations given in the present dispensation leave us without dearth of scriptural proof. in the opening lines of the gospel book written by john the apostle, we read: "in the beginning was the word, and the word was with god, and the word was god. the same was in the beginning with god. all things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.... and the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father), full of grace and truth."[ ] the passage is simple, precise and unambiguous. we may reasonably give to the phrase "in the beginning" the same meaning as attaches thereto in the first line of genesis; and such signification must indicate a time antecedent to the earliest stages of human existence upon the earth. that the word is jesus christ, who was with the father in that beginning and who was himself invested with the powers and rank of godship, and that he came into the world and dwelt among men, are definitely affirmed. these statements are corroborated through a revelation given to moses, in which he was permitted to see many of the creations of god, and to hear the voice of the father with respect to the things that had been made: "and by the word of my power, have i created them, which is mine only begotten son, who is full of grace and truth."[ ] john the apostle repeatedly affirms the preexistence of the christ and the fact of his authority and power in the antemortal state.[ ] to the same effect is the testimony of paul[ ] and of peter. instructing the saints concerning the basis of their faith, the last-named apostle impressed upon them that their redemption was not to be secured through corruptible things nor by the outward observance of traditional requirements, "but with the precious blood of christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you."[ ] even more impressive and yet more truly conclusive are the personal testimonies of the savior as to his own pre-existent life and the mission among men to which he had been appointed. no one who accepts jesus as the messiah can consistently reject these evidences of his eternal nature. when, on a certain occasion, the jews in the synagogue disputed among themselves and murmured because of their failure to understand aright his doctrine concerning himself, especially as touching his relationship with the father, jesus said unto them: "for i came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." and then, continuing the lesson based upon the contrast between the manna with which their fathers had been fed in the wilderness and the bread of life which he had to offer, he added: "i am the living bread which came down from heaven," and again declared "the living father hath sent me." not a few of the disciples failed to comprehend his teachings; and their complaints drew from him these words: "doth this offend you? what and if ye shall see the son of man ascend up where he was before?"[ ] to certain wicked jews, wrapped in the mantle of racial pride, boastful of their descent through the lineage of abraham, and seeking to excuse their sins through an unwarranted use of the great patriarch's name, our lord thus proclaimed his own preeminence: "verily, verily, i say unto you, before abraham was, i am."[ ] the fuller significance of this remark will be treated later; suffice it in the present connection to consider this scripture as a plain avowal of our lord's seniority and supremacy over abraham. but as abraham's birth had preceded that of christ by more than nineteen centuries, such seniority must have reference to a state of existence antedating that of mortality. when the hour of his betrayal was near, in the last interview with the apostles prior to his agonizing experience in gethsemane, jesus comforted them saying: "for the father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that i came out from god. i came forth from the father, and am come into the world again, i leave the world, and go to the father."[ ] furthermore, in the course of upwelling prayer for those who had been true to their testimony of his messiahship, he addressed the father with this solemn invocation: "and this is the life eternal, that they might know thee the only true god, and jesus christ, whom thou hast sent. i have glorified thee on the earth: i have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. and now, o father glorify thou with thine own self with the glory which i had with thee before the world was."[ ] book of mormon scriptures are likewise explicit in proof of the preexistence of the christ and of his foreappointed mission. one only of the many evidences therein found will be cited here. an ancient prophet, designated in the record as the brother of jared,[ ] once pleaded with the lord in special supplication: "and the lord said unto him, believest thou the words which i shall speak? and he answered, yea, lord, i know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a god of truth, and canst not lie. and when he had said these words, behold, the lord shewed himself unto him, and said, because thou knowest these things, ye are redeemed from the fall: therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore i shew myself unto you. behold, i am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. behold, i am jesus christ. i am the father and the son. in me shall all mankind have light, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters. and never have i shewed myself unto man whom i have created, for never has man believed in me as thou hast. seest thou that ye are created after mine own image? yea, even all men were created in the beginning, after mine own image. behold, this body, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit; and man have i created after the body of my spirit; and even as i appear unto thee to be in the spirit, will i appear unto my people in the flesh."[ ] the main facts attested by this scripture as having a direct bearing upon our present subject are those of the christ manifesting himself while yet in his antemortal state, and of his declaration that he had been chosen from the foundation of the world as the redeemer. revelation given through the prophets of god in the present dispensation is replete with evidence of christ's appointment and ordination in the primeval world; and the whole tenor of the scriptures contained in the doctrine and covenants may be called in witness. the following instances are particularly in point. in a communication to joseph smith the prophet, in may, , the lord declared himself as the one who had previously come into the world from the father, and of whom john had borne testimony as the word; and the solemn truth is reiterated that he, jesus christ, "was in the beginning, before the world was", and further, that he was the redeemer who "came into the world, because the world was made by him, and in him was the life of men and the light of men." again, he is referred to as "the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth, even the spirit of truth, which came and dwelt in the flesh." in the course of the same revelation the lord said: "and now, verily i say unto you, i was in the beginning with the father and am the firstborn."[ ] on an earlier occasion, as the modern prophet testifies, he and an associate in the priesthood were enlightened by the spirit so that they were able to see and understand the things of god--"even those things which were from the beginning before the world was, which were ordained of the father, through his only begotten son, who was in the bosom of the father, even from the beginning, of whom we bear record, and the record which we bear is the fulness of the gospel of jesus christ, who is the son, whom we saw and with whom we conversed in the heavenly vision."[ ] the testimony of scriptures written on both hemispheres, that of records both ancient and modern, the inspired utterances of prophets and apostles, and the words of the lord himself, are of one voice in proclaiming the preexistence of the christ and his ordination as the chosen savior and redeemer of mankind--in the beginning, yea, even before the foundation of the world. notes to chapter . . graded intelligences in the antemortal state.--that the spirits of men existed as individual intelligences, of varying degrees of ability and power, prior to the inauguration of the mortal state upon this earth and even prior to the creation of the world as a suitable abode for human beings, is shown in great plainness through a divine revelation to abraham: "now the lord had shown unto me, abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; and god saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: these i will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born." (p. of g.p., abraham : , .) that both christ and satan were among those exalted intelligences, and that christ was chosen while satan was rejected as the future savior of mankind, are shown by the portions of the revelation immediately following that above quoted: "and there stood one among them that was like unto god, and he said unto those who were with him: we will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; and we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the lord their god shall command them; and they who keep their first estate shall be added upon, and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads forever and ever. and the lord said: whom shall i send? and one answered like unto the son of man: here am i, send me. and another answered and said: here am i, send me. and the lord said: i will send the first. and the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him" (verses - ). . the primeval council in the heavens.--"it is definitely stated in the book of genesis that god said, 'let us make man in our image, after our likeness;' and again, after adam had taken of the forbidden fruit the lord said, 'behold, the man has become as one of us;' and the inference is direct that in all that related to the work of the creation of the world there was a consultation; and though god spake as it is recorded in the bible, yet it is evident he counseled with others. the scriptures tell us there are 'gods many and lords many. but to us there is but one god, the father' ( cor. : ). and for this reason, though there were others engaged in the creation of the worlds, it is given to us in the bible in the shape that it is; for the fulness of these truths is only revealed to highly favored persons for certain reasons known to god; as we are told in the scriptures: 'the secret of the lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant.'--psalms : . "it is consistent to believe that at this council in the heavens the plan that should be adopted in relation to the sons of god who were then spirits, and had not yet obtained tabernacles, was duly considered. for, in view of the creation of the world and the placing of men upon it, whereby it would be possible for them to obtain tabernacles, and in those tabernacles obey laws of life, and with them again be exalted among the gods, we are told that at that time, 'the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of god shouted for joy.' the question then arose, how, and upon what principle, should the salvation, exaltation and eternal glory of god's sons be brought about? it is evident that at that council certain plans had been proposed and discussed, and that after a full discussion of those principles, and the declaration of the father's will pertaining to his design, lucifer came before the father with a plan of his own, saying, 'behold [here am] i; send me, i will be thy son, and i will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely i will do it; wherefore, give me thine honor.' but jesus, on hearing this statement made by lucifer, said, 'father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.' from these remarks made by the well beloved son, we should naturally infer that in the discussion of this subject the father had made known his will and developed his plan and design pertaining to these matters, and all that his well beloved son wanted to do was to carry out the will of his father, as it would appear had been before expressed. he also wished the glory to be given to his father, who, as god the father, and the originator and designer of the plan, had a right to all the honor and glory. but lucifer wanted to introduce a plan contrary to the will of his father, and then wanted his honor, and said: 'i will save every soul of man, wherefore give me thine honor.' he wanted to go contrary to the will of his father, and presumptuously sought to deprive man of his free agency, thus making him a serf, and placing him in a position in which it was impossible for him to obtain that exaltation which god designed should be man's, through obedience to the law which he had suggested; and again, lucifer wanted the honor and power of his father, to enable him to carry out principles which were contrary to the father's wish."--john taylor--_mediation and atonement_, pp. , . . the jaredites.--"of the two nations whose histories constitute the book of mormon, the first in order of time consisted of the people of jared, who followed their leader from the tower of babel at the time of the confusion of tongues. their history was written on twenty-four plates of gold by ether, the last of their prophets, who, foreseeing the destruction of his people because of their wickedness, hid away the historical plates. they were afterward found, b.c. , by an expedition sent out by king limhi, a nephite ruler. the record engraved on these plates was subsequently abridged by moroni, and the condensed account was attached by him to the book of mormon record; it appears in the modern translation under the name of the book of ether. "the first and chief prophet of the jaredites is not mentioned by name in the record as we have it; he is known only as the brother of jared. of the people, we learn that, amid the confusion of babel, jared and his brother importuned the lord that he would spare them and their associates from the impending disruption. their prayer was heard, and the lord led them with a considerable company, who, like themselves, were free from the taint of idolatry, away from their homes, promising to conduct them to a land choice above all other lands. their course of travel is not given with exactness; we learn only that they reached the ocean, and there constructed eight vessels, called barges, in which they set out upon the waters. these vessels were small and dark within; but the lord made luminous certain stones, which gave light to the imprisoned voyagers. after a passage of three hundred and forty-four days, the colony landed on the western shore of north america, probably at a place south of the gulf of california, and north of the isthmus of panama. "here they became a flourishing nation; but, giving way in time to internal dissensions, they divided into factions, which warred with one another until the people were totally destroyed. this destruction, which occurred near the hill ramah, afterward known among the nephites as cumorah, probably took place at about the time of lehi's landing in south america-- b.c."--the author, _articles of faith_, xiv: - . footnotes: [ ] rev. : ; see also verses and . [ ] rev. : ; see also doc. and cov. : - ; and : - . [ ] jude . [ ] p. of g.p., abraham : . [ ] rev. : . [ ] isa. : - ; compare doc. and cov. : - ; and : - . [ ] p. of g.p., moses : - ; see also abraham : , . [ ] for a further treatment of the preexistence of spirits see the author's "articles of faith" x: - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] job : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] psalm : ; amos : . [ ] john : - , ; see also john : ; : ; rev. : ; compare doc. and cov. : - , . [ ] p. of c.p., moses : , ; see also : . [ ] john : - ; : , ; : ; rev. : . [ ] tim. : , ; rom. : ; eph. : ; : , ; titus : . see especially rom. : ; and note the marginal rendering--"foreordained"-- making the passage read: "whom god hath foreordained to be a propitiation." [ ] peter : , . [ ] john : , , , , . [ ] john : ; see also : , ; and compare exo. : . page . [ ] john : , ; see also : . [ ] john : - ; see also verses , . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] b. of m., ether : - . see also nephi : ; : ; nephi : ; : ; : ; : ; mosiah : ; : ; : ; : ; : ; alma : ; hela. : ; nephi : . [ ] doc. and cov. : - , . [ ] doc. and cov. : , . chapter . the need of a redeemer. we have heretofore shown that the entire human race existed as spirit-beings in the primeval world, and that for the purpose of making possible to them the experiences of mortality this earth was created. they were endowed with the powers of agency or choice while yet but spirits; and the divine plan provided that they be free-born in the flesh, heirs to the inalienable birthright of liberty to choose and to act for themselves in mortality. it is undeniably essential to the eternal progression of god's children that they be subjected to the influences of both good and evil, that they be tried and tested and proved withal, "to see if they will do all things whatsoever the lord their god shall command them."[ ] free agency is an indispensable element of such a test. the eternal father well understood the diverse natures and varied capacities of his spirit-offspring; and his infinite foreknowledge made plain to him, even in the beginning, that in the school of life some of his children would succeed and others would fail; some would be faithful, others false; some would choose the good, others the evil; some would seek the way of life while others would elect to follow the road to destruction. he further foresaw that death would enter the world, and that the possession of bodies by his children would be of but brief individual duration. he saw that his commandments would be disobeyed and his law violated; and that men, shut out from his presence and left to themselves, would sink rather than rise, would retrograde rather than advance, and would be lost to the heavens. it was necessary that a means of redemption be provided, whereby erring man might make amends, and by compliance with established law achieve salvation and eventual exaltation in the eternal worlds. the power of death was to be overcome, so that, though men would of necessity die, they would live anew, their spirits clothed with immortalized bodies over which death could not again prevail. let not ignorance and thoughtlessness lead us into the error of assuming that the father's foreknowledge as to what _would be_, under given conditions, determined that such _must be_. it was not his design that the souls of mankind be lost; on the contrary it was and is his work and glory, "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."[ ] nevertheless he saw the evil into which his children would assuredly fall; and with infinite love and mercy did he ordain means of averting the dire effect, provided the transgressor would elect to avail himself thereof.[ ] the offer of the firstborn son to establish through his own ministry among men the gospel of salvation, and to sacrifice himself, through labor, humiliation and suffering even unto death, was accepted and made the foreordained plan of man's redemption from death, of his eventual salvation from the effects of sin, and of his possible exaltation through righteous achievement. in accordance with the plan adopted in the council of the gods, man was created as an embodied spirit; his tabernacle of flesh was composed of the elements of earth.[ ] he was given commandment and law, and was free to obey or disobey--with the just and inevitable condition that he should enjoy or suffer the natural results of his choice.[ ] adam, the first man[ ] placed upon the earth in pursuance of the established plan, and eve who was given unto him as companion and associate, indispensable to him in the appointed mission of peopling the earth, disobeyed the express commandment of god and so brought about the "fall of man", whereby the mortal state, of which death is an essential element, was inaugurated.[ ] it is not proposed to consider here at length the doctrine of the fall; for the present argument it is sufficient to establish the fact of the momentous occurrence and its portentous consequences.[ ] the woman was deceived, and in direct violation of counsel and commandment partook of the food that had been forbidden, as a result of which act her body became degenerate and subject to death. adam realized the disparity that had been brought between him and his companion, and with some measure of understanding followed her course, thus becoming her partner in bodily degeneracy. note in this matter the words of paul the apostle: "adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression."[ ] the man and the woman had now become mortal; through indulgence in food unsuited to their nature and condition and against which they had been specifically warned, and as the inevitable result of their disobeying the divine law and commandment, they became liable to the physical ailments and bodily frailties to which mankind has since been the natural heir.[ ] those bodies, which before the fall had been perfect in form and function, were now subjects for eventual dissolution or death. the arch-tempter through whose sophistries, half-truths and infamous falsehoods, eve had been beguiled, was none other than satan, or lucifer, that rebellious and fallen "son of the morning", whose proposal involving the destruction of man's liberty had been rejected in the council of the heavens, and who had been "cast out into the earth", he and all his angels as unbodied spirits, never to be tabernacled in bodies of their own.[ ] as an act of diabolic reprisal following his rejection in the council, his defeat by michael and the heavenly hosts, and his ignominious expulsion from heaven, satan planned to destroy the bodies in which the faithful spirits--those who had kept their first estate--would be born; and his beguilement of eve was but an early stage of that infernal scheme. death has come to be the universal heritage; it may claim its victim in infancy or youth, in the period of life's prime, or its summons may be deferred until the snows of age have gathered upon the hoary head; it may befall as the result of accident or disease, by violence, or as we say, through natural causes; but come it must, as satan well knows; and in this knowledge is his present though but temporary triumph. but the purposes of god, as they ever have been and ever shall be, are infinitely superior to the deepest designs of men or devils; and the satanic machinations to make death inevitable, perpetual and supreme were provided against even before the first man had been created in the flesh. the atonement to be wrought by jesus the christ was ordained to overcome death and to provide a means of ransom from the power of satan. as the penalty incident to the fall came upon the race through an individual act, it would be manifestly unjust, and therefore impossible as part of the divine purpose, to make all men suffer the results thereof without provision for deliverance.[ ] moreover, since by the transgression of one man sin came into the world and death was entailed upon all, it is consistent with reason that the atonement thus made necessary should be wrought by one.[ ] "wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned ... therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."[ ] so taught the apostle paul; and, further: "for since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. for as in adam all die, even so in christ shall all be made alive."[ ] the atonement was plainly to be a vicarious sacrifice, voluntary and love-inspired on the savior's part, universal in its application to mankind so far as men shall accept the means of deliverance thus placed within their reach. for such a mission only one who was without sin could be eligible. even the altar victims of ancient israel offered as a provisional propitiation for the offenses of the people under the mosaic law had to be clean and devoid of spot or blemish; otherwise they were unacceptable and the attempt to offer them was sacrilege.[ ] jesus christ was the only being suited to the requirements of the great sacrifice: --as the one and only sinless man; --as the only begotten of the father and therefore the only being born to earth possessing in their fulness the attributes of both godhood and manhood; --as the one who had been chosen in the heavens and foreordained to this service. what other man has been without sin, and therefore wholly exempt from the dominion of satan, and to whom death, the wage of sin, is not naturally due? had jesus christ met death as other men have done--the result of the power that satan has gained over them through their sins--his death would have been but an individual experience, expiatory in no degree of any faults or offenses but his own. christ's absolute sinlessness made him eligible, his humility and willingness rendered him acceptable to the father, as the atoning sacrifice whereby propitiation could be made for the sins of all men. what other man has lived with power to withstand death, over whom death could not prevail except through his own submission? yet jesus christ could not be slain until his "hour had come", and that, the hour in which he voluntarily surrendered his life, and permitted his own decease through an act of will. born of a mortal mother he inherited the capacity to die; begotten by an immortal sire he possessed as a heritage the power to withstand death indefinitely. he literally gave up his life; to this effect is his own affirmation: "therefore doth my father love me, because i lay down my life, that i might take it again. no man taketh it from me, but i lay it down of myself. i have power to lay it down, and i have power to take it again."[ ] and further: "for as the father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the son to have life in himself."[ ] only such a one could conquer death; in none but jesus the christ was realized this requisite condition of a redeemer of the world. what other man has come to earth with such appointment, clothed with the authority of such foreordination? the atoning mission of jesus christ was no self-assumption. true, he had offered himself when the call was made in the heavens; true, he had been accepted, and in due time came to earth to carry into effect the terms of that acceptance; but he was chosen by one greater than himself. the burden of his confession of authority was ever to the effect that he operated under the direction of the father, as witness these words: "i came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me."[ ] "my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work."[ ] "i can of mine own self do nothing: as i hear, i judge: and my judgment is just; because i seek not mine own will but the will of the father which hath sent me."[ ] through the atonement accomplished by jesus christ--a redeeming service, vicariously rendered in behalf of mankind, all of whom have become estranged from god by the effects of sin both inherited and individually incurred--the way is opened for a reconciliation whereby man may come again into communion with god, and be made fit to dwell anew and forever in the presence of his eternal father. this basal thought is admirably implied in our english word, "atonement," which, as its syllables attest, is _at-one-ment_, "denoting reconciliation, or the bringing into agreement of those who have been estranged."[ ] the effect of the atonement may be conveniently considered as twofold: --the universal redemption of the human race from death invoked by the fall of our first parents; and, --salvation, whereby means of relief from the results of individual sin are provided. the victory over death was made manifest in the resurrection of the crucified christ; he was the first to pass from death to immortality and so is justly known as "the first fruits of them that slept."[ ] that the resurrection of the dead so inaugurated is to be extended to every one who has or shall have lived is proved by an abundance of scriptural evidence. following our lord's resurrection, others who had slept in the tomb arose and were seen of many, not as spirit-apparitions but as resurrected beings possessing immortalized bodies: "and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."[ ] those who thus early came forth are spoken of as "the saints"; and other scriptures confirm the fact that only the righteous shall be brought forth in the earlier stages of the resurrection yet to be consummated; but that all the dead shall in turn resume bodies of flesh and bones is placed beyond doubt by the revealed word. the savior's direct affirmation ought to be conclusive: "verily, verily, i say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the son of god: and they that hear shall live.... marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."[ ] the doctrine of a universal resurrection was taught by the apostles of old,[ ] as also by the nephite prophets;[ ] and the same is confirmed by revelation incident to the present dispensation.[ ] even the heathen who have not known god shall be brought forth from their graves; and, inasmuch as they have lived and died in ignorance of the saving law, a means of making the plan of salvation known unto them is provided. "and then shall the heathen nations be redeemed, and they that knew no law shall have part in the first resurrection."[ ] jacob, a nephite prophet, taught the universality of the resurrection, and set forth the absolute need of a redeemer, without whom the purposes of god in the creation of man would be rendered futile. his words constitute a concise and forceful summary of revealed truth directly bearing upon our present subject: "for as death hath passed upon all men, to fulfil the merciful plan of the great creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, and the resurrection must needs come unto man by reason of the fall; and the fall came by reason of transgression; and because man became fallen, they were cut off from the presence of the lord; wherefore it must needs be an infinite atonement; save it should be an infinite atonement, this corruption could not put on incorruption. wherefore, the first judgment which came upon man, must needs have remained to an endless duration. and if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more. o the wisdom of god! his mercy and grace! for behold, if the flesh should rise no more, our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the eternal god, and became the devil, to rise no more. and our spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our god, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself; yea, to that being who beguiled our first parents; who transformeth himself nigh unto an angel of light, and stirreth up the children of men unto secret combinations of murder, and all manner of secret works of darkness. o how great the goodness of our god, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell, which i call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit. and because of the way of deliverance of our god, the holy one of israel, this death, of which i have spoken, which is the temporal, shall deliver up its dead; which death is the grave. and this death of which i have spoken, which is the spiritual death, shall deliver up its dead; which spiritual death is hell; wherefore, death and hell must deliver up their dead, and hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one to the other; and it is by the power of the resurrection of the holy one of israel. o how great the plan of our god! for on the other hand, the paradise of god must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is restored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible, and immortal, and they are living souls, having a perfect knowledge like unto us in the flesh; save it be that our knowledge shall be perfect."[ ] the application of the atonement to individual transgression, whereby the sinner may obtain absolution through compliance with the laws and ordinances embodied in the gospel of jesus christ, is conclusively attested by scripture. since forgiveness of sins can be secured in none other way, there being either in heaven or earth no name save that of jesus christ whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men,[ ] every soul stands in need of the savior's mediation, since all are sinners. "for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god", said paul of old,[ ] and john the apostle added his testimony in these words: "if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."[ ] who shall question the justice of god, which denies salvation to all who will not comply with the prescribed conditions on which alone it is declared obtainable? christ is "the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him",[ ] and god "will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life: but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil."[ ] such then is the need of a redeemer, for without him mankind would forever remain in a fallen state, and as to hope of eternal progression would be inevitably lost.[ ] the mortal probation is provided as an opportunity for advancement; but so great are the difficulties and the dangers, so strong is the influence of evil in the world, and so weak is man in resistance thereto, that without the aid of a power above that of humanity no soul would find its way back to god from whom it came. the need of a redeemer lies in the inability of man to raise himself from the temporal to the spiritual plane, from the lower kingdom to the higher. in this conception we are not without analogies in the natural world. we recognize a fundamental distinction between inanimate and living matter, between the inorganic and the organic, between the lifeless mineral on the one hand and the living plant or animal on the other. within the limitations of its order the dead mineral grows by accretion of substance, and may attain a relatively perfect condition of structure and form as is seen in the crystal. but mineral matter, though acted upon favorably by the forces of nature--light, heat, electric energy and others--can never become a living organism; nor can the dead elements, through any process of chemical combination dissociated from life, enter into the tissues of the plant as essential parts thereof. but the plant, which is of a higher order, sends its rootlets into the earth, spreads its leaves in the atmosphere, and through these organs absorbs the solutions of the soil, inspires the gases of the air, and from such lifeless materials weaves the tissue of its wondrous structure. no mineral particle, no dead chemical substance has ever been made a constituent of organic tissue except through the agency of life. we may, perhaps with profit, carry the analogy a step farther. the plant is unable to advance its own tissue to the animal plane. though it be the recognized order of nature that the "animal kingdom" is dependent upon the "vegetable kingdom" for its sustenance, the substance of the plant may become part of the animal organism only as the latter reaches down from its higher plane and by its own vital action incorporates the vegetable compounds with itself. in turn, animal matter can never become, even transitorily, part of a human body, except as the living man assimilates it, and by the vital processes of his own existence lifts, for the time being, the substance of the animal that supplied him food to the higher plane of his own existence. the comparison herein employed is admittedly defective if carried beyond reasonable limits of application; for the raising of mineral matter to the plane of the plant, vegetable tissue to the level of the animal, and the elevation of either to the human plane, is but a temporary change; with the dissolution of the higher tissues the material thereof falls again to the level of the inanimate and the dead. but, as a means of illustration the analogy may not be wholly without value. so, for the advancement of man from his present fallen and relatively degenerate state to the higher condition of spiritual life, a power above his own must cooperate. through the operation of the laws obtaining in the higher kingdom man may be reached and lifted; himself he cannot save by his own unaided effort.[ ] a redeemer and savior of mankind is beyond all question essential to the realization of the plan of the eternal father, "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man";[ ] and that redeemer and savior is jesus the christ, beside whom there is and can be none other. notes to chapter . . god's foreknowledge not a determining cause.--"respecting the foreknowledge of god, let it not be said that divine omniscience is of itself a determining cause whereby events are inevitably brought to pass. a mortal father, who knows the weaknesses and frailties of his son, may by reason of that knowledge sorrowfully predict the calamities and sufferings awaiting his wayward boy. he may foresee in that son's future a forfeiture of blessings that could have been won, loss of position, self-respect, reputation and honor; even the dark shadows of a felon's cell and the night of a drunkard's grave may appear in the saddening visions of that fond father's soul; yet, convinced by experience of the impossibility of bringing about that son's reform, he foresees the dread developments of the future, and he finds but sorrow and anguish in his knowledge. can it be said that the father's foreknowledge is a cause of the son's sinful life? the son, perchance, has reached his maturity; he is the master of his own destiny; a free agent unto himself. the father is powerless to control by force or to direct by arbitrary command; and, while he would gladly make any effort or sacrifice to save his son from the fate impending, he fears for what seems to be an awful certainty. but surely that thoughtful, prayerful, loving parent does not, because of his knowledge, contribute to the son's waywardness. to reason otherwise would be to say that a neglectful father, who takes not the trouble to study the nature and character of his son, who shuts his eyes to sinful tendencies, and rests in careless indifference as to the probable future, will by his very heartlessness be benefitting his child, because his lack of forethought cannot operate as a contributory cause to dereliction. "our heavenly father has a full knowledge of the nature and disposition of each of his children, a knowledge gained by long observation and experience in the past eternity of our primeval childhood; a knowledge compared with which that gained by earthly parents through mortal experience with their children is infinitesimally small. by reason of that surpassing knowledge, god reads the future of child and children, of men individually and of men collectively as communities and nations; he knows what each will do under given conditions, and sees the end from the beginning. his foreknowledge is based on intelligence and reason. he foresees the future as a state which naturally and surely will be; not as one which must be because he has arbitrarily willed that it shall be."--from the author's _great apostasy_, pp. , . . man free to choose for himself.--"the father of souls has endowed his children with the divine birthright of free agency; he does not and will not control them by arbitrary force; he impels no man toward sin; he compels none to righteousness. unto man has been given freedom to act for himself; and, associated with this independence, is the fact of strict responsibility and the assurance of individual accountability. in the judgment with which we shall be judged, all the conditions and circumstances of our lives shall be considered. the inborn tendencies due to heredity, the effect of environment whether conducive to good or evil, the wholesome teachings of youth, or the absence of good instruction--these and all other contributory elements must be taken into account in the rendering of a just verdict as to the soul's guilt or innocence. nevertheless, the divine wisdom makes plain what will be the result with given conditions operating on known natures and dispositions of men, while every individual is free to choose good or evil within the limits of the many conditions existing and operative."--_great apostasy_, p. ; see also _articles of faith_, iii: , . . the fall a process of physical degeneracy.--a modern revelation given to the church in (doc. and cov. sec. ), prescribes rules for right living, particularly as regards the uses of stimulants, narcotics, and foods unsuited to the body. concerning the physical causes by which the fall was brought about, and the close relation between those causes and current violations of the word of wisdom embodied in the revelation referred to above, the following is in point. "this, [the word of wisdom] like other revelations that have come in the present dispensation, is not wholly new. it is as old as the human race. the principle of the word of wisdom was revealed unto adam. all the essentials of the word of wisdom were made known unto him in his immortal state, before he had taken into his body those things that made of it a thing of earth. he was warned against that very practise. he was not told to treat his body as something to be tortured. he was not told to look upon it as the fakir of india has come to look upon his body, or professes to look upon it, as a thing to be utterly contemned; but he was told that he must not take into that body certain things which were there at hand. he was warned that, if he did, his body would lose the power which it then held of living for ever, and that he would become subject to death. it was pointed out to him, as it has been pointed out to you, that there are many good fruits to be plucked, to be eaten, to be enjoyed. we believe in enjoying good food. we think that these good things are given us of god. we believe in getting all the enjoyment out of eating that we can; and, therefore, we should avoid gluttony, and we should avoid extremes in all our habits of eating; and as was told unto adam, so is it told unto us: touch not these things; for in the day that thou doest it thy life shall be shortened and thou shalt die. "here let me say that therein consisted the fall--the eating of things unfit, the taking into the body of the things that made of that body a thing of earth: and i take this occasion to raise my voice against the false interpretation of scripture, which has been adopted by certain people, and is current in their minds, and is referred to in a hushed and half-secret way, that the fall of man consisted in some offense against the laws of chastity and of virtue. such a doctrine is an abomination. what right have we to turn the scriptures from their proper sense and meaning? what right have we to declare that god meant not what he said? the fall was a natural process, resulting through the incorporation into the bodies of our first parents of the things that came from food unfit, through the violation of the command of god regarding what they should eat. don't go around whispering that the fall consisted in the mother of the race losing her chastity and her virtue. it is not true; the human race is not born of fornication. these bodies that are given unto us are given in the way that god has provided. let it not be said that the patriarch of the race, who stood with the gods before he came here upon the earth, and his equally royal consort, were guilty of any such foul offense. the adoption of that belief has led many to excuse departures from the path of chastity and the path of virtue, by saying that it is the sin of the race, that it is as old as adam. it was not introduced by adam. it was not committed by eve. it was the introduction of the devil and came in order that he might sow the seeds of early death in the bodies of men and women, that the race should degenerate as it has degenerated whenever the laws of virtue and of chastity have been transgressed. "our first parents were pure and noble, and when we pass behind the veil we shall perhaps learn something of their high estate, more than we know now. but be it known that they were pure; they were noble. it is true that they disobeyed the law of god, in eating things they were told not to eat; but who amongst you can rise up and condemn?"--from an address by the author at the eighty-fourth semiannual conference of the church, oct. , ; published in the proceedings of the conference, pp. , . . christ wrought redemption from the fall.--"the savior thus becomes master of the situation--the debt is paid, the redemption made, the covenant fulfilled, justice satisfied, the will of god done, and all power is now given into the hands of the son of god--the power of the resurrection, the power of the redemption, the power of salvation, the power to enact laws for the carrying out and accomplishment of this design. hence life and immortality are brought to light, the gospel is introduced, and he becomes the author of eternal life and exaltation. he is the redeemer, the resurrector, the savior of man and the world; and he has appointed the law of the gospel as the medium which must be complied with in this world or the next, as he complied with his father's law; hence 'he that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned.' the plan, the arrangement, the agreement, the covenant was made, entered into and accepted before the foundation of the world; it was prefigured by sacrifices, and was carried out and consummated on the cross. hence being the mediator between god and man, he becomes by right the dictator and director on earth and in heaven for the living and for the dead, for the past, the present and the future, pertaining to man as associated with this earth or the heavens, in time or eternity, the captain of our salvation, the apostle and high-priest of our profession, the lord and giver of life."--john taylor, _mediation and atonement_, p. . . redemption from the effect of the fall.--"'mormonism' accepts the doctrine of the fall, and the account of the transgression in eden, as set forth in genesis; but it affirms that none but adam is or shall be answerable for adam's disobedience; that mankind in general are absolutely absolved from responsibility for that 'original sin,' and that each shall account for his own transgressions alone; that the fall was foreknown of god, that it was turned to good effect by which the necessary condition of mortality should be inaugurated; and that a redeemer was provided before the world was; that general salvation, in the sense of redemption from the effects of the fall, comes to all without their seeking it; but that individual salvation or rescue from the effects of personal sins is to be acquired by each for himself by faith and good works through the redemption wrought by jesus christ."--from the author's _story and philosophy of 'mormonism,'_ p. . footnotes: [ ] p. of g.p., abraham : . for a fuller treatment of man's free agency, see the author's "articles of faith," iii: - , and the numerous references there given. [ ] p. of g.p., moses : ; compare : . note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] gen. : , ; : ; compare p. of g.p., moses : , ; : ; abraham : - ; : . [ ] gen. : - ; : , ; compare p. of g.p., moses : - ; : , ; abraham : - ; : , . [ ] gen. : ; compare statement in verse --that prior to that time there was "not a man to till the ground"; see also p. of g.p., moses : ; abraham : ; and b. of m., nephi : . [ ] gen. chap. ; compare p. of g.p., moses chap. . [ ] see "articles of faith," iii: - . [ ] tim. : ; see also cor. : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] see page . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] rom. : , . [ ] cor. : , . [ ] lev. : ; deut. : ; : ; mal. : , ; compare heb. : ; peter : . [ ] john : - [ ] john : [ ] john : [ ] john : [ ] john : ; see also verse ; also matt. : ; compare doc. and cov. : ; : . [ ] new standard dictionary under "propitiation." [ ] cor. : ; see also acts : ; col. : ; rev. : . [ ] matt. : , . [ ] john : , , . a modern scripture attesting the same truth reads: "they who have done good in the resurrection of the just; and they who have done evil in the resurrection of the unjust."--doc. and cov. : . [ ] for instances see acts : ; rev. : , . [ ] for instances see b. of m., nephi : , , , , ; helaman : - ; mosiah : - ; alma : - ; mormon : , . [ ] for instances see doc. and cov. : , ; : , ; : - . [ ] doc. and cov. : . [ ] b. of m., nephi : - ; read the entire chapter. [ ] p. of g.p., moses : ; compare b. of m., nephi : ; mosiah : ; : ; doc. and cov. : . [ ] rom. : ; see also verse ; gal. : . [ ] john : . [ ] heb. : . [ ] rom. : - . [ ] no special treatment relating to the fall, the atonement, or the resurrection has been either attempted or intended in this chapter. for such the student is referred to doctrinal works dealing with these subjects. see the author's "articles of faith," lectures iii, iv, and xxi. [ ] a comparison related to that given in the text is treated at length by henry drummond in his essay, "biogenesis," which the reader may study with profit. [ ] p. of g.p., moses : . chapter . the antemortal godship of christ. it now becomes our purpose to inquire as to the position and status of jesus the christ in the antemortal world, from the period of the solemn council in heaven, in which he was chosen to be the future savior and redeemer of mankind, to the time at which he was born in the flesh. we claim scriptural authority for the assertion that jesus christ was and is god the creator, the god who revealed himself to adam, enoch, and all the antediluvial patriarchs and prophets down to noah; the god of abraham, isaac and jacob; the god of israel as a united people, and the god of ephraim and judah after the disruption of the hebrew nation; the god who made himself known to the prophets from moses to malachi; the god of the old testament record; and the god of the nephites. we affirm that jesus christ was and is jehovah, the eternal one. the scriptures specify three personages in the godhead; ( ) god the eternal father, ( ) his son jesus christ, and ( ) the holy ghost. these constitute the holy trinity, comprizing three physically separate and distinct individuals, who together constitute the presiding council of the heavens.[ ] at least two of these appear as directing participants in the work of creation; this fact is instanced by the plurality expressed in genesis: "and god said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness"; and later, in the course of consultation concerning adam's act of transgression, "the lord god said, behold, the man is become as one of us."[ ] from the words of moses, as revealed anew in the present dispensation, we learn more fully of the gods who were actively engaged in the creation of this earth: "and i, god, said unto mine only begotten, which was with me from the beginning: let us make man in our image, after our likeness." then, further, with regard to the condition of adam after the fall: "i, the lord god, said unto mine only begotten: behold, the man is become as one of us."[ ] in the account of the creation recorded by abraham, "the gods" are repeatedly mentioned.[ ] as heretofore shown in another connection, the father operated in the work of creation through the son, who thus became the executive through whom the will, commandment, or word of the father was put into effect. it is with incisive appropriateness therefore, that the son, jesus christ, is designated by the apostle john as the word; or as declared by the father "the word of my power".[ ] the part taken by jesus christ in the creation, a part so prominent as to justify our calling him the creator, is set forth in many scriptures. the author of the epistle to the hebrews refers in this wise distinctively to the father and the son as separate though associated beings: "god, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds."[ ] paul is even more explicit in his letter to the colossians, wherein, speaking of jesus the son, he says: "for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist."[ ] and here let be repeated the testimony of john, that by the word, "who was with god, and who was god even in the beginning, all things were made; and without him was not anything made that was made."[ ] that the christ who was to come was in reality god the creator was revealed in plainness to the prophets on the western hemisphere. samuel, the converted lamanite, in preaching to the unbelieving nephites justified his testimony as follows: "and also that ye might know of the coming of jesus christ, the son of god, the father of heaven and of earth, the creator of all things, from the beginning; and that ye might know of the signs of his coming, to the intent that ye might believe on his name."[ ] to these citations of ancient scripture may most properly be added the personal testimony of the lord jesus after he had become a resurrected being. in his visitation to the nephites he thus proclaimed himself: "behold, i am jesus christ the son of god. i created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. i was with the father from the beginning. i am in the father, and the father in me; and in me hath the father glorified his name."[ ] to the nephites, who failed to comprehend the relation between the gospel declared unto them by the resurrected lord, and the mosaic law which they held traditionally to be in force, and who marveled at his saying that old things had passed away, he explained in this wise: "behold i say unto you, that the law is fulfilled that was given unto moses. behold, i am he that gave the law, and i am he who covenanted with my people israel: therefore, the law in me is fulfilled, for i have come to fulfil the law; therefore it hath an end."[ ] through revelation in the present or last dispensation the voice of jesus christ, the creator of heaven and earth, has been heard anew: "hearken, o ye people of my church to whom the kingdom has been given--hearken ye and give ear to him who laid the foundation of the earth, who made the heavens and all the hosts thereof, and by whom all things were made which live, and move, and have a being."[ ] and again, "behold, i am jesus christ the son of the living god, who created the heavens and the earth; a light which cannot be hid in darkness."[ ] the divinity of jesus christ is indicated by the specific names and titles authoritatively applied to him. according to man's judgment there may be but little importance attached to names; but in the nomenclature of the gods every name is a title of power or station. god is righteously zealous of the sanctity of his own name[ ] and of names given by his appointment. in the case of children of promise names have been prescribed before birth; this is true of our lord jesus and of the baptist, john, who was sent to prepare the way for the christ. names of persons have been changed by divine direction, when not sufficiently definite as titles denoting the particular service to which the bearers were called, or the special blessings conferred upon them.[ ] _jesus_ is the individual name of the savior, and as thus spelled is of greek derivation; its hebrew equivalent was _yehoshua_ or _yeshua_, or, as we render it in english, _joshua_. in the original the name was well understood as meaning "help of jehovah", or "savior". though as common an appellation as john or henry or charles today, the name was nevertheless divinely prescribed, as already stated. thus, unto joseph, the espoused husband of the virgin, the angel said, "and thou shalt call his name jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins."[ ] _christ_ is a sacred title, and not an ordinary appellation or common name; it is of greek derivation, and in meaning is identical with its hebrew equivalent _messiah_ or _messias_, signifying the _anointed one_.[ ] other titles, each possessing a definitive meaning, such as _emmanuel_, _savior_, _redeemer_, _only begotten son_, _lord_, _son of god_, _son of man_, and many more, are of scriptural occurrence; the fact of main present importance to us is that these several titles are expressive of our lord's divine origin and godship. as seen, the essential names or titles of jesus the christ were made known before his birth, and were revealed to prophets who preceded him in the mortal state.[ ] _jehovah_ is the anglicized rendering of the hebrew, _yahveh_ or _jahveh_, signifying the _self-existent one_, or _the eternal_. this name is generally rendered in our english version of the old testament as lord, printed in capitals.[ ] the hebrew, _ehyeh_, signifying _i am_, is related in meaning and through derivation with the term _yahveh_ or _jehovah_; and herein lies the significance of this name by which the lord revealed himself to moses when the latter received the commission to go into egypt and deliver the children of israel from bondage: "moses said unto god, behold, when i come unto the children of israel, and shall say unto them, the god of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, what is his name? what shall i say unto them? and god said unto moses, i am that i am: and he said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of israel, i am hath sent me unto you."[ ] in the succeeding verse the lord declares himself to be "the god of abraham, the god of isaac, and the god of jacob." while moses was in egypt, the lord further revealed himself, saying "i am the lord: and i appeared unto abraham, unto isaac, and unto jacob, by the name of god almighty, but by my name jehovah was i not known to them."[ ] the central fact connoted by this name, _i am_, or _jehovah_, the two having essentially the same meaning, is that of existence or duration that shall have no end, and which, judged by all human standards of reckoning, could have had no beginning; the name is related to such other titles as _alpha and omega_, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.[ ] jesus, when once assailed with question and criticism from certain jews who regarded their abrahamic lineage as an assurance of divine preferment, met their abusive words with the declaration: "verily, verily, i say unto you, before abraham was, i am".[ ] the true significance of this saying would be more plainly expressed were the sentence punctuated and pointed as follows: "verily, verily, i say unto you, before abraham, was i am;" which means the same as had he said--before abraham, was i, jehovah. the captious jews were so offended at hearing him use a name which, through an erroneous rendering of an earlier scripture,[ ] they held was not to be uttered on pain of death, that they immediately took up stones with the intent of killing him. the jews regarded _jehovah_ as an ineffable name, not to be spoken; they substituted for it the sacred, though to them the not-forbidden name, _adonai_, signifying _the lord_. the original of the terms _lord_ and _god_ as they appear in the old testament, was either _yahveh_ or _adonai_; and the divine being designated by these sacred names was, as shown by the scriptures cited, jesus the christ. john, evangelist and apostle, positively identifies jesus christ with adonai, or the lord who spoke through the voice of isaiah,[ ] and with jehovah who spoke through zechariah.[ ] the name _elohim_ is of frequent occurrence in the hebrew texts of the old testament, though it is not found in our english versions. in form the word is a hebrew plural noun;[ ] but it connotes the plurality of excellence or intensity, rather than distinctively of number. it is expressive of supreme or absolute exaltation and power. _elohim_, as understood and used in the restored church of jesus christ, is the name-title of god the eternal father, whose firstborn son in the spirit is _jehovah_--the only begotten in the flesh, jesus christ. jesus of nazareth, who in solemn testimony to the jews declared himself the _i am_ or _jehovah_, who was god before abraham lived on earth, was the same being who is repeatedly proclaimed as the god who made covenant with abraham, isaac, and jacob; the god who led israel from the bondage of egypt to the freedom of the promised land, the one and only god known by direct and personal revelation to the hebrew prophets in general. the identity of jesus christ with the jehovah of the israelites was well understood by the nephite prophets, and the truth of their teachings was confirmed by the risen lord who manifested himself unto them shortly after his ascension from the midst of the apostles at jerusalem. this is the record: "and it came to pass that the lord spake unto them saying, arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that i am the god of israel, and the god of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world."[ ] it would appear unnecessary to cite at greater length in substantiating our affirmation that jesus christ was god even before he assumed a body of flesh. during that antemortal period there was essential difference between the father and the son, in that the former had already passed through the experiences of mortal life, including death and resurrection, and was therefore a being possessed of a perfect, immortalized body of flesh and bones, while the son was yet unembodied. through his death and subsequent resurrection jesus the christ is today a being like unto the father in all essential characteristics. a general consideration of scriptural evidence leads to the conclusion that god the eternal father has manifested himself to earthly prophets or revelators on very few occasions, and then principally to attest the divine authority of his son, jesus christ. as before shown, the son was the active executive in the work of creation; throughout the creative scenes the father appears mostly in a directing or consulting capacity. unto adam, enoch, noah, abraham and moses the father revealed himself, attesting the godship of the christ, and the fact that the son was the chosen savior of mankind.[ ] on the occasion of the baptism of jesus, the father's voice was heard, saying, "this is my beloved son, in whom i am well pleased";[ ] and at the transfiguration a similar testimony was given by the father.[ ] on an occasion yet later, while jesus prayed in anguish of soul, submitting himself that the father's purposes be fulfilled and the father's name glorified, "then came there a voice from heaven, saying, i have both glorified it, and will glorify it again."[ ] the resurrected and glorified christ was announced by the father to the nephites on the western hemisphere, in these words: "behold my beloved son, in whom i am well pleased, in whom i have glorified my name: hear ye him."[ ] from the time of the occurrence last noted, the voice of the father was not heard again among men, so far as the scriptures aver, until the spring of , when both the father and the son ministered unto the prophet joseph smith, the father saying, "this is my beloved son, hear him!"[ ] these are the instances of record in which the eternal father has been manifest in personal utterance or other revelation to man apart from the son. god the creator, the jehovah of israel, the savior and redeemer of all nations, kindreds and tongues, are the same, and he is jesus the christ. notes to chapter . . names given of god.--the significance of names when given of god finds illustration in many scriptural instances. the following are examples: "jesus" meaning _savior_ (matt. : ; luke : ); "john," signifying _jehovah's gift_, specifically applied to the baptist, who was sent to earth to prepare the way for jehovah's coming in the flesh (luke : ); "ishmael," signifying _god shall hear him_ (gen. : ); "isaac," meaning _laughter_ (gen. : , compare : - ). as instances of names changed by divine authority to express added blessings, or special callings, consider the following: "abram," which connoted _nobility_ or _exaltation_ and as usually rendered, _father of elevation_, was changed to "abraham," _father of a multitude_ which expressed the reason for the change as given at the time thereof, "for a father of many nations have i made thee" (gen. : ). "sarai," the name of abraham's wife, and of uncertain distinctive meaning, was substituted by "sarah" which signified _the princess_ (gen : ). "jacob," a name given to the son of isaac with reference to a circumstance attending his birth, and signifying _a supplanter_, was superseded by "israel" meaning _a soldier of god, a prince of god_; as expressed in the words effecting the change, "thy name shall be called no more jacob, but israel, for as a prince hast thou power with god and with men, and hast prevailed." (gen. : ; compare : , .) "simon," meaning _a hearer_, the name of the man who became the chief apostle of jesus christ, was changed by the lord to "cephas" (aramaic) or "peter" (greek) meaning _a rock_ (john : ; matt : ; luke : ). on james and john the sons of zebedee, the lord conferred the name or title "boanerges" meaning _sons of thunder_ (mark : ). the following is an instructive excerpt: "_name_ in the scriptures not only = that by which a person is designated, but frequently = all that is known to belong to the person having this designation, and the person himself. thus 'the name of god' or 'of jehovah,' etc., indicates his authority (deut. : ; matt. : , etc.), his dignity and glory (isa. : , etc.), his protection and favor (prov. : , etc.), his character (exo. : , , compare , , etc.), his divine attributes in general (matt. : , etc.), etc. the lord is said to set or put his name where the revelation or manifestation of his perfections is made (deut. : , : , etc.). to believe in or on the name of christ is to receive and treat him in accordance with the revelation which the scriptures make of him (john : ; : ), etc."--smith's _comprehensive dictionary of the bible_, article "name." . jesus christ, the god of israel.--"that jesus christ was the same being who called abraham from his native country, who led israel out of the land of egypt with mighty miracles and wonders, who made known to them his law amid the thunderings of sinai, who delivered them from their enemies, who chastened them for their disobedience, who inspired their prophets, and whose glory filled solomon's temple, is evident from all the inspired writings, and in none more so than in the bible. "his lamentation over jerusalem evidences that, in his humanity, he had not forgotten his former exalted position: 'o jerusalem, jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would i have gathered thy children together ... and ye would not!' (matt. : ). it was this creator of the world, this mighty ruler, this controller of the destinies of the human family, who, in his last moments, cried out in the agony of his soul, 'my god, my god, why hast thou forsaken me?'" (mark : .)--from _compendium of the doctrines of the gospel_, by franklin d. richards and james a. little. . "jehovah" a name not uttered by the jews.--long prior to the time of christ, certain schools among the jews, ever intent on the observance of the letter of the law, though not without disregard of its spirit, had taught that the mere utterance of the name of god was blasphemous, and that the sin of so doing constituted a capital offense. this extreme conception arose from the accepted though uninspired interpretation of lev. : , "and he that blasphemeth the name of the lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the lord, shall be put to death." we take the following from smith's _comprehensive dictionary of the bible_, article "jehovah": "the true pronunciation of this name, [yehovah] by which god was known to the hebrews, has been entirely lost, the jews themselves scrupulously avoiding every mention of it, and substituting in its stead one or other of the words with whose proper vowel-points it may happen to be written [_adonai_, lord, or _elohim_, god].... according to jewish tradition it was pronounced but once a year by the high priest on the day of atonement when he entered the holy of holies; but on this point there is some doubt." footnotes: [ ] see "god and the godhead," in the author's "articles of faith," lecture ii. [ ] gen. : ; and : . [ ] p. of g.p., moses : ; and : . [ ] p. of g.p., abraham, chaps. and . [ ] see page ; john : ; and p. of g.p., moses : . [ ] heb. : , ; see also cor. : . [ ] colos. : , . [ ] john : - . [ ] b. of m., helaman : ; see also mosiah : ; : : alma : . [ ] b. of m., nephi : . [ ] b. of m., nephi : , . [ ] doc. and cov. : . [ ] doc. and cov. : ; see also : , ; : . [ ] exo. : ; lev. : ; deut. : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : ; see also verses , ; luke : . [ ] john : ; : . [ ] luke : ; : ; matt. : , ; see also verse and compare isa. : ; luke : . see further p. of g.p., moses : , ; : ; : . b. of m., nephi : ; nephi : ; mosiah : . [ ] the name appears thus in gen. : ; see also exo. : - ; and read for comparison gen. : ; : . [ ] exo. : , ; compare with respect to the fact of eternal duration expressed in this name, isa. : ; john : ; colos. : ; heb. : ; rev. : ; see also p. of g.p., moses : and the references there given. [ ] exo. : , . note , end of chapter. [ ] rev. : , ; : ; : ; compare isa. : ; : ; : . [ ] john : . [ ] lev. : . note , end of chapter. [ ] isa. : - ; and compare john : , . [ ] zech. : ; compare john : . [ ] the singular, "eloah," appears only in poetic usage. [ ] b. of m., nephi : , ; also nephi : and observe from verse that the redeemer is here spoken of as the god who delivered israel. see further mosiah : . chapter herein. [ ] p. of g.p., moses : , - ; : ; : , ; : ; compare : , , , - ; : , , , ; abraham : - . see chapter herein. [ ] matt. : ; also mark : ; luke : . [ ] matt. : ; luke : . [ ] john : . [ ] b. of m., nephi : . [ ] p. of g.p. joseph smith : . chapter . earthly advent of the christ predicted. the coming of christ to earth to tabernacle in the flesh was no unexpected or unheralded event. for centuries prior to the great occurrence the jews had professed to be looking for the advent of their king; and, in the appointed ceremonials of worship as in private devotions, the coming of the promised messiah was prominent as a matter of the supplication of israel to jehovah. true, there was much diversity in lay opinion and in rabbinical exposition as to the time and manner of his appearing; but the certainty thereof was fundamentally established in the beliefs and hopes of the hebrew nation. the records known to us as the books of the old testament, together with other inspired writings once regarded as authentic but excluded from later compilations as not strictly canonical, were current among the hebrews at and long before the time of christ's birth. these scriptures had their beginning in the proclamation of the law through moses,[ ] who wrote the same, and delivered the writing into the official custody of the priests with an express command that it be read in the assemblies of the people at stated times. to these earlier writings were added the utterances of divinely commissioned prophets, the records of appointed historians, and the songs of inspired poets, as the centuries passed; so that at the time of our lord's ministry the jews possessed a great accumulation of writings accepted and revered by them as authoritative.[ ] these records are rich in prediction and promise respecting the earthly advent of the messiah, as are other scriptures to which the israel of old had not access. adam, the patriarch of the race, rejoiced in the assurance of the savior's appointed ministry, through the acceptance of which, he, the transgressor, might gain redemption. brief mention of the plan of salvation, the author of which is jesus christ, appears in the promise given of god following the fall--that though the devil, represented by the serpent in eden, should have power to bruise the heel of adam's posterity, through the seed of the woman should come the power to bruise the adversary's head.[ ] it is significant that this assurance of eventual victory over sin and its inevitable effect, death, both of which were introduced to earth through satan the arch-enemy of mankind, was to be realized through the offspring of woman; the promise was not made specifically to the man, nor to the pair. the only instance of offspring from woman dissociated from mortal fatherhood is the birth of jesus the christ, who was the earthly son of a mortal mother, begotten by an immortal father. he is the only begotten of the eternal father in the flesh, and was born of woman. through scriptures other than those embodied in the old testament we learn with greater fulness of the revelations of god to adam respecting the coming of the redeemer. as a natural and inevitable result of his disobedience, adam had forfeited the high privilege he once enjoyed--that of holding direct and personal association with his god; nevertheless in his fallen state he was visited by an angel of the lord, who revealed unto him the plan of redemption: "and after many days an angel of the lord appeared unto adam, saying: why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the lord? and adam said unto him: i know not, save the lord commanded me. and then the angel spake, saying: this thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the only begotten of the father, which is full of grace and truth. wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the son, and thou shalt repent and call upon god in the name of the son for evermore. and in that day the holy ghost fell upon adam, which beareth record of the father and the son, saying: i am the only begotten of the father from the beginning, henceforth and for ever, that as thou hast fallen thou mayest be redeemed, and all mankind, even as many as will."[ ] the lord's revelation to adam making known the ordained plan whereby the son of god was to take upon himself flesh in the meridian of time, and become the redeemer of the world, was attested by enoch, son of jared and father of methuselah. from the words of enoch we learn that to him as to his great progenitor, adam, the very name by which the savior would be known among men was revealed--"which is jesus christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men."[ ] the recorded covenant of god with abraham, and the reiteration and confirmation thereof with isaac and in turn with jacob--that through their posterity should all nations of the earth be blessed--presaged the birth of the redeemer through that chosen lineage.[ ] its fulfilment is the blessed heritage of the ages. in pronouncing his patriarchal blessing upon the head of judah, jacob prophesied: "the sceptre shall not depart from judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be."[ ] that by shiloh is meant the christ is evidenced by the fulfilment of the conditions set forth in the prediction, in the state of the jewish nation at the time of our lord's birth.[ ] moses proclaimed the coming of a great prophet in israel, whose ministry was to be of such importance that all men who would not accept him would be under condemnation; and that this prediction had sole reference to jesus christ is conclusively shown by later scriptures. thus spake the lord unto moses: "i will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that i shall command him. and it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, i will require it of him."[ ] the system of sacrifice expressly enjoined in the mosaic code was essentially a prototype of the sacrificial death to be accomplished by the savior on calvary. the blood of countless altar victims, slain by israel's priests in the course of prescribed ritual, ran throughout the centuries from moses to christ as a prophetic flood in similitude of the blood of the son of god appointed to be shed as an expiatory sacrifice for the redemption of the race. but, as already shown, the institution of bloody sacrifice as a type of the future death of jesus christ dates from the beginning of human history; since the offering of animal sacrifices through the shedding of blood was required of adam, to whom the significance of the ordinance, as "a similitude of the sacrifice of the only begotten of the father", was expressly defined.[ ] the paschal lamb, slain for every israelitish household at the annually recurring feast of the passover, was a particular type of the lamb of god who in due time would be slain for the sins of the world. the crucifixion of christ was effected at the passover season; and the consummation of the supreme sacrifice, of which the paschal lambs had been but lesser prototypes, led paul the apostle to affirm in later times: "for even christ our passover is sacrificed for us."[ ] job in the day of dire affliction rejoiced in his testimony of the coming messiah, and declared with prophetic conviction: "i know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth."[ ] the songs of david the psalmist abound in oft-recurring allusion to the earthly life of christ, many circumstances of which are described in detail, and, as to these, corroboration of the utterances is found in new testament scriptures.[ ] isaiah, whose prophetic office was honored by the personal testimony of christ and the apostles, manifested in numerous passages the burden of his conviction relating to the great event of the savior's advent and ministry on earth. with the forcefulness of direct revelation he told of the virgin's divine maternity, whereof immanuel should be born, and his prediction was reiterated by the angel of the lord, over seven centuries later.[ ] looking down through the ages the prophet saw the accomplishment of the divine purposes as if already achieved, and sang in triumph: "for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called wonderful, counselor, the mighty god, the everlasting father, the prince of peace. of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of david, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever."[ ] immediately prior to its fulfilment, the blessed promise was repeated by gabriel, sent from the presence of god to the chosen virgin of nazareth.[ ] as made known to the prophet and by him proclaimed, the coming lord was the living branch that should spring from the undying root typified in the family of jesse;[ ] the foundation stone insuring the stability of zion;[ ] the shepherd of the house of israel;[ ] the light of the world,[ ] to gentile as well as jew; the leader and commander of his people.[ ] the same inspired voice predicted the forerunner who should cry in the wilderness: "prepare ye the way of the lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our god."[ ] isaiah was permitted to read the scroll of futurity as to many distinguishing conditions to attend the messiah's lowly life and atoning death. in him the prophet saw one who would be despized and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, one to be wounded and bruised for the transgressions of the race, on whom would be laid the iniquity of us all--a patient and willing sacrifice, silent under affliction, as a lamb brought to the slaughter. the lord's dying with sinners, and his burial in the tomb of the wealthy were likewise declared with prophetic certainty.[ ] unto jeremiah came the word of the lord in terms of plainness, declaring the sure advent of the king by whom the safety of both judah and israel should be assured;[ ] the prince of the house of david, through whom the divine promise to the son of jesse should be realized.[ ] under the same spirit prophesied ezekiel,[ ] hosea,[ ] and micah.[ ] zechariah broke off in the midst of fateful prediction to voice the glad song of thanksgiving and praise as he beheld in vision the simple pageantry of the king's triumphal entry into the city of david.[ ] then the prophet bewailed the grief of the conscience-smitten nation, by whom, as was foreseen, the savior of humankind would be pierced, even unto death;[ ] and showed that, when subdued by contrition his own people would ask, "what are these wounds in thy hands?", the lord would answer: "those with which i was wounded in the house of my friends."[ ] the very price to be paid for the betrayal of the christ to his death was foretold as in parable.[ ] the fact, that these predictions of the old testament prophets had reference to jesus christ and to him only, is put beyond question by the attestation of the resurrected lord. to the assembled apostles he said: "these are the words which i spake unto you, while i was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, thus it is written, and thus it behoved christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day."[ ] john the baptist, whose ministry immediately preceded that of the christ, proclaimed the coming of one mightier than himself, one who should baptize with the holy ghost, and specifically identified jesus of nazareth as that one, the son of god, the lamb who should assume the burden of the world's sins.[ ] the predictions thus far cited as relating to the life, ministry, and death of the lord jesus, are the utterances of prophets who, excepting adam and enoch, lived and died on the eastern hemisphere. all save john the baptist are of old testament record, and he, a contemporary of the christ in mortality, figures in the early chapters of the gospels. it is important to know that the scriptures of the western hemisphere are likewise explicit in the declaration of the great truth that the son of god would be born in the flesh. the book of mormon contains a history of a colony of israelites, of the tribe of joseph, who left jerusalem b.c., during the reign of zedekiah, king of judah, on the eve of the subjugation of judea by nebuchadnezzar and the inauguration of the babylonian captivity. this colony was led by divine guidance to the american continent, whereon they developed into a numerous and mighty people; though, divided by dissension, they formed two opposing nations known respectively as nephites and lamanites. the former cultivated the arts of industry and refinement, and preserved a record embodying both history and scripture, while the latter became degenerate and debased. the nephites suffered extinction about a.d., but the lamanites lived on in their degraded course, and are today extant upon the land as the american indians.[ ] the nephite annals from the beginning thereof down to the time of our lord's birth abound in prediction and promise of the christ; and this chronicle is followed by a record of the actual visitation of the resurrected savior to the nephites, and the establishment of his church among them. unto lehi, the leader of the colony, the lord revealed the time, place, and manner of christ's then future advent, together with many important facts of his ministry, and the preparatory work of john the forerunner. this revelation was given while the company was journeying in the wilderness of arabia, prior to their crossing the great waters. the prophecy is thus written by nephi, a son of lehi and his successor in the prophetic calling: "yea, even six hundred years from the time that my father left jerusalem, a prophet would the lord god raise up among the jews; even a messiah; or, in other words, a savior of the world. and he also spake concerning the prophets, how great a number had testified of these things concerning this messiah, of whom he had spoken, or this redeemer of the world. wherefore all mankind were in a lost and in a fallen state, and ever would be, save they should rely on this redeemer. and he spake also concerning a prophet who should come before the messiah, to prepare the way of the lord; yea, even he should go forth and cry in the wilderness. prepare ye the way of the lord, and make his paths straight; for there standeth one among you whom ye know not; and he is mightier than i, whose shoe's latchet i am not worthy to unloose. and much spake my father concerning this thing. and my father said he should baptize in bethabara, beyond jordan; and he also said he should baptize with water; even that he should baptize the messiah with water. and after he had baptized the messiah with water, he should behold and bear record, that he had baptized the lamb of god, who should take away the sins of the world. and it came to pass after my father had spoken these words, he spake unto my brethren concerning the gospel which should be preached among the jews; and also concerning the dwindling of the jews in unbelief. and after they had slain the messiah, who should come, and after he had been slain, he should rise from the dead, and should make himself manifest, by the holy ghost, unto the gentiles."[ ] at a later time nephi writes, not as his father's scribe, but as a prophet and revelator voicing the word of god as made known to himself. he was permitted to behold in vision and to declare to his people the circumstances of the messiah's birth, his baptism by john and the ministration of the holy ghost with its accompanying sign of the dove; he beheld our lord moving as a teacher of righteousness among the people, healing the afflicted and rebuking spirits of evil; he saw and bore record of the dread scenes of calvary; he beheld and predicted the calling of the chosen twelve, the apostles of the lamb, for so these were designated by him who vouchsafed the vision. moreover he told of the iniquity of the jews, who were seen in contention with the apostles; and thus concludes the portentous prophecy: "and the angel of the lord spake unto me again, saying, thus shall be the destruction of all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, that shall fight against the twelve apostles of the lamb."[ ] soon after the defection whereby the distinction between nephites and lamanites was established, jacob, a brother of nephi, continued in prophecy of the assured coming of the messiah, specifically declaring that he would minister at jerusalem and affirming the necessity of his atoning death as the ordained means of human redemption.[ ] the prophet abinadi, in his fearless denunciation of sin to the wicked king noah, preached the christ who was to come;[ ] and righteous benjamin, who was at once prophet and king, proclaimed the same great truth to his people about b.c. so taught alma[ ] in his inspired admonition to his wayward son, corianton; and so also amulek[ ] in his contention with zeezrom. so proclaimed the lamanite prophet, samuel, only five years prior to the actual occurrence; furthermore he specified the signs by which the birth of jesus in judea would be made known to the people of the western world. said he: "behold, i give unto you a sign; for five years more cometh, and behold, then cometh the son of god to redeem all those who shall believe on his name. and behold, this will i give unto you for a sign at the time of his coming; for behold, there shall be great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day, therefore there shall be one day and a night, and a day, as if it were one day, and there were no night; and this shall be unto you for a sign; for ye shall know of the rising of the sun, and also of its setting; therefore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless the night shall not be darkened; and it shall be the night before he is born. and behold there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you. and behold this is not all, there shall be many signs and wonders in heaven."[ ] thus the scriptures of both hemispheres and in all ages of ante-meridian time bore solemn testimony to the certainty of messiah's advent; thus the holy prophets of old voiced the word of revelation predicting the coming of the world's king and lord, through whom alone is salvation provided, and redemption from death made sure. it is a characteristic of prophets sent of god that they possess and proclaim a personal assurance of the christ, "for the testimony of jesus is the spirit of prophecy."[ ] not a word of inspired prophecy relating to the great event has been found void. the literal fulfilment of the predictions is ample attestation of their origin in divine revelation, and proof conclusive of the divinity of him whose coming was so abundantly foretold. notes to chapter . . the antiquity of sacrifice as a prototype of christ's atoning death.--while the biblical record expressly attests the offering of sacrifices long prior to israel's exodus from egypt--e.g. by abel and by cain (gen. : , ); by noah after the deluge (gen. : ); by abraham (gen. : , ); by jacob (gen. : ; : )--it is silent concerning the divine origin of sacrifice as a propitiatory requirement prefiguring the atoning death of jesus christ. the difficulty of determining time and circumstance, under which the offering of symbolical sacrifices originated amongst mankind, is recognized by all investigators save those who admit the validity of modern revelation. the necessity of assuming early instruction from god to man on the subject has been asserted by many bible scholars. thus, the writer of the article "sacrifice" in the cassell _bible dictionary_ says: "the idea of sacrifice is prominent throughout the scriptures, and one of the most ancient and widely recognized in the rites of religion throughout the world. there is also a remarkable similarity in the developments and applications of the idea. on these and other accounts it has been judiciously inferred that sacrifice formed an element in the primeval worship of man; and that its universality is not merely an indirect argument for the unity of the human race, but an illustration and confirmation of the first inspired pages of the world's history. the notion of sacrifice can hardly be viewed as a product of unassisted human nature, and must therefore be traced to a higher source and viewed as a divine revelation to primitive man." smith's _dic. of the bible_ presents the following: "in tracing the history of sacrifice from its first beginning to its perfect development in the mosaic ritual, we are at once met by the long-disputed question as to the origin of sacrifice, whether it arose from a natural instinct of man, sanctioned and guided by god, or was the subject of some distinct primeval revelation. there can be no doubt that sacrifice was sanctioned by god's law, with a special, typical reference to the atonement of christ; its universal prevalence, independent of, and often opposed to, man's natural reasonings on his relation to god, shows it to have been primeval, and deeply rooted in the instincts of humanity. whether it was first enjoined by an external command, or was based on that sense of sin and lost communion with god, which is stamped by his hand on the heart of man--is an historical question, perhaps insoluble." the difficulty vanishes, and the "historical question" as to the origin of sacrifice is definitely solved by the revelations of god in the current dispensation, whereby parts of the record of moses--not contained in the bible--have been restored to human knowledge. the scripture quoted in the text (pp. , ) makes clear the fact that the offering of sacrifices was required of adam after his transgression, and that the significance of the divinely established requirement was explained in fulness to the patriarch of the race. the shedding of the blood of animals in sacrifice to god, as a prototype "of the sacrifice of the only begotten of the father," dates from the time immediately following the fall. its origin is based on a specific revelation to adam. see p. of g.p., moses : - . . jacob's prophecy concerning "shiloh."--the prediction of the patriarch jacob--that the sceptre should not depart from judah before the coming of shiloh--has given rise to much disputation among bible students. some insist that "shiloh" is the name of a place and not that of a person. that there was a place known by that name is beyond question (see josh. : ; : ; : ; : ; sam. : ; jer. : ); but the name occurring in gen. : is plainly that of a person. it should be known that the use of the word in the king james or authorized version of the bible is held to be correct by many eminent authorities. thus, in dummelow's _commentary on the holy bible_, we read: "this verse has always been regarded by both jews and christians as a remarkable prophecy of the coming of the messiah.... on the rendering given above, the whole verse foretells that judah would retain authority until the advent of the rightful ruler, the messiah, to whom all peoples would gather. and, broadly speaking, it may be said that the last traces of jewish legislative power (as vested in the sanhedrin) did not disappear until the coming of christ and the destruction of jerusalem, from which time his kingdom was set up among men." adam clarke, in his exhaustive bible commentary, briefly analyzes the objections urged against the admissibility of this passage as applying to the messiah's advent, and dismisses them all as unfounded. his conclusion as to the meaning of the passage is thus worded: "judah shall continue a distinct tribe until the messiah shall come; and it did so; and after his coming it was confounded with the others, so that all distinction has been ever since lost." prof. douglas, as cited in smith's dictionary, "claims that something of judah's sceptre still remained, a total eclipse being no proof that the day is at an end--that the proper fulfilment of the prophecy did not begin till david's time, and is consummated in christ according to luke : , ." the accepted meaning of the word by derivation is "peaceable," and this is applicable to the attributes of the christ, who in isa. : , is designated the prince of peace. eusebius, who lived between and a.d., and is known in ecclesiastical history as bishop of cæsarea, wrote: "at the time that herod was king, who was the first foreigner that reigned over the jewish people, the prophecy recorded by moses received its fulfilment, viz. 'that a prince should not fail of judah, nor a ruler from his loins, until he should come for whom it is reserved, the expectation of nations.'" (the quoted passage is founded on the septuagint rendering of genesis : ). some critics have held that in jacob's use of the word "shiloh" he did not intend it as a name or proper noun at all. the writer of the article "shiloh" in cassell's _bible dictionary_ says: "the preponderance of evidence is in favor of the messianic interpretation, but opinions are very divided respecting the retention of the word 'shiloh' as a proper name.... notwithstanding all the objections that are urged against it being so regarded, we are of the opinion that it is rightly considered to be a proper name, and that the english version represents the true sense of the passage. we recommend those who wish to enter more fully into a question which cannot well be discussed without hebrew criticism, to the excellent notes upon gen. : in the 'commentary on the pentateuch' by keil and delitzsch. here the text is thus rendered: 'the sceptre shall not depart from judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, till shiloh come, and the willing obedience of the nations be to him.' "notwithstanding the slight put upon the messianic interpretation by some writers, even those from whom we should scarcely expect it, we see this explanation confirmed and not weakened in the events of history. the text is not taken to mean that judah should at no time be without a royal ruler of his own, but that the regal power should not finally cease from judah until shiloh had come. the objections founded on the babylonian captivity, and similar intermissions, are of no force, because it is the complete and final termination which is pointed out, and that only happened after the time of christ." see further _the book of prophecy_, by g. smith, ll.d., p. . see also _compendium of the doctrines of the gospel_, by franklin d. richards and james a. little, article "christ's first coming." . nephites and lamanites.--the progenitors of the nephite nation were led from jerusalem, b.c., by lehi, a jewish prophet of the tribe of manasseh. his immediate family, at the time of their departure from jerusalem, comprized his wife sariah, and their sons, laman, lemuel, sam, and nephi; at a later stage of the history, daughters are mentioned, but whether any of these were born before the family exodus we are not told. beside his own family, the colony of lehi included zoram, and ishmael, the latter an israelite of the tribe of ephraim. ishmael, with his family, joined lehi in the wilderness; and his descendants were numbered with the nation of whom we are speaking. the company journeyed somewhat east of south, keeping near the borders of the red sea; then, changing their course to the eastward, crossed the peninsula of arabia; and there, on the shores of the arabian sea, built and provisioned a vessel in which they committed themselves to divine care upon the waters. their voyage carried them eastward across the indian ocean, then over the south pacific ocean to the western coast of south america, whereon they landed ( b.c.).... the people established themselves on what to them was the land of promise; many children were born, and in the course of a few generations a numerous posterity held possession of the land. after the death of lehi, a division occurred, some of the people accepting as their leader, nephi, who had been duly appointed to the prophetic office; while the rest proclaimed laman, the eldest of lehi's sons, as their chief. henceforth the divided people were known as nephites and lamanites respectively. at times they observed toward each other fairly friendly relations; but generally they were opposed, the lamanites manifesting implacable hatred and hostility toward their nephite kindred. the nephites advanced in the arts of civilization, built large cities and established prosperous commonwealths; yet they often fell into transgression; and the lord chastened them by allowing their foes to become victorious. they spread northward, occupying the northern part of south america; then, crossing the isthmus, they extended their domain over the southern, central and eastern portions of what is now the united states of america. the lamanites, while increasing in numbers, fell under the curse of darkness; they became dark in skin and benighted in spirit, forgot the god of their fathers, lived a wild nomadic life, and degenerated into the fallen state in which the american indians--their lineal descendants--were found by those who rediscovered the western continent in later times. see the author's _articles of faith_ xiv: , . . the first gospel dispensation.--the gospel of jesus christ was revealed to adam. faith in god the eternal father, and in his son the savior of adam and all his posterity, repentance of sin, water baptism by immersion, and the reception of the holy ghost as a divine bestowal were proclaimed in the beginning of human history as the essentials to salvation. the following scriptures attest this fact. "and thus the gospel began to be preached, from the beginning, being declared by holy angels sent forth from the presence of god, and by his own voice and by the gift of the holy ghost" (moses : ). the prophet enoch thus testified: "but god hath made known unto our fathers that all men must repent. and he called upon our father adam by his own voice, saying: i am god; i made the world, and men before they were in the flesh. and he also said unto him: if thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine only begotten son, who is full of grace and truth, which is jesus christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the holy ghost, asking all things in his name, and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be given you" (moses : - ; read also - ). "and now, behold, i say unto you: this is the plan of salvation unto all men, through the blood of mine only begotten, who shall come in the meridian of time" ( ). "and it came to pass, when the lord had spoken with adam, our father, that adam cried unto the lord, and he was caught away by the spirit of the lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water. and thus he was baptized, and the spirit of god descended upon him, and thus he was born of the spirit and became quickened in the inner man. and he heard a voice out of heaven, saying: thou art baptized with fire, and with the holy ghost. this is the record of the father, and the son, from henceforth and for ever" ( - ). compare doc. and cov : . footnotes: [ ] deut. : , - ; compare : - . [ ] "articles of faith," xiii: - . [ ] gen. : ; compare heb. : ; rev, : ; : . [ ] p. of g.p., moses : - . note , end of chapter. [ ] p. of g.p., moses : ; study paragraphs - ; see also gen. : , - ; jude . note , end of chapter. [ ] gen. : ; : ; : ; : ; : ; compare acts : ; gal. : . [ ] gen. : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] deut. : - ; compare john : ; acts : ; : ; see also a specific confirmation by our lord after his resurrection, nephi : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] cor. : . for references to christ as the lamb of god, see john : , ; peter : ; rev. chaps. , , , , , , , , , , ; also b. of m., nephi : , and chaps. , , , ; nephi : , , ; : ; alma : ; mormon : , ; doc. and cov. : ; : . [ ] job : ; see also verses - . [ ] instances: psalm : ; compare acts : ; heb. : ; : . psa. : ; compare acts : - . psa. : ; compare matt. : ; mark : ; luke : ; john : . psa. : ; compare john : . psa. : and ; compare matt. : , ; mark : ; john : ; and john : . psa. : and ; compare matt. : ; mark : - ; luke : - ; and heb. : . psa. : , ; compare matt. : ; mark : ; luke : ; acts : ; eph. : ; peter : , . the following are known specifically as messianic psalms: , , , , , , , , , ; in them the psalmist extols in poetic measure the excellencies of the messiah, and the certainty of his coming. [ ] isa. : ; compare matt. : - . [ ] isa. : , . [ ] luke : - . [ ] isa. : and ; compare rom. : ; rev. : ; : ; see also jer. : , . [ ] isa. : ; compare psa. : ; matt. : ; acts : ; rom. : ; : ; eph. : ; peter : - . [ ] isa. : - ; compare john : , ; heb. : ; peter : ; : ; see also ezek. : . [ ] isa. - ; see also : ; : ; : ; compare matt. : - ; luke : ; acts : ; : ; eph. : , . [ ] isa. : ; compare john : . [ ] isa. : ; compare matt. : ; mark : ; luke : ; john : . [ ] isa. ; study the entire chapter; compare acts : - . [ ] jer. : , ; see also : - . [ ] jer. : . [ ] ezek. : ; : , . [ ] hos. : ; compare matt. : . [ ] mic. : ; compare matt : ; john : . [ ] zech. : ; compare matt. : - . [ ] zech. : ; compare john : . [ ] zech. : . [ ] zech. : , ; compare matt. : ; : - . [ ] luke : , ; see also verses - . [ ] matt. : ; mark : ; luke : ; john : , , , - ; see also acts : , ; : ; : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] b. of m., nephi : - . [ ] b. of m., nephi chapters and ; see also : . [ ] b. of m., nephi : , ; : . see also nephi's prophecy : - ; and chap. . [ ] b. of m., mosiah : - ; : - . [ ] b. of m., alma : ; : - . [ ] b. of m., alma : - . [ ] b. of m., helaman : - ; compare nephi : - . [ ] rev. : . chapter . the meridian of time. unto moses, with whom the lord spake "face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend,"[ ] the course of the human race, both as then past and future, was made known; and the coming of the redeemer was recognized by him as the event of greatest import in all the happenings to which the earth and its inhabitants would be witness. the curse of god had aforetime fallen upon the wicked, and upon the earth because of them, "for they would not hearken unto his voice, nor believe on his only begotten son, even him whom he declared should come in the meridian of time, who was prepared from before the foundation of the world."[ ] in this scripture appears the earliest mention of the expressive and profoundly significant designation of the period in which the christ should appear--the meridian of time. if the expression be regarded as figurative, be it remembered the figure is the lord's. the term "meridian", as commonly used, conveys the thought of a principal division of time or space[ ] thus we speak of the hours before the daily noon as ante-meridian (a.m.) and those after noon as post-meridian (p.m.). so the years and the centuries of human history are divided by the great event of the birth of jesus christ. the years preceding that epoch-making occurrence are now designated as time _before christ_ (b.c.); while subsequent years are each specified as a certain _year of our lord_, or, as in the latin tongue, _anno domini_ (a.d.). thus the world's chronology has been adjusted and systematized with reference to the time of the savior's birth; and this method of reckoning is in use among all christian nations. it is instructive to note that a similar system was adopted by the isolated branch of the house of israel that had been brought from the land of palestine to the western continent; for from the appearance of the promised sign among the people betokening the birth of him who had been so abundantly predicted by their prophets, the nephite reckoning of the years, starting with the departure of lehi and his colony from jerusalem, was superseded by the annals of the new era.[ ] the occasion of the savior's advent was preappointed; and the time thereof was specifically revealed through authorized prophets on each of the hemispheres. the long history of the israelitish nation had unfolded a succession of events that found a relative culmination in the earthly mission of the messiah. that we may the better comprehend the true significance of the lord's life and ministry while in the flesh, some consideration should be given to the political, social, and religious condition of the people amongst whom he appeared and with whom he lived and died. such consideration involves at least a brief review of the antecedent history of the hebrew nation. the posterity of abraham through isaac and jacob had early come to be known by the title in which they took undying pride and found inspiring promise, israelites, or the children of israel.[ ] collectively they were so designated throughout the dark days of their bondage in egypt;[ ] so during the four decades of the exodus and the return to the land of promise,[ ] and on through the period of their prosperity as a mighty people under the administration of the judges, and as a united monarchy during the successive reigns of saul, david, and solomon.[ ] immediately following the death of solomon, about b.c. according to the most generally accepted chronology, the nation was disrupted by revolt. the tribe of judah, part of the tribe of benjamin, and small remnants of a few other tribes remained true to the royal succession, and accepted rehoboam, son of solomon, as their king; while the rest, usually spoken of as the ten tribes, broke their allegiance to the house of david, and made jeroboam, an ephraimite, their king. the ten tribes retained the title kingdom of israel though also known as ephraim.[ ] rehoboam and his adherents were distinctively called the kingdom of judah. for about two hundred and fifty years the two kingdoms maintained their separate autonomy; then, about or b.c., the independent status of the kingdom of israel was destroyed, and the captive people were transported to assyria by shalmanezer and others. subsequently they disappeared so completely as to be called the lost tribes. the kingdom of judah was recognized as a nation for about one hundred and thirty years longer; then, about b.c., it was brought into subjection by nebuchadnezzar, through whom the babylonian captivity was inaugurated. for three score years and ten judah was kept in exile and virtual bondage, in consequence of their transgression as had been predicted through jeremiah.[ ] then the lord softened the hearts of their captors, and their restoration was begun under the decree of cyrus the persian, who had subdued the babylonian kingdom. the hebrew people were permitted to return to judea, and to enter upon the work of rebuilding the temple at jerusalem.[ ] a great company of the exiled hebrews availed themselves of this opportunity to return to the lands of their fathers, though many elected to remain in the country of their captivity, preferring babylon to israel. the "whole congregation" of the jews who returned from the babylonian exile were but "forty and two thousand three hundred and three score, beside their servants and their maids, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven." the relatively small size of the migrating nation is further shown by the register of their beasts of burden.[ ] while those who did return strove valiantly to reestablish themselves as the house of david, and to regain some measure of their former prestige and glory, the jews were never again a truly independent people. in turn they were preyed upon by greece, egypt, and syria; but about - b.c., the people threw off, in part at least, the alien yoke, as a result of the patriotic revolt led by the maccabees, the most prominent of whom was judas maccabeus. the temple service, which had been practically abolished through the proscription of victorious foes, was reestablished.[ ] in the year b.c., the sacred structure was rededicated, and the joyful occasion was thereafter celebrated in annual festival as the feast of dedication.[ ] during the reign of the maccabees, however, the temple fell into an almost ruinous condition, more as a result of the inability of the reduced and impoverished people to maintain it than through any further decline of religious zeal. in the hope of insuring a greater measure of national protection, the jews entered into an unequal alliance with the romans and eventually became tributary to them, in which condition the jewish nation continued throughout the period of our lord's ministry. in the meridian of time rome was virtually mistress of the world. when christ was born augustus cæsar[ ] was emperor of rome, and the idumean, herod,[ ] surnamed the great, was the vassal king of judea. some semblance of national autonomy was maintained by the jews under roman dominion, and their religious ceremonials were not seriously interfered with. the established orders in the priesthood were recognized, and the official acts of the national council, or sanhedrin,[ ] were held to be binding by roman law; though the judicial powers of this body did not extend to the infliction of capital punishment without the sanction of the imperial executive. it was the established policy of rome to allow to her tributary and vassal peoples freedom in worship so long as the mythological deities, dear to the romans, were not maligned nor their altars desecrated.[ ] needless to say, the jews took not kindly to alien domination, though for many generations they had been trained in that experience, their reduced status having ranged from nominal vassalage to servile bondage. they were already largely a dispersed people. all the jews in palestine at the time of christ's birth constituted but a small remnant of the great davidic nation. the ten tribes, distinctively the aforetime kingdom of israel, had then long been lost to history, and the people of judah had been widely scattered among the nations. in their relations with other peoples the jews generally endeavored to maintain a haughty exclusiveness, which brought upon them gentile ridicule. under mosaic law israel had been required to keep apart from other nations; they attached supreme importance to their abrahamic lineage as children of the covenant, "an holy people unto the lord," whom he had chosen "to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth".[ ] judah had experienced the woful effects of dalliance with pagan nations, and, at the time we are now considering, a jew who permitted himself unnecessary association with a gentile became an unclean being requiring ceremonial cleansing to free him from defilement. only in strict isolation did the leaders find hope of insuring the perpetuity of the nation. it is no exaggeration to say that the jews hated all other peoples and were reciprocally despized and contemned by all others. they manifested especial dislike for the samaritans, perhaps because this people persisted in their efforts to establish some claim of racial relationship. these samaritans were a mixed people, and were looked upon by the jews as a mongrel lot, unworthy of decent respect. when the ten tribes were led into captivity by the king of assyria, foreigners were sent to populate samaria.[ ] these intermarried with such israelites as had escaped the captivity; and some modification of the religion of israel, embodying at least the profession of jehovah worship, survived in samaria. the samaritan rituals were regarded by the jews as unorthodox, and the people as reprobate. at the time of christ the enmity between jew and samaritan was so intense that travelers between judea and galilee would make long detours rather than pass through the province of samaria which lay between. the jews would have no dealings with the samaritans.[ ] the proud feeling of self-sufficiency, the obsession for exclusiveness and separation--so distinctively a jewish trait at that time--was inculcated at the maternal knee and emphasized in synagog and school. the talmud,[ ] which in codified form post-dates the time of christ's ministry, enjoined all jews against reading the books of alien nations, declaring that none who so offended could consistently hope for jehovah's favor.[ ] josephus gives his endorsement to similar injunction, and records that wisdom among the jews meant only familiarity with the law and ability to discourse thereon.[ ] a thorough acquaintanceship with the law was demanded as strongly as other studies were discountenanced. thus the lines between learned and unlearned came to be rigidly drawn; and, as an inevitable consequence those who were accounted learned, or so considered themselves, looked down upon their unscholarly fellows as a class distinct and inferior.[ ] long before the birth of christ, the jews had ceased to be a united people even in matters of the law, though the law was their chief reliance as a means of maintaining national solidarity. as early as four score years after the return from the babylonian exile, and we know not with accuracy how much earlier, there had come to be recognized, as men having authority, certain scholars afterward known as scribes, and honored as rabbis[ ] or teachers. in the days of ezra and nehemiah these specialists in the law constituted a titled class, to whom deference and honor were paid. ezra is designated "the priest, the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the lord, and of his statutes to israel".[ ] the scribes of those days did valuable service under ezra, and later under nehemiah, in compiling the sacred writings then extant; and in jewish usage those appointed as guardians and expounders of the law came to be known as members of the great synagog, or great assembly, concerning which we have little information through canonical channels. according to talmudic record, the organization consisted of one hundred and twenty eminent scholars. the scope of their labors, according to the admonition traditionally perpetuated by themselves, is thus expressed: _be careful in judgment; set up many scholars, and make a hedge about the law_. they followed this behest by much study and careful consideration of all traditional details in administration; by multiplying scribes and rabbis unto themselves; and, as some of them interpreted the requirement of setting up many scholars, by writing many books and tractates; moreover, they made a fence or hedge about the law by adding numerous rules, which prescribed with great exactness the officially established proprieties for every occasion. scribes and rabbis were exalted to the highest rank in the estimation of the people, higher than that of the levitical or priestly orders; and rabbinical sayings were given precedence over the utterances of the prophets, since the latter were regarded as but messengers or spokesmen, whereas the living scholars were of themselves sources of wisdom and authority. such secular powers as roman suzerainty permitted the jews to retain were vested in the hierarchy, whose members were able thus to gather unto themselves practically all official and professional honors. as a natural result of this condition, there was practically no distinction between jewish civil and ecclesiastical law, either as to the code or its administration. rabbinism comprized as an essential element the doctrine of the equal authority of oral rabbinical tradition with the written word of the law. the aggrandizement implied in the application of the title "rabbi" and the self-pride manifest in welcoming such adulation were especially forbidden by the lord, who proclaimed himself the one master; and, as touching the interpretation of the title held by some as "father", jesus proclaimed but one father and he in heaven: "but be not ye called rabbi: for one is your master, even christ; and all ye are brethren. and call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your father, which is in heaven. neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, even christ."[ ] the scribes, whether so named or designated by the more distinguishing appellation, rabbis, were repeatedly denounced by jesus, because of the dead literalism of their teachings, and the absence of the spirit of righteousness and virile morality therefrom; and in such denunciations the pharisees are often coupled with the scribes. the judgment of the christ upon them is sufficiently expressed by his withering imprecation: "woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites!"[ ] the origin of the pharisees is not fixed by undisputed authority as to either time or circumstance; though it is probable that the sect or party had a beginning in connection with the return of the jews from the babylonian captivity. new ideas and added conceptions of the meaning of the law were promulgated by jews who had imbibed of the spirit of babylon; and the resulting innovations were accepted by some and rejected by others. the name "pharisee" does not occur in the old testament, nor in the apocrypha, though it is probable that the assideans mentioned in the books of the maccabees[ ] were the original pharisees. by derivation the name expresses the thought of separatism; the pharisee, in the estimation of his class, was distinctively set apart from the common people, to whom he considered himself as truly superior as the jews regarded themselves in contrast with other nations. pharisees and scribes were one in all essentials of profession, and rabbinism was specifically their doctrine. in the new testament the pharisees are often mentioned as in opposition to the sadducees; and such were the relations of the two parties that it becomes a simpler matter to contrast one with the other than to consider each separately. the sadducees came into existence as a reactionary organization during the second century b.c., in connection with an insurgent movement against the maccabean party. their platform was that of opposition to the ever-increasing mass of traditional lore, with which the law was not merely being fenced or hedged about for safety, but under which it was being buried. the sadducees stood for the sanctity of the law as written and preserved, while they rejected the whole mass of rabbinical precept both as orally transmitted and as collated and codified in the records of the scribes. the pharisees formed the more popular party; the sadducees figured as the aristocratic minority. at the time of christ's birth the pharisees existed as an organized body numbering over six thousand men, with jewish women very generally on their side in sympathy and effort;[ ] while the sadducees were so small a faction and of such limited power that, when they were placed in official positions, they generally followed the policy of the pharisees as a matter of incumbent expediency. the pharisees were the puritans of the time, unflinching in their demand for compliance with the traditional rules as well as the original law of moses. in this connection note paul's confession of faith and practise when arraigned before agrippa--"that after the most straitest sect of our religion i lived a pharisee."[ ] the sadducees prided themselves on strict compliance with the law, as they construed it, irrespective of all scribes or rabbis. the sadducees stood for the temple and its prescribed ordinances, the pharisees for the synagog and its rabbinical teachings. it is difficult to decide which were the more technical if we judge each party by the standard of its own profession. by way of illustration: the sadducees held to the literal and full exaction of the mosaic penalty--an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth[ ]--while the pharisees contended on the authority of rabbinical dictum, that the wording was figurative, and that therefore the penalty could be met by a fine in money or goods. pharisees and sadducees differed on many important if not fundamental matters of belief and practise, including the preexistence of spirits, the reality of a future state involving reward and punishment, the necessity for individual self-denial, the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection from the dead; in each of which the pharisees stood for the affirmative while the sadducees denied.[ ] josephus avers--the doctrine of the sadducees is that the soul and body perish together; the law is all that they are concerned to observe.[ ] they were "a skeptical school of aristocratic traditionalists; adhering only to the mosaic law."[ ] among the many other sects and parties established on the ground of religious or political differences, or both, are the essenes, the nazarites, the herodians and the galileans. the essenes were characterized by professions of ultra-piety; they considered even the strictness of pharisaic profession as weak and insufficient; they guarded membership in their order by severe exactions extending through a first and a second novitiate; they were forbidden even to touch food prepared by strangers; they practised strict temperance and rigid self-denial, indulged in hard labor--preferably that of agriculture, and were forbidden to trade as merchants, to take part in war, or to own or employ slaves.[ ] nazarites are not named in the new testament, though of specific record in the earlier scriptures;[ ] and from sources other than scriptural we learn of their existence at and after the time of christ. the nazarite was one of either sex who was bound to abstinence and sacrifice by a voluntary vow for special service to god; the period of the vow might be limited or for life. while the essenes cultivated an ascetic brotherhood, the nazarites were devoted to solitary discipline. the herodians constituted a politico-religious party who favored the plans of the herods under the professed belief that through that dynasty alone could the status of the jewish people be maintained and a reestablishment of the nation be secured. we find mention of the herodians laying aside their partisan antipathies and acting in concert with the pharisees in the effort to convict the lord jesus and bring him to death.[ ] the galileans or people of galilee were distinguished from their fellow israelites of judea by greater simplicity and less ostentatious devotion in matters pertaining to the law. they were opposed to innovations, yet were generally more liberal or less bigoted than some of the professedly devout judeans. they were prominent as able defenders in the wars of the people, and won for themselves a reputation for bravery and patriotism. they are mentioned in connection with certain tragical occurrences during our lord's lifetime.[ ] the authority of the priesthood was outwardly acknowledged by the jews at the time of christ; and the appointed order of service for priest and levite was duly observed. during the reign of david, the descendants of aaron, who were the hereditary priests in israel, had been divided into twenty-four courses,[ ] and to each course the labors of the sanctuary were alloted in turn. representatives of but four of these courses returned from the captivity, but from these the orders were reconstructed on the original plan. in the days of herod the great the temple ceremonies were conducted with great display and outward elaborateness, as an essential matter of consistency with the splendor of the structure, which surpassed in magnificence all earlier sanctuaries.[ ] priests and levites, therefore, were in demand for continuous service, though the individuals were changed at short intervals according to the established system. in the regard of the people the priests were inferior to the rabbis, and the scholarly attainments of a scribe transcended in honor that pertaining to ordination in the priesthood. the religion of the time was a matter of ceremony and formality, of ritual and performance; it had lost the very spirit of worship, and the true conception of the relationship between israel and israel's god was but a dream of the past. such in brief were the principal features of the world's condition, and particularly as concerns the jewish people, when jesus the christ was born in the meridian of time. notes to chapter . . the sanhedrin.--this, the chief court or high council of the jews, derives its name from the greek _sunedrion_, signifying "a council." in english it is sometimes though inaccurately, written "sanhedrim." the talmud traces the origin of this body to the calling of the seventy elders whom moses associated with himself, making seventy-one in all, to administer as judges in israel (numb. : , ). the sanhedrin in the time of christ, as also long before, comprized seventy-one members, including the high-priest who presided in the assembly. it appears to have been known in its earlier period as the senate, and was occasionally so designated even after christ's death (josephus, antiquities xii, : ; compare acts : ); the name "sanhedrin" came into general use during the reign of herod the great; but the term is not of biblical usage; its equivalent in the new testament is "council" (matt. : ; : ; : ) though it must be remembered that the same term is applied to courts of lesser jurisdiction than that of the sanhedrin, and to local tribunals. (matt : ; : ; : ; mark : ; see also acts : .) the following, from the _standard bible dictionary_, is instructive: "those qualified to be members were in general of the priestly house and especially of the sadducean nobility. but from the days of queen alexandra ( - b.c.) onward, there were with these chief priests also many pharisees in it under the name of scribes and elders. these three classes are found combined in matt. : ; mark : ; : , ; : . how such members were appointed is not entirely clear. the aristocratic character of the body and the history of its origin forbid the belief that it was by election. its nucleus probably consisted of the members of certain ancient families, to which, however, from time to time others were added by the secular rulers. the presiding officer was the high priest, who at first exercized in it more than the authority of a member, claiming a voice equal to that of the rest of the body. but after the reduction of the high priesthood from a hereditary office to one bestowed by the political ruler according to his pleasure, and the frequent changes in the office introduced by the new system, the high priest naturally lost his prestige. instead of holding in his hands the 'government of the nation,' he came to be but one of many to share this power; those who had served as high priests being still in esteem among their nation, and having lost their office not for any reason that could be considered valid by the religious sense of the community, exerted a large influence over the decisions of the assembly. in the new testament they are regarded as the rulers (matt. : ; : ; acts : , ; luke : , ; john : ), and josephus' testimony supports this view. the functions of the sanhedrin were religious and moral, and also political. in the latter capacity they further exercized administrative as well as judicial functions. as a religious tribunal, the sanhedrin wielded a potent influence over the whole of the jewish world (acts : ); but as a court of justice, after the division of the country upon the death of herod, its jurisdiction was limited to judea. here, however, its power was absolute even to the passing of sentence of death (josephus, ant. xiv, : , ; matt. : ; acts : ; : ; : ), although it had no authority to carry the sentence into execution except as approved and ordered by the representative of the roman government. the law by which the sanhedrin governed was naturally the jewish, and in the execution of it this tribunal had a police of its own, and made arrests at its discretion (matt : ).... while the general authority of the sanhedrin extended over the whole of judea, the towns in the country had local councils of their own (matt. : ; : ; mark : ; josephus, b. j. ii, : ), for the administration of local affairs. these were constituted of elders (luke : ), at least seven in number, (josephus, ant. iv, : ; b. j. ii, : ), and in some of the largest towns as many as twenty-three. what the relation of these to the central council in jerusalem was does not appear clearly.... some sort of mutual recognition existed among them; for whenever the judges of the local court could not agree it seems that they were in the habit of referring their cases to the sanhedrin in jerusalem. (josephus, ant. iv, : ; mishna, sanh. : )." . talmud.--"the body of jewish civil and religious law (and discussion directly or remotely relating thereto) not comprized in the pentateuch, commonly including the _mishna_ and the _gemara_, but sometimes limited to the latter; written in aramaic. it exists in two great collections, the _palestinian talmud_, or _talmud of the land of israel_, or _talmud of the west_, or, more popularly, _jerusalem talmud_, embodying the discussions on the mishna of the palestinian doctors from the d to the middle of the th century; and the _babylonian_, embodying those of the jewish doctors in babylonia, from about to the th century."--_new standard dict._ the mishna comprizes the earlier portions of the talmud; the gemara is made up of later writings and is largely an exposition of the mishna. an edition of the babylonian talmud alone (issued at vienna in ) comprized twenty-four tomes. (geikie.) . rabbis.--the title rabbi is equivalent to our distinctive appellations doctor, master, or teacher. by derivation it means master or my master, thus connoting dignity and rank associated with politeness of address. a definite explanation of the term is given by john ( : ), and the same meaning attaches by implication to its use as recorded by matthew ( : ). it was applied as a title of respect to jesus on several occasions (matt. : , ; : , ; mark : ; : ; : ; john : , ; : , ; : ; : ; : ; : ). the title was of comparatively recent usage in the time of christ, as it appears to have first come into general use during the reign of herod the great, though the earlier teachers, of the class without the name of rabbis, were generally reverenced, and the title was carried back to them by later usage. rab was an inferior title and rabban a superior one to rabbi. rabboni was expressive of most profound respect, love and honor (see john : ). at the time of our lord's ministry the rabbis were held in high esteem, and rejoiced in the afflations of precedence and honor among men. they were almost exclusively of the powerful pharisaic party. the following is from geikie's _life and words of christ_, vol. i, chap. : "if the most important figures in the society of christ's day were the pharisees, it was because they were the rabbis or teachers of the law. as such they received superstitious honor, which was, indeed, the great motive, with many, to court the title or join the party. the rabbis were classed with moses, the patriarchs, and the prophets, and claimed equal reverence. jacob and joseph were both said to have been rabbis. the targum of jonathan substitutes rabbis, or scribes, for the word 'prophets' where it occurs. josephus speaks of the prophets of saul's day as rabbis. in the jerusalem targum all the patriarchs are learned rabbis.... they were to be dearer to israel than father or mother--because parents avail only in this world [as was then taught] but the rabbi forever. they were set above kings, for is it not written 'through me kings reign'? their entrance into a house brought a blessing; to live or to eat with them was the highest good fortune.... the rabbis went even further than this in exalting their order. the mishna declares that it is a greater crime to speak anything to their discredit, than to speak against the words of the law.... yet in form, the law received boundless honor. every saying of the rabbis had to be based on some words of it, which were, however, explained in their own way. the spirit of the times, the wild fanaticism of the people, and their own bias, tended alike to make them set value only on ceremonies and worthless externalisms, to the utter neglect of the spirit of the sacred writings. still it was held that the law needed no confirmation, while the words of the rabbis did. so far as the roman authority under which they lived left them free, the jews willingly put all power in the hands of the rabbis. they or their nominees filled every office, from the highest in the priesthood to the lowest in the community. they were the casuists, the teachers, the priests, the judges, the magistrates, and the physicians of the nation.... the central and dominant characteristic of the teaching of the rabbis was the certain advent of a great national deliverer--the messiah or anointed of god or in the greek translation of the title, the christ. in no other nation than the jews has such a conception ever taken such root or shown such vitality.... it was agreed among the rabbis that his birthplace must be bethlehem, and that he must rise from the tribe of judah." individual rabbis gathered disciples about them, and, inevitably, rivalry became manifest. rabbinical schools and academies were established, each depending for its popularity on the greatness of some rabbi. the most famous of these institutions in the time of herod i. were the school of hillel and that of his rival shammai. later, tradition invested these with the title "the fathers of old." it appears from the trifling matters over which the followers of these two disagreed, that only by opposition could either maintain a distinguishing status. hillel is reputed as the grandfather of gamaliel, the rabbi and doctor of the law at whose feet saul of tarsus, afterward paul the apostle, received his early instruction (acts : ). so far as we have historic record of the views, principles or beliefs advocated by the rival schools of hillel and shammai, it appears that the former stood for a greater degree of liberality and tolerance, while the later emphasized a strict and possibly narrow interpretation of the law and its associated traditions. the dependence of the rabbinical schools on the authority of tradition is illustrated by an incident of record to the effect that even the prestige of the great hillel did not insure him against uproar when once he spoke without citing precedent; only when he added that so had his masters abtalion and shemajah spoken did the tumult subside. . sadducean denial of the resurrection.--as set forth in the text, the sadducees formed an association numerically small as compared with the more popular and influential pharisees. in the gospels the pharisees are of frequent mention, and very commonly in connection with the scribes, while the sadducees are less frequently named. in the acts of the apostles, the sadducees appear frequently as opponents of the church. this condition was doubtless due to the prominence given the resurrection from the dead among the themes of the apostolic preaching, the twelve continually bearing testimony to the actual resurrection of christ. sadducean doctrine denied the actuality and possibility of a bodily resurrection, the contention resting mainly on the ground that moses, who was regarded as the supreme mortal lawgiver in israel, and the chief mouthpiece of jehovah, had written nothing concerning life after death. the following is taken from smith's _dictionary of the bible_, article "sadducees," as touching this matter: "the denial of man's resurrection after death followed in the conception of the sadducees as a logical conclusion from their denial that moses had revealed to the israelites the oral law. for on a point so momentous as a second life beyond the grave, no religious party among the jews would have deemed themselves bound to accept any doctrine as an article of faith, unless it had been proclaimed by moses, their great legislator; and it is certain that in the written law of the pentateuch there is a total absence of any assertion by moses of the resurrection of the dead. this fact is presented to christians in a striking manner by the well-known words of the pentateuch which are quoted by christ in argument with the sadducees on this subject (exo. : , ; mark : , ; matt. : , ; luke : ). it cannot be doubted that in such a case christ would quote to his powerful adversaries the most cogent text in the law; and yet the text actually quoted does not do more than suggest an inference on this great doctrine. it is true that passages in other parts of the old testament express a belief in the resurrection (isa. : ; dan. : ; job : ; and in some of the psalms); and it may at first sight be a subject of surprize that the sadducees were not convinced by the authority of those passages. but although the sadducees regarded the books which contained these passages as sacred, it is more than doubtful whether any of the jews regarded them as sacred in precisely the same sense as the written law. to the jews moses was and is a colossal form, preeminent in authority above all subsequent prophets." . the temple of herod.--"herod's purpose in the great undertaking [that of restoring the temple, and of enlarging it on a plan of unprecedented magnificence] was that of aggrandizing himself and the nation, rather than the rendering of homage to jehovah. his proposition to rebuild or restore the temple on a scale of increased magnificence was regarded with suspicion and received with disfavor by the jews, who feared that were the ancient edifice demolished, the arbitrary monarch might abandon his plan and the people would be left without a temple. to allay these fears the king proceeded to reconstruct and restore the old edifice, part by part, directing the work so that at no time was the temple service seriously interrupted. so little of the ancient structure was allowed to stand, however, that the temple of herod must be regarded as a new creation. the work was begun about sixteen years before the birth of christ; and while the holy house itself was practically completed within a year and a half, this part of the labor having been performed by a body of one thousand priests specially trained for the purpose, the temple area was a scene of uninterrupted building operations down to the year a.d. we read that in the time of christ's ministry the temple had been forty-six years in building; and at that time it was unfinished. "the biblical record gives us little information regarding this the last and the greatest of ancient temples; for what we know concerning it we are indebted, mainly to josephus, with some corroborative testimony found in the talmud. in all essentials the holy house, or temple proper, was similar to the two earlier houses of sanctuary, though externally far more elaborate and imposing than either; but in the matter of surrounding courts and associated buildings, the temple of herod preeminently excelled.... yet its beauty and grandeur lay in architectural excellence rather than in the sanctity of its worship or in the manifestation of the divine presence within its walls. its ritual and service were largely man-prescribed; for while the letter of the mosaic law was professedly observed, the law had been supplemented and in many features supplanted by rule and priestly prescription. the jews professed to consider it holy, and by them it was proclaimed as the house of the lord. devoid though it was of the divine accompaniments of earlier shrines accepted of god, and defiled as it was by priestly arrogance and usurpation, as also by the selfish interest of traffic and trade, it was nevertheless recognized even by our lord the christ as his father's house. (matt. : ; compare mark : ; luke : .).... for thirty or more years after the death of christ, the jews continued the work of adding to and embellishing the temple buildings. the elaborate design conceived and projected by herod had been practically completed; the temple was well-nigh finished, and, as soon afterward appeared, was ready for destruction. its fate had been definitely foretold by the savior himself."--from the author's _house of the lord_, pp. - . . state of the world at the time of the savior's birth.--at the beginning of the christian era, the jews, in common with most other nations, were subjects of the roman empire. they were allowed a considerable degree of liberty in maintaining their religious observances and national customs generally, but their status was far from that of a free and independent people. the period was one of comparative peace--a time marked by fewer wars and less dissension than the empire had known for many years. these conditions were favorable for the mission of the christ, and for the founding of his church on earth. the religious systems extant at the time of christ's earthly ministry may be classified in a general way as jewish and pagan, with a minor system--the samaritan--which was essentially a mixture of the other two. the children of israel alone proclaimed the existence of the true and living god; they alone looked forward to the advent of the messiah, whom mistakenly they awaited as a prospective conqueror coming to crush the enemies of their nation. all other nations, tongues, and peoples, bowed to pagan deities, and their worship comprized nought but the sensual rites of heathen idolatry. paganism was a religion of form and ceremony, based on polytheism--a belief in the existence of a multitude of gods, which deities were subject to all the vices and passions of humanity, while distinguished by immunity from death. morality and virtue were unknown as elements of heathen service; and the dominant idea in pagan worship was that of propitiating the gods, in the hope of averting their anger and purchasing their favor.--see the author's _the great apostasy_, : - , and notes following the chapter cited. footnotes: [ ] exo. : ; see also numb. : ; deut. : ; compare p. of g.p., moses : , , . [ ] p. of g.p., moses : ; for later mention of the "meridian of time," see : - ; and : ; and compare doc. and cov. : ; : . [ ] "meridian: ... figuratively, the highest point or culminating-point of anything; the zenith; as the meridian of life."--"new stand. dict." [ ] b. of m., nephi : ; compare nephi : , ; mormon : ; moroni : . [ ] gen. : ; : . [ ] exo. : , ; : , ; : , etc. [ ] exo. : , ; : ; : ; numb. : , , , etc. [ ] see mention throughout the books of judges, and samuel, and kings, and references therein. [ ] isa. : ; : ; ezek, : - ; hos. : . [ ] jer. : , ; see also : . [ ] ezra : - ; the author, "house of the lord," pp. - ; also "articles of faith" xvii: - . [ ] ezra : - . [ ] "house of the lord," pp. - . [ ] josephus, ant. xii: and ; maccabees : ; : - ; also john : . [ ] luke : . [ ] matt. : . page . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] deut. : ; see also : ; exo. : , ; psa. : ; isa. : ; : ; compare peter : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] kings : . [ ] john : ; luke : - . pages , herein. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] bab. talmud, sanhedrin, . [ ] josephus, ant. xx, : . [ ] note the emphasis given to this distinction in john : - ; see also : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] ezra : ; see also verses , , . [ ] matt. : - ; see also john : ; : . [ ] matt. : , , , . etc., read the entire chapter; compare mark : - ; luke : ; see also as instances of special denunciation of the pharisees luke : - . note also that the lawyers, who were professionally associated with the scribes, are included in the sweeping criticism: verses - . see pages - herein. [ ] maccabees : ; : - ; maccabees : . [ ] josephus, antiquities, xvii, : . [ ] acts : ; see also : ; philip. : . [ ] exo. : - ; lev. : ; deut. : ; contrast matt : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] josephus, antiquities xviii, : . [ ] "new stand. dict.," under "sadducees." [ ] josephus, antiquities xviii, : . [ ] numb. : - ; judges : , ; : ; amos. : , . page . [ ] matt. : , ; mark : . [ ] luke : , ; see also john : ; mark : ; acts : . [ ] chron. : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. chapter . gabriel's annunciation of john and of jesus. john the forerunner. associated with the prophecies of the birth of christ are predictions concerning one who should precede him, going before to prepare the way. it is not surprizing that the annunciation of the immediate advent of the forerunner was speedily followed by that of the messiah; nor that the proclamations were made by the same heavenly embassador--gabriel, sent from the presence of god.[ ] about fifteen months prior to the savior's birth, zacharias, a priest of the aaronic order, was officiating in the functions of his office in the temple at jerusalem. his wife, elisabeth, was also of a priestly family, being numbered among the descendants of aaron. the couple had never been blessed with children; and at the time of which we speak they were both well stricken in years and had sorrowfully given up hope of posterity. zacharias belonged to the course of priests named after abijah, and known in later time as the course of abia. this was the eighth in the order of the twenty-four courses established by david the king, each course being appointed to serve in turn a week at the sanctuary.[ ] it will be remembered that on the return of the people from babylon only four of the courses were represented; but of these four each averaged over fourteen hundred men.[ ] during his week of service each priest was required to maintain scrupulously a state of ceremonial cleanliness of person; he had to abstain from wine, and from food except that specifically prescribed; he had to bathe frequently; he lived within the temple precincts and thus was cut off from family association; he was not allowed to come near the dead, nor to mourn in the formal manner if death should rob him of even his nearest and dearest of kin. we learn that the daily selection of the priest who should enter the holy place, and there burn incense on the golden altar, was determined by lot;[ ] and furthermore we gather, from non-scriptural history, that because of the great number of priests the honor of so officiating seldom fell twice to the same person. on this day the lot had fallen to zacharias. it was a very solemn occasion in the life of the humble judean priest--this one day in his life on which the special and particularly sacred service was required of him. within the holy place he was separated by the veil of the temple only from the oracle or holy of holies--the inner sanctuary into which none but the high priest might enter, and he only on the day of atonement, after long ceremonial preparation.[ ] the place and the time were conducive to the highest and most reverential feelings. as zacharias ministered within the holy place, the people without bowed themselves in prayer, watching for the clouds of incense smoke to appear above the great partition which formed the barrier between the place of general assembly and the holy place, and awaiting the reappearance of the priest and his pronouncement of the benediction. before the astonished gaze of zacharias, at this supreme moment of his priestly service, there appeared, standing on the right of the golden altar of incense, an angel of the lord. many generations had passed in jewry since any visible presence other than mortal had been manifest within the temple, either in the holy place or the holy of holies; the people regarded personal visitations of heavenly beings as occurrences of the past; they had come almost to believe that there were no longer prophets in israel. nevertheless, there was always a feeling of anxiety, akin to that of troubled expectancy, whenever a priest approached the inner sanctuary, which was regarded as the particular abode of jehovah should he ever again condescend to visit his people. in view of these conditions we read without surprize that this angelic presence troubled zacharias and caused fear to fall upon him. the words of the heavenly visitant, however, were comforting though of startling import, embodying as they did the unqualified assurance that the man's prayers had been heard, and that his wife should bear him a son, who must be named john.[ ] the promise went even further, specifying that the child to be born of elisabeth would be a blessing to the people; many would rejoice at his birth; he would be great in the sight of the lord, and must be guarded against wine and strong drink;[ ] he would be filled with the holy ghost, would be the means of turning many souls to god, and would go before to make ready a people prepared to receive the messiah. doubtless zacharias recognised in the predicted future of the yet unborn child the great forerunner, of whom the prophets had told and the psalmist had sung; but that such a one should be offspring of himself and his aged wife seemed impossible despite the angel's promise. the man doubted, and asked whereby he should know that what his visitant had spoken was true: "and the angel answering said unto him, i am gabriel, that stand in the presence of god; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to show thee these glad tidings. and, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season."[ ] when the highly blessed though sorely smitten priest at length came from within and appeared before the expectant congregation, already made anxious by his delayed return, he could but mutely dismiss the assembly and by signs indicate that he had seen a vision. the penalty for doubt was already operative; zacharias was dumb. in due time the child was born, there in the hill country of judea[ ] where zacharias and elisabeth had their home; and, on the eighth day following the birth the family assembled in accordance with custom and mosaic requirement, to name the babe in connection with the rite of circumcision.[ ] all suggestions that he be called after his father were overruled by zacharias, who wrote with decisive finality: "his name is john." thereupon the dumb[ ] priest's tongue was loosed, and being filled with the holy ghost he burst forth in prophecy, praise and song; his inspired utterances have been set to music and are sung in worship by many christian congregations as the benedictus: "blessed be the lord god of israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant david; as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; the oath which he sware to our father abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. and thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the lord to prepare his ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our god; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."[ ] the last words zacharias had uttered prior to the infliction of dumbness were words of doubt and unbelief, words in which he had called for a sign as proof of authority of one who came from the presence of the almighty; the words with which he broke his long silence were words of praise unto god in whom he had all assurance, words that were as a sign to all who heard, and the fame whereof spread throughout the region. the unusual circumstances attending the birth of john, notably the months of dumbness passed by the father and his sudden recovery of speech on the bestowal of the fore-appointed name, caused many to marvel and some to fear, as they asked: "what manner of child shall this be?" when, a man grown, john raised his voice in the wilderness, again in fulfillment of prophecy, the people questioned as to whether he was not the messiah.[ ] of his life between infancy and the beginning of his public ministry, a period of approximately thirty years, we have of record but a single sentence: "and the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto israel."[ ] the annunciation to the virgin. six months after the visitation of gabriel to zacharias, and three months prior to the birth of john, the same heavenly messenger was sent to a young woman named mary, who lived at nazareth, a town in galilee. she was of the lineage of david; and though unmarried was betrothed or espoused to a man named joseph, who also was of royal descent through the davidic line. the angel's salutation, while full of honor and blessing, caused mary to wonder and to feel troubled. "hail, thou that art highly favoured, the lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women";[ ] thus did gabriel greet the virgin. in common with other daughters of israel, specifically those of the tribe of judah and of known descent from david, mary had doubtless contemplated, with holy joy and ecstasy, the coming of the messiah through the royal line; she knew that some jewish maiden was yet to become the mother of the christ. was it possible that the angel's words to her had reference to this supreme expectation and hope of the nation? she had little time to turn these things in her mind, for the angel continued: "fear not, mary: for thou hast found favour with god. and, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name jesus. he shall be great, and shall be called the son of the highest: and the lord god shall give unto him the throne of his father david: and he shall reign over the house of jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end."[ ] even yet she comprehended but in part the import of this momentous visitation. not in the spirit of doubt such as had prompted zacharias to ask for a sign, but through an earnest desire for information and explanation, mary, conscious of her unmarried status and sure of her virgin condition, asked: "how shall this be, seeing i know not a man?" the answer to her natural and simple inquiry was the announcement of a miracle such as the world had never known--not a miracle in the sense of a happening contrary to nature's law, nevertheless a miracle through the operation of higher law, such as the human mind ordinarily fails to comprehend or regard as possible. mary was informed that she would conceive and in time bring forth a son, of whom no mortal man would be the father:--"and the angel answered and said unto her, the holy ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the son of god."[ ] then the angel told her of the blessed condition of her cousin elisabeth, who had been barren; and by way of sufficient and final explanation added: "for with god nothing shall be impossible." with gentle submissiveness and humble acceptance, the pure young virgin replied: "behold the handmaid of the lord; be it unto me according to thy word." his message delivered, gabriel departed, leaving the chosen virgin of nazareth to ponder over her wondrous experience. mary's promised son was to be "the only begotten" of the father in the flesh; so it had been both positively and abundantly predicted. true, the event was unprecedented; true also it has never been paralleled; but that the virgin birth would be unique was as truly essential to the fulfilment of prophecy as that it should occur at all. that child to be born of mary was begotten of elohim, the eternal father, not in violation of natural law but in accordance with a higher manifestation thereof; and, the offspring from that association of supreme sanctity, celestial sireship, and pure though mortal maternity, was of right to be called the "son of the highest." in his nature would be combined the powers of godhood with the capacity and possibilities of mortality; and this through the ordinary operation of the fundamental law of heredity, declared of god, demonstrated by science, and admitted by philosophy, that living beings shall propagate--after their kind. the child jesus was to inherit the physical, mental, and spiritual traits, tendencies, and powers that characterized his parents--one immortal and glorified--god, the other human--woman. jesus christ was to be born of mortal woman, but was not directly the offspring of mortal man, except so far as his mother was the daughter of both man and woman. in our lord alone has been fulfilled the word of god spoken in relation to the fall of adam, that the _seed of the woman_ should have power to overcome satan by bruising the serpent's head.[ ] in respect to place, condition, and general environment, gabriel's annunciation to zacharias offers strong contrast to the delivery of his message to mary. the prospective forerunner of the lord was announced to his father within the magnificent temple, and in a place the most exclusively sacred save one other in the holy house, under the light shed from the golden candlestick, and further illumined by the glow of living coals on the altar of gold; the messiah was announced to his mother in a small town far from the capital and the temple, most probably within the walls of a simple galilean cottage. mary's visit to her cousin elisabeth. it was natural that mary, left now to herself with a secret in her soul, holier, greater, and more thrilling than any ever borne before or since, should seek companionship, and that of some one of her own sex, in whom she could confide, from whom she might hope to derive comfort and support, and to whom it would be not wrong to tell what at that time was probably known to no mortal save herself. her heavenly visitant had indeed suggested all this in his mention of elisabeth, mary's cousin, herself a subject of unusual blessing, and a woman through whom another miracle of god had been wrought. mary set out with haste from nazareth for the hill country of judea, on a journey of about a hundred miles if the traditional account be true that the little town of juttah was the home of zacharias. there was mutual joy in the meeting between mary the youthful virgin, and elisabeth, already well advanced in life. from what of gabriel's words her husband had communicated, elisabeth must have known that the approaching birth of her son would soon be followed by that of the messiah, and that therefore the day for which israel had waited and prayed through the long dark centuries was about to dawn. when mary's salutation fell upon her ears, the holy ghost bore witness that the chosen mother of the lord stood before her in the person of her cousin; and as she experienced the physical thrill incident to the quickening spirit of her own blessed conception, she returned the greeting of her visitor with reverence: "blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. and whence is this to me, that the mother of my lord should come to me?"[ ] mary responded with that glorious hymn of praise, since adopted in the musical ritual of churches as the magnificat: "my soul doth magnify the lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in god my saviour. for he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. for he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. and his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. he hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. he hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. he hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. he hath holpen his servant israel, in remembrance of his mercy; as he spake to our fathers, to abraham, and to his seed for ever."[ ] mary and joseph. the visit lasted about three months, after which time mary returned to nazareth. the real embarrassment of her position she had now to meet. at the home of her cousin she had been understood; her condition had served to confirm the testimony of zacharias and elisabeth; but how would her word be received at her own home? and especially, how would she be regarded by her espoused husband?[ ] betrothal, or espousal, in that time was in some respects as binding as the marriage vow, and could only be set aside by a ceremonial separation akin to divorce; yet an espousal was but an engagement to marry, not a marriage. when joseph greeted his promised bride after her three months' absence, he was greatly distressed over the indications of her prospective maternity. now the jewish law provided for the annulment of a betrothal in either of two ways--by public trial and judgment, or by private agreement attested by a written document signed in the presence of witnesses. joseph was a just man, a strict observer of the law, yet no harsh extremist; moreover he loved mary and would save her all unnecessary humiliation, whatever might be his own sorrow and suffering. for mary's sake he dreaded the thought of publicity; and therefore determined to have the espousal annulled with such privacy the law allowed. he was troubled and thought much of his duty in the matter, when, "behold, the angel of the lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, joseph, thou son of david, fear not to take unto thee mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the holy ghost. and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins."[ ] great was joseph's relief of mind; and great his joy in the realization that the long predicted coming of the messiah was at hand; the words of the prophets would be fulfilled; a virgin, and she the one in the world most dear to him, had conceived, and in due time would bring forth that blessed son, emmanuel, which name by interpretation means "god with us."[ ] the angel's salutation was significant; "joseph, thou son of david," was the form of address; and the use of that royal title must have meant to joseph that, though he was of kingly lineage, marriage with mary would cast no shadow upon his family status. joseph waited not; to insure mary all possible protection and establish his full legal right as her lawful guardian he hastened the solemnization of the marriage, and "did as the angel of the lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name jesus."[ ] the national hope of a messiah based on promise and prophecy had become confused in the jewish mind, through the influence of rabbinism with its many vagaries, and its "private interpretation"[ ] made to appear authoritative by the artificially sustained prestige of the expositors; yet certain conditions had been emphasized as essential, even by the rabbis, and by these essentials would be judged the claim of any jew who might declare himself to be the long expected one. it was beyond question that the messiah was to be born within the tribe of judah and through the line of descent from david, and, being of david he must of necessity be of the lineage of abraham, through whose posterity, according to the covenant, all nations of the earth were to be blessed.[ ] two genealogical records, purporting to give the lineage of jesus are found in the new testament, one in the first chapter of matthew, the other in the third chapter of luke. these records present several apparent discrepancies, but such have been satisfactorily reconciled by the research of specialists in jewish genealogy. no detailed analysis of the matter will be attempted here; but it should be borne in mind that the consensus of judgment on the part of investigators is that matthew's account is that of the royal lineage, establishing the order of sequence among the legal successors to the throne of david, while the account given by luke is a personal pedigree, demonstrating descent from david without adherence to the line of legal succession to the throne through primogeniture or nearness of kin.[ ] luke's record is regarded by many, however, as the pedigree of mary, while matthew's is accepted as that of joseph. the all important fact to be remembered is that the child promised by gabriel to mary, the virginal bride of joseph, would be born in the royal line. a personal genealogy of joseph was essentially that of mary also, for they were cousins. joseph is named as son of jacob by matthew, and as son of heli by luke; but jacob and heli were brothers, and it appears that one of the two was the father of joseph and the other the father of mary and therefore father-in-law to joseph. that mary was of davidic descent is plainly set forth in many scriptures; for since jesus was to be born of mary, yet was not begotten by joseph, who was the reputed, and, according to the law of the jews, the legal, father, the blood of david's posterity was given to the body of jesus through mary alone. our lord, though repeatedly addressed as son of david, never repudiated the title but accepted it as rightly applied to himself.[ ] apostolic testimony stands in positive assertion of the royal heirship of christ through earthly lineage, as witness the affirmation of paul, the scholarly pharisee: "concerning his son jesus christ our lord, which was made of the seed of david according to the flesh;" and again: "remember that jesus christ of the seed of david was raised from the dead."[ ] in all the persecutions waged by his implacable haters, in all the false accusations brought against him, in the specific charges of sacrilege and blasphemy based on his acknowledgment of the messiahship as his own, no mention is found of even an insinuation that he could not be the christ through any ineligibility based on lineage. genealogy was assiduously cared for by the jews before, during, and after the time of christ; indeed their national history was largely genealogical record; and any possibility of denying the christ because of unattested descent would have been used to the fullest extent by insistent pharisee, learned scribe, haughty rabbi, and aristocratic sadducee. at the time of the savior's birth, israel was ruled by alien monarchs. the rights of the royal davidic family were unrecognized; and the ruler of the jews was an appointee of rome. had judah been a free and independent nation, ruled by her rightful sovereign, joseph the carpenter would have been her crowned king; and his lawful successor to the throne would have been jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. gabriel's annunciation to mary was that of the son of david, on whose coming the hope of israel rested as on a sure foundation. the one, thus announced, was emmanuel, even god who was to dwell in flesh with his people,[ ] the redeemer of the world, jesus the christ. notes to chapter . . john the baptist regarded as a nazarite.--the instruction of the angel gabriel to zacharias, that the promised son, john, was to "drink neither wine nor strong drink," and the adult life of john as a dweller in the desert, together with his habit of wearing rough garb, have led commentators and biblical specialists to assume that he was a "nazarite for life." it is to be remembered, however, that nowhere in scripture extant is john the baptist definitely called a nazarite. a nazarite, the name signifying _consecrated_ or _separated_, was one, who by personal vow or by that made for him by his parents, was set apart to some special labor or course of life involving self denial. (see page ). smith's _comp. dict, of the bible_ says: "there is no notice in the pentateuch of nazarites for life; but the regulations for the vow of a nazarite of days are given (numb. : - ). the nazarite, during the term of his consecration, was bound to abstain from wine, grapes, and every production of the vine, and from every kind of intoxicating drink. he was forbidden to cut the hair of his head, or to approach any dead body, even that of his nearest relation." the sole instance of a nazarite for life named in the scriptures is that of samson, whose mother was required to put herself under nazarite observances prior to his birth, and the child was to be a nazarite to god from his birth (judges : - , ). in the strictness of his life, john the baptist is to be credited with all the personal discipline required of nazarites whether he was under voluntary or parental vows or was not so bound. . circumcision, while not exclusively a hebrew or an israelitish practise, was made a definite requirement through the revelations of god to abraham, as the sign of the covenant between jehovah and the patriarch. (gen. : - .) this covenant was made to include the establishment of abraham's posterity as a great nation, and provided that through his descendants should all nations of the earth be blessed (gen. : )--a promise which has been proved to mean that through that lineage should the messiah be born. circumcision was a binding condition; and its practise therefore became a national characteristic. every male was to be circumcized eight days after birth (gen. : ; lev. : ). this requirement as to age came to be so rigidly enforced, that even if the eighth day fell on a sabbath the rite had to be performed on that day (john : , ). all male slaves had to be circumcized (gen. : , ) and even strangers who sojourned with the hebrews and desired to partake of the passover with them had to submit to the requirement (exo. : ). from the _standard bible dictionary_ we take the following: "the ceremony indicated the casting off of uncleanness as a preparation for entrance into the privileges of membership in israel. in the new testament, with its transfer of emphasis from the external and formal to the inner and spiritual side of things, it was first declared unnecessary for gentile converts to the gospel to be circumcized (acts : ), and afterward the rite was set aside even by jewish christians." it became customary to name a child at the time it was circumcized, as is instanced in the case of john, son of zacharias (luke : ). . zacharias' affliction.--the sign for which zacharias asked was thus given by the angel: "behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season." (luke : .) from the account of the circumcision and naming of the boy, john, it is held by some that the afflicted father was also deaf, as the company "made signs" to him as to how he would have his son named (verse ). . jewish betrothal.--the vow of espousal, or betrothal, has always been regarded as sacred and binding in jewish law. in a manner it was as binding as a marriage ceremony, though it carried none of the particular rights of marriage. the following succinct statements are taken from geikie's _life and words of christ_, vol. i. p. : "among the jews of mary's day it was even more of an actual engagement [than it later came to be]. the betrothal was formally made with rejoicings in the house of the bride under a tent or slight canopy raised for the purpose. it was called the 'making sacred' as the bride thenceforth was sacred to her husband in the strictest sense. to make it legal, the bridegroom gave his betrothed a piece of money, or the worth of it, before witnesses, with the words, 'lo, thou art betrothed unto me,' or by a formal writing in which similar words and the maiden's name were given, and this in the same way was handed to her before witnesses." . genealogies of joseph and mary.--"it is now almost certain that the genealogies in both gospels are genealogies of joseph, which if we may rely on early traditions of their consanguinity involve genealogies of mary also. the davidic descent of mary is implied in acts : ; : ; rom. : ; luke : , etc. st. matthew gives the legal descent of joseph through the elder and regal line, as heir to the throne of david; st. luke gives the natural descent. thus, the real father of salathiel was heir of the house of nathan, but the childless jeconiah (jer. : ) was the last lineal representative of the elder kingly line. the omission of some obscure names and the symmetrical arrangement, into tesseradecads were common jewish customs. it is not too much to say that after the labors of mill (_on the mythical interpretation of the gospels_, pp. - ) and lord a. c. hervey (_on the genealogies of our lord_, ) scarcely a single difficulty remains in reconciling the apparent divergencies. and thus in this as in so many other instances, the very discrepancies which appear to be most irreconcilable, and most fatal to the historic accuracy of the four evangelists, turn out, on closer and more patient investigation, to be fresh proofs that they are not only entirely independent, but also entirely trustworthy."--farrar, _life of christ_, p. , note. the writer of the article "genealogy of jesus christ" in smith's _bible dict_, says: "the new testament gives us the genealogy of but one person, our savior (matt. ; luke ).... the following propositions will explain the true construction of these genealogies (so lord a. c. hervey): . they are both the genealogies of joseph, i.e. of jesus christ, as the reputed and legal son of joseph and mary. . the genealogy of matthew is, as grotius asserted, joseph's genealogy as legal successor to the throne of david. that of luke is joseph's private genealogy, exhibiting his real birth, as david's son, and thus showing why he was heir to solomon's crown. the simple principle that one evangelist exhibits that genealogy which contained the successive heirs to david's and solomon's throne, while the other exhibits the paternal stem of him who was the heir, explains all the anomalies of the two pedigrees, their agreements as well as their discrepancies, and the circumstance of there being two at all. . mary, the mother of jesus, was probably the daughter of jacob, and first cousin to joseph her husband." a valuable contribution to the literature of this subject appears in the _journal of the transactions of the victoria institute, or philosophical society of great britain_, , vol. , pp. - , as an article, "the genealogies of our lord," by mrs. a. s. lewis, and discussion thereof by many scholars of acknowledged ability. the author, mrs. lewis, is an authority on syriac manuscripts, and is one of the two women who, in , discovered in the library of st. catherine's monastery on mount sinai, the syriac palimpsest ms. of the four gospels. the gifted author holds that matthew's account attests the royal pedigree of joseph, and that luke's genealogical table proves the equally royal descent of mary. mrs. lewis says: "the sinai palimpsest also tells us that joseph and mary went to bethlehem, to be enrolled there, because they were both of the house and lineage of david." canon girdlestone, in discussing the article, says in pertinent emphasis of mary's status as a princess of royal blood through descent from david: "when the angel was foretelling to mary the birth of the holy child, he said, 'the lord god shall give him the throne of his father david.' now if joseph, her betrothed, had alone been descended from david, mary would have answered, 'i am not yet married to joseph,' whereas she did answer simply, 'i am an unmarried woman,' which plainly implies--if i were married, since i am descended from david, i could infuse my royal blood into a son, but how can i have a royal son while i am a virgin?'" after brief mention of the jewish law relating to adoption, wherein it is provided (according to hammurabi's code, section ), that if a man teach his adopted son a handicraft, the son is thereby confirmed in all the rights of heirship, canon girdlestone adds: "if the crown of david had been assigned to his successor in the days of herod it would have been placed on the head of joseph. and who would have been the legal successor to joseph? jesus of nazareth would have been then the king of the jews, and the title on the cross spoke the truth. god had raised him up to the house of david." . the inner sanctuary of the temple.--the holy of holies in the temple of herod retained the form and dimensions of the oracle in the temple of solomon; it was therefore a cube, twenty cubits in each principal measurement. between this and the holy place hung a double veil, of finest material, elaborately embroidered. the outer of the two veils was open at the north end, the inner at the south; so that the high priest who entered at the appointed time once a year could pass between the veils without exposing the holy of holies. the sacred chamber was empty save for a large stone upon which the high priest sprinkled the sacrificial blood on the day of atonement; this stone occupied the place of the ark and its mercy seat. outside the veil, in the holy place, stood the altar of incense, the seven-branched candlestick, and the table of shewbread.--_the house of the lord_, p. . footnotes: [ ] luke : , ; see also dan. : ; : - . [ ] luke : ; compare chron. : . [ ] ezra : - . [ ] luke : , ; read the entire chapter. [ ] lev. chap. ; heb. : - ; see also "house of the lord," p. , and compare pp. and . note , end of chapter. [ ] page . for other instances of children promised in spite of barrenness due to age or other causes, see isaac (gen. : , and : - ); samson, (judges, chap. ); samuel ( sam. chap. ); son of the shunammite ( kings : - ). [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] luke : , . [ ] luke : ; compare verse . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] luke : - . [ ] luke : , ; see also : . [ ] luke : . [ ] luke : . [ ] luke : - . [ ] luke : ; see also preceding verses, - . [ ] page ; and gen. : . [ ] luke : ; read verses - . [ ] luke : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : , ; read - . [ ] matt. : - ; compare isa. : ; see also : . [ ] matt. : , . [ ] peter : . [ ] gen. : ; : ; : ; : ; compare acts : ; gal. : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] for instances see matt. : ; : ; : ; : , , with which compare luke : , . [ ] rom. : ; tim. : ; see also acts : ; : ; compare psa. : ; see also luke : . [ ] matt. : . chapter . the babe of bethlehem. the birth of jesus. equally definite with the prophecies declaring that the messiah would be born in the lineage of david are the predictions that fix the place of his birth at bethlehem, a small town in judea. there seems to have been no difference of opinion among priests, scribes, or rabbis on the matter, either before or since the great event. bethlehem, though small and of little importance in trade or commerce, was doubly endeared to the jewish heart as the birthplace of david and as that of the prospective messiah. mary and joseph lived in nazareth of galilee, far removed from bethlehem of judea; and, at the time of which we speak, the maternity of the virgin was fast approaching. at that time a decree went out from rome ordering a taxing of the people in all kingdoms and provinces tributary to the empire; the call was of general scope, it provided "that all the world should be taxed."[ ] the taxing herein referred to may properly be understood as an enrolment,[ ] or a registration, whereby a census of roman subjects would be secured, upon which as a basis the taxation of the different peoples would be determined. this particular census was the second of three such general registrations recorded by historians as occurring at intervals of about twenty years. had the census been taken by the usual roman method, each person would have been enrolled at the town of his residence; but the jewish custom, for which the roman law had respect, necessitated registration at the cities or towns claimed by the respective families as their ancestral homes. as to whether the requirement was strictly mandatory that every family should thus register at the city of its ancestors, we need not be specially concerned; certain it is that joseph and mary went to bethlehem, the city of david, to be inscribed under the imperial decree.[ ] the little town was crowded at the time, most likely by the multitude that had come in obedience to the same summons; and, in consequence, joseph and mary failed to find the most desirable accommodations and had to be content with the conditions of an improvised camp, as travelers unnumbered had done before, and as uncounted others have done since, in that region and elsewhere. we cannot reasonably regard this circumstance as evidence of extreme destitution; doubtless it entailed inconvenience, but it gives us no assurance of great distress or suffering.[ ] it was while she was in this situation that mary the virgin gave birth to her firstborn, the son of the highest, the only begotten of the eternal father, jesus the christ. but few details of attendant circumstances are furnished us. we are not told how soon the birth occurred after the arrival of mary and her husband at bethlehem. it may have been the purpose of the evangelist who made the record to touch upon matters of purely human interest as lightly as was consistent with the narration of fact, in order that the central truth might neither be hidden nor overshadowed by unimportant incident. we read in holy writ this only of the actual birth: "and so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. and she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them at the inn."[ ] in vivid contrast with the simplicity and brevity of the scriptural account and of its paucity of incidental details, is the mass of circumstance supplied by the imagination of men, much of which is wholly unsupported by authoritative record and in many respects is plainly inconsistent and untrue. it is the part of prudence and wisdom to segregate and keep distinctly separate the authenticated statements of fact, in so momentous a matter, from the fanciful commentaries of historians, theologians, and writers of fiction, as also from the emotional rhapsodies of poets and artistic extravaganzas wrought by chisel or brush. from the period of its beginning, bethlehem had been the home of people engaged mostly in pastoral and agricultural pursuits. it is quite in line with what is known of the town and its environs to find at the season of messiah's birth, which was in the springtime of the year, that flocks were in the field both night and day under the watchful care of their keepers. unto certain of these humble shepherds came the first proclamation that the savior had been born. thus runs the simple record: "and there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. and, lo, the angel of the lord came upon them, and the glory of the lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. and the angel said unto them, fear not: for, behold, i bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. for unto you is born this day in the city of david a saviour, which is christ the lord. and this shall be a sign unto you: ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising god, and saying, glory to god in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."[ ] tidings of such import had never before been delivered by angel or received by man--good tidings of great joy, given to but few and those among the humblest of earth, but destined to spread to all people. there is sublime grandeur in the scene, as there is divine authorship in the message, and the climax is such as the mind of man could never have conceived--the sudden appearance of a multitude of the heavenly host, singing audibly to human ears the briefest, most consistent and most truly complete of all the songs of peace ever attuned by mortal or spirit choir. what a consummation to be wished--peace on earth! but how can such come except through the maintenance of good will toward men? and through what means could glory to god in the highest be more effectively rendered? the trustful and unsophisticated keepers of sheep had not asked for sign or confirmation; their faith was in unison with the heavenly communication; nevertheless the angel had given them what he called a sign, to guide them in their search. they waited not, but went in haste, for in their hearts they believed, yea, more than believed, they knew, and this was the tenor of their resolve: "let us now go even unto bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the lord hath made known unto us."[ ] they found the babe in the manger, with the mother and joseph near by; and, having seen, they went out and testified to the truth concerning the child. they returned to their flocks, glorifying and praising god for all they had heard and seen. there is meaning as deep as the pathos that all must feel in the seemingly parenthetical remark by luke. "but mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart."[ ] it is apparent that the great truth as to the personality and mission of her divine son had not yet unfolded itself in its fulness to her mind. the whole course of events, from the salutation of gabriel to the reverent testimony of the shepherds concerning the announcing angel and the heavenly hosts, was largely a mystery to that stainless mother and wife. requirements of the law strictly observed. the child was born a jew; the mother was a jewess, and the reputed and legal father, joseph, was a jew. the true paternity of the child was known to but few, perhaps at that time to none save mary, joseph, and possibly elisabeth and zacharias; as he grew he was regarded by the people as joseph's son.[ ] the requirements of the law were carried out with exactitude in all matters pertaining to the child. when eight days old he was circumcized, as was required of every male born in israel;[ ] and at the same time he received as an earthly bestowal the name that had been prescribed at the annunciation. he was called jesus, which, being interpreted is savior; the name was rightfully his for he came to save the people from their sins.[ ] part of the law given through moses to the israelites in the wilderness and continued in force down through the centuries, related to the procedure prescribed for women after childbirth.[ ] in compliance therewith, mary remained in retirement forty days following the birth of her son; then she and her husband brought the boy for presentation before the lord as prescribed for the male firstborn of every family. it is manifestly impossible that all such presentations could have taken place in the temple, for many jews lived at great distances from jerusalem; it was the rule, however, that parents should present their children in the temple when possible. jesus was born within five or six miles from jerusalem; he was accordingly taken to the temple for the ceremonial of redemption from the requirement applying to the firstborn of all israelites except levites. it will be remembered that the children of israel had been delivered from the bondage of egypt with the accompaniment of signs and wonders. because of pharaoh's repeated refusals to let the people go, plagues had been brought upon the egyptians, one of which was the death of the firstborn throughout the land, excepting only the people of israel. in remembrance of this manifestation of power, the israelites were required to dedicate their firstborn sons to the service of the sanctuary.[ ] subsequently the lord directed that all males belonging to the tribe of levi should be devoted to this special labor instead of the firstborn in every tribe; nevertheless the eldest son was still claimed as particularly the lord's own, and had to be formally exempted from the earlier requirement of service by the paying of a ransom.[ ] in connection with the ceremony of purification, every mother was required to furnish a yearling lamb for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or dove for a sin offering; but in the case of any woman who was unable to provide a lamb, a pair of doves or pigeons might be offered. we learn of the humble circumstances of joseph and mary from the fact that they brought the less costly offering, two doves or pigeons, instead of one bird and a lamb. among the righteous and devout israelites were some who, in spite of traditionalism, rabbinism, and priestly corruption, still lived in righteous expectation of inspired confidence, awaiting patiently the consolation of israel.[ ] one of these was simeon, then living in jerusalem. through the power of the holy ghost he had gained the promise that he should not see death until he had looked upon the lord's christ in the flesh. prompted by the spirit he repaired to the temple on the day of the presentation of jesus, and recognized in the babe the promised messiah. in the moment of realization that the hope of his life had found glorious consummation, simeon raised the child reverently in his arms, and, with the simple but undying eloquence that comes of god uttered this splendid supplication, in which thanksgiving, resignation and praise are so richly blended: "lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the gentiles, and the glory of thy people israel."[ ] then under the spirit of prophecy, simeon told of the greatness of the child's mission, and of the anguish that the mother would be called to endure because of him, which would be even like unto that of a sword piercing her soul. the spirit's witness to the divinity of jesus was not to be confined to a man. there was at that time in the temple a godly woman of great age, anna, a prophetess who devoted herself exclusively to temple service; and she, being inspired of god, recognized her redeemer, and testified of him to all about her. both joseph and mary marveled at the things that were spoken of the child; seemingly they were not yet able to comprehend the majesty of him who had come to them through so miraculous a conception and so marvelous a birth. wise men search for the king. some time after the presentation of jesus in the temple, though how long we are not told, possibly but a few days, possibly weeks or even months, herod, king of judea, was greatly troubled, as were the people of jerusalem in general, over the report that a child of prophecy--one destined to become king of the jews--had been born. herod was professedly an adherent of the religion of judah, though by birth an idumean, by descent an edomite or one of the posterity of esau, all of whom the jews hated; and of all edomites not one was more bitterly detested than was herod the king. he was tyrannical and merciless, sparing neither foe nor friend who came under suspicion of being a possible hindrance to his ambitious designs. he had his wife and several of his sons, as well as others of his blood kindred, cruelly murdered; and he put to death nearly all of the great national council, the sanhedrin. his reign was one of revolting cruelty and unbridled oppression. only when in danger of inciting a national revolt or in fear of incurring the displeasure of his imperial master, the roman emperor, did he stay his hand in any undertaking.[ ] rumors of the birth of jesus reached herod's ears in this way. there came to jerusalem certain men from afar, wise men they were called, and they asked, "where is he that is born king of the jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him."[ ] herod summoned "all the chief priests and scribes of the people," and demanded of them where, according to the prophets, christ should be born. they answered him: "in bethlehem of judea: for thus it is written by the prophet, and thou bethlehem, in the land of juda, art not the least among the princes of juda: for out of thee shall come a governor, that shall rule my people israel."[ ] herod sent secretly for the wise men, and inquired of them as to the source of their information, and particularly as to the time at which the star, to which they attached such significance, had appeared. then he directed them to bethlehem, saying: "go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that i may come and worship him also." as the men set out from jerusalem on the last stage of their journey of inquiry and search, they rejoiced exceedingly, for the new star they had seen in the east was again visible. they found the house wherein mary was living with her husband and the babe, and as they recognized the royal child they "fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh."[ ] having thus gloriously accomplished the purpose of their pilgrimage, these devout and learned travelers prepared to return home, and would have stopped at jerusalem to report to the king as he had requested, but "being warned of god in a dream that they should not return to herod, they departed into their own country another way."[ ] much has been written, beyond all possible warrant of scriptural authority, concerning the visit of the magi, or wise men, who thus sought and found the infant christ. as a matter of fact, we are left without information as to their country, nation, or tribal relationship; we are not even told how many they were, though unauthenticated tradition has designated them as "the three wise men," and has even given them names; whereas they are left unnamed in the scriptures, the only true record of them extant, and may have numbered but two or many. attempts have been made to identify the star whose appearance in their eastern sky had assured the magi that the king was born; but astronomy furnishes no satisfactory confirmation. the recorded appearance of the star has been associated by both ancient and modern interpreters with the prophecy of balaam, who, though not an israelite had blessed israel, and under divine inspiration had predicted: "there shall come a star out of jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of israel."[ ] moreover, as already shown, the appearance of a new star was a predicted sign recognized and acknowledged among the people of the western world as witness of messiah's birth.[ ] the flight into egypt. herod's perfidy in directing the magi to return and report to him where the royal infant was to be found, falsely professing that he wished to worship him also, while in his heart he purposed taking the child's life, was thwarted by the divine warning given to the wise men as already noted. following their departure, the angel of the lord appeared to joseph, saying: "arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into egypt, and be thou there until i bring thee word: for herod will seek the young child to destroy him."[ ] in obedience to this command, joseph took mary and her child, and set out by night on the journey to egypt; and there the family remained until divinely directed to return. when it was apparent to the king that the wise men had ignored his instructions, he was exceedingly angry; and, estimating the earliest time at which the birth could have occurred according to the magis' statement of the star's appearing, he ruthlessly ordered the slaughter of "all the children that were in bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under."[ ] in this massacre of the innocents, the evangelist found a fulfilment of jeremiah's fateful voicing of the word of the lord, spoken six centuries earlier and expressed in the forceful past tense as though then already accomplished: "in rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not."[ ] birth of jesus made known to the nephites. as heretofore shown, the prophets of the western hemisphere had foretold in great plainness the earthly advent of the lord, and had specifically set forth the time, place, and circumstances of his birth.[ ] as the time drew near the people were divided by conflicting opinions concerning the reliability of these prophecies; and intolerant unbelievers cruelly persecuted those, who, like zacharias, simeon, anna, and other righteous ones in palestine, had maintained in faith and trust their unwavering expectation of the coming of the lord. samuel, a righteous lamanite, who, because of his faithfulness and sacrificing devotion had been blessed with the spirit and power of prophecy, fearlessly proclaimed the birth of christ as near: "and behold, he said unto them, behold i give unto you a sign; for five years more cometh, and behold, then cometh the son of god to redeem all those who shall believe on his name."[ ] the prophet told of many signs and wonders, which were to mark the great event. as the five years ran their course, the believers grew more steadfast, the unbelievers more violent, until the last day of the specified period dawned; and this was the "day set apart by the unbelievers, that all those who believed in those traditions should be put to death, except the sign should come to pass which had been given by samuel the prophet."[ ] nephi, a prophet of the time, cried unto the lord in anguish of soul because of the persecution of which his people were the victims; "and behold, the voice of the lord came unto him, saying, lift up your head and be of good cheer, for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come i into the world, to shew unto the world that i will fulfil all that which i have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets. behold, i come unto my own, to fulfil all things which i have made known unto the children of men, from the foundation of the world, and do the will, both of the father, and of the son; of the father, because of me, and of the son, because of my flesh. and behold, the time is at hand, and this night shall the sign be given."[ ] the words of the prophet were fulfilled that night; for though the sun set in its usual course there was no darkness; and on the morrow the sun rose on a land already illumined; a day and a night and another day had been as one day; and this was but one of the signs. a new star appeared in the firmament of the west, even as was seen by the magi in the east; and there were many other marvelous manifestations as the prophets had predicted. all these things occurred on what is now known as the american continent, six hundred years after lehi and his little company had left jerusalem to come hither. the time of the birth of jesus. the time of messiah's birth is a subject upon which specialists in theology and history, and those who are designated in literature "the learned," fail to agree. numerous lines of investigation have been followed, only to reach divergent conclusions, both as to the year and as to the month and day within the year at which the "christian era" in reality began. the establishment of the birth of christ as an event marking a time from which chronological data should be calculated, was first effected about a.d. by dionysius exiguus; and as a basis for the reckoning of time this method has come to be known as the dionysian system, and takes for its fundamental datum a.u.c. , that is to say years after the founding of rome, as the year of our lord's birth. so far as there exists any consensus of opinion among later scholars who have investigated the subject, it is to the effect that the dionysian calculation is wrong, in that it places the birth of christ between three and four years too late; and that therefore our lord was born in the third or fourth year before the beginning of what is designated by the scholars of oxford and cambridge, "the common account called anno domini."[ ] without attempting to analyze the mass of calculation data relating to this subject, we accept the dionysian basis as correct with respect to the year, which is to say that we believe christ to have been born in the year known to us as b.c. , and, as shall be shown, in an early month of that year. in support of this belief we cite the inspired record known as the "revelation on church government, given through joseph the prophet, in april, ," which opens with these words: "the rise of the church of christ in these last days, being one thousand eight hundred and thirty years since the coming of our lord and saviour jesus christ in the flesh."[ ] another evidence of the correctness of our commonly accepted chronology is furnished by the book of mormon record. therein we read that "in the commencement of the first year of the reign of zedekiah, king of judah," the word of the lord came to lehi at jerusalem, directing him to take his family and depart into the wilderness.[ ] in the early stages of their journey toward the sea, lehi prophesied, as had been shown him of the lord, concerning the impending destruction of jerusalem and the captivity of the jews. furthermore, he predicted the eventual return of the people of judah from their exile in babylon, and the birth of the messiah, which latter event he definitely declared would take place six hundred years from the time he and his people had left jerusalem.[ ] this specification of time was repeated by later prophecy;[ ] and the signs of the actual fulfilment are recorded as having been realized "six hundred years from the time that lehi left jerusalem."[ ] these scriptures fix the time of the beginning of zedekiah's reign as six hundred years before the birth of christ. according to the commonly accepted reckoning, zedekiah was made king in the year b.c.[ ] this shows a discrepancy of about three years between the commonly accepted date of zedekiah's inauguration as king and that given in the book of mormon statement; and, as already seen, there is a difference of between three and four years between the dionysian reckoning and the nearest approach to an agreement among scholars concerning the beginning of the current era. book of mormon chronology therefore sustains in general the correctness of the common or dionysian system. as to the season of the year in which christ was born, there is among the learned as great a diversity of opinion as that relating to the year itself. it is claimed by many biblical scholars that december th, the day celebrated in christendom as christmas, cannot be the correct date. we believe april th to be the birthday of jesus christ as indicated in a revelation of the present dispensation already cited,[ ] in which that day is made without qualification the completion of the one thousand eight hundred and thirtieth year since the coming of the lord in the flesh. this acceptance is admittedly based on faith in modern revelation, and in no wise is set forth as the result of chronological research or analysis. we believe that jesus christ was born in bethlehem of judea, april , b.c. . notes to chapter . . the "taxing."--regarding the presence of joseph and mary in bethlehem, far from their galilean home, and the imperial decree by compliance with which they were led there, the following notes are worthy of consideration. farrar (_life of christ_, p. , note), says: "it appears to be uncertain whether the journey of mary with her husband was obligatory or voluntary.... women were liable to a capitation tax, if this enrolment also involved taxation. but, apart from any legal necessity, it may easily be imagined that at such a moment mary would desire not to be left alone. the cruel suspicion of which she had been the subject, and which had almost led to the breaking off of her betrothal (matt. : ) would make her cling all the more to the protection of her husband." the following excerpt is from geikie's _life and words of christ_, vol. , chap. ; p. : "the jewish nation had paid tribute to rome through their rulers, since the days of pompey; and the methodical augustus, who now reigned, and had to restore order and soundness to the finances of the empire, after the confusion and exhaustion of the civil wars, took good care that this obligation should neither be forgotten nor evaded. he was accustomed to require a census to be taken periodically in every province of his vast dominions, that he might know the number of soldiers he could levy in each, and the amount of taxes due to the treasury.... in an empire embracing the then known world, such a census could hardly have been made simultaneously, or in any short or fixed time; more probably it was the work of years, in successive provinces or kingdoms. sooner or later, however, even the dominions of vassal kings like herod had to furnish the statistics demanded by their master. he had received his kingdom on the footing of a subject, and grew more entirely dependent on augustus as years passed, asking his sanction at every turn for steps he proposed to take. he would, thus, be only too ready to meet his wish, by obtaining the statistics he sought, as may be judged from the fact that in one of the last years of his life, just before christ's birth, he made the whole jewish nation take a solemn oath of allegiance to the emperor as well as to himself. "it is quite probable that the mode of taking the required statistics was left very much to herod, at once to show respect to him before his people, and from the known opposition of the jews to anything like a general numeration, even apart from the taxation to which it was designed to lead. at the time to which the narrative refers, a simple registration seems to have been made, on the old hebrew plan of enrolling by families in their ancestral districts, of course for future use; and thus it passed over quietly.... the proclamation having been made through the land, joseph had no choice but to go to bethlehem, the city of david, the place in which his family descent, from the house and lineage of david, required him to be inscribed." . jesus born amidst poor surroundings.--undoubtedly the accommodations for physical comfort amidst which jesus was born were few and poor. but the environment, considered in the light of the customs of the country and time, was far from the state of abject deprivation which modern and western ways would make it appear. "camping out" was no unusual exigency among travelers in palestine at the time of our lord's birth; nor is it considered such to-day. it is, however, beyond question that jesus was born into a comparatively poor family, amidst humble surroundings associated with the inconveniences incident to travel. cunningham geikie, _life and words of christ_, chap. , pp. , , says: "it was to bethlehem that joseph and mary were coming, the town of ruth and boaz, and the early home of their own great forefather david. as they approached it from jerusalem they would pass, at the last mile, a spot sacred to jewish memory, where the light of jacob's life went out, when his first love, rachel, died, and was buried, as her tomb still shows, 'in the way to ephrath, which is bethlehem.' ... traveling in the east has always been very different from western ideas. as in all thinly-settled countries, private hospitality, in early times, supplied the want of inns, but it was the peculiarity of the east that this friendly custom continued through a long series of ages. on the great roads through barren or uninhabited parts, the need of shelter led, very early, to the erection of rude and simple buildings, of varying size, known as khans, which offered the wayfarer the protection of walls and a roof, and water, but little more. the smaller structures consisted of sometimes only a single empty room, on the floor of which the traveler might spread his carpet for sleep; the larger ones, always built in a hollow square, enclosing a court for the beasts, with water in it for them and their masters. from immemorial antiquity it has been a favorite mode of benevolence to raise such places of shelter, as we see so far back as the times of david, when chimham built a great khan near bethlehem, on the caravan road to egypt." canon farrar (_life of christ_, chap, ) accepts the traditional belief that the shelter within which jesus was born was that of one of the numerous limestone caves which abound in the region, and which are still used by travelers as resting places. he says: "in palestine it not infrequently happens that the entire khan, or at any rate the portion of it in which the animals are housed, is one of those innumerable caves which abound in the limestone rocks of its central hills. such seems to have been in the case at the little town of bethlehem-ephratah, in the land of judah. justin martyr, the apologist, who, from his birth at shechem, was familiar with palestine, and who lived less than a century after the time of our lord, places the scene of the nativity in a cave. this is, indeed, the ancient and constant tradition both of the eastern and the western churches, and it is one of the few to which, though unrecorded in the gospel history, we may attach a reasonable probability." . herod the great.--the history of herod i, otherwise known as herod the great, must be sought in special works, in which the subject is treated at length. some of the principal facts should be considered in our present study, and for the assistance of the student a few extracts from works regarded as reliable are presented herewith. condensed from part of article in the _standard bible dictionary_, edited by jacobus, nourse, and zenos; published by funk and wagnalls co., :--herod i, the son of antipater, was early given office by his father, who had been made procurator of judea. the first office which herod held was that of governor of galilee. he was then a young man of about twenty-five, energetic and athletic. immediately he set about the eradication of the robber bands that infested his district, and soon was able to execute the robber chief hezekiah and several of his followers. for this he was summoned to jerusalem by the sanhedrin, tried and condemned, but with the connivance of hyrcanus ii [the high priest and ethnarch] he escaped by night.--he went to rome where he was appointed king of judea by antony and octavius.--for the next two years he was engaged in fighting the forces of antigonus, whom he finally defeated, and in b.c. gained possession of jerusalem.--as king, herod confronted serious difficulties. the jews objected to him because of his birth and reputation. the asmonean family regarded him as a usurper, notwithstanding the fact that he had married mariamne. the pharisees were shocked at his hellenistic sympathies, as well as at his severe methods of government. on the other hand the romans held him responsible for the order of his kingdom, and the protection of the eastern frontier of the republic. herod met these various difficulties with characteristic energy and even cruelty, and generally with cold sagacity. although he taxed the people severely, in times of famine he remitted their dues and even sold his plate to get means to buy them food. while he never became actually friendly with the pharisees, they profited by his hostility to the party of the asmoneans, which led at the beginning of his reign to the execution of a number of sadducees who were members of the sanhedrin. from smith's _comprehensive dictionary of the bible_: the latter part "of the reign of herod was undisturbed by external troubles, but his domestic life was embittered by an almost uninterrupted series of injuries and cruel acts of vengeance. the terrible acts of bloodshed which herod perpetrated in his own family were accompanied by others among his subjects equally terrible, from the number who fell victims to them. according to the well-known story, he ordered the nobles whom he had called to him in his last moments to be executed immediately after his decease, that so at least his death might be attended by universal mourning. it was at the time of his fatal illness that he must have caused the slaughter of the infants at bethlehem" (matt. : - ). the mortal end of the tyrant and multi-murderer is thus treated by farrar in his _life of christ_, pp. , :--"it must have been very shortly after the murder of the innocents that herod died. only five days before his death he had made a frantic attempt at suicide, and had ordered the execution of his eldest son antipater. his death-bed, which once more reminds us of henry viii., was accompanied by circumstances of peculiar horror; and it has been asserted that he died of a loathsome disease, which is hardly mentioned in history, except in the case of men who have been rendered infamous by an atrocity of persecuting zeal. on his bed of intolerable anguish, in that splendid and luxurious palace which he had built for himself, under the palms of jericho, swollen with disease and scorched by thirst, ulcerated externally and glowing inwardly with a 'soft slow fire,' surrounded by plotting sons and plundering slaves, detesting all and detested by all, longing for death as a release from his tortures yet dreading it as the beginning of worse terrors, stung by remorse yet still unslaked with murder, a horror to all around him yet in his guilty conscience a worse terror to himself, devoured by the premature corruption of an anticipated grave, eaten of worms as though visibly smitten by the finger of god's wrath after seventy years of successful villainy, the wretched old man, whom men had called the great, lay in savage frenzy awaiting his last hour. as he knew that none would shed one tear for him, he determined that they should shed many for themselves, and issued an order that, under pain of death, the principal families of the kingdom and the chiefs of the tribes should come to jericho. they came, and then, shutting them in the hippodrome, he secretly commanded his sister salome that at the moment of his death they should all be massacred. and so, choking as it were with blood, devising massacres in its very delirium, the soul of herod passed forth into the night." for mention of the temple of herod see note , following chapter . . gifts from the wise men to the child jesus.--the scriptural account of the visit of the wise men to jesus and his mother states that they "fell down and worshipped him," and furthermore that "when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh." the offering of gifts to a superior in rank, either as to worldly status or recognized spiritual endowment, was a custom of early days and still prevails in many oriental lands. it is worthy of note that we have no record of these men from the east offering gifts to herod in his palace; they did, however, impart of their treasure to the lowly infant, in whom they recognized the king they had come to seek. the tendency to ascribe occult significance to even trifling details mentioned in scripture, and particularly as regards the life of christ, has led to many fanciful suggestions concerning the gold and frankincense and myrrh specified in this incident. some have supposed a half-hidden symbolism therein--gold a tribute to his royal estate, frankincense an offering in recognition of his priesthood, and myrrh for his burial. the sacred record offers no basis for such conjecture. myrrh and frankincense are aromatic resins derived from plants indigenous to eastern lands, and they have been used from very early times in medicine and in the preparation of perfumes and incense mixtures. they were presumably among the natural productions of the lands from which the magi came, though probably even there they were costly and highly esteemed. such, together with gold, which is of value among all nations, were most appropriate as gifts for a king. any mystical significance one may choose to attach to the presents must be remembered as his own supposition or fancy, and not as based on scriptural warrant. . testimonies from shepherds and magi.--the following instructive note on the testimonies relating to messiah's birth, is taken from the _young men's mutual improvement association manual_ for - : "it will be observed that the testimonies concerning the birth of the messiah are from two extremes, the lowly shepherds in the judean field, and the learned magi from the far east. we cannot think this is the result of mere chance, but that in it may be discerned the purpose and wisdom of god. all israel was looking forward to the coming of the messiah, and in the birth of jesus at bethlehem, the hope of israel--though unknown to israel--is fulfilled. messiah, of whom the prophet spake, is born. but there must be those who can testify of that truth, and hence to the shepherds who watched their flocks by night an angel was sent to say: 'fear not, behold i bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people; for unto you is born this day, in the city of david, a saviour, which is christ, the lord.' and for a sign of the truth of the message, they were to find the child wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger in bethlehem. and they went with haste and found mary and joseph, and the babe lying in a manger; and when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. god had raised up to himself witnesses among the people to testify that messiah was born, that the hope of israel was fulfilled. but there were classes of people among the jews whom these lowly shepherd witnesses could not reach, and had they been able to reach them, the story of the angel's visit, and the concourse of angels singing the magnificent song of 'peace on earth, good will to men,' would doubtless have been accounted an idle tale of superstitious folk, deceived by their own over-wrought imaginations or idle dreams. hence god raised up another class of witnesses--the 'wise men from the east'--witnesses that could enter the royal palace of proud king herod and boldly ask: 'where is he that is born king of the jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him'; a testimony that startled herod and troubled all jerusalem. so that indeed god raised up witnesses for himself to meet all classes and conditions of men--the testimony of angels for the poor and the lowly; the testimony of wise men for the haughty king and proud priests of judea. so that of the things concerning the birth of messiah, no less than of the things of his death and resurrection from the dead, his disciples could say, 'these things were not done in a corner.'" . the year of christ's birth.--in treating this topic dr. charles f. deems (_the light of the nations_, p. ), after giving careful consideration of the estimates, calculations, and assumptions of men who have employed many means in their investigation and reach only discordant results says: "it is annoying to see learned men use the same apparatus of calculation and reach the most diverse results. it is bewildering to attempt a reconciliation of these varying calculations." in an appended note the same author states: "for example: the birth of our lord is placed in b.c. by pearson and hug; b.c. by scalinger; b.c. by baronius and paulus; b.c. by bengel, wieseler, and greswell; b.c. by usher and petavius; b.c. by strong, luvin, and clark; b.c. by ideler and sanclemente." footnotes: [ ] luke : ; see also verses - . note , end of chapter. [ ] note marginal reading, oxford and bagster bibles. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] luke : , . [ ] luke : - . [ ] luke : . [ ] luke : . [ ] luke : ; matt. : ; mark : . [ ] gen. : , ; lev. : ; compare john : . page . [ ] luke : ; compare : ; matt. : , . [ ] lev. chap. . [ ] exo. : ; : , ; : , . [ ] numb. : - ; : , . [ ] luke : ; see also verse ; mark : ; compare psa. : . [ ] luke : - . these verses are known in christian hymnology as the nunc dimittis; the name has reference to the first two words of the latin version. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : ; read - . [ ] matt. : , ; compare micah : ; john : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] numb. : . [ ] b. of m., helaman : ; nephi : . pp. , and herein. [ ] matt. : . [ ] matt. : . [ ] matt. : , ; compare jer. : . [ ] page . [ ] b. of m., helaman : ; read - . [ ] b. of m., nephi : ; read verses - . [ ] b. of m., nephi : - . [ ] marginal reading, oxford and bagster bibles, matt. : . [ ] doc. and cov. : ; compare : . note , end of chapter. [ ] b. of m., nephi : ; : - . [ ] b. of m., nephi : . [ ] b. of m., nephi : ; nephi : . [ ] b. of m., nephi : . [ ] "standard bible dictionary," edited by jacobus, nourse, and zenos, pub. by funk & wagnalls co., new york and london, , p. , article "zedekiah." [ ] doc. and cov. : ; compare : chapter . the boy of nazareth. joseph, mary, and her son remained in egypt until after the death of herod the great, which event was made known by another angelic visitation. their stay in the foreign land was probably brief, for herod did not long survive the babes he had slain in bethlehem. in the return of the family from egypt the evangelist finds a fulfilment of hosea's prophetic vision of what should be: "out of egypt have i called my son."[ ] it appears to have been joseph's intention to make a home for the family in judea, possibly at bethlehem--the city of his ancestors and a place now even more endeared to him as the birthplace of mary's child--but, learning on the way that herod's son archelaus ruled in the place of his wicked father, joseph modified his purpose; and, "being warned of god in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of galilee: and he came and dwelt in a city called nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, he shall be called a nazarene."[ ] while archelaus, who appears to have been a natural heir to his infamous father's wickedness and cruelty, ruled in judea,[ ] for a short time as king, then with the less exalted title of ethnarch, which had been decreed to him by the emperor, his brother antipas governed as tetrarch in galilee. herod antipas was well nigh as vicious and reprobate as others of his unprincipled family, but he was less aggressive in vindictiveness, and in that period of his reign was comparatively tolerant.[ ] concerning the home life of joseph and his family in nazareth, the scriptural record makes but brief mention. the silence with which the early period of the life of jesus is treated by the inspired historians is impressive; while the fanciful accounts written in later years by unauthorized hands are full of fictitious detail, much of which is positively revolting in its puerile inconsistency. none but joseph, mary, and the other members of the immediate family or close associates of the household could have furnished the facts of daily life in the humble home at nazareth; and from these qualified informants matthew and luke probably derived the knowledge of which they wrote. the record made by those who knew is marked by impressive brevity. in this absence of detail we may see evidence of the genuineness of the scriptural account. inventive writers would have supplied, as, later, such did supply, what we seek in vain within the chapters of the gospels. with hallowed silence do the inspired scribes honor the boyhood of their lord; he who seeks to invent circumstances and to invest the life of christ with fictitious additions, dishonors him. read thoughtfully the attested truth concerning the childhood of the christ: "and the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of god was upon him."[ ] in such simplicity is the normal, natural development of the boy jesus made clear. he came among men to experience all the natural conditions of mortality; he was born as truly a dependent, helpless babe as is any other child; his infancy was in all common features as the infancy of others; his boyhood was actual boyhood, his development was as necessary and as real as that of all children. over his mind had fallen the veil of forgetfulness common to all who are born to earth, by which the remembrance of primeval existence is shut off. the child grew, and with growth there came to him expansion of mind, development of faculties, and progression in power and understanding. his advancement was from one grace to another, not from gracelessness to grace; from good to greater good, not from evil to good; from favor with god to greater favor, not from estrangement because of sin to reconciliation through repentance and propitiation.[ ] our knowledge of jewish life in that age justifies the inference that the boy was well taught in the law and the scriptures, for such was the rule. he garnered knowledge by study, and gained wisdom by prayer, thought, and effort. beyond question he was trained to labor, for idleness was abhorred then as it is now; and every jewish boy, whether carpenter's son, peasant's child, or rabbi's heir, was required to learn and follow a practical and productive vocation. jesus was all that a boy should be, for his development was unretarded by the dragging weight of sin; he loved and obeyed the truth and therefore was free.[ ] joseph and mary, devout and faithful in all observances of the law, went up to jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. this religious festival, it should be remembered, was one of the most solemn and sacred among the many ceremonial commemorations of the jews; it had been established at the time of the peoples' exodus from egypt, in remembrance of the outstretched arm of power by which god had delivered israel after the angel of destruction had slain the firstborn in every egyptian home and had mercifully passed over the houses of the children of jacob.[ ] it was of such importance that its annual recurrence was made the beginning of the new year. the law required all males to present themselves before the lord at the feast. the rule was that women should likewise attend if not lawfully detained; and mary appears to have followed both the spirit of the law and the letter of the rule, for she habitually accompanied her husband to the annual gathering at jerusalem. when jesus had attained the age of twelve years he was taken by his mother and joseph to the feast as the law required; whether the boy had ever before been present on such an occasion we are not told: at twelve years of age a jewish boy was recognized as a member of his home community; he was required then to enter with definite purpose upon his chosen vocation; he attained an advanced status as an individual in that thereafter he could not be arbitrarily disposed of as a bond-servant by his parents; he was appointed to higher studies in school and home; and, when accepted by the priests, he became a "son of the law." it was the common and very natural desire of parents to have their sons attend the feast of the passover and be present at the temple ceremonies as recognized members of the congregation when of the prescribed age. thus came the boy jesus to the temple. the feast proper lasted seven days, and in the time of christ was annually attended by great concourses of jews; josephus speaks of such a passover gathering as "an innumerable multitude."[ ] the people came from distant provinces in large companies and caravans, as a matter of convenience and as a means of common protection against the marauding bands which are known to have infested the country. as members of such a company joseph and his family traveled. when, following the conclusion of the passover, the galilean company had gone a day's journey toward home, joseph and mary discovered to their surprize and deep concern that jesus was not with their company. after a fruitless search among their friends and acquaintances, they turned back toward jerusalem seeking the boy. their inquiries brought little comfort or assistance until three days had passed; then "they, found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions."[ ] it was no unusual thing for a twelve year old boy to be questioned by priests, scribes, or rabbis, nor to be permitted to ask questions of these professional expounders of the law, for such procedure was part of the educational training of jewish youths; nor was there anything surprizing in such a meeting of students and teachers within the temple courts, for the rabbis of that time were accustomed to give instruction there; and people, young and old, gathered about them, sitting at their feet to learn; but there was much that was extraordinary in this interview as the demeanor of the learned doctors showed, for never before had such a student been found, inasmuch as "all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers." the incident furnishes evidence of a wellspent boyhood and proof of unusual attainments.[ ] the amazement of mary and her husband on finding the boy in such distinguished company, and so plainly the object of deference and respect, and the joy of seeing again the beloved one who to them had been lost, did not entirely banish the memory of the anguish his absence had caused them. in words of gentle yet unmistakable reproof the mother said: "son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and i have sought thee sorrowing." the boy's reply astonished them, in that it revealed, to an extent they had not before realized, his rapidly maturing powers of judgment and understanding. said he: "how is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that i must be about my father's business?" let us not say that there was unkind rebuke or unfilial reproof in the answer of this most dutiful of sons to his mother. his reply was to mary a reminder of what she seems to have forgotten for the moment--the facts in the matter of her son's paternity. she had used the words "thy father and i;" and her son's response had brought anew to her mind the truth that joseph was not the boy's father. she appears to have been astonished that one so young should so thoroughly understand his position with respect to herself. he had made plain to her the inadvertent inaccuracy of her words; his father had not been seeking him; for was he not even at that moment in his father's house, and particularly engaged in his father's business, the very work to which his father had appointed him? he had in no wise intimated a doubt as to mary's maternal relationship to himself; though he had indisputably shown that he recognized as his father, not joseph of nazareth, but the god of heaven. both mary and joseph failed to comprehend the full import of his words. though he understood the superior claim of duty based on his divine sonship, and had shown to mary that her authority as earthly mother was subordinate to that of his immortal and divine father, nevertheless he obeyed her. interested as were the doctors in this remarkable boy, much as he had given them to ponder over through his searching questions and wise answers, they could not detain him, for the very law they professed to uphold enjoined strict obedience to parental authority. "and he went down with them, and came to nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart." what marvelous and sacred secrets were treasured in that mother's heart; and what new surprizes and grave problems were added day after day in the manifestations of unfolding wisdom displayed by her more than mortal son! though she could never have wholly forgotten, at times she seemingly lost sight of her son's exalted personality. that such conditions should exist was perhaps divinely appointed. there could scarcely have been a full measure of truly human experience in the relationship between jesus and his mother, or between him and joseph, had the fact of his divinity been always dominant or even prominently apparent. mary appears never to have fully understood her son; at every new evidence of his uniqueness she marveled and pondered anew. he was hers, and yet in a very real sense not wholly hers. there was about their relation to each other a mystery, awful yet sublime, a holy secret which that chosen and blessed mother hesitated even to tell over to herself. fear must have contended with joy within her soul because of him. the memory of gabriel's glorious promises, the testimony of the rejoicing shepherds, and the adoration of the magi must have struggled with that of simeon's portentous prophecy, directed to herself in person: "yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also."[ ] as to the events of the eighteen years following the return of jesus from jerusalem to nazareth, the scriptures are silent save for one rich sentence of greatest import: "and jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with god and man."[ ] plainly this son of the highest was not endowed with a fulness of knowledge, nor with the complete investiture of wisdom, from the cradle.[ ] slowly the assurance of his appointed mission as the messiah, of whose coming he read in the law, the prophets, and the psalms, developed within his soul; and in devoted preparation for the ministry that should find culmination on the cross he passed the years of youth and early manhood. from the chronicles of later years we learn that he was reputed without question to be the son of joseph and mary, and was regarded as the brother of other and younger children of the family. he was spoken of both as a carpenter and a carpenter's son; and, until the beginning of his public ministry he appears to have been of little prominence even in the small home community.[ ] he lived the simple life, at peace with his fellows, in communion with his father, thus increasing in favor with god and men. as shown by his public utterances after he had become a man, these years of seclusion were spent in active effort, both physical and mental. jesus was a close observer of nature and men. he was able to draw illustrations with which to point his teachings from the varied occupations, trades and professions; the ways of the lawyer and the physician, the manners of the scribe, the pharisee and the rabbi, the habits of the poor, the customs of the rich, the life of the shepherd, the farmer, the vinedresser and the fisherman--were all known to him. he considered the lilies of the field, and the grass in meadow and upland, the birds which sowed not nor gathered into barns but lived on the bounty of their maker, the foxes in their holes, the petted house dog and the vagrant cur, the hen sheltering her brood beneath protecting wings--all these had contributed to the wisdom in which he grew, as had also the moods of the weather, the recurrence of the seasons, and all the phenomena of natural change and order. nazareth was the abode of jesus until he was about thirty years of age; and, in accordance with the custom of designating individuals by the names of their home towns as additions to their personal names,[ ] our lord came to be generally known as jesus of nazareth.[ ] he is also referred to as a nazarene, or a native of nazareth, and this fact is cited by matthew as a fulfilment of earlier prediction, though our current compilation of scriptures constituting the old testament contains no record of such prophecy. it is practically certain that this prediction was contained in some one of the many scriptures extant in earlier days but since lost.[ ] that nazareth was an obscure village, of little honor or renown, is evidenced by the almost contemptuous question of nathanael, who, on being informed that the messiah had been found in jesus of nazareth, asked: "can there any good thing come out of nazareth?"[ ] the incredulous query has passed into a proverb current even today as expressive of any unpopular or unpromising source of good. nathanael lived in cana, but a few miles from nazareth, and his surprize at the tidings brought by philip concerning the messiah incidentally affords evidence of the seclusion in which jesus had lived. so passed the boyhood, youth, and early manhood of the savior of mankind. notes to chapter . . archelaus reigned in herod's stead.--"at his death herod [the great] left a will according to which his kingdom was to be divided among his three sons. archelaus was to have judea, idumea, and samaria, with the title of king (matt : ). herod antipas was to receive galilee and perea, with the title of tetrarch; philip was to come into possession of the trans-jordan territory with the title of tetrarch (luke : ). this will was ratified by augustus with the exception of the title given to archelaus. archelaus, after the ratification of herod's will by augustus, succeeded to the rule of judea, samaria, and idumea, having the title of ethnarch, with the understanding that, if he ruled well, he was to become king. he was, however, highly unpopular with the people, and his reign was marked by disturbances and acts of oppression. the situation became finally so intolerable that the jews appealed to augustus, and archelaus was removed and sent into exile. this accounts for the statement in matt. : , and possibly also suggested the point of the parable (luke : , etc.)."--_standard bible dictionary_, funk and wagnalls co., article "herod." early in his reign he wreaked summary vengeance on the people who ventured to protest against a continuation of his father's violence, by slaughtering three thousand or more; and the awful deed of carnage was perpetrated in part within the precincts of the temple. (josephus, antiquities xvii, : - .) . herod antipas.--son of herod i (the great) by a samaritan woman, and full brother to archelaus. by the will of his father he became tetrarch of galilee and perea (matt. : ; luke : ; : ; acts : ; compare luke : ). he repudiated his wife, a daughter of aretas, king of arabia petrea, and entered into an unlawful union with herodias, the wife of his half-brother herod philip i (not the tetrarch philip). john the baptist was imprisoned and finally put to death, through the anger of herodias over his denunciation of her union with herod antipas. herodias urged antipas to go to rome and petition cæsar for the title of king (compare mark : , etc.). antipas is the herod most frequently mentioned in the new testament (mark : ; : ; luke : ; : ; : ; acts : ; : ). he was the herod to whom pilate sent jesus for examination, taking advantage of christ being known as a galilean, and of the coincident fact of herod's presence in jerusalem at the time in attendance at the passover (luke : , etc.). for further details see smith's, cassell's, or the standard bible dictionary. . testimony of john the apostle concerning christ's development in knowledge and grace.--in a modern revelation, jesus the christ has confirmed the record of john the apostle, which record appears but in part in our compilation of ancient scriptures. john thus attests the actuality of natural development in the growth of jesus from childhood to maturity: "and i, john, saw that he received not of the fullness at the first, but received grace for grace; and he received not of the fullness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fullness; and thus he was called the son of god, because he received not of the fullness at the first." (doc. and cov. : - ). notwithstanding this graded course of growth and development after his birth in the flesh, jesus christ had been associated with the father from the beginning, as is set forth in the revelation cited. we read therein: "and he [john] bore record, saying, i saw his glory that he was in the beginning before the world was; therefore in the beginning the word was, for he was the word, even the messenger of salvation, the light and the redeemer of the world; the spirit of truth, who came into the world, because the world was made by him, and in him was the life of men and the light of men. the worlds were made by him: men were made by him: all things were made by him, and through him, and of him. and i, john, bear record that i beheld his glory, as the glory of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth, even the spirit of truth, which came and dwelt in the flesh, and dwelt among us" (verses - ). . missing scripture.--matthew's commentary on the abode of joseph, mary and jesus at nazareth, "and he came and dwelt in a city called nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, he shall be called a nazarene" ( : ), with the fact that no such saying of the prophets is found in any of the books contained in the bible, suggests the certainty of lost scripture. those who oppose the doctrine of continual revelation between god and his church, on the ground that the bible is complete as a collection of sacred scriptures, and that alleged revelation not found therein must therefore be spurious, may profitably take note of the many books not included in the bible, yet mentioned therein, generally in such a way as to leave no doubt that they were once regarded as authentic. among these extra-biblical scriptures, the following may be named; some of them are in existence to-day, and are classed with the apocrypha; but the greater number are unknown. we read of the book of the covenant (exo. : ); book of the wars of the lord (numb. : ); book of jasher (josh. : ); book of the statutes ( sam. : ); book of enoch (jude ); book of the acts of solomon ( kings : ); book of nathan the prophet, and that of gad the seer ( chron. : ); book of ahijah the shilonite, and visions of iddo the seer ( chron. : ); book of shemaiah ( chron. : ); story of the prophet iddo ( chron. : ); book of jehu ( chron. : ); the acts of uzziah, by isaiah, the son of amoz ( chron. : ); sayings of the seers ( chron. : ); a missing epistle of paul to the corinthians ( cor. : ); a missing epistle to the ephesians (eph. : ); missing epistle to the colossians, written from laodicea (col. : ); a missing epistle of jude (jude ). . nazareth.--a town or "city" in galilee, of which biblical mention is found in the new testament only. josephus says nothing concerning the place. the name of the existing village, or the nazareth of to-day, is _en-nazirah_. this occupies an upland site on the southerly ridge of lebanon, and "commands a splendid view of the plain of esdraelon and mount carmel, and is very picturesque in general" (zenos). the author of the article "nazareth" in smith's _bible dict._ identifies the modern en-nazirah, with the nazareth of old on the following grounds: "it is on the lower declivities of a hill or mountain (luke : ); it is within the limits of the province of galilee (mark : ); it is near cana (john : , , ); a precipice exists in the neighborhood (luke : ); and a series of testimonials reaching back to eusebius represent the place as having occupied the same position." the same writer adds: "its population is or ; a few are mohammedans, the rest latin and greek christians. most of the houses are well built of stone, and appear neat and comfortable. the streets or lanes are narrow and crooked, and after rain are so full of mud and mire as to be almost impassable." at the time of christ's life the town was not only regarded as unimportant by the judeans who professed but little respect for galilee or the galileans, but as without honor by the galileans themselves, as appears from the fact that the seemingly contemptuous question, "can there any good thing come out of nazareth?" was uttered by nathanael (john : ), who was a galilean and a native of cana, a neighboring town to nazareth (john : ). nazareth owes its celebrity to its association with events in the life of jesus christ (matt. : ; : ; mark : ; : ; luke : ; : ; : , ; john : , ; : ; acts : ). footnotes: [ ] matt. : ; compare hos. : . [ ] matt. : - . note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] luke : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] compare his teachings after he had reached manhood, e.g. john : . [ ] deut. : - ; compare exo. : . [ ] josephus; wars of the jews, ii, : . [ ] luke : ; read - . [ ] compare matt. : , ; : ; mark : ; luke : . [ ] luke : . [ ] luke : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : , ; mark : ; luke : ; compare matt. : , ; gal. : . [ ] for illustrative examples see joseph of arimathea (mark : ); mary magdalene, so known from her native town of magdala (matt. : ); judas iscariot, possibly named after his home in kerioth (matt. : ; see page herein.) [ ] matt. : ; john : ; : ; acts : ; : ; see also luke : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john : , . chapter . in the wilderness of judea. the voice in the wilderness. at a time definitely stated as the fifteenth year of the reign of tiberius cæsar, emperor of rome, the people of judea were greatly aroused over the strange preaching of a man theretofore unknown. he was of priestly descent, but untrained in the schools; and, without authorization of the rabbis or license from the chief priests, he proclaimed himself as one sent of god with a message to israel. he appeared not in the synagogs nor within the temple courts, where scribes and doctors taught, but cried aloud in the wilderness. the people of jerusalem and of adjacent rural parts went out in great multitudes to hear him. he disdained the soft garments and flowing robes of comfort, and preached in his rough desert garb, consisting of a garment of camel's hair held in place by a leathern girdle. the coarseness of his attire was regarded as significant. elijah the tishbite, that fearless prophet whose home had been the desert, was known in his day as "an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins;"[ ] and rough garments had come to be thought of as a distinguishing characteristic of prophets.[ ] nor did this strange preacher eat the food of luxury and ease, but fed on what the desert supplied, locusts and wild honey.[ ] the man was john, son of zacharias, soon to be known as the baptist. he had spent many years in the desert, apart from the abodes of men, years of preparation for his particular mission. he had been a student under the tutelage of divine teachers; and there in the wilderness of judea the word of the lord reached him;[ ] as in similar environment it had reached moses[ ] and elijah[ ] of old. then was heard "the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the lord, make his paths straight."[ ] it was the voice of the herald, the messenger who, as the prophets had said, should go before the lord to prepare his way.[ ] the burden of his message was "repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." and to such as had faith in his words and professed repentance, confessing their sins, he administered baptism by immersion in water--proclaiming the while, "i indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than i, whose shoes i am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the holy ghost, and with fire."[ ] neither the man nor his message could be ignored; his preaching was specific in promise to the repentant soul, and scathingly denunciatory to the hypocrite and the hardened sinner. when pharisees and sadducees came to his baptism, prating of the law, the spirit of which they ceased not to transgress, and of the prophets, whom they dishonored, he denounced them as a generation of vipers, and demanded of them: "who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" he brushed aside their oft-repeated boasts that they were the children of abraham, saying, "bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: and think not to say within yourselves, we have abraham to our father: for i say unto you, that god is able of these stones to raise up children unto abraham."[ ] the ignoring of their claims to preferment as the children of abraham was a strong rebuke, and a cause of sore affront alike to aristocratic sadducee and rule-bound pharisee. judaism held that the posterity of abraham had an assured place in the kingdom of the expected messiah, and that no proselyte from among the gentiles could possibly attain the rank and distinction of which the "children" were sure. john's forceful assertion that god could raise up, from the stones on the river bank, children to abraham, meant to those who heard that even the lowest of the human family might be preferred before themselves unless they repented and reformed.[ ] their time of wordy profession had passed; fruits were demanded, not barren though leafy profusion; the ax was ready, aye, at the very root of the tree; and every tree that produced not good fruit was to be hewn down and cast into the fire. the people were astonished; and many, seeing themselves in their actual condition of dereliction and sin, as john, with burning words laid bare their faults, cried out: "what shall we do then?"[ ] his reply was directed against ceremonialism, which had caused spirituality to wither almost to death in the hearts of the people. unselfish charity was demanded--"he that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise." the publicans or tax-farmers and collectors, under whose unjust and unlawful exactions the people had suffered so long, came asking: "master, what shall we do? and he said unto them, exact no more than that which is appointed you." to the soldiers who asked what to do he replied: "do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages."[ ] the spirit of his demands was that of a practical religion, the only religion of any possible worth--the religion of right living. with all his vigor, in spite of his brusqueness, notwithstanding his forceful assaults on the degenerate customs of the times, this john was no agitator against established institutions, no inciter of riot, no advocate of revolt, no promoter of rebellion. he did not assail the tax system but the extortions of the corrupt and avaricious publicans; he did not denounce the army, but the iniquities of the soldiers, many of whom had taken advantage of their position to bear false witness for the sake of gain and to enrich themselves by forcible seizure. he preached, what in the now current dispensation we call the first or fundamental principles of the gospel--"the beginning of the gospel of jesus christ, the son of god,"[ ] comprizing faith, which is vitalized belief, in god; genuine repentance, which comprizes contrition for past offenses and a resolute determination to turn from sin; baptism by immersion in water at his hands as the hands of one having authority; and the higher baptism by fire or the bestowal of the holy ghost by an authority greater than that possessed by himself. his preaching was positive, and in many respects opposed to the conventions of the times; he made no appeal to the people through the medium of miraculous manifestations;[ ] and though many of his hearers attached themselves to him as disciples,[ ] he established no formal organization, nor did he attempt to form a cult. his demand for repentance was an individual call, as unto each acceptable applicant the rite of baptism was individually administered. to the jews, who were living in a state of expectancy, waiting for the long-predicted messiah, the words of this strange prophet in the wilderness were fraught with deep portent. could it be that he was the christ? he spoke of one yet to come, mightier than himself, whose shoe-latchet he was not worthy to loosen,[ ] one who would separate the people as the thresher, fan in hand, blew the chaff from the wheat; and, he added, that mightier one "will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable."[ ] in such wise did the predicted herald of the lord deliver his message. himself he would not exalt; his office, however, was sacred to him, and with its functions he brooked no interference from priest, levite, or rabbi. he was no respecter of persons; sin he denounced, sinners he excoriated, whether in priestly vestments, peasant garb, or royal robes. all the claims the baptist had made for himself and his mission were later confirmed and vindicated by the specific testimony of christ.[ ] john was the harbinger not alone of the kingdom but of the king; and to him the king in person came. the baptism of jesus--to fulfil all righteousness. when jesus "began to be about thirty years of age," he journeyed from his home in galilee "to jordan unto john, to be baptized of him. but john forbad him, saying, i have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? and jesus answering said unto him, suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. then he suffered him."[ ] john and jesus were second cousins; as to whether there had existed any close companionship between the two as boys or men we are not told. it is certain, however, that when jesus presented himself for baptism, john recognized in him a sinless man who stood in no need of repentance; and, as the baptist had been commissioned to baptize for the remission of sins, he saw no necessity of administering the ordinance to jesus. he who had received the confessions of multitudes now reverently confessed to one whom he knew was more righteous than himself. in the light of later events it appears that at this time john did not know that jesus was the christ, the mightier one for whom he waited and whose forerunner he knew himself to be. when john expressed his conviction that jesus needed no baptismal cleansing, our lord, conscious of his own sinlessness, did not deny the baptist's imputation, but nevertheless pressed his application for baptism with the significant explanation: "thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." if john was able to comprehend the deeper meaning of this utterance, he must have found therein the truth that water baptism is not alone the means provided for gaining remission of sins, but is also an indispensable ordinance established in righteousness and required of all mankind as an essential condition for membership in the kingdom of god.[ ] jesus christ thus humbly complied with the will of the father, and was baptized of john by immersion in water. that his baptism was accepted as a pleasing and necessary act of submission was attested by what immediately ensued: "and jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the spirit of god descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, this is my beloved son, in whom i am well pleased."[ ] then john knew his redeemer. the four gospel-writers record the descent of the holy ghost upon the baptized jesus as accompanied by a visible manifestation "like a dove;" and this sign had been indicated to john as the foreappointed means by which the messiah should be made known to him; and to that sign, before specified, was now added the supreme testimony of the father as to the literal sonship of jesus. matthew records the father's acknowledgment as given in the third person, "this is my beloved son;" while both mark and luke give the more direct address, "thou art my beloved son." the variation, slight and essentially unimportant as it is though bearing on so momentous a subject, affords evidence of independent authorship and discredits any insinuation of collusion among the writers. the incidents attending the emergence of jesus from the baptismal grave demonstrate the distinct individuality of the three personages of the godhead. on that solemn occasion jesus the son was present in the flesh; the presence of the holy ghost was manifest through the accompanying sign of the dove, and the voice of the eternal father was heard from heaven. had we no other evidence of the separate personality of each member of the holy trinity, this instance should be conclusive; but other scriptures confirm the great truth.[ ] the temptations of christ. soon after his baptism, immediately thereafter as mark asserts, jesus was constrained by the promptings of the spirit to withdraw from men and the distractions of community life, by retiring into the wilderness where he would be free to commune with his god. so strong was the influence of the impelling force that he was led thereby, or, as stated by the evangelist, driven, into solitary seclusion, in which he remained during forty days, "with the wild beasts" of the desert. this remarkable episode in our lord's life is described, though not with equal fulness, in three of the gospels;[ ] john is silent thereon. the circumstances attending this time of exile and test must have been related by jesus himself, for of other human witnesses there were none. the recorded narratives deal principally with events marking the close of the forty-day period, but considered in their entirety they place beyond doubt the fact that the season was one of fasting and prayer. christ's realization that he was the chosen and foreordained messiah came to him gradually. as shown by his words to his mother on the occasion of the memorable interview with the doctors in the temple courts, he knew, when but a boy of twelve years, that in a particular and personal sense he was the son of god; yet it is evident that a comprehension of the full purport of his earthly mission developed within him only as he progressed step by step in wisdom. his acknowledgment by the father, and the continued companionship of the holy ghost, opened his soul to the glorious fact of his divinity. he had much to think about, much that demanded prayer and the communion with god that prayer alone could insure. throughout the period of retirement, he ate not, but chose to fast, that his mortal body might the more completely be subjected to his divine spirit. then, when he was hungry and physically weak, the tempter came with the insidious suggestion that he use his extraordinary powers to provide food. satan had chosen the most propitious time for his evil purpose. what will mortals not do, to what lengths have men not gone, to assuage the pangs of hunger? esau bartered his birthright for a meal. men have fought like brutes for food. women have slain and eaten their own babes rather than endure the gnawing pangs of starvation. all this satan knew when he came to the christ in the hour of extreme physical need, and said unto him: "if thou be the son of god, command that these stones be made bread." during the long weeks of seclusion, our lord had been sustained by the exaltation of spirit that would naturally attend such all-absorbing concentration of mind as his protracted meditation and communion with the heavens undoubtedly produced; in such profound devotion of spirit, bodily appetites were subdued and superseded; but the reaction of the flesh was inevitable. hungry as jesus was, there was a temptation in satan's words even greater than that embodied in the suggestion that he provide food for his famishing body--the temptation to put to proof the possible doubt implied in the tempter's "if." the eternal father had proclaimed jesus as his son; the devil tried to make the son doubt that divine relationship. why not prove the father's interest in his son at this moment of dire necessity? was it proper that the son of god should go hungry? had the father so soon forgotten as to leave his beloved son thus to suffer? was it not reasonable that jesus, faint from long abstinence, should provide for himself, and particularly so since he could provide, and that by a word of command, _if_ the voice heard at his baptism was that of the eternal father. _if_ thou be in reality the son of god, demonstrate thy power, and at the same time satisfy thy hunger--such was the purport of the diabolical suggestion. to have yielded would have been to manifest positive doubt of the father's acknowledgment. moreover, the superior power that jesus possessed had not been given to him for personal gratification, but for service to others. he was to experience all the trials of mortality; another man, as hungry as he, could not provide for himself by a miracle; and though by miracle such a one might be fed, the miraculous supply would have to be given, not provided by himself. it was a necessary result of our lord's dual nature, comprizing the attributes of both god and man, that he should endure and suffer as a mortal while possessing at all times the ability to invoke the power of his own godhood by which all bodily needs could be supplied or overcome. his reply to the tempter was sublime and positively final: "it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of god."[ ] the word that had proceeded from the mouth of god, upon which satan would have cast mistrust, was that jesus was the beloved son with whom the father was well pleased. the devil was foiled; christ was triumphant. realizing that he had utterly failed in his attempt to induce jesus to use his inherent power for personal service, and to trust in himself rather than rely upon the father's providence, satan went to the other extreme and tempted jesus to wantonly throw himself upon the father's protection.[ ] jesus was standing upon one of the high parts of the temple, a pinnacle or battlement, overlooking the spacious courts, when the devil said unto him: "if thou be the son of god, cast thyself down: for it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." again appears the implication of doubt.[ ] _if_ jesus was in fact the son of god, could he not trust his father to save him, and particularly so as it was written[ ] that angels would guard him and bear him up? christ's reply to the tempter in the wilderness had embodied a scriptural citation, and this he had introduced with the impressive formula common to expounders of sacred writ--"it is written." in the second attempt, the devil tried to support his suggestion by scripture, and employed a similar expression--"for it is written." our lord met and answered the devil's quotation with another, saying: "it is written again, thou shalt not tempt the lord thy god."[ ] beside the provocation to sin by wantonly placing himself in danger, so that the father's love might be manifested in a miraculous rescue, or by refusing so to challenge the father's interposition demonstrate that he doubted his status as the beloved son, there lurked an appeal to the human side of christ's nature, in thought of the fame which an astounding exploit, such as that of leaping from the dizzy height of the temple turrets and alighting unhurt, would surely bring. we cannot resist the thought, though we be not justified in saying that any such had even momentary place in the savior's mind, that to act upon satan's suggestion, provided of course the outcome proved to be such as he had indicated, would have been to insure public recognition of jesus as a being superior to mortals. it would have been a sign and a wonder indeed, the fame of which would have spread as fire in the dry grass; and all jewry would have been aflame with excitement and interest in the christ. the glaring sophistry of satan's citation of scripture was unworthy a categorical reply; his doctrine deserved neither logic nor argument; his misapplication of the written word was nullified by scripture that was germane; the lines of the psalmist were met by the binding fiat of the prophet of the exodus, in which he had commanded israel that they should not provoke nor tempt the lord to work miracles among them. satan tempted jesus to tempt the father. it is as truly a blasphemous interference with the prerogatives of deity to set limitations or make fixations of time or place at which the divine power shall be made manifest as it is to attempt to usurp that power. god alone must decide when and how his wonders shall be wrought. once more the purposes of satan were thwarted and christ again was victor. in the third temptation the devil refrained from further appeal to jesus to put either his own power or that of the father to the test. twice completely foiled, the tempter abandoned that plan of assault; and, discarding all disguise of purpose, submitted a definite proposition. from the top of a high mountain jesus looked over the land with its wealth of city and field, of vineyard and orchard, of flocks and of herds; and in vision he saw the kingdoms of the world and contemplated the wealth, the splendor, the earthly glory of them all. then saith satan unto him: "all these things will i give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." so wrote matthew; the more extended version by luke follows: "and the devil said unto him, all this power will i give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever i will i give it. if thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine." we need not concern ourselves with conjecture as to whether satan could have made good his promise in the event of christ's doing him homage; certain it is christ could have reached out, and have gathered to himself the wealth and glory of the world had he willed so to do, and thereby have failed in his messianic mission. this fact satan knew full well. many men have sold themselves to the devil for a kingdom and for less, aye, even for a few paltry pence. the effrontery of his offer was of itself diabolical. christ, the creator of heaven and earth, tabernacled as he then was in mortal flesh, may not have remembered his preexistent state, nor the part he had taken in the great council of the gods,[ ] while satan, an unembodied spirit--he the disinherited, the rebellious and rejected son--seeking to tempt the being through whom the world was created by promising him part of what was wholly his, still may have had, as indeed he may yet have, a remembrance of those primeval scenes. in that distant past, antedating the creation of the earth, satan, then lucifer, a son of the morning, had been rejected; and the firstborn son had been chosen. now that the chosen one was subject to the trials incident to mortality, satan thought to thwart the divine purpose by making the son of god subject to himself. he who had been vanquished by michael and his hosts and cast down as a defeated rebel, asked the embodied jehovah to worship him. "then saith jesus unto him, get thee hence, satan for it is written, thou shalt worship the lord thy god, and him only shalt thou serve. then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him."[ ] it is not to be supposed that christ's victorious emergence from the dark clouds of the three specified temptations exempted him from further assaults by satan, or insured him against later trials of faith, trust, and endurance. luke closes his account of the temptations following the forty-day fast as follows: "and when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season."[ ] this victory over the devil and his wiles, this triumph over the cravings of the flesh, the harassing doubts of the mind, the suggested reaching out for fame and material wealth, were great but not final successes in the struggle between jesus, the embodied god, and satan, the fallen angel of light. that christ was subject to temptation during the period of his association with the apostles he expressly affirmed.[ ] that his temptations extended even to the agony in gethsemane will appear as we proceed with this study. it is not given to the rest of us, nor was it given to jesus, to meet the foe, to fight and overcome in a single encounter, once for all time. the strife between the immortal spirit and the flesh, between the offspring of god on the one hand, the world and the devil on the other, is persistent through life. few events in the evangelical history of jesus of nazareth have given rise to more discussion, fanciful theory, and barren speculation, than have the temptations. all such surmizes we may with propriety ignore. to any believer in the holy scriptures, the account of the temptations therein given is sufficiently explicit to put beyond doubt or question the essential facts; to the unbeliever neither the christ nor his triumph appeals. what shall it profit us to speculate as to whether satan appeared to jesus in visible form, or was present only as an unseen spirit; whether he spoke in audible voice, or aroused in the mind of his intended victim the thoughts later expressed by the written lines; whether the three temptations occurred in immediate sequence or were experienced at longer intervals? with safety we may reject all theories of myth or parable in the scriptural account, and accept the record as it stands; and with equal assurance may we affirm that the temptations were real, and that the trials to which our lord was put constituted an actual and crucial test. to believe otherwise, one must regard the scriptures as but fiction. a question deserving some attention in this connection is that of the peccability or impeccability of christ--the question as to whether he was capable of sinning. had there been no possibility of his yielding to the lures of satan, there would have been no real test in the temptations, no genuine victory in the result. our lord was sinless yet peccable; he had the capacity, the ability to sin had he willed so to do. had he been bereft of the faculty to sin, he would have been shorn of his free agency; and it was to safeguard and insure the agency of man that he had offered himself, before the world was, as a redeeming sacrifice. to say that he could not sin because he was the embodiment of righteousness is no denial of his agency of choice between evil and good. a thoroughly truthful man cannot culpably lie; nevertheless his insurance against falsehood is not that of external compulsion, but of internal restraint due to his cultivated companionship of the spirit of truth. a really honest man will neither take nor covet his neighbor's goods, indeed it may be said that he cannot steal; yet he is capable of stealing should he so elect. his honesty is an armor against temptation; but the coat of mail, the helmet, the breastplate, and the greaves, are but an outward covering; the man within may be vulnerable if he can be reached. but why proceed with labored reasoning, which can lead to but one conclusion, when our lord's own words and other scriptures confirm the fact? shortly before his betrayal, when admonishing the twelve to humility, he said: "ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations."[ ] while here we find no exclusive reference to the temptations immediately following his baptism, the exposition is plain that he had endured temptations, and by implication, these had continued throughout the period of his ministry. the writer of the epistle to the hebrews expressly taught that christ was peccable, in that he was tempted "in all points" as are the rest of mankind. consider the unambiguous declaration: "seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, jesus the son of god, let us hold fast our profession. for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."[ ] and further: "though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered."[ ] notes to chapter . . raiment of camel's hair.--through the prophet zechariah ( : ) a time was foretold in which professing prophets would no longer "wear a rough garment to deceive." of the raiment of camel's hair worn by john the baptist, the oxford and other marginal readings render the expression "a garment of hair" as more literal than the bible text. deems (_light of the nations_, p. , note) says: "the garment of camel's hair was not the camel's skin with the hair on, which would be too heavy to wear, but raiment woven of camel's hair, such as josephus speaks of (b. j. i, : )." . locusts and wild honey.--insects of the locust or grasshopper kind were specifically declared clean and suitable for food in the law given to israel in the wilderness. "yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth; even these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind." (lev. : , .) at the present time locusts are used as food by many oriental peoples, though usually by the poorer classes only. of the passage referring to locusts as part of the baptist's food while he lived as a recluse in the desert, farrar (_life of christ_, p. , note,) says: "the fancy that it means the pods of the so-called locust tree (carob) is a mistake. locusts are sold as articles of food in regular shops for the purpose at medina; they are plunged into salt boiling water, dried in the sun, and eaten with butter, but only by the poorest beggars." geikie (_life and words of christ_, vol. , pp. , ) gives place to the following as applied to the baptist's life: "his only food was the locusts which leaped or flew on the bare hills, and the honey of wild bees which he found, here and there, in the clifts of the rocks, and his only drink a draught of water from some rocky hollow. locusts are still the food of the poor in many parts of the east. 'all the bedouins of arabia, and the inhabitants of towns in nedj and hedjaz, are accustomed to eat them,' says burckhardt. 'i have seen at medina and tayi, locust shops, where they are sold by measure. in egypt and nubia they are eaten only by the poorest beggars. the arabs, in preparing them for eating, throw them alive into boiling water, with which a good deal of salt has been mixed, taking them out after a few minutes, and drying them in the sun. the head, feet, and wings, are then torn off, the bodies cleansed from the salt, and perfectly dried. they are sometimes eaten boiled in butter, or spread on unleavened bread mixed with butter.' in palestine, they are eaten only by the arabs on the extreme frontiers; elsewhere they are looked on with disgust and loathing, and only the very poorest use them. tristram, however, speaks of them as 'very palatable.' 'i found them very good,' says he, 'when eaten after the arab fashion, stewed with butter. they tasted somewhat like shrimps, but with less flavour.' in the wilderness of judea, various kinds abound at all seasons, and spring up with a drumming sound, at every step, suddenly spreading their bright hind wings, of scarlet, crimson, blue, yellow, white, green, or brown, according to the species. they were 'clean,' under the mosaic law, and hence could be eaten by john without offence." concerning the mention of wild honey as food used by john, the author last quoted says in a continuation of the same paragraph: "the wild bees in palestine are far more numerous than those kept in hives, and the greater part of the honey sold in the southern districts is obtained from wild swarms. few countries, indeed, are better adapted for bees. the dry climate, and the stunted but varied flora, consisting largely of aromatic thymes, mints, and other similar plants, with crocuses in the spring, are very favourable to them, while the dry recesses of the limestone rocks everywhere afford them shelter and protection for their combs. in the wilderness of judea, bees are far more numerous than in any other part of palestine, and it is, to this day, part of the homely diet of the bedouins, who squeeze it from the combs and store it in skins." . john's inferiority to the mightier one he proclaimed.--"one mightier than i cometh, the latchet of whose shoes i am not worthy to unloose" (luke : ), or "whose shoes i am not worthy to bear" (matt. : ); this was the way by which the baptist declared his inferiority to the mightier one, who was to succeed and supersede him; and a more effective illustration would be difficult to frame. to loosen the shoe latchet or sandal thong, or to carry the shoes of another, "was a menial office betokening great inferiority on the part of the person performing it." (smith's _dict. of the bible_.) a passage in the talmud (_tract. kidduschin xxii: _) requires a disciple to do for his teacher whatever a servant might be required to do for his master, except the loosing of his sandal thong. some teachers urged that a disciple should carry his humility even to the extreme of carrying his master's shoes. the humility of the baptist, in view of the widespread interest his call aroused, is impressive. . the order in which the temptations were presented.--but two of the gospel-writers specify the temptations to which christ was subjected immediately after his baptism; mark merely mentions the fact that jesus was tempted. matthew and luke place first the temptation that jesus provide for himself by miraculously creating bread; the sequence of the later trials is not the same in the two records. the order followed in the text is that of matthew. . the devil's "if."--note the later taunting use of that diabolical _if_ as the christ hung upon the cross. the rulers of the jews, mocking the crucified jesus in his agony said, "let him save himself _if_ he be the christ." and the soldier, reading the inscription at the head of the cross derided the dying god, saying: "_if_ thou be the king of the jews, save thyself." and yet again, the unrepentant malefactor by his side cried but, "_if_ thou be christ, save thyself and us." (luke : - .) how literally did those railers and mockers quote the very words of their father the devil (see john : ). see further, page herein. . baptism required of all.--baptism is required of all persons who live to the age of accountability in the flesh. none are exempt. jesus christ, who lived as a man without sin in the midst of a sinful world, was baptized "to fulfil all righteousness." six centuries before this event, nephi, prophesying to the people on the western continent, foretold the baptism of the savior, and thus drew therefrom the necessity of baptism as a universal requirement: "and now, if the lamb of god, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, o then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water.... know ye not that he was holy? but notwithstanding he being holy, he sheweth unto the children of men, that according to the flesh, he humbleth himself before the father, and witnesseth unto the father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments" (b. of m., nephi : , ). see _the articles of faith_, vi: - . footnotes: [ ] kings : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; compare lev. : ; see also mark : - . note , end of chapter. [ ] luke : . [ ] exo. : , . [ ] kings : - . [ ] mark : . [ ] mark : ; compare isa. : ; mal. : ; matt. : ; luke : . [ ] matt. : . [ ] matt. : - ; see also luke : - . [ ] compare a later instance, in which christ similarly taught (john : - ). [ ] luke : ; compare acts : . [ ] luke : - . [ ] mark : . [ ] john : . [ ] john : , ; matt. : ; luke : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] luke : ; see also matt. : ; compare mal. : . [ ] matt. : - ; : ; luke : - . [ ] luke : . [ ] for treatment of baptism as a universal requirement, see the author's "articles of faith" vi: - . note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : , ; compare mark : - ; luke : , . [ ] shortly before his death, the savior promised the apostles that the father would send unto them the comforter, which is the holy ghost (john : , and : ). see the author's "articles of faith" ii: - . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : , ; luke : - . [ ] matt. : ; compare deut. : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. page herein. [ ] matt. : ; psalm : , . [ ] matt. : - ; compare deut. : . [ ] pages - . [ ] matt. : , ; compare exo. : ; deut. : ; : ; josh. : ; sam. : . [ ] luke : . [ ] luke : . [ ] luke : . [ ] heb. : , . [ ] heb. : . chapter . from judea to galilee. the baptist's testimony of jesus. during the period of our lord's retirement in the wilderness the baptist continued his ministry, crying repentance to all who would pause to hear, and administering baptism to such as came duly prepared and asking with right intent. the people generally were greatly concerned over the identity of john; and as the real import of the voice[ ] dawned upon them, their concern deepened into fear. the ever recurring question was, who is this new prophet? then the jews, by which expression we may understand the rulers of the people, sent a delegation of priests and levites of the pharisaic party to personally question him. he answered without evasion, "i am not the christ," and with equal decisiveness denied that he was elias, or more accurately, elijah, the prophet who, the rabbis said through a misinterpretation of malachi's prediction, was to return to earth as the immediate precursor of the messiah.[ ] furthermore, he declared that he was not "that prophet," by which was meant the prophet whose coming moses had foretold,[ ] and who was not universally identified in the jewish mind with the expected messiah. "then said they unto him, who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. what sayest thou of thyself? he said, i am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the lord, as said the prophet esaias."[ ] the pharisaic envoys then demanded of him his authority for baptizing; in reply he affirmed that the validity of his baptisms would be attested by one who even then was amongst them, though they knew him not, and averred: "he it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet i am not worthy to unloose."[ ] john's testimony, that jesus was the redeemer of the world, was declared as boldly as had been his message of the imminent coming of the lord. "behold the lamb of god, which taketh away the sin of the world," he proclaimed; and, that none might fail to comprehend his identification of the christ, he added: "this is he of whom i said, after me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. and i knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to israel, therefore am i come baptizing with water."[ ] that the attestation of the ministering presence of the holy ghost through the material appearance "like a dove" was convincing to john is shown by his further testimony: "and john bare record saying, i saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. and i knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the holy ghost. and i saw, and bare record that this is the son of god."[ ] on the day following that of the utterance last quoted, john repeated his testimony to two of his disciples, or followers, as, jesus passed, saying again: "behold the lamb of god."[ ] the first disciples of jesus.[ ] two of the baptist's followers, specifically called disciples, were with him when for the second time he expressly designated jesus as the lamb of god. these were andrew and john; the latter came to be known in after years as the author of the fourth gospel. the first is mentioned by name, while the narrator suppresses his own name as that of the second disciple. andrew and john were so impressed by the baptist's testimony that they immediately followed jesus; and he, turning toward them asked: "what seek ye?" possibly somewhat embarrassed by the question, or with a real desire to learn where he might be found later, they replied by another inquiry: "rabbi, where dwellest thou?" their use of the title rabbi was a mark of honor and respect, to which jesus did not demur. his courteous reply to their question assured them that their presence was no unwelcome intrusion. "come and see," said he.[ ] the two young men accompanied him, and remained with him to learn more. andrew, filled with wonder and joy over the interview so graciously accorded, and thrilled with the spirit of testimony that had been enkindled within his soul, hastened to seek his brother simon, to whom he said: "we have found the messias." he brought simon to see and hear for himself; and jesus, looking upon andrew's brother, called him by name and added an appellation of distinction by which he was destined to be known throughout all later history: "thou art simon the son of jona; thou shalt be called cephas." the new name thus bestowed is the aramaic or syro-chaldaic equivalent of the greek "petros," and of the present english "peter," meaning "a stone."[ ] on the following day jesus set out for galilee, possibly accompanied by some or all of his newly-made disciples; and on the way he found a man named philip, in whom he recognized another choice son of israel. unto philip he said: "follow me." it was customary with rabbis and other teachers of that time to strive for popularity, that many might be drawn to them to sit at their feet and be known as their disciples. jesus, however, selected his own immediate associates; and, as he found them and discerned in them the spirits who, in their preexistent state had been chosen for the earthly mission of the apostleship, he summoned them. they were the servants; he was the master.[ ] philip soon found his friend nathanael, to whom he testified that he of whom moses and the prophets had written had at last been found; and that he was none other than jesus of nazareth. nathanael, as his later history demonstrates, was a righteous man, earnest in his hope and expectation of the messiah, yet seemingly imbued with the belief common throughout jewry--that the christ was to come in royal state as seemed befitting the son of david. the mention of such a one coming from nazareth, the reputed son of a humble carpenter, provoked wonder if not incredulity in the guileless mind of nathanael, and he exclaimed: "can there any good thing come out of nazareth?" philip's answer was a repetition of christ's words to andrew and john--"come and see." nathanael left his seat under the fig tree,[ ] where philip had found him, and went to see for himself. as he approached, jesus said: "behold an israelite indeed, in whom is no guile." nathanael saw that jesus could read his mind, and asked in surprize: "whence knowest thou me?" in reply jesus showed even greater powers of penetration and perception under conditions that made ordinary observation unlikely if not impossible: "before that philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, i saw thee." nathanael replied with conviction: "rabbi, thou art the son of god; thou art the king of israel." earnest as the man's testimony was, it rested mainly on his recognition of what he took to be a supernatural power in jesus; our lord assured him that he should see yet greater things: "and he saith unto him, verily, verily, i say unto you, hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of god ascending and descending upon the son of man." "the son of man." in the promise and prediction made by christ to nathanael, we find the significant title--the son of man--appearing for the first time, chronologically speaking, in the new testament. it recurs, however, about forty times, excluding repetitions in parallel accounts in the several gospels. in each of these passages it is used by the savior distinctively to designate himself. in three other instances the title appears in the new testament, outside the gospels; and in each case it is applied to the christ with specific reference to his exalted attributes as lord and god.[ ] in the old testament, the phrase "son of man" occurs in ordinary usage, denoting any human son[ ] and it appears over ninety times as an appellation by which jehovah addressed ezekiel, though it is never applied by the prophet to himself.[ ] the context of the passages in which ezekiel is addressed as "son of man" indicates the divine intention of emphasizing the human status of the prophet as contrasted with the divinity of jehovah. the title is used in connection with the record of daniel's vision,[ ] in which was revealed the consummation, yet future, when adam--the ancient of days--shall sit to judge his posterity;[ ] on which great occasion, the son of man is to appear and receive a dominion that shall be everlasting, transcendently superior to that of the ancient of days, and embracing every people and nation, all of whom shall serve the lord, jesus christ, the son of man.[ ] in applying the designation to himself, the lord invariably uses the definite article. "_the_ son of man" was and is, specifically and exclusively, jesus christ. while as a matter of solemn certainty he was the only male human being from adam down who was not the son of a mortal man, he used the title in a way to conclusively demonstrate that it was peculiarly and solely his own. it is plainly evident that the expression is fraught with a meaning beyond that conveyed by the words in common usage. the distinguishing appellation has been construed by many to indicate our lord's humble station as a mortal, and to connote that he stood as the type of humanity, holding a particular and unique relationship to the entire human family. there is, however, a more profound significance attaching to the lord's use of the title "the son of man"; and this lies in the fact that he knew his father to be the one and only supremely exalted man,[ ] whose son jesus was both in spirit and in body--the firstborn among all the spirit-children of the father, the only begotten in the flesh--and therefore in sense applicable to himself alone, he was and is the son of the "man of holiness," elohim,[ ] the eternal father. in his distinctive titles of sonship, jesus expressed his spiritual and bodily descent from, and his filial submission to, that exalted father. as revealed to enoch the seer, "man of holiness" is one of the names by which god the eternal father is known; "and the name of his only begotten is the son of man, even jesus christ." we learn further that the father of jesus christ thus proclaimed himself to enoch: "behold, i am god; man of holiness is my name; man of counsel is my name; and endless and eternal is my name, also."[ ] "the son of man" is in great measure synonymous with "the son of god," as a title denoting divinity, glory, and exaltation; for the "man of holiness," whose son jesus christ reverently acknowledges himself to be, is god the eternal father. the miracle at cana in galilee. soon after the arrival of jesus in galilee we find him and his little company of disciples at a marriage party in cana, a neighboring town to nazareth. the mother of jesus was at the feast; and for some reason not explained in john's narrative,[ ] she manifested concern and personal responsibility in the matter of providing for the guests. evidently her position was different from that of one present by ordinary invitation. whether this circumstance indicates the marriage to have been that of one of her own immediate family, or some more distant relative, we are not informed. it was customary to provide at wedding feasts a sufficiency of wine, the pure though weak product of the local vineyards, which was the ordinary table beverage of the time. on this occasion the supply of wine was exhausted, and mary told jesus of the deficiency. said he: "woman, what have i to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come." the noun of address, "woman," as applied by a son to his mother may sound to our ears somewhat harsh, if not disrespectful; but its use was really an expression of opposite import.[ ] to every son, the mother ought to be preeminently the woman of women; she is the one woman in the world to whom the son owes his earthly existence; and though the title "mother" belongs to every woman who has earned the honors of maternity, yet to no child is there more than one woman whom by natural right he can address by that title of respectful acknowledgment. when, in the last dread scenes of his mortal experience, christ hung in dying agony upon the cross, he looked, down upon the weeping mary, his mother, and commended her to the care of the beloved apostle john, with the words: "woman, behold thy son!"[ ] can it be thought that in this supreme moment, our lord's concern for the mother from whom he was about to be separated by death was associated with any emotion other than that of honor, tenderness and love?[ ] nevertheless, his words to mary at the marriage feast may have conveyed a gentle reminder of her position as the mother of a being superior to herself; even as on that earlier occasion when she had found her boy, jesus, in the temple, he had brought home to her the fact that her jurisdiction over him was not supreme. the manner in which she told him of the insufficiency of wine probably suggested an intimation that he use his more than human power, and by such means supply the need. it was not her function to direct or even to suggest the exercize of the power inherent in him as the son of god; such had not been inherited from her. "what have i to do with thee?" he asked; and added: "mine hour is not yet come." here we find no disclaimer of the ability to do what she apparently wanted him to do, but the plain implication that he would act only when the time was right for the purpose, and that he, not she, must decide when that time had come. she understood his meaning, in part at least, and contented herself by instructing the servants to do whatsoever he directed. here again is evidence of her position of responsibility and domestic authority at the social gathering. the time for his intervention soon arrived. there stood within the place six water pots;[ ] these he directed the servants to fill with water. then, without audible command or formula of invocation, as best we know, he caused to be effected a transmutation within the pots, and when the servants drew therefrom, it was wine, not water that issued. at a jewish social gathering, such as was this wedding festival, some one, usually a relative of the host or hostess, or some other one worthy of the honor, was made governor of the feast, or, as we say in this day, chairman, or master of ceremonies. to this functionary the new wine was first served; and he, calling the bridegroom, who was the real host, asked him why he had reserved his choice wine till the last, when the usual custom was to serve the best at the beginning, and the more ordinary later. the immediate result of this, the first recorded of our lord's miracles, is thus tersely stated by the inspired evangelist: "this beginning of miracles did jesus in cana of galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him."[ ] the circumstances incident to the miraculous act are instructive to contemplate. the presence of jesus at the marriage, and his contribution to the successful conduct of the feast, set the seal of his approval upon the matrimonial relationship and upon the propriety of social entertainment. he was neither a recluse nor an ascetic; he moved among men, eating and drinking, as a natural, normal being.[ ] on the occasion of the feast he recognized and heeded the demands of the liberal hospitality of the times, and provided accordingly. he, who but a few days before had revolted at the tempter's suggestion that he provide bread for his impoverished body, now used his power to supply a luxury for others. one effect of the miracle was to confirm the trust of those whose belief in him as the messiah was yet young and untried. "his disciples believed on him"; surely they had believed in some measure before, otherwise they would not have followed him; but their belief was now strengthened and made to approach, if indeed it did not attain, the condition of abiding faith in their lord. the comparative privacy attending the manifestation is impressive; the moral and spiritual effect was for the few, the inauguration of the lord's ministry was not to be marked by public display. miracles in general the act of transmutation whereby water became wine was plainly a miracle, a phenomenon not susceptible of explanation, far less of demonstration, by what we consider the ordinary operation of natural law. this was the beginning of his miracles, or as expressed in the revized version of the new testament, "his signs." in many scriptures miracles are called signs, as also wonders, powers, works, wonderful works, mighty works,[ ] etc. the spiritual effect of miracles would be unattained were the witnesses not caused to inwardly wonder, marvel, ponder and inquire; mere surprize or amazement may be produced by deception and artful trickery. any miraculous manifestation of divine power would be futile as a means of spiritual effect were it unimpressive. moreover, every miracle is a sign of god's power; and signs in this sense have been demanded of prophets who professed to speak by divine authority, though such signs have not been given in all cases. the baptist was credited with no miracle, though he was pronounced by the christ as more than a prophet;[ ] and the chronicles of some earlier prophets[ ] are devoid of all mention of miracles. on the other hand, moses, when commissioned to deliver israel from egypt, was made, to understand that the egyptians would look for the testimony of miracles, and he was abundantly empowered therefore.[ ] miracles cannot be in contravention of natural law, but are wrought through the operation of laws not universally or commonly recognized. gravitation is everywhere operative, but the local and special application of other agencies may appear to nullify it--as by muscular effort or mechanical impulse a stone is lifted from the ground, poised aloft, or sent hurtling through space. at every stage of the process, however, gravity is in full play, though its effect is modified by that of other and locally superior energy. the human sense of the miraculous wanes as comprehension of the operative process increases. achievements made possible by modern invention of telegraph and telephone with or without wires, the transmutation of mechanical power into electricity with its manifold present applications and yet future possibilities, the development of the gasoline motor, the present accomplishments in aerial navigation--these are no longer miracles in man's estimation, because they are all in some degree understood, are controlled by human agency, and, moreover, are continuous in their operation and not phenomenal. we arbitrarily classify as miracles only such phenomena as are unusual, special, transitory, and wrought by an agency beyond the power of man's control. in a broader sense, all nature is miracle. man has learned that by planting the seed of the grape in suitable soil, and by due cultivation, he may conduce to the growth of what shall be a mature and fruitful vine; but is there no miracle, even in the sense of inscrutable processes, in that development? is there less of real miracle in the so-called natural course of plant development--the growth of root, stem, leaves, and fruit, with the final elaboration of the rich nectar of the vine--than there was in what appears supernatural in the transmutation of water into wine at cana? in the contemplation of the miracles wrought by christ, we must of necessity recognize the operation of a power transcending our present human understanding. in this field, science has not yet advanced far enough to analyze and explain. to deny the actuality of miracles on the ground that, because we cannot comprehend the means, the reported results are fictitious, is to arrogate to the human mind the attribute of omniscience, by implying that what man cannot comprehend cannot be, and that therefore he is able to comprehend all that is. the miracles of record in the gospels are as fully supported by evidence as are many of the historical events which call forth neither protest nor demand for further proof. to the believer in the divinity of christ, the miracles are sufficiently attested; to the unbeliever they appear but as myths and fables.[ ] to comprehend the works of christ, one must know him as the son of god; to the man who has not yet learned to know, to the honest soul who would inquire after the lord, the invitation is ready; let him "come and see." notes to chapter . . misunderstanding of malachi's prediction.--in the closing chapter of the compilation of scriptures known to us as the old testament, the prophet malachi thus describes a condition incident to the last days, immediately preceding the second coming of christ: "for, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. but unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings." the fateful prophecy concludes with the following blessed and far-reaching promise: "behold, i will send you elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest i come and smite the earth with a curse." (malachi : , , , .) it has been held by theologians and bible commentators that this prediction had reference to the birth and ministry of john the baptist, (compare matt. : ; : ; mark : ; luke : ), upon whom rested the spirit and power of elias (luke : ). however, we have no record of elijah having ministered unto the baptist, and furthermore, the latter's ministry, glorious though it was, justifies no conclusion that in him did the prophecy find its full realization. in addition, it should be remembered, that the lord's declaration through malachi, relative to the day of burning in which the wicked would be destroyed as stubble, yet awaits fulfilment. it is evident, therefore, that the commonly accepted interpretation is at fault, and that we must look to a later date than the time of john for the fulfilment of malachi's prediction. the later occasion has come; it belongs to the present dispensation, and marks the inauguration of a work specially reserved for the church in these latter days. in the course of a glorious manifestation to joseph smith and oliver cowdery, in the temple at kirtland, ohio, april d, , there appeared unto them elijah, the prophet of old, who had been taken from earth while still in the body. he declared unto them: "behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of malachi, testifying that he (elijah) should be sent before the great and dreadful day of the lord come, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse. therefore the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands, and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the lord is near, even at the doors." (doc. and cov. : - .) see also _the house of the lord_, pp. - . . the sign of the dove.--"john the baptist ... had the privilege of beholding the holy ghost descend in the form of a dove, or rather in the _sign_ of the dove, in witness of that administration. the sign of the dove was instituted before the creation of the world, a witness for the holy ghost, and the devil cannot come in the sign of a dove. the holy ghost is a personage, and is in the form of a personage. it does not confine itself to the _form_ of the dove, but in _sign_ of the dove. the holy ghost cannot be transformed into a dove; but the sign of a dove was given to john to signify the truth of the deed, as the dove is an emblem or token of truth and innocence."--from sermon by joseph smith, _history of the church_, vol. , pp. - . . the testimony of john the baptist.--observe that the baptist's testimony to the divinity of christ's mission is recorded as having been given after the period of our lord's forty-day fast and temptations, and therefore approximately six weeks subsequent to the baptism of jesus. to the deputation of priests and levites of the pharisaic party, who visited him by direction of the rulers, probably by appointment from the sanhedrin, john, after disavowing that he was the christ or any one of the prophets specified in the inquiry, said: "there standeth one among you whom ye know not; he it is who coming after me is preferred before me." on the next day, and again on the day following that, he bore public testimony to jesus as the lamb of god; and on the third day after the visit of the priests and levites to john, jesus started on the journey to galilee (john : - ). john's use of the designation "lamb of god" implied his conception of the messiah as one appointed for sacrifice, and his use of the term is the earliest mention found in the bible. for later biblical applications, direct or implied, see acts : ; peter : ; rev. : , , , ; : , ; : , , ; etc. . "come and see."--the spirit of our lord's invitation to the young truth seekers, andrew and john, is manifest in a similar privilege extended to all. the man who would know christ must come to him, to see and hear, to feel and know. missionaries may carry the good tidings, the message of the gospel, but the response must be an individual one. are you in doubt as to what that message means to-day? then come and see for yourself. would you know where christ is to be found? come and see. . the eternal father a resurrected, exalted being.--"as the father hath power in himself, so hath the son power in himself, to lay down his life and take it again, so he has a body of his own. the son doeth what he hath seen the father do: then the father hath some day laid down his life and taken it again; so he has a body of his own; each one will be in his own body."--joseph smith; see _hist, of the church_, vol. , p. . "god himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! that is the great secret. if the veil was rent to-day, and the great god who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by his power, was to make himself visible,--i say, if you were to see him to-day, you would see him like a man in form--like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man; for adam was created in the very fashion, image, and likeness of god, and received instruction from, and walked, talked and conversed with him, as one man talks and communes with another."--joseph smith; see _compendium_, p. . . waterpots for ceremonial cleansing.--in the house at cana there stood in a place specially reserved, six waterpots of stone "after the manner of the purifying of the jews." vessels of water were provided as a matter of prescribed order in jewish homes, to facilitate the ceremonial washings enjoined by the law. from these pots or jars the water was drawn off as required; they were reservoirs holding the supply, not vessels used in the actual ablution. . "the attitude of science towards miracles" is the subject of a valuable article by prof. h. l. orchard, published in _journal of the transactions of the victoria institute, or philosophical society of great britain_, , vol. , pp. - . this article was the gunning prize essay for . after a lengthy analytical treatment of his subject, the author presents the following summation, which was concurred in by those who took part in the ensuing discussions: "we here complete our scientific investigation of bible miracles. it has embraced ( ) the _nature_ of the phenomenon; ( ) the _conditions_ under which it is alleged to have occurred; ( ) the character of the _testimony_ to its occurrence. to the inquiry--were the bible miracles probable? science answers in the affirmative. to the further inquiry--did they actually occur? the answer of science is again, and very emphatically, in the affirmative. if we liken them to gold, she has made her assay and says the gold is pure. or the bible miracles may be compared to a string of pearls. if science seeks to know whether the pearls are genuine, she may apply chemical and other tests to the examination of their _character_; she may search into the _conditions and circumstances_ in which the alleged pearls were found. were they first found in an oyster, or in some manufacturing laboratory? and she may investigate the _testimony_ of experts. should the result of any one of these examinations affirm the genuineness of the pearls, science will be slow to believe that they are 'paste'; if all the results declare their genuineness, science will not hesitate to say that they are true pearls. this, as we have seen, is the case of the bible miracles. science, therefore, affirms _their actual occurrence_." . the testimony of miracles.--the savior's promise in a former day (mark : - ), as in the present dispensation (doc. and cov. : - ), is definite, to the effect that specified gifts of the spirit are to follow the believer as signs of divine favor. the possession and exercize of such gifts may be taken therefore as essential features of the church of christ. nevertheless we are not justified in regarding the evidence of miracles as infallible testimony of authority from heaven; on the other hand, the scriptures furnish abundant proof that spiritual powers of the baser sort have wrought miracles, and will continue so to do, to the deceiving of many who lack discernment. if miracles be accepted as infallible evidence of godly power, the magicians of egypt, through the wonders which they accomplished in opposition to the ordained plan for israel's deliverance, have as good a claim to our respect as has moses (exo. : ). john the revelator saw in vision a wicked power working miracles, and thereby deceiving many; doing great wonders, even bringing fire from heaven (rev. : - ). again, he saw three unclean spirits, whom he knew to be "the spirits of devils working miracles" (rev. : - ). consider, in connection with this, the prediction made by the savior:--there shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect (matt. : ). the invalidity of miracles as a proof of righteousness is indicated in an utterance of jesus christ regarding the events of the great judgment:--"many will say to me in that day, lord, lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? and then will i profess unto them, i never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity" (matt. : - ). the jews, to whom these teachings were addressed, knew that wonders could be wrought by evil powers; for they charged christ with working miracles by the authority of beelzebub the prince of devils (matt. : - ; mark : ; luke : ).--from the author's _the articles of faith_, xii: , . footnotes: [ ] luke : . [ ] john : ; compare mal. : . note , end of chapter. [ ] deut. : , ; see page herein. [ ] john : , ; compare isa. : . [ ] john : - . [ ] john : - . [ ] john : , ; also verses , . note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] the name thus given was afterward confirmed, with accompaniments of promise; matt. : . [ ] to the apostles the lord said on a subsequent occasion: "ye have not chosen me, but i have chosen you" (john : ; see also : ). [ ] a favorite situation for rest, meditation, and study; kings : ; micah : . [ ] acts : ; rev. : ; : . [ ] job : ; psalms : ; : ; see also : and compare heb. : - . [ ] ezek. : , , , ; : , , ; : ; etc. [ ] dan. : . [ ] doc. and cov. : ; : , ; : - ; . [ ] doc. and cov. : ; : ; : ; : . observe that in modern revelation the title is used only as applying to the christ in his resurrected and glorified state. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] page . [ ] p. of g.p., moses : ; : ; see also : , , , , , . observe that satan addressed moses as "son of man" in a blasphemous attempt to coerce moses into worshiping him by emphasizing the mortal weakness and inferiority of the man in contrast with his own false pretension of godship. (moses : .) [ ] john : - . [ ] "the address 'woman' was so respectful that it might be and was, addressed to the queenliest."--(farrar, "the life of christ," p. .) [ ] john : . [ ] on a few occasions jesus used the address "woman" in a general way: matt. : ; luke : ; john : ; : ; etc. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john : . [ ] the absence of all false austerity and outward show of abnormal abstinence in his life furnished an imagined excuse for unfounded charges of excess, through which he was said to be a glutton and a winebibber. (matt. : ; luke : .) [ ] matt. : ; : ; : ; : ; : ; mark : ; luke : ; john : ; : ; : ; : ; acts : ; : ; : ; : ; rom. : ; rev. : ; etc. [ ] john : ; matt. : . [ ] for example zechariah and malachi. [ ] exo. : ; : - . note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. chapter . early incidents in our lord's public ministry. first clearing of the temple. soon after the marriage festivities in cana, jesus, accompanied by his disciples, as also by his mother and other members of the family, went to capernaum, a town pleasantly situated near the northerly end of the sea of galilee or lake of gennesaret[ ] and the scene of many of our lord's miraculous works; indeed it came to be known as his own city.[ ] because of the unbelief of its people it became a subject of lamentation to jesus when in sorrow he prefigured the judgment that would befall the place.[ ] the exact site of the city is at present unknown. on this occasion jesus tarried but a few days at capernaum; for the time of the annual passover was near, and in compliance with jewish law and custom he went up to jerusalem. the synoptic gospels,[ ] which are primarily devoted to the labors of christ in galilee, contain no mention of his attendance at the paschal festival between his twelfth year and the time of his death; to john alone are we indebted for the record of this visit at the beginning of christ's public ministry. it is not improbable that jesus had been present at other passovers during the eighteen years over which the evangelists pass in complete and reverent silence; but at any or all such earlier visits, he, not being thirty years old, could not have assumed the right or privilege of a teacher without contravening established customs.[ ] it is worth our attention to note that on this, the first recorded appearance of jesus in the temple subsequent to his visit as a boy, he should resume his "father's business" where he had before been engaged. it was in his father's service that he had been found in discussion with the doctors of the law,[ ] and in his father's cause he was impelled to action on this later occasion. the multitudinous and mixed attendance at the passover celebration has already received passing mention;[ ] some of the unseemly customs that prevailed are to be held in mind. the law of moses had been supplemented by a cumulative array of rules, and the rigidly enforced requirements as to sacrifices and tribute had given rise to a system of sale and barter within the sacred precincts of the house of the lord. in the outer courts were stalls of oxen, pens of sheep, cages of doves and pigeons; and the ceremonial fitness of these sacrificial victims was cried aloud by the sellers, and charged for in full measure. it was the custom also to pay the yearly poll tribute of the sanctuary at this season--the ransom offering required of every male in israel, and amounting to half a shekel[ ] for each, irrespective of his relative poverty or wealth. this was to be paid "after the shekel of the sanctuary," which limitation, as rabbis had ruled, meant payment in temple coin. ordinary money, varieties of which bore effigies and inscriptions of heathen import, was not acceptable, and as a result, money-changers plied a thriving trade on the temple grounds. righteously indignant at what he beheld, zealous for the sanctity of his father's house, jesus essayed to clear the place;[ ] and, pausing not for argument in words, he promptly applied physical force almost approaching violence--the one form of figurative language that those corrupt barterers for pelf could best understand. hastily improvizing a whip of small cords, he laid about him on every side, liberating and driving out sheep, oxen, and human traffickers, upsetting the tables of the exchangers and pouring out their heterogeneous accumulations of coin. with tender regard for the imprisoned and helpless birds he refrained from assaulting their cages; but to their owners he said: "take these things hence;" and to all the greedy traders he thundered forth a command that made them quail: "make not my father's house an house of merchandise." his disciples saw in the incident a realization of the psalmist's line: "the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up."[ ] the jews, by which term we mean the priestly officials and rulers of the people, dared not protest this vigorous action on the ground of unrighteousness; they, learned in the law, stood self-convicted of corruption, avarice, and of personal responsibility for the temple's defilement. that the sacred premises were in sore need of a cleansing they all knew; the one point upon which they dared to question the cleanser was as to why he should thus take to himself the doing of what was their duty. they practically submitted to his sweeping intervention, as that of one whose possible investiture of authority they might be yet compelled to acknowledge. their tentative submission was based on fear, and that in turn upon their sin-convicted consciences. christ prevailed over those haggling jews by virtue of the eternal principle that right is mightier than wrong, and of the psychological fact that consciousness of guilt robs the culprit of valor when the imminence of just retribution is apparent to his soul.[ ] yet, fearful lest he should prove to be a prophet with power, such as no living priest or rabbi even professed to be, they timidly asked for credentials of his authority--"what sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?" curtly, and with scant respect for this demand, so common to wicked and adulterous men,[ ] jesus replied: "destroy this temple and in three days i will raise it up."[ ] blinded by their own craft, unwilling to acknowledge the lord's authority, yet fearful of the possibility that they were opposing one who had the right to act, the perturbed officials found in the words of jesus reference to the imposing temple of masonry within whose walls they stood. they took courage; this strange galilean, who openly flouted their authority, spoke irreverently of their temple, the visible expression of the profession they so proudly flaunted in words--that they were children of the covenant, worshipers of the true and living god, and hence superior to all heathen and pagan peoples. with seeming indignation they rejoined: "forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?"[ ] though frustrated in their desire to arouse popular indignation against jesus at this time, the jews refused to forget or forgive his words. when afterward he stood an undefended prisoner, undergoing an illegal pretense of trial before a sin-impeached court, the blackest perjury uttered against him was that of the false witnesses who testified: "we heard him say, i will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days i will build another made without hands."[ ] and while he hung in mortal suffering, the scoffers who passed by the cross wagged their heads and taunted the dying christ with "ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself, and come down from the cross."[ ] yet his words to the jews who had demanded the credentials of a sign had no reference to the colossal temple of herod, but to the sanctuary of his own body, in which, more literally than in the man-built holy of holies, dwelt the ever living spirit of the eternal god. "the father is in me" was his doctrine.[ ] "he spake of the temple of his body," the real tabernacle of the most high.[ ] this reference to the destruction of the temple of his body, and the renewal thereof after three days, is his first recorded prediction relating to his appointed death and resurrection. even the disciples did not comprehend the profound meaning of his words until after his resurrection from the dead; then they remembered and understood. the priestly jews were not as dense as they appeared to be, for we find them coming to pilate while the body of the crucified christ lay in the tomb, saying: "sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, after three days i will rise again."[ ] though we have many records of christ having said that he would die and on the third day would rise again, the plainest of such declarations were made to the apostles rather than openly to the public. the jews who waited upon pilate almost certainly had in mind the utterance of jesus when they had stood, nonplussed before him, at the clearing of the temple courts.[ ] such an accomplishment as that of defying priestly usage and clearing the temple purlieus by force could not fail to impress, with varied effect, the people in attendance at the feast; and they, returning to their homes in distant and widely separated provinces, would spread the fame of the courageous galilean prophet. many in jerusalem believed on him at the time, mainly because they were attracted by the miracles he wrought; but he refused to "commit himself unto them," realizing the insecure foundation of their professions. popular adulation was foreign to his purpose; he wanted no motley following, but would gather around him such as received the testimony of his messiahship from the father. "he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man."[ ] the incident of christ's forcible clearing of the temple is a contradiction of the traditional conception of him as of one so gentle and unassertive in demeanor as to appear unmanly. gentle he was, and patient under affliction, merciful and long-suffering in dealing with contrite sinners, yet stern and inflexible in the presence of hypocrisy, and unsparing in his denunciation of persistent evil-doers. his mood was adapted to the conditions to which he addressed himself; tender words of encouragement or burning expletives of righteous indignation issued with equal fluency from his lips. his nature was no poetic conception of cherubic sweetness ever present, but that of a man, with the emotions and passions essential to manhood and manliness. he, who often wept with compassion, at other times evinced in word and action the righteous anger of a god. but of all his passions, however gently they rippled or strongly surged, he was ever master. contrast the gentle jesus moved to hospitable service by the needs of a festal party in cana, with the indignant christ plying his whip, and amidst commotion and turmoil of his own making, driving cattle and men before him as an unclean herd. jesus and nicodemus.[ ] that the wonderful deeds wrought by christ at and about the time of this memorable passover had led some of the learned, in addition to many of the common people, to believe in him, is evidenced by the fact that nicodemus, who was a pharisee in profession and who occupied a high place as one of the rulers of the jews, came to him on an errand of inquiry. there is significance in the circumstance that this visit was made at night. apparently the man was impelled by a genuine desire to learn more of the galilean, whose works could not be ignored; though pride of office and fear of possible suspicion that he had become attached to the new prophet led him to veil his undertaking with privacy.[ ] addressing jesus by the title he himself bore, and which he regarded as one of honor and respect, he said: "rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from god: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except god be with him."[ ] whether his use of the plural pronoun "we" indicates that he was sent by the sanhedrin, or by the society of pharisees--the members of which were accustomed to so speak, as representatives of the order--or was employed in the rhetorical sense as indicating himself alone, is of little importance. he acknowledged jesus as a "teacher come from god," and gave reasons for so regarding him. whatever of feeble faith might have been stirring in the heart of the man, such was founded on the evidence of miracles, supported mainly by the psychological effect of signs and wonders. we must accord him credit for sincerity and honesty of purpose. without waiting for specific questions, "jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, i say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of god." nicodemus appears to have been puzzled; he asked how such a rejuvenation was possible. "how can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" we do nicodemus no injustice in assuming that he as a rabbi, a man learned in the scriptures, ought to have known that there was other meaning in the words of jesus than that of a mortal, literal birth. moreover, were it possible that a man could be born a second time literally and in the flesh, how could such a birth profit him in spiritual growth? it would be but a reentrance on the stage of physical existence, not an advancement. the man knew that the figure of a new birth was common in the teachings of his day. every proselyte to judaism was spoken of at the time of his conversion as one new-born. the surprize manifested by nicodemus was probably due, in part at least, to the universality of the requirement as announced by christ. were the children of abraham included? the traditionalism of centuries was opposed to any such view. pagans had to be born again through a formal acceptance of judaism, if they would become even small sharers of the blessings that belonged as a heritage to the house of israel; but jesus seemed to treat all alike, jews and gentiles, heathen idolaters and the people who with their lips at least called jehovah, god. jesus repeated the declaration, and with precision, emphasizing by the impressive "verily, verily," the greatest lesson that had ever saluted the ears of this ruler in israel: "verily, verily, i say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of god." that the new birth thus declared to be absolutely essential as a condition of entrance into the kingdom of god, applicable to every man, without limitation or qualification, was a spiritual regeneration, was next explained to the wondering rabbi: "that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. marvel not that i said unto thee, ye must be born again." still the learned jew pondered yet failed to comprehend. possibly the sound of the night breeze was heard at that moment; if so, jesus was but utilizing the incident as a skilful teacher would do to impress a lesson when he continued: "the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the spirit." plainly stated, nicodemus was given to understand that his worldly learning and official status availed him nothing in any effort to understand the things of god; through the physical sense of hearing he knew that the wind blew; by sight he could be informed of its passage: yet what did he know of the ultimate cause of even this simple phenomenon? if nicodemus would really be instructed in spiritual matters, he had to divest himself of the bias due to his professed knowledge of lesser things. rabbi and eminent sanhedrist though he was, there at the humble lodging of the teacher from galilee, he was in the presence of a master. in the bewilderment of ignorance he asked, "how can these things be?" the reply must have been humbling if not humiliating to the man: "art thou a master of israel, and knowest not these things?" plainly a knowledge of some of the fundamental principles of the gospel had been before accessible; nicodemus was held in reproach for his lack of knowledge, particularly as he was a teacher of the people. then our lord graciously expounded at greater length, testifying that he spoke from sure knowledge, based upon what he had seen, while nicodemus and his fellows were unwilling to accept the witness of his words. furthermore, jesus averred his mission to be that of the messiah, and specifically foretold his death and the manner thereof--that he, the son of man, must be lifted up, even as moses had lifted the serpent in the wilderness as a prototype, whereby israel might escape the fatal plague.[ ] the purpose of the foreappointed death of the son of man was: "that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life"; for to this end, and out of his boundless love to man had the father devoted his only begotten son. and further, while it was true that in his mortal advent the son had not come to sit as a judge, but to teach, persuade and save, nevertheless condemnation would surely follow rejection of that savior, for light had come, and wicked men avoided the light, hating it in their preference for the darkness in which they hoped to hide their evil deeds. here again, perhaps, nicodemus experienced a twinge of conscience, for had not he been afraid to come in the light, and had he not chosen the dark hours for his visit? our lord's concluding words combined both instruction and reproof: "but he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in god." the narrative of this interview between nicodemus and the christ constitutes one of our most instructive and precious scriptures relating to the absolute necessity of unreserved compliance with the laws and ordinances of the gospel, as the means indispensable to salvation. faith in jesus christ as the son of god, through whom alone men may gain eternal life; the forsaking of sin by resolute turning away from the gross darkness of evil to the saving light of righteousness; the unqualified requirement of a new birth through baptism in water, and this of necessity by the mode of immersion, since otherwise the figure of a birth would be meaningless; and the completion of the new birth through baptism by the spirit--all these principles are taught herein in such simplicity and plainness as to make plausible no man's excuse for ignorance. if jesus and nicodemus were the only persons present at the interview, john, the writer, must have been informed thereof by one of the two. as john was one of the early disciples, afterward one of the apostles, and as he was distinguished in the apostolic company by his close personal companionship with the lord, it is highly probable that he heard the account from the lips of jesus. it was evidently john's purpose to record the great lesson of the occasion rather than to tell the circumstantial story. the record begins and ends with equal abruptness; unimportant incidents are omitted; every line is of significance; the writer fully realized the deep import of his subject and treated it accordingly. later mention of nicodemus tends to confirm the estimate of the man as he appears in this meeting with jesus--that of one who was conscious of a belief in the christ, but whose belief was never developed into such genuine and virile faith as would impel to acceptance and compliance irrespective of cost or consequence.[ ] from city to country. leaving jerusalem, jesus and his disciples went into the rural parts of judea, and there tarried, doubtless preaching as opportunity was found or made; and those who believed on him were baptized.[ ] the prominent note of his early public utterances was that of his forerunner in the wilderness: "repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."[ ] the baptist continued his labors; though doubtless, since his recognition of the greater one for whose coming he had been sent to prepare, he considered the baptism he administered as of somewhat different significance. he had at first baptized in preparation for one who was to come; now he baptized repentant believers unto him who had come. disputation had arisen between some of john's zealous adherents and one or more jews[ ] concerning the doctrine of purifying. the context[ ] leaves little room for doubt that a question was involved as to the relative merits of john's baptism and that administered by the disciples of jesus. with excusable ardor and well-intended zeal for their master, the disciples of john, who had been embroiled in the dispute, came to him saying: "rabbi, he that was with thee beyond jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him." john's supporters were concerned at the success of one whom they regarded in some measure as a rival to their beloved teacher. had not john given to jesus his first attestation? "he to whom thou bearest witness" said they, not deigning even to designate jesus by name. following the example of andrew, and of john the future apostle, the people were leaving the baptist and gathering about the christ. john's reply to his ardent followers constitutes a sublime instance of self-abnegation. his answer was to this effect: a man receives only as god gives unto him. it is not given to me to do the work of christ. ye yourselves are witnesses that i disclaimed being the christ, and that i said i was one sent before him. he is as the bridegroom; i am only as the friend of the bridegroom,[ ] his servant; and i rejoice greatly in being thus near him; his voice gives me happiness; and thus my joy is fulfilled. he of whom you speak stands at the beginning of his ministry; i near the end of mine. he must increase but i must decrease. he came from heaven and therefore is superior to all things of earth; nevertheless men refuse to receive his testimony. to such a one, the spirit of god is not apportioned; it is his in full measure. the father loveth him, the son, and hath given all things into his hand, and: "he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the son shall not see life; but the wrath of god abideth on him."[ ] in such a reply, under the existent conditions, is to be found the spirit of true greatness, and of a humility that could rest only on a conviction of divine assurance to the baptist as to himself and the christ. in more than one sense was john great among all who are born of women.[ ] he had entered upon his work when sent of god so to do;[ ] he realized that his work had been in a measure superseded, and he patiently awaited his release, in the meantime continuing in the ministry, directing souls to his master. the beginning of the end was near. he was soon seized and thrown into a dungeon; where, as shall be shown, he was beheaded to sate the vengeance of a corrupt woman whose sins he had boldly denounced.[ ] the pharisees observed with increasing apprehension the growing popularity of jesus, evidenced by the fact that even more followed after him and accepted baptism at the hands of his disciples than had responded to the baptist's call. open opposition was threatened; and as jesus desired to avert the hindrance to his work which such persecution at that time would entail, he withdrew from judea and retired to galilee, journeying by way of samaria. this return to the northern province was effected after the baptist had been cast into prison.[ ] notes to chapter . . sea of galilee.--this, the largest body of fresh water in palestine, is somewhat pear-shape in outline and measures approximately thirteen miles in extreme length on a northerly-southerly line and between six and seven miles in greatest width. the river jordan enters it at the northeast extremity and flows out at the south-west; the lake may be regarded, therefore, as a great expansion of the river, though the water-filled depression is about two hundred feet in depth. the outflowing jordan connects the sea of galilee with the dead sea, the latter a body of intensely saline water, which in its abundance of dissolved salts and in the consequent density of its brine is comparable to the great salt lake in utah, though the chemical composition of the waters is materially different. the sea of galilee is referred to by luke, in accordance with its more appropriate classification as a lake (luke : , ; : , , ). adjoining the lake on the north-west is a plain, which in earlier times was highly cultivated: this was known as the land of gennesaret (matt. : ; mark : ); and the water body came to be known as the sea or lake of gennesaret (luke : ). from the prominence of one of the cities on its western shore, it was known also as the sea of tiberias (john : , ; : ). in the old testament it is called the sea of chinnereth (numb. : ) or chinneroth (josh. : ) after the name of a contiguous city (josh. : ). the surface of the lake or sea is several hundred feet below normal sea-level, feet lower than the mediterranean according to zenos, or feet as stated by some others. this low-lying position gives to the region a semi-tropical climate. zenos, in the _standard bible dictionary_, says: "the waters of the lake are noted for abundant fish. the industry of fishing was accordingly one of the most stable resources of the country round about.... another feature of the sea of galilee is its susceptibility to sudden storms. these are occasioned partly by its lying so much lower than the surrounding tableland (a fact that creates a difference of temperature and consequent disturbances in the atmosphere), and partly by the rushing of gusts of wind down the jordan valley from the heights of hermon. the event recorded in matt. : is no extraordinary case. those who ply boats on the lake are obliged to exercize great care to avoid peril from such storms. the shores of the sea of galilee as well as the lake itself were the scenes of many of the most remarkable events recorded in the gospels." . the four gospels.--all careful students of the new testament must have observed that the books of matthew, mark, and luke, treat the events of the savior's sayings and doings in galilee with greater fulness than they accord to his work in judea; the book or gospel of john, on the other hand, treats particularly the incidents of our lord's judean ministry, without excluding, however, important events that occurred in galilee. in style of writing and method of treatment, the authors of the first three gospels (evangelists as they and john are collectively styled in theologic literature) differ more markedly from the author of the fourth gospel than among themselves. the events recorded by the first three can be more readily classified, collated, or arranged, and in consequence the gospels written by matthew, mark, and luke are now commonly known as the synoptics, or synoptic gospels. . thirty years of age.--according to luke ( : ) jesus was about thirty years of age at the time of his baptism, and we find that soon thereafter, he entered publicly upon the work of his ministry. the law provided that at the age of thirty years the levites were required to enter upon their special service (numb. : ). clarke, _bible commentary_, treating the passage in luke : , says: "this was the age required by the law to which the priests must arrive before they could be installed in their office." jesus may possibly have had regard for what had become a custom of the time, in waiting until he had attained that age before entering publicly on the labors of a teacher among the people. not being of levitical descent he was not eligible to priestly ordination in the aaronic order, and therefore, certainly did not wait for such before beginning his ministry. to have taught in public at an earlier age would have been to arouse criticism, and objection, which might have resulted in serious handicap or hindrance at the outset. . throngs and confusion at the passover festival.--while it is admittedly impossible that even a reasonably large fraction of the jewish people could be present at the annual passover gatherings at jerusalem, and in consequence provision was made for local observance of the feast, the usual attendance at the temple celebration in the days of jesus was undoubtedly enormous. josephus calls the passover throngs "an innumerable multitude" (wars, ii, : ), and in another place (wars, vi, : ) states that the attendance reached the enormous aggregate of three millions of souls; such is the record, though many modern writers treat the statement as an exaggeration. josephus says that for the purpose of giving the emperor nero information as to the numerical strength of the jewish people, particularly in palestine, the chief priests were asked by cestius to count the number of lambs slain at the feast, and the number reported was , , which on the basis of between ten and eleven persons to each paschal table would indicate the presence, he says, of at least , , , not including visitors other than jews, and such of the people of israel as were debarred from participation in the paschal meal because of ceremonial unfitness. the scenes of confusion, inevitable under the conditions then prevailing, are admirably summarized by geikie (_life and words of christ_, chap. ), who cites many earlier authorities for his statements: "the streets were blocked by the crowds from all parts, who had to make their way to the temple, past flocks of sheep, and droves of cattle, pressing on in the sunken middle part of each street reserved for them, to prevent contact and defilement. sellers of all possible wares beset the pilgrims, for the great feasts were, as has been said, the harvest time of all trades at jerusalem, just as, at mecca, even at this day, the time of the great concourse of worshippers at the tomb of the prophet, is that of the busiest trade among the merchant pilgrims, who form the caravans from all parts of the mohammedan world. "inside the temple space, the noise and pressure were, if possible, worse. directions were posted up to keep to the right or the left, as in the densest thoroughfares of london. the outer court, which others than jews might enter, and which was, therefore, known as the court of the heathen, was in part, covered with pens for sheep, goats, and cattle, for the feast and the thank-offerings. sellers shouted the merits of their beasts, sheep bleated, and oxen lowed. it was, in fact, the great yearly fair of jerusalem, and the crowds added to the din and tumult, till the services in the neighboring courts were sadly disturbed. sellers of doves, for poor women coming for purification from all parts of the country, and for others, had a space set apart for them. indeed, the sale of doves was, in great measure, secretly, in the hands of the priests themselves: hannas, the high priest, especially, gaining great profits from his dove cotes on mount olivet. the rents of the sheep and cattle pens, and the profits on the doves, had led the priests to sanction the incongruity of thus turning the temple itself into a noisy market. nor was this all. potters pressed on the pilgrims their clay dishes and ovens for the passover lamb; hundreds of traders recommended their wares aloud; shops for wine, oil, salt, and all else needed for sacrifices, invited customers; and, in addition, persons going across the city, with all kinds of burdens, shortened their journey by crossing the temple grounds. the provision for paying the tribute, levied on all, for the support of the temple, added to the distraction. on both sides of the east temple gate, stalls had for generations been permitted for changing foreign money. from the fifteenth of the preceding month money-changers had been allowed to set up their tables in the city, and from the twenty-first,--or twenty days before the passover,--to ply their trade in the temple itself. purchasers of materials for offerings paid the amount at special stalls, to an officer of the temple, and received a leaden cheque for which they got what they had bought, from the seller. large sums, moreover, were changed, to be cast, as free offerings, into one of the thirteen chests which formed the temple treasury. every jew, no matter how poor, was, in addition, required to pay yearly a half-shekel--about eighteen pence--as atonement money for his soul, and for the support of the temple. as this would not be received except in a native coin, called the temple shekel, which was not generally current, strangers had to change their roman, greek, or eastern money, at the stalls of the money-changers, to get the coin required. the trade gave ready means for fraud, which was only too common. five per cent. exchange was charged, but this was indefinitely increased by tricks and chicanery, for which the class had everywhere earned so bad a name, that like the publicans, their witness would not be taken before a court." touching the matter of the defilement to which the temple courts had been subjected by traffickers acting under priestly license, farrar, (_life of christ_, p. ), gives us the following: "and this was the entrance-court to the temple of the most high! the court which was a witness that that house should be a house of prayer for all nations had been degraded into a place which, for foulness, was more like shambles, and for bustling commerce more like a densely-crowded bazaar; while the lowing of oxen, the bleating of sheep, the babel of many languages, the huckstering and wrangling, and the clinking of money and of balances (perhaps not always just), might be heard in the adjoining courts, disturbing the chant of the levites and the prayers of priests!" . the servility of the jews in the presence of jesus.--the record of the achievement of jesus, in ridding the temple courts of those who had made the house of the lord a market place, contains nothing to suggest the inference that he exercized superhuman strength or more than manly vigor. he employed a whip of his own making, and drove all before him. they fled helter-skelter. none are said to have voiced an objection until the expulsion had been made complete. why did not some among the multitude object? the submission appears to have been abject and servile in the extreme. farrar, (_life of christ_, pp. , ) raises the question and answers it with excellent reasoning and in eloquent lines: "why did not this multitude of ignorant pilgrims resist? why did these greedy chafferers content themselves with dark scowls and muttered maledictions, while they suffered their oxen and sheep to be chased into the streets and themselves ejected, and their money flung rolling on the floor, by one who was then young and unknown, and in the garb of despised galilee? why, in the same way we might ask, did saul suffer samuel to beard him in the very presence of his army? why did david abjectly obey the orders of joab? why did ahab not dare to arrest elijah at the door of naboth's vineyard? because sin is weakness; because there is in the world nothing so abject as a guilty conscience, nothing so invincible as the sweeping tide of a godlike indignation against all that is base and wrong. how could these paltry sacrilegious buyers and sellers, conscious of wrongdoing, oppose that scathing rebuke, or face the lightnings of those eyes that were enkindled by an outraged holiness? when phinehas the priest was zealous for the lord of hosts, and drove through the bodies of the prince of simeon and the midianitish woman with one glorious thrust of his indignant spear, why did not guilty israel avenge that splendid murder? why did not every man of the tribe of simeon become a goel to the dauntless assassin? because vice cannot stand for one moment before virtue's uplifted arm. base and grovelling as they were, these money-mongering jews felt, in all that remnant of their souls which was not yet eaten away by infidelity and avarice, that the son of man was right. "nay, even the priests and pharisees, and scribes and levites, devoured as they were by pride and formalism, could not condemn an act which might have been performed by a nehemiah or a judas maccabaeus, and which agreed with all that was purest and best in their traditions. but when they had heard of this deed, or witnessed it, and had time to recover from the breathless mixture of admiration, disgust, and astonishment which it inspired, they came to jesus, and though they did not dare to condemn what he had done, yet half indignantly asked him for some sign that he had a right to act thus." . jewish regard for the temple.--the jews professed high regard for the temple. "an utterance of the savior, construed by the dark-minded as an aspersion upon the temple, was used against him as one of the chief accusations on which his death was demanded. when the jews clamored for a sign of his authority he predicted his own death and subsequent resurrection, saying, 'destroy this temple, and in three days i will raise it up,' (john : - ; see also matt. : ; : ; mark : ; : ). they blindly regarded this remark as a disrespectful allusion to their temple, a structure built by human hands, and they refused to forget or forgive. that this veneration continued after the crucifixion of our lord is evident from accusations brought against stephen, and still later against paul. in their murderous rage the people accused stephen of disrespect for the temple, and brought false witnesses who uttered perjured testimony saying, 'this man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place.' (acts : .) and stephen was numbered with the martyrs. when it was claimed that paul had brought with him into the temple precincts, a gentile, the whole city was aroused, and the infuriated mob dragged paul from the place and sought to kill him. (acts : - .)"--the author; _house of the lord_, pp. , . . some of the "chief rulers" believed.--nicodemus was not the only one among the ruling classes who believed in jesus; but of most of these we learn nothing to indicate that they had sufficient courage to come even by night to make independent and personal inquiry. they feared the result in loss of popularity and standing. we read in john : , : "nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of god." note also the instance of the scribe who proffered to become a professed disciple, but, probably because of some degree of insincerity or unfitness, was rather discouraged than approved by jesus. (matt. : , .) . nicodemus.--the course followed by this man evidences at once that he really believed in jesus as one sent of god, and that his belief failed of development into a condition of true faith, which, had it but been realized, might have led to a life of devoted service in the master's cause. when at a later stage than that of his interview with christ the chief priests and pharisees upbraided the officers whom they had sent to take jesus into custody and who returned to report their failure, nicodemus, one of the council, ventured to mildly expostulate against the murderous determination of the rulers, by stating a general proposition in interrogative form: "doth our law judge any man before it hear him and know what he doeth?" he was answered by his colleagues with contempt, and appears to have abandoned his well-intended effort (john : - ; read preceding verses - ). we next hear of him bringing a costly contribution of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred-weight, to be used in the burial of christ's then crucified body; but even in this deed of liberality and devotion, in which his sincerity of purpose cannot well be questioned, he had been preceded by joseph of arimathea, a man of rank, who had boldly asked for and secured the body for reverent burial (john : - ). nevertheless nicodemus did more than did most of his believing associates among the noble and great ones; and to him let all due credit be given; he will not fail of his reward. . "the jews" or "a jew."--we read that "there arose a question between some of john's disciples and the jews about purifying" (john : ). bearing in mind that the expression "the jews" is very commonly used by the author of the fourth gospel to designate the officials or rulers among the people, the passage quoted may be understood to mean that the baptist's disciples were engaged in disputation with the priestly rulers. it is held, however, by biblical scholars generally, that "the jews" in this passage is a mistranslation, and that the true rendering is "a jew." the disputation concerning purifying appears to have arisen between some of the baptist's followers and a single opponent; and the passage as it appears in the king james version of the bible is an instance of scripture not translated correctly. . friend of the bridegroom.--judean marriage customs in the days of christ required the appointing of a chief grooms-man, who attended to all the preliminaries and made arrangements for the marriage feast, in behalf of the bridegroom. he was distinctively known as the friend of the bridegroom. when the ceremonial requirements had been complied with, and the bride had been legally and formally given unto her spouse, the joy of the bridegroom's friend was fulfilled inasmuch as his appointed duties had been successfully discharged. (john : .) according to edersheim, (_life and times of jesus the messiah_, vol. , p. ), by the simpler customs prevalent in galilee a "friend of the bridegroom" was not often chosen; and (pp. - ) the expression "children of the bridechamber" (matt. : ; mark : ; luke : , in all of which citations the expression is used by jesus), was applied collectively to all the invited guests at a wedding festival. he says: "as the institution of 'friends of the bridegroom' prevailed in judea, but not in galilee, this marked distinction of the 'friend of the bridegroom' in the mouth of the judean john, and 'sons (children) of the bridechamber' in that of the galilean jesus, is itself evidential of historic accuracy." . the atonement money.--in the course of the exodus, the lord required of every male in israel who was twenty years old or older at the time of a census the payment of a ransom, amounting to half a shekel (exo. : - ). see pages and herein. as to the use to which this money was to be put, the lord thus directed moses: "and thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of israel before the lord, to make an atonement for your souls" (exo. : ; see also : - ). in time, the tax of half a shekel, equivalent to a bekah (exo. : ), was collected annually, though for this exaction no scriptural authority is of record. this tax must not be confused with the redemption money, amounting to five shekels for every firstborn male, the payment of which exempted the individual from service in the labors of the sanctuary. in place of the firstborn sons in all the tribes, the lord designated the levites for this special ministry; nevertheless he continued to hold the firstborn males as peculiarly his own, and required the payment of a ransom as a mark of their redemption from the duties of exclusive service. see exo. : , - ; numb. : , - ; : - ; : , ; also pages , herein. footnotes: [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john : ; compare matt. : ; : . [ ] matt. : ; luke : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] page ; luke : - . [ ] page . note , end of chapter. [ ] exo. : - . note , end of chapter. [ ] john : - . [ ] compare psalm : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : , ; compare : ; mark : ; john : ; cor. : . [ ] john : ; read verses - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] mark : . page herein. [ ] mark : , . [ ] john : ; : . [ ] john : - ; compare cor. : , ; : ; cor. : ; see further col. : ; heb. : . [ ] matt. : . page . [ ] as canon farrar has tersely written, "unless the 'we remember' was a distinct falsehood, they could have been referring to no other occasion than this." ("life of christ," p. .) [ ] john : - . [ ] john : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john : ; read verses - . [ ] numb. : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. see "articles of faith," v: - . [ ] john : ; compare : . [ ] matt. : ; compare mark : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john : - . [ ] matt. : . [ ] luke : , . [ ] matt. : - . [ ] matt. : . chapter . honored by strangers, rejected by his own. jesus and the samaritan woman. the direct route from judea to galilee lay through samaria; but many jews, particularly galileans, chose to follow an indirect though longer way rather than traverse the country of a people so despized by them as were the samaritans. the ill-feeling between jews and samaritans had been growing for centuries, and at the time of our lord's earthly ministry had developed into most intense hatred.[ ] the inhabitants of samaria were a mixed people, in whom the blood of israel was mingled with that of the assyrians and other nations; and one cause of the animosity existing between them and their neighbors both on the north and the south was the samaritans' claim for recognition as israelites; it was their boast that jacob was their father; but this the jews denied. the samaritans had a version of the pentateuch, which they revered as the law, but they rejected all the prophetical writings of what is now the old testament, because they considered themselves treated with insufficient respect therein. to the orthodox jew of the time a samaritan was more unclean than a gentile of any other nationality. it is interesting to note the extreme and even absurd restrictions then in force in the matter of regulating unavoidable relations between the two peoples. the testimony of a samaritan could not be heard before a jewish tribunal. for a jew to eat food prepared by a samaritan was at one time regarded by rabbinical authority as an offense as great as that of eating the flesh of swine. while it was admitted that produce from a field in samaria was not unclean, inasmuch as it sprang directly from the soil, such produce became unclean if subjected to any treatment at samaritan hands. thus, grapes and grain might be purchased from samaritans, but neither wine nor flour manufactured therefrom by samaritan labor. on one occasion the epithet "samaritan" was hurled at christ as an intended insult. "say we not well that thou art a samaritan, and hast a devil?"[ ] the samaritan conception of the mission of the expected messiah was somewhat better founded than was that of the jews, for the samaritans gave greater prominence to the spiritual kingdom the messiah would establish, and were less exclusive in their views as to whom the messianic blessings would be extended. in his journey to galilee jesus took the shorter course, through samaria; and doubtless his choice was guided by purpose, for we read that "he must needs go" that way.[ ] the road led through or by the town called sychar,[ ] "near to the parcel of ground that jacob gave to his son joseph."[ ] there was jacob's well, which was held in high esteem, not only for its intrinsic worth as an unfailing source of water, but also because of its association with the great patriarch's life. jesus, travel-warn and weary, rested at the well, while his disciples went to the town to buy food. a woman came to fill her water-jar, and jesus said to her: "give me to drink." by the rules of oriental hospitality then prevailing, a request for water was one that should never be denied if possible to grant; yet the woman hesitated, for she was amazed that a jew should ask a favor of a samaritan, however, great the need. she expressed her surprize in the question "how is it that thou, being a jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of samaria? for the jews have no dealings with the samaritans." jesus, seemingly forgetful of thirst in his desire to teach, answered her by saving: "if thou knewest the gift of god, and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." the woman reminded him that he had no bucket or cord with which to draw from the deep well, and inquired further as to his meaning, adding: "art thou greater than our father jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?" jesus found in the woman's words a spirit similar to that with which the scholarly nicodemus had received his teachings; each failed alike to perceive the spiritual lesson he would impart. he explained to her that water from the well would be of but temporary benefit; to one who drank of it thirst would return. "but," he added, "whosoever drinketh of the water that i shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that i shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." the woman's interest was keenly aroused, either from curiosity or as an emotion of deeper concern, for she now became the petitioner, and, addressing him by a title of respect, said: "sir, give me this water, that i thirst not, neither come hither to draw." she could see nothing beyond the material advantage attaching to water that would once and for all quench thirst. the result of the draught she had in mind would be to give her immunity from one bodily need, and save her the labor of coming to draw from the well. the subject of the conversation was abruptly changed by jesus bidding her to go, call her husband, and return. to her reply that she had no husband jesus revealed to her his superhuman powers of discernment, by telling her she had spoken truthfully, inasmuch as she had had five husbands, while the man with whom she was then living was not her husband. surely no ordinary being could have so read the unpleasing story of her life; she impulsively confessed her conviction, saying: "sir, i perceive that thou art a prophet." she desired to turn the conversation, and, pointing to mount gerizim, upon which the sacrilegious priest manasseh had erected a samaritan temple, she remarked with little pertinence to what had been said before: "our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." jesus replied in yet deeper vein, telling her that the time was near when neither that mountain nor jerusalem would be preeminently a place of worship; and he clearly rebuked her presumption that the traditional belief of the samaritans was equally good with that of the jews; for, said he: "ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the jews." changed and corrupted as the jewish religion had become, it was better than that of her people; for the jews did accept the prophets, and through judah the messiah had come. but, as jesus expounded the matter to her, the place of worship was of lesser importance than the spirit of the worshiper. "god is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." unable or unwilling to understand christ's meaning, the woman sought to terminate the lesson by a remark that probably was to her but casual: "i know that messias cometh, which is called christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things." then, to her profound amazement, jesus rejoined with the awe-inspiring declaration: "i that speak unto thee am he." the language was unequivocal, the assertion one that required no elucidation. the woman must regard him thereafter as either an imposter or the messiah. she left her pitcher at the well, and hastening to the town told of her experience, saying: "come, see a man, which told me all things that ever i did: is not this the christ?" near the conclusion of the interview between jesus and the woman, the returning disciples arrived with the provisions they had gone to procure. they marveled at finding the master in conversation with a woman, and a samaritan woman at that, yet none of them asked of him an explanation. his manner must have impressed them with the seriousness and solemnity of the occasion. when they urged him to eat he said: "i have meat to eat that ye know not of." to them his words had no significance beyond the literal sense, and they queried among themselves as to whether some one had brought him food during their absence; but he enlightened them in this way: "my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." a crowd of samaritans appeared, coming from the city. looking upon them and upon the grain fields nearby, jesus continued: "say not ye, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, i say unto you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." the import of the saying seems to be that while months would elapse before the wheat and the barley were ready for the sickle, the harvest of souls, exemplified by the approaching crowd, was even then ready; and that from what he had sown the disciples might reap, to their inestimable advantage, since they would have wages for their hire and would gather the fruits of other labor than their own. many of the samaritans believed on christ, at first on the strength of the woman's testimony, then because of their own conviction; and they said to the woman at whose behest they had at first gone to meet him: "now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the christ, the saviour of the world." graciously he acceded to their request to remain, and tarried with them two days. it is beyond question that jesus did not share in the national prejudice of the jews against the people of samaria; an honest soul was acceptable to him come whence he may. probably the seed sown during this brief stay of our lord among the despized people of samaria was that from which so rich a harvest was reaped by the apostles in after years.[ ] jesus again in galilee: at cana and nazareth. following the two days' sojourn among the samaritans, jesus, accompanied by the disciples who had traveled with him from judea, resumed the journey northward into galilee, from which province he had been absent several months. realizing that the people of nazareth, the town in which he had been brought up, would be probably loath to acknowledge him as other than the carpenter, or, as he stated, knowing that "a prophet hath no honour in his own country,"[ ] he went first to cana. the people of that section, and indeed the galileans generally, received him gladly; for many of them had attended the last passover and probably had been personal witnesses of the wonders he had wrought in judea. while at cana he was visited by a nobleman, most likely a high official of the province, who entreated him to proceed to capernaum and heal his son, who was then lying at the point of death. with the probable design of showing the man the true condition of his mind, for we cannot doubt that jesus could read his thoughts, our lord said to him: "except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe."[ ] as observed in earlier instances, notably in the refusal of jesus to commit himself to the professing believers at jerusalem, whose belief rested solely on their wonder at the things he did,[ ] our lord would not regard miracles, though wrought by himself, as a sufficient and secure foundation for faith. the entreating nobleman, in anguish over the precarious state of his son, in no way resented the rebuke such as a captious mind may have found in the lord's reply; but with sincere humility, which showed his belief that jesus could heal the boy, he renewed and emphasized his plea: "sir, come down ere my child die." probably the man had never paused to reason as to the direct means or process by which death might be averted and healing be insured through the words of any being; but in his heart he believed in christ's power, and with pathetic earnestness besought our lord to intervene in behalf of his dying son. he seemed to consider it necessary that the healer be present, and his great fear was that the boy would not live until jesus could arrive. "jesus saith unto him, go thy way; thy son liveth. and the man believed the word that jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way." the genuineness of the man's trust is shown by his grateful acceptance of the lord's assurance, and by the contentment that he forthwith manifested. capernaum, where his son lay, was about twenty miles away; had he been still solicitous and doubtful he would probably have tried to return home that day, for it was one o'clock in the afternoon when jesus spoke the words that had given to him such relief; but he journeyed leisurely, for on the following day he was still on the road, and was met by some of his servants who had been sent to cheer him with the glad word of his son's recovery. he inquired when the boy had begun to amend, and was told that at the seventh hour on the yesterday the fever had left him. that was the time at which christ had said, "thy son liveth." the man's belief ripened fast, and both he and his household accepted the gospel.[ ] this was the second miracle wrought by jesus when in cana, though in this instance the subject of the blessing was in capernaum. our lord's fame spread through all the region round about. during a period not definitely stated, he taught in the synagogs of the towns and was received with favor, being glorified of all.[ ] he then returned to nazareth, his former home, and as was his custom, attended the synagog on the sabbath day. many times as boy and man he had sat in that house of worship, listening to the reading of the law and the prophets and to the commentaries or targums[ ] relating thereto, as delivered by appointed readers; but now, as a recognized teacher of legal age he was eligible to take the reader's place. on this occasion he stood up to read, when the service had reached the stage at which extracts from the prophetical books were to be read to the congregation. the minister in charge handed him the roll, or book, of isaiah; he turned to the part known to us as the beginning of the sixty-first chapter, and read: "the spirit of the lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the lord."[ ] handing the book to the minister, he sat down. it was allowable for the reader in the service of the jewish synagog to make comments in explanation of what had been read; but to do so he must sit. when jesus took his seat the people knew that he was about to expound the text, and "the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him." the scripture he had quoted was one recognized by all classes as specifically referring to the messiah, for whose coming the nation waited. the first sentence of our lord's commentary was startling; it involved no labored analysis, no scholastic interpretation, but a direct and unambiguous application: "this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." there was such graciousness in his words that all wondered, and they said, "is not this joseph's son?"[ ] jesus knew their thoughts even if he heard not their words, and, forestalling their criticism, he said: "ye will surely say unto me this proverb, physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in capernaum, do also here in thy country. and he said, verily i say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country." in their hearts the people were eager for a sign, a wonder, a miracle. they knew that jesus had wrought such in cana, and a boy in capernaum had been healed by his word; at jerusalem too he had astonished the people with mighty works. were they, his townsmen, to be slighted? why would he not treat them to some entertaining exhibition of his powers? he continued his address, reminding them that in the days of elijah, when for three years and a half no rain had fallen, and famine had reigned, the prophet had been sent to but one of the many widows, and she a woman of sarepta in sidon, a gentile, not a daughter of israel. and again, though there had been many lepers in israel in the days of elisha, but one leper, and he a syrian, not an israelite, had been cleansed through the prophet's ministration, for naaman alone had manifested the requisite faith. then great was their wrath. did he dare to class them with gentiles and lepers? were they to be likened unto despized unbelievers, and that too by the son of the village carpenter, who had grown from childhood in their community? victims of diabolical rage, they seized the lord and took him to the brow of the hill on the slopes of which the town was built, determined to avenge their wounded feelings by hurling him from the rocky cliffs. thus early in his ministry did the forces of opposition attain murderous intensity. but our lord's time to die had not yet come. the infuriated mob was powerless to go one step farther than their supposed victim would permit. "but he passing through the midst of them went his way." whether they were overawed by the grace of his presence, silenced by the power of his words, or stayed by some more appalling intervention, we are not informed. he departed from the unbelieving nazarenes, and thenceforth nazareth was no longer his home. in capernaum. jesus wended his way to capernaum,[ ] which became to him as nearly a place of abode as any he had in galilee. there he taught, particularly on sabbath days; and the people were astonished at his doctrine, for he spoke with authority and power.[ ] in the synagog, on one of these occasions, was a man who was a victim of possession, and subject to the ravages of an evil spirit, or, as the text so forcefully states, one who "had a spirit of an unclean devil." it is significant that this wicked spirit, which had gained such power over the man as to control his actions and utterances, was terrified before our lord and cried out with a loud voice, though pleadingly: "let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou jesus of nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? i know thee who thou art; the holy one of god." jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, commanding him to be silent, and to leave the man; the demon obeyed the master, and after throwing the victim into violent though harmless paroxysm, left him. such a miracle caused the beholders to wonder the more, and they exclaimed: "what a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out. and the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about."[ ] in the evening of the same day, when the sun had set, and therefore after the sabbath had passed[ ], the people flocked about him, bringing their afflicted friends and kindred; and these jesus healed of their divers maladies whether of body or of mind. among those so relieved were many who had been possessed of devils, and these cried out, testifying perforce of the master's divine authority: "thou art christ the son of god."[ ] on these as on other occasions, we find evil spirits voicing through the mouths of their victims their knowledge that jesus was the christ; and in all such instances the lord silenced them with a word; for he wanted no such testimony as theirs to attest the fact of his godship. those spirits were of the devil's following, members of the rebellious and defeated hosts that had been cast down through the power of the very being whose authority and power they now acknowledged in their demoniac frenzy. together with satan himself, their vanquished chief, they remained unembodied, for to all of them the privileges of the second or mortal estate had been denied;[ ] their remembrance of the scenes that had culminated in their expulsion from heaven was quickened by the presence of the christ, though he stood in a body of flesh. many modern writers have attempted to explain the phenomenon of demoniacal possession; and beside these there are not a few who deny the possibility of actual domination of the victim by spirit personages. yet the scriptures are explicit in showing the contrary. our lord distinguished between this form of affliction and that of simple bodily disease in his instructions to the twelve: "heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils."[ ] in the account of the incidents under consideration, the evangelist mark observes the same distinction, thus: "they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils." in several instances, christ, in rebuking demons, addressed them as individuals distinct from the human being afflicted,[ ] and in one such instance commanded the demon to "come out of him, and enter no more into him."[ ] in this matter as in others the simplest explanation is the pertinent truth; theory raised on other than scriptural foundation is unstable. christ unequivocally associated demons with satan, specifically in his comment on the report of the seventy whom he authorized and sent forth, and who testified with joy on their return that even the devils had been subject unto them through his name; and to those faithful servants he said: "i beheld satan as lightning fall from heaven."[ ] the demons that take possession of men, overruling their agency and compelling them to obey satanic bidding, are the unembodied angels of the devil, whose triumph it is to afflict mortals, and if possible to impel them to sin. to gain for themselves the transitory gratification of tenanting a body of flesh, these demons are eager to enter even into the bodies of beasts.[ ] possibly it was during the interval between the rebuking of the evil spirit in the synagog and the miracles of healing and casting out devils in the evening of that sabbath, that jesus went to the house of simon, whom he had before named peter, and there found the mother-in-law of his disciple lying ill of fever. acceding to the request of faith he rebuked the disease; the woman was healed forthwith, rose from her bed, and ministered the hospitality of her home unto jesus and those who were with him.[ ] notes to chapter . . animosity between jews and samaritans.--in any consideration of the samaritans, it must be kept in mind that a certain city and the district or province in which it was situated were both known as samaria. the principal facts pertaining to the origin of the samaritans and the explanation of the mutual animosity existing between that people and the jews in the time of christ, have been admirably summarized by geikie (_life and words of christ_, vol. i, pp. - ). omitting his citation of authorities, we quote: "after the deportation of the ten tribes to assyria, samaria had been repeopled by heathen colonists from various provinces of the assyrian empire, by fugitives from the authorities of judea, and by stragglers of one or other of the ten tribes, who found their way home again. the first heathen settlers, terrified at the increase of wild animals, especially lions, and attributing it to their not knowing the proper worship of the god of the country, sent for one of the exiled priests, and, under his instructions, added the worship of jehovah to that of their idols--an incident in their history from which later jewish hatred and derision taunted them as 'proselytes of the lions,' as it branded them, from their assyrian origin, with the name of cuthites. ultimately, however, they became even more rigidly attached to the law of moses than the jews themselves. anxious to be recognized as israelites, they set their hearts on joining the two tribes, on their return from captivity, but the stern puritanism of ezra and nehemiah admitted no alliance between the pure blood of jerusalem and the tainted race of the north. resentment at this affront was natural, and excited resentment in return, till, in christ's day, centuries of strife and mutual injury, intensified by theological hatred on both sides, had made them implacable enemies. the samaritans had built a temple on mount gerizim, to rival that of jerusalem, but it had been destroyed by john hyrcanus, who had also levelled samaria to the ground. they claimed for their mountain a greater holiness than that of moriah; accused the jews of adding to the word of god, by receiving the writings of the prophets, and prided themselves on owning only the pentateuch as inspired; favoured herod because the jews hated him, and were loyal to him and the equally hated romans; had kindled false lights on the hills, to vitiate the jewish reckoning by the new moons, and thus throw their feasts into confusion, and, in the early youth of jesus, had even defiled the very temple itself, by strewing human bones in it, at the passover. "nor had hatred slumbered on the side of the jews. they knew the samaritans only as cuthites, or heathens from cuth. 'the race that i hate is no race,' says the son of sirach. it was held that a people who once had worshipped five gods could have no part in jehovah. the claim of the samaritans that moses had buried the tabernacle and its vessels on the top of gerizim, was laughed to scorn. it was said that they had dedicated their temple, under antiochus epiphanes, to the greek jupiter. their keeping the commands of moses even more strictly than the jews, that it might seem they were really of israel, was not denied; but their heathenism, it was said, had been proved by the discovery of a brazen dove, which they worshipped, on the top of gerizim. it would have been enough that they boasted of herod as their good king, who had married a daughter of their people; that he had been free to follow, in their country, his roman tastes, so hated in judea; that they had remained quiet, after his death, when judea and galilee were in uproar, and that for their peacefulness a fourth of their taxes had been remitted and added to the burdens of judea. their friendliness to the romans was an additional provocation. while the jews were kept quiet only by the sternest severity, and strove to the utmost against the introduction of anything foreign, the samaritans rejoiced in the new importance which their loyalty to the empire had given them. shechem flourished: close by, in cæsarea, the procurator held his court: a division of cavalry, in barracks at sebaste--the old samaria--had been raised in the territory. the roman strangers were more than welcome to while away the summer in their umbrageous valleys. "the illimitable hatred, rising from so many sources, found vent in the tradition that a special curse had been uttered against the samaritans, by ezra, zerubbabel, and joshua. it was said that these great ones assembled the whole congregation of israel in the temple, and that three hundred priests, with three hundred trumpets, and three hundred books of the law, and three hundred scholars of the law, had been employed to repeat, amidst the most solemn ceremonial, all the curses of the law against the samaritans. they had been subjected to every form of excommunication; by the incommunicable name of jehovah; by the tables of the law, and by the heavenly and earthly synagogues. the very name became a reproach. 'we know that thou art a samaritan, and hast a devil,' said the jews, to jesus, in jerusalem.... a samaritan egg, as the hen laid it, could not be unclean, but what of a boiled egg? yet interest and convenience strove, by subtle casuistry, to invent excuses for what intercourse was unavoidable. the country of the cuthites was clean, so that a jew might, without scruple, gather and eat its produce. the waters of samaria were clean, so that a jew might drink them or wash in them. their dwellings were clean, so that he might enter them, and eat or lodge in them. their roads were clean, so that the dust of them did not defile a jew's feet. the rabbis even went so far in their contradictory utterances, as to say that the victuals of the cuthites were allowed, if none of their wine or vinegar were mixed with them, and even their unleavened bread was to be reckoned fit for use at the passover. opinions thus wavered, but, as a rule, harsher feeling prevailed." that the hostile sentiment has continued unto this day, at least on the part of the jews, is affirmed by frankl and others. thus, as quoted by farrar (p. note): "'are you a jew?' asked salameh cohen, the samaritan high priest, of dr. frankl; 'and do you come to us, the samaritans, who are despised by the jews?' (_jews in the east_, ii, ). he added that they would willingly live in friendship with the jews, but that the jews avoided all intercourse with them. soon after, visiting sepharedish jews of nablous, dr. frankl asked one of that sect, 'if he had any intercourse with the samaritans?' the women retreated with a cry of horror, and one of them said, 'have you been among the worshipers of the pigeons?' i said that i had. the women again fell back with the same expression of repugnance and one of them said, 'take a purifying bath!'" (idem, p. ). canon farrar adds, "i had the pleasure of spending a day among the samaritans encamped on mount gerizim, for their annual passover, and neither in their habits nor apparent character could i see any cause for all this horror and hatred." . sychar.--the town where dwelt the samaritan woman with whom jesus conversed at jacob's well, is named sychar in john : ; the name occurs nowhere else in the bible. attempts have been made to identify the place with shechem, a city dear to the jewish heart because of its prominence in connection with the lives of the early patriarchs. it is now generally admitted, however, that sychar was a small village on the site of the present askar, which is, says zenos, "a village with a spring and some ancient rock-hewn tombs, about five eighths of a mile north of jacob's well." . the nobleman of capernaum.--the name of the nobleman whose son was healed by the word of jesus is not given. attempts to identify him with chuza, the steward of herod antipas, are based on unreliable tradition. the family of the nobleman accepted the teachings of christ. "joanna the wife of chuza herod's steward" (luke : ) was among the grateful and honorable women who had been recipients of our lord's healing ministry, and who contributed of their substance for the furtherance of his work. unconfirmed tradition should not be confounded with authentic history. . the targums are ancient jewish paraphrases on the scriptures, which were delivered in the synagogs in the languages of the common people. in the time of christ the language spoken by the jews was not hebrew, but an aramaic dialect. edersheim states that pure hebrew was the language of scholars and of the synagog, and that the public readings from the scriptures had to be rendered by an interpreter. "in earliest times indeed," says he, "it was forbidden to the methurgeman [interpreter] to read his translation, or to write down a targum, lest the paraphrase should be regarded as of equal authority with the original." the use of written targums was "authoritatively sanctioned before the end of the second century after christ. this is the origin of our two oldest extant targumim--that of onkelos (as it is called) on the pentateuch; and that on the prophets, attributed to jonathan the son of uzziel. these names do not indeed, accurately represent the authorship of the oldest targumim, which may more correctly be regarded as later and authoritative recensions of what, in some form, had existed before. but although these works had their origin in palestine, it is noteworthy that in the form in which at present we possess them, they are the outcome of the schools of babylon." (_life and times of jesus the messiah_, vol. i, pp. , .) . capernaum.--"the name capernaum signifies, according to some authorities, 'the village of nahum,' according to others, 'the village of consolation.' as we follow the history of jesus we shall discover that many of his mighty works were wrought, and many of his most impressive words were spoken in capernaum. the infidelity of the inhabitants, after all the discourses and wonderful works which he had done among them, brought out the saying of jesus, 'and thou, capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be cast down to hell.' (matt. : .) so thoroughly has this prediction been fulfilled that no trace of the city remains, and the very site which it occupied is now a matter of conjecture, there being even no ecclesiastical tradition of the locality. at the present day two spots have claims which are urged, each with such arguments of probability as to make the whole question the most difficult in sacred topography.... we shall probably never be able to know the exact fact. jesus damned it to oblivion, and there it lies. we shall content ourselves with the new testament notices as bearing on the work of jesus. "we learn that it was somewhere on the borders of zabulun and nephtali, on the western shore of the sea of galilee, (compare matt : , with john : ). it was near or in 'the land of gennesaret' (compare matt : , with john : , , ), a plain about three miles long and one mile wide, which we learn from josephus was one of the most prosperous and crowded districts of palestine. it was probably on the great road leading from damascus to the south, 'by the way of the sea,' (matt. : .) there was great wisdom in selecting this as a place to open a great public ministry. it was full of a busy population. the exceeding richness of the wonderful plain of gennesaret supported the mass of inhabitants it attracted. josephus (b. j., iii, : ) gives a glowing description of this land."--deems _light of the nations_, pp. , . . knowledge does not insure salvation.--james of old chided his brethren for certain empty professions (james : ). said he in effect: you take pride and satisfaction in declaring your belief in god; you boast of being distinguished from the idolaters and the heathen because you accept one god; you do well to so profess, and so believe; but, remember, others do likewise; even the devils believe; and, we may add, so firmly that they tremble at thought of the fate which that belief makes sure. those confessions of the devils, that christ was the son of god, were founded on knowledge; yet their knowledge of the great truth did not change their evil natures. how different was their acknowledgment of the savior from that of peter, who, to the master's question "whom say ye that i am?" replied in practically the words used by the unclean spirits before cited, "thou art the christ, the son of the living god" (matt. : - ; see also mark : ; luke : ). peter's faith had already shown its vital power; it had caused him to forsake much that had been dear, to follow his lord through persecution and suffering, and to put away worldliness with all its fascinations, for the sacrificing godliness which his faith made so desirable. his knowledge of god as the father, and of the son as the redeemer, was perhaps no greater than that of the unclean spirits; but while to them that knowledge was but an added cause of condemnation, to him it was a means of salvation.--abridged from _the articles of faith_. footnotes: [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john : . [ ] john : ; for incidents following see verses - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] gen. : ; and josh. : . [ ] acts : ; : ; : . [ ] john : ; compare matt. : ; mark : ; luke : . [ ] john : ; read verses - . [ ] john : , . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] luke : , ; read verses - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] luke : , ; compare isa. : , . [ ] luke : ; compare matt. : - ; mark : ; john : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] luke : ; compare matt. : , ; : ; mark : . [ ] luke : - ; and mark : - . note , end of chapter. [ ] the jews' sabbath began at sunset friday and ended with the setting of the sun on saturday. [ ] luke : ; compare mark : ; : , ; : - ; matt. : - . [ ] pages , . [ ] matt. : ; see verse ; compare : ; mark : ; : , ; luke : [ ] matt. : ; mark : ; luke : . [ ] mark : . [ ] luke : , ; compare rev. : - . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] matt. : , ; mark : - ; luke : , . chapter . continuation of our lord's ministry in galilee. a leper made clean. early in the morning following that eventful sabbath in capernaum, our lord arose "a great while before day" and went in quest of seclusion beyond the town. in a solitary place he gave himself to prayer, thus demonstrating the fact that, messiah though he was, he was profoundly conscious of his dependence upon the father, whose work he had come to do. simon peter and other disciples found the place of his retirement, and told him of the eager crowds who sought him. soon the people gathered about him, and urged that he remain with them; but "he said unto them, i must preach the kingdom of god to other cities also: for therefore am i sent."[ ] and to the disciples he said: "let us go into the next towns, that i may preach there also: for therefore came i forth."[ ] thence he departed, accompanied by the few whom he had already closely associated with himself, and ministered in many towns of galilee, preaching in the synagogs, healing the sick, and casting out devils. among the afflicted seeking the aid that he alone could give came a leper,[ ] who knelt before him, or bowed with his face to the ground, and humbly professed his faith, saying: "if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." the petition implied in the words of this poor creature was pathetic; the confidence he expressed is inspiring. the question in his mind was not--can jesus heal me? but--will he heal me? in compassionate mercy jesus laid his hand upon the sufferer, unclean though he was, both ceremonially and physically, for leprosy is a loathsome affliction, and we know that this man was far advanced in the disease since we are told that he was "full of leprosy." then the lord said: "i will: be thou clean." the leper was immediately healed. jesus instructed him to show himself to the priest, and make the offerings prescribed in the law of moses for such cases as his.[ ] in this instruction we see that christ had not come to destroy the law, but, as he affirmed at another time, to fulfil it;[ ] and at this stage of his work the fulfilment was incomplete. moreover, had the legal requirements been disregarded in as serious a matter as that of restoring an outcast leper to the society of the community from which he had been debarred, priestly opposition, already waxing strong and threatening against jesus, would have been augmented, and further hindrance to the lord's work might have resulted. there was to be no delay in the man's compliance with the master's instruction; jesus "straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away." furthermore he explicitly directed the man to tell nobody of the manner of his healing. there was perhaps good reason for this injunction of silence, aside from the very general course of our lord in discountenancing undesirable notoriety; for, had word of the miracle preceded the man's appearing before the priest, obstacles might have been thrown in the way of his levitical recognition as one who was clean. the man, however, could not keep the good word to himself, but went about "and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter."[ ] a palsied man healed and forgiven. it must be borne in mind that no one of the evangelists attempts to give a detailed history of all the doings of jesus, nor do all follow the same order in relating the incidents with which they associate the great lessons of the master's teachings. there is much uncertainty as to the actual sequence of events. "some days" after the healing of the leper, jesus was again in capernaum. the details of his employment during the interval are not specified; but, we may be sure that his work continued, for his characteristic occupation was that of going about doing good.[ ] his place of abode in capernaum was well known, and word was soon noised about that he was in the house.[ ] a great throng gathered, so that there was no room to receive them; even the doorway was crowded, and later comers could not get near the master. to all who were within hearing jesus preached the gospel. a little party of four approached the house bearing a litter or pallet on which lay a man afflicted with palsy, a species of paralysis which deprived the subject of the power of voluntary motion and usually of speech; the man was helpless. his friends, disappointed at finding themselves unable to reach jesus because of the press, resorted to an unusual expedient, which exhibited in an unmistakable way their faith in the lord as one who could rebuke and stay disease, and their determination to seek the desired blessing at his hands. by some means they carried the afflicted man to the flat roof of the house, probably by an outside stairway or by the use of a ladder, possibly by entering an adjoining house, ascending the stairs to its roof and crossing therefrom to the house within which jesus was teaching. they broke away part of the roof, making an opening, or enlarging that of the trapdoor such as the houses of that place and time were usually provided with; and, to the surprize of the assembled crowd, they then let down through the tiling the portable couch upon which the palsied sufferer lay. jesus was deeply impressed by the faith and works[ ] of those who had thus labored to place a helpless paralytic before him; doubtless, too, he knew of the trusting faith in the heart of the sufferer; and, looking compassionately upon the man, he said: "son, thy sins be forgiven thee." among the people there assembled were scribes, pharisees, and doctors of the law, not only representatives of the local synagog but some who had come from distant towns in galilee, and some from judea, and even from jerusalem. the official class had opposed our lord and his works on earlier occasions, and their presence in the house at this time boded further unfriendly criticism and possible obstruction. they heard the words spoken to the paralytic, and were angered thereat. in their hearts they accused jesus of the awful offense of blasphemy, which consists essentially in claiming for human or demon power the prerogatives of god, or in dishonoring god by ascribing to him attributes short of perfection.[ ] these unbelieving scholars, who incessantly wrote and talked of the coming of the messiah, yet rejected him when he was there present, murmured in silence, saying to themselves: "who can forgive sins but god only?" jesus knew their inmost thoughts,[ ] and made reply thereto, saying: "why reason ye these things in your hearts? whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?" and then to emphasize, and to put beyond question his possession of divine authority, he added: "but that ye may know that the son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) i say unto thee, arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house." the man arose, fully restored; and, taking up the mattress upon which he had been brought, walked out before them. the amazement of the people was mingled with reverence, and many glorified god, of whose power they were witnesses. the incident demands our further study. according to one of the accounts, the lord's first words to the afflicted one were: "son, be of good cheer;" followed directly by the comforting and authoritative assurance: "thy sins be given thee."[ ] the man was probably in a state of fear; he may have known that his ailment was the result of wicked indulgences; nevertheless, though he may have considered the possibility of hearing only condemnation for his transgression, he had faith to be brought. in this man's condition there was plainly a close connection between his past sins and his present affliction; and in this particular his case is not unique, for we read that christ admonished another, whom he healed, to sin no more lest a worse thing befall him.[ ] we are not warranted, however, in assuming that all bodily ills are the result of culpable sin; and against such a conception stands the lord's combined instruction and rebuke to those who, in the case of a man born blind, asked who had sinned, the man or his parents to bring so grievous an affliction upon him, to which inquiry our lord replied that the man's blindness was due neither to his own sin nor to that of his parents.[ ] in many instances, however, disease is the direct result of individual sin. whatever may have been the measure of past offense on the part of the man suffering from palsy, christ recognized his repentance together with the faith that accompanied it, and it was the lord's rightful prerogative to decide upon the man's fitness to receive remission of his sins and relief from his bodily affliction. the interrogative response of jesus to the muttered criticism of the scribes, pharisees, and doctors, has been interpreted in many ways. he inquired which was easier, to say, "thy sins be forgiven thee," or to say, "arise, and take up thy bed, and walk." is it not a rational explanation that, when spoken authoritatively by him, the two expressions were of allied meaning? the circumstance should have been a sufficient demonstration to all who heard, that he, the son of man, claimed and possessed the right and the power to remit both physical and spiritual penalties, to heal the body of visible disease, and to purge the spirit of the no less real malady of sin. in the presence of people of all classes jesus thus openly asserted his divinity, and affirmed the same by a miraculous manifestation of power. the charge of blasphemy, which the rabbinical critics formulated in their minds against the christ, was not to end as a mental conception of theirs, nor to be nullified by our lord's later remarks. it was through perjured testimony that he finally received unrighteous condemnation and was sent to his death.[ ] already, in that house at capernaum, the shadow of the cross had fallen athwart the course of his life. publicans and sinners. from the house jesus repaired to the seaside, whither the people followed him; there he taught them again. at the close of his discourse he walked farther and saw a man named levi, one of the publicans[ ] or official collectors of taxes, sitting at the custom-house where the tariff levied under roman law had to be paid. this man was known also as matthew, a name less distinctively jewish than is levi.[ ] he afterward became one of the twelve and the author of the first of the evangelical gospels. to him jesus said, "follow me." matthew left his place and followed the lord. some time later the new disciple provided a great feast at his house, in honor of the master; and other disciples were present. so obnoxious to the jews was the power of rome to which they were subject, that they regarded with aversion all officials in roman employ. particularly humiliating to them was the system of compulsory taxation, by which they, the people of israel, had to pay tribute to an alien nation, which in their estimation was wholly pagan and heathen. naturally, the collectors of these taxes were abhorred; and they, known as publicans, probably resented the discourteous treatment by inconsiderate enforcement of the tax requirements, and, as affirmed by historians, often inflicted unlawful extortion upon the people. if publicans in general were detested, we can readily understand how bitter would be the contempt in which the jews would hold one of their own nation who had accepted appointment as such an official. in this unenviable status was matthew when jesus called him. the publicans formed a distinct social class, for from the community in general they were practically ostracized. all who associated with them were made to share in the popular odium, and "publicans and sinners" became a common designation for the degraded caste. to matthew's feast many of his friends and some of his fellow officials were invited, so that the gathering was largely made up of these despized "publicans and sinners." and to such an assemblage went jesus with his disciples. the scribes and pharisees could not let pass such an opportunity for faultfinding and caustic criticism. they hesitated to address themselves directly to jesus, but of the disciples they asked in disdain: "why eateth your master with publicans and sinners?" the master heard, and replied with edifying incisiveness mingled with splendid irony. citing one of the common aphorisms of the day, he said: "they that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." to this he added: "i am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." the hypercritical pharisees were left to make their own application of the rejoinder, which some may have understood to mean that their self-righteousness was arraigned and their claims to superiority derided. aside from the veiled sarcasm in the master's words, they ought to have perceived the wisdom enshrined in his answer and to have profited thereby. is not the physician's place among the afflicted ones? would he be justified in keeping aloof from the sick and the suffering? his profession is that of combating disease, preventing when possible, curing when necessary, to the full extent of his ability. if the festive assembly at matthew's house really did comprize a number of sinners, was not the occasion one of rare opportunity for the ministrations of the physician of souls? the righteous need no call to repentance; but are the sinners to be left in sin, because those who profess to be spiritual teachers will not condescend to extend a helping hand? the old and the new. shortly after the entertainment provided by matthew, the pharisees were ready with another criticism, and in this they were associated with some of the baptist's adherents. john was in prison; but many of those who had been drawn to his baptism, and had professed discipleship to him, still clung to his teachings, and failed to see that the greater one of whom he had testified was then ministering amongst them. the baptist had been a scrupulous observer of the law; his strict asceticism vied with the rigor of pharisaic profession. his non-progressive disciples, now left without a leader, naturally fell in with the pharisees. some of john's disciples came to jesus, and questioned him concerning his seeming indifference in the matter of fasting. they propounded a plain question: "why do the disciples of john and of the pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?"[ ] to the friends of the now imprisoned baptist our lord's reply must have brought memories of their beloved leader's words, when he had compared himself to the bridegroom's friend, and had plainly told them who was the real bridegroom.[ ] "jesus said unto them, can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days."[ ] if the questioners were able to comprehend the true import of this reply, they could not fail to find therein an implied abrogation of purely ceremonial observances comprized in the code of rabbinical rules and the numerous traditions associated with the law. but to make the subject clearer to their biased minds, jesus gave them illustrations, which may be classed as parabolic. "no man also," said he, "seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. and no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles."[ ] in such wise did our lord proclaim the newness and completeness of his gospel. it was in no sense a patching up of judaism. he had not come to mend old and torn garments; the cloth he provided was new, and to sew it on the old would be but to tear afresh the threadbare fabric and leave a more unsightly rent than at first. or to change the figure, new wine could not safely be entrusted to old bottles. the bottles here referred to were really bags, made of the skins of animals, and of course they deteriorated with age. just as old leather splits or tears under even slight strain, so the old bottle-skins would burst from the pressure of fermenting juice, and the good wine would be lost. the gospel taught by christ was a new revelation, superseding the past, and marking the fulfilment of the law; it was no mere addendum, nor was it a reenactment of past requirements; it embodied a new and an everlasting covenant. attempts to patch the judaistic robe of traditionalism with the new fabric of the covenant could result in nothing more sightly than a rending of the fabric. the new wine of the gospel could not be held in the old time-worn containers of mosaic libations. judaism would be belittled and christianity perverted by any such incongruous association.[ ] fishers of men. it is improbable that the disciples who followed jesus in the early months of his ministry had remained with him continuously down to the time now under consideration. we find that some of those who were later called to the apostleship were following their vocation as fishermen even while jesus was actively engaged as a teacher in their own neighborhood. one day, as the lord stood by the lake or sea of galilee, the people pressed about him in great numbers, eager to hear more of the wondrous words he was wont to speak.[ ] near the place were two fishing boats drawn in upon the beach; the owners were close by, washing and mending their nets. one of the boats belonged to simon peter, who had already become identified with the master's work; this boat jesus entered, and then asked simon to thrust out a little from the land. seating himself, as teachers of that time usually did in delivering discourses, the lord preached from this floating pulpit to the multitude on shore. the subject of the address is not given us. when the sermon was ended, jesus directed simon to launch out into deep water and then let down the nets for a draught. presumably andrew was with his brother and possibly other assistants were in the boat. simon replied to jesus: "master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word i will let down the net." it was soon filled with fishes; so great was the haul that the net began to break, and the busy fishermen signalled to those in the other boat to come to their assistance. the catch filled both boats so that they appeared to be in danger of sinking. simon peter was overcome with this new evidence of the master's power, and, falling at the feet of jesus, he exclaimed: "depart from me; for i am a sinful man, o lord." jesus answered graciously and with promise: "fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men."[ ] the occupants of the second boat were zebedee and his two sons james and john, the last named being he who with andrew had left the baptist to follow jesus at the jordan.[ ] zebedee and his sons were partners with simon in the fishing business. when the two boats were brought to land, the brothers simon and andrew, and zebedee's two sons james and john, left their boats and accompanied jesus. the foregoing treatment is based on luke's record; the briefer and less circumstantial accounts given by matthew and mark omit the incident of the miraculous draught of fishes, and emphasize the calling of the fishermen. to simon and andrew jesus said: "come ye after me, and i will make you to become fishers of men." the contrast thus presented between their former vocation and their new calling is strikingly forceful. theretofore they had caught fish, and the fate of the fish was death; thereafter they were to draw men--to a life eternal. to james and john the call was no less definite; and they too left their all to follow the master. notes to chapter . . leprosy.--in biblical usage this name is applied to several diseases, all, however having some symptoms in common, at least in the earlier stages of the malady. the real leprosy is a scourge and a plague in many oriental lands to-day. zenos, in _standard bible dict._, says: "true leprosy, as known in modern times, is an affection characterized by the appearance of nodules in the eye-brows, the cheeks, the nose, and the lobes of the ears, also in the hands and feet, where the disease eats into the joints, causing the falling off of fingers and toes. if nodules do not appear, their place is taken by spots of blanched or discolored skin (mascular leprosy). both forms are based upon a functional degeneration of the nerves of the skin. its cause was discovered by hansen in to be a specific bacillus. defective diet, however, seems to serve as a favorable condition for the culture of the bacillus. leprosy was one of the few abnormal conditions of the body which the levitical law declared unclean. elaborate provision was therefore made for testing its existence and for the purification of those who were cured of it." deems, _light of the nations_, p. , summing up the conditions incident to the advanced stages of the dread disease, writes: "the symptoms and the effects of this disease are very loathsome. there comes a white swelling or scab, with a change of the color of the hair on the part from its natural hue to yellow; then the appearance of a taint going deeper than the skin, or raw flesh appearing in the swelling. then it spreads and attacks the cartilaginous portions of the body. the nails loosen and drop off, the gums are absorbed, and the teeth decay and fall out; the breath is a stench, the nose decays; fingers, hands, feet, may be lost, or the eyes eaten out. the human beauty has gone into corruption, and the patient feels that he is being eaten as by a fiend, who consumes him slowly in a long remorseless meal that will not end until he be destroyed. he is shut out from his fellows. as they approach he must cry, 'unclean! unclean!' that all humanity may be warned from his precincts. he must abandon wife and child. he must go to live with other lepers, in disheartening view of miseries similar to his own. he must dwell in dismantled houses or in the tombs. he is, as trench says, a dreadful parable of death. by the laws of moses (lev. : ; numb. : ; ezek. : ) he was compelled, as if he were mourning for his own decease, to bear about him the emblems of death, the rent garments; he was to keep his head bare and his lip covered, as was the custom with those who were in communion with the dead. when the crusaders brought the leprosy from the east, it was usual to clothe the leper in a shroud, and to say for him the masses for the dead.... in all ages this indescribably horrible malady has been considered incurable. the jews believed that it was inflicted by jehovah directly, as a punishment for some extraordinary perversity or some transcendent act of sinfulness, and that only god could heal it. when naaman was cured, and his flesh came back like that of a little child, he said, 'now i know that there is no god in all the earth but in israel,' ( kings : , .)" the fact that leprosy is not ordinarily communicable by mere outward contact is accentuated by trench, _notes on the miracles_, pp. - , and the isolation of lepers required by the mosaic law is regarded by him as an intended object lesson and figure to illustrate spiritual uncleanness. he says: "i refer to the mistaken assumption that leprosy was catching from one person to another; and that the lepers were so carefully secluded from their fellowmen lest they might communicate the disease to others, as in like manner that the torn garment, the covered lip, the cry, 'unclean, unclean' (lev. : ) were warnings to all that they should keep aloof, lest unawares touching a leper, or drawing unto too great a nearness, they should become partakers of this disease. so far from any danger of the kind existing, nearly all who have looked closest into the matter agree that the sickness was incommunicable by ordinary contact from one person to another. a leper might transmit it to his children, or the mother of a leper's children might take it from him; but it was by no ordinary contact communicable from one person to another. all the notices in the old testament, as well as in other jewish books, confirm the statement that we have here something very much higher than a mere sanitary regulation. thus, when the law of moses was not observed, no such exclusion necessarily found place; naaman the leper commanded the armies of syria ( kings : ); gehazi, with his leprosy that never should be cleansed, ( kings : ) talked familiarly with the king of apostate israel ( kings : ).... how, moreover, should the levitical priests, had the disease been this creeping infection, have ever themselves escaped it, obliged as they were by their very office to submit the leper to actual handling and closest examination?... leprosy was nothing short of a living death, a corrupting of all the humors, a poisoning of the very springs, of life; a dissolution, little by little, of the whole body, so that one limb after another actually decayed and fell away. aaron exactly describes the appearance which the leper presented to the eyes of the beholders, when, pleading for miriam, he says, 'let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother's womb.' (numb. : .) the disease, moreover, was incurable by the art and skill of man; not that the leper might not return to health; for, however rare, such cases are contemplated in the levitical law.... the leper, thus fearfully bearing about the body the outward and visible tokens of sin in the soul, was treated throughout as a sinner, as one in whom sin had reached its climax, as one dead in trespasses and sins. he was himself a dreadful parable of death. he bore about him the emblems of death (lev. : ); the rent garments, mourning for himself as one dead; the head bare as they were wont to have it who were defiled by communion with the dead (numb. : ; ezek. : ); and the lip covered (ezek. : ).... but the leper was as one dead, and as such was shut out of the camp (lev. : ; numb. : - ). and the city ( kings : ), this law being so strictly enforced that even the sister of moses might not be exempted from it (numb. : , ); and kings themselves, as uzziah ( chron. : ; kings : ) must submit to it; men being by this exclusion taught that what here took place in a figure, should take place in the reality with every one who was found in the death of sin." for the elaborate ceremonies incident to the cleansing of a recovered leper see lev. chap. . . blasphemy.--the essence of the deep sin of blasphemy lies not, as many suppose, in profanity alone, but as dr. kelso, _stand. bible dict._, summarizes: "every improper use of the divine name (lev. : ), speech derogatory to the majesty of god (matt. : ), and sins with a high hand--i.e. premeditated transgressions of the basal principles of the theocracy (numb. : ; : ; exo. : )--were regarded as blasphemy; the penalty was death by stoning (lev. : )." _smith's bible dict._ states: "blasphemy, in its technical english sense, signifies the speaking evil of god, and in this sense it is found in psalm : ; isa. : ; rom. : , etc.... on this charge both our lord and stephen were condemned to death by the jews. when a person heard blasphemy he laid his hand on the head of the offender, to symbolize his sole responsibility for the guilt, and rising on his feet, tore his robe, which might never again be mended." (see matt. : .) . publican.--"a word originally meaning a contractor for public works or supplies, or a farmer of public lands, but later applied to romans who bought from the government the right to collect taxes in a given territory. these buyers, always knights (senators were excluded by their rank), became capitalists and formed powerful stock companies, whose members received a percentage on the capital invested. provincial capitalists could not buy taxes, which were sold in rome to the highest bidders, who to recoup themselves sublet their territory (at a great advance on the price paid the government) to the native (local) publicans, who in their turn had to make a profit on their purchase money, and being assessors of property as well as collectors of taxes, had abundant opportunities for oppressing the people, who hated them both for that reason and also because the tax itself was the mark of their subjection to foreigners."--j. r. sterrett in _stand. bible dict._ . fishers of men.--"follow me, and i will make you fishers of men," said jesus to fishermen who afterward became his apostles (matt. : ). mark's version is nearly the same ( : ), while that of luke ( : ) reads: "from henceforth thou shalt catch men." the correct translation is, as commentators practically agree, "from henceforth thou shalt take men alive." this reading emphasizes the contrast given in the text--that between capturing fish to kill them and winning men to save them. consider in this connection the lord's prediction through jeremiah ( : ), that in reaching scattered israel, "behold, i will send for many fishers, saith the lord, and they shall fish them;" etc. . "thy sins be forgiven thee."--the following commentary by edersheim (_life and times of jesus the messiah_, vol. i, pp. , ) on the incident under consideration is instructive: "in this forgiveness of sins he presented his person and authority as divine, and he proved it such by the miracle of healing which immediately followed. had the two been inverted, [i.e. had christ first healed the man and afterward told him that his sins were forgiven] there would have been evidence, indeed, of his power, but not of his divine personality, nor of his having authority to forgive sins; and this, not the doing of miracles, was the object of his teaching and mission, of which the miracles were only secondary evidence. thus the inward reasoning of the scribes, which was open and known to him who readeth all thoughts, issued in quite the opposite of what they could have expected. most unwarranted, indeed, was the feeling of contempt which we trace in their unspoken words, whether we read them: 'why does this one thus speak blasphemies?' or, according to a more correct transcript of them: 'why does this one speak thus? he blasphemeth!' yet from their point of view they were right, for god alone can forgive sins; nor has that power ever been given or delegated to man. but was he a mere man, like even the most honored of god's servants? man, indeed; but 'the son of man.' ... it seemed easy to say: 'thy sins have been forgiven.' but to him, who had authority to do so on earth, it was neither more easy nor more difficult than to say: 'rise, take up thy bed, and walk.' yet this latter, assuredly, proved the former, and gave it in the sight of all men unquestioned reality. and so it was the thoughts of these scribes, which, as applied to christ, were 'evil'--since they imputed to him blasphemy--that gave occasion for offering real evidence of what they would have impugned and denied. in no other manner could the object alike of miracles and of this special miracle have been so attained as by the 'evil thoughts' of these scribes, when, miraculously brought to light, they spoke out the inmost possible doubt, and pointed to the highest of all questions concerning the christ. and so it was once more the wrath of man which praised him." footnotes: [ ] luke : - . [ ] mark : . [ ] mark : - ; matt. : - ; luke : - . [ ] lev. : - . note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : . [ ] mark : . [ ] acts : . [ ] mark : - ; compare matt. : - ; luke : - . [ ] compare james : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] see another instance of our lord reading unuttered thoughts. luke : - . [ ] matt. : . note , end of chapter. [ ] john : . page . [ ] john : - . [ ] compare john : , and : ; matt. : , . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] mark : - ; matt. : - ; luke : - . [ ] page . [ ] mark : , . [ ] mark : , . [ ] see "the great apostasy" : . [ ] luke : - ; compare matt. : - ; mark : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] page . chapter . lord of the sabbath. the sabbath distinctively sacred to israel. the observance of the sabbath as a holy day was prominent among the lord's requirements of his people, israel, from a very early period in their history as a nation. indeed, the keeping of the sabbath as a day of surcease from ordinary toil was a national characteristic, by which the israelites were distinguished from pagan peoples, and rightly so, for the holiness of the sabbath was made a mark of the covenant between the chosen people and their god. the sanctity of the sabbath had been prefigured in the account of the creation, antedating the placing of man upon the earth, as shown by the fact that god rested after the six periods or days of creative work, and blessed the seventh day and hallowed it.[ ] in the course of israel's exodus, the seventh day was set apart as one of rest, upon which it was not allowed to bake, seethe, or otherwise cook food. a double supply of manna had to be gathered on the sixth day, while on other days the laying-by of a surplus of this daily bread sent from heaven was expressly forbidden. the lord observed the sacredness of the holy day by giving no manna thereon.[ ] the commandment to celebrate the sabbath in strictness was made definite and explicit in the decalog, written by the hand of god amidst the awful glory of sinai; and the injunction was kept before the people through frequent proclamation.[ ] it was unlawful to kindle a fire on that day; and record is made of a man who was put to death for gathering sticks on the seventh day.[ ] under the administration of later prophets, the holiness of the sabbath, the blessings promised to those who sanctified the day unto themselves, and the sin of sabbath desecration were reiterated in words of inspired forcefulness.[ ] nehemiah admonished and reproved in the matter, and attributed the affliction of the nation to the forfeiture of jehovah's favor through sabbath violation.[ ] by the mouth of ezekiel the lord affirmed that the institution of the sabbath was a sign of the covenant between himself and the people of israel; and with stern severity he upbraided those who heeded not the day.[ ] to the separate branch of the israelitish nation that had been colonized on the western hemisphere, regard for the sanctity of the sabbath was no less an imperative requirement.[ ] the observance demanded, however, was the very opposite of affliction and burden; the sabbath was consecrated to rest and righteous enjoyment, and was to be a day of spiritual feasting before the lord. it was not established as a day of abstinence; all might eat, but both mistress and maid were to be relieved from the work of preparing food; neither master nor man was to plow, dig or otherwise toil; and the weekly day of rest was as much the boon of the cattle as of their owners. in addition to the weekly sabbath, the lord in mercy prescribed also a sabbatic year; in every seventh year the land was to rest, and thereby its fertility was enhanced.[ ] after seven times seven years had passed, the fiftieth was to be celebrated throughout as a year of jubilee, during which the people should live on the accumulated increase of the preceding seasons of plenty, and rejoice in liberality by granting to one another redemption from mortgage and bond, forgiveness of debt, and general relief from burdens--all of which had to be done in mercy and justice.[ ] the sabbaths established by the lord, whether of days, of years, or of weeks of years, were to be times of refreshing, relief, blessing, bounty, and worship. to the many who profess to regard the necessity of toil as a part of the curse evoked through adam's fall, the sabbath should appeal as a day of temporary reprieve, a time of exemption from labor, and as affording blessed opportunity of closer approach to the presence from which mankind has been shut out through sin. and to those who take the higher view of life, and find in work both happiness and material blessing, the periodical relief brings refreshment and gives renewed zest for the days that follow. but long before the advent of christ, the original purpose of the sabbath had come to be largely ignored in israel; and the spirit of its observance had been smothered under the weight of rabbinical injunction and the formalism of restraint. in the time of the lord's ministry, the technicalities prescribed as rules appended to the law were almost innumerable; and the burden thus forced upon the people had become well nigh unbearable. among the many wholesome requirements of the mosaic law, which the teachers and spiritual rulers of the jews had made thus burdensome, that of sabbath observance was especially prominent. the "hedge," which by unwarranted assumption they professedly set about the law,[ ] was particularly thorny in the sections devoted to the jewish sabbath. even trifling infractions of traditional rules were severely punished, and the capital penalty was held before the eyes of the people as a supreme threat for extreme desecration.[ ] the healing of a cripple on the sabbath. in view of these conditions, we are not surprized to find our lord confronted with charges of sabbath violation relatively early in the course of his public work. an instance attended with many great developments is recorded by john,[ ] whose narrative covers the incident of a very impressive miracle. jesus was again in jerusalem at the time of one of the jewish festivals.[ ] there was a pool of water, called bethesda, near the sheep market in the city. from the recorded description, we may understand this to have been a natural spring; possibly the water was rich in dissolved solids or gases, or both, making it such as we would call today a mineral spring; for we find that the water was reputed to possess curative virtues, and many afflicted folk came to bathe therein. the spring was of the pulsating variety; at intervals its waters rose with bubbling disturbance, and then receded to the normal level. mineral springs of this kind are known today in many parts of the world. some believed that the periodical upwelling of the bethesda waters was the result of supernatural agency; and it was said that "whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had." the bethesda pool was wholly or partly enclosed; and five porches had been built for the shelter of those who waited at the spring for the intermittent bubbling up of the water. on a certain sabbath day, jesus visited the pool and saw many afflicted folk thus waiting. among them lay a man who for thirty-eight years had been grievously afflicted. from the man's statement of his helplessness we may infer that his malady was paralysis, or possibly an extreme form of rheumatism; whatever his affliction, it was so disabling as to give him little chance of getting into the pool at the critical time, for others less crippled crowded him away; and, according to the legends regarding the curative properties of the spring, only the first to enter the pool after the agitation of the water might expect to be healed. jesus recognized in the man a fit subject for blessing, and said to him: "wilt thou be made whole?" the question was so simple as almost to appear superfluous. of course the man wanted to be made well, and on the small chance of being able to reach the water at the right moment was patiently yet eagerly waiting. there was purpose, however, in these as in all other words of the master. the man's attention was drawn to him, fixed upon him; the question aroused in the sufferer's heart renewed yearning for the health and strength of which he had been bereft since the days of his youth. his answer was pitiful, and revealed his almost hopeless state of mind; he thought only of the rumored virtues of bethesda pool as he said: "sir, i have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while i am coming, another steppeth down before me." then spake jesus: "rise, take up thy bed, and walk." immediately strength returned to the man, who for nearly four decades had been a helpless invalid; he obeyed the master, and, taking up the little mattress or pallet on which he had rested, walked away. he had not gone far, before the jews, that is to say, some of the official class, for so the evangelist john employs the term, saw him carrying his bed; and it was the sabbath day. to their peremptory reprimand he replied out of the gratitude and honest simplicity of his heart, that he who had healed him had told him to take up his bed and walk. the interest of the inquisitors was instantly turned from the man toward him who had wrought the miracle; but the erstwhile cripple could not name his benefactor, as he had lost sight of jesus in the crowd before he had found opportunity for question or thanks. the man who had been healed went to the temple, possibly impelled by a desire to express in prayer his gratitude and joy. there jesus found him, and said unto him: "behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee."[ ] the man had probably brought about his affliction through his own sinful habits. the lord decided that he had suffered enough in body, and terminated his physical suffering with the subsequent admonition to sin no more. the man went and told the rulers who it was that had healed him. this he may have done with a desire to honor and glorify the giver of his boon; we are not justified in ascribing to him any unworthy purpose, though by his act he was instrumental in augmenting the persecution of his lord. so intense was the hatred of the priestly faction that the rulers sought a means of putting jesus to death, under the specious pretense of his being a sabbath-breaker. we may well ask of what act they could possibly have hoped to convict him, even under the strictest application of their rules. there was no proscription against speaking on the sabbath; and jesus had but spoken to heal. he had not carried the man's bed, nor had he attempted even the lightest physical labor. by their own interpretation of the law they had no case against him. our lord's reply to the accusing jews. nevertheless, the jewish officials confronted jesus with accusations. whether the interview took place within the temple walls, on the open street, at the market place, or in the judgment hall, matters not. his reply to their charges is not confined to the question of sabbath observance; it stands as the most comprehensive sermon in scripture on the vital subject of the relationship between the eternal father and his son, jesus christ. his first sentence added to the already intense anger of the jews. referring to the work he had done on the holy day, he said: "my father worketh hitherto, and i work." this remark they construed to be a blasphemy.[ ] "therefore the jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that god was his father, making himself equal with god." to their spoken or unuttered protest, jesus replied, that he, the son, was not acting independently, and in fact could do nothing except what was in accordance with the father's will, and what he had seen the father do; that the father so loved the son as to show unto him the father's works. be it observed that jesus in no way attempted to explain away their construction of his words; on the contrary he confirmed their deductions as correct. he did associate himself with the father, even in a closer and more exalted relationship than they had conceived. the authority given to him by the father was not limited to the healing of bodily infirmities; he had power even to raise the dead--"for as the father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the son quickeneth whom he will." moreover, the judgment of men had been committed unto him; and no one could honor the father except by honoring the son. then followed this incisive declaration: "verily, verily, i say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." christ's realm was not bounded by the grave; even the dead were wholly dependent upon him for their salvation; and to the terrified ears of his dumbfounded accusers he proclaimed the solemn truth, that even then the hour was near in which the dead should hear the voice of the son of god. ponder his profound affirmation: "verily, verily, i say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the son of god: and they that hear shall live." the murderous rage of the jews was rebuffed by the declaration that without his submission they could not take his life: "for as the father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the son to have life in himself." another utterance was equally portentous: "and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the son of man." he, the son of the exalted and glorified man of holiness and now himself a mortal man,[ ] was to be the judge of men. no wonder they marveled; such doctrine they had never before heard nor read; it was not of the scribes nor of the rabbis, of neither the pharisaic nor sadducean schools. but he reproved their amazement, saying: "marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."[ ] this enunciation of the resurrection, so plainly made that the most unlettered could understand, must have offended any sadducees present, for they emphatically denied the actuality of the resurrection. the universality of a resurrection is here unquestionably affirmed; not only the righteous but even those who merit condemnation are to come forth from their graves in their bodies of flesh and bones.[ ] then, renewing his solemn asseveration of the unity of his father's will and his own, christ discussed the matter of witnesses to his work. he admitted what was a recognized tenet of the time, that no man's unsupported witness of himself was sufficient; but, he added: "there is another that beareth witness of me; and i know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true." he cites john the baptist, and reminds them that they had sent a delegation to him, and that john had answered them by bearing testimony of the messiah; and john had been a burning and a shining light, in whose illuminating ministry many had temporarily rejoiced. the hostile jews were left to see that the witness of john was valid under their strictest construction of the rules of evidence; "but," he continued, "i receive not testimony from man ... but i have greater witness than that of john: for the works which the father hath given me to finish, the same works that i do, bear witness of me, that the father hath sent me. and the father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me." then in terms of unqualified condemnation, he told them they were devoid of the father's word, for they refused to accept himself whom the father had sent. with humiliating directness he admonished these learned men of the law, these interpreters of the prophets, these professional expounders of sacred writ, to betake themselves to reading and study. "search the scriptures," said he, "for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." convictingly he continued--that they who admitted and taught that in the scriptures lay the way to eternal life, refused to come to him, of whom those same scriptures testified, though by coming they might obtain eternal life. "i receive not honour from men," he added, "but i know you, that ye have not the love of god in you." they knew that they sought for honor among men, received honors from one another, were made rabbis and doctors, scribes and teachers, by the bestowal of titles and degrees--all of men; but they rejected him who came in the name of one infinitely greater than all their schools or societies--he had come in the supreme name of the father. the cause of their spiritual ignorance was pointed out--they relied upon the honors of men, and sought not the honor of real service in the cause of god. he had spoken of the authority of judgment that had been committed to himself; now he explained that they should not think he would accuse them before the father; a lesser one than he would accuse, even moses, another of his witnesses in whom they professed such trust--moses whom they all were said to believe--and, driving home the full effect of his powerful arraignment, the lord continued: "for had ye believed moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. but if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" such was the illuminating instruction combined with burning denunciation that these men had called forth by their futile attempt to convict jesus on the charge of sabbath desecration. this was but one of many evil machinations by which they so determinedly plotted, and strove to attach the stigma and invoke the penalty of sabbath-breaking upon the very one who had ordained the sabbath and was in truth and verity the one and only lord thereof. the disciples charged with sabbath-breaking. we may profitably consider in this connection other instances of good work done by our lord on sabbath days; and this we may do without undue regard to the order of the events in time. we again find jesus in galilee, whether prior to or after his visit to jerusalem at the time of the unidentified feast, on which occasion he wrought the miracle of healing at the bethesda pool, matters not. on a certain sabbath, he and the disciples walked through a field of grain,[ ] and, being hungry, the disciples began to pluck some of the ripening ears; rubbing out the kernels between their hands, they ate. there was no element of theft in what they did, for the mosaic law provided that in passing through another's vineyard or corn field one might pluck grapes or corn to relieve hunger; but it was forbidden to use a sickle in the field, or to carry away any of the grapes in a vessel.[ ] the permission extended only to the relief of present need. when the disciples of jesus availed themselves of this lawful privilege, there were pharisees on the watch, and these came at once to the master, saying: "behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day." the accusers doubtless had in mind the rabbinical dictum that rubbing out an ear of grain in the hands was a species of threshing; that blowing away the chaff was winnowing; and that it was unlawful to thresh or winnow on the sabbath. indeed, some learned rabbis had held it to be a sin to walk on grass during the sabbath, inasmuch as the grass might be in seed, and the treading out of the seed would be as the threshing of grain. jesus defended the disciples by citing a precedent applicable to the case, and of much greater import. the instance was that of david, who with a small company of men had asked bread of the priest ahimelech; for they were hungry and in haste. the priest had none but consecrated bread, the loaves of shewbread which were placed in the sanctuary at intervals, and which none but the priests were allowed to eat. in view of the condition of urgent need the priest had given the shewbread to the hungry men.[ ] jesus also reminded the critical pharisees that the priests in the temple regularly did much work on the sabbath in the slaughtering of sacrificial victims and in altar service generally, yet were held blameless because of the higher requirements of worship which rendered such labor necessary; and added with solemn emphasis: "but i say unto you, that in this place is one greater than the temple." he cited the word of god spoken through hosea, "i will have mercy, and not sacrifice,"[ ] and reproved at once their ignorance and their unrighteous zeal by telling them that had they known what that scripture meant they would not have condemned the guiltless. be it remembered, "the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath."[ ] his reproof was followed by the affirmation of his personal supremacy: "_for the son of man is lord even of the sabbath day!_" what can we gather from that declaration but that he, jesus, there present in the flesh, was the being through whom the sabbath had been ordained, that it was he who had given and written in stone the decalog, including "remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy," and, "the seventh day is the sabbath of the lord thy god"? a pharisaical plot. again on a sabbath, jesus went into a synagog, and saw in the congregation a man whose right hand was withered.[ ] there were pharisees present, and they watched to see whether jesus would heal the man, their purpose being to accuse him if he did so. the pharisees asked: "is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days?" our lord countered their poorly veiled purpose by asking: "is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days?" and extended the question, "or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?" they held their peace, for the question was double-edged. to reply in the affirmative would have been to justify the work of healing; a negative answer would have stultified them. he put another question: "what man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? how much then is a man better than a sheep?" as the pharisees could not or would not reply, he summed up the whole matter thus: "wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days." he called upon the man with the withered hand to stand forth before the congregation. grief and anger were mingled in his penetrating and sweeping glance; but, turning with compassion toward the afflicted one, he commanded him to stretch forth his hand; the man obeyed, and lo! the hand "was restored whole, like as the other." the discomfited pharisees were furious, "filled with madness" luke says; and they went out to plot anew against the lord. so bitter was their hatred that they allied themselves with the herodians, a political party generally unpopular among the jews.[ ] the rulers of the people were ready to enter into any intrigue or alliance to accomplish their avowed purpose of bringing about the death of the lord jesus. aware of the wicked determination against him, jesus withdrew himself from the locality. other accusations of sabbath-breaking, brought against christ by jewish casuists, will be considered later.[ ] notes to chapter . . rabbinical requirements concerning sabbath observance.--"no feature of the jewish system was so marked as their extraordinary strictness in the outward observance of the sabbath, as a day of entire rest. the scribes had elaborated from the command of moses, a vast array of prohibitions and injunctions, covering the whole of social, individual, and public life, and carried it to the extreme of ridiculous caricature. lengthened rules were prescribed as to the kinds of knots which might legally be tied on the sabbath. the camel-driver's knot and the sailor's were unlawful, and it was equally illegal to tie or to loose them. a knot which could be untied with one hand might be undone. a shoe or sandal, a woman's cup, a wine or oil-skin, or a flesh-pot might be tied. a pitcher at a spring might be tied to the body-sash, but not with a cord.... to kindle or extinguish a fire on the sabbath was a great desecration of the day, nor was even sickness allowed to violate rabbinical rules. it was forbidden to give an emetic on the sabbath--to set a broken bone, or put back a dislocated joint, though some rabbis, more liberal, held that whatever endangered life made the sabbath law void, 'for the commands were given to israel only that they might live by them.' one who was buried under ruins on the sabbath, might be dug for and taken out, if alive, but, if dead, he was to be left where he was, till the sabbath was over."--geikie, _life and words of christ_, chap. . . the unnamed feast.--there has been no little discussion as to the particular festival referred to in john : , at the time of which jesus healed the cripple at the pool of bethesda. many writers hold that it was the passover, others that it was the feast of purim, or some other jewish celebration. the only semblance of importance attaching to the question is the possibility of learning from the fact, if it could be proved, something of the chronological order of events at this period of our lord's life. we are not told which feast this was, neither the year nor the time of the year when it occurred. the miracle wrought on the occasion, and the doctrinal discourse delivered as a result thereof, depend for their value in no degree on the determination of date. . shewbread.--the name means "bread of the presence," signifying that it was placed in the presence of jehovah. the bread so sanctified consisted of twelve loaves, made without leaven. they were to be deposited in the holy place in two columns of six loaves each. zenos, in _stand. bible dict._ writes: "they were allowed to remain there for a whole week, at the end of which period they were removed, and eaten by the priest upon holy ground, i.e. within the precincts of the sanctuary. for other persons than priests to eat of the loaves of the shewbread was regarded as sacrilegious, for they were 'holy.'" see exo. : ; lev. : - ; sam. : - . . the sabbath was made for man and not man for the sabbath.--edersheim (vol. i, pp. , ) says: "when on his flight from saul, david had, 'when an hungered,' eaten of the shewbread and given it to his followers, although, by the letter of the levitical law, it was only to be eaten by the priests. jewish tradition vindicated his conduct on the plea that 'danger to life superseded the sabbath law,' and hence, all laws connected with it.... in truth, the reason why david was blameless in eating the shewbread was the same as that which made the sabbath labor of the priests lawful. the sabbath law was not one merely of rest, but of rest for worship. the service of the lord was the object in view. the priests worked on the sabbath, because this service was the object of the sabbath; and david was allowed to eat of the shewbread, not [solely] because there was danger to life from starvation, but because he pleaded that he was on the service of the lord, and needed this provision. the disciples, when following the lord, were similarly on the service of the lord; ministering to him was more than ministering in the temple, for he was greater than the temple. if the pharisees had believed this, they would not have questioned their conduct, nor in so doing have themselves infringed that higher law which enjoined mercy, not sacrifice." footnotes: [ ] gen. : . [ ] exo. : - . [ ] exo. : - ; : ; : - ; : ; lev. : ; : ; deut. : - . [ ] exo. : ; numb. : - . [ ] isa. : ; : ; jer. : - . [ ] neh. : - ; : - . [ ] ezek. : - . [ ] b. of m., jarom : ; mosiah : - ; : . [ ] lev. : - ; compare : , . [ ] lev. : - . [ ] page . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john, chapter . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] see another instance, pages - . [ ] pages and . for further justification of this act of healing on the sabbath, see john : - . [ ] page . [ ] compare doc. and cov. : , . see page herein. [ ] page . [ ] matt. : - ; compare mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] deut. : , . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] hos. : ; compare micah : - . [ ] mark : . note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] page . [ ] for instances, see luke : - ; : - ; john : - . chapter . the chosen twelve. their call and ordination.[ ] the night preceding the morn on which the twelve apostles were called and ordained was spent by the lord in solitary seclusion; he had "continued all night in prayer to god."[ ] then, when day had come, and while many people were gathering to hear more of the new and wonderful gospel of the kingdom, he called to come closer some who had theretofore been devotedly associated together as his disciples or followers, and from among them he chose twelve, whom he ordained and named apostles.[ ] prior to that time none of these had been distinguished by any special delegation of authority or appointment; they had been numbered with the disciples in general, though, as we have seen, seven had received a preliminary call, and had promptly responded thereto by abandoning wholly or in part their business affairs, and had followed the master. these were andrew, john, simon peter, philip, nathanael, james, and levi matthew. prior to this eventful day, however, none of the twelve had been ordained or set apart to their sacred office. the three gospel-writers who make record of the organization of the twelve place simon peter first and judas iscariot last in the category; they agree also in the relative position of some but not of all the others. following the order given by mark, and this may be the most convenient since he names as the first three those who later became most prominent, we have the following list: simon peter, james (son of zebedee), john (brother of the last-named), andrew (brother of simon peter), philip, bartholomew (or nathanael), matthew, thomas, james (son of alpheus), judas (also known as lebbeus or thaddeus), simon (distinguished by his surname zelotes, also known as the canaanite), and judas iscariot. twelve considered individually. _simon_, named as the first apostle, is more commonly known as _peter_--the appellation given him by the lord on the occasion of their first meeting, and afterward confirmed.[ ] he was the son of jona, or jonas, and by vocation was a fisherman. he and his brother andrew were partners with james and john, the sons of zebedee; and apparently the fishing business was a prosperous one with them, for they owned their boats and gave employment to other men.[ ] peter's early home had been at the little fishery town of bethsaida,[ ] on the west shore of the sea of galilee; but about the time of his first association with jesus, or soon thereafter, he, with others of his family, removed to capernaum, where he appears to have become an independent householder.[ ] simon peter was a married man before his call to the ministry. he was well to do in a material way; and when he once spoke of having left all to follow jesus, the lord did not deny that peter's sacrifice of temporal possessions was as great as had been implied. we are not justified in regarding him as unlettered or ignorant. true, both he and john were designated by the council of rulers as "unlearned and ignorant men,"[ ] but this was spoken of them as indicating their lack of training in the schools of the rabbis; and it is worthy of note, that the members of that same council were amazed at the wisdom and power manifested by the two apostles, whom they professed to despize. in temperament peter was impulsive and stern, and, until trained by severe experience, was lacking in firmness. he had many human weaknesses, yet in spite of them all he eventually overcame the temptations of satan and the frailties of the flesh, and served his lord as the appointed and acknowledged leader of the twelve. of the time and place of his death the scriptures do not speak; but the manner thereof was prefigured by the resurrected lord,[ ] and in part was foreseen by peter himself.[ ] tradition, originating in the writings of the early christian historians other than the apostles, states that peter met death by crucifixion as a martyr during the persecution incident to the reign of nero, probably between a.d. and . origen states that the apostle was crucified with his head downward. peter, with james and john, his associates in the presidency of the twelve, has ministered as a resurrected being in the present dispensation, in restoring to earth the melchizedek priesthood, including the holy apostleship, which had been taken away because of the apostasy and unbelief of men.[ ] _james_ and _john_, brothers by birth, partners in business as fishermen, brethren in the ministry, were associated together and with peter in the apostolic calling. the lord bestowed upon the pair a title in common--boanerges, or sons of thunder[ ]--possibly with reference to the zeal they developed in his service, which, indeed, at times had to be restrained, as when they would have had fire called from heaven to destroy the samaritan villagers who had refused hospitality to the master.[ ] they and their mother aspired to the highest honors of the kingdom, and asked that the two be given places, one on the right the other on the left of christ in his glory. this ambition was gently reproved by the lord, and the request gave offense to the other apostles.[ ] with peter these two brothers were witnesses of many of the most important incidents in the life of jesus; thus, the three were the only apostles admitted to witness the raising of the daughter of jairus from death to life;[ ] they were the only members of the twelve present at the transfiguration of christ;[ ] they were nearest the lord during the period of his mortal agony in gethsemane;[ ] and, as heretofore told, they have ministered in these modern days in the restoration of the holy apostleship with all its ancient authority and power of blessing.[ ] james is commonly designated in theological literature as james i, to distinguish him from the other apostle bearing the same name. james, the son of zebedee, was the first of the apostles to meet a martyr's violent death; he was beheaded by order of the king, herod agrippa.[ ] john had been a disciple of the baptist, and had demonstrated his confidence in the latter's testimony of jesus by promptly turning from the forerunner and following the lord.[ ] he became a devoted servant, and repeatedly refers to himself as the disciple "whom jesus loved."[ ] at the last supper john sat next to jesus leaning his head upon the master's breast;[ ] and next day as he stood beneath the cross he received from the dying christ the special charge to care for the lord's mother;[ ] and to this he promptly responded by conducting the weeping mary to his own house. he was the first to recognize the risen lord on the shores of galilee, and received from his immortal lips encouragement of his hope that his life would be continued in the body, in order that he might minister among men until the christ shall come in his glory.[ ] the realization of that hope has been attested by revelation in modern days.[ ] _andrew_, son of jona and brother of simon peter, is mentioned less frequently than the three already considered. he had been one of the baptist's followers, and with john, the son of zebedee, left the baptist to learn from jesus; and having learned he went in search of peter, solemnly averred to him that the messiah had been found, and brought his brother to the savior's feet.[ ] he shared with peter in the honor of the call of the lord on the sea shore, and in the promise "i will make you fishers of men."[ ] in one instance we read of andrew as present with peter, james and john, in a private interview with the lord;[ ] and he is mentioned in connection with the miraculous feeding of the five thousand,[ ] and as associated with philip in arranging an interview between certain inquiring greeks and jesus.[ ] he is named with others in connection with our lord's ascension.[ ] tradition is rife with stories about this man, but of the extent of his ministry, the duration of his life, and the circumstances of his death, we have no authentic record. _philip_ may have been the first to receive the authoritative call "follow me" from the lips of jesus, and we find him immediately testifying that jesus was the long expected messiah. his home was in bethsaida, the town of peter, andrew, james, and john. it is said that jesus found him,[ ] whereas the others concerned in that early affiliation seem to have come of themselves severally to christ. we find brief mention of him at the time the five thousand were fed, on which occasion jesus asked him "whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" this was done to test and prove him, for jesus knew what would be done. philip's reply was based on a statement of the small amount of money at hand, and showed no expectation of miraculous intervention.[ ] it was to him the greeks applied when they sought a meeting with jesus as noted in connection with andrew. he was mildly reproved for his misunderstanding when he asked jesus to show to him and the others the father--"have i been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, philip?"[ ] aside from incidental mention of his presence as one of the eleven after the ascension, the scriptures tell us nothing more concerning him. _bartholomew_ is mentioned in scripture by this name only in connection with his ordination to the apostleship, and as one of the eleven after the ascension. the name means son of tolmai. it is practically certain, however, that he is the man called nathanael in john's gospel--the one whom christ designated as "an israelite indeed, in whom is no guile."[ ] he is named again as among those who went fishing with peter after the resurrection of christ.[ ] his home was in cana of galilee. the reasons for assuming that bartholomew and nathanael are the same persons are these: bartholomew is named in each of the three synoptic gospels as an apostle, but nathanael is not mentioned. nathanael is named twice in john's gospel, and bartholomew not at all; bartholomew and philip, or nathanael and philip, are mentioned together. _matthew_, or _levi_, son of alpheus, was one of the seven who received a call to follow christ before the ordination of the twelve. he it was who gave a feast, for attending which jesus and the disciples were severely criticized by the pharisees,[ ] on the charge that it was unseemly for him to eat with publicans and sinners. matthew was a publican; he so designates himself in the gospel he wrote;[ ] but the other evangelists omit the mention when including him with the twelve. his hebrew name, levi, is understood by many as an indication of priestly lineage. of his ministry we have no detailed account; though he is the author of the first gospel, he refrains from special mention of himself except in connection with his call and ordination. he is spoken of by other than scriptural writers as one of the most active of the apostles after christ's death, and as operating in lands far from palestine. _thomas_, also known as didymus, the greek equivalent of his hebrew name, meaning "a twin," is mentioned as a witness of the raising of lazarus. his devotion to jesus is shown by his desire to accompany the lord to bethany, though persecution in that region was almost certain. to his fellow apostles thomas said: "let us also go, that we may die with him."[ ] even as late in his experience as the night before the crucifixion, thomas had failed to comprehend the impending necessity of the savior's sacrifice; and when jesus referred to going away and leaving the others to follow, thomas asked how they could know the way. for his lack of understanding he stood reproved.[ ] he was absent when the resurrected christ appeared to the assembled disciples in the evening of the day of his rising; and on being informed by the others that they had seen the lord, he forcefully expressed his doubt, and declared he would not believe unless he could see and feel for himself the wounds in the crucified body. eight days later the lord visited the apostles again, when, as on the earlier occasion, they were within closed doors; and to thomas the lord said: "reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side." then thomas, no longer doubting but with love and reverence filling his soul, exclaimed "my lord and my god." the lord said unto him: "thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."[ ] of thomas no further record appears in the new testament aside from that of his presence with his fellows after the ascension. _james_, son of alpheus, is mentioned in the gospels only in the matter of his ordination to the apostleship; and but once elsewhere in the new testament by the appellation "son of alpheus."[ ] in writings other than scriptural he is sometimes designated as james ii to avoid confusing him with james the son of zebedee. there is acknowledged uncertainty concerning the identity of james the son of alpheus as the james or one of the james's referred to in the acts and the epistles;[ ] and a plenitude of controversial literature on the subject is extant.[ ] _judas_ is called _lebbeus thaddeus_ by matthew, _thaddeus_ by mark, and _judas the brother of james_ by luke.[ ] the only other specific reference to this apostle is made by john, and is incident to the last long interview between jesus and the apostles, when this judas, "not iscariot," asked how or why jesus would manifest himself to his chosen servants and not to the world at large. the man's question shows that the really distinguishing character of the apostleship was not fully comprehended by him at that time. _simon zelotes_, so designated in acts,[ ] and as _simon called zelotes_ in luke's gospel, is distinguished by both matthew and mark as the _canaanite_. the last designation has no reference to the town of cana, nor to the land of canaan, neither is it in any sense of geographical signification; it is the syro-chaldaic equivalent of the greek word which is rendered in the english translation "zelotes." the two names, therefore, have the same fundamental meaning, and each refers to the zealots, a jewish sect or faction, known for its zeal in maintaining the mosaic ritual. doubtless simon had learned moderation and toleration from the teachings of christ; otherwise he would scarcely have been suited to the apostolic ministry. his zealous earnestness, properly directed, may have developed into a most serviceable trait of character. this apostle is nowhere in the scriptures named apart from his colleagues. _judas iscariot_ is the only judean named among the twelve; all the others were galileans. he is generally understood to have been a resident of kerioth, a small town in the southerly part of judea, but a few miles west from the dead sea, though for this tradition, as also for the signification of his surname, we lack direct authority. so too we are uninformed as to his lineage, except that his father's name was simon.[ ] he served as treasurer or agent of the apostolic company, receiving and disbursing such offerings as were made by disciples and friends, and purchasing supplies as required.[ ] that he was unprincipled and dishonest in the discharge of this trust is attested by john. his avaricious and complaining nature revealed itself in his murmuring against what he called a waste of costly spikenard, in the anointing of the lord by mary but a few days before the crucifixion; he hypocritically suggested that the precious ointment could have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor.[ ] the crowning deed of perfidy in the career of iscariot was his deliberate betrayal of his master to death; and this the infamous creature did for a price, and accomplished the foul deed with a kiss. he brought his guilty life to a close by a revolting suicide and his spirit went to the awful fate reserved for the sons of perdition.[ ] general characteristics of the twelve. a survey of the general characteristics and qualifications of this body of twelve men reveals some interesting facts. before their selection as apostles they had all become close disciples of the lord; they believed in him; several of them, possibly all, had openly confessed that he was the son of god; and yet it is doubtful that any one of them fully understood the real significance of the savior's work. it is evident by the later remarks of many of them, and by the instructions and rebuke they called forth from the master, that the common jewish expectation of a messiah who would reign in splendor as an earthly sovereign after he had subdued all other nations, had a place even in the hearts of these chosen ones. after long experience, peter's concern was: "behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?"[ ] they were as children to be trained and taught; but they were mostly willing pupils, receptive of soul, and imbued with a sincere eagerness to serve. to jesus they were his little ones, his children, his servants, and his friends, as they merited.[ ] they were all of the common people, not rabbis, scholars, nor priestly officials. their inner natures, not their outward accomplishments, were taken into prime account in the lord's choosing. the master chose them; they did not choose themselves; by him they were ordained,[ ] and they could in consequence rely the more implicitly upon his guidance and support. to them much was given; much of them was required. with the one black exception they all became shining lights in the kingdom of god, and vindicated the master's selection. he recognized in each the characteristics of fitness developed in the primeval world of spirits.[ ] disciples and apostles. discipleship is general; any follower of a man or devotee to a principle may be called a disciple. the holy apostleship is an office and calling belonging to the higher or melchizedek priesthood, at once exalted and specific, comprizing as a distinguishing function that of personal and special witness to the divinity of jesus christ as the one and only redeemer and savior of mankind.[ ] the apostleship is an individual bestowal, and as such is conferred only through ordination. that the twelve did constitute a council or "quorum" having authority in the church established by jesus christ, is shown by their ministrations after the lord's resurrection and ascension. their first official act was that of filling the vacancy in their organization occasioned by the apostasy and death of judas iscariot; and in connection with this procedure, the presiding apostle, peter, set forth the essential qualifications of the one who would be chosen and ordained, which comprized such knowledge of jesus, his life, death, and resurrection, as would make the new apostle one with the eleven as special witnesses of the lord's work.[ ] the ordination of the twelve apostles marked the inauguration of an advanced epoch in the earthly ministry of jesus, an epoch characterized by the organization of a body of men invested with the authority of the holy priesthood, upon whom would rest, more particularly after the lord's departure, the duty and responsibility of continuing the work he had begun, and of building up the church established by him. the word "apostle" is an anglicized form derived from the greek _apostolos_, meaning literally "one who is sent," and connoting an envoy or official messenger, who speaks and acts by the authority of one superior to himself. in this sense paul afterward applied the title to christ as one specially sent and commissioned of the father.[ ] the lord's purpose in choosing and ordaining the twelve is thus enunciated by mark: "and he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils."[ ] for a season following their ordination the apostles remained with jesus, being specially trained and instructed by him for the work then before them; afterward they were specifically charged and sent forth to preach and to administer in the authority of their priesthood, as shall be hereafter considered. notes to chapter . . judas lebbeus thaddeus.--this judas (not iscariot) is designated in the authorized version of luke : , and acts : , as "_the brother_ of james." that the words "the brother" are an addition to the original text is indicated by italics. the revised version of these passages reads in each instance "_the son_ of james," with italics of corresponding significance. the original reads "judas of james." we are uninformed as to which james is referred to, and as to whether the judas here mentioned was the son, the brother, or some other relative of the unidentified james. . the meaning of "apostle."--"the title 'apostle' is likewise one of special significance and sanctity; it has been given of god, and belongs only to those who have been called and ordained as 'special witnesses of the name of christ in all the world, thus differing from other officers in the church in the duties of their calling' (doc. and cov. : ). by derivation the word 'apostle' is the english equivalent of the greek _apostolos_, indicating a messenger, an ambassador, or literally 'one who is sent'. it signifies that he who is rightly so called, speaks and acts not of himself, but as the representative of a higher power whence his commission issued; and in this sense the title is that of a servant, rather than that of a superior. even the christ, however, is called an apostle with reference to his ministry in the flesh (hebrews : ), and this appellation is justified by his repeated declaration that he came to earth to do not his own will but that of the father by whom _he was sent_. "though an apostle is thus seen to be essentially an envoy, or ambassador, his authority is great, as is also the responsibility associated therewith, for he speaks in the name of a power greater than his own--the name of him whose special witness he is. when one of the twelve is sent to minister in any stake, mission or other division of the church, or to labor in regions where no church organization has been effected, he acts as the representative of the first presidency, and has the right to use his authority in doing whatever is requisite for the furtherance of the work of god. his duty is to preach the gospel, administer the ordinances thereof, and set in order the affairs of the church, wherever he is sent. so great is the sanctity of this special calling, that the title 'apostle' should not be used lightly as the common or ordinary form of address applied to living men called to this office. the quorum or council of the twelve apostles as existent in the church to-day may better be spoken of as the 'quorum of the twelve,' the 'council of the twelve,' or simply as the 'twelve,' than as the 'twelve apostles,' except as particular occasion may warrant the use of the more sacred term. it is advized that the title 'apostle' be not applied as a prefix to the name of any member of the council of the twelve; but that such a one be addressed or spoken of as 'brother ----,' or 'elder ----,' and when necessary or desirable, as in announcing his presence in a public assembly, an explanatory clause may be added, thus, 'elder ----, one of the council of the twelve,'"--from "the honor and dignity of priesthood," by the author, _improvement era_, vol. , no. , pp. - . . "of alpheus;" or "son of alpheus."--in all bible passages specifying "james son of alpheus" (matt. : ; mark : ; luke : ; acts : ) the word _son_ has been supplied by the translators, and therefore properly appears in _italics_. the phrase in the greek reads "james of alpheus." this fact must not be given undue weight in support of the thought that the james spoken of was not the son of alpheus; for the word _son_ has been similarly added in the translation of other passages, in all of which _italics_ are used to indicate the words supplied, e.g. "james _the son_ of zebedee" (matt. : ; see also mark : ). read in this connection note on the opposite page. footnotes: [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] luke : . [ ] luke : ; compare john : ; see also acts : . [ ] john : ; compare matt. : . [ ] mark : - ; luke : . [ ] john : ; : . [ ] matt. : ; mark : ; luke : . [ ] acts : . [ ] john : , . [ ] peter : . [ ] doc. and cov. : . page herein. [ ] mark : . [ ] luke : . see also mark : , for instance of john's impulsive zeal. [ ] mark : - ; compare matt. : - . [ ] mark : ; luke : . [ ] matt. : - ; luke : - . [ ] matt. : , . [ ] doc. and cov. : . page herein. [ ] acts : , . [ ] john : - ; see page . [ ] john : ; : ; : . [ ] john : , . [ ] john : - . [ ] john : , - . [ ] doc. and cov. sec. ; compare b. of m., nephi : - . [ ] john : - . [ ] matt. : , . [ ] mark : . [ ] john : . [ ] john : - . [ ] acts : . [ ] john : - . [ ] john : - . [ ] john : , . [ ] john : - ; see page . [ ] john : , . [ ] page . [ ] matt. : . [ ] john : . [ ] john : - . [ ] john : - . page herein. [ ] acts : . note , end of chapter. [ ] acts : ; : - ; : ; cor. : ; gal. : ; : , ; and the epistle of james. [ ] concerning the james's mentioned in the new testament, the opinion of bible scholars is divided, the question being as to whether two or three individuals are indicated. those who hold that there were three men of this name distinguish them as follows: ( ) james the son of zebedee and brother of john the apostle; all scriptural references to him are explicit; ( ) james the son of alpheus; and ( ) james the brother of the lord (matt. : ; mark : ; gal. : ). if we accept this classification, the references given in the previous footnote on this page apply to james the lord's brother. both the oxford and bagster bible "helps" treat james the son of alpheus and james the lord's brother as one person, the expression "son of" being understood in its general sense only (see page ). the bagster designation is: "james ii, apostle, son of alpheus, brother or cousin to jesus." (see note , end of chapter.) the nave "student's bible" states (page ) that the question as to whether james the lord's brother "is identical with james the son of alpheus is one of the most difficult questions in the biographical history of the gospels." faussett (in his "cyclopedia critical and expository") supports the contention that but one james is meant; and other acknowledged authorities treat the two as one. for detailed consideration of the subject the reader is referred to special works. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] acts : ; compare luke : . [ ] john : ; : ; : . [ ] john : ; : . [ ] john : - ; compare matt. : - ; mark : - . [ ] matt. : ; compare acts : ; see also john : ; doc. and cov. ; - ; : . [ ] matt. : . [ ] matt. : ; john : ; : . compare verse ; : , . [ ] john : . [ ] pages and . [ ] doc. and cov. : - ; : - ; : - , , , . [ ] acts : - . [ ] heb. : ; see note , end of chapter. [ ] mark : , . chapter . the sermon on the mount. at some time very near that of the ordination of the twelve, jesus delivered a remarkable discourse, which, in reference to the place where it was given, has come to be known as the sermon on the mount. matthew presents an extended account occupying three chapters of the first gospel; luke gives a briefer synopsis.[ ] circumstantial variations appearing in the two records are of minor importance;[ ] it is the sermon itself to which we may profitably devote attention. luke introduces in different parts of his writings many of the precious precepts given as parts of the sermon recorded as a continuous discourse in the gospel written by matthew. in our present study we shall be guided principally by matthew's account. some portions of this comprehensive address were expressly directed to the disciples, who had been or would be called to the apostleship and in consequence be required to renounce all their worldly interests for the labors of the ministry; other parts were and are of general application. jesus had ascended the mountain side, probably to escape the crowds that thronged him in or near the towns.[ ] the disciples gathered about him, and there he sat and taught them.[ ] the beatitudes.[ ] the opening sentences are rich in blessing, and the first section of the discourse is devoted to an explanation of what constitutes genuine blessedness; the lesson, moreover, was made simple and unambiguous by specific application, each of the blessed being assured of recompense and reward in the enjoyment of conditions directly opposite to those under which he had suffered. the blessings particularized by the lord on this occasion have been designated in literature of later time as the beatitudes. the poor in spirit are to be made rich as rightful heirs to the kingdom of heaven; the mourner shall be comforted for he shall see the divine purpose in his grief, and shall again associate with the beloved ones of whom he has been bereft; the meek, who suffer spoliation rather than jeopardize their souls in contention, shall inherit the earth; those that hunger and thirst for the truth shall be fed in rich abundance; they that show mercy shall be judged mercifully; the pure in heart shall be admitted to the very presence of god; the peacemakers, who try to save themselves and their fellows from strife, shall be numbered among the children of god; they that suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness shall inherit the riches of the eternal kingdom. to the disciples the lord spake directly, saying: "blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."[ ] it is evident that the specified blessings and the happiness comprized therein are to be realized in their fulness only beyond the grave; though the joy that comes from the consciousness of right living brings, even in this world, a rich return. an important element in this splendid elucidation of the truly blessed state is the implied distinction between pleasure and happiness.[ ] mere pleasure is at best but fleeting; happiness is abiding, for in the recollection thereof is joy renewed. supreme happiness is not an earthly attainment; the promised "fulness of joy" lies beyond death and the resurrection.[ ] while man exists in this mortal state he needs some of the things of the world; he must have food and clothing and provision for shelter; and beside these bare necessities he may righteously desire the facilities of education, the incidentals of advancing civilization, and the things that are conducive to refinement and culture; yet all of these are but aids to achievement, not the end to attain which man was made mortal. the beatitudes are directed to the duties of mortal life as a preparation for a greater existence yet future. in the kingdom of heaven, twice named in this part of the lord's discourse, are true riches and unfailing happiness to be found. the kingdom of heaven was the all-comprizing text of this wonderful sermon; the means of reaching the kingdom and the glories of eternal citizenship therein are the main divisions of the treatise. dignity and responsibility in the ministry.[ ] the master next proceeded to instruct with particular directness those upon whom would devolve the responsibility of the ministry as his commissioned representatives. "ye are the salt of the earth," said he. salt is the great preservative; as such it has had practical use since very ancient times. salt was prescribed as an essential addition to every meat offering under the mosaic law.[ ] long before the time of christ, the use of salt had been accorded a symbolism of fidelity, hospitality, and covenant.[ ] to be of use salt must be pure; to be of any saving virtue as salt, it must be salt indeed, and not the product of chemical alteration or of earthy admixture, whereby its saltiness or "savor" would be lost;[ ] and, as worthless stuff, it would be fit only to be thrown away. against such change of faith, against such admixture with the sophistries, so-called philosophies, and heresies of the times, the disciples were especially warned. then, changing the figure, jesus likened them to the light of the world, and enjoined upon them the duty of keeping their light before the people, as prominently as stands a city built upon a hill, to be seen from all directions, a city that cannot be hid. of what service would a lighted candle be if hidden under a tub or a box? "let your light so shine before men," said he, "that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven." that they should make no error as to the relationship of the ancient law and the gospel of the kingdom which he was elucidating, jesus assured them that he had not come to destroy the law nor to nullify the teachings and predictions of the prophets, but to fulfil such and to establish that for which the developments of the centuries gone had been but preparatory. the gospel may be said to have destroyed the mosaic law only as the seed is destroyed in the growth of the new plant, only as the bud is destroyed by the bursting forth of the rich, full, and fragrant flowers, only as infancy and youth pass forever as the maturity of years develops. not a jot or a tittle of the law was to be void. a more effective analogy than the last could scarcely have been conceived; the jot or yod, and the tittle, were small literary marks in the hebrew script; for present purposes we may regard them as equivalent to the dot of an "i" or the cross of a "t"; with the first, the jot, our english word "iota," signifying a trifle, is related. not even the least commandment could be violated without penalty; but the disciples were admonished to take heed that their keeping of the commandments was not after the manner of the scribes and pharisees, whose observance was that of ceremonial externalism, lacking the essentials of genuine devotion; for they were assured that by such an insincere course they could "in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." the law superseded by the gospel.[ ] the next section of the sermon deals with the superiority of the gospel of christ over the law of moses, and contrasts the requirements of the two in particular instances. whereas the law forbade murder, and provided a just penalty for the crime, christ taught that one's giving way to anger, which might possibly lead to violence or even murder, was of itself a sin. to maliciously use an offensive epithet such as "raca" laid one liable to punishment under the decree of the council, and to call another a fool placed one "in danger of hell fire." these objectionable designations were regarded at that time as especially opprobrious and were therefore expressive of hateful intent. the murderer's hand is impelled by the hatred in his heart. the law provided penalty for the deed; the gospel rebuked the evil passion in its incipiency. to emphasize this principle, the master showed that hatred was not to be atoned by a material sacrifice; and that if one came to make an offering at the altar, and remembered that he was at enmity with his brother, he should first go to that brother and be reconciled, even though such a course involved the interruption of the ceremonial, which was a particularly grievous incident according to the judgment of the priests. differences and contentions were to be adjusted without delay. the law forbade the awful sin of adultery; christ said that the sin began in the lustful glance, the sensual thought; and he added that it was better to become blind than to look with evil eye; better to lose a hand than to work iniquity therewith. touching the matter of divorcement, in which great laxity prevailed in that day, jesus declared that except for the most serious offense of infidelity to marriage vows, no man could divorce his wife without becoming himself an offender, in that she, marrying again while still a wife not righteously divorced, would be guilty of sin, and so would be the man to whom she was so married. of old it had been forbidden to swear or take oaths except in solemn covenant before the lord; but in the gospel dispensation the lord forbade that men swear at all; and the heinousness of wanton oaths was expounded. grievously sinful indeed it was and is to swear by heaven, which is the abode of god; or by earth, which is his creation and by him called his footstool; or by jerusalem, which was regarded by those who swore as the city of the great king; or by one's own head, which is part of the body god has created. moderation in speech, decision and simplicity were enjoined, to the exclusion of expletives, profanity and oaths. of old the principle of retaliation had been tolerated, by which one who had suffered injury could exact or inflict a penalty of the same nature as the offense. thus an eye was demanded for the loss of an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life.[ ] in contrast, christ taught that men should rather suffer than do evil, even to the extent of submission without resistance under certain implied conditions. his forceful illustrations--that if one were smitten on one cheek he should turn the other to the smiter; that if a man took another's coat by process of law, the loser should allow his cloak to be taken also; that if one was pressed into service to carry another's burden a mile, he should willingly go two miles; that one should readily give or lend as asked--are not to be construed as commanding abject subserviency to unjust demands, nor as an abrogation of the principle of self-protection. these instructions were directed primarily to the apostles, who would be professedly devoted to the work of the kingdom to the exclusion of all other interests. in their ministry it would be better to suffer material loss or personal indignity and imposition at the hands of wicked oppressors, than to bring about an impairment of efficiency and a hindrance in work through resistance and contention. to such as these the beatitudes were particularly applicable--blessed are the meek, the peace-makers, and they that are persecuted for righteousness' sake. of old it had been said: "love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy";[ ] but the lord now taught: "love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." this was a new doctrine. never before had israel been required to love their foes. friendship for enemies had found no place in the mosaic code: indeed the people had grown to look upon israel's enemies as god's enemies; and now jesus required that tolerance, mercy, and even love be meted out to such! he supplemented the requirement by an explanation--through the course indicated by him men may become children of god, like unto their heavenly father to the extent of their obedience; for the father is kind, long-suffering and tolerant, causing his sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and sending rain for the sustenance of both just and unjust.[ ] and further, what excellence has the man who gives only as he receives, acknowledges only those who salute him with respect, loves only as he is loved? even the publicans[ ] did that much. of the disciples of christ much more was expected. the admonition closing this division of the discourse is an effective and comprehensive summary of all that had preceded: "_be ye therefore perfect, even as your father which is in heaven is perfect._"[ ] sincerity of purpose.[ ] in the matter of alms-giving the master warned against, and inferentially denounced, ostentation and hypocritical display. to give to the needy is praiseworthy; but to give for the purpose of winning the praise of men is rank hypocrisy. the tossing of alms to a beggar, the pouring of offerings into the temple treasure chests, to be seen of men,[ ] and similar displays of affected liberality, were fashionable among certain classes in the time of christ; and the same spirit is manifest today. some there be now who cause a trumpet to be sounded, through the columns of the press perchance, or by other means of publicity, to call attention to their giving, that they may have glory of men--to win political favor, to increase their trade or influence, to get what in their estimation is worth more than that from which they part. with logical incisiveness the master demonstrated that such givers have their reward. they have received what they bid for; what more can such men demand or consistently expect? _"but" said the lord, "when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine alms may be in secret: and thy father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly!"_ in the same spirit did the preacher denounce hypocritical prayers--the saying of prayers in place of praying. there were many who sought places of public resort, in the synagogs, and even on the street-corners, that they might be seen and heard of men when saying their prayers. they secured the publicity they sought; what more could they ask? "verily i say unto you, they have their reward," he who would really pray--pray as nearly as possible as christ prayed, pray in actual communion with god to whom the prayer is addressed--will seek privacy, seclusion, isolation; if opportunity permits he will retire to his chamber, and will shut the door, that none may intrude; there he may pray indeed, if the spirit of prayer be in his heart; and this course was commended by the lord. wordy supplications, made up largely of iterations and repetitions such as the heathen use, thinking that their idol deities will be pleased with their much speaking, were forbidden. it is well to know that prayer is not compounded of words, words that may fail to express what one desires to say, words that so often cloak inconsistencies, words that may have no deeper source than the physical organs of speech, words that may be spoken to impress mortal ears. the dumb may pray, and that too with the eloquence that prevails in heaven. prayer is made up of heart throbs and the righteous yearnings of the soul, of supplication based on the realization of need, of contrition and pure desire. if there lives a man who has never really prayed, that man is a being apart from the order of the divine in human nature, a stranger in the family of god's children. prayer is for the uplifting of the suppliant. god without our prayers would be god; but we without prayer cannot be admitted to the kingdom of god. so did christ instruct: "your father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." then gave he unto those who sought wisdom at his feet, a model prayer, saying: "after this manner therefore pray ye: _"our father which art in heaven, hallowed by thy name."_ in this we acknowledge the relation we bear to our heavenly father, and while reverencing his great and holy name, we avail ourselves of the inestimable privilege of approaching him, less with the thought of his infinite glory as the creator of all that is, the supreme being above all creation, than with the loving realization that he is father, and that we are his children. this is the earliest biblical scripture giving instruction, permission, or warrant, for addressing god directly as "our father". therein is expressed the reconciliation which the human family, estranged through sin, may attain by the means provided through the well beloved son. this instruction is equally definite in demonstrating the brotherhood between christ and humanity. as he prayed so pray we to the same father, we as brethren and christ as our elder brother. _"thy kingdom come. thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."_ the kingdom of god is to be a kingdom of order, in which toleration and the recognition of individual rights shall prevail. one who really prays that this kingdom come will strive to hasten its coming by living according to the law of god. his effort will be to keep himself in harmony with the order of the kingdom, to subject the flesh to the spirit, selfishness to altruism, and to learn to love the things that god loves. to make the will of god supreme on earth as it is in heaven is to be allied with god in the affairs of life. there are many who profess belief that as god is omnipotent, all that is is according to his will. such a supposition is unscriptural, unreasonable, and untrue.[ ] wickedness is not in harmony with his will; falsehood, hypocrisy, vice and crime are not god's gifts to man. by his will these monstrosities that have developed as hideous deformities in human nature and life shall be abolished, and this blessed consummation shall be reached when by choice, without surrender or abrogation of their free agency, men shall do the will of god. _"give us this day our daily bread."_ food is indispensable to life. as we need it we should ask for it. true, the father knows our need before we ask, but by asking we acknowledge him as the giver, and are made humble, grateful, contrite, and reliant by the request. though the sun shines and the rain falls alike upon the just and the unjust, the righteous man is grateful for these blessings; the ungodly man receives the benefits as a matter of course with a soul incapable of gratitude. the capacity to be grateful is a blessing, for the possession of which we should be further grateful. we are taught to pray day by day for the food we need, not for a great store to be laid by for the distant future. israel in the desert received manna as a daily supply[ ] and were kept in mind of their reliance upon him who gave. the man with much finds it easier to forget his dependence than he who must ask with each succeeding day of need. _"and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."_ he who can thus pray with full intent and unmixed purpose merits forgiveness. in this specification of personal supplication we are taught to expect only as we deserve. the selfish and sinful would rejoice in exemption from their lawful debts, but being selfish and sinful would exact the last farthing from those who owe them.[ ] forgiveness is too precious a pearl to be cast at the feet of the unforgiving;[ ] and, without the sincerity that springs from a contrite heart, no man may justly claim mercy. if others owe us, either in actual money or goods as suggested by debts and debtors, or through some infringement upon our rights included under the broader designation as a trespass, our mode of dealing with them will be taken into righteous account in the judgment of our own offenses. _"and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:"_ the first part of this petition has occasioned comment and question. we are not to understand that god would ever lead a man into temptation except, perhaps, by way of wise permission, to test and prove him, thereby affording him opportunity of overcoming and so of gaining spiritual strength, which is the only true advancement in man's eternal course of progress. the one purpose of providing bodies for the preexistent spirits of the race, and of advancing them to the mortal state, was to "prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the lord their god shall command them."[ ] the plan of mortality involved the certainty of temptation. the intent of the supplication appears to be that we be preserved from temptation beyond our weak powers to withstand; that we be not abandoned to temptation without the divine support that shall be as full a measure of protection as our exercize of choice will allow. how inconsistent then to go, as many do, into the places where the temptations to which we are most susceptible are strongest; for the man beset with a passion for strong drink to so pray and then resort to the dramshop; for the man whose desires are lustful to voice such a prayer and then go where lust is kindled; for the dishonest man, though he say the prayer, to then place himself where he knows the opportunity to steal will be found! can such souls as these be other than hypocrites in asking god to deliver them from the evils they have sought? temptation will fall in our way without our seeking, and evil will present itself even when we desire most to do right; for deliverance from such we may pray with righteous expectation and assurance. _"for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. amen."_ herein we acknowledge the supremacy of the being whom we addressed at the beginning as father. he is the almighty in whom and through whose provision we live and move and have our existence.[ ] to assert independence of god is both sacrilege and blasphemy; to acknowledge him is a filial duty and a just confession of his majesty and dominion. the lord's prayer is closed with a solemn "amen," set as a seal to the document of the supplication, attesting its genuineness as the true expression of the suppliant's soul; gathering within the compass of a word the meaning of all that has been uttered or thought. _so let it be_ is the literal signification of _amen_. from the subject of prayer the master turned to that of fasting, and emphasized the important truth that to be of avail fasting must be a matter between the man and his god, not between man and his kind. it was a common thing in the master's day to see men parading the fact of their abstinence as an advertisement of their assumed piety.[ ] that they might appear haggard and faint, this class of hypocrites disfigured their faces, went with unkempt hair, gazed about with sad countenances. of these also the lord said, "verily i say unto you, they have their reward." believers were admonished to fast secretly, with no outward display, and to fast unto god, who could see in secret and would heed their sacrifice and prayer. treasures of earth and of heaven.[ ] the transitory character of worldly wealth was next contrasted with the enduring riches of eternity. many there were and many there are whose principal effort in life has been that of amassing treasures of earth, the mere possession of which entails responsibility, care, and disturbing anxiety. some kinds of wealth are endangered by the ravages of moths, such as silks and velvets, satins and furs; some are destroyed by corrosion and rust--silver and copper and steel; while these and others are not infrequently made the booty of thieves. infinitely more precious are the treasures of a life well spent, the wealth of good deeds, the account of which is kept in heaven, where the riches of righteous achievement are safe from moth, rust, and robbers. then followed the trenchant lesson: _"for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."_ spiritual light is shown to be greater than any product of physical illuminants. what does the brightest light avail the man who is blind? it is the bodily eye that discerns the light of the candle, the lamp, or the sun; and the spiritual eye sees by spiritual light; if then man's spiritual eye be single, that is, pure and undimmed by sin, he is filled with the light that shall show him the way to god; whereas if his soul's eye be evil, he will be as one full of darkness. solemn caution is expressed in the summary, "if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" those whom the master was addressing had received of the light of god; the degree of belief they had already professed was proof of that. should they turn from the great emprise on which they had embarked, the light would be lost, and the succeeding darkness would be denser than that from which they had been relieved.[ ] there was to be no indecision among the disciples. no one of them could serve two masters; if he professed so to do he would be an untrue servant to the one or the other. then followed another profound generalization: _"ye cannot serve god and mammon."_[ ] they were told to trust the father for what they needed, taking no thought of food, drink, clothing, or even of life itself, for all these were to be supplied by means above their power to control. with the wisdom of a teacher of teachers, the master appealed to their hearts and their understanding by citing the lessons of nature, in language of such simple yet forceful eloquence that to amplify or condense it is but to mar: "behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly father feedeth them. are ye not much better than they? which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? and why take ye thought for raiment? consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet i say unto you, that even solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." the weakness of faith was reproved in the reminder that the father who cared even for the grass of the field, which one day flourishes and on the next is gathered up to be burned, would not fail to remember his own. therefore the master added: _"seek ye first the kingdom of god, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."_ hypocrisy further condemned.[ ] men are prone to judge their fellows and to praise or censure without due consideration of fact or circumstance. on prejudiced or unsupported judgment the master set his disapproval. "judge not, that ye be not judged," he admonished, for, according to one's own standard of judging others, shall he himself be judged. the man who is always ready to correct his brother's faults, to remove the mote from his neighbor's eye so that that neighbor may see things as the interested and interfering friend would have him see, was denounced as a hypocrite. what was the speck in his neighbor's vision to the obscuring beam in his own eye? have the centuries between the days of christ and our own time made us less eager to cure the defective vision of those who cannot or will not assume our point of view, and see things as we see them? these disciples, some of whom were soon to minister in the authority of the holy apostleship, were cautioned against the indiscreet and indiscriminate scattering of the sacred truths and precepts committed to them. their duty would be to discern the spirits of those whom they essayed to teach, and to impart unto them in wisdom. the words of the master were strong: "give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before, swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."[ ] promise and reassurance[ ] that their supplications would be heard and answered followed as a rich promise. they were to ask and they would receive; they were to knock and the door would be opened. surely the heavenly father would not be less considerate than a human parent; and what father would answer his son's plea for bread by giving him a stone, or who would give a serpent when a fish was desired? with greater certainty would god bestow good gifts upon those who asked according to their need, in faith. "_therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."_ the straight and narrow way by which man may walk in godliness was compared with the broad highway leading to destruction. false prophets were to be shunned, such as were then among the people, comparable in their pretense to sheep, and in their reality to ravening wolves. these were to be recognized by their works and the results thereof, even as a tree to be judged as good or bad according to its fruit. a thorn bush does not produce grapes, nor can thistles bear figs. conversely, it is as truly impossible for a good tree to produce evil fruit as for a useless and corrupt tree to bring forth good fruit. religion is more than the confession and profession of the lips. jesus averred that in the day of judgment many would pretend allegiance to him, saying: "lord, lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? and then will i profess unto them, i never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." only by doing the will of the father is the saving grace of the son obtainable. to assume to speak and act in the name of the lord without the bestowal of authority, such as the lord alone can give, is to add sacrilege to hypocrisy. even miracles wrought will be no vindication of the claims of those who pretend to minister in the ordinances of the gospel while devoid of the authority of the holy priesthood.[ ] hearing and doing.[ ] the sermon on the mount has stood through all the years since its delivery without another to be compared with it. no mortal man has ever since preached a discourse of its kind. the spirit of the address is throughout that of sincerity and action, as opposed to empty profession and neglect. in the closing sentences the lord showed the uselessness of hearing alone, as contrasted with the efficacy of doing. the man who hears and acts is likened unto the wise builder who set the foundation of his house upon a rock; and in spite of rain and hurricane and flood, the house stood. he that hears and obeys not is likened unto the foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and when rain fell, or winds blew, or floods came, behold it fell, and great was the fall thereof. such doctrines as these astonished the people. for his distinctive teachings the preacher had cited no authority but his own. his address was free from any array of rabbinical precedents; the law was superseded by the gospel: _"for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes!"_ notes to chapter . . time and place of the sermon on the mount.--matthew gives the address early mention, placing it even before the record of his own call from the seat of custom--which call certainly preceded the ordination of the twelve as a body--and before his account of many sayings and doings of the lord already considered in these pages. luke's partial summary of the sermon follows his record of the ordination of the apostles. matthew tells us that jesus had gone up the mountain and that he sat while speaking; luke's account suggests the inference that jesus and the twelve first descended from the mountain heights to a plain, where they were met by the multitude, and that jesus preached unto them, standing. critics who rejoice in trifles, often to the neglect of weightier matters, have tried to make much of these seeming variations. is it not probable that jesus spoke at length on the mountain-side to the disciples then present, and from whom he had chosen the twelve, and that after finishing his discourse to them he descended with them to the plain where a multitude had assembled, and that to these he repeated parts of what he had before spoken? the relative fulness of matthew's report may be due to the fact that he, as one of the twelve, was present at the first and more extended delivery. . pleasure versus happiness.--"the present is an age of pleasure-seeking, and men are losing their sanity in the mad rush for sensations that do but excite and disappoint. in this day of counterfeits, adulterations, and base imitations, the devil is busier than he has ever been in the course of human history, in the manufacture of pleasures, both old and new; and these he offers for sale in most attractive fashion, falsely labeled, _happiness_. in this soul-destroying craft he is without a peer; he has had centuries of experience and practise, and by his skill he controls the market. he has learned the tricks of the trade, and knows well how to catch the eye and arouse the desire of his customers. he puts up the stuff in bright-colored packages, tied with tinsel string and tassel; and crowds flock to his bargain counters, hustling and crushing one another in their frenzy to buy. "follow one of the purchasers as he goes off gloatingly with his gaudy packet, and watch him as he opens it. what finds he inside the gilded wrapping? he has expected fragrant happiness, but uncovers only an inferior brand of pleasure, the stench of which is nauseating. "happiness includes all that is really desirable and of true worth in pleasure, and much beside. happiness is genuine gold, pleasure but gilded brass, which corrodes in the hand, and is soon converted into poisonous verdigris. happiness is as the genuine diamond, which, rough or polished, shines with its own inimitable luster; pleasure is as the paste imitation that glows only when artificially embellished. happiness is as the ruby, red as the heart's blood, hard and enduring; pleasure, as stained glass, soft, brittle, and of but transitory beauty. "happiness is true food, wholesome, nutritious and sweet; it builds up the body and generates energy for action, physical, mental and spiritual; pleasure is but a deceiving stimulant which, like spirituous drink, makes one think he is strong when in reality enfeebled; makes him fancy he is well when in fact stricken with deadly malady. "happiness leaves no bad after-taste, it is followed by no depressing reaction; it calls for no repentance, brings no regret, entails no remorse; pleasure too often makes necessary repentance, contrition, and suffering; and, if indulged to the extreme, it brings degradation and destruction. "true happiness is lived over and over again in memory, always with a renewal of the original good; a moment of unholy pleasure may leave a barbed sting, which, like a thorn in the flesh, is an ever-present source of anguish. "happiness is not akin with levity, nor is it one with light-minded mirth. it springs from the deeper fountains of the soul, and is not infrequently accompanied by tears. have you never been so happy that you have had to weep? i have." from an article by the author, _improvement era_, vol. , no. , pp. , . . salt of the earth.--dummelow's _commentary_, on matt. : , states: "salt in palestine, being gathered in an impure state, often undergoes chemical changes by which its flavor is destroyed while its appearance remains." perhaps a reasonable interpretation of the expression, "if the salt have lost his savor," may be suggested by the fact that salt mixed with insoluble impurities may be dissolved out by moisture, leaving the insoluble residue but slightly salty. the lesson of the lord's illustration is that spoiled salt is of no use as a preservative. the corresponding passage in the sermon delivered by jesus to the nephites after his resurrection reads: "verily, verily, i say unto you, i give unto you to be the salt of the earth; but if the salt shall lose its savor, wherewith shall the earth be salted? the salt shall be thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." ( nephi : .) . reference to publicans.--observe that matthew, who had been a publican, frankly records this reference ( : , ) to his despized class. luke writes "sinners" instead of "publicans" ( : - ). of course, if the accounts of the two writers refer to separate addresses (see note , above), both may be accurate. but we find matthew's designation of himself as a publican in his list of the apostles ( : ) and the considerate omission of the unenviable title by the other evangelists (mark : ; luke : ). . relative perfection.--our lord's admonition to men to become perfect, even as the father is perfect (matt. : ) cannot rationally be construed otherwise than as implying the possibility of such achievement. plainly, however, man cannot become perfect in mortality in the sense in which god is perfect as a supremely glorified being. it is possible, though, for man to be perfect in his sphere in a sense analogous to that in which superior intelligences are perfect in their several spheres; yet the relative perfection of the lower is infinitely inferior to that of the higher. a college student in his freshman or sophomore year may be perfect as freshman or sophomore; his record may possibly be a hundred per cent on the scale of efficiency and achievement; yet the honors of the upper classman are beyond him, and the attainment of graduation is to him remote, but of assured possibility, if he do but continue faithful and devoted to the end. footnotes: [ ] matt. chaps. , , ; luke : - . see also the version of the sermon as delivered by jesus christ after his resurrection, to the nephites on the western continent; b. of m., nephi, chaps. , , . see also chapter herein. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; read these verses in connection with : ; see also luke : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; compare luke : - ; and b. of m., nephi : - . [ ] matt. : , ; compare luke : ; b. of m., nephi : , . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] doc. and cov. : . [ ] matt. : - ; compare luke : - ; b. of m., nephi : - . [ ] lev. : ; compare ezra : ; ezek. : . [ ] note the expression "covenant of salt," indicating the covenant between jehovah and israel, lev. : ; numb. : ; compare chron. : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; luke : - ; compare b. of m., nephi : - . [ ] exo. : - ; lev. : - ; deut. : . [ ] compare lev. : ; deut. : ; and psa. : . [ ] compare the lesson taught in the parable of the tares, matt. : - . [ ] note , end of chapter; see also pages and . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; compare luke : - ; b. of m., nephi : - . [ ] consider the incident of the gifts of the rich and the widow's mite, mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] page . [ ] exo. : - . [ ] note the lesson of the parable of the unmerciful servant, matt. : - . [ ] compare matt. : . [ ] p. of g.p., abraham : ; see pages , , herein. [ ] acts : . [ ] compare the instance connected with the parable of the pharisee and the publican, luke : - . [ ] matt. : - ; compare luke : - ; : ; : ; b. of m., nephi : - . [ ] luke : - . [ ] compare gal. : ; tim. : ; james : ; john : . [ ] matt. : - ; luke : , , , ; compare b, of m., nephi : - . [ ] matt. : ; compare b. of m., nephi : . [ ] matt. : - ; luke : - , ; : - ; : - ; compare b. of m., nephi : - . [ ] "articles of faith," x: - ; and xii: - . [ ] matt. : - ; luke : - ; compare b. of m., nephi : - . chapter . as one having authority. matthew's account of the invaluable address, known to us as the sermon on the mount, is closed with a forceful sentence of his own, referring to the effect of the master's words upon the people: "for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes."[ ] a striking characteristic of christ's ministry was the entire absence of any claim of human authority for his words or deeds; the commission he professed to have was that of the father who sent him. his addresses, whether delivered to multitudes or spoken in relative privacy to few, were free from the labored citations in which the teachers of the day delighted. his authoritative "i say unto you" took the place of invocation of authority and exceeded any possible array of precedent commandment or deduction. in this his words differed essentially from the erudite utterances of scribes, pharisees and rabbis. throughout his ministry, inherent power and authority were manifest over matter and the forces of nature, over men and demons, over life and death. it now becomes our purpose to consider a number of instances in which the lord's power was demonstrated in divers mighty works. the centurion's servant healed.[ ] from the mount of beatitudes jesus returned to capernaum, whether directly or by a longer way marked by other works of power and mercy is of little importance. there was at that time a roman garrison in the city. a military officer, a centurion or captain of a hundred men, was stationed there. attached to the household of this officer was an esteemed servant, who was ill, "and ready to die." the centurion had faith that christ could heal his servant, and invoked the intercession of the jewish elders to beg of the master the boon desired. these elders implored jesus most earnestly, and urged the worthiness of the man, who, though a gentile, loved the people of israel and out of his munificence had built for them a synagog in the town. jesus went with the elders, but the centurion, probably learning of the approach of the little company, hastily sent other envoys to say that he did not consider himself worthy to have jesus enter his home, from which sense of unworthiness he had not ventured to make his request in person.[ ] "but," ran the message of supplication, "say in a word, and my servant shall be healed." we may well contrast this man's conception of christ's power with that of the nobleman of the same town, who had requested jesus to hasten in person to the side of his dying son.[ ] the centurion seems to have reasoned in this way: he himself was a man of authority, though under the direction of superior officers. to his subordinates he gave orders which were obeyed. he did not find it necessary to personally attend to the carrying out of his instructions. surely one who had such power as jesus possessed could command and be obeyed. moreover, the man may have heard of the marvelous restoration of the nobleman's dying son, in accomplishing which the lord spoke the effective word when miles away from the sufferer's bed. that the centurion's trust and confidence, his belief and faith, were genuine, is not to be doubted, since jesus expressly commended the same. the afflicted one was healed. jesus is said to have marveled[ ] at the centurion's manifestation of faith, and, turning to the people who followed, he thus spake: "i say unto you, i have not found so great faith, no, not in israel." this remark may have caused some of the listeners to wonder; the jews were unaccustomed to hear the faith of a gentile so extolled, for, according to the traditionalism of the day, a gentile, even though an earnest proselyte to judaism, was accounted essentially inferior to even the least worthy of the chosen people. our lord's comment plainly indicated that gentiles would be preferred in the kingdom of god if they excelled in worthiness. turning to matthew's record we find this additional teaching, introduced as usual with "i say unto you"--"that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with abraham, and isaac, and jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."[ ] this lesson, that the supremacy of israel can be attained only through excellence in righteousness, is reiterated and enlarged upon in the lord's teachings, as we shall see. a young man of nain raised from the dead.[ ] on the day after that of the miracle last considered, jesus went to the little town of nain, and, as usual, many people accompanied him. this day witnessed what in human estimation was a wonder greater than any before wrought by him. he had already healed many, sometimes by a word spoken to afflicted ones present, and again when he was far from the subject of his beneficent power; bodily diseases had been overcome, and demons had been rebuked at his command; but, though the sick who were nigh unto death had been saved from the grave, we have no earlier record of our lord having commanded dread death itself to give back one it had claimed.[ ] as jesus and his followers approached the town, they met a funeral cortege of many people; the only son of a widow was being borne to the tomb; the body was carried according to the custom of the day on an open bier. our lord looked with compassion upon the sorrowing mother, now bereft of both husband and son; and, feeling in himself[ ] the pain of her grief, he said in gentle tone, "weep not." he touched the stretcher upon which the dead man lay, and the bearers stood still. then addressing the corpse he said: "young man, i say unto thee, arise." and the dead heard the voice of him who is lord of all,[ ] and immediately sat up and spoke. graciously jesus delivered the young man to his mother. we read without wonder that there came a fear on all who were present, and that they glorified god, testifying that a great prophet was amongst them and that god has visited his people. reports of this miracle were carried throughout the land, and even reached the ears of john the baptist, who was confined in the prison of herod. the effect of the information conveyed to john concerning this and other mighty works of christ, now claims our attention. john baptist's message to jesus. even before jesus had returned to galilee after his baptism and the forty days of solitude in the wilderness, john the baptist had been imprisoned by order of herod antipas, tetrarch of galilee and perea.[ ] during the subsequent months of our lord's activities, in preaching the gospel, teaching the true significance of the kingdom, reproving sin, healing the afflicted, rebuking evil spirits and even raising the dead to life, his forerunner, the god-fearing, valiant john, had lain a prisoner in the dungeons of machærus, one of the strongest of herod's citadels.[ ] the tetrarch had some regard for john, having found him to be a holy man; and many things had herod done on the direct advice of the baptist or because of the influence of the latter's general teaching. indeed, herod had listened to john gladly, and had imprisoned him through a reluctant yielding to the importunities of herodias, whom herod claimed as a wife under cover of an illegal marriage. herodias had been and legally was still the wife of herod's brother philip, from whom she had never been lawfully divorced; and her pretended marriage to herod antipas was both adulterous and incestuous under jewish law. the baptist had fearlessly denounced this sinful association; to herod he had said: "it is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife." though herod might possibly have ignored this stern rebuke, or at least might have allowed it to pass without punishment, herodias would not condone. it was she, not the tetrarch, who most hated john; she "had a quarrel against him," and succeeded in inducing herod to have the baptist seized and incarcerated as a step toward the consummation of her vengeful plan of having him put to death.[ ] moreover, herod feared an uprising of the people in the event of john being slain by his order.[ ] in the course of his long imprisonment john had heard much of the marvelous preaching and works of christ; these things must have been reported to him by some of his disciples and friends who were allowed to visit him.[ ] particularly was he informed of the miraculous raising of the young man at nain;[ ] and forthwith he commissioned two of his disciples to bear a message of inquiry to jesus.[ ] these came to christ and reported the purpose of their visit thus: "john baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, art thou he that should come? or look we for another?" the messengers found jesus engaged in beneficent ministrations; and, instead of giving an immediate reply in words, he continued his labor, relieving in that same hour many who were afflicted by blindness or infirmities, or who were troubled by evil spirits. then, turning to the two who had communicated the baptist's question, jesus said: "go your way, and tell john what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. and blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me." the words of john's inquiring disciples were answered by wondrous deeds of beneficence and mercy. when the reply was reported to john, the imprisoned prophet could scarcely have failed to remember the predictions of isaiah, that by those very tokens of miracle and blessing should the messiah be known;[ ] and the reproof must have been convincing and convicting as he called to mind his own citations of isaiah's prophecies, when he had proclaimed in fiery, withering eloquence the fulfilment of those earlier predictions in his own mission and in that of the mightier one to whom he had borne personal testimony.[ ] the concluding sentence of our lord's answer to john was the climax of what had preceded, and a further though yet gentle rebuke of the baptist's defective comprehension of the messiah's mission. "blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me," said the lord. misunderstanding is the prelude to offense. gaged by the standard of the then current conception of what the messiah would be, the work of christ must have appeared to many as failure; and those who were looking for some sudden manifestation of his power in the conquest of israel's oppressors and the rehabilitation of the house of david in worldly splendor, grew impatient, then doubtful; afterward they took offense and were in danger of turning in open rebellion against their lord. christ has been an offender to many because they, being out of harmony with his words and works, have of themselves taken offense.[ ] john's situation must be righteously considered by all who assume to render judgment as to his purpose in sending to inquire of christ, "art thou he that should come?" john thoroughly understood that his own work was that of preparation; he had so testified and had openly borne witness that jesus was the one for whom he had been sent to prepare. with the inauguration of christ's ministry, john's influence had waned, and for many months he had been shut up in a cell, chafing under his enforced inactivity, doubtless yearning for the freedom of the open, and for the locusts and wild honey of the desert. jesus was increasing while he decreased in popularity, influence, and opportunity; and he had affirmed that such condition was inevitable.[ ] but, left in prison, he may have become despondent, and may have permitted himself to wonder whether that mightier one had forgotten him. he knew that were jesus to speak the word of command the prison of machærus could no longer hold him; nevertheless jesus seemed to have abandoned him to his fate, which comprized not only confinement but other indignities, and physical torture.[ ] it may have been a part of john's purpose to call christ's attention to his pitiable plight; and in this respect his message was rather a reminder than a plain inquiry based on actual doubt. indeed, we have good grounds for inference that john's purpose in sending disciples to inquire of christ was partly, and perhaps largely, designed to confirm in these disciples an abiding faith in the christ. the commission with which they were charged brought them into direct communication with the lord, whose supremacy they could not well fail to comprehend. they were personal witnesses of his power and authority. our lord's commentary on john's message indicated that the baptist had no full understanding of what the spiritual kingdom of god comprized. after the envoys had departed, jesus addressed himself to the people who had witnessed the interview. he would not have them underrate the importance of the baptist's service.[ ] he reminded them of the time of john's popularity, when some of those then present, and multitudes of others, had gone into the wilderness to hear the prophet's stern admonition; and they had found him to be no reed, shaken by the wind, but a firm and unbending oak. they had not gone to see a man in fashionable attire; those who wore soft raiment were to be looked for in the court of the king, not in the wilderness, nor in the dungeon where john now lay. they had found in john a prophet indeed, yea, more than a prophet; "for," affirmed the lord, "i say unto you, among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than john the baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of god is greater than he."[ ] what stronger testimony of the baptist's integrity is needed? other prophets had told of the messiah's coming, but john had seen him, had baptized him, and had been to jesus as a body servant to his master. nevertheless from the day of john's preaching to the time at which christ then spoke, the kingdom of heaven had been rejected with violence, and this even though all the prophets and even the fundamental law had told of its coming, and though both john and christ had been abundantly predicted. concerning john, the lord continued: "and if ye will receive it, this is elias, which was for to come. he that hath ears to hear, let him hear."[ ] it is important to know that the designation, elias, here applied by jesus to the baptist, is a title rather than a personal name, and that it has no reference to elijah, the ancient prophet called the tishbite.[ ] many of those who heard the lord's eulogy on the baptist rejoiced, for they had accepted john, and had turned from him to jesus as from the lesser to the greater; as from the priest to the great high priest, as from the herald to the king. but pharisees and lawyers were present, those of the class that john had so vehemently denounced as of a generation of vipers, and those who had rejected the counsel of god in refusing to heed the baptist's call to repentance.[ ] at this point the master resorted to analogy to make his meaning clearer. he compared the unbelieving and dissatisfied generation to fickle children at play, disagreeing among themselves. some wanted to enact the pageantry of a mock wedding, and though they piped the rest would not dance; then they changed to a funeral procession and essayed the part of mourners, but the others would not weep as the rules of the game required. ever critical, ever skeptical, by nature fault-finders and defamers, hard of hearing and of heart, they grumbled. john the baptist had come amongst them like the eremitic prophets of old, as strict as any nazarite, refusing to eat with the merry-makers or drink with the convivial, and they had said "he hath a devil." now came the son of man,[ ] without austerity or hermit ways, eating and drinking as a normal man would do, a guest at the houses of the people, a participant in the festivities of a marriage party, mingling alike with the publicans and the pharisees--and they complained again, saying: "behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!" the master explained that such inconsistency, such wicked trifling with matters most sacred, such determined opposition to truth, would surely be revealed in their true light, and the worthlessness of boasted learning would appear. "but," said he, "wisdom is justified of all her children." from reproof for unbelieving individuals he turned to unappreciative communities, and upbraided the cities in which he had wrought so many mighty works, and wherein the people repented not: "woe unto thee, chorazin! woe unto thee, bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in tyre and sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. but i say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for tyre and sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. and thou, capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in sodom, it would have remained until this day. but i say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee."[ ] seemingly faint at heart over the unbelief of the people, jesus sought strength in prayer.[ ] with the eloquence of soul for which one looks in vain save in the anguish-laden communion of christ with his father, he voiced his reverent gratitude that god had imparted a testimony of the truth to the humble and simple rather than to the learned and great; though misunderstood by men he was known for what he really was by the father. turning again to the people, he urged anew their acceptance of him and his gospel, and his invitation is one of the grandest outpourings of spiritual emotion known to man: "come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and i will give you rest. take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for i am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."[ ] he invited them from drudgery to pleasant service; from the well-nigh unbearable burdens of ecclesiastical exactions and traditional formalism, to the liberty of truly spiritual worship; from slavery to freedom; but they would not. the gospel he offered them was the embodiment of liberty, but not of license; it entailed obedience and submission; but even if such could be likened unto a yoke, what was its burden in comparison with the incubus under which they groaned? death of john the baptist. reverting to john baptist in his dungeon solitude, we are left without information as to how he received and understood the reply to his inquiry, as brought by his messengers. his captivity was destined soon to end, though not by restoration to liberty on earth. the hatred of herodias increased against him. an opportunity for carrying into effect her fiendish plots against his life soon appeared.[ ] the king celebrated his birthday by a great feast, to which his lords, high captains, and the principal officials of galilee were bidden. to grace the occasion, salome, daughter of herodias though not of herod, came in and danced before the company. so enchanted were herod and his guests that the king bade the damsel ask whatever she would, and he swore he would give it unto her, even though the gift were half of his kingdom. she retired to consult her mother as to what she should ask, and, being instructed, returned with the appalling demand: "i will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of john the baptist." the king was astounded; his amazement was followed by sorrow and regret; nevertheless, he dreaded the humiliation that would follow a violation of the oath he had sworn in the presence of his court; so, summoning an executioner, he immediately gave the fatal order; and john was forthwith beheaded in the dungeon. the headsman returned, carrying a dish in which lay the ghastly trophy of the corrupt queen's vengeance. the bloody gift was delivered to salome, who carried it with inhuman triumph to her mother. some of john's disciples came, secured the corpse, laid it in a tomb; and bore the tidings of his death to jesus. herod was sorely troubled over the murder he had ordered; and when, later, the marvels wrought by jesus were reported to him, he was afraid, and said: "that john the baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him." to those who dissented, the terrified king replied: "it is john, whom i beheaded: he is risen from the dead."[ ] so ended the life of the prophet-priest, the direct precursor of the christ; thus was stilled the mortal voice of him who had cried so mightily in the wilderness: "prepare ye the way of the lord." after many centuries his voice has been heard again, as the voice of one redeemed and resurrected; and the touch of his hand has again been felt, in this the dispensation of restoration and fulness. in may, , a resurrected personage appeared to joseph smith and oliver cowdery, announced himself as john, known of old as the baptist, laid his hands upon the two young men, and conferred upon them the priesthood of aaron, which comprizes authority to preach and minister the gospel of repentance and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins.[ ] in the house of simon the pharisee. "and one of the pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. and he went into the pharisee's house, and sat down to meat."[ ] from the place of this incident in luke's narration of events, it appears that it may have occurred on the day of the visit of john's messengers. jesus accepted the pharisee's invitation, as he had accepted the invitations of others, including even publicans, and those called by the rabbis, sinners. his reception at simon's house appears to have been somewhat lacking in warmth, hospitality and honorable attendance. the narrative suggests an attitude of condescension on the part of the host. it was the custom of the times to treat a distinguished guest with marked attention; to receive him with a kiss of welcome, to provide water for washing the dust from his feet, and oil for anointing the hair of the head and the beard. all these courteous attentions were omitted by simon. jesus took his place, probably on one of the divans or couches on which it was usual to partly sit, partly recline, while eating.[ ] such an attitude would place the feet of the person outward from the table. in addition to these facts relating to the usages of the time it should be further remembered that dwellings were not protected against intrusion by such amenities of privacy as now prevail. it was not unusual at that time in palestine for visitors and even strangers, usually men however, to enter a house at meal time, observe the procedure and even speak to the guests, all without bidding or invitation. among those who entered simon's house while the meal was in progress, was a woman; and the presence of a woman, though somewhat unusual, was not strictly a social impropriety and could not well be forbidden on such an occasion. but this woman was one of the fallen class, a woman who had been unvirtuous, and who had to bear, as part of the penalty for her sins, outward scorn and practical ostracism from those who professed to be morally superior. she approached jesus from behind, and bent low to kiss his feet as a mark of humility on her part and of respectful homage to him. she may have been one of those who had heard his gracious words, spoken possibly that day: "come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and i will give you rest." whatever her motive in coming, she had certainly come in a repentant and deeply contrite state. as she leaned over the feet of jesus her tears rained upon them. seemingly oblivious of her surroundings and of disapproving eyes watching her movements, she shook out her tresses and wiped the lord's feet with her hair. then, opening an alabaster box of ointment, she anointed them, as a slave might do to his master. jesus graciously permitted the woman to proceed unrebuked and uninterrupted in her humble service inspired by contrition and reverent love. simon had observed the whole proceeding; by some means he had knowledge as to the class to which this woman belonged; and though not aloud, within himself he said: "this man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner." jesus read the man's thoughts, and thus spake: "simon, i have somewhat to say unto thee," to which the pharisee replied, "master, say on." jesus continued, "there was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. and when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?" but one answer could be given with reason, and that simon gave, though apparently with some hesitation or reserve. he possibly feared that he might involve himself. "i suppose" he ventured, "that he, to whom he forgave most." jesus said, "thou hast rightly judged," and proceeded: "seest thou this woman? i entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet; but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time i came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. my head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment." the pharisee could not fail to note so direct a reminder of his having omitted the ordinary rites of respect to a specially invited guest. the lesson of the story had found its application in him, even as nathan's parable had drawn from david the king a self-convicting answer.[ ] "wherefore," jesus continued, "i say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little." then to the woman he spake the words of blessed relief: "thy sins are forgiven." simon and the others at table murmured within themselves, "who is this that forgiveth sins also?" understanding their unspoken protest, christ addressed the woman again, saying, "thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace." the latter part of the narrative brings to mind another occasion on which christ granted remission of sins, and because of opposition in the minds of some hearers, opposition none the less real because unvoiced, had supplemented his authoritative utterance by another pronouncement.[ ] the name of the woman who thus came to christ, and whose repentance was so sincere as to bring to her grateful and contrite soul the assurance of remission, is not recorded. there is no evidence that she figures in any other incident recorded in scripture. by certain writers she has been represented as the mary of bethany who, shortly before christ's betrayal, anointed the head of jesus with spikenard;[ ] but the assumption of identity is wholly unfounded,[ ] and constitutes an unjustifiable reflection upon the earlier life of mary, the devoted and loving sister of martha and lazarus. equally wrong is the attempt made by others to identify this repentant and forgiven sinner with mary magdalene, no period of whose life was marked by the sin of unchastity so far as the scriptures aver. the importance of guarding against mistakes in the identity of these women renders advisable the following addition to the foregoing treatment. in the chapter following that in which are recorded the incidents last considered, luke[ ] states that jesus went throughout the region, visiting every city and village, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and showing the glad tidings thereof. with him on this tour were the twelve, and also "certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, mary called magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, and joanna the wife of chuza herod's steward, and susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance." further reference is made to some or all of these honorable women in connection with the death, burial, and resurrection of our lord, and of mary magdalene particular mention appears.[ ] mary magdalene, whose second name is probably derived from her home town, magdala, had been healed through the ministrations of jesus from both physical and mental maladies, the latter having been associated with possession by evil spirits. out of her we are told christ had cast seven devils,[ ] but even such grievous affliction affords no warrant for the assertion that the woman was unvirtuous or unchaste. mary magdalene became one of the closest friends christ had among women; her devotion to him as her healer and as the one whom she adored as the christ, was unswerving; she stood close by the cross while other women tarried afar off in the time of his mortal agony; she was among the first at the sepulchre on the resurrection morning, and was the first mortal to look upon and recognize a resurrected being--the lord whom she had loved with all the fervor of spiritual adoration. to say that this woman, chosen from among women as deserving of such distinctive honors, was once a fallen creature, her soul seared by the heat of unhallowed lust, is to contribute to the perpetuating of an error for which there is no excuse. nevertheless the false tradition, arising from early and unjustifiable assumption, that this noble woman, distinctively a friend of the lord, is the same who, admittedly a sinner, washed and anointed the savior's feet in the house of simon the pharisee and gained the boon of forgiveness through contrition, has so tenaciously held its place in the popular mind through the centuries, that the name, magdalene, has come to be a generic designation for women who fall from virtue and afterward repent. we are not considering whether the mercy of christ could have been extended to such a sinner as mary of magdala is wrongly reputed to have been; man cannot measure the bounds nor fathom the depths of divine forgiveness; and if it were so that this mary and the repentant sinner who ministered to jesus as he sat at the pharisee's table were one and the same, the question would stand affirmatively answered, for that woman who had been a sinner was forgiven. we are dealing with the scriptural record as a history, and nothing said therein warrants the really repellent though common imputation of unchastity to the devoted soul of mary magdalene. christ's authority ascribed to beelzebub.[ ] at the time of our lord's earthly ministry, the curing of the blind, deaf, or dumb was regarded as among the greatest possible achievements of medical science or spiritual treatment; and the subjection or casting out of demons was ranked among the attainments impossible to rabbinical exorcism. demonstrations of the lord's power to heal and restore, even in cases universally considered as incurable, had the effect of intensifying the hostility of the sacerdotal classes; and they, represented by the pharisaic party, evolved the wholly inconsistent and ridiculous suggestion that miracles were wrought by jesus through the power of the prince of devils, with whom he was in league.[ ] while the lord was making his second missionary tour through galilee, going about through "all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people,"[ ] the absurd theory that christ was himself a victim of demoniacal possession, and that he operated by the power of the devil, was urged and enlarged upon until it became the generally accepted explanation among the pharisees and their kind. jesus had withdrawn himself for a time from the more populous centers, where he was constantly watched by emissaries, whom the ruling classes had sent from jerusalem into galilee; for the pharisees were in conspiracy against him, seeking excuse and opportunity to take his life; but even in the smaller towns and rural districts he was followed and beset by great multitudes, to whom he ministered for both physical and spiritual ailments.[ ] he urged the people to refrain from spreading his fame; and this he may have done for the reason that at that stage of his work an open rupture with the jewish hierarchy would have been a serious hindrance; or possibly he desired to leave the rulers, who were plotting against him, time and opportunity to brew their bitter enmity and fill to the brim the flagons of their determined iniquity. matthew sees in the lord's injunctions against publicity a fulfilment of isaiah's prophecy that the chosen messiah would not strive nor cry out on the street to attract attention, nor would he use his mighty power to crush even a bruised reed, or to quench even the smoking flax; he would not fail nor be discouraged, but would victoriously establish just judgment upon the earth for the gentiles, as well as, by implication, for israel.[ ] the figure of the bruised reed and the smoking flax is strikingly expressive of the tender care with which christ treated even the weakest manifestation of faith and genuine desire to learn the truth, whether exhibited by jew or gentile. soon after his return from the missionary tour referred to, an excuse for the pharisees to assail him was found in his healing of a man who was under the influence of a demon, and was both blind and dumb. this combination of sore afflictions, affecting body, mind, and spirit, was rebuked, and the sightless, speechless demoniac was relieved of his three-fold burden.[ ] at this triumph over the powers of evil the people were the more amazed and said: "is not this the son of david?" in other words, can this be any other than the christ we have been so long expecting? the popular judgment so voiced maddened the pharisees, and they told the almost adoring people: "this fellow doth not cast out devils, but by beelzebub the prince of devils." jesus took up the malicious charge and replied thereto, not in anger but in terms of calm reason and sound logic. he laid the foundation of his defense by stating the evident truth that a kingdom divided against itself cannot endure but must surely suffer disruption. if their assumption were in the least degree founded on truth, satan through jesus would be opposing satan. then, referring to the superstitious practises and exorcisms of the time, by which some such effects as we class today under mind cures were obtained, he asked: "if i by beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges." and to make the demonstration plainer by contrast, he continued: "but if i cast out devils by the spirit of god, then the kingdom of god is come upon you." by the acceptance of either proposition, and surely one was true, for the fact that jesus did cast out devils was known throughout the land and was conceded in the very terms of the charge now brought against him, the accusing pharisees stood defeated and condemned. but the illustration went further. jesus continued: "or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house." christ had attacked the stronghold of satan, had driven his evil spirits from the human tabernacles of which they had unwarrantably taken possession; how could christ have done this had he not first subdued the "strong man," the master of devils, satan himself? and yet those ignorant scholars dared to say in the face of such self-evident refutation of their own premises, that the powers of satan were subdued by satanic agency. there could be no agreement, no truce nor armistice between the contending powers of christ and satan. offering a suggestion of self-judgment to his accusers, that they might severally decide on which side they were aligned, jesus added: "he that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." then, the demonstration being complete, and the absurdity of his opponents' assumption proved, christ directed their thoughts to the heinous sin of condemning the power and authority by which satan was overcome. he had proved to them on the basis of their own proposition that he, having subdued satan, was the embodiment of the spirit of god, and that through him the kingdom of god was brought to them. they rejected the spirit of god, and sought to destroy the christ through whom that spirit was made manifest. what blasphemy could be greater? speaking as one having authority, with the solemn affirmation "i say unto you," he continued: "all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the holy ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. and whosoever speaketh a word against the son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosover speaketh against the holy ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." who among men can word a more solemn and awful warning against the danger of committing the dread unpardonable sin?[ ] jesus was merciful in his assurance that words spoken against himself as a man, might be forgiven; but to speak against the authority he possessed, and particularly to ascribe that power and authority to satan, was very near to blasphemy against the holy ghost, for which sin there could be no forgiveness. then, in stronger terms, which developed into cutting invective, he told them to be consistent--if they admitted that the result of his labors was good, as the casting out of devils surely was, to be likened unto good fruit--why did they not acknowledge that the power by which such results were attained, in other words that the tree itself, was good? "either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit." with burning words of certain conviction he continued: "o generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." by the truths he had made so plain it was evident that their accusing words were drawn from hearts stored with evil treasure. moreover their words were shown to be not only malicious but foolish, idle and vain, and therefore doubly saturated with sin. another authoritative declaration followed: "but i say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." seekers after signs?[ ] the master's lesson, enforced though it was by illustration and analogy, by direct application, and by authoritative avowal, fell on ears that were practically deaf to spiritual truth, and found no place in hearts already stuffed with great stores of evil. to the profound wisdom and saving instruction of the word of god to which they had listened, they responded with a flippant request: "master, we would see a sign from thee." had they not already seen signs in profusion? had not the blind and the deaf, the dumb and the infirm, the palsied and the dropsical, and people afflicted with all manner of diseases, been healed in their houses, on their streets, and in their synagogs; had not devils been cast out and their foul utterances been silenced by his word; and had not the dead been raised, and all by him whom they now importuned for a sign? they would have some surpassing wonder wrought, to satisfy curiosity, or perhaps to afford them further excuse for action against him--they wanted signs to waste on their lust.[ ] small wonder, that "he sighed deeply in his spirit" when such demands were made.[ ] to the scribes and pharisees who had shown such inattention to his words, he replied: "an evil and adulterous generation[ ] seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet jonas." the sign of jonas (or jonah) was that for three days he had been in the belly of the fish and then had been restored to liberty; so would the son of man be immured in the tomb, after which he would rise again. that was the only sign he would give them, and by that would they stand condemned. against them and their generation would the men of nineveh rise in judgment, for they, wicked as they were, had repented at the preaching of jonas; and behold a greater than jonas was among them.[ ] the queen of sheba would rise in judgment against them, for she had journeyed far to avail herself of solomon's wisdom; and behold a greater than solomon stood before them.[ ] then, reverting to the matter of unclean and evil spirits, in connection with which they had spread the accusation that he was one of the devil's own, he told them, that when a demon is cast out, he tries after a season of loneliness to return to the house or body from which he had been expelled; and, finding that house in order, sweet and clean since his filthy self had been forced to vacate it, he calls other spirits more wicked than himself, and they take possession of the man, and make his state worse than it was at first.[ ] in this weird example is typified the condition of those who have received the truth, and thereby have been freed from the unclean influences of error and sin, so that in mind and spirit and body they are as a house swept and garnished and set in cleanly order, but who afterward renounce the good, open their souls to the demons of falsehood and deceit, and become more corrupt than before. "even so," declared the lord, "shall it be also unto this wicked generation." though the scribes and pharisees were mostly unconvinced, if at all really impressed by his teachings, our lord was not entirely without appreciative listeners. a woman in the company raised her voice in an invocation of blessing on the mother who had given birth to such a son, and on the breasts that had suckled him. while not rejecting this tribute of reverence, which applied to both mother and son, jesus answered: "yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of god, and keep it."[ ] christ's mother and brethren come to see him.[ ] while jesus was engaged with the scribes and pharisees, and a great number of others, possibly at or near the conclusion of the teachings last considered, word was passed to him that his mother and his brethren were present and desired to speak with him. on account of the press of people they had been unable to reach his side. making use of the circumstance to impress upon all the fact that his work took precedence over the claims of family and kinship, and thereby explaining that he could not meet his relatives at that moment, he asked, "who is my mother? and who are my brethren?" answering his own question and expressing in the answer the deeper thought in his mind, he said, pointing toward his disciples: "behold my mother and my brethren! for whosoever shall do the will of my father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." the incident reminds one of the answer he made to his mother, when she and joseph had found him in the temple after their long and anxious search: "how is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that i must be about my father's business?"[ ] in that business he was engaged when his mother and brethren desired to speak with him as he sat amidst the crowd. the superior claims of his father's work caused him to let all minor matters wait. we are not justified in construing these remarks as evidence of disrespect, far less of filial and family disloyalty. devotion, similar in kind at least, was expected by him of the apostles, who were called to devote without reserve their time and talents to the ministry.[ ] the purpose on which the relatives of jesus had come to see him is not made known; we may infer, therefore, that it was of no great importance beyond the family circle.[ ] notes to chapter . . the two accounts of the miracle.--in the commentary on the miraculous healing of the centurion's servant, as given in the text, we have followed in the main luke's more circumstantial account. matthew's briefer statement of the officer's petition, and the lord's gracious compliance therewith, represents the man as coming in person to jesus; while luke refers to the elders of the local synagog as presenting the request. there is here no real discrepancy. it was then allowable, as in our time it is, to speak of one who causes something to be done as doing that thing himself. one may properly be said to notify another, when he sends the notification by a third party. a man may say he has built a house, when in reality others did the work of building though at his instance. an architect may with propriety be said to have constructed a building, when as a matter of fact he made the design, and directed others who actually reared the structure. . jesus marveled.--both matthew and luke tell us that jesus marveled at the faith shown by the centurion, who begged that his beloved servant be healed (matt. : ; luke : ). some have queried how christ, whom they consider to have been omniscient during his life in the flesh, could have marveled at anything. the meaning of the passage is evident in the sense that when the fact of the centurion's faith was brought to his attention, he pondered over it, and contemplated it, probably as a refreshing contrast to the absence of faith he so generally encountered. in similar way, though with sorrow in place of joy, he is said to have marveled at the peoples' unbelief (mark : ). . sequence of the miracles of raising the dead.--as stated and reiterated in the text the chronology of the events in our lord's ministry, as recorded by the gospel-writers, is uncertain. literature on the subject embodies much disputation and demonstrates absence of any near approach to agreement among biblical scholars. we have record of three instances of miraculous restoration of the dead to life at the word of jesus--the raising of the son of the widow of nain, the raising of the daughter of jairus, and the raising of lazarus; and on the sequence of two of these there is difference of opinion. of course the placing of the raising of lazarus as the latest of the three is based on certainty. dr. richard c. trench, in his scholarly and very valuable _notes on the miracles of our lord_ definitely asserts that the raising of the daughter of jairus is the first of the three works of restoration to life. dr. john laidlaw, in _the miracles of our lord_, treats this first among the miracles of its class though without affirming its chronological precedence; many other writers make it the second of the three. the incentive to arrange the three miracles of this group in the sequence indicated may, perhaps, be found in the desire to present them in the increasing order of apparent greatness--the raising of the damsel being an instance of recalling to life one who had but just died, ("hardly dead" as some wrongly describe her condition), the raising of the young man of nain being the restoration of one on the way to the tomb, and the raising of lazarus an instance of recalling to life one who had lain four days in the sepulchre. we cannot consistently conceive of these cases as offering grades of greater or lesser difficulty to the power of christ; in each case his word of authority was sufficient to reunite the spirit and body of the dead person. luke, the sole recorder of the miracle at nain, places the event before that of the raising of the daughter of jairus, with many incidents between. the great preponderance of evidence is in favor of considering the three miracles in the order followed herein, ( ) the raising of the young man of nain, ( ) that of the daughter of jairus, and ( ) that of lazarus. . tetrarch.--this title by derivation of the term and as originally used was applied to the ruler of a fourth part, or one of four divisions of a region that had formerly been one country. later it came to be the designation of any ruler or governor over a part of a divided country, irrespective of the number or extent of the fractions. herod antipas is distinctively called the tetrarch in matt. : ; luke : , ; : ; and acts : ; and is referred to as king in matt. : ; mark : , , , . . machærus.--according to the historian josephus (antiquities xviii; : ), the prison to which john the baptist was consigned by herod antipas was the strong fortress machærus. . christ an offender to many.--the concluding part of our lord's message to the imprisoned baptist, in answer to the latter's inquiry, was, "blessed is he whosoever is not offended in me." in passing it may be well to observe that whatever of reproof or rebuke these words may connote, the lesson was given in the gentlest way and in the form most easy to understand. as deems has written, "instead of saying 'woe to him who is offended in me,' he puts it in the softer way 'blessed is he who is not offended.'" in our english version of the holy bible the word "offend" and its cognates, are used in place of several different expressions which occur in the original greek. thus, actual infractions of the law, sin, and wickedness in general are all called offenses, and the perpetrators of such are guilty offenders who deserve punishment. in other instances even the works of righteousness are construed as causes of offense to the wicked; but this is so, not because the good works were in any way offenses against law or right, but because the law-breaker takes offense thereat. the convicted felon, if unrepentant and still of evil mind, is offended and angry at the law by which he has been brought to justice; to him the law is a cause of offense. in a very significant sense jesus christ stands as the greatest offender in history; for all who reject his gospel, take offense thereat. on the night of his betrayal jesus told the apostles that they would be offended because of him (matt. : ; see also verse ). the lord's personal ministry gave offense not alone to pharisees and priestly opponents, but to many who had professed belief in him (john : ; compare : ). the gospel of jesus christ is designated by peter as "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient" ( peter : ; compare paul's words, romans : ). indeed blessed is he to whom the gospel is welcome, and who finds therein no cause for offense. . the greatness of the baptist's mission.--the exalted nature of the mission of john the baptist was thus testified to by jesus: "verily i say unto you, among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than john the baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he" (matt. : ; compare luke : ). in elucidation of the first part of this testimony, the prophet joseph smith said, in the course of a sermon delivered may , , (_hist. of the church_, under date named): "it could not have been on account of the miracles john performed, for he did no miracles; but it was--first, because he was trusted with a divine mission of preparing the way before the face of the lord. who was trusted with such a mission before or since? no man. second, he was trusted and it was required at his hands, to baptise the son of man. who ever did that? who ever had so great a privilege or glory? who ever led the son of god into the waters of baptism, beholding the holy ghost descend upon him in the sign of a dove? no man. third, john at that time was the only legal administrator holding the keys of power there was on earth. the keys, the kingdom, the power, the glory had departed from the jews; and john, the son of zacharias, by the holy anointing and decree of heaven, held the keys of power at that time." the latter part of our lord's statement--"notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he" (john), has given rise to diverse interpretations and comment. the true meaning may be, that surpassingly great as was john's distinction among the prophets, he had not learned, at the time of the incident under consideration, the full purpose of the messiah's mission, and such he would surely have to learn before he became eligible for admission into the kingdom of heaven; therefore, the least of those who through knowledge gained and obedience rendered, would be prepared for a place in the kingdom of which jesus taught, was greater than was john the baptist at that time. through latter-day inspiration we learn that "it is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance" (doc. and cov. : ), and that "the glory of god in intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth" (doc. and cov. : ). the baptist's inquiry showed that he was then lacking in knowledge, imperfectly enlightened and unable to comprehend the whole truth of the savior's appointed death and subsequent resurrection as the redeemer of the world. but we must not lose sight of the fact, that jesus in no wise intimated that john would remain less than the least in the kingdom of heaven. as he increased in knowledge of the vital truths of the kingdom, and rendered obedience thereto, he would surely advance, and become great in the kingdom of heaven as he was great among the prophets of earth. . john the baptist the elias that was to come.--in the days of christ the people clung to the traditional belief that the ancient prophet elijah was to return in person. concerning this tradition the dummelow _commentary_ says, on matt. : : "it was supposed that his [elijah's] peculiar activity would consist in settling ceremonial and ritual questions, doubts and difficulties and that he would restore to israel ( ) the golden pot of manna, ( ) the vessel containing the anointing oil, ( ) the vessel containing the waters of purification, ( ) aaron's rod that budded and bore fruit." for this belief there was no scriptural affirmation. that john was to go before the messiah in the spirit and power of elias was declared by the angel gabriel in his announcement to zacharias (luke : ); and our lord made plain the fact that john was that predicted elias. "elias" is both a name and a title of office. through revelation in the present dispensation we learn of the separate individuality of elias and elijah, each of whom appeared in person and committed to modern prophets the particular powers pertaining to his respective office (doc. and cov. : , ). we learn that the office of elias is that of restoration (doc. and cov. : , ; : ; : , ). under date of march , , the following is recorded (_hist. of church_) as the testimony of the prophet joseph smith:-- "the spirit of elias is to prepare the way for a greater revelation of god, which is the priesthood of elias, or the priesthood that aaron was ordained unto. and when god sends a man into the world to prepare for a greater work, holding the keys of the power of elias, it was called the doctrine of elias, even from the early ages of the world. "john's mission was limited to preaching and baptizing; but what he did was legal; and when jesus christ came to any of john's disciples, he baptized them with fire and the holy ghost. "we find the apostles endowed with greater power than john: their office was more under the spirit and power of elijah than elias. "in the case of philip, when he went down to samaria, when he was under the spirit of elias, he baptized both men and women. when peter and john heard of it, they went down and laid hands upon them, and they received the holy ghost. this shows the distinction between the two powers. "when paul came to certain disciples, he asked if they had received the holy ghost? they said, no. who baptized you, then? we were baptized unto john's baptism. no, you were not baptized unto john's baptism, or you would have been baptized by john. and so paul went and baptized them, for he knew what the true doctrine was, and he knew that john had not baptized them. and these principles are strange to me, that men who have read the scriptures of the new testament are so far from it. "what i want to impress upon your minds is the difference of power in the different parts of the priesthood, so that when any man comes among you, saying, 'i have the spirit of elias,' you can know whether he be true or false; for any man that comes having the spirit and power of elias, he will not transcend his bounds. "john did not transcend his bounds, but faithfully performed that part belonging to his office; and every portion of the great building should be prepared right and assigned to its proper place; and it is necessary to know who holds the keys of power, and who does not, or we may be likely to be deceived. "that person who holds the keys of elias hath a preparatory work. * * * * * "this is the elias spoken of in the last days, and here is the rock upon which many split, thinking the time was past in the days of john and christ, and no more to be. but the spirit of elias was revealed to me, and i know it is true; therefore i speak with boldness, for i know verily my doctrine is true." . at the pharisee's table.--the expression "sat at meat," as in luke : and in other instances, is stated by good authority to be a mistranslation; it should be rendered "lay" or "reclined" (see smith's _comp. dict. of the bible_, article "meals"). that sitting was the early hebrew posture at meals is not questioned (gen. : ; judges : ; sam. : ; : , , ; kings : ); but the custom of reclining on couches set around the table seems to date back long before the days of jesus (amos : ; : ). the roman usage of arranging the tables and adjoining couches along three sides of a square, leaving the fourth side open for the passage of the attendants who served the diners was common in palestine. tables and couches so placed constituted the _triclinium_. in reference to the ceremonial of the pharisees in the matter of prescribed washing of articles used in eating, mark ( : ) specifies "tables"; this mention is conceded to be a mistranslation, as couches or literally beds, are meant by the greek expression. (see marginal reading, "beds" in oxford bible, and others.) a person reclining at table would have the feet directed outward. thus it was a simple matter for the contrite woman to approach jesus from behind and anoint his feet without causing disturbance to others at the table. . the woman's identity not specified.--the attempt to identify the contrite sinner who anointed the feet of jesus in the house of simon the pharisee with mary of bethany is thus strongly condemned by farrar (p. , note): "those who identify this feast at the house of simon the pharisee, in galilee, with the long-subsequent feast at the house of simon the leper, at bethany, and the anointing of the feet by 'a woman that was a sinner' in the city, with the anointing of the head by mary the sister of martha, adopt principles of criticism so reckless and arbitrary that their general acceptance would rob the gospels of all credibility, and make them hardly worth study as truthful narratives. as for the names simon and judas, which have led to so many identifications of different persons and different incidents, they were at least as common among the jews of that day as smith and jones among ourselves. there are five or six judes and nine simons mentioned in the new testament, and two judes and two simons among the apostles alone; josephus speaks of some ten judes and twenty simons in his writings, and there must, therefore, have been thousands of others who at this period had one of these two names. the incident (of anointing with ointment) is one quite in accordance with the customs of the time and country, and there is not the least improbability in its repetition under different circumstances. (eccles. : ; cant. : ; amos : .) the custom still continues." the learned canon is fully justified in his vigorous criticism; nevertheless he endorses the commonly-accepted identification of the woman mentioned in connection with the meal in the house of simon the pharisee with mary magdalene, although he admits that the foundation of the assumed identification is "an ancient tradition,--especially prevalent in the western church, and followed by the translation of our english version" (p. ). as stated in our text, there is an entire absence of trustworthy evidence that mary magdalene was ever tainted with the sin for which the repentant woman in the pharisee's house was so graciously pardoned by our lord. . the unpardonable sin.--the nature of the awful sin against the holy ghost, against which the lord warned the pharisaic accusers who sought to ascribe his divine power to satan, is more fully explained, and its dread results are more explicitly set forth in modern revelation. concerning them and their dreadful fate, the almighty has said:--"i say that it had been better for them never to have been born, for they are vessels of wrath, doomed to suffer the wrath of god, with the devil and his angels in eternity; concerning whom i have said there is no forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come.... they shall go away into everlasting punishment, which is endless punishment, which is eternal punishment, to reign with the devil and his angels in eternity, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched, which is their torment; and the end thereof, neither the place thereof, nor their torment, no man knows, neither was it revealed, neither is, neither will be revealed unto man, except to them who are made partakers thereof: nevertheless i, the lord, show it by vision unto many, but straightway shut it up again; wherefore the end, the width, the height, the depth, and the misery thereof, they understand not, neither any man except them who are ordained unto this condemnation." (doc. and cov. : - ; see also heb. : - ; b. of m., alma : .) . an adulterous generation seeking after signs.--our lord's reply to those who clamored for a sign, that "an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign" (matt. : ; see also : ; mark : ) could only be interpreted by the jews as a supreme reproof. that the descriptive designation "adulterous" was literally applicable to the widespread immorality of the time, they all knew. adam clarke in his commentary on matt. : , says of this phase of our topic: "there is the utmost proof from their [the jews'] own writings, that in the time of our lord, they were most literally an adulterous race of people; for at this very time rabbi jachanan ben zacchi abrogated the trial by the bitter waters of jealousy, because so many were found to be thus criminal." for the information concerning the trial of the accused by the bitter waters, see numb. : - . although jesus designated the generation in which he lived as adulterous, we find no record that the jewish rulers, who by their demand for a sign had given occasion for the accusation, ventured to deny or attempt to repel the charge. the sin of adultery was included among capital offenses (deut. : - ). the severity of the accusation as applied by jesus, however, was intensified by the fact that the older scriptures represented the covenant between jehovah and israel as a marriage bond (isa. : - ; jer. : ; : ; hos. : , ); even as the later scriptures typify the church as a bride, and christ as the husband ( cor. : ; compare rev. : ). to be spiritually adulterous, as the rabbis construed the utterances of the prophets, was to be false to the covenant by which the jewish nations claimed distinction, as the worshipers of jehovah, and to be wholly recreant and reprobate. convicted on such a charge those sign-seeking pharisees and scribes understood that jesus classed them as worse than the idolatrous heathen. the words "adultery" and "idolatry" are of related origin, each connoting the act of unfaithfulness and the turning away after false objects of affection or worship. . the mother and the brethren of jesus.--the attempt of mary and some members of her family to speak with jesus on the occasion referred to in the text has been construed by many writers to mean that the mother and sons had come to protest against the energy and zeal with which jesus was pursuing his work. some indeed have gone so far as to say that the visiting members of the family had come to put him under restraint, and to stem, if they could, the tide of popular interest, criticism, and offense, which surged about him. the scriptural record furnishes no foundation for even a tentative conception of the kind. the purpose of the desired visit is not intimated. it is a fact as will be shown in pages to follow, that some members of mary's household had failed to understand the great import of the work in which jesus was so assiduously engaged; and we are told that some of his friends (marginal rendering, "kinsmen,") on one occasion set out with the purpose of laying hold on him and stopping his public activities by physical force, for they said "he is beside himself." (mark : ); furthermore we learn that his brethren did not believe on him (john : ). these facts, however, scarcely warrant the assumption that the desire of mary and her sons to speak with him on the occasion referred to was other than peaceful. and to assume that mary, his mother, had so far forgotten the wondrous scenes of the angelic annunciation, the miraculous conception, the heavenly accompaniments of the birth, the more than human wisdom and power exhibited in youth and manhood, as to believe her divine son an unbalanced enthusiast, whom she ought to restrain, is to assume responsibility for injustice to the character of one whom the angel gabriel declared was blessed among women, and highly favored of the lord. the statement that the brethren of jesus did not believe on him at the time referred to by the recorder (john : ) is no proof that some or even all of those same brethren did not later believe on their divine brother. immediately after the lord's ascension, mary, the mother of jesus, and his brethren were engaged in worship and supplication with the eleven and other disciples (acts : ). the attested fact of christ's resurrection converted many who had before declined to accept him as the son of god. paul records a special manifestation of the resurrected christ to james ( cor. : ) and the james here referred to may be the same person elsewhere designated as "the lord's brother" (gal. : ); compare matt. : ; mark : . it appears that "brethren of the lord" were engaged in the work of the ministry in the days of paul's active service ( cor. : ). the specific family relationship of our lord to james, joses, simon, judas and the sisters referred to by matthew ( : , ), and mark ( : ), has been questioned; and several theories have been invented in support of divergent views. thus, the eastern or epiphanian hypothesis holds, on no firmer basis than assumption, that the brethren of jesus were children of joseph of nazareth by a former wife, and not the children of mary the lord's mother. the levirate theory assumes that joseph of nazareth and clopas (the latter name, it is interesting to note, is regarded as the equivalent of alpheus, see footnote page ) were brothers; and that, after the death of clopas or alpheus, joseph married his brother's widow according to the levirate law (page ). the hieronymian hypothesis is based on the belief that the persons referred to as brethren and sisters of jesus were children of clopas (alpheus) and mary the sister of the lord's mother, and therefore cousins to jesus. (see matt. : ; mark : ; john : .) it is beyond reasonable doubt that jesus was regarded by those, who were acquainted with the family of joseph and mary as a close blood relative of other sons and daughters belonging to the household. if these others were children of joseph and mary, they were all juniors to jesus, for he was undoubtedly his mother's firstborn child. the acceptance of this relationship between jesus and his "brethren" and "sisters" mentioned by the synoptists constitutes what is known in theological literature as the helvidian view. footnotes: [ ] matt. : ; compare luke : ; john : . [ ] luke : - ; compare matt. : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john : - ; see page . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : , ; see also luke : , ; compare acts : . [ ] luke : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : ; compare isa. : . [ ] luke : , ; compare acts : ; tim. : ; peter : ; rom. : . [ ] matt. : ; mark : ; luke : , ; see note , chap. , page , and note , end of this chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] mark : - . [ ] matt. : . [ ] matt. : . note a similar liberty allowed to paul when in durance, acts : . [ ] luke : ; matt. : . [ ] matt. : - ; luke : - . [ ] isa. : , . [ ] matt. : ; compare isa. : ; matt. : ; compare isa. : ; luke : ; compare isa. : . [ ] matt. : ; : ; : ; mark : ; : ; john : . note , end of chapter. [ ] john : . [ ] note that jesus compared the sufferings of john while in prison as in part comparable to those he would himself have to endure, in that they did unto john "whatsoever they listed" (matt. : ; mark : ). [ ] luke : - ; see also matt. : - ; compare christ's testimony of john baptist delivered at jerusalem, john : - . [ ] luke : ; see note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; compare : ; luke : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : ; luke : . [ ] page . [ ] matt. : - ; compare luke : - . [ ] matt. : - ; compare luke : , . [ ] matt. : - . [ ] mark : - . [ ] mark : - . [ ] "articles of faith," x: ; also chapter , herein. [ ] luke : ; see further, verses - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] sam. : - . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; page herein. [ ] matt. : , ; mark : ; john : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] luke : - . [ ] matt. : , , ; : , ; mark : , ; : , ; luke : , ; : , ; john : ; : , , . [ ] mark : ; luke : . [ ] matt. : - ; compare : , : see also mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] matt. : . [ ] matt. : . [ ] matt. : - . [ ] matt. : - ; compare isa. : . [ ] matt. : , . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; compare : ; mark : ; luke : , ; john : ; cor. : . [ ] doc. and cov. : ; compare : - . [ ] mark : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] jonah chaps. - . [ ] kings : ; chron. : ; compare luke : . [ ] matt. : - ; luke : - . [ ] luke : , . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] luke : . page herein. [ ] matt. : ; compare luke : . [ ] note , end of chapter. chapter . "he spake many things unto them in parables." throughout the period of christ's ministry with which we have thus far dealt, his fame had continuously increased, because of the authority with which he spoke and of the many mighty works he did; his popularity had become such that whenever he moved abroad great multitudes followed him. at times the people so thronged as to impede his movements, some with a desire to hear more of the new doctrine, others to plead at his feet for relief from physical or other ills; and many there were who had faith that could they but reach him, or even touch the border of his robe, they would be healed.[ ] one effect of the people's eagerness, which led them to press and crowd around him, was to render difficult if not impossible at times the effective delivery of any discourse. his usual place for open-air teaching while he tarried in the vicinity of the sea, or lake, of galilee was the shore; and thither flocked the crowds to hear him. at his request, the disciples had provided a "small ship," which was kept in readiness on the beach;[ ] and it was usual with him to sit in the boat a short distance off shore, and preach to the people, as he had done when in the earlier days he called the chosen fishermen to leave their nets and follow him.[ ] on one such occasion he employed a means of instruction, which, prior to that time, had not been characteristic of his teaching; this consisted in the use of parables,[ ] simple stories to illustrate his doctrines. some of these we shall here consider briefly, in the order most advantageous for treatment, and as best we know, in what may have been the sequence in which they were given. "a sower went forth to sow." first in the order of delivery is the parable of the sower. it is a splendid type of our lord's parables in general, and is particularly valuable for its great intrinsic worth and because we possess a comprehensive interpretation of it by the divine author. this is the story: "behold, a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. and some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: but other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. who hath ears to hear, let him hear."[ ] this new way of teaching, this departure from the master's earlier method of doctrinal exposition, caused even the most devoted of the disciples to marvel. the twelve and a few others came to jesus when he was apart from the multitude, and asked why he had spoken to the people in this manner, and what was the meaning of this particular parable. our lord's reply to the first part of the inquiry we shall consider presently; concerning the second, he asked "know ye not the parable? and how then will ye know all parables?"[ ] thus did he indicate the simplicity of this the first of his parables, together with its typical and fundamental character, and at the same time intimate that other parables would follow in the course of his teaching. then he gave the interpretation: "hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. when anyone heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. this is he which received seed by the way side. but he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. he also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. but he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."[ ] further exposition may appear superfluous; some suggestion as to the individual application of the contained lessons may be in place, however. observe that the prominent feature of the story is that of the prepared or unprepared condition of the soil. the seed was the same whether it fell on good ground or bad, on mellow mold or among stones and thistles. the primitive method of sowing still followed in many countries, consists in the sower throwing the grain by handfuls against the wind, thus securing a widespread scattering. running through the galilean fields, were pathways, hard trodden by feet of men and beasts. though seed should fall on such tracts, it could not grow; birds would pick up the living kernels lying unrooted and uncovered and some of the grains would be crushed and trodden down. so with the seed of truth falling upon the hardened heart; ordinarily it cannot take root, and satan, as a marauding crow, steals it away, lest a grain of it perchance find a crack in the trampled ground, send down its rootlet, and possibly develop. seed falling in shallow soil, underlain by a floor of unbroken stone or hard-pan, may strike root and flourish for a brief season; but as the descending rootlets reach the impenetrable stratum they shrivel, and the plant withers and dies, for the nutritive juices are insufficient where there is no depth of earth.[ ] so with the man whose earnestness is but superficial, whose energy ceases when obstacles are encountered or opposition met; though he manifest enthusiasm for a time persecution deters him; he is offended,[ ] and endures not. grain sown where thorns and thistles abound is soon killed out by their smothering growth; even so with a human heart set on riches and the allurements of pleasure--though it receive the living seed of the gospel it will produce no harvest of good grain, but instead, a rank tangle of noxious weeds. the abundant yield of thorny thistles demonstrates the fitness of the soil for a better crop, were it only free from the cumbering weeds. the seed that falls in good deep soil, free from weeds and prepared for the sowing, strikes root and grows; the sun's heat scorches it not, but gives it thrift; it matures and yields to the harvester according to the richness of the soil, some fields producing thirty, others sixty, and a few even a hundred times as much grain as was sown. even according to literary canons, and as judged by the recognized standards of rhetorical construction and logical arrangement of its parts, this parable holds first place among productions of its class. though commonly known to us as the parable of the sower, the story could be expressively designated as the parable of the four kinds of soil. it is the ground upon which the seed is cast, to which the story most strongly directs our attention, and which so aptly is made to symbolize the softened or the hardened heart, the clean or the thorn-infested soil. observe the grades of soil, given in the increasing order of their fertility: (a) the compacted highway, the wayside path, on which, save by a combination of fortuitous circumstances practically amounting to a miracle, no seed can possibly strike root or grow; (b) the thin layer of soil covering an impenetrable bed-rock, wherein seed may sprout yet can never mature; (c) the weed-encumbered field, capable of producing a rich crop but for the jungle of thistles and thorns; and (d) the clean rich mold receptive and fertile. yet even soils classed as good are of varying degrees of productiveness, yielding an increase of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred fold, with many inter-gradations. some bible expositors have professed to find in this splendid parable evidence of decisive fatalism in the lives of individuals, so that those whose spiritual state is comparable to the hardened pathway or wayside ground, to the shallow soil on stony floor, or to the neglected, thorn-ridden tract, are hopelessly and irredeemably bad; while the souls who may be likened unto good soil are safe against deterioration and will be inevitably productive of good fruit. let it not be forgotten that a parable is but a sketch, not a picture finished in detail; and that the expressed or implied similitude in parabolic teaching cannot logically and consistently be carried beyond the limits of the illustrative story. in the parable we are considering, the teacher depicted the varied grades of spiritual receptivity existing among men, and characterized with incisive brevity each of the specified grades. he neither said nor intimated that the hard-baked soil of the wayside might be plowed, harrowed, fertilized, and so be rendered productive; nor that the stony impediment to growth might not be broken up and removed, or an increase of good soil be made by actual addition; nor that the thorns could never be uprooted and their former habitat be rendered fit to support good plants. the parable is to be studied in the spirit of its purpose; and strained inferences or extensions are unwarranted. a strong metaphor, a striking simile, or any other expressive figure of speech, is of service only when rationally applied; if carried beyond the bounds of reasonable intent, the best of such may become meaningless or even absurd. the wheat and the tares. another parable, somewhat closely related to the foregoing as to the actual story, dealing again with seed and sowing, and, like the first, accompanied by an interpretation, was delivered by the master as follows: "the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. but when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. so the servants of the householder came and said unto him, sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? he said unto them, an enemy hath done this. the servants said unto him, wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? but he said, nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest i will say to the reapers, gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn."[ ] when jesus had retired to the house in which he lodged, the disciples came, saying: "declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field." "he answered and said unto them, he that soweth the good seed is the son of man; the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. as therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. the son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father. who hath ears to hear, let him hear."[ ] by the author's explication, the sower was himself, the son of man; and, as the condition of wheat and tares growing together was one that shall continue until "the end of the world," those who were ordained to carry on the ministry after him are by direct implication also sowers. the seed as here represented is not, as in the last parable, the gospel itself, but the children of men, the good seed typifying the honest in heart, righteous-minded children of the kingdom; while the tares are those souls who have given themselves up to evil and are counted as children of the wicked one. inspired by zeal for their master's profit, the servants would have forcibly rooted up the tares, but were restrained, for their unwise though well-intended course would have endangered the wheat while yet tender, since in the early stages of growth it would have been difficult to distinguish the one from the other, and the intertwining of the roots would have caused much destruction of the precious grain. one cardinal lesson of the parable, apart from the representation of actual conditions present and future, is that of patience, long-suffering, and toleration--each an attribute of deity and a trait of character that all men should cultivate. the tares mentioned in the story may be considered as any kind of noxious weed, particularly such as in early growth resembles the wholesome grain.[ ] over-sowing with the seed of weeds in a field already sown with grain is a species of malignant outrage not unknown even in the present day.[ ] the certainty of a time of separation, when the wheat shall be garnered in the store-house of the lord, and the tares be burned, that their poisonous seed may reproduce no more, is placed beyond question by the lord's own exposition. so important is the lesson embodied in this parable, and so assured is the literal fulfilment of its contained predictions, that the lord has given a further explication through revelation in the current dispensation, a period in which the application is direct and immediate. speaking through joseph smith the prophet in , jesus christ said: "but behold, in the last days, even now while the lord is beginning to bring forth the word, and the blade is springing up and is yet tender. behold, verily i say unto you, the angels are crying unto the lord day and night, who are ready and waiting to be sent forth to reap down the fields; but the lord saith unto them, pluck not up the tares while the blade is yet tender, (for verily your faith is weak,) lest you destroy the wheat also. therefore, let the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest is fully ripe, then ye shall first gather out the wheat from among the tares, and after the gathering of the wheat, behold and lo! the tares are bound in bundles, and the field remaineth to be burned."[ ] the seed growing secretly. matthew records the parable of the tares as immediately following that of the sower; mark places in the same position of sequence a parable found in his writings alone. it is presented in outline form, and by critical expositors would be classed rather as a simple analogy than a typical parable. read it: "and he said, so is the kingdom of god, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. for the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. but when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come."[ ] we have no record of the disciples asking nor of the master giving any interpretation of this, or of any later parable.[ ] in this story we find effectively illustrated the fact of the vitality of the seed of truth, though the secret processes of its growth be a mystery to all save god alone. a man having planted seed must needs leave it alone. he may tend the field, removing weeds, protecting the plants as best he may, but the growth itself is dependent upon conditions and forces beyond his power to ultimately control. though it were paul who planted and apollos who watered, none but god could insure the increase.[ ] the one who sowed may go about his other affairs, for the field does not demand continuous or exclusive attention; nevertheless, under the influences of sunshine and shower, of breeze and dew, the blade develops, then the ear, and in due time the full corn in the ear. when the grain is ripe the man gladly harvests his crop. the sower in this story is the authorized preacher of the word of god; he implants the seed of the gospel in the hearts of men, knowing not what the issue shall be. passing on to similar or other ministry elsewhere, attending to his appointed duties in other fields, he, with faith and hope, leaves with god the result of his planting. in the harvest of souls converted through his labor, he is enriched and made to rejoice.[ ] this parable was probably directed more particularly to the apostles and the most devoted of the other disciples, rather than to the multitude at large; the lesson is one for teachers, for workers in the lord's fields, for the chosen sowers and reapers. it is of perennial value, as truly applicable today as when first spoken. let the seed be sown, even though the sower be straightway called to other fields or other duties; in the gladsome harvest he shall find his recompense. the mustard seed. "another parable put he forth unto them, saying, the kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof."[ ] this little story, addressed to the assembled multitude, must have set many thinking, because of the simplicity of the incident related and the thoroughly un-jewish application made of it. to the mind taught by teachers of the time the kingdom was to be great and glorious from its beginning; it was to be ushered in by blare of trumpets and tramp of armies, with king messiah at the head; yet this new teacher spoke of it as having so small a beginning as to be comparable to a mustard seed. to make the illustration more effective he specified that the seed spoken of was "the least of all seeds." this superlative expression was made in a relative sense; for there were and are smaller seeds than the mustard, even among garden plants, among which rue and poppy have been named; but each of these plants is very small in maturity, while the well-cultivated mustard plant is one of the greatest among common herbs, and presents a strong contrast of growth from tiny seed to spreading shrub. moreover, the comparison "as small as a mustard seed" was in every-day use among jews of the time. the comparison employed by jesus on another occasion evidences the common usage, as when he said: "if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed ... nothing shall be impossible unto you."[ ] it should be known that the mustard plant attains in palestine a larger growth than in more northerly climes.[ ] the lesson of the parable is easy to read. the seed is a living entity. when rightly planted it absorbs and assimilates the nutritive matters of soil and atmosphere, grows, and in time is capable of affording lodgment and food to the birds. so the seed of truth is vital, living, and capable of such development as to furnish spiritual food and shelter to all who come seeking. in both conceptions, the plant at maturity produces seed in abundance, and so from a single grain a whole field may be covered. the leaven. "another parable spake he unto them; the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened."[ ] points of both similarity and contrast between this parable and the last are easily discerned. in each the inherent vitality and capacity for development, so essentially characteristic of the kingdom of god, are illustrated. the mustard seed however, typifies the effect of vital growth in gathering the substance of value from without; while the leaven or yeast disseminates and diffuses outward its influence throughout the mass of otherwise dense and sodden dough. each of these processes represents a means whereby the spirit of truth is made effective. yeast is no less truly a living organism than a mustard seed. as the microscopic yeast plant develops and multiplies within the dough, its myriad living cells permeate the lump, and every bit of the leavened mass is capable of affecting likewise another batch of properly prepared meal. the process of leavening, or causing dough "to rise," by the fermentation of the yeast placed in the mass, is a slow one, and moreover as quiet and seemingly secret as that of the planted seed growing without the sower's further attention or concern.[ ] the hidden treasure. "again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field."[ ] this and the two parables following are recorded by matthew only; and the place assigned them in his narrative indicates that they were spoken to the disciples alone, in the house, after the multitude had departed. the quest for treasure-trove is always fascinating. instances of finding buried valuables were not uncommon in the time of which we speak, since the practise of so concealing treasure was usual with people exposed to bandit incursions and hostile invasion. observe that the fortunate and happy man is represented as finding the treasure seemingly by accident rather than as a result of diligent search. he gladly sold all that he possessed to make possible his purchase of the field. the hidden treasure is the kingdom of heaven; when a man finds that, he ought to be ready to sacrifice all that he has, if by so doing he may gain possession. his joy in the new acquisition will be unbounded; and, if he but remain a worthy holder, the riches thereof shall be his beyond the grave.[ ] casuists have raised the question of propriety as to the man's course of action in the story, inasmuch as he concealed the fact of his discovery from the owner of the field, to whom the treasure, they say, rightly belonged. whatever opinion one may hold as to the ethics of the man's procedure, his act was not illegal, since there was an express provision in jewish law that the purchaser of land became the legal owner of everything the ground contained.[ ] assuredly jesus commended no dishonest course; and had not the story been in every detail probable, its effect as a parable would have been lost. the master taught by this illustration that when once the treasure of the kingdom is found, the finder should lose no time nor shrink from any sacrifice needful to insure his title thereto. the pearl of great price. "again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it."[ ] pearls have always held high place among gems, and long before, as indeed ever since, the time of christ, pearl-merchants have been active and diligent in seeking the largest and richest to be had. unlike the man in the last parable, who found a hidden treasure with little or no search, the merchant in this story devoted his whole energy to the quest for goodly pearls, to find and secure which was his business. when at last he beheld the pearl that excelled all others, though it was, as of right it ought to have been, held at high cost, he gladly sold all his other gems; indeed he sacrificed "all that he had"--gems and other possessions--and purchased the pearl of great price. seekers after truth may acquire much that is good and desirable, and not find the greatest truth of all, the truth that shall save them. yet, if they seek persistently and with right intent, if they are really in quest of pearls and not of imitations, they shall find. men who by search and research discover the truths of the kingdom of heaven may have to abandon many of their cherished traditions, and even their theories of imperfect philosophy and "science falsely so called,"[ ] if they would possess themselves of the pearl of great price. observe that in this parable as in that of the hidden treasure, the price of possession is one's all. no man can become a citizen of the kingdom by partial surrender of his earlier allegiances; he must renounce everything foreign to the kingdom or he can never be numbered therein. if he willingly sacrifices all that he has, he shall find that he has enough. the cost of the hidden treasure, and of the pearl, is not a fixed amount, alike for all; it is all one has. even the poorest may come into enduring possession; his all is a sufficient purchase price. the gospel net. "again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. so shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."[ ] men of many minds, men good and bad, all nationalities and races, are affected by the gospel of the kingdom. the "fishers of men"[ ] are skilful, active, and comprehensive in their haul. the sorting takes place after the net is brought to shore; and, as the fisherman discards every bad fish while he saves the good, so shall the angels who do the bidding of the son of man separate the just and the wicked, preserving the one kind to life eternal; consigning the other to destruction. unwise efforts to carry the application of the parable beyond the author's intent have suggested the criticism that whether the fish be good or bad they die. the good, however, die to usefulness, the bad to utter waste. though all men die, they die not alike; some pass to rest, and shall come forth in the resurrection of the just; others go to a state of sorrow and disquiet there to anxiously and with dread await the resurrection of the wicked.[ ] similarity of application in the present parable as in that of the tares, is apparent in the emphasis given to the decreed separation of the just from the unjust, and in the awful fate of those who are fit subjects for condemnation. a further parallelism is noticed in the postponement of the judgment until the "end of the world," by which expression we may understand the consummation of the redeemer's work, subsequent to the millennium and the final resurrection of all who have had existence on earth.[ ] following his delivery of this, the last of the group of parables recorded in the thirteenth chapter of matthew, jesus asked the disciples, "have ye understood all these things?" they answered, "yea, lord." he impressed upon them that they should be ready, like well-taught teachers, to bring, from the store-house of their souls, treasures of truth both old and new, for the edification of the world.[ ] christ's purpose in using parables. as before stated, the twelve and other disciples were surprized at the lord's innovation of parabolic instruction. prior to that time his doctrines had been set forth in unveiled plainness, as witness the explicit teachings in the sermon on the mount. it is noticeable that the introduction of parables occurred when opposition to jesus was strong, and when scribes, pharisees, and rabbis were alert in maintaining a close watch upon his movements and his works, ever ready to make him an offender for a word. the use of parables was common among jewish teachers; and in adopting this mode of instruction jesus was really following a custom of the time; though between the parables he spake and those of the scholars there is possible no comparison except that of most pronounced contrast.[ ] to the chosen and devoted followers who came asking the master why he had changed from direct exposition to parables, he explained[ ] that while it was their privilege to receive and understand the deeper truths of the gospel, "the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven" as he expressed it, with people in general, who were unreceptive and unprepared, such fulness of understanding was impossible. to the disciples who had already gladly accepted the first principles of the gospel of christ, more should be given; while from those who had rejected the proffered boon, even what they had theretofore possessed should be taken away.[ ] "therefore," said he, "speak i to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." that the state of spiritual darkness then existing among the jews had been foreseen was instanced by a citation of isaiah's words, in which the ancient prophet had told of the people becoming blind, deaf, and hard of heart respecting the things of god, whereby though they would both hear and see in a physical sense yet should they not understand.[ ] there is plainly shown an element of mercy in the parabolic mode of instruction adopted by our lord under the conditions prevailing at the time. had he always taught in explicit declaration, such as required no interpretation, many among his hearers would have come under condemnation, inasmuch as they were too weak in faith and unprepared in heart to break the bonds of traditionalism and the prejudice engendered by sin, so as to accept and obey the saving word. their inability to comprehend the requirements of the gospel would in righteous measure give mercy some claim upon them, while had they rejected the truth with full understanding, stern justice would surely demand their condemnation.[ ] that the lesson of the parables was comprehensible through study, prayer and search was intimated in the teacher's admonishment: "who hath ears to hear, let him hear."[ ] to the more studious inquirers, the master added: "take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. for he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath."[ ] two men may hear the same words; one of them listens in indolence and indifference, the other with active mind intent on learning all that the words can possibly convey; and, having heard, the diligent man goes straightway to do the things commended to him, while the careless one neglects and forgets. the one is wise, the other foolish; the one has heard to his eternal profit, the other to his everlasting condemnation.[ ] another example of the merciful adaptation of the word of truth to the varied capacities of the people who heard the parables is found in the psychological fact, that the incidents of an impressive though simple story will live, even in minds which for the time being are incapable of comprehending any meaning beyond that of the common-place story itself. many a peasant who had heard the little incident of the sower and the four kinds of soil, of the tares sown by an enemy at night, of the seed that grew though the planter had temporarily forgotten it, would be reminded by the recurring circumstances of his daily work; the gardener would recollect the story of the mustard seed whenever he planted afresh, or when he looked upon the umbrageous plant with birds nesting in its branches; the housewife would be impressed anew by the story of the leaven as she mixed and kneaded and baked; the fisherman at his nets would think again of the good fish and the bad and compare the sorting of his catch with the judgment to come. and then, when time and experience, including suffering perhaps, had prepared them for deeper thought, they would find the living kernel of gospel truth within the husk of the simple tale. parables in general. the essential feature of a parable is that of comparison or similitude, by which some ordinary, well-understood incident is used to illustrate a fact or principle not directly expressed in the story. the popular thought that a parable necessarily rests on a fictitious incident is incorrect; for, inasmuch as the story or circumstance of the parable must be simple and indeed common-place, it may be real. there is no fiction in the parables we have thus far studied; the fundamental stories are true to life and the given circumstances are facts of experience. the narrative or incident upon which a parable is constructed may be an actual occurrence or fiction; but, if fictitious, the story must be consistent and probable, with no admixture of the unusual or miraculous. in this respect the parable differs from the fable, the latter being imaginative, exaggerated and improbable as to fact; moreover, the intent is unlike in the two, since the parable is designed to convey some great spiritual truth, while the so-called moral of the fable is at best suggestive only of worldly achievement and personal advantage. stories of trees, animals and inanimate things talking together or with men are wholly fanciful; they are fables or apologues whether the outcome be depicted as good or bad; to the parable these show contrast, not similarity. the avowed purpose of the fable is rather to amuse than to teach. the parable may embody a narrative as in the instances of the sower and the tares, or merely an isolated incident, as in those of the mustard seed and the leaven. allegories are distinguished from parables by greater length and detail of the story, and by the intimate admixture of the narrative with the lesson it is designed to teach; these are kept distinctly separate in the parable. myths are fictitious stories, sometimes with historic basis of fact, but without symbolism of spiritual worth. a proverb is a short, sententious saying, in the nature of a maxim, connoting a definite truth or suggestion by comparison. proverbs and parables are closely related, and in the bible the terms are sometimes used interchangeably.[ ] the old testament contains two parables, a few fables and allegories, and numerous proverbs; of the last-named we possess an entire book.[ ] nathan the prophet reproved king david by the parable of the poor man's ewe lamb, and so effective was the story that the king decreed punishment for the wealthy offender, and was overcome by sorrow and contrition when the prophet made application of his parable by the fateful words, "thou art the man."[ ] the story of the vineyard, which though fenced and well-tended yet brought forth only wild, useless fruit, was used by isaiah to portray the sinful state of israel in his attempt to awaken the people to lives of righteousness.[ ] the parables of the new testament, spoken by the teacher of teachers, are of such beauty, simplicity, and effectiveness, as to stand unparalleled in literature. notes to chapter . . the first group of parables.--many bible scholars hold that the seven parables recorded in the thirteenth chapter of matthew were spoken at different times and to different people, and that the writer of the first gospel grouped them for convenience in recording and with prime consideration of their subjective interest. some color is found for this claim in luke's mention of some of these parables in different relations of both time and place; thus, the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven are given (luke : , ) as directly following the healing of the infirm woman in the synagog, and the rebuke to the hypocritical ruler. while we must admit that matthew may have grouped with the parables spoken on that particular day some of other dates, it is probable that jesus repeated some of his parables, as he certainly did other teachings, and thus presented the same lesson on more occasions than one. as a matter of fact each parable is a lesson in itself, and holds its high intrinsic value whether considered as an isolated story or in connection with related teachings. let us give heed to the lesson of each whatever opinions men may promulgate as to the circumstances of its first delivery. . local setting for the parable of the sower.--dr. r. c. trench, in his excellent work _notes on the parables of our lord_ (p. , note), quotes dean stanley's description of existing conditions in the place where the parable of the sower was given by jesus; and as there is reason to believe that the environment has changed but little since the days of christ, the account is here reproduced: "a slight recess in the hillside close upon the plain disclosed at once in detail, and with a conjunction which i remember nowhere else in palestine, every feature of the great parable. there was the undulating corn-field descending to the water's edge. there was the trodden pathway running through the midst of it, with no fence or hedge to prevent the seed falling here or there on either side of it, or upon it--itself hard with the constant tramp of horse and mule and human feet. there was the 'good' rich soil, which distinguishes the whole of that plain and its neighborhood from the bare hills elsewhere, descending into the lake, and which, where there is no interruption, produces one vast mass of corn. there was the rocky ground of the hillside protruding here and there through the corn-fields, as elsewhere, through the grassy slopes. there were the large bushes of thorn, the 'nabk' ... springing up, like the fruit-trees of the more inland parts, in the very midst of the waving wheat." . tares.--this term occurs nowhere within the bible except in this instance of the parable. plainly any kind of weed, particularly a poisonous sort, such as would seriously depreciate the garnered crop, would serve the master's purpose in the illustration. the traditional belief commonly held is that the plant referred to in the parable is the darnel weed, known to botanists as _lolium temulenium_, a species of bearded rye-grass. this plant closely resembles wheat in the early period of growth, and exists as a pest to the farmers in palestine to-day; it is called by the arabians "zowan" or "zawan" which name, says arnot, citing thompson, "bears some resemblance to the original word in the greek text." the writer of the article "tares" in smith's dictionary says: "critics and expositors are agreed that the greek plural _zizania_, a.v. 'tares,' of the parable (matt : ) denotes the weed called 'bearded darnel' (_lolium temulentum_), a widely-distributed grass, and the only species of the order that has deleterious properties. the bearded darnel before it comes into ear is very similar in appearance to wheat, and the roots of the two are often intertwined; hence the command that the 'tares' should be left till the harvest, lest while men plucked up the tares 'they should root up also the wheat with them.' this darnel is easily distinguishable from the wheat and barley when headed out, but when both are less developed, 'the closest scrutiny will often fail to detect it. even the farmers, who in this country generally weed their fields, do not attempt to separate the one from the other ... the taste is bitter, and, when eaten separately, or even when diffused in ordinary bread, it causes dizziness, and often acts as a violent emetic.'" the secondary quotation is from thompson's _the land and the book_, ii, , . it has been asserted that the darnel is a degenerated kind of wheat; and attempts have been made to give additional significance to our lord's instructive parable by injecting this thought; there is no scientific warrant for the strained conception, however, and earnest students will not be misled thereby. . the wickedness of the sower of tares.--attempts have been made to disparage the parable of the tares on the ground that it rests on an unusual if not unknown practise. trench thus meets the criticism (_notes on the parables_, pp. , ): "our lord did not imagine here a form of malice without example, but adduced one which may have been familiar enough to his hearers, one so easy of execution, involving so little risk, and yet effecting so great and lasting a mischief, that it is not strange, where cowardice and malice meet, that this should have been often the shape in which they displayed themselves. we meet traces of it in many quarters. in roman law the possibility of this form of injury is contemplated; and a modern writer, illustrating scripture from the manners and habits of the east, with which he had become familiar through a sojourn there, affirms the same to be now practised in india." in a subjoined note the author adds: "we are not without this form of malice nearer home. thus in ireland i have known an outgoing tenant, in spite at his eviction, to sow wild oats in the fields which he was leaving. these, like the tares in the parable, ripening and seeding themselves before the crops in which they were mingled, it became next to impossible to extirpate."; . the parable of the seed growing secretly.--this parable has given rise to much discussion among expositors, the question being as to who is meant by the man who cast seed into the ground. if, as in the parables of the sower and the tares, the lord jesus be the planter, then, some ask, how can it be said "that the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how," when all things are known unto him? if on the other hand the planter represents the authorized teacher or preacher of the gospel, how can it be said that at the harvest time "he putteth in the sickle," since the final harvesting of souls is the prerogative of god? the perplexities of the critics arise from their attempt to find in the parable a literalism never intended by the author. whether the seed be planted by the lord himself, as when he taught in person, or by any one of his authorized servants, the seed is alive and will grow. time is required; the blade appears first and is followed by the ear, and the ear ripens in season, without the constant attention which a shaping of the several parts by hand would require. the man who figures in the parable is presented as an ordinary farmer, who plants, and waits, and in due time reaps. the lesson imparted is the vitality of the seed as a living thing, endowed by its creator with the capacity to both grow and develop. . the mustard plant.--the wild mustard, which in the temperate zone seldom attains a height of more than three or four feet, reaches in semitropical lands the height of a horse and its rider (thompson, _the land and the book_ ii, ). those who heard the parable evidently understood the contrast between size of seed and that of the fully developed plant. arnot, (_the parables_, p. ), aptly says: "this plant obviously was chosen by the lord, not on account of its absolute magnitude, but because it was, and was recognized to be, a striking instance of increase from very small to very great. it seems to have been in palestine, at that time, the smallest seed from which so large a plant was known to grow. there were, perhaps, smaller seeds, but the plants which sprung from them were not so great; and there were greater plants, but the seeds from which they sprung were not so small." edersheim (i, p. ) states that the diminutive size of the mustard seed was commonly used in comparison by the rabbis, "to indicate the smallest amount such as the least drop of blood, the least defilement, etc." the same author continues, in speaking of the grown plant: "indeed, it looks no longer like a large garden-herb or shrub, but 'becomes' or rather appears like 'a tree'--as st. luke puts it, 'a great tree,' of course, not in comparison with other trees, but with garden-shrubs. such growth of mustard seed was also a fact well known at the time, and, indeed, still observed in the east.... and the general meaning would the more easily be apprehended, that a tree, whose wide-spreading branches afforded lodgment to the birds of heaven, was a familiar old testament figure for a mighty kingdom that gave shelter to the nations (ezek. : , ; dan. : , , , ). indeed, it is specifically used as an illustration of the messianic kingdom (ezek. : )." . the symbolism of leaven.--in the parable, the kingdom of heaven is likened unto leaven. in other scriptures, leaven is figuratively mentioned as representing evil, thus, "the leaven of the pharisees and of the sadducees" (matt. : , see also luke : ), "the leaven of herod" (mark : ). these instances, and others ( cor. : , ) are illustrative of the contagion of evil. in the incident of the woman using leaven in the ordinary process of bread-making, the spreading, penetrating vital effect of truth is symbolized by the leaven. the same thing in different aspects may very properly be used to represent good in one instance and evil in another. . treasure belonging to the finder.--as to the justification of the man who found a treasure hidden in another's field and then, concealing the fact of his discovery, bought the field that he might possess the treasure, edersheim (i, p. - ) says: "some difficulty has been expressed in regard to the morality of such a transaction. in reply it may be observed, that it was, at least, in entire accordance with jewish law. if a man had found a treasure in loose coins among the corn it would certainly be his if he bought the corn. if he had found it on the ground, or in the soil, it would equally certainly belong to him if he could claim ownership of the soil, and even if the field were not his own, unless others could prove their right to it. the law went so far as to adjudge to the purchaser of fruits anything found among these fruits. this will suffice to vindicate a question of detail, which, in any case, should not be too closely pressed in a parabolic history." . superiority of our lord's parables.--"perhaps no other mode of teaching was so common among the jews as that by parables. only in their case, they were almost entirely illustrations of what had been said or taught; while in the case of christ, they served as the foundation for his teaching.... in the one case it was intended to make spiritual teaching appear jewish and national, in the other to convey spiritual teaching in a form adapted to the stand-point of the hearers. this distinction will be found to hold true, even in instances where there seems the closest parallelism between a rabbinic and an evangelic parable.... it need scarcely be said that comparison between such parables, as regards their spirit, is scarcely possible, except by way of contrast" (edersheim, i, pp. - ). geikie tersely says: "others have uttered parables, but jesus so far transcends them, that he may justly be called the creator of this mode of instruction" (ii, p. ). . parables and other forms of analogy.--"the parable is also clearly distinguishable from the proverb, though it is true that, in a certain degree, the words are used interchangeably in the new testament, and as equivalent the one to the other. thus 'physician, heal thyself' (luke : ) is termed a parable, being more strictly a proverb; so again, when the lord had used that proverb, probably already familiar to his hearers 'if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch'; peter said 'declare unto us this parable' (matt. : , ); and luke : is a proverb or proverbial expression, rather than a parable, which name it bears.... so, upon the other hand, those are called 'proverbs' in st. john, which if not strictly parables, yet claim much closer affinity to the parable than to the proverb, being in fact allegories; thus christ's setting forth of his relations to his people under those of a shepherd to his sheep is termed a 'proverb,' though our translators, holding fast to the sense rather than to the letter, have rendered it a 'parable' (john : ; compare : , ). it is easy to account for this interchange of words. partly it arose from one word in hebrew signifying both parable and proverb."--trench, _notes on the parables_, pp. , . for the convenience of readers who may not have a dictionary at hand as they read, the following definitions are given: _allegory._--the setting forth of a subject under the guise of some other subject or aptly suggestive likeness. _apologue._--a fable or moral tale, especially one in which animals or inanimate things speak or act, and by which a useful lesson is suggested or taught. _fable._--a brief story or tale feigned or invented to embody a moral, and introducing animals and sometimes even inanimate things as rational speakers and actors; a legend or myth. _myth._--a fictitious or conjectural narrative presented as historical, but without any basis of fact. _parable._--a brief narrative or descriptive allegory founded on real scenes or events such as occur in nature and human life, and usually with a moral or religious application. _proverb._--a brief, pithy saying, condensing in witty or striking form the wisdom of experience; a familiar and widely known popular saying in epigrammatic form. . old testament parables, etc.--"of parables in the strictest sense the old testament contains only two" ( sam. : -; and isa. : -). "other stories, such as that of the trees assembled to elect a king (judges : ), and of the thistle and cedar ( kings : ), are more strictly fables. still others, such as ezekiel's account of the two eagles and the vine ( : -), and of the caldron ( : -) are allegories. the small number of parabolic narratives to be found in the old testament must not, however, be taken as an indication of indifference toward this literary form as suitable for moral instruction. the number is only apparently small. in reality, similitudes, which, though not explicitly couched in the terms of fictitious narrative, suggest and furnish the materials for such narrative, are abundant."--zenos, _stand. bible dict._, article "parables." by applying the term "parable" in its broadest sense, to include all ordinary forms of analogy, we may list the following as the most impressive parables of the old testament. trees electing a king (judges : -); the poor man's ewe lamb ( sam. : -); the contending brothers and the avengers ( sam. : -); story of the escaped captive ( kings : -); the thistle and the cedar ( kings : ); the vineyard and its wild grapes (isa. : -); the eagles and the vine (ezek. : -); the lion's whelps (ezek. : -); the seething pot (ezek. : -). footnotes: [ ] mark : ; compare matt. : , ; : ; mark : ; luke : [ ] mark : . [ ] luke : ; page herein. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; compare mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] mark : . [ ] matt. : - ; compare mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] pages and . [ ] matt. : - . [ ] verses - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] doc. and cov. : - ; read the entire section. [ ] mark : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] cor. : . [ ] read the lord's early promise of souls as the hire of the appointed harvesters: john : - ; see also matt. : , ; luke : . [ ] matt. : , ; compare mark : - ; luke : , . [ ] matt. : ; compare luke : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : ; compare luke : , . [ ] page . note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : . [ ] compare matt. : , . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : , . [ ] tim. : . [ ] matt. : - . [ ] matt. : ; mark : ; luke : . [ ] john : ; see also b. of m., alma : - ; and the author, "articles of faith," xxi: - . [ ] see chapter . [ ] matt. : , . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; compare mark : - ; luke : , . [ ] matt. : ; compare : ; mark : ; luke : ; : . [ ] isa. : ; see also : ; : ; ezek. : ; john : ; acts : , . [ ] see the author's "articles of faith," iii: , ; b. of m., nephi : - ; rom. : ; doc. and cov. : ; : . [ ] matt. : , ; see also : ; mark : . [ ] mark : , . [ ] read again matt. : - ; luke : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] sam. : - , . [ ] isa. : - . chapter . "peace, be still." incidents preliminary to the voyage. near the close of the day on which jesus had taught the multitudes for the first time by parables, he said to the disciples, "let us pass over unto the other side."[ ] the destination so indicated is the east side of the sea of galilee. while the boat was being made ready, a certain scribe came to jesus and said: "master, i will follow thee whithersoever thou goest." prior to that time, few men belonging to the titled or ruling class had offered to openly ally themselves with jesus. had the master been mindful of policy and desirous of securing official recognition, this opportunity to attach to himself as influential a person as a scribe would have received careful consideration if not immediate acceptance; but he, who could read the minds and know the hearts of men, chose rather than accepted. he had called men who were to be thenceforth his own, from their fishing boats and nets, and had numbered one of the ostracized publicans among the twelve; but he knew them, every one, and chose accordingly. the gospel was offered freely to all; but authority to officiate as a minister thereof was not to be had for the asking; for that sacred labor, one must be called of god.[ ] in this instance, christ knew the character of the man, and, without wounding his feelings by curt rejection, pointed out the sacrifice required of one who would follow whithersoever the lord went, saying: "the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the son of man hath not where to lay his head." as jesus had no fixed place of abode, but went wherever his duty called him, so was it necessary that they who represented him, men ordained or set apart to his service, be ready to deny themselves the enjoyment of their homes and the comfort of family associations, if the duties of their calling so demanded. we do not read that the aspiring scribe pressed his offer. another man indicated his willingness to follow the lord, but asked first for time to go and bury his father; to him jesus said: "follow me; and let the dead bury their dead." some readers have felt that this injunction was harsh, though such an inference is scarcely justified. while it would be manifestly unfilial for a son to absent himself from his father's funeral under ordinary conditions, nevertheless, if that son had been set apart to service of importance transcending all personal or family obligations, his ministerial duty would of right take precedence. moreover, the requirement expressed by jesus was no greater than that made of every priest during his term of active service, nor was it more afflicting than the obligation of the nazarite vow,[ ] under which many voluntarily placed themselves. the duties of ministry in the kingdom pertained to spiritual life; one dedicated thereto might well allow those who were negligent of spiritual things, and figuratively speaking, spiritually dead, to bury their dead. a third instance is presented; a man who wanted to be a disciple of the lord asked that, before entering upon his duties, he be permitted to go home and bid farewell to his family and friends. the reply of jesus has become an aphorism in life and literature: "no man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of god."[ ] from matthew's record we draw the inference that the first two of these candidates for discipleship offered themselves to our lord as he stood on the shore or in the boat ready to begin the evening voyage across the lake. luke places the instances in a different connection, and adds to the offers of the scribe and the man who would first bury his father, that of the one who wished to go home and then return to christ. the three incidents may be profitably considered together, whether all occurred in the evening of that same eventful day or at different times. stilling the storm.[ ] the instruction to launch forth and cross to the opposite side of the lake was given by jesus, who probably desired a respite after the arduous labors of the day. no time had been lost in unnecessary preparation; "they took him, even as he was, into the ship," and set out without delay. even on the water some of the eager people tried to follow; for a number of small boats, "little ships" as mark styles them, accompanied the vessel on which jesus was embarked; but these lesser craft may have turned back, possibly on account of the approaching storm; anyway, we do not hear of them further. jesus found a resting place near the stern of the ship and soon fell asleep. a great storm arose,[ ] and still he slept. the circumstance is instructive as it evidences at once the reality of the physical attributes of christ, and the healthy, normal condition of his body. he was subject to fatigue and bodily exhaustion from other causes, as are all men; without food he grew hungry; without drink he thirsted; by labor he became weary. the fact that after a day of strenuous effort he could calmly sleep, even amidst the turmoil of a tempest, indicates an unimpaired nervous system and a good state of health. nowhere do we find record of jesus having been ill. he lived according to the laws of health, yet never allowed the body to rule the spirit; and his daily activities, which were of a kind to make heavy demands on both physical and mental energy, were met with no symptoms of nervous collapse nor of functional disturbance. sleep after toil is natural and necessary. the day's work done, jesus slept. meanwhile the storm increased in fury; the wind rendered the boat unmanageable; waves beat over the side; so much water was shipped that the vessel seemed about to founder. the disciples were terror-stricken; yet through it all jesus rested peacefully. in their extremity of fear, the disciples awakened him, crying out, according to the several independent accounts, "master, master, we perish"; "lord, save us: we perish"; and, "master, carest thou not that we perish?" they were abjectly frightened, and at least partly forgetful that there was with them one whose voice even death had to obey. their terrified appeal was not wholly devoid of hope nor barren of faith: "lord, save us" they cried. calmly he replied to their piteous call, "why are ye fearful, o ye of little faith?" then he arose; and out through the darkness of that fearsome night, into the roaring wind, over the storm-lashed sea, went the voice of the lord as he "rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, peace, be still. and the wind ceased, and there was a great calm." turning to the disciples, he asked in tones of gentle yet unmistakable reproof: "where is your faith?" and "how is it that ye have no faith?" gratitude for rescue from what but a moment before had seemed impending death was superseded by amazement and fear. "what manner of man is this," they asked one of another, "that even the wind and the sea obey him?" among the recorded miracles of christ, none has elicited greater diversity in comment and in attempt at elucidation than has this marvelous instance of control over the forces of nature. science ventures no explanation. the lord of earth, air, and sea spoke and was obeyed. he it was who, amidst the black chaos of creation's earliest stages, had commanded with immediate effect--let there be light; let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters; let the dry land appear--and, as he had decreed, so it was. the dominion of the creator over the created is real and absolute. a small part of that dominion has been committed to man[ ] as the offspring of god, tabernacled in the very image of his divine father. but man exercizes that delegated control through secondary agencies, and by means of complicated mechanism. man's power over the objects of his own devizing is limited. it is according to the curse evoked by adam's fall, which came through transgression, that by the strain of his muscles, by the sweat of his brow, and by stress of his mind, shall he achieve. his word of command is but a sound-wave in air, except as it is followed by labor. through the spirit that emanates from the very person of deity, and which pervades all space, the command of god is immediately operative. not man alone, but also the earth and all the elemental forces pertaining thereto came under the adamic curse[ ] and as the soil no longer brought forth only good and useful fruits, but gave of its substance to nurture thorns and thistles, so the several forces of nature ceased to be obedient to man as agents subject to his direct control. what we call natural forces--heat, light, electricity, chemical affinity--are but a few of the manifestations of eternal energy through which the creator's purposes are subserved; and these few, man is able to direct and utilize only through mechanical contrivance and physical adjustment. but the earth shall yet be "renewed and receive its paradisaical glory"; then soil, water, air, and the forces acting upon them, shall directly respond to the command of glorified man, as now they obey the word of the creator.[ ] quieting the demons.[ ] jesus and the disciples with him landed on the eastern or perean side of the lake, in a region known as the country of the gadarenes or gergesenes. the precise spot has not been identified, but it was evidently a country district apart from the towns.[ ] as the party left the boat, two maniacs, who were sorely tormented by evil spirits, approached. matthew states there were two; the other writers speak of but one; it is possible that one of the afflicted pair was in a condition so much worse than that of his companion that to him is accorded greater prominence in the narrative; or, one may have run away while the other remained. the demoniac was in a pitiful plight. his frenzy had become so violent and the physical strength incident to his mania so great that all attempts to hold him in captivity had failed. he had been bound in chains and fetters, but these he had broken asunder by the aid of demon power; and he had fled to the mountains, to the caverns that served as tombs, and there he had lived more like a wild beast than a man. night and day his weird, terrifying shrieks had been heard, and through dread of meeting him people traveled by other ways rather than pass near his haunts. he wandered about naked, and in his madness often gashed his flesh with sharp stones. seeing jesus, the poor creature ran toward him, and, impelled by the power of his demon control, prostrated himself before christ, the while crying out with a loud voice: "what have i to do with thee, jesus, thou son of the most high god?" as jesus commanded the evil spirits to leave, one or more of them, through the voice of the man, pleaded to be left alone, and with blasphemous presumption exclaimed: "i adjure thee by god, that thou torment me not." matthew records the further question addressed to jesus: "art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" the demons, by whom the man was possessed and controlled, recognized the master, whom they knew they had to obey; but they pleaded to be left alone until the decreed time of their final punishment would come.[ ] jesus asked, "what is thy name?" and the demons within the man answered, "my name is legion, for we are many." the fact of the man's dual consciousness or multi-personality is here apparent. so complete was his possession by wicked spirits that he could no longer distinguish between his individual personality and theirs. the devils implored that jesus would not banish them from that country; or as luke records in words of awful import, "that he would not command them to go out into the deep."[ ] in their wretched plight, and out of diabolical eagerness to find abode in bodies of flesh even though of beasts, they begged that, being compelled to leave the man they be allowed to enter a herd of hogs feeding nearby. jesus gave permission; the unclean demons entered the swine; and the whole herd, numbering about two thousand, went wild, stampeded in terror, ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and were drowned. the swineherds were frightened, and, hastening to the town, told what had happened to the hogs. people came out in crowds to see for themselves; and all were astounded to behold the once wild man of whom they had all been afraid, now clothed, and restored to a normal state of mind, sitting quietly and reverently at the feet of jesus. they were afraid of one who could work such wonders, and, conscious of their sinful unworthiness, begged him to leave their country.[ ] the man who had been rid of the demons feared not; in his heart love and gratitude superseded all other feelings; and as jesus returned to the boat he prayed that he might go also. but jesus forbade, saying: "go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee." the man became a missionary, not alone in his home town but throughout decapolis, the region of the ten cities; wherever he went he told of the marvelous change jesus had wrought on him. the testimony of wicked and unclean spirits to the divinity of christ as the son of god is not confined to this instance. we have already considered the case of the demoniac in the synagog at capernaum;[ ] and another instance appeared, when jesus, withdrawing from the towns in galilee, betook himself to the sea shore, and was followed by a great multitude comprizing galileans and judeans, and people from jerusalem and idumea, and from beyond jordan (i.e. from perea), and inhabitants of tyre and sidon, amongst whom he had healed many of divers diseases; and those who were in bondage to unclean spirits had fallen down and worshiped him; while the demons cried out: "thou art the son of god."[ ] in the course of the short journey considered in this chapter, the power of jesus as master of earth, men and devils, was manifest in miraculous works of the most impressive kind. we cannot classify the lord's miracles as small and great, nor as easy and difficult of accomplishment; what one may consider the least is to another of profound import. the lord's word was sufficient in every instance. to the wind and the waves, and to the demon-ridden mind of the man possessed, he had but to speak and be obeyed. "peace, be still." the raising of the daughter of jairus.[ ] jesus and his attendants recrossed the lake from the land of gadara to the vicinity of capernaum, where he was received with acclamation by a multitude of people, "for they were all waiting for him." immediately after landing, jesus was approached by jairus, one of the rulers of the local synagog, who "besought him greatly, saying, my little daughter lieth at the point of death: i pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live." the fact of this man's coming to jesus, with the spirit of faith and supplication, is an evidence of the deep impression the ministry of christ had made even in priestly and ecclesiastical circles. many of the jews, rulers and officials as well as the people in common, believed in jesus;[ ] though few belonging to the upper classes were willing to sacrifice prestige and popularity by acknowledging their discipleship. that jairus, one of the rulers of the synagog, came only when impelled by grief over the impending death of his only daughter, a girl of twelve years, is no evidence that he had not before become a believer; certainly at this time his faith was genuine and his trust sincere, as the circumstances of the narrative prove. he approached jesus with the reverence due one whom he considered able to grant what he asked, and fell at the lord's feet, or as matthew says, worshiped him. when the man had started from his home to seek aid of jesus, the maiden was at the point of death; he feared lest she had died in the interval. in the very brief account given in the first gospel, he is reported as saying to jesus: "my daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her and she shall live."[ ] jesus went with the imploring father, and many followed. on the way to the house an incident occurred to hinder progress. a sorely afflicted woman was healed, under circumstances of peculiar interest; this occurrence we shall consider presently. no intimation is given that jairus showed impatience or displeasure over the delay; he had placed trust in the master and awaited his time and pleasure; and while christ was engaged in the matter of the suffering woman, messengers came from the ruler's house with the saddening word that the girl was dead. we may infer that even these dread tidings of certainty failed to destroy the man's faith; he seems to have still looked to the lord for help, and those who had brought the message asked, "why troublest thou the master any further?" jesus heard what was said, and sustained the man's sorely-taxed faith by the encouraging behest: "be not afraid, only believe." jesus permitted none of his followers save three of the apostles to enter the house with himself and the bereaved but trusting father. peter and the two brothers james and john were admitted. the house was no place of such respectful silence or subdued quiet as we now consider appropriate to the time and place of death; on the contrary it was a scene of tumult, but that condition was customary in the orthodox observances of mourning at the time.[ ] professional mourners, including singers of weird dirges, and minstrels who made great noise with flutes and other instruments, had already been summoned to the house. to all such jesus said, on entering: "why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead but sleepeth." it was in effect a repetition of his command uttered on a then recent occasion--peace, be still. his words drew scorn and ridicule from those who were paid for the noise they made, and who, if what he said proved true, would lose this opportunity of professional service. moreover, they knew the maid was dead; preparations for the funeral, which custom required should follow death as speedily as possible, were already in progress. jesus ordered these people out, and restored peace to the house.[ ] he then entered the death chamber, accompanied only by the three apostles and the parents of the girl. taking the dead maiden by the hand he "said unto her, talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, damsel, i say unto thee, arise." to the astonishment of all but the lord, the girl arose, left her bed, and walked. jesus directed that food be given her, as bodily needs, suspended by death, had returned with the girl's renewal of life. the lord imposed an obligation of secrecy, charging all present to refrain from telling what they had seen. the reasons for this injunction are not stated. in some other instances a similar instruction was given to those who had been blessed by christ's ministrations; while on many occasions of healing no such instructions are recorded, and in one case at least the man who had been relieved of demons was told to go and tell how great a thing had been done for him.[ ] in his own wisdom christ knew when to prudently forbid and when to permit publication of his doings. though the grateful parents, the girl herself, and the three apostles who had been witnesses of the restoration, may all have been loyal to the lord's injunction of silence, the fact that the maiden had been raised to life could not be kept secret, and the means by which so great a wonder had been wrought would certainly be inquired into. the minstrels and the wailers who had been expelled from the place while it was yet a house of mourning, and who had scornfully laughed at the master's assertion that the maiden was asleep and not dead as they thought, would undoubtedly, spread reports. it is not surprizing, therefore, to read in matthew's short version of the history, that the fame of the miracle "went abroad into all that land." restoration to life and resurrection. the vital distinction between a restoration of the dead to a resumption of mortal life, and the resurrection of the body from death to a state of immortality, must be thoughtfully heeded. in each of the instances thus far considered--that of the raising of the dead man of nain,[ ] and that of the daughter of jairus, as also the raising of lazarus to be studied later--the miracle consisted in reuniting the spirit and the body in a continuation of the interrupted course of mortal existence. that the subject of each of these miracles had to subsequently die is certain. jesus christ was the first of all men who have lived on earth to come forth from the tomb an immortalized being; he is therefore properly designated as "the first fruits of them that slept."[ ] though both elijah and elisha, many centuries prior to the time of christ, were instrumental in restoring life to the dead, the former to the widow's son in zareptha, the latter to the child of the shunammite woman,[ ] in these earlier miracles the restoration was to mortal existence, not to immortality. it is instructive to observe the difference in the procedure of each of the old testament prophets mentioned as compared with that of christ in analogous miracles. by both elijah and elisha the wonderful change was brought about only after long and labored ministrations, and earnest invocation of the power and intervention of jehovah; but jehovah, embodied in flesh as jesus christ, did nothing outwardly but command, and the bonds of death were immediately broken. he spoke in his own name and by inherent authority, for by the power with which he was invested he held control of both life and death. a remarkable healing by the way.[ ] while jesus was walking to the house of jairus with a great crowd of people thronging about him, the progress of the company was arrested by another case of suffering. in the throng was a woman who for twelve years had been afflicted with a serious ailment involving frequent hemorrhage. she had spent in medical treatment all she had owned, and "had suffered many things of many physicians," but had steadily grown worse. she worked her way through the crowd, and, approaching jesus from behind, touched his robe; "for she said, if i may touch but his clothes i shall be whole." the effect was more than magical; immediately she felt the thrill of health throughout her body, and knew that she had been healed of her affliction. her object attained, the blessing she sought being now secured, she tried to escape notice, by hastily dropping back into the crowd. but her touch was not unheeded by the lord. he turned to look over the throng and asked, "who touched my clothes?" or as luke puts it, "who touched me?" as the people denied, the impetuous peter speaking for himself and the others said: "master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, who touched me?" but jesus answered: "somebody hath touched me: for i perceive that virtue is gone out of me." the woman, finding that she could not escape identification, came tremblingly forward, and, kneeling before the lord, confessed what she had done, her reason for so doing, and the beneficent result. if she had expected censure her fears were promptly set at rest, for jesus, addressing her by a term of respect and kindness, said: "daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace," and as mark adds, "be whole of thy plague." this woman's faith was sincere and free from guile, nevertheless it was in a sense defective. she believed that the influence of christ's person, and even that attaching to his raiment, was a remedial agency, ample to cure her malady; but she did not realize that the power to heal was an inherent attribute to be exercized at his will, and as the influence of faith might call it forth. true, her faith had already been in part rewarded, but of greater worth to her than the physical cure of her illness would be the assurance that the divine healer had granted the desire of her heart, and that the faith she had manifested was accepted by him. to correct her misapprehension and to confirm her faith, jesus gently subjected her to the necessary ordeal of confession, which must have been made easier through her consciousness of the great relief already experienced. he confirmed the healing and let her depart with the comforting assurance that her recovery was permanent. in contrast with the many cases of healing in connection with which the lord charged the beneficiaries that they should tell none how or by whom they had been relieved, we see here that publicity was made sure by his own action, and that too, when secrecy was desired by the recipient of the blessing. the purposes and motives of jesus may be but poorly understood by man; but in this woman's case we see the possibility of stories strange and untrue getting afloat, and it appears to have been the wiser course to make plain the truth then and there. moreover the spiritual worth of the miracle was greatly enhanced by the woman's confession and by the lord's gracious assurance. observe the significant assertion, "thy faith hath made thee whole." faith is of itself a principle of power;[ ] and by its presence or absence, by its fulness or paucity, even the lord was and is influenced, and in great measure controlled, in the bestowal or withholding of blessings; for he ministers according to law, and not with caprice or uncertainty. we read that at a certain time and place jesus "could there do no mighty work" because of the people's unbelief.[ ] modern revelation specifies that faith to be healed is one of the gifts of the spirit, analogous to the manifestations of faith in the work of healing others through the exercize of the power of the holy priesthood.[ ] our lord's inquiry as to who had touched him in the throng affords us another example of his asking questions in pursuance of a purpose, when he could readily have determined the facts directly and without aid from others. there was a special purpose in the question, as every teacher finds a means of instruction in questioning his pupils.[ ] but there is in christ's question, "who touched me?" a deeper significance than could inhere in a simple inquiry as to the identity of an individual; and this is implied in the lord's further words: "somebody hath touched me: for i perceive that virtue is gone out of me." the usual external act by which his miracles were wrought was a word or a command, sometimes accompanied by the laying on of hands, or by some other physical ministration as in anointing the eyes of a blind man.[ ] that there was an actual giving of his own strength to the afflicted whom he healed is evident from the present instance. passive belief on the part of a would-be recipient of blessing is insufficient; only when it is vitalized into active faith is it a power; so also of one who ministers in the authority given of god, mental and spiritual energy must be operative if the service is to be effective. the blind see and the dumb speak.[ ] two other instances of miraculous healing are chronicled by matthew as closely following the raising of the daughter of jairus. as jesus passed down the streets of capernaum, presumably on his departure from the house of the ruler of the synagog, two blind men followed him, crying out: "thou son of david, have mercy on us." this title of address was voiced by others at sundry times, and in no case do we find record of our lord disclaiming it or objecting to its use.[ ] jesus paused not to heed this call of the blind, and the two sightless men followed him, even entering the house after him. then he spoke to them, asking: "believe ye that i am able to do this?" and they replied, "yea, lord." their persistency in following the lord was evidence of their belief that in some way, though to them unknown and mysterious, he could help them; and they promptly and openly confessed that belief. our lord touched their eyes, saying: "according to your faith be it unto you." the effect was immediate; their eyes were opened. they were explicitly instructed to say nothing of the matter to others; but, rejoicing in the inestimable blessing of sight, they "spread abroad his fame in all that country." so far as we can unravel the uncertain threads of sequence in the works of christ, this is the earliest instance, recorded with attendant details, of his giving sight to the blind. many remarkable cases follow.[ ] it is worthy of note that in blessing the sightless by the exercize of his healing power, jesus usually ministered by some physical contact in addition to uttering the authoritative words of command or assurance. in this instance, as also in that of two blind men who sat by the wayside, he touched the sightless eyes; in the giving of sight to the blind indigent in jerusalem he anointed the man's eyes with clay; to the eyes of another he applied saliva.[ ] an analogous circumstance is found in the healing of one who was deaf and defective of speech, in which instance the lord put his fingers into the man's ears and touched his tongue.[ ] in no case can such treatment be regarded as medicinal or therapeutic. christ was not a physician who relied upon curative substances, nor a surgeon to perform physical operations; his healings were the natural results of the application of a power of his own. it is conceivable that confidence, which is a stepping-stone to belief, as that in turn is to faith, may have been encouraged by these physical ministrations, strengthened, and advanced to a higher and more abiding trust in christ, on the part of the afflicted who had not sight to look upon the master's face and derive inspiration therefrom, nor hearing to hear his uplifting words. there is apparent not alone an entire absence of formula and formalism in his ministration, but a lack of uniformity of procedure quite as impressive. as the two men, once sightless but now seeing, departed, others came, bringing a dumb friend whose affliction seems to have been primarily due to the malignant influence of an evil spirit rather than to any organic defect. jesus rebuked the wicked spirit--cast out the demon that had obsessed the afflicted one and held him in the tyranny of speechlessness. the man's tongue was loosened, he was freed from the evil incubus, and was no longer dumb.[ ] notes to chapter . . storms on the lake of galilee.--it is a matter of record that sudden and violent storms are common on the lake or sea of galilee; and the tempest that was quieted by the lord's word of command was of itself no unusual phenomenon, except perhaps in its intensity. another incident connected with a storm on this small body of water is of scriptural record, and will be considered later in the text (matt. : - ; mark : - ; john : - ). dr. thompson (_the land and the book_ ii: ) gives a description founded on his personal experience on the shores of the lake: "i spent a night in that wady shukaiyif, some three miles up it, to the left of us. the sun had scarcely set when the wind began to rush down toward the lake, and it continued all night long with constantly increasing violence, so that when we reached the shore next morning the face of the lake was a huge boiling caldron. the wind howled down every wady from the north-east and east with such fury that no efforts of rowers could have brought a boat to shore at any point along that coast.... to understand the causes of these sudden and violent tempests, we must remember that the lake lies low--six hundred feet lower than the ocean; that the vast and naked plateaus of the jaulan rise to a great height, spreading backward to the wilds of the hauran, and upward to snowy hermon; and the water-courses have cut out profound ravines and wild gorges, converging to the head of this lake, and that these act like gigantic funnels to draw down the cold winds from the mountains." . the earth before and after its regeneration.--that the earth itself fell under the curse incident to the fall of the first parents of the race, and that even as man shall be redeemed so shall the earth be regenerated, is implied in paul's words: "because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of god. for we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" (rom. : - ). the present author has written elsewhere: "according to the scriptures, the earth has to undergo a change analogous to death, and to be regenerated in a manner comparable to a resurrection. references to the elements melting with heat, and to the earth being consumed and passing away, such as occur in many scriptures already cited, are suggestive of death; and the new earth, really the renewed or regenerated planet, which is to result, may be compared with a resurrected organism. the change has been likened unto a transfiguration (doc. and cov. : , ). every created thing has been made for a purpose; and everything that fills the measure of its creation is to be advanced in the scale of progression, be it an atom or a world, an animalcule, or man--the direct and literal offspring of deity. in speaking of the degrees of glory provided for his creations, and of the laws of regeneration and sanctification, the lord, in a revelation dated , speaks plainly of the approaching death and subsequent quickening of the earth. these are his words:--'and again, verily i say unto you, the earth abideth the law of a celestial kingdom, for it filleth the measure of its creation, and transgresseth not the law. wherefore it shall be sanctified; yea, notwithstanding it shall die, it shall be quickened again, and shall abide the power by which it is quickened, and the righteous shall inherit it.' (doc. and cov. : - .)" the vital spirit that emanates from god and is coextensive with space, may operate directly and with as positive effect upon inanimate things, and upon energy in its diverse manifestations known to us as the forces of nature, as upon organized intelligences, whether yet unembodied, in the flesh, or disembodied. thus, the lord may speak directly to the earth, the air, the sea, and be heard and obeyed, for the divine affluence, which is the sum of all energy and power may and does operate throughout the universe. in the course of a revelation from god to enoch, the earth is personified, and her groans and lamentations over the wickedness of men were heard by the prophet: "and it came to pass that enoch looked upon the earth; and he heard a voice from the bowels thereof, saying: wo, wo is me, the mother of men; i am pained, i am weary, because of the wickedness of my children. when shall i rest, and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me? when will my creator sanctify me, that i may rest, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face?" enoch pleaded: "o lord, wilt thou not have compassion upon the earth?" following further revelation as to the then future course of mankind in sin and in the rejection of the messiah who was to be sent, the prophet wept with anguish, and asked of god "when shall the earth rest?" it was then shown unto him that the crucified christ shall return to earth and establish a millennial reign of peace: "and the lord said unto enoch: as i live, even so will i come in the last days, in the days of wickedness and vengeance, to fulfil the oath which i have made unto you concerning the children of noah; and the day shall come that the earth shall rest, but before that day the heavens shall be darkened, and a veil of darkness shall cover the earth; and the heavens shall shake, and also the earth; and great tribulations shall be among the children of men." and the glorious assurance followed "that for the space of a thousand years the earth shall rest." (p. of g.p., moses : , , , , , .) a partial description of the earth in its regenerated state has been given through the prophet joseph smith in the present dispensation: "this earth, in its sanctified and immortal state, will be made like unto crystal and will be a urim and thummim to the inhabitants who dwell thereon, whereby all things pertaining to an inferior kingdom, or all kingdoms of a lower order, will be manifest to those who dwell on it; and this earth will be christ's." (doc. and cov. : ). that jesus christ, in the exercize of his powers of godship, should speak directly to the wind or the sea and be obeyed, is no less truly in accord with the natural law of heaven, than that he should effectively command a man or an unembodied spirit. that through faith even mortal man may set in operation the forces that act upon matter and with assurance of stupendous results has been explicitly declared by jesus christ: "for verily i say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place; and it shill remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you" (matt. : ; compare mark : ; luke : ). . the land of the gergesenes.--attempts have been made to discredit the account of christ's healing the demoniac in "the country of the gadarenes" (mark : ; luke : ) on the claim that the ancient town of gadara the capital of the district (see josephus, wars, iii, : ), was too far inland to make possible the precipitous dash of the swine into the sea from that place. others lay stress on the fact that matthew differs from the two other gospel-historians, in specifying "the country of the gergesenes" ( : ). as stated in the text, a whole region or section is referred to, not a town. the keepers of the swine ran off to the towns to report the disaster that had befallen their herd. in that district of perea there were at the time towns named respectively gadara, gerasa, and gergesa; the region in general, therefore, could properly be called the land of the gadarenes or of the gergesenes. farrar (_life of christ_, p. note) says: "after the researches of dr. thompson (_the land and the book_, ii: ), there can be no doubt that gergesa ... was the name of a little town nearly opposite capernaum, the ruined site of which is still called kerza or gersa by the bedawin. the existence of this little town was apparently known both to origen, who first introduced the reading, and to eusebius and jerome; and in their day a steep declivity near it, where the hills approach to within a little distance from the lake, was pointed out as the scene of the miracle." . jesus entreated to leave the country.--the people were frightened over the power possessed by jesus, as demonstrated in the cure of the demoniac, and in the destruction of the swine, which latter occurrence, however, was not in pursuance of his command. it was the fear that sinful men feel in the presence of the righteous. they were not prepared for other manifestations of divine power, and they dreaded to think who among them might be directly affected thereby should it be exerted. we must judge the people mercifully, however, if at all. they were in part heathen, and had but superstitious conceptions of deity. their prayer that jesus leave them brings to mind the ejaculation of simon peter in his witnessing one of christ's miracles: "depart from me: for i am a sinful man, o lord" (luke : ). . "dead," or "at the point of death."--according to luke ( : ) the daughter of jairus "lay a dying" when the grief-stricken father sought help of the lord; mark ( : ) reports the man as stating that the girl lay "at the point of death." these two accounts agree; but matthew ( : ) represents the father as saying: "my daughter is even now dead." unbelieving critics have dwelt at length on what they designate an inconsistency if not a contradiction in these versions; and yet both accounts embodied in the three records are plainly true. the maid was seemingly breathing her last, she was in the very throes of death, when the father hurried away. before he met jesus he felt that the end had probably come; nevertheless his faith endured. his words attest his trust, that even had his daughter actually died since he left her side, the master could recall her to life. he was in a state of frenzied grief, and still his faith held true. . mourning customs among orientals.--observances that to us seem strange, weird, and out of place, prevailed from very early times among oriental peoples, some of which customs were common to the jews in the days of christ. noise and tumult, including screeching lamentations by members of the bereaved family and by professional mourners, as also the din of instruments, were usual accompaniments of mourning. geikie, citing buxtorf's quotation from the talmud, gives place to the following: "even a poor israelite was required to have not fewer than two flute players and one mourning woman at the death of his wife; but if he be rich all things are to be done according to his quality." in smith's _dictionary of the bible_, we read: "the number of words (about eleven hebrew and as many greek) employed in scripture to express the various actions characteristic of mourning, shows in a great degree the nature of jewish customs in this respect. they appear to have consisted chiefly in the following particulars: ( ) beating upon the breast or other parts of the body. ( ) weeping and screaming in an excessive degree. ( ) wearing sad-colored garments. ( ) songs of lamentation. ( ) funeral feasts. ( ) employment of persons, especially women, to lament. one marked feature of oriental mourning is what may be called its studied publicity, and the careful observance of prescribed ceremonies (gen. : ; job : ; : ; isa. : ; etc.)." . "not dead, but sleepeth."--that the daughter of jairus was dead is placed beyond reasonable doubt by the scriptural record. our lord's statement to the noisy mourners that "the damsel is not dead but sleepeth" told that her sleep was to be of short duration. it was a rabbinical and common custom of the time to speak of death as a sleep, and those who laughed jesus to scorn for his statement chose to construe his words in a sense of such literalism as the context scarcely warrants. it is noticeable that the lord used a strictly equivalent expression with respect to the death of lazarus. "our friend lazarus sleepeth," said he, "but i go that i may awake him out of sleep." the literal construction placed upon these words by the apostles evoked the plain declaration "lazarus is dead" (john : , ). in the talmud death is repeatedly designated as sleep--hundreds of times says lightfoot, a recognized authority on hebrew literature. . why did jesus make inquiries?--we have already considered many instances of christ's possession of what man would call superhuman knowledge, extending even to the reading of unuttered thoughts. some people find difficulty in reconciling this superior quality with the fact that jesus often asked questions even on matters of minor circumstance. we should realize that even complete knowledge may not preclude the propriety of making inquiries, and, moreover, that even omniscience does not imply ever-present consciousness of all that is. undoubtedly through his paternal heritage of divine attributes, jesus had the power of ascertaining for himself, by means not possessed by others, any facts he might have desired to know; nevertheless we find him repeatedly asking questions on circumstantial detail (mark : ; : ; matt. : ; luke : ); and this he did even after his resurrection (luke : ; john : ; b. of m., nephi : ). that catechization is one of the most effective means of mind development is exampled in the methods followed by the best of human teachers. trench (_notes on the miracles_, pp. - ), thus instructively points the lesson as illustrated by our lord's question concerning the woman who was healed of her issue of blood: with little force "can it be urged that it would have been inconsistent with absolute truth for the lord to profess ignorance, and to ask the question which he did ask, if all the while he perfectly knew what he thus seemed implicitly to say that he did not know. a father among his children, and demanding who committed this fault? himself conscious, even while he asks, but at the same time willing to bring the culprit to a full confession, and so to put him in a pardonable state, can he be said, in any way to violate the law of the highest truth? the same offense might be found in elisha's 'whence comest thou, gehazi?' ( kings : ) when his heart went with his servant all the way that he had gone; and even in the question of god himself to adam, 'where art thou?' (gen. : ), and to cain, 'where is abel thy brother?' (gen. : ). in every case there is a moral purpose in the question, an opportunity given even at the latest moment for making good at least a part of the error by its unreserved confession." . the blind see.--in his treatment of the miraculous healing of the two blind men who had followed jesus into the house, trench (_notes on the miracles of our lord_, p. ) says: "we have here the first of those many healings of the blind recorded (matt. : ; : ; : ; john ) or alluded to (matt. : ) in the gospels; each of them a literal fulfilment of that prophetic word of isaiah concerning the days of messiah: 'then the eyes of the blind shall be opened' ( : ). frequent as these miracles are, they yet will none of them be found without distinguishing features of their own. that they should be so numerous is nothing wonderful, whether we regard the fact from a natural or spiritual point of view. regarded naturally they need not surprize us if we keep in mind how far commoner a calamity is blindness in the east than with us. regarded from a spiritual point of view we have only to remember how commonly sin is contemplated in scripture as a moral blindness (deut. : ; isa. : ; job : ; zeph. : ), and deliverance from sin as a removal of this blindness (isa. : , ; : ; eph. : ; matt. : ); and we shall at once perceive how fit it was that he who was the 'light of the world' should often accomplish works which symbolized so well that higher work which he came into the world to accomplish." . imputation of satanic agency.--observe that in the matter of healing the dumb demoniac referred to in the text, christ was charged with being in league with the devil. although the people, impressed by the manifestation of divine power in the healing, exclaimed in reverence, "it was never so seen in israel," the pharisees, intent on counteracting the good effect of the lord's miraculous ministration, said "he casteth out devils through the prince of the devils." (matt. : - .) for further treatment of this inconsistent and, strictly speaking blasphemous charge, see pages - . footnotes: [ ] mark : . [ ] "articles of faith," x: - --"men called of god." [ ] page . [ ] luke : - ; see also matt. : - . [ ] matt : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] gen. : ; p. of g.p., moses : ; : . [ ] gen. : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] compare rev. : . [ ] revised version, "abyss" instead of "deep." [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] mark : ; luke : , also verse ; see page herein. [ ] mark : - ; compare luke : - . see page . [ ] mark : - , - ; luke : , , - ; matt. : , , - . [ ] john : ; compare : ; : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] mark : - ; luke : . page . [ ] page . [ ] cor. : , ; see also acts : ; col. : ; rev. : ; and "articles of faith," xxi: - . [ ] kings : - ; kings : - . [ ] mark : - ; matt. : - ; luke : - . [ ] "articles of faith," v: - . [ ] mark : , ; compare matt. : . [ ] doc. and cov. : ; compare matt. : ; : , . acts : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : ; luke : ; : ; john : ; compare mark : ; : ; : . [ ] matt. : - . [ ] matt. : ; : , ; mark : , ; luke : , . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; john : ; mark : . [ ] mark : - . [ ] matt. : , . note , end of chapter. chapter . the apostolic mission, and events related thereto. jesus again in nazareth.[ ] it will be remembered that, in the early days of his public ministry, jesus had been rejected by the people of nazareth, who thrust him out from their synagog and tried to kill him.[ ] it appears that subsequent to the events noted in our last chapter, he returned to the town of his youth, and again raised his voice in the synagog, thus mercifully affording the people another opportunity to learn and accept the truth. the nazarenes, as they had done before, now again openly expressed their astonishment at the words he spoke, and at the many miraculous works he had wrought; nevertheless they rejected him anew, for he came not as they expected the messiah to come; and they refused to know him save as "the carpenter, the son of mary, the brother of james, and joses, and of juda, and simon;" all of whom were common folk as were also his sisters. "and they were offended at him."[ ] jesus reminded them of the proverb then current among the people, "a prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house." their unbelief was so dense as to cause him to marvel;[ ] and because of their lack of faith he was unable to accomplish any great work except to heal a few exceptional believers upon whom he laid his hands. leaving nazareth, he entered upon his third tour of the galilean towns and villages, preaching and teaching as he went.[ ] the twelve charged and sent.[ ] about this time, also, jesus inaugurated a notable expansion of the ministry of the kingdom, by sending forth the twelve on assigned missions. since their ordination the apostles had been with their lord, learning from him by public discourse and private exposition, and acquiring invaluable experience and training through that privileged and blessed companionship. the purpose of their ordination was specified--"that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach."[ ] they had been pupils under the master's watchful guidance for many months; and now they were called to enter upon the duties of their calling as preachers of the gospel and individual witnesses of the christ. by way of final preparation they were specifically and solemnly charged.[ ] some of the instructions given them on this occasion had particular reference to their first mission, from which they would in due time return and report; other directions and admonitions were to be of effect throughout their ministry, even after the lord's ascension. they were directed to confine their ministrations for the time being "to the lost sheep of the house of israel," and not to open a propaganda among the gentiles,[ ] nor even in samaritan cities. this was a temporary restriction, imposed in wisdom and prudence; later, as we shall see, they were directed to preach among all nations, with the world for their field.[ ] the subject of their discourses was to be that upon which they had heard the master preach--"the kingdom of heaven is at hand." they were to exercize the authority of the holy priesthood as conferred upon them by ordination; it was a specified part of their mission to "heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils," as occasion presented itself; and they were commanded to give freely, even as they had freely received. personal comfort and bodily needs they were not to provide for; the people were to be proved as to their willingness to receive and assist those who came in the name of the lord; and the apostles themselves were to learn to rely upon a provider more to be trusted than man; therefore money, extra clothing, and things of mere convenience were to be left behind. in the several towns they entered they were to seek entertainment and leave their blessing upon every worthy family into which they were received. if they found themselves rejected by a household or by a town as a whole, they were to shake the dust from their feet on leaving, as a testimony against the people;[ ] and it was decreed that, in the day of judgment, the place so denounced would fare worse than wicked sodom and gomorrha upon which fire from heaven had descended. the apostles were told to be prudent, to give no needless offense, but to be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves; for they were sent forth as sheep into the midst of wolves. they were not to recklessly entrust themselves to the power of men; for wicked men would persecute them, seek to arraign them before councils and courts, and to afflict them in the synagogs. moreover they might expect to be brought before governors and kings, under which extreme conditions, they were to rely upon divine inspiration as to what they should say, and not depend upon their own wisdom in preparation and premeditation; "for," said the master, "it is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your father which speaketh in you."[ ] they were not to trust even the claims of kinship for protection, for families would be divided over the truth, brother against brother, children against parents, and the resulting strife would be deadly. these servants of christ were told that they would be hated of all men, but were assured that their sufferings were to be for his name's sake. they were to withdraw from the cities that persecuted them, and go to others; and the lord would follow them, even before they would be able to complete the circuit of the cities of israel. they were admonished to humility, and were always to remember that they were servants, who ought not to expect to escape when even their master was assailed. nevertheless they were to be fearless, hesitating not to preach the gospel in plainness; for the most their persecutors could do was to kill the body, which fate was as nothing compared to that of suffering destruction of the soul in hell. assurance of the father's watchful care was impressed upon them by the simple reminder that though sparrows were sold two for a farthing, and yet not a sparrow could be sacrificed without the father's concern, they, who were of more value than many sparrows, would not be forgotten. they were solemnly warned that whosoever would freely confess the christ before men would be acknowledged by him in the father's presence, while they who denied him before men would be denied in heaven. and again they were told that the gospel would bring strife, whereby households would be disrupted; for the doctrine the lord had taught would be as a sword to cut and divide. the duties of their special ministry were to supersede the love for kindred; they must be willing to leave father, mother, son, or daughter, whatever the sacrifice; for, said jesus "he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me." the significance of this figure must have been solemnly impressive, and actually terrifying; for the cross was a symbol of ignominy, extreme suffering, and death. however, should they lose their lives for his sake, they would find life eternal; while he who was not willing to die in the lord's service should lose his life in a sense at once literal and awful. they were never to forget in whose name they were sent; and were comforted with the assurance that whoever received them would be rewarded as one who had received the christ and his father; and that though the gift were only that of a cup of cold water, the giver should in no wise lose his reward. thus charged and instructed, the twelve special witnesses of the christ set out upon their mission, traveling in pairs,[ ] while jesus continued his personal ministry. the twelve return. we are without definite information as to the duration of the apostles' first mission, and as to the extent of the field they traversed. the period of their absence was marked by many important developments in the individual labors of jesus. it is probable that during this time our lord visited jerusalem, on the occasion mentioned by john as coincident with the unnamed feast of the jews.[ ] while the apostles were absent, jesus was visited by the baptist's disciples, as we have already seen[ ] and the return of the twelve occurred near the time of the infamous execution of john the baptist in prison.[ ] the missionary labors of the apostles greatly augmented the spread of the new doctrine of the kingdom, and the name and works of jesus were proclaimed throughout the land. the people of galilee were at that time in a state of discontent threatening open insurrection against the government; their unrest had been aggravated by the murder of the baptist. herod antipas, who had given the fatal order, trembled in his palace. he heard, with fear due to inward conviction of guilt, of the marvelous works wrought by jesus, and in terror averred that christ could be none other than john baptist returned from the tomb. his fawning courtiers essayed to allay his fears by saying that jesus was elijah, or some other of the prophets whose advent had been predicted; but the conscience-stricken herod said: "it is john whom i beheaded: he is risen from the dead." herod desired to see jesus; perhaps through the fascination of fear, or with the faint hope that sight of the renowned prophet of nazareth might dispel his superstitious dread that the murdered john had returned to life. upon the completion of their missionary tour, the apostles rejoined the master and reported to him both what they had taught and what they had done by way of authoritative ministration. they had preached the gospel of repentance in all the cities, towns, and villages to which they had gone; they had anointed with oil many afflicted ones, and the power of their priesthood had been attested by consequent healings; even unclean spirits and devils had been subject unto them.[ ] they found jesus attended by great multitudes; and they had little opportunity of private conference with him; "for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat." the apostles must have heard in gladness the lord's invitation: "come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile." in quest of seclusion, jesus and the twelve withdrew from the throng, and privately entered a boat in which they crossed to a rural spot adjacent to the city of bethsaida.[ ] their departure had not been unobserved, however, and eager crowds hastened along the shore, and partly around the northerly end of the lake, to join the party at the landing place. from john's account we are led to infer that, before the arrival of great numbers, jesus and his companions had ascended the hillside near the shore, where, for a short time they had rested. as the multitude gathered on the lower slopes, our lord looked upon them as upon sheep without a shepherd; and, yielding to their desire and to his own emotions of divine pity, he taught them many things, healed their afflicted ones, and comforted their hearts with compassionate tenderness. five thousand fed in the desert.[ ] so intent were the people on hearing the lord's words, and so concerned in the miraculous relief resulting from his healing ministrations, that they remained in the wilderness, oblivious to the passing of the hours, until the evening approached. it was the springtime, near the recurrence of the annual passover festival, the season of grass and flowers.[ ] jesus, realizing that the people were hungry, asked philip, one of the twelve, "whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" the purpose of the question was to test the apostle's faith; for the lord had already determined as to what was to be done. philip's reply showed surprize at the question, and conveyed his thought that the suggested undertaking was impossible. "two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little," said he. andrew added that there was a lad present who had five barley loaves, and two small fishes, "but," said he, "what are they among so many?" such is john's account; the other writers state that the apostles reminded jesus of the lateness of the hour, and urged that he send the people away to seek for themselves food and lodging in the nearest towns. it appears most probable that the conversation between jesus and philip occurred earlier in the afternoon;[ ] and that as the hours sped, the twelve became concerned and advized that the multitude be dismissed. the master's reply to the apostles was: "they need not depart; give ye them to eat." in amazed wonder they replied: "we have here but five loaves and two fishes;" and andrew's despairing comment is implied again--what are they among so many? jesus gave command, and the people seated themselves on the grass in orderly array; they were grouped in fifties and hundreds; and it was found that the multitude numbered about five thousand men, beside women and children. taking the loaves and the fishes, jesus looked toward heaven and pronounced a blessing upon the food; then, dividing the provisions, he gave to the apostles severally, and they in turn distributed to the multitude. the substance of both fish and bread increased under the master's touch; and the multitude feasted there in the desert, until all were satisfied. to the disciples jesus said: "gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost;" and twelve baskets were filled with the surplus. as to the miracle itself, human knowledge is powerless to explain. though wrought on so great a scale, it is no more nor less inexplicable than any other of the lord's miraculous works. it was a manifestation of creative power, by which material elements were organized and compounded to serve a present and pressing need. the broken but unused portion exceeded in bulk and weight the whole of the original little store. our lord's direction to gather up the fragments was an impressive object-lesson against waste; and it may have been to afford such lesson that an excess was supplied. the fare was simple, yet nourishing, wholesome and satisfying. barley bread and fish constituted the usual food of the poorer classes of the region. the conversion of water into wine at cana was a qualitative transmutation; the feeding of the multitude involved a quantitative increase; who can say that one, or which, of these miracles of provision was the more wonderful? the multitude, now fed and filled, gave some consideration to the miracle. in jesus, by whom so great a work had been wrought, they recognized one having superhuman powers. "this is of a truth the prophet that should come into the world," said they--the prophet whose coming had been foretold by moses and who should be like unto himself. even as israel had been miraculously fed during the time of moses, so now was bread provided in the desert by this new prophet. in their enthusiasm the people proposed to proclaim him king, and forcibly compel him to become their leader. such was their gross conception of messianic supremacy. jesus directed his disciples to depart by boat, while he remained to dismiss the now excited multitude. the disciples hesitated to leave their master; but he constrained them and they obeyed. his insistence, that the twelve depart from both himself and the multitude, may have been due to a desire to protect the chosen disciples against possible infection by the materialistic and unrighteous designs of the throng to make him king. by means that are not detailed, he caused the people to disperse; and, as night came on, he found that for which he had come in quest, solitude and quiet. ascending the hill, he chose a secluded place, and there remained in prayer during the greater part of the night. "it is i; be not afraid."[ ] the return by boat proved to be a memorable journey for the disciples. they encountered a boisterous head-wind, which of course rendered impossible the use of sails; and though they toiled heavily at the oars the vessel became practically unmanageable and wallowed in the midst of the sea.[ ] though they had labored through the night they had progressed less than four miles on their course; to turn and run before the wind would have been to invite disastrous wreck; their sole hope lay in their holding the vessel to the wind by sheer power of muscle. jesus, in his place of solitary retirement, was aware of their sad plight, and along in the fourth watch,[ ] that is, between three and six o'clock in the morning, he came to their assistance, walking upon the storm-tossed water as though treading solid ground. when the voyagers caught sight of him as he approached the ship in the faint light of the near-spent night, they were overcome by superstitious fears, and cried out in terror, thinking that they saw a ghostly apparition. "but straightway jesus spake unto them, saying, be of good cheer; it is i; be not afraid." relieved by these assuring words, peter, impetuous and impulsive as usual, cried out: "lord, if[ ] it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water." jesus assenting, peter descended from the ship and walked toward his master; but as the wind smote him and the waves rose about him, his confidence wavered and he began to sink. strong swimmer though he was,[ ] he gave way to fright, and cried, "lord, save me." jesus caught him by the hand, saying: "o thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" from peter's remarkable experience, we learn that the power by which christ was able to walk the waves could be made operative in others, provided only their faith was enduring. it was on peter's own request that he was permitted to attempt the feat. had jesus forbidden him, the man's faith might have suffered a check; his attempt, though attended by partial failure, was a demonstration of the efficacy of faith in the lord, such as no verbal teaching could ever have conveyed. jesus and peter entered the vessel; immediately the wind ceased, and the boat soon reached the shore. the amazement of the apostles, at this latest manifestation of the lord's control over the forces of nature, would have been more akin to worship and less like terrified consternation had they remembered the earlier wonders they had witnessed; but they had forgotten even the miracle of the loaves, and their hearts had hardened.[ ] marveling at the power of one to whom the wind-lashed sea was a sustaining floor, the apostles bowed before the lord in reverent worship, saying: "of a truth thou art the son of god."[ ] aside from the marvelous circumstances of its literal occurrence, the miracle is rich in symbolism and suggestion. by what law or principle the effect of gravitation was superseded, so that a human body could be supported upon the watery surface, man is unable to affirm. the phenomenon is a concrete demonstration of the great truth that faith is a principle of power, whereby natural forces may be conditioned and controlled.[ ] into every adult human life come experiences like unto the battling of the storm-tossed voyagers with contrary winds and threatening seas; ofttimes the night of struggle and danger is far advanced before succor appears; and then, too frequently the saving aid is mistaken for a greater terror. as came unto peter and his terrified companions in the midst of the turbulent waters, so comes to all who toil in faith, the voice of the deliverer--"it is i; be not afraid." in the land of gennesaret. the night voyage, in the course of which jesus had reached the boat with its frightened occupants while "in the midst of the sea," ended at some point within the district known as the land of gennesaret, which, as generally believed, embraced the rich and fertile region in the vicinity of tiberias and magdala. of the natural beauties, for which the region was famed much has been written.[ ] word of our lord's presence there spread rapidly, and, from "all that country round about" the people flocked to him, bringing their afflicted to receive of his beneficence by word or touch. in the towns through which he walked, the sick were laid in the streets that the blessing of his passing might fall upon them; and many "besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment; and as many as touched him were made whole."[ ] bounteously did he impart of his healing virtue to all who came asking with faith and confidence. thus, accompanied by the twelve, he wended his way northward to capernaum, making the pathway bright by the plentitude of his mercies. in search of loaves and fishes.[ ] the multitude who, on the yesterday, had partaken of his bounty on the other side of the lake, and who dispersed for the night after their ineffectual attempt to force upon him the dignity of earthly kingship, were greatly surprized in the morning to discover that he had departed. they had seen the disciples leave in the only boat there present, while jesus had remained on shore; and they knew that the night tempest had precluded the possibility of other boats reaching the place. nevertheless their morning search for him was futile; and they concluded that he must have returned by land round the end of the lake. as the day advanced some boats were sighted, bound for the western coast; these they hailed, and, securing passage, crossed to capernaum. their difficulty in locating jesus was at an end, for his presence was known throughout the town. coming to him, probably as he sat in the synagog, for on this day he taught there, some of the most intrusive of the crowd asked, brusquely and almost rudely, "rabbi, when camest thou hither?" to this impertinent inquiry jesus deigned no direct reply; in the miracle of the preceding night the people had no part, and no account of our lord's movements was given them. in tone of impressive rebuke jesus said unto them: "verily, verily, i say unto you, ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled." their concern was for the bread and fishes. one who could supply them with victuals as he had done must not be lost sight of. the master's rebuke was followed by admonition and instruction: "labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the son of man shall give unto you: for him hath god the father sealed." this contrast between material and spiritual food they could not entirely fail to understand, and some of them asked what they should do to serve god as jesus required. the answer was: "this is the work of god, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." that jesus was referring to himself, none could doubt; and straightway they demanded of him further evidence of his divine commission; they would see greater signs. the miracle of the loaves and fishes was nearly a day old; and its impressiveness as evidence of messianic attributes was waning. moses had fed their fathers with manna in the desert, they said; and plainly they regarded a continued daily supply as a greater gift than a single meal of bread and fish, however much the latter may have been appreciated in the exigency of hunger. moreover, the manna was heavenly food;[ ] whereas the bread he had given them was of earth, and only common barley bread at that. he must show them greater signs, and give them richer provender, before they would accept him as the one whom they at first had taken him to be and whom he now declared himself to be. christ, the bread of life.[ ] "then jesus said unto them, verily, verily, i say unto you, moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my father giveth you the true bread from heaven. for the bread of god is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world." they were mistaken in assuming that moses had given them manna; and after all, the manna had been but ordinary food in that those who ate of it hungered again; but now the father offered them bread from heaven such as would insure them life. as the samaritan woman at the well, on hearing the lord speak of water that would satisfy once for all, had begged impulsively and with thought only of physical convenience, "sir, give me this water, that i thirst not, neither come hither to draw,"[ ] so these people, eager to secure so satisfying a food as that of which jesus spake, implored: "lord, evermore give us this bread." perhaps this request was not wholly gross; there may have been in the hearts of some of them at least a genuine desire for spiritual nourishment. jesus met their appeal with an explanation: "i am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." he reminded them that though they had seen him they believed not his words; and assured them that those who really accepted him would do as the father directed. then, without metaphor or symbolism, he affirmed: "i came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." and the father's will was that all who would accept the son should have everlasting life. there were present in the synagog some of the rulers--pharisees, scribes, rabbis--and these, designated collectively as the jews, criticized jesus, and murmured against him because he had said, "i am the bread which came down from heaven." they averred that he could do nothing more than any man could do; he was known to them as the son of joseph, and as far as they knew was of ordinary earthly parentage, and yet he had the temerity to declare that he had come down from heaven. chiefly to this class rather than to the promiscuous crowd who had hastened after him, jesus appears to have addressed the remainder of his discourse. he advized them to cease their murmurings; for it was a certainty that they could not apprehend his meaning, and therefore would not believe him, unless they had been "taught of god" as the prophets had written;[ ] and none could come to him in the sense of accepting his saving gospel unless the father drew them to the son; and none save those who were receptive, willing, and prepared, could be so drawn.[ ] yet belief in the son of god is an indispensable condition to salvation, as jesus indicated in his affirmation: "verily, verily, i say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life." then, reverting to the symbolism of the bread, he reiterated: "i am the bread of life." in further elucidation he explained that while their fathers did truly eat manna in the wilderness, yet they were dead; whereas the bread of life of which he spake would insure eternal life unto all who partook thereof. that bread, he averred, was his flesh. against this solemn avowal the jews complained anew, and disputed among themselves, some asking derisively: "how can this man give us his flesh to eat." emphasizing the doctrine, jesus continued: "verily, verily, i say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and i will raise him up at the last day. for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. he that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and i in him. as the living father hath sent me, and i live by the father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. this is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live forever." there was little excuse for the jews pretending to understand that our lord meant an actual eating and drinking of his material flesh and blood. the utterances to which they objected were far more readily understood by them than they are by us on first reading; for the representation of the law and of truth in general as bread, and the acceptance thereof as a process of eating and drinking, were figures in every-day use by the rabbis of that time.[ ] their failure to comprehend the symbolism of christ's doctrine was an act of will, not the natural consequence of innocent ignorance. to eat the flesh and drink the blood of christ was and is to believe in and accept him as the literal son of god and savior of the world, and to obey his commandments. by these means only may the spirit of god become an abiding part of man's individual being, even as the substance of the food he eats is assimilated with the tissues of his body. it is not sufficing to accept the precepts of christ as we may adopt the doctrines of scientists, philosophers, and savants, however great the wisdom of these sages may be; for such acceptance is by mental assent or deliberate exercize of will, and has relation to the doctrine only as independent of the author. the teachings of jesus christ endure because of their intrinsic worth; and many men respect his aphorisms, proverbs, parables, and his profoundly philosophical precepts, who yet reject him as the son of god, the only begotten in the flesh, the god-man in whom were united the attributes of deity with those of humanity, the chosen and foreordained redeemer of mankind, through whom alone may salvation be attained. but the figure used by jesus--that of eating his flesh and drinking his blood as typical of unqualified and absolute acceptance of himself as the savior of men, is of superlative import; for thereby are affirmed the divinity of his person, and the fact of his pre-existent and eternal godship. the sacrament of the lord's supper, established by the savior on the night of his betrayal, perpetuates the symbolism of eating his flesh and drinking his blood, by the partaking of bread and wine in remembrance of him.[ ] acceptance of jesus as the christ implies obedience to the laws and ordinances of his gospel; for to profess the one and refuse the other is but to convict ourselves of inconsistency, insincerity, and hypocrisy. a crucial test--many turn away.[ ] the truth respecting himself, as taught by the lord in this, his last, discourse in the synagog at capernaum, proved to be a test of faith through which many fell away. not alone critical jews of the official class, whose hostility was openly avowed, but those who had professed some measure of belief in him were affected. "many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, this is an hard saying; who can hear it?" jesus, cognizant of their disaffection, asked: "doth this offend you?" and added: "what and if ye shall see the son of man ascend up where he was before?" his ascension, which was to follow his death and resurrection, is here definitely implied. the spiritual significance of his teachings was put beyond question by the explanation that only through the spirit could they comprehend; "therefore," he added, "said i unto you, that no man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my father." many deserted him, and from that time sought him no more. the occasion was crucial; the effect was that of sifting and separation. the portentous prediction of the baptist-prophet had entered upon the stage of fulfilment: "one mightier than i cometh ... whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."[ ] the fan was in operation, and much chaff was blown aside. it appears that even the twelve were unable to comprehend the deeper meaning of these latest teachings; they were puzzled, though none actually deserted. nevertheless, the state of mind of some was such as to evoke from jesus the question: "will ye also go away?" peter, speaking for himself and his brethren, answered with pathos and conviction: "lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life."[ ] the spirit of the holy apostleship was manifest in this confession. though they were unable to comprehend in fulness the doctrine, they knew jesus to be the christ, and were faithful to him while others turned away into the dark depths of apostasy. while peter spoke for the apostolic body as a whole, there was among them one who silently revolted; the treacherous iscariot, who was in worse plight than an openly avowed apostate, was there. the lord knew this man's heart, and said: "have not i chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" the historian adds: "he spake of judas iscariot the son of simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve." notes to chapter . . jesus at nazareth.--as no one of the gospel-writers records two occasions of our lord's ministry in nazareth, and as the separate accounts appearing in the synoptic gospels closely resemble one another in a few particulars, some commentators hold that our lord preached to his townsmen in nazareth and was rejected by them but once. luke's account ( : - ) refers to an occasion immediately following the first return of jesus to galilee after his baptism and temptations, and directly preceding the preliminary call of the fishermen-disciples, who afterward were numbered among the apostles. matthew ( : - ) and mark ( : - ) chronicle a visit of jesus to nazareth later than the occasion of the first teaching in parables, and the events immediately following the same. we have good reason for accepting luke's record as that of an early incident, and the accounts given by matthew and mark as those of a later visit. . gentiles.--in a general way the jews designated all other peoples as gentiles; though the same hebrew word is rendered in the old testament variously, as "gentiles" (gen. : ; judg. : , , ; isa. : ; etc.), "nations" (gen. : , , , ; : , ; etc.), and "heathen" (neh. : ; psa. : , , etc.), the essential element of designation being that of foreigners. in smith's _dict. of the bible_, we read "it [the name 'gentiles'] acquired an ethnographic and also an invidious meaning, as other nations were idolatrous, rude, hostile, etc., yet the jews were able to use it in a purely technical, geographical sense, when it was usually translated 'nations.'" dr. edward e. nourse, writing for the _standard bible dictionary_, says: "in new testament times, the jew divided mankind into three classes, ( ) jews, ( ) greeks (hellenes, made to include romans, thus meaning the civilized peoples of the roman empire, often rendered 'gentiles' in authorized version), and ( ) barbarians (the uncivilized, acts : ; rom. : ; cor. : )." the injunction laid by jesus upon the twelve--"go not into the way of the gentiles"--was to restrain them for the time being from attempting to make converts among the romans and greeks, and to confine their ministry to the people of israel. . shaking the dust from the feet.--to ceremonially shake the dust from one's feet as a testimony against another was understood by the jews to symbolize a cessation of fellowship and a renunciation of all responsibility for consequences that might follow. it became an ordinance of accusation and testimony by the lord's instructions to his apostles as cited in the text. in the current dispensation, the lord has similarly directed his authorized servants to so testify against those who wilfully and maliciously oppose the truth when authoritatively presented (see doc. and cov. : ; : ; : ; : ; : ). the responsibility of testifying before the lord by this accusing symbol is so great that the means may be employed only under unusual and extreme conditions, as the spirit of the lord may direct. . the two bethsaidas.--it is held by many bible students that bethsaida, in the desert region adjoining which jesus and the twelve sought rest and seclusion, was the town of that name in perea, on the eastern side of the jordan, and known more specifically as bethsaida julias to distinguish it from bethsaida in galilee, which latter was close to capernaum. the perean village of bethsaida had been enlarged and raised to the rank of a town by the tetrarch, philip, and by him had been named julias in honor of julia, daughter of the reigning emperor. the gospel narratives of the voyage by which jesus and his companions reached the place, and of the return therefrom, are conformable to the assumption that bethsaida julias in perea and not bethsaida in galilee, was the town to which the "desert place" referred to was an outlying district. . the earlier and the later evening.--matthew specifies two evenings of the day on which the five thousand were fed; thus "when it was evening" the disciples asked jesus to send away the multitude; and later, after the miraculous feeding and after the disciples had left by boat, and after the crowds had departed, "when the evening was come" jesus was alone on the mountain (matt. : , ; compare mark : , ). trench _notes on the miracles_, (p. ) says: "st. matthew and st. mark with him, makes two evenings to this day--one which had already commenced before the preparations for the feeding of the multitude had begun (verse ), the other now, when the disciples had entered into the ship and set forth on their voyage (verse ). and this was an ordinary way of speaking among the jews, the first evening being very much our afternoon ... the second evening being the twilight, or from six o'clock to twilight, on which absolute darkness followed." see smith's _dict._, article "chronology," from which the following excerpt is taken: "'between the two evenings' (margin of exo. : ; numb. : ; : ) is a natural division between the late afternoon when the sun is low, and the evening when his light has not wholly disappeared, the two evenings into which the natural evening would be cut by the commencement of the civil day if it began at sunset." . watches of the night.--during the greater part of old testament time, the people of israel divided the night into three watches, each of four hours, such a period being that of individual sentinel duty. before the beginning of the christian era, however, the jews had adopted the roman order of four night-watches, each lasting three hours. these were designated numerically, e.g. the fourth watch mentioned in the text (see matt. : ), or as even, midnight, cock-crowing, and morning (see mark : ). the fourth watch was the last of the three-hour periods between sunset and sunrise, or between p.m. and a.m. and therefore extended from to o'clock in the morning. . the hem of the garment.--the faith of those who believed that if they could but touch the border of the lord's garment they would be healed, is in line with that of the woman who was healed of her long-standing malady by so touching his robe (see matt. : ; mark : , ; luke : ). the jews regarded the border or hem of their outer robes as of particular importance, because of the requirement made of israel in earlier days (numb. : , ) that the border be fringed and supplied with a band of blue, as a reminder to them of their obligations as the covenant people. the desire to touch the hem of christ's robe may have been associated with this thought of sanctity attaching to the hem or border. . traditions concerning manna.--the supplying of manna to the israelites incident to the exodus and the long travel in the wilderness, was rightly regarded as a work of surpassing wonder (exo. : - ; numb. : - ; deut. : , ; josh. : ; psa. : , ). many traditions, some of them perniciously erroneous, gathered about the incident, and were transmitted with invented additions from generation to generation. in the time of christ the rabbinical teaching was that the manna on which the fathers had fed was literally the food of the angels, sent down from heaven; and that it was of diverse taste and flavor to suit all ages, conditions, or desires; to one it tasted like honey, to another as bread, etc.; but in all gentile mouths it was bitter. moreover it was said that the messiah would give an unfailing supply of manna to israel when he came amongst them. these erroneous conceptions in part explain the demand of those who had been fed on barley loaves and fishes, for a sign that would surpass the giving of manna in the olden days, as evidence of the messiahship of jesus. . faith a gift of god.--"though within the reach of all who diligently strive to gain it, faith is nevertheless a divine gift, and can be obtained only from god (matt. : ; john : , ; eph. : ; cor. : ; rom. : ; moroni : ). as is fitting for so priceless a pearl, it is given to those only who show by their sincerity that they are worthy of it, and who give promise of abiding by its dictates. although faith is called the first principle of the gospel of christ, though it be in fact the foundation of all religion, yet even faith is preceded by sincerity of disposition and humility of soul, whereby the word of god may make an impression upon the heart (rom. : ). no compulsion is used in bringing men to a knowledge of god; yet, as fast as we open our hearts to the influences of righteousness, the faith that leads to life eternal will be given us of our father."--_articles of faith_, v: . . spiritual symbolism of eating.--"the idea of eating, as a metaphor for receiving spiritual benefit, was familiar to christ's hearers, and was as readily understood as our expressions--'devouring a book,' or 'drinking in' instruction. in isaiah : , the words 'the whole stay of bread,' were explained by the rabbis as referring to their own teaching, and they laid it down as a rule, that wherever, in ecclesiastes, allusion was made to food or drink, it meant study of the law, and the practise of good works. it was a saying among them--'in the time of the messiah the israelites will be fed by him.' nothing was more common in the schools and synagogs than the phrases of eating and drinking, in a metaphorical sense. 'messiah is not likely to come to israel,' said hillel, 'for they have already eaten him'--that is, greedily received his words--'in the days of hezekiah.' a current conventionalism in the synagogs was that the just would 'eat the shekinah.' it was peculiar to the jews to be taught in such metaphorical language. their rabbis never spoke in plain words, and it is expressly said that jesus submitted to the popular taste, for 'without a parable spake he not unto them' (mark : )."--geikie, _life and words of christ_, vol. i, p. . . the crucial nature of the discourse.--commenting on the effect of our lord's discourse (john : - ), edersheim (vol. ii, p. ) says: "here then we are at the parting of the two ways; and just because it was the hour of decision, did christ so clearly set forth the highest truths concerning himself, in opposition to the views which the multitude entertained about the messiah. the result was yet another and a sorer defection. upon this many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. nay, the searching trial reached even unto the hearts of the twelve. would they also go away? it was an anticipation of gethsemane--its first experience. but one thing kept them true. it was the experience of the past. this was the basis of their present faith and allegiance. they could not go back to their old past; they must cleave to him. so peter spake it in name of them all: lord, to whom shall we go? words of eternal life hast thou! nay, and more than this, as the result of what they had learned: and we have believed and know that thou art the holy one of god. it is thus, also, that many of us, whose thoughts may have been sorely tossed, and whose foundations terribly assailed, may have found our first resting-place in the assured, unassailable spiritual experience of the past. whither can we go for words of eternal life, if not to christ? if he fails us, then all hope of the eternal is gone. but he has the words of eternal life--and we believed when they first came to us; nay, we know that he is the holy one of god. and this conveys all that faith needs for further learning. the rest will he show when he is transfigured in our sight. but of these twelve christ knew one to be a devil--like that angel, fallen from highest height to lowest depth. the apostasy of judas had already commenced in his heart. and the greater the popular expectancy and disappointment had been, the greater the reaction and the enmity that followed. the hour of decision was past, and the hand on the dial pointed to the hour of his death." footnotes: [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - . [ ] luke : - . see pages - . [ ] pages , . [ ] note , page . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] mark : . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : ; mark : . page herein. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; compare mark : ; luke : - . [ ] mark : . [ ] john ; pages , . [ ] matt. : - ; luke : - ; see page . [ ] page . [ ] mark : , ; luke : . note similar testimony of the seventy, who were sent out at a later time, and who returned rejoicing in the power that had been manifest in their ministry; luke : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john : - ; compare matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] john : ; matt. : ; mark : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; compare mark : - ; john : - . [ ] page . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] that is to say, "since" or "inasmuch". [ ] compare peter's impetuous leap into the sea to reach the resurrected lord on the shore, john : . [ ] mark : . [ ] note that this is the first occurrence of this title in the synoptic gospels, as applied to jesus by mortals; compare an earlier instance of its application by nathanael, john : . [ ] "articles of faith," v: - --"faith a principle of power." [ ] josephus, wars. iii, : , . [ ] mark : - ; compare matt. : - . note , end of chapter. [ ] john : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john : - . [ ] john : - ; page herein. [ ] isa. : ; jer. : ; micah : ; compare heb. : ; : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : , . page . [ ] john : - . [ ] luke : , ; matt. : , . [ ] compare this confession (john : , ) with peter's later testimony (matt. : ). note , end of chapter. chapter . a period of darkening opposition. our lord's last recorded discourse in the synagog at capernaum, which followed close upon the miracle of feeding the five thousand and that of walking upon the water, marked the beginning of another epoch in the development of his life's work. it was the season of an approaching passover festival;[ ] and at the next succeeding passover, one year later, as shall be shown, jesus would be betrayed to his death. at the time of which we now speak, therefore, he was entering upon the last year of his ministry in the flesh. but the significance of the event is other and greater than that of a chronological datum-plane. the circumstance marked the first stage of a turn in the tide of popular regard toward jesus, which theretofore had been increasing, and which now began to ebb. true, he had been repeatedly criticized and openly assailed by complaining jews on many earlier occasions; but these crafty and even venomous critics were mostly of the ruling classes; the common people had heard him gladly, and indeed many of them continued so to do;[ ] nevertheless his popularity, in galilee at least, had begun to wane. the last year of his earthly ministration was inaugurated by a sifting of the people who professed to believe his word, and this process of test, trial, and separation, was to continue to the end. we are without information as to jesus having attended this passover feast; and it is reasonable to infer that in view of the increasing hostility on the part of the rulers, he refrained from going to jerusalem on the occasion. conjecture as to whether any of the twelve went up to the festival is profitless; we are not told. certain it is that immediately after this time, the detectives and spies, who had been sent from jerusalem into galilee to watch jesus, became more active than ever in their critical espionage. they dogged his footsteps, noted every act, and every instance of omission of traditional or customary observance, and were constantly on the alert to make him out an offender. ceremonial washings, "and many such like things,"[ ] shortly after the passover to which allusion has been made, and probably in accordance with a plan decided upon by the jewish rulers, jesus was visited by a delegation of pharisees and scribes who had come from jerusalem, and who made protest against the disregard of traditional requirements by his followers. it appears that the disciples, and almost certainly the master himself, had so far transgressed "the tradition of the elders" as to omit the ceremonial washing of hands before eating; the pharisaic critics found fault, and came demanding explanation, and justification if such were possible. mark tells us that the disciples were charged with having eaten with "defiled", or, as the marginal reading gives it, with "common" hands; and he interpolates the following concise and lucid note concerning the custom which the disciples were said to have ignored: "for the pharisees, and all the jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. and when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. and many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables."[ ] it should be borne in mind that the offense charged against the disciples was that of ceremonial uncleanness, not physical uncleanliness or disregard of sanitary propriety; they were said to have eaten with common or defiled hands, not specifically with dirty fingers. in all the externals of their man-made religionism, the jews were insistent on scrupulous exactitude; every possibility of ceremonial defilement was to be carefully guarded against, and the effects thereof had to be counteracted by prescribed washings.[ ] to the question: "why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread", jesus gave no direct reply; but asked as a rejoinder: "why do ye also transgress the commandment of god by your tradition?" to the pharisaic mind this must have been a very sharp rebuke; for rabbinism held that rigorous compliance with the traditions of the elders was more important than observance of the law itself; and jesus in his counter question put their cherished traditions as in direct conflict with the commandment of god. adding to their discomfiture, he cited the prophecy of isaiah, and applied to them whom he designated hypocrites, the prophet's words: "well hath esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, this people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."[ ] with deserved severity jesus carried the lesson home to their consciences, declaring that they had laid aside the commandments of god in order that they might follow the traditions of men. this accusing affirmation was followed by the citing of an undeniable instance: moses had voiced the direct commandment of god in saying: "honour thy father and thy mother," and had proclaimed the ordained penalty in extreme cases of unfilial conduct thus: "whoso curseth father or mother, let him die";[ ] but this law, though given of god direct to israel, had been so completely superseded that any ungrateful and wicked son could find ready means, which their traditions had made lawful, of escaping all filial obligations, even though his parents were destitute. if a needy father or mother craved help of a son, he had but to say--what you ask of me is corban--or in other words, an intended gift to god; and he was held to be legally exempt from all requirements to contribute of that substance to the support of his parents.[ ] other obligations could be similarly evaded. to declare that any article of property real or personal, or any part or proportion of one's possessions was "corban," was generally understood as an averment that the property so characterized was dedicated to the temple, or at least was intended to be devoted to ecclesiastical purposes, and would eventually be turned over to the officials, though the donor might continue to hold possession during a specified period, extending even to the end of his life. property was often declared to be "corban" for other purposes than dedication to ecclesiastical use. the result of such established though utterly unlawful and pernicious traditions was, as jesus emphatically stated to the pharisees and scribes, to make the word of god of none effect, and, he added, "many such like things do ye." turning from his titled visitors, he called the people together and proclaimed unto them the truth, as follows: "hearken unto me every one of you, and understand: there is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. if any man have ears to hear, let him hear." this was directly in conflict with rabbinical precept and practise; the pharisees were offended, for they had said that to eat with hands that had not been ritualistically cleansed was to defile the food touched, and in turn to become yet more defiled from the food thus rendered unclean. the apostles were not sure that they understood the master's lesson; though couched in plain, non-figurative language, it was to some of them very like a parable, and peter asked an exposition. the lord explained that the food one eats is but temporarily part of his body; having served its purpose of nourishing the tissues and supplying energy to the organism, it is eliminated; therefore the food that enters the body through the mouth is of small and transient importance compared with the utterances that issue from the mouth, for these, if evil, are truly defiling. as jesus set forth: "those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man; but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man."[ ] some of the disciples asked jesus whether he knew that the pharisees had taken offense at his saying; his answer was a further denunciation of pharisaism: "every plant, which my heavenly father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. and if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." there could be no compromize between his doctrine of the kingdom and the corrupt judaism of the time. the rulers were plotting against his life; if their emissaries chose to take offense at his words, let them be offended and stand the consequences; but blessed would they be if they were not offended because of him.[ ] he had no conciliatory measures to offer those whose inability to understand his meaning was the result of wilful obstinacy, or darkness of mind produced by persistence in sin. within the borders of tyre and sidon.[ ] unable to find in galilee rest, seclusion, or adequate opportunity of instructing the twelve as he desired to do, jesus departed with them northward, and journeyed into the coasts or borders of phenicia, a district commonly known by the names of its prominent cities, tyre and sidon. in one of the little towns near the border, the party took lodgings; but the attempt to secure privacy was futile, for the master's presence "could not be hid." his fame had preceded him beyond the boundaries of the land of israel. on earlier occasions, people from the region of tyre and sidon had been among his listeners, and some of them had been blessed by his healing mercies.[ ] a woman, hearing of his presence within her own land, came asking a boon. mark tells us she was a greek, or more literally a gentile[ ] who spoke greek, and by nationality a syro-phenician; matthew says she was "a woman of canaan"; these statements are in harmony, since the phenicians were of canaanite descent. the gospel-historians make clear the fact that this woman was of pagan or heathen birth; and we know that among the peoples so classed the canaanites were held in particular disrepute by the jews. the woman cried aloud to jesus, saying: "have mercy on me, o lord, thou son of david; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil." her words expressed at once faith in the lord's power, and a fulness of mother-love, for she implored as though she were the afflicted sufferer. the fact that she addressed jesus as son of david demonstrates her belief that he was the messiah of israel. at first jesus refrained from answering her. undeterred, she pleaded the more, until the disciples besought the lord saying: "send her away; for she crieth after us." their intervention was probably an intercession in her behalf; she could be quieted by the granting of her request; as it was, she was making an undesirable scene, probably on the street, and the twelve knew well that their master sought quietude. to them jesus said: "i am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of israel," and the remark must have reminded them of the restriction under which they had been sent out.[ ] the woman, with importunate desire came near, possibly entering the house; she fell at the lord's feet and worshiped him, pleading pitifully, "lord, help me." to her jesus said, "it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs." the words, harsh as they may sound to us, were understood by her in the spirit of the lord's intent. the original term here translated "dogs" connoted, as the narrative shows, not the vagrant and despized curs elsewhere spoken of in the bible as typical of a degraded state, or of positive badness,[ ] but literally the "little dogs" or domestic pets, such as were allowed in the house and under the table. certainly the woman took no offense at the comparison, and found therein no objectionable epithet. instantly she adopted the analogy, and applied it in combined argument and supplication,[ ] "truth, lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table;" or, in the words of mark's version: "yes, lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs." her prayer was immediately granted; for jesus said unto her, "o woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. and her daughter was made whole from that very hour." mark emphasizes the special recognition of her final plea, and adds: "and when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed." the woman's commendable persistency was based on the faith that overcomes apparent obstacles and endures even under discouragement. her case reminds one of the lesson taught by the lord on another occasion through the story of the importunate widow.[ ] many have queried as to why jesus delayed the blessing. we may not be able to fathom his purposes; but we see that, by the course he adopted, the woman's faith was demonstrated and the disciples were instructed. jesus impressed upon her that she was not of the chosen people, to whom he had been sent; but his words prefigured the giving of the gospel to all, both jew and gentile: "let the children _first_ be filled" he had said. the resurrected christ was to be made known to every nation;[ ] but his personal ministry as a mortal, as also that of the apostles while he was with them in the flesh, was directed to the house of israel.[ ] in the coasts of decapolis.[ ] we are not told how long jesus and the twelve tarried in the land of tyre and sidon, nor which portions of the district they traversed. they went thence into the region adjoining the sea of galilee on the east, "through the midst of the coasts of decapolis."[ ] though still among semi-pagan peoples, our lord was greeted by great crowds, amongst whom were many lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and otherwise afflicted; and them he healed. great was the astonishment of these aliens, "when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the god of israel." among the many who were healed was one of whom special mention is made. he was deaf and defective in speech. the people asked the lord to lay his hands upon the man; but jesus led him away from the multitude, put his fingers in the man's ears, spat, and touched the man's tongue; then looking upward in prayer, and sighing the while, he uttered a word of command in aramaic, "ephphatha, that is, be opened. and straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain." the manner of effecting this cure was different again from the usual mode of our lord's healing ministrations. it may be that by the finger-touch to the closed ears and to the bound tongue, the man's faith was strengthened and his confidence in the master's power increased. the people were forbidden to tell abroad what they had witnessed; but the more they were charged the more they published the news. their conclusion as to jesus and his works was: "he hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak." another meal in the desert; over four thousand fed.[ ] for three days the glad crowds remained with jesus and the apostles. camping out at that season and in that region entailed no great hardship incident to exposure. their supply of food, however, had become exhausted; and many of them were far from home. jesus had compassion upon the people, and was loath to send them away fasting, lest they would faint by the way. when he spoke to the disciples on the matter they intimated the impossibility of feeding so great a number, for the entire stock of food at hand comprized but seven loaves and a few little fishes. had they forgotten the former occasion on which a greater multitude had been fed and filled with but five loaves and two small fishes? rather let us believe that the disciples remembered well, yet deemed it beyond their duty or privilege to suggest a repetition of the miracle. but the master commanded; and the people seated themselves on the ground. blessing and dividing the small provision as before, he gave to the disciples and they distributed to the multitude. four thousand men, beside women and children, were abundantly fed; and of the broken but uneaten food there remained enough to fill seven baskets. with no semblance of the turbulent enthusiasm that had followed the feeding of the five thousand, this multitude dispersed quietly and returned to their homes, grateful and doubly blessed. again beset by sign-seekers.[ ] jesus and the apostles returned by boat to the western shore of the lake, and landed near magdala and dalmanutha. these towns are understood to have been so close together as to virtually make the latter a suburb of the other. here the party was met by the ever-vigilant pharisees, who on this occasion were accompanied by their usually unfriendly rivals, the sadducees. that the two parties had temporarily laid aside their mutual differences, and had combined their forces in the common cause of opposition to christ, is a demonstration of the determined purpose of the ecclesiastical authorities to find occasion against him, and, if possible, destroy him. their immediate object was to further alienate the common people, and to counteract the influence of his former teachings with the masses. they set anew the old-time snare of demanding from him a supernatural sign of his messiahship, though thrice already had they or others of their kind so attempted to entrap him, and thrice had they been foiled.[ ] before them, satan in person had similarly tried and failed.[ ] to their present impertinent and impious demand he gave a brief and definite refusal coupled with an exposure of their hypocrisy. this was his reply: "when it is evening, ye say, it will be fair weather: for the sky is red. and in the morning, it will be foul weather today: for the sky is red and lowring. o ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet jonas. and he left them, and departed."[ ] the leaven of the pharisees and of the sadducees.[ ] again with the twelve upon the water, since on the galilean coast neither peace nor opportunity for effective teaching was found, jesus directed the vessel's course toward the north-easterly shore. when well out from land, he said to his companions: "take heed and beware of the leaven of the pharisees and of the sadducees," and, as mark adds, "and of the leaven of herod." in their hasty departure the disciples had forgotten to take a supply of food; they had with them but a single loaf. they construed his words respecting leaven as a reference to bread, and possibly as a reproof for their neglect. jesus chided them as of little faith for thinking then of material bread, and refreshed their recollection of the miracles by which the multitudes had been fed, so that their lack of loaves would not further trouble them. finally they were made to understand that the master's warning was directed against the false doctrines of the pharisees and those of the sadducees, and against the political aspirations of the scheming herodians.[ ] the party left the boat near the site of the first miraculous feeding of the multitude, and made their way to bethsaida julias. a blind man was brought, and jesus was asked to touch him. he took the sightless one by the hand, led him outside the town, applied saliva to his eyes, laid hands upon him in a ministration, and asked him if he could see. the man answered that he saw dimly, but was unable to distinguish men from trees. applying his hands to the man's eyes, jesus told him to look up; the man did so and saw clearly. bidding him not to enter the town, nor to tell of his deliverance from blindness to any in the place, the lord sent him away rejoicing. this miracle presents the unique feature of jesus healing a person by stages; the result of the first ministration was but a partial recovery. no explanation of the exceptional circumstance is given. "thou art the christ."[ ] accompanied by the twelve, jesus continued his way northward to the neighborhood or "coasts" of cæsarea philippi, an inland city situated near the eastern and principal source of the jordan, and near the foot of mount hermon.[ ] the journey afforded opportunity for special and confidential instruction to the apostles. of them jesus asked: "whom do men say that i the son of man am?" in reply they reported the rumors and popular fancies that had come to their notice. some people, sharing the superstitious fears of the conscience-stricken herod antipas, said that jesus was john the baptist returned to life, though such a belief could not have been entertained seriously by many, as john and jesus were known to have been contemporaries; others said he was elias, or more exactly, elijah; still others suggested he was jeremiah or some other one of the ancient prophets of israel. it is significant that among all the conceptions of the people as to the identity of jesus there was no intimation of belief that he was the messiah. neither by word nor deed had he measured up to the popular and traditional standard of the expected deliverer and king of israel. fleeting manifestations of evanescent hope that he might prove to be the looked-for prophet, like unto moses, had not been lacking; but all such incipient conceptions had been neutralized by the hostile activity of the pharisees and their kind. to them it was a matter of supreme though evil determination to maintain in the minds of the people the thought of a yet future, not a present, messiah. with deep solemnity, and as a soul-searching test for which the twelve had been in unconscious preparation through many months of close and privileged companionship with their lord, jesus asked of them: "but whom say ye that i am?" answering for all, but more particularly testifying as to his own conviction, peter, with all the fervor of his soul, voiced the great confession: "thou art the christ, the son of the living god." this was no avowal of mere belief, no expression of a result at which he had arrived by mental process, no solution of a problem laboriously worked out, no verdict based on the weighing of evidence; he spoke in the sure knowledge that knows no question and from which doubt and reservation are as far removed as is the sky from the ground. "and jesus answered and said unto him, blessed art thou, simon barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my father which is in heaven." peter's knowledge, which was also that of his brethren, was of a kind apart from all that man may find out for himself; it was a divine bestowal, in comparison with which human wisdom is foolishness and the treasure of earth but dross, addressing himself further to the first of the apostles, jesus continued: "and i say also unto thee, that thou art peter, and upon this rock i will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. and i will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." through direct revelation from god peter knew that jesus was the christ; and upon revelation, as a rock of secure foundation, the church of christ was to be built.[ ] though torrents should fall, floods roll, winds rage, and all beat together upon that structure, it would not, could not, fall, for it was founded upon a rock;[ ] and even the powers of hell would be impotent to prevail against it. by revelation alone could or can the church of jesus christ be builded and maintained; and revelation of necessity implies revelators, through whom the will of god may be made known respecting his church. as a gift from god comes the testimony of jesus into the heart of man. this principle was comprized in the master's teachings at capernaum, that none could come to him save such as the father would bring.[ ] the lord's promise, that unto peter he would give "the keys of the kingdom of heaven," embodies the principle of divine authority in the holy priesthood, and of the commission of presidency. allusion to keys as symbolical of power and authority is not uncommon in jewish literature, as was well understood in that period and is generally current today.[ ] so also the analogies of binding and loosing as indicative of official acts were then usual, as they are now, particularly in connection with judicial functions. peter's presidency among the apostles was abundantly manifest and generally recognized after the close of our lord's mortal life. thus, it was he who spoke in behalf of the eleven, in the council meeting at which a successor to the traitor iscariot was chosen; he was the spokesman of his brethren on the occasion of the pentecostal conversion; it was he who opened the doors of the church to the gentiles;[ ] and his office of leadership is apparent throughout the apostolic period. the confession by which the apostles avowed their acceptance of jesus as the christ, the son of the living god, was evidence of their actual possession of the spirit of the holy apostleship, by which they were made particular witnesses of their lord. the time for a general proclamation of their testimony had not arrived, however; nor did it come until after christ had emerged from the tomb a resurrected, immortalized personage. for the time being they were charged "that they should tell no man that he was jesus the christ." proclamation of jesus as the messiah, particularly if made by the apostles who were publicly known as his most intimate disciples and associates, or open assumption of the messianic title by himself, would have aggravated the hostility of the rulers, which had already become a grave interference if not an actual menace to the savior's ministry; and seditious uprisings against the political government of rome might easily have resulted. a yet deeper reason for the secrecy enjoined upon the twelve appears in the fact that the jewish nation was not prepared to accept their lord; and to ignore him through lack of certain knowledge involved a lesser degree of culpability than would have attached to an unpalliated rejection. the particular mission of the apostles at a time then future was to proclaim to all nations jesus, the crucified and resurrected christ. from the time of peter's confession however, jesus instructed the twelve more plainly and with greater intimacy concerning the future developments of his mission, and particularly as touching his appointed death. on earlier occasions he had referred in their hearing to the cross, and to his approaching death, burial and ascension; but the mention in each case was in a measure figurative, and they had apprehended but imperfectly if at all. now, however, he began to show, and often afterward made plain unto them, "how that he must go unto jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day." peter was shocked at this unqualified declaration, and, yielding to impulse, remonstrated with jesus, or, as two of the evangelists state, "began to rebuke him," even going so far as to say: "this shall not be unto thee."[ ] the lord turned upon him with this sharp reproof: "get thee behind me, satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of god, but those that be of men." peter's words constituted an appeal to the human element in christ's nature; and the sensitive feelings of jesus were wounded by this suggestion of unfaithfulness to his trust, coming from the man whom he had so signally honored but a few moments before. peter saw mainly as men see, understanding but imperfectly the deeper purposes of god. though deserved, the rebuke he received was severe. the adjuration, "get thee behind me, satan," was identical with that used against the arch-tempter himself, who had sought to beguile jesus from the path upon which he had entered,[ ] and the provocation in the two instances was in some respects similar--the temptation to evade sacrifice and suffering, though such was the world's ransom, and to follow a more comfortable way.[ ] the forceful words of jesus show the deep emotion that peter's ill-considered attempt to counsel if not to tempt his lord had evoked. beside the twelve, who were immediately about the lord's person, others were nearby; it appears that even in those remote parts, far removed from the borders of galilee--the habitat of a heathen population, with whom, however, many jews were intermixed--the people gathered around the master. these he now called together, and to them and the disciples said: "if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." here the frightful figure of the cross was again made prominent. there was left no shadow of excuse for the thought that devotion to christ would not mean denial and privation. he who would save his life at the cost of duty, as peter had just suggested that christ should do, would surely lose it in a sense worse than that of physical death; whereas he who stood willing to lose all, even life itself, should find the life that is eternal. as evincing the soundness of his teachings, jesus uttered what has since become an inspiring aphorism of life: "for what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" whosoever is ashamed of christ because of his lowly estate, or through offense at his teachings, shall yet find that the son of man, when he comes in the glory of the father, with attending cohorts of angels, will be ashamed of that man. the record of this memorable day in the savior's life closes with his blessed promise: "verily i say unto you, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the son of man coming in his kingdom."[ ] notes to chapter . . passover celebrations comprized within the period of our lord's public ministry.--the dates on which specific acts occurred in the ministry of jesus are difficult if not impossible to fix, except in few instances; and as heretofore stated and reiterated, even the order of events is often found to be uncertain. it will be remembered that jesus was in jerusalem at the time of the passover soon after his baptism, and that on the visit referred to he forcibly cleared the temple courts of traffickers and their property. this is known as the _first_ passover during the public life of jesus. if the unnamed "feast of the jews" referred to by john ( : ) was a passover, as many bible students hold, it marked the close of the year following the cleansing the temple; it is commonly spoken of and written about as the _second_ passover in the course of our lord's ministry. then the passover near which jesus fed the five thousand (john : ) would be the _third_, and would mark the expiration of two years and a fraction since the baptism of jesus; it certainly marks the beginning of the last year of the savior's life on earth. . ceremonial ablutions.--the numerous washings required by jewish custom in the time of christ were admittedly incident to rabbinism and "the tradition of the elders" and not in compliance with the mosaic law. under certain conditions, successive washings were prescribed, in connection with which we find mention of "first," "second" and "other" waters, the "second water" being necessary to wash away the "first water," which had become defiled by contact with the "common" hands; and so further with the later waters. sometimes the hands had to be dipped or immersed; at other times they were to be cleansed by pouring, it being necessary that the water be allowed to run to the wrist or the elbow according to the degree of supposed defilement; then again, as the disciples of rabbi shammai held, only the finger tips, or the fingers up to the knuckles, needed to be wetted under particular circumstances. rules for the cleansing of vessels and furniture were detailed and exacting; distinct methods applied respectively to vessels of clay, wood, and metal. fear of unwittingly defiling the hands led to many extreme precautions. it being known that the roll of the law, the roll of the prophets, and other scriptures, when laid away were sometimes touched, scratched, or even gnawed by mice, there was issued a rabbinical decree, that the holy scriptures, or any part thereof comprizing as many as eighty-five letters (the shortest section in the law having just that number), defiled the hands by mere contact. thus the hands had to be ceremonially cleansed after touching a copy of the scriptures, or even a written passage therefrom. emancipation from these and "many such like things" must have been relief indeed. escape from this thraldom jesus freely offered, saying: "come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and i will give you rest. take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for i am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (matt. : - .) . "corban," a gift.--the law of moses prescribed rules relating to vows (lev. ; numb. ). "upon these rules," says the writer in smith's _bible dict._, "the traditionalists enlarged, and laid down that a man might interdict himself by vow, not only from using for himself, but from giving to another or receiving from him, some particular object whether of food or any other kind whatsoever. the thing thus interdicted was considered as corban. a person might thus exempt himself from any inconvenient obligation under plea of corban. our lord denounced practises of this sort (matt. : ; mark : ), as annulling the spirit of the law." the revised version, matt. : is made to read "but ye say, whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, that wherewith thou mightest have been profited by me is given to god; he shall not honor his father (or, his mother)." the following account of this pernicious custom appears in the _commentary on the holy bible_ edited by dummelow, "'corban,' meaning originally a sacrifice or a gift to god, was used in new testament times as a mere word of vowing, without implying that the thing vowed would actually be offered or given to god. thus a man would say 'corban to me is wine for such a time,' meaning that he took a vow to abstain from wine. or a man would say to a friend 'corban to me for such a time is whatsoever i might be profited by thee,' meaning that for such a time he vowed that he would receive neither hospitality nor any other benefit from his friend. similarly, if a son said to his father or mother, 'corban is whatsoever thou mightest have profited by me' he took a vow not to assist his father or mother in any way, however much they might require it. a vow of this kind was held by the scribes to excuse a man from the duty of supporting his parents, and thus by their tradition they made void the word of god." . the "dogs" that eat of the crumbs.--the woman's fervid rejoinder, "truth, lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table," (matt. : ), is thus commented upon and paraphrased by trench (_notes on the miracles_, p. ): "the rendering of her answer in our translation is not, however, altogether satisfactory. for, indeed, she accepts the lord's declaration, not immediately to make exception against the conclusion which he draws from it, but to show how in that very declaration is involved the granting of her petition. 'saidest thou dogs? it is well; i accept the title and the place; for the dogs have a portion of the meal,--not the first, not the children's portion, but a portion still,--the crumbs which fall from the master's table. in this very putting of the case, thou bringest us heathen, thou bringest me, within the circle of the blessings which god, the great householder, is ever dispensing to his family. we also belong to his household, though we occupy but the lowest place therein.'" the dummelow _commentary_, on matt. : , reads in part as follows: "the rabbis often spoke of the gentiles as dogs, e.g. 'he who eats with an idolater is like one who eats with a dog.' ... 'the nations of the world are compared to dogs.' 'the holy convocation belongs to you, not to the dogs.' yet jesus in adopting the contemptuous expression slightly softens it. he says not 'dogs,' but 'little dogs,' i.e. household, favorite, dogs; and the woman cleverly catches at the expression, arguing that if the gentiles are household dogs, then it is only right that they should be fed with the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." edersheim, referring to the original text, says: "the term means 'little dogs,' or 'house dogs.'" . decapolis.--the name means "the ten cities," and was applied to a region of indefinite boundaries lying mostly on the east of jordan and southerly from the sea of galilee. scythopolis, which josephus (wars of the jews, iii, : ) refers to as the largest of the ten cities, was on the west side of the river. there is lack of agreement among historians as to the cities comprized under the name. biblical mention (matt. : ; mark : ; : ) implies a general region rather than a definite area. . the coasts of cæsarea philippi.--the term "coast" as it appears in the bible (authorized, or king james version), is used to connote boundary, limit, or border, and not distinctively a seashore. (for examples see exo. : , , ; josh. : , ; judg. : ; matt. : , etc.) it is applied therefore to inland areas, and frequently occurs as indicating a vicinity or neighborhood. cæsarea philippi, a town located, as stated in the text, near mount hermon at the source of the jordan, had been enlarged and beautified by philip the tetrarch, and by him was named cæsarea in honor of the roman emperor. it was called cæsarea philippi to distinguish it from the already existing cæsarea, which was situated on the mediterranean shore of samaria, and which in later literature came to be known as cæsarea palestina. cæsarea philippi is believed to be identical with the ancient baal gad (josh. : ) and baal hermon (judg. : ). it was known as a place of idolatrous worship, and while under greek sovereignty was called paneas in recognition of the mythological deity pan. see josephus, ant. xviii, : ; this designation persists in the present arabic name of the place, banias. . simon peter and the "rock" of revelation.--simon the son of jonas, on the occasion of his first recorded interview with jesus had received from the lord's lips the distinguishing name-title "peter," or in the aramaic tongue "cephas," the english equivalent of which is "a rock" or "a stone" (john : ; see also page herein). the name was confirmed upon the apostle on the occasion now under consideration (matt. : ). jesus said to him "thou art peter," adding, "and upon this rock i will build my church." in the course of the general apostasy subsequent to the ancient apostolic ministry, the bishop of rome laid claim to supreme authority as the alleged lineal successor to peter; and an erroneous doctrine gained currency to the effect that peter was the "rock" upon which the church of christ was founded. detailed consideration of this inconsistent and infamous claim cannot be undertaken here; it is sufficient to say that a church founded or dependent upon peter or any other man would be peter's or the other man's church, and not the church of jesus christ. (see _the great apostasy_, chap ; also b. of m., nephi : - ; also chapter herein). that upon peter rested the responsibility of presidency in the ministry, after the ascension of the resurrected christ, is not questioned; but that he was, even typically, the foundation upon which the church was built, is at once unscriptural and untrue. the church of jesus christ must authoritatively bear his name, and be guided by revelation, direct and continuous, as the conditions of its building require. revelation from god to his servants invested with the holy priesthood through authorized ordination as was peter, is the impregnable "rock" upon which the church is built. (see _articles of faith_, xvi,--"revelation.") . christ's rebuke to peter.--in addressing peter as "satan," jesus was obviously using a forceful figure of speech, and not a literal designation; for satan is a distinct personage, lucifer, that fallen, unembodied son of the morning (see page ); and certainly peter was not he. in his remonstrance or "rebuke" addressed to jesus, peter was really counseling what satan had before attempted to induce christ to do, or tempting, as satan himself had tempted. the command, "get thee behind me, satan," as directed to peter, is rendered in english by some authorities "get thee behind me, tempter." the essential meaning attached to both hebrew and greek originals for our word "satan" is that of an adversary, or "one who places himself in another's way and thus opposes him." (zenos.) the expression "thou art an offense unto me" is admittedly a less literal translation than "thou art a stumbling-block unto me." the man whom jesus had addressed as peter--"the rock," was now likened to a stone in the path, over which the unwary might stumble. . some to live until christ returns.--the savior's declaration to the apostles and others in the neighborhood of cæsarea philippi, "verily i say unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death, till they see the son of man coming in his kingdom," (matt. : ; compare mark : ; luke : ), has occasioned great and diverse comment. the event referred to, that of the son of man coming in the glory of his father attended by the angels, is yet future. at least a partial fulfilment of the prediction is presented in the prolongation of the life of john the apostle, who was there present, and who yet lives in the flesh according to his desire (john : - ; see further b. of m., nephi : - ; doc. and cov. sec. ). . "thou art the christ."--peter's solemn and soulful confession of jesus as the christ is worded differently by each of the three synoptists. to many the most expressive version is that of luke: "the christ of god." on earlier occasions, some or all of the twelve had acknowledged jesus christ to be the son of god, e.g. following the miracle of walking upon the sea (matt. : ), and again, after the crucial sermon at capernaum (john : ); but it is evident that peter's upwelling and reverential confession in answer to the lord's question "but whom say ye that i am?" had a significance, greater in assurance and more exalted in kind, than had any prior expression of his conception concerning his lord. yet even the conviction given through direct revelation (matt. : ) did not at the time comprize a comprehensive knowledge of the savior's mission. indeed, a fulness of understanding and assurance came to the apostles after the lord's resurrection (compare romans : ). nevertheless, peter's testimony in the land of cæsarea philippi evidences a very exalted attainment. at that stage of the savior's ministry, the public proclamation of his divine status would have been as the casting of pearls before swine (matt. : ); therefore the lord instructed the apostles that at that time "they should tell no man that he was jesus the christ." footnotes: [ ] john : . note , end of chapter. [ ] mark : . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - . [ ] as the oxford marginal note shows "beds" is a more literal rendering than "tables", the couches upon which the eaters reclined at table being meant. see page . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] mark : , ; see also matt. : - ; isa. : ; compare the words of the resurrected christ to the prophet joseph smith, in the present dispensation, p. of g.p., joseph smith, : . [ ] exo. : ; deut. : ; exo. : ; lev. : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; compare mark : - . [ ] matt. : ; luke : ; pages and herein. [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - . [ ] mark : ; luke : . [ ] see marginal reading in oxford and bagster bibles; see also note , page . [ ] matt. : , ; see also page herein. [ ] deut. : ; sam. : ; : ; sam. : ; : ; job : ; matt. : ; philip : ; rev. : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] luke : - . page . [ ] matt. : ; mark : . [ ] acts : , ; : - ; rom. : . [ ] mark : - ; compare matt. : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - . [ ] matt. : ; : - ; mark : - . [ ] john : ; : ; matt. : . [ ] matt. : , ; luke : - . [ ] matt. : - ; compare : - ; pages - herein. [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; compare luke : . [ ] page . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] compare matt. : , . [ ] john : ; compare verses , , . [ ] see isa. : ; luke : ; rev. : ; : ; compare doc. and cov. : ; : ; : , , ; : ; : ; : ; etc. [ ] acts : - ; : - ; chap. , compare with : . [ ] matt. : , ; mark : , . [ ] luke : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. chapter . the transfiguration. of the week following the events last considered, no record is found in the gospels. we may safely assume that the time was devoted, in part at least, to the further instruction of the twelve respecting the rapidly approaching consummation of the savior's mission on earth, the awful circumstances of which the apostles were loath to believe possible. when the week had passed[ ] jesus took peter, james, and john[ ] and with them ascended a high mountain, where they would be reasonably safe from human intrusion.[ ] there the three apostles witnessed a heavenly manifestation, which stands without parallel in history; in our bible captions it is known as the transfiguration of christ.[ ] one purpose of the lord's retirement was that of prayer, and a transcendent investiture of glory came upon him as he prayed. the apostles had fallen asleep, but were awakened by the surpassing splendor of the scene, and gazed with reverent awe upon their glorified lord. "the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering." his garments, though made of earth-woven fabric, "became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them;" "and his face did shine as the sun." thus was jesus transfigured before the three privileged witnesses. with him were two other personages, who also were in a state of glorified radiance, and who conversed with the lord. these, as the apostles learned by means not stated though probably as gathered from the conversation in progress, were moses and elias, or more literally to us, elijah; and the subject of their conference with christ was "his decease which he should accomplish at jerusalem." as the prophet visitants were about to depart, "peter said unto jesus, master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for moses, and one for elias: not knowing what he said." undoubtedly peter and his fellow apostles were bewildered, "sore afraid" indeed; and this condition may explain the suggestion respecting the three tabernacles. "he wist not what to say;" yet, though his remark appears confused and obscure, it becomes somewhat plainer when we remember that, at the annual feast of tabernacles, it was customary to erect a little bower, or booth of wattled boughs, for each individual worshiper, into which he might retire for devotion. so far as there was a purpose in peter's proposition, it seems to have been that of delaying the departure of the visitants. the sublime and awful solemnity of the occasion had not yet reached its climax. even as peter spake, "behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, this is my beloved son, in whom i am well pleased; hear ye him." it was elohim,[ ] the eternal father, who spake; and at the sound of that voice of supreme majesty, the apostles fell prostrate. jesus came and touched them, saying, "arise, and be not afraid." when they looked they saw that again they were alone with him. the impression made upon the three apostles by this manifestation was one never to be forgotten; but they were expressly charged to speak of it to no man until after the savior had risen from the dead. they were puzzled as to the significance of the lord's reference to his prospective rising from the dead. they had heard with great sorrow, and reluctantly they were being brought to understand it to be an awful certainty, that their beloved master was to "suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed."[ ] such had been declared to them before, in language devoid of ambiguity and admitting of no figurative construction; and with equal plainness they had been told that jesus would rise again; but of this latter eventuality they had but dim comprehension. the present reiteration of these teachings seems to have left the three with no clearer understanding of their lord's resurrection from the dead than they had before. they seem to have had no definite conception as to what was meant by a resurrection; "and they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean."[ ] the comprehensiveness of the lord's injunction, that until after his rising from the dead they tell no man of their experiences on the mount, prohibited them from informing even their fellows of the twelve. later, after the lord had ascended to his glory, peter testified to the church of the wondrous experience, in this forceful way: "for we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our lord jesus christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. for he received from god the father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son, in whom i am well pleased. and this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount."[ ] and john, reverently confessing before the world the divinity of the word, the son of god who had been made flesh to dwell among men, solemnly affirmed: "and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth."[ ] the divine purpose as shown forth in the transfiguration may be as incomprehensible to the human mind as is a full conception of the attendant splendor from verbal description; some features of the results achieved are apparent, however. unto christ the manifestation was strengthening and encouraging. the prospect of the experiences immediately ahead must naturally have been depressing and disheartening in the extreme. in faithfully treading the path of his life's work, he had reached the verge of the valley of the shadow of death; and the human part of his nature called for refreshing. as angels had been sent to minister unto him after the trying scenes of the forty days' fast and the direct temptation of satan,[ ] and as, in the agonizing hour of his bloody sweat, he was to be sustained anew by angelic ministry,[ ] so at this critical and crucial period, the beginning of the end, visitants from the unseen world came to comfort and support him. what of actual communication passed in the conference of jesus with moses and elijah is not of full record in the new testament gospels. the voice of his father, to whom he was the firstborn in the spirit-world, and the only begotten in the flesh, was of supreme assurance; yet that voice had been addressed to the three apostles rather than to jesus, who had already received the father's acknowledgment and attestation on the occasion of his baptism. the fullest version of the father's words to peter, james, and john is that recorded by matthew: "this is my beloved son, in whom i am well pleased; hear ye him." aside from the proclamation of the son's divine nature, the father's words were otherwise decisive and portentous. moses, the promulgator of the law, and elijah the representative of the prophets and especially distinguished among them as the one who had not died,[ ] had been seen ministering unto jesus and subservient to him. the fulfillment of the law and the superseding of the prophets by the messiah was attested in the command--hear ye _him_. a new dispensation had been established, that of the gospel, for which the law and the prophets had been but preparatory. the apostles were to be guided neither by moses nor elijah, but by _him_, their lord, jesus the christ. the three selected apostles, "the man of rock and the sons of thunder" had seen the lord in glory; and they marveled that such a thing could be at that time, since as they had interpreted the scriptures, it had been predicted that elijah should precede the messiah's triumphal advent. as they wended their way down the mountain-side, they asked the master:[ ] "why then say the scribes that elias must first come?" jesus confirmed the prophecy that elias should first come, that is, before the lord's advent in glory, which event they had in mind; "but," he added, "i say unto you, that elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. likewise shall also the son of man suffer of them. then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of john the baptist." that john the baptist would officiate "in the spirit and power of elias," as the forerunner of the christ, had been announced by the angel gabriel to zacharias,[ ] before the baptist's birth; and that john was _that_ particular elias had been shown by jesus in his memorable tribute to the baptist's fidelity and greatness. that his words would not be generally accepted with understanding is evidenced by the context; jesus, on that occasion, had said: "and if ye will receive it, this is elias, which was for to come."[ ] it is not possible that jesus could have meant that john was the same individual as elijah; nor could the people have so understood his words, since the false doctrine of transmigration or reincarnation of spirits was repudiated by the jews.[ ] the seeming difficulty is removed when we consider that, as the name appears in the new testament, "elias" is used for "elijah,"[ ] with no attempt at distinction between elijah the tishbite, and any other person known as elias. gabriel's declaration that the then unborn john should manifest "the spirit and power of elias" indicates that "elias" is a title of office; every restorer, forerunner, or one sent of god to prepare the way for greater developments in the gospel plan, is an elias. the appellative "elias" is in fact both a personal name and a title. in the present dispensation both the ancient elias, who belonged to the abrahamic dispensation and in the spirit of whose office many have officiated in different periods, and also the prophet elijah, have appeared in person and have conferred their particular and separate authority upon latter-day bearers of the holy priesthood, and the keys of the powers exercized by them while on earth are today inherent in the restored church of jesus christ. the authority of elias is inferior to that of elijah, the first being a function of the lesser or aaronic order of priesthood, while the latter belongs to the higher or melchizedek priesthood. malachi's prediction, that before "the great and dreadful day of the lord" elijah the prophet would be sent to earth to "turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers,"[ ] did not reach fulfilment in the mission of john the baptist, nor in that of any other "elias";[ ] its complete realization was inaugurated on the third day of april, , when elijah appeared in the temple at kirtland, ohio, and committed to joseph smith and oliver cowdery the keys of the authority theretofore vested in himself. "the great and dreadful day of the lord" was not the meridian of time; that awful though blessed period of consummation is yet future, but "near, even at the doors."[ ] notes to chapter . . interval between time of peter's confession and that of the transfiguration.--both matthew ( : ) and mark ( : ) state that the transfiguration occurred "after six days" following the time of peter's great confession that jesus was the christ; while luke ( : ) notes an interval of "about an eight days." it is probable that the six-day period was meant to be exclusive of the day on which the earlier events had occurred and of that on which jesus and the three apostles retired to the mountain; and that luke's "about an eight days" was made to include these two days. there is here no ground for a claim of discrepancy. . peter, james, and john who were selected from among the twelve as the only earthly witnesses of the transfiguration of christ, had been similarly chosen as witnesses of a special manifestation, that of the raising of the daughter of jairus (mark : ; luke : ); and, later, the same three were the sole witnesses of our lord's night agony in gethsemane (matt. : ; mark : ). . place of the transfiguration.--the mountain on which the transfiguration occurred is neither named nor otherwise indicated by the gospel-writers in such a way as to admit of its positive identification. mount tabor, in galilee, has long been held by tradition as the site, and in the sixth century three churches were erected on its plateau-like summit, possibly in commemoration of peter's desire to make three tabernacles or booths, one each for jesus, moses, and elijah. later a monastery was built there. nevertheless, mt. tabor is now rejected by investigators, and mt. hermon is generally regarded as the place. hermon stands near the northerly limits of palestine, just beyond cæsarea philippi, where jesus is known to have been a week before the transfiguration. mark ( : ) distinctly tells us that after his descent from the mount, jesus and the apostles departed and went through galilee. weight of evidence is in favor of hermon as the mount of transfiguration, though nothing that may be called decisive is known in the matter. . the names "elias" and "elijah."--the following statement which appears in smith's _bible dictionary_ is supported by authorities in general: "'elias'" is "the greek and latin form of 'elijah' given in the authorized version of the apocrypha and new testament." . "the spirit and power of elias."--that john the baptist, in his capacity as a restorer, a forerunner, or as one sent to prepare the way for a work greater than his own, did officiate as an "elias" is attested by both ancient and latter-day scripture. through him water baptism for the remission of sins was preached and administered, and the higher baptism, that of the spirit, was made possible. true to his mission, he has come in the last dispensation, and has restored by ordination the priesthood of aaron, which has authority to baptize. he thus prepared the way for the vicarious labor of baptism for the dead, the authority for which was restored by elijah, (see page herein), and which is preeminently the work by which the children and the fathers shall be united in an eternal bond. on the th of march, , the prophet joseph smith gave the following exposition of the power of elias as compared with higher authority: "the spirit of elias is first, elijah second, and messiah last. elias is a forerunner to prepare the way, and the spirit and power of elijah is to come after, holding the keys of power, building the temple to the cap-stone, placing the seals of the melchizedek priesthood upon the house of israel, and making all things ready; then messiah comes to his temple, which is last of all." "messiah is above the spirit and power of elijah, for he made the world, and was that spiritual rock unto moses in the wilderness. elijah was to come and prepare the way and build up the kingdom before the coming of the great day of the lord, although the spirit of elias might begin it."--_hist. of the church_, under date named. . mention of the lord's approaching "decease."--of the three synoptists, luke alone makes even brief mention of the matter upon which moses and elijah conversed with the lord at the transfiguration. the record states that the visitants, who appeared in glory, "spake of his decease which he should accomplish at jerusalem" (luke : ). it is significant that the _decease_, which the lord should _accomplish_, not the _death_ that he should _suffer_ or _die_, was the subject of that exalted communion. the greek word of which "decease" appears as the english equivalent in many of the mss. of the gospels, is one connoting "exodus," or "departure," and the word occurring in other early versions signifies glory. so also the greek original of "accomplish," in the account of the transfiguration, connotes the successful filling out or completion of a specific undertaking, and not distinctively the act of dying. both the letter of the record and the spirit in which the recorder wrote indicate that moses and elijah conversed with their lord on the glorious consummation of his mission in mortality--a consummation recognized in the law (personified in moses) and the prophets (represented by elijah)--and an event of supreme import, determining the fulfilment of both the law and the prophets, and the glorious inauguration of a new and higher order as part of the divine plan. the _decease_ that the savior was then so soon to _accomplish_ was the voluntary surrender of his life in fulfilment of a purpose at once exalted and foreordained, not a _death_ by which he would passively _die_ through conditions beyond his control. (see pp. , and ). footnotes: [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] page . [ ] mark : . note , end of chapter. [ ] mark : . [ ] peter : - . [ ] john : . [ ] matt. : ; mark : . [ ] luke : ; compare john : - . [ ] kings : . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - . [ ] luke : ; pages and herein. [ ] matt. : . [ ] edersheim, "life and times of jesus," vol. ii, p. . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] mal. : , ; see page herein. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] doc. and cov. : - . see chapter , herein. chapter . from sunshine to shadow. our lord's descent from the holy heights[ ] of the mount of transfiguration was more than a physical return from greater to lesser altitudes; it was a passing from sunshine into shadow, from the effulgent glory of heaven to the mists of worldly passions and human unbelief; it was the beginning of his rapid descent into the valley of humiliation. from lofty converse with divinely-appointed ministers, from supreme communion with his father and god, jesus came down to a scene of disheartening confusion and a spectacle of demonized dominion before which even his apostles stood in impotent despair. to his sensitive and sinless soul the contrast must have brought superhuman anguish; even to us who read the brief account thereof it is appalling. healing of youthful demoniac. jesus and the three apostles returned from the mount on the morrow following the transfiguration;[ ] this fact suggests the assumption that the glorious manifestation had occurred during the night. at or near the base of the mountain the party found the other apostles, and with them a multitude of people, including some scribes or rabbis.[ ] there was evidence of disputation and disturbance amongst the crowd; and plainly the apostles were on the defensive. at the unexpected approach of jesus many of the people ran to meet him with respectful salutations. of the contentious scribes he asked: "what question ye with them?" thus assuming the burden of the dispute, whatever it might be, and so relieving the distressed disciples from further active participation. the scribes remained silent; their courage had vanished when the master appeared. a man, "one of the multitude," gave, though indirectly, the answer. "master," said he, kneeling at the feet of christ, "i have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; and wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and i spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not." the disciples' failure to heal the stricken youth had evidently brought upon them hostile criticism, taunts and ridicule from the unbelieving scribes; and their discomfiture must have been intensified by the thought that through them doubt had been cast upon the authority and power of their lord. pained in spirit at this--another instance of dearth of faith and consequent lack of power among his chosen and ordained servants--jesus uttered an exclamation of intense sorrow: "o faithless generation, how long shall i be with you? how long shall i suffer you?" these words, in which there is evident reproof, however mild and pitying it may be, were addressed primarily to the apostles; whether exclusively so or to them and others is of minor importance. as jesus directed, the afflicted lad was brought nearer; and the tormenting demon, finding himself in the master's presence, threw his youthful victim into a terrible paroxysm, so that the boy fell to the ground and wallowed in convulsions, the while frothing and foaming at the mouth. with calm deliberation, which contrasted strongly with the eager impatience of the distracted parent, jesus inquired as to when the malady had first befallen the lad. "of a child," answered the father, adding, "and ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him." with pathetic eagerness he implored, "if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us." the man spoke of his son's affliction as though shared by himself. "help us," was his prayer. to this qualifying expression "if thou canst do anything," which implied a measure of uncertainty as to the ability of the master to grant what he asked, and this perhaps as in part a result of the failure of the apostles, jesus replied: "if thou canst believe"; and added, "all things are possible to him that believeth." the man's understanding was enlightened; up to that moment he had thought that all depended upon jesus; he now saw that the issue rested largely with himself. it is noteworthy that the lord specified belief rather than faith as the condition essential to the case. the man was evidently trustful, and assuredly fervent in his hope that jesus could help; but it is doubtful that he knew what faith really meant. he was receptive and eagerly teachable, however, and the lord strengthened his feeble and uncertain belief. the encouraging explanation of the real need stimulated him to a more abounding trust. weeping in an agony of hope he cried out: "lord, i believe;" and then, realizing the darkness of error from which he was just beginning to emerge, he added penitently "help thou mine unbelief "[ ] looking compassionately upon the writhing sufferer at his feet, jesus rebuked the demon, thus: "thou dumb and deaf spirit, i charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. and the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, he is dead. but jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose;" and as luke adds, "and delivered him again to his father." the permanency of the cure was assured by the express command that the evil spirit enter no more into the lad;[ ] it was no relief from that present attack alone; the healing was permanent. the people were amazed at the power of god manifested in the miracle; and the apostles who had tried and failed to subdue the evil spirit were disturbed. while on their mission, though away from their master's helpful presence, they had successfully rebuked and cast out evil spirits as they had received special power and commission to do,[ ] but now, during his absence of a day they had found themselves unable. when they had retired to the house, they asked of jesus, "why could not we cast him out?" the reply was: "because of your unbelief;" and in further explanation the lord said, "howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."[ ] hereby we learn that the achievements possible to faith are limited or conditioned by the genuineness, the purity, the unmixed quality of that faith. "o ye of little faith;" "where is your faith?" and "wherefore didst thou doubt?"[ ] are forms of admonitory reproof that had been repeatedly addressed to the apostles by the lord. the possibilities of faith were now thus further affirmed: "verily i say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."[ ] the comparison between effective faith and a grain of mustard seed is one of quality rather than of quantity; it connotes living, virile faith, like unto the seed, however small, from which a great plant may spring,[ ] in contrast with a lifeless, artificial imitation, however prominent or demonstrative. the lord's death and resurrection again predicted.[ ] from the locality whereat the last miracle was wrought, jesus departed with the twelve, and passed through galilee toward capernaum. it is probable that they traveled by the less frequented roads, as he desired that his return should not be publicly known. he had gone into comparative retirement for a season, primarily it seems in quest of opportunity to more thoroughly instruct the apostles in their preparation for the work, which within a few months they would be left to carry on without his bodily companionship. they had solemnly testified that they knew him to be the christ; to them therefore he could impart much that the people in general were wholly unprepared to receive. the particular theme of his special and advanced instruction to the twelve was that of his approaching death and resurrection; and this was dwelt upon again and again, for they were slow or unwilling to comprehend. "let these sayings sink down into your ears" was his forceful prelude on this occasion, in galilee. then followed the reiterated prediction, spoken in part in the present tense as though already begun in fulfilment: "the son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day." we read with some surprize that the apostles still failed to understand. luke's comment is: "but they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of that saying." the thought of what the lord's words might mean, even in its faintest outline, was terrifying to those devoted men; and their failure to comprehend was in part due to the fact that the human mind is loath to search deeply into anything it desires not to believe. the tribute money--supplied by a miracle.[ ] jesus and his followers were again in capernaum. there peter was approached by a collector of the temple tax, who asked: "doth not your master pay tribute?"[ ] peter answered "yes." it is interesting to find that the inquiry was made of peter and not directly of jesus; this circumstance may be indicative of the respect in which the lord was held by the people at large, and may suggest the possibility of doubt in the collector's mind as to whether jesus was amenable to the tax, since priests and rabbis generally claimed exemption. the annual capitation tax here referred to amounted to half a shekel or a didrachm, corresponding to about thirty-three cents in our money; and this had been required of every male adult in israel since the days of the exodus; though, during the period of captivity the requirement had been modified.[ ] this tribute, as prescribed through moses, was originally known as "atonement money," and its payment was in the nature of a sacrifice to accompany supplication for ransom from the effects of individual sin. at the time of christ the annual contribution was usually collected between early march and the passover. if jesus was subject to this tax, he was at this time several weeks in arrears. the conversation between peter and the tax-collector had occurred outside the house. when peter entered, and was about to inform the master concerning the interview, jesus forestalled him, saying: "what thinkest thou, simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers? peter saith unto him, of strangers. jesus saith unto him, then are the children free." peter must have seen the inconsistency of expecting jesus, the acknowledged messiah, to pay atonement money, or a tax for temple maintenance, inasmuch as the temple was the house of god, and jesus was the son of god, and particularly since even earthly princes were exempted from capitation dues. peter's embarrassment over his inconsiderate boldness, in pledging payment for his master without first consulting him, was relieved however by jesus, who said: "notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee." the money was to be paid, not because it could be rightfully demanded of jesus, but lest non-payment give offense and furnish to his opponents further excuse for complaint. the "piece of money," which jesus said peter would find in the mouth of the first fish that took his bait, is more correctly designated by the literal translation "stater,"[ ] indicating a silver coin equivalent to a shekel, or two didrachms, and therefore the exact amount of the tax for two persons. "that take, and give unto them for me and thee" said jesus. it is notable that he did not say "for us." in his associations with men, even with the twelve, who of all were nearest and dearest to him, our lord always maintained his separate and unique status, in every instance making the fact apparent that he was essentially different from other men. this is illustrated by his expressions "my father and your father," "my god and your god,"[ ] instead of our father and our god. he reverently acknowledged that he was the son of god in a literal sense that did not apply to any other being. while the circumstances of the finding of the stater in the fish are not detailed, and the actual accomplishment of the miracle is not positively recorded, we cannot doubt that what jesus had promised was realized, as otherwise there would appear no reason for introducing the incident into the gospel narrative. the miracle is without a parallel or even a remotely analogous instance. we need not assume that the stater was other than an ordinary coin that had fallen into the water, nor that it had been taken by the fish in any unusual way. nevertheless, the knowledge that there was in the lake a fish having a coin in its gullet, that the coin was of the denomination specified, and that that particular fish would rise, and be the first to rise to peter's hook, is as incomprehensible to man's finite understanding as are the means by which any of christ's miracles were wrought. the lord jesus held and holds dominion over the earth, the sea, and all that in them is, for by his word and power were they made. the lord's purpose in so miraculously supplying the money should be studiously considered. the assumption that superhuman power had to be invoked because of a supposed condition of extreme poverty on the part of jesus and peter is unwarranted. even if jesus and his companions had been actually penniless, peter and his fellow fishermen could easily have cast their net, and, with ordinary success have obtained fish enough to sell for the needed amount. moreover, we find no instance of a miracle wrought by the lord for personal gain or relief of his own need, however pressing. it appears probable, that by the means employed for obtaining the money, jesus intentionally emphasized his exceptional reasons for redeeming peter's pledge that the tax would be paid. the jews, who did not know jesus as the messiah, but only as a teacher of superior ability and a man of unusual power, might have taken offense had he refused to pay the tribute required of every jew. on the other hand, to the apostles and particularly to peter who had been the mouth-piece of all in the great confession, the payment of the tax in ordinary course and without explanation by jesus might have appeared as an admission that he was subject to the temple, and therefore less than he had claimed and less than they had confessed him to be. his catechization of peter had clearly demonstrated that he maintained his right as the king's son, and yet would condescend to voluntarily give what could not be righteously demanded. then, in conclusive demonstration of his exalted status, he provided the money by the utilization of knowledge such as no other man possessed. as a little child.[ ] on the way to capernaum the apostles had questioned among themselves, as they supposed beyond the master's hearing; questioning had led to argument, and argument to disputation. the matter about which they were so greatly concerned was as to who among them should be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. the testimony they had received convinced them beyond all doubt, that jesus was the long-awaited christ, and this had been supplemented and confirmed by his unqualified acknowledgment of his messianic dignity. with minds still tinctured by the traditional expectation of the messiah as both spiritual lord and temporal king, and remembering some of the master's frequent references to his kingdom and the blessed state of those who belonged thereto, and furthermore realizing that his recent utterances indicated a near crisis or climax in his ministry, they surrendered themselves to the selfish contemplation of their prospective stations in the new kingdom, and the particular offices of trust, honor, and emolument each most desired. who of them was to be prime minister; who would be chancellor, who the commander of the troops? personal ambition had already engendered jealousy in their hearts. when they were together with jesus in the house at capernaum, the subject was brought up again. mark tells us that jesus asked: "what was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?" and that they answered not, because, as may be inferred, they were ashamed. from matthew's record it may be understood that the apostles submitted the question for the master's decision. the apparent difference of circumstance is unimportant; both accounts are correct; christ's question to them may have eventually brought out their questions to him. jesus, comprehending their thoughts and knowing their unenlightened state of mind on the matter that troubled them, gave them an illustrated lesson. calling a little child, whom he lovingly took into his arm, he said: "verily i say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. and whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. but whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." with this lesson we may profitably associate a later teaching, that little children are typical of the kingdom of heaven.[ ] even the apostles were in need of conversion;[ ] respecting the matter at issue their hearts were turned, partly at least, from god and his kingdom. they had to learn that genuine humility is an attribute essential to citizenship in the community of the blessed; and that the degree of humility conditions whatsoever there is akin to rank in the kingdom; for therein the humblest shall be greatest. christ would not have had his chosen representatives become childish; far from it, they had to be men of courage, fortitude, and force; but he would have them become childlike. the distinction is important. those who belong to christ must become like children in obedience, truthfulness, trustfulness, purity, humility and faith. the child is an artless, natural, trusting believer; the childish one is careless, foolish, and neglectful. in contrasting these characteristics, note the counsel of paul: "brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men."[ ] children as such, and children as types of adults who are true believers, are closely associated in this lesson. whosoever shall offend, that is cause to stumble or go astray, one such child of christ, incurs guilt so great that it would have been better for him had he met death even by violence before he had so sinned. dwelling upon offenses, or causes of stumbling, the lord continued: "woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!" then, repeating some of the precious truths embodied in his memorable sermon on the mount,[ ] he urged the overcoming of evil propensities whatever the sacrifice. as it is better that a man undergo surgical treatment though he lose thereby a hand, a foot, or an eye, than that his whole body be involved and his life forfeited, so is it commended that he cut off, tear away, or root out from his soul the passions of evil, which, if suffered to remain shall surely bring him under condemnation. in that state his conscience shall gnaw as an undying worm, and his remorse shall be as a fire that cannot be quenched. every human soul shall be tested as by fire; and as the flesh of the altar sacrifices had to be seasoned with salt, as a type of preservation from corruption,[ ] so also the soul must receive the saving salt of the gospel; and that salt must be pure and potent, not a dirty mixture of inherited prejudice and unauthorized tradition that has lost whatever saltness it may once have had. "have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another," was the lord's admonition to the disputing twelve.[ ] as applicable to children of tender years, and to child-like believers young and old, the savior gave to the apostles this solemn warning and profound statement of fact: "take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for i say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my father which is in heaven." the mission of the christ was presented as that of saving those who are temporarily lost, and who, but for his aid would be lost forever. in elucidation of his meaning, the teacher presented a parable which has found place among the literary treasures of the world. the parable of the lost sheep.[ ] "how think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? and if so be that he find it, verily i say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. even so it is not the will of your father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish." in this effective analogy the saving purpose of christ's mission is made prominent. he is verily the savior. the shepherd is portrayed as leaving the ninety and nine, pastured or folded in safety we cannot doubt, while he goes alone into the mountains to seek the one that has strayed. in finding and bringing back the wayward sheep, he has more joy than that of knowing the others are yet safe. in a later version of this splendid parable, as addressed to the murmuring pharisees and scribes at jerusalem, the master said of the shepherd on his finding the lost sheep: "and when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. and when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, rejoice with me; for i have found my sheep which was lost. i say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance."[ ] many have marveled that there should be greater rejoicing over the recovery of one stray sheep, or the saving of a soul that had been as one lost, than over the many who have not been in such jeopardy. in the safe-folded ninety and nine the shepherd had continued joy; but to him came a new accession of happiness, brighter and stronger because of his recent grief, when the lost was brought back to the fold. to this parable in connection with others of analogous import we shall recur in a later chapter. "in my name."[ ] in continuation of the lesson illustrated by the little child, jesus said: "whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great." it may have been christ's reference to deeds done in his name that prompted john to interject a remark at this point: "master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. but jesus said, forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. for he that is not against us is on our part." the young apostle had allowed his zeal for the master's name to lead to intolerance. that the man who had attempted to do good in the name of jesus was evidently sincere, and that his efforts were acceptable to the lord we cannot doubt; his act was essentially different from the unrighteous assumptions for which some others were afterward rebuked;[ ] he was certainly a believer in christ, and may have been one of the class from which the lord was soon to select and commission special ministers and the seventy.[ ] in the state of divided opinion then existing among the people concerning jesus, it was fair to say that all who were not opposed to him were at least tentatively on his side. on other occasions he asserted that those who were not with him were against him.[ ] my brother and i.[ ] the proper method of adjusting differences between brethren and the fundamental principles of church discipline were made subjects of instruction to the twelve. the first step is thus prescribed: "moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." the rule of the rabbis was that the offender must make the first advance; but jesus taught that the injured one should not wait for his brother to come to him, but go himself, and seek to adjust the difficulty; by so doing he might be the means of saving his brother's soul. if the offender proved to be obdurate, the brother who had suffered the trespass was to take two or three others with him, and again try to bring the transgressor to repentant acknowledgment of his offense; such a course provided for witnesses, by whose presence later misrepresentation would be guarded against. extreme measures were to be adopted only after all gentler means had failed. should the man persist in his obstinacy, the case was to be brought before the church, and in the event of his neglect or refusal to heed the decision of the church, he was to be deprived of fellowship, thereby becoming in his relationship to his former associates "as an heathen man and a publican." in such state of non-membership he would be a fit subject for missionary effort; but, until he became repentant and manifested willingness to make amends, he could claim no rights or privileges of communion in the church. continued association with the unrepentant sinner may involve the spread of his disaffection, and the contamination of others through his sin. justice is not to be dethroned by mercy. the revealed order of discipline in the restored church is similar to that given to the apostles of old.[ ] the authority of the twelve to administer the affairs of church government was attested by the lord's confirming to them as a body the promise before addressed to peter: "verily i say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."[ ] through unity of purpose and unreserved sincerity they would have power with god, as witness the master's further assurance: "again i say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my father which is in heaven. for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am i in the midst of them." peter here broke in with a question: "lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and i forgive him? till seven times?" he would fain have some definite limit set, and he probably considered the tentative suggestion of seven times as a very liberal measure, inasmuch as the rabbis prescribed a triple forgiveness only.[ ] he may have chosen seven as the next number above three having a special pharisaical significance. the savior's answer was enlightening: "jesus saith unto him, i say not unto thee, until seven times: but, until seventy times seven." this reply must have meant to peter as it means to us, that to forgiveness man may set no bounds; the forgiveness, however, must be merited by the recipient.[ ] the instruction was made memorable by the following story. parable of the unmerciful servant. "therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. and when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. but forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. the servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, lord, have patience with me, and i will pay thee all. then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. but the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, pay me that thou owest. and his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, have patience with me, and i will pay thee all. and he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. so when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, o thou wicked servant, i forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as i had pity on thee? and his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. so likewise shall my heavenly father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."[ ] ten thousand talents are specified as expressive of a sum so great as to put the debtor beyond all reasonable possibility of paying. we may regard the man as a trusted official, one of the king's ministers, who had been charged with the custody of the royal revenues, or one of the chief treasurers of taxes; that he is called a servant introduces no inconsistency, as in an absolute monarchy all but the sovereign are subjects and servants. the selling of the debtor's wife and children and all that he had would not have been in violation of the law in the supposed case, which implies the legal recognition of slavery.[ ] the man was in arrears for debt. he did not come before his lord voluntarily but had to be brought. so in the affairs of our individual lives periodical reckonings are inevitable; and while some debtors report of their own accord, others have to be cited to appear. the messengers who serve the summons may be adversity, illness, the approach of death; but, whatever, whoever they are, they enforce a rendering of our accounts. the contrast between ten thousand talents and a hundred pence is enormous.[ ] in his fellowservant's plea for time in which to pay the hundred pence, the greater debtor should have been reminded of the dire straits from which he had just been relieved; the words, "have patience with me, and i will pay thee all," were identical with those of his own prayer to the king. the base ingratitude of the unmerciful servant justified the king in revoking the pardon once granted. the man came under condemnation, not primarily for defalcation and debt, but for lack of mercy after having received of mercy so abundantly. he, as an unjust plaintiff, had invoked the law; as a convicted transgressor he was to be dealt with according to the law. mercy is for the merciful. as a heavenly jewel it is to be received with thankfulness and used with sanctity, not to be cast into the mire of undeservedness. justice may demand retribution and punishment: "with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."[ ] the conditions under which we may confidently implore pardon are set forth in the form of prayer prescribed by the lord: "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."[ ] notes to chapter . . faith in behalf of others.--the supplication of the agonized father for the benefit of his sorely afflicted son--"have compassion on us, and help us" (mark : )--shows that he made the boy's case his own. in this we are reminded of the canaanite woman who implored jesus to have mercy on her, though her daughter was the afflicted one (matt. : ; page herein). in these cases, faith was exercized in behalf of the sufferers by others; and the same is true of the centurion who pleaded for his servant and whose faith was specially commended by jesus (matt : - ; page herein); of jairus whose daughter lay dead (luke : , , , ; page herein), and of many who brought their helpless kindred or friends to christ and pleaded for them. as heretofore shown, faith to be healed is as truly a gift of god as is faith to heal (page ); and, as the instances cited prove, faith may be exercized with effect in behalf of others. in connection with the ordinance of administering to the afflicted, by anointing with oil and the laying on of hands, as authoritatively established in the restored church of jesus christ, the elders officiating should encourage the faith of all believers present, that such be exerted in behalf of the sufferer. in the case of infants and of persons who are unconscious, it is plainly useless to look for active manifestation of faith on their part, and the supporting faith of kindred and friends is all the more requisite. . power developed by prayer and fasting.--the savior's statement concerning the evil spirit that the apostles were unable to subdue--"howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting"--indicates gradation in the malignity and evil power of demons, and gradation also in the results of varying degrees of faith. the apostles who failed on the occasion referred to had been able to cast out demons at other times. fasting, when practised in prudence, and genuine prayer are conducive to the development of faith with its accompanying power for good. individual application of this principle may be made with profit. have you some besetting weakness, some sinful indulgence that you have vainly tried to overcome? like the malignant demon that christ rebuked in the boy, your sin may be of a kind that goeth out only through prayer and fasting. . nothing impossible to faith.--many people have questioned the literal truth of the lord's declaration that by faith mountains may be removed from their place. plainly there would have to be a purpose in harmony with the divine mind and plan, in order that faith could be exerted at all in such an undertaking. neither such a miracle nor any other is possible as a gratification of the yearning for curiosity, nor for display, nor for personal gain or selfish satisfaction. christ wrought no miracle with any such motive; he persistently refused to show signs to mere sign-seekers. but to deny the possibility of a mountain being removed through faith, under conditions that would render such removal acceptable to god, is to deny the word of god, both as to this specific possibility, and as to the general assurance that "nothing shall be impossible" to him who hath faith adequate to the end desired. it is worthy of note, however, that the jews in the days of christ and since often spoke of removing mountains as a figurative expression for the overcoming of difficulties. according to lightfoot and other authorities a man able to solve intricate problems, or of particular power in argument or acumen in judgment, was referred to as a "rooter up of mountains." . the temple tribute.--that the tribute money referred to in the text was a jewish contribution to the temple and not a tax levied by the roman government, is apparent from the specification of the "didrachma," which in the authorized version is translated "tribute." this coin was equivalent to the half shekel, reckoned "after the shekel of the sanctuary," which was the fixed amount to be paid annually by every male "from twenty years old and above," with the provision that "the rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less" (exo. : - ). a tax levied by the political powers would not be designated as the didrachma. moreover, had the collector who approached peter been one of the official publicans, he probably would have demanded the tax instead of inquiring as to whether or not the master was to be counted among the contributors. among the many humiliations to which the jews were subjected in later years, after the destruction of the temple, was the compulsory payment of what had been their temple tribute, to the romans, who decreed it as a revenue to the pagan temple of jupiter capitolinus. of the emperor vespasian, josephus (wars of the jews, vii, : ) says: that he also laid a tribute wheresoever they were, and enjoined every one of them to bring two drachmæ every year into the capitol, as they used to pay the same to the temple at jerusalem. . talents and pence.--it is evident that by specifying ten thousand talents as the debt due the king, and a hundred pence as that owed by the fellow-servant, the lord intended to present a case of great disparity and striking contrast. the actual amounts involved are of minor significance in the story. we are not told which variety of talent was meant; there were attic talents, and both silver and gold talents of hebrew reckoning; and each differed from the others in value. the oxford marginal explanation is: "a talent is ounces of silver, which after five shillings the ounce is pounds, ten shillings." this would be in american money over nine and a quarter millions of dollars as the sum of the ten thousand talents. the same authority gives as the value of the penny (roman) sevenpence half-penny, or fifteen cents, making the second debt equivalent to about fifteen dollars. comparison with talents mentioned elsewhere may be allowable. trench says: "how vast a sum it was we can most vividly realize to ourselves by comparing it with other sums mentioned in scripture. in the construction of the tabernacle, twenty-nine talents of gold were used (exo. : ); david prepared for the temple three thousand talents of gold, and the princes five thousand ( chron. : - ); the queen of sheba presented to solomon one hundred and twenty talents ( kings : ); the king of assyria laid upon hezekiah thirty talents of gold ( kings : ); and in the extreme impoverishment to which the land was brought at the last, one talent of gold was laid upon it, after the death of josiah, by the king of egypt ( chron. : )." farrar estimates the debt owed to the king as , , times that owed by the lesser to the greater debtor. . an assumed approval of slavery.--some readers have assumed that they find in the parable of the unmerciful servant an implied approval of the institution of slavery. the greater debtor, who figures in the story, was to be sold, together with his wife and children and all that he had. a rational consideration of the story as a whole is likely to find at most, in the particular incident of the king's command that the debtor and his family be sold, that the system of buying and selling bondservants, serfs, or slaves, was legally recognized at the time. the purpose of the parable was not even remotely to endorse or condemn slavery or any other social institution. the mosaic law is explicit in matters relating to bondservants. the "angel of the lord" who brought to hagar a message of encouragement and blessing respected the authority of her mistress (gen. : , ). in the apostolic epoch, instruction was directed toward right living under the secular law, not rebellion against the system (eph. : ; col. : ; tim. : - ; peter : ). recognition of established customs, institutions, and laws, and proper obedience thereto, do not necessarily imply individual approval. the gospel of jesus christ, which shall yet regenerate the world, is to prevail--not by revolutionary assaults upon existing governments, nor through anarchy and violence--but by the teaching of individual duty and by the spread of the spirit of love. when the love of god shall be given a place in the hearts of mankind, when men shall unselfishly love their neighbors, then social systems and governments shall be formed and operated to the securing of the greatest good to the greatest number. until men open their hearts to the reception of the gospel of jesus christ, injustice and oppression, servitude and slavery, in some form or other, are sure to exist. attempts to extirpate social conditions that spring from individual selfishness cannot be otherwise than futile so long as selfishness is left to thrive and propagate. footnotes: [ ] compare peter : . [ ] luke : . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] compare matt. : - . [ ] mark : , ; compare verse ; also : ; matt. : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : ; : ; luke : . [ ] matt. : ; compare : ; mark : ; luke : ; see also note , end of chapter. [ ] compare parable of the mustard seed, page . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : , . [ ] matt. : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] exo. : ; : . page . [ ] see reading in revised version, and in margin of oxford and bagster bibles. [ ] john : . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - , ; luke : - . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] compare luke : . [ ] cor. : ; compare : ; matt. : ; psa. : . [ ] page . [ ] mark : , ; compare lev. : ; ezek. : . [ ] mark : - ; compare matt. : , . page herein. [ ] matt. : - ; compare luke : - in which occurs a repetition of this impressive parable, as given on a later occasion to pharisees and scribes at jerusalem with a somewhat different application. [ ] luke : - . see further page herein. [ ] luke : - ; mark : - . [ ] contrast the instance of the sons of sceva, acts : - . [ ] compare luke : ; : . [ ] matt. : ; luke : . [ ] matt. : - ; compare luke : , . [ ] compare doc. and cov. : ; : - ; : - . [ ] matt. : ; compare : , and john : . [ ] they based this limitation on amos : and job : . in the latter passage, as it appears in the authorized version, the word "oftentimes" is an erroneous rendering of the original, which really signified "twice and thrice." [ ] compare luke : , . [ ] matt. : - . [ ] compare kings : ; lev. : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : ; see also verse . [ ] matt. : ; compare luke : ; b. of m., nephi : ; page . chapter . jesus again in jerusalem. departure from galilee.[ ] of our lord's labors during his brief sojourn in galilee following his return from the region of cæsarea philippi we have no record aside from that of his instructions to the apostles. his galilean ministry, so far as the people in general were concerned, had practically ended with the discourse at capernaum on his return thither after the miracles of feeding the five thousand and walking upon the sea. at capernaum many of the disciples had turned away from the master,[ ] and now, after another short visit, he prepared to leave the land in which so great a part of his public work had been accomplished. it was autumn; about six months had passed since the return of the apostles from their missionary tour; and the feast of tabernacles was near at hand. some of the kinsmen of jesus came to him, and proposed that he go to jerusalem and take advantage of the opportunity offered by the great national festival, to declare himself more openly than he had theretofore done. his brethren, as the visiting relatives are called, urged that he seek a broader and more prominent field than galilee for the display of his powers, arguing that it was inconsistent for any man to keep himself in comparative obscurity when he wanted to be widely known. "shew thyself to the world," said they. whatever their motives may have been, these brethren of his did not advize more extended publicity through any zeal for his divine mission; indeed, we are expressly told that they did not believe in him.[ ] jesus replied to their presumptuous advice: "my time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready. the world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because i testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. go ye up unto this feast: i go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet full come." it was not their prerogative to direct his movements, not to say when he should do even what he intended to do eventually.[ ] he made it plain that between their status and his there was essential difference; they were of the world, which they loved as the world loved them; but the world hated him because of his testimony. this colloquy between jesus and his brethren took place in galilee. they soon started for jerusalem leaving him behind. he had not said that he would not go to the feast; but only "i go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet full come." some time after their departure he followed, traveling "not openly, but as it were in secret." whether he went alone, or accompanied by any or all of the twelve, we are not told. at the feast of tabernacles.[ ] the agitated state of the public mind respecting jesus is shown by the interest manifest in jerusalem as to the probability of his presence at the feast. his brethren, who probably were questioned, could give no definite information as to his coming. he was sought for in the crowds; there was much discussion and some disputation concerning him. many people expressed their conviction that he was a good man, while others contradicted on the claim that he was a deceiver. there was little open discussion, however, for the people were afraid of incurring the displeasure of the rulers. as originally established, the feast of tabernacles was a seven day festival, followed by a holy convocation on the eighth day. each day was marked by special and in some respects distinctive services, all characterized by ceremonies of thanksgiving and praise.[ ] "now about the midst of the feast," probably on the third or fourth day, "jesus went up into the temple, and taught." the first part of his discourse is not recorded, but its scriptural soundness is intimated in the surprize of the jewish teachers, who asked among themselves: "how knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" he was no graduate of their schools; he had never sat at the feet of their rabbis; he had not been officially accredited by them nor licensed to teach. whence came his wisdom, before which all their academic attainments were as nothing? jesus answered their troubled queries, saying: "my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of god, or whether i speak of myself." his teacher, greater even than himself, was the eternal father, whose will he proclaimed. the test proposed to determine the truth of his doctrine was in every way fair, and withal simple; anyone who would earnestly seek to do the will of the father should know of himself whether jesus spoke truth or error.[ ] the master proceeded to show that a man who speaks on his own authority alone seeks to aggrandize himself. jesus did not so; he honored his teacher, his father, his god, not himself; and therefore was he free from the taint of selfish pride or unrighteousness. moses had given them the law, and yet, as jesus affirmed, none of them kept the law. then, with startling abruptness, he challenged them with the question, "why go ye about to kill me?" on many occasions had they held dark counsel with one another as to how they could get him into their power and put him to death; but they thought that the murderous secret was hidden within their own circle. the people had heard the seducing assertions of the ruling classes, that jesus was possessed by a demon, and that he wrought wonders through the power of beelzebub; and in the spirit of this blasphemous slander, they cried out: "thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee?" jesus knew that the two specifications of alleged guilt on which the rulers were striving most assiduously to convict him in the popular mind, and so turn the people against him, were those of sabbath-breaking and blasphemy. on an earlier visit to jerusalem he had healed an afflicted man on the sabbath, and had utterly disconcerted the hypercritical accusers who even then had sought to compass his death.[ ] to this act of mercy and power jesus now referred, saying: "i have done one work, and ye all marvel." seemingly they were still of unsettled mind, in doubt as to accepting him because of the miracle or denouncing him because he had done it on the sabbath. then he showed the inconsistency of charging him with sabbath-desecration for such a merciful deed, when the law of moses expressly allowed acts of mercy, and even required that the mandatory rite of circumcision should not be deferred because of the sabbath. "judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment" said he. the masses were still divided in their estimate of jesus, and were moreover puzzled over the indecision of the rulers. some of the jerusalem jews knew of the plan to arrest him, and if possible to bring him to death, and the people queried why nothing was done when he was there teaching publicly within reach of the officials. they wondered whether the rulers had not at last come to believe that jesus was indeed the messiah. the thought, however, was brushed aside when they remembered that all knew whence he came; he was a galilean, and from nazareth, whereas as they had been taught, however wrongly, the advent of the christ was to be mysterious so that none would know whence he came. strange it was, indeed, that men should reject him because of a lack of mystery and miracle in his advent; when, had they known the truth, they would have seen in his birth a miracle without precedent or parallel in the annals of time. jesus directly answered their weak and faulty reasoning. crying aloud within the temple courts, he assured them that while they knew whence he came as one of their number, yet they did not know that he had come from god, neither did they know god who had sent him: "but," he added, "i know him: for i am from him, and he hath sent me." at this reiterated testimony of his divine origin, the jews were the more enraged, and they determined anew to take him by force; nevertheless none laid hands upon him "because his hour was not yet come." many of the people believed in their hearts that he was of god, and ventured to ask among themselves whether christ would do greater works than jesus had done. the pharisees and chief priests feared a possible demonstration in favor of jesus, and forthwith sent officers to arrest him and bring him before the sanhedrin.[ ] the presence of the temple police caused no interruption to the master's discourse, though we may reasonably infer that he knew the purpose of their errand. he spoke on, saying that he would be with the people but a little while; and that after he had returned to the father, they would seek him vainly, for where he would then be they could not come. this remark evoked more bitter discussion. some of the jews wondered whether he intended to leave the borders of the land and go among the gentiles to teach them and the dispersed israelites. as part of the temple service incident to the feast, the people went in procession to the pool of siloam[ ] where a priest filled a golden ewer, which he then carried to the altar and there poured out the water to the accompaniment of trumpet blasts and the acclamations of the assembled hosts.[ ] according to authorities on jewish customs, this feature was omitted on the closing day of the feast. on this last or "great day," which was marked by ceremonies of unusual solemnity and rejoicing, jesus was again in the temple. it may have been with reference to the bringing of water from the pool, or to the omission of the ceremony from the ritualistic procedure of the great day, that jesus cried aloud, his voice resounding through the courts and arcades of the temple: "if any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. he that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."[ ] john, the recorder, remarks parenthetically that this promise had reference to the bestowal of the holy ghost, which at that time had not been granted, nor was it to be until after the ascension of the risen lord.[ ] again many of the people were so impressed that they declared jesus could be none other than the messiah; but others objected, saying that the christ must come from bethlehem of judea and jesus was known to have come from galilee.[ ] so there was further dissension; and though some wanted him apprehended, not a man was found who would venture to lay hold on him. the police officers returned without their intended prisoner. to the angry demand of the chief priests and pharisees as to why they had not brought him, they acknowledged that they had been so affected by his teachings as to be unable to make the arrest. "never man spake like this man," they said. their haughty masters were furious. "are ye also deceived?" they demanded; and further, "have any of the rulers or of the pharisees believed on him?" what was the opinion of the common people worth? they had never learned the law, and were therefore accursed and of no concern. yet with all this show of proud disdain, the chief priests and pharisees were afraid of the common people, and were again halted in their wicked course. one voice of mild protest was heard in the assembly. nicodemus, a member of the sanhedrin, and the same who had come to jesus by night to inquire into the new teaching,[ ] mustered courage enough to ask: "doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?" the answer was insulting. maddened with bigotry and blood-thirsty fanaticism, some of his colleagues turned upon him with the savage demand: "art thou also of galilee?" meaning, art thou also a disciple of this galilean whom we hate? nicodemus was curtly told to study the scriptures, and he would fail to find any prediction of a prophet arising in galilee. the anger of these learned bigots had blinded them even to their own vaunted knowledge, for several of the ancient prophets were regarded as galileans;[ ] if, however they had meant to refer only to that prophet of whom moses had spoken, the messiah, they were correct, since all predictions pointed to bethlehem in judea as his birthplace. it is evident that jesus was thought of as a native of nazareth, and that the circumstances of his birth were not of public knowledge. "go, and sin no more."[ ] after the festivities were over, jesus went to the temple one morning early; and as he sat, probably in the court of the women, which was the usual place of public resort, many gathered about him and he proceeded to teach them as was his custom. his discourse was interrupted by the arrival of a party of scribes and pharisees with a woman in charge, who, they said, was guilty of adultery. to jesus they presented this statement and question: "now moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned; but what sayest thou?" the submitting of the case to jesus was a prearranged snare, a deliberate attempt to find or make a cause for accusing him. though it was not unusual for jewish officials to consult rabbis of recognized wisdom and experience when difficult cases were to be decided, the case in point involved no legal complications. the woman's guilt seems to have been unquestioned, though the witnesses required by the statutes are not mentioned as appearing unless the accusing scribes and pharisees are to be so considered; the law was explicit, and the custom of the times in dealing with such offenders was well known. while it is true that the law of moses had decreed death by stoning as the penalty for adultery, the infliction of the extreme punishment had lapsed long before the time of christ. one may reasonably ask why the woman's partner in the crime was not brought for sentence, since the law so zealously cited by the officious accusers provided for the punishment of both parties to the offense.[ ] the question of the scribes and pharisees, "but what sayest thou?" may have intimated their expectation that jesus would declare the law obsolete; perhaps they had heard of the sermon on the mount, in which many requirements in advance of the mosaic code had been proclaimed.[ ] had jesus decided that the wretched woman ought to suffer death, her accusers might have said that he was defying the existing authorities; and possibly the charge of opposition to the roman government might have been formulated, since power to inflict the death penalty had been taken from all jewish tribunals; and moreover, the crime with which this woman was charged was not a capital offense under roman law. had he said that the woman should go unpunished or suffer only minor infliction, the crafty jews could have charged him with disrespect for the law of moses. to these scribes and pharisees jesus at first gave little heed. stooping down he traced with his finger on the ground; but as he wrote they continued to question him. lifting himself up he answered them, in a terse sentence that has become proverbial: "he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." such was the law; the accusers on whose testimony the death penalty was pronounced were to be the first to begin the work of execution.[ ] having spoken, jesus again stooped and wrote upon the ground. the woman's accusers were "convicted by their own conscience"; shamed and in disgrace they slunk away, all of them from the eldest to the youngest. they knew themselves to be unfit to appear either as accusers or judges.[ ] what cowards doth conscience make! "when jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? she said, no man, lord. and jesus said unto her, neither do i condemn thee: go and sin no more."[ ] the woman was repentant; she remained humbly awaiting the master's decision, even after her accusers had gone. jesus did not expressly condone; he declined to condemn; but he sent the sinner away with a solemn adjuration to a better life.[ ] the light of the world.[ ] sitting within the temple enclosure in the division known as the treasury, which was connected with the court of the women,[ ] our lord continued his teaching, saying: "i am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."[ ] the great lamps set up in the court as a feature of the joyful celebration just ended gave point to our lord's avowal of himself as the light of the world. it was another proclamation of his divinity as god and the son of god. the pharisees challenged his testimony, declaring it of no worth because he bore record of himself. jesus admitted that he testified of himself, but affirmed nevertheless that what he said was true, for he knew whereof he spoke, whence he came and whither he would go, while they spoke in ignorance. they thought, talked, and judged after the ways of men and the frailties of the flesh; he was not sitting in judgment, but should he choose to judge, then his judgment would be just, for he was guided by the father who sent him. their law required the testimony of two witnesses for the legal determination of any question of fact;[ ] and jesus cited himself and his father as witnesses in support of his affirmation. his opponents then asked with contemptuous or sarcastic intent, "where is thy father?" the reply was in lofty tone; "ye neither know me, nor my father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my father also." enraged at their own discomfiture, the pharisees would have seized him, but found themselves impotent. "no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come." the truth shall make you free.[ ] again addressing the mixed assemblage, which probably comprized pharisees, scribes, rabbis, priests, levites, and lay people, jesus repeated his former assertion that soon he would leave them, and that whither he went they could not follow; and added the fateful assurance that they would seek him in vain and would die in their sins. his solemn portent was treated with light concern if not contempt. some of them asked querulously, "will he kill himself?" the implication being that in such case they surely would not follow him; for according to their dogma, gehenna was the place of suicides, and they, being of the chosen people, were bound for heaven not hell. the lord's dignified rejoinder was: "ye are from beneath; i am from above: ye are of this world; i am not of this world. i said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that i am he, ye shall die in your sins." this reiteration of his distinctive supremacy brought forth the challenging question, "who art thou?" jesus replied, "even the same that i said unto you from the beginning." the many matters on which he might have judged them he refrained from mentioning, but testified anew of the father, saying: "he that sent me is true; and i speak to the world those things which i have heard of him." explicit as his earlier explanations had been, the jews in their gross prejudice "understood not that he spake to them of the father." to his father jesus ascribed all honor and glory, and repeatedly declared himself as sent to do the father's will. "then said jesus unto them, when ye have lifted up the son of man, then shall ye know that i am he, and that i do nothing of myself; but as my father hath taught me, i speak these things. and he that sent me is with me: the father hath not left me alone; for i do always those things that please him." the evident earnestness and profound conviction with which jesus spoke caused many of his hearers to believe on him; and these he addressed with the promise that if they continued in that belief, and shaped their lives according to his word, they should be his disciples indeed. a further promise followed: "and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." at these words, so rich in blessing, so full of comfort for the believing soul, the people were stirred to angry demonstrations; their jewish temper was immediately ablaze. to promise them freedom was to imply that they were not already free. "we be abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, ye shall be made free?" in their unbridled fanaticism they had forgotten the bondage of egypt, the captivity of babylon, and were oblivious of their existing state of vassalage to rome. to say that israel had never been in bondage was not only to convict themselves of falsehood but to stultify themselves wretchedly. jesus made it clear that he had not referred to freedom in its physical or political sense alone, though to this conception their false disavowal had been directed; the liberty he proclaimed was spiritual liberty; the grievous bondage from which he would deliver them was the serfdom of sin. to their vaunted boast that they were free men, not slaves, he replied: "verily, verily, i say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." as a sinner, every one of them was in slavery. a bond-servant, jesus reminded them, was allowed in the master's house by sufferance only; it was not his inherent right to remain there; his owner could send him away at any time, and might even sell him to another; but a son of the family had of his own right a place in his father's home. now, if the son of god made them free they would be free indeed. though they were of abrahamic lineage in the flesh, they were no heirs of abraham in spirit or works. our lord's mention of his father as distinct from their father drew forth the angry reiteration, "abraham is our father", to which jesus replied: "if ye were abraham's children, ye would do the works of abraham. but now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which i have heard of god: this did not abraham. ye do the deeds of your father." in their blind anger they apparently construed this to imply that though they were children of abraham's household some other man than abraham was their actual progenitor, or that they were not of unmixed israelitish blood. "we be not born of fornication" they cried, "we have one father, even god." jesus said unto them, "if god were your father, ye would love me: for i proceeded forth and came from god; neither came i of myself, but he sent me." they failed to understand because of their stubborn refusal to listen dispassionately. with forceful accusation jesus told them whose children they actually were, as evinced by the hereditary traits manifest in their lives: "ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.[ ] and because i tell you the truth, ye believe me not." he challenged them to find sin in him; and then asked why, if he spake the truth, they so persistently refused to believe him. answering his own question, he told them that they were not of god and therefore they understood not the words of god. the master was unimpeachable; his terse, cogent assertions were unanswerable. in impotent rage the discomfited jews resorted to invective and calumny. "say we not well that thou art a samaritan, and hast a devil?" they shrieked. they had before called him a galilean; that appellative was but mildly depreciatory, and moreover was a truthful designation according to their knowledge; but the epithet "samaritan" was inspired by hate,[ ] and by its application they meant to disown him as a jew. the charge that he was a demoniac was but a repetition of earlier slanders. "jesus answered, i have not a devil; but i honour my father, and ye do dishonour me." reverting to the eternal riches offered by his gospel, the master said: "verily, verily, i say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death." this rendered them the more infuriate: "now we know that thou hast a devil" they cried, and as evidence of what they professed to regard as his insanity, they cited the fact that great as were abraham and the prophets they were dead, yet jesus dared to say that all who kept his sayings should be exempt from death. did he pretend to exalt himself above abraham and the prophets? "whom makest thou thyself?" they demanded. the lord's reply was a disclaimer of all self-aggrandizement; his honor was not of his own seeking, but was the gift of his father, whom he knew; and were he to deny that he knew the father he would be a liar like unto themselves. touching the relationship between himself and the great patriarch of their race, jesus thus affirmed and emphasized his own supremacy: "your father abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad." not only angered but puzzled, the jews demanded further explanation. construing the last declaration as applying to the mortal state only, they said: "thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen abraham?" jesus answered, "verily, verily, i say unto you, before abraham was, i am." this was an unequivocal and unambiguous declaration of our lord's eternal godship. by the awful title i am he had made himself known to moses and thereafter was so known in israel.[ ] as already shown, it is the equivalent of "yahveh," or "jahveh," now rendered "jehovah," and signifies "the self-existent one," "the eternal," "the first and the last."[ ] jewish traditionalism forbade the utterance of the sacred name; yet jesus claimed it as his own. in an orgy of self-righteous indignation, the jews seized upon the stones that lay in the unfinished courts, and would have crushed their lord, but the hour of his death had not yet come, and unseen of them he passed through the crowd and departed from the temple. his seniority to abraham plainly referred to the status of each in the antemortal or preexistent state; jesus was as literally the firstborn in the spirit-world, as he was the only begotten in the flesh. christ is as truly the elder brother of abraham and adam as of the last-born child of earth.[ ] bodily and spiritual blindness--sight given to a man on the sabbath.[ ] at jerusalem jesus mercifully gave sight to a man who had been blind from his birth.[ ] the miracle is an instance of sabbath-day healing, of more than ordinary interest because of its attendant incidents. it is recorded by john alone, and, as usual with that writer, his narrative is given with descriptive detail. jesus and his disciples saw the sightless one upon the street. the poor man lived by begging. the disciples, eager to learn, asked: "master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" the lord's reply was: "neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of god should be made manifest in him." the disciples' question implied their belief in a state of moral agency and choice antedating mortality; else, how could they have thought of the man having sinned so as to bring upon himself congenital blindness? we are expressly told that he was born blind. that he might have been a sufferer from the sins of his parents was conceivable.[ ] the disciples evidently had been taught the great truth of an antemortal existence. it is further to be seen that they looked upon bodily affliction as the result of personal sin. their generalization was too broad; for, while as shown by instances heretofore cited,[ ] individual wickedness may and does bring physical ills in its train, man is liable to err in his judgment as to the ultimate cause of affliction. the lord's reply was sufficing; the man's blindness would be turned to account in bringing about a manifestation of divine power. as jesus explained respecting his own ministry, it was necessary that he do the father's work in the season appointed, for his time was short. with impressive pertinency as relating to the state of the man who had been in darkness all his days, our lord repeated the affirmation before made in the temple, "i am the light of the world." the outward ministration to the blind man was different from the usual course followed by jesus. "he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay"; and then directed him to go to the pool of siloam and wash in its waters.[ ] the man went, washed, and came seeing. he was evidently a well-known character; many had seen him in his accustomed place begging alms, and the fact that he had been blind from birth was also of common knowledge. when, therefore, it was noised about that he could see, there was much excitement and comment. some doubted that the man they questioned was the once sightless beggar; but he assured them of his identity, and told how he had been made to see. they brought the man to the pharisees, who questioned him rigorously; and, having heard his account of the miracle, tried to undermine his faith by telling him that jesus who had healed him could not be a man of god since he had done the deed on the sabbath. some of those who heard demurred to the pharisaic deduction, and asked: "how can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?" the man was questioned as to his personal opinion of jesus, and promptly answered: "he is a prophet." the man knew his benefactor to be more than any ordinary being; as yet, however, he had no knowledge of him as the christ. the inquisitorial jews were afraid of the result of such a wondrous healing, in that the people would support jesus whom the rulers were determined to destroy. they assumed it to be possible that the man had not been really blind; so they summoned his parents, who answered their interrogatories by affirming that he was their son, and they knew him to have been born blind; but as to how he had received sight, or through whose ministration, they refused to commit themselves, knowing the rulers had decreed that any one who confessed jesus to be the christ should be cast out from the community of the synagog, or, as we would say today, excommunicated from the church. with pardonable astuteness the parents said of their son: "he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself." compelled to acknowledge, to themselves at least, that the fact and the manner of the man's restoration to sight were supported by irrefutable evidence, the crafty jews called the man again, and insinuatingly said unto him: "give god the praise: we know that this man is a sinner." he replied fearlessly, and with such pertinent logic as to completely offset their skill as cross-examiners: "whether he be a sinner or no, i know not: one thing i know, that, whereas i was blind, now i see." he very properly declined to enter into a discussion with his learned questioners as to what constituted sin under their construction of the law; of what he was ignorant he declined to speak; but on one matter he was happily and gratefully certain, that whereas he had been blind, now he could see. the pharisaical inquisitors next tried to get the man to repeat his story of the means employed in the healing, probably with the subtle purpose of leading him into inconsistent or contradictory statements; but he replied with emphasis, and possibly with some show of impatience, "i have told you already, and ye did not hear:[ ] wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?" they retorted with anger, and reviled the man; the ironical insinuation that they perchance wished to become disciples of jesus was an insult they would not brook. "thou art his disciple," said they, "but we are moses' disciples. we know that god spake unto moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is." they were enraged that this unlettered mendicant should answer so boldly in their scholarly presence; but the man was more than a match for all of them. his rejoinder was maddening because it flouted their vaunted wisdom, and withal was unanswerable. "why herein is a marvellous thing," said he, "that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. now we know that god heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of god, and doeth his will, him he heareth. since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. if this man were not of god, he could do nothing." for such an affront from a layman there was no precedent in all the lore of rabbis or scribes. "thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us?" was their denunciatory though weak and inadequate rejoinder. unable to cope with the sometime sightless beggar in argument or demonstration, they could at least exercize their official authority, however unjustly, by excommunicating him; and this they promptly did. "jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, dost thou believe on the son of god? he answered and said, who is he, lord, that i might believe on him? and jesus said unto him, thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. and he said, lord, i believe. and he worshipped him." in commenting upon the matter jesus was heard to say that one purpose of his coming into the world was "that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind." some of the pharisees caught the remark, and asked in pride: "are we blind also?" the lord's reply was a condemnation: "if ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, we see; therefore your sin remaineth." shepherd and sheepherder.[ ] "verily, verily, i say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheep fold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. but he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep." with these words jesus prefaced one of his most impressive discourses. the mention of shepherd and sheep must have brought to the minds of his hearers many of the oft-quoted passages from prophets and psalms.[ ] the figure is an effective one, and all the more so when we consider the circumstances under which it was used by the master. pastoral conditions prevailed in palestine, and the dignity of the shepherd's vocation was very generally recognized. by specific prophecy a shepherd had been promised to israel. david, the king of whom all israelites were proud, had been taken directly from the sheepfold, and had come with a shepherd's crook in his hand to the anointing that made him royal. as the teacher showed, a shepherd has free access to the sheep. when they are folded within the enclosure of safety, he enters at the gate; he neither climbs over nor creeps in.[ ] he, the owner of the sheep loves them; they know his voice and follow him as he leads from fold to pasture, for he goes before the flock; while the stranger, though he be the herder, they know not; he must needs drive, for he cannot lead. continuing the allegory, which the recorder speaks of as a parable, jesus designated himself as the door to the sheepfold, and made plain that only through him could the under-shepherds rightly enter. true, there were some who sought by avoiding the portal and climbing over the fence to reach the folded flock; but these were robbers, trying to get at the sheep as prey; their selfish and malignant purpose was to kill and carry off. changing the figure, christ proclaimed: "i am the good shepherd." he then further showed, and with eloquent exactness, the difference between a shepherd and a hireling herder. the one has personal interest in and love for his flock, and knows each sheep by name, the other knows them only as a flock, the value of which is gaged by number; to the hireling they are only as so many or so much. while the shepherd is ready to fight in defense of his own, and if necessary even imperil his life for his sheep, the hireling flees when the wolf approaches, leaving the way open for the ravening beast to scatter, rend, and kill. never has been written or spoken a stronger arraignment of false pastors, unauthorized teachers, self-seeking hirelings who teach for pelf and divine for dollars, deceivers who pose as shepherds yet avoid the door and climb over "some other way," prophets in the devil's employ, who to achieve their master's purpose, hesitate not to robe themselves in the garments of assumed sanctity, and appear in sheep's clothing, while inwardly they are ravening wolves.[ ] with effective repetition jesus continued: "i am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. as the father knoweth me, even so know i the father: and i lay down my life for the sheep." for this cause was jesus the father's beloved son--that he was ready to lay down his life for the sake of the sheep. that the sacrifice he was soon to render was in fact voluntary, and not a forfeiture under compulsion, is solemnly affirmed in the savior's words: "therefore doth my father love me, because i lay down my life, that i might take it again. no man taketh it from me, but i lay it down of myself. i have power to lay it down, and i have power to take it again. this commandment have i received of my father." the certainty of his death and of his subsequent resurrection are here reiterated. a natural effect of his immortal origin, as the earth-born son of an immortal sire, was that he was immune to death except as he surrendered thereto. the life of jesus the christ could not be taken save as he willed and allowed. the power to lay down his life was inherent in himself, as was the power to take up his slain body in an immortalized state.[ ] these teachings caused further division among the jews. some pretended to dispose of the matter by voicing anew the foolish assumption that jesus was but an insane demoniac, and that therefore his words were not worthy of attention. others with consistency said "these are not the words of him that hath a devil. can a devil open the eyes of the blind?" so it was that a few believed, many doubted though partly convinced, and some condemned. as part of this profound discourse, jesus said: "and other sheep i have, which are not of this fold: them also i must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd."[ ] the "other sheep" here referred to constituted the separated flock or remnant of the house of joseph, who, six centuries prior to the birth of christ, had been miraculously detached from the jewish fold in palestine, and had been taken beyond the great deep to the american continent. when to them the resurrected christ appeared he thus spake: "and verily, i say unto you, that ye are they of whom i said, other sheep i have which are not of this fold; them also i must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd."[ ] the jews had vaguely understood christ's reference to other sheep as meaning in some obscure way, the gentile nations; and because of their unbelief and consequent inability to rightly comprehend, jesus had withheld any plainer exposition of his meaning, for so, he informed the nephites, had the father directed. "this much did the father command me," he explained, "that i should tell unto them, that other sheep i have, which are not of this fold; them also i must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." on the same occasion the lord declared that there were yet other sheep, those of the lost, or ten, tribes, to whom he was then about to go, and who would eventually be brought forth from their place of exile, and become part of the one blessed fold under the governance of the one supreme shepherd and king.[ ] notes to chapter . . the feast of tabernacles.--in the order of yearly occurrence this was the third of the great festivals, the observance of which was among the national characteristics of the people of israel; the others were the passover, and the feast of weeks or pentecost; at each of the three all the males in israel were required to appear before the lord in formal celebration of the respective feast (exo. : ). the feast of tabernacles was also known as the "feast of ingathering" (exo. : ); it was both a memorial and a current harvest celebration. in commemoration of their long journeying in the wilderness following their deliverance from egypt, in the course of which journey they had to live in tents and improvized booths, the people of israel were required to observe annually a festival lasting seven days, with an added day of holy convocation. during the week the people lived in booths, bowers, or tabernacles, made of the branches or "boughs of goodly trees" wattled with willows from the brook (lev. : - ; numb. : - ; deut. : - ; : - ). the festival lasted from the th to the d of the month tizri, the seventh in the hebrew calendar, corresponding to parts of our september and october. it was made to follow soon after the annual day of atonement which was a time of penitence and affliction of the soul in sorrow for sin (lev. : - ). the altar sacrifices at the feast of tabernacles exceeded those prescribed for other festivals, and comprized a daily offering of two rams, fourteen lambs, and a kid as a sin offering, and in addition a varying number of young bullocks, thirteen of which were sacrificed on the first day, twelve on the second, eleven on the third, and so on to the seventh day, on which seven were offered, making in all seventy bullocks (numb. : - ). rabbinism invested this number, seventy, and the graded diminution in the number of altar victims, with much symbolical significance not set forth in the law. at the time of christ, tradition had greatly embellished many of the prescribed observances. thus the "boughs of goodly trees," more literally rendered "fruit" (lev. : ), had come to be understood as the citron fruit; and this every orthodox jew carried in one hand, while in the other he bore a leafy branch or a bunch of twigs, known as the "lulab," when he repaired to the temple for the morning sacrifice, and in the joyous processions of the day. the ceremonial carrying of water from the spring of siloam to the altar of sacrifice was a prominent feature of the service. this water was mingled with wine at the altar and the mixture was poured upon the sacrificial offering. many authorities hold that the bringing of water from the pool was omitted on the last or great day of the feast, and it is inferred that jesus had in mind the circumstance of the omission when he cried: "if any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." at night, during the progress of the feast, great lamps were kept burning in the temple courts, and this incident christ may have used as an objective illustration in his proclamation: "i am the light of the world." for fuller account see any reliable and comprehensive bible dictionary, and josephus ant. viii, : ; xv, : , etc. the following is an excerpt from edersheim, _life and times of jesus the messiah_, vol. ii, p. - : "when the temple-procession had reached the pool of siloam, the priest filled his golden pitcher from its waters. then they went back to the temple, so timing it that they should arrive just as they were laying the pieces of the sacrifice on the great altar of burnt-offering, towards the close of the ordinary morning-sacrifice service. a threefold blast of the priests' trumpets welcomed the arrival of the priest as he entered through the water gate, which obtained its name from this ceremony, and passed straight into the court of the priests.... immediately after the 'pouring of the water,' the great 'hallel,' consisting of psalms to inclusive, was chanted antiphonally, or rather, with responses, to the accompaniment of the flute.... in further symbolism of this feast, as pointing to the ingathering of the heathen nations, the public services closed with a procession round the altar by the priests.... but on 'the last, the great day of the feast,' this procession of priests made the circuit of the altar, not only once, but seven times, 'as if they were again compassing, but now with prayer, the gentile jericho which barred their possession of the promised land.'" . the test of our lord's doctrine.--any man may know for himself whether the doctrine of christ is of god or not by simply doing the will of the father (john : ). surely it is a more convincing course than that of relying upon another's word. the writer was once approached by an incredulous student in college, who stated that he could not accept as true the published results of a certain chemical analysis, since the specified amounts of some of the ingredients were so infinitesimally small that he could not believe it possible to determine such minute quantities. the student was but a beginner in chemistry; and with his little knowledge he had undertaken to judge as to the possibilities of the science. he was told to do the things his instructor prescribed, and he should some day know for himself whether the results were true or false. in the senior year of his course, he received for laboratory analysis a portion of the very substance whose composition he had once questioned. with the skill attained by faithful devotion he successfully completed the analysis, and reported results similar to those, which in his inexperience he had thought impossible to obtain. he was manly enough to acknowledge as unfounded his earlier skepticism and rejoiced in the fact that he had been able to demonstrate the truth for himself. . the pool of siloam.--"the names 'shiloah' ('shelah,' neh. : , 'siloah' in authorized version) and 'siloam' are the exact equivalent in hebrew and greek, respectively, of 'silwan' in the modern arabic name ('ain silwan') of the pool at the mouth of el-wad. all the ancient references agree with this identification (compare neh. : ; josephus, wars of the jews, v, : , ; : ; : ; : ; ii, : ; vi, : ; : ). in spite of its modern designation as an 'ain' (spring), siloam is not a spring, but is fed by a tunnel cut through the rock from the gihon, or virgin's fountain."--l. b. paton, in article "jerusalem," _stand. bible dictionary_. . whence was the messiah to come?--many stifled their inward promptings to a belief in jesus as the messiah, by the objection that all prophecies relating to his coming pointed to bethlehem as his birthplace, and jesus was of galilee. others rejected him because they had been taught that no man was to know whence the messiah came and they all knew jesus came from galilee. the seeming inconsistency is thus explained: the city of david, or bethlehem in judea, was beyond question the fore-appointed place of the messiah's birth; but the rabbis had erroneously taught that soon after birth the christ child would be caught away, and after a time would appear as a man, and that no one would know whence or how he had returned. geikie (ii, p. ), citing lightfoot in part, thus states the popular criticism: "'do not the rabbis tell us' said some, 'that the messiah will be born at bethlehem, but that he will be snatched away by spirits and tempests soon after his birth, and that when he returns the second time no one will know from whence he has come?' but we know this man comes from nazareth." . the record relating to the woman taken in adultery.--some modern critics claim that the verses john : and : - inclusive are out of place as they appear in the authorized or king james version of the bible, on the grounds that the incident therein recorded does not appear in certain of the ancient manuscript copies of john's gospel, and that the style of the narrative is distinctive. in some manuscripts it appears at the end of the book. other manuscripts contain the account as it appears in the english bible. canon farrar pertinently asks (p. , note), why, if the incident is out of place or not of john's authorship, so many important manuscripts give place to it as we have it? . the treasury, and court of the women.--"part of the space within the inner courts was open to israelites of both sexes, and was known distinctively as the court of the women. this was a colonnaded enclosure, and constituted the place of general assembly in the prescribed course of public worship. chambers used for ceremonial purposes occupied the four corners of this court; and between these and the houses at the gates, were other buildings, of which one series constituted the treasury wherein were set trumpet-shaped receptacles for gifts." (see mark : - .)--_the house of the lord_, pp. - . . the sheepfold.--dummelow's _commentary_ says, on john : : "to understand the imagery, it must be remembered that eastern folds are large open enclosures, into which several flocks are driven at the approach of night. there is only one door, which a single shepherd guards, while the others go home to rest. in the morning the shepherds return, are recognized by the doorkeeper, call their flocks round them, and lead them forth to pasture." footnotes: [ ] john : - . [ ] page . [ ] john : ; compare mark : in which "friends" is an inaccurate rendition for "kinsmen". [ ] compare christ's answer to his mother, john : ; see also : ; : . [ ] john : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john ; see pages - herein. [ ] page . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] this was regarded as a literal fulfilment of isa. : . [ ] john : , ; compare with the assurance respecting "living water" given to the samaritan woman, : - . [ ] john : ; compare : , , ; : ; : ; luke : ; acts : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john ; page herein. [ ] according to many excellent authorities, jonah, nahum, and hosea were all of galilee; and it is further believed that elijah also was of galilean nativity. [ ] john : - . [ ] deut. : - . [ ] matt. : - . [ ] deut. : , ; also : . [ ] compare rom. : , ; matt. : , ; luke : ; sam. : - . [ ] john : , ; compare : . consider another instance of mercy granted through contrition luke : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john : ; compare : , , ; : ; : ; : , , . see also doc. and cov. : ; : , ; : ; : ; : , ; : - . [ ] deut. : ; : ; numb. : ; matt. : . [ ] john : - . [ ] compare p. of g.p., moses : ; : ; b. of m., nephi : ; doc. and cov. : ; : . [ ] pages , . [ ] exo. : ; compare : . [ ] compare isa. : ; rev. : , ; see also john : , ; col. : . page herein. [ ] page . [ ] john . [ ] whether this incident occurred in immediate sequence to the events last considered, or at a later time after the return of jesus to jerusalem following an unrecorded departure therefrom, is not stated in the scriptural record. the value of the lesson is not affected by its place in the catalog of our lord's works. [ ] exo. : ; : ; lev. : ; numb. : ; kings : ; compare ezek. chap. . [ ] pages and . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] that is, "heed" or "believe". [ ] john : - . [ ] note the promise of a shepherd to israel, isa. : ; : , ; ezek. : ; : ; compare jer. : ; : ; heb, : ; peter : ; : ; rev. : . read studiously psalm . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : ; compare : , , , ; mark : ; rom. : , ; eph. : ; col. : ; peter : - ; john : ; acts : . [ ] pages and . [ ] john : ; compare as to "one fold and one shepherd," ezek. : ; isa. : ; jer. : ; : . see "articles of faith," xviii,--"the gathering of israel." [ ] b. of m., nephi : ; read verses - ; see chapter herein. [ ] nephi : - . chapter . our lord's ministry in perea and judea. when or under what attendant circumstances our lord departed from jerusalem after the feast of tabernacles, in the last autumn of his earthly life, we are not told. the writers of the synoptic gospels have recorded numerous discourses, parables, and miracles, as incidents of a journey toward jerusalem, in the course of which, jesus, accompanied by the apostles, traversed parts of samaria and perea, and the outlying sections of judea. we read of christ's presence in jerusalem at the feast of dedication,[ ] between two and three months after the feast of tabernacles; and it is probable that some of the events now to be considered occurred during that interval.[ ] that jesus left jerusalem soon after the feast of tabernacles is certain; whether he returned to galilee, or went only into perea, possibly with a short detour across the border into samaria, is not conclusively stated. we shall here as heretofore devote our study primarily to his words and works, with but minor regard to place, time, or sequence. as the time of his foreknown betrayal and crucifixion drew near, "he steadfastly set his face to go to jerusalem,"[ ] though, as we shall find, he turned northward on two occasions, once when he retired to the region of bethabara, and again to ephraim.[ ] his rejection in samaria.[ ] jesus sent messengers ahead, to announce his coming and to prepare for his reception. in one of the samaritan villages he was refused entertainment and a hearing, "because his face was as though he would go to jerusalem." racial prejudice had superseded the obligations of hospitality. this repulse is in unfavorable contrast with the circumstances of his earlier visit among the samaritans, when he had been received with gladness and entreated to remain; but on that occasion he was journeying not toward but farther from jerusalem.[ ] the disrespect shown by the samaritans was more than the disciples could endure without protest. james and john, those sons of thunder, were so resentful as to yearn for vengeance. said they: "lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as elias did?"[ ] jesus rebuked his uncharitable servants thus: "ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. for the son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." repulsed in this village the little company went to another, as the twelve had been instructed to do under like circumstances.[ ] this was but one of the impressive lessons given to the apostles in the matter of tolerance, forbearance, charity, patience, and long-suffering. luke gives next place to the incident of three men who were desirous or willing to become disciples of christ; one of them seems to have been discouraged at the prospect of hardship such as the ministry entailed; the others wished to be temporarily excused from service, one that he might attend the burial of his father, the other that he might first bid his loved ones farewell. this, or a similar occurrence, is recorded by matthew in another connection, and has already received attention in these pages.[ ] the seventy charged and sent. the supreme importance of our lord's ministry, and the shortness of the time remaining to him in the flesh, demanded more missionary laborers. the twelve were to remain with him to the end; every hour of possible instruction and training had to be utilized in their further preparation for the great responsibilities that would rest upon them after the master's departure. as assistants in the ministry, he called and commissioned the seventy, and straightway sent them forth,[ ] "two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come." the need of their service was explained in the introduction to the impressive charge by which they were instructed in the duties of their calling. "therefore said he unto them, the harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest."[ ] many matters on which the twelve had been instructed prior to their missionary tour were now repeated to the seventy. they were told that they must expect unfriendly and even hostile treatment; their situation would be as that of lambs among wolves. they were to travel without purse or scrip, and thus necessarily to depend upon the provision that god would make through those to whom they came. as their mission was urgent, they were not to stop on the way to make or renew personal acquaintanceships. on entering a house they were to invoke peace upon it; if the household deserved the gift peace would rest therein, but otherwise the lord's servants would feel that their invocation was void.[ ] to any family by whom they were received they were to impart blessing--healing the afflicted, and proclaiming that the kingdom of god had come nigh unto that house. they were not to go from one house to another seeking better entertainment, nor should they expect or desire to be feasted, but they should accept what was offered, eating that which was set before them, thus sharing with the family. if rejected in any city, they were to depart therefrom, leaving, however, their solemn testimony that the city had turned away from the kingdom of god, which had been brought to its doors, and attesting the same by ridding themselves of the dust of that place.[ ] it was not for them to pronounce anathema or curse, but the lord assured them that such a city would bring upon itself a fate worse than the doom of sodom.[ ] he reminded them that they were his servants, and therefore whoever heard or refused to hear them would be judged as having so treated him. they were not restrained, as the twelve had been, from entering samaritan towns or the lands of the gentiles. this difference is consistent with the changed conditions, for now the prospective itinerary of jesus would take him into non-jewish territory, where his fame had already spread; and furthermore, his plan provided for an extension of the gospel propaganda, which was to be ultimately world-wide. the narrow jewish prejudice against gentiles in general and samaritans in particular was to be discountenanced; and proof of this intent could not be better given than by sending authorized ministers among those peoples. we must keep in mind the progressiveness of the lord's work. at first the field of gospel preaching was confined to the land of israel,[ ] but the beginning of its extension was inaugurated during our lord's life, and was expressly enjoined upon the apostles after his resurrection.[ ] duly instructed, the seventy set out upon their mission.[ ] mention of the condemnation that would follow wilful rejection of the authorized servants of god aroused in our lord's mind sad memories of the repulses he had suffered, and of the many unrepentant souls, in the cities wherein he had accomplished so many mighty works. in profound sorrow he predicted the woes then impending over chorazin, bethsaida, and capernaum.[ ] the seventy return. considerable time may have elapsed, weeks or possibly months, between the departure of the seventy and their return. we are not told when or where they rejoined the master; but this we know, that the authority and power of christ had been abundantly manifest in their ministry; and that they had rejoiced in the realization. "lord," said they, "even the devils are subject unto us through thy name."[ ] this testimony was followed by the lord's solemn statement: "i beheld satan as lightning fall from heaven." this was said with reference to the expulsion of the rebellious son of the morning, after his defeat by michael and the heavenly hosts.[ ] commending the seventy for their faithful labors, the lord gave them assurance of further power, on the implied condition of their continued worthiness: "i give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you."[ ] the promise that they should tread on serpents and scorpions included immunity from injury by venomous creatures if encountered in the path of duty[ ] and power to prevail over the wicked spirits that serve the devil, who is elsewhere expressly called the serpent.[ ] great as was the power and authority thus imparted, these disciples were told not to rejoice in such, nor primarily in the fact that evil spirits were subject unto them, but rather because they were accepted of the lord, and that their names were written in heaven.[ ] the righteous joy of his servants and his contemplation of their faithfulness caused jesus to rejoice. his happiness found its most appropriate expression in prayer, and thus he prayed: "i thank thee, o father, lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, father; for so it seemed good in thy sight." compared with the learned men of the time, such as the rabbis and scribes, whose knowledge served but to harden their hearts against the truth, these devoted servants were as babes in humility, trust, and faith. such children were and are among the nobles of the kingdom. as in the hours of darkest sorrow, so in this moment of righteous exultation over the faithfulness of his followers, jesus communed with the father, to do whose will was his sole purpose. our lord's joy on this occasion is comparable to that which he experienced when peter had burst forth with the confession of his soul: "thou art the christ, the son of the living god." in solemn discourse jesus said: "all things are delivered to me of my father: and no man knoweth who the son is, but the father; and who the father is, but the son, and he to whom the son will reveal him." then in more intimate communion with the disciples he added: "blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: for i tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them." who is my neighbor? we have seen that the pharisees and their kind were constantly on the alert to annoy and if possible disconcert jesus on questions of law and doctrine, and to provoke him to some overt utterance or deed.[ ] it may be such an attempt that is recorded by luke in immediate sequence to his account of the joyous return of the seventy,[ ] for he tells us that the "certain lawyer," of whom he speaks, put a question to tempt jesus. viewing the questioner's motive with all possible charity, for the basal meaning of the verb which appears in our version of the bible as "to tempt" is that of putting to test or trial and not necessarily and solely to allure into evil,[ ] though the element of entrapping or ensnaring is connoted, we may assume that he wished to test the knowledge and wisdom of the famous teacher, probably for the purpose of embarrassing him. certainly his purpose was not that of sincere search for truth. this lawyer, standing up among the people who had gathered to hear jesus, asked: "master, what shall i do to inherit eternal life?"[ ] jesus replied by a counter question, in which was plainly intimated that if this man, who was professedly learned in the law, had read and studied properly, he should know without asking what he ought to do. "what is written in the law? how readest thou?" the man replied with an admirable summary of the commandments: "thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself"[ ] the answer was approved. "this do, and thou shalt live" said jesus. these simple words conveyed a rebuke, as the lawyer must have realized; they indicated the contrast between knowing and doing. having thus failed in his plan to confound the master, and probably realizing that he, a lawyer, had made no creditable display of his erudition by asking so simple a question and then answering it himself, he tamely sought to justify himself by inquiring further; "and who is my neighbour?" we may well be grateful for the lawyer's question; for it served to draw from the master's inexhaustible store of wisdom one of his most appreciated parables. the story is known as the _parable of the good samaritan_; it runs as follows: "a certain man went down from jerusalem to jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. and by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. and likewise a levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. but a certain samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. and on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when i come again, i will repay thee." then of the lawyer jesus asked: "which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? and he said, he that shewed mercy on him. then said jesus unto him, go, and do thou likewise."[ ] whatever of motive there may have been in the lawyer's query, "who is my neighbour?" aside from that of self-justification and a desire to retreat in the best form possible from an embarrassing situation, we may conceive to lie in the wish to find a limitation in the application of the law, beyond which he would not be bound to go. if he had to love his neighbors as he loved himself, he wanted to have as few neighbors as possible. his desire may have been somewhat akin to that of peter, who was eager to learn just how many times he was required to forgive an offending brother.[ ] the parable with which our lord replied to the lawyer's question is rich in interest as a story alone, and particularly so as an embodiment of precious lessons. it was withal so true to existing conditions, that, like the story of the sower who went forth to sow, and other parables given by the lord jesus, it may be true history as well as parable. the road between jerusalem and jericho was known to be infested by highway robbers; indeed a section of the thoroughfare was called the red path or bloody way because of the frequent atrocities committed thereon. jericho was prominent as a residence place for priests and levites. a priest, who, out of respect to his office, if for none other cause, should have been willing and prompt in acts of mercy, caught sight of the wounded traveler and passed by on the far side of the road. a levite followed; he paused to look, then passed on. these ought to have remembered the specified requirement of the law--that if one saw an ass or an ox fall down by the way, he should not hide himself, but should surely help the owner to lift the creature up again.[ ] if such was their duty toward a brother's beast, much greater was their obligation when a brother himself was in so extreme a plight. doubtless priest as well as levite salved his conscience with ample excuse for his inhumane conduct; he may have been in a hurry, or was fearful, perhaps, that the robbers would return and make him also a victim of their outrage. excuses are easy to find; they spring up as readily and plentifully as weeds by the wayside. when the samaritan came along and saw the wretched state of the wounded man, he had no excuse for he wanted none. having done what he could by way of emergency treatment as recognized in the medical practise of the day, he placed the injured one upon his own beast, probably a mule or an ass, and took him to the nearest inn, where he tended him personally and made arrangements for his further care. the essential difference between the samaritan and the others was that the one had a compassionate heart, while they were unloving and selfish. though not definitely stated, the victim of the robbers was almost certainly a jew; the point of the parable requires it to be so. that the merciful one was a samaritan, showed that the people called heretic and despized by the jews could excel in good works. to a jew, none but jews were neighbors. we are not justified in regarding priest, levite, or samaritan as the type of his class; doubtless there were many kind and charitable jews, and many heartless samaritans; but the master's lesson was admirably illustrated by the characters in the parable; and the words of his application were pungent in their simplicity and appropriateness. martha and mary.[ ] on one of his visits to bethany, a small town about two miles from jerusalem, jesus was received at the home where dwelt two sisters, martha and mary. martha was housekeeper, and therefore she assumed responsibility for the proper treatment of the distinguished guest. while she busied herself with preparations and "was cumbered about much serving," well intended for the comfort and entertainment of jesus, mary sat at the master's feet, listening with reverent attention to his words. martha grew fretful in her bustling anxiety, and came in, saying: "lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me." she was talking to jesus but really at mary. for the moment she had lost her calmness in undue worry over incidental details. it is reasonable to infer that jesus was on terms of familiarity in the household, else the good woman would scarcely have appealed to him in a little matter of domestic concern. he replied to her complaining words with marked tenderness: "martha, martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful: and mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." there was no reproof of martha's desire to provide well; nor any sanction of possible neglect on mary's part. we must suppose that mary had been a willing helper before the master's arrival; but now that he had come, she chose to remain with him. had she been culpably neglectful of her duty, jesus would not have commended her course. he desired not well-served meals and material comforts only, but the company of the sisters, and above all their receptive attention to what he had to say. he had more to give them than they could possibly provide for him. jesus loved the two sisters and their brother as well.[ ] both these women were devoted to jesus, and each expressed herself in her own way. martha was of a practical turn, concerned in material service; she was by nature hospitable and self-denying. mary, contemplative and more spiritually inclined, showed her devotion through the service of companionship and appreciation.[ ] by inattention to household duties, the little touches that make or mar the family peace, many a woman has reduced her home to a comfortless house; and many another has eliminated the essential elements of home by her self-assumed and persistent drudgery, in which she denies to her dear ones the cheer of her loving companionship. one-sided service, however devoted, may become neglect. there is a time for labor inside the home as in the open; in every family time should be found for cultivating that better part, that one thing needful--true, spiritual development. ask, and it shall be given you.[ ] "and it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, lord, teach us to pray." our lord's example and the spirit of prayer manifest in his daily life moved the disciples to ask for instruction as to how they should pray. no form of private prayer was given in the law, but formal prayers had been prescribed by the jewish authorities, and john the baptist had instructed his followers in the mode or manner of prayer. responding to the disciples' request, jesus repeated that brief epitome of soulful adoration and supplication which we call the lord's prayer. this he had before given in connection with the sermon on the mount.[ ] on this occasion of its repetition, the lord supplemented the prayer by explaining the imperative necessity of earnestness and enduring persistency in praying. the lesson was made plain by the _parable of the friend at midnight_: "and he said unto them, which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and i have nothing to set before him? and he from within shall answer and say, trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; i cannot rise and give thee. i say unto you, though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth." the man to whose home a friend had come at midnight could not let his belated and weary guest go hungry, yet there was no bread in the house. he made his visitor's wants his own, and pleaded at his neighbor's door as though asking for himself. the neighbor was loath to leave his comfortable bed and disturb his household to accommodate another; but, finding that the man at the door was importunate, he at last arose and gave him what he asked, so as to get rid of him and be able to sleep in peace. the master added by way of comment and instruction: "_ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you._" the hospitable man in the parable had refused to be repulsed; he kept on knocking until the door was opened; and as a result received what he wanted, found what he had set out to obtain. the parable is regarded by some as a difficult one to apply, since it deals with the selfish and comfort-loving element of human nature, and apparently uses this to symbolize god's deliberate delay. the explanation, however, is clear when the context is duly considered. the lord's lesson was, that if man, with all his selfishness and disinclination to give, will nevertheless grant what his neighbor with proper purpose asks and continues to ask in spite of objection and temporary refusal, with assured certainty will god grant what is persistently asked in faith and with righteous intent. no parallelism lies between man's selfish refusal and god's wise and beneficent waiting. there must be a consciousness of real need for prayer, and real trust in god, to make prayer effective; and in mercy the father sometimes delays the granting that the asking may be more fervent. but in the words of jesus: "if ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly father give the holy spirit to them that ask him?" sometime later jesus spake another parable, the moral of which is so closely akin to that of the story of the midnight visitor, as to suggest the study of the later lesson here. it is known as the _parable of the unjust judge_, or of the _importunate widow_: "there was in a city a judge, which feared not god, neither regarded man: and there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, avenge me of mine adversary. and he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, though i fear not god, nor regard man; yet because this widow troubleth me, i will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me."[ ] the judge was of wicked character; he denied justice to the widow, who could obtain redress from none other. he was moved to action by the desire to escape the woman's importunity. let us beware of the error of comparing his selfish action with the ways of god. jesus did not indicate that as the wicked judge finally yielded to supplication so would god do; but he pointed out that if even such a being as this judge, who "feared not god, neither regarded man," would at last hear and grant the widow's plea, no one should doubt that god, the just and merciful, will hear and answer. the judge's obduracy, though wholly wicked on his part, may have been ultimately advantageous to the widow. had she easily obtained redress she might have become again unwary, and perchance a worse adversary than the first might have oppressed her. the lord's purpose in giving the parable is specifically stated; it was "to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint."[ ] criticism on pharisees and lawyers.[ ] varied comment as to the source of our lord's superhuman powers was aroused afresh by his merciful act of expelling a demon from a man, who, in consequence of this evil possession had been dumb. the old pharisaic theory, that he cast out devils through the power of "beelzebub, the chief of the devils," was revived. the utter foolishness of such a conception was demonstrated, as it had been on an earlier occasion to which we have given attention.[ ] the spiritual darkness, in which evil men grope for signs, the disappointment and condemnation that await them, and other precious precepts, jesus elucidated in further discourse.[ ] then, by invitation he went to the house of a certain pharisee to dine. other pharisees, as also lawyers and scribes, were present. jesus intentionally omitted the ceremonial washing of hands, which all others in the company scrupulously performed before taking their places at table. this omission caused a murmur of disapproval if not an open expression of fault-finding. jesus utilized the occasion by voicing a pungent criticism of pharisaic externalism, which he likened to the cleansing of cups and platters on the outside, while the inside is left filthy. "fools" said he, "did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?" in another form we may ask, did not god who established the outward observances of the law, ordain the inward and spiritual requirements of the gospel also? in response to a question by one of the lawyers, jesus included them in his sweeping reproof. pharisees and scribes resented the censure to which they had been subjected, and "began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things: laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him." as our lord's recorded utterances on this occasion appear also in his final denunciation of pharisaism, later delivered at the temple, we may well defer further consideration of the matter until we take up in order that notable occurrence.[ ] the disciples admonished and encouraged.[ ] popular interest in our lord's movements was strong in the region beyond jordan, as it had been in galilee. we read of him surrounded by "an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another." addressing the multitude, and more particularly his disciples, jesus warned them of the leaven of the pharisees, which he characterized as hypocrisy.[ ] the recent scene at the table of a pharisee gave special significance to the warning. some of the precepts recorded in connection with his galilean ministry were here repeated, and particular stress was laid upon the superiority of the soul to the body, and of eternal life as contrasted with the brief duration of mortal existence. one man in the company, intent on selfish interests and unable to see beyond the material affairs of life, spoke out saying, "master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me." jesus promptly refused to act as mediator or judge in the matter. "man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?" was the master's rejoinder. the wisdom underlying his refusal to interfere is apparent. as in the case of the guilty woman who had been brought before him for judgment,[ ] so in this instance, he refrained from intervention in matters of legal administration. an opposite course would have probably involved him in useless disputation, and might have given color to a complaint that he was arrogating to himself the functions of the legally established tribunals. the man's appeal, however, was made the nucleus of valuable instruction; his clamor for a share in the family inheritance caused jesus to say: "take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." this combined admonition and profound statement of truth was emphasized by the _parable of the foolish rich man_. thus runs the story: "the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: and he thought within himself, saying, what shall i do, because i have no room where to bestow my fruits? and he said, this will i do: i will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will i bestow all my fruits and my goods. and i will say to my soul, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. but god said unto him, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? so is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward god."[ ] the man's abundance had been accumulated through labor and thrift; neglected or poorly-tilled fields do not yield plentifully. he is not represented as one in possession of wealth not rightfully his own. his plans for the proper care of his fruits and goods were not of themselves evil, though he might have considered better ways of distributing his surplus, as for the relief of the needy. his sin was twofold; first, he regarded his great store chiefly as the means of securing personal ease and sensuous indulgence; secondly, in his material prosperity he failed to acknowledge god, and even counted the years as his own. in the hour of his selfish jubilation he was smitten. whether the voice of god came to him as a fearsome presentiment of impending death, or by angel messenger, or how otherwise, we are not informed; but the voice spoke his doom: "thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee."[ ] he had used his time and his powers of body and mind to sow, reap and garner--all for himself. and what came of it all? whose should be the wealth, to amass which he had jeopardized his soul? had he been other than a fool he might have realized as solomon had done, the vanity of hoarding wealth for another, and he perhaps of uncertain character, to possess.[ ] turning to the disciples jesus reiterated some of the glorious truths he had uttered when preaching on the mount,[ ] and pointed to the birds of the air, the lilies and grass of the field, as examples of the father's watchful care; he admonished his hearers to seek the kingdom of god, and, doing so, they should find all needful things added. "fear not, little flock," he added in tone of affectionate and paternal regard, "for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." they were urged to store their wealth in bags that wax not old,[ ] containers suited to the heavenly treasure which, unlike the goods of the foolish rich man, shall not be left behind when the soul is summoned. the man whose treasure is of earth leaves it all at death; he whose wealth is in heaven goes to his own, and death is but the portal to his treasury. the disciples were admonished to be ever ready, waiting as servants wait at night with lights burning, for their master's return; and, inasmuch as the lord of the household comes at his will, in the early or later watches, if when he comes he finds his faithful servants ready to open immediately to his knock he will honor them as they deserve. so is the son of man to come, perhaps when least expected. to a question interjected by peter as to whether "this parable" was spoken to the twelve only or to all, jesus made no direct reply; the answer, however, was conveyed in the continuation of the allegory of contrast between faithful and wicked servants.[ ] "who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?" the faithful steward is a good type of the apostles, individually or as a body. as stewards they were charged with the care of the other servants, and of the household; and as to them more had been given than to the others, so of them more would be required; and they would be held to strict accountability for their stewardship. the lord then referred feelingly to his own mission, and especially to the dreadful experiences then soon to befall him, saying: "i have a baptism to be baptised with; and how am i straitened till it be accomplished!" he told again of the strife and dissension that would follow the preaching of his gospel, and dwelt upon the significance of then current events. to those who, ever ready to interpret the signs of the weather, yet remained wilfully blind to the important developments of the times, he applied the caustic epithet, hypocrites![ ] "except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish."[ ] some of the people who had been listening to our lord's discourse reported to him the circumstances of a tragical event that had taken place, probably but a short time before, inside the temple walls. a number of galileans had been slain by roman soldiers, at the base of the altar, so that their blood had mingled with that of the sacrificial victims. it is probable that the slaughter of these galileans was incident to some violent demonstration of jewish resentment against roman authority, which the procurator, pilate, construed as an incipient insurrection, to be promptly and forcibly quelled. such outbursts were not uncommon, and the roman tower or fortress of antonia had been erected in a commanding position overlooking the temple grounds, and connected therewith by a wide flight of steps, so that soldiers could have ready access to the enclosure at the first indication of turmoil. the purpose of the informants who brought this matter to the attention of jesus is not stated; but we find probability in the thought that his reference to the signs of the times had reminded them of the tragedy, and that they were inclined to speculate as to the deeper significance of the occurrence. some may have wondered as to whether the fate of the galilean victims had befallen them as a merited retribution. anyway, to some such conception as this jesus directed his reply. by question and answer he assured them that those who had so been slain were not to be considered as sinners above other galileans; "but," said he, "except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." then, referring on his own initiative to another catastrophe, he cited the instance of eighteen persons who had been killed by the fall of a tower at siloam, and affirmed that these were not to be counted greater sinners than other jerusalemites. "but," came the reiteration, "except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." there were perhaps some who believed that the men upon whom the tower had fallen had deserved their fate; and this conception is the more probable if the generally accepted assumption be correct, that the calamity came upon the men while they were engaged under roman employ in work on the aqueduct, for the construction of which pilate had used the "corban" or sacred treasure, given by vow to the temple.[ ] it is not man's prerogative to pass upon the purposes and designs of god, nor to judge by human reason alone that this person or that suffers disaster as a direct result of individual sin.[ ] nevertheless men have ever been prone to so judge. there are many inheritors of the spirit of job's friends, who assumed his guilt as certain because of the great misfortunes and sufferings that had come upon him.[ ] even while jesus spake, calamity dark and dire was impending over temple, city and nation; and unless the people would repent and accept the messiah then in their midst, the decree of destruction would be carried to its dread fulfilment. hence, as jesus said, except the people repented they should perish. the imperative need of reformation was illustrated by the _parable of the barren fig tree_. "a certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, behold, these three years i come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? and he answering said unto him, lord, let it alone this year also, till i shall dig about it, and dung it: and if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down."[ ] in jewish literature, particularly in rabbinical lore, the fig tree is of frequent mention as a symbol of the nation. the warning conveyed in the parable is plain; the element of possible escape is no less evident. if the fig tree represents the covenant people, then the vineyard is naturally the world at large, and the dresser of the vineyard is the son of god, who by personal ministry and solicitous care makes intercession for the barren tree, in the hope that it may yet bear fruit. the parable is of universal application; but so far as it had special bearing upon the jewish "fig tree" of that time, it was attended by an awful sequel. the baptist had cried out in warning that the ax was even then in readiness, and every unfruitful tree would be hewn down.[ ] a woman healed on the sabbath.[ ] on a certain sabbath jesus was teaching in a synagog, of what place we are not told, though it was probably in one of the towns of perea. there was present a woman who for eighteen years had been suffering from an infirmity that had so drawn and atrophied the muscles as to bend her body so that she could in no wise straighten herself. jesus called her to him, and without waiting for petition or request, said simply, "woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity." these words he accompanied by the laying-on of hands, a feature of his healing ministrations not always performed. she was healed forthwith and stood erect; and, acknowledging the source of the power by which she had been released from her bonds, glorified god in a fervent prayer of thanksgiving. doubtless many of the beholders rejoiced with her; but there was one whose soul was stirred by indignation only; and he, the ruler of the synagog. instead of addressing himself to jesus, of whose power he may have been afraid, he vented his ill feeling upon the people, by telling them there were six days in which men ought to work, and that on those days they who wished to be healed should come, but not on the sabbath. the rebuke was ostensibly directed to the people, especially to the woman who had received the blessing, but in reality against jesus; for if there were any element of work in the healing it had been done by him, not by the woman nor by others. upon the ruler of the synagog the lord turned with direct address: "thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? and ought not this woman, being a daughter of abraham, whom satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?" it may be inferred that the woman's affliction had been more deeply seated than in the muscles; for luke who was himself a physician[ ] tells us she "had a spirit of infirmity," and records the significant words of the lord to the effect that satan had held her bound for eighteen years. but whatever her ailment, whether wholly physical or in part mental and spiritual, she was freed from her bonds. again was the christ triumphant; his adversaries were shamed into silence, while the believers rejoiced. the rebuke to the ruler of the synagog was followed by a brief discourse in which jesus gave to these people some of the teachings before delivered in galilee; these included the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven.[ ] will many or few be saved?[ ] continuing his journey toward jerusalem, jesus taught in many of the cities and towns of perea. his coming had probably been announced by the seventy, who had been sent to prepare the people for his ministry. one of those who had been impressed by his doctrines submitted this question: "lord, are there few that be saved?" jesus replied: "strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, i say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able."[ ] the counsel was enlarged upon to show that neglect or procrastination in obeying the requirements for salvation may result in the soul's loss. when the door is shut in judgment many will come knocking, and some will plead that they had known the lord, having eaten and drunk in his company, and that he had taught upon their streets; but to them who had failed to accept the truth when offered the lord shall say: "i tell you, i know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity." the people were warned that their israelitish lineage would in no wise save them, for many who were not of the covenant people would believe and be saved, while unworthy israelites would be thrust out.[ ] so is it that "there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last." jesus warned of herod's design.[ ] on the day of the discourse last noted, certain pharisees came to jesus with this warning and advice: "get thee out, and depart hence: for herod will kill thee."[ ] we have heretofore found the pharisees in open hostility to the lord, or secretly plotting against him; and some commentators regard this warning as another evidence of pharisaic cunning--possibly intended to rid the province of christ's presence, or designed to drive him toward jerusalem, where he would be again within easy reach of the supreme tribunal. ought we not to be liberal and charitable in our judgment as to the intent of others? doubtless there were good men in the fraternity of pharisees,[ ] and those who came informing christ of a plot against his life were possibly impelled by humane motives, and may even have been believers at heart. that herod had designs against our lord's liberty or life appears most probable in the answer jesus made. he received the information in all seriousness, and his comment thereon is one of the strongest of his utterances against an individual. "go ye," said he, "and tell that fox, behold, i cast out devils, and i do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day i shall be perfected." the specifying of today, tomorrow, and the third day, was a means of expressing the present in which the lord was then acting, the immediate future, in which he would continue to minister, since, as he knew, the day of his death was yet several months distant, and the time at which his earthly work would be finished and he be perfected. he placed beyond doubt the fact that he did not intend to hasten his steps, neither cut short his journey nor cease his labors through fear of herod antipas, who for craft and cunning was best typified by a sly and murderous fox. nevertheless it was christ's intention to go on, and soon in ordinary course he would leave perea, which was part of herod's domain, and enter judea; and at the foreknown time would make his final entry into jerusalem, for in that city was he to accomplish his sacrifice. "it cannot be," he explained, "that a prophet perish out of jerusalem." the awful reality that he, the christ, would be slain in the chief city of israel wrung from him the pathetic apostrophe over jerusalem, which was repeated when for the last time his voice was heard within the temple walls.[ ] notes to chapter . . christ's ministry following his final withdrawal from galilee.--john tells us that when jesus went from galilee to jerusalem to attend the feast of tabernacles, he went "not openly, but as it were in secret" ( : ). it appears improbable that the numerous works recorded by the synoptic writers as features of our lord's ministry, which extended from galilee through perea, into samaria and parts of judea, could have attended that special and, as it were secret, journey, at the time of the feast of tabernacles. the lack of agreement among writers as to the sequence of events in christs' life is wide. a comparison of the "harmonies" published in the most prominent bible helps (see e.g. oxford and bagster "helps") exemplifies these divergent views. the subject-matter of our lord's teachings maintains its own intrinsic worth irrespective of merely circumstantial incidents. the following excerpt from farrar (_life of christ_, chap. ) will be of assistance to the student, who should bear in mind, however, that it is professedly but a tentative or possible arrangement. "it is well known that the whole of one great section in st. luke--from : to : --forms an episode in the gospel narrative of which many incidents are narrated by this evangelist alone, and in which the few identifications of time and place all point to one slow and solemn progress from galilee to jerusalem ( : ; : ; : ; : ). now after the feast of dedication our lord retired into perea, until he was summoned thence by the death of lazarus (john : , ; : - ); after the resurrection [raising] of lazarus, he fled to ephraim ( : ); and he did not leave his retirement at ephraim until he went to bethany, six days before his final passover ( : ). "this great journey, therefore, from galilee to jerusalem, so rich in occasions which called forth some of his most memorable utterances, must have been either a journey to the feast of tabernacles or to the feast of dedication. that it could not have been the former may be regarded as settled, not only on other grounds, but decisively because that was a rapid and secret journey, this an eminently public and leisurely one. "almost every inquirer seems to differ to a greater or less degree as to the exact sequence and chronology of the events which follow. without entering into minute and tedious disquisitions where absolute certainty is impossible, i will narrate this period of our lord's life in the order which, after repeated study of the gospels, appears to me to be the most probable, and in the separate details of which i have found myself again and again confirmed by the conclusions of other independent inquirers. and here i will only premise my conviction-- " . that the episode of st. luke up to : , mainly refers to a single journey, although unity of subject, or other causes, may have led the sacred writer to weave into his narrative some events or utterances which belong to an earlier or later epoch. " . that the order of the facts narrated even by st. luke alone is not, and does not in any way claim to be, strictly chronological; so that the place of any event in the narrative by no means necessarily indicates its true position in the order of time. " . that this journey is identical with that which is partially recorded in matt. : ; : ; mark : - . " . that (as seems obvious from internal evidence) the events narrated in matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - , belong not to this journey but to the last which jesus ever took--the journey from ephraim to bethany and jerusalem." . jesus at the home in bethany.--some writers (e.g. edersheim) place this incident as having occurred in the course of our lord's journey to jerusalem to attend the feast of tabernacles; others (e.g. geikie) assume that it took place immediately after that feast; and yet others (e.g. farrar) assign it to the eve of the feast of dedication, nearly three months later. the place given it in the text is that in which it appears in the scriptural record. . shall but few be saved?--through latter-day revelation we learn that graded conditions await us in the hereafter, and that beyond salvation are the higher glories of exaltation. the specified kingdoms or glories of the redeemed, excepting the sons of perdition, are the celestial, the terrestrial, and the telestial. those who obtain place in the telestial, the lowest of the three, are shown to be "as innumerable as the stars in the firmament of heaven, or as the sand upon the seashore." and these shall not be equal, "for they shall be judged according to their works, and every man shall receive according to his own works, his own dominion, in the mansions which are prepared. and they shall be servants of the most high, but where god and christ dwell they cannot come, worlds without end." see doc. and cov. : , ; read the entire section; see also _the articles of faith_ xxii: - ; and p. herein. footnotes: [ ] john : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] luke : . [ ] john : ; : . [ ] luke : - . [ ] john : - ; page herein. [ ] luke : ; compare kings : , . [ ] matt. : . [ ] luke : - ; see pages - herein. [ ] luke : - . [ ] compare matt. : , ; see also john : . [ ] edersheim (vol. ii, p. ) says: "the expression 'if the son of peace be there' is a hebraism, equivalent to 'if the house be worthy' (compare matt. : ) and refers to the character of the head of the house and the tone of the household." [ ] compare matt. : ; page herein. [ ] compare the charge given the seventy with that of the twelve, matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - ; see page herein. [ ] matt. : , ; : . [ ] matt. : ; mark : . [ ] doc. and cov. : ; : - ; see also "articles of faith," xi: , . the special office of the seventy has been reestablished in the restored church; and in this, the last dispensation, many quorums of seventy are maintained for the work of the ministry. the office of the seventy is one belonging to the higher or melchizedek priesthood. [ ] luke : - ; compare matt. : - ; see page herein. [ ] luke : . [ ] rev. : ; : , ; see pages and herein. [ ] luke : ; read verses - . [ ] compare mark : ; acts : . [ ] rev. : ; : ; compare gen. : - , , . [ ] compare rev. : ; : ; : . [ ] compare mark : ; see also luke : , . [ ] luke : - . [ ] compare gen. : . [ ] compare matt. : ; mark : ; luke : . [ ] luke : ; compare deut. : , and lev. : ; see also matt. : - . [ ] luke : - . [ ] matt. : , ; compare luke : ; page herein. [ ] deut. : ; compare. exo. : . [ ] luke : - . note , end of chapter. [ ] john : . [ ] compare john : , . [ ] luke : - . [ ] pages - . [ ] luke : - ; read verses , and - . see also doc. and cov. : - . [ ] luke : ; compare : ; rom. : ; eph. : ; col. : ; thess. : . [ ] luke : - . [ ] luke : - ; see page herein. [ ] luke : - ; see page herein. [ ] matt. ; see chapter herein. [ ] luke : - . [ ] page . [ ] page . [ ] luke : - . [ ] compare the fate that overtook nebuchadnezzar, while the words of boastful pride were yet in his mouth (dan. : - ); and that of belshazzar, before whose eyes appeared the hand of destiny in the midst of his riotous feast; in that night was the king's soul required of him. (dan. .) [ ] eccles. : , ; compare succeeding verses; see also psa. : : : - ; job : , . [ ] luke : - ; compare matt. : - . [ ] compare matt. : . [ ] luke : - . [ ] luke : - ; compare matt. : - . [ ] luke : - . [ ] josephus, wars ii, : ; also page herein. [ ] compare john : , ; also page herein. [ ] job : ; : - , ; : . [ ] luke : - . [ ] luke : . [ ] luke : - . [ ] colos. : . [ ] luke : - ; see pages , herein. [ ] luke : - . note , end of chapter. [ ] compare matt. : . [ ] compare matt. : ; : , ; : ; mark : . [ ] luke : - . [ ] in the revised version the last clause reads "for herod would fain kill thee." [ ] paul the apostle had been a pharisee of the most pronounced type. (acts : ; : .) [ ] luke : , : compare matt. : - . chapter . continuation of the perean and judean ministry. in the house of one of the chief pharisees.[ ] on a certain sabbath jesus was a guest at the house of a prominent pharisee. a man afflicted with dropsy was there; he may have come with the hope of receiving a blessing, or possibly his presence had been planned by the host or others as a means of tempting jesus to work a miracle on the holy day. the exercize of our lord's healing power was at least thought of if not openly intimated or suggested, for we read that "jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and pharisees, saying, is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?"[ ] no one ventured to reply. jesus forthwith healed the man; then he turned to the assembled company and asked: "which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?"[ ] the learned expositors of the law remained prudently silent. observing the eager activity of the pharisee's guests in securing for themselves prominent places at table, jesus instructed them in a matter of good manners, pointing out not only the propriety but the advantage of decent self-restraint. an invited guest should not select for himself the seat of honor, for some one more distinguished than he may come, and the host would say: "give this man place." better is it to take a lower seat, then possibly the lord of the feast may say: "friend, go up higher." the moral follows: "for whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."[ ] this festive gathering at the house of the chief pharisee included persons of prominence and note, rich men and officials, leading pharisees, renowned scholars, famous rabbis and the like. looking over the distinguished company, jesus said: "when thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. but when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." this bit of wholesome advice was construed as a reproof; and some one attempted to relieve the embarrassing situation by exclaiming: "blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of god."[ ] the remark was an allusion to the great festival, which according to jewish traditionalism was to be a feature of signal importance in the messianic dispensation. jesus promptly turned the circumstance to good account by basing thereon the profoundly significant _parable of the great supper_: "a certain man made a great supper, and bade many: and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, come; for all things are now ready. and they all with one consent began to make excuse. the first said unto him, i have bought a piece of ground, and i must needs go and see it: i pray thee have me excused. and another said, i have bought five yoke of oxen, and i go to prove them: i pray thee have me excused. and another said, i have married a wife, and therefore i cannot come. so that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. and the servant said, lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. and the lord said unto the servant, go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. for i say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper."[ ] the story implies that invitations had been given sufficiently early to the chosen and prospective guests; then on the day of the feast a messenger was sent to notify them again, as was the custom of the time. though called a supper, the meal was to be a sumptuous one; moreover, the principal meal of the day was commonly spoken of as supper. one man after another declined to attend, one saying: "i pray thee have me excused"; another: "i cannot come." the matters that engaged the time and attention of those who had been bidden, or as we would say, invited, to the feast, were not of themselves discreditable, far less sinful; but to arbitrarily allow personal affairs to annul an honorable engagement once accepted was to manifest discourtesy, disrespect and practical insult toward the provider of the feast. the man who had bought a field could have deferred the inspection; he who had just purchased cattle could have waited a day to try them under the yoke; and the newly married man could have left his bride and his friends for the period of the supper that he had promised to attend. plainly none of these people wanted to be present. the master of the house was justly angry. his command to bring in the poor and the maimed, the halt and the blind from the city streets must have appealed to those who listened to our lord's recital as a reminiscence of his counsel given a few minutes before, concerning the kind of guests a rich man could invite with profit to his soul. the second sending out of the servant, this time into the highways and hedges outside the city walls, to bring in even the country poor, indicated boundless benevolence and firm determination on the householder's part. explication of the parable was left to the learned men to whom the story was addressed. surely some of them would fathom its meaning, in part at least. the covenant people, israel, were the specially invited guests. they had been bidden long enough aforetime, and by their own profession as the lord's own had agreed to be partakers of the feast. when all was ready, on the appointed day, they were severally summoned by the messenger who had been sent by the father; he was even then in their midst. but the cares of riches, the allurement of material things, and the pleasures of social and domestic life had engrossed them; and they prayed to be excused or irreverently declared they could not or would not come. then the gladsome invitation was to be carried to the gentiles, who were looked upon as spiritually poor, maimed, halt, and blind. and later, even the pagans beyond the walls, strangers in the gates of the holy city, would be bidden to the supper. these, surprized at the unexpected summons, would hesitate, until by gentle urging and effective assurance that they were really included among the bidden guests, they would feel themselves constrained or compelled to come. the possibility of some of the discourteous ones arriving later, after they had attended to their more absorbing affairs, is indicated in the lord's closing words: "for i say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper." counting the cost.[ ] as had been in galilee, so was it in perea and judea--great multitudes attended the master whenever he appeared in public. when once a scribe has presented himself as a disciple, offering to follow wherever the master led, jesus had indicated the self-denial, privation and suffering incident to devoted service, with the result that the man's enthusiasm was soon spent.[ ] so now to the eager multitude jesus applied a test of sincerity. he would have only genuine disciples, not enthusiasts of a day, ready to desert his cause when effort and sacrifice were most needed. thus did he sift the people: "if any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. and whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple." literal hatred toward one's family was not specified as a condition of discipleship; indeed a man who indulges hatred or any other evil passion is a subject for repentance and reformation. the preeminence of duty toward god over personal or family demands on the part of one who had assumed the obligations of a disciple was the precept.[ ] as jesus pointed out, it is good common-sense to count well the cost before one enters upon a great undertaking, even in ordinary affairs. a man who wishes to build, say a tower or a house, tries to determine, before he begins the work, what the expense will be; otherwise he may be able to do no more than lay the foundation; then, not only will he find himself a loser, for the unfinished structure will be of no service, but people may laugh at his lack of prudent forethought. so also a king, finding his realm menaced by hostile invaders, does not rush into battle recklessly; he first tries to ascertain the strength of the enemy's forces; and then, if the odds against him be too great, he sends an embassage to treat for peace. "so likewise," said jesus to the people around him, "whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." all who entered his service would be expected to maintain their self-sacrificing devotion. he wanted no disciples who would become like salt that had spoiled, unsavory and useless. "he that hath ears to hear, let him hear."[ ] salvation for "publicans and sinners"--illustrative parables.[ ] the pharisees in galilee had intolerantly criticized jesus because of his friendly and helpful ministry among the publicans and their associates, who were disparagingly classed together as "publicans and sinners."[ ] he had replied to these uncharitable aspersions by saying that a physician is most needed by them that are sick, and that he had come to call sinners to repentance. the judean pharisees raised a similar complaint, and were particularly virulent when they saw that "all the publicans and sinners" drew near to hear him. he met their murmurs by presenting a number of parables, designed to show the incumbent duty of trying to recover the lost, and the joy of success in such god-like endeavor. the first of the series of parables was that of the _lost sheep_; this we have considered in connection with its earlier delivery in the course of instruction to the disciples in galilee.[ ] its application in the present instance, however, is somewhat different from that of its former presentation. the lesson on this later occasion was directed to the self-seeking pharisees and scribes who personified the theocracy, and whose bounden duty it should have been to care for the strayed and the lost. if the "publicans and sinners," whom these ecclesiasts so generally contemned, were nearly as bad as they were represented to be, if they were men who had broken through the close-hedged path of the law and had become in a measure apostate, they were the ones toward whom the helping hand of missionary service could be best extended. in no instance of pharisaic slur upon, or open denunciation of, these "publicans and sinners," do we find jesus defending their alleged evil ways; his attitude toward these spiritually sick folk was that of a devoted physician: his concern over these strayed sheep was that of a loving shepherd whose chief desire was to find them out and bring them back to the fold. this neither the theocracy as a system nor its officials as individual ministers even attempted to do. the shepherd, on finding the sheep that was lost, thinks not at the time of reprimand or punishment; on the contrary, "when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. and when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them: rejoice with me; for i have found my sheep which was lost." a direct application of the parable appears in the lord's concise address to the pharisees and scribes: "i say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance." were they the ninety and nine, who, by self-estimation had strayed not, being "just persons, which need no repentance?" some readers say they catch this note of just sarcasm in the master's concluding words. in the earlier part of the story, the lord himself appears as the solicitous shepherd, and by plain implication his example is such as the theocratic leaders ought to emulate. such a conception puts the pharisees and scribes in the position of shepherds rather than of sheep. both explications are tenable; and each is of value as portraying the status and duty of professing servants of the master in all ages. without break in the narrative, the lord passed from the story of the lost sheep to the _parable of the lost coin_. "either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? and when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, rejoice with me; for i have found the piece which i had lost. likewise, i say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of god over one sinner that repenteth." between this parable and that of the lost sheep there are certain notable differences, though the lesson in each is in general the same. the sheep had strayed by its own volition; the coin[ ] had been dropped, and so was lost as a result of inattention or culpable carelessness on the part of its owner. the woman, discovering her loss institutes a diligent search; she sweeps the house, and perhaps learns of dirty corners, dusty recesses, cobwebby nooks, to which she had been oblivious in her self-complacency as an outwardly clean and conventional housewife. her search is rewarded by the recovery of the lost piece, and is incidentally beneficial in the cleansing of her house. her joy is like that of the shepherd wending his way homeward with the sheep upon his shoulders--once lost but now regained. the woman who by lack of care lost the precious piece may be taken to represent the theocracy of the time, and the church as an institution in any dispensational period; then the pieces of silver, every one a genuine coin of the realm, bearing the image of the great king, are the souls committed to the care of the church; and the lost piece symbolizes the souls that are neglected and, for a time at least, lost sight of, by the authorized ministers of the gospel of christ. these cogent illustrations were followed by one yet richer in imagery and more impressively elaborate in detail. it is the never to be forgotten _parable of the prodigal son_.[ ] "and he said, a certain man had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. and he divided unto them his living. and not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. and when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. and he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. and he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. and when he came to himself, he said, how many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and i perish with hunger! i will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, father, i have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. and he arose, and came to his father. but when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. and the son said unto him, father, i have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. but the father said to his servants, bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. and they began to be merry. now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. and he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. and he said unto him, thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. and he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. and he answering said to his father, lo, these many years do i serve thee, neither transgressed i at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that i might make merry with my friends: but as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. and he said unto him, son, thou art ever with me, and all that i have is thine. it was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found." the demand of the younger son for a portion of the patrimony even during his father's lifetime, is an instance of deliberate and unfilial desertion; the duties of family cooperation had grown distasteful to him, and the wholesome discipline of the home had become irksome. he was determined to break away from all home ties, forgetful of what home had done for him and the debt of gratitude and duty by which he was morally bound. he went into a far country, and, as he thought, beyond the reach of the father's directing influence. he had his season of riotous living, of unrestrained indulgence and evil pleasure, through it all wasting his strength of body and mind, and squandering his father's substance; for what he had received had been given as a concession and not as the granting of any legal or just demand. adversity came upon him, and proved to be a more effective minister for good than pleasure had been. he was reduced to the lowest and most menial service, that of herding swine, which occupation, to a jew, was the extreme of degradation. suffering brought him to himself. he, the son of honorable parentage, was feeding pigs and eating with them, while even the hired servants at home had good food in plenty and to spare. he realized not alone his abject foolishness in leaving his father's well-spread table to batten with hogs, but the unrighteousness of his selfish desertion; he was not only remorseful but repentant. he had sinned against his father and against god; he would return, confess his sin, and ask, not to be reinstated as a son, but to be allowed to work as a hired servant. having resolved he delayed not, but immediately set out to find his long way back to home and father. the father became aware of the prodigal's approach and hastened to meet him. without a word of condemnation, the loving parent embraced and kissed the wayward but now penitent boy, who, overcome by this undeserved affection, humbly acknowledged his error, and sorrowfully confessed that he was not worthy to be known as his father's son. it is noteworthy that in his contrite confession he did not ask to be accepted as a hired servant as he had resolved to do; the father's joy was too sacred to be thus marred, he would please his father best by placing himself unreservedly at that father's disposal. the rough garb of poverty was discarded for the best robe; a ring was placed on his finger as a mark of reinstatement; shoes told of restored sonship, not of employment as a hired servant. the father's glad heart could express itself only in acts of abundant kindness; a feast was made ready; for was not the son, once counted as dead now alive? had not the lost been found again? so far the story sustains a relation of close analogy to the two parables that preceded it in the same discourse; the part following introduces another important symbolism. no one had complained at the recovery of the stray sheep nor at the finding of the lost coin; friends had rejoiced with the finder in each case. but the father's happiness at the return of the prodigal was interrupted by the grumbling protest of the elder son. he, on approaching the house, had observed the evidences of festal joy; and, instead of entering as was his right, had inquired of one of the servants as to the cause of the unusual rejoicing. on learning that his brother had returned and that the father had prepared a festival in honor of the event, this elder son grew angry, and churlishly refused to enter the house even after his father had come out and entreated him. he cited his own faithfulness and devotion to the routine labor of the farm, to which claim of excellence the father did not demur; but the son and heir reproached his father for having failed to give him so much as a kid with which to make merry with his friends; while now that the wayward and spendthrift son had come back the father had killed for him even the fatted calf. there is significance in the elder one's designation of the penitent as "this thy son," rather than "my brother." the elder son, deafened by selfish anger, refused to hear aright the affectionate assurance; "son, thou art ever with me, and all that i have is thine," and with heart hardened by unbrotherly resentment he stood unmoved by the emotional and loving outburst, "this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found." we are not justified in extolling the virtue of repentance on the part of the prodigal above the faithful, plodding service of his brother, who had remained at home, true to the duties required of him. the devoted son was the heir; the father did not disparage his worth, nor deny his deserts. his displeasure over the rejoicing incident to the return of his wayward brother was an exhibition of illiberality and narrowness; but of the two brothers the elder was the more faithful, whatever his minor defects may have been. the particular point emphasized in the lord's lesson, however, had to do with his uncharitable and selfish weaknesses. pharisees and scribes, to whom this masterpiece of illustrative incident was delivered, must have taken to themselves its personal application. they were typified by the elder son, laboriously attentive to routine, methodically plodding by rule and rote in the multifarious labors of the field, without interest except that of self, and all unwilling to welcome a repentant publican or a returned sinner. from all such they were estranged; such a one might be to the indulgent and forgiving father, "this thy son," but never to them, a brother. they cared not who or how many were lost, so long as they were undisturbed in heirship and possession by the return of penitent prodigals. but the parable was not for them alone; it is a living perennial yielding the fruit of wholesome doctrine and soul-sustaining nourishment for all time. not a word appears in condonation or excuse for the prodigal's sin; upon that the father could not look with the least degree of allowance;[ ] but over that sinner's repentance and contrition of soul, god and the household of heaven rejoiced. the three parables which appear in the scriptural record as parts of a continuous discourse, are as one in portraying the joy that abounds in heaven over the recovery of a soul once numbered among the lost, whether that soul be best symbolized by a sheep that had wandered afar, a coin that had dropped out of sight through the custodian's neglect, or a son who would deliberately sever himself from home and heaven. there is no justification for the inference that a repentant sinner is to be given precedence, over a righteous soul who has resisted sin; were such the way of god, then christ, the one sinless man, would be surpassed in the father's esteem by regenerate offenders. unqualifiedly offensive as is sin, the sinner is yet precious in the father's eyes, because of the possibility of his repentance and return to righteousness. the loss of a soul is a very real and a very great loss to god. he is pained and grieved thereby, for it is his will that not one should perish.[ ] disciples instructed by parable. addressing himself more directly to the disciples present, who on this occasion probably comprized in addition to the apostles, many believers, including even some of the publicans, jesus spake the _parable of the unrighteous steward_.[ ] "and he said also unto his disciples, there was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. and he called him, and said unto him, how is it that i hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. then the steward said within himself, what shall i do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: i cannot dig; to beg i am ashamed. i am resolved what to do, that, when i am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. so he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, how much owest thou unto my lord? and he said, an hundred measures of oil. and he said unto him, take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. then said he to another, and how much owest thou? and he said, an hundred measures of wheat. and he said unto him, take thy bill, and write fourscore. and the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light." the three preceding parables show forth their lessons through the relationship of close analogy and intimate similarities; this one teaches rather by its contrast of situations. the steward in the story was the duly authorized agent of his employer, holding what we would call the power-of-attorney to act in his master's name.[ ] he was called to account because a report of his wastefulness and lack of care had reached the master's ears. the steward did not deny his guilt, and forthwith he received notice of dismissal. considerable time would be required for making up his accounts preparatory to turning the stewardship over to his successor. this interval, during which he remained in authority, he determined to use so far as possible to his own advantage, even though he wrought further injustice to his master's interests. he contemplated the condition of dependence in which he would soon find himself. through unthrift and extravagance he had failed to lay by any store from his earnings; he had wasted his own and his lord's substance. he felt that he was unfit for hard manual labor; and he would be ashamed to beg, particularly in the community in which he had been a lavish spender and a man of influence. with the desire to put others under some obligation to himself so that when he was deposed he could the more effectively appeal to them, he called his lord's debtors and authorized them to change their bonds, bills of sale, or notes of hand, so as to show a greatly decreased indebtedness. without doubt these acts were unrighteous; he defrauded his employer, and enriched the debtors through whom he hoped to be benefited. most of us are surprized to know that the master, learning what his far-seeing though selfish and dishonest steward had done, condoned the offense and actually commended him for his foresight, "because he had done wisely" as our version reads, or "because he had done prudently" as many scholars aver to be the better rendering. in pointing the moral of the parable jesus said:[ ] "for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. and i say unto you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations." our lord's purpose was to show the contrast between the care, thoughtfulness, and devotion of men engaged in the money-making affairs of earth, and the half hearted ways of many who are professedly striving after spiritual riches. worldly-minded men do not neglect provision for their future years, and often are sinfully eager to amass plenty; while the "children of light," or those who believe spiritual wealth to be above all earthly possessions, are less energetic, prudent, or wise. by "mammon of unrighteousness" we may understand material wealth or worldly things. while far inferior to the treasures of heaven, money or that which it represents may be the means of accomplishing good, and of furthering the purposes of god. our lord's admonition was to utilize "mammon" in good works, while it lasted, for some day it shall fail, and only the results achieved through its use shall endure.[ ] if the wicked steward, when cast out from his master's house because of unworthiness, might hope to be received into the homes of these whom he had favored, how much more confidently may they who are genuinely devoted to the right hope to be received into the everlasting mansions of god! such seems to be part of the lesson. it was not the steward's dishonesty that was extolled; his prudence and foresight were commended, however; for while he misapplied his master's substance, he gave relief to the debtors; and in so doing he did not exceed his legal powers, for he was still steward though he was morally guilty of malfeasance. the lesson may be summed up in this wise: make such use of your wealth as shall insure you friends hereafter. be diligent; for the day in which you can use your earthly riches will soon pass. take a lesson from even the dishonest and the evil; if they are so prudent as to provide for the only future they think of, how much more should you, who believe in an eternal future, provide therefor! if you have not learned wisdom and prudence in the use of "unrighteous mammon," how can you be trusted with the more enduring riches? if you have not learned how to use properly the wealth of another, which has been committed to you as steward, how can you expect to be successful in the handling of great wealth should such be given you as your own? emulate the unjust steward and the lovers of mammon, not in their dishonesty, cupidity, and miserly hoarding of the wealth that is at best but transitory, but in their zeal, forethought, and provision for the future. moreover, let not wealth become your master; keep it to its place as a servant, for, "no servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. ye cannot serve god and mammon." derision of the pharisees met; another illustrative parables.[ ] the pharisees, who were covetous, or more precisely stated, who were lovers of money,[ ] overheard the foregoing instructions to the disciples, and openly scoffed at the teacher and the lesson. what did this galilean, who owned nothing but the clothes he wore, know about money or the best way of administering wealth? our lord's reply to their words of derision was a further condemnation. they knew all the tricks of the business-world, and could outdo the unrighteous steward in crafty manipulation; and yet so successfully could they justify themselves before men as to be outwardly honest and straightforward; furthermore, they made ostentatious display of a certain type of simplicity, plainness, and self-denial, in which external observances they asserted superiority over the luxury-loving sadducees; they had grown arrogantly proud of their humility, but god knew their hearts, and the traits and practises they most esteemed were an abomination in his sight. they posed as custodians of the law and expounders of the prophets. the "law and the prophets" had been in force until the baptist's time, since which the gospel of the kingdom had been preached, and people were eager to enter it[ ] though the theocracy strove mightily to prevent. the law had not been invalidated; easier were it that heaven and earth pass away than that one tittle of the law fail of fulfilment;[ ] yet those pharisees and scribes had tried to nullify the law. in the matter of divorce, for example, they, by their unlawful additions and false interpretations, had condoned even the sin of adultery. the master gave as a further lesson the _parable of the rich man and lazarus_: "there was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: and there was a certain beggar named lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. and it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth abraham afar off, and lazarus in his bosom. and he cried and said, father abraham, have mercy on me, and send lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for i am tormented in this flame. but abraham said, son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. and beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. then he said, i pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: for i have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. abraham saith unto him, they have moses and the prophets; let them hear them. and he said, nay, father abraham; but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. and he said unto him, if they hear not moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."[ ] the afflicted beggar is honored with a name; the other is designated simply as "a certain rich man."[ ] the two are presented as the extremes of contrast between wealth and destitution. the rich man was clothed in the costliest attire, purple and fine linen; and his every-day fare was a sumptuous feast. lazarus had been brought to the gates of the rich man's palace, and there left, a helpless mendicant, his body covered with sores. the rich man was attended by servitors ready to gratify his slightest desire; the poor beggar at his gates had neither companions nor attendants except the dogs, which like himself waited for the refuse from the rich man's table. such is the picture of the two in life. an abrupt change of scene brings into view the same two on the far side of the veil that hangs between the here and the hereafter. lazarus died; no mention is made of his funeral; his festering body was probably thrown into a pauper's grave; but angels bore his immortal spirit into paradise, the resting place of the blessed and commonly known in the figurative lore of the rabbis as abraham's bosom. the rich man also died; his burial was doubtless an elaborate affair, but we read not of any angelic escort receiving his spirit. in hell he lifted up his eyes and saw, afar, lazarus at peace in the abode of abraham. as a jew the man had often boasted of having abraham for his father; and now the wretched spirit appealed to the patriarch of his race by the paternal address, "father abraham," and asked only the boon of a single drop of water to be placed on his parched tongue; this he prayed that lazarus, the erstwhile beggar, might bring. the reply throws light on certain conditions existing in the spirit world, though as in the use of parables generally, the presentation is largely figurative. addressing the poor tormented spirit as "son," abraham reminded him of all the good things he had kept for himself on earth, whilst lazarus had lain a suffering, neglected beggar at his gates; now by the operation of divine law, lazarus had received recompense, and he, retribution. moreover, to grant his pitiful request was impossible, for between the abode of the righteous where lazarus rested and that of the wicked where he suffered "there is a great gulf fixed," and passage between the two is interdicted. the next request of the miserable sufferer was not wholly selfish; in his anguish he remembered those from whom he had been separated by death, fain would he save his brothers from the fate he had met; and he prayed that lazarus be sent back to earth to visit the ancestral home, and warn those selfish, pleasure-seeking, and yet mortal brothers, of the awful doom awaiting them except they would repent and reform. there may have been in this petition an insinuation that had he been sufficiently warned he would have done better, and would have escaped the torment. to the reminder that they had the words of moses and the prophets, which they should obey, he replied that if one went to them from the dead they would surely repent. abraham answered that if they would not heed moses and the prophets neither would "they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." in any attempt to interpret the parable as a whole or definitely apply any of its parts, we should bear in mind that it was addressed to the pharisees as an instructive rebuke for the derision and scorn with which they had received the lord's warning concerning the dangers attending servitude to mammon. jesus employed jewish metaphors, and the imagery of the parable is such as would most directly appeal to the official expounders of moses and the prophets. while as a practise it would be critically unfair to deduce doctrinal principles from parabolic incidents, we cannot admit that christ would teach falsely even in parable; and therefore we accept as true the portrayal of conditions in the world of the disembodied. that righteous and unrighteous dwell apart during the interval between death and resurrection is clear. paradise, or as the jews like to designate that blessed abode, "abraham's bosom," is not the place of final glory, any more than the hell to which the rich man's spirit was consigned is the final habitation of the condemned.[ ] to that preliminary or intermediate state, however, men's works do follow them;[ ] and the dead shall surely find that their abode is that for which they have qualified themselves while in the flesh. the rich man's fate was not the effect of riches, nor was the rest into which lazarus entered the resultant of poverty. failure to use his wealth aright, and selfish satisfaction with the sensuous enjoyment of earthly things to the exclusion of all concern for the needs or privations of his fellows, brought the one under condemnation; while patience in suffering, faith in god and such righteous life as is implied though not expressed, insured happiness to the other. the proud self-sufficiency of the rich man, who lacked nothing that wealth could furnish, and who kept aloof from the needy and suffering, was his besetting sin. the aloofness of the pharisees, on which indeed they prided themselves, as their very name, signifying "separatists," expressed, was thus condemned. the parable teaches the continuation of individual existence after death, and the relation of cause to effect between the life one leads in mortality and the state awaiting him beyond. unprofitable servants.[ ] from the pharisees, jesus turned to his disciples and admonished them to diligence. having cautioned them against unguarded utterances or actions at which others might take offense, he proceeded to impress the absolute necessity of unselfish devotion, toleration and forgiveness. the apostles, realizing the whole-souled service required of them, implored the lord, saying: "increase our faith." they were shown that faith was less fitly reckoned in terms of quantity than by test of quality; and the analogy of the mustard seed was again invoked. "and the lord said, if ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you."[ ] their faith could best be gaged by obedience and untiring service. this was emphasized by the _parable of the unprofitable servants_. "but which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, go and sit down to meat? and will not rather say unto him, make ready wherewith i may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till i have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? i trow not. so likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." the servant might well feel that after a day's work in the field he is entitled to rest; but on reaching the house he finds other demands made upon him. the master has a right to the servant's time and attention; such was among the conditions under which the servant had been engaged; and while his employer might thank him or give some substantial reward, the servant cannot demand such recompense. so the apostles, who had given themselves entirely up to their master's service, were not to hesitate nor demur, whatever the effort or sacrifice required. the best they could do would be no more than their duty required; and, without regard to the master's estimate of their worth, they were to account themselves as unprofitable servants.[ ] ten lepers healed.[ ] in the course of his journey toward jerusalem jesus "passed through the midst of samaria and galilee." ten men afflicted with leprosy approached, probably they came as near as the law permitted, yet they were afar off. these men were of mixed nationality; the plague under which they suffered in common had made them companions in distress. they cried aloud "jesus, master, have mercy on us." the lord answered: "go shew yourselves unto the priests."[ ] this instruction implied their ultimate healing; obedience would be the test of their faith. none who had been leprous could be lawfully restored to community life until pronounced clean by a priest. the stricken ten hastened to obey the lord's command, "and it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed."[ ] one of the ten turned back, and with loud voice glorified god; then he prostrated himself at the feet of christ, giving thanks. we are told that the grateful one was a samaritan, from which we infer that some or all of the others were jews. pained over the lack of gratitude on the part of the nine, jesus exclaimed: "were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? there are not found that return to give glory to god, save this stranger." and to the cleansed samaritan, still worshiping at his feet, the lord said: "arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole." doubtless the nine who came not back were obedient to the strict letter of the lord's command; for he had told them to go to the priests; but their lack of gratitude and their failure to acknowledge the power of god in their restoration stand in unfavorable contrast with the spirit of the one; and he was a samaritan. the occurrence must have impressed the apostles as another evidence of acceptability and possible excellence on the part of aliens, to the disparagement of jewish claims of superiority irrespective of merit. the pharisee and the publican.[ ] "and he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: "two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a pharisee, and the other a publican. the pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, god, i thank thee, that i am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. i fast twice in the week, i give tithes of all that i possess. and the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, god be merciful to me a sinner. i tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." we are expressly told that this parable was given for the benefit of certain ones who trusted in their self-righteousness as an assurance of justification before god. it was not addressed to the pharisees nor to the publicans specifically. the two characters are types of widely separated classes. there may have been much of the pharisaic spirit of self-complacency among the disciples and some of it even among the twelve. a pharisee and a publican went up to the temple to pray. the pharisee prayed "with himself"; his words can hardly be construed as a prayer to god. that he stood while praying was not an impropriety, for the standing attitude was usual in prayer; the publican also stood. the pharisee thanked god that he was so much better than other men; he was true to his class, a separatist who looked with disdain upon all who were not like him. that he was not like "this publican" was made a point of special thanksgiving. his boast, that he fasted twice a week and gave tithes of all that he possessed, was a specification of worthiness above what was required by the law as then administered; he thus implied that god was his debtor.[ ] the publican, standing afar off, was so oppressed by his consciousness of sin and his absolute need of divine help, that he cast down his eyes and smote upon his breast, craving mercy as a penitent sinner. the pharisee departed, justified in his own conscience and before man, prouder than ever; the other went down to his house justified before god though still a despized publican. the parable is applicable to all men; its moral was summed up in a repetition of our lord's words spoken in the house of the chief pharisee: "for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."[ ] on marriage and divorce.[ ] while wending his way by short stages toward jerusalem, and while still "beyond" or on "the farther side" of jordan, and therefore in perean territory, jesus was met by a body of pharisees, who had come with the deliberate purpose of inciting him to say or do something on which they could base an accusation. the question they had agreed to submit related to marriage and divorce, and no subject had been more vehemently contested in their own schools and among their own rabbis.[ ] the crafty questioners may have hoped that jesus would denounce the adulterous state in which herod antipas was then living, and so bring upon himself the fury of herodias, to which the baptist had already died a victim. "is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?" they asked. jesus cited the original and eternal law of god in the matter; and indicated the only rational conclusion to be drawn therefrom: "have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, for this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. what therefore god hath joined together, let not man put asunder."[ ] god had provided for honorable marriage, and had made the relation between husband and wife paramount even to that of children to parents; the severing of such a union was an invention of man, not a command of god. the pharisees had a ready rejoinder: "why did moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?" be it remembered that moses had not commanded divorce, but had required that in case a man should separate from his wife he give her a bill of divorcement.[ ] jesus made this fact plain, saying: "moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so." the higher requirement of the gospel followed: "and i say unto you, whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery."[ ] the mosaic provision had been but permissive, and was justified only because of existing unrighteousness. strict compliance with the doctrine enunciated by jesus christ is the only means by which a perfect social order can be maintained. it is important to note, however, that in his reply to the casuistical pharisees, jesus announced no specific or binding rule as to legal divorces; the putting away of a wife, as contemplated under the mosaic custom, involved no judicial investigation or action by an established court. in our lord's day the prevailing laxity in the matter of marital obligation had produced a state of appalling corruption in israel; and woman, who by the law of god had been made a companion and partner with man, had become his slave. the world's greatest champion of woman and womanhood is jesus the christ.[ ] the pharisees retired foiled in purpose and convicted in conscience. the lord's strict construction of the marriage bond was startling even to some of the disciples; these came to him privately, saying that if a man was so bound it would be better not to marry at all. such a broad generalization the lord disapproved except so far as it might apply in special cases. true, there were some who were physically incapacitated for marriage; others voluntarily devoted themselves to a celibate life, and some few adopted celibacy "for the kingdom of heaven's sake," that thereby they might be free to render all their time and energy to the lord's service. but the disciples' conclusion that "it is not good to marry" was true only in the exceptional instances stated. marriage is honorable;[ ] for neither man without woman nor woman without man can be perfect in the lord's sight.[ ] jesus and the little ones.[ ] the next event of record is one of surpassing sweetness, rich in precept and invaluable in example. mothers brought their little children to jesus, reverently desiring that the lives of those little ones be brightened by a sight of the master and be blessed by a touch of his hand or a word from his lips. the circumstance appears in appropriate sequence to that of the lord's instructions concerning the sacredness of marriage and the sanctity of the home. the disciples, zealous that their master be not troubled unnecessarily, and conscious of the continuous demands on his time and attention, rebuked those who had so ventured to trespass. even the disciples seem to have been yet under the influence of the traditional conception that women and children were of inferior status, and that for such to seek the lord's attention was an act of presumption. jesus was displeased over the misdirected zeal of his followers, and rebuked them. then he uttered that memorable sentence of infinite tenderness and divine affection: "_suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of god._" taking the children one by one into his arms, he laid his hands upon them and blessed them.[ ] then said he: "verily i say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of god as a little child, he shall not enter therein."[ ] "one thing thou lackest."[ ] jesus was accosted on the way by a young man, who came running to meet or overtake him, and who knelt at his feet, inquiring: "good master, what shall i do that i may inherit eternal life?" the question was asked in earnestness; the questioner was in very different spirit from that of the lawyer who made a similar inquiry with the purpose of tempting the master.[ ] jesus said: "why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, god." this remark was no denial of sinlessness on the savior's part; the young man had called him "good" by way of polite compliment rather than in recognition of his godship, and jesus declined to acknowledge the distinction when applied in that sense. the lord's remark must have deepened the young man's conception as to the seriousness of his question. then said jesus: "if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." to the further inquiry, as to which commandments were meant, jesus cited the prohibitions against murder, adultery, theft, and the bearing of false witness, and the requirements as to honoring parents, and loving one's neighbor as one's self. in simplicity and without pride or sense of self-righteousness, the young man said: "all these things have i kept from my youth up: what lack i yet?" his evident sincerity appealed to jesus, who looked upon him lovingly and said: "one thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me."[ ] the young man was disappointed and saddened. he had probably expected to hear the great teacher prescribe some one special observance, by which excellence could be achieved. luke tells us that the young man was a ruler; this may mean that he was a presiding official in the local synagog or possibly a sanhedrist. he was well versed in the law, and had been strict in obedience thereto. he desired to advance in good works and make clear his title to an eternal heritage. but the master prescribed what he had least expected; "and he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions." in his way, he yearned for the kingdom of god, yet more devotedly he loved his great possessions. to give up wealth, social position, and official distinction, was too great a sacrifice; and the necessary self-denial was a cross too heavy for him to bear, even though treasure in heaven and life eternal were offered him. love of worldly things was this man's besetting weakness; jesus diagnosed his case and prescribed a suitable remedy. we are not warranted in saying that the same treatment would be best in all cases of spiritual defection; but where the symptoms indicate the need, it may be employed with confidence as to the cure. gazing sorrowfully upon the retreating figure of the wealthy young ruler jesus said to the disciples: "verily i say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven." to impress the lesson more thoroughly he applied one of the figurative proverbs of the age, and said: "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of god."[ ] at this statement the disciples were amazed. "who then can be saved?" they wondered. jesus understood their perplexity, and encouraged them with the assurance that with god all things are possible. thus were they given to understand that while wealth is a means of temptation to which many succumb, it is no insuperable obstacle, no insurmountable barrier, in the way of entrance to the kingdom. had the young ruler followed the advice called forth by his inquiry, his possession of riches would have made possible to him meritorious service such as few are able to render. willingness to place the kingdom of god above all material possessions was the one thing he lacked.[ ] everyone of us may pertinently ask, what do i lack? the first may be last, and the last first.[ ] the sorrowful departure of the rich young ruler, whose great possessions were so much a part of his life that he could not give them up at the time, though we may hope that he afterward did, brought forth from peter an abrupt question, which revealed the course of his thoughts and aspirations: "behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?" whether he spoke for himself alone, or by his use of the plural "we" meant to include all the twelve, is uncertain and unimportant. he was thinking of the home and family he had left, and a longing for them was pardonable; he was thinking also of boats and nets, hooks and lines, and the lucrative business for which such things stood. all these he had forsaken; what was to be his reward? jesus answered: "verily i say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of israel." it is doubtful that peter or any other of the twelve had ever conceived of so great a distinction. the day of regeneration, when the son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, as judge and king, is even yet future; but in that day, those of the lord's twelve who endured to the end shall be enthroned as judges in israel. the further assurance was given that "every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." rewards of such transcendent worth could scarcely be reckoned or their meaning comprehended. lest those to whom they were promised might count too surely upon successful attainment, to the neglect of effort, and become proud withal, the lord added this profound precept of caution: "but many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first." it was the text of the sermon known to us as the _parable of the laborers_.[ ] hear it: "for the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. and when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. and he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said unto them: "go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right i will give you. and they went their way. again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. and about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, why stand ye here all the day idle? they say unto him, because no man hath hired us. he saith unto them, go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. so when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. and when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. but when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. and when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, saying, these last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. but he answered one of them, and said, friend, i do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? take that thine is, and go thy way: i will give unto this last, even as unto thee. is it not lawful for me to do what i will with mine own? is thine eye evil, because i am good? so the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen." the procedure of a householder going into the marketplace to hire laborers was common to the time and place, and is still an ordinary occurrence in many lands. the first to be hired in the course of the story made a definite bargain as to wages. those who were employed at nine, twelve, and three o'clock respectively went willingly without agreement as to what they were to receive; so glad were they to find a chance to work that they lost no time in specifying terms. at five o'clock in the afternoon or evening, when but a single hour of the working day remained, the last band of laborers went to work, trusting to the master's word that whatever was right they should receive. that they had not found work earlier in the day was no fault of theirs; they had been ready and willing, and had waited at the place where employment was most likely to be secured. at the close of the day, the laborers came for their wages; this was in accordance with law and custom, for it had been established by statute in israel that the employer should pay the servant, hired by the day, before the sun went down.[ ] under instructions, the steward who acted as paymaster began with those who had been engaged at the eleventh hour; and to each of them he gave a denarius, or roman penny, worth about fifteen cents in our money, and the usual wage for a day's work. this was the amount for which those who began earliest had severally bargained; and as these saw their fellow-workers, who had served but an hour, receive each a penny, they probably exulted in the expectation of receiving a wage proportionately larger, notwithstanding their stipulation. but each of them received a penny and no more. then they complained; not because they had been underpaid, but because the others had received a full day's pay for but part of a day's work. the master answered in all kindness, reminding them of their agreement. could he not be just to them and charitable to the rest if he so chose? his money was his own, and he could give of it as he liked. were those grumblers justified in their evil displeasure because their master was charitable and good? "so," said jesus, passing directly from the story to one of the lessons it was designed to teach, "the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen."[ ] the parable was plainly intended for the edification of the twelve. it was called out by peter's question, "what shall we have therefore?" it stands as truly in force today as when it was delivered by the master, as a rebuke of the bargaining spirit in the lord's work. god needs workers, and such as will labor faithfully and effectively are welcomed into the vineyard. if, before beginning they insist on the stipulation of a wage, and this be agreed to, each shall receive his penny provided he has not lost his place through idleness or transgression. but those who diligently labor, knowing that the master will give to them whatever is right, and with thought for the work rather than for the wage, shall find themselves more bountifully enriched. a man may work for wages and yet not be a hireling. between the worthy hired servant and the hireling there is the difference that distinguishes the shepherd from the sheep herder.[ ] was there not a suggestion of the hireling's spirit in the query of even the first of the apostles, "what shall we have therefore?" the twelve had been called into service early in the savior's ministry; they had responded to the call, without promise of even a penny; they were yet to feel the burden and heat of the day; but they were solemnly cautioned against attempt or desire to fix their reward. the master shall judge as to the deserts of each servant; the wage at best is a free gift; for on the basis of strict accounting who of us is not in debt to god? the last called is as likely as the first to prove unworthy. no general reversal is implied whereby all the late comers shall be advanced and all the early workers demoted. "many that are first shall be last" was the lord's statement, and by implication we may understand that not all the last, though some of them, may be counted among the first. of the many called or permitted to labor in the vineyard of the lord, few may so excel as to be chosen for exaltation above their fellows. even the call and ordination to the holy apostleship is no guarantee of eventual exaltation in the celestial kingdom. iscariot was so called and placed among the first; now, verily he is far below the last in the kingdom of god. notes to chapter . . rich men and their stewards.--"'a certain rich man had a steward,' we learn here, incidentally, how evenly balanced are the various conditions of life in a community, and how little of substantial advantage wealth can confer on its possessor. as your property increases, your personal control over it diminishes; the more you possess the more you must entrust to others. those who do their own work are not troubled with disobedient servants; those who look after their own affairs, are not troubled with unfaithful overseers."--arnot's _parables of our lord_, p. . . the mammon of unrighteousness.--the revised version of luke : , reads: "and i say unto you, make to yourself friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness, that, when it shall fail, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles." the lord's counsel to the disciples was to so use worldly wealth as to accomplish good thereby, that when "it," i.e. all earthly possessions, fail, they would have friends to welcome them into "the eternal tabernacles" or heavenly mansions. in studying a parable based on contrasts, such as this one is, care must be exercized not to carry too far any one point of analogy. thus, we cannot reasonably gather that jesus intended even to intimate that the prerogative of receiving any soul into the "eternal tabernacles" or excluding therefrom, rests with those who on earth had been benefited or injured through that person's acts, except so far as their witness to his deeds may be taken into account in the final judgment. the whole parable is full of wisdom for him who is in search of such; to the hypercritical mind it may appear inconsistent, as so it did appear to the pharisees who derided jesus for the story he had told. luke : is rendered in the revised version, "and the pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things; and they scoffed at him." . lazarus and dives.--of all our lord's recorded parables this is the only one in which a personal name is applied to any of the characters. the name "lazarus" used in the parable was also the true name of a man whom jesus loved, and who, subsequent to the delivery of this parable, was restored to life after he had lain for days in the tomb. the name, a greek variant of eleazar, signifies "god is my help." in many theological writings, the rich man of this parable is called dives, but the name is not of scriptural usage. "dives" is a latin adjective meaning "rich." lazarus the brother of martha and mary (john : , , ) is one of three men mentioned by name as subjects of our lord's beneficent miracles; the other two are bartimeus (mark : ) and malchus (john : ). commenting on the fact that our lord gave a name to the beggar but left the rich man nameless in the parable, augustine (in sermon xli) suggestively asks: "seems he not to you to have been reading from that book where he found the name of the poor man written, but found not the name of the rich; for that book is the book of life?" . divergent views concerning divorce.--in relation to the different opinions upon this subject among jewish authorities in the time of christ, geikie (vol. ii, p. - ) says: "among the questions of the day fiercely debated between the great rival schools of hillel and shammai, no one was more so than that of divorce. the school of hillel contended that a man had a right to divorce his wife for any cause he might assign, if it were no more than his having ceased to love her, or his having seen one he liked better, or her having cooked a dinner badly. the school of shammai, on the contrary, held that divorce could be issued only for the crime of adultery, and offences against chastity. if it were possible to get jesus to pronounce in favor of either school, the hostility of the other would be roused, and hence, it seemed a favorable chance for compromising him." the following from dummelow's _commentary_, dealing with matt. : , is further illustrative: "rabbi akiba (hillelite) said, 'if a man sees a woman handsomer than his own wife he may put her [his wife] away, because it is said, if she find not favor in his eyes.' the school of hillel said 'if the wife cook her husband's food ill, by over-salting or over-roasting it, she is to be put away.' on the other hand rabbi jochanan (a shammaite) said 'the putting away of a wife is odious.' both schools agreed that a divorced wife could not be taken back.... rabbi chananiah said 'god has not subscribed his name to divorces, except among israelites, as if he had said: i have conceded to the israelites the right of dismissing their wives; but to the gentiles i have not conceded it.' jesus retorts that it is not the privilege but the infamy and reproach of israel, that moses found it necessary to tolerate divorce." . jesus the ennobler of woman.--geikie thus paraphrases part of christ's reply to the pharisee's question concerning divorce, and comments thereon. "'i say, therefore, that whoever puts away his wife, except for fornication, which destroys the very essence of marriage by dissolving the oneness it had formed, and shall marry another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is put away for any other cause commits adultery, because the woman is still, in god's sight, wife of him who had divorced her.' this statement was of far deeper moment than the mere silencing of malignant spies. it was designed to set forth for all ages the law of his new kingdom in the supreme matter of family life. it swept away for ever from his society the conception of woman as a mere toy or slave of man, and based true relations of the sexes on the eternal foundation of truth, right, honor, and love. to ennoble the house and the family by raising woman to her true position was essential to the future stability of his kingdom, as one of purity and spiritual worth. by making marriage indissoluble, he proclaimed the equal rights of woman and man within the limits of the family, and, in this, gave their charter of nobility to the mothers of the world. for her nobler position in the christian era, compared with that granted her in antiquity, woman is indebted to jesus christ."--_life and words of christ_, vol. ii, p. . . the blessing of children.--when christ, a resurrected being, appeared among the nephites on the western continent, he took the children, one by one, and blessed them; and the assembled multitude saw the little ones encircled as with fire, while angels ministered unto them. ( nephi : - .) through modern revelation the lord has directed that all children born in the church be brought for blessing to those who are authorized to administer this ordinance of the holy priesthood. the commandment is as follows: "every member of the church of christ having children, is to bring them unto the elders before the church, who are to lay their hands upon them in the name of jesus christ, and bless them in his name." (doc. and cov. : .) accordingly, it is now the custom in the church to bring the little ones to the fast-day service in the several wards, at which they are received one by one into the arms of the elders, and blessed, names being given them at the same time. the father of the child, if he be an elder, is expected to participate in the ordinance. the blessing of children is in no sense analogous to, far less is it a substitution for, the ordinance of baptism, which is to be administered only to those who have come to years of understanding, and who are capable of repentance. as the author has written elsewhere, "some point to the incident of christ blessing little children, and rebuking those who would forbid the little ones coming unto him, (matt. : ; mark : ; luke : ) as an evidence in favor of infant baptism; but, as has been tersely said:--'from the action of christ's blessing infants, to infer they are to be baptized, proves nothing so much as that there is a want of better argument; for the conclusion would with more probability be derived thus: christ blessed infants, and so dismissed them, but baptized them not; therefore infants are not to be baptized.'"--the author, _articles of faith_, vi: . see paragraphs - in same lecture. . the camel and the needle's eye.--in comparing the difficulty of a rich man entering the kingdom with that of a camel passing through the eye of a needle, jesus used a rhetorical figure, which, strong and prohibitory as it appears in our translation, was of a type familiar to those who heard the remark. there was a "common jewish proverb, that a man did not even in his dreams see an elephant pass through the eye of a needle" (edersheim). some interpreters insist that a rope, not a camel, was mentioned by jesus, and these base their contention on the fact that the greek word _kamelos_ (camel) differs in but a single letter from _kamilos_ (rope), and that the alleged error of substituting "camel" for "rope" in the scriptural text is chargeable to the early copyists. farrar (p. ) rejects this possible interpretation on the ground that proverbs involving comparisons of a kind with that of a camel passing through the eye of a needle are common in the talmud. it has been asserted that the term "needle's eye" was applied to a small door or wicket set in or alongside the great gates in the walls of cities; and the assumption has been raised that jesus had such a wicket in mind when he spoke of the seeming impossibility of a camel passing through a needle's eye. it would be possible though very difficult for a camel to squeeze its way through the little gate, and it could in no wise do so except when relieved of its load and stripped of all its harness. if this conception be correct, we may find additional similitude between the fact that the camel must first be unloaded and stripped, however costly its burden or rich its accoutrement, and the necessity of the rich young ruler, and so of any man, divesting himself of the burden and trappings of wealth, if he would enter by the narrow way that leadeth into the kingdom. the lord's exposition of his saying is all-sufficient for the purposes of the lesson: "with men this is impossible, but with god all things are possible." (matt. : .) . undue concern as to wages in the lord's service.--the instructive and inspiring parable of the laborers was called forth by peter's question of self-interest--"what shall we have therefore?" in tender mercy the lord refrained from directly rebuking his impulsive servant for undue concern as to the wage to be expected; but he turned the incident to excellent purpose by making it the text of a valuable lesson. the following treatment by edersheim (vol. ii, p. ) is worth consideration. "there was here deep danger to the disciples: danger of lapsing into feelings akin to those with which the pharisees viewed the pardoned publicans, or the elder son in the parable his younger brother; danger of misunderstanding the right relations, and with it the very character of the kingdom, and of work in and for it. it is to this that the parable of the laborers in the vineyard refers. the principle which christ lays down is, that, while nothing done for him shall lose its reward, yet, from one reason or another, no forecast can be made, no inferences of self-righteousness may be drawn. it does not by any means follow, that most work done--at least, to our seeing and judging--shall entail a greater reward. on the contrary, 'many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.' not _all_, nor yet always and necessarily, but 'many.' and in such cases no wrong has been done; there exists no claim, even in view of the promises of due acknowledgment of work. spiritual pride and self assertion can only be the outcome either of misunderstanding god's relation to us, or else of a wrong state of mind towards others--that is, it betokens mental or moral unfitness. of this the parable of the laborers is an illustration.... but, while illustrating how it may come that some who were first are last, and how utterly mistaken or wrong is the thought that they must necessarily receive more than others, who, seemingly, have done more--how, in short, work for christ is not a ponderable quantity, so much for so much, nor yet we be the judges of when and why a worker has come--it also conveys much that is new, and, in many respects, most comforting." footnotes: [ ] luke : - . [ ] the question is identical with that asked of jesus in the synagog at capernaum preliminary to the healing of the man with the withered hand (matt. : ). [ ] exo. : ; deut. : ; luke : . [ ] compare matt. : ; luke : ; : ; james : ; peter : . [ ] compare matt. : ; rev. : . the expression "eat bread" is a hebraism, signifying eating in full as at a feast rather than partaking of bread only. [ ] luke : - . compare the parable relating to the marriage of the king's son (matt. : - ); study points of resemblance and difference between the two and the distinctive lessons of each. see page . [ ] luke : - . [ ] matt. : , ; compare luke : , ; page herein. [ ] compare the requirement under the mosaic administration, deut. : - ; and note the application of the principle to the apostles, matt. : - . [ ] compare matt. : ; mark : [ ] luke . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . see page herein. [ ] matt. : - . see page herein. [ ] that the lost piece of silver was a coin, and not a piece of unstamped bullion nor an ornament, is apparent from the original, "drachma," a silver coin. see page herein. [ ] luke : - . [ ] compare doc. and cov. : ; b. of m., alma : . [ ] compare matt. : ; p. of g.p., moses : . [ ] luke : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] luke : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] luke : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] revised version, luke : : "the law and the prophets were until john; from that time the gospel of the kingdom of god is preached, and every man entereth violently into it." [ ] compare matt. : ; see page herein. [ ] luke : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] compare b. of m., alma : - ; see "articles of faith," xxi, note . "the intermediate state of the soul." [ ] rev. : . [ ] luke : - . [ ] compare matt. : ; : ; mark : ; : ; see page herein. [ ] compare job : ; : . [ ] luke : - . many writers treat this occurrence as having immediately followed the repulse of jesus and the apostles in a certain samaritan village (luke : - ). we give it place in the order followed by luke, the sole recorder of the two incidents. [ ] compare lev. : ; : ; see also page herein. [ ] compare case of naaman the syrian, kings : . [ ] luke : - . luke's narrative, the order of which we have followed in the events succeeding christ's departure from jerusalem after the feast of tabernacles, includes our lord's reply to the pharisee's question as to "when the kingdom of god should come," and additions thereto ( : - ); these matters were afterward treated with greater fulness in a discourse near jerusalem (matt. ) and will be considered in connection with that later event. the parable of the importunate widow (luke : - ) has already received attention, (page ). [ ] note to what blasphemous extreme the doctrine of supererogation, or excess of merit, was carried by the papacy in the th century; see "the great apostasy," - . [ ] compare luke : . [ ] matt. : - ; see also mark : - . this subject is introduced by matthew and mark directly preceding that of christ blessing little children; which latter is recorded by luke next after the parable of the pharisee and the publican. we therefore turn from luke's record to the accounts given by the other synoptic writers. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] compare gen. : ; : ; : ; eph. : . [ ] deut. : - . [ ] compare matt. : ; luke : ; see also cor. : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] compare heb. : . [ ] compare cor. : . [ ] mark : - ; compare matt. : - ; luke : - . [ ] compare b. of m., nephi : - . see note , end of chapter. [ ] page . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] luke : ; page herein. [ ] this is mark's record, ( : ) which is the most detailed of the three accounts. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] consider the lessons of the parables of the hidden treasure, and the pearl of great price, pages - . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] matt. : - . the parable is the outgrowth of the events immediately preceding it. matt. : - should be read as part of the narrative continued in chap. . the existing division into chapters is unfortunate. [ ] deut. : . [ ] the concluding clause, "for many be called but few chosen," is omitted from the revised version. note , end of chapter. [ ] page . chapter . the last winter. at the feast of dedication.[ ] jesus returned to jerusalem in time to attend the feast of dedication during the last winter of his earthly life. this feast, like that of tabernacles, was one of national rejoicing, and was celebrated annually for a period of eight days beginning on the th of chislev,[ ] which corresponds in part to our december. it was not one of the great feasts prescribed by mosaic statute, but had been established in or b.c. at the time of the rededication of the temple of zerubbabel following the rehabilitation of the sacred structure after its profane desecration by antiochus epiphanes, the pagan king of syria.[ ] while the festival was in progress, jesus went to the temple and was seen walking in the part of the enclosure known as solomon's porch.[ ] his presence soon became known to the jews, who came crowding about him in unfriendly spirit, ostensibly to ask questions. their inquiry was: "how long dost thou make us to doubt? if thou be the christ, tell us plainly," the mere asking of such a question evidences the deep and disturbing impression which the ministry of christ had produced among the official classes and the people generally; in their estimation, the works he had wrought appeared as worthy of the messiah. the lord's reply was indirect in form, though in substance and effect incisive and unmistakable. he referred them to his former utterances and to his continued works. "i told you," he said, "and ye believed not: the works that i do in my father's name, they bear witness of me. but ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as i said unto you. my sheep hear my voice, and i know them, and they follow me: and i give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. my father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. i and my father are one." the reference to what had been before told was a reminder of his teachings on the occasion of an earlier sojourn among them, when he had proclaimed himself as the i am, who was older and greater than abraham, and of his other proclamation of himself as the good shepherd.[ ] he could not well answer their inquiry by a simple unqualified affirmation, for by such he would have been understood as meaning that he claimed to be the messiah according to their conception, the earthly king and conqueror for whom they professed to be looking. he was no such christ as they had in mind; yet was he verily shepherd and king to all who would hear his words and do his works; and to such he renewed the promise of eternal life and the assurance that no man could pluck them out of his own or the father's hand. to this doctrine, both exalted and profound in scope, the casuistical jews could offer no refutation, nor could they find therein the much desired excuse for open accusation; our lord's concluding sentence, however, stirred the hostile throng to frenzy. "i and my father are one" was his solemn declaration.[ ] in their rage they scrambled for stones wherewith to crush him. owing to the unfinished state of the temple buildings, there were probably many blocks and broken fragments of rock at hand; and this was the second murderous attempt upon our lord's life within the purlieus of his father's house.[ ] fearless, and with the compelling calmness of more than human majesty, jesus said: "many good works have i shewed you from my father; for which of those works do ye stone me?" they angrily retorted: "for a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself god."[ ] plainly they had found no ambiguity in his words. he then cited to them the scriptures, wherein even judges empowered by divine authority are called gods,[ ] and asked: "is it not written in your law, i said, ye are gods? if he called them gods, unto whom the word of god came, and the scripture cannot be broken: say ye of him, whom the father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, thou blasphemest; because i said, i am the son of god?" then, reverting to the first avouchment that his own commission was of the father who is greater than all, he added: "if i do not the works of my father, believe me not. but if i do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the father is in me, and i in him."[ ] again the jews sought to take him, but were foiled by means not stated; he passed from their reach and departed from the temple. our lord's retirement in perea.[ ] the violent hostility of the jews in jerusalem, the headquarters of the theocracy, was such that jesus withdrew from the city and its neighborhood. the day for his sacrifice had not yet come, and while his enemies could not kill him until he allowed himself to be taken into their hands, his work would be retarded by further hostile disturbances. he retired to the place at which john the baptist had begun his public ministry, which is probably also the place of our lord's baptism. the exact location is not specified; it was certainly beyond jordan and therefore in perea. we read that jesus abode there, and from this we gather that he remained in one general locality instead of traveling from town to town as had been his custom. people resorted to him even there, however, and many believed on him. the place was endeared to those who had gone to hear john and to be baptized by him;[ ] and as these recalled the impassioned call to repentance, the stirring proclamation of the kingdom by the now murdered and lamented baptist, they remembered his affirmation of one mightier than himself, and saw in jesus the realization of that testimony. "john," they said, "did no miracle: but all things that john spake of this man were true." the duration of this sojourn in perea is nowhere recorded in our scriptures. it could not have lasted more than a few weeks at most. possibly some of the discourses, instructions, and parables already treated as following the lord's departure from jerusalem after the feast of tabernacles in the preceding autumn, may chronologically belong to this interval. from this retreat of comparative quiet, jesus returned to judea in response to an earnest appeal from some whom he loved. he left the bethany of perea for the judean bethany, where dwelt martha and mary.[ ] lazarus restored to life.[ ] lazarus, the brother of mary and martha, lay ill in the family home at bethany of judea. his devoted sisters sent a messenger to jesus, with the simple announcement, in which, however, we cannot fail to recognize a pitiful appeal: "lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick." when jesus received the message, he remarked: "this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of god, that the son of god might be glorified thereby." this was probably the word carried back to the sisters, whom jesus loved. lazarus had died in the interval; indeed he must have expired soon after the messenger had started with the tidings of the young man's illness. the lord knew that lazarus was dead; yet he tarried where he was for two days after receiving the word; then he surprized the disciples by saying: "let us go into judea again." they sought to dissuade the master by reminding him of the recent attempt upon his life at jerusalem, and asked wonderingly, "goest thou thither again?" jesus made clear to them that he was not to be deterred from duty in the time thereof, nor should others be; for as he illustrated, the working day is twelve hours long; and during that period a man may walk without stumbling, for he walks in the light, but if he let the hours pass and then try to walk or work in darkness, he stumbles. it was then his day to work, and he was making no mistake in returning to judea. he added: "our friend lazarus sleepeth; but i go, that i may awake him out of sleep." the simile between death and sleep was as common among the jews as with us;[ ] but the disciples construed the saying literally, and remarked that if the sick man was sleeping it would be well with him. jesus set them right. "lazarus is dead," he said, and added, "and i am glad for your sakes that i was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him." it is evident that jesus had already decided to restore lazarus to life; and, as we shall see, the miracle was to be a testimony of our lord's messiahship, convincing to all who would accept it. a return to judea at that time was viewed by at least some of the apostles with serious apprehension; they feared for their master's safety, and thought that their own lives would be in peril; nevertheless they did not hesitate to go. thomas boldly said to the others: "let us also go, that we may die with him." arriving on the outskirts of bethany, jesus found that lazarus "had lain in the grave four days already."[ ] the bereaved sisters were at home, where had gathered, according to custom, friends to console them in their grief. among these were many prominent people, some of whom had come from jerusalem. word of the master's approach reached martha first, and she hastened to meet him. her first words were: "lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." it was an expression of anguish combined with faith; but, lest it appear as lacking in trust, she hastened to add: "but i know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of god, god will give it thee." then said jesus in words of assuring tenderness: "thy brother shall rise again." perhaps some of the jews who had come to comfort her had said as much, for they, the sadducees excepted, believed in a resurrection; and martha failed to find in the lord's promise anything more than a general assurance that her departed brother should be raised with the rest of the dead. in natural and seemingly casual assent she remarked: "i know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day." then said jesus: "i am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. believest thou this?" the sorrowing woman's faith had to be lifted and centered in the lord of life with whom she was speaking. she had before confessed her conviction that whatever jesus asked of god would be granted; she had to learn that unto jesus had already been committed power over life and death. she was hopefully expectant of some superhuman interposition by the lord jesus in her behalf, yet she knew not what that might be. apparently at this time she had no well-defined thought or even hope that he would call her brother from the tomb. to the lord's question as to whether she believed what he had just said, she answered with simple frankness; all of it she was not able to understand; but she believed in the speaker even while unable to fully comprehend his words. "yea, lord," she said, "i believe that thou art the christ, the son of god, which should come into the world." then she returned to the home, and with precaution of secrecy on account of the presence of some whom she knew to be unfriendly to jesus, said to mary: "the master is come, and calleth for thee." mary left the house in haste. the jews who had been with her thought that she had been impelled by a fresh resurgence of grief to go again to the grave, and they followed her. when she reached the master, she knelt at his feet, and gave expression to her consuming sorrow in the very words martha had used: "lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." we cannot doubt that the conviction so voiced had been the burden of comment and lamentation between the two sisters--if only jesus had been with them they would not have been bereft of their brother. the sight of the two women so overcome by grief, and of the people wailing with them, caused jesus to sorrow, so that he groaned in spirit and was deeply troubled. "where have ye laid him?" he asked; and jesus wept. as the sorrowing company went toward the tomb, some of the jews, observing the lord's emotion and tears, said: "behold how he loved him!" but others, less sympathetic because of their prejudice against christ, asked critically and reproachfully: "could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?" the miracle by which a man blind from birth had been made to see was very generally known, largely because of the official investigation that had followed the healing.[ ] the jews had been compelled to admit the actuality of the astounding occurrence; and the question now raised as to whether or why one who could accomplish such a wonder could not have preserved from death a man stricken with an ordinary illness, and that man one whom he seemed to have dearly loved, was an innuendo that the power possessed by jesus was after all limited, and of uncertain or capricious operation. this manifestation of malignant unbelief caused jesus again to groan with sorrow if not indignation.[ ] the body of lazarus had been interred in a cave, the entrance to which was closed by a great block of stone. such burial-places were common in that country, natural caves or vaults hewn in the solid rock being used as sepulchres by the better classes of people. jesus directed that the tomb be opened. martha, still unprepared for what was to follow, ventured to remonstrate, reminding jesus that the corpse had been four days immured, and that decomposition must have already set in.[ ] jesus thus met her objection: "said i not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of god?" this may have had reference both to his promise spoken to martha in person--that her brother should rise again--and to the message sent from perea--that the illness of lazarus was not unto final death at that time, but for the glory of god and that the son of god might be glorified thereby. the stone was removed. standing before the open portal of the tomb, jesus looked upward and prayed: "father, i thank thee that thou hast heard me. and i knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by i said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me." he did not ask the father for power or authority; such had already been given him; but he gave thanks, and in the hearing of all who stood by acknowledged the father and expressed the oneness of his own and the father's purposes. then, with a loud voice he cried: "lazarus, come forth." the dead man heard that voice of authoritative command; the spirit straightway reentered the tabernacle of flesh, the physical processes of life were resumed; and lazarus, again alive, came forth. his freedom of motion was limited, for the grave clothes hampered his movements, and his face was still bound by the napkin by which the lifeless jaw had been held in place. to those who stood near, jesus said: "loose him, and let him go." the procedure throughout was characterized by deep solemnity and by the entire absence of every element of unnecessary display. jesus, who when miles away and without any ordinary means of receiving the information knew that lazarus was dead, doubtless could have found the tomb; yet he inquired: "where have ye laid him?" he who could still the waves of the sea by a word could have miraculously effected the removal of the stone that sealed the mouth of the sepulchre; yet he said: "take ye away the stone." he who could reunite spirit and body could have loosened without hands the cerements by which the reanimated lazarus was bound; yet he said: "loose him, and let him go." all that human agency could do was left to man. in no instance do we find that christ used unnecessarily the superhuman powers of his godship; the divine energy was never wasted; even the material creation resulting from its exercize was conserved, as witness his instructions regarding the gathering up of the fragments of bread and fish after the multitudes had been miraculously fed.[ ] the raising of lazarus stands as the third recorded instance of restoration to life by jesus.[ ] in each the miracle resulted in a resumption of mortal existence, and was in no sense a resurrection from death to immortality. in the raising of the daughter of jairus, the spirit was recalled to its tenement within the hour of its quitting; the raising of the widow's son is an instance of restoration when the corpse was ready for the grave; the crowning miracle of the three was the calling of a spirit to reenter its body days after death, and when, by natural processes the corpse would be already in the early stages of decomposition. lazarus was raised from the dead, not simply to assuage the grief of mourning relatives; myriads have had to mourn over death, and so myriads more shall have to do. one of the lord's purposes was that of demonstrating the actuality of the power of god as shown forth in the works of jesus the christ, and lazarus was the accepted subject of the manifestation; just as the man afflicted with congenital blindness had been chosen to be the one through whom "the works of god should be made manifest."[ ] that the lord's act of restoring lazarus to life was of effect in testifying to his messiahship is explicitly stated.[ ] all the circumstances leading up to final culmination in the miracle contributed to its attestation. no question as to the actual death of lazarus could be raised, for his demise had been witnessed, his body had been prepared and buried in the usual way, and he had lain in the grave four days. at the tomb, when he was called forth, there were many witnesses, some of them prominent jews, many of whom were unfriendly to jesus and who would have readily denied the miracle had they been able. god was glorified and the divinity of the son of man was vindicated in the result. the hierarchy greatly agitated over the miracle.[ ] as in connection with most of our lord's public acts--while some of those who heard and saw were brought to believe in him, others rejected the proffered lesson and reviled the master--so with this mighty work--some were stirred to faith and others went their ways each with mind darkened and spirit more malignant than ever. some of those who had seen the dead man raised to life went immediately and reported the matter to the rulers, whom they knew to be intensely hostile toward jesus. in the parable we have recently studied, the spirit of the rich man pleaded from his place of anguish that lazarus, the once pitiable beggar, be sent from paradise to earth, to warn others of the fate awaiting the wicked, to which appeal abraham replied: "if they hear not moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."[ ] now a lazarus had been in reality raised from the dead, and many of the jews rejected the testimony of his return and refused to believe in christ through whom alone death is overcome. the jews tried to get lazarus into their power that they might kill him and, as they hoped, silence forever his testimony of the lord's power over death.[ ] the chief priests, who were mostly sadducees, and the pharisees with them assembled in council to consider the situation created by this latest of our lord's great works. the question they discussed was: "what do we? for this man doeth many miracles. if we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the romans shall come and take away both our place and nation." as stated by themselves, there was no denying the fact of the many miracles wrought by jesus; but instead of earnestly and prayerfully investigating as to whether these mighty works were not among the predicted characteristics of the messiah, they thought only of the possible effect of christ's influence in alienating the people from the established theocracy, and of the fear that the romans, taking advantage of the situation, would deprive the hierarchs of their "place" and take from the nation what little semblance of distinct autonomy it still possessed. caiaphas, the high priest,[ ] cut short the discussion by saying: "ye know nothing at all." this sweeping assertion of ignorance was most likely addressed to the pharisees of the sanhedrin; caiaphas was a sadducee. his next utterance was of greater significance than he realized: "nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not." john solemnly avers that caiaphas spake not of himself, but by the spirit of prophecy, which, in spite of his implied unworthiness, came upon him by virtue of his office, and that thus: "he prophesied that jesus should die for that nation; and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of god that were scattered abroad." but a few years after christ had been put to death, for the salvation of the jews and of all other nations, the very calamities which caiaphas and the sanhedrin had hoped to avert befell in full measure; the hierarchy was overthrown, the temple destroyed, jerusalem demolished and the nation disrupted. from the day of that memorable session of the sanhedrin, the rulers increased their efforts to bring about the death of jesus, by whatever means they might find available. they issued a mandate that whosoever knew of his whereabouts should give the information to the officials, that they might promptly take him into custody.[ ] jesus in retirement at ephraim.[ ] the hostility of the ecclesiastical rulers became so great that jesus once more sought retirement in a region sufficiently far from jerusalem to afford him security from the watchful and malignant eyes of his powerful and openly avowed enemies. but a few weeks of mortal life remained to him, and the greater part of this brief period had to be devoted to the further instruction of the apostles. he prudently withdrew from the vicinity of bethany and "went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called ephraim, and there continued with his disciples." thus did our lord spend the rest of the winter and probably the early days of the succeeding spring. that his retreat was private if not practically secret is suggested by john's statement that "jesus therefore walked no more openly among the jews"; and further indication is found in the fact that although the chief priests and pharisees had virtually set a price upon his head, no man gave information as to his whereabouts. the place of this last retirement is not definitely known; it is generally thought to be the locality elsewhere called ephrain and ephron,[ ] which lay a little less than twenty miles northerly from jerusalem. equally uncertain is the duration of our lord's abode there. when he emerged again into public notice, it was to enter upon his solemn march toward jerusalem and the cross. notes to chapter . . origin of the feast of dedication.--concerning the second temple, known as the temple of zerubbabel, the author has written elsewhere: "of the later history of this temple the biblical record gives but few details; but from other sources we learn of its vicissitudes. in connection with the maccabean persecution the house of the lord was profaned. a syrian king, antiochus epiphanes, captured jerusalem ( to b.c.) and perpetrated blasphemous outrage against the religion of the people. he plundered the temple and carried away its golden candlestick, its golden altar of incense, its table of shewbread, and even tore down the sacred veils, which were of fine linen and scarlet. his malignity was carried so far that he purposely desecrated the altar of sacrifice by offering swine thereon, and erected a heathen altar within the sacred enclosure. not content with the violation of the temple, this wicked monarch had altars erected in the towns, and ordered the offering of unclean beasts upon them. the rite of circumcision was forbidden on pain of death, and the worship of jehovah was declared a crime. as a result of this persecution many of the jews apostatized, and declared that they belonged to the medes and persians--the nations from whose dominion they had been delivered by the power of god.... then in the year b.c. the house was rededicated; and the occasion was remembered in annual festival thereafter under the name of the feast of dedication."--_the house of the lord_, pp. - . according to josephus (ant. xii, : ) the festival came to be known as the lights; and brilliant illumination both of the temple and of dwellings, was a feature of the celebration. traditional accounts say that eight days had been set as the duration of the feast, in commemoration of a legendary miracle by which the consecrated oil in the only jar found intact, and bearing the unbroken seal of the high priest, had been made to serve for temple purposes through eight days, which time was required for the ceremonial preparation of a new supply. . solomon's porch.--this name had been applied to the eastern colonnade or row of porticoes within the temple enclosure, in recognition of a tradition that the porch covered and included a portion of the original wall belonging to the temple of solomon. see _the house of the lord_, pp. - . . the oneness of christ and the father.--the revised version gives for john : : "i and the father are one" instead of "i and my father are one." by "the father" the jews rightly understood the eternal father, god. in the original greek "one" appears in the neuter gender, and therefore expresses oneness in attributes, power, or purpose, and not a oneness of personality which would have required the masculine form. for treatment of the unity of the godhead, and the separate personality of each member, see _articles of faith_, ii, - . . the place of our lord's retirement.--jesus went "beyond jordan into the place where john at first baptized" (john : ). this was probably bethabara ( : ), which is called bethany in some of the earliest manuscripts and is so designated in the latest revised version. care must be taken not to confuse this perean bethany with the bethany in judea, the home of martha and mary, which was within two miles of jerusalem. . lazarus in the tomb four days.--on the very probable assumption that the journey from bethany in judea to the place where jesus was, in perea, would require one day, lazarus must have died on the day of the messenger's departure; for this day and the two days that elapsed before jesus started toward judea, and the day required for the return, would no more than cover the four days specified. it was and still is the custom in palestine as in other oriental countries to bury on the day of death. it was the popular belief that on the fourth day after death the spirit had finally departed from the vicinity of the corpse, and that thereafter decomposition proceeded unhindered. this may explain martha's impulsive though gentle objection to having the tomb of her brother opened four days after his death (john : ). it is possible that the consent of the next of kin was required for the lawful opening of a grave. both martha and mary were present, and in the presence of many witnesses assented to the opening of the tomb in which their brother lay. . jesus groaned in spirit.--the marginal readings for "he groaned in the spirit" (john : ) and "again groaning in himself" (v. ), as given in the revised version, are "was moved with indignation in the spirit" and "being moved with indignation in himself." all philological authorities agree that the words in the original greek express sorrowful indignation, or as some aver, anger, and not alone a sympathetic emotion of grief. any indignation the lord may have felt, as intimated in verse , may be attributed to disapproval of the customary wailing over death, which as vented by the jews on this occasion, profaned the real and soulful grief of martha and mary; and his indignation, expressed by groaning as mentioned in verse , may have been due to the carping criticism uttered by some of the jews as recorded in verse . . caiaphas, high priest that year.--john's statement that caiaphas was high priest "that same year" must not be construed as meaning that the office of high priest was of a single year's tenure. under jewish law the presiding priest, who was known as the high priest, would remain in office indefinitely; but the roman government had arrogated to itself the appointive power as applying to this office; and frequent changes were made. this caiaphas, whose full name was josephus caiaphas, was high priest under roman appointment during a period of eleven years. to such appointments the jews had to submit, though they often recognized as the high priest under their law, some other than the "civil high priest" appointed by roman authority. thus we find both annas and caiaphas exercizing the authority of the office at the time of our lord's arrest and later. (john : , ; acts : ; compare luke : .) farrar (p. , note) says: "some have seen an open irony in the expression of st. john ( : ) that caiaphas was high priest 'that same year,' as though the jews had got into this contemptuous way of speaking during the rapid succession of priests--mere phantoms set up and displaced by the roman fiat--who had in recent years succeeded each other. there must have been at least five living high priests, and ex-high priests at this council--annas, ismael ben phabi, eleazar ben haman, simon ben kamhith, and caiaphas, who had gained his elevation by bribery." . divinely appointed judges called "gods."--in psalm : , judges invested by divine appointment are called "gods." to this scripture the savior referred in his reply to the jews in solomon's porch. judges so authorized officiated as the representatives of god and are honored by the exalted title "gods." compare the similar appellation applied to moses (exo. : ; : ). jesus christ possessed divine authorization, not through the word of god transmitted to him by man, but as an inherent attribute. the inconsistency of calling human judges "gods," and of ascribing blasphemy to the christ who called himself the son of god, would have been apparent to the jews but for their sin-darkened minds. footnotes: [ ] john : - . [ ] also rendered kislev, chisleu, and cisleu. see zech. : . [ ] josephus, antiquities, xii, : - . see ezra : , ; also note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john : ; and : ; see also pages and herein. [ ] revised version gives "i and the father." see note , end of chapter. [ ] john : . page . [ ] concerning blasphemy see pages and , also page . [ ] psa. , particularly verses and . note , end of chapter. [ ] a better rendering of the last verse is: "but if i do them [i.e. the father's works], though ye believe not me, believe the works; that ye may know and understand that the father is in me, and i in the father."--(revised version.) [ ] john : - . [ ] pages - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john : - . [ ] compare matt. : ; mark : ; luke : ; job : ; thess. : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john ; see page herein. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john : ; matt. : ; see pages and herein. [ ] matt. : - ; luke : - ; pages and herein. [ ] john : . [ ] john : - , . [ ] john : - . [ ] luke : ; page herein. [ ] john : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john : . [ ] john : . [ ] chron. : ; josh. : . chapter . on to jerusalem. jesus again fortells his death and resurrection.[ ] each of the three synoptic writers has made record of this last journey to jerusalem and of occurrences connected therewith. the deep solemnity of the developments now so near at hand, and of the fate he was setting out to meet so affected jesus that even the apostles were amazed at his absorption and evident sadness; they fell behind in amazement and fear. then he paused, called the twelve about him, and in language of absolute plainness, without metaphor or simile, he said: "behold, we go up to jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the son of man shall be accomplished. for he shall be delivered unto the gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: and they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again." it is to us an astounding fact that the twelve failed to comprehend his meaning; yet luke unqualifiedly affirms: "and they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken." this avouchment of the savior's approaching death and resurrection spoken in confidential certainty to the twelve was the third of its kind; and still they could not bring themselves to accept the awful truth.[ ] according to matthew's account, they were told of the very manner by which the lord should die--that the gentiles should crucify him; yet they understood not. to them there was some dreadful incongruity, some dire inconsistency or inexplicable contradiction in the sayings of their beloved master. they knew him to be the christ, the son of the living god; and how could such a one be brought into subjection and be slain? they could not fail to realize that some unprecedented development in his life was impending; this they may have vaguely conceived to be the crisis for which they had been waiting, the open proclamation of his messianic dignity, his enthronement as lord and king. and such indeed was to be, though in a manner far different from their anticipations. the culminating prediction--that on the third day he would rise again--seems to have puzzled them the most; and, at the same time, this assurance of ultimate triumph may have made all intermediate occurrences appear as of but secondary and transitory import. they persistently repelled the thought that they were following their lord to the cross and the sepulchre. the question of precedence again.[ ] notwithstanding all the instructions the apostles had received concerning humility, and though they had before them the supreme example of the master's life and conduct, in which the fact that service was the only measure of true greatness was abundantly demonstrated, they continued to dream of rank and honor in the kingdom of the messiah. perhaps because of the imminence of the master's triumph, with which they all were particularly impressed at this time though ignorant of its real significance, certain of the twelve appealed to the lord in the course of this journey with a most ambitious request. the petitioners were james and john, though according to matthew's record their mother[ ] was the first to ask. the request was that when jesus came into possession of his kingdom, he would so signally honor the aspiring pair as to install them in seats of eminence, one on his right hand, the other on his left. instead of sharply rebuking such presumption, jesus gently but impressively asked: "are ye able to drink of the cup that i shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that i am baptized with?" the answer was full of self-confidence inspired by ignorant misapprehension. "we are able," they replied. then said jesus: "ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that i am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my father." the ten apostles were indignant at the two brothers, possibly less through disapproval of the spirit that had prompted the petition than because the two had forestalled the others in applying for the chief posts of distinction. but jesus, patiently tolerant of their human weaknesses, drew the twelve around him, and taught them as a loving father might instruct and admonish his contentious children. he showed them how earthly rulers, such as princes among the gentiles, domineer over their subjects, manifesting lordship and arbitrarily exercizing the authority of office. but it was not to be so among the master's servants; whoever of them would be great must be a servant indeed, willingly ministering unto his fellows; the humblest and most willing servant would be the chief of the servants. "for even the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."[ ] sight restored to the blind near jericho.[ ] in the course of his journey jesus came to jericho, at or near which city he again exerted his wondrous power in opening the eyes of the blind. matthew states that two sightless men were made to see, and that the miracle was enacted as jesus was leaving jericho; mark mentions but one blind man, whom he names bartimeus or the son of timeus, and agrees with matthew in saying that the healing was effected when jesus was departing from the city; luke specifies but one subject of the lord's healing mercy, "a certain blind man," and chronicles the miracle as an incident of christ's approach to jericho. these slight variations attest the independent authorship of each of the records, and the apparent discrepancies have no direct bearing upon the main facts, nor do they detract from the instructional value of the lord's work. as we have found to be the case on an earlier occasion, two men were mentioned though but one figures in the circumstantial accounts.[ ] the man who is more particularly mentioned, bartimeus, sat by the wayside, asking alms. jesus approached, accompanied by the apostles, many other disciples, and a great multitude of people, probably made up largely of travelers on their way to jerusalem to attend the passover festival, the time for which was about a week ahead. hearing the tramp of so great a company the sightless beggar inquired what it all meant, and was answered, "jesus of nazareth passeth by." eager lest the opportunity of gaining the master's attention be lost, he immediately cried in a loud voice: "jesus, thou son of david, have mercy on me." his appeal, and particularly his use of the title, son of david, show that he knew of the great teacher, had confidence in his power to heal and faith in him as the promised king and deliverer of israel.[ ] those who were in advance of jesus in the company tried to silence the man, but the more they rebuked him the louder and more persistently did he cry: "thou son of david, have mercy on me." jesus halted in his course and directed that the man be brought to him. those who but a moment before would have stopped the blind man's yearning appeal, now that the master had noticed him were eager to be of service. to the sightless one they brought the glad word: "be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee"; and he, casting aside his outer garment lest it hinder, came in haste to christ. to the lord's question, "what wilt thou that i shall do unto thee?" bartimeus answered: "lord, that i may receive my sight." then jesus spake the simple words of power and blessing: "receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee." the man, full of gratitude and knowing that nothing short of divine interposition could have opened his eyes, followed his benefactor, glorifying god in heartfelt prayers of thanksgiving, in which many of those who had witnessed the miracle fervently joined. zaccheus, the chief among the publicans.[ ] jericho was a city of considerable importance; among its resident officials was a staff of publicans, or collectors of customs, and of these the chief was zaccheus,[ ] who had grown rich from the revenues of office. he had doubtless heard of the great galilean who hesitated not to mingle with publicans, detested though they were by the jews in general; he may have known, also, that jesus had placed one of this publican class among the most prominent of the disciples. that zaccheus was a jew is indicated by his name, which is a variant of "zacharias," with a greek or latin termination; he must have been particularly obnoxious to his people on account of his advanced status among the publicans, all of whom were in roman employ. he had a great desire to see jesus; the feeling was not one of mere curiosity; he had been impressed and set thinking by the things he had heard about this teacher from nazareth. but zaccheus was a little man, and could not ordinarily see over the heads of others; so he ran ahead of the company and climbed a tree alongside the road. when jesus reached the place, to the great surprize of the man in the tree he looked up and said: "zaccheus, make haste, and come down; for to day i must abide at thy house." zaccheus came down with haste, and joyfully received the lord as his guest. the multitude by whom jesus had been accompanied appear to have been generally friendly toward him; but at this turn of affairs they murmured and criticized, saying that the master "was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner"; for all publicans were sinners in jewish eyes, and zaccheus admitted that the opprobrium in his case was possibly deserved. but having seen and conversed with jesus, this chief among the publicans believed and was converted. as proof of his change of heart zaccheus then and there voluntarily vowed unto the lord to make amends and restitution if it were found that he owed such. "behold, lord," he said, "the half of my goods i give to the poor; and if i have taken anything from any man by false accusation, i restore him fourfold." these were works meet for repentance. the man realized that he could not change his past; but he knew he could in part at least atone for some of his misdeeds. his pledge to restore in fourfold measure whatever he had wrongfully acquired was in line with the mosaic law as to restitution, but far in excess of the recompense required.[ ] jesus accepted the man's profession of repentance, and said: "this day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of abraham." another stray sheep had been returned to the fold; another lost treasure had been found; another wayward son had come back to the father's house.[ ] "for the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." unto every one that hath shall be given.[ ] as the multitude approached jerusalem, jesus being in their midst, expectation ran high as to what the lord would do when he reached the capital of the nation. many of those with him were looking for a proclamation of his royal authority and "they thought that the kingdom of god should immediately appear." jesus told them a story; we call it the _parable of the pounds_: "a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. and he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, occupy till i come. but his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, we will not have this man to reign over us. and it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. then came the first, saying, lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. and he said unto him, well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities. and the second came, saying, lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. and he said likewise to him, be thou also over five cities. and another came, saying, lord, behold, here is thy pound, which i have kept laid up in a napkin: for i feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. and he saith unto him, out of thine own mouth will i judge thee, thou wicked servant. thou knewest that i was an austere man, taking up that i laid not down, and reaping that i did not sow: wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming i might have required mine own with usury? and he said unto them that stood by, take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. (and they said unto him, lord, he hath ten pounds.) for i say unto you, that unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him. but those mine enemies, which would not that i should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me." both the circumstances of the story and the application of the parable were more readily apparent to the jewish multitude than they are to us. the departure of a certain nobleman from a vassal province to the court of the suzerain to seek investiture of kingly authority, and the protest of the citizens over whom he asserted the right to reign, were incidents of jewish history still fresh in the minds of the people to whom christ spoke.[ ] the explication of the parable is this: the people were not to look for an immediate establishment of the kingdom in temporal power. he who would be king was pictured as having departed for a far country from which he would assuredly return. before leaving he had given to each of his servants a definite sum of money; and by their success in using this he would judge of their fitness to serve in offices of trust. when he returned he called for an accounting, in the course of which the cases of three servants are specified as types. one had so used the pound as to gain ten pounds; he was commended and received a reward such as only a sovereign could give, the governorship of ten cities. the second servant, with equal capital had increased it only five fold; he was properly rewarded in proportion by appointment as governor over five cities. the third gave back what he had received, without increase, for he had failed to use it. he had no reason and only a very poor excuse to offer for his dereliction. in justice he was severely reprimanded, and the money was taken from him. when the king directed that the pound so forfeited by the unfaithful servant be given to him who already had ten, some surprize was manifest amongst those who stood by; but the king explained, that "unto every one that hath shall be given," for such a one uses to advantage the means entrusted to his care, while "from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him"; for he has demonstrated his utter unfitness to possess and use aright. this part of the parable, while of general application, must have appealed to the apostles as particularly apt; for each of them had received in trust an equal endowment through ordination, and each would be required to account for his administration. the fact is apparent that christ was the nobleman who was to be invested with the authority of kingship, and who would return to require the accounting at the hands of his trusted servants.[ ] but many of the citizens hated him and would protest his investiture, saying they would not have him to reign over them.[ ] when he does return in power and authority, these rebellious citizens shall surely receive the punishment they deserve.[ ] in the house of simon the leper.[ ] six days before the feast of the passover, that is to say before the day on which the paschal lamb was to be eaten,[ ] jesus arrived at bethany, the home town of martha and mary, and of lazarus who had recently died and been restored to life. the chronology of events during the last week of our lord's life supports the generally accepted belief that in this year, the fourteenth day of nisan, on which the passover festival began, fell on thursday; and this being so, the day on which jesus reached bethany was the preceding friday, the eve of the jewish sabbath. jesus fully realized that this sabbath was the last he would live to see in mortality. the gospel-writers have drawn a veil of reverent silence over the events of that day. it appears that jesus passed his last sabbath in retirement at bethany. the journey afoot from jericho had been no easy walk, for the road ascended to an altitude of nearly three thousand feet, and was withal otherwise a toilsome way. on saturday,[ ] probably in the evening after the sabbath had passed, a supper was spread for jesus and the twelve in the house of simon the leper. no other mention of this man, simon, appears in scripture. if he was living at the time our lord was entertained in the house known by his name, and if he was present, he must have been previously healed of his leprosy, as otherwise he could not have been allowed within the town, far less to be one of a festal company. it is reasonable to think that the man had once been a victim of leprosy and had come to be currently known as simon the leper, and that he was one among the many sufferers from this dread disease who had been healed through the lord's ministrations. martha was in charge of the supper arrangements on this memorable occasion, and her sister mary was with her, while lazarus sat at table with jesus. many have assumed that the house of simon the leper was the family home of the two sisters and lazarus, in which case it is possible that simon was the father of the three; but of such relationship we have no proof.[ ] there was no attempt to secure unusual privacy at this supper. such occasions were customarily marked by the presence of many uninvited lookers-on in that time; and we are not surprized to learn, therefore, that many people were there and that they had come "not for jesus' sake only, but that they might see lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead." lazarus was a subject of much interest and doubtless of curiosity among the people; and at the time of his privileged and intimate association with jesus in bethany, the chief priests were plotting to put him to death, on account of the effect his restoration had had upon the people, many of whom believed on jesus because of the miracle. that supper in bethany was an event never to be forgotten. mary, the more contemplative and spiritually minded of the two sisters, she who loved to sit at the feet of jesus and listen to his words, and who had been commended for having so chosen the one needful thing, which her more practical sister lacked,[ ] brought from among her treasures an alabaster cruse containing a pound of costly spikenard ointment; she broke the sealed flask[ ] and poured its fragrant contents upon the head and feet of her lord, and wiped his feet with her loosened tresses.[ ] to anoint the head of a guest with ordinary oil was to do him honor; to anoint his feet also was to show unusual and signal regard; but the anointing of head and feet with spikenard, and in such abundance, was an act of reverential homage rarely rendered even to kings.[ ] mary's act was an expression of adoration; it was the fragrant outwelling of a heart overflowing with worship and affection. but this splendid tribute of a devout woman's love was made the cause of disagreeable protest. judas iscariot, treasurer of the twelve, but dishonest, avaricious, and small-souled in character, vented his grumbling complaint, saying: "why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?"[ ] his seeming solicitude for the poor was all hypocrisy. he was a thief and lamented that he had not been given the precious ointment to sell, or that the price had not been turned into the bag of which he was the self-interested custodian. mary's use of the costly unguent had been so lavish that others beside judas had let their surprize grow into murmuring; but to him is attributed the distinction of being the chief complainer. mary's sensitive nature was pained by the ungracious words of disapproval; but jesus interposed, saying: "why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me." then in further rebuke and by way of solemn instruction he continued; "for ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. for in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. verily i say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her." we are left without certain information as to whether mary knew that within a few days her beloved lord would be in the tomb. she may have been so informed in view of the hallowed intimacy between jesus and the family; or she may have gathered from the remarks of christ to the apostles that the sacrifice of his life was impending; or perhaps by inspired intuition she was impelled to render the loving tribute by which her memory has been enshrined in the hearts of all who know and love the christ. john has preserved to us this remark of jesus in the rebuke called forth by the grumbling iscariot: "let her alone; against the day of my burying hath she kept this"; and mark's version is likewise suggestive of definite and solemn purpose on mary's part: "she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying." christ's triumphal entry into jerusalem.[ ] while still in bethany or in the neighboring village of bethphage, and according to john's account on the next day after the supper at simon's house, jesus directed two of his disciples to go to a certain place, where, he told them, they would find an ass tied, and with her a colt on which no man had ever sat. these they were to bring to him. if stopped or questioned they were to say the lord had need of the animals. matthew alone mentions both ass and colt; the other writers specify the latter only; most likely the mother followed as the foal was led away, and the presence of the dam probably served to keep the colt tractable. the disciples found all to be as the lord had said. they brought the colt to jesus, spread their coats on the gentle creature's back, and set the master thereon. the company started toward jerusalem, jesus riding in their midst. now, as was usual, great numbers of people had come up to the city many days before the beginning of the passover rites, in order that they might attend to matters of personal purification, and make good their arrears in the offering of prescribed sacrifices. though the great day, on which the festival was to be inaugurated, was yet four days ahead, the city was thronged with pilgrim crowds; and among these much questioning had arisen as to whether jesus would venture to appear publicly in jerusalem during the feast, in view of the well-known plans of the hierarchy to take him into custody. the common people were interested in every act and movement of the master; and word of his departure from bethany sped ahead of him; so that by the time he began the descent from the highest part of the road on the flank of the mount of olives, great crowds had gathered about him. the people were jubilant over the spectacle of jesus riding toward the holy city; they spread out their garments, and cast palm fronds and other foliage in his path, thus carpeting the way as for the passing of a king. for the time being he was their king, and they his adoring subjects. the voices of the multitude sounded in reverberating harmony: "blessed be the king that cometh in the name of the lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest"; and again: "hosanna to the son of david: blessed is he that cometh in the name of the lord; hosanna in the highest."[ ] but amidst all this jubilation, jesus was sad as he came in sight of the great city wherein stood the house of the lord; and he wept, because of the wickedness of his people, and of their refusal to accept him as the son of god; moreover he foresaw the awful scenes of destruction before which both city and temple were soon to fall. in anguish and tears, he thus apostrophized the doomed city: "if thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. for the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." the multitude was increased by tributary crowds who fell in with the imposing procession at every crossway; and the shouts of praise and homage were heard inside the city while the advancing company was yet far from the walls. when the lord rode through the massive portal and actually entered the capital of the great king, the whole city was thrilled. to the inquiry of the uninformed, "who is this?" the multitude shouted: "this is jesus, the prophet of nazareth of galilee." it may be that the galilean pilgrims were first to answer and loudest in the gladsome proclamation; for the proud judeans held galilee in low esteem, and on this day, jesus of galilee was the most prominent personage in jerusalem. the pharisees, resentful of the honors thus shown to one whom they had long plotted to destroy, impotently condoled with one another over the failure of all their nefarious schemes, saying: "perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him." unable to check the surging enthusiasm of the multitudes, or to silence the joyous acclamations, some of the pharisees made their way through the throngs until they reached jesus, and to him they appealed, saying: "master, rebuke thy disciples." but the lord "answered and said unto them, i tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out"[ ] dismounting, he entered afoot the temple enclosure; shouts of adulation greeted him there. chief priests, scribes, and pharisees, the official representatives of the theocracy, the hierarchy of judaism, were incensed; there was no denying the fact that the people were rendering messianic honors to this troublesome nazarene; and that too within the very purlieus of the temple of jehovah. the purpose of christ in thus yielding himself for the day to the desires of the people and accepting their homage with kingly grace may not be fully comprehended by us of finite mind. that the occasion was no accidental or fortuitous happening, of which he took advantage without preconceived intention, is evident. he knew beforehand what would be, and what he would do. it was no meaningless pageantry; but the actual advent of the king into his royal city, and his entry into the temple, the house of the king of kings. he came riding on an ass, in token of peace, acclaimed by the hosanna shouts of multitudes; not on a caparisoned steed with the panoply of combat and the accompaniment of bugle blasts and fanfare of trumpets. that the joyous occasion was in no sense suggestive of physical hostility or of seditious disturbance is sufficiently demonstrated by the indulgent unconcern with which it was viewed by the roman officials, who were usually prompt to send their legionaries swooping down from the fortress of antonia at the first evidence of an outbreak; and they were particularly vigilant in suppressing all messianic pretenders, for false messiahs had arisen already, and much blood had been shed in the forcible dispelling of their delusive claims. but the romans saw nothing to fear, perhaps much to smile at, in the spectacle of a king mounted upon an ass, and attended by subjects, who, though numerous, brandished no weapons but waved instead palm branches and myrtle sprigs. the ass has been designated in literature as "the ancient symbol of jewish royalty," and one riding upon an ass as the type of peaceful progress. such triumphal entry of jesus into the chief city of the jews would have been strikingly inconsistent with the general tenor of his ministry in its early stages. even the intimation that he was the christ had been made with guarded care, if at all; and every manifestation of popular regard in which he might have figured as a national leader had been suppressed. now, however, the hour of the great consummation was near at hand; the public acceptance of the nation's homage, and the acknowledgment of both kingly and messianic titles, constituted an open and official proclamation of his divine investiture. he had entered city and temple in such royal state as befitted the prince of peace. by the rulers of the nation he had been rejected and his claims derided. the manner of his entry should have appealed to the learned teachers of the law and the prophets; for zechariah's impressive forecast, the fulfilment of which the evangelist, john, finds in the events of this memorable sunday,[ ] was frequently cited among them: "rejoice greatly, o, daughter of zion; shout, o, daughter of jerusalem: behold, thy king cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass."[ ] certain greeks visit christ.[ ] among the multitudes who came to jerusalem at the time of the annual passover were people of many nations. some of these, though not of jewish descent, had been converted to judaism; they were admitted to the temple precincts, but were not allowed to pass beyond the court of the gentiles.[ ] sometime during our lord's last week of mortal life, possibly on the day of his royal entry into the city,[ ] certain greeks, who were evidently numbered among the proselytes since they had come "to worship at the feast," sought an interview with jesus. imbued with a becoming sense of decorum they hesitated to directly approach the master, and applied instead to philip, one of the apostles, saying: "sir, we would see jesus." philip consulted with andrew, and the two then informed jesus, who, as we may reasonably infer from the context though the fact is not explicitly stated, graciously received the foreign visitors and imparted to them precepts of the utmost worth. it is evident that the desire of these greeks to meet the master was not grounded on curiosity or other unworthy impulse; they earnestly wished to see and hear the teacher whose fame had reached their country, and whose doctrines had impressed them. to them jesus testified that the hour of his death was near at hand, the hour in which "the son of man should be glorified." they were surprized and pained by the lord's words, and possibly they inquired as to the necessity of such a sacrifice. jesus explained by citing a striking illustration drawn from nature: "verily, verily, i say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit;"[ ] the simile is an apt one,--and at once impressively simple and beautiful. a farmer who neglects or refuses to cast his wheat into the earth, because he wants to keep it, can have no increase; but if he sow the wheat in good rich soil, each living grain may multiply itself many fold, though of necessity the seed must be sacrificed in the process. so, said the lord, "he that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." the master's meaning is clear; he that loves his life so well that he will not imperil it, or, if need be, give it up, in the service of god, shall forfeit his opportunity to win the bounteous increase of eternal life; while he who esteems the call of god as so greatly superior to life that his love of life is as hatred in comparison, shall find the life he freely yields or is willing to yield, though for the time being it disappear like the grain buried in the soil; and he shall rejoice in the bounty of eternal development. if such be true of every man's existence, how transcendently so was it of the life of him who came to die that men may live? therefore was it necessary that he die, as he had said he was about to do; but his death, far from being life lost, was to be life glorified. voice from heaven.[ ] the realization of the harrowing experiences upon which he was about to enter, and particularly the contemplation of the state of sin, which made his sacrifice imperative, so weighed upon the savior's mind that he sorrowed deeply. "now is my soul troubled," he groaned; "and what shall i say?" he exclaimed in anguish. should he say, "father, save me from this hour" when as he knew "for this cause" had he come "unto this hour?" to his father alone could he turn for comforting support, not to ask relief from, but strength to endure, what was to come; and he prayed: "father, glorify thy name." it was the rising of a mighty soul to meet a supreme issue, which for the moment had seemed to be overwhelming. to that prayer of renewed surrender to the father's will, "then came there a voice from heaven, saying, i have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." the voice was real; it was no subjective whisper of comfort to the inner consciousness of jesus, but an external, objective reality. people who were standing by heard the sound, and interpreted it variously; some said it was thunder; others, of better spiritual discernment, said: "an angel spake to him"; and some may have understood the words as had jesus. now fully emerged from the passing cloud of enveloping anguish, the lord turned to the people, saying: "this voice came not because of me, but for your sakes." and then, with the consciousness of assured triumph over sin and death, he exclaimed in accents of divine jubilation, as though the cross and the sepulchre were already of the past: "now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out." satan, the prince of the world was doomed.[ ] "and i," the lord continued, "if i be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." john assures us that this last utterance signified the manner of the lord's death; the people so understood, and they asked an explanation of what seemed to them an inconsistency, in that the scriptures, as they had been taught to interpret the same, declared that the christ was to abide forever,[ ] and now he who claimed to be the messiah, the son of man, averred that he must be lifted up. "who is this son of man?" they asked. mindful as ever not to cast pearls where they would not be appreciated, the lord refrained from a direct avowal, but admonished them to walk in the light while the light was with them, for darkness would surely follow; and as he reminded them, "he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth." in conclusion the lord admonished them thus: "while ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light."[ ] at the close of this discourse jesus departed from the people "and did hide himself from them." the record of the first day of what has come to be known as the week of our lord's passion[ ] is thus concluded by mark: "and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto bethany with the twelve."[ ] notes to chapter . . the mother of james and john.--the mother of these two sons of zebedee (matt. : ; compare : ) is generally understood to have been the salome mentioned as one of the women present at the crucifixion (mark : ; compare matt. : in which "the mother of zebedee's children" is mentioned, and the name "salome" is omitted), and one of those who arrived first at the tomb on the morning of the resurrection (mark : ). from the fact that john mentions the mother of jesus and "his mother's sister" ( : ) and omits mention of salome by name, some expositors hold that salome was the sister of mary the mother of jesus; and therefore the savior's aunt. this relationship would make james and john cousins to jesus. while the scriptural record does not disprove this alleged kinship, it certainly does not affirm the same. . jericho.--this was an ancient city, lying north-easterly from jerusalem, a little less than fifteen miles in a straight line. in the course of the exodus it was captured by the people of israel through a miraculous interposition of divine power. (josh. ). the productiveness of the region is indicated by the descriptive appellation "city of palm trees" (deut. : ; judg. : ; : ; chron. : ). the name jericho means "place of fragrance." its climate was semi-tropical, a consequence of its low altitude. it lay in a valley several hundred feet below the level of the mediterranean; this explains luke's statement ( : ) that after jesus had spoken the parable of the pounds when on the way from jericho, "he went before, ascending up to jerusalem." in the time of christ, jericho was an important city; and the abundance of its commercial products, particularly balsam and spices, led to the maintenance of a customs office there, over which zaccheus seems to have presided. . the nobleman and the kingdom.--the local setting of the part of the parable of the pounds that relates to a certain nobleman going into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, had its parallel in history. archelaus, who by the will of his father, herod the great, had been named king of the jews, set out for rome to ask of the emperor the confirmation of his royal status. he was opposed by a protest from the people. on the utilization of this circumstance in the parable, farrar (p. , note) says: "a nobleman going into a far country to receive a kingdom would be utterly unintelligible, had we not fortunately known that this was done both by archelaus and by antipas (jos. ant. xvii, : ). and in the case of archelaus the jews had actually sent to augustus a deputation of fifty, to recount his cruelties and oppose his claims, which, though it failed at the time, was subsequently successful (josephus, ant. xvii, : ). philipus defended the property of archelaus, during his absence, from the encroachments of the proconsul sabinus. the magnificent palace which archelaus had built at jericho (jos. ant. xvii, : ) would naturally recall these circumstances to the mind of jesus, and the parable is another striking example of the manner in which he utilized the most ordinary circumstances around him, and made them the bases of his highest teachings. it is also another unsuspected indication of the authenticity and truthfulness of the gospels." . "we will not have this man to reign over us."--on this phase of the parable, trench (_miracles_, p. ) very aptly remarks: "twice before he had gone to receive his kingdom, this very declaration found formal utterance from their lips,--once when they cried to pilate, 'we have no king but cæsar'; and again when they remonstrated with him, 'write not, the king of the jews' (john : , ; compare acts : ). but the stricter fulfilment of these words is to be found in the demeanor of the jews after his ascension, their fierce hostility to christ in his infant church (acts : ; : ; : ; : ; : ; : ; : ; thes. : )." . the day of the supper at bethany.--john places this event as having occurred on the day following christ's arrival in bethany, for as we see from : , the triumphal entry into jerusalem took place on the next day after the supper, and, as stated in the text, jesus most probably reached bethany on friday. the joyous processional into jerusalem did not occur on the day following friday, for that was the jewish sabbath. matthew ( : - ) and mark ( : - ) give place to the incident of the supper after the record of the triumphal entry and other events, from which some have drawn the inference that these two writers place the supper two days before the passover. this inference lacks confirmation. in this matter the chronological order given by john appears to be the true one. . the family home at bethany.--the home of martha, mary, and lazarus appears to have been the usual abiding place of jesus when he was in bethany. undoubtedly he was on terms of very close and affectionate acquaintanceship with all members of the family, even before the miraculous raising of lazarus from the dead, and, this supremely blessed occurrence must have intensified into worshipful reverence the esteem in which our lord had been held in that household. as to whether this home was identical with the house of simon the leper, the scriptural record does not state. john, who gives a fairly detailed account of the supper served by martha, makes no mention of simon or his house. it is noticeable that the synoptic writers say very little about this home in bethany. farrar has aptly remarked (p. ): "we seem to trace in the synoptists a special reticence about the family at bethany. the house in which they take a prominent position is called 'the house of simon the leper'; mary is called simply 'a woman' by st. matthew and st. mark (matt. : , ; mark : ); and st. luke contents himself with calling bethany 'a certain village' (luke : ), although he was perfectly aware of the name (luke : )." . spikenard ointment.--this was among the most highly prized of oriental unguents. that with which mary anointed jesus is described by matthew and mark as "very precious," and by john as "very costly." in the original the adjective "pistic" appears; this is translated by some as meaning "liquid," but by others as signifying "genuine." there were many inferior imitations of the real spikenard, or nard; and we are left without a doubt that mary's precious gift was of the best. the plant from which the fragrant extract is obtained is a species of bearded grass indigenous in india. spikenard is mentioned in song of solomon : ; : , . . hosanna!--"hosanna" is a greek form of the hebrew expression for "save us now," or "save, we pray," which occurs in the original of psalm : . it occurs nowhere in the english bible except in the acclamations of the people at christ's triumphal entry into jerusalem, and in the joyous shouts of children in the temple (matt. : , ). note the rendering of the "hosanna shout" in the restored church of christ in the current dispensation on occasions of particular rejoicing before the lord (see the _house of the lord_, pp. , , ). "hallelujah," literally rendered, means "praise ye jehovah." it occurs in the greek form "alleluia" in rev. : , , , . . the first day in passion week.--a comparison of the accounts of the lord's triumphal entry into jerusalem, and of certain events following, as recorded by the three synoptists, shows at least a possibility of discrepancy as to sequence. it appears certain that jesus visited the temple grounds on the day of the royal advent into the city. from matthew : and luke : and the context preceding these passages, the inference has been drawn that the second clearing of the temple occurred on the day of the processional entry; while others interpret mark : and as meaning that the event took place on a later day. the question is admittedly an open one; and the order of presentation followed in the text is one of convenience of treatment based on rational probability. footnotes: [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] the earlier predictions were: ( ) that spoken shortly before the transfiguration (matt. : ; mark : ), and ( ) that which followed, in galilee, (matt. : , ; mark : ; compare luke : ). [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] for earlier lessons on the greatness of humility see pages and ; for the significance of the title, son of man, see pages - . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] see account of the two demoniacs, matt. : , compare mark : , luke : . see also page herein. [ ] compare matt. : ; : ; page herein. [ ] luke : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] exo. : - . [ ] compare pages and to . [ ] luke : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] compare mark : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] comparison of similarities and differences between this parable and that of the talents (matt. : - ) will be made in chapter , pages - . [ ] john : - ; matt. : - ; mark : - . [ ] see exo. : - ; also page herein. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] luke : - ; page herein. [ ] the better rendering is "cruse" or "flask" instead of "box." see revised version. [ ] this occurrence must not be confused with that of an earlier anointing of jesus by a penitent sinner in the house of simon the pharisee (luke : - ) in galilee. see page herein. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] three hundred pence or roman denarii would be approximately equal in value to forty-five dollars. [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - ; john : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] compare hab. : . [ ] the sunday before easter is annually celebrated by many christian sects as palm sunday, in commemoration of our lord's triumphal entry into jerusalem. [ ] zech. : . [ ] john : - . [ ] see "house of the lord," pages , . [ ] john records this event in immediate sequence to the lord's triumphal entry, though without any specific indication of the time of its occurrence. [ ] compare cor. : . [ ] john : - . [ ] compare john : ; : . [ ] see e.g. isa. : ; dan. : , ; ezek. : . [ ] compare john : ; : ; : ; : ; : ; see page . [ ] acts : . [ ] mark : . note , end of chapter. chapter . jesus returns to the temple daily. an instructive incident on the way.[ ] on the morrow, which, as we reckon, was monday, the second day of passion week, jesus and the twelve returned to jerusalem and spent the greater part of the day at the temple. the start from bethany was an early one, and jesus hungered by the way. looking ahead he saw a fig tree that differed from the rest of the many fig trees of the region in that it was in full leaf though the season of fruit had not yet come.[ ] it is well known that the fruit-buds of a fig-tree appear earlier than do the leaves, and that by the time the tree is in full foliage the figs are well advanced toward maturity. moreover, certain species of figs are edible while yet green; indeed the unripe fruit is relished in the orient at the present time. it would be reasonable, therefore, for one to expect to find edible figs even in early april on a tree that was already covered with leaves. when jesus and his party reached this particular tree, which had rightly been regarded as rich in promise of fruit, they found on it nothing but leaves; it was a showy, fruitless, barren tree. it was destitute even of old figs, those of the preceding season, some of which are often found in spring on fruitful trees. jesus pronounced upon that tree the sentence of perpetual barrenness. "no man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever" he said according to mark's account; or, as matthew records the judgment, "let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever." the latter writer tells us in immediate sequence that "presently the fig tree withered away"; but the former makes it appear that the effect of the curse was not observed until the following morning, when, as jesus and the apostles were once again on the way between bethany and jerusalem, they saw that the fig tree had withered and dried from the roots up. peter called attention to the blasted tree, and, addressing jesus, exclaimed: "master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away." applying the lesson of the occasion, jesus said, "have faith in god"; and then he repeated some of his former assurances as to the power of faith, by which even mountains may be removed, should there be need of such miraculous accomplishment, and through which, indeed, any necessary thing may be done. the blighting of a tree was shown to be small in comparison with the greater possibilities of achievement through faith and prayer. but to so achieve one must work and pray without reservation or doubt, as the lord thus made plain: "therefore i say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." prayer must be acceptable unto god to be effective; and it follows that he who desires to accomplish any work through prayer and faith must be fit to present himself before the lord in supplication; therefore jesus again instructed the apostles saying: "and when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. but if ye do not forgive, neither will your father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses."[ ] the blighting of the barren fig tree is regarded by many as unique among the recorded miracles of christ, from the fact that while all the others were wrought for relief, blessing, and beneficent purposes generally, this one appears as an act of judgment and destructive execution, nevertheless in this miracle the lord's purpose is not hidden; and the result, while fatal to a tree, is of lasting blessing to all who would learn and profit, by the works of god. if no more has been accomplished by the miracle than the presenting of so impressive an object lesson for the instructions that followed, that smitten tree has proved of greater service to humanity than have all the fig orchards of bethphage.[ ] to the apostles the act was another and an indisputable proof of the lord's power over nature, his control of natural forces and all material things, his jurisdiction over life and death. he had healed multitudes; the wind and the waves had obeyed his words; on three occasions he had restored the dead to life; it was fitting that he should demonstrate his power to smite and to destroy. in manifesting his command over death, he had mercifully raised a maiden from the couch on which she had died, a young man from the bier on which he was being carried to the grave, another from the sepulchre in which he had been laid away a corpse; but in proof of his power to destroy by a word he chose a barren and worthless tree for his subject. could any of the twelve doubt, when, a few days later they saw him in the hands of vindictive priests and heartless pagans, that did he so will he could smite his enemies by a word, even unto death? yet not until after his glorious resurrection did even the apostles realize how truly voluntary his sacrifice had been. but the fate that befell the barren fig tree is instructive from another point of view. the incident is as much parable as miracle. that leafy tree was distinguished among fig trees; the others offered no invitation, gave no promise; "the time of figs was not yet"; they, in due season would bring forth fruit and leaves; but this precocious and leafy pretender waved its umbrageous limbs as in boastful assertion of superiority. for those who responded to its ostentatious invitation, for the hungering christ who came seeking fruit, it had naught but leaves. even for the purposes of the lesson involved, we cannot conceive of the tree being blighted primarily because it was fruitless, for at that season the other fig trees were bare of fruit also; it was made the object of the curse and the subject of the lord's instructive discourse, because, having leaves, it was deceptively barren. were it reasonable to regard the tree as possessed of moral agency, we would have to pronounce it a hypocrite; its utter barrenness coupled with its abundance of foliage made of it a type of human hypocrisy. the leafy, fruitless tree was a symbol of judaism, which loudly proclaimed itself as the only true religion of the age, and condescendingly invited all the world to come and partake of its rich ripe fruit; when in truth it was but an unnatural growth of leaves, with no fruit of the season, nor even an edible bulb held over from earlier years, for such as it had of former fruitage was dried to worthlessness and made repulsive in its worm-eaten decay. the religion of israel had degenerated into an artificial religionism, which in pretentious show and empty profession outclassed the abominations of heathendom. as already pointed out in these pages, the fig tree was a favorite type in rabbinical representation of the jewish race, and the lord had before adopted the symbolism in the parable of the barren fig tree, that worthless growth which did but cumber the ground.[ ] second clearing of the temple.[ ] within the temple grounds jesus was filled with indignation at the scene of tumult and desecration which the place presented. three years before, at passover time, he had been wrought up to a high state of righteous anger by a similar exhibition of sordid chaffering within the sacred precincts, and had driven out the sheep and oxen and forcibly expelled the traders and the money-changers and all who were using his father's house as a house of merchandize.[ ] that was near the beginning of his public labor, and the vigorous action was among the first of his works to attract general attention; now, within four days of the cross, he cleared the courts again by casting out all "them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves"; nor would he suffer any to carry their buckets and baskets through the enclosure, as many were in the habit of doing, and so making the way a common thoroughfare. "is it not written," he demanded of them in wrath, "my house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves." on the former occasion, before he had declared or even confessed his messiahship, he had designated the temple as "my father's house"; now that he had openly avowed himself to be the christ, he called it "my house." the expressions are in a sense synonymous; he and the father were and are one in possession and dominion. the means by which the later expulsion was accomplished are not stated; but it is plain that none could withstand his authoritative command; he acted in the strength of righteousness, before which the forces of evil had to give way. his wrath of indignation was followed by the calmness of gentle ministry; there in the cleared courts of his house, blind and lame folk came limping and groping about him, and he healed them. the anger of the chief priests and scribes was raging against him; but it was impotent. they had decreed his death, and had made repeated efforts to take him, and there he sat within the very area over which they claimed supreme jurisdiction, and they were afraid to touch him because of the common people, whom they professed to despize yet heartily feared--"for all the people were very attentive to hear him." the rage of the officials was further aggravated by a touching incident, which seems to have accompanied or to have immediately followed his merciful healing of the afflicted folk at the temple. children saw what he did; with their innocent minds yet unsullied by the prejudice of tradition and their sight yet undarkened by sin, they perceived in him the christ, and burst forth into praise and worship in a hymn that was heard by the angels: "hosanna to the son of david." with ill-concealed anger the temple officials demanded of him: "hearest thou what these say?" they probably expected him to disclaim the title, or possibly hoped that he would reassert his claim in a manner that would afford excuse for legal action against him, for to most of them the son of david was the messiah, the promised king. would he clear himself of the blasphemy that attached to the unjustified acknowledgment of so awful a dignity? jesus answered, with an implied rebuke for their ignorance of the scriptures: "yea; have ye never read, out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?"[ ] it was now monday evening; jesus left the city and retired again to bethany, where he lodged. this course was a prudent one, in view of the determination of the rulers to get him into their power provided they could do so without arousing the people. this they could not accomplish by day, for wherever he appeared he was the center of a multitude; but had he remained in jerusalem over night the vigilant emissaries of the hierarchy might have succeeded in taking him, unless he withstood them by some miraculous action. near as was his hour, it had not yet struck; and he would be made captive only as he permitted himself, a voluntary victim, to be taken into the hands of his enemies. christ's authority challenged by the rulers.[ ] on the following day, that is on tuesday, he returned to the temple with the twelve, passing the withered fig tree on the way and impressing the moral of the combined miracle and parable as we have already seen. as he taught in the sacred place, preaching the gospel to all who would hear, the chief priests with a number of scribes and elders came upon him in a body. they had been debating about him over night, and had resolved on at least one step; they would challenge his authority for what he had done the day before. they were the guardians of the temple, both the material structure and the theocratic system for which the holy edifice stood; and this galilean, who permitted himself to be called the christ and defended those who so acclaimed him, had for the second time ignored their authority within the temple walls and in the presence of the common people over whom they lorded so arrogantly. so this official deputation, with plans matured, came to him saying: "by what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?" this action was doubtless a preliminary step in a preconcerted attempt to suppress the activities of jesus, both of word and deed, within the temple precincts. it will be remembered that after the first cleansing of the temple, the jews had angrily demanded of jesus a sign by which they might judge the question of his divine commission;[ ] and it is significant that on this latter occasion no sign was asked, but instead thereof, a specific avowal as to the authority he possessed and by whom it had been given him. a three years' course of miracle and teaching was known to them; on the yesterday blind and lame had been healed inside the temple walls; and lazarus, the living testimony of the lord's power over death and the grave was before them. to ask a further sign would have been to flagrantly expose themselves to the ridicule of the people. they knew what authority the lord claimed; their question was of sinister purpose. jesus did not condescend to voice an answer in which they could possibly find further excuse for antagonizing him; but he availed himself of a method very common among themselves--that of countering one question with another. "and jesus answered and said unto them, i also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, i in like wise will tell you by what authority i do these things. the baptism of john, whence was it? from heaven, or of men?" they consulted among themselves as to what answer would best serve to extricate them from an embarrassing position; no mention is made of any attempt to ascertain the truth and reply accordingly; they were thoroughly nonplussed. should they answer that john's baptism was of god, jesus would probably demand of them why then they had not believed in the baptist, and why they did not accept john's testimony concerning himself. on the other hand, should they aver that john had no divine authority to preach and baptize, the people would turn against them, for the martyred baptist was revered by the masses as a prophet. in spite of their boasted learning, they answered as puzzled school-boys might do when they perceive hidden difficulties in what at first seemed but a simple problem. "we cannot tell" said they. then jesus replied "neither tell i you by what authority i do these things." chief priests, scribes, and elders of the people were outwitted and humiliated. the tables were completely turned upon them; jesus, whom they had come to question, became the examiner; they a class of cowed and unwilling listeners. he the ready instructor, and the multitude interested observers. with little likelihood of immediate interruption the master proceeded in calm deliberation to relate to them a series of three splendid stories, each of which they felt applied to themselves with incisive certainty. the first of the narrations we call the _parable of the two sons_. "but what think ye? a certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, son, go work today in my vineyard. he answered and said, i will not: but afterward he repented, and went. and he came to the second, and said likewise. and he answered and said, i go, sir: and went not. whether of them twain did the will of his father? they say unto him, the first. jesus saith unto them, verily i say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of god before you. for john came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him."[ ] the opening sentence, "but what think ye?" was a call to close attention. it implied a question soon to follow; and that proved to be: which of the two sons was the obedient one? there was but one consistent answer, and they had to give it, however loath. the application of the parable followed with convicting promptness. they, the chief priests, scribes, pharisees and elders of the people, were typified by the second son, who, when told to labor in the vineyard answered so assuringly, but went not, though the vines were running to wild growth for want of pruning, and such poor fruit as might mature would be left to fall and rot upon the ground. the publicans and sinners upon whom they vented their contempt, whose touch was defilement, were like unto the first son, who in rude though frank refusal ignored the father's call, but afterward relented and set to work, repentantly hoping to make amends for the time he had lost and for the unfilial spirit he had shown.[ ] publicans and sinners, touched in their hearts by the clarion call to repentance, had flocked to the baptist in the wilderness with the earnest inquiry: "master, what shall we do?"[ ] john's call had been to no particular class; but while self-confessed sinners had repented and sought baptism at his hands, those very pharisees and elders of the people had rejected his testimony and had hypocritically sought to ensnare him.[ ] through the parable jesus answered his own question as to whether the baptism of john was of god or of man. the lord's affirmation, "verily i say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of god before you," was condemnatory of the corrupt though sanctimonious polity of the hierarchy throughout. it was not wholly without intimation of possible reformation, however. he did not say that the repentant sinners should enter, and the priestly hypocrites stand forever excluded; for the latter there was hope if they would but repent, though they would have to follow, not lead, in the glorious procession of the redeemed. in a continuation of the same discourse the lord presented the _parable of the wicked husbandmen_, as follows: "hear another parable: there was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: and when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. and the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. but last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, they will reverence my son. but when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. and they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. when the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? they say unto him, he will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons."[ ] again the jews were compelled to make answer to the great question with which the parable dealt, and again by their answer they pronounced judgment upon themselves. the vineyard, broadly speaking, was the human family, but more specifically the covenant people, israel; the soil was good and capable of yielding in rich abundance; the vines were choice and had been set out with care; and the whole vineyard was amply protected with a hedge, and suitably furnished with winepress and tower.[ ] the husbandmen could be none other than the priests and teachers of israel, including the ecclesiastical leaders who were then and there present in an official capacity. the lord of the vineyard had sent among the people prophets authorized to speak in his name; and these the wicked tenants had rejected, maltreated, and, in many instances, cruelly slain.[ ] in the more detailed reports of the parable we read that when the first servant came, the cruel husbandmen "beat him and sent him away empty"; the next they wounded "in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled"; another they murdered and all who came later were brutally mistreated, and some of them were killed. those wicked men had used the vineyard of their lord for personal gain, and had rendered no part of the vintage to the lawful owner. when the lord sent other messengers, "more than the first," or in other words, greater than the earlier ones, the most recent example being john the baptist, the husbandmen rejected them with evil determination more pronounced than ever. at last the son had come in person; his authority they feared as that of the lawful heir, and with malignity almost beyond belief, they determined to kill him that they might perpetuate their unworthy possession of the vineyard and thenceforward hold it as their own. jesus carried the story without break from the criminal past to the yet more tragic and awful future, then but three days distant; and calmly related in prophetic imagery, as though already fulfilled, how those evil men cast the well beloved son out of the vineyard and slew him. unable to evade the searching question as to what the lord of the vineyard would naturally and righteously do to the wicked husbandmen, the jewish rulers gave the only pertinent answer possible--that he would surely destroy those wretched sinners, and let out his vineyard to tenants who were more honest and worthy. suddenly changing the figure, "jesus saith unto them, did ye never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? therefore say i unto you, the kingdom of god shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. and whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder."[ ] there could be no misapprehension as to the lord's meaning; the rejected stone which was eventually to have chief place, "the head of the corner," in the edifice of salvation, was himself, the messiah. to some that stone would be a cause of stumbling; wo unto them, for thereby would they be broken, and only through repentance and works of righteousness could they even in part recover; but upon others, those who would persist in their opposition, the stone would fall in judgment; and wo, wo to them, for beneath it they would be destroyed as though ground to powder.[ ] from them, the leaders, and from the people who followed their unholy precepts and foul example, the kingdom of god was about to be taken, and would in time be given to the gentiles, who, the lord affirmed, would prove more worthy than israel had been. we gather from luke's account that in contemplation of this awful penalty, "they," whether priestly rulers or common people we are not told, exclaimed in despair, "god forbid!" as the chief priests and pharisees realized the completeness of their discomfiture and the extent of the humiliation to which they had been subjected in the eyes of the people, they were incensed beyond measure, and even attempted to lay hold on jesus there in the temple; but the sympathies of the multitude were so unmistakably in his favor that the angry ecclesiasts desisted. the people in general, while not prepared to openly proclaim him as the christ, knew that he was a prophet of god, and their dread of official displeasure and possible penalty did not deter them from friendly demonstrations. jesus resumed his teaching by relating the _parable of the royal marriage feast_. "and jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. again, he sent forth other servants, saying, tell them which are bidden, behold, i have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. but they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. but when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. then saith he to his servants, the wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. so those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests."[ ] the invitation of a king to his subjects is equivalent to a command. the marriage feast was no surprize event, for the selected guests had been bidden long aforetime; and, in accordance with oriental custom were notified again on the opening day of the festivities,[ ] which, according to hebrew customs, would be understood as extending over a period of seven or fourteen days; in this case of a marriage in the royal family the greater duration would be assumed. many of the bidden guests refused to come when formally summoned; and of the tolerant king's later and more pressing message they made light and went their ways, while the most wicked turned upon the servants who brought the royal summons, mistreated them cruelly, and some of them they killed. it is plainly evident that the refusal to attend the king's feast was a deliberate rebellion against the royal authority and a personal indignity against both the reigning sovereign and his son. it was as much a duty as an honor for loyal subjects to attend the marriage festival of the prince, whom we cannot err in regarding as the lawful heir to the throne, and therefore the one who might some day reign over them. the turning away by one man to his farm and by another to his merchandize is in part an evidence of their engrossment in material pursuits to the utter disregard of their sovereign's will; but it signifies further an effort to deaden their troubled consciences by some absorbing occupation; and possibly also a premeditated demonstration of the fact that they placed their personal affairs above the call of their king. the monarch executed a terrible retribution upon his rebellious subjects. if the parable was intended to be an allegorical presentation of actual events, it passes at this point from the story of the past to that of the future, for the destruction of jerusalem postdates by several decades the death of christ. finding the guests who had some claim on the royal invitation to be utterly unworthy, the king sent out his servants again, and these gathered in from the highways and cross-roads, from the byways and the lanes, all they could find, irrespective of rank or station, whether rich or poor, good or bad; "and the wedding was furnished with guests." the great feast by which the messianic reign was to be ushered in was a favorite theme of jubilant exposition in both synagog and school; and exultation ran high in the rabbinical dictum that none but the children of abraham would be among the blessed partakers. the king in the parable is god; the son whose marriage was the occasion of the feast is jesus, the son of god; the guests who were bidden early, yet who refused to come when the feast was ready, are the covenant people who rejected their lord, the christ; the later guests, who were brought in from the streets and the roads, are the gentile nations, to whom the gospel has been carried since its rejection by the jews; the marriage feast is symbolical of the glorious consummation of the messiah's mission.[ ] all students of the subject must have noted the points of resemblance by which this parable is related to that of the great supper;[ ] fewer perhaps have considered the differences between the two. the earlier story was told in the house of one of the chief pharisees, probably in some town in perea; the later one was related within the temple, after pharisaic opposition to christ had reached its height. the first is of simpler plot and of gentler climax. the neglect of the invited guests in the first story was accompanied by excuses in which some approach to polite apology appears; the refusal of those bidden in the second parable was markedly offensive, and was coupled with outrageous abuse and murder. the host in one instance was a wealthy though private citizen, in the other the giver of the feast was a king. in the first, the occasion was one of ordinary though abundant entertainment; in the second, the determining time was that of the appointed marriage of the royal heir. retribution in the first instance was limited to exclusion from the banquet; in the latter the individual punishment was death, which was followed by the punitive example of the city's destruction. our account of the royal marriage feast is not yet complete; the story already considered is supplemented by the following: "and when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: and he saith unto him, friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? and he was speechless. then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. for many are called, but few are chosen." the lessons embodied in this section of the parable may be advantageously considered apart from those of the first division. as was befitting his dignity, the king came into the banquet hall after the guests had taken their places in orderly array. his immediate detection of one who was without the prescribed garment implies a personal scrutiny of the guests. one may be led to inquire, how, under the circumstances of hurried summoning, the several guests could have suitably attired themselves for the feast. the unity of the narrative requires that some provision had been made whereby each one who properly applied was given the garment prescribed by the king's command, and in keeping with the established custom at court. that the unrobed guest was guilty of neglect, intentional disrespect, or some more grievous offense, is plain from the context. the king at first was graciously considerate, inquiring only as to how the man had entered without a wedding garment. had the guest been able to explain his exceptional appearance, or had he any reasonable excuse to offer, he surely would have spoken; but we are told that he remained speechless. the king's summons had been freely extended to all whom his servants had found; but each of them had to enter the royal palace by the door; and before reaching the banquet room, in which the king would appear in person, each would be properly attired; but the deficient one, by some means had entered by another way; and not having passed the attendant sentinels at the portal, he was an intruder, of a kind with the man to whom the lord had before referred as a thief and a robber because, not entering by the door, he had climbed up some other way.[ ] the king gave a command, and his ministers[ ] bound the offender and cast him forth from the palace into outer darkness, where the anguish of remorse caused weeping and gnashing of teeth. as summary and epilogue of the three great parables constituting this series, the lord spake these words of solemn import: "for many are called, but few are chosen."[ ] each of the parables has its own wealth of wisdom; and the three are as one in declaring the great truth that even the children of the covenant will be rejected except they make good their title by godly works; while to the heathen and the sinners the portals of heaven shall open, if by repentance and compliance with the laws and ordinances of the gospel they shall merit salvation. the story of the royal marriage feast was the last of our lord's parables delivered publicly to a mixed audience. two others were spoken to the apostles, as they sat in solemn converse with the lord on the mount of olives after the public ministry of christ had been brought to a close. notes to chapter . . fig tree.--"the fig tree is very common in palestine (deut. : ). its fruit is a well known and highly esteemed article of food. in the east this is of three kinds; ( ) the early fig, ripening about the end of june; ( ) the summer fig, ripening in august; ( ) the winter fig, larger and darker than no. , hanging and ripening late on the tree, even after the leaves were shed, and sometimes gathered in the spring. the blossoms of the fig tree are within the receptacle or so-called fruit, and not visible outwardly; and this fruit begins to develop before the leaves. hence the fig tree which had leaves before the usual time might naturally have been expected to have also some figs on it (mark : ); but it was not true to its pretensions." (smith's _comp. bible dict_.) . the two sons in the parable.--although this excellent parable was addressed to the chief priests, scribes, and elders, who had come in hostile spirit to demand of christ the credentials of his authority, its lesson is of universal application. the two sons are yet alive in every human community--the one openly boastful of his sin, the other a hypocritical pretender. jesus did not commend the rough refusal of the first son of whom the father made a righteous demand for service; it was his subsequent repentance attended by works that made him superior to his brother who had made fair promise but had kept it not. there are many today who boast that they make no profession of religion, nor pretense of godly life. their frankness will not mitigate their sins; it simply shows that a certain species of hypocrisy is not prominent among their numerous offenses; but that a man is innocent of one vice, say that of drunkenness, in no wise diminishes his measure of guilt if he be a liar, a thief, an adulterer, or a murderer. both the sons in the parable were grievous sinners; but the one turned from his evil ways, which theretofore he had followed with flagrant openness, while the other continued in dark deeds of sin, which he sought to cover by a cloak of hypocrisy. let no man think that because he becomes intoxicated at the public bar he is any the less a drunkard than is he who swallows the "beverage of hell" in comparative privacy, though the latter be both drunkard and hypocrite. for these sins, as for all others, genuine repentance is the only saving antidote. . israel symbolized by vineyard and vines.--the aptness of our lord's representation of israel as a vineyard could not have escaped the perception of the jews, to whom old testament similes of analogous form were familiar figures. notable among others is the striking picture presented by isaiah ( : - ), in which the well provided vineyard is shown as producing wild grapes only, for which grievous disappointment of his expectations the owner determined to break down the wall, remove the hedge, and leave the vineyard to its fate of abandonment. the explication of the parable voiced by isaiah is thus given: "for the vineyard of the lord of hosts is the house of israel, and the men of judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry." the worthlessness of a vine save only for its fruit was set forth by the lord through his prophet ezekiel ( : - ); and truly it is so, that the wood of the grape plant is fit for nothing but burning; the whole vine as wood is inferior to a branch from a forest tree (verse ). and israel is represented as such a vine, precious if but fruitful, otherwise nothing but fuel and that of poor quality. the psalmist sang of the vine that jehovah had brought out of egypt and which, planted with care and hedged about, had flourished even with goodly boughs; but the favor of the lord had been turned from the vine, and it had been left desolate (psalm : - ). for further allusions see isa. : - ; jer. : ; ezek. : - ; hosea : . . the call to the marriage feast.--the calling of the guests who had been bidden aforetime is thus commented upon by trench (_parables_, pp. - ): "this summoning of those already bidden, was, and, as modern travellers attest, is still, quite in accordance with eastern manners. thus esther invites haman to a banquet on the morrow (esth. : ), and when the time has actually arrived, the chamberlain comes to usher him to the banquet ( : ). there is, therefore, no slightest reason why we should make '_them that were bidden_' to mean them that were now _to be bidden_; such an interpretation not merely violating all laws of grammar, but the higher purpose with which the parable was spoken; for our lord, assuming that the guests had been invited long ago, does thus remind his hearers that what he brought, if in one sense new, was in another a fulfilment of the old; that he claimed to be heard, not as one suddenly starting up, unconnected with aught which had gone before but as himself 'the end of the law,' to which it had been ever tending, the birth with which the whole jewish dispensation had been pregnant, and which alone should give a meaning to it all. in his words, '_them that were bidden_,' is involved the fact that there was nothing abrupt in the coming of his kingdom, that its rudiments had a long while before been laid, that all to which his adversaries clung as precious in their past history was prophetic of blessings now actually present to them in him. the original invitation, which had now come to maturity, reached back to the foundation of the jewish commonwealth, was taken up and repeated by each succeeding prophet, as he prophesied of the crowning grace that should one day be brought to israel (luke : ; pet. : ), and summoned the people to hold themselves in a spiritual readiness to welcome their lord and their king." . servants and ministers.--according to good philological authority, "ministers" or "ministering attendants" is a more literal rendering of the original than "servants" in matt. : . in the earlier verses , , , , , of the same chapter, "servants" or "servitors" best expresses the meaning of the original. the distinction is significant, as it implies an important difference of station between the servants who were sent out to bid the people to the feast, and the ministers in immediate attendance upon the king. the first are typical of god's servants who proclaim his word in the world; the latter symbolize the angels who shall execute his judgments on the wicked by gathering out from his kingdom all things that offend. compare matt. : , , ; doc. and cov. : . . the called and the chosen.--edersheim's reflections upon this subject follow in part (vol. ii, pp. , ): "the king entered to see his guests, and among them he descried one who had not on a wedding garment.... as the guests had been travelers, and as the feast was in the king's palace, we cannot be mistaken in supposing that such garments were supplied in the palace to all who sought them. and with this agrees the circumstance, that the man so addressed 'was speechless.' his conduct argued utter insensibility as regarded that to which he had been called--ignorance of what was due the king, and what became such a feast. for, although no previous state of preparedness was required of the invited guests, all being bidden, whether good or bad, yet the fact remained that, if they were to take part in the feast they must put on a garment suited to the occasion. all are invited to the gospel feast; but they who will partake of it must put on the king's wedding garment of evangelical holiness. and whereas it is said in the parable that only one was descried without this garment, this is intended to teach, that the king will not only generally view his guests, but that each will be separately examined, and that no one--no, not a single individual--will be able to escape discovery amidst the mass of guests, if he has not the wedding garment. in short, in that day of trial, it is not a scrutiny of churches, but of individuals in the church.... the call comes to all; but it may be outwardly accepted, and a man may sit down to the feast, and yet he may not be chosen to partake of the feast, because he has not the wedding garment of converting, sanctifying grace. and so, one may be thrust even from the marriage board into the darkness without, with its sorrow and anguish. thus, side by side, yet wide apart, are these two--god's call and god's choice. the connecting link between them is the wedding garment, freely given in the palace. yet, we must seek it, ask it, put it on. and as here also, we have, side by side, god's gift and man's activity. and still, to all time, and to all men, alike in its warning, teaching, and blessing, is it true: 'many are called, but few chosen!' many words of related meaning, both hebrew and greek, are translated 'garment' in our english bible. the greek original in the mention of the wedding garment is _enduma_; this does not occur in other bible passages as the original of 'garment.' the noun is related to the greek verb _enduein_, 'to put on, as a garment.' compare luke : , 'until ye be endued with power from on high.'" footnotes: [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - , - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] page . [ ] "bethphage," the name of a village close to bethany, and therefore near to the mount of olives, means "house of figs." see mention, matt. : ; mark : ; luke : . "bethany" signifies "house of dates." for "house" in the literal translation we may read "place." [ ] luke : - ; page herein. [ ] matt. : , : mark : - ; luke : , . [ ] john : - ; pages - herein. [ ] matt. : ; compare psalm : ; see also matt. : ; cor. : . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] john : - ; page herein. [ ] matt. : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] luke : ; compare : ; see page herein. [ ] matt. : . [ ] matt. : - ; compare mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] compare luke : , ; matt. : - . [ ] matt. : - ; see also mark : , ; luke : , ; compare psalm : ; isa. : ; acts : ; eph. : ; peter : , . [ ] compare dan. : , ; isa. : . [ ] matt. : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] compare matt. : ; cor. : ; eph. : ; rev. : ; : , . [ ] luke : - ; page herein. [ ] compare page . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : ; compare : ; see page . note , end of chapter. chapter . the close of our lord's public ministry. a conspiracy of pharisees and herodians.[ ] the jewish authorities continued unceasingly active in their determined efforts to tempt or beguile jesus into some act or utterance on which they could base a charge of offense, under either their own or roman law. the pharisees counseled together as to "how they might entangle him in his talk"; and then, laying aside their partisan prejudices, they conspired to this end with the herodians, a political faction whose chief characteristic was the purpose of maintaining in power the family of the herods,[ ] which policy of necessity entailed the upholding of the roman power, upon which the herods depended for their delegated authority. the same incongruous association had been entered into before in an attempt to provoke jesus to overt speech or action in galilee; and the lord had coupled the parties together in his warning to the disciples to beware of the leaven of both.[ ] so, on the last day of our lord's teaching in public, pharisees and herodians joined forces against him; the one watchful for the smallest technical infringement of the mosaic law, the other alert to seize upon the slightest excuse for charging him with disloyalty to the secular powers. their plans were conceived in treachery, and put into operation as the living embodiment of a lie. choosing some of their number who had not before appeared in personal antagonism to jesus, and who were supposed to be unknown to him, the chief conspirators sent these with instructions to "feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor." this delegation of hypocritical spies came asking a question, in pretended sincerity, as though they were troubled in conscience and desired counsel of the eminent teacher. "master," said they with fawning duplicity, "we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of god in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men." this studied tribute to our lord's courage and independence of thought and action was truthful in every word; but as uttered by those fulsome dissemblers and in their nefarious intent, it was egregiously false. the honeyed address, however, by which the conspirators attempted to cajole the lord into unwariness, indicated that the question they were about to submit was one requiring for its proper answer just such qualities of mind as they pretendingly attributed to him. "tell us therefore," they continued, "what thinkest thou? is it lawful to give tribute unto cæsar, or not?" the question had been chosen with diabolic craft; for of all acts attesting compulsory allegiance to rome that of having to pay the poll-tax was most offensive to the jews. had jesus answered "yes," the guileful pharisees might have inflamed the multitude against him as a disloyal son of abraham; had his answer been "no," the scheming herodians could have denounced him as a promoter of sedition against the roman government. moreover the question was unnecessary; the nation, both rulers and people had settled it, however grudgingly, for they accepted and circulated among themselves the roman coinage as a common medium of exchange; and it was a criterion of recognition among the jews that to make current the coins of any sovereign was to acknowledge his royal authority. "but jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?" all their artful expressions of false adulation were countered by the withering epithet "hypocrites." "shew me the tribute money," he commanded, and they produced a penny--a roman denarius bearing the effigy and name of tiberius cæsar, emperor of rome. "whose is this image and superscription?" he asked. they answered "cæsar's." "then saith he unto them, render therefore unto cæsar the things which are cæsar's; and unto god the things that are god's."[ ] the reply was a masterly one by whatever standard we gage it; it has become an aphorism in literature and life. it swept away any lingering thought or expectation that in the mind of him who had so recently ridden into jerusalem as king of israel and prince of peace, there was even the semblance of aspiration for earthly power or dominion. it established for all time the one righteous basis of relationship between spiritual and secular duties, between church and state. the apostles in later years builded upon this foundation and enjoined obedience to the laws of established governments.[ ] one may draw a lesson if he will, from the association of our lord's words with the occurrence of cæsar's image on the coin. it was that effigy with its accompanying superscription that gave special point to his memorable instruction, "render therefore unto cæsar the things which are cæsar's." this was followed by the further injunction: "and unto god the things that are god's." every human soul is stamped with the image and superscription of god, however blurred and indistinct the lines may have become through the corrosion or attrition of sin;[ ] and as unto cæsar should be rendered the coins upon which his effigy appeared, so unto god should be given the souls that bear his image. render unto the world the stamped pieces that are made legally current by the insignia of worldly powers, and give unto god and his service, yourselves--the divine mintage of his eternal realm. pharisees and herodians were silenced by the unanswerable wisdom of the lord's reply to their crafty question. try as they would, they could not "take hold of his words," and they were put to shame before the people who were witnesses to their humiliation. marveling at his answer, and unwilling to take the chance of further and possibly greater embarrassment, they "left him, and went their way." nevertheless these perverted jews persisted in their base and treacherous purpose, as appears nowhere more glaringly evident than in their utterly false accusation before pilate--that jesus was guilty of "forbidding to give tribute to cæsar, saying that he himself is christ a king."[ ] sadducees question about the resurrection.[ ] next, the sadducees tried to discomfit jesus by propounding what they regarded as an involved if not indeed a very difficult question. the sadducees held that there could be no bodily resurrection, on which point of doctrine as on many others, they were the avowed opponents of the pharisees.[ ] the question submitted by the sadducees on this occasion related directly to the resurrection, and was framed to discredit the doctrine by a most unfavorable and grossly exaggerated application thereof. "master," said the spokesman of the party, "moses said, if a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. and last of all the woman died also. therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her." it was beyond question that the mosaic law authorized and required that the living brother of a deceased and childless husband should marry the widow with the purpose of rearing children to the name of the dead, whose family lineage would thus be legally continued.[ ] such a state of affairs as that presented by the casuistical sadducees, in which seven brothers in succession had as wife and left as childless widow the same woman, was possible under the mosaic code relating to levirate marriages; but it was a most improbable instance. jesus stopped not, however, to question the elements of the problem as presented to him; whether the case was assumed or real mattered not, since the question "whose wife shall she be?" was based on an utterly erroneous conception. "jesus answered and said unto them, ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of god. for in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of god in heaven." the lord's meaning was clear, that in the resurrected state there can be no question among the seven brothers as to whose wife for eternity the woman shall be, since all except the first had married her for the duration of mortal life only, and primarily for the purpose of perpetuating in mortality the name and family of the brother who first died. luke records the lord's words as follows in part: "but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of god, being the children of the resurrection." in the resurrection there will be no marrying nor giving in marriage; for all questions of marital status must be settled before that time, under the authority of the holy priesthood, which holds the power to seal in marriage for both time and eternity.[ ] from the case presented by his treacherous questioners, jesus turned to the actuality of the resurrection, which was involved in and implied by the inquiry. "but as touching the resurrection of the dead," said he, "have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by god, saying, i am the god of abraham, and the god of isaac, and the god of jacob? god is not the god of the dead, but of the living." this was a direct assault upon the sadducean doctrine of negation concerning the literal resurrection of the dead. the sadducees were distinctively the zealous upholders of the law, wherein jehovah affirms himself to be the god of abraham, isaac, and jacob;[ ] yet they denied the possible resurrection of these patriarchs, and made the exalted title, under which the lord had revealed himself to moses, valid only during the brief mortal existence of the progenitors of the israelitish nation. the declaration that jehovah is not the god of the dead but of the living was an unanswerable denunciation of the sadducean perversion of scripture; and with solemn finality the lord added: "ye therefore do greatly err." certain of the scribes present were impressed by the incontrovertible demonstration of the truth, and exclaimed with approbation: "master, thou hast well said." the proud sadducees were confuted and silenced; "and after that they durst not ask him any question at all." the great commandment.[ ] the pharisees, covertly rejoicing over the discomfiture of their rivals, now summoned courage enough to plan another attack of their own. one of their number, a lawyer, by which title we may understand one of the scribes who was distinctively also a professor of ecclesiastical law, asked: "which is the first commandment of all?" or, as matthew states the question: "master, which is the great commandment in the law?" the reply was prompt, incisive, and so comprehensive as to cover the requirements of the law in their entirety. with the imperative call to attention with which moses had summoned israel to hear and heed,[ ] the very words of which were written on the phylacteries[ ] which the pharisees wore as frontlets between their eyes, jesus answered: "hear, o israel; the lord our god is one lord: and thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. and the second is like, namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. there is none other commandment greater than these." matthew's wording of the concluding declaration is: "on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." the philosophic soundness of the lord's profound generalization and comprehensive summarizing of the "law and the prophets"[ ] will appeal to all students of human nature. it is a common tendency of man to reach after, or at least to inquire after and marvel about, the superlative. who is the greatest poet, philosopher, scientist, preacher or statesman? who stands first and foremost in the community, the nation, or even, as the apostles in their aspiring ignorance asked, in the kingdom of heaven? which mountain overtops all the rest? which river is the longest or the largest? such queries are ever current. the jews had divided and subdivided the commandments of the law, and had supplemented even the minutest subdivision with rules of their own contriving. now came the pharisee asking which of all these requirements was the greatest.[ ] to love god with all one's heart and soul and mind is to serve him and keep all his commandments. to love one's neighbor as one's self is to be a brother in the broadest and, at the same time, the most exacting sense of the term. therefore the commandment to love god and man is the greatest, on the basis of the simple and mathematical truth that the whole is greater than any part. what need of the decalog could there be if mankind would obey this first and great and all-embracing commandment? the lord's reply to the question was convincing even to the learned scribe who had acted as spokesman for his pharisaic colleagues. the man was honest enough to admit the righteousness and wisdom on which the reply was grounded, and impulsively he voiced acceptance, saying, "well, master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one god; and there is none other but he: and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." jesus was no whit less prompt than the well-intending scribe in acknowledging merit in the words of an opponent; and to the man he gave the encouraging assurance: "thou art not far from the kingdom of god." as to whether the scribe remained firm in purpose and eventually gained entrance into that blessed abode, the scriptural record is silent. jesus turns questioner.[ ] sadducees, herodians, pharisees, lawyers, and scribes, all had in turn met discomfiture and defeat in their efforts to entangle jesus on questions of doctrine or practise, and had utterly failed to incite him to any act or utterance on which they could lawfully charge him with offense. having so effectually silenced all who had ventured to challenge him to debate, either covertly or with open intent, that "no man after that durst ask him any question," jesus in turn became the aggressive interrogator. turning to the pharisees, who had clustered together for greater facility in consultation, jesus began a colloquy which proceeded as follows: "what think ye of christ? whose son is he? they say unto him, the son of david. he saith unto them, how then doth david in spirit call him lord, saying, the lord said unto my lord, sit thou on my right hand, till i make thine enemies thy footstool? if david then call him lord, how is he his son?" the lord's citation of david's jubilant and worshipful song of praise, which, as mark avers, jesus said was inspired by the holy ghost, had reference to the messianic psalm[ ] in which the royal singer affirmed his own reverent allegiance, and extolled the glorious reign of the promised king of kings, who is specifically called therein "a priest forever after the order of melchizedek."[ ] puzzling as was the unexpected question to the erudite jews, we fail to perceive in it any inexplicable difficulty, since to us, less prejudiced than they who lived in expectation of a messiah who would be david's son only in the sense of family descent and royal succession in the splendor of temporal rule, the eternal godship of the messiah is a fact demonstrated and undeniable. jesus the christ is the son of david in the physical way of lineage by which both jesus and david are sons of jacob, isaac, abraham, and adam. but while jesus was born in the flesh as late in the centuries as the "meridian of time"[ ] he was jehovah, lord and god, before david, abraham, or adam was known on earth.[ ] wicked scribes and pharisees denounced.[ ] the humiliating defeat of the pharisaic party was made all the more memorable and bitter by the lord's final denunciation of the system, and his condemnation of its unworthy representatives. addressing himself primarily to the disciples, yet speaking in the hearing of the multitude, he directed the attention of all to the scribes and pharisees, who, he pointed out, occupied the seat of moses as doctrinal expounders and official administrators of the law, and who were therefore to be obeyed in their authoritative rule; but against their pernicious example the disciples were forcefully warned. "all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do," said the lord, "but do not ye after their works; for they say, and do not." distinction between due observance of official precept and the personal responsibility of following evil example, though it be that of men high in authority, could not have been made plainer. disobedience to law was not to be excused because of corruption among the law's representatives, nor was wickedness in any individual to be condoned or palliated because of another's villainy. in explanation of the caution he so openly blazoned against the vices of the rulers, the lord continued: "for they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers." rabbinism had practically superseded the law in the substitution of multitudinous rules and exactions, with conditional penalties; the day was filled with traditional observances by which even the trivial affairs of life were encumbered; yet from bearing these and other grievous burdens hypocritical officials could find excuse for personal exemption. their inordinate vanity and their irreverent assumption of excessive piety were thus stigmatized: "but all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries,[ ] and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, rabbi, rabbi." the high-sounding title, rabbi, signifying master, teacher, or doctor, had eclipsed the divinely recognized sanctity of priesthood; to be a rabbi of the jews was regarded as vastly superior to being a priest of the most high god.[ ] "but be not ye called rabbi," said jesus to the apostles and the other disciples present, "for one is your master, even christ; and all ye are brethren. and call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your father, which is in heaven. neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, even christ."[ ] those upon whom would rest the responsibility of building the church he had founded were not to aspire to worldly titles nor the honors of men; for those chosen ones were brethren, and their sole purpose should be the rendering of the greatest possible service to their one and only master. as had been so strongly impressed on earlier occasions, excellence or supremacy in the apostolic calling, and similarly in the duties of discipleship or membership in the church of christ, was and is to be achieved through humble and devoted service alone; therefore said the master again, "he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted." from the mixed multitude of disciples and unbelievers, comprizing many of the common people who listened in glad eagerness to learn,[ ] jesus turned to the already abashed yet angry rulers, and deluged them with a veritable torrent of righteous indignation, through which flashed the lightning of scorching invective, accompanied by thunder peals of divine anathema. "but woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in." the pharisaic standard of piety was the learning of the schools; one unversed in the technicalities of the law was accounted as unacceptable to god and veritably accursed.[ ] by their casuistry and perverted explications of scripture they confused and misled the "common people," and so stood as obstacles at the entrance to the kingdom of god, refusing to go in themselves and barring the way to others. "woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation."[ ] the avarice of the jewish hierarchy in our lord's lifetime was an open scandal. by extortion and unlawful exaction under cover of religious duty the priestly rulers had amassed an enormous treasure,[ ] of which the contributions of the poor, and the confiscation of property, including even the houses of dependent widows, formed a considerable proportion; and the perfidy of the practise was made the blacker by the outward pretense of sanctity and the sacrilegious accompaniment of wordy prayer. "woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." it is possible that this woe was directed more against the effort to secure proselytes to pharisaism than that of converting aliens to judaism; but as the latter was thoroughly degraded and the former disgustingly corrupt, the application of our lord's denunciation to either or both is warranted. of the jews who strove to make proselytes it has been said that "out of a bad heathen they made a worse jew." many of their converts soon became perverts. "woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? and, whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. and whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. and he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of god, and by him that sitteth thereon." thus did the lord condemn the infamous enactments of the schools and the sanhedrin concerning oaths and vows; for they had established or endorsed a code of rules, inconsistent and unjust, as to technical trifles by which a vow could be enforced or invalidated. if a man swore by the temple, the house of jehovah, he could obtain an indulgence for breaking his oath; but if he vowed by the gold and treasure of the holy house, he was bound by the unbreakable bonds of priestly dictum. though one should swear by the altar of god, his oath could be annulled; but if he vowed by the corban gift or by the gold upon the altar,[ ] his obligation was imperative. to what depths of unreason and hopeless depravity had men fallen, how sinfully foolish and how wilfully blind were they, who saw not that the temple was greater than its gold, and the altar than the gift that lay upon it! in the sermon on the mount the lord had said "swear not at all";[ ] but upon such as would not live according to that higher law, upon those who persisted in the use of oaths and vows, the lesser and evidently just requirement of strict fidelity to the terms of self-assumed obligations was to be enforced, without unrighteous quibble or inequitable discrimination. "woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel." the law of the tithe had been a characteristic feature of the theocratic requirements in israel from the days of moses; and the practise really long antedated the exodus. as literally construed, the law required the tithing of flocks and herds, fruit and grain,[ ] but by traditional extension all products of the soil had been included. the conscientious tithing of all one's possessions, even pot-herbs and other garden produce, was approved by the lord; but he denounced as rank hypocrisy the observance of such requirements as an excuse for neglecting the other duties of true religion. the reference to "the weightier matters of the law" may have been an allusion to the rabbinical classification of "light" and "heavy" requirements under the law; though it is certain the lord approved no such arbitrary distinctions. to omit the tithing of small things, such as mint leaves, and sprigs of anise and cummin, was to fall short in dutiful observance; but to ignore the claims of judgment, mercy, and faith, was to forfeit one's claim to blessing as a covenant child of god. by a strong simile, the lord stigmatized such inconsistency as comparable to one's scrupulous straining at a gnat while figuratively willing to gulp down a camel.[ ] "woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. thou blind pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also."[ ] pharisaic scrupulosity in the ceremonial cleansing of platters and cups, pots and brazen vessels, has been already alluded to. cleanliness the lord in no wise depreciated; his shafts of disapprobation were aimed at the hypocrisy of maintaining at once outward spotlessness and inward corruption. cups and platters though cleansed to perfection were filthy before the lord if their contents had been bought by the gold of extortion, or were to be used in pandering to gluttony, drunkenness or other excess. "woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." it was an awful figure, that of likening them to whitewashed tombs, full of dead bones and rotting flesh. as the dogmas of the rabbis made even the slightest contact with a corpse or its cerements, or with the bier upon which it was borne, or the grave in which it had been lain, a cause of personal defilement, which only ceremonial washing and the offering of sacrifices could remove, care was taken to make tombs conspicuously white, so that no person need be defiled through ignorance of proximity to such unclean places; and, moreover, the periodical whitening of sepulchres was regarded as a memorial act of honor to the dead. but even as no amount of care or degree of diligence in keeping bright the outside of a tomb could stay the putrescence going on within, so no externals of pretended righteousness could mitigate the revolting corruption of a heart reeking with iniquity. jesus had before compared pharisees with unmarked graves, over which men inadvertently walked and so became defiled though they knew it not;[ ] on the occasion now under consideration he denounced them as whitened tombs, flauntingly prominent, but sepulchres nevertheless. "woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets." national pride, not wholly unlike patriotism, had for centuries expressed itself in formal regard for the burial crypts of the ancient prophets, many of whom had been slain because of their righteous and fearless zeal. those modern jews were voluble to disavow all sympathy with the murderous deeds of their progenitors, who had martyred the prophets, and ostentatiously averred that if they had lived in the times of those martyrdoms they would have been no participators therein, yet by such avouchment they proclaimed themselves the offspring of those who had shed innocent blood. with scorching maledictions the lord thus consigned them to their fate: "fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? wherefore, behold, i send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous abel unto the blood of zacharias son of barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. verily i say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation." to their sanctimonious asseverations of superiority over their fathers who had slain jehovah's envoys, jehovah himself replied by predicting that they would dye their hands in the blood of prophets, wise men, and righteous scribes, whom he would send amongst them; and thus would they prove themselves literal sons of murderers, and murderers themselves, so that upon them should rest the burden of all the righteous blood that had been shed for a testimony of god, from righteous abel to the martyred zacharias.[ ] that dread fate, outlined with such awful realism, was to be no eventuality of the distant future; every one of the frightful woes the lord had uttered was to be realized in that generation. the lord's lamentation over jerusalem.[ ] concerning scribes, pharisees, and pharisaism, jesus had uttered his last word. looking from the temple heights out over the city of the great king, soon to be abandoned to destruction, the lord was obsessed by emotions of profound sorrow. with the undying eloquence of anguish he broke forth in such a lamentation as no mortal father ever voiced over the most unfilial and recreant of sons. "o jerusalem, jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would i have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! behold, your house is left unto you desolate. for i say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the lord." had israel but received her king, the world's history of post-meridian time would never have been what it is. the children of israel had spurned the proffered safety of a protecting paternal wing; soon the roman eagle would swoop down upon them and slay. the stupendous temple, which but a day before the lord had called "my house," was now no longer specifically his; "your house," said he, "is left unto you desolate." he was about to withdraw from both temple and nation; and by the jews his face was not again to be seen, until, through the discipline of centuries of suffering they shall be prepared to acclaim in accents of abiding faith, as some of them had shouted but the sunday before under the impulse of an erroneous conception, "blessed is he that cometh in the name of the lord." a widow's gift.[ ] from the open courts jesus moved over toward the colonnaded treasury of the temple, and there he sat, seemingly absorbed in a revery of sorrow. within that space were thirteen chests, each provided with a trumpet-shaped receptacle; and into these the people dropped their contributions for the several purposes indicated by inscriptions on the boxes. looking up, jesus observed the lines of donors, of all ranks and degrees of affluence and poverty, some depositing their gifts with evident devoutness and sincerity of purpose, others ostentatiously casting in great sums of silver and gold, primarily to be seen of men. among the many was a poor widow, who with probable effort to escape observation dropped into one of the treasure-chests two small bronze coins known as mites; her contribution amounted to less than half a cent in american money. the lord called his disciples about him, directed their attention to the poverty-stricken widow and her deed, and said: "verily i say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: for all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living." in the accounts kept by the recording angels, figured out according to the arithmetic of heaven, entries are made in terms of quality rather than of quantity, and values are determined termined on the basis of capability and intent. the rich gave much yet kept back more; the widow's gift was her all. it was not the smallness of her offering that made it especially acceptable, but the spirit of sacrifice and devout intent with which she gave. on the books of the heavenly accountants that widow's contribution was entered as a munificent gift, surpassing in worth the largess of kings. "for if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not."[ ] christ's final withdrawal from the temple. our lord's public discourses and the open colloquies in which he had participated with professionals and priestly officials, in the course of his daily visits to the temple during the first half of passion week, had caused many of the chief rulers, beside others, to believe on him as the veritable son of god; but the fear of pharisaic persecution and the dread of excommunication from the synagog[ ] deterred them from confessing the allegiance they felt, and from accepting the means of salvation so freely offered. "they loved the praise of men more than the praise of god."[ ] it may have been while jesus directed his course for the last time toward the exit portal of the one-time holy place that he uttered the solemn testimony of his divinity recorded by john.[ ] crying with a loud voice to priestly rulers and the multitude generally, he said: "he that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. and he that seeth me seeth him that sent me." allegiance to himself was allegiance to god; the people were plainly told that to accept him was in no degree a weakening of their adherence to jehovah, but on the contrary a confirmation thereof. repeating precepts of earlier utterance, he again proclaimed himself the light of the world, by whose rays alone mankind might be delivered from the enveloping darkness of spiritual unbelief. the testimony he left with the people would be the means of judgment and condemnation to all who wilfully rejected it. "for," said he in solemn finality, "i have not spoken of myself; but the father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what i should say, and what i should speak. and i know that his commandment is life everlasting; whatsoever i speak therefore, even as the father said unto me, so i speak." destruction of the temple predicted.[ ] as jesus was departing from the enclosure wherein stood what once had been the house of the lord, one or more of the disciples called his attention to the magnificent structures, the massive stones, the colossal columns, and the lavish and costly adornment of the several buildings. the lord's answering comment was an unqualified prophecy of the utter destruction of the temple and everything pertaining to it. "verily i say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." such was the definite and dire prediction. those who heard were dumbfounded; neither by question nor other response did they attempt to elicit more. the literal fulfilment of that awful portent was but an incident in the annihilation of the city less than forty years later. with the lord's final departure from the temple, which probably occurred in the afternoon of the tuesday of that last week, his public ministry was brought to its solemn ending. whatever of discourse, parable, or ordinance was to follow, would be directed only to the further instruction and investiture of the apostles. notes to chapter . . the image on the coin.--the jews had an aversion for images or effigies in general, the use of which they professed to hold as a violation of the second commandment. their scruples, however, did not deter them from accepting coins bearing the effigies of kings, even though these monarchs were pagans. their own coins bore other devices, such as plants, fruits, etc., in place of a human head; and the romans had condescendingly permitted the issue of a special coinage for jewish use, each piece bearing the name but not the effigy of the monarch. the ordinary coinage of rome was current in palestine, however. . submission to secular authority.--governments are instituted of god, sometimes by his direct interposition, sometimes by his permission. when the jews had been brought into subjection by nebuchadnezzar, king of babylon, the lord commanded through the prophet jeremiah ( : - ) that the people render obedience to their conqueror, whom he called his servant; for verily the lord had used the pagan king to chastize the recreant and unfaithful children of the covenant. the obedience so enjoined included the payment of taxes and extended to complete submission. after the death of christ the apostles taught obedience to the powers that be, which powers, paul declared "are ordained of god." see rom. : - ; titus : ; tim. : - ; see also peter : , . through the medium of modern revelation, the lord has required of his people in the present dispensation, obedience to and loyal support of the duly established and existing governments in all lands. see doc. and cov. : - ; : - ; and section throughout. the restored church proclaims as an essential part of its belief and practise: "we believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law." see _articles of faith_, xxiii. . marriage for eternity.--divine revelation in the dispensation of the fulness of times has made plain the fact, that contracts of marriage, as indeed all other agreements between parties in mortality, are of no validity beyond the grave, except such contracts be ratified and validated by the duly established ordinances of the holy priesthood. sealing in the marriage covenant for time and eternity, which has come to be known as celestial marriage, is an ordinance established by divine authority in the restored church of jesus christ. see the author's treatment of this subject in _articles of faith_, xxiv, - ; and _house of the lord_, under "sealing in marriage," pp. - . . divisions and subdivisions of the law.--"the rabbinical schools, in their meddling, carnal, superficial spirit of word-weaving and letter-worship, had spun large accumulations of worthless subtlety all over the mosaic law. among other things they had wasted their idleness in fantastic attempts to count, and classify, and weigh, and measure all the separate commandments of the ceremonial and moral law. they had come to the sapient conclusion that there were affirmative precepts, being as many as the members in the human body, and negative precepts, being as many as the arteries and veins, or the days of the year: the total being , which was also the number of letters in the decalog. they arrived at the same result from the fact that the jews were commanded (numb. : ) to wear fringes (_tsitsith_) on the corners of their _tallith_, bound with a thread of blue; and as each fringe had eight threads and five knots, and the letters of the word _tsitsith_ make , the total number of commandments was, as before . now surely, out of such a large number of precepts and prohibitions, _all_ could not be of quite the same value; some were 'light' (_kal_), and some were 'heavy' (_kobhed_). but which? and what was the greatest commandment of all? according to some rabbis, the most important of all is that about the _tephillin_ and the _tsitsith_, the fringes and phylacteries; and 'he who diligently observes it is regarded in the same light as if he had kept the whole law.' "some thought the omission of ablutions as bad as homicide; some that the precepts of the mishna were all 'heavy'; those of the law were some 'heavy' and some 'light.' others considered the _third_ to be the greatest commandment. none of them had realized the great principle, that the wilful violation of one commandment is the transgression of all (james : ), because the object of the entire law is the spirit of _obedience to god_. on the question proposed by the lawyer the shammaites and hillelites were in disaccord, and, as usual, both schools were wrong: the shammaites, in thinking that mere trivial external observances were valuable, apart from the spirit in which they were performed, and the principle which they exemplified; the hillelites, in thinking that _any_ positive command could in itself be unimportant, and in not seeing that great principles are essential to the due performance of even the slightest duties."--farrar, _life of christ_, chap. . . phylacteries and borders.--through a traditional interpretation of exo. : and deut. : , the hebrews adopted the custom of wearing phylacteries, which consisted essentially of strips of parchment on which were inscribed in whole or in part the following texts: exo. : - and - ; deut. : - , and : - . phylacteries were worn on the head and arm. the parchment strips for the head were four, on each of which one of the texts cited above was written. these were placed in a cubical box of leather measuring from / inch to - / inches along the edge; the box was divided into four compartments and one of the little parchment rolls was placed in each. thongs held the box in place on the forehead between the eyes of the wearer. the arm phylactery comprized but a single roll of parchment on which the four prescribed texts were written; this was placed in a little box which was bound by thongs to the inside of the left arm so as to be brought close to the heart when the hands were placed together in the attitude of devotion. the pharisees wore the arm phylactery above the elbow, while their rivals, the sadducees, fastened it to the palm of the hand (see exo. : ). the common people wore phylacteries only at prayer time; but the pharisees were said to display them throughout the day. our lord's reference to the pharisees' custom of making broad their phylacteries had reference to the enlarging of the containing box, particularly the frontlet. the size of the parchment strips was fixed by rigid rule. the lord had required of israel through moses (numb. : ) that the people attach to the border of their garment a fringe with a ribbon of blue. in ostentatious display of assumed piety, the scribes and pharisees delighted to wear enlarged borders to attract public attention. it was another manifestation of hypocritical sanctimoniousness. . ecclesiastical titles.--our lord severely condemned the seeking after titles as insignia of rank in his service. nevertheless he named the twelve whom he chose, apostles; and in the church founded by himself the offices of evangelist, high priest, pastor, elder, bishop, priest, teacher, and deacon were established (see _articles of faith_, xi: - ). it was the empty man-made title that attached to the individual, not the authorized title of office to which men were called through authoritative ordination, to which the lord affixed the seal of his disapproval. titles of office in the holy priesthood are of too sacred a character to be used as marks of distinction among men. in the restored church in the current dispensation, men are ordained to the priesthood and to the several offices comprized within both the lesser or aaronic, and the higher or melchizedek priesthood; but though one be thus made an elder, a seventy, a high priest, a patriarch or an apostle, he should not court the usage of the title as a mere embellishment of his name. (see "the honor and dignity of priesthood" by the author in _improvement era_, salt lake city, march, .) chas. f. deems, in _the light of the nations_, pp. - , says in speaking of the irreverent use of ecclesiastical titles: "the pharisees loved also the highest places in the synagogs, and it gratified their vanity to be called teacher, doctor, rabbi. against these jesus warned his disciples. they were not to love to be called rabbi, a title which occurs in three forms, _rab_, teacher, doctor; _rabbi_, my doctor or teacher; _rabboni_, my great doctor. nor were they to call any man 'father,' in the sense of granting him any infallibility of judgment or power over their consciences.... 'papa,' as the simple moravians call their great man, count zinzendorf: 'founder,' as methodists denominate good john wesley; 'holy father in god,' as bishops are sometimes called; 'pope,' which is the same as 'papa'; 'doctor of divinity,' the christian equivalent of the jewish 'rabbi,' are all dangerous titles. but it is not the employment of a name which jesus denounces, it is the spirit of vanity which animated the pharisees, and the servile spirit which the employment of titles is apt to engender. paul and peter spoke of themselves as spiritual fathers. jesus teaches that positions in the societies of his followers, such as should afterward be formed, were not to be regarded as dignities, but rather as services; that no man should seek them for the honor they might confer, but for the field of usefulness they might afford; and that no man should lead off a sect, there being but one leader; and that the whole body of believers are brethren, of whom god is the father." the writer last quoted very properly disparages aspirations, stimulated by vanity and self-righteous assumption, to the use of the title "reverend" as applied to men. . seven or eight woes?--some of the early mss. of the gospels omit verse from matt. . such omission reduces the number of specific utterances beginning "woe unto you" from eight to seven. there is no question as to the appearance in the original of the passages in mark : and luke : , which are one in meaning with matt. : . . the temple treasure.--in connection with the incident of the widow's mites, edersheim (vol. ii, pp. - ) writes: "some might come with appearance of self-righteousness, some even with ostentation, some as cheerfully performing a happy duty. 'many that were rich cast in much'--yes, very much, for such was the tendency that a law had to be enacted forbidding the gift to the temple of more than a certain proportion of one's possessions. and the amount of such contributions may be inferred by recalling the circumstance, that at the time of pompey and crassus, the temple treasury, after having lavishly defrayed every possible expenditure, contained in money nearly half a million, and precious vessels to the value of nearly two millions sterling." see also josephus, antiquities xiv, : ; : , . . zacharias the martyr.--in referring to the martyrs of ante-meridian time the lord is recorded as having used the expression "from the blood of righteous abel unto the blood of zacharias son of barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar" (matt. : ). the old testament as at present compiled, contains no mention of a martyr named zacharias son of barachias, but does chronicle the martyrdom of zechariah son of jehoiada ( chron. : - ). "zechariah" and "zacharias" are equivalent names. it is the opinion of most bible scholars that the zacharias referred to in matthew's record is zechariah son of jehoiada. in the jewish compilation of old testament scriptures, the murder of zechariah appears as the last recorded martyrdom; and the lord's reference to the righteous men who had been slain, from abel to zechariah or zacharias, may have been a sweeping inclusion of all the martyrs down to that time, from first to last. however, we have a record of zechariah son of berechiah (zech. : , ), and this berechiah was the son of iddo. then again, zechariah son of iddo is mentioned (ezra : ); but, as is elsewhere found in the older scriptures, the grandson is called the son. the old testament does not number this zechariah among the martyrs, but traditional accounts (whitby's citation of the targum) say that he was killed "in the day of propitiation." that the lord referred to a late and probably the latest of the recorded martyrdoms is probable; and it is equally evident that the case was well known among the jews. it is likely that a fuller account appeared in scriptures current among the jews at the time of christ but since lost. see note , page . . destruction of the temple.--"for thirty or more years after the death of christ, the jews continued the work of adding to and embellishing the temple buildings. the elaborate design conceived and projected by herod had been practically completed; the temple was well-nigh finished, and, as soon afterward appeared, was ready for destruction. its fate had been definitely foretold by the savior himself. commenting on a remark by one of the disciples concerning the great stones and the splendid buildings on the temple hill, jesus had said, 'seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.' (mark : , ; see also matt. : , ; luke : , .) this dire prediction soon found its literal fulfilment. in the great conflict with the roman legions under titus, many of the jews had taken refuge within the temple courts, seemingly hoping that there the lord would again fight the battles of his people and give them victory. but the protecting presence of jehovah had long since departed therefrom and israel was left a prey to the foe. though titus would have spared the temple, his legionaries, maddened by the lust of conflict, started the conflagration and everything that could be burned was burned. the slaughter of the jews was appalling; thousands of men, women and children were ruthlessly butchered within the walls, and the temple courts were literally flooded with human blood. this event occurred in the year a.d.; and according to josephus, in the same month and on the same day of the month as that on which the once glorious temple of solomon had fallen a prey to the flames kindled by the king of babylon. (josephus, wars of the jews, vi, : , . for a detailed and graphic account of the destruction of the temple see chapters and in their entirety.) of the temple furniture the golden candlestick and the table of shewbread from the holy place were carried by titus to rome as trophies of war; and representations of these sacred pieces are to be seen on the arch erected to the name of the victorious general. since the destruction of the splendid temple of herod no other structure of the kind, no temple, no house of the lord as the terms are used distinctively, has been reared on the eastern hemisphere."--_the house of the lord_, pp. , . josephus ascribes the destruction of the temple of herod to the anger of god, and states that the devouring flames "took their rise from the jews themselves, and were occasioned by them." the soldier who applied the torch to the holy house, which had remained intact while fire raged in the courts, is regarded by the historian as an instrument of divine vengeance. we read (wars, vi, : ): "one of the soldiers, without staying for any orders, and without any concern or dread upon him at so great an undertaking, and being hurried on by a certain divine fury, snatched somewhat out of the materials that were on fire, and being lifted up by another soldier, he set fire to a golden window, through which there was a passage to the rooms that were round the holy house, on the north side of it. as the flames went upward the jews made a great clamor, such as so mighty an affliction required." footnotes: [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] page . [ ] mark : ; : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] pages , . [ ] luke : . page . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] pages , . [ ] deut. : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] gen. : ; exo. : , . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - . [ ] deut. : , . [ ] note , page . [ ] compare page . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] psalm . [ ] psalm : ; compare heb. : ; : ; : , . [ ] chapter . [ ] chapters and . [ ] matt. ; mark : - ; luke : - ; compare luke : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] pages , . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] mark : . [ ] john : ; compare : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] page . [ ] matt. : - ; page herein. [ ] lev. : ; numb. : ; deut. : ; : - . see also the author's "the law of the tithe"; pp., . [ ] the revised version, generally admitted the more nearly correct, reads "strain out the gnat" instead of "strain at a gnat." [ ] compare luke : , ; mark : ; page herein. [ ] luke : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; compare luke : , . [ ] mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] cor. : . [ ] john : ; compare : ; : . [ ] john : ; compare : . [ ] john : - . [ ] matt. : , ; mark : , ; luke : , . note , end of chapter. chapter . further instruction to the apostles. prophecies relating to the destruction of jerusalem and the lord's future advent.[ ] in the course of his last walk from jerusalem back to the beloved home at bethany, jesus rested at a convenient spot on the mount of olives, from which the great city and the magnificent temple were to be seen in fullest splendor, illumined by the declining sun in the late afternoon of that eventful april day. as he sat in thoughtful revery he was approached by peter and james, john and andrew, of the twelve, and to them certainly, though probably to all the apostles, he gave instruction, embodying further prophecy concerning the future of jerusalem, israel, and the world at large. his fateful prediction--that of the temple buildings not one stone would be left upon another--had caused the apostles to marvel and fear; so they came privately requesting explanation. "tell us," said they, "when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" the compound character of the question indicates an understanding of the fact that the destruction of which the lord had spoken was to be apart from and precedent to the signs that were to immediately herald his glorious advent and the yet later ushering in of the consummation commonly spoken of then and now as "the end of the world." an assumption that the events would follow in close succession is implied by the form in which the question was put. the inquiry referred specifically to time--when were these things to be? the reply dealt not with dates, but with events; and the spirit of the subsequent discourse was that of warning against misapprehension, and admonition to ceaseless vigilance. "take heed that no man deceive you" was the first and all-important caution; for within the lives of most of those apostles, many blaspheming imposters would arise, each claiming to be the messiah. the return of christ to earth as lord and judge was more remote than any of the twelve realized. before that glorious event, many wonderful and appalling developments would be witnessed, among the earliest of which would be wars and rumors of wars, caused by nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom, to the dread accompaniment of famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in many places; yet all these would be but the beginning of the sorrow or travail to follow. they, the apostles, were told to expect persecution, not only at the hands of irresponsible individuals, but at the instance of the officials such as they who were at that moment intent on taking the life of the lord himself, and who would scourge them in the synagogs, deliver them up to hostile tribunals, cite them before rulers and kings, and even put some of them to death--all because of their testimony of the christ. as they had been promised before, so again were they assured, that when they would stand before councils, magistrates, or kings, the words they should speak would be given them in the hour of their trial, and therefore they were told to take no premeditative thought as to what they should say or how they should meet the issues confronting them; "for," said the master, "it is not ye that speak, but the holy ghost."[ ] even though they found themselves despized and hated of men, and though they were to suffer ignominy, torture, and death, yet as to their eternal welfare they were promised such security that by comparison they would lose not so much as a hair of their heads. in consoling encouragement the lord bade them possess their souls in patience.[ ] in face of all trials and even the direst persecution, it was incumbent upon them to persevere in their ministry, for the divine plan provided and required that the gospel of the kingdom be preached amongst all nations. their labors would be complicated and opposed by the revolutionary propaganda of many false prophets, and differences of creed would disrupt families, and engender such bitterness that brothers would betray one another, and children would rise against their parents, accusing them of heresies and delivering them up to death. even among those who had professed discipleship to christ many would be offended and hatred would abound; love for the gospel would wax cold, and iniquity would be rampant among men; and only those who would endure to the end of their lives could be saved. from this circumstantial forecast of conditions then directly impending, the lord passed to other developments that would immediately precede the destruction of jerusalem and the total disruption of the jewish nation. "when ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place," said he, according to matthew's account, and virtually so also as stated by mark, or "when ye shall see jerusalem compassed with armies" as luke writes, "then know that the desolation thereof is nigh." this was a specific sign that none could misunderstand. daniel the prophet had foreseen the desolation and abominations thereof, which comprized the forcible cessation of temple rites, and the desecration of israel's shrine by pagan conquerors.[ ] the realization of daniel's prophetic vision was to be heralded by the encompassing of jerusalem by armies. then all who would escape should make haste; from judea they should flee to the mountains; he who was on the housetop would have no time to take his goods, but should hasten down by the outer steps and flee; he who was in the field would better leave without first returning to his house even for his clothes. terrible, indeed, would that day be for women hampered by the conditions incident to approaching maternity, or the responsibility of caring for their suckling babes. all would do well to pray that their flight be not forced upon them in winter time; nor on the sabbath, lest regard for the restrictions as to sabbath-day travel, or the usual closing of the city gates on that day, should diminish the chances of escape. the tribulations of the time then foreshadowed would prove to be unprecedented in horror and would never be paralleled in all their awful details in israel's history; but in mercy god had decreed that the dreadful period should be shortened for the sake of the elect believers, otherwise no flesh of israel would be saved alive. multitudes were to fall by the sword; other hosts were to be led away captive, and so be scattered amongst all nations; and jerusalem, the pride and boast of degenerate israel, should be "trodden down of the gentiles, until the times of the gentiles be fulfilled." in every frightful detail was the lord's prediction brought to pass, as history avouches.[ ] after the passing of those terrible times, and thence onward for a period of unspecified duration, satan would deceive the world through false doctrines, spread by evil men masquerading as ministers of god, who would continue to cry "lo, here is christ; or, lo, he is there"; but against all such the twelve were put on their guard, and through them and other teachers, whom they would call and ordain, would the world be warned. deceiving prophets, emissaries of the devil, would be active, some alluring people into the deserts, and impelling them to hermit lives of pernicious asceticism, others insisting that christ could be found in the secret chambers of monastic seclusion; and some of them showing forth through the power of satan, such signs and wonders as "to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect"; but of all such scheming of the prince of evil, the lord admonished his own: "believe it not"; and added, "take ye heed; behold i have foretold you all things."[ ] in the day of the lord's advent in glory and vengeance, no man shall be in doubt; there shall be no chance of conflicting claims by contending sects, "for as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the son of man be."[ ] the gathering of israel in the last days was pictured as the flocking of eagles to the place where the body of the church would be established.[ ] the chronological order of the predicted occurrences so far considered in this wonderful discourse on things to come, is clear; first there was to be a period of virulent persecution of the apostles and the church of which they would be in charge; then the destruction of jerusalem, with all the horrors of merciless warfare was to follow; and this in turn was to be succeeded by a long period of priestcraft and apostasy with bitter sectarian dissension and cruel persecution of the righteous. the brief reference to the non-localized, universal phenomena, by which his advent is to be signalized, is a parenthetical demonstration of the false claims as to where christ would be found; later the lord passed to distinctive and unquestionable reference to the circumstances of his then and yet future advent. following the age of man-made creeds, and unauthorized ministry characteristic of the great apostasy, marvelous occurrences are to be manifested through the forces of nature, and the sign of the son of man shall ultimately appear, one accompanying feature of which shall be the completion of the gathering of the elect from all parts of the earth to the places appointed. the duty that jesus enjoined upon the apostles as of first importance throughout all the coming scenes of sorrow, suffering and turmoil, was that of vigilance. they were to pray, watch, and work, diligently and with unwavering faith. the lesson was illustrated by a masterly analogy, which, under the broadest classification, may be called a parable. directing their attention to the fig tree and other trees which flourished on the sunny slopes of olivet, the master said: "behold the fig tree, and all the trees; when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. so likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of god is nigh at hand." of the fig tree in particular the lord remarked: "when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh." this sign of events near at hand was equally applicable to the premonitory conditions which were to herald the fall of jerusalem and the termination of the jewish autonomy, and to the developments by which the lord's second advent shall be immediately preceded. the next declaration in the order of the evangelical record reads: "verily i say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." this may be understood as applying to the generation in which the portentous happenings before described would be realized. so far as the predictions related to the overthrow of jerusalem, they were literally fulfilled within the natural lifetime of several of the apostles and of multitudes of their contemporaries; such of the lord's prophecies as pertain to the heralding of his second coming are to brought to pass within the duration of the generation of some who witness the inauguration of their fulfilment. the certainty of fulfilment was emphasized by the lord in the profound affirmation: "heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."[ ] all speculation concerning the time of the lord's appearing, whether based on assumption, deduction, or calculation of dates, was forestalled by christ's averment: "but of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the son, but the father."[ ] that his advent in power and glory is to be sudden and unexpected to the unobserving and sinful world, but in immediate sequence to the signs which the vigilant and devout may read and understand, was made plain by comparison with the prevailing social conditions of noah's time, when in spite of prophecy and warning the people had continued in their feasting and merry-making, in marrying and giving in marriage, until the very day of noah's entrance into the ark, "and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the son of man be." in the last stages of the gathering of the elect, the ties of companionship shall be quickly severed; of two men laboring in the field, or of two women engaged side by side in household duties, the faithful one shall be taken and the sinner left. "watch therefore," was the solemn behest, "for ye know not what hour your lord doth come." in explication of this admonishment, the lord condescended to compare the suddenness and secrecy of his coming to the movements of a night-prowling thief; and pointed out, that if a householder had certain knowledge as to the time of a burglar's predetermined visit, he would remain on vigilant watch; but because of uncertainty he may be found off his guard, and the thief may enter and despoil the home. again likening the apostles to duly appointed stewards in a great household,[ ] the lord spoke of himself as the householder, saying: "the son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. and what i say unto you i say unto all, watch." but if the steward grow negligent because of his master's long absence, and give himself up to feasting and unlicensed pleasure, or become autocratic and unjust toward his fellow-servants, his lord shall come in an hour when least expected, and shall consign that wicked servant to a place among the hypocrites, where he shall weep bitter tears of remorse, and gnash his teeth in impotent despair.[ ] the need of watchfulness and diligence illustrated by parables. to more indelibly impress upon the apostles, and, through their subsequent ministry, upon the world, the absolute need of unceasing watchfulness and unwavering diligence in preparation for the coming of the lord in judgment, jesus depicted in parables the prospective condition of mankind in the last times. the first of these illustrative portrayals is the _parable of the ten virgins_. the only report of it we have is that given by matthew,[ ] as follows: "then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. and five of them were wise, and five were foolish. they that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. and at midnight there was a cry made, behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. and the foolish said unto the wise, give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. but the wise answered, saying, not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. and while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. afterward came also the other virgins, saying, lord, lord, open to us. but he answered and said, verily i say unto you, i know you not. watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the son of man cometh." the story itself is based on oriental marriage customs, with which the lord's attentive listeners were familiar. it was and yet is common in those lands, particularly in connection with marriage festivities among the wealthy classes, for the bridegroom to go to the home of the bride, accompanied by his friends in processional array, and later to conduct the bride to her new home with a larger body of attendants composed of groomsmen, bridesmaids, relatives and friends. as the bridal party progressed, to the accompaniment of gladsome music, it was increased by little groups who had gathered in waiting at convenient places along the route, and particularly near the end of the course where organized companies came forth to meet the advancing procession. wedding ceremonies were appointed for the evening and night hours; and the necessary use of torches and lamps gave brilliancy and added beauty to the scene. in the parable ten maidens were waiting to welcome and join in with the bridal company, the time of whose arrival was uncertain. each had her lamp attached to the end of a rod so as to be held aloft in the festal march; but of the ten virgins five had wisely carried an extra supply of oil, while the other five, probably counting on no great delay, or assuming that they would be able to borrow from others, or perchance having negligently given no thought at all to the matter, had no oil except the one filling with which their lamps had been supplied at starting. the bridegroom tarried, and the waiting maidens grew drowsy and fell asleep. at midnight, the forerunners of the marriage party loudly proclaimed the bridegroom's approach, and cried in haste: "go ye out to meet him." the ten maidens, no longer sleepy, but eagerly active, set to work to trim their lamps; then the wise ones found use for the oil in their flasks, while the thoughtless five bewailed their destitute condition, for their lamps were empty and they had no oil for replenishment. they appealed to their wiser sisters, asking a share of their oil; but these declined; for, in a time of such exigency, to give of their store would have been to render themselves unfit, inasmuch as there was oil enough for their own lamps only. instead of oil they could impart only advice to their unfortunate sisters, whom they directed to go to the nearest shop and buy for themselves. while the foolish virgins were away in quest of oil, the wedding party passed into the house wherein the feast was provided, and the door was shut against all tardy comers. in time the unwise maidens, too late to participate in the processional entry, called from without, pleading for admittance; but the bridegroom refused their request, and disclaimed all acquaintanceship with them, since they had not been numbered among his attendants or those of the bride. the bridegroom is the lord jesus; the marriage feast symbolizes his coming in glory, to receive unto himself the church on earth as his bride.[ ] the virgins typify those who profess a belief in christ, and who, therefore, confidently expect to be included among the blessed participants at the feast. the lighted lamp, which each of the maidens carried, is the outward profession of christian belief and practise; and in the oil reserves of the wiser ones we may see the spiritual strength and abundance which diligence and devotion in god's service alone can insure. the lack of sufficient oil on the part of the unwise virgins is analogous to the dearth of soil in the stony field, wherein the seed readily sprouted but soon withered away.[ ] the bridegroom's coming was sudden; yet the waiting virgins were not held blamable for their surprize at the abrupt announcement, but the unwise five suffered the natural results of their unpreparedness. the refusal of the wise virgins to give of their oil at such a critical time must not be regarded as uncharitable; the circumstance typifies the fact that in the day of judgment every soul must answer for himself; there is no way by which the righteousness of one can be credited to another's account; the doctrine of supererogation is wholly false.[ ] the bridegroom's condemnatory disclaimer, "i know you not," was equivalent to a declaration that the imploring but neglectful ones, who had been found unready and unprepared, did not know him.[ ] the application of the parable and its wealth of splendid suggestion are summarized in a masterly manner by the lord's impressive adjuration: "watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the son of man cometh." the fulfilment of the predictions enshrined in this precious parable is yet future, but near. in the lord jesus christ revealed anew the indications by which the imminence of his glorious advent may be perceived. through the mouth of his prophet joseph smith he thus spake: "and at that day, when i shall come in my glory, shall the parable be fulfilled which i spake concerning the ten virgins: for they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the holy spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived; verily i say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day, and the earth shall be given unto them for an inheritance; and they shall multiply and wax strong, and their children shall grow up without sin unto salvation, for the lord shall be in their midst, and his glory shall be upon them, and he will be their king and their lawgiver."[ ] still discoursing in solemn earnestness to the apostles as the evening shadows gathered about the mount of olives, the lord delivered the last of his recorded parables. we call it the _parable of the entrusted talents_.[ ] "for the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. and unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. and likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. but he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money. after a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. and so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, i have gained beside them five talents more. his lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, i will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. he also that had received two talents came and said, lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, i have gained two other talents beside them. his lord said unto him, well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, i will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. then he which had received the one talent came and said, lord, i knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: and i was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. his lord answered and said unto him, thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that i reap where i sowed not, and gather where i have not strawed: thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming i should have received mine own with usury. take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. for unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. and cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." some of the resemblances between this parable and that of the pounds[ ] appear on even a casual reading; significant differences are discovered by comparison and study. the earlier parable was spoken to a mixed multitude in the course of our lord's last journey from jericho to jerusalem; the later one was given in privacy to the most intimate of his disciples in the closing hours of the last day of his public preaching. the two should be studied together. in the story of the pounds, an equal amount of capital is given to each of the servants, and men's diverse ability to use and apply, with commensurate results in reward or penalty, is demonstrated; in that of the entrusted talents, the servants receive different amounts, "every man according to his several ability"; and equal diligence, though shown in one instance by great gain and in the other by small but proportionate increase, is equally rewarded. unfaithfulness and negligence are condemned and punished in both. in the parable now under consideration, the master is presented as delivering his wealth into the hands of his own servants, literally, bondservants;[ ] they, as well as the possessions held by them in trust were his. those servants had no rights of actual ownership, nor title of permanent proprietorship in the treasure committed to their care; all they had, the time and opportunity to use their talents, and they themselves, belonged to their lord. we cannot fail to perceive even in the early incidents of the story that the master of the servants was the lord jesus; the servants, therefore, were the disciples and more particularly the apostles, who, while of equal authority through ordination in the holy priesthood, as specifically illustrated by the earlier parable of the pounds, were of varied ability, of diverse personality, and unequal generally in nature and in such accomplishments as would be called into service throughout their ministry. the lord was about to depart; he would return only "after a long time"; the significance of this latter circumstance is in line with that expressed through the parable of the ten virgins in the statement that the bridegroom tarried. at the time of reckoning, the servants who had done well, the one with his five talents, the other with his two, reported gladly, conscious as they were of having at least striven to do their best. the unfaithful servant prefaced his report with a grumbling excuse, which involved the imputation of unrighteousness in the master. the honest, diligent, faithful servants saw and reverenced in their lord the perfection of the good qualities which they possessed in measured degree; the lazy and unprofitable serf, afflicted by distorted vision, professed to see in the master his own base defects. the story in this particular, as in the other features relating to human acts and tendencies, is psychologically true; in a peculiar sense men are prone to conceive of the attributes of god as comprizing in augmented degree the dominant traits of their own nature. both the servant who had been entrusted with five talents and he who had received but two were equally commended, and, as far as we are told, were equally recompensed. the talents bestowed upon each were the gift of his lord, who knew well whether that servant was capable of using to better advantage one, two, or five. let no one conclude that good work of relatively small scope is less necessary or acceptable than like service of wider range. many a man who has succeeded well in business with small capital would have failed in the administration of vast sums; so also in spiritual achievements "there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit."[ ] of the man endowed with many talents greater returns were expected; of the one-talented man relatively little was required, yet in that little he failed.[ ] at the least he could have delivered the money to the bank, through which it would have been kept in circulation to the benefit of the community, and would have earned interest meanwhile. likewise, in the spiritual application, a man possessed of any good gift, such as musical ability, eloquence, skill in handicraft, or the like, ought to use that gift to the full, that he or others may be profited thereby: but should he be too neglectful to exercize his powers in independent service, he may assist others to profitable effort, by encouragement if by nothing more. who can doubt in the spirit of the lord's teaching, that had the man been able to report the doubling of his single talent, he would have been as cordially commended and as richly recompensed as were his more highly endowed and faithful fellows? it is notable that to the charge of unrighteousness made by the unfaithful servant, the lord deigns no refutation; the spirit of the reply was the same as that expressed in the earlier parable: "out of thine own mouth will i judge thee, thou wicked servant."[ ] the unworthy man sought to excuse himself by the despicable but all too common subterfuge of presumptuously charging culpability in another, and in this instance, that other was his lord. talents are not given to be buried, and then to be dug up and offered back unimproved, reeking with the smell of earth and dulled by the corrosion of disuse. the unused talent was justly taken from him who had counted it as of so little worth, and was given to one, who, although possessing much, would use the additional gift to his own profit, to the betterment of his fellows, and to the glory of his lord. the inevitable judgment.[ ] the lord had uttered his last parable. in words of plainness, though suffused with the beauty of effective simile, he impressed upon the listening disciples the certainty of judgment by which the world shall be visited in the day of his appearing. then shall the wheat be segregated from the tares,[ ] and the sheep divided from the goats. "when the son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left." unto those on his right hand the king shall give commendation and blessing, bestowing a rich recompense for their good works, as attested by the hungry they had fed, the thirsty to whom they had given drink, the stranger they had lodged, the naked they had clothed, the sick to whom they had ministered, the prisoners they had visited and encouraged, all of which mercies are accredited to them as having been rendered to their lord in person. the blessed company, overwhelmed by the plenitude of the king's bounty, of which they regard themselves as undeserving, will fain disclaim the merit attributed to them; "and the king shall answer and say unto them, verily i say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." unto them who wait on the left in terrified expectancy, the king shall recount their several deficiencies, in that they had given him neither food nor drink, shelter nor clothing despite his need; neither had they visited him though ill, nor ministered unto his wants when he lay in a prison cell. in the desperation of anguish these shall ask when and where they had had such opportunity of comforting him, and he shall answer, "verily i say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." the righteous shall be welcomed with "come ye blessed of my father"; the wicked shall hear the awful sentence, "depart from me ye cursed." eternal life is the inestimable reward; everlasting punishment the unfathomable doom.[ ] viewing as one discourse the two parables and the teaching that directly followed, we find in it such unity of subject and thoroughness of treatment as to give to the whole both beauty and worth beyond the sum of these qualities exhibited in the several parts. vigilant waiting in the lord's cause, and the dangers of unreadiness are exemplified in the story of the virgins; diligence in work and the calamitous results of sloth are prominent features of the tale of the talents. these two phases of service are of reciprocal and complementary import; it is as necessary at times to wait as at others to work. the lapse of a long period, as while the bridegroom tarried, and as during the master's absence in "a far country,"[ ] is made plain throughout as intervening between the lord's departure and his return in glory. the absolute certainty of the christ coming to execute judgment upon the earth, in the which every soul shall receive according to his deserts, is the sublime summary of this unparalleled discourse. another specific prediction of the lord's death. following the instructions to the apostles at the resting place on olivet, and probably in the course of the continued walk toward bethany that evening, jesus reminded the twelve of the awful fate awaiting him, and specified the time of his betrayal and the manner of his death. "ye know," he said, "that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the son of man is betrayed to be crucified."[ ] notes to chapter . . early fulfilment of the lord's prophecies.--as to the literal fulfilment of the lord's predictions relating to the times immediately following his ascension and down to the destruction of jerusalem, the student must be referred to scriptural and other history. only a brief summary of the most notable events can be attempted here. on the matter of wars and rumors or threats of wars, see josephus, antiquities xviii, ch. , and wars, ii, ch. . the latter reference is to the account of the decree issued by caligula that his statue be set up and duly reverenced in the temple, in consequence of which the jews protested so strenuously that war was declared against them, but was averted by the death of the emperor. concerning the death of caligula, josephus remarks that it "happened most happily for our nation in particular, which would have almost utterly perished, if he had not been suddenly slain." other threats of war against the jews were severally made by the emperors claudius and nero. nation rose against nation, as for example, in the assault of greeks and syrians upon the jews, in the course of which , jews were slain at selucia on the tigris, and , at cæsarea, , at scythopolis, and , at ascalon. famine and its attendant pestilence prevailed during the reign of claudius, ( - a.d.) and such had been specifically predicted by inspiration, through agabus (acts : ). the famine was very severe in palestine (josephus, antiquities, xx, ch. ). earthquakes were of alarming frequency and of unusual severity, between the death of christ and the destruction of jerusalem, particularly in syria, macedonia, campania, and achia. see tacitus, _annals_, books xii and xiv; and for account of violent seismic disturbances at rome, see suetonius in his _life of galba_. josephus (wars iv, ch. ) records a particularly severe earthquake that disrupted parts of judea, and was accompanied by "amazing concussions and bellowings of the earth--a manifest indication that some destruction was coming upon men." the portent of "fearful sights and great signs" from heaven, as recorded by luke was realized in the phenomenal events chronicled by josephus (preface to "wars"). of the persecution that befell the apostles and others, and of their arraignment before rulers, dr. adam clarke, in his commentary on passages in matt , says: "we need go no farther than the acts of the apostles for the completion of these particulars. some were delivered to councils, as peter and john (acts : ). some were brought before rulers and kings, as paul before gallio ( : ); before felix (ch. ); before festus and agrippa (ch. ). some had utterance and wisdom which their adversaries were not able to resist; so stephen ( : ), and paul who made even felix himself tremble ( : ). some were imprisoned, as peter and john ( : ). some were beaten, as paul and silas ( : ). some were put to death, as stephen ( : ); and james the brother of john ( : ). but if we look beyond the book of the acts of the apostles, to the bloody persecutions under nero, we shall find these predictions still more amply fulfilled; in these, numberless christians fell, besides those two champions of the faith, peter and paul. and it was, as says tertullian, a war against the very name of christ; for he who was called christian had committed crime enough in bearing the name to be put to death. so true were our savior's words that they should be hated of all men for his name's sake." among the false prophets, and men who claimed to be the duly accredited ministers of christ, were simon magus who drew many people after him (acts : , , - ; see also _the great apostasy_, : , ), menander, dositheus, and theudas, and the false apostles referred to by paul ( cor. : ) and others, such as hymeneus and philetus ( tim. : , ). dummelow's _commentary_ applies here the record by josephus concerning "a body of wicked men, who deceived and deluded the people under pretense of divine inspiration, who prevailed with the multitude to act like madmen, and went before them into the wilderness, pretending that god would there show them the signals of victory." compare peter : ; john : ; : . that the love of many did wax cold, both before and after the destruction of jerusalem, is attested by the facts of the world-wide apostasy, which was the result of corruption within and persecution from without the church (see _the great apostasy_, chaps. - ). the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom "in all the world" was no less truly an essential characteristic of the apostolic period than it is of the current or last dispensation. the rapid spread of the gospel and the phenomenal growth of the church under the direction of the apostles of old, is recorded as one of the marvels of history (_great apostasy_, : , and citation of eusebius). paul, writing about thirty years after christ's ascension, affirms that the gospel had already been carried to every nation, and "preached to every creature under heaven" (col. : , compare verse ). the "abomination of desolation" cited by the lord from the prophecy by daniel was strictly fulfilled in the investment of jerusalem by the roman army (compare luke : , ). to the jews the ensigns and images of the romans were a disgusting abomination. josephus (wars vi, ch. ) states that the roman ensigns were set up inside the temple and that the soldiery offered sacrifices before them. the warning to all to flee from jerusalem and judea to the mountains when the armies would begin to surround the city was so generally heeded by members of the church, that according to the early church writers not one christian perished in the awful siege (see eusebius, _eccles. hist._, book iii, ch. ). the first siege by gallus was unexpectedly raised, and then, before the armies of vespasian arrived at the walls, all jews who had faith in the warning given by christ to the apostles, and by these to the people, fled beyond jordan, and congregated mostly at pella (compare josephus, wars ii, ch. ). as to the unprecedented horrors of the siege, which culminated in the utter destruction of jerusalem and the temple, see josephus, wars vi, chaps. and . that historian estimates the number slain in jerusalem alone as , , and in other cities and rural parts a third as many more. for details see josephus, wars ii, chaps. , ; iii, , , , ; iv, , , , , ; vii, , , . many tens of thousands were taken captive, to be afterward sold into slavery, or to be slain by wild beasts, or in gladiatorial combat in the arena for the amusement of roman spectators. in the course of the siege, a wall was constructed about the entire city, thus fulfilling the lord's prediction (luke : ), "thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee," in which, by the admittedly better translation, "bank" or "palisade" should appear instead of "trench". in september a.d. the city fell into the hands of the romans; and its destruction was afterward made so thorough that its site was plowed up. jerusalem was "trodden down of the gentiles", and ever since has been under gentile dominion, and so shall continue to be "until the times of the gentiles be fulfilled." (luke : .) . in the deserts and in secret chambers.--the th chapter of matthew, and its parallel scriptures in mark and luke , may be the more easily understood if we bear in mind that the lord therein speaks of two distinct events, each a consummation of long ages of preparation, and the first a prototype of the second. many of the specific predictions are applicable both to the time preceding or at the destruction of jerusalem, and to developments of succeeding time down to the second coming of christ. the passage in matt. : may be given this two-fold application. josephus tells of men leading others away into the desert, saying under pretended inspiration that there should they find god; and the same historian mentions a false prophet who led many into the secret chambers of the temple during the roman assault, promising them that there would the lord give them deliverance. men, women, and children followed this fanatical leader, and were caught in the holocaust of destruction, so that , of them perished in the flames (josephus, wars vi, ch. ). concerning an application of the lord's precepts to later times and conditions, the author has elsewhere written (_the great apostasy_, : - ): one of the heresies of early origin and rapid growth in the church was the doctrine of antagonism between body and spirit, whereby the former was regarded as an incubus and a curse. from what has been said this will be recognized as one of the perversions derived from the alliance of gnosticism with christianity. a result of this grafting in of heathen doctrines was an abundant growth of hermit practises, by which men sought to weaken, torture, and subdue their bodies, that their spirits or "souls" might gain greater freedom. many who adopted this unnatural view of human existence retired to the solitude of the desert, and there spent their time in practises of stern self-denial and in acts of frenzied self-torture. others shut themselves up as voluntary prisoners, seeking glory in privation and self-imposed penance. it was this unnatural view of life that gave rise to the several orders of recluses, hermits, and monks. think you not that the savior had such practises in mind, when, warning the disciples of the false claims to sanctity that would characterize the times then soon to follow, he said: "wherefore if they shall say unto you. behold he [christ] is in the desert, go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers, believe it not"? . the time of christ's advent not known.--the lord's statement that the time of his advent in glory was unknown to man, and that the angels knew it not, "neither the son", but that it was known to the father only, appears plain and unambiguous notwithstanding many and conflicting commentaries thereon. jesus repeatedly affirmed that his mission was to do the will of the father; and it is evident that the father's will was revealed to him from time to time. while in the flesh he laid no claim to omniscience; though whatever he willed to know he learned through the medium of communication with the father. christ had not asked to know what the father had not intimated his readiness to reveal, which, in this instance, was the day and hour of the son's appointed return to earth as a glorified, resurrected being. we need not hesitate to believe that at the time jesus delivered to the apostles the discourse under consideration, he was uninformed on the matter; for he so states. in the last interview between christ and the apostles immediately before his ascension (acts : , ) they asked "lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to israel? and he said unto them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the father hath put in his own power." nor has the date of the messianic consummation been since revealed to any man; though even now, the fig tree is rapidly putting forth its leaves, and he who hath eyes to see and a heart to understand knows that the summer of the lord's purpose is near at hand. . the false doctrine of supererogation.--among the pernicious fallacies promulgated as authorized dogmas by the apostate church during the long period of spiritual darkness following the close of the apostolic ministry, was the awful enormity known as the doctrine of supererogation. as stated by mosheim (_eccl. hist._ cent. xii, part ii, ch. : ) the dreadful doctrine was formulated in the thirteenth century as follows: "that there actually existed an immense treasure of _merit_, composed of the pious deeds and virtuous actions which the saints had performed _beyond what was necessary for their own salvation_, and which were therefore applicable to the benefit of others; that the guardian and dispenser of this precious treasure was the roman pontiff, and that of consequence he was empowered to assign to such as he thought proper a portion of this inexhaustible source of merit, suitable to their respective guilt, and sufficient to deliver them from the punishment due to their crimes." concerning the fallacy of this doctrine the author has written (_the great apostasy_, : ), in this wise: "this doctrine of supererogation is as unreasonable as it is unscriptural and untrue. man's individual responsibility for his acts is as surely a fact as is his agency to act for himself. he will be saved through the merits and by the atoning sacrifice of our redeemer and lord; and his claim upon the salvation provided is strictly dependent on his compliance with the principles and ordinances of the gospel as established by jesus christ. remission of sins and the eventual salvation of the human soul are provided for; but these gifts of god are not to be purchased with money. compare the awful fallacies of supererogation and the blasphemous practise of assuming to remit the sins of one man in consideration of the merits of another, with the declaration of the one and only savior of mankind: 'but i say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment.'" if conclusions as to doctrine may be drawn from our lord's parables, the parable of the ten virgins affords refutation of the satanic suggestion that one man's sin may be neutralized by another's righteousness. we know no supererogation but that of the lord jesus christ, through whose merits salvation is placed within the reach of all men. . "this generation."--consult any reliable unabridged dictionary of the english language for evidence of the fact that the term "generation," as connoting a period of time, has many meanings, among which are "race, kind, class." the term is not confined to a body of people living at one time. fausett's _bible cyclopedia, critical and expository_, after citing many meanings attached to the word, says: "in matthew : 'this generation shall not pass (viz. the jewish race, of which the generation in christ's days was a sample in character; compare christ's address to the "generation," : , , in proof that "generation" means at times the whole jewish race) till all these things be fulfilled'--a prophecy that the jews shall be a distinct people still when he shall come again." footnotes: [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - : luke : - . compare p. of g.p., joseph smith, . [ ] mark : ; compare matt. : , ; luke : , ; : , . [ ] luke : ; compare doc. and cov. : . [ ] dan. : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : ; compare luke : - . [ ] the "body," as that of the church, is rendered "carcase" in both authorized and revised versions. for the application of the figure--of eagles gathering about a carcase--to the assembling of scattered israel, see p. of g.p., joseph smith, : , where we read: "so likewise shall mine elect be gathered from the four quarters of the earth." among bible scholars, a favorite interpretation of the passage, "for wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together," is that christ was likening unto eagles (revised version "vultures") the angels that shall come with him to execute judgment upon mankind, and unto a carcase the corruption of sin. see matt. : ; compare luke : . [ ] matt. : ; compare : ; mark : ; luke : ; compare : ; see also heb. : , ; peter : - ; rev. : . note , end of chapter. [ ] this is mark's version; in the parallel passage matt. : , the words "neither the son" are not found in the king james text, but do appear in the revised version. see note , end of chapter. [ ] page . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - , compare : - . [ ] matt. : - . [ ] compare rev. : , ; : ; see also matt. : ; john : . [ ] see parable of the sower, matt. : , , , ; page herein. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] compare john : . [ ] doc. and cov. : - ; see also : , . [ ] matt. : - . [ ] luke : - ; see also page herein. [ ] margin, revised version. [ ] cor. : ; study the entire chapter. [ ] luke : . [ ] luke : ; compare matt. : . [ ] matt. : - . [ ] matt. : - ; page herein. [ ] page . [ ] the revised version reads "another country" instead of "a far country," in matt. : . [ ] matt. : . chapter . the last supper and the betrayal. priestly conspirators and the traitor. as the time for the annual feast of the passover approached, and particularly during the two days immediately preceding the beginning of the festival, the chief priests, scribes, and elders of the people, in short the sanhedrin and the entire priestly party, conspired persistently together as to the best manner of taking jesus into custody and putting him to death. at one of these gatherings of evil counsel, which was held at the palace of the high priest, caiaphas,[ ] it was decided that jesus should be taken by subtlety if possible, as the probable effect of an open arrest would be an uprising of the people. the rulers feared especially an outbreak by the galileans, who had a provincial pride in the prominence of jesus as one of their countrymen, and many of whom were then in jerusalem. it was further concluded and for the same reasons, that the jewish custom of making impressive examples of notable offenders by executing public punishment upon them at times of great general assemblages, be set aside in the case of jesus; therefore the conspirators said: "not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people."[ ] on earlier occasions they had made futile attempts to get jesus into their hands;[ ] and they were naturally dubious as to the outcome of their later machinations. at this juncture they were encouraged and gladdened in their wicked plots by the appearance of an unexpected ally. judas iscariot, one of the twelve, sought an audience with these rulers of the jews, and infamously offered to betray his lord into their hands.[ ] under the impulse of diabolic avarice, which, however, was probably but a secondary element in the real cause of his perfidious treachery, he bargained to sell his master for money, and chaffered with the priestly purchasers over the price of the savior's blood. "what will ye give me?" he asked; "and they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver."[ ] this amount, approximately seventeen dollars in our money, but of many times greater purchasing power with the jews in that day than now with us, was the price fixed by the law as that of a slave; it was also the foreseen sum of the blood-money to be paid for the lord's betrayal.[ ] that the silver was actually paid to judas, either at this first interview or at some later meeting between the traitor and the priests, is demonstrated by after events.[ ] he had pledged himself to the blackest deed of treachery of which man is capable, and from that hour he sought the opportunity of superseding his infamous promise by its more villainous fulfilment. we are yet to be afflicted by other glimpses of the evil-hearted iscariot in the course of this dread chronicle of tragedy and perdition; for the present let it be said that before judas sold christ to the jews, he had sold himself to the devil; he had become satan's serf, and did his master's bidding. the last supper. the day preceding the eating of the passover lamb had come to be known among the jews as the first day of the feast of unleavened bread,[ ] since on that day all leaven had to be removed from their dwellings, and thereafter for a period of eight days the eating of anything containing leaven was unlawful. on the afternoon of this day, the paschal lambs were slain within the temple court, by the representatives of families or companies who were to eat together; and a portion of the blood of each lamb was sprinkled at the foot of the altar of sacrifice by one of the numerous priests on duty for the day. the slain lamb, then said to have been sacrificed, was borne away to the appointed gathering place of those by whom it was to be eaten. during the first of the days of unleavened bread, which in the year of our lord's death appears to have fallen on thursday,[ ] some of the twelve inquired of jesus where they should make preparations for the paschal meal.[ ] he instructed peter and john to return to jerusalem, and added: "behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in. and ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, the master saith unto thee, where is the guest chamber, where i shall eat the passover with my disciples? and he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready. and they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover." in the evening, thursday evening as we reckon time, but the beginning of friday according to the jewish calendar,[ ] jesus came with the twelve, and together they sat down to the last meal of which the lord would partake before his death. under strain of profound emotion, "he said unto them, with desire i have desired to eat this passover with you before i suffer: for i say unto you, i will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of god. and he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, take this, and divide it among yourselves: for i say unto you, i will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of god shall come." the pronouncing of a blessing by the host upon a cup of wine, which was afterward passed round the table to each participant in turn, was the customary manner of beginning the passover supper. at this solemn meal jesus appears to have observed the essentials of the passover procedure; but we have no record of his compliance with the many supernumerary requirements with which the divinely established memorial of israel's deliverance from bondage had been invested by traditional custom and rabbinical prescription. as we shall see, the evening's proceedings in that upper room comprized much beside the ordinary observance of an annual festival. the supper proceeded under conditions of tense sadness. as they ate, the lord sorrowfully remarked: "verily i say unto you, one of you which eateth with me shall betray me." most of the apostles fell into a state of introspection; and one after another exclaimed: "is it i?" "lord, is it i?" it is pleasing to note that each of those who so inquired was more concerned with the dread thought that possibly he was an offender, however inadvertently so, than as to whether his brother was about to prove himself a traitor. jesus answered that it was one of the twelve, then and there eating with him from the common dish, and continued with the terrifying pronouncement: "the son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born." then judas iscariot, who had already covenanted to sell his master for money, and who at this moment probably feared that silence might arouse suspicion against himself, asked with a brazen audacity that was veritably devilish: "master, is it i?" with cutting promptness the lord replied: "thou hast said."[ ] there was further cause of sorrow to jesus at the supper. some of the twelve had fallen into muttering dispute among themselves over the matter of individual precedence,[ ] possibly as to the order in which they should take their places at table, over which triviality scribes and pharisees as well as the gentiles often quarreled;[ ] and again the lord had to remind the apostles that the greatest of them all was he who most willingly served his fellows. they had been taught before; yet now, at this late and solemn hour, they were suffused with vain and selfish ambition. in sorrowful earnestness the lord pleaded with them, asking who is greater, he that sits at the table, or he that serves? and the obvious reply he supplemented by the statement: "but i am among you as he that serveth." with loving pathos he added: "ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations;"[ ] and then he assured them that they should lack neither honor nor glory in the kingdom of god, for if they proved faithful they should be appointed to thrones as the judges of israel. for those of his chosen ones who were true to him, the lord had no feeling less than that of love, and of yearning for their victory over satan and sin. the ordinance of the washing of feet[ ] leaving the table, the lord laid aside his outer garments and girded himself with a towel as an apron; then having provided himself with a basin and a supply of water, he knelt before each of the twelve in turn, washed his feet, and wiped them with the towel. when he reached peter, that impulsive apostle protested, saying: "lord, dost thou wash my feet?" that the proceeding was something more than mere service for personal comfort, and more than an object-lesson of humility, appears in the lord's words to peter--"what i do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter." peter, failing to understand, objected yet more vehemently; "thou shalt never wash my feet," he exclaimed. jesus answered: "if i wash thee not, thou hast no part with me." then, with even greater impetuosity than before, peter implored as he stretched forth both feet and hands, "lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." he had gone to the other extreme, insisting, though ignorantly and unthinkingly, that things be done his way, and failing yet to see that the ordinance had to be administered as the lord willed. again correcting his well-intending though presumptuous servant, jesus said to him: "he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all." each of them had been immersed at baptism; the washing of feet was an ordinance pertaining to the holy priesthood, the full import of which they had yet to learn.[ ] having resumed his garments and returned to his place at the table, jesus impressed the significance of what he had done, saying: "ye call me master and lord: and ye say well; for so i am. if i then, your lord and master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. for i have given you an example, that ye should do as i have done to you. verily, verily, i say unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. if ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."[ ] the sacrament of the lord's supper.[ ] while jesus with the twelve still sat at table, he took a loaf or cake of bread, and having reverently given thanks and by blessing sanctified it, he gave a portion to each of the apostles, saying: "take, eat; this is my body"; or, according to the more extended account, "this is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me." then, taking a cup of wine, he gave thanks and blessed it, and gave it unto them with the command: "drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. but i say unto you, i will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when i drink it new with you in my father's kingdom."[ ] in this simple but impressive manner was instituted the ordinance, since known as the sacrament of the lord's supper. the bread and wine, duly consecrated by prayer, become emblems of the lord's body and blood, to be eaten and drunk reverently, and in remembrance of him. the proceedings at the institution of this sacred rite were afterward revealed to paul the apostle, whose recorded testimony as to its establishment and sanctity is in accord with the accounts given by the gospel-writers.[ ] as shall be hereinafter shown, the ordinance was instituted by the lord among the nephites, on the western continent, and has been reestablished in the present dispensation.[ ] during the dark ages of apostasy, unauthorized changes in the administration of the sacrament were introduced, and many false doctrines as to its meaning and effect were promulgated.[ ] the betrayer goes out into the night.[ ] in saying to the twelve, whose feet he had washed, "ye are clean," the lord had specified an exception by his after remark, "but not all." john, the recorder, takes care to explain that jesus had in mind the traitor, and, "therefore said he, ye are not all clean." the guilty iscariot had received without protest the lord's service in the washing of his recreant feet, though after the ablution he was spiritually more filthy than before. when jesus had again sat down, the burden of his knowledge concerning the treacherous heart of judas again found expression. "i speak not of you all," he said, "i know whom i have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me."[ ] the lord was intent on impressing the fact of his foreknowledge as to what was to come, so that when the terrible development was an accomplished fact, the apostles would realize that thereby the scriptures had been fulfilled. troubled in spirit, he reiterated the dreadful assertion that one of those present would betray him. peter made signs to john, who occupied the place next to jesus and was at that moment leaning his head on the lord's breast, that he ask which of them was the traitor. to john's whispered inquiry the lord replied: "he it is, to whom i shall give a sop, when i have dipped it." there was nothing unusual for a person at table, particularly the host, to dip a piece of bread into the dish of gravy or savory mixture, and hand it to another. such action on the part of jesus attracted no general attention. he dipped the morsel of bread and gave it to judas iscariot, with the words: "that thou doest, do quickly." the others understood the lord's remark as an instruction to judas to attend to some duty or go upon some errand of ordinary kind, perhaps to purchase something for the further celebration of the passover, or to carry gifts to some of the poor, for judas was the treasurer of the party and "had the bag." but iscariot understood. his heart was all the more hardened by the discovery that jesus knew of his infamous plans, and he was maddened by the humiliation he felt in the master's presence. after the sop, which he had opened his mouth to receive from the lord's hand, "satan entered into him" and asserted malignant mastership. judas went out immediately, abandoning forever the blessed company of his brethren and the lord. john chronicles the traitor's departure with the terse and ominous remark, "and it was night." discourse following the supper. the departure of judas iscariot appears to have dissipated to some degree the cloud of utter sadness by which the little company had been depressed; and our lord himself was visibly relieved. as soon as the door had closed upon the retreating deserter, jesus exclaimed, as though his victory over death had been already accomplished: "now is the son of man glorified, and god is glorified in him." addressing the eleven in terms of parental affection, he said: "little children, yet a little while i am with you. ye shall seek me: and as i said unto the jews, whither i go, ye cannot come; so now i say to you. a new commandment i give unto you, that ye love one another; as i have loved you, that ye also love one another. by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."[ ] the law of moses enjoined mutual love among friends and neighbors;[ ] but the new commandment, by which the apostles were to be governed, embodied love of a higher order. they were to love one another as christ loved them; and their brotherly affection was to be a distinguishing mark of their apostleship, by which the world would recognize them as men set apart. the lord's reference to his impending separation from them troubled the brethren. peter put the question, "lord, whither goest thou?" jesus answered: "whither i go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards. peter said unto him, lord, why cannot i follow thee now? i will lay down my life for thy sake." peter seems to have realized that his master was going to his death; yet, undeterred, he asserted his readiness to follow even that dark way rather than be separated from his lord. we cannot doubt the earnestness of peter's purpose nor the sincerity of his desire at that moment. in his bold avowal, however, he had reckoned with the willingness of his spirit only, and had failed to take into full account the weakness of his flesh. jesus, who knew peter better than the man knew himself, thus tenderly reproved his excess of self-confidence: "simon, simon, behold, satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but i have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." the first of the apostles, the man of rock, yet had to be converted, or as more precisely rendered, "turned again";[ ] for as the lord foresaw, peter would soon be overcome, even to the extent of denying his acquaintanceship with christ. when peter stoutly declared again his readiness to go with jesus, even into prison or to death, the lord silenced him with the remark: "i tell thee, peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me." the apostles had to be prepared to meet a new order of things, new conditions and new exigencies; persecution awaited them, and they were soon to be bereft of the master's sustaining presence. jesus asked of them: "when i sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye anything? and they said, nothing. then said he unto them, but now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. for i say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, and he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end." the lord was soon to be numbered among the transgressors, as had been foreseen;[ ] and his disciples would be regarded as the devotees of an executed criminal. in the mention of purse, scrip, shoes, and sword, some of the brethren caught at the literal meaning, and said, "lord, behold, here are two swords," jesus answered with curt finality, "it is enough," or as we might say, "enough of this." he had not intimated any immediate need of weapons, and most assuredly not for his own defense. again they had failed to fathom his meaning; but experience would later teach them.[ ] for such information as we have concerning the last discourse delivered by jesus to the apostles before his crucifixion, we are indebted to john alone among the gospel-writers; and every reader is advized to study with care the three chapters in which these sublime utterances are preserved for the enlightenment of mankind.[ ] observing the sorrowful state of the eleven, the master bade them be of good cheer, grounding their encouragement and hope on faith in himself. "let not your heart be troubled," he said, "ye believe in god, believe also in me." then, as though drawing aside the veil between the earthly and the heavenly state and giving his faithful servants a glimpse of conditions beyond, he continued: "in my father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, i would have told you. i go to prepare a place for you. and if i go and prepare a place for you, i will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where i am, there ye may be also. and whither i go ye know, and the way ye know."[ ] thus in language simple and plain the lord declared the fact of graded conditions in the hereafter, of variety of occupation and degrees of glory, of place and station in the eternal worlds.[ ] he had affirmed his own inherent godship, and through their trust in him and obedience to his requirements would they find the way to follow whither he was about to precede them. thomas, that loving, brave, though somewhat skeptical soul, desiring more definite information ventured to say: "lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?" the lord's answer was a reaffirmation of his divinity; "i am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the father, but by me. if ye had known me, ye should have known my father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him." at this point philip interposed with the request, "lord, shew us the father, and it sufficeth us." jesus answered with pathetic and mild reproof: "have i been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the father; and how sayest thou then, shew us the father?" he was grieved by the thought that his nearest and dearest friends on earth, those upon whom he had conferred the authority of the holy priesthood, should be yet ignorant of his absolute oneness with the father in purpose and action. had the eternal father stood amongst them, in person, under the conditions there existing, he would have done as did the well beloved and only begotten son, whom they knew as jesus, their lord and master. so absolutely were the father and the son of one heart and mind, that to know either was to know both; nevertheless the father could be reached only through the son. so far as the apostles had faith in christ, and did his will, should they be able to do the works that christ in the flesh had done, and even greater things, for his mortal mission was of but a few hours further duration, and the unfolding of the divine plan of the ages would call for yet greater miracles than those wrought by jesus in the brief period of his ministry. for the first time the lord directed his disciples to pray in his name to the father, and assurance of success in righteous supplication was given in these words: "and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will i do, that the father may be glorified in the son. if ye shall ask any thing in my name, i will do it."[ ] the name of jesus christ was to be thenceforth the divinely established talisman by which the powers of heaven could be invoked to operate in any righteous undertaking. the holy ghost was promised to the apostles; he would be sent through christ's intercession, to be to them "another comforter," or as rendered in later translations, "another advocate" or "helper," even the spirit of truth, who, though the world would reject him as they had rejected the christ, should dwell with the disciples, and in them even as christ then dwelt in them and the father in him. "i will not leave you comfortless," jesus assured the brethren, "i will come to you. yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because i live, ye shall live also. at that day ye shall know that i am in my father, and ye in me, and i in you."[ ] this was followed by the assurance that christ though unknown by the world would manifest himself to those who loved him and kept his commandments. judas thaddeus, otherwise known as lebbeus,[ ] "not iscariot," as the recorder is careful to particularize, was puzzled over the untraditional and un-jewish thought of a messiah who would be known but to the chosen few and not to israel at large; and he asked: "lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?" jesus explained that his and the father's companionship was attainable only by the faithful. he further cheered the apostles by the promise that when the comforter, the holy ghost, whom the father would send in the name of the son, would come to them, he would teach them further, and would bring to their remembrance the teachings they had received from the christ. the distinct personality of each member of the godhead, father, son, and holy ghost, is here again plainly shown.[ ] comforting the yet troubled disciples, jesus said: "peace i leave with you, my peace i give unto you"; and that they might realize that this meant more than the conventional salutation of the times, for "peace be with you" was an every-day greeting among the jews, the lord affirmed that he gave that invocation in a higher sense, and "not as the world giveth." again bidding them put aside their grief and be not afraid, jesus added: "ye have heard how i said unto you, i go away, and come again unto you. if ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because i said, i go unto the father: for my father is greater than i." the lord made clear to his servants that he had told them these things beforehand, so that when the predicted events came to pass the apostles would be confirmed in their faith in him, the christ. he had time to say but little more, for the next hour would witness the beginning of the supreme struggle; "the prince of this world cometh," he said, and with triumphal joy added, "and hath nothing in me."[ ] in superb allegory the lord thus proceeded to illustrate the vital relationship between the apostles and himself, and between himself and the father, by the figure of a vine-grower, a vine, and its branches:[ ] "i am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman. every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it,[ ] that it may bring forth more fruit." a grander analogy is not to be found in the world's literature. those ordained servants of the lord were as helpless and useless without him as is a bough severed from the tree. as the branch is made fruitful only by virtue of the nourishing sap it receives from the rooted trunk, and if cut away or broken off withers, dries, and becomes utterly worthless except as fuel for the burning, so those men, though ordained to the holy apostleship, would find themselves strong and fruitful in good works, only as they remained in steadfast communion with the lord. without christ what were they, but unschooled galileans, some of them fishermen, one a publican, the rest of undistinguished attainments, and all of them weak mortals? as branches of the vine they were at that hour clean and healthful, through the instructions and authoritative ordinances with which they had been blessed, and by the reverent obedience they had manifested. "abide in me," was the lord's forceful admonition, else they would become but withered boughs. "i am the vine," he added in explication of the allegory "ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and i in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. if a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. if ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. herein is my father glorified, that ye bear much fruit: so shall ye be my disciples." their love for one another was again specified as an essential to their continued love for christ.[ ] in that love would they find joy. christ had been to them an exemplar of righteous love from the day of their first meeting; and he was about to give the supreme proof of his affection, as foreshadowed in his words, "greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." and that those men were the lord's friends was thus graciously affirmed; "ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever i command you. henceforth i call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but i have called you friends; for all things that i have heard of my father i have made known unto you." this intimate relationship in no sense modified the position of christ as their lord and master, for by him they had been chosen and ordained; and it was his will that they should so live that whatever they asked in the name of the holy friendship which he acknowledged should be granted them of the father. they were again told of the persecutions that awaited them, and of their apostolic calling as special and individual witnesses of the lord.[ ] that the world then did, and would yet more intensely hate them was a fact they had to face; but they were to remember that the world had hated their master before them, and that they had been chosen and by ordination had been set apart from the world; therefore they must not hope to escape the world's hatred. the servant was not greater than his master, nor the apostle than his lord, as on general principles they knew, and as they had been specifically told. they that hated them hated the christ; and they that hated the son hated the father; great shall be the condemnation of such. had the wicked jews not closed their eyes and stopped their ears to the mighty works and gracious words of the messiah, they would have been convinced of the truth, and the truth would have saved them; but they were left without cloak or excuse for their sin; and christ affirmed that in their evil course had the scriptures been fulfilled in that they had hated him without a cause.[ ] then, reverting to the great and cheering promise of support through the coming of the holy ghost, the lord said: "but when the comforter is come, whom i will send unto you from the father, even the spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the father, he shall testify of me: and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning." these things had jesus declared unto them that they might not "be offended," or in other words, taken by surprize, misled, and caused to doubt and stumble by the unprecedented events then impending. the apostles were forewarned of persecution, of their expulsion from the synagogs, and of a time in which hatred against them should be so bitter and the satanic darkness of mind and spirit so dense that whosoever succeeded in killing one of them would profess that his foul deed had been done in god's service. in view of their overwhelming sorrow at the lord's departure, he sought again to cheer them, saying: "nevertheless i tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that i go away: for if i go not away, the comforter will not come unto you; but if i depart, i will send him unto you." the assured descent of the holy ghost, through whom they should be made strong to meet every need and emergency, was the inspiring theme of this part of the lord's discourse. many things which christ yet had to say to his apostles, but which they were at that time unable to understand, the holy ghost would teach them. "howbeit," said jesus, "when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. he shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. all things that the father hath are mine: therefore said i, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you."[ ] turning again to the matter of his departure, then so near as to be reckoned by hours, the lord said, in amplified form of what he had before affirmed: "a little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because i go to the father."[ ] the apostles pondered and some questioned among themselves as to the lord's meaning, yet so deep was the solemnity of the occasion that they ventured no open inquiry. jesus knew of their perplexity and graciously explained that they would soon weep and lament while the world rejoiced; this had reference to his death; but he promised that their sorrow should be turned into joy; and this was based on his resurrection to which they should be witnesses. he compared their then present and prospective state to that of a woman in travail, who in the after joy of blessed motherhood forgets her anguish. the happiness that awaited them would be beyond the power of man to take away; and thenceforth they should ask not of christ alone, but of the father in christ's name; "and," said the lord, "in that day ye shall ask me nothing. verily, verily, i say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the father in my name, he will give it you. hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full."[ ] they were to be advanced to such honor and exalted recognition that they should approach the father in prayer direct, but in the name of the son; for they were beloved of the father because they had loved jesus, the son, and had accepted him as one sent by the father. the lord again solemnly averred: "i came forth from the father, and am come into the world: again, i leave the world, and go to the father." the disciples were gratified at this plain avouchment, and exclaimed: "lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from god." their satisfaction threatened danger through over-confidence; and the lord cautioned them, saying, that in an hour then close they should all be scattered, every man to his own, leaving jesus alone, except for the father's presence. in the same connection he told them that before the night had passed every one of them would be offended because of him, even as it had been written: "i will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad."[ ] peter, the most vehement of all in his protestations, had been told, as we have seen, that by cock-crow that night he would have thrice denied his lord; but all of them had declared they would be faithful whatever the trial.[ ] in further affirmation of the material actuality of his resurrection, jesus promised the apostles that after he had risen from the grave he would go before them into galilee.[ ] in conclusion of this last and most solemn of the discourses delivered by christ in the flesh, the lord said: "these things i have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. in the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; i have overcome the world."[ ] the concluding prayer. the impressive discourse to the apostles was followed by a prayer such as could be addressed to none but the eternal father, and such as none but the son of that father could offer.[ ] it has been called, and not inappropriately, the lord's high-priestly prayer. in it jesus acknowledged the father as the source of his power and authority, which authority extends even to the giving of eternal life to all who are worthy: "and this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true god, and jesus christ, whom thou hast sent." by way of reverent report as to the work assigned him, the son said: "i have glorified thee on the earth: i have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. and now, o father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which i had with thee before the world was." with unfathomable love the lord pleaded for those whom the father had given him, the apostles then present, who had been called out from the world, and who had been true to their testimony of himself as the son of god. of them but one, the son of perdition, had been lost. in the fervor of devoted supplication, the lord pleaded: "i pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. they are not of the world, even as i am not of the world. sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. as thou hast sent me into the world, even so have i also sent them into the world. and for their sakes i sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. neither pray i for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, father, art in me, and i in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. and the glory which thou gavest me i have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: i in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. father, i will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where i am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. o righteous father, the world hath not known thee: but i have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. and i have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and i in them." when they had sung a hymn, jesus and the eleven went out to the mount of olives.[ ] the lord's agony in gethsemane.[ ] jesus and the eleven apostles went forth from the house in which they had eaten, passed through the city gate, which was usually left open at night during a public festival, crossed the ravine of the cedron, or more accurately kidron, brook, and entered an olive orchard known as gethsemane,[ ] on the slope of mount olivet. eight of the apostles he left at or near the entrance, with the instruction: "sit ye here, while i go and pray yonder"; and with the earnest injunction: "pray that ye enter not into temptation." accompanied by peter, james and john, he went farther; and was soon enveloped by deep sorrow, which appears to have been, in a measure, surprizing to himself, for we read that he "began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy." he was impelled to deny himself the companionship of even the chosen three; and, "saith he unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. and he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, o my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as i will, but as thou wilt." mark's version of the prayer is: "abba, father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what i will, but what thou wilt."[ ] this part of his impassioned supplication was heard by at least one of the waiting three; but all of them soon yielded to weariness and ceased to watch. as on the mount of transfiguration, when the lord appeared in glory, so now in the hour of his deepest humiliation, these three slumbered. returning to them in an agony of soul jesus found them sleeping; and addressing peter, who so short a time before had loudly proclaimed his readiness to follow the lord even to prison and death, jesus exclaimed: "what, could ye not watch with me one hour? watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation"; but in tenderness added, "the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." the admonition to the apostles to pray at that time lest they be led into temptation may have been prompted by the exigencies of the hour, under which, if left to themselves, they would be tempted to prematurely desert their lord. aroused from slumber the three apostles saw the lord again retire, and heard him pleading in agony: "o my father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except i drink it, thy will be done." returning a second time he found those whom he had so sorrowfully requested to watch with him sleeping again, "for their eyes were heavy"; and when awakened they were embarrassed or ashamed so that they wist not what to say. a third time he went to his lonely vigil and individual struggle, and was heard to implore the father with the same words of yearning entreaty. luke tells us that "there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him"; but not even the presence of this super-earthly visitant could dispel the awful anguish of his soul. "and being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."[ ] peter had had a glimpse of the darksome road which he had professed himself so ready to tread; and the brothers james and john knew now better than before how unprepared they were to drink of the cup which the lord would drain to its dregs.[ ] when for the last time jesus came back to the disciples left on guard, he said: "sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners." there was no use of further watching; already the torches of the approaching band conducted by judas were observable in the distance. jesus exclaimed: "rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me." standing with the eleven, the lord calmly awaited the traitor's coming. christ's agony in the garden is unfathomable by the finite mind, both as to intensity and cause. the thought that he suffered through fear of death is untenable. death to him was preliminary to resurrection and triumphal return to the father from whom he had come, and to a state of glory even beyond what he had before possessed; and, moreover, it was within his power to lay down his life voluntarily.[ ] he struggled and groaned under a burden such as no other being who has lived on earth might even conceive as possible. it was not physical pain, nor mental anguish alone, that caused him to suffer such torture as to produce an extrusion of blood from every pore; but a spiritual agony of soul such as only god was capable of experiencing. no other man, however great his powers of physical or mental endurance, could have suffered so; for his human organism would have succumbed, and syncope would have produced unconsciousness and welcome oblivion. in that hour of anguish christ met and overcame all the horrors that satan, "the prince of this world"[ ] could inflict. the frightful struggle incident to the temptations immediately following the lord's baptism[ ] was surpassed and overshadowed by this supreme contest with the powers of evil. in some manner, actual and terribly real though to man incomprehensible, the savior took upon himself the burden of the sins of mankind from adam to the end of the world. modern revelation assists us to a partial understanding of the awful experience. in march , the glorified lord, jesus christ, thus spake: "for behold, i, god, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent, but if they would not repent, they must suffer even as i, which suffering caused myself, even god, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit: and would that i might not drink the bitter cup and shrink-- nevertheless, glory be to the father, and i partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men."[ ] from the terrible conflict in gethsemane, christ emerged a victor. though in the dark tribulation of that fearful hour he had pleaded that the bitter cup be removed from his lips, the request, however oft repeated, was always conditional; the accomplishment of the father's will was never lost sight of as the object of the son's supreme desire. the further tragedy of the night, and the cruel inflictions that awaited him on the morrow, to culminate in the frightful tortures of the cross, could not exceed the bitter anguish through which he had successfully passed. the betrayal and the arrest.[ ] during the period of the lord's last and most loving communion with the eleven, judas had been busy in his treacherous conspiracy with the priestly authorities. it is probable that the determination to make the arrest that night was reached when judas reported that jesus was within the city walls and might easily be apprehended. the jewish rulers assembled a body of temple guardsmen or police, and obtained a band of roman soldiers under command of a tribune; this band or cohort was probably a detachment from the garrison of antonia commissioned for the work of the night on requisition of the chief priests.[ ] this company of men and officers representing a combination of ecclesiastical and military authority, set forth in the night with judas at their head, intent on the arrest of jesus. they were equipped with lanterns, torches, and weapons. it is probable that they were first conducted to the house in which judas had left his fellow apostles and the lord, when the traitor had been dismissed; and that finding the little company had gone out, judas led the multitude to gethsemane, for he knew the place, and knew also that "jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples." while jesus was yet speaking to the eleven whom he had roused from slumber with the announcement that the betrayer was at hand, judas and the multitude approached. as a preconcerted sign of identification the recreant iscariot, with treacherous duplicity, came up with a hypocritical show of affection, saying, "hail, master," and profaned his lord's sacred face with a kiss.[ ] that jesus understood the treacherous significance of the act appears in his pathetic, yet piercing and condemning reproach: "judas, betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss?" then, applying the title with which the other apostles had been honored, the lord said: friend, do that for which thou art come.[ ] it was a reiteration of the behest given at the supper table, "that thou doest, do quickly." the armed band hesitated, though their guide had given the signal agreed upon. jesus walked toward the officers, with whom stood judas, and asked, "whom seek ye?" to their reply, "jesus of nazareth," the lord rejoined: "i am he." instead of advancing to take him, the crowd pressed backward, and many of them fell to the ground in fright. the simple dignity and gentle yet compelling force of christ's presence proved more potent than strong arms and weapons of violence. again he put the question, "whom seek ye?" and again they answered, "jesus of nazareth." then said jesus: "i have told you that i am he; if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way." the last remark had reference to the apostles, who were in danger of arrest; and in this evidence of christ's solicitude for their personal safety, john saw a fulfilment of the lord's then recent utterance in prayer, "of them which thou gavest me have i lost none."[ ] it is possible that had any of the eleven been apprehended with jesus and made to share the cruel abuse and torturing humiliation of the next few hours, their faith might have failed them, relatively immature and untried as it then was; even as in succeeding years many who took upon themselves the name of christ yielded to persecution and went into apostasy.[ ] when the officers approached and seized jesus, some of the apostles, ready to fight and die for their beloved master, asked, "lord, shall we smite with the sword?" peter, waiting not for a reply, drew his sword and delivered a poorly aimed stroke at the head of one of the nearest of the crowd, whose ear was severed by the blade. the man thus wounded was malchus, a servant of the high priest. jesus, asking liberty of his captors by the simple request, "suffer ye thus far,"[ ] stepped forward and healed the injured man by a touch. turning to peter the lord rebuked his rashness, and commanded him to return the sword to its scabbard, with the reminder that "all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." then, to show the needlessness of armed resistance, and to emphasize the fact that he was submitting voluntarily and in accordance with foreseen and predicted developments, the lord continued: "thinkest thou that i cannot now pray to my father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? but how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?"[ ] and further, "the cup which my father hath given me, shall i not drink it?"[ ] but, though surrendering himself unresistingly, jesus was not unmindful of his rights; and to the priestly officials, chief priests, captain of the temple guard, and elders of the people who were present, he voiced this interrogative protest against the illegal night seizure: "are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? i sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. but all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled." luke records the lord's concluding words thus: "but this is your hour, and the power of darkness." unheeding his question, and without deference to his submissive demeanor, the captain and the officers of the jews bound jesus with cords and led him away, a prisoner at the mercy of his deadliest enemies. the eleven apostles, seeing that resistance was useless, not only on account of disparity of numbers and supply of weapons but chiefly because of christ's determination to submit, turned and fled. every one of them forsook him, even as he had foretold. that they were really in jeopardy is shown by an incident preserved by mark alone. an unnamed young man, aroused from sleep by the tumult of the marching band, had sallied forth with no outer covering but a linen sheet. his interest in the arrest of jesus and his close approach caused some of the guardsmen or soldiers to seize him; but he broke loose and escaped leaving the sheet in their hands. notes to chapter . . the day of the passover feast.--controversy has been rife for many centuries as to the day of the passover feast in the week of our lord's death. that he was crucified on friday, the day before the jewish sabbath, and that he rose a resurrected being on sunday, the day following the sabbath of the jews, are facts attested by the four gospel-writers. from the three synoptists we infer that the last supper occurred on the evening of the first day of unleavened bread, and therefore at the beginning of the jewish friday. that the lord's last supper was regarded by himself and the apostles as a passover meal appears from matt. : , , , and parallel passages, mark : - ; luke : - ; as also from luke : , . john, however, who wrote after the synoptists and who probably had their writings before him, as is indicated by the supplementary character of his testimony or "gospel", intimates that the last supper of which jesus and the twelve partook together occurred before the feast of the passover (john : , ); and the same writer informs us that on the following day, friday, the jews refrained from entering the roman hall of judgment, lest they be defiled and so become unfit to eat the passover ( : ). it should be remembered that by common usage the term "passover" was applied not only to the day or season of the observance, but to the meal itself, and particularly to the slain lamb (matt. : ; mark : , , ; luke : , , , ; john : ; compare cor. : ). john also specifies that the day of the crucifixion was "the preparation of the passover" ( : ), and that the next day, which was saturday, the sabbath, "was an high day" (verse ), that is a sabbath rendered doubly sacred because of its being also a feast day. much has been written by way of attempt to explain this seeming discrepancy. no analysis of the divergent views of biblical scholars on this subject will be attempted here; the matter is of incidental importance in connection with the fundamental facts of our lord's betrayal and crucifixion; for brief summaries of opinions and concise arguments the student may be referred to smith's _comprehensive bible dictionary_, article "passover"; edersheim's _life and times of jesus the messiah_, pp. - , and - ; farrar's _life of christ_, appendix, excursus ; andrews' _life of our lord_, and gresswell's _dissertations_. suffice it here to say that the apparent inconsistency may be explained by any of several assumptions. thus, first, and very probably, the passover referred to by john, for the eating of which the priests were desirous of keeping themselves free from levitical defilement, may not have been the supper at which the paschal lamb was eaten, but the supplementary meal, the chagigah. this later meal, the flesh part of which was designated as a sacrifice, had come to be regarded with veneration equal to that attaching to the paschal supper. secondly; it is held by many authorities on jewish antiquities that before, at, and after the time of christ, two nights were devoted yearly to the paschal observance, during either of which the lamb might be eaten, and that this extension of time had been made in consideration of the increased population, which necessitated the ceremonial slaughtering of more lambs than could be slain on a single day; and in this connection it is interesting to note that josephus (wars, vi, ch. : ) records the number of lambs slain at a single passover as , . in the same paragraph, josephus states that the lambs had to be slain between the ninth and the eleventh hour ( to p.m.). according to this explanation, jesus and the twelve may have partaken of the passover meal on the first of the two evenings, and the jews who next day feared defilement may have deferred their observance until the second. thirdly; the lord's last paschal supper may have been eaten earlier than the time of general observance, he knowing that night to be his last in mortality. supporters of this view explain the message to the man who provided the chamber for the last supper, "my time is at hand" (matt. : ) as indicating a special urgency for the passover observance by christ and the apostles, before the regularly appointed day. some authorities assert that an error of one day had crept into the jewish reckoning of time, and that jesus ate the passover on the true date, while the jews were a day behind. if "the preparation of the passover" (john : ) on friday, the day of christ's crucifixion, means the slaughtering of the paschal lambs, our lord, the real sacrifice of which all earlier altar victims had been but prototypes, died on the cross while the passover lambs were being slain at the temple. . did judas iscariot partake of the sacrament of the lord's supper?--this question cannot be definitely answered from the brief accounts we have of the proceedings at the last supper. at best, only inference, not conclusion, is possible. according to the records made by matthew and mark, the lord's announcement that there was a traitor among the twelve was made early in the course of the meal; and the institution of the sacrament occurred later. luke records the prediction of treachery as following the administering of the sacramental bread and wine. all the synoptists agree that the sacrament of the lord's supper was administered before the sitting at the ordinary meal had broken up; though the sacrament was plainly made a separate and distinct feature. john ( : - ) states that the washing of feet occurred when supper was ended, and gives us good reason for inferring that judas was washed with the rest (verses , ), and that he later (verses - ) went out into the night for the purpose of betraying jesus. the giving of a "sop" to judas (verses , ) even though supper was practically over, is not inconsistent with john's statement that the supper proper was ended before the washing of feet was performed; the act does not appear to have been so unusual as to cause surprize. to many it has appeared plausible, that because of his utter baseness judas would not be permitted to participate with the other apostles in the holy ordinance of the sacrament; others infer that he was allowed to partake, as a possible means of moving him to abandon his evil purpose even at that late hour, or of filling his cup of iniquity to overflowing. the writer's personal opinion is based on the last conception. . washing of feet.--the ordinance of the washing of feet was reestablished through revelation december , . it was made a feature of admission to the school of the prophets, and detailed instructions relating to its administration were given (see doc. and cov. : , ). further direction as to the ordinances involving washing were revealed january , (see doc. and cov. : - ). . discontinuity of the lord's last discourse to the apostles.--it is certain that part of the discourse following the last supper was delivered in the upper room where christ and the twelve had eaten; it is possible that the latter portion was spoken and the prayer offered (john , , ) outdoors as jesus and the eleven wended their way toward the mount of olives. the th chapter of john ends with "arise, let us go hence"; the next chapter opens with another section of the discourse. from matt : - , and mark : - we may infer that the prediction of peter's denial of his lord was made as the little company walked from the city to the mount. on the other hand, john ( : ) states that "when jesus had spoken these words", namely, the whole discourse, and the concluding prayer, "he went forth with his disciples over the brook cedron." not one of our lord's sublime utterances on that night of solemn converse with his own, and of communion between himself and the father, is affected by the circumstance of place. . gethsemane.--the name means "oil-press" and probably has reference to a mill maintained at the place for the extraction of oil from the olives there cultivated. john refers to the spot as a garden, from which designation we may regard it as an enclosed space of private ownership. that it was a place frequented by jesus when he sought retirement for prayer, or opportunity for confidential converse with the disciples, is indicated by the same writer (john : , ). . the bloody sweat.--luke, the only gospel-writer who mentions sweat and blood in connection with our lord's agony in gethsemane, states that "his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground" ( : ). many critical expositors deny that there was an actual extrusion of blood, on the grounds that the evangelist does not positively affirm it, and that the three apostles, who were the only human witnesses, could not have distinguished blood from sweat falling in drops, as they watched from a distance in the night, even if the moon, which at the passover season was full, had been unobscured. modern scripture removes all doubt. see doc. and cov. : - quoted in the text (page ), also : . see further a specific prediction of the bloody sweat, b. of m., mosiah : . . "suffer ye thus far."--many understand these words, uttered by jesus as he raised his hand to heal the wounded malchus, to have been addressed to the disciples, forbidding their further interference. trench (_miracles_, ) considers the meaning to be as follows: 'hold now; thus far ye have gone in resistance, but let it be no further; no more of this.' the disputed interpretation is of little importance as to the bearing of the incident on the events that followed. . the cup as a symbol.--our lord's frequent mention of his foreseen sufferings as the cup of which the father would have him drink (matt. : , ; mark : ; luke : ; john : ; compare matt. : ; mark : ; cor. : ) is in line with old testament usage of the term "cup" as a symbolic expression for a bitter or poisonous potion typifying experiences of suffering. see psa. : ; : ; isa. : , ; jer. : , ; : . in contrast, the opposite meaning is attached to the use of the term in some passages, e.g. psa. : ; : ; : ; jer. : . footnotes: [ ] matt. : - ; see also mark : ; luke : , . [ ] revised version of matt. : reads: "not during the feast, lest there be a tumult among the people." [ ] john : , , - ; : - . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : , ; luke : - . [ ] matt. : . the revised version reads: "and they weighed unto him thirty pieces of silver." compare zech. : . [ ] exo. : ; zech. : , . [ ] matt. : - . [ ] matt. : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] it should be remembered that the jews counted their days as beginning at sunset, not, as with us, at midnight. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] luke : - . [ ] luke : - ; see page herein. [ ] luke : ; see page herein. [ ] john : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] the lord's expression "neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him" (john : ) is more correctly rendered "neither the apostle than he that sent him" (revised version, margin); see pages , herein. [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : , . [ ] in the revised version we read "covenant" instead of "testament" in matt. : , and in parallel passages. [ ] cor. : - . [ ] b. of m., nephi : - ; doc. and cov. : ; see also the "articles of faith," ix. [ ] see "the great apostasy" : - . [ ] john : - . [ ] compare psalm : . [ ] john : - . [ ] lev. : . [ ] so reads the revised version of luke : . [ ] isa. : ; compare mark : . [ ] read john : - ; luke : - ; compare matt. : - ; mark : - . [ ] john, chaps. , , . [ ] john : - . [ ] see "the articles of faith," iv: , ; and xxii: - . [ ] john : , ; compare : . [ ] john : - ; compare verse ; and : . [ ] matt. : , and luke : ; also page herein. [ ] see "articles of faith," ii: - ; page herein. [ ] john : - . [ ] john : - . [ ] revised version, "cleanseth it." [ ] john : - . [ ] john : - . [ ] verse ; compare psalms : ; : ; : . [ ] john : - ; read verses - . [ ] john : ; compare : ; : ; : . [ ] john : , , ; read verses - . [ ] matt. : ; mark : ; compare zech. : ; see also matt. : . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - . [ ] matt. : ; mark : ; compare : . [ ] john : . [ ] john . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] "abba" is expressive of combined affection and honor, and signifies "father." it is applied to the eternal father by jesus in the passage above, and by paul (rom. : ; gal. : ). [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john : ; matt. : ; mark : , . [ ] john : , ; and : , ; also page herein. [ ] john : . [ ] page . [ ] doc. and cov. : - ; compare : . see also b. of m., nephi : , , ; mosiah : - ; : ; alma : - ; : ; : ; : - ; nephi : ; : , ; and chapter herein. [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - ; john : - . [ ] "cohort," a term descriptive of a roman body, and "military tribune" are more literal renderings of the greek original than "band" and "captain" in john : , . see revised version, margin. [ ] the greek text of matt. : , and mark : clearly implies that judas "kissed him much," that is many times, or effusively. see margin of revised version. [ ] this is a more nearly correct translation than "wherefore art thou come?" in the common version. see revised version. matt. : . [ ] john : ; compare : . [ ] see "the great apostasy," chaps. and . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] compare isa. : . [ ] note , end of chapter. chapter . the trial and condemnation. the jewish trial. from gethsemane the bound and captive christ was haled before the jewish rulers. john alone informs us that the lord was taken first to annas, who sent him, still bound, to caiaphas, the high priest;[ ] the synoptists record the arraignment before caiaphas only.[ ] no details of the interview with annas are of record; and the bringing of jesus before him at all was as truly irregular and illegal, according to hebrew law, as were all the subsequent proceedings of that night. annas, who was father-in-law to caiaphas, had been deposed from the high-priestly office over twenty years before; but throughout this period he had exerted a potent influence in all the affairs of the hierarchy.[ ] caiaphas, as john is careful to remind us, "was he, which gave counsel to the jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people."[ ] at the palace of caiaphas, the chief priests, scribes, and elders of the people were assembled, in a meeting of the sanhedrin, informal or otherwise, all eagerly awaiting the result of the expedition led by judas. when jesus, the object of their bitter hatred and their predetermined victim, was brought in, a bound prisoner, he was immediately put upon trial in contravention of the law, both written and traditional, of which those congregated rulers of the jews professed to be such zealous supporters. no legal hearing on a capital charge could lawfully be held except in the appointed and official courtroom of the sanhedrin. from the account given in the fourth gospel we infer that the prisoner was first subjected to an interrogative examination by the high priest in person.[ ] that functionary, whether annas or caiaphas is a matter of inference, inquired of jesus concerning his disciples and his doctrines. such a preliminary inquiry was utterly unlawful; for the hebrew code provided that the accusing witnesses in any cause before the court should define their charge against the accused, and that the latter should be protected from any effort to make him testify against himself. the lord's reply should have been a sufficient protest to the high priest against further illegal procedure. "jesus answered him, i spake openly to the world; i ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the jews always resort; and in secret have i said nothing. why askest thou me?--ask them which heard me, what i have said unto them: behold, they know what i said." this was a lawful objection against denying to a prisoner on trial his right to be confronted by his accusers. it was received with open disdain; and one of the officers who stood by, hoping perhaps to curry favor with his superiors, actually struck jesus a vicious blow,[ ] accompanied by the question, "answerest thou the high priest so?" to this cowardly assault the lord replied with almost superhuman gentleness:[ ] "if i have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?" combined with submissiveness, however, this constituted another appeal to the principles of justice; if what jesus had said was evil, why did not the assailant accuse him; and if he had spoken well, what right had a police officer to judge, condemn, and punish, and that too in the presence of the high priest? law and justice had been dethroned that night. "now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against jesus, to put him to death."[ ] whether "all the council" means a legal quorum, which would be twenty-three or more, or a full attendance of the seventy-two sanhedrists, is of small importance. any sitting of the sanhedrin at night, and more particularly for the consideration of a capital charge, was directly in violation of jewish law. likewise was it unlawful for the council to consider such a charge on a sabbath, a feast day, or on the eve of any such day. in the sanhedrin, every member was a judge; the judicial body was to hear the testimony, and, according to that testimony and nought else, render a decision on every case duly presented. the accusers were required to appear in person; and they were to receive a preliminary warning against bearing false witness. every defendant was to be regarded and treated as innocent until convicted in due course. but in the so-called trial of jesus, the judges not only sought witnesses, but specifically tried to find false witnesses. though many false witnesses came, yet there was no "witness" or testimony against the prisoner, for the suborned perjurers failed to agree among themselves; and even the lawless sanhedrists hesitated to openly violate the fundamental requirement that at least two concordant witnesses must testify against an accused person, for, otherwise, the case had to be dismissed. that jesus was to be convicted on some charge or other, and be put to death, had been already determined by the priestly judges; their failure to find witnesses against him threatened to delay the carrying out of their nefarious scheme. haste and precipitancy characterized their procedure throughout; they had unlawfully caused jesus to be arrested at night; they were illegally going through the semblance of a trial at night; their purpose was to convict the prisoner in time to have him brought before the roman authorities as early as possible in the morning--as a criminal duly tried and adjudged worthy of death. the lack of two hostile witnesses who would tell the same falsehoods was a serious hindrance. but, "at the last came two false witnesses, and said, this fellow said, i am able to destroy the temple of god, and to build it in three days." others, however, testified: "we heard him say, i will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days i will build another made without hands."[ ] and so, as mark observes, even in this particular their "witness" or testimony did not agree. surely in a case at bar, such discrepancy as appears between "i am able to" and "i will," as alleged utterances of the accused, is of vital importance. yet this semblance of formal accusation was the sole basis of a charge against christ up to this stage of the trial. it will be remembered that in connection with the first clearing of the temple, near the commencement of christ's ministry, he had answered the clamorous demand of the jews for a sign of his authority by saying "destroy this temple, and in three days i will raise it up." he spoke not at all of himself as the one who would destroy; the jews were to be the destroyers, he the restorer. but the inspired writer is particular to explain that jesus "spake of the temple of his body," and not at all of those buildings reared by man.[ ] one may reasonably inquire as to what serious import could be attached to even such a declaration as the perjured witnesses claimed to have heard from the lips of christ. the veneration with which the jews professed to regard the holy house, however wantonly they profaned its precincts, offers a partial but insufficient answer. the plan of the conspiring rulers appears to have been that of convicting christ on a charge of sedition, making him out to be a dangerous disturber of the nation's peace, an assailant of established institutions, and consequently an inciter of opposition against the vassal autonomy of the jewish nation, and the supreme dominion of rome.[ ] the vaguely defined shadow of legal accusation produced by the dark and inconsistent testimony of the false witnesses, was enough to embolden the iniquitous court. caiaphas, rising from his seat to give dramatic emphasis to his question, demanded of jesus: "answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee?" there was nothing to answer. no consistent or valid testimony had been presented against him; therefore he stood in dignified silence. then caiaphas, in violation of the legal proscription against requiring any person to testify in his own case except voluntarily and on his own initiative, not only demanded an answer from the prisoner, but exercized the potent prerogative of the high-priestly office, to put the accused under oath, as a witness before the sacerdotal court. "and the high priest answered and said unto him, i adjure thee by the living god, that thou tell us whether thou be the christ, the son of god."[ ] the fact of a distinct specification of "the christ" and "the son of god" is significant, in that it implies the jewish expectation of a messiah, but does not acknowledge that he was to be distinctively of divine origin. nothing that had gone before can be construed as a proper foundation for this inquiry. the charge of sedition was about to be superseded by one of greater enormity--that of blasphemy.[ ] to the utterly unjust yet official adjuration of the high priest, jesus answered: "thou hast said: nevertheless i say unto you: hereafter shall ye see the son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." this expression "thou hast said" was equivalent to--i am what thou hast said.[ ] it was an unqualified avowal of divine parentage, and inherent godship. "then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, he hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. what think ye? they answered and said, he is guilty of death."[ ] thus the judges in israel, comprizing the high priest, the chief priests, the scribes and elders of the people, the great sanhedrin, unlawfully assembled, decreed that the son of god was deserving of death, on no evidence save that of his own acknowledgment. by express provision the jewish code forbade the conviction, specifically on a capital charge, of any person on his own confession, unless that was amply supported by the testimony of trustworthy witnesses. as in the garden of gethsemane jesus had voluntarily surrendered himself, so before the judges did he personally and voluntarily furnish the evidence upon which they unrighteously declared him deserving of death. there could be no crime in the claim of messiahship or divine sonship, except that claim was false. we vainly search the record for even an intimation that inquiry was made or suggested as to the grounds upon which jesus based his exalted claims. the action of the high priest in rending his garments was a dramatic affectation of pious horror at the blasphemy with which his ears had been assailed. it was expressly forbidden in the law that the high priest rend his clothes;[ ] but from extra-scriptural writings we learn that the rending of garments as an attestation of most grievous guilt, such as that of blasphemy, was allowable under traditional rule.[ ] there is no indication that the vote of the judges was taken and recorded in the precise and orderly manner required by the law. jesus stood convicted of the most heinous offense known in jewry. however unjustly, he had been pronounced guilty of blasphemy by the supreme tribunal of the nation. in strict accuracy we cannot say that the sanhedrists sentenced christ to death, inasmuch as the power to authoritatively pronounce capital sentences had been taken from the jewish council by roman decree. the high-priestly court, however, decided that jesus was worthy of death, and so certified when they handed him over to pilate. in their excess of malignant hate, israel's judges abandoned their lord to the wanton will of the attendant varlets, who heaped upon him every indignity their brutish instincts could suggest. they spurted their foul spittle into his face;[ ] and then, having blindfolded him, amused themselves by smiting him again and again, saying the while: "prophesy unto us, thou christ, who is he that smote thee?" the miscreant crowd mocked him, and railed upon him with jeers and taunts, and branded themselves as blasphemers in fact.[ ] the law and the practise of the time required that any person found guilty of a capital offense, after due trial before a jewish tribunal, should be given a second trial on the following day; and at this later hearing any or all of the judges who had before voted for conviction could reverse themselves; but no one who had once voted for acquittal could change his ballot. a bare majority was sufficient for acquittal, but more than a majority was required for conviction. by a provision that must appear to us most unusual, if all the judges voted for conviction on a capital charge the verdict was not to stand and the accused had to be set at liberty; for, it was argued, a unanimous vote against a prisoner indicated that he had had no friend or defender in court, and that the judges might have been in conspiracy against him. under this rule in hebrew jurisprudence the verdict against jesus, rendered at the illegal night session of the sanhedrists, was void, for we are specifically told that "they all condemned him to be guilty of death."[ ] apparently for the purpose of establishing a shadowy pretext of legality in their procedure, the sanhedrists adjourned to meet again in early daylight. thus they technically complied with the requirement--that on every case in which the death sentence had been decreed the court should hear and judge a second time in a later session--but they completely ignored the equally mandatory provision that the second trial must be conducted on the day following that of the first hearing. between the two sittings on consecutive days the judges were required to fast and pray, and to give the case on trial calm and earnest consideration. luke, who records no details of the night trial of jesus, is the only gospel-writer to give place to a circumstantial report of the morning session. he says: "and as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council."[ ] some biblical scholars have construed the expression, "led him into their council," as signifying that jesus was condemned by the sanhedrin in the appointed meeting-place of the court, viz. gazith or the hall of hewn stones, as the law of the time required; but against this we have the statement of john that they led jesus directly from caiaphas to the roman hall of judgment.[ ] it is probable, that at this early daylight session, the irregular proceedings of the dark hours were approved, and the details of further procedure decided upon. they "took counsel against jesus to put him to death"; nevertheless they went through the form of a second trial, the issue of which was greatly facilitated by the prisoner's voluntary affirmations. the judges stand without semblance of justification for calling upon the accused to testify; they should have examined anew the witnesses against him. the first question put to him was, "art thou the christ? tell us." the lord made dignified reply: "if i tell you, ye will not believe: and if i also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go. hereafter shall the son of man sit on the right hand of the power of god." neither did the question imply nor the answer furnish cause for condemnation. the whole nation was looking for the messiah; and if jesus claimed to be he, the only proper judicial action would be that of inquiring into the merit of the claim. the crucial question followed immediately: "art thou then the son of god? and he said unto them, ye say that i am. and they said, what need we any further witness? for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth."[ ] jehovah was convicted of blasphemy against jehovah. the only mortal being to whom the awful crime of blasphemy, in claiming divine attributes and powers, was impossible, stood before the judges of israel condemned as a blasphemer. the "whole council," by which expression we may possibly understand a legal quorum, was concerned in the final action. thus ended the miscalled "trial" of jesus before the high-priest and elders[ ] of his people. "and straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to pilate."[ ] during the few hours that remained to him in mortality, he would be in the hands of the gentiles, betrayed and delivered up by his own.[ ] peter's denial of his lord.[ ] when jesus was taken into custody in the garden of gethsemane, all the eleven forsook him and fled. this is not to be accounted as certain evidence of cowardice, for the lord had indicated that they should go.[ ] peter and at least one other disciple followed afar off; and, after the armed guard had entered the palace of the high priest with their prisoner, peter "went in, and sat with the servants to see the end." he was assisted in securing admittance by the unnamed disciple, who was on terms of acquaintanceship with the high priest. that other disciple was in all probability john, as may be inferred from the fact that he is mentioned only in the fourth gospel, the author of which characteristically refers to himself anonymously.[ ] while jesus was before the sanhedrists, peter remained below with the servants. the attendant at the door was a young woman; her feminine suspicions had been aroused when she admitted peter, and as he sat with a crowd in the palace court she came up, and having intently observed him, said: "thou also wast with jesus of galilee." but peter denied, averring he did not know jesus. peter was restless; his conscience and the fear of identification as one of the lord's disciples troubled him. he left the crowd and sought partial seclusion in the porch; but there another maid spied him out, and said to those nearby: "this fellow was also with jesus of nazareth"; to which accusation peter replied with an oath: "i do not know the man." the april night was chilly, and an open fire had been made in the hall or court of the palace. peter sat with others at the fire, thinking, perhaps, that brazen openness was better than skulking caution as a possible safeguard against detection. about an hour after his former denials, some of the men around the fire charged him with being a disciple of jesus, and referred to his galilean dialect as evidence that he was at least a fellow countryman with the high priest's prisoner; but, most threatening of all, a kinsman of malchus, whose ear peter had slashed with the sword, asked peremptorily: "did not i see thee in the garden with him?" then peter went so far in the course of falsehood upon which he had entered as to curse and swear, and to vehemently declare for the third time, "i know not the man." as the last profane falsehood left his lips, the clear notes of a crowing cock broke upon his ears,[ ] and the remembrance of his lord's prediction welled up in his mind. trembling in wretched realization of his perfidious cowardice, he turned from the crowd and met the gaze of the suffering christ, who from the midst of the insolent mob looked into the face of his boastful, yet loving but weak apostle. hastening from the palace, peter went out into the night, weeping bitterly. as his later life attests, his tears were those of real contrition and true repentance. christ's first appearance before pilate. as we have already learned, no jewish tribunal had authority to inflict the death penalty; imperial rome had reserved this prerogative as her own. the united acclaim of the sanhedrists, that jesus was deserving of death, would be ineffective until sanctioned by the emperor's deputy, who at that time was pontius pilate, the governor, or more properly, procurator, of judea, samaria, and idumea. pilate maintained his official residence at cæsarea,[ ] on the mediterranean shore; but it was his custom to be present in jerusalem at the times of the great hebrew feasts, probably in the interest of preserving order, or of promptly quelling any disturbance amongst the vast and heterogeneous multitudes by which the city was thronged on these festive occasions. the governor with his attendants was in jerusalem at this momentous passover season. early on friday morning, the "whole council," that is to say, the sanhedrin, led jesus, bound, to the judgment hall of pontius pilate; but with strict scrupulosity they refrained from entering the hall lest they become defiled; for the judgment chamber was part of the house of a gentile, and somewhere therein might be leavened bread, even to be near which would render them ceremonially unclean. let every one designate for himself the character of men afraid of the mere proximity of leaven, while thirsting for innocent blood! in deference to their scruples pilate came out from the palace; and, as they delivered up to him their prisoner, asked: "what accusation bring ye against this man?" the question, though strictly proper and judicially necessary, surprized and disappointed the priestly rulers, who evidently had expected that the governor would simply approve their verdict as a matter of form and give sentence accordingly; but instead of doing so, pilate was apparently about to exercize his authority of original jurisdiction. with poorly concealed chagrin, their spokesman, probably caiaphas, answered: "if he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee." it was now pilate's turn to feel or at least to feign umbrage, and he replied in effect: oh, very well; if you don't care to present the charge in proper order, take ye him, and judge him according to your law; don't trouble me with the matter. but the jews rejoined: "it is not lawful for us to put any man to death." john the apostle intimates in this last remark a determination on the part of the jews to have jesus put to death not only by roman sanction but by roman executioners;[ ] for, as we readily may see, had pilate approved the death sentence and handed the prisoner over to the jews for its infliction, jesus would have been stoned, in accordance with the hebrew penalty for blasphemy; whereas the lord had plainly foretold that his death would be by crucifixion, which was a roman method of execution, but one never practised by the jews. furthermore, if jesus had been put to death by the jewish rulers, even with governmental sanction, an insurrection among the people might have resulted, for there were many who believed on him. the crafty hierarchs were determined to bring about his death under roman condemnation. "and they began to accuse him, saying, we found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to cæsar, saying that he himself is christ a king."[ ] it is important to note that no accusation of blasphemy was made to pilate; had such been presented, the governor, thoroughly pagan in heart and mind, would probably have dismissed the charge as utterly unworthy of a hearing; for rome with her many gods, whose number was being steadily increased by current heathen deification of mortals, knew no such offense as blasphemy in the jewish sense. the accusing sanhedrists hesitated not to substitute for blasphemy, which was the greatest crime known to the hebrew code, the charge of high treason, which was the gravest offense listed in the roman category of crimes. to the vociferous accusations of the chief priests and elders, the calm and dignified christ deigned no reply. to them he had spoken for the last time--until the appointed season of another trial, in which he shall be the judge, and they the prisoners at the bar. pilate was surprized at the submissive yet majestic demeanor of jesus; there was certainly much that was kingly about the man; never before had such a one stood before him. the charge, however, was a serious one; men who claimed title to kingship might prove dangerous to rome; yet to the charge the accused answered nothing. entering the judgment hall, pilate had jesus called.[ ] that some of the disciples, and among them almost certainly john, also went in, is apparent from the detailed accounts of the proceedings preserved in the fourth gospel. anyone was at liberty to enter, for publicity was an actual and a widely proclaimed feature of roman trials. pilate, plainly without animosity or prejudice against jesus, asked: "art thou the king of the jews? jesus answered him, sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?" the lord's counter-question, as pilate's rejoinder shows, meant, and was understood to mean, as we might state it: do you ask this in the roman and literal sense--as to whether i am a king of an earthly kingdom--or with the jewish and more spiritual meaning? a direct answer "yes" would have been true in the messianic sense, but untrue in the worldly signification; and "no" could have been inversely construed as true or untrue. "pilate answered, am i a jew? thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done? jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that i should not be delivered to the jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. pilate therefore said unto him, art thou a king then? jesus answered, thou sayest that i am a king. to this end was i born, and for this cause came i into the world, that i should bear witness unto the truth. every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." it was clear to the roman governor that this wonderful man, with his exalted views of a kingdom not of this world, and an empire of truth in which he was to reign, was no political insurrectionist; and that to consider him a menace to roman institutions would be absurd. those last words--about truth--were of all the most puzzling; pilate was restive, and perhaps a little frightened under their import. "what is truth?" he rather exclaimed in apprehension than inquired in expectation of an answer, as he started to leave the hall. to the jews without he announced officially the acquittal of the prisoner. "i find in him no fault at all" was the verdict. but the chief priests and scribes and elders of the people were undeterred. their thirst for the blood of the holy one had developed into mania. wildly and fiercely they shrieked: "he stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all jewry, beginning from galilee to this place." the mention of galilee suggested to pilate a new course of procedure. having confirmed by inquiry that jesus was a galilean, he determined to send the prisoner to herod, the vassal ruler of that province, who was in jerusalem at the time.[ ] by this action pilate hoped to rid himself of further responsibility in the case, and moreover, herod, with whom he had been at enmity, might be placated thereby. christ before herod.[ ] herod antipas, the degenerate son of his infamous sire, herod the great,[ ] was at this time tetrarch of galilee and perea, and by popular usage, though without imperial sanction, was flatteringly called king. he it was who, in fulfilment of an unholy vow inspired by a woman's voluptuous blandishments, had ordered the murder of john the baptist. he ruled as a roman vassal, and professed to be orthodox in the observances of judaism. he had come up to jerusalem, in state, to keep the feast of the passover. herod was pleased to have jesus sent to him by pilate; for, not only was the action a gracious one on the part of the procurator, constituting as after events proved a preliminary to reconciliation between the two rulers,[ ] but it was a means of gratifying herod's curiosity to see jesus, of whom he had heard so much, whose fame had terrified him, and by whom he now hoped to see some interesting miracle wrought.[ ] whatever fear herod had once felt regarding jesus, whom he had superstitiously thought to be the reincarnation of his murdered victim, john the baptist, was replaced by amused interest when he saw the far-famed prophet of galilee in bonds before him, attended by a roman guard, and accompanied by ecclesiastical officials. herod began to question the prisoner; but jesus remained silent. the chief priests and scribes vehemently voiced their accusations; but not a word was uttered by the lord. herod is the only character in history to whom jesus is known to have applied a personal epithet of contempt. "go ye and tell that fox" he once said to certain pharisees who had come to him with the story that herod intended to kill him.[ ] as far as we know, herod is further distinguished as the only being who saw christ face to face and spoke to him, yet never heard his voice. for penitent sinners, weeping women, prattling children, for the scribes, the pharisees, the sadducees, the rabbis, for the perjured high priest and his obsequious and insolent underling, and for pilate the pagan, christ had words--of comfort or instruction, of warning or rebuke, of protest or denunciation--yet for herod the fox he had but disdainful and kingly silence. thoroughly piqued, herod turned from insulting questions to acts of malignant derision. he and his men-at-arms made sport of the suffering christ, "set him at nought and mocked him"; then in travesty they "arrayed him in a gorgeous robe and sent him again to pilate."[ ] herod had found nothing in jesus to warrant condemnation. christ again before pilate.[ ] the roman procurator, finding that he could not evade further consideration of the case, "called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people," and "said unto them, ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, i, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him; no, nor yet herod: for i sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him. i will therefore chastise him, and release him." pilate's desire to save jesus from death was just and genuine; his intention of scourging the prisoner, whose innocence he had affirmed and reaffirmed, was an infamous concession to jewish prejudice. he knew that the charge of sedition and treason was without foundation; and that even the framing of such an accusation by the jewish hierarchy, whose simulated loyalty to cæsar was but a cloak for inherent and undying hatred, was ridiculous in the extreme; and he fully realized that the priestly rulers had delivered jesus into his hands because of envy and malice.[ ] it was the custom for the governor at the passover season to pardon and release any one condemned prisoner whom the people might name. on that day there lay in durance, awaiting execution, "a notable prisoner, called barabbas," who had been found guilty of sedition, in that he had incited the people to insurrection, and had committed murder. this man stood convicted of the very charge on which pilate specifically and herod by implication had pronounced jesus innocent, and barabbas was a murderer in addition. pilate thought to pacify the priests and people by releasing jesus as the subject of passover leniency; this would be a tacit recognition of christ's conviction before the ecclesiastical court, and practically an endorsement of the death sentence, superseded by official pardon. therefore he asked of them: "whom will ye that i release unto you? barabbas, or jesus which is called christ?" there appears to have been a brief interval between pilate's question and the people's answer, during which the chief priests and elders busied themselves amongst the multitude, urging them to demand the release of the insurrectionist and murderer. so, when pilate reiterated the question: "whether of the twain will ye that i release unto you?" assembled israel cried "barabbas." pilate, surprized, disappointed, and angered, then asked: "what shall i do then with jesus which is called christ? they all say unto him, let him be crucified. and the governor said, why, what evil hath he done? but they cried out the more, saying, let him be crucified." the roman governor was sorely troubled and inwardly afraid. to add to his perplexity he received a warning message from his wife, even as he sat on the judgment seat: "have thou nothing to do with that just man: for i have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him." those who know not god are characteristically superstitious. pilate feared to think what dread portent his wife's dream might presage. but, finding that he could not prevail, and foreseeing a tumult among the people if he persisted in the defense of christ, he called for water and washed his hands before the multitude--a symbolic act of disclaiming responsibility, which they all understood--proclaiming the while: "i am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it." then rose that awful self-condemnatory cry of the covenant people: "his blood be on us and on our children." history bears an appalling testimony to the literal fulfilment of that dread invocation.[ ] pilate released barabbas, and gave jesus into the custody of the soldiers to be scourged. scourging was a frightful preliminary to death on the cross. the instrument of punishment was a whip of many thongs, loaded with metal and edged with jagged pieces of bone. instances are of record in which the condemned died under the lash and so escaped the horrors of living crucifixion. in accordance with the brutal customs of the time, jesus, weak and bleeding from the fearful scourging he had undergone, was given over to the half-savage soldiers for their amusement. he was no ordinary victim, so the whole band came together in the pretorium, or great hall of the palace, to take part in the diabolical sport. they stripped jesus of his outer raiment, and placed upon him a purple robe.[ ] then with a sense of fiendish realism they platted a crown of thorns, and placed it about the sufferer's brows; a reed was put into his right hand as a royal scepter; and, as they bowed in a mockery of homage, they saluted him with: "hail, king of the jews!" snatching away the reed or rod, they brutally smote him with it upon the head, driving the cruel thorns into his quivering flesh; they slapped him with their hands, and spat upon him in vile and vicious abandonment.[ ] pilate had probably been a silent observer of this barbarous scene. he stopped it, and determined to make another attempt to touch the springs of jewish pity, if such existed. he went outside, and to the multitude said: "behold, i bring him forth to you, that ye may know that i find no fault in him." this was the governor's third definite proclamation of the prisoner's innocence. "then came jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. and pilate saith unto them, behold the man!"[ ] pilate seems to have counted on the pitiful sight of the scourged and bleeding christ to soften the hearts of the maddened jews. but the effect failed. think of the awful fact--a heathen, a pagan, who knew not god, pleading with the priests and people of israel for the life of their lord and king! when, unmoved by the sight, the chief priests and officers cried with increasing vindictiveness, "crucify him, crucify him," pilate pronounced the fatal sentence, "take ye him and crucify him," but added with bitter emphasis: "i find no fault in him." it will be remembered that the only charge preferred against christ before the roman governor was that of sedition; the jewish persecutors had carefully avoided even the mention of blasphemy, which was the offense for which they had adjudged jesus worthy of death. now that sentence of crucifixion had been extorted from pilate, they brazenly attempted to make it appear that the governor's mandate was but a ratification of their own decree of death; therefore they said: "we have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the son of god." what did it mean? that awe-inspiring title, son of god, struck yet deeper into pilate's troubled conscience. once more he took jesus into the judgment hall, and in trepidation asked, "whence art thou?" the inquiry was as to whether jesus was human or superhuman. a direct avowal of the lord's divinity would have frightened but could not have enlightened the heathen ruler; therefore jesus gave no answer. pilate was further surprized, and perhaps somewhat offended at this seeming disregard of his authority. he demanded an explanation, saying: "speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that i have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?" then jesus replied: "thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin." the positions were reversed; christ was the judge, and pilate the subject of his decision. though not found guiltless, the roman was pronounced less culpable than he or those who had forced jesus into his power, and who had demanded of him an unrighteous committal. the governor, though having pronounced sentence, yet sought means of releasing the submissive sufferer. his first evidence of wavering was greeted by the jews with the cry, "if thou let this man go, thou art not cæsar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against cæsar." pilate took his place in the judgment seat, which was set up in the place of the pavement, or gabbatha, outside the hall. he was resentful against those jews who had dared to intimate that he was no friend of cæsar, and whose intimation might lead to an embassy of complaint being sent to rome to misrepresent him in exaggerated accusation. pointing to jesus, he exclaimed with unveiled sarcasm: "behold your king!" but the jews answered in threatening and ominous shouts: "away with him, away with him, crucify him." in stinging reminder of their national subjugation, pilate asked with yet more cutting irony, "shall i crucify your king?" and the chief priests cried aloud: "we have no king but cæsar." even so was it and was to be. the people who had by covenant accepted jehovah as their king, now rejected him in person, and acknowledged no sovereign but cæsar. cæsar's subjects and serfs have they been through all the centuries since. pitiable is the state of man or nation who in heart and spirit will have no king but cæsar![ ] wherein lay the cause of pilate's weakness? he was the emperor's representative, the imperial procurator with power to crucify or to save; officially he was an autocrat. his conviction of christ's blamelessness and his desire to save him from the cross are beyond question. why did pilate waver, hesitate, vacillate, and at length yield contrary to his conscience and his will? because, after all, he was more slave than freeman. he was in servitude to his past. he knew that should complaint be made of him at rome, his corruption and cruelties, his extortions and the unjustifiable slaughter he had caused would all be brought against him. he was the roman ruler, but the people over whom he exercized official dominion delighted in seeing him cringe, when they cracked, with vicious snap above his head, the whip of a threatened report about him to his imperial master, tiberius.[ ] judas iscariot.[ ] when judas iscariot saw how terribly effective had been the outcome of his treachery, he became wildly remorseful. during christ's trial before the jewish authorities, with its associated humiliation and cruelty, the traitor had seen the seriousness of his action; and when the unresisting sufferer had been delivered up to the romans, and the fatal consummation had become a certainty, the enormity of his crime filled judas with nameless horror. rushing into the presence of the chief priests and elders, while the final preparations for the crucifixion of the lord were in progress, he implored the priestly rulers to take back the accursed wage they had paid him, crying in an agony of despair: "i have sinned, in that i have betrayed the innocent blood." he may have vaguely expected a word of sympathy from the conspirators in whose wickedly skilful hands he had been so ready and serviceable a tool; possibly he hoped that his avowal might stem the current of their malignancy, and that they would ask for a reversal of the sentence. but the rulers in israel repulsed him with disgust. "what is that to us?" they sneered, "see thou to that." he had served their purpose; they had paid him his price; they wished never to look upon his face again; and pitilessly they flung him back into the haunted blackness of his maddened conscience. still clutching the bag of silver, the all too real remembrancer of his frightful sin, he rushed into the temple, penetrating even to the precincts of priestly reservation, and dashed the silver pieces upon the floor of the sanctuary.[ ] then, under the goading impulse of his master, the devil, to whom he had become a bond-slave, body and soul, he went out and hanged himself. the chief priests gathered up the pieces of silver, and in sacrilegious scrupulosity, held a solemn council to determine what they should do with the "price of blood." as they deemed it unlawful to add the attainted coin to the sacred treasury, they bought with it a certain clay-yard, once the property of a potter, and the very place in which judas had made of himself a suicide; this tract of ground they set apart as a burial place for aliens, strangers, and pagans. the body of judas, the betrayer of the christ, was probably the first to be there interred. and that field was called "aceldama, that is to say, the field of blood."[ ] notes to chapter . . annas, and his interview with jesus.--"no figure is better known in contemporary jewish history than that of annas; no person deemed more fortunate or successful, but also none more generally execrated than the late high priest. he had held the pontificate for only six or seven years; but it was filled by not fewer than five of his sons, by his son-in-law caiaphas, and by a grandson. and in those days it was, at least for one of annas' disposition, much better to have been than to be high priest. he enjoyed all the dignity of the office, and all its influence also, since he was able to promote to it those most closely connected with him. and while they acted publicly, he really directed affairs, without either the responsibility or the restraints which the office imposed. his influence with the romans he owed to the religious views which he professed, to his open partisanship of the foreigner, and to his enormous wealth.... we have seen what immense revenues the family of annas must have derived from the temple booths, and how nefarious and unpopular was the traffic. the names of those bold, licentious, unscrupulous, degenerate sons of aaron were spoken with whispered curses. without referring to christ's interference with that temple-traffic, which, if his authority had prevailed, would of course have been fatal to it, we can understand how antithetic in every respect a messiah, and such a messiah as jesus, must have been to annas.... no account is given of what passed before annas. even the fact of christ's being first brought to him is only mentioned in the fourth gospel. as the disciples had all forsaken him and fled, we can understand that they were in ignorance of what actually passed, till they had again rallied, at least so far, that peter and 'another disciple', evidently john, 'followed him into the palace of the high priest'--that is, into the palace of caiaphas, not of annas. for as, according to the three synoptic gospels, the palace of the high priest caiaphas was the scene of peter's denial, the account of it in the fourth gospel must refer to the same locality, and not to the palace of annas."--edersheim, _life and times of jesus the messiah_; vol. , pp. - . . christ's forbearance when smitten.--that jesus maintained his equanimity and submissiveness even under the provocation of a blow dealt by a brutish underling in the presence of the high priest, is confirmatory of our lord's affirmation that he had "overcome the world" (john : ). one cannot read the passage without comparing, perhaps involuntarily, the divine submissiveness of jesus on this occasion, with the wholly natural and human indignation of paul under somewhat similar conditions at a later time (acts : - ). the high priest ananias, displeased at paul's remarks, ordered someone who stood by to smite him on the mouth. paul broke forth in angry protest: "god shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?" afterward he apologized, saying that he knew not that it was the high priest who had given the command that he be smitten. see _articles of faith_, xxiii, ii, and note following the same lecture; and farrar's _life and works of st. paul_, pp. - . . high priests and elders.--these titles as held by officials of the jewish hierarchy in the time of christ must not be confused with the same designations as applied to holders of the higher or melchizedek priesthood. the high priest of the jews was the presiding priest; he had to be of aaronic descent to be a priest at all; he became high priest by roman appointment. the elders, as the name indicates, were men of mature years and experience, who were appointed to act as magistrates in the towns, and as judges in the ecclesiastical tribunals, either in the lesser sanhedrins of the provinces, or in the great sanhedrin at jerusalem. the term "elder" as commonly used among the jews in the days of jesus had no closer relation to eldership in the melchizedek priesthood than had the title "scribe". the duties of jewish high priests and elders combined both ecclesiastical and secular functions; indeed both offices had come to be in large measure political perquisites. see "elder" in smith's _bible dictionary_. from the departure of moses to the coming of christ, the organized theocracy of israel was that of the lesser or aaronic priesthood, comprizing the office of priest, which was confined to the lineage of aaron, and the lesser offices of teacher and deacon, which were combined in the levitical order. see "orders and offices in the priesthood" by the author in _the articles of faith_, xi: - . . illegalities of the jewish trial of jesus.--many volumes have been written on the so-called trial of jesus. only a brief summary of the principal items of fact and law can be incorporated here. for further consideration reference may be made to the following treatments: edersheim, _life and times of jesus the messiah_; andrews, _life of our lord_; dupin, _jesus before caiaphas and pilate_; mendelsohn, _criminal jurisprudence of the ancient hebrews_; salvador, _institutions of moses_; innes, _the trial of jesus christ_; maimonides, _sanhedrin_; mm. lemann, _jesus before the sanhedrin_; benny, _criminal code of the jews_; and walter m. chandler, of the new york bar, _the trial of jesus from a lawyer's standpoint_. the last named is a two volume work treating respectively, "the hebrew trial" and "the roman trial", and contains citations from the foregoing and other works. edersheim (vol. , pp. - ) contends that the night arraignment of jesus in the house of caiaphas was not a trial before the sanhedrin, and notes the irregularities and illegalities of the procedure as proof that the sanhedrin could not have done what was done that night. with ample citations in corroboration of the legal requirements specified, the author says: "but besides, the trial and sentence of jesus in the palace of caiaphas would have outraged every principle of jewish criminal law and procedure. such causes could only be tried, and capital sentence pronounced, in the regular meeting-place of the sanhedrin, not, as here, in the high priest's palace; no process, least of all such an one, might be begun in the night, nor even in the afternoon, although if the discussion had gone on all day, sentence might be pronounced at night. again, no process could take place on sabbaths or feast-days, or even on the eves of them, although this would not have nullified proceedings; and it might be argued on the other side, that a process against one who had seduced the people should preferably be carried on, and sentence executed, on public feast-days, for the warning of all. lastly, in capital causes there was a very elaborate system of warning, and cautioning witnesses; while it may safely be affirmed that at a regular trial jewish judges, however prejudiced, would not have acted as the sanhedrists and caiaphas did on this occasion.... but although christ was not tried and sentenced in a formal meeting of the sanhedrin, there can, alas! be no question that his condemnation and death were the work, if not of the sanhedrin, yet of the sanhedrists--of the whole body of them ('all the council') in the sense of expressing what was the judgment and purpose of all the supreme council and leaders of israel, with only very few exceptions. we bear in mind that the resolution to sacrifice christ had for some time been taken." the purpose in quoting the foregoing is to show on acknowledged and eminent authority, some of the illegalities of the night trial of jesus, which, as shown by the above, and by the scriptural record, was conducted by the high priest and "the council" or sanhedrin, in admittedly irregular and unlawful manner. if the sanhedrists tried and condemned, yet were not in session as the sanhedrin, the enormity of the proceeding is, if possible, deeper and blacker than ever. in chandler's excellent work (vol. i, "the hebrew trial"), the record of fact in the case, and the hebrew criminal law bearing thereon are exhaustively considered. then follows an elaborate "brief", in which the following points are set forth in order. "_point : the arrest of jesus was illegal_", since it was effected by night, and through the treachery of judas, an accomplice, both of which features were expressly forbidden in the jewish law of that day. "_point : the private examination of jesus before annas or caiaphas was illegal_"; for ( ) it was made by night; ( ) the hearing of any cause by a 'sole judge' was expressly forbidden; ( ) as quoted from salvador, 'a principle perpetually reproduced in the hebrew scriptures relates to the two conditions of publicity and liberty.' "_point : the indictment against jesus was, in form, illegal._ 'the entire criminal procedure of the mosaic code rests upon four rules: certainty in the indictment; publicity in the discussion; full freedom granted to the accused; and assurance against all dangers or errors of testimony'--salvador, p. . 'the sanhedrin did not and could not originate charges; it only investigated those brought before it'--edersheim, vol. i, p. . 'the evidence of the leading witnesses constituted the charge. there was no other charge; no more formal indictment. until they spoke and spoke in the public assembly, the prisoner was scarcely an accused man,'--innes, p. . 'the only prosecutors known to talmudic criminal jurisprudence are the witnesses to the crime. their duty is to bring the matter to the cognizance of the court, and to bear witness against the criminal. in capital cases they are the legal executioners also. of an official accuser or prosecutor there is nowhere any trace in the laws of the ancient hebrews.'-- mendelsohn, p. . "_point : the proceedings of the sanhedrin against jesus were illegal because they were conducted at night._ 'let a capital offense be tried during the day, but suspend it at night,'--mishna, sanhedrin : . 'criminal cases can be acted upon by the various courts during daytime only, by the lesser sanhedrions from the close of the morning service till noon, and by the great sanhedrion till evening.'--mendelsohn, p. . "_point : the proceedings of the sanhedrin against jesus were illegal because the court convened before the offering of the morning sacrifice._ 'the sanhedrin sat from the close of the morning sacrifice to the time of the evening sacrifice,'--talmud, jer. san. : . 'no session of the court could take place before the offering of the morning sacrifice'.--mm. lemann, p. . 'since the morning sacrifice was offered at the dawn of day, it was hardly possible for the sanhedrin to assemble until the hour after that time,'--mishna, tamid, ch. . "_point : the proceedings against jesus were illegal because they were conducted on the day preceding a jewish sabbath; also on the first day of unleavened bread and the eve of the passover._ 'they shall not judge on the eve of the sabbath nor on that of any festival.'--mishna, san. : . 'no court of justice in israel was permitted to hold sessions on the sabbath or any of the seven biblical holidays. in cases of capital crime, no trial could be commenced on friday or the day previous to any holiday, because it was not lawful either to adjourn such cases longer than over night, or to continue them on the sabbath or holiday.'--rabbi wise, 'martyrdom of jesus', p. . "_point : the trial of jesus was illegal because it was concluded within one day._ 'a criminal case resulting in the acquittal of the accused may terminate the same day on which the trial began. but if a sentence of death is to be pronounced, it cannot be concluded before the following day.'--mishna, san. : . "_point : the sentence of condemnation pronounced against jesus by the sanhedrin was illegal because it was founded upon his uncorroborated confession._ 'we have it as a fundamental principle of our jurisprudence that no one can bring an accusation against himself. should a man make confession of guilt before a legally constituted tribunal, such confession is not to be used against him unless properly attested by two other witnesses,'--maimonides, : . 'not only is self-condemnation never extorted from the defendant by means of torture, but no attempt is ever made to lead him on to self-incrimination. moreover, a voluntary confession on his part is not admitted in evidence, and therefore not competent to convict him, unless a legal number of witnesses minutely corroborate his self-accusation.'--mendelsohn, p. . "_point : the condemnation of jesus was illegal because the verdict of the sanhedrin was unanimous._ 'a simultaneous and unanimous verdict of guilt rendered on the day of the trial has the effect of an acquittal.'--mendelsohn, p. . 'if none of the judges defend the culprit, i.e., all pronounce him guilty, having no defender in the court, the verdict of guilty was invalid and the sentence of death could not be executed.'--rabbi wise, 'martyrdom of jesus', p. . "_point : the proceedings against jesus were illegal in that: ( ) the sentence of condemnation was pronounced in a place forbidden by law; ( ) the high priest rent his clothes; ( ) the balloting was irregular._ 'after leaving the hall gazith no sentence of death can be passed upon any one soever,'--talmud, bab. 'of idolatry' : . 'a sentence of death can be pronounced only so long as the sanhedrin holds its sessions in the appointed place.'--maimonides, . see further levit. : ; compare : . 'let the judges each in his turn absolve or condemn.'--mishna, san. : . 'the members of the sanhedrin were seated in the form of a semicircle, at the extremity of which a secretary was placed, whose business it was to record the votes. one of these secretaries recorded the votes in favor of the accused, the other those against him.'--mishna, san. : . 'in ordinary cases the judges voted according to seniority, the oldest commencing; in a capital case the reverse order was followed.'--benny, p. . "_point : the members of the great sanhedrin were legally disqualified to try jesus._ 'nor must there be on the judicial bench either a relation or a particular friend, or an enemy of either the accused or of the accuser.'--mendelsohn, p. . 'nor under any circumstances was a man known to be at enmity with the accused person permitted to occupy a position among the judges.'--benny, p. . "_point : the condemnation of jesus was illegal because the merits of the defense were not considered._ 'then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently.'--deut. : . 'the judges shall weigh the matter in the sincerity of their conscience.'--mishna, san. : . 'the primary object of the hebrew judicial system was to render the conviction of an innocent person impossible. all the ingenuity of the jewish legists was directed to the attainment of this end.'--benny, p. ." chandler's masterly statements of fact and his arguments on each of the foregoing points are commended to the investigator. the author tersely avers: "the pages of human history present no stronger case of judicial murder than the trial and crucifixion of jesus of nazareth, for the simple reason that all forms of law were outraged and trampled under foot in the proceedings instituted against him." (p. .) . "his blood be on us, and on our children."--edersheim (vol. , p. ) thus forcefully comments on the acknowledgment of responsibility for the death of christ: "the mishna tells us that, after the solemn washing of hands of the elders and their disclaimer of guilt, priests responded with this prayer: 'forgive it to thy people israel, whom thou hast redeemed, o lord, and lay not innocent blood upon thy people israel.' but here, in answer to pilate's words, came back that deep, hoarse cry: 'his blood be upon us,' and--god help us!--'on our children.' some thirty years later, and on that very spot, was judgment pronounced against some of the best in jerusalem; and among the , victims of the governor's fury, of whom not a few were scourged and crucified right over against the pretorium, were many of the noblest of the citizens of jerusalem. (josephus, wars, xiv, chap. : ). a few years more, and hundreds of crosses bore jewish mangled bodies within sight of jerusalem. and still have these wanderers seemed to bear, from century to century, and from land to land, that burden of blood; and still does it seem to weigh 'on us and on our children'." . "we have no king but cæsar."--"with this cry judaism was, in the person of its representatives, guilty of denial of god, of blasphemy, of apostasy. it committed suicide; and ever since has its dead body been carried in show from land to land, and from century to century,--to be dead and to remain dead, till he come a second time, who is the resurrection and the life."--edersheim, vol. , p. . . the underlying cause of pilate's surrender to the jewish demands.--pilate knew what was right but lacked the moral courage to do it. he was afraid of the jews, and more afraid of hostile influence at rome. he was afraid of his conscience, but more afraid of losing his official position. it was the policy of rome to be gracious and conciliatory in dealing with the religions and social customs of conquered nations. pontius pilate had violated this liberal policy from the early days of his procuratorship. in utter disregard of the hebrew antipathy against images and heathen insignia, he had the legionaries enter jerusalem at night, carrying their eagles and standards decorated with the effigy of the emperor. to the jews this act was a defilement of the holy city. in vast multitudes they gathered at cæsarea, and petitioned the procurator that the standards and other images be removed from jerusalem. for five days the people demanded and pilate refused. he threatened a general slaughter, and was amazed to see the people offer themselves as victims of the sword rather than relinquish their demands. pilate had to yield (josephus, ant. xviii, chap. : ; also wars, ii, chap. : , ). again he gave offense in forcibly appropriating the corban, or sacred funds of the temple, to the construction of an aqueduct for supplying jerusalem with water from the pools of solomon. anticipating the public protest of the people, he had caused roman soldiers to disguise themselves as jews; and with weapons concealed to mingle with the crowds. at a given signal these assassins plied their weapons and great numbers of defenceless jews were killed or wounded (josephus, ant. xviii, chap. : ; and wars, ii, chap. : , ). on another occasion, pilate had grossly offended the people by setting up in his official residence at jerusalem, shields that had been dedicated to tiberius, and this "less for the honor of tiberius than for the annoyance of the jewish people." a petition signed by the ecclesiastical officials of the nation, and by others of influence, including four herodian princes, was sent to the emperor, who reprimanded pilate and directed that the shields be removed from jerusalem to cæsarea (philo. de legatione ad caium; sec. ). these outrages on national feeling, and many minor acts of violence, extortion and cruelty, the jews held against the procurator. he realized that his tenure was insecure, and he dreaded exposure. such wrongs had he wrought that when he would have done good, he was deterred through cowardly fear of the accusing past. . judas iscariot.--today we speak of a traitor as a "judas" or an "iscariot". the man who made the combined name infamous has been for ages a subject of discussion among theologians and philosophers, and in later times the light of psychological analysis has been turned upon him. german philosophers were among the earliest to assert that the man had been judged in unrighteousness, and that his real character was of brighter tint than that in which it had been painted. indeed some critics hold that of all the twelve judas was the one most thoroughly convinced of our lord's divinity in the flesh; and these apologists attempt to explain the betrayal as a deliberate and well-intended move to force jesus into a position of difficulty from which he could escape only by the exercize of his powers of godship, which, up to that time, he had never used in his own behalf. we are not the invested judges of judas nor of any other; but we are competent to frame and hold opinions as to the actions of any. in the light of the revealed word it appears that judas iscariot had given himself up to the cause of satan while ostensibly serving the christ in an exalted capacity. such a surrender to evil powers could be accomplished only through sin. the nature and extent of the man's transgressions through the years are not told us. he had received the testimony that jesus was the son of god; and in the full light of that conviction he turned against his lord, and betrayed him to death. modern revelation is no less explicit than ancient in declaring that the path of sin is that of spiritual darkness leading to certain destruction. if the man who is guilty of adultery, even in his heart only, shall, unless he repents, surely forfeit the companionship of the spirit of god, and "shall deny the faith", and so the voice of god hath affirmed (see doc. and cov. : ), we cannot doubt that any and all forms of deadly sin shall poison the soul and, if not forsaken through true repentance, shall bring that soul to condemnation. for his trained and skilful servants, satan will provide opportunities of service commensurate with their evil ability. whatever the opinion of modern critics as to the good character of judas, we have the testimony of john, who for nearly three years had been in close companionship with him, that the man was a thief ( : ); and jesus referred to him as a devil ( : ), and as "the son of perdition" ( : ). see in this connection doc. and cov. : - . that the evil proclivities of judas iscariot were known to christ is evidenced by the lord's direct statement that among the twelve was one who was a devil; (john : ; compare : ; luke : ); and furthermore that this knowledge was his when the twelve were selected is suggested by the words of jesus: "i know whom i have chosen", coupled with the explanation that in the choice he had made would the scriptures be fulfilled. as the sacrificial death of the lamb of god was foreknown and foretold so the circumstances of the betrayal were foreseen. it would be contrary to both the letter and spirit of the revealed word to say that the wretched iscariot was in the least degree deprived of freedom or agency in the course he followed to so execrable an end. his was the opportunity and privilege common to the twelve, to live in the light of the lord's immediate presence, and to receive from the source divine the revelation of god's purposes. judas iscariot was no victim of circumstances, no insensate tool guided by a superhuman power, except as he by personal volition gave himself up to satan, and accepted a wage in the devil's employ. had judas been true to the right, other means than his perfidy would have operated to bring the lamb to the slaughter. his ordination to the apostleship placed him in possession of opportunity and privilege above that of the uncalled and unordained; and with such blessed possibility of achievement in the service of god came corresponding capability to fall. a trusted and exalted officer of the government can commit acts of treachery and treason such as are impossible to the citizen who has never learned the secrets of state. advancement implies increased accountability, even more literally so in the affairs of god's kingdom than in the institutions of men. there is an apparent discrepancy between the account of judas iscariot's death given by matthew ( : - ) and that in acts ( : - ). according to the first, judas hanged himself; the second states that he fell headlong, "and all his bowels gushed out." if both records be accurate, the wretched man probably hanged himself, and afterward fell, possibly through the breaking of the cord or the branch to which it was attached. matthew says the jewish rulers purchased the "field of blood"; the writer of the acts quotes peter as saying that judas bought the field with the money he had received from the priests. as the ground was bought with the money that had belonged to iscariot, and as this money had never been formally taken back by the temple officials, the field bought therewith belonged technically to the estate of judas. the variations are of importance mainly as showing independence of authorship. the accounts agree in the essential feature, that judas died a miserable suicide. concerning the fate of the "sons of perdition," the lord has given a partial but awful account through a revelation dated february , : "thus saith the lord, concerning all those who know my power, and have been made partakers thereof, and suffered themselves, through the power of the devil, to be overcome, and to deny the truth and defy my power--they are they who are the sons of perdition, of whom i say that it had been better for them never to have been born, for they are vessels of wrath, doomed to suffer the wrath of god, with the devil and his angels in eternity; concerning whom i have said there is no forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come, having denied the holy spirit after having received it, and having denied the only begotten son of the father--having crucified him unto themselves and put him to an open shame. these are they who shall go away into the lake of fire and brimstone, with the devil and his angels, and the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power.... wherefore, he saves all except them: they shall go away into everlasting punishment, which is endless punishment, which is eternal punishment, to reign with the devil and his angels in eternity, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched, which is their torment; and the end thereof, neither the place thereof, nor their torment, no man knows. neither was it revealed, neither is, neither will be revealed unto man, except to them who are made partakers thereof: nevertheless i, the lord, show it by vision unto many, but straightway shut it up again: wherefore the end, the width, the height, the depth, and the misery thereof, they understand not, neither any man except them who are ordained unto this condemnation."-- doc. and cov. : - , - . footnotes: [ ] john : , . [ ] matt. : ; mark : ; luke : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john : ; compare : , . [ ] john : - . [ ] the common text of john : , says that the man "struck jesus with the palm of his hand," that is to say slapped him; such an act added humiliating insult to violence; the marginal reading of the revised version is "with a rod." there is lack of agreement on this point in the early mss. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - . [ ] matt. : and mark : . [ ] john : - ; see pages , herein. [ ] note the accusation reported to pilate that jesus was guilty of "perverting the nation," luke : . [ ] matt. : - ; compare mark : - . [ ] pages , . [ ] compare mark : . [ ] matt. : , . revised version reads: "he is worthy of death," and gives in margin a yet more literal rendering: "liable to" death. [ ] lev. : . [ ] josephus, wars, ii, : , ; also maccabees : . [ ] matt. : ; mark : ; compare luke : ; see also isa. : . [ ] matt. : ; luke : - . [ ] mark : . [ ] luke : . [ ] john : . [ ] luke : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] mark : ; compare matt. : , ; john : . [ ] note , end of chapter, gives further details of the unlawful irregularities of the jewish trial of jesus. [ ] matt. : , - ; mark : , - ; luke : - ; john : - , - . [ ] john : , ; page herein. [ ] john : , ; : ; : ; : ; : , , . [ ] observe that mark, who alone states that the lord said to peter "before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice," ( : ) records a first crowing of the cock after peter's first denial (v. ) and a second crowing after the third denial (v. ). [ ] cæsarea palestina, not cæsarea philippi. [ ] john : - . [ ] luke : . [ ] john : - ; compare matt. : ; mark : ; luke : , . [ ] luke : - . [ ] luke : - . [ ] pages , ; see also page . [ ] luke : . [ ] matt. : ; mark : ; luke : , . [ ] luke : , ; page herein. [ ] luke : . revised version reads, "arraying him in gorgeous apparel." clarke ("commentaries") and many other writers assume that the robe was white, that being the usual color of dress amongst the jewish nobility. [ ] luke : - ; matt. : - ; mark : - ; john : , ; : - . [ ] matt. : ; mark : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matthew says "scarlet," mark and john say "purple." [ ] compare luke : . [ ] "ecce homo." [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; compare acts : - . [ ] revised version of matt. : reads, "and he cast down the pieces of silver into the sanctuary" instead of "in the temple," signifying that he flung the money into the porch of the holy house, as distinguished from the outer and public courts. [ ] acts : ; matt. : . note , end of chapter. chapter . death and burial. on the way to calvary.[ ] pontius pilate, having reluctantly surrendered to the clamorous demands of the jews, issued the fatal order; and jesus, divested of the purple robe and arrayed in his own apparel, was led away to be crucified. a body of roman soldiers had the condemned christ in charge; and as the procession moved out from the governor's palace, a motley crowd comprizing priestly officials, rulers of the jews, and people of many nationalities, followed. two convicted criminals, who had been sentenced to the cross for robbery, were led forth to death at the same time; there was to be a triple execution; and the prospective scene of horror attracted the morbidly minded, such as delight to gloat over the sufferings of their fellows. in the crowd, however, were some genuine mourners, as shall be shown. it was the roman custom to make the execution of convicts as public as possible, under the mistaken and anti-psychological assumption, that the spectacle of dreadful punishment would be of deterrent effect. this misconception of human nature has not yet become entirely obsolete. the sentence of death by crucifixion required that the condemned person carry the cross upon which he was to suffer. jesus started on the way bearing his cross. the terrible strain of the preceding hours, the agony in gethsemane, the barbarous treatment he had suffered in the palace of the high priest, the humiliation and cruel usage to which he had been subjected before herod, the frightful scourging under pilate's order, the brutal treatment by the inhuman soldiery, together with the extreme humiliation and the mental agony of it all, had so weakened his physical organism that he moved but slowly under the burden of the cross. the soldiers, impatient at the delay, peremptorily impressed into service a man whom they met coming into jerusalem from the country, and him they compelled to carry the cross of jesus. no roman or jew would have voluntarily incurred the ignominy of bearing such a gruesome burden; for every detail connected with the carrying out of a sentence of crucifixion was regarded as degrading. the man so forced to walk in the footsteps of jesus, bearing the cross upon which the savior of the world was to consummate his glorious mission, was simon, a native of cyrene. from mark's statement that simon was the father of alexander and rufus we infer that the two sons were known to the evangelist's readers as members of the early church, and there is some indication that the household of simon the cyrenian came to be numbered with the believers.[ ] among those who followed or stood and watched the death-procession pass, were some, women particularly, who bewailed and lamented the fate to which jesus was going. we read of no man who ventured to raise his voice in protest or pity; but on this dreadful occasion as at other times, women were not afraid to cry out in commiseration or praise. jesus, who had been silent under the inquisition of the priests, silent under the humiliating mockery of the sensual herod and his coarse underlings, silent when buffeted and beaten by the brutal legionaries of pilate, turned to the women whose sympathizing lamentations had reached his ears, and uttered these pathetic and portentous words of admonition and warning: "daughters of jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. for, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. then shall they begin to say to the mountains, fall on us; and to the hills, cover us. for if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" it was the lord's last testimony of the impending holocaust of destruction that was to follow the nation's rejection of her king. although motherhood was the glory of every jewish woman's life, yet in the terrible scenes which many of those there weeping would live to witness, barrenness would be accounted a blessing; for the childless would have fewer to weep over, and at least would be spared the horror of seeing their offspring die of starvation or by violence; for so dreadful would be that day that people would fain welcome the falling of the mountains upon them to end their sufferings.[ ] if israel's oppressors could do what was then in process of doing to the "green tree," who bore the leafage of freedom and truth and offered the priceless fruit of life eternal, what would the powers of evil not do to the withered branches and dried trunk of apostate judaism? along the city streets, out through the portal of the massive wall, and thence to a place beyond but yet nigh unto jerusalem, the cortege advanced. the destination was a spot called golgotha, or calvary, meaning "the place of a skull."[ ] crucifixion.[ ] at calvary the official crucifiers proceeded without delay to carry into effect the dread sentence pronounced upon jesus and upon the two criminals. preparatory to affixing the condemned to the cross, it was the custom to offer each a narcotic draught of sour wine or vinegar mingled with myrrh and possibly containing other anodyne ingredients, for the merciful purpose of deadening the sensibility of the victim. this was no roman practise, but was allowed as a concession to jewish sentiment. when the drugged cup was presented to jesus he put it to his lips, but having ascertained the nature of its contents refused to drink, and so demonstrated his determination to meet death with faculties alert and mind unclouded. then they crucified him, on the central cross of three, and placed one of the condemned malefactors on his right hand, the other on his left. thus was realized isaiah's vision of the messiah numbered among the transgressors.[ ] but few details of the actual crucifixion are given us. we know however that our lord was nailed to the cross by spikes driven through the hands and feet, as was the roman method, and not bound only by cords as was the custom in inflicting this form of punishment among some other nations. death by crucifixion was at once the most lingering and most painful of all forms of execution. the victim lived in ever increasing torture, generally for many hours, sometimes for days. the spikes so cruelly driven through hands and feet penetrated and crushed sensitive nerves and quivering tendons, yet inflicted no mortal wound. the welcome relief of death came through the exhaustion caused by intense and unremitting pain, through localized inflammation and congestion of organs incident to the strained and unnatural posture of the body.[ ] as the crucifiers proceeded with their awful task, not unlikely with roughness and taunts, for killing was their trade and to scenes of anguish they had grown callous through long familiarity, the agonized sufferer, void of resentment but full of pity for their heartlessness and capacity for cruelty, voiced the first of the seven utterances delivered from the cross. in the spirit of god-like mercy he prayed: "_father, forgive them; for they know not what they do._" let us not attempt to fix the limits of the lord's mercy; that it would be extended to all who in any degree could justly come under the blessed boon thereof ought to be a sufficing fact. there is significance in the form in which this merciful benediction was expressed. had the lord said, "i forgive you," his gracious pardon may have been understood to be but a remission of the cruel offense against himself as one tortured under unrighteous condemnation; but the invocation of the father's forgiveness was a plea for those who had brought anguish and death to the father's well beloved son, the savior and redeemer of the world. moses forgave miriam for her offense against himself as her brother; but god alone could remit the penalty and remove the leprosy that had come upon her for having spoken against jehovah's high priest.[ ] it appears that under roman rule, the clothes worn by a condemned person at the time of execution became the perquisites of the executioners. the four soldiers in charge of the cross upon which the lord suffered distributed parts of his raiment among themselves; and there remained his coat,[ ] which was a goodly garment, woven throughout in one piece, without seam. to rend it would be to spoil; so the soldiers cast lots to determine who should have it; and in this circumstance the gospel-writers saw a fulfilment of the psalmist's prevision: "they parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots."[ ] to the cross above the head of jesus was affixed a title or inscription, prepared by order of pilate in accordance with the custom of setting forth the name of the crucified and the nature of the offense for which he had been condemned to death. in this instance the title was inscribed in three languages, greek, latin, and hebrew, one or more of which would be understood by every observer who could read. the title so exhibited read: "_this is jesus the king of the jews_"; or in the more extended version given by john "_jesus of nazareth the king of the jews_."[ ] the inscription was read by many, for calvary was close to the public thoroughfare and on this holiday occasion the passers-by were doubtless numerous. comment was aroused; for, if literally construed, the inscription was an official declaration that the crucified jesus was in fact king of the jews. when this circumstance was brought to the attention of the chief priests, they excitedly appealed to the governor, saying: "write not, the king of the jews; but that he said, i am king of the jews. pilate answered, what i have written i have written." pilate's action in so wording the title, and his blunt refusal to permit an alteration, may have been an intended rebuff to the jewish officials who had forced him against his judgment and will to condemn jesus; possibly, however, the demeanor of the submissive prisoner, and his avowal of kingship above all royalty of earth had impressed the mind if not the heart of the pagan governor with a conviction of christ's unique superiority and of his inherent right of dominion; but, whatever the purpose behind the writing, the inscription stands in history as testimony of a heathen's consideration in contrast with israel's ruthless rejection of israel's king.[ ] the soldiers whose duty it was to guard the crosses, until loitering death would relieve the crucified of their increasing anguish, jested among themselves, and derided the christ, pledging him in their cups of sour wine in tragic mockery. looking at the title affixed above the sufferer's head, they bellowed forth the devil-inspired challenge: "if thou be the king of the jews, save thyself." the morbid multitude, and the passers-by "railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself, and come down from the cross." but worst of all, the chief priests and the scribes, the elders of the people, the unvenerable sanhedrists, became ring-leaders of the inhuman mob as they gloatingly exulted and cried aloud: "he saved others; himself he cannot save. if he be the king of israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. he trusted in god; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, i am the son of god."[ ] though uttered in ribald mockery, the declaration of the rulers in israel stands as an attestation that christ had saved others, and as an intended ironical but a literally true proclamation that he was the king of israel. the two malefactors, each hanging from his cross, joined in the general derision, and "cast the same in his teeth." one of them, in the desperation incident to approaching death, echoed the taunts of the priests and people: "if thou be christ, save thyself and us." the dominant note in all the railings and revilings, the ribaldry and mockery, with which the patient and submissive christ was assailed while he hung, "lifted up" as he had said he would be,[ ] was that awful "if" hurled at him by the devil's emissaries in the time of mortal agony; as in the season of the temptations immediately after his baptism it had been most insidiously pressed upon him by the devil himself.[ ] that "if" was satan's last shaft, keenly barbed and doubly envenomed, and it sped as with the fierce hiss of a viper. was it possible in this the final and most dreadful stage of christ's mission, to make him doubt his divine sonship, or, failing such, to taunt or anger the dying savior into the use of his superhuman powers for personal relief or as an act of vengeance upon his tormentors? to achieve such a victory was satan's desperate purpose. the shaft failed. through taunts and derision, through blasphemous challenge and diabolical goading, the agonized christ was silent. then one of the crucified thieves, softened into penitence by the savior's uncomplaining fortitude, and perceiving in the divine sufferer's demeanor something more than human, rebuked his railing fellow, saying: "dost not thou fear god, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? and we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss." his confession of guilt and his acknowledgment of the justice of his own condemnation led to incipient repentance, and to faith in the lord jesus, his companion in agony. "and he said unto jesus, lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom."[ ] to the appeal of penitence the lord replied with such a promise as he alone could make: "verily i say unto thee, to day shalt thou be with me in paradise."[ ] among the spectators of this, the greatest tragedy in history, were some who had come in sympathy and sorrow. no mention is found of the presence of any of the twelve, save one, and he, the disciple "whom jesus loved," john the apostle, evangelist, and revelator; but specific record is made of certain women who, first at a distance, and then close by the cross, wept in the anguish of love and sorrow. "now there stood by the cross of jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, mary the wife of cleophas, and mary magdalene."[ ] in addition to the women named were many others, some of whom had ministered unto jesus in the course of his labors in galilee, and who were among those that had come up with him to jerusalem.[ ] first in point of consideration among them all was mary, the mother of jesus, into whose soul the sword had pierced even as righteous simeon had prophesied.[ ] jesus looking with tender compassion upon his weeping mother, as she stood with john at the foot of the cross, commended her to the care and protection of the beloved disciple, with the words, "_woman, behold thy son!_" and to john, "_behold thy mother!_" the disciple tenderly led the heart-stricken mary away from her dying son, and "took her unto his own home," thus immediately assuming the new relationship established by his dying master. jesus was nailed to the cross during the forenoon of that fateful friday, probably between nine and ten o'clock.[ ] at noontide the light of the sun was obscured, and black darkness spread over the whole land. the terrifying gloom continued for a period of three hours. this remarkable phenomenon has received no satisfactory explanation from science. it could not have been due to a solar eclipse, as has been suggested in ignorance, for the time was that of full moon; indeed the passover season was determined by the first occurrence of full moon after the spring equinox. the darkness was brought about by miraculous operation of natural laws directed by divine power. it was a fitting sign of the earth's deep mourning over the impending death of her creator.[ ] of the mortal agony through which the lord passed while upon the cross the gospel-scribes are reverently reticent. at the ninth hour, or about three in the afternoon, a loud voice, surpassing the most anguished cry of physical suffering issued from the central cross, rending the dreadful darkness. it was the voice of the christ: "_eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, my god, my god, why hast thou forsaken me?_" what mind of man can fathom the significance of that awful cry? it seems, that in addition to the fearful suffering incident to crucifixion, the agony of gethsemane had recurred, intensified beyond human power to endure. in that bitterest hour the dying christ was alone, alone in most terrible reality. that the supreme sacrifice of the son might be consummated in all its fulness, the father seems to have withdrawn the support of his immediate presence, leaving to the savior of men the glory of complete victory over the forces of sin and death. the cry from the cross, though heard by all who were near, was understood by few. the first exclamation, _eloi_, meaning _my god_, was misunderstood as a call for elias. the period of faintness, the conception of utter forsakenness soon passed, and the natural cravings of the body reasserted themselves. the maddening thirst, which constituted one of the worst of the crucifixion agonies, wrung from the savior's lips his one recorded utterance expressive of physical suffering. "_i thirst_" he said. one of those who stood by, whether roman or jew, disciple or skeptic, we are not told, hastily saturated a sponge with vinegar, a vessel of which was at hand, and having fastened the sponge to the end of a reed, or stalk of hyssop, pressed it to the lord's fevered lips. some others would have prevented this one act of human response, for they said: "let be, let us see whether elias will come to save him." john affirms that christ uttered the exclamation, "i thirst," only when he knew "that all things were now accomplished"; and the apostle saw in the incident a fulfilment of prophecy.[ ] fully realizing that he was no longer forsaken, but that his atoning sacrifice had been accepted by the father, and that his mission in the flesh had been carried to glorious consummation, he exclaimed in a loud voice of holy triumph: "_it is finished!_" in reverence, resignation, and relief, he addressed the father saying: "_father, into thy hands i commend my spirit._"[ ] he bowed his head, and voluntarily gave up his life. jesus the christ was dead. his life had not been taken from him except as he had willed to permit. sweet and welcome as would have been the relief of death in any of the earlier stages of his suffering from gethsemane to the cross, he lived until all things were accomplished as had been appointed. in the latter days the voice of the lord jesus has been heard affirming the actuality of his suffering and death, and the eternal purpose thereby accomplished. hear and heed his words: "for, behold, the lord your redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him."[ ] important occurrences between the lord's death and burial. the death of christ was accompanied by terrifying phenomena. there was a violent earthquake; the rocks of the mighty hills were disrupted, and many graves were torn open. but, most portentous of all in judaistic minds, the veil of the temple which hung between the holy place and the holy of holies[ ] was rent from top to bottom, and the interior, which none but the high priest had been permitted to see, was thrown open to common gaze. it was the rending of judaism, the consummation of the mosaic dispensation, and the inauguration of christianity under apostolic administration. the roman centurion and the soldiers under his command at the place of execution were amazed and greatly affrighted. they had probably witnessed many deaths on the cross, but never before had they seen a man apparently die of his own volition, and able to cry in a loud voice at the moment of dissolution. that barbarous and inhuman mode of execution induced slow and progressive exhaustion. the actual death of jesus appeared to all who were present to be a miracle, as in fact it was. this marvel, coupled with the earthquake and its attendant horrors, so impressed the centurion that he prayed to god, and solemnly declared: "certainly this was a righteous man." others joined in fearsome averment: "truly this was the son of god." the terrified ones who spoke and those who heard left the place in a state of fear, beating their breasts, and bewailing what seemed to be a state of impending destruction.[ ] a few loving women, however, watched from a distant point, and saw all that took place until the lord's body was laid away. it was now late in the afternoon; at sunset the sabbath would begin. that approaching sabbath was held to be more than ordinarily sacred for it was a high day, in that it was the weekly sabbath and a paschal holy day.[ ] the jewish officials, who had not hesitated to slay their lord, were horrified at the thought of men left hanging on crosses on such a day, for thereby the land would be defiled;[ ] so these scrupulous rulers went to pilate and begged that jesus and the two malefactors be summarily dispatched by the brutal roman method of breaking their legs, the shock of which violent treatment had been found to be promptly fatal to the crucified. the governor gave his consent, and the soldiers broke the limbs of the two thieves with cudgels. jesus, however, was found to be already dead, so they broke not his bones. christ, the great passover sacrifice, of whom all altar victims had been but suggestive prototypes, died through violence yet without a bone of his body being broken, as was a prescribed condition of the slain paschal lambs.[ ] one of the soldiers, to make sure that jesus was actually dead, or to surely kill him if he was yet alive, drove a spear into his side, making a wound large enough to permit a man's hand to be thrust thereinto.[ ] the withdrawal of the spear was followed by an outflow of blood and water,[ ] an occurrence so surprizing that john, who was an eye-witness, bears specific personal testimony to the fact, and cites the scriptures thereby fulfilled.[ ] the burial.[ ] a man known as joseph of arimathea, who was at heart a disciple of christ, but who had hesitated to openly confess his conversion through fear of the jews, desired to give the lord's body a decent and honorable interment. but for some such divinely directed intervention, the body of jesus might have been cast into the common grave of executed criminals. this man, joseph, was "a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just." it is expressly said of him that he "had not consented to the counsel and deed of them"; from which statement we infer that he was a sanhedrist and had been opposed to the action of his colleagues in condemning jesus to death, or at least had refrained from voting with the rest. joseph was a man of wealth, station, and influence. he went in boldly unto pilate and begged the body of christ. the governor was surprized to learn that jesus was already dead; he summoned the centurion and inquired as to how long jesus had lived on the cross. the unusual circumstance seems to have added to pilate's troubled concern. he gave command and the body of christ was delivered to joseph. the body was removed from the cross; and in preparing it for the tomb joseph was assisted by nicodemus, another member of the sanhedrin, the same who had come to jesus by night three years before, and who at one of the conspiracy meetings of the council had protested against the unlawful condemnation of jesus without a hearing.[ ] nicodemus brought a large quantity of myrrh and aloes, about a hundredweight. the odorous mixture was highly esteemed for anointing and embalming, but its cost restricted its use to the wealthy. these two revering disciples wrapped the lord's body in clean linen, "with the spices, as the manner of the jews is to bury"; and then laid it in a new sepulchre, hewn in the rock. the tomb was in a garden, not far from calvary, and was the property of joseph. because of the nearness of the sabbath the interment had to be made with haste; the door of the sepulchre was closed, a large stone was rolled against it;[ ] and thus laid away the body was left to rest. some of the devoted women, particularly mary magdalene, and "the other mary," who was the mother of james and joses, had watched the entombment from a distance; and when it was completed "they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment." the sepulchre guarded.[ ] on the day following the "preparation," that is to say on saturday, the sabbath and "high-day,"[ ] the chief priests and pharisees came in a body to pilate, saying: "sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, after three days i will rise again. command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, he is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first." it is evident that the most inveterate of the human enemies of christ remembered his predictions of an assured resurrection on the third day after his death. pilate answered with terse assent: "ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can." so the chief priests and pharisees satisfied themselves that the sepulchre was secure by seeing that the official seal was affixed at the junction of the great stone and the portal, and that an armed guard was placed in charge. notes to chapter . . simon the cyrenian.--simon, upon whom the cross of jesus was laid, was a member of the jewish colony in northern africa, which had been established nearly three centuries before the birth of christ by ptolemeus lagi, who transported thither great numbers of jews from palestine (josephus, antiquities, xii, chap. ). cyrene, the home of simon, was in the province of libya; its site is within the present boundaries of tunis. that the african jews were numerous and influential is evidenced by the fact that they maintained a synagog in jerusalem (acts : ) for the accommodation of such of their number as visited the city. rufus and his mother are mentioned in friendly reference by paul over a quarter of a century after the death of christ (romans : ). if this rufus be one of the sons of simon named by mark ( : ), as tradition indicates, it is probable that simon's family was prominently identified with the primitive church. as to whether simon had become a disciple before the crucifixion, or was converted through his compulsory service in bearing the lord's cross, or became a member of the church at a later date, we are not definitely told. . christ's words to the daughters of jerusalem.--"the time would come, when the old testament curse of barrenness (hosea : ) would be coveted as a blessing. to show the fulfilment of this prophetic lament of jesus it is not necessary to recall the harrowing details recorded by josephus (wars, vi, : ), when a frenzied mother roasted her own child, and in the mockery of desperateness reserved the half of the horrible meal for those murderers who daily broke in upon her to rob her of what scanty food had been left her; nor yet other of those incidents, too revolting for needless repetition, which the historian of the last siege of jerusalem chronicles. but how often, these many centuries, must israel's women have felt that terrible longing for childlessness, and how often must the prayer of despair for the quick death of falling mountains and burying hills rather than prolonged torture (hosea : ), have risen to the lips of israel's sufferers! and yet, even so, these words were also prophetic of a still more terrible future (rev. : ). for, if israel had put such flame to its 'green tree' how terribly would the divine judgment burn among the dry wood of an apostate and rebellious people, that had so delivered up its divine king, and pronounced sentence upon itself by pronouncing it upon him!"--edersheim, _life and times of jesus the messiah_ vol. , p. . concerning the prayer that mountains fall to crush and hide, farrar (_life of christ_, p. , note), says: "these words of christ met with a painfully literal illustration when hundreds of the unhappy jews at the siege of jerusalem hid themselves in the darkest and vilest subterranean recesses, and when, besides those who were hunted out, no less than two thousand were killed by being buried under the ruins of their hiding places." a further fulfilment may be yet future. consult josephus, wars, vi. : . see also hos. : - ; : ; isa. : ; compare rev. : . . "the place of a skull."--the aramaic hebrew name "golgotha", the greek "kranion", and the latin "calvaria" or, as anglicized, "calvary", have the same meaning, and connote "a skull". the name may have been applied with reference to topographical features, as we speak of the brow of a hill; or, if the spot was the usual place of execution, it may have been so called as expressive of death, just as we call a skull a death's head. it is probable that the bodies of executed convicts were buried near the place of death; and if golgotha or calvary was the appointed site for execution, the exposure of skulls and other human bones through the ravages of beasts and by other means, would not be surprizing; though the leaving of bodies or any of their parts unburied was contrary to jewish law and sentiment. the origin of the name is of as little importance as are the many divergent suppositions concerning the exact location of the spot. . crucifixion.--"it was unanimously considered the most horrible form of death. among the romans also the degradation was a part of the infliction, and the punishment if applied to freeman was only used in the case of the vilest criminals.... the criminal carried his own cross, or at any rate a part of it. hence, figuratively, _to take, take up_ or _bear one's cross_ is _to endure suffering, affliction, or shame_ like a criminal on his way to the place of crucifixion (matt. : ; : ; luke : , etc.). the place of execution was outside the city ( kings : ; acts : ; heb. : ), often in some public road or other conspicuous place. arrived at the place of execution, the sufferer was stripped naked, the dress being the perquisite of the soldiers (matt. : ). the cross was then driven into the ground, so that the feet of the condemned were a foot or two above the earth, and he was lifted upon it; or else stretched upon it on the ground and then lifted with it." it was the custom to station soldiers to watch the cross, so as to prevent the removal of the sufferer while yet alive. "this was necessary from the lingering character of the death, which sometimes did not supervene even for three days, and was at last the result of gradual benumbing and starvation. but for this guard, the persons might have been taken down and recovered, as was actually done in the case of a friend of josephus.... in most cases the body was suffered to rot on the cross by the action of sun and rain, or to be devoured by birds and beasts. sepulture was generally therefore forbidden; but in consequence of deut. : , , an express national exception was made in favor of the jews (matt. : ). this accursed and awful mode of punishment was happily abolished by constantine." smith's _bible dict._ . pilate's inscription--"the king of the jews."--no two of the gospel-writers give the same wording of the title or inscription placed by pilate's order above the head of jesus on the cross; the meaning, however, is the same in all, and the unessential variation is evidence of individual liberty among the recorders. it is probable that there was actual diversity in the trilingual versions. john's version is followed in the common abbreviations used in connection with roman catholic figures of christ: j. n. r. j.; or, inasmuch as "i" used to be an ordinary equivalent of "j",--i. n. r. i.--"jesus of nazareth, king [rex] of the jews." . the women at the cross.--"according to the authorized version and revised version, only three women are named, but most modern critics hold that four are intended. translate, therefore, 'his mother, and his mother's sister, (i.e. salome, the mother of the evangelist [john]); and mary the wife of cleophas; and mary magdalene.'"--taken from dummelow's commentary on john : . . the hour of the crucifixion.--mark ( : ) says: "and it was the third hour and they crucified him"; the time so specified corresponds to the hour from to a.m. this writer and his fellow synoptists, matthew and luke, give place to many incidents that occurred between the nailing of christ to the cross and the sixth hour or the hour from noon to p.m. from these several accounts it is clear that jesus was crucified during the forenoon. a discrepancy plainly appears between these records and john's statement ( : ) that it was "about the sixth hour" (noon) when pilate gave the sentence of execution. all attempts to harmonize the accounts in this particular have proved futile because the discrepancy is real. most critics and commentators assume that "about the sixth hour" in john's account is a misstatement, due to the errors of early copyists of the manuscript gospels, who mistook the sign meaning rd for that signifying th. . the physical cause of christ's death.--while, as stated in the text, the yielding up of life was voluntary on the part of jesus christ, for he had life in himself and no man could take his life except as he willed to allow it to be taken, (john : ; : ; : - ) there was of necessity a direct physical cause of dissolution. as stated also the crucified sometimes lived for days upon the cross, and death resulted, not from the infliction of mortal wounds, but from internal congestion, inflammations, organic disturbances, and consequent exhaustion of vital energy. jesus, though weakened by long torture during the preceding night and early morning, by the shock of the crucifixion itself, as also by intense mental agony, and particularly through spiritual suffering such as no other man has ever endured, manifested surprizing vigor, both of mind and body, to the last. the strong, loud utterance, immediately following which he bowed his head and "gave up the ghost", when considered in connection with other recorded details, points to a physical rupture of the heart as the direct cause of death. if the soldier's spear was thrust into the left side of the lord's body and actually penetrated the heart, the outrush of "blood and water" observed by john is further evidence of a cardiac rupture; for it is known that in the rare instances of death resulting from a breaking of any part of the wall of the heart, blood accumulates within the pericardium, and there undergoes a change by which the corpuscles separate as a partially clotted mass from the almost colorless, watery serum. similar accumulations of clotted corpuscles and serum occur within the pleura. dr. abercrombie of edinburgh, as cited by deems (_light of the nations_, p. ), "gives a case of the sudden death of a man aged seventy-seven years, owing to a rupture of the heart. in his case 'the cavities of the pleura contained _about three pounds of fluid_, but the lungs were sound.'" deems also cites the following instance: "dr. elliotson relates the case of a woman who died suddenly. 'on opening the body the pericardium was found distended with _clear serum_, and a very large coagulum of blood, which had escaped through a spontaneous rupture of the aorta near its origin, without any other morbid appearance.' many cases might be cited, but these suffice." for detailed treatment of the subject the student may be referred to dr. wm. stroud's work _on the physical cause of the death of christ_. great mental stress, poignant emotion either of grief or joy, and intense spiritual struggle are among the recognized causes of heart rupture. the present writer believes that the lord jesus died of a broken heart. the psalmist sang in dolorous measure according to his inspired prevision of the lord's passion: "reproach hath broken my heart; and i am full of heaviness: and i looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but i found none. they gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." (psalm : , ; see also : .) . the request that christ's tomb be sealed.--many critics hold that the deputation called upon pilate on saturday evening, after the sabbath had ended. this assumption is made on the ground that to do what these priestly officials did, in personally supervizing the sealing of the tomb, would have been to incur defilement, and that they would not have so done on the sabbath. matthew's statement is definite--that the application was made on "the next day, that followed the day of the preparation." the preparation day extended from sunset on thursday to the beginning of the sabbath at sunset on friday. footnotes: [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - ; john: , . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - ; john : - . [ ] isa. : ; compare mark : ; luke : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] numb. . [ ] revised version, marginal reading, "tunic." [ ] matt. : ; mark : ; luke : ; john : , ; compare psa. : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] pages and . [ ] matt. : , . the clause "if he be the king of israel" in verse of the common text is admittedly a mistranslation; it should read "he is the king of israel." see revised version; also edersheim, vol. , p. ; compare mark : . [ ] john : ; : ; : . [ ] matt. : , ; see pages , herein. [ ] luke : ; the revised version reads "when thou comest in thy kingdom." [ ] see chapter , following. [ ] john : ; compare matt. : , ; mark : , ; luke : , . see note , end of chapter. [ ] see references last cited; and luke : , ; also page herein. [ ] luke : , ; page herein. [ ] mark : ; see note , end of chapter. [ ] compare p. of g.p., moses : , , , , . [ ] john : ; compare psa. : . [ ] the gospel writers leave us in some uncertainty as to which of the last two utterances from the cross.--"it is finished," and "father, into thy hands i commend my spirit," was spoken first. [ ] doc. and cov. : ; revelation given in june ; see also : - , and page herein. [ ] see "the house of the lord," pages , . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : , ; luke : - . [ ] john : - . [ ] deut. : . [ ] exo. : ; numb. : ; psa. : ; john : ; cor. : . [ ] john : ; b. of m., nephi : , . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] john : - ; compare psa. : , ; zech. : ; rev. : . [ ] matt. : - ; mark : - ; luke : - ; john : - . [ ] john : , ; : ; see pages and herein. [ ] see revised version, mark : . [ ] matt. : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. chapter . in the realm of disembodied spirits. jesus the christ died in the literal sense in which all men die. he underwent a physical dissolution by which his immortal spirit was separated from his body of flesh and bones, and that body was actually dead. while the corpse lay in joseph's rock-hewn tomb, the living christ existed as a disembodied spirit. we are justified in inquiring where he was and what were his activities during the interval between his death on the cross and his emergence from the sepulchre with spirit and body reunited, a resurrected soul. the assumption that most naturally suggests itself is that he went where the spirits of the dead ordinarily go; and that, in the sense in which while in the flesh he had been a man among men, he was, in the disembodied state a spirit among spirits. this conception is confirmed as a fact by scriptural attestation. as heretofore shown[ ] jesus christ was the chosen and ordained redeemer and savior of mankind; to this exalted mission he had been set apart in the beginning, even before the earth was prepared as the abode of mankind. unnumbered hosts who had never heard the gospel, lived and died upon the earth before the birth of jesus. of those departed myriads many had passed their mortal probation with varying degrees of righteous observance of the law of god so far as it had been made known unto them, but had died in unblamable ignorance of the gospel; while other multitudes had lived and died as transgressors even against such moiety of god's law to man as they had learned and such as they had professed to obey. death had claimed as its own all of these, both just and unjust. to them went the christ, bearing the transcendently glorious tidings of redemption from the bondage of death, and of possible salvation from the effects of individual sin. this labor was part of the savior's foreappointed and unique service to the human family. the shout of divine exultation from the cross, "it is finished," signified the consummation of the lord's mission in mortality; yet there remained to him other ministry to be rendered prior to his return to the father. to the penitent transgressor crucified by his side, who reverently craved remembrance when the lord should come into his kingdom,[ ] christ had given the comforting assurance: "verily i say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise." the spirit of jesus and the spirit of the repentant thief left their crucified bodies and went to the same place in the realm of the departed.[ ] on the third day following, jesus, then a resurrected being, positively stated to the weeping magdalene: "i am not yet ascended to my father." he had gone to paradise but not to the place where god dwells. paradise, therefore, is not heaven, if by the latter term we understand the abode of the eternal father and his celestialized children.[ ] paradise is a place where dwell righteous and repentant spirits between bodily death and resurrection. another division of the spirit world is reserved for those disembodied beings who have lived lives of wickedness and who remain impenitent even after death. alma, a nephite prophet, thus spake of the conditions prevailing among the departed: "now concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection. behold, it has been made known unto me, by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body; yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that god who gave them life. and then shall it come to pass that the spirits of those who are righteous, are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise; a state of rest; a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow, &c. and then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil; for behold, they have no part nor portion of the spirit of the lord; for behold, they chose evil works rather than good; therefore the spirit of the devil did enter into them, and take possession of their house; and these shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth; and this because of their own iniquity; being led captive by the will of the devil. now this is the state of the souls of the wicked: yea, in darkness, and a state of awful, fearful, looking for the fiery indignation of the wrath of god upon them; thus they remain in this state, as well as the righteous in paradise, until the time of their resurrection."[ ] while divested of his body christ ministered among the departed, both in paradise and in the prison realm where dwelt in a state of durance the spirits of the disobedient. to this effect testified peter nearly three decades after the great event: "for christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to god, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit: by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of god waited in the days of noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water."[ ] the disobedient who had lived on earth in the noachian period are especially mentioned as beneficiaries of the lord's ministry in the spirit world. they had been guilty of gross offenses, and had wantonly rejected the teachings and admonitions of noah, the earthly minister of jehovah. for their flagrant sin they had been destroyed in the flesh, and their spirits had endured in a condition of imprisonment, without hope, from the time of their death to the advent of christ, who came as a spirit amongst them. we are not to assume from peter's illustrative mention of the disobedient antediluvians that they alone were included in the blessed opportunities offered through christ's ministry in the spirit realm; on the contrary, we conclude in reason and consistency that all whose wickedness in the flesh had brought their spirits into the prison house were sharers in the possibilities of expiation, repentance, and release. justice demanded that the gospel be preached among the dead as it had been and was to be yet more widely preached among the living. let us consider the further affirmation of peter, as part of his pastoral admonition to the members of the primitive church: "who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to god in the spirit."[ ] that jesus knew, while yet in the body, that his mission as the universal redeemer and savior of the race would not be complete when he came to die is sufficiently demonstrated by his words to the casuistical jews, following the sabbath day healing at bethesda: "verily, verily, i say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the son of god: and they that hear shall live. for as the father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the son of man. marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."[ ] the solemn truth, that through the atonement of christ salvation would be made possible to the dead as well as to the living, was revealed to the prophets centuries before the meridian of time. isaiah was permitted to foresee the fate of the ungodly, and the state prepared for haughty and rebellious offenders against righteousness; but the dread vision was in part brightened by the deliverance that had been provided. "and it shall come to pass in that day, that the lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. and they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited."[ ] to the same mighty prophet was shown the universality of the savior's atoning victory, as comprizing the redemption of jew and gentile, living and dead; and convincingly he voiced the word of revelation: "thus saith god the lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: i the lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house."[ ] david, singing the praises of the redeemer whose dominion should extend even to the souls in hell, shouted in joy at the prospect of deliverance: "therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."[ ] from these and other scriptures it is evident that the ministry of christ among the disembodied was foreseen, predicted, and accomplished. the fact that the gospel was preached to the dead necessarily implies the possibility of the dead accepting the same and availing themselves of the saving opportunities thereof. in the merciful providence of the almighty, provision has been made for vicarious service by the living for the dead, in the ordinances essential to salvation; so that all who in the spirit-world accept the word of god as preached to them, develop true faith in jesus christ as the one and only savior, and contritely repent of their transgressions, shall be brought under the saving effect of baptism by water for the remission of sins, and be recipients of the baptism of the spirit or the bestowal of the holy ghost.[ ] paul cites the principle and practise of baptism by the living for the dead as proof of the actuality of the resurrection: "else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?"[ ] free agency, the divine birthright of every human soul, will not be annulled by death. only as the spirits of the dead become penitent and faithful will they be benefited by the vicarious service rendered in their behalf on earth. missionary labor among the dead was inaugurated by the christ; who of us can doubt that it has been continued by his authorized servants, the disembodied, who while in the flesh had been commissioned to preach the gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof through ordination in the holy priesthood? that the faithful apostles who were left to build up the church on earth following the departure of its divine founder, that other ministers of the word of god ordained to the priesthood by authority in the primitive as well as in the latter-day church, have passed from ministerial service among mortals to a continuation of such labor among the disembodied, is so abundantly implied in scripture as to be made a certainty. they are called to follow in the footsteps of the master, ministering here among the living, and beyond among the dead. the victory of christ over death and sin would be incomplete were its effects confined to the small minority who have heard, accepted, and lived the gospel of salvation in the flesh. compliance with the laws and ordinances of the gospel is essential to salvation. nowhere in scripture is a distinction made in this regard between the living and the dead. the dead are those who have lived in mortality upon earth; the living are mortals who yet shall pass through the ordained change which we call death. all are children of the same father, all to be judged and rewarded or punished by the same unerring justice, with the same interposition of benign mercy. christ's atoning sacrifice was offered, not alone for the few who lived upon the earth while he was in the flesh, nor for those who were to be born in mortality after his death, but for all inhabitants of earth then past, present, and future. he was ordained of the father to be a judge of both quick and dead;[ ] he is lord alike of living and dead,[ ] as men speak of dead and living, though all are to be placed in the same position before him; there will be but a single class, for all live unto him.[ ] while his body reposed in the tomb, christ was actively engaged in the further accomplishment of the father's purposes, by offering the boon of salvation to the dead, both in paradise and in hell. notes to chapter . . paradise.--the scriptures prove that at the time of the final judgment every man will stand before the bar of god, clothed in his resurrected body, and this, irrespective of his condition of righteousness or guilt. while awaiting resurrection, disembodied spirits exist in an intermediate state, of happiness and rest or of suffering and suspense, according to the course they have elected to follow in mortality. reference to paradise as the abode of righteous spirits between the time of death and that of the resurrection is made by the prophet nephi ( nephi : ), by a later prophet of the same name ( nephi ), by moroni (moroni : ); as also by alma whose words are quoted in the text (alma : , ). new testament scripture is of analogous import (luke : ; cor. : ; rev. : ). the word "paradise" by its derivation through the greek from the persian, signifies a pleasant place, or a place of restful enjoyment. (see _the articles of faith_, xxi, note ). by many the terms "hades" and "sheol" are understood to designate the place of departed spirits, comprizing both paradise and the prison realm; by others the terms are applied only to the latter, the place of the wicked, which is apart from paradise, the abode of the just. the assumption that the gracious assurance given by christ to the penitent sinner on the cross was a remission of the man's sins, and a passport into heaven, is wholly contrary to both the letter and spirit of scripture, reason, and justice. confidence in the efficacy of death-bed professions and confessions on the basis of this incident is of the most insecure foundation. the crucified malefactor manifested both faith and repentance; his promised blessing was that he should that day hear the gospel preached in paradise; in the acceptance or rejection of the word of life he would be an agent unto himself. the requirement of obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel as an essential to salvation was not waived, suspended, or superseded in his case. . the scripture relating to christ among the spirits in prison.--the revised version of peter : - reads: "because christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to god; being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit; in which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of god waited in the days of noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is eight souls were saved through water." this is regarded by scholars as a closer approach to accuracy in translation than the common version. certain important differences between the two versions will appear to the studious reader. the common version of the latter part of verse and the whole of verse reads: "being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit: by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison." the revised text expresses the true thought that christ was quickened, that is to say, was active, in his own spirit state, although his body was inert and in reality dead at the time; and that _in_ that disembodied state he went and preached to the disobedient spirits. the later reading fixes the time of our lord's ministry among the departed as the interval between his death and resurrection. footnotes: [ ] chapters and herein. [ ] page . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note the distinction made by paul cor. : - . [ ] b. of m., alma : - . [ ] peter : - ; see note , end of chapter. [ ] peter : , . see note , end of chapter. [ ] john : - ; see also page herein. [ ] isa. : , . [ ] isa. : - . [ ] psalm : - . [ ] see page herein; also "the articles of faith," vii: - ; and "the house of the lord," pages - . [ ] cor. : ; see also "house of the lord," p. . [ ] acts : ; tim. : ; peter : . [ ] rom. : . [ ] luke : , ; "the articles of faith," vii: . chapter . the resurrection and the ascension. christ is risen. saturday, the jewish sabbath, had passed, and the night preceding the dawn of the most memorable sunday in history was well nigh spent, while the roman guard kept watch over the sealed sepulchre wherein lay the body of the lord jesus. while it was yet dark, the earth began to quake; an angel of the lord descended in glory, rolled back the massive stone from the portal of the tomb, and sat upon it. his countenance was brilliant as the lightning, and his raiment was as the driven snow for whiteness. the soldiers, paralyzed with fear, fell to the earth as dead men. when they had partially recovered from their fright, they fled from the place in terror. even the rigor of roman discipline, which decreed summary death to every soldier who deserted his post, could not deter them. moreover, there was nothing left for them to guard; the seal of authority had been broken, the sepulchre was open, and empty.[ ] at the earliest indication of dawn, the devoted mary magdalene and other faithful women set out for the tomb, bearing spices and ointments which they had prepared for the further anointing of the body of jesus. some of them had been witnesses of the burial, and were conscious of the necessary haste with which the corpse had been wrapped with spicery and laid away by joseph and nicodemus, just before the beginning of the sabbath; and now these adoring women came early to render loving service in a more thorough anointing and external embalmment of the body. on the way as they sorrowfully conversed, they seemingly for the first time thought of the difficulty of entering the tomb. "who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?" they asked one of another. evidently they knew nothing of the seal and the guard of soldiery. at the tomb they saw the angel, and were afraid; but he said unto them: "fear not ye: for i know that ye seek jesus, which was crucified. he is not here: for he is risen, as he said. come, see the place where the lord lay. and go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, i have told you."[ ] the women, though favored by angelic visitation and assurance, left the place amazed and frightened. mary magdalene appears to have been the first to carry word to the disciples concerning the empty tomb. she had failed to comprehend the gladsome meaning of the angel's proclamation "he is risen, as he said"; in her agony of love and grief she remembered only the words "he is not here," the truth of which had been so forcefully impressed by her own hasty glance at the open and tenantless tomb. "then she runneth, and cometh to simon peter, and to the other disciple, whom jesus loved, and saith unto them, they have taken away the lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him." peter, and "that other disciple" who, doubtless, was john, set forth in haste, running together toward the sepulchre. john outran his companion, and on reaching the tomb stooped to look in, and so caught a glimpse of the linen cerements lying on the floor; but the bold and impetuous peter rushed into the sepulchre, and was followed by the younger apostle. the two observed the linen grave-clothes, and lying by itself, the napkin that had been placed about the head of the corpse. john frankly affirms that having seen these things, he believed, and explains in behalf of himself and his fellow apostles, "for as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead."[ ] the sorrowful magdalene had followed the two apostles back to the garden of the burial. no thought of the lord's restoration to life appears to have found place in her griefstricken heart; she knew only that the body of her beloved master had disappeared. while peter and john were within the sepulchre, she had stood without, weeping. after the men had left she stooped and looked into the rock-hewn cavern. there she saw two personages, angels in white; one sat "at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of jesus had lain." in accents of tenderness they asked of her: "woman, why weepest thou?" in reply she could but voice anew her overwhelming sorrow: "because they have taken away my lord, and i know not where they have laid him." the absence of the body, which she thought to be all that was left on earth of him whom she loved so deeply, was a personal bereavement. there is a volume of pathos and affection in her words, "they have taken away my lord." turning from the vault, which, though at that moment illumined by angelic presence, was to her void and desolate, she became aware of another personage, standing near. she heard his sympathizing inquiry: "woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?" scarcely lifting her tearful countenance to look at the questioner, but vaguely supposing that he was the caretaker of the garden, and that he might have knowledge of what had been done with the body of her lord, she exclaimed: "sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and i will take him away." she knew that jesus had been interred in a borrowed tomb; and if the body had been dispossessed of that resting place, she was prepared to provide another. "tell me where thou hast laid him," she pleaded. it was jesus to whom she spake, her beloved lord, though she knew it not. one word from his living lips changed her agonized grief into ecstatic joy. "jesus saith unto her, mary." the voice, the tone, the tender accent she had heard and loved in the earlier days lifted her from the despairing depths into which she had sunk. she turned, and saw the lord. in a transport of joy she reached out her arms to embrace him, uttering only the endearing and worshipful word, "rabboni," meaning my beloved master. jesus, restrained her impulsive manifestation of reverent love, saying, "touch me not[ ] for i am not yet ascended to my father," and adding, "but go to my brethren, and say unto them, i ascend unto my father, and your father; and to my god, and your god."[ ] to a woman, to mary of magdala, was given the honor of being the first among mortals to behold a resurrected soul, and that soul, the lord jesus.[ ] to other favored women did the risen lord next manifest himself, including mary the mother of joses, joanna, and salome the mother of the apostles james and john. these and the other women with them had been affrighted by the presence of the angel at the tomb, and had departed with mingled fear and joy. they were not present when peter and john entered the vault, nor afterward when the lord made himself known to mary magdalene. they may have returned later, for some of them appear to have entered the sepulchre, and to have seen that the lord's body was not there. as they stood wondering in perplexity and astonishment, they became aware of the presence of two men in shining garments, and as the women "bowed down their faces to the earth" the angels said unto them: "why seek ye the living among the dead? he is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in galilee, saying, the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. and they remembered his words."[ ] as they were returning to the city to deliver the message to the disciples, "jesus met them, saying, all hail. and they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. then said jesus unto them, be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into galilee, and there shall they see me."[ ] one may wonder why jesus had forbidden mary magdalene to touch him, and then, so soon after, had permitted other women to hold him by the feet as they bowed in reverence. we may assume that mary's emotional approach had been prompted more by a feeling of personal yet holy affection than by an impulse of devotional worship such as the other women evinced. though the resurrected christ manifested the same friendly and intimate regard as he had shown in the mortal state toward those with whom he had been closely associated, he was no longer one of them in the literal sense. there was about him a divine dignity that forbade close personal familiarity. to mary magdalene christ had said: "touch me not; for i am not yet ascended to my father." if the second clause was spoken in explanation of the first, we have to infer that no human hand was to be permitted to touch the lord's resurrected and immortalized body until after he had presented himself to the father. it appears reasonable and probable that between mary's impulsive attempt to touch the lord, and the action of the other women who held him by the feet as they bowed in worshipful reverence, christ did ascend to the father, and that later he returned to earth to continue his ministry in the resurrected state. mary magdalene and the other women told the wonderful story of their several experiences to the disciples, but the brethren could not credit their words, which "seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not."[ ] after all that christ had taught concerning his rising from the dead on that third day,[ ] the apostles were unable to accept the actuality of the occurrence; to their minds the resurrection was some mysterious and remote event, not a present possibility. there was neither precedent nor analogy for the stories these women told--of a dead person returning to life, with a body of flesh and bones, such as could be seen and felt--except the instances of the young man of nain, the daughter of jairus, and the beloved lazarus of bethany, between whose cases of restoration to a renewal of mortal life and the reported resurrection of jesus they recognized essential differences. the grief and the sense of irreparable loss which had characterized the yesterday sabbath, were replaced by profound perplexity and contending doubts on this first day of the week. but while the apostles hesitated to believe that christ had actually risen, the women, less skeptical, more trustful, knew, for they had both seen him and heard his voice, and some of them had touched his feet. a priestly conspiracy of falsehood.[ ] when the roman guardsmen had sufficiently recovered from fright to make their precipitate departure from the sepulchre, they went to the chief priests, under whose orders they had been placed by pilate,[ ] and reported the supernatural occurrences they had witnessed. the chief priests were sadducees, of which sect or party a distinguishing feature was the denial of the possibility of resurrection from the dead. a session of the sanhedrin was called, and the disturbing report of the guard was considered. in the spirit in which these deceiving hierarchs had tried to kill lazarus for the purpose of quelling popular interest in the miracle of his restoration to life, they now conspired to discredit the truth of christ's resurrection by bribing the soldiers to lie. these were told to say "his disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept"; and for the falsehood they were offered large sums of money. the soldiers accepted the tempting bribe, and did as they were instructed; for this course appeared to them the best way out of a critical situation. if they were found guilty of sleeping at their posts, immediate death would be their doom;[ ] but the jews encouraged them by the promise: "if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him and secure you." it must be remembered that the soldiers had been put at the disposal of the chief priests, and presumably therefore were not required to report the details of their doings to the roman authorities. the recorder adds that until the day of his writing, the falsehood of christ's body having been stolen from the tomb by the disciples was current among the jews. the utter untenability of the false report is apparent. if all the soldiers were asleep--a most unlikely occurrence inasmuch as such neglect was a capital offense--how could they possibly know that any one had approached the tomb? and, more particularly, how could they substantiate their statement even if it were true, that the body was stolen and that the disciples were the grave-robbers?[ ] the mendacious fiction was framed by the chief priests and elders of the people. not all the priestly circle were parties to it however. some, who perhaps had been among the secret disciples of jesus before his death, were not afraid to openly ally themselves with the church, when, through the evidence of the lord's resurrection, they had become thoroughly converted. we read that but a few months later "a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith."[ ] christ walks and talks with two of the disciples.[ ] during the afternoon of that same sunday, two disciples, not of the apostles, left the little band of believers in jerusalem and set out for emmaus, a village between seven and eight miles from the city. there could be but one topic of conversation between them, and on this they communed as they walked, citing incidents in the lord's life, dwelling particularly upon the fact of his death through which their hopes of a messianic reign had been so sadly blighted, and marveling deeply over the incomprehensible testimony of the women concerning his reappearance as a living soul. as they went, engrossed in sorrowful and profound discourse, another wayfarer joined them; it was the lord jesus, "but their eyes were holden that they should not know him." in courteous interest, he asked: "what manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?" one of the disciples, cleopas by name, replied with surprize tinged with commiseration for the stranger's seeming ignorance: "art thou only a stranger in jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?" intent on drawing from the men a full statement of the matter by which they were so plainly agitated, the unrecognized christ asked, "what things?" they could not be reticent. "concerning jesus of nazareth" they explained, "which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before god and all the people: and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him." in sorrowful mood they went on to tell how they had trusted that the now crucified jesus would have proved to be the messiah sent to redeem israel; but alas! this was the third day since he had been slain. then, with brightening countenances, yet still perplexed, they told of certain women of their company who had astonished them that morning by saying that they had visited the sepulchre early and had discovered that the lord's body was not there, but, "that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive." moreover, others beside the women had gone to the tomb, and had verified the absence of the body but had not seen the lord. then jesus, gently chiding his fellow travelers as foolish men and slow of heart in their hesitating acceptance of what the prophets had spoken, asked impressively, "ought not christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" beginning with the inspired predictions of moses, he expounded to them the scriptures, touching upon all the prophetic utterances concerning the savior's mission. having continued with the two men to their destination jesus "made as though he would have gone further," but they urged him to tarry with them, for the day was already far spent. he so far acceded to their hospitable entreaty as to enter the house, and, as soon as their simple meal was prepared, to seat himself with them at the table. as the guest of honor, he took the loaf, "blessed it and brake, and gave to them." there may have been something in the fervency of the blessing, or in the manner of breaking and distributing the bread, that revived memories of former days; or, possibly, they caught sight of the pierced hands; but, whatever the immediate cause, they looked intently upon their guest, "and their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight." in a fulness of joyful wonderment they rose from the table, surprized at themselves for not having recognized him sooner. one said to the other, "did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" straightway they started to retrace their steps and hastened back to jerusalem to confirm by their witness what, before, the brethren had been slow to believe. risen lord appears to the disciples in jerusalem and eats in their presence.[ ] when cleopas and his companion reached jerusalem that night, they found the apostles and other devoted believers assembled in solemn and worshipful discourse within closed doors. precautions of secrecy had been taken "for fear of the jews." even the apostles had been scattered by the arrest, arraignment, and judicial murder of their master; but they and the disciples in general rallied anew at the word of his resurrection, as the nucleus of an army soon to sweep the world. the two returning disciples were received with the joyous announcement, "the lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to simon." this is the sole mention made by the gospel-writers of christ's personal appearance to simon peter on that day. the interview between the lord and his once recreant but now repentant apostle must have been affecting in the extreme. peter's remorseful penitence over his denial of christ in the palace of the high priest was deep and pitiful; he may have doubted that ever again would the master call him his servant; but hope must have been engendered through the message from the tomb brought by the women, in which the lord sent greetings to the apostles, whom for the first time he designated as his brethren,[ ] and from this honorable and affectionate characterization peter had not been excluded; moreover, the angel's commission to the women had given prominence to peter by particular mention.[ ] to the repentant peter came the lord, doubtless with forgiveness and loving assurance. the apostle himself maintains a reverent silence respecting the visitation, but the fact thereof is attested by paul as one of the definite proofs of the lord's resurrection.[ ] following the jubilant testimony of the assembled believers, cleopas and his fellow traveler told of the lord's companionship with them on the emmaus road, of the things he had taught them, and of the manner in which he had become known unto them in the breaking of bread. as the little company communed together, "jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, peace be unto you." they were affrighted, supposing with superstitious dread that a ghost had intruded amongst them. but the lord comforted them, saying "why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? behold my hands and my feet, that it is i myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." then he showed them the wounds in his hands and feet and side. "they yet believed not for joy," which is to say, they thought the reality, to which they all were witnesses, too good, too glorious, to be true. to further assure them that he was no shadowy form, no immaterial being of tenuous substance, but a living personage with bodily organs internal as well as outward, he asked "have ye here any meat?" they gave him a piece of a broiled fish and other food,[ ] which he took "and did eat before them." these unquestionable evidences of their visitant's corporeity calmed and made rational the minds of the disciples; and now that they were composed and receptive the lord reminded them that all things that had happened to him were in accordance with what he had told them while he had lived amongst them. in his divine presence their understanding was quickened and enlarged so that they comprehended as never before the scriptures--the law of moses, the books of the prophets and the psalms--concerning him. that his now accomplished death was a necessity, he attested as fully as he had predicted and affirmed the same aforetime. then he said unto them: "thus it is written, and thus it behoved christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at jerusalem. and ye are witnesses of these things." then were the disciples glad. as he was about to depart the lord gave them his blessing, saying "peace be unto you: as my father hath sent me, even so send i you." this specification of men sent by authority points directly to the apostles; "and when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, receive ye the holy ghost: whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained,"[ ] doubting thomas.[ ] when the lord jesus appeared in the midst of the disciples on the evening of the resurrection sunday, one of the apostles, thomas, was absent. he was informed of what the others had witnessed, but was unconvinced; even their solemn testimony, "we have seen the lord," failed to awaken an echo of faith in his heart. in his state of mental skepticism he exclaimed: "except i shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, i will not believe." caution and charity must attend our judgment in any conclusion as to the incredulous attitude of this man. he could scarcely have doubted the well attested circumstance of the empty sepulchre, nor the veracity of mary magdalene and the other women as to the presence of angels and the lord's appearing, nor peter's testimony nor that of the assembled company; but he may have regarded the reported manifestations as a series of subjective visions; and the absence of the lord's body may have been vaguely considered as a result of christ's supernatural restoration to life followed by a bodily and final departure from earth. it was the corporeal manifestation of the risen lord, the exhibition of the wounds incident to crucifixion, the invitation to touch and feel the resurrected body of flesh and bones, to which thomas demurred. he had no such definite conception of the resurrection as would accord with a literal acceptance of the testimony of his brethren and sisters who had seen, heard, and felt. a week later, for so the jewish designation, "after eight days," is to be understood, therefore on the next sunday, which day of the week afterward came to be known to the church as the "lord's day" and to be observed as the sabbath in place of saturday, the mosaic sabbath,[ ] the disciples were again assembled, and thomas was with them. the meeting was held within closed and, presumably, guarded doors, for there was danger of interference by the jewish officers. "then came jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, peace be unto you. then saith he to thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing." the skeptical mind of thomas was instantly cleansed, his doubting heart was purified; and a conviction of the glorious truth flooded his soul. in contrite reverence he bowed before his savior, the while exclaiming in worshipful acknowledgment of christ's deity: "my lord and my god." his adoration was accepted, and the savior said: "thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." at the sea of galilee.[ ] the angel at the sepulchre and the risen christ himself had severally sent word to the apostles to go into galilee, where the lord would meet them as he had said before his death.[ ] they deferred their departure until after the week following the resurrection, and then once again in their native province, they awaited further developments. in the afternoon of one of those days of waiting, peter said to six of his fellow apostles, "i go a fishing"; and the others replied, "we also go with thee." without delay they embarked on a fishing boat; and though they toiled through the night, the net had been drawn in empty after every cast. as morning approached they drew near the land, disappointed and disheartened. in the early dawn they were hailed from the shore by one who asked: "children, have ye any meat?"[ ] they answered "no." it was jesus who made the inquiry, though none in the boat recognized him. he called to them again, saying: "cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. they cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes." they did as directed and the result was so surprizing as to appear to them miraculous; it must have aroused memories of that other remarkable draught of fishes, in the taking of which their fishermen's skill had been superseded; and at least three witnesses of the earlier miracle were now in the boat.[ ] john, quick to discern, said to peter, "it is the lord"; and peter, impulsive as ever, hastily girt his fisher's coat about him and sprang into the sea, the sooner to reach land and prostrate himself at his master's feet. the others left the vessel and entered a small boat in which they rowed to shore, towing the heavily laden net. on the land they saw a fire of coals, with fish broiling thereon, and alongside a supply of bread. jesus told them to bring of the fish they had just caught, to which instruction the stalwart peter responded by dashing into the shallows and dragging the net to shore. when counted, the haul was found to consist of a hundred and fifty-three great fishes; and the narrator is careful to note that "for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken." then jesus said "come and dine"; and as the host at the meal, he divided and distributed the bread and fish. we are not told that he ate with his guests. everyone knew that it was the lord who so hospitably served; yet on this, as on all other occasions of his appearing in the resurrected state, there was about him an awe-inspiring and restraining demeanor. they would have liked to question him, but durst not. john tells us that this was the "third time that jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead"; by which we understand the occasion to have been the third on which christ had manifested himself to the apostles, in complete or partial assembly; for, including also the appearing to mary magdalene, to the other women, to peter, and to the two disciples on the country road, this was the seventh recorded appearance of the risen lord. when the meal was finished, "jesus saith to simon peter, simon, son of jonas, lovest thou me more than these?" the question, however tenderly put, must have wrung peter's heart, coupled as it was with the reminder of his bold but undependable protestation, "though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will i never be offended",[ ] followed by his denial that he had ever known the man.[ ] to the lord's inquiry peter answered humbly, "yea, lord; thou knowest that i love thee." then said jesus, "feed my lambs." the question was repeated; and peter replied in identical words, to which the lord responded, "feed my sheep." and yet the third time jesus asked, "simon, son of jonas, lovest thou me?" peter was pained and grieved at this reiteration, thinking perhaps that the lord mistrusted him; but as the man had three times denied, so now was he given opportunity for a triple confession. to the thrice repeated question, peter answered: "lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that i love thee. jesus saith unto him. feed my sheep." the commission "feed my sheep" was an assurance of the lord's confidence, and of the reality of peter's presidency among the apostles. he had emphatically announced his readiness to follow his master even to prison and death. now, the lord who had died said unto him: "verily, verily; i say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldst: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldst not." john informs us that the lord so spake signifying the death by which peter should find a place among the martyrs; the analogy points to crucifixion, and traditional history is without contradiction as to this being the death by which peter sealed his testimony of the christ. then said the lord to peter, "follow me." the command had both immediate and future significance. the man followed as jesus drew apart from the others on the shore; yet a few years and peter would follow his lord to the cross. without doubt peter comprehended the reference to his martyrdom, as his writings, years later, indicate.[ ] as christ and peter walked together, the latter, looking backward, saw that john was following, and inquired: "lord, and what shall this man do?" peter wished to peer into the future as to his companion's fate--was john also to die for the faith? the lord replied: "if i will that he tarry till i come, what is that to thee? follow thou me." it was an admonition to peter to look to his own course of duty, and to follow the master, wherever the road should lead. concerning himself, john adds: "then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet jesus said not unto him, he shall not die; but, if i will that he tarry till i come, what is that to thee?" that john still lives in the embodied state, and shall remain in the flesh until the lord's yet future advent, is attested by later revelation.[ ] in company with his martyred and resurrected companions, peter and james, the "disciple whom jesus loved" has officiated in the restoration of the holy apostleship in this the dispensation of the fulness of times. other manifestations of the risen lord in galilee.[ ] jesus had designated a mountain in galilee whereon he would meet the apostles; and thither the eleven went. when they saw him at the appointed place, they worshiped him. the record adds "but some doubted," by which may be implied that others beside the apostles were present, among whom were some who were unconvinced of the actual corporeity of the resurrected christ. this occasion may have been that of which paul wrote a quarter of a century later, concerning which he affirms that christ "was seen of above five hundred brethren at once," of whom, though some had died, the majority remained at the time of paul's writing, living witnesses to his testimony.[ ] to those assembled on the mount jesus declared: "all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." this could be understood as nothing less than an affirmation of his absolute godship. his authority was supreme, and those who were commissioned of him were to minister in his name, and by a power such as no man could give or take away. final commission and the ascension. throughout the forty days following his resurrection, the lord manifested himself at intervals to the apostles, to some individually and to all as a body,[ ] and instructed them in "the things pertaining to the kingdom of god."[ ] the record is not always specific and definite as to time and place of particular events; but as to the purport of the lord's instructions during this period there exists no cause for doubt. much that he said and did is not written,[ ] but such things as are of record, john assures his readers, "are written, that ye might believe that jesus is the christ, the son of god; and that believing ye might have life through his name."[ ] as the time of his ascension drew nigh, the lord said unto the eleven apostles: "go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. and these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."[ ] in contrast with their earlier commission, under which they were sent only "to the lost sheep of the house of israel,"[ ] they were now to go to jew and gentile, bond and free, to mankind at large, of whatever nation, country, or tongue. salvation, through faith in jesus the christ, followed by repentance and baptism, was to be freely offered to all; the rejection of the offer thenceforth would bring condemnation. signs and miracles were promised to "follow them that believe," thus confirming their faith in the power divine; but no intimation was given that such manifestations were to precede belief, as baits to catch the credulous wonder-seeker. assuring the apostles anew that the promise of the father would be realized in the coming of the holy ghost, the lord instructed them to remain in jerusalem, whither they had now returned from galilee, until they would be "endued with power from on high";[ ] and he added: "for john truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the holy ghost not many days hence."[ ] in that last solemn interview, probably as the risen savior led the mortal eleven away from the city toward the old familiar resort on the mount of olives, the brethren, still imbued with their conception of the kingdom of god as an earthly establishment of power and dominion, asked of him, "lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to israel?" jesus answered, "it is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the father hath put in his own power. but ye shall receive power, after that the holy ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in jerusalem, and in all judea, and in samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."[ ] their duty was thus defined and emphasized: "go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the holy ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever i have commanded you: and, lo, i am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. amen."[ ] when christ and the disciples had gone "as far as to bethany," the lord lifted up his hands, and blessed them; and while yet he spake, he rose from their midst, and they looked upon him as he ascended until a cloud received him out of their sight. while the apostles stood gazing steadfastly upward, two personages, clothed in white apparel, appeared by them; these spake unto the eleven, saying: "ye men of galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."[ ] worshipfully and with great joy the apostles returned to jerusalem, there to await the coming of the comforter. the lord's ascension was accomplished; it was as truly a literal departure of a material being as his resurrection had been an actual return of his spirit to his own corporeal body, theretofore dead. with the world abode and yet abides the glorious promise, that jesus the christ, the same being who ascended from olivet in his immortalized body of flesh and bones, shall return, descending from the heavens, in similarly material form and substance. notes to chapter . . precise time and manner of christ's emergence from the tomb not known.--our lord definitely predicted his resurrection from the dead on the third day, (matt. : ; : ; : ; mark : ; : ; luke : ; : ; : ), and the angels at the tomb (luke : ), and the risen lord in person (luke : ) verified the fulfilment of the prophecies; and apostles so testified in later years (acts : ; cor. : ). this specification of the third day must not be understood as meaning after three full days. the jews began their counting of the daily hours with sunset; therefore the hour before sunset and the hour following belonged to different days. jesus died and was interred during friday afternoon. his body lay in the tomb, dead, during part of friday (first day), throughout saturday, or as we divide the days, from sunset friday to sunset saturday, (second day), and part of sunday (third day). we know not at what hour between saturday sunset and sunday dawn he rose. the fact that an earthquake occurred, and that the angel of the lord descended and rolled the stone from the portal of the tomb in the early dawn of sunday--for so we infer from matt. : , --does not prove that christ had not already risen. the great stone was rolled back and the inside of the sepulchre exposed to view, so that those who came could see for themselves that the lord's body was no longer there; it was not necessary to open the portal in order to afford an exit to the resurrected christ. in his immortalized state he appeared in and disappeared from closed rooms. a resurrected body, though of tangible substance, and possessing all the organs of the mortal tabernacle, is not bound to earth by gravitation, nor can it be hindered in its movements by material barriers. to us who conceive of motion only in the directions incident to the three dimensions of space, the passing of a solid, such as a living body of flesh and bones, through stone walls, is necessarily incomprehensible. but that resurrected beings move in accordance with laws making such passage possible and to them natural, is evidenced not only by the instance of the risen christ, but by the movements of other resurrected personages. thus, in september, , moroni, the nephite prophet who had died about a.d., appeared to joseph smith in his chamber, three times during one night, coming and going without hindrance incident to walls or roof, (see p. of g.p., joseph smith : ; also _the articles of faith_, i: - ). that moroni was a resurrected man is shown by his corporeity manifested in his handling of the metallic plates on which was inscribed the record known to us as the book of mormon. so also resurrected beings possess the power of rendering themselves visible or invisible to the physical vision of mortals. . attempts to discredit the resurrection through falsehood.--the inconsistent assertion that christ had not risen but that his body had been stolen from the tomb by the disciples, has been sufficiently treated in the text. the falsehood is its own refutation. unbelievers of later date, recognizing the palpable absurdity of this gross attempt at misrepresentation, have not hesitated to suggest other hypotheses, each of which is conclusively untenable. thus, the theory based upon the impossible assumption that christ was not dead when taken from the cross, but was in a state of coma or swoon, and that he was afterward resuscitated, disproves itself when considered in connection with recorded facts. the spear-thrust of the roman soldier would have been fatal, even if death had not already occurred. the body was taken down, handled, wrapped and buried by members of the jewish council, who cannot be thought of as actors in the burial of a living man; and so far as subsequent resuscitation is concerned, edersheim (vol. , p. ) trenchantly remarks: "not to speak of the many absurdities which this theory involves, it really shifts--if we acquit the disciples of complicity--the fraud upon christ himself." a crucified person, removed from the cross before death and subsequently revived, could not have walked with pierced and mangled feet on the very day of his resuscitation, as jesus did on the road to emmaus. another theory that has had its day is that of unconscious deception on the part of those who claimed to have seen the resurrected christ, such persons having been victims of subjective but unreal visions conjured up by their own excited and imaginative condition. the independence and marked individuality of the several recorded appearings of the lord disprove the vision theory. such subjective visual illusions as are predicated by this hypothesis, presuppose a state of expectancy on the part of those who think they see; but all the incidents connected with the manifestations of jesus after his resurrection were directly opposed to the expectations of those who were made witnesses of his resurrected state. the foregoing instances of false and untenable theories regarding the resurrection of our lord are cited as examples of the numerous abortive attempts to explain away the greatest miracle and the most glorious fact of history. the resurrection of jesus christ is attested by evidence more conclusive than that upon which rests our acceptance of historical events in general. yet the testimony of our lord's rising from the dead is not founded on written pages. to him who seeks in faith and sincerity shall be given an individual conviction which shall enable him to reverently confess as exclaimed the enlightened apostle of old: "thou art the christ, the son of the living god." jesus, who is god the son, is not dead. "i know that my redeemer liveth." (job : .) . recorded appearances of christ between resurrection and ascension.-- . to mary magdalene, near the sepulchre (mark : , ; john : ). . to other women, somewhere between the sepulchre and jerusalem (matt. : ). . to two disciples on the road to emmaus (mark : ; luke : ). . to peter, in or near jerusalem (luke : ; cor. : ). . to ten of the apostles and others at jerusalem (luke : ; john : ). . to the eleven apostles at jerusalem (mark : ; john : ). . to the apostles at the sea of tiberias, galilee, (john ). . to the eleven apostles on a mountain in galilee (matt. : ). . to five hundred brethren at once ( cor. : ); locality not specified, but probably in galilee. . to james ( cor. : ). note that no record of this manifestation is made by the gospel-writers. . to the eleven apostles at the time of the ascension, mount of olives, near bethany (mark : ; luke : , ). the lord's manifestations of himself to men subsequent to the ascension will be considered later. footnotes: [ ] matt. : - , see also verse . [ ] matt. : - ; compare mark : - ; luke : - ; john : - . [ ] john : - . [ ] revised version, "take not hold on me" (margin). [ ] john : - . [ ] mark : . [ ] luke : - . [ ] matt. : , . [ ] luke : - ; compare mark : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] matt. : - . [ ] matt. : , ; page herein. [ ] compare acts : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] acts : ; compare john : . [ ] luke : - ; compare mark : . [ ] luke : - ; john : - . [ ] matt. : ; john : . [ ] mark : . [ ] cor. : . [ ] the words "and of an honeycomb" (luke : ) are omitted from the revised version, and by many authorities are declared to be a spurious addition to the original text. [ ] john : - . [ ] john : - ; compare mark : . [ ] rev. : ; compare acts : ; cor. : . [ ] john : - . [ ] matt : ; mark : ; compare matt. : , mark : . [ ] the noun of address, "children" is equivalent to our modern use of "sirs," "men" or "lads." it was quite in harmony with the vernacular. [ ] luke : - ; also page herein. [ ] matt. : ; mark : ; compare luke : ; john : ; p. herein. [ ] matt. : , , ; also page herein. [ ] peter : . [ ] doc. and cov. sec. ; compare b. of m., nephi : - . [ ] matt. : - . [ ] cor. : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] acts : . [ ] john : ; compare : remembering that the latter passage may have reference to occurrences both before and after the lord's death. [ ] john : . [ ] mark : - . [ ] matt. : , . [ ] "clothed with power from on high" according to revised version, luke : . [ ] acts : ; see also luke : ; and compare john : , , ; : ; : , . [ ] acts : , ; compare matt. : ; mark : . [ ] matt. : , . [ ] acts : - ; see also luke : , . chapter . the apostolic ministry. matthias ordained to the apostleship.[ ] after witnessing the lord's ascension from olivet, the eleven apostles returned to jerusalem filled with joy and thoroughly suffused with the spirit of adoring worship. both in the temple and in a certain upper room, which was their usual place of meeting, they continued in prayer and supplication, often in association with other disciples, including mary the mother of the lord, some of her sons, and the little sisterhood of faithful women who had ministered to jesus in galilee and had followed him thence to jerusalem and to calvary.[ ] the disciples, most of whom had been dispersed by the tragic events of that last and fateful passover, had gathered again, with renewed and fortified faith, about the great fact of the lord's resurrection. christ had become "the firstfruits of them that slept," "the first begotten of the dead," and "the firstborn" of the race to rise from death to immortality.[ ] they knew that not only had the grave been compelled to give up the body of their lord, but that a way had been provided for the striking of the fetters of death from every soul. immediately following the resurrection of the lord jesus, many righteous ones who had slept in the tomb had been resurrected, and had appeared in jerusalem, revealing themselves unto many.[ ] the universality of the resurrection of the dead was soon to become a prominent feature of apostolic teaching. the first official act undertaken by the apostles was the filling of the vacancy in the council of the twelve, occasioned by the apostasy and suicide of judas iscariot. sometime between the ascension of christ and the feast of pentecost, when the eleven and other disciples, in all about a hundred and twenty, were together "with one accord in prayer and supplication," peter laid the matter before the assembled church, pointing out that the fall of judas had been foreseen,[ ] and citing the psalmist's invocation: "let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take,"[ ] peter affirmed the necessity of completing the apostolic quorum; and he thus set forth the qualifications essential in the one who should be ordained to the holy apostleship: "wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the lord jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of john, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection." two faithful disciples were nominated by the eleven, joseph barsabas and matthias. in earnest supplication the assembly besought the lord to indicate whether either of these men, and if so which, was to be chosen for the exalted office; then, "they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles." the proceeding throughout is deeply significant and instructive. the eleven fully realized that on them lay the responsibility, and in them was vested the authority, to organize and develop the church of christ; that the council or quorum of the apostles was limited to a membership of twelve; and that the new apostle, like themselves, must be competent to testify in special and personal witness concerning the earthly ministry, death, and resurrection of the lord jesus. the selection of matthias was accomplished in a general assembly of the primitive church; and while the nominations were made by the apostles, all present appear by implication to have had a voice in the matter of installation. the principle of authoritative administration through common consent of the membership, so impressively exemplified in the choosing of matthias, was followed, a few weeks later, by the selection of "seven men of honest report, full of the holy ghost and wisdom," who having been sustained by the vote of the church, were set apart to a special ministry by the laying-on of the apostles' hands.[ ] the bestowal of the holy ghost.[ ] at the time of pentecost, which fell on the fiftieth day after the passover,[ ] and therefore, at this particular recurrence, about nine days after christ's ascension, the apostles "were all with one accord in one place," engaged in their customary devotions, and waiting, as instructed, until they would be endowed with a particular bestowal of power from on high.[ ] the promised baptism by fire and the holy ghost befell them on that day. "suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. and they were all filled with the holy ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the spirit gave them utterance." the "sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind" was heard abroad;[ ] and a multitude gathered about the place. the visible manifestation of "cloven tongues like as of fire," by which each of the twelve was invested, was seen by those within the house, but apparently not by the gathering crowds. the apostles spoke to the multitude, and a great miracle was wrought, by which "every man heard them speak in his own language"; for the apostles, now richly gifted, spake in many tongues, as the holy ghost, by whom they had been endowed, gave them utterance. there were present men from many lands and of many nations, and their languages were diverse. in amazement some of them said: "behold, are not all these which speak galileans? and how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?" while many were impressed by the preternatural ability of the brethren, others in mocking tones said the men were drunken. this instance of satanic prompting to inconsiderate speech is especially illustrative of inconsistency and rash ineptitude. strong drink gives to no man wisdom; it steals away his senses and makes of him a fool. then peter, as the president of the twelve, stood up and proclaimed in behalf of himself and his brethren: "ye men of judea, and all ye that dwell at jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: for these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day." it was the jewish custom, particularly on festival days, to abstain from food and drink until after the morning service in synagog, which was held about the third hour, or nine o'clock in the forenoon. the apostle cited ancient prophecy embodying the promise of jehovah that he would pour out his spirit upon all flesh, so that wonders would be wrought, even as those there present witnessed.[ ] then boldly did peter testify of jesus of nazareth, whom he characterized as "a man approved of god among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which god did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know;" and, reminding them, in accusing earnestness, of the awful crime to which they had been in some degree parties, he continued: "him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of god, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: whom god hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it." citing the inspired outburst of the psalmist, who had sung in jubilant measure of the soul that should not be left in hell, and of the flesh that should not see corruption, he showed the application of these scriptures to the christ; and fearlessly affirmed: "this jesus hath god raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. therefore being by the right hand of god exalted, and having received of the father the promise of the holy ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." with increasing fervency, fearing neither derision nor violence, and driving home to the hearts of his enthralled listeners the fearful fact of their guilt, peter proclaimed as in voice of thunder: "therefore let all the house of israel know assuredly, that god hath made that same jesus, whom ye have crucified, both lord and christ." the power of the holy ghost could not be resisted; to every earnest soul it carried conviction. they that heard were pricked in their hearts, and in contrition cried out to the apostles: "men and brethren, what shall we do?" now that they were prepared for the message of salvation, it was given without reserve. "repent," answered peter, "and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the holy ghost. for the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the lord our god shall call." to the apostles' testimony, to the exhortation and warning, the people responded with profession of faith and repentance. their joy was comparable to that of the spirits in prison, to whom the disembodied christ had borne the authoritative word of redemption and salvation. those who repented and confessed their belief in christ at that memorable pentecost were received into the church by baptism, to the number of about three thousand. that their conversion was genuine and not the effect of a passing enthusiasm, that they were literally born again through baptism into a newness of life, is evidenced by the fact that they endured in the faith--"and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." so devoted were these early converts, so richly blessed with the outpouring of the holy ghost was the church in those days, that the members voluntarily disposed of their individual possessions and had all things in common. to them faith in the lord jesus christ was of greater worth than the wealth of earth.[ ] among them, there was nothing called "mine" or "thine," but all things were theirs in the lord.[ ] signs and wonders followed the apostles, "and the lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." through the bestowal of the holy ghost the apostles had become changed men. as made clear to them by the spirit of truth, the scriptures constituted a record of preparation for the events to which they were special and ordained witnesses. peter, who but a few weeks earlier had quailed before a serving-maid, now spoke openly, fearing none. seeing once a lame beggar at the gate beautiful which led into the temple court, he took the afflicted one by the hand, saying: "silver and gold have i none; but such as i have give i thee: in the name of jesus christ of nazareth rise up and walk."[ ] the man was healed and leaped in the exuberance of his newly found strength; then he went with peter and john into the temple, praising god aloud. an amazed crowd, which grew to include about five thousand men, gathered around the apostles in solomon's porch; and peter, observing their wonderment, seized on the occasion to preach to them jesus the crucified. he ascribed all praise for the miracle to the christ whom the jews had delivered up to be slain, and in unambiguous accusation declared: "the god of abraham, and of isaac, and of jacob, the god of our fathers, hath glorified his son jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of pilate, when he was determined to let him go. but ye denied the holy one and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the prince of life, whom god hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses." in merciful recognition of the ignorance in which they had sinned, he exhorted them to expiatory penitence, crying: "repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the lord; and he shall send jesus christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which god hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." there was no encouragement to a belief that their sins could be annulled by wordy profession; a due season of repentance was their privilege, if so be they would believe. as peter and john thus testified, the priests and the captain of the temple, together with the ruling sadducees, came upon them toward evening, and put them in prison to await the action of the judges next day.[ ] on the morrow they were arraigned before annas, caiaphas, and other officials, who demanded of them by what power or in whose name they had healed the lame man. peter, impelled by the power of the holy ghost, answered: "be it known unto you all, and to all the people of israel, that by the name of jesus christ of nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom god raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. this is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."[ ] the hierarchy learned to their consternation that the work they had sought to destroy through the crucifixion of jesus christ was spreading now as it had never spread before. in desperation they commanded the apostles, "not to speak at all nor teach in the name of jesus." but peter and john answered boldly: "whether it be right in the sight of god to hearken unto you more than unto god, judge ye. for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." this rejoinder of righteous defiance the priestly rulers dared not openly resent; they had to content themselves with threats. the church grew with surprizing rapidity; "believers were the more added to the lord, multitudes both of men and women." so abundantly was the gift of healing manifest through the ministrations of the apostles that as formerly to christ, now to them, the people flocked, bringing their sick folk and those possessed of evil spirits; and all were healed. so great was the faith of the believers that they laid their afflicted ones on couches in the streets, "that at the least the shadow of peter passing by might overshadow some of them."[ ] the high priest and his haughty sadducean associates caused the apostles to be again arrested and thrown into the common prison. but that night the angel of the lord opened the dungeon doors and brought the prisoners forth, telling them to go into the temple and further proclaim their testimony of the christ. this the apostles did, and were so engaged when the sanhedrin assembled to put them on trial. the officers who were sent to bring the prisoners to the judgment hall returned, saying: "the prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors; but when we had opened, we found no man within." as the judges sat in impotent consternation, an informer appeared with the word that the men they wanted were at that moment preaching in the courts. the captain and his guard arrested the apostles a third time, and brought them in, but without violence, for they feared the people. the high priest accused the prisoners by question and affirmation: "did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us." yet, how recently had those same rulers led the rabble in the awful imprecation, "his blood be on us, and on our children."[ ] peter and the other apostles, undaunted by the august presence, and undeterred by threatening words or actions, answered with the direct counter-charge that they who sat there to judge were the slayers of the son of god. ponder well the solemn affirmation: "we ought to obey god rather than men. the god of our fathers raised up jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. him hath god exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a saviour, for to give repentance to israel, and forgiveness of sins. and we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the holy ghost, whom god hath given to them that obey him." closing, locking, bolting their hearts against the testimony of the lord's own, the chief priests, scribes, and elders of the people counseled together as to how they could put these men to death. there was at least one honorable exception among the murderously inclined councilors. gamaliel, who was a pharisee and a noted doctor of the law, the teacher of saul of tarsus afterward known through conversion, works, and divine commission, as paul the apostle,[ ] rose in the council, and having directed that the apostles be removed from the hall, warned his colleagues against the injustice they had in mind. he cited the cases of men falsely claiming to have been sent of god, everyone of whom had come to grief with utter and most ignominious failure of his seditious plans; so would these men come to nought if the work they professed proved to be of men; "but," added the dispassionate and learned doctor, "if it be of god, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against god."[ ] gamaliel's advice prevailed for the time being, to the extent of causing the apostles' lives to be spared; but the council, in contravention of justice and propriety, had the prisoners beaten. then the brethren were discharged with the renewed injunction that they speak not in the name of jesus. they went out rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer stripes and humiliation in defense of the lord's name; and daily, both in the temple, and by house to house visitation, they valiantly taught and preached jesus the christ. converts to the church were not confined to the laity; a great company of the priests swelled the number of the disciples, who multiplied greatly in jerusalem.[ ] stephen the martyr; his vision of the lord.[ ] first among the "seven men of honest report" who were set apart under the hands of the apostles to administer the common store of the church community, was stephen, a man eminent in faith and good works, through whom the lord wrought many miracles. he was zealous in service, aggressive in doctrine, and fearless as a minister of christ. some of the foreign jews, who maintained a synagog in jerusalem, engaged stephen in disputation, and being unable "to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake," conspired to have him charged with heresy and blasphemy. he was brought before the council on the word of men suborned to witness against him; and these averred that they had "heard him speak blasphemous words against moses, and against god." the perjured accusers further testified that he had repeatedly spoken blasphemously against the temple, and the law, and had even declared that jesus of nazareth would some day destroy the temple, and change the mosaic ceremonies. the charge was utterly false in spirit and fact, though possibly in a sense partly true in form; for, judging by what we have of record concerning stephen's character and works, he was a zealous preacher of the word as a world religion, through which the exclusiveness and alleged sanctity of jerusalem as the holy city and of the now desecrated temple as the earthly abiding-place of jehovah, would be abrogated; furthermore he seems to have realized that the law of moses had been fulfilled in the mission of the messiah. when the sanhedrists looked upon him, his face was illumined, and they saw it "as it had been the face of an angel." in answer to the charge, he delivered an address, which on critical analysis appears to have been extemporaneous, nevertheless it is strikingly logical and impressive in argument. the delivery was abruptly terminated, however, by a murderous assault.[ ] in effective epitome stephen traced the history of the covenant people from the time of abraham down, showing that the patriarchs, and in turn moses and the prophets, had lived and ministered in progressive preparation for the development of which those present were witnesses. he pointed out that moses had foretold the coming of a prophet, who was none other than jehovah, whom their fathers had worshipped in the wilderness, before the tabernacle, and later in the temple; but, he affirmed, "the most high dwelleth not in temples made with hands," the most gorgeous of which could be but small to him who said: "heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool."[ ] it is plain to be seen that stephen's speech was not one of vindication, and far from a plea in his own defense; it was a proclamation of the word and purposes of god by a devoted servant who had no thought for personal consequences. in forceful arraignment he thus addressed his judges: "ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the holy ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the just one; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers." maddened at this direct accusation, the sanhedrists "gnashed on him with their teeth." he knew that they thirsted for his blood; but, energized by the holy ghost, he looked steadfastly upward, and exclaimed in rapture: "behold i see the heavens opened, and the son of man standing on the right hand of god."[ ] this is the first new testament record of a manifestation of christ to mortal eyes by vision or otherwise, subsequent to his ascension. the priestly rulers cried aloud, and stopped their ears to what they chose to regard as blasphemous utterances; and, rushing upon the prisoner with one accord, they hurried him outside the city walls and stoned him to death. true to his master, he prayed: "lord jesus, receive my spirit"; and then, crushed to earth, he cried with a loud voice: "lord, lay not this sin to their charge. and when he had said this, he fell asleep." so died the first martyr for the testimony of the risen christ. he was slain by a mob comprizing chief priests, scribes, and elders of the people. what cared they that no sentence had been pronounced against him, or that they were acting in reckless defiance of roman law? devout men bore the mangled body to its burial; and all the disciples lamented greatly. persecution increased, and members of the church were scattered through many lands, wherein they preached the gospel and won many to the lord. the blood of stephen the martyr proved to be rich and virile seed, from which sprang a great harvest of souls.[ ] christ manifests himself to saul of tarsus, later known as paul, the apostle. among the disputants who, when defeated in discussion, conspired against stephen and brought about his death, were jews from cilicia.[ ] associated with them was a young man named saul, a native of the cilician city of tarsus. this man was an able scholar, a forceful controversialist, an ardent defender of what he regarded as the right, and a vigorous assailant of what to him was wrong. though born in tarsus he had been brought to jerusalem in early youth and had there grown up a strict pharisee and an aggressive supporter of judaism. he was a student of the law under the tutelage of gamaliel, one of the most eminent masters of the time[ ] and had the confidence of the high priest.[ ] his father, or perhaps an earlier progenitor, had acquired the rank of roman citizenship, and saul was a born heir to that distinction. saul was a violent opponent of the apostles and the church, and had made himself a party to the death of stephen by openly consenting thereunto and by holding in personal custody the garments of the false witnesses while they stoned the martyr. he wrought havoc in the church by entering private houses and haling thence men and women suspected of belief in the christ, and these he caused to be cast into prison.[ ] the persecution in which he took so prominent a part caused a scattering of the disciples throughout judea, samaria, and other lands; though the apostles remained and continued their ministry in jerusalem.[ ] not content with local activity against the church, "saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto jerusalem."[ ] as saul and his attendants neared damascus they were halted by an occurrence of awe-inspiring grandeur.[ ] at noontide there suddenly appeared a light far exceeding the brightness of the sun, and in this dazzling splendor the whole party was enveloped, so that they fell to the ground in terror. in the midst of the unearthly glory, a sound was heard, which to saul alone was intelligible as an articulate voice; he heard and understood the reproving question spoken in the hebrew tongue: "saul, saul, why persecutest thou me?" in trepidation he inquired: "who art thou, lord?" the reply sounded the heart of saul to its depths: "i am jesus of nazareth, whom thou persecutest"; and continued, as in sympathetic consideration of the persecutor's situation and the renunciation that would be required of him: "it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks."[ ] the enormity of his hostility and enmity against the lord and his people filled the man's soul with horror, and in trembling contrition he asked: "lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" the reply was: "arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do." the brilliancy of the heavenly light had blinded saul. his companions led him into damascus, where, at the house of judas, in the street called straight, he sat in darkness for three days, during which period he neither ate nor drank. there lived in that city a faithful disciple named ananias, to whom the lord spake, instructing him to visit saul and minister unto him that he might be healed of his blindness. ananias was astonished at the commission, and ventured to remind the lord that saul was a notorious persecutor of the saints, and had come at that time to damascus to arrest and put in bonds all believers. but the lord answered: "go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the gentiles, and kings, and the children of israel: for i will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake." ananias went to saul, laid his hands upon the penitent sufferer, saying: "brother saul, the lord, even jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the holy ghost." the physical obstruction to vision was removed; scaly particles fell from the eyes of saul, and his sight was restored. without delay or hesitation, he was baptized. when strengthened by food he communed with the disciples at damascus and straightway began to preach in the synagogs, declaring jesus to be the son of god.[ ] when saul returned to jerusalem, the disciples were doubtful of his sincerity, they having known of him as a violent persecutor; but barnabas, a trusted disciple, brought him to the apostles, told of his miraculous conversion and testified of his valiant service in preaching the word of god. he was received into fellowship, and afterward was ordained under the hands of the apostles.[ ] his hebrew name, saul, was in time substituted by the latin paulus, or as to us, paul.[ ] in view of his commission to carry the gospel to the gentiles, the use of his roman name may have been of advantage, and particularly so as he was a roman citizen and therefore could claim the rights and exemptions attaching to the status of citizenship.[ ] it is no part of our present purpose to follow even in outline the labors of the man thus peremptorily and miraculously called into the ministry; the fact of christ's personal manifestations to him is the sole subject of present consideration. while in jerusalem paul was blessed with a visual manifestation of the lord jesus, accompanied by the giving of specific instructions. his own testimony is to this effect: "while i prayed in the temple, i was in a trance; and saw him saying unto me, make haste, and get thee quickly out of jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me." in explanation of his rejection by the people, paul confessed his evil past, saying, "lord, they know that i imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee: and when the blood of thy martyr stephen was shed, i also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him." to this the lord replied: "depart; for i will send thee far hence unto the gentiles."[ ] once again, as he lay a prisoner in the roman castle, the lord stood by him in the night, and said: "be of good cheer, paul: for as thou hast testified of me in jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at rome."[ ] paul's personal witness that he had seen the resurrected christ is explicit and emphatic. with his enumeration of some of the risen lord's appearances he associates his own testimony, as addressed to the corinthian saints, in this wise: "for i delivered unto you first of all that which i also received, how that christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: and that he was seen of cephas, then of the twelve: after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. after that, he was seen of james; then of all the apostles. and last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. for i am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because i persecuted the church of god."[ ] close of the apostolic ministry--the revelation through john. the period of apostolic ministry continued until near the close of the first century of our era, approximately sixty to seventy years from the time of the lord's ascension. in the course of that epoch the church experienced both prosperity and vicissitude. at first the organized body increased in membership and influence in a manner regarded as phenomenal, if not miraculous.[ ] the apostles and the many other ministers who labored under their direction in graded positions of authority strove so effectively to spread the word of god, that paul writing approximately thirty years after the ascension affirmed that the gospel had already been carried to every nation, or, to use his words, "preached to every creature under heaven."[ ] through the agency of the holy ghost christ continued to direct the affairs of his church on the earth; and his mortal representatives, the apostles, traveled and taught, healed the afflicted, rebuked evil spirits, and raised the dead to a renewal of life.[ ] we are without record of any direct or personal appearance of christ to mortals between the manifestations to paul and the revelation to john on the isle of patmos. tradition confirms john's implication that he had been banished thither "for the word of god, and for the testimony of jesus christ."[ ] he avers that what he wrote, now known as the book of revelation, is "the revelation of jesus christ, which god gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant john."[ ] the apostle gives a vivid description of the glorified christ as seen by him: and of the lord's words he made record as follows: "fear not; i am the first and the last: i am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, i am alive for evermore, amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."[ ] john was commanded to write to each of the seven churches, or branches of the church of christ, then existing in asia, administering reproof, admonition and encouragement, as the condition of each required. the final ministry of john marked the close of the apostolic administration in the primitive church. his fellow apostles had gone to their rest, most of them having entered through the gates of martyrdom, and although it was his special privilege to tarry in the flesh until the lord's advent in glory,[ ] he was not to continue his service as an acknowledged minister, known to and accepted by the church. even while many of the apostles lived and labored, the seed of apostasy had taken root in the church and had grown with the rankness of pernicious weeds. this condition had been predicted, both by old testament prophets[ ] and by the lord jesus.[ ] the apostles also spake in plain prediction of the growth of the apostasy all too grievously apparent to them as then in progress.[ ] personal manifestations of the lord jesus to mortals appear to have ceased with the passing of the apostles of old, and were not again witnessed until the dawn of the dispensation of the fulness of times. notes to chapter . . presiding authority and common consent.--"another instance of official action in choosing and setting apart men to special office in the church arose soon after the ordination of matthias. it appears that one feature of the church organization in early apostolic days was a common ownership of material things, distribution being made according to need. as the members increased, it was found impracticable for the apostles to devote the necessary attention and time to these temporal matters, so they called upon the members to select seven men of honest report, whom the apostles would appoint to take special charge of these affairs. these men were set apart by prayer and by the laying on of hands. the instance is instructive as showing that the apostles realized their possession of authority to direct in the affairs of the church, and that they observed with strictness the principle of common consent in the administration of their high office. they exercized their priestly powers in the spirit of love, and with due regard to the rights of the people over whom they were placed to preside."--the author, _the great apostasy_, : . . pentecost.--the name means "fiftieth" and was applied to the jewish feast that was celebrated fifty days after the second day of unleavened bread, or the passover day. it is also known as "the feast of weeks" (exo. : ; deut. : ), because according to the hebrew style, it fell seven weeks, or a week of weeks, after the passover; as "the feast of harvest" (exo. : ); and as "the day of the first-fruits" (numb. : ). pentecost was one of the great feasts in israel, and was of mandatory observance. special sacrifices were appointed for the day, as was also an offering suitable to the harvest season, comprizing two leavened loaves made of the new wheat; these were to be waved before the altar and then given to the priests (lev. : - ). because of the unprecedented events that characterized the first pentecost after our lord's ascension, the name has become current in christian literature as expressive of any great spiritual awakening or unusual manifestation of divine grace. . having all things in common.--no condition recorded of the early apostolic ministry expresses more forcefully the unity and devotion of the church in those days than does the fact of the members establishing a system of common ownership of property (acts : , ; : - ; : - ). one result of this community of interest in temporal things was a marked unity in spiritual matters; they "were of one heart and of one soul." lacking nothing, they lived in contentment and godliness. over thirty centuries earlier the people of enoch had rejoiced in a similar condition of oneness, and their attainments in spiritual excellence were so effective that "the lord came and dwelt with his people ... and the lord called his people zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them." (p. of g.p., moses : - .) the nephite disciples grew in holiness, as "they had all things common among them, every man dealing justly, one with another." (b. of m., nephi : ; see also nephi : - .) a system of unity in material affairs has been revealed to the church in this current dispensation, (doc. and cov. : , ; : - , ; : - ), to the blessings of which the people may attain as they learn to replace selfish concern by altruism, and individual advantage by devotion to the general welfare.--see _the articles of faith_, xxiv: - . . saul's conversion.--the sudden change of heart by which an ardent persecutor of the saints was so transformed as to become a true disciple, is to the average mind a miracle. saul of tarsus was a devoted student and observer of the law, a strict pharisee. we find no intimation that he ever met or saw jesus during the lord's life in the flesh; and his contact with the christian movement appears to have been brought about through disputation with stephen. in determining what he would call right and what wrong the young enthusiast was guided too much by mind and too little by heart. his learning, which should have been his servant, was instead his master. he was a leading spirit in the cruel persecution of the first converts to christianity; yet none can doubt his belief that even in such he was rendering service to jehovah (compare john : ). his unusual energy and superb ability were misdirected. as soon as he realized the error of his course, he turned about, without counting risk, cost, or the certainty of persecution and probable martyrdom. his repentance was as genuine as had been his persecuting zeal. all through his ministry he was tortured by the past (acts : , , ; cor. : ; cor. : ; gal. : ); yet he found a measure of relief in the knowledge that he had acted in good conscience (acts : - ). it was "hard for him to kick against the pricks" (revised version "goad," acts : ; : ) of tradition, training, and education; yet he hesitated not. he was a chosen instrument for the work of the lord (acts : ); and promptly he responded to the master's will. whatever of error saul of tarsus had committed through youthful zeal, paul the apostle gave his all--his time, talent, and life--to expiate. he was preeminently the lord's apostle to the gentiles; and this opening of the doors to others than jews was the main contention between himself and stephen. in accordance with the divine and fateful purpose, paul was called to do the work, in opposition to which he had been a participant in the martyrdom of stephen. at the lord's word of direction paul was ready to preach christ to the gentiles; only by a miracle could the jewish exclusiveness of peter and the church generally be overcome (acts ; and : - ). . rapid growth of the primitive church.--eusebius, who wrote in the early part of the fourth century, speaking of the first decade after the savior's ascension, says: "thus, then, under a celestial influence and cooperation, the doctrine of the savior, like the rays of the sun, quickly irradiated the whole world. presently, in accordance with divine prophecy, the sound of his inspired evangelists and apostles had gone throughout all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. throughout every city and village, like a replenished barn floor, churches were rapidly abounding and filled with members from every people. those who, in consequence of the delusions that had descended to them from their ancestors, had been fettered by the ancient disease of idolatrous superstition, were now liberated by the power of christ, through the teachings and miracles of his messengers."--(eusebius, _eccles. hist._, book i, ch. .) . patmos.--a small island in the icarian section of the aegean sea. dr. john r. sterret writes of it in the _standard bible dictionary_ as follows: "a volcanic island of the sporades group, now nearly treeless. it is characterized by an indented coast and has a safe harbor. by the romans it was made a place of exile for the lower class of criminals. john, the author of 'revelation' was banished thither by domitian, a.d. according to tradition he lived there at hard labor for eighteen months." . the holy ghost given.--in answer to a question as to whether the holy ghost was received by the apostles at or before pentecost, a statement was published by the first presidency of the church on february , (see _deseret news_ of that date), from which statement the following excerpts are taken: "the answer to this question depends upon what is meant by 'receiving' the holy ghost. if reference is made to the promise of jesus to his apostles about the endowment or gift of the holy ghost by the presence and ministration of the 'personage of spirit,' called the holy ghost by revelation (doc. and cov. : ), then the answer is, it was not until the day of pentecost that the promise was fulfilled. but the divine essence called the spirit of god, or holy spirit, or holy ghost, by which god created or organized all things, and by which the prophets wrote and spoke, was bestowed in former ages, and inspired the apostles in their ministry long before the day of pentecost.... we read that jesus, after his resurrection, breathed upon his disciples and said, 'receive ye the holy ghost.' but we also read that he said, 'behold, i send the promise of my father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high' (john : ; luke : ). we read further: 'for the holy ghost was not yet given; because that jesus was not yet glorified.' (john : .) thus the promise was made, but the fulfilment came after, so that the holy ghost sent by jesus from the father did not come in person until the day of pentecost, and the cloven tongues of fire were the sign of his coming." footnotes: [ ] acts : - . [ ] luke : , ; acts : - . [ ] cor. : ; rev. : ; colos. : . [ ] matt. : , . [ ] acts : ; compare psalm : ; see also john : . [ ] acts : . the revised version substitutes on a preponderance of authority "office" or, (marginal reading), "overseership," for the erroneous rendering "bishoprick" in the common version. compare psalm : . [ ] acts : - ; note , end of chapter. [ ] acts : - . note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] luke : ; acts : , , . [ ] acts : , in a better rendering than that of the common text (see revised version) reads: "and when this sound was heard, the multitude came together." [ ] joel : , ; compare zech. : . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] acts : - ; : - ; : - . [ ] acts : ; read the entire chapter. [ ] acts : - . [ ] acts : - ; compare psalm : ; isa. : ; matt. : . [ ] acts : - . [ ] matt. : ; compare : ; see pages and herein. [ ] acts : . [ ] acts : - . [ ] acts : . [ ] acts : - ; and . [ ] acts : - . [ ] isa. : , ; see also matt. : , ; : . [ ] acts : . note this exceptional application of the title, son of man, to christ by anyone other than himself. see page herein. [ ] acts : ; : . [ ] acts : . [ ] acts : ; compare : ; page herein. [ ] in view of saul's social status and recognized ability, many believe him to have been a member of the sanhedrin; but for this assumption we find no definite warrant in scripture. [ ] acts : ; : - . [ ] acts : . [ ] acts : , . observe that "way" here used for the first time to connote the gospel or religion of christ, occurs frequently in acts ( : ; : , ; : , ; : ; : , ). [ ] three versions of this manifestation and its immediate results appear in acts ( : - ; : - ; and : - ): the first is the historian's narrative, while the others are given as reports of saul's own words. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] acts : - ; : , . [ ] acts : . [ ] acts : - ; : - ; : ; : ; : ; : . [ ] acts : - . [ ] acts : . [ ] cor. : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] col. : ; see verse ; also "the great apostasy," : , . [ ] acts : - . [ ] rev. : ; see note , end of chapter. [ ] rev. : ; read the whole chapter. [ ] rev. : - . [ ] page herein. [ ] isa. : - ; amos. : , . [ ] matt. : , , - , - . [ ] acts : - , particularly , ; tim. : - ; tim. : - ; thess. : , , , ; peter : - , read the entire chapter and observe its application to conditions in the world today; jude , , - ; rev. : , - ; : , . see "the great apostasy," chapter . chapter . ministry of the resurrected christ on the western hemisphere. by considering the apostolic ministry in immediate sequence to our study of the lord's ascension from the mount of olives, we have departed from the chronological order of the several personal manifestations of the risen savior to mortals; for very soon after his final farewell to the apostles in judea he visited his "other sheep," not of the eastern fold, whose existence he had affirmed in that impressive sermon concerning the good shepherd and his sheep.[ ] those other sheep who were to hear the shepherd's voice and eventually be made part of the united fold, were the descendants of lehi who, with his family and a few others, had left jerusalem b.c. and had crossed the great deep to what we now know as the american continent, whereon they had grown to be a mighty though a divided people.[ ] the lord's death signalized by great calamities on the american continent. as already set forth in these pages, the birth of jesus at bethlehem had been made known to the nephite nation on the western hemisphere by divine revelation; and the glad event had been marked by the appearance of a new star, by a night devoid of darkness so that two days and the night between had been as one day, and by other wonderful occurrences, all of which had been predicted through the prophets of the western world.[ ] samuel the lamanite, who through faithfulness and good works had become a prophet, mighty in word and deed, duly chosen and commissioned of god, had coupled with his predictions of the glorious occurrences that were to mark the birth of christ, prophecies of other signs--of darkness, terror, and destruction--by which the savior's death on the cross would be signalized.[ ] every prophetic word concerning the phenomena that were to attend the lord's birth had been fulfilled; and many people had been brought thereby to believe in christ as the promised redeemer; but, as is usual with those whose belief rests on miracles, many among the nephites "began to forget those signs and wonders which they had heard, and began to be less and less astonished at a sign or a wonder from heaven, insomuch that they began to be hard in their hearts, and blind in their minds, and began to disbelieve all which they had heard and seen."[ ] thirty and three years had sped their course since the illumined night and the other signs of messiah's advent; then, on the fourth day of the first month, or, according to our calendar, during the first week of april, in the thirty-fourth year, there arose a great and terrible tempest, with thunderings, lightnings, and both elevations and depressions of the earth's surface, so that the highways were broken up, mountains were sundered, and many cities were utterly destroyed by earthquake, fire, and the inrush of the sea. for three hours the unprecedented holocaust continued; and then thick darkness fell, in the which it was found impossible to kindle a fire; the awful gloom was like unto the darkness of egypt[ ] in that its clammy vapors could be felt. this condition lasted until the third day, so that a night a day and a night were as one unbroken night, and the impenetrable blackness was rendered the more terrible by the wailing of the people, whose heart-rending refrain was everywhere the same, "o that we had repented before this great and terrible day."[ ] then, piercing the darkness, came a voice,[ ] before which the frightful chorus of human lamentation was silenced; "wo, wo, wo unto this people" resounded throughout the land. the voice proclaimed increasing woes except the people should repent. destruction had befallen because of wickedness, and the devil was then laughing over the number of the dead and the retributive cause of their destruction. the extent of the dread calamity was detailed; cities that had been burned with their inhabitants, others that had sunk into the sea, yet others buried in the earth, were enumerated; and the divine reason for this widespread destruction was plainly set forth--that the wickedness and abominations of the people might be hidden from the face of the earth. those who had lived to hear were declared to be the more righteous of the inhabitants; and to them hope was offered on conditions of more thorough repentance and reformation. the identity of the voice was thus made known: "behold, i am jesus christ the son of god. i created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. i was with the father from the beginning. i am in the father, and the father in me; and in me hath the father glorified his name." the lord commanded that the people should no longer serve him with bloody sacrifices and burnt offerings; for the law of moses was fulfilled; and thenceforth the only acceptable sacrifice would be the broken heart and the contrite spirit; and such should never be rejected. the humble and repentant the lord would receive as his own. "behold," he said, "for such i have laid down my life, and have taken it up again; therefore repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved." the voice ceased; and through the space of many hours of continuing darkness vociferous lamentations were hushed, for the people were convicted of their guilt and silently wept in astonishment over what they had heard, and in hopeful anticipation of the salvation that had been offered. a second time the voice was heard, as in sorrow over those who had refused to accept the savior's succor; for often had he protected them, more often would he have so done had they been willing, and yet in the future would he cherish them, "as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings" if they would repent and live in righteousness. on the morning of the third day the darkness dispersed, seismic disturbances ceased, and the storms abated. as the pall was lifted from the land the people saw how profound had been the convulsions of earth, and how great had been their loss of kindred and friends. in their contrition and humiliation they remembered the predictions of the prophets, and knew that the mandate of the lord had been executed upon them.[ ] christ had risen; and following him many of the righteous dead on the western continent rose from their graves, and appeared as resurrected, immortalized beings among the survivors of the land-wide destruction; even as in judea many of the saints had been raised immediately after the resurrection of christ.[ ] first visitation of jesus christ to the nephites.[ ] about six weeks or more after the events last considered,[ ] a great multitude of the nephites had assembled at the temple in the land called bountiful,[ ] and were earnestly discoursing with one another over the great changes that had been wrought in the land, and particularly concerning jesus christ, of whose atoning death the predicted signs had been witnessed in all their tragic details. the prevailing spirit of the assembly was that of contrition and reverence. while thus congregated they heard a sound as of a voice from above; but both a first and a second utterance were to them unintelligible. as they listened with rapt intentness, the voice was heard a third time, and it said unto them: "_behold my beloved son, in whom i am well pleased, in whom i have glorified my name: hear ye him._"[ ] while gazing upward in reverent expectation, the people beheld a man, clothed in a white robe, who descended and stood among them. he spake, saying: "behold, i am jesus christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world; and behold, i am the light and the life of the world; and i have drunk out of that bitter cup which the father hath given me, and have glorified the father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which i have suffered the will of the father in all things from the beginning." the multitude prostrated themselves in adoration for they remembered that their prophets had foretold that the lord would appear among them after his resurrection and ascension.[ ] as he directed, the people arose, and one by one came to him, and did see and feel the prints of the nails in his hands and feet, and the spear-wound in his side. moved to adoring utterance, with one accord they cried: "hosanna! blessed be the name of the most high god!" then, falling at the feet of jesus, they worshiped him. summoning nephi and eleven others to approach, the lord gave them authority to baptize the people after his departure, and prescribed the mode of baptism with particular injunction against disputation in the matter or alteration of the given form, as witness the lord's words: "verily i say unto you, that whoso repenteth of his sins through your words, and desireth to be baptized in my name, on this wise shall ye baptize them: behold, ye shall go down and stand in the water, and in my name shall ye baptize them. and now behold, these are the words which ye shall say, calling them by name, saying, having authority given me of jesus christ, i baptize you in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the holy ghost. amen. and then shall ye immerse them in the water, and come forth again out of the water. and after this manner shall ye baptize in my name, for behold, verily i say unto you, that the father, and the son, and the holy ghost are one; and i am in the father, and the father in me, and the father and i are one. and according as i have commanded you thus shall ye baptize. and there shall be no disputations among you, as there hath hitherto been; neither shall there be disputations among you concerning the points of my doctrine, as there hath hitherto been."[ ] the people in general, and particularly the twelve, chosen as stated, were impressively warned against contention over matters of doctrine, the spirit of which was declared to be of the devil, "who is the father of contention." the doctrine of jesus christ was set forth in simple yet comprehensive summary in these words: "behold, verily, verily, i say unto you, i will declare unto you my doctrine. and this is my doctrine, and it is the doctrine which the father hath given unto me; and i bear record of the father and the father beareth record of me, and the holy ghost beareth record of the father and me, and i bear record that the father commandeth all men: everywhere, to repent and believe in me; and whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of god. and whoso believeth not in me, and is not baptized, shall be damned."[ ] repentance, and humility akin to that of the innocent trusting child were the prerequisites for baptism, without which none could inherit the kingdom of god. with the incisiveness and simplicity that had characterized his teachings in palestine, the lord thus instructed his newly chosen twelve: "verily, verily, i say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this, buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them. and whoso shall declare more or less than this, and establish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil, and is not built upon my rock, but he buildeth upon a sandy foundation, and the gates of hell standeth open to receive such, when the floods come and the winds beat upon them. therefore go forth unto this people, and declare the words which i have spoken unto the ends of the earth."[ ] then, turning to the multitude, jesus admonished them to give heed to the teachings of the twelve, and continued with a discourse embodying the sublime principles he had taught among the jews in the sermon on the mount.[ ] the beatitudes, the lord's prayer, and the same splendid array of ennobling precepts are set forth, and the same wealth of effective comparison and apt illustration appear, in both matthew's and nephi's versions of this unparalleled address; but a significant difference is observed in every reference to the fulfilment of the mosaic law; for where the jewish scriptures record the lord's words as pointing to a fulfilment then incomplete, the corresponding expressions in the nephite account are in the past tense, the law having been already fulfilled in its entirety through the death and resurrection of christ. thus, to the jews jesus had said: "till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled"; but to the nephites: "for verily i say unto you, one jot nor one tittle hath not passed away from the law, but in me it hath all been fulfilled."[ ] many marveled over this matter, wondering what the lord would have them do concerning the law of moses; "for they understood not the saying that old things had passed away, and that all things had become new." jesus, conscious of their perplexity, proclaimed in plainness that he was the giver of the law, and that by him had it been fulfilled and therefore abrogated. his affirmation is particularly explicit: "behold i say unto you, that the law is fulfilled that was given unto moses. behold, i am he that gave the law, and i am he who covenanted with my people israel: therefore, the law in me is fulfilled, for i have come to fulfil the law; therefore it hath an end. behold, i do not destroy the prophets, for as many as have not been fulfilled in me, verily i say unto you, shall all be fulfilled. and because i said unto you, that old things hath passed away, i do not destroy that which hath been spoken concerning things which are to come. for behold, the covenant which i have made with my people is not all fulfilled; but the law which was given unto moses, hath an end in me."[ ] addressing himself to the twelve he affirmed that never had the father commanded him to inform the jews concerning the existence of the nephites, except indirectly by mention of other sheep not of the jewish fold; and as, "because of stiffneckedness and unbelief," they had failed to comprehend his words, the father had commanded him to say no more with reference either to the nephites or to the third fold--comprizing "the other tribes of the house of israel, whom the father hath led away out of the land." to the nephite disciples jesus taught many other matters that had been withheld from the jews, who through unfitness to receive had been left in ignorance. even the jewish apostles had wrongly supposed that those "other sheep" were the gentile nations, not realizing that the carrying of the gospel to the gentiles was part of their particular mission, and oblivious to the fact that never would christ manifest himself in person to those who were not of the house of israel. through the promptings of the holy ghost and under the ministrations of men commissioned and sent would the gentiles hear the word of god; but to the personal manifestation of the messiah they were ineligible.[ ] great, however, will be the lord's mercies and blessings to the gentiles who accept the truth, for unto them the holy ghost shall bear witness of the father and of the son; and all of them who comply with the laws and ordinances of the gospel shall be numbered in the house of israel. their conversion and enfoldment with the lord's own will be as individuals, and not as nations, tribes, or peoples.[ ] the adoring multitude, numbering about two thousand five hundred souls, thought that jesus was about to depart; and they tearfully yearned to have him remain. he comforted them with the assurance that he would return on the morrow, and admonished them to ponder upon the things he had taught, and to pray in his name to the father for understanding. he had already informed the twelve, and now stated to the people, that he would show himself and minister "unto the lost tribes of israel, for they are not lost unto the father, for he knoweth whither he hath taken them." voicing the compassion he felt, the lord directed the people to fetch their afflicted ones, the lame, halt, maimed, blind and deaf, the leprous, and the withered; and when these were brought he healed them, every one. then, as he commanded, parents brought their little children, and placed them in a circle around him. the multitude bowed in prayer; and jesus prayed for them; "and," wrote nephi, "no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvellous things as we both saw and heard jesus speak; and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the time we heard him pray for us unto the father." the prayer being ended, jesus bade the multitude arise; and joyfully he exclaimed: "blessed are ye because of your faith. and now behold, my joy is full." jesus wept. then he took the children, one by one, and blessed them, praying unto the father for each. "and when he had done this he wept again, and he spake unto the multitude, and saith unto them, behold your little ones. and as they looked to behold, they cast their eyes towards heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were, in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them."[ ] the lord jesus sent for bread and wine, and caused the people to sit down. the bread he brake and blessed, and gave thereof to the twelve; these, having eaten, distributed bread to the multitude. the wine was blessed, and all partook, the twelve first, and afterward the people. with impressiveness similar to that attending the institution of the sacrament of the lord's supper among the apostles in jerusalem, jesus made plain the sanctity and significance of the ordinance, saying that authority for its future administration would be given; and that it was to be participated in by all who had been baptized into fellowship with christ, and was always to be observed in remembrance of him, the bread being the sacred emblem of his body, the wine the token of his blood that had been shed. by express commandment, the lord forbade the sacrament of bread and wine to all but the worthy; "for," he explained, "whoso eateth and drinketh my flesh and blood unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to his soul; therefore if ye know that a man is unworthy to eat and drink of my flesh and blood, ye shall forbid him." but the people were forbidden to cast out from their assemblies those from whom the sacrament was to be withheld, if so be they would but repent and seek fellowship through baptism.[ ] the necessity of prayer was explicitly emphasized by the lord, the commandment to pray being given to the twelve and to the multitude separately. individual supplication, family devotions, and congregational worship were thus enjoined: "therefore ye must always pray unto the father in my name; and whatsoever ye shall ask the father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you. pray in your families unto the father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed. and behold, ye shall meet together oft, and ye shall not forbid any man from coming unto you when ye shall meet together, but suffer them that they may come unto you, and forbid them not; but ye shall pray for them, and shall not cast them out; and if it so be that they come unto you oft, ye shall pray for them unto the father, in my name."[ ] the lord then touched with his hand each of the twelve, investing them, in words unheard by others, with power to confer the holy ghost by the imposition of hands upon all repentant and baptized believers.[ ] as he finished the ordination of the twelve, a cloud overshadowed the people, so that the lord was hidden from their sight; but the twelve disciples "saw and did bear record that he ascended again into heaven." christ's second visitation to the nephites.[ ] on the morrow a yet greater multitude assembled in expectation of the savior's return. throughout the night messengers had spread the glorious tidings of the lord's appearing, and of his promise to again visit his people. so great was the assembly that nephi and his associates caused the people to separate into twelve bodies, to each of which one of the disciples was assigned to impart instruction and to lead in prayer. the burden of supplication was that the holy ghost should be given unto them. led by the chosen disciples the whole vast concourse approached the water's edge, and nephi, going first, was baptized by immersion; he then baptized the eleven others whom jesus had chosen. when the twelve had come forth out of the water, "they were filled with the holy ghost, and with fire. and behold, they were encircled about as if it were fire; and it came down from heaven, and the multitude did witness it, and do bear record; and angels did come down out of heaven, and did minister unto them. and it came to pass that while the angels were ministering unto the disciples, behold, jesus came and stood in the midst, and ministered unto them."[ ] thus jesus appeared in the midst of the disciples and ministering angels. at his command the twelve and the multitude knelt in prayer; and they prayed unto jesus, calling him their lord and their god. jesus separated himself by a little space, and in humble attitude prayed, saying in part: "father, i thank thee that thou hast given the holy ghost unto these whom i have chosen; and it is because of their belief in me, that i have chosen them out of the world. father, i pray thee that thou wilt give the holy ghost unto all them that shall believe in their words." the disciples were yet fervently praying to jesus when he returned to them; and as he looked upon them with merciful and approving smile, they were glorified in his presence, so that their countenances and their apparel shone with a brilliancy like unto that of the face and garments of the lord, even so that "there could be nothing on earth so white as the whiteness thereof." a second and a third time jesus retired and prayed unto the father; and while the people comprehended the meaning of his prayer, they confessed and bare record that "so great and marvellous were the words which he prayed, that they cannot be written, neither can they be uttered by man." the lord rejoiced in the faith of the people, and to the disciples he said: "so great faith have i never seen among all the jews; wherefore i could not shew unto them so great miracles, because of their unbelief. verily i say unto you, there are none of them that have seen so great things as ye have seen; neither have they heard so great things as ye have heard."[ ] then the lord administered the sacrament in manner as on the yesterday; but both the bread and the wine were provided without human aid. the sanctity of the ordinance was thus expressed: "he that eateth this bread, eateth of my body to his soul, and he that drinketh of this wine, drinketh of my blood to his soul, and his soul shall never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled." this was followed by instructions concerning the covenant people, israel, of whom the nephites were a part, and of the relation they would bear to the gentile nations in the future development of the divine purpose. jesus declared himself to be that prophet whose coming moses had foretold, and the christ of whom all the prophets had testified. the temporary supremacy of the gentiles, whereby the further scattering of israel would be accomplished, and the eventual gathering of the covenant people, were predicted, with frequent reference to the inspired utterances of isaiah bearing thereon.[ ] the future of lehi's descendants was pictured as a dwindling in unbelief through iniquity; in consequence of which the gentiles would grow to be a mighty people on the western continent, even though that land had been given as an ultimate inheritance to the house of israel. the establishment of the then future but now existent american nation, characterized as "a free people," was thus foretold and god's purpose therein explained: "for it is wisdom in the father that they should be established in this land, and be set up as a free people by the power of the father, that these things might come forth from them unto a remnant of your seed, that the covenant of the father may be fulfilled which he hath covenanted with his people, o house of israel."[ ] as a sign of the time in which the gathering of the several branches of israel from their long dispersion should take place, the lord specified the prosperity of the gentiles in america, and their agency in bringing the scriptures to the degraded remnant of lehi's posterity or the american indians.[ ] it was made plain that all gentiles who would repent, and accept the gospel of christ through baptism, should be numbered among the covenant people and be made partakers of the blessings incident to the last days, in which the new jerusalem would be established on the american continent. the joyful account of gathered israel as jehovah had given it aforetime through the mouth of his prophet isaiah, was repeated by the resurrected jehovah to his nephite flock.[ ] admonishing them to ponder the words of the prophets, which were of record amongst them, and to give heed to the new scriptures he had made known, and especially commanding the twelve to teach the people further concerning the things he had expounded, the lord informed them of the revelations given through malachi, and directed that the same be written.[ ] the prophecies so reiterated by him who had inspired malachi to utterance, were at that time obviously of the future, and are even yet unfulfilled in their entirety. the advent of the lord, to which these scriptures testify, is yet future; but that the time is now near--that "great and dreadful day of the lord"--is attested by the fact that elijah who was to come before that day, has appeared in the discharge of his particular commission--that of turning the hearts of the living children to their dead progenitors, and the hearts of the departed fathers to their still mortal posterity.[ ] the personal ministry of christ on the occasion of this second visitation lasted three days, during which he gave the people many scriptures, such as had been before given unto the jews, for so the father had commanded; and he expounded unto them the purposes of god, from the beginning until the time at which christ shall return in his glory; "and even unto the great and last day, when all people, and all kindreds, and all nations and tongues shall stand before god, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil; if they be good, to the resurrection of everlasting life; and if they be evil, to the resurrection of damnation, being on a parallel, the one on the one hand, and the other on the other hand, according to the mercy, and the justice, and the holiness which is in christ, who was before the world began." in merciful ministration he healed their afflicted folk, and raised a man from the dead. at later but unspecified times, he showed himself among the nephites, and "did break bread oft, and bless it, and give it unto them."[ ] after his second ascension from among them, the spirit of prophecy was manifest among the people, and this extended even to children and babes, many of whom spake of marvelous things, as the spirit gave them utterance. the twelve entered upon their ministry with vigor, teaching all who would hear, and baptizing those who, through repentance, sought communion with the church. upon all who thus complied with the requirements of the gospel, the holy ghost was bestowed; and those so blessed lived together in love, and were called the church of christ.[ ] christ's visitation to his chosen twelve among the nephites.[ ] under the administration of the twelve ordained disciples the church grew and prospered in the land of nephi.[ ] the disciples, as special witnesses of the christ, traveled, preached, taught, and baptized all who professed faith and showed forth repentance. on a certain occasion the twelve were assembled in "mighty prayer and fasting," seeking instruction on a particular matter which, notwithstanding the lord's injunction against contention, had given rise to disputation among the people. as they supplicated the father in the son's name, jesus appeared amongst them, and asked: "what will ye that i shall give unto you?" their answer was: "lord, we will that thou wouldst tell us the name whereby we shall call this church; for there are disputations among the people concerning this matter." they had provisionally called the community of baptized believers the church of christ; but, apparently this true and distinguishing name had not been generally accepted without question. "and the lord said unto them, verily, verily, i say unto you, why is it that the people should murmur and dispute because of this thing? have they not read the scriptures, which say ye must take upon you the name of christ, which is my name? for by this name shall ye be called at the last day; and whoso taketh upon him my name, and endureth to the end, the same shall be saved at the last day; therefore whatsoever ye shall do, ye shall do it in my name; therefore ye shall call the church in my name; and ye shall call upon the father in my name, that he will bless the church for my sake; and how be it my church, save it be called in my name? for if a church be called in moses' name, then it be moses' church; or if it be called in the name of a man, then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name, then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel. verily i say unto you, that ye are built upon my gospel; therefore ye shall call whatsoever things ye do call, in my name; therefore if ye call upon the father, for the church, if it be in my name, the father will hear you; and if it so be that the church is built upon my gospel, then will the father shew forth his own works in it; but if it be not built upon my gospel, and is built upon the works of men, or upon the works of the devil, verily i say unto you, they have joy in their works for a season, and by and by the end cometh, and they are hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence there is no return; for their works do follow them, for it is because of their works that they are hewn down; therefore remember the things that i have told you."[ ] in such wise did the lord confirm as an authoritative bestowal, the name which, through inspiration, had been assumed by his obedient children, _the church of jesus christ_. the lord's explanation as to the one and only name by which the church could be appropriately known is cogent and convincing. it was not the church of lehi or nephi, of mosiah or alma, of samuel or helaman; else it should have been called by the name of the man whose church it was, even as today there are churches named after men;[ ] but being the church established by jesus christ, it could properly bear none other name than his. jesus then reiterated to the nephite twelve many of the cardinal principles he had before enunciated to them and to the people at large; and commanded that his words be written, excepting certain exalted communications which he forbade them to write. the importance of preserving as a priceless treasure the new scriptures he had given was shown, with assurance that in heaven records were kept of all things done by divine direction. the twelve were told that they were to be the judges of their people; and in view of such investiture they were admonished to diligence and godliness.[ ] the lord was made glad by the faith and ready obedience of the nephites amongst whom he had ministered; and to the twelve special witnesses he said: "and now behold, my joy is great, even unto fulness, because of you, and also this generation; yea, and even the father rejoiceth, and also all the holy angels, because of you and this generation; for none of them are lost. behold, i would that ye should understand; for i mean them who are now alive of this generation; and none of them are lost; and in them i have fulness of joy." his joy, however, was mingled with sorrow because of the apostasy into which the later generations would fall; this he foresaw as a dire condition that would attain its climax in the fourth generation from that time.[ ] the three nephites. in loving compassion the lord spoke unto the twelve disciples, one by one, asking: "what is it that ye desire of me, after that i am gone to the father?"[ ] all but three expressed the desire that they might continue in the ministry until they had reached a goodly age, and then in due time be received by the lord into his kingdom. to them jesus gave blessed assurance, saying: "after that ye are seventy and two years old, ye shall come unto me in my kingdom, and with me ye shall find rest." he turned to the three who had reserved the request they ventured not to express; "and he said unto them, behold, i know your thoughts, and ye have desired the thing which john, my beloved, who was with me in my ministry, before that i was lifted up by the jews, desired of me; therefore more blessed are ye, for ye shall never taste of death, but ye shall live to behold all the doings of the father, unto the children of men, even until all things shall be fulfilled, according to the will of the father, when i shall come in my glory, with the powers of heaven; and ye shall never endure the pains of death; but when i shall come in my glory, ye shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye from mortality to immortality: and then shall ye be blessed in the kingdom of my father."[ ] the blessed three were assured that in the course of their prolonged life they should be immune to pain, and should know sorrow only as they grieved for the sins of the world. for their desire to labor in bringing souls unto christ as long as the world should stand, they were promised an eventual fulness of joy, even like unto that to which the lord himself had attained. jesus touched each of the nine who were to live and die in the lord, but the three who were to tarry till he would come in his glory he did not touch. "and then he departed." a change was wrought in the bodies of the three nephites, so that, while they remained in the flesh, they were exempt from the usual effects of physical vicissitude. the heavens were opened to their gaze; they were caught up, and saw and heard unspeakable things. "and it was forbidden them that they should utter; neither was it given unto them power that they could utter the things which they saw and heard." though they lived and labored as men among their fellows, preaching, baptizing, and conferring the holy ghost upon all who gave heed to their words, the enemies to the truth were powerless to do them injury. somewhat later than a hundred and seventy years after the lord's last visitation, malignant persecution was waged against the three. for their zeal in the ministry they were cast into prison; but "the prisons could not hold them, for they were rent in twain." they were incarcerated in underground dungeons; "but they did smite the earth with the word of god, insomuch that by his power they were delivered out of the depths of the earth; and therefore they could not dig pits sufficient to hold them." thrice they were cast into a furnace of fire, but received no harm; and three times were they thrown into dens of ravenous beasts, but, "behold they did play with the beasts, as a child with a suckling lamb, and received no harm."[ ] mormon avers that in answer to his prayers the lord had made known unto him that the change wrought upon the bodies of the three, was such as to deprive satan of all power over them, and that "they were holy, and that the powers of the earth could not hold them; and in this state they were to remain until the judgment day of christ; and at that day they were to receive a greater change, and to be received into the kingdom of the father to go no more out, but to dwell with god eternally in the heavens."[ ] for nearly three hundred years, and possibly longer, the three nephites ministered visibly among their fellows; but as the wickedness of the people increased these special ministers were withdrawn, and thereafter manifested themselves only to the righteous few. moroni, the last prophet of the nephites, when engaged in completing the record of his father, mormon, and adding thereto matters of his own knowledge, wrote concerning these three disciples of the lord, that they "did tarry in the land until the wickedness of the people was so great, that the lord would not suffer them to remain with the people; and whether they be upon the face of the land no man knoweth. but behold, my father and i have seen them, and they have ministered unto us."[ ] their ministry was to be extended to jews and gentiles, amongst whom they labor unrecognized as of ancient birth; and they are sent unto the scattered tribes of israel, and to all nations, kindreds, tongues and peoples, from whom they have brought and are bringing many souls unto christ, "that their desire may be fulfilled, and also because of the convincing power of god which is in them."[ ] growth of the church followed by the apostasy of the nephite nation. the church of jesus christ developed rapidly in the land of nephi, and brought to its faithful adherents unprecedented blessings. even the hereditary animosity between nephites and lamanites was forgotten; and all lived in peace and prosperity. so great was the unity of the church that its members owned all things in common, and "therefore they were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift."[ ] populous cities replaced the desolation of ruin that had befallen at the time of the lord's crucifixion. the land was blessed, and the people rejoiced in righteousness. "and it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of god which did dwell in the hearts of the people. and there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of god."[ ] nine of the twelve special witnesses chosen by the lord passed at appointed times to their rest, and others were ordained in their stead. the state of blessed prosperity and of common ownership continued for a period of a hundred and sixty-seven years; but soon thereafter came a most distressing change. pride displaced humility, display of costly apparel superseded the simplicity of happier days; rivalry led to contention, and thence the people "did have their goods and their substance no more common among them, and they began to be divided into classes, and they began to build up churches unto themselves, to get gain, and began to deny the true church of christ."[ ] man-made churches multiplied, and persecution, true sister to intolerance, became rampant. the red-skinned lamanites reverted to their degraded ways, and developed a murderous hostility against their white brothers; and all manner of corrupt practises became common among both nations. for many decades the nephites retreated before their aggressive foes, making their way north-eastward through what is now the united states. about a.d. the last great battle was fought near the hill cumorah;[ ] and the nephite nation became extinct.[ ] the degenerate remnant of lehi's posterity, the lamanites or american indians, have continued until this day. moroni, the last of the nephite prophets, hid away the record of his people in the hill cumorah, whence it has been brought forth by divine direction in the current dispensation. that record is now before the world translated through the gift and power of god, and published to the edification of all nations, as the book of mormon. notes to chapter . . the land bountiful.--this comprized the northerly part of south america, extending to the isthmus of panama. on the north it was bounded by the land of desolation, which embraced central america, and, in later nephite history, an indefinite extent north of the isthmus. the south american continent in general is called, in the book of mormon, the land of nephi. . the jewish and nephite versions of the "sermon on the mount."--as indicated in the text, one of the most impressive contrasts between the sermon on the mount and the virtual repetition of the discourse by our lord on the occasion of his visit to the nephites, is that of prediction concerning the fulfilment of the law of moses in the first delivery, and unqualified affirmation in the second that the law had been fulfilled. among the beatitudes certain differences appear, in each of which the nephite sermon is more explicit. thus, instead of, "blessed are the poor in spirit" (matt. : ), we read, "blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me" ( nephi : ). instead of, "blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled" (matt.), we read, "and blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the holy ghost" (nephi). instead of, "for righteousness' sake," (matt.) we have "for my name's sake," (nephi). for the difficult passage, "ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?" (matt.), we have the clearer expression, "i give unto you to be the salt of the earth; but if the salt shall lose its savor, wherewith shall the earth be salted?" (nephi). and, as already noted, in place of "one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" (matt.), we have "one jot nor one tittle hath not passed away from the law, but in me it hath all been fulfilled" (nephi). variations in succeeding verses are incident to this prospective fulfilment (matt.), and affirmed accomplishment (nephi). instead of the strong analogy concerning the plucking out of an offending eye, or the severing of an evil hand (matt.), we find: "behold, i give unto you a commandment, that ye suffer none of these things to enter into your heart; for it is better that ye should deny yourselves of these things, wherein ye will take up your cross, than that ye should be cast into hell" (nephi). following the illustrative instances of the gospel requirements superseding those of the law, the nephite record presents this splendid summation: "therefore those things which were of old time, which were under the law in me, are all fulfilled. old things are done away, and all things have become new; therefore i would that ye should be perfect even as i, or your father who is in heaven is perfect." in matthew's report of the sermon, little distinction is made between the precepts addressed to the multitude in general, and the instructions given particularly to the twelve. thus, matt. : - was spoken inferentially to the apostles; for they and not the people were to lay aside all worldly pursuits; in the sermon delivered to the nephites the distinction is thus made clear: "and now it came to pass that when jesus had spoken these words, he looked upon the twelve whom he had chosen, and said unto them, remember the words which i have spoken. for behold, ye are they whom i have chosen to minister unto this people. therefore i say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" etc. (see nephi : - ). matt opens with "judge not that ye be not judged," without intimation as to its general or special application; nephi begins "and now it came to pass that when jesus had spoken these words, he turned again to the multitude, and did open his mouth unto them again, saying, verily, verily, i say unto you, judge not, that ye be not judged." a careful, verse-by-verse comparison between the sermon on the mount as recorded by matthew, and the risen lord's discourse to his people on the western continent is earnestly recommended to every student. . baptisms among the nephites after the lord's visitation.--we read that before the second appearing of christ to the nephites, the chosen twelve were baptized ( nephi : - ). these men had doubtless been baptized before, for nephi had been empowered not only to baptize but to ordain others to the requisite authority for administering baptism ( nephi : - ). the baptism of the disciples on the morn of the savior's second visit, was in the nature of a rebaptism, involving a renewal of covenants, and confession of faith in the lord jesus. it is possible that in the earlier nephite baptisms some irregularity in mode or impropriety in the spirit of administering the ordinance may have arisen; for, as we have seen the lord enjoined upon the people in connection with the instructions concerning baptism that disputations must cease. ( nephi : - .) as to second or later baptisms, the author has written elsewhere (see _the articles of faith_, vii: - ) practically as follows. rebaptisms recorded in scripture are few, and in each instance the special circumstances justifying the action are apparent. thus, we read of paul baptizing certain disciples at ephesus, though they had already been immersed after the manner of john's baptism. but in this case the apostle was evidently unconvinced that the baptism had been solemnized by due authority, or that the believers had been properly instructed as to the import of the ordinance. when he tested the efficacy of their baptism by asking "have ye received the holy ghost since ye believed?" they answered him, "we have not so much as heard whether there be any holy ghost." then asked he in seeming surprize, "unto what then were ye baptized? and they said, unto john's baptism. then said paul, john verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on christ jesus. when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the lord jesus." (see acts : - .) in the church today a repetition of the baptismal rite on an individual is allowable under certain specific conditions. thus, if one, having entered the church by baptism, withdraws from it, or is excommunicated therefrom, and afterward repents and desires to regain his standing in the church, he can do so only through baptism. however, such is a repetition of the initiatory ordinance as previously administered. there is no ordinance of "rebaptism" in the church distinct in nature, form, or purpose, from other baptism; and, therefore, in administering baptism to a subject who has been formerly baptized, the form of the ceremony is exactly the same as in first baptisms. footnotes: [ ] john : ; compare b. of m., nephi : - ; page herein. [ ] see pages , herein. [ ] pages - . [ ] helaman : - . [ ] nephi : . [ ] exo. : - . [ ] nephi : - ; compare helaman : - . [ ] nephi chap. . [ ] nephi, chap. . [ ] helaman : ; nephi : - ; compare matt. : , . [ ] nephi, chaps. - inclusive. [ ] nephi : . bear in mind that christ's ascension took place forty days after his resurrection. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] nephi : ; compare matt. : ; mark : ; luke : ; p. of g.p., joseph smith : . [ ] nephi : ; compare nephi : ; nephi : , ; alma : . [ ] nephi : - ; compare doc. and cov. : - . [ ] nephi : - ; compare mark : , ; see also john : . [ ] nephi : - . [ ] nephi, chaps. , , ; compare matt, chaps. , , . [ ] matt. : , and nephi : ; compare , ; : - ; and : - . see note , end of chapter. [ ] nephi : - . see pages , , herein. [ ] nephi : - . [ ] nephi : - . [ ] nephi : - ; read entire chapter. [ ] nephi : - , - ; compare cor. : - . for the prescribed manner of administering the sacrament, see moroni, chaps. and ; compare doc. and cov. : - . [ ] nephi : - . [ ] nephi : , ; moroni : - . [ ] nephi, chaps. - , and : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] nephi, chap. : , ; read the entire chapter. [ ] nephi, chap. ; see references to isaiah given therein. [ ] nephi : . [ ] nephi : - ; for prophecies concerning subsequent events see remainder of chapter. [ ] nephi, chap. ; compare isa. chap. . [ ] nephi, chaps. and ; compare malachi, chap. and . [ ] doc. and cov. : - . elijah appeared in the kirtland temple april , a.d. , and committed to the church the keys of authority for vicarious work in behalf of the dead. see chapter herein, page . [ ] nephi : , , - . [ ] nephi : - . [ ] nephi, chaps. , , and : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] nephi : - . [ ] e.g. of calvin, luther, wesley; see also "the great apostasy," : , . [ ] note the assurance of a similar commission promised the jewish apostles: matt. : ; luke : . see also nephi : . [ ] nephi : and references given therewith. [ ] nephi : ; read verses - . [ ] nephi : - ; see page herein. [ ] nephi : - ; compare nephi : , - . [ ] nephi : , . [ ] mormon : , ; see also nephi : - , - , nephi : , ; ether : . [ ] nephi : - . [ ] nephi : ; read : ; see pages and herein. [ ] nephi : , . [ ] nephi : , . [ ] near manchester, ontario county, new york. [ ] see mormon, chapters - ; and moroni, chapter . chapter . the long night of apostasy. for over seventeen hundred years on the eastern hemisphere, and for more than fourteen centuries on the western, there appears to have been silence between the heavens and the earth.[ ] of direct revelation from god to man during this long interval, we have no authentic record. as already shown, the period of apostolic ministry on the eastern continent probably terminated before the dawn of the second century of the christian era. the passing of the apostles was followed by the rapid development of a universal apostasy as had been foreseen and predicted.[ ] in the accomplishment of this great falling away, external and internal causes cooperated. among the disintegrating forces acting from without, the most effective was the persistent persecution to which the saints were subjected, incident to both judaistic and pagan opposition. vast numbers who had professed membership and many who had been officers in the ministry deserted the church; while a few were stimulated to greater zeal under the scourge of persecution. the general effect of opposition from the outside--of external causes of decline in faith and works considered as a whole--was the defection of individuals, resulting in a widespread _apostasy from the church_. but immeasurably more serious was the result of internal dissension, schism and disruption, whereby an absolute _apostasy of the church_ from the way and word of god was brought about. judaism was the earliest oppressor of christianity, and became the instigator and abettor of the succeeding atrocities incident to pagan persecution. open and vigorous hostility of the roman powers against the christian church became general during the reign of nero, (beginning about a.d.), and continued with occasional respites of a few months or even years at a time to the close of diocletian's reign (about a.d.). the inhuman cruelty and savage barbarity to which were subjected those who dared profess the name of christ during these centuries of heathen domination are matters of accepted history.[ ] when constantine the great came to the throne in the first quarter of the fourth century, a radical change was inaugurated in the attitude of the state toward the church. the emperor straightway made the so-called christianity of the time the religion of his realm; and zealous devotion to the church became the surest recommendation to imperial favor. but the church was already in great measure an apostate institution and even in crude outline of organization and service bore but remote resemblance to the church of jesus christ, founded by the savior and builded through the instrumentality of the apostles. whatever vestiges of genuine christianity may have possibly survived in the church before, were buried beyond the sight of man by the abuses that followed the elevation of the churchly organization to secular favor through the decree of constantine. the emperor, even though unbaptized, made himself the head of the church, and priestly office was more sought after than military rank or state preferment. the spirit of apostasy, by which the church had become permeated before constantine threw about it the mantle of imperial protection and emblazoned it with the insignia of state, now was roused to increased activity as the leaven of satan's own culture flourished under the conditions most favorable for such fungoid growth. the bishop of rome had already asserted supremacy over his fellows in the episcopate; but when the emperor made byzantium his capital, and renamed it in his own honor, constantinople, the bishop of that city claimed equality with the roman pontiff. the claim was contested; the ensuing dissension divided the church; and the disruption has persisted until the present day, as is evidenced by the existing distinction between the roman catholic and the greek catholic churches. the roman pontiff exercized secular as well as spiritual authority; and in the eleventh century arrogated to himself the title of _pope_, signifying _father_, in the sense of paternal ruler in all things. during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the temporal authority of the pope was superior to that of kings and emperors; and the roman church became the despotic potentate of nations, and an autocrat above all secular states. yet this church, reeking with the stench of worldly ambition and lust of dominance, audaciously claimed to be the church established by him who affirmed: "my kingdom is not of this world." the arrogant assumptions of the church of rome were not less extravagant in spiritual than in secular administration. in her loudly asserted control over the spiritual destinies of the souls of men, she blasphemously pretended to forgive or retain individual sins, and to inflict or remit penalties both on earth and beyond the grave. she sold permission to commit sin and bartered for gold charters of indulgent forgiveness for sins already done. her pope, proclaiming himself the vicar of god, sat in state to judge as god himself; and by such blasphemy fulfilled the prophecy of paul following his warning in relation to the awful conditions antecedent to the second coming of the christ: "let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called god, or that is worshipped; so that he as god sitteth in the temple of god, shewing himself that he is god."[ ] in her unrestrained abandon to the license of arrogated authority, the church of rome hesitated not to transgress the law of god, change the ordinances essential to salvation, and ruthlessly break the everlasting covenant, thereby defiling the earth even as isaiah had foretold.[ ] she altered the ordinance of baptism, destroying its symbolism and associating with it imitations of pagan rites; she corrupted the sacrament of the lord's supper and befouled the doctrine thereof by the vagary of _transubstantiation_;[ ] she assumed to apply the merits of the righteous to the forgiveness of the sinner in the unscriptural and wholly repellent dogma of _supererogation_; she promoted idolatry in most seductive and pernicious forms; she penalized the study of the holy scriptures by the people at large; she enjoined an unnatural state of celibacy upon her clergy; she revelled in unholy union with the theories and sophistries of men, and so adulterated the simple doctrines of the gospel of christ as to produce a creed rank with superstition and heresy; she promulgated such perverted doctrines regarding the human body as to make the divinely formed tabernacle of flesh appear as a thing fit only to be tortured and contemned; she proclaimed it an act of virtue insuring rich reward to lie and deceive if thereby her own interests might be subserved; and she so thoroughly departed from the original plan of church organization as to make of herself a spectacle of ornate display, fabricated by the caprice of man.[ ] the most important of the internal causes by which the apostasy of the primitive church was brought about may be thus summarized: ( ) the corrupting of the simple doctrines of the gospel of christ by admixture with so-called philosophic systems. ( ) unauthorized additions to the prescribed rites of the church and the introduction of vital alterations in essential ordinances. ( ) unauthorized changes in church organization and government.[ ] under the tyrannous repression incident to usurped and unrighteous domination by the roman church, civilization was retarded and for centuries was practically halted in its course. the period of retrogression is known in history as the dark ages. the fifteenth century witnessed the movement known as the renaissance or revival of learning; there was a general and significantly rapid awakening among men, and a determined effort to shake off the stupor of indolence and ignorance was manifest throughout the civilized world. by historians and philosophers the revival has been regarded as an unconscious and spontaneous prompting of the "spirit of the times"; it was a development predetermined in the mind of god to illumine the benighted minds of men in preparation for the restoration of the gospel of jesus christ, which was appointed to be accomplished some centuries later.[ ] with the renewal of intellectual activity and effort in material betterment, there came, as a natural and inevitable accompaniment, protest and revolt against the ecclesiastical tyranny of the age. the albigenses in france had risen in insurrection against churchly despotism during the thirteenth century; and in the fourteenth, john wickliffe of oxford university had boldly denounced the corruption of the roman church and clergy, and particularly the restrictions imposed by the papal hierarchy on the popular study of the scriptures. wickliffe gave to the world a version of the holy bible in english. these manifestations of independent belief and action the papal church sought to repress and punish by force. the albigenses had been subjected to inhuman cruelties and unrestrained slaughter. wickliffe was the subject of severe and persistent persecution; and though he died in his bed the vindictiveness of the roman church was unsated until she had caused his body to be exhumed and burned and the ashes scattered abroad. john huss and jerome of prague were prominent on the continent of europe in agitation against papal despotism, and both fell martyrs to the cause. though the church had become apostate to the core, there were not lacking men brave of heart and righteous of soul, ready to give their lives to the furtherance of spiritual emancipation. a notable revolt against the papacy occurred in the sixteenth century, and is known as the reformation. this movement was begun in by martin luther, a german monk; and it spread so rapidly as soon to involve the whole domain of popedom. formal _protests_ against the despotism of the papal church were formulated by the representatives of certain german principalities and other delegates at a diet or general council held at spires a.d. ; and the reformers were thenceforth known as _protestants_. an independent church was proposed by john, elector of saxony, a constitution for which was prepared at his instance by luther and his colleague, melanchthon. the protestants were discordant. being devoid of divine authority to guide them in matters of church organization and doctrine, they followed the diverse ways of men, and were rent within while assailed from without. the roman church, confronted by determined opponents, hesitated at no extreme of cruelty. the court of the inquisition, which had been established in the latter part of the fifteenth century under the infamously sacrilegious name of the "holy office," became intoxicated with the lust of barbarous cruelty in the century of the reformation, and inflicted indescribable tortures on persons secretly accused of heresy. in the early stages of the reformation instigated by luther, the king of england, henry viii, declared himself a supporter of the pope, and was rewarded by a papal bestowal of the distinguishing title "defender of the faith." within a few years, this same british sovereign was excommunicated from the roman church, because of impatient disregard of the pope's authority in the matter of henry's desire to divorce queen catherine so that he could marry one of her maids. the british parliament, in , passed the act of supremacy, by which the nation was declared free from all allegiance to papal authority. by act of parliament the king was made the head of the church within his own dominions. thus was born the church of england, a direct result of the licentious amours of a debauched and infamous king. with blasphemous indifference to the absence of divine commission, with no semblance of priestly succession, an adulterous sovereign created a church, provided therein a "priesthood" of his own, and proclaimed himself supreme administrator in all matters spiritual. with the conflict between catholicism and protestantism in great britain the student of history is familiar. suffice it here to say that the mutual hatred of the two contending sects, the zeal of their respective adherents, their professed love of god and devotion to christ's service, were chiefly signalized by the sword, the ax, and the stake. revelling in the realization of at least a partial emancipation from the tyranny of priestcraft, men and nations debauched their newly acquired liberty of thought, speech, and action, in a riot of abhorrent excess. the mis-called age of reason, and the atheistical abominations culminating in the french revolution stand as ineffaceable testimony of what man may become when glorying in his denial of god. is it to be wondered at, that from the sixteenth century onward, churches of man's contriving have multiplied with phenomenal rapidity? churches and churchly organizations professing christianity as their creed have come to be numbered by hundreds. on every side is heard in this day, "lo, here is christ" or "lo, there." there are sects named from the circumstances of their origin--as the church of england; others after their famous founders or promoters--as lutheran, calvinist, wesleyan; some are known by peculiarities of doctrine or plan of administration--as methodist, presbyterian, baptist, congregationalist; but down to the third decade of the nineteenth century there was no church on earth affirming name or title as the church of jesus christ. the only organization called a church existing at that time and venturing to assert claim to authority by succession was the catholic church, which for centuries had been apostate and wholly bereft of divine authority or recognition. if the "mother church" be without a valid priesthood, and devoid of spiritual power, how can her offspring derive from her the right to officiate in the things of god? who would dare to affirm that man can originate a priesthood which god is bound to honor and acknowledge? granted that men may and do create among themselves societies, associations, sects, and even "churches" if they choose so to designate their organizations; granted that they may prescribe rules, formulate laws, and devize plans of operation, discipline, and government, and that all such laws, rules, and schemes of administration are binding upon those who assume membership--granted all these rights and powers--whence can such human institutions derive the authority of the holy priesthood, without which there can be no church of christ?[ ] the apostate condition of christendom has been frankly admitted by many eminent and conscientious representatives of the several churches, and by churches as institutions. even the church of england acknowledges the awful fact in her official declaration of degeneracy, as set forth in the "_homily against peril of idolatry_," in these words: "so that laity and clergy, learned and unlearned, all ages, sects, and degrees of men, women, and children of whole christendom--an horrible and most dreadful thing to think--have been at once drowned in abominable idolatry; of all other vices most detested of god, and most damnable to man; and that by the space of eight hundred years and more."[ ] let it not be concluded that through the night of the universal apostasy, long and dark as it was, god had forgotten the world. mankind had not been left wholly to itself. the spirit of god was operative so far as the unbelief of men permitted. john the apostle, and the three nephite disciples,[ ] were ministering among men, though unknown. but through the centuries of spiritual darkness men lived and died without the administration of a contemporary apostle, prophet, elder, bishop, priest, teacher, or deacon. whatever of the form of godliness existed in the churches of human establishment was destitute of divine power. the time foreseen by the inspired apostle had fully come--mankind in general refused to endure sound doctrine, but, having itching ears, did they heap to themselves teachers, after their own lusts, and verily had they turned away their ears from the truth to follow after fables.[ ] the first quarter of the nineteenth century witnessed the cumulative fulfilment of the conditions predicted through the prophet amos: "behold, the days come, saith the lord god, that i will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the lord: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the lord, and shall not find it."[ ] throughout the period of apostasy the windows of heaven had been shut toward the world, so as to preclude all direct revelation from god, and particularly any personal ministration or theophany of the christ. mankind had ceased to know god; and had invested the utterances of prophets and apostles of old, who had known him, with a pall of mystery and fancy, so that the true and the living god was no longer believed to exist; but in his place the sectaries had tried to conceive of an incomprehensible being, devoid of "body, parts, or passions," an immaterial nothing.[ ] but it had been determined in the councils of heaven, that after many centuries of benighted ignorance the world should be illumined anew by the light of truth. through the operation of the genius of intelligence, which is the spirit of truth, the soul of the race had been undergoing a preparation, like unto the deep plowing of a field, for the planting of the gospel afresh. the principle of the mariner's compass was revealed by the spirit; the material embodiment thereof was invented by man; and by its aid the unknown oceans were explored. toward the end of the fifteenth century columbus was led by the inspiration of god to the discovery of the new world, whereon dwelt the degenerate posterity of lehi, a dark-skinned remnant of the house of israel--the american indians. in due time the good ships _mayflower_ and _speedwell_ brought to the western world the pilgrim fathers, as the vanguard of a host escaping from exile and seeking a new home wherein they could worship according to the dictates of their consciences. the coming of columbus and the later immigration of the puritan pilgrims had been predicted nearly six hundred years before christ; their respective missions had been as truly appointed unto them as has been the sending of any prophet with a message to deliver and a work to do.[ ] the war between the american colonies and the mother country, and the victorious issue thereof in the emancipation of the american nation once and forever from monarchial rule, had been foretold as further steps in preparation for the restoration of the gospel. time was allowed for the establishment of a stable government, for the raising up of men chosen and inspired to frame and promulgate the constitution of the united states, which promises to every man a full measure of political and religious freedom. it was not meet that the precious seed of the restored gospel be thrown upon unplowed soil, hardened by intolerance, and fit to produce only thorns of bigotry and rank weeds of mental and spiritual serfdom. the gospel of jesus christ is the embodiment of liberty; it is the truth that shall make free every man and every nation who will accept and obey its precepts. at the appointed time, the eternal father and his son jesus the christ appeared to man upon the earth, and inaugurated the dispensation of the fulness of times. notes to chapter . . cessation of revelation on the western hemisphere.--"the eastern world had lost this knowledge of the lord earlier than the western hemisphere. upon the land of north america, four hundred years after the birth of our savior and master, there stood at least one man who knew the lord god almighty as a distinct personality, a being capable of communicating himself to man. that man was moroni, the son of mormon, whose testimony abides now and must abide through all the ages to come."--george q. cannon, _life of joseph smith_, p. . see b. of m., moroni : - . . results of the great apostasy divinely overruled for eventual good.--the thoughtful student cannot fail to see in the progress of the great apostasy and its results the existence of an overruling power operating toward eventual good, however mysterious its methods. the heart-rending persecutions to which the saints were subjected in the early centuries of our era, the anguish, the torture, the bloodshed incurred in defense of the testimony of christ, the rise of an apostate church, blighting the intellect and leading captive the souls of men--all these dread conditions were foreknown to the lord. while we cannot say or believe that such exhibitions of human depravity and blasphemy of heart were in accordance with the divine will, certainly god willed to permit full scope to the free agency of man, in the exercize of which agency some won the martyr's crown, and others filled the flagon of their iniquity to overflowing. not less marked is the divine permission in the revolts and rebellions, in the revolutions and reformations, that developed in opposition to the darkening influence of the apostate church. wickliffe and huss, luther and melanchthon, zwingli and calvin, henry viii in his arrogant assumption of priestly authority, john knox in scotland, roger williams in america--these and a host of others builded better than they knew, in that their efforts laid in part the foundation of the structure of religious freedom and liberty of conscience--and this in preparation for the restoration of the gospel as had been divinely predicted.--_the great apostasy_, : , . . declaration of a general apostasy by the church of england.--the _book of homilies_, from which the quotation given in the text is taken, was published about the middle of the sixteenth century. the official proclamation of a universal apostasy was made prominently current, for the homilies were "appointed to be read in churches" in lieu of sermons under certain conditions. in the statement cited, the church of england solemnly avers that a state of apostasy affecting all ages, sects, and degrees throughout whole christendom, had prevailed for eight hundred years prior to the establishment of the church making the declaration. that this affirmation remains effective today, as both confession and profession of the church of england, appears from the fact that the homily "against peril of idolatry" and certain other homilies are specifically ratified and endorsed, and withal prescribed "to be read in churches by the ministers diligently and distinctly that they may be understanded of the people." see "articles of religion" xxxv, in current issues of church of england, _book of common prayer_. . the "creed of athanasius."--at the council of nice, convoked by the emperor constantine, a.d., a formal statement of belief concerning the godhead was adopted. later a modification was issued, known as the "creed of athanasius," and though the authorship is questioned, the creed has a place in the ritual of some of the protestant churches. no more conclusive evidence that men had ceased to know god need be adduced than the athanasian creed. as confessed by the church of england in this day, and as published in the official ritual (see _prayer book_) "the creed of saint athanasius" is this: "we worship one god in trinity, and trinity in unity; neither confounding the persons: nor dividing the substance. for there is one person of the father, another of the son: and another of the holy ghost. but the godhead of the father, of the son, and of the holy ghost, is all one: the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal. such as the father is, such is the son: and such is the holy ghost. the father uncreate, the son uncreate: and the holy ghost uncreate. the father incomprehensible, the son incomprehensible: and the holy ghost incomprehensible. the father eternal, the son eternal: and the holy ghost eternal. and yet they are not three eternals: but one eternal. as also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated: but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible. so likewise the father is almighty, the son almighty: and the holy ghost almighty. and yet they are not three almighties: but one almighty. so the father is god, the son is god: and the holy ghost is god. and yet they are not three gods: but one god. so likewise the father is lord, the son lord, and the holy ghost lord. and yet not three lords: but one lord." then follows this strange confession of what is at once required by "christian verity," and forbidden by the "catholick religion": "for like as we are compelled by the christian verity: to acknowledge every person by himself to be god and lord; so are we forbidden by the catholick religion: to say, there be three gods, or three lords." . the mission of columbus and its results.--unto nephi, son of lehi, was shown the future of his people, including the degeneracy of a branch thereof, afterward known as lamanites and in modern times as american indians. the coming of a man from among the gentiles, across the deep waters, was revealed in such plainness as to positively identify that man with columbus; and the coming of other gentiles to this land, out of captivity, is equally explicit. the revelation is thus recorded by nephi to whom it was given: "and it came to pass that i looked and beheld many waters; and they divided the gentiles from the seed of my brethren. and it came to pass that the angel said unto me, behold the wrath of god is upon the seed of thy brethren. and i looked and beheld a man among the gentiles who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and i beheld the spirit of god, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land. and it came to pass that i beheld the spirit of god, that it wrought upon other gentiles; and they went forth out of captivity, upon the many waters." ( nephi : - ). the establishment of a great gentile nation on the american continent, the subjugation of the lamanites or indians, the war between the newly established nation and great britain, or "their mother gentiles," and the victorious outcome of that struggle for independence, are set forth with equal clearness in the same chapter. footnotes: [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] no extended account of the apostasy of the primitive church can be attempted here; the reader is referred to special works treating this important subject. see the author's "the great apostasy, considered in the light of scriptural and secular history," a work of pages. [ ] see "the great apostasy," chaps. and . [ ] thess. : , . [ ] isa. : . [ ] the false doctrine of "transubstantiation" is to the effect that the bread and wine administered as emblems of christ's flesh and blood in the sacrament of the lord's supper are transmuted by priestly consecration into the actual flesh and blood of jesus christ. see "the great apostasy," : - . as to "supererogation" see page herein. [ ] "the great apostasy," chaps. , , . [ ] "the great apostasy," : , ; for comprehensive treatment of the subject see chapters to inclusive. [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] this paragraph is in part a paraphrase of "the great apostasy," : , . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] pages and . [ ] see tim. : - ; also "the great apostasy," : . [ ] amos. : , . [ ] see church of england "book of common prayer," "articles of religion" i. note , end of chapter. [ ] see b. of m., nephi : - . note , end of chapter. chapter . personal manifestations of god the eternal father and of his son jesus christ in modern times. a new dispensation. in the year of our lord there lived at manchester, ontario county, state of new york, a worthy citizen named joseph smith. his household comprized his wife and their nine children. the third son and fourth child of the family was joseph smith jr., who at the time of which we speak was in his fifteenth year. in the year specified, new york and adjacent states were swept by a wave of intense agitation in religious matters; and unusual zeal was put forth by ministers of the numerous rival sects to win converts to their respective folds. the boy joseph was profoundly affected by this intense excitement, and was particularly puzzled and troubled over the spirit of confusion and contention manifest through it all. as our present subject has to do with him specifically, and in view of the transcendent importance of his testimony to the world, his own account of what ensued is given herewith. "some time in the second year after our removal to manchester, there was in the place where we lived an unusual excitement on the subject of religion. it commenced with the methodists, but soon became general among all the sects in that region of country. indeed, the whole district of country seemed affected by it, and great multitudes united themselves to the different religious parties, which created no small stir and division amongst the people, some crying, 'lo, here!' and others, 'lo, there!' some were contending for the methodist faith, some for the presbyterian, and some for the baptist. "for notwithstanding the great love which the converts to these different faiths expressed at the time of their conversion, and the great zeal manifested by the respective clergy, who were active in getting up and promoting this extraordinary scene of religious feeling, in order to have everybody converted, as they were pleased to call it, let them join what sect they pleased--yet when the converts began to file off, some to one party and some to another, it was seen that the seemingly good feelings of both the priests and the converts were more pretended than real; for a scene of great confusion and bad feeling ensued; priest contending against priest, and convert against convert; so that all their good feelings one for another, if they ever had any, were entirely lost in a strife of words and a contest about opinions. "i was at this time in my fifteenth year. my father's family was proselyted to the presbyterian faith, and four of them joined that church, namely--my mother lucy; my brothers hyrum and samuel harrison; and my sister sophronia. "during this time of great excitement, my mind was called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness; but though my feelings were deep and often poignant, still i kept myself aloof from all these parties, though i attended their several meetings as often as occasion would permit. in process of time my mind became somewhat partial to the methodist sect, and i felt some desire to be united with them; but so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as i was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong. "my mind at times was greatly excited, the cry and tumult were so great and incessant. the presbyterians were most decided against the baptists and methodists, and used all the powers of either reason or sophistry to prove their errors, or, at least, to make the people think they were in error. on the other hand, the baptists and methodists in their turn were equally zealous in endeavoring to establish their own tenets and disprove all others. "in the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, i often said to myself, what is to be done? who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? if any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall i know it? "while i was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, i was one day reading the epistle of james, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: _if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of god, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him._ "never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. it seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. i reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from god, i did; for how to act i did not know, and unless i could get more wisdom than i then had, i would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the bible. "at length i came to the conclusion that i must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else i must do as james directs, that is, ask of god. i at length came to the determination to 'ask of god,' concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, i might venture. "so, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of god, i retired to the woods to make the attempt. it was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. it was the first time in my life that i had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties i had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally. "after i had retired to the place where i had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, i kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to god. i had scarcely done so, when immediately i was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that i could not speak. thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if i were doomed to sudden destruction. "but, exerting all my powers to call upon god to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when i was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction--not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as i had never before felt in any being--just at this moment of great alarm, i saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. "it no sooner appeared than i found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. when the light rested upon me i saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. one of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said, pointing to the other--_this is my beloved son, hear him!_ "my object in going to inquire of the lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that i might know which to join. no sooner, therefore, did i get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than i asked the personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right--and which i should join. "i was answered that i must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that 'they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.' "he again forbade me to join with any of them; and many other things did he say unto me, which i cannot write at this time. when i came to myself again, i found myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven. "some few days after i had this vision, i happened to be in company with one of the methodist preachers, who was very active in the before mentioned religious excitement; and, conversing with him on the subject of religion, i took occasion to give him an account of the vision which i had had. i was greatly surprised at his behavior; he treated my communication not only lightly, but with great contempt, saying, it was all of the devil, that there were no such things as visions or revelations in these days; that all such things had ceased with the apostles, and that there would never be any more of them. "i soon found, however, that my telling the story had excited a great deal of prejudice against me among professors of religion, and was the cause of great persecution, which continued to increase; and though i was an obscure boy, only between fourteen and fifteen years of age, and my circumstances in life such as to make a boy of no consequence in the world, yet men of high standing would take notice sufficient to excite the public mind against me, and create a bitter persecution; and this was common among all the sects--all united to persecute me. "it caused me serious reflection then, and often has since, how very strange it was that an obscure boy, of a little over fourteen years of age, and one, too, who was doomed to the necessity of obtaining a scanty maintenance by his daily labor, should be thought a character of sufficient importance to attract the attention of the great ones of the most popular sects of the day, and in a manner to create in them a spirit of the most bitter persecution and reviling. but strange or not, so it was, and it was often the cause of great sorrow to myself. "however, it was nevertheless a fact that i had beheld a vision. i have thought since, that i felt much like paul, when he made his defense before king agrippa, and related the account of the vision he had when he saw a light, and heard a voice; but still there were but few who believed him; some said he was dishonest, others said he was mad; and he was ridiculed and reviled. but all this did not destroy the reality of his vision. he had seen a vision, he knew he had, and all the persecution under heaven could not make it otherwise; and though they should persecute him unto death, yet he knew, and would know to his latest breath, that he had both seen a light, and heard a voice speaking unto him, and all the world could not make him think or believe otherwise. "so it was with me. i had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light i saw two personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though i was hated and persecuted for saying that i had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, i was led to say in my heart: why persecute me for telling the truth? i have actually seen a vision, and who am i that i can withstand god, or why does the world think to make me deny what i have actually seen? for i had seen a vision; i knew it, and i knew that god knew it, and i could not deny it, neither dared i do it, at least i knew that by so doing i would offend god, and come under condemnation. "i had now got my mind satisfied so far as the sectarian world was concerned; that it was not my duty to join with any of them, but to continue as i was until further directed. i had found the testimony of james to be true, that a man who lacked wisdom might ask of god, and obtain, and not be upbraided."[ ] in this wise was ushered in the dispensation of the fulness of times.[ ] the darkness of the long night of apostasy was dispelled; the glory of the heavens once more illumined the world; the silence of centuries was broken; the voice of god was heard again upon the earth. in the spring of a.d. there was one mortal, a boy not quite fifteen years old, who knew as well as that he lived, that the current human conception of deity as an incorporeal essence of something possessing neither definite shape nor tangible substance was as devoid of truth in respect to both the father and the son as its statement in formulated creeds was incomprehensible. the boy joseph knew that both the eternal father and his glorified son, jesus christ, were in form and stature, perfect men; and that in their physical likeness mankind had been created in the flesh.[ ] he knew further that the father and the son were individual personages, each distinct from the other--a truth fully attested by the lord jesus during his mortal existence, but which had been obscured if not buried by the sophistries of human unbelief. he realized that the unity of the godhead was a oneness of perfection in purpose, plan, and action, as the scriptures declare it to be, and not an impossible union of personalities, as generations of false teachers had tried to impress. this resplendent theophany confirmed the fact of a universal apostasy, with the inevitable corollary--that the church of christ was nowhere existent upon the earth. it effectively dissipated the delusion that direct revelation from the heavens had forever ceased; and affirmatively proved the actuality of personal communication between god and mortals. for the fourth time since the savior's birth in the flesh, the voice of the father had attested the son's authority in matters pertaining to earth and man.[ ] in this latter-day revelation of himself, as on the earlier occasions, the father did no more than affirm the fact of the son's identity, and command that he be obeyed. "a messenger sent from the presence of god."[ ] for about three and a half years following the glorious appearing of the father and the son to joseph smith, the youthful revelator was left to himself, so far as further manifestations from heaven were concerned. the period was one of probation. he was subjected to the sneers of youths of his age, and to aggressive persecution on the part of older men, "who," as he very justly and somewhat accusingly remarks, "ought to have been my friends and to have treated me kindly, and if they supposed me to be deluded to have endeavored in a proper and affectionate manner to have reclaimed me."[ ] he pursued his usual vocation, that of farm work in association with his father and brothers, from whom he received kindness, consideration, and sympathy; and in spite of raillery, abuse, and denunciation from the community at large he remained firm and faithful in his solemn avouchment that he had seen and heard both the eternal father and jesus the christ, and that he had been instructed to join none of the contending sects or churches because they were all fundamentally wrong. on the night of the st of september , while engaged in fervent prayer to god in the solitude of his chamber, joseph observed the room become illuminated until the light exceeded that of a cloudless noon. a glorious personage appeared within the room, standing a little space above the floor. both the body of the visitant and the loose robe he wore were of exquisite whiteness. calling joseph by name he announced himself as moroni, "a messenger sent from the presence of god"; and informed the young man that the lord had a work for him to do, and that his name should come to be spoken of both for good and for evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues. the angel told of a record engraven on plates of gold, which contained an account of the former inhabitants of the american continent, and the fulness of the everlasting gospel as delivered by the savior to those ancient people; and furthermore, that with the record were a breastplate, and the urim and thummim, which had been prepared by divine instrumentality for use in translating the book. the place at which the plates and the other sacred things were deposited was shown to joseph in vision, and so clear was the demonstration that he readily recognized the spot when he visited it next day. the angel quoted several passages from the old and one from the new testament, some verbatim, and some with small variations from the biblical version. joseph's statement concerning the scriptures cited by moroni is as follows: "he first quoted part of the third chapter of malachi, and he quoted also the fourth or last chapter of the same prophecy, though with a little variation from the way it reads in our bibles. instead of quoting the first verse as it reads in our books, he quoted it thus: "_for behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall burn as stubble; for they that come shall burn them, saith the lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch._ "and again, he quoted the fifth verse thus: _behold, i will reveal unto you the priesthood, by the hand of elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the lord._ "he also quoted the next verse differently: _and he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers; if it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming._ "in addition to these, he quoted the eleventh chapter of isaiah, saying that it was about to be fulfilled. he quoted also the third chapter of acts, twenty-second and twenty-third verses, precisely as they stand in our new testament. he said that that prophet was christ; but the day had not yet come when they who would not hear his voice should be cut off from among the people, but soon would come. "he also quoted the second chapter of joel, from the twenty-eighth verse to the last. he also said that this was not yet fulfilled but was soon to be. and he further stated that the fulness of the gentiles was soon to come in."[ ] the messenger departed, and the light disappeared with him. twice during the same night, however, the angel returned, each time repeating what had been said at his first appearing and adding words of instruction and caution. on the next day moroni appeared to the young man again, and directed him to inform his father of the visitations and commandments he had received. joseph's father instructed him to obey the messenger's instructions and testified that they were given of god. joseph then went to the locality specified by the angel, on the side of a hill called in the record cumorah, and immediately identified the spot that had been shown him in vision. by the aid of a lever he removed a large stone, which proved to be the cover of a stone box wherein lay the plates and other articles described by moroni. the angel appeared at the place, and forbade joseph to remove the contents of the box at that time. the young man replaced the massive stone lid and left the spot. four years later, the plates, the urim and thummim, and the breastplate were delivered into joseph's keeping by the angel moroni. this moroni, who now came as a resurrected being, was the last survivor of the nephite nation; he had completed the record, and then shortly before his death had hidden away the same in the hill cumorah, whence it was brought forth through his instrumentality and delivered to the modern prophet and seer, joseph smith, september , . that record, or, strictly speaking a part thereof, is now accessible to all; it has been translated through divine instrumentality and is now published in many languages as the book of mormon.[ ] the aaronic priesthood conferred by john the baptist. on the th of may, , joseph smith and his scribe in the work of translating the nephite record, oliver cowdery, retired to a secluded glade to pray. their special purpose was to inquire of the lord concerning the ordinance of baptism for the remission of sins, some account of which they had found on the plates. joseph writes: "while we were thus employed, praying and calling upon the lord, a messenger from heaven descended in a cloud of light, and having laid his hands upon us, he ordained us, saying: "_upon you my fellow servants, in the name of messiah, i confer the priesthood of aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of levi do offer again an offering unto the lord in righteousness."_[ ] the angelic visitor stated that his name was john, the same who is designated in the new testament, john the baptist; and that he had acted in ordaining the two under the direction of peter, james, and john, who held the keys of the higher or melchizedek priesthood. he explained that the aaronic priesthood did not comprize "the power of laying on hands for the gift of the holy ghost";[ ] but he predicted that the higher priesthood, having this power, would be conferred later. by his express direction, joseph baptized oliver, and the latter in turn baptized joseph, by immersion in water. the melchizedek priesthood conferred by peter, james, and john. shortly after their ordination to the lesser or aaronic priesthood, joseph smith and oliver cowdery were visited by the presiding apostles of old, peter, james, and john, who conferred upon them the melchizedek priesthood and ordained them to the holy apostleship. in a later revelation the lord jesus thus specifically acknowledges the respective ordinations as having been done by his will and commandment: "which john i have sent unto you, my servants, joseph smith, jun., and oliver cowdery, to ordain you unto this first priesthood which you have received, that you might be called and ordained even as aaron.... and also with peter, and james, and john, whom i have sent unto you, by whom i have ordained you and confirmed you to be apostles, and especial witnesses of my name, and bear the keys of your ministry, and of the same things which i revealed unto them: unto whom i have committed the keys of my kingdom, and a dispensation of the gospel for the last times; and for the fulness of times, in the which i will gather together in one all things, both which are in heaven, and which are on the earth."[ ] establishment of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. on the sixth day of april a.d. , the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints was formally organized, at fayette, seneca county, new york, in accordance with the secular law governing the establishment of religious associations. the persons actually participating in the organization numbered but six, such being the minimum required by law in such an undertaking; many others were present however, some of whom had already received the ordinance of baptism for the remission of sins. by revelation to joseph smith, the lord had previously specified the day on which the organization was to be effected, and had made known his plan of church government--with detailed instructions as to the requisite conditions for membership; the indispensability of baptism by immersion, and the precise manner in which the initiatory ordinance was to be administered; the manner of confirming baptized believers as members of the church; the duties of elders, priests, teachers, and deacons in the church; the exact procedure to be followed in the administration of the sacrament of the lord's supper; the order of church discipline, and the method of transferring members from one branch to another.[ ] the baptized converts present at the organization were called upon to express their acceptance or rejection of joseph smith and oliver cowdery as elders in the church; and in accordance with the unanimous vote in the affirmative the ordination or setting apart of these two men as respectively first and second elder in the new organization was performed.[ ] while the book of mormon had been in course of translation, particularly during the two years immediately preceding the organization of the church, several revelations had been given through joseph the prophet and seer, relating to the work of translation and to the preparatory labor necessary to the establishment of the church as an institution among men. the author of these several revelations declared himself definitely to be jesus christ, god, the son of god, the redeemer, the light and life of the world, alpha and omega, christ the lord, the lord and savior.[ ] as early as a.d. , the calling of the twelve apostles was indicated, and appointment was made for the searching out of the twelve who should stand before the world as special witnesses of the christ; these were subsequently ordained to the holy apostleship, and the council or quorum of the twelve has been recognized, and instructions concerning their exalted duties have been given, in numerous revelations of later dates.[ ] in such manner has the church of jesus christ been reestablished upon the earth, with all the powers and authority pertaining to the holy priesthood as committed by the lord jesus to his apostles in the period of his personal ministry. the inauguration of a new dispensation of the gospel, with a restoration of the priesthood, was absolutely necessary; since through the apostasy of the primitive church there lived not a man empowered to speak or administer in the name of god or his christ. john the revelator saw in his vision of the last days an angel bringing anew "the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, fear god, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."[ ] such an angelic embassage would have been but a needless and empty display, and therefore an impossibility, had the everlasting gospel remained upon the earth with its powers of priesthood perpetuated by succession. the scriptural assurances of a restoration in the last days through direct bestowal from the heavens is conclusive proof of the actuality of the universal apostasy. moroni came to joseph smith as "a messenger sent from the presence of god," and delivered a record containing "the fulness of the everlasting gospel," as it had been imparted to the lord's people in ancient times; and the world-wide distribution of the book of mormon, and of other publications embodying the revealed word in modern times, and the ministry of thousands who labor in the authority of the holy priesthood combine as the loud voice addressed to every nation, crying: "fear god, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come." further communications from the heavens to man. following the organization of the church as heretofore described, direct communication between the lord jesus christ and his prophet joseph was frequent, as the needs of the church required. numerous revelations were given, and these are accessible to all who will read.[ ] a marvelous manifestation was granted to the prophet and his associate in the presidency of the church, sidney rigdon, the record of which appears as follows: "we, joseph smith, jun., and sidney rigdon, being in the spirit on the sixteenth of february, in the year of our lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, by the power of the spirit our eyes were opened and our understandings were enlightened, so as to see and understand the things of god--even those things which were from the beginning before the world was, which were ordained of the father, through his only begotten son, who was in the bosom of the father, even from the beginning, of whom we bear record, and the record which we bear is the fulness of the gospel of jesus christ, who is the son, whom we saw and with whom we conversed in the heavenly vision; for while we were doing the work of translation, which the lord had appointed unto us, we came to the twenty-ninth verse of the fifth chapter of john, which was given unto us as follows. speaking of the resurrection of the dead, concerning those who shall hear the voice of the son of man, and shall come forth; they who have done good in the resurrection of the just, and they who have done evil in the resurrection of the unjust. now this caused us to marvel, for it was given unto us of the spirit; and while we meditated upon these things, the lord touched the eyes of our understandings and they were opened, and the glory of the lord shone round about; and we beheld the glory of the son, on the right hand of the father, and received of his fulness; and saw the holy angels, and they who are sanctified before his throne, worshiping god, and the lamb, who worship him for ever and ever. and now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony last of all, which we give of him, that he lives; for we saw him, even on the right hand of god, and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the only begotten of the father--that by him and through him, and of him the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto god."[ ] the vision was followed by further revelation both through sight and hearing; and the lord showed unto his servants and proclaimed aloud the fate of the wicked and the characteristic features of the varied degrees of glory provided for the souls of mankind in the hereafter. the several states of graded honor and exaltation pertaining to the telestial, the terrestrial, and the celestial kingdoms were revealed, and the ancient scriptures relating thereto were illumined with the new light of simplicity and literalness.[ ] personal appearing of the lord jesus christ in the kirtland temple. in less than three and a half years after its organization the church began the erection of the first temple of modern times at kirtland, ohio. the work was undertaken in compliance with a revelation from the lord requiring this labor at the hands of his people. the church membership was small; the people were in poverty; the period was one of determined opposition and relentless persecution.[ ] be it understood that to the latter-day saints a temple is more than chapel, church, tabernacle, or cathedral; it is no place of common assembly even for purposes of congregational worship, but an edifice sacred to the ordinances of the holy priesthood--distinctively and essentially a house of the lord. the temple at kirtland stands today, a substantial and stately building; but it is no longer in possession of the people who reared it by unmeasured sacrifice of time, substance, and effort extending through years of self-denial and suffering. its corner-stones were laid july , , and the completed structure was dedicated march , . the dedicatory service was made ever memorable by a pentecostal outpouring of the spirit of the lord accompanied by the visible presence of angels. in the evening of the same day the several quorums of priesthood assembled in the house, and a yet greater manifestation of divine power and glory was witnessed. on the succeeding sunday--april , --after a service of solemn worship, including the administration of the lord's supper, the prophet joseph and his counselor, oliver cowdery, retired for prayer within the veils enclosing the platform and pulpit reserved for the presiding authorities of the melchizedek priesthood. they bear this solemn testimony to the personal appearing of the lord jesus christ at that time and place: "the veil was taken from our minds, and the eyes of our understanding were opened. we saw the lord standing upon the breast work of the pulpit, before us, and under his feet was a paved work of pure gold in color like amber. his eyes were as a flame of fire, the hair of his head was white like the pure snow, his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun, and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of jehovah, saying--i am the first and the last, i am he who liveth, i am he who was slain, i am your advocate with the father. behold, your sins are forgiven you, you are clean before me, therefore lift up your heads and rejoice, let the hearts of your brethren rejoice, and let the hearts of all my people rejoice, who have, with their might, built this house to my name. for behold, i have accepted this house, and my name shall be here, and i will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house, yea, i will appear unto my servants, and speak unto them with mine own voice, if my people will keep my commandments, and do not pollute this holy house, yea the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in consequence of the blessings which shall be poured out, and the endowment with which my servants have been endowed in this house; and the fame of this house shall spread to foreign lands, and this is the beginning of the blessing which shall be poured out upon the heads of my people. even so. amen."[ ] after the savior's withdrawal, the two mortal prophets were visited by glorified beings, each of whom had officiated on earth as a specially commissioned servant of jehovah, and now came to confer the authority of his particular office upon joseph and oliver, thus uniting all the powers and authorities of olden dispensations in the restored church of christ, which characterizes the last and greatest dispensation of history. this is the record: "after this vision closed, the heavens were again opened unto us, and moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north. after this, elias appeared, and committed the dispensation of the gospel of abraham, saying, that in us, and our seed, all generations after us should be blessed. after this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us, for elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us, and said--behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of malachi, testifying that he (elijah) should be sent before the great and dreadful day of the lord come, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse. therefore the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands, and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the lord is near, even at the doors."[ ] jesus the christ is with his church today. right gloriously has the lord brought about a fulfilment of the promises uttered through the mouths of his holy prophets in by-gone ages--to restore the gospel with all its former blessings and privileges; to bestow anew the holy priesthood with authority to administer in the name of god; to reestablish the church bearing his name and founded upon the rock of divine revelation; and to proclaim the message of salvation to all nations, kindreds, tongues, and peoples. in spite of persecution both mobocratic and judicially sanctioned, in spite of assaults, drivings, and slaughter, the church has developed with marvelous rapidity and strength since the day of its organization. joseph, the prophet, and his brother hyrum, the patriarch of the church, were brutally slain as martyrs to the truth at carthage, illinois, june , . but the lord raised up others to succeed them; and the world learned in part and yet shall know beyond all question that the church so miraculously established in the last days is not the church of joseph smith nor of any other man, but in literal verity, the church of jesus christ. the lord has continued to make known his mind and will through prophets, seers, and revelators whom he has successively chosen and appointed to lead his people; and the voice of divine revelation is heard in the church today. as provided for in its revealed plan and constitution, the church is blessed by the ministry of prophets, apostles, high priests, patriarchs, seventies, elders, bishops, priests, teachers, and deacons.[ ] the spiritual gifts and blessings of old are again enjoyed in rich abundance.[ ] new scriptures, primarily directed to present duties and current developments in the purposes of god, yet which illuminate and make plain in simplicity the scriptures of old, have been given to the world through the channel of the restored priesthood; and other scriptures shall yet be written. the united membership of the church proclaims: "we believe all that god has revealed, all that he does now reveal, and we believe that he will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of god."[ ] the predicted gathering of israel from their long dispersion is in progress under the commission given by the lord through moses. the "mountain of the lord's house" is already established in the top of the mountains, and all peoples flow unto it; while the elders of the church go forth among the nations, saying: "come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the lord, to the house of the god of jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the lord from jerusalem."[ ] within sacred temples, the living are officiating vicariously in behalf of the dead; and the hearts of mortal children are turned with affectionate concern toward their departed ancestors, while disembodied hosts are praying for the success of their posterity, yet in the flesh, in the service of salvation.[ ] the saving gospel is offered freely to all, for so hath its author commanded. through the medium of the press, and by the personal ministrations of men invested with the holy priesthood whom the church sends out by thousands, this gospel of the kingdom is today preached throughout the world. when such witness among the nations is made complete, "then shall the end come"; and the nations "shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory."[ ] notes to chapter . . the dispensation of the fulness of times.--"now the thing to be known is, what the fulness of times means, or the extent and authority thereof. it means this, that the dispensation of the fulness of times is made up of all the dispensations that ever have been given since the world began, until this time. unto adam first was given a dispensation. it is well known that god spake to him with his own voice in the garden, and gave him the promise of the messiah. and unto noah also was a dispensation given; for jesus said, 'as it was in the days of noah, so shall it be also in the days of the coming of the son of man;' and as the righteous were saved then, and the wicked destroyed, so it will be now. and from noah to abraham, and from abraham to moses, and from moses to elias, and from elias to john the baptist, and from then to jesus christ, and from jesus christ to peter, james, and john, the apostles all having received in their dispensation by revelation from god, to accomplish the great scheme of restitution, spoken by all the holy prophets since the world began; the end of which is, the dispensation of the fulness of times, in which all things shall be fulfilled that have been spoken of since the earth was made."--see _millennial star_, vol. , p. . . limitations of the aaronic priesthood.--after conferring the lesser or aaronic priesthood upon joseph smith and oliver cowdery, the officiating angel, who had been known while a mortal being as john the baptist, explained that the authority he had imparted did not extend to the laying-on of hands for the bestowal of the holy ghost, the latter ordinance being a function of the higher or melchizedek priesthood. consider the instance of philip, (not the apostle philip), whose ordination empowered him to baptize, though a higher authority than his was requisite for the conferring of the holy ghost; and consequently the apostles peter and john went down to samaria to officiate in the case of philip's baptized converts (acts : , - ). see doc. and cov. : , . . priesthood and office therein.--it is important to know that although joseph smith and oliver cowdery had been ordained to the holy apostleship, and therefore to a fulness of the melchizedek priesthood, by peter, james, and john, it was necessary that they be ordained as elders in the church. when they received the melchizedek priesthood from the three ancient apostles, there was no organized church of jesus christ, and consequently no need of church officers, such as elders, priests, teachers, or deacons. as soon as the church was established, officers were chosen therein and these were ordained to the requisite office or grade in the priesthood. moreover, the principle of common consent in the conduct of church affairs was observed in this early action of the members in voting to sustain the men nominated for official positions, and has continued to be the rule of the church to this day. it is pertinent to point out further that in conferring upon joseph and oliver the aaronic priesthood, john the baptist did not ordain them to the office of priest, teacher, or deacon. these three offices are included in the aaronic, as are the offices of elder, seventy, high priest, etc., in the melchizedek priesthood. read doc. and cov. : - ; _the articles of faith_, xi. . modern temples.--the lord's gracious promise given in the kirtland temple--to appear unto his servants at times then future, and to speak unto them with his own voice, provided the people would keep his commandments and not pollute that holy house--has been in no wise abrogated nor forfeited through the enforced relinquishment of the kirtland temple by the latter-day saints. the people were compelled to flee before the fury of mobocratic persecution; but they hastened to erect another and yet more splendid sanctuary at nauvoo, illinois, and were again dispossessed by lawless mobs. in the valleys of utah the church has erected four great temples, each more stately than the last; and in these holy houses the sacred ordinances pertaining to salvation and exaltation of both the living and the dead are in uninterrupted progress. the temples of the present dispensation, at the time of the present writing designated according to location, are those of kirtland, ohio; nauvoo, illinois; st. george, logan, manti, and salt lake city, utah; cardston, canada, and laie, hawaii. see _the house of the lord_, pp. - . . consistency of the church's claim to authority.--the proofs of order and system in the restoration of authority to officiate in particular functions pertaining to the priesthood are striking, and go to prove the continued validity, beyond the grave, of authoritative ordination on earth. the keys of the aaronic order, comprizing authority to baptize for the remission of sins, were brought by john the baptist, who had been especially commissioned in that order of priesthood in the time of christ. the apostleship, comprizing all powers inherent in the melchizedek priesthood, was restored by the presiding apostles of old, peter, james, and john. then, as has been seen, moses conferred the authority to prosecute the work of gathering; and elijah, who, not having tasted death, held a peculiar relation to both the living and the dead, delivered the authority of vicarious ministry for the departed. to these appointments by heavenly authority should be added that given by elias, who appeared to joseph smith and oliver cowdery, and "committed the dispensation of the gospel of abraham." it is evident, then, that the claims made by the church with respect to its authority are complete and consistent as to the source of the powers professed and the channels through which such have been delivered again to earth. scripture and revelation, both ancient and modern, support as an unalterable law the principle that no one can delegate to another an authority which the giver does not possess. . cessation of the melchizedek administration in ancient times.--the higher or melchizedek priesthood was held by the patriarchs from adam to moses. aaron was ordained to the priest's office, as were his sons; but that moses held superior authority is abundantly shown (numb. : - ). after aaron's death his son eleazar officiated in the authority of the lesser priesthood; and even joshua had to take counsel and authority from him (numb. : - ). from the ministry of moses to that of jesus christ, the lesser priesthood alone was operative upon the earth, excepting only the instances of specially delegated authority of the higher order such as is manifest in the ministrations of certain chosen prophets, isaiah, jeremiah, ezekiel, and others. it is evident that these prophets, seers, and revelators were individually and specially commissioned; but it appears that they had not authority to call and ordain successors, for in their time the higher priesthood was not existent on earth in an organized state with duly officered quorums. not so with the aaronic and levitical priesthood, however. the matter is made particularly plain through latter-day revelation. see doc. and cov. : - ; read the entire section; also _the house of the lord_ pp. - . footnotes: [ ] p. of g.p., joseph smith : - ; also "history of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints," vol. , pp. - . [ ] eph. : , . note , end of chapter. [ ] see page herein; note , end of chapter. [ ] for earlier instances, see pages , , and . [ ] p. of g.p., joseph smith : - , ; also "history of the church," vol. , pp. - , . [ ] p. of g.p., joseph smith : . [ ] p. of g.p., joseph smith : - ; and "history of the church," vol. . pp. , . [ ] see b. of m., mormon : ; moroni : . [ ] p. of g.p., joseph smith : , ; doc. and cov. sec. ; "history of the church," vol. , p. . [ ] notes and . end of chapter. [ ] doc. and cov. : , , . [ ] doc. and cov. sec. . [ ] doc. and cov. : , ; compare : ; see also "history of the church." vol. , pp. , . note , end of chapter. [ ] doc. and cov. sections , , , - , - . [ ] doc. and cov. : , - ; : - ; : , ; : ; : - ; : , , ; ; : - . [ ] rev. : , . [ ] see doctrine and covenants, and "history of the church." [ ] doc. and cov. : - ; also "history of the church" under date specified. [ ] see doc. and cov. : - ; also "the articles of faith," iv: ; and xxii: - . [ ] see "the house of the lord," pages - . [ ] doc. and cov. : - ; also "history of the church" under date specified. note , end of chapter. [ ] doc. and cov. : - . note , end of chapter. [ ] see "plan of government in the restored church," in "the articles of faith," xi: - . [ ] see "spiritual gifts" in "the articles of faith," xii. [ ] no. of "the articles of faith of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints." [ ] isa. : , ; compare micah : , ; see also doc. and cov. : . [ ] see "the house of the lord," pp. - . [ ] p. of g.p., joseph smith : , ; compare matt : , . chapter . jesus the christ to return. the lord's second advent predicted in ancient scripture. "ye men of galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."[ ] so spake the white-robed angels to the eleven apostles as the resurrected christ ascended from their midst on olivet. the scriptures abound in predictions of the lord's return. by the "second advent" we understand not the personal appearing of the son of god to a few, such as his visitation to saul of tarsus, to joseph smith in , and again in the kirtland temple in ; nor later manifestations to his worthy servants as specifically promised;[ ] but his yet future coming in power and great glory, accompanied by hosts of resurrected and glorified beings, to execute judgment upon the earth and to inaugurate a reign of righteousness. the prophets of both hemispheres, who lived prior to the meridian of time, said comparatively little concerning the lord's second coming; their souls were too full of the merciful plan of redemption associated with the savior's birth into mortality to permit them to dwell upon the yet more distant consummation appointed for the last days. certain of them, however, were permitted to behold in vision the working out of the divine purposes even to the end of time; and these testified with unsurpassed fervency concerning the glorious coming of christ in the final dispensation. enoch, the seventh from adam, prophesied saying, "behold the lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all."[ ] in a more extended account of the lord's revelations to enoch than is included in the bible, we read that after this righteous prophet had been shown the scenes of israel's history, down to and beyond the death, resurrection and ascension of jesus christ, he pleaded with god, saying: "i ask thee if thou wilt not come again on the earth. and the lord said unto enoch: as i live, even so will i come in the last days, in the days of wickedness and vengeance, to fulfil the oath which i have made unto you concerning the children of noah.... and it came to pass that enoch saw the day of the coming of the son of man, in the last days, to dwell on the earth in righteousness for the space of a thousand years."[ ] isaiah, in rapturous contemplation of the eventual triumph of righteousness, exclaimed: "say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not: behold, your god will come with vengeance, even god with a recompence; he will come and save you"; and again: "behold, the lord god will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him."[ ] the conditions specified were not realized in the earthly life of the redeemer; moreover the context clearly shows that the prophet's words are applicable to the last days only--the time of the ransomed of the lord, the time of restitution, and of the triumph of zion. of all biblical scriptures relating to our subject, the utterances of the christ himself in the course of his earthly ministry are most direct and certain. many of these we have already considered in the narrative of the savior's life; the few following are sufficient for present demonstration. "for the son of man shall come in the glory of his father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works."[ ] to the apostles and the people generally he proclaimed: "whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his father with the holy angels."[ ] when a bound prisoner before proud caiaphas, jesus answered the unlawful adjuration of the corrupt high priest, by affirming: "i say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven."[ ] the apostles had been so impressed with the master's assurance that he would return to earth in power and glory, that they eagerly questioned as to the time and signs of his coming.[ ] he stated explicitly, though at the time they failed to comprehend him, that many great events would intervene between his departure and return, including the long era of darkness associated with the apostasy.[ ] but as to the certainty of his advent in glory, as judge, and lord, and king, jesus left no excuse for dubiety in the minds of his apostles. after the ascension, throughout the course of apostolic administration, the future coming of the lord was preached with earnest emphasis.[ ] book of mormon prophecies concerning the advent of the lord in the last days are specific and definite. on the occasion of his appearing to the nephites on the american continent shortly after his ascension from the mount of olives, christ preached the gospel to assembled multitudes; "and he did expound all things, even from the beginning until the time that he should come in his glory"; and the events to follow, "even unto the great and last day."[ ] in granting the wish of the three nephite disciples who desired to continue their ministry in the flesh throughout the generations to come, the lord said unto them: "ye shall live to behold all the doings of the father, unto the children of men, even until all things shall be fulfilled, according to the will of the father, when i shall come in my glory, with the powers of heaven; and ye shall never endure the pains of death; but when i shall come in my glory, ye shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye from mortality to immortality: and then shall ye be blessed in the kingdom of my father."[ ] the coming of the lord proclaimed through modern revelation. to the church of jesus christ, restored and reestablished in these the last days, the word of the lord has come repeatedly, declaring the actuality of his second advent and the nearness of that glorious yet dreadful event. but a few months after the church was organized, the voice of jesus christ was heard, admonishing the elders to vigilance and proclaiming as follows: "for the hour is nigh, and the day soon at hand when the earth is ripe: and all the proud, and they that do wickedly, shall be as stubble, and i will burn them up, saith the lord of hosts, that wickedness shall not be upon the earth; for the hour is nigh, and that which was spoken by mine apostles must be fulfilled; for as they spoke so shall it come to pass; for i will reveal myself from heaven with power and great glory, with all the hosts thereof, and dwell in righteousness with men on earth a thousand years, and the wicked shall not stand."[ ] in the month following, the lord gave instructions to certain elders, concluding with these portentous words: "wherefore, be faithful, praying always, having your lamps trimmed and burning, and oil with you, that you may be ready at the coming of the bridegroom: for behold, verily, verily, i say unto you, that i come quickly. even so. amen."[ ] again we read in a later revelation: "and blessed are you because you have believed; and more blessed are you because you are called of me to preach my gospel, to lift up your voice as with the sound of a trump, both long and loud, and cry repentance unto a crooked and perverse generation, preparing the way of the lord for his second coming; for behold, verily, verily, i say unto you, the time is soon at hand, that i shall come in a cloud with power and great glory, and it shall be a great day at the time of my coming, for all nations shall tremble."[ ] the lord jesus addressed a general revelation to his church in march , through which his earlier predictions uttered to the twelve shortly before his betrayal were made plain, and the assurances of his glorious coming were thus reiterated: "ye look and behold the fig-trees, and ye see them with your eyes, and ye say when they begin to shoot forth, and their leaves are yet tender, that summer is now nigh at hand; even so it shall be in that day when they shall see all these things, then shall they know that the hour is nigh. and it shall come to pass that he that feareth me shall be looking forth for the great day of the lord to come, even for the signs of the coming of the son of man: and they shall see signs and wonders, for they shall be shown forth in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath; and they shall behold blood, and fire, and vapors of smoke; and before the day of the lord shall come, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon be turned into blood, and stars fall from heaven; and the remnant shall be gathered unto this place, and then they shall look for me, and, behold, i will come; and they shall see me in the clouds of heaven, clothed with power and great glory, with all the holy angels; and he that watches not for me shall be cut off."[ ] so near is the consummation that the intervening period is called "today"; and, in applying this time designation in the year , the lord said: "behold, now it is called today (until the coming of the son of man), and verily it is a day of sacrifice, and a day for the tithing of my people; for he that is tithed shall not be burned (at his coming); for after today cometh the burning: this is speaking after the manner of the lord; for verily i say, tomorrow all the proud and they that do wickedly shall be as stubble; and i will burn them up, for i am the lord of hosts: and i will not spare any that remain in babylon. wherefore, if ye believe me, ye will labor while it is called today."[ ] the time and accompaniments of the lord's coming. the date of the future advent of christ has never been revealed to man. to the inquiring apostles who labored with the master, he said: "but of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my father only."[ ] in the present age, a similar declaration has been made by the father: "i, the lord god, have spoken it, but the hour and the day no man knoweth, neither the angels in heaven, nor shall they know until he comes."[ ] only through watchfulness and prayer may the signs of the times be correctly interpreted and the imminence of the lord's appearing be apprehended. to the unwatchful and the wicked the event will be as sudden and unexpected as the coming of a thief in the night.[ ] but we are not left without definite information as to precedent signs. biblical prophecies bearing upon this subject we have heretofore considered.[ ] as later scriptures affirm: "before the great day of the lord shall come, jacob shall flourish in the wilderness, and the lamanites shall blossom as the rose. zion shall flourish upon the hills and rejoice upon the mountains, and shall be assembled together unto the place which i have appointed."[ ] war shall become so general that every man who will not take arms against his neighbor must of necessity flee to the land of zion for safety.[ ] ephraim shall assemble in zion on the western continent, and judah shall be again established in the east; and the cities of zion and jerusalem shall be the capitals of the world empire, over which messiah shall reign in undisputed authority. the lost tribes shall be brought forth from the place where god has hidden them through the centuries and receive their long deferred blessings at the hands of ephraim. the people of israel shall be restored from their scattered condition.[ ] in addressing the elders of his church in , the lord urged upon them the imperative need of devoted diligence, and said: "abide ye in the liberty wherewith ye are made free; entangle not yourselves in sin but let your hands be clean, until the lord come; for not many days hence and the earth shall tremble and reel to and fro as a drunken man, and the sun shall hide his face, and shall refuse to give light, and the moon shall be bathed in blood, and the stars shall become exceeding angry, and shall cast themselves down as a fig that falleth from off a fig tree. and after your testimony cometh wrath and indignation upon the people; for after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground, and shall not be able to stand. and also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea, heaving themselves beyond their bounds. and all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men's hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people; and angels shall fly through the midst of heaven, crying with a loud voice, sounding the trump of god, saying, prepare ye, prepare ye, o inhabitants of the earth; for the judgment of our god is come: behold, and lo! the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him."[ ] a characteristic of present-day revelation is the reiteration of the fact that the event is nigh at hand, "even at the doors." the fateful time is repeatedly designated in scripture, "the great and dreadful day of the lord."[ ] fearful indeed will it be to individuals, families, and nations, who have so far sunk into sin as to have forfeited their claim to mercy. the time is not that of the final judgment--when the whole race of mankind shall stand in the resurrected state before the bar of god--nevertheless it shall be a time of unprecedented blessing unto the righteous and of condemnation and vengeance upon the wicked.[ ] with christ shall come those who have already been resurrected; and his approach shall be the means of inaugurating a general resurrection of the righteous dead, while the pure and just who are still in the flesh shall be instantaneously changed from the mortal to the immortal state and shall be caught up with the newly resurrected to meet the lord and his celestial company, and shall descend with him. to this effect did paul prophesy: "even so them also which sleep in jesus will god bring with him.... for the lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of god: and the dead in christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the lord in the air."[ ] compare the promise made to the three nephites: "and ye shall never endure the pains of death; but when i shall come in my glory, ye shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye from mortality to immortality."[ ] of the superlative glories awaiting the righteous when the lord shall come, we have received in this day a partial description as follows: "and the face of the lord shall be unveiled; and the saints that are upon the earth, who are alive, shall be quickened, and be caught up to meet him."[ ] the heathen nations shall be redeemed and have part in the first resurrection.[ ] the kingdom of heaven to come. the coming of christ in the last days, accompanied by the apostles of old[ ] and by the resurrected saints, is to mark the establishment of the kingdom of heaven upon earth. the faithful apostles who were with jesus in his earthly ministry are to be enthroned as judges of the whole house of israel;[ ] they will judge the nephite twelve, who in turn will be empowered to judge the descendants of lehi, or that branch of the israelitish nation which was established upon the western continent.[ ] while the expressions "kingdom of god" and "kingdom of heaven" are used in the bible synonymously or interchangeably, later revelation gives to each a distinctive meaning. the kingdom of god is the church established by divine authority upon the earth; this institution asserts no claim to temporal rule over nations; its sceptre of power is that of the holy priesthood, to be used in the preaching of the gospel and in administering its ordinances for the salvation of mankind living and dead. the kingdom of heaven is the divinely ordained system of government and dominion in all matters, temporal and spiritual; this will be established on earth only when its rightful head, the king of kings, jesus the christ, comes to reign. his administration will be one of order, operated through the agency of his commissioned representatives invested with the holy priesthood. when christ appears in his glory, and not before, will be realized a complete fulfilment of the supplication: "thy kingdom come. thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." the kingdom of god has been established among men to prepare them for the kingdom of heaven which shall come; and in the blessed reign of christ the king shall the two be made one. the relationship between them has been revealed to the church in this wise: "hearken, and lo, a voice as of one from on high, who is mighty and powerful, whose going forth is unto the ends of the earth, yea, whose voice is unto men--prepare ye the way of the lord, make his paths straight. the keys of the kingdom of god are committed unto man on the earth, and from thence shall the gospel roll forth unto the ends of the earth, as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands shall roll forth, until it has filled the whole earth; yea, a voice crying--prepare ye the way of the lord, prepare ye the supper of the lamb, make ready for the bridegroom; pray unto the lord, call upon his holy name, make known his wonderful works among the people; call upon the lord, that his kingdom may go forth upon the earth, that the inhabitants thereof may receive it, and be prepared for the days to come, in the which the son of man shall come down in heaven, clothed in the brightness of his glory, to meet the kingdom of god which is set up on the earth; wherefore may the kingdom of god go forth, that the kingdom of heaven may come, that thou, o god, mayest be glorified in heaven so on earth, that thy enemies may be subdued for thine is the honour, power and glory, for ever and ever. amen."[ ] the millennium. the inauguration of christ's reign on earth is to be the beginning of a period that shall be distinct in many important particulars from all precedent and subsequent time; and the lord shall reign with his people a thousand years. the government of individuals, communities and nations throughout this millennium is to be that of a perfect theocracy, with jesus the christ as lord and king. the more wicked part of the race shall have been destroyed; and during the period satan shall be bound "that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled"; while the just shall share with christ in rightful rule and dominion. the righteous dead shall have come forth from their graves, while the wicked shall remain unresurrected until the thousand years be past.[ ] men yet in the flesh shall mingle with immortalized beings; children shall grow to maturity and then die in peace or be changed to immortality "in the twinkling of an eye."[ ] there shall be surcease of enmity between man and beast; the venom of serpents and the ferocity of the brute creation shall be done away, and love shall be the dominant power of control. among the earliest revelations on the subject is that given to enoch; and in this the return of that prophet and his righteous people with christ in the last days was thus assured: "and the lord said unto enoch: then shalt thou and all thy city meet them there, and we will receive them into our bosom, and they shall see us; and we will fall upon their necks, and they shall fall upon our necks, and we will kiss each other; and there shall be mine abode, and it shall be zion, which shall come forth out of all the creations which i have made; and for the space of a thousand years the earth shall rest. and it came to pass that enoch saw the day of the coming of the son of man, in the last days, to dwell on the earth in righteousness for the space of a thousand years."[ ] in these latter days the lord has thus spoken, requiring preparation for the millennial era, and describing in part the glories thereof: "and prepare for the revelation which is to come, when the veil of the covering of my temple, in my tabernacle, which hideth the earth, shall be taken off, and all flesh shall see me together. and every corruptible thing, both of man, or of the beasts of the field, or of the fowls of the heavens, or of the fish of the sea, that dwell upon all the face of the earth, shall be consumed; and also that of element shall melt with fervent heat; and all things shall become new, that my knowledge and glory may dwell upon all the earth. and in that day the enmity of man, and the enmity of beasts, yea, the enmity of all flesh, shall cease from before my face. and in that day whatsoever any man shall ask, it shall be given unto him. and in that day satan shall not have power to tempt any man. and there shall be no sorrow because there is no death. in that day an infant shall not die until he is old, and his life shall be as the age of a tree, and when he dies he shall not sleep, (that is to say in the earth,) but shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and shall be caught up, and his rest shall be glorious. yea, verily i say unto you, in that day when the lord shall come, he shall reveal all things."[ ] the millennium is to precede the time designated in scriptural phrase "the end of the world." when the thousand years are passed, satan shall be loosed for a little season, and the final test of man's integrity to god shall ensue. such as are prone to impurity of heart shall yield to temptation while the righteous shall endure to the end.[ ] a revelation to this effect was given the church in , in part as follows: "for the great millennium, of which i have spoken by the mouth of my servants, shall come; for satan shall be bound, and when he is loosed again, he shall only reign for a little season, and then cometh the end of the earth; and he that liveth in righteousness shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and the earth shall pass away so as by fire; and the wicked shall go away into unquenchable fire, and their end no man knoweth on earth, nor ever shall know, until they come before me in judgment. hearken ye to these words: behold, i am jesus christ, the saviour of the world. treasure these things up in your hearts, and let the solemnities of eternity rest upon your minds."[ ] the celestial consummation. the vanquishment of satan and his hosts shall be complete. the dead, small and great, all who have breathed the breath of life on earth, shall be resurrected--every soul that has tabernacled in flesh, whether good or evil--and shall stand before god, to be judged according to the record as written in the books.[ ] so shall be brought to glorious consummation the mission of the christ. "then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to god, even the father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. for he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. for he hath put all things under his feet."[ ] then shall the lord jesus "deliver up the kingdom, and present it unto the father spotless, saying--i have overcome and have trodden the wine-press alone, even the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of almighty god. then shall he be crowned with the crown of his glory, to sit on the throne of his power to reign for ever and ever."[ ] the earth shall pass to its glorified and celestialized condition, an eternal abode for the exalted sons and daughters of god.[ ] forever shall they reign, kings and priests to the most high, redeemed, sanctified, and exalted through their lord and god jesus the christ. notes to chapter . . enoch, spoken of by jude as "the seventh from adam." was the father of methuselah. in genesis : we read: "and enoch walked with god; and he was not; for god took him." from the lord's revelation to moses we learn that enoch was a mighty man, favored of god because of his righteousness, and a leader of and revelator to his people. through his agency a city was built, the inhabitants of which excelled in righteous living to such an extent that they were of one heart and one mind and had no poor among them. it was called the city of holiness or zion. the residue of the race were all corrupt in the sight of the lord. enoch and his people were taken from the earth and are to return with christ at his coming. (p. of g.p., moses : - , , ; compare doc. and cov. : , .) . heathen in the first resurrection.--"and then shall the heathen nations be redeemed, and they that knew no law shall have part in the first resurrection; and it shall be tolerable for them." (doc. and cov. : .) such is the word of the lord with respect to those benighted peoples who live and die in ignorance of the laws of the gospel. this affirmation is sustained by other scriptures, and by a consideration of the principles of true justice according to which humanity is to be judged. man shall be accounted blameless or guilty according to his deeds as interpreted in the light of the law under which he is required to live. it is inconsistent with our conception of a just god to believe him capable of inflicting condemnation upon any one for non-compliance with a requirement of which the person had no knowledge. nevertheless, the laws of the gospel cannot be suspended even in the case of those who have sinned in darkness and ignorance; but it is reasonable to believe that the plan of redemption shall afford such benighted ones an opportunity of learning the laws of god; and, as fast as they so learn, will obedience be required on pain of the penalty. see _articles of faith_, xxi: . . regeneration of the earth.--in speaking of the graded and progressive glories provided for his creations, and of the laws of regeneration and sanctification, the lord has thus spoken through revelation in the present dispensation: "and again, verily i say unto you, the earth abideth the law of a celestial kingdom, for it filleth the measure of its creation, and transgresseth not the law. wherefore it shall be sanctified; yea, notwithstanding it shall die, it shall be quickened again, and shall abide the power by which it is quickened, and the righteous shall inherit it." (doc. and cov. : , .) this appointed change, by which the earth shall pass to the condition of a celestialized world, is referred to in numerous scriptures as the institution of "a new heaven and a new earth" (rev. : , , ; b. of m., ether : ; doc. and cov. : ). footnotes: [ ] acts : . [ ] pages , , , and ; see also doc. and cov. : ; compare : ; : ; : , ; : ; : ; : . [ ] jude , ; compare gen. : ; see next reference following. [ ] p. of g.p., moses : , , . note , end of chapter. [ ] isa. : ; and : ; see also psalms : ; mal. : ; : , ; compare note on page herein. [ ] matt. : . [ ] mark : ; compare luke : . [ ] matt. : . [ ] matt. : ; mark : ; luke : ; acts : ; compare page herein. [ ] matt. ; see chapters and herein. [ ] see acts : , ; cor. : ; : ; philip. : ; thess. : ; : ; : ; : - ; thess. : , ; tim. : , ; titus : ; james : , ; peter : - ; : ; john : ; : ; jude , etc. [ ] b. of m., nephi : , . [ ] b. of m., nephi : , ; see also : . [ ] doc. and cov. : - . [ ] doc. and cov. : , . [ ] doc. and cov. : - . [ ] doc. and cov. : - ; compare this section with matt. , and luke : - . see also doc. and cov. : - . [ ] doc. and cov. : - . [ ] matt. : ; compare mark : - ; see pages , herein. [ ] doc. and cov. : ; the context shows that the words are those of the father. [ ] thess. : ; peter : ; compare matt. : , ; : ; luke : , ; page herein. [ ] page . [ ] doc. and cov. : , . [ ] doc. and cov. : - . [ ] doc. and cov. : - , - ; "articles of faith," xviii and xix. [ ] doc. and cov. : - . [ ] doc. and cov. : , ; compare joel : ; mal. : ; b. of m., nephi : . [ ] doc and cov. : - . [ ] thess. : - . [ ] b. of m., nephi : ; see page herein. [ ] doc. and cov. : - . [ ] note , end of chapter. [ ] doc. and cov. : . [ ] doc. and cov. : ; compare matt. : ; luke : ; page herein. [ ] b. of m., nephi : ; compare nephi : , ; mormon : . . [ ] doc. and cov. . for a fuller treatment of this subject as also the distinction between church and kingdom, see "articles of faith," xx: - . [ ] rev. : - ; compare doc. and cov. : . [ ] doc. and cov. : - ; : ; compare cor. : - . [ ] p. of g.p., moses : - . [ ] doc. and cov. : - ; compare isa. : - and : - ; see also doc. and cov. : , ; : ; : . [ ] rev. : - . [ ] doc and cov. : - . see also "articles of faith," xx: - . [ ] rev. : - . [ ] cor. : - . [ ] doc. and cov. : , . [ ] note , end of chapter. index aaronic priesthood, restored by john the baptist, ; its powers, . ablutions, ceremonial, . abraham, children of, . abraham, christ's seniority over, , . aceldama, the field of blood, . adam, the first man, ; his transgression, ; revelation to, . adulteress brought to christ, . adulterous generation of sign-seekers, , , . agency, free, of unembodied spirits, , ; of man, , . american indians, progenitors of, , , , . ananias, ministers to saul, . andrew, follows christ, ; one of the twelve, . annas, high priest, , . announcement of christ by the father, , , , , ; of christ's birth to shepherds, . see annunciation. annunciation by gabriel, to zacharias, ; to mary the virgin, ; by angel to shepherds, . antemortal godship of jesus christ, . antemortal state, graded intelligences in, . antipas, herod, , , , . antonia, tower or fortress of, . apostasy, the great, ; among nephites, . apostles, the twelve, chosen and ordained, ; individually considered, ; general characteristics of, ; compared with disciples, ; charged and sent forth, , ; their return, ; futile attempt of to heal, ; as stewards, , ; christ's final commission to, , ; imprisoned, ; delivered by an angel, ; scourged for their testimony, . apostleship, , ; restored in present dispensation, . apostolic ministry, the, ; close of, . appearances of the risen lord to mortals before the ascension, . archelaus, , . arrest of jesus, attempted but unaccomplished, ; effected through betrayal, . ascension, christ's, . ass, christ rides upon, ; as predicted, . athanasius, creed of, . atonement, the, a vicarious sacrifice, . authority, in holy priesthood, ; of elias and elijah, ; of twelve, attested, ; of christ, challenged, ; christ as one having, ; christ's ascribed to beelzebub, . baptism, by john the baptist, , , ; of christ by john, ; enjoined upon nephites by christ, ; mode of, ; of joseph smith and oliver cowdery, ; as required in the church today, . baptist, see john the baptist. barabbas, . barnabas, sponsor for saul or paul, . bartholomew, see nathanael. bartimeus, healed of blindness, . beatitudes, the, . beelzebub, christ's authority ascribed to, . benedictus, the, . bethany, jesus at, , ; the family home at, . bethesda, pool of, . bethlehem, birthplace of christ, ; slaughter of children in, . bethphage, , . bethsaida, , , ; julias, . betrayal of christ; foretold, ; effected by judas iscariot, . betrothal, jewish, . blasphemy, ; christ charged with, , ; christ falsely convicted of, . blessing of children, ; among nephites, . blindness, bodily and spiritual, , . bloody sweat, christ's, ; reality of affirmed, , . book of mormon, original of, , . bountiful, land of, . bread of life, jesus christ the, . bridegroom, friend of the, . brother of jared, . burial of jesus, . cæsar, paying tribute to, ; jews would have no king but, , . cæsarea philippi, coasts of, ; palestina, . caiaphas, high priest; his inspired utterance, ; his tenure of office, ; christ before, ; the apostles before, . called and chosen, . calvary, , . camel and needle's eye, , . capernaum, , ; our lord's last sermon in synagog at, . capitation tax, . celestial marriage, . cephas, see peter. ceremonial ablutions, . child, as a little, ; humility illustrated by a, . childlike and childish, distinction between, . children, precious in sight of god, ; blessed by christ, , ; of nephites blessed by risen lord, . chorazin, woe decreed to, . chosen or only called, . christ, see jesus christ. christ and messiah, significance of the titles, . christians, early persecutions of, . church discipline of individuals, . church of england, origin of, ; affirms great apostasy, . church of jesus christ; foundation of, ; rapid growth of primitive, , , ; name of, ; among nephites, ; of latter-day saints, establishment of, . churches of man's making, . circumcision, . clay, applied to blind man's eyes, . clearing of the temple, the first, ; the second, . cleopas, . coasts, as descriptive term, . coin, image and superscription on, , ; in mouth of a fish, . columbus, christopher, his mission, , . comforter promised, , ; given, . commandment, the great, . common ownership, , . common people, attentive to hear christ, . confession, the great, . congenital blindness healed, . consent, common, observed in primitive church, , ; in the church today, . consistency of church's claims, . conspiracy of pharisees and herodians, . constantine the great, gives state recognition to christianity, . constitution of the united states, a necessary preliminary to the restoration of the gospel, . consummation, the celestial, . contention forbidden, . corban, , . corner stone, jesus the chief, , . cost, counting the, . council, the jewish, see sanhedrin. council in heaven, primeval, , . court of the women, in temple, , . cowdery, oliver, ordained with joseph smith, ; witness of heavenly manifestations, . creator, jesus christ the, . creed of athanasius, . cross, figurative, ; of christ, borne by simon, . crucifixion, , ; of jesus christ, ; hour of, . cumorah, scene of last nephite battle, ; book of mormon plates taken from, . cups and platters, ceremonial cleansing of, . dark ages, the, . daughters of jerusalem, christ's lamentation over, , . david, son of, see son of david. dead, gospel preached to, ; ministered unto by jesus christ, , ; missionary labor amongst, ; vicarious labor for in church today, . death, inaugurated by satan, ; overcome by the atonement of christ, ; and resurrection of christ predicted, , , accomplished, , . decapolis, ; jesus in coasts of, . dedication, feast of, , ; jesus at, . defilement, things that cause, . degeneracy, bodily, incident to the fall of man, , . demoniacal possession, . demons, acclaim the christ, , , . devil, jesus charged as possessed of a, , . didrachm, . disciples and apostles, . disciples, instructed, , ; requirements of, . discipline of individuals in church, . disembodied spirits, christ among, . dispensation of fulness of times, ; ushered in, . dives and lazarus, . divorce and marriage, ; views concerning, . doctrine, test of the lord's, , ; christ's, as declared to nephites, . dogs that eat of the crumbs, . door to the sheepfold, christ the, . dove, sign of, , . dust, shaking from feet as a testimony, . earth, regeneration of, , . eating, spiritual symbolism of, , ; with unwashen hands, . ecce homo, . egypt, flight into, ; return from, . elders and high priests, . elias, john baptist and, ; and elijah, ; spirit and power of, ; appearing of in kirtland temple, . elijah, and moses at transfiguration, ; and elias, ; appearance of in kirtland temple, . elisabeth, mother of john the baptist, , ; visited by mary the virgin, . elohim, . emmaus, christ and two disciples journey to, . enoch, , , ; promise to, relating to christ's second coming, . enrolment at bethlehem, . ephraim, jesus in retirement at, . essenes, . estate of man, first and second, . eternal father, the, a resurrected, exalted being, , . eve, beguiled by satan, . evenings, earlier and later, . faith, active, as compared with passive belief, ; a gift from god, ; quality of, ; nothing impossible to, ; in behalf of others, ; as to quantity and quality, ; of nephites, strong, . fall of man ; a process of bodily degeneracy, ; redemption from wrought by jesus christ, , . fasting and prayer, power gained by, . father, the eternal, proclaims the son, jesus christ, , ; to nephites, ; to joseph smith, . feast, of dedication, , ; of tabernacles, , ; of the passover, , ; the traditional messianic, . few or many to be saved, . fig tree, ; cursed, ; symbol of judaism, ; and other trees, lesson from, ; as a type in modern revelation, . first may be last, . fishers of men, , . foreknowledge of god, not a determining cause, , . foreordination of jesus christ, . forgiveness, duty respecting, ; unlimited requirement of, ; mutual, . fox, herod antipas referred to as, , . free agency, of unembodied spirits, , ; of man, , . gabriel's annunciation, of john and of jesus, ; to mary the virgin, . gadarenes and gergesenes, land of, . galilean ministry, beginning of, ; close of, . galileans, ; slain in temple courts, . galilee, sea of, ; the risen lord appears at sea of, ; appears on mountain in, . gamaliel, his advice to the council, ; tutor to saul of tarsus, . genealogies of christ, , . gennesaret, sea or lake of, . gentiles, ; to become great on western continent, . gergesenes and gadarenes, land of, . gethsemane, ; christ's agony in, ; his arrest in, . goats and sheep, figurative, . god's foreknowledge not a determining cause of action, , . godhead, three personages in, . godship of jesus christ, antemortal, . golgotha, , . gospels, the four, ; the synoptic, . graded conditions in the hereafter, . graded intelligences in antemortal state, . great commandment, the, . greeks, as gentiles, ; certain ones visit jesus, . happiness and pleasure, , . heathen to be redeemed; their part in first resurrection, . hem of garment, . henry viii, head of church of england, . herder, the hireling, . herod, the great, , ; temple of, ; antipas, , ; referred to as "fox," ; christ before, . herodians, ; in conspiracy with pharisees, . herodias, . high priestly prayer, christ's, . high priests and elders, . holy ghost, sin against, , ; promised to apostles, ; investiture of apostles by, at pentecost, . homily against idolatry, affirming the apostasy, . hosanna shout, , . hyrum smith, martyred, . i am, ; jesus christ, the, . image on the coin, , . indians, american, progenitors of, , , , . inquisition, court of the, . isaiah, messianic predictions by, , . iscariot, see judas iscariot. israel and judah, kingdoms of, . jacob's prophecy concerning shiloh, . jahveh, see jehovah. james and john, sons of zebedee, called, ; members of the twelve, ; minister with peter in modern days, , ; their aspiring desire, ; mother of, . james, son of alpheus, one of the twelve, . jared, brother of; his interview with the unembodied christ, . jaredites, . jehovah, significance of the name, , , . jeremiah, messianic prophecies by, . jericho, . jerusalem, christ's triumphal entry into, ; destruction of, predicted, , accomplished, ; the lord's lamentation over, ; daughters of, christ's lamentation over, , . jesus the christ, as man and christ, . jesus christ, preexistence and foreordination of, ; the only begotten of the father in the flesh, , , ; the word, ; word of god's power, ; his supremacy over abraham, , , ; his power over death, , , ; antemortal godship of, ; the creator, ; names and titles of, ; predicted, ; annunciation of, ; the babe of bethlehem, ; birth of, ; birth announced to shepherds, ; circumcision and naming of, ; presentation in temple, ; testimony of simeon and anna regarding, ; birth made known to nephites, ; time of birth of, , ; boy-hood of, ; in attendance at passover when twelve years old, ; with the doctors in the temple, ; of nazareth, ; baptism of, ; descent of holy ghost, upon, ; temptations of, ; first clearing of temple by, ; an offender to many, , ; unique status of, ; his brethren, interview with, ; at the feast of tabernacles, ; rejected in samaria, ; at the home in bethany, ; blesses little children, ; the ennobler of woman, ; at feast of dedication, ; accused of blasphemy, ; in retirement at ephraim, ; predicts his death and resurrection, , , , , , ; called son of david, , , , , , , ; triumphal entry into jerusalem, ; prince of peace, ; visited by certain greeks, ; his second clearing of temple, ; his authority challenged, ; close of his public ministry, ; his lamentation over jerusalem, ; his final withdrawal from temple, ; specific prediction of his death, ; foretells his betrayal, ; his agony in gethsemane, ; his betrayal and arrest, ; jewish trial of, ; falsely convicted of blasphemy, ; appearance before pilate, first, , second, ; before herod antipas, ; delivered up to be crucified, ; his crucifixion, ; his burial, ; physical cause of death of, ; after resurrection appears to mary magdalene and other women, ; to two disciples on road to emmaus, ; to ten apostles and others, in whose presence he eats, ; to peter, ; to the eleven, ; his ascension from olivet, ; his death signalized on american continent, ; giver of the law to moses, ; visitations to nephites, , , ; ministers to joseph smith, , ; revelations from in current dispensation, ; second advent of, . jesus of nazareth the king of the jews, , , . jewish exclusiveness, . jews, christ the king of, . john the baptist, birth announced, ; circumcision and naming of, ; the forerunner, , ; regarded as a nazarite, ; in the wilderness, ; baptizes jesus christ, ; his testimony of jesus, , , ; his message to jesus, ; christ's testimony concerning, ; imprisonment of, ; death of, ; greatness of his mission, ; the elias that was to come, , ; restores aaronic priesthood in modern time, . john, son of zebedee, follows christ, ; called, ; one of the twelve, ; his testimony regarding the graded development of jesus, ; with peter at sepulchre of jesus, ; to tarry in the flesh until christ's second coming, ; the revelator, . john and james, see james and john. joseph of arimathea, assists in burial of christ's body, . joseph and mary the virgin, espoused, ; married, ; genealogies of, , . joseph smith, ; his perplexity over sectarian strife, ; his prayer for light, ; visited by the father and the son, ; persecution of, ; visited by moroni, ; receives aaronic priesthood, ; receives melchizedek priesthood, ; again visited by the lord jesus christ, ; visited by moses, elias and elijah, ; martyred, . judah and israel, kingdoms of, . judas iscariot, one of the twelve, ; his complaint against waste of ointment, ; in conspiracy with jewish rulers, ; goes out to betray christ, ; his betrayal of christ, ; his maddening remorse and suicide, ; views concerning his character, . judas thaddeus, or lebbeus, one of the twelve, , ; his inquiry, . judean and perean ministry, , . judgment, the inevitable, . keys, of kingdom of heaven, ; symbolical of power in jewish literature, . king of the jews, christ the, , , . kingdom of god and kingdom of heaven, . kirtland temple, scene of heavenly manifestations, . lamanites and nephites, , . lamanites, progenitors of american indians, , , , ; promise concerning, . lamentation over jerusalem, . last may be first, . last supper, the, . latter-day saints, church of jesus christ of, . law, the, and the gospel, . law of moses, rabbinical divisions of, ; christ the giver of, ; fulfilled, as christ declared to nephites, , . lawyer questions christ, . lawyers and pharisees, christ's criticism on, . lazarus and dives, . lazarus restored to life, . leaven, of evil, ; of pharisees and sadducees, . leper, simon the, . lepers, ten healed, . leprosy, , . levi matthew, see matthew. levirate marriages, . light of the world, jesus the, . living water, figurative, . lord's day, the, . lord's doctrine, test of, . lord's high priestly prayer, the, . lord's prayer, the, . lord's supper, sacrament of the, . love, mutual, enjoined on apostles, . lucifer, see satan. luther, martin, . maccabean revolt, . magnificat, the, . magi, see wise men. malachi, his predictions misunderstood, ; fulfilled, . malchus, wounded by peter, healed by jesus, . malefactor, the penitent, , . mammon of unrighteousness, , . man, preexistence of, , ; an embodied spirit, ; fall of, , ; free agency of, , . man of holiness, and man of counsel, names of the eternal father, . man, the son of, . manna, traditions concerning, . mansions, many in the father's house, . many or few to be saved, . marriage and divorce, . marriage for eternity, . marriages, levirate, . martha and mary, ; at house of simon the leper, . mary and joseph, see joseph and mary. mary anoints jesus with spikenard, . mary magdalene, defended against traditional aspersions, ; at sepulchre, ; first to behold the risen lord, . matthew, or levi, called, ; gives a feast, ; one of the twelve, . matthias ordained to apostleship, . melchizedek priesthood, jesus christ holds the, ; restored by peter, james and john, . meridian of time, . messiah, see jesus christ. messiah and christ, significance of names, . messianic psalms, . michael in conflict with satan, . millennium, the, ; predictions of, ancient, , modern, . ministers and servants, . miracles, in general, ; attitude of science toward, . miracles of christ: water transmuted into wine, ; healing of nobleman's son, ; peter's mother-in-law healed, ; demoniac healed in synagog at capernaum, ; leper healed, ; palsied man healed and forgiven, ; draught of fishes, ; cripple healed at bethesda pool, ; healing of man with withered hand, ; healing of centurion's servant, ; young man of nain raised from, the dead, ; healing of a blind and dumb demoniac, ; stilling the tempest, ; demons rebuked in land of gadarenes, ; raising of daughter of jairus, ; healing of a woman in the throng, ; blind and dumb healed, ; feeding of the five thousand, ; walking on the water, ; in the land of gennesaret, ; healing of daughter of syro-phenician woman, ; healings in coasts of decapolis, ; feeding of the four thousand, ; healing of blind man near bethsaida julias, ; healing of youthful demoniac, ; tribute money supplied, ; blind man healed on sabbath, ; woman healed on sabbath, ; dropsical man healed, ; ten lepers healed, ; lazarus restored to life, ; blind healed near jericho, ; blighting of barren fig tree, ; healings in the temple courts, ; malchus healed of wound, ; second draught of fishes, . missing scriptures, , . mission, of the twelve, , ; of the seventy, , . modern revelation, belief in, . mormon, book of, , . moroni, last of nephite prophets, ; an angel sent from god, ; delivers ancient records to joseph smith, . moses, repels satan, ; his prophecy concerning christ, , , , ; with elijah at transfiguration, ; appearance of in kirtland temple, . mount of olives, see olivet. name, of christ, power in, ; in christ's, ; of christ's church, , . names given of god, . nard, see spikenard. nathanael, or bartholomew brought to christ, ; one of the twelve, . nativity of christ, a cause of discussion, , . nazareth, boyhood home of jesus christ, ; our lord's sermon in synagog at, ; his rejection by nazarenes, . nazarite, , ; john baptist regarded as, . need of a redeemer, . needle's eye, and camel, , . neighbor, who is my, . nephites, birth of christ made known to, ; and lamanites, , ; as sheep of another fold, ; death of jesus signalized to, ; visitation of the risen lord among, , , ; twelve called from among, ; the three, . nicodemus, visits jesus, , ; his protest before sanhedrin, ; assists in burial of christ's body, . night, watches of the, . ninety and nine, and the lost sheep, . nobleman seeking a kingdom, . nunc dimittis, the, . offenses and offenders, , . old cloth and old bottles, . olivet, (mount of olives) christ's discourse to apostles on, , ; gethsemane near, ; the lord's ascension from, . oneness, of godhead, ; of father and son, . papal claims to authority, . parables in general, ; definitions, . parables of christ: the sower, ; wheat and tares, ; seed growing secretly, ; mustard seed, ; leaven, ; hidden treasure, ; pearl of great price, ; gospel net, ; lost sheep, ; unmerciful servant, ; good samaritan, ; friend at midnight, ; importunate widow, or unjust judge, ; foolish rich man, ; barren fig tree, ; great supper, ; lost sheep (repeated), ; lost coin, ; prodigal son, ; unrighteous steward, ; rich man and lazarus, ; unprofitable servants, ; pharisee and publican, ; laborers in vineyard, ; pounds, ; two sons, ; wicked husbandmen, ; royal marriage feast, ; ten virgins, ; the same referred to in modern revelation, ; talents, ; pounds and talents compared, . parabolic teaching, christ's purpose in, . paradise, , ; the penitent thief in, , . passover, feast of, ; jesus at when a boy, ; throngs attending, ; recurrences of during christ's ministry, ; the last eaten by jesus, , . patmos, . paul, the lord's manifestations to, , ; his demeanor when smitten contrasted with that of christ, . pence and talents, value of, . pentecost, , . perea, the lord's retirement in, . perean and judean ministry, , , perfection, relative, , . persecutions of early christians, . peter, james, and john, special witnesses, , , , ; officiate in modern times, , . peter, simon, brought to jesus by andrew and named peter, ; called from his boat and nets, ; one of the twelve, ; his confession of christ, ; his presidency among the apostles, ; remonstrates with jesus and is rebuked, , ; protests against washing of his feet by jesus, ; his protestations of allegiance, ; his assault on malchus, ; his denial of his lord, ; with john at sepulchre, ; questioned by the risen lord, ; manner of his death foreshadowed, ; his pentecostal address, ; heals lame man, ; testifies to people and rulers in temple, , ; with james and john officiates in modern times, , . pharisees, and sadducees, , ; leaven of the, ; humiliated by an unlearned indigent, ; with lawyers criticized by christ, ; jesus in house of one of chief, ; proud of false humility, ; with scribes, denounced, . philip, called by jesus, ; one of the twelve, ; asks to behold the father, . phylacteries, and borders, . physical cause of the lord's death, . pilate, see pontius pilate. pilgrim fathers, their mission predicted, , . pleasure and happiness, , . pontius pilate, procurator, ; hears charges against christ, , ; questions jesus, , ; sends christ to herod, ; tries to save jesus from death, ; gives sentence of crucifixion, ; cause of his surrender to jewish clamor, , ; writes inscription for the cross, ; gives body of jesus for burial, ; allows guarding of sepulchre, . pool, of bethesda, ; a cripple healed at, ; of siloam, , ; blind man sent to wash in, . pope, the, . prayer, the lord's, ; the lord's high priestly, ; and fasting, power developed by, ; request of disciples concerning, . precedence and humility, . predictions of christ's birth, life and death, ; by adam, ; by jacob, ; by moses, ; by job, ; by isaiah, ; by jeremiah, ; by other hebrew prophets, ; by john the baptist, ; by nephite prophets, , ; of the lord's death by himself, , , , , . preexistence of spirits, , ; involved in disciples' question, ; of jesus christ, . presidency, peter's among apostles, . priesthood, aaronic, see aaronic priesthood; melchizedek, see melchizedek priesthood; the holy, now operative on earth, ; and office therein, . primitive church, the, , , , . prince of peace, jesus christ the, . prophet, predicted by moses--jesus christ , , , , . protestants, origin of, . psalms, messianic, . publicans, , ; and sinners, ; salvation for, ; zaccheus a chief among, . rabbis, and scribes, , , . redeemer, need of by essential qualifications of, . redemption wrought by jesus christ, , . reformation, the, . regeneration of the earth, , . repentant woman forgiven, . restoration, to mortal life contrasted with resurrection, , ; of the priesthood in modern times, . resurrection, universal, ; distinct from restoration to mortal life, , ; sadducean denial of, ; sadducees question jesus concerning, ; of jesus christ, ; false stories and untenable theories concerning christ's, , ; heathen in the first, . revelation, foundation of church of christ, , ; modern, belief in, . reward, for merit, assured, . rich men, and their stewards, ; difficulty of entering kingdom, . rigdon, sidney, associated with joseph smith, . rock of revelation, . ruler, the rich young, . sabbath, distinctively sacred to israel, ; jesus christ the lord of the, ; rabbinical requirements concerning, , ; desecration of imputed to jesus, , , , , ; disciples charged with desecration of, ; change of day from saturday to sunday, . sacrament of the lord's supper, instituted among jews, ; on western continent, , , . sacrifice, animal, antiquity of, ; prototype of christ's atoning death, , . sadducees, and pharisees, , ; deny resurrection, ; question christ concerning resurrection, . saliva, applied to eyes of blind man, , . salome, daughter of herodias, ; mother of james and john, . salt of the earth, figurative, , , . salvation, conditions of, . samaritan, woman talks with jesus, ; christ called a, samaritans, origin of, ; and jews, animosity between, ; jesus received gladly by, ; afterward rejected by, . sanhedrin, the, , ; nicodemus a member of, speaks in behalf of jesus, ; unlawful trial of jesus before, ; the apostles before, ; gamaliel's advice to, ; stephen condemned by, . satan, lucifer, a son of the morning, ; in conflict with michael, ; cast out from heaven, ; commanded by moses, ; would destroy man's agency, ; beguiles eve, ; introduces sin and death, ; tempts jesus christ, ; to be bound during millennium, ; final vanquishment of, . saul of tarsus, his persecution of the saints, ; his conversion, , ; his baptism, ; beginning of his ministry, ; name changed to paul, . savior and redeemer, necessary qualifications of, . scourging, ; of jesus, . scribes and pharisees, ; and rabbis, ; see further, pharisees. scriptures, lost, , . sea of galilee, storms on, . second advent of christ, ; predicted anciently, , , in modern times, ; signs of, , ; time of unknown, , , ; near at hand, ; accompaniments of, . secular authority, submission to, . seed and crop, . sermon on the mount, ; repeated in effect to the nephites, . servants and ministers, . seventy, the, sent, ; return of, . sheep and goats, figurative, . sheep, other than of jewish fold, ; nephite fold, ; lost tribes another fold, . shepherd, christ the good, . shepherds, angelic annunciation to, ; contrasted with sheepherders, . shewbread, , . shiloh, jacob's prophecy concerning, , . signs, miracles as, , ; seekers of, , , ; of christ's birth and death shown on american continent, , . silence, christ's, when before herod, . siloam, pool of, , ; fall of tower at, . simon, peter, see peter; the leper, ; the pharisee, ; of cyrene, , ; zelotes, one of the twelve, . sin, brings death into the world, ; the unpardonable, , ; servitude of, ; and bodily affliction, . sinners, joy in heaven over repentant, . smith, hyrum, see hyrum smith; joseph, see joseph smith. solomon's porch, , , . son of david, title, applied to joseph of nazareth, ; to jesus christ, , , , , , ; christ's question concerning, . son of god, the, proclaimed by the father, , , , . son of man, the, . son of the morning, see satan. spikenard, ; mary anoints jesus with, . spirit and power of elias, . spirit of truth, the holy ghost, . spirits, unembodied, , , ; state of between death and resurrection, ; disembodied, christ's mission among, , , ; world of, missionary labor in, . spiritual development, the one thing needful, , . stater, . stephen, his zeal, ; his address to the council, ; his martyrdom, . stewards, apostles likened unto, , . stone, head of the corner--jesus christ-- , . supererogation, false doctrine of, . supper, at house of simon the leper, ; the last, . sychar, , . synoptic gospels, . tabernacles, feast of, ; jesus at the, . talents and pence, . talmud, , . targums, , . tax, capitation, . taxing, or enrolment, . temple, of herod, ; the lord's body symbolized as a, ; christ's first clearing of the, ; second clearing of the, ; tribute paid to, ; destruction of, predicted, , accomplished, ; treasure of, . temples, modern, . test of the lord's doctrine, , . tetrarch, . thirty years of age, . thomas, one of the twelve, ; doubts the resurrection of christ, ; is convinced, . "thou art the christ," . three nephites, the, . tiberias, sea of, , the risen lord appears at, . tithing, day of, . titles, ecclesiastical, . today and tomorrow, special application of terms, . tongues, as of fire, pentecostal manifestations, . traditionalism, in opposition to the law, . transubstantiation, false doctrine of, . transfiguration, the, , . transgressors, christ numbered among, , . treasure belonging to temple, . treasury of temple, . trial of jesus, the jewish, ; illegalities of, , . tribes, of israel, ; the ten, or lost, , . tribute, the temple, ; christ pays the, ; to be rendered to cæsar under law, . triumphal entry into jerusalem, christ's, . truth, shall make men free, . twelve, the, see apostles; the nephite, . tyre and sidon, jesus in borders of, . unbelief, effect of, . unity of godhead, . unpardonable sin, , . vine, christ the true, . vineyard and vines, israel symbolized by, . voice, in the wilderness,--john the baptist, ; from heaven, the father's, , , , ; of jesus christ from heaven to nephites, . war in heaven, . washing of feet, ordinance of, , . washings, ceremonial, , . watches of the night, . watchfulness enjoined, . water, living, . wedding garment, lacking, . western continent, ministry of jesus christ on, . widow's mites, . wise men, the, ; their adoration of christ, . witnesses, false, at trial of jesus, . woes over jerusalem, , . woman, a repentant, receives forgiveness, ; one taken in sin, . "woman," as noun of address, . women, christ the ennobler of, ; witnesses of the crucifixion, , ; at sepulchre of jesus, ; see and touch the risen lord, . word, jesus christ, the, . yahveh, see jehovah. zaccheus, . zacharias, the martyr, , . zacharias, the priest, visited by the angel gabriel, ; stricken dumb, , ; his speech restored, . zion, of enoch, , ; of the last days, . the new jerusalem by g. k. chesterton preface this book is only an uncomfortably large note-book; and it has the disadvantages, whether or no it has the advantages, of notes that were taken on the spot. owing to the unexpected distraction of other duties, the notes were published in a newspaper as they were made on the spot; and are now reproduced in a book as they were published in the newspaper. the only exception refers to the last chapter on zionism; and even there the book only reverts to the original note-book. a difference of opinion, which divided the writer of the book from the politics of the newspaper, prevented the complete publication of that chapter in that place. i recognise that any expurgated form of it would have falsified the proportions of my attempt to do justice in a very difficult problem; but on re-reading even my own attempt in extenso, i am far from satisfied that the proper proportions are kept. i wrote these first impressions in palestine, where everybody recognises the jew as something quite distinct from the englishman or the european; and where his unpopularity even moved me in the direction of his defence. but i admit it was something of a shock to return to a conventional atmosphere, in which that unpopularity is still actually denied or described as mere persecution. it was more of a shock to realise that this most obscurantist of all types of obscurantism is still sometimes regarded as a sort of liberalism. to talk of the jews always as the oppressed and never as the oppressors is simply absurd; it is as if men pleaded for reasonable help for exiled french aristocrats or ruined irish landlords, and forgot that the french and irish peasants had any wrongs at all. moreover, the jews in the west do not seem so much concerned to ask, as i have done however tentatively here, whether a larger and less local colonial development might really transfer the bulk of israel to a more independent basis, as simply to demand that jews shall continue to control other nations as well as their own. it might be worth while for england to take risks to settle the jewish problem; but not to take risks merely to unsettle the arab problem, and leave the jewish problem unsolved. for the rest, there must under the circumstances be only too many mistakes; the historical conjectures, for they can be no more, are founded on authorities sufficiently recognised for me to be permitted to trust them; but i have never pretended to the knowledge necessary to check them. i am aware that there are many disputed points; as for instance the connection of gerard, the fiery templar, with the english town of bideford. i am also aware that some are sensitive about the spelling of words; and the very proof-readers will sometimes revolt and turn mahomet into mohammed. upon this point, however, i am unrepentant; for i never could see the point of altering a form with historic and even heroic fame in our own language, for the sake of reproducing by an arrangement of our letters something that is really written in quite different letters, and probably pronounced with quite a different accent. in speaking of the great prophet i am therefore resolved to call him mahomet; and am prepared, on further provocation, to call him mahound. g. k. c. contents chapter i the way of the cities chapter ii the way of the desert chapter iii the gates of the city chapter iv the philosophy of sight-seeing chapter v the streets of the city chapter vi the groups of the city chapter vii the shadow of the problem chapter viii the other side of the desert chapter ix the battle with the dragon chapter x the endless empire chapter xi the meaning of the crusade chapter xii the fall of chivalry chapter xiii the problem of zionism conclusion chapter i the way of the cities it was in the season of christmas that i came out of my little garden in that "field of the beeches" between the chilterns and the thames, and began to walk backwards through history to the place from which christmas came. for it is often necessary to walk backwards, as a man on the wrong road goes back to a sign-post to find the right road. the modern man is more like a traveller who has forgotten the name of his destination, and has to go back whence he came, even to find out where he is going. that the world has lost its way few will now deny; and it did seem to me that i found at last a sort of sign-post, of a singular and significant shape, and saw for a moment in my mind the true map of the modern wanderings; but whether i shall be able to say anything of what i saw, this story must show. i had said farewell to all my friends, or all those with my own limited number of legs; and nothing living remained but a dog and a donkey. the reader will learn with surprise that my first feeling of fellowship went out to the dog; i am well aware that i lay open my guard to a lunge of wit. the dog is rather like a donkey, or a small caricature of one, with a large black head and long black ears; but in the mood of the moment there was rather a moral contrast than a pictorial parallel. for the dog did indeed seem to stand for home and everything i was leaving behind me, with reluctance, especially that season of the year. for one thing, he is named after mr. winkle, the christmas guest of mr. wardle; and there is indeed something dickensian in his union of domesticity with exuberance. he jumped about me, barking like a small battery, under the impression that i was going for a walk; but i could not, alas, take him with me on a stroll to palestine. incidentally, he would have been out of place; for dogs have not their due honour in the east; and this seemed to sharpen my sense of my own domestic sentinel as a sort of symbol of the west. on the other hand, the east is full of donkeys, often very dignified donkeys; and when i turned my attention to the other grotesque quadruped, with an even larger head and even longer ears, he seemed to take on a deep shade of oriental mystery. i know not why these two absurd creatures tangled themselves up so much in my train of thought, like dragons in an illuminated text; or ramped like gargoyles on either side of the gateway of my adventure. but in truth they were in some sense symbols of the west and the east after all. the dog's very lawlessness is but an extravagance of loyalty; he will go mad with joy three times on the same day, at going out for a walk down the same road. the modern world is full of fantastic forms of animal worship; a religion generally accompanied with human sacrifice. yet we hear strangely little of the real merits of animals; and one of them surely is this innocence of all boredom; perhaps such simplicity is the absence of sin. i have some sense myself of the sacred duty of surprise; and the need of seeing the old road as a new road. but i cannot claim that whenever i go out for a walk with my family and friends, i rush in front of them volleying vociferous shouts of happiness; or even leap up round them attempting to lick their faces. it is in this power of beginning again with energy upon familiar and homely things that the dog is really the eternal type of the western civilisation. and the donkey is really as different as is the eastern civilisation. his very anarchy is a sort of secrecy; his very revolt is a secret. he does not leap up because he wishes to share my walk, but to follow his own way, as lonely as the wild ass of scripture. my own beast of burden supports the authority of scripture by being a very wild ass. i have given him the name of trotsky, because he seldom trots, but either scampers or stands still. he scampers all over the field when it is necessary to catch him, and stands still when it is really urgent to drive him. he also breaks fences, eats vegetables, and fulfills other functions; between delays and destructions he could ruin a really poor man in a day. i wish this fact were more often remembered, in judging whether really poor men have really been cruel to donkeys. but i assure the reader that i am not cruel to my donkey; the cruelty is all the other way. he kicks the people who try to catch him; and again i am haunted by a dim human parallel. for it seems to me that many of us, in just detestation of the dirty trick of cruelty to animals, have really a great deal of patience with animals; more patience, i fear, than many of us have with human beings. suppose i had to go out and catch my secretary in a field every morning; and suppose my secretary always kicked me by way of beginning the day's work; i wonder whether that day's work would resume its normal course as if nothing had happened. nothing graver than these grotesque images and groping speculations would come into my conscious mind just then, though at the back of it there was an indescribable sense of regret and parting. all through my wanderings the dog remained in my memory as a dickensian and domestic emblem of england; and if it is difficult to take a donkey seriously, it ought to be easiest, at least, for a man who is going to jerusalem. there was a cloud of christmas weather on the great grey beech-woods and the silver cross of the cross-roads. for the four roads that meet in the market-place of my little town make one of the largest and simplest of such outlines on the map of england; and the shape as it shines on that wooded chart always affects me in a singular fashion. the sight of the cross-roads is in a true sense the sign of the cross. for it is the sign of a truly christian thing; that sharp combination of liberty and limitation which we call choice. a man is entirely free to choose between right and left, or between right and wrong. as i looked for the last time at the pale roads under the load of cloud, i knew that our civilisation had indeed come to the cross-roads. as the paths grew fainter, fading under the gathering shadow, i felt rather as if it had lost its way in a forest. it was at the time when people were talking about some menace of the end of the world, not apocalyptic but astronomical; and the cloud that covered the little town of beaconsfield might have fitted in with such a fancy. it faded, however, as i left the place further behind; and in london the weather, though wet, was comparatively clear. it was almost as if beaconsfield had a domestic day of judgment, and an end of the world all to itself. in a sense beaconsfield has four ends of the world, for its four corners are named "ends" after the four nearest towns. but i was concerned only with the one called london end; and the very name of it was like a vision of some vain thing at once ultimate and infinite. the very title of london end sounds like the other end of nowhere, or (what is worse) of everywhere. it suggests a sort of derisive riddle; where does london end? as i came up through the vast vague suburbs, it was this sense of london as a shapeless and endless muddle that chiefly filled my mind. i seemed still to carry the cloud with me; and when i looked up, i almost expected to see the chimney-pots as tangled as the trees. and in truth if there was now no material fog, there was any amount of mental and moral fog. the whole industrial world symbolised by london had reached a curious complication and confusion, not easy to parallel in human history. it is not a question of controversies, but rather of cross-purposes. as i went by charing cross my eye caught a poster about labour politics, with something about the threat of direct action and a demand for nationalisation. and quite apart from the merits of the case, it struck me that after all the direct action is very indirect, and the thing demanded is many steps away from the thing desired. it is all part of a sort of tangle, in which terms and things cut across each other. the employers talk about "private enterprise," as if there were anything private about modern enterprise. its combines are as big as many commonwealths; and things advertised in large letters on the sky cannot plead the shy privileges of privacy. meanwhile the labour men talk about the need to "nationalise" the mines or the land, as if it were not the great difficulty in a plutocracy to nationalise the government, or even to nationalise the nation. the capitalists praise competition while they create monopoly; the socialists urge a strike to turn workmen into soldiers and state officials; which is logically a strike against strikes. i merely mention it as an example of the bewildering inconsistency, and for no controversial purpose. my own sympathies are with the socialists; in so far that there is something to be said for socialism, and nothing to be said for capitalism. but the point is that when there is something to be said for one thing, it is now commonly said in support of the opposite thing. never since the mob called out, "less bread! more taxes!" in the nonsense story, has there been so truly nonsensical a situation as that in which the strikers demand government control and the government denounces its own control as anarchy. the mob howls before the palace gates, "hateful tyrant, we demand that you assume more despotic powers"; and the tyrant thunders from the balcony, "vile rebels, do you dare to suggest that my powers should be extended?" there seems to be a little misunderstanding somewhere. in truth everything i saw told me that there was a large misunderstanding everywhere; a misunderstanding amounting to a mess. and as this was the last impression that london left on me, so it was the impression i carried with me about the whole modern problem of western civilisation, as a riddle to be read or a knot to be untied. to untie it it is necessary to get hold of the right end of it, and especially the other end of it. we must begin at the beginning; we must return to our first origins in history, as we must return to our first principles in philosophy. we must consider how we came to be doing what we do, and even saying what we say. as it is, the very terms we use are either meaningless or something more than meaningless, inconsistent even with themselves. this applies, for instance, to the talk of both sides in that labour controversy, which i merely took in passing, because it was the current controversy in london when i left. the capitalists say bolshevism as one might say boojum. it is merely a mystical and imaginative word suggesting horror. but it might mean many things; including some just and rational things. on the other hand, there could never be any meaning at all in the phrase "the dictatorship of the proletariat." it is like saying, "the omnipotence of omnibus-conductors." it is fairly obvious that if an omnibus-conductor were omnipotent, he would probably prefer to conduct something else besides an omnibus. whatever its exponents mean, it is clearly something different from what they say; and even this verbal inconsistency, this mere welter of words, is a sign of the common confusion of thought. it is this sort of thing that made london seem like a limbo of lost words, and possibly of lost wits. and it is here we find the value of what i have called walking backwards through history. it is one of the rare merits of modern mechanical travel that it enables us to compare widely different cities in rapid succession. the stages of my own progress were the chief cities of separate countries; and though more is lost in missing the countries, something is gained in so sharply contrasting the capitals. and again it was one of the advantages of my own progress that it was a progress backwards; that it happened, as i have said, to retrace the course of history to older and older things; to paris and to rome and to egypt, and almost, as it were, to eden. and finally it is one of the advantages of such a return that it did really begin to clarify the confusion of names and notions in modern society. i first became conscious of this when i went out of the gare de lyon and walked along a row of cafes, until i saw again a distant column crowned with a dancing figure; the freedom that danced over the fall of the bastille. here at least, i thought, is an origin and a standard, such as i missed in the mere muddle of industrial opportunism. the modern industrial world is not in the least democratic; but it is supposed to be democratic, or supposed to be trying to be democratic. the ninth century, the time of the norse invasions, was not saintly in the sense of being filled with saints; it was filled with pirates and petty tyrants, and the first feudal anarchy. but sanctity was the only ideal those barbarians had, when they had any at all. and democracy is the only ideal the industrial millions have, when they have any at all. sanctity was the light of the dark ages, or if you will the dream of the dark ages. and democracy is the dream of the dark age of industrialism; if it be very much of a dream. it is this which prophets promise to achieve, and politicians pretend to achieve, and poets sometimes desire to achieve, and sometimes only desire to desire. in a word, an equal citizenship is quite the reverse of the reality in the modern world; but it is still the ideal in the modern world. at any rate it has no other ideal. if the figure that has alighted on the column in the place de la bastille be indeed the spirit of liberty, it must see a million growths in a modern city to make it wish to fly back again into heaven. but our secular society would not know what goddess to put on the pillar in its place. as i looked at that sculptured goddess on that classical column, my mind went back another historic stage, and i asked myself where this classic and republican ideal came from, and the answer was equally clear. the place from which it had come was the place to which i was going; rome. and it was not until i had reached rome that i adequately realised the next great reality that simplified the whole story, and even this particular part of the story. i know nothing more abruptly arresting than that sudden steepness, as of streets scaling the sky, where stands, now cased in tile and brick and stone, that small rock that rose and overshadowed the whole earth; the capitol. here in the grey dawn of our history sat the strong republic that set her foot upon the necks of kings; and it was from here assuredly that the spirit of the republic flew like an eagle to alight on that far-off pillar in the country of the gauls. for it ought to be remembered (and it is too often forgotten) that if paris inherited what may be called the authority of rome, it is equally true that rome anticipated all that is sometimes called the anarchy of paris. the expansion of the roman empire was accompanied by a sort of permanent roman revolution, fully as furious as the french revolution. so long as the roman system was really strong, it was full of riots and mobs and democratic divisions; and any number of bastilles fell as the temple of the victories rose. but though i had but a hurried glance at such things, there were among them some that further aided the solution of the problem. i saw the larger achievements of the later romans; and the lesson that was still lacking was plainly there. i saw the coliseum, a monument of that love of looking on at athletic sports, which is noted as a sign of decadence in the roman empire and of energy in the british empire. i saw the baths of caracalla, witnessing to a cult of cleanliness, adduced also to prove the luxury of ancient romans and the simplicity of anglo-saxons. all it really proves either way is a love of washing on a large scale; which might merely indicate that caracalla, like other emperors, was a lunatic. but indeed what such things do indicate, if only indirectly, is something which is here much more important. they indicate not only a sincerity in the public spirit, but a certain smoothness in the public services. in a word, while there were many revolutions, there were no strikes. the citizens were often rebels; but there were men who were not rebels, because they were not citizens. the ancient world forced a number of people to do the work of the world first, before it allowed more privileged people to fight about the government of the world. the truth is trite enough, of course; it is in the single word slavery, which is not the name of a crime like simony, but rather of a scheme like socialism. sometimes very like socialism. only standing idly on one of those grassy mounds under one of those broken arches, i suddenly saw the labour problem of london, as i could not see it in london. i do not mean that i saw which side was right, or what solution was reliable, or any partisan points or repartees, or any practical details about practical difficulties. i mean that i saw what it was; the thing itself and the whole thing. the labour problem of to-day stood up quite simply, like a peak at which a man looks back and sees single and solid, though when he was walking over it it was a wilderness of rocks. the labour problem is the attempt to have the democracy of paris without the slavery of rome. between the roman republic and the french republic something had happened. whatever else it was, it was the abandonment of the ancient and fundamental human habit of slavery; the numbering of men for necessary labour as the normal foundation of society, even a society in which citizens were free and equal. when the idea of equal citizenship returned to the world, it found that world changed by a much more mysterious version of equality. so that london, handing on the lamp from paris as well as rome, is faced with a new problem touching the old practice of getting the work of the world done somehow. we have now to assume not only that all citizens are equal, but that all men are citizens. capitalism attempted it by combining political equality with economic inequality; it assumed the rich could always hire the poor. but capitalism seems to me to have collapsed; to be not only a discredited ethic but a bankrupt business. whether we shall return to pagan slavery, or to small property, or by guilds or otherwise get to work in a new way, is not the question here. the question here was the one i asked myself standing on that green mound beside the yellow river; and the answer to it lay ahead of me, along the road that ran towards the rising sun. what made the difference? what was it that had happened between the rise of the roman republic and the rise of the french republic? why did the equal citizens of the first take it for granted that there would be slaves? why did the equal citizens of the second take it for granted that there would not be slaves? how had this immemorial institution disappeared in the interval, so that nobody even dreamed of it or suggested it? how was it that when equality returned, it was no longer the equality of citizens, and had to be the equality of men? the answer is that this equality of men is in more senses than one a mystery. it is a mystery which i pondered as i stood in the corridor of the train going south from rome. it was at daybreak, and (as it happened) before any one else had risen, that i looked out of the long row of windows across a great landscape grey with olives and still dark against the dawn. the dawn itself looked rather like a row of wonderful windows; a line of low casements unshuttered and shining under the eaves of cloud. there was a curious clarity about the sunrise; as if its sun might be made of glass rather than gold. it was the first time i had seen so closely and covering such a landscape the grey convolutions and hoary foliage of the olive; and all those twisted trees went by like a dance of dragons in a dream. the rocking railway-train and the vanishing railway-line seemed to be going due east, as if disappearing into the sun; and save for the noise of the train there was no sound in all that grey and silver solitude; not even the sound of a bird. yet the plantations were mostly marked out in private plots and bore every trace of the care of private owners. it is seldom, i confess, that i so catch the world asleep, nor do i know why my answer should have come to me thus when i was myself only half-awake. it is common in such a case to see some new signal or landmark; but in my experience it is rather the things already grown familiar that suddenly grow strange and significant. a million olives must have flashed by before i saw the first olive; the first, so to speak, which really waved the olive branch. for i remembered at last to what land i was going; and i knew the name of the magic which had made all those peasants out of pagan slaves, and has presented to the modern world a new problem of labour and liberty. it was as if i already saw against the clouds of daybreak that mountain which takes its title from the olive: and standing half visible upon it, a figure at which i did not look. _ex oriente lux_; and i knew what dawn had broken over the ruins of rome. i have taken but this one text or label, out of a hundred such, the matter of labour and liberty; and thought it worth while to trace it from one blatant and bewildering yellow poster in the london streets to its high places in history. but it is only one example of the way in which a thousand things grouped themselves and fell into perspective as i passed farther and farther from them, and drew near the central origins of civilisation. i do not say that i saw the solution; but i saw the problem. in the litter of journalism and the chatter of politics, it is too much of a puzzle even to be a problem. for instance, a friend of mine described his book, _the path to rome_, as a journey through all europe that the faith had saved; and i might very well describe my own journey as one through all europe that the war has saved. the trail of the actual fighting, of course, was awfully apparent everywhere; the plantations of pale crosses seemed to crop up on every side like growing things; and the first french villages through which i passed had heard in the distance, day and night, the guns of the long battle-line, like the breaking of an endless exterior sea of night upon the very borderland of the world. i felt it most as we passed the noble towers of amiens, so near the high-water mark of the high tide of barbarism, in that night of terror just before the turning of the tide. for the truth which thus grew clearer with travel is rightly represented by the metaphor of the artillery, as the thunder and surf of a sea beyond the world. whatever else the war was, it was like the resistance of something as solid as land, and sometimes as patient and inert as land, against something as unstable as water, as weak as water; but also as _strong_ as water, as strong as water is in a cataract or a flood. it was the resistance of form to formlessness; that version or vision of it seemed to clarify itself more and more as i went on. it was the defence of that same ancient enclosure in which stood the broken columns of the roman forum and the column in the paris square, and of all other such enclosures down to the domestic enclosures of my own dog and donkey. all had the same design, the marking out of a square for the experiment of liberty; of the old civic liberty or the later universal liberty. i knew, to take the domestic metaphor, that the watchdog of the west had again proved too strong for the wild dogs of the orient. for the foes of such creative limits are chaos and old night, whether they are the northern barbarism that pitted tribal pride and brutal drill against the civic ideal of paris, or the eastern barbarism that brought brigands out of the wilds of asia to sit on the throne of byzantium. and as in the other case, what i saw was something simpler and larger than all the disputed details about the war and the peace. a man may think it extraordinary, as i do, that the natural dissolution of the artificial german empire into smaller states should have actually been prevented by its enemies, when it was already accepted in despair by its friends. for we are now trying hard to hold the prussian system together, having hammered hard for four mortal years to burst it asunder. or he may think exactly the opposite; it makes no difference to the larger fact i have in mind. a man may think it simply topsy-turvy, as i do, that we should clear the turks out of turkey, but leave them in constantinople. for that is driving the barbarians from their own rude tillage and pasturage, and giving up to them our own european and christian city; it is as if the romans annexed parthia but surrendered rome. but he may think exactly the opposite; and the larger and simpler truth will still be there. it was that the weeds and wild things had been everywhere breaking into our boundaries, climbing over the northern wall or crawling through the eastern gate, so that the city would soon have been swallowed in the jungle. and whether the lines had been redrawn logically or loosely, or particular things cleared with consistency or caprice, a line has been drawn somewhere and a clearance has been made somehow. the ancient plan of our city has been saved; a city at least capable of containing citizens. i felt this in the chance relics of the war itself; i felt it twenty times more in those older relics which even the war had never touched at all; i felt the change as much in the changeless east as in the ever-changing west. i felt it when i crossed another great square in paris to look at a certain statue, which i had last seen hung with crape and such garlands as we give the dead; but on whose plain pedestal nothing now is left but the single word "strasbourg." i felt it when i saw words merely scribbled with a pencil on a wall in a poor street in brindisi; _italia vittoriosa_. but i felt it as much or even more in things infinitely more ancient and remote; in those monuments like mountains that still seem to look down upon all modern things. for these things were more than a trophy that had been raised, they were a palladium that had been rescued. these were the things that had again been saved from chaos, as they were saved at salamis and lepanto; and i knew what had saved them or at least in what formation they had been saved. i knew that these scattered splendours of antiquity would hardly have descended to us at all, to be endangered or delivered, if all that pagan world had not crystallised into christendom. crossing seas as smooth as pavements inlaid with turquoise and lapis lazuli, and relieved with marble mountains as clear and famous as marble statues, it was easy to feel all that had been pure and radiant even in the long evening of paganism; but that did not make me forget what strong stars had comforted the inevitable night. the historical moral was the same whether these marble outlines were merely "the isles" seen afar off like sunset clouds by the hebrew prophets, or were felt indeed as hellas, the great archipelago of arts and arms praised by the greek poets; the historic heritage of both descended only to the greek fathers. in those wild times and places, the thing that preserved both was the only thing that would have permanently preserved either. it was but part of the same story when we passed the hoary hills that held the primeval culture of crete, and remembered that it may well have been the first home of the philistines. it mattered the less by now whether the pagans were best represented by poseidon the deity or by dagon the demon. it mattered the less what gods had blessed the greeks in their youth and liberty; for i knew what god had blessed them in their despair. i knew by what sign they had survived the long slavery under ottoman orientalism; and upon what name they had called in the darkness, when there was no light but the horned moon of mahound. if the glory of greece has survived in some sense, i knew why it had ever survived in any sense. nor did this feeling of our fixed formation fail me when i came to the very gates of asia and of africa; when there rose out of the same blue seas the great harbour of alexandria; where had shone the pharos like the star of hellas, and where men had heard from the lips of hypatia the last words of plato. i know the christians tore hypatia in pieces; but they did not tear plato in pieces. the wild men that rode behind omar the arab would have thought nothing of tearing every page of plato in pieces. for it is the nature of all this outer nomadic anarchy that it is capable sooner or later of tearing anything and everything in pieces; it has no instinct of preservation or of the permanent needs of men. where it has passed the ruins remain ruins and are not renewed; where it has been resisted and rolled back, the links of our long history are never lost. as i went forward the vision of our own civilisation, in the form in which it finally found unity, grew clearer and clearer; nor did i ever know it more certainly than when i had left it behind. for the vision was that of a shape appearing and reappearing among shapeless things; and it was a shape i knew. the imagination was forced to rise into altitudes infinitely ancient and dizzy with distance, as if into the cold colours of primeval dawns, or into the upper strata and dead spaces of a daylight older than the sun and moon. but the character of that central clearance still became clearer and clearer. and my memory turned again homewards; and i thought it was like the vision of a man flying from northolt, over that little market-place beside my own door; who can see nothing below him but a waste as of grey forests, and the pale pattern of a cross. chapter ii the way of the desert it may truly be said, touching the type of culture at least, that egypt has an egyptian lower class, a french middle class and an english governing class. anyhow it is true that the civilisations are stratified in this formation, or superimposed in this order. it is the first impression produced by the darkness and density of the bazaars, the line of the lighted cafes and the blaze of the big hotels. but it contains a much deeper truth in all three cases, and especially in the case of the french influence. it is indeed one of the first examples of what i mean by the divisions of the west becoming clearer in the ancient centres of the east. it is often said that we can only appreciate the work of england in a place like india. in so far as this is true, it is quite equally true that we can only appreciate the work of france in a place like egypt. but this work is of a peculiar and even paradoxical kind. it is too practical to be prominent, and so universal that it is unnoticed. the french view of the rights of man is called visionary; but in practice it is very solid and even prosaic. the french have a unique and successful trick by which french things are not accepted as french. they are accepted as human. however many foreigners played football, they would still consider football an english thing. but they do not consider fencing a french thing, though all the terms of it are still french. if a frenchman were to label his hostelry an inn or a public house (probably written publicouse) we should think him a victim of rather advanced anglomania. but when an englishman calls it an hotel, we feel no special dread of him either as a dangerous foreigner or a dangerous lunatic. we need not recognise less readily the value of this because our own distinction is different; especially as our own distinction is being more distinguished. the spirit of the english is adventure; and it is the essence of adventure that the adventurer does remain different from the strange tribes or strange cities, which he studies because of their strangeness. he does not become like them, as did some of the germans, or persuade them to become like him, as do most of the french. but whether we like or dislike this french capacity, or merely appreciate it properly in its place, there can be no doubt about the cause of that capacity. the cause is in the spirit that is so often regarded as wildly utopian and unreal. the cause is in the abstract creed of equality and citizenship; in the possession of a political philosophy that appeals to all men. in truth men have never looked low enough for the success of the french revolution. they have assumed that it claims to be a sort of divine and distant thing, and therefore have not noticed it in the nearest and most materialistic things. they have watched its wavering in the senate and never seen it walking in the streets; though it can be seen in the streets of cairo as in the streets of paris. in cairo a man thinks it english to go into a tea-shop; but he does not think it french to go into a cafe. and the people who go to the tea-shop, the english officers and officials, are stamped as english and also stamped as official. they are generally genial, they are generally generous, but they have the detachment of a governing group and even a garrison. they cannot be mistaken for human beings. the people going to a cafe are simply human beings going to it because it is a human place. they have forgotten how much is french and how much egyptian in their civilisation; they simply think of it as civilisation. now this character of the older french culture must be grasped because it is the clue to many things in the mystery of the modern east. i call it an old culture because as a matter of fact it runs back to the roman culture. in this respect the gauls really continue the work of the romans, in making something official which comes at last to be regarded as ordinary. and the great fundamental fact which is incessantly forgotten and ought to be incessantly remembered, about these cities and provinces of the near east, is that they were once as roman as gaul. there is a frivolous and fanciful debate i have often had with a friend, about whether it is better to find one's way or to lose it, to remember the road or to forget it. i am so constituted as to be capable of losing my way in my own village and almost in my own house. and i am prepared to maintain the privilege to be a poetic one. in truth i am prepared to maintain that both attitudes are valuable, and should exist side by side. and so my friend and i walk side by side along the ways of the world, he being full of a rich and humane sentiment, because he remembers passing that way a few hundred times since his childhood; while to me existence is a perpetual fairy-tale, because i have forgotten all about it. the lamp-post which moves him to a tear of reminiscence wrings from me a cry of astonishment; and the wall which to him is as historic as a pyramid is to me as arresting and revolutionary as a barricade. now in this, i am glad to say, my temperament is very english; and the difference is very typical of the two functions of the english and the french. but in practical politics the french have a certain advantage in knowing where they are, and knowing it is where they have been before. it is in the roman empire. the position of the english in egypt or even in palestine is something of a paradox. the real english claim is never heard in england and never uttered by englishmen. we do indeed hear a number of false english claims, and other english claims that are rather irrelevant than false. we hear pompous and hypocritical suggestions, full of that which so often accompanies the sin of pride, the weakness of provinciality. we hear suggestions that the english alone can establish anywhere a reign of law, justice, mercy, purity and all the rest of it. we also hear franker and fairer suggestions that the english have after all (as indeed they have) embarked on a spirited and stirring adventure; and that there has been a real romance in the extending of the british empire in strange lands. but the real case for these semi-eastern occupations is not that of extending the british empire in strange lands. rather it is restoring the roman empire in familiar lands. it is not merely breaking out of europe in the search for something non-european. it would be much truer to call it putting europe together again after it had been broken. it may almost be said of the britons, considered as the most western of europeans, that they have so completely forgotten their own history that they have forgotten even their own rights. at any rate they have forgotten the claims that could reasonably be made for them, but which they never think of making for themselves. they have not the faintest notion, for instance, of why hundreds of years ago an english saint was taken from egypt, or why an english king was fighting in palestine. they merely have a vague idea that george of cappadocia was naturalised much in the same way as george of hanover. they almost certainly suppose that coeur de lion in his wanderings happened to meet the king of egypt, as captain cook might happen to meet the king of the cannibal islands. to understand the past connection of england with the near east, it is necessary to understand something that lies behind europe and even behind the roman empire; something that can only be conveyed by the name of the mediterranean. when people talk, for instance, as if the crusades were nothing more than an aggressive raid against islam, they seem to forget in the strangest way that islam itself was only an aggressive raid against the old and ordered civilisation in these parts. i do not say it in mere hostility to the religion of mahomet; as will be apparent later, i am fully conscious of many values and virtues in it; but certainly it was islam that was the invasion and christendom that was the thing invaded. an arabian gentleman found riding on the road to paris or hammering on the gates of vienna can hardly complain that we have sought him out in his simple tent in the desert. the conqueror of sicily and spain cannot reasonably express surprise at being an object of morbid curiosity to the people of italy and france. in the city of cairo the stranger feels many of the moslem merits, but he certainly feels the militaristic character of the moslem glories. the crown of the city is the citadel, built by the great saladin but of the spoils of ancient egyptian architecture; and that fact is in its turn very symbolical. the man was a great conqueror, but he certainly behaved like an invader; he spoiled the egyptians. he broke the old temples and tombs and built his own out of fragments. nor is this the only respect in which the citadel of cairo is set high like a sign in heaven. the sign is also significant because from this superb height the traveller first beholds the desert, out of which the great conquest came. every one has heard the great story of the greeks who cried aloud in triumph when they saw the sea afar off; but it is a stranger experience to see the earth afar off. and few of us, strictly speaking, have ever seen the earth at all. in cultivated countries it is always clad, as it were, in green garments. the first sight of the desert is like the sight of a naked giant in the distance. the image is all the more natural because of the particular formation which it takes, at least as it borders upon the fields of egypt, and as it is seen from the high places of cairo. those who have seen the desert only in pictures generally think of it as entirely flat. but this edge of it at least stands up on the horizon, as a line of wrinkled and hollow hills like the scalps of bald men; or worse, of bald women. for it is impossible not to think of such repulsive images, in spite of real sublimity of the call to the imagination. there is something curiously hostile and inhuman about the first appearance of the motionless surges of that dry and dreadful sea. afterwards, if the traveller has happened to linger here and there in the outposts of the desert, has seen the british camp at kantara or the graceful french garden town of ismalia, he comes to take the desert as a background, and sometimes a beautiful background; a mirror of mighty reflections and changing colours almost as strange as the colours of the sea. but when it is first seen abutting, and as it were, advancing, upon the fields and gardens of humanity, then it looks indeed like an enemy, or a long line of enemies; like a line of tawny wild beasts thus halted with their heads lifted. it is the feeling that such vain and sterile sand can yet make itself into something like a mountain range; and the traveller remembers all the tragedies of the desert, when he lifts up his eyes to those accursed hills, from whence no help can come. but this is only a first glimpse from a city set among green fields; and is concerned rather with what the desert has been in its relation to men than with what the desert is in itself. when the mind has grown used to its monotony, a curious change takes place which i have never seen noted or explained by the students of mental science. it may sound strange to say that monotony of its nature becomes novelty. but if any one will try the common experiment of saying some ordinary word such as "moon" or "man" about fifty times, he will find that the expression has become extraordinary by sheer repetition. a man has become a strange animal with a name as queer as that of the gnu; and the moon something monstrous like the moon-calf. something of this magic of monotony is effected by the monotony of deserts; and the traveller feels as if he had entered into a secret, and was looking at everything from another side. something of this simplification appears, i think, in the religions of the desert, especially in the religion of islam. it explains something of the super-human hopes that fill the desert prophets concerning the future; it explains something also about their barbarous indifference to the past. we think of the desert and its stones as old; but in one sense they are unnaturally new. they are unused, and perhaps unusable. they might be the raw material of a world; only they are so raw as to be rejected. it is not easy to define this quality of something primitive, something not mature enough to be fruitful. indeed there is a hard simplicity about many eastern things that is as much crude as archaic. a palm-tree is very like a tree drawn by a child--or by a very futurist artist. even a pyramid is like a mathematical figure drawn by a schoolmaster teaching children; and its very impressiveness is that of an ultimate platonic abstraction. there is something curiously simple about the shape in which these colossal crystals of the ancient sands have been cast. it is only when we have felt something of this element, not only of simplicity, but of crudity, and even in a sense of novelty, that we can begin to understand both the immensity and the insufficiency of that power that came out of the desert, the great religion of mahomet. in the red circle of the desert, in the dark and secret place, the prophet discovers the obvious things. i do not say it merely as a sneer, for obvious things are very easily forgotten; and indeed every high civilisation decays by forgetting obvious things. but it is true that in such a solitude men tend to take very simple ideas as if they were entirely new ideas. there is a love of concentration which comes from the lack of comparison. the lonely man looking at the lonely palm-tree does see the elementary truths about the palm-tree; and the elementary truths are very essential. thus he does see that though the palm-tree may be a very simple design, it was not he who designed it. it may look like a tree drawn by a child, but he is not the child who could draw it. he has not command of that magic slate on which the pictures can come to life, or of that magic green chalk of which the green lines can grow. he sees at once that a power is at work in whose presence he and the palm-tree are alike little children. in other words, he is intelligent enough to believe in god; and the moslem, the man of the desert, is intelligent enough to believe in god. but his belief is lacking in that humane complexity that comes from comparison. the man looking at the palm-tree does realise the simple fact that god made it; while the man looking at the lamp-post in a large modern city can be persuaded by a hundred sophistical circumlocutions that he made it himself. but the man in the desert cannot compare the palm-tree with the lamp-post, or even with all the other trees which may be better worth looking at than the lamp-post. hence his religion, though true as far as it goes, has not the variety and vitality of the churches that were designed by men walking in the woods and orchards. i speak here of the moslem type of religion and not of the oriental type of ornament, which is much older than the moslem type of religion. but even the oriental type of ornament, admirable as it often is, is to the ornament of a gothic cathedral what a fossil forest is to a forest full of birds. in short, the man of the desert tends to simplify too much, and to take his first truth for the last truth. and as it is with religion so it is with morality. he who believes in the existence of god believes in the equality of man. and it has been one of the merits of the moslem faith that it felt men as men, and was not incapable of welcoming men of many different races. but here again it was so hard and crude that its very equality was like a desert rather than a field. its very humanity was inhuman. but though this human sentiment is rather rudimentary it is very real. when a man in the desert meets another man, he is really a man; the proverbial two-legged fowl without feathers. he is an absolute and elementary shape, like the palm-tree or the pyramid. the discoverer does not pause to consider through what gradations he may have been evolved from a camel. when the man is a mere dot in the distance, the other man does not shout at him and ask whether he had a university education, or whether he is quite sure he is purely teutonic and not celtic or iberian. a man is a man; and a man is a very important thing. one thing redeems the moslem morality which can be set over against a mountain of crimes; a considerable deposit of common sense. and the first fact of common sense is the common bond of men. there is indeed in the moslem character also a deep and most dangerous potentiality of fanaticism of the menace of which something may be said later. fanaticism sounds like the flat contrary of common sense; yet curiously enough they are both sides of the same thing. the fanatic of the desert is dangerous precisely because he does take his faith as a fact, and not even as a truth in our more transcendental sense. when he does take up a mystical idea he takes it as he takes the man or the palm-tree; that is, quite literally. when he does distinguish somebody not as a man but as a moslem, then he divides the moslem from the non-moslem exactly as he divides the man from the camel. but even then he recognises the equality of men in the sense of the equality of moslems. he does not, for instance, complicate his conscience with any sham science about races. in this he has something like an intellectual advantage over the jew, who is generally so much his intellectual superior; and even in some ways his spiritual superior. the jew has far more moral imagination and sympathy with the subtler ideals of the soul. for instance, it is said that many jews disbelieve in a future life; but if they did believe in a future life, it would be something more worthy of the genius of isaiah and spinoza. the moslem paradise is a very earthly paradise. but with all their fine apprehensions, the jews suffer from one heavy calamity; that of being a chosen race. it is the vice of any patriotism or religion depending on race that the individual is himself the thing to be worshipped; the individual is his own ideal, and even his own idol. this fancy was fatal to the germans; it is fatal to the anglo-saxons, whenever any of them forswear the glorious name of englishmen and americans to fall into that forlorn description. this is not so when the nation is felt as a noble abstraction, of which the individual is proud in the abstract. a frenchman is proud of france, and therefore may think himself unworthy of france. but a german is proud of being a german; and he cannot be too unworthy to be a german when he is a german. in short, mere family pride flatters every member of the family; it produced the arrogance of the germans, and it is capable of producing a much subtler kind of arrogance in the jews. from this particular sort of self-deception the more savage man of the desert is free. if he is not considering somebody as a moslem, he will consider him as a man. at the price of something like barbarism, he has at least been saved from ethnology. but here again the obvious is a limit as well as a light to him. it does not permit, for instance, anything fine or subtle in the sentiment of sex. islam asserts admirably the equality of men; but it is the equality of males. no one can deny that a noble dignity is possible even to the poorest, who has seen the arabs coming in from the desert to the cities of palestine or egypt. no one can deny that men whose rags are dropping off their backs can bear themselves in a way befitting kings or prophets in the great stories of scripture. no one can be surprised that so many fine artists have delighted to draw such models on the spot, and to make realistic studies for illustrations to the old and new testaments. on the road to cairo one may see twenty groups exactly like that of the holy family in the pictures of the flight into egypt; with only one difference. the man is riding on the ass. in the east it is the male who is dignified and even ceremonial. possibly that is why he wears skirts. i pointed out long ago that petticoats, which some regard as a garb of humiliation for women are really regarded as the only garb of magnificence for men, when they wish to be something more than men. they are worn by kings, by priests, and by judges. the male moslem, especially in his own family, is the king and the priest and the judge. i do not mean merely that he is the master, as many would say of the male in many western societies, especially simple and self-governing societies. i mean something more; i mean that he has not only the kingdom and the power but the glory, and even as it were the glamour. i mean he has not only the rough leadership that we often give to the man, but the special sort of social beauty and stateliness that we generally expect only of the woman. what we mean when we say that an ambitious man wants to have a fine woman at the head of the dinner-table, that the moslem world really means when it expects to see a fine man at the head of the house. even in the street he is the peacock, coloured much more splendidly than the peahen. even when clad in comparatively sober and partly european costume, as outside the cafes of cairo and the great cities, he exhibits this indefinable character not merely of dignity but of pomp. it can be traced even in the tarbouch, the minimum of turkish attire worn by all the commercial classes; the thing more commonly called in england a fez. the fez is not a sort of smoking cap. it is a tower of scarlet often tall enough to be the head-dress of a priest. and it is a hat one cannot take off to a lady. this fact is familiar enough in talk about moslem and oriental life generally; but i only repeat it in order to refer it back to the same simplification which is the advantage and disadvantage of the philosophy of the desert. chivalry is not an obvious idea. it is not as plain as a pike-staff or as a palm-tree. it is a delicate balance between the sexes which gives the rarest and most poetic kind of pleasure to those who can strike it. but it is not self-evident to a savage merely because he is also a sane man. it often seems to him as much a part of his own coarse common sense that all the fame and fun should go to the sex that is stronger and less tied, as that all the authority should go to the parents rather than the children. pity for weakness he can understand; and the moslem is quite capable of giving royal alms to a cripple or an orphan. but reverence for weakness is to him simply meaningless. it is a mystical idea that is to him no more than a mystery. but the same is true touching what may be called the lighter side of the more civilised sentiment. this hard and literal view of life gives no place for that slight element of a magnanimous sort of play-acting, which has run through all our tales of true lovers in the west. wherever there is chivalry there is courtesy; and wherever there is courtesy there is comedy. there is no comedy in the desert. another quite logical and consistent element, in the very logical and consistent creed we call mahometanism, is the element that we call vandalism. since such few and obvious things alone are vital, and since a half-artistic half-antiquarian affection is not one of these things, and cannot be called obvious, it is largely left out. it is very difficult to say in a few well-chosen words exactly what is now the use of the pyramids. therefore saladin, the great saracen warrior, simply stripped the pyramids to build a military fortress on the heights of cairo. it is a little difficult to define exactly what is a man's duty to the sphinx; and therefore the mamelukes used it entirely as a target. there was little in them of that double feeling, full of pathos and irony, which divided the hearts of the primitive christians in presence of the great pagan literature and art. this is not concerned with brutal outbreaks of revenge which may be found on both sides, or with chivalrous caprices of toleration, which may also be found on both sides; it is concerned with the inmost mentality of the two religions, which must be understood in order to do justice to either. the moslem mind never tended to that mystical mode of "loving yet leaving" with which augustine cried aloud upon the ancient beauty, or dante said farewell to virgil when he left him in the limbo of the pagans. the moslem traditions, unlike the medieval legends, do not suggest the image of a knight who kissed venus before he killed her. we see in all the christian ages this combination which is not a compromise, but rather a complexity made by two contrary enthusiasms; as when the dark ages copied out the pagan poems while denying the pagan legends; or when the popes of the renascence imitated the greek temples while denying the greek gods. this high inconsistency is inconsistent with islam. islam, as i have said, takes everything literally, and does not know how to play with anything. and the cause of the contrast is the historical cause of which we must be conscious in all studies of this kind. the christian church had from a very early date the idea of reconstructing a whole civilisation, and even a complex civilisation. it was the attempt to make a new balance, which differed from the old balance of the stoics of rome; but which could not afford to lose its balance any more than they. it differed because the old system was one of many religions under one government, while the new was one of many governments under one religion. but the idea of variety in unity remained though it was in a sense reversed. a historical instinct made the men of the new europe try hard to find a place for everything in the system, however much might be denied to the individual. christians might lose everything, but christendom, if possible, must not lose anything. the very nature of islam, even at its best, was quite different from this. nobody supposed, even subconsciously, that mahomet meant to restore ancient babylon as medievalism vaguely sought to restore ancient rome. nobody thought that the builders of the mosque of omar had looked at the pyramids as the builders of st. peter's might have looked at the parthenon. islam began at the beginning; it was content with the idea that it had a great truth; as indeed it had a colossal truth. it was so huge a truth that it was hard to see it was a half-truth. islam was a movement; that is why it has ceased to move. for a movement can only be a mood. it may be a very necessary movement arising from a very noble mood, but sooner or later it must find its level in a larger philosophy, and be balanced against other things. islam was a reaction towards simplicity; it was a violent simplification, which turned out to be an over-simplification. stevenson has somewhere one of his perfectly picked phrases for an empty-minded man; that he has not one thought to rub against another while he waits for a train. the moslem had one thought, and that a most vital one; the greatness of god which levels all men. but the moslem had not one thought to rub against another, because he really had not another. it is the friction of two spiritual things, of tradition and invention, or of substance and symbol, from which the mind takes fire. the creeds condemned as complex have something like the secret of sex; they can breed thoughts. an idealistic intellectual remarked recently that there were a great many things in the creed for which he had no use. he might just as well have said that there were a great many things in the _encyclopedia britannica_ for which he had no use. it would probably have occurred to him that the work in question was meant for humanity and not for him. but even in the case of the _encyclopedia_, it will often be found a stimulating exercise to read two articles on two widely different subjects and note where they touch. in fact there is really a great deal to be said for the man in _pickwick_ who read first about china and then about metaphysics and combined his information. but however this may be in the famous case of chinese metaphysics, it is this which is chiefly lacking in arabian metaphysics. they suffer, as i have said of the palm-tree in the desert, from a lack of the vitality that comes from complexity, and of the complexity that comes from comparison. they suffer from having been in a single movement in a single direction; from having begun as a mood and ended rather as a mode, that is a mere custom or fashion. but any modern christian thus criticising the moslem movement will do well to criticise himself and his world at the same time. for in truth most modern things are mere movements in the same sense as the moslem movement. they are at best fashions, in which one thing is exaggerated because it has been neglected. they are at worst mere monomanias, in which everything is neglected that one thing may be exaggerated. good or bad, they are alike movements which in their nature can only move for a certain distance and then stop. feminism, for instance, is in its nature a movement, and one that must stop somewhere. but the suffragettes no more established a philosophy of the sexes by their feminism than the arabs did by their anti-feminism. a woman can find her home on the hustings even less than in the harem; but such movements do not really attempt to find a final home for anybody or anything. bolshevism is a movement; and in my opinion a very natural and just movement considered as a revolt against the crude cruelty of capitalism. but when we find the bolshevists making a rule that the drama "must encourage the proletarian spirit," it is obvious that those who say so are not only maniacs but, what is more to the point here, are monomaniacs. imagine having to apply that principle, let us say, to "charley's aunt." none of these things seek to establish a complete philosophy such as aquinas founded on aristotle. the only two modern men who attempted it were comte and herbert spencer. spencer, i think, was too small a man to do it at all; and comte was a great enough man to show how difficult it is to do it in modern times. none of these movements can do anything but move; they have not discovered where to rest. and this fact brings us back to the man of the desert, who moves and does not rest; but who has many superiorities to the restless races of the industrial city. men who have been in the manchester movement in and the fabian movement in cannot sneer at a religious mood that lasted for eight hundred years. and those who tolerate the degraded homelessness of the slums cannot despise the much more dignified homelessness of the desert. nevertheless, the thing is a homelessness and not a home; and there runs through it all the note of the nomad. the moslem takes literally, as he takes everything, the truth that here we have no abiding city. he can see no meaning in the mysticism of materialism, the sacramental idea that a french poet expressed so nobly, when he said that our earthly city is the body of the city of god. he has no true notion of building a house, or in our western sense of recognising the kindred points of heaven and home. even the exception to this rule is an exception at once terrible and touching. there is one house that the moslem does build like a house and even a home, often with walls and roof and door; as square as a cottage, as solid as a fort. and that is his grave. a moslem cemetery is literally like a little village. it is a village, as the saying goes, that one would not care to walk through at night. there is something singularly creepy about so strange a street of houses, each with a door that might be opened by a dead man. but in a less fanciful sense, there is about it something profoundly pathetic and human. here indeed is the sailor home from sea, in the only port he will consent to call his home; here at last the nomad confesses the common need of men. but even about this there broods the presence of the desert and its dry bones of reason. he will accept nothing between a tent and a tomb. the philosophy of the desert can only begin over again. it cannot grow; it cannot have what protestants call progress and catholics call development. there is death and hell in the desert when it does begin over again. there is always the possibility that a new prophet will rediscover the old truth; will find again written on the red sands the secret of the obvious. but it will always be the same secret, for which thousands of these simple and serious and splendidly valiant men will die. the highest message of mahomet is a piece of divine tautology. the very cry that god is god is a repetition of words, like the repetitions of wide sands and rolling skies. the very phrase is like an everlasting echo, that can never cease to say the same sacred word; and when i saw afterwards the mightiest and most magnificent of all the mosques of that land, i found that its inscriptions had the same character of a deliberate and defiant sameness. the ancient arabic alphabet and script is itself at once so elegant and so exact that it can be used as a fixed ornament, like the egg and dart pattern or the greek key. it is as if we could make a heraldry of handwriting, or cover a wall-paper with signatures. but the literary style is as recurrent as the decorative style; perhaps that is why it can be used as a decorative style. phrases are repeated again and again like ornamental stars or flowers. many modern people, for example, imagine that the athanasian creed is full of vain repetitions; but that is because people are too lazy to listen to it, or not lucid enough to understand it. the same terms are used throughout, as they are in a proposition of euclid. but the steps are all as differentiated and progressive as in a proposition of euclid. but in the inscriptions of the mosque whole sentences seem to occur, not like the steps of an argument, but rather like the chorus of a song. this is the impression everywhere produced by this spirit of the sandy wastes; this is the voice of the desert, though the muezzin cries from the high turrets of the city. indeed one is driven to repeating oneself about the repetition, so overpowering is the impression of the tall horizons of those tremendous plains, brooding upon the soul with all the solemn weight of the self-evident. there is indeed another aspect of the desert, yet more ancient and momentous, of which i may speak; but here i only deal with its effect on this great religion of simplicity. for it is through the atmosphere of that religion that a man makes his way, as so many pilgrims have done, to the goal of this pilgrimage. also this particular aspect remained the more sharply in my memory because of the suddenness with which i escaped from it. i had not expected the contrast; and it may have coloured all my after experiences. i descended from the desert train at ludd, which had all the look of a large camp in the desert; appropriately enough perhaps, for it is the traditional birthplace of the soldier st. george. at the moment, however, there was nothing rousing or romantic about its appearance. it was perhaps unusually dreary; for heavy rain had fallen; and the water stood about in what it is easier to call large puddles than anything so poetic as small pools. a motor car sent by friends had halted beside the platform; i got into it with a not unusual vagueness about where i was going; and it wound its way up miry paths to a more rolling stretch of country with patches of cactus here and there. and then with a curious abruptness i became conscious that the whole huge desert had vanished, and i was in a new land. the dark red plains had rolled away like an enormous nightmare; and i found myself in a fresh and exceedingly pleasant dream. i know it will seem fanciful; but for a moment i really felt as if i had come home; or rather to that home behind home for which we are all homesick. the lost memory of it is the life at once of faith and of fairy-tale. groves glowing with oranges rose behind hedges of grotesque cactus or prickly pear; which really looked like green dragons guarding the golden apples of the hesperides. on each side of the road were such flowers as i had never seen before under the sun; for indeed they seemed to have the sun in them rather than the sun on them. clusters and crowds of crimson anemones were of a red not to be symbolised in blood or wine; but rather in the red glass that glows in the window dedicated to a martyr. only in a wild eastern tale could one picture a pilgrim or traveller finding such a garden in the desert; and i thought of the oldest tale of all and the garden from which we came. but there was something in it yet more subtle; which there must be in the impression of any earthly paradise. it is vital to such a dream that things familiar should be mixed with things fantastic; as when an actual dream is filled with the faces of old friends. sparrows, which seem to be the same all over the world, were darting hither and thither among the flowers; and i had the fancy that they were the souls of the town-sparrows of london and the smoky cities, and now gone wherever the good sparrows go. and a little way up the road before me, on the hill between the cactus hedges, i saw a grey donkey trotting; and i could almost have sworn that it was the donkey i had left at home. he was trotting on ahead of me, and the outline of his erect and elfish ears was dark against the sky. he was evidently going somewhere with great determination; and i thought i knew to what appropriate place he was going, and that it was my fate to follow him like a moving omen. i lost sight of him later, for i had to complete the journey by train; but the train followed the same direction, which was up steeper and steeper hills. i began to realise more clearly where i was; and to know that the garden in the desert that had bloomed so suddenly about me had borne for many desert wanderers the name of the promised land. as the rocks rose higher and higher on every side, and hung over us like terrible and tangible clouds, i saw in the dim grass of the slopes below them something i had never seen before. it was a rainbow fallen upon the earth, with no part of it against the sky, but only the grasses and the flowers shining through its fine shades of fiery colour. i thought this also was like an omen; and in such a mood of idle mysticism there fell on me another accident which i was content to count for a third. for when the train stopped at last in the rain, and there was no other vehicle for the last lap of the journey, a very courteous officer, an army surgeon, gave me a seat in an ambulance wagon; and it was under the shield of the red cross that i entered jerusalem. for suddenly, between a post of the wagon and a wrack of rainy cloud i saw it, uplifted and withdrawn under all the arching heavens of its history, alone with its benediction and its blasphemy, the city that is set upon a hill, and cannot be hid. chapter iii the gates of the city the men i met coming from jerusalem reported all sorts of contradictory impressions; and yet my own impression contradicted them all. their impressions were doubtless as true as mine; but i describe my own because it is true, and because i think it points to a neglected truth about the real jerusalem. i need not say i did not expect the real jerusalem to be the new jerusalem; a city of charity and peace, any more than a city of chrysolite and pearl. i might more reasonably have expected an austere and ascetic place, oppressed with the weight of its destiny, with no inns except monasteries, and these sealed with the terrible silence of the trappists; an awful city where men speak by signs in the street. i did not need the numberless jokes about jerusalem to-day, to warn me against expecting this; anyhow i did not expect it, and certainly i did not find it. but neither did i find what i was much more inclined to expect; something at the other extreme. many reports had led me to look for a truly cosmopolitan town, that is a truly conquered town. i looked for a place like cairo, containing indeed old and interesting things, but open on every side to new and vulgar things; full of the touts who seem only created for the tourists and the tourists who seem only created for the touts. there may be more of this in the place than pleases those who would idealise it. but i fancy there is much less of it than is commonly supposed in the reaction from such an ideal. it does not, like cairo, offer the exciting experience of twenty guides fighting for one traveller; of young turks drinking american cocktails as a protest against christian wine. the town is quite inconvenient enough to make it a decent place for pilgrims. or a stranger might have imagined a place even less western than cairo, one of those villages of palestine described in dusty old books of biblical research. he might remember drawings like diagrams representing a well or a wine-press, rather a dry well, so to speak, and a wine-press very difficult to associate with wine. these hard colourless outlines never did justice to the colour of the east, but even to give it the colour of the east would not do justice to jerusalem. if i had anticipated the bagdad of all our dreams, a maze of bazaars glowing with gorgeous wares, i should have been wrong again. there is quite enough of this vivid and varied colour in jerusalem, but it is not the first fact that arrests the attention, and certainly not the first that arrested mine. i give my own first impression as a fact, for what it is worth and exactly as it came. i did not expect it, and it was some time before i even understood it. as soon as i was walking inside the walls of jerusalem, i had an overwhelming impression that i was walking in the town of rye, where it looks across the flat sea-meadows towards winchelsea. as i tried to explain this eccentric sentiment to myself, i was conscious of another which at once completed and contradicted it. it was not only like a memory of rye, it was mixed with a memory of the mount st. michael, which stands among the sands of normandy on the other side of the narrow seas. the first part of the sensation is that the traveller, as he walks the stony streets between the walls, feels that he is inside a fortress. but it is the paradox of such a place that, while he feels in a sense that he is in a prison, he also feels that he is on a precipice. the sense of being uplifted, and set on a high place, comes to him through the smallest cranny, or most accidental crack in rock or stone; it comes to him especially through those long narrow windows in the walls of the old fortifications; those slits in the stone through which the medieval archers used their bows and the medieval artists used their eyes, with even greater success. those green glimpses of fields far below or of flats far away, which delight us and yet make us dizzy (by being both near and far) when seen through the windows of memling, can often be seen from the walls of jerusalem. then i remembered that in the same strips of medieval landscape could be seen always, here and there, a steep hill crowned with a city of towers. and i knew i had the mystical and double pleasure of seeing such a hill and standing on it. a city that is set upon a hill cannot be hid; but it is more strange when the hill cannot anywhere be hid, even from the citizen in the city. then indeed i knew that what i saw was jerusalem of the crusaders; or at least jerusalem of the crusades. it was a medieval town, with walls and gates and a citadel, and built upon a hill to be defended by bowmen. the greater part of the actual walls now standing were built by moslems late in the middle ages; but they are almost exactly like the walls that were being built by the christians at or before that time. the crusader edward, afterwards edward the first, reared such battlements far away among the rainy hills of wales. i do not know what elements were originally gothic or what originally saracenic. the crusaders and the saracens constantly copied each other while they combated each other; indeed it is a fact always to be found in such combats. it is one of the arguments against war that are really human, and therefore are never used by humanitarians. the curse of war is that it does lead to more international imitation; while in peace and freedom men can afford to have national variety. but some things in this country were certainly copied from the christian invaders, and even if they are not christian they are in many ways strangely european. the wall and gates which now stand, whatever stood before them and whatever comes after them, carry a memory of those men from the west who came here upon that wild adventure, who climbed this rock and clung to it so perilously from the victory of godfrey to the victory of saladin; and that is why this momentary eastern exile reminded me so strangely of the hill of rye and of home. i do not forget, of course, that all these visible walls and towers are but the battlements and pinnacles of a buried city, or of many buried cities. i do not forget that such buildings have foundations that are to us almost like fossils; the gigantic fossils of some other geological epoch. something may be said later of those lost empires whose very masterpieces are to us like petrified monsters. from this height, after long histories unrecorded, fell the forgotten idol of the jebusites, on that day when david's javelin-men scaled the citadel and carried through it, in darkness behind his coloured curtains, the god whose image had never been made by man. here was waged that endless war between the graven gods of the plain and the invisible god of the mountain; from here the hosts carrying the sacred fish of the philistines were driven back to the sea from which their worship came. those who worshipped on this hill had come out of bondage in egypt and went into bondage in babylon; small as was their country, there passed before them almost the whole pageant of the old pagan world. all its strange shapes and strong almost cruel colours remain in the records of their prophets; whose lightest phrase seems heavier than the pyramids of egypt; and whose very words are like winged bulls walking. all this historic or pre-historic interest may be touched on in its turn; but i am not dealing here with the historic secrets unearthed by the study of the place, but with the historic associations aroused by the sight of it. the traveller is in the position of that famous fantastic who tied his horse to a wayside cross in the snow, and afterward saw it dangling from the church-spire of what had been a buried city. but here the cross does not stand as it does on the top of a spire; but as it does on the top of an egyptian obelisk in rome,-- where the priests have put a cross on the top of the heathen monument; for fear it should walk. i entirely sympathise with their sentiment; and i shall try to suggest later why i think that symbol the logical culmination of heathen as well as christian things. the traveller in the traveller's tale looked up at last and saw, from the streets far below, the spire and cross dominating a gothic city. if i looked up in a vision and saw it dominating a babylonian city, that blocked the heavens with monstrous palaces and temples, i should still think it natural that it should dominate. but the point here is that what i saw above ground was rather the gothic town than the babylonian; and that it reminded me, if not specially of the cross, at least of the soldiers who took the cross. nor do i forget the long centuries that have passed over the place since these medieval walls were built, any more than the far more interesting centuries that passed before they were built. but any one taking exception to the description on that ground may well realise, on consideration, that it is an exception that proves the rule. there is something very negative about turkish rule; and the best and worst of it is in the word neglect. everything that lived under the vague empire of constantinople remained in a state of suspended animation like something frozen rather than decayed, like something sleeping rather than dead. it was a sort of arabian spell, like that which turned princes and princesses into marble statues in the _arabian nights_. all that part of the history of the place is a kind of sleep; and that of a sleeper who hardly knows if he has slept an hour or a hundred years. when i first found myself in the jaffa gate of jerusalem, my eye happened to fall on something that might be seen anywhere, but which seemed somehow to have a curious significance there. most people are conscious of some common object which still strikes them as uncommon; as if it were the first fantastic sketch in the sketch-book of nature. i myself can never overcome the sense of something almost unearthly about grass growing upon human buildings. there is in it a wild and even horrible fancy, as if houses could grow hair. when i saw that green hair on the huge stone blocks of the citadel, though i had seen the same thing on any number of ruins, it came to me like an omen or a vision, a curious vision at once of chaos and of sleep. it is said that the grass will not grow where the turk sets his foot; but it is the other side of the same truth to say that it would grow anywhere but where it ought to grow. and though in this case it was but an accident and a symbol, it was a very true symbol. we talk of the green banner of the turk having been planted on this or that citadel; and certainly it was so planted with splendid valour and sensational victory. but this is the green banner that he plants on all his high cities in the end. therefore my immediate impression of the walls and gates was not contradicted by my consciousness of what came before and what came after that medieval period. it remained primarily a thing of walls and gates; a thing which the modern world does not perhaps understand so well as the medieval world. there is involved in it all that idea of definition which those who do not like it are fond of describing as dogma. a wall is like rule; and the gates are like the exceptions that prove the rule. the man making it has to decide where his rule will run and where his exception shall stand. he cannot have a city that is all gates any more than a house that is all windows; nor is it possible to have a law that consists entirely of liberties. the ancient races and religions that contended for this city agreed with each other in this, when they differed about everything else. it was true of practically all of them that when they built a city they built a citadel. that is, whatever strange thing they may have made, they regarded it as something to be defined and to be defended. and from this standpoint the holy city was a happy city; it had no suburbs. that is to say, there are all sorts of buildings outside the wall; but they are outside the wall. everybody is conscious of being inside or outside a boundary; but it is the whole character of the true suburbs which grow round our great industrial towns that they grow, as it were, unconsciously and blindly, like grass that covers up a boundary line traced on the earth. this indefinite expansion is controlled neither by the soul of the city from within, nor by the resistance of the lands round about. it destroys at once the dignity of a town and the freedom of a countryside. the citizens are too new and numerous for citizenship; yet they never learn what there is to be learned of the ancient traditions of agriculture. the first sight of the sharp outline of jerusalem is like a memory of the older types of limitation and liberty. happy is the city that has a wall; and happier still if it is a precipice. again, jerusalem might be called a city of staircases. many streets are steep and most actually cut into steps. it is, i believe, an element in the controversy about the cave at bethlehem traditionally connected with the nativity that the sceptics doubt whether any beasts of burden could have entered a stable that has to be reached by such steps. and indeed to any one in a modern city like london or liverpool it may well appear odd, like a cab-horse climbing a ladder. but as a matter of fact, if the asses and goats of jerusalem could not go up and downstairs, they could not go anywhere. however this may be, i mention the matter here merely as adding another touch to that angular profile which is the impression involved here. strangely enough, there is something that leads up to this impression even in the labyrinth of mountains through which the road winds its way to the city. the hills round jerusalem are themselves often hewn out in terraces, like a huge stairway. this is mostly for the practical and indeed profitable purpose of vineyards; and serves for a reminder that this ancient seat of civilisation has not lost the tradition of the mercy and the glory of the vine. but in outline such a mountain looks much like the mountain of purgatory that dante saw in his vision, lifted in terraces, like titanic steps up to god. and indeed this shape also is symbolic; as symbolic as the pointed profile of the holy city. for a creed is like a ladder, while an evolution is only like a slope. a spiritual and social evolution is generally a pretty slippery slope; a miry slope where it is very easy to slide down again. such is something like the sharp and even abrupt impression produced by this mountain city; and especially by its wall with gates like a house with windows. a gate, like a window, is primarily a picture-frame. the pictures that are found within the frame are indeed very various and sometimes very alien. within this frame-work are indeed to be found things entirely asiatic, or entirely moslem, or even entirely nomadic. but jerusalem itself is not nomadic. nothing could be less like a mere camp of tents pitched by arabs. nothing could be less like the mere chaos of colour in a temporary and tawdry bazaar. the arabs are there and the colours are there, and they make a glorious picture; but the picture is in a gothic frame, and is seen so to speak through a gothic window. and the meaning of all this is the meaning of all windows, and especially of gothic windows. it is that even light itself is most divine within limits; and that even the shining one is most shining, when he takes upon himself a shape. such a system of walls and gates, like many other things thought rude and primitive, is really very rationalistic. it turns the town, as it were, into a plan of itself, and even into a guide to itself. this is especially true, as may be suggested in a moment, regarding the direction of the roads leading out of it. but anyhow, a man must decide which way he will leave the city; he cannot merely drift out of the city as he drifts out of the modern cities through a litter of slums. and there is no better way to get a preliminary plan of the city than to follow the wall and fix the gates in the memory. suppose, for instance, that a man begins in the south with the zion gate, which bears the ancient name of jerusalem. this, to begin with, will sharpen the medieval and even the western impression first because it is here that he has the strongest sentiment of threading the narrow passages of a great castle; but also because the very name of the gate was given to this south-western hill by godfrey and tancred during the period of the latin kingdom. i believe it is one of the problems of the scholars why the latin conquerors called this hill the zion hill, when the other is obviously the sacred hill. jerusalem is traditionally divided into four hills, but for practical purposes into two; the lower eastern hill where stood the temple, and now stands the great mosque, and the western where is the citadel and the zion gate to the south of it. i know nothing of such questions; and i attach no importance to the notion that has crossed my own mind, and which i only mention in passing, for i have no doubt there are a hundred objections to it. but it is known that zion or sion was the old name of the place before it was stormed by david; and even afterwards the jebusites remained on this western hill, and some compromise seems to have been made with them. is it conceivable, i wonder, that even in the twelfth century there lingered some local memory of what had once been a way of distinguishing sion of the jebusites from salem of the jews? the zion gate, however, is only a starting-point here; if we go south-eastward from it we descend a steep and rocky path, from which can be caught the first and finest vision of what stands on the other hill to the east. the great mosque of omar stands up like a peacock, lustrous with mosaics that are like plumes of blue and green. scholars, i may say here, object to calling it the mosque of omar; on the petty and pedantic ground that it is not a mosque and was not built by omar. but it is my fixed intention to call it the mosque of omar, and with ever renewed pertinacity to continue calling it the mosque of omar. i possess a special permit from the grand mufti to call it the mosque of omar. he is the head of the whole moslem religion, and if he does not know, who does? he told me, in the beautiful french which matches his beautiful manners, that it really is not so ridiculous after all to call the place the mosque of omar, since the great caliph desired and even designed such a building, though he did not build it. i suppose it is rather as if solomon's temple had been called david's temple. omar was a great man and the mosque was a great work, and the two were telescoped together by the excellent common sense of vulgar tradition. there could not be a better example of that great truth for all travellers; that popular tradition is never so right as when it is wrong; and that pedantry is never so wrong as when it is right. and as for the other objection, that the dome of the rock (to give it its other name) is not actually used as a mosque, i answer that westminster abbey is not used as an abbey. but modern englishmen would be much surprised if i were to refer to it as westminster church; to say nothing of the many modern englishmen for whom it would be more suitable to call it westminster museum. and for whatever purposes the moslems may actually use their great and glorious sanctuary, at least they have not allowed it to become the private house of a particular rich man. and that is what we have suffered to happen, if not to westminster abbey, at least to welbeck abbey. the mosque of omar (i repeat firmly) stands on the great eastern plateau in place of the temple; and the wall that runs round to it on the south side of the city contains only the dung gate, on which the fancy need not linger. all along outside this wall the ground falls away into the southern valley; and upon the dreary and stony steep opposite is the place called acaldama. wall and valley turn together round the corner of the great temple platform, and confronting the eastern wall, across the ravine, is the mighty wall of the mount of olives. on this side there are several gates now blocked up, of which the most famous, the golden gate, carries in its very uselessness a testimony to the fallen warriors of the cross. for there is a strange moslem legend that through this gate, so solemnly sealed up, shall ride the christian king who shall again rule in jerusalem. in the middle of the square enclosure rises the great dark dome of the rock; and standing near it, a man may see for the first time in the distance, another dome. it lies away to the west, but a little to the north; and it is surmounted, not by a crescent but a cross. many heroes and holy kings have desired to see this thing, and have not seen it. it is very characteristic of the city, with its medieval medley and huddle of houses, that a man may first see the church of the holy sepulchre which is in the west, by going as far as possible to the east. all the sights are glimpses; and things far can be visible and things near invisible. the traveller comes on the moslem dome round a corner; and he finds the christian dome, as it were, behind his own back. but if he goes on round the wall to the north-east corner of the court of the temple, he will find the next entrance; the gate of st. stephen. on the slope outside, by a strange and suitable coincidence, the loose stones which lie on every side of the mountain city seemed to be heaped higher; and across the valley on the skirts of the mount of olives is the great grey olive of gethsemane. on the northern side the valley turns to an artificial trench, for the ground here is higher; and the next or northern gate bears the name of herod; though it might well bear the name either of godfrey or saladin. for just outside it stands a pine-tree, and beside it a rude bulk of stone; where stood these great captains in turn, before they took jerusalem. then the wall runs on till it comes to the great damascus gate, graven i know not why with great roses in a style wholly heraldic and occidental, and in no way likely to remind us of the rich roses of damascus; though their name has passed into our own english tongue and tradition, along with another word for the delicate decoration of the sword. but at the first glance, at any rate, it is hard to believe that the roses on the walls are not the western roses of york or lancaster, or that the swords which guarded them were not the straight swords of england or of france. doubtless a deeper and more solemn memory ought to return immediately to the mind where that gate looks down the great highway; as if one could see, hung over it in the sky for ever, the cloud concealing the sunburst that broods upon the road to damascus. but i am here only confessing the facts or fancies of my first impression; and again the fancy that came to me first was not of any such alien or awful things. i did not think of damask or damascene or the great arabian city or even the conversion of st. paul. i thought of my own little house in buckinghamshire, and how the edge of the country town where it stands is called aylesbury end, merely because it is the corner nearest to aylesbury. that is what i mean by saying that these ancient customs are more rational and even utilitarian than the fashions of modernity. when a street in a new suburb is called pretoria avenue, the clerk living there does not set out from his villa with the cheerful hope of finding the road lead him to pretoria. but the man leaving aylesbury end does know it would lead him to aylesbury; and the man going out at the damascus gate did know it would lead him to damascus. and the same is true of the next and last of the old entrances, the jaffa gate in the east; but when i saw that i saw something else as well. i have heard that there is a low doorway at the entrance to a famous shrine which is called the gate of humility; but indeed in this sense all gates are gates of humility, and especially gates of this kind. any one who has ever looked at a landscape under an archway will know what i mean, when i say that it sharpens a pleasure with a strange sentiment of privilege. it adds to the grace of distance something that makes it not only a grace but a gift. such are the visions of remote places that appear in the low gateways of a gothic town; as if each gateway led into a separate world; and almost as if each dome of sky were a different chamber. but he who walks round the walls of this city in this spirit will come suddenly upon an exception which will surprise him like an earthquake. it looks indeed rather like something done by an earthquake; an earthquake with a half-witted sense of humour. immediately at the side of one of these humble and human gateways there is a great gap in the wall, with a wide road running through it. there is something of unreason in the sight which affects the eye as well as the reason. it recalls some crazy tale about the great works of the wise men of gotham. it suggests the old joke about the man who made a small hole for the kitten as well as a large hole for the cat. everybody has read about it by this time; but the immediate impression of it is not merely an effect of reading or even of reasoning. it looks lop-sided; like something done by a one-eyed giant. but it was done by the last prince of the great prussian imperial system, in what was probably the proudest moment in all his life of pride. what is true has a way of sounding trite; and what is trite has a way of sounding false. we shall now probably weary the world with calling the germans barbaric, just as we very recently wearied the world with calling them cultured and progressive and scientific. but the thing is true though we say it a thousand times. and any one who wishes to understand the sense in which it is true has only to contemplate that fantasy and fallacy in stone; a gate with an open road beside it. the quality i mean, however, is not merely in that particular contrast; as of a front door standing by itself in an open field. it is also in the origin, the occasion and the whole story of the thing. there is above all this supreme stamp of the barbarian; the sacrifice of the permanent to the temporary. when the walls of the holy city were overthrown for the glory of the german emperor, it was hardly even for that everlasting glory which has been the vision and the temptation of great men. it was for the glory of a single day. it was something rather in the nature of a holiday than anything that could be even in the most vainglorious sense a heritage. it did not in the ordinary sense make a monument, or even a trophy. it destroyed a monument to make a procession. we might almost say that it destroyed a trophy to make a triumph. there is the true barbaric touch in this oblivion of what jerusalem would look like a century after, or a year after, or even the day after. it is this which distinguishes the savage tribe on the march after a victory from the civilised army establishing a government, even if it be a tyranny. hence the very effect of it, like the effect of the whole prussian adventure in history, remains something negative and even nihilistic. the christians made the church of the holy sepulchre and the moslems made the mosque of omar; but this is what the most scientific culture made at the end of the great century of science. it made an enormous hole. the only positive contribution of the nineteenth century to the spot is an unnaturally ugly clock, at the top of an ornamental tower, or a tower that was meant to be ornamental. it was erected, i believe, to commemorate the reign of abdul hamid; and it seems perfectly adapted to its purpose, like one of sir william watson's sonnets on the same subject. but this object only adds a touch of triviality to the much more tremendous negative effect of the gap by the gate. that remains a parable as well as a puzzle, under all the changing skies of day and night; with the shadows that gather tinder the narrow gate of humility; and beside it, blank as daybreak and abrupt as an abyss, the broad road that has led already to destruction. the gap remains like a gash, a sort of wound in the walls; but it only strengthens by contrast the general sense of their continuity. save this one angle where the nineteenth century has entered, the vague impression of the thirteenth or fourteenth century rather deepens than dies away. it is supported more than many would suppose even by the figures that appear in the gateways or pass in procession under the walls. the brown franciscans and the white dominicans would alone give some colour to a memory of the latin kingdom of jerusalem; and there are other examples and effects which are less easily imagined in the west. thus as i look down the street, i see coming out from under an archway a woman wearing a high white head-dress very like those we have all seen in a hundred pictures of tournaments or hunting parties, or the canterbury pilgrimage or the court of louis xi. she is as white as a woman of the north; and it is not, i think, entirely fanciful to trace a certain freedom and dignity in her movement, which is quite different at least from the shuffling walk of the shrouded moslem women. she is a woman of bethlehem, where a tradition, it is said, still claims as a heroic heritage the blood of the latin knights of the cross. this is, of course, but one aspect of the city; but it is one which may be early noted, yet one which is generally neglected. as i have said, i had expected many things of jerusalem, but i had not expected this. i had expected to be disappointed with it as a place utterly profaned and fallen below its mission. i had expected to be awed by it; indeed i had expected to be frightened of it, as a place dedicated and even doomed by its mission. but i had never fancied that it would be possible to be fond of it; as one might be fond of a little walled town among the orchards of normandy or the hop-fields of kent. and just then there happened a coincidence that was also something like a catastrophe. i was idly watching, as it moved down the narrow street to one of the dark doorways, the head-dress, like a tower of white drapery, belonging to the christian woman from the place where christ was born. after she had disappeared into the darkness of the porch i continued to look vaguely at the porch, and thought how easily it might have been a small gothic gate in some old corner of rouen, or even canterbury. in twenty such places in the town one may see the details that appeal to the same associations, so different and so distant. one may see that angular dogtooth ornament that makes the round norman gateways look like the gaping mouths of sharks. one may see the pointed niches in the walls, shaped like windows and serving somewhat the purpose of brackets, on which were to stand sacred images possibly removed by the moslems. one may come upon a small court planted with ornamental trees with some monument in the centre, which makes the precise impression of something in a small french town. there are no gothic spires, but there are numberless gothic doors and windows; and he who first strikes the place at this angle, as it were, may well feel the northern element as native and the eastern element as intrusive. while i was thinking all these things, something happened which in that place was almost a portent. it was very cold; and there were curious colours in the sky. there had been chilly rains from time to time; and the whole air seemed to have taken on something sharper than a chill. it was as if a door had been opened in the northern corner of the heavens; letting in something that changed all the face of the earth. great grey clouds with haloes of lurid pearl and pale-green were coming up from the plains or the sea and spreading over the towers of the city. in the middle of the moving mass of grey vapours was a splash of paler vapour; a wan white cloud whose white seemed somehow more ominous than gloom. it went over the high citadel like a white wild goose flying; and a few white feathers fell. it was the snow; and it snowed day and night until that eastern city was sealed up like a village in norway or northern scotland. it rose in the streets till men might almost have been drowned in it like a sea of solid foam. and the people of the place told me there had been no such thing seen in it in all recent records, or perhaps in the records of all its four thousand years. all this came later; but for me at the moment, looking at the scene in so dreamy a fashion, it seemed merely like a dramatic conclusion to my dream. it was but an accident confirming what was but an aspect. but it confirmed it with a strange and almost supernatural completeness. the white light out of the window in the north lay on all the roofs and turrets of the mountain town; for there is an aspect in which snow looks less like frozen water than like solidified light. as the snow accumulated there accumulated also everywhere those fantastic effects of frost which seem to fit in with the fantastic qualities of medieval architecture; and which make an icicle seem like the mere extension of a gargoyle. it was the atmosphere that has led so many romancers to make medieval paris a mere black and white study of night and snow. something had redrawn in silver all things from the rude ornament on the old gateways to the wrinkles on the ancient hills of moab. fields of white still spotted with green swept down into the valleys between us and the hills; and high above them the holy city lifted her head into the thunder-clouded heavens, wearing a white head-dress like a daughter of the crusaders. chapter iv the philosophy of sight-seeing various cultivated critics told me that i should find jerusalem disappointing; and i fear it will disappoint them that i am not disappointed. of the city as a city i shall try to say something elsewhere; but the things which these critics have especially in mind are at once more general and more internal. they concern something tawdry, squalid or superstitious about the shrines and those who use them. now the mistake of critics is not that they criticise the world; it is that they never criticise themselves. they compare the alien with the ideal; but they do not at the same time compare themselves with the ideal; rather they identify themselves with the ideal. i have met a tourist who had seen the great pyramid, and who told me that the pyramid looked small. believe me, the tourist looked much smaller. there is indeed another type of traveller, who is not at all small in the moral mental sense, who will confess such disappointments quite honestly, as a piece of realism about his own sensations. in that case he generally suffers from the defect of most realists; that of not being realistic enough. he does not really think out his own impressions thoroughly; or he would generally find they are not so disappointing after all. a humorous soldier told me that he came from derbyshire, and that he did not think much of the pyramid because it was not so tall as the peak. i pointed out to him that he was really offering the tallest possible tribute to a work of man in comparing it to a mountain; even if he thought it was a rather small mountain. i suggested that it was a rather large tombstone. i appealed to those with whom i debated in that district, as to whether they would not be faintly surprised to find such a monument during their quiet rambles in a country churchyard. i asked whether each one of them, if he had such a tombstone in the family, would not feel it natural, if hardly necessary, to point it out; and that with a certain pride. the same principle of the higher realism applies to those who are disappointed with the sight of the sphinx. the sphinx really exceeds expectations because it escapes expectations. monuments commonly look impressive when they are high and often when they are distant. the sphinx is really unexpected, because it is found suddenly in a hollow, and unnaturally near. its face is turned away; and the effect is as creepy as coming into a room apparently empty, and finding somebody as still as the furniture. or it is as if one found a lion couchant in that hole in the sand; as indeed the buried part of the monster is in the form of a couchant lion. if it was a real lion it would hardly be less arresting merely because it was near; nor could the first emotion of the traveller be adequately described as disappointment. in such cases there is generally some profit in looking at the monument a second time, or even at our own sensations a second time. so i reasoned, striving with wild critics in the wilderness; but the only part of the debate which is relevant here can be expressed in the statement that i do think the pyramid big, for the deep and simple reason that it is bigger than i am. i delicately suggested to those who were disappointed in the sphinx that it was just possible that the sphinx was disappointed in them. the sphinx has seen julius caesar; it has very probably seen st. francis, when he brought his flaming charity to egypt; it has certainly looked, in the first high days of the revolutionary victories, on the face of the young napoleon. is it not barely possible, i hinted to my friends and fellow-tourists, that after these experiences, it might be a little depressed at the sight of you and me? but as i say, i only reintroduce my remarks in connection with a greater matter than these dead things of the desert; in connection with a tomb to which even the pyramids are but titanic lumber, and a presence greater than the sphinx, since it is not only a riddle but an answer. before i go on to deeper defences of any such cult or culture, i wish first to note a sort of test for the first impressions of an ordinary tourist like myself, to whom much that is really full of an archaic strength may seem merely stiff, or much that really deals with a deep devotional psychology may seem merely distorted. in short i would put myself in the position of the educated englishman who does quite honestly receive a mere impression of idolatry. incidentally, i may remark, it is the educated englishman who is the idolater. it is he who only reverences the place, and does not reverence the reverence for the place. it is he who is supremely concerned about whether a mere object is old or new, or whether a mere ornament is gold or gilt. in other words, it is he who values the visible things rather than the invisible; for no sane man can doubt that invisible things are vivid to the priests and pilgrims of these shrines. in the midst of emotions that have moved the whole world out of its course, girt about with crowds who will die or do murder for a definition, the educated english gentleman in his blindness bows down to wood and stone. for the only thing wrong about that admirable man is that he is blind about himself. no man will really attempt to describe his feelings, when he first stood at the gateway of the grave of christ. the only record relevant here is that i did not feel the reaction, not to say repulsion, that many seem to have felt about its formal surroundings. either i was particularly fortunate or others are particularly fastidious. the guide who showed me the sepulchre was not particularly noisy or profane or palpably mercenary; he was rather more than less sympathetic than the same sort of man who might have shown me westminster abbey or stratford-on-avon. he was a small, solemn, owlish old man, a roman catholic in religion; but so far from deserving the charge of not knowing the bible, he deserved rather a gentle remonstrance against his assumption that nobody else knew it. if there was anything to smile at, in associations so sacred, it was the elaborate simplicity with which he told the first facts of the gospel story, as if he were evangelising a savage. anyhow, he did not talk like a cheap-jack at a stall; but rather like a teacher in an infant school. he made it very clear that jesus christ was crucified in case any one should suppose he was beheaded; and often stopped in his narrative to repeat that the hero of these events was jesus christ, lest we should fancy it was nebuchadnezzar or the duke of wellington. i do not in the least mind being amused at this; but i have no reason whatever for doubting that he may have been a better man than i. i gave him what i should have given a similar guide in my own country; i parted from him as politely as from one of my own countrymen. i also, of course, gave money, as is the custom, to the various monastic custodians of the shrines; but i see nothing surprising about that. i am not quite so ignorant as not to know that without the monastic brotherhoods, supported by such charity, there would not by this time be anything to see in jerusalem at all. there was only one class of men whose consistent concern was to watch these things, from the age of heathens and heresies to the age of turks and tourists; and i am certainly not going to sneer at them for doing no practical work, and then refuse to pay them for the practical work they do. for the rest, even the architectural defacement is overstated, the church was burned down and rebuilt in a bad and modern period; but the older parts, especially the crusaders' porch, are as grand as the men who made them. the incongruities there are, are those of local colour. in connection, by the way, with what i said about beasts of burden, i mounted a series of steep staircases to the roof of the convent beside the holy sepulchre. when i got to the top i found myself in the placid presence of two camels. it would be curious to meet two cows on the roof of a village church. nevertheless it is the only moral of the chapter interpolated here, that we can meet things quite as curious in our own country. when the critic says that jerusalem is disappointing he generally means that the popular worship there is weak and degraded, and especially that the religious art is gaudy and grotesque. in so far as there is any kind of truth in this, it is still true that the critic seldom sees the whole truth. what is wrong with the critic is that he does not criticise himself. he does not honestly compare what is weak, in this particular world of ideas, with what is weak in his own world of ideas. i will take an example from my own experience, and in a manner at my own expense. if i have a native heath it is certainly kensington high street, off which stands the house of my childhood. i grew up in that thorough-fare which mr. max beerbohm, with his usual easy exactitude of phrase, has described as "dapper, with a leaning to the fine arts." dapper was never perhaps a descriptive term for myself; but it is quite true that i owe a certain taste for the arts to the sort of people among whom i was brought up. it is also true that such a taste, in various forms and degrees, was fairly common in the world which may be symbolised as kensington high street. and whether or no it is a tribute, it is certainly a truth that most people with an artistic turn in kensington high street would have been very much shocked, in their sense of propriety, if they had seen the popular shrines of jerusalem; the sham gold, the garish colours, the fantastic tales and the feverish tumult. but what i want such people to do, and what they never do, is to turn this truth round. i want them to imagine, not a kensington aesthete walking down david street to the holy sepulchre, but a greek monk or a russian pilgrim walking down kensington high street to kensington gardens. i will not insist here on all the hundred plagues of plutocracy that would really surprise such a christian peasant; especially that curse of an irreligious society (unknown in religious societies, moslem as well as christian) the detestable denial of all dignity to the poor. i am not speaking now of moral but of artistic things; of the concrete arts and crafts used in popular worship. well, my imaginary pilgrim would walk past kensington gardens till his sight was blasted by a prodigy. he would either fall on his knees as before a shrine, or cover his face as from a sacrilege. he would have seen the albert memorial. there is nothing so conspicuous in jerusalem. there is nothing so gilded and gaudy in jerusalem. above all, there is nothing in jerusalem that is on so large a scale and at the same time in so gay and glittering a style. my simple eastern christian would almost certainly be driven to cry aloud, "to what superhuman god was this enormous temple erected? i hope it is christ; but i fear it is antichrist." such, he would think, might well be the great and golden image of the prince of the world, set up in this great open space to receive the heathen prayers and heathen sacrifices of a lost humanity. i fancy he would feel a desire to be at home again amid the humble shrines of zion. i really cannot imagine _what_ he would feel, if he were told that the gilded idol was neither a god nor a demon, but a petty german prince who had some slight influence in turning us into the tools of prussia. now i myself, i cheerfully admit, feel that enormity in kensington gardens as something quite natural. i feel it so because i have been brought up, so to speak, under its shadow; and stared at the graven images of raphael and shakespeare almost before i knew their names; and long before i saw anything funny in their figures being carved, on a smaller scale, under the feet of prince albert. i even took a certain childish pleasure in the gilding of the canopy and spire, as if in the golden palace of what was, to peter pan and all children, something of a fairy garden. so do the christians of jerusalem take pleasure, and possibly a childish pleasure, in the gilding of a better palace, besides a nobler garden, ornamented with a somewhat worthier aim. but the point is that the people of kensington, whatever they might think about the holy sepulchre, do not think anything at all about the albert memorial. they are quite unconscious of how strange a thing it is; and that simply because they are used to it. the religious groups in jerusalem are also accustomed to their coloured background; and they are surely none the worse if they still feel rather more of the meaning of the colours. it may be said that they retain their childish illusion about _their_ albert memorial. i confess i cannot manage to regard palestine as a place where a special curse was laid on those who can become like little children. and i never could understand why such critics who agree that the kingdom of heaven is for children, should forbid it to be the only sort of kingdom that children would really like; a kingdom with real crowns of gold or even of tinsel. but that is another question, which i shall discuss in another place; the point is for the moment that such people would be quite as much surprised at the place of tinsel in our lives as we are at its place in theirs. if we are critical of the petty things they do to glorify great things, they would find quite as much to criticise (as in kensington gardens) in the great things we do to glorify petty things. and if we wonder at the way in which they seem to gild the lily, they would wonder quite as much at the way we gild the weed. there are countless other examples of course of this principle of self-criticism, as the necessary condition of all criticism. it applies quite as much, for instance, to the other great complaint which my kensington friend would make after the complaint about paltry ornament; the complaint about what is commonly called backsheesh. here again there is really something to complain of; though much of the fault is not due to jerusalem, but rather to london and new york. the worst superstition of jerusalem, like the worst profligacy of paris, is a thing so much invented for anglo-saxons that it might be called an anglo-saxon institution. but here again the critic could only really judge fairly if he realised with what abuses at home he ought really to compare this particular abuse abroad. he ought to imagine, for example, the feelings of a religious russian peasant if he really understood all the highly-coloured advertisements covering high street kensington station. it is really not so repulsive to see the poor asking for money as to see the rich asking for more money. and advertisement is the rich asking for more money. a man would be annoyed if he found himself in a mob of millionaires, all holding out their silk hats for a penny; or all shouting with one voice, "give me money." yet advertisement does really assault the eye very much as such a shout would assault the ear. "budge's boots are the best" simply means "give me money"; "use seraphic soap" simply means "give me money." it is a complete mistake to suppose that common people make our towns commonplace, with unsightly things like advertisements. most of those whose wares are thus placarded everywhere are very wealthy gentlemen with coronets and country seats, men who are probably very particular about the artistic adornment of their own homes. they disfigure their towns in order to decorate their houses. to see such men crowding and clamouring for more wealth would really be a more unworthy sight than a scramble of poor guides; yet this is what would be conveyed by all the glare of gaudy advertisement to anybody who saw and understood it for the first time. yet for us who are familiar with it all that gaudy advertisement fades into a background, just as the gaudy oriental patterns fade into a background for those oriental priests and pilgrims. just as the innocent kensington gentleman is wholly unaware that his black top hat is relieved against a background, or encircled as by a halo, of a yellow hoarding about mustard, so is the poor guide sometimes unaware that his small doings are dark against the fainter and more fading gold in which are traced only the humbler haloes of the twelve apostles. but all these misunderstandings are merely convenient illustrations and introductions, leading up to the great fact of the main misunderstanding. it is a misunderstanding of the whole history and philosophy of the position; that is the whole of the story and the whole moral of the story. the critic of the christianity of jerusalem emphatically manages to miss the point. the lesson he ought to learn from it is one which the western and modern man needs most, and does not even know that he needs. it is the lesson of constancy. these people may decorate their temples with gold or with tinsel; but their tinsel has lasted longer than our gold. they may build things as costly and ugly as the albert memorial; but the thing remains a memorial, a thing of immortal memory. they do not build it for a passing fashion and then forget it, or try hard to forget it. they may paint a picture of a saint as gaudy as any advertisement of a soap; but one saint does not drive out another saint as one soap drives out another soap. they do not forget their recent idolatries, as the educated english are now trying to forget their very recent idolatry of everything german. these christian bodies have been in jerusalem for at least fifteen hundred years. save for a few years after the time of constantine and a few years after the first crusade, they have been practically persecuted all the time. at least they have been under heathen masters whose attitude towards christendom was hatred and whose type of government was despotism. no man living in the west can form the faintest conception of what it must have been to live in the very heart of the east through the long and seemingly everlasting epoch of moslem power. a man in jerusalem was in the centre of the turkish empire as a man in rome was in the centre of the roman empire. the imperial power of islam stretched away to the sunrise and the sunset; westward to the mountains of spain and eastward towards the wall of china. it must have seemed as if the whole earth belonged to mahomet to those who in this rocky city renewed their hopeless witness to christ. what we have to ask ourselves is not whether we happen in all respects to agree with them, but whether we in the same condition should even have the courage to agree with ourselves. it is not a question of how much of their religion is superstition, but of how much of our religion is convention; how much is custom and how much a compromise even with custom; how much a thing made facile by the security of our own society or the success of our own state. these are powerful supports; and the enlightened englishman, from a cathedral town or a suburban chapel, walks these wild eastern places with a certain sense of assurance and stability. even after centuries of turkish supremacy, such a man feels, he would not have descended to such a credulity. he would not be fighting for the holy fire or wrangling with beggars in the holy sepulchre. he would not be hanging fantastic lamps on a pillar peculiar to the armenians, or peering into the gilded cage that contains the brown madonna of the copts. he would not be the dupe of such degenerate fables; god forbid. he would not be grovelling at such grotesque shrines; no indeed. he would be many hundred yards away, decorously bowing towards a more distant city; where, above the only formal and official open place in jerusalem, the mighty mosaics of the mosque of omar proclaim across the valleys the victory and the glory of mahomet. that is the real lesson that the enlightened traveller should learn; the lesson about himself. that is the test that should really be put to those who say that the christianity of jerusalem is degraded. after a thousand years of turkish tyranny, the religion of a london fashionable preacher would not be degraded. it would be destroyed. it would not be there at all, to be jeered at by every prosperous tourist out of a _train de luxe_. it is worth while to pause upon the point; for nothing has been so wholly missed in our modern religious ideals as the ideal of tenacity. fashion is called progress. every new fashion is called a new faith. every faith is a faith which offers everything except faithfulness. it was never so necessary to insist that most of the really vital and valuable ideas in the world, including christianity, would never have survived at all if they had not survived their own death, even in the sense of dying daily. the ideal was out of date almost from the first day; that is why it is eternal; for whatever is dated is doomed. as for our own society, if it proceeds at its present rate of progress and improvement, no trace or memory of it will be left at all. some think that this would be an improvement in itself. we have come to live morally, as the japs live literally, in houses of paper. but they are pavilions made of the morning papers, which have to be burned on the appearance of the evening editions. well, a thousand years hence the japs may be ruling in jerusalem; the modern japs who no longer live in paper houses, but in sweated factories and slums. they and the chinese (that much more dignified and democratic people) seem to be about the only people of importance who have not yet ruled jerusalem. but though we may think the christian chapels as thin as japanese tea-houses, they will still be christian; though we may think the sacred lamps as cheap as chinese lanterns, they will still be burning before a crucified creator of the world. but besides this need of making strange cults the test not of themselves but ourselves, the sights of jerusalem also illustrate the other suggestion about the philosophy of sight-seeing. it is true, as i have suggested, that after all the sphinx is larger than i am; and on the same principle the painted saints are saintlier than i am, and the patient pilgrims more constant than i am. but it is also true, as in the lesser matter before mentioned, that even those who think the sphinx small generally do not notice the small things about it. they do not even discover what is interesting about their own disappointment. and similarly even those who are truly irritated by the unfamiliar fashions of worship in a place like jerusalem, do not know how to discover what is interesting in the very existence of what is irritating. for instance, they talk of byzantine decay or barbaric delusion, and they generally go away with an impression that the ritual and symbolism is something dating from the dark ages. but if they would really note the details of their surroundings, or even of their sensations, they would observe a rather curious fact about such ornament of such places as the church of the holy sepulchre as may really be counted unworthy of them. they would realise that what they would most instinctively reject as superstitious does not date from what they would regard as the ages of superstition. there really are bad pictures but they are not barbaric pictures; they are florid pictures in the last faded realism of the renascence. there really is stiff and ungainly decoration, but it is not the harsh or ascetic decoration of a spanish cloister; it is much more like the pompous yet frivolous decorations of a parisian hotel. in short, in so far as the shrine has really been defaced it has not been defaced by the dark ages, but rather if anything by the age of reason. it is the enlightened eighteenth century, which regarded itself as the very noonday of natural culture and common sense, that has really though indirectly laid its disfiguring finger on the dark but dignified byzantine temple. i do not particularly mind it myself; for in such great matters i do not think taste is the test. but if taste is to be made the test, there is matter for momentary reflection in this fact; for it is another example of the weakness of what may be called fashion. voltaire, i believe, erected a sort of temple to god in his own garden; and we may be sure that it was in the most exquisite taste of the time. nothing would have surprised him more than to learn that, fifty years after the success of the french revolution, almost every freethinker of any artistic taste would think his temple far less artistically admirable than the nearest gargoyle on notre dame. thus it is progress that must be blamed for most of these things: and we ought not to turn away in contempt from something antiquated, but rather recognise with respect and even alarm a sort of permanent man-trap in the idea of being modern. so that the moral of this matter is the same as that of the other; that these things should raise in us, not merely the question of whether we like them, but of whether there is anything very infallible or imperishable about what we like. at least the essentials of these things endure; and if they seem to have remained fixed as effigies, at least they have not faded like fashion-plates. it has seemed worth while to insert here this note on the philosophy of sight-seeing, however dilatory or disproportionate it may seem. for i am particularly and positively convinced that unless these things can somehow or other be seen in the right historical perspective and philosophical proportion, they are not worth seeing at all. and let me say in conclusion that i can not only respect the sincerity, but understand the sentiments, of a man who says they are not worth seeing at all. sight-seeing is a far more difficult and disputable matter than many seem to suppose; and a man refusing it altogether might be a man of sense and even a man of imagination. it was the great wordsworth who refused to revisit yarrow; it was only the small wordsworth who revisited it after all. i remember the first great sight in my own entrance to the near east, when i looked by accident out of the train going to cairo, and saw far away across the luminous flats a faint triangular shape; the pyramids. i could understand a man who had seen it turning his back and retracing his whole journey to his own country and his own home, saying, "i will go no further; for i have seen afar off the last houses of the kings." i can understand a man who had only seen in the distance jerusalem sitting on the hill going no further and keeping that vision for ever. it would, of course, be said that it was absurd to come at all, and to see so little. to which i answer that in that sense it is absurd to come at all. it is no more fantastic to turn back for such a fancy than it was to come for a similar fancy. a man cannot eat the pyramids; he cannot buy or sell the holy city; there can be no practical aspect either of his coming or going. if he has not come for a poetic mood he has come for nothing; if he has come for such a mood, he is not a fool to obey that mood. the way to be really a fool is to try to be practical about unpractical things. it is to try to collect clouds or preserve moonshine like money. now there is much to be said for the view that to search for a mood is in its nature moonshine. it may be said that this is especially true in the crowded and commonplace conditions in which most sight-seeing has to be done. it may be said that thirty tourists going together to see a tombstone is really as ridiculous as thirty poets going together to write poems about the nightingale. there would be something rather depressing about a crowd of travellers, walking over hill and dale after the celebrated cloud of wordsworth; especially if the crowd is like the cloud, and moveth all together if it move at all. a vast mob assembled on salisbury plain to listen to shelley's skylark would probably (after an hour or two) consider it a rather subdued sort of skylarking. it may be argued that it is just as illogical to hope to fix beforehand the elusive effects of the works of man as of the works of nature. it may be called a contradiction in terms to expect the unexpected. it may be counted mere madness to anticipate astonishment, or go in search of a surprise. to all of which there is only one answer; that such anticipation is absurd, and such realisation will be disappointing, that images will seem to be idols and idols will seem to be dolls, unless there be some rudiment of such a habit of mind as i have tried to suggest in this chapter. no great works will seem great, and no wonders of the world will seem wonderful, unless the angle from which they are seen is that of historical humility. one more word may be added of a more practical sort. the place where the most passionate convictions on this planet are concentrated is not one where it will always be wise, even from a political standpoint, to air our plutocratic patronage and our sceptical superiority. strange scenes have already been enacted round that fane where the holy fire bursts forth to declare that christ is risen; and whether or no we think the thing holy there is no doubt about it being fiery. whether or no the superior person is right to expect the unexpected, it is possible that something may be revealed to him that he really does not expect. and whatever he may think about the philosophy of sight-seeing, it is not unlikely that he may see some sights. chapter v the streets of the city when jerusalem had been half buried in snow for two or three days, i remarked to a friend that i was prepared henceforward to justify all the christmas cards. the cards that spangle bethlehem with frost are generally regarded by the learned merely as vulgar lies. at best they are regarded as popular fictions, like that which made the shepherds in the nativity play talk a broad dialect of somerset. in the deepest sense of course this democratic tradition is truer than most history. but even in the cruder and more concrete sense the tradition about the december snow is not quite so false as is suggested. it is not a mere local illusion for englishmen to picture the holy child in a snowstorm, as it would be for the londoners to picture him in a london fog. there can be snow in jerusalem, and there might be snow in bethlehem; and when we penetrate to the idea behind the image, we find it is not only possible but probable. in palestine, at least in these mountainous parts of palestine, men have the same general sentiment about the seasons as in the west or the north. snow is a rarity, but winter is a reality. whether we regard it as the divine purpose of a mystery or the human purpose of a myth, the purpose of putting such a feast in winter would be just the same in bethlehem as it would be in balham. any one thinking of the holy child as born in december would mean by it exactly what we mean by it; that christ is not merely a summer sun of the prosperous but a winter fire for the unfortunate. in other words, the semi-tropical nature of the place, like its vulgarity and desecration, can be, and are, enormously exaggerated. but it is always hard to correct the exaggeration without exaggerating the correction. it would be absurd seriously to deny that jerusalem is an eastern town; but we may say it was westernised without being modernised. anyhow, it was medievalised before it was modernised. and in the same way it would be absurd to deny that jerusalem is a southern town, in the sense of being normally out of the way of snowstorms, but the truth can be suggested by saying that it has always known the quality of snow, but not the quantity. and the quantity of snow that fell on this occasion would have been something striking and even sensational in sussex or kent. and yet another way of putting the proportions of the thing would be to say that jerusalem has been besieged more often and by more different kinds of people than any town upon the globe; that it has been besieged by jews and assyrians, egyptians and babylonians, greeks and romans, persians and saracens, frenchmen and englishmen; but perhaps never before in all its agony of ages has it ever really been besieged by winter. in this case it was not only snowed on, it was snowed up. for some days the city was really in a state of siege. if the snow had held for a sufficient number of days it might have been in a state of famine. the railway failed between jerusalem and the nearest station. the roads were impassable between jerusalem and the nearest village, or even the nearest suburb. in some places the snow drifted deep enough to bury a man, and in some places, alas, it did actually bury little children; poor little arabs whose bodies were stiff where they had fallen. many mules were overwhelmed as if by floods, and countless trees struck down as if by lightning. even when the snow began at last to melt it only threatened to turn the besieged fortress into a sort of island. a river that men could not ford flowed between jerusalem and the mount of olives. even a man walking about the ordinary streets could easily step up to his knees or up to his waist. snow stood about like a new system of natural barricades reared in some new type of revolution. i have already remarked that what struck me most about the city was the city wall; but now a new white wall stood all round the city; and one that neither friend nor foe could pass. but a state of siege, whatever its inconveniences, is exceedingly convenient for a critic and observer of the town. it concentrated all that impression of being something compact and what, with less tragic attendant circumstances, one might call cosy. it fixed the whole picture in a frame even more absolute than the city wall; and it turned the eyes of all spectators inwards. above all, by its very abnormality it accentuated the normal divisions and differences of the place; and made it more possible to distinguish and describe them like _dramatis personae_. the parts they played in the crisis of the snow were very like the parts they played in the general crisis of the state. and the very cut and colour of the figures, turban and tarbouch, khaki and burnous and gabardine, seemed to stand out more sharply against that blank background of white. the first fact of course was a fact of contrast. when i said that the city struck me in its historic aspect as being at least as much a memory of the crusaders as of the saracens, i did not of course mean to deny the incidental contrasts between this southern civilisation and the civilisation of europe, especially northern europe. the immediate difference was obvious enough when the gold and the gaudy vegetation of so comparatively asiatic a city were struck by this strange blast out of the north. it was a queer spectacle to see a great green palm bowed down under a white load of snow; and it was a stranger and sadder spectacle to see the people accustomed to live under such palm-trees bowed down under such unearthly storms. yet the very manner in which they bore it is perhaps the first fact to be noted among all the facts that make up the puzzling problem of jerusalem. odd as it may sound you can see that the true orientals are not familiar with snow by the very fact that they accept it. they accept it as we should accept being swallowed by an earthquake; because we do not know the answer to an earthquake. the men from the desert do not know the answer to the snow, it seems to them unanswerable. but christians fight with snow in a double sense; they fight with snow as they fight with snowballs. a moslem left to himself would no more play with a snowball than make a toy of a thunderbolt. and this is really a type of the true problem that was raised by the very presence of the english soldier in the street, even if he was only shovelling away the snow. it would be far from a bad thing, i fancy, if the rights and wrongs of these bible countries could occasionally be translated into bible language. and i suggest this here, not in the least because it is a religious language, but merely because it is a simple language. it may be a good thing, and in many ways it certainly is a good thing, that the races native to the near east, to egypt or arabia, should come in contact with western culture; but it will be unfortunate if this only means coming in contact with western pedantry and even western hypocrisy. as it is there is only too much danger that the local complaints against the government may be exactly like the official explanations of the government; that is, mere strings of long words with very little meaning involved. in short, if people are to learn to talk english it will be a refreshing finishing touch to their culture if they learn to talk plain english. of this it would be hard to find a better working model than what may be called scriptural english. it would be a very good thing for everybody concerned if any really unjust or unpopular official were described only in terms taken from the denunciations of jezebel and herod. it would especially be a good thing for the official. if it were true it would be appropriate, and if it were untrue it would be absurd. when people are really oppressed, their condition can generally be described in very plain terms connected with very plain things; with bread, with land, with taxes and children and churches. if imperialists and capitalists do thus oppress them, as they most certainly often do, then the condition of those more powerful persons can also be described in few and simple words; such as crime and sin and death and hell. but when complaints are made, as they are sometimes in palestine and still more in egypt, in the elaborate and long-winded style of a leading article, the sympathetic european is apt to remember how very little confidence he has ever felt in his own leading articles. if an arab comes to me and says, "the stranger from across the sea has taxed me, and taken the corn-sheaves from the field of my fathers," i do really feel that he towers over me and my perishing industrial civilisation with a terrible appeal to eternal things. i feel he is a figure more enduring than a statue, like the figure of naboth or of nathan. but when that simple son of the desert opens his mouth and says, "the self-determination of proletarian class-conscious solidarity as it functions for international reconstruction," and so on, why then i must confess to the weakness of feeling my sympathies instantly and strangely chilled. i merely feel inclined to tell him that i can talk that sort of pidgin english better than he can. if he modelled himself on the great rebels and revolutionists of the bible, it would at least be a considerable improvement in his literary style. but as a matter of fact something much more solid is involved than literary style. there is a logic and justice in the distinction, even in the world of ideas. that most people with much more education than the arab, and therefore much less excuse than the arab, entirely ignore that distinction, is merely a result of their ignoring ideas, and being satisfied with long words. they like democracy because it is a long word; that is the only thing they do like about it. people are entitled to self-government; that is, to such government as is self-made. they are not necessarily entitled to a special and elaborate machinery that somebody else has made. it is their right to make it for themselves, but it is also their duty to think of it for themselves. self-government of a simple kind has existed in numberless simple societies, and i shall always think it a horrible responsibility to interfere with it. but representative government, or theoretically representative government, of an exceedingly complicated kind, may exist in certain complicated societies without their being bound to transfer it to others, or even to admire it for themselves. at any rate, for good or evil, they have invented it themselves. and there is a moral distinction, which is perfectly rational and democratic, between such inventions and the self-evident rights which no man can claim to have invented. if the arab says to me, "i don't care a curse for europe; i demand bread," the reproach is to me both true and terrible. but if he says, "i don't care a curse for europe; i demand french cookery, italian confectionery, english audit ale," and so on, i think he is rather an unreasonable arab. after all, we invented these things; in _auctore auctoritas_. and of this problem there is a sort of working model in the presence of the snow in palestine, especially in the light of the old proverb about the impossibility of snow in egypt. palestine is wilder, less wealthy and modernised, more religious and therefore more realistic. the issue between the things only a european can do, and the things no european has the right to do, is much sharper and clearer than the confusions of verbosity. on the one hand the things the english can do are more real things, like clearing away the snow; for the very reason that the english are not here, so to speak, building on a french pavement but on the bare rocks of the eastern wilds, the contact with islam and israel is more simple and direct. and on the other side the discontents and revolts are more real. so far from intending to suggest that the egyptians have no complaints, i am very far from meaning that they have no wrongs. but curiously enough the wrongs seem to me more real than the complaints. the real case against our egyptian adventure was stated long ago by randolph churchill, when he denounced "a bondholder's war"; it is in the whole business of collecting debts due to cosmopolitan finance. but a stranger in egypt hears little denunciation of cosmopolitan finance, and a great deal of drivel in the way of cosmopolitan idealism. when the palestinians say that usurers menace their land they mean the land they dig; an old actuality and not a new abstraction. their revolt may be right or wrong, but it is real; and what applies to their revolt applies to their religion. there may well be doubts about whether egypt is a nation, but there is no doubt that jerusalem is a city, and the nations have come to its light. the problem of the snow proved indeed the text for a tale touching the practical politics of the city. the english soldiers cleared the snow away; the arabs sat down satisfied or stoical with the snow blocking their own doors or loading their own roofs. but the jews, as the story went, were at length persuaded to clear away the snow in front of them, and then demanded a handsome salary for having recovered the use of their own front doors. the story is not quite fair; and yet it is not so unfair as it seems. any rational anti-semite will agree that such tales, even when they are true, do not always signify an avaricious tradition in semitism, but sometimes the healthier and more human suggestion of bolshevism. the jews do demand high wages, but it is not always because they are in the old sense money-grabbers, but rather in the new sense money-grabbers (as an enemy would put it) men sincerely and bitterly convinced of their right to the surplus of capitalism. there is the same problem in the jewish colonies in the country districts; in the jewish explanation of the employment of arab and syrian labour. the jews argue that this occurs, not because they wish to remain idle capitalists, but because they insist on being properly paid proletarians. with all this i shall deal, however, when i treat of the jewish problem itself. the point for the moment is that the episode of the snow did in a superficial way suggest the parts played by the three parties and the tales told about them. to begin with, it is right to say that the english do a great many things, as they clear away the snow, simply because nobody else would do them. they did save the oriental inhabitants from some of the worst consequences of the calamity. probably they sometimes save the inhabitants from something which the inhabitants do not regard as a calamity. it is the danger of all such foreign efficiency that it often saves men who do not want to be saved. but they do in many cases do things from which moslems profit, but which moslems by themselves would not propose, let alone perform. and this has a general significance even in our first survey, for it suggests a truth easy to abuse, but i think impossible to ignore. i mean that there is something non-political about moslem morality. perverse as it may appear, i suspect that most of their political movements result from their non-political morality. they become politicians because they know they are not political; and feel their simple and more or less healthy life is at a disadvantage, in face of the political supremacy of the english and the political subtlety of the jews. for instance, the tradition of turkish rule is simply a joke. all the stories about it are jokes, and often very good jokes. my own favourite incident is that which is still commemorated in the english cathedral by an enormous hole in the floor. the turks dug up the pavement looking for concealed english artillery; because they had been told that the bishop had given his blessing to two canons. the bishop had indeed recently appointed two canons to the service of the church, but he had not secreted them under the floor of the chancel. there was another agreeable incident when the turkish authorities, by an impulsive movement of religious toleration, sent for a greek priest to bury greek soldiers, and told him to take his choice in a heap of corpses of all creeds and colours. but at once the most curious and the most common touch of comedy is the perpetual social introduction to solid and smiling citizens who have been nearly hanged by the turks. the fortunate gentleman seems still to be regarding his escape with a broad grin. if you were introduced to a polite frenchman who had come straight from the guillotine, or to an affable american who had only just vacated the electrical chair, you would feel a faint curiosity about the whole story. if a friend introduced somebody, saying, "my friend robinson; his sentence has been commuted to penal servitude," or "my uncle william, just come from dartmoor prison," your mind and perhaps your lips would faintly form the syllables "what for?" but evidently, under turkish rule, being hanged was like being knocked down by a cab; it might happen to anybody. this is a parenthesis, since i am only dealing here with the superficial experience of the streets, especially in the snow. but it will be well to safeguard it by saying that this unpolitical carelessness and comprehensiveness of the indiscriminate turk had its tragic as well as its comic side. it was by no means everybody that escaped hanging; and there was a tree growing outside the jaffa gate at which men might still shudder as they pass it in the sunlight. it was what a modern revolutionary poet has called bitterly the tree of man's making; and what a medieval revolutionary poet called the fruit tree in the orchard of the king. it was the gibbet; and lives have dropped from it like leaves from a tree in autumn. yet even on the sterner side, we can trace the truth about the moslem fatalism which seems so alien to political actuality. there was a popular legend or proverb that this terrible tree was in some way bound up with the power of the turk, and perhaps the moslem over a great part of the earth. there is nothing more strange about that moslem fatalism than a certain gloomy magnanimity which can invoke omens and oracles against itself. it is astonishing how often the turks seem to have accepted a legend or prophecy about their own ultimate failure. de quincey mentions one of them in the blow that half broke the palladium of byzantium. it is said that the moslems themselves predict the entry of a christian king of jerusalem through the golden gate. perhaps that is why they have blocked up the fatal gate; but in any case they dealt in that fashion with the fatal tree. they elaborately bound and riveted it with iron, as if accepting the popular prophecy which declared that so long as it stood the turkish empire would stand. it was as if the wicked man of scripture had daily watered a green bay-tree, to make sure that it should flourish. in the last chapter i have attempted to suggest a background of the battlemented walls with the low gates and narrow windows which seem to relieve the liveliest of the coloured groups against the neutral tints of the north, and how this was intensified when the neutral tints were touched with the positive hue of snow. in the same merely impressionist spirit i would here attempt to sketch some of the externals of the actors in such a scene, though it is hard to do justice to such a picture even in the superficial matter of the picturesque. indeed it is hard to be sufficiently superficial; for in the east nearly every external is a symbol. the greater part of it is the gorgeous rag-heap of arabian humanity, and even about that one could lecture on almost every coloured rag. we hear much of the gaudy colours of the east; but the most striking thing about them is that they are delicate colours. it is rare to see a red that is merely like a pillar-box, or a blue that is reckitt's blue; the red is sure to have the enrichment of tawny wine or blood oranges, and the blue of peacocks or the sea. in short these people are artistic in the sense that used to be called aesthetic; and it is a nameless instinct that preserves these nameless tints. like all such instincts, it can be blunted by a bullying rationalism; like all such children, these people do not know why they prefer the better, and can therefore be persuaded by sophists that they prefer the worst. but there are other elements emerging from the coloured crowd, which are more significant, and therefore more stubborn. a stranger entirely ignorant of that world would feel something like a chill to the blood when he first saw the black figures of the veiled moslem women, sinister figures without faces. it is as if in that world every woman were a widow. when he realised that these were not the masked mutes at a very grisly funeral, but merely ladies literally obeying a convention of wearing veils in public, he would probably have a reaction of laughter. he would be disposed to say flippantly that it must be, a dull life, not only for the women but the men; and that a man might well want five wives if he had to marry them before he could even look at them. but he will be wise not to be satisfied with such flippancy, for the complete veiling of the moslem women of jerusalem, though not a finer thing than the freedom of the christian woman of bethlehem, is almost certainly a finer thing than the more coquettish compromise of the other moslem women of cairo. it simply means that the moslem religion is here more sincerely observed; and this in turn is part of something that a sympathetic person will soon feel in jerusalem, if he has come from these more commercial cities of the east; a spiritual tone decidedly more delicate and dignified, like the clear air about the mountain city. whatever the human vices involved, it is not altogether for nothing that this is the holy town of three great religions. when all is said, he will feel that there are some tricks that could not be played, some trades that could not be plied, some shops that could not be opened, within a stone's throw of the sepulchre. this indefinable seriousness has its own fantasies of fanaticism or formalism; but if these are vices they are not vulgarities. there is no stronger example of this than the real jews of jerusalem, especially those from the ghettoes of eastern europe. they can be immediately picked out by the peculiar wisps of hair worn on each side of the face, like something between curls and whiskers. sometimes they look strangely effeminate, like some rococo burlesque of the ringlets of an early victorian woman. sometimes they look considerably more like the horns of a devil; and one need not be an anti-semite to say that the face is often made to match. but though they may be ugly, or even horrible, they are not vulgar like the jews at brighton; they trail behind them too many primeval traditions and laborious loyalties, along with their grand though often greasy robes of bronze or purple velvet. they often wear on their heads that odd turban of fur worn by the rabbis in the pictures of rembrandt. and indeed that great name is not irrelevant; for the whole truth at the back of zionism is in the difference between the picture of a jew by rembrandt and a picture of a jew by sargent. for rembrandt the rabbi was, in a special and double sense, a distinguished figure. he was something distinct from the world of the artist, who drew a rabbi as he would a brahmin. but sargent had to treat his sitters as solid citizens of england or america; and consequently his pictures are direct provocations to a pogrom. but the light that rembrandt loved falls not irreverently on the strange hairy haloes that can still be seen on the shaven heads of the jews of jerusalem. and i should be sorry for any pogrom that brought down any of their grey wisps or whiskers in sorrow to the grave. the whole scene indeed, seriousness apart, might be regarded as a fantasia for barbers; for the different ways of dressing the hair would alone serve as symbols of different races and religions. thus the greek priests of the orthodox church, bearded and robed in black with black towers upon their heads, have for some strange reason their hair bound up behind like a woman's. in any case they have in their pomp a touch of the bearded bulls of assyrian sculpture; and this strange fashion of curling if not oiling the assyrian bull gives the newcomer an indescribable and illogical impression of the unnatural sublimity of archaic art. in the apocalypse somewhere there is an inspiringly unintelligible allusion to men coming on the earth, whose hair is like the hair of women and their teeth like the teeth of lions. i have never been bitten by an orthodox clergyman, and cannot say whether his teeth are at all leonine; though i have seen seven of them together enjoying their lunch at an hotel with decorum and dispatch. but the twisting of the hair in the womanish fashion does for us touch that note of the abnormal which the mystic meant to convey in his poetry, and which others feel rather as a recoil into humour. the best and last touch to this topsy-turvydom was given when a lady, observing one of these reverend gentlemen who for some reason did not carry this curious coiffure, exclaimed, in a tone of heartrending surprise and distress, "oh, he's bobbed his hair!" here again of course even a superficial glance at the pageant of the street should not be content with its comedy. there is an intellectual interest in the external pomp and air of placid power in these ordinary orthodox parish priests; especially if we compare them with the comparatively prosaic and jog-trot good nature of the roman monks, called in this country the latins. mingling in the same crowd with these black-robed pontiffs can be seen shaven men in brown habits who seem in comparison to be both busy and obscure. these are the sons of st. francis, who came to the east with a grand simplicity and thought to finish the crusades with a smile. the spectator will be wise to accept this first contrast that strikes the eye with an impartial intellectual interest; it has nothing to do with personal character, of course, and many greek priests are as simple in their tastes as they are charming in their manners; while any roman priests can find as much ritual as they may happen to want in other aspects of their own religion. but it is broadly true that roman and greek catholicism are contrasted in this way in this country; and the contrast is the flat contrary to all our customary associations in the west. in the east it is roman catholicism that stands for much that we associate with protestantism. it is roman catholicism that is by comparison plain and practical and scornful of superstition and concerned for social work. it is greek catholicism that is stiff with gold and gorgeous with ceremonial, with its hold on ancient history and its inheritance of imperial tradition. in the cant of our own society, we may say it is the roman who rationalises and the greek who romanises. it is the roman catholic who is impatient with russian and greek childishness, and perpetually appealing for common sense. it is the greek who defends such childishness as childlike faith and would rebuke such common sense as common scepticism. i do not speak of the theological tenets or even the deeper emotions involved, but only, as i have said, of contrasts visible even in the street. and the whole difference is sufficiently suggested in two phrases i heard within a few days. a distinguished anglo-catholic, who has himself much sympathy with the greek orthodox traditions, said to me, "after all, the romans were the first puritans." and i heard that a franciscan, being told that this englishman and perhaps the english generally were disposed to make an alliance with the greek church, had only said by way of comment, "and a good thing too, the greeks might do something at last." anyhow the first impression is that the greek is more gorgeous in black than the roman in colours. but the greek of course can also appear in colours, especially in those eternal forms of frozen yet fiery colours which we call jewels. i have seen the greek patriarch, that magnificent old gentleman, walking down the street like an emperor in the _arabian nights_, hung all over with historic jewels as thick as beads or buttons, with a gigantic cross of solid emeralds that might have been given him by the green genii of the sea, if any of the genii are christians. these things are toys, but i am entirely in favour of toys; and rubies and emeralds are almost as intoxicating as that sort of lustrous coloured paper they put inside christmas crackers. this beauty has been best achieved in the north in the glory of coloured glass; and i have seen great gothic windows in which one could really believe that the robes of martyrs were giant rubies or the starry sky a single enormous sapphire. but the colours of the west are transparent, the colours of the east opaque. i have spoken of the _arabian nights_, and there is really a touch of them even in the christian churches, perhaps increased with a tradition of early christian secrecy. there are glimpses of gorgeously tiled walls, of blue curtains and green doors and golden inner chambers, that are just like the entrance to an eastern tale. the orthodox are at least more oriental in the sense of being more ornamental; more flat and decorative. the romans are more western, i might even say more modern, in the sense of having more realism even in their ritualism. the greek cross is a cross; the roman cross is a crucifix. but these are deeper matters; i am only trying to suggest a sort of silhouette of the crowd like the similar silhouette of the city, a profile or outline of the heads and hats, like the profile of the towers and spires. the tower that makes the greek priest look like a walking catafalque is by no means alone among the horns thus fantastically exalted. there is the peaked hood of the armenian priest, for instance; the stately survival of that strange monophysite heresy which perpetuated itself in pomp and pride mainly through the sublime accident of the crusades. that black cone also rises above the crowd with something of the immemorial majesty of a pyramid; and rightly so, for it is typical of the prehistoric poetry by which these places live that some say it is a surviving memory of ararat and the ark. again the high white headgear of the bethlehem women, or to speak more strictly of the bethlehem wives, has already been noted in another connection; but it is well to remark it again among the colours of the crowd, because this at least has a significance essential to all criticism of such a crowd. most travellers from the west regard such an eastern city far too much as a moslem city, like the lady whom mr. maurice baring met who travelled all over russia, and thought all the churches were mosques. but in truth it is very hard to generalise about jerusalem, precisely because it contains everything, and its contrasts are real contrasts. and anybody who doubts that its christianity is christian, a thing fighting for our own culture and morals on the borders of asia, need only consider the concrete fact of these women of bethlehem and their costume. there is no need to sneer in any unsympathetic fashion at all the domestic institutions of islam; the sexes are never quite so stupid as some feminists represent; and i dare say a woman often has her own way in a harem as well as in a household. but the broad difference does remain. and if there be one thing, i think, that can safely be said about all asia and all oriental tribes, it is this; that if a married woman wears any distinctive mark, it is always meant to prevent her from receiving the admiration or even the notice of strange men. often it is only made to disguise her; sometimes it is made to disfigure her. it may be the masking of the face as among the moslems; it may be the shaving of the head as among the jews; it may, i believe, be the blackening of the teeth and other queer expedients among the people of the far east. but is never meant to make her look magnificent in public; and the bethlehem wife is made to look magnificent in public. she not only shows all the beauty of her face; and she is often very beautiful. she also wears a towering erection which is as unmistakably meant to give her consequence as the triple tiara of the pope. a woman wearing such a crown, and wearing it without a veil, does stand, and can only conceivably stand, for what we call the western view of women, but should rather call the christian view of women. this is the sort of dignity which must of necessity come from some vague memory of chivalry. the woman may or may not be, as the legend says, a lineal descendant of a crusader. but whether or no she is his daughter, she is certainly his heiress. she may be put last among the local figures i have here described, for the special reason that her case has this rather deeper significance. for it is not possible to remain content with the fact that the crowd offers such varied shapes and colours to the eye, when it also offers much deeper divisions and even dilemmas to the intelligence. the black dress of the moslem woman and the white dress of the christian woman are in sober truth as different as black and white. they stand for real principles in a real opposition; and the black and white will not easily disappear in the dull grey of our own compromises. the one tradition will defend what it regards as modesty, and the other what it regards as dignity, with passions far deeper than most of our paltry political appetites. nor do i see how we can deny such a right of defence, even in the case we consider the less enlightened. it is made all the more difficult by the fact that those who consider themselves the pioneers of enlightenment generally also consider themselves the protectors of native races and aboriginal rights. whatever view we take of the moslem arab, we must at least admit that the greater includes the less. it is manifestly absurd to say we have no right to interfere in his country, but have a right to interfere in his home. it is the intense interest of jerusalem that there can thus be two universes in the same street. indeed there are ten rather than two; and it is a proverb that the fight is not only between christian and moslem, but between christian and christian. at this moment, it must be admitted, it is almost entirely a fight of christian and moslem allied against jew. but of that i shall have to speak later; the point for the moment is that the varied colours of the streets are a true symbol of the varied colours of the souls. it is perhaps the only modern place where the war waged between ideas has such a visible and vivid heraldry. and that fact alone may well leave the spectator with one final reflection; for it is a matter in which the modern world may well have to learn something from the motley rabble of this remote eastern town. it may be an odd thing to suggest that a crowd in bond street or piccadilly should model itself on this masquerade of religions. it would be facile and fascinating to turn it into a satire or an extravaganza. every good and innocent mind would be gratified with the image of a bowler hat in the precise proportions of the dome of st. paul's, and surmounted with a little ball and cross, symbolising the loyalty of some anglican to his mother church. it might even be pleasing to see the street dominated with a more graceful top-hat modelled on the eiffel tower, and signifying the wearer's faith in scientific enterprise, or perhaps in its frequent concomitant of political corruption. these would be fair western parallels to the head-dresses of jerusalem; modelled on mount ararat or solomon's temple, and some may insinuate that we are not very likely ever to meet them in the strand. a man wearing whiskers is not even compelled to plead some sort of excuse or authority for wearing whiskers, as the jew can for wearing ringlets; and though the anglican clergyman may indeed be very loyal to his mother church, there might be considerable hesitation if his mother bade him bind his hair. nevertheless a more historical view of the london and jerusalem crowds will show as far from impossible to domesticate such symbols; that some day a lady's jewels might mean something like the sacred jewels of the patriarch, or a lady's furs mean something like the furred turban of the rabbi. history indeed will show us that we are not so much superior to them as inferior to ourselves. when the crusaders came to palestine, and came riding up that road from jaffa where the orange plantations glow on either side, they came with motives which may have been mixed and are certainly disputed. there may have been different theories among the crusaders; there are certainly different theories among the critics of the crusaders. many sought god, some gold, some perhaps black magic. but whatever else they were in search of, they were not in search of the picturesque. they were not drawn from a drab civilisation by that mere thirst for colour that draws so many modern artists to the bazaars of the east. in those days there were colours in the west as well as in the east; and a glow in the sunset as well as in the sunrise. many of the men who rode up that road were dressed to match the most glorious orange garden and to rival the most magnificent oriental king. king richard cannot have been considered dowdy, even by comparison, when he rode on that high red saddle graven with golden lions, with his great scarlet hat and his vest of silver crescents. that squire of the comparatively unobtrusive household of joinville, who was clad in scarlet striped with yellow, must surely have been capable (if i may be allowed the expression) of knocking them in the most magnificent asiatic bazaar. nor were these external symbols less significant, but rather more significant than the corresponding symbols of the eastern civilisation. it is true that heraldry began beautifully as an art and afterwards degenerated into a science. but even in being a science it had to possess a significance; and the western colours were often allegorical where the eastern were only accidental. to a certain extent this more philosophical ornament was doubtless imitated; and i have remarked elsewhere on the highly heraldic lions which even the saracens carved over the gate of st. stephen. but it is the extraordinary and even exasperating fact that it was not imitated as the most meaningless sort of modern vulgarity is imitated. king richard's great red hat embroidered with beasts and birds has not overshadowed the earth so much as the billycock, which no one has yet thought of embroidering with any such natural and universal imagery. the cockney tourist is not only more likely to set out with the intention of knocking them, but he has actually knocked them; and orientals are imitating the tweeds of the tourist more than they imitated the stripes of the squire. it is a curious and perhaps melancholy truth that the world is imitating our worst, our weariness and our dingy decline, when it did not imitate our best and the high moment of our morning. perhaps it is only when civilisation becomes a disease that it becomes an infection. possibly it is only when it becomes a very virulent disease that it becomes an epidemic. possibly again that is the meaning both of cosmopolitanism and imperialism. anyhow the tribes sitting by afric's sunny fountains did not take up the song when francis of assisi stood on the very mountain of the middle ages, singing the canticle of the sun. when michael angelo carved a statue in snow, eskimos did not copy him, despite their large natural quarries or resources. laplanders never made a model of the elgin marbles, with a frieze of reindeers instead of horses; nor did hottentots try to paint mumbo jumbo as raphael had painted madonnas. but many a savage king has worn a top-hat, and the barbarian has sometimes been so debased as to add to it a pair of trousers. explosive bullets and the brutal factory system numbers of advanced natives are anxious to possess. and it was this reflection, arising out of the mere pleasure of the eye in the parti-coloured crowd before me, that brought back my mind to the chief problem and peril of our position in palestine, on which i touched earlier in this chapter; the peril which is largely at the back both of the just and of the unjust objections to zionism. it is the fear that the west, in its modern mercantile mood, will send not its best but its worst. the artisan way of putting it, from the point of view of the arab, is that it will mean not so much the english merchant as the jewish money-lender. i shall write elsewhere of better types of jew and the truths they really represent; but the jewish money-lender is in a curious and complex sense the representative of this unfortunate paradox. he is not only unpopular both in the east and west, but he is unpopular in the west for being eastern and in the east for being western. he is accused in europe of asiatic crookedness and secrecy, and in asia of european vulgarity and bounce. i have said _a propos_ of the arab that the dignity of the oriental is in his long robe; the merely mercantile jew is the oriental who has lost his long robe, which leads to a dangerous liveliness in the legs. he bustles and hustles too much; and in palestine some of the unpopularity even of the better sort of jew is simply due to his restlessness. but there remains a fear that it will not be a question of the better sort of jew, or of the better sort of british influence. the same ignominious inversion which reproduces everywhere the factory chimney without the church tower, which spreads a cockney commerce but not a christian culture, has given many men a vague feeling that the influence of modern civilisation will surround these ragged but coloured groups with something as dreary and discoloured, as unnatural and as desolate as the unfamiliar snow in which they were shivering as i watched them. there seemed a sort of sinister omen in this strange visitation that the north had sent them; in the fact that when the north wind blew at last, it had only scattered on them this silver dust of death. it may be that this more melancholy mood was intensified by that pale landscape and those impassable ways. i do not dislike snow; on the contrary i delight in it; and if it had drifted as deep in my own country against my own door i should have thought it the triumph of christmas, and a thing as comic as my own dog and donkey. but the people in the coloured rags did dislike it; and the effects of it were not comic but tragic. the news that came in seemed in that little lonely town like the news of a great war, or even of a great defeat. men fell to regarding it, as they have fallen too much to regarding the war, merely as an unmixed misery, and here the misery was really unmixed. as the snow began to melt corpses were found in it, homes were hopelessly buried, and even the gradual clearing of the roads only brought him stories of the lonely hamlets lost in the hills. it seemed as if a breath of the aimless destruction that wanders in the world had drifted across us; and no task remained for men but the weary rebuilding of ruins and the numbering of the dead. only as i went out of the jaffa gate, a man told me that the tree of the hundred deaths, that was the type of the eternal caliphate of the crescent, was cast down and lying broken in the snow. chapter vi the groups of the city palestine is a striped country; that is the first effect of landscape on the eye. it runs in great parallel lines wavering into vast hills and valleys, but preserving the parallel pattern; as if drawn boldly but accurately with gigantic chalks of green and grey and red and yellow. the natural explanation or (to speak less foolishly) the natural process of this is simple enough. the stripes are the strata of the rock, only they are stripped by the great rains, so that everything has to grow on ledges, repeating yet again that terraced character to be seen in the vineyards and the staircase streets of the town. but though the cause is in a sense in the ruinous strength of the rain, the hues are not the dreary hues of ruin. what earth there is is commonly a red clay richer than that of devon; a red clay of which it would be easy to believe that the giant limbs of the first man were made. what grass there is is not only an enamel of emerald, but is literally crowded with those crimson anemones which might well have called forth the great saying touching solomon in all his glory. and even what rock there is is coloured with a thousand secondary and tertiary tints, as are the walls and streets of the holy city which is built from the quarries of these hills. for the old stones of the old jerusalem are as precious as the precious stones of the new jerusalem; and at certain moments of morning or of sunset, every pebble might be a pearl. and all these coloured strata rise so high and roll so far that they might be skies rather than slopes. it is as if we looked up at a frozen sunset; or a daybreak fixed for ever with its fleeting bars of cloud. and indeed the fancy is not without a symbolic suggestiveness. this is the land of eternal things; but we tend too much to forget that recurrent things are eternal things. we tend to forget that subtle tones and delicate hues, whether in the hills or the heavens, were to the primitive poets and sages as visible as they are to us; and the strong and simple words in which they describe them do not prove that they did not realise them. when wordsworth speaks of "the clouds that gather round the setting sun," we assume that he has seen every shadow of colour and every curve of form; but when the hebrew poet says "he hath made the clouds his chariot"; we do not always realise that he was full of indescribable emotions aroused by indescribable sights. we vaguely assume that the very sky was plainer in primitive times. we feel as if there had been a fashion in sunsets; or as if dawn was always grey in the stone age or brown in the bronze age. but there is another parable written in those long lines of many-coloured clay and stone. palestine is in every sense a stratified country. it is not only true in the natural sense, as here where the clay has fallen away and left visible the very ribs of the hills. it is true in the quarries where men dig, in the dead cities where they excavate, and even in the living cities where they still fight and pray. the sorrow of all palestine is that its divisions in culture, politics and theology are like its divisions in geology. the dividing line is horizontal instead of vertical. the frontier does not run between states but between stratified layers. the jew did not appear beside the canaanite but on top of the canaanite; the greek not beside the jew but on top of the jew; the moslem not beside the christian but on top of the christian. it is not merely a house divided against itself, but one divided across itself. it is a house in which the first floor is fighting the second floor, in which the basement is oppressed from above and attics are besieged from below. there is a great deal of gunpowder in the cellars; and people are by no means comfortable even on the roof. in days of what some call bolshevism, it may be said that most states are houses in which the kitchen has declared war on the drawing-room. but this will give no notion of the toppling pagoda of political and religious and racial differences, of which the name is palestine. to explain that it is necessary to give the traveller's first impressions more particularly in their order, and before i return to this view of the society as stratified, i must state the problem more practically as it presents itself while the society still seems fragmentary. we are always told that the turk kept the peace between the christian sects. it would be nearer the nerve of vital truth to say that he made the war between the christian sects. but it would be nearer still to say that the war is something not made by turks but made up by infidels. the tourist visiting the churches is often incredulous about the tall tales told about them; but he is completely credulous about the tallest of all the tales, the tale that is told against them. he believes in a frantic fraticidal war perpetually waged by christian against christian in jerusalem. it freshens the free sense of adventure to wander through those crooked and cavernous streets, expecting every minute to see the armenian patriarch trying to stick a knife into the greek patriarch; just as it would add to the romance of london to linger about lambeth and westminster in the hope of seeing the archbishop of canterbury locked in a deadly grapple with the president of the wesleyan conference. and if we return to our homes at evening without having actually seen these things with the eye of flesh, the vision has none the less shone on our path, and led us round many corners with alertness and with hope. but in bald fact religion does not involve perpetual war in the east, any more than patriotism involves perpetual war in the west. what it does involve in both cases is a defensive attitude; a vigilance on the frontiers. there is no war; but there is an armed peace. i have already explained the sense in which i say that the moslems are unhistoric or even anti-historic. perhaps it would be near the truth to say that they are prehistoric. they attach themselves to the tremendous truisms which men might have realised before they had any political experience at all; which might have been scratched with primitive knives of flint upon primitive pots of clay. being simple and sincere, they do not escape the need for legends; i might almost say that, being honest, they do not escape the need for lies. but their mood is not historic, they do not wish to grapple with the past; they do not love its complexities; nor do they understand the enthusiasm for its details and even its doubts. now in all this the moslems of a place like jerusalem are the very opposite of the christians of jerusalem. the christianity of jerusalem is highly historic, and cannot be understood without historical imagination. and this is not the strong point perhaps of those among us who generally record their impressions of the place. as the educated englishman does not know the history of england, it would be unreasonable to expect him to know the history of moab or of mesopotamia. he receives the impression, in visiting the shrines of jerusalem, of a number of small sects squabbling about small things. in short, he has before him a tangle of trivialities, which include the roman empire in the west and in the east, the catholic church in its two great divisions, the jewish race, the memories of greece and egypt, and the whole mahometan world in asia and africa. it may be that he regards these as small things; but i should be glad if he would cast his eye over human history, and tell me what are the large things. the truth is that the things that meet to-day in jerusalem are by far the greatest things that the world has yet seen. if they are not important nothing on this earth is important, and certainly not the impressions of those who happen to be bored by them. but to understand them it is necessary to have something which is much commoner in jerusalem than in oxford or boston; that sort of living history which we call tradition. for instance, the critic generally begins by dismissing these conflicts with the statement that they are all about small points of theology. i do not admit that theological points are small points. theology is only thought applied to religion; and those who prefer a thoughtless religion need not be so very disdainful of others with a more rationalistic taste. the old joke that the greek sects only differed about a single letter is about the lamest and most illogical joke in the world. an atheist and a theist only differ by a single letter; yet theologians are so subtle as to distinguish definitely between the two. but though i do not in any case allow that it is idle to be concerned about theology, as a matter of actual fact these quarrels are not chiefly concerned about theology. they are concerned about history. they are concerned with the things about which the only human sort of history is concerned; great memories of great men, great battles for great ideas, the love of brave people for beautiful places, and the faith by which the dead are alive. it is quite true that with this historic sense men inherit heavy responsibilities and revenges, fury and sorrow and shame. it is also true that without it men die, and nobody even digs their graves. the truth is that these quarrels are rather about patriotism than about religion, in the sense of theology. that is, they are just such heroic passions about the past as we call in the west by the name of nationalism; but they are conditioned by the extraordinarily complicated position of the nations, or what corresponds to the nations. we of the west, if we wish to understand it, must imagine ourselves as left with all our local loves and family memories unchanged, but the places affected by them intermingled and tumbled about by some almost inconceivable convulsion. we must imagine cities and landscapes to have turned on some unseen pivots, or been shifted about by some unseen machinery, so that our nearest was furthest and our remotest enemy our neighbour. we must imagine monuments on the wrong sites, and the antiquities of one county emptied out on top of another. and we must imagine through all this the thin but tough threads of tradition everywhere tangled and yet everywhere unbroken. we must picture a new map made out of the broken fragments of the old map; and yet with every one remembering the old map and ignoring the new. in short we must try to imagine, or rather we must try to hope, that our own memories would be as long and our own loyalties as steady as the memories and loyalties of the little crowd in jerusalem; and hope, or pray, that we could only be as rigid, as rabid and as bigoted as are these benighted people. then perhaps we might preserve all our distinctions of truth and falsehood in a chaos of time and space. we have to conceive that the tomb of napoleon is in the middle of stratford-on-avon, and that the nelson column is erected on the field of bannockburn; that westminster abbey has taken wings and flown away to the most romantic situation on the rhine, and that the wooden "victory" is stranded, like the ark on ararat, on the top of the hill of tara; that the pilgrims to the shrine of lourdes have to look for it in the island of runnymede, and that the only existing german statue of bismarck is to be found in the pantheon at paris. this intolerable topsy-turvydom is no exaggeration of the way in which stories cut across each other and sites are imposed on each other in the historic chaos of the holy city. now we in the west are very lucky in having our nations normally distributed into their native lands; so that good patriots can talk about themselves without perpetually annoying their neighbours. some of the pacifists tell us that national frontiers and divisions are evil because they exasperate us to war. it would be far truer to say that national frontiers and divisions keep us at peace. it would be far truer to say that we can always love each other so long as we do not see each other. but the people of jerusalem are doomed to have difference without division. they are driven to set pillar against pillar in the same temple, while we can set city against city across the plains of the world. while for us a church rises from its foundations as naturally as a flower springs from a flower-bed, they have to bless the soil and curse the stones that stand on it. while the land we love is solid under our feet to the earth's centre, they have to see all they love and hate lying in strata like alternate night and day, as incompatible and as inseparable. their entanglements are tragic, but they are not trumpery or accidental. everything has a meaning; they are loyal to great names as men are loyal to great nations; they have differences about which they feel bound to dispute to the death; but in their death they are not divided. jerusalem is a small town of big things; and the average modern city is a big town full of small things. all the most important and interesting powers in history are here gathered within the area of a quiet village; and if they are not always friends, at least they are necessarily neighbours. this is a point of intellectual interest, and even intensity, that is far too little realised. it is a matter of modern complaint that in a place like jerusalem the christian groups do not always regard each other with christian feelings. it is said that they fight each other; but at least they meet each other. in a great industrial city like london or liverpool, how often do they even meet each other? in a large town men live in small cliques, which are much narrower than classes; but in this small town they live at least by large contacts, even if they are conflicts. nor is it really true, in the daily humours of human life, that they are only conflicts. i have heard an eminent english clergyman from cambridge bargaining for a brass lamp with a syrian of the greek church, and asking the advice of a franciscan friar who was standing smiling in the same shop. i have met the same representative of the church of england, at a luncheon party with the wildest zionist jews, and with the grand mufti, the head of the moslem religion. suppose the same englishman had been, as he might well have been, an eloquent and popular vicar in chelsea or hampstead. how often would he have met a franciscan or a zionist? not once in a year. how often would he have met a moslem or a greek syrian? not once in a lifetime. even if he were a bigot, he would be bound in jerusalem to become a more interesting kind of bigot. even if his opinions were narrow, his experiences would be wide. he is not, as a fact, a bigot, nor, as a fact, are the other people bigots, but at the worst they could not be unconscious bigots. they could not live in such uncorrected complacency as is possible to a larger social set in a larger social system. they could not be quite so ignorant as a broad-minded person in a big suburb. indeed there is something fine and distinguished about the very delicacy, and even irony, of their diplomatic relations. there is something of chivalry in the courtesy of their armed truce, and it is a great school of manners that includes such differences in morals. this is an aspect of the interest of jerusalem which can easily be neglected and is not easy to describe. the normal life there is intensely exciting, not because the factions fight, but rather because they do not fight. of the abnormal crisis when they did fight, and the abnormal motives that made them fight, i shall have something to say later on. but it was true for a great part of the time that what was picturesque and thrilling was not the war but the peace. the sensation of being in this little town is rather like that of being at a great international congress. it is like that moving and glittering social satire, in which diplomatists can join in a waltz who may soon be joining in a war. for the religious and political parties have yet another point in common with separate nations; that even within this narrow space the complicated curve of their frontiers is really more or less fixed, and certainly not particularly fluctuating. persecution is impossible and conversion is not at all common. the very able anglo-catholic leader, to whom i have already referred, uttered to me a paradox that was a very practical truth. he said he felt exasperated with the christian sects, not for their fanaticism but for their lack of fanaticism. he meant their lack of any fervour and even of any hope, of converting each other to their respective religions. an armenian may be quite as proud of the armenian church as a frenchman of the french nation, yet he may no more expect to make a moslem an armenian than the frenchman expects to make an englishman a frenchman. if, as we are told, the quarrels could be condemned as merely theological, this would certainly be the very reverse of logical. but as i say, we get much nearer to them by calling them national; and the leaders of the great religions feel much more like the ambassadors of great nations. and, as i have also said, that ambassadorial atmosphere can be best expressed on the word irony, sometimes a rather tragic irony. at any tea-party or talk in the street, between the rival leaders, there is a natural tendency to that sort of wit which consists in veiled allusion to a very open secret. each mail feels that there are heavy forces behind a small point, as the weight of the fencer is behind the point of the rapier. and the point can be yet more pointed because the politics of the city, when i was there, included several men with a taste and talent for such polished intercourse; including especially two men whose experience and culture would have been remarkable in any community in the world; the american consul and the military governor of jerusalem. if in cataloguing the strata of the society we take first the topmost layer of western officialism, we might indeed find it not inconvenient to take these two men as representing the chief realities about it. dr. glazebrook, the representative of the united states, has the less to do with the internal issues of the country; but his mere presence and history is so strangely picturesque that he might be put among the first reasons for finding the city interesting. he is an old man now, for he actually began life as a soldier in the southern and secessionist army, and still keeps alive in every detail, not merely the virtues but the very gestures of the old southern and secessionist aristocrat. he afterward became a clergyman of the episcopalian church, and served as a chaplain in the spanish-american war, then, at an age when most men have long retired from the most peaceful occupations, he was sent out by president wilson to the permanent battlefield of palestine. the brilliant services he performed there, in the protection of british and american subjects, are here chiefly interesting as throwing a backward light on the unearthly topsy-turvydom of turkish rule. there appears in his experiences something in such rule which we are perhaps apt to forget in a vision of stately eastern princes and gallant eastern warriors, something more tyrannical even than the dull pigheadedness of prussianism. i mean the most atrocious of all tortures, which is called caprice. it is the thing we feel in the arabian tales, when no man knows whether the sultan is good or bad, and he gives the same vizier a thousand pounds or a thousand lashes. i have heard dr. glazebrook describe a whole day of hideous hesitation, in which fugitives for whom he pleaded were allowed four times to embark and four times were brought back again to their prison. there is something there dizzy as well as dark, a whirlpool in the very heart of asia; and something wilder than our own worst oppressions in the peril of those men who looked up and saw above all the power of asiatic arms, their hopes hanging on a rocking mind like that of a maniac. the tyrant let them go at last, avowedly out of a simple sentiment for the white hair of the consul, and the strange respect that many moslems feel for the minister of any religion. once at least the trembling rock of barbaric rule nearly fell on him and killed him. by a sudden movement of lawlessness the turkish military authorities sent to him, demanding the english documents left in his custody. he refused to give them up; and he knew what he was doing. in standing firm he was not even standing like nurse cavell against organised prussia under the full criticism of organised europe. he was rather standing in a den of brigands, most of whom had never heard of the international rules they violated. finally by another freak of friendliness they left him and his papers alone; but the old man had to wait many days in doubt, not knowing what they would do, since they did not know themselves. i do not know what were his thoughts, or whether they were far from palestine and all possibilities that tyranny might return and reign for ever. but i have sometimes fancied that, in that ghastly silence, he may have heard again only the guns of lee and the last battle in the wilderness. if the mention of the american consul refers back to the oppression of the past, the mention of the military governor brings back all the problems of the present. here i only sketch these groups as i first found them in the present; and it must be remembered that my present is already past. all this was before the latest change from military to civil government, but the mere name of colonel storrs raises a question which is rather misunderstood in relation to that change itself. many of our journalists, especially at the time of the last and worst of the riots, wrote as if it would be a change from some sort of stiff militarism to a liberal policy akin to parliamentarism. i think this a fallacy, and a fallacy not uncommon in journalism, which is professedly very much up to date, and actually very much behind the times. as a fact it is nearly four years behind the times, for it is thinking in terms of the old small and rigidly professional army. colonel storrs is the very last man to be called militaristic in the narrow sense; he is a particularly liberal and enlightened type of the sort of english gentleman who readily served his country in war, but who is rather particularly fitted to serve her in politics or literature. of course many purely professional soldiers have liberal and artistic tastes; as general shea, one of the organisers of palestinian victory, has a fine taste in poetry, or colonel popham, then deputy governor of jerusalem, an admirable taste in painting. but while it is sometimes forgotten that many soldiers are men, it is now still more strange to forget that most men are soldiers. i fancy there are now few things more representative than the british army; certainly it is much more representative than the british parliament. the men i knew, and whom i remember with so much gratitude, working under general bols at the seat of government on the mount of olives, were certainly not narrowed by any military professionalism, and had if anything the mark of quite different professions. one was a very shrewd and humorous lawyer employed on legal problems about enemy property, another was a young schoolmaster, with keen and clear ideas, or rather ideals, about education for all the races in palestine. these men did not cease to be themselves because they were all dressed in khaki; and if colonel storrs recurs first to the memory, it is not because he had become a colonel in the trade of soldiering, but because he is the sort of man who could talk equally about all these other trades and twenty more. incidentally, and by way of example, he can talk about them in about ten languages. there is a story, which whether or no it be true is very typical, that one of the zionist leaders made a patriotic speech in hebrew, and broke off short in his recollection of this partially revived national tongue; whereupon the governor of jerusalem finished his hebrew speech for him--whether to exactly the same effect or not it would be impertinent to inquire. he is a man rather recalling the eighteenth century aristocrat, with his love of wit and classical learning; one of that small group of the governing class that contains his uncle, harry cust, and was warmed with the generous culture of george wyndham. it was a purely mechanical distinction between the military and civil government that would lend to such figures the stiffness of a drumhead court martial. and even those who differed with him accused him in practice, not of militarist lack of sympathy with any of those he ruled, but rather with too imaginative a sympathy with some of them. to know these things, however slightly, and then read the english newspapers afterwards is often amusing enough; but i have only mentioned the matter because there is a real danger in so crude a differentiation. it would be a bad thing if a system military in form but representative in fact gave place to a system representative in form but financial in fact. that is what the arabs and many of the english fear; and with the mention of that fear we come to the next stratum after the official. it must be remembered that i am not at this stage judging these groups, but merely very rapidly sketching them, like figures and costumes in the street. the group standing nearest to the official is that of the zionists; who are supposed to have a place at least in our official policy. among these also i am happy to have friends; and i may venture to call the official head of the zionists an old friend in a matter quite remote from zionism. dr. eder, the president of the zionist commission, is a man for whom i conceived a respect long ago when he protested, as a professional physician, against the subjection of the poor to medical interference to the destruction of all moral independence. he criticised with great effect the proposal of legislators to kidnap anybody else's child whom they chose to suspect of a feeblemindedness they were themselves too feeble-minded to define. it was defended, very characteristically, by a combination of precedent and progress; and we were told that it only extended the principle of the lunacy laws. that is to say, it only extended the principle of the lunacy laws to people whom no sane man would call lunatics. it is as if they were to alter the terms of a quarantine law from "lepers" to "light-haired persons"; and then say blandly that the principle was the same. the humour and human sympathy of a jewish doctor was very welcome to us when we were accused of being anti-semites, and we afterwards asked dr. eder for his own views on the jewish problem. we found he was then a very strong zionist; and this was long before he had the faintest chance of figuring as a leader of zionism. and this accident is important; for it stamps the sincerity of the small group of original zionists, who were in favour of this nationalist ideal when all the international jewish millionaires were against it. to my mind the most serious point now against it is that the millionaires are for it. but it is enough to note here the reality of the ideal in men like dr. eder and dr. weizmann, and doubtless many others. the only defect that need be noted, as a mere detail of portraiture, is a certain excessive vigilance and jealousy and pertinacity in the wrong place, which sometimes makes the genuine zionists unpopular with the english, who themselves suffer unpopularity for supporting them. for though i am called an anti-semite, there were really periods of official impatience when i was almost the only pro-semite in the company. i went about pointing out what was really to be said for zionism, to people who were represented by the arabs as the mere slaves of the zionists. this group of arab anti-semites may be taken next, but very briefly; for the problem itself belongs to a later page; and the one thing to be said of it here is very simple. i never expected it, and even now i do not fully understand it. but it is the fact that the native moslems are more anti-semitic than the native christians. both are more or less so; and have formed a sort of alliance out of the fact. the banner carried by the mob bore the arabic inscription "moslems and christians are brothers." it is as if the little wedge of zionism had closed up the cracks of the crusades. of the christian crowds in that partnership, and the christian creeds they are proud to inherit, i have already suggested something; it is only as well to note that i have put them out of their strict order in the stratification of history. it is too often forgotten that in these countries the christian culture is older than the moslem culture. i for one regret that the old pax romana was broken up by the arabs; and hold that in the long run there was more life in that byzantine decline than in that semitic revival. and i will add what i cannot here develop or defend; that in the long run it is best that the pax romana should return; and that the suzerainty of those lands at least will have to be christian, and neither moslem nor jewish. to defend it is to defend a philosophy; but i do hold that there is in that philosophy, for all the talk of its persecutions in the past, a possibility of comprehension and many-sided sympathy which is not in the narrow intensity either of the moslem or the jew. christianity is really the right angle of that triangle, and the other two are very acute angles. but in the meetings that led up to the riots it is the more moslem part of the mixed crowds that i chiefly remember; which touches the same truth that the christians are the more potentially tolerant. but many of the moslem leaders are as dignified and human as many of the zionist leaders; the grand mufti is a man i cannot imagine as either insulting anybody, or being conceivably the object of insult. the moslem mayor of jerusalem was another such figure, belonging also i believe to one of the arab aristocratic houses (the grand mufti is a descendant of mahomet) and i shall not forget his first appearance at the first of the riotous meetings in which i found myself. i will give it as the first of two final impressions with which i will end this chapter, i fear on a note of almost anarchic noise, the unearthly beating and braying of the eastern gongs and horns of two fierce desert faiths against each other. i first saw from the balcony of the hotel the crowd of riotors come rolling up the street. in front of them went two fantastic figures turning like teetotums in an endless dance and twirling two crooked and naked scimitars, as the irish were supposed to twirl shillelaghs. i thought it a delightful way of opening a political meeting; and i wished we could do it at home at the general election. i wish that instead of the wearisome business of mr. bonar law taking the chair, and mr. lloyd george addressing the meeting, mr. law and mr. lloyd george would only hop and caper in front of a procession, spinning round and round till they were dizzy, and waving and crossing a pair of umbrellas in a thousand invisible patterns. but this political announcement or advertisement, though more intelligent than our own, had, as i could readily believe, another side to it. i was told that it was often a prelude to ordinary festivals, such as weddings; and no doubt it remains from some ancient ritual dance of a religious character. but i could imagine that it might sometimes seem to a more rational taste to have too religious a character. i could imagine that those dancing men might indeed be dancing dervishes, with their heads going round in a more irrational sense than their bodies. i could imagine that at some moments it might suck the soul into what i have called in metaphor the whirlpool of asia, or the whirlwind of a world whipped like a top with a raging monotony; the cyclone of eternity. that is not the sort of rhythm nor the sort of religion by which i myself should hope to save the soul; but it is intensely interesting to the mind and even the eye, and i went downstairs and wedged myself into the thick and thronging press. it surged through the gap by the gate, where men climbed lamp-posts and roared out speeches, and more especially recited national poems in rich resounding voices; a really moving effect, at least for one who could not understand a word that was said. feeling had already gone as far as knocking jews' hats off and other popular sports, but not as yet on any universal and systematic scale; i saw a few of the antiquated jews with wrinkles and ringlets, peering about here and there; some said as spies or representatives of the zionists, to take away the anti-semitic colour from the meeting. but i think this unlikely; especially as it would have been pretty hard to take it away. it is more likely, i think, that the archaic jews were really not unamused and perhaps not unsympathetic spectators; for the zionist problem is complicated by a real quarrel in the ghetto about zionism. the old religious jews do not welcome the new nationalist jews; it would sometimes be hardly an exaggeration to say that one party stands for the religion without the nation, and the other for the nation without the religion. just as the old agricultural arabs hate the zionists as the instruments of new western business grab and sharp practice; so the old peddling and pedantic but intensely pious jews hate the zionists as the instruments of new western atheism of free thought. only i fear that when the storm breaks, such distinctions are swept away. the storm was certainly rising. outside the jaffa gate the road runs up steeply and is split in two by the wedge of a high building, looking as narrow as a tower and projecting like the prow of a ship. there is something almost theatrical about its position and stage properties, its one high-curtained window and balcony, with a sort of pole or flag-staff; for the place is official or rather municipal. round it swelled the crowd, with its songs and poems and passionate rhetoric in a kind of crescendo, and then suddenly the curtain of the window rose like the curtain of the theatre, and we saw on that high balcony the red fez and the tall figure of the mahometan mayor of jerusalem. i did not understand his arabic observations; but i know when a man is calming a mob, and the mob did become calmer. it was as if a storm swelled in the night and gradually died away in a grey morning; but there are perpetual mutterings of that storm. my point for the moment is that the exasperations come chiefly from the two extremes of the two great semitic traditions of monotheism; and certainly not primarily from those poor eastern christians of whose fanaticism we have been taught to make fun. from time to time there are gleams of the extremities of eastern fanaticism which are almost ghastly to western feeling. they seem to crack the polish of the dignified leaders of the arab aristocracy and the zionist school of culture, and reveal a volcanic substance of which only oriental creeds have been made. one day a wild jewish proclamation is passed from hand to hand, denouncing disloyal jews who refuse the teaching hebrew; telling doctors to let them die and hospitals to let them rot, ringing with the old unmistakable and awful accent that bade men dash their children against the stones. another day the city would be placarded with posters printed in damascus, telling the jews who looked to palestine for a national home that they should find it a national cemetery. and when these cries clash it is like the clash of those two crooked eastern swords, that crossed and recrossed and revolved like blazing wheels, in the vanguard of the marching mob. i felt the fullest pressure of the problem when i first walked round the whole of the haram enclosure, the courts of the old temple, where the high muezzin towers now stand at every corner, and heard the clear voices of the call to prayer. the sky was laden with a storm that became the snowstorm; and it was the time at which the old jews beat their hands and mourn over what are believed to be the last stones of the temple. there was a movement in my own mind that was attuned to these things, and impressed by the strait limits and steep sides of that platform of the mountains; for the sense of crisis is not only in the intensity of the ideals, but in the very conditions of the reality, the reality with which this chapter began. and the burden of it is the burden of palestine; the narrowness of the boundaries and the stratification of the rock. a voice not of my reason but rather sounding heavily in my heart, seemed to be repeating sentences like pessimistic proverbs. there is no place for the temple of solomon but on the ruins of the mosque of omar. there is no place for the nation of the jews but in the country of the arabs. and these whispers came to me first not as intellectual conclusions upon the conditions of the case, of which i should have much more to say and to hope; but rather as hints of something immediate and menacing and yet mysterious. i felt almost a momentary impulse to flee from the place, like one who has received an omen. for two voices had met in my ears; and within the same narrow space and in the same dark hour, electric and yet eclipsed with cloud, i had heard islam crying from the turret and israel wailing at the wall. chapter vii the shadow of the problem a traveller sees the hundred branches of a tree long before he is near enough to see its single and simple root; he generally sees the scattered or sprawling suburbs of a town long before he has looked upon the temple or the market-place. so far i have given impressions of the most motley things merely as they came, in chronological and not in logical order; the first flying vision of islam as a sort of sea, with something both of the equality and the emptiness and the grandeur of its purple seas of sand; the first sharp silhouette of jerusalem, like mount st. michael, lifting above that merely moslem flood a crag still crowned with the towers of the crusaders; the mere kaleidoscope of the streets, with little more than a hint of the heraldic meaning of the colours; a merely personal impression of a few of the leading figures whom i happened to meet first, and only the faintest suggestion of the groups for which they stood. so far i have not even tidied up my own first impressions of the place; far less advanced a plan for tidying up the place itself. in any case, to begin with, it is easy to be in far too much of a hurry about tidying up. this has already been noted in the more obvious case, of all that religious art that bewildered the tourist with its churches full of flat and gilded ikons. many a man has had the sensation of something as full as a picture gallery and as futile as a lumber-room, merely by not happening to know what is really of value, or especially in what way it is really valued. an armenian or a syrian might write a report on his visit to england, saying that our national and especially our naval heroes were neglected, and left to the lowest dregs of the rabble; since the portraits of benbow and nelson, when exhibited to the public, were painted on wood by the crudest and most incompetent artists. he would not perhaps fully appreciate the fine shade of social status and utility implied in a public-house sign. he might not realise that the sign of nelson could be hung on high everywhere, because the reputation of nelson was high everywhere, not because it was low anywhere; that his bad portrait was really a proof of his good name. yet the too rapid reformer may easily miss even the simple and superficial parallel between the wooden pictures of admirals and the wooden pictures of angels. still less will he appreciate the intense spiritual atmosphere, that makes the real difference between an ikon and an inn-sign, and makes the inns of england, noble and national as they are, relatively the homes of christian charity but hardly a christian faith. he can hardly bring himself to believe that syrians can be as fond of religion as englishmen of beer. nobody can do justice to these cults who has not some sympathy with the power of a mystical idea to transmute the meanest and most trivial objects with a kind of magic. it is easy to talk of superstitiously attaching importance to sticks and stones, but the whole poetry of life consists of attaching importance to sticks and stones; and not only to those tall sticks we call the trees or those large stones we call the mountains. anything that gives to the sticks of our own furniture, or the stones of our own backyard, even a reflected or indirect divinity is good for the dignity of life; and this is often achieved by the dedication of similar and special things. at least we should desire to see the profane things transfigured by the sacred, rather than the sacred disenchanted by the profane; and it was a prophet walking on the walls of this mountain city, who said that in his vision all the bowls should be as the bowls before the altar, and on every pot in jerusalem should be written holy unto the lord. anyhow, this intensity about trifles is not always understood. several quite sympathetic englishmen told me merely as a funny story (and god forbid that i should deny that it is funny) the fact of the armenians or some such people having been allowed to suspend a string of lamps from a greek pillar by means of a nail, and their subsequent alarm when their nail was washed by the owners of the pillar; a sort of symbol that their nail had finally fallen into the hands of the enemy. it strikes us as odd that a nail should be so valuable or so vivid to the imagination. and yet, to men so close to calvary, even nails are not entirely commonplace. all this, regarding a decent delay and respect for religion or even for superstition, is obvious and has already been observed. but before leaving it, we may note that the same argument cuts the other way; i mean that we should not insolently impose our own ideas of what is picturesque any more than our own ideas of what is practical. the aesthete is sometimes more of a vandal than the vandal. the proposed reconstructions of jerusalem have been on the whole reasonable and sympathetic; but there is always a danger from the activities, i might almost say the antics, of a sort of antiquary who is more hasty than an anarchist. if the people of such places revolt against their own limitations, we must have a reasonable respect for their revolt, and we must not be impatient even with their impatience. it is their town; they have to live in it, and not we. as they are the only judges of whether their antiquities are really authorities, so they are the only judges of whether their novelties are really necessities. as i pointed out more than once to many of my friends in jerusalem, we should be very much annoyed if artistic visitors from asia took similar liberties in london. it would be bad enough if they proposed to conduct excavations in pimlico or paddington, without much reference to the people who lived there; but it would be worse if they began to relieve them of the mere utilitarianism of chelsea bridge or paddington station. suppose an eloquent abyssinian christian were to hold up his hand and stop the motor-omnibuses from going down fleet street on the ground that the thoroughfare was sacred to the simpler locomotion of dr. johnson. we should be pleased at the african's appreciation of johnson; but our pleasure would not be unmixed. suppose when you or i are in the act of stepping into a taxi-cab, an excitable coptic christian were to leap from behind a lamp-post, and implore us to save the grand old growler or the cab called the gondola of london. i admit and enjoy the poetry of the hansom; i admit and enjoy the personality of the true cabman of the old four-wheeler, upon whose massive manhood descended something of the tremendous tradition of tony weller. but i am not so certain as i should like to be, that i should at that moment enjoy the personality of the copt. for these reasons it seems really desirable, or at least defensible, to defer any premature reconstruction of disputed things, and to begin this book as a mere note-book or sketch-book of things as they are, or at any rate as they appear. it was in this irregular order, and in this illogical disproportion, that things did in fact appear to me, and it was some time before i saw any real generalisation that would reduce my impressions to order. i saw that the groups disagreed, and to some extent why they disagreed, long before i could seriously consider anything on which they would be likely to agree. i have therefore confined the first section of this book to a mere series of such impressions, and left to the last section a study of the problem and an attempt at the solution. between these two i have inserted a sort of sketch of what seemed to me the determining historical events that make the problem what it is. of these i will only say for the moment that, whether by a coincidence or for some deeper cause, i feel it myself to be a case of first thoughts being best; and that some further study of history served rather to solidify what had seemed merely a sort of vision. i might almost say that i fell in love with jerusalem at first sight; and the final impression, right or wrong, served only to fix the fugitive fancy which had seen, in the snow on the city, the white crown of a woman of bethlehem. but there is another cause for my being content for the moment, with this mere chaos of contrasts. there is a very real reason for emphasising those contrasts, and for shunning the temptation to shut our eyes to them even considered as contrasts. it is necessary to insist that the contrasts are not easy to turn into combinations; that the red robes of rome and the green scarves of islam will not very easily fade into a dingy russet; that the gold of byzantium and the brass of babylon will require a hot furnace to melt them into any kind of amalgam. the reason for this is akin to what has already been said about jerusalem as a knot of realities. it is especially a knot of popular realities. although it is so small a place, or rather because it is so small a place, it is a domain and a dominion for the masses. democracy is never quite democratic except when it is quite direct; and it is never quite direct except when it is quite small. so soon as a mob has grown large enough to have delegates it has grown large enough to have despots; indeed the despots are often much the more representative of the two. now in a place so small as jerusalem, what we call the rank and file really counts. and it is generally true, in religions especially, that the real enthusiasm or even fanaticism is to be found in the rank and file. in all intense religions it is the poor who are more religious and the rich who are more irreligious. it is certainly so with the creeds and causes that come to a collision in jerusalem. the great jewish population throughout the world did hail mr. balfour's declaration with something almost of the tribal triumph they might have shown when the persian conqueror broke the babylonian bondage. it was rather the plutocratic princes of jewry who long hung back and hesitated about zionism. the mass of mahometans really are ready to combine against the zionists as they might have combined against the crusades. it is rather the responsible mahometan leaders who will naturally be found more moderate and diplomatic. this popular spirit may take a good or a bad form; and a mob may cry out many things, right and wrong. but a mob cries out "no popery"; it does not cry out "not so much popery," still less "only a moderate admixture of popery." it shouts "three cheers for gladstone," it does not shout "a gradual and evolutionary social tendency towards some ideal similar to that of gladstone." it would find it quite a difficult thing to shout; and it would find exactly the same difficulty with all the advanced formulae about nationalisation and internationalisation and class-conscious solidarity. no rabble could roar at the top of its voice the collectivist formula of "the nationalisation of all the means of production, distribution, and exchange." the mob of jerusalem is no exception to the rule, but rather an extreme example of it. the mob of jerusalem has cried some remarkable things in its time; but they were not pedantic and they were not evasive. there was a day when it cried a single word; "crucify." it was a thing to darken the sun and rend the veil of the temple; but there was no doubt about what it meant. this is an age of minorities; of minorities powerful and predominant, partly through the power of wealth and partly through the idolatry of education. their powers appeared in every crisis of the great war, when a small group of pacifists and internationalists, a microscopic minority in every country, were yet constantly figuring as diplomatists and intermediaries and men on whose attitude great issues might depend. a man like mr. macdonald, not a workman nor a formal or real representative of workmen, was followed everywhere by the limelight; while the millions of workmen who worked and fought were out of focus and therefore looked like a fog. just as such figures give a fictitious impression of unity between the crowds fighting for different flags and frontiers, so there are similar figures giving a fictitious unity to the crowds following different creeds. there are already moslems who are modernists; there have always been a ruling class of jews who are materialists. perhaps it would be true to say about much of the philosophical controversy in europe, that many jews tend to be materialists, but all tend to be monists, though the best in the sense of being monotheists. the worst are in a much grosser sense materialists, and have motives very different from the dry idealism of men like mr. macdonald, which is probably sincere enough in its way. but with whatever motives, these intermediaries everywhere bridge the chasm between creeds as they do the chasm between countries. everywhere they exalt the minority that is indifferent over the majority that is interested. just as they would make an international congress out of the traitors of all nations, so they would make an ecumenical council out of the heretics of all religions. mild constitutionalists in our own country often discuss the possibility of a method of protecting the minority. if they will find any possible method of protecting the majority, they will have found something practically unknown to the modern world. the majority is always at a disadvantage; the majority is difficult to idealise, because it is difficult to imagine. the minority is generally idealised, sometimes by its servants, always by itself. but my sympathies are generally, i confess, with the impotent and even invisible majority. and my sympathies, when i go beyond the things i myself believe, are with all the poor jews who do believe in judaism and all the mahometans who do believe in mahometanism, not to mention so obscure a crowd as the christians who do believe in christianity. i feel i have more morally and even intellectually in common with these people, and even the religions of these people, than with the supercilious negations that make up the most part of what is called enlightenment. it is these masses whom we ought to consider everywhere; but it is especially these masses whom we must consider in jerusalem. and the reason is in the reality i have described; that the place is like a greek city or a medieval parish; it is sufficiently small and simple to be a democracy. this is not a university town full of philosophies; it is a zion of the hundred sieges raging with religions; not a place where resolutions can be voted and amended, but a place where men can be crowned and crucified. there is one small thing neglected in all our talk about self-determination; and that is determination. there is a great deal more difference than there is between most motions and amendments between the things for which a democracy will vote and the things on which a democracy is determined. you can take a vote among jews and christians and moslems about whether lamp-posts should be painted green or portraits of politicians painted at all, and even their solid unanimity may be solid indifference. most of what is called self-determination is like that; but there is no self-determination about it. the people are not determined. you cannot take a vote when the people are determined. you accept a vote, or something very much more obvious than a vote. now it may be that in jerusalem there is not one people but rather three or four; but each is a real people, having its public opinion, its public policy, its flag and almost, as i have said, its frontier. it is not a question of persuading weak and wavering voters, at a vague parliamentary election, to vote on the other side for a change, to choose afresh between two middle-class gentlemen, who look exactly alike and only differ on a question about which nobody knows or cares anything. it is a question of contrasts that will almost certainly remain contrasts, except under the flood of some spiritual conversion which cannot be foreseen and certainly cannot be enforced. we cannot enrol these people under our religion, because we have not got one. we can enrol them under our government, and if we are obliged to do that, the obvious essential is that like roman rule before christianity, or the english rule in india it should profess to be impartial if only by being irreligious. that is why i willingly set down for the moment only the first impressions of a stranger in a strange country. it is because our first safety is in seeing that it is a strange country; and our present preliminary peril that we may fall into the habit of thinking it a familiar country. it does no harm to put the facts in a fashion that seems disconnected; for the first fact of all is that they are disconnected. and the first danger of all is that we may allow some international nonsense or newspaper cant to imply that they are connected when they are not. it does no harm, at any rate to start with, to state the differences as irreconcilable. for the first and most unfamiliar fact the english have to learn in this strange land is that differences can be irreconcilable. and again the chief danger is that they may be persuaded that the wordy compromises of western politics can reconcile them; that such abysses can be filled up with rubbish, or such chasms bridged with cobwebs. for we have created in england a sort of compromise which may up to a certain point be workable in england; though there are signs that even in england that point is approaching or is past. but in any case we could only do with that compromise as we could do without conscription; because an accident had made us insular and even provincial. so in india where we have treated the peoples as different from ourselves and from each other we have at least partly succeeded. so in ireland, where we have tried to make them agree with us and each other, we have made one never-ending nightmare. we can no more subject the world to the english compromise than to the english climate; and both are things of incalculable cloud and twilight. we have grown used to a habit of calling things by the wrong names and supporting them by the wrong arguments; and even doing the right thing for the wrong cause. we have party governments which consist of people who pretend to agree when they really disagree. we have party debates which consist of people who pretend to disagree when they really agree. we have whole parties named after things they no longer support, or things they would never dream of proposing. we have a mass of meaningless parliamentary ceremonials that are no longer even symbolic; the rule by which a parliamentarian possesses a constituency but not a surname; or the rule by which he becomes a minister in order to cease to be a member. all this would seem the most superstitious and idolatrous mummery to the simple worshippers in the shrines of jerusalem. you may think what they say fantastic, or what they mean fanatical, but they do not say one thing and mean another. the greek may or may not have a right to say he is orthodox, but he means that he is orthodox; in a very different sense from that in which a man supporting a new home rule bill means that he is unionist. a moslem would stop the sale of strong drink because he is a moslem. but he is not quite so muddleheaded as to profess to stop it because he is a liberal, and a particular supporter of the party of liberty. even in england indeed it will generally be found that there is something more clear and rational about the terms of theology than those of politics and popular science. a man has at least a more logical notion of what he means when he calls himself an anglo-catholic than when he calls himself an anglo-saxon. but the old jew with the drooping ringlets, shuffling in and out of the little black booths of jerusalem, would not condescend to say he is a child of anything like the anglo-saxon race. he does not say he is a child of the aramaico-semitic race. he says he is a child of the chosen race, brought with thunder and with miracles and with mighty battles out of the land of egypt and out of the house of bondage. in other words, he says something that means something, and something that he really means. one of the white dominicans or brown franciscans, from the great monasteries of the holy city, may or may not be right in maintaining that a papacy is necessary to the unity of christendom. but he does not pass his life in proving that the papacy is not a papacy, as many of our liberal constitutionalists pass it in proving that the monarchy is not a monarchy. the greek priests spend an hour on what seems to the sceptic mere meaningless formalities of the preparation of the mass. but they would not spend a minute if they were themselves sceptics and thought them meaningless formalities, as most modern people do think of the formalities about black rod or the bar of the house. they would be far less ritualistic than we are, if they cared as little for the mass as we do for the mace. hence it is necessary for us to realise that these rude and simple worshippers, of all the different forms of worship, really would be bewildered by the ritual dances and elaborate ceremonial antics of john bull, as by the superstitious forms and almost supernatural incantations of most of what we call plain english. now i take it we retain enough realism and common sense not to wish to transfer these complicated conventions and compromises to a land of such ruthless logic and such rending divisions. we may hope to reproduce our laws, we do not want to reproduce our legal fictions. we do not want to insist on everybody referring to mr. peter or mr. paul, as the honourable member for waddy walleh; because a retiring parliamentarian has to become steward of the chiltern hundreds, we shall not insist on a retiring palestinian official becoming steward of the moabitic hundreds. but yet in much more subtle and more dangerous ways we are making that very mistake. we are transferring the fictions and even the hypocrisies of our own insular institutions from a place where they can be tolerated to a place where they will be torn in pieces. i have confined myself hitherto to descriptions and not to criticisms, to stating the elements of the problem rather than attempting as yet to solve it; because i think the danger is rather that we shall underrate the difficulties than overdo the description; that we shall too easily deny the problem rather than that we shall too severely criticise the solution. but i would conclude this chapter with one practical criticism which seems to me to follow directly from all that is said here of our legal fictions and local anomalies. one thing at least has been done by our own government, which is entirely according to the ritual or routine of our own parliament. it is a parliament of pooh bah, where anybody may be lord high everything else. it is a parliament of alice in wonderland, where the name of a thing is different from what it is called, and even from what its name is called. it is death and destruction to send out these fictions into a foreign daylight, where they will be seen as things and not theories. and knowing all this, i cannot conceive the reason, or even the meaning, of sending out sir herbert samuel as the british representative in palestine. i have heard it supported as an interesting experiment in zionism. i have heard it denounced as a craven concession to zionism. i think it is quite obviously a flat and violent contradiction to zionism. zionism, as i have always understood it, and indeed as i have always defended it, consists in maintaining that it would be better for all parties if israel had the dignity and distinctive responsibility of a separate nation; and that this should be effected, if possible, or so far as possible, by giving the jews a national home, preferably in palestine. but where is sir herbert samuel's national home? if it is in palestine he cannot go there as a representative of england. if it is in england, he is so far a living proof that a jew does not need a national home in palestine. if there is any point in the zionist argument at all, you have chosen precisely the wrong man and sent him to precisely the wrong country. you have asserted not the independence but the dependence of israel, and yet you have ratified the worst insinuations about the dependence of christendom. in reason you could not more strongly state that palestine does not belong to the jews, than by sending a jew to claim it for the english. and yet in practice, of course, all the anti-semites will say he is claiming it for the jews. you combine all possible disadvantages of all possible courses of action; you run all the risks of the hard zionist adventure, while actually denying the high zionist ideal. you make a jew admit he is not a jew but an englishman; even while you allow all his enemies to revile him because he is not an englishman but a jew. now this sort of confusion or compromise is as local as a london fog. a london fog is tolerable in london, indeed i think it is very enjoyable in london. there is a beauty in that brown twilight as well as in the clear skies of the orient and the south. but it is simply horribly dangerous for a londoner to carry his cloud of fog about with him, in the crystalline air about the crags of zion, or under the terrible stars of the desert. there men see differences with almost unnatural clearness, and call things by savagely simple names. we in england may consider all sorts of aspects of a man like sir herbert samuel; we may consider him as a liberal, or a friend of the fabian socialists, or a cadet of one of the great financial houses, or a member of parliament who is supposed to represent certain miners in yorkshire, or in twenty other more or less impersonal ways. but the people in palestine will see only one aspect, and it will be a very personal aspect indeed. for the enthusiastic moslems he will simply be a jew; for the enthusiastic zionists he will not really be a zionist. for them he will always be the type of jew who would be willing to remain in london, and who is ready to represent westminster. meanwhile, for the masses of moslems and christians, he will only be the aggravation in practice of the very thing of which he is the denial in theory. he will not mean that palestine is not surrendered to the jews, but only that england is. now i have nothing as yet to do with the truth of that suggestion; i merely give it as an example of the violent and unexpected reactions we shall produce if we thrust our own unrealities amid the red-hot realities of the near east; it is like pushing a snow man into a furnace. i have no objection to a snow man as a part of our own christmas festivities; indeed, as has already been suggested, i think such festivities a great glory of english life. but i have seen the snow melting in the steep places about jerusalem; and i know what a cataract it could feed. as i considered these things a deepening disquiet possessed me, and my thoughts were far away from where i stood. after all, the english did not indulge in this doubling of parts and muddling of mistaken identity in their real and unique success in india. they may have been wrong or right but they were realistic about moslems and hindoos; they did not say moslems were hindoos, or send a highly intelligent hindoo from oxford to rule moslems as an englishman. they may not have cared for things like the ideal of zionism; but they understood the common sense of zionism, the desirability of distinguishing between entirely different things. but i remembered that of late their tact had often failed them even in their chief success in india; and that every hour brought worse and wilder news of their failure in ireland. i remembered that in the early victorian time, against the advice only of the wisest and subtlest of the early victorians, we had tied ourselves to the triumphant progress of industrial capitalism; and that progress had now come to a crisis and what might well be a crash. and now, on the top of all, our fine patriotic tradition of foreign policy seemed to be doing these irrational and random things. a sort of fear took hold of me; and it was not for the holy land that i feared. a cold wave went over me, like that unreasonable change and chill with which a man far from home fancies his house has been burned down, or that those dear to him are dead. for one horrible moment at least i wondered if we had come to the end of compromise and comfortable nonsense, and if at last the successful stupidity of england would topple over like the successful wickedness of prussia; because god is not mocked by the denial of reason any more than the denial of justice. and i fancied the very crowds of jerusalem retorted on me words spoken to them long ago; that a great voice crying of old along the via dolorosa was rolled back on me like thunder from the mountains; and that all those alien faces are turned against us to-day, bidding us weep not for them, who have faith and clarity and a purpose, but weep for ourselves and for our children. chapter viii the other side of the desert there was a story in jerusalem so true or so well told that i can see the actors in it like figures in coloured costumes on a lighted stage. it occurred during the last days of turkish occupation, while the english advance was still halted before gaza, and heroically enduring the slow death of desert warfare. there were german and austrian elements present in the garrison with the turks, though the three allies seem to have held strangely aloof from each other. in the austrian group there was an austrian lady, "who had some dignity or other," like lord lundy's grandmother. she was very beautiful, very fashionable, somewhat frivolous, but with fits of catholic devotion. she had some very valuable christian virtues, such as indiscriminate charity for the poor and indiscriminate loathing for the prussians. she was a nurse; she was also a nuisance. one day she was driving just outside the jaffa gate, when she saw one of those figures which make the holy city seem like the eternal crisis of an epic. such a man will enter the gate in the most ghastly rags as if he were going to be crowned king in the city; with his head lifted as if he saw apocalyptic stars in heaven, and a gesture at which the towers might fall. this man was ragged beyond all that moving rag-heap; he was as gaunt as a gallows tree, and the thing he was uttering with arms held up to heaven was evidently a curse. the lady sent an inquiry by her german servant, whom also i can see in a vision, with his face of wood and his air of still trailing all the heraldic trappings of the holy roman empire. this ambassador soon returned in state and said, "your serene high sublimity (or whatever it is), he says he is cursing the english." her pity and patriotism were alike moved; and she again sent the plenipotentiary to discover why he cursed the english, or what tale of wrong or ruin at english hands lay behind the large gestures of his despair. a second time the wooden intermediary returned and said, "your ecstatic excellency (or whatever be the correct form), he says he is cursing the english because they don't come." there are a great many morals to this story, besides the general truth to which it testifies; that the turkish rule was not popular even with moslems, and that the german war was not particularly popular even with turks. when all deductions are made for the patriot as a partisan, and his way of picking up only what pleases him, it remains true that the english attack was very widely regarded rather as a rescue than an aggression. and what complaint there was really was, in many cases, a complaint that the rescue did not come with a rush; that the english forces had to fall back when they had actually entered gaza, and could not for long afterwards continue their advance on jerusalem. this kind of criticism of military operations is always, of course, worthless. in journalists it is generally worthless without being even harmless. there were some in london whose pessimistic wailing was less excusable than that of the poor arab in jerusalem; who cursed the english with the addition of being english themselves, who did it, not as he did, before one foreigner, but before all foreign opinion; and who advertised their failure in a sort of rags less reputable than his. no one can judge of a point like the capture and loss of gaza, unless he knows a huge mass of technical and local detail that can only be known to the staff on the spot; it is not a question of lack of water but of exactly how little water; not of the arrival of reinforcements but of exactly how much reinforcement; not of whether time presses, but of exactly how much time there is. nobody can know these things who is editing a newspaper at the other end of the world; and these are the things which, for the soldier on the spot, make all the difference between jumping over a paling and jumping over a precipice. even the latter, as the philosophic relativist will eagerly point out, is only a matter of degree. but this is a parenthesis; for the purpose with which i mentioned the anecdote is something different. it is the text of another and somewhat more elusive truth; some appreciation of which is necessary to a sympathy with the more profound problems of palestine. and it might be expressed thus; it is a proverb that the eastern methods seem to us slow; that the arabs trail along on labouring camels while the europeans flash by on motors or mono-planes. but there is another and stranger sense in which we do seem to them slow, and they do seem to themselves to have a secret of swiftness. there is a sense in which we here touch the limits of a land of lightning; across which, as in a dream, the motor-car can be seen crawling like a snail. i have said that there is another side to the desert; though there is something queer in talking of another side to something so bare and big and oppressively obvious. but there is another side besides the big and bare truths, like giant bones, that the moslem has found there; there is, so to speak, an obverse of the obvious. and to suggest what i mean i must go back again to the desert and the days i spent there, being carted from camp to camp and giving what were courteously described as lectures. all i can say is that if those were lectures, i cannot imagine why everybody is not a lecturer. perhaps the secret is already out; and multitudes of men in evening dress are already dotted about the desert, wandering in search of an audience. anyhow in my own wanderings i found myself in the high narrow house of the base commandant at kantara, the only house in the whole circle of the horizon; and from the wooden balustrade and verandah, running round the top of it, could be seen nine miles of tents. sydney smith said that the bulbous domes of the brighton pavilion looked as if st. paul's cathedral had come down there and littered; and that grey vista of countless cones looked rather as if the great pyramid had multiplied itself on the prolific scale of the herring. nor was even such a foolish fancy without its serious side; for though these pyramids would pass, the plan of them was also among the mightiest of the works of man; and the king in every pyramid was alive. for this was the great camp that was the pivot of the greatest campaign; and from that balcony i had looked on something all the more historic because it may never be seen again. as the dusk fell and the moon brightened above that great ghostly city of canvas, i had fallen into talk with three or four of the officers at the base; grizzled and hard-headed men talking with all the curious and almost colourless common sense of the soldier. all that they said was objective; one felt that everything they mentioned was really a thing and not merely a thought; a thing like a post or a palm-tree. i think there is something in this of a sympathy between the english and the moslems, which may have helped us in india and elsewhere. for they mentioned many moslem proverbs and traditions, lightly enough but not contemptuously, and in particular another of the proverbial prophecies about the term of turkish power. they said there was an old saying that the turk would never depart until the nile flowed through palestine; and this at least was evidently a proverb of pride and security, like many such; as who should say until the sea is dry or the sun rises in the west. and one of them smiled and made a small gesture as of attention. and in the silence of that moonlit scene we heard the clanking of a pump. the water from the nile had been brought in pipes across the desert. and i thought that the symbol was a sound one, apart from all vanities; for this is indeed the special sort of thing that christendom can do, and that islam by itself would hardly care to do. i heard more afterwards of that water, which was eventually carried up the hills to jerusalem, when i myself followed it thither; and all i heard bore testimony to this truth so far as it goes; the sense among the natives themselves of something magic in our machinery, and that in the main a white magic; the sense of all the more solid sort of social service that belongs rather to the west than to the east. when the fountain first flowed in the holy city in the mountains, and father waggett blessed it for the use of men, it is said that an old arab standing by said, in the plain and powerful phraseology of his people: "the turks were here for five hundred years, and they never gave us a cup of cold water." i put first this minimum of truth about the validity of western work because the same conversation swerved slowly, as it were, to the eastern side. these same men, who talked of all things as if they were chairs and tables, began to talk quite calmly of things more amazing than table-turning. they were as wonderful as if the water had come there like the wind, without any pipes or pumps; or if father waggett had merely struck the rock like moses. they spoke of a solitary soldier at the end of a single telephone wire across the wastes, hearing of something that had that moment happened hundreds of miles away, and then coming upon a casual bedouin who knew it already. they spoke of the whole tribes moving and on the march, upon news that could only come a little later by the swiftest wires of the white man. they offered no explanation of these things; they simply knew they were there, like the palm-trees and the moon. they did not say it was "telepathy"; they lived much too close to realities for that. that word, which will instantly leap to the lips of too many of my readers, strikes me as merely an evidence of two of our great modern improvements; the love of long words and the loss of common sense. it may have been telepathy, whatever that is; but a man must be almost stunned with stupidity if he is satisfied to say telepathy as if he were saying telegraphy. if everybody is satisfied about how it is done, why does not everybody do it? why does not a cultivated clergyman in cornwall make a casual remark to an old friend of his at the university of aberdeen? why does not a harassed commercial traveller in barcelona settle a question by merely thinking about his business partner in berlin? the common sense of it is, of course, that the name makes no sort of difference; the mystery is why some people can do it and others cannot; and why it seems to be easy in one place and impossible in another. in other words it comes back to that very mystery which of all mysteries the modern world thinks most superstitious and senseless; the mystery of locality. it works back at last to the hardest of all the hard sayings of supernaturalism; that there is such a thing as holy or unholy ground, as divinely or diabolically inspired people; that there may be such things as sacred sites or even sacred stones; in short that the airy nothing of spiritual essence, evil or good, can have quite literally a local habitation and a name. it may be said in passing that this _genius loci_ is here very much the presiding genius. it is true that everywhere to-day a parade of the theory of pantheism goes with a considerable practice of particularism; and that people everywhere are beginning to wish they were somewhere. and even where it is not true of men, it seems to be true of the mysterious forces which men are once more studying. the words we now address to the unseen powers may be vague and universal, but the words they are said to address to us are parochial and even private. while the higher thought centre would widen worship everywhere to a temple not made with hands, the psychical research society is conducting practical experiments round a haunted house. men may become cosmopolitans, but ghosts remain patriots. men may or may not expect an act of healing to take place at a holy well, but nobody expects it ten miles from the well; and even the sceptic who comes to expose the ghost-haunted churchyard has to haunt the churchyard like a ghost. there may be something faintly amusing about the idea of demi-gods with door-knockers and dinner tables, and demons, one may almost say, keeping the home fires burning. but the driving force of this dark mystery of locality is all the more indisputable because it drives against most modern theories and associations. the truth is that, upon a more transcendental consideration, we do not know what place is any more than we know what time is. we do not know of the unknown powers that they cannot concentrate in space as in time, or find in a spot something that corresponds to a crisis. and if this be felt everywhere, it is necessarily and abnormally felt in those alleged holy places and sacred spots. it is felt supremely in all those lands of the near east which lie about the holy hill of zion. in these lands an impression grows steadily on the mind much too large for most of the recent religious or scientific definitions. the bogus heraldry of haeckel is as obviously insufficient as any quaint old chronicle tracing the genealogies of english kings through the chiefs of troy to the children of noah. there is no difference, except that the tale of the dark ages can never be proved, while the travesty of the darwinian theory can sometimes be disproved. but i should diminish my meaning if i suggested it as a mere score in the victorian game of scripture versus science. some much larger mystery veils the origins of man than most partisans on either side have realised; and in these strange primeval plains the traveller does realise it. it was never so well expressed as by one of the most promising of those whose literary possibilities were gloriously broken off by the great war; lieutenant warre-cornish who left a strange and striking fragment, about a man who came to these lands with a mystical idea of forcing himself back against the stream of time into the very fountain of creation. this is a parenthesis; but before resuming the more immediate matter of the supernormal tricks of the tribes of the east, it is well to recognise this very real if much more general historic impression about the particular lands in which they lived. i have called it a historic impression; but it might more truly be called a prehistoric impression. it is best expressed in symbol by saying that the legendary site of the garden of eden is in mesopotamia. it is equally well expressed in concrete experience by saying that, when i was in these parts, a learned man told me that the primitive form of wheat had just, for the first time, been discovered in palestine. the feeling that fills the traveller may be faintly suggested thus; that here, in this legendary land between asia and europe, may well have happened whatever did happen; that through this eastern gate, if any, entered whatever made and changed the world. whatever else this narrow strip of land may seem like, it does really seem, to the spirit and almost to the senses, like the bridge that may have borne across archaic abysses the burden and the mystery of man. here have been civilisations as old as any barbarism; to all appearance perhaps older than any barbarism. here is the camel; the enormous unnatural friend of man; the prehistoric pet. he is never known to have been wild, and might make a man fancy that all wild animals had once been tame. as i said elsewhere, all might be a runaway menagerie; the whale a cow that went swimming and never came back, the tiger a large cat that took the prize (and the prize-giver) and escaped to the jungle. this is not (i venture to think) true; but it is true as pithecanthropus and primitive man and all the other random guesses from dubious bits of bone and stone. and the truth is some third thing, too tremendous to be remembered by men. whatever it was, perhaps the camel saw it; but from the expression on the face of that old family servant, i feel sure that he will never tell. i have called this the other side of the desert; and in another sense it is literally the other side. it is the other shore of that shifting and arid sea. looking at it from the west and considering mainly the case of the moslem, we feel the desert is but a barren border-land of christendom; but seen from the other side it is the barrier between us and a heathendom far more mysterious and even monstrous than anything moslem can be. indeed it is necessary to realise this more vividly in order to feel the virtue of the moslem movement. it belonged to the desert, but in one sense it was rather a clearance in the cloud that rests upon the desert; a rift of pale but clean light in volumes of vapour rolled on it like smoke from the strange lands beyond. it conceived a fixed hatred of idolatry, partly because its face was turned towards the multitudinous idolatries of the lands of sunrise; and as i looked eastward i seemed to be conscious of the beginnings of that other world; and saw, like a forest of arms or a dream full of faces, the gods of asia on their thousand thrones. it is not a mere romance that calls it a land of magic, or even of black magic. those who carry that atmosphere to us are not the romanticists but the realists. every one can feel it in the work of mr. rudyard kipling; and when i once remarked on his repulsive little masterpiece called "the mark of the beast," to a rather cynical anglo-indian officer, he observed moodily, "it's a beastly story. but those devils really can do jolly queer things." it is but to take a commonplace example out of countless more notable ones to mention the many witnesses to the mango trick. here again we have from time to time to weep over the weak-mindedness that hurriedly dismisses it as the practice of hypnotism. it is as if people were asked to explain how one unarmed indian had killed three hundred men, and they said it was only the practice of human sacrifice. nothing that we know as hypnotism will enable a man to alter the eyes in the heads of a huge crowd of total strangers; wide awake in broad daylight; and if it is hypnotism, it is something so appallingly magnified as to need a new magic to explain the explanation; certainly something that explains it better than a greek word for sleep. but the impression of these special instances is but one example of a more universal impression of the asiatic atmosphere; and that atmosphere itself is only an example of something vaster still for which i am trying to find words. asia stands for something which the world in the west as well as the east is more and more feeling as a presence, and even a pressure. it might be called the spiritual world let loose; or a sort of psychical anarchy; a jungle of mango plants. and it is pressing upon the west also to-day because of the breaking down of certain materialistic barriers that have hitherto held it back. in plain words the attitude of science is not only modified; it is now entirely reversed. i do not say it with mere pleasure; in some ways i prefer our materialism to their spiritualism. but for good or evil the scientists are now destroying their own scientific world. the agnostics have been driven back on agnosticism; and are already recovering from the shock. they find themselves in a really unknown world under really unknown gods; a world which is more mystical, or at least more mysterious. for in the victorian age the agnostics were not really agnostics. they might be better described as reverent materialists; or at any rate monists. they had at least at the back of their minds a clear and consistent concept of their rather clockwork cosmos; that is why they could not admit the smallest speck of the supernatural into their clockwork. but to-day it is very hard for a scientific man to say where the supernatural ends or the natural begins, or what name should be given to either. the word agnostic has ceased to be a polite word for atheist. it has become a real word for a very real state of mind, conscious of many possibilities beyond that of the atheist, and not excluding that of the polytheist. it is no longer a question of defining or denying a simple central power, but of balancing the brain in a bewilderment of new powers which seem to overlap and might even conflict. nature herself has become unnatural. the wind is blowing from the other side of the desert, not now with noble truism "there is no god but god," but rather with that other motto out of the deeper anarchy of asia, drawn out by mr. kipling, in the shape of a native proverb, in the very story already mentioned; "your gods and my gods, do you or i know which is the stronger?" there was a mystical story i read somewhere in my boyhood, of which the only image that remains is that of a rose-bush growing mysteriously in the middle of a room. taking this image for the sake of argument, we can easily fancy a man half-conscious and convinced that he is delirious, or still partly in a dream, because he sees such a magic bush growing irrationally in the middle of his bedroom. all the walls and furniture are familiar and solid, the table, the clock, the telephone, the looking glass or what not; there is nothing unnatural but this one hovering hallucination or optical delusion of green and red. now that was very much the view taken of the rose of sharon, the mystical rose of the sacred tradition of palestine, by any educated man about , when the rationalism of the eighteenth century was supposed to have found full support in the science of the nineteenth. he had a sentiment about a rose: he was still glad it had fragrance or atmosphere; though he remembered with a slight discomfort that it had thorns. but what bothered him about it was that it was impossible. and what made him think it impossible was it was inconsistent with everything else. it was one solitary and monstrous exception to the sort of rule that ought to have no exceptions. science did not convince him that there were few miracles, but that there were no miracles; and why should there be miracles only in palestine and only for one short period? it was a single and senseless contradiction to an otherwise complete cosmos. for the furniture fitted in bit by bit and better and better; and the bedroom seemed to grow more and more solid. the man recognised the portrait of himself over the mantelpiece or the medicine bottles on the table, like the dying lover in browning. in other words, science so far had steadily solidified things; newton had measured the walls and ceiling and made a calculus of their three dimensions. darwin was already arranging the animals in rank as neatly as a row of chairs, or faraday the chemical elements as clearly as a row of medicine bottles. from the middle of the eighteenth century to the middle of the nineteenth, science was not only making discoveries, but all the discoveries were in one direction. science is still making discoveries; but they are in the opposite direction. for things are rather different when the man in the bed next looks at the bedroom. not only is the rose-bush still very obvious; but the other things are looking very odd. the perspective seems to have gone crooked; the walls seem to vary in measurement till the man thinks he is going mad. the wall-paper has a new pattern, of strange spirals instead of round dots. the table seems to have moved by itself across the room and thrown the medicine bottles out of the window. the telephone has vanished from the wall; the mirror does not reflect what is in front of it. the portrait of himself over the mantelpiece has a face that is not his own. that is something like a vision of the vital change in the whole trend of natural philosophy in the last twenty or thirty years. it matters little whether we regard it as the deepening or the destruction of the scientific universe. it matters little whether we say that grander abysses have opened in it, or merely that the bottom has fallen out of it. it is quite self-evident that scientific men are at war with wilder and more unfathomable fancies than the facts of the age of huxley. i attempt no controversy about any of the particular cases: it is the cumulative effect of all of them that makes the impression one of common sense. it is really true that the perspective and dimensions of the man's bedroom have altered; the disciples of einstein will tell him that straight lines are curved and perhaps measure more one way than the other; if that is not a nightmare, what is? it is really true that the clock has altered, for time has turned into the fourth dimension or something entirely different; and the telephone may fairly be said to have faded from view in favour of the invisible telepath. it is true that the pattern of the paper has changed, for the very pattern of the world has changed; we are told that it is not made of atoms like the dots but of electrons like the spirals. scientific men of the first rank have seen a table move by itself, and walk upstairs by itself. it does not matter here whether it was done by the spirits; it is enough that few still pretend that is entirely done by the spiritualists. i am not dealing with doctrines but with doubts; with the mere fact that all these things have grown deeper and more bewildering. some people really are throwing their medicine bottles out of the window; and some of them at least are working purely psychological cures of a sort that would once have been called miraculous healing. i do not say we know how far this could go; it is my whole point that we do not know, that we are in contact with numbers of new things of which we know uncommonly little. but the vital point is, not that science deals with what we do not know, but that science is destroying what we thought we did know. nearly all the latest discoveries have been destructive, not of the old dogmas of religion, but rather of the recent dogmas of science. the conservation of energy could not itself be entirely conserved. the atom was smashed to atoms. and dancing to the tune of professor einstein, even the law of gravity is behaving with lamentable levity. and when the man looks at the portrait of himself he really does not see himself. he sees his other self, which some say is the opposite of his ordinary self; his subconscious self or his subliminal self, said to rage and rule in his dreams, or a suppressed self which hates him though it is hidden from him; or the alter ego of a dual personality. it is not to my present purpose to discuss the merit of these speculations, or whether they be medicinal or morbid. my purpose is served in pointing out the plain historical fact; that if you had talked to a utilitarian and rationalist of bentham's time, who told men to follow "enlightened self-interest," he would have been considerably bewildered if you had replied brightly and briskly, "and to which self do you refer; the sub-conscious, the conscious, the latently criminal or suppressed, or others that we fortunately have in stock?" when the man looks at his own portrait in his own bedroom, it does really melt into the face of a stranger or flicker into the face of a fiend. when he looks at the bedroom itself, in short, it becomes clearer and clearer that it is exactly this comfortable and solid part of the vision that is altering and breaking up. it is the walls and furniture that are only a dream or memory. and when he looks again at the incongruous rose-bush, he seems to smell as well as see; and he stretches forth his hand, and his finger bleeds upon a thorn. it will not be altogether surprising if the story ends with the man recovering full consciousness, and finding he has been convalescing in a hammock in a rose-garden. it is not so very unreasonable when you come to think of it; or at least when you come to think of the whole of it. he was not wrong in thinking the whole must be a consistent whole, and that one part seemed inconsistent with the other. he was only wrong about which part was wrong through being inconsistent with the other. now the whole of the rationalistic doubt about the palestinian legends, from its rise in the early eighteenth century out of the last movements of the renascence, was founded on the fixity of facts. miracles were monstrosities because they were against natural law, which was necessarily immutable law. the prodigies of the old testament or the mighty works of the new were extravagances because they were exceptions; and they were exceptions because there was a rule, and that an immutable rule. in short, there was no rose-tree growing out of the carpet of a trim and tidy bedroom; because rose-trees do not grow out of carpets in trim and tidy bedrooms. so far it seemed reasonable enough. but it left out one possibility; that a man can dream about a room as well as a rose; and that a man can doubt about a rule as well as an exception. as soon as the men of science began to doubt the rules of the game, the game was up. they could no longer rule out all the old marvels as impossible, in face of the new marvels which they had to admit as possible. they were themselves dealing now with a number of unknown quantities; what is the power of mind over matter; when is matter an illusion of mind; what is identity, what is individuality, is there a limit to logic in the last extremes of mathematics? they knew by a hundred hints that their non-miraculous world was no longer watertight; that floods were coming in from somewhere in which they were already out of their depth, and down among very fantastical deep-sea fishes. they could hardly feel certain even about the fish that swallowed jonah, when they had no test except the very true one that there are more fish in the sea than ever came out of it. logically they would find it quite as hard to draw the line at the miraculous draught of fishes. i do not mean that they, or even i, need here depend on those particular stories; i mean that the difficulty now is to draw a line, and a new line, after the obliteration of an old and much more obvious line. any one can draw it for himself, as a matter of mere taste in probability; but we have not made a philosophy until we can draw it for others. and the modern men of science cannot draw it for others. men could easily mark the contrast between the force of gravity and the fable of the ascension. they cannot all be made to see any such contrast between the levitation that is now discussed as a possibility and the ascension which is still derided as a miracle. i do not even say that there is not a great difference between them; i say that science is now plunged too deep in new doubts and possibilities to have authority to define the difference. i say the more it knows of what seems to have happened, or what is said to have happened, in many modern drawing-rooms, the less it knows what did or did not happen on that lofty and legendary hill, where a spire rises over jerusalem and can be seen beyond jordan. but with that part of the palestinian story which is told in the new testament i am not directly concerned till the next chapter; and the matter here is a more general one. the truth is that through a thousand channels something has returned to the modern mind. it is not christianity. on the contrary, it would be truer to say that it is paganism. in reality it is in a very special sense paganism; because it is polytheism. the word will startle many people, but not the people who know the modern world best. when i told a distinguished psychologist at oxford that i differed from his view of the universe, he answered, "why universe? why should it not be a multiverse?" the essence of polytheism is the worship of gods who are not god; that is, who are not necessarily the author and the authority of all things. men are feeling more and more that there are many spiritual forces in the universe, and the wisest men feel that some are to be trusted more than others. there will be a tendency, i think, to take a favourite force, or in other words a familiar spirit. mr. h. g. wells, who is, if anybody is, a genius among moderns and a modern among geniuses, really did this very thing; he selected a god who was really more like a daemon. he called his book _god, the invisible king_; but the curious point was that he specially insisted that his god differed from other people's god in the very fact that he was not a king. he was very particular in explaining that his deity did not rule in any almighty or infinite sense; but merely influenced, like any wandering spirit. nor was he particularly invisible, if there can be said to be any degrees in invisibility. mr. wells's invisible god was really like mr. wells's invisible man. you almost felt he might appear at any moment, at any rate to his one devoted worshipper; and that, as if in old greece, a glad cry might ring through the woods of essex, the voice of mr. wells crying, "we have seen, he hath seen us, a visible god." i do not mean this disrespectfully, but on the contrary very sympathetically; i think it worthy of so great a man to appreciate and answer the general sense of a richer and more adventurous spiritual world around us. it is a great emancipation from the leaden materialism which weighed on men of imagination forty years ago. but my point for the moment is that the mode of the emancipation was pagan or even polytheistic, in the real philosophical sense that it was the selection of a single spirit, out of many there might be in the spiritual world. the point is that while mr. wells worships his god (who is not his creator or even necessarily his overlord) there is nothing to prevent mr. william archer, also emancipated, from adoring another god in another temple; or mr. arnold bennett, should he similarly liberate his mind, from bowing down to a third god in a third temple. my imagination rather fails me, i confess, in evoking the image and symbolism of mr. bennett's or mr. archer's idolatries; and if i had to choose between the three, i should probably be found as an acolyte in the shrine of mr. wells. but, anyhow, the trend of all this is to polytheism, rather as it existed in the old civilisation of paganism. there is the same modern mark in spiritualism. spiritualism also has the trend of polytheism, if it be in a form more akin to ancestor-worship. but whether it be the invocation of ghosts or of gods, the mark of it is that it invokes something less than the divine; nor am i at all quarrelling with it on that account. i am merely describing the drift of the day; and it seems clear that it is towards the summoning of spirits to our aid whatever their position in the unknown world, and without any clear doctrinal plan of that world. the most probable result would seem to be a multitude of psychic cults, personal and impersonal, from the vaguest reverence for the powers of nature to the most concrete appeal to crystals or mascots. when i say that the agnostics have discovered agnosticism, and have now recovered from the shock, i do not mean merely to sneer at the identity of the word agnosticism with the word ignorance. on the contrary, i think ignorance the greater thing; for ignorance can be creative. and the thing it can create, and soon probably will create, is one of the lost arts of the world; a mythology. in a word, the modern world will probably end exactly where the bible begins. in that inevitable setting of spirit against spirit, or god against god, we shall soon be in a position to do more justice not only to the new testament, but to the old testament. our descendants may very possibly do the very thing we scoff at the old jews for doing; grope for and cling to their own deity as one rising above rivals who seem to be equally real. they also may feel him not primarily as the sole or even the supreme but only as the best; and have to abide the miracles of ages to prove that he is also the mightiest. for them also he may at first be felt as their own, before he is extended to others; he also, from the collision with colossal idolatries and towering spiritual tyrannies, may emerge only as a god of battles and a lord of hosts. here between the dark wastes and the clouded mountain was fought out what must seem even to the indifferent a wrestle of giants driving the world out of its course; jehovah of the mountains casting down baal of the desert and dagon of the sea. here wandered and endured that strange and terrible and tenacious people who held high above all their virtues and their vices one indestructible idea; that they were but the tools in that tremendous hand. here was the first triumph of those who, in some sense beyond our understanding, had rightly chosen among the powers invisible, and found their choice a great god above all gods. so the future may suffer not from the loss but the multiplicity of faith; and its fate be far more like the cloudy and mythological war in the desert than like the dry radiance of theism or monism. i have said nothing here of my own faith, or of that name on which, i am well persuaded, the world will be most wise to call. but i do believe that the tradition founded in that far tribal battle, in that far eastern land, did indeed justify itself by leading up to a lasting truth; and that it will once again be justified of all its children. what has survived through an age of atheism as the most indestructible would survive through an age of polytheism as the most indispensable. if among many gods it could not presently be proved to be the strongest, some would still know it was the best. its central presence would endure through times of cloud and confusion, in which it was judged only as a myth among myths or a man among men. even the old heathen test of humanity and the apparition of the body, touching which i have quoted the verse about the pagan polytheist as sung by the neo-pagan poet, is a test which that incarnate mystery will abide the best. and however much or little our spiritual inquirers may lift the veil from their invisible kings, they will not find a vision more vivid than a man walking unveiled upon the mountains, seen of men and seeing; a visible god. chapter ix the battle with the dragon lydda or ludd has already been noted as the legendary birthplace of st. george, and as the camp on the edge of the desert from which, as it happened, i caught the first glimpse of the coloured fields of palestine that looked like the fields of paradise. being an encampment of soldiers, it seems an appropriate place for st. george; and indeed it may be said that all that red and empty land has resounded with his name like a shield of copper or of bronze. the name was not even confined to the cries of the christians; a curious imaginative hospitality in the moslem mind, a certain innocent and imitative enthusiasm, made the moslems also half-accept a sort of christian mythology, and make an abstract hero of st. george. it is said that coeur de lion on these very sands first invoked the soldier saint to bless the english battle-line, and blazon his cross on the english banners. but the name occurs not only in the stories of the victory of richard, but in the enemy stories that led up to the great victory of saladin. in that obscure and violent quarrel which let loose the disaster of hattin, when the grand master of the templars, gerard the englishman from bideford in devon, drove with demented heroism his few lances against a host, there fell among those radiant fanatics one christian warrior, who had made with his single sword such a circle of the slain, that the victorious moslems treated even his dead body as something supernatural; and bore it away with them with honour, saying it was the body of st. george. but if the purpose of the camp be appropriate to the story of st. george, the position of the camp might be considered appropriate to the more fantastic story of st. george and the dragon. the symbolic struggle between man and monster might very well take place somewhere where the green culture of the fields meets the red desolation of the desert. as a matter of fact, i dare say, legend locates the duel itself somewhere else, but i am only making use of the legend as a legend, or even as a convenient figure of speech. i would only use it here to make a kind of picture which may clarify a kind of paradox, very vital to our present attitude towards all palestinian traditions, including those that are more sacred even than st. george. this paradox has already been touched on in the last chapter about polytheistic spirits or superstitions such as surrounded the old testament, but it is yet more true of the criticisms and apologetics surrounding the new testament. and the paradox is this; that we never find our own religion so right as when we find we are wrong about it. i mean that we are finally convinced not by the sort of evidence we are looking for, but by the sort of evidence we are not looking for. we are convinced when we come on a ratification that is almost as abrupt as a refutation. that is the point about the wireless telegraphy or wordless telepathy of the bedouins. a supernatural trick in a dingy tribe wandering in dry places is not the sort of supernaturalism we should expect to find; it is only the sort that we do find. these rocks of the desert, like the bones of a buried giant, do not seem to stick out where they ought to, but they stick out, and we fall over them. whatever we think of st. george, most people would see a mere fairy-tale in st. george and the dragon. i dare say they are right; and i only use it here as a figure for the sake of argument. but suppose, for the sake of argument, that a man has come to the conclusion that there probably was such a person as st. george, in spite of all the nonsense about dragons and the chimera with wings and claws that has somehow interwreathed itself with his image. perhaps he is a little biased by patriotism or other ethical aims; and thinks the saint a good social ideal. perhaps he knows that early christianity, so far from being a religion of pacifists, was largely a religion of soldiers. anyhow he thinks st. george himself a quite sufficiently solid and historical figure; and has little doubt that records or traces can be found of him. now the point is this; suppose that man goes to the land of the legendary combat; and finds comparatively few or faint traces of the personality of st. george. but suppose he _does_ find, on that very field of combat, the bones of a gigantic monster unlike every other creature except the legendary dragon. or suppose he only finds ancient eastern sculptures and hieroglyphics representing maidens, being sacrificed to such a monster, and making it quite clear that even within historic times one of those sacrificed was a princess. it is surely clear that he will be considerably impressed by this confirmation, not of the part he did believe, but actually of the part he did not believe. he has not found what he expected but he has found what he wanted, and much more than he wanted. he has not found a single detail directly in support of st. george. but he had found a very considerable support of st. george and the dragon. it is needless to inform the reader, i trust, that i do not think this particular case in the least likely; or that i am only using it for the sake of lucidity. even as it stands, it would not necessarily make a man believe the traditional story, but it would make him guess that it was some sort of tradition of some sort of truth; that there was something in it, and much more in it than even he himself had imagined. and the point of it would be precisely that his reason had not anticipated the extent of his revelation. he has proved the improbable, not the probable thing. reason had already taught him the reasonable part; but facts had taught him the fantastic part. he will certainly conclude that the whole story is very much more valid than anybody has supposed. now as i have already said, it is not in the least likely that this will happen touching this particular tale of palestine. but this is precisely what really has happened touching the most sacred and tremendous of all the tales of palestine. this is precisely what has happened touching that central figure, round which the monster and the champion are alike only ornamental symbols; and by the right of whose tragedy even st. george's cross does not belong to st. george. it is not likely to be true of the desert duel between george and the dragon; but it is already true of the desert duel between jesus and the devil. st. george is but a servant and the dragon is but a symbol, but it is precisely about the central reality, the mystery of christ and his mastery of the powers of darkness, that this very paradox has proved itself a fact. going down from jerusalem to jericho i was more than once moved by a flippant and possibly profane memory of the swine that rushed down a steep place into the sea. i do not insist on the personal parallel; for whatever my points of resemblance to a pig i am not a flying pig, a pig with wings of speed and precipitancy; and if i am possessed of a devil, it is not the blue devil of suicide. but the phrase came back into my mind because going down to the dead sea does really involve rushing down a steep place. indeed it gives a strange impression that the whole of palestine is one single steep place. it is as if all other countries lay flat under the sky, but this one country had been tilted sideways. this gigantic gesture of geography or geology, this sweep as of a universal landslide, is the sort of thing that is never conveyed by any maps or books or even pictures. all the pictures of palestine i have seen are descriptive details, groups of costume or corners of architecture, at most views of famous places; they cannot give the bottomless vision of this long descent. we went in a little rocking ford car down steep and jagged roads among ribbed and columned cliffs; but the roads below soon failed us altogether; and the car had to tumble like a tank over rocky banks and into empty river-beds, long before it came to the sinister and discoloured landscapes of the dead sea. and the distance looks far enough on the map, and seems long enough in the motor journey, to make a man feel he has come to another part of the world; yet so much is it all a single fall of land that even when he gets out beyond jordan in the wild country of the shereef he can still look back and see, small and faint as if in the clouds, the spire of the russian church (i fancy) upon the hill of the ascension. and though the story of the swine is attached in truth to another place, i was still haunted with its fanciful appropriateness to this one, because of the very steepness of this larger slope and the mystery of that larger sea. i even had the fancy that one might fish for them and find them in such a sea, turned into monsters; sea-swine or four-legged fishes, swollen and with evil eyes, grown over with sea-grass for bristles; the ghosts of gadara. and then it came back to me, as a curiosity and almost a coincidence, that the same strange story had actually been selected as the text for the central controversy of the victorian age between christianity and criticism. the two champions were two of the greatest men of the nineteenth century; huxley representing scientific scepticism and gladstone scriptural orthodoxy. the scriptural champion was universally regarded as standing for the past, if not for the dead past; and the scientific champion as standing for the future, if not the final judgment of the world. and yet the future has been entirely different to anything that anybody expected; and the final judgment may yet reverse all the conceptions of their contemporaries and even of themselves. the philosophical position now is in a very curious way the contrary of the position then. gladstone had the worst of the argument, and has been proved right. huxley had the best of the argument, and has been proved wrong. at any rate he has been ultimately proved wrong about the way the world was going, and the probable position of the next generation. what he thought indisputable is disputed; and what he thought dead is rather too much alive. huxley was not only a man of genius in logic and rhetoric; he was a man of a very manly and generous morality. morally he deserves much more sympathy than many of the mystics who have supplanted him. but they have supplanted him. in the more mental fashions of the day, most of what he thought would stand has fallen, and most of what he thought would fall is standing yet. in the gadarene controversy with gladstone, he announced it as his purpose to purge the christian ideal, which he thought self-evidently sublime, of the christian demonology, which he thought self-evidently ridiculous. and yet if we take any typical man of the next generation, we shall very probably find huxley's sublime thing scoffed at, and huxley's ridiculous thing taken seriously. i imagine a very typical child of the age succeeding huxley's may be found in mr. george moore. he has one of the most critical, appreciative and atmospheric talents of the age. he has lived in most of the sets of the age, and through most of the fashions of the age. he has held, at one time or another, most of the opinions of the age. above all, he has not only thought for himself, but done it with peculiar pomp and pride; he would consider himself the freest of all freethinkers. let us take him as a type and a test of what has really happened to huxley's analysis of the gold and the dross. huxley quoted as the indestructible ideal the noble passage in micah, beginning "he hath shewed thee, o man, that which is good"; and asked scornfully whether anybody was ever likely to suggest that justice was worthless or that mercy was unlovable, and whether anything would diminish the distance between ourselves and the ideals that we reverence. and yet already, perhaps, mr. george moore was anticipating nietzsche, sailing near, as he said, "the sunken rocks about the cave of zarathustra." he said, if i remember right, that cromwell should be admired for his injustice. he implied that christ should be condemned, not because he destroyed the swine, but because he delivered the sick. in short he found justice quite worthless and mercy quite unlovable; and as for humility and the distance between himself and his ideals, he seemed rather to suggest (at this time at least) that his somewhat varying ideals were only interesting because they had belonged to himself. some of this, it is true, was only in the _confessions of a young man_; but it is the whole point here that they were then the confessions of a young man, and that huxley's in comparison were the confessions of an old man. the trend of the new time, in very varying degrees, was tending to undermine, not merely the christian demonology, not merely the christian theology, not merely the christian religion, but definitely the christian ethical ideal, which had seemed to the great agnostic as secure as the stars. but while the world was mocking the morality he had assumed, it was bringing back the mysticism he had mocked. the next phase of mr. george moore himself, whom i have taken as a type of the time, was the serious and sympathetic consideration of irish mysticism, as embodied in mr. w. b. yeats. i have myself heard mr. yeats, about that time, tell a story, to illustrate how concrete and even comic is the reality of the supernatural, saying that he knew a farmer whom the fairies had dragged out of bed and beaten. now suppose mr. yeats had told mr. moore, then moving in this glamorous atmosphere, another story of the same sort. suppose he had said that the farmer's pigs had fallen under the displeasure of some magician of the sort he celebrates, who had conjured bad fairies into the quadrupeds, so that they went in a wild dance down to the village pond. would mr. moore have thought that story any more incredible than the other? would he have thought it worse than a thousand other things that a modern mystic may lawfully believe? would he have risen to his feet and told mr. yeats that all was over between them? not a bit of it. he would at least have listened with a serious, nay, a solemn face. he would think it a grim little grotesque of rustic diablerie, a quaint tale of goblins, neither less nor more improbable than hundreds of psychic fantasies or farces for which there is really a good deal of evidence. he would be ready to entertain the idea if he found it anywhere except in the new testament. as for the more vulgar and universal fashions that have followed after the celtic movement, they have left such trifles far behind. and they have been directed not by imaginative artists like mr. yeats or even mr. moore, but by solid scientific students like sir william crookes and sir arthur conan doyle. i find it easier to imagine an evil spirit agitating the legs of a pig than a good spirit agitating the legs of a table. but i will not here enter into the argument, since i am only trying to describe the atmosphere. whatever has happened in more recent years, what huxley expected has certainly not happened. there has been a revolt against christian morality, and where there has not been a return of christian mysticism, it has been a return of the mysticism without the christianity. mysticism itself has returned, with all its moons and twilights, its talismans and spells. mysticism itself has returned, and brought with it seven devils worse than itself. but the scientific coincidence is even more strict and close. it affects not only the general question of miracles, but the particular question of possession. this is the very last element in the christian story that would ever have been selected by the enlightened christian apologist. gladstone would defend it, but he would not go out of his way to dwell on it. it is an excellent working model of what i mean by finding an unexpected support, and finding it in an unexpected quarter. it is not theological but psychological study that has brought us back into this dark underworld of the soul, where even identity seems to dissolve or divide, and men are not even themselves. i do not say that psychologists admit the discovery of demoniacs; and if they did they would doubtless call them something else, such as demono-maniacs. but they admit things which seem almost as near to a new supernaturalism, and things quite as incredible to the old rationalism. dual personality is not so very far from diabolic possession. and if the dogma of subconsciousness allows of agnosticism, the agnosticism cuts both ways. a man cannot say there is a part of him of which he is quite unconscious, and only conscious that it is not in contact with the unknown. he cannot say there is a sealed chamber or cellar under his house, of which he knows nothing whatever; but that he is quite certain that it cannot have an underground passage leading anywhere else in the world. he cannot say he knows nothing whatever about its size or shape or appearance, except that it certainly does not contain a relic of the finger-joint of st. catherine of alexandria, or that it certainly is not haunted by the ghost of king herod agrippa. if there is any sort of legend or tradition or plausible probability which says that it is, he cannot call a thing impossible where he is not only ignorant but even unconscious. it comes back therefore to the same reality, that the old compact cosmos depended on a compact consciousness. if we are dealing with unknown quantities, we cannot deny their connection with other unknown quantities. if i have a self of which i can say nothing, how can i even say that it is my own self? how can i even say that i always had it, or that it did not come from somewhere else? it is clear that we are in very deep waters, whether or no we have rushed down a steep place to fall into them. it will be noted that what we really lack here is not the supernatural but only the healthy supernatural. it is not the miracle, but only the miracle of healing. i warmly sympathise with those who think most of this rather morbid, and nearer the diabolic than the divine, but to call a thing diabolic is hardly an argument against the existence of diabolism. it is still more clearly the case when we go outside the sphere of science into its penumbra in literature and conversation. there is a mass of fiction and fashionable talk of which it may truly be said, that what we miss in it is not demons but the power to cast them out. it combines the occult with the obscene; the sensuality of materialism with the insanity of spiritualism. in the story of gadara we have left out nothing except the redeemer, we have kept the devils and the swine. in other words, we have not found st. george; but we have found the dragon. we have found in the desert, as i have said, the bones of the monster we did not believe in, more plainly than the footprints of the hero we did. we have found them not because we expected to find them, for our progressive minds look to the promise of something much brighter and even better; not because we wanted to find them, for our modern mood, as well as our human nature, is entirely in favour of more amiable and reassuring things; not because we thought it even possible to find them, for we really thought it impossible so far as we ever thought of it at all. we have found them because they are _there_; and we are bound to come on them even by falling over them. it is huxley's method that has upset huxley's conclusion. as i have said, that conclusion itself is completely reversed. what he thought indisputable is disputed; and what he thought impossible is possible. instead of christian morals surviving in the form of humanitarian morals, christian demonology has survived in the form of heathen demonology. but it has not survived by scholarly traditionalism in the style of gladstone, but rather by obstinate objective curiosity according to the advice of huxley. we in the west have "followed our reason as far as it would go," and our reason has led us to things that nearly all the rationalists would have thought wildly irrational. science was supposed to bully us into being rationalists; but it is now supposed to be bullying us into being irrationalists. the science of einstein might rather be called following our unreason as far as it will go, seeing whether the brain will crack under the conception that space is curved, or that parallel straight lines always meet. and the science of freud would make it essentially impossible to say how far our reason or unreason does go, or where it stops. for if a man is ignorant of his other self, how can he possibly know that the other self is ignorant? he can no longer say with pride that at least he knows that he knows nothing. that is exactly what he does not know. the floor has fallen out of his mind and the abyss below may contain subconscious certainties as well as subconscious doubts. he is too ignorant even to ignore; and he must confess himself an agnostic about whether he is an agnostic. that is the coil or tangle, at least, which the dragon has reached even in the scientific regions of the west. i only describe the tangle; i do not delight in it. like most people with a taste for catholic tradition, i am too much of a rationalist for that; for catholics are almost the only people now defending reason. but i am not talking of the true relations of reason and mystery, but of the historical fact that mystery has invaded the peculiar realms of reason; especially the european realms of the motor and the telephone. when we have a man like mr. william archer, lecturing mystically on dreams and psychoanalysis, and saying it is clear that god did not make man a reasonable creature, those acquainted with the traditions and distinguished record of that dry and capable scot will consider the fact a prodigy. i confess it never occurred to me that mr. archer was of such stuff as dreams are made of; and if he is becoming a mystic in his old age (i use the phrase in a mystical and merely relative sense) we may take it that the occult oriental flood is rising fast, and reaching places that are not only high but dry. but the change is much more apparent to a man who has chanced to stray into those orient hills where those occult streams have always risen, and especially in this land that lies between asia, where the occult is almost the obvious, and europe, where it is always returning with a fresher and younger vigour. the truth becomes strangely luminous in this wilderness between two worlds, where the rocks stand out stark like the very bones of the dragon. as i went down that sloping wall or shoulder of the world from the holy city on the mountain to the buried cities of the plain, i seemed to see more and more clearly all this western evolution of eastern mystery, and how on this one high place, as on a pivot, the whole purpose of mankind had swerved. i took up again the train of thought which i had trailed through the desert, as described in the last chapter, about the gods of asia and of the ancient dispensation, and i found it led me along these hills to a sort of vista or vision of the new dispensation and of christendom. considered objectively, and from the outside, the story is something such as has already been loosely outlined; the emergence in this immemorial and mysterious land of what was undoubtedly, when thus considered, one tribe among many tribes worshipping one god among many gods, but it is quite as much an evident external fact that the god has become god. still stated objectively, the story is that the tribe having this religion produced a new prophet, claiming to be more than a prophet. the old religion killed the new prophet; but the new prophet killed the old religion. he died to destroy it, and it died in destroying him. now it may be reaffirmed equally realistically that there was nothing normal about the case or its consequences. the things that took part in that tragedy have never been the same since, and have never been like anything else in the world. the church is not like other religions; its very crimes were unique. the jews are not like other races; they remain as unique to everybody else as they are to themselves. the roman empire did not pass like other empires; it did not perish like babylon and assyria. it went through a most extraordinary remorse amounting to madness and resuscitation into sanity, which is equally strange in history whether it seems as ghastly as a galvanised corpse or as glorious as a god risen from the dead. the very land and city are not like other lands and cities. the concentration and conflict in jerusalem to-day, whether we regard them as a reconquest by christendom or a conspiracy of jews or a part of the lingering quarrel with moslems, are alike the effect of forces gathered and loosened in that one mysterious moment in the history of the city. they equally proclaim the paradox of its insignificance and its importance. but above all the prophet was not and is not like other prophets; and the proof of it is to be found not primarily among those who believe in him, but among those who do not. he is not dead, even where he is denied. what is the use of a modern man saying that christ is only a thing like atys or mithras, when the next moment he is reproaching christianity for not following christ? he does not suddenly lose his temper and talk about our most unmithraic conduct, as he does (very justly as a rule) about our most unchristian conduct. we do not find a group of ardent young agnostics, in the middle of a great war, tried as traitors for their extravagant interpretation of remarks attributed to atys. it is improbable that tolstoy wrote a book to prove that all modern ills could be cured by literal obedience to all the orders of adonis. we do not find wild bolshevists calling themselves mithraic socialists as many of them call themselves christian socialists. leaving orthodoxy and even sanity entirely on one side, the very heresies and insanities of our time prove that after nearly two thousand years the issue is still living and the name is quite literally one to conjure with. let the critics try to conjure with any of the other names. in the real centres of modern inquiry and mental activity, they will not move even a mystic with the name of mithras as they will move a materialist with the name of jesus. there are men who deny god and accept christ. but this lingering yet living power in the legend, even for those to whom it is little more than a legend, has another relevancy to the particular point here. jesus of nazareth, merely humanly considered, has thus become a hero of humanitarianism. even the eighteenth-century deists in denying his divinity generally took pains to exalt his humanity. of the nineteenth-century revolutionists it is really an understatement to say that they exalted him as a man; for indeed they rather exalted him as a superman. that is to say, many of them represented him as a man preaching a decisively superior and ever strange morality, not only in advance of his age but practically in advance of our age. they made of his mystical counsels of perfection a sort of socialism or pacifism or communism, which they themselves still see rather as something that ought to be or that will be; the extreme limit of universal love. i am not discussing here whether they are right or not; i say they have in fact found in the same figure a type of humanitarianism and the care for human happiness. every one knows the striking and sometimes staggering utterances that do really support and illustrate this side of the teaching. modern idealists are naturally moved by such things as the intensely poetic paradox about the lilies of the field; which for them has a joy in life and living things like that of shelley or whitman, combined with a return to simplicity beyond that of tolstoy or thoreau. indeed i rather wonder that those, whose merely historic or humanistic view of the case would allow of such criticism without incongruity, have not made some study of the purely poetical or oratorical structure of such passages. certainly there are few finer examples of the swift architecture of style than that single fragment about the flowers; the almost idle opening of a chance reference to a wild flower, the sudden unfolding of the small purple blossom into pavilions and palaces and the great name of the national history; and then with a turn of the hand like a gesture of scorn, the change to the grass that to-day is and to-morrow is cast into the oven. then follows, as so often in the gospels, the "how much more" which is like a celestial flight of stairs, a ladder of imaginative logic. indeed this _a fortiori_, and this power of thinking on three levels, is (i may remark incidentally) a thing very much needed in modern discussion. many minds apparently cannot stretch to three dimensions, or to thinking that a cube can go beyond a surface as a surface goes beyond a line; for instance, that the citizen is infinitely above all ranks, and yet the soul is infinitely above the citizen. but we are only concerned at the moment with the sides of this many-sided mystery which happen to be really in sympathy with the modern mood. judged even by our modern tests of emancipated art or ideal economics, it is admitted that christ understood all that is rather crudely embodied in socialism or the simple life. i purposely insist first on this optimistic, i might almost say this pantheistic or even this pagan aspect of the christian gospels. for it is only when we understand that christ, considered merely as a prophet, can be and is a popular leader in the love of natural things, that we can feel that tremendous and tragic energy of his testimony to an ugly reality, the existence of unnatural things. instead of taking a text as i have done, take a whole gospel and read it steadily and honestly and straight through at a sitting, and you will certainly have one impression, whether of a myth or of a man. it is that the exorcist towers above the poet and even the prophet; that the story between cana and calvary is one long war with demons. he understood better than a hundred poets the beauty of the flowers of the battle-field; but he came out to battle. and if most of his words mean anything they do mean that there is at our very feet, like a chasm concealed among the flowers, an unfathomable evil. in short, i would here only hint delicately that perhaps the mind which admittedly knew much of what we think we know about ethics and economics, knew a little more than we are beginning to know about psychology and psychic phenomena. i remember reading, not without amusement, a severe and trenchant article in the _hibbert journal_, in which christ's admission of demonology was alone thought enough to dispose of his divinity. the one sentence of the article, which i cherish in my memory through all the changing years, ran thus: "if he was god, he knew there was no such thing as diabolical possession." it did not seem to strike the _hibbert_ critic that this line of criticism raises the question, not of whether christ is god, but of whether the critic in the _hibbert journal_ is god. about that mystery as about the other i am for the moment agnostic; but i should have thought that the meditations of omniscience on the problem of evil might be allowed, even by an agnostic, to be a little difficult to discover. of christ in the gospels and in modern life i will merely for the moment say this; that if he was god, as the critic put it, it seems possible that he knew the next discovery in science, as well as the last, not to mention (what is more common in rationalistic culture) the last but three. and what will be the next discovery in psychological science nobody can imagine; and we can only say that if it reveals demons and their name is legion, we can hardly be much surprised now. but at any rate the days are over of omniscience like that of the _hibbert_ critic, who knows exactly what he would know if he were god almighty. what is pain? what is evil? what did they mean by devils? what do we mean by madness? the rising generation, when asked by a venerable victorian critic and catechist, "what does god know?" will hardly think it unreasonably flippant to answer, "god knows." there was something already suggested about the steep scenery through which i went as i thought about these things; a sense of silent catastrophe and fundamental cleavage in the deep division of the cliffs and crags. they were all the more profoundly moving, because my sense of them was almost as subconscious as the subconsciousness about which i was reflecting. i had fallen again into the old habit of forgetting where i was going, and seeing things with one eye off, in a blind abstraction. i awoke from a sort of trance of absentmindedness in a landscape that might well awaken anybody. it might awaken a man sleeping; but he would think he was still in a nightmare. it might wake the dead, but they would probably think they were in hell. halfway down the slope the hills had taken on a certain pallor which had about it something primitive, as if the colours were not yet created. there was only a kind of cold and wan blue in the level skies which contrasted with wild sky-line. perhaps we are accustomed to the contrary condition of the clouds moving and mutable and the hills solid and serene; but anyhow there seemed something of the making of a new world about the quiet of the skies and the cold convulsion of the landscape. but if it was between chaos and creation, it was creation by god or at least by the gods, something with an aim in its anarchy. it was very different in the final stage of the descent, where my mind woke up from its meditations. one can only say that the whole landscape was like a leper. it was of a wasting white and silver and grey, with mere dots of decadent vegetation like the green spots of a plague. in shape it not only rose into horns and crests like waves or clouds, but i believe it actually alters like waves or clouds, visibly but with a loathsome slowness. the swamp is alive. and i found again a certain advantage in forgetfulness; for i saw all this incredible country before i even remembered its name, or the ancient tradition about its nature. then even the green plague-spots failed, and everything seemed to fall away into a universal blank under the staring sun, as i came, in the great spaces of the circle of a lifeless sea, into the silence of sodom and gomorrah. for these are the foundations of a fallen world, and a sea below the seas on which men sail. seas move like clouds and fishes float like birds above the level of the sunken land. and it is here that tradition has laid the tragedy of the mighty perversion of the imagination of man; the monstrous birth and death of abominable things. i say such things in no mood of spiritual pride; such things are hideous not because they are distant but because they are near to us; in all our brains, certainly in mine, were buried things as bad as any buried under that bitter sea, and if he did not come to do battle with them, even in the darkness of the brain of man, i know not why he came. certainly it was not only to talk about flowers or to talk about socialism. the more truly we can see life as a fairy-tale, the more clearly the tale resolves itself into war with the dragon who is wasting fairyland. i will not enter on the theology behind the symbol; but i am sure it was of this that all the symbols were symbolic. i remember distinguished men among the liberal theologians, who found it more difficult to believe in one devil than in many. they admitted in the new testament an attestation to evil spirits, but not to a general enemy of mankind. as some are said to want the drama of hamlet without the prince of denmark, they would have the drama of hell without the prince of darkness. i say nothing of these things, save that the language of the gospel seems to me to go much more singly to a single issue. the voice that is heard there has such authority as speaks to an army; and the highest note of it is victory rather than peace. when the apostles were first sent forth with their faces to the four corners of the earth, and turned again to acclaim their master, he did not say in that hour of triumph, "all are aspects of one harmonious whole" or "the universe evolves through progress to perfection" or "all things find their end in nirvana" or "the dewdrop slips into the shining sea." he looked up and said, "i saw satan fall like lightning from heaven." then i looked up and saw in the long jagged lines of road and rock and cleft something of the swiftness of such a thunderbolt. what i saw seemed not so much a scene as an act; as when abruptly michael barred the passage of the lord of pride. below me all the empire of evil was splashed and scattered upon the plain, like a wine-cup shattered into a star. sodom lay like satan, flat upon the floor of the world. and far away and aloft, faint with height and distance, small but still visible, stood up the spire of the ascension like the sword of the archangel, lifted in salute after a stroke. chapter x the endless empire one of the adventures of travel consists, not so much in finding that popular sayings are false, as that they mean more than they say. we cannot appreciate the full force of the phrase until we have seen the fact. we make a picture of the things we do not know out of the things we know; and suppose the traveller's tale to mean no more abroad than it would at home. if a man acquainted only with english churches is told about certain french churches that they are much frequented, he makes an english picture. he imagines a definite dense crowd of people in their best clothes going all together at eleven o'clock, and all coming back together to lunch. he does not picture the peculiar impression he would gain on the spot; of chance people going in and out of the church all day, sometimes for quite short periods, as if it were a sort of sacred inn. or suppose a man knowing only english beer-shops hears for the first time of a german beer-garden, he probably does not imagine the slow ritual of the place. he does not know that unless the drinker positively slams down the top of his beer-mug with a resounding noise and a decisive gesture, beer will go on flowing into it as from a natural fountain; the drinking of beer being regarded as the normal state of man, and the cessation of it a decisive and even dramatic departure. i do not give this example in contempt; heaven forbid. i have had so much to say of the inhuman side of prussianised germany that i am glad to be able to pay a passing tribute to those more generous german traditions which we hope may revive and make germany once more a part of christendom. i merely give it as an instance of the way in which things we have all heard of, like church-going or beer-drinking, in foreign lands, mean much more, and something much more special, than we should infer from our own land. now this is true of a phrase we have all heard of deserted cities or temples in the near east: "the bedouins camp in the ruins." when i have read a hundred times that arabs camp in some deserted town or temple near the nile or the euphrates, i always thought of gipsies near some place like stonehenge. they would make their own rude shelter near the stones, perhaps sheltering behind them to light a fire; and for the rest, generations of gipsies might camp there without making much difference. the thing i saw more than once in egypt and palestine was much more curious. it was as if the gipsies set to work to refurnish stonehenge and make it a commodious residence. it was as if they spread a sort of giant umbrella over the circle of stones, and elaborately hung curtains between them, so as to turn the old druid temple into a sort of patchwork pavilion. in one sense there is much more vandalism, and in another sense much more practicality; but it is a practicality that always stops short of the true creative independence of going off and building a house of their own. that is the attitude of the arab; and it runs through all his history. noble as is his masterpiece of the mosque of omar, there is something about it of that patchwork pavilion. it was based on christian work, it was built with fragments, it was content with things that fastidious architects call fictions or even shams. i frequently saw old ruined houses of which there only remained two walls of stone, to which the nomads had added two walls of canvas making an exact cube in form with the most startling incongruity in colour. he needs the form and he does not mind the incongruity, nor does he mind the fact that somebody else has done the solid part and he has only done the ramshackle part. you can say that he is nobly superior to jealousy, or that he is without artistic ambition, or that he is too much of a nomad to mind living half in somebody else's house and half in his own. the real quality is probably too subtle for any simple praise or blame; we can only say that there is in the wandering moslem a curious kind of limited common sense; which might even be called a short-sighted common sense. but however we define it, that is what can really be traced through arab conquests and arab culture in all its ingenuity and insufficiency. that is the note of these nomads in all the things in which they have succeeded and failed. in that sense they are constructive and in that sense unconstructive; in that sense artistic and in that sense inartistic; in that sense practical and in that sense unpractical; in that sense cunning and in that sense innocent. the curtains they would hang round stonehenge might be of beautifully selected colours. the banners they waved from stonehenge might be defended with glorious courage and enthusiasm. the prayers they recited in stonehenge might be essentially worthy of human dignity, and certainly a great improvement on its older associations of human sacrifice. all this is true of islam and the idolatries and negations are often replaced. but they would not have built stonehenge; they would scarcely, so to speak, have troubled to lift a stone of stonehenge. they would not have built stonehenge; how much less salisbury or glastonbury or lincoln. that is the element about the arab influence which makes it, after its ages of supremacy and in a sense of success, remain in a subtle manner superficial. when a man first sees the eastern deserts, he sees this influence as i first described it, very present and powerful, almost omnipresent and omnipotent. but i fancy that to me and to others it is partly striking only because it is strange. islam is so different to christendom that to see it at all is at first like entering a new world. but, in my own case at any rate, as the strange colours became more customary, and especially as i saw more of the established seats of history, the cities and the framework of the different states, i became conscious of something else. it was something underneath, undestroyed and even in a sense unaltered. it was something neither moslem nor modern; not merely oriental and yet very different from the new occidental nations from which i came. for a long time i could not put a name to this historical atmosphere. then one day, standing in one of the greek churches, one of those houses of gold full of hard highly coloured pictures, i fancied it came to me. it was the empire. and certainly not the raid of asiatic bandits we call the turkish empire. the thing which had caught my eye in that coloured interior was the carving of a two-headed eagle in such a position as to make it almost as symbolic as a cross. every one has heard, of course, of the situation which this might well suggest, the suggestion that the russian church was far too much of an established church and the white czar encroached upon the white christ. but as a fact the eagle i saw was not borrowed from the russian empire; it would be truer to say that the empire was borrowed from the eagle. the double eagle is the ancient emblem of the double empire of rome and of byzantium; the one head looking to the west and the other to the east, as if it spread its wings from the sunrise to the sunset. unless i am mistaken, it was only associated with russia as late as peter the great, though it had been the badge of austria as the representative of the holy roman empire. and what i felt brooding over that shrine and that landscape was something older not only than turkey or russia but than austria itself. i began to understand a sort of evening light that lies over palestine and syria; a sense of smooth ruts of custom such as are said to give a dignity to the civilisation of china. i even understood a sort of sleepiness about the splendid and handsome orthodox priests moving fully robed about the streets. they were not aristocrats but officials; still moving with the mighty routine of some far-off official system. in so far as the eagle was an emblem not of such imperial peace but of distant imperial wars, it was of wars that we in the west have hardly heard of; it was the emblem of official ovations. when heracleius rode homewards from the rout of ispahan with the captives dragged behind him and the eagles in the van. that is the rigid reality that still underlay the light mastery of the arab rider; that is what a man sees, in the patchwork pavilion, when he grows used to the coloured canvas and looks at the walls of stone. this also was far too great a thing for facile praise or blame, a vast bureaucracy busy and yet intensely dignified, the most civilised thing ruling many other civilisations. it was an endless end of the world; for ever repeating its rich finality. and i myself was still walking in that long evening of the earth; and caesar my lord was at byzantium. but it is necessary to remember next that this empire was not always at its evening. byzantium was not always byzantine. nor was the seat of that power always in the city of constantine, which was primarily a mere outpost of the city of caesar. we must remember rome as well as byzantium; as indeed nobody would remember byzantium if it were not for rome. the more i saw of a hundred little things the more my mind revolved round that original idea which may be called the mediterranean; and the fact that it became two empires, but remained one civilisation, just as it has become two churches, but remained one religion. in this little world there is a story attached to every word; and never more than when it is the wrong word. for instance, we may say that in certain cases the word roman actually means greek. the greek patriarch is sometimes called the roman patriarch; while the real roman patriarch, who actually comes from rome, is only called the latin patriarch, as if he came from any little town in latium. the truth behind this confusion is the truth about five hundred very vital years, which are concealed even from cultivated englishmen by two vague falsehoods; the notion that the roman empire was merely decadent and the notion that the middle ages were merely dark. as a fact, even the dark ages were not merely dark. and even the byzantine empire was not merely byzantine. it seems a little unfair that we should take the very title of decay from that christian city, for surely it was yet more stiff and sterile when it had become a moslem city. i am not so exacting as to ask any one to popularise such a word as "constantinopolitan." but it would surely be a better word for stiffness and sterility to call it stamboulish. but for the moslems and other men of the near east what counted about byzantium was that it still inherited the huge weight of the name of rome. rome had come east and reared against them this roman city, and though and priest or soldier who came out of it might be speaking as a greek, he was ruling as a roman. its critics in these days of criticism may regard it as a corrupt civilisation. but its enemies in the day of battle only regarded it as civilisation. saladin, the greatest of the saracens, did not call greek bishops degenerate dreamers or dingy outcasts, he called them, with a sounder historical instinct, "the monks of the imperial race." the survival of the word merely means that even when the imperial city fell behind them, they did not surrender their claim to defy all asia in the name of the christian emperor. that is but one example out of twenty, but that is why in this distant place to this day the greeks who are separated from the see of rome sometimes bear the strange name of "the romans." now that civilisation is our civilisation, and we never had any other. we have not inherited a teutonic culture any more than a druid culture; not half so much. the people who say that parliaments or pictures or gardens or roads or universities were made by the teutonic race from the north can be disposed of by the simple question: why did not the teutonic race make them in the north? why was not the parthenon originally built in the neighbourhood of potsdam, or did ten hansa towns compete to be the birthplace of homer? perhaps they do by this time; but their local illusion is no longer largely shared. anyhow it seems strange that the roads of the romans should be due to the inspiration of the teutons; and that parliaments should begin in spain because they came from germany. if i looked about in these parts for a local emblem like that of the eagle, i might very well find it in the lion. the lion is common enough, of course, in christian art both hagiological and heraldic. besides the cavern of bethlehem of which i shall speak presently, is the cavern of st. jerome, where he lived with that real or legendary lion who was drawn by the delicate humour of carpaccio and a hundred other religious painters. that it should appear in christian art is natural; that it should appear in moslem art is much more singular, seeing that moslems are in theory forbidden so to carve images of living things. some say the persian moslems are less particular; but whatever the explanation, two lions of highly heraldic appearance are carved over that saracen gate which christians call the gate of st. stephen; and the best judges seem to agree that, like so much of the saracenic shell of zion, they were partly at least copied from the shields and crests of the crusaders. and the lions graven over the gate of st. stephen might well be the text for a whole book on the subject. for if they indicate, however indirectly, the presence of the latins of the twelfth century, they also indicate the earlier sources from which the latin life had itself been drawn. the two lions are pacing, passant as the heralds would say, in two opposite directions almost as if prowling to and fro. and this also might well be symbolic as well as heraldic. for if the crusaders brought the lion southward in spite of the conventional fancy of moslem decoration, it was only because the romans had previously brought the lion northward to the cold seas and the savage forests. the image of the lion came from north to south, only because the idea of the lion had long ago come from south to north. the christian had a symbolic lion he had never seen, and the moslem had a real lion that he refused to draw. for we could deduce from the case of this single creature the fact that all our civilisation came from the mediterranean, and the folly of pretending that it came from the north sea. those two heraldic shapes over the gate may be borrowed from the norman or angevin shield now quartered in the royal arms of england. they may have been copied, directly or indirectly, from that great angevin king of england whose title credited him with the heart of a lion. they may have in some far-off fashion the same ancestry as the boast or jest of our own comic papers when they talk about the british lion. but why are there lions, though of french or feudal origin, on the flag of england? there might as well be camels or crocodiles, for all the apparent connection with england or with france. why was an english king described as having the heart of a lion, any more than of a tiger? why do your patriotic cartoons threaten the world with the wrath of the british lion; it is really as strange as if they warned it against stimulating the rage of the british rhinoceros. why did not the french and english princes find in the wild boars, that were the objects of their hunting, the subjects of their heraldry? if the normans were really the northmen, the sea-wolves of scandinavian piracy, why did they not display three wolves on their shields? why has not john bull been content with the english bull, or the english bull-dog? the answer might be put somewhat defiantly by saying that the very name of john bull is foreign. the surname comes through france from rome; and the christian name comes through rome from palestine. if there had really been any justification for the teutonic generalisation, we should expect the surname to be "ox" and not "bull"; and we should expect the hero standing as godfather to be odin or siegfried, and not the prophet who lived on locusts in the wilderness of palestine or the mystic who mused with his burning eyes on the blue seas around patmos. if our national hero is john bull and not olaf the ox, it is ultimately because that blue sea has run like a blue thread through all the tapestries of our traditions; or in other words because our culture, like that of france or flanders, came originally from the mediterranean. and if this is true of our use of the word "bull," it is obviously even truer of our use of the word "lion." the later emblem is enough to show that the culture came, not only from the mediterranean, but from the southern as well as the northern side of the mediterranean. in other words, the roman empire ran all round the great inland sea; the very name of which meant, not merely the sea in the middle of the land, but more especially the sea in the middle of all the lands that mattered most to civilisation. one of these, and the one that in the long run has mattered most of all, was palestine. in this lies the deepest difference between a man like richard the lion heart and any of the countless modern english soldiers in palestine who have been quite as lion-hearted as he. his superiority was not moral but intellectual; it consisted in knowing where he was and why he was there. it arose from the fact that in his time there remained a sort of memory of the roman empire, which some would have re-established as a holy roman empire. christendom was still almost one commonwealth; and it seemed to richard quite natural to go from one edge of it that happened to be called england to the opposite edge of it that happened to be called palestine. we may think him right or wrong in the particular quarrel, we may think him innocent or unscrupulous in his incidental methods; but there is next to no doubt whatever that he did regard himself not merely as conquering but as re-conquering a realm. he was not like a man attacking total strangers on a hitherto undiscovered island. he was not opening up a new country, or giving his name to a new continent, and he could boast none of those ideals of imperial innovation which inspire the more enlightened pioneers, who exterminate tribes or extinguish republics for the sake of a gold-mine or an oil-field. some day, if our modern educational system is further expanded and enforced, the whole of the past of palestine may be entirely forgotten; and a traveller in happier days may have all the fresher sentiments of one stepping on a new and nameless soil. disregarding any dim and lingering legends among the natives, he may then have the honour of calling sinai by the name of mount higgins, or marking on a new map the site of bethlehem with the name of brownsville. but king richard, adventurous as he was, could not experience the full freshness of this sort of adventure. he was not riding into asia thus romantically and at random; indeed he was not riding into asia at all. he was riding into europa irredenta. but that is to anticipate what happened later and must be considered later. i am primarily speaking of the empire as a pagan and political matter; and it is easy to see what was the meaning of the crusade on the merely pagan and political side. in one sentence, it meant that rome had to recover what byzantium could not keep. but something further had happened as affecting rome than anything that could be understood by a man standing as i have imagined myself standing, in the official area of byzantium. when i have said that the byzantian civilisation seemed still to be reigning, i meant a curious impression that, in these eastern provinces, though the empire had been more defeated it has been less disturbed. there is a greater clarity in that ancient air; and fewer clouds of real revolution and novelty have come between them and their ancient sun. this may seem an enigma and a paradox; seeing that here a foreign religion has successfully fought and ruled. but indeed the enigma is also the explanation. in the east the continuity of culture has only been interrupted by negative things that islam has done. in the west it has been interrupted by positive things that christendom itself has done. in the west the past of christendom has its perspective blocked up by its own creations; in the east it is a true perspective of interminable corridors, with round byzantine arches and proud byzantine pillars. that, i incline to fancy, is the real difference that a man come from the west of europe feels in the east of europe, it is a gap or a void. it is the absence of the grotesque energy of gothic, the absence of the experiments of parliament and popular representation, the absence of medieval chivalry, the absence of modern nationality. in the east the civilisation lived on, or if you will, lingered on; in the west it died and was reborn. but for a long time, it should be remembered, it must have seemed to the east merely that it died. the realms of rome had disappeared in clouds of barbaric war, while the realms of byzantium were still golden and gorgeous in the sun. the men of the east did not realise that their splendour was stiffening and growing sterile, and even the early successes of islam may not have revealed to them that their rule was not only stiff but brittle. it was something else that was destined to reveal it. the crusades meant many things; but in this matter they meant one thing, which was like a word carried to them on the great west wind. and the word was like that in an old irish song: "the west is awake." they heard in the distance the cries of unknown crowds and felt the earth shaking with the march of mobs; and behind them came the trampling of horses and the noise of harness and of horns of war; new kings calling out commands and hosts of young men full of hope crying out in the old roman tongue "id deus vult," rome was risen from the dead. almost any traveller could select out of the countless things that he has looked at the few things that he has seen. i mean the things that come to him with a curious clearness; so that he actually sees them to be what he knows them to be. i might almost say that he can believe in them although he has seen them. there can be no rule about this realisation; it seems to come in the most random fashion; and the man to whom it comes can only speak for himself without any attempt at a critical comparison with others. in this sense i may say that the church of the nativity at bethlehem contains something impossible to describe, yet driving me beyond expression to a desperate attempt at description. the church is entered through a door so small that it it might fairly be called a hole, in which many have seen, and i think truly, a symbol of some idea of humility. it is also said that the wall was pierced in this way to prevent the appearance of a camel during divine service, but even that explanation would only repeat the same suggestion through the parable of the needle's eye. personally i should guess that, in so far as the purpose was practical, it was meant to keep out much more dangerous animals than camels, as, for instance, turks. for the whole church has clearly been turned into a fortress, windows are bricked up and walls thickened in some or all of its thousand years of religious war. in the blank spaces above the little doorway hung in old times that strange mosaic of the magi which once saved the holy place from destruction, in the strange interlude between the decline of rome and the rise of mahomet. for when the persians who had destroyed jerusalem rode out in triumph to the village of bethlehem, they looked up and saw above the door a picture in coloured stone, a picture of themselves. they were following a strange star and worshipping an unknown child. for a christian artist, following some ancient eastern tradition containing an eternal truth, had drawn the three wise men with the long robes and high head-dresses of persia. the worshippers of the sun had come westward for the worship of the star. but whether that part of the church were bare and bald as it is now or coloured with the gold and purple images of the persians, the inside of the church would always be by comparison abruptly dark. as familiarity turns the darkness to twilight, and the twilight to a grey daylight, the first impression is that of two rows of towering pillars. they are of a dark red stone having much of the appearance of a dark red marble; and they are crowned with the acanthus in the manner of the corinthian school. they were carved and set up at the command of constantine; and beyond them, at the other end of the church beside the attar, is the dark stairway that descends under the canopies of rock to the stable where christ was born. of all the things i have seen the most convincing, and as it were crushing, were these red columns of constantine. in explanation of the sentiment there are a thousand things that want saying and cannot be said. never have i felt so vividly the great fact of our history; that the christian religion is like a huge bridge across a boundless sea, which alone connects us with the men who made the world, and yet have utterly vanished from the world. to put it curtly and very crudely on this point alone it was possible to sympathise with a roman and not merely to admire him. all his pagan remains are but sublime fossils; for we can never know the life that was in them. we know that here and there was a temple to venus or there an altar to vesta; but who knows or pretends to know what he really felt about venus or vesta? was a vestal virgin like a christian virgin, or something profoundly different? was he quite serious about venus, like a diabolist, or merely frivolous about venus, like a christian? if the spirit was different from ours we cannot hope to understand it, and if the spirit was like ours, the spirit was expressed in images that no longer express it. but it is here that he and i meet; and salute the same images in the end. in any case i can never recapture in words the waves of sympathy with strange things that went through me in that twilight of the tall pillars, like giants robed in purple, standing still and looking down into that dark hole in the ground. here halted that imperial civilisation, when it had marched in triumph through the whole world; here in the evening of its days it came trailing in all its panoply in the pathway of the three kings. for it came following not only a falling but a fallen star and one that dived before them into a birthplace darker than a grave. and the lord of the laurels, clad in his sombre crimson, looked down into that darkness, and then looked up, and saw that all the stars in his own sky were dead. they were deities no longer but only a brilliant dust, scattered down the vain void of lucretius. the stars were as stale as they were strong; they would never die for they had never lived; they were cursed with an incurable immortality that was but the extension of mortality; they were chained in the chains of causation and unchangeable as the dead. there are not many men in the modern world who do not know that mood, though it was not discovered by the moderns; it was the final and seemingly fixed mood of nearly all the ancients. only above the black hole of bethlehem they had seen a star wandering like a lost spark; and it had done what the eternal suns and planets could not do. it had disappeared. there are some who resent the presence of such purple beside the plain stable of the nativity. but it seems strange that they always rebuke it as if it were a blind vulgarity like the red plush of a parvenu; a mere insensibility to a mere incongruity. for in fact the insensibility is in the critics and not the artists. it is an insensibility not to an accidental incongruity but to an artistic contrast. indeed it is an insensibility of a somewhat tiresome kind, which can often be noticed in those sceptics who make a science of folk-lore. the mark of them is that they fail to see the importance of finding the upshot or climax of a tale, even when it is a fairy-tale. since the old devotional doctors and designers were never tired of insisting on the sufferings of the holy poor to the point of squalor, and simultaneously insisting on the sumptuousness of the subject kings to the point of swagger, it would really seem not entirely improbable that they may have been conscious of the contrast themselves. i confess this is an insensibility, not to say stupidity, in the sceptics and simplifiers, which i find very fatiguing. i do not mind a man not believing a story, but i confess i am bored stiff (if i may be allowed the expression) by a man who can tell a story without seeing the point of the story, considered as a story or even considered as a lie. and a man who sees the rags and the royal purple as a clumsy inconsistency is merely missing the meaning of a deliberate design. he is like a man who should hear the story of king cophetua and the beggar maid and say doubtfully that it was hard to recognise it as really _a mariage de convenance_; a phrase which (i may remark in parenthesis but not without passion) is not the french for "a marriage of convenience," any more than _hors d'oeuvre_ is the french for "out of work"; but may be more rightly rendered in english as "a suitable match." but nobody thought the match of the king and the beggar maid conventionally a suitable match; and nobody would ever have thought the story worth telling if it had been. it is like saying that diogenes, remaining in his tub after the offer of alexander, must have been unaware of the opportunities of greek architecture; or like saying that nebuchadnezzar eating grass is clearly inconsistent with court etiquette, or not to be found in any fashionable cookery book. i do not mind the learned sceptic saying it is a legend or a lie; but i weep for him when he cannot see the gist of it, i might even say the joke of it. i do not object to his rejecting the story as a tall story; but i find it deplorable when he cannot see the point or end or upshot of the tall story, the very pinnacle or spire of that sublime tower. this dull type of doubt clouds the consideration of many sacred things as it does that of the shrine of bethlehem. it is applied to the divine reality of bethlehem itself, as when sceptics still sneer at the littleness, the localism, the provincial particularity and obscurity of that divine origin; as if christians could be confounded and silenced by a contrast which christians in ten thousand hymns, songs and sermons have incessantly shouted and proclaimed. in this capital case, of course, the same principle holds. a man may think the tale is incredible; but it would never have been told at all if it had not been incongruous. but this particular case of the lesser contrast, that between the imperial pomp and the rustic poverty of the carpenter and the shepherds, is alone enough to illustrate the strange artistic fallacy involved. if it be the point that an emperor came to worship a carpenter, it is as artistically necessary to make the emperor imperial as to make the carpenter humble; if we wish to make plain to plain people that before this shrine kings are no better than shepherds, it is as necessary that the kings should have crowns as that the shepherds should have crooks. and if modern intellectuals do not know it, it is because nobody has really been mad enough even to try to make modern intellectualism popular. now this conception of pomp as a popular thing, this conception of a concession to common human nature in colour and symbol, has a considerable bearing on many misunderstandings about the original enthusiasm that spread from the cave of bethlehem over the whole roman empire. it is a curious fact that the moderns have mostly rebuked historic christianity, not for being narrow, but for being broad. they have rebuked it because it did prove itself the desire of all nations, because it did satisfy the cravings of many creeds, because it did prove itself to idolaters as something as magic as their idols, or did prove itself to patriots something as lovable as their native land. in many other matters indeed, besides this popular art, we may find examples of the same illogical prejudice. nothing betrays more curiously the bias of historians against the christian faith than the fact that they blame in christians the very human indulgences that they have praised in heathens. the same arts and allegories, the same phraseologies and philosophies, which appear first as proofs of heathen health turn up later as proofs of christian corruption. it was noble of pagans to be pagan, but it was unpardonable of christians to be paganised. they never tire of telling us of the glory that was greece, the grandeur that was rome, but the church was infamous because it satisfied the greek intellect and wielded the roman power. now on the first example of the attempt of theology to meet the claims of philosophy i will not here dwell at length. i will only remark in passing that it is an utter fallacy to suggest, as for instance mr. wells suggests in his fascinating _outline of history_, that the subtleties of theology were a mere falling away from the simplicities of religion. religion may be better simple for those who find it simple; but there are bound to be many who in any case find it subtle, among those who think about it and especially those who doubt about it. to take an example, there is no saying which the humanitarians of a broad religion more commonly offer as a model of simplicity than that most mystical affirmation "god is love." and there is no theological quarrel of the councils of the church which they, especially mr. wells, more commonly deride as bitter and barren than that at the council of nicea about the co-eternity of the divine son. yet the subtle statement is simply a metaphysical explanation of the simple statement; and it would be quite possible even to make it a popular explanation, by saying that god could not love when there was nothing to be loved. now the church councils were originally very popular, not to say riotous assemblies. so far from being undemocratic, they were rather too democratic; the real case against them was that they passed by uproarious votes, and not without violence, things that had ultimately to be considered more calmly by experts. but it may reasonably be suggested, i think, that the concentration of the greek intellect on these things did gradually pass from a popular to a more professional or official thing; and that the traces of it have finally tended to fade from the official religion of the east. it was far otherwise with the more poetical and therefore more practical religion of the west. it was far otherwise with that direct appeal to pathos and affection in the highly coloured picture of the shepherd and the king. in the west the world not only prolonged its life but recovered its youth. that is the meaning of the movement i have described as the awakening of the west and the resurrection of rome. and the whole point of that movement, as i propose to suggest, was that it was a popular movement. it had returned with exactly that strange and simple energy that belongs to the story of bethlehem. not in vain had constantine come clad in purple to look down into that dark cave at his feet; nor did the star mislead him when it seemed to end in the entrails of the earth. the men who followed him passed on, as it were, through the low and vaulted tunnel of the dark ages; but they had found the way, and the only way, out of that world of death, and their journey ended in the land of the living. they came out into a world more wonderful than the eyes of men have looked on before or after; they heard the hammers of hundreds of happy craftsmen working for once according to their own will, and saw st. francis walking with his halo a cloud of birds. chapter xi the meaning of the crusade there are three examples of western work on the great eastern slope of the mount of olives; and they form a sort of triangle illustrating the truth about the different influences of the west on the east. at the foot of the hill is the garden kept by the franciscans on the alleged site of gethsemane, and containing the hoary olive that is supposed to be the terrible tree of the agony of christ. given the great age and slow growth of the olives, the tradition is not so unreasonable as some may suppose. but whether or not it is historically right, it is not artistically wrong. the instinct, if it was only an instinct, that made men fix upon this strange growth of grey and twisted wood, was a true imaginative instinct. one of the strange qualities of this strange southern tree is its almost startling hardness; accidentally to strike the branch of an olive is like striking rock. with its stony surface, stunted stature, and strange holes and hollows, it is often more like a grotto than a tree. hence it does not seem so unnatural that it should be treated as a holy grotto; or that this strange vegetation should claim to stand for ever like a sculptured monument. even the shimmering or shivering silver foliage of the living olive might well have a legend like that of the aspen; as if it had grown grey with fear from the apocalyptic paradox of a divine vision of death. a child from one of the villages said to me, in broken english, that it was the place where god said his prayers. i for one could not ask for a finer or more defiant statement of all that separates the christian from the moslem or the jew; _credo quia impossibile_. around this terrible spot the franciscans have done something which will strike many good and thoughtful people as quite fantastically inadequate; and which strikes me as fantastically but precisely right. they have laid out the garden simply as a garden, in a way that is completely natural because it is completely artificial. they have made flower-beds in the shape of stars and moons, and coloured them with flowers like those in the backyard of a cottage. the combination of these bright patterns in the sunshine with the awful shadow in the centre is certainly an incongruity in the sense of a contrast. but it is a poetical contrast, like that of birds building in a temple or flowers growing on a tomb. the best way of suggesting what i for one feel about it would be something like this; suppose we imagine a company of children, such as those whom christ blessed in jerusalem, afterwards put permanently in charge of a field full of his sorrow; it is probable that, if they could do anything with it, they would do something like this. they might cut it up into quaint shapes and dot it with red daisies or yellow marigolds. i really do not know that there is anything better that grown up people could do, since anything that the greatest of them could do must be, must look quite as small. "shall i, the gnat that dances in thy ray, dare to be reverent?" the franciscans have not dared to be reverent; they have only dared to be cheerful. it may be too awful an adventure of the imagination to imagine christ in that garden. but there is not the smallest difficulty about imagining st. francis there; and that is something to say of an institution which is eight hundred years old. immediately above this little garden, overshadowing and almost overhanging it, is a gorgeous gilded building with golden domes and minarets glittering in the sun, and filling a splendid situation with almost shameless splendour; the russian church built over the upper part of the garden, belonging to the orthodox-greeks. here again many western travellers will be troubled; and will think that golden building much too like a fairy palace in a pantomime. but here again i shall differ from them, though perhaps less strongly. it may be that the pleasure is childish rather than childlike; but i can imagine a child clapping his hands at the mere sight of those great domes like bubbles of gold against the blue sky. it is a little like aladdin's palace, but it has a place in art as aladdin has a place in literature; especially since it is oriental literature. those wise missionaries in china who were not afraid to depict the twelve apostles in the costume of chinamen might have built such a church in a land of glittering mosques. and as it is said that the russian has in him something of the child and something of the oriental, such a style may be quite sincere, and have even a certain simplicity in its splendour. it is genuine of its kind; it was built for those who like it; and those who do not like it can look at something else. this sort of thing may be called tawdry, but it is not what i call meretricious. what i call really meretricious can be found yet higher on the hill; towering to the sky and dominating all the valleys. the nature of the difference, i think, is worth noting. the german hospice, which served as a sort of palace for the german emperor, is a very big building with a very high tower, planned i believe with great efficiency, solidity and comfort, and fitted with a thousand things that mark its modernity compared with the things around, with the quaint garden of the franciscans or the fantastic temple of the russians. it is what i can only describe as a handsome building; rather as the more vulgar of the victorian wits used to talk about a fine woman. by calling it a handsome building i mean that from the top of its dizzy tower to the bottom of its deepest foundations there is not one line or one tint of beauty. this negative fact, however, would be nothing; it might be honestly ugly and utilitarian like a factory or a prison; but it is not. it is as pretentious as the gilded dome below it; and it is pretentious in a wicked way where the other is pretentious in a good and innocent way. what annoys me about it is that it was not built by children, or even by savages, but by professors; and the professors could profess the art and could not practise it. the architects knew everything about a romanesque building except how to build it. we feel that they accumulated on that spot all the learning and organisation and information and wealth of the world, to do this one particular thing; and then did it wrong. they did it wrong, not through superstition, not through fanatical exaggeration, not through provincial ignorance, but through pure, profound, internal, intellectual incompetence; that intellectual incompetence which so often goes with intellectual pride. i will mention only one matter out of a hundred. all the columns in the kaiser's chapel are in one way very suitable to their place; every one of them has a swelled head. the column itself is slender but the capital is not only big but bulging; and it has the air of bulging _downwards_, as if pressing heavily on something too slender to support it. this is false, not to any of the particular schools of architecture about which professors can read in libraries, but to the inmost instinctive idea of architecture itself. a norman capital can be heavy because the norman column is thick, and the whole thing expresses an elephantine massiveness and repose. and a gothic column can be slender, because its strength is energy; and is expressed in its line, which shoots upwards like the life of a tree, like the jet of a fountain or even like the rush of a rocket. but a slender thing beneath, obviously oppressed by a bloated thing above, suggests weakness by one of those miraculous mistakes that are as precisely wrong as masterpieces are precisely right. and to all this is added the intolerable intuition; that the russians and the franciscans, even if we credit them with fantastic ignorance, are at least looking up at the sky; and we know how the learned germans would look down upon them, from their monstrous tower upon the hill. and this is as true of the moral as of the artistic elements in the modern jerusalem. to show that i am not unjustly partisan, i will say frankly that i see little to complain of in that common subject of complaint; the mosaic portrait of the emperor on the ceiling of the chapel. it is but one among many figures; and it is not an unknown practice to include a figure of the founder in such church decorations. the real example of that startling moral stupidity which marked the barbaric imperialism can be found in another figure of which, curiously enough, considerably less notice seems to have been taken. it is the more remarkable because it is but an artistic shadow of the actual fact; and merely records in outline and relief the temporary masquerade in which the man walked about in broad daylight. i mean the really astounding trick of dressing himself up as a crusader. that was, under the circumstances, far more ludicrous and lunatic a proceeding than if he had filled the whole ceiling with cherub heads with his own features, or festooned all the walls with one ornamental pattern of his moustaches. the german emperor came to jerusalem under the escort of the turks, as the ally of the turks, and solely because of the victory and supremacy of the turks. in other words, he came to jerusalem solely because the crusaders had lost jerusalem; he came there solely because the crusaders had been routed, ruined, butchered before and after the disaster of hattin: because the cross had gone down in blood before the crescent, under which alone he could ride in with safety. under those circumstances to dress up as a crusader, as if for a fancy dress ball, was a mixture of madness and vulgarity which literally stops the breath. there is no need whatever to blame him for being in alliance with the turks; hundreds of people have been in alliance with the turks; the english especially have been far too much in alliance with them. but if any one wants to appreciate the true difference, distinct from all the cant of newspaper nationality, between the english and the germans (who were classed together by the same newspapers a little time before the war) let him take this single incident as a test. lord palmerston, for instance, was a firm friend of the turks. imagine lord palmerston appearing in chain mail and the shield of a red cross knight. it is obvious enough that palmerston would have said that he cared no more for the crusade than for the siege of troy; that his diplomacy was directed by practical patriotic considerations of the moment; and that he regarded the religious wars of the twelfth century as a rubbish heap of remote superstitions. in this he would be quite wrong, but quite intelligible and quite sincere; an english aristocrat of the nineteenth century inheriting from the english aristocrats of the eighteenth century; whose views were simply those of voltaire. and these things are something of an allegory. for the voltairian version of the crusades is still by far the most reasonable of all merely hostile views of the crusades. if they were not a creative movement of religion, then they were simply a destructive movement of superstition; and whether we agree with voltaire in calling it superstition or with villehardouin in calling it religion, at least both these very clear-headed frenchmen would agree that the motive did exist and did explain the facts. but just as there is a clumsy german building with statues that at once patronise and parody the crusaders, so there is a clumsy german theory that at once patronises and minimises the crusades. according to this theory the essential truth about a crusade was that it was not a crusade. it was something that the professors, in the old days before the war, used to call a teutonic folk-wandering. godfrey and st. louis were not, as villehardouin would say, fighting for the truth; they were not even, as voltaire would say, fighting for what they thought was the truth; this was only what they thought they thought, and they were really thinking of something entirely different. they were not moved either by piety or priestcraft, but by a new and unexpected nomadism. they were not inspired either by faith or fanaticism, but by an unusually aimless taste for foreign travel. this theory that the war of the two great religions could be explained by "wanderlust" was current about twenty years ago among the historical professors of germany, and with many of their other views, was often accepted by the historical professors of england. it was swallowed by an earthquake, along with other rubbish, in the year . since then, so far as i know, the only person who has been patient enough to dig it up again is mr. ezra pound. he is well known as an american poet; and he is, i believe, a man of great talent and information. his attempt to recover the old teutonic theory of the folk-wandering of peter the hermit was expressed, however, in prose; in an article in the _new age_. i have no reason to doubt that he was to be counted among the most loyal of our allies; but he is evidently one of those who, quite without being pro-german, still manage to be german. the teutonic theory was very teutonic; like the german hospice on the hill it was put together with great care and knowledge and it is rotten from top to bottom. i do not understand, for that matter, why that alliance which we enjoy with mr. pound should not be treated in the same way as the other historical event; or why the war should not be an example of the wanderlust. surely the american army in france must have drifted eastward merely through the same vague nomadic need as the christian army in palestine. surely pershing as well as peter the hermit was merely a rather restless gentleman who found his health improved by frequent change of scene. the americans said, and perhaps thought, that they were fighting for democracy; and the crusaders said, and perhaps thought, that they were fighting for christianity. but as we know what the crusaders meant better than they did themselves, i cannot quite understand why we do not enjoy the same valuable omniscience about the americans. indeed i do not see why we should not enjoy it (for it would be very enjoyable) about any individual american. surely it was this vague vagabond spirit that moved mr. pound, not only to come to england, but in a fashion to come to fleet street. a dim tribal tendency, vast and invisible as the wind, carried him and his article like an autumn leaf to alight on the _new age_ doorstep. or a blind aboriginal impulse, wholly without rational motive, led him one day to put on his hat, and go out with his article in an envelope and put it in a pillar-box. it is vain to correct by cold logic the power of such primitive appetites; nature herself was behind the seemingly random thoughtlessness of the deed. and now that it is irrevocably done, he can look back on it and trace the large lines of an awful law of averages; wherein it is ruled by a ruthless necessity that a certain number of such americans should write a certain number of such articles, as the leaves fall or the flowers return. in plain words, this sort of theory is a blasphemy against the intellectual dignity of man. it is a blunder as well as a blasphemy; for it goes miles out of its way to find a bestial explanation when there is obviously a human explanation. it is as if a man told me that a dim survival of the instincts of a quadruped was the reason of my sitting on a chair with four legs. i answer that i do it because i foresee that there may be grave disadvantages in sitting on a chair with one leg. or it is as if i were told that i liked to swim in the sea, solely because some early forms of amphibian life came out of the sea on to the shore. i answer that i know why i swim in the sea; and it is because the divine gift of reason tells me that it would be unsatisfactory to swim on the land. in short this sort of vague evolutionary theorising simply amounts to finding an unconvincing explanation of something that needs no explanation. and the case is really quite as simple with great political and religious movements by which man has from time to time changed the world in this or that respect in which he happened to think it would be the better for a change. the crusade was a religious movement, but it was also a perfectly rational movement; one might almost say a rationalist movement. i could quite understand mr. pound saying that such a campaign for a creed was immoral; and indeed it often has been, and now perhaps generally is, quite horribly immoral. but when he implies that it is irrational he has selected exactly the thing which it is not. it is not enlightenment, on the contrary it is ignorance and insularity, which causes most of us to miss this fact. but it certainly is the fact that religious war is in itself much more rational than patriotic war. i for one have often defended and even encouraged patriotic war, and should always be ready to defend and encourage patriotic passion. but it cannot be denied that there is more of mere passion, of mere preference and prejudice, in short of mere personal accident, in fighting another nation than in fighting another faith. the crusader is in every sense more rational than the modern conscript or professional soldier. he is more rational in his object, which is the intelligent and intelligible object of conversion; where the modern militarist has an object much more confused by momentary vanity and one-sided satisfaction. the crusader wished to make jerusalem a christian town; but the englishman does not wish to make berlin an english town. he has only a healthy hatred of it as a prussian town. the moslem wished to make the christian a moslem; but even the prussian did not wish to make the frenchman a prussian. he only wished to make the frenchman admire a prussian; and not only were the means he adopted somewhat ill-considered for this purpose, but the purpose itself is looser and more irrational. the object of all war is peace; but the object of religious war is mental as well as material peace; it is agreement. in short religious war aims ultimately at equality, where national war aims relatively at superiority. conversion is the one sort of conquest in which the conquered must rejoice. in that sense alone it is foolish for us in the west to sneer at those who kill men when a foot is set in a holy place, when we ourselves kill hundreds of thousands when a foot is put across a frontier. it is absurd for us to despise those who shed blood for a relic when we have shed rivers of blood for a rag. but above all the crusade, or, for that matter, the jehad, is by far the most philosophical sort of fighting, not only in its conception of ending the difference, but in its mere act of recognising the difference, as the deepest kind of difference. it is to reverse all reason to suggest that a man's politics matter and his religion does not matter. it is to say he is affected by the town he lives in, but not by the world he lives in. it is to say that he is altered when he is a fellow-citizen walking under new lamp-posts, but not altered when he is another creature walking under strange stars. it is exactly as if we were to say that two people ought to live in the same house, but it need not be in the same town. it is exactly as if we said that so long as the address included york it did not matter whether it was new york; or that so long as a man is in essex we do not care whether he is in england. christendom would have been entirely justified in the abstract in being alarmed or suspicious at the mere rise of a great power that was not christian. nobody nowadays would think it odd to express regret at the rise of a power because it was militarist or socialist or even protectionist. but it is far more natural to be conscious of a difference, not about the order of battle but the battle of life; not about our definable enjoyment of possessions, but about our much more doubtful possession of enjoyment; not about the fiscal divisions between us and foreigners but about the spiritual divisions even between us and friends. these are the things that differ profoundly with differing views of the ultimate nature of the universe. for the things of our country are often distant; but the things of our cosmos are always near; we can shut our doors upon the wheeled traffic of our native town; but in our own inmost chamber we hear the sound that never ceases; that wheel which dante and a popular proverb have dared to christen as the love that makes the world go round. for this is the great paradox of life; that there are not only wheels within wheels, but the larger wheels within the smaller. when a whole community rests on one conception of life and death and the origin of things, it is quite entitled to watch the rise of another community founded on another conception as the rise of something certain to be different and likely to be hostile. indeed, as i have pointed out touching certain political theories, we already admit this truth in its small and questionable examples. we only deny the large and obvious examples. christendom might quite reasonably have been alarmed if it had not been attacked. but as a matter of history it had been attacked. the crusader would have been quite justified in suspecting the moslem even if the moslem had merely been a new stranger; but as a matter of history he was already an old enemy. the critic of the crusade talks as if it had sought out some inoffensive tribe or temple in the interior of thibet, which was never discovered until it was invaded. they seem entirely to forget that long before the crusaders had dreamed of riding to jerusalem, the moslems had almost ridden into paris. they seem to forget that if the crusaders nearly conquered palestine, it was but a return upon the moslems who had nearly conquered europe. there was no need for them to argue by an appeal to reason, as i have argued above, that a religious division must make a difference; it had already made a difference. the difference stared them in the face in the startling transformation of roman barbary and of roman spain. in short it was something which must happen in theory and which did happen in practice; all expectation suggested that it would be so and all experience said it was so. having thought it out theoretically and experienced it practically, they proceeded to deal with it equally practically. the first division involved every principle of the science of thought; and the last developments followed out every principle of the science of war. the crusade was the counter-attack. it was the defensive army taking the offensive in its turn, and driving back the enemy to his base. and it is this process, reasonable from its first axiom to its last act, that mr. pound actually selects as a sort of automatic wandering of an animal. but a man so intelligent would not have made a mistake so extraordinary but for another error which it is here very essential to consider. to suggest that men engaged, rightly or wrongly, in so logical a military and political operation were only migrating like birds or swarming like bees is as ridiculous as to say that the prohibition campaign in america was only an animal reversion towards lapping as the dog lappeth, or rowland hill's introduction of postage stamps an animal taste for licking as the cat licks. why should we provide other people with a remote reason for their own actions, when they themselves are ready to tell us the reason, and it is a perfectly reasonable reason? i have compared this pompous imposture of scientific history to the pompous and clumsy building of the scientific germans on the mount of olives, because it substitutes in the same way a modern stupidity for the medieval simplicity. but just as the german hospice after all stands on a fine site, and might have been a fine building, so there is after all another truth, somewhat analogous, which the german historians of the folk-wanderings might possibly have meant, as distinct from all that they have actually said. there is indeed one respect in which the case of the crusade does differ very much from modern political cases like prohibition or the penny post. i do not refer to such incidental peculiarities as the fact that prohibition could only have succeeded through the enormous power of modern plutocracy, or that even the convenience of the postage goes along with an extreme coercion by the police. it is a somewhat deeper difference that i mean; and it may possibly be what these critics mean. but the difference is not in the evolutionary, but rather the revolutionary spirit. the first crusade was not a racial migration; it was something much more intellectual and dignified; a riot. in order to understand this religious war we must class it, not so much with the wars of history as with the revolutions of history. as i shall try to show briefly on a later page, it not only had all the peculiar good and the peculiar evil of things like the french revolution or the russian revolution, but it was a more purely popular revolution than either of them. the truly modern mind will of course regard the contention that it was popular as tantamount to a confession that it was animal. in these days when papers and speeches are full of words like democracy and self-determination, anything really resembling the movement of a mass of angry men is regarded as no better than a stampede of bulls or a scurry of rats. the new sociologists call it the herd instinct, just as the old reactionaries called it the many-headed beast. but both agree in implying that it is hardly worth while to count how many head there are of such cattle. in face of such fashionable comparisons it will seem comparatively mild to talk of migration as it occurs among birds or insects. nevertheless we may venture to state with some confidence that both the sociologists and the reactionaries are wrong. it does not follow that human beings become less than human because their ideas appeal to more and more of humanity. nor can we deduce that men are mindless solely from the fact that they are all of one mind. in plain fact the virtues of a mob cannot be found in a herd of bulls or a pack of wolves, any more than the crimes of a mob can be committed by a flock of sheep or a shoal of herrings. birds have never been known to besiege and capture an empty cage of an aviary, on a point of principle, merely because it had kept a few other birds in captivity, as the mob besieged and captured the almost empty bastille, merely because it was the fortress of a historic tyranny. and rats have never been known to die by thousands merely in order to visit a particular trap in which a particular rat had perished, as the poor peasants of the first crusade died in thousands for a far-off sight of the sepulchre or a fragment of the true cross. in this sense indeed the crusade was not rationalistic, if the rat is the only rationalist. but it will seem more truly rational to point out that the inspiration of such a crowd is not in such instincts as we share with the animals, but precisely in such ideas as the animals never (with all their virtues) understand. what is peculiar about the first crusade is that it was in quite a new and abnormal sense a popular movement. i might almost say it was the only popular movement there ever was in the world. for it was not a thing which the populace followed; it was actually a thing which the populace led. it was not only essentially a revolution, but it was the only revolution i know of in which the masses began by acting alone, and practically without any support from any of the classes. when they had acted, the classes came in; and it is perfectly true, and indeed only natural, that the masses alone failed where the two together succeeded. but it was the uneducated who educated the educated. the case of the crusade is emphatically not a case in which certain ideas were first suggested by a few philosophers, and then preached by demagogues to the democracy. this was to a great extent true of the french revolution; it was probably yet more true of the russian revolution; and we need not here pause upon the fine shade of difference that rousseau was right and karl marx was wrong. in the first crusade it was the ordinary man who was right or wrong. he came out in a fury at the insult to his own little images or private prayers, as if he had come out to fight with his own domestic poker or private carving-knife. he was not armed with new weapons of wit and logic served round from the arsenal of an academy. there was any amount of wit and logic in the academies of the middle ages; but the typical leader of the crusade was not abelard or aquinas but peter the hermit, who can hardly be called even a popular leader, but rather a popular flag. and it was his army, or rather his enormous rabble, that first marched across the world to die for the deliverance of jerusalem. historians say that in that huge host of thousands there were only nine knights. to any one who knows even a little of medieval war the fact seems astounding. it is indeed a long exploded fallacy to regard medievalism as identical with feudalism. there were countless democratic institutions, such as the guilds; sometimes as many as twenty guilds in one small town. but it is really true that the military organization of the middle ages was almost entirely feudal; indeed we might rather say that feudalism was the name of their military organisation. that so vast a military mass should have attempted to move at all, with only nine of the natural military leaders, seems to me a prodigy of popular initiative. it is as if a parliament were elected at the next general election, in which only two men could afford to read a daily newspaper. this mob marched against the military discipline of the moslems and was massacred; or, might i so mystically express it, martyred. many of the great kings and knights who followed in their tracks did not so clearly deserve any haloes for the simplicity and purity of their motives. the canonisation of such a crowd might be impossible, and would certainly be resisted in modern opinion; chiefly because they indulged their democratic violence on the way by killing various usurers; a course which naturally fills modern society with an anger verging on alarm. a perversity leads me to weep rather more over the many slaughtered peasants than over the few slaughtered usurers; but in any case the peasants certainly were not slaughtered in vain. the common conscience of all classes, in a time when all had a common creed, was aroused, and a new army followed of a very different type of skill and training; led by most of the ablest captains and by some of the most chivalrous gentlemen of the age. for curiously enough, the host contained more than one cultured gentleman who was as simple a christian as any peasant, and as recklessly ready to be butchered or tortured for the mere name of christ. it is a tag of the materialists that the truth about history rubs away the romance of history. it is dear to the modern mind because it is depressing; but it does not happen to be true. nothing emerges more clearly from a study that is truly realistic, than the curious fact that romantic people were really romantic. it is rather the historical novels that will lead a modern man vaguely to expect to find the leader of the new knights, godfrey de bouillon, to have been merely a brutal baron. the historical facts are all in favour of his having been much more like a knight of the round table. in fact he was a far better man than most of the knights of the round table, in whose characters the fabulist, knowing that he was writing a fable, was tactful enough to introduce a larger admixture of vice. truth is not only stranger than fiction, but often saintlier than fiction. for truth is real, while fiction is bound to be realistic. curiously enough godfrey seems to have been heroic even in those admirable accidents which are generally and perhaps rightly regarded as the trappings of fiction. thus he was of heroic stature, a handsome red-bearded man of great personal strength and daring; and he was himself the first man over the wall of jerusalem, like any boy hero in a boy's adventure story. but he was also, the realist will be surprised to hear, a perfectly honest man, and a perfectly genuine practiser of the theoretical magnanimity of knighthood. everything about him suggests it; from his first conversion from the imperial to the papal (and popular) cause, to his great refusal of the kinghood of the city he had taken; "i will not wear a crown of gold where my master wore a crown of thorns." he was a just ruler, and the laws he made were full of the plainest public spirit. but even if we dismiss all that was written of him by christian chroniclers because they might be his friends (which would be a pathetic and exaggerated compliment to the harmonious unity of crusaders and of christians) he would still remain sufficiently assoiled and crowned with the words of his enemies. for a saracen chronicler wrote of him, with a fine simplicity, that if all truth and honour had otherwise withered off the earth, there would still remain enough of them so long as duke godfrey was alive. allied with godfrey were tancred the italian, raymond of toulouse with the southern french and robert of normandy, the adventurous son of the conqueror, with the normans and the english. but it would be an error, i think, and one tending to make the whole subsequent story a thing not so much misunderstood as unintelligible, to suppose that the whole crusading movement had been suddenly and unnaturally stiffened with the highest chivalric discipline. unless i am much mistaken, a great mass of that army was still very much of a mob. it is probable _a priori_, since the great popular movement was still profoundly popular. it is supported by a thousand things in the story of the campaign; the extraordinary emotionalism that made throngs of men weep and wail together, the importance of the demagogue, peter the hermit, in spite of his unmilitary character, and the wide differences between the designs of the leaders and the actions of the rank and file. it was a crowd of rude and simple men that cast themselves on the sacred dust at the first sight of the little mountain town which they had tramped for two thousand miles to see. tancred saw it first from the slope by the village of bethlehem, which had opened its gates willingly to his hundred italian knights; for bethlehem then as now was an island of christendom in the sea of islam. meanwhile godfrey came up the road from jaffa, and crossing the mountain ridge, saw also with his living eyes his vision of the world's desire. but the poorest men about him probably felt the same as he; all ranks knelt together in the dust, and the whole story is one wave of numberless and nameless men. it was a mob that had risen like a man for the faith. it was a mob that had truly been tortured like a man for the faith. it was already transfigured by pain as well as passion. those that know war in those deserts through the summer months, even with modern supplies and appliances and modern maps and calculations, know that it could only be described as a hell full of heroes. what it must have been to those little local serfs and peasants from the northern villages, who had never dreamed in nightmares of such landscapes or such a sun, who knew not how men lived at all in such a furnace and could neither guess the alleviations nor get them, is beyond the imagination of man. they arrived dying with thirst, dropping with weariness, lamenting the loss of the dead that rotted along their road; they arrived shrivelled to rags or already raving with fever and they did what they had come to do. above all, it is clear that they had the vices as well as the virtues of a mob. the shocking massacre in which they indulged in the sudden relaxation of success is quite obviously a massacre by a mob. it is all the more profoundly revolutionary because it must have been for the most part a french mob. it was of the same order as the massacre of september, and it is but a part of the same truth that the first crusade was as revolutionary as the french revolution. it was of the same order as the massacre of st. bartholomew, which was also a piece of purely popular fanaticism, directed against what was also regarded as an anti-national aristocracy. it is practically self-evident that the christian commanders were opposed to it, and tried to stop it. tancred promised their lives to the moslems in the mosque, but the mob clearly disregarded him. raymond of toulouse himself saved those in the tower of david, and managed to send them safely with their property to ascalon. but revolution with all its evil as well as its good was loose and raging in the streets of the holy city. and in nothing do we see that spirit of revolution more clearly than in the sight of all those peasants and serfs and vassals, in that one wild moment in revolt, not only against the conquered lords of islam, but even against the conquering lords of christendom. the whole strain of the siege indeed had been one of high and even horrible excitement. those who tell us to-day about the psychology of the crowd will agree that men who have so suffered and so succeeded are not normal; that their brains are in a dreadful balance which may turn either way. they entered the city at last in a mood in which they might all have become monks; and instead they all became murderers. a brilliant general, who played a decisive part in our own recent palestinian campaign, told me with a sort of grim humour that he hardly wondered at the story; for he himself had entered jerusalem in a sort of fury of disappointment; "we went through such a hell to get there, and now it's spoilt for all of us." such is the heavy irony that hangs over our human nature, making it enter the holy city as if it were the heavenly city, and more than any earthly city can be. but the struggle which led to the scaling of jerusalem in the first crusade was something much wilder and more incalculable than anything that can be conceived in modern war. we can hardly wonder that the crusading crowd saw the town in front of them as a sort of tower full of demons, and the hills around them as an enchanted and accursed land. for in one very real sense it really was so; for all the elements and expedients were alike unknown qualities. all their enemies' methods were secrets sprung upon them. all their own methods were new things made out of nothing. they wondered alike what would be done on the other side and what could be done on their own side; every movement against them was a stab out of the darkness and every movement they made was a leap in the dark. first, on the one side, we have tancred trying to take the whole fortified city by climbing up a single slender ladder, as if a man tried to lasso the peak of a mountain. then we have the flinging from the turrets of a strange and frightful fiery rain, as if water itself had caught fire. it was afterwards known as the greek fire and was probably petroleum; but to those who had never seen (or felt) it before it may well have seemed the flaming oil of witchcraft. then godfrey and the wiser of the warriors set about to build wooden siege-towers and found they had next to no wood to build them. there was scarcely anything in that rocky waste but the dwarf trees of olive; a poetic fantasy woven about that war in after ages described them as hindered even in their wood-cutting by the demons of that weird place. and indeed the fancy had an essential truth, for the very nature of the land fought against them; and each of those dwarf trees, hard and hollow and twisted, may well have seemed like a grinning goblin. it is said that they found timbers by accident in a cavern; they tore down the beams from ruined houses; at last they got into touch with some craftsmen from genoa who went to work more successfully; skinning the cattle, who had died in heaps, and covering the timbers. they built three high towers on rollers, and men and beasts dragged them heavily against the high towers of the city. the catapults of the city answered them, the cataracts of devouring fire came down; the wooden towers swayed and tottered, and two of them suddenly stuck motionless and useless. and as the darkness fell a great flare must have told them that the third and last was in flames. all that night godfrey was toiling to retrieve the disaster. he took down the whole tower from where it stood and raised it again on the high ground to the north of the city which is now marked by the pine tree that grows outside herod's gate. and all the time he toiled, it was said, sinister sorcerers sat upon the battlements, working unknown marvels for the undoing of the labour of man. if the great knight had a touch of such symbolism on his own side, he might have seen in his own strife with the solid timber something of the craft that had surrounded the birth of his creed, and the sacred trade of the carpenter. and indeed the very pattern of all carpentry is cruciform, and there is something more than an accident in the allegory. the transverse position of the timber does indeed involve many of those mathematical that are analogous to moral truths and almost every structural shape has the shadow of the mystic rood, as the three dimensions have a shadow of the trinity. here is the true mystery of equality; since the longer beam might lengthen itself to infinity, and never be nearer to the symbolic shape without the help of the shorter. here is that war and wedding between two contrary forces, resisting and supporting each other; the meeting-place of contraries which we, by a sort of pietistic pun, still call the crux of the question. here is our angular and defiant answer to the self-devouring circle of asia. it may be improbable, though it is far from impossible (for the age was philosophical enough) that a man like godfrey thus extended the mystical to the metaphysical; but the writer of a real romance about him would be well within his rights in making him see the symbolism of his own tower, a tower rising above him through the clouds of night as if taking hold on the heaven or showing its network of beams black against the daybreak; scaling the skies and open to all the winds, a ladder and a labyrinth, repeating till it was lost in the twilight the pattern of the sign of the cross. when dawn was come all those starving peasants may well have stood before the high impregnable walls in the broad daylight of despair. even their nightmares during the night, of unearthly necromancers looking down at them from the battlements and with signs and spells paralysing all their potential toils, may well have been a sort of pessimistic consolation, anticipating and accounting for failure. the holy city had become for them a fortress full of fiends, when godfrey de bouillon again set himself sword in hand upon the wooden tower and gave the order once more to drag it tottering towards the towers on either side of the postern gate. so they crawled again across the fosse full of the slain, dragging their huge house of timber behind them, and all the blast and din of war broke again about their heads. a hail of bolts hammered such shields as covered them for a canopy, stones and rocks fell on them and crushed them like flies in the mire, and from the engines of the greek fire all the torrents of their torment came down on them like red rivers of hell. for indeed the souls of those peasants must have been sickened with something of the topsy-turvydom felt by too many peasants of our own time under the frightful flying batteries of scientific war; a blasphemy of inverted battle in which hell itself has occupied heaven. something of the vapours vomited by such cruel chemistry may have mingled with the dust of battle, and darkened such light as showed where shattering rocks were rending a roof of shields, to men bowed and blinded as they are by such labour of dragging and such a hailstorm of death. they may have heard through all the racket of nameless noises the high minaret cries of moslem triumph rising shriller like a wind in shrill pipes, and known little else of what was happening above or beyond them. it was most likely that they laboured and strove in that lower darkness, not knowing that high over their heads, and up above the cloud of battle, the tower of timber and the tower of stone had touched and met in mid-heaven; and great godfrey, alone and alive, had leapt upon the wall of jerusalem. chapter xii the fall of chivalry on the back of this book is the name of the new jerusalem and on the first page of it a phrase about the necessity of going back to the old even to find the new, as a man retraces his steps to a sign-post. the common sense of that process is indeed most mysteriously misunderstood. any suggestion that progress has at any time taken the wrong turning is always answered by the argument that men idealise the past, and make a myth of the age of gold. if my progressive guide has led me into a morass or a man-trap by turning to the left by the red pillar-box, instead of to the right by the blue palings of the inn called the rising sun, my progressive guide always proceeds to soothe me by talking about the myth of an age of gold. he says i am idealising the right turning. he says the blue palings are not so blue as they are painted. he says they are only blue with distance. he assures me there are spots on the sun, even on the rising sun. sometimes he tells me i am wrong in my fixed conviction that the blue was of solid sapphires, or the sun of solid gold. in short he assures me i am wrong in supposing that the right turning was right in every possible respect; as if i had ever supposed anything of the sort. i want to go back to that particular place, not because it was all my fancy paints it, or because it was the best place my fancy can paint; but because it was a many thousand times better place than the man-trap in which he and his like have landed me. but above all i want to go back to it, not because i know it was the right place but because i think it was the right turning. and the right turning might possibly have led me to the right place; whereas the progressive guide has quite certainly led me to the wrong one. now it is quite true that there is less general human testimony to the notion of a new jerusalem in the future than to the notion of a golden age in the past. but neither of those ideas, whether or no they are illusions, are any answer to the question of a plain man in the plain position of this parable; a man who has to find some guidance in the past if he is to get any good in the future. what he positively knows, in any case, is the complete collapse of the present. now that is the exact truth about the thing so often rebuked as a romantic and unreal return of modern men to medieval things. they suppose they have taken the wrong turning, because they know they are in the wrong place. to know that, it is necessary not to idealise the medieval world, but merely to realise the modern world. it is not so much that they suppose the medieval world was above the average as that they feel sure the modern world is below the average. they do not start either with the idea that man is meant to live in a new jerusalem of pearl and sapphire in the future, or that a man was meant to live in a picturesque and richly-painted tavern of the past; but with a strong inward and personal persuasion that a man was not meant to live in a man-trap. for there is and will be more and more a turn of total change in all our talk and writing about history. everything in the past was praised if it had led up to the present, and blamed if it would have led up to anything else. in short everybody has been searching the past for the secret of our success. very soon everybody may be searching the past for the secret of our failure. they may be talking in such terms as they use after a motor smash or a bankruptcy; where was the blunder? they may be writing such books as generals write after a military defeat; whose was the fault? the failure will be assumed even in being explained. for industrialism is no longer a vulgar success. on the contrary, it is now too tragic even to be vulgar. under the cloud of doom the modern city has taken on something of the dignity of babel or babylon. whether we call it the nemesis of capitalism or the nightmare of bolshevism makes no difference; the rich grumble as much as the poor; every one is discontented, and none more than those who are chiefly discontented with the discontent. about that discord we are in perfect harmony; about that disease we all think alike, whatever we think of the diagnosis or the cure. by whatever process in the past we might have come to the right place, practical facts in the present and future will prove more and more that we have come to the wrong place. and for many a premonition will grow more and more of a probability; that we may or may not await another century or another world to see the new jerusalem rebuilt and shining on our fields; but in the flesh we shall see babylon fall. but there is another way in which that metaphor of the forked road will make the position plain. medieval society was not the right place; it was only the right turning. it was only the right road; or perhaps only the beginning of the right road. the medieval age was very far from being the age in which everything went right. it would be nearer the truth i mean to call it the age in which everything went wrong. it was the moment when things might have developed well, and did develop badly. or rather, to be yet more exact, it was the moment when they were developing well, and yet they were driven to develop badly. this was the history of all the medieval states and of none more than medieval jerusalem; indeed there were signs of some serious idea of making it the model medieval state. of this notion of jerusalem as the new jerusalem, of the utopian aspect of the adventure of the latin kingdom, something may be said in a moment. but meanwhile there was a more important part played by jerusalem, i think, in all that great progress and reaction which has left us the problem of modern europe. and the suggestion of it is bound up with the former suggestion, about the difference between the goal and the right road that might have led to it. it is bound up with that quality of the civilisation in question, that it was potential rather than perfect; and there is no need to idealise it in order to regret it. this peculiar part played by jerusalem i mention merely as a suggestion; i might almost say a suspicion. anyhow, it is something of a guess; but i for one have found it a guide. medievalism died, but it died young. it was at once energetic and incomplete when it died, or very shortly before it died. this is not a matter of sympathy or antipathy, but of appreciation of an interesting historic comparison with other historic cases. when the roman empire finally failed we cannot of course say that it had done all it was meant to do, for that is dogmatism. we cannot even say it had done all that it might have done, for that is guesswork. but we can say that it had done certain definite things and was conscious of having done them; that it had long and even literally rested on its laurels. but suppose that rome had fallen when she had only half defeated carthage, or when she had only half conquered gaul, or even when the city was christian but most of the provinces still heathen. then we should have said, not merely that rome had not done what she might have done, but that she had not done what she was actually doing. and that is very much the truth in the matter of the medieval civilisation. it was not merely that the medievals left undone what they might have done, but they left undone what they were doing. this potential promise is proved not only in their successes but in their failures. it is shown, for instance, in the very defects of their art. all the crafts of which gothic architecture formed the frame-work were developed, not only less than they should have been, but less than they would have been. there is no sort of reason why their sculpture should not have become as perfect as their architecture; there is no sort of reason why their sense of form should not have been as finished as their sense of colour. a statue like the st. george of donatello would have stood more appropriately under a gothic than under a classic arch. the niches were already made for the statues. the same thing is true, of course, not only about the state of the crafts but about the status of the craftsman. the best proof that the system of the guilds had an undeveloped good in it is that the most advanced modern men are now going back five hundred years to get the good out of it. the best proof that a rich house was brought to ruin is that our very pioneers are now digging in the ruins to find the riches. that the new guildsmen add a great deal that never belonged to the old guildsmen is not only a truth, but is part of the truth i maintain here. the new guildsmen add what the old guildsmen would have added if they had not died young. when we renew a frustrated thing we do not renew the frustration. but if there are some things in the new that were not in the old, there were certainly some things in the old that are not yet visible in the new; such as individual humour in the handiwork. the point here, however, is not merely that the worker worked well but that he was working better; not merely that his mind was free but that it was growing freer. all this popular power and humour was increasing everywhere, when something touched it and it withered away. the frost had struck it in the spring. some people complain that the working man of our own day does not show an individual interest in his work. but it will be well to realise that they would be much more annoyed with him if he did. the medieval workman took so individual an interest in his work that he would call up devils entirely on his own account, carving them in corners according to his own taste and fancy. he would even reproduce the priests who were his patrons and make them as ugly as devils; carving anti-clerical caricatures on the very seats and stalls of the clerics. if a modern householder, on entering his own bathroom, found that the plumber had twisted the taps into the images of two horned and grinning fiends, he would be faintly surprised. if the householder, on returning at evening to his house, found the door-knocker distorted into a repulsive likeness of himself, his surprise might even be tinged with disapproval. it may be just as well that builders and bricklayers do not gratuitously attach gargoyles to our smaller residential villas. but well or ill, it is certainly true that this feature of a flexible popular fancy has never reappeared in any school of architecture or any state of society since the medieval decline. the great classical buildings of the renascence were swept as bare of it as any villa in balham. but those who best appreciate this loss to popular art will be the first to agree that at its best it retained a touch of the barbaric as well as the popular. while we can admire these matters of the grotesque, we can admit that their work was sometimes unintentionally as well as intentionally grotesque. some of the carving did remain so rude that the angels were almost as ugly as the devils. but this is the very point upon which i would here insist; the mystery of why men who were so obviously only beginning should have so suddenly stopped. men with medieval sympathies are sometimes accused, absurdly enough, of trying to prove that the medieval period was perfect. in truth the whole case for it is that it was imperfect. it was imperfect as an unripe fruit or a growing child is imperfect. indeed it was imperfect in that very particular fashion which most modern thinkers generally praise, more than they ever praise maturity. it was something now much more popular than an age of perfection; it was an age of progress. it was perhaps the one real age of progress in all history. men have seldom moved with such rapidity and such unity from barbarism to civilisation as they did from the end of the dark ages to the times of the universities and the parliaments, the cathedrals and the guilds. up to a certain point we may say that everything, at whatever stage of improvement, was full of the promise of improvement. then something began to go wrong, almost equally rapidly, and the glory of this great culture is not so much in what it did as in what it might have done. it recalls one of these typical medieval speculations, full of the very fantasy of free will, in which the schoolmen tried to fancy the fate of every herb or animal if adam had not eaten the apple. it remains, in a cant historical phrase, one of the great might-have-beens of history. i have said that it died young; but perhaps it would be truer to say that it suddenly grew old. like godfrey and many of its great champions in jerusalem, it was overtaken in the prime of life by a mysterious malady. the more a man reads of history the less easy he will find it to explain that secret and rapid decay of medieval civilisation from within. only a few generations separated the world that worshipped st. francis from the world that burned joan of arc. one would think there might be no more than a date and a number between the white mystery of louis the ninth and the black mystery of louis the eleventh. this is the very real historical mystery; the more realistic is our study of medieval things, the more puzzled we shall be about the peculiar creeping paralysis which affected things so virile and so full of hope. there was a growth of moral morbidity as well as social inefficiency, especially in the governing classes; for even to the end the guildsmen and the peasants remained much more vigorous. how it ended we all know; personally i should say that they got the reformation and deserved it. but it matters nothing to the truth here whether the reformation was a just revolt and revenge or an unjust culmination and conquest. it is common ground to catholics and protestants of intelligence that evils preceded and produced the schism; and that evils were produced by it and have pursued it down to our own day. we know it if only in the one example, that the schism begat the thirty years' war, and the thirty years' war begat the seven years' war, and the seven years' war begat the great war, which has passed like a pestilence through our own homes. after the schism prussia could relapse into heathenry and erect an ethical system external to the whole culture of christendom. but it can still be reasonably asked what begat the schism; and it can still be reasonably answered; something that went wrong with medievalism. but what was it that went wrong? when i looked for the last time on the towers of zion i had a fixed fancy that i knew what it was. it is a thing that cannot be proved or disproved; it must sound merely an ignorant guess. but i believe myself that it died of disappointment. i believe the whole medieval society failed, because the heart went out of it with the loss of jerusalem. let it be observed that i do not say the loss of the war, or even the crusade. for the war against islam was not lost. the moslem was overthrown in the real battle-field, which was spain; he was menaced in africa; his imperial power was already stricken and beginning slowly to decline. i do not mean the political calculations about a mediterranean war. i do not even mean the papal conceptions about the holy war. i mean the purely popular picture of the holy city. for while the aristocratic thing was a view, the vulgar thing was a vision; something with which all stories stop, something where the rainbow ends, something over the hills and far away. in spain they had been victorious; but their castle was not even a castle in spain. it was a castle east of the sun and west of the moon, and the fairy prince could find it no more. indeed that idle image out of the nursery books fits it very exactly. for its mystery was and is in standing in the middle, or as they said in the very centre of the earth. it is east of the sun of europe, which fills the world with a daylight of sanity, and ripens real and growing things. it is west of the moon of asia, mysterious and archaic with its cold volcanoes, silver mirror for poets and a most fatal magnet for lunatics. anyhow the fall of jerusalem, and in that sense the failure of the crusades, had a widespread effect, as i should myself suggest, for the reason i have myself suggested. because it had been a popular movement, it was a popular disappointment; and because it had been a popular movement, its ideal was an image; a particular picture in the imagination. for poor men are almost always particularists; and nobody has ever seen such a thing as a mob of pantheists. i have seen in some of that lost literature of the old guilds, which is now everywhere coming to light, a list of the stage properties required for some village play, one of those popular plays acted by the medieval trades unions, for which the guild of the shipwrights would build noah's ark or the guild of the barbers provide golden wigs for the haloes of the twelve apostles. the list of those crude pieces of stage furniture had a curious colour of poetry about it, like the impromptu apparatus of a nursery charade; a cloud, an idol with a club, and notably among the rest, the walls and towers of jerusalem. i can imagine them patiently painted and gilded as a special feature, like the two tubs of mr. vincent crummles. but i can also imagine that towards the end of the middle ages, the master of the revels might begin to look at those towers of wood and pasteboard with a sort of pain, and perhaps put them away in a corner, as a child will tire of a toy especially if it is associated with a disappointment or a dismal misunderstanding. there is noticeable in some of the later popular poems a disposition to sulk about the crusades. but though the popular feeling had been largely poetical, the same thing did in its degree occur in the political realm that was purely practical. the moslem had been checked, but he had not been checked enough. the whole story of what was called the eastern question, and three-quarters of the wars of the modern world, were due to the fact that he was not checked enough. the only thing to do with unconquerable things is to conquer them. that alone will cure them of invincibility; or what is worse, their own vision of invincibility. that was the conviction of those of us who would not accept what we considered a premature peace with prussia. that is why we would not listen either to the tory pro-germanism of lord lansdowne or the socialist pro-germanism of mr. macdonald. if a lunatic believes in his luck so fixedly as to feel sure be cannot be caught, he will not only believe in it still, but believe in it more and more, until the actual instant when he is caught. the longer the chase, the more certain he will be of escaping; the more narrow the escapes, the more certain will be the escape. and indeed if he does escape it will seem a miracle, and almost a divine intervention, not only to the pursued but to the pursuers. the evil thing will chiefly appear unconquerable to those who try to conquer it. it will seem after all to have a secret of success; and those who failed against it will hide in their hearts a secret of failure. it was that secret of failure, i fancy, that slowly withered from within the high hopes of the middle ages. christianity and chivalry had measured their force against mahound, and mahound had not fallen; the shadow of his horned helmet, the crest of the crescent, still lay across their sunnier lands; the horns of hattin. the streams of life that flowed to guilds and schools and orders of knighthood and brotherhoods of friars were strangely changed and chilled. so, if the peace had left prussianism secure even in prussia, i believe that all the liberal ideals of the latins, and all the liberties of the english, and the whole theory of a democratic experiment in america, would have begun to die of a deep and even subconscious despair. a vote, a jury, a newspaper, would not be as they are, things of which it is hard to make the right use, or any use; they would be things of which nobody would even try to make any use. a vote would actually look like a vassal's cry of "haro," a jury would look like a joust; many would no more read headlines than blazon heraldic coats. for these medieval things look dead and dusty because of a defeat, which was none the less a defeat because it was more than half a victory. a curious cloud of confusion rests on the details of that defeat. the christian captains who acted in it were certainly men on a different moral level from the good duke godfrey; their characters were by comparison mixed and even mysterious. perhaps the two determining personalities were raymond of tripoli, a skilful soldier whom his enemies seemed to have accused of being much too skilful a diplomatist; and renaud of chatillon, a violent adventurer whom his enemies seem to have accused of being little better than a bandit. and it is the irony of the incident that raymond got into trouble for making a dubious peace with the saracens, while renaud got into trouble by making an equally dubious war on the saracens. renaud exacted from moslem travellers on a certain road what he regarded as a sort of feudal toll or tax, and they regarded as a brigand ransom; and when they did not pay he attacked them. this was regarded as a breach of the truce; but probably it would have been easier to regard renaud as waging the war of a robber, if many had not regarded raymond as having made the truce of a traitor. probably raymond was not a traitor, since the military advice he gave up to the very instant of catastrophe was entirely loyal and sound, and worthy of so wise a veteran. and very likely renaud was not merely a robber, especially in his own eyes; and there seems to be a much better case for him than many modern writers allow. but the very fact of such charges being bandied among the factions shows a certain fall from the first days under the headship of the house of bouillon. no slanderer ever suggested that godfrey was a traitor; no enemy ever asserted that godfrey was only a thief. it is fairly clear that there had been a degeneration; but most people hardly realise sufficiently that there had been a very great thing from which to degenerate. the first crusades had really had some notion of jerusalem as a new jerusalem. i mean they had really had a vision of the place being not only a promised land but a utopia or even an earthly paradise. the outstanding fact and feature which is seldom seized is this: that the social experiment in palestine was rather in advance of the social experiments in the rest of christendom. having to begin at the beginning, they really began with what they considered the best ideas of their time; like any group of socialists founding an ideal commonwealth in a modern colony. a specialist on this period, colonel conder of the palestine exploration, has written that the core of the code was founded on the recommendations of godfrey himself in his "letters of the sepulchre"; and he observes concerning it: "the basis of these laws was found in justinian's code, and they presented features as yet quite unknown in europe, especially in their careful provision of justice for the bourgeois and the peasant, and for the trading communes whose fleets were so necessary to the king. not only were free men judged by juries of their equals, but the same applied to those who were technically serfs and actually aborigines." the original arrangements of the native court seem to me singularly liberal, even by modern standards of the treatment of natives. that in many such medieval codes citizens were still called serfs is no more final than the fact that in many modern capitalist newspapers serfs are still called citizens. the whole point about the villein was that he was a tenant at least as permanent as a peasant. he "went with the land"; and there are a good many hopeless tramps starving in streets, or sleeping in ditches, who might not be sorry if they could go with a little land. it would not be very much worse than homelessness and hunger to go with a good kitchen garden of which you could always eat most of the beans and turnips; or to go with a good cornfield of which you could take a considerable proportion of the corn. there has been many a modern man would have been none the worse for "going" about burdened with such a green island, or dragging the chains of such a tangle of green living things. as a fact, of course, this system throughout christendom was already evolving rapidly into a pure peasant proprietorship; and it will be long before industrialism evolves by itself into anything so equal or so free. above all, there appears notably that universal mark of the medieval movement; the voluntary liberation of slaves. but we may willingly allow that something of the earlier success of all this was due to the personal qualities of the first knights fresh from the west; and especially to the personal justice and moderation of godfrey and some of his immediate kindred. godfrey died young; his successors had mostly short periods of power, largely through the prevalence of malaria and the absence of medicine. royal marriages with the more oriental tradition of the armenian princes brought in new elements of luxury and cynicism; and by the time of the disputed truce of raymond of tripoli, the crown had descended to a man named guy of lusignan who seems to have been regarded as a somewhat unsatisfactory character. he had quarrelled with raymond, who was ruler of galilee, and a curious and rather incomprehensible concession made by the latter, that the saracens should ride in arms but in peace round his land, led to alleged moslem insults to nazareth, and the outbreak of the furious templar, gerard of bideford, of which mention has been made already. but the most serious threat to them and their new jerusalem was the emergence among the moslems of a man of military genius, and the fact that all that land lay now under the shadow of the ambition and ardour of saladin. with the breach of the truce, or even the tale of it, the common danger of christians was apparent; and raymond of tripoli repaired to the royal headquarters to consult with his late enemy the king; but he seems to have been almost openly treated as a traitor. gerard of bideford, the fanatic who was grand master of the templars, forced the king's hand against the advice of the wiser soldier, who had pointed out the peril of perishing of thirst in the waterless wastes between them and the enemy. into those wastes they advanced, and they were already weary and unfit for warfare by the time they came in sight of the strange hills that will be remembered for ever under the name of the horns of hattin. on those hills, a few hours later, the last knights of an army of which half had fallen gathered in a final defiance and despair round the relic they carried in their midst, a fragment of the true cross. in that hour fell, as i have fancied, more hopes than they themselves could number, and the glory departed from the middle ages. there fell with them all that new jerusalem which was the symbol of a new world, all those great and growing promises and possibilities of christendom of which this vision was the centre, all that "justice for the bourgeois and the peasant, and for the trading communes," all the guilds that gained their charters by fighting for the cross, all the hopes of a happier transformation of the roman law wedded to charity and to chivalry. there was the first slip and the great swerving of our fate; and in that wilderness we lost all the things we should have loved, and shall need so long a labour to find again. raymond of tripoli had hewn his way through the enemy and ridden away to tyre. the king, with a few of the remaining nobles, including renaud de chatillon, were brought before saladin in his tent. there occurred a scene strangely typical of the mingled strains in the creed or the culture that triumphed on that day; the stately eastern courtesy and hospitality; the wild eastern hatred and self-will. saladin welcomed the king and gracefully gave him a cup of sherbet, which he passed to renaud. "it is thou and not i who hast given him to drink," said the saracen, preserving the precise letter of the punctilio of hospitality. then he suddenly flung himself raving and reviling upon renaud de chatillon, and killed the prisoner with his own hands. outside, two hundred hospitallers and templars were beheaded on the field of battle; by one account i have read because saladin disliked them, and by another because they were christian priests. there is a strong bias against the christians and in favour of the moslems and the jews in most of the victorian historical works, especially historical novels. and most people of modern, or rather of very recent times got all their notions of history from dipping into historical novels. in those romances the jew is always the oppressed where in reality he was often the oppressor. in those romances the arab is always credited with oriental dignity and courtesy and never with oriental crookedness and cruelty. the same injustice is introduced into history, which by means of selection and omission can be made as fictitious as any fiction. twenty historians mention the way in which the maddened christian mob murdered the moslems after the capture of jerusalem, for one who mentions that the moslem commander commanded in cold blood the murder of some two hundred of his most famous and valiant enemies after the victory of hattin. the former cannot be shown to have been the act of tancred, while the latter was quite certainly the act of saladin. yet tancred is described as at best a doubtful character, while saladin is represented as a bayard without fear or blame. both of them doubtless were ordinary faulty fighting men, but they are not judged by an equal balance. it may seem a paradox that there should be this prejudice in western history in favour of eastern heroes. but the cause is clear enough; it is the remains of the revolt among many europeans against their own old religious organisation, which naturally made them hunt through all ages for its crimes and its victims. it was natural that voltaire should sympathise more with a brahmin he had never seen than with a jesuit with whom he was engaged in a violent controversy; and should similarly feel more dislike of a catholic who was his enemy than of a moslem who was the enemy of his enemy. in this atmosphere of natural and even pardonable prejudice arose the habit of contrasting the intolerance of the crusaders with the toleration shown by the moslems. now as there are two sides to everything, it would undoubtedly be quite possible to tell the tale of the crusades, correctly enough in detail, and in such a way as entirely to justify the moslems and condemn the crusaders. but any such real record of the moslem case would have very little to do with any questions of tolerance or intolerance, or any modern ideas about religious liberty and equality. as the modern world does not know what it means itself by religious liberty and equality, as the moderns have not thought out any logical theory of toleration at all (for their vague generalisations can always be upset by twenty tests from thugs to christian science) it would obviously be unreasonable to expect the moderns to understand the much clearer philosophy of the moslems. but some rough suggestion of what was really involved may be found convenient in this case. islam was not originally a movement directed against christianity at all. it did not face westwards, so to speak; it faced eastwards towards the idolatries of asia. but mahomet believed that these idols could be fought more successfully with a simpler kind of creed; one might almost say with a simpler kind of christianity. for he included many things which we in the west commonly suppose not only to be peculiar to christianity but to be peculiar to catholicism. many things have been rejected by protestantism that are not rejected by mahometanism. thus the moslems believe in purgatory, and they give at least a sort of dignity to the mother of christ. about such things as these they have little of the bitterness that rankles in the jews and is said sometimes to become hideously vitriolic. while i was in palestine a distinguished moslem said to a christian resident: "we also, as well as you, honour the mother of christ. never do we speak of her but we call her the lady miriam. i dare not tell you what the jews call her." the real mistake of the moslems is something much more modern in its application than any particular or passing persecution of christians as such. it lay in the very fact that they did think they had a simpler and saner sort of christianity, as do many modern christians. they thought it could be made universal merely by being made uninteresting. now a man preaching what he thinks is a platitude is far more intolerant than a man preaching what he admits is a paradox. it was exactly because it seemed self-evident, to moslems as to bolshevists, that their simple creed was suited to everybody, that they wished in that particular sweeping fashion to impose it on everybody. it was because islam was broad that moslems were narrow. and because it was not a hard religion it was a heavy rule. because it was without a self-correcting complexity, it allowed of those simple and masculine but mostly rather dangerous appetites that show themselves in a chieftain or a lord. as it had the simplest sort of religion, monotheism, so it had the simplest sort of government, monarchy. there was exactly the same direct spirit in its despotism as in its deism. the code, the common law, the give and take of charters and chivalric vows, did not grow in that golden desert. the great sun was in the sky and the great saladin was in his tent, and he must be obeyed unless he were assassinated. those who complain of our creeds as elaborate often forget that the elaborate western creeds have produced the elaborate western constitutions; and that they are elaborate because they are emancipated. and the real moral of the relations of the two great religions is something much more subtle and sincere than any mere atrocity tales against turks. it is the same as the moral of the christian refusal of a pagan pantheon in which christ should rank with ammon and apollo. twice the christian church refused what seemed like a handsome offer of a large latitudinarian sort; once to include christ as a god and once to include him as a prophet; once by the admission of all idols and once by the abandonment of all idols. twice the church took the risk and twice the church survived alone and succeeded alone, filling the world with her own children; and leaving her rivals in a desert, where the idols were dead and the iconoclasts were dying. but all this history has been hidden by a prejudice more general than the particular case of saracens and crusaders. the modern, or rather the victorian prejudice against crusaders is positive and not relative; and it would still desire to condemn tancred if it could not acquit saladin. indeed it is a prejudice not so much against crusaders as against christians. it will not give to these heroes of religious war the fair measure it gives to the heroes of ordinary patriotic and imperial war. there never was a nobler hero than nelson, or one more national or more normal. yet nelson quite certainly did do what tancred almost certainly did not do; break his own word by giving up his own brave enemies to execution. if the cause of nelson in other times comes to be treated as the creed of tancred has often in recent times been treated, this incident alone will be held sufficient to prove not only that nelson was a liar and a scoundrel, but that he did not love england at all, did not love lady hamilton at all, that he sailed in english ships only to pocket the prize money of french ships, and would as willingly have sailed in french ships for the prize money of english ships. that is the sort of dull dust of gold that has been shaken like the drifting dust of the desert over the swords and the relics, the crosses and the clasped hands of the men who marched to jerusalem or died at hattin. in these medieval pilgrims every inconsistency is a hypocrisy; while in the more modern patriots even an infamy is only an inconsistency. i have rounded off the story here with the ruin at hattin because the whole reaction against the pilgrimage had its origin there; and because it was this at least that finally lost jerusalem. elsewhere in palestine, to say nothing of africa and spain, splendid counter-strokes were still being delivered from the west, not the least being the splendid rescue by richard of england. but i still think that with the mere name of that tiny town upon the hills the note of the whole human revolution had been struck, was changed and was silent. all the other names were only the names of eastern towns; but that was nearer to a man than his neighbours; a village inside his village, a house inside his house. there is a hill above bethlehem of a strange shape, with a flat top which makes it look oddly like an island, habitable though uninhabited, when all moab heaves about it and beyond it as with the curves and colours of a sea. its stability suggests in some strange fashion what may often be felt in these lands with the longest record of culture; that there may be not only a civilisation but even a chivalry older than history. perhaps the table-land with its round top has a romantic reminiscence of a round table. perhaps it is only a fantastic effect of evening, for it is felt most when the low skies are swimming with the colours of sunset, and in the shadows the shattered rocks about its base take on the shapes of titanic paladins fighting and falling around it. i only know that the mere shape of the hill and vista of the landscape suggested such visions and it was only afterwards that i heard the local legend, which says it is here that some of the christian knights made their last stand after they lost jerusalem and which names this height the mountain of the latins. they fell, and the ages rolled on them the rocks of scorn; they were buried in jests and buffooneries. as the renascence expanded into the rationalism of recent centuries, nothing seemed so ridiculous as to butcher and bleed in a distant desert not only for a tomb, but an empty tomb. the last legend of them withered under the wit of cervantes, though he himself had fought in the last crusade at lepanto. they were kicked about like dead donkeys by the cool vivacity of voltaire; who went off, very symbolically, to dance attendance on the new drill-sergeant of the prussians. they were dissected like strange beasts by the serene disgust of gibbon, more serene than the similar horror with which he regarded the similar violence of the french revolution. by our own time even the flippancy has become a platitude. they have long been the butt of every penny-a-liner who can talk of a helmet as a tin pot, of every caricaturist on a comic paper who can draw a fat man falling off a bucking horse; of every pushing professional politician who can talk about the superstitions of the middle ages. great men and small have agreed to contemn them; they were renounced by their children and refuted by their biographers; they were exposed, they were exploded, they were ridiculed and they were right. they were proved wrong, and they were right. they were judged finally and forgotten, and they were right. centuries after their fall the full experience and development of political discovery has shown beyond question that they were right. for there is a very simple test of the truth; that the very thing which was dismissed, as a dream of the ages of faith, we have been forced to turn into a fact in the ages of fact. it is now more certain than it ever was before that europe must rescue some lordship, or overlordship, of these old roman provinces. whether it is wise for england alone to claim palestine, whether it would be better if the entente could do so, i think a serious question. but in some form they are reverting for the roman empire. every opportunity has been given for any other empire that could be its equal, and especially for the great dream of a mission for imperial islam. if ever a human being had a run for his money, it was the sultan of the moslems riding on his arab steed. his empire expanded over and beyond the great greek empire of byzantium; a last charge of the chivalry of poland barely stopped it at the very gates of vienna. he was free to unfold everything that was in him, and he unfolded the death that was in him. he reigned and he could not rule; he was successful and he did not succeed. his baffled and retreating enemies left him standing, and he could not stand. he fell finally with that other half-heathen power in the north, with which he had made an alliance against the remains of roman and byzantine culture. he fell because barbarism cannot stand; because even when it succeeds it rather falls on its foes and crushes them. and after all these things, after all these ages, with a wearier philosophy, with a heavier heart, we have been forced to do again the very thing that the crusaders were derided for doing. what western men failed to do for the faith, other western men have been forced to do even without the faith. the sons of tancred are again in tripoli. the heirs of raymond are again in syria. and men from the midlands or the northumbrian towns went again through a furnace of thirst and fever and furious fighting, to gain the same water-courses and invest the same cities as of old. they trod the hills of galilee and the horns of hattin threw no shadow on their souls; they crossed dark and disastrous fields whose fame had been hidden from them, and avenged the fathers they had forgotten. and the most cynical of modern diplomatists, making their settlement by the most sceptical of modern philosophies, can find no practical or even temporary solution for this sacred land, except to bring it again under the crown of coeur de lion and the cross of st. george. there came in through the crooked entry beside the great gap in the wall a tall soldier, dismounting and walking and wearing only the dust-hued habit of modern war. there went no trumpet before him, neither did he enter by the golden gate; but the silence of the deserts was full of a phantom acclamation, as when from far away a wind brings in a whisper the cheering of many thousand men. for in that hour a long-lost cry found fulfilment, and something counted irrational returned in the reason of things. and at last even the wise understood, and at last even the learned were enlightened on a need truly and indeed international, which a mob in a darker age had known by the light of nature; something that could be denied and delayed and evaded, but not escaped for ever. _id deus vult_. chapter xiii the problem of zionism there is an attitude for which my friends and i were for a long period rebuked and even reviled; and of which at the present period we are less likely than ever to repent. it was always called anti-semitism; but it was always much more true to call it zionism. at any rate it was much nearer to the nature of the thing to call it zionism, whether or no it can find its geographical concentration in zion. the substance of this heresy was exceedingly simple. it consisted entirely in saying that jews are jews; and as a logical consequence that they are not russians or roumanians or italians or frenchmen or englishmen. during the war the newspapers commonly referred to them as russians; but the ritual wore so singularly thin that i remember one newspaper paragraph saying that the russians in the east end complained of the food regulations, because their religion forbade them to eat pork. my own brief contact with the greek priests of the orthodox church in jerusalem did not permit me to discover any trace of this detail of their discipline; and even the russian pilgrims were said to be equally negligent in the matter. the point for the moment, however, is that if i was violently opposed to anything, it was not to jews, but to that sort of remark about jews; or rather to the silly and craven fear of making it a remark about jews. but my friends and i had in some general sense a policy in the matter; and it was in substance the desire to give jews the dignity and status of a separate nation. we desired that in some fashion, and so far as possible, jews should be represented by jews, should live in a society of jews, should be judged by jews and ruled by jews. i am an anti-semite if that is anti-semitism. it would seem more rational to call it semitism. of this attitude, i repeat, i am now less likely than ever to repent. i have lived to see the thing that was dismissed as a fad discussed everywhere as a fact; and one of the most menacing facts of the age. i have lived to see people who accused me of anti-semitism become far more anti-semitic than i am or ever was. i have heard people talking with real injustice about the jews, who once seemed to think it an injustice to talk about them at all. but, above all, i have seen with my own eyes wild mobs marching through a great city, raving not only against jews, but against the english for identifying themselves with the jews. i have seen the whole prestige of england brought into peril, merely by the trick of talking about two nations as if they were one. i have seen an englishman arriving in jerusalem with somebody he had been taught to regard as his fellow countryman and political colleague, and received as if he had come arm-in-arm with a flaming dragon. so do our frosty fictions fare when they come under that burning sun. twice in my life, and twice lately, i have seen a piece of english pedantry bring us within an inch of an enormous english peril. the first was when all the victorian historians and philosophers had told us that our german cousin was a cousin german and even germane; something naturally near and sympathetic. that also was an identification; that also was an assimilation; that also was a union of hearts. for the second time in a few short years, english politicians and journalists have discovered the dreadful revenge of reality. to pretend that something is what it is not is business that can easily be fashionable and sometimes popular. but the thing we have agreed to regard as what it is not will always abruptly punish and pulverise us, merely by being what it is. for years we were told that the germans were a sort of englishman because they were teutons; but it was all the worse for us when we found out what teutons really were. for years we were told that jews were a sort of englishman because they were british subjects. it is all the worse for us now we have to regard them, not subjectively as subjects, but objectively as objects; as objects of a fierce hatred among the moslems and the greeks. we are in the absurd position of introducing to these people a new friend whom they instantly recognise as an old enemy. it is an absurd position because it is a false position; but it is merely the penalty of falsehood. whether this eastern anger is reasonable or not may be discussed in a moment; but what is utterly unreasonable is not the anger but the astonishment; at least it is our astonishment at their astonishment. we might believe ourselves in the view that a jew is an englishman; but there was no reason why they should regard him as an englishman, since they already recognised him as a jew. this is the whole present problem of the jew in palestine; and it must be solved either by the logic of zionism or the logic of purely english supremacy and, impartiality; and not by what seems to everybody in palestine a monstrous muddle of the two. but of course it is not only the peril in palestine that has made the realisation of the jewish problem, which once suffered all the dangers of a fad, suffer the opposite dangers of a fashion. the same journalists who politely describe jews as russians are now very impolitely describing certain russians who are jews. many who had no particular objection to jews as capitalists have a very great objection to them as bolshevists. those who had an innocent unconsciousness of the nationality of eckstein, even when he called himself eckstein, have managed to discover the nationality of braunstein, even, when he calls, himself trotsky. and much of this peril also might easily have been lessened, by the simple proposal to call men and things by their own names. i will confess, however, that i have no very full sympathy with the new anti-semitism which is merely anti-socialism. there are good, honourable and magnanimous jews of every type and rank, there are many to whom i am greatly attached among my own friends in my own rank; but if i have to make a general choice on a general chance among different types of jews, i have much more sympathy with the jew who is revolutionary than the jew who is plutocratic. in other words, i have much more sympathy for the israelite we are beginning to reject, than for the israelite we have already accepted. i have more respect for him when he leads some sort of revolt, however narrow and anarchic, against the oppression of the poor, than when he is safe at the head of a great money-lending business oppressing the poor himself. it is not the poor aliens, but the rich aliens i wish we had excluded. i myself wholly reject bolshevism, not because its actions are violent, but because its very thought is materialistic and mean. and if this preference is true even of bolshevism, it is ten times truer of zionism. it really seems to me rather hard that the full storm of fury should have burst about the jews, at the very moment when some of them at least have felt the call of a far cleaner ideal; and that when we have tolerated their tricks with our country, we should turn on them precisely when they seek in sincerity for their own. but in order to judge this jewish possibility, we must understand more fully the nature of the jewish problem. we must consider it from the start, because there are still many who do not know that there is a jewish problem. that problem has its proof, of course, in the history of the jew, and the fact that he came from the east. a jew will sometimes complain of the injustice of describing him as a man of the east; but in truth another very real injustice may be involved in treating him as a man of the west. very often even the joke against the jew is rather a joke against those who have made the joke; that is, a joke against what they have made out of the jew. this is true especially, for instance, of many points of religion and ritual. thus we cannot help feeling, for instance, that there is something a little grotesque about the hebrew habit of putting on a top-hat as an act of worship. it is vaguely mixed up with another line of humour, about another class of jew, who wears a large number of hats; and who must not therefore be credited with an extreme or extravagant religious zeal, leading him to pile up a pagoda of hats towards heaven. to western eyes, in western conditions, there really is something inevitably fantastic about this formality of the synagogue. but we ought to remember that we have made the western conditions which startle the western eyes. it seems odd to wear a modern top-hat as if it were a mitre or a biretta; it seems quainter still when the hat is worn even for the momentary purpose of saying grace before lunch. it seems quaintest of all when, at some jewish luncheon parties, a tray of hats is actually handed round, and each guest helps himself to a hat as a sort of _hors d'oeuvre_. all this could easily be turned into a joke; but we ought to realise that the joke is against ourselves. it is not merely we who make fun of it, but we who have made it funny. for, after all, nobody can pretend that this particular type of head-dress is a part of that uncouth imagery "setting painting and sculpture at defiance" which renan remarked in the tradition of hebrew civilisation. nobody can say that a top-hat was among the strange symbolic utensils dedicated to the obscure service of the ark; nobody can suppose that a top-hat descended from heaven among the wings and wheels of the flying visions of the prophets. for this wild vision the west is entirely responsible. europe has created the tower of giotto; but it has also created the topper. we of the west must bear the burden, as best we may, both of the responsibility and of the hat. it is solely the special type and shape of hat that makes the hebrew ritual seem ridiculous. performed in the old original hebrew fashion it is not ridiculous, but rather if anything sublime. for the original fashion was an oriental fashion; and the jews are orientals; and the mark of all such orientals is the wearing of long and loose draperies. to throw those loose draperies over the head is decidedly a dignified and even poetic gesture. one can imagine something like justice done to its majesty and mystery in one of the great dark drawings of william blake. it may be true, and personally i think it is true, that the hebrew covering of the head signifies a certain stress on the fear of god, which is the beginning of wisdom, while the christian uncovering of the head suggests rather the love of god that is the end of wisdom. but this has nothing to do with the taste and dignity of the ceremony; and to do justice to these we must treat the jew as an oriental; we must even dress him as an oriental. i have only taken this as one working example out of many that would point to the same conclusion. a number of points upon which the unfortunate alien is blamed would be much improved if he were, not less of an alien, but rather more of an alien. they arise from his being too like us, and too little like himself. it is obviously the case, for instance, touching that vivid vulgarity in clothes, and especially the colours of clothes, with which a certain sort of jews brighten the landscape or seascape at margate or many holiday resorts. when we see a foreign gentleman on brighton pier wearing yellow spats, a magenta waistcoat, and an emerald green tie, we feel that he has somehow missed certain fine shades of social sensibility and fitness. it might considerably surprise the company on brighton pier, if he were to reply by solemnly unwinding his green necktie from round his neck, and winding it round his head. yet the reply would be the right one; and would be equally logical and artistic. as soon as the green tie had become a green turban, it might look as appropriate and even attractive as the green turban of any pilgrim of mecca or any descendant of mahomet, who walks with a stately air through the streets of jaffa or jerusalem. the bright colours that make the margate jews hideous are no brighter than those that make the moslem crowd picturesque. they are only worn in the wrong place, in the wrong way, and in conjunction with a type and cut of clothing that is meant to be more sober and restrained. little can really be urged against him, in that respect, except that his artistic instinct is rather for colour than form, especially of the kind that we ourselves have labelled good form. this is a mere symbol, but it is so suitable a symbol that i have often offered it symbolically as a solution of the jewish problem. i have felt disposed to say: let all liberal legislation stand, let all literal and legal civic equality stand; let a jew occupy any political or social position which he can gain in open competition; let us not listen for a moment to any suggestions of reactionary restrictions or racial privilege. let a jew be lord chief justice, if his exceptional veracity and reliability have clearly marked him out for that post. let a jew be archbishop of canterbury, if our national religion has attained to that receptive breadth that would render such a transition unobjectionable and even unconscious. but let there be one single-clause bill; one simple and sweeping law about jews, and no other. be it enacted, by the king's most excellent majesty, by and with the advice of the lords spiritual and temporal and the commons in parliament assembled, that every jew must be dressed like an arab. let him sit on the woolsack, but let him sit there dressed as an arab. let him preach in st. paul's cathedral, but let him preach there dressed as an arab. it is not my point at present to dwell on the pleasing if flippant fancy of how much this would transform the political scene; of the dapper figure of sir herbert samuel swathed as a bedouin, or sir alfred mond gaining a yet greater grandeur from the gorgeous and trailing robes of the east. if my image is quaint my intention is quite serious; and the point of it is not personal to any particular jew. the point applies to any jew, and to our own recovery of healthier relations with him. the point is that we should know where we are; and he would know where he is, which is in a foreign land. this is but a parenthesis and a parable, but it brings us to the concrete controversial matter which is the jewish problem. only a few years ago it was regarded as a mark of a blood-thirsty disposition to admit that the jewish problem was a problem, or even that the jew was a jew. through much misunderstanding certain friends of mine and myself have persisted in disregarding the silence thus imposed; but facts have fought for us more effectively than words. by this time nobody is more conscious of the jewish problem than the most intelligent and idealistic of the jews. the folly of the fashion by which jews often concealed their jewish names, must surely be manifest by this time even to those who concealed them. to mention but one example of the way in which this fiction falsified the relations of everybody and everything, it is enough to note that it involved the jews themselves in a quite new and quite needless unpopularity in the first years of the war. a poor little jewish tailor, who called himself by a german name merely because he lived for a short time in a german town, was instantly mobbed in whitechapel for his share in the invasion of belgium. he was cross-examined about why he had damaged the tower of rheims; and talked to as if he had killed nurse cavell with his own pair of shears. it was very unjust; quite as unjust as it would be to ask bethmann-hollweg why he had stabbed eglon or hewn agag in pieces. but it was partly at least the fault of the jew himself, and of the whole of that futile and unworthy policy which had led him to call himself bernstein when his name was benjamin. in such cases the jews are accused of all sorts of faults they have not got; but there are faults that they have got. some of the charges against them, as in the cases i have quoted concerning religious ritual and artistic taste, are due merely to the false light in which they are regarded. other faults may also be due to the false position in which they are placed. but the faults exist; and nothing was ever more dangerous to everybody concerned than the recent fashion of denying or ignoring them. it was done simply by the snobbish habit of suppressing the experience and evidence of the majority of people, and especially of the majority of poor people. it was done by confining the controversy to a small world of wealth and refinement, remote from all the real facts involved. for the rich are the most ignorant people on earth, and the best that can be said for them, in cases like these, is that their ignorance often reaches the point of innocence. i will take a typical case, which sums up the whole of this absurd fashion. there was a controversy in the columns of an important daily paper, some time ago, on the subject of the character of shylock in shakespeare. actors and authors of distinction, including some of the most brilliant of living jews, argued the matter from the most varied points of view. some said that shakespeare was prevented by the prejudices of his time from having a complete sympathy with shylock. some said that shakespeare was only restrained by fear of the powers of his time from expressing his complete sympathy with shylock. some wondered how or why shakespeare had got hold of such a queer story as that of the pound of flesh, and what it could possibly have to do with so dignified and intellectual a character as shylock. in short, some wondered why a man of genius should be so much of an anti-semite, and some stoutly declared that he must have been a pro-semite. but all of them in a sense admitted that they were puzzled as to what the play was about. the correspondence filled column after column and went on for weeks. and from one end of that correspondence to the other, no human being even so much as mentioned the word "usury." it is exactly as if twenty clever critics were set down to talk for a month about the play of macbeth, and were all strictly forbidden to mention the word "murder." the play called _the merchant of venice_ happens to be about usury, and its story is a medieval satire on usury. it is the fashion to say that it is a clumsy and grotesque story; but as a fact it is an exceedingly good story. it is a perfect and pointed story for its purpose, which is to convey the moral of the story. and the moral is that the logic of usury is in its nature at war with life, and might logically end in breaking into the bloody house of life. in other words, if a creditor can always claim a man's tools or a man's home, he might quite as justly claim one of his arms or legs. this principle was not only embodied in medieval satires but in very sound medieval laws, which set a limit on the usurer who was trying to take away a man's livelihood, as the usurer in the play is trying to take away a man's life. and if anybody thinks that usury can never go to lengths wicked enough to be worthy of so wild an image, then that person either knows nothing about it or knows too much. he is either one of the innocent rich who have never been the victims of money-lenders, or else one of the more powerful and influential rich who are money-lenders themselves. all this, i say, is a fact that must be faced, but there is another side to the case, and it is this that the genius of shakespeare discovered. what he did do, and what the medieval satirist did not do, was to attempt to understand shylock; in the true sense to sympathise with shylock the money-lender, as he sympathised with macbeth the murderer. it was not to deny that the man was an usurer, but to assert that the usurer was a man. and the elizabethan dramatist does make him a man, where the medieval satirist made him a monster. shakespeare not only makes him a man but a perfectly sincere and self-respecting man. but the point is this: that he is a sincere man who sincerely believes in usury. he is a self-respecting man who does not despise himself for being a usurer. in one word, he regards usury as normal. in that word is the whole problem of the popular impression of the jews. what shakespeare suggested about the jew in a subtle and sympathetic way, millions of plain men everywhere would suggest about him in a rough and ready way. regarding the jew in relation to his ideas about interest, they think either that he is simply immoral; or that if he is moral, then he has a different morality. there is a great deal more to be said about how far this is true, and about what are its causes and excuses if it is true. but it is an old story, surely, that the worst of all cures is to deny the disease. to recognise the reality of the jewish problem is very vital for everybody and especially vital for jews. to pretend that there is no problem is to precipitate the expression of a rational impatience, which unfortunately can only express itself in the rather irrational form of anti-semitism. in the controversies of palestine and syria, for instance, it is very common to hear the answer that the jew is no worse than the armenian. the armenian also is said to be unpopular as a money-lender and a mercantile upstart; yet the armenian figures as a martyr for the christian faith and a victim of the moslem fury. but this is one of those arguments which really carry their own answer. it is like the sceptical saying that man is only an animal, which of itself provokes the retort, "what an animal!" the very similarity only emphasises the contrast. is it seriously suggested that we can substitute the armenian for the jew in the study of a world-wide problem like that of the jews? could we talk of the competition of armenians among welsh shop-keepers, or of the crowd of armenians on brighton parade? can armenian usury be a common topic of talk in a camp in california and in a club in piccadilly? does shakespeare show us a tragic armenian towering over the great venice of the renascence? does dickens show us a realistic armenian teaching in the thieves' kitchens of the slums? when we meet mr. vernon vavasour, that brilliant financier, do we speculate on the probability of his really having an armenian name to match his armenian nose? is it true, in short, that all sorts of people, from the peasants of poland to the peasants of portugal, can agree more or less upon the special subject of armenia? obviously it is not in the least true; obviously the armenian question is only a local question of certain christians, who may be more avaricious than other christians. but it is the truth about the jews. it is only half the truth, and one which by itself would be very unjust to the jews. but it is the truth, and we must realise it as sharply and clearly as we can. the truth is that it is rather strange that the jews should be so anxious for international agreements. for one of the few really international agreements is a suspicion of the jews. a more practical comparison would be one between the jews and gipsies; for the latter at least cover several countries, and can be tested by the impressions of very different districts. and in some preliminary respects the comparison is really useful. both races are in different ways landless, and therefore in different ways lawless. for the fundamental laws are land laws. in both cases a reasonable man will see reasons for unpopularity, without wishing to indulge any task for persecution. in both cases he will probably recognise the reality of a racial fault, while admitting that it may be largely a racial misfortune. that is to say, the drifting and detached condition may be largely the cause of jewish usury or gipsy pilfering; but it is not common sense to contradict the general experience of gipsy pilfering or jewish usury. the comparison helps us to clear away some of the cloudy evasions by which modern men have tried to escape from that experience. it is absurd to say that people are only prejudiced against the money methods of the jews because the medieval church has left behind a hatred of their religion. we might as well say that people only protect the chickens from the gipsies because the medieval church undoubtedly condemned fortune-telling. it is unreasonable for a jew to complain that shakespeare makes shylock and not antonio the ruthless money-lender; or that dickens makes fagin and not sikes the receiver of stolen goods. it is as if a gipsy were to complain when a novelist describes a child as stolen by the gipsies, and not by the curate or the mothers' meeting. it is to complain of facts and probabilities. there may be good gipsies; there may be good qualities which specially belong to them as gipsies; many students of the strange race have, for instance, praised a certain dignity and self-respect among the women of the romany. but no student ever praised them for an exaggerated respect for private property, and the whole argument about gipsy theft can be roughly repeated about hebrew usury. above all, there is one other respect in which the comparison is even more to the point. it is the essential fact of the whole business, that the jews do not become national merely by becoming a political part of any nation. we might as well say that the gipsies had villas in clapham, when their caravans stood on clapham common. but, of course, even this comparison between the two wandering peoples fails in the presence of the greater problem. here again even the attempt at a parallel leaves the primary thing more unique. the gipsies do not become municipal merely by passing through a number of parishes, and it would seem equally obvious that a jew need not become english merely by passing through england on his way from germany to america. but the gipsy not only is not municipal, but he is not called municipal. his caravan is not immediately painted outside with the number and name of laburnam road, clapham. the municipal authorities generally notice the wheels attached to the new cottage, and therefore do not fall into the error. the gipsy may halt in a particular parish, but he is not as a rule immediately made a parish councillor. the cases in which a travelling tinker has been suddenly made the mayor of an important industrial town must be comparatively rare. and if the poor vagabonds of the romany blood are bullied by mayors and magistrates, kicked off the land by landlords, pursued by policemen and generally knocked about from pillar to post, nobody raises an outcry that _they_ are the victims of religious persecution; nobody summons meetings in public halls, collects subscriptions or sends petitions to parliament; nobody threatens anybody else with the organised indignation of the gipsies all over the world. the case of the jew in the nation is very different from that of the tinker in the town. the moral elements that can be appealed to are of a very different style and scale. no gipsies are millionaires. in short, the jewish problem differs from anything like the gipsy problem in two highly practical respects. first, the jews already exercise colossal cosmopolitan financial power. and second, the modern societies they live in also grant them vital forms of national political power. here the vagrant is already as rich as a miser and the vagrant is actually made a mayor. as will be seen shortly, there is a jewish side of the story which leads really to the same ending of the story; but the truth stated here is quite independent of any sympathetic or unsympathetic view of the race in question. it is a question of fact, which a sensible jew can afford to recognise, and which the most sensible jews do very definitely recognise. it is really irrational for anybody to pretend that the jews are only a curious sect of englishmen, like the plymouth brothers or the seventh day baptists, in the face of such a simple fact as the family of rothschild. nobody can pretend that such an english sect can establish five brothers, or even cousins, in the five great capitals of europe. nobody can pretend that the seventh day baptists are the seven grandchildren of one grandfather, scattered systematically among the warring nations of the earth. nobody thinks the plymouth brothers are literally brothers, or that they are likely to be quite as powerful in paris or in petrograd as in plymouth. the jewish problem can be stated very simply after all. it is normal for the nation to contain the family. with the jews the family is generally divided among the nations. this may not appear to matter to those who do not believe in nations, those who really think there ought not to be any nations. but i literally fail to understand anybody who does believe in patriotism thinking that this state of affairs can be consistent with it. it is in its nature intolerable, from a national standpoint, that a man admittedly powerful in one nation should be bound to a man equally powerful in another nation, by ties more private and personal even than nationality. even when the purpose is not any sort of treachery, the very position is a sort of treason. given the passionately patriotic peoples of the west of europe especially, the state of things cannot conceivably be satisfactory to a patriot. but least of all can it conceivably be satisfactory to a jewish patriot; by which i do not mean a sham englishman or a sham frenchman, but a man who is sincerely patriotic for the historic and highly civilised nation of the jews. for what may be criticised here as anti-semitism is only the negative side of zionism. for the sake of convenience i have begun by stating it in terms of the universal popular impression which some call a popular prejudice. but such a truth of differentiation is equally true on both its different sides. suppose somebody proposes to mix up england and america, under some absurd name like the anglo-saxon empire. one man may say, "why should the jolly english inns and villages be swamped by these priggish provincial yankees?" another may say, "why should the real democracy of a young country be tied to your snobbish old squirarchy?" but both these views are only versions of the same view of a great american: "god never made one people good enough to rule another." the primary point about zionism is that, whether it is right or wrong, it does offer a real and reasonable answer both to anti-semitism and to the charge of anti-semitism. the usual phrases about religious persecution and racial hatred are not reasonable answers, or answers at all. these jews do not deny that they are jews; they do not deny that jews may be unpopular; they do not deny that there may be other than superstitious reasons for their unpopularity. they are not obliged to maintain that when a piccadilly dandy talks about being in the hands of the jews he is moved by the theological fanaticism that prevails in piccadilly; or that when a silly youth on derby day says he was done by a dirty jew, he is merely conforming to that christian orthodoxy which is one of the strict traditions of the turf. they are not, like some other jews, forced to pay so extravagant a compliment to the christian religion as to suppose it the ruling motive of half the discontented talk in clubs and public-houses, of nearly every business man who suspects a foreign financier, or nearly every working man who grumbles against the local pawn-broker. religious mania, unfortunately, is not so common. the zionists do not need to deny any of these things; what they offer is not a denial but a diagnosis and a remedy. whether their diagnosis is correct, whether their remedy is practicable, we will try to consider later, with something like a fair summary of what is to be said on both sides. but their theory, on the face of it, is perfectly reasonable. it is the theory that any abnormal qualities in the jews are due to the abnormal position of the jews. they are traders rather than producers because they have no land of their own from which to produce, and they are cosmopolitans rather than patriots because they have no country of their own for which to be patriotic. they can no more become farmers while they are vagrant than they could have built the temple of solomon while they were building the pyramids of egypt. they can no more feel the full stream of nationalism while they wander in the desert of nomadism than they could bathe in the waters of jordan while they were weeping by the waters of babylon. for exile is the worst kind of bondage. in insisting upon that at least the zionists have insisted upon a profound truth, with many applications to many other moral issues. it is true that for any one whose heart is set on a particular home or shrine, to be locked out is to be locked in. the narrowest possible prison for him is the whole world. it will be well to notice briefly, however, how the principle applies to the two anti-semitic arguments already considered. the first is the charge of usury and unproductive loans, the second the charge either of treason or of unpatriotic detachment. the charge of usury is regarded, not unreasonably, as only a specially dangerous development of the general charge of uncreative commerce and the refusal of creative manual exercise; the unproductive loan is only a minor form of the unproductive labour. it is certainly true that the latter complaint is, if possible, commoner than the former, especially in comparatively simple communities like those of palestine. a very honest moslem arab said to me, with a singular blend of simplicity and humour, "a jew does not work; but he grows rich. you never see a jew working; and yet they grow rich. what i want to know is, why do we not all do the same? why do we not also do this and become rich?" this is, i need hardly say, an over-simplification. jews often work hard at some things, especially intellectual things. but the same experience which tells us that we have known many industrious jewish scholars, jewish lawyers, jewish doctors, jewish pianists, chess-players and so on, is an experience which cuts both ways. the same experience, if carefully consulted, will probably tell us that we have not known personally many patient jewish ploughmen, many laborious jewish blacksmiths, many active jewish hedgers and ditchers, or even many energetic jewish hunters and fishermen. in short, the popular impression is tolerably true to life, as popular impressions very often are; though it is not fashionable to say so in these days of democracy and self-determination. jews do not generally work on the land, or in any of the handicrafts that are akin to the land; but the zionists reply that this is because it can never really be their own land. that is zionism, and that has really a practical place in the past and future of zion. patriotism is not merely dying for the nation. it is dying with the nation. it is regarding the fatherland not merely as a real resting-place like an inn, but as a final resting-place, like a house or even a grave. even the most jingo of the jews do not feel like this about their adopted country; and i doubt if the most intelligent of the jews would pretend that they did. even if we can bring ourselves to believe that disraeli lived for england, we cannot think that he would have died with her. if england had sunk in the atlantic he would not have sunk with her, but easily floated over to america to stand for the presidency. even if we are profoundly convinced that mr. beit or mr. eckstein had patriotic tears in his eyes when he obtained a gold concession from queen victoria, we cannot believe that in her absence he would have refused a similar concession from the german emperor. when the jew in france or in england says he is a good patriot he only means that he is a good citizen, and he would put it more truly if he said he was a good exile. sometimes indeed he is an abominably bad citizen, and a most exasperating and execrable exile, but i am not talking of that side of the case. i am assuming that a man like disraeli did really make a romance of england, that a man like dernburg did really make a romance of germany, and it is still true that though it was a romance, they would not have allowed it to be a tragedy. they would have seen that the story had a happy ending, especially for themselves. these jews would not have died with any christian nation. but the jews did die with jerusalem. that is the first and last great truth in zionism. jerusalem was destroyed and jews were destroyed with it, men who cared no longer to live because the city of their faith had fallen. it may be questioned whether all the zionists have all the sublime insanity of the zealots. but at least it is not nonsense to suggest that the zionists might feel like this about zion. it is nonsense to suggest that they would ever feel like this about dublin or moscow. and so far at least the truth both in semitism and anti-semitism is included in zionism. it is a commonplace that the infamous are more famous than the famous. byron noted, with his own misanthropic moral, that we think more of nero the monster who killed his mother than of nero the noble roman who defeated hannibal. the name of julian more often suggests julian the apostate than julian the saint; though the latter crowned his canonisation with the sacred glory of being the patron saint of inn-keepers. but the best example of this unjust historical habit is the most famous of all and the most infamous of all. if there is one proper noun which has become a common noun, if there is one name which has been generalised till it means a thing, it is certainly the name of judas. we should hesitate perhaps to call it a christian name, except in the more evasive form of jude. and even that, as the name of a more faithful apostle, is another illustration of the same injustice; for, by comparison with the other, jude the faithful might almost be called jude the obscure. the critic who said, whether innocently or ironically, "what wicked men these early christians were!" was certainly more successful in innocence than in irony; for he seems to have been innocent or ignorant of the whole idea of the christian communion. judas iscariot was one of the very earliest of all possible early christians. and the whole point about him was that his hand was in the same dish; the traitor is always a friend, or he could never be a foe. but the point for the moment is merely that the name is known everywhere merely as the name of a traitor. the name of judas nearly always means judas iscariot; it hardly ever means judas maccabeus. and if you shout out "judas" to a politician in the thick of a political tumult, you will have some difficulty in soothing him afterwards, with the assurance that you had merely traced in him something of that splendid zeal and valour which dragged down the tyranny of antiochus, in the day of the great deliverance of israel. those two possible uses of the name of judas would give us yet another compact embodiment of the case for zionism. numberless international jews have gained the bad name of judas, and some have certainly earned it. if you have gained or earned the good name of judas, it can quite fairly and intelligently be affirmed that this was not the fault of the jews, but of the peculiar position of the jews. a man can betray like judas iscariot in another man's house; but a man cannot fight like judas maccabeus for another man's temple. there is no more truly rousing revolutionary story amid all the stories of mankind, there is no more perfect type of the element of chivalry in rebellion, than that magnificent tale of the maccabee who stabbed from underneath the elephant of antiochus and died under the fall of that huge and living castle. but it would be unreasonable to ask mr. montagu to stick a knife into the elephant on which lord curzon, let us say, was riding in all the pomp of asiatic imperialism. for mr. montagu would not be liberating his own land; and therefore he naturally prefers to interest himself either in operations in silver or in somewhat slower and less efficient methods of liberation. in short, whatever we may think of the financial or social services such as were rendered to england in the affair of marconi, or to france in the affair of panama, it must be admitted that these exhibit a humbler and more humdrum type of civic duty, and do not remind us of the more reckless virtues of the maccabees or the zealots. a man may be a good citizen of anywhere, but he cannot be a national hero of nowhere; and for this particular type of patriotic passion it is necessary to have a _patria_. the zionists therefore are maintaining a perfectly reasonable proposition, both about the charge of usury and the charge of treason, if they claim that both could be cured by the return to a national soil as promised in zionism. unfortunately they are not always reasonable about their own reasonable proposition. some of them have a most unlucky habit of ignoring, and therefore implicitly denying, the very evil that they are wisely trying to cure. i have already remarked this irritating innocence in the first of the two questions; the criticism that sees everything in shylock except the point of him, or the point of his knife. how in the politics of palestine at this moment this first question is in every sense the primary question. palestine has hardly as yet a patriotism to be betrayed; but it certainly has a peasantry to be oppressed, and especially to be oppressed as so many peasantries have been with usury and forestalling. the syrians and arabs and all the agricultural and pastoral populations of palestine are, rightly or wrongly, alarmed and angered at the advent of the jews to power; for the perfectly practical and simple reason of the reputation which the jews have all over the world. it is really ridiculous in people so intelligent as the jews, and especially so intelligent as the zionists, to ignore so enormous and elementary a fact as that reputation and its natural results. it may or may not in this case be unjust; but in any case it is not unnatural. it may be the result of persecution, but it is one that has definitely resulted. it may be the consequence of a misunderstanding; but it is a misunderstanding that must itself be understood. rightly or wrongly, certain people in palestine fear the coming of the jews as they fear the coming of the locusts; they regard them as parasites that feed on a community by a thousand methods of financial intrigue and economic exploitation. i could understand the jews indignantly denying this, or eagerly disproving it, or best of all, explaining what is true in it while exposing what is untrue. what is strange, i might almost say weird, about the attitude of some quite intelligent and sincere zionists, is that they talk, write and apparently think as if there were no such thing in the world. i will give one curious example from one of the best and most brilliant of the zionists. dr. weizmann is a man of large mind and human sympathies; and it is difficult to believe that any one with so fine a sense of humanity can be entirely empty of anything like a sense of humour. yet, in the middle of a very temperate and magnanimous address on "zionist policy," he can actually say a thing like this, "the arabs need us with our knowledge, and our experience and our money. if they do not have us they will fall into the hands of others, they will fall among sharks." one is tempted for the moment to doubt whether any one else in the world could have said that, except the jew with his strange mixture of brilliancy and blindness, of subtlety and simplicity. it is much as if president wilson were to say, "unless america deals with mexico, it will be dealt with by some modern commercial power, that has trust-magnates and hustling millionaires." but would president wilson say it? it is as if the german chancellor had said, "we must rush to the rescue of the poor belgians, or they may be put under some system with a rigid militarism and a bullying bureaucracy." but would even a german chancellor put it exactly like that? would anybody put it in the exact order of words and structure of sentence in which dr. weizmann has put it? would even the turks say, "the armenians need us with our order and our discipline and our arms. if they do not have us they will fall into the hands of others, they will perhaps be in danger of massacres." i suspect that a turk would see the joke, even if it were as grim a joke as the massacres themselves. if the zionists wish to quiet the fears of the arabs, surely the first thing to do is to discover what the arabs are afraid of. and very little investigation will reveal the simple truth that they are very much afraid of sharks; and that in their book of symbolic or heraldic zoology it is the jew who is adorned with the dorsal fin and the crescent of cruel teeth. this may be a fairy-tale about a fabulous animal; but it is one which all sorts of races believe, and certainly one which these races believe. but the case is yet more curious than that. these simple tribes are afraid, not only of the dorsal fin and dental arrangements which dr. weizmann may say (with some justice) that he has not got; they are also afraid of the other things which he says he has got. they may be in error, at the first superficial glance, in mistaking a respectable professor for a shark. but they can hardly be mistaken in attributing to the respectable professor what he himself considers as his claims to respect. and as the imagery about the shark may be too metaphorical or almost mythological, there is not the smallest difficulty in stating in plain words what the arabs fear in the jews. they fear, in exact terms, their knowledge and their experience and their money. the arabs fear exactly the three things which he says they need. only the arabs would call it a knowledge of financial trickery and an experience of political intrigue, and the power given by hoards of money not only of their own but of other peoples. about dr. weizmann and the true zionists this is self-evidently unjust; but about jewish influence of the more visible and vulgar kind it has to be proved to be unjust. feeling as i do the force of the real case for zionism, i venture most earnestly to implore the jews to disprove it, and not to dismiss it. but above all i implore them not to be content with assuring us again and again of their knowledge and their experience and their money. that is what people dread like a pestilence or an earthquake; their knowledge and their experience and their money. it is needless for dr. weizmann to tell us that he does not desire to enter palestine like a junker or drive thousands of arabs forcibly out of the land; nobody supposes that dr. weizmann looks like a junker; and nobody among the enemies of the jews says that they have driven their foes in that fashion since the wars with the canaanites. but for the jews to reassure us by insisting on their own economic culture or commercial education is exactly like the junkers reassuring us by insisting on the unquestioned supremacy of their kaiser or the unquestioned obedience of their soldiers. men bar themselves in their houses, or even hide themselves in their cellars, when such virtues are abroad in the land. in short the fear of the jews in palestine, reasonable or unreasonable, is a thing that must be answered by reason. it is idle for the unpopular thing to answer with boasts, especially boasts of the very quality that makes it unpopular. but i think it could be answered by reason, or at any rate tested by reason; and the tests by consideration. the principle is still as stated above; that the tests must not merely insist on the virtues the jews do show, but rather deal with the particular virtues which they are generally accused of not showing. it is necessary to understand this more thoroughly than it is generally understood, and especially better than it is usually stated in the language of fashionable controversy. for the question involves the whole success or failure of zionism. many of the zionists know it; but i rather doubt whether most of the anti-zionists know that they know it. and some of the phrases of the zionists, such as those that i have noted, too often tend to produce the impression that they ignore when they are not ignorant. they are not ignorant; and they do not ignore in practice; even when an intellectual habit makes them seem to ignore in theory. nobody who has seen a jewish rural settlement, such as rishon, can doubt that some jews are sincerely filled with the vision of sitting under their own vine and fig-tree, and even with its accompanying lesson that it is first necessary to grow the fig-tree and the vine. the true test of zionism may seem a topsy-turvy test. it will not succeed by the number of successes, but rather by the number of failures, or what the world (and certainly not least the jewish world) has generally called failures. it will be tested, not by whether jews can climb to the top of the ladder, but by whether jews can remain at the bottom; not by whether they have a hundred arts of becoming important, but by whether they have any skill in the art of remaining insignificant. it is often noted that the intelligent israelite can rise to positions of power and trust outside israel, like witte in russia or rufus isaacs in england. it is generally bad, i think, for their adopted country; but in any case it is no good for the particular problem of their own country. palestine cannot have a population of prime ministers and chief justices; and if those they rule and judge are not jews, then we have not established a commonwealth but only an oligarchy. it is said again that the ancient jews turned their enemies into hewers of wood and drawers of water. the modern jews have to turn themselves into hewers of wood and drawers of water. if they cannot do that, they cannot turn themselves into citizens, but only into a kind of alien bureaucrats, of all kinds the most perilous and the most imperilled. hence a jewish state will not be a success when the jews in it are successful, or even when the jews in it are statesmen. it will be a success when the jews in it are scavengers, when the jews in it are sweeps, when they are dockers and ditchers and porters and hodmen. when the zionist can point proudly to a jewish navvy who has _not_ risen in the world, an under-gardener who is not now taking his ease as an upper-gardener, a yokel who is still a yokel, or even a village idiot at least sufficiently idiotic to remain in his village, then indeed the world will come to blow the trumpets and lift up the heads of the everlasting gates; for god will have turned the captivity of zion. zionists of whose sincerity i am personally convinced, and of whose intelligence anybody would be convinced, have told me that there really is, in places like rishon, something like a beginning of this spirit; the love of the peasant for his land. one lady, even in expressing her conviction of it, called it "this very un-jewish characteristic." she was perfectly well aware both of the need of it in the jewish land, and the lack of it in the jewish race. in short she was well aware of the truth of that seemingly topsy-turvy test i have suggested; that of whether men are worthy to be drudges. when a humorous and humane jew thus accepts the test, and honestly expects the jewish people to pass it, then i think the claim is very serious indeed, and one not lightly to be set aside. i do certainly think it a very serious responsibility under the circumstances to set it altogether aside. it is our whole complaint against the jew that he does not till the soil or toil with the spade; it is very hard on him to refuse him if he really says, "give me a soil and i will till it; give me a spade and i will use it." it is our whole reason for distrusting him that he cannot really love any of the lands in which he wanders; it seems rather indefensible to be deaf to him if he really says, "give me a land and i will love it." i would certainly give him a land or some instalment of the land, (in what general sense i will try to suggest a little later) so long as his conduct on it was watched and tested according to the principles i have suggested. if he asks for the spade he must use the spade, and not merely employ the spade, in the sense of hiring half a hundred men to use spades. if he asks for the soil he must till the soil; that is he must belong to the soil and not merely make the soil belong to him. he must have the simplicity, and what many would call the stupidity of the peasant. he must not only call a spade a spade, but regard it as a spade and not as a speculation. by some true conversion the urban and modern man must be not only on the soil, but of the soil, and free from our urban trick of inventing the word dirt for the dust to which we shall return. he must be washed in mud, that he may be clean. how far this can really happen it is very hard for anybody, especially a casual visitor, to discover in the present crisis. it is admitted that there is much arab and syrian labour employed; and this in itself would leave all the danger of the jew as a mere capitalist. the jews explain it, however, by saying that the arabs will work for a lower wage, and that this is necessarily a great temptation to the struggling colonists. in this they may be acting naturally as colonists, but it is none the less clear that they are not yet acting literally as labourers. it may not be their fault that they are not proving themselves to be peasants; but it is none the less clear that this situation in itself does not prove them to be peasants. so far as that is concerned, it still remains to be decided finally whether a jew will be an agricultural labourer, if he is a decently paid agricultural labourer. on the other hand, the leaders of these local experiments, if they have not yet shown the higher materialism of peasants, most certainly do not show the lower materialism of capitalists. there can be no doubt of the patriotic and even poetic spirit in which many of them hope to make their ancient wilderness blossom like the rose. they at least would still stand among the great prophets of israel, and none the less though they prophesied in vain. i have tried to state fairly the case for zionism, for the reason already stated; that i think it intellectually unjust that any attempt of the jews to regularise their position should merely be rejected as one of their irregularities. but i do not disguise the enormous difficulties of doing it in the particular conditions of palestine. in fact the greatest of the real difficulties of zionism is that it has to take place in zion. there are other difficulties, however, which when they are not specially the fault of zionists are very much the fault of jews. the worst is the general impression of a business pressure from the more brutal and businesslike type of jew, which arouses very violent and very just indignation. when i was in jerusalem it was openly said that jewish financiers had complained of the low rate of interest at which loans were made by the government to the peasantry, and even that the government had yielded to them. if this were true it was a heavier reproach to the government even than to the jews. but the general truth is that such a state of feeling seems to make the simple and solid patriotism of a palestinian jewish nation practically impossible, and forces us to consider some alternative or some compromise. the most sensible statement of a compromise i heard among the zionists was suggested to me by dr. weizmann, who is a man not only highly intelligent but ardent and sympathetic. and the phrase he used gives the key to my own rough conception of a possible solution, though he himself would probably, not accept that solution. dr. weizmann suggested, if i understood him rightly, that he did not think palestine could be a single and simple national territory quite in the sense of france; but he did not see why it should not be a commonwealth of cantons after the manner of switzerland. some of these could be jewish cantons, others arab cantons, and so on according to the type of population. this is in itself more reasonable than much that is suggested on the same side; but the point of it for my own purpose is more particular. this idea, whether it correctly represents dr. weizmann's meaning or no, clearly involves the abandonment of the solidarity of palestine, and tolerates the idea of groups of jews being separated from each other by populations of a different type. now if once this notion be considered admissible, it seems to me capable of considerable extension. it seems possible that there might be not only jewish cantons in palestine but jewish cantons outside palestine, jewish colonies in suitable and selected places in adjacent parts or in many other parts of the world. they might be affiliated to some official centre in palestine, or even in jerusalem, where there would naturally be at least some great religious headquarters of the scattered race and religion. the nature of that religious centre it must be for jews to decide; but i think if i were a jew i would build the temple without bothering about the site of the temple. that they should have the old site, of course, is not to be thought of; it would raise a holy war from morocco to the marches of china. but seeing that some of the greatest of the deeds of israel were done, and some of the most glorious of the songs of israel sung, when their only temple was a box carried about in the desert, i cannot think that the mere moving of the situation of the place of sacrifice need even mean so much to that historic tradition as it would to many others. that the jews should have some high place of dignity and ritual in palestine, such as a great building like the mosque of omar, is certainly right and reasonable; for upon no theory can their historic connection be dismissed. i think it is sophistry to say, as do some anti-semites, that the jews have no more right there than the jebusites. if there are jebusites they are jebusites without knowing it. i think it sufficiently answered in the fine phrase of an english priest, in many ways more anti-semitic than i: "the people that remembers has a right." the very worst of the jews, as well as the very best, do in some sense remember. they are hated and persecuted and frightened into false names and double lives; but they remember. they lie, they swindle, they betray, they oppress; but they remember. the more we happen to hate such elements among the hebrews the more we admire the manly and magnificent elements among the more vague and vagrant tribes of palestine, the more we must admit that paradox. the unheroic have the heroic memory; and the heroic people have no memory. but whatever the jewish nation might wish to do about a national shrine or other supreme centre, the suggestion for the moment is that something like a jewish territorial scheme might really be attempted, if we permit the jews to be scattered no longer as individuals but as groups. it seems possible that by some such extension of the definition of zionism we might ultimately overcome even the greatest difficulty of zionism, the difficulty of resettling a sufficient number of so large a race on so small a land. for if the advantage of the ideal to the jews is to gain the promised land, the advantage to the gentiles is to get rid of the jewish problem, and i do not see why we should obtain all their advantage and none of our own. therefore i would leave as few jews as possible in other established nations, and to these i would give a special position best described as privilege; some sort of self-governing enclave with special laws and exemptions; for instance, i would certainly excuse them from conscription, which i think a gross injustice in their case. [footnote: of course the privileged exile would also lose the rights of a native.] a jew might be treated as respectfully as a foreign ambassador, but a foreign ambassador is a foreigner. finally, i would give the same privileged position to all jews everywhere, as an alternative policy to zionism, if zionism failed by the test i have named; the only true and the only tolerable test; if the jews had not so much failed as peasants as succeeded as capitalists. there is one word to be added; it will be noted that inevitably and even against some of my own desires, the argument has returned to that recurrent conclusion, which was found in the roman empire and the crusades. the european can do justice to the jew; but it must be the european who does it. such a possibility as i have thrown out, and any other possibility that any one can think of, becomes at once impossible without some idea of a general suzerainty of christendom over the lands of the moslem and the jew. personally, i think it would be better if it were a general suzerainty of christendom, rather than a particular supremacy of england. and i feel this, not from a desire to restrain the english power, but rather from a desire to defend it. i think there is not a little danger to england in the diplomatic situation involved; but that is a diplomatic question that it is neither within my power or duty to discuss adequately. but if i think it would be wiser for france and england together to hold syria and palestine together rather than separately, that only completes and clinches the conclusion that has haunted me, with almost uncanny recurrence, since i first saw jerusalem sitting on the hill like a turreted town in england or in france; and for one moment the dark dome of it was again the templum domini, and the tower on it was the tower of tancred. anyhow with the failure of zionism would fall the last and best attempt at a rationalistic theory of the jew. we should be left facing a mystery which no other rationalism has ever come so near to providing within rational cause and cure. whatever we do, we shall not return to that insular innocence and comfortable unconsciousness of christendom, in which the victorian agnostics could suppose that the semitic problem was a brief medieval insanity. in this as in greater things, even if we lost our faith we could not recover our agnosticism. we can never recover agnosticism, any more than any other kind of ignorance. we know that there is a jewish problem; we only hope that there is a jewish solution. if there is not, there is no other. we cannot believe again that the jew is an englishman with certain theological theories, any more than we can believe again any other part of the optimistic materialism whose temple is the albert memorial. a scheme of guilds may be attempted and may be a failure; but never again can we respect mere capitalism for its success. an attack may be made on political corruption, and it may be a failure; but never again can we believe that our politics are not corrupt. and so zionism may be attempted and may be a failure; but never again can we ourselves be at ease in zion. or rather, i should say, if the jew cannot be at ease in zion we can never again persuade ourselves that he is at ease out of zion. we can only salute as it passes that restless and mysterious figure, knowing at last that there must be in him something mystical as well as mysterious; that whether in the sense of the sorrows of christ or of the sorrows of cain, he must pass by, for he belongs to god. conclusion to have worn a large scallop shell in my hat in the streets of london might have been deemed ostentatious, to say nothing of carrying a staff like a long pole; and wearing sandals might have proclaimed rather that i had not come from jerusalem but from letchworth, which some identify with the new jerusalem descending out of heaven from god. lacking such attributes, i passed through south england as one who might have come from ramsgate or from anywhere; and the only symbol left to me of my pilgrimage was a cheap ring of metal coloured like copper and brass. for on it was written in greek characters the word "jerusalem," and though it may be less valuable than a brass nail, i do not think you can buy it in the strand. all those enormous and everlasting things, all those gates of bronze and mosaics of purple and peacock colouring, all those chapels of gold and columns of crimson marble, had all shrivelled up and dwindled down to that one small thread of red metal round my finger. i could not help having a feeling, like aladdin, that if i rubbed the ring perhaps all those towers would rise again. and there was a sort of feeling of truth in the fancy after all. we talk of the changeless east; but in one sense the impression of it is really rather changing, with its wandering tribes and its shifting sands, in which the genii of the east might well build the palace or the paradise of a day. as i saw the low and solid english cottages rising around me amid damp delightful thickets under rainy skies, i felt that in a deeper sense it is rather we who build for permanence or at least for a sort of peace. it is something more than comfort; a relative and reasonable contentment. and there came back on me like a boomerang a rather indescribable thought which had circled round my head through most of my journey; that christendom is like a gigantic bronze come out of the furnace of the near east; that in asia is only the fire and in europe the form. the nearest to what i mean was suggested in that very striking book _form and colour_, by mr. march philips. when i spoke of the idols of asia, many moderns may well have murmured against such a description of the ideals of buddha or mrs. besant. to which i can only reply that i do know a little about the ideals, and i think i prefer the idols. i have far more sympathy with the enthusiasm for a nice green or yellow idol, with nine arms and three heads, than with the philosophy ultimately represented by the snake devouring his tail; the awful sceptical argument in a circle by which everything begins and ends in the mind. i would far rather be a fetish worshipper and have a little fun, than be an oriental pessimist expected always to smile like an optimist. now it seems to me that the fighting christian creed is the one thing that has been in that mystical circle and broken out of it, and become something real as well. it has gone westward by a sort of centrifugal force, like a stone from a sling; and so made the revolving eastern mind, as the franciscan said in jerusalem, do something at last. anyhow, although i carried none of the trappings of a pilgrim i felt strongly disposed to take the privileges of one. i wanted to be entertained at the firesides of total strangers, in the medieval manner, and to tell them interminable tales of my travels. i wanted to linger in dover, and try it on the citizens of that town. i nearly got out of the train at several wayside stations, where i saw secluded cottages which might be brightened by a little news from the holy land. for it seemed to me that all my fellow-countrymen must be my friends; all these english places had come much closer together after travels that seemed in comparison as vast as the spaces between the stars. the hop-fields of kent seemed to me like outlying parts of my own kitchen garden; and london itself to be really situated at london end. london was perhaps the largest of the suburbs of beaconsfield. by the time i came to beaconsfield itself, dusk was dropping over the beechwoods and the white cross-roads. the distance seemed to grow deeper and richer with darkness as i went up the long lanes towards my home; and in that distance, as i drew nearer, i heard the barking of a dog. transcribed from the james nisbet and co. edition by les bowler. [picture: frontispiece] byeways in palestine by james finn, m.r.a.s., and member of the asiatic society of france, late her majesty's consul for jerusalem and palestine. "the land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land."--numb. xiv. . london: james nisbet & co., berners street. mdccclxviii. _to his excellency_ _right hon. francis lord napier_, _k.t._, _etc. etc. etc._, _governor of the presidency of madras_, this little volume _is inscribed_, _in grateful acknowledgment of kindness_ _received in_ _jerusalem and elsewhere_, by the author. _london_, . preface. these papers on "byeways in palestine" are compiled from notes of certain journeys made during many years' residence in that country; omitting the journeys made upon beaten roads, and through the principal towns, for the mere reason that they were such. just what met the eye and ear was jotted down and is now revised after a lapse of time, without indulging much in meditation or reflection; these are rather suggested by the occurrences, that they may be followed out by the reader. inasmuch, however, as the incidents relate to out-of-the-way places, and various seasons of the year, they may be found to contain an interest peculiar to themselves, and the account of them may not interfere with any other book on palestine. i may state that, not being a professed investigator, i carried with me no scientific instruments, except sometimes a common thermometer: i had no leisure for making excavations, for taking angles with a theodolite, or attending to the delicate care of any kind of barometer, being employed on my proper business. riding by night or by day, in the heat of syrian summer, or through snows and piercing winds of winter on the mountains, i enjoyed the pure climate for its own sake. moreover, i lived among the people, holding intercourse with peasants in villages, with bedaween in deserts, and with turkish governors in towns, or dignified druses in the lebanon, and slept in native dwellings of all qualities, as well as in convents of different sects: in the open air at the foot of a tree, or in a village mosque--in a cavern by the highway side, or beneath cliffs near the dead sea: although more commonly within my own tent, accompanied by native servants with a small canteen. sad cogitations would arise while traversing, hour after hour, the neglected soil, or passing by desolated villages which bear names of immense antiquity, and which stand as memorials of miraculous events which took place for our instruction and for that of all succeeding ages; and then, even while looking forward to a better time to come, the heart would sigh as the expression was uttered, "how long?" these notices will show that the land is one of remarkable fertility wherever cultivated, even in a slight degree--witness the vast wheat-plains of the south; and is one of extreme beauty--witness the green hill-country of the north; although such qualities are by no means confined to those districts. thus it is not necessary, it is not just, that believers in the bible, in order to hold fast their confidence in its predictions for the future, should rush into the extreme of pronouncing the holy land to be cursed in its present capabilities. it is verily and indeed cursed in its government and in its want of population; but still the soil is that of "a land which the lord thy god careth for." there is a deep meaning in the words, "the earth is the lord's," when applied to that peculiar country; for it is a reserved property, an estate in abeyance, and not even in a subordinate sense can it be the fief of the men whom it eats up. (numb. xiii. , and ezek. xxxvi. , .) i have seen enough to convince me that astonishing will be the amount of its produce, and the rapidity also, when the obstacles now existing are removed. with respect to antiquarian researches, let me express my deep interest in the works now undertaken under the palestine exploration fund. my happiness, while residing in the country, would have been much augmented had such operations been at that time, _i.e._, between and , commenced in jerusalem or elsewhere in the holy land. j. f. note. the frontispiece picture to this volume represents the relic of a small roman temple, situated on the eastern edge of the plain of sharon, near the line of hills, between the two villages awali and m'zeera'a. it is quadrangular in form, with a door and portico on its north front. the portico is supported by two round columns of corinthian order, and two pilasters of the same at the extremities. the columns are of small dimensions, the shafts not exceeding nine feet in length; yet in these the canon is observed which obtains in the larger proportions found in classic lands, namely, that the diameter is somewhat extended near the half elevation from the ground. the capitals are of the best design. the doorway is formed by a very bold and deep moulding, and in the upright side-posts is found the same arrangement for holding a stone bar in confining the door, as is to be seen in some sepulchres about jerusalem, namely, a curved groove increasing in depth of incision as it descends. the whole edifice bears the same warm tinge of yellow that all those of good quality acquire from age in that pure climate. the roof has been repaired, and the walls in some parts patched up. on the southern wall, internally, the moslems have set up a kebleh niche for indicating the direction of prayer. the peasants call this building the "boorj," or "tower." near adjoining it are remains of ancient foundations: one quite circular and of small diameter. there is also by the road-side, not far off, a rocky grotto, supplied with water by channels from the hills. my sketches of this interesting relic date from and , and, as far as i am aware, no other traveller had seen it until lately, when the members of the palestine exploration expedition visited and took a photograph of it, which is now published. j. f. contents. i. over the jordan, and return by the west ii. northwards to beisan, kadis, antipatris, etc. iii. southwards on the philistine plain and its sea coast iv. hebron to beersheba, and hebron to jaffa v. the land of benjamin vi. sebustieh to caiffa vii. esdraelon plain and its vicinity viii. belad besharah ix. upper galilee--forest scenery x. temple of baal and sepulchre of phoenicia xi. jerusalem to petra, and return by the dead sea xii. across the lebanon--(three parts,) xiii. north-west of the dead sea xiv. soba xv. the two bait sahhoors identified xvi. the bakoosh cottage appendix a appendix b index of places i. over the jordan and return by the west. we were a dozen englishmen, including three clergymen, undertaking the above journey accompanied by the large train of servants, interpreters, and muleteers usually required for travelling in the east. and it was on wednesday, the th day of may , that we started. this was considered almost late in the season for such an enterprise. the weather was hot, chiefly produced by a strong shirocco wind at the time; and, in crossing over the shoulder of the mount of olives, we found the country people beginning their harvest at bethany. we were of course escorted by a party of arab guides, partly villagers of either _abu dis_ or _selwan_, (siloam,) and partly of those ghawarineh arabs not deserving the appellation of bedaween, who live around and about jericho. these people, of both classes, form a partnership for convoy of travellers to the jordan under arrangements made at the consulate. without them it would be impossible either to find the way to jericho and the river, or to pass along the deserted road, for there are always out-lookers about the tops of the hills to give notice that you are without an escort, and you would consequently still find that travellers may "fall among thieves" between jerusalem and jericho; besides that, on descending to the plain of jericho you would certainly become the prey of other arabs of real tribes, ever passing about there--including most probably the 'adwan, to whose hospitality, however, we were now about to commit ourselves. to all this must be added, that no other arabs dare undertake to convoy travellers upon that road; the taamra to the south have long felt their exclusion from it to be a great grievance, as the gains derived from the employment of escorting europeans are very alluring. we had with us a deputed commissioner from the 'adwan, namely, shaikh fendi, a brother of shaikh 'abdu'l 'azeez. he was delighted with the refreshment of eating a cucumber, when we rested by the wayside to eat oranges--the delicious produce of jaffa. passing the _fountain of the apostles_, (so called,) we jogged along a plain road till we reached a booth for selling cups of coffee, at the divergence of the road nebi moosa, (the reputed sepulchre of the prophet moses, according to the mohammedans,) then up an ascent still named _tela'at ed dum_, which is certainly the ancient { } adummim, (joshua xv. )--probably so called from broad bands of _red_ among the strata of the rocks. here there are also curious wavy lines of brown flint, undulating on a large scale among the limestone cliffs. this phenomenon is principally to be seen near the ruined and deserted khan, or eastern lodging-place, situated at about half the distance of our journey. the name is _khatroon_. as we proceeded, our escort, mostly on foot, went on singing merrily, and occasionally bringing us tufts of scented wild plants found in crevices by the roadside. then we came to long remains of an ancient water conduit, leading to ruins of a small convent. in a few minutes after the latter, we found ourselves looking down a fearfully deep precipice of rocks on our left hand, with a stream flowing at the bottom, apparently very narrow indeed, and the sound of it scarcely audible. this is the brook _kelt_, by some supposed to be the _cherith_ of elijah's history. suddenly we were on the brow of a deep descent, with the ghor, or jericho plain, and the dead sea spread out below. in going down, we had upon our left hand considerable fragments of ancient masonry, containing lines of roman reticulated brickwork. it was now evening; a breeze, but not a cool one, blowing; and we left aside for this time the pretty camping station of elisha's fountain, because we had business to transact at the village of er-rihha, (or jericho.) there accordingly our tents were pitched; and in a circle at our doors were attentive listeners to a narration of the events of lieut. molyneux's expedition on the jordan and dead sea in . thermometer after sunset, inside the tent, at degrees fahrenheit. sleep very much disturbed by small black sandflies and ants. _thursday_, _th_.--thermometer at degrees before sunrise. the scene around us was animated and diversified; but several of us had been accustomed to oriental affairs--some for a good many years; and some were even familiar with the particular localities and customs of this district. others were young in age, and fresh to the country; expressing their wonderment at finding themselves so near to scenes read of from infancy--scarcely believing that they had at length approached near to "that bituminous lake where sodom stood," and filled with joyous expectation at the visit so soon to be made to the jordan, and beyond it. some were quoting scripture; some quoting poetry; and others taking particular notice of the wild arabs, who were by this time increasing in number about us,--their spears, their mares, their guttural language, and not less the barren desert scene before us, being objects of romantic interest. at length all the tents and luggage were loaded on the mules, and ten men of the village were hired for helping to convey our property across the river; and we went forward over the strange plain which is neither desert sand, as in africa, nor wilderness of creeping plants and flowers, as on the way to petra, but a puzzling, though monotonous succession of low eminences,--of a nature something like rotten chalk ground, if there be such a thing in existence,--between which eminences we had to wind our way, until we reached the border of tamarisk-trees, large reeds, willow, aspen, etc., that fringes the river; invisible till one reaches close upon it. at the bathing (or baptism) place of the greeks, northwards from that of the latins, to which english travellers are usually conducted, we had to cross, by swimming as we could. { } king david, on his return from exile, had a ferry-boat to carry over his household, but we had none. probably, on his escaping from absalom, he crossed as we did. the middle part of the river was still too deep for mere fording. horses and men had to swim; so the gentlemen sat still on their saddles, with their feet put up on the necks of their horses, which were led by naked swimming arabs in the water holding the bridles, one on each side. baggage was carried over mostly on the animals; but had to be previously adjusted and tightened, so as to be least liable to get wetted. small parcels were carried over on the heads of the swimmers. these all carried their own clothes in that manner. one of the luggage mules fell with his load in the middle of the stream. it was altogether a lively scene. our arabs were much darker over the whole body than i had expected to find them; and the 'adwan have long plaits of hair hanging on the shoulders when the _kefieh_, or coloured head-dress, is removed. the horses and beasts of burden were often restive in mid-current, and provoked a good deal of merriment. some of the neighbouring camps having herds of cattle, sent them to drink and to cool themselves in the river, as the heat of the day increased. their drivers urged them in, and then enjoyed the fun of keeping them there by swimming round and round them. one cow was very nearly lost, however, being carried away rapidly and helplessly in the direction of the dead sea, but she was recovered. the jericho people returned home, several of them charged with parting letters addressed to friends in jerusalem; and we were left reposing, literally reposing, on the eastern bank,--the english chatting happily; the arabs smoking or sleeping under shade of trees; pigeons cooing among the thick covert, and a jordan nightingale soothing us occasionally, with sometimes a hawk or an eagle darting along the sky; while the world-renowned river rolled before our eyes. "labitur et labetur in omne volubilis aevum." the novelty of the scenes, and the brilliancy of the atmosphere, as well the vivacity of the recent transactions in "passing over jordan," had their duly buoyant effect upon youthful persons,--who were, however, not forgetful of past events in these places belonging to sacred history. the baggage went on; but, as the appointed halting-place was only about two hours distant, we remained enjoying ourselves as we were during most of the day. among our novel friends is an arab hero named _gublan_, as they pronounce it here, (but it is really the turkish word _kaplan_, meaning _tiger_,) and his uncle, old 'abdu'l 'azeez. about three years before, gublan had been attacked by government soldiers at jericho. he made a feigned retreat, and, leading them into the thickets of neb'k trees, suddenly wheeled round and killed six of them. the humbled government force retired, and the dead were buried, by having a mound of earth piled over them. of course, such an incident was never reported to the sublime invincible porte at constantinople; but it was a curious coincidence, that this very morning, amid our circle before the tents, after breakfast and close to that mound, we had gublan, 'abdu'l 'azeez, and the turkish aga of the present time, all peaceably smoking pipes together in our company. among our gentlemen we had a man of fortune and literary attainments, who had been in algiers, and now amused himself with dispensing with servants or interpreters--speaking some arabic. he brought but very light luggage. this he placed upon a donkey, and drove it himself--wearing algerine town costume. the bedaween, however, as i need scarcely say, did not mistake him for an oriental. moving forward in the afternoon, we were passing over the _plains of moab_, "on this [east] side jordan by jericho"--where balaam, son of beor, saw, from the heights above, all israel encamped, and cried out, "how goodly are thy tents, o jacob! and thy tabernacles, o israel! as the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign-aloes which the lord hath planted, and as cedar-trees beside the waters. . . . blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee," (num. xxii. i, and xxiv. , , .) this territory is also called the _land of moab_, where the second covenant was made with the people by the ministry of moses--the one "beside the covenant which he made with them in horeb." our ride was a gradual ascent; and after some time we were met by young 'ali, the favourite son of the principal shaikh deab, (wolf,) with a small but chosen escort, sent on by his father to welcome us. we saw a good deal of corn land, and people reaping their harvest. this belongs to two or three scattered villages about there, under the immediate protection of the deab 'adwan. the arabs, however, in this part of the world, do condescend to countenance and even to profit by agriculture, for they buy slaves to sow and reap for them. in two hours and a half from the jordan we came to our halting-place, at a spot called _cuferain_, ("two villages")--the kiriathaim of jer. xlviii. --at the foot of the mountain, with a strong stream of water rushing past us. no sign, however, of habitations: only, at a little distance to the south, were ruins of a village called _er ram_, (a very common name in palestine; but this is not ramoth-gilead;) and at half an hour to the north was an inhabited village called _nimrin_, from which the stream flowed to us.--see jer. xlviii. : "the waters of nimrin shall be desolate." we had a refreshing breeze from the north which is justly counted a luxury in summer time. the shaikhs came and had coffee with me. they said that on the high summits we shall have cooler temperature than in jerusalem, which is very probable. after dinner i sat at my tent-door, by the rivulet side, looking southwards over the dead sea, and to the west over the line of the promised land of canaan, which i had never before had an opportunity of seeing in that manner, although the well-known verse had been often repeated in england-- "oh could i stand where moses stood, and view the landscape o'er, not death's cold stream nor jordan's flood should fright me from the shore." i then read over to myself in arabic, the psalms for the evening service--namely, liii., liv., and lv. about sunset there was an alarm that a lad who had accompanied us as a servant from jerusalem was missing ever since we left the jordan. horse-men were sent in every direction in search of him. it was afterwards discovered that he had returned to jericho. at about a hundred yards south of us was a valley called _se'eer_, (its brook, however, comes down from the north)--abounding in fine rosy oleander shrubs. during the night the water near us seemed alive with croaking frogs. last night we had the sand-flies to keep us awake. _friday_, _th_.--thermometer degrees before sunrise. my earliest looks were towards canaan, "that goodly land"--"the hills, from which cometh my help." how keen must have been the feeling of his state of exile when david was driven to this side the river! before breakfast i bathed in the se'eer, among bushes of oleander and the strong-scented _ghar_--a purple-spiked flower always found adjoining to or in water-beds. then read my arabic psalms as usual. before starting, young 'ali and his party asked us all for presents, and got none. we gave answer unanimously that we meant to give presents to his father when we should see him. strange how depraved the arab mind becomes on this matter of asking for gifts wherever european travellers are found!--so different from the customs of ancient times, and it is not found in districts off the common tracks of resort. our road lay up the hills, constantly growing more steep and precipitous, and occasionally winding between large rocks, which were often overgrown with honeysuckle in full luxuriance. the arabs scrambled like wild animals over the rocks, and brought down very long streamers of honeysuckle, luwayeh, as they call it, which they wound round and round the necks of our horses, and generally got piastres for doing so. about two-thirds of the distance up the ascent we rested, in order to relieve the animals, or to sketch views, or enjoy the glorious scenery that lay extended below us--comprising the dead sea, the line of the river trees, jericho, the woods of elisha's fountain, and the hills towards jerusalem. the bedaween have eyes like eagles; and some avouched that they could see the mount of olives, and the minaret upon its summit. they indicated to us the positions of es-salt and of heshban. we had now almost attained a botanical region resembling that of the jerusalem elevation, instead of the indian vegetation upon the jordan plain; only there was _ret'm_ (the juniper of kings xix. ) to be found, with pods in seed at that season; but we had also our long accustomed terebinth and arbutus, with honeysuckle and pink ground-convolvulus. the rocks were variegated with streaks of pink, purple, orange, and yellow, as at khatroon, on the jerusalem road. partridges were clucking among the bushes; and the bells on the necks of our mules lulled us with their sweet chime, as the animals strolled browsing around in the gay sunshine. when we moved forward once more, it was along paths of short zigzags between cliffs, so that our procession was constantly broken into small pieces. at length we lost sight of the ghor and the dead sea; and after some time traversing miles of red and white cistus, red everlasting, and fragrant thyme and sage, with occasional terebinth-trees festooned with honeysuckle, we came upon a district covered with millions, or billions, or probably trillions, of locusts, not fully grown, and only taking short flights; but they greatly annoyed our horses. my choice arab, being at that time ridden by my servant, fairly bolted away with fright for a considerable distance. at length we halted at a small spring oozing from the soil of the field. the place was called _hheker zaboot_--a pretty place, and cuckoos on the trees around us; only the locusts were troublesome. 'abdu'l 'azeez proposed that instead of going at once to ammon, we should make a detour by heshbon and elealeh, on the way to his encampment. to this we all assented. during the ride forward the old shaikh kept close to me, narrating incidents of his life,--such as his last year's losses by the beni sukh'r, who plundered him of all his flocks and herds, horses, tents, and even most of his clothing,--then described the march of ibrahim pasha's army in their disastrous attempt upon kerak: also some of the valiant achievements of his kinsman gublan; and then proceeding to witticism, gave me his etymological origin of the name of hhesban--namely, that, on the subsiding of the great deluge, the first object that noah perceived was that castle, perched as it is upon a lofty peak; whereupon he exclaimed, _hhus'n ban_--"a castle appears!" i wish i could recollect more of his tales. after passing through romantic scenery of rocks and evergreen trees, at a sudden turn of the road we came to large flocks and herds drinking, or couched beside a copious stream of water gushing from near the foot of a rocky hill. this they called _'ain hhesban_; and told us that the egyptian army above alluded to, twenty thousand in number, passed the night there before arriving at kerak. to many of them it was their last night on earth. there were remains of large masonry lying about, and the scene was truly beautiful--to which the bells of the goats and cows added a charming musical effect. i asked an arab, who was bathing in a pool, where he had come from, and he sulkily answered, "from t'other end of the world!" and i suppose he was right in saying so, for what meaning could he attach to the designation, _the world_. he must have meant the world of his own experience, or that of his tribe, or his parents--probably extending to the end of the dead sea in one direction, to the lake of tiberias in another; to the mediterranean in the west, and in the east to the wilds unknown beyond the road of the hhaj pilgrimage. "from the other end of the world," quoth he, the companion of a shepherd boy with his flute, at a mountain spring, pitching pebbles at the sheep of his flock to keep them from wandering away over their extent of "the world." as we proceeded, there were several other streams issuing from the hills, some of them falling in pretty cascades into thickets of oleander below. all these meeting together, formed a line of river flowing between grassy banks--near which we saw considerable remains of water-mills, not of great antiquity. next we reached two small forts: the one upon our side the stream they called _shuneh_, (the usual name used for that kind of building;) the other was across the water, and they called it _shefa 'amer_. i should wonder if our guides knew the existence of the town called _shefa 'amer_, near caiffa. they told us that both these forts had been erected by deab's grandfather, but this is incredible. near the shuneh i observed a very large sarcophagus, cut in the solid rock, but not so far finished as to allow of its being removed. in the court-yard there was nothing remarkable. there were, however, some ancient rabbeted stones lying near. here i may remark, with respect to the sarcophagus, that such things are rare on the east of the jordan, or anywhere else so far to the south. there are two lids of such lying on the plain of sharon, alongside the jaffa road from jerusalem; and the next southernmost one that i know of (excepting those at jerusalem) is an ornamented lid, near sebustieh, the ancient samaria; but they abound in phoenicia. forward again we went, higher and higher, with wild flowers in profusion, and birds carolling all around. then literally climbing up a mountain side, we came to a cleft in a precipice, which they called _el buaib_, (the little gate,) with unmistakable marks of ancient cuttings about there. traversing a fine plain of wheat, we at length reached the ancient city of heshbon, with its acropolis of temple and castle. that plain would be fine exercise-ground for the cavalry of sihon, king of the amorites. fresh, and almost chilly, was the mountain air; but the sky rather cloudy. how magnificent was the prospect over to canaan! we were all persuaded that the mount of olives would be visible thence on a fine day; and i have no doubt whatever that the site on which we were standing is that peak--the only peak breaking the regular outline of the moab mountains which is seen from jerusalem. we scattered ourselves about in several groups among pavements and columns of temples, (the most perfect of which are in the acropolis,) sepulchres, cisterns, and quarries, picking up fragments of pottery, with some pattern work (not highly ornamental, however) upon them, and tesserae or the cubes of tesselated pavement, such as may be found all over palestine. the bedaween call them _muzzateem_ or _muzzameet_ indifferently. there were some good corinthian capitals, fragments of cornices, and portions of semicircular arches, and pieces of walls that had been repaired at different periods. i entered one rock-hewn sepulchre which contained seven small chambers; six of these had been evidently broken into by main force, the seventh was still closed. this was s.w. of the acropolis. all the works or ornamentations above ground were of greek or roman construction, but we found no inscriptions or coins. heshbon must have been at all periods a strong place for defence, but with an unduly large proportion of ornamentation to the small size of the city according to modern ideas. before leaving this site, far inferior to 'amman, as we found afterwards, i got the arabs around me upon a rising ground, and, with a compass in hand, wrote down from their dictation the names of sites visible to their sharp eyesight:-- to to s.s.w. umm sheggar. s.e.s. kustul. " neba (nebo?). s.e. umm el 'aamed. " main. " khan em meshettah. s. medeba. " jawah. s.e.s. ekfairat " kuriet es sook. (kephiroth?). " jelool. e. samek. " umm er rumaneh. e.e.n. ela'al. " zubairah. n. es-salt. " manjah. (the town not visible.) these must have been the places that "stood under the shadow of heshbon," (jer. xlviii. .) one of them at least appears in joshua xiii. , etc., among "the cities that are in the plain of heshbon." { } in half an hour we came to _ela'al_, (elealeh,) (isa. xv. and xvi. , and jer. xlviii. .) large stones were lying about, and one column standing upright, but without a capital. fine corn-plains in every direction around. our tents pitched at _na'oor_ were visible to the e.n.e. through an opening between two hills. cool cloudy day; all of us enjoying the ride through wheat-fields, and over large unoccupied plains--my old friend 'abdu'l 'azeez still adhering to me as his willing auditor. on coming up to his camp at na'oor, we found that shaikh deab had already arrived. and now i may pause in the narrative to describe the _status_ of ( .) ourselves; ( .) the arabs. ( .) although apparently forming one company of english travellers, we were really a combination of several small sets, of two or three persons each--every set having its own cook, muleteer, and dragoman; but all the sets on terms of pleasant intercourse, and smoking or taking tea with each other. we calculated that our horses and mules amounted to above a hundred in number. ( .) the whole territory from kerak to jerash is that of our 'adwan tribe, but divided into three sections--the middle portion being that of the supreme chief deab, the northern third that of 'abdu'l 'azeez, and the southern that of a third named altchai in the south towards kerak; but they all combine when necessary for a general object. the 'adwan sow corn by the labour of their purchased slaves. gublan at cuferain, deab and his son 'ali at nimrin, and a portion of the tribe called "the children of eyoob" cultivate in the same manner a tract near the dead sea called the _mezraa'_. these latter attach themselves sometimes to the deab section, called the _dar 'ali_, and sometimes to the gublan section, called the _dar nim'r_. their district is but a comparatively narrow strip at present, as they are pressed upon by the _beni sukh'r_ on the east, who are again pressed upon by the _'anezeh_ farther eastward; these last are allies of our people. the ghor or jordan plain is open ground for all arabs; and a few low fellows called abbad kattaleen, hold a slip of ground downwards between es-salt and the jordan. es-salt is a populous and thriving town, the only one in all that country. kerak, to the south, may be as large, and contain more remnants of mediaeval strength, but its affairs are not so prosperous. this station of na'oor { } is upon a long, low, green plain, lying between two lines of high ground; and on a map, it would be nearly central between the northern and southern extremities of the 'adwan country, or belka. { } strange and wild was the scene of the bedawi encampment--the black tents of goats' hair, the dark and ragged population sauntering about, the flocks and the horses, the ragged or naked children; and then the women in their blue, only article of dress, long-sleeved, their uncombed hair, and lips dyed blue, all walking with dignity of step, most of them employed in hanging up washed fleeces of wool to dry. one in particular i remarked for her stately appearance, with the blue dress trailing long behind, and the sleeves covering her hands; she was giving commands to others. as soon as we were well settled, and the first confusion over in making our several arrangements with servants, etc., shaikh deab sent a messenger asking permission for him to pay us a visit of welcome; and a serious ceremonial visit took place accordingly. the great man was arrayed in green silk, and carried a silver-handled sword and dagger; a few chosen men of the tribe formed his train; coffee, pipes, and long compliments followed. we all remarked his keen eyes, ardent like those of a hawk in pursuit of prey. on taking leave he announced his intention of presenting each gentleman with a sheep for our evening meal. as soon as the indispensable solemnity of his visit was over, the camp became more animated; the sheep were slaughtered; various parties being formed for the feast, which was finished by the arabs; and i invited all to my tent for tea at night, when the weather became so piercing cold that i found it necessary to have some hot brandy and water to drink. in this place i wish to say how excellent is animal food dressed immediately after killing. the practice is found, all through the bible histories, from abraham entertaining the angels at mamre, to the father of the prodigal son killing the fatted calf for his reception. at that stage the meat is exceedingly tender and delicate; whereas, if left, as the european practice is, for some time after killing, it has to go through another and less wholesome process in order to become tender again. there are numerous medical opinions in favour of the oriental method of cooking the food immediately. another observation will not be out of place, on the almost universal eating of mutton throughout asia. i do not mean the anti-beef-eating brahmins of india, but in all countries of asia, by eating of meat is understood the eating of mutton, and horned cattle are reserved for agricultural labour. in case of exceptions being met with, they are only such few exceptions as help to prove the rule. this may perhaps be attributed to the general insecurity of animal property in the east; but that i do not think a sufficient reason to account for it. it seems, however, that the ancient israelites were not so much limited to eating from the small cattle. _saturday_, _th_.--thermometer degrees just before sunrise, nearly thirty degrees lower than under the same circumstances two days before. the night had been cold and damp; the grass was found wet in the places sheltered from the current of wind, which had elsewhere formed hoarfrost over the field. this reminded us of the elevation we had reached to; and we all exclaimed as to the reasonableness of jacob's expostulation with laban, when he asserted that "in the day the drought [or heat] consumed him, and the frost by night," (gen. xxxi. .) we were upon frozen ground in the month of may, after passing through a flight of locusts on the preceding day. a lively scene was the packing up. 'abdu'l 'azeez was happy at seeing us all happy, and laying hold of a couple of dirty, ragged urchins, he shook them well, and lifted them up from the ground, and offered them to me, saying, "here, take these little imps of mine, and do what you like with them; send them to england if you will, for they are growing up like beasts here, and what can i do?" all i could do was to speak cheerfully to them, and make them some little presents. at the door of deab's tent was his bay mare of high race, and his spear planted beside her. he accompanied us as far as his own encampment, two or three hours over wide plains and grassy pastures. soon after leaving na'oor he took us up a small hill, which was called _setcher_, (probably _setker_ in town pronunciation,) where there were some ruins of no considerable amount, but the stones of cyclopean size. query--were these remains of the primeval zamzummim? (deut. ii. .) at _dahair el hhumar_ (asses' hill) we alighted in deab's own camp, not large in extent or number of people, probably only a small detachment from the main body brought with him for the occasion, but not such, or so placed, as to interfere with the camp of 'abdul 'azeez. however, the well-known emblems of the shaikh's presence were observed--namely, his tent being placed at the west end of the line, and his spear at its entrance. here took place the formality of returning his visit to us yesterday; and here, after coffee and pipes, our presents were produced and given. the travellers were collected in a very long black tent, together with deab, his son and friends. a screen at one end divided us from the women's apartment, _i.e._, what would be the _hhareem_ in houses of towns; behind this curtain the women were peeping, chattering, and laughing; of course we might expect this to be about the extraordinary-looking strangers. it has been conjectured that such a separation of the tent is implied in gen. xviii. and , when "sarah heard it in the tent-door which was behind him;" but this has no foundation in the plain narrative of scripture, only in the arabic translation the words seem to imply that understanding. the presentation of offerings was a grave and solemn affair. each donor produced his tribute with an apology for the insignificance of the gift, which was then exhibited in silence by an attendant to the populace of the tribe crowding outside. the ceremony was concluded by shouts of welcome, and a huge meal of pilaff (rice and mutton upon a great tray of tinned copper) and leban, (curdled milk,) with more smoking. here we took leave of the chief, who sent on a detachment of his tribe to escort us for the rest of our expedition. remounted, and proceeded n.e. by n.; hitherto we had come due north from heshbon. passed a hill called _jehaarah_, and in a short time reached the source of the river of ammon, rising out of the ground, with a large pavement of masonry near it. a numerous flock of sheep and goats were being watered at the spring, it being near the time of as'r--_i.e._, mid-afternoon. here the antiquities of _amman_ commenced; and remains of considerable buildings continually solicited our attention, as we passed on for quarter of an hour more to our tents, which we found already pitched and waiting for us among a crowd of ancient temples and baths and porticoes,--in a forum between a line of eight large corinthian columns and the small river; in front too of a roman theatre in good condition. some of the party, who were familiar with the ruins of rome and athens, exclaimed aloud, "what would the modern romans give to have so much to show as this, within a similar space!" this was saturday afternoon; and we had already resolved to spend our sabbath in this wonderful and agreeable place, so remarkable in scripture history, and so seldom visited by europeans. i climbed up the seats of the theatre, and rested near the top, enjoying the grand spectacle of luxurious architecture around; then descended, and walked along its proscenium; but neither reciting passages of euripides nor of terence, as some enthusiasts might indulge themselves in doing, before an imagined audience of tetrarchs, centurions, or legionaries, or other "romanos rerum dominos, gentemque togatam." close to this theatre was a covered and sumptuous building, which i could not but suppose to be a naumachia, from its having rising rows of seats around the central space, with a channel leading into this from the river. as the shadows of evening lengthened, the heat of the day was moderated, and i sauntered along the bank of the stream till i came to a large headless statue of a female figure lying in the water. some men lifted it upon the green bank for me; but it was far too heavy to be transported to jerusalem for the literary society's museum. the swift-flowing rivulet abounded in fish, some of which the arabs killed for us, either by throwing stones or shooting them with bullets, having no other means of getting at them; but the latter of these methods was too costly to be often adopted. however, we had some fish for dinner in "rabbah, the city of waters." this stream is the commencement of the zerka, which we were to meet afterwards, after its course hence n.e. and then n.w. i feasted a dozen arabs at my tent-door. shaikh 'abdul 'azeez laughed when i remarked that this place was better worth seeing than heshbon, and said, "this is a king's city. it was the city of king _ghedayus_; and jerash, which is still more splendid, was built by _sheddad_, of the primitive race of the _beni 'ad_." beyond this, of course, it was impossible for him to imagine anything in matters of antiquity. in my evening's scripture reading, i was much struck with the opening of the th psalm: "praise waiteth for thee, o god, in zion,"--which passes over all the examples of human achievement elsewhere, in order to celebrate the peculiar and undying honours of jerusalem. so now the grecian and the roman colonies, who erected the marvels of architecture around me, are gone; while the jewish people, the hebrew language, the city of jerusalem, and the bible revelations of mercy from god to man, continue for ever. but most particularly does this psalm, taken with the circumstances there before our eyes, point out the difference made between ammon and israel, and the reason for it, as predicted in ezek. xxv., - :--"the word of the lord came again unto me, saying, son of man, set thy face against the ammonites, and prophesy against them; and say unto the ammonites, hear the word of the lord god: thus saith the lord god; because thou saidst, aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of israel, when it was desolate; and against the house of judah, when they went into captivity; behold, therefore i will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession, and they shall set their palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in thee: they shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk. and i will make rabbah a stable for camels, and the ammonites a couching-place for flocks; and ye shall know that i am the lord. for thus saith the lord god; because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of israel; behold, therefore i will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen; and i will cut thee off from the people, and i will cause thee to perish out of the countries: i will destroy thee; and thou shalt know that i am the lord." _sunday_, _th_.--dew on the grass; but it was the morning dew, which, like human goodness, was soon exhaled. after meditating on the chapters in numbers and deuteronomy which refer to the conduct and destinies of ammon and moab, and reading jer. xlviii. and xlix. within "the flowing valley" of the th verse of the latter, i was summoned to divine service in a tent fitted up for the purpose,--carpets on the floor "honoris causa;" a table covered with simple white, and a serious congregation of englishmen before it, each with his own bible and prayer-book. thank god that to carry such books about in the wildest deserts is a characteristic of my countrymen! this city of _'amman_ is "the city in the midst of the river" of joshua xiii. ; and "rabbah of the children of ammon"--the royal city--"the city of waters" of sam. xii. , :--to the siege of which joab invited king david, "lest he should take it, and it should be called after his name." here was also deposited the huge iron bedstead of og, king of bashan. under the ptolemy dynasty--successors of alexander--it was rebuilt, with the name of philadelphia. several of the best edifices here, now partially ruined, belong to that period. under the crusaders it was a flourishing city and district, retaining the grecian name. i could not but reflect on the infinite prescience that dictated the prophecies of the bible--no tongue could speak more plainly to us than the scene around us did, the fulfilment of the denunciations that these cities of moab and ammon should remain _as cities_ "without inhabitants"--"not a man to dwell therein"--and "driven out every man, right forth, and none shall gather up him that wandereth"--"desolate" and "most desolate." in the afternoon we walked about to inspect the antiquities, and found several remains of christian churches with bell-towers attached to them--certainly not originally minarets. these edifices had been afterwards, in mohammedan times, converted into mosques, as evidenced by the niche made in the south wall of each, pointing to mecca; and there are watch-towers for signals on all the summits of hills around. the city lies nestled in a valley between these hills. the first building i examined was among those of the citadel placed upon a lofty eminence commanding the city, the ground-plan of which building is here shown-- [picture: ground-plan of possible old church] the interior of the walls was so profusely embellished with festoons of roses and vine-grapes--both sculptured in stone and wrought in stucco, and of very large size--that there was no room left for pictures or images. the roof of this building is almost all fallen in. i imagined this to have been a christian church, of very remote antiquity, on account of the vine and the roses, which are peculiarly christian symbols--alluding to the texts, "i am the true vine," and "i am the rose of sharon;" but the chambers in each corner are difficult to account for. the east and west ends have no doors. near this is a square mass of masonry, upon which are standing six columns, of magnificent dimensions, which no doubt originally supported a roof. their capitals, of chaste and correct corinthian style, with portions of ornamental entablature, are lying near. perhaps belonging to this, but at some distance, lies a ponderous piece of architrave, on which, between lines of moulding, is an inscription in greek--illegible except the three letters--[greek text]. these letters were nine inches in length. nigh to this, again, was a square building of rabbeted stones, equal to almost the largest in the walls of jerusalem. all down the hill, descending to our camp, were fragments of columns and of decorated friezes of temples, that had evidently been rolled or had slidden down from their places. upon various walls of dilapidated edifices i observed the curious marks, slightly scratched, which almost resemble alphabetical characters, but are not; and which have, wherever met with and wherever noticed, which is but seldom, puzzled travellers, however learned, to decipher. i copied the following:-- [picture: bedaween arab token ] and from the shaft of a column still erect, half way down the hill, i copied the following:-- [picture: bedaween arab token ] i have since learned that they are the tokens of the bedaween arabs, by which one tribe is distinguished from another. in common parlance they are called the _ausam_ (plural of wasam) of the several tribes. { } in a valley to the north of us, leading westwards from the main valley, we found a beautiful mausoleum tomb,--a building, not an excavation in rock,--containing six sarcophagi, or ornamented stone coffins, ranged upon ledges of masonry, along three sides of the chamber. these were very large, and all of the same pattern--the lids remaining upon some of them, but shifted aside. beautiful sculptured embellishments were upon the inside walls and over the portal outside, but no inscriptions to indicate the period or persons to whom they belonged. inside, however, were rudely scratched the modern arab tribe-signs, showing that persons of such tribes had visited there; so that europeans are not the only travellers who help to disfigure ancient monuments by scribbling. along this western valley were several other such mausoleums. thence we mounted on a different side to the summit of that hill from which i have here begun my description of edifices--upon a gentle sloping road, evidently of artificial cutting, quite feasible for ascent of chariots. near the square (possible) church before mentioned, (though i should say that our party were not all convinced of its being a church,) is a prodigiously large cistern, of good masonry. from the top of the strong walls of the building--while some arab boys below me were reaching birds' nests--i got from our guide the following list of sites in the neighbourhood. they were of course unable to discriminate between ancient and modern names; and i do not find one bible name among them all:-- from north to west-- thuggeret el baider. esh-shemesani. kassar waijees. esh-shwaifiyeh. es-salt. umm malfoof. from west to east-- 'abdoon. mesdar 'aishah. umm es swaiweeneh. el mergab. towards the east-- merj merka. 'ain ghazal. ursaifah (in a valley with a river). el muntar el kassar, between two artificial hills. the people informed me of a place, a little nearer than kerak, called _rabbah_. this latter may be a _rabbath-moab_. i have no further notes to transcribe respecting the architectural remains; but they are so numerous and so important that a week would not suffice for their thorough investigation. all our party were highly gratified at having visited this rabbath-ammon--_alias_ philadelphia--_alias_, at present, 'amman. we were not, however, so fortunate as lord lindsay in finding a fulfilment of the prophecy (ezek. xxv. ) with respect to camels, either alive or dead. probably, when he was there, it was soon after an egyptian military expedition to kerak. the prodigious number of dead camels that he saw there would seem to indicate that a great arab battle had been fought at that place shortly before. it is only in this way that we could account for a cannonball (about a six-pounder) which one of the boys carried about, in following us, all the afternoon, wishing us to buy it of him as a curiosity. on returning to the tents, i found an old jerusalem acquaintance--a moslem named 'abderrahhman bek el 'asali--and with him several people from es-salt; among these a christian named abbas. from conversation with them i got some fresh information on arab affairs. these people took the opportunity of glorifying their native town; related how they are frequently at war, and that successfully, with the 'adwan; and when acting in concert with the abbad, or much more so when in alliance with the beni sukh'r, can always repel them; only it happens that sometimes the 'adwan get help from the more distant 'anezeh; and this is much more than enough to turn the balance again. but even now the 'adwan cannot come near the town; neither can they quite forget that the saltiyeh people, during a former war, killed both the father and grandfather of deab, and sent the head of the former to the tribe in a dish, with a pilaff of rice. all the strength of the 'adwan now lies in shaikh deab, with his son 'ali, (who came to welcome us near the jordan,) and gublan the nephew. old 'abdu'l 'azeez is considered childish, and unfit to lead them. for us travellers, however, the 'adwan are sufficient. the territory is theirs over which we are passing, and they do all they can to please us; only, of course, like all arab guides, they take every opportunity of insinuating themselves into being fed by us, which is a condition "not in the bond." then came a visit of three men with good-natured countenances. these were bedawi minstrels from tadmor, (palmyra,) who wander about from tribe to tribe, singing heroic poems to the accompaniment of their rebabeh, (a very primitive sort of fiddle.) no warfare interferes with the immunity of their persons or property. they are never injured or insulted, but are always and everywhere welcome, and liberally rewarded. of course it is for their interest to gratify the pride of their auditors by fervid appeals to their ancestral renown, or to individual prowess and generosity. the arabic of their chants is unintelligible to towns-people; it is the high classic language of antar. i had made acquaintance with these same men before at tibneen castle, near the lebanon, during a season of bairam. being sunday, we requested them to visit our tents in the morning. our arabs, however, and the dragomans kept them singing till a late hour round the fires lighted among the tents. it was a cheerful scene, in the clear starlight, and the lustrous planet venus reflected in the running stream. _monday_, _th_.--after breakfast, and an entertainment of music from our troubadours, and the bestowing of our guerdon, these left us on their way to the other camp at na'oor; and our packing up commenced. strange medley of costumes and languages among the grand colonnades. our arabs left us, having the luggage in charge, and indicating to us the camping-ground where we were to meet again at night--thus leaving us in care of the saltiyeh friends of ours, who were to escort us to their town and its neighbourhood, as the 'adwan might not go there themselves. both the christian and moslem shaikhs of the town came to meet us on the way. the former was a very old man; and he could with difficulty be persuaded to mount his donkey in presence of a train so majestic, in his eyes, coming from the holy city of jerusalem. we passed an encampment of _beni hhasan_. these people are few in number, and exist under the shadow of the 'adwan. there were plenty of locusts about the country; but we soon came to a vast space of land covered with storks, so numerous as completely to hide the face of the earth, all of them busily employed in feeding--of course devouring the locusts. so great is the blessing derived from the visits of storks, that the natives of these countries regard it as a sin to destroy the birds. on our riding among them they rose in the air, entirely obscuring he sky and the sun from our view. one of our party attempted to fire among them with his revolver, but, by some heedlessness or accident, the bunch of barrels, being not well screwed down flew off the stock and was lost for a time; it took more than half an hour's search by all of us to find it again, and the arabs considered this a just punishment for wishing to kill such useful creatures. we traversed a meadow where shaikh faisel, with a detachment of the 'anezeh, had encamped for pasture, and only left it thirty-five days before. his flocks and herds were described to us as impossible to be counted; but our friends were unanimous in stating that his camels were in number. came to _khirbet es sar_, (_jazer_?) whence the dead sea was again visible. our arabs declared that they could distinguish the frank mountain, and see into the streets of bethlehem. here there is a mere heap of ruin, with cisterns, and fragments of arches, large columns, and capitals; also a very rough cyclopean square building of brown striped flint in huge masses. this site is three hours due north of na'oor, in a straight line, not turning aside to deab's camp or 'amman. northwards hence are the well-wooded hills of _'ajloon_. to my inquiries for any site with a name resembling nebo, i was referred to the _neba_, half an hour south of heshbon, which is given in the list taken down by me at heshbon. proceeding northwards, we had the hills of _jebel mahas_ parallel on our right hand; and to our left, in a deep glen below, was the source of the stream se'eer, which had flowed past us at _cuferain_, our first encampment after crossing the jordan. arrived at the ruined town (modern in appearance) of _dabook_, from whence they say the _dabookeh_ grapes at hebron { } had their origin; but there are none to be seen here now (see jer. xlviii. , )--"o vine of sibmah, i will weep for thee with the weeping of jazer: thy plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of jazer: the spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage. and joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of moab; and i have caused wine to fail from the wine-presses," etc.: with nearly the same words in isa. xvi. - . at a short distance upon our right was a ruined village called _khuldah_. this was at the entrance of woods of the evergreen oak, with hawthorn, many trees of each kind twined round with honeysuckle. there shaikh yusuf, (the moslem of es-salt,) who is a fine singer, entertained us with his performances, often bursting into extemporaneous verses suitable to the occasion and company. on reaching an exceedingly stony and desolate place, he related the original story of lokman the miser, connected with it:--"formerly this was a fertile and lovely spot, abounding in gardens of fruit; and as the apostle mohammed (peace and blessings be upon him!) was passing by, he asked for some of the delicious produce for his refreshment on the weary way, but the churlish owner lokman denied him the proper hospitality, and even used insulting language to the unknown traveller, (far be it from us!) whereupon the latter, who was aware beforehand of the man's character, and knew that he was hopelessly beyond the reach of exhortation and of wise instruction, invoked upon him, by the spirit of prophecy, the curse of god, (the almighty and glorious.) and so his gardens were converted into these barren rocks before us, and the fruit into mere stones." such was the tale. but similar miraculous punishments for inhospitality are told at mount carmel, as inflicted by the prophet elijah; and near bethlehem by the virgin mary. from a distance we caught a distant view of the _beka' el basha_, or pasha's meadow, where we were to encamp at night, but turned aside westwards in order to visit the town of es-salt. upon a wide level tract we came to a small patch of ground enclosed by a low wall, to which a space was left for entrance, with a lintel thrown across it, but still not above four feet from ground. on this were bits of glass and beads and pebbles deposited, as votive offerings, or tokens of remembrance or respect. the place is called the weli, or tomb, of a persian moslem saint named _sardoni_. but it should be recollected that in arabic the name _'ajam_, or persia, is often used to signify any unknown distant country to the east. at _'ain el jadoor_ we found water springing out of the rocks, among vineyards and fig and walnut trees, olives also, and pomegranates--a beautiful oasis, redeemed from the devastation of bedaween by the strong hand of the town population. near this the christian shaikh abbas, being in our company, was met by his venerable mother and his son bakhi. in every direction the town of es-salt is environed by fruitful gardens, the produce of which finds a market in nabloos and jerusalem. the scenery reminded me of the lebanon in its green aspect of industry and wealth. entering the town we dismounted at the house of shaikh yusuf, and took our refreshment on the open terrace, on the shady side of a wall. some of us walked about and visited the two christian churches: they are both named "st george," and are very poor in furniture. of course they have over the door the universal picture in these countries of st george on his prancing gray horse. this obtains for them some respect from the mohammedans, who also revere that martial and religious hero. inside the churches we found some pictures with russian writing upon the frames; the people informed us that these were presents from the emperor nicholas, which is worthy of notice. the ignorance of the priests here is proverbial all over palestine. i have heard it told of them as a common practice, that they recite the lord's prayer and the _fathhah_, or opening chapter of the koran, alternately, on the ground that these are both very sublime and beautiful; and it is said that they baptize in the name of the father, son, and holy ghost, and the virgin mary. there is reason to believe them very grossly ignorant; but it may be that some of these reports about them emanate from the roman catholic authorities in jerusalem, who never hesitate at propagating slanders to the detriment of non-romanists. in a church porch i found a school of dirty ragged children reading the psalms from the small english printed edition; not, however, learning to read by means of the alphabet or spelling, but learning to know the forms of words by rote; boys and girls together, all very slightly dressed, and one of the boys stark naked. people came to me to be cured of ophthalmia. i got out of my portmanteau for them some sugar of lead; but it is inconceivable the difficulty i had to get a vessel for making it into a lotion--bottles or phials were totally unknown, not even cups were to be procured. at one time i thought of a gourd-shell, but there was not one _dried_ in the town; so they told me. i might have lent them my drinking-cup, but then i wanted to prepare a large quantity to be left behind and to be used occasionally. i forget now what was the expedient adopted, but i think it was the last named-one, but of course only making sufficient for immediate use. i left a quantity behind me in powder, with directions to dilute it considerably whenever any vessel could be found; warning the people, however, of its poisonous nature if taken by mouth. one man came imploring me to cure him of deafness, but i could not undertake his case. in any of those countries a medical missionary would be of incalculable benefit to the people. there are ancient remains about the town, but not considerable in any respect. it is often taken for granted that this is the ramoth-gilead of scripture, but i believe without any other reason than that, from the copious springs of water, there must always have been an important city there. the old name, however, would rather lead us north-eastwards to the hills of _jela'ad_, where there are also springs and ruins. on leaving the town we experienced a good deal of annoyance from the moslem population, one of whom stole a gun from a gentleman of the party, and when detected, for a long time refused to give it up. of course, in the end it was returned; but i was told afterwards that the people had a notion that we ought to pay them something for visiting their town, just as we pay the wild arabs for visiting jerash. what a difference from the time of the strong egyptian government when lord lindsay was there! at a distance of perhaps half or three-quarters of an hour there is a _weli_ called _nebi osha_; that is to say, a sepulchre, or commemorative station of the prophet joshua, celebrated all over the country for the exceeding magnificence of the prospect it commands in every direction. in order to reach this, we had to pass over hills and plains newly taken into cultivation for vineyards, mile after mile, in order to supply a recent call for the peculiar grapes of the district at jerusalem to be sent to london as raisins. arrived at the weli, we found no language sufficient to express the astonishment elicited by the view before us; and here it will be safest only to indicate the salient points of the extensive landscape, without indulging in the use of epithets vainly striving to portray our feelings. we were looking over the ghor, with the jordan sparkling in the sunshine upon its winding course below. in direct front was _nabloos_, lying between ebal and gerizim; while at the same time we could distinguish neby samwil near jerusalem, the mount tabor, mount carmel, and part of the lebanon all at once! on our own side of jordan we saw the extensive remains of _kala'at rubbad_, and ruins of a town called _maisera_. on such a spot what could we do but lie in the shade of the whitewashed weli, under gigantic oak-trees, and gaze and ponder and wish in silence,--ay, and pray and praise too,--looking back through the vista of thirty-three centuries to the time of the longing of moses, the "man of god," expressed in these words "o lord god, thou hast begun to show thy servant thy greatness and thy mighty hand: . . . i pray thee let me go over and see the good land that is beyond jordan, that goodly mountain, and lebanon." the honoured leader of his people--the long-tried man "through good report and evil report," who, during his second forty years which he spent as a shepherd in midian, had been accustomed to the abstemious habits and keen eyesight of the desert; and, at the end of another forty years as the ruler of a whole nation, living in the desert, "his eye was not dim,"--added to which natural advantage, we are told that "the lord showed him all the land," highly cultivated as it was then by seven nations greater and mightier than israel,--moses must have beheld a spectacle from pisgah and nebo, surpassing even the glories of this landscape viewed by us from nebi osha. turning eastwards to our evening home, we passed a ruined site called _berga'an_, where we had one more view of the dead sea, and traversed large plains of ripe corn, belonging, of course, to the people of es-salt. the people requested me to pray to god that the locusts might not come there, since all that harvest was destined for jerusalem. we met some of the _'abbad kattaleen_ arabs, but we were safe under the escort of the saltiyeh instead of the 'adwan. these 'abbad are the people who assaulted and plundered some seamen of h.m.s. "spartan" in , on the jordan; for which offence they have never yet been chastised, notwithstanding the urgent applications made to the turkish pashas of jerusalem, bayroot, and damascus. we did not arrive at the encampment till long after dark, and there was no moonlight. the site is on a plain encircled by hills, with plenty of water intersecting the ground; the small streams are bordered by reeds and long grass. a khan, now in ruin, is situated in the midst--a locality certainly deserving its name, _beka' el basha_, and is said to have been a favourite camping-station for the pashas of damascus in former times. much to our vexation, the arabs and the muleteers had pitched our tents in a slovenly manner among the winding water-courses, so that we had wet reeds, thistles, and long grass, beetles and grasshoppers inside the tents, which again were wetted outside with heavy dew. they had done this in order to keep the cattle immediately close to us, and therefore as free from forayers as possible during the night. such was the reason assigned, and we were all too hungry and tired to argue the matter further. my people complained to me of the insolence of the saltiyeh guides that were with us; so i sent for the two shaikhs and scolded them. they persisted in it that they did not deserve the rebuke, that the complaints ought to be laid against a certain farrier who had come over from jerusalem, etc., etc. my servant ended the affair by shouting at them, "take my last word with you and feed upon it--'god send you a strong government.'" this at least they deserved, for they are often in arms against the turkish government: and although so prosperous in trade and agriculture, are many years in arrear with their taxes. _tuesday_, _th_.--early in the morning there were saltiyeh people reaping harvest near us, chiefly in the christian fields; for here the case is not as in palestine, where christians generally sow and reap in partnership with moslems, for their own safety; but the moslems have their fields, and the christians have theirs apart, which shows that their influence is more considerable here; indeed, the christians carry arms, and go out to war against the bedaween, quite like the moslems. before we left, the day was becoming exceedingly hot, and we had six hours' march before us to jerash. the hills abound with springs of water. we passed one called _umm el 'egher_, another called _safoot_, also _abu mus-hhaf_, and _tabakra_, and _'ain umm ed dumaneer_, with a ruin named _khirbet saleekhi_. the 'adwan arabs were now again our guides, the saltiyeh having returned home; but for some distance the guides were few and without firearms, only armed with spears, and the common peasant sword called _khanjar_; perhaps this was by compact with the saltiyeh, as in about an hour's time we were joined by a reinforcement with a few matchlock guns. on we went through corn-fields, which are sown in joint partnership with the arabs and the moslems of the town; then doubled round a long and high hill with a ruin on it, called _jela'ad_. this i have since suspected to be ramoth-gilead. we descended a hill called _tallooz_; forward again between hills and rocks, and neglected evergreen woods, upon narrow paths. a numerous caravan we were, with a hundred animals of burden, bright costumes, and cheerful conversation, till we reached a large terebinth-tree under a hill called _shebail_; the site is called _thuggeret el moghafer_, signifying a "look-out station" between two tribes. there we rested a while, till the above-mentioned reinforcement joined us. from this spot we could just discern _jerash_, on the summit of a huge hill before us. we now had one long and continued descent to the river zerka. passed through a defile, on issuing from which we observed a little stream with oleander, in pink blossom, thirty feet high, and in great abundance. halted again at a pretty spring, called _ruman_, where the water was upon nearly a dead level, and therefore scarcely moving; then another small spring, called _bursa_, and also _'ain el merubb'a'_. evergreen oak in all directions, but with broader leaf than in palestine; also some terebinth-trees and wild holly-oaks. all the scenery now expanded before us in width and height and depth. we took notice of several high hills with groves of evergreen oak on their summits; detached hills, which we could not but consider as remains of the ancient _high places_ for idolatrous worship. still descended, till on a sudden turn of the road came the rushing of the _zerka_, or jabbok, water upon our ears, with a breeze sighing among juniper-bushes, and enormous and gorgeous oleanders, together with the soft zephyr feeling from the stream upon our heated faces--oh, so inexpressibly delicious! i was the first to get across, and on reaching the opposite bank we all dismounted, to drink freely from the river--a name which it deserves as at that place it is about two-thirds of the width of the jordan at the usual visiting-place for travellers. some of the party went bathing. we all had our several luncheons, some smoked, all got into shady nooks by the water-side; and i, with my heart full, lay meditating on the journey we had hitherto made. at length i had been permitted by god's good providence to traverse the territory of moses and the chosen people antecedent to the writing of the pentateuch, when they were warring upon ammon and moab. how solemn are the sensations derived from pondering upon periods of such very hoar antiquity--a time when the deliverance at the red sea, the thunders of sinai, the rebellion of korah and dathan, the erection of the tabernacle, and the death of aaron, were still fresh in the memories of living witnesses; and the manna was still their food from heaven, notwithstanding the supplies from the cultivated country they were passing through, (josh. v. .) elisha did well in after times on the banks of jordan, when he cried out, "where is the lord god of elijah?" and we may exclaim, in contemplation of these marvellous events of the still more remote ages, "where is the lord god of moses, who with a mighty hand and stretched-out arm"--"redeemed his people from their enemies; for his mercy endureth for ever!" nations and generations may rise and pass away; phases of dominion and civilisation may vary under assyrian, egyptian, hellenic, and roman forms, or under our modern modifications; yet all this is transitory. the god of creation, providence, and grace, he lives and abides for ever. his power is still great as in the days of old, his wisdom unsearchable, and his goodness infinite. ay, and this dispenser of kingdoms is also the guide of the humble in heart, and he cares for the smallest concerns of individual persons who rest upon him. strengthened by these and similar reflections, with ardent aspirations for the future, i rose up and pursued my journey, as bunyan's pilgrim might have done, under the heartfelt assurance that "happy is he that hath the god of _jacob_ for his help." we were now leaving behind us much of the old testament country--not exclusively that of the mosaic era, but the land which had been trodden by the patriarchs abraham and israel on their several removals from padan-aram to canaan. but, while looking back upon the grand landscape outline with an intense degree of interest, it may be well to remark that, among all our company, there was a feeling of uncertainty as to the geographical boundaries of the lands possessed by the old people of ammon, moab, and bashan. probably there had been some fluctuations of their towns and confines between the time of the exodus and the prophecies of isaiah and jeremiah. one thing is certain--that we all, with one heart, were confident that god spake by moses and the prophets; and that, with the incidents, the people and the local names we had lately passed among, we might as soon believe in the non-existence of the sun and stars, as that the books called "the law of moses" are not in every word a record of infallible truth. we had now a different journey, and a different set of scenes before us, entering into the half tribe of manasseh. [picture: triumphal arch] ascending the steep mountain-sides with two of the guides, i preceded the rest of the party, and even the baggage mules. in perhaps half an hour, (it may be more,) i came to a triumphal arch, the commencement of jerash. one of the guides told me that they call this the amman gate of the old city; for that, in ancient times, there were two brothers, one named amman, and the other jerash. each of them built a city, and gave it his own name; but called the gate nearest to his brother's city, by the name of that brother. at this gateway i observed the anomaly of the columns on each side of the principal opening, having their capitals at the bottom of the shafts, and resting on the pediments, though in an upright position. it was very ridiculous. when could this have been done--at the original erection of the gate, or at a later rebuilding, after an earthquake had shaken the pillars? it would seem to me to be the former, as they are posted against the wall, and this is not disturbed or altered. the columns and the curve of the portal are gone, so that it cannot be seen whether originally they had capitals on the heads also of the columns. it is most probable that those remaining are not the true capitals, inasmuch as they have no volutes. passing by inferior monuments of antiquity,--such as a sepulchre, a single column, a sarcophagus, and then a square elevated pavement in good condition, upon which are several sarcophagi, some of them broken, and all with the lids displaced,--i came to a large circus of ionic columns, almost all standing, and joined to each other at the top by architraves. thence holding on the same direction forwards due north, our way was between a double row of grand corinthian columns with their capitals, and occasional temples to the right and left. at the termination of this, but without continuing the same line, between columns of another grecian order, i turned aside, at a vast roman bath, to a spring of water, the commencement of a running stream, in a small meadow of tall grass and thorns, intending to pitch my tent there; but soon changed my mind, and got myself established within a wing of the roman bath, which stood on higher ground, and had a good roof upon it. the other gentlemen on coming up, adopted the choice of their dragomans and muleteers, near the water, after having the thorns and thistles cleared away. a fresh afternoon breeze that sprang up was peculiarly grateful to men and cattle. after some rest, i proceeded to stroll about,--first of all to the great temple of the sun, on a rising ground to the west of the great colonnade, which, besides the columns along all the sides of the edifice, has a conspicuous portico in front, consisting of twelve magnificent corinthian columns, a few of which are fallen. thence i walked to the naumachia, near the southern extremity of the city, (that by which we had arrived,) and found this in good condition, with the seats remaining, and the channel well defined which conveyed water for the exhibitions from the above-mentioned spring. the form is a long oval, flattened at one end. in passing once more between the double line of corinthian columns, i counted fifty-five of them standing, besides fragments and capitals of the missing ones lying on the ground. from this i diverged at right angles, through a street of small public buildings, towards the bridge over the stream, (and this i called bridge street--part of the pavement still remains, consisting of long slabs laid across the whole width from house to house;) then upon the bridge, as far as its broken condition would allow, and returned to my home--everywhere among scattered fragments of entablature; numerous altars entire, and sculptured with garlands; also broken buildings, with niches embellished inside with sculptured ornament. in all my exploration, however, i found no statues or fragments of statues--the mohammedan iconoclasts had long ago destroyed all these; but there were some remains of inscriptions, much defaced or worn away by the work of time. the natural agencies by which the edifices have come to ruin seem to be--first, earthquakes; then the growth of weeds, thorns, and even trees, between the courses of stone, after the population ceased; or rain and snow detaching small pieces, which were followed by larger; also sometimes a sinking of the ground; and besides these common causes of decay, there comes the great destroyer--man. yet nature is always picturesque, even after the demolition of the works of human art or genius; and it is pleasing to see the tendrils, leaves, and scarlet berries of the nightshade playfully twining among the sculptured friezes which are scattered about in every position but straight lines; or other plants between the volutes, rivalling the acanthus foliage of the classic capitals. sunset: a beautiful landscape all around; and a pretty view of the travellers' tents, the arabs, and the cattle below me. after dinner i walked by starlight along the ionic colonnade, which is a further continuation northwards of the corinthian, and found nearly the whole length, with the intermediate pavement, remaining, consisting of squares about two feet in length, laid down in diamond pattern. at night there were flickering lights and varieties of human voices below; the frogs croaking loud near the rivulet; and the rooks, whom i had dislodged from their home within the roman bath, had taken refuge on the trees about us, unable to get to rest, being disturbed by our unusual sights and sounds. _wednesday_, _th_.--a visitor came early--namely, shaikh yusuf--with two of his people from _soof_. the old man exhibited numerous certificates given by former travellers--all english--whom he had accompanied as guide either to beisan or damascus. he offered his services to take us even, if we pleased, as far as bozrah. then came shaikh barakat el fraikh with a large train. he is ruler over all the _jebel 'ajloon_, and has been residing lately on the summit of a high hill rising before us to the east, where there is a weli or tomb of a moslem saint, the nebi hhood, who works miraculous cures. barakat is in delicate health, and has twenty wives. his metropolis, when he condescends to live in a house, is at a village called _cuf'r enji_; but his district comprises fifteen inhabited villages, with above three hundred in ruins,--so it is said. as for the saint himself, he has a very respectable name for antiquity, too ancient for regular chronology to meddle with--it is only known that he preached righteousness to an impious race of men previous to their sudden destruction. the circumstance of his tomb being on the summit of a high hill is perfectly consonant with the sentiments of great heroes and chiefs, as frequently expressed in poems of the old arabs. the restoration of health which he is supposed to bestow, must be that effected by means of the fine mountain air at his place. at 'amman, old 'abdu'l 'azeez had said that jerash was built by the beni 'ad, a primitive race mentioned in the koran. a ridiculous figure appeared of a turkish subaltern officer, who has come into this wild desert to ask the people for tribute to the porte. a turkish kawwas in attendance on him, i observed to shrug up his shoulders when he heard nothing but arabic being spoken among us. they arrived here in the company of shaikh yusuf, whose son is nominally a turkish military officer, commanding three hundred imaginary bashi-bozuk, or irregular cavalry. by means of such titles they tickle the vanity of the arab leaders, and _claim_ an annual tribute of purses, (about pounds,) and are thus enabled to swell out the published army list, and account of revenue printed in constantinople. { } so that next to nothing is in reality derived from these few sparse villages; and from the tent arabs less than nothing, for the turks have to bribe these to abstain from plundering the regular soldiers belonging to damascus. the 'anezi shaikh faisel was encamped at only fourteen hours' distance from us. common arab visitors arrived--from no one knew where: some on horseback, to see what could be picked up among us; even women and children. they must have travelled during the night. a handsomely-dressed and well-armed youth on horseback, from soof, accosted me during one of my walks. i bought two sheep for a feast to the arabs that came about my tent; but they asked to have the money value instead of the feast. alas for the degradation! what would their forefathers have said to them had they been possibly present? afternoon: a fine breeze sprang up, as is usual in elevated districts. i strolled again with an attendant--first outside the ancient wall on the east side of the rivulet, where it is not much dilapidated; it is all built of rabbeted stones, though not of very large size; then crossed over to the western wall, and traced out the whole periphery of the city by the eye. in the great corinthian colonnade, one of our party called me to him, and showed me some inscriptions about the public edifices along that line, and at the temple of the sun. there was one inscription in latin, on a square pedestal; a similar one near it, broken across, had a greek inscription. the rest were all in greek, but so defaced or injured that seldom could a whole word be made out. however, we found, in a small temple beyond the city wall to the north, in a ploughed field, an inscription more perfect, containing the work _nemesis_ in the first line. there also i saw several mausoleums, with sarcophagi handsomely ornamented, and fragments of highly-polished red egyptian granite columns, to our great surprise as to how they had arrived there, considering not only the distance from which they had been brought, and the variety of people through whose hands they had passed since being cut out roughly from the quarries of upper egypt; but, moreover, the difficulty to be surmounted in bringing them to this elevation, across the deep jordan valley, even since their disembarkation from the mediterranean either at jaffa or caiffa. the inscriptions that i had been able to collect were as follows:-- [picture: two inscriptions] among all the hundreds of fragments of fine capitals and friezes lying about jerash, there was not one that was not too heavy for us to carry away. i found no ornamented pottery, although we had found some even at heshbon; neither coins, nor even bits of statues. and remarkable enough in our european ideas, so little space appeared for private common habitations--as usual among ruined cities of remote antiquity--it seemed as if almost the whole enclosure was occupied by temples or other public institutions. yet there must have habitations for a numerous population. and, again, such a city implies the existence of minor towns and of numerous villages around, and a complete immunity from incursions of wild arab tribes. these latter were unknown to a population who could build such temples, naumachia, and colonnades, and who were protected farther eastwards by the numerous cities with high roads, still discoverable in ruins beyond this--belka and 'ajloon. but of how different a character must have been the daily necessities of these old populations from the requirements of modern european existence. _we_ should not be satisfied with the mere indulgence of gazing upon the aesthetic beauty of temples and colonnades. climate, however, has much to do in this matter. at night we had a general conference at the encampment respecting the future march, as we had now finished with the 'adwan arabs. { } the resolution was taken to proceed on the morrow to _umm kais_, under the guidance of shaikh yusuf of soof, and proceed thence to tiberias. he, however, would not ensure but that we might be met and mulcted by the beni sukh'r for leave to traverse their territory. he was to receive piastres, (nearly pounds,) besides piastres for baksheesh; but whatever we might have to pay the beni sukh'r was to be deducted from the above stipulation. _thursday_, _th_.--great noise of jackdaws under my vaulted roof at break of day, they having mustered up courage to return to their nests there during the night. during the packing up of the luggage, i took a final and lonely walk along the colonnades to the naumachia, and outside the wall s.w. of the amman gate, where i observed some columns, or portions of such, of twisted pattern; returned by the bridge. the thrush, the cuckoo, and the partridge were heard at no great distance, near the stream. we left upon the meadow a parliamentary debate of arabs gathered around the chief's spear, all the men ranting and screaming as only such people can, and they only at the beginning or end of a bargain. slowly we defiled in a long line over rising ground, higher and higher, upon a good highway, bordered on each side by numerous sarcophagi; as along the roman appian way; passed the well of _shaikh el bakkar_, and a sarcophagus with a long inscription in greek, which i regretted not having discovered yesterday, so as to allow of copying it. from an eminence we took the last view of the pompous colonnades of jerash. away through the green woods of broad-leaved oak, among which were to be found fine and numerous pine-trees, the air fragrant with honeysuckle, and the whole scene enlivened by sweet song of the birds, there were hills in sight all covered with pine. around soof we found none of the druidical-looking remains mentioned by irby and mangles, but some romantic landscape and vineyards all over the hills. ten minutes beyond soof we had a roman milestone lying at our feet. some of us set to work in clearing earth away from it, searching for an inscription, but could not spare sufficient time to do it properly. we found, however, the letters pivs . ponti . . .--indicating the period of the antonines. next there met us a large party of gipsies--known, among other tokens, by the women's black hair being combed, which that of the bedawi women would not be. what a motley meeting we formed--of moslems, greek-church dragomans, protestants, and fire-worshippers, as the gipsies are always believed in asia to be. among the oaks of gigantic size and enormously large arbutus, the effect of our party winding--appearing and disappearing, in varied costumes and brilliant colours--was very pleasing. after a time we reached some fine meadow land, on which were large flocks of sheep belonging to the beni hhassan, whose tents we saw not far distant. the black and the white sheep were kept separate from each other. and then appeared, in succession to the right and left, several of the rude erections, resembling the celtic cromlechs, or _cist-vaens_, above alluded to, from irby and mangles. [picture: erection resembling cromlech] our guides told us that they abound all over the hills. all that we saw were constructed each of four huge slabs of brown flinty-looking stone, forming a chamber--two for sides, one at the back, and a cover over all, which measured eleven feet by six. their date must be long anterior to the roman period. they are manifestly not jewish, and consequently are of pagan origin. are they altars? or are they of a sepulchral character, raised over the graves of valiant warriors, whose very names and nationality are lost? or do they indeed partake of both designs--one leading easily to the other among a superstitious people, who had no light of revelation? my persuasion is that they were altars, as they seldom reach above four feet from the ground; and if so, they would serve to show, as well as the uprights forming a square temple by the sea-side, between tyre and sidon, that not in every place did the israelites sufficiently regard the injunction of deut. xii. , to demolish the idolatrous places of worship. { } our road gradually ascended for a considerable time, till we attained the brow of an eminence, where our woody, close scenery suddenly expanded into a glorious extent of landscape. straight before our eyes, apparently up in the sky, was old hermon, capped with snow. about his base was a hazy belt; below this was the lake of gennesaroth; and nearer still was an extent of meadow and woodland. the commanding object, however, was the grand mountain, "that lifts its awful form, swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm. though round its breast the rolling clouds be spread, eternal sunshine settles on its head." at this place we rested for a time. all the day afterwards we kept upon high grounds, to avoid meeting any of the beni sukh'r--thus greatly increasing the length of the day's march, and having to scramble over rocky hills without visible paths. all this had been brought upon us by over-cleverness in bargaining with shaikh yusuf, our guide. we had stipulated that, in case of meeting with bedaween arabs, whatever should be demanded as _ghufur_, or toll for crossing their ground, should be deducted from his piastres. he had informed us that the toll would be but a trifle; but after the burden of it had been once thrown upon him, he avoided the best and direct road, and we had hours of needless fatigue in consequence. as a peasant himself, the arabs allow him and his people to pass free, as no doubt they exact enough from the village in other forms; but they consider themselves entitled to levy tribute on european travellers. the latter, however, are always disposed to grumble at it. we plunged again into thick green woods,--the oaks of bashan,--with merry birds carolling all around. oh, how cheering was the scene, after that devastated land across the river, where there is so little of forest land left in proportion to this! a friend once remarked to me, that were the two territories in the same relative conditions at the time of joshua taking possession of canaan, it would require double amount of faith in god's promises, as they ascended from jericho to ai, to believe that they had not left the promised land behind them. now, this might be met by several satisfactory replies; but the plainest answer for the moment is, that the countries were not then in the same conditions relatively as they now are. we passed a rock-hewn sepulchre on the side of a hill, in good condition,--just such as may be frequently seen in palestine proper,--then found a large herd of camels browsing; and passing through a verdant glen, which issued upon cultivated fields, we came to the village of _mezer_, and soon after to _tuleh_, where we got a view of tabor, gilboa, and hermon, { } all at the same time. were the day clear, there could be no doubt but we should have seen also the village of zer'een (jezreel) and the convent on mount carmel. the weather was hot, and our people suffering from thirst, as ramadan had that day commenced. had a distant view of a beni sukh'r encampment to our right. after a steep descent, and consequent rise again, we were upon a plain; and therefore the guide counselled us to keep close together, as a precaution against marauders. our tedious deviation to-day had been far to the east: we now turned westwards, as if marching right up to tabor, over corn-fields, with the village of _tibni_ at our left, and _dair_ at our right hand. arrived at _tayibeh_, and encamped there for the night. among the first people who came up to us was an algerine jew, who held my horse as i dismounted. he was an itinerant working silversmith, gaining a livelihood by going from tiberias among arab villages and the bedaween, repairing women's ornaments, etc. there are plenty of wells about this place, but none with good water. wrangling and high words among the muleteers, and fighting of the animals for approach to the water-troughs. the day had been very fatiguing; and our moslem attendants, as they had been involuntarily deprived of water during this the first day of ramadan, deemed it not worth while at that hour to break the fast, as evening was rapidly coming on. upon a journey, if it be a real journey on business, they are allowed to break the fast, on condition of making up for the number of days at some time before the year expires. evening: beautiful colours on the western hills, and the new moon appearing--a thin silver streak in the roseate glow which remains in the heavens after sunset. the night very hot, and no air moving. _friday_, _th_.--after a night of mosquito-plague, we rose at the first daybreak, with a glorious spectacle of mount hermon and its snowy summit to the north. such evenings and mornings as travellers and residents enjoy in asian climes are beyond all estimation, and can never be forgotten. we learned that there are christians in this village of _tayibeh_, as indeed there are some thinly scattered throughout the villages of _jebel 'ajloon_, _i.e._ from jerash to near tiberias; and in the corresponding villages on the western side of jordan, as far as nabloos. i always feel deeply concerned for those "sheep without a shepherd," dispersed among an overwhelming population of mohammedans. they are indeed ignorant,--how can they be otherwise, while deprived of christian fellowship, or opportunities of public worship, excepting when they carry their infants a long journey for baptism, or when the men repair occasionally to the towns of nabloos or nazareth for trading business; or, it may be, when rarely an itinerant priest pays them a visit?--still they are living representatives of the gentile church of the country in primitive days, down through continuous ages,--their families enduring martyrdom, and to this day persecution and oppression, for the name of christ, in spite of every worldly inducement to renounce it. while we europeans are reciting the nicene creed in our churches, they are suffering for it. they are living witnesses for the "light of light, and very god of very god;" and although with this they mingle sundry superstitions, they are a people who salute each other at easter with the words, "christ is risen," and the invariable response, "he is risen indeed;" also in daily practice, when pronouncing the name of jesus, they add the words, "glory to his name." besides all the above, they are in many things protestants against papal corruption. they have no vicar of christ, no transubstantiation, no immaculate conception, no involuntary confession, and no hindrance to a free use of the bible among the laity. for my part, i feel happy in sympathising much with such a people, and cannot but believe that the divine head of the church regards with some proportion of love even the humblest believer in him, who touches but the hem of his garment. in our conversation, before resuming the journey, i mentioned the numerous villages that were to be found about that neighbourhood, utterly broken up, but where the gardens of fig, vine, and olive trees still are growing around the ruins. the people pointed out to me the direction of other such, that were out of sight from our tents; and the jew quoted a familiar proverb of the country relating to that subject; also the moslem shaikh, with his son, joined also in reciting it:-- "the children of israel built up; the christians kept up; the moslems have destroyed." in saying this, however, by the second line they refer to the crusading period; and by the last line they denote the bad government of the turks, under which the wild bedaween are encroaching upon civilisation, and devastating the recompense of honest industry from the fertile soil. we--starting upon our last day's journey together--passed over wide fields of wheat-stubble. on coming near the village of _samma_, the old shaikh came out to welcome us, and inquire if his place is written in the books of the europeans. on examining our maps, one of our party found it in his; and the rest promised the friendly old man that his village should be written down. proceeding through a green and rocky glen, between high hills, with a running stream, the weather was exceedingly hot. here our party divided,--ourselves advancing towards _umm kais_; while the baggage and servants turned to the left, so as to cross the jordan by the bridge _el mejama'a_ for tiberias. the principal intention of this was for the property to avoid the chance of falling into the hands of the beni sukh'r. shaikh yusuf now showed the relief from his mind by beginning to sing. this was all very well for him, who had nothing to lose; because, as it was said long ago-- "cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator." after wandering round and around, we descended into _wadi zahari_, "the flowering valley," where, by the water-side, were reeds and oleanders forty or fifty feet high; and near them we observed a pear-tree and a fig-tree, all alone and deserted, the remains of former cultivation. this and other previous instances attest the risk that attends rural labour in that district, being in the immediate vicinity of the bedaween, and the utter mockery of nominal turkish rule. here we filled our leathern water-bottles, (called _zumzumia_ in the desert, and _mattara_ by towns-people,) and climbed up a stony hill, the heat of the day increasing. no path among the rocks, and all of us angry at shaikh yusuf for saving himself the few piastres by conducting us among such difficulties. then, after some time we perceived ourselves to be near umm kais, by the sarcophagi, the sepulchres, and ruts of chariot-wheels upon the rocks. we rushed up to a large tree for refreshing shelter, and near it found numerous sepulchres, highly ornamented, and some of them with the stone doors remaining on the hinges, which we swung about to test the reality of their remaining so perfect, (figs. , , .) among these was the one remarked by lord lindsay in his travels, bearing a hebrew name inscribed in greek letters, but which he has not [picture: fig. ] given quite correctly. it should be _gaanuiph_ instead of _gaaniph_. this sepulchre is cut in black [picture: fig. ] basaltic rock, and has some broken sarcophagi remaining inside. on a round fragment of a column, near this side, is the inscription given below, (fig. .) the upper part is the farewell of surviving relatives [picture: fig. ] to the daughter of semlachus. the lower part, for whomsoever intended,--"_and thou also farewell_,"--carries with it a touch of nature that still affects the heart, after the lapse of many centuries. [picture: fig. ] the mausoleums and sepulchres at the opposite end of the city were even more numerous, many having greek inscriptions upon them. but the theatre is the most remarkable of all the objects of antiquity,--so perfect, with its rows of seats complete, surrounded by numerous public edifices and lines of columns; and then commanding from those seats a large view of the beautiful lake of tiberias, and of the grand mountains which enclose it, as a frame to the picture. here i stayed behind the rest of the party for a considerable time, charmed with the spectacle of nature, and revolving over the incidents of herodian history, so vividly portrayed by josephus. then rejoined my friends, by galloping along a roman road, paved with blocks of dark basalt. but before leaving this place, i must express my surprise at any person that has been there imagining for a moment that it can be the gadara of scripture. the distance from the lake is so great as to be utterly incompatible with the recorded transactions in the gospels--having valleys and high hills intervening; and even supposing the miracle of relieving the demoniac to refer not to the city but to a territory named gadara, it is inconceivable that the territory belonging to this city (umm kais) could extend beyond the deep natural crevasse of the river _yarmuk_, and then rise up a high mountain, to descend again into a plain, all before reaching the lake. our descent to the yarmuk was long and steep; and upon the plain which it intersects, the heat exceeded any that i had ever encountered anywhere. the air was like fire. such a day i shall never forget. the yarmuk is so considerable a river that the arabs call it _sheree'a_, as they do the jordan--only qualifying the latter as the larger one. it is called the _sheree'a el menadherah_, from a party of bedaween occupying its banks in the interior. the crevasse through which it issues is wild and romantic in the extreme. high cliffs of basalt are the confines of the water. this, on reaching the plain, is parted with several streams, (to compare great things with small,) in the fashion of the nile or the ganges; which the jordan is not, either at its entrance into this lake or its entrance into the dead sea. all the streams are fringed with oleander; and, in the extreme heat of the day, the horses enjoyed not only their drinking, but their wading through the rolling water. this was the boundary between bashan and gilead, through the latter of which we had hitherto been travelling, and gave name to the great battle a.d. , where the victory obtained by the fierce _khalid_ and the mild _abu obeidah_ decided the fate of palestine, and opened the way of the moslems to jerusalem. over an extent of four or five miles, before reaching the jordan, a rich harvest of wheat was being reaped upon the plain. we first attempted to cross at _samakh_, but finding it impossible at that season, had to turn back to the ford at the broken bridge, which the natives call the 'mother of arches,' (_umm el kanater_;) and even there the water was still deep. corn-fields and flocks of sheep in every direction; but all the shepherds carrying firearms. we most of us lay down on our breasts to drink greedily once more from the dear old river; and then we crossed the jordan into the land of canaan, going on to tiberias, and passing on the way some franciscan monks. what a change of associations from those of the country we had traversed exclusively for the last nine days! how absurd the sudden and unexpected contrast from old 'abdu'l 'azeez and the brilliant young 'ali deab in the freedom of the desert, to the cowl and the convent of the monks--from the grand savage language of the ishmaelite to the mellifluous italian. at the hot baths of the lake we found our tents already pitched, and my old friend the missionary,--thomson, from bayroot,--who had been travelling on the eastern side of the lake, (a territory so little known,) and, as he and i believed, had discovered the true gadara. we compared notes about affairs of the arabs at the time. several of the juvenile travellers set themselves to swimming before dinner at sunset, the huge hills at the back casting long shadows across the lake. we all had tea together, as we were to separate to our several destinations in the morning; and on my retiring to sleep, the thermometer was at degrees fahrenheit inside the open tent. _saturday_, _th_.--bathing before the sun rose. our travellers engaged the boat from tiberias for the day, and it came up from the town to our camp with the sail spread. large flights of aquatic birds as usual flitting and diving about the lake, and the fish abundant, rising and splashing at the surface. for an hour or two before starting on my way southwards, i lay on the beach contemplating the lovely scenery, and collecting my thoughts, both as to the past and for the future. the principal object of meditation was of course the placid lake itself-- "dear with the thoughts of him we love so well." then the noble old mountain of hermon, crowned with snow, now called _jebel esh shaikh_; which the sidonians called sirion; and the amorites called shenir, (deut. iii. .) next the ever-celebrated jordan, with its typical resemblance to the limit dividing this life from the purchased possession of heaven,--recalling so much of bright images of christian poetry employed to cheer the weary pilgrim, in anticipation of the time when "we'll range the sweet fields on the banks of the river, and sing of salvation for ever and ever!" gratefully acknowledging the providence which had brought us happily so far, the present writer then girded up his mental loins, and returned to jerusalem; but on the way occasionally glancing towards the eastward range of mountains,--the land of gilead,--now called belka and 'ajloon, lately traversed; and with a feeling unknown since the verses were first echoed in childhood, the words involuntarily issue from the lips: "sihon, king of the amorites, for his mercy endureth for ever, and og the king of bashan, for his mercy endureth for ever!" having learned that 'akeeli aga el hhasi was encamped on the jordan side, at no great distance, i resolved to visit this personage, who has since then become much more famous as a french protege, being an arab of algeria, but at this time only noted as having been the guide of the united states expedition to the dead sea in , and as being at the moment commissioned by the turks as a kaimakam of the district, seeing that they could not hold even nominal rule there without him. at my starting there came up from his post a messenger, hhasan aga, the bosniac officer of bashi bozuk, to conduct me to the tents. the aga was dressed in a crimson silk long coat, over which was a scarlet jacket embroidered in gold, and on his legs the albanian full kilt, or fustinella, of white calico; his saddle cloth was of pea-green silk with a white border, and yellow worsted network protected the horse's belly from flies, also a rich cloth with tassels lay over the horse's loins. proceeded southwards, and passed the broken bridge before mentioned. harvest everywhere in progress, and the produce being carried home on asses to the village of _'abadiyeh_, adjoining to the houses of which were square and flat tents made of palm-leaf matting as residences of the ghawarineh arabs. came to the ruins of a wretched little village called _belhhamiyeh_, formerly under the patronage of the 'adwan; and thence appeared in full view upon the hill above the great castle of the crusaders called belvoir, but now named _cocab_, or _cocab el hawa_. upon the plain by the river side was the encampment scattered about, and several european tents among the others denoted the presence of turkish soldiers. we could see the jis'r el mejama'a, the bridge leading across to the land of gilead. rode up to 'akeeli's tent, and found with him the formidable shaikh fendi el faiz of the beni sukh'r, and a musician with his rebabeh. a slave was making coffee on a fire of dried camel's dung, although it was in the fast of ramadan. we conversed guardedly about deab and the rest of the 'adwan, and the camp at _dahair el hhumar_. 'akeeli then had brought in for his amusement a wild beast called a _fahh'd_, differing from a panther in being larger and in having black stripes down the face; it seemed wild enough, but was confined by a rope, the pulling of which, and alternately patting the creature was the amusement or occupation of the aga. they brought me some coffee and water to drink, whereupon 'akeeli called for some too, and said to me--"these fools of mohammedans are keeping ramadan, but i am a frenchman," he then drank off the water. this man, whom lynch, the american commander, styles a "magnificent savage," was savage enough in manners, and dirty, and half-naked. he has since, however, made his influence felt, and may perhaps do so again. altogether, my reception was not one in accordance with my notions of arab hospitality. perhaps he did not wish me to espy what was going on about him in company with shaikh fendi el faiz, so i took my leave, riding towards cocab. at an arab encampment we got some _leben sheneeni_, (soured fresh milk, most delicious in hot weather,) and drank almost a pailful of it between myself, the kawwas, and the muleteer. the heat was prodigious. in the camp were only women and children at home: the former employed in weaving and dyeing woollen trappings for horses,--serving to keep off the plague of flies,--of which articles we bought two. 'akeeli had sent an escort to accompany us as far us the castle. one of the men was a care-worn old fellow from the far north, wearing a very heavy sheepskin coat with wide sleeves, to keep out the scorching heat of the sun, and his face covered with a _mandeel_ or cotton handkerchief, to protect him from reflection from the ground; his venerable musket terminated in a rusty bayonet. we went southwards until opposite the bridge, then turned westward to the hills, and forded the water of _wadi berreh_. the ascent was difficult and long, during which our escort carried on a conversation in the arnaout language. at the summit i sent on the servants and baggage to jeneen, there to pitch the tents for us--the sheepskin man, the kawwas, and i turned aside to survey the old castle at cocab el hawa. it has been a large and noble erection in a strong natural position; the trench and sloping walls are pretty perfect, the stone-work being still sharp-edged; the portion of the defences looking towards the jordan consists of large stones rabbeted, equal to any work in jerusalem or elsewhere, which must be an indication of a fortress long before the time of the crusaders--though the stones are not of dimensions equal to those of the jerusalem temple wall. all the masonry, except the rabbeted work, is constructed from the dark basalt which abounds in that district. all the space within walls, not remaining entire, and part of the trench, is occupied by miserable hovels, forming a sort of village, with patches of tobacco cultivation attached to the dwellings. but what can one say in description of the glorious prospect from that eminence? it seemed to me to exceed the wonders of nebi osha: the principal objects in view being the lake of tiberias, the river jordan, tabor, duhy, beisan, carmel, hermon, a stretch of the hauran, and the cleft of the yarmuk. one thing surprised me, which was to see how far south cocab is from tabor, it had never appeared so before from the direction of jeneen or of nazareth. it was due east from _duhy_; the best way of getting at it from nabloos is across the plain of jezreel. it is distinguishable from a great distance by means of a white-washed tower standing in the midst of the castle. forwards we went through a village called _kifereh_. as usual the ride over the plain is very tedious and tiring to the limbs--a hilly country in moderation is much more comfortable. we reached _shutta_, then the tents of the shiukh arabs close under hills, and beneath a hill called _nooris_, and at a mill called _jalood_, we were overtaken by rain late in the year, being the th of may. the sun set a good while before our arriving at zer'een (jezreel); the road was not straight, for a _detour_ was necessary in order to ensure firm ground among the marshes; stagnated water abounds, that has been poured down from the hills of gilboa. we passed the natural cavern from which the jalood water issues on the side of a hill. a large cistern is formed at the place. the inhabitants--such as we saw occasionally--were very unhealthy in appearance. night came on, and dew with it, to which we had been long unaccustomed. the storm cleared off, and we travelled several hours by moonlight. then we saw abundance of fire-flies flitting across our way. overtaking our luggage, we all jogged on slowly together, very tired and silent, till a horseman appeared, who galloped off on our inquiry, "who goes there?" at length we heard the welcome sounds of frogs croaking, then dogs barking, then saw the lights of jeneen, and being ramadan the minaret there was illuminated with festoons of lamps. then we reached the appointed well-known grove of olive trees. our day had been very long and fatiguing--the cattle exhausted. it was saturday night, and the week ended with the intelligence that shaikh barakat el fraikh had declared war against the beni sukh'r, so that we had just passed through the over-jordan country in time to be able to do so. at jerash i had met barakat, and at 'akeeli's camp had met his adversary fendi el faiz. ii. northwards to beisan, kadis, antipatris, etc. october , . leaving jerusalem upon the nabloos road, and crossing the upper portion of the valley which, lower down, after a curve becomes the valley of jehoshaphat, we passed almost directly over the sepulchre of simon the just, of whom such "excellent things are spoken" in the books of the maccabees, and in whose memory an annual festival is kept by the jerusalem jews on this spot on the day called [hebrew text] rather more than a month after the passover. two other saints are celebrated on the same day of the calendar--viz., r. simeon bar jochai, the cabbalist of safed, author of _zohar_, and r. akiva of tiberias. then mounting up the side of scopus, we halted for a few minutes to survey that view of the holy city which surpasses all others, and must have done so in the palmy days of history. it was at the time of mid-afternoon, when the sun's rays pour slantingly with grand effect upon the temple site. i could not but recollect that this was exactly the hour appointed for the daily evening sacrifice "between the two evenings," (hebrew of exod. xii. ,) and think of the choral music of levitical services grandly reverberating among the semicircle of hills. meditations of this nature would lead one far away in varied directions, perhaps unsuited for the commencement of a long journey lying before us. the next object attracting our attention was the roman milestone lying beside the road, shortly [picture: roman milestone] after passing _sha'afat_. this i always make it a rule to examine every time of passing it. at one time i had it rolled over in order to be able to read the inscription; but i afterwards found it tossed with the writing downwards--perhaps all the better for its preservation. the inscription i read as follows:-- [picture: milestone inscription] that is to say, a register of the names of the antonine emperors; but there must have been other names on the upper part, now broken away. then passed under _er ram_ on our right hand, the ramah of the old testament, but as it is not often noticed, may be found in jeremiah xl. , as the place where the babylonish captain of the guard, as a favour, released the prophet, after bringing him with the rest in chains from jerusalem. slept in a house at _ram allah_. this is a village about three-quarters of an hour n.w. from er ram. the weather being cold we first lit a fire, thereby trying the utility of a chimney that was in the house--in vain, for no smoke would pass up it; it all settled in the room itself; and the people excused themselves on the ground that it had never been tried before. probably it was a novelty imported to the place by some of the people who had been employed by europeans in jerusalem; and yet i have always found that the old saracenic houses of the effendis in jerusalem have all of them chimneys; and the word for _chimney_ is well known in arabic. this being almost exclusively a christian village, it was interesting to hear the people addressing each other as peter, james, elijah, john, paul, etc., instead of mohammed, ali, omar, or other such appellations. it is a little beside the purpose, but i may remark in passing, that throughout these countries there are names in use common to all religions,--some scriptural, as abraham, isaac, jacob, moses, or david; and others mere epithets, as assaad or selim. in this village are three priests, (greek orthodox,) idle, ignorant, and coarse men; but the peasantry are a bold set of fellows, speaking and acting very independently of clerical domination,--very indifferent as to whether they shall turn protestants or papists. one thing they are in earnest about, and that is to get schools for their children. ram allah exhibits the same characteristic as all other christian villages in palestine, that of being in good condition--new houses being built, and old ones repaired; contrary to the condition of moslem villages, almost without one exception--that of falling to decay. there is, however, no water here; the women bring it in jars upon their heads from _beeri_, a considerable distance. we made a _detour_ from the high-road, in order to look for _jifna_, the _gophna_ of josephus, where titus and his renowned tenth legion (recently arrived from britain) slept the night before reaching jerusalem. then the eagles were gathered together over the doomed carcass of the city. inquiring our way from ram allah to jifna, some said there was a road without going to beeri; some said there was none. at length we were put upon a pretty decent path. in ten minutes we came to a sort of well with a little water, where women were thumping clothes upon stones; this is called washing in the east. magnificent view westwards of the great plain, the great sea, jaffa, ramlah, etc. we wandered about hills and among vineyards, and came to a small village named _doorah_, in good condition, with water, and excellent cultivation of garden vegetables in small patches, similar to those of selwan (siloam) and urtas; then turning a corner saw jifna at some distance, in the midst of a plain enclosed by hills; and there it must have been that the manipulus with s.p.q.r. was posted in front of italian tents, and the soldiers bustling about or jesting in latin or british language, before their retiring to rest, in the spring season of the year a.d. . becoming entangled among a long belt of vineyards between us and it, and time passing away while our luggage was far on the road to nabloos, we turned aside and regained the high-road at _'ain yebrood_. reluctantly i retreated from _jifna_, for i had wished to discover the precise road upon which titus and his army marched towards jerusalem. passing _sinjil_, _lubban_, and _sawiyeh_, we rested just beyond _sawiyeh_ under the great oak, at the divergence of the valley of _laithma_. beneath its wide-spreading branches a flock of sheep was resting at noon (cant. i. .) from these we got good draughts of fresh milk. as evening approached, we were passing within the huge shadow of mount gerizim; and in nabloos i remained till monday morning,--this being the end of thursday. _th_. preparing for descent into the jordan valley, i engaged, in addition to the usual servants, a horseman of the bashi bozuk, recommended by the local governor, suliman bek tokan. it seemed prudent to obtain this man's attendance, as he might be known and recognised by disorderly persons throughout the turbulent and unknown country before me, whatever might be his character for valour or discretion. two of the native protestants of nabloos accompanied me also for about four hours on the way. passing joseph's sepulchre and the village of _asker_, (is not this sychar? it is near the traditional jacob's well,) we went northwards over the plain of _mukhneh_, equivalent to makhaneh, "camp," in hebrew, (the _moreh_ of gen. xii. , deut. xi. , and judges vii. ) having left the eastern valley with _salem_ (gen. xxxiii. ) on our right. to my surprise the plain was soon and abruptly terminated at the foot of a very lofty mountain, and we commenced a descent among chasms of great convulsions of nature, displaying remarkable contortions of geological strata. this brought us into the wadi _en-nab_, so called from the growth there of a fruit-tree, (the jujube,) bearing that name, better in quality than anywhere else in palestine; and, indeed, the tree is found in but few other places. at the confluence of this valley with the wadi _bedan_ there are several fragments of ancient columns remaining, quite four feet in diameter. hitherto we had met many more peasants travelling with merchandise than i had expected. they were all going in one direction, namely, towards nabloos, and therefore from es-salt in gilead, beyond jordan. these, however, ceased after we had crossed the water of wadi bedan into the larger _wadi fara'ah_,--which is, however, the high-road to es-salt. soon afterwards we observed, by our wayside, a square of solid ancient masonry, three courses high. in england this would be certainly the pedestal of some old demolished market-cross; but it may have been the lower part of some memorial pyramid. in the previous year i had seen just such another at ziph (josh. xv. ,) beyond hebron. then we came upon a distinct piece of roman paved road, which showed that we were upon the high-road between neapolis and scythopolis, _alias_ shechem and bethshan, _alias_ nabloos and beisan.--crossed a stream richly bordered with rosy-blossomed oleander, and soon turned the head of the water. a demolished castle was on our right, commanding the entrance of wadi fara'ah. soon after noon we gained the olive-trees alongside of _tubas_, a prosperous village, yet inhabited by a people as rude and coarse as their neighbours. tubas is always liable to incursions from the eastern bedaween, and always subject to the local wars of the tokan and 'abdu'l hadi factions. i have known it to be repeatedly plundered. the natural soil here is so fertile that its wheat and its oil, together with those of _hanoon_, fetch the highest prices in towns; and the grain is particularly sought after as seed for other districts. the place, however, is most remarkable to us as being the _thebez_ of judges ix. , where abimelech was slain by the women hurling a millstone on his head from the wall. the more i become acquainted with the peculiar population of _jebel nabloos_, (_i.e._ the territory of which nabloos is the metropolis,) a brutish people "waxing fat and kicking," the more does the history of the book of judges, especially the first twelve chapters, read like a record of modern occurrences thereabouts. it is as truly an arab history as any other oriental book can supply. i observed that mount gerizim can be seen from tubas,--which fact seemed to give additional emphasis to the words, "and all the evil of the men of shechem did god render upon their heads; and upon those came the curse of jotham, the son of jerubbaal." the site of tubas is elevated. it is still a considerable village, and possesses that decided evidence of all very ancient sites in palestine--a large accumulation of rubbish and ashes. i was told that here, as well as in several of the villages around, there are scattered christians, one or two families in each among the moslems, without churches, without clergy, without books or education of any kind; still they are christians, and carry their infants to the greek church in nabloos for baptism. what a deplorable state of things! since the date of this journey the church missionary society's agents have in some degree ministered to the spiritual destitution of these poor people by supplying some at least with copies of the holy scriptures. here my principal kawwas, hadj mohammed es serwan, found the fever, which had been upon him more or less for the last three days, so greatly increased, that it was not possible for him to proceed farther with me. the fever he attributed to his having, on arrival at nabloos, indulged too freely in figs and milk together. the general experience of the country warrants this conclusion. poor fellow! after several times dismounting, and renewing his efforts to keep up with me, he was at length totally disabled; and our protestant friends, who were now about to return home, engaged to get him into the village, and have him carefully attended to, there and at nabloos, till he should be able to return to his family at jerusalem. i left him under a large tree, gazing wistfully after me, and endeavouring to persuade me not to go down to that gehennom of a place, beisan. { } my forward journey lay through fine olive-grounds and stubble-fields of wheat. in an hour we passed _kayaseer_, a wretched but ancient place, with exceedingly old olive-trees about it. then going on for some time among green bushes and straggling shoots of trees, we descended to the water-bed of a valley. once more upon a roman road, on which at twenty minutes' distance was a prostrate roman milestone, but with no inscription to be seen; perhaps it was on the under side, upon the ground. then the road, paved as it was with roman work, rose before us on a steep slope, to a plain which was succeeded by the "robbers' valley," (wadi el hharamiyeh,) in which we met two peasants driving an ass, and inquired of them "is the plain of the jordan safe?"--meaning, are there any wild bedaween about? the reply was "it is safe;" but the whole conversation consisted of four words in the question, and one in the answer. over a precipitous and broken rocky hill,--the worst piece of road i ever met with,--till we came suddenly upon the grand savage scenery of the ghor, with the eastern barrier of the mountains of gilead. the river jordan is not visible, as is the case in most parts, till one almost reaches the banks. here the vegetation had changed its character,--leaving all civilisation of olive-trees behind, and almost all consisting of oak and hawthorn. we had instead the _neb'k_ or _dom-tree_, and the _ret'm_ or juniper of scripture; the heat excessive. at the junction of the valley with the ghor are three roman milestones, lying parallel and close side by side,--all of them in the shape and size stereotyped throughout the country. this, then, was probably a measured station of unusual importance; and from it the acropolis of bethshan just comes into view. this is known in the country by the name of _el hhus'n_. the ground was in every direction covered with black basalt fragments, among which, however, was corn stubble remaining; and we were told that the crop belonged to the people of tubas. we kept upon a straight path leading directly up to beisan, which all the way was intersected by running streams issuing from the hills on our left, and going to the jordan. the water was not often good for drinking; but at most of these rivulets our attendant, suliman bek's horseman, alighted to say his prayers, out of fright on account of the arab bedaween. tabor n.w. and hermon n.e. were both prominent objects in the landscape, with the town of beisan between the two,--the ground abounding in the kali plant and neb'k trees, with bright yellow fruit, from which we frequently saw clearly desert camels cropping the lower branches, notwithstanding the long and sharp thorns upon them. we marched straight on, from one ancient artificial mound to another, with beisan before us, the streams all the way increasing in width and rapidity,--some of them bordered, or even half-choked, with a jungle of oleander in flower, hemlock, gigantic canes, wild fig-trees, neb'k, and tangled masses of blackberry. some of them we had to ford, or even leap our horses over. we were surprised at such torrents of water rushing into the jordan at such a season of the year. reached beisan at half-past six,--a wild-looking place, with magnificent mountains in every direction around, but all frowning black with volcanic basalt; and the people horribly ugly--black and ferocious in physiognomy. they were just in the busiest time of the indigo harvest; but they had herds of very fine cows brought home, as the sun in setting threw over us the shadow of the mountains of gilboa. my companion from jerusalem looked up with horror to these hills, and began quoting the poetic malediction of david upon them on account of the death of saul and jonathan: "let there be no dew, neither rain upon you, nor fields of offerings," etc. it was indeed a notable event in one's life to have arrived at the place where the body of the first king of israel, with that of his son, the dear friend of david, after being beheaded, were nailed to the walls of the city. jabesh-gilead could not have been very far off across the jordan; for its "valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of saul, and the bodies of his sons, from the walls of bethshan, and came to jabesh, and burnt them there. and they took their bones and buried them under a tree at jabesh, and fasted seven days," ( sam. xxxi. , ). this respectful treatment was by way of grateful recompense for saul's past kindness, as the very first act of his royalty had been to deliver them from danger when besieged by nahash the ammonite (i sam. xi.); and they kept his remains till king david removed them into the ancestral sepulchre within the tribe of benjamin ( sam. xxi. ). to return. the people of beisan urged upon us their advice not to sleep in our tents, for fear of arabs, who were known to be about the neighbourhood. i however preferred to remain as i was; and many of the people slept around the tents upon heaps of indigo plant, making fires for themselves from the straw. before retiring to sleep, i several times found the horseman at his prayers by moonlight. during the night the roaring of the water-torrents re-echoed loudly from the rocky hills. _th_.--we learned that the indigo cultivation is not very laborious. the seed is scattered over the ground, and then the people turn the streams over the surface for inundation. there is no ploughing. this is done directly after barley-harvest from the same ground. there is no produce for two years, but after that period the same stalks successively for five years produce about seventy-two-fold. i bought a timnah (measure) of the seed for curiosity, to deposit in our museum. we finished breakfast, had the tents struck, and the mules laden, all before the sky began to look red, announcing the coming sun. the castle of 'ajloon was a very conspicuous object on the mountainous horizon of the east. i then spent about three hours in exploring the roman antiquities of the place when it bore the name of scythopolis. these are all contained within or along a natural basin, of which i here give a rough map. [picture: scythopolis] the general form is that of an oval, the centre of which has four pediments for the arch of a bridge, or a triumphal arch, over a rivulet that traverses the whole obliquely. from this central square of four pediments extends right and left one long colonnade, or dromos. within the basin, but on the south bank of the water, is the theatre; on the north, and outside of the oval, is the lofty mound, surmounted by fortified buildings, forming the acropolis, the _hhus'n_, which is visible for miles and miles over the country. in the s.e. corner is the modern village--a very insignificant one, but with remains of a christian church, for i should suppose the moslems never built so good a mosque at beisan. of course the present inhabitants use it for their devotions. the building is all angular, with a square tower at the south end. the principal doorway--that at the north end--is perforated into a walled-up large pointed arch. the principal object of my curiosity was the theatre, which, like all those of the romans and greeks, is a building of nearly a semicircle in form, with the extremities connected by a chord or straight line; this latter was the _proscenium_ or stage, and is near feet in length. upon the ground-plan, at half distance from the centre to the outer curve, the _vomitories_ or passages for entrance and exit begin, leaving an open area; these are formed in concentric semicircles, divided across by radii, all coming from the one centre. over these passages the seats for spectators are constructed, rising higher as approaching to the outer curve--and the dens for the wild beasts, when they were to be exhibited, were under the front seats. the vomitories are of the most perfect design for utility, and still remain in complete preservation, all vaulted over with admirable workmanship. [picture: ground plan of the theatre] i looked about in vain for the indentings in front of the rows of seats which had held the [greek text] or brazen saucers, which indentings are stated to have been seen by irby and mangles; but we know that the [greek text] were so placed in ancient theatres for increasing the power of voice uttered upon the stage. the front blocks of the stage are white, and these are brought from a distance. they measure eight feet by four each. but the peculiarity of the general building lies in its being built of the black stone of the country adjacent. i afterwards saw roman theatres at amman and umm kais, as already mentioned in the journey "over the jordan," but they were white; and another at petra, but that was of rosy red. all the three--the black, the white, and the red--were each of its own one colour, without intermixture of others, except that here the stage was of another colour from the rest of the building. i then prepared to mount to the acropolis or hhus'n. the hill is shaped as an oblong square, sloping downwards, and rounded at the four edges. steps have been cut into it for ascending from below. arriving at what appears from below to be the summit, but is not, i found a large platform, improved by art, with remains of houses and cisterns, and surrounded at the edge by a parapet wall five feet thick,--except at the eastern end, opposite to the present town, where one-third of the hill has been left rising considerably higher, and therefore a wall is not required. in this wall, at the n.w. side, i found remains of a very massive gateway, with fragments of older columns and friezes built up into the side work. at this spot the rising hill above is particularly precipitous. i climbed to the extreme summit, but found there no remains of human labour. the view, however, as may be supposed, amply repaid the exertion. in one direction the prolonged ghor of the jordan; and in another appeared the opening of the plain of esdraelon and tabor, with the mediterranean far away, and carmel almost hull down, as one might say of a ship. in the nearer distance were lines of black arab tents, an old khan, ruins of water-mills, and rushing rivulets in abundance, the sources of which lie so high in the adjacent hills of gilboa, that the town and the irrigation of the district are supplied from them copiously. i picked up some tesserae about the acropolis hill, but i saw none elsewhere near beisan,--discovered no inscriptions, and heard of no coins. close to the town there were thick layers of calcareous sediment, containing petrified reeds or canes, of which i brought away specimens for our museum. thus ended my inspection of this really interesting place, so remarkable for being all built of black volcanic stone,--the theatre, the church, and the modern village, besides the rocks all about: add to this the vile appearance of the people, and one cannot wonder at visitors entertaining a dread and disgust at the whole.--i find that i have omitted to mention the mineral quality of the water, the most of which is undrinkable. we left beisan at half-past nine, after examining it more completely than the published accounts of former travellers lead us to believe they have done. thomson's account is of later date. our journey now lay due north, along the ghor to tiberias; and a very pleasing journey it proved to be. in half an hour we had to ford a pretty wide stream, and in five minutes more were among very extensive ruins of an ancient town; upon a tumulus at its farther extremity are lying portions of three huge sarcophagi, and a portion of a thick column. this must be the "es soudah," (_i.e._, _black_,) mentioned by thomson--indeed, all ruins of that district are of black basalt, excepting the columns and sarcophagi. the name _soda_ or _black_ occurs in english as a synonym for _alkali_, and means the black or dark-coloured ashes of the plant _al-kali_ when burnt for use--the white colour of it seen in europe is obtained by chemical preparation. black tents and fires of the kali burners were visible in many directions--a delicious breeze blowing in our faces; but above everything cheerful was the green line of the jordan banks. no snow to be seen at present at that distance upon hermon. at half-past eleven we were beneath some castellated remains of great extent, namely, the crusaders' _belvoir_, now called _cocab el hawa_. our ground had become gradually more undulated; then hilly, and the ghor narrowed: we were obliged to cross it diagonally towards the jordan; forded a running stream abounding in oleander, where, according to his usual custom, my egyptian servant took a handful of the flowers to wear in his waistcoat. then the birds carolling so happily, recalling the well-known lines-- "and jordan, those sweet banks of thine, with woods so full of nightingales." the songsters that i heard were certainly neither the linnets nor goldfinches of other parts of palestine, but must have been the _bulbul_, the note of which, though rich and tender in expression, is not however the same with that of english nightingales. then we came to the bridge called _jis'r el mejama'a_, which is in tolerably good condition, with one large and several smaller arches in two rows, and a dilapidated khan at the western end. i crossed over the bridge into the territory of gilead. the khan has been a strong edifice, but the stones of the massive gateway, especially the great keystone, are split across, as if from the effects of gunpowder. when that bridge was erected, the country must have been in safe and prosperous circumstances; the beauty of the scenery was not found in contrast to the happiness of the people; there must have been rich commerce carried on between the far east and the towns of palestine; and it is in reference to such a fortunate period that the wandering minstrels, even now among the bedaween, sing the songs of the forty orphan youths who competed in poetic compositions under the influence of love for an arab maiden at the bridge of mejama'a. the name is derived from the _meeting_ of two branches of the jordan in that place after having separated above. below the bridge the bed of the river is very rocky, and the course of the water disturbed, but above the "meeting of the waters" all is beautifully smooth and tranquil; wild aquatic birds enjoying their existence on its surface, and the banks fringed with willows and oleanders. how grateful is all this to the traveller after a scorching ride of several hours. then the river, and with it our road, deflected back to the western hills; again the river wound in serpentine sinuosities about the middle of the plain, with little islands and shallow sands within its course. i am not sure that the delight we experienced was not enhanced by the circumstance of travelling upwards against stream. whenever tourists find the country safe enough for the purpose, and have leisure at command, i certainly recommend to them this district of jordan, between beisan and tiberias: of course this presupposes that they visit nazareth before or afterwards. occasionally we came to rings of stones laid on the ground,--these mark the graves of arabs of the vicinity; then a cattle enclosure, fenced in by a bank of earth, and thorns piled on the top. all about this were subterranean granaries for corn, having apertures like wells, but empty. close to this was a ford to the eastern bank. the river has many interruptions certainly, but yet in two days' ride we had seen a good deal of smooth water for boating. at half-past one was reached the village of _abadiyeh_. near the village we saw people cutting twigs of tamarisk and willow. at the village were large plantations of the kitchen vegetable, _bamia_, which is a _hibiscus_, (called _ochra_ in the west indies,) the plants four feet high, with bright yellow blossom. near the regular houses were suburb huts made of reeds. this is often seen along the ghor; they are tenanted by wanderers at certain seasons of the year. there was a profusion of good wheat straw lying wasting upon the ground; it is here too plentiful to be cared for. we saw afterwards a low wall of masonry entirely crossing the jordan, but having now a broken aperture in the middle. in former times these artificial works were common, and served to irrigate the lands on each side. the river was never used for navigation. at two o'clock we reached one well-known rendezvous, the old broken bridge, popularly called "mother of arches." the ford was now low in water. here we rested under a neb'k tree; and on getting out the luncheon, discovered that all our stores of bread, coffee, sugar, and arrow-root had been soaked by the splashing of streams and fords that we had this day encountered. the horseman fell again to his prayers. several arabs from the hauran with their camels, crossed the jordan while we were there. another hour took us to the baths of tiberias; the heat very great, and by our roadside there was a whole mountain with its dry yellow grass and weeds on fire. near the south end of the lake are some palms growing wild. we dismounted at a quarter to four. * * * * * next day i ascended the hills to safed, a well-known station. the place is exceedingly healthy, enjoying the purest mountain air, as is evinced by the healthy complexion of the numerous jews residing there; and the landscape views are both extensive and beautiful. on the following day i undertook a few hours' excursion to _kadis_ (kedesh naphtali), where barak, son of abinoam, and deborah, collected the forces of zebulun and naphtali, for marching to mount tabor against sisera. it was also one of the six cities of refuge for cases of unintentional homicide, (josh. xx. ;) it lies to the n.n.e. from safed. in an hour we obtained a grand view of hermon just opposite to us, and never lost sight of it till our return. passed between the villages of _dilathah_ on the right, and _taitaba_ on the left; the country is all strewn with volcanic basalt. in another half-hour we had _ras el ahhmar_ on our left. then _farah_ and _salhhah_ at some distance to the left, and _alma_ just before us. the volcanic brown stones had on them occasionally a thin lichen of either orange colour, or a sour pale green, like verdigris. about this village were women and children gathering olives from the trees--first beating the boughs with poles, then picking up the fruit from the ground. the small district around here is named "the khait," and the people boast of its extraordinary fertility in corn-produce. down a steep descent of white limestone, where it is said the torrents are so strong in winter that no one attempts to pass that way. rising again, we found near the summit of the opposite hill a spring of water, from which some bedaween women were carrying away water in the common fashion, in goat-skins upon their backs. they were young, pretty, dirty, and ragged. of course their rags were blue, and their lips were coloured to match. pleasant breeze springing up after the heat of the day. corn stubble on the fields, and fine olive plantations, as we got near to kadis, our place of destination; with such a wide clear road up to it, as might seem to be traditionally preserved as such from ancient times, if the talmud be relied upon when it gives the legal width of various kinds of roads, and prescribes twice as much for a highway towards the cities of refuge, as for any other description of road. { } the scenery around kadis is cheerful, but the village itself consisted of only about half-a-dozen wretched houses. in passing by these, towards an orchard at the farther side, we saw some large ancient sarcophagi,--three of them lying side by side, but broken, and some capitals of columns. after selecting our site for the tents, and setting the cook to work in his peculiar vocation, not forgetting to see that the horses were being attended, we procured a guide to conduct us down the hill to the antiquities. there are still evidences remaining that the old city had been wealthy and celebrated--squared stones lying profusely about. at the spring of water: this was received into an embellished sarcophagus for a trough, and adjoining to it a spacious paved reservoir. here began a series of highly ornamental public edifices and sepulchral monuments. we went first to the farthest; and there it was greatly to be regretted that there was not with us an artist able to do justice to the exceeding beauty of the remains. it was a large oblong building, placed east and west, an ornamental moulding running round the whole at four feet from the ground; the roof fallen in. at the eastern extremity have been three portals, of which the middle one was by far the largest; each of these decorated richly by a bead and scroll moulding. the lintel of the principal gate has fallen from its place, and now stands perpendicular, leaning against one of the uprights: this is one stone of fifteen feet in length, beautifully sculptured. some broken pillars are lying about, and several magnificent corinthian capitals of square pilasters, which had been alongside of the principal portal. i have never seen anywhere in palestine any relic of so pure a grecian taste as this temple. { } nearer to the town is a roman erection of large well-cut stones, which have acquired from the effects of time the fine yellow tinge which is remarkable on the relic of the church of st john baptist at sebustieh. { } this was a smaller building than the other, and is nearly entire, except that the roof is fallen in. it is in a square form: at each corner is a solid square of masonry thirty feet high, and these are connected with each other by semi-circular arches, two of which are fallen, and the other two have their keystones dangling almost in the air, so slight is the hold of their voussoirs to keep them from falling. the walls rise half way up these abutments; the doorway is to the south, and has the ports and lintel richly decorated. of the use of this erection i could form no judgment. between the two edifices was a mass of solid masonry, supporting a sarcophagus nearly ten feet long, with a double sarcophagus of the same dimensions at each side of it: not only the middle single one, but each double sarcophagus, was formed of one stone each. can we doubt of the relation which the persons buried in the double ones bore to each other? the sides of these stone coffins are highly adorned with floral garlands, and the lids are lying broken across beside them. oh! vain expectation, to preserve the human frame from violation, by elaborate and durable monuments! there is but one safe repository for the decaying part of man, and that is what the almighty maker at first decreed--namely, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, and dust to dust. the poorest slave, buried in a hole within the ground, is safer from man's greed and violence than the mightiest conqueror; for the massive porphyry sarcophagus of alexander was rifled by caligula, and after that by others, in egypt. and the same fate has befallen the tombs of cyrus and darius in persia, for the sake of the riches entombed with them. some copper coins were brought to us, but of no particular value: they were either corroded or broken, and of no remarkable antiquity. as twilight faded away we returned to the tents, and had the evening meal. the wind rose considerably, so that we lighted a fire on the lee side of my tent, and gazed round upon the strange and noble scene around. there was hermon just before us, seen indistinctly by starlight; and there was sufficient novelty and non-security in the place to keep attention awake. the shaikh of the village came and assured us that in the lebanon (not far distant) the druses were up; that the convent at maaluleh had been sacked, and twenty-two emirs had been seized by the beastly turks (as he denominated them); that abu neked was up in arms, and even the villages in the south, about nazareth, were fighting. of course there was considerable exaggeration in all this, but our muleteer began to pray that he might be soon safe again in jerusalem. the shaikh informed us that in the happy time of the egyptian rule, under ibrahim pasha, his village was so populous that they cultivated fifty feddans of land, whereas now they could only work six; that then property was so safe that arab marauders were always caught and punished, (he had himself had bedaween kept prisoners in his house,) whereas now, under the turks, they come into his house to steal. while he was relating this, a man came running from the village to announce that neighbouring arabs were just before carrying off some of their cows in the dark, but on being pursued, had made off without them. after i got to bed, one of our people shot at a hyaena, and the villagers shouted from the roofs of their houses to know if we were attacked. in the morning they told us that they had seen the hyaena, big enough to eat a man, and that their attention had been attracted to it by the cry of an owl. _saturday_, _november_ .--we returned towards safed over the plain of _alma_. the wheat of this district is renowned far and wide for quality and quantity of produce. the guide told us that at this place were splendid remains of antiquity; but, on arriving, we could hear of nothing but a poor cistern within a cavern. here the black basalt recommences after the region of white limestone where we had been; and then again, at the distance of a good-sized field, we were upon common brown agricultural soil. it is curious how sharply these division-lines of soil are drawn in every direction about this place. { } thence we diverged off from yesterday's road to visit _jish_, passing through ras el ahhmar. most magnificent views of hermon and anti-lebanon. had to go down into a valley, through which, on a former journey, we had passed on coming from _bint jebail_, and visited again the ancient monument in a vineyard by the roadside. it appears to have consisted of one small building. the lower parts of two upright posts of its doorway remain, together with a fragment of the transverse lintel: several pieces of columns are lying about, and pediments of these _in situ_. besides these, there is the following fragment of sculpture [picture: ancient sepulchre near jish] nearly level with the ground, and is probably the entrance of a sepulchre, but we had no opportunity of clearing away the soil to ascertain that. the ornamentation seems to be that of laurel leaves. near adjoining is a fragment of a round pillar, partly buried; but on seeing hebrew writing upon it, i cleared it away partly. some of it was but indistinct. i could only read it thus-- [picture: hebrew writing] --from which not much signification can be gathered. perhaps some cracks in the stone have disfigured the characters; but how and when did a hebrew inscription come in such a place? the site is very agreeable, with streamlets of water tinkling among trees by the roadside. thence we mounted up to the village of _jish_, the place of _john of giscala_, the antagonist of josephus. this seems to have been the centre-point of the dreadful earthquake in , from which safed and tiberias suffered so much. it occurred on the new year's day, while the people of the village were all in church; and just as the priest held the sacramental cup in his hand, the whole village was in a moment destroyed, not one soul being left alive but the priest himself, and, humanly speaking, his preservation was owing to the arch above his head. all the villages around shared the same fate, and the greater part of the towns above mentioned. much damage was sustained all over palestine; and a heart-rending description of the events has since been printed, though little known in england, by a christian israelite, named calman, who, together with thomson, the american missionary, hasted from bayroot on hearing of the calamity, and aided in saving many lives of persons buried beneath the ruins of safed and tiberias, during several days after the catastrophe. this sad event serves for an era to date from; and the jews there, when referring to past occurrences, are accustomed to say, it was so many years before (or after) the [hebrew text] (the earthquake.) among the ruins of jish are no remains of antiquity, except a fragment of the thick shaft of a column and a small sarcophagus, only large enough for a child, in a field half a mile distant. the jews appropriate this to shemaiah abtelin. we passed between _kadita_ and _taitaba_, over land strewn with volcanic stone, beginning near jish and extending almost to those villages. the crater, of very remote times, noticed by robinson, is about one-third of the distance from jish to safed; not very imposing in appearance. the journey from kadis to safed is one of five hours' common travelling. we reached the olive ground encampment shortly before noon. being the jewish sabbath, there was the _eruv_ suspended at the exits of the principal streets. this is an invention of the talmudists, used in unwalled towns, being a line extended from one post to another, indicating to jews what is the limit which they are to consider as the town-wall, and certain ordinances of the sabbath are regulated thereby. a strong wind from the south blew up a mist that almost concealed the huge dark ravine of _jarmuk_, but the night became once more hot and still. _d_.--"and rested the sabbath-day, according to the commandment,"--neither the principal prayer-day of the mohammedans, which is friday, nor the sabbath-day of the large population of jews about me, but that which the early christians so beautifully named the lord's-day, while observing it as a sabbath. i attended divine service in the english language at the house of mr daniel, the missionary to the jews: we were six in number. the rest of the day was spent in quiet reading and meditation, with visits at one time from the rabbis, and at another from the missionary. _th_.--an excursion to _meroon_ to visit the sepulchres of several eminent canonized rabbis. the jews believe this place to be the shimron-meron of joshua xii. . an odd party we formed: there were the missionary and his lady, polish rabbis with very broad beaver hats and curled ringlets on each side of the face, a crowd of jewish idlers walking, the moslem attendants, and a peasant of the village we were going to. certainly the rabbinical riding was not of a very dashing character: their reverences were all mounted on asses with mean accoutrements, for the adjustment of which they often had to dismount. our place of destination lies at the foot of the great hill jarmuk, and the road to it is very rough, with broken rocks fallen from the summit; but the place commands a grand prospect of safed and the lake of galilee. the first object of interest was of course the sepulchre of rabbi simeon bar jochai, the patron saint of this region, and of regions beyond. he lived a miraculous life in the second christian century; wrote the famous book (zohar), by which, if i mistake not, the cabbalists still work miracles; and miracles are performed in answer to prayers at his tomb--so it is believed; and his commemoration festival, in the month iyar (see _ante_) is attended by jewish votaries from all parts of the world, many of whom practise the heathen rite of burning precious objects, such as gold lace, cashmere shawls, etc., upon the tomb, to propitiate his favour. on these occasions scenes of scandalous licence and riot are witnessed, and sometimes lives are lost in conflicts with moslems begun in drunkenness. the rabbis, however, procure great gains from the annual festival or fair. (in the town of safed there is at least one (perhaps more) _beth ha-midrash_, a sort of synagogue, with perpetual endowment, for reading of the zohar day and night for ever.) first we entered a court-yard with a walnut-tree in the midst. at a farther corner of this court is a small clean apartment, with a lighted lamp in a frame suspended from the ceiling, which is capable of holding more lamps. in a corner of this apartment is a recess with a lamp burning before it; in this a roll of the law is kept; it is the shrine itself of the author of zohar. one of our rabbis retired behind us for prayer. in another part of this chamber is buried eleazar, son of the illustrious simeon. these sepulchres are marked out upon the roof, outside of the chamber, by a small pillar over each, with a hollow on the top of it for burning of the votive offerings as above mentioned. near the first entrance gate is a similar pillar for lamps and offerings vowed to rabbi isaac, a celebrated physician. all these three saints still perform as many miracles as ever they did; and the common people believe that any person forcing an entrance to the shrines, without express permission of the living rabbis, will be infallibly punished with sudden death. they cited instances of such visitations having occurred. we then went to the ruin of what the jews assert to have been a synagogue. it has been an oblong square building, one of its sides being formed by the scarped surface of a rock, and its opposite (the north) stands upon what is now the brink of a low precipice, probably from the earth having given way below at the time of the earthquake; indeed it must be so, for the one of the three portals at the east end, which was there, is now missing. the floor is solid surface of rock, and now used by the peasants for a thrashing-floor. the portals have been handsome, with bold mouldings; but no floral embellishment or inscription now remains. [picture: possible synagogue] the transverse lintels are each of one stone; the central one is at least fifteen feet in length. persons still living remember this building very much more entire than it now is. there is an abundance of large loose stones lying about, and fragments of broken columns or moulded friezes. upon the rock by its side is a small tower that was erected by old daher (volney's hero of the report on syria) in the eighteenth century. the village population now consists of about thirty souls, friendly to the jews, from whom indeed they derive their principal subsistence, in consideration of guarding the sanctuaries from spoliation. other sanctified rabbis are interred in sites about the village and the hill. { } after a temperate luncheon upon the rocks among the noble scenery in the open air, and consulting the hebrew book of travels of r. joseph schwartz, (who was still living in jerusalem,) we parted from our rabbis, and proceeded to visit cuf'r bera'am. when we arrived close to _sasa_, there was _jish_ before us on the right. we passed through a district of stones and underwood of evergreen oak; clouds and rain coming on, which overtook us sharply as we reached the village. some of the party being but poor riders, we were later than i had expected to be; it was quite sunset; and the people of the place, (almost all of them maronite christians,) headed by their priest could do no less than press us to stay through the night with them, especially as the sky threatened a continuation of rain. after deliberative counsel being taken among us, it was resolved that we could only thank the good people for their intended hospitality, and return home. we first halted before an ancient square building, the outside of which has been much encroached upon by the alluvial earth of ages, and the simple but correct tuscan portico, encumbered with piles of fagots for the village use during the approaching winter. the three doorways of the facade were embellished by sculptured wreaths of vine leaves and grapes. hearing that some hebrew inscription was to be found beneath one of the windows, we had some of the fagots removed, sufficient to enable us to read the words [hebrew text] (this house, etc.); but on account of the labour required to do more with such a tangled and heavy mass of wood, besides the rain and the lateness of the hour, we were obliged to abandon the task, and go forward to the large decorated portal which is standing alone, without its edifice, in an enclosed field at about a quarter of a mile distant. this is erected upon a raised platform of masonry. upon the transverse lintel we read the following hebrew inscription, neatly engraved:-- [picture: hebrew inscription] (peace be within this place, and all places of the sojourners . . . to the work . . . blessing in his works.) this is all written in one line, without breaks or stops, very small, and in as neat a square character as if lately copied from a printed book. the two uprights and the lintel have a simple and chaste ornament like a bead moulding. the transverse lintel has in the middle of its length a rosette surmounted by a circular wreath, at each end of which may be seen upon close inspection, and in a slanting light, traces of a small animal, most likely a sheep, recumbent, which have been chiselled away. on a visit some years after, and on closer inspection, i remarked the same figures upon the facade of that building above mentioned, with tuscan pillars for a portico, though pains have been taken, as in this instance, to obliterate them. the ground all about there is strewn with moulded stones and broken columns. we reached safed, cold and wet, in the dark, having ridden but slowly, in order to accommodate certain individuals of the party; but it was in the month of november, at an altitude of above feet, with rain and gusts of wind coming between dark mountains. my evening reflections alone naturally ran upon the almost unknown circumstance of hebrew inscriptions existing upon remains of ancient and decorated edifices in this part of the country, while nothing of the sort is known elsewhere. were the two buildings at cuf'r bera'am, and the sepulchre in the field below jish, really jewish? and if so, when were they erected? the modern jews, in their utter ignorance of chronology, declare these to be synagogues of the time of the second temple in jerusalem; and affirm that, notwithstanding the destruction of jerusalem by the romans, this province of upper galilee remained without its people being led into captivity, and that many families (for instance, the jewish agriculturists still at bokeea', between safed and acre) continue now, just as they were then, in the same localities. my good old friend nicolayson, the late missionary to the jews, was willing to believe a good deal about this local stability of jews in upper galilee, and to give credit for a state of much prosperity among the jews in the east during the reigns of the antonine emperors; and his idea was the most probable one of any that i have heard advanced--namely, that these edifices (corresponding in general character with those remaining at kadis) are really synagogues from the era of the antonines, and that the inscriptions are of the same date; meanwhile keeping in mind that they are utterly wanting in the robust style of archaic hebraism, and that the embellishments indicate somewhat of a low period. for myself, after two visits to the place, and many years of consideration, i cannot bring myself to this belief; but rather conclude that they were heathen temples of the antonine epoch, and afterwards used as synagogues by the jews, long ago--probably during some interval of tranquillity under the early mohammedans,--and that the hebrew inscriptions were then put upon them. there is some regularity and method in the writing upon the lonely portal in the field, though even this is not so well executed as the contiguous moulding upon the same stone; but the other two inscriptions (those upon the facade of the building in the village, and that upon the broken column in the field below jish) are put irregularly upon any vacant space that happened to be unencumbered. i am convinced that, in the latter instance, the sculpture and the writing have nothing to do with each other. the surest demonstration, however, to my mind, lies in the evident fact of animal figures having been originally upon the same lintel where the writing now is. although their relief-projection has been chiselled down, the outlines of the figures are unmistakable. these, i feel certain, were coeval with the buildings, while the inscriptions are only coeval with their being defaced. next day we travelled southwards towards jerusalem. on leaving the town we passed the ruins of an old church, which they call "the church of the forty martyrs," (this seems to be a favourite traditional designation, as there are other such about the country) and in half an hour reached a stream in the midst of a wood of neb'k trees, where an arab, riding a fine mare and carrying a long spear decorated with black ostrich feathers, was driving a cow across the water--very probably plundered from some neighbouring village. at _yakook_--the dirtiest place in the world, i suppose, there was a large arab encampment, the men sitting apart from the women, and cooking going on--thence to _hhatteen_. the volcanic stones of this region are far blacker than elsewhere; the district resembles some dismal coal district in the north of england. thence out of the common road to _nimrin_, by _lubieh_, _tura'an_, to _cuf'r cana_, the old and true cana of galilee. at this village of peculiarly scriptural interest, the women and children were spreading cotton pods, just picked, on their house-roofs to dry. here is a square-built cistern filled from a spring within it, and the cattle were drinking from a beautiful sarcophagus. losing our road again we came to _meshhad_, rather west of the usual road. clouds lowering and frowning over carmel. at the village of _raineh_ i noticed a man harrowing a ploughed field by dragging a bunch of prickly-pear leaves after a yoke of oxen. arrived at nazareth. next day, across the plain of esdraelon to _jeneen_ and _sanoor_, where we slept. then by a new road, untraversed by europeans. after _jeba'_, we got into the plain of sharon, through the large olive plantations of _fendecomia_, (_pente_, five, and _comai_, villages--in greek,) between _yaero_, (a ruin,) _adjah_, _rameeen_, and _attarah_, with other villages in good condition. saw cuf'r ra'i very distinctly at a distance in the west, and numerous villages besides. from an eminence we looked down upon an extensive prospect of shaded unoccupied hills, with the wide plain beyond and the mediterranean sea; then descended into a valley, the road winding about through immense olive groves; the travelling was easy, and all the district bore the appearance of prosperity, such as could hardly be expected where we know that factious warfare so frequently exists. passed _cuf'r ruman_. as far as _'annabeh_ the course had been for a long time westwards; but there, at the opening of the great plain, we turned due southwards. this was four hours from _sanoor_, at a good pace. passed between _'annabeh_ and _tool el ker'm_ in changing our course. near _irtahh_ we passed a camel-party going down to egypt with bales of soap and tobacco for sale. we were upon the established route of trade between damascus and egypt, and not very far distant from dothan, where the midianite or ishmaelite caravan bought joseph from his brethren; but we had passed this on our left hand in the morning. soon passed _farra'an_ on our left, with a weli and a cistern below it, by the roadside. _kalinsawa_ in sight, but far away to the right; _ferdisia_ and _zenabeh_ on the left. the day very hot, and the peasantry observed to be, as usual in all the philistine country, cleaner in their garments than those of the mountains. coasted along, parallel to the line of hills, as far as _kalkeeleh_, where we began to turn inwards, across the fields, towards the place of our destination, namely, _mejdal yaba_, which was conspicuous on an eminence before us. this was at six and a half hours from _sanoor_. in a field we arrived at a well, where the water must have been very low down, being late in the year; for it was only obtained by jars or skins drawn up at the end of a very long rope, worked by a long line of women walking across the field, and singing at their work, while the men sat looking on and smoking. we passed the remains of some old considerable town, where, among the fallen building stones and the lines of foundations, there was a cistern, and an ancient sarcophagus by its side; also a deep square well filled up with rubbish, and remains of quarrying work in the solid rock,--besides an unroofed building, with a semicircular arch to the doorway. surely this must have been of roman construction. arrived at _mejdal yaba_ in nine hours from sanoor,--a hot and tiring journey. at a short distance below us was the site of _ras el 'ain_; and farther westwards, but within sight, the tall white tower of _ramlah_. time--sunset. i had a special object in coming off the common high-roads to this place, but little known, at that time not at all known, to europeans,--namely, to visit shaikh sadek, the responsible ruler of the district, and regarded by the peasantry with especial deference, out of traditional obedience to his ancient family. we found the village and the castle in a very dilapidated condition, and the great shaikh not at home. some of his relatives, however, received us; but both they and the peasantry were surprised, if not alarmed, at our coming. to them it seemed as if we were suddenly dropped upon them from the sky. perhaps they had never seen europeans before; or they might have thought us spies sent by the turkish government. there were plenty of idle fellows lounging about; but their supplies of food from the village were scanty, and of inferior quality. the sadek family apologised for apparent want of hospitality,--explaining that the only unbroken part of the castle was but just sufficient to contain the _hareem_ of the women, and there was not a single room to give me. so i was glad to have my bedding and other paraphernalia spread upon a _mustabah_, or raised stone divan, just within the gate. a narrow vaulting covered my head; but it was open at the side to the square court, into which the horses, asses, cows, and sheep were driven for the night. after considerable delay, a rude supper was produced,--of which, however, i could not persuade the family to partake till after ourselves. they then ate up the remainder in company with my servants. they were very solemn and slow in conversation; indeed, i could not but suspect that they had some hostile schemes in preparation, which they did not wish to have ascertained or communicated to their neighbours. troubling myself very little about their local politics, i was soon on my bed, and looking up at the brilliant stars. sleep did not come very soon, as the men kept up firing guns, and the women trilling their songs, to a late hour. they said it was on account of a wedding. daybreak found me up, and in full enjoyment of the exquisite luxury of open air, in a clear and pure oriental climate, before sunrise. [picture: remains of old christian church] the servants were all busied in various occupations, and the peasantry driving out the cattle, while i was surveying the considerable remains of an old christian church, which now forms one side of the shaikh's mansion, and is used for a stable and a store of fodder. this vignette represents its entrance, in a corner now darkened by the arcade in which i had slept. the workmanship is massive and very rude, and the greek of the inscription upon the lintel not less barbarous, signifying "martyr memorial church of the holy herald,"--_i.e._, john the baptist. this discovery interested me deeply, in that region so remote from any body of christians at the present day, and among a population very like savages dwelling amid stern hill-scenery. not less touching was the special designation of the saint so commemorated. i believe that the easterns pay more respect than europeans do to the memory of him whom the saviour himself pronounced to be greater than all the old testament prophets. and while we are accustomed to ascribe to him only one of his official characters,--that of the baptizer,--they take pleasure in recalling his other scriptural offices; as, for instance, this of the _herald_, or preacher { a} of righteousness, and that of the _forerunner_. { b} indeed, individuals are not unfrequently named after him in baptism by this latter appellation, without the name john. this building appears to have been at all times heavy and coarse in construction; indeed, one may fairly suppose that part of the frontal has at some time been taken down, and strangely put together again. this church is the only object of curiosity that i had found along the recent novel route. on leaving _mejdal_, i descended to inspect once more the site so interesting to me of _ras el 'ain_, at half an hour's distance,--which i unhesitatingly believe to be _antipatris_, as i conceived it to be on my first seeing the place the preceding year. i had then passed it rather late in the evening, and upon the other side. _cuf'r saba_, to which i was then going, is a wretched village, of unburnt bricks, on the wide open plain, with no other water near it than the deposit of rain-water in an adjoining square tank of clay. yet travelling authors have constantly pronounced this to be the locality of antipatris. not one of them, however, has visited the place. what does josephus say (antiq. xvi. , , in whiston)?--"after this solemnity and these festivals were over, herod erected another city in the plain called caphar saba, where he chose out a fit place, both for plenty of water and goodness of soil, and proper for the production of what was there planted; where a river encompassed the city itself, and a grove of the best trees for magnitude was round about. this he named antipatris, from his father antipater." [greek text]. no words can be more distinctly descriptive; yet robinson, who had not visited that district, in his positive manner lays down that the village of cuf'r saba is the site of antipatris; and "doubtless" all that is said about "well watered," and "a river encompassing the city," means that some wadi or watercourse came down from the hills in that direction, and made the place watery in the winter season. now, what are the facts remaining at the present day? upon the same plain with cuf'r saba, and within sight of it, at hardly six miles' distance, is a large mound capable of containing a small town, with foundations of ancient buildings, bits of marble, roman bricks, and tesserae scattered about,--but especially a large strong castle of saracenic work, the lower courses of the walls of real roman construction; and at the foot of the mound rises the river _aujeh_ out of the earth in several copious streams, crowded with willows, tall wild canes, and bulrushes,--the resort of numerous flocks, and of large herds of horned cattle brought from a distance, and (as i have seen there) counted by the government inspector of the district, for the levying of agricultural taxes upon them. { } this is our ras el 'ain. for a considerable extent there is capital riding-ground of green grass, so rare in palestine. let any one familiar with that country answer, could herod have selected a better spot for a military station, (as antipatris was,) just on the border, descending from the hill-country upon the plain? with this description in view, we understand all the more vividly the narrative of felix sending st paul to caesarea. to elude the machinations of the conspiracy, the military party travelled by night over the hilly region; and on reaching the castle of antipatris, the spearmen and other soldiers left him to continue the journey with cavalry upon the plain to caesarea, about three hours farther, (acts xxiii. , and , .) it seems impossible to avoid the conclusion that this is the true site of antipatris; and as for josephus calling that neighbourhood "the plain of cuf'r saba," that must be for the same reason as another part of the same vast extent was called the plain of sharon,--or as it is now very much the custom for modern travellers to call the whole philistine plain by that name. as for the statement that a river encompassed the city itself; i imagine that the town was not upon the elevated mound,--this was probably occupied by military works and a temple,--but upon the level of the water, among the serpentine separate streams, which soon combine into one river, the aujeh, with its water-mills, and which was navigable for some distance inland to the north of jaffa. in the course of ages some of these streams may have somewhat changed their direction. the mound has still a dry trench around it, which must have anciently had its current of water through it. it cannot be that the deep trench dug by alexander from antipatris to the sea (antiq. xiii. , i, whiston) can have begun at this village of cuf'r saba, where no water rises, and which is far away from the hills in an open plain. although the words are distinctly, "from capharzaba," the trench must have originated at the river head, _i.e._, antipatris, where there was a fortified castle, and passed round the nearest town, viz., that of cuf'r saba. i should observe, that not only herod did well in selecting this spot for a castle, because of its situation on the verge of the mountains, commanding the road from jerusalem to either caesarea or joppa; but because it lies also upon the direct caravan track between damascus and egypt, nearly at right angles with the other road. the ruined saracenic khan which now stands on the foundations of the roman castle, is of large size, and has a broken mosque in the centre of the enclosure. we rested and breakfasted, from our own resources, (without taxing the arab hospitality of shaikh sadek's family at mejdal,) at the springs of the aujeh,--the water bubbling up warm from the ground, among stones, with aquatic birds flying over us, and the morning breeze sighing among the gigantic reeds and the willows. we engaged a guide for what seemed likely to be a short day's journey to _ras kerker_, the _cursi_, or metropolis, of another dominant family--that of _ibn simhhan_--within the mountains; but it proved far longer than was expected. we were conducted due south, yet so far away from the line of hills that we missed the roman temple of _m'zeera'a_, which i do not know that, to this day, any european but myself has seen. { } to _nebi sari_, which is a pretty weli, two hour only from jaffa. to _runtieh_, which is a poor place. then south-eastwards to _teereh_; near which we started a gazelle across the fields. in that part of the country the population has so greatly increased of late years that there was a scarcity of land for cultivation; and at the end of autumn the villages contest the right of ploughing there by fights of fire-arms. suddenly we turned into a valley, at an acute angle with our previous road. this is named _wadi el kharnoob_--probably from some conspicuous karoobah-tree. in ascending the hill, i looked back, and had a beautiful prospect of jaffa, and a white ship sailing on the sea. we continued ascending higher and higher. before us was a large building on a single hill, which they called _dair musha'al_. passed the ruined village, _hhanoonah_. on our right hand, among trees, was _desrah_. passed through _shukbeh_. how different is the mountain air from that of the plain, so light and so pure! descended a little to _shibtain_, where there was a great ancient well; and being surrounded by hills, the place was very hot. then for some time over very dangerous paths, mounting upwards, till we reached the region of a cool breeze, such as i once heard a peasant say was "worth a thousand purses" on a summer's day. saw _ras kerker_, the place of our destination, high above, in a very remarkable situation; but how to get at it was a puzzle which patient perseverance alone could solve. we rode round and round one hill after another, till we reached _dair 'ammar_. then opened upon us one of those few prospects which in a lifetime impress themselves indelibly on the mind. this was not lovely, but stern, consisting chiefly of a wild, dark alternation of lower hills, with the valleys between them. the villages hereabouts bear an appearance of prosperity--perhaps because turkish officials are never seen there; but the people of _dair 'ammar_ behaved rudely. down, deep deep down we went, leading our horses, in order to rise afterwards to a higher elevation. at length we reached a petty spring of water, where there were some dirty, but otherwise good-looking women, who pointed out our path towards the castle at the top of the hill. the _ibn simhhan_ people (being the great rivals of _abu gosh_) had often invited me to visit them at this castle,--describing with ardour the abundance and excellence of its springs of water, and the salubrity of its atmosphere. on arriving at the "_ras_," after a tedious and very wearisome journey,--difficult as the place is of access,--i found it to fall far below those promises. there are no springs near it. the only water is brought up by the women from the one which we had passed far below. only within the castle (which was begun while building forty-four years before) some old wells, with good masonry stones, were discovered. these are now put into good order, and kept full, probably in readiness at any time against a siege by the faction of abu gosh. many battles and sieges take place in these remote places that the pasha of jerusalem never hears of. although of modern origin, much of the earliest part of the castle is already falling to decay--such as gates, steps, etc. it was a melancholy spectacle to walk about the place, reminding one of some small middle-aged castles that i have seen in scotland, burnt or destroyed during old times of civil warfare; or resembling my recollection, after many long years, of scott's description of the baron bradwardine's castle in its later period. and the same melancholy associations recurred yesterday at mejdal yaba. the people assured us that the tortuous and rocky road that we had taken from ras el 'ain was the best and nearest that we could have taken. we were received by a couple of relatives of ibn simhhan, who is now governor of lydd; but they conducted us to the next village, _janiah_, to be entertained there by the rest of the family. on our descent to the village, we met our hosts coming to meet us. _janiah_ is a poor place; and we had glimpses of curious groups and scenes within the best one of the wretched houses. we were received in a large room, to which the access was by a steep and broken set of steps outside of the house. in the street below was a circle of the elders of the village; and at the time of sunset, one of them mounted on the corner of a garden wall to proclaim the _adan_, or moslem call to prayers. i did not observe that he was at all attended to. a good number of the leading people came to visit us; and one old man quoted and recited heaps of arabic poetry for our entertainment while awaiting the supper. then 'abdu'l lateef ibn simhhan, joined by another, (a humbler adherent of the family,) gave us a vivid relation of the famous battle of _nezib_ in , and of his desertion from the egyptian army to the turkish with a hundred of his mountaineers, well armed, during the night; of how the turkish pasha refused to receive him or notice him till he had washed himself in a golden basin, and anointed his beard from vessels of gold; how the turkish army was disgracefully routed; how he ('abdu'l lateef) was appointed to guard the pasha's harem during the flight, etc., etc. this narrative was occasionally attested as true by a negro slave in the room, who had been with my host on that expedition. the most lively fellow, however, of the party was one hadj 'abdallah of jerusalem, who has two wives, one a daughter of ibn simhhan, the other a daughter of abu gosh!! his property in jerusalem consists chiefly of houses let out to jews, whom he mimicked in their spanish and german dialects. at length came supper; then sleep. * * * * * _saturday_, _th_.--asaad ibn simhhan and hadj 'abdallah rode with us to _mezra'ah_ to show us some ruins of an ancient city near it, called _hharrasheh_, where, as they told us, there are "figures of the children of men" cut in the rock. this roused our curiosity immensely, and i felt sure of success in such company; for though we were in a very wild and unknown country, we had the second greatest of the ibn simhhan family with us, and the hadji was evidently popular among them all. we sent on our luggage before us to jerusalem by _bait unah_ and _bait uksa_. in rather less than an hour we reached _mezra'ah_--the journey much enlivened by the drollery and songs of hadj 'abdallah. both he and asaad had capital mares and ornamented long guns. the latter was all dressed in white--the turban, abbai, etc. his face was pale, and even his mare white. arrived at the village, we all mounted to the roof of a house--the people paying great reverence to asaad. gradually we found the whole population surrounding us, and then closing nearer and nearer upon us. as the heat of the sun increased, we descended to an arcade of the same house, at the end of which there were some itinerant christians mending shoes for the people. a breakfast was brought to us of eggs swimming in hot butter and honey, with the usual arab cakes of bread. the crowd could not be kept off; and the people themselves told us it was because they had never before seen europeans. one man asked for some gunpowder from my horn. i gave some to asaad, and one of the villagers took a pinch of it from him; then went to a little distance, and another brought a piece of lighted charcoal to make it explode on his hand. he came to me afterwards, to show with triumph what good powder it must be, for it had left no mark on his skin. ibn simhhan had to make the people move away their lighted pipes while i was giving him some of the precious powder. he then informed the assembly that i had come to see _hharrasheh_ and the sculptured figures. they refused to allow it. he insisted that i should go; and after some violent altercation and swearing the majority of the men ran to arm themselves and accompany us, so as to prevent us from carrying off the hidden treasures. we rode away; and at every few hundred yards places were pointed out to us as sites of clan massacres, or wonderful legends, or surprising escapes, in deep glens or on high hills. at one time we passed between two cairns of stones, one covering a certain 'ali, the other a certain mohammed, both slain by ---. "by whom?" said i. the hadji gave no other reply than pointing over his shoulder to asaad. i felt as if transported a couple of centuries back to the wilds of perthshire or argyleshire, among the highland clans. the local scenery was of a suitable character. in about forty minutes we arrived at some lines of big stones, that must have belonged to some town of enormous or incalculable antiquity; and this, they told us, was _hharrasheh_. as for columns, the people told us to stoop into a cavern; but there we could perceive nothing but a piece of the rock remaining as a prop in the middle. "well, now for the figures of the children of men." the people looked furious, and screamed. they gathered round us with their guns; but asaad insisted; so a detachment of them led us down the side of a bare rocky hill, upon a mere goat-path; and at last they halted before a rough, uncut stone, whose only distinction from the many thousands lying about, was that it stands upright. asaad observed our disappointment, and said something--i forget the exact terms now--which led me to believe that this was not the object he had meant, and that the ignorant, superstitious people could not be coerced. he believed that this stone had been anciently set up with some meaning--probably by some one who had buried treasures; not as indicating the exact spot, but as leading in a line connected with some other object, to the real place of concealment. so here the matter ended; and, when the people saw us looking disappointed, they went away satisfied to their village. we parted from our friend asaad ibn simhhan, taking one of the peasantry with us to show us the way to ram allah, which he did through vineyards and cheerful scenery; and we were soon again at that village after seventeen days' absence. in about two hours more we were in jerusalem. iii. southwards on the philistine plain and its sea coast. this extensive level is the original palestine--the pelesheth of exod. xv. , and isa. xiv. . so named because it was the country of the pelishtim or philistines (of genesis x. , and _passim_) in the old testament history, extending from about caesarea to gaza, or farther southwards, and from the mediterranean to the hill country of judea, west to east. this district is so exclusively understood in modern times by the name palestine or philistia, that a deputation of oriental christians coming once on a friendly visit, inquired why upon my arabic seal the english consulate was designated that of "jerusalem and palestine," without mention of the other territories northwards to which its jurisdiction extended, such as galilee. i could only answer that the ancient romans called the whole country around, nay, even that beyond jordan, and as far as petra, by the name of palestine, and this fact was old enough for us now-a-days to act upon. "oh, the romans!" they ejaculated, with a curious expression of countenance, as if disappointed at the mention of such comparatively modern people. so true is it that in the holy land, the bible is the only book of history for christians, and scriptural incidents are the traditions which leap over any number of centuries at a time. how little of this state of mind existing among the inhabitants of that country is comprehended in england! but, in reference to the people israel and the possession of it as the promised land, this allotment, shared partly by each of the tribes of ephraim, dan, and judah, has a peculiar denomination--it is called the shephelah, (translated by the common word _vale_ in josh. x. , xi. , and elsewhere.) in arabic authors also of mohammedan period, this large plain bears the same name, _siphla_, meaning the same as in hebrew, the "low country." thus, as one expanse from the hills to the sea, it bears one territorial name, either philistine or hebraic, just as another region is called the _negeb_, or south, (see in the verses referred to above,) or as others were designated the hill country, or the desert, or phoenicia. and many a time have i stood on the summits of hills to the west of bethlehem, the eye ranging over its extent from the vicinity of carmel to gaza, with jaffa and ekron in front, and have sometimes seen beyond this, ships of large size sailing past on the "great and wide sea" of the th psalm. the ancient philistines were not only exceptionally, but generally, a large race of people, and the population there are to this day remarkably tall; they are, even amid disadvantages, (that especially of want of water,) much more cleanly in their persons and clothing than the peasants of the hills, and many of their habits of life are modified by their circumstances, such as the pressure of their wild arab neighbours from the southern desert that lies between them and egypt. over this plain i have made several journeys at different periods, and now proceed to put down my jottings of an excursion in the spring of . * * * * * _may_ _st_.--"sweet may-day" in the holy land as well as in england. at rachel's sepulchre, "in the way to ephrath, which is bethlehem," we parted from a company of friends who had ridden with us from jerusalem, and passed along the valley _duhheish'mah_ to the pools of solomon, then turned aside by the convent and village of _el khud'r_ (or st george), surrounded by flourishing vineyards. then mounting up a stony ridge, we came in view of the wide philistine plain, the hills falling in successive gradations from our feet to the level of the plain, but separate objects could scarcely be distinguished on account of the thick air of the prevailing shirocco; green bushes, however, and abundant wild flowers, including the red everlasting, pheasant's eye, cistus, and some late anemones, were about us; the larks and the linnets were singing with delight. in front was the village of _hhusan_, and two roads led forward, that on the left to _nahhaleen_, _wad fokeen_, and _jeba'_; this was the road that i ought to have taken to _bait nateef_, our place for the night, but being considerably ahead of our baggage mules, i had ridden on with a kawwas, under _hhusan_ and _ras abu 'ammar_; by our wayside lay a defaced roman milestone. a solitary peasant youth, from whom i inquired the names of the villages about us, was so alarmed at the appearance of a european with a turkish attendant, in a place so remote from common high-roads, that he ran off; but finding our horses keeping up with his fleet pace, he dropped behind a large stone and levelled his gun at us in sheer terror; it was difficult to get a rational reply from him. before us, a little to our left, was _hhubeen_, half down a hill, at the foot of which was a valley green with waving crops of wheat and barley. in ten minutes more there opened a fine view of _bait 'atab_, in which were some good new buildings. before arriving at this village, which is the chief one of the _'arkoob_ district, ruled by _'othman el lehham_, i dismounted for rest beneath a gigantic oak, where there were last year's acorns and their cups shed around, and half a dozen saplings rising from the ground, sheltered from the sun by being all within the shadow of the parent tree; with arbutus bushes in every direction, wild thyme and other fragrant herbs serving as pasture for numerous humming bees, bright coloured bee-eaters were twittering in their swallow-like flight, and under the soothing influence of the whole, i fell into a pleasant slumber. some boughs of "the huge oak" were decorated with bits of dirty rags hanging upon the boughs as votive memorials of answers to prayers. probably the site was that of a burial-place of some personage of ancient and local celebrity; but my attendant was positive in affirming that the people do not pray at such stations more than at any other spot whatever. there are many such venerated trees in different parts of the country. i believe that the reason as well as the amount of such veneration is vague and unsettled in the minds of the peasantry, yet the object remains a local monument from generation to generation, honoured now, as were in the bible times--the oak of deborah (gen. xxxv. ), the oak of ophrah (judges vi. ii), for instance, with others. "multosque per annos multa virum volvens durando saecula vincit." by and by the groom overtook us on foot, having scoured about the neighbourhood in search of us. after another half an hour's rest, we followed him across very rocky and slippery hills towards the place of our destination--dwarf shrubs of evergreen oak, honeysuckle, a spring of water, and an old well near the village of hhubeen, with doves cooing, and a vulture poised in the sky above. then a ruined village called _lesed_, { } (as well as i could catch the sound from a distance,) near which, among the shrubs, the gnats troubled our horses exceedingly as evening drew on, which would imply the neighbourhood of water. arrived at _bait nateef_ just at sunset, but no luggage had as yet arrived. this is _netophah_ in the lists of ezra and nehemiah. the chief and elders of the village were, according to custom of the eventide, seated in a group, chattering or consulting, or calculating, probably, about taxes, or respective shares of the common harvest, or the alliances to be contracted for the next border-warfare, or marriages being planned, or the dividing of inheritances, etc. my groom was admitted into their circle, most likely welcomed as bringing the latest news from jerusalem, or as being able to describe this strange arrival, and the road to be taken by us on the morrow. i passed forward to select a spot for pitching the tents when they and the food should arrive. the village shaikh of course tendered all the hospitality in his power to offer, but this was unnecessary beyond a supply of water, milk, and eggs. we waited, and waited: the sun was down; the stars came out, and the moon shone over us; but at length the mule bells became audible, and our dwellings and supplies came up. supper and sleep are needless to mention. _wednesday_ _d_.--the green hills around were enlivened by the clucking of partridges among the bushes, and the olive-trees by the cooing of doves. leaving this position with its extensive prospect, and passing an enormous evergreen oak we crossed a noble valley, and soon reached the hill on which stands _sh'weikeh_, (or _shocoh_ in hebrew.) this large valley runs east to west, and is the _elah_ of scripture, the scene of david's contest with goliath--a wide and beautiful plain, confined within two ranges of hills, and having a brook (dry at this season) winding at half distance between them. the modern names for the vale of 'elah are _musurr_, from the n.e. to near sh'weikeh, and _sunt_ after that. the plain was waving with heavy crops of wheat and barley, and the bed of the stream, bordered by old trees of acacia, called sunt, (in that district called hharaz.) these are of a brilliant green in summer, but as there are no such trees elsewhere nearer than egypt, or the wadi 'arabah, (for they require water,) the people relate a traditional account of their origin, and say that once upon a time the country was invaded by a king of egypt, named abu zaid, bringing a prodigious army; but on the occurrence of a sudden alarm, they decamped in such haste that their tent-pegs were left in the ground, which, being made of sunt wood, struck roots at the next rainy season, and sprung up as we see them. can this be a confused tradition of the rout of the philistines to shaaraim on the fall of goliath? the vale or plain (for in hebrew the word _emek_ is often applied to the latter also when lying between ranges of hills--sometimes even when they are of considerable breadth, as at rephaim and elsewhere) is about three hours or twelve miles long, and spacious enough to allow of military occupation and action; hostile armies might of course also occupy the opposite hills. from the direction of hebron other valleys fall into this wide plain. on another occasion i entered it by that called _wadi 'arab_ or _shaikh_, descending from _'ain dirweh_ and _bezur_ or _bait soor_. wadi 'arab is commanded at its mouth by _kharas_ on the north and _nuba_ on the south. near to the latter are the ruins of _'elah_, which i have no doubt gave name to the valley, and not any remarkable terebinth-tree, as is generally guessed by commentators on the bible, unless, indeed, some remarkable terebinth-tree at first gave name to the village. neither robinson nor porter appears to have seen or heard of this site of 'elah, neither do they mention the route by the wadi 'arab, which lies to the north of wadi soor, which they do mention. southwards, but further inland, lies _keelah_, which i suppose to be the keilah of sam. xxiii. i, the scene of a remarkable incident in david's early career, before retiring to ziph. the name is registered four hundred years before that in josh. xv. , among the cities of judah. this, then, being the valley of 'elah near to shocoh, must have been the scene of david and goliath's encounter. how could the latin monks of the middle ages, and modern roman catholic travellers to jerusalem, ever believe that it took place at kaloneh near that city? the perversion can only be attributed to their ignorance concerning anything in the country beyond the immediate vicinity of their convents. we halted at the ruined village of shocoh (now made by a grammatical diminutive form of arabic into sh'weikeh) after picking, each of us his five smooth stones out of the brook, as memorials for ourselves, and for friends far away, endeavouring at the same time to form a mental picture of the scene that is so vividly narrated in sacred history, and familiar to us from early childhood. there are now no regular inhabitants at the place; only a few persons occasionally live in caves and broken houses about there. some remnants of antiquity, however, still exist, especially the wells, of fine masonry and great depth, at the foot of the hill. this probably represents the lower shocoh mentioned by eusebius and jerome in the onomasticon, "_soccho_, duo sunt vici ascendentibus eleutheropoli aeliam in nono milliario, alter superior, alter inferior, qui vocantur socchoth in tribu judae." some peasants wandering about brought me to the fallen lintel of the door of a small mosque, bearing a rudely-executed cufic-arabic inscription, illegible because, as they said, "it had been eaten by the nights and days." large flocks of sheep were pasturing over the stubble, (for some of the harvest was already cut in that warm sheltered locality,) led by such shepherd boys as david the bethlehemite may have been, and large flights of blue pigeons circling in short courses over our heads. among the demolished houses some women were churning the milk of the flocks in the usual mode, by swinging alternately to each other a sewed up goat-skin, (the bottle of the old testament, josh. ix. ; judges iv. ; ps. cxix. ;) a hill close at hand is crowned by a mohammedan weli (a kind of solitary chapel) named _salhhi_. the view in every direction is most imposing. this rough plan will give a tolerably good idea of the vale of 'elah. across the valley, opposite to shocoh, stands a very fine terebinth-tree. possibly in ancient days there were many such in the district, and so the valley and the village of 'elah may have acquired this name. _'ajoor_ commands a view of the great plain and the sea. from that hill, looking eastwards, the vale has a magnificent appearance as a ground for manoeuvres of an army. [picture: plan of vale of 'elah] near _zacariah_ the wadi es sunt contains but few of those trees. we passed close under that prosperous-looking village with its palm-tree, mounted a rocky path, and went along a valley "covered over with corn," (ps. cxv. ;) here the very paths were concealed by the exuberant grain, so that we had to trample for ourselves a way through it. emerging on the great plain, we had to wade monotonously through an ocean of wheat. how i longed to have with me some of the blasphemers of the holy land, who tell us that it is now a blighted and cursed land, and who quote scripture amiss to show that this is a fulfilment of prophecy. { } in many places, however, we saw how the rich produce had been trampled down and rolled upon by camels, or by bashi-bozuk soldiers on their travels, after their horses were gorged to the full with gratuitous feeding. we met a black slave of 'othman el lehham of bait 'atab, a fine fellow, well mounted and armed, and he told us that a large part of this wheat was his master's property. he had been travelling from village to village upon business. his noble bearing, and his being thus confidentially employed, reminded me of the arabic proverb, that "even a shaikh's slave is a shaikh." in one place i remarked some hundred yards square of fine oats. this was surprising, as i knew that oats are not cultivated in palestine. the people assured me that they were of wild growth, but they were of excellent quality; and as the name (khafeer) seemed to be well known, it seems difficult to understand that oats have not been at some time cultivated in that part of the country. with respect to its arabic name, it is worth notice how near it is to the german name (hafer) for oats. wetzstein has since found wild oats growing on the n.e. of the hauran. arrived at _'ain shems_, the beth shemesh of the bible, (i sam. vi. , _passim_,) where, instead of the large population of ancient times, we found nothing but a weli and some fragments of peasant houses. due north from us as we rested, lay on the summit of a hill, _sora'a_, which is zorah, the birthplace of samson, where the angel appeared to manoah and his wife. the people told us of _amooriah_ to the left, but we could not quite see it, and the same with respect to _tibneh_, or _dibneh_, the timnath of samson's history. all the plain and the low hills formed one waving sheet of corn, without divisions or trees; and often, as we had no tracks for guidance, we had to take sight of some object on the horizon, and work straight forward towards it. it was amid such a wonderful profusion that samson let loose the foxes or jackals with firebrands, taking revenge on the philistines, and he called it "doing them a displeasure!" i have seen from jerusalem the smoke of corn burning, which had accidentally taken fire in that very district. on the summit of a hill, where were good square stones of old masonry, i got into a sheepfold of stone walls, looking for antiquities; but, alas! came out with my light-coloured clothes covered with fleas; fortunately the clothes were not woollen. further on we had _bait ziz_, or _jiz_, on the right, with _dejajeh_, or _edjajeh_, and _na'ana_, or _ra'ana_, on the left; _khulda_ in the distance at n.w.; a vast expanse of growing grain in every direction. the population hereabouts are a fine race for stature, and paler in complexion than our peasantry on the hills; and it ought to be the reverse, unless, as is certainly the case, they are a distinct people. we traversed the plain to _'akir_, which is ekron of scripture, one of the five principal cities of the philistines, and chief place of the worship of baal-zebub, ( kings i. .) all our inquiries had been in vain for any name that could possibly have been gath. the utter extinction of that city is remarkable--the very name disappearing from the bible after micah, b.c. . amos, b.c. , and zephaniah, b.c. , mention the four other cities of the philistines, omitting gath. the name never occurs in the apocrypha or the new testament. 'akir is now a very miserable village of unburnt brick; indeed, all the villages of this district are of that material, owing to the extreme rarity of stone. we saw women cutting bricks out of the viscous alluvial soil, and boys swimming luxuriously in the pool of rain water settled during winter in the excavation for bricks--quarry we might style it, if the material were stone. there was plenty of ploughing in progress for the summer crops of sesame, durrah, etc., and the people seemed rich in horned cattle. this last feature constitutes another difference between them and the hill country. in the mountains, where the bedaween forays are almost unknown, the cattle bred are principally sheep and goats. on the plains, flocks of sheep might be easily swept off by those marauders, oxen not so easily; the people, therefore, principally breed this species of cattle, and instead of idle shepherd boys amusing themselves with little flutes, and guiding the sheep by throwing stones at them, the herds here are driven by mounted horsemen with long poles. the flatness of the country and the frequency of oxen will serve to illustrate the exactness of bible narratives, particularly in the matter of the wheeled carriage and the kine used for conveying the ark of god from this place, ekron, to bethshemesh (i sam. vi.) forward we went to _yabneh_, (jabneel of josh. xv. ii, and jabneh of chron. xxvi. ,) where it is mentioned in connexion with gath and ashkelon. it was a border city of judah, where the _wadi surar_, (called here the river _rubin_,) forms the boundary between judah and dan. i think we may identify it as the "me-jarkon and the border that is over against japho," of josh. xix. . it is the jamnia, where, for a long time after the roman overthrow of jerusalem, was a celebrated college of the talmudists, before, however, the traditions and speculations of the rabbis were collected into volumes of mishna and gemara. it is believed that the truly great and venerable gamaliel is buried here. [picture: ancient church, now mosque, yabneh] yabneh stands on a rising ground, and although a village of sun-baked bricks, it has remains of a christian church, now used as a mosque, with a tower of stone. while resting under a tree, awaiting the coming up of our baggage, 'abd'errahhman bek el 'asali, a companion of ours from jerusalem, threw a stone at a young filly and cursed her, because the colours of her legs were of unlucky omen. on such matters the native moslems entertain strong prejudices, which are based upon precise and well-known rules. on the arrival of our mules, we pitched the tents upon a pretty green common with a row of trees; the verdure consisted of wild clover, and leaves remaining of wild flowers--chiefly of the wild pink. it is an arab proverb that "green is a portion of paradise." the villages in sight were _besheet_ to the s.e., and _el kubeibeh_ to the n.e. our day's journey from bait nateef had been one of only seven hours, viz., from a.m. to p.m. the population seemed very industrious: they have cheerful _bayarahs_, or enclosed orchards, and the open fields were exceedingly well cultivated. the evening scene was most pleasing, comprising the return of flocks and herds from pasture, and the barley-harvest coming home upon asses and camels with bells on their necks--all enlivened by the singing or chattering of women and children. as the day advanced i was happily employed at my tent door reading the arabic new testament; it should have been in hebrew at yamnia, as being more profitable than all the pirke avoth of the talmud. at sunset our party walked out in the fields to shoot the pretty bee-eaters. of this village there is a tale current among the peasantry over the country, which conveys an important lesson for the conduct of human life. an old shaikh of yabneh had five sons. when very old, a complaint was brought to him that some one had stolen a cock; so he called together his sons and ordered them all to search for the cock; but it was not found. some time afterwards it was represented to him that a sheep was stolen; he then commanded his sons to go and search for the cock. they replied, "o our father, it is not a cock but a sheep that is stolen;" but he persisted in his command, and they did what they well could, but without success. after that he was told that a cow was missing; he again commanded his sons to look after the cock. they thinking he had lost his senses, cried, "_sallem 'akalak ya abuna_, (may god perfect thy understanding, o our father,) it is not a cock but a cow that is missing." "go look for the cock," persevered the old man; they obeyed, but this time again without success. people wondered and thought him in a state of mere dotage. next came the news that a man was killed. the father pertinaciously adhered to his first injunctions, and ordered his sons to look for the cock. again they returned without finding it, and in the end it came to pass that the killing of the man brought on a blood feud with his relations--the factions of several villages took up the case for revenge, and the whole town was destroyed, and lay long in a state of desolation, for want of sufficient zeal in discovering and punishing the first offence, the stealing of the cock, which thus became a root of all the rest. there is a good deal of wisdom contained in this narrative or allegory, whichever it may be considered. offenders become emboldened by impunity, and the first beginnings should be checked. _thursday_ _d_.--early dew around the tents upon the green. we mounted at half-past six. i rode up to the village and got to the top of the tower in the village. after an hour and a half of level riding southwards, we arrived at a broad old sycamore in the middle of the road. another hour brought us to _asdood_ (_ashdod_) of the philistines, with _atna_ and _bait duras_ on our left. i do not know where in all the holy land i have seen such excellent agriculture of grain, olive-trees, and orchards of fruit, as here at ashdod. the fields would do credit to english farming--the tall, healthy, and cleanly population wore perfectly white though coarse dresses, and carried no guns, only the short sword called the khanjar. we rested in an orchard beneath a large mulberry-tree, the fruit of which was just setting, and the adjacent pomegranate-trees shone in their glazed foliage and bright scarlet blossoms, the hedges of prickly pear were bursting into yellow fruit, palm-trees rising beyond, the sky was of deep sapphire brilliancy, and the sun delightfully hot. here then had been the principal temple of the fish-god dagon, which fell nightly in presence of the israelitish ark. not the only temple, however, for there is still a village near jaffa with the name of _bait dajan_, and another still further north, in the same plain, but in the nabloos district. strange that this temple of dagon at ashdod should have survived and preserved its worship so late as nearly to the christian era, when it was burnt by jonathan the jerusalem high priest, (josephus ant., xiii. , ; macc. x. .) ought not gath to be sought between this, and ekron, according to sam. v.? see also chron. xxvi. . soon after remounting we arrived at the ruin of a fine old _khan_, one of the numerous establishments of the kind upon the camel road from damascus to egypt, but now every one of them is broken and unfit for use. there was a noble column of granite lying across the gateway, and two welies close adjoining. reached _hhamameh_ at a.m., from which we turned aside through lanes of gardens, and over deep sand towards _'ascalon_, leaving _mejdal_ on our left, with its lofty tower rising over an extensive plantation of olive-trees. this tower is believed to be of moslem erection. passing another village on our left, we at length came to _jurah_, a wretched brick hamlet, stuck as it were against the ancient walls of 'ascalon. we were on the sea-beach at noon. upon this beach lie stupendous masses of overthrown city wall, and numerous columns of blue-gray granite of no very imposing dimensions. a great number of these have been at some time built horizontally into those walls, from which their ends protrude like muzzles of cannon from a modern fortification. this arrangement, with the same effect, is also found at tyre, caesarea, and other places along the coast. the site or lie of the city is principally in two hollow basins, in which the detrition of houses forms now a soil for grain, for fruit gardens and good tobacco. we were shown the ruins of what the people call "the church," where there are several very large columns of polished granite lying prostrate, but neither there nor elsewhere could any capitals be found belonging to the columns. all over the east such objects are appropriated by townspeople as ornaments inside the houses, especially at the mouths of wells. the people pointed out to us from a distance the spot where h. e. zareef pasha had lately obtained the marble slab of bas-relief, which he sent to the museum at constantinople. the walls of 'ascalan are clearly distinguishable in all their circuit, and have been of great thickness. the position of this "bride of syria," as the saracens designated it, is very fine, and the prospect around must have been beautiful; but of this prize of so many sieges and neighbouring battles, the joy of richard coeur de lion, where he laboured with his own hands in repairing the broken walls, only its name with the scriptural and later romantic history remain to claim our attention, and verify the prediction of the prophet zephaniah, ii. - . i found no coins there, and none were brought to me; only some were brought to me in an after-journey at mejdal; i therefore pass by for this time the classical allusions to the fish goddess, deceto. a beautiful head of a female statue, but blackened by fire, brought from ascalon, has since been sold to me, which i delivered to our museum. we remained there an hour, then rode to _naaleea_. the fine plain over which we galloped must have had many an english rider upon it in the crusading times--many a man who never saw "merrie england" again, even in company with king richard. _naaleea_, though built of brick, bears an appearance of real cleanliness; the olive plantation from mejdal reaches thus far. the barley reaped at _berberah_ was, i believe, the finest i have ever seen; and there were pretty roads winding among olive groves, orchards well enclosed by prickly-pear hedges, with bee-eaters skimming and twittering before us. _bait jirja_ on the left; then after a good while _bait hhanoon_ also on the left. reached _ghuzzeh_ (gaza) at p.m. the very remarkable approach is by an avenue of at least a mile long, very wide like a boulevard, through an immense park of olive grounds, with the city for an object of vista at the end. we encamped on the further side of gaza, having the old reservoir called _birket el basha_ between us and the lazaretto. cheerful scene of camels and asses bearing the barley-harvest home, attended by women and children; small flocks of sheep also, with their shepherd lads playing sweet and irregular airs on their _nayahs_. _friday_ _th_.--i resolved to stay here over sunday. the morning was cool, and though our situation was entirely unsheltered, i judged even the risk of exposure to the noontide sun, when it should arrive, not to be refused, while it gave us the blessings of free air from the sea and delivery from mosquitoes, which would certainly have plagued us under the shade of the fruit-trees. there was a mean suburb in front of our position, tenanted solely by egyptians. the sound of the distant sea rolling on the beach (though this was out of sight,) was music to my ears. near us was a fence of the prickly-pear, (named _saber_, or "patience" in arabic.) one of our party referred to its extraordinary degree of vitality, even under disadvantageous circumstances. "yes," replied the 'asali, "she has drunk of the water of life." i went to visit the lazaretto, and while conversing with the doctor (m. esperon,) and the turkish superintendent, four wild arabs were brought in, their hands fettered and chains on their legs, accused of striking a soldier near _khan yunas_. when identified by witnesses merely uttering two or three words, they were removed, cruelly pushed about in their chains and beaten on the head by the soldiers, who enjoyed the cowardly fun which they would not dare to perpetrate had the fine tall fellows had their limbs at liberty. the captain of the bashi-bozuk, having called at my tents with his mounted troop, followed me to the lazaretto. returning home, and after some rest, or rather a visit from some greek christians which gave me no rest, i went to visit the newly-arrived kaimakam, or governor, one of the celebrated 'abdu'l-hadi family of nabloos. his divan room was crowded with visitors of congratulation: such as shaikhs of villages, and some dignified arab chiefs; the latter interceding on behalf of the men recently captured by the quarantine people; the former soliciting their official investitures for their several districts. the house was exceedingly mean and shattered, but this medley of visitors formed an interesting subject of study. i next visited the kadi, (judge,) who was holding his court in the open air, with a canvas screen to shelter his head from the sun, in the midst of orchards and a flower garden. a cause, in which some women were vociferating and screeching in arabic, (to which that language lends peculiar facility,) was suspended in order to receive my visit, and the litigants had to remain in silence at some distance till i left, returning to the tents. all the people here praise the air and water of gaza, and declare that disease of any kind is nearly unknown, except ophthalmia, which, of course, can be generally prevented. provisions are said to be cheap; but the bread, as sold in the market, not so good as in jerusalem or nabloos. probably their excellent wheat is exported to a distance. _saturday_, _th_.--rode southwards on a day's excursion to khan yunas, with my people and an escort of two of the quarantine bashi-bozuk. one of these, named hadji ghaneem, was a hardy old fellow, encircled by pistols and swords; his old gun, that was slung at his back, had the rusty bayonet fixed, perhaps fixed by the rust. the other, hadji khaleel, was an amusing companion, with plenty to tell and fond of talking. started before a.m., passing between cornfields, with numerous larks trilling in the air. at some distance we came to a low hill lying on our right hand, all the ground about being mere sea sand drifted inland. this is called _tell-ul-'ejel_, "the calf's hill," so named from its being haunted by the ghost of a calf, which no one has yet laid hold of, but whenever this shall be accomplished the fortunate person will come into possession of the boundless treasures concealed within the hill. some say that this good luck will happen to any one that is favoured with a dream of the calf three times in succession. all our party professed to believe the local tradition, especially one who had been in europe, and from whom such credulity had been less expected; but he was sure that some tales of that nature are well founded, and if so, why not this? in my opinion, it is probably a superstition connected with some ancient form of idolatry. half-way along our journey we came to a village called _ed dair_, (the convent, perhaps the _dair el belahh_ of the list;) but this appellation dair is often given to any large old edifice of which the origin is unknown. here was a loop-holed moslem tower occupied by twenty men of the bashi-bozuk. such towers are called _shuneh_ in the singular, _shuan_ in the plural. _khan yunas_ is a hamlet of unburnt bricks, dirty and ruinous, which is not always the case with other villages of that material; the reason of this being so, i suppose to be, that most of its few houses are inhabited by turkish soldiers. this is the last station southwards held by the sultan's forces, the next, _el areesh_, being an egyptian outpost. i was desirous of visiting that place had time allowed, not only for the satisfaction of curiosity on the above account, but in order to get some idea from ocular inspection whether the little winter stream or wadi there could ever have been the divinely-appointed boundary of the land promised to abraham and his seed for ever. my prepossession is certainly to the contrary. however, i rode ten minutes beyond khan yunas, and sat to rest in a field beneath a fig-tree; the day was hot and brilliant, but there was a fine breeze coming in from the sea. the scene was picturesque enough, for there was a mosque-minaret and a broken tower rising behind a thick grove of palm-trees and orchards of fig, vine and pomegranate--a high bank of yellow sand behind the houses of the village, and the dark blue mediterranean behind that. with respect to the name of the place, there are many such in the country, and it is a mistake to ridicule the moslems for believing in all of them as true sites of the large fish vomiting out jonah, which they do not. these are, i believe, merely commemorative stations, and we are not in the habit of ridiculing christians for having several churches under the same appellation; also it is not quite certain that all the welies named after yunas (jonas) or moosa (moses) do refer to the old testament prophets. there have been mohammedan reputed saints bearing those names. near this place is a village called _beni seheela_. on the return we left behind us the old hadji ghaneem, with his brown bayonet, and took a nearer road to gaza, not so close to the sea as that by which we had left it. it was an easy pleasant ride, and there were barley crops almost all the way. we reached the tents in three hours from khan yunas. at sunset, which is the universal dinner time in the east, i went to dine with the governor mohammed 'abdu'l hadi; it was a miserable degrading scene of gorging the pilaff with the hands and squeezing the butter of it through the fingers, without even water for drink supplied by the servants. the guests were about a dozen in number, and they were crowded so closely round the tinned tray as only to admit of their right arms being thrust between their neighbours, in order to do which the sleeves had to be tucked back; there was but little conversation beyond that of the host encouraging the guests to eat more. previous to eating, the governor and his younger brother performed their prayers in brief, after experiencing some difficulty in finding the true kebleh direction for prayer, the rest of the company gossiping around them all the time. above our heads was suspended a rude copper lamp, and the terrace just outside the door was occupied by slaves and other attendants; boughs of adjoining palms and other trees were softly stirred by an evening breeze, and the imperial moon shone over all. after washing of hands and a short repose, (the other guests smoking of course their chibooks and narghilehs, and chatting upon topics of local interest,) i asked leave, according to oriental etiquette, to take my departure. _sunday_, _th_.--read the eighth chapter of acts in arabic, and some of our english liturgy in that noble language, with one of my companions. i feel certain, concerning the dispute whether the word [greek word] (desert) in the twenty-sixth verse of the above chapter, refers to the city or to the road, that the true sense of the passage is this, "go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from jerusalem unto gaza"--_i.e._, the way which is desert or free from towns and villages--as in matt. iii. , and other places where the word in question does not imply the common european idea of any desolate wilderness. i enjoyed a sabbath stillness during most of the day, the people having been instructed that english christians observe the lord's-day with more serious composure than it is the habit of native christians to do. in the afternoon, however, the governor came on a visit with a long train of attendants mounted on beautiful horses, for which, indeed, this district is famed--there were specimens of manaki, jilfi, k'baishan, mukhladiyeh, etc., etc. mohammed, of course, discoursed as well as he could on european politics, and stayed long. after his departure i strolled to look at some short columns of marble standing on a slight swell of ground; they are now inscribed to the memory of certain moslem martyrs in battle of our fourteenth century, _i.e._, about seven centuries after the hej'ra. these columns look very much as if they had been taken from some old christian church, then each sawn into halves, and each of the halves partly sliced on one side to receive the inscription. after sunset i dined with old ibrahim jahhshan, and his numerous household, (the principal one of the christian families,) and a troop of friends. it was not a better entertainment than that of the kaimakam yesterday; perhaps, it would not be desirable for him to surpass the constituted authority of the city in such matters. among the company was the nazir el aukaf, (the superintendent of mosque-endowment property,) also a durweesh from lahore, consequently a british subject,--he was full of fun, and wanted me to make him a present of some fulminating balls and crackers; he assured me that in the hharam (sanctuary, commonly called the mosque of omar,) at jerusalem, there were at least thirty such british subjects as himself residing, including his own brother. a turkish soldier present drank wine, as soon as the commissioner for inquiring into the delinquencies of the late governor had turned his back upon the table. before dinner i had accompanied the family to the church, (greek rite,) where the priest was waiting to receive me. it was a poverty-stricken edifice, purposely kept so, in order to obviate the envy and malice of the mohammedans; and all the christians that i saw in gaza were a stupid-looking people; they are few in number, and grievously oppressed by their numerous moslem fellow-townsmen, being far away from the notice of consuls. one cannot but regard with compassion a people who have for ages endured suffering for the name of christ, while facilities are offered for acquiring wealth and honour by apostasy. generation after generation remains still as firm in their christian creed as those before them, and now perhaps more so than ever. i was surprised to learn that it is only about two generations since the samaritans ceased to be a sect in gaza, with their place of worship--they are now found nowhere but in nabloos. there is a slave-traffic in gaza; but it only consists in the consignment of articles already commissioned for in egypt, on behalf of private purchasers in syria--at least, so the world is given to understand. the boundary of the two countries is so near that the arabic dialect spoken here nearly approaches the egyptian. i made some inquiries as to the popular ideas on the achievements of samson at gaza, but only obtained such uncertain and even contradictory answers, that on this journey it did not seem worth while to take any great trouble on the subject; but i certainly had not expected to get better information from either the mohammedans or from the poor ignorant christians there. the night was most beautiful, with full moonlight streaming, and stars peering between the swaying fronds of the lofty palm-trees, which grow more luxuriantly in gaza then i had seen elsewhere. the muleteers singing around their watch-fire. _monday_, _th_.--tents struck and march commenced at a.m. we returned through the great avenue by which we had arrived, but soon diverged upon the road to hebron. alongside of _bait hhanoon_ by half-past eight, where there was abundance of bee-eaters, and these imply fruit-trees. 'abd'errahhman tried to shoot some, but failed, having no small shot, but only bullets for his gun. at nine we left _timrah_ a little on our left. the people everywhere busied in reaping barley--a very lively scene; the reapers, as usual all over palestine, wearing large leather aprons exactly like those used by blacksmiths in england, only unblackened by the forge; the women had face veils of the egyptian pattern. cows, goats, and sheep were feeding at liberty in the fields upon the new stubble. in thirty-five minutes more we arrived at _semsem_, leaving _bait nejed_ on the right. at five minutes past ten we reached _b'rair_, near which we rested for an hour, the day being very sultry, under an old tamarisk-tree, which on the plains instead of _turfa_ is called _itil_. an intelligent old man named 'ali came up to me from the reaping and conversed much on the sad condition of agricultural affairs, complaining of the cruel oppression suffered by the peasantry from their petty local tyrants, and entreated me if i had any means of letting the sultan of constantinople know of it, that i would do so. he particularly described the exactions they had to endure from muslehh el 'az'zi of bait jibreen, and all his family. thence passing over an extensive plain, we had in sight for a long time a distant dair (so-called convent) and village of _karateen_, also at one time a village called _hhata_. at twenty minutes to one we reached _falooja_; the heat had become intense, and incessant swarms of black stinging flies annoyed our horses beyond patience. in fact the philistine plain (which, however, we were now soon to leave) was always noted for the plague of flies, and this gave rise to the ancient deprecatory worship of baal-zebub, "the lord of flies," by that people; there is still a village upon the plain named _dair ed duban_, "the convent (or temple) of flies." later in the summer this plague is said to be so intolerable to horses and animals of burden that travelling is only attempted there by night-time. at length came a rustling noise along the fields and rain fell slowly in drops large as good teaspoonfuls, yet the heat was so great that my coat of nearly white linen did not for some time show marks of wetness; a black cloud from which the water fell accompanied us along the line of route, and the rain from it increased. over the plain going eastwards we had for a long time in view a rocky hill with a weli crowning its summit; on our right, _i.e._ southwards, a conspicuous object, and called _'arak munshiyah_ (the rock of munshiyah.) this is not to be confounded with the similar cliff cropping out of the plain, but upon our left, and called _tell es safieh_. we noticed several deserted villages with small breastworks and turrets of loose construction remaining where the peasantry had of late resisted the raids of the southern bedaween, but unsuccessfully. we were told by a solitary foot-passenger of such incursions having taken place only a day or two before, whereupon our muleteers took fright and hurried on apace. we all examined the state of our firearms, while the storm was driving furiously in our faces. the rain was over as we reached _bait jibreen_, just after p.m. this important place was our station for the day. we pitched in an eligible situation under a line of olive-trees at some distance from the houses, in view of the principal antique buildings. the principal people came out to welcome us, especially 'abdu'l 'azeez, the brother of the nazir shaikh muslehh, for whom i had brought a letter of recommendation from the governor of gaza. we were fatigued as much as anything from the effect of the shirocco wind. then dark clouds from a distance with thunder surrounded us. as the time of sunset approached, the preparations for dinner were interrupted by the driving of a heavy shirocco, low, near the ground, which soon became so strong that the tents began to tumble over, and we took refuge in the house of 'abdu'l 'azeez; there was, however, no rain. here then i was lodged in a house of sun-baked bricks plastered inside with mud, but as clean as such a house could possibly be. there were cupboard recesses in the walls, a fireplace and chimney, wooden nails driven into "sure places" in the walls, (see isa. xxii. ,) strange scratches of blue and red painting in fancy scrolls, etc.; a raised mastabah or dais, and a lower part of course near the door, for guests to leave their shoes there; the whole being roofed by a few strong beams wattled between with faggot-wood. a piece of ancient marble lay across the doorway. the very rudely fabricated lamp was lighted from a huge clump of wood taken burning from the hearth. dinner as uncivilised but as hospitable as could be expected at half-past nine. i should have had my own long before but for the tempest outside. news arrived that eighty people from _kuriet el 'aneb_ (the well-known village of abu gosh on the jerusalem road from jaffa) were escaping to us across the hills, on account of troubles at their home. then we very soon lay down to sleep. _tuesday_ _th_.--'abdu'l 'azeez and his two young sons escorted us in looking over the ruins of old eleutheropolis, as their town was called in the period of early christianity. these consist of a church near the great well, another on a hill farther eastwards called st anna, or, as the arabs pronounce it, _sandanna_, and numerous extensive caverns, probably enlargements by art from nature. the former church has a roof remaining only over one of the aisles; the ground plan of the whole edifice is, however, sufficiently marked out by the fragments of columns _in situ_. st anna is larger and more perfect than this; the semicircular apse is entire, and there are remains of other buildings attached to the church. it stands on high ground, and commands a very fine prospect. the caverns are formed in the substance of chalk hills, often in a circular form, with a rounded roof, through which an aperture admits both air and daylight. antiquarians are puzzled to account for the origin of these, as they are too numerous and capacious to be needed for supply of water; besides that in common times the large well and aqueducts that bring water from a distance would suffice for that purpose. they are likewise too extensive and deep to be required for magazines of grain, such as the villages on the open plains cut into the underground rocks for preservation of their food from the raids of the bedaween; perhaps, however, some were used for one of these purposes and some for the other. near the entrance of one of these excavations, in which there are passages or corridors with running ornament sculptured along each side, we found figures (now headless, of course, since the moslem conquest) resembling church saints in europe--one, indeed, had its head remaining, though disfigured, and the arms posed in the manner of the virgin mary when holding the infant saviour. these were sculptured in the chalk rock itself, and standing in niches hollowed behind them. if these were really what they seemed to be, they must have been made in the era of the latin kingdom, for the oriental christians have never made _images_ of the saints. in two other of these caverns, high up on their sides or within the cupola, we saw short inscriptions of black paint, (if i remember rightly,) the large characters of which had very much the general forms of cufic-arabic, but not the cufic of the old coins. there was also an ornamented cross in this cupola, and other crosses in other chambers. we were totally unable to satisfy ourselves as to how the inscriptions could have been written at such inaccessible heights. certainly the present race of people are unable even to deface them, were they disposed to do so. one excavation we entered with some trouble near the top, and out of some labyrinthine passages we descended a spiral staircase, with a low wall to hold by in descending, all cut into the solid but soft rock; there were also small channels for conducting water from above to the bottom--these demonstrate the use of the whole elaborate work in this instance, namely for holding water. returning to rest awhile in the house, 'abdu'l 'azeez assured me that immensely tall as he is, he had had eight brothers, all at least equal to himself; most of them had been killed in their faction battles, and his father, taller than himself, had died at the age of thirty-one. his sons could neither read nor write; they at one time made a beginning, but the teacher did not stay long enough to finish the job. "however," said he, pointing to the one sitting by us, perhaps ten years of age, "he can ride a mare so that none of our enemies can possibly overtake him." we left bait jibreen soon after a.m., riding through a grove of olives, and soon arrived alongside of _dair nahhaz_, { } and afterwards _senabrah_. by noon we were quite off the plain, and entering a beautiful green valley bounded by cliffs of rock sprinkled with dwarf evergreen oak and pines, the spaces between them being filled up with purple cistus, yellow salvia, and other flowers. this continued for an hour, by which time we had gradually attained a considerable elevation, where we had our last survey for that journey of the philistine plain and its glorious long limit, the mediterranean sea. in another quarter of an hour we rested among the wreck of _khirbet en nasara_, (ruins of the christians,) not far from hebron. thence i despatched a messenger to my old friend the pakeed (agent in temporal affairs) of the sephardim jews in the city, and he sent out provisions to my halting-place under the great oak, above a mile distant from hebron. in regard to the researches after the lost site of gath, i may mention that on a later visit to bait jibreen, i got shaikh muslehh (the government nazir, and the head of his family) to tell me all the names of deserted places he could recollect in his neighbourhood. i wrote from his dictation as follows, but it does not seem that the object of inquiry is among them. in arabic the name would most probably be _jett_ or _jatt_. merash. munsoorah. umm saidet. sagheefah. shemaniyeh. 'arak hala. lahh'm. shaikh aman. 'attar. kobaibeh. obeyah. st anna. fort. ghutt. judaidah. martosiyah. ahhsaniyeh. ilmah. chapter iv. hebron to beersheba, and hebron to jaffa. in august i left my large family encampment under the branches of the great oak of sibta, commonly called abraham's oak by most people except the jews, who do not believe in any abraham's oak there. the great patriarch planted, indeed, a grove at beersheba; but the "_elone mamre_" they declare to have been "plains," not "oaks," (which would be _allone mamre_,) and to have been situated northwards instead of westwards from the present hebron. with a couple of attendants i was bound for beersheba. the chief of the quarantine, not having a soldier at home, gave us a peasant to walk with us as far as the _boorj_, (tower,) with a letter of _our own_ handwriting in his name, addressed to the guard there, directing them to escort us further. scrambling up a steep rough lane, due south from the tree, with vineyards on either side richly laden with fruit, and occasional sumach-trees bearing bright red berries, we were rewarded on the summit by a vast prospect of country, hilly before us in the south, moab and edom mountains to the left, and philistia plains with the mediterranean on the right. all nature was revived by the evening sea-breeze, and the sun in undiminished grandeur was retiring towards his rest. on a summit like this, with a wide expanse laid out for survey, there are large and lively ideas to be conceived in matters of scriptural geography. consider, for instance, on that spot psalm cviii., with its detail of territories one after another. that "psalm of david" declares that god in his holiness had decreed the future dispensations of _shechem_, (there is its position, nabloos, in the north of the circular landscape;) then the _valley of succoth_, (there it is, the ghor, or vale of the jordan,) coasting between _gilead_, _manasseh_, and _ephraim_; also _moab_, with its springs of water, where he would (speaking in human poetic language) wash his feet, at the period of treading with his shoe over _edom_: that remarkable event paralleled in the prophecy of isaiah lxiii., when, in apparel dyed red from bozrah, the conqueror tramples down the people in his anger. the psalmist then has to triumph over _philistia_, that large shephelah stretched between us and the sea--concluding with the exclamation, "who will bring me into the strong city (petra)? who will lead me into edom?" all this was accomplished by the providence of god in the history of david, that shepherd boy of bethlehem, at whose coronation all israel was gathered together at hebron, just behind the spectator on this eminence. to return, however, from the solemnity of these historical meditations to the commonplace transactions of the journey, we had to carry on a considerable amount of wrangling with the muleteers, who were continually allowing their animals to stumble, and the ropes of the luggage to come loose, so that the things fell to the ground; i sent them back, and we proceeded without tents or bedding, only two blankets and our cloaks. the true reason of the men's behaviour lay in their dread of being attacked by wild arabs, and having their animals carried off. it was about sunset, and our track lay over plains of arable land, between hills clothed with the usual dwarf evergreens, of baloot, arbutus, etc., then over eminences with tall fragrant pines, and the evening breeze sighing among their branches, such as i had only once heard since leaving scotland, and that was in the lebanon. old stumps and half trunks of large trees standing among myriads of infantile sprouts of pines attested the devastation that was going on, by means of the peasantry, for making of charcoal, and for supplying logs to the furnaces of hebron, where very rude manufactures of glass are carried on. along a glen which opened into an arable plain with stubble of millet (durrah) remaining, but no village near. there we met a party of arab women, and after them a boy mounted on a camel, who informed us that he was coming from _merj-ed-dom_, lying between us and _samua'_, where there are remains of antiquity, such as large doorways, cisterns, etc. the country was all level enough for carriages; and it is probable that all the way in the south is practicable in like manner, for we know that joseph sent carriages from egypt to his father at beersheba. the _boorj_ is simply a look-out tower, now used for quarantine purposes, ridiculous as they may be in the pure air of the desert. there are relics of a village about it; but as the people are living in caverns rather than taking pains to rebuild their houses, we may infer that they do not feel secure on the very last remnant of fixed habitations towards the great southern wilderness, although under turkish government. they are, however, kept in considerable awe of the petty officers stationed there; for when one of our party was impatient at the intrusion of a cat near our supper cloth, the people besought us not to injure the animal, seeing that it was the property of the _dowleh_ (government.) they furnished us with eggs and milk; and, after our meal, we lay down on the leeward side of the town, to await the rising of the moon. we had a fire burning near us, its red light flickering over the wild scene; the sky with its milky-way over our heads, and the polar star in the direction of england, fixed in its well-known place. the villagers had their own chatting round the watchfire, discussing local politics, chiefly, as to whether 'abderrahhman the governor of hebron was likely to accept the pasha's invitation to meet 'abdallah wafa effendi, who was sent with overtures of reconciliation between the brothers of the amer family. this being a question that bore very nearly on their personal interests. i awoke just as the moon gleamed in the east, but did not arouse the youths for another half hour, till i became apprehensive of evil effects from their sleeping in the moonlight. after coffee we mounted and went forward, escorted by two of the quarantine guardians. there were no more hills, but the remaining country was all of hard untilled ground, with sprinklings of tamarisk and kali bushes, which showed we were entering on a new botanical region. arrived at an arab encampment, where our escort were obliged to hire the shaikh for showing us the way, as they either did not know it, or, which i believe the more probable, did not dare to take travellers over his land without his sharing in the profits, even though they were officials of quarantine. he soon came up, riding a fine mare of the saklawi race, and his spear over the shoulder, glittering in the moonlight. his name was _ayan_, and his people were a small offset from the great _tiyahah_ tribe. we passed several other such stations, of which we were always made aware beforehand by the barking of their dogs, and by seeing the camels browsing or reposing at a little distance from the tents. as the night advanced, the mist rose and increased till the stars were obscured and the moon scarcely perceptible; our clothes also became nearly wet through. we reached beersheba (now called _beer-es-seba_) perhaps a couple of hours before daylight, and after sharing some food, wrapt the blankets over our heads, and lay down with our heads against the parapet stones of the great well, and fell asleep, notwithstanding the cold wet mist. i rose before the sun, and wrote two letters to friends in england by morning twilight. the mist disappeared as the glorious sun came forth; and we walked about to survey the place. the wide plain around was disused arable land, showing in some places some stubble from a recent harvest, but only in small patches, which in the early spring must have been cheerful to the sight. near us was a pretty water-course of a winter torrent, shallow and comparatively wide, but then quite dry. the great well has an internal diameter at the mouth of twelve feet six inches, or a circumference of nearly forty feet. the shaft is formed of excellent masonry to a great depth until it reaches the rock, and at this juncture a spring trickles perpetually. around the mouth of the well is a circular course of masonry, topped by a circular parapet of about a foot high. and at a distance of ten or twelve feet are stone troughs placed in a concentric circle with the well, the sides of which have deep indentions made by the wear of ropes on the upper edges. the second well, about yards farther south, is not more than five feet in diameter, but is formed of equally good masonry, and furnishes equally good water. this is the most common size of ancient wells throughout palestine. two other wells of proportions about equal to the first well were shown us, but they are filled to the brim with earth and stones; and shaikh ayan told us of two others. the barbarous practice of filling up wells from motives of hostility was adopted at this place very soon after abraham had dug them. (gen. xxvi. , etc.) who can tell how often these have been opened, closed and opened again? all arab-speaking people wish to count neither more nor less than seven wells here, and so create the name _seba_; but even in this way the etymology would not hold good, for the term _seven wells_ would be _seba bear_, not _beer-es-seba_. from the hebrew history, however, we know how the designation was first given. gen. xxi. , "wherefore he called that place beersheba, because there they _sware_ both of them," _i.e._, abraham and abimelech. yet it deserves notice that the verb _to swear_ is identical with the numeral _seven_; and in the three preceding verses we find abraham ratifying the oath by a sacrifice of _seven_ ewe-lambs as a public guarantee for the fulfilment of the conditions; the killing of lambs with this view is a usage which still obtains in the country. on a rising ground near the wells are scattered lines of houses, covering a considerable space; but all that now appears is of inferior construction, and of no importance. soon after sunrise the arabs of the vicinity came to water their flocks and camels at the troughs. young men stripping themselves nearly naked, two at each well, pulled up goat-skins of water by the same rope, hand over hand, and singing in loud merriment, with most uncivilised screams between the verse lines. these men were of very dark complexion--not quite black, but nearly so. there were linnets singing also, but in far more agreeable melody; but where they could be was more than i could discover--not a tree or a shrub was within sight-distance. after an hour we commenced our return by a different route from that of our arrival. shaikh ayan and hadj 'othman, of the quarantine, amusing themselves with jereed-playing and other mimic manoeuvres of warfare, which they performed very cleverly. the shaikh being dismissed with sufficient compliments on each side, we proceeded upon the main track from egypt across the plain towards _doheriyeh_, passing occasional parcels of durrah stubble rising out of mere scratches of the soil, varied by the wilderness plants of tamarisk, etc. when one remembers the fact of that same land in the days of abraham and isaac producing a hundredfold of corn, (gen. xxvi. ,) how deplorable it is to see it lying untilled for want of population, and serving only as so much space for wild tribes to roam over it! surely it will not always remain so. crossing a good road at right angles with ours, we met a large caravan of camels going eastwards. the people told us they were going to _ma'an_, (beyond petra,) one of the hadj stations between damascus and mecca, where stores of provisions are always laid up by the government for supply of the pilgrims at the appointed season of the year. approaching the hills, we rested from the heat, which had become considerable, beneath a neb'k-tree, where all the roads between egypt and hebron meet at a point. at the entrance of a valley between the hills the quails were very numerous, and so tame as to come almost under the horses' feet. unfortunately, just at the time when wanted, my fowling-piece was found to be unloaded, that is to say, not reloaded after having gone off yesterday by an accident. it was a relief from the great heat to mount the hills to doheriyeh, although the road was tiresome, winding round and among the bases of almost circular hills in succession. at the village all the population was cheerfully employed in threshing or winnowing the harvest, and their flocks crouched in the shade of the trees. it was early in the afternoon, and we lay down to rest under the branches of a fig-tree growing out of a cavern, which cavern was so large that we placed all our horses in it. we parted from the quarantine soldiers, and took a guide for hebron. the road was good and direct, through a pleasant country, so that we made quick progress. at an hour and three-quarters from doheriyeh we arrived at a pretty glen of evergreen oak and pine; and at the entrance of this glen is a fountain, called _afeeri_, of beautiful water issuing from a rock. shortly after we joined the route by which we had left our encampment yesterday, near the fountain of _dilbeh_, where we had drawn water when outward bound. then came to an ancient well of good masonry, hexagonal in shape, but without water. a cistern for rain-water was close adjoining. reached the oak of sibta in twenty-eight hours after leaving it, well pleased with having been able to visit beersheba, the scene of many ancient and holy transactions, in the days when the great patriarchs, abraham, isaac, and jacob, walked humbly with their god, and god gave them a faith capable of overthrowing mountains. in conclusion, i may express my regret that, although residing in the country many years afterwards, i could not get an opportunity of visiting either beer-la-hai-roi or isaac's well of esek. (gen. xxvi. .) concerning the former we find some indications in an appendix to williams' _holy city_; and i have been assured personally that the latter is still held in estimation by the bedaween tribes, under the name of _esak_, and frequented as a rendezvous for making truces and covenants. on breaking up our camp at abraham's oak, the family took the direct road for jerusalem, while i struck across the philistine plain for jaffa. with one horseman and a kawwas, i diverged westwards from the common road just before the descent to 'ain dirweh, between it and the ruined town of bait soor, (bethzur of joshua xv. ,) leaving hhalhhool of the same verse on my right hand. advanced gradually down a woody glen of the usual evergreen oak and pine. the higher part of the valley is in excellent cultivation, with careful walls, and drains to keep off the winter rains that descend from the hills, although no villages were in sight except in one place on an eminence to the left, where an apparently well-built village was entirely abandoned. it is called _ma'naeen_; and the history of it, as i have since learned, is that it was only a few years before built by a colony of refugees from oppression in sundry villages, who concerted to set up on their own account, without regard to the authority of their family connexions, or of the hereditary shaikhs. so daring an innovation upon national customs was resented by a coalition of all the country round, who made war upon them, and dispersed the people once more to their miserable homes. the turkish government allowed of this proceeding, on the ground that to suffer the establishment of new villages (which of course implies new shaikhs to rule them) would derange the account-books of the taxes, which had been definitely fixed years before under the egyptian government. lower down, where the glen became narrow and stony, a large rock has been hewn into a chamber for some ancient hermit, not unlike the one in the wadi ahhmed between rachel's sepulchre and batteer (bether) near jerusalem, only in this case the entrance is shaded by venerable karoobah-trees, so large as to cover the road also with their branches. we were met by various camel-parties carrying kali for the glass-works of hebron during the approaching winter, also fine mats and other goods from damietta, which, after being landed at jaffa, are thus conveyed by reliefs of camels to their destination of hebron, bethlehem, and jerusalem. on emerging from the valley (wadi arab or shaikh) into the open vale of 'elah, we had _kharas_ perched on an eminence close at our right, and _nuba_ similarly posted to our left. also the ruins of _'elah_ were on our left, and far behind our left hand, in among the hills, on a commanding height, was keelah. we were now traversing the valley of 'elah, which runs north-westwards, and which i have described in my former journey. now, as on that visit, i saw young shepherd lads pasturing large flocks as david may have done over the same ground. this time, however, i had entered the valley from a different point--viz., from its eastern end at kharas, and not where shocoh and bait nateef lie opposite to each other. we then traversed the same country as then as far as the village of _khuldah_, which is a very thriving place, and where, as usual, on the wide plains there are not many flocks of sheep, but herds of horned cattle instead, driven by men on horseback. this is an indication of insecurity, on account of forays of bedaween arabs, from whom on their approach they have to scamper as fast as they can. the same insecurity is attested by each of these villages having its _shuneh_, or little rude tower with a breast-work, in which the peasants may defend themselves when in sufficient force to do so. next came _saidoon_, where we obtained a distant prospect of ramlah and lydd, with gimzo at the mouth of the bethhoron pass, ( chron. xxviii. ,) and ras-el-ain still beyond, with its fountains and rich lands conspicuous on the great plain, backed by the hills of ephraim. then we passed the poor clay-built village of _deaneh_, where the people were winnowing a large harvest of millet, and the government tax-farmers with their soldiers, lent by the authorities, measuring the heaps. lastly, we entered the vast olive grounds belonging to ramlah, and found our tents (which had been sent on by another road) just as the moeddin in the minaret was calling to sunset prayers. i am never weary of the scenery about ramlah; we have there the most picturesque orientalism of all palestine--a warm climate, numerous waving palm-trees, with the large reservoir for cattle drinking, all gilded in brilliant sunlight, together with the busy voices of a considerable population. a burly fellow of a wandering durweesh or sorcerer, with rows of large black beads round his neck, came up to us, and bellowed out one of the ninety-nine attributes of god, according to the moslems: "ya daeem," (o thou everlasting!) this was by way of asking alms. my companion gave him some, which i would not have done. in the morning we ascended to the top of the great white tower, called "the tower of the forty," meaning forty martyrs. this is a favourite appellation of ancient ruins in palestine. i do not know what it alludes to. and from among the comandalune windows i copied the following vignette. [picture: window of the white tower] v. the land of benjamin. who has ever stood upon the scopus hill, north of jerusalem, (his mind first prepared by biblical reading and biblical feeling,) facing northwards, and seeing at one glance, as upon a map, the land of the tribe of benjamin, without desiring to wander about there, were it only to experience the reality of standing and breathing upon the sites of 'anathoth, michmash, gibea of saul, and gibeon? it can be most of it performed in one day, and sometimes a line through it is traversed in that time by english residents of jerusalem, namely, from jerusalem to michmash and bethel, and the return. there is also a pleasant spot above lifta, in a grove of olives, figs, and pomegranates, where europeans have sometimes established summer camps for their families. at that spot it is delightful to repose in the evening shadows cast by the trees, and gaze over the landscape of benjamin, with a deep valley sinking in immediate front, only to rise again to the greater height of nebi samwil and a landscape view extending as far as the rock rimmon, which stands in pyramidal form upon the horizon. there are, however, several ancient and biblical sites known to exist within that circuit that are not visible from either of those stations, and only to be perceived on reaching the places themselves. for instance, bait hhaneena of nehemiah xi. . there is _'adasa_, the scene of a great victory gained by judas maccabaeus over the mighty host of nicanor; this i discovered from the peasants ploughing one day, while resting after a gazelle chase. it is not far from gibeon. "so nicanor went out of jerusalem, and pitched his tents in bethhoron, where an host of syrians met him. but judas pitched in adasa with three thousand men. . . . so the thirteenth day of the month adar [_i.e._ on the eve of purim] the hosts joined battle: but nicanor's host was discomfited, and he himself was first slain in the battle . . . . then they pursued after them a day's journey, from adasa unto gazera, sounding an alarm after them with their trumpets," (macc. vii. - ,) _i.e._ a day's journey for an army, perhaps, that day's journey after fighting; for it is a pleasant ride with respect to distance, as i proved by riding to _jadeerah_, passing through beer nebala. and on another day's expedition alone, i was riding near 'anata (anathoth) eastwards from the village, thinking over the faith of the prophet jeremiah, in purchasing a family estate, the future occupation of which was contrary to all human probability, and after recounting to myself the cities of benjamin allotted to the priests, as anathoth, (to which the treasonable priest abiathar belonged, kings ii. ,) gibeon, and geba, wondering what had become of the fourth city almon, (josh. xxi. , ,) i came up to a hill on which appeared some remains of an ancient town; there my horse carried me up the steep side, and while passing among the lines of foundations on the summit, a peasant who joined me said the place was called _'alman_. some time afterwards, i was riding on the other side of the same hill, in the direction of _hhizmeh_, (the az-maveth of neh. vii. , as i suppose,) when a peasant informed me that the place on the hill was named _almeet_. this corresponds to the other name of the town as given in chron. vi. , and vii. , where it is alemeth. so remarkable a preservation of both names by another people than the jews, after long or perhaps repeated desolations, appears to me almost miraculous, and is a fresh illustration of the exact verbal inspiration of holy scripture. i once visited the rock rimmon of judges xx. . the first part of the journey was made in company with lieutenant vandevelde, going from jericho to bethel, a totally-unknown road; it must have been the same as that taken by joshua after the fall of jericho. this was in . the arabs were unwilling to take us in that direction, probably on account of some local hostilities to which they might be exposed. at first they denied there was any road that way, then said it was so difficult that we could not reach bethel in less than two days, which was ridiculous, considering the shortness of the distance. at length we resolved to find a road without them, and ordered the luggage to go round by khatroon, or if necessary by jerusalem, but to meet us at bethel that night. shaikh mohammed el hejjaz then sent with us his slave suliman. by his having that moslem name, i should suppose this to be a freed-man, inasmuch as it is not the custom to give moslem or christian names to slaves; they may be only called jewel, diamond, cornelian, thursday, friday, etc. it is not uncommon for a freed-man to be still called in popular speech _a slave_; but not in serious earnest or in matters of business, and not unless they are blacks from africa. it is not unusual in the east for a slave, even though still in bondage, to be educated in reading and writing, to be trained in military accomplishments, and so to be employed as confidential agent of property, or trainer of children in the family, riding the best horses and carrying weapons of best quality. and this suliman was a bright specimen of that class of men,--of good bodily presence, merry-humoured, and well-accoutred. the first part of the journey in crossing the quarantana mountain was precipitous, and even dangerous for strangers; but the summit being attained, the whole of the remaining distance was a level plain. we were upon remains of an ancient road, with wells frequently occurring by the wayside; many of them, however, choked up with stones and earth. plodded quietly along, when, about two hours from jericho, we were surprised by hearing human wailing and cries for mercy near us. this was discovered to come from a boy of about twelve years of age who had concealed himself behind a bush of _ret'm_, (juniper of scripture.) he had never seen europeans before, and, on perceiving the hejjaz slave at our head, was apprehensive that we should plunder him of his ass and her foal. he was a peasant of _dair dewan_, { } a village on the way before us. in half an hour more we came up to a cleanly-dressed and pleasant-looking shepherd lad, who was not at all afraid of us. he conducted us to a well of good water, named _beer mustafa_, a little off the road, at the heading of the small wadi _krishneh_; there we rested half an hour. in another hour we reached the ruins of abu sabbakh, from which we had _remmoon_ visible on our right. during all the day's journey we passed through a good deal of wheat and barley cultivation, the crops ripening fast, it being at the beginning of may. in another half hour we arrived at dair dewan, the beth-aven of scripture, { } a flourishing village,--remarkably so, as evinced by its buildings, its fruit orchards, and corn fields all around. progress in such affairs is a sure token of a village being peopled by christians. in the well-kept cemetery belonging to the place, it was pleasant to see an enormous quantity of large blue iris flowers growing between the graves, and often concealing them from view till nearly approached. turning abruptly westward, in twenty minutes we came to the hill of stones called tell-el-hajjar, which i had on a former occasion identified as the site of ai, lying as it does between beth-aven and bethel, (josh. viii.,) and having the deep valley alongside northwards. here vandevelde took bearings, with his theodolite, of points within sight; and in a quarter of an hour from this we reached bethel, (now called bait-een,) that is in less than five hours, including an hour's stoppage at the tell from the 'ain-es-sultan by jericho, where the arabs had, for their own reasons, tried to persuade us that the journey was impossible, or would at least occupy two days. our tents and luggage arrived soon after we did. bait-een has been so often described, and its biblical events so often quoted by travellers, that it is not necessary to do so while professedly dealing only with byeways in palestine; yet this may be said, that no distance of time can entirely efface the exquisite pleasure of exploring ground and sites so accurately corresponding as this did to the topography of the bible, and belonging to events of such antiquity as the acts of abraham and joshua. in the morning i separated from my friends, who were preceding towards damascus, and, accompanied by suliman and a kawwas, went on my way to _remmoon_, (the rock rimmon.) started at half-past seven in a thick shirocco atmosphere, keeping on the northern high road for about a quarter of an hour in the direction of _yebrood_, then turned sharply eastwards over corn-fields, and descended into a deep hot valley. the flowers of the field were chiefly cistus, red or white, and hollyhocks four feet high. then ascended to at least a corresponding height into terraces of fruit-trees well-cultivated; and still mounting, to a fine plain of wheat, at the end of which was remmoon, one hour and a quarter from bait-een. the village is built upon a mass of calcareous rock, commanding magnificent views towards the south, including the dead sea and the line of the jordan; higher hills bounded the north, on which was conspicuous the town of _tayibeh_, near which is a _weli_ or _mezar_ (pilgrimage station) named after st george, who is an object of veneration to both moslems and christians. the people of tayibeh are all or mostly christians, and have a church with a resident priest. we rode up the street of remmoon, and found the shaikh and principal men of the town lazily smoking in the shadow of a house. my object was of course to inquire for a cavern that might be capable of containing six hundred men during four months. the people all denied the existence of such a cavern, but after some parley i was conducted to two separate caverns on the west side of the hill, then to two others on the eastern side which are larger, and to each of which we had to arrive through a house built at its opening. they told me of two others upon the hill, but of much inferior size. those that i entered were not remarkable for dimensions above the many that are to be found over the country. it is probable that the whole of the refugees might sleep in these several places, if there were no village there at the time, which seems probable; but it was merely my own preconceived notion that they all lived in one vast cavern. the text of judg. xx. does not say so. the village is in good condition, and the cultivation excellent in every direction around it. on leaving it for the return to jerusalem i proceeded due southwards. in the fields the people were industriously clearing away stones--a sure symptom of peace, and consequent improvement. crossed a valley named _ma'kook_, and arrived at _mukhinas_ (michmash) in less than two hours from remmoon. rested in the fine grove of olive-trees in the valley on the north of the town for an hour. the birds were singing delightfully, though the time was high noon, and our horses enjoyed some respite from the sanguinary green flies which had plagued them all the way from remmoon; their bellies and fetlocks were red with bleeding. in this matter i particularly admired the benevolence of the slave suliman. yesterday, after a sharp run across a field, perhaps in the vain hope of escaping the tormentors, he dismounted, and the mare followed him, walking like a lamb. he then sat down to switch away the flies, and rub her legs inwards and outwards. to-day he had taken off his bedawi kefieh, or bright-coloured small shawl, from around his head, and suspended it between her legs, then, as he rode along, was continually switching between her ears with a long bunch of the wild mustard-plant. on leaving mukhmas in the hottest part of the day, we had to cross the wadi _suaineet_, along which to our left appeared the northern extremity of the dead sea. at a short distance down the valley there are remarkable precipices on each side, which must be the bozez and seneh, { } renowned for the bold adventure of jonathan and his armour-bearer, and near these projections are some large old karoobah-trees. emerging upwards from this wadi one comes to _jeba'_, (the gibeah of saul, so often mentioned,) upon a table-land extending due east, in which direction i visited, five years before, an ancient ruin, which the people of jeba' call _el kharjeh_; it consisted of one principal building of contiguous chambers, built of nicely squared stones, put together without cement, like several of the remains at bethel. these stones are gray with weather stains, but seldom more than three courses in height remain in their places, though in one place five. from this site, as well as from jeba', there is a very striking view of the northern extremity of the dead sea. the guide told us of a vast cavern in the wadi suaineet capable of holding many hundred men, near to the above-mentioned karoobah-trees, and therefore just the suitable refuge for the israelites, (i sam. xiv. ,) besides the bozez and seneh; and he told us that half-way down the precipice there is a course of water running towards the ghor. few incidents in the bible are so real to the eye and feelings as the narrative of jonathan and his office-bearers when read upon the spot of the occurrence, or near it at jeba'. we passed _jeba'_ at about a quarter of a mile to our right, and in another quarter of an hour were at the strange old stone parallelograms under _hhizmeh_, which had been often before visited in afternoon rides from jerusalem. these are piles of large squared stones of great antiquity, carefully built into long parallel forms, and now deeply weather-eaten. no use of them can be imagined. i have visited them at all seasons of the year, and at different hours of the day, but they still remain unintelligible. they are disposed in different directions, as will be seen in the following drawing of them, carefully taken by measurement in my presence, and given me by a friend now in england, the rev. g. w. dalton of wolverhampton. [picture: stone constructions under hhizmeh] on one face of no. is a kind of entrance, and on the top surface a round hole about two feet in depth, but they lead to nothing, and are probably the work of modern peasantry, removing stones from the entire block; in the former case for the mere object of shade from the sun, and the latter for the charitable purpose common among moslems, who often cut basins into solid rocks, to collect rain or dew for birds of the air or beasts of the field. corroded monuments like these, in so pure and dry an atmosphere, bespeak a far more hoary antiquity than the same amount of decay would do in an english climate. i know of a spot on the side of a wild hill upon the way between ai (as i believe the place called the _tell_ to be) and mukhmas, where there are several huge slabs of stone, rather exceeding human size, laid upon the ground side by side exactly parallel. these can be nothing else than gravestones of early israelitish period, but of which the memorial is now gone for ever. crossing the torrent-bed from the parallelogram, and mounting the next hill, we were at hhizmeh; then leaving 'anata on the left, we traversed the scopus near the mount of olives, and reached jerusalem in four hours and a half of easy riding from remmoon. one ought not to quit the mention of this land of benjamin by omitting the _wadi farah_. this is a most delightsome valley, with a good stream of water, at a distance of rather more than two hours from jerusalem to the n.e. the way to it is through 'anata, already described, from which most of the stones were quarried for the english church in the holy city, and then alongside the hill on which stands the ruins with the double name of 'alman and 'almeet, discovered by me as above-described. once, in the autumn season, a party of us went to wadi farah, and arriving on its precipitous brink found the descent too difficult for the horses; these, therefore, were left in charge of the servants, while we skipped or slid from rock to rock, carrying the luncheon with us. the copious stream was much choked near its source, which rises from the ground, by a thick growth of reeds, oleanders in blossom, and gigantic peppermint with strong smell. there were small fish in the stream, which was flowing rapidly; wild pigeons were numerous, and a shepherd boy playing his reed pipe, brought his flock to the water. need it be said, how refreshing all this was to us all after the long summer of jerusalem. there were remains of a bridge and considerable fragments of old aqueducts, _i.e._, good-sized tubes of pottery encased in masonry, but now so broken as to be quite useless; these lead from the spring-head towards the jordan at different levels, one above another. there was also a cistern of masonry, with indications of water-machinery having been at one time employed there; but all these evidences of population and industry are abandoned to savages and the action of the elements. dr james barclay of virginia, author of "the city of the great king," believes this site to be that of "aenon, near to salim," where john was baptizing, "because there was much water there," (john iii. .) there can scarcely be a doubt that it is the _parah_, belonging to the tribe of benjamin, in josh. xviii. , and that therefore it was a settled and cultivated place before the children of israel took possession of the land. the district around,--indeed, all eastwards of 'anata,--is now unappropriated; parts of it, however, are sown--not always the same patches in successive years--by the people of the nearest villages in a compulsory partnership with the petty arabs of the jordan plain. the peasantry are forced to find the seed and the labour, and yet are often defrauded of their share of the produce by the so-called partners bringing up friends and auxiliaries from the plain, just as the grain is ripening, and carrying off the produce by night, or setting fire to whatever they cannot seize in this hasty operation; and this takes place about two hours from the citadel and garrison of jerusalem. do not ask where is the turkish government! the people are driven to sow the grain upon these conditions, under risk of having their own crops destroyed or devastated near their homesteads, and in no case dare they offer any resistance. i was once unwillingly present at a grievous scene near elisha's fountain. nas'r abu' n'sair, shaikh of the ehteimat, one of the parties at all times in the above-described partnerships, was seated smoking his chibook beneath an old neb'k tree when some christian peasants from _tayibeh_ approached him with deep humility, begging permission to sow grain upon that marvellously fertile plain of jericho. for some reason which did not appear, it suited him to refuse the favour. in vain the suppliants raised their bidding of the proportion to be given him from the proceeds; they then endeavoured to get me to intercede in their behalf, frequently making the sign of the cross upon themselves, thereby invoking my sympathy as a fellow-christian on their side; but on several accounts it seemed most prudent for me to leave the parties to their own negotiations, only speaking on their behalf afterwards by sending a kawwas to recommend kindness in general to the christian villages. it may be that this step met with success, but i could not but be sincerely desirous to have such arab vermin as these mongrel tribes swept off the land. vi. sebustieh to caiffa. in october, , i found myself at sebustieh, the ancient samaria, having come thither from jerusalem by the common route through nabloos, _i.e._, shechem. since that time i have often been there, but never without a feeling of very deep interest, not only in the beauty of its site, worthy of a royal city, or in the roman remains still subsisting, but also in the remarkable fulfilments of biblical prophecy which the place exhibits. the stones of the ancient buildings are literally poured down into the valley, and the foundations thereof discovered, (micah i. .) we left the hill and its miserable village by the usual track through a gateway at its eastern side. down in the valley lay fragments of large mouldings of public buildings, and the lid of a sarcophagus reversed, measuring eight feet in length. at first we took the common road northwards, and ascending the hill above _burka_, from the summit had a glorious prospect of the sea on one side, and of the populous village country, well cultivated, stretched before us; we left the common road to _sanoor_ and _jeneen_, turning aside under _seeleh_, a double village nearest to us, with _atara_ further west. the muleteers had preceded us during our survey of sebustieh, on the way to 'arabeh, and we could see nothing of them before us--the road was unknown to us, and no population could be seen, all keeping out of sight of us and of each other on account of the alarm of cholera then raging in the country. at nabloos that morning, two hours before noon, we had been told of twenty having been already buried that day, and we saw some funerals taking place. at sebustieh, the people had refused for any money to be our guides; one youth said, "he was afraid of the death that there was in the world." so my companion and i, with a kawwas, paced on till arriving near sunset at a deserted village standing on a precipice which rose above a tolerably high hill, and which from a distance we had been incorrectly told was 'arabeh; at that distance it had not the appearance of being depopulated, as we found it to be on reaching it. numerous villages were in view, but no people visible to tell us their names. the district was utterly unknown to maps, as it lies out of the common travellers' route. this village, we afterwards learned, is _rami_, and antique stones and wells are found there. though our horses were much fatigued, it was necessary to go on in search of our people and property, for the sun was falling rapidly. observing a good looking village far before us to the n.w., and a path leading in that direction, we followed it through a wood of low shrubs, and arrived at the village, a place strong by nature for military defence, and its name is _cuf'r ra'i_. there was a view of the sea and the sun setting grandly into it. for high pay, we obtained a youth to guide us to 'arabeh; shouldering his gun, he preceded us. "do you know," said he, "why we are called cuf'r ra'i?--it is because the word cuf'r means blaspheming infidels, and so we are--we care for nothing." of course, his derivation was grammatically wrong; for the word, which is common enough out of the jerusalem district and the south, is the hebrew word for a village, still traditionally in use, and this place is literally, "the shepherd's village." we passed an ancient sepulchre cut in the rock by our wayside, with small niches in it to the right and left; the material was coarse, and so was the workmanship, compared to ours about jerusalem. the moon rose--a jackal crossed a field within a few yards of us. we passed through a large village called _fahh'mah_, _i.e._, charcoal, with fragments of old buildings and one palm-tree. forwards over wild green hills, along precipices that required extreme caution. the villages around were discernible by their lights in the houses. at length 'arabeh appeared, with numerous and large lights, and we could hear the ring of blacksmiths' hammers and anvils--we seemed almost to be approaching a manufacturing town in "the black country of england." { } arrived on a smooth meadow at the foot of the long hill on which the place is built, i fired pistols as a signal to our people should they be there to hear it, and one was fired in answer. to that spot we went, and found the tents and our people, but neither tents set up nor preparations for supper. village people stood around, but refused to give or sell us anything, and using defiant language to all the consuls and pashas in the world. till that moment i had not been aware that this was the citadel of the 'abdu'l hadi's factions, and a semi-fortification. [since that time, i have had opportunities of seeing much more of the people and the place.] sending a kawwas to the castle, with my compliments to the bek, i requested guards for the night, and loading my pistols afresh, stood with them in my hand, as did my second kawwas with his gun, and we commenced erecting the tents. down came the kawwas in haste to announce that the bek was coming himself to us, attended by his sons and a large train. first came his nephew from his part, to announce the advent; then a deputation of twenty; and then himself, robed in scarlet and sable fur, on a splendid black horse of high breed. i invited him to sit with me on my bed within the tent, widely open. the twenty squatted in a circle around us, and others stood behind them; and a present was laid before me of a fine water-melon and a dozen of pomegranates. never was a friendship got up on shorter notice. we talked politics and history, which i would rather have adjourned to another time, being very tired and very hungry. he assured me that when my pistols were heard at the arrival, between and men rushed to arms, supposing there was an invasion of their foes, the tokan and jerrar, or perhaps an assault by the pasha's regulars from jerusalem, under the pretext of cholera quarantine--in either case they got themselves ready. he stayed long, and then went to chat with my arab secretary in his tent, leaving me to eat my supper. he gave orders for a strong guard to be about us for the night, and a party to guide us in the morning on our way to carmel. this personage (as he himself told me) had been the civil governor inside of acre during the english bombardment of ; and his brother had first introduced the egyptians into the country eleven years before that termination of their government. * * * * * in i had arrived at 'arabeh from nabloos by a different route, and turned from this place not seawards as now, but inland to jeneen: whence i again visited it on my return. it seems worth while to give the details of this route. starting from nabloos at half-past ten we passed _zuwatah_ close on our right, and _bait uzan_ high up on the left. here the aqueduct conveying water from the springs under gerizim to gardens far westwards, was close to the high-road. arriving at _sebustieh_ and going on to _burka_ we quitted the jeba' road, and turned to _seeleh_ which lay on our left, and _fendecomia_ high up on the right, _jeba'_ being in sight. soon after this we turned sharply north-west to _'ajjeh_, and thence arrived at 'arabeh in five and a half hours from nabloos. after leaving 'arabeh for jeneen we got upon a fine plain, namely, that of dothan. on this, near to another road leading to kabatiyeh, is a beautiful low hill, upon which stands dothan, the only building left to represent the ancient name being a cow-shed; however, at the foot of the hill is a space of bright green sward, whence issues a plentiful stream of sparkling water, and here among some trees is a rude stone building. this spot is now called _hafeereh_, but the whole site was anciently dothan, this name having been given me by one peasant, and dotan by another. on my return hither a few days later i found a large herd of cattle, and many asses going to drink at the spring. dothan is well known to shepherds now as a place of resort, and must have been so in ancient times. here then, in the very best part of the fertile country of ephraim, is the pasture-ground to which joseph's brethren had removed their flocks from the paternal estate at shechem, and where they sold their brother to the arab traders on their way to egypt. this may help to mark the season of the year at which joseph was bought and sold. it could only be at the end of the summer that the brethren would need to remove their flocks from exhausted pasture-ground at shechem to the perennial spring and green watered land at dothan; this would also be naturally the season for the ishmaelite caravan to carry produce into egypt after the harvest was ended. be it remembered that the articles they were conveying were produce from the district of gilead--("balm of gilead" is mentioned later in scripture)--and it is specially interesting to notice that jacob's present, sent by his brethren to the unknown ruler in egypt, consisted of these same best fruits, "take of the best fruits of the land, balm, honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds." dothan is about half an hour distant from 'arabeh, and therefore six hours or a morning's walk for a peasant from shechem. more solemn, however, than the above interesting recollection, was that of the horses and chariots of fire which had encircled the very hill upon which i stood, when elisha "the man of god," lived in dothan, and smote the syrian army at the foot with blindness, and led them away to sebustieh, (samaria,) kings vi. after leaving dothan, at the falling in of this road to jeneen with that from kabatieh, stands a broken tower on an eminence above the well _belameh_, which dr schultz has identified with the belmen, belmaim, and balamo of the book of judith, (chap. iv. ; vii. ; viii. .) * * * * * to resume--away early in the morning. paid the night-guard and sent a present of white loaf bread and some tea to the bek. it was promised that we should reach carmel in nine hours, across an unknown but pretty country in a different direction from lejjoon and ta'annuk (taanach of judges i. ,) which i had designed for my route, and towards the sea-coast. our guides were gigantic men, beside whom my tall peasant servant khaleel appeared to disadvantage, and their guns were of a superior description to what one commonly sees in palestine. the peasantry also were large men with good guns. first, due west for quarter of an hour towards _kubrus_, situated upon a hill, but before reaching it, turned sharply northwards, through a rocky defile of ten minutes, when we fell in with a better road which, they said, came also from 'arabeh, and on towards a fine village named _yaabad_ in a lovely plain richly cultivated; there were after the earlier crops young plantations of cotton rising, the fields cleared of stones and fenced in by the most regular and orderly of stone dykes. before reaching _yaabad_, we turned due west, our guides alone being able to judge which of the many footpaths could be the right one. reached the poor village _zebdeh_, then over a green hill with a prospect of the sea. caesarea visible at a distance, and in the middle distance _jit_ and _zeita_. near us were ruins of a strong place called _burtaa_, said to have a supply of delicious water. our journey was all over short evergreens rising from stony ground. so lonely--none in sight but ourselves for hours after hours. "green is the portion of paradise" exclaimed our people. at _cuf'r kara_, a clean mud village in the fragments of columns lying about, we rested beneath some huge fig-trees while the luggage, guarded by some of the escort, jogged forwards; for muleteers never like resting their animals, or at least do not like unpacking them before the end of the day's march; the trouble is too great in reloading them. the riding horses were tied up under the trees, and we got some melons and eggs from the village. after an hour we remounted and went on steadily north-west. soon reached _kaneer_, where was a cistern with wide circular opening of large masonry, bespeaking high antiquity. then to _subariyeh_ on a small rise from a hollow with one palm-tree. the well was at a distance from the village, and the women washing there. one man asked one of them to move away while he filled our matara (leathern bottle.) she said she would not even for ibrahim pasha, whereupon he roared out, "one sees that the world is changed, for if you had spoken in that manner to one of ibrahim's meanest of grooms, he would have burned down your town for you." the matara was then filled. in another quarter of an hour we were pacing through a wide riding (as we use the term in the old english forests for a broad avenue between woods.) this opened into a plain of rich park scenery, with timbered low hills all about, only of course no grass: in the centre of this stands _zumareen_, perched on a bold piece of rock. many of the trees were entirely unknown to us southerners; some of the evergreens were named to us as maloch, etc., and there were bushes of saris with red berries. out of this we emerged upon the plain of the sea-coast, at a wretched village bearing the attractive name of _furadees_ (paradise.) here the people were sifting their corn after its thrashing, and we got a boy to refresh us with milk from his flock of goats. only those experiencing similar circumstances of hot travelling, can conceive the pleasure of this draught, especially after having had to gallop round the boy, and coax and threaten him to sell the milk for our money. the way lay due north, hugging to the hills parallel to the sea, but at a distance from it: numerous wadis run inland, and at the mouth of each is a village. the first was _suameh_, the next _'ain el ghazal_, (gazelles fountain,) wretched like the rest, but in a pretty situation--then _modzha_, and _mazaal_, and _'ain hhood_, (a prosperous looking place,) and _teeri_. the sun set in the blue water, and we were still far from carmel--our animals could scarcely move: sometimes we dismounted and led them--passed the notable ruins of tantoorah, (dora of the bible,) and athleet on our left--moonlight and fatigue. there was a nearer way from zumareen, but it would have been hilly and wearisome. after a long while we overtook our muleteers without the baggage, for the kawwas salim, they said, had been so cruel to them that they had allowed him to go on with the charge towards carmel. at length we climbed up the steep to the convent. being very late we experienced great difficulty in gaining admission. there was no food allowed to the servants, no barley for the horses, and for a long time no water supplied. in the morning we found great changes had taken place since . the kind president had gone on to india--the apothecary fra angelo was removed to a distance--john-baptist was at caiffa and unwell. the whole place bore the appearance of gloom, bigotry, dirtiness, and bad management. in the afternoon i left the convent, in order to enjoy a perfect sabbath on the morrow in tents at the foot of the hill, open to the sea breeze of the north, and with a grand panorama stretched out before us. and a blessed day that was. we were all in need of bodily rest, ourselves, the servants and the cattle--and it was enjoyed to the full--my young friend and i derived blessing and refreshment also from the word of god. the words, "come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and i will give you rest," seemed to have a reviving significance, as well as those of "whosoever drinketh of the water that i shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that i shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." such a sabbath in the holy land is true enjoyment. vii. esdraelon plain and its vicinity. _may_ . from jeneen, (en-gannim, josh. xxi. ,) to acre, _i.e._, towards the north-west, and skirting the great plain under the line of the hills of samaria,--thus following the western coast of zebulon to the south of asher. the road was enlivened by numerous companies of native people travelling from village to village. in an hour and a half from jeneen we were at _seeleh_, a cheerful and prosperous-looking place; and in three-quarters of an hour more we were abreast of both _ta'annuk_ and _salim_, at equal distances of quarter of an hour from the highway; the former on our left hand, and the latter on the right. these places were at that time tolerably well peopled. here we gained the first view of mount tabor from a westerly direction, and indeed it was curious all along this line to see in unusual aspects the well-remembered sites that lie eastwards or northwards from jeneen, such as zera'een (jezreel,) jilboon (gilboa,) solam (shunem,) or fooleh and afooleh. in fact, we overlooked the tribe or inheritance of zebulon from carmel to tabor. with respect to the circumstance of numerous passengers, whom we met this morning, it was a pleasant exception to the common experience of that district, where it is often as true now as in the days of shamgar the son of anath (see judges v. ), that the population fluctuates according to the invasions or retiring of tyrannical strangers. that vast plain affords a tempting camping-ground for remote arabs to visit in huge swarms coming from the east with their flocks for pasture; and in the ancient times this very site between ta'annuk and lejjoon, being the opening southwards, gave access to the philistines or egyptians arriving in their chariots from the long plain of sharon, or a passage over this plain to that of the great hosts of syria under the ptolemies, with their elephants. in all ages the poor peasantry here have been the victims of similar incursions, "the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byeways." yet though chased away from their homes, the populations returned, whenever possible, with pertinacious attachment to their devastated dwellings, and hence we have still the very names of the towns and villages perpetuated by a resident people after a lapse of almost thirty-three hundred years since the allotment made by joshua, (xiii.-xxi., etc.,) and the names were not then new. i have myself known villages on the plain of esdraelon to be alternately inhabited or abandoned. at one time fooleh was a heap of ruins, while its neighbour afooleh had its residents; on my next visit it was fooleh rebuilt, and the other a heap of overthrown stones, or next time both of them lying in utter silence and desertion. the same with _mekebleh_, sometimes inhabited, but more frequently a pile of broken-down houses, with some remains of antique sculpture lying on the surface of its hill; and the same occasionally, though not so frequent in vicissitude, with _iksal_. from this exposure to invasion of royal armies or of nomad tribes, ("children of the east," judges vi. ,) it has always been the case that no towns were built in the central parts of this plain; and even when the kings of israel had their country residence at jezreel, that situation was selected because it was nestled close to the hills, and had ravines on two sides of it, serving as fortifying trenches made by nature. at the present time there are no trees upon that broad expanse, not even olives, to furnish lights for dwelling, either of villages or tents. the wretched people grow castor-oil plants instead for that purpose, sown afresh every year, because these afford no temptation to the hostile arabs. that year, however, of , and probably for some time previous, the plain (merj ibn amer is its arabic name,) had been at peace, unmolested by strangers; consequently i saw large crops of wheat there, and fields of barley waving in the breeze. these were mostly the property of a turkoman tribe, who, like the kenites of old, reside there in tents, neither building houses nor planting vineyards, though to some extent they sow seed. they have been long upon that ground, but move their tents about, according to the exigencies of pasture for their flocks and herds. i believe, however, that they pay "khooweh" (brotherhood,) _i.e._ tribute and military aid, to the sukoor arabs for protection and peace under common circumstances. we had frequently to cross small streams issuing from the ranges of hills, along the base of which our road lay; but they accomplished only short courses, for they were soon absorbed into the ground or settled into morasses, which emitted strong miasma under the influence of the sun. some petty springs were seen rising from the ground itself, and near each of these were sure to be met some relics of antiquity, such as good squared building stones, or door-posts, or broken olive presses, or fragments of sarcophagi, while the adjacent hills exhibited the hewn lines in the form of steps, remaining from ancient quarrying. the deep alluvium of the plain furnishes no stone whatever for such purposes. in forty minutes from ta'annuk, we came to the small mills of _lejjoon_, (the roman _legio_, named from a military station there.) at that time of the year the body of water was not considerable, and there is no village there. in fifty minutes more we crossed a rivulet named _menzel el basha_, (the pasha's halting-place,) and in twenty minutes more, the _'ain kaimoon_ with abundance of water. this is at the foot of a hill which has on its summit the vestiges of the large ancient town _kaimoon_. this hill is long, narrow, and curved like a cucumber, lying at the south-east end of mount carmel, and having the kishon river on its outer or north-eastern side. here, therefore, we come distinctly upon the western geography of the zebulon tribe. in joshua xix. , the border of zebulon is given as reaching "to the river that is before jokneam." i do not doubt that this river is the kishon, or that jokneam is the "jokneam of carmel," in chapter xii. , which was given to the levites "out of the tribe of zebulon, jokneam with her suburbs," (chap. xxi. .) this place, kaimoon or yokneam, must have been one of particular value in a military point of view, commanding as it did the pass of the kishon valley on one side, and the _wadi mel'hh_ on the other. such a post would be in good hands, when intrusted to the bold and warlike tribe of levi. in the same way several other defensible posts were committed to their charge all over the country. { } on my present journey i passed round the outer line of tell kaimoon, having kishon on the right. in so doing we crossed various tributary streams--the first one, in quarter of an hour from 'ain kaimoon, was in _wadi el kasab_, (valley of reeds or canes)--the stream was bordered by reeds and a profusion of tall oleander in gorgeous pink flower. in this neighbourhood, the turkomans had commenced reaping their grain. they are a race of people not to be mistaken for arabs, men of strong build, and with a smiling expression on their clear, ruddy countenances. besides arabic, they speak their own coarse dialect of turkish--several of them came running to us with handfuls of wheat from their harvest. they possess large herds of oxen with good horses. in another half hour we were at _'ain el sufsafeh_, (the "fountain of the willow-tree,") where the water issues from a rock, and in its bed are two willow-trees; upon the bank were plenty of blackberry bushes. just before this we had by the roadside a common looking arab burial-place, named _shaikh sad_; probably from some mohammedan devotee of that name interred there; and among the stones about the graves is a fragment of an ancient cornice, deeply sculptured in the pattern here shown. [picture: fragment of sculpture at shaikh sad] in a quarter of an hour further we passed _wadi keereh_, with its full stream of water, and plenty of oleander for adornment. thence in about half an hour we arrived at _wadi mel'hh_ ("salt valley,") with its rivulet and wild holly-oaks, in which is a great highway leading southwards. this separates the samaria ridge and kaimoon from the extremity of the long mount carmel. having thus passed from one end to the other along the side of the hill of kaimoon, we turned aside from the road, for taking refreshment under a large oak halfway up that hill, where wild holly-oaks were springing from the ground to mingle with the sombre yet shining boughs of the tree. this was at the sudden contraction of the country into a narrow neck leading to the plain of acre. this strait is bounded on one side by carmel, and on the other by the galilean hills, both sides clothed with abundance of growing timber; and through its midst is the channel of the kishon, deeply cut into soft alluvial soil, and this channel also is bordered with oleander and trees that were enlivened with doves, thrushes, linnets, and gold-finches. the modern name of the river is the _mokatta_ (the ford,) and that of the valley _el kasab_, derived from the spring and valley before-mentioned. at the narrowest part of this "kasab" stands a hill, forming a serious impediment to the progress of armies, named _tell el kasees_ (hill of the priest,) which name may be a traditional remembrance of elijah, slaying the priests of baal; but inasmuch as the word "kasees" is in the singular number, the appellation may be more likely derived from some hermit residing there in a later age. at any rate, this tell lies immediately below the site of that memorable sacrifice, and at the point where the kishon sweeps round to the foot of the mountain a path descends from the "mohhrakah," _i.e._, the place of the burnt-offering, to the river. it must therefore, have been the spot where the priests of baal were slain, whether the hill be named from the fact or not; and nothing can be more exact than the words of the bible in kings xviii. . we were preparing to remount for continuing the journey when our guide espied four wild-looking arabs walking with long strides up the hill, so as to pass behind and above us; they were well armed, and made no reply to our challenge. as our horses and the guide's spear would have benefited us little on the steep hill-side, but on the contrary were tempting prizes, and as our fire-arms were not so numerous as theirs, we thought fit to pace away before they should obtain any further advantage of situation over us. in another quarter of an hour we left the straight road to caiffa, and struck out northwards, crossing the kishon at a fort opposite a village on a hill called _el hharatheeyeh_, just before we should otherwise have come to a low hill covered with a ripe crop of barley, which, from its formation and other circumstances, bore the appearance of an ancient fortified place. this hill was named _'asfi_, as i wrote it from pronunciation. this, with the _hharatheeyeh_, one assisting the other, would prove a good military defence at this end of the valley, as kaimoon and the kasees were at the other. dr thomson, in his "land and the book," chap. xxxi., considers this site to be that of "harosheth of the gentiles," (judges iv. ,) and i have no doubt that his supposition is correct; the topography agrees, and the etymology in both hebrew and arabic is one, viz., "ploughed land." this author, however, makes no mention of _'asfi_ though he speaks of "the double tell." whether 'asfi was an aboriginal home of the people in the modern _esfia_ on the summit of carmel, i have no means of knowing; but that a population, when emigrating to a new settlement, sometimes carried their name with them, appears in scripture in the instance of luz, (judges i. ,) and of dan in the th chapter. previous to this day's journey i had no adequate idea of the quantity of water that could be poured into the kishon channel by the affluents above-mentioned, (since our passing the lejjoon stream which runs in an opposite direction,) namely, the menzel el basha, the 'ain sufsafeh, wadi keereh, and wadi mel'hh, all these on the carmel side of the river, and omitting the more important spring called _sa'adeh_, near _beled esh shaikh_, on the way to caiffa. still portions of the channel are liable to be dried up in that direction, although the bed extending to jeneen if not to gilboa contains springs from the ground at intervals, but the level character of the country and the softness of the ground are unfavourable to the existence of a free river course. there was but little water at hharatheeyeh when we crossed in the month of may. the 'ain sa'adeh, however, which i did not then visit, never fails, and in full season, the kishon near the sea becomes a formidable river, as i have more than once found. to return to the valley "el kasab," we were assured that in winter time the whole breadth is sometimes inundated, and even after this has subsided, the alluvial soil is dangerous for attempting to travel in, it becomes a bog for animals of burden. thus it is quite conceivable that at the occurrence of a mighty storm, divinely and specially commissioned to destroy, the host of sisera and his chariots would be irretrievably discomfited. where the scene opened upon the plain of acre there was extensive cultivation visible, and the town of caiffa appeared with the grove of palm-trees in its vicinity. the view hence of the caiffa bay reminds us of the prophetic blessing pronounced by the patriarch jacob. "zebulon shall dwell at the _haven_ of the sea, and he shall be for a haven of ships." i am convinced that this hebrew root [hebrew text] (english _haven_ and the german _hafen_) is perpetuated not only in those words but in the modern appellation, caiffa, or as it may be more properly written _hhaifa_. the arabic letter [arabic letter] is the real equivalent for [hebrew letter] in hebrew; by grammatical permutation the letter [hebrew letter] rightly becomes [arabic letter] in arabic, and this we have [picture: arabic word] hhaifa which europeans turn into caiffa. we then reached a low natural mound on which are ruined walls of great thickness, the levelled surface on the summit had been probably all occupied by one castle with its outworks, but we saw it yellow with a ripe crop of barley. this place is _hurbaj_, and the neighbourhood abounds with destroyed villages, the natural consequence of being so near to acre, and being the _paloestra_ or wrestling ground of great nations in successive ages. we arrived at acre in exactly twelve hours from jeneen, and pitched the tents outside upon a bank between two trenches of the fortification, commanding extensive views in every direction, and were fanned by sea breezes from the bay. in conclusion, i may observe that the plain called by the greeks _esdraelon_, as a corruption of jezreel, is that named "megiddo" in old testament scripture. in the new testament it bears the prefix of the hebrew word _har_ (mountain) minus the aspirate, being written in greek, and so becomes "armageddon" in the book of revelation. for topographical reasons it is very likely that the city of megiddo was at lejjoon. there is a village of _mujaidel_ on the north side of the plain, not far from nazareth, but this is a diminutive of the arabic _mejdal_, so common in palestine as a variation from the hebrew migdol. * * * * * besides the above journey i made an excursion in on the summit of carmel itself. leaving the convent, which is at the western termination of the mountain, we proceeded along the top of its main ridge to the opposite extremity, the _mohhrakah_, undoubtedly the locality of elijah's miraculous sacrifice in presence of king ahab with the priests of baal and of the groves; thence we returned to encamp for a time at the cleanly druse village of _'esfia_; after which a few hours' ride westwards led us by the village of _daliet el carmel_, { } also inhabited by druses, to the romantic _'ain ez zera'ah_ and over the sites of ruined places, _doomeen_, _shelaleh_, and _lubieh_, where the hewn stones lying scattered over the ground were indications of much better buildings than those of modern villages. then down the long and wearisome descent to _teeri_ on the sea-coast south of caiffa. for topographical purposes chiefly, let me give an outline of a few other journeys made about the same neighbourhood. . from safed to carmel. _sept._ . going in the direction of the sea, that is, from naphtali downwards into zebulon, we crossed westwards the _jebel rama_, a long hilly range ending in the south at rama, and richly wooded, but to our surprise there were numerous fires left by the people to consume trees and large shrubs at discretion, for the making of charcoal. fortunately for us there was no wind blowing, but several times as the fiery ashes had been drifted upon the road, our horses had no choice but to step into them. on that eminence i picked up specimens of geodes which abound there, being lumps resembling fruits outside, but when broken found to be a crust of bright spar, and hollow in the centre; some of these were remarkably large. the hills were fragrant with wild herbs, and the views from them delightful. after _semwan_ we strayed from the right road and got to _shemuata_, where we procured a guide to conduct us in the direction of carmel; he undertook to conduct us as far as _abu 'atabeh_, from which carmel would be visible, and the distance equal either to acre or to caiffa. from the heights we descended to _ekwikat_, and there found ourselves too tired to get further that night. in the morning we passed the _bahhjah_, which had been the luxurious summer residence of abdallah pasha, but was in a ruinous condition, and came to _abu 'atabeh_, which is not a village but a collection of a few houses, perhaps formerly some outlying dwellings belonging to the bahhjah. here was a fountain, and a small aqueduct for conveying water to gardens. crossed the _naaman_ river, anciently named the _belus_, on the banks of which, according to pliny, the primitive idea of glass-making was discovered by accident. along the beach we came to the mokatta' or kishon, found it deep for fording, but got over to caiffa, and mounted to the convent of carmel. . nazareth towards acre. _oct._ . passing _sefoorieh_, (the sepphoris so often mentioned in josephus) with a distant view of carmel on the left, like a huge rampart of dark blue, we came to the ruined khan with a fountain called the _'ain el bedaweeyeh_, then through delightful wooded glades, on issuing from which we saw _shefa 'amer_, a handsome-looking place, with which i made better acquaintance in after years. on the plain of acre i picked up a cannon ball, probably a twelve pounder. (this journey was repeated in march , and in march .) . from tiberias to acre. _march_ . from _hhatteen_ to _'eilaboon_, a quiet and pretty village, after which we had a long stretch of "merrie greenwood" with furze in golden blossom, birds singing, and the clucking of partridges. at one place where the old trees echoed the shouts of country children at their sports, there rose above the summits a bold round tower, which on nearer approach we found to be an outwork of the fortification of a venerable convent called _dair hhanna_, which in comparatively recent times had been converted into a castle, but convent, castle, and tower are now become a picturesque ruin. near this we saw squatted on the ground a family of three generations, almost entirely naked; they had a fire lighted, and the women were washing clothes in the water heated by it, a great rarity in palestine, for they usually wash with cold water at the spring. some metawaleh peasants ran away from our party when we wished to make some inquiries of them. from an eminence we saw before us a flat plain inundated like a lake, left by the wintry floods. this occurs there yearly around the flourishing village of _'arabet el battoof_, at which we soon arrived, after which we galloped for miles over green pastures of grass interspersed by trees. in three quarters of an hour further we came to _sukhneen_, a large village with good cultivation extending far around. still traversing green undulations with wooded hills to the right and left, in another hour we were at a small place called _neab_, where the scenery suddenly changed for stony hills and valleys. in a little short of another hour we saw _damooneh_ at half an hour's distance to the left. in twenty minutes more we stopped to drink at the well _berweh_, then pressed forward in haste to arrive at acre before the gates (being a fortification) should be closed. we got there in fifty minutes' hard riding from _'ain berweh_. ii. the reverse way from west to east. . acre to tiberias. _march_ . crossed the river naaman, and paced slowly over the extensive marshes, making for _shefa 'amer_. among these marshes was a herd of about two hundred horses at free pasture upon the grass, weeds, and rushes, so succulent at that season of the year; these were on their way from northern syria, and were intended for sale. also among the marshes was a temporary village of tabernacles or huts made of plaited palm-leaves, and papyrus canes or reeds, such as one sees on the line of the jordan or about the lake hhooleh, with the same class of proprietors in both cases, the ghawarineh arabs. strange that this race of human beings should prefer to inhabit feverish marshes. we came upon a paved causeway (called the _resheef_) leading from a large mill towards the sea, but only the portion nearest to the mill now remains entire. probably this was turned to some account during the french military operations against acre in . at shefa 'amer we had _'ebeleen_ in sight. both places are conspicuous over the district around. at some distance from the town is a large well for its supply, and along the broad road between the well and the town, the druse women are constantly passing with their horns over the forehead and their jars on the shoulders. shefa 'amer is crowned by the remains of the palace castle erected by shaikh daher, (celebrated in volney's "syria,") and the shell of a large old christian church; near these are some very ancient wells cut into solid rock, but now containing no water. the majority of the inhabitants are druses. there are a few moslems and a few christians; but at that time there were thirty jewish families living as agriculturists, cultivating grain and olives on their own landed property, most of it family inheritance; some of these people were of algerine descent. they had their own synagogue and legally qualified butcher, and their numbers had formerly been more considerable. { } i felt an especial interest in these people, as well as in the knowledge of a similar community existing at a small village not far distant named _bokea'h_. upon the road that day, and in half an hour from the town, i met a couple of rosy-faced, strong peasant men, with sparkling jewish eyes, who set to speaking hebrew with some rabbis in my company. it was in a scene of woodland and cornfields under the blue canopy of heaven; their costume was that of the ordinary metawaleh peasantry, _i.e._, a scarlet and embroidered short coat with large dark blue trousers. i shall never forget this circumstance, of finding men of israel, fresh from agricultural labour, conversing in hebrew in their own land. our road then led through glades of exceeding beauty: an english park backed by mountains in a syrian climate. the gently undulating land was clothed with rich grass, and sprinkled (not thronged) with timber, chiefly terebinth. linnets and thrushes were warbling among the trees. _cuf'r menda_ was on our left; _sefoorieh_ at a distance on the right; _rumaneh_ and _'azair_ before us. then we entered upon the long plain of _'arabet el battoof_, and rested a short time before sunset at _'ain bedaweeyeh_ for refreshment. carpets were spread upon long grass which sank under the pressure. the horses and mules were set free to pasture, and we formed ourselves into separate eating groups; one christian, one jewish, and one moslem. some storks were likewise feeding in a neighbouring bean-field, the fragrance of which was delicious, as wafted to us by the evening breeze. on remounting for the road to tiberias, several hours beyond, we put on cloaks to keep off the falling dew, and paced on by a beautiful moonlight, at first dimmed by mist or dew, which afterwards disappeared; the spear carried by one of the party glimmered as we went on; and the jews whiled away the time by recitation of their evening prayers on horseback, and conversing in the hebrew language about their warrior forefathers of galilee. . caiffa to nazareth. _july_ . passing through the rush of _'ain saadeh_ water as it tumbles from the rocky base of carmel, and by the _beled esh shaikh_ and _yajoor_, we crossed the kishon bed to take a road new to me, namely, by _damooneh_, leaving _mujaidel_ and _yafah_ visible on our right, upon the crests of hills overlooking the plain of esdraelon. we passed through a good deal of greenwood scenery, so refreshing in the month of july, but on the whole not equal in beauty to the road by shefa 'amer. . caiffa to nazareth. _sept._ . by _beled esh shaikh_ and _yajoor_, where threshing of the harvest was in progress in the galilean fashion by means of the _moraj_, (in hebrew the _morag_, isa. xli. and sam. xxiv. ,) which is a stout board of wood, with iron teeth or flints on the under surface. the plank turns upward in front, and the man or boy stands upon it in exactly the attitude of a grecian charioteer: one foot advanced; the head and chest well thrown back; the reins in his left hand, and with a long thonged whip, he drives the horses that are attached to it at a rapid pace in a circle, shouting merrily or singing as they go,--a totally different operation from the drowsy creeping of the oxen or other animals for threshing in our southern palestine. in due time we crossed the bed of the kishon, which was quite dry in that part above the _sa'adeh_, except where some green stagnant puddles occurred at intervals. we passed a herd of camels belonging to the turkomans, walking unburdened, whereas all other animals that we met were laden with grain for the port of caiffa. at the commencement of the ascent on the opposite hills we rested under the _tell el hharatheeyeh_, beneath a noble tree of the evergreen oak; and near there we passed alongside of a camp of degraded arabs called _beramki_, in a few tattered tents, but they had some capital horses picketed around them. the villagers regard these people with ineffable disdain, as "cousins of the gipsies." it seems that they subsist by singing songs among real arab camps, and by letting out their horses as stallions for breeding, with variations of picking and stealing. we saw some of their women and children, filthy in person, painfully employed in scraping away the ground wherever black clay showed itself, in the hope of reaching water, however bad in quality. there was threshing at _jaida_ as we passed that village. we halted at the spring of _samooniah_, and at _ma'alool_; the priest of the village was superintending the parish threshing: his reverence was covered with dust from the operation. . caiffa to shefa 'amer. _june_ . from _beled esh shaikh_ and _yajoor_, across the kishon channel, upon the plain of acre, and rested a short time at the _weli of jedro_, (very like a hebrew name,) and then near us, all close together were the three villages of _cuf'r ita_, _ja'arah_ and _hurbaj_. thence to shefa 'amer, first diverging somewhat to _'ebeleen_. iii. south side of esdraelon. . plain of sharon to caiffa. _oct._ . at _baka_ we leave the plain of sharon, at its northern end, if indeed the extensive level from the egyptian desert up to this point, may come under this one denomination; and we enter upon the hilly woodlands of ephraim and manasseh, so clearly described in joshua xvii. , , . in mounting to the higher ground, there is obtained a fine view of the sea, and the oak and karoobah trees were larger as we advanced; from certain stations we obtained a totally unexpected prospect of a stretch of large forest scenery below us, extending towards _sindianeh_ in the west. at one spot we passed among scattered stones of excellent masonry, large and rabbeted at the edges, lying confusedly about, enough for a small town, but evidently belonging to a period of ancient date; a few mud huts were adjoining these. thence we descended into a long valley, several miles in extent, called _wadi 'arah_, fully occupied with cotton crops, and stubble of the last harvest of grain. the valley was bounded on either side by well timbered hills, and its direction was n.e. by e. after an hour in this long enclosure, the pleasing features of the scene became less defined in character, and, uncertain of our way, we climbed up to a village called _'ararah_, where, after an hour's trouble, we got a guide at high price for the rest of the day's journey. the evening was then advancing, and the gnats from the trees and shrubs plagued the horses. among these trees were grand old oaks of a kind that bear gigantic acorns with mossy cups. at length the verdure ceased, and we had only stony hills. there was, however, a weli with a spring of water, and fruit trees by the roadside, crowded with a shoal of singing birds all rustling and chirping at once among the boughs as the sun was setting, and throwing a glorious red over the clouds which had been gradually collecting during the afternoon. we left the village of _umm el fahh'm_, ("mother of charcoal"--a name significant of a woodland district) upon the right, and night closed in; our old guide on his little donkey singing cheerily in front, till darkness reduced us all to silence. we crossed the small rivulet at _lejjoon_ by starlight; and the rest of the journey in the night was not only monotonous, but even dangerous, over marshes and chinks in the plain of esdraelon. our course was in a direction n.e. to nazareth, which we reached in sixteen hours from the morning's starting at _cuf'r saba_. there were fortunately no roaming arabs to molest us in this night passage across the _merj ibn 'amer_. . plain of sharon to caiffa. _june_ . as before, we left the northern extremity of the plain of sharon, but this time at the eastern and minor village of _baka_, and thus we missed the ruined town before noticed, but got into the same valley of _'arah_; and in the great heat of summer, confined between the two ridges of hills, we crept on to the extremity of the valley, and mounted a hill to the village of _mushmusheh_, opposite to _umm el fahh'm_. all the villages in that region are situated on hills, and are of no easy access. this place enjoys abundance of water springing out of the ground, and at any risk so precious a treasure ought not to be lost; therefore, although the houses were abandoned and the people scattered, they come there stealthily, and as opportunity arises, to do the little service to the ground that it required, and watch its oranges, lemons, and pomegranates, (from the name it would seem that formerly this place was famous for apricots.) as we halted and pitched tents there, one by one some of the people came about us, although they had been preparing to leave for the night, in order to sleep at "charcoal's mother," (the village opposite.) they stayed under our protection, and got for us certain supplies from over the way. close beside us was a gigantic mulberry tree, around which two very large vines climbed to a great height, and a channel of running water almost surrounded the roots. i never heard such sweet-toned bells as the flocks about there carried, and which gave out their music near and far at every movement of the goats and sheep. in the morning we left this very pleasant spot and went on to _lejjoon_; crossed the sufsafeh and the other streams with their oleander borders, and enjoyed the magnificent prospects of hermon, tabor, and the plain; rested on the hill of _kaimoon_ under the fine oak-tree of former acquaintance, and at length arrived in caiffa. iv. from carmel south-eastwards. _april_ . the usual way by _'ain sa'adeh_, _beled esh shaikh_ and _yajoor_; the woody sides of carmel diversified in colour at this season of spring; there was the dark green of the bellota oak, the yellow of the abundant broom, the dark red-brown of the sprouting terebinth and the pale green of young-leafed trees of many other kinds. there was, moreover, the fragrance of an occasional pine, and of the hawthorn, (za'aroor,) which is of stronger scent than in england; and the ground was sprinkled with purple and yellow crocuses; also with anemones of every shade of purple and white, besides the scarlet, which alone are found in judaea, but there in profusion. turning off from the road to jeneen, i rose upon high ground, and came to _umm ez zeenat_, (mother of beauties.) our people were of opinion that this name did not apply so much to the daughters of the village as to the landscape scenery, for near it we commanded an extensive prospect, including hermon with its snows one way, and the "great and wide sea" in the opposite quarter. we lost our way for a time, leaving _rehhaneeyeh_ on our left, and straying as far as _daliet er rohha_; on recovering the right road we arrived at _cuferain_, (the "double village") and to _umm el fahh'm_, marching among silent woods often tangled by neglected growth, and abounding in a variety of unknown trees, besides the seringa and the oaks with much broader leaves than are ever seen in the south; also, for a long period we had frequent recurring views of snowy hermon in the n.e. the considerable village of _'aneen_ we found almost entirely broken up, by the recent warfare between the partisans of tokan and 'abdu'l hadi. at length our repeated calls and promises echoing among the apparently forsaken houses, brought out an old man, and he promised to procure a guide to take us within sight of _'arabeh_, after which several women peered out of their miserable dwellings. the guide conducted us through large woods on heights and in depths, among fragrant herbs and blossoming trees growing wild, till some time after sunset, when we stopped for the night at a poor village called _harakat_; we were all tired, but especially the two women of a christian party going to jerusalem, who had attached themselves to us all the day for the benefit of our protection. the ground on which the tent was set up was wet, as there had been some rain at the place that day, and springs of water were running to waste near us; the village people served as guards around us, on being fed at our expense; the pilgrims spread their beds in one direction outside the tent, and the kawwases in the opposite. by the light of a brilliant morning we marched forwards to _'arabeh_, which was being besieged by the turkish government, in force of infantry, cavalry, and artillery. viii. belad besharah. this is the mountainous district lying east and south of tyre, probably the "galilee of the gentiles;" bounded on the north by the river _kasimiyeh_, the ancient leontes; on the west by the plain of tyre; on the east by the plain of hhooleh and of the upper jordan; on the south by hills around safed: the district is very little known to europeans, and was much less so in . in that year i entered it from the north, after traversing the sidon country, crossing the pleasant river with its rose-coloured border of oleander and wild holly-oak at a ford wider than the average breadth of the jordan. there we found abundance of noble trees, and some cottages near them, the vines belonging to which climbed up those trees to a surprising height; and the thickness of the vines exceeded any that i had any where or at any time seen. in front was the village of _boorj_, and we mounted into a high table-land commanding prospects of indescribable grandeur, which comprised parts of both lebanon and anti-lebanon, the extreme heights of sannin and hermon being visible at once. the day was one of hot shirocco, and there were fires of lime-kilns visible in several directions, this season (late in autumn) being that appropriated to such employment, after all the harvests are gathered in. there were innumerable villages appearing in every direction. we passed _abasiyeh_ on our right; _dar meemas_ and _izereiriyeh_ distant on the left; _tura_ on the right; _dar kanoon_ we almost entered; _bidias_ near us on the left; _dair thecla_ on our right; _bursheen_ on the right; _durtghayer_ on the left; _arzoon_ further on the left; then we rested under some olive trees, with _dar esh shems_ on the right; _mezra'a_ on the left; _dar zibneh_ with a castle on our right. in the distance appeared the mighty old castle of _shukeef_ (_belfort_ of the crusaders) upon an eminence, with jebel esh shaikh, or hermon, rising majestically behind it. as we descended into a deep glen between verdant hills, the partridges were clucking in multitudes, and so unaccustomed to intrusion, that sometimes they came running up towards us; magpies were flying about, and we were told that the glen abounds in wild beasts, which there seemed no reason to doubt. for hours we wound round and round within this cool and refreshing labyrinth of arbutus, bellota or evergreen oak, aspen, clematis, broom, and what looked like the sloe, besides other and unknown vegetation. the bellota was often respectable-sized timber in girth, though of no considerable height; sometimes our path was overshadowed by their branches stretching across, and we had to stoop beneath them. on the sides of the hills were many fires of the charcoal burners. as evening came on, we could see our lofty green prison walls tipped with the setting sun. at length the glen seemed to be terminated by a fine round hill, crowned with a village standing across the passage. the appearance improved as we drew nearer; inhabitants were not few; large flocks and herds were winding by several ways towards it. the people named it _khirbet sellim_, (sellim in ruin) but how could all this cheerful scene belong to a ruin? the sun set and we had another hour of the lovely glen to thread by starlight. at last we emerged by a gently inclined plain, which gradually became rougher, and we mounted the steep hill on which _tibneen_ is built. there we determined to halt for the night, as our cattle were unable to hold on to _bint el jebail_. we pitched on the threshing floor between the village and the castle. this castle is the citadel of all the belad besharah, from the leontes to safed, and ahhmad bek, its owner, is called by his people "the shaikh of shaikhs;" by the turkish government he is recognised as kaimakam of the province. the people were of ill behaviour, and talked about quarantine, but the population of the district are at all times a churlish race, being of the sheah or 'ali sect of moslems; they curse and loathe our mohammedans, and oppress the sparse families of christians within their reach. they are called the mutawaleh. at first they refused to let us have anything, till the governor, on ascertaining who we were, sent us down some lemonade; still we got but few articles of food, and our horses were left without water. my kawwas salim was then taken ill from the effect of having slept the preceding night with his head uncovered, and with reluctance our own people put up the small tent that travelled with us, on purpose for them; they always prefer sleeping in open air, only covering the head well with the cloak. this was saturday night, and we had not an agreeable prospect for a sabbath rest on the morrow. the wind was strong all night on that lofty situation, but there was no dew. in the morning, the people would not supply us with milk, even for the horses, and so it was impossible to stay there; we marched on towards bint el jebail, about three hours' distant, a considerable place, which often contests with tibneen for supremacy in the local government, and where the governor is a distant relative of him at tibneen. from the tents, before starting, we could see the following villages in a curved line from s.e. to n:-- haddata or haita ez-zoot. bait u'oon. berasheet. hhooleh. shakrah. and they told us of _el yehudiyeh_ on the n.w. behind the castle. the mediterranean in sight [i became better acquainted with tibneen, and on better relations with the people in after years.] passed on through a pretty country, like all the belad besharah, with numerous villages in sight; excellent beaten roads, and plenty of them; with everywhere the magnificent objects in view of mount hermon, and part of the lebanon, but not always the mediterranean. rested at half-way of our short journey under a large evergreen oak on the summit of a rising ground, with a refreshing breeze blowing; thence descended to a plain where there were about a dozen wells, and people drawing water for large herds of neat cattle. here our horses got drink. arrived at _bint el jebail_, a nice-looking place, with a commanding house for the governor, (hhusain suliman,) but the people were at first even more inhospitable than those at tibneen, for they drove away our man khaleel from the village fountain, and covered up their mouths and noses, in fear of cholera. on application to the bek, we got permission to draw water for ourselves, and he allowed us eggs and bread, with barley for the horses, and it was with difficulty they accepted any money in return. the bek also invited me to visit him in his house, but stipulating not to shake hands. on coming near the serai, (governor's house,) the ladies of the hhareem were looking out of the lattices upon the cavalcade. a crowd of servants were at the door to receive us, in attendance on one of his sons, who had a large hunting-hawk upon his wrist; silver bells upon her legs. we were shown into a large baronial-looking hall, and chairs were placed for us upon the divan. the great man sat in the right-hand corner, upon a panther skin, one of the prey of the country, his brother at his right hand, and his sons ranged on his left. he wore a robe of the true moslem apple-green, with a cashmere shawl round his waist, and another on his turban. his countenance and deportment were truly aristocratic; he and all his family were handsome, with intelligent expression of countenance. the son who had been outside came in, and put his hawk upon her perch, then took his place. they gave us sherbet, coffee, and abundant compliments: we talked of hawking in england, and english ladies riding to the sport. london, and the queen on the throne were discussed; also jerusalem, where the bek had never been. on the whole the reception was satisfactory. pity that the people were afraid of cholera; they did not exhibit the virtue of resignation to divine predestination any more than our sooni-moslems of the south had done. our tents were in a sunny situation, but still we had in them a rest for sunday afternoon. at sunset the bek sent me a present of grapes, those that were purple were of large size. starlight night, but no dew; jackals were howling in troops, sometimes very close to us. an armed nominal quarantine was placed over us during the night--ridiculous enough after a pretty free intercourse of the people all day. the morning very cool. a poor maronite priest from 'ain nebel came to me in his black robes and dark blue turban, and, leaning on his staff, gave a lamentable account of persecutions suffered by the four or five christian villages about there, and imploring english help on their behalf. alas! nothing could be done for him, only the case of the servant of the governor of tibneen shooting a poor christian, while on compulsory work at the lime-kilns, got inquiry made into it at bayroot. on asking his name, and writing it down, the miserable man said to the secretary, "tell the consul that i have already written his name on my heart." hitherto our journey had been entirely novel--there is no record published of any traveller passing through that country, from the leontes, its northern boundary, before that date. going forwards, we passed through pretty green lanes along the sides of hills. from the crest of a hill, whence the view was very extensive, we had _yaroon_ on the right, and beyond it the ruined convent of st george. i afterwards learned that the church there exhibits proof of great size and magnificence. by the roadside was a huge undecorated sarcophagus, in excellent preservation, standing on a raised platform of masonry; single and alone in a wide expanse, no village or remnant of human works near it. the masonry in front had been wilfully damaged, enough to make the sarcophagus lean, but not to fall, and the ponderous cover was removed from its place--total length, eight feet by five, and four in height, the hollow cut out from the body left the thickness of a foot all round it. no inscription gives any record of the doubtless important personage for whom it was prepared, and no embellishments even provide a clue to the period to which it belongs. it stands well-preserved, great in its simplicity and position. villages of _farah_ and _salchah_ on our left. thence we descended into a glen of blazing white stone, without any verdure, in which were a diversity of paths, and a petty runlet of water issuing from the ground, but soon showing only stagnant green pools and mud, with frogs in abundance, then evaporated altogether. near this, salim was taken with vomiting and purging, and was hardly able to remain on his horse; the dragoman also fainting and giddy, and the rest frightened with the terrors of expected cholera. our guide wanted to desert us and return home. the muleteers and luggage had taken another road, but after a time we met again. moving on, the ground became a gradual rise, and a stream coming down it toward us, became clearer as we ascended, and fruit-trees were rather numerous. under some fig-trees the kawwas laid himself down, and we stayed there three hours with him; water was poured over his head to obviate fever, and i administered some pills. during the interval i found some sculptured stones with hebrew inscriptions, which i have elsewhere described, and took pains to decipher the words, but without much result. they were lying in a ploughed field by the roadside. we were now entering on classic ground of the talmudists, and upon a precipice above us, upon wide table-ground, was the village of _jish_, the giscala of josephus. when evening brought coolness, we proceeded towards safed. a peasant passing us was carrying home his plough upon his shoulder, except the iron share, which his little daughter, of two or three years old, carried on her head. some of our horses were so stung by flies that the blood flowed to the stones under their feet as they went along. there were traces of ancient pavement along the road, and cavern holes in chalk-rock sides. then traversing a few miles of dark volcanic stone we neared a crater in the ground, whose gloomy aspect was fully in keeping with the destruction which such a phenomenon bespeaks as having occurred--silent as the death it produced, and void of all pleasurable features, of wild flowers, or even the thorns of nature. the whole vicinity bore traces of the earthquakes that have often occurred there, especially that of . after this a glorious prospect burst upon us of safed, "set upon a hill," and the gloomy hill of jarmuk beside it. tabor also in view far in advance, throwing a vast shadow of late afternoon-time over other hills, and glimpses of the lake tiberias. encamped on our former site among the great old olive-trees north of the town. some jewesses gleaning olives from the ground were frightened away. visitors were out at once to welcome us in english, arabic, and judisch, (jewish-german.) we were surrounded by fair and rosy complexions of jews, the effect of the pure bracing air of the mountain. my sick people took to their beds, and only after a week's care (medical such as we could get) were able to continue the journey, one remaining behind to recover strength. the complaint, however, had not been cholera, it was rather what is denominated "syrian fever." ix. upper galilee.--forest scenery. tibneen has been already mentioned as one of the two capital villages of the belad besharah, and lying s.e. from tyre. we have now before us the galilean country that lies southwards between that place and nazareth. _july_ .--after honourable entertainment and refreshing sleep in the castle of tibneen, i awoke early to look out on the dark and broad mass of mount hermon by starlight. coffee was served, and i was mounted on my "gallant gray," still by twilight, parting with some friends who had been rambling with me for three weeks over phoenicia and the lebanon. i set my face in the direction of jerusalem. we were guided by the shaikh of _rumaish_, a christian village that lay upon the road before us, he being furnished with a written mandate from hhamed el bek, the ruler of tibneen, to take four men of his place as our escort through the forest. in the outskirts of the forest belonging to the castle we found peasants already proceeding to the threshing-floors; women in lines marching to the wells with jars cleverly balanced upon their heads; and camels kneeling on the ground munching their breakfast of cut straw, with most serious and unchanging expression of countenance, only the large soft eyes were pleasant to look at. in half-an-hour we were at _aita_. this country is famous for the quality of its tobacco, a plant that is most esteemed when grown among the ruined parts of villages, because the nitre contained in the old cement of houses not only serves to quicken the vegetation, but imparts to the article that sparkling effect which is admired when lighted in the pipe. vines are also extensively cultivated, and the people take pleasure in training them aloft upon the high trees, as oak, terebinth, poplar, etc., and allowing them to droop down in the graceful festoons of nature, which also gives an agreeable variety of green colour among the timber trees. we were entering the gay woodland and reaching the top of a hill, when the sun rose at our left hand, and the glory of that moment surpassed all common power of description. crowds of linnets and finches burst suddenly into song; the crested larks "that tira-lira chant," { } rose into the merry blue sky, with the sunlight gleaming on their plump and speckled breasts; the wood-pigeons, too, were not silent; but all, in harmonious concert, did their best to praise the blessed creator, who delights in the happiness of his creatures. forwards we marched with light spirits, through dense woods, varied by the occasional clearings, which are called "the rides" in old english forests, and sometimes we drew near to snug villages, or got glimpses of such, by the names of _teereh_, _hhaneen_, and _'ain nebel_; the latter at two hours from tibneen; the people there are christian, and they cultivate silk and tobacco. in some places we observed ancient sarcophagi, hewn into solid rock without being entirely detached, they had therefore been left unfinished, though partly ornamented. on a ground rising opposite to us i saw the screw of a large press, standing out of the field; this i was told is used for extracting resin from the red berries of terebinth trees for domestic lamp-lighting--a circumstance which of itself bespeaks the prevalence of woodland round about, and is a variation from the practice of that unhappy thin population on the plain of esdraelon, who are obliged to use castor-oil for the same purpose, because the _palma christi_ plants which produce the oil are of less value to bedaween marauders than olive-trees would be, and damage done to them is of less importance than it would be among the latter. arrived at _rumaish_, the shaikh rode up to his village while we awaited him under the branches of an old oak overshadowing the road. rumaish is a neat little place, but, like almost every village throughout palestine, oppressed by the heavy debts incurred with the forestallers of their produce (generally europeans) in the seaport towns. our friend returned with another horseman, and three men on foot, all armed with guns, as our future way lay through a druse neighbourhood. these men for our escort were maronite christians, and they showered upon me abundant salutations, expressing their satisfaction at the circumstance of a christian (myself) being treated with such distinguished consideration in tibneen castle, and concluding with the hope that i would visit them yearly, in order to give countenance to poor, depressed christianity. the two priests of the village had desired to come out and greet me, but their people had persuaded them that the distance was too great for their walking in the sun--near mid-day in july. resting for a while before resuming the journey, the newcomers sat round in a circle to smoke their fragrant local tobacco, and find some relief to the mind in relating tales of suffering under persecution. they said they had more reason to be satisfied with the rule of my host, hhamed el bek, than with that of tamar bek at bint jebail, which they described as most cruel and capricious. that i could easily believe after the incident that came to my knowledge in that vicinity five years before,--that of the wanton murder of a poor christian, at the lime-kiln works, by a servant of that governor. i have already mentioned that it was narrated to me by the village priest of 'ain nebel. an inquiry was instituted into the case by the authorities at bayroot; but there must be many such instances occurring that are never known by those who would or could bring them to light and justice. at length the signal was given for mounting. the mules were collected together, after straying about for such pasture as could be got, their bells gently ringing all the time, and the pipes were stowed away: those of the muleteers being placed down the backs of their jackets, with the bowls uppermost, reaching to the men's necks. we then plunged into the forest of _tarsheehhah_, where the shaikh of the principal village, that which gives name to the district, is a fanatic moslem, who was then preaching religious revivals, and was said to engraft upon his doctrine the pantheism of the persian soofis. this was not considered improbable, seeing that the moslems of the belad besharah are all of the sheah sect, (here called _metawala_,) out of which the soofi heresy is developed. the new doctrines had spread rapidly in various directions, and were professed by several of the effendi class in jerusalem--the old story repeated of sadducean principles obtaining among the rich and the luxurious. this shaikh was described as excessively intolerant of christianity, and at that period, viz., the commencement of the russian war, was in the habit of travelling about with a train of disciples, all carrying iron-shod staves in their hands, and distinguished by having a portion of the muslin of the turban hanging loosely behind, doing their utmost to excite tumult and hatred of the christians by shouting aloud the mohammedan formula of belief, "there is no god but allah, and mohammed is the apostle of god," striking the ground with their iron-shod staves by way of emphasis. among the evergreens, and the gall-oaks, and karoobah-trees, our path often became very narrow--sometimes subsiding into sunless hollows, then mounting afresh into a chequered brilliancy--but always passing between woods of dark and glossy foliage. at one place was a pretty spring of water, where one of the party halted to drink while the rest proceeded. on finding him fail to come up with us, a horseman and two footmen were despatched in search. their shouts gave animation to the scene, but gradually became fainter as the distance between us increased. the whole of the day's journey hitherto was remarkable for absence of human population. came to _herfaish_, a druse village, in the very heart of the forest, but passed on, still toiling in the hot sunshine. occasionally the paths were so rocky that we had to dismount and lead the horses. it was evident from the deportment and conversation of our guides, that whenever christians (who in that neighbourhood are all maronites) enter that division of the forest where the druses of herfaish prevail they find it necessary to travel in companies and armed. fortunately we encountered none of the fanatics of tarsheehhah. the escort told me that they themselves only became acquainted with these cross roads in the direction of nazareth by means of their journeys thither at the ecclesiastical festivals of easter, christmas, etc. at this hot season there were not many flowers to be noticed, beyond some varieties of salvia, yellow broom, bright-coloured thistles, the pink flax, blackberry blossoms, and one kind of heath, together with some plants unknown to me. the trees were not of large dimensions, but mostly evergreen and of slow growth; many were very wide-spreading, and all dense enough to afford good shelter from either sun or rain. after six hours and a half of uninterrupted forest we arrived at a small trickling spring called _'ain noom_, when large trees began to give place to shrubs and underwood, and human inhabitants again cheered the sight, they bringing cattle to the water for drinking. at _bait jan_ we were overtaken by the missing member of our party. at this place there is considerable vine cultivation. very soon afterwards we were suddenly upon the brow of a deep descent--sheer steep down to the plain of _battoof_, and the prospect from that spot was amazing, not only beyond expectation, for we had not expected any remarkable scene to come in our way, but beyond all previous experience. the whole of lower galilee, samaria, and gilead, was laid like a map at our feet; and from so great an elevation the mediterranean and the sea of galilee were brought close together. among the most conspicuous geographical points were tabor, a very small object beneath; then the line of carmel; and ebal in samaria; there was hhatteen, the last battle-field of the crusaders; king baldwin's castle of cocab; the entrance of the jordan into the lake, and both the supposed sites of capernaum; also acre with her blue bay, and a small amount of shipping off caiffa. pity that i had no aneroid barometer for ascertaining the elevation of that site. the map-like appearance of the wide panorama suggested to memory the song of deborah the prophetess, with her recapitulation of the succours furnished or omitted by the several tribes of israel at the battle of the kishon and harosheth of the gentiles. from such a site she would turn to the left hand for expostulation with reuben, and to the right for rebuking dan and asher upon the sea-coast, after that the lord had defeated the national foe without them, and sold sisera into the hands of a woman. our descent was by a narrow path of zig-zags, veering alternately towards acre or tiberias, although those towns were soon concealed by intervening hills; the plain below was a large dark patch of olive plantation. in an hour and ten minutes of wearisome toil in leading the horses down, with no possible interval of rest, we came to the village of _rama_; having long before lost sight of the mediterranean. we took refuge from the sun in the house of a christian named ibrahim hhanna, and after an hour's sleep rose up to a feast of eggs, olives, bread, and cream cheese, after sharing in which our guides from rumaish took their leave, with kindly wishes on both sides. next we hired a guide for our crossing the plain to 'arabeh el battoof on the way to nazareth, and travelled over alternate corn stubble and balloot underwood. in one short valley that we crossed there were six _jeldeh_ or short aqueducts to water-mills. the weather was still extremely hot. passed near _dair hhanna_, a large ruin of a fortification upon a hill rising out of the plain; probably, as the name would seem to intimate, an old castle of the knights of st john of jerusalem. a few poor people here have built huts for themselves within the great walls, in the manner of the italian peasants in goldsmith's "traveller," who do the same within the confines of a caesar's palace-- "and wondering man can want the larger pile, exult and own their cottage with a smile." two small towers, now also in ruin, flank the castle at short distances. these were erected by shaikh daher about eighty years since, who employed the whole for military defence in his revolt against the turks. near this 'arabeh lie some time-eaten fragments of large old columns. there we dismissed the guide, as he wished to be at home again before dark, and we traversed the plain of _sefuriyeh_, the celebrated sepphoris of josephus' wars. it is to be observed that in that afternoon we had crossed three narrow but long parallel plains, all running east and west, and divided from each other by lines of rocky hills. the northern one contains _rama_ and _'arabeh_; the middle one has _sefuriyeh_; and the southern one has _tura'an_ and _cuf'r cana_, the place of the miracle at the marriage in st john's gospel. hoping to reach our destination by a shorter track, after passing _rumaneh_ and jerjer we mounted a hill to _mesh-had_, that was in sight, but as darkness came on, lost our way for a considerable time; rain threatened and fell a short time. once we came near a large cattle-fold, which we afterwards learned belonged to the latin convent of nazareth, but no people appeared to answer us; then we got a gloomy view of mount tabor; at length, however, we were cheered with discovering the window lights of nazareth, after being fourteen hours in the saddle, omitting the two hours' rest at rama, and the half-hour at rumaish. the whole country we had traversed is particularly interesting; but at the close of the day the company were all too tired to sing aloud, as might have been performed under other circumstances, that arab song well known over the country, with its wild high note (not cadence) at the end of each line: "if thy horse be indeed a creature of speed thou wilt lodge for the night in nazareth." in december of the next year ( ) i traversed the rama plain lengthwise, that is to say, from tiberias to the plain of acre. after _mejdal_ and the _wadi el hamam_, or "valley of the doves," we soon struck out due westwards, and passed under a hill with ruins on its top called _sabaneh_; then some more considerable ruins in a similar position called _memileh_. at a good way to our left a small village was pointed out called _'ailabool_, containing, among other inhabitants, a few christians, who have their chapel and a priest. the whole road was extremely picturesque--the scenery consisting of broken rocks of ochreous tinge and shoots of balloot oak; and for a long distance at every turn, in looking backwards, there showed itself the still lovely lake of the gospel narratives--that object which no one can ever forget who has had once the privilege to be near it. we kept _mansoorah_ steadily before the eye, but on arriving at the hill upon which this stands, the road deviated a little, and rose over an eminence side by side with the village. here we got a view of those several separated objects--tabor; the sea of galilee; and dair hhanna. we were accosted by some druse peasantry when the village of _moghar_ was somewhat on our left. while passing the large olive plantations of _rama_, we gazed up at the long and steep ladder of the precipice by which we had descended last year. rama is at some height above the level of the plain, although low in proportion to the mountain at its back. just before sunset we halted under the trees for refreshment about a quarter of an hour, then engaged a guide to conduct us to _yerka_, on the plain of acre. the man purposely led us up to the village of rama, over a very stony road, hoping to induce us to stay there for the night on the way to yerka. when i refused to remain, and insisted on going forwards, he took us into places even worse for travelling, to the peril of limbs to ourselves and the horses and mules: and great was our just wrath on finding ourselves every few minutes in augmented trouble in utter darkness; for there was no moon, and the stars were hid by clouds. the horses' feet were sometimes caught between close-wedged rocks, so that we had to lift them out with our hands, and our boots were with difficulty extricated from the same catch-traps; nevertheless the traitor trudged on nimbly a-head of us, heedless of our embarrassments. had he not led us up to rama at the beginning we should have kept upon a pleasant, well-beaten road on the level of the general plain. at length by our own efforts we got down to this highway, and trudged on at a good pace, the guide still trotting on in advance, out of reach of our hands, fearful of consequences, until we reached _mejdal croom_, (or _migdol_, or tower of the vineyards in hebrew,) where he swore that yerka was still three hours before us, and that he was exhausted with fatigue. as we were so in reality, we halted, and with great trouble obtained a room in the village for the night. in the morning it was discovered that yerka was only half-an-hour in advance, but the mischievous fellow was already gone back to where we had unfortunately picked him up. in the house of our lodging i was amused by seeing rude paintings upon the white-washed walls, rather good for native palestine artists of the nineteenth century. the principal object was a three-masted ship, actually containing what were intended for human figures; (perhaps it was a christian, not a mohammedan house.) on the masts were very large flags of no special nationality, but one of them in exactly the opposite direction from the others. the three men, (constructed of lines for limbs and a dot for the head,) looking through telescopes, were taking observations in different quarters; but perhaps this may be allowed--two men formed the crew. there were no sails, and the mainmast had one yard-arm, the rest had none. up in the air, near the ship's masts, were two arabs on horseback carrying spears; the whole tableau was coloured, as such works in the east always are, of a uniform dull red. _n.b._--we were within sight of the sea and the fortress of acre. * * * * * the three previous chapters, and this one at its commencement, relate in no inconsiderable proportion to woods, glens, and glades included in proper forest scenery; but inasmuch as travellers in palestine, describing only what they have themselves seen along high-roads from town to town, under the guidance of professional dragomans and muleteers, generally deny the existence of forest scenery in palestine, i may subjoin some remarks on this particular subject. passing over the extensive olive plantations of gaza, and the sahara of twenty square miles between bayroot and saida, as not exactly belonging to the class of timber trees; and the "pine forest" near bayroot, which is of artificial formation for accomplishing a preconceived design; also the neb'k and other thorny trees unfit for mechanical purposes, extending for miles in wild profusion beyond jericho, and adding beauty to the scenery; there remain the veritable forests of gilead and bashan beyond jordan, seldom visited by european travellers, and the two large forests in western palestine, accessible to the tourists who have leisure and will for knowing the country. first, the belad besharah to the north, north-east, and east of tibneen, and also west and south-west of safed, through all of which i have travelled with unceasing admiration and indulgence of the early taste implanted in childhood among old forests of england. the verdure and the shade from the syrian sun were delightful, with the glades and vistas, as well as the amusing alternations often occurring of stooping to the horse's neck in passing below the venerable branches that stretched across the roadway. those sylvan scenes abound in game, and are known to contain formidable wild animals. secondly, the forest extending in length at least thirty miles from below caesarea, northwards to the plain of battoof beyond sepphoris. this was designated the "ingens sylva" by the ancient romans. i have crossed this in several lines between nazareth and acre or caiffa; and twice from the plain of sharon to carmel through the _wadi 'arah_ by _umm el fahh'm_, a village, the very name of which ("mother of charcoal") belongs to a woodland region; besides the line from carmel to _'arabeh_. the portion of this forest immediately contiguous inland from carmel is named "the rohha," clearly from the fragrance exhaled by the pine and terebinth trees, with the wild herbs upon the hills; this, together with the dark wooded sides of the long mountain, constitutes "the forest of his carmel" mentioned in the boasting of the king of assyria, (isa. xxxvii. ; also x. , in hebrew,) and it is the _drymos_ of the septuagint and of josephus, (wars, i. , ,) in the which a battle was fought by those jews who were aiding the parthians on behalf of antigonus. no wonder that the loss of men was considerable among the woods and thickets there. i note the accuracy of assigning the name [greek text] to this region, consisting as it does almost exclusively of oak. besides these wide tracts of woodland, there are also the summit and sides of tabor, with woods along its north-eastern base. and the district south and south-west of hebron, in which, besides oak, etc., pine timber is frequent,--i should rather say was, for of late years it has been much devastated, and that too in an unmethodical manner, to meet the increased requirements of jerusalem, bethlehem, etc., for fuel; nay, as i have been told, shiploads of it are constantly conveyed away to egypt, especially for works on the suez canal. in like manner, in creeks of the sea between acre and bayroot, may frequently be seen small vessels loading with wood for egypt. throughout all the period of my experience in palestine, i have had reason to deplore destruction of the growing timber by charcoal-burners in various provinces. i have seen the sides of whole hills in a blaze, purposely kindled and then left by these men to perform the work with least trouble to themselves: the government takes no heed in the matter, and no care is employed for propagation of new trees to succeed the blackened ruin thus produced. so it would appear that in ancient periods, when the land was well peopled, the very wants of that population would, as in every other country, keep down the growth of forests. in the military periods of roman and other invasions, large timber was required for offensive and defensive operations; and in our generation, when the population there is exceedingly diminished, the ignorance, the bad government, and the wastefulness of uncivilisation, produce the same result of destroying or hindering the increase of timber growth. there are not many parts of palestine more bare of timber trees than the interval between jerusalem and bethlehem; yet there are old houses in the latter town whose owners pride themselves on the strong, stout rafters and planks they contain, of a quality known far around by the name of bethlehem oak, and there are persons still living who can remember oak-trees near solomon's pools. that this neighbourhood was formerly well wooded is still proved by the tufts of evergreen oak which spring up everywhere over the hills. these tufts of brushwood are found to come from immense roots, each one enough for several camel-loads of fire-wood. they are dug up by the peasantry, and sold in jerusalem for fuel, under the name of carameh. it is popularly said that "once upon a time" a man of jerusalem went to reside at hebron, and the usual chequered events of life occurred, ending in the calamity of losing his eyesight. in extreme old age he resolved upon returning to his native city, and when he reached the convent of mar elias, half-way between bethlehem and jerusalem, the weather being hot, he took off his turban to rest it on the saddle before him. "oh, our father," said his sons, who were walking by his side, "why art thou uncovering the bareness of thy head?" "it is," he replied, "that i may enjoy the coolness that is to be enjoyed beneath the trees that i remember to have been by the roadside all the way hence to jerusalem." they assured him that not only did no such avenue exist, but that not a tree was to be seen in any direction, right or left, and that much of the change was owing to the hostilities that had been carried on among the villages under the laxity of the turkish government. "is it so?" said he: "then turn back, my sons, and let me die where i have lived so long; jerusalem is no longer what it was." this anecdote, current among the peasantry, describes strongly, by its very simplicity, the process that for centuries has been in operation to reduce that country to the condition in which we now find it. i ought not to leave the subject of forest scenery in palestine without inviting attention to the eloquent passages in dr thomson's "land and the book" upon that subject. this veteran missionary of the lebanon knows the whole country well, and being an american of the far west, has been accustomed to large forests, huge trees, and charms of woodland scenery; yet he speaks with rapture of the groves about banias--the solemn glens and verdure of the belad besharah, and the magnificence of the sindianeh. this author has a keen relish for all the varied beauties of nature, and possesses the faculty of describing them so as to enable us to share in its healthful gratifications. x. a temple of baal and sepulchre of phoenicia. about midway between tyre and sidon lies what has been called by porter and tristram a kind of syrian stonehenge; but neither they nor vandevelde, who likewise mentions it, really visited the spot. the remains are not even mentioned in carl ritter's elaborate compilation, the "erd-kunde," nor in robinson or thompson; but as i have visited them five times, namely in october , october , september , october , and september , i may as well tell what i know of these monuments, which i believe to be of some importance. the site on which they stand is a large open cultivated ground, nearly opposite _sarafend_, (sarepta,) between the high-road and the sea, a quarter of an hour south of the vestiges of _adloon_, whose broken columns and large pieces of tesselated pavement lie actually upon the highway, so that our horses and mules walk over the household pavements, or the road pavement of hexagonal slabs. adloon may be at half distance between soor and saida. it has been conjectured that the name is an arabic modification of _adnoun_, and that again derived from _ad nonum_, meaning the ninth roman mile from tyre; but as far as my memory serves me, that does not correspond with the real distance. there are upright stones standing from four to six feet each above the present level of the ground, but which may not be the original level. there may have been a considerable rise accumulated in process of time. the largest stone still shows six feet by a breadth of two. they anciently formed a parallelogram, (not a circle, which is commonly believed to be an emblem belonging to baal-worship,) as may be seen in the following plan, which represents their present appearance:-- [picture: ancient construction at adloon] the twelve stones marked _ _ are still erect; the rest, whose places are marked by dots, are either prostrate on the ground, or have entirely disappeared. between them all are spaces of two or three yards each. the stones appear to have been carefully hewn originally, though now the edges are worn off, or pieces have fallen away from the substances of most of them. they bear, however, no chisel-indications of having been connected by lintels across the tops: they have not been placed as trilithons. outside the parallelogram, at the distance of six yards, stand two other stones of the same description, which probably served as a portal of approach. within the enclosure is a depression of ground, in an oval shape, almost filled up with weeds, which demands but little effort of imagination to suggest the position of an altar now removed, leaving only the hollow orifice of a channel for carrying away blood or ashes. this may be worth an examination hereafter. there are tokens of buildings having stood near, but these may have been of later date. i picked up a fragment of tesselated pavement there, but that may have come there by means of any conceivable accident from adloon. such is my simple account of what i cannot but believe to have been a temple of baal-worship for the old phoenicians, certainly of earlier period than any greek or roman architecture in the country; and vestiges such as these, of antique syrian monuments, may, on careful examination, furnish us with data, useful in enabling us to understand the celtic remains still found in europe. the nearest village to these remains, though at some distance upon the hills, is _sairi_, hence the place is named _sook sairi_, from the circumstance of a "market" of cattle and general goods being held there periodically for the district around. but why should this spot above all others in the long-deserted plain be used for such a market? is it not a traditional continuance of some remote custom in connexion with the importance conferred by the ancient temple and its now-forgotten worship? who can tell us through how many ages this rural fair has been held at sairi or adloon? the peasant account of the stones is that they were formerly men, whom god, or a prophet in his name, turned into stones for their wickedness, while they were employed in reaping a harvest; further my informant could not tell. the narrative closely resembled the explanation given me by country people in england respecting some almost similar stones at long-compton, on the border between oxfordshire and warwickshire; and i think i remember to have read of similar instances in other parts of england. vandevelde was told that this miracle was wrought by nebi zer, (whose weli is in the neighbourhood,) and that this prophet zer was nephew to joshua, the son of nun,--_i.e._, if he understood his interpreter aright. i cannot well leave that vicinity without mentioning the long lines of sepulchres excavated in the cliff-line which runs parallel to the sea, eastwards of the highway, and upon the crest of which line sarafend and other villages are posted. these sepulchres have been noticed by travellers generally, even while merely passing along without leaving the beaten track, others have taken the trouble to visit them, but without finding any inscriptions. i have seen one inscription, the following in greek, and apparently unfinished:-- [greek text] although in some respects these resemble the sepulchres near jerusalem, they are not so elaborately formed into passages and inner chambers as the latter. many of the excavations high above the ground have been at some era adapted to residences for hermits. near saida i have been shown sepulchres that were entered by steps and passages, and coated with very hard stucco, on which were pictures in fresco of festoons of olive and vine leaves alternated, these leaves being diversified sometimes with tints of autumnal brown, also trees of palm or olive, with birds upon their branches; the birds being all of one kind, with long tails, and coloured bright yellow and red, with brown backs. inasmuch as these portray living creatures they must be ascribed to some classical, _i.e._, ante-islamitic epoch. the designing and colouring of them are excellent, and the work remains in good preservation; they are most likely of roman art, for their style much resembles the wall pictures of pompeii. i have met with no mention of these decorated sepulchres, but in ritter's quotation from mariti, (saida's umgebungen in vol. iv. i, page ,) and that only lately. the sepulchre which i entered consisted of one principal chamber, at each side of which were three smaller recesses, besides two such opposite the entrance. these latter have others proceeding further within them. there are no low shelves as in the judaean sepulchres, but the dead were laid in shallow trenches sunk in the rocky floor. the stucco has only been employed to the right and left of the principal chamber. i pass over, as not belonging to this subject, the more recent discovery by others near the town in of the two sarcophagi, one of them bearing a phoenician inscription. [picture: temple of baal (see p )] xi. jerusalem to petra, and return by the dead sea. during the last twenty years there have been many english and other visitors to petra; but they have usually taken it in the way from egypt towards jerusalem, which is probably convenient with respect to the season of the year, inasmuch as they thereby get a warm winter before the "sights" of jerusalem (as some irreverently speak) begin. it would not be so well to take egypt after easter. but, on hearing that several travellers had been unable to reach petra even after 'akabah, on account of hostilities arising between the alaween and the tiyahah arabs, or on account of the exorbitant demands of money made by the former of these, i thought the time had arrived for me to show the practicability of getting at the wonders of petra from jerusalem, under escort of the jehaleen arabs near hebron. i went accordingly, and treated with the fellahheen of wadi moosa in the place itself; and numerous travellers have since availed themselves of this advantage, though none have published an account of their expedition. on looking back at my notes of the journey, i am astonished at the rapid flight of time; for although my recollection is on the whole very vivid, these notes are dated in april . full occupation during the intervening period has seemed to shorten the interval. the scene, too, is now changed; for instead of the arid desert and the blasted porphyry cliffs of edom, then before my eyes, these lines are penned among the bright green meadows of england, with the broad thames in view, bearing large three-masted ships on its tide, freighted with imports from the most distant parts of the world. with an officer of dragoons, being a traveller in jerusalem, and under escort of hamzeh, the hebron agent for the jehaleen, we proceeded across country to meet the arabs in their wilderness. leaving the hebron road at _'ain dirweh_, we ascended the lofty hill to the little village and weli of _nebi yunas_, (prophet jonah,) which is so conspicuous an object far away in every direction,--the minaret which rises from the building giving it very much the appearance of a rural church in europe. thence through well-cultivated fields of wheat and barley,--green at that season,--towards the village of _beni naim_; but at quarter of the intermediate distance, passed considerable remains of good masonry, named khirbet _bait ainoon_, (ruins of beth enon.) at _beni naim_ is the reputed sepulchre of the prophet lot, according to the moslems; that of his daughters being on an opposite hill at no great distance. this village commands a grand prospect of the dead sea, although there is no view of the kind from all the country around. is not this the place whence abraham, after the departure of the angels, saw the smoke of sodom and gomorrah rising as the smoke of a furnace? (gen. xix. , .) here was a travelling durweesh, fantastically dressed, amusing the peasants by dancing and cracking a long whip; while a lad accompanying him thumped a large drum,--both the thonged whip and the large drum being rare objects in that country. in a quarter of an hour we terminated our short day's journey (about six hours and a half) in a meadow of long green grass. the site is called _beerain_, from the two wells there. selameh, the brother of the arab chief, with several of his people, were awaiting our arrival; and they were to lead us forward in the morning. _april_ .--my right knee was much swollen from the strain of a sinew, caused by an unexpected step down a bank taken by my horse when near _hhalhhool_, on the road from jerusalem; consequently, feeling feverish, and with a headache all night, i was not soothed by the camels groaning, quarrelling, or champing their food close to my tent. in the morning we made our bargain with selameh, for the hire of camels, the escort, etc. the captain and i, with my attendants, were to ride our horses in the desert,--taking camels to carry an extra supply of water for them. we started, but in a very short time became disgusted at the slow travelling of our caravan, as we were compelled to moderate the pace of our riding to suit the leisurely tread of the camels. selameh bestrode a very young colt of the k'baishi race; but i rated my pony, of the jilfi stock, still higher than his. the wide expanse before us was sprinkled with wild flowers, including the yellow furze, (i have beside me, while writing this, a bunch of the same, of english growth;) and the ret'm, or juniper, seven or eight feet in height, covered with white blossom, the fragrance of which resembled, or, if possible, was an improvement upon, the smell of a bean-field in flower. near _ziph_, the rocks have many ancient wells cut into their solid substance. about noon we halted at a rough natural cistern, for the purpose of filling our barrels and kirbehs (goat and camel skins) with water. this task occupied an hour, during which i contrived to find just enough shade for my head under a big stone, but took refuge in the cistern itself while the camels were being reloaded. leaving this, we found the waste plains abounding in locusts innumerable, and not full grown. as a natural consequence, there were storks hovering about and feasting upon them. on account of the benefit thus conferred on mankind by these birds, the arabs call them _abu sa'ad_, _i.e._, "father of good fortune." in the middle of the afternoon we arrived at the encampment of the jehaleen, under the north-east side of tell _'arad_, the site of the canaanitish city in num. xxi. i, xxxiii. ; judges i. . it was a cheerful green site, though the verdure consisted merely of a thin and poor grass. we had to be introduced to the real shaikh on his own territorial domain, namely, hadji daif allah abu dahook,--a sharp fellow in driving a bargain,--a taller and stouter man than any of his people, who were all extremely dirty in person and dress, and several of them but small, withered-looking old men. one of the women, however, was tall, and walked with exceeding dignity of manner. our european tents were pitched at some distance from the black hair tents of the arabs and we observed, soon after our arrival, that three strangers came up on horseback, carrying spears tufted with black ostrich feathers, on a visit to our shaikh. they were well received; and songs, with clapping of hands, continued during a great part of the night, with a monotonous accompaniment of the women grinding corn in their hand-mills! _april_ .--we rose early, enjoying the indescribable beauty and purity of starlight in an oriental desert, thermometer, fahrenheit, . degrees, at sunrise; but before sunrise i mounted to the summit of the hill, where i found no vestiges of a city, only the foundation of a castle, or some such edifice, of about a hundred feet by sixty. in fact, this covered nearly the whole surface of the summit. the city must, therefore, have been situated on the plain, the metropolis of a petty canaanitish king; but every trace of it is gone. low hills bounded the view on every side, over which some peaks of the moab mountains showed themselves in the east. when fairly started on the march at past a.m., we went along very cheerily, accompanied by hadji daif allah and the three strangers, till, on a sudden, the latter wheeled about, and required from us the ghuf'r, or toll, for our future passage through their country. the shaikh recommended us to make them a present of a couple of dollars, as they were neighbours of petra, and without their good-will we should not be able to succeed in the expedition. we complied, and they rode off southwards, abu dahook returning to his camp. wearisome indeed is travelling with camels; but what would it have been had we been mounted upon them, as is generally the case with travellers from sinai and 'akabah! we horsemen frequently imitated the practice of old fadladeen in _lalla rookh_, when he rode ahead of his caravan, and alighted now and then to enjoy the spectacle of the procession coming up and passing, then mounted again to repeat the pleasure. the strongest and worst tempered one of our camels having the barrels of water to carry, suddenly lay down and rolled them from him. had his burden been the skins of water instead, they would have burst, and we should have lost their precious contents. our arabs not being accustomed to the convoy of travellers, were as yet unskilful in loading the camels, or in poising the burdens in equal divisions; and most extraordinary noises did they make in urging the beasts forward,--sounds utterly indescribable in european writing, or even by any combinations of the arabic alphabet! we had about half a dozen men, mostly trudging on foot, and but slightly armed, commanded by selameh; and one of them, named salem, was the merry-andrew of the party, full of verbal and practical jokes. the ride was exhilarating,--over a level plain, green with thin grass or weeds, and low shrubs, whose roots extended to surprising distances, mostly above the surface of the ground; the morning breeze delicious, with larks trilling high above us in the sky, and smaller birds that sang among the bushes. sometimes we caught distant views of innumerable storks devouring the infant locusts upon the hill-sides. passed _'ain mel'hh_, (salt-fountain,) which robinson identifies with the moladah of joshua xix. , by means of the transition name of malatha in greek. the only building now remaining is a square weli, surmounted by a dome. here we were not far from beersheba, upon our right, and fell in with the common route from gaza and hebron to ma'an. finding a flock of goats, we got new milk from the shepherd; when diluted with water, this is a refreshing beverage. on coming up to a camp of saadeen arabs, our cook, a vain-glorious maronite from the lebanon, and ignorant of arab customs, attempted to fire upon a watch-dog at the tents for barking at him; and it was judged necessary to deprive him of his pistols for the rest of the journey. had he succeeded in his folly, we should have got into considerable trouble; for an arab watch-dog is accounted so valuable, that to kill one of them might have entailed upon us a long delay, and a formal trial in a council of elders of different tribes, collected for the purpose; followed by the penalty awarded by the unwritten laws which obtain in the desert, namely, a payment of as much fine wheat as would entirely cover the dog when held up by his tail, and the nose touching the ground, and this is no small quantity; such delay would have probably thwarted our whole journey. at a narrow pass, called _daiket 'arar_, was the shell of an old building, now roofless. near this, and by the wayside, as we advanced, were considerable remains of foundations of houses. there must have been a town of note at that place, it is the 'aroer of sam. xxx. . our course now suddenly trended towards the east, instead of southwards. in less than another hour we came to _kubbet el baul_, merely the foundation of a small weli. selameh told us that this had belonged to a tribe called bali, (or baul in the plural.) i have no doubt that this is the site of _balah_ of joshua xix. ; and that from it the arabs, settling near it afterwards, derived their appellation. we soon afterwards, p.m., passed _curnub_, a ruined place on the right, and descended the slope of _muzaikah_. in another hour and a half, namely, at half-past four, we halted for the night, after a journey of ten hours. it was on a smooth, pebbly plain, dotted with shrubs, having lines of chalky hills to the south-west, for which our people had no other name than _jebel el ghurb_, or the "western mountain." the whole scene was that of a mere desert; no creatures were to be seen or heard but ourselves. no turkish authorities ever intrude into this purely arab wilderness; still less was the landscape spoiled by the smoke of european factories. no speck of cloud had we seen the whole day through. not far from this must have transpired the incidents recorded of hagar and ishmael,--incidents that might have occurred yesterday, or last week; for a few thousand years count but little in so primitive a region. our ragged fellows ran about singing, in search of thorns or long roots, or even the straggling plants of bitter colocynth, as fuel for our cooking-fire. stars arose, but such stars! not like the spangles of the english poet's conception, those "patines of bright gold," though that idea is beautiful; but one could see that they were round orbs that flashed streams of diamond light from out their bigness. so luxurious a bed as that spread upon the desert sand, amid such pure air for breathing, is scarcely to be obtained but in exactly similar circumstances; and we were undisturbed by cries of any wild beasts, although jackals and hyenas are common at night in the more cultivated parts of palestine. _april_ .--thermometer, fahrenheit, . degrees at sunrise. we had our breakfast, and were off again by sunrise. it is said that "early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." it remained to be seen what the effect would be upon us. the groom being left behind a short time for packing up the kitchen utensils, allowed us to get out of sight without his observing the direction we had taken; and, when mounted, he took a wrong course. it was therefore necessary to give chase towards the hills to recover him. in an hour we reached two tul'hh (acacia or mimosa) trees, from which, i believe, the gum-arabic is obtained, and the stump of a third. these were the first that we had seen. then descended, during about half an hour, to the broken walls of a town called _sufah_, below which commenced the very remarkable nuk'beh, or precipitous slope into the great wadi 'arabah. before commencing this, however, we paused to survey the savage scenery around us, and the glorious expanse of the plain, which extends from the dead sea to the red sea, and is bounded on one side by the hills of judaea, and on the other by the mountains of edom,--on an average of feet above the level,--including mount hor, the most conspicuous peak among them. at that time, however, the range was capped with rolling mists of the morning. this _sufah_ is most likely the _zephath_ of judges i. ,--the frontier town of king arad the canaanite, which the tribes of judah and simeon destroyed, and called the site hormah, (_i.e._, "devoted to destruction.") if so, it is strange that the canaanitish name should outlive the one intentionally given by the early israelites. probably, the surrounding tribes never adopted the hebrew name, and preserved the original one. we were standing among crevasses of shivered mountains, whose strata are tossed about in fantastic contortions; and what we had yet to traverse below this, was something like a thousand feet of very slippery rock, lying in flakes, and sloping two ways at once. the greater length forms a rough line, at an angle of what seemed to the eye to be one of forty-five degrees,--not so steep as the terabeh that we came to afterwards, but longer and more perilous. yet this is the only approach to jud_ae_a from the desert for many leagues around. was it here that king amaziah destroyed his edomite prisoners after his victory in the "valley of salt?" ( chron. xxv. .) half way down, one of our barrels of water slipped off a camel, and rolled into a chasm with noise and echoes like thunder. wonderful to relate, it was not broken, and we were thankful for its preservation. at the bottom of the precipice, just beyond the shingle or debris of the mountain, the captain and i rested, and drank some camels' milk. this the bedaween consider very strengthening. there were several tul'hh-trees in a torrent-bed beside us, and some neb'k. with some twine that we gave him, and a stout thorn of tul'hh, one of our arabs mended his sandal, which was in need of repair. we, having preceded the beasts of burthen over the slippery rock, sat watching them and the men creeping slowly down, in curved lines, like moving dots, towards us. upon the ground we found some dried palm-branches and slips of vine, which must have belonged to some former travellers, passing from the western towns to ma'an, for neither palm nor vine grows in this wilderness, of which it may be truly said, "it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates," (num. xx. ;) and it is now become like a past dream, that virgil and lucan mentioned the palm-trees of idumaea. { } so at length we were upon the great 'arabah, or "wilderness of zin," of the israelitish wanderings; and our path was to be diagonally across this, pointed direct at mount hor in the south-east. on crossing a shallow wadi named _fik'r_, they told us of a spring of water to be found in it, at a good distance to the north-east. after some hours, we came to _wadi jaib_, sometimes styled the jeshimon, as well as its corresponding plain on the north of the dead sea, and in arabic both are called "the ghor," in the shallow bed of which were receptacles for water, concealed by canes and brushwood laid in the utmost disorder, so as to produce the appearance of mere random drift of winter storms. without the arabs, of course, we should never have suspected the existence of such valuable stores. probably also the bedaween from a distance would not be aware of such resources there. the covering would, besides, serve to prevent a speedy evaporation of the water by the sun's heat. these spots were shaded likewise by tul'hh, sunt, and neb'k-trees. there we watered the cattle and filled our vessels. { } in another half hour we rested for the night, having made a march of nearly twelve hours, over more tiring ground than that of yesterday. _'ain weibeh_ was to our right, which robinson conjectured to be kadesh barnea. we perceived footprints of gazelles and of hyenas. _april_ . sunrise, fahrenheit, . degrees. our jerusalem bread being now exhausted, we took to that of the desert-baking, which is very good while fresh and hot from the stones on which the improvisation of baking is performed, but not otherwise for a european digestion: and our servants, with the bedaween, had to chase the chickens every morning. the survivors of those brought from jerusalem being humanely let out of their cages for feeding every evening, the scene of running after them, or flinging cloaks in the air when they took short flights, not to mention the shouts of the men and the screams of the birds, was very ludicrous, but annoying, when time is precious. the merry little salem enjoyed all this, as well as the amusements of our people, during the monotony of daily travelling: as, for instance, the captain rolling oranges along the ground, as prizes for running, or his mounting a camel himself, or riding backwards, etc.--anything for variety. the desert may be described as a dried pudding of sand and pebbles, in different proportions in different places,--sometimes the sand predominating, and sometimes the pebbles,--with occasionally an abundance of very small fragments of flint, serving to give a firmer consistency to the sand. round boulders are also met with on approaching the hill-sides. in one place large drifts of soft yellow sand were wrinkled by the wind, as a smooth sea-beach is by the ripples of a receding tide. these wrinkles, together with the glare of a burning sun upon them, affected the eyes, so as to make the head giddy in passing over them. wild flowers and shrubs are not wanting; and the former are often very fragrant. i observed among those that are so, a prevalence in their names of the letter [arabic letter] (gh); as ghurrah, ghubbeh, ghurkud, ghuraim, etc. they brought me a handful of _meijainineh_, which was said to be good for pains in the stomach; and the starry flower, called _dibbaihh_, not unlike a wild pink, is eaten by the people, both petals, calyx, and stalk. the tul'hh, or mimosa-tree, has a strange appearance, very like an open fan, or the letter v filled up. the green foliage of it is particularly vivid at the season when we saw it, and the thorns long and sharp. { } distances are hard to judge of in such extensive plains and in so clear an atmosphere. we had been nearly two days in sight of mount hor, straight before us; yet the mountain only grew in size as we approached it, not in distinctness. [picture: tul'hh trees] as we came nearer to the eastern mountains, we found innumerable and huge blocks of porphyry rock scattered over the ground. the arabs called the range of seir by the name of _jebel sherreh_. at about eight hours from our last night's station, we turned off the wadi 'arabah by the narrow _wadi tayibeh_ into the heart of the mountains, at the foot of hor. ascended a series of precipices, and, at some elevation, met two young english gentlemen, with a pair of double-barrelled pistols shared between them, and their fingers ready on the triggers. they had a tale to relate of grievous exactions made by the fellahheen of petra,--which, however, seemed to me, by their account, to have been brought on unconsciously by themselves, in having taken an escort of tiyahah arabs from nukh'l instead of the alaween; and they informed me that a clergyman from cambridge was still detained there, as he refused to comply with the excessive demands of the people. on what a stupendous scale is geology to be studied in mount seir, where you have masses of red sandstone feet in depth; yellow sandstone extending miles away in ranges of hills, and the sandy desert beneath; all of this incapable of cultivation; and inspiring a sensation of deep sadness, in connexion with the denunciations of god's prophecies! at a quarter before four we caught the first glimpse of the mezar of aaron's tomb, and at five pitched our tents on the rugged side of hor, among crags and scented plants, enlivened by numerous cuckoos, and the sweet warbling of one little bird. what reminiscences of dear old england the song of the cuckoos awakened! now, however, from henceforth, being in england, their song will infallibly recall the memory to large bare mountains, extreme heat of climate, and the fragrance of elijah's ret'm plant. during the last hour we had seen some blue pigeons, one partridge, and, separately, two large eagles, to which our attention had been drawn by their shadows moving on the ground before us; then, on looking upwards, the royal birds were seen sailing along, silently and slowly, against the blue vault of ether. this had been the hottest day of our whole journey; and the atmosphere became thick as the evening stole over the hills. _april_ _th_.--sunrise, fahrenheit degrees. in the morning we advanced upwards towards aaron's tomb. walking in front of the luggage, we met the clergyman of whom we had heard the day before. he had been allowed to leave petra on suffering the people to take money out of his pockets,--reserving to himself the intention of complaining against them officially to the consul in jerusalem. he had been to the summit of hor, and pronounced the view from it to be more grand and striking than that from sinai. on bidding him farewell, we took selameh and one kawwas, for clambering on our hands and knees to the summit, leaving the luggage to proceed and wait for us farther on; but had to rest occasionally in the shade of large trees of 'arar, which robinson considered to be the true juniper, and not the ret'm. the latter (the _rothem_ of the hebrew bible, under which the prophet elijah reposed) was very abundant, and covered with white blossom, shedding the richest perfume. is it possible that all this fragrance, and the warbling of the birds, is but "wasted in the desert air?" the mountain is all of dark-red colour; and the higher we ascended, the more difficult we found the progress to be. at length all farther advance seemed impossible, till, on looking round, we observed an excavation for a well, with masonry around it; and beyond this were steps cut into the rock, which rock was sloped at an angle of between fifty and sixty degrees. this encouraged us to persevere. still higher, i picked up some tesserae of mosaic, and morsels of marble and alabaster,--a piece of the latter now lies on the table before me. at length we attained the highest peak, where there was scarcely more space than sufficient to contain the small weli-building, which was at the time untenanted, though we had expected to find a moslem devotee in permanent residence there. [picture: small weli-building] i utterly despair of being able to describe the prospect around us; and can only say that extensive mountain-peaks lay in lines below, and might be compared to those made upon embossed maps, but that the whole scene was vast, savage, and abandoned to sombre desolation--both the hills and the desert--in every direction. the atmosphere was too thick and hazy to allow of very distant views. neither of the two waters--the red sea or the dead sea--was visible. let those who take pleasure in doing so, doubt that on that peak lies interred aaron, the first high priest of israel, "the saint of the lord," and that there was effected the first personal transfer of the pontifical office from him to eleazer his son. rather let me believe that there my unworthy footsteps have been placed on the same pieces of rock with the two venerable brothers who led up the redeemed people from egypt, "the house of bondage," and that it was there they parted, leaving moses to carry on the task alone. "three hebrew cradles, the nile-palms under, rock'd three sweet babes upon egypt's plain: three desert graves must those dear ones sunder, three sorrowful links of a broken chain. kadesh and hor, and nebo yonder, three waymarks now for the pilgrim train." { } i seated myself, and wrote a brief letter to a dear relative in england. entering the weli, we found near the door a common-looking tomb, with an arabic inscription,--which, however, i found too illegible to allow of its being copied; and over the tomb was spread a pall of silk, striped in red, green, and white, but much faded. against a pillar, which supports the roof, were hung rows of coloured rags and threads of yarn, with snail-shells and sea-shells strung among them by way of further ornament. a wooden bowl, at one end of the tomb, was probably intended to receive alms for the support of the devotee who claims the place, and who practises the curing of diseases by charms among the wild arabs. the floor of the chamber has been handsomely paved with tesselated bits of coloured marble, much of which still remains. over the tomb are suspended some ostrich eggs on a line, as is common in oriental churches; and near it is a mihrab, or niche in the wall, to indicate the southerly direction for moslem prayers. in a corner of the floor, a flight of steps leads down to a crypt; and, providing ourselves with a light, we descended thither, in expectation of finding there the more ancient tomb, believed to be genuine, as it is the usual practice in moslem welies to have an imitation tomb on the common floor at the entrance, while the true one is exactly beneath it. but we only found an iron grating, swinging loose to the touch, and within it a plain wall, from which part of the plaster having fallen away, allowed to be seen the corner of a kind of stone sarcophagus. the portion visible was not, however, sufficient to enable us to judge of its probable era. the ceiling of the crypt is blackened by the smoke of lamps. i then mounted, by the outside of the building, to the top of the dome, but could see nothing thence of petra, so deeply sunk is that valley betwixt high hills. descending the mountain by the opposite side of that of our arrival,--namely, on the side next to petra,--we discovered that more pains in roadmaking had been bestowed there, and that the ascent in that direction would be comparatively easy. cuckoos and partridges were heard plentifully; and, on looking back, i saw a very large raven hovering over the weli. in an hour's descent we rejoined our servants and horses, but were not yet at the foot of the mountain. entering a valley of red rocks, much streaked with blue in wavy lines, the first work of antiquity that met our view was a square turret on each side of the road. then we passed some tombs, or chambers, cut into the massive red cliffs with architectural cornices, pediments, and pilasters, some of them very handsome. next was what laborde marks in his map as "the solitary column." it is standing solitary; but then near its base lie other columns of the same edifice, with the circular slices (or _drums_, as architects term them) that composed them, scarcely disturbed as they slid down in falling. in five minutes more we halted for the night close to what laborde designates the acropolis, where a pile of fine building lies prostrate, and the columns on the ground, in their segments, still touching each other. at the foot of this heap stands what is named the palace of pharaoh; and our station within it appeared, from the black relics of fires there, to be a frequent resting-place for travellers. here, then, we were fairly lodged among the wonders which so deservedly excite the curiosity of the world, and proceeded to improve time, before the fellahheen of the district should arrive to annoy us, by crowding and importunity. it is not my design to recount in detail the marvels of the place,--this has been done by laborde, lord lindsay, wilson, and robinson,--but just to say, that having with me the small edition of laborde and some manuscript notes extracted from other books, by their help i saw most of what was to be seen. i wandered through streets of the middle town; surveyed and entered palaces hewn into crimson rocks; sat reading on the solid benches of the theatre, and walked along its stage; then gazed with unwearied admiration on the beautiful khazneh, its delicate tints and graceful proportions, and went to rest upon a green bank opposite to it, with a running stream at my feet, bordered by gorgeous oleanders, where i chatted with some wild arabs arriving from the south. such a harmony of ruddy tints, from the darkest buds of the oleander, through gradations on the rocks, to the most delicate pink, was truly a feast of nature for the eyes. these are incidents never to be forgotten, and the memory of them is unspeakably charming. i made a few rough sketches; but it may be sufficient here to give only a specimen of the capitals of columns that are peculiar to petra. [picture: capital of column] during the afternoon the thermometer stood inside the tent at degrees fahrenheit. the captain, my companion, went alone to explore the chasm called the _sik_, as my slight sprain, after being almost forgotten during the journey, had become painful again from the effects of climbing upon mount hor. but i had come to petra for business; and the indigenous peasantry of wadi moosa were gathering around our tents from different directions. they had not been prepared for the reception of guests arriving from the north, _i.e._, jerusalem, as travellers usually come from 'akabah or sinai, through nukh'l. our arabs, both jehaleen and some strangers, set to making themselves comfortable. there arrived a large body of the fellahheen, headed by shaikh suliman es said, a ragged and ugly crew, he as dirty as the rest, but strutting about in a robe of bright scarlet. then commenced the negotiations and disputes between them and ours; noise and menace speedily ensued, alternated with diplomatic manoeuvres, for our champion, selameh, was an able practitioner in such matters, at least he had a reputation for it. the stormy scenes were not concluded till late in the night, and they ended by an arrangement that travellers, arriving by the new road from jerusalem, should pay the same pecuniary acknowledgment to the territorial owners as had been hitherto claimed from those arriving under alaween escort from nukh'l or 'akabah; and this agreement i ratified orally, as writing or sealing would have been altogether out of place there. one might think that so simple a matter could have been finished in five minutes; but just as in european business of that nature, it is always necessary for the contracting parties to be allowed scope for the display of their professional talents. _april_ _th_.--sunrise, fahrenheit . degrees. an inundation of strange arabs from the desert had arrived during the night, and it was computed that there were not less than two hundred guns round our tents, while our party had not more than five, with a few pistols. we were hemmed in by the newcomers, and the crags over us were occupied by men with guns laid in position between crevices. some men were scattered about, shooting at birds; but it seemed to me their real object was rather the making of signals. these people were 'ali rasheed's branch of the alaween, from a district not so distant as 'akabah. our jehaleen party looked very insignificant among them; they had evidently not expected this turn of events. as soon as we europeans showed ourselves after breakfast, the fellahheen rushed forward to serve as guides in exhibiting the curiosities. feeling rather lame, i decided on remaining at the tents with my two kawwases as sentinels; the more disposed to do so, as the strangers had, during the night, purloined some articles from the jehaleen. it was a warm, misty morning, and in the absence of my companion i found considerable amusement in the screams of multitudes of wild birds, high aloft "among the holes of the rocks, and the tops of the rugged rocks,"--probably all of them birds of prey,--which echoed and reverberated with sounds closely resembling the laughter and shouts of children in their vociferous games. on their return, the fellahheen were rapacious in demands for remuneration of their services, but were at length contented. this was the signal for the others to take their advantage. they wanted toll to be paid for crossing part of the desert on which they thought the jehaleen had no right or precedent for bringing strangers. so, on our preparing to leave the ground, they rushed up the bank, secured commanding points for their guns, and thus exacted their fee. the screams and hubbub were at length terminated by some small backsheesh, (to our surprise, how little was required,) and we all marched away in a northern direction, the opposite to that of our arrival. this gave us an opportunity of passing again in front of the principal edifices, if they may be so denominated, including what i had not before seen, the sepulchre with the latin inscription in large letters, qvintvs. praetextvs. florentinvs. it is to be noticed that petra itself is called by the arabs, wadi pharaon, { } not wadi moosa. the two valleys are adjoining, but in the latter there are no antiquities or wonders. at a distance, however, the journey to petra is usually called a journey to wadi moosa, because the fellahheen of the region about there, and to whom toll is paid, are cultivators of the wadi moosa. before leaving the place, it may be observed that the neighbourhood must have been kept in a high state of cultivation during the roman empire for the maintenance of so numerous and luxurious a population of the city, instead of the absence of necessaries of civilised life that we now see there; and that good state of things must have continued in later christian periods, when the district formed "the third palestine," and deputed bishops to the synods of jerusalem and elsewhere. with respect to the colouring of the hills and rocks, it is truly surprising to behold such huge masses of deep red colour, variegated with wavy lines of violet and purple and blue, especially in the direction towards mount hor. we did not, however, remark so much of yellow and orange as laborde or irby and mangles describe. i find since that dr wilson states these rocks to be highly saliferous, and says the arabs scrape them with knives to obtain saltpetre for making their rude gunpowder. he is of opinion that in some geological era the whole place has been formed in a salt-water lake. few people have had so much leisure for making researches there as he had. the temperature was high in the valley, because closely confined between lines of hills; notwithstanding that the elevation is supposed to exceed feet above the mediterranean. what it may be in a more advanced season than april i cannot tell; but i perceived neither scorpions nor serpents there, (as some represent the place to abound in,) no creeping things worse than earwigs. when on the march, we learned that the robbery of the night by 'ali rasheed's people, amounted to one camel, one gun, and old selameh's sandals. also, that those three men whom we saw on the d april at abu dahook's camp were of the same faction, probably also my visitors of the khazneh yesterday. selameh thought that for a couple of gazis (about three shillings and sixpence) he might succeed in a redemption of his goods. these i gave him, and he trudged back over the hills with one of his people, while we kept on our way. he was to meet us at our night's station. the last glance given to petra showed us the palace of pharaoh, and the peak of hor with aaron's tomb. our way led us over a tolerable plain, made agreeable by the fragrance of the ret'm, as wafted along by the breeze; this plant sometimes almost covering the small branch valleys. soon after noon we were in the _wadi nemela_, through which we travelled for nearly two hours,--a scene of broken rocks on each side, and the intermediate space with a profusion of oleander, ret'm and 'arar, all in flower, some of the latter having trunks of ten feet in circumference. thence we issued upon a heath covered with low fragrant herbs; our arabs singing, and the camels striding on famously, followed by a poor little lamb that we had bought at petra. this, of course, we did not intend to convey all the way to jerusalem; but his presence constantly reminded me of the text, (isa. xvi. ,) "send ye the lamb (to) the ruler of the land from sela [_i.e._ petra] to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of zion." this is no longer the time when the king of moab paid tribute "to the king of israel, , lambs and , rams, with the wool," ( kings iii. .) soon after two p.m. we were passing over ledges of porphyry mountain-cliffs, dark and gloomy, but enlivened by large yellow salvia in bloom, and plenty of flowers visible in the hollow below; the whole scene most romantic and fantastic in formation. such huge piles of porphyry i had not seen since those of the coast of peterhead and buchan, lashed by the great billows coming from the baltic sea. occasionally we came to standing pools of water, which, lying on this hard kind of stone, could not filter away or be absorbed, as in our palestine limestone would be the case. from these settlements our water vessels were supplied. thermometer in shade of a rocky cliff, . degrees fahrenheit. we were soon again upon sandstone cliffs, but wildly broken, and descending into lower ground with its juniper and oleander. then ascended again, and attained our greatest elevation by half-past three, at least equal to robinson's calculation of feet above the 'arabah. for two hours more we had to traverse cliffs, gullies, crags, and precipices of red porphyry or green syenite alternately, in enormous masses, split by convulsions of nature, and next arrived in a valley strewed with huge fragments, angular, not rounded boulders, yet fallen from the adjacent mountains. but we were still high above the wide level of the 'arabah. halted at half-past five; thermometer, fahrenheit . degrees, and, during our dinner, old selameh rejoined us, having failed in his dealings with the alaween, who refused to restore their plunder, as they said their object was to punish the jehaleen, for bringing travellers through their country, instead of making them go by way of egypt. { } he reported that thirty more arabs had arrived at petra, half-an-hour after our starting. _april_ _th_.--sunrise, fahrenheit degrees. moving again at six o'clock. in half an hour we were clear of the mountains of seir or edom; but for another hour the ground was still strewn with blocks of porphyry and green syenite, too hard for any of our implements to break off bits from them, and fragments small enough to be carried away were very difficult to find; however, we got some. these large stumbling-blocks, together with dry watercourses, rendered our travelling unusually troublesome to the horses and camels, and wearisome to ourselves. at length we got upon the free 'arabah, among green shrubs and trees of tul'hh and neb'k. at nine o'clock we came to a high sandbank, beneath which was a verdant line of tamarisk, and ghar, and tall canes, with frogs croaking among them. all of these were indications of water; and, accordingly, we found a spring named _'ain taasan_, being one of those which together form the stream of _buwairdeh_. here we filled our water vessels to the utmost, as it was not expected we should find any more good water for two days to come. the surrounding prospect was one of utter desolation, and i took out my bible and read the words of kings iii. ,- , and : "and he said, which way shall we go up? and he answered, the way through the wilderness of edom. so the king of israel went, and the king of judah, and the king of edom; and they fetched a compass of seven days' journey: and there was no water for the host, and for the cattle that followed them . . . and it came to pass in the morning, when the meat-offering was offered, that, behold, there came water by the way of edom, and the country was filled with water." on the spot, as well as at the present time, i remembered with pain the deplorable weakness and wickedness of the remarks on this event contained in paine's "age of reason," and which i do not choose to repeat. the most charitable opinion that one can entertain of such writers is that they know nothing of the nature of the country under consideration. thank god that the world at large, and that land in particular, is now better known than formerly, and, as a consequence, our evidences of the truth of the blessed bible are daily the more confirmed. we then proceeded northwards along the bed of that stream; but in a few minutes its water was lost in the sand. in another hour we entered the dry bed of the _wadi el jaib_, and continued along its course in the direction of the dead sea. the hills were misty on both sides, and the ground hot beneath, as we tramped along, all our voices hushed during the "strength of the heat," (according to arab expression,) and the footfall of the camels entirely without noise. who can sufficiently admire the adaptation of this creature to the desert, in which the maker and ruler of all has placed him? no heat exceeds the power of his endurance; steadily, patiently, silently he stalks his long strides over the yellow ground--one animal following another in regular military step. and during our travels at least he never flagged--the large eyes never lost their brightness; and who ever saw a camel, even though his master may seek rest or shade as he finds opportunity, shrink from the blazing brightness of the sun? halted for the night shortly before five p.m., the journey having been one of eleven hours. but the arabs insisted on our being placed behind the corner of a re-entering valley, in order that our fire and smoke might not be seen during the night by hostile people from a distance. thermometer at sunset, . degrees fahrenheit. we found footprints of gazelles, storks, and hyenas. mount hor at that distance, and in that direction, very much resembles the salisbury crags of edinburgh. _april_ _th_--sunrise, fahrenheit . degrees. tents struck, and all on the march by half-past five. losing sight of mount hor. at a quarter to eight a breeze sprung up from the north, so refreshing in that hot and dry wilderness as to merit the praise of the bedawi poem, beginning-- "shemali, ya hawa ed-deeret shemali." "the north! o thou wind of the northern direction, it has increased my blessing, and all that belongs to me, and after weakness of state, has changed my condition." i find, however, that this literal translation gives but a very poor idea of the feeling concentrated in the words of the original, and only feebly expresses the reminiscence of that time as still preserved at the moment of this writing. soon after eight o'clock we were out of the wadi el jaib, that is to say, the high cliffs of marl on each side abruptly terminated, previous to which, they had been at first more than a hundred feet above our heads, and then gradually diminishing in height as we advanced. we descended gradually into the semicircular expanse of marshes called el ghuwair or the little ghor, with the large dead sea and the _khash'm usdum_, or salt mountain of sodom, spread out before us. the course of the wadi we had left trended from south-east to north-east, on issuing from which we took the line on the western side of the ghuwair, and easily descended over small eminences. this place is most probably the "ascent of akrabbim," (num. xxxiv. , and josh. xv. ,) the southern boundary of the land given to israel, and named after its abundance of scorpions. in our hasty passage over it we saw none of these. among the marshes we found several palms growing wild. they were stumpy in stature, and ragged in form for want of cultivation, or perhaps of congenial soil. the miasma was strongly perceptible to the smell, and our horses were plagued with flies and gnats. how great was this change from the pure dry air of the mountains! quarter to ten at _'ain 'aroos_, (the bridegroom's fountain,) but the water was brackish. thermometer in the shade, . degrees fahrenheit. for an hour past our people had been on the alert, on account of a feud between them and the ghawarineh arabs. on coming up to the print of a human footstep, this was carefully examined as to its size, direction of the tread, etc. the circumstances were not, however, exactly parallel to the occurrence in robinson crusoe, which naturally came to mind. at twenty minutes to eleven, having completed the western curve of the ghuwair, we fell in with the _wadi hhuggereh_, which came up from the south-west, and on looking back, perceived a distinct mirage visible over the dry sands which occupy part of the ghuwair, probably the effect of a salty deposit. about noon we arrived at a clear, running stream of water, but which proved, on tasting, to be highly impregnated with salt. the surface of the plain was in a great measure covered with a white efflorescence. along the middle of this plain there was a sunken channel of a mile and a half in length, occupied by an overflowing of the dead sea, which, however, did not interfere with our track. at the end of this, and on approaching the corner of the salt mountain, we had an _incident_ to enliven the tediousness of the hot journey. a party of arabs came in sight. our men discovered them first, and running forwards, primed their guns, or lighted the match of the lock, drew their swords and screamed, making bare the right arm, as if prepared for awful deeds. the others took up position behind low rocks, unslung their fire-arms, and screamed _not_. presently a real or fictitious recognition took place, the guns on both sides were fired up in the air, and swords were brandished for very joy. both parties rushed into each other's embraces, smiling and kissing with the greatest fervour. the comers proved to be some of their own jehaleen, escorting some hebron townsmen to kerak. there were two women among the latter, some old men, and some conjurers with monkeys, who thereupon set up a dance to the music of tambourines. upon something like equanimity being restored, the strangers informed us of certain doings that had taken place, on our account, since we had passed by there, and which nearly concerned us. the two parties soon separated, taking opposite directions. as we were close upon the western side, there was the southern end of the dead sea at our right hand, coming up imperceptibly upon the land, flush with it, so that no limit could be distinguished between water and the wet beach. at a few minutes past one we all alighted before the large cavern which runs into the heart of the salt mountain; and a picturesque group our party formed, spread about in some shade of the hill, with a great variety of costumes and colours--the camels kneeling and the horses picketed upon the bay of the sea of sodom and gomorrah. entering the cavern, we found relics of the recent french expedition thither, under m. de saulcy, such as egg-shells and torn paper coverings of candles, with french shopkeepers' names upon them. we did not penetrate far inwards, but could see traces of occasional overflowings of the lake into the interior. the mountain itself is a wonder: five miles of salt above ground, and a hundred feet, probably in some places two hundred feet high. the colour is not bright, but of a dull gray. the best parts of it are very hard to break, and with difficulty we brought away some pieces for curiosity. as for lot's wife,--the pillar of salt, mentioned and portrayed by the american expedition in , and of which it is said they took a fragment for a museum at home,--after a good deal of search, we only discovered a crooked thin spire of rock-salt in one place of the mountain; but it would not have been very remarkable if many such had been found to exist in similar circumstances. it was a place for inducing solemn reflections and intense sensations, such as one could hardly venture to record at the time of being there, or endeavour to repeat now after so long an interval. much may, however, be imagined by devout readers of the holy scriptures--not only as contained in the records of the book of genesis, but also as inculcated with intense emphasis in the epistle of jude in a later period. still, there is a vividness of impression to be derived only from being actually on the spot, and surveying the huge extent of water that differs from any other in the world,--placid and bright on its surface, yet awful in its rocky boundaries. but where are the cities and their punished inhabitants, except in the bible, and the traditions preserved by tacitus, the koran, and by the present inhabitants of the country? some morsels of bitumen were found upon the beach; but the principal season of the year for finding it is in winter, especially at the commencement of winter, when the lake becomes unusually agitated, and breaks off masses of it from the bottom, often of very large size--the peasants of hebron, with exaggeration, say, "as large as ships;" but i have seen many camel-loads of it brought up to jerusalem at a time, for export to europe. it is, however, a monopoly of the crown. we should note that in gen. xiv. , the district was full of bitumen pits previous to the overthrow of the cities of the plain. at twenty minutes to three we came to a rude heap of stones called _zoghal_ or _zoghar_. this cannot well be zoar, among other reasons, because it lies upon the beach, and is not upon an eminence. it is well to mention that m. de saulcy's extravagant ideas of the pentapolis of sodom, etc., had not then been published. in another quarter of an hour we had reached the extremity of the "salt mountain," with all its distorted, sometimes even perpendicular stratification. by this time we were convinced that the whole of the mountain is not salt, but that a good deal of the upper length of it is a mixture of salt and marl or sand. between it and the water's edge we frequently saw blocks and spires of rock-salt protruding through the flat beach. there can be no doubt that the arabic name, _usdum_, is identical with sodom, by a well-known custom of the language to invert the consonant and vowel of the first syllable. but even this is brought back to the original state in the adjective form. thus i heard our guides speak of the jebel sid'mi, meaning the khash'm or jebel usdum, or promontory of sodom. the _wadi netheeleh_ comes up from the southwest to the shore at this northern end of the mountain, parallel to the wadi hhuggereh at the southern end. we kept along the sea-side, and on rising to a higher level, near five o'clock, halted for the night at the mouth of a valley where some water was to be procured, and near us was a broken tower. this site is named _mobugghek_ or _umm-bugghek_. as we were scarcely out of the reach of the ghawarineh arabs, our people had to go out in armed detachments for collecting firewood. during the process of pitching the tents, one of our men, named 'odeh, perceived a stranger at a great distance, and half stripping himself, ran nimbly up a steep sand hill, ready for whatever operation might be necessary. our european, i might rather say, our civilised eyes, could not have discovered the ill-omened object at that distance, but those of desert arabs are far more powerful than ours. i do not know that i shall ever forget the ardent brilliancy of shaikh selameh's eyes at all times, as witnessed constantly during our excursion. while we rambled on the beach in search of bitumen or sulphur, we suddenly heard a furious screaming in the direction of our tents, and hastily returning, found a number of strangers coming down a winding path. our men were gathered together, and armed. the captain also examined the state of his double-barrelled pistols. however, on their arrival, the newcomers were recognised as people _not hostile_ to the jehaleen, and their general location is near 'ain 'aroos. so, after some squabbling and arrangement, they agreed to share our supper with us in peace. had the case been otherwise, our position was not an enviable one; for we were shut in between their hills and the sea, they were more numerous than our arabs, and they had entire command of our spring of water. our camels, too, were all unloaded, and the packages scattered on the ground. the scenery was desolate and gloomy in the extreme, undoubtedly blasted by the wrath of almighty god, although a place which had at one time been "well watered everywhere . . . even as the garden of the lord, like the land of egypt," (gen. xiii. ;) and it required strong faith to expect the possibility of this "wilderness" (_'arabah_) being again made "like eden, and her desert like the garden of the lord," (isa. li. .) indeed, that promise does not seem to apply to this peculiar locality, by comparing it with ezek. xlvii. , , although these unwholesome waters are to be healed, and are to have fish of various kinds in them, with fishermen's nets employed there. it deserves observation, that now the sea is so utterly lifeless that the american explorers there were unable, by the most powerful microscopes, to find any animalculae in its water. yet lynch was of opinion that the atmosphere or vapour there was not in any way prejudicial to human health; and since then, mr holman hunt spent a considerable time near the brink without injury derived from it. the air was very warm all night, with no freshening dew, and the sound of slow, rippling water on the strand, during the still starlight hours, was one to which our ears had not been of late accustomed. the arab figures and conversation round the watch-fire were romantic enough. thermometer at eight p.m., . degrees fahrenheit. _april_ _th_.--sunrise, fahrenheit . degrees. in taking this last note of the thermometer at sunrise, i may observe that the marking of it at that moment gives but a feeble idea of the heat that we experienced during the days' marches throughout this excursion,--the temperature rapidly increased after sunrise, and at later hours within the confined hollows, such as petra and the basin of the dead sea, rose to that of (i suppose) an indian climate--but above all the effects of heat was that produced by the weight of atmospheric pressure at probably the lowest position in the whole surface of the globe: about feet below the mediterranean. before six o'clock we were on the march, over broken and precipitous rocky paths, on which the progress was slow and toilsome. then down again upon the beach. i am sure that if the dead sea were already covering the ground that it now does, before the time of chedorlaomer, the "four kings against five" could not possibly have mustered or manoeuvred their armies on any side or place between the mountains on each side of the water. { } at a quarter past seven the thermometer stood at degrees fahrenheit. there is always a close, heavy heat in this depressed region, inducing profuse perspiration. at ten minutes past nine we were at the spot where the great eastern peninsula projects nearest to us, having in view the two extremities, north-east and south-west, now named on the maps, the former as point costigan, after the unfortunate explorer of , and the latter, point molyneux, after my friend, the lieutenant of h.m.s. _spartan_, who was there in . but at that season of the year we could perceive no traces of the shallow or ford by which the arabs occasionally pass over to it on the way to kerak. at half-past nine we were in front of _sebbeh_, with a view of the ruins of masada on its summit, to which, however, we did not climb, but contented ourselves with recalling to memory the heroic events of the jewish defenders, as related by josephus. here the sea, retiring towards our side, forms a semicircular bay, terminating at _'ain jidi_, (engeddi,) where we arrived at two o'clock. there we were at a considerable elevation above the shore, which we now abandoned, not only because all further advance in that direction is impracticable, but because our route towards jerusalem lay in a different direction. we were upon a platform abounding in springs of water and luxuriant neglected vegetation. the pleasure derived from the sound of gushing streams can only be appreciated by those who have been in our circumstances. the contrast is not to be understood merely from words laid before a reader, between this and the dry wilderness of edom or the salt beach of sodom. one of our camels not only drank his fill, but rolled himself in the water. there were some neb'k trees, some trees of the _'osher_, (apple of sodom,) and some of the shrub _solanum melongena_, all of which may be found near jericho, though not peculiar to that region. canes and large weeds almost filled the watercourses, but not a blossom of any wild-flower could i find upon the ground. the streams abound in petrifactions of vegetation, which would show that the water cannot be very wholesome for drinking. a monster crab was brought us out of a channel; my horse in drinking had been startled at the sight of it. there were traces of buildings about the place, such as foundations of walls almost razed to the ground, and one broken tower. but the prospect eastwards, including the peninsula, and the mountains and huge crevasses of moab, or southwards, including sebbeh and the salt mountain, are magnificent beyond expression. we could not be sure that mount hor was distinguishable. at a quarter past three, and under shade of trees, the thermometer was at degrees fahrenheit. after considerable repose and some feeding there, we prepared for the remaining ascent, called by our people "the ladder of _terabeh_." this was a very toilsome climbing of near two hours up a nearly perpendicular cliff, by means of curves and zigzags turning away four or five yards. most of the way we were dismounted, but still the horses and camels were greatly distressed by the effort of the ascent. at first the camel-drivers sang to cheer their animals. this, however, dwindled into occasional prolonged notes, which again were deteriorated into groans instead of music. it was a curious sight for us who were untroubled with the care of camels, and consequently getting on faster than they, to look down upon the wavy lines of moving creatures, and hear the echoes of their voices from below. reached the summit at half-past four, and after an hour's progress upon level ground, we halted for the night. poor old selameh fell down flat, not so much from the effect of mere fatigue, as from having had his ankle bitten by a spiteful camel in the morning, and then the long climbing in addition. this was to be our last night together, and we enjoyed to the utmost the social gathering round the bivouac fire with our arab companions, to whom, after ten days association, to the exclusion of all the rest of the world, we could not but feel something of temporary personal attachment. there was selameh, with his mended shoe and his bitten ankle, who had been our officer and diplomatist, ready for fun or a row at any minute; 'odeh the champion, called out upon emergencies; khamees, the slave boy, a general domestic, if this latter word may be allowed for a bedawi arab; and salem the merry-man, short in stature, and drawing into the vale of years. we chatted over the fire about the events of the expedition, while some of the men were kneading and baking fresh bread upon stones made hot in the fire. yet this is a sad aimless life that such people lead--of course our excursion under their protection was an event to supply matter for many a conversation afterwards. as for religion: they seem to have little or no sense of its responsibility or benefit, or even its formalities. i asked selameh about prayers or reading, and all he had to say was that annually in ramadan they hire a reader from some mosque of a town to come and read the koran to them; but not one, not even abu dahook could read for himself. i never heard these jehaleen mention either the word _moslem_ or _ghiaour_, much less the technical words _mushrakeen_ or _seerat el mustakeem_. thermometer at sunset, . degrees fahrenheit. _april_ _th_.--our camels were loaded for the last time, as usual grunting, groaning, and tossing the head backwards while the burdens were placed upon them, and, as must be known to all desert travellers, the smell exhaled from these animals after a long journey is particularly disagreeable. we were marching forward at half-past five, and in an hour and a half we caught a distant view of our old familiar frank mountain, which was lost again afterwards. about ten o'clock, we saw in a valley at our left an encampment of sair arabs; and soon afterwards in a valley at our right, a circle of the ta'amri tents. in another hour we arrived at a square enclosure of very large ancient stones, which was denominated _'arkoob sahaba_. the breezes on this high land were most refreshing after our southern excursion. passed _thekua'_ or tekua', (tekoa,) and at some distance forwards, to the north-east, some ruins called _abu'n-jaib_, or perhaps abu n'jaim. then we approached the well-remembered fragrance of the wild herbs on the uncultivated hills about urtas and bethlehem, redolent of homeward associations, and between two and three o'clock were at jerusalem, grateful for special and numerous mercies of divine providence. jewish friends were much interested in my report of aaron's tomb on mount hor, and regarded it as a great achievement to have visited and returned from "joktheel," as they called petra, in compliance with kings xiv. , where king amaziah restored its more ancient name from _selah_, (see joshua xv. .) * * * * * in conclusion of this expedition to petra, i have a few observations to make, arising from local peculiarities connected with it. a. _on the payment of toll_, _or ghuf'r_, _as it is termed_, _for traversing unfrequented districts_. of course, this custom could never obtain in a country enjoying the benefits of a vigorous central government; but it is, and perhaps always has been, common in the far east. in persia or tartary, wherever a chief is able to lay hold of a tower, and collect around him a band of followers, he invariably exacts this tribute from strangers; just as in our middle ages of europe was done by the same class of persons in countries where feudal institutions prevailed. the petty barons were the shaikhs of their place and period. but some considerations may serve to show that there is, after all, something useful in the practice. . in such countries, the payment of this toll exempts the traveller from the violence of all other claimants. . those who get the toll, (i speak now of palestine,) are always ready to perform small services in return, which would be assuredly missed if omitted, independently of the price paid for hire of camels. . if there were a better government existing, the traveller would expect that government to provide good roads and bridges, and to establish military posts for guarding them. this expense would be defrayed from tolls, or some such mode of taxation, and so the fee or duty would be only removed from one receiver to another. this is done at present, and probably has been for many centuries, at the _jis'r benat ya'koob_, between safed and damascus. one cannot be surprised at the peasantry of wadi moosa exacting a toll from travellers on entering the valley of petra, to see the wonders of antiquity which are attracting the attention of the most remote nations; remembering, too, the position of the place, viz., in a hollow, surrounded by crags and hills, where no turkish rulers have ever been. in like manner, we shall only be in a condition to remonstrate on paying ghuf'r in the shape of presents to the adwan beyond jordan, when we are able to find our way to amman and jerash without them, or to keep off the beni sukh'r and 'anezeh, either by our own right hand or by means of the turks. { } finally, it must be borne in mind that the turkish government itself pays ghuf'r to the eastern bedaween for allowing the hadj pilgrims to pass from damascus to mecca. b. _on the fellahheen_, _or peasants of wadi moosa_. the most experienced travellers that have visited petra, have remarked that these men are of a different race from the bedaween arabs around them. they are ugly, bad in expression of countenance, and have a reputation for cruelty and treachery. laborde says, that the alaween looked upon them "with contempt _and fear_." lord lindsay says, that shaikh hhussain, from 'akabah, "was _in fear_ all the time of being there." irby and mangles were told by the jehaleen that these fellahheen murdered thirty moslem pilgrims from barbary, the year before their visit. dr wilson stayed among them longer, i believe, than any other european, and he did not like them, yet found them gradually improve under civil treatment, which always, like some other things, "emollit mores nec sinit esse feros." he divides them into two classes as cultivators of land. first, those residing in a village called _eljy_; and, second, those residing in tents under one abu zeitoon. he describes them as a very exclusive people, never intermarrying with arabs, nor burying in common grounds with them; and having a different set of personal names among them from those used by arabs, which names greatly resemble those found in the old testament scriptures. he concludes that they are descendants of the ancient edomites. a most remarkable circumstance that he observed, was their calling themselves children of israel, (beni israin.) this he regards as a feeble traditional reminiscence of their proselytism to the faith of israel by the sword of the maccabaean conquerors. for my own part, i distinctly aver that during the altercation upon my arrival there, between them and my jehaleen, i did hear the words "children of israel" used. i had not chosen to take a part in the conference, or to remain long at a time among the disputants, but only passed occasionally in and out of the tent, and my mind was chiefly engrossed with the subject-matter in hand, so that on hearing the words, "children of israel," i thought they were alluding to some history or tradition of the hebrew people. but afterwards, on connecting the fact with dr wilson's assertion, i cannot but consider it very remarkable. but the whole subject of these fellahheen seems to merit closer attention from those who have the leisure and opportunity for it. i know that numerous travellers, including ladies, have been there in safety; and it is probable that some of the disputes which have arisen were occasioned either through ignorance, or from insolence of the dragomans. it would be interesting to compare the accounts of those who have suffered annoyances in petra, so as to ascertain how far the fellahheen were to blame, or whether difficulties are not rather due to the arab tribes who are in the habit of tyrannising over the fellahheen from the outside. c. _on the 'arabah and the dead sea_. while on the spot, i had wished to believe in the theory of leake in , and afterwards turned almost into poetry by lord lindsay, notwithstanding the demonstrations of bertou in , and of the american expedition of , namely, that the jordan formerly flowed the whole length from the anti-lebanon to the red sea, and that the asphaltite lake, or dead sea, is only formed by a stoppage of its stream. two facts, however, which militate against this theory, were visible to our eyes on this journey. . that the valleys south of the dead sea all point towards it, and incline the slope of their beds in that direction. this was most particularly the case with the wadi el jaib, where the banks between which the torrents had cut a channel became higher, which is equivalent to saying that the water fell lower as it passed northwards. . that wherever there were trees or shrubs to arrest the currents of water, we found that all the rushes, thorns, or reeds carried on by the streams, were arrested on the south side of those trees, and there they remained in the dry season. the course of the torrents was therefore from the south, towards the dead sea. the best dissertation on the relative levels of lands and seas, bearing on this subject, and that which i believe to be exhaustive on the subject, till we get more of scientific realities, is contained in vol. xviii., part , of the royal geographical society's journal of . still, allowing the facts that i myself observed, as well as all the scientific calculations in the journal above referred to, (indeed, making use of them,) there seem to remain certain considerations undisposed of, in favour of the theory that the jordan formerly ran into the red sea. . the 'arabah, south of the dead sea, and the ghor on its north, are one continued hollow between the same parallel lines of hills; and robinson has shown that by the arabian geographers they are both called the 'arabah; the native arabs also still call by the name of ghuwair, or little ghor, a space at the southern extremity of the water. in the hebrew bible also, the northern part is called 'arabah, as in joshua iii. , where it is said the israelites crossed "the sea of 'arabah, namely, the sea of salt." in sam. iv. , the murderers of ish-bosheth went all night from mahanaim to hebron along the 'arabah, this was clearly not south of the dead sea. josh. xii. i., "from the river arnon to mount hermon, and all the 'arabah on the east," going northwards; this is explained in the d verse as "the 'arabah, (beginning at hermon,) unto the sea of chinnereth, (sea of tiberias) on the east, and unto the sea of the 'arabah, the sea of salt, on the east." the same words occur also in deut. iii. , and iv. . that the present arab 'arabah on the south of the dead sea bore the same name, may be seen in deut. ii. , where moses speaks of "the way of the ''arabah' from elath, and from ezion-gaber." therefore, according to hebrew and arabic authorities, the 'arabah and ghor form one line from the lebanon to the red sea. . the book of job takes cognisance of the river jordan, and describes river scenery in the land of edom, _i.e._, south of the dead sea. . no lake existed in that locality before the catastrophe of sodom, although a river may have traversed it. this i deduce from the march of the army of chedorlaomer, shortly previous to that catastrophe, (gen. xiv.) after the taking of seir and paran, he crossed the valley to hazezon-tamar, which is engedi, ( chron. xx. ,) and the confederates were met by the kings of the plain in the vale of siddim. and i have heretofore shown that this is utterly impossible to be done with the present lake in the way. the words, therefore, of gen. xiv. obviously signify, as given in the latin vulgate and in luther's german, "the vale of siddim, which is _now_ the salt sea." the inference from all these points is, that between the time of chedorlaomer and moses, some tellural convulsions took place which impeded the course of the river towards the dead sea, and thereby formed the present lake. there is no mention of a river in the lower 'arabah during the wanderings of the israelites under the leading of moses. it is another matter to discuss whether the overthrow of the guilty cities of sodom and gomorrah is connected with that convulsion of nature, with or without miracle, which formed the depression of the great valley; yet it is remarkable that the deepest part of the lake is at the spot which tradition has always pointed out for the site of those cities, and nigh to the salt mountain, which still bears the name of sodom. to this spot the slopes both ways tend, and there they meet. calculating the whole line of depression, as petermann does, at miles, the slope from the north, _i.e._, from the "bridge of the daughters of jacob," near safed, is comparatively gradual for miles; and that from the south, _i.e._, from the elevation in the southern 'arabah, where the level meets again from the north, is more precipitous for miles. action and reaction being equal in natural effects, the rapid declivity in the shorter distance is equal to the more gradual declivity in the longer measure. but that centre of _seismal action_ is taken for the site of sodom--hence the site of the destruction of sodom and the starting point of earthquake are the same. the record of the destruction is, therefore, the record of some dreadful convulsion capable of stopping the jordan, so as to form a lake there; and the only _adequate_ cause in nature assigned by geologists for such a depression, is earthquake accompanied by volcanic action. while on the subject of possible depression of the jordan bed, i may mention an indication which i have often pointed out to others, namely, the remarkable ledge traceable along the face of the moab mountains at a considerable height, as seen from the neighbourhood of jerusalem. it is distinctly marked, and forms a curious record of some natural change having occurred on a large scale. dr wilson, in his "lands of the bible," contends that an earthquake capable of depressing a straight line of the length of the ghor and 'arabah, must have convulsed all the lands of canaan, moab, ammon, edom, and the desert, with their inhabitants; but that no such convulsion took place, for zoar on the east, and hebron on the west, are known to have remained. does it, however, necessarily follow that seismal devastation spreads in _every_ direction? on the contrary, earthquakes act in oscillations from east to west, returning from west to east; or from north to south, returning from south to north: but not in the manner of a flood of water spreading in every direction at once. if so, a mighty earthquake, extending along the whole ghor and 'arabah, would be exactly such a cause as might spare a city on each side of its progress. the whole subject still admits of much careful investigation on sundry points; but, meanwhile, until geologists have given us more data from which to form conclusions, i must take my stand upon the distinct record of genesis; that what was the salt sea when moses wrote, had been the vale or plain (emek) of siddim, containing cities with kings, who fought and were subdued by chedarlaomer upon that plain in the time of abraham; and that those cities were the same as those that were penally destroyed soon after. xii. across the lebanon. i have traversed the lebanon eastwards and southwards of bayroot several times; once in ; again in ; and also in : but it seems advisable to narrate the incidents separately, and although on two occasions i passed over nearly the same ground, it will be curious to compare or contrast those journeys, inasmuch as the circumstances were dissimilar. part i.-- . the course of the first journey was as follows:--from sidon on the sea-coast we gradually climbed the lebanon range eastward; then descending by tortuous roads, and turning somewhat to the south, we crossed to where hhasbeya lies at the foot of anti-lebanon; after which we followed the general direction of the streams southwards, and uniting above the waters of merom form the jordan. holding on at the western side of the plain we arrived at safed in galilee. _oct._ _th_.--we left saida for joon, which had been for many years the residence of lady hester stanhope, and the vice-consul furnished us with a kawwas who had been a servant of her ladyship. turned off from the high road of the sea-coast, at the river awali, which is believed by the native christians to have been the limit of our lord's ministry on earth, when it is said that he went into "the coasts of tyre and sidon." we outflanked the rich scene of fruit plantations belonging to the town, but picked blackberries, hips, and haws, from their hedges alongside the runnels of water which supply those gardens. on its approach to the sea the river awali has two separate channels, along either of which it flows in different years, according to the volume of water at the beginning of winter, but never in both at the same time. through lovely scenery we gradually mounted higher and higher, till arriving at the village of _joon_, where rooms were to be prepared for us in a native house. the nature of the district thereabout is that of numerous round hills, separated from each other by deep valleys. on one of these hills stands the village, on another the large "convent of the saviour," (dair el mokhallis,) which is the central station of the greek catholic sect; _i.e._, of those who, while retaining their oriental rites and calendar, acknowledge the supremacy of the pope of rome; and on the third hill is lady hester stanhope's house, the three forming the points of nearly an equilateral triangle. the village commands a fine prospect of the mediterranean. without dismounting, we proceeded at once to the desolate house of lady hester, but, owing to the precipitous nature of the ground, it takes some considerable time to reach it, yet voices are easily distinguishable from one place to the other. the house presents a melancholy spectacle, though, from the purity of the atmosphere, the walls appear clean and almost new; no roof remains, all timbers having been purposely removed immediately after her death, according to legal right of the proprietor from whom the place was rented. there has been an extensive suite of rooms, not adapted to stateliness, but meant for the reception of guests; these are all of small dimensions, and were mostly built by lady hester. we were told that she kept an establishment of a hundred servants, forty of whom were women. for the last five years she never travelled beyond the garden, and during that time the renowned two mares, leilah and lulu, (the former of which was the one with the hollow back, reserved for entering jerusalem together with the new messiah,) became so broken in health for want of exercise, that when lady hester died, they were sold with difficulty for piastres (less than three pounds) each. the stables still remaining were very extensive. the gardens and terraces must have been beautiful, for we were told they were carefully kept and arranged. we saw large myrtle shrubs in abundance, besides fruit trees now utterly neglected-- "and still where many a garden flower grows wild," for there were red roses blooming without the least care or notice. no one now resides on any part of that hill. the eccentric lady is buried in the garden, and in the same grave (we were assured) with captain, son of general loustaneau, a crazy french enthusiast who lived for above twenty-five years a pensioner on her bounty. the grave is covered with this simple stone monument, of a pattern very common in the country. [picture: tomb of lady hester stanhope] at the distance of a few yards is the monument over a former moslem proprietor of the house. lady hester died in june , lonely and miserable, and so ended her wild dreams and fancied importance. during her long residence there she had meddled in local dissensions, patronising the jonblats of mokhtarah against the ameer besheer and the egyptian invaders; she kept spies in the principal towns, as acre and saida, and had even supplied ammunition to the citadel of acre for the turks, but did not live to see the egyptians ousted from the country. there was good deal of exaggeration afloat at the time respecting her and some of her habits of life, though scarcely more extraordinary than the reality of other matters, as we are now able to judge of them; but at that period syria and the lebanon were very little understood in europe, _i.e._, from to . she was not so utterly removed from human society as is often supposed. she was not perched like an eagle on an inaccessible mountain, for there are villages near, besides the great convent of mokhallis, and she had constant communication with saida for money and provisions. the view around is indeed stern and cheerless in character, devoid of romantic accessories, without the rippling streams, the pines or the poplars of either mokhtarah or beteddeen; her hill like its neighbours was a lump of stone, with some scanty cultivation in the valley below, very little of this, and her small garden attached to the dwelling. before leaving this subject, i may as well state with respect to the common belief of lady hester being crowned queen of palmyra by the desert arabs, that from information which i consider reliable this is all a mistake, or as it was expressed to me, a "french enthusiasm," the truth being that in consequence of her lavish largesses among the wild people, they expressed their joy by acclamations in which they compared her to the "queen of sheba" who had come among them; and then by her flatterers, or those who were unskilled in the language, the term "melekeh" (queen) was interpreted as above: and as for a coronation the arab tribes have no such a custom; the greatest chiefs, nay, even the kings of the settled arabs, such as mohammed and his successors, have never received such an inauguration. returning to the village, we found our lodging provided in the house of a greek catholic family; unlike to our south country houses, it was built with ponderous rafters of timber in the roofs, and these rafters and planks between them are painted in coloured patterns. it was a cheerful scene as the family sat inquiring about jerusalem, or chatting otherwise on the mustabeh (a wide stone seat) outside, with the effulgence of the setting sun reflected on the convent before us, and then the twilight pink and violet tints upon the mountain-range behind. then again in the early morning, how delicious were the air and the scenery of the mountains! "yet sluggards deem it but a foolish chase and marvel men should quit their easy chair, the weary mile and long, long league to trace; oh, there is sweetness in the mountain air, and life that bloated ease may never hope to share!" while mounting for the departure, our host pressing his hospitality upon us, adjured us in these words:--"may your religion be your adversary if ever you pass my door without entering it." arriving at dair el mokhallis we were there also received with cordiality. in the church a service was going on, gabbled over by a priest arrayed in white silk and gold, waving incense before the altar, his congregation consisting of one person, a sort of sacristan or beadle. there were some good pictures on the walls, but others together with them of degraded rank as works of art. on being invited to visit the president, we found him a jovial, handsome man of middle age, reclining on cushions at a large window with wide views of the sea and the mountains before him, besides _dar joon_, lady hester's house. this establishment is not only the largest convent and church of the greek catholic sect, but also a college for clerical education; their most celebrated clergy have been trained there. the inmates at this time, of all employments, were in number, exclusive of servants. those whom we saw appeared very well fed, and we were not a little surprised to find so many women servants employed within the walls. a nunnery of the same rite, and rules of st basil, with forty persons under vows, is a good building at half-a-mile distance, between which and the male institution a very excellent road has been made, notwithstanding the hilly nature of the ground; other roads are being improved, and all the contiguous grounds are in a state of the highest cultivation. as we proceeded on our journey, the scenery became more and more romantic, till on a sudden turn of the road a wondrous picture of nature was opened before us, consisting of mountains, including our own, all sloping down into a plain in which was a river, and a village with its orchards and poplars; cascades rolled down the furrowed sides of these hills, their bounding and dashing were evident to the sight, but no sound audible owing to their distance; it was a fairy scene, or like a beautiful dream. in the descent we passed a maronite priest riding, attended by a guide on foot; the former was greeted by our party with his title of abuna, a novelty to us jerusalemites. we forded the river _barook_, a tributary to the awali, in front of the above-mentioned village, which is _bisrah_, amid tall poplars quivering in the breeze, for their foliage had stalks long like the aspen. our luggage having gone on during the visit to the convent, we could get no tidings of it and our people, but a guide was procured for part of the day's journey before us; and we betook ourselves to a hill over which was, what we were assured, the only road to hhasbeya. a road so steep and thickly entangled by bushes and trees, that we inquired of every passer-by in his turn whether we could possibly be upon the _sultaneh_, or high road. at first through an olive plantation, then among evergreen oak, and higher still the fragrant mountain pines. the zigzags of the road were necessarily so short and abrupt, that at each turn we had to peer up perpendicularly, guessing which way the next twist would go. then still higher, towards the frowning sombre cliffs that seemed to touch the brilliant blue sky, the arbutus glowed with their scarlet berries, and the pine-trees became more tall, straight, and numerous. no wonder that the assyrian king, when he boasted of being able to cut down the cedars of lebanon, included also "the choice fir-trees thereof," ( kings xix. .) near what seemed to be the climax, we unexpectedly reached a village, named _'azoor_, where a school of boys hummed their lessons in the open air on the shady side of a house; and near them a plank of wood was suspended, such as serves for a church-bell in parts of the country where the moslems predominate, and bells are not tolerated. here in the lebanon every village and convent may have its bells; and they generally have them, for the mohammedans scarcely exist throughout "the mountain," as the whole range is popularly termed from tarabulus to saida. the higher we ascended, the more we obtained of a brisk breeze playing and sighing musically among the noble pines, and the ground was clothed with heather and fragrant herbs. still onwards, "excelsior," the pines were more straight and lofty; there were patches of wild myrtle on the ground, some in white blossom; and we looked down upon the flat roofs of villages below, an appearance so strange to us after the round domes of the south country. about noon we overtook the luggage, and the servant-boy of the muleteer swore that his head had turned gray since we left him, four hours ago, by reason of the bodily labour and anguish of mind that he had suffered on so fearful a road. he was incessantly calling upon god by epithets out of the koran, as "o thou father of bounty!" "o thou knower of former things!" mingled with curses hurled at the mule, or prayers that her back might be strengthened: being a jerusalemite, he had not been accustomed to travelling of that description. this youth was nicknamed by his fellows as _abu tabanjah_, "the father of a pistol," from his carrying a single pistol in his girdle: it being unusual for persons in his employment to carry any belligerent weapons. next came the descent to _jezzeen_, over a slippery road, with purple crocuses in blossom at intervals. jezzeen is romantically situated among broken rocks, with a stream of water, called the _zaid_, bordered by a profusion of sycamore, (_i.e._, what is called so in england, a variety of the plane-tree,) walnut, and aspen trees. we halted beneath a spreading walnut-tree, whose leaves had already begun to change colour. the inhabitants are greek catholic, maronite, and a few mutawaleh. here we had to get another guide for an hour or two forwards--a task not easily accomplished--and he assured us that the road before us was far worse than that we had already traversed--he would on no account go the whole day's journey with us. forwards.--thin white clouds were resting upon the peaks high above us, the vine terraces and poplars were succeeded by whitish-gray rocks and olive-trees, till we issued upon a comparative level of confused chaos of rugged rocks pitched and hurled about in the most fantastic combinations, rendering the road almost impassable for our cattle. darker clouds than before were around, but not immediately over us; and the atmosphere was hot like the breath of a furnace, with now and then a momentary gush of piercing cold coming between sharp peaks and round summits. in little more than two hours from jezzeen we were at _cuf'r hooneh_, a pretty village surrounded by sycamore, walnut, poplar, and vineyards, with numerous running streams of water, bordered by oleanders in rosy blossom, very tall--girt in with romantic precipices, and rooks were cawing overhead. a spring of water issuing from the ground, of which we drank, was cold like ice. after this the road improved, the rocks were more friable, and were often streaked with pink and yellow colour; indicating, i suppose, the existence of copper mineral, (see deut. viii. ,) "out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass," _i.e._, copper. all about this region fossil shells were numerous. in half an hour we attained our greatest elevation, with a long line of mediterranean visible in the west. the anti-lebanon stretched before us on the east, and among the hills to the south our guide declared he could distinguish safed. here he left us, returning homewards. upon this eminence the air was reviving, and as the fervour of the sun abated, our horses recovered energy. thence we descended to a green level space as void of inhabitants as the wild scenes that we had traversed; and from that to a stage lower, over a very long fertile plain running southwards, where we fell in with two or three of our fellow human beings, and over this the wind blew very cold. forwards into another level, a glen of wild verdure, then through chalk fissures and red slopes, till in a moment there burst upon our view a prospect beyond all power of description in words; mount hermon, (jebel esh shaikh,) and the intervening long plain, also the litani river on our right, winding between tremendous cliffs, and passing the castle of shukeef towards the sea. that river passing the foot of our mountain, and over which we had afterwards to cross, appeared like a narrow ribbon of pale green, so silent was it to us, for no sound from that depth could reach up so high; to this we had to descend by a precipitous path of zigzags roughly made in the face of the hill. half way down i first distinguished the rushing sound of the water; a flock of goats upon its margin resembled mere black spots, but the bells among them became faintly audible. on reaching the river litani, (the classic leontes, and named the "kasimiyeh" when debouching to the sea near tyre,) we found it to be a strong stream, and the dark border, which from a distance had seemed to be low bushes, were in truth gigantic and numerous trees; on our way to the bridge, along the river side for some distance, were parapets erected for the safety of travellers and flocks of cattle. it was after sunset, but we rested awhile to stretch our limbs after the cramp brought on by the steep and long descent. the moon was shining as we crossed the bridge, and its light was broken in the heady dashing of the stream; the land swelled gradually upwards as we proceeded s.-e. till we passed a ridge and turned n.-e. to the village of _cocaba_ on the great plain, which has the river _hhasbani_ flowing through it, from which village we got directions how to find hhasbeya. thoroughly tired as we all were, the rest of the way was most wearisome, though not so much so as it would have been in the heat of day, after so many hours on horseback. the night was bright and clear. reached _hhasbeya_ in thirteen hours from joon in the morning. the town is perched up in the line of the anti-lebanon, at the end of a _cul-de-sac_ running inwards from the plain, and stands at an elevation of more than feet above the sea-level, though this is scarcely apparent by reason of the lofty mountains everywhere around, especially hermon, under the shadow of which hhasbeya is nestled. this was the cleanest town and the one in best repair at that time that i had hitherto seen in palestine or syria; what it may be since the calamities of , i know not. the majority of the inhabitants were christian, with a good many druses, and a few moslems and jews. we had a most friendly reception from the native protestants, and from the governor, ameer saad ed deen shehab and his family. in the afternoon of the next day we passed on to _banias_. how different a matter is travelling in that country from merely drawing a pencil line across the map from one point to another, and measuring the distance of that line. by such a method of making a journey it is but a trifle of thirty miles from soor to hhasbeya, and less than a hundred and twenty from the latter to jerusalem. (i mention these places because they belong to the journey here described,) and it may be said by stay-at-home travellers in a carpeted saloon, at a mahogany table, that these distances can be covered on horseback in a determinate number of hours, allowing so many miles to an hour; but palestine is not so smooth as the greater part of england, and the ways (one cannot well call them roads) are not drawn in direct lines; climate also counts for something; and unforeseen incidents will occur to mar the plans of even those habituated to the country. to-day's progress, however, was tolerably plain, though not level, and it occupied six or seven hours. in an hour and a half we caught first sight of the lake _hhooleh_ (the semechonitis of josephus) in the due south, and at this point we entered upon a district strewn with volcanic basalt, in dark-brown pieces, porous and rounded at the edges. a peasant directed us forwards to the _tell el kadi_, which at length we reached--an eminence rising from the plain, out of which issues a river all formed at once, gushing from the hill over a stony bed. this is one of the heads of the jordan, and the place is that of _dan_, which josephus erroneously supposed to supply the last syllable of that river's name. but beyond all question it is the site of the city dan known throughout scripture history for many ages, and under a variety of circumstances: among the rest for the forcible invasion of it by a number of colonists from the tribe of dan in the south of palestine, where they found their allotted district too strait for their possession; and being established here, they gave the city the name of their patriarchal chief. that history of their migration reads with peculiar interest and force on the spot, and strange to say that tell el kadi seems to retain their tribal name, inasmuch as _tell_ signifies "a hill," and kadi is but the arabic for the hebrew word _dan_, "a judge," (gen. xlix. .) it is not however common, very much the contrary, for names to be transmitted in this way according to their signification through the lapse of ages--they are usually perpetuated through their orthography. the amorite or sidonian people living here "at ease" were worshippers of baal and ashtaroth, or astarte. suddenly they were assailed by the danites, who "smote them with the edge of the sword, and burned their city with fire;" and the newcomers set up "the graven image, and the molten image, and the teraphim," which they had stolen on their way thither over mount ephraim, appointing the young levite, the owner of the images, to be priest of their idolatry. in later times it was a station of the golden calf of jeroboam's institution, that is to say, the revived emblem of baal, going back to the practice of the leshemites; and there is yet an idea prevailing in our days that the druses of the neighbourhood retain that emblem or idol among them--a remarkable instance of the perpetuity of idolatry, and one form of idolatry under different names, modified only by circumstances in the same locality. i forbear to pursue further the reflections that can be evolved at large from that idea, as they might bring us into other countries than syria or palestine. riding our horses up the full stream for a short distance, we forded it, and entered into the shade upon the hill, where we reposed under a large evergreen oak, decorated with rags as votive offerings to an arab shaikh buried beside it. near this tree is an extraordinary jungle of brambles and gigantic flowering shrubs, through which it seemed impossible to penetrate, but out of which tangled mass the copious stream issues, as also a minor current, which after some deflection meets the other, and forms one stream on leaving the hill, and this, when joined by the waters of banias, to which we were now going, combines into one river, jordan, then enters and passes through the lake hhooleh. for the present i omit the consideration of the hhasbani and its spring, which not only helps to form the jordan, but actually commences further beyond the springs of dan and banias. it wanted about an hour to sunset when we turned in eastwards, round the foot of old hermon, for _banias_, the caesarea philippi of the new testament, whose hill and ancient castle appeared not far distant. we observed numerous small runlets of water flowing from the north and east towards the tell el kadi, one especially of nearly four feet wide. yet with all these blessings the district is mostly neglected, and abandoned to a sparse population of wretched ghawarineh arabs and their buffaloes. we passed through neb'k trees and stunted oaks, some karoobah trees and sumach about twenty feet high, with their red berries, besides myrtles almost as lofty. signs of the existence of inhabitants appeared in patches of cultivation and an occasional flock of goats. trees became closer together than at first, and at length banias stood in face of us, touching the foot of hermon, which formed a magnificent background of receding heights, but its summit withdrawn from view at that position. an ancient castle crowns a high peak rising above the village, and which for grandeur of situation and noble aspect is unsurpassed by any ruin that i have seen in syria. yet how small was all this in comparison with the mighty mass at its back! i regret the having been unable to examine this remarkable fortress, the modern name of which is the _kula'at es subeibeh_. the halt was in an olive plantation, and while the tents were being raised, i rode forwards to the other celebrated source of the jordan, namely, that issuing from the cavern, and drank of its water, but first had to swim the horse through a strong current. how beautiful was the evening scene of rocks, trees, blue mountains, and the extended plain, with the thread of the hhasbani winding through it on the western side! there were also herds of cattle coming in, and a shepherd boy playing his rural pipes. what a scene for poussin! i offered to buy the pandean pipe (of several reeds joined laterally) from the boy, wishing to have it for my own, obtained at the mythological home of pan himself-- "pan primus calamos cera conjungere plures instituit," but the lad asked an exorbitant price for it, and strode away. then rushed up to make use of the fading twilight for catching at least a glimpse of the greek inscriptions and pan's grotto, from which the river issues, not in infantile weakness, but boldly striking an echo against the sides of the natural cavity. "great pan is dead!" as the superstitious peasants of thessaly said, when they imagined they heard the echo formed into words, sixteen hundred years ago; and while musing on the "rise and fall" of the classic idolatry, a bat flew past me out of the grotto, but i saw no moles for the old idols to be thrown to, (isa. ii. .) pan was the mythological deity presiding over caverns, woods, and streams, from whom this place received its denomination of panion or paneas in greek, or panium in latin; and the word paneas becomes banias in arabic, as it is at this day. here costly temples and altars were raised, and herod built a temple in honour of augustus caesar. these edifices have fallen to the ground, the idols have been demolished by early christians, jews, and mohammedans; but niches with pedestals, on which the dumb figures stood, accompanied by inscriptions, still remain in attestation of written history. of these inscriptions i took copies next morning, as others have also done, but with special pains to insure accuracy. every one of them has the name of the god pan; two of them have the name of agrippa; one is set up by a priest of pan, "for the welfare of the lords the emperors;" and another is dedicated by agrippa, son of marcus, who had been for eight years archon, and had been admonished in a dream by the god pan. the breaks in the words caused by defaced letters make it difficult to get more signification out of them. some further remarks on the same, as well as copies of the tablets, will be found in appendix b. in a field near our tents, were two prostrate granite columns of about fifteen feet length of shaft by two in diameter; besides a piece of column of common stone three feet in diameter. in another part of the same field was a square capital of pilaster with some plain moulding, and an abundance of squared stones of two to three feet dimensions; such, however, are to be seen scattered in every direction around. a small ancient bridge crosses one of the several streams branching away from the main course, and all running between steep banks. by this bridge i approached a noble gateway, leading into a very large square fortress, with strong ancient towers at each corner. the arches of both gate and bridge were roman; parts of the walls remained in their regular courses, and numerous large rabbeted stones were rolled down in disorder upon the slope and into a military trench. but the whole scene, whether of rugged rocks or of the work of man, was fringed and clothed with brambles, ferns, evergreens, and the rosy oleander. the principal charm, however, belongs to the grotto with the river which it discharges--the site of which may be described as a semicircular termination of a valley on a natural platform half way up a cliff--the water tumbles down in short cascades for some distance; the grotto inside is untouched by chisel squarings or embellishment, just as juvenal wished the grot of aegeria to be. all this is particularly romantic, but a more exalted interest is attached to the town and vicinity of banias from its being a certainly known station of our redeemer's journeys--he who in all his travels "went about doing good"--but, inasmuch as some records of his blessed footsteps are connected with incidents of higher importance than others, this one rises into transcendant value, as being the place where his eternal divinity was distinctly enunciated. at that very time the temple of augustus, erected by herod, was in its freshest beauty; the votive inscriptions with the name of agrippa were newly chiselled; and the priests of pan were celebrating sacrifices and incense, together with rustic offerings, upon his altar; the worship, too, of baal was still in existence, under some modifications, upon the mountain overhead. at such a place, and under such circumstances, was the church universal promised to be founded on the rock of faith to which peter had given utterance. it may be here observed that at that period this caesarea philippi was not a secluded spot, as commentators generally make it, because banias is so now; but the town was one of notoriety, adorned, as we have just seen, with expensive public edifices. * * * * * on returning to the tents, the shaikh of the village came, attended by some of his relatives belonging to hhasbeya, begging for some quinine medicine: i gave him eight of my twelve remaining pills. on the adjacent plain there must needs be fever and ague; in fact, so unwilling was i on account of malaria to remain longer at banias, that we resumed our travelling by night. at three o'clock, a.m., we were mounted--there was a little rain at the time, and clouds that threatened more of it obscured the setting moon; there was lightning also in the same direction. i even altered my plan of going on to "the bridge of the daughters of jacob," (the thoroughfare between safed and damascus,) in order to escape from the plain as quickly as possible. for this purpose we turned westwards, and had to struggle through marshes and rough ground by starlight and lightning. most unwisely we had neglected to take a meal before starting, not expecting the district to be so plashy and unwholesome as it proved to be. the plain, north of the lake hhooleh, is traversed by innumerable channels of water, among which rice is grown, of which i gathered a handful as a trophy to exhibit in jerusalem. and there were lines of tents of the poor ghawarineh arabs upon dry ground, besides small scaffolds standing in the rice marshes, from which elevations the people watch the crops and fire upon wild beasts that come to injure or devour the crops; dogs barked as we passed, and fires were visible in several directions. arriving at the bridge of _el ghujar_, my companion and i both felt sick, and had to dismount and rest for a time. our guide's account of the river differed from that given in robinson; instead of the stream being the hhasbani and the bridge named el ghujar, he averred that the river is el ghujar, and that it rises out of the ground like the waters of banias and of tell el kadi. perhaps this may account for porter more recently placing the bridge el ghujar in a different situation, much farther north. the circumstance is not without value in inquiries as to the collective formation of the jordan. as daylight broke we could see herds of buffaloes among the marshes, or swimming in the water with only their heads raised above the surface; the village of _khalsah_ was half way up the hill-side. from this point the road was level, dry, and comfortable, running due southwards along the western margin of the plain, but with streams occasionally crossing it, rushing from the hills towards the lake. near _'ain el mellahhah_ two arabs rode up to us and planted their spears in the ground near our horses heads as a warning to stop, and i suppose to pay ghuf'r. i kept on, leaving the kawwas to parley with them. not far from the fountain we rested under a terebinth tree (not a favourable specimen) upon a rising ground; beneath us, but at a short distance, the strong stream turns a mill, passing through a house, and escapes to the plain. the arabs met us again, and said they were looking for a horse that was lost, and we saw no more of them. in another hour my companion was taken with a strong fit of ague, which urged us the more to press onward for safed. from the hills, as we rose higher and higher, the lake hhooleh was perceived to be, above one-third of it, choked up with weeds and rushes. old hermon showed himself in surpassing grandeur; not a confused mass--as he does from the plain looking upwards from close beneath him--but as one grand "monarch of mountains." "on a throne of rocks, with a robe of clouds, and a diadem of snow." the sun was hot and the hills chalky over which we passed. in one place by our wayside, and at considerable elevation, i found squared masonry stones and traces of houses, with fragments of columns. a poor arab peasant, driving an ass laden with a wooden box, was groaning with pain, and implored us for a draught of water, but i fear that our people had neglected to bring any with them, as they expected to be so soon in safed. rested under the shade of some large stones, and sent on a message before us to the town. in quarter of an hour, however, some peals of thunder roused us to pursue the journey; the strong wind that arose at the same time was not good for ague patients. across the great plain as we looked back was a broad faint piece of rainbow, and the huge mountain, mantled with clouds about his shoulders, but bright below, appeared peculiarly fantastic, with flickering shadows of clouds chasing over his sunny sides. on the outskirts of safed we found, as customary at that season, (bairam,) the newly white-washed graves of the moslems, adorned with bunches of myrtle. at safed we lodged in the house of a russo-british jew, and letters from jerusalem that had awaited us came safe to hand, after which followed the necessary reception of visitors, very troublesome to weary and exhausted travellers, and at last a supper which had been long in preparing--at least so it seemed to be. part ii. this, like the journey last described, of six years before, was portion of a much longer tour, but i omit all that cannot come under the designation of a byeway in palestine. the two routes were very similar to each other, with the exception of the passage from banias to safed. starting from saida, and trending south-eastwards towards hhasbeya, we climbed the mountains, which here rise almost from the sea-shore, and crossed romantic passes of rugged eminences and deeply cleft ravines. from hhasbeya the line was due south to banias, thence westward by tell el kadi, and hhuneen, and tibneen, the capital of the belad besharah, thus almost reaching once more the plain of phoenicia on its eastern verge; next by the antiquities of kadesh naphtali southwards to safed; and homewards to jerusalem, but this latter route is not to be described, for the reason given above. i was accompanied by my niece and another lady, a settled resident of jerusalem. the first object after quitting saida was to visit joon, and to show my companions the residence of lady hester stanhope in years gone by. this we reached just before sunset, on the d of october . the tomb was found much dilapidated; in it was no longer in so good a condition as it had been in , but it was now even worse, and the whole spectacle of house, stables, and gardens, was melancholy in the extreme: the deprivation of roofs gives a peculiar aspect of desolation to any abandoned dwelling, especially when the gardens have still their cultivable flowers remaining, but running riot within their marked-out beds; these had now been sixteen years neglected, yet the roses and myrtle only required pruning. we proceeded to the convent, the road was stony, and we had to find the way by twilight and starlight. at the great door we were received by the new president, and several of the clergy chanting psalms for welcome, and the great bell was ringing at the same time. i could not but attribute all this unusual display to the operation of political affairs in europe. on taking possession of the rooms allotted to us, i received a visit of the greek catholic bishop of saida, he being there on business connected with the election of a new patriarch in the place of maximus; his deportment was that of a man of polite society. our rooms were lighted by huge ecclesiastical tapers of wax. next morning, after returning the visit of the bishop at the patriarchal residence in front of the convent, we breakfasted in the corridor with the president and another of the convent clergy. our ladies then set themselves to sketching the view from the window, and talking about church singing from notes, whereupon the president sent a deacon to fetch his book, and the latter sang for us an anthem, the vociferation and screechings of which was so alarming, not to mention the nasal twang, that my niece had to run away to indulge in an obstreperous laugh, and her senior companion had also much difficulty in refraining from the same kind of expression of opinion. the oriental system of church musical notation is very complicated, having no stave-lines or bars, but only certain arbitrary marks over the notes to designate high or low, plain or flourishing. afterwards we inspected the church; then the refectory, and there they showed us the desk at which one of the community reads to the rest at meal time, triumphantly assuring me that they read the bible, yet the two books i found on the desk were, one the apocryphal writings, the other some homilies of st basil, under whose rule the convent is constituted. next we walked over the roof, and looked at the great bell, and the gong; the view, as might be expected, repaid the trouble. after this the kitchen and the store-rooms. on leaving the convent we proceeded to the nunnery in the neighbourhood. the ladies visited the inmates, while i remained in an outer apartment chatting with a priest, till a curtain was drawn aside, and there, behold! were the lady-president and her flock, curious to see a consul, and blaming the servants for not having admitted me together with my companions. the latter gave me afterwards as their opinion of the establishment, that it very much resembled a comfortable asylum or almshouse for old women. by this deviation from the high roads we lost the fairy view in that neighbourhood which had charmed me so much in . there is a pleasing novelty to us non-lebanonites in being in a native christian country. every hill there has its convent, every convent its bells; clergy are continually passing along the road; and on our descent of the hill we met a nice old gentleman in clerical dress, with a very white beard, holding a crimson umbrella over his head, (this is not uncommon in palestine,) and preceded by a kawwas with a silver-headed official staff, also accompanied by a few peasants carrying guns,--this was a maronite bishop. crossed the river barook at _bisrah_, and ascended the usual highway leading to hhasbeya. at the village of _ineer_ we took further directions, and followed over a very wild scene to nearly the summit of a mountain called _rummet-er-room_, (the ramah, or high-place, of the greeks,) from which the glorious landscape surpasses all power of description--it is one not to be forgotten. at _'azoor_, a clean pleasant village, the women and girls ran in crowds to gaze at my ladies; one of the women shouted "bon soir" in good french, and a man, accompanied by his wife, saluted us in italian. rested in a beautiful wood of pines, though rather late for luncheon, as the sun was falling below the western mountains. rising higher on the march we got into rolling misty clouds, and the brilliant effect of sunbeams between the hills and clouds could not but be surprising. our clothes, however, got damp and chill. at _jezzeen_ our tents were found ready pitched in a grove of noble walnut-trees, with the brook _zaid_ running among them; near alongside was a maronite convent, with a bridge. the muleteers having left us in the morning, lost their way, and had taken the more precipitous road by _dair mushmushi_. here the people behaved with great hospitality to us. the night was very cold, and in the morning the water for washing felt like ice. the position of our encampment, as perceived by daylight, was so low between hills that the sun could not reach us till the day should be considerably advanced, yet we were at a very high altitude. pity that we had no aneroid barometer with us to ascertain the amount of our elevation above the sea. the poplar-trees and walnut-trees, with fruit trees of various kinds, showed we were in a totally different region from that of jerusalem. jezzeen is almost exclusively a christian village, with a greek catholic church, besides two maronite churches, and the small convent mentioned above. there were clergy walking about; the people cleanly and well clothed, the children modestly behaved, and even when rendering a service, not asking for bakhsheesh. at the time of our leaving, a party of women were wailing over a dead body under a tree. the scene gradually became more romantic; and we soon came to a village, if such it may be denominated, where the only dwellings are dispersed among vineyards. these vineyards were, at that autumn season, becoming of a brown and golden tint. after traversing the wondrous chaos referred to in the former journey, we passed through the villages of _cuf'r hooneh_ and _deheedeh_, adjoining each other; where there was abundance of water, and oleander bushes fringing the streamlets, with poplar and maple trees. the rest of the journey had no remarkable difference from that of , except that on the brow of the great descent to the plain, between lebanon and the anti-lebanon, we rested beneath an olive-tree entwined with honeysuckle, enraptured with the magnificence of the scene, which would require a milton to portray it in words, or a martin in painting. i observed that the prevailing tints of the whole great prospect were of russet and ochreous colours. crossed the bridge, charmed with the beauteous verdure and freshening rapid stream of the leontes river; and when arrived at hhasbeya, repaired to the house of the native protestant pastor, (mr john wartabed,) till a house could be prepared for us. next morning some deputations of the religious sects of the town called upon me; also the ameer saad ed deen and his five sons in rich dresses; and lastly, an old druse who had distinguished himself as a friend of the protestant movement. among all these, my visit there had a beneficial effect upon the existence and progress of native protestantism. in the lebanon the druses have always favoured the missionaries, their schools and their chapels, while the native christian communities, under the direction of their clergy, have naturally opposed them by every possible means of the direst persecution. in proper time and place i may hereafter have more to say respecting this visit to hhasbeya. in the afternoon, mr wartabed and the khoja bashi, (representative member in the town-council,) of the protestants, named naseef er reis, rode with us to the source of the hhasbani river, which ought to be regarded as the origin of the jordan, even though banias lower down has been for ages recognised as such. we saw the bubbles at their earliest birth issue from the ground, and in a few yards this becomes a flowing stream. higher above this spot the bed of a torrent brings down water in rainy seasons, adding to the springs of the hhasbani, but this not being permanent, cannot fairly be counted as having part or lot in the jordan. the ladies sat down to take sketches, and in haste i pencilled down in short-hand-- o jordan, dear jordan, the feelings that throng and press on the heart must awaken to song, when the bubbles from pebbles break forth into view as clear as the spangles of morn's early dew. 'mid the poplars that rising surpass other trees, and twinkle as moved by the scarce mountain breeze, and the wild oleander in rose-colour'd bloom, with trill of the linnet, and shrubs of perfume. i have drunk from each source that advances a claim to share with our jordan its time-honour'd name; here now at hhasbeya--and the old site of dan; or the gush that escapes from the grotto of pan. how oft on far banks of its tortuous course, in the scenes of repose or of cataract force, where the bulbul, 'mid willows and tamarisk shades, still warbles-- "now, ladies, the horses are ready, and we have further to go," broke in upon the muse of lebanon. the day's work had to be finished, and time was short; so we rode away to the bitumen pits in the neighbourhood of cocaba. these are not worked in warm weather, for the people are afraid of the possible effects of their gas generated under a hot sun. one of the pits is seventy ells, or cubits, deep, and the bitumen is reached through a crust of chalky soil. the property is a government monopoly, rented by natives, and the business is lazily and irregularly carried on; therefore, sometimes the success is greater than at others. we found two men living in a tent as guardians of the place, who were very civil to us, and permitted us to carry away some specimens. these were all of a very soft consistency; but at the bitumen works at four hours north of hhasbeya, the mineral is of a still softer description, almost liquid. next morning, the kadi paid us a visit, accompanied by a merchant of damascus, a correspondent of an english house in india for indigo. on sunday we attended divine service at the native protestant church, which the people call the english church, and in virtue thereof have set up a bell above it; because, although the mission is carried on by american money and under the direction of american agents, the american consuls are forbidden by their home-government from taking any steps in behalf of their undertakings; and thus, but for the protection given them by mr wood, british consul of damascus, and his consular friends at bayroot, the american mission, with all their schools and printing-presses, would, upon all human calculation, have been crushed long ago. in conformity with oriental usage, the congregation was divided according to the sexes. in the old eastern churches the women are placed in a gallery above the men, but here the equality of the sexes was maintained by their occupying the same floor, while separated from each other by a wall built rather higher than the usual stature of a man; the pulpit being equally visible from each division. a large jar of water stood in the corner within the door, to which the men repaired occasionally, as they felt thirsty. there were no chairs or benches, except such as were brought from the house for our party, the congregation were sitting on their heels, in which posture they sang the hymns, and remained so during the prayer, only covering the face with the right hand; a few men, however, stood up. the singing (arabic) was good, of course all in unison. the first hymn was to the tune of our "old hundredth," the chapters read by the minister were ezek. xviii. and rom. iii., and the text of the sermon was ps. lxxxix. , "justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face." the style of language in the sermon was that of good arabic, but of simple, unpretending character, without admixture of foreign words or phrases: this was insured by the circumstance of the minister being a native of the country, though originally belonging to the armenian church. at the afternoon service the chapters read were num. xxiii. and heb. xiii. the text for the sermon was heb. xiii. , "jesus christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever," and the hymn was sung to a sweet plaintive air of american origin. afterwards, that is after sunset, we spent some hours with the pastor's family, who all understood english well. mr wartabed played the flute to the hymn-singing, and his sister's voice was clear as a flageolet. the evening was one of comfort and refreshment on both sides; it was one of a sabbath, "a delight, the holy of the lord, honourable," (isa. lviii. .) the poor protestants have not always been in such satisfactory circumstances. their principal man had narratives to relate of chains and imprisonment endured in past times from the present ameer, whose policy was now in their favour. next morning we left hhasbeya, and i have not been there since. little could it be foreseen that in five years afterwards one indiscriminate butchery would be made of the ameer and his son, notwithstanding their high descent of family and profession of islam, together with all the christians of whatever sect in the town, driven like sheep within the walls of his palace--a deed of treachery unexampled even in that period of bloody turkish treachery. since then my lady companions are both in their graves, the one at jerusalem, the other at bayroot, let me rather say in "a better country," while i am left alone to narrate this in the distant security of england. on our way towards banias we met a party of druses returning from a small lake beyond hhooleh, carrying leeches in earthen jars and cotton bags upon asses, they themselves walking. a green hill on our right was said to be frequented by wild boars--all the rest of our scenery was bare and stony. a weli was a conspicuous object at some distance to the south, and near to the lake hhooleh, which the moslems name after "judah the son of jacob." one of the hhasbeya protestants, who was with us, quoted in his native arabic "the sceptre shall not depart from judah," etc. at tell el kadi we reposed beneath the great tree near the gush of its branch of the jordan, the same tree (evergreen oak) as afforded us shelter in . both this spring of the river and that of banias are far more striking objects than the humble source of the hhasbani, into which stream they run as affluents, making up the jordan. it was a beautiful evening of mellow sunlight, and the scene most peaceful at the foot of hermon. on nearing banias we were met by the son of the shaikh of the village, sent out to invite us. it was harvest time of the simsim, (sesame,) and the produce was very abundant; sheaves of it were piled up into large stacks, and the length of the plant in stalk exceeded all i had ever seen before,--a natural effect of growing on these well-watered plains. there were also my old friends the myrtles scattered about among the other trees. at banias our attendants had pitched the tents, to our disgust, near the village, and with the stench of carrion not far off; much better places might have been taken, but this was selected probably in consequence of the invitation from the shaikh. our short remainder of twilight was employed in viewing the inscriptions and the grotto of pan. next morning i was making fresh transcriptions of the greek votive dedications before the sun was up, so as to get them as accurately as possible without sunshine and shadows. then the same once more after breakfast, with the sun full upon them. these, together with the copies taken in by afternoon sunlight, and consequently the shadows thrown in the reverse direction, ought to ensure for me a correct delineation, saving and except those letters that are defaced by the action of weather during fifteen centuries, or across which small cracks have been made by the same cause. the shaikh came to transact some business of consequence to him. before noon we resumed our journey; going due west through the sesame harvest and the myrtle trees to tell el kadi; straight across the plain through marshes, frequent small streams, and large fields of rice, which they said would be fit for reaping in twenty days more, that is, by the end of october. crossed the ghujar bridge, but did not as before turn off to safed; our object now was to reach tibneen in the belad besharah, and therefore we kept on due west, ascending up to the great crusading castle and the village of _huneen_, from which the look back upon jebel esh shaikh (hermon) was indescribably grand. a little farther on, a glimpse was caught of the mediterranean sea! the mountain breeze most delightful. rested by the roadside for luncheon; came to the village of _hhooleh_, thence into lower valleys of green woods, often with scarce room to pass ourselves, our horses, and the luggage between branches of trees for some successive hours. then under the village of _jahharah_, where were charcoal burners working at their kilns. the scene opened into verdant glades, alternated with woodland; the breathing most pure as exhaled from trees upon firm dry ground, contrasted with the noxious vapours from the marshes in the early morning. flocks and shepherds appeared, and there was the sound of the axe busy in the woods; not the ringing sound of the bright large english axe, this being wanted in the stroke of the petty oriental tools. as evening drew on, and broad shadows fell from green hills across our way, tibneen castle came nobly into view, and there a goodly reception awaited us. a strange medley of splendour, with fleas and dust, obtained throughout the establishment, and our ladies visited those of the hhareem, concerning whom they brought back no agreeable report. we remained over two nights at tibneen; the latter of which was, throughout its whole duration, one of furious storm, rattling the wooden lattices that served for windows; a storm not uncommon in the east, when an adverse wind meets and drives back a strong shirocco. at daybreak the first sound of the morning was that of a large trained hawk near the window, chained to his perch, and screaming out his delight in the bluster of the tempest. mount hermon appeared, not in his summer glow, but in solemn majesty, defying the clouds and the winds that raged in vain against his solid substance. our progress was thence towards safed, which, however, we did not reach in less than eleven hours and a half, instead of six, because of our circuit made to see the antiquities of kadis and cuf'r bera'am. turning off before bint el jebail, we came to _'ain atha_, and next to _aituran_. at kadis (kedesh naphtali) i found that much of the principal and beautiful temple had been lately despoiled by our late host of tibneen ('ali bek) for the ornamentation of his hhareem or women's apartments, and balconies or galleries. then to _yaroon_, near which was still the ponderous sarcophagus upon a platform in the open country, and likely to stay there for ages to come. it is too plain and devoid of ornament or inscription for antiquarians from europe to covet it, and to remove it for no particular use would demand too much exertion from the natives of the country. my groom, however, thought it might be useful as a depository of barley in the stable! we overtook a party of safed people returning from the weekly market at bint el jebail. at cuf'r bera'am we inspected the ancient buildings now bearing hebrew inscriptions, and i was more than ever convinced in my own mind, that neither these nor any edifices at kadis have any relation to the jewish people, in their origin or intention. the hebrew writing is of inferior style, and very modern character, far, far unequal to the beauty of the architecture; besides having evident traces of animal figures which have been hastily chiselled off. the sun set, and a bad road had to be traversed in order to reach our destination at safed. part iii. in my two journeys just described, the route was over the southern part of the long lebanon range, not only on the main ridge, but crossing some of the innumerable spurs thrown out towards the sea. this time, however, we have to deal with a more northerly and higher region; and it is because of its being in a different direction from those of and that i have not observed the consecutive order of date--this was in . we shall start from the coast, where the most projecting and western spur subsides into ras bayroot, and the climbing begins almost immediately after leaving deep yellow sands and the pine forest. the object was to reach mokhtarah, perched high in the heart of the shoof or central ridge of lebanon, like an eyrie, as it was then, for the princely house of jonblat. mokhtarah lies s.-e. from bayroot, and to arrive there we had to cross the intervening spurs, climbing as we went. the town of dair el kamar and the palace of beteddeen, formerly the headquarters of the house of shehab, lay upon the road. the remainder of the journey after mokhtarah consisted in a rapid descent to sidon, the great port in antiquity for damascus, phoenicia, and the lebanon. this tour comprised the finest range of the territory occupied by the druse nation. . _july_.--from bayroot, with its bewitching scenery and its gorgeous colouring of mountains and the sea, we went to _'abeih_, the best known of the american missionary stations in the lebanon. through the woods of pines, with their reviving fragrance, and through _el hadeth_, an entirely christian village, where the bell of the maronite convent was ringing as we passed, we came to _shuwaifat_, and rose still higher towards the mountain pines and the breezes so desirable in syria in the month of july, leaving below the olive in abundance, the mulberry and the fig-trees. beside the fountain called _'ain besaba_ was a pottery factory. the nature of the rocks around was soft sandstone; a gigantic pear-tree stood conspicuous among the excellent cultivation of the neighbourhood; higher still, between straight tall pines and wild holly-oaks, our road curved round and round the hills. we overtook a company of christians, the women riding and the men walking--this circumstance alone would show they were not mohammedans. the two parties had to pass each other with much caution, as the path was narrow and the precipice deep below. at _'ain 'anoob_, where a copious supply of water issues from three spouts, the fountain has on each side the representation of a chained lion, sculptured in stone. one's first impression would be that this were a relic of the genoese or venetian crusaders; but these figures, whatever their meaning or origin, are not infrequent upon fountains about the lebanon, even when only rustically daubed in red ochre; and it has not been often noticed that there are similar lions facing each other, only without the chains, one on each side of st stephen's gate at jerusalem. some of the women at the fountains wore the horns on their head, the fashion for which is gradually passing away. the terraces on the hills were in the highest state of cultivation, and gave abundant promise of fruit for the coming season; the sun was near setting, the rooks cawing overhead, and we saw two little girls each bring a lamb to the fountain to drink and then proceed to wash them. sidi ahhmad, a druse 'akal, with, of course, a white turban, undertook to be our guide as far as 'abeih. fresh air to breathe! how different from the oppressive heat of bayroot! we all drank of every spring by the way, and by consequence lifted up the drooping head, (ps. cx. ,) thinking each fountain colder than that before it. the most rugged portion of the road was between _'ain 'anoob_ and _'ainab_, and zigzag were the worn tracks of the way. sometimes a musical jingle of bells announced the coming of travellers in front, who were however invisible till they pounced upon us from between two pinnacles of rocks. on the steepest ascents it was necessary to halt and await the coming up of our baggage mules. from mountain heights it is often difficult to distinguish the blue expanse of the mediterranean sea from the similar blue expanse of the sky, until the actual moment of sunset, when the bright orb becoming suddenly flattened on its lower curve reveals the exact horizon line; and so it was this evening. wearied with the climbing position of the saddle, hour after hour, i passed _'ain kesoor_ on foot, the 'akal leading the horse. this was shortly before 'abeih, but there i rode up to the mansion of kasim bek, the local governor, to ask hospitality; it was dark night, and saturday. my intention was to spend the sunday in a christian manner among the american missionaries. the journey had been one of five hours and a half from bayroot. we were heartily received into a fine old house, in which were shaikhs and chiefs of sundry grades seated on the divan with the host, and immediately the means for washing were brought by the domestics with great respect. a good supper was prepared, the bek eating with us, to my surprise, but i afterwards learned that this is not uncommon with a non-'akal druse, as he was. _sunday_.--quiet morning. bell of the capuchin convent almost adjoining the house. from the windows there is a fine prospect of bayroot and the coast-outline. after breakfast i went up to the chapel of the american missionaries, and entered just as the arabic service was about to commence--dr de forest in the pulpit; and his sermon was preached with fluency of language equal to that of a native. the subject was taken from cor. i. , , concerning those who named themselves followers of paul or of apollos. the women were screened off from the men in the congregation. after service dr de forest welcomed me, and led me up the hill to the mission-house, where i found my old friend, dr eli smith, who was unwell, and about to leave them on the morrow for his home at b'hamdoon. with mrs de forest there was a young lady just arrived from the united states to be a teacher in the school. the residence is a good one; with the girls' school on the ground plan, and the dwelling apartments above. the scenery and prospect equal all that the highest imagination could conceive of the lebanon. over the sea, the island of cyprus can occasionally be distinguished from the terrace, that is to say, three peaks of a mountain show themselves at sunset, particularly if the wind be in the north, in the month of may or the beginning of june. this view, therefore, gives the outskirts of "the isles of chittim," as seen from the holy land, (num. xxiv. , and jer. ii. .) after dinner we all went together to the english service in the chapel. mr colquhoun preached a simple but impressive sermon from john x. ; which text he illustrated by an incident that he had witnessed in a recent journey northwards. a shepherd with a flock arrived at a river of some impetuosity. he entered it first, trying the depths with his staff, got over at the best place, and then with his voice called over the sheep to him. from which the following points were deduced:-- . that the shepherd led the way, and the flock waited for his call. . that the sheep followed when he called, although not all of them at the precise ford he had discovered. some of them trusted to their own judgment, and these generally got out of their depths for a time. his way was certainly the best one. . that as the shepherd stood on the opposite bank, he showed no symptoms of uneasiness, for he was confident that every one of the flock would get safely across. . that the sheep in passing over used each his own efforts to get across, apparently just as much as if there were no one present to help; although no doubt the presence of the shepherd had a good effect upon their exertions. it is beyond our reach to explain the metaphysical mystery of this. . the shepherd in first crossing the stream himself tested the force of the stream. each individual creature had to do the same; but those who followed the closest upon his track had an easy passage, while those who tried new ways for themselves were some of them swept down the current for a distance, and had to make hard struggles to rejoin their companions and to reach the beloved shepherd. . all got safely over, for they were his sheep; he knew them all by name; he had tried the way before them and shown it; he then called them to himself. of course each of these points was made use of as personally applicable to the hearers. the sermon did me much good from its quiet and truthful character. at this service, it is needless to observe, that there was no separation of sexes in the congregation. the girls of the school (who are all taught english) were there placed by themselves, and prettily dressed, wearing the oriental _izar_, (or large white veil,) with flowered borders, a novelty to us. returning to the mission-house, the late afternoon and the time of sunset and twilight were spent in rational conversation of christian character. and such was our sabbath-day of devotion and repose. how glorious were the colours spread over the vast extent of mountain and sea, modified by length of shadows as the sun declined! oh how deep are such beauties and the perception of their value laid in the innermost recesses of our soul's nature, only to be completely gratified in the eternity to come. here, below, we have gorgeous tints differing in succession, even after actual sunset, to be followed by a delicate after-glow, which again gives place to the splendour of night. and as in earth, so in heaven, with the exception of night; for surely there will be alternations of beauteous scenes above; surely there will be developments and variety in light, colour, music, harmony, and the rest of those "pleasures for evermore," which are everywhere emanations from the direct love of "him who first loved us,"--his gifts, who even here bestows prismatic hues upon icebergs in the arctic circle, and a rosy flush to the peaks of jebel sanneen in the lebanon. _monday_.--letters were brought at a late hour last night in four hours from bayroot, giving recent intelligence from our fleet--all political affairs going on successfully. everybody speaks well of our host the governor, and his family. he is a studious man, and has acquired from the americans a good deal of history and general knowledge; his youngest brother attends the natural-history class of the mission-school. he is a relative of the famous abu neked, and his wife (druses have but one wife each) is of the jonblat family. the ancestral mansion he inhabits was built by one of the ancient race called the t'noohh, who flourished there from the th to the th century, and artists had been brought for the purpose from constantinople; the symmetry of the masonry is admirable, and consequently the shadows formed from it are particularly straight and sharp in outline. the village contains specimens of every form of religion to be found throughout the lebanon; each sect, however, keeps somewhat apart from the rest, which practice being common in the mountain, may account for the villages appearing to a stranger to consist of separate pieces not quite joined together. some women still wear horns, although the christian clergy set themselves strongly against these ornaments; some even refusing the communion-sacrament to those who persist in retaining that heathenish emblem derived from ancient mythology. among the druse men, the 'akal are not so marked in their difference of costume from the juhal as formerly, except in the extreme cleanliness and careful plaiting of the white turban. my host, notwithstanding the antiquity of his family and his studious character, is not one of the initiated, he is but a jahel, yet he probably serves his people best in that capacity, as he is thereby enabled to hold government employments. from his windows we could see on the south side of ras bayroot several small vessels engaged in sponge-fishing; the crews of these are generally greeks from the islands: yesterday with the telescope we had a good view of the mail-steamer arriving. we went to take leave of the american friends, who showed us some excellent specimens of english writing, and of drawing from the girls' school. returning to the druse friends, i visited seleem, a brother of the bek. on hearing that we were proceeding to mokhtarah, naaman, (brother of said bek jonblat,) who has retired from worldly affairs, and become a devout 'akal, requested one of my party to ask said to send him some orange-flower water. i have no doubt that this message ([greek text]) covered some political meaning. the house of seleem was simplicity and neatness in the extreme, the only ornamentation being that of rich robes, pistols, swords, and the silver decorations of horses, suspended on pegs round the principal apartment; all thoroughly oriental of olden time. the christian secretary of the bek attended us to _cuf'r natta_ on a fine jilfi mare, where he got for us a pedestrian guide to dair el kamar. a very deep valley lay before us, into which we had to descend, lounging leftwards, and then to mount the opposite hill, returning rightwards, to an elevation higher than that of cuf'r natta. down we went by zigzags through groves of pine that were stirred gently on their tops by the mountain breeze, and there was plenty of wild myrtle on the ground; we frequently met with specimens of iron ore, and pink or yellow metallic streaks in the rocks, to the river suffar, being the upper part of the river that is called damoor upon the sea-coast. this is crossed by the bridge _jisr' el kadi_, (so named from an ameer of the house of t'noohh, surnamed the kadi, or judge, from his legal acquirements, and who erected the bridge in old times,) near which the limestone rock of the water-bed is worn into other channels by the occasional escapements of winter torrents. there are mills adjoining. we all rested in a coffee-station at the end of the bridge. several parties of muleteers had halted there at the same time. by the little fireside a large hawk was perched, and the owner of the place had his apparatus for shoemaking in the middle of the room. flowering oleander and fruit trees imparted liveliness to the scene outside, our several parties in variegated costumes adding not a little to the same. crossing the bridge, (which is level, and has no side parapets,) we commenced the great ascent; the hill-side was largely planted with sherabeen, (sprouts,) of a kind of cedar, not the real cedar of lebanon. at a spring half way up we found a poor turkish infantry soldier resting all alone, he was a pitiable object in a district so unfriendly to him. what a different country would palestine or all syria be were it like the lebanon, industriously cultivated inch by inch! how different would the lebanon be were this industry and its produce never interrupted by intestine warfare! higher still we saw a train of shaikhs on horseback, attended by men on foot, coming in our direction longitudinally on the opposite hill from a remote village. all the distance, i think, from jis'r el kadi forwards, notwithstanding the steep nature of the country, was over a paved or made road. there is no such a thing in the south; here, however, the desolation of turkish rule is but little known, and the people are not only industrious, but a fine muscular race. we overtook small groups of village people who had, it seems, gone out to meet the important riding party lately seen by us. suddenly, at a turn of the road, the cheerful town of dair el kamar opened out to view, with the hills and palaces of beteddeen behind. this was at three hours from 'abeih, exclusive of the hour's rest at the bridge. the town appeared to be well built, better than many a european town, notwithstanding the destruction arising from recent warfare, and the people cleanly; it was, however, no proof of the latter quality that i saw a pig being fed at a house-door as we passed along. we alighted at the best arab house i had ever entered, namely, that of the influential meshakah family. after some repose the host took me and the friends who had accompanied me from soor and saida to look about the town. through streets and bazaars we came to a large open place occupied by silk weavers at work, among whom was the father of faris, the arabic teacher in the protestant school at jerusalem, he having been instructed by the americans at 'abeih, and whose sister i had seen there the day preceding. the silk stuffs of the town maintain a respectable rivalry with those of damascus. turkish soldiers were dawdling about the streets. we called at some christian houses, in one of which (very handsome, with a garden) the recesses in the wall of one side of the divan room, containing bedding as usual in the east, were screened by a wide curtain of white muslin spangled with gold. upon the other sides of the room were rude fresco paintings. opposite the door on entering was the virgin and child; over the door was a dove with an olive branch; and the remaining side was embellished by the picture of a fine water-melon, with a slice cut off and lying at its side, the knife still upright in the melon, and an angel flying above it, blowing a trumpet! the town is romantically situated upon successive levels of terraces in the hill, and environed by orchards of fruit. as evening approached, the opposite hill was suffused in a glow of pink, followed by purple light, and the ramadan gun was fired from beteddeen when the sun's orb dropped upon the horizon. suddenly the hills exchanged their warm colours for a cold gray, in harmony with the gloaming or evening twilight. the population of dair el kamar at that time numbered full-grown men of maronites, of greek catholics, of druses, with a few moslems and jews--each of the sects living apart from the rest. the silk manufacture was more extensive than that of saida, and a constant communication was kept up with damascus, which is at twenty hours' distance. the christians are far more hardy than their fellow-christians the maronites are in their special district to the north. the whole population is industrious, and the druses maintain their characteristic steadfastness of purpose, secrecy, and union among themselves. the house in which i was so hospitably received had been almost entirely destroyed in the war of ; and its proprietor (brother of the two brothers now its owners) shot dead in his own court, by persons who owed him money, namely, the druse party of abu neked, two hundred of whom had for a fortnight lived at free quarters there. the two brothers who were my hosts are christians of the greek catholic sect, named gabriel and raphael. a third surviving brother is the talented protestant controversialist residing in damascus, and practising medicine as learned from the americans. the one who was shot by the druses was andrew; the eldest of all is ibrahim, settled in bayroot, and his son named khaleel is dragoman of the english consulate there--it was he who furnished us with the introduction to this house in dair el kamar. how curious is the domestic life of these oriental families. eating takes place in the principal room, with a throng of women and children passing heedlessly about, or visitors entering as they please. among these, during the dinner time, came in a jew speaking jewish-german. he was a dyer, who had known me at jerusalem, and conversed with remarkable self-possession: it seemed as if the mountain air, and absence from the rabbis of jerusalem, had made a man of him. in attendance on the meal was an ancient woman-servant of the family, very wrinkled, but wearing the tantoor or horn on her head. on retiring from the table, if we may use that expression as applicable to an oriental dinner, there came in the greek catholic bishop of saida, and several heads of houses of the maronites, on visits of ceremony. the fatigue of the day was closed, and rewarded by a night of sleep upon a bed of down and crimson silk, under a covering of the same. in the morning our journey was resumed; but before quitting this interesting town, i cannot forbear quoting dr porter's admirable description of dair el kamar, from murray's "handbook for syria and palestine," part ii. page :-- "deir el kamr is a picturesque mountain village, or rather town, of some inhabitants, whose houses are built along a steep, rocky hill-side. a sublime glen runs beneath it, and on the opposite side, on a projecting ledge, stands the palace of bteddin. both the banks, as well as the slopes above them, are covered with terraces, supporting soil on which a well-earned harvest waves in early summer, amid rows of mulberries and olives and straggling vines. industry has here triumphed over apparent impossibilities, having converted naked rocky declivities into a paradise. in palestine we have passed through vast plains of the richest soil all waste and desolate--here we see the mountain's rugged side clothed with soil not its own, and watered by a thousand rills led captive from fountains far away. every spot on which a handful of soil can rest, every cranny to which a vine can cling, every ledge on which a mulberry can stand, is occupied. the people too, now nearly all christians, have a thrifty well-to-do look, and the children, thanks to the energy of the american missionaries, are well taught." this was in , and the description corresponds to what i witnessed in ; but, alas! how great a change ensued in . i must refrain, however, from enlarging upon the melancholy tragedy that occurred there during the insurrection of that memorable year. first we went to beteddeen, and witnessed the sad spectacle of the ameer besheer's luxurious palace in a process of daily destruction by the turkish soldiery, who occupied it as a barrack. accounts had been read by me in europe { } of its size and costliness, but the description had not exceeded the reality. the officer in command gave us permission to be guided over the palatial courts and chambers. we wandered through the hhareem-rooms, and saw baths of marble and gilding, sculptured inscriptions in the passages, coloured mosaics in profusion on the floors, painted roofs, rich columns, brass gates, carved doors, marble fountains, and basins with gold fish. we entered the state reception room, and the old ameer's little business divan, in a balcony commanding a view of the approaches in every direction, of the meidan for equestrian practice, of the inner courts, of the gardens below, and of a cascade of water rolling over lofty cliffs, at the exact distance whence the sound came gently soothing the ear, and from that spot also was obtained a distant view of the mediterranean; not omitting the advantage of witnessing every important movement that could be made in the streets of dair el kamar, across the deep valley. beteddeen had been a truly princely establishment, but now adds one more lesson to the many others of instability in human greatness. fourteen years before, it was all in its glory--the courts were thronged with druse and maronite chiefs arrayed in cloth of gold, with soldiers, with secretaries, with flatterers and suppliants; whereas now, before our eyes, the dirty canaille of turkish soldiers were tearing up marble squares of pavement to chuck about for sport, doors were plucked down and burned, even the lightning-rods were demolished, and every species of devastation practised for passing away their idle time. i shall not here describe the political movements that led to this great reverse of fortune, or to the present condition of the family of shehab. the mountains around were still in careful cultivation, chiefly with the vine and olive; and the aqueduct still brings water from the springs of suffar at several miles' distance, and this it is which, after supplying the palace, forms the cascade above described, and afterwards turns two mills. at short distances are smaller palaces, erected also by this powerful ameer for his mother and his married sons; but the same fate has overtaken them all--turkish devastation. before leaving the place, i visited the tomb of the ameer's mother and that of his principal wife, who was a christian; they are near the house, and surrounded by five cypresses. took the road towards mokhtarah, the seat of the rival chief, the druse jonblat. for some distance after beteddeen the roads have been carefully constructed, over an unusually level plateau for the lebanon; but an enormous ridge of mountain stands conspicuous in the n.-e. this is the highest part of the shoof, near the sources of the river _barook_, so named from being the first place where the arab camels _knelt_ on arriving in the lebanon in a.d. . the sad spectacle of villages and good farm-houses desolate and blackened by fire, frequently met the view; for this open tract, called the _sumkaniyeh_, has frequently been a scene of conflict between the leading factions; it was especially the ground of the considerable battle of the ameer besheer and the jonblatiyeh in . at length, from the commencement of a descent, we saw mokhtarah upon an opposite hill, commanding the view of our approach--a great advantage in times of warfare. our road lay downwards by odd turns and twists, and over a precipice to the river barook, with its romantic banks and fruit-trees peering between overhanging rocks. on our arrival, the great man, said bek jonblat, { } came out with a train of 'akal councillors and a crowd of humbler retainers. he was a handsome man of about twenty-eight, and richly apparelled. beneath a large abai or cloak of black cashmere, with indian patterns embroidered about the collar and skirts, he wore a long gombaz of very dark green silk embossed with tambour work; his sash was of the plainest purple silk, and his sidriyeh or vest was of entire cloth of gold with gold filigree buttons: on the head a plain tarboosh, and in his hand sometimes a cane ornamented with ivory or a rosary of sandal-wood. his gold watch and chain were in the best european taste. i need not here expatiate on the sumptuous reception afforded us; it may be enough to say, that having some hours to spare before sunset--the universal time for dinner in the east--we walked about, and the bek shewed me the yet unrepaired damages, inflicted in his father's time, at the hands of the victorious ameer besheer's faction, on that palace and paradise which his father besheer had created there, thus teaching the shehab ameer how to build its rival of beteddeen,--and the limpid stream brought from the high sources of the barook to supply cascades and fountains for the marble courts, which the other also imitated in bringing down the suffar to his place. we sat beside those streams and cascades, so grateful at that season of the year, conversing about the arab factions of kaisi and yemeni, or the jonblat and yesbeck parties of the druses, or his own early years spent in exile either in the hauran or with mohammed 'ali in egypt,--but not a word about actual circumstances of the lebanon, or about his plans for restoring the palace to more than its former splendour, which he afterwards carried out. this was all very agreeable, but a curious fit of policy assumed at the time rendered my host to some degree apparently inhospitable to us christians. it is well known that the druse religion allows its votaries to profess outwardly the forms of any other religion according to place and circumstances. the bek was now adopting moslem observances; consequently, it being the month of ramadan, we could have nothing to eat till after sunset. what could have been his reason for this temporary disguisement i have never been able to discover. even the adan was cried on the roof of his house, summoning people to prayer in the canonical formula of the moslems, and said bek, with his councillors, retired to a shed for devotional exercises, as their prayers may be appropriately termed; and i remarked that at every rising attitude he was lifted reverently by the hands and elbows, by his attendants,--an assistance which no true mohammedan of any rank, that i had ever met with, would have tolerated. at length the sunlight ceased to gild the lofty peaks above us, and pipes, sherbet, and ice were served up as a preparation for the coming dinner. there is in front of the house a square reservoir of water, with a current flowing in and out of it; this is bordered by large cypress-trees, and in a corner near the house wall grows a large acacia-tree, the light-green colour and drooping foliage of which gave somewhat of an indian appearance to the scene. lamps were then lit beneath an arcade, and near the water a huge cresset was filled with resinous pine splinters, and the light of its burning flickered fantastically over the pool, the house, and the trees. next came the dinner, late for the appetites of us travellers, and tedious in its duration--with music outside the open windows. after the meal the bek withdrew to the corner of his divan for transaction of business with his people, as the moslems do at that season. his part of the affairs consisted in endorsing a word or two upon the petitions or addresses that were produced by the secretaries--these were written on small rolls of paper like tiny cigarettes, pinched at one end. how very un-european to carry on business in so few words, either written or spoken! said bek was a man of few words in such transactions, but what he did say seemed always to hit exactly the point intended; and the wave of his finger was sufficient to summon a number of men to receive his commands. he was evidently a person of a different stamp from the coarse leaders of lebanon factions, the abu neked, the shibli el 'arian, and such like; he is proud of his family antiquity, refined in dress and manners, and has always, like the rest of the druses, courted the favour of the english nation. on the entrance of his son, named nejib, probably four or five years old, all the akal councillors and military officers rose to receive him. in the morning we took our departure, when said bek accompanied us as far as the meidan, and a profusion of druse compliments filled up the leave-taking. we now passed for some hours along the river side, through the utmost loveliness of lebanon scenery. among other trees that lined its banks, or adorned the precipitous cliffs, or followed the rising and falling road, were noble specimens of platanus (plane) and lofty zanzalacht, (the peepul of india;) crystal rills tumbled down the rocks, as if sparkling alive with enjoyment; then the usual poplar, walnut, evergreen oak, and a large plantation of olive: the river sometimes smiled with the fringe of oleander. we halted for a time under a wide-branching platanus at the end of a bridge, between the masonry of which grew bunches of the caper plant, then in blossom of white and lilac, and at the piers of which grew straggling blackberry brambles and wild fig-trees in picturesque irregularity, while the water bubbled and gurgled over a pebbly bed or fragments of rock. peasantry passed us with ass-loads of wood for fuel, (camels being unknown in that region.) the same features continually repeated themselves as we advanced; large broken cliffs were overhanging us, and birds singing in the solitude; it need not be added that the sun was cloudless the whole day long. forward we went to the convent of the dair el mokhallis, which we reached in four hours and a half from mokhtarah, where we rested a few hours; then visited once more the house of lady hester stanhope. thence descending to the sea beach, we crossed the river awali, and looked back with regret to the heights of lebanon. just as the last gun of ramadan was fired, (for it was the termination of that fast and the commencement of beiram,) we galloped our horses into the sea-wave near the walls of sidon, which they enjoyed as refreshing to their heated fetlocks, and we found a luxury in the breeze and in the rustling sound of the endless roll of wavelets upon the shelly beach. how different were the temperature and the scenery from those of mokhtarah in the early morning! * * * * * even now in the nineteenth century one can understand how it was that in ancient bible times the peoples inhabiting those romantic districts were distinct from each other within a small space, having separate kings and alien interests, for here in the lapse of few hours i had traversed regions where the inhabitants differed greatly in religion, in manners, customs, dress, and physical aspect. the maronite and the druse of lebanon; the syrian and the turk of bayroot, saida, and soor; the metawali of the phoenician district, no more resemble each other than if they were men or women of different nations, as indeed they are by derivation; each of these is but a fragment of antiquity, representing to us his several ancient race; yet all these fragments are united for the present by the slenderest of bonds, those of using one common language, the arabic, and of an unwilling subjection to the ottoman scymitar. alas! for the beautiful country thus parcelled out by peoples, who, cherishing ancient rivalries and modern blood-feuds, have, and can have no national life, or sentiment of patriotism. xiii. north-west of the dead sea. in december , i met, by appointment, at jericho the rev. a. a. isaacs, and my friend james graham, who were going with photographic apparatus to take views at the site called wadi gumran, near 'ain feshkah, where a few years before m. de saulcy, under the guidance of an ardent imagination, believed he had found extensive and cyclopean remains of the city gomorrah, and had published an account of that interesting discovery. it was on christmas eve that we rose early by starlight, and had our cups of coffee in the open air, beside the _kala'at er reehha_, (castle of jericho,) while the tents were being struck and rolled up for returning to jerusalem, where we were to meet them at night. only the artistic apparatus and a small canteen were to accompany us; but the muleteer for these was even more dilatory in his preparations than is usual with his professional brethren--and that is saying much; no doubt he entertained a dread of visiting the dead sea at points out of the beaten track for travellers; considerable time was also occupied in getting a stone out of the mule's shoe; then just as that was triumphantly effected, my mare happened to bolt off free into the wilderness; when she was recovered, it was ascertained that my cloak was lost from her back; during the search for this, the guide abandoned us, and it was with much difficulty that we hired one from jericho. at length we commenced the march, leaving the kawwas to look for the cloak, (which, however, he did not succeed in recovering; it would be a prize for the thieves of the village, or even, if it should fall in their way, for one of the bashi-bozuk,) and got to _'ain feshkah_, much in need of a real breakfast. there the water was found to be too brackish for use--as unpalatable, probably, as the water of 'ain es sultan was before being healed by the prophet elisha; so we drank native wine instead of coffee, while seated among tall reeds of the marshy ground, and not pleased with the mephitic odour all around us. our photographers having ascertained the site for their researches by means of the guide, and by the indications furnished in the work of de saulcy; they set themselves to work, during which they were frequently uttering ejaculations at the exaggerations of size and quantity made by my french friend. the cyclopean ruins seemed to us nothing but remnants of water-courses for irrigation of plantations, such as may be seen in the neighbourhood of elisha's fountain, or heaps of boulders, etc., that had been rolled down from the adjacent cliffs by natural causes during a succession of ages. mr isaacs has since published a book descriptive of this expedition, containing illustrations from his photographs taken on the spot. in this he has given the reasons for our differing from m. de saulcy, and considering his theories unfounded. at the end of a strip of beach, which the discoverer calls "the plain," the cliffs have a narrow crevasse, down which water rushes in the season when there is water to form a cascade. this is difficult to reach from "the plain," and very narrow; and it is what our arabs called the wadi gumran. in front of this opening is a hill with some ruins upon it; thither we mounted easily, and saw vestiges of some ancient fort with a cistern. when all the observations were taken upon points considered necessary, we prepared to return home by way of mar saba, hardly expecting to arrive by daylight at jerusalem. we were, however, desirous of spending christmas day there rather than in the bleak wilderness. on the way we fortunately got some camel's milk from a party passing near us. the weather was hot, but exceedingly clear. the salt mountain of sodom, (khash'm usdum,) showed itself well at the southern extremity of the lake, thirty miles distant; and from a raised level near its northern end we gained superb views of mount hermon (jebel esh shaikh) in the anti-lebanon, capped with snow. this was entirely unexpected and gratifying; but i could nowhere find a spot from which both hermon and sodom could be seen at once. perhaps such a view may be had somewhere on the hills. we turned aside through the _wadi dubber_, as the guide termed it, within a circuitous winding, out of which, at a spot called 'ain merubba', i had passed a night in the open air some years before. long, dreary, and tiresome was the journey; the two bashi-bozuk men complained of it as much as we did. at sunset we came to a well with some water left in troughs near it, but not enough for all our horses, and we had no means of getting more out of the well. this was in a wide, treeless, trackless wilderness. no one of our party felt quite sure of being on the true road, but we followed slight tracks in the general direction in which the convent lay; we guessed and went on. occasionally we got sight of the summit of the frank mountain or lost it again, according to the rise or fall of the ground. conversation flagged; but at length we struck up a christmas hymn to enliven us. in the valley of mar saba we saw lights in the convent, but passed on. saw an arab encampment, with fire and lights glimmering, where the dogs came out to bark at us; another such in half an hour more; and a larger camp in another half-hour, where men were discussing matters with much vociferation in a cavern by a blazing fire; a scout called out, inquiring if we were friends or foes? the night grew very cold, and i should have been glad had my cloak not been lost near jericho. the temperature differed greatly from that of the dead sea--a keen wind was in keeping with the end of december. the stars were most brilliant: venus richly lustrous; sirius, dazzling; and the huge orion showing to best advantage. the road was alternately rough in the valley, or over slippery ledges. at length, however, we got cheered by coming to known objects. passed beer eyoob, (en rogel,) and saw the battlemented walls of the holy city sharply marked against the sky. the key had been left by the authorities at the city gate, to allow of our admission; but the rusty lock required a long time for turning it, and the heavy hinges of the large gate moved very slowly, at least so it seemed in our impatience to reach home. * * * * * it is said above that i once spent a night at the 'ain merubba'--this was on the occasion of an attempt, which ended in failure, to reach 'ain jidi (en-gaddi) from the 'ain feshkah in the common way of travelling. { } hhamdan, shaikh of the ta'amra, with about a dozen of his men, escorted me and one kawwas in that direction. instead of proceeding to jericho or elisha's fountain, we turned aside into the wildest of wildernesses for passing the night. traversing the length of an extremely narrow ridge, something like the back of a knife, we descended to a great depth below; but the risk being judged too great for conveying the tent and bed over there by the mule, these were left spread upon the ground for the night under the canopy of heaven; while the men carried our food for us to make the evening meal. crawling or sliding, and leading the horses gently, we got to the bottom, and then followed up a very narrow glen, winding in and out, and round about between extraordinary precipices rising to enormous heights, till all at once the men halted, shouted, and sang, and stripped themselves to bathe in small pools formed in holes of the rock by settlements of rain-water. this was our halting-place, but the scene beggars all power of description. we were shut into a contracted glen by a maze of tortuous windings, between mountains of yellow marl on either side; but broken, rugged, naked of all vegetation,--referring one's imagination to the period when the earth was yet "without form and void," or to the subsiding of the deluge from which noah was delivered. looking upwards to a great height we could just see the tops of the imprisoning hills gilded awhile by the setting sun, and a small space of blue making up the interval between the precipices. those precipices were not, however, entirely yellow, but variegated with occasional red or somewhat of brown ochre. so fantastic in position or shape were the masses hurled or piled about, and the place so utterly removed "from humanity's reach," that it might be imagined suitable to mould the genius of martin into the most extravagant conceptions of chaos, or to suggest the colouring of turner without his indistinctness of outline. the echoes of the men's voices and bursts of laughter (the latter so uncommon among arabs) when splashing in the water, were reverberated from hill to hill and back again; but there were no wild birds among the rocks to scream in rejoinder as at petra. after a time a voice was heard from above, very high, (it is wonderful how far the human voice is carried in that pure atmosphere and in such a locality,) and on looking up i saw a dark speck against the sky waving his arms about. it was one of the ta'amra asking if he should bring down my mattress. consent was given, and, behold, down came tumbling from rock to rock the mattress and blanket tied up into a parcel; when approaching near us, it was taken up by the man who followed it, and carried on his back; and when still nearer to us it was carefully borne between two men. thus i enjoyed the distinction above all the rest of having a mattress to lie upon; the shaikh had a couple of cloaks, the kawwas had one, and the others were utterly without such luxurious accessories, and slept profoundly. our people called the place _'ain merubba'_, (the square fountain.) i saw no fountain of any form, but there must have been one, for we had a supply of good water, and the designation "'ain," or fountain, is one of too serious importance to be employed for any but its literal signification. very early in the morning we started afresh, and took the beach of the lake towards 'ain feshkah. a great part of the day was spent in clambering our ponies over broken rocks of a succession of promontories, one following another, where it seemed that no creatures but goats could make way; the arabs protesting all the while that the attempt was hopeless, and besides, that the distance even over better ground was too great for one day's march. at length i relinquished the undertaking to reach 'ain jidi by that way, and for that year had no leisure from business to try it from other directions. hhamdan and i sat on a rock in his free open air dominion, discussing possibilities, and what 'ain jidi was like, as well as the "ladder of terabeh," (see p. .) at length we rose and turned towards jerusalem. i am not sure that i ever saw him again, for not long afterwards he was drowned in the jordan while attempting to swim his horse through the stream at its highest, after assisting in a battle on the side of the deab 'adwan. xiv. soba. on the crest of a high hill two or three hours west from jerusalem, stands the village of soba, and it has long been imagined to be modin, the birth-place and burial-place of the maccabaean heroes; though i never heard any reason assigned for that identification, except the circumstance of the sea being visible from it, and therefore of its being visible from the sea, which was supposed to tally with the description given in macc. xiii., - , of the monuments erected there,--"simon also built a monument upon the sepulchre of his father and his brethren, and raised it aloft to the sight, with hewn stone behind and before. moreover, he set up seven pyramids, one against another, for his father, and his mother, and his four brethren. and in these he made cunning devices, about the which he set great pillars, and upon the pillars he made all their armour for a perpetual memory; and by the armour ships carved, that they might be seen of all that sail on the sea. this is the sepulchre which he made at modin, and it standeth yet unto this day." i never was persuaded that the words implied that ships carved on pillars at soba, could be distinguished from the sea, or even that the columns themselves were visible from ships off the coast; but only this, that the deliverers of their country from the intolerable yoke of the syrians, having opened up communication with the grecians and romans, marine intercourse had become more frequent than before, a matter that the maccabaean family were proud of; and therefore they had ships carved on the pillars, as might be observed by seafaring people who might go there; yet, whatever the words might signify, they could not prove that modin was so far inland, and among the hills, as soba. however, in , i went with my son and a couple of friends to inspect the place itself, considering it at least worth while to make one's own observations on the spot. we passed through _'ain carem_, the _karem_ of the septuagint, to _sattaf_, and rested during the heat of the day in a vineyard, near a spring of water and plots of garden vegetables, belonging to the few houses that had been rebuilt after several years of devastation by village warfare. the approach to the place from any direction is through the very rough torrent bed of the wadi bait hhaneena, and along very narrow ledges upon the sides of steep hills, quite as perilous as any that are used for travelling in any part of the lebanon; too dangerous to admit of dismounting and leading the horse after the risk has once begun, by far the safest method of advancing is to hold the reins very loose, and if you wish it, to shut your eyes. opposite to sattaf, directly across the valley, the latins had lately rebuilt a small chapel of former times, said to have been the prison of john the baptist; they name it the chapel of the _hhabees_, _i.e._, the imprisoned one. leaving sattaf we gradually ascended to soba; at first through lemon and orange plantations near the water, and then through vineyards with a few pomegranate-trees interspersed. it is noteworthy how, throughout most of the tribe of judah, small springs of water are found dribbling from the rocks, (besides the larger sources of urtas, lifta, faghoor 'aroob, dirweh, and hebron,) which were doubtless more copious in the ancient times, when the land was more clothed with timber, and there were men, industrious men, aware of their blessings, and ready to prevent the streams from slipping away beneath the seams of limestone formation. at soba we mounted the steep hill to the _shooneh_, or small look-out tower at the summit, enjoying the breadth of landscape and the stretch of the mediterranean before our eyes. in the village we found remains of old masonry, most likely the basement of a fortification of early saracenic or the crusaders' era; besides which there was a piece of wall in excellent condition of the best character of jewish rabbeted stones. one man invited us to see some old stones inside of his house; but they formed a portion of the basement above-mentioned, against which the rest of his house was built. the people were unanimous in declaring that there was nothing else of such a nature in the village. so that our researches issued in no corroboration of soba being modin. leaving the place we descended to the high road of jaffa to jerusalem, and saw a number of olive-trees dead of age; none of us, however long resident in palestine, had seen such before or elsewhere; we concluded them to have been withered by age from their bearing no visible tokens of destruction, while the ground was well ploughed around them, and from finding others near them in progressive stages of decay, down to the utter extinction of foliage. arrived at _kaloneh_ upon the highway, certainly the site of a roman garrison or "colonia," (see acts xvi. ,) leaving kustul behind, which is also a derivation from the latin word for a castle. near the bridge of kaloneh, where there are good specimens of ancient rabbeted stones, one gets a glimpse of 'ain carem through the olive plantation; and the return that day was by a cross way from _dair yaseen_ through vineyards to jerusalem. * * * * * it is only at a comparatively late period that attention has been directed to the text of eusebius and jerome in the "onomasticon," where it is distinctly said that modin was near lydd, and that the monuments were at that time (in the fourth century) still shown there. porter considers that therefore _latroon_ is the true site of modin: in this supposition i wish to concur; for the general run of the maccabaean history becomes peculiarly intelligible when read with the idea in the mind that modin lay in just such a situation, namely, upon a hill, rising alone from the great plain, but adjacent to the mountain ridge, and to defiles into which the insurgents might easily retire, or from which they might issue suddenly and surprise regular armies in their camp. i know of no place so suitable for such operations as latroon. the word [greek text], used for the armour and the ships, must mean "carved in relievo," and such objects could never be distinguished by persons actually passing upon the sea, if placed either at soba, latroon, lydd, or even jaffa; it is difficult enough to imagine that the pyramids and columns were visible from the sea at latroon. xv. the two bait sahhoors identified with bethsura and bath zacharias. there are two villages in the neighbourhood of jerusalem bearing the name of bait sahhoor. one lies near to the city, beyond en-rogel, a little way down the valley of the kedron; the other is farther off, close under bethlehem. by way of distinction, the former is called "bait sahhoor of the wadi," and the latter, "bait sahhoor of the christians." i think that it can be shown that these places, though now fallen from their high estate, once played their part in important events,--that bait sahhoor of the wadi is identical with bethsura,--and that bait sahhoor of the christians is identical with bath zacharias--both of maccabaean history. in the year of the seleucidan era, being the fifth year of the liberty of zion, (the term used upon the maccabaean coins,) a vast army of syrians invaded palestine from antioch, headed by king antiochus eupator, in the twelfth year of his age, and under the official command of lysias, one of his relatives. the army consisted of both subjects and hired aliens, even from the islands of the sea. they numbered "a hundred thousand infantry, and twenty thousand cavalry, with thirty-two elephants exercised in battle," (i macc. vi. .) the object of the expedition was to crush the maccabaean insurrection, and wipe out the disgrace of defeats already sustained. the first attempt was to be the relief of the garrison at jerusalem, which was at this time beleaguered by judas from the temple part of the city. "the army was very great and mighty," (ver. .) "when the sun shone upon the shields of gold and brass, the mountains glistered therewith, and shined like lamps of fire," (ver. .) each of the thirty-two elephants was attended by "a thousand men armed with coats of mail, and with helmets of brass on their heads; and besides this, for every beast was ordained five hundred horsemen of the best--these were ready at every occasion: wheresoever the beast was, and whithersoever the beast went they went also, neither departed they from him; and upon the beasts were there strong towers of wood, which covered every one of them, and were girt fast unto them with devices; there were upon every one thirty-two strong men that fought upon them, beside the indian that ruled him," (ver. , etc.) this strange host marched along the philistine plain southwards to idumea, which is on the south of hebron: this being the only way for such an army and its elephants to get at jerusalem. thence they swept the land before them northwards, "and pitched against bethsura, which they assaulted many days, making engines of war, but they of the city came out and fought valiantly," (ver. .) whereupon judas desisted from his siege of the citadel--which, i may remark in passing, must have been on acra, not like david's citadel taken from the jebusites, on zion--and hastened to attack the royal host, mighty though it was. some have supposed that bethsura is to be found at bait zur, near hebron, the beth zur of josh. xv. ; whereas this place is more than a hundred furlongs from jerusalem, being not much more than an hour (north) from hebron, and is altogether too far removed to answer the description of bethsura, and the operations carried on there, close to the holy city. the th verse of the th chapter of maccabees sets the whole question at rest; the words are distinctly, "so he (lysias) came to judea and drew near to bethsura, which was a strong town, but distant from jerusalem _about five furlongs_, and he laid sore siege unto it." again, immediately after taking the city of jerusalem and dedicating the temple, judas "fortified bethsura in order to preserve it," (that is, mount zion,) that the people might have a defence against idumea, (i macc. iv. .) and the accusation which had been formerly made to the king antiochus epiphanes in persia against judas and his men was "that they had compassed about the sanctuary with high walls as before, and his city bethsura;" also to the present king at antioch, "that the sanctuary also and bethsura have they fortified," (chap. vi. , .) it is clear that one was an outwork of the other, bethsura being the defence of jerusalem against incursions from the south. i know not how to doubt that bait sahhoor of the valley is the very place. it lies upon a lofty hill across the valley not far beyond en-rogel. this is at present a wretched village, only inhabited for a few weeks in the year; but the position is naturally one of great strength. the distance from the city answers precisely the requirements of the history,--a signal by trumpet, if not the human voice, could be heard from one garrison to the other. i have ridden repeatedly to the spot and examined the ground. the south-eastern angle of the temple wall at jerusalem (where the great stones are found) is distinctly visible from the houses. i sat there upon my horse and remarked how unassailable by cavalry and elephants this site must have been, and how great its value for a military outwork to the sanctuary of the temple. the pediment and moulding of a column lay at my feet,--around and opposite across the valley were numerous sepulchres hewn in the solid rock; yet the infantry of the syrians were sufficient to overwhelm the gallant defenders. judas in this emergency resolved to come to their relief, raising the siege of the citadel and outflanking the enemy. for this purpose he "pitched at bath zacharias over against the king's camp," (ver. .) this was seventy stadia, or nearly nine roman, or eight and a half english miles distant from bethsura, (josephus' antiq. xii. , .) i believe bath zacharias to be the village which now bears the name of "bait sahhoor of the christians," close to bethlehem. { } i have ridden over the space between the two villages called bait sahhoor; the distance upon a well marked and rather winding road, answers well to the description of the historian. the stratagem of judas becomes here very intelligible, which was to take the invaders in the rear, and placing them between two hostile jewish forces, to draw away the main attack from bethsura and jerusalem; besides cutting off any assistance from the south. antiochus did face round in order to attack him, and was met in narrow straits between the two localities. this i take to be the broken ground south-east of mar elias, where certainly it would be just as impossible now for two elephants to go abreast as it was when josephus wrote his lively description of the engagement that ensued; of the shouts of the men echoing among the mountains, and the glitter of the rising sun upon the polished accoutrements. it was summer, for they excited the elephants with the blood of the grape and the mulberry. the road is to this day defined by true tokens of antiquity, such as lines of stones covered with hoary lichen, old cisterns, especially a noble one called the _beer el kott_, with here and there steps cut in the shelves of solid rock. the last part of the road on the south is among slippery, rocky, narrow defiles and paths, half-way down the hill-sides. here six hundred of the syrian army were cut off and eleazar, the heroic brother of judas, was crushed under an elephant which he had killed. yet the fortune of the day was not decisive in favour of the maccabaean army, which retired and entrenched itself within the temple fortress. the outlying post of bethsura was obliged to capitulate. philological grounds for the above identification are not wanting. bethsura and bath zacharias may have easily represented the arabic or hebrew form of bait sahhoor. the guttural letter in the middle naturally disappears in the greek text, just as the greek word "assidean" represents the hebrew chasidim in the same history. the following is a simple demonstration of the transition:-- [picture: transition from hebrew via greek to arabic] it may be asked, why did neither josephus nor the author of the books of maccabees tell us that beth zachariah was near bethlehem? i answer: first, the narrative did not make this necessary; secondly, bethlehem was then "among the least of the thousands of judah," her great day had not yet arrived; and thus it might have been quite as necessary to say that bethlehem was near beth zachariah, as to say that beth zachariah was near bethlehem. the modern name "bait sahhoor of the christians" arises most likely from the fact that a majority of the inhabitants,--thirty families to twenty in the year ,--were of that religion, and from its nearness to the field where it is believed the angels appeared to the shepherds announcing the birth of christ, with its subterranean chapel, the crypt of a large church in former times. the other bait sahhoor (el wadiyeh) is so named from its position on the side of the wadi in nar, or valley of the kedron. it is only occasionally inhabited, the people who claim it being too few to clear out the encumbered cisterns for their use, but prefer to identify themselves during most of the year with other villages, such as siloam near at hand, where water is more abundant. xvi. the bakoosh cottage. at about seven miles from jerusalem lie the pools of solomon, commonly called the "burak," upon the road to hebron, which passes by the head of the westernmost of them, on the left hand of the traveller to that city; while immediately on the right hand, stands a hill with some cultivation of vineyards and fig-trees, with a few olive-trees; apparently half-way up that hill is a stone cottage, roughly but well built. it is of that cottage and its grounds that i am about to speak, for there i resided with my family for some weeks in , and through the summer of . there is no village close at hand, the nearest one being _el khud'r_, (or st george, so named from a small greek convent in its midst,) which, however, is only visible from the highway for a few minutes at a particular bend of the road before reaching the pools; the next nearest, but in the opposite or eastern direction, is urtas, with its profitable cultivation, nestled in a well-watered valley. after these, in other directions again, are _bait jala_, near rachel's sepulchre, and bethlehem, the sacred town whose name is echoed wherever christ is mentioned throughout the whole world, and will continue to do so till the consummation of all things,--"there is no speech or language where its name is not heard." adjoining the pools is the shell of a dilapidated khan, of old saracenic period, the outer enclosure alone being now entire. two or three bashi-bozuk soldiers used to be stationed there, living in wretched hovels inside the enclosure, made of fallen building stones, put together with mud. on account of this being a government post, the peasantry of the country, ignorant of all the world but themselves, denominate this old square wall, "the castle," and that name is repeated by dragomans to their european employers. these were our nearest neighbours. close to the khan-gate and to the pools is a perennial spring of excellent water, which, of course, is of great value, and considering how several roads meet at that point, and what a diversity of character there is continually passing or halting there, it would seem to form the perfection of an opening scene to some romantic tale. thus the hebron highway lay between the pools, with the khan on one side, and the bakoosh hill on the other, and no person or quadruped could pass along it unobserved from our window. from the cottage, the more extended prospect comprised the stony, treeless hills in every direction, the pools forming the head of the valley leading to urtas, and the outskirt beginning of green cultivation there; then the streets and houses of bethlehem; also the frank mountain; and at the back of all the moab range of mountains. [picture: ancient sepulchre on the bakoosh] within the wall enclosing the property of the cottage, with its fruit trees already mentioned, there is one of the little round towers such as are commonly seen about bethlehem for summer residence of the cultivator and his family during the season of fruit ripening, and which are meant by the biblical term of a tower built in the midst of a vineyard, (see matthew xxi. , and isaiah v. .) it is remarkable how perfectly circular these are always built, though so small in size. we had also a receptacle for beehives, and an ancient sepulchre. the hill rises very steeply, but being as usual formed into ledges or terraces, upon one of these, in a corner near the wall, the stable was constructed of a small tent, near a big tree, within the shadow of which, and of a bank, the horses were picketed. upon the other ledges were arranged the tents for sleeping in at night, and alongside of the cottage a kitchen was made of a wall and a roof made of branches of trees brought from a distance. such was our abode in the pure mountain breezes, with unclouded sunshine, and plenty of good spring water within reach. inside the stone walls of the house we stayed during the heat of the day; the children learned their lessons there, and i transacted business in writing, when my presence in jerusalem was not absolutely required by those carrying on the current daily affairs; indeed the reason for resorting to this place was the necessity for obtaining recruitment of health, after a serious illness brought on by arduous labour. had not unforeseen anxieties come upon us, no lot on earth could have been more perfectly delicious in the quality of enjoyment, both for body and spirit, than that sojourn upon the wild hill; among ourselves were innocence and union, consequently peace; time was profitably spent; and our recreations were, practice in the tonic sol-fa singing lessons, with sketching and rambling on foot or on horseback over the breezy heights of judah. and whether by evening twilight, or at the rising of the sun out of the moab mountains, or earlier still, by summer morning starlight, when sirius and canopus (the latter unseen in england) vied with each other in sparkling their varied colours to praise their maker in the firmament, his handiwork; those rambles were sources of delight that cannot be expressed in human language; they were, however, not novelties after so many years' residence in that asiatic climate, but had become wrought into our very existence. our sabbaths were happy and conscientiously observed; we kept up the services of the church of england as far as practicable, and sometimes had a visitor to join us in the same, not omitting the hymn singing. the two domestic servants were of different christian communities; for the woman was a latin, and would sometimes repair to her church-service at bethlehem, and the abyssinian lad might be heard morning and evening, or at night in the moonlight--such moonlight as we had there!--reading the gospels and psalms in his soft native language, or even singing to a kirar (or lute) of his own making, hymns with a chorus of "alleluia, amen." another of our gratifications should not be omitted, namely, the hearing of the large church bell of the latins in bethlehem on certain occasions, and always on sunday mornings; at the moment of the sun peering over the eastern horizon that great bell struck, and was followed by a gush of the sweetest irregular music from smaller bells, probably belonging to the greeks, and then by the nakoos (plank) of the armenians, a relic of their primitive customs, serving for a bell, { }--all these acting with one consent and with one intention, that of celebrating "the lord's day," as the early christians delighted to call the first day of the week. from our window we had the city of david and of david's lord before us, and over the window on the inside i had inscribed in large arabic inscription-characters, "o son of david, have mercy upon us!" we had therefore the writing and the town at the same glance of view. we were not without visitors: sometimes a friend or two or three would arrive from jerusalem--travellers along the road would mount the hill to see us--rabbis of hebron on the way to jerusalem, or jews from the distance of tiberias passing to hebron, would turn aside to pay their respects--arab chiefs, such as ismaeen hhamdan of the ta'amra--turkish officers, or even the pasha himself, found the way to the cottage--also officers of the british navy, when visiting the sacred localities from jaffa. among these i would not forget the chaplain of one of our men-of-war, who brought up ten of his best men, namely, the bible and temperance class under his charge, to see the venerated places, jerusalem, bethlehem, and the mount of olives. on one occasion we had a surveying party with their instruments from h.m.s. _firefly_, who passed some nights with us. on the higher boundary the land was still in its natural condition of stones, fossil shells, and green shrubs with fragrant herbs. there might be seen occasionally starting up before the intruding wanderer, partridges, hares, quails, the wild pigeon, the fox, or even "the wild gazelle on judah's hills exultingly would bound," and escape also, for i carried no gun with me. mounting still higher we came upon the _dahar-es-salahh_, a mountain whence the prospect of all philistia and the coast from almost gaza to carmel expands like a map--no, rather like a thing of still life before the eye, with the two seas, namely, the mediterranean and the dead sea, visible at once, with likewise the mountains of samaria and gerizim, besides the moab country eastward, and jerusalem and bethlehem nearer home. close at hand upon the mountain on which we thus stand, are vestiges of a monastic house and chapel called "khirbet el kasees," (the priest's ruins,) and even more interesting objects still, the remains of older edifices, distinguished by ponderous rabbeted stones. on the mountain top is a large oval space, which has been walled round, fragments of the enclosure are easily traceable, as also some broken columns, gray and weather-beaten. this has every appearance of having been one of the many sun-temples devoted to baal by early syrians. by temple i here mean a succession of open-air courts, with a central altar for sacrifice; a mound actually exists on the highest spot of elevation, which may well have been the site of the altar. what a vast prospect does this spot command, not only of landscape in every direction, but of sky from which the false worshipper might survey the sun's entire daily course, from its rising out of the vague remote lands of "the children of the east," and riding in meridian splendour over the land of israel's god, till, slowly descending and cloudless to the very last, it dips behind the blue waters of "the great sea!" alas! to think that such a spot as this should ever have been desecrated by worship of the creature within actual sight of that holy mountain where the divine glory appeared, more dazzling than the brightest effulgence of the created sun. sloping westwards from the _dahar-es-salahh_ were agreeable rides over a wilderness of green shrubs with occasional pine and karoobah trees, and rough rocks on the way to _nahhaleen_ or _bait ezkareh_, from which we catch a view of the valley of shocoh, the scene of david's triumph over goliath, and beyond that the hill of santa anna at _bait jibreen_. the region there is lonely and silent, with some petty half-depopulated villages in sight, but all far away; sometimes a couple or so of peasants may be met upon the road driving an ass loaded with charcoal or broken old roots of the evergreen oak. evening excursions in that direction were not infrequent for the purpose of seeing the sun set into the sea, from which the breeze came up so refreshingly. the home resources gave us among the fruit trees, goldfinches, bee-eaters in blue or green and gold, and beccaficas, the latter for food, but so tame that they would stay upon the branches while the gun was levelled at them; in fact, little alexander, returning one day with several of them that he had shot, complained of want of sport, quoting the lines of his namesake selkirk in cowper,--"their tameness is shocking to me." occasionally we got water-hens or coots that had been shot upon the pools of solomon; only sometimes it was not possible to fish them out as they fell into the water, and so became entangled among the gigantic weeds that grow up from the bottom to the level of the surface, and among which the men were afraid to venture their swimming. pelicans we did not see, although one had been previously brought from thence to jerusalem, and was stuffed for the museum. then we had water-cresses from the aqueduct, at a place where its side was partly broken between the upper and the second pool. often for a treat we had water particularly light for drinking brought from the spring of etam, ( chron. xi. .) figs and grapes were furnished from the ground itself, and at the end of august the shaikh jad allah sent us a present of fresh honeycomb, according to the custom on opening a hive at the end of summer, (in that country the bees are never destroyed for the sake of the honey;) presents thereof are sent round to neighbours, and of course presents of some other produce are given in return. palestine is still a land abounding in honey. occasional incidents occurred on the plain at the foot of the hill,--such as a long line of camels kneeling and growling upon the high road, while their drivers were swimming during the blaze of noontide in the parts of the large pool free from weeds; or military expeditions passing on to hebron during the night, and called up by bugle after resting a couple of hours at the castle-gate; or camel-loads of pine-branches swinging in stately procession from the southern hills beyond hebron towards jerusalem, to furnish tabernacles for the jewish festival; or an immense party of kerak people from beyond the dead sea, with their camels, asses, mules, besides flocks, for sale, conveying butter and wheat to jerusalem, encamped below us and singing at their watch-fires by night. large fires were sometimes visible upon the moab mountains at the distance of thirty or forty miles in a straight line. these may have arisen from carelessness, or accidental circumstances, among either standing corn or the heaps of harvest in the open air; or they may even have been wilful conflagrations made by hostile tribes in their raids upon each other. in any case they showed that wherever such things occurred in ancient times, ruth the moabitess, when settled in bethlehem, might still have been reminded in that way of her native country, which lay before her view. at the bakoosh we heard the single gun-fire at sunrise or sunset while the pasha had his camp at hebron; and from the highest part of our hill could see the flash of the guns in the castle of jerusalem when saluting the birthday of mohammed. for domestic incidents we had the children pelting each other with acorns by moonlight; bonfires made by them and the servants on the terrace to show us the way when returning at a late hour from jerusalem; large bunches of grapes from the adjoining vineyard, the _karaweesh_, suspended against the wall, reserved to become raisins. then family presents upon a birthday, all derived from the ground itself,--one person bringing a bunch of wild thyme in purple blossom,--another some sprigs from a terebinth tree, with the reviving odour of its gum that was exuding from the bark,--and another a newly-caught chameleon. the latter was for several days afterwards indulged with a fresh bough of a tree for his residence, changed about, one day of oak, next of terebinth, then of sumach, or of pine, etc. such was our "sweet home" and family life on the byeways of palestine. but a time came when care and anxiety told heavily upon mine and my wife's health. for some days i was confined to bed in the tent, unable to move up to the house; yet enjoying the reading of my chapters in hebrew in the land of israel, or ruminating over the huge emphasis of st paul's greek in cor. iv. , [greek text]. the curtains of the tent were thrown wide open at each side for the admission of air; the children were playing or reading on the shady side of another tent; muleteer and camel parties i could observe mounting or falling with the rises and dips of the hebron road; and the jingle of bells or the singing of the men was audible or alternately lost according to the same circumstances. i lay watching the progress of sunshine or shadow around the frank mountain as the hours rolled on; then as evening approached the egyptian groom took down the egyptian mare to water at the spring, followed by the foal of pure saklawi race, that never till the preceding day had had even so much as a halter put across his head,--a bashi-bozuk soldier with his pipe looking on,--the abyssinian lad carrying pitchers of water to the several tents, and the pools of bright blue becoming darker blue when rippled by the evening air. all this was food for enjoyment of the picturesque, but at the same time god almighty was leading us into deep trials of faith in himself, and bringing out the value of that promise,--"when thou passest through the waters, i will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee." as the autumn advanced, some slight sprinkling of rain fell--dews at night were heavy--mists rose from below--mornings and evenings became cooled--new flowers began to appear, such as the purple crocus, and certain yellow blossoms belonging to the season, the name of which i do not know. we therefore began to take farewell rides about the neighbourhood, as to places we were never to see again. one of these was to a very archaic pile of rude masonry, deeply weather-eaten, at a ruined site called _bait saweer_, through green woods and arbutus-trees, glowing with scarlet berries; a place which had only recently been brought to my notice, and of which no european had any knowledge. the old building, whose use we could not discover, was composed, not of ordinary blocks of stone, but of huge flat slabs, unchiselled at edges or corners, laid one over another, but forming decidedly an intentional edifice. it is well worth further examination. at the time we had with us no materials for sketching, and never had an opportunity of going thither afterwards. it lies among the wild green scene west from the hebron road, near where, on the opposite, or east side, is the opening of the wadi 'aroob, with its copious springs. then we went to _marseea'_, beyond the _dair el benat_--equally unknown to europeans--and, lastly, to the green slopes and precipices towards _nahhaleen_, where, lingering till after sunset, we became in a few minutes enveloped in a cloud of mist tossed and rolled along by gusts of wind, and several large eagles rose screaming from perches among rocks below us into the misty air, as if rejoicing in the boisterous weather. three months before, we had been on the same spot at the moment of sunset, and saw the whole philistine plain hidden in a white mist in a single minute, but, of course, far below us; and this, we were told, was the usual state of things, and would remain so for another month, after which the plain would have no mist, but we should have it all on the mountains at sunset--so it was now found to be the case. from one spot on our own grounds we were able to point out as objects in the magnificent prospect--the moab mountains, the crevasse of the jabbok into the ghor, that of calirrhoe into the dead sea, hhalhhool near hebron, el khud'r below us, rachel's sepulchre, bethlehem, nebi samwil, the scopus, jerusalem, and our house there, to which we were soon to remove. before, however, quitting this subject of the bakoosh, i may refer to one very special attraction that held us to the place, namely, an agricultural undertaking in its neighbourhood. a friend, of whom i hope to speak more in another time and place, superintended for me the rebuilding of an ancient biblical village that lay a heap and a desolation, and cleared out its spring of water, which, by being choked up with rubbish, made its way unseen under ground, it thus became nearly as copious as that alongside of solomon's pools. i gathered people into the village, vineyards were planted, crops were sown and reaped there, taxes were paid to the government; and the vicinity, which previously had been notorious for robberies on the hebron road, became perfectly secure. on one of my visits, a list was presented to me of ninety-eight inhabitants, where a year and a half before there was not one. homesteads were rebuilt; the people possessed horned cattle and flocks of sheep and goats, as well as beehives. i saw women grinding at the mill, and at one of the doors a cat and a kitten. all was going on prosperously. purer pleasure have i never experienced than when, in riding over occasionally with our children, we saw the threshing of wheat and barley in progress, and heard the women singing, or the little children shouting at their games. sixty cows used to be driven at noon to drink at the spring. we returned to jerusalem on the st of october, and on the th of november that village was again a mass of ruin--the houses demolished--the people dispersed--their newly-sown corn and the vineyards ploughed over--the fine spring of water choked up once more--and my australian trees planted there torn up by the roots. all this was allowed to be done within nine miles of jerusalem, to gratify persons engaged in an intrigue which ended in deeds far worse than this. our village was _faghoor_, and had been one of the ancient towns of the tribe of judah. its place in the bible is joshua xv., where it is found in the greek septuagint together with tekoah, etham, and bethlehem, all noted places--neither of which is contained in the hebrew text, and therefore not in the english translation. it seems difficult to account for this; but it may possibly be that neither of these towns were ever in the hebrew of that chapter, that they were not well known at the time of the original hebrew being written; but that when the translation of the septuagint was made, the writers knew by other means, though living in egypt, that tekoah, etham, bethlehem, and faghoor had been for a long period famous within the tribe of judah, and therefore they filled up what seemed to them a deficiency in the register. appendix. a.--page . the signs here referred to were guessed by buckingham (about ) to be possibly some distinctive tokens of arab tribes; but he seemed rather inclined to connect them with marks that are found in indian caverns, or those on the rocks about mount sinai. he was thus nearer to the truth than the latest of travellers, de saulcy, who, with all his knowledge of semitic alphabets, says of some of these _graffiti_, or scratchings, at 'amman, which he copied: "tout cela, je regrette fort, est lettre close pour moi. quelle est cette ecriture? je l'ignore." (voyage en terre sainte. tom. i. p. . paris, .) they are characters adopted by arabs to distinguish one tribe from another, and commonly used for branding the camels on the shoulders and haunches, by which means the animals may be recovered, if straying and found by arabs not hostile to the owners. i have, however, seen them scratched upon walls in many places frequented by bedaween, as, for instance, in the ruined convents, churches, etc., on the plain of the jordan, and occasionally, as at 'amman, several such cyphers are united into one complex character. [picture: appendix a characters] * * * * * b.--page . considerable discrepancy may be found among the transcripts furnished by travellers in their published works, of the greek votive inscriptions about the entrance of the cavern of pan at banias. i give the following as the result of careful study of them in , and again, after the lapse of six years, in , each time examining the writing, under varieties of light and shade, at different hours of the day. there are some other inscriptions, which are entirely blackened with smoke, in the niches, made perhaps by ancient burning of lamps or of incense there. this is particularly the case in one large hollow made in the rock, which has almost its whole surface covered with greek writing. within this hollow a niche is cut out, now empty. [picture: sculptured niche] one small niche has its inscription so much defaced by violence that only the letters [greek text] are connectedly legible. this sculptured niche has no inscription, but only the pedestal on which the statue was placed. [picture: ornamental niche] this ornamental niche has beneath it, on a tablet, the words as at present legible. the inscription in the highest situation is as follows:-- [picture: inscription in the highest situation] beneath this is the following:-- [picture: inscription beneath] above the smoked recess, but below an upper niche, we find-- [picture: inscription below upper niche] in this inscription "the emperors" can mean no others than vespasian and titus, who had had one and the same triumph in rome on account of the conquest of judea; and this very title is used in josephus, ("wars," vii. xi. ,) [picture: greek title] it is peculiarly suitable to that place, inasmuch as titus, previous to leaving the country, had celebrated there the birthday of his brother domitian, with magnificent public spectacles--amid which, however, more than jews were destroyed for popular amusement, by burning, fighting, and in combats with wild beasts. although these are copied with much painstaking, there may be errors unperceived in some of the letters; but at least one of the words is misspelt by the provincial artist, namely, [greek word]. index of places. n.b.--_names with the asterisk are ancient and not modern_. a aaron's tomb abadiyeh abasiyeh abdoon abeih abu atabeh abu dis abu mus-hhaf abu'n jaib (jaim) abu sabakh acre adasa afeeri afooleh ahhsaniyeh ai 'ainab 'ain 'anoob 'ain 'aroos 'ain atha 'ain bedawiyeh 'ain berweh 'ain besaba 'ain carem 'ain dirweh 'ain ghazal 'ain ghazal 'ain hhood 'ain jadoor 'ain jidi 'ain kaimoon 'ain kesoor 'ain mel'hh 'ain mellahhah 'ain merubba' 'ain merubba' 'ain nebel 'ain noom 'ain saadeh 'ain shems 'ain sufsafeh 'ain taasan 'ain weibeh 'ain yebrood 'ain zera'ah aita aituran ajjeh 'ajloon 'ajoor 'akir alma 'alman 'almeet 'amman - amooriah 'anata 'aneen annabeh 'arabah etc 'arabeh etc 'arabet el battoof 'arak el ameer 'arak hala 'arak munshiyah 'ararah 'arkoob 'arkoob sahhaba arzoon ascalan asdood 'asfi 'asker atarah athleet atna 'attar aujeh awali 'azair 'azoor b bahhjah bait ainoon bait atab bait dajan bait duras bait ezkareh bait hhaneena bait hhanoon bait jala bait jan bait jirja bait jibreen bait nateef bait nejed bait sahhoor in nasara bait sahhoor el wad bait saweer bait soor (see bezur) bait uksa bait unah bait u'oon bait uzan bait ziz (jiz) baka bakoosh etc *balah banias barook *bashan batteer battoof bayroot beerain beeri beer eyoob beer el kott beer mustafa beer nebala beer es seba (beersheba) etc beisan etc beka' el basha balameh beled esh shai'kh belhhamiyeh belka *belus beni naim beni saheela berasheet berberah berga'an besheet buteadeen etc *bethany *bethlehem beth zacharias bezur bidias bint el jebail bisrah boorj (near hebron) boorj (near saida) brair burak burka bursa burtaa bursheen buwairdeh c caiffa *carmel *caesarea philippi cocab el hawa cocaba cuf'r bera'am cuf'r cana cuf'r enji cuf'r hhooneh cuf'r ita cuf'r kara cuf'r menda cuf'r natta cuf'r rai cuf'r ruman cuf'r saba etc cuf'r yuba cuferain (beyond jordan) cuferain (near carmel) curnub d dabook dahair el hhumar dahar es salahh daiket 'arar dair dair 'ammar dair el belahh dair el benat dair dewan dair ed duban dair hhanna dair el kamar etc dair el mokhallis dair el musha'al dair el mushmushi dair en nakhaz dair thecla dair yaseen daliet carmel daliet er rohha damooneh *dan dar joon dar kanoon dar meemas dar shems dar zibneh dead sea etc deaneh deheedeh dejajeh desrah dibneh dilathah dilbeh doheriyeh doomeen dothan etc duhheish'meh durtghayer e ebeleen ed dair edjajeh eilaboon ekfairat ekwikat elah 'elealeh el 'areesh el hhabees el khait el kharjeh el khud'r el mergab el muntar el kassar er-ram (beyond jordan) er-ram (near jerusalem) er-rihha esak 'esfia es-salt esh-shemesani esh-shwaifiyeh etam f faghoor etc fahh'mah falooja farah farra'an fendecomia ferdisia fooleh fort fountain of apostles furadees g *gadara *gath ghawair ghor ghoraniyeh ghujar ghutt ghuzzeh (gaza) etc *gilboa gumron h haddata hadeth hafeereh haita ez zoot harakat herfaish *hermon hhalhhool hhamameh hhaneen hhanooneh hharrasheh hharatheeyeh hhasbani hhasbeya etc hhata hhatteen hheker zaboot hhesban hhizmeh hhooleh (lake) hhooleh hhubeen hhusan *hor etc *hormah huneen hurbaj i idsaid iksal ilmah ineer irtahh izereiriyeh j ja'arah jadeerah jahharah jaida jalood janiah jarmuk jawah jeba' jeba' (gibeah of saul) jeba' jebel el ghurb jebel mahas jebel esh shaikh (see hermon) jebel sherreh jehaarah jelaad jelboon (gilboa) jelool jeneen jerash etc *jericho (see er-rihha) *jeshimon jezzeen jifna jish jis'r el kadi jit *jokneam *joktheel joon *jordan judaidah julis jurah k kabatieh *kadesh barnea kadis kadita kaimoon kala'at er reehha kala'at rubbad kala'at subeibeh kalinsawa kalkeeleh kaloneh kanneer karatiya karaweesh kasimiyeh kassar waijees kayaseer keelah kelt kerak khalsah khan em meshettah khan yunas etc kharas khash'm usdum etc khatroon khirbet el kasees khirbet en nasara khirbet es sar khirbet saleekhi khirbet sellim khuldah (beyond jordan) khuldah (on the plain) kifereh kobaibeh krishneh kubbet el baul kubeibeh kubrus kuriet el 'aneb kuriet es sook kustul (beyond jordan) kustul (near jerusalem) l lahh'm laithma latroon lejjoon lesed litani lubban lubieh m ma'alool ma'an main maisera ma'kook ma'naeen manjah mar saba marseea' martosiyah mazaal medeba mejama'a mejdal mejdal yaba etc mekebleh menzel el basha merash meroon etc merj ibn amer merj ed dom med merka mesdar aishah mesh-had *me-yarkon mezer mezra'a mezra'ah mobugghuk modzha mohhrakah mokatta' mokhtarah etc *moladah *moreh mujaidel mukhmas mukhneh munsoorah mushmusheh muzaikah m'zeera'a n naa'eea naaman na'ana na'oor nabloos nahhaleen *nazareth neab neba' nebi hhood nebi moosa nebi osha nebi samwil nebi sari nebi yunas *negeb *nimrin nooris nuba o obeyah *olivet p *parah *pelesheth petra etc point costigan point molyneux q quarantana r ra'ana rabbah raineh rama ram allah rameen rami ramlah ras el ahhmar ras el 'ain ras abu ammar ras kerker etc rehhaniyeh remmoon resheef rubin rumaish ruman rumaneh rummet er room runtieh s safed safoot sagheefah saida saidoon salem salhhah salhhi salim salt mountain samakh samek samma samooniah samua' sanneen sanoor sasa sattaf sawafeer mesalkah sawafeer odeh sawiyeh *scopus sebustieh se'eer seeleh seeleh (on esdraelon) sefooriyeh *seir *selah selwan semsem semwan senabrah setcher (seeker) sha'afat shaikh aman shaikh el bakkar shaikh sad shakrah sharon etc shefa 'amer (beyond jordan) shefa 'amer (near acre) shelaleh shemuata shemaniyeh *shephelah sheree'ah (see jordan) shereeat el menadherah shibtain shukbeh shukeef shutta sh'waifat sh'weikeh (shocoh) sibta sik sindianeh sinjil siphla soba solam sora'a santa anna suameh subariyeh sufah sufsafeh sukhneen sumkaniyeh t ta'annuk tabakra *tabor taitaba tallooz tantoorah tarsheehhah tayibeh (beyond jordan) tayibeh (near jerusalem) teereh (on sharon) teereh (in galilee) teeri tela'at ed dum tell 'arad tell u'l 'ejel tell el hajjar tell el kadi tell el kasees tell es safieh thekua' (tekoa) terabeh thuggeret el baider *thuggeret el moghafer tiberias tibneen tibneh tibni timrah tool el ker'm tubas tuleh tura tura'an u umm el 'aamed umm bugghek umm ed damaneer umm el 'egher umm el fahh'm umm kais umm el kanater umm malfoof umm er rumaneh umm saidet umm sheggar umm es swaiweeneh umm ez zeenat ursaifah urtas w wadi ahhmed wadi 'arab (or shaikh) wadi 'arab wadi 'aroob wadi bait hhaneena wadi bedan wadi berreh wadi dubber wadi en-nab wadi farah wadi fara'ah wadi fik'r wadi fokeen wadi el hharamiyeh wadi hhuggereh wadi el jaib wadi el kasab wadi keereh wadi el kharnoob wadi mel'hh wadi moosa wadi musurr wadi nemela wadi netheeleh wadi pharaon wadi soor wadi sunt wadi surar wadi suaineet wadi tayibeh wadi zahari weli jedro weli sardoni y yaabad yabneh yaero yafah yajoor yakook yarmuk yaroon yehudiyeh z zacariah zaid zebdeh zeita zenabeh *zephath zer'een zerka *zin ziph zoghal zubairah zumareen zuwatah footnotes. { } this is one of the frequent instances of arabic local names preserving the sound, while departing from the signification. { } this ford was called _ghoraneyeh_. the other is called _el meshraa'_. { } tristram has since expressed (p. ) a doubt of the verity of this name of a site, but i had it given to me both at heshbon and jerash, and de saulcy has since been there. { } how often have i regretted since that we did not know of the existence of 'arak el ameer, which has of late commanded so much interest. we might have so easily turned aside for that short distance. { } this word signifies "a desert." it is often found in the arabic bible, especially in the prophetic books. { } see appendix a. { } the largest sort grown there. { } the officer deputed from the porte lives in a pretty village called cuf'r yuba, and is said to have become enormously rich upon the levies which he does not transmit to constantinople. { } travellers of late report that enormous sums are exacted by the 'adwan for their escort upon this same journey as ours. it may, therefore, be acceptable to learn what was our contract, and that it was honourably acted upon--namely, three of the party to pay piastres each, and each for all the rest. as there were twelve in the party, the amount was x = x = ---- this total we among ourselves divided equally, equal to each. we also agreed to make a present from each when in the territory, besides giving a feast at 'amman, and another at jerash--the feasts were a mere trifle. a hundred piastres came to rather less than a pound sterling. i am glad to confirm the recent testimonies of tristram and de saulcy as to the honourable and noble deportment of gublan and the other leaders of the 'adwan people. { } were not these the altars or other objects employed in idolatrous worship by the geshurites and maachathites who remained among the israelites of gad and reuben?--(see josh. xiii. .) { } i mean jebel esh shaikh of the anti-lebanon, as i do not believe in the existence of any _little hermon_ in the bible. { } he afterwards died of fever in my service, caught by rapid travelling in the heat of july , during the lebanon insurrection, whither he accompanied my cancelliere to rescue some of the unfortunate christians in my district. { } according to the talmud, private roads were made four cubits wide; public roads sixteen cubits; but the approaches to a city of refuge were thirty-two cubits in width. see lightfoot's "decas chorographica," vii. latitudo viarum tradunt rabini. via privata [hebrew text] est quatuor cubitorum--via ab urbe in urbem est octo cubitorum--via publica [hebrew text] est sedecm cubitorum--via ad civitates refugii est triginta duorum cubitorum." bava batra fol., from lightfoot's "centuria chorographica." "synhedrio incubuit vias ad civitates hasee accommodare eas dilatando, atque omne offendiculum in quod titubare aut impingere posses amovendo. non permissus in via ullus tumulus aut fluvius super quem non esset pons erat que via illuc ducens ad minimum cubitorum lata atque in omni bivio, aut viarum partitione scriptum erat [hebrew text] _refugium_ ne eo fugiens a via erraret."--maimon in [hebrew text] cap. . { } on visiting kadis some years after, i was grieved to find all this much demolished, and the ornamentation taken away, by ali bek, to adorn the new works at his castle of tibneen. { } since fallen almost to the ground. { a} [greek text]. { b} [greek text]. { } i have been there three times, twice late in autumn, and once in july, and always found water abundant. { } since writing the above i have seen the photograph taken of this temple by the palestine explorators in . { } i do not find this place in any lists or books of travels. { } since that journey i have been told by the country people that between gaza and beersheba it is the practice to sow wheat very thinly indeed, and to expect every seed to produce thirty to fifty stalks, and every stalk to give forty seeds. { } in a journey to gaza from hebron, in the spring season of , i was proceeding from the great oak down a long valley--but i was induced to deviate from the direct line by the tidings of _bait jibreen_ being infested or taken by the tiyahah arabs. we everywhere found the peasantry armed, and on arriving before _dair nahhaz_, almost within sight of that town, and communicating with the village for water to drink, as i rested under a tree, mohammed 'abd en nebi sent me word that bait jibreen was recovered from the arabs, and now occupied by themselves; that thirty-five corpses of arabs were lying round bait jibreen, and one of the two arab chiefs (amer) was slain--he himself was wounded in the knee. from hence to gaza we passed _zeita_, where a breastwork had been hastily thrown up by the peasantry, and into which a number of armed men rushed from a concealment, and parleyed before they would allow us to pass on. then to _falooja_, and between _idsaid_ and _karatiyah_ on our right, and the arak munshiyah on the left. halted at brair for the night. the return from gaza was by ascalan, mejdal, julis, the two sawafeers, kasteeneh, mesmiyeh, and latron, on the jaffa road to jerusalem. { } pronounced sometimes _dewan_, sometimes _debwan_. { } _beth_ is represented by the modern word _dair_, and _aven_ has become _ewan_, with the syriac _d_' signifying _of_. { } it is worthy of notice that suwan (in arabic) (diminutive, _suwaineet_) signifies "flint." these rocks being flinty, it is possible that _seneh_ in hebrew may have had the same meaning. { } 'arabeh does not appear in any map before vandevelde in . { } as hebron, bethshemesh, gibeon, shechem, beth-horon, ta'annuk, jeneen, etc., besides the cities of refuge. { } it is worthy of note, that in this single place the ancient name of carmel is preserved among the people. this being called _daliet el carmel_ to distinguish it from the dalieh of the rohha district, yet the denomination carmel is not otherwise given to this mountain by the arab population. dalieh signifies "a vine," this, therefore, is the "vine of carmel," and carmel itself signifies "god's vineyard!" { } they afterwards dwindled to two families, the rest removing to caiffa as that port rose in prosperity. { } shakespeare; or as ronsard has it:-- "qui _tire l'ire_ des esprits mieux que je n'ecris." { } yet there was a "city of palm-trees" towards the south, which the kenites abandoned for this district south of arad,--probably the present _nukh'l_; the name has that signification. { } there are many such _cachets_ of water in the desert, but known only to the tribes of each district. during the israelitish wanderings, hobab, a native of the desert, may have guided them to many such. { } it is not to be supposed, however, that this is a just representation of all that "great and terrible wilderness" through which the israelites were led for forty years. it is indeed "a land not sown," (jer. ii. ,) and a land of pits and drought fearful to contemplate, as a journey for a wandering population of nearly two millions of souls, especially in the hottest seasons of the year; but the peculiarly terrible wilderness must have been among the defiles, hemmed in by scorching cliffs in the sinaitic peninsula. in that direction also were the "fiery flying serpents," concerning which i have never been able to learn anything more satisfactory than that, in the hot and unpeopled gorges west of the dead sea, there is a thin and yellow serpent called the neshabiyeh, which flings itself across from one point to another in the air with astonishing velocity and force. it is therefore named after neshabeh, a dart or arrow in arabic. the natives also apply to it the epithet of "flying." the wound which it inflicts is said to be highly inflammatory and deadly, and from this effect it may be called "fiery." it may be also that, from being of a yellow colour, it may glitter like a flame when flying with rapidity in the sunshine. it is only in isaiah xxx. , that the epithet "flying" is used for these serpents. observe, however, in hebrew lexicons the several applications of this word [hebrew text]. { } dr h. bonar. { } they take a pride in attributing everything of antiquity here to pharaoh, the cursed king of egypt,--as those about the euphrates attribute all their old wonders to the cursed king nimrod. these names are learned from the koran. { } numerous travellers, however, have since gone from jerusalem in virtue of the agreement made on this occasion by me, and returned without molestation from these people. { } this i repeat after having travelled at different times on most parts, north, west, and south of the lake, and read all that has been printed about the eastern side. ( .) { } since writing the above, we learn from lieutenant warren's very interesting letters that the turkish government have sent a large force into the trans-jordanic region, with a view of chastising the arabs: it remains to be seen whether this measure will leave any permanent effects.--(_nov._ .) { } especially in a book probably little known, but published as "memoirs of a babylonian princess. by (herself) marie therese asmar," who was in london in , and supported for a time by fashionable patronesses of romantic orientalism. { } the events of - led to a tragical termination of the career of this young chieftain. { } mr tristram has since done this, but on foot, the rugged road being impassable in any other way. { } bait zacari and zecariah lie far away among the mountains in the south-west. neither of them would command the road which judas desired to intercept--neither of them therefore answers to the bath zacharias of the history any more than baitzur near hebron does to bethsura--all are equally out of the question by reason of their distance. { } very common in oriental christendom, and called by the greeks the [greek text] (semantron.) the ancient britons used to summon the congregation to church service by means of "sacra ligna," is it not likely that these were the same as the above, seeing that the celtic nations were derived from the east? none generously made available by the internet archive/american libraries.) [illustration: jebel el magara.] the caravan route between egypt and syria translated from the german [illustration] with twenty-three full-page illustrations by the author london chatto & windus, piccadilly _all rights reserved._ preface to the translation. the present work is by his imperial highness the archduke ludwig salvator of austria, by whom also the accompanying sketches were drawn. by his numerous travels and scientific labours, the name of this prince has become well known and highly appreciated among the geographers of all nations; and only a short time ago his imperial highness was elected an honorary member of the royal geographical society, of whom there are but eight others, in a total list of some fellows. his works of travel--comprising parts of america, africa, and the mediterranean coasts--have also attracted so much attention, that their translation into the english language seemed to be justified. the list of these works, together with some details regarding the life of their illustrious author, appeared in the translator's introduction to the first work published in english;[ ] and in referring to it the translator of the present volume confidently expects a continuation of the friendly reception accorded to "levkosìa, the capital of cyprus." chevalier de hesse-wartegg. german athenÆum club, _october _. [footnote : levkosìa, the capital of cyprus, with an introduction by the chevalier de krapf-liverhoff, imp. and roy. austro-hung. ministerial councillor, etc. etc. london: kegan paul and co. .] preface. once more i had traced my way to egypt to pass the winter there. like every european who makes a lengthened sojourn in that ancient but renewed land, i was led to recall the great engineering and other achievements accomplished within our own time, and also to consider future projects of development for which the country seems to present so wide a scope. a great deal has been heard of late on the subject of improved communication between egypt and southern syria. proposals for the construction of a new harbour at jaffa, for a railway through the valley of the jordan, and for harbour works at beyrout, exercised my mind in succession; and during my frequent walks in the beautiful esbekieh my thoughts were more particularly occupied with the overland route between syria and egypt. since the wanderings of the israelites through the desert, and the flight of the child jesus, of how many great events have these countries been the scenes, and what various recollections are awakened by their names! former travels had rendered me familiar with both egypt and syria, as well as with the different lines of communication between them, excepting the old caravan route over wadi el harish, the ancient torrens egyptii. bearing in mind the bad harbours and dangerous anchorages of southern palestine, i speculated upon the feasibility of a railway connection round the coast, and, in view of that object, resolved personally to examine the ground. many obstacles, however, presented themselves to the execution of my intention. one of these arose from the circumstance that, since the opening of the suez canal, the greater part of the traffic between syria and egypt is carried on by the short water route _viâ_ jaffa and port said, in consequence of which the old highway, formerly so frequented by caravans, travellers, and pilgrims, is now deserted and forgotten. even the cattle-dealers now prefer to send their stock by steamer from the great export harbour of jaffa to alexandria, so that only a few camel-drivers are to be met with on the once favourite route. i therefore found it more expedient to order a caravan of horses and mules from jaffa to meet me in el kantara, which i fixed upon as my starting point for the desert. the following pages contain a narrative of the expedition, which was undertaken in march , as noted down in the tent on the evening of each day. my investigation convinced me that the railway communication so often dreamed of is absolutely impracticable, chiefly on account of the easily movable character of the sands of the desert. the line would become completely buried beneath them after every storm of any degree of violence, and could therefore only be kept clear by constant labour and expense. of all proposals for the attainment of the object in question the most promising appeared to me to be the formation of a good harbour at beyrout, to which all the trade of syria might be directed by means of two railways, one along the rich coast of southern syria, and the other to pass down the valley of the jordan. beyrout offers greater advantages for the purpose than jaffa, inasmuch as the harbour works would be easier, and therefore less costly; and the town itself, besides being far richer, already possesses established communications with damascus and the inland trade. the accomplishment of this work seems to me so important in view of the welfare and commercial development of syria, that i cannot conclude without expressing a wish that it may be soon undertaken under the auspices of those powers in whose interests it may be. zindis, near trieste, _october _. contents. page i. el kantara ii. to bir el nus and katya iii. from katya to bir el abd iv. from bir el abd to bir el magara v. from bir el magara to el harish vi. el harish vii. from el harish to sheik el zvoyed viii. from sheik el zvoyed to khanyunis ix. khanyunis x. from khanyunis to gaza list of illustrations.[ ] . jebel el magara _frontispiece._ . jebel abou assab _to face page_ . el guja " . rumman " . katya " . sheik el mzeyen, in katya " . lehochomu-melleha " . jebel el magara (taken from el brej) " . koubba el magara " . jebel el halal (taken from ard el murrah) " . wadi abou-sbeh " . el harish " . the bazaar of el harish " . el harish (view on the northern side) " . koubba of nabi gasser " . el harrouba " . melleha of sheik el zvoyed " . our camp in sheik el zvoyed " . sager el emir " . rafah columns " . kala of khanyunis " . neighbourhood of gaza " . entrance to bazaar, gaza " [footnote : all the illustrations were drawn by the author from nature, reproduced on wood by frederick havranek, and engraved by f. stolarz and j. jass of prague.] the caravan route between egypt and syria. i. el kantara. one of the suez canal company's tugs soon took us down the canal from ismailia to el kantara (the bridge), where we were to meet our caravan. just as we were landing we observed the first few horses of the latter crossing by the ferry which plies between the two sides of the canal. the boat had to go over three times to get all our animals and luggage, and we found it no easy work on the other side to strap up all our things ready for the journey. matters seldom go altogether smoothly on the first day of a caravan expedition. at length a start was made, the mules laden with our tents and luggage going on in front, and ourselves bringing up the rear. the little hotel of el kantara, with the few patches of vegetation surrounding it, was the last sight we had of civilised life. following the telegraph posts, which mark the route from egypt to syria, we then entered the rolling desert, and soon began to enjoy that feeling of freedom which a boundless plain always inspires. only life on the sea, with all its wonderful charms, is to be compared to a journey through the desert. in the midst of its vast and solitary expanse the traveller feels himself overwhelmed, and his imagination conjures up strange forms on the far horizon. the desert is to the arab what the sea is to the sailor; for both, their proper element has a permanent and irresistible attraction. old abou nabout, the leader of our caravan, rode on quietly in front, his eyes gazing steadfastly across the sandy plain, and dreams of his youth doubtless floated through his mind as his horse threw up clouds of sand with his hoofs. our first ride soon came to a pause, for instead of encamping at two hours' distance from el kantara, as i had ordered, the moukri (mule-driver) unpacked our tents in a small sandy valley which we reached in half an hour only. knowing from experience how necessary it is to insist upon the execution of orders once issued, especially at the commencement of a caravan journey, i made the moukri pack up again, at which he was evidently not best pleased. we then continued our course until we came to a shallow depression of the sandy ground, where i directed our tents to be pitched. we travelled in a comparatively comfortable manner, being furnished with two tents for sleeping, and a third in which we took our meals. besides these, we had a smaller tent for a kitchen. everything was unpacked--our stores, the forage for our animals, and the water casks. these had to pass a careful inspection by our old leader, who repaired those which were leaky. the thirsty mules and donkeys were taken back to el kantara to drink, and the camels were driven to graze in the neighbourhood, where were a few tamarisks, _salsola echinus_, _portulaca_, and other plants of the desert. our tents were soon in order, and under their shelter we at last enjoyed our rest. before sunset we saw our animals return from el kantara. horses and mules were then re-saddled and fastened together in a straight line to a long rope. their shadows, thrown by the moon upon the sand, were extremely grotesque. we could now count them at our leisure. there were seven horses, five mules, and three donkeys. the camels, seven in number, were allowed to wander freely over the desert. to an inexperienced traveller their huge forms on the vast plain, in a dark night, have the appearance of ghastly phantoms. our moukri and the camel-drivers had lighted a big fire, and were now stretched out at full length around it. we had four moukri, one of whom was a persian named ahsen, and two camel-drivers, daud and hassan, both from el harish. we heard abou nabout's voice every now and then in the kitchen tent for some little time, but complete peace soon reigned, and it was not long before our little camp were fast asleep. ii. to bir el nus and katya. the camels left the camp the first thing in the morning, that they might have a good start of us, and by half-past seven o'clock the luggage was disposed of, and we were again in the saddle. the traces of our sojourn were still visible upon the moving sand, but would in all probability become obliterated soon after our departure. it was a glorious day, and we felt braced and invigorated by the pure air of the desert. proceeding through a uniform plain covered with purslane bushes, we saw rising in the distance to our right, or south-east, the jebel abou assab, "mountains of the father of the sugar-cane." from the more elevated spots of the undulating surface we could see two steamers passing up the canal, one of which was austrian. the spectacle of these enormous vessels, with their tall masts, majestically advancing to all appearance through a sea of sand (for the canal itself was invisible), had a most singular effect, and made us appreciate anew the wonderful character of m. de lesseps's grand undertaking. it was not long, however, before the highest masts disappeared like phantoms behind the sandy waves through which our path lay. after passing a small hillock on our right, called gerba--"water skin," we reached an undulating piece of ground commanding a view of the mountains above referred to, and of the group of palms known as zaega--"the beautiful." at the same time the scene was agreeably relieved by one of those phenomena so common in the desert. a beautiful mirage became gradually developed to our left, displaying the reflection of a large lake, with its irregular outline, and even showing with marvellous vividness the ruffled surface of the water. at some distance we observed several bedouins, and not far from us some of their women, most of whom were engaged in leading black goats to their scanty pasturage. a little further on, we came to a small hollow where at one time a little water was to be met with, but which is now quite dry. we then met a caravan of people from ramleh, in syria, who were taking a few wretched horses and mules to egypt for sale, and subsequently two bedouins, who applied to us for the customary backshish. [illustration: jebel abou assab.] monotonous as our route was, we were not without entertainment and sources of interest. soon after starting we were joined by a remarkably lean dromedary, bearing the mails from el harish. we learned from his rider, who, as may be imagined, was glad enough of the company of a caravan, that the post went each way once a week, and so kept up some degree of communication between el harish and the outer world. the ease with which the fleet animal strode across the sandy ground was quite delightful to witness. now and again he got some distance ahead, and our horses had some difficulty in overtaking him. the entomology, too, of the desert did not escape our attention. we collected several specimens of _anthia_, _asida_, and _scarabæus sacer_, the historical scarabæus of the egyptians. after going slightly up hill for some distance further through the wearisome sand, our eyes were gladdened by the sight of the group of palms "el guja"--"the snail," at the foot of the sand-hills, towards which we turned that we might take our lunch beneath their grateful shade. as one descends, a charming desert scene is presented by this oasis, with the jebel abou assab in the background. as soon as we reached the spot, at half-past eleven o'clock, we pitched our little tent, and, soothed by the gentle rustling of the breeze through the leafy crowns of the tall and slender palms, enjoyed a delightful rest. i afterwards made a sketch of a portion of the group (see illustration), while vives (one of our party) shot a couple of calander larks and captured a snake. striking our tent at two o'clock, we went, before continuing our journey, to look at the little well, which is lined with palm-stems to keep out the sand. we found the water saline, as is usual with desert springs. again, proceeding upward across the sandy ground, we obtained a view on our right of the summit of jebel abou assah. further on, we reached an extended range of sand-hills, the tops of which had, from the action of the wind, become as angular as though they had been cut with a knife. in every direction were to be seen scattered about carcasses and skeletons of camels, the most recent of which our horses passed with great reluctance. the only living creatures to be met with in this still desert region are a few king-ravens, two of which came within range, but we did not feel tempted to take a shot at them. to our right we passed, at the foot of low sand-hills, another small group of palms, called by the natives el garabiyat--"the foreign woman," with an enclosure made by the bedouins for the storage of dates. [illustration: el guja.] [illustration: rumman.] our poor horses continued toiling along, alternately up and down hill, across this chain of sand-hills, the sharp peaks of which stood out with remarkable clearness against the dark blue sky. here and there tufts of grass, called sabad, growing out between the sand, provide a welcome fodder for the camels. imposing in its wild solitude is the view backward over the desert scene, with the palm group of rumman--"pomegranate," to the right (see illustration). soon, however, to our great joy, we came upon the palm group of bir el nus, signifying "half-way well," with a tamarisk growing near. the well itself, the water of which is slightly saline, is placed under a small group of palms to the left. this little oasis, situated at three-fourths of the distance from kantara to katya, is an inviting resting-place, but we decided to go on; and, continuing our progress along the well-marked road across the deep sandy ground, reached the small palm group of tahte--"subjacent," from which that of el garif may be seen to the left and that of abou raml to the right. these groups of verdure form a most enlivening contrast to the dreary scene around. from tahte the ground gradually rises, and we soon saw over the sandy undulations the countless palms of katya. upon this, our bedouins, who were quite exhausted from their toilsome journey through the sand and the scorching sun, expatiated in glowing terms upon the refreshing shade and abundant water awaiting us. we then went on through a plain and small coppice into a kind of melleha, or saline plain, where we could see in the distance gleaming between the palm stems the white canvas of our tents, which we at length reached just before dusk. our horses were much in need of rest after their laborious day's work, and it may be imagined how welcome the flaming fire close to the tents was to ourselves, and how heartily we enjoyed the evening meal which we found ready laid for us, and the repose upon the soft outspread carpets. all around us were encamped troops of bedouins, the song of whose women resounded far away in the stillness of the night. [illustration: katya.] iii. from katya to bir el abd. we awoke in sunny katya, a delicious oasis of the most beautiful and shady of palms! while the tents were being packed, that they might be sent on to bir el abd, i reconnoitred the immediate neighbourhood. in the middle of the zone of palms which encircle katya like a girdle, is an elevation covered with fragments of tiles, between which grow numerous plants of _sedum_, some of which are very thick-leaved. near an old tamarisk stands a very peculiar ruin of turret-like appearance, called by the arabs burj--"castle." it is built of tiles and stones, horizontally and vertically placed, and has a spiral staircase inside. not far off is a koubba, containing a tomb, a defaced marble inscription in arabian, and two ancient columns, from one of which a garland hangs. the palm-leaf stalks stuck in the ground outside indicate the sites of various graves. scattered about are several enclosures formed with stalks of palm leaves, for the storage of ripe dates. the ground on which the ruin stands is picturesquely surrounded with palms, of which there are four principal groups, the total number of trees being perhaps , for which the resident bedouins have to pay the government piastres a year. in the first group of palms near the koubba is the telegraph station, or little house of the arab watchmen who see to the maintenance of the telegraph posts and wires. behind a small hillock south of this house there is another koubba called sheik el mzeyen (see illustration), with a doorstep of apparently old marble stone and an ornamental cupola. it is surrounded by a great number of aloes, and contains a simple tomb. here, too, is a burial-place, with the graves indicated either by two stones, a piece of palm stem, or a leaf stalk, and, in some cases, by a fragment of camel bone. from this koubba, the palm plantations extend southward and form a kind of festoon with the keteya group, which is protected on the south-west by a hill of white sand. [illustration: sheik el mzeyen, in katya.] in the course of our ramble we met several bedouins, who hailed us from a distance with a friendly marhaba--"welcome!" with one or two of them i exchanged a few words. vives meanwhile shot a beautiful tufted cuckoo (_cuculus glandarius_), a splendid bird, which habitually flies from the crown of one palm to that of another, and also a brace of shrikes, or butcher birds (_lanius minor_), and some black and white chats (_saxicola_). after resting awhile under the shady palms, we resumed our journey towards noon, passing on the way the large well of katya. this well is the great feature of the beautiful oasis. it is of large dimensions, lined with tiles, and provided with a gutter or trench to conduct the water drawn to the different watering-places. there we found a caravan from damascus, with a number of horses and mules in the charge of several lank moukri, who were bound for cairo. this herd, together with the tall drivers, with their fine swarthy features, and the background of gigantic palms, made up a strikingly harmonious and characteristic picture, the effect of which was greatly enhanced by the fragrant aroma of the desert, and the various colours it presented under the bright rays of the morning sun. having no more time to spare, we resumed our way across the sandy plain, and beautiful katya soon vanished from our view like the fabric of a vision. here and there the uniformity and loneliness of the desert scene were varied and enlivened by small groups of palms, beneath one of which, after a long march, we fixed our midday station. the breeze rustled gently through the crowns of the trees high over our heads, while we lay on the ground gazing dreamily towards the yellowish horizon clearly defined against the deep blue sky. all around reigned perfect stillness. now and then a party of bedouin women, laden with water-skins, passed us on the way to their tents, which probably were at some hours' distance. after a brief rest we again went forward through the sandy tract, diversified only by occasional groups of palms, and after proceeding some distance reached a gentle slope, which brought us to the sandy hill of bar sat man, half-way to bir el abd. from there the road alternately rises and descends over bare sand ridges, and then passes down a declivity overgrown with rushes and grass to bir el aafin--"the stinking well," which contains but little water, and that almost putrid. in the distance we saw several flocks of goats in the charge of bedouins, who inhabit the whole tract of country right up to the sea. we also met a caravan with horses, asses, and mules, which some kurds were taking to cairo, the leader himself--a man advanced in years, wearing a green turban--riding at their head on a handsome bay. after reaching a point from which we could see in the distance the jebel el magara, a mountain spur of soft outline, we descended into a hollow. to our right, between sandy ridges, lay garif bir el abd, an extensive melleha, overgrown with rushes and purslane, and containing a small quantity of rain-water. the action of this water on the soil produces an excellent salt, which the bedouins collect after evaporation at the beginning of the summer. the smooth firm surface of the salty ground of the melleha, with bushes of purslane and _caucalis_ on either side, is a welcome change to both man and beast after so much laborious marching through the bare sand. the purslane, when fresh and green, is much relished by camels. in the melleha we saw two laden with straw, with their bedouin keepers. proceeding on our way, we soon found ourselves again in deep sand, and a little further came to a small sepha. the road then rises gently over another sandy ridge to the funnel-shaped hollow of bir el abd--"the negro's well," where we were to stay the night. the place had also been chosen by some bedouins for their encampment. as it was not at all late when we arrived, i climbed the sandy hill near, in order to make a sketch of the chain of the magara, then illuminated by the setting sun (see illustration); and we afterwards went on to one of the cottages of the telegraph watchmen, who came forward to give us a friendly welcome. these men are arabs, and live there with their families. they are provided with a small store of wire and a few insulators to enable them to keep the telegraph in working order. they are placed at intervals all along the line to syria, the first station being the one i mentioned at katya, each man having a separate section to superintend. this arrangement is absolutely necessary in consequence of the damage occasioned by the violent winds which sometimes sweep over the desert. at bir el abd there are two men, each with a separate house, built of tiles, and a flat roof of the stalks of palm leaves. the lonesome and uneventful life of these men seems strange enough when one thinks of the important news constantly flashing over their heads, for the uninterrupted transmission of which they are chiefly responsible. we conversed with them for some little time, and gathered that they would be well contented with their lot but for their anxiety on account of the frequent danger to which their dwellings are exposed from the strong, sand-bearing wind, called hampsin. little indeed is requisite to satisfy the frugal and pious arab. bidding them farewell, we returned to the tents and retired to rest soon after our meal. iv. from bir el abd to bir el magara. by six o'clock the next morning all were stirring, and at seven we struck our tents. ascending from the hollow in which bir el abd is situated, we came to an acclivity known as el homda bir el abd, overlooking the extended chain of jebel el magara in the distance. this was followed by a flat piece of ground, upon which little was growing beyond a number of plants of wormwood (_artemisia monosperma_), and a kind of prickly gray-leaved shrub with blue blossoms. our path then brought us to a melleha with a few rushes, where the water was almost entirely dried up, leaving a bed of salt. a little later we passed across a plain of an almost uniform level, which appeared bounded to the right by the high hills in the distance. on the same side is situated bir el mabruka--"well of the mabruka," towards which we saw a party of bedouins making their way. this plain is succeeded by hilly ground, distinguished as el bassoul--"the onions," where white-blossomed broom with thin leaves is met with, and, in a slight declivity, a few bushes. from el bassoul the road descends gently through a sandy tract, from which to the left we saw the great lehochomu melleha, with a mirage effect of such remarkable vividness as to make us think we had the open sea before us (see illustration). at this part of our journey we met two bedouins, who greeted us with much ceremony. here too, scattered about, we found specimens of _caucalis_. our course then lay through drearily uniform sandy ground, of somewhat broken configuration, and covered with bushy vegetation, where we passed a telegraph post bearing the notice that it was half-way between bir el abd and bir el magara. here we overtook our camels, which, as usual, had preceded us; but we sent them on again, as we decided to pause for our midday meal. the wind being in the south, the air was terribly oppressive, and i felt some apprehension of the hampsin. we accordingly pitched our tent in a hollow, overgrown with rushes, where we were to some extent protected from the scorching blasts. all our provisions were covered with the fine sand with which the air was filled. we were passed by two travelling companies of bedouins, whom we had already seen on the road taking their scanty meal. an old woman came up to us to ask for a drop of water. glad as we should have been to accommodate the poor creature, we dared not do so, lest we should have had a visit from the whole troop of bedouins on the same errand, when our store would very soon have been exhausted. a youth of eighteen, to whom we gave a pipeful of tobacco, also begged for a little water, but we had to refuse him too. [illustration: lehochomu-melleha.] being anxious to get on, we did not rest more than an hour. continuing to follow the telegraph posts, we came to a hilly, sandy district, called el brej, a most fatiguing section of the route, and much dreaded by the bedouins on account of the almost entire absence of water. to the right is a small hollow where, by digging to some depth, just enough may be found to moisten the sand, but it is so saline that it aggravates the thirst instead of appeasing it. as we went on, the wind increased in violence. we met a number of bedouins greatly suffering from thirst and heat, who asked us for a little water. it was most heartrending to see young children toiling along, and to hear them entreating their parents for a draught. even now i can fancy i hear their piteous lamentations, as one after the other they tried to drain a drop from the empty clay bottles. one family i remember particularly; it consisted of an old man and three little children, the two younger of whom were mounted upon an emaciated old donkey, while the eldest, a thin, sunburnt lad, walked with the old man behind. as the poor beast was struggling up a sandy slope, its two little riders holding tight on, with their wan faces fixed on the distant goal, it came down all at once with a deep groan. the poor children rolled off terrified on to the sand. i shall never forget the eyes of the old man as he came up panting. "allah! allah!" he cried, with a supplicating glance heavenward. he then sat on the sand, and took the children in his arms, leaving the ass to recover itself. we were obliged to go on, and could do nothing for him but hope that his prayer for help had been heard. a little further we passed a spot where we were told a wandering hindoo had four years ago succumbed from exhaustion and thirst. as may be imagined, the account of his sufferings was anything but cheering. shortly after, we came upon our kitchen-boy, a native of cairo, who could go no further. all our people had become so worn out that they had gone forward on the baggage mules, leaving the poor lad, as the humblest among them, to make his way on foot through the deep sand as best he could. he had besought our moukri to allow him to ride, but in vain; every one cared only for himself. i ordered some bread, meat, and water to be given to him, and we then had to leave him to shift for himself. it was not until after midnight that he came into camp. we then descended slowly between roundish sand-ridges to the great melleha, el mestebak--"melleha of the wall-seat," where the deep sand ceases. at a spot close to the entrance of the melleha a little water may usually be obtained by digging, but our camel-drivers, after trying in vain to get some, had to content themselves with cooling their arms and feet with the moist sand. this melleha is of great length, interrupted in one place only by a small saddle-shaped sand-hill, and is bounded on both sides by ridges of sand. it gradually slopes into a great flat plain with but one slight elevation in the centre, near which lies the grave of a soldier of the time of ibrahim pacha, marked by wooden pegs. this spot is also frequently used by the bedouins as a burial-place. beyond this part the melleha increases in width, and the enclosing ridges become gradually lower, until a view is obtained over those to the right of the extended jebel el magara. only at the time of heavy rainfalls does this melleha contain much water. the sandy tract which follows contains a great deal of white-blossomed broom, which also grows further on in abundance. [illustration: jebel el magara (taken from el brej).] [illustration: koubba el magara.] the wind having gradually abated, a cool afternoon breeze sprang up from the direction of the sea. "riyeh bahri! riyeh bahri" (sea breezes), cried our camel-drivers, delighted. it was not long before the koubba of magara was within sight. cheered with the thought of the approaching end of our journey, we pushed briskly on, and at five o'clock reached the camp, which had been pitched close to bir el magara--"well of the visit," in a hollow entirely surrounded by sand-hills, similar to that of bir el abd. situated upon rising ground at a short distance from the spot is the half ruinous koubba of the sheik suleiman, built about sixty years ago of fossiliferous limestone, in which shells of _cardium edule_ are particularly prominent. on the side next to the sea is a pointed arch. in the interior is a simple tomb covered with a linen cloth, an inscription in the recess of the outer window, a green flag, and two white bannerets. there are two papers bearing inscriptions affixed to the wall, which is also painted in many places with red letters and several crosses. not far from the koubba is the cottage occupied by the telegraph people, natives of cairo, who showed themselves very friendly, and gave us some coffee, which a handsome boy handed round. after staying some little time with them we returned to our tents, where we found a good dinner ready for us. at a very late hour, the kitchen-boy whom we had left on the road came into camp, accompanied by two persian knife-grinders, with a young dervish from eastern asia. the dervish wore long hair, and was dressed in a garment entirely made up of patches of cloth of various colours. these people had travelled with our caravan for two days, each carrying the heavy grindstone in turns. it had often much amused us to watch the care of the young dervish, despite his fatigue, not to part with his alms bag, attached to the end of a long staff, when taking the stone upon his strong shoulders. v. from bir el magara to el harish. at a quarter past seven the next morning, we took our departure from bir el magara and ascended the gently-rising ground by which it is enclosed. leaving to our left a large melleha, called el berdovil, which at high tides is filled with sea water, we followed a smaller one to our right, and came into a sandy, undulating, shrubby, and generally uniform tract of ground, which, after many hours' ride, brought us to a valley or melleha-bottom, called garif el jemel--"garif of the camel," lying between ridges of steep hills. here we found the whole landscape in all the beauty of the early year, with the bedouins' herds grazing upon the fresh green grass, which was covered with primroses and other spring flowers. on ascending the ridge to the right we enjoyed a most extensive view. to the left lay the melleha, the broad sea bahr el kebir, as the bedouins call it, the invigorating breezes of which reached us, and the uniform plain, with the mountains of el magara and el halal. we lunched on the ridge, feasting our eyes once more upon the distant sea, which we had not seen for so long. a bedouin came and sat by us without speaking a word. we gave him a piece of bread, which, i suppose, satisfied him, as he then left us and went down the hill. it was soon time for us, too, to descend into the valley and resume our course. still following the telegraph posts through a uniformly undulating plain, overgrown with shrubs, we reached a long melleha enclosed by low hills, beyond which are the so-called "steps" of adam abou zeit, the hero of arabian legend, which are kept marked in the moving sand by passing bedouins. a heap of stones near indicates the spot where abou zeit is said to have slain a berdovil. on the left is a ruined castle, built of shelly marlstone, which, according to arabian tradition, once belonged to the berdovil in question. thus does the imagination of these children of the desert clothe even these desolate places of the earth with interest, and connect ruins of diverse origin with the heroes of their traditions. a step or two further are similar ruins, known as berj el hashish--"the grass tracts," alleged by the arabs to be the remains of an old town. the great melleha of berdovil extends along the foot of these ruins, and attains a considerable width in the centre. we there saw a complete camel-skeleton, apparently of somewhat recent date, which our horses scented from a distance, and took care to keep a good way off in passing. on both sides of the road, which here runs along a small ridge (see illustration), we saw several herds of cattle and troops of bedouins. among them were two children trying in vain to recapture a stray camel. it was very amusing to watch them as they alternately employed stratagem and agility in order to effect their object. [illustration: jebel el halal (taken from ard el murrah).] going on we passed nahle abou sheh--"the palms of abou sheh," and, in a declivity, several small palm groups. these, together with the asphodels, which literally whiten the ground, indicate the neighbourhood of the sea. the large picturesque group, etmil et te jaber, is named after a young man, belonging to a distinguished family, by whom they were planted. the valley, our course through which i have described, is of great length, and opens out widely on each side. it contains several groves of palms in most picturesque groups, three of the principal of which are situated in a small valley to the left. beyond, the road leads, between roundish ridges of moving sand, through the most complete desert, utterly desolate and bare, with scarcely a bush to be seen. these ridges form a continuous line, with dales and hollows between them. there is nothing to disturb the sublime stillness of the scene. not a creature is visible, and not a sound heard excepting that of the distant breakers. still keeping to the telegraph posts, we soon came within sight of the castle of el harish, the last outpost eastward of the egyptian government. as we advanced over ridges and then over heaps of ruins, the view of the castle became more and more distinct, and at length we could overlook the palm-wood towards the sea, the beauty and shade of which had been so frequently enlarged upon by the camel-drivers. there can indeed be no more attractive picture for the mind of an arab to dwell upon, when toiling over shifting sands under a scorching sun, than that of a plantation of palms, with abundant supply of water, on the shores of an invigorating sea! [illustration: wadi abou-sbeh.] as we approached el harish, a row of men gathered outside the town wall. after saluting them we proceeded to our tents at the south-east end of the town. having reached them we were congratulated by abou nabout upon having safely accomplished our journey across the desert. after dinner we were visited by some of the authorities, who were extremely cordial. as usual we offered them coffee and cigars. their stay, however, was but short, as they rightly presumed that we needed repose. vi. el harish. el harish is the town of the desert which forms the most advanced post of the khedive in the direction of turkish territory, and, as it possesses many remarkable features, is worthy of a detailed description. as the point of convergence of the caravan routes, the entire life of the place is bound up with the caravan traffic, carried on by the resident population with their camels; it is, in a word, a place of camel-keepers. it is situated at about two miles from the sea, on the outskirts of the desert, the daily advancing sands of which threaten in time to cover a considerable portion of the town, and indeed have already overwhelmed many houses in the south-west quarter of it. the climate is extremely salubrious. snow is never to be seen; but there are frequent hailstorms and heavy falls of rain, particularly in february. the temperature is highest immediately after the hampsin, that is, at the beginning of the summer, and the very hot season lasts four months. the strongest wind is the hampsin, which prevails for fifty days, and is here particularly disagreeable from the quantity of sand which it brings. [illustration: el harish.] the population numbers souls, exclusive of the bedouins living in the neighbourhood. with scarcely an exception, the people are mussulmans, and extremely fanatical; some portion of them are of turkish origin, but none speak arabic. there are but eight christians in the place--three of whom are women. the garrison consists of sixty soldiers, including ten artillery-men, commanded by the governor of the fortress, whose especial task it is to restrain the excesses of the bedouin tribes. the latter have a great dread of the military, as immediately a sheik lays himself open to suspicion he is arrested and despatched to cairo. their conduct has consequently of late been very circumspect, particularly since their last outbreak, which was severely punished. there are no rich people in harish, the richest possessing at the most not more than twenty camels; many persons are, on the contrary, so poor as to be forced to procure their camels on credit. should an animal come to grief under such circumstances, the poor debtor is a ruined man. altogether there are camels in the place-- of which are for the use of the soldiers; also hayin or dromedaries, one only of which is assigned to them. there is an almost incredible difference between the capabilities of the camel and the dromedary, as much as between those of the english draught-horse and race-horse. an idea of the extraordinary fleetness of dromedaries may be gathered from the fact that there are several in harish who can run easily in one day from harish to kantara. a very serviceable animal, suitable either for draught purposes or for running, results from a cross between the dromedary and camel. there are but ten horses in harish; but, on the other hand, no less than asses, of the black or black-and-white-spotted bedouin race; about goats, sheep, and cows. the sheep and cows are mostly from syria. pigeons and fowls are largely kept, but only a few turkeys, and still fewer ducks. dogs are also not numerous. the game of the district comprises quails (during the migratory season), hares, and gazelles. the last named are caught by the bedouins when young, at some distance in the interior, but frequently die when their horns begin to grow. they are transported long distances, without injury, in a basket of palm leaves, the small feet being tucked up under the belly, and the head only peering out of the basket, which of course is firmly fastened with cord. fish abound in the neighbouring sea, and are caught by moonlight, with a bell-shaped net only, draw-nets being not used here. in harish itself there are not more than fifteen or twenty persons who follow fishery as a calling. there are, however, many fishermen engaged in the preparation of salt fish, who come over from damietta and live behind the berdovil. in the same way they fish the melleha, referred to above, in which are a large number of mullet. the fishing-ground has been rented from the government by an arab, who is even thinking of setting up a boat. hitherto the fishermen have always come here from port said, along the shore, on foot. the palm trees of harish, of which there are about , are the principal basis of the local product. no impost whatever is paid for them to the government, the concession being presumably accorded to the population, in consideration of their being inhabitants of a frontier station. no wine is made from the palms of harish, the sap being principally used for the preparation of sugar. the black and red dates are retained for home consumption, while the yellow, as also the agua dates (pounded date cakes), are exported in sacks. the fruit of the place consists principally of figs and grapes, the latter being chiefly grown in the western portion of the district. for the most part they are white table grapes, but we heard that the under health officer of harish was attempting to make wine from some of them. melons are also extensively cultivated here, more particularly in wadi, and are preserved for some time by hanging. the vegetables include tomatoes, garlic, onions, and carrots; barley, wheat, maize, and small sweet vetches are also grown, more or less. industrial pursuits are almost entirely neglected. a few articles of clothing, etc., are made for actual home use, but nothing more. these comprise, for instance, winter jackets of sheepskins (made with the bare skin outside, the hair being worn next the body); camel's-hair sacks; close-fitting camel's-hair caps (a very warm and practical head-gear, and consequently worn by the military and officials under their fez); and black and striped cloaks of sheep's wool, such as are seen in syria. the commerce of the place is insignificant, and what there is consists chiefly of a transit trade, for, being really little more than a large station of camel-keepers, harish has no trade of its own. it has, therefore, much suffered from the construction of the suez canal, since which, almost the entire trade between the south of syria and egypt goes by water, leaving but a small portion for the once famous caravan route. from harish itself no goods whatever are exported by land, excepting, occasionally, dates for gaza. there are no boats at harish, as the shore is bad and full of reefs. corn and fruit often come by ship from jaffa, and sometimes timber for building purposes, but this does not happen very often, as most of the timber required at harish is brought from wadi. altogether, ships do not come more than fifteen or sixteen times in the year, when they are either laden as described, or simply ballasted, and return with cargoes of melons, dates, and agua dates. sometimes shipwrecks occur on these inhospitable coasts. as has been already mentioned, the postal service between harish and the outer world is provided for by a weekly mail to kantara, by means of a dromedary. i will now give some description of the place itself. harish lies along the side of an undulating hill fronting the sea, at the foot of the large quadrangular castle, a substantial building of calcareous marlstone. the only entrance to the castle is by a great gate opening from the town, and, therefore, upon the side next the sea. on either side of the gate is a round tower, with a marble pillar--the capital of which is inverted--built into the stone. above are five marble tablets with inscriptions. a sixth tablet stands below the loophole, from which the standard-bearer (whose grave will be mentioned presently) was killed by the french. from the lower inscription we learn that the castle is years old, and was built by the sultan suleiman. the upper tablets bear the name of the sultan selim. a gate with iron mountings leads into the t-shaped entrance-hall, in the centre of which is an oval cupola, and on either side slightly pointed arches. at the entrance is a circular arch, and a similar one at the opposite end of the hall, in which a lamp is suspended, and where there are three marble steps leading up to the mosque. this is a very simple edifice, covered by a flat roof of palm-leaf stalks, and containing two rows of four pointed arches, with four ancient marble pillars built into the stone. to the left of the mihrab, which has two marble pillars, and is also distinguished by simplicity, is a mural inscription. the mem ber is of the same character, and is constructed of red and green painted wood. four men are set apart for the service of the mosque, one only of whom is a priest. passing out through a side-door to the left, we found, opposite to the jama, an old egyptian sarcophagus of black granite, now used as a water trough, covered within and without with very small hieroglyphics. the interior of the fortress has a very deserted air. we found there dilapidated clay houses for the soldiers, and, somewhat to the side, the divan of the governor, which consists of a hall with two circular arches, the interior containing low sofas covered with rich carpets. there we waited upon the governor, who, according to invariable custom, ordered coffee to be served. he then took us over the armoury, in which was a small field-piece for mounting on camels, and afterwards conducted us over the fortress. the entire castle, as already mentioned, forms a quadrangle, and has four hexagonal towers, with embrasures, and a few bronze cannons. a gallery in a ruinous condition runs round the entire length of the walls, with a parapet of some six feet in height and embrasures. the towers of the castle command an extensive view of the desert, with the distant mountain chains of el halal and el magara in the south-east, the magnificent palm plantation towards the sea, and the town of harish itself spread out below. to the left hand of the castle gate, on passing out, is a small enclosure overgrown with shrubs, in which is the tomb, already referred to, of the piraktar, or standard-bearer, who was killed by the french in the time of napoleon. it is of simple clay, ornamented at the corners with ancient pillars. altogether, el harish has a poverty-stricken appearance, with rugged uneven streets, formed merely of a sandy earth. gray is the prevailing hue, relieved only in a few places by the green of one of the loftier palm trees projecting above the buildings. these are of clay and straw,--the clay tiles being cemented with sand and clay; the roofs are flat and very roughly finished. most of the houses have small courtyards communicated with by rough sliding doors. it is very seldom that one sees curved arches over these; they are almost invariably quadrangular, with a wooden bar as head piece. to many of the doors camels' skulls have been attached by the occupiers, who for the most part are camel-keepers, as a protection against evil spirits. over the entrance doors large branches of the tamarisk are frequently hung for a shade. these plain courtyards, which contain nothing but a few indispensable things, are, as it were, the private domain of the inhabitants, in which they often keep their cattle. they rarely communicate with each other, and of course are closed to strangers, unless accompanied by the proprietor. the chattels they usually contain are a few large clay water-pitchers, clay vessels in the form of casks, for the storage of grain, which, after being filled from the top, are closed and the grain afterwards drawn off as required from an opening in the bottom; a bell-shaped poultry-coop made of clay, with a lid, which is kept down by a stone when necessary; pigeon-holes either in the clay wall round the yard, or in the wall of the house itself; and small baking ovens with side-door and place under for fire. in the kitchens, too, which are as a rule wretched holes, there are small baking ovens with flat tops, such as are common throughout egypt. the houses of the more prosperous inhabitants are not unfrequently provided with a raised space, railed on both sides, and sometimes latticed in front, which is fitted with receptacles for jars and other domestic articles. ancient columns and pedestals are sometimes built into the houses. there are usually several wooden doors between these and the courtyards, which also serve as windows. light is also provided for in many rooms by small wood lattices or jalousies, firmly built into the wall, the lattices often consisting of nothing but palm-leaf stalks stuck into the clay wall. when there is an upper story, which is rarely the case, it is approached from the courtyard by a staircase, usually dilapidated, with stairs of shelly marlstone. the stairs and floors of the interior, when there are any, are of clay. the roofs are formed with cross beams connected by palm-leaf stalks and pegs, which are then covered with palm leaves, and clay finally thrown over the whole. those provided with an upper story live there in the summer, as it usually contains several latticed windows, and is consequently cooler. most of the houses have a partition for sheep and goats. [illustration: the bazaar of el harish.] there is but little in the whole town worthy of a visit. east of the fortress is the simple quadrangular tomb of mahomet el domiats, which bears a greek inscription. facing this is a house of refuge for casual passers-by, with a subterranean cistern, still containing water. upon a small uneven piece of ground, called ard sheik el kashif, is a kittabia, or children's school, a roughly built house like the rest, where the lively youngsters assemble to be taught by their half blind master. about the centre of the town is situated the little souk or bazaar, with a number of miserable booths (see illustration), which i searched in vain for specimens of native industry. while engaged on my sketch i had an opportunity of seeing some old coins found in the neighbourhood. the cemetery is situated beyond a piece of land fenced with a prickly hedge, at a short distance from which there is a very old nebke tree. it has a most neglected aspect. there are a large number of tombs in the form of steps, and here and there various kinds of pedestals, some of which are fluted. it also contains the roughly constructed koubba of the sheik ghebara, with a pyramidical cupola coated with clay. on the opposite or east side of the cemetery there is a slight rise in the ground affording a good view of the entire place, as well as of the large palm wood towards the sea, and the extensive plain planted with fig trees between the dunes of the coast and the cemetery. while i was sketching there, an old man approached and looked at the grave of some children, which no doubt were his own. he then looked up and enquired whether i was a father, and on my replying in the negative, ejaculated in a tone of the deepest sympathy, "poor man!" an instance, this, of the high value set by these people upon the blessings of family life. "but," he added after a pause, "we must submit to god's will." here and there we remarked tombs in a better condition, with aloes planted around, and one or two that were even whitewashed. many "haddayas" (_milvus ater_, or black kite) and kestrels (_falco tinnunculus_) were flying about this deserted burial-place, which one might almost have fancied to be the spirits of the departed. westward of the cemetery and below the town is a kind of vale or declivity planted with tamarisks and fig trees, and containing three wells provided with handspikes. numbers of women and children with black jugs from gaza go there to draw water, giving, as may be imagined, great life and animation to the scene. the water, like that of all the wells of the place, is somewhat saline. at wadi the water is perfectly fresh. [illustration: el harish (view on the northern side).] proceeding still in a westerly direction, we came to the telegraph posts and the beginning of the route leading through the desert, which now lay unrolled before us. this road is the same by which we came to el harish. ruins of old buildings, asserted by the inhabitants to date from the time of the crusades, strewed the ground in every direction. in some cases the foundations might be clearly traced. it is said that old coins are still found now and then under the ruins. from the numerous aloes growing, it is perhaps to be inferred that graves once existed at this spot. a good view is obtained there of the place and its surroundings, including the sea and the verdant edge of the palm wood near it. the lazaretto is a wretched building, with a flagstaff and two houses projecting on the two sides. the entrance is from the side fronting the road towards syria. in the rear is a yard, containing a small garden but no supply of water, which has therefore to be brought from the wadi. the houses are of the same character as those of el harish generally, but slightly more european in style. in the larger lives the deputy commissioner, the smaller being occupied by his adjutant, who is a remarkable example of the mixture of races so common in this country. his father was a dalmatian, whose family came from sebenico, and he himself was born in egypt of a nubian mother, being therefore almost a mulatto. he was educated in dalmatia, and is a christian. the quarantine processes do not take place in the building, but are performed in tents, which are kept in readiness on the premises, and erected as occasion requires. from the lazaretto we proceeded in the afternoon towards the sea, which is beyond the beautiful palm plantations, and not more than half-an-hour's ride from el harish. our path first brought us to the koubba of nebi gasser (see illustration). this is a quiet burial-place planted round with dark green tamarisks, strongly contrasting with the yellow sands, which again are well set off by the background of sea and sky. the repose and peace of this little spot are intensified by the neighbourhood of the vast expanses of desert and sea, which here meet as though to rival each other. [illustration: koubba of nabi gasser.] upon the hill of the koubba, fragments of old masonry lie scattered about. in the interior of the somewhat large building, the door of which bears an arabian inscription, is a conical cupola upon four roughly constructed arches. to the right, on entering, is the tomb of nebi gasser, over which is a canopy of green cloth upon a framework of wood. to the left is that of one of his followers. there are in the sand, on the land side, many traces of graves, which may be known by the aloes growing near. in many places a piece of marble column or of stone still projects, but it cannot be long before all such vestiges disappear under the ever advancing sands. at the side of the koubba is an old tamarisk of the thick-leaved sort, called by the people atel, those with the thin leaves, of which there are many examples here, being known as tarfa. going eastward from the koubba of nebi gasser, we soon reached the broad wadi, which still brings water down from the hills. it may be crossed either close to the sea-shore, or at a shallower spot not far distant. to the left of the wadi are many vegetable gardens, with numerous wells. the large palm wood lies to the right of the wadi, and stretches down nearly to the sea. the trees generally are of slender dimensions, but of gigantic height. the scene altogether is one calculated powerfully to stimulate the imagination. the solemn stillness which prevails it is impossible to describe. the regular sound of the distant breakers, mingled with the gentle whisperings of the breeze through the palms; the flights of kites floating aimlessly in the air; the peculiar character of the shade of the palm, through the leafy crowns of which the light penetrates in trembling waves; the dark green tints of the foliage against the transparently blue egyptian sky;--all combine to produce an effect which must be experienced to be realised. the different groups of the palm wood are interspersed with pieces of meadow land, watered by seven wells, and upon which are ten mean huts occupied by arab herdsmen. the wood stretches for some distance over the broad surface of the wadi, which, when swollen, frequently uproots many trees. in the entire wadi there are some thirty fresh-water wells for the supply of the vegetable gardens, where onions, tomatoes, melons, etc., are grown. it contains, too, numerous young palm groves of recent plantation. immediately beyond the point to which irrigation extends, the barren desert again commences. vii. from el harish to sheik el zvoyed. but at length the time came to take leave of el harish and its friendly inhabitants. early on the morning of our departure the governor and all our acquaintances came once more to greet us, and, on our moving away eastward, stood until we were out of sight, making signs of farewell and other demonstrations of goodwill. the governor strongly counselled us not to stop until we reached sheik el zvoyed, as he judged the road between el harish and that place to be unsafe for encampment, and also furnished us with an attendant, named ramadan, a powerfully built man, with sunburnt features, as a guard in case of our meeting with hostile bedouins. our escort, who was mounted upon a cross-bred camel, and armed with a long sword and arabian firearms, proved to be a most obliging and serviceable companion. soon after quitting el harish we advanced upward into the broad clayey bed of the wadi, upon the opposite bank of which we found the burial-place of the bedouins, containing several tombs and a large number of aloes. then we reached the opposite side of the wadi, of cliff-like character, the clay of which is much worn away by the water. a guardhouse is situated there, occupied by three soldiers, who demanded from us certificates of health. on our telling them that everything had been arranged at el harish, and that we had but just left there, we were allowed to proceed without further question. beyond the guardhouse the road passes through a bare plain, and then rises for some distance over sandy hills into undulating ground, where the hill ridges run parallel to the sea. we observed a number of asphodels growing, and here and there patches of corn land. as we advanced further the vegetation became thicker and thicker, the bare sand-hills continuing on our left only. we saw many bedouins at work on the land--of which many extensive tracts are under cultivation--with no other implements than ordinary hoes and a one-horse "camel." in many places there grows an inferior kind of grass, called hafour, which, however, makes excellent pasturage. we saw a good number of goats and sheep about, evidently in a thriving condition. [illustration: el harrouba.] after passing through the large fruitful valleys of wadi el geradi (valley of the earth), and wadi el harrouba (valley of the st. john's bread--the locust or carob tree), we ascended a hill from which there is an extensive view (see illustration). from there the road runs through a short valley past some cultivated tracts, the land being elsewhere overgrown with _artemisia monosperma_. to the right a tree may be observed, which marks the scene of a terrible battle that took place fifteen years ago between the tarabin bedouins from gaza and the zowarka bedouins from el harish. we found the land improve as we went on, and in many places observed well-cultivated fields. some attempts, moreover, had been made to define and improve the road by the construction of ditches on each side. continuing to follow the telegraph posts, we came, after some distance, to rising ground, from which we had a wide view of the almost flat valley, which was covered with the above-named shrubs. in the distance, to the left of the valley, we could see, along the borders of an utter desert, the palms and the koubba of sheik el zvoyed. at the foot of the partially cultivated hill to the left, is a large melleha filled with rain-water, and bounded on the other side by bare sand-hills, in the midst of which are three beautiful palm groups. for a full view of this characteristic picture, rendered remarkably effective by the solitude of the scene, it is necessary to cross the hill. on the east side the melleha is shallow, and ends in marshy ground, overgrown with rushes, beyond which is a plain extending to the desert. so exhilarated were our horses by the taste of the green herbage, of which they had so long been deprived, that many got away from us and galloped wildly across the melleha. it took us nearly an hour to secure them, which we ultimately did by hemming them in between the water and ourselves. flights of kites passed over our heads, probably attracted by some carcass not far distant. from the melleha we soon reached sheik el zvoyed, where we found to our delight the tents already pitched upon the emerald green sward. [illustration: melleha of sheik el zvoyed.] we were met in a friendly way by the man in charge of the telegraph posts of the district; and several bedouins, attracted either by curiosity or the hope of a "backshish" in some shape or other, came and seated themselves around us in picturesque groups. after remaining a short time longer, to enable me to complete a sketch of this bright little spot (see illustration), we returned to our tents, which we were very glad to reach after our long ride. viii. from sheik el zvoyed to khanyunis. the meadows lay smiling in the morning sun, and their fresh pasture appeared greatly to strengthen and invigorate our animals. while the packing was being done i went to take a look round sheik el zvoyed. the first thing i came to was the house, built of clay and straw, similar to that described at el harish, where the man lives who keeps the telegraph posts and wires in working order. attached to it is a small courtyard, in the peaceable possession of fowls, turkeys, pigeons, and even ducks. not far off is a smaller house, where oil and various wares from gaza are sold for the benefit of the neighbouring bedouins, who all belong to the zowarkas. behind the houses are a number of slender palms, and at a short distance lies the burial-ground, containing a few graves, with numerous aloes growing between them. in the centre stands the koubba of sheik el zvoyed, built of square stones, with an inscription in arabic over the door. the interior of the koubba is cupola-shaped, and it contains a tomb covered with green cloth stretched over a wooden frame. [illustration: our camp in sheik el zvoyed.] water is procurable from the sand-hills somewhat to the west behind the houses, not saline, but not of good flavour. the bedouins of the neighbourhood go there with their donkeys to draw it in black gaza jars. both men and boys may be constantly seen threading their way along the sandy path; many of the boys have fine regular features, with sparkling eyes, but of that melancholy expression so peculiar to bedouin children. in many parts of the country surrounding sheik el zvoyed, ruins and heaps of stones are to be met with, telling of places formerly inhabited. on returning to the camp i found the packing completed, and after shaking hands with the telegraph man we at once continued our journey. at first we passed through meadows, partially bordered with trees, and across sandy hills, and then descended a grassy slope called lazga, from which we surveyed the extensive plain before us, with the sandy hills on the left projecting into the bright green surface like islets in the sea (see sketch). to the right are two large "sidr" trees called sager el emir (the tree of the emir) or magrunte.[ ] in the gently undulating plain there are many daffodils and blue-flowering iris. the pretty meadows then alternated with barley fields, where numerous birds, such as larks, large buntings, and quails, are constantly to be seen. from a slight elevation we could overlook the whole of the plain stretching away beneath us, and in the distance we saw three bedouin tents, and some cows grazing on the rich meadow land. we then passed the road leading to arfeh, about two miles distant, where good water is to be had in the very middle of the sand. [footnote : large specimens of _zizyphus spina-christi_, willdenow, called "sidr" in egypt, where its fruit is called "nabak." in palestine, the tree is named "doom," and the fruit "sidr." magrunte or magroonât (in syriac "madjroonât") means "the female neighbours."] fragments of gray granite pillars, still standing, are here to be met with about the road, the fields, and the sand, and we saw one lying on the ground half buried. on one side stands a "sidr" tree (see sketch), and to the right in the other hollow of the valley is another. the pillars are the remains of an ancient temple, raphia, and are of special importance in the eyes of the arabs, who call them rafah, as they mark the boundary between egypt and syria. [illustration: sager el emir.] [illustration: rafah columns.] we took our midday meal close to the pillars, being now within the holy land, and after a short rest resumed our journey. leaving a green sloping valley on the left, and passing sandy hills, we went over gently undulating grass-land, and saw before us the township of benishaela, situated on the flat crest of a hill. numerous cows grazing, and flocks of kites soaring in the air, enlivened the otherwise monotonous landscape. but here the aspect of the country suddenly changed, and we saw that we had entered the land of promise. mud walls, with thorn bushes and prickly pears, enclosed the fields, in which almonds, apricots, and figs, sycamores, locust, and "sidr" trees, vied with each other in a luxuriance all the more cheering to the eyes of the traveller from the barren desert. passing several small houses built of clay, straw, and stones, we reached at three o'clock khanyunis, the picturesque kala of which seemed to invite our approach. we found that our camps had been pitched opposite to it in a field surrounded by opuntias. the governor chaker effendi, whose family were still in el halil (hebron), where he formerly resided, came to welcome us. he was very friendly, and ordered our camp to be guarded by three cavalry and four infantry soldiers, who relieved each other every two hours. there were one or two negroes amongst them, but the greater number were slim and muscular arabs, and some of them remarkably handsome men. the governor personally conducted us afterwards over the kala. before describing this, however, i must give the reader some general account of khanyunis. ix. khanyunis. khanyunis (or khan yunas) is the furthest syrian place in the direction of egypt, and in some respects the last outpost of the immediate authority of the porte, as el harish is of that of the khedive. between the two lies that desert tract in which the rafah pillars stand, indicating the supposed boundary between the two countries. the bedouin, however, wanders at will over the waste land, caring little whether he happens to be in egypt or syria. as in el harish, the kala constitutes the castle of the place, and is at the same time the nucleus around which the other buildings have gradually clustered. khanyunis is now a pleasant village, but does not at present contain more than inhabitants. formerly the population was larger, having reached , but it has decreased owing to the frequent inroads of the tarabin bedouins, who only three years ago set fire to the crops of the poor villagers. all the bedouins who haunt the neighbourhood are tarabins. they are generally well provided with horses and asses, some of the former being fine animals, of great powers of endurance. since khanyunis has been supplied with a stronger garrison, they are kept in check, and the state of affairs is consequently much improved. there are now fifty foot and fifty horse soldiers, almost exclusively sons of the desert, who look quite picturesque with their koufi as head-dress, and arabian costume. they are fine muscular fellows, and extremely courteous in manner. the villagers wear the usual south syrian costume, and are of fairly strong build. some of the boys have two ringlets hanging at the sides of their heads,--a fashion not uncommon among the bedouins. there are two schools for the instruction of youth, and, judging from the fact that nearly every one can read, they must be well attended. [illustration: kala of khanyunis.] the interior of the village presents but a poor appearance, the streets being dirty and disfigured by numerous trenches for carrying off the rain. the houses, between which lofty palms raise their towering heads, are built of mud and stone. the inferior quality of stone consists of shell detritus and shale conglomerate from the neighbouring sea-shore, and the better material is brought from different ruins, sometimes from a distance of ten to twelve hours' journey. the roofs of the houses are flat, and over many of the entrances, which have wooden lintels, a piece of bone is fixed as a protection against the influence of the evil eye. for the better defence of the inhabitants against the incursions of the bedouins, the houses have loopholes; ventilation is provided for by a number of round holes arranged either in rows or tasteful designs. as has been said, the principal feature of khanyunis is its kala (see sketch), which abuts on a broad place or square, the left side of which still shows traces of a former enclosure. on either side of the entrance is a hall, with a fragment of a pedestal. that on the left contains the modest dwelling of the governor, who lives quite alone here, with but one servant. the kala, which is years old, once formed a square, at the corners of which were circular towers, with oval cupolas, and three embrasures. the two front towers only now remain, the back wall having been quite destroyed, and the once enclosed square is now filled with a wild confusion of wretched houses, half in ruins, which serve the soldiers as a place of habitation. in the centre of the front side is a gate with loopholes within the pointed arch, above which is a moorish frieze crowned with lilies. on both sides of the gate, and on the broad front wall, are pyramidical battlements with tapering ends. inside the archway is an inscription of sultan bargut of cairo, and either side is ornamented with a lion, rudely sculptured in relief. arabic inscriptions are cut in the walls on both sides of the gate, and in the gateway itself; no regard having been paid to keeping within the stone rows. to the right of the gate, within the kala, rises the octagonal minaret of the mosque, from which is obtained a fine view of the ruinous interior, with its labyrinth of dilapidated houses, as well as of the whole village. from here four roads can be seen diverging from khanyunis, namely the el harish road, the road leading to suez _viâ_ akaba, the benishaela road, and lastly, the gaza road. at the entrances to these roads are grouped the houses of the village. raising our eyes towards the horizon we saw the yellow sand-hills which bound the plantations towards the sea, strikingly contrasting with the bright green trees, and on the other side the rich verdant plain stretching away towards gaza, which may be discerned in the distance. the numerous prickly-pear bushes surrounding the village on the gaza side are a conspicuous feature in the landscape. we now descended to complete our inspection of the kala. in the interior the mosque, with its oval dome, has almost gone to ruin; but the fine though simple marble pulpit still stands in good preservation. in the midst of the ruins, which have a somewhat picturesque appearance, is a house in a very dangerous condition, in consequence of a considerable portion of the mosque having fallen on it a short time since. notwithstanding this, however, the people are heedless enough to continue occupying it. only a few steps' distance a lofty palm was recently blown down by a violent storm. thus the works both of man and nature meet with a common destruction, the inhabitants not thinking it worth while to do the least in the way of repair, or to make the slightest attempt to protect themselves against impending danger. lethargy and nonchalance are the leading characteristics of eastern nations, and a certain evidence of the gradual decay of their religion and race. there is another mosque in the village opposite the kala, but without a minaret. from its exterior it is scarcely to be recognised as a jama. near one of the ruined towers of the kala's outer enclosure, and at the corner of a house on the road to gaza, stand ancient pedestals, serving as seats for the mayor, sheik el beled. the souk or bazaar of khanyunis is formed by two streets lined with wretched turkish shops, with mud or clay projections for seats. the doors are made to flap upward, but they close imperfectly; the roofs are, as usual, made of the artemisia shrub. the goods exposed in these shops come for the most part from gaza and jaffa; but the caps of camel's hair and of cotton, as well as the white and black syrian mantles, are made by the villagers themselves. at the end of the village, near the souk, and on the road to el harish, is the second public well, about fathoms deep, and built entirely of ancient marble fragments. at the side is a cistern with cattle-troughs of the same material, which evidently belongs to a more flourishing period than the present. somewhat further on, behind a slight hollow with stagnant water and a few palm trees, in the akaba and suez road, is the burial-ground, containing a few whitewashed tombs of step-like construction. at the opposite end of the village, where the road is open to the surrounding country, we came upon a hollow with embankments, and then took the road leading to benishaela. in the neighbourhood of benishaela there are many gardens, which bear witness to the extreme fertility of the soil; though unfortunately there is not a single well among them. almonds and apricots are the chief productions, and the raised ground enclosing them is often covered with small branches of the thorny "sidr." near the village we saw several "sidr" trees, as well as tamarisks (atel) and sycamores. the most numerous class are the thorny opuntias, which grow round some of the gardens in rank luxuriance. the people of khanyunis do not live exclusively from the cultivation of the ground; they are also largely engaged in cattle-breeding, and a great many cows are to be seen in the neighbourhood. of camels there are but few; horses, on the other hand, are numerous. i also saw four greyhounds of the syrian breed. as is well known, it is richard coeur de lion to whom is ascribed the introduction into the holy land of the greyhound, which, crossing with the ordinary street dog, originated the above-mentioned breed. these dogs were not of pure blood; they were spotted white and yellow, with shaggy hair and blue stripes, studded with cowries, on their haunches. they are used for hunting gazelles, which are frequently caught alive when very young. one of these graceful creatures was brought to us and offered for a sum equal to six shillings; it was very tame, and we carried it for some distance. but at length it died, in consequence, as was said, of having eaten bread, which, according to abou nabout's assertion, is very unwholesome for these animals. the more probable cause was the trying journey it made in a basket on a camel's back. there are only a few street dogs in khanyunis; but, as a compensation, any quantity of kites, kestrels, and crows, which alight in hundreds on the loftier sidr or sycamore trees in the neighbourhood, and may often be seen hovering over the village on the look-out for prey and carrion. x. from khanyunis to gaza. the broad sandy road from khanyunis to gaza passes for some distance through gardens with opuntia hedges, and embankments crowned with thorn bushes. to the left, the gardens extend to sandy hills; and to the right as far as benishaela, a village standing on an elongated hill, and containing inhabitants. behind this is another village called abansan, with many cultivated tracts in the neighbourhood. on the uniform hill-range on which benishaela is situated, and which bounds the valley on the land side, is the grave of sheik mohammed, at the foot of an old tree, and adjoining a small house which serves as the koubba. to the right are the tents of the bedouins, who are numerous here, and are the sole proprietors of the rich meadow lands. after keeping for some distance to the telegraph posts across the sand, we again passed through meadows, and then reached the dry sandy bed of a brook called wadi selga, bordered on the left by earth banks and on the right by meadows. after heavy rainfalls the stream of this brook extends from the mountains to the sea. on the left hand, about half-an-hour's ride from the main road, is the village of der el belah (enclosure of date-trees), the only one we met with before reaching gaza. it lies in a valley, on a melleha, which is only separated from the sea by a rather low shore, and bounded at the lower end by sand and clay hills. the village is recognised from a distance by the numerous slender palm trees, which give it a particularly charming and picturesque appearance. it contains about inhabitants, and consists of a few ruinous houses, the mud roofs of which are covered with grass. between the buildings are cultivated pieces of ground, fenced with mud walls. here and there we met with fragments of ancient pillars. there is also a rudely-built and dilapidated tower, tapering upward, and provided with loopholes, which is occasionally occupied by soldiers. to the north of the hamlet there is another melleha, enclosed by beautiful groups of palms, and on the seaside by sandy hills. not far from this a direct road leads from der el belah to gaza, but we wished to follow the main road, and therefore crossed the hills behind der el belah, over green meadows, where we saw plenty of daffodils and squills. from the top of the hills we had a view of the luxuriant meadows of the valley, where many cows of the small south syrian breed were grazing, and in which we observed an old "sidr" tree, called el jemeter, near which there are said to be some ruins. on the other side we had before us the wide sea, separated from the meadows by sand-hills only, on which is a group of trees called em maharnes. [illustration: neighbourhood of gaza.] having reached the road, we continued to advance across the plain, where we met with numerous tents of tarabin bedouins and several head of cattle. we remained but a short time for breakfast on the open meadow land, being anxious to get to gaza. soon after we came to the dry sandy bed of the wadi gaza, and, climbing the low hills lying behind it, we could see in the distance the minarets and palms of gaza, the sight of which cheered the last steps of our journey. the town is situated to the right, commanded by the mountar hill, so called from the sheik who is buried there. this hill is the principal feature in the landscape. leaving to the left the path which we have mentioned as joining the main road from der el belah, we followed the sandy path along the telegraph posts. we then passed through fields and gardens fenced by thorny opuntias, and planted with almonds, figs, olives, sycamores, and a few tamarisks, and finally reached the quarantine building of gaza by half-past two o'clock. here we had to take leave of our camel-drivers; and not without regret did i grasp the hand of honest old daud, who had accompanied me the whole distance from el kantara. all our superfluous luggage was here disposed of, for we were now in the holy land, the land of plenty and wealth. after a few days' rest in gaza we started again with our horses and mules to make for the third time the pilgrimage to jerusalem. [illustration: entrance to bazaar, gaza.] the end. _printed by_ r. & r. clark, _edinburgh_. this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] joshua by georg ebers volume . translated from the german by mary j. safford preface. last winter i resolved to complete this book, and while giving it the form in which it now goes forth into the world, i was constantly reminded of the dear friend to whom i intended to dedicate it. now i am permitted to offer it only to the manes of gustav baur; for a few months ago death snatched him from us. every one who was allowed to be on terms of intimacy with this man feels his departure from earth as an unspeakably heavy loss, not only because his sunny, cheerful nature and brilliant intellect brightened the souls of his friends; not only because he poured generously from the overflowing cornucopia of his rich knowledge precious gifts to those with whom he stood in intellectual relations, but above all because of the loving heart which beamed through his clear eyes, and enabled him to share the joys and sorrows of others, and enter into their thoughts and feelings. to my life's end i shall not forget that during the last few years, himself physically disabled and overburdened by the duties imposed by the office of professor and counsellor of the consistory, he so often found his way to me, a still greater invalid. the hours he then permitted me to spend in animated conversation with him are among those which, according to old horace, whom he know so thoroughly and loved so well, must be numbered among the 'good ones'. i have done so, and whenever i gratefully recall them, in my ear rings my friend's question: "what of the story of the exodus?" after i had told him that in the midst of the desert, while following the traces of the departing hebrews, the idea had occurred to me of treating their wanderings in the form of a romance, he expressed his approval in the eager, enthusiastic manner natural to him. when i finally entered farther into the details of the sketch outlined on the back of a camel, he never ceased to encourage me, though he thoroughly understood my scruples and fully appreciated the difficulties which attended the fulfilment of my task. so in a certain degree this book is his, and the inability to offer it to the living man and hear his acute judgment is one of the griefs which render it hard to reconcile oneself to the advancing years which in other respects bring many a joy. himself one of the most renowned, acute and learned students and interpreters of the bible, he was perfectly familiar with the critical works the last five years have brought to light in the domain of old testament criticism. he had taken a firm stand against the views of the younger school, who seek to banish the exodus of the jews from the province of history and represent it as a later production of the myth- making popular mind; a theory we both believed untenable. one of his remarks on this subject has lingered in my memory and ran nearly as follows: "if the events recorded in the second book of moses--which i believe are true--really never occurred, then nowhere and at no period has a historical event of equally momentous result taken place. for thousands of years the story of the exodus has lived in the minds of numberless people as something actual, and it still retains its vitality. therefore it belongs to history no less certainty than the french revolution and its consequences." notwithstanding such encouragement, for a long series of years i lacked courage to finish the story of the exodus until last winter an unexpected appeal from abroad induced me to resume it. after this i worked uninterruptedly with fresh zeal and i may say renewed pleasure at the perilous yet fascinating task until its completion. the locality of the romance, the scenery as we say of the drama, i have copied as faithfully as possible from the landscapes i beheld in goshen and on the sinai peninsula. it will agree with the conception of many of the readers of "joshua." the case will be different with those portions of the story which i have interwoven upon the ground of ancient egyptian records. they will surprise the laymen; for few have probably asked themselves how the events related in the bible from the standpoint of the jews affected the egyptians, and what political conditions existed in the realm of pharaoh when the hebrews left it. i have endeavored to represent these relations with the utmost fidelity to the testimony of the monuments. for the description of the hebrews, which is mentioned in the scriptures, the bible itself offers the best authority. the character of the "pharaoh of the exodus" i also copied from the biblical narrative, and the portraits of the weak king menephtah, which have been preserved, harmonize admirably with it. what we have learned of later times induced me to weave into the romance the conspiracy of siptah, the accession to the throne of seti ii., and the person of the syrian aarsu who, according to the london papyrus harris i., after siptah had become king, seized the government. the naville excavations have fixed the location of pithom-succoth beyond question, and have also brought to light the fortified store-house of pithom (succoth) mentioned in the bible; and as the scripture says the hebrews rested in this place and thence moved farther on, it must be supposed that they overpowered the garrison of the strong building and seized the contents of the spacious granaries, which are in existence at the present day. in my "egypt and the books of moses" which appeared in , i stated that the biblical etham was the same as the egyptian chetam, that is, the line of fortresses which protected the isthmus of suez from the attacks of the nations of the east, and my statement has long since found universal acceptance. through it, the turning back of the hebrews before etham is intelligible. the mount where the laws were given i believe was the majestic serbal, not the sinai of the monks; the reasons for which i explained fully in my work "through goshen to sinai." i have also--in the same volume-- attempted to show that the halting-place of the tribes called in the bible "dophkah" was the deserted mines of the modern wadi maghara. by the aid of the mental and external experiences of the characters, whose acts have in part been freely guided by the author's imagination, he has endeavored to bring nearer to the sympathizing reader the human side of the mighty destiny of the nation which it was incumbent on him to describe. if he has succeeded in doing so, without belittling the magnificent biblical narrative, he has accomplished his desire; if he has failed, he must content himself with the remembrance of the pleasure and mental exaltation he experienced during the creation of this work. tutzing on the starnberger see, september th, . georg ebers. joshua. chapter i. "go down, grandfather: i will watch." but the old man to whom the entreaty was addressed shook his shaven head. "yet you can get no rest here...... "and the stars? and the tumult below? who can think of rest in hours like these? throw my cloak around me! rest--on such a night of horror!" "you are shivering. and how your hand and the instrument are shaking." "then support my arm." the youth dutifully obeyed the request; but in a short time he exclaimed: "vain, all is vain; star after star is shrouded by the murky clouds. alas, hear the wailing from the city. ah, it rises from our own house too. i am so anxious, grandfather, feel how my head burns! come down, perhaps they need help." "their fate is in the hands of the gods--my place is here. "but there--there! look northward across the lake. no, farther to the west. they are coming from the city of the dead." "oh, grandfather! father--there!" cried the youth, a grandson of the astrologer of amon-ra, to whom he was lending his aid. they were standing in the observatory of the temple of this god in tanis, the pharaoh's capital in the north of the land of goshen. he moved away, depriving the old man of the support of his shoulder, as he continued: "there, there! is the sea sweeping over the land? have the clouds dropped on the earth to heave to and fro? oh, grandfather, look yonder! may the immortals have pity on us! the under-world is yawning, and the giant serpent apep has come forth from the realm of the dead. it is moving past the temple. i see, i hear it. the great hebrew's menace is approaching fulfilment. our race will be effaced from the earth. the serpent! its head is turned toward the southeast. it will devour the sun when it rises in the morning." the old man's eyes followed the youth's finger, and he, too, perceived a huge, dark mass, whose outlines blended with the dusky night, come surging through the gloom; he, too, heard, with a thrill of terror, the monster's loud roar. both stood straining their eyes and ears to pierce the darkness; but instead of gazing upward the star-reader's eye was bent upon the city, the distant sea, and the level plain. deep silence, yet no peace reigned above them: the high wind now piled the dark clouds into shapeless masses, anon severed that grey veil and drove the torn fragments far asunder. the moon was invisible to mortal eyes, but the clouds were toying with the bright southern stars, sometimes hiding them, sometimes affording a free course for their beams. sky and earth alike showed a constant interchange of pallid light and intense darkness. sometimes the sheen of the heavenly bodies flashed brightly from sea and bay, the smooth granite surfaces of the obelisks in the precincts of the temple, and the gilded copper roof of the airy royal palace, anon sea and river, the sails in the harbor, the sanctuaries, the streets of the city, and the palm-grown plain which surrounded it vanished in gloom. eye and ear failed to retain the impression of the objects they sought to discern; for sometimes the silence was so profound that all life, far and near, seemed hushed and dead, then a shrill shriek of anguish pierced the silence of the night, followed at longer or shorter intervals by the loud roar the youthful priest had mistaken for the voice of the serpent of the nether-world, and to which grandfather and grandson listened with increasing suspense. the dark shape, whose incessant motion could be clearly perceived whenever the starlight broke through the clouds, appeared first near the city of the dead and the strangers' quarter. both the youth and the old man had been seized with terror, but the latter was the first to regain his self-control, and his keen eye, trained to watch the stars, speedily discovered that it was not a single giant form emerging from the city of the dead upon the plain, but a multitude of moving shapes that seemed to be swaying hither and thither over the meadow lands. the bellowing and bleating, too, did not proceed from one special place, but came now nearer and now farther away. sometimes it seemed to issue from the bowels of the earth, and at others to float from some airy height. fresh horror seized upon the old man. grasping his grandson's right hand in his, he pointed with his left to the necropolis, exclaiming in tremulous tones: "the dead are too great a multitude. the under-world is overflowing, as the river does when its bed is not wide enough for the waters from the south. how they swarm and surge and roll onward! how they scatter and sway to and fro. they are the souls of the thousands whom grim death has snatched away, laden with the curse of the hebrew, unburied, unshielded from corruption, to descend the rounds of the ladder leading to the eternal world." "yes, yes, those are their wandering ghosts," shrieked the youth in absolute faith, snatching his hand from the grey-beard's grasp and striking his burning brow, exclaiming, almost incapable of speech in his horror: "ay, those are the souls of the damned. the wind has swept them into the sea, whose waters cast them forth again upon the land, but the sacred earth spurns them and flings them into the air. the pure ether of shu hurls them back to the ground and now--oh look, listen--they are seeking the way to the wilderness." "to the fire!" cried the old astrologer. "purify them, ye flames; cleanse them, water." the youth joined his grandfather's form of exorcism, and while still chanting together, the trap-door leading to this observatory on the top of the highest gate of the temple was opened, and a priest of inferior rank called: "cease thy toil. who cares to question the stars when the light of life is departing from all the denizens of earth!" the old man listened silently till the priest, in faltering accents, added that the astrologer's wife had sent him, then he stammered: "hora? has my son, too, been stricken?" the messenger bent his head, and the two listeners wept bitterly, for the astrologer had lost his first-born son and the youth a beloved father. but as the lad, shivering with the chill of fever, sank ill and powerless on the old man's breast, the latter hastily released himself from his embrace and hurried to the trap-door. though the priest had announced himself to be the herald of death, a father's heart needs more than the mere words of another ere resigning all hope of the life of his child. down the stone stairs, through the lofty halls and wide courts of the temple he hurried, closely followed by the youth, though his trembling limbs could scarcely support his fevered body. the blow that had fallen upon his own little circle had made the old man forget the awful vision which perchance menaced the whole universe with destruction; but his grandson could not banish the sight and, when he had passed the fore- court and was approaching the outermost pylons his imagination, under the tension of anxiety and grief, made the shadows of the obelisks appear to be dancing, while the two stone statues of king rameses, on the corner pillars of the lofty gate, beat time with the crook they held in their hands. then the fever struck the youth to the ground. his face was distorted by the convulsions which tossed his limbs to and fro, and the old man, failing on his knees, strove to protect the beautiful head, covered with clustering curls, from striking the stone flags, moaning under his breath "now fate has overtaken him too." then calming himself, he shouted again and again for help, but in vain. at last, as he lowered his tones to seek comfort in prayer, he heard the sound of voices in the avenue of sphinxes beyond the pylons, and fresh hope animated his heart. who was coming at so late an hour? loud wails of grief blended with the songs of the priests, the clinking and tinkling of the metal sistrums, shaken by the holy women in the service of the god, and the measured tread of men praying as they marched in the procession which was approaching the temple. faithful to the habits of a long life, the astrologer raised his eyes and, after a glance at the double row of granite pillars, the colossal statues and obelisks in the fore-court, fixed them on the starlit skies. even amid his grief a bitter smile hovered around his sunken lips; to- night the gods themselves were deprived of the honors which were their due. for on this, the first night after the new moon in the month of pharmuthi, the sanctuary in bygone years was always adorned with flowers. as soon as the darkness of this moonless night passed away, the high festival of the spring equinox and the harvest celebration would begin. a grand procession in honor of the great goddess neith, of rennut, who bestows the blessings of the fields, and of horus at whose sign the seeds begin to germinate, passed, in accordance with the rules prescribed by the book of the divine birth of the sun, through the city to the river and harbor; but to-day the silence of death reigned throughout the sanctuary, whose courts at this hour were usually thronged with men, women, and children, bringing offerings to lay on the very spot where death's finger had now touched his grandson's heart. a flood of light streamed into the vast space, hitherto but dimly illumined by a few lamps. could the throng be so frenzied as to imagine that the joyous festival might be celebrated, spite of the unspeakable horrors of the night. yet, the evening before, the council of priests had resolved that, on account of the rage of the merciless pestilence, the temple should not be adorned nor the procession be marshalled. in the afternoon many whose houses had been visited by the plague had remained absent, and now while he, the astrologer, had been watching the course of the stars, the pest had made its way into this sanctuary, else why had it been forsaken by the watchers and the other astrologers who had entered with him at sunset, and whose duty it was to watch through the night? he again turned with tender solicitude to the sufferer, but instantly started to his feet, for the gates were flung wide open and the light of torches and lanterns streamed into the court. a swift glance at the sky told him that it was a little after midnight, yet his fears seemed to have been true--the priests were crowding into the temples to prepare for the harvest festival to-morrow. but he was wrong. when had they ever entered the sanctuary for this purpose in orderly procession, solemnly chanting hymns? nor was the train composed only of servants of the deity. the population had joined them, for the shrill lamentations of women and wild cries of despair, such as he had never heard before in all his long life within these sacred walls, blended in the solemn litany. or were his senses playing him false? was the groaning throng of restless spirits which his grandson had pointed out to him from the observatory, pouring into the sanctuary of the gods? new horror seized upon him; with arms flung upward to bid the specters avaunt he muttered the exorcism against the wiles of evil spirits. but he soon let his hands fall again; for among the throng he noted some of his friends who yesterday, at least, had still walked among living men. first, the tall form of the second prophet of the god, then the women consecrated to the service of amon-ra, the singers and the holy fathers and, when he perceived behind the singers, astrologers, and pastophori his own brother-in-law, whose house had yesterday been spared by the plague, he summoned fresh courage and spoke to him. but his voice was smothered by the shouts of the advancing multitude. the courtyard was now lighted, but each individual was so engrossed by his own sorrows that no one noticed the old astrologer. tearing the cloak from his shivering limbs to make a pillow for the lad's tossing head, he heard, while tending him with fatherly affection, fierce imprecations on the hebrews who had brought this woe on pharaoh and his people, mingling with the chants and shouts of the approaching crowd and, recurring again and again, the name of prince rameses, the heir to the throne, while the tone in which it was uttered, the formulas of lamentation associated with it, announced the tidings that the eyes of the monarch's first-born son were closed in death. the astrologer gazed at his grandson's wan features with increasing anxiety, and even while the wailing for the prince rose louder and louder a slight touch of gratification stirred his soul at the thought of the impartial justice death metes out alike to the sovereign on his throne and the beggar by the roadside. he now realized what had brought the noisy multitude to the temple! with as much swiftness as his aged limbs would permit, he hastened forward to meet the mourners; but ere he reached them he saw the gate- keeper and his wife come out of their house, carrying between them on a mat the dead body of a boy. the husband held one end, his fragile little wife the other, and the gigantic warder was forced to stoop low to keep the rigid form in a horizontal position and not let it slip toward the woman. three children, preceded by a little girl carrying a lantern, closed the mournful procession. perhaps no one would have noticed the group, had not the gate-keeper's little wife shrieked so wildly and piteously that no one could help hearing her lamentations. the second prophet of amon, and then his companions, turned toward them. the procession halted, and as some of the priests approached the corpse the gate-keeper shouted loudly: "away, away from the plague! it has stricken our first-born son." the wife meantime had snatched the lantern from her little girl's hand and casting its light full on the dead boy's rigid face, she screamed: "the god hath suffered it to happen. ay, he permitted the horror to enter beneath his own roof. not his will, but the curse of the stranger rules us and our lives. look, this was our first-born son, and the plague has also stricken two of the temple-servants. one already lies dead in our room, and there lies kamus, grandson of the astrologer rameri. we heard the old man call, and saw what was happening; but who can prop another's house when his own is falling? take heed while there is time; for the gods have opened their own sanctuaries to the horror. if the whole world crumbles into ruin, i shall neither marvel nor grieve. my lord priests, i am only a poor lowly woman, but am i not right when i ask: do our gods sleep, or has some one paralyzed them, or what are they doing that they leave us and our children in the power of the base hebrew brood?" "overthrow them! down with the foreigners! death to the sorcerer mesu, --[mesu is the egyptian name of moses]--hurl him into the sea." such were the imprecations that followed the woman's curse, as an echo follows a shout, and the aged astrologer's brother-in-law hornecht, captain of the archers, whose hot blood seethed in his veins at the sight of the dying form of his beloved nephew, waved his short sword, crying frantically: "let all men who have hearts follow me. upon them! a life for a life! ten hebrews for each egyptian whom the sorcerer has slain!" as a flock rushes into a fire when the ram leads the way, the warrior's summons fired the throng. women forced themselves in front of the men, pressing after him into the gateway, and when the servants of the temple lingered to await the verdict of the prophet of amon, the latter drew his stately figure to its full height, and said calmly: "let all who wear priestly garments remain and pray with me. the populace is heaven's instrument to mete out vengeance. we will remain here to pray for their success." chapter ii. bai, the second prophet of amon, who acted as the representative of the aged and feeble chief-prophet and high-priest rui, went into the holy of holies, the throng of inferior servants of the divinity pursued their various duties, and the frenzied mob rushed through the streets of the city towards the distant hebrew quarter. as the flood, pouring into the valley, sweeps everything before it, the people, rushing to seek vengeance, forced every one they met to join them. no egyptian from whom death had snatched a loved one failed to follow the swelling torrent, which increased till hundreds became thousands. men, women, and children, freedmen and slaves, winged by the ardent longing to bring death and destruction on the hated hebrews, darted to the remote quarter where they dwelt. how the workman had grasped a hatchet, the housewife an axe, they themselves scarcely knew. they were dashing forward to deal death and ruin and had had no occasion to search for weapons--they had been close at hand. the first to feel the weight of their vengeance must be nun, an aged hebrew, rich in herds, loved and esteemed by many an egyptian whom he had benefitted--but when hate and revenge speak, gratitude shrinks timidly into the background. his property, like the houses and hovels of his people, was in the strangers' quarter, west of tanis, and lay nearest to the streets inhabited by the egyptians themselves. usually at this hour herds of cattle and flocks of sheep were being watered or driven to pasture and the great yard before his house was filled with cattle, servants of both sexes, carts, and agricultural implements. the owner usually overlooked the departure of the flocks and herds, and the mob had marked him and his family for the first victims of their fury. the swiftest of the avengers had now reached his extensive farm- buildings, among them hornecht, captain of the archers, brother-in-law of the old astrologer. house and barns were brightly illumined by the first light of the young day. a stalwart smith kicked violently on the stout door; but the unbolted sides yielded so easily that he was forced to cling to the door-post to save himself from falling. others, hornecht among them, pressed past him into the yard. what did this mean? had some new spell been displayed to attest the power of the hebrew leader mesu, who had brought such terrible plagues on the land,--and of his god. the yard was absolutely empty. the stalls contained a few dead cattle and sheep, killed because they had been crippled in some way, while a lame lamb limped off at sight of the mob. the carts and wagons, too, had vanished. the lowing, bleating throng which the priests had imagined to be the souls of the damned was the hebrew host, departing by night from their old home with all their flocks under the guidance of moses. the captain of the archers dropped his sword, and a spectator might have believed that the sight was a pleasant surprise to him; but his neighbor, a clerk from the king's treasure-house, gazed around the empty space with the disappointed air of a man who has been defrauded. the flood of schemes and passions, which had surged so high during the night, ebbed under the clear light of day. even the soldier's quickly awakened wrath had long since subsided into composure. the populace might have wreaked their utmost fury on the other hebrews, but not upon nun, whose son, hosea, had been his comrade in arms, one of the most distinguished leaders in the army, and an intimate family friend. had he thought of him and foreseen that his father's dwelling would be first attacked, he would never have headed the mob in their pursuit of vengeance; nay, he bitterly repented having forgotten the deliberate judgment which befitted his years. while many of the throng began to plunder and destroy nun's deserted home, men and women came to report that not a soul was to be found in any of the neighboring dwellings. others told of cats cowering on the deserted hearthstones, of slaughtered cattle and shattered furniture; but at last the furious avengers dragged out a hebrew with his family and a half-witted grey-haired woman found hidden among some straw. the crone, amid imbecile laughter, said her people had made themselves hoarse calling her, but meliela was too wise to walk on and on as they meant to do; besides her feet were too tender, and she had not even a pair of shoes. the man, a frightfully ugly jew, whom few of his own race would have pitied, protested, sometimes with a humility akin to fawning, sometimes with the insolence which was a trait of his character, that he had nothing to do with the god of lies in whose name the seducer moses had led away his people to ruin; he himself, his wife, and his child had always been on friendly terms with the egyptians. indeed, many knew him, he was a money-lender and when the rest of his nation had set forth on their pilgrimage, be had concealed himself, hoping to pursue his dishonest calling and sustain no loss. some of his debtors, however, were among the infuriated populace, though even without their presence he was a doomed man; for he was the first person on whom the excited mob could show that they were resolved upon revenge. rushing upon him with savage yells, the lifeless bodies of the luckless wretch and his family were soon strewn over the ground. nobody knew who had done this first bloody deed; too many had dashed forward at once. not a few others who had remained in the houses and huts also fell victims to the people's thirst for vengeance, though many had time to escape, and while streams of blood were flowing, axes were wielded, and walls and doors were battered down with beams and posts to efface the abodes of the detested race from the earth. the burning embers brought by some frantic women were extinguished and trampled out; the more prudent warned them of the peril that would menace their own homes and the whole city of tanis, if the strangers' quarter should be fired. so the hebrews' dwellings escaped the flames; but as the sun mounted higher dense clouds of white dust shrouded the abodes they had forsaken, and where, only yesterday, thousands of people had possessed happy homes and numerous herds had quenched their thirst in fresh waters, the glowing soil was covered with rubbish and stone, shattered beams, and broken woodwork. dogs and cats left behind by their owners wandered among the ruins and were joined by women and children who lived in the beggars' hovels on the edge of the necropolis close by, and now, holding their hands over their mouths, searched amid the stifling dust and rubbish for any household utensil or food which might have been left by the fugitives and overlooked by the mob. during the afternoon fai, the second prophet of amon, was carried past the ruined quarter. he did not come to gloat over the spectacle of destruction, it was his nearest way from the necropolis to his home. yet a satisfied smile hovered around his stern mouth as he noticed how thoroughly the people had performed their work. his own purpose, it is true, had not been fulfilled, the leader of the fugitives had escaped their vengeance, but hate, though never sated, can yet be gratified. even the smallest pangs of an enemy are a satisfaction, and the priest had just come from the grieving pharaoh. he had not succeeded in releasing him entirely from the bonds of the hebrew magician, but he had loosened them. the resolute, ambitious man, by no means wont to hold converse with himself, had repeated over and over again, while sitting alone in the sanctuary reflecting on what had occurred and what yet remained to be done, these little words, and the words were: "bless me too!" pharaoh had uttered them, and the entreaty had been addressed neither to old rui, the chief priest, nor to himself, the only persons who could possess the privilege of blessing the monarch, nay--but to the most atrocious wretch that breathed, to the foreigner the hebrew, mesu, whom he hated more than any other man on earth. "bless me too!" the pious entreaty, which wells so trustingly from the human heart in the hour of anguish, had pierced his soul like a dagger. it had seemed as if such a petition, uttered by the royal lips to such a man, had broken the crozier in the hand of the whole body of egyptian priests, stripped the panther-skin from their shoulders, and branded with shame the whole people whom he loved. he knew full well that moses was one of the wisest sages who had ever graduated from the egyptian schools, knew that pharaoh was completely under the thrall of this man who had grown up in the royal household and been a friend of his father rameses the great. he had seen the monarch pardon deeds committed by moses which would have cost the life of any other mortal, though he were the highest noble in the land--and what must the hebrew be to pharaoh, the sun-god incarnate on the throne of the world, when standing by the death-bed of his own son, he could yield to the impulse to uplift his hands to him and cry "bless me too!" he had told himself all these things, maturely considered them, yet he would not yield to the might of the strangers. the destruction of this man and all his race was in his eyes the holiest, most urgent duty--to accomplish which he would not shrink even from assailing the throne. nay, in his eyes pharaoh menephtah's shameful entreaty: "bless me too!" had deprived him of all the rights of sovereignty. moses had murdered pharaoh's first-born son, but he and the aged chief- priest of amon held the weal or woe of the dead prince's soul in their hands,--a weapon sharp and strong, for he knew the monarch's weak and vacillating heart. if the high-priest of amon--the only man whose authority surpassed his own--did not thwart him by some of the unaccountable whims of age, it would be the merest trifle to force pharaoh to yield; but any concession made to-day would be withdrawn to-morrow, should the hebrew succeed in coming between the irresolute monarch and his egyptian advisers. this very day the unworthy son of the great rameses had covered his face and trembled like a timid fawn at the bare mention of the sorcerer's name, and to-morrow he might curse him and pronounce a death sentence upon him. perhaps he might be induced to do this, and on the following one he would recall him and again sue for his blessing. down with such monarchs! let the feeble reed on the throne be hurled into the dust! already he had chosen a successor from among the princes of the blood, and when the time was ripe--when rui, the high-priest of amon, had passed the limits of life decreed by the gods to mortals and closed his eyes in death, he, bai, would occupy his place, a new life for egypt, and moses and his race would commence would perish. while the prophet was absorbed in these reflections a pair of ravens fluttered around his head and, croaking loudly, alighted on the dusty ruins of one of the shattered houses. he involuntarily glanced around him and noted that they had perched on the corpse of a murdered hebrew, lying half concealed amid the rubbish. a smile which the priests of lower rank who surrounded his litter knew not how to interpret, flitted over his shrewd, defiant countenance. chapter iii. hornecht, commander of the archers, was among the prophet's companions. indeed they were on terms of intimacy, for the soldier was a leader amid the nobles who had conspired to dethrone pharaoh. as they approached nun's ruined dwelling, the prophet pointed to the wreck and said: "the former owner of this abode is the only hebrew i would gladly spare. he was a man of genuine worth, and his son, hosea. . . ." "will be one of us," the captain interrupted. "there are few better men in pharaoh's army, and," he added, lowering his voice, "i rely on him when the decisive hour comes." "we will discuss that before fewer witnesses," replied bai. "but i am greatly indebted to him. during the libyan war--you are aware of the fact--i fell into the hands of the enemy, and hosea, at the head of his little troop, rescued me from the savage hordes." sinking his tones, he went on in his most instructive manner, as though apologizing for the mischief wrought: "such is the course of earthly affairs! where a whole body of men merit punishment, the innocent must suffer with the guilty. under such circumstances the gods themselves cannot separate the individual from the multitude; nay, even the innocent animals share the penalty. look at the flocks of doves fluttering around the ruins; they are seeking their cotes in vain. and the cat with her kittens yonder. go and take them, beki; it is our duty to save the sacred animals from starving to death." and this man, who had just been planning the destruction of so many of his fellow-mortals, was so warmly interested in kindly caring for the senseless beasts, that he stopped his litter and watched his servants catch the cats. this was less quickly accomplished than he had hoped; for one had taken refuge in the nearest cellar, whose opening was too narrow for the men to follow. the youngest, a slender nubian, undertook the task; but he had scarcely approached the hole when he started back, calling: "there is a human being there who seems to be alive. yes, he is raising his hand. it is a boy or a youth, and assuredly no slave; his head is covered with long waving locks, and--a sunbeam is shining into the cellar--i can see a broad gold circlet on his arm." "perhaps it is one of nun's kindred, who has been forgotten," said hornecht, and bai eagerly added: "it is an interposition from the gods! their sacred animals have pointed out the way by which i can render a service to the man to whom i am so much indebted. try to get in, beki, and bring the youth out." meanwhile the nubian had removed the stone whose fall had choked the opening, and soon after he lifted toward his companions a motionless young form which they brought into the open air and bore to a well whose cool water speedily restored consciousness. as he regained his senses, he rubbed his eyes, gazed around him bewildered, as if uncertain where he was, then his head drooped as though overwhelmed with grief and horror, revealing that the locks at the back were matted together with black clots of dried blood. the prophet had the deep wound, inflicted on the lad by a falling stone, washed at the well and, after it had been bandaged, summoned him to his own litter, which was protected from the sun. the young hebrew, bringing a message, had arrived at the house of his grandfather nun, before sunrise, after a long night walk from pithom, called by the hebrews succoth, but finding it deserted had lain down in one of the rooms to rest a while. roused by the shouts of the infuriated mob, he had heard the curses on his race which rang through the whole quarter and fled to the cellar. the roof, which had injured him in its fall, proved his deliverance; for the clouds of dust which had concealed everything as it came down hid him from the sight of the rioters. the prophet looked at him intently and, though the youth was unwashed, wan, and disfigured by the bloody bandage round his head, he saw that the lad he had recalled to life was a handsome, well-grown boy just nearing manhood. his sympathy was roused, and his stern glance softened as he asked kindly whence he came and what had brought him to tanis; for the rescued youth's features gave no clue to his race. he might readily have declared himself an egyptian, but he frankly admitted that he was a grandson of nun. he had just attained his eighteenth year, his name was ephraim, like that of his forefather, the son of joseph, and he had come to visit his grandfather. the words expressed steadfast self-respect and pride in his illustrious ancestry. he delayed a short time ere answering the question whether he brought a message; but soon collected his thoughts and, looking the prophet fearlessly in the face, replied: "whoever you may be, i have been taught to speak the truth, so i will tell you that i have another relative in tanis, hosea, the son of nun, a chief in pharaoh's army, for whom i have a message." "and i will tell you," the priest replied, "that it was for the sake of this very hosea i tarried here and ordered my servants to bring you out of the ruined house. i owe him a debt of gratitude, and though most of your nation have committed deeds worthy of the harshest punishment, for the sake of his worth you shall remain among us free and unharmed." the boy raised his eyes to the priest with a proud, fiery glance, but ere he could find words, bai went on with encouraging kindness. "i believe i can read in your face, my lad, that you have come to seek admittance to pharaoh's army under your uncle hosea. your figure is well-suited to the trade of war, and you surely are not wanting in courage." a smile of flattered vanity rested on ephraim's lips, and toying with the broad gold bracelet on his arm, perhaps unconsciously, he replied with eagerness: "ay, my lord, i have often proved my courage in the hunting field; but at home we have plenty of sheep and cattle, which even now i call my own, and it seems to me a more enviable lot to wander freely and rule the shepherds than to obey the commands of others." "aha!" said the priest. "perhaps hosea may instil different and better views. to rule--a lofty ambition for youth. the misfortune is that we who have attained it are but servants whose burdens grow heavier with the increasing number of those who obey us. you understand me, hornecht, and you, my lad, will comprehend my meaning later, when you become the palm- tree the promise of your youth foretells. but we are losing time. who sent you to hosea?" the youth cast down his eyes irresolutely, but when the prophet broke the silence with the query: "and what has become of the frankness you were taught?" he responded promptly and resolutely: "i came for the sake of a woman whom you know not." "a woman?" the prophet repeated, casting an enquiring glance at hornecht. "when a bold warrior and a fair woman seek each other, the hathors"--[the egyptian goddesses of love, who are frequently represented with cords in their hands,]--are apt to appear and use the binding cords; but it does not befit a servant of the divinity to witness such goings on, so i forbear farther questioning. take charge of the lad, captain, and aid him to deliver his message to hosea. the only doubt is whether he is in the city." "no," the soldier answered, "but he is expected with thousands of his men at the armory to-day." "then may the hathors, who are partial to love messengers, bring these two together to-morrow at latest," said the priest. but the lad indignantly retorted: "i am the bearer of no love message." the prophet, pleased with the bold rejoinder, answered pleasantly: "i had forgotten that i was accosting a young shepherd-prince." then he added in graver tones: "when you have found hosea, greet him from me and tell him that bai, the second prophet of amon sought to discharge a part of the debt of gratitude he owed for his release from the hands of the libyans by extending his protection to you, his nephew. perhaps, my brave boy, you do not know that you have escaped as if by a miracle a double peril; the savage populace would no more have spared your life than would the stifling dust of the falling houses. remember this, and tell hosea also from me, bai, that i am sure when he beholds the woe wrought by the magic arts of one of your race on the house of pharaoh, to which he vowed fealty, and with it on this city and the whole country, he will tear himself with abhorrence from his kindred. they have fled like cowards, after dealing the sorest blows, robbing of their dearest possessions those among whom they dwelt in peace, whose protection they enjoyed, and who for long years have given them work and ample food. all this they have done and, if i know him aright, he will turn his back upon men who have committed such crimes. tell him also that this has been voluntarily done by the hebrew officers and men under the command of the syrian aarsu. this very morning--hosea will have heard the news from other sources--they offered sacrifices not only to baal and seth, their own gods, whom so many of you were ready to serve ere the accursed sorcerer, mesu, seduced you, but also to father amon and the sacred nine of our eternal deities. if he will do the same, we will rise hand in hand to the highest place, of that he may be sure--and well he merits it. the obligation still due him i shall gratefully discharge in other ways, which must for the present remain secret. but you may tell your uncle now from me that i shall find means to protect nun, his noble father, when the vengeance of the gods and of pharaoh falls upon the rest of your race. already--tell him this also--the sword is whetted, and a pitiless judgment is impending. bid him ask himself what fugitive shepherds can do against the power of the army among whose ablest leaders he is numbered. is your father still alive, my son?" "no, he was borne to his last resting-place long ago," replied the youth in a faltering voice. was the fever of his wound attacking him? or did the shame of belonging to a race capable of acts so base overwhelm the young heart? or did the lad cling to his kindred, and was it wrath and resentment at hearing them so bitterly reviled which made his color vary from red to pale and roused such a tumult in his soul that he was scarcely capable of speech? no matter! this lad was certainly no suitable bearer of the message the prophet desired to send to his uncle, and bai beckoned to hornecht to come with him under the shadow of a broad-limbed sycamore-tree. the point was to secure hosea's services in the army at any cost, so he laid his hand on his friend's shoulder, saying: "you know that it was my wife who won you and others over to our cause. she serves us better and more eagerly than many a man, and while i appreciate your daughter's beauty, she never tires of lauding the winning charm of her innocence." "and kasana is to take part in the plot?" cried the soldier angrily. "not as an active worker, like my wife,--certainly not." "she would be ill-suited to such a task," replied the other in a calmer tone, "she is scarcely more than a child." "yet through her aid we might bring to our cause a man whose good-will seems to me priceless." "you mean hosea?" asked the captain, his brow darkening again, but the prophet added: "and if i do? is he still a real hebrew? can you deem it unworthy the daughter of a distinguished warrior to bestow her band on a man who, if our plans prosper, will be commander-in-chief of all the troops in the land?" "no, my lord!" cried hornecht. "but one of my motives for rebelling against pharaoh and upholding siptah is that the king's mother was a foreigner, while our own blood courses through siptah's veins. the mother decides the race to which a man belongs, and hosea's mother was a hebrew woman. he is my friend, i value his talents; kasana likes him. . . ." "yet you desire a more distinguished son-in-law?" interrupted his companion. "how is our arduous enterprise to prosper, if those who are to peril their lives for its success consider the first sacrifice too great? you say that your daughter favors hosea?" "yes, she did care for him," the soldier answered; "yes, he was her heart's desire. but i compelled her to obey me, and now that she is a widow, am i to give her to the man whom--the gods alone know with how much difficulty--i forced her to resign? when was such an act heard of in egypt?" "ever since the men and women who dwell by the nile have submitted, for the sake of a great cause, to demands opposed to their wishes," replied the priest. "consider all this, and remember that hosea's ancestress--he boasted of it in your own presence--was an egyptian, the daughter of a man of my own class." "how many generations have passed to the tomb since?" "no matter! it brings us into closer relations with him. that must suffice. farewell until this evening. meanwhile, will you extend your hospitality to hosea's nephew and commend him to your fair daughter's nursing; he seems in sore need of care." chapter iv. the house of hornecht, like nearly every other dwelling in the city, was the scene of the deepest mourning. the men had shaved their hair, and the women had put dust on their foreheads. the archer's wife had died long before, but his daughter and her women received him with waving veils and loud lamentations; for the astrologer, his brother-in-law, had lost both his first-born son and his grandson, and the plague had snatched its victims from the homes of many a friend. but the senseless youth soon demanded all the care the women could bestow, and after bathing him and binding a healing ointment on the dangerous wound in his head, strong wine and food were placed before him, after which, refreshed and strengthened, he obeyed the summons of the daughter of his host. the dust-covered, worn-out fellow was transformed into a handsome youth. his perfumed hair fell in long curling locks from beneath the fresh white bandage, and gold-bordered egyptian robes from the wardrobe of kasana's dead husband covered his pliant bronzed limbs. he seemed pleased with the finery of his garments, which exhaled a subtle odor of spikenard new to his senses; for the eyes in his handsome face sparkled brilliantly. it was many a day since the captain's daughter, herself a woman of unusual beauty and charm, had seen a handsomer youth. within the year she had married a man she did not love kasana had returned a widow to her father's house, which lacked a mistress, and the great wealth bequeathed to her, at her husband's death, made it possible for her to bring into the soldier's unpretending home the luxury and ease which to her had now become a second nature. her father, a stern man prone to sudden fits of passion, now yielded absolutely to her will. formerly he had pitilessly enforced his own, compelling the girl of fifteen to wed a man many years her senior. this had been done because he perceived that kasana had given her young heart to hosea, the soldier, and he deemed it beneath his dignity to receive the hebrew, who at that time held no prominent position in the army, as his son-in-law. an egyptian girl had no choice save to accept the husband chosen by her father and kasana submitted, though she shed so many bitter tears that the archer rejoiced when, in obedience to his will, she had wedded an unloved husband. but even as a widow kasana's heart clung to the hebrew. when the army was in the field her anxiety was ceaseless; day and night were spent in restlessness and watching. when news came from the troops she asked only about hosea, and her father with deep annoyance attributed to her love for the hebrew her rejection of suitor after suitor. as a widow she had a right to the bestowal of her own hand, and the tender, gentle-natured woman astonished hornecht by the resolute decision displayed, not alone to him and lovers of her own rank, but to prince siptah, whose cause the captain had espoused as his own. to-day kasana expressed her delight at the hebrew's return with such entire frankness and absence of reserve that the quick-tempered man rushed out of the house lest he might be tempted into some thoughtless act or word. his young guest was left to the care of his daughter and her nurse. how deeply the lad's sensitive nature was impressed by the airy rooms, the open verandas supported by many pillars, the brilliant hues of the painting, the artistic household utensils, the soft cushions, and the sweet perfume everywhere! all these things were novel and strange to the son of a herdsman who had always lived within the grey walls of a spacious, but absolutely plain abode, and spent months together in canvas tents among shepherds and flocks, nay was more accustomed to be in the open air than under any shelter! he felt as though some wizard had borne him into a higher and more beautiful world, where he was entirely at home in his magnificent garb, with his perfumed curls and limbs fresh from the bath. true, the whole earth was fair, even out in the pastures among the flocks or round the fire in front of the tent in the cool of the evening, when the shepherds sang, the hunters told tales of daring exploits, and the stars sparkled brightly overhead. but all these pleasures were preceded by weary, hateful labor; here it was a delight merely to see and to breathe and, when the curtains parted and the young widow, giving him a friendly greeting, made him sit down opposite to her, sometimes questioning him and sometimes listening with earnest sympathy to his replies, he almost imagined his senses had failed him as they had done under the ruins of the fallen house, and he was enjoying the sweetest of dreams. the feeling that threatened to stifle him and frequently interrupted the flow of words was the rapture bestowed upon him by great aschera, the companion of baal, of whom the phoenician traders who supplied the shepherds with many good things had told him such marvels, and whom the stern miriam forbade him ever to name at home. his family had instilled into his young heart hatred of the egyptians as the oppressors of his race, but could they be so wicked, could he detest a people among whom were creatures like this lovely, gentle woman, who gazed into his eyes so softly, so tenderly, whose voice fell on his ear like harmonious music, and whose glance made his blood course so swiftly that he could scarce endure it and pressed his hand upon his heart to quiet its wild pulsation. kasana sat opposite to him on a seat covered with a panther-skin, drawing the fine wool from the distaff. he had pleased her and she had received him kindly because he was related to the man whom she had loved from childhood. she imagined that she could trace a resemblance between him and hosea, though the youth lacked the grave earnestness of the man to whom she had yielded her young heart, she knew not why nor when, though he had never sought her love. a lotus blossom rested among her dark waving curls, and its stem fell in a graceful curve on her bent neck, round which clustered a mass of soft locks. when she lifted her eyes to his, he felt as though two springs had opened to pour floods of bliss into his young breast, and he had already clasped in greeting the dainty hand which held the yarn. she now questioned him about hosea and the woman who had sent the message, whether she was young and fair and whether any tie of love bound her to his uncle. ephraim laughed merrily. she who had sent him was so grave and earnest that the bare thought of her being capable of any tender emotion wakened his mirth. as to her beauty, he had never asked himself the question. the young widow interpreted the laugh as the reply she most desired and, much relieved, laid aside the spindle and invited ephraim to go into the garden. how fragrant and full of bloom it was, how well-kept were the beds, the paths, the arbors, and the pond. his unpretending home adjoined a dreary yard, wholly unadorned and filled with pens for sheep and cattle. yet he knew that at some future day he would be owner of great possessions, for he was the sole child and heir of a wealthy father and his mother was the daughter of the rich nun. the men servants had told him this more than once, and it angered him to see that his own home was scarcely better than hornecht's slave-quarters, to which kasana had called his attention. during their stroll through the garden ephraim was asked to help her cull the flowers and, when the basket he carried was filled, she invited him to sit with her in a bower and aid her to twine the wreaths. these were intended for the dear departed. her uncle and a beloved cousin--who bore some resemblance to ephraim--had been snatched away the night before by the plague which his people had brought upon tanis. from the street which adjoined the garden-wall they heard the wails of women lamenting the dead or bearing a corpse to the tomb. once, when the cries of woe rose more loudly and clearly than ever, kasana gently reproached him for all that the people of tanis had suffered through the hebrews, and asked if he could deny that the egyptians had good reason to hate a race which had brought such anguish upon them. it was hard for ephraim to find a fitting answer; he had been told that the god of his race had punished the egyptians to rescue his own people from shame and bondage, and he could neither condemn nor scorn the men of his own blood. so he kept silence that he might neither speak falsely nor blaspheme; but kasana allowed him no peace, and he at last replied that aught which caused her sorrow was grief to him, but his people had no power over life and health, and when a hebrew was ill, he often sent for an egyptian physician. what had occurred was doubtless the will of the great god of his fathers, whose power far surpassed the might of any other deity. he himself was a hebrew, yet she would surely believe his assurance that he was guiltless of the plague and would gladly recall her uncle and cousin to life, had he the power to do so. for her sake he would undertake the most difficult enterprise. she smiled kindly and replied: "my poor boy! if i see any guilt in you, it is only that you are one of a race which knows no ruth, no patience. our beloved, hapless dead! they must even lose the lamentations of their kindred; for the house where they rest is plague-stricken and no one is permitted to enter." she silently wiped her eyes and went on arranging her garlands, but tear after tear coursed down her cheeks. ephraim knew not what to say, and mutely handed her the leaves and blossoms. whenever his hand touched hers a thrill ran through his veins. his head and the wound began to ache, and he sometimes felt a slight chill. he knew that the fever was increasing, as it had done once before when he nearly lost his life in the red disease; but he was ashamed to own it and battled bravely against his pain. when the sun was nearing the horizon hornecht entered the garden. he had already seen hosea, and though heartily glad to greet his old friend once more, it had vexed him that the soldier's first enquiry was for his daughter. he did not withhold this from the young widow, but his flashing eyes betrayed the displeasure with which he delivered the hebrew's message. then, turning to ephraim, he told him that hosea and his men would encamp outside of the city, pitching their tents, on account of the pestilence, between tanis and the sea. they would soon march by. his uncle sent ephraim word that he must seek him in his tent. when he noticed that the youth was aiding his daughter to weave the garlands, he smiled, and said: "only this morning this young fellow declared his intention of remaining free and a ruler all his life. now he has taken service with you, kasana. you need not blush, young friend. if either your mistress or your uncle can persuade you to join us and embrace the noblest trade-- that of the soldier--so much the better for you. look at me! i've wielded the bow more than forty years and still rejoice in my profession. i must obey, it is true, but it is also my privilege to command, and the thousands who obey me are not sheep and cattle, but brave men. consider the matter again. he would make a splendid leader of the archers. what say you, kasana?" "certainly," replied the young widow. and she was about to say more, but the regular tramp of approaching troops was heard on the other side of the garden-wall. a slight flush crimsoned kasana's cheeks, her eyes sparkled with a light that startled ephraim and, regardless of her father or her guest, she darted past the pond, across paths and flower-beds, to a grassy bank beside the wall, whence she gazed eagerly toward the road and the armed host which soon marched by. hosea, in full armor, headed his men. as he passed hornecht's garden he turned his grave head, and seeing kasana lowered his battle-axe in friendly salutation. ephraim had followed the captain of the archers, who pointed out the youth's uncle, saying: "shining armor would become you also, and when drums are beating, pipes squeaking shrilly, and banners waving, a man marches as lightly as if he had wings. to-day the martial music is hushed by the terrible woe brought upon us by that hebrew villain. true, hosea is one of his race yet, though i cannot forget that fact, i must admit that he is a genuine soldier, a model for the rising generation. tell him what i think of him on this score. now bid farewell to kasana quickly and follow the men; the little side-door in the wall is open." he turned towards the house as he spoke, and ephraim held out his hand to bid the young widow farewell. she clasped it, but hurriedly withdrew her own, exclaiming anxiously: "how burning hot your hand is! you have a fever!" "no, no," faltered the youth, but even while speaking he fell upon his knees and the veil of unconsciousness descended upon the sufferer's soul, which had been the prey of so many conflicting emotions. kasana was alarmed, but speedily regained her composure and began to cool his brow and head by bathing them with water from the neighboring pond. yes, in his boyhood the man she loved must have resembled this youth. her heart throbbed more quickly and, while supporting his head in her hands, she gently kissed him. she supposed him to be unconscious, but the refreshing water had already dispelled the brief swoon, and he felt the caress with a thrill of rapture. but he kept his eyes closed, and would gladly have lain for a life-time with his head pillowed on her breast in the hope that her lips might once more meet his. but instead of kissing him a second time she called loudly for aid. he raised himself, gave one wild, ardent look into her face and, ere she could stay him, rushed like a strong man to the garden gate, flung it open, and followed the troops. he soon overtook the rear ranks, passed on in advance of the others, and at last reached their leader's side and, calling his uncle by name, gave his own. hosea, in his joy and astonishment, held out his arms, but ere ephraim could fall upon his breast, he again lost consciousness, and stalwart soldiers bore the senseless lad into the tent the quartermaster had already pitched on a dune by the sea. chapter v. it was midnight. a fire was blazing in front of hosea's tent, and he sat alone before it, gazing mournfully now into the flames and anon over the distant country. inside the canvas walls ephraim was lying on his uncle's camp-bed. the surgeon who attended the soldiers had bandaged the youth's wounds, given him an invigorating cordial, and commanded him to keep still; for the violence with which the fever had attacked the lad alarmed him. but in spite of the leech's prescription ephraim continued restless. sometimes kasana's image rose before his eyes, increasing the fever of his over-heated blood, sometimes he recalled the counsel to become a warrior like his uncle. the advice seemed wise--at least he tried to persuade himself that it was--because it promised honor and fame, but in reality he wished to follow it because it would bring her for whom his soul yearned nearer to him. then his pride rose as he remembered the insults which she and her father had heaped on those to whom by every tie of blood and affection, he belonged. his hand clenched as he thought of the ruined home of his grandfather, whom he had ever regarded one of the noblest of men. nor was his message forgotten. miriam had repeated it again and again, and his clear memory retained every syllable, for he had unweariedly iterated it to himself during his solitary walk to tanis. he was striving to do the same thing now but, ere he could finish, his mind always reverted to thoughts of kasana. the leech had told hosea to forbid the sufferer to talk and, when the youth attempted to deliver his message, the uncle ordered him to keep silence. then the soldier arranged his pillow with a mother's tenderness, gave him his medicine, and kissed him on the forehead. at last he took his seat by the fire before the tent and only rose to give ephraim a drink when he saw by the stars that an hour had passed. the flames illumined hosea's bronzed features, revealing the countenance of a man who had confronted many a peril and vanquished all by steadfast perseverance and wise consideration. his black eyes had an imperious look, and his full, firmly-compressed lips suggested a quick temper and, still more, the iron will of a resolute man. his broad-shouldered form leaned against some lances thrust crosswise into the earth, and when he passed his strong hand through his thick black locks or smoothed his dark beard, and his eyes sparkled with ire, it was evident that his soul was stirred by conflicting emotions and that he stood on the threshold of a great resolve. the lion was resting, but when he starts up, let his foes beware! his soldiers had often compared their fearless, resolute leader, with his luxuriant hair, to the king of beasts, and as he now shook his fist, while the muscles of his bronzed arm swelled as though they would burst the gold armlet that encircled them, and his eyes flashed fire, his awe- inspiring mien did not invite approach. westward, the direction toward which his eyes were turned, lay the necropolis and the ruined strangers' quarter. but a few hours ago he had led his troops through the ruins around which the ravens were circling and past his father's devastated home. silently, as duty required, he marched on. not until he halted to seek quarters for the soldiers did he hear from hornecht, the captain of the archers, what had happened during the night. he listened silently, without the quiver of an eye-lash, or a word of questioning, until his men had pitched their tents. he had but just gone to rest when a hebrew maiden, spite of the menaces of the guard, made her way in to implore him, in the name of eliab, one of the oldest slaves of his family, to go with her to the old man, her grandfather. the latter, whose weakness prevented journeying, had been left behind, and directly after the departure of the hebrews he and his wife had been carried on an ass to the little but near the harbor, which generous nun, his master, had bestowed on the faithful slave. the grand-daughter had been left to care for the feeble pair, and now the old servant's heart yearned for one more sight of his lord's first-born son whom, when a child, he had carried in his arms. he had charged the girl to tell hosea that nun had promised his people that his son would abandon the egyptians and cleave to his own race. the tribe of ephraim, nay the whole hebrew nation had hailed these tidings with the utmost joy. eliab would give him fuller details; she herself had been well nigh dazed with weeping and anxiety. he would earn the richest blessings if he would only follow her. the soldier realized at once that he must fulfil this desire, but he was obliged to defer his visit to the old slave until the nest morning. the messenger, however, even in her haste, had told him many incidents she had seen herself or heard from others. at last she left him. he rekindled the fire and, so long as the flames burned brightly, his gaze was bent with a gloomy, thoughtful expression upon the west. not till they had devoured the fuel and merely flickered with a faint bluish light around the charred embers did he fix his eyes on the whirling sparks. and the longer he did so, the deeper, the more unconquerable became the conflict in his soul, whose every energy, but yesterday, had been bent upon a single glorious goal. the war against the libyan rebels had detained him eighteen months from his home, and he had seen ten crescent moons grow full since any news had reached him of his kindred. a few weeks before he had been ordered to return, and when to-day he approached nearer and nearer to the obelisks towering above tanis, the city of rameses, his heart had pulsed with as much joy and hopefulness as if the man of thirty were once more a boy. within a few short hours he should again see his beloved, noble father, who had needed great deliberation and much persuasion from hosea's mother--long since dead--ere he would permit his son to follow the bent of his inclinations and enter upon a military life in pharaoh's army. he had anticipated that very day surprising him with the news that he had been promoted above men many years his seniors and of egyptian lineage. instead of the slights nun had dreaded, hosea's gallant bearing, courage and, as he modestly added, good-fortune had gained him promotion, yet he had remained a hebrew. when he felt the necessity of offering to some god sacrifices and prayer, he had bowed before seth, to whose temple nun had led him when a child, and whom in those days all the people in goshen in whose veins flowed semitic blood had worshipped. but he also owed allegiance to another god, not the god of his fathers, but the deity revered by all the egyptians who had been initiated. he remained unknown to the masses, who could not have understood him; yet he was adored not only by the adepts but by the majority of those who had obtained high positions in civil or military life-whether they were servants of the divinity or not--and hosea, the initiated and the stranger, knew him also. everybody understood when allusion was made to "the god," the "sum of all," the "creator of himself," and the "great one." hymns extolled him, inscriptions on the monuments, which all could read, spoke of him, the one god, who manifested himself to the world, pervaded the universe, and existed throughout creation not alone as the vital spark animates the human organism, but as himself the sum of creation, the world with its perpetual growth, decay, and renewal, obeying the laws he had himself ordained. his spirit, existing in every form of nature, dwelt also in man, and wherever a mortal gazed he could discern the rule of the "one." nothing could be imagined without him, therefore he was one like the god of israel. nothing could be created nor happen on earth apart from him, therefore, like jehovah, he was omnipotent. hosea had long regarded both as alike in spirit, varying only in name. whoever adored one was a servant of the other, so the warrior could have entered his father's presence with a clear conscience, and told him that although in the service of the king he had remained loyal to the god of his nation. another thought had made his heart pulse faster and more joyously as he saw in the distance the pylons and obelisks of tanis; for on countless marches through the silent wilderness and in many a lonely camp he had beheld in imagination a virgin of his own race, whom he had known as a singular child, stirred by marvellous thoughts, and whom, just before leading his troops to the libyan war, he had again met, now a dignified maiden of stern and unapproachable beauty. she had journeyed from succoth to tanis to attend his mother's funeral, and her image had been deeply imprinted on his heart, as his--he ventured to hope--on hers. she had since become a prophetess, who heard the voice of her god. while the other maidens of his people were kept in strict seclusion, she was free to come and go at will, even among men, and spite of her hate of the egyptians and of hosea's rank among them, she did not deny that it was grief to part and that she would never cease thinking of him. his future wife must be as strong, as earnest, as himself. miriam was both, and quite eclipsed a younger and brighter vision which he had once conjured before his memory with joy. he loved children, and a lovelier girl than kasana he had never met, either in egypt or in alien lands. the interest with which the fair daughter of his companion-in-arms watched his deeds and his destiny, the modest yet ardent devotion afterwards displayed by the much sought-after young widow, who coldly repelled all other suitors, had been a delight to him in times of peace. prior to her marriage he had thought of her as the future mistress of his home, but her wedding another, and hornecht's oft-repeated declaration that he would never give his child to a foreigner, had hurt his pride and cooled his passion. then he met miriam and was fired with an ardent desire to make her his wife. still, on the homeward march the thought of seeing kasana again had been a pleasant one. it was fortunate he no longer wished to wed hornecht's daughter; it could have led to naught save trouble. both hebrews and egyptians held it to be an abomination to eat at the same board, or use the same seats or knives. though he himself was treated by his comrades as one of themselves, and had often heard kasana's father speak kindly of his kindred, yet "strangers" were hateful in the eyes of the captain of the archers, and of all free egyptians. he had found in miriam the noblest of women. he hoped that kasana might make another happy. to him she would ever be the charming child from whom we expect nothing save the delight of her presence. he had come to ask from her, as a tried friend ever ready for leal service, a joyous glance. from miriam he would ask herself, with all her majesty and beauty, for he had borne the solitude of the camp long enough, and now that on his return no mother's arms opened to welcome him, he felt for the first time the desolation of a single life. he longed to enjoy the time of peace when, after dangers and privations of every kind, he could lay aside his weapons. it was his duty to lead a wife home to his father's hearth and to provide against the extinction of the noble race of which he was the sole representative. ephraim was the son of his sister. filled with the happiest thoughts, he had advanced toward tannis and, on reaching the goal of all his hopes and wishes, found it lying before him like a ripening grain-field devastated by hail and swarms of locusts. as if in derision, fate led him first to the hebrew quarter. a heap of dusty ruins marked the site of the house where he had spent his childhood, and for which his heart had longed; and where his loved ones had watched his departure, beggars were now greedily searching for plunder among the debris. the first man to greet him in tanis was kasana's father. instead of a friendly glance from her eyes, he had received from him tidings that pierced his inmost heart. he had expected to bring home a wife, and the house where she was to reign as mistress was razed to the ground. the father, for whose blessing he longed, and who was to have been gladdened by his advancement, had journeyed far away and must henceforward be the foe of the sovereign to whom he owed his prosperity. he had been proud of rising, despite his origin, to place and power. now he would be able, as leader of a great host, to show the prowess of which he was capable. his inventive brain had never lacked schemes which, if executed by his superiors, would have had good results; now he could fulfil them according to his own will, and instead of the tool become the guiding power. these reflections had awakened a keen sense of exultation in his breast and winged his steps on his homeward march and, now that he had reached the goal, so long desired, must he turn back to join the shepherds and builders to whom--it now seemed a sore misfortune--he belonged by the accident of birth and ancestry, though, denial was futile, he felt as utterly alien to the hebrews as he was to the libyans whom he had confronted on the battle-field. in almost every pursuit he valued, he had nothing in common with his people. he had believed he might truthfully answer yes to his father's enquiry whether he had returned a hebrew, yet he now felt it would be only a reluctant and half-hearted assent. he clung with his whole soul to the standards beneath which he had gone to battle and might now himself lead to victory. was it possible to wrench his heart from them, renounce what his own deeds had won? yet eliab's granddaughter had told him that the hebrews expected him to leave the army and join them. a message from his father must soon reach him-- and among the hebrews a son never opposed a parent's command. there was still another to whom implicit obedience was due, pharaoh, to whom he had solemnly vowed loyal service, sworn to follow his summons without hesitation or demur, through fire and water, by day and night. how often he had branded the soldier who deserted to the foe or rebelled against the orders of his commander as a base scoundrel and villain, and by his orders many a renegade from his standard had died a shameful death on the gallows under his own eyes. was he now to commit the deed for which he had despised and killed others? his prompt decision was known throughout the army, how quickly in the most difficult situations he could resolve upon the right course and carry it into action; but during this dark and lonely hour of the night he seemed to himself a mere swaying reed, and felt as helpless as a forsaken orphan. wrath against himself preyed upon him, and when he thrust a spear into the flames, scattering the embers and sending a shower of bright sparks upward, it was rage at his own wavering will that guided his hand. had recent events imposed upon him the virile duty of vengeance, doubt and hesitation would have vanished and his father's summons would have spurred him on to action; but who had been the heaviest sufferers here? surely it was the egyptians whom moses' curse had robbed of thousands of beloved lives, while the hebrews had escaped their revenge by flight. his wrath had been kindled by the destruction of the hebrews' houses, but he saw no sufficient cause for a bloody revenge, when he remembered the unspeakable anguish inflicted upon pharaoh and his subjects by the men of his own race. nay; he had nothing to avenge; he seemed to himself like a man who beholds his father and mother in mortal peril, owns that he cannot save both, yet knows that while staking his life to rescue one he must leave the other to perish. if he obeyed the summons of his people, he would lose his honor, which he had kept as untarnished as his brazen helm, and with it the highest goal of his life; if he remained loyal to pharaoh and his oath, he must betray his own race, have all his future days darkened by his father's curse, and resign the brightest dream he cherished; for miriam was a true child of her people and he would be blest indeed if her lofty soul could be as ardent in love as it was bitter in hate. stately and beautiful, but with gloomy eyes and hand upraised in warning, her image rose before his mental vision as he sat gazing over the smouldering fire out into the darkness. and now the pride of his manhood rebelled, and it seemed base cowardice to cast aside, from dread of a woman's wrath and censure, all that a warrior held most dear. "nay, nay," he murmured, and the scale containing duty, love, and filial obedience suddenly kicked the beam. he was what he was--the leader of ten thousand men in pharaoh's army. he had vowed fealty to him--and to none other. let his people fly from the egyptian yoke, if they desired. he, hosea, scorned flight. bondage had sorely oppressed them, but the highest in the land had received him as an equal and held him worthy of the loftiest honor. to repay them with treachery and desertion was foreign to his nature and, drawing a long breath, he sprang to his feet with the conviction that he had chosen aright. a fair woman and the weak yearning of a loving heart should not make him a recreant to grave duties and the loftiest purposes of his life. "i will stay!" cried a loud voice in his breast. "father is wise and kind, and when he learns the reasons for my choice he will approve them and bless, instead of cursing me. i will write to him, and the boy miriam sent me shall be the messenger." a call from the tent startled him and when, springing up, he glanced at the stars, he found that he had forgotten his duty to the suffering lad and hurried to his couch. ephraim was sitting up in his bed, watching for him, and exclaimed: "i have been waiting a long, long time to see you. so many thoughts crowd my brain and, above all, miriam's message. i can get no rest until i have delivered it--so listen now." hosea nodded assent and, after drinking the healing potion handed to him, ephraim began: "miriam the daughter of amram and jochebed greets the son of nun the ephraimite. thy name is hosea, 'the help,' and the lord our god hath chosen thee to be the helper of his people. but henceforward, by his command, thou shalt be called joshua,--[jehoshua, he who helps jehova]-- the help of jehovah; for through miriam's lips the god of her fathers, who is the god of thy fathers likewise, bids thee be the sword and buckler of thy people. in him dwells all power, and he promises to steel thine arm that he may smite the foe." ephraim had begun in a low voice, but gradually his tones grew more resonant and the last words rang loudly and solemnly through the stillness of the night. thus had miriam uttered them, laying her hands on the lad's head and gazing earnestly into his face with eyes deep and dark as night, and while repeating them he had felt as though some secret power were constraining him to shout them aloud to hosea, just as he had heard them from the lips of the prophetess. then, with a sigh of relief, he turned his face toward the canvas wall of the tent, saying quietly: "now i will go to sleep." but hosea laid his hand on his shoulder, exclaiming imperiously: "say it again." the youth obeyed, but this time he repeated the words in a low, careless tone, then saying beseechingly: "let me rest now," put his hand under his cheek and closed his eyes. hosea let him have his way, carefully applied a fresh bandage to his burning head, extinguished the light, and flung more fuel on the smouldering fire outside; but the alert, resolute man performed every act as if in a dream. at last he sat down, and propping his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, stared alternately, now into vacancy, and anon into the flames. who was this god who summoned him through miriam's lips to be, under his guidance, the sword and shield of his people? he was to be known by a new name, and in the minds of the egyptians the name was everything "honor to the name of pharaoh," not "honor to tharaoh" was spoken and written. and if henceforward he was to be called joshua, the behest involved casting aside his former self, and becoming a new man. the will of the god of his fathers announced to him by miriam meant no less a thing than the command to transform himself from the egyptian his life had made him, into the hebrew he had been when a lad. he must learn to act and feel like an israelite! miriam's summons called him back to his people. the god of his race, through her, commanded him to fulfil his father's expectations. instead of the egyptian troops whom he must forsake, he was in future to lead the men of his own blood forth to battle! this was the meaning of her bidding, and when the noble virgin and prophetess who addressed him, asserted that god himself spoke through her lips, it was no idle boast, she was really obeying the will of the most high. and now the image of the woman whom he had ventured to love, rose in unapproachable majesty before him. many things which he had heard in his childhood concerning the god of abraham, and his promises returned to his mind, and the scale which hitherto had been the heavier, rose higher and higher. the resolve just matured, now seemed uncertain, and he again confronted the terrible conflict he had believed was overpast. how loud, how potent was the call he heard! ringing in his ears, it disturbed the clearness and serenity of his mind, and instead of calmly reflecting on the matter, memories of his boyhood, which he had imagined were buried long ago, raised their voices, and incoherent flashes of thought darted through his brain. sometimes he felt impelled to turn in prayer to the god who summoned him, but whenever he attempted to calm himself and uplift his heart and eyes to him, he remembered the oath he must break, the soldiers he must abandon to lead, instead of well-disciplined, brave, obedient bands of brothers-in-arms, a wretched rabble of cowardly slaves, and rude, obstinate shepherds, accustomed to the heavy yoke of bondage. the third hour after midnight had come, the guards had been relieved, and hosea thought he might now permit himself a few hours repose. he would think all these things over again by daylight with his usual clear judgment, which he strove in vain to obtain now. but when he entered the tent and heard ephraim's regular breathing, he fancied that the boy's solemn message was again echoing in his ears. startled, he was in the act of repeating it himself, when loud voices in violent altercation among the sentinels disturbed the stillness of the night. the interruption was welcome, and he hurried to the outposts. chapter vi. hogla, the old slave's granddaughter, had come to beseech hosea to go with her at once to her grandfather, who had suddenly broken down, and who feeling the approach of death could not perish without having once more seen and blessed him. the warrior told her to wait and, after assuring himself that ephraim was sleeping quietly, ordered a trusty man to watch beside his bed and went away with hogla. the girl walked before him, carrying a small lantern, and as its light fell on her face and figure, he saw how unlovely she was, for the hard toil of slavery had bowed the poor thing's back before its time. her voice had the harsh accents frequently heard in the tones of women whose strength has been pitilessly tasked; but her words were kind and tender, and hosea forgot her appearance when she told him that her lover had gone with the departing tribes, yet she had remained with her grandparents because she could not bring herself to leave the old couple alone. because she had no beauty no man had sought her for his wife till assir came, who did not care for her looks because he toiled industriously, like herself, and expected her to add to his savings. he would gladly have stayed with her, but his father had commanded him to go forth, so there was no choice for them save to obey and part forever. the words were simple and the accents harsh, yet they pierced the heart of the man who was preparing to follow his own path in opposition to his father's will. as they approached the harbor and hosea saw the embankments, and the vast fortified storehouses built by his own people, he remembered the ragged laborers whom he had so often beheld crouching before the egyptian overseers or fighting savagely among themselves. he had heard, too, that they shrunk from no lies, no fraud to escape their toil, and how difficult was the task of compelling them to obey and fulfil their duty. the most repulsive forms among these luckless hordes rose distinctly before his vision, and the thought that it might henceforward be his destiny to command such a wretched rabble seemed to him ignominy which the lowest of his brave officers, the leader of but fifty men, would seek to avoid. true, pharaoh's armies contained many a hebrew mercenary who had won renown for bravery and endurance; but these men were the sons of owners of herds or people who had once been shepherds. the toiling slaves, whose clay huts could be upset by a kick, formed the majority of those to whom he was required to return. resolute in his purpose to remain loyal to the oath which bound him to the egyptian standard, yet moved to the very depths of his heart, he entered the slave's little hut, and his anger rose when he saw old eliab sitting up, mixing some wine and water with his own hands. so he had been summoned from his nephew's sick-bed, and robbed of his night's rest, on a false pretence, in order that a slave, in his eyes scarcely entitled to rank as a man, might have his way. here he himself experienced a specimen of the selfish craft of which the egyptians accused his people, and which certainly did not attract him, hosea, to them. but the anger of the just, keen sighted-man quickly subsided at the sight of the girl's unfeigned joy in her grandfather's speedy recovery. besides he soon learned from the old man's aged wife that, shortly after hogla's departure, she remembered the wine they had, and as soon as he swallowed the first draught her husband, whom she had believed had one foot in the grave, grew better and better. now he was mixing some more of god's gift to strengthen himself occasionally by a sip. here eliab interrupted her to say that they owed this and many more valuable things to the goodness of nun, hosea's father, who had given them, besides their little hut, wine, meal for bread, a milch cow, and also an ass, so that he could often ride out into the fresh air. he had likewise left them their granddaughter and some pieces of silver, so that they could look forward without fear to the end of their days, especially as they had behind the house a bit of ground, where hogla meant to raise radishes, onions, and leeks for their own table. but the best gift of all was the written document making them and the girl free forever. ay, nun was a true master and father to his people, and the blessing of jehovah had followed his gifts; for soon after the departure of the hebrews, he and his wife had been brought hither unmolested by the aid of assir, hogla's lover. "we old people shall die here," eliab's wife added. but assir promised hogla that he would come back for her when she had discharged her filial duties to the end. then, turning to her granddaughter, she said encouragingly: "and we cannot live much longer now." hogla raised her blue gown to wipe the tears from her eyes, exclaiming "may it be a long, long time yet. i am young and can wait." hosea heard the words, and again it seemed as though the poor, forsaken, unlovely girl was giving him a lesson. he had listened patiently to the freed slaves' talk, but his time was limited and he now asked whether eliab had summoned him for any special purpose. "ay," he replied; "i was obliged to send, not only to still the yearning of my old heart, but because my lord nun commanded me to do so." "thou hast attained a grand and noble manhood, and hast now become the hope of israel. thy father promised the slaves and freedmen of his household that after his death, thou wouldst be heir, lord and master. his words were full of thy praise, and great rejoicing hailed his statement that thou wouldst follow the departing hebrews. and my lord deigned to command me to tell thee, if thou should'st return ere his messenger arrived, that nun, thy father, expected his son. whithersoever thy nation may wander, thou art to follow. toward sunrise, or at latest by the noon-tide hour, the tribes will tarry to rest at succoth. he will conceal in the hollow sycamore that stands in front of amminadab's house a letter which will inform thee whither they will next turn their steps. his blessing and that of our god will attend thy every step." as eliab uttered the last words, hosea bowed his head as if inviting invisible hands to be laid upon it. then he thanked the old man and asked, in subdued tones, whether all the hebrews had willingly obeyed the summons to leave house and lands. his aged wife clasped her hands, exclaiming: "oh no, my lord, certainly not. what wailing and weeping filled the air before their departure! many refused to go, others fled, or sought some hiding-place. but all resistance was futile. in the house of our neighbor deuel--you know him --his young wife had just given birth to their first son. how was she to fare on the journey? she wept bitterly and her husband uttered fierce curses, but it was all in vain. she was put in a cart with her babe, and as the arrangements went on, both submitted like all the rest--even phineas who crept into a pigeon-house with his wife and five children, and crooked grave-haunting kusaja. do you remember her? adonai! she had seen father, mother, husband, and three noble sons, all that the lord had given her to love, borne to the tomb. they lay side by side in our burying ground, and every morning and evening she went there and, sitting on a log of wood which she had rolled close to the gravestones, moved her lips constantly, not in prayer--no, i have listened often when she did not know i was near--no; she talked to the dead, as though they could hear her in the sepulchre, and understand her words like those who walk alive beneath the sun. she is near seventy, and for thrice seven years she has gone by the name of grave-haunting kusaja. it was in sooth a foolish thing to do; yet perhaps that was why she found it all the harder to give it up, and go she would not, but hid herself among the bushes. when ahieser, the overseer, dragged her out, her wailing made one's heart sore, yet when the time for departure came, the longing to go seized upon her also, and she found it as hard to resist as the others." "what had happened to the poor creatures, what possessed them?" asked hosea, interrupting the old wife's speech; for in imagination he again beheld the people he must lead, if he valued his father's blessing as the most priceless boon the world could offer, and beheld them in all their wretchedness. the startled dame, fearing that she had offended her master's first-born son, the great and powerful chieftain, stammered: "what possessed them, my lord? ah, well--i am but a poor lowly slave- woman; yet, my lord, had you but seen it...." "well, even then?" interrupted the warrior in harsh, impatient tones, for this was the first time he had ever found himself compelled to act against his desires and belief. eliab tried to come to the assistance of the terrified woman, saying timidly "ah, my lord, no tongue can relate, no human mind can picture it. it came from the almighty and, if i could describe how great was its influence on the souls of the people......" "try," hosea broke in, "but my time is brief. so they were compelled to depart, and set forth reluctantly on their wanderings. even the egyptians have long known that they obeyed the bidding of moses and aaron as the sheep follow the shepherd. have those who brought the terrible pestilence on so many guiltless human beings also wrought the miracle of blinding the minds of you and of your wife?" the old man stretched out his hands to the soldier, and answered in a troubled voice and a tone of the most humble entreaty: "oh, my lord, you are my master's first-born son, the greatest and loftiest of your race, if it is your pleasure you can trample me into the dust like a beetle, yet i must lift up my voice and say: 'you have heard false tales!' you were away in foreign lands when mighty things were done in our midst, and far from zoan,--[the hebrew name for tanis]--as i hear, when the exodus took place. any son of our people who witnessed it would rather his tongue should wither than mock at the marvels the lord permitted him to behold. ah, if you had patience to suffer me to tell the tale. . . ." "speak on!" cried hosea, astonished at the old man's solemn fervor. eliab thanked him with an ardent glance, exclaiming: "oh, would that aaron, or eleasar, or my lord your father were here in my stead, or would that jehovah would bestow on me the might of their eloquence! but be it as it is! true, i imagine i can again see and hear everything as though it were happening once more before my eyes, but how am i to describe it? how can such things be given in words? yet, with god's assistance, i will try." here he paused and hosea, noticing that the old man's hands and lips were trembling, gave him the cup of wine, and eliab gratefully quaffed it to the dregs. then, half-closing his eyes, he began his story and his wrinkled features grew sharper as he went on: "my wife has already told you what occurred after the people learned the command that had been issued. we, too, were among those who lost courage and murmured. but last night, all who belonged to the household of nun-- and also the shepherds, the slaves, and the poor--were summoned to a feast, and there was abundance of roast lamb, fresh, unleavened bread, and wine, more than usual at the harvest festival, which began that night, and which you, my lord, have often attended in your boyhood. we sat rejoicing, and our lord, your father, comforted us, and told us of the god of our fathers and the wonders he had wrought for them. it was now his will that we should go forth from this land where we had suffered contempt and bondage. this was no sacrifice like that of abraham when, at the command of the most high, he had whetted his knife to shed the blood of his son isaac, though it would be hard for many of us to quit a home that had grown dear to us and forego many a familiar custom. but it will be a great happiness for us all. for, he said, we were not to journey forth to an unknown country, but to a beautiful region which god himself had set apart for us. he had promised us, instead of this place of bondage, a new and delightful home where we should dwell free men, amid fruitful fields and rich pastures, which would supply food to every man and his family and make all hearts rejoice. just as laborers must work hard to earn high wages, we must endure a brief period of want and suffering to gain for ourselves and for our children the beautiful new home which the lord had promised. god's own land it must be, for it was a gift of the most high. "having spoken thus, he blessed us all and promised that thou, too, wouldst shake the dust from off thy feet, and join us to fight for our cause with a strong arm as a trained soldier and a dutiful son. "shouts of joy rang forth and, when we assembled in the market-place and found that all the bondmen had escaped from the overseers, many gained fresh courage. then aaron stepped into our midst, stood upon the auctioneer's bench, and told us with his own lips all that we had heard from my master nun at the festival. the words he uttered sounded sometimes like pealing thunder, and anon like the sweet melody of lutes, and every one felt that the lord our god himself was speaking through him; for even the most rebellious were so deeply moved that they no longer complained and murmured. and when he finally announced to the throng that no erring mortal, but the lord our god himself would be our leader, and described the wonders of the land whose gates he would open unto us, and where we might live, trammelled by no bondage, as free and happy men, owing no obedience to any ruler save the god of our fathers and those whom we ourselves chose for our leaders, every man present felt as though he were drunk with sweet wine, and, instead of faring forth across a barren wilderness to an unknown goal, was on the way to a great festal banquet, prepared by the most high himself. even those who had not heard aaron's words were inspired with wondrous faith; men and women behaved even more joyously and noisily than usual at the harvest festival, for every heart was overflowing with genuine gratitude. "the old people caught the universal spirit! your grandfather elishama, bowed by the weight of his hundred years, who, as you know, has long sat bent and silent in his corner, straightened his drooping form, and with sparkling eyes poured forth a flood of eloquent words. the spirit of the lord had descended upon him and upon us all. i myself felt as though the vigor of youth had returned to mind and body, and when i passed the throngs who were preparing to set forth, i saw the young mother elisheba in her litter. her face was as radiant as on her marriage morn, and she was pressing her nursling to her breast, and rejoicing over his happy fate in growing up in freedom in the promised land. her spouse, deuel, who had poured forth such bitter imprecations, now waved his staff, kissed his wife and child with tears of joy, and shouted with delight like a vintager at the harvest season, when jars and wine skins are too few to hold the blessing. old grave-haunting kusaja, who had been dragged away from the sepulchre of her kindred, was sitting in a cart with other infirm folk, waving her veil and joining in the hymn of praise elkanah and abiasaph, the sons of korah, had begun. so they went forth; we who were left behind fell into each other's arms, uncertain whether the tears we shed streamed from our eyes for grief or for sheer joy at seeing the throng of our loved ones so full of hope and gladness. "so it came to pass. "as soon as the pitch torches borne at the head of the procession, which seemed to me to shine more brightly than the lamps lighted by the egyptians on the gates of the temple of the great goddess neith, had vanished in the darkness, we set out, that we might not delay assir too long, and while passing through the streets, which resounded with the wailing of the citizens, we softly sang the hymn of the sons of korah, and great joy and peace filled our hearts, for we knew that the lord our god would defend and guide his people." the old man paused, but his wife and hogla, who had listened with sparkling eyes, leaned one on the other and, without any prompting, began the hymn of praise of the sons of korah, the old woman's faint voice mingling with touching fervor with the tones of the girl, whose harsh notes thrilled with the loftiest enthusiasm. hosea felt that it would be criminal to interrupt the outpouring of these earnest hearts, but eliab soon stopped them and gazed with evident anxiety into the stern face of his lord's first-born son. had hosea understood him? did this warrior, who served under pharaoh's banner, realize how entirely the lord god himself had ruled the souls of his people at their departure. had the life among the egyptians so estranged him from his people and his god, rendered him so degenerate, that he would bid defiance to the wishes and commands of his own father? was the man on whom the hebrews' highest hopes were fixed a renegade, forever lost to his people? he received no verbal answer to these mute questions, but when hosea grasped his callous right hand in both his own and pressed it as he would have clasped a friend's, when he bade him farewell with tearful eyes, murmuring: "you shall hear from me!" he felt that he knew enough and, overwhelmed with passionate delight, he pressed kiss after kiss upon the warrior's arms and clothing. chapter vii. hosea returned to the camp with drooping head. the conflict in his soul was at an end. he now knew what duty required. he must obey his father's summons. and the god of his race! the old man's tale had given new life to the memories of his childhood, and he now knew that he was not the same god as the seth of the asiatics in lower egypt, nor the "one" and the "sum of all" of the adepts. the prayers he had uttered ere he fell asleep, the history of the creation of the world, which he could never hear sufficiently often, because it showed so clearly the gradual development of everything on earth and in heaven until man came to possess and enjoy all, the story of abraham and isaac, of jacob, esau, and his own ancestor, joseph--how gladly he had listened to these tales as they fell from the lips of the gentle woman who had given him life, and from those of his nurse, and his grandfather elishama. yet he imagined that they had faded from his memory long ago. but in old eliab's hovel he could have repeated the stories word for word, and he now knew that there was indeed one invisible, omnipotent god, who had preferred his race above all others, and had promised to make them a mighty people. the truths concealed by the egyptians under the greatest mystery were the common property of his race. every beggar, every slave might raise his hands in supplication to the one invisible god who had revealed himself unto abraham. shrewd egyptians, who had divined his existence and shrouded his image with monstrous shapes, born of their own thoughts and imaginations, had drawn a thick veil over him, hidden him from the masses. among the hebrews alone did he really live and display his power in all its mighty, heart-stirring grandeur. he was not nature, with whom the initiated in the temples confounded him. no, the god of his fathers was far above all created things and the whole visible universe, far above man, his last, most perfect work, whom he had formed in his own image; and every living creature was subject to his will. the mightiest of kings, he ruled the universe with stern justice, and though he withdrew himself from the sight and understanding of man, his image, he was nevertheless a living, thinking, moving being, though his span of existence was eternity, his mind omniscience, his sphere of sovereignty infinitude. and this god had made himself the leader of his people! there was no warrior who could venture to cope with his might. if the spirit of prophecy had not deceived miriam, and the lord had indeed commanded hosea to wield his sword, how dared he resist, what higher position could earth offer? and his people? the rabble of whom he had thought so scornfully, what a transformation seemed to have been wrought in them by the power of the most high, since he had listened to old eliab's tale! now he longed to be their leader, and midway to the camp he paused on a sand-hill, whence he could see the limitless expanse of the sea shimmering under the sheen of the twinkling stars of heaven, and for the first time in many a long, long year, he raised his arms and eyes to the god whom he had found once more. he began with a little prayer his mother had taught him; then he cried out to the almighty as to a powerful counselor, imploring him with fervent zeal to point out the way in which he should walk without being disobedient to him or to his father, or breaking the oath he had sworn to pharaoh and becoming a dishonored man in the eyes of those to whom he owed so great a debt of gratitude. "thy chosen people praise thee as the god of truth, who dost punish those who forswear their oaths," he prayed. "how canst thou command me to be faithless and break the vow that i have made. whatever i am, whatever i may accomplish, belongs to thee, oh mighty lord, and i am ready to devote my blood, my life to my people. but rather than render me a dishonored and perjured man, take me away from earth and commit the work which thou hast chosen thy servant to perform, to the hands of one who is bound by no solemn oath." so he prayed, and it seemed as if he clasped in his embrace a long-lost friend. then he walked on in silence through the vanishing dusk, and when the first grey light of morning dawned, the flood of feeling ebbed, and the clear-headed warrior regained his calmness of thought. he had vowed to do nothing against the will of his father or his god, but he was no less firmly resolved to be neither perjurer nor renegade. his duty was clear and plain. he must leave pharaoh's service, first telling his superiors that, as a dutiful son, he must obey his father's commands, and share his fate and that of his people. yet he did not conceal from himself that his request might be refused, that he might be detained by force, nay, perchance, if he insisted on carrying out his purpose with unshaken will, he might be menaced with death, or if the worst should come, even delivered over to the executioner. but if this should be his doom, if his purpose cost him his life, he would still have done what was right, and his comrades, whose esteem he valued, could still think of him as a brave brother-in-arms. nor would his father and miriam be angry with him, nay, they would mourn the faithful son, the upright man, who chose death rather than dishonor. calm and resolute, he gave the pass-word with haughty bearing to the sentinel and entered his tent. ephraim was still lying on his couch, smiling as if under the thrall of pleasant dreams. hosea threw himself on a mat beside him to seek strength for the hard duties of the coming day. soon his eyes closed, too, and, after an hour's sound sleep, he woke without being roused and called for his holiday attire, his helmet, and the gilt coat-of-mail he wore at great festivals or in the presence of egypt's king. meantime ephraim, too, awoke, looked with mingled curiosity and delight at his uncle, who stood before him in all the splendor of his manhood and glittering panoply of war, and exclaimed: "it must be a proud feeling to wear such garments and lead thousands to battle." hosea shrugged his shoulders and replied: "obey thy god, give no man, from the loftiest to the lowliest, a right to regard you save with respect, and you can hold your head as high as the proudest warrior who ever wore purple robe and golden armor." "but you have done great deeds among the egyptians," ephraim continued. "they hold you in high regard; even captain homecht and his daughter, kasana." "do they?" asked the soldier smiling, and then bid his nephew keep quiet; for his brow, though less fevered than the night before, was still burning. "don't go into the open air until the leech has seen you," hosea added, "and wait here till my return." "shall you be absent long?" asked the lad. hosea paused for a moment, lost in thought then, with a kindly glance at him answered, gravely "whoever serves a master knows not how long he may be detained." then, changing his tone, he continued less earnestly. "to-day--this morning--perchance i may finish my business speedily and return in a few hours. if not, if i do not come back to you this evening or early to-morrow morning, then......" he laid his hand on the lad's shoulder as he spoke "then go home at your utmost speed. when you reach succoth, if the people have gone before your coming, you will find in the hollow sycamore before amminadab's house a letter which will tell you whither they have turned their steps. when you overtake them, give my greetings to my father, to my grandfather elishama, and to miriam. tell them that hosea will be mindful of the commands of his god and of his father. in future he will call himself joshua--joshua, do you hear? tell this to miriam first. finally, tell them that if i remain behind and am not suffered to follow them, as i would like to, that the most high has made a different disposal of his servant and has broken the sword which he had chosen, ere he used it. do you understand me, boy?" ephraim nodded, and answered: "you mean that death alone can stay you from obeying the summons of god, and your father's command." "ay, that was my meaning," replied the chief. "if they ask why i did not slip away from pharaoh and escape his power, say that hosea desired to enter on his new office as a true man, unstained by perjury or, if it is the will of god, to die one. now repeat the message." ephraim obeyed; his uncle's remarks must have sunk deep into his soul; for he neither forgot nor altered a single word. but scarcely had he performed the task of repetition when, with impetuous earnestness, he grasped hosea's hand and besought him to tell him whether he had any cause to fear for his life. the warrior clasped him affectionately in his arms and answered that he hoped he had entrusted this message to him only to have it forgotten. "perhaps," he added, "they will strive to keep me by force, but by god's help i shall soon be with you again, and we will ride to succoth together." with these words he hurried out, unheeding the questions his nephew called after him; for he had heard the rattle of wheels outside. two chariots, drawn by mettled steeds, rapidly approached the tent and stopped directly before the entrance. chapter viii. the men who stepped from the chariots were old acquaintances of hosea. they were the head chamberlain and one of the king's chief scribes, come to summon him to the sublime porte. [palace of the king. the name of pharaoh means "the sublime porte."] no hesitation nor escape was possible, and hosea, feeling more surprise than anxiety, entered the second chariot with the chief scribe. both officials wore mourning robes, and instead of the white ostrich plume, the insignia of office, black ones waved over the temples of both. the horses and runners of the two-wheeled chariots were also decked with all the emblems of the deepest woe. and yet the monarch's messengers seemed cheerful rather than depressed; for the eagle they were to bear to pharaoh was ready to obey his behest, and they had feared that they would find his eyrie abandoned. swift as the wind the long-limbed bays of royal breed bore the light vehicles over the uneven sandy road and the smooth highway toward the palace. ephraim, with the curiosity of youth, had gone out of the tent to view a scene so novel to his eyes. the soldiers were pleased by the pharaoh's sending his own carriage for their commander, and the lad's vanity was flattered to see his uncle drive away in such state. but he was not permitted the pleasure of watching him long; dense clouds of dust soon hid the vehicles. the scorching desert wind which, during the spring months, so often blows through the valley of the nile, had risen, and though the bright blue sky which had been visible by night and day was still cloudless, it was veiled by a whitish mist. the sun, a motionless ball, glared down on the heads of men like a blind man's eye. the burning heat it diffused seemed to have consumed its rays, which to-day were invisible. the eye protected by the mist could gaze at it undazzled, yet its scorching power was undiminished. the light breeze, which usually fanned the brow in the morning, touched it now like the hot breath of a ravening beast of prey. loaded with the fine scorching sand borne from the desert, it transformed the pleasure of breathing into a painful torture. the air of an egyptian march morning, which was wont to be so balmy, now oppressed both man and beast, choking their lungs and seeming to weigh upon them like a burden destroying all joy in life. the higher the pale rayless globe mounted into the sky, the greyer became the fog, the more densely and swiftly blew the sand-clouds from the desert. ephraim was still standing in front of the tent, gazing at the spot where pharaoh's chariots had disappeared. his knees trembled, but he attributed it to the wind sent by seth-typhon, at whose blowing even the strongest felt an invisible burden clinging to their feet. hosea had gone, but he might come back in a few hours, then he, ephraim, would be obliged to go with him to succoth, and the bright dreams and hopes which yesterday had bestowed and whose magical charms were heightened by his fevered brain, would be lost to him forever. during the night he had firmly resolved to enter pharaoh's army, that he might remain near tanis and kasana; but though he had only half comprehended hosea's message, he could plainly discern that he intended to turn his back upon egypt and his high position and meant to take ephraim with him, should he make his escape. so he must renounce his longing to see kasana once more. but this thought was unbearable and an inward voice whispered that, having neither father nor mother, he was free to act according to his own will. his guardian, his dead father's brother, in whose household he had grown up, had died not long before, and no new guardian had been named because the lad was now past childhood. he was destined at some future day to be one of the chiefs of his proud tribe and until yesterday he had desired no better fate. he had obeyed the impulse of his heart when, with the pride of a shepherd prince, he had refused the priest's suggestion that he should become one of pharaoh's soldiers, but he now told himself that he had been childish and foolish to reject a thing of which he was ignorant, nay, which had ever been intentionally represented to him in a false and hateful light in order to bind him more firmly to his own people. the egyptians had always been described as detestable enemies and oppressors, yet how enchanting everything seemed in the house of the first egyptian warrior he had entered. and kasana! what must she think of him, if he left tanis without a word of greeting, of farewell. must it not grieve and wound him to remain in her memory a clumsy peasant shepherd? nay, it would be positively dishonest not to return the costly raiment she had lent him. gratitude was reckoned among the hebrews also as the first duty of noble hearts. he would be worthy of hate his whole life long, if he did not seek her once more! but there was need of haste. when hosea returned, he must find him ready for departure. he at once began to bind his sandals on his feet, but he did it slowly, and could not understand why the task seemed so hard to-day. he passed through the camp unmolested. the pylons and obelisks before the temples, which appeared to quiver in the heated air, marked the direction he was to pursue, and he soon reached the broad road which led to the market-place--a panting merchant whose ass was bearing skins of wine to the troops, told him the way. dense clouds of dust lay on the road and whirled around him, the sun beat fiercely down on his bare head, his wound began to ache again, the fine sand which filled the air entered his eyes and mouth and stung his face and bare limbs like burning needles. he was tortured by thirst and was often compelled to stop, his feet grew so heavy. at last he reached a well dug for travelers by a pious egyptian, and though it was adorned with the image of a god and miriam had taught him that this was an abomination from which he should turn aside, he drank again and again, thinking he had never tasted aught so refreshing. the fear of losing consciousness, as he had done the day before, passed away and, though his feet were still heavy, he walked rapidly toward the alluring goal. but soon his strength again deserted him, the sweat poured from his brow, his wound began to throb and beat, and he felt as though his skull was compressed by an iron circle. his keen eyes, too, failed, for the objects he tried to see blended with the dust of the road, the horizon reeled up and down before his eyes, and he felt as though the hard pavement had turned to a yielding bog under his feet. yet he took little heed of all these things, for never before had such bright visions filled his mind. his thoughts grew marvellously vivid, and image after image rose before the wide eyes of his soul, not at his own behest, but as if summoned by a secret will outside of his consciousness. now he fancied that he was lying at kasana's feet, resting his head on her lap while he gazed upward into her lovely face-- anon he saw hosea standing before him in his glittering armor, as he had beheld him a short time ago, only his garb was still more gorgeous and, instead of the dim light in the tent, a ruddy glow like that of fire surrounded him. then the finest oxen and rams in his herds passed before him and sentences from the messages he had learned darted through his mind; nay he sometimes imagined that they were being shouted to him aloud. but ere he could grasp their import, some new dazzling vision or loud rushing noise seemed to fill his mental eye and ear. he pressed onward, staggering like a drunken man, with drops of sweat standing on his brow and with parched mouth. sometimes he unconsciously raised his hand to wipe the dust from his burning eyes, but he cared little that he saw very indistinctly what was passing around him, for there could be nothing more beautiful than what he beheld with his inward vision. true, he was often aware that he was suffering intensely, and he longed to throw himself exhausted on the ground, but a strange sense of happiness sustained him. at last he was seized with the delusion that his head was swelling and growing till it attained the size of the head of the colossus he had seen the day before in front of a temple gate, then it rose to the height of the palm-trees by the road-side, and finally it reached the mist shrouding the firmament, then far above it. then it suddenly seemed as though this head of his was as large as the whole world, and he pressed his hands on his temples to clasp his brow; for his neck and shoulders were too weak to support the weight of so enormous a head and, mastered by this strange delusion, he shrieked aloud, his shaking knees gave way, and he fell unconscious in the dust. etext editor's bookmarks: hate, though never sated, can yet be gratified omnipotent god, who had preferred his race above all others when hate and revenge speak, gratitude shrinks timidly who can prop another's house when his own is falling this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] joshua by georg ebers volume . chapter ix. at the same hour a chamberlain was ushering hosea into the audience chamber. usually subjects summoned to the presence of the king were kept waiting for hours, but the hebrew's patience was not tried long. during this period of the deepest mourning the spacious rooms of the palace, commonly tenanted by a gay and noisy multitude, were hushed to the stillness of death; for not only the slaves and warders, but many men and women in close attendance on the royal couple had fled from the pestilence, quitting the palace without leave. here and there a solitary priest, official, or courtier leaned against a pillar or crouched on the floor, hiding his face in his hands, while awaiting some order. sentries paced to and fro with lowered weapons, lost in melancholy thoughts. now and then a few young priests in mourning robes glided through the infected rooms, silently swinging silver censers which diffused a pungent scent of resin and juniper. a nightmare seemed to weigh upon the palace and its occupants; for in addition to grief for their beloved prince, which saddened many a heart, the dread of death and the desert wind paralyzed alike the energy of mind and body. here in the immediate vicinity of the throne where, in former days, all eyes had sparkled with hope, ambition, gratitude, fear, loyalty, or hate, hosea now encountered only drooping heads and downcast looks. bai, the second prophet of amon, alone seemed untouched alike by sorrow, anxiety, or the enervating atmosphere of the day; he greeted the warrior in the ante-room as vigorously and cheerily as ever, and assured him-- though in the lowest whisper--that no one thought of holding him responsible for the misdeeds of his people. but when hosea volunteered the acknowledgment that, at the moment of his summons to the king, he had been in the act of going to the commander-in-chief to beg a release from military service, the priest interrupted him to remind him of the debt of gratitude he, bai, owed to him as the preserver of his life. then he added that he would make every effort in his power to keep him in the army and show that the egyptians--even against pharaoh's will, or which he would speak farther with him privately--knew how to honor genuine merit without distinction of person or birth. the hebrew had little time to repeat his resolve; the head chamberlain interrupted them to lead hosea into the presence of the "good god." the sovereign awaited hosea in the smaller audience-room adjoining the royal apartments. it was a stately chamber, and to-day looked more spacious than when, as of yore, it was filled with obsequious throngs. only a few courtiers and priests, with some of the queen's ladies-in-waiting, all clad in deep mourning, stood in groups near the throne. opposite to pharaoh, squatting in a circle on the floor, were the king's councillors and interpreters, each adorned with an ostrich plume. all wore tokens of mourning, and the monotonous, piteous plaint of the wailing women, which ever and anon rose into a loud, shrill, tremulous shriek, echoed through the silent rooms within to this hall, announcing that death had claimed a victim even in the royal dwelling. the king and queen sat on a gold and ivory couch, heavily draped with black. instead of their usual splendid attire, both wore dark robes, and the royal consort and mother, who mourned her first-born son, leaned motionless, with drooping head, against her kingly husband's shoulder. pharaoh, too, gazed fixedly into space, as though lost in a dream. the sceptre had slipped from his hand and lay in his lap. the queen had been torn away from the corpse of her son, which was now delivered to the embalmers, and it was not until she reached the entrance of the audience-chamber that she had succeeded in checking her tears. she had no thought of resistance; the inexorable ceremonial of court etiquette required the queen to be present at any audience of importance. to-day she would gladly have shunned the task, but pharaoh had commanded her presence, and she knew and approved the course to be pursued; for she was full of dread of the power of the hebrew mesu, called by his own people moses, and of his god, who had brought such terrible woe on the egyptians. she had other children to lose, and she had known mesu from her childhood, and was well aware how highly the great rameses, her husband's father and predecessor, had prized the wisdom of this stranger who had been reared with his own sons. ah, if it were only possible to conciliate this man. but mesu had departed with the israelites, and she knew his iron will and had learned that the terrible prophet was armed, not alone against pharaoh's threats, but also against her own fervent entreaties. she was now expecting hosea. he, the son of nun, the foremost man of all the hebrews in tanis, would succeed, if any one could, in carrying out the plan which she and her royal husband deemed best for all parties,--a plan supported also by rui, the hoary high-priest and first prophet of amon, the head of the whole egyptian priesthood, who held the offices of chief judge, chief treasurer, and viceroy of the kingdom, and had followed the court from thebes to tanis. ere going to the audience hall, she had been twining wreaths for her loved dead and the lotus flowers, larkspurs, mallow and willow-leaves, from which she was to weave them, had been brought there by her desire. they were lying on a small table and in her lap; but she felt paralyzed, and the hand she stretched toward them refused to obey her will. rui, the first prophet of amon, an aged man long past his ninetieth birthday, squatted on a mat at pharaoh's left hand. a pair of bright eyes, shaded by bushy white brows, glittered in his brown face--seamed and wrinkled like the bark of a gnarled oaklike gay flowers amid withered leaves, forming a strange contrast to his lean, bowed, and shrivelled form. the old man had long since resigned the management of business affairs to the second prophet, bai, but he held firmly to his honors, his seat at pharaoh's side, and his place in the council, where, though he said little, his opinion was more frequently followed than that of the eloquent, ardent second prophet, who was many years his junior. the old man had not quitted pharaoh's side since the plague entered the palace, yet to-day he felt more vigorous than usual; the hot desert wind, which weakened others, refreshed him. he was constantly shivering, despite the panther-skin which hung over his back and shoulders, and the heat of the day warmed his chilly old blood. moses, the hebrew, had been his pupil, and never had he instructed a nobler nature, a youth more richly endowed with all the gifts of intellect. he had initiated the israelite into all the highest mysteries, anticipating the greatest results for egypt and the priesthood, and when the hebrew one day slew an overseer who had mercilessly beaten one of his race, and then fled into the desert, rui had secretly mourned the evil deed as if his own son had committed it and must suffer the consequences. his intercession had secured mesu's pardon; but when the latter returned to egypt and the change had occurred which other priests termed his "apostasy," the old man had grieved even more keenly than over his flight. had he, rui, been younger, he would have hated the man who had thus robbed him of his fairest hopes; but the aged priest, who read men's hearts like an open book and could judge the souls of his fellow-mortals with the calm impartiality of an unclouded mind, confessed that he had been to blame in failing to foresee his pupil's change of thought. education and precept had made mesu an egyptian priest according to his own heart and that of the divinity; but after having once raised his hand in the defence of his own people against those to whom he had been bound only by human craft and human will, he was lost to the egyptians and became once more a true son of his race. and where this man of the strong will and lofty soul led the way, others could not fail to follow. rui knew likewise full well what the renegade meant to give to his race; he had confessed it himself to the priest-faith in the one god. mesu had rejected the accusation of perjury, declaring that he would never betray the mysteries to the hebrews, his sole desire was to lead them back to the god whom they had worshipped ere joseph and his family came to egypt. true, the "one" of the initiated resembled the god of the hebrews in many things, but this very fact had soothed the old sage; for experience had taught him that the masses are not content with a single invisible god, an idea which many, even among the more advanced of his own pupils found difficult to comprehend. the men and women of the lower classes needed visible symbols of every important thing whose influence they perceived in and around them, and the egyptian religion supplied these images. what could an invisible creative power guiding the course of the universe be to a love-sick girl? she sought the friendly hathor, whose gentle hands held the cords that bound heart to heart, the beautiful mighty representative of her sex--to her she could trustingly pour forth all the sorrows that burdened her bosom. what was the petty grief of a mother who sought to snatch her darling child from death, to the mighty and incomprehensible deity who governed the entire universe? but the good isis, who herself had wept her eyes red in bitter anguish, could understand her woe. and how often in egypt it was the wife who determined her husband's relations to the gods! rui had frequently seen hebrew men and women praying fervently in egyptian temples. even if mesu should induce them to acknowledge his god, the experienced sage clearly foresaw that they would speedily turn from the invisible spirit, who must ever remain aloof and incomprehensible, and return by hundreds to the gods they understood. now egypt was threatened with the loss of the laborers and builders she so greatly needed, but rui believed that they might be won back. "when fair words will answer our purpose, put aside sword and bow," he had replied to bai, who demanded that the fugitives should be pursued and slain. "we have already too many corpses in our country; what we want is workers. let us hold fast what we seem on the verge of losing." these mild words were in full harmony with the mood of pharaoh, who had had sufficient sorrow, and would have thought it wiser to venture unarmed into a lion's cage than to again defy the wrath of the terrible hebrew. so he had closed his ears to the exhortations of the second prophet, whose steadfast, energetic will usually exercised all the greater influence upon him on account of his own irresolution, and upheld old rui's suggestion that the warrior, hosea, should be sent after his people to deal with them in pharaoh's name--a plan that soothed his mind and renewed his hopes. the second prophet, bai, had finally assented to the plan; for it afforded a new chance of undermining the throne he intended to overthrow. if the hebrews were once more settled in the land, prince siptah, who regarded no punishment too severe for the race he hated, might perhaps seize the sceptre of the cowardly king menephtah. but the fugitives must first be stopped, and hosea was the right man to do this. but in bai's eyes no one would be more able to gain the confidence of an unsuspicious soldier than pharaoh and his royal consort. the venerable high-priest rui, though wholly unaware of the conspiracy, shared this opinion, and thus the sovereigns had been persuaded to interrupt the mourning for the dead and speak in person to the hebrew. hosea had prostrated himself before the throne and, when he rose, the king's weary face was bent toward him, sadly, it is true, yet graciously. according to custom, the hair and beard of the father who had lost his first-born son had been shaven. formerly they had encircled his face in a frame of glossy black, but twenty years of anxious government had made them grey, and his figure, too, had lost its erect carriage and seemed bent and feeble, though he had scarcely passed his fifth decade. his regular features were still beautiful in their symmetry, and there was a touch of pathos in their mournful gentleness, so evidently incapable of any firm resolve, especially when a smile lent his mouth a bewitching charm. the languid indolence of his movements scarcely impaired the natural dignity of his presence, yet his musical voice was wont to have a feeble, beseeching tone. he was no born ruler; thirteen older brothers had died ere the throne of pharaoh had become his heritage, and up to early manhood he had led a careless, joyous existence--as the handsomest youth in the whole land, the darling of women, the light-hearted favorite of fortune. then he succeeded his father the great rameses, but he had scarcely grasped the sceptre ere the libyans, with numerous allies, rebelled against egypt. the trained troops and their leaders, who had fought in his predecessor's wars, gained him victory, but during the twenty years which had now passed since rameses' death, the soldiers had rarely had any rest. insurrections constantly occurred, sometimes in the east, anon in the west and, instead of living in thebes, where he had spent many years of happiness, and following the bent of his inclination by enjoying in the splendid palace the blessing of peace and the society of the famous scholars and poets who then made that city their home, he was compelled sometimes to lead his armies in the field, sometimes to live in tanis, the capital of lower egypt, to settle the disturbances of the border land. this was the desire of the venerable rui, and the king willingly followed his guidance. during the latter years of rameses' reign, the temple at thebes, and with it the chief priest, had risen to power and wealth greater than that possessed by royalty itself, and menephtah's indolent nature was better suited to be a tool than a guiding hand, so long as he received all the external honors due to pharaoh. these he guarded with a determination which he never roused himself to display in matters of graver import. the condescending graciousness of pharaoh's reception awakened feelings of mingled pleasure and distrust in hosea's mind, but he summoned courage to frankly express his desire to be relieved from his office and the oath he had sworn to his sovereign. pharaoh listened quietly. not until hosea confessed that he was induced to take this step by his father's command did he beckon to the high- priest, who began in low, almost inaudible tones: "the son who resigns great things to remain obedient to his father will be the most loyal of the 'good god's' servants. go, obey the summons of nun. the son of the sun, the lord of upper and lower egypt, sets you free; but through me, the slave of his master, he imposes one condition." "what is that?" asked hosea. pharaoh signed to rui a second time and, as the monarch sank back upon his throne, the old man, fixing his keen eyes on hosea, replied: "the demand which the lord of both worlds makes upon you by my lips is easy to fulfil. you must return to be once more his servant and one of us, as soon as your people and their leader, who have brought such terrible woe upon this land, shall have clasped the divine hand which the son of the sun extends to them in reconciliation, and shall have returned to the beneficent shadow of his throne. he intends to attach them to his person and his realm by rich tokens of his favor, as soon as they return from the desert to which they have gone forth to sacrifice to their god. understand me fully! all the burdens which have oppressed the people of your race shall be removed. the 'great god' will secure to them, by a new law, privileges and great freedom, and whatever we promise shall be written down and witnessed on our part and yours as a new and valid covenant binding on our children and our children's children. when such a compact has been made with an honest purpose on our part to keep it for all time, and your tribes have consented to accept it, will you promise that you will then be one of us again?" "accept the office of mediator, hosea," the queen here interrupted in a low tone, with her sorrowful eyes fixed imploringly on hosea's face. "i dread the fury of mesu, and everything in our power shall be done to regain his old friendship. mention my name and recall the time when he taught little isisnefert the names of the plants she brought to him and explained to her and her sister their beneficial or their harmful qualities, during his visits to the queen, his second mother, in the women's apartments. the wounds he has dealt our hearts shall be pardoned and forgotten. be our envoy. hosea, do not deny us." "such words from royal lips are a strict mandate," replied the hebrew. "and yet they make the heart rejoice. i will accept the office of mediator." the hoary high-priest nodded approvingly, exclaiming: "i hope a long period of blessing may arise from this brief hour. but note this. where potions can aid, surgery must be shunned. where a bridge spans the stream, beware of swimming through the whirlpool." "yes, by all means shun the whirlpool," pharaoh repeated, and the queen uttered the same words, then once more bent her eyes on the flowers in her lap. a council now began. three private scribes took seats on the floor close by rui, in order to catch his low tones, and the scribes and councillors in the circle before the throne seized their writing-materials and, holding the papyrus in their left hands, wrote with reed or brush; for nothing which was debated and determined in pharaoh's presence was suffered to be left unrecorded. during the continuance of this debate no voice in the audience chamber was raised above a whisper; the courtiers and guards stood motionless at their posts, and the royal pair gazed mutely into vacancy as though lost in reverie. neither pharaoh nor his queen could possibly have heard the muttered conversation between the men; yet the egyptians, at the close of every sentence, glanced upward at the king as if to ensure his approbation. hosea, to whom the custom was perfectly familiar, did the same and, like the rest, lowered his tones. whenever the voices of bai or of the chief of the scribes waxed somewhat louder, pharaoh raised his head and repeated the words of rui: "where a bridge spans the stream, beware of swimming through the whirlpool;" for this saying precisely expressed his own desires and those of the queen. no strife! let us live at peace with the hebrews, and escape from the anger of their awful leader and his god, without losing the thousands of industrious workers in the departed tribes. so the discussion went on, and when the murmuring of the debaters and the scratching of the scribes' reeds had continued at least an hour the queen remained in the same position; but pharaoh began to move and lift up his voice, fearing that the second prophet, who had detested the man whose benedictions he had implored and whose enmity seemed so terrible, was imposing on the mediator requirements impossible to fulfil. yet he said nothing save to repeat the warning about the bridge, but his questioning look caused the chief of the scribes to soothe him with the assurance that everything was progressing as well as possible. hosea had only requested that, in future, the overseers of the workmen should not be of libyan birth, but hebrews themselves, chosen by the elders of their tribes with the approval of the egyptian government. pharaoh cast a glance of imploring anxiety at bai, the second prophet, and the other councillors; but the former shrugged his shoulders deprecatingly and, pretending to yield his own opinion to the divine wisdom of pharaoh, acceded to hosea's request. the divinity on the throne of the world accepted, with a grateful bend of the head, this concession from a man whose wishes had so often opposed his own, and after the "repeater" or herald had read aloud all the separate conditions of the agreement, hosea was forced to make a solemn vow to return in any case to tanis, and report to the sublime porte how his people had received the king's proposals. but the wary chief, versed in the wiles and tricks with which the government was but too well supplied, uttered the vow with great reluctance, and only after he had received a written assurance that, whatever might be the result of the negotiations, his liberty should not be restricted in any respect, after he had proved that he had used his utmost efforts to induce the leader of the hebrews to accept the compact. at last pharaoh extended his hand for the warrior to kiss, and when the latter had also pressed his lips to the edge of the queen's garments, rui signed to the head-chamberlain, who made obeisance to pharaoh, and the sovereign knew that the hour had come when he might retire. he did so gladly and with a lighter heart; for he believed that he had done his best to secure his own welfare and that of his people. a sunny expression flitted across his handsome, worn features, and when the queen also rose and saw his smile of satisfaction it was reflected on her face. pharaoh uttered a sigh of relief as he crossed the threshold of the audience chamber and, accosting his wife, said: "if hosea wins his cause, we shall cross the bridge safely." "and need not swim through the whirlpool," the queen answered in the same tone. "and if the chief succeeds in soothing mesu, and induces the hebrews to stay in the land," pharaoh added: "then you will enrol this hosea--he looks noble and upright--among the kindred of the king," isisnefert interrupted. but upon this pharaoh drew up his languid, drooping figure, exclaiming eagerly: "how can i? a hebrew! were we to admit him among the 'friends' or 'fan-bearers' it would be the highest favor we could bestow! it is no easy matter in such a case to choose between too great or too small a recompense." the farther the royal pair advanced toward the interior of the palace, the louder rose the wailing voices of the mourning women. tears once more filled the eyes of the queen; but pharaoh continued to ponder over what office at court he could bestow on hosea, should his mission prove successful. chapter x. hosea was forced to hurry in order to overtake the tribes in time; for the farther they proceeded, the harder it would be to induce moses and the leaders of the people to return and accept the treaty. the events which had befallen him that morning seemed so strange that he regarded them as a dispensation of the god whom he had found again; he recollected, too, that the name "joshua," "he who helps jehovah," had been received through miriam's message. he would gladly bear it; for though it was no easy matter to resign the name for which he had won renown, still many of his comrades had done likewise. his new one was attesting its truth grandly; never had god's help been more manifest to him than this morning. he had entered pharaoh's palace expecting to be imprisoned or delivered over to the executioner, as soon as he insisted upon following his people, and how speedily the bonds that held him in the egyptian army had been sundered. and he had been appointed to discharge a task which seemed in his eyes so grand, so lofty, that he was on the point of believing that the god of his fathers had summoned him to perform it. he loved egypt. it was a fair country. where could his people find a more delightful home? it was only the circumstances under which they had lived there which had been intolerable. happier times were now in store. the tribes were given the choice between returning to goshen, or settling on the lake land west of the nile, with whose fertility and ample supply of water he was well acquainted. no one would have a right to reduce them to bondage, and whoever gave his labor to the service of the state was to have for overseer no stern and cruel foreigner, but a man of his own blood. true, he knew that the hebrews must remain under subjection to pharaoh. but had not joseph, ephraim, and his sons, hosea's ancestors, been called his subjects and lived content to be numbered among the egyptians. if the covenant was made, the elders of the tribes were to direct the private concerns of the people. spite of bai's opposition, moses had been named regent of the new territory, while he, hosea, himself was to command the soldiers who would defend the frontiers, and marshal fresh troops from the israelite mercenaries, who had already borne themselves valiantly in many a fray. ere he had quitted the palace, bai had made various mysterious allusions, which though vague in purport, betrayed that the priest was cherishing important plans and, as soon as the guidance of the government passed from old rui's hands into his, a high position, perhaps the command of the whole army, now led by a syrian named aarsu, would be conferred on him, hosea. but this prospect caused him more anxiety than pleasure, though great was his satisfaction at having gained the concession that every third year the eastern frontiers of the country should be thrown open to his people, that they might go to the desert and there offer sacrifices to their god. moses had seemed to lay the utmost stress upon this privilege, and according to the existing law, no one was permitted to cross the narrow fortified frontier on the east without the permission of the government. perhaps granting this desire of the mighty leader might win him to accept a compact so desirable for his nation. during these negotiations hosea had again realized his estrangement from his people, he was not even aware--for what purpose the sacrifice in the desert was offered. he also frankly acknowledged to pharaoh's councillors that he knew neither the grievances nor the requirements of the tribes, a course he pursued to secure to the hebrews the right of changing or revising in any respect the offers he was to convey. what better proposals could they or their leader desire? the future was full of fresh hopes of happiness for his people and himself. if the compact was made, the time had arrived for him to establish a home of his own, and miriam's image again appeared in all its loftiness and beauty. the thought of gaining this splendid maiden was fairly intoxicating, and he wondered whether he was worthy of her, and if it would not be presumptuous to aspire to the hand of the divinely-inspired, majestic virgin and prophetess. he was experienced in the affairs of life and knew full well how little reliance could be placed upon the promises of the vacillating man, who found the sceptre too heavy for his feeble hand. but he had exercised caution and, if the elders of the people could but be won over, the agreement would be inscribed on metal tables, sentence by sentence, and hung in the temple at thebes, with the signatures of pharaoh and the envoys of the hebrews, like every other binding agreement between egypt and a foreign nation. such documents--he had learned this from the treaty of peace concluded with the cheta--assured and lengthened the brief "eternity" of national covenants. he had certainly neglected no precaution to secure his people from treachery and perjury. never had he felt more vigorous, more confident, more joyous than when he again entered pharaoh's chariot to take leave of his subordinates. bai's mysterious hints and suggestions troubled him very little; he was accustomed to leave future anxieties to be cared for in the future. but at the camp he encountered a grief which belonged to the present; surprised, angry, and troubled, he learned that ephraim had secretly left the tent, telling no one whither he was going. a hurried investigation drew out the information that the youth had been seen on the road to tanis, and hosea hastily bade his trusty shield-bearer search the city for the youth and, if he found him, to order him to follow his uncle to succoth. after the chief had said farewell to his men, he set off, attended only by his old groom. he was pleased to have the adone--[corresponding to the rank of adjutant.]--and subaltern officers who had been with him, the stern warriors, with whom he had shared everything in war and peace, in want and privation, show so plainly the pain of parting. tears streamed down the bronzed cheeks of many a man who had grown grey in warfare, as he clasped his hand for the last time. many a bearded lip was pressed to the hem of his robe, to his feet, and to the sleek skin of the noble libyan steed which, pressing forward with arching neck only to be curbed by its rider's strength, bore him through the ranks. for the first time since his mother's death his own eyes grew dim, as shouts of farewell rang warmly and loudly from the manly breasts of his soldiers. never before had he so deeply realized how firmly he was bound to these men, and how he loved his noble profession. yet the duty he was now fulfilling was also great and glorious, and the god who had absolved him from his oath and smoothed the way for him to obey his father's commands as a true and upright man, would perhaps bring him back to his comrades in arms, whose cordial farewell he still fancied he heard long after he was out of reach of their voices. the greatness of the work assigned to him, the enthusiasm of a man who devotes himself with devout earnestness to the performance of a difficult task, the rapturous joy of the lover, who with well-founded hopes of the fulfilment of the purest and fairest desires of his heart, hastens to meet the woman of his choice, first dawned upon him when he had left the city behind and was dashing at a rapid trot toward the south-east across the flat, well-watered plain with its wealth of palm-groves. while forcing his steed to a slower pace as he passed through the streets of the capital, and the region near the harbor, his mind was so engrossed by his recent experiences and his anxiety concerning the runaway youth, that he paid little attention to the throng of vessels lying at anchor, the motley crowd of ship owners, traders, sailors, and laborers, representatives of all the nations of africa and asia, who sought a livelihood here, and the officials, soldiers, and petitioners, who had followed pharaoh from thebes to the city of rameses. he had even failed to see two men of high rank, though one, hornecht, the captain of the archers, had waved his hand to him. they had retired into the deep gateway formed by the pylons at the entrance of the temple of seth, to escape the clouds of dust which the desert wind was still blowing along the road. while hornecht was vainly trying to arrest the horseman's attention, his companion, bai, the second prophet of amon, whispered: "let him go! he will learn where his nephew is soon enough." "as you desire," replied the soldier. then he eagerly continued the story he had just begun. "when they brought the lad in, he looked like a piece of clay in the potter's workshop." "no wonder," replied the priest; "he had lain long enough in the road in the dust of typhon. but what was your steward seeking among the soldiers?" "we had heard from my adon, whom i sent to the camp last evening, that the poor youth was attacked by a severe fever, so kasana put up some wine and her nurse's balsam, and dispatched the old creature with them to the camp." "to the youth or to hosea?" asked the prophet with a mischievous smile. "to the sufferer," replied hornecht positively, a frown darkening his brow. but, restraining himself, he added as if apologizing: "her heart is as soft as wax, and the hebrew youth--you saw him yesterday......" "is a splendid lad, just fitted to win a woman's heart!" replied the priest laughing. "besides, whoever shows kindness to the nephew does not harm the uncle." "that was not in her mind," replied hornecht bluntly. "but the invisible god of the hebrews is not less watchful of his children than the immortals whom you serve; for he led hotepu to the youth just as he was at the point of death. the dreamer would undoubtedly have ridden past him; for the dust had already . . . ." "transformed him into a bit of potter's clay. but then?" "then the old man suddenly saw a glint of gold in the dusty heap." "and the stiffest neck will stoop for that." "quite true. my hotepu did so, and the broad gold circlet the lad wore flashed in the sunlight and preserved his life a second time." "the luckiest thing is that we have the lad in our possession." "yes, i was rejoiced to have him open his eyes once more. then his recovery grew more and more rapid; the doctor says he is like a kitten, and all these mishaps will not cost him his life. but he is in a violent fever, and in his delirium says all sorts of senseless things, which even my daughter's nurse, a native of ascalon, cannot clearly comprehend. only she thought she caught kasana's name." "so it is once more a woman who is the source of the trouble." "stop these jests, holy father," replied hornecht, biting his lips. "a modest widow, and that boy with the down still on his lips." "at his age," replied the unabashed priest, "fullblown roses have a stronger attraction for young beetles than do buds; and in this instance," he added more gravely, "it is a most fortunate accident. we have hosea's nephew in the snare, and it will be your part not to let him escape." "do you mean that we are to deprive him of his liberty?" cried the warrior. "even so." "yet you value his uncle?" "certainly. but the state has a higher claim." "this boy. . . ." "is a desirable hostage. hosea's sword was an extremely useful tool to us; but if the hand that guides it is directed by the man whose power ever greater things we know . . . ." "you mean the hebrew, mesu?" "then hosea will deal us wounds as deep as those he erst inflicted on our foes." "yet i have heard you say more than once that he was incapable of perjury." "and so i say still, he has given wonderful proof of it to-day. merely for the sake of being released from his oath, he thrust his head into the crocodile's jaws. but though the son of nun is a lion, he will find his master in mesu. that man is the mortal foe of the egyptians, the bare thought of him stirs my gall." "the cries of the wailing women behind this door admonish us loudly enough to hate him." "yet the weakling on the throne has forgotten vengeance, and is now sending hosea on an errand of reconciliation." "with your sanction, i think?" "ay," replied the priest with a mocking smile. "we send him to build a bridge! oh, this bridge! a grey-beard's withered brain recommends it to be thrown across the stream, and the idea just suits this pitiful son of a great father, who would certainly never have shunned swimming through the wildest whirlpool, especially when revenge was to be sought. let hosea essay the bridge! if it leads him back across the stream to us, i will offer him a right warm and cordial welcome; but as soon as this one man stands on our shores, may its supports sink under the leaders of his people; we, the only brave souls in egypt, must see to that." "so be it. yet i fear we shall lose the chief, too, if justice overtakes his people." "it might almost seem so." "you have greater wisdom than i" "yet here you believe me in error." "how could i venture to . . . ." "as a member of the military council you are entitled to your own opinion, and i consider myself bound to show you the end of the path along which you have hitherto followed us with blindfold eyes. so listen, and judge accordingly when your turn comes to speak in the council. the chief-priest rui is old . . . ." "and you now fill half his offices." "would that he might soon be relieved of the last half of his burden. not on my own account. i love strife, but for the welfare of our native land. it is a deep-seated feeling of our natures to regard the utterances and mandates of age as wisdom, so there are few among the councillors who do not follow the old man's opinions; yet his policy limps on crutches, like himself. all good projects are swamped under his weak, fainthearted guidance." "that is the very reason my vote is at your disposal," cried the warrior. "that is why i am ready to use all my might to hurl this sleeper from the throne and get rid of his foolish advisers." the prophet laid his finger on his lips to warn his companion to be more cautious, drew nearer to him, pointed to his litter, and said in a low, hurried tone: "i am expected at the sublime porte, so listen. if hosea's mission is successful his people will return--the guilty with the innocent--and the latter will suffer. among the former we can include the whole of hosea's tribe, who call themselves the sons of ephraim, from old nun down to the youth in your dwelling." "we may spare them; but mesu, too, is a hebrew, and what we do to him..." "will not occur in the public street, and it is child's play to sow enmity between two men who desire to rule in the same sphere. i will make sure that hosea shall shut his eyes to the other's death; but pharaoh, whether his name is meneptah or"--he lowered his voice--"siptah, must then raise him to so great a height--and he merits it--that his giddy eyes will never discern aught we desire to conceal. there is one dish that never palls on any man who has once tasted it." "and what is that?" "power, hornecht--mighty power! as ruler of a whole province, commander of all the mercenaries in aarsu's stead, he will take care not to break with us. i know him. if i can succeed in making him believe mesu has wronged him--and the imperious man will afford some pretext for it--and can bring him to the conviction that the law directs the punishment we mete out to the sorcerer and the worst of his adherents, he will not only assent but approve it." "and if he fails in his mission?" "he will return at any rate; for he would not be false to his oath. but if mesu, from whom we may expect anything, should detain him by force, the boy will be of service to us; for hosea loves him, his people value his life, and he belongs to one of their noblest tribes. in any case pharaoh must threaten the lad; we will guard him, and that will unite his uncle to us by fresh ties and lead him to join those who are angry with the king." "excellent!" "the surest way to attain our object will be by forging still another chain. in short--now i beg you to be quiet, your temper is far too hot for your grey hairs--in short, our hebrew brother-in-arms, the saviour of my life, the ablest man in the army, who is certain to win the highest place, must be your son-in-law. kasana's heart is his--my wife has told me so." hornecht frowned again, and struggled painfully to control his anger. he perceived that he must overcome his objection to giving his daughter to the man whose birth he scorned, much as he liked and esteemed his character. he could not refrain from uttering an oath under his breath, but his answer to the prophet was more calm and sensible than the latter had anticipated. if kasana was so possessed by demons that this stranger infatuated her, let her have her will. but hosea had not yet sued for her. "by the red god seth, and his seventy companions," he added wrathfully, "neither you, nor any one shall induce me to offer my daughter, who has twenty suitors, to a man who terms himself our friend, yet finds no leisure to greet us in our own house! to keep fast hold of the lad is another thing, i will see to that." chapter xi. the midnight heavens, decked with countless stars, spanned with their cloudless azure vault the flat plains of the eastern delta and the city of succoth, called by the egyptians, from their sanctuary, the place of the god tum, or pithom. the march night was drawing toward its end, pallid mists floated over the canal, the work of hebrew bondmen which, as far as the eye could reach, intersected the plain, watering the fields and pastures along its course. eastward and southward the sky was shrouded by dense veils of mist that rose from the large lakes and from the narrow estuaries that ran far up into the isthmus. the hot and dusty desert wind, which the day before had swept over the parched grass and the tents and houses of succoth, had subsided at nightfall; and the cool atmosphere which in march, even in egypt, precedes the approach of dawn, made itself felt. whoever had formerly entered, between midnight and morning, the humble frontier hamlet with its shepherd tents, wretched hovels of nile mud, and by no means handsome farms and dwellings, would scarcely have recognized it now. even the one noticeable building in the place--besides the stately temple of the sungod turn--the large fortified store-house, presented at this hour an unfamiliar aspect. its long white-washed walls, it is true, glimmered through the gloom as distinctly as ever, but instead of towering--as usual at this time--mute and lifeless above the slumbering town--the most active bustle was going on within and around it. it was intended also as a defense against the predatory hordes of the shasu, [bedouins, who dwelt as nomads in the desert adjacent to egypt, now regarded as part of asia.] who had made a circuit around the fortified works on the isthmus, and its indestructible walls contained an egyptian garrison, who could easily defend it against a force greatly superior in numbers. to-day it looked as if the sons of the desert had assailed it; but the men and women who were bustling about below and on the broad parapet of the gigantic building were hebrews, not shasu. with loud outcries and gesticulations of delight they were seizing the thousands of measures of wheat, barley, rye, and durra, the stores of pulse, dates, and onions they found in the well-filled granaries, and even before sunset had begun to empty the store-rooms and put their contents into sacks, pails, and skins, trays, jugs, and aprons, which were let down by ropes or carried to the ground on ladders. the better classes took no share in this work, but among the busy throng, spite of the lateness of the hour, were children of all ages, carrying away in pots, jugs, and dishes-borrowed from their mothers' cooking utensils--as much as they could. above, beside the unroofed openings of the storerooms, into which the stars were shining, and also at the foot of the ladders, women held torches or lanterns to light the others at their toil. pans of blazing pitch were set in front of the strong locked doors of the real fortress, and in their light armed shepherds were pacing to and fro. when heavy stones or kicks belabored the brazen-bound door from within, and threats were uttered in the egyptian tongue, the hebrews outside did not fail to retort in words of mockery and scorn. on the day of the harvest festival, during the first evening watch, runners arrived at succoth and announced to the israelites, whose numbers were twenty-fold greater than those of the egyptians, that they had quitted tanis in the morning and the tribes intended to leave at night; their kindred in succoth must be ready to go forth with them. there was great rejoicing among the hebrews, who like those of their blood in the city of rameses, had assembled in every house at a festive repast on the night of the new moon after the vernal equinox when the harvest festival usually began. the heads of the tribes had informed them that the day of liberation had arrived, and the lord would lead them into the promised land. here, too, as in tanis, many had been faint-hearted and rebellious, and others had endeavored to separate their lot from the rest and remain behind; but here, too, they were carried away by the majority. eleasar, the son of aaron, and the distinguished heads of the tribe of judah, hur and naashon, had addressed the multitude, as aaron and nun had done in the city of rameses. but miriam, the virgin, the sister of moses, had gone from house to house, everywhere awakening the fire of enthusiasm in men's hearts, and telling the women that the morrow's sun would usher in for them and their children a new day of happiness, prosperity, and freedom. few had been deaf to the appeals of the prophetess; there was an air of majesty, which compelled obedience, in the bearing of this maiden, whose large black eyes, surmounted by heavy dark eye-brows, which met m the middle, pierced the hearts of those on whom her gaze was bent and seemed to threaten the rebellious with their gloomy radiance. the members of every household went to rest after the festival with hearts uplifted and full of hope. but what a change had passed over them during the second day, the night that followed it, and the next morning! it seemed as though the desert wind had buried all their courage and confidence in the dust it swept before it. the dread of going forth to face an unknown future had stolen into every heart, and many a man who had waved his staff full of trust and joyful enterprise was now held, as if with clamps and fetters, to his well-tilled garden, the home of his ancestors, and the harvest in the fields, which had just been half gathered. the egyptian garrison in the fortified store-house had not failed to notice that the hebrews were under some special excitement, but they supposed it due to the harvest festival. the commander of the garrison had learned that moses desired to lead his people into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to their god, and had asked for a reinforcement. but he knew nothing more; for until the morning when the desert wind blew, no hebrew had disclosed the plans of his kindred. but the more sorely the heat of the day oppressed them, the greater became the dread of the faint-hearted of the pilgrimage through the hot, dusty, waterless desert. the terrible day had given them a foretaste of what was impending and when, toward noon, the dust grew thicker, the air more and more oppressive, a hebrew trader, from whom the egyptian soldiers purchased goods, stole into the store-house to ask the commander to prevent his people from rushing to their doom. even among the leaders the voices of malcontents had grown loud. asarja and michael, with their sons, who grudged the power of moses and aaron, had even gone from one to another to try to persuade them, ere departing, to summon the elders again and charge then to enter into fresh negotiations with the egyptians. while these malcontents were successfully gathering adherents, and the traitor had sought the commander of the egyptian garrison, two more messengers arrived with tidings that the fugitives would arrive in succoth between midnight and morning. breathless, speechless, dripping with perspiration, and with bleeding lips, the elder messenger sank on the threshold of amminadab's house, now the home of miriam also. both the exhausted men were refreshed with wine and food, ere the least wearied was fully capable of speech. then, in a hoarse voice, but from a heart overflowing with gratitude and ardent enthusiasm, be reported the scenes which had occurred at the exodus, and how the god of their fathers had filled every heart with his spirit, and instilled new faith into the souls of the cowards. miriam had listened to this story with sparkling eyes; at its close she flung her veil over her head and bade the servants of the household, who had assembled around the messengers, to summon the whole hebrew people under the sycamore, whose broad summit, the growth of a thousand years, protected a wide space of earth from the scorching sunbeams. the desert wind was still blowing, but the glad news seemed to have destroyed the baneful power it exerted on man, and when many hundreds of people had flocked together under the sycamore, miriam had given her hand to eleasar, the son of her brother aaron, sprung upon the bench which rested against the huge hollow trunk of the tree, raised her hands and eyes toward heaven in an ecstasy, and began in a loud voice to address a prayer to the lord, as if she beheld him with her earthly vision. then she permitted the messenger to speak, and when the latter again described the events which had occurred in the city of rameses, and then announced that the fugitives from tanis would arrive in a few hours, loud shouts of joy burst from the throng. eleasar, the son of aaron, proclaimed with glowing enthusiasm what the lord had done for his people and had promised to them, their children, and children's children. each word from the lips of the inspired speaker fell upon the hearts of the hebrews like the fresh dew of morning on the parched grass. the trusting hearers pressed around him and miriam with shouts of joy, and the drooping courage of the timorous appeared to put forth new wings. asarja, michael, and their followers no longer murmured, nay, most of them had been infected by the general enthusiasm, and when a hebrew mercenary stole out from the garrison of the store-house and disclosed what had been betrayed to his commander, eleasar, naashon, hur, and others took counsel together, gathered all the shepherds around them, and with glowing words urged them to show in this hour that they were men indeed and did not fear, with their god's mighty aid, to fight for their people and their liberty. there was no lack of axes, clubs, sickles, brazen spears, heavy staves, slings, the shepherds' weapons of defence against the wild beasts of the desert, or bows and arrows, and as soon as a goodly number of strong men had joined him, hur fell upon the egyptian overseers who were watching the labor of several hundred hebrew slaves. shouting: "they are coming! down with the oppressors! the lord our god is our leader!" they rushed upon the lybian warders, put them to rout, and released their fellows who were digging the earth, and laying bricks. as soon as the illustrious naashon had pressed one of the oldest of these hapless men like a brother to his heart, the other liberated bondsmen had flung themselves into the shepherds' arms and thus, still shouting: "they are coming!" and "the lord, the god of our fathers, is our leader!" they pressed forward in an increasing multitude. when at last the little band of shepherds had grown to a body of several thousand men, hur led them against the egyptian soldiers, whom they largely outnumbered. the egyptian bowmen had already discharged a shower of arrows, and stones hurled from the slings of the powerful shepherds had dealt fatal wounds in the front ranks of the foe, when the blast of a trumpet rang out, summoning the garrison of the fortress behind the sloping walls and solid door. the hebrews seemed to the commander too superior a force to fight, but duty required him to hold the fort until the arrival of the reinforcements he had requested. hur, however, had not been satisfied with his first victory. success had kindled the courage of his followers, as a sharp gust of wind fans a smouldering fire, and wherever an egyptian showed himself on the battlements of the store-house, the round stone from a shepherd's sling struck heavily upon him. at naashon's bidding ladders had been brought and, in the twinkling of an eye, hundreds climbed up the building from every direction and, after a short, bloodless struggle, the granaries fell into the hebrews' hands, though the egyptians had succeeded in still retaining the fort. during the passage of these events the desert wind had subsided. some of the liberated bondsmen, furious with rage, had heaped straw, wood, and faggots against the gate of the courtyard into which the egyptians had been forced. it would have been a light task for the assailants to destroy every one of their foes by fire; but hur, naashon, and other prudent leaders had not suffered this to be done, lest the provisions still in the store-rooms should be burned. it had been no easy matter, in truth, to deter the younger of the ill- treated bondsmen from this act of vengeance; but each one was a member of some family, and when hur's admonitions were supported by those of the fathers and mothers, they not only allowed themselves to be pacified, but aided the elders to distribute the contents of the magazines among the heads of families and pack them on the beasts of burden and into the carts which were to accompany the fugitives. the work went forward amid the broad glare of torches, and became a new festival; for neither hur, naashon, nor eleasar could prevent the men and women from opening the wine-jars and skins. they succeeded, however, in preserving the lion's share of the precious booty for a time of need, and thus averted much drunkenness, though the spirit of the grape-juice and the pleasure in obtaining so rich a prize doubtless enhanced the grateful excitement of the throng. when eleasar finally went among them for the second time to tell them of the promised land, men and women listened with uplifted hearts, and joined in the hymn miriam began to sing. devout enthusiasm now took possession of every heart in succoth, as it had done in tanis during the hour that preceded the exodus, and when seventy hebrew men and women, who had concealed themselves in the temple of turn, heard the jubilant hymn, they came forth into the open air, joined the others, and packed their possessions with as much glad hopefulness and warm trust in the god of their fathers, as if they had never shrunk from the departure. as the stars sank lower in the heavens, the joyous excitement increased. men and women thronged the road to tanis to meet their approaching kindred. many a father led his boy by the hand, and many a mother carried her child in her arms; the multitude drawing near contained numerous beloved relatives to be greeted, and the coming dawn could not fail to bring solemn hours of which one would wish no beloved heart to be deprived, and which would linger in the souls of the little ones till they themselves had children and grandchildren. no bed in tent, hovel, or house was occupied; for everywhere the final packing was going on. the throng of workers at the granaries had lessened; most of them were now supplied with as much food as they could carry. men and women equipped for travelling lay around fires hurriedly lighted in front of many tents and houses, and in the larger farms shepherds were driving the cattle and slaughtering the oxen and sheep which were unable to go with the people. the blows of axes and hammers and the creaking of saws were heard in front of many a house; for litters to transport the sick and feeble must be made. carts and wains were still to be loaded, and the heads of families had a hard task with the women; for a woman's heart often clings more closely to things apparently worthless than to those of the greatest value. when the weaver rebecca was more eager to find room in the cart for the rude cradle in which her darling had died, than for the beautiful ebony chest inlaid with ivory an egyptian had pawned to her husband, who could blame her? light shone from all the window openings and tent doors, while from the roofs of the largest houses the blaze of torches or lanterns greeted the approaching hebrews. at the banquet served on the night of the harvest festival, no table had lacked a roast lamb; during this hour of waiting the housewife offered her family what she could. the narrow streets of the humble little town were full of active life, and never had the setting stars shone upon features so cheerful, eyes sparkling so brightly with enthusiasm, and faces so transfigured by hope and devout piety. chapter xii. when morning dawned, all who had not gone down to meet the fugitives who were to make their first long halt here, had assembled on the roof of one of the largest houses in succoth. one after another fleet-footed man or boy, hurrying in advance of the rest, had reached succoth. amminadab's house was the goal sought by the majority. it consisted of two buildings, one occupied by naashon, the owner's son, and his family, the other, a larger dwelling, which sheltered, besides the grey-haired owner and his wife, his son-in-law aaron with his wife, children, and grand-children, and miriam. the aged leader of his tribe, who had assigned the duties of his position to his son naashon, extended his hand to every messenger and listened to his story with sparkling eyes, often dimmed by tears. he had induced his old wife to sit in the armchair in which she was to be carried after the people, that she might become accustomed to it, and for the same reason he now occupied his own. when the old dame heard the messengers boast that the fair future promised to the people was now close at hand, her eyes often sought her husband, and she exclaimed: "yes, moses!" for she held her son-in-law's brother in high esteem, and rejoiced to see his prophecy fulfilled. the old people were proud of aaron, too; but all their love was lavished upon eleasar, their grandson, whom they beheld growing up into a second moses. miriam had been for some time a new and welcome member of the household. true, the warm-hearted old couple's liking for the grave maiden had not increased to parental tenderness, and their daughter elisheba, aaron's active wife, had no greater inclination to share the cares of the large family with the prophetess than her son naashon's spouse, who, moreover, dwelt with her immediate family under her own roof. yet the old people owed miriam a debt of gratitude for the care she bestowed upon their granddaughter milcah, the daughter of aaron and elisheba, whom a great misfortune had transformed from a merry-hearted child into a melancholy woman, whose heart seemed dead to every joy. a few days after her marriage to a beloved husband the latter, carried away by passion, had raised his hand against an egyptian tax-gatherer, who, while pharaoh was passing through succoth toward the east, had attempted to drive off a herd of his finest cattle for "the kitchen of the lord of both worlds." for this act of self-defence the hapless man had been conveyed to the mines as a prisoner of state, and every one knew that the convicts there perished, soul and body, from torturing labor far beyond their strength. through the influence of old nun, hosea's father, the wife and relatives of the condemned man had been saved from sharing his punishment, as the law prescribed. but milcah languished under the blow, and the only person who could rouse the pale, silent woman from brooding over her grief was miriam. the desolate heart clung to the prophetess, and she accompanied her when she practised in the huts of the poor the medical skill she had learned and took them medicines and alms. the last messengers amninadab and his wife received on the roof described the hardships of the journey and the misery they had witnessed in dark hues; but if one, more tender-hearted than the rest, broke into lamentations over the sufferings endured by the women and children during the prevalence of the desert wind, and recalling the worst horrors impressed upon his memory, uttered mournful predictions for the future, the old man spoke cheering words, telling him of the omnipotence of god, and how custom would inure one to hardship. his wrinkled features expressed firm confidence, while one could read in miriam's beautiful, yet stern countenance, little of the courageous hope, which youth is wont to possess in a far higher degree than age. during the arrival and departure of the messengers she did not quit the old couple's side, leaving to her sister-in-law elisheba and her servants the duty of offering refreshments to the wearied men. she herself listened intently, with panting breath, but what she heard seemed to awaken her anxiety; for she knew that no one came to the house which sheltered aaron save those who were adherents of her brothers, the leaders of the people. if such men's blitheness was already waning, what must the outlook be to the lukewarm and refractory! she rarely added a question of her own to those asked by the old man and, when she did so, the messengers who heard her voice for the first time looked at her in surprise; though musical, the tones were unusually deep. after several messengers, in reply to her inquiries, declared that hosea, the son of nun, had not come with the others, her head drooped and she asked nothing more, till pallid milcah, who followed her everywhere, raised her dark eyes beseechingly and murmured the name of reuben, her captive husband. the prophetess kissed the poor desolate wife's forehead, glanced at her as if she had neglected her in some way, and then questioned the messengers with urgent eagerness concerning their news of reuben, who had been dragged to the mines. one only had learned from a released prisoner that milcah's husband was living in the copper mines of the province of bech, in the neighborhood of mt. sinai, and miriam seized upon these tidings to assure milcah, with great vivacity and warmth, that if the tribes moved eastward they would surely pass the mines and release the hebrews imprisoned there. these were welcome words, and milcah, who nestled to her comforter's breast, would gladly have heard more; but great restlessness had seized upon the people gazing into the distance from the roof of amminadab's house; a dense cloud of dust was approaching from the north, and soon after a strange murmur arose, then a loud uproar, and finally shouts and cries from thousands of voices, lowing, neighing, and bleating, such as none of the listeners had ever heard,--and then on surged the many-limbed and many-voiced multitude, the endless stream of human beings and herds, which the astrologer's grandson on the observatory of the temple at tanis had mistaken for the serpent of the nether-world. now, too, in the light of early dawn, it might easily have been imagined a host of bodiless spirits driven forth from the realms of the dead; for a whitish-grey column of dust extending to the blue vault of heaven moved before it, and the vast whole, with its many parts and voices, veiled by the clouds of sand, had the appearance of a single form. often, however, a metal spear-head or a brazen kettle, smitten by a sunbeam, flashed brightly, and individual voices, shouting loudly, fell upon the ear. the foremost billows of the flood had now reached amminadab's house, before which pasture lands extended as far as the eye could reach. words of command rang on the air, the procession halted, dispersing as a mountain lake overflows in spring, sending rivulets and streams hither and thither; but the various small runlets speedily united, taking possession of broad patches of the dewy pastures, and wherever such portions of the torrent of human beings and animals rested, the shroud of dust which had concealed them disappeared. the road remained hidden by the cloud a long time, but on the meadows the morning sunlight shone upon men, women, and children, cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, and soon tent after tent was pitched on the green sward in front of the dwellings of amminadab and naashon, herds were surrounded by pens, stakes and posts were driven into the hard ground, awnings were stretched, cows were fastened to ropes, cattle and sheep were led to water, fires were lighted, and long lines of women, balancing jars on their heads, with their slender, beautifully curved arms, went to the well behind the old sycamore or to the side of the neighboring canal. this morning, as on every other working-day, a pied ox with a large hump was turning the wheel that raised the water. it watered the land, though the owner of the cattle intended to leave it on the morrow; but the slave who drove it had no thought beyond the present and, as no one forbade him, moistened as he was wont the grass for the foe into whose hands it was to fall. hours elapsed ere the advancing multitude reached the camp, and miriam who stood describing to amminadab, whose eyes were no longer keen enough to discern distant objects, what was passing below, witnessed many an incident from which she would fain have averted her gaze. she dared not frankly tell the old man what she beheld, it would have clouded his joyous hope. relying, with all the might of an inspired soul upon the god of her fathers and his omnipotence, she had but yesterday fully shared amminadab's confidence; but the lord had bestowed upon her spirit the fatal gift of seeing things and hearing words incomprehensible to all other human beings. usually she distinguished them in dreams, but they often came to her also in solitary hours, when she was deeply absorbed by thoughts of the past or the future. the words ephraim had announced to hosea in her name, as a message from the most high, had been uttered by unseen lips while she was thinking under the sycamore of the exodus and the man whom she had loved from her childhood--and when that day, between midnight and morning, she again sat beneath the venerable tree and was overpowered by weariness, she had believed she heard the same voice. the words had vanished from her memory when she awoke, but she knew that their purport had been sorrowful and of ill omen. spite of the vagueness of the monition, it disturbed her, and the outcries rising from the pastures certainly were not evoked by joy that the people had joined her brothers and the first goal of their wanderings had been successfully gained, as the old man at her side supposed; no, they were the furious shouts of wrathful, undisciplined men, wrangling and fighting with fierce hostility on the meadow for a good place to pitch their tents or the best spot at the wells or on the brink of the canals to water their cattle. wrath, disappointment, despair echoed in the shouts, and when her gaze sought the point whence they rose loudest, she saw the corpse of a woman borne on a piece of tent-cloth by railing bondmen and a pale, death- stricken infant held on the arm of a half naked, frantic man, its father, who shook his disengaged hand in menace toward the spot where she saw her brothers. the next moment she beheld a grey-haired old man, bowed by heavy toil, raise his fist against moses. he would have struck him, had he not been dragged away by others. she could not bear to stay longer on the roof. pale and panting for breath, she hurried to the camp. milcah followed, and wherever they encountered people who lived in succoth, they received respectful greetings. the new comers from zoan,--as the hebrews called tanis,--pha-kos, and bubastis, whom they met on the way, did not know miriam, yet the tall figure and stately dignity of the prophetess led them also to make way respectfully or pause to answer her questions. the things she learned were evil and heart-rending; for joyously as the procession had marched forward on the first day, it dragged along sadly and hopelessly on the second. the desert wind had robbed many of the strong of their power of resistance and energy; others, like the bondman's wife and nursling, had been attacked by fever on the pilgrimage through the dust and the oppressive heat of the day, and they pointed out to her the procession which was approaching the burial-place of the hebrews of succoth. those who were being conveyed to the bourn whence there is no return were not only women and children, or those who had been brought from their homes ill, that they might not be left behind, but also men who were in robust health the day before and had broken down under burdens too heavy for their strength, or who had recklessly exposed themselves, while working, to the beams of the noon-day sun. in one tent, where a young mother was shaking with the chill of a severe attack of fever, miriam asked the pallid milcah to bring her medicine chest, and the desolate wife went on her errand with joyous alacrity. on the way she stopped many and timidly asked about her captive husband, but could obtain no news of him. miriam, however, heard from nun, hosea's father, that eliab, the freedman whom he had left behind, had informed him that his son would be ready to join his people. she also learned that the wounded ephraim had found shelter in his uncle's tent. was the lad's illness serious, or what other cause detained hosea in tanis? these questions filled miriam's heart with fresh anxiety, yet with rare energy she nevertheless lavished help and comfort wherever she went. old nun's cordial greeting had cheered her, and a more vigorous, kind, and lovable old man could not be imagined. the mere sight of his venerable head, with its thick snow-white hair and beard, his regular features, and eyes sparkling with the fire of youth, was a pleasure to her, and as, in his vivacious, winning manner, he expressed his joy at meeting her again, as he drew her to his heart and kissed her brow, after she had told him that, in the name of the most high, she had called hosea "joshua" and summoned him back to his people that he might command their forces, she felt as if she had found in him some compensation for her dead father's loss, and devoted herself with fresh vigor to the arduous duties which everywhere demanded her attention. and it was no trivial matter for the high-souled maiden to devote herself, with sweet self-sacrifice, to those whose roughness and uncouth manners wounded her. the women, it is true, gladly accepted her aid, but the men, who had grown up under the rod of the overseer, knew neither reserve nor consideration. their natures were as rude as their persons and when, as soon as they learned her name, they began to assail her with harsh reproaches, asserting that her brother had lured them from an endurable situation to plunge them into the most horrible position, when she heard imprecations and blasphemy, and saw the furious wrath of the black eyes that flashed in the brown faces framed by masses of tangled hair and beards, her heart failed her. but she succeeded in mastering dread and aversion, and though her heart throbbed violently, and she expected to meet the worst, she reminded those who were repulsive to her and from whom her woman's weakness urged her to flee, of the god of their fathers and his promises. she now thought she knew what the sorrowful warning voice under the sycamore had portended, and beside the couch of the young dying mother she raised her hands and heart to heaven and took an oath unto the most high that she would exert every power of her being to battle against the faint-hearted lack of faith and rude obstinacy, which threatened to plunge the people into sore perils. jehovah had promised them the fairest future and they must not be robbed of it by the short-sightedness and defiance of a few deluded individuals; but god himself could scarcely be wroth with those who, content if their bodily wants were satisfied, had unresistingly borne insults and blows like cattle. the multitude even now did not realize that they must pass through the darkness of misery to be worthy of the bright day that awaited them. the medicines administered by miriam seemed to relieve the sufferer, and filled with fresh confidence, she left the tent to seek her brothers. there had been little change in the state of affairs in the camp, and she again beheld scenes from which she recoiled and which made her regret that the sensitive milcah was her companion. some rascally bondmen who had seized cattle and utensils belonging to others had been bound to a palmtree, and the ravens that followed the procession; and had found ample sustenance on the way, now croaked greedily around the quickly established place of execution. no one knew who had been judge or executioner of the sentence; but those who took part in the swift retribution considered it well justified, and rejoiced in the deed. with rapid steps and averted head miriam drew the trembling milcah on and gave her to the care of her uncle naashon to lead home. the latter had just parted from the man who with him ruled the sons of judah as a prince of the tribe--hur, who at the head of the shepherds had won the first victory against the egyptians, and who now led to the maiden with joyful pride a man and a boy, his son and grandson. both had been in the service of the egyptians, practising the trade of goldsmith and worker in metals for pharaoh at memphis. the former's skill had won him the name of uri, which in egyptian means 'great', and this artificer's son bezaleel, hur's grandson, though scarcely beyond boyhood, was reputed to surpass his father in the gifts of genius. hur gazed with justifiable pride at son and grandson; for though both had attained much consideration among the egyptians they had followed their father's messenger without demur, leaving behind them many who were dear to their hearts, and the property gained in memphis, to join their wandering nation and share its uncertain destiny. miriam greeted the new arrivals with the utmost warmth, and the men who, representing three generations, stood before her, presented a picture on which the eyes of any well-disposed person could not fail to rest with pleasure. the grandfather was approaching his sixtieth year, and though many threads of silver mingled with his ebon-black hair, he held himself as erect as a youth, while his thin, sharply-cut features expressed the unyielding determination, which explained his son's and grandson's prompt obedience to his will. uri, too, was a stately man, and bezaleel a youth who showed that he had industriously utilized his nineteen years and already attained an independent position. his artist eye sparkled with special brilliancy, and after he and his father had taken leave of miriam to greet caleb, their grandfather and great-grandfather, she heartily congratulated the man who was one of her brother's most loyal friends, upon such scions of his noble race. hur seized her hand and, with a warmth of emotion gushing from a grateful heart that was by no means usual to the stern, imperious nature of this chief of an unruly shepherd tribe, exclaimed: "ay, they have remained good, true, and obedient. god has guarded them and prepared this day of happiness for me. now it depends on you to make it the fairest of all festivals. you must have long perceived that my eyes have followed you and that you have been dear to my heart. to work for our people and their welfare is my highest aim as a man, yours as a woman, and that is a strong bond. but i desired to have a still firmer one unite us, and since your parents are dead, and i cannot go with the bridal dower to amram, to buy you from him, i now bring my suit to you in person, high-souled maiden. but ere you say yes or no, you should learn that my son and grandson are ready to pay you the same honor as head of our household that they render me, and your brothers willingly permitted me to approach you as a suitor." miriam had listened to this offer in silent surprise. she had a high esteem and warm regard for the man who so fervently desired her love. spite of his age, he stood before her in the full flush of manhood and stately dignity, and the beseeching expression of eyes whose glance was wont to be so imperious and steadfast stirred the inmost depths of her soul. she, however, was waiting with ardent longing for another, so her sole answer was a troubled shake of the head. but this man of mature years, a prince of his tribe, who was accustomed to carry his plans persistently into execution, undeterred by her mute refusal, continued even more warmly than before. "do not destroy in one short moment the yearning repressed with so much difficulty for years! do you object to my age?" miriam shook her head a second time, but hur went on: "that was the source of my anxiety, though i can still vie with many a younger man in vigor. but, if you can overlook your lover's grey hairs, perhaps you may be induced to weigh the words he now utters. of the faith and devotion of my soul i will say nothing. no man of my years woos a woman, unless his heart's strong impulse urges him on. but there is something else which, meseems, is of equal import. i said that i would lead you to my house. yonder it stands, a building firm and spacious enough; but from to-morrow a tent will be our home, the camp our dwelling-place, and there will be wild work enough within its bounds. no one is secure, not even of life, least of all a woman, however strong she may be, who has made common cause with those against whom thousands murmur. your parents are dead, your brothers might protect you, but should the people lay hands on them, the same stones on which you cross the stream would drag you down into the depths with them." "and were i your wife, you also," replied miriam, her thick eye-brows contracting in a heavy frown. "i will take the risk," hur answered. "the destinies of all are in god's hands, my faith is as firm as yours, and behind me stands the tribe of judah, who follow me and naashon as the sheep follow the shepherds. old nun and the ephraimites are with us, and should matters come to the worst, it would mean perishing according to god's will, or in faithful union, power, and prosperity, awaiting old age in the promised land." miriam fearlessly gazed full into his stern eyes, laid her hand on his arm, and answered: "those words are worthy of the man whom i have honored from childhood, and who has reared such sons; but i cannot be your wife." "you cannot?" "no, my lord, i cannot." "a hard sentence, but it must suffice," replied the other, his head drooping in sorrow; but miriam exclaimed: "nay, hur, you have a right to ask the cause of my refusal, and because i honor you, i owe you the truth. another man of our race reigns in my heart. he met me for the first time when i was still a child. like your son and grandson, he has lived among the egyptians, but the summons of our god and of his father reached him as did the message to your sons, and like uri and bezaleel, he showed himself obedient. if he still desires to wed me, i shall become his wife, if it is the will of the god whom i serve, and who shows me the favor of suffering me to hear his voice. but i shall think of you with gratitude forever." her large eyes had been glittering through tears as she uttered the words, and there was a tremor in the grey-haired lover's voice as he asked in hesitating, embarrassed tones: "and if the man for whom you are waiting--i do not ask his name--shuts his ears to the call that has reached him, if he declines to share the uncertain destiny of his people?" "that will never happen!" miriam interrupted, a chill creeping through her veins, but hur exclaimed: "there is no 'never,' no 'surely,' save with god. if, spite of your firm faith, the result should be different from your expectations, will you resign to the lord the wish which began to stir in your heart, when you were still a foolish child?" "he who has guided me until now will show me the right way." "well then," replied hur, "put your trust in him, and if the man of your choice is worthy of you, and becomes your lord, my soul will rejoice without envy when the most high blesses your union. but if god wills otherwise, and you need a strong arm for your support, i am here. the tent and the heart of hur will ever be open to you." with these words he turned away; but miriam gazed thoughtfully after him as long as the old chief's stately figure was visible. at last, still pondering, she moved toward her host's house, but at the road leading to tanis, she paused and gazed northward. the dust had subsided, and she could see a long distance, but the one person whom it was to lead back to her and to his people did not appear. sighing sadly, she moved onward with drooping head, and started violently when her brother moses' deep voice called to her from the old sycamore. chapter xiii. aaron and eleasar, with fiery eloquence, had reminded the murmuring, disheartened people of the power and promises of their god. whoever had stretched his limbs undisturbed to comfortable rest, whoever had been strengthened by food and drink regained the confidence that had been lost. the liberated bondmen were told of the hard labor and dishonoring blows which they had escaped and admonished that they must recognize as god's dispensation, among other things, that pharaoh had not pursued them; but the rich booty still found in the plundered storehouse had no small share in the revival of their drooping courage, and the bondmen and lepers--for many of the latter had accompanied them and rested outside the camp--in short, all for whose support pharaoh had provided, saw themselves safe for a long time from care and privation. yet there was no lack of malcontents, and here and there, though no one knew who instigated the question, loud discussion arose whether it would not be more advisable to return to pharaoh and rely on his favor. whoever raised it, did the work secretly, and was often compelled to submit to sharp, threatening retorts. miriam had talked with her brothers and shared the heavy anxieties that oppressed them. why had the desert wind so speedily destroyed the courage of the people during their brief pilgrimage? how impatient, how weak in faith, how rebellious they had showed themselves at the first obstacle they had encountered, how uncontrollable they had been in following their fierce impulses. when summoned to prayer just before sunrise during their journey, some had turned toward the day-star rising in the east, others had taken out a small idol they had brought with them, and others still had uplifted their eyes to the nile acacia, which in some provinces of egypt was regarded as a sacred tree. what did they know of the god who had commanded them to cast so much behind them and take upon themselves such heavy burdens? even now many were despairing, though they had confronted no serious dangers; for moses had intended to lead the hebrews in succoth over the road to philistia direct to the promised land in palestine, but the conduct of the people forced him to resign this plan and form another. to reach the great highway connecting asia and africa it was necessary to cross the isthmus, which rather divided than united the two continents; for it was most thoroughly guarded from intruders and, partly by natural, partly by artificial obstacles, barred the path of every fugitive; a series of deep lakes rolled their waves upon its soil, and where these did not stay the march of the travelers strong fortifications, garrisoned by trained egyptian troops, rose before them. this chain of forts was called chetam--or in the hebrew tongue--etham, and wayfarers leaving succoth would reach the nearest and strongest of these forts in a few hours. when the tribes, full of enthusiasm for their god, and ready for the most arduous enterprises, shook off their chains and, exulting in their new liberty, rushed forward to the promised land moses, and with him the majority of the elders, had believed that, like a mountain torrent, bursting dams and sluices, they would destroy and overthrow everything that ventured to oppose their progress. with these enthusiastic masses, to whom bold advance would secure the highest good, and timid hesitation could bring nothing save death and ruin, they had expected to rush over the etham line as if it were a pile of faggots. but now since a short chain of difficulties and suffering had stifled the fire of their souls, now that wherever the eye turned, there were two calm and five dissatisfied or anxious individuals to one upheld by joyous anticipation, to storm the etham line would have cost rivers of blood and moreover jeopardized all that had been already gained. the overpowering of the little garrison in the storehouse of pithom had occurred under specially favorable circumstances, which could hardly be expected to happen again, so the original plan must be changed, and an attempt made to take a circuit around the fortifications. instead of moving toward the northeast, the tribes must turn southward. but, ere carrying this plan into execution, moses, accompanied by a few trusty men, desired to examine the new route and ascertain whether it would be passable for the great wandering people. these matters were discussed under the great sycamore in front of amminadab's house, and miriam was present, a mute witness. women,--even those like herself,--were forced to keep silence when men were holding counsel; yet it was hard for her to remain speechless when it was decided to abstain from attacking the forts, even should the trained warrior, hosea, whom god himself had chosen to be his sword, return to his people. "what avails the best leader, if there is no army to obey him?" naashon, amminadab's son, had exclaimed, and the others shared his opinion. when the council finally broke up, moses took leave of his sister with fraternal affection. she knew that he was in the act of plunging into fresh dangers and--in the modest manner in which she was always wont to accost the brother who so far surpassed all others in every gift of mind and body,--expressed her anxiety. he looked into her eyes with friendly reproach and raised his right hand toward heaven; but she understood his meaning, and kissing his hand with grateful warmth, replied: "you stand under the protection of the most high, and i fear no longer." pressing his lips upon her brow, he bade her give him a tablet, wrote a few words on it, flung it into the hollow trunk of the sycamore, and said: "for hosea, no, for joshua, the son of nun, if he comes while i am absent. the lord has great deeds for him to accomplish, when he learns to expect loftier things from the most high than from the mighty ones of earth." with these words he left her; but aaron who, as the oldest, was the head of her tribe, lingered and told her that a man of worth sought her hand. miriam, with blanching face, replied: "i know it......" he looked at her in surprise and with earnest monition, added: "as you choose; yet it will be wise to consider this. your heart belongs to your god and to your people, and the man whom you wed must be ready, like yourself, to serve both; for two must be one in marriage, and if the highest aim of one is not also that of the other, they will remain two till the end. the voice of the senses, which drew them together, will soon be mute and nothing will be left to them save discord." having said this, he went away, and she, too, was preparing to leave the others; for on the eve of departure she might be needed in the house whose hospitality she enjoyed. but a new incident detained her, as though bound with fetters, under the sycamore. what cared she for the packing of perishable wares and providing for bodily needs, when affairs which occupied her whole soul were under discussion! elisheba, naashon's wife, any housekeeper and faithful slave could attend to the former wants. higher things were to be determined here--the weal or woe of her people. several men of distinction in the tribes had joined the elders under the sycamore; but hur had already departed with moses. uri, the son of the former, now appeared beneath the ancient tree. the worker in metals, who had just come from egypt, had talked in memphis with persons who were near to the king and learned that pharaoh was ready to remove great burdens from the hebrews and grant them new favors, if moses would render the god whom he served propitious to him and induce the people to return after they had offered sacrifices in the wilderness. therefore it would be advisable to send envoys to tanis and enter into negotiations with the sublime porte. these proposals, which uri had not yet ventured to moot to his father, he, with good intentions, brought before the assembled elders; he hoped that their acceptance might spare the people great suffering. but scarcely had he concluded his clear and convincing speech, when old nun, hosea's father, who had with difficulty held his feelings in check, broke in. the old man's face, usually so cheerful, glowed with wrath, and its fiery hue formed a strange contrast to the thick white locks which framed it. a few hours before he had heard moses repel similar propositions with harsh decision and crushing reasons; now he had heard them again brought. forward and noted many a gesture of assent among the listeners, and saw the whole great enterprise imperilled, the enterprise for whose success he had himself risked and sacrificed more than any other man. this was too much for the active old man who, with flashing eyes and hand upraised in menace, burst forth "what do you mean? are we to pick up the ends of the rope the lord our god has severed? do you counsel us to fasten it anew, with a looser knot, which will hold as long as the whim of a vacillating weakling who has broken his promises to us and to moses a score of times? do you wish to lead us back to the cage whence the almighty released us by a miracle? are we to treat the lord our god like a bad debtor and prefer the spurious gold ring we are offered to the royal treasures he promises? oh, messenger from the egyptians-- i would . . . ." here the hot-blooded grey-beard raised his clenched fist in menace but, ere he had uttered the threat that hovered on his lips, he let his arm fall; for gabriel, the oldest member of the tribe of zebulun, shouted: "remember your own son, who is to-day among the foes of his people." the words struck home; yet they only dimmed the fiery old man's glad self-reliance a moment and, amid the voices uttering disapproval of the malicious gabriel and the few who upheld the zebulunite, he cried: "and because i am perhaps in danger of losing, not only the ten thousand acres of land i flung behind me, but a noble son, it is my right to speak here." his broad chest heaved with his labored breathing and his eyes, shadowed by thick white brows, rested with a milder expression on the son of hur, whose face had paled at his vehement words, as he continued: "uri is a good and dutiful son to his father and has also been obliged to make great sacrifices in leaving the place where his work was so much praised and his own house in memphis. the blessing of the most high will not fail him. but for the very reason that he has hitherto obeyed the command, he must not now seek to destroy what we have commenced under the guidance of the most high. to you, gabriel, i answer that my son probably will not tarry among our foes, but obedient to my summons, will join us, like uri, the first-born of hur. what still detains him is doubtless some important matter of which hosea will have as little cause to be ashamed as i, his father. i know and trust him, and whoever expects aught else will sooner or later, by my son's course of action, be proved a liar." here he paused to push his white hair back from his burning brow and, as no one contradicted him, he turned to the worker in metals, and added with cordial friendliness: "what angered me, uri, was certainly not your purpose. that is a good one; but you have measured the greatness and majesty of the god of our fathers by the standard of the false gods of the egyptians, who die and rise again and, as aaron has just said, represent only minor attributes of him who is in all and transcends everything. to serve god, until moses taught me a better counsel, i deemed meant to sacrifice an ox, a lamb, or a goose upon the altar like the egyptians; but your eyes, as befell me through moses, will not be opened to him who rules the world and has made us his people, until, like me, you, and all of us, and probably my son also, shall each have kindled in his own breast the sacrificial fire which never goes out and consumes everything that does not relate to him in love and loyalty, faith and reverence. through moses, his servant, god has promised us the greatest blessings-- deliverance from bondage, the privilege of ruling on our own land as free men in a beautiful country, our own possession and the heritage of our children. we are going forth to receive his gift, and whoever seeks to stop us on our way, whoever urges us to turn and creep back into the net whose brazen meshes we have burst, advises his people to run once more like sheep into the fire from which they have escaped. i am not angry with you; your face shows that you perceive how foolishly you have erred; but all ye who are here must know that i heard only a few hours ago from moses' own lips these words: 'whoever counsels return and the making of covenants with the egyptians, i will denounce as a scorner of jehovah our god, and the destroyer and worst foe of his people!'" uri went to the old man, gave him his hand, and deeply convinced of the justice of his reproaches, exclaimed: "no treaty, no covenant with the egyptians! i am grateful to you, nun, for opening my eyes. to me, also, the hour will doubtless come in which you, or some one who stands nearer to him than i, will teach me to know your god, who is also mine." as he ceased speaking, he went away with nun, who put his arm around his shoulders; but miriam had listened breathlessly to uri's last words, and as he expressed a desire to know the god of his people, her eyes had sparkled with the light of enthusiasm. she felt that her soul was filled with the greatness of the most high and that she had the gift of speech to make another familiar with the knowledge she herself possessed. but this time also custom required her to keep silence. her heart ached, and as she again moved among the multitude and convinced herself that hosea had not yet come, she went home, as twilight was beginning to gather, and joined the others on the roof. no one there appeared to have missed her, not even poor melancholy milcah, and she felt unutterably lonely in this house. if hosea would only come, if she might have a strong breast on which to lean, if this sense of being a stranger in her own home, this useless life beneath the roof she was obliged to call hers, though she never felt thoroughly at home under it, would but cease. moses and aaron, too, had gone away, taking hur's grandson with them; but no one had deemed her, who lived and breathed solely for her people and their welfare, worthy to learn whither their journey led or what was its purpose. why had the god to whom she devoted her whole life and being made her a woman, yet given her the mind and soul of a man? she waited, as if to test whether any of the circle of kindly-natured people to which she belonged really loved her, for some one of the elders or the children to accost her; but eleasar's little ones were pressing around their grandparents, and she had never understood how to make herself agreeable to children. elisheba was directing the slaves who were putting the finishing touches to the packing; milcah sat with her cat in her lap, gazing into vacancy. no one heeded or spoke to her. bitter pain overpowered miriam, and after she had shared the evening meal with the others, and forced herself not to disturb by her own sorrowful mood, the joyous excitement of the children, who looked forward to the pilgrimage as a great pleasure, she longed to go out of doors. closely veiled, she passed alone through the camp and what she beheld there was certainly ill-suited to dispel the mood that oppressed her. there was plenty of noise, and though sometimes devout hymns, full of joy and hope, echoed on the air, she heard far more frequently savage quarrelling and rebellious words. when her ear caught threats or reproaches levelled against her noble brother, she quickened her pace, but she could not escape her anxiety concerning what would happen at the departure after sunrise on the morrow, should the malcontents obtain supremacy. she knew that the people would be forced to press forward; but her dread of pharaoh's military power had never permitted her to be at peace--to her it was as it were embodied in hosea's heroic figure. if the lord himself did not fight in the ranks of the wretched bondmen and shepherds who were quarrelling and disputing around her, how were they to withstand the well-trained and equipped hosts of the egyptians, with their horses and chariots? she had heard that guards had been posted in all parts of the camp, with orders to sound the horn or strike the cymbal at the approach of the foe, until the men had flocked to the spot whence the warning first echoed. she had long listened for such an alarm, yet how much more intently for the hoof-beats of a single steed, the firm step and deep voice of the warrior for whom she yearned. on his account she constantly returned to the northern part of the camp which adjoined the road coming from tanis and where now, at moses' bidding, the tents of most of the men capable of bearing arms were pitched. here she had hoped to find true confidence; but as she listened to the talk of the armed soldiers who surrounded the camp-fires in dense circles, she heard that uri's proposal had reached them also. most of them were husbands and fathers, had left behind a house, a bit of land, a business, or an office, and though many spoke of the command of the most high and the beautiful new home god had promised, not a few were disposed to return. how gladly she would have gone among these blinded mortals and exhorted them to obey with fresh faith and confidence the command of the lord and of her brother. but here, too, she was forced to keep silence. she was permitted to listen only, and she was most strongly attracted to the very places where she might expect to hear rebellious words and proposals. there was a mysterious charm in this cruel excitement and she felt as if she were deprived of something desirable when many a fire was extinguished, the soldiers went to sleep, and conversation ceased. she now turned for the last time toward the road leading from tanis; but nothing was stirring there save the sentries pacing to and fro. she had not yet doubted hosea's coming; for the summons she had sent to him in the name of the lord had undoubtedly reached him; but now that the stars showed her it was past midnight, the thought came vividly before her mind of the many years he had spent among the egyptians, and that he might perhaps deem it unworthy of a man to obey the call of a woman, even if she uplifted her voice in the name of the most high. she had experienced humiliations enough that day, why should not this be decreed also? chapter xiv. deeply disturbed and tortured by such thoughts, miriam walked toward amminadab's house to seek repose; but just as she was in the act of crossing the threshold, she paused and again listened for sounds coming from the north. hosea must arrive from that direction. but she heard nothing save the footsteps of a sentinel and the voice of hur, who was patrolling the camp with a body of armed men. he, too, had been unable to stay in the house. the night was mild and starry, the time seemed just suited for dreams under the sycamore. her bench beneath the venerable tree was empty, and with drooping head she approached the beloved resting-place, which she must leave forever on the morrow. but ere she had reached the spot so close at hand, she paused with her figure drawn up to its full height and her hand pressed upon her throbbing bosom. this time she was not mistaken, the beat of hoofs echoed on the air, and it came from the north. were pharaoh's chariots approaching to attack the camp? should she shout to wake the warriors? or could it be he whom she so longingly expected? yes, yes, yes! it was the tramp of a single steed, and must be a new arrival; for there were loud voices in the tents, the dogs barked, and shouts, questions, and answers came nearer and nearer with the rider. it was hosea, she felt sure. his riding alone through the night, released from the bonds that united him to pharaoh and his comrades in arms, was a sign of his obedience! love had steeled his will and quickened the pace of his steed, and the gratitude of answering affection, the reward she could bestow, should be withheld no longer. in her arms he should blissfully perceive that he had resigned great possessions to obtain something still fairer and sweeter! she felt as though the darkness around had suddenly brightened into broad day, as her ear told her that the approaching horseman was riding straight toward the house of her host amminadab. she now knew that he was obeying her summons, that he had come to find her. hosea was seeking her ere he went to his own father, who had found shelter in the big empty house of his grandson, ephraim. he would gladly have dashed toward her at the swiftest pace of his steed, but it would not do to ride rapidly through the camp. ah, how long the time seemed ere she at last saw the horseman, ere he swung himself to the ground, and his companion flung the reins of the horse to a man who followed him. it was he, it was hosea! but his companion--she had recognized him distinctly and shrank a little --his companion was hur, the man who a few hours before had sought her for his wife. there stood her two suitors side by side in the starlight, illumined by the glare of the pitch torches blazing beside the carts and household utensils which had been packed for the morrow's journey. the tall figure of the elder hebrew towered over the sinewy form of the warrior, and the shepherd prince bore himself no whit less erect than the egyptian hero. both voices sounded earnest and manly, yet her lover's seemed to miriam stronger and deeper. they had now advanced so near that she could understand their conversation. hur was telling the newcomer that moses had gone on a reconnoitring expedition, and hosea was expressing his regret, because he had important matters to discuss with him. then he must set out with the tribes the next morning, hur replied, for moses intended to join them on the way. then he pointed to amminadab's house, from which no ray of light gleamed through the darkness, and asked hosea to spend the remainder of the night beneath his roof, as he probably would not wish yo disturb his aged father at so late an hour. miriam saw her friend hesitate and gaze intently up to the women's apartments and the roof of her host's house. knowing what he sought, she could no longer resist the impulse of her heart, but stepped forth from the shadow of the sycamore and gave hosea a cordial and tender welcome. he, too, disdained to conceal the joy of his heart, and hur stood beside the reunited lovers, as they clasped each other's hands, and exchanged greetings, at first mutely, then with warm words. "i knew you would come!" cried the maiden, and hosea answered with joyful emotion. "you might easily suppose so, oh prophetess; for your own voice was among those that summoned me here." then in a calmer tone, he added: "i hoped to find your brother also; i am the bearer of a message of grave import to him, to us, and to the people. i see that you, too, are ready to depart and should grieve to behold the comfort of your aged hosts destroyed by hasty acts that may yet be needless." "what do you mean?" asked hur, advancing a step nearer to the other. "i mean," replied hosea, "that if moses persists in leading the tribes eastward, much blood will flow uselessly to-morrow; for i learned at tanis that the garrison of etham has been ordered to let no man pass, still less the countless throng, whose magnitude surprised me as i rode through the camp. i know apu, who commands the fortifications and the legions whom he leads. there would be a terrible, fruitless massacre of our half-armed, untrained people, there would be--in short, i have urgent business to discuss with moses, urgent and immediate, to avert the heaviest misfortune ere it is too late." "what you fear has not escaped our notice," replied hur, "and it is in order to guard against this peril that moses has set forth on a dangerous quest." "whither?" asked hosea. "that is the secret of the leaders of the tribes." "of which my father is one." "certainly; and i have already offered to take you to him. if he assumes the responsibility of informing you ..." "should he deem it a breach of duty, he will keep silence. who is to command the wandering hosts tomorrow?" "i." "you?" asked hosea in astonishment, and hur answered calmly: "you marvel at the audacity of the shepherd who ventures to lead an army; but the lord of all armies, to whom we trust our cause, is our leader; i rely solely on his guidance." "and so do i," replied hosea. "no one save the god through whom miriam summoned me to this spot, entrusted me--of that i am confident--with the important message which brings me here. i must find moses ere it is too late." "you have already heard that he will be beyond the reach of any one, myself included, until to-morrow, perhaps the day after. will you speak to aaron?" "is he in the camp?" "no; but we expect his return before the departure of the people, that is in a few hours." "has he the power to decide important matters in moses' absence?" "no, he merely announces to the people in eloquent language what his illustrious brother commands." the warrior bent his eyes with a disappointed expression on the ground, and after a brief pause for reflection eagerly added, fixing his gaze on miriam: "it is moses to whom the lord our god announces his will; but to you, his august maiden sister, the most high also reveals himself, to you . . ." "oh, hosea!" interrupted the prophetess, extending her hands toward him with a gesture of mingled entreaty and warning; but the chief, instead of heeding her monition, went on: "the lord our god hath commanded you to summon me, his servant, back to the people; he hath commanded you to give me the name for which i am to exchange the one my father and mother bestowed upon me, and which i have borne in honor for thirty years. obedient to your summons, i have cast aside all that could make me great among men; but on my way through egypt,--bearing in my heart the image of my god and of you,--braving death, the message i now have to deliver was entrusted to me, and i believe that it came from the most high himself. it is my duty to convey it to the leaders of the people; but as i am unable to find moses, i can confide it to no better one than you who, though only a woman, stand,-- next to your brother--nearest to the most high, so i implore you to listen to me. the tidings i bring are not yet ripe for the ears of a third person." hur drew his figure to a still greater height and, interrupting hosea, asked miriam whether she desired to hear the son of nun without witnesses; she answered with a quiet "yes." then hur turned haughtily and coldly to the warrior: "i think that miriam knows the lord's will, as well as her brother's, and is aware of what beseems the women of israel. if i am not mistaken, it was under this tree that your own father, the worthy nun, gave to my son uri the sole answer which moses must also make to every bearer of a message akin to yours." "do you know it?" asked hosea in a tone of curt reproof. "no," replied the other, "but i suspect its purport, and look here." while speaking he stooped with youthful agility and, raising two large stones with his powerful arms, propped them against each other, rolled several smaller ones to their sides, and then, with panting breath, exclaimed: "let this heap be a witness between me and thee, like the stones named mizpah which jacob and laban erected. and as the latter called upon the lord to watch between him and the other, so do i likewise. i point to this heap that you may remember it, when we are parted one from the other. i lay my hand upon these stones and bear witness that i, hur, son of caleb and ephrath, put my trust in no other than the lord, the god of our fathers, and am ready to obey his command, which calls us forth from the kingdom of pharaoh into a land which he promised to us. but of thee, hosea, son of nun, i ask and the lord our god hears thee: dost thou, too, expect no other help save from the god of abraham, who has made thy race his chosen people? and wilt thou also testify whether thou wilt ever regard the egyptians who oppressed us, and from whose bondage the lord our god delivered us, as the mortal foes of thy god and of thy race?" the warrior's bearded features quivered, and he longed to overthrow the heap and answer the troublesome questioner with wrathful words, but miriam had laid her hand on the top of the pile of stones, and clasping his right hand, exclaimed: "he is questioning you in the presence of our god and lord, who is your witness." hosea succeeded in controlling his wrath, and pressing the maiden's hand more closely, he answered earnestly: "he questions, but i may not answer; 'yea' or 'nay' will be of little service here; but i, too, call god to witness, and before this heap you, miriam, but you alone, shall hear what i propose and for what purpose i have come. look, hur! like you i lay my hand upon this heap and bear witness that i, hosea, son of nun, put my sole trust in the lord and god of our fathers. he stands as a witness between me and thee, and shall decide whether my way is his, or that of an erring mortal. i will obey his will, which he has made known to moses and to this noble maiden. this i swear by an oath whose witness is the lord our god." hur had listened intently and, impressed by the earnestness of the words, now exclaimed: "the lord our god has heard your vow and against your oath i, in the presence of this heap, take another: if the hour comes when, mindful of this heap of stones, you give the testimony you have refused me, there shall henceforward be no ill-will between us, and if it is in accordance with the will of the most high, i will cheerfully resign to you the office of commander, which you, trained in many wars, would be better suited to fill than i, who hitherto have ruled only my flocks and shepherds. but you, miriam, i charge to remember that this heap of stones will also be a witness of the colloquy you are to hold with this man in the presence of god. i remind you of the reproving words you heard beneath this tree from the lips of his father, and call god to witness that i would have darkened the life of my son uri, who is the joy of my heart, with a father's curse if he had gone among the people to induce them to favor the message he brought; for it would have turned those of little faith from their god. remember this, maiden, and let me say again: "if you seek me you will find me, and the door i opened will remain open to you, whatever may happen!" with these words hur turned his back upon miriam and the warrior. neither knew what had befallen them, but he who during the long ride beset by many a peril had yearned with ardent anticipations for the hour which was to once more unite him to the object of his love, gazed on the ground full of bewilderment and profound anxiety, while miriam who, at his approach, had been ready to bestow upon him the highest, sweetest gifts with which a loving woman rewards fidelity and love, had sunk to the earth before the ominous pile of stones close beside the tree and pressed her forehead against its gnarled, hollow trunk. etext editor's bookmarks: brief "eternity" of national covenants choose between too great or too small a recompense regard the utterances and mandates of age as wisdom there is no 'never,' no surely voice of the senses, which drew them together, will soon be mute this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] joshua by georg ebers volume . chapter xv. for a long time nothing was heard beneath the sycamore save miriam's low moans and the impatient footsteps of the warrior who, while struggling for composure, did not venture to disturb her. he could not yet understand what had suddenly towered like a mountain between him and the object of his love. he had learned from hur's words that his father and moses rejected all mediation, yet the promises he was bearing to the people seemed to him a merciful gift from the most high. none of his race yet knew it and, if moses was the man whom he believed him to be, the lord must open his eyes and show him that he had chosen him, hosea, to lead the people through his mediation to a fairer future; nor did he doubt that he could easily win his father over to his side. he would even have declared a second time, with the firmest faith, that it was the most high who had pointed out his path, and after reflecting upon all this he approached miriam, who had at last risen, with fresh confidence. his loving heart prompted him to clasp her in his arms, but she thrust him back and her voice, usually so pure and clear, sounded harsh and muffled as she asked why he had lingered so long and what he intended to confide to her. while cowering under the sycamore, she had not only struggled and prayed for composure, but also gazed into her own soul. she loved hosea, but she suspected that he came with proposals similar to those of uri, and the wrathful words of hoary nun rang in her ears more loudly than ever. the fear that the man she loved was walking in mistaken paths, and the startling act of hur had made the towering waves of her passion subside and her mind, now capable of calmer reflection, desired first of all to know what had so long detained him whom she had summoned in the name of her god, and why he came alone, without ephraim. the clear sky was full of stars, and these heavenly bodies, which seem to have been appointed to look down upon the bliss of united human lovers, now witnessed the anxious questions of a tortured girl and the impatient answers of a fiery, bitterly disappointed man. he began with the assurance of his love and that he had come to make her his wife; but, though she permitted him to hold her hand in his clasp, she entreated him to cease pleading his suit and first tell her what she desired to know. on his way he had received various reports concerning ephraim through a brother-in-arms from tanis, so he could tell her that the lad had been disobedient and, probably from foolish curiosity, had gone, ill and wounded, to the city, where he had found shelter and care in the house of a friend. but this troubled miriam, who seemed to regard it as a reproach to know that the orphaned, inexperienced lad, who had grown up under her own eyes and whom she herself had sent forth among strangers, was beneath an egyptian roof. but hosea declared that he would undertake the task of bringing him back to his people and as, nevertheless she continued to show her anxiety, asked whether he had forfeited her confidence and love. instead of giving him a consoling answer, she began to put more questions, desiring to know what had delayed his coming, and so, with a sorely troubled and wounded heart, he was forced to make his report and, in truth, begin at the end of his story. while she listened, leaning against the trunk of the sycamore, he paced to and fro, urged by longing and impatience, sometimes pausing directly in front of her. naught in this hour seemed to him worthy of being clothed in words, save the hope and passion which filled his heart. had he been sure that hers was estranged he would have dashed away again, after having revealed his whole soul to his father, and risked the ride into unknown regions to seek moses. to win miriam and save himself from perjury were his only desires, and momentous as had been his experiences and expectations, during the last few days, he answered her questions hastily, as if they concerned the most trivial things. he began his narrative in hurried words, and the more frequently she interrupted him, the more impatiently he bore it, the deeper grew the lines in his forehead. hosea, accompanied by his attendant, had ridden southward several hours full of gladsome courage and rich in budding hopes, when just before dusk he saw a vast multitude moving in advance of him. at first he supposed he had encountered the rear-guard of the migrating hebrews, and had urged his horse to greater speed. but, ere he overtook the wayfarers, some peasants and carters who had abandoned their wains and beasts of burden rushed past him with loud outcries and shouts of warning which told him that the people moving in front were lepers. and the fugitives' warning had been but too well founded; for the first, who turned with the heart- rending cry: "unclean! unclean!" bore the signs of those attacked by the fell disease, and from their distorted faces covered with white dust and scurf, lustreless eyes, destitute of brows, gazed at him. hosea soon recognized individuals, here egyptian priests with shaven heads, yonder hebrew men and women. with the stern composure of a soldier, he questioned both and learned that they were marching from the stone quarries opposite memphis to their place of isolation on the eastern shore of the nile. several of the hebrews among them had heard from their relatives that their people had left egypt and gone to seek a land which the lord had promised them. many had therefore resolved to put their trust also in the mighty god of their fathers and follow the wanderers; the egyptian priests, bound to the hebrews by the tie of a common misfortune, had accompanied them, and fixed upon succoth as the goal of their journey, knowing that moses intended to lead his people there first. but every one who could have directed them on their way had fled before them, so they had kept too far northward and wandered near the fortress of thabne. hosea had met them a mile from this spot and advised them to turn back, that they might not bring their misfortune upon their fugitive brethren. during this conversation, a body of egyptian soldiers had marched from the fortress toward the lepers to drive them from the road; but their commander, who knew hosea, used no violence, and both men persuaded the leaders of the lepers to accept the proposal to be guided to the peninsula of sinai, where in the midst of the mountains, not far from the mines, a colony of lepers had settled. they had agreed to this plan because hosea promised them that, if the tribes went eastward, they would meet them and receive everyone who was healed; but if the hebrews remained in egypt, nevertheless the pure air of the desert would bring health to many a sufferer, and every one who recovered would be free to return home. these negotiations had consumed much time, and the first delay was followed by many others; for as hosea had been in such close contact with the lepers, he was obliged to ride to thabne, there with the commander of the garrison, who had stood by his side, to be sprinkled with bird's blood, put on new garments, and submit to certain ceremonies which he himself considered necessary and which could be performed only in the bright sunlight. his servant had been kept in the fortress because the kind-hearted man had shaken hands with a relative whom he met among the hapless wretches. the cause of the delay had been both sorrowful and repulsive, and not until after hosea had left thabne in the afternoon and proceeded on his way to succoth, did hope and joy again revive at the thought of seeing miriam once more and bringing to his people a message that promised so much good. his heart had never throbbed faster or with more joyous anticipation than on the nocturnal ride which led him to his father and the woman he loved, and on reaching his goal, instead of the utmost happiness, he now found only bitter disappointment. he had reluctantly described in brief, disconnected sentences his meeting with the lepers, though he believed he had done his best for the welfare of these unfortunates. all of his warrior comrades had uttered a word of praise; but when he paused she whose approval he valued above aught else, pointed to a portion of the camp and said sadly: "they are of our blood, and our god is theirs. the lepers in zoan, pha-kos and phibeseth followed the others at a certain distance, and their tents are pitched outside the camp. those in succoth--there are not many--will also be permitted to go forth with us; for when the lord promised the people the land for which they long, he meant lofty and lowly, poor and humble, and surely also the hapless ones who must now remain in the hands of the foe. would you not have done better to separate the hebrews from the egyptians, and guide those of our own blood to us?" the warrior's manly pride rebelled and his answer sounded grave and stern: "in war we must resolve to sacrifice hundreds in order to save thousands. the shepherds separate the scabby sheep to protect the flock." "true," replied miriam eagerly; "for the shepherd is a feeble man, who knows no remedy against contagion; but the lord, who calls all his people, will suffer no harm to arise from rigid obedience." "that is a woman's mode of thought," replied hosea; "but what pity dictates to her must not weigh too heavily in the balance in the councils of men. you willingly obey the voice of the heart, which is most proper, but you should not forget what befits you and your sex." a deep flush crimsoned miriam's cheeks; for she felt the sting contained in this speech with two-fold pain because it was hosea who dealt the thrust. how many pangs she had been compelled to endure that day on account of her sex, and now he, too, made her feel that she was not his peer because she was a woman. in the presence of the stones hur had gathered, and on which her hand now rested, he had appealed to her verdict, as though she were one of the leaders of the people, and now he abruptly thrust her, who felt herself inferior to no man in intellect and talent, back into a woman's narrow sphere. but he, too, felt his dignity wounded, and her bearing showed him that this hour would decide whether he or she would have the mastery in their future union. he stood proudly before her, his mien stern in its majesty--never before had he seemed so manly, so worthy of admiration. yet the desire to battle for her insulted womanly dignity gained supremacy over every other feeling, and it was she who at last broke the brief, painful silence that had followed his last words, and with a composure won only by the exertion of all her strength of will, she began: "we have both forgotten what detains us here so late at night. you wished to confide to me what brings you to your people and to hear, not what miriam, the weak woman, but the confidante of the lord decides." "i hoped also to hear the voice of the maiden on whose love i rely," he answered gloomily. "you shall hear it," she replied quickly, taking her hand from the stones. "yet it may be that i cannot agree with the opinion of the man whose strength and wisdom are so far superior to mine, yet you have just shown that you cannot tolerate the opposition of a woman, not even mine." "miriam," he interrupted reproachfully, but she continued still more eagerly: "i have felt it, and because it would be the greatest grief of my life to lose your heart, you must learn to understand me, ere you call upon me to express my opinion." "first hear my message." "no, no!" she answered quickly. "the reply would die upon my lips. let me first tell you of the woman who has a loving heart, and yet knows something else that stands higher than love. do you smile? you have a right to do so, you have so long been a stranger to the secret i mean to confide. . . ." "speak then!" he interrupted, in a tone which betrayed how difficult it was for him to control his impatience. "i thank you," she answered warmly. then leaning against the trunk of the ancient tree, while he sank down on the bench, gazing alternately at the ground and into her face, she began: "childhood already lies behind me, and youth will soon follow. when i was a little girl, there was not much to distinguish me from others. i played like them and, though my mother had taught me to pray to the god of our fathers, i was well pleased to listen to the other children's tales of the goddess isis. nay, i stole into her temple, bought spices, plundered our little garden for her, anointed her altar, and brought flowers for offerings. i was taller and stronger than many of my companions, and was also the daughter of amram, so they followed me and readily did what i suggested. when i was eight years old, we moved hither from zoan. ere i again found a girl-playfellow, you came to gamaliel, your sister's husband, to be cured of the wound dealt by a libyan's lance. do you remember that time when you, a youth, made the little girl a companion? i brought you what you needed and prattled to you of the things i knew, but you told me of bloody battles and victories, of flashing armor, and the steeds and chariots of the warrior, you showed me the ring your daring had won, and when the wound in your breast was cured, we roved over the pastures. isis, whom you also loved, had a temple here, and how often i secretly slipped into the forecourt to pray for you and offer her my holiday-cakes. i had heard so much from you of pharaoh and his splendor, of the egyptians, and their wisdom, their art, and luxurious life, that my little heart longed to live among them in the capital; besides, it had reached my ears that my brother moses had received great favors in pharaoh's palace and risen to distinction in the priesthood. i no longer cared for our own people; they seemed to me inferior to the egyptians in all respects. "then came the parting from you and, as my little heart was devout and expected all good gifts from the divine power, no matter what name it bore, i prayed for pharaoh and his army, in whose ranks you were fighting. "my mother sometimes spoke of the god of our fathers as a mighty protector, to whom the people in former days owed much gratitude, and told me many beautiful tales of him; but she herself often offered sacrifices in the temple of seth, or carried clover blossoms to the sacred bull of the sun-god. she, too, was kindly disposed toward the egyptians, among whom her pride and joy, our moses, had attained such high honors. "so in happy intercourse with the others i reached my fifteenth year. in the evening, when the shepherds returned home, i sat with the young people around the fire, and was pleased when the sons of the shepherd princes preferred me to my companions and sought my love; but i refused them all, even the egyptian captain who commanded the garrison of the storehouse; for i remembered you, the companion of my youth. my best possession would not have seemed too dear a price to pay for some magic spell that would have brought you to us when, at the festal games, i danced and sang to the tambourine while the loudest shouts of applause greeted me. whenever many were listening i thought of you--then i poured forth like the lark the feelings that filled my heart, then my song was inspired by you and not by the fame of the most high, to whom it was consecrated." here passion, with renewed power, seized the man, to whom the woman he loved was confessing so many blissful memories. suddenly starting up, he extended his arms toward her; but she sternly repulsed him, that she might control the yearning which threatened to overpower her also. yet her deep voice had gained a new, strange tone as, at first rapidly and softly, then in louder and firmer accents, she continued: "so i attained my eighteenth year and was no longer satisfied to dwell in succoth. an indescribable longing, and not for you only, had taken possession of my soul. what had formerly afforded me pleasure now seemed shallow, and the monotony of life here in the remote frontier city amid shepherds and flocks, appeared dull and pitiful. "eleasar, aaron's son, had taught me to read and brought me books, full of tales which could never have happened, yet which stirred the heart. many also contained hymns and fervent songs such as one lover sings to another. these made a deep impression on my soul and, whenever i was alone in the evening, or at noon-day when the shepherds and flocks were far away in the fields, i repeated these songs or composed new ones, most of which were hymns in praise of the deity. sometimes they extolled amon with the ram's head, sometimes cow-headed isis, and often, too, the great and omnipotent god who revealed himself to abraham, and of whom my mother spoke more and more frequently as she advanced in years. to compose such hymns in quiet hours, wait for visions revealing god's grandeur and splendor, or beautiful angels and horrible demons, became my favorite occupation. the merry child had grown a dreamy maiden, who let household affairs go as they would. and there was no one who could have warned me, for my mother had followed my father to the grave; and i now lived alone with my old aunt rachel, unhappy myself, and a source of joy to no one. aaron, the oldest of our family, had removed to the dwelling of his father-in-law amminadab: the house of amram, his heritage, had become too small and plain for him and he left it to me. my companions avoided me; for my mirthfulness had departed and i patronized them with wretched arrogance because i could compose songs and beheld more in my visions than all the other maidens. "nineteen years passed and, on the evening of my birthday, which no one remembered save milcah, eleasar's daughter, the most high for the first time sent me a messenger. he came in the guise of an angel, and bade me set the house in order; for a guest, the person dearest to me on earth, was on the way. "it was early and under this very tree; but i went home and, with old rachel's help, set the house in order, and provided food, wine, and all else we offer to an honored guest. noon came, the afternoon passed away, evening deepened into night, and morning returned, yet i still waited for the guest. but when the sum of that day was nearing the western horizon, the dogs began to bark loudly, and when i went to the door a powerful man, with tangled grey hair and beard, clad in the tattered white robes of a priest, hurried toward me. the dogs shrank back whining; but i recognized my brother. "our meeting after so long a separation at first brought me more fear than pleasure; for moses was flying from the officers of the law because he had slain the overseer. you know the story. "wrath still glowed in his flashing eyes. he seemed to me like the god seth in his fury, and each one of his slow words was graven upon my soul as by a hammer and chisel. thrice seven days and nights he remained under my roof, and as i was alone with him and deaf rachel, and he was compelled to remain concealed, no one came between us, and he taught me to know him who is the god of our fathers. "trembling and despairing, i listened to his powerful words, which seemed to fall like rocks upon my breast, when he admonished me of god's requirements, or described the grandeur and wrath of him whom no mind can comprehend, and no name can describe. ah, when he spoke of him and of the egyptian gods, it seemed as if the god of my people stood before me like a giant, whose head touched the sky, and the other gods were creeping in the dust at his feet like whining curs. "he taught me also that we alone were the people whom the lord had chosen, we and no other. then for the first time i was filled with pride at being a descendant of abraham, and every hebrew seemed a brother, every daughter of israel a sister. now, too, i perceived how cruelly my people had been enslaved and tortured. i had been blind to their suffering, but moses opened my eyes and sowed in my heart hate, intense hate of their oppressors, and from this hate sprang love for the victims. i vowed to follow my brother and await the summons of my god. and lo, he did not tarry and jehovah's voice spoke to me as with tongues. "old rachel died. at moses' bidding i gave up my solitary life and accepted the invitation of aaron and amminadab. "so i became a guest in their household, yet led a separate life among them all. they did not interfere with me, and the sycamore here on their land became my special property. beneath its shadow god commanded me to summon you and bestow on you the name "help of jehovah"--and you, no longer hosea, but joshua, will obey the mandate of god and his prophetess." here the warrior interrupted the maiden's words, to which he had listened earnestly, yet with increasing disappointment: "ay, i have obeyed you and the most high. but what it cost me you disdain to ask. your story has reached the present time, yet you have made no mention of the days following my mother's death, during which you were our guest in tanis. have you forgotten what first your eyes and then your lips confessed? have the day of your departure and the evening on the sea, when you bade me hope for and remember you, quite vanished from your memory? did the hatred moses implanted in your heart kill love as well as every other feeling?" "love?" asked miriam, raising her large eyes mournfully to his. "oh no. how could i forget that time, the happiest of my life! yet from the day moses returned from the wilderness by god's command to release the people from bondage--three months after my separation from you--i have taken no note of years and months, days and nights." "then you have forgotten those also?" hosea asked harshly. "not so," miriam answered, gazing beseechingly into his face. "the love that grew up in the child and did not wither in the maiden's heart, cannot be killed; but whoever consecrates one's life to the lord....." here she suddenly paused, raised her hands and eyes rapturously, as if borne out of herself, and cried imploringly: "thou art near me, omnipotent one, and seest my heart! thou knowest why miriam took no note of days and years, and asked nothing save to be thy instrument until her people, who are, also, this man's people, received what thou didst promise." during this appeal, which rose from the inmost depths of the maiden's heart, the light wind which precedes the coming of dawn had risen, and the foliage in the thick crown of the sycamore above miriam's head rustled; but hosea fairly devoured with his eyes the tall majestic figure, half illumined, half veiled by the faint glimmering light. what he heard and saw seemed like a miracle. the lofty future she anticipated for her people, and which must be realized ere she would permit herself to yield to the desire of her own heart, he believed that he was hearing to them as a messenger of the lord. as if rapt by the noble enthusiasm of her soul, he rushed toward her, seized her hand, and cried in glad emotion: "then the hour has come which will again permit you to distinguish months from days and listen to the wishes of your own soul. for to i, joshua, no longer hosea, but joshua, come as the envoy of the lord, and my message promises to the people whom i will learn to love as you do, new prosperity, and thus fulfils the promise of a new and better home, bestowed by the most high." miriam's eyes sparkled brightly and, overwhelmed with grateful joy, she exclaimed: "thou hast come to lead us into the land which jehovah promised to his people? oh lord, how measureless is thy goodness! he, he comes as thy messenger." "he comes, he is here!" joshua enthusiastically replied, and she did not resist when he clasped her to his breast and, thrilling with joy, she returned his kiss. chapter xvi. fear of her own weakness soon made miriam release herself from her lover's embrace, but she listened with eager happiness, seeking some new sign from the most high in joshua's brief account of everything he had felt and experienced since her summons. he first described the terrible conflict he endured, then how he regained entire faith and, obedient to the god of his people and his father's summons, went to the palace expecting imprisonment or death, to obtain release from his oath. he told her how graciously the sorrowing royal pair had received him, and how he had at last taken upon himself the office of urging the leaders of his nation to guide them into the wilderness for a short time only, and then take them home to egypt, where a new and beautiful region on the western bank of the river should be allotted to them. there no foreign overseer should henceforward oppress the workmen, but the affairs of the hebrews should be directed by their own elders, and a man chosen by themselves appointed their head. lastly he said that he, joshua, would be placed in command of the hebrew forces and, as regent, mediate and settle disputes between them and the egyptians whenever it seemed necessary. united to her, a happy husband, he would care in the new land for even the lowliest of his race. on the ride hither he had felt as men do after a bloody battle, when the blast of trumpets proclaim victory. he had indeed a right to regard himself as the envoy of the most high. here, however, he interrupted himself; for miriam, who at first had listened with open ears and sparkling eyes, now showed a more and more anxious and troubled mien. when he at last spoke of making the people happy as her husband, she withdrew her hand, gazed timidly at his manly features, glowing with joyful excitement, and then as if striving to maintain her calmness, fixed her eyes upon the ground. without suspecting what was passing in her mind, hosea drew nearer. he supposed that her tongue was paralyzed by maidenly shame at the first token of favor she had bestowed upon a man. but when at his last words, designating himself as the true messenger of god, she shook her head disapprovingly, he burst forth again, almost incapable of self-control in his sore disappointment: "so you believe that the lord has protected me by a miracle from the wrath of the mightiest sovereign, and permitted me to obtain from his powerful hand favors for my people, such as the stronger never grant to the weaker, simply to trifle with the joyous confidence of a man whom he himself summoned to serve him." miriam, struggling to force back her tears, answered in a hollow tone: "the stronger to the weaker! if that is your opinion, you compel me to ask, in the words of your own father: 'who is the more powerful, the lord our god or the weakling on the throne, whose first-born son withered like grass at a sign from the most high. oh, hosea! hosea!'" "joshua!" he interrupted fiercely. "do you grudge me even the name your god bestowed? i relied upon his help when i entered the palace of the mighty king. i sought under god's guidance rescue and salvation for the people, and i found them. but you, you . . . ." "your father and moses, nay, all the believing heads of the tribes, see no salvation for us among the egyptians," she answered, panting for breath. "what they promise the hebrews will be their ruin. the grass sowed by us withers where their feet touch it! and you, whose honest heart they deceive, are the whistler whom the bird-catcher uses to decoy his feathered victims into the snare. they put the hammer into your hand to rivet more firmly than before the chains which, with god's aid, we have sundered. before my mind's eye i perceive . . . ." "too much!" replied the warrior, grinding his teeth with rage. "hate dims your clear intellect. if the bird-catcher really--what was your comparison--if the bird-catcher really made me his whistler, deceived and misled me, he might learn from you, ay, from you! encouraged by you, i relied upon your love and faith. from you i hoped all things--and where is this love? as you spared me nothing that could cause me pain, i will, pitiless to myself, confess the whole truth to you. it was not alone because the god of my fathers called me, but because his summons reached me through you and my father that i came. you yearn for a land in the far uncertain distance, which the lord has promised you; but i opened to the people the door of a new and sure home. not for their sakes--what hitherto have they been to me?--but first of all to live there in happiness with you whom i loved, and my old father. yet you, whose cold heart knows naught of love, with my kiss still on your lips, disdain what i offer, from hatred of the hand to which i owe it. your life, your conflicts have made you masculine. what other women would trample the highest blessings under foot?" miriam could bear no more and, sobbing aloud, covered her convulsed face with her hands. at the grey light of dawn the sleepers in the camp began to stir, and men and maid servants came out of the dwellings of amminadab and naashon. all whom the morning had roused were moving toward the wells and watering places, but she did not see them. how her heart had expanded and rejoiced when her lover exclaimed that he had come to lead them to the land which the lord had promised to his people. gladly had she rested on his breast to enjoy one brief moment of the greatest bliss; but how quickly had bitter disappointment expelled joy! while the morning breeze had stirred the crown of the sycamore and joshua had told her what pharaoh would grant to the hebrews, the rustling among the branches had seemed to her like the voice of god's wrath and she fancied she again heard the angry words of hoary-headed nun. the latter's reproaches had dismayed uri like the flash of lightning, the roll of thunder, yet how did joshua's proposition differ from uri's? the people--she had heard it also from the lips of moses--were lost if, faithless to their god, they yielded to the temptations of pharaoh. to wed a man who came to destroy all for which she, her brothers, and his own father lived and labored, was base treachery. yet she loved joshua and, instead of harshly repulsing him, she would have again nestled ah, how gladly, to the heart which she knew loved her so ardently. but the leaves in the top of the tree continued to rustle and it seemed as if they reminded her of aaron's warning, so she forced herself to remain firm. the whispering above came from god, who had chosen her for his prophetess, and when joshua, in passionate excitement, owned that the longing for her was his principal motive for toiling for the people, who were as unknown to him as they were dear to her, her heart suddenly seemed to stop beating and, in her mortal agony, she could not help sobbing aloud. unheeding joshua, or the stir in the camp, she again flung herself down with uplifted arms under the sycamore, gazing upward with dilated, tearful eyes, as if expecting a new revelation. but the morning breeze continued to rustle in the summit of the tree, and suddenly everything seemed as bright as sunshine, not only within but around her, as always happened when she, the prophetess, was to behold a vision. and in this light she saw a figure whose face startled her, not joshua, but another to whom her heart did not incline. yet there he stood before the eyes of her soul in all his stately height, surrounded by radiance, and with a solemn gesture he laid his hand on the stones he had piled up. with quickened breath, she gazed upward to the face, yet she would gladly have closed her eyes and lost her hearing, that she might neither see it nor catch the voices from the tree. but suddenly the figure vanished, the voices died away, and she appeared to behold in a bright, fiery glow, the first man her virgin lips had kissed, as with uplifted sword, leading the shepherds of her people, he dashed toward an invisible foe. swiftly as the going and coming of a flash of lightning, the vision appeared and vanished, yet ere it had wholly disappeared she knew its meaning. the man whom she called "joshua" and who seemed fitted in every respect to be the shield and leader of his people, must not be turned aside by love from the lofty duty to which the most high had summoned him. none of the people must learn the message he brought, lest it should tempt them to turn aside from the dangerous path they had entered. her course was as plain as the vision which had just vanished. and, as if the most high desired to show her that she had rightly understood its meaning, hur's voice was heard near the sycamore--ere she had risen to prepare her lover for the sorrow to which she must condemn herself and him--commanding the multitude flocking from all directions to prepare for the departure. the way to save him from himself lay before her; but joshua had not yet ventured to disturb her devotions. he had been wounded and angered to the inmost depths of his soul by her denial. but as he gazed down at her and saw her tall figure shaken by a sudden chill, and her eyes and hands raised heavenward as though, spell- bound, he had felt that something grand and sacred dwelt within her breast which it would be sacrilege to disturb; nay, he had been unable to resist the feeling that it would be presumptuous to seek to wed a woman united to the lord by so close a tie. it must be bliss indeed to call this exalted creature his own, yet it would be hard to see her place another, even though it were the almighty himself, so far above her lover and husband. men and cattle had already passed close by the sycamore and just as he was in the act of calling miriam and pointing to the approaching throng, she rose, turned toward him, and forced from her troubled breast the words: "i have communed with the lord, joshua, and now know his will. do you remember the words by which god called you?" he bent his head in assent; but she went on: "well then, you must also know what the most high confided to your father, to moses, and to me. he desires to lead us out of the land of egypt, to a distant country where neither pharaoh nor his viceroy shall rule over us, and he alone shall be our king. that is his will, and if he requires you to serve him, you must follow us and, in case of war, command the men of our people." joshua struck his broad breast, exclaiming in violent agitation: "an oath binds me to return to tanis to inform pharaoh how the leaders of the people received the message with which i was sent forth. though my heart should break, i cannot perjure myself." "and mine shall break," gasped miriam, "ere i will be disloyal to the lord our god. we have both chosen, so let what once united us be sundered before these stones." he rushed frantically toward her to seize her hand; but with an imperious gesture she waved him back, turned away, and went toward the multitude which, with sheep and cattle, were pressing around the wells. old and young respectfully made way for her as, with haughty bearing, she approached hur, who was giving orders to the shepherds; but he came forward to meet her and, after hearing the promise she whispered, he laid his hand upon her head and said with solemn earnestness: "then may the lord bless our alliance." hand in hand with the grey-haired man to whom she had given herself, miriam approached joshua. nothing betrayed the deep emotion of her soul, save the rapid rise and fall of her bosom, for though her cheeks were pale, her eyes were tearless and her bearing was as erect as ever. she left to hur to explain to the lover whom she had forever resigned what she had granted him, and when joshua heard it, he started back as though a gulf yawned at his feet. his lips were bloodless as he stared at the unequally matched pair. a jeering laugh seemed the only fitting answer to such a surprise, but miriam's grave face helped him to repress it and conceal the tumult of his soul by trivial words. but he felt that he could not long succeed in maintaining a successful display of indifference, so he took leave of miriam. he must greet his father, he said hastily, and induce him to summon the elders. ere he finished several shepherds hurried up, disputing wrathfully and appealed to hur to decide what place in the procession belonged to each tribe. he followed them, and as soon as miriam found herself alone with joshua, she said softly, yet earnestly, with beseeching eyes: "a hasty deed was needful to sever the tie that bound us, but a loftier hope unites us. as i sacrificed what was dearest to my heart to remain faithful to my god and people, do you, too, renounce everything to which your soul clings. obey the most high, who called you joshua! this hour transformed the sweetest joy to bitter grief; may it be the salvation of our people! remain a son of the race which gave you your father and mother! be what the lord called you to become, a leader of your race! if you insist on fulfilling your oath to pharaoh, and tell the elders the promises with which you came, you will win them over, i know. few will resist you, but of those few the first will surely be your own father. i can hear him raise his voice loudly and angrily against his own dear son; but if you close your ears even to his warning, the people will follow your summons instead of god's, and you will rule the hebrews as a mighty man. but when the time comes that the egyptian casts his promises to the winds, when you see your people in still worse bondage than before and behold them turn from the god of their fathers to again worship animal-headed idols, your father's curse will overtake you, the wrath of the most high will strike the blinded man, and despair will be the lot of him who led to ruin the weak masses for whose shield the most high chose him. so i, a feeble woman, yet the servant of the most high and the maiden who was dearer to you than life, cry in tones of warning: fear your father's curse and the punishment of the lord! beware of tempting the people." here she was interrupted by a female slave, who summoned her to her house--and she added in low, hurried accents: "only this one thing more. if you do not desire to be weaker than the woman whose opposition roused your wrath, sacrifice your own wishes for the welfare of yonder thousands, who are of the same blood! with your hand on these stones you must swear . . . ." but here her voice failed. her hands groped vainly for some support, and with a loud cry she sank on her knees beside hur's token. joshua's strong arms saved her from falling prostrate, and several women who hurried up at his shout soon recalled the fainting maiden to life. her eyes wandered restlessly from one to another, and not until her glance rested on joshua's anxious face did she become conscious where she was and what she had done. then she hurriedly drank the water a shepherd's wife handed to her, wiped the tears from her eyes, sighed painfully, and with a faint smile whispered to joshua: "i am but a weak woman after all." then she walked toward the house, but after the first few steps turned, beckoned to the warrior, and said softly: "you see how they are forming into ranks. they will soon begin to move. is your resolution still unshaken? there is still time to call the elders." he shook his head, and as he met her tearful, grateful glance, answered gently: "i shall remember these stones and this hour, wife of hur. greet my father for me and tell him that i love him. repeat to him also the name by which his son, according to the command of the most high, will henceforth be called, that its promise of jehovah's aid may give him confidence when he hears whither i am going to keep the oath i have sworn." with these words he waved his hand to miriam and turned toward the camp, where his horse had been fed and watered; but she called after him: "only one last word: moses left a message for you in the hollow trunk of the tree." joshua turned back to the sycamore and read what the man of god had written for him. "be strong and steadfast" were the brief contents, and raising his head he joyfully exclaimed: "those words are balm to my soul. we meet here for the last time, wife of hur, and, if i go to my death, be sure that i shall know how to die strong and steadfast; but show my old father what kindness you can." he swung himself upon his horse and while trotting toward tanis, faithful to his oath, his soul was free from fear, though he did not conceal from himself that he was going to meet great perils. his fairest hopes were destroyed, yet deep grief struggled with glad exaltation. a new and lofty emotion, which pervaded his whole being, had waked within him and was but slightly dimmed, though he had experienced a sorrow bitter enough to darken the light of any other man's existence. naught could surpass the noble objects to which he intended to devote his blood and life--his god and his people. he perceived with amazement this new feeling which had power to thrust far into the background every other emotion of his breast--even love. true, his head often drooped sorrowfully when he thought of his old father; but he had done right in repressing the eager yearning to clasp him to his heart. the old man would scarcely have understood his motives, and it was better for both to part without seeing each other rather than in open strife. often it seemed as though his experiences had been but a dream, and while he felt bewildered by the excitements of the last few hours, his strong frame was little wearied by the fatigues he had undergone. at a well-known hostelry on the road, where he met many soldiers and among them several military commanders with whom he was well acquainted, he at last allowed his horse and himself a little rest and food; and as he rode on refreshed active life asserted its claims; for as far as the gate of the city of rameses he passed bands of soldiers, and learned that they were ordered to join the cohorts he had himself brought from libya. at last he rode into the capital and as he passed the temple of amon he heard loud lamentations, though he had learned on the way that the plague had ceased. what many a sign told him was confirmed at last by some passing guards--the first prophet and high-priest of amon, the grey- haired rui, had died in the ninety-eighth year of his life. bai, the second prophet, who had so warmly protested his friendship and gratitude to hosea, had now become rui's successor and was high-priest and judge, keeper of the seals and treasurer, in short, the most powerful man in the realm. chapter xvii. "help of jehovah!" murmured a state-prisoner, laden with heavy chains, five days later, smiling bitterly as, with forty companions in misfortune, he was led through the gate of victory in tanis toward the east. the mines in the sinai peninsula, where more convict labor was needed, were the goal of these unfortunate men. the prisoner's smile lingered a short time, then drawing up his muscular frame, his bearded lips murmured: "strong and steadfast!" and as if he desired to transmit the support he had himself found he whispered to the youth marching at his side: "courage, ephraim, courage! don't gaze down at the dust, but upward, whatever may come." "silence in the ranks!" shouted one of the armed libyan guards, who accompanied the convicts, to the older prisoner, raising his whip with a significant gesture. the man thus threatened was joshua, and his companion in suffering ephraim, who had been sentenced to share his fate. what this was every child in egypt knew, for "may i be sent to the mines!" was one of the most terrible oaths of the common people, and no prisoner's lot was half so hard as that of the convicted state-criminals. a series of the most terrible humiliations and tortures awaited them. the vigor of the robust was broken by unmitigated toil; the exhausted were forced to execute tasks so far beyond their strength that they soon found the eternal rest for which their tortured souls longed. to be sent to the mines meant to be doomed to a slow, torturing death; yet life is so dear to men that it was considered a milder punishment to be dragged to forced labor in the mines than to be delivered up to the executioner. joshua's encouraging words had little effect upon ephraim; but when, a few minutes later, a chariot shaded by an umbrella, passed the prisoners, a chariot in which a slender woman of aristocratic bearing stood beside a matron behind the driver, he turned with a hasty movement and gazed after the equipage with sparkling eyes till it vanished in the dust of the road. the younger woman had been closely veiled, but ephraim thought he recognized her for whose sake he had gone to his ruin, and whose lightest sign he would still have obeyed. and he was right; the lady in the chariot was kasana, the daughter of hornecht, captain of the archers, and the matron was her nurse. at a little temple by the road-side, where, in the midst of a grove of nile acacias, a well was maintained for travellers, she bade the matron wait for her and, springing lightly from the chariot which had left the prisoners some distance behind, she began to pace up and down with drooping head in the shadow of the trees, until the whirling clouds of dust announced the approach of the convicts. taking from her robe the gold rings she had ready for this purpose, she went to the man who was riding at its head on an ass and who led the mournful procession. while she was talking with him and pointing to joshua, the guard cast a sly glance at the rings which had been slipped into his hand, and seeing a welcome yellow glitter when his modesty had expected only silver, his features instantly assumed an expression of obliging good-will. true, his face darkened at kasana's request, but another promise from the young widow brightened it again, and he now turned eagerly to his subordinates, exclaiming: "to the well with the moles, men! let them drink. they must be fresh and healthy under the ground!" then riding up to the prisoners, he shouted to joshua: "you once commanded many soldiers, and look more stiff-necked now than beseems you and me. watch the others, guards, i have a word or two to say to this man alone." he clapped his hands as if he were driving hens out of a garden, and while the prisoners took pails and with the guards, enjoyed the refreshing drink, their leader drew joshua and ephraim away from the road --they could not be separated on account of the chain which bound their ancles together. the little temple soon hid them from the eyes of the others, and the warder sat down on a step some distance off, first showing the two hebrews, with a gesture whose meaning was easily understood, the heavy spear he carried in his hand and the hounds which lay at his feet. he kept his eyes open, too, during the conversation that followed. they could say whatever they chose; he knew the duties of his office and though, for the sake of good money he could wink at a farewell, for twenty years, though there had been many attempts to escape, not one of his moles--a name he was fond of giving to the future miners--had succeeded in eluding his watchfulness. yonder fair lady doubtless loved the stately man who, he had been told, was formerly a chief in the army. but he had already numbered among his "moles," personages even more distinguished, and if the veiled woman managed to slip files or gold into the prisoner's hands, he would not object, for that very evening the persons of both would be thoroughly searched, even the youth's black locks, which would not have remained unshorn, had not everything been in confusion prior to the departure of the convicts, which took place just before the march of pharaoh's army. the watcher could not hear the whispered words exchanged between the degraded chief and the lady, but her humble manner and bearing led him to suppose that it was she who had brought the proud warrior to his ruin. ah, these women! and the fettered youth! the looks he fixed upon the slender figure were ardent enough to scorch her veil. but patience! mighty father amon! his moles were going to a school where people learned modesty! now the lady had removed her veil. she was a beautiful woman! it must be hard to part from such a sweetheart. and now she was weeping. the rude warder's heart grew as soft as his office permitted; but he would fain have raised his scourge against the older prisoner; for was it not a shame to have such a sweetheart and stand there like a stone? at first the wretch did not even hold out his hand to the woman who evidently loved him, while he, the watcher, would gladly have witnessed both a kiss and an embrace. or was this beauty the prisoner's wife who had betrayed him? no, no! how kindly he was now gazing at her. that was the manner of a father speaking to his child; but his mole was probably too young to have such a daughter. a mystery! but he felt no anxiety concerning its solution; during the march he had the power to make the most reserved convict an open book. yet not only the rude gaoler, but anyone would have marvelled what had brought this beautiful, aristocratic woman, in the grey light of dawn, out on the highway to meet the hapless man loaded with chains. in sooth, nothing would have induced kasana to take this step save the torturing dread of being scorned and execrated as a base traitress by the man whom she loved. a terrible destiny awaited him, and her vivid imagination had shown her joshua in the mines, languishing, disheartened, drooping, dying, always with a curse upon her on his lips. on the evening of, the day ephraim bad been brought to the house, shivering with the chill caused by burning fever, and half stifled with the dust of the road, her father lead told her that in the youthful hebrew they possessed a hostage to compel hosea to return to tanis and submit to the wishes of the prophet bai, with whom she knew her father was leagued in a secret conspiracy. he also confided to her that not only great distinction and high offices, but a marriage with herself had been arrranged to bind hosea to the egyptians and to a cause from which the chief of the archers expected the greatest blessings for himself, his house, and his whole country. these tidings had filled her heart with joyous hope of a long desired happiness, and she confessed it to the prisoner with drooping head amid floods of tears, by the little wayside temple; for he was now forever lost to her, and though he did not return the love she had lavished on him from his childhood, he must not hate and condemn her without having heard her story. joshua listened willingly and assured her that nothing would lighten his heart more than to have her clear herself from the charge of having consigned him and the youth at his side to their most terrible fate. kasana sobbed aloud and was forced to struggle hard for composure ere she succeeded in telling her tale with some degree of calmness. shortly after hosea's departure the chief-priest died and, on the same day bai, the second prophet, became his successor. many changes now took place, and the most powerful man in the kingdom filled pharaoh with hatred of the hebrews and their leader, mesu, whom he and the queen had hitherto protected and feared. he had even persuaded the monarch to pursue the fugitives, and an army had been instantly summoned to compel their return. kasana had feared that hosea could not be induced to fight against the men of his own blood, and that he must feel incensed at being sent to make treaties which the egyptians began to violate even before they knew whether their offers had been accepted. when he returned--as he knew only too well--pharaoh had had him watched like a prisoner and would not suffer him to leave his presence until he had sworn to again lead his troops and be a faithful servant to the king. bai, the new chief priest, however, had not forgotten that hosea had saved his life and showed himself well disposed and grateful to him; she knew also that he hoped to involve him in a secret enterprise, with which her father, too, was associated. it was bai who had prevailed upon pharaoh, if hosea would renew his oath of fealty, to absolve him from fighting against his own race, put him in command of the foreign mercenaries and raise him to the rank of a "friend of the king." all these events, of course, were familiar to him; for the new chief priest had himself set before him the tempting dishes which, with such strong, manly defiance, he had thrust aside. her father had also sided with him, and for the first time ceased to reproach him with his origin. but, on the third day after hosea's return, hornecht had gone to talk with him and since then everything had changed for the worse. he must be best aware what had caused the man of whom she, his daughter, must think no evil, to be changed from a friend to a mortal foe. she had looked enquiringly at him as she spoke, and he did not refuse to answer--hornecht had told him that he would be a welcome son-in-law. "and you?" asked kasana, gazing anxiously into his face. "i," replied the prisoner, "was forced to say that though you had been dear and precious to me from your childhood, many causes forbade me to unite a woman's fate to mine." kasana's eyes flashed, and she exclaimed: "because you love another, a woman of your own people, the one who sent ephraim to you!" but joshua shook his head and answered pleasantly: "you are wrong, kasana! she of whom you speak is the wife of another." "then," cried the young widow with fresh animation, gazing at him with loving entreaty, "why were you compelled to rebuff my father so harshly?" "that was far from my intention, dear child," he replied warmly, laying his hand on her head. "i thought of you with all the tenderness of which my nature is capable. if i could not fulfil his wish, it was because grave necessity forbids me to yearn for the peaceful happiness by my own hearth-stone for which others strive. had they given me my liberty, my life would have been one of restlessness and conflict." "yet how many bear sword and shield," replied kasana, "and still, on their return, rejoice in the love of their wives and the dear ones sheltered beneath their roof." "true, true," he answered gravely; "but special duties, unknown to the egyptians, summon me. i am a son of my people." "and you intend to serve them?" asked kasana. "oh, i understand you. yet.... why then did you return to tanis? why did you put yourself into pharaoh's power?" "because a sacred oath compelled me, poor child," he answered kindly. "an oath," she cried, "which places death and imprisonment between you and those whom you love and still desire to serve. oh, would that you had never returned to this abode of injustice, treachery, and ingratitude! to how many hearts this vow will bring grief and tears! but what do you men care for the suffering you inflict on others? you have spoiled all the pleasure of life for my hapless self, and among your own people dwells a noble father whose only son you are. how often i have seen the dear old man, the stately figure with sparkling eyes and snow-white hair. so would you look when you, too, had reached a ripe old age, as i said to myself, when i met him at the harbor, or in the fore- court of the palace, directing the shepherds who were driving the cattle and fleecy sheep to the tax-receiver's table. and now his son's obstinacy must embitter every day of his old age." "now," replied joshua, "he has a son who is going, laden with chains, to endure a life of misery, but who can hold his head higher than those who betrayed him. they, and pharaoh at their head, have forgotten that he has shed his heart's blood for them on many a battlefield, and kept faith with the king at every peril. menephtah, his vice-roy and chief, whose life i saved, and many who formerly called me friend, have abandoned and hurled me and this guiltless boy into wretchedness, but those who have done this, woman, who have committed this crime, may they all. . . ." "do not curse them!" interrupted kasana with glowing cheeks. but joshua, unheeding her entreaty, exclaimed "should i be a man, if i forgot vengeance?" the young widow clung anxiously to his arm, gasping in beseeching accents: "how could you forgive him? only you must not curse him; for my father became your foe through love for me. you know his hot blood, which so easily carries him to extremes, despite his years. he concealed from me what he regarded as an insult; for he saw many woo me, and i am his greatest treasure. pharaoh can pardon rebels more easily than my father can forgive the man who disdained his jewel. he behaved like one possessed when he returned. every word he uttered was an invective. he could not endure to stay at home and raged just as furiously elsewhere. but no doubt he would have calmed himself at last, as he so often did before, had not some one who desired to pour oil on the flames met him in the fore-court of the palace. i learned all this from bai's wife; for she, too, repents what she did to injure you; her husband used every effort to save you. she, who is as brave as any man, was ready to aid him and open the door of your prison; for she has not forgotten that you saved her husband's life in libya. ephraim's chains were to fall with yours, and everything was ready to aid your flight." "i know it," hosea interrupted gloomily, "and i will thank the god of my fathers if those were wrong from whom i heard that you are to blame, kasana, for having our dungeon door locked more firmly." "should i be here, if that were so!" cried the beautiful, grieving woman with impassioned eagerness. true, resentment did stir within me as it does in every woman whose lover scorns her; but the misfortune that befell you speedily transformed resentment into compassion, and fanned the old flames anew. so surely as i hope for a mild judgment before the tribunal of the dead, i am innocent and have not ceased to hope for your liberation. not until yesterday evening, when all was too late, did i learn that bai's proposal had been futile. the chief priest can do much, but he will not oppose the man who made himself my father's ally." "you mean prince siptah, pharaoh's nephew!" cried joshua in excited tones. "they intimated to me the scheme they were weaving in his interest; they wished to put me in the place of the syrian aarsu, the commander of the mercenaries, if i would consent to let them have their way with my people and desert those of my own blood. but i would rather die twenty deaths than sully myself with such treachery. aarsu is better suited to carry out their dark plans, but he will finally betray them all. so far as i am concerned, the prince has good reason to hate me." kasana laid her hand upon his lips, pointed anxiously to ephraim and the guide, and said gently: "spare my father! the prince--what roused his enmity......" "the profligate seeks to lure you into his snare and has learned that you favor me," the warrior broke in. she bent her head with a gesture of assent, and added blushing: "that is why aarsu, whom he has won over to his cause, watches you so strictly." "and the syrian will keep his eyes sufficiently wide open," cried joshua. "now let us talk no more of this. i believe you and thank you warmly for following us hapless mortals. how fondly i used to think, while serving in the field, of the pretty child, whom i saw blooming into maidenhood." "and you will think of her still with neither wrath nor rancor?" "gladly, most gladly." the young widow, with passionate emotion, seized the prisoner's hand to raise it to her lips, but he withdrew it; and, gazing at him with tears in her eyes, she said mournfully: "you deny me the favor a benefactor does not refuse even to a beggar." then, suddenly drawing herself up to her full height, she exclaimed so loudly that the warder started and glanced at the sun: "but i tell you the time will come when you will sue for the favor of kissing this hand in gratitude. for when the messenger arrives bringing to you and to this youth the liberty for which you have longed, it will be kasana to whom you owe it." rapt by the fervor of the wish that animated her, her beautiful face glowed with a crimson flush. joshua seized her right hand, exclaiming: "ah, if you could attain what your loyal soul desires! how could i dissuade you from mitigating the great misfortune which overtook this youth in your house? yet, as an honest man, i must tell you that i shall never return to the service of the egyptians; for, come what may, i shall in future cleave, body and soul, to those you persecute and despise, and to whom belonged the mother who bore me." kasana's graceful head drooped; but directly after she raised it again, saying: "no other man is so noble, so truthful, that i have known from my childhood. if i can find no one among my own nation whom i can honor, i will remember you, whose every thought is true and lofty, whose nature is faultless. put if poor kasana succeeds in liberating you, do not scorn her, if you find her worse than when you left her, for however she may humiliate herself, whatever shame may come upon her . . . ." "what do you intend?" hosea anxiously interrupted; but she had no time to answer; for the captain of the guard had risen and, clapping his hands, shouted: "forward, you moles!" and "step briskly." the warrior's stout heart was overwhelmed with tender sadness and, obeying a hasty impulse, he kissed the beautiful unhappy woman on the brow and hair, whispering: "leave me in my misery, if our freedom will cost your humiliation. we shall probably never meet again; for, whatever may happen, my life will henceforth be nothing but battle and sacrifice. darkness will shroud us in deeper and deeper gloom, but however black the night may be, one star will still shine for this boy and for me--the remembrance of you, my faithful, beloved child." he pointed to ephraim as he spoke and the youth, as if out of his senses, pressed his lips on the hand and arm of the sobbing woman. "forward!" shouted the leader again, and with a grateful smile helped the generous lady into the chariot, marvelling at the happy, radiant gaze with which her tearful eyes followed the convicts. the horses started, fresh shouts arose, blows from the whips fell on bare shoulders, now and then a cry of pain rang on the morning air, and the train of prisoners again moved eastward. the chain on the ancles of the companions in suffering stirred the dust, which shrouded the little band like the grief, hate, and fear darkening the soul of each. chapter xviii. a long hour's walk beyond the little temple where the prisoners had rested the road, leading to succoth and the western arm of the red sea, branched off from the one that ran in a southeasterly direction past the fortifications on the isthmus to the mines. shortly after the departure of the prisoners, the army which had been gathered to pursue the hebrews left the city of rameses, and as the convicts had rested some time at the well, the troops almost overtook them. they had not proceeded far when several runners came hurrying up to clear the road for the advancing army. they ordered the prisoners to move aside and defer their march until the swifter baggage train, bearing pharaoh's tents and travelling equipments, whose chariot wheels could already be heard, had passed them. the prisoners' guards were glad to stop, they were in no hurry. the day was hot, and if they reached their destination later, it would be the fault of the army. the interruption was welcome to joshua, too; for his young companion had been gazing into vacancy as if bewildered, and either made no answer to his questions or gave such incoherent ones that the older man grew anxious; he knew how many of those sentenced to forced labor went mad or fell into melancholy. now a portion of the army would pass them, and the spectacle was new to ephraim and promised to put an end to his dull brooding. a sand-hill overgrown with tamarisk bushes rose beside the road, and thither the leader guided the party of convicts. he was a stern man, but not a cruel one, so he permitted his "moles" to lie down on the sand, for the troops would doubtless be a long time in passing. as soon as the convicts had thrown themselves on the ground the rattle of wheels, the neighing of fiery steeds, shouts of command, and sometimes the disagreeable braying of an ass were heard. when the first chariots appeared ephraim asked if pharaoh was coming; but joshua, smiling, informed him that when the king accompanied the troops to the field, the camp equipage followed directly behind the vanguard, for pharaoh and his dignitaries wished to find the tents pitched and the tables laid, when the day's march was over and the soldiers and officers expected a night's repose. joshua had not finished speaking when a number of empty carts and unladen asses appeared. they were to carry the contributions of bread and meal, animals and poultry, wine and beer, levied on every village the sovereign passed on the march, and which had been delivered to the tax-gatherers the day before. soon after a division of chariot warriors followed. every pair of horses drew a small, two-wheeled chariot, cased in bronze, and in each stood a warrior and the driver of the team. huge quivers were fastened to the front of the chariots, and the soldiers leaned on their lances or on gigantic bows. shirts covered with brazen scales, or padded coats of mail with gay overmantle, a helmet, and the front of the chariot protected the warrior from the missiles of the foe. this troop, which joshua said was the van, went by at a slow trot and was followed by a great number of carts and wagons, drawn by horses, mules, or oxen, as well as whole troops of heavily-laden asses. the uncle now pointed out to his nephew the long masts, poles, and heavy rolls of costly stuffs intended for the royal tent, and borne by numerous beasts of burden, as well as the asses and carts with the kitchen utensils and field forges. among the baggage heaped on the asses, which were followed by nimble drivers, rode the physicians, tailors, salve- makers, cooks, weavers of garlands, attendants, and slaves belonging to the camp. their departure had been so recent that they were still fresh and inclined to jest, and whoever caught sight of the convicts, flung them, in the egyptian fashion, a caustic quip which many sought to palliate by the gift of alms. others, who said nothing, also sent by the ass-drivers fruit and trifling gifts; for those who were free to-day might share the fate of these hapless men to-morrow. the captain permitted it, and when a passing slave, whom joshua had sold for thieving, shouted the name of hosea, pointing to him with a malicious gesture, the rough but kind-hearted officer offered his insulted prisoner a sip of wine from his own flask. ephraim, who had walked from succoth to tanis with a staff in his hand, and a small bundle containing bread, dried lamb, radishes, and dates, expressed his amazement at the countless people and things a single man needed for his comfort, and then relapsed into his former melancholy until his uncle roused him with farther explanations. as soon as the baggage train had passed, the commander of the band of prisoners wished to set off, but the "openers of the way," who preceded the archers, forbade him, because it was not seemly for convicts to mingle with soldiers. so they remained on their hillock and continued to watch the troops. the archers were followed by heavily-armed troops, bearing shields covered with strong hide so large that they extended from the feet to above the middle of the tallest men, and hosea now told the youth that in the evening they set them side by side, thus surrounding the royal tent like a fence. besides this weapon of defence they carried a lance, a short dagger-like sword, or a battle-sickle, and as these thousands were succeeded by a body of men armed with slings ephraim for the first time spoke without being questioned and said that the slings the shepherds had taught him to make were far better than those of the soldiers and, encouraged by his uncle, he described in language so eager that the prisoners lying by his side listened, how he had succeeded in slaying not only jackals, wolves, and panthers, but even vultures, with stones hurled from a sling. meanwhile he interrupted himself to ask the meaning of the standards and the names of the separate divisions. many thousands had already passed, when another troop of warriors in chariots appeared, and the chief warder of the prisoners exclaimed: "the good god! the lord of two worlds! may life, happiness, and health be his!" with these words he fell upon his knees in the attitude of worship, while the convicts prostrated themselves to kiss the earth and be ready to obey the captain's bidding and join at the right moment in the cry: "life, happiness, and health!" but they had a long time to wait ere the expected sovereign appeared; for, after the warriors in the chariots had passed, the body-guard followed, foot-soldiers of foreign birth with singular ornaments on their helmets and huge swords, and then numerous images of the gods, a large band of priests and wearers of plumes. they were followed by more body- guards, and then pharaoh appeared with his attendants. at their head rode the chief priest bai in a gilded battle-chariot drawn by magnificent bay stallions. he who had formerly led troops in the field, had assumed the command of this pursuing expedition ordered by the gods and, though clad in priestly robes, he also wore the helmet and battle-axe of a general. at last, directly behind his equipage, came pharaoh himself; but he did not go to battle like his warlike predecessors in a war- chariot, but preferred to be carried on a throne. a magnificent canopy protected him above, and large, thick, round ostrich feather fans, carried by his fan-bearers, sheltered him on both sides from the scorching rays of the sun. after menephtah had left the city and the gate of victory behind him, and the exulting acclamations of the multitude had ceased to amuse him, he had gone to sleep and the shading fans would have concealed his face and figure from the prisoners, had not their shouts been loud enough to rouse him and induce him to turn his head toward them. the gracious wave of his right hand showed that he had expected to see different people from convicts and, ere the shouts of the hapless men had died away, his eyes again closed. ephraim's silent brooding had now yielded to the deepest interest, and as the empty golden war-chariot of the king, before which pranced the most superb steeds he had ever seen, rolled by, he burst into loud exclamations of admiration. these noble animals, on whose intelligent heads large bunches of feathers nodded, and whose rich harness glittered with gold and gems, were indeed a splendid sight. the large gold quivers set with emeralds, fastened on the sides of the chariot, were filled with arrows. the feeble man to whose weak hand the guidance of a great nation was entrusted, the weakling who shrunk from every exertion, regained his lost energy whenever hunting was in prospect; he considered this campaign a chase on the grandest scale and as it seemed royal pastime to discharge his arrows at the human beings he had so lately feared, instead of at game, he had obeyed the chief priest's summons and joined the expedition. it had been undertaken by the mandate of the great god amon, so he had little to dread from mesu's terrible power. when he captured him he would make him atone for having caused pharaoh and his queen to tremble before him and shed so many tears on his account. while joshua was still telling the youth from which phoenician city the golden chariots came, he suddenly felt ephraim's right hand clutch his wrist, and heard him exclaim: "she! she! look yonder! it is she!" the youth had flushed crimson, and he was not mistaken; the beautiful kasana was passing amid pharaoh's train in the same chariot in which she had pursued the convicts, and with her came a considerable number of ladies who had joined what the commander of the foot-soldiers, a brave old warrior, who had served under the great rameses, termed "a pleasure party." on campaigns through the desert and into syria, libya, or ethiopia the sovereign was accompanied only by a chosen band of concubines in curtained chariots, guarded by eunuchs; but this time, though the queen had remained at home, the wife of the chief priest bai and other aristocratic ladies had set the example of joining the troops, and it was doubtless tempting enough to many to enjoy the excitements of war without peril. kasana had surprised her friend by her appearance an hour before; only yesterday the young widow could not be persuaded to accompany the troops. obeying an inspiration, without consulting her father, so unprepared that she lacked the necessary traveling equipments, she had joined the expedition, and it seemed as if a man whom she had hitherto avoided, though he was no less a personage than siptah, the king's nephew, had become a magnet to her. when she passed the prisoners, the prince was standing in the chariot beside the young beauty in her nurse's place, explaining in jesting tones the significance of the flowers in a bouquet, which kasana declared could not possibly have been intended for her, because an hour and a quarter before she had not thought of going with the army. but siptah protested that the hathors had revealed at sunrise the happiness in store for him, and that the choice of each single blossom proved his assertion. several young courtiers who were walking in front of their chariots, surrounded them and joined in the laughter and merry conversation, in which the vivacious wife of the chief priest shared, having left her large travelling-chariot to be carried in a litter. none of these things escaped joshua's notice and, as he saw kasana, who a short time before had thought of the prince with aversion, now saucily tap his hand with her fan, his brow darkened and he asked himself whether the young widow was not carelessly trifling with his misery. but the prisoners' chief warder had now noticed the locks on siptah's temples, which marked him as a prince of the royal household and his loud "hail! hall!" in which the other guards and the captives joined, was heard by kasana and her companions. they looked toward the tamarisk- bushes, whence the cry proceeded, and joshua saw the young widow turn pale and then point with a hasty gesture to the convicts. she must undoubtedly have given siptah some command, for the latter at first shrugged his shoulders disapprovingly then, after a somewhat lengthy discussion, half grave, half jesting, he sprang from the chariot and beckoned to the chief gaoler. "have these men," he called from the road so loudly that kasana could not fail to hear, "seen the face of the good god, the lord of both worlds?" and when he received a reluctant answer, he went on arrogantly: "no matter! at least they beheld mine and that of the fairest of women, and if they hope for favor on that account they are right. you know who i am. let the chains that bind them together be removed." then, beckoning to the man, he whispered: "but keep your eyes open all the wider; i have no liking for the fellow beside the bush, the ex-chief hosea. after returning home, report to me and bring news of this man. the quieter he has become, the deeper my hand will sink in my purse. do you understand?" the warder bowed, thinking: "i'll take care, my prince, and also see that no one attempts to take the life of any of my moles. the greater the rank of these gentlemen, the more bloody and strange are their requests! how many have come to me with similar ones. he releases the poor wretches' feet, and wants me to burden my soul with a shameful murder. siptah has tried the wrong man! here, heter, bring the bag of tools and open the moles' chains." while the files were grating on the sand-hill by the road and the prisoners were being released from the fetters on their ancles,--though for the sake of security each man's arms were bound together,--pharaoh's host marched by. kasana had commanded prince siptah to release from their iron burden the unfortunates who were being dragged to a life of misery, openly confessing that she could not bear to see a chief who had so often been a guest of her house so cruelly humiliated. bai's wife had supported her wish, and the prince was obliged to yield. joshua knew to whom he and ephraim owed this favor, and received it with grateful joy. walking had been made easier for him, but his mind was more and more sorely oppressed with anxious cares. the army passing yonder would have been enough to destroy down to the last man a force ten times greater than the number of his people. his people, and with them his father and miriam,--who had caused him such keen suffering, yet to whom he was indebted for having found the way which, even in prison, he had recognized as the only right one--seemed to him marked out for a bloody doom; for, however powerful might be the god whose greatness the prophetess had praised in such glowing words, and to whom he himself had learned to look up with devout admiration,--untrained and unarmed bands of shepherds must surely and hopelessly succumb to the assault of this army. this certainty, strengthened by each advancing division, pierced his very soul. never before had he felt such burning anguish, which was terribly sharpened when he beheld the familiar faces of his own troops, which he had so lately commanded, pass before him under the leadership of another. this time they were taking the field to hew down men of his own blood. this was pain indeed, and ephraim's conduct gave him cause for fresh anxiety; since kasana's appearance and interference in behalf of him and his companions in suffering, the youth had again lapsed into silence and gazed with wandering eyes at the army or into vacancy. now he, too, was freed from the chain, and joshua asked in a whisper if he did not long to return to his people to help them resist so powerful a force, but ephraim merely answered: "when confronted with those hosts, they can do nothing but yield. what did we lack before the exodus? you were a hebrew, and yet became a mighty chief among the egyptians ere you obeyed miriam's summons. in your place, i would have pursued a different course." "what would you have done?" asked joshua sternly. "what?" replied the youth, the fire of his young soul blazing. "what? only this, i would have remained where there is honor and fame and everything beautiful. you might have been the greatest of the great, the happiest of the happy--this i have learned, but you made a different choice." "because duty commanded it," joshua answered gravely, "because i will no longer serve any one save the people among whom i was born." "the people?" exclaimed ephraim, contemptuously. "i know them, and you met them at succoth. the poor are miserable wretches who cringe under the lash; the rich value their cattle above all else and, if they are the heads of the tribes, quarrel with one another. no one knows aught of what pleases the eye and the heart. they call me one of the richest of the race and yet i shudder when i think of the house i inherited, one of the best and largest. one who has seen more beautiful ones ceases to long for such an abode." the vein on joshua's brow swelled, and he wrathfully rebuked the youth for denying his own blood, and being a traitor to his people. the guard commanded silence, for joshua had raised his reproving voice louder, and this order seemed welcome to the defiant youth. when, during their march, his uncle looked sternly into his face or asked whether he had thought of his words, he turned angrily away, and remained mute and sullen until the first star had risen, the night camp had been made under the open sky, and the scanty prison rations had been served. joshua dug with his hands a resting place in the sand, and with care and skill helped the youth to prepare a similar one. ephraim silently accepted this help; but as they lay side by side, and the uncle began to speak to his nephew of the god of his people on whose aid they must rely, if they were not to fall victims to despair in the mines, the youth interrupted him, exclaiming in low tones, but with fierce resolution: "they will not take me to the mines alive! i would rather die, while making my escape, than pine away in such wretchedness." joshua whispered words of warning, and again reminded him of his duties to his people. but ephraim begged to be let alone; yet soon after he touched his uncle and asked softly: "what are they planning with prince siptah?" "i don't know; nothing good, that is certain." "and where is aarsu, the syrian, your foe, who commands the asiatic mercenaries, and who was to watch us with such fierce zeal? i did not see him with the others." "he remained in tanis with his troops." "to guard the palace?" "undoubtedly." "then he commands many soldiers, and pharaoh has confidence in him?" "the utmost, though he ill deserves it." "and he is a syrian, and therefore of our blood." "and more closely allied to us than to the egyptians, at least so far as language and appearance are concerned." "i should have taken him for a man of our race, yet he is, as you were, one of the leaders in the army." "other syrians and libyans command large troops of mercenaries, and the herald ben mazana, one of the highest dignitaries of the court--the egyptians call him rameses in the sanctuary of ra--has a hebrew father." "and neither he nor the others are scorned on account of their birth?" "this is not quite so. but why do you ask these questions?" "i could not sleep." "and so such thoughts came to you. but you have some definite idea in your mind and, if my inference is correct, it would cause me pain. you wished to enter pharaoh's service!" both were silent a long time, then ephraim spoke again and, though he addressed joshua, it seemed as if he were talking to himself: "they will destroy our people; bondage and shame await those who survive. my house is now left to ruin, not a head of my splendid herds of cattle remains, and the gold and silver i inherited, of which there was said to be a goodly store, they are carrying with them, for your father has charge of my wealth, and it will soon fall as booty into the hands of the egyptians. shall i, if i obtain my liberty, return to my people and make bricks? shall i bow my back and suffer blows and abuse?" joshua eagerly whispered: "you must appeal to the god of your fathers, that he may protect and defend his people. yet, if the most high has willed the destruction of our race, be a man and learn to hate with all the might of your young soul those who trample your people under their feet. fly to the syrians, offer them your strong young arm, and take no rest till you have avenged yourself on those who have shed the blood of your people and load you, though innocent, with chains." again silence reigned for some time, nothing was heard from ephraim's rude couch save a dull, low moan from his oppressed breast; but at last he answered softly: "the chains no longer weigh upon us, and how could i hate her who released us from them?" "remain grateful to kasana," was the whispered reply, "but hate her nation." hosea heard the youth toss restlessly, and again sigh heavily and moan. it was past midnight, the waxing moon rode high in the heavens, and the sleepless man did not cease to listen for sounds from the youth; but the latter remained silent, though slumber had evidently fled from him also; for a noise as if he were grinding his teeth came from his place of rest. or had mice wandered to this barren place, where hard brown blades of grass grew between the crusts of salt and the bare spots, and were gnawing the prisoners' hard bread? such gnawing and grinding disturb the sleep of one who longs for slumber; but joshua desired to keep awake to continue to open the eyes of the blinded youth, yet he waited in vain for any sign of life from his nephew. at last he was about to lay his hand on the lad's shoulder, but paused as by the moonlight he saw ephraim raise one arm though, before he lay down, both hands were tied more firmly than before. joshua now knew that it was the youth's sharp teeth gnawing the rope which had caused the noise that had just surprised him, and he immediately stood up and looked first upward and then around him. holding his breath, the older man watched every movement, and his heart began to throb anxiously. ephraim meant to fly, and the first step toward escape had already succeeded! would that the others might prosper too! but he feared that the liberated youth might enter the wrong path. he was the only son of his beloved sister, a fatherless and motherless lad, so he had never enjoyed the uninterrupted succession of precepts and lessons which only a mother can give and a defiant young spirit will accept from her alone. the hands of strangers had bound the sapling to a stake and it had shot straight upward, but a mother's love would have ennobled it with carefully chosen grafts. he had grown up beside another hearth than his parents', yet the latter is the only true home for youth. what marvel if he felt himself a stranger among his people. amid such thoughts a great sense of compassion stole over joshua and, with it, the consciousness that he was deeply accountable for this youth who, for his sake, while on the way to bring him a message, had fallen into such sore misfortune. but much as he longed to warn him once more against treason and perjury, he refrained, fearing to imperil his success. any noise might attract the attention of the guards, and he took as keen an interest in the attempt at liberation, as if ephraim had made it at his suggestion. so instead of annoying the youth with fruitless warnings, he kept watch for him; life had taught him that good advice is more frequently unheeded than followed, and only personal experiences possess resistless power of instruction. the chief's practiced eye soon showed him the way by which ephraim, if fortune favored him, could escape. he called softly, and directly after his nephew whispered: "i'll loose your ropes, if you will hold up your hands to me. mine are free!" joshua's tense features brightened. the defiant lad was a noble fellow, after all, and risked his own chance in behalf of one who, if he escaped with him, threatened to bar the way in which, in youthful blindness, he hoped to find happiness. chapter xix. joshua gazed intently around him. the sky was still bright, but if the north wind continued to blow, the clouds which seemed to be rising from the sea must soon cover it. the air had grown sultry, but the guards kept awake and regularly relieved one another. it was difficult to elude their attention; yet close by ephraim's couch, which his uncle, for greater comfort, had helped him make on the side of a gently sloping hill, a narrow ravine ran down to the valley. white veins of gypsum and glittering mica sparkled in the moonlight along its bare edges. if the agile youth could reach this cleft unseen, and crawl through as far as the pool of saltwater, overgrown with tall grass and tangled desert shrubs, at which it ended, he might, aided by the clouds, succeed. after arriving at this conviction joshua considered, as deliberately as if the matter concerned directing one of his soldiers on his way, whether he himself, in case he regained the use of his hands, could succeed in following ephraim without endangering his project. and he was forced to answer this question in the negative; for the guard who sometimes sat, sometimes paced to and fro on a higher part of the crest of the hill a few paces away, could but too easily perceive, by the moonlight, the youth's efforts to loose the firmly-knotted bonds. the cloud approaching the moon might perhaps darken it, ere the work was completed. thus ephraim might, on his account, incur the peril of losing the one fortunate moment which promised escape. would it not be the basest of crimes, merely for the sake of the uncertain chance of flight, to bar the path to liberty of the youth whose natural protector he was? so he whispered to ephraim: "i cannot go with you. creep through the chasm at your right to the salt-pool. i will watch the guards. as soon as the cloud passes over the moon and i clear my throat, start off. if you escape, join our people. greet my old father, assure him of my love and fidelity, and tell him where i am being taken. listen to his advice and miriam's; theirs is the best counsel. the cloud is approaching the moon,--not another word now!" as ephraim still continued to urge him in a whisper to hold up his pinioned arms, he ordered him to keep silence and, as soon as the moon was obscured and the guard, who was pacing to and fro above their heads began a conversation with the man who came to relieve him, joshua cleared his throat and, holding his breath, listened with a throbbing heart for some sound in the direction of the chasm. he first heard a faint scraping and, by the light of the fire which the guards kept on the hill-top as a protection against wild beasts, he saw ephraim's empty couch. he uttered a sigh of relief; for the youth must have entered the ravine. but though he strained his ears to follow the crawling or sliding of the fugitive he heard nothing save the footsteps and voices of the warders. yet he caught only the sound, not the meaning of their words, so intently did he fix his powers of hearing upon the course taken by the fugitive. how nimbly and cautiously the agile fellow must move! he was still in the chasm, yet meanwhile the moon struggled victoriously with the clouds and suddenly her silver disk pierced the heavy black curtain that concealed her from the gaze of men, and her light was reflected like a slender, glittering pillar from the motionless pool of salt-water, enabling the watching joshua to see what was passing below; but he perceived nothing that resembled a human form. had the fugitive encountered any obstacle in the chasm? did some precipice or abyss hold him in its gloomy depths? had--and at the thought he fancied that his heart had stopped beating--had some gulf swallowed the lad when he was groping his way through the night? how he longed for some noise, even the faintest, from the ravine! the silence was terrible. but now! oh, would that it had continued! now the sound of falling stones and the crash of earth sliding after echoed loudly through the still night air. again the moonlight burst through the cloud-curtain, and joshua perceived near the pool a living creature which resembled an animal more than a human being, for it seemed to be crawling on four feet. now the water sent up a shower of glittering spray. the figure below had leaped into the pool. then the clouds again swallowed the lamp of night, and darkness covered everything. with a sigh of relief joshua told himself that he had seen the flying ephraim and that, come what might, the escaping youth had gained a considerable start of his pursuers. but the latter neither remained inert nor allowed themselves to be deceived; for though, to mislead them, he had shouted loudly: "a jackal!" they uttered a long, shrill whistle, which roused their sleeping comrades. a few seconds later the chief warder stood before him with a burning torch, threw its light on his face, and sighed with relief when he saw him. not in vain had he bound him with double ropes; for he would have been called to a severe reckoning at home had this particular man escaped. but while he was feeling the ropes on the prisoner's arms, the glare of the burning torch, which lighted him, fell on the fugitive's rude, deserted couch. there, as if in mockery, lay the gnawed rope. taking it up, he flung it at joshua's feet, blew his whistle again and again, and shouted: "escaped! the hebrew! young curly-head!" paying no farther heed to joshua, he began the pursuit. hoarse with fury, he issued order after order, each one sensible and eagerly obeyed. while some of the guards dragged the prisoners together, counted them, and tied them with ropes, their commander, with the others and his dogs, set off on the track of the fugitive. joshua saw him make the intelligent animals smell ephraim's gnawed bonds and resting-place, and beheld them instantly rush to the ravine. gasping for breath, he also noted that they remained in it quite a long time, and at last--the moon meanwhile scattered the clouds more and more--darted out of the ravine, and dashed to the water. he felt that it was fortunate ephraim had waded through instead of passing round it; for at its edge the dogs lost the scent, and minute after minute elapsed while the commander of the guards walked along the shore with the eager animals, which fairly thrust their noses into the fugitive's steps, in order to again get on the right trail. their loud, joyous barking at last announced that they had found it. yet, even if they persisted in following the runaway, the captive warrior no longer feared the worst, for ephraim had gained a long advance of his pursuers. still, his heart beat loudly enough and time seemed to stand still until the chief-warder returned exhausted and unsuccessful. the older man, it is true, could never have overtaken the swift-footed youth, but the youngest and most active guards had been sent after the fugitive. this statement the captain of the guards himself made with an angry jeer. the kindly-natured man seemed completely transformed,--for he felt what had occurred as a disgrace which could scarcely be overcome, nay, a positive misfortune. the prisoner who had tried to deceive him by the shout of 'jackal!' was doubtless the fugitive's accomplice. prince siptah, too, who had interfered with the duties of his office, he loudly cursed. but nothing of the sort should happen again; and he would make the whole band feel what had fallen to his lot through ephraim. therefore he ordered the prisoners to be again loaded with chains, the ex-chief fastened to a coughing old man, and all made to stand in rank and file before the fire till morning dawned. joshua gave no answer to the questions his new companion-in-chains addressed to him; he was waiting with an anxious heart for the return of the pursuers. at times he strove to collect his thoughts to pray, and commended to the god who had promised his aid, his own destiny and that of the fugitive boy. true, he was often rudely interrupted by the captain of the guards, who vented his rage upon him. yet the man who had once commanded thousands of soldiers quietly submitted to everything, forcing himself to accept it like the unavoidable discomfort of hail or rain; nay, it cost him an effort to conceal his joyful emotion when, toward sunrise, the young warders sent in pursuit returned with tangled hair, panting for breath, and bringing nothing save one of the dogs with a broken skull. the only thing left for the captain of the guards to do was to report what had occurred at the first fortress on the etham border, which the prisoners were obliged in any case to pass, and toward this they were now driven. since ephraim's flight a new and more cruel spirit had taken possession of the warders. while yesterday they had permitted the unfortunate men to move forward at an easy pace, they now forced them to the utmost possible speed. besides, the atmosphere was sultry, and the scorching sun struggled with the thunderclouds gathering in heavy masses at the north. joshua's frame, inured to fatigues of every kind, resisted the tortures of this hurried march; but his weaker companion, who had grown grey in a scribe's duties, often gave way and at last lay prostrate beside him. the captain was obliged to have the hapless man placed on an ass and chain another prisoner to joshua. he was his former yoke-mate's brother, an inspector of the king's stables, a stalwart egyptian, condemned to the mines solely on account of the unfortunate circumstance of being the nearest blood relative of a state criminal. it was easier to walk with this vigorous companion, and joshua listened with deep sympathy and tried to comfort him when, in a low voice, he made him the confidant of his yearning, and lamented the heaviness of heart with which he had left wife and child in want and suffering. two sons had died of the pestilence, and it sorely oppressed his soul that he had been unable to provide for their burial--now his darlings would be lost to him in the other world also and forever. at the second halt the troubled father became franker still. an ardent thirst for vengeance filled his soul, and he attributed the same feeling to his stern-eyed companion, whom he saw had plunged into misfortune from a high station in life. the ex-inspector of the stables had a sister-in-law, who was one of pharaoh's concubines, and through her and his wife, her sister, he had learned that a conspiracy was brewing against the king in the house of the separated.--[harem]. he even knew whom the women desired to place in menephtah's place. as joshua looked at him, half questioning, half doubting, his companion whispered. "siptah, the king's nephew, and his noble mother, are at the head of the plot. when i am once more free, i will remember you, for my sister-in-law certainly will not forget me." then he asked what was taking his companion to the mines, and joshua frankly told his name. but when the egyptian learned that he was fettered to a hebrew, he tore wildly at his chain and cursed his fate. his rage, however, soon subsided in the presence of the strange composure with which his companion in misfortune bore the rudest insults, and joshua was glad to have the other beset him less frequently with complaints and questions. he now walked on for hours undisturbed, free to yield to his longing to collect his thoughts, analyze the new and lofty emotions which had ruled his soul during the past few days, and accommodate himself to his novel and terrible position. this quiet reflection and self-examination relieved him and, during the following night, he was invigorated by a deep, refreshing sleep. when he awoke the setting stars were still in the sky and reminded him of the sycamore in succoth, and the momentous morning when his lost love had won him for his god and his people. the glittering firmament arched over his head, and he had never so distinctly felt the presence of the most high. he believed in his limitless power and, for the first time, felt a dawning hope that the mighty lord who had created heaven and earth would find ways and means to save his chosen people from the thousands of the egyptian hosts. after fervently imploring god to extend his protecting hand over the feeble bands who, obedient to his command, had left so much behind them and marched so confidently through an unknown and distant land, and commended to his special charge the aged father whom he himself could not defend, a wonderful sense of peace filled his soul. the shouts of the guards, the rattling of the chain, his wretched companions in misfortune, nay, all that surrounded him, could not fail to recall the fate awaiting him. he was to grow grey in slavish toil within a close, hot pit, whose atmosphere choked the lungs, deprived of the bliss of breathing the fresh air and beholding the sunlight; loaded with chains, beaten and insulted, starving and thirsting, spending days and nights in a monotony destructive alike to soul and body,--yet not for one moment did he lose the confident belief that this horrible lot might befall any one rather than himself, and something must interpose to save him. on the march farther eastward, which began with the first grey dawn of morning, he called this resolute confidence folly, yet strove to retain it and succeeded. the road led through the desert, and at the end of a few hours' rapid march they reached the first fort, called the fortress of seti. long before, they had seen it through the clear desert air, apparently within a bowshot. unrelieved by the green foliage of bush or palmtree, it rose from the bare, stony, sandy soil, with its wooden palisades, its rampart, its escarped walls, and its lookout, with broad, flat roof, swarming with armed warriors. the latter had heard from pithom that the hebrews were preparing to break through the chain of fortresses on the isthmus and had at first mistaken the approaching band of prisoners for the vanguard of the wandering israelites. from the summits of the strong projections, which jutted like galleries from every direction along the entire height of the escarped walls to prevent the planting of scaling-ladders, soldiers looked through the embrasures at the advancing convicts; yet the archers had replaced their arrows in the quivers, for the watchmen in the towers perceived how few were the numbers of the approaching troop, and a messenger had already delivered to the commander of the garrison an order from his superior authorizing him to permit the passage of the prisoners. the gate of the palisade was now opened, and the captain of the guards allowed the prisoners to lie down on the glowing pavement within. no one could escape hence, even if the guards withdrew; for the high fence was almost insurmountable, and from the battlements on the top of the jutting walls darts could easily reach a fugitive. the ex-chief did not fail to note that everything was ready, as if in the midst of war, for defence against a foe. every man was at his post, and beside the huge brazen disk on the tower stood sentinels, each holding in his hand a heavy club to deal a blow at the approach of the expected enemy; for though as far as the eye could reach, neither tree nor house was visible, the sound of the metal plate would be heard at the next fortress in the etham line, and warn or summon its garrison. to be stationed in the solitude of this wilderness was not a punishment, but a misfortune; and the commander of the army therefore provided that the same troops should never remain long in the desert. joshua himself, in former days, had been in command of the most southerly of these fortresses, called the migdol of the south; for each one of the fortifications bore the name of migdol, which in the semitic tongue means the tower of a fortress. his people were evidently expected here; and it was not to be supposed that moses had led the tribes back to egypt. so they must have remained in succoth or have turned southward. but in that direction rolled the waters of the bitter lakes and the red sea, and how could the hebrew hosts pass through the deep waters? hosea's heart throbbed anxiously at this thought, and all his fears were to find speedy confirmation; for he heard the commander of the fortress tell the captain of the prisoners' guards, that the hebrews had approached the line of fortifications several days before, but soon after, without assaulting the garrison, had turned southward. since then they seemed to have been wandering in the desert between pithom and the red sea. all this had been instantly reported at tanis, but the king was forced to delay the departure of the army for several days until the week of general mourning for the heir to the throne had expired. the fugitives might have turned this to account, but news had come by a carrier dove that the blinded multitude had encamped at pihahiroth, not far from the red sea. so it would be easy for the army to drive them into the water like a herd of cattle; there was no escape for them in any other direction. the captain listened to these tidings with satisfaction; then he whispered a few words to the commander of the fortress and pointed with his finger to joshua, who had long recognized him as a brother-in-arms who had commanded a hundred men in his own cohorts and to whom he had done many a kindness. he was reluctant to reveal his identity in this wretched plight to his former subordinate, who was also his debtor; but the commander flushed as he saw him, shrugged his shoulders as though he desired to express to joshua regret for his fate and the impossibility of doing anything for him, and then exclaimed so loudly that he could not fail to hear: "the regulations forbid any conversation with prisoners of state, but i knew this man in better days, and will send you some wine which i beg you to share with him." as he walked with the other to the gate, and the latter remarked that hosea deserved such favor less than the meanest of the band, because he had connived at the escape of the fugitive of whom he had just spoken, the commander ran his hand through his hair, and answered: "i would gladly have shown him some kindness, though he is much indebted to me; but if that is the case, we will omit the wine; you have rested long enough at any rate." the captain angrily gave the order for departure, and drove the hapless band deeper into the desert toward the mines. this time joshua walked with drooping head. every fibre of his being rebelled against the misfortune of being dragged through the wilderness at this decisive hour, far from his people and the father whom he knew to be in such imminent danger. under his guidance the wanderers might perchance have found some means of escape. his fist clenched when he thought of the fettered limbs which forbade him to utilize the plans his brain devised for the welfare of his people; yet he would not lose courage, and whenever he said to himself that the hebrews were lost and must succumb in this struggle, he heard the new name god himself had bestowed upon him ring in his ears and at the same moment the flames of hate and vengeance on all egyptians, which had been fanned anew by the fortress commander's base conduct, blazed up still more brightly. his whole nature was in the most violent tumult and as the captain noted his flushed cheeks and the gloomy light in his eyes he thought that this strong man, too, had been seized by the fever to which so many convicts fell victims on the march. when, at the approach of darkness, the wretched band sought a night's rest in the midst of the wilderness, a terrible conflict of emotions was seething in joshua's soul, and the scene around him fitly harmonized with his mood; for black clouds had again risen in the north from the sea and, before the thunder and lightning burst forth and the rain poured in torrents, howling, whistling winds swept masses of scorching sand upon the recumbent prisoners. after these dense clouds had been their coverlet, pools and ponds were their beds. the guards had bound them together hand and foot and, dripping and shivering, held the ends of the ropes in their hands; for the night was as black as the embers of their fire which the rain had extinguished, and who could have pursued a fugitive through such darkness and tempest. but joshua had no thought of secret flight. while the egyptians were trembling and moaning, when they fancied they heard the wrathful voice of seth, and the blinding sheets of fire flamed from the clouds, he only felt the approach of the angry god, whose fury he shared, whose hatred was also his own. he felt himself a witness of his all-destroying omnipotence, and his breast swelled more proudly as he told himself that he was summoned to wield the sword in the service of this mightiest of the mighty. etext editor's bookmarks: a school where people learned modesty but what do you men care for the suffering you inflict on others childhood already lies behind me, and youth will soon follow good advice is more frequently unheeded than followed precepts and lessons which only a mother can give should i be a man, if i forgot vengeance? to the mines meant to be doomed to a slow, torturing death what had formerly afforded me pleasure now seemed shallow distributed proofreaders a trip abroad an account of a journey to the earthly canaan and the land of the ancient pharaohs to which are appended a brief consideration of the geography and history of palestine, and a chapter on churches of christ in great britain by don carlos janes [illustration: "striving for the faith of the gospel." don carlos janes.] _"go, little booke, god send thee good passage, and specially let this be thy prayere: unto them all that will thee read or hear, where thou art wrong, after their help to call, thee to correct in any part or all."_ chaucer. preface. in this volume the author has made an effort to describe his journey to palestine and egypt. it is his desire that the book may be interesting and instructive to its readers. the chapter on the geography of palestine, if studied with a good map, will probably be helpful to many. the historic sketch of the land may serve as an outline of the important events in the history of that interesting country. it is desired that the last chapter may give american readers a better understanding of the work of churches of christ in great britain. this book is not a classic, but the author has tried to give a truthful account of a trip, which, to him, was full of interest and not without profit. no doubt some errors will be found, but even the critical reader may make some allowance when it is known that the writing, with the exception of a small part, was done in a period of eighty days. during this time, the writer was also engaged in evangelistic work, speaking every day without a single exception, and as often as four times on some of the days. that the careful reading of the following pages may be profitable, is the desire of the author. bowling green, ky., october , . acknowledgements. several books have been consulted in preparing this one. "lands of the bible," by j.w. mcgarvey, has been very helpful. the same is true of edmund sherman wallace's "jerusalem the holy." much information has been obtained from the "historical geography of bible lands," by john b. calkin. other works consulted were: "recent discoveries on the temple hill," by james king; the "bible atlas," by jesse l. hurlbut; "galilee in the time of christ," by selah merrill; "city of the great king," by j.t. barclay; "palestine," by c.r. conder; smith's "bible dictionary"; "century dictionary and cyclopaedia"; "columbian encyclopaedia," and "encyclopaedia britannica." the chapter on churches of christ in great britain and ireland was read before publication by bro. ivie campbell, jr., of kirkcaldy, scotland, who made some suggestions for its improvement. bro. j.w. mcgarvey, of lexington, ky., kindly read the chapters on the geography and history of palestine, and made some corrections. selah merrill, united states consul at jerusalem, has given some information embodied in the historic sketch of palestine. acknowledgement of the helpful services of my wife, and of miss delia boyd, of atpontley, tenn., is hereby made. table of contents. chapter i. scotland and england chapter ii. crossing europe chapter iii. asia minor and syria chapter iv. a few days in galilee chapter v. sight-seeing in jerusalem chapter vi. side trips from jerusalem chapter vii. egypt, the land of tombs and temples chapter viii. geography of palestine chapter ix. historic sketch of palestine chapter x. churches of christ in great britain chapter i. scotland and england. when i was a "boy on a farm," one of my school teachers had a small machine, which was sometimes used to print the names of students in their books. somehow i came to want a "printing press," and after a while i purchased an outfit for fifteen cents, but it was a poor thing and failed to satisfy me. accordingly, i disposed of it and spent a larger sum for a typewriter, which was little more than a toy. this, too, was unsatisfactory, and i sold it. at a later date, i bought a second-hand typewriter, which was turned in as part payment for the machine i am now using to write this book, and now, after all these successive steps, i find myself possessed of a real typewriter. i will also mention my youthful desire for a watch. i wanted a timepiece and thought i would like for it to be of small size. i thought of it when awake, and, sometimes, when asleep, dreamed that i actually had the little watch in my possession. since those days of dreams and disappointments, i have had three watches, and they have all been of small size. in the same way, several years ago, i became possessed of a desire to see the land of promise, the earthly canaan. i thought about it some, and occasionally spoke of it. there were seasons when the desire left me, but it would come back again. some years ago, when i was doing evangelistic work in canada, the desire returned--this time to stay. it grew stronger and stronger until i decided to make the trip, which was begun on the eleventh of july, . after traveling many thousands of miles, seeing numerous new and interesting sights, making many pleasant acquaintances, and having a variety of experiences, i returned to the home of my father on the fourteenth day of december, having been absent five months and three days, and having had a more extensive trip than i had at first thought of taking. there is a lesson in the foregoing that i do not want overlooked. it is this: whatever we earnestly desire is apt to be worked out in our lives. deeds usually begin with thoughts. if the thoughts are fostered and cultivated, the deeds will probably be performed some time. it is, therefore, important that we exercise care as to the kind of thoughts we allow to remain in our hearts. "keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (prov. iv. ). on the way to new york, i stopped in washington and saw some of the interesting places of the national capital. the bureau of engraving and printing, where about six hundred persons were engaged in printing paper money and stamps, was visited. i also went out to the washington monument and climbed to the top of the winding stairs, although i might have gone up in the free elevator if i had preferred to ride. the medical museum, national museum, treasury building, the white house, the capitol, and other points of interest received attention, and my short stay in this city was very enjoyable. i spent a night in philadelphia, after an absence of more than four years, and enjoyed a meeting with the church worshiping on forty-sixth street. it was very pleasant to meet those i had known when i was there before, some of whom i had been instrumental in bringing to christ. in new york i made arrangements to sail for glasgow on the s.s. mongolian, of the allan line, which was to sail at eleven o'clock on the fourteenth of july, and the voyage was begun almost as promptly as a railway train leaves the depot. we passed the statue of liberty a few minutes before noon, and then i prepared some mail to be sent back by the pilot who took us down to the sea. the water was smooth almost all the way across, and we reached the desired haven on the eleventh day. i went back to my room the first morning after breakfast and was lying in my berth when a gentleman came along and told me i would have to get up, they were going to have _inspection_. i arose and found part of the crew scrubbing the floor and others washing down a wall. everything was being put in good condition for the examination to be given by some of the officers who passed through each day at about ten o'clock. the seamen knew the inspection was sure to come, and they knew the hour at which it would take place, so they made ready for it. we know that there is a great "inspection" day appointed when god will judge the world, but we do not know the exact time. it is, therefore, important to be ready always, that the day may not overtake us "as a thief in the night." religious services were held on the ship each lord's day, but i missed the last meeting. on the first sunday morning i arose as usual and ate breakfast. as there was no opportunity to meet with brethren and break bread in memory of the lord jesus, i read the account of the giving of the lord's supper as recorded in matthew, mark, and john; also paul's language concerning the institution in the eleventh chapter of the first corinthian letter, and was thankful that my life had been spared until another beautiful resurrection morning. at half past ten o'clock i went into one of the dining rooms where two ministers were conducting a meeting. the order of the service, as nearly as i can give it, was as follows: responsive reading of the twenty-third and twenty-fourth psalms; prayer; the hymn, "onward, christian soldiers"; reading of the twenty-ninth psalm; prayer; the hymn, "lead, kindly light"; an address on "knowing god"; prayer; the collection, taken while singing; and the benediction. the ship furnished bibles and hymn-books. a large copy of the bible was placed upon a british flag at the head of one of the tables where the speaker stood, but he read from the american revised version of the scriptures. the sermon was commenced by some remarks to the effect that man is hard to please. nothing earthly satisfies him, but thomas expressed the correct idea when he said: "show us the father and it sufficeth us." the minister then went on to speak of god as "the god of patience," "the god of comfort," "the god of hope," and "the god of peace." it was, with some exceptions, a pleasing and uplifting address. there were about thirty persons in attendance, and the collection was for the sailors' orphans' home in scotland. the following is one verse of the closing hymn: "a few more years shall roll, a few more seasons come, and we shall be with those that rest, asleep within the tomb; then, oh, my lord, prepare my soul for that great day, oh, wash me in thy precious blood and take my sins away." before the close of the day, i read the whole of mark's record of the life of our savior and turned my bible over to gus, the steward. we had food served four times, as usual. the sea was smooth and the day passed quietly. a catholic gentleman said something at breakfast about "saying a few prayers" to himself, and i heard a woman, in speaking about going to church, say she had beads and a prayer-book with her. later in the day i saw her out on the deck with a novel, and what i supposed to be the prayer-book, but she was reading the novel. several of the passengers had reading matter with them. some read novels, but my book was far better than any of these. it has a greater author, a wider range of history, more righteous laws, purer morals, and more beautiful description than theirs. it contains a longer and better love story than theirs, and reveals a much grander hero. the bible both moralizes and christianizes those who permit its holy influence to move them to loving obedience of the lord jesus. it can fill its thoughtful reader with holy hope and lead him into the realization of that hope. it is a book adapted to all men everywhere, and the more carefully it is read the greater the interest in it and the profit from it become. it is the volume that teaches us how to live here that we may live hereafter, and in the dying hour no one will regret having been a diligent student of its matchless pages of divine truth and wisdom. the last lord's day of the voyage the ship reached moville, ireland, where a small vessel came out and took off the passengers for londonderry. the tilled land, visible from the ship, reminded me of a large garden. some time that night we anchored in the harbor at greenock, near the mouth of the river clyde. about one o'clock the second steward came in, calling out: "janes!" i answered from my berth and heard him call out: "don carlos janes!" again i answered and learned that he had some mail for me. i told him to hand it in, not remembering that the door was locked, but that made no difference, for he handed it in anyhow, but the locking arrangement on that door needed repairing after he went away. i arose and examined the two pieces of mail, which were from friends, giving me directions as to where i should go when the ship got up to glasgow, twenty-two miles from the sea. there was but one case of sea sickness reported on the whole voyage. there was one death, but the corpse was carried into port instead of being buried at sea. the home of brother and sister henry nelmes, which was my home while i staid in glasgow, is nicely located. brother nelmes and his wife are excellent people, and treated me with much kindness. glasgow is a large and important city, with many interesting places in it. the municipal building with its marble stairs, alabaster balustrade, onyx columns, and other ornamentation, is attractive on the inside, but the exterior impressed me more with the idea of stability than of beauty. the old cathedral, which i visited twice, is in an excellent state of preservation, although founded in the eleventh century. there is an extensive burial ground adjoining the cathedral, and one of the prominent monuments is at the grave of john knox, the reformer. these impressive words, written from memory, were spoken by the regent at the burial of knox, and have been carved upon his monument: "here lieth he who never feared the face of man, who was often threatened with dag and dagger, yet hath ended his days in peace and honor." carlyle spoke of him as a man "fearing god, without any other fear." one day i visited the birth-place of robert burns, at ayr, a point not far from glasgow. i not only saw the "lowly thatched cottage," but a monument to the poet, "auld kirk alloway," the "brig o' doon," and many interesting articles in the museum. when the street car came to a standstill, i had the old church and cemetery on my right hand, and the monument on my left hand, while a man was standing in the road, ahead of us, blowing a cornet,--and just beyond was the new bridge over the doon, a short distance below the old one, which is well preserved and profusely decorated with the initials of many visitors. along the bank of "bonny doon" lies a little garden, on the corner of which is situated a house where liquor is sold, if i mistake not. it was before this house that i saw the musician already mentioned. as i came up from the old "brig o' doon," i saw and heard a man playing a violin near the monument. when i went down the road toward the new bridge and looked over into the garden, i saw a couple of persons executing a cake-walk, and an old man with one leg off was in the cemetery that surrounds the ruined church, reciting selections from burns. such is the picture i beheld when i visited this ayrshire monument, raised in memory of the sympathetic but unfortunate scottish poet, whose "spark o' nature's fire" has touched so many hearts that his birth-place has more visitors per annum than shakespeare's has. on the following day i had a pleasant boat-ride up loch (lake) long, followed by a merry coach-ride across to the "bonny, bonny banks of loch lomond," which is celebrated in song and story. it is twenty-two miles in length and from three-quarters of a mile to five miles wide, and is called the "queen of scottish lakes." ben lomond, a mountain rising to a height of more than three thousand feet, stands on the shore, and it is said that robert bruce, the hero of bannockburn, once hid himself in a cave in this mountain. a pleasant boat-ride down the lake brought me back to glasgow in time to attend a meeting of the brethren in coplaw street that night. leaving my true friends who had so kindly entertained me in glasgow, i proceeded to edinburgh, the city where robert burns came into prominence. in the large waverley station a stranger, who knew of my coming through word from brother ivie campbell, of kirkcaldy, stopped me and asked: "is your name don carlos janes?" it was another good friend, brother j.w. murray. he said he told some one he was looking for me, and was told, in return, that he would not be able to find me. his answer to this was that he had picked out a man before, and he might pick out another one; and so he did, without any difficulty. after a little time spent in waverley gardens, i ascended the walter scott monument, which is two hundred feet high. the winding stairway is rather narrow, especially at the top, and it is not well lighted. as i was coming down the stairs, i met a lady and gentleman. the little woman was not at all enthusiastic over the experience she was having, and, without knowing of my presence, she was wondering what they would do if they were to meet any one. "come on up and see," i said, and we passed without any special difficulty, but she said she didn't believe "two stout ones could" pass. as she went on up the winding way, she was heard expressing herself in these words: "oh, it is a place, isn't it? i don't like it." the tourist finds many "places", and they are not all desirable. princess street, on which the monument is located, is the prettiest street that i have ever seen. one side is occupied by business houses and hotels, the other is a beautiful garden, where one may walk or sit down, surrounded by green grass and beautiful flowers. edinburgh castle is an old fortification on the summit of a lofty hill overlooking the city. it is now used as barracks for soldiers, and is capable of accommodating twelve hundred men. queen mary's room is a small chamber, where her son, james the first of scotland and the sixth of england, was born. i was in the old castle in glasgow where she spent the night before the battle of langside, and later stood by her tomb in westminster abbey. her history, a brief sketch of which is given here, is interesting and pathetic. "mary queen of scots was born in linlithgow palace, ; fatherless at seven days old; became queen december th, , and was crowned at stirling, september th, ; carried to france, ; married to the dauphin, ; became queen of france, ; a widow, ; returned to scotland, ; married lord darnley, ; her son (and successor), james vi., born at edinburgh castle, ; lord darnley murdered, february, ; mary married to the earl of bothwell, may, , and was compelled to abdicate in favor of her infant son. she escaped from lochleven castle, lost the battle of langside, and fled to england, . she was beheaded february th, , at fotheringay castle, in the forty-fifth year of her age, almost nineteen years of which she passed in captivity. "puir mary was born and was cradled in tears, grief cam' wi' her birth, and grief grew wi' her years." in the crown-room are to be seen the regalia of scotland, consisting of the crown, scepter, sword of state, a silver rod of office, and other jewels, all enclosed in a glass case surrounded by iron work. st. margaret's chapel, seventeen feet long and eleven feet wide, stands within the castle enclosure and is the oldest building in the city. a very old cannon, called mons meg, was brought back to the castle through the efforts of walter scott, and is now on exhibition. i visited the hall of statuary in the national gallery, the royal blind asylum, passed st. giles cathedral, where john knox preached, dined with brother murray, and boarded the train for kirkcaldy, where i as easily found brother campbell at the station as brother murray had found me in edinburgh. i had been in correspondence with brother campbell for some years, and our meeting was a pleasure, and my stay at kirkcaldy was very enjoyable. we went up to st. andrews, and visited the ruins of the old cathedral, the university, a monument to certain martyrs, and the home of a sister in christ. but little of the cathedral remains to be seen. it was founded in , and was the most magnificent of scottish churches. st. rule's tower, one hundred and ten feet high, still stands, and we had a fine view from the top. the time to leave kirkcaldy came too soon, but i moved on toward wigan, england, to attend the annual meeting of churches of christ. brother campbell accompanied me as far as edinburgh, and i then proceeded to melrose, where i stopped off and visited abbotsford, the home of sir walter scott. it is situated on the river tweed, a short distance from melrose, and was founded in . by the expenditure of a considerable sum of money it was made to present such an appearance as to be called "a romance in stone and lime." part of this large house is occupied as a dwelling, but some of the rooms are kept open for the numerous visitors who call from time to time. the young lady who was guide the day i was at abbotsford, first showed us sir walter's study. it is a small room, with book shelves from the floor to the ceiling, the desk on which scott wrote his novels sitting in the middle of the floor. a writing-box, made of wood taken from one of the ships of the spanish armada, sits on the desk, and the clothes worn by the great novelist a short time before his death are kept under glass in a case by the window, while a cast of his face is to be seen in a small room adjoining the study. we next passed into the library, which, with the books in the study, contains about twenty thousand volumes. in the armory are numerous guns, pistols, swords, and other relics. there is some fine furniture in one of the rooms, and the walls are covered with paper printed by hand in china nearly ninety years ago. perhaps some who read these lines will recall the sad story of genivra, who hid herself in an oaken chest in an attic, and perished there, being imprisoned by the spring lock. this oaken chest was received at abbotsford a short time before scott's death, and is now on exhibition. sir walter, as the guide repeatedly called him, spent the last years of his life under the burden of a heavy debt, but instead of making use of the bankrupt law, he set to work heroically with his pen to clear up the indebtedness. he wrote rapidly, and his books sold well, but he was one day compelled to lay down his pen before the task was done. the king of england gave him a trip to the mediterranean, for the benefit of his health, but it was of no avail. sir walter returned to his home on the bank of the tweed, and died september twenty-first, . in his last illness, this great author, who had produced so many volumes that were being read then and are still being read, asked his son-in-law to read to him. the son-in-law asked what book he should read, to which sir walter replied: "book? there is but one book! read me the bible." in melrose i visited the ruins of the abbey, and then went on to wigan. after the annual meeting, i went to birmingham and stayed a short while. from here i made a little journey to the birth-place of shakespeare, at stratford-on-avon, a small, quiet town, where, to the best of my recollection, i saw neither street cars nor omnibuses. after being in several large cities, it was an agreeable change to spend a day in this quiet place, where the greatest writer in the english tongue spent his boyhood and the last days of his life on earth. the house where he was born was first visited. a fee of sixpence (about twelve cents) secures admission, but another sixpence is required if the library and museum are visited. the house stands as it was in the poet's early days, with a few exceptions. since that time, however, part of it has been used as a meat market and part as an inn. in , the property was announced for sale, and it fell into the hands of persons who restored it as nearly as possible to its original condition. it has two stories and an attic, with three gables in the roof facing the street. at the left of the door by which the tourist is admitted, is a portion of the house where the valuable documents of the corporation are stored, while to the right are the rooms formerly used as the "swan and maidenhead inn," now converted into a library and museum. the windows in the upstairs room where the poet was born are fully occupied with the autographs of visitors who have scratched their names there. i was told that the glass is now valuable simply as old glass, and of course the autographs enhance the value. the names of scott and carlyle are pointed out by the attendant in charge. from a back window one can look down into the garden, where, as far as possible, all the trees and flowers mentioned in shakespeare's works have been planted. for some years past the average number of visitors to this house has been seven thousand a year. the poet's grave is in trinity church, at stratford, beneath a stone slab in the floor bearing these lines: "good friend, for jesus' sake, forbear to digg the dust enclosed here. blest be ye man y spares these stones, and curst be he ty moves my bones." on the wall, just at hand, is a bust made from a cast taken after his death. near by is a stained-glass window with the inscription, "america's gift to shakespeare's church," and not far away is a card above a collection-box with an inscription which informs "visitors from u.s.a." that there is yet due on the window more than three hundred dollars. the original cost was about two thousand five hundred dollars. the shakespeare memorial is a small theater by the side of the avon, with a library and picture gallery attached. the first stone was laid in , and the building was opened in with a performance of "much ado about nothing." the old school once attended by the poet still stands, and is in use, as is also the cottage of anne hathaway, situated a short distance from stratford. i returned to birmingham, and soon went on to bristol and saw the orphans' homes founded by george muller. these homes, capable of accommodating two thousand and fifty orphans, are beautifully situated on ashley downs. brother william kempster and i visited them together, and were shown through a portion of one of the five large buildings by an elderly gentleman, neat, clean, and humble, who was sent down by the manager of the institution, a son-in-law of mr. muller, who died in , at the advanced age of ninety-three years. we saw one of the dormitories, which was plainly furnished, but everything was neat and clean. we were also shown two dining-rooms, and the library-room in which mr. muller conducted a prayer-meeting only a night or two before his death. in this room we saw a fine, large picture of the deceased, and were told by the "helper" who was showing us around that mr. muller was accustomed to saying: "oh, i am such a happy man!" the expression on his face in this picture is quite in harmony with his words just quoted. one of his sayings was: "when anxiety begins, faith ends; when faith begins, anxiety ends." mr. muller spent seventy years of his life in england and became so thoroughly anglicized that he wished his name pronounced "miller." he was the founder of the "scriptural knowledge institution for home and abroad" and was a man of much more than ordinary faith. his work began about , with the distribution of literature, and the orphan work, if i mistake not, was begun two years later. "as the result of prayer to god" more than five millions of dollars have been applied for the benefit of the orphans. he never asked help of man, but made his wants known to god, and those who are now carrying on the work pursue the same course, but the collection-boxes put up where visitors can see them might be considered by some as an invitation to give. the following quotation from the founder of the orphanages will give some idea of the kind of man he was. "in carrying on this work simply through the instrumentality of prayer and faith, without applying to any human being for help, my great desire was, that it might be seen that, now, in the nineteenth century, _god is still the living god, and now, as well as thousands of years ago, he listens to the prayers of his children and helps those who trust in him._ in all the forty-two countries through which i traveled during the twenty-one years of my missionary service, numberless instances came before me of the benefit which this orphan institution has been, in this respect, not only in making men of the world see the reality of the things of god, and by converting them, but especially by leading the children of god more abundantly to give themselves to prayer, and by strengthening their faith. _far beyond what i at first expected to accomplish_, the lord has been pleased to give me. but what i have _seen_ as the fruit of my labor in this way may not be the thousandth part of what i _shall_ see when the lord jesus comes again; as day by day, for sixty-one years, i have earnestly labored, in believing prayer, that god would be pleased, most abundantly, to bless this service in the way i have stated." the objects of the scriptural knowledge institution are set forth as follows: "to assist day schools and sunday-schools in which instruction is given upon scriptural principles," etc. by day schools conducted on scriptural principles, they mean "those in which the teachers are believers; where the way of salvation is pointed out, and in which no instruction is given opposed to the principles of the gospel." in these schools the scriptures are read daily by the children. in the sunday-schools the "teachers are believers, and the holy scriptures alone are the foundation of instruction." the second object of the institution is "to circulate the holy scriptures." in one year four thousand three hundred and fifty bibles were sold, and five hundred and twenty-five were given away; seven thousand eight hundred and eighty-one new testament were sold, and one thousand five hundred and seventy-four were given away; fifty-five copies of the psalms were sold, and thirty-eight were given away; two thousand one hundred and sixty-three portions of the holy scriptures were sold, and one hundred and sixty-two were given away; and three thousand one hundred illustrated portions of the scriptures were given away. there have been circulated through this medium, since march, , three hundred and eleven thousand two hundred and seventy-eight bibles, and one million five hundred and seven thousand eight hundred and one copies of the new testament. they keep in stock almost four hundred sorts of bibles, ranging in price from twelve cents each to more than six dollars a copy. another object of the institution is to aid in missionary efforts. "during the past year one hundred and eighty laborers in the word and doctrine in various parts of the world have been assisted." the fourth object is to circulate such publications as may be of benefit both to believers and unbelievers. in a single year one million six hundred and eleven thousand two hundred and sixty-six books and tracts were distributed gratuitously. the fifth object is to board, clothe, and scientifically educate destitute orphans. mr. muller belonged to that class of religious people who call themselves brethren, and are called by others "plymouth brethren." after leaving bristol, i went to london, the metropolis of the world. the first important place visited was westminster abbey, an old church, founded in the seventh century, rebuilt in , and restored to its present form in the thirteenth century. many eminent men and women are buried here. chaucer, the first poet to find a resting place in the abbey, was interred in . the place where major andre is buried is marked by a small piece of the pavement bearing his name. on the wall close by is a monument to him. here are the graves of isaac newton, charles dickens, alfred tennyson, charles darwin, and many others, including kings and queens of england for centuries. in the poets' corner are monuments to coleridge, southey, shakespeare, burns, tennyson, milton, gray, spencer, and others, and one bearing the inscription "o rare ben jonson." there is also a bust of longfellow, the only foreigner accorded a memorial in the abbey. the grave of david livingstone, the african explorer and missionary, is covered with a black stone of some kind, which forms a part of the floor or pavement, and contains an inscription in brass letters, of which the following quotation is a part: "all i can add in my solitude is, may heaven's rich blessings come down on every one, american, english, or turk, who will help to heal this open sore of the world." concerning this interesting old place which is visited by more than fifty thousand americans annually, jeremy taylor wrote: "where our kings are crowned, their ancestors lie interred, and they must walk over their grandsires to take the crown. there is an acre sown with royal seed, the copy of the greatest change, from rich to naked, from ceiled roofs to arched coffins, from living like gods to die like men. there the warlike and the peaceful, the fortunate and the miserable, the beloved and despised princes mingle their dust and pay down their symbol of mortality, and tell all the world that when we die our ashes shall be equal to kings, and our accounts easier, and our pains for our sins shall be less." while walking about in the abbey, i also found these lines from walter scott: "here, where the end of earthly things lays heroes, patriots, bards and kings; where stiff the hand and still the tongue of those who fought, and spoke, and sung; here, where the fretted aisles prolong the distant notes of holy song, as if some angel spoke again 'all peace on earth, good will to men'; if ever from an english heart, here let prejudice depart." bunhill fields is an old cemetery where one hundred and twenty thousand burials have taken place. here lie the ashes of isaac watts, the hymn writer; of daniel de foe, author of "robinson crusoe," and of john bunyan, who in bedford jail wrote "pilgrim's progress." the monuments are all plain. the one at the grave of de foe was purchased with the contributions of seventeen hundred people, who responded to a call made by some paper. on the top of bunyan's tomb rests the figure of a man, perhaps a representation of him whose body was laid in the grave below. on one of the monuments in this cemetery are the following words concerning the deceased: "in sixty-seven months she was tapped sixty-six times. had taken away two hundred and forty gallons of water without ever repining at her case or ever fearing the operation." just across the street from bunhill fields stands the house once occupied by john wesley (now containing a museum) and a meeting-house which was built in wesley's day. the old pulpit from which mr. wesley preached is still in use, but it has been lowered somewhat. in front of the chapel is a statue of wesley, and at the rear is his grave, and close by is the last resting place of the remains of adam clarke, the commentator. a trip to greenwich was quite interesting. i visited the museum and saw much of interest, including the painted hall, the coat worn by nelson at the battle of the nile, and the clothing he wore when he was mortally wounded at trafalgar. i went up the hill to the observatory, and walked through an open door to the grounds where a gentleman informed me that visitors are not admitted without a pass; but he kindly gave me some information and told me that i was standing on the prime meridian. on the outside of the enclosure are scales of linear measure up to one yard, and a large clock. after the trip to greenwich, i went over the london bridge, passed the fire monument, and came back across the thames by the tower bridge, a peculiar structure, having two levels in one span, so passengers can go up the stairs in one of the towers, cross the upper level, and go down the other stairs when the lower level is opened for boats to pass up and down the river. while in scotland, i twice crossed the great forth bridge, which is more than a mile and a half long and was erected at a cost of above fifteen millions of dollars. there are ten spans in the south approach, eight in the north approach, and two central spans each seventeen hundred feet long. the loftiest part of the structure is three hundred and sixty-one feet above high-water mark. the albert memorial is perhaps the finest monument seen on the whole trip. the victoria and albert museum contains the original singer sewing-machine, and a printing-press supposed to have been used by benjamin franklin, and many other interesting things. the natural history museum also contains much to attract the visitor's attention. here i saw the skeleton of a mastodon about ten feet tall and twenty feet long; also the tusks of an extinct species of indian elephant, which were nine feet and nine inches long. there is also an elephant tusk on exhibition ten feet long and weighing two hundred and eighty pounds. madam tussaud's exhibition of wax figures and relics is both interesting and instructive, and well repays one for the time and expense of a visit. several american presidents are represented in life-size figures, along with kings and others who have been prominent in the affairs of men. in the napoleon room are three of the great warrior's carriages, the one used at waterloo being in the number. london tower is a series of strong buildings, which have in turn served as a fortress, a palace, and a prison. i saw the site of anne boleyn's execution, but that which had the most interest for me was the room containing the crown jewels. they are kept in a glass case ten or twelve feet in diameter, in a small, circular room. outside of the case there is an iron cage surrounded by a network of wire. the king's crown is at the top of the collection, which contains other crowns, scepters, swords, and different costly articles. this crown, which was first made in for queen victoria, was enlarged for edward, the present king. it contains two thousand eight hundred and eighteen diamonds, two hundred and ninety-seven pearls, and many other jewels. one of the scepters is supposed to contain a part of the cross of christ, but the supposition had no weight with me. one of the attendants told me the value of the whole collection was estimated at four million pounds, and that it would probably bring five times that much if sold at auction. as the english pound is worth about four dollars and eighty-seven cents, this little room contains a vast treasure--worth upwards of a hundred million dollars. i will only mention nelson's monument in trafalgar square, the parliament buildings, st. paul's cathedral, kew gardens, hampton court palace, and the zoological gardens. i also visited the bank of england, which "stands on ground valued at two hundred and fifty dollars per square foot. if the bank should ever find itself pressed for money, it could sell its site for thirty-two million seven hundred and seventy thousand dollars." it is a low building that is not noted for its beauty. if it were located in new york, probably one of the tall buildings characteristic of that city would be erected on the site. the british museum occupied my time for hours, and i shall not undertake to give a catalogue of the things i saw there, but will mention a few of them. there are manuscripts of early writers in the english tongue, including a copy of beowulf, the oldest poem in the language; autograph works of daniel de foe, ben jonson, and others; the original articles of agreement between john milton and samuel symmons relating to the sale of the copyright of "a poem entitled 'paradise lost.'" there was a small stone inscribed in phoenician, with the name of nehemiah, the son of macaiah, and pieces of rock that were brought from the great temple of diana at ephesus; a fragment of the koran; objects illustrating buddhism in india; books printed by william caxton, who printed the first book in english; and greek vases dating back to b.c. in the first verse of the twentieth chapter of isaiah we have mention of "sargon, the king of assyria." for centuries this was all the history the world had of this king, who reigned more than seven hundred years before christ. within recent times his history has been dug up in making excavations in the east, and i saw one of his inscribed bricks and two very large, human-headed, winged bulls from a doorway of his palace. the carvings from the palace of sennacherib, tablets from the library of asur-banipal, and brick of ur-gur, king of ur about twenty-five centuries before christ, attracted my attention, as did also the colossal left arm of a statue of thotmes iii., which measures about nine feet. the rosetta stone, by which the egyptian hieroglyphics were translated, and hundreds of other objects were seen. in the mummy-room are embalmed bodies, skeletons, and coffins that were many centuries old when jesus came to earth, some of them bearing dates as early as b.c., and in the case of a part of a body found in the third pyramid the date attached is b.c. being weary, i sat down, and my note book contains this entry: " : p.m., august . resting here in the midst of mummies and sarcophagi thousands of years old." from the top of the monument i took a bird's-eye view of the largest of all earthly cities, or at least i looked as far as the smoky atmosphere would permit, and then returned to my stopping place at twynholm. as i rode back on the top of an omnibus, the houses of one of the rothschild family and the duke of wellington were pointed out. my sight-seeing in scotland and england was now at an end, and the journey so far had been very enjoyable and highly profitable. i packed up and went down to harwich, on the english channel, where i embarked on the cambridge for antwerp, in belgium. in this chapter i have purposely omitted reference to my association with the churches, as that will come up for consideration in another chapter. chapter ii. crossing europe. immediately after my arrival in antwerp i left for a short trip over the border to rosendaal, holland, where i saw but little more than brick-houses, tile roofs, and wooden shoes. i then returned to antwerp, and went on to brussels, the capital of belgium. the battlefield of waterloo is about nine and a half miles from brussels, and i had an enjoyable trip to this notable place. the field is farming land, and now under cultivation. the chief object of interest is the lion mound, an artificial hill surmounted by the figure of a large lion. the mound is ascended by about two hundred and twenty-three steps, and from its summit one has a good view of the place where the great napoleon met his defeat on the fifteenth of june, . there is another monument on the field, which, though quite small and not at all beautiful, contains an impressive inscription. it was raised in memory of alexander gordon, an aide to the duke of wellington, and has the following words carved on one side: "a disconsolate sister and five surviving brothers have erected this simple memorial to the object of their tenderest affection." from brussels i went over to aix-la-chapelle, on the frontier of germany, where i spent but little time and saw nothing of any great interest to me. there was a fine statue of wilhelm i., a crucifixion monument, and, as i walked along the street, i saw an advertisement for "henry clay habanna cigarren," but not being a smoker, i can not say whether they were good or not. in this city i had an amusing experience buying a german flag. i couldn't speak "deutsch," and she couldn't speak english, but we made the trade all right. my next point was paris, the capital of the french republic, and here i saw many interesting objects. i first visited the church called the madeleine. i also walked along the famous street _champs elysees,_ visited the magnificent arch of triumph, erected to commemorate the victories of napoleon, and viewed the eiffel tower, which was completed in at a cost of a million dollars. it contains about seven thousand tons of metal, and the platform at the top is nine hundred and eighty-five feet high. the tomb of napoleon is in the church of the invalides, one of the finest places i had visited up to that time. the spot where the bastile stood is now marked by a lofty monument. the garden of the tuileries, napoleon's palace, is one of the pretty places in paris. leaving this city in the morning, i journeyed all day through a beautiful farming country, and reached pontarlier, in southern france, for the night. my travel in switzerland, the oldest free state in the world, was very enjoyable. as we were entering the little republic, in which i spent two days, the train was running through a section of country that is not very rough, when, all in a moment, it passed through a tunnel overlooking a beautiful valley, bounded by mountains on the opposite side and presenting a very pleasing view. there were many other beautiful scenes as i journeyed along, sometimes climbing the rugged mountain by a cog railway, and sometimes riding quietly over one of the beautiful swiss lakes. i spent a night at lovely lucerne, on the lake of the four cantons, the body of water on which william tell figured long ago. lucerne is kept very clean, and presents a pleasing appearance to the tourist. i could have gone to fluelin by rail, but preferred to take a boat ride down the lake, and it proved to be a pleasant and enjoyable trip. the snow could be seen lying on the tops of the mountains while the flowers were blooming in the valleys below. soon after leaving fluelin, the train entered the st. gothard tunnel and did not reach daylight again for seventeen minutes. this tunnel, at that time the longest in the world, is a little more than nine miles in length. it is twenty-eight feet wide, twenty-one feet high, lined throughout with masonry, and cost eleven million four hundred thousand dollars. since i was in switzerland the simplon tunnel has been opened. it was begun more than six years ago by the swiss and italian governments, an immense force of hands being worked on each end of it. after laboring day and night for years, the two parties met on the twenty-fourth of february. this tunnel, which is double, is more than twelve miles long and cost sixteen millions of dollars. at chiasso we did what is required at the boundary line of all the countries visited; that is, stop and let the custom-house officials inspect the baggage. i had nothing dutiable and was soon traveling on through italy, toward venice, where i spent some time riding on one of the little omnibus steamers that ply on its streets of water. but not all the venetian streets are like this, for i walked on some that are paved with good, hard sandstone. i was not moved by the beauty of the place, and soon left for pisa, passing a night in florence on the way. the chief point of interest was the leaning tower, which has eight stories and is one hundred and eighty feet high. this structure, completed in the fourteenth century, seems to have commenced to lean when the third story was built. the top, which is reached by nearly three hundred steps, is fourteen feet out of perpendicular. five large bells are suspended in the tower, from the top of which one can have a fine view of the walled city, with its cathedral and baptistery, the beautiful surrounding country, and the mountains in the distance. the next point visited was rome, old "rome that sat on her seven hills and from her throne of beauty ruled the world." one of the first things i saw when i came out of the depot was a monument bearing the letters "s.p.q.r." (the senate and the people of rome) which are sometimes seen in pictures concerning the crucifixion of christ. in london there are numerous public water-closets; in france also there are public urinals, which are almost too public in some cases, but here in rome the climax is reached, for the urinals furnish only the least bit of privacy. one of them, near the railway station, is merely an indentation of perhaps six or eight inches in a straight wall right against the sidewalk, where men, women, and children are passing. by the aid of a guide-book and pictorial plan, i crossed the city from the gateway called "porto del popolo" to the "porto s. paolo," seeing the street called the "corso," or race course, piazza colonna, fountain of treves, trajan's forum, roman forum, arch of constantine, pantheon, colosseum, and the small pyramid of caius cestus. the porto del popolo is the old gateway by which travelers entered the city before the railroad was built. it is on the flammian way and is said to have been built first in a.d. . just inside the gate is a space occupied by an egyptian obelisk surrounded by four egyptian lions. the corso is almost a mile in length and extends from the gate just mentioned to the edge of the capitoline hill, where a great monument to victor emmanuel was being built. the fountain of treves is said to be the most magnificent in rome, and needs to be seen to be appreciated. it has three large figures, the one in the middle representing the ocean, the one on the left, fertility, and the one on the right, health. women who are disposed to dress fashionably at the expense of a deformed body might be profited by a study of this figure of health. trajan's forum is an interesting little place, but it is a small show compared with the roman forum, which is much more extensive, and whose ruins are more varied. the latter contains the temples of vespasian, of concordia, of castor and pollux, and others. it also contains the famous arch of titus, the basilica of constantine, the remains of great palaces, and other ruins. "originally the forum was a low valley among the hills, a convenient place for the people to meet and barter." the palatine hill was fortified by the first romans, and the sabines lived on other hills. these two races finally united, and the valley between the hills became the site of numerous temples and government buildings. kings erected their palaces in the forum, and it became the center of roman life. but when constantine built his capital at constantinople, the greatness of the city declined, and it was sacked and plundered by enemies from the north. the forum became a dumping ground for all kinds of rubbish until it was almost hidden from view, and it was called by a name signifying cow pasture. it has been partly excavated within the last century, and the ruined temples and palaces have been brought to light, making it once more a place of absorbing interest. i wandered around and over and under and through these ruins for a considerable length of time, and wrote in my note book: "there is more here than i can comprehend." i was in a garden on top of one part of the ruins where flowers and trees were growing, and then i went down through the mass of ruins by a flight of seventy-five stairs, which, the attendant said, was built by caligula. i was then probably not more than half way to the bottom of this hill of ruins, which is honeycombed with corridors, stairways, and rooms of various sizes. the following scrap of history concerning caligula will probably be interesting: "at first he was lavishly generous and merciful, but he soon became mad, and his cruelty knew no bounds. he banished or murdered his relatives and many of his subjects. victims were tortured and slain in his presence while dining, and he uttered the wish that all the roman people had but one neck, that he might strike it off at one blow. he built a bridge across the bay of baiae, and planted trees upon it and built houses upon it that he might say he had crossed the sea on dry land. in the middle of the bridge he gave a banquet, and at the close had a great number of the guests thrown into the sea. he made his favorite horse a priest, then a consul, and also declared himself a god, and had temples built in his honor." it is said that tiberius left the equivalent of one hundred and eighteen millions of dollars, and that caligula spent it in less than a year. the attendant pointed out the corridor in which he said this wicked man was assassinated. near one of the entrances to the forum stands the arch of titus, erected to commemorate the victory of the romans over the jews at jerusalem in a.d. . it is built of parian marble and still contains a well-preserved figure of the golden candlestick of the tabernacle carved on one of its walls. there is a representation of the table of showbread near by, and some other carvings yet remain, indicating something of the manner in which the monument was originally ornamented. the colosseum, commenced by vespasian in a.d. and finished by titus eight years later, is a grand old ruin. it is an open theater six hundred and twelve feet long, five hundred and fifteen feet wide, and one hundred and sixty-five feet high. this structure, capable of seating eighty-seven thousand people, stands near the bounds of the forum. it is the largest of its kind, and is one of the best preserved and most interesting ruins in the world. when it was dedicated, the games lasted one hundred days, and five thousand wild beasts were slain. during the persecution of the christians it is said to have been the scene of fearful barbarities. on the second day i entered the pantheon, "the best preserved monument of ancient rome," built by marcus agrippa, and consecrated to mars, venus, and others. it was burned in the reign of titus and rebuilt by hadrian, and in a.d. pope boniface consecrated it as a church. the interior is shaped like a vast dome, and the only opening for light is a round hole in the top. raphael, "reckoned by almost universal opinion as the greatest of painters," lies buried in the pantheon behind one of the altars. i went to hadrian's tomb, now the castle of st. angelo, and on to st. peter's. before this great church-building there is a large open space containing an obelisk and two fountains, said to be the finest in the city, with a semi-circular colonnade on two sides containing two hundred and eighty-four columns in four rows, and on the top of the entablature there are ninety-six large statues. there are large figures on the top of the church, representing christ and the apostles. the interior is magnificent. there are three aisles five hundred and seventy-five feet long, and the middle one is eighty-two feet wide. the beautifully ornamented ceiling is one hundred and forty-two feet high. in this building, which was completed three hundred and fifty years after it was begun, is the reputed tomb of the apostle peter, and many large marble statues. there are figures representing boy angels that are as large as a full-grown man. the vatican is not far from st. peter's, and i went up to see the museum, but got there just as it was being closed for the day. i had a glimpse of the garden, and saw some of the pope's carriages, which were fine indeed. one of the most interesting places that i visited about rome was the old underground cemetery called the catacombs of st. calixtus. the visitors go down a stairway with a guide, who leads them about the chambers, which are but dimly lighted by the small candles they carry. the passages, cut in the earth or soft rock, vary both in width and height, and have been explored in modern times to the aggregate length of six miles. some of the bodies were placed in small recesses in the walls, but i saw none there as i went through, but there were two in marble coffins under glass. in one of the small chambers the party sang in some foreign language, probably italian, and while i could not understand them, i thought the music sounded well. the circus of maxentius, fifteen hundred feet long and two hundred and sixty feet wide, is near the catacombs, as is also the tomb of caecilla metella, which is said to have been erected more than nineteen hundred years ago. it is probably as much as two miles from the city walls, and i walked on a little way and could see other ruins still farther in the distance, but i turned back toward the hotel, and some time after sundown found myself walking along the banks of the yellow tiber in the old city. two days of sight-seeing had been well spent in and around the former capital of the world, and i was ready to go on to naples the next day. there is a saying, "see naples and die," but i did not feel like expiring when i beheld it, although it is very beautifully located. the ruins of pompeii, a few miles distant, had more interest for me than naples. i went out there on the tenth of september, which i recollect as a very hot day. pompeii, a kind of a summer resort for the roman aristocracy, was founded b.c. and destroyed by an eruption of mt. vesuvius in a.d. . it was covered with ashes from the volcano, and part of the population perished. the site of the city was lost, but was found after the lapse of centuries and the italian government began the excavations in . some of the old stone-paved streets, showing the ruts made by chariot wheels that ceased to roll centuries ago, have been laid bare. portions of the houses are still standing, and the stone drinking fountains along the streets are yet to be seen, as are also the stepping stones at the crossings, which are higher than the blocks used in paving. some of the walls still contain very clear paintings, some of which are not at all commendable, and others are positively lewd. one picture represented a wild boar, a deer, a lion, a rabbit, some birds, and a female (almost nude) playing a harp. there was also a very clear picture of a bird and some cherries. at one place in the ruins i saw a well-executed picture of a chained dog in mosaic work. it is remarkable how well preserved some things are here. in the museum are petrified bodies in the positions they occupied when sudden and unexpected destruction was poured upon them, well nigh two thousand years ago. some appear to have died in great agony, but one has a peaceful position. perhaps this victim was asleep when the death angel came. i saw the petrified remains of a dog wearing a collar and lying on his back, and a child on its face. one of the men, who may have been a military officer, seemed to have a rusty sword at his side. there were skeletons, both of human beings and of brutes, bronze vessels, and such articles as cakes and eggs from the kitchens of the old city. mt. vesuvius is a very famous volcano, standing four thousand feet high, and has wrought a great deal of destruction. in the eruption of , it is related that its ashes were carried to constantinople; in , the lava flowed down to the sea; in , eighteen thousand lives were lost; and in a stream of lava more than a thousand feet wide and fifteen feet high destroyed a town. from my hotel in naples i had a fine view of the red light rising from the volcano the evening after i visited pompeii. leaving naples, i went to brindisi, where i took ship for patras in greece. a day was spent in crossing italy, two nights and a day were taken up with the voyage to patras, and a good part of a day was occupied with the railroad trip from there to athens, where the hotel men made more ado over me than i was accustomed to, but i got through all right and secured comfortable quarters at the new york hotel, just across the street from the parliament building. from the little balcony at my window i could look out at the acropolis. the principal places visited the first day were the stadium, mars' hill, and the acropolis. leaving the hotel and going through constitution square, up philhellene street, past the russian and english churches, i came to the zappeion, a modern building put up for olympic exhibitions. the arch of hadrian, a peculiar old structure, twenty-three feet wide and about fifty-six feet high, stands near the zappeion, and formerly marked the boundary between ancient athens and the more modern part of the city. passing through this arch, i soon came to what remains of the temple of the olympian jupiter, which was commenced long before the birth of christ and finished by hadrian about a.d. . originally this temple, after that of ephesus said to be the largest in the world, had three rows of eight columns each, on the eastern and western fronts, and a double row of one hundred columns on the northern and southern sides, and contained a statue of jupiter, overlaid with gold and ivory. its glory has long since departed, and only fifteen of the columns are now standing. a little farther on is the stadium, with an arena over five hundred and eighty feet long, and one hundred and nine feet wide. it was originally constructed by the orator lycurgus, about three hundred and fifty years before christ, but was being rebuilt when i was there. the seats are on both sides and around the circular end of the arena, being made on the slope of the hill and covered with clean, white, pentelic marble, making a beautiful sight. on the way to mars' hill and the acropolis i passed the monument of lysicrates, the theater of bacchus, and the odeon. this first-mentioned theater is said to have been "the cradle of dramatic art," the masterpieces of aeschylus, sophocles, and others having been rendered there. the odeon of herod atticus differed from other ancient theaters in that it was covered. mars' hill is a great, oval-shaped mass of rock which probably would not be called a hill in america. the small end, which is the highest part of it, lies next to the acropolis, and its summit is reached by going up a short flight of steps cut in the limestone, and well preserved, considering their age. the bluff on the opposite side from these steps is perhaps thirty or forty feet high and very rugged. the rock slopes toward the wide end, which is only a few feet above the ground. i estimate the greatest length of it to be about two hundred yards, and the greatest width one hundred and fifty yards, but accurate measurements might show these figures to be considerably at fault. i have spoken of the hill as a rock, and such it is--a great mass of hard limestone, whose irregular surface, almost devoid of soil, still shows where patches of it were dressed down, perhaps for ancient altars or idols. the areopagus was a court, which in paul's time had jurisdiction in cases pertaining to religion. a vision called paul into macedonia, where lydia was converted and paul and silas were imprisoned. in connection with their imprisonment, the conversion of the jailer of philippi was brought about, after which the preachers went to thessalonica, from whence paul and silas were sent to berea. jews from thessalonica came down to berea and stirred up the people, and the brethren sent paul away, but silas and timothy were left behind. "they that conducted paul, brought him as far as athens," and then went back to berea with a message to silas and timothy to come to him "with all speed." "now while paul waited for them at athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he beheld the city full of idols." being thus vexed, and having the gospel of christ to preach, he reasoned with the jews and devout people in the synagogue and every day in the marketplace with those he met there. he came in contact with philosophers of both the epicurean and stoic schools, and it was these philosophers who took him to the areopagus, saying: "may we know what this new teaching is which is spoken by thee?" the athenians of those days were a pleasure-loving set of idolaters who gave themselves up to telling and hearing new things. besides the many idols in the city, there were numerous temples and places of amusement. within a few minutes' walk was the stadium, capable of holding fifty thousand persons, and still nearer were the theater of bacchus and the odeon, capable of accommodating about thirty and six thousand people respectively. on the acropolis, probably within shouting distance, stood some heathen temples, one of them anciently containing a colossal statue of athene parthenos, said to have been not less than thirty-nine feet high and covered with ivory and gold. in another direction and in plain sight stood, and still stands, the theseum, a heathen temple at that time. take all this into consideration, with the fact that paul had already been talking with the people on religious subjects, and his great speech on mars' hill may be more impressive than ever before. "ye men of athens, in all things i perceive that ye are very religious. for as i passed along and observed the objects of your worship, i found also an altar with this inscription, to an unknown god. what therefore ye worship in ignorance, this i set forth unto you. the god that made the world and all things therein, he being lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is he served by men's hands as though he needed anything, seeing he himself giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; and he made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek god, if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us; for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring. being then the offspring of god, we ought not to think the godhead is like unto gold, or silver or stone, graven by art and device of man. the times of ignorance therefore god overlooked, but now he commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent: inasmuch as he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead." the acropolis is a great mass of stone near mars' hill, but rising much higher and having a wall around its crest. at one time, it is said, the population of the city lived here, but later the city extended into the valley below and the acropolis became a fortress. about b.c. the buildings were destroyed by the persians, and those now standing there in ruins were erected by pericles. the entrance, which is difficult to describe, is through a gateway and up marble stairs to the top, where there are large quantities of marble in columns, walls, and fragments. the two chief structures are the parthenon and the erectheum. the parthenon is two hundred and eight feet long and one hundred and one feet wide, having a height of sixty-six feet. it is so large and situated in such a prominent place that it can be seen from all sides of the hill. in the venetians while besieging athens, threw a shell into it and wrecked a portion of it, but part of the walls and some of the fluted columns, which are more than six feet in diameter, are yet standing. this building is regarded as the most perfect model of doric architecture in the world, and must have been very beautiful before its clear white marble was discolored by the hand of time and broken to pieces in cruel war. the erectheum is a smaller temple, having a little porch with a flat roof supported by six columns in the form of female figures. the theseum, an old temple erected probably four hundred years before christ, is the best preserved ruin of ancient athens. it is a little over a hundred feet long, forty-five feet wide, and is surrounded by columns nearly nineteen feet high. the hill of the pynx lies across the road a short distance from the theseum. at the lower side there is a wall of large stone blocks and above this a little distance is another wall cut in the solid rock, in the middle of which is a cube cut in the natural rock. this is probably the platform from which the speaker addressed the multitude that could assemble on the shelf or bench between the two walls. some of the principal modern buildings are the hellenic academy, the university, library, royal palace, parliament building, various church buildings, hotels, and business houses. the university, founded in , is rather plain in style, but is ornamented on the front after the manner of the ancients, with a number of paintings, representing oratory, mathematics, geology, history, philosophy, and other lines of study. at one end is a picture of paul, at the other end, a representation of prometheus. the museum is small and by no means as good as those to be seen in larger and wealthier countries. the academy, finished in , is near the university, and, although smaller than its neighbor, is more beautiful. on the opposite side of the university a fine new library was being finished, and in the same street there is a new roman catholic church. i also saw two greek catholic church houses, but they did not seem to be so lavishly decorated within as the roman church, but their high ceilings were both beautifully ornamented with small stars on a blue background. i entered a cemetery near one of these churches and enjoyed looking at the beautiful monuments and vaults. it is a common thing to find a representation of the deceased on the monument. some of these are full-length statues, others are carvings representing only the head. lanterns, some of them lighted, are to be seen on many of the tombs. there are some fine specimens of the sculptor's art to be seen here, and the place will soon be even more beautiful, for a great deal of work was being done. in fact, the whole city of athens seemed to be prosperous, from the amount of building that was being done. the parliament building is not at all grand. the royal palace is larger and considerably finer. at the head of a stairway is a good picture of prometheus tortured by an eagle. the visitor is shown the war room, a large hall with war scenes painted on the walls and old flags standing in the corners. the throne room and reception room are both open to visitors, as is also the ball room, which seemed to be more elaborately ornamented than the throne room. there is a little park of orange and other trees before the palace, also a small fountain with a marble basin. the highest point about the city is the lycabettus, a steep rock rising nine hundred and nineteen feet above the level of the sea, and crowned with a church building. from its summit a splendid view of the city, the mountains, and the ocean may be obtained. i spent five days in this city, the date of whose founding does not seem to be known. pericles was one of the great men in the earlier history of the old city. he made a sacred enclosure of the acropolis and placed there the masterpieces of greece and other countries. the city is said to have had a population of three hundred thousand in his day, two-thirds of them being slaves. the names of socrates, demosthenes, and lycurgus also belong to the list of great athenians. in the normans captured piraeus, the seaport of athens, and in the turks, commanded by omar, captured the city. the acropolis was occupied by the turks in , but they surrendered the next year, and in athens became the seat of government of the kingdom of greece. with athens, my sight-seeing on the continent ended. other interesting and curious sights were seen besides those mentioned here. for instance, i had noticed a variety of fences. there were hedges, wire fences, fences of stone slabs set side by side, frail fences made of the stalks of some plant, and embryo fences of cactus growing along the railroad. in italy, i saw many white oxen, a red ox being an exception that seems seldom to occur. i saw men hauling logs with oxen and a cart, the long timber being fastened beneath the axle of the cart and to the beam of the yoke. in belgium, one may see horses worked three abreast and four tandem, and in southern france they were shifting cars in one of the depots with a horse, and in france i also saw a man plowing with an ox and a horse hitched together. now the time had come to enter the turkish empire, and owing to what i had previously heard of the turk, i did not look forward to it with pleasure. chapter iii. asia minor and syria. the greek ship _alexandros_ left the harbor of piraeus in the forenoon of lord's day, september eighteenth, and anchored outside the breakwater at smyrna, in asia minor, the next morning. the landing in turkish territory was easily accomplished, and i was soon beyond the custom house, where my baggage and passport were examined, and settled down at the "hotel d'egypte," on the water front. this was the first time the passport had been called for on the journey. the population of smyrna is a mixture of turks, greeks, jews, armenians, italians, americans, and negroes. the english government probably has a good sized representation, as it maintains its own postoffice. the city itself is the main sight. the only ruins i saw were those of an old castle on the hill back of the city. the reputed tomb of polycarp is over this hill from smyrna, between two cypress trees, but i do not know that i found the correct location. near the place that i supposed to be the tomb is an aqueduct, a portion of it built of stone and a portion of metal. as i went on out in the country i entered a vineyard to get some grapes, not knowing how i would be received by the woman i saw there; but she was very kind-hearted, and when i made signs for some of the grapes, she at once pulled off some clusters and gave them to me. she also gave me a chair and brought some fresh water. more grapes were gathered and put in this cold water, so i had a fine time eating the fruit as i sat there in the shade watching a little boy playing about; but i could not converse with either of them on account of not knowing their language. on the way back to the city i stopped at the railway station to make inquiries about a trip to ephesus. most of the streets in smyrna are narrow and crooked, but there is one running along the water front that is rather attractive. on one side is the water, with the numerous vessels that are to be seen in this splendid harbor, and on the other side is a row of residences, hotels, and other buildings. the people turn out in great numbers at night and walk along this street, sometimes sitting down at the little tables that are set in the open air before places where different kinds of drinks are dispensed. here they consume their drinks and watch the free performances that are given on an open stage adjoining the street and the grounds where they are seated. perhaps the most peculiar thing about it all is the quiet and orderly behavior of this great crowd of people. while in this city i had occasion to go to the "banque imperiale ottoman," and learned that it was open in the forenoon and afternoon, but closed awhile in the middle of the day. i saw a street barber plying his trade here one day. a vessel of water was put up under the customer's chin, and held there by keeping the chin down. the barber had his strop fastened to himself, and not to the chair or a wall, as we see it at home. great quantities of oats were being brought down from the interior on camels. the sacks were let down on the pavement, and laborers were busy carrying them away. a poor carrier would walk up to a sack of grain and drop forward on his hands, with his head between them, and reaching down almost or altogether to the pavement. the sack of grain was then pulled over on his back, and he arose and carried it away. some poor natives were busy sweeping the street and gathering up the grain that lost out of the sacks. there seems to be a large amount of trade carried on at this port. several ships were in the harbor, and hundreds of camels were bringing in the grain. there are now many mosques and minarets in smyrna, where there was once a church of god. (revelation : - .) on wednesday, september twenty-first, i boarded a train on the ottoman railway for ayassalouk, the nearest station to the ruins of ephesus, a once magnificent city, "now an utter desolation, haunted by wild beasts." we left smyrna at seven o'clock, and reached ayassalouk, fifty miles distant, at half-past nine. the cars on this railway were entered from to side, as on european railroads, but this time the doors were locked after the passengers were in their compartments. ayassalouk is a poor little village, with only a few good houses and a small population. at the back of the station are some old stone piers, that seem to have supported arches at an earlier date. on the top of the hill, as on many hilltops in this country, are the remains of an old castle. below the castle are the ruins of what i supposed to be st. john's church, built largely of marble, and once used as a mosque, but now inhabited by a large flock of martins. i visited the site of ephesus without the services of a guide, walking along the road which passes at some distance on the right. i continued my walk beyond the ruins, seeing some men plowing, and others caring for flocks of goats, which are very numerous in the east. when i turned back from the road, i passed a well, obtaining a drink by means of the rope and bucket that were there, and then i climbed a hill to the remains of a strong stone building of four rooms. the thick walls are several feet high, but all the upper part of the structure has been thrown down, and, strange to say, a good portion of the fallen rocks are in three of the rooms, which are almost filled. it is supposed that paul made a journey after the close of his history in the book of acts; that he passed through troas, where he left a cloak and some books ( tim. : ); was arrested there, and probably sent to ephesus for trial before the proconsul. tradition has it that this ruined stone building is the place where he was lodged, and it is called st. paul's prison. from the top of its walls i could look away to the ruins of the city proper, about a mile distant, the theater being the most conspicuous object. there are several attractions in ephesus, where there was once a church of god--one of the "seven churches in asia"--but the theater was the chief point of interest to me. it was cut out of the side of the hill, and its marble seats rested on the sloping sides of the excavation, while a building of some kind, a portion of which yet remains, was built across the open side at the front. i entered the inclosure, the outlines of which are still plainly discernible, and sat down on one of the old seats and ate my noonday meal. as i sat there, i thought of the scene that would greet my eyes if the centuries that have intervened since paul was in ephesus could be turned back. i thought i might see the seats filled with people looking down upon the apostle as he fought for his life; and while there i read his question: "if after the manner of men i fought with beasts at ephesus, what doth it profit me" if the dead are not raised up? (i cor. : ). i also read the letter which jesus caused the aged apostle john to write to the church at this place (rev. : - ), and paul's epistle to the congregation that once existed in this idolatrous city of wealth and splendor. as i was leaving this spot, where i was so deeply impressed with thoughts of the great apostle to the gentiles, i stopped and turned back to take a final look, when i thought of his language to timothy, recorded in the first eight verses of the second epistle, and then i turned and read it. perhaps i was not so deeply impressed at any other point on the whole journey as i was here. the grand old hero, who dared to enter the city which was "temple-keeper of the great diana," this temple being one of the "seven wonders of the world," and boldly preach the gospel of christ, realizing that the time of his departure was at hand, wrote: "i have fought the good fight, i have finished the course, i have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day; and not to me only, but also to all them that have loved his appearing." meditating on the noble and lofty sentiment the apostle here expresses in connection with his solemn charge to the young evangelist, i have found my sentiments well expressed in balaam's parable, where he says: "let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his" (num. : ). near the front of the theater, on the left as one comes out, is quite a space, which seems to have been excavated recently, and farther to the left excavations were being made when i was there. an ancient lamp, a fluted column, and a headless statue were among the articles taken out. the workmen were resting when i viewed this part of the ruins, and an old colored man gave me a drink of water. beginning a little to the right of the theater, and extending for perhaps fifteen hundred or two thousand feet, is a marble-paved street, along which are strewn numerous bases, columns, and capitals, which once ornamented this portion of the great city; and to the right of this are the remains of some mighty structure of stone and brick. in some places, where the paving blocks have been taken up, a water course beneath is disclosed. while walking around in the ruins, i saw a fine marble sarcophagus, or coffin, ornamented with carvings of bulls' heads and heavy festoons of oak leaves. j.s. wood, an englishman, worked parts of eleven years, from to , in making excavations at ephesus. upwards of eighty thousand dollars were spent, about fifty-five thousand being used in a successful effort to find the remains of the temple of diana. i followed the directions of my guide-book, but may not have found the exact spot, as brother mcgarvey, who visited the place in , speaks of the excavations being twenty feet deep. "down in this pit," he says, "lie the broken columns of white marble and the foundation walls of the grandest temple ever erected on earth"; but i saw nothing like this. when paul had passed through galatia and phrygia, "establishing all the disciples," "having passed through the upper country," he came to ephesus, and found "about twelve men" who had been baptized "into john's baptism," whom paul baptized "into the name of the lord jesus." he then entered into the jewish meeting place and reasoned boldly "concerning the kingdom of god." some of the hardened and disobedient spoke "evil of the way," so paul withdrew from them and reasoned "daily in the school of tyrannus. and this continued for the space of two years; so that all they that dwelt in asia heard the word of the lord, both jews and greeks." the lord wrought special miracles by paul, so that the sick were healed when handkerchiefs or aprons were borne from him to them. here some of the strolling jews "took upon them to name over them that had the evil spirits the name of the lord jesus, saying, i adjure you by jesus, whom paul preacheth." when two of the sons of sceva undertook to do this, the man possessed of the evil spirit "leaped on them and mastered both of them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded." there were stirring times in ephesus in those days. fear fell upon the people, "and the name of the lord jesus was magnified." many of the believers "came confessing, and declaring their deeds. and not a few of them that practiced magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all; and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver." "so mightily grew the word of the lord and prevailed." "and about that time there arose no small stir concerning the way. for a certain man named demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of diana, brought no little business unto the craftsmen; whom he gathered together, with the workmen of like occupation, and said, sirs, ye know that by this business we have our wealth. and ye see and hear that not alone at ephesus, but almost throughout all asia, this paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they are no gods that are made with hands: and not only is there danger that our trade come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess diana be made of no account, and that she should even be deposed from her magnificence, whom all asia and the world worshipeth. and when they heard this they were filled with wrath, and cried out, saying, great is diana of the ephesians. and the city was filled with the confusion: and they rushed with one accord into the theater, having seized gaius and aristarchus, men of macedonia, paul's companions in travel. and when paul was minded to enter in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not. and certain also of the asiarchs, being his friends, sent unto him and besought him not to adventure himself into the theater. some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was in confusion; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together. and they brought alexander out of the multitude, the jews putting him forward. and alexander beckoned with the hand and would have made a defense unto the people. but when they perceived that he was a jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, great is diana of the ephesians. and when the town clerk had quieted the multitude, he saith, ye men of ephesus, what man is there who knoweth not that the city of the ephesians is temple-keeper of the great diana, and of the image which fell down from jupiter? seeing then that these things can not be gainsaid, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rash. for ye have brought hither these men, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess. if therefore demetrius, and the craftsmen that are with him, have a matter against any man, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls: let them accuse one another. but if ye seek anything about other matters, it shall be settled in the regular assembly. for indeed we are in danger to be accused concerning this day's riot, there being no cause for it: and as touching it we shall not be able to give an account of this concourse. and when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly" (acts : - ). as i was leaving the ruins, i stopped, sat down in sight of the spot where i supposed the temple stood, and read the speech of demetrius, and thought his fears were well founded. their trade has come into disrepute, "the temple of the great goddess" has been "made of no account," and "she whom asia and all the world" worshiped has been "deposed from her magnificence." portions of the temple are now on exhibition in the british museum, in london, and portions have been carried to different other cities to adorn buildings inferior to the one in which they were originally used. "from the temple to the more southern of the two eastern gates of the city," says mcgarvey, "are traces of a paved street nearly a mile in length, along the side of which was a continuous colonnade, with the marble coffins of the city's illustrious dead occupying the spaces between the columns. the processions of worshipers, as they marched out of the city to the temple, passed by this row of coffins, the inscriptions on which were constantly proclaiming the noble deeds of the mighty dead." the canal and artificial harbor, which enabled the ships of the world to reach the gates of the city, have disappeared under the weight of the hand of time. in some places the ground is literally covered with small stones, and even in the theater, weeds, grass and bushes grow undisturbed. how complete the desolation! before leaving ayassalouk on the afternoon train, i bought some grapes of a man who weighed them to me with a pair of balances, putting the fruit on one pan and a stone on the other; but i didn't object to his scales, for he gave me a good supply, and i went back and got some more. i also bought some bread to eat with the grapes, and one of the numerous priests of these eastern countries gave me some other fruit on the train. i was abroad in the fruit season, and i enjoyed it very much. i had several kinds, including the orange, lemon, grapes, pomegranates, figs, olives, and dates. perhaps i had nothing finer than the large, sweet grapes of greece. the next day after the trip to ephesus, i boarded the _princess eugenia_, a russian ship, for beyrout, in syria. soon after leaving smyrna the ship stopped at a port of disinfection. the small boats were lowered, and the third-class passengers were carried to the disinfecting establishment, where their clothes were heated in a steam oven, while they received a warm shower bath without expense to themselves. a nicely dressed young german shook his head afterwards, as though he did not like such treatment; but it was not specially disagreeable, and there was no use to complain. that evening, the twenty-second of september, we sailed into a harbor on the island of chios, the birth-place of the philosopher pythagoras. it is an island twenty-seven miles long, lying near the mainland. the next morning we passed cos and rhodes. on this last mentioned island once stood the famous colossus, which was thrown down by an earthquake in b.c. the island of patmos, to which john was banished, and upon which he wrote the revelation, was passed in the night before we reached cos. it is a rocky, barren patch of land, about twenty miles in circumference, lying twenty-four miles from the coast of asia minor. on the twenty-fourth the _princess eugenia_ passed the southwestern end of the island of cyprus. in response to a question, one of the seamen answered me: "yes, that's kiprus." i was sailing over the same waters paul crossed on his third missionary tour on the way from assos to tyre. he "came over against chios," "came with a straight course unto cos, and the next day unto rhodes," and when he "had come in sight of cyprus, leaving it on the left hand (he) sailed unto syria and landed at tyre" (acts : and : - ). on the evening of lord's day, september twenty-fifth, the ship passed tripoli, on the syrian coast, and dropped down to beyrout, where i stopped at the "hotel mont sion," with the waves of the mediterranean washing against the foundation walls. at seven o'clock the next morning i boarded the train for damascus, ninety-one miles distant, and we were soon climbing the western slope of the lebanon mountains by a cog railway. when we were part way up, the engine was taken back and hitched to the rear end of the train. after we were hauled along that way awhile, it was changed back to the front end again. in these mountains are vineyards and groves of figs, olives, and mulberry trees, but most of the ground was dry and brown, as i had seen it in southern italy, greece, and asia minor. beyond the mountains is a beautiful plain, which we entered about noon, and when it was crossed, we came to the anti-lebanon mountains, and reached the old city in the evening. damascus, with its mixed population of moslems, greeks, syrians, armenians, jews, and others, is the largest city in syria, and it has probably been continuously inhabited longer than any other city on earth. away back in the fourteenth chapter of genesis we read of abraham's victory over the enemies who had taken lot away, whom abraham pursued "unto hobah, which is on the left of damascus," and in the next chapter we read of "eliezer of damascus," who abraham thought would be the possessor of his house. rezon "reigned in damascus, and he was an adversary to israel all the days of solomon" ( kings : - ). elisha went to damascus when ben-hadad was sick ( kings : - ); jeroboam recovered the city, which had belonged to judah ( kings : ); and jeremiah prophesied of the city (jeremiah : - ). it was probably the home of naaman, the syrian leper, and here paul was baptized into christ. for a long time the arabs have considered damascus as "an earthly reflection of paradise," but an american or european would consider a place no better than it is as being far from the paradise of divine making. but it is not entirely without reason that these people have such a lofty conception of the old city. the koran describes paradise as a place of trees and streams of water, and damascus is briefly described in those words. there are many public drinking fountains in the city, and owing to the abundance of water, there are many trees. the river abana, one of the "rivers of damascus" ( kings : ), flows through the city, but the most of its water is diverted by artificial channels. i had some difficulty in finding the american consular agent, and it is no wonder, for the place is not the most prominent in damascus by a good deal, and the escutcheon marking it as the place where the american government is represented is not on the street, but over a door in a kind of porch. the agent was not in, so i retraced my steps to the french consulate, which is near by. i was kindly received by a gentleman who could speak english, and after we had had a good, cool drink of lemonade, he went with me to the "hotel d'astre d'orient," in the "street which is called straight." the next morning i found the american agent in his office. then i went to the postoffice, and after being taken upstairs and brought back downstairs, i was led up to a little case on the wall, which was unlocked in order that i might look through the bunch of letters it contained addressed in english, and i was made glad by receiving an epistle from the little woman who has since taken my name upon her for life. after reading my letter, i went out and walked up the mountain side far enough to get a bird's-eye view of the city, and it was a fine sight the rich growth of green trees presented in contrast with the brown earth all around. returning to the city, i walked about the streets, devoting some of my time to the bazaars, or little stores, in which a great variety of goods are offered for sale. i also saw several kinds of work, such as weaving, wood-turning and blacksmithing, being carried on. the lathes used for turning wood are very simple, and are operated by a bow held in the workman's right hand, while the chisel is held in his left hand and steadied by the toes on one or the other of his feet. it is a rather slow process, but they can turn out good work. one gentleman, who was running a lathe of this kind, motioned for me to come up and sit by his side on a low stool. i accepted his invitation, and he at once offered me a cigarette, which i could not accept. a little later he called for a small cup of coffee, which i also declined, but he took no offense. "the street which is called straight" is not as straight as might be supposed from its name, but there is probably enough difference between its course and that of others to justify the name. when paul was stricken with blindness on his way here (acts : - ), he was directed to enter the city, where he would be told all things that were appointed for him to do. he obeyed the voice from heaven, and reached the house of judas in straight street. when i reached the traditional site of the house of ananias, in the eastern part of the city, near the gate at the end of straight street, i found a good-natured woman sitting on the pavement just inside the door opening from the street to what would be called a yard in america. the "house" has been converted into a small church, belonging to the catholics, and it is entirely below the surface. i went down the stairs, and found a small chamber with an arched ceiling and two altars. i also went out and visited the old gateway at the end of the street. the masonry is about thirteen feet thick, and it may be that here paul, deprived of his sight, and earnestly desiring to do the will of the lord, entered the city so long ago. i then viewed a section of the wall from the outside. the lower part is ancient, but the upper part is modern, and the portion that i saw was in a dilapidated condition. "in damascus," paul wrote to the corinthians, "the governor, under aretas the king, guarded the city of the damascenes in order to take me: and through a window was i let down in a basket by the wall, and escaped his hands" ( cor. : , ). in some places there are houses so built in connection with the wall that it would not be a very difficult thing to lower a man from one of the windows to the ground outside the city. mention has already been made of the arab's opinion of damascus, and now i wish to tell how it appeared through my spectacles. the view from the distance is very pleasing, but when one comes inside the wall and begins to walk about the streets, the scene changes. the outside of the buildings is not beautiful. the streets are narrow, crooked, and usually very dirty; in some cases they are filthy. it seems that all kinds of rubbish are thrown into the streets, and the dogs are scavengers. perhaps no other city has so many dogs. at one place up along the abana, now called the barada, i counted twenty-three of these animals, and a few steps brought me in sight of five more; but there is some filth that even damascus dogs will not clean up. some of the streets are roughly paved with stone, but in the best business portion of the city that i saw there was no pavement and no sidewalk--it was all street from one wall to the other. i saw a man sprinkling one of the streets with water carried in the skin of some animal, perhaps a goat. when i came out of the postoffice, a camel was lying on the pavement, and in another part of the city i saw a soldier riding his horse on the sidewalk. down in "the street which is called straight" a full-grown man was going along as naked as when he was born. perhaps he was insane, but we do not even allow insane men to walk the streets that way in this country. carriages are used for conveying passengers, but freight is usually moved on the backs of horses, camels, donkeys, or men. some wagons and carts are to be seen, but they are not numerous. it is remarkable what loads are piled upon the donkeys, probably the commonest beasts of burden in damascus. sometimes the poor little creatures are almost hidden from view by the heavy burdens they are required to bear, which may consist of grapes to be sold, or rubbish to be carried out of the city. sometimes they are ridden by as many as three people at once. if the gospel were to get a firm hold on these people, the donkeys would fare better. about b.c., damascus came under the control of alexander the great. antiochus dionysius reigned there three years, but was succeeded by aretas of arabia in b.c. under trajan it became a roman provincial city. the mongols took it in , and the tartars plundered it in . an enemy marched against it in , but the citizens purchased immunity from plunder by paying a "sum of a million pieces of gold." in , when selim, the turkish sultan, marched in, it became one of the provincial capitals of the turkish empire, and so continues. there was a very serious massacre here in . all the consulates, except the british and prussian, were burned, and the entire christian quarter was turned into ruins. in the two consulates that were spared many lives were preserved, but it is said that "no fewer than six thousand unoffending christians ... were thus murdered in damascus alone," and "the whole number of the christians who perished in these days of terror is estimated at fourteen thousand." a number of the leaders were afterward beheaded, and a french force, numbering ten thousand, was sent into the country. the mohammedans have about two hundred mosques and colleges in this city, which was once far advanced in civilization. i left damascus and returned toward the coast to rayak, where i took the train on a branch line for baalbec, the syrian city of the sun, a place having no biblical history, but being of interest on account of the great stones to be seen there. no record has been preserved as to the origin of the city, but coins of the first century of the christian era show that it was then a roman colony. it is situated in the valley of the litany, at an elevation of two thousand eight hundred and forty feet above the sea. the chief ruins are in a low part of the valley by the side of the present town, and are surrounded by gardens. within the inclosing wall are the remains of the temple of jupiter and the temple of the sun. the hand of time and the hand of man have each had a share in despoiling these ruins, but they still speak with eloquence of their grandeur at an earlier date. the wall is so low on the north that it is supposed to have been left unfinished. here are nine stones, each said to be thirty feet long, ten feet thick and thirteen feet high, and they are closely joined together without the use of mortar. just around the corner are three others still larger, and built in the wall about twenty feet above the foundation. their lengths are given as follows: sixty-three feet; sixty-three feet and eight inches; and sixty-four feet. they are thirteen feet high and about ten feet thick. some may be interested in knowing how such large building blocks were moved. mcgarvey says: "it is explained by the carved slabs found in the temple of nineveh, on which are sculptured representations of the entire process. the great rock was placed on trucks by means of levers, a large number of strong ropes were tied to the truck, a smooth track of heavy timbers was laid, and men in sufficient number to move the mass were hitched to the ropes." some of the smaller stones have holes cut in them, as if for bars, levers, or something of that kind, but the faces of these big blocks are smooth. "a man must visit the spot, ride round the exterior, walk among the ruins, sit down here and there to gaze upon its more impressive features, see the whole by sunlight, by twilight, and by moonlight, and allow his mind leisurely to rebuild it and re-people it, ere he can comprehend it."--_mcgarvey_. there were some of the native girls out by the ruins who tried to sell me some of their needle work, but i was not disposed to buy. one of them attempted to make a sale by saying something like this: "you're very nice, mister; please buy one." i told her there was a little girl in america who thought that, too, and went on. there is a rock in the quarry at baalbec that is larger than any of those in the ruins, although it was never entirely cut out, the length of which is sixty-eight feet, and the width varies from about thirteen feet at one end to seventeen feet at the other. it is about fourteen feet thick, and the estimated weight is fifteen hundred tons. some of the stones in a ruined building, once a tomb, standing on the hill above the town, give forth a metallic ring when struck. farther on is a small cemetery, in which some of the headstones and footstones are as much as nine feet apart. if the people buried there were that long, surely "there were giants in the land in those days." i went down on the opposite side of the hill from the tomb and entered a vineyard, where an old man treated me with kindness and respect. the modern town is poorly built of small stones and mud, but there are some good buildings of dressed stone, among which i may mention the british syrian school and the grand new hotel. i staid at another hotel, where i found one of those pre-occupied beds which travelers in the east so often find. about midnight, after i had killed several of the little pests, i got up and shaved by candle-light, for i wasn't sleepy, and there was no use to waste the time. leaving baalbec, i went down to rayak and on to beyrout again. this old city is said to have been entirely destroyed in the second century before christ. it was once a roman possession, and gladiatorial combats were held there by titus after the destruction of jerusalem. an earthquake destroyed it in , and the british bombarded it in . the population is a great mixture of turks, orthodox greeks, united greeks, jews, latins, maronites, protestants, syrians, armenians, druses, and others. a great many ships call here, as this is the most important commercial city in syria. the numerous exports consist of silk, olive oil, cotton, raisins, licorice, figs, soap, sponges, cattle, and goats. timber, coffee, rice, and manufactured goods are imported. at one time arabic was the commonest language, and italian came next, but now, while arabic holds first place, french comes second. the british, austrians, russians, and perhaps the french, maintain their own postoffices. considerable efforts are being made by american, british, and other missionary institutions to better the condition of the natives. the american mission, conducted by the presbyterians, has been in operation more than seventy years. a few years ago they had one hundred and forty-three schools and more than seven thousand pupils. the church of scotland has a mission for the jews. the british syrian mission was established in . beyrout has comparatively little of interest for the traveler. i walked out to the public garden one morning and found it closed, but i do not think i missed much. as i went along from place to place, i had opportunity to see the weavers, wood-turners, and marble-cutters at their work. i stopped at a small candy factory, equipped with what seemed to be good machinery for that kind of work. one day i watched some camels get up after their burdens of lumber had been tied on. they kept up a peculiar distressing noise while they were being loaded, but got up promptly when the time came. when a camel lies down, his legs fold up something like a carpenter's rule, and when he gets up, he first straightens out one joint of the fore legs, then all of the hind legs, and finally, when the fore legs come straight, he is standing away up in the air. the extensive buildings of the american college were visited, also the american press, the missionary headquarters of presbyterians in america. on the third of october the khedivial steamer _assouan_ came along, and i embarked for haifa, in galilee. chapter iv. a few days in galilee. years ago, when i first began to think of making the trip i am now describing, i had no thought of the many interesting places that i could easily and cheaply visit on my way to palestine. i did not then think of what has been described on the foregoing pages. now i have come to the place where i am to tell my readers the story of my travels in the land of promise, and i want to make it as interesting and instructive as possible. it is important to have a knowledge of the geography of all the lands mentioned, but it is especially important to know the location of the various places referred to in palestine. these pages will be more profitable if the reader will make frequent reference to maps of the land, that he may understand the location of the different places visited. i shall first describe my trip across the province of galilee, and take up my sight-seeing in judaea in other chapters. the ancient phoenician cities of tyre and sidon were on the coast between beyrout and haifa, where i entered galilee on the fourth of october, but we passed these places in the night. haifa, situated at the base of mount carmel, has no biblical history, but is one of the two places along the coast of palestine where ships stop, jaffa being the other. mount carmel is fourteen miles long, and varies in height from five hundred and fifty-six feet at the end next to the sea to eighteen hundred and ten feet at a point twelve miles inland. there is a monastery on the end next to the mediterranean, which i reached after a dusty walk along the excellent carriage road leading up from haifa. after i rested awhile, reading my bible and guide-book, i walked out to the point where the sea on three sides, the beautiful little plain at the base of the mountain, haifa, and acre across the bay, all made up one of the prettiest views of the whole trip. owing to its proximity to the sea and the heavy dews, carmel was not so dry and brown as much of the country i had seen before. by the direction of elijah, ahab gathered the prophets of baal, numbering four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the asherah, four hundred more, at some point on this mountain, probably at the eastern end, passed on my way over to nazareth later in the day. "and elijah came near unto all the people, and said, how long go ye limping between the two sides? if jehovah be god, follow him; but if baal, then follow him" ( kings : ). he then proposed that two sacrifices be laid on the wood, with no fire under them; that the false prophets should call on their god, and he would call on jehovah. the god that answered by fire was to be god. "all the people answered and said, it is well spoken." the prophets of baal called upon him from morning till noon, saying, "o baal, hear us. but there was no voice, nor any that answered. and they leaped about the altar that was made. and it came to pass at noon that elijah mocked them, and said, cry aloud; for he is a god: either he is musing, or he is gone aside, or he is on a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked. and they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lances, till the blood gushed out upon them. and it was so, when midday was past, that they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening oblation; but there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded." the sincerity, earnestness, and perseverance of these people are commendable, but they were _wrong_. sincerity, although a most desirable trait, can not change a wrong act into acceptable service to god, nor can earnestness and perseverance make such a change. it is necessary both to be honest and to do the will of our heavenly father. after water had been poured over the other sacrifice till it ran down and filled the trench around the altar, elijah called on jehovah, and in response to his petition "the fire of jehovah fell, and consumed the burnt offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench." elijah then took the false prophets down to the brook kishon, at the base of the mountain, and killed them. acre is the acco of the old testament, and lies around the bay, twelve mile from haifa. it is said that the phoenicians obtained the dye called tyrian purple there, and that shells of the fish that yielded it are yet to be found along the beach. napoleon besieged the place in , and used a monastery, since destroyed, on mount carmel for a hospital. after his retreat, mohammedans killed the sick and wounded soldiers who had been left behind, and they were buried near the monastery. acre was called ptolemais in apostolic times, and paul spent a day with the brethren there as he was on his way down the coast from tyre to jerusalem. (acts : .) about noon i entered a carriage for nazareth, in which there were four other passengers: a lady connected with the english orphanage in nazareth, and three boys going there to attend the russian school. about two miles from haifa we crossed the dry bed of the kishon, as this stream, like many others in palestine, only flows in the wet season. our course led along the base of carmel to the southeast, and the supposed place of elijah's sacrifice was pointed out. afterwards mount gilboa, where saul and jonathan were slain, came in sight, and later we saw little hermon with nain upon it, endor below it on one side, and jezreel not far away in another direction. we saw a good portion of the plain of esdraelon, and mount tabor was in sight before we entered nazareth, which lies on the slope of a hill and comes suddenly into view. nazareth is not mentioned in the old testament, and the references to it in the new testament are not numerous. when joseph returned from egypt in the reign of archelaus, the son of herod, he was afraid to go into judaea, "and being warned of god in a dream, he withdrew into the parts of galilee, and came and dwelt in a city called nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, that he should be called a nazarene" (matt. : - ). i do not know the age of jesus when joseph and mary came with him to nazareth, but "his parents went every year to jerusalem at the feast of the passover"; and we are told that the child was twelve years old at the time his parents missed him as they were returning from the feast, and later found him in the temple hearing the teachers and asking them questions. in this connection we are told that "he went down with them and came to nazareth; and he was subject unto them" (luke : ). luke also informs us that jesus, "when he began to teach, was about thirty years of age" (luke : ). thus we have a period of eighteen years between the incident in the temple and the beginning of his public ministry, in which jesus resided in nazareth. the greater part of his earth life was spent in this galilean city, where he was subject unto his parents. it is a blessed thing that so much can be said of our savior in so few words. it is highly commendable that children be subject unto their parents, who love them dearly, and who know best what is for their health, happiness, and future good. after his baptism and temptation in the wilderness, "jesus returned in the power of the spirit into galilee, ... and he came to nazareth, where he had been brought up: and he entered, as his custom was, into the synagogue on the sabbath day and stood up to read." when the roll of the scriptures was handed to him, he read from the opening verses of the sixty-first chapter of isaiah, then "he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down: and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him" as he told them: "to-day hath this scripture been fulfilled in your ears," and although they "wondered at the words of grace which proceeded out of his mouth," they were not willing to accept his teaching, and as he continued to speak, "they were all filled with wrath, ... and they rose up, and cast him forth out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. but he, passing through the midst of them, went his way. and he came down to capernaum, a city of galilee" (luke : - ). having made arrangements for a carriage the evening i arrived in nazareth, before daylight the next morning i started to drive to tiberias, on the sea of galilee. when i went down stairs, at about half-past three o'clock, i found a covered rig with two seats, and three horses hitched to it side by side. i filed no objection to the size of the carriage, nor to the manner in which the horses were hitched. as the driver could not speak english and the passenger could not speak arabic, there was no conversation on the way. as we drove out of nazareth, i observed a large number of women at the virgin's fountain, filling their jars with water. at a distance of a little more than three miles we passed through kefr kenna, the "cana of galilee," where jesus performed his first miracle. (john : - .) the road to tiberias is not all smooth, but is better than might be supposed. with three horses and a light load, we were able to move along in the cool of the morning at a lively gait, passing a camel train, an occasional village, olive orchard, or mulberry grove. after a while the light of the moon grew pale, and about six o'clock the great round sun came above the horizon in front of us, and it was not long until a beautiful sheet of water six miles long--the sea of galilee--came suddenly into view. we rolled along the winding curves of the carriage road, down the slope of the hill, and through a gateway in the old wall, to tiberias, on the west shore of "blue galilee." according to josephus, herod antipas began to build a new capital city about sixteen years before the birth of jesus, and completed it in a.d. . he named this new city tiberias, in honor of the emperor, but it does not appear to have been a popular place with the jews, and but little is said of it in the new testament (john : ), yet it was not an insignificant place. the sanhedrin was transferred from sepphoris, the old capital, to the new city, and here the school of the talmud was developed against the gospel system. the ancient traditional law, called the "mishna," is said to have been published here in a.d. , and the palestinian gemara (the so-called jerusalem talmud) came into existence at this place more than a century later. the tiberian pointing of the hebrew bible began here. the present population is largely composed of jews, about two-thirds of the inhabitants being descendants of abraham. they wear large black hats or fur caps, and leave a long lock of hair hanging down in front of each ear. there is little in tiberias to interest the traveler who has seen the ruins of rome, athens and ephesus. the seashore bounds it on one side and an old stone wall runs along at the other side. i walked past some of the bazaars, and saw the mosque and ruined castle. about a mile down the shore are the hot springs, which, for many centuries, have been thought to possess medicinal properties. i tried the temperature of one of the springs, and found it too hot to be comfortable to my hand. as i returned to tiberias, i had a good, cool bath in the sea, which is called by a variety of names, as "the sea of tiberias," "sea of galilee," "sea of genessaret," and "sea of chinnereth." it is a small lake, thirteen miles long, lying six hundred and eighty-two feet below the level of the mediterranean. the depth is given as varying from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and sixty-five feet. it is really "blue galilee," and the sight of it is an agreeable change to the eye after one has been traveling the dry, dusty roads leading through a country almost destitute of green vegetation. in the spring, when the grass is growing and the flowers are in bloom, the highlands rising around the sea must be very beautiful. several places mentioned in the new testament were situated along the sea of galilee, but they have fallen into ruin--in some cases into utter ruin. one of these was bethsaida, where jesus gave sight to a blind man (mark : - ), and fed a multitude of about five thousand. (luke : - .) it was also the home of philip, andrew, and peter. (john : .) it is thought by some that james and john also came from this place. on the northwestern shore was chorazin, situated in the neighborhood of bethsaida; also capernaum, once the home of jesus; and magdala, the name of which "has been immortalized in every language of christendom as denoting the birth-place of mary magdalene, or better, mary of magdala." safed is a large place on a mountain above the sea in sight of the nazareth road, and was occupied by the french in . it is said that the jews have a tradition that the messiah will come from this place. on the way back to nazareth the driver stopped at the spring of kefr kenna and watered his horses and rested them awhile. hundreds of goats, calves, and other stock were being watered, and i saw an old stone coffin being used for a watering trough. after another night in nazareth, i was ready to go out to mount tabor. for this trip i had engaged a horse to ride and a man to go along and show me where to ride it, for we did not follow a regular road, if, indeed, there is any such a thing leading to this historic place, which is about six miles from nazareth. it was only a little past four o'clock in the morning when we started, and the flat top of the mountain, two thousand and eighteen feet above sea level, was reached at an early hour. mount tabor is a well-shaped cone, with a good road for horseback riding leading up its side. there is some evidence that there was a city here more than two hundred years before christ. josephus fortified it in his day, and part of the old wall still remains. according to a tradition, contradicted by the conclusion of modern scholars, this is the mount of transfiguration. by the end of the sixth century three churches had been erected on the summit to commemorate the three tabernacles which peter proposed to build (matt. : - ), and now the greek and roman catholics have each a monastery only a short distance apart, separated by a stone wall or fence. the extensive view from the top is very fine, including a section of galilee from the mediterranean to the sea of tiberias. in the book of judges we read that israel was delivered into the hands of the canaanites, and was sorely oppressed for twenty years. the prophetess deborah sent for barak, and instructed him with a message from god to the end that he should take "ten thousand men of the children of naphtali and of the children of zebulun" unto mount tabor. this he did, and sisera assembled his nine hundred chariots "from harosheth of the gentiles unto the river kishon. so barak went down from mount tabor and ten thousand men after him. ... howbeit, sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of jael, the wife of heber, the kenite," and she drove a tent-pin through his temples while he was lying asleep, (judges : - .) the song of deborah and barak, beginning with the words, "for that the leaders took the lead in israel, for that the people offered themselves willingly, bless ye jehovah," is recorded in the fifth chapter of judges. i was back in nazareth by ten o'clock, and spent some hours looking around the city where the angel gabriel announced to mary the words: "hail, thou that art highly favored, the lord is with thee" (luke : ). these hours, with what time i had already spent here, enabled me to see several places of interest. tradition points out many places connected with the lives of joseph and mary, but tradition is not always reliable, for it sometimes happens that the greeks and the romans each have a different location for the same event. this is true with regard to the point where the angry people were about to throw jesus over "the brow of the hill" (luke : ). i saw no place that struck me as being the one referred to in the scriptures, and in reply to an inquiry, a lady at the english orphanage, who has spent twenty years in nazareth, said she thought it was some place on that side of the town, but the contour of the hill had probably changed. she also mentioned that the relics taken out in excavations were all found on that side, indicating that the old city had been built there. when brother mcgarvey visited palestine, he found two places that corresponded somewhat with luke's reference to the place. concerning one of them he wrote: "i am entirely satisfied that here is where the awful attempt was made." i was shown the "place of annunciation" in the latin monastery. on the top of a column stands the figure of a female, probably representing the virgin, and a bit of ruin that is said to date back to the time of constantine is pointed out. here, i was told, stood the first church building erected in nazareth. one of the "brothers" took the key and went around to a building supposed to stand on the site of joseph's carpenter shop. it is a small chapel, built about over the ruins of some older structure. in the floor of marble or stone there are two wooden trapdoors, which are raised to show the ruins below. over the altar in the end opposite the door is a picture to represent the holy family, and there are some other pictures in different parts of the little chapel. from here i went to the virgin's fountain. if it be true that this is the only spring in nazareth, then i have no doubt that i was near the spot frequently visited by the nazarene maid who became the mother of our lord. i say near the spot, for the masonry where the spring discharges is about a hundred yards from the fountain, which is now beneath the floor of a convent. the water flows out through the wall by two stone spouts, and here the women were crowded around, filling their vessels or waiting for their turn. the flow was not very strong, and this helps to explain why so many women were there before daylight the morning i went to tiberias. i saw one woman, who was unable to get her vessel under the stream of one of the spouts, drawing down a part of the water by sticking a leaf against the end of the spout. i also visited some of the bazaars and went to the orphanage. this missionary institution is nicely situated in a prominent place well up on the hill, and is managed entirely by women, but a servant is kept to do outside work. they treated me very kindly, showing me about the building, and when the girls came in to supper they sang "the nazareth hymn" for me. one of the occupations of the people here is manufacturing a knife with goat horn handles that is commonly seen in palestine. many of the women go about the streets with their dresses open like a man's shirt when unbuttoned, exposing their breasts in an unbecoming manner. the same is true of many women in jerusalem. about one-third of the mixed population are jews; the other two-thirds are mohammedans and professing christians, made up of orthodox greeks, united greeks, roman catholics, maronites (a branch of the greek church), and protestants. i went back to haifa and spent a night. the next morning i boarded the austrian ship _juno_ for jaffa. when i first landed here i had trouble with the boatman, because he wanted me to pay him more than i had agreed to pay, and on this occasion i again had the same difficulty, twice as much being demanded at the ship as was agreed upon at the dock; but i was firm and won my point both times. while in galilee i had crossed the province from sea to sea; i had visited the city in which jesus spent the greater part of his earth life, and the sea closely connected with several important things in his career. i had ascended carmel, and from the top of tabor i had taken an extensive view of the land, and now i was satisfied to drop down the coast and enter judaea. chapter v. sight-seeing in jerusalem. before leaving the ship at jaffa i was talking with mr. ahmed, a gentleman from india, who had spent some time in egypt, and had traveled extensively. he claimed to be a british subject, and was able to speak several languages. while we were arranging to go ashore together, one of the many boatmen who had come out to the ship picked up my suit-case while my back was turned, and the next thing i saw of it he was taking it down the stairs to one of the small boats. by some loud and emphatic talk i succeeded in getting him to put it out of one boat into another, but he would not bring it back. mr. ahmed and i went ashore with another man, whom we paid for carrying us and our baggage. i found the suit-case on the dock, and we were soon in the custom house, where my baggage and passport were both examined, but mr. ahmed escaped having his baggage opened by paying the boatman an additional fee. as we arrived in jaffa too late to take the train for jerusalem that day, we waited over night in the city from whence jonah went to sea so long ago. we lodged at the same hotel and were quartered in the same room. this was the first and only traveling companion i had on the whole journey, and i was a little shy. i felt like i wanted some pledge of honorable dealing from my newly formed acquaintance, and when he expressed himself as being a british subject, i mentioned that i was an american and extended my hand, saying: "let us treat each other right." he gave me his hand with the words: "species man, species man!" he meant that we both belonged to the same class of beings, and should, therefore, treat each other right, a very good reason indeed. a long time before, in this same land, abraham had expressed himself to lot on a similar line in these words: "let there be no strife, i pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we are brethren" (gen. : ). on saturday we moved our baggage over to the depot and boarded the train for jerusalem. on the way to the depot an old gentleman, whom i would have guessed to be a german, passed me. when i entered the car it was my lot to ride by him. he learned that i had been to bristol, england, and had visited the orphan homes founded by george muller, and he remarked: "you are a christian, then." he probably said this because he thought no other would be interested in such work. it developed that he was a converted jew, and was conducting a mission for his people in the holy city. without telling him my position religiously, i inquired concerning different points, and found his faith and mine almost alike. this new acquaintance was d.c. joseph, whose association i also enjoyed after reaching jerusalem. it was late in the afternoon of october ninth when we got off the train at the jerusalem station, which is so situated that the city can not be seen from that point. by the time we had our baggage put away in a native hotel outside the city walls it was dark. we then started out to see if there was any mail awaiting me. first we went to the turkish office, which was reached by a flight of dark stairs. mr. ahmed went up rather slowly. perhaps he felt the need of caution more than i did. according to my recollection, they handed us a candle, and allowed us to inspect the contents of a small case for the mail. we found nothing, so we made our way down the dark stairway to the german office, situated on the ground floor, nicely furnished and properly lighted, but there was no mail there for me, as mail from america goes to the austrian office, inside the jaffa gate. the next day was lord's day, and for the time being i ceased to be a tourist and gave myself up mainly to religious services. i first attended the meeting conducted by bro. joseph at the mission to israel. it was the first service i had attended, and the first opportunity that had come to me for breaking bread since i left london, the last of august. after this assembly of four persons was dismissed, i went to the services of the church of england and observed their order of worship. the minister was in a robe, and delivered a really good sermon of about fifteen minutes' duration, preceded by reading prayers and singing praise for about an hour. by invitation, i took dinner with miss dunn, an american lady, at whose house bro. joseph was lodging. as she had been in jerusalem fifteen years and was interested in missionary work, i enjoyed her company as well as her cooking. after dinner i went to a little iron-covered meeting-house called the "tabernacle," where a mr. thompson, missionary of the christian alliance, of nyack, new york, was the minister. at the close of the sunday-school a gentleman asked some questions in english, and the native evangelist, melki, translated them into arabic. by request of mr. thompson, i read the opening lesson and offered prayer, after which he delivered a good address on the great, coming day, and at the close the lord's supper was observed. i understood that they did this once a month, but it is attended to weekly at the mission where i was in the morning. at the tabernacle i made the acquaintance of mr. stanton, a methodist minister from the states; mr. jennings, a colored minister from missouri, and mr. smith, an american gentleman residing in jerusalem. there was another meeting in the tabernacle at night, but i staid at the hotel and finished some writing to be sent off to the home land. monday was a big day for me. mr. ahmed and i went down inside the jaffa gate and waited for mr. smith, who was our guide, mr. jennings, and a mr. michelson, from california. mr. smith had been a farmer in america, but had spent three years at jerusalem and jericho. he was well acquainted with the country, and we could depend upon what he told us. add to all this the fact that he went around with us without charge, and it will be seen that we were well favored. on this monday morning we started out to take a walk to bethany, the old home of that blessed family composed of mary, martha, and lazarus. we passed the church of the holy sepulcher, walked along the street called the via dolorosa, and saw several of the "stations" jesus is supposed to have passed on the way to the execution on calvary. we passed the traditional site of the "house of the rich man," the "house of the poor man," and the temple area. after passing the church of st. anne, we went out of the city through st. stephen's gate, and saw the birket sitti mariam, or pool of lady mary, one hundred feet long, eighty-five feet wide, and once twenty-seven and a half feet deep. it is supposed that stephen was led through the gate now bearing his name and stoned at a point not far distant. going down the hill a few rods, we came to the church of st. mary, a building for the most part underground. it is entered by a stairway nineteen feet wide at the top, and having forty-seven steps leading to the floor thirty-five feet below. we went down, and in the poorly lighted place we found some priests and others singing or chanting, crossing themselves, kissing a rock, and so on. this church probably gets its name from the tradition that the mother of jesus was buried here. just outside the church is a cavern that is claimed by some to be the place of christ's agony, and by others, who may have given the matter more thought, it is supposed to be an old cistern, or place for storing olive oil or grain. perhaps i would do well to mention here that tradition has been in operation a long time, and the stories she has woven are numerous indeed, but often no confidence can be placed in them. i desire to speak of things of this kind in such a way as not to mislead my readers. it was near this church that i saw lepers for the first time. the valley of the kidron is the low ground lying between jerusalem and the mount of olives. the water flows here only in the wet part of the year. crossing this valley and starting up the slope of the mount of olives, we soon come to a plot of ground inclosed by a high stone wall, with a low, narrow gateway on the upper side. this place is of great interest, as it bears the name "garden of gethsemane," and is probably the spot to which the lowly jesus repaired and prayed earnestly the night before his execution, when his soul was "exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." it is really a garden, filled with flowers, and olive trees whose trunks, gnarled and split, represent them as being very old, but it is not to be supposed that they are the same trees beneath which jesus prayed just before judas and "the band of soldiers and officers" came out to arrest him. there is a fence inside the wall, leaving a passageway around the garden between the wall and the fence. where the trees reach over the fence a woven-wire netting has been fixed up, to keep the olives from dropping on the walk, where tourists could pick them up for souvenirs. the fruit of these old trees is turned into olive oil and sold, and the seeds are used in making rosaries. at intervals on the wall there are pictures representing the fourteen stations jesus passed as he was being taken to the place of crucifixion. this garden is the property of the roman catholics, and the greeks have selected another spot, which they regard as the true gethsemane, just as each church holds a different place at nazareth to be the spot where the angry nazarenes intended to destroy the savior. leaving the garden, we started on up the slope of olivet, and passed the fine russian church, with its seven tapering domes, that shine like the gold by which they are said to be covered. it appears to be one of the finest buildings of jerusalem. as we went on, we looked back and had a good view of the kidron valley and the jews' burial place, along the slope of the mountain, where uncounted thousands of abraham's descendants lie interred. further up toward the summit is the church of the lord's prayer, a building erected by a french princess, whose body is now buried within its walls. this place is peculiar on account of at least two things. that portion of scripture commonly called "the lord's prayer" is here inscribed on large marble slabs in thirty-two different languages, and prayer is said to be offered here continually. there is another church near the damascus gate, where two "sisters" are said to be kneeling in prayer at all hours. i entered the beautiful place at different times, and always found it as represented, but it should not be supposed that the same women do all the praying, as they doubtless have enough to change at regular intervals. the church of the creed is, according to a worthless tradition, the place where the apostles drew up "the creed." it is under the ground, and we passed over it on the way to the church of the lord's prayer. the mount of olives is two thousand seven hundred and twenty-three feet above sea level, and is about two hundred feet higher than mount moriah. from the summit a fine view of jerusalem and the surrounding country may be obtained. the russians have erected a lofty stone tower here. after climbing the spiral stairway leading to the top of it, one is well rewarded by the extensive view. looking out from the east side, we could gaze upon the dead sea, some twenty miles away, and more than four thousand feet below us. we visited the chambers called the "tombs of the prophets," but the name is not a sufficient guarantee to warrant us in believing them to be the burial places of the men by whom god formerly spoke to the people. on the way to bethany we passed the reputed site of beth-page (mark : ), and soon came to the town where jesus performed the great miracle of raising lazarus after he had been dead four days. (john : - .) the place pointed out as the tomb corresponds to the scripture which says "it was a cave" where they laid him. twenty-six steps lead down to the chamber where his body is said to have lain when the "blessed redeemer" cried with a loud voice, "lazarus, come forth." whether this is the exact spot or not, it is probably a very ancient cave. one writer claims that it is as old as the incident itself, and says these rock-cut tombs are the oldest landmarks of palestine. tradition points out the home of lazarus, and there is a portion of an old structure called the castle of lazarus, which lazarus may never have seen. bethany is a small village, occupied by a few mohammedan families, who dislike the "christians." on the rising ground above the village stands a good modern stone house, owned by an english lady, who formerly lived in it, but her servant, a mohammedan, made an effort to cut her throat, and almost succeeded in the attempt. naturally enough, the owner does not wish to live there now, so we found the building in the care of a professing christian, who treated us with courtesy, giving us a good, refreshing drink, and permitting us to go out on the roof to look around. from this point we turned our footsteps toward jerusalem, "about fifteen furlongs off"--that is, about two miles distant. (john : .) when we reached the lower part of the slope of olivet, where the tombs of departed jews are so numerous, mr. michelson and mr. jennings went on across the kidron valley and back to their lodging places, while mr. ahmed, mr. smith and i went down to job's well, in the low ground below the city. the tower of absalom, the tomb of james, and the pyramid of zachariah were among the first things we saw. they are all burial places, but we can not depend upon them being the actual tombs of those whose names they bear. the first is a peculiar monument nineteen and one-half feet square and twenty-one feet high, cut out of the solid rock, and containing a chamber, which may be entered by crawling through a hole in the side. on the top of the natural rock portion a structure of dressed stone, terminating in one tapering piece, has been erected, making the whole height of the monument forty-eight feet. the jews have a custom of pelting it with stones on account of absalom's misconduct, and the front side shows the effect of their stone-throwing. the grotto of st. james is the traditional place of his concealment from the time jesus was arrested till his resurrection. the pyramid of zachariah is a cube about thirty feet square and sixteen feet high, cut out of the solid rock, and surmounted by a small pyramid. it has many names cut upon it in hebrew letters, and there are some graves near by, as this is a favorite burial place. some of the bodies have been buried between the monument and the wall around it in the passage made in cutting it out of the rock. going on down the valley, we have the village of siloam on the hill at our left, and on the other side of the kidron, the southeastern part of the holy city. st. mary's well is soon reached. this spring, which may be the gihon of kings : , is much lower than the surface of the ground, the water being reached by two flights of stairs, one containing sixteen steps, the other fourteen. the spring is intermittent, and flows from three to five times daily in winter. it flows twice a day in summer, but in the autumn it only flows once in the day. when i was there, the spring was low, and two turkish soldiers were on duty to preserve order among those who came to get water. the pool of siloam, fifty-two feet long and eighteen feet wide, is farther down the valley. the spring and the pool are about a thousand feet apart, and are connected by an aqueduct through the hill, which, owing to imperfect engineering, is seventeen hundred feet long. from a hebrew inscription found in the lower end of this passageway it was learned that the excavation was carried on from both ends. a little below the pool of siloam the valley of the kidron joins the valley of hinnom, where, in ancient times, children were made "to pass through the fire to moloch" ( kings : ). job's well, perhaps the en rogel, on the northern border of judah (joshua : ), is rectangular in shape and one hundred and twenty-three feet deep. sometimes it overflows, but it seldom goes dry. when i saw it, no less than six persons were drawing water with ropes and leather buckets. the location of aceldama, the field of blood, has been disputed, but some consider that it was on the hill above the valley of hinnom. there are several rock-cut tombs along the slope of the hill facing the valley of hinnom, and some of them are being used as dwelling places. the moslems have charge of a building outside the city walls, called david's tomb, which they guard very carefully, and only a portion of it is accessible to visitors. near this place a new german catholic church was being erected at a cost of four hundred thousand dollars. we entered the city by the zion gate, and passed the tower of david, a fortification on mount zion, near the jaffa gate. on the ship coming down from beyrout i had a conversation with a man who claimed to have been naturalized in the united states, and to have gone to syria to visit his mother, but, according to his story, he was arrested and imprisoned by the turks. after being mistreated in the filthy prison for some time, he secured his release by bribing a soldier to post a letter to one of the american authorities. he expressed a desire to visit jerusalem, but seemed afraid to get back into turkish territory. learning that i was going there, he wrote a letter to the armenian patriarch, and i presented it one day. in a few minutes mr. ahmed and i were led into the large room where the patriarch was seated in his robe and peculiar cap. meeting a dignitary of the armenian church was a new experience to me. i shook hands with him; mr. ahmed made some signs and sat down. in the course of our limited conversation he said rather slowly: "i am very old." replying to a question, he informed me that his age was eighty years. i was on the point of leaving, but he hindered me, and an attendant soon came in with some small glasses of wine and a little dish of candy. the patriarch drank a glass of wine, and i took a piece of the candy, as also did mr. ahmed, and then we took our leave. the eleventh day of october, which was tuesday, was occupied with a trip to hebron, described in another chapter devoted to the side trips i made from jerusalem, but the next day was spent in looking around the holy city. early in the morning the mamilla pool, probably the "upper pool" of kings : , was seen. one author gives the dimensions of this pool as follows: length, two hundred and ninety-one feet; breadth, one hundred and ninety-two feet; depth, nineteen feet. it is filled with water in the rainy season, but was empty when i saw it. entering the city by the jaffa gate, i walked along david and christian streets, and was shown the pool of hezekiah, which is surrounded by houses, and was supplied from the mamilla pool. the next place visited was that interesting old building, the church of the holy sepulcher, where our lord is supposed to have been buried in joseph's new tomb. jerusalem has many things of great interest, but some few things are of special interest. the temple area and calvary are of this class. i am sure my readers will want to know something of each, and i shall here write of the latter. no doubt the spot where jesus was crucified and the grave in which he was buried were both well known to the brethren up to the destruction of the city in the year seventy. before this awful calamity the christians made their escape, and when they returned they "would hardly recognize the fallen city as the one they had left; the heel of the destroyer had stamped out all semblance of its former glory. for sixty years it lay in ruins so complete that it is doubtful if there was a single house that could be used as a residence; during these years its history is a blank." there is no mention of the returned christians seeking out the site of either the crucifixion or burial, and between a.d. and a.d. hadrian reconstructed the city, changing it to a considerable extent, and naming it aelia capitolina. this would tend to make the location of calvary more difficult. hadrian built a temple to venus, probably on the spot now occupied by the church of the holy sepulchre, and eusebius, writing about a.d. , speaks of constantine's church built on the site of this temple. it is claimed that hadrian's heathen temple was erected to desecrate the place of christ's entombment, and that constantine's church, being erected on the site of the temple, and regarded as the place called calvary, fixes this as the true site; but whether the church and temple were on the same site or not, the present church stands where the one built by constantine stood, and is regarded by the mass of believers as the true location. constantine's church stood two hundred and eighty years, being destroyed by chosroes ii., of persia, in a.d. , but was soon succeeded by another structure not so grand as its predecessor. in , in the "reign of the mad caliph hakem," the group of churches was entirely destroyed, and the spot lay desolate for thirty years, after which another church was erected, being completed in eight years. this building was standing in , the time of the crusaders, but was destroyed by fire in . this fire "consumed many of the most sacred relics in the church. marble columns of great age and beauty crumbled in the flames. the rich hangings and pictures were burned, along with lamps and chandeliers and other ornaments in silver and gold. the lead with which the great dome was lined melted, and poured down in streams." the building now standing there was finished in at a cost of nearly three millions of dollars, one-third of this, it is said, being expended in lawsuits and mohammedan bribes. it is the property of several denominations, who adorn their separate chapels to suit themselves. the church is entered from a court having two doors or gates. worshipers pass through the court, and stop at the left-hand side of the door and kiss the marble column, which clearly shows the effect of this practice. just inside of the building there is a guard, composed of members of the oldest mohammedan family in the city. the reader may wonder why an armed guard should be kept in a church house, but such a reader has not seen or read of all the wickedness that is carried on in the support of sectarianism. concerning this guard, which, at the time of the holy fire demonstration, is increased by several hundred soldiers, edmund sherman wallace, a former united states consul in this city, says in his "jerusalem the holy": "this christian church has a moslem guard, whose duty it is to keep peace among the various sects who profess belief in the prince of peace. * * * it is a sickening fact that moslem brute force must compel christians to exercise, not charity toward each other, but common decency and decorum. but it is a fact nevertheless, and will remain apparent to all so long as priestcraft takes the place of new testament christianity and superstition supplants religion." a little beyond this guard is the "stone of unction," upon which many believe jesus was prepared for burial, but the original stone for which this claim was made is not now visible, being covered with the present slab to keep it from being worn out by the kissing of pious pilgrims. it is eight and a half feet long and four feet wide. pilgrims sometimes bring the goods for their burial robes here and measure them by this stone. some large candles stand by it, and above it are eight fine lamps, belonging to the greek and roman catholics, the copts, and armenians. not far away is a small stone, which i understood was called the place where the women watched the preparation by joseph of arimathea and nicodemus. (john : - .) in the center of the rotunda, with its entrance facing the east, is the chapel of the sepulcher, the holiest place in all this holy building. passing through the small door, the visitor finds himself in the chapel of the angels, a very small room, where a piece of stone, said to have been rolled away from the grave by the angels, is to be seen. stooping down, the visitor passes through a low opening and enters the chapel of the sepulcher proper, a room only six and a half feet long and six feet wide. the "tomb" is at the right hand of the entrance, occupying about half of the floor, above which it rises two feet. it is covered with marble, so that even if this were the very spot where the lord and savior was laid by the hands of kind friends, the modern visitor would not know what it looked like when that event took place. the little chapel, capable of accommodating about six people at a time, contains some pictures and forty-three silver lamps, the property of the copts, armenians, greek and roman catholics. a priest stands on guard, so that no damage may be done to any part of the place. the greek chapel, the largest, and to my notion the finest that i saw, is just in front of the sepulcher. from its having two sections and a partition, i was reminded of the tabernacle of the wilderness journey. services were being conducted once while i was there, and i saw the patriarch and others, gorgeously robed, going through with a service that was at least spectacular, if not spiritual. at one point in the exercises those participating came down close to where i was standing, passed around the spot designated "the center of the world," and went back again to the farther end of the richly ornamented room. one of the priests, with hair reaching down on his shoulders, bore a silver vessel, which i suppose contained burning incense. the long hair, beautiful robes, the singing, praying, and such things, made up a service that reminded me of the days of solomon and the old priesthood. the demonstration of the "holy fire" takes place in this church once a year, and there are thousands who believe that the fire passed out from the chapel of the angels really comes from heaven. this occurs on the saturday afternoon preceding easter, and the eager, waiting throng, a part of which has been in the building since the day before, soon has its hundreds of little candles lighted. as the time for the appearance of the fire approaches the confusion becomes greater. near the entrance to the sepulcher a group of men is repeating the words: "this is the tomb of jesus christ;" not far from them others are saying: "this is the day the jew mourns and the christian rejoices;" others express themselves in the language: "jesus christ has redeemed us;" and occasionally "god save the sultan" can be heard. mr. wallace, from whose book the foregoing items are gleaned, in telling of a fight which took place at one stage of the service, describes it as "a mass of wriggling, struggling, shrieking priests and soldiers, each apparently endeavoring to do all the possible injury to whomever he could reach. * * * but the fight went on. greek trampled on armenian, and armenian on greek, and turk on both. though doing his very best, the commanding officer seemed unable to separate the combatants. the bugle rang out time after time, and detachment after detachment of soldiers plunged into the mêlee. * * * this went on for fifteen minutes. just how much damage was done nobody will ever know. there were a number of bruised faces and broken heads, and a report was current that two pilgrims had died from injuries received." this disgraceful and wicked disturbance is said to have been brought about by the armenians wanting two of their priests to go with the greek patriarch as far as the chapel of the angels. and it is furthermore said that the defeat of the armenians was brought about, to some extent at least, by the muscular strength of an american professional boxer and wrestler, whom the greeks had taken along in priestly garb as a member of the patriarch's bodyguard. it is not surprising that mr. wallace has written: "the church of the holy sepulcher gives the non-christian world the worst possible illustration of the religion of him in whose name it stands." as i was going through the city, i saw a camel working an olive press. the poor blindfolded animal was compelled to walk in a circle so small that the outside trace was drawn tightly over its leg, causing irritation; but seeing the loads that are put upon dumb brutes, and men too, sometimes, one need not expect much attention to be given to the comfort of these useful servants. truly, there is great need for the refining, civilizing, and uplifting influence of the gospel here in the city where it had its earliest proclamation. i also visited two grist mills operated by horses on a treadmill, which was a large wooden wheel turned on its side, so the horses could stand on it. i was not pleased with the nearness of the manure in one of these mills to the material from which the "staff of life" is made. the german protestant church of the redeemer is a fine structure on the muristan, completed in . the united states consulate is near the austrian postoffice inside of the jaffa gate. i went there and rested awhile, but saw the consul, selah merrill, at his hotel, where i also met mrs. merrill, and formed a favorable opinion of both of them. here i left my belt, checks, and surplus money in the care of the consul. continuing my walk on wednesday, i passed one of the numerous threshing floors of the country. this one was the face of a smooth rock, but they are often the ground on some elevated spot, where a good breeze can be had to blow away the chaff, for the grain is now threshed and cleaned by the primitive methods of long ago. after the grain has been tramped out ( cor. : ), the straw, now worn to chaff, is piled up, and when a favorable wind blows, a man tosses it in the air with a wooden fork. the grain falls in a pile at his feet and the chaff is carried aside some distance. when this operation has been carried on as long as is profitable, the wheat and what chaff remains in it are thrown into the air with a wooden shovel, called in our bibles a "fan." (matt. : .) the final cleaning is done by washing the grain, or with a sieve. the tombs of the kings, which may never have contained a king, are extensive and interesting. they are surrounded by a wall, and to reach them the visitor must go down a very wide stairway. the steps probably do not number more than twenty-five, but the distance from one side of the stairs to the other is twenty-seven feet. there are channels cut in the rock to carry the water that comes down these steps to the cisterns, two in number, one of which is a good-sized room cut in the rock at the side of the stairway. it contained about three feet of water when i saw it, although there had been no rain in jerusalem for half a year. the other one, at the bottom of the stairs, is much larger, and was empty. the vaulted roof is supported by a column, and there are steps leading from one level of the floor to another. turning to the left at the foot of the big stairway, we passed through an arch cut through the rock into a court made by excavating the earth and stone to a depth of perhaps twenty feet. it is ninety feet long and eighty-one feet wide. the entrance to the tombs is by a vestibule cut in the rock at one side of the court, and it appears that this once had a row of pillars along the front, like veranda posts. we went down a few steps and stooped low enough to pass through an opening about a yard high. beyond this we found ourselves in a good-sized room, cut in the solid rock. there are five of these rooms, and so far as the appearance is concerned, one might suppose they had been made in modern times, but they are ancient. the bodies were usually buried in "pigeon-holes" cut back in the walls of the rooms, but there are some shelf tombs, which are sufficiently described in their name. one room seems never to have been completed, but there are burial places here for about forty people. one of the interesting things about these tombs is the rolling stone by which they were closed. it is a round rock, resembling a millstone. the height is a little over three feet and a half, and the thickness sixteen inches. it stands in a channel cut for the purpose, but was rolled forward before the entrance when it was desirable to have the tombs closed. when jesus was buried, a "great stone" was rolled to the mouth of the sepulcher, and the women thought of this as they went to the tomb on the first day of the week, saying: "who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the tomb?" (mark : .) they went on and found the tomb open; so, also, we may often find the stone rolled away if we will go forward in the discharge of our duties, instead of sitting down to mourn at the thought of something in the distance which seems too difficult. on our way to the tombs just mentioned, we passed the american colony, a small band of people living together in a rather peculiar manner, but they are not all americans. i understood that there had been no marriages among them for a long time until a short while before i was in jerusalem. some of them conduct a good store near the jaffa gate. we passed an english church and college and st. stephen's church on the way to gordon's calvary. this new location of the world's greatest tragedy is a small hill outside the walls on the northern side of the city. the church of the holy sepulcher stands on ground which for fifteen hundred years has been regarded as the true site of our lord's death and burial, but since korte, a german bookseller, visited the city in , doubts have been expressed as to the correctness of the tradition. jesus "suffered without the gate" (heb. : ), and "in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new tomb wherein was man never yet laid" (john : ), and it appears to have been near a public road. (mark : .) in edward robinson, an american, offered proof that the site sustained by the old tradition was inside the city walls at the time of the crucifixion, and more recent discoveries, made in excavating, confirm his proof. the new calvary meets the requirements of the above mentioned scriptures, and gets its name "gordon's calvary," from the fact that general gordon wrote and spoke in favor of this being the correct location, and a photographer attached his name to a view of the place. in the garden adjoining the new calvary i visited a tomb, which some suppose to be the place of our lord's burial. on the way back to my lodging place we passed the damascus gate, the most attractive of all the old city gates, and one often represented in books. it was built or repaired in , and stands near an older gateway that is almost entirely hidden by the accumulated rubbish of centuries, only the crown of the arch now showing. as we went on we passed the french hospice, a fine modern building, having two large statues on it. the higher one represents the virgin and her child, the other is a figure of the savior. the catholic church already mentioned, where two sisters are to be seen in prayer at all times, is near the hospice. it is a rather impressive sight to stand in this beautiful but silent place, and see those women in white robes kneeling there almost as motionless as statues. thursday and a part of friday was taken up with a trip to jericho, but we got back in time to spend the afternoon in looking around jerusalem, and we had an interesting visit to the home of mrs. schoenecke, a german lady, whose father, named schick, spent fifty-six years of his life in jerusalem. from what information mr. schick could gather from the bible, josephus, the talmud, and his personal observations during the time the palestine exploration fund was at work, he constructed large models of the ancient temples that stood on mount moriah from the days of solomon to the time of herod and christ. i was told that the original models were sold to an american college for five thousand dollars. mr. schick then constructed the models shown to us, and explained by mrs. schoenecke. we were also shown a model of the tabernacle used while israel was marching to the promised land. the wailing place is a rectangle one hundred feet long by fifteen feet wide on the outside of the temple area, on the western side, where the wall is about sixty feet high. some of the stones in this section are of large size, and authorities admit that they are of solomon's time, but the wall in which they now stand may be a reconstruction. the jews come here on the sabbath, beginning at sundown on saturday, for a service which one author describes as follows: "nearest to him stood a row of women clad in robes of spotless white. their eyes were bedimmed with weeping, and tears streamed down their cheeks as they sobbed aloud with irrepressible emotion. next to the women stood a group of pharisees--jews from poland and germany. * * * the old hoary-headed men generally wore velvet caps edged with fur, long love-locks or ringlets dangling on their thin cheeks, and their outer robes presented a striking contrast of gaudy colors. beyond stood a group of spanish jews. * * * besides these there are jews from every quarter of the world, who had wandered back to jerusalem that they might die in the city of their fathers, and be buried in the valley of jehoshaphat, under the shadow of the temple hill. the worshipers gradually increased in number until the crowd thronging the pavement could not be fewer than two hundred. it was an affecting scene to notice their earnestness; some thrust their hands between the joints of the stones, and pushed into the crevices, as far as possible, little slips of paper, on which were written, in the hebrew tongue, short petitions addressed to jehovah. some even prayed with their mouths thrust into the gaps, where the weather-beaten stones were worn away at the joints. * * * the congregation at the wailing place is one of the most solemn gatherings left to the jewish church, and, as the writer gazed at the motley concourse, he experienced a feeling of sorrow that the remnants of the chosen race should be heartlessly thrust outside the sacred inclosure of their fathers' holy temple by men of an alien race and an alien creed." so far as i know, all writers give these worshipers credit for being sincere, but on the two occasions when i visited the place, i saw no such emotion as described in the foregoing quotation. the following lines are often rehearsed, the leader reading one at a time, after which the people respond with the words: "we sit in solitude and mourn." "for the place that lies desolate; for the place that is destroyed; for the walls that are overthrown; for our majesty that is departed; for our great men who lie dead; for the precious stones that are buried; for the priests who have stumbled; for our kings who have despised him." this solemn practice has been observed for about twelve hundred years, but the same place may not have been used all the time. "she is become a widow, that was great among the nations! she that was a princess among the provinces is become tributary! jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is become as an unclean thing" (lam. : , ). on friday evening we entered some of the many synagogues yet to be found in jerusalem and observed the worshipers. on saturday we went to the house of industry of the english church, where boys are taught to work. olive wood products are made for the tourist trade. we passed a place where some men were making a peculiar noise as they were pounding wheat and singing at their work. this pounding was a part of the process of making it ready for food. an old lady was standing in an open door spinning yarn in a very simple manner. we watched her a few minutes, and i wanted to buy the little arrangement with which she was spinning, but she didn't care to part with it. she brought out another one, and let me have it after spinning a few yards upon it. i gave her a turkish coin worth a few cents, for which she seemed very thankful, and said, as mr. ahmed explained: "god bless you and give you long life. i am old, and may die to-day." she told us that she came from mosul, away beyond the syrian desert, to die in jerusalem. we visited the synagogue of the caraite jews, a small polygamous sect, numbering in this assembly about thirty persons. they also differ from the majority of hebrews in rejecting the talmud, but i believe they have a talmud of their own. their place of worship is a small room almost under the ground, where we were permitted to see a very fine old copy of the hebrew scriptures, our old testament. the work was done by hand, and i was told the man who did it was sixteen years of age when he began it, and was sixty when he finished the work, and that the british museum had offered five thousand dollars for the book. some of these people speak english, and we conversed with one woman who was quite intelligent. they kindly permitted us to go up and view the city from the housetop. in the afternoon we visited the temple area, an inclosure of about thirty-five acres, in the southeastern part of the city, including the mosque of omar (more appropriately called the dome of the rock), the mosque el aksa, and solomon's stables. for christians to enter this inclosure, it is necessary to notify their consul and secure the service of his _cavasse_, an armed guard, and a turkish soldier, both of whom must be paid for their services. thus equipped, we entered the inclosure, and came up on the east front of the dome of the rock, probably so named from the fact that the dome of this structure stands over an exposed portion of the natural rock, fifty-seven feet long, forty-three feet wide, and rising a few feet above the floor. after putting some big slippers on over our shoes, we entered the building and saw this great rock, which tradition says is the threshing floor of araunah, and the spot where melchizedek sacrificed. it is also the traditional place where abraham sacrificed isaac, and it is believed that david built an altar here after the angel of destruction had put up his sword. it is furthermore supposed that the great altar of burnt offerings stood on this rock in the days of solomon's temple, which is thought to have been located just west of it. this is the probable location of zerubbabel's temple, and the one enlarged and beautified by herod, which was standing when jesus was on earth, and continued to stand until the awful destruction of the city by the roman army in a.d. . the modern visitor to this fine structure would have no thought of the ancient temple of god if he depended upon what he sees here to suggest it. all trace of that house has disappeared. the dome of the rock, said to be "the most beautiful piece of architecture in jerusalem," belongs to the turks. it has eight sides, each about sixty-six and a half feet long, and is partly covered with marble, but it is, to some extent, in a state of decay. between the destruction of the temple and the erection of this building a heathen temple and a church had been built on the spot. the mosque el aksa was also visited, but it is noted more for its size than the beauty of its architecture. the turkish governor of palestine comes here every friday to worship at the time the sultan is engaged in like manner in constantinople. solomon's stables next engaged our attention. we crossed the temple area to the wall on the southeastern border, and went down a stairway to these underground chambers, which were made by building about a hundred columns and arching them over and laying a pavement on the top, thereby bringing it up on a level with the rest of the hill. the vaults are two hundred and seventy-three feet long, one hundred and ninety-eight feet wide, and about thirty feet high. they were not made for stables, but were used for that purpose in the middle ages, and the holes through the corners of the square stone columns show where the horses were tied. a large portion of these chambers has been made into a cistern or reservoir. after a visit to what is called the pool of bethesda and the church of st. anne, we went outside the city wall on the north side and entered what looks like a cave, but upon investigation proves to be an extensive underground quarry. these excavations, called solomon's quarries, extend, according to one authority, seven hundred feet under the hill bezetha, which is north of mt. moriah. the rock is very white, and will take some polish. loose portions of it are lying around on the floor of the cavern, and there are distinct marks along the sides where the ancient stone-cutters were at work. in one part of the quarries we were shown the place where visiting masons are said to hold lodge meetings sometimes. vast quantities of the rock have been taken out, and this is probably the source from whence much of the building material of the old city was derived. the trip to the quarries ended my sight-seeing for the week. the next morning i went to the church of the holy sepulcher and witnessed a part of the service of the greek catholics. at a later hour i went around to the mission conducted by bro. joseph, and, with the little congregation there assembled, broke bread in memory of him who in this city, almost two thousand years ago, gave his life for the sins of the world, after having instituted this supper, a monumental institution, representing to our minds the cost of the world's redemption. in the afternoon i attended the preaching service in mr. thompson's tabernacle, and visited the abyssinian church, near mr. smith's house. this abyssinian house is circular, and has a small, round room in the center, around which the congregation stands and worships, leaning on their staves, for the place is void of seats. at night i preached in the tabernacle on the question: "what must i do to be saved?" melki, the native evangelist, translated for me as i went along, and the congregation paid good attention and seemed pleased to have heard me. i know i am pleased to have had opportunity to "preach the word" in the city from whence it was first published to the world. one of the first sights beheld when i started out on monday morning was a foundation, laid at the expense of a woman who intended to build a house for the "hundred and forty-four thousand." it represents one of the many peculiar religious ideas that find expression in and around jerusalem. we went on to the railway station, where i saw a young man, a jew, leave for that far-off land called america. next the leper hospital was visited. this well-kept institution is in the german colony, and had several patients of both sexes. a lady, who spoke some english, kindly showed me through the hospital, and explained that the disease is not contagious, but hereditary, and that some lepers refuse to enter the hospital because they are forbidden to marry. the patients were of various ages, and showed the effects of the disease in different stages. in some cases it makes the victim a sad sight to look upon. i remember one of these poor, afflicted creatures, whose face was almost covered with swollen and inflamed spots. some were blind, and some had lost part or all of their fingers by the disease. one man's nose was partly consumed. at bishop gobat's school we were kindly received, and given a good, refreshing drink. the founder of this school, a member of the english church, was one of the pioneers in jerusalem mission work, and stood very high in the estimation of the people. his grave is to be seen in the cemetery near the school, where one may also see the supposed site of the ancient city wall. besides the leper hospital, we visited another hospital under german control, where patients may have medical attention and hospital service for the small sum of one _mejidi_, about eighty cents, for a period, of fifteen days, but higher fees are charged in other departments. we soon reached the english hospital, maintained by the society for the promotion of christianity among the jews. it is built on a semi-circular plan in such a way that the wards, extending back from the front, admit light from both sides. this institution is free to the jews, but i understand mohammedans were not admitted without a fee. the syrian orphanage had about three hundred children in it, who were being instructed in books and in manual labor. those who can see are taught to work in wood, to make a kind of tile used in constructing partitions, and other lines of useful employment. they had some blind children, who were being taught to make baskets and brushes. on the way back to mr. smith's i stopped at the jewish library, a small two-story building, having the books and papers upstairs. they have a raised map of palestine, which was interesting to me, after having twice crossed the country from sea to sea. the last thursday i was in the city i went with some friends to the israelite alliance school, an institution with about a thousand pupils, who receive both an industrial and a literary education. we were conducted through the school by a syrian gentleman named solomon elia, who explained that, while the institution is under french control, english is taught to some extent, as some of the pupils would go to egypt, where they would need to use this language. the boys are instructed in wood-working, carpentry, copper-working, and other lines of employment. we saw some of the girls making hair nets, and others were engaged in making lace. both of these products are sent out of palestine for sale. the institution has received help from some of the rothschild family, and i have no doubt that it is a great factor for the improvement of those who are reached by it. jerusalem is well supplied with hospitals and schools. the greek and roman catholic churches, the church of england, and numerous other religious bodies have a footing here, and are striving to make it stronger. their schools and hospitals are made use of as missionary agencies, and besides these there is a turkish hospital and numerous mohammedan schools. on friday i had an opportunity to see a man measuring grain, as is indicated by the savior's words: "give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom. for with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again" (luke : ). he filled his measure about full, and then shook it down thoroughly. he next filled it up and shook it down until he evidently thought he had all he could get that way, so he commenced to pile it up on top. when he had about as much heaped up as would stay on, he put his hands on the side of the cone opposite himself and gently pulled it toward him. he then piled some more on the far side, and when he had reached the limit in this way, he carefully leveled the top of the cone down a little, and when he could no longer put on more grain, he gently lifted the measure and moved it around to the proper place, where it was quickly dumped. in the evening mr. smith and i walked out on mount scopus, where titus had his camp at the time of the siege and destruction of jerusalem, as foretold by our lord and master in the twenty-fourth of matthew. as we went along, mr. smith pointed out the watershed between the mediterranean and the dead sea. the view from scopus is very extensive. we could look away to the north to nebi samwil, where the prophet samuel is supposed by some to have been buried. ramallah, the seat of a school maintained by the society of friends, is pointed out, along with bireh, bethel, and geba. nob, the home of the priests slain by command of saul ( samuel : ), and anathoth, one of the cities of refuge (joshua : ), are in sight. swinging on around the circle to the east, the northern end of the dead sea is visible, while the mount of olives is only a little distance below us. across the valley of the kidron lies the holy city, with her walls constructed at various periods and under various circumstances, her dome-shaped stone roofs, synagogues, mosques, and minarets, being "trodden down of the gentiles, until the times of the gentiles be fulfilled" (luke : ). here, with this panorama spread out in the evening light, i may say my sight-seeing in the city of the great king came to an end. i lacked but a few hours of having been in the city two weeks, when i boarded the train for jaffa on my way to egypt. the most of the time i had lodged in the hospitable home of mr. smith, where i had a clean and comfortable place to rest my tired body when the shadows of night covered the land. i had received kind treatment, and had seen many things of much interest. i am truly thankful that i have been permitted to make this trip to jerusalem. let me so live that when the few fleeting days of this life are over, i may rest with the redeemed. when days and years are no more, let me enjoy, in the new jerusalem, the blessedness that remains for those that have loved the lord. "and i saw the holy city, new jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from god, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. and i heard a great voice out of the throne saying, behold, the tabernacle of god is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, and god himself shall be with them, and be their god: and he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things have passed away" (revelation : - ). chapter vi. side trips from jerusalem. early on tuesday morning, the eleventh of october, i set out by carriage, with some other tourists, for a trip to bethlehem, solomon's pools, and hebron. bethlehem is about five miles south of jerusalem, and hebron is a little southwest of the holy city and twenty miles distant. we started from the jaffa gate and passed the sultan's pool, otherwise known as lower gihon, which may be the "lower pool" of isaiah : . "the entire area of this pool," says one writer, "is about three and a half acres, with an average depth, when clear of deposit, of forty-two and a half feet in the middle from end to end." we drove for two miles, or perhaps more, across the plain of rephaim, one of david's battlefields soon after he established himself in jerusalem. here he was twice victorious over the philistines. in the first instance he asked jehovah: "shall i go up against the philistines? wilt thou deliver them into my hand?" the answer was: "go up; for i will certainly deliver the philistines into thy hand." in this battle the invaders were routed and driven from the field. "and they left their images there; and david and his men took them away." but "the philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of rephaim. and when david inquired of jehovah, he said, thou shalt not go up: make a circuit behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. and it shall be, when thou hearest the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself, for then is jehovah gone out before thee to smite the hosts of the philistines." david obeyed the voice of the lord, and smote his enemies from geba to gezer. ( samuel : - .) on the southern border of the plain stands the greek convent called mar elyas. this is about half way to bethlehem, and the city of the nativity soon comes into view. before going much farther the traveler sees a well-built village, named bet jala, lying on his right. it is supposed to be the ancient giloh, mentioned in samuel : as the home of ahithophel, david's counselor, for whom absalom sent when he conspired against his father. here the road forks, one branch of it passing bet jala and going on to hebron; the other, bearing off to the left, leads directly to bethlehem, which we passed, intending to stop there as we returned in the evening. at this place we saw the monument erected to mark the location of rachel's tomb, a location, like many others, in dispute. when jacob "journeyed from bethel and there was still some distance to come to ephrath," rachel died at the birth of benjamin, "and was buried in the way to ephrath (the same is bethlehem). * * * and jacob set up a pillar upon her grave" (gen. : - ). the spot, which for many centuries was marked by a pyramid of stones, is now occupied by a small stone building with a dome-shaped roof, at the east side of which is a room, open on the north, with a flat roof. for hundreds of years tradition has located the grave at this place, which is indeed near bethlehem, but in samuel : it is mentioned as being "in the border of benjamin," which has occasioned the belief that the true location is some miles farther north. before long we came to solomon's pools. we first stopped at a doorway, which looks like it might lead down to a cellar, but in reality the door is at the head of a flight of stairs leading down to what is known as the "sealed fountain" (song of solomon : ). the door was fastened, and we were not able to descend to the underground chamber, which is forty-one feet long, eleven and a half feet wide, with an arched stone roof, all of which, except the entrance, is below the surface. a large basin cut in the floor collects the water from two springs. after rising a foot in the basin, the water flows out into a channel more than six hundred feet long leading down to the two upper pools. these great reservoirs, bearing the name of israel's wisest monarch, are still in a good state of preservation, having been repaired in modern times. the first one is three hundred and eighty feet long, two hundred and twenty-nine feet wide at one end, two hundred and thirty feet wide at the other, and twenty-five feet deep. the second pool is four hundred and twenty-three feet long, one hundred and sixty feet wide at the upper end, two hundred and fifty feet wide at the lower end, and thirty-nine feet deep at that end. the third pool is the largest of all, having a length of five hundred and eighty-two feet. the upper end is one hundred and forty-eight feet wide, the lower end two hundred and seven feet, and the depth at the lower end is fifty feet. the pools are about one hundred and fifty feet apart, and have an aggregate area of six and a quarter acres, with an average depth approaching thirty-eight feet. the upper two received water from the sealed fountain, but the lower one was supplied from an aqueduct leading up from a point more than three miles to the south. the aqueduct from the sealed fountain leads past the pools, and winds around the hills to bethlehem and on to the temple area, in jerusalem. it is still in use as far as bethlehem, and could be put in repair and made serviceable for the whole distance. an offer to do this was foolishly rejected by the moslems in . the only habitation near the pools is an old khan, "intended as a stopping place for caravans and as a station for soldiers to guard the road and the pools." the two upper pools were empty when i saw them, but the third one contained some water and a great number of frogs. as we went on to hebron we got a drink at "philip's well," the place where "the eunuch was baptized," according to a tradition which lacks support by the present appearance of the place. towards noon we entered the "valley of eschol," from whence the spies sent out by moses carried the great cluster of grapes. (num. : .) before entering hebron we turned aside and went up to abraham's oak, a very old tree, but not old enough for abraham to have enjoyed its shade almost four thousand years ago. the trunk is thirty-two feet in circumference, but the tree is not tall like the american oaks. it is now in a dying condition, and some of the branches are supported by props, while the lower part of the trunk is surrounded by a stone wall, and the space inside is filled with earth. the plot of ground on which the tree stands is surrounded by a high iron fence. a little farther up the hill the russians have a tower, from which we viewed the country, and then went down in the shade near abraham's oak and enjoyed our dinner. hebron is a very ancient city, having been built seven and a half years before zoar in egypt. (num. : .) since it has been under the control of the mohammedans, who raise large quantities of grapes, many of which are made into raisins. articles of glass are made in hebron, but i saw nothing especially beautiful in this line. the manufacture of goat-skin water-bottles is also carried on. another line of work which i saw being done is the manufacture of a kind of tile, which looks like a fruit jug without a bottom, and is used in building. hebron was one of the six cities of refuge (joshua : ), and for seven years and a half it was david's capital of judah. it is very historic. "abraham moved his tent, and came and dwelt by the oaks of mamre, which are in hebron, and built there an altar unto jehovah." (gen. : .) when "sarah died in kiriath-arba (the same is hebron), in the land of canaan, * * * abraham came to mourn for sarah, and to weep for her." at this time the worthy progenitor of the hebrew race "rose up from before his dead, and spoke unto the children of heth, saying, i am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that i may bury my dead out of my sight." the burial place was purchased for "four hundred shekels of silver, current money of the land. * * * and after this abraham buried sarah his wife in the cave in the field of machpelah before mamre (the same is hebron), in the land of canaan" (gen. : - ). years after this, when both abraham and his son isaac had passed the way of all the earth and had been laid to rest in this cave, the patriarch jacob in egypt gave directions for the entombment of his body in this family burial place. "there they buried abraham and sarah his wife; there they buried isaac and rebekah his wife; and there i buried leah" (gen. : ), and here, by his own request, jacob was buried. (gen. : .) joshua, the successor of moses, "utterly destroyed" hebron (joshua : ), and afterwards gave it to caleb, to whom it had been promised by moses forty-five years before. (joshua : - .) here abner was slain ( samuel : ), and the murderers of ishbosheth were put to death. ( samuel : .) the most interesting thing about the town is the "cave of machpelah," but it is inaccessible to christians. between and a church was built on the site, now marked by a carefully guarded mohammedan mosque. it is inclosed by a wall which may have been built by solomon. we were allowed to go in at the foot of a stairway as far as the seventh step, but might as well have been in the national capitol at washington so far as seeing the burial place was concerned. in the prince of wales, now king of england, was admitted. he was accompanied by dean stanley, who has described what he saw, but he was permitted neither to examine the monuments nor to descend to the cave below, the real burial chamber. as the body of jacob was carefully embalmed by the egyptian method, it is possible that his remains may yet be seen in their long resting place in this hebron cave. (gen. : , .) turning back toward jerusalem, we came to bethlehem late in the afternoon, and the "field of the shepherds" (luke : ) and the "fields of boaz" (ruth : - ) were pointed out. the place of greatest interest is the group of buildings, composed of two churches, greek and latin, and an armenian convent, all built together on the traditional site of the birth of the lord jesus. tradition is here contradicted by authorities partly on the ground that a cave to which entrance is made by a flight of stairs would probably not be used as a stable. this cave is in the church of st. mary, said to have been erected in by constantine. descending the stairs, we came into the small cavern, which is continually lighted by fifteen silver lamps, the property of the greeks, latins, and armenians, who each have an interest in the place. beneath an altar, in a semi-circular recess, a silver star has been set in the floor with the latin inscription: "_hic de virgine maria jesus christus natus est._" an armed turkish soldier was doing duty near this "star of bethlehem" the evening i was there. the well, from which it is said the "three mighty men" drew water for david, was visited. ( samuel : .) but the shades of night had settled down upon the little town where our savior was born, and we again entered our carriages and drove back to jerusalem, having had a fine day of interesting sight-seeing. on the wednesday before i left jerusalem, in the company of mrs. bates, i again visited bethlehem. thursday, october thirteenth, was the day we went down to jericho, the dead sea, and the jordan. the party was made up of the writer, mr. ahmed, mr. jennings, mrs. bates, four school teachers (three ladies and a gentleman) returning from the philippines, and the guides, mr. smith and ephraim aboosh. we went in two carriages driven by natives. "a certain man was going down from jerusalem to jericho; and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead" (luke : ). this lonely road is still the scene of occasional robberies, and the turkish government permits one of its soldiers to accompany the tourist for a fee, but we did not want to take this escort, as neither of the guides feared any danger. accordingly we took an early start without notifying the soldiers, and reached jericho, about twenty miles away, in time to visit elisha's fountain before dinner. the road leads out past bethany, down by the apostles' fountain, on past the khan of the good samaritan, and down the mountain to the plain of the jordan, this section of which is ten miles long and seven miles wide. before the road reaches the plain, it runs along a deep gorge bearing the name wady kelt, the brook cherith, where the prophet elisha was fed by the ravens night and morning till the brook dried up. ( kings : - .) we also saw the remains of an old aqueduct, and of a reservoir which was originally over five hundred feet long and more than four hundred feet wide. elisha's fountain is a beautiful spring some distance from the present jericho. doubtless it is the very spring whose waters elisha healed with salt. ( kings : - .) the ground about the fountain has been altered some in modern times, and there is now a beautiful pool of good, clear water, a delight both to the eye and to the throat of the dusty traveler who has come down from jerusalem seeing only the brown earth and white, chalky rock, upon which the unveiled sun has been pouring down his heat for hours. the water from the spring now runs a little grist mill a short distance below it. after dinner, eaten in front of the hotel in jericho, we drove over to the dead sea, a distance of several miles, and soon we were all enjoying a fine bath in the salt water, the women bathing at one place, the men at another. the water contains so much solid matter, nearly three and a third pounds to the gallon, that it is easy to float on the surface with hands, feet and head above the water. one who can swim but little in fresh water will find the buoyancy of the water here so great as to make swimming easy. when one stands erect in it, the body sinks down about as far as the top of the shoulders. care needs to be taken to keep the water out of the mouth, nose and eyes, as it is so salty that it is very disagreeable to these tender surfaces. dead sea water is two and a half pounds heavier than fresh water, and among other things, it contains nearly two pounds of chloride of magnesium, and almost a pound of chloride of sodium, or common salt, to the gallon. nothing but some very low forms of animal life, unobserved by the ordinary traveler, can live in this sea. the fish that get into it from the jordan soon die. those who bathe here usually drive over to the jordan and bathe again, to remove the salt and other substances that remain on the body after the first bath. the greatest depth of the dead sea is a little over thirteen hundred feet. the wicked cities of sodom and gomorrah stood here some place, but authorities disagree as to whether they were at the northern or southern end of the sea. in either case every trace of them has been wiped out by the awful destruction poured on them by the almighty. (gen. : to : ) the jordan where we saw it, near the mouth, and at the time we saw it, the thirteenth of october, was a quiet and peaceful stream, but the water was somewhat muddy. we entered two little boats and had a short ride on the river whose waters "stood, and rose up in one heap, a great way off," that the children of israel might cross (joshua : - ), and beneath whose wave the lord and savior jesus christ was baptized by the great prophet of the judaean wilderness. (matt. : - .) we also got out a little while on the east bank of the stream, the only time i was "beyond jordan" while in palestine. after supper, eaten in jericho, we went around to a bedouin encampment, where a dance was being executed--a dance different from any that i had ever seen before. one of the dancers, with a sword in hand, stood in the center of the ground they were using, while the others stood in two rows, forming a right angle. they went through with various motions and hand-clapping, accompanied by an indescribable noise at times. some of the bedouins were sitting around a small fire at one side, and some of the children were having a little entertainment of their own on another side of the dancing party. we were soon satisfied, and made our way back to the hotel and laid down to rest. the first jericho was a walled city about two miles from the present village, perhaps at the spring already mentioned, and was the first city taken in the conquest of the land under joshua. the jordan was crossed at gilgal (joshua : ), where the people were circumcised with knives of flint, and where the jews made their first encampment west of the river. (joshua : - .) "jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of israel," but by faithful compliance with the word of the lord the walls fell down. (joshua : - .) "and joshua charged them with an oath at that time, saying, cursed be the man before jehovah, that riseth up and buildeth this city jericho: with the loss of his first-born shall he lay the foundation thereof, and with the loss of his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it." regardless of this curse, we read that in the days of ahab, who "did more to provoke jehovah, the god of israel, to anger than all the kings of israel that were before him, * * * did hiel the beth-elite build jericho: he laid the foundation thereof with the loss of abiram his first-born, and set up the gates thereof with the loss of his youngest son segub, according to the word of jehovah, which he spake by joshua the son of nun" ( kings : , ). "the jericho * * * which was visited by jesus occupied a still different site," says bro. mcgarvey. the present jericho is a small arab village, poorly built, with a few exceptions, and having nothing beautiful in or around it but the large oleanders that grow in the ground made moist by water from elisha's fountain. we had satisfactory accommodations at the hotel, which is one of the few good houses there. jericho in the time of our lord was the home of a rich publican named zaccheus (luke : - ), and was an important and wealthy city, that had been fortified by herod the great, who constructed splendid palaces here, and it was here that "this infamous tyrant died." the original jericho, the home of rahab the harlot, was called the "city of palm trees" (deut. : ), but if the modern representative of that ancient city has any of these trees, they are few in number. across the jordan eastward are the mountains of moab, in one of which moses died after having delivered his valedictory, as recorded in deuteronomy. (deut. : - .) from a lofty peak the lord showed this great leader and law-giver a panorama of "all the land of gilead unto dan. * * * and jehovah said unto him, this is the land which i sware unto abraham, unto isaac, and unto jacob, saying, i will give it unto thy seed: i have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. so moses the servant of jehovah died there in the land of moab, according to the word of jehovah. and he buried him in the valley in the land of moab, over against beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." early wednesday morning we began our toilsome journey back to jerusalem, having nearly four thousand feet to climb in the twenty miles intervening. we stopped awhile at the khan of the good samaritan, which stands near some old ruins, and may not be far from the place to which the good samaritan carried his poor, wounded fellow-man so long ago. here i bought some lamps that look old enough, but may be quite modern imitations of the kind that were carried in the days of the wise and foolish virgins. a stop was also made at the apostles' fountain, near bethany, where i saw an arab working bread on his coat, which was spread on the ground. over by the damascus gate i one day saw a man feeding his camel on his coat, so these coarse cloth garments are very serviceable indeed. we got back to jerusalem in time to do a good deal of sight-seeing in the afternoon. the following tuesday was occupied with a trip on "donkey-back" to nebi samwil, emmaus, abu ghosh, and ain kairim. our party was small this time, being composed of mr. jennings, mr. smith, the writer, and a "donkey-boy" to care for the three animals we rode, when we dismounted to make observations. he was liberal, and sometimes tried to tell us which way to go. we went out on the north side of the city and came to the extensive burial places called the "tombs of the judges." near by is an ancient wine press cut in the rock near a rock-hewn cistern, which may have been used for storing the wine. en nebi samwil is on an elevation a little more than three thousand feet above the sea and about four hundred feet higher than jerusalem, five miles distant. from the top of the minaret we had a fine view through a field glass, seeing the country for many miles around. this is thought by some to be the mizpah of the bible ( kings : ), and tradition has it that the prophet samuel was buried here. a little north of nebi samwil is the site of ancient gibeon, where "abner was beaten, and the men of israel, before the servants of david" ( samuel : - ). we next rode over to el kubebeh, supposed by some to be the emmaus of new testament times, where jesus went after his resurrection and sat at meat with his disciples without being recognized. (luke : - .) the place has little to attract one. a modern building, which i took to be the residence of some wealthy person, occupies a prominent position, and is surrounded by well-kept grounds, inclosed with a wall. the franciscan monastery is a good sized institution, having on its grounds the remains of a church of the crusaders' period, over which a new and attractive building has been erected. one section of it has the most beautiful floor of polished marble, laid in patterns, that i have ever seen. it also contains a painting of the savior and the two disciples. we went outside of the monastery to eat our noon-day lunch, but before we finished, one of the monks came and called us in to a meal at their table. it was a good meal, for which no charge was made, and i understand it is their custom to give free meals to visitors, for they believe that jesus here sat at meat with his two disciples. we enjoyed their hospitality, but drank none of the wine that was placed before us. our next point was abu ghosh, named for an old village sheik who, "with his six brothers and eighty-five descendants, was the terror of the whole country" about a century ago. our object in visiting the spot was to see the old crusaders' church, the best preserved one in palestine. the stone walls are perhaps seven or eight feet thick. the roof is still preserved, and traces of the painting that originally adorned the walls are yet to be seen. a new addition has been erected at one end, and the old church may soon be put in repair. the last place we visited before returning to jerusalem was ain kairim, a town occupied mainly by the mohammedans, and said to have been the home of that worthy couple of whom it was written: "they were both righteous before god, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the lord blameless" (luke : ). the portion occupied by the latins and greeks is very beautifully situated on the side of the mountain. the stone houses, "whited walls," and green cypresses make quite a pretty picture. the church of st. john, according to tradition, stands on the spot where once dwelt zacharias and elizabeth, the parents of john, the great forerunner of jesus. night came upon us before we got back to our starting place, and as this was my first day of donkey riding, i was very much fatigued when i finally dismounted in jerusalem; yet i arose the next morning feeling reasonably well, but not craving another donkey ride over a rough country beneath the hot sun. on saturday, the twenty-second of october, i turned away from jerusalem, having been in and around the place almost two weeks, and went back to jaffa by rail. after a few miles the railway leads past bittir, supposed to be the beth-arabah of joshua : . it is also of interest from the fact that it played a part in the famous insurrection of bar cochba against the romans. in a.d. it was captured by a roman force after a siege of three and a half years. ramleh, a point twelve miles from jaffa, was once occupied by napoleon. lydda, supposed to be the lod of ezra : , was passed. here peter healed aeneas, who had been palsied eight years. (acts : - .) jaffa is the joppa of the bible, and has a good deal of interesting history. when "jonah rose to flee unto tarshish from the presence of jehovah," he "went down to joppa and found a ship going unto tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them to tarshish from the presence of jehovah." (jonah : .) his unpleasant experience with the great fish is well known. when solomon was about to build the first temple, hiram sent a communication to him, saying: "we will cut wood out of lebanon as much as thou shalt need; and will bring it to thee in floats by sea to joppa; and thou shalt carry it up to jerusalem" ( chron. : ). in the days of ezra, when zerubbabel repaired the temple, we read that "they gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and food, and drink, and oil, unto them of sidon, and to them of tyre, to bring cedar trees from lebanon to the sea, unto joppa, according to the grant that they had of cyrus king of persia" (ezra : ). it was the home of "a certain disciple named tabitha," whom peter was called from lydda to raise from the dead. (acts : - .) simon the tanner also lived in joppa, and it was at his house that peter had his impressive vision of the sheet let down from heaven prior to his going to caesarea to speak the word of salvation to cornelius and his friends. (acts : - .) the city is built on a rocky elevation rising one hundred feet above the sea, which has no harbor here, so that vessels do not stop when the water is too rough for passengers to be carried safely in small boats. extensive orange groves are cultivated around jaffa, and lemons are also grown, and i purchased six for a little more than a cent in american money. sesame, wine, wool, and soap are exported, and the imports are considerable. the train reached the station about the middle of the day, and the ship did not leave till night, so i had ample time to visit the "house of simon the tanner." it is "by the sea side" all right, but looks too modern to be impressive to the traveler who does not accept all that tradition says. i paid cook's tourist agency the equivalent of a dollar to take me through the custom house and out to the ship, and i do not regret spending the money, although it was five times as much as i had paid the native boatman for taking me ashore when i first came to jaffa. the sea was rough--very rough for me--and a little woman at my side was shaking with nervousness, although she tried to be brave, and her little boy took a firm hold on my clothing. i don't think that i was scared, but i confess that i did not enjoy the motion of the boat as it went sliding down from the crest of the waves, which were higher than any i had previously ridden upon in a rowboat. as darkness had come, it would have been a poor time to be upset, but we reached the vessel in safety. when we came alongside the ship, a boatman on each side of the passenger simply pitched or threw him up on the stairs when the rising wave lifted the little boat to the highest point. it was easily done, but it is an experience one need not care to repeat unnecessarily. i was now through with my sight-seeing in the holy land and aboard the austrian ship _maria teresa_, which was to carry me to the land of the ancient pharaohs. like jonah, i had paid my fare, so i laid down to sleep. there was a rain in the night, but no one proposed to throw me overboard, and we reached port said, at the mouth of the suez canal, the next day. chapter vii. egypt, the land of tombs and temples. the _maria teresa_ landed me in port said, egypt, lord's day, october twenty-third, and at seven o'clock that evening i took the train for cairo, arriving there about four hours later. i had no difficulty in finding a hotel, where i took some rest, but was out very early the next morning to see something of the largest city in africa. the population is a great mixture of french, greeks, english, austrians, germans, egyptians, arabians, copts, berbers, turks, jews, negroes, syrians, persians, and others. in smyrna, damascus, and jerusalem, cities of the turkish empire, the streets are narrow, crooked, and dirty, but here are many fine buildings, electric lights, electric cars, and good, wide streets, over which vehicles with rubber tires roll noiselessly. i first went out to the mokattam heights, lying back of the city, at an elevation of six hundred and fifty feet. from the summit an extensive view can be obtained, embracing not only the city of cairo, with its many mosques and minarets, but the river beyond, and still farther beyond the gizeh (gezer) group of the pyramids. the side of the heights toward the city is a vast quarry, from which large quantities of rock have been taken. an old fort and a mosque stand in solitude on the top. i went out by the citadel and passed the mosque tombs of the mamelukes, who were originally brought into the country from the caucasus as slaves, but they became sufficiently powerful to make one of their number sultan in . the tombs of the caliphs, successors of mohammed in temporal and spiritual power, are not far from the heights. as i was returning to the city, a laborer followed me a little distance, and indicated that he wanted my name written on a piece of paper he was carrying. i accommodated him, but do not know for what purpose he wanted it. i stopped at the alabaster mosque, built after the fashion of one of the mosques of constantinople, and decorated with alabaster. the outside is full of little depressions, and has no special beauty, but the inside is more attractive. the entrance is through a large court, paved with squares of white marble. the floor of the mosque was nicely covered with carpet, and the walls are coated for a few feet with alabaster, and above that they are painted in imitation of the same material. the numerous lamps do much towards making the place attractive. the attendant said the central chandelier, fitted for three hundred and sixty-six candles, was a present from louis philippe, of france. a clock is also shown that came from the same source. the pulpit is a platform at the head of a stairway, and the place for reading the koran is a small platform three or four feet high, also ascended by steps. within an inclosure in one corner of the building is the tomb of mohammed ali, which, i was told, was visited by the khedive the day before i was there. the most interesting part of the day was the afternoon trip to the nine pyramids of the gizeh group. they may be reached by a drive over the excellent carriage road that leads out to them, or by taking one of the electric cars that run along by this road. three of the pyramids are large and the others are small, but one, the pyramid of cheops, is built on such magnificent proportions that it is called "the great pyramid." according to baedeker, "the length of each side is now seven hundred and fifty feet, but was formerly about seven hundred and sixty-eight feet; the present perpendicular height is four hundred and fifty-one feet, while originally, including the nucleus of the rock at the bottom and the apex, which has now disappeared, it is said to have been four hundred and eighty-two feet. * * * in round numbers, the stupendous structure covers an area of nearly thirteen acres." it is estimated that two million three hundred thousand blocks of stone, each containing forty cubic feet, were required for building this ancient and wonderful monument, upon which a hundred thousand men are said to have been employed for twenty years. nearly all of the material was brought across from the east side of the nile, but the granite that entered into its construction was brought down from syene, near assouan, five hundred miles distant. two chambers are shown to visitors, one of them containing an empty stone coffin. the passageway leading to these chambers is not easily traversed, as it runs at an angle like a stairway with no steps, for the old footholds have become so nearly worn out that the tourist might slip and slide to the bottom were it not for his arab helpers. a fee of one dollar secures the right to walk about the grounds, ascend the pyramid, and go down inside of it. three arabs go with the ticket, and two of them are really needed. those who went with me performed their work in a satisfactory manner, and while not permitted to ask for "backshish," they let me know that they would accept anything i might have for them. the ascent was rather difficult, as some of the stones are more than a yard high. it is estimated that this mighty monument, which abraham may have looked upon, contains enough stone to build a wall around the frontier of france. of the seven wonders of the world, the pyramid of cheops alone remains. the other attractions here are the granite temple, and some tombs, from one of which a jackal ran away as we were approaching. i got back to cairo after dark, and took the eight o'clock train for assouan. this place is about seven hundred miles from port said by rail, and is a good sized town. the main street, fronting the river, presents a pleasing appearance with its hotels, cook's tourist office, the postoffice, and other buildings. gas and electricity are used for lighting, and the dust in the streets is laid by a real street sprinkler, and not by throwing the water on from a leathern bag, as i saw it in damascus. the cataract hotel is a large place for tourists, with a capacity of three hundred and fifty people. the savoy hotel is beautifully located on elephantine island, in front of the town. to the south of the town lie the ancient granite quarries of syene, which furnished the egyptian workmen building material so long ago, and still lack a great deal of being exhausted. i saw an obelisk lying here which is said to be ninety-two feet long and ten and a half feet wide in the broadest part, but both ends of it were covered. in this section there is an english cemetery inclosed by a wall, and several tombs of the natives, those of the sheiks being prominent. farther to the south is a great modern work, the nile dam, a mile and a quarter long, and built of solid masonry. in the deepest place it is one hundred feet high, and the thickness at the bottom is eighty-eight feet. it was begun in , and at one time upwards of ten thousand men were employed on the works. it seemed to be finished when i was there, but a few workmen were still engaged about the place. the total cost has been estimated at a sum probably exceeding ten millions of dollars. there are one hundred and eighty sluices to regulate the out-flow of the water, which is collected to a height of sixty-five feet during the inundation of the nile. the dam would have been made higher, but by so doing philae island, a short distance up the river, would have been submerged. the remains on this island are so well preserved that it is almost a misnomer to call them ruins. the little island is only five hundred yards long and sixty yards wide, and contains the temple of isis, temple of hathor, a kiosk or pavilion, two colonnades, and a small nilometer. in the gateway to one of the temples is a french inscription concerning napoleon's campaign in egypt in . all the buildings are of stone, and the outside walls are covered with figures and inscriptions. some of the figures are just cut in the rough, never having been finished. here, as elsewhere in egypt, very delicate carvings are preserved almost as distinct as though done but recently. the guard on the island was not going to let me see the ruins because i held no ticket. after a little delay, a small boat, carrying some diplomatic officers, came up. these gentlemen, one of whom was a russian, i think, tried to get the guard to let me see the place with them, but he hesitated, and required them to give him a paper stating that i was there with them. later, when i got to the place where the tickets were sold, i learned that philae island was open for visitors without a ticket. perhaps the guard thought he would get some "backshish" from me. i made an interesting visit to the bisharin village, just outside of assouan, and near the railroad. the inhabitants are very dark-skinned, and live in booths or tents, covered with something like straw matting. i stopped at one of the lodges, which was probably six feet wide and eight feet long, and high enough to enable the occupants to sit erect on the floor. an old man, naked from the waist up, was sitting outside. a young woman was operating a small hand mill, and one or two other women were sitting there on the ground. they showed me some long strings of beads, and i made a purchase at a low price. while at this lodge, for i can not call it a house, and it is not altogether like a tent, about a dozen of the native children gathered around me, and one, who could speak some english, endeavored to draw out part of my cash by repeating this speech: "half a piaster, mister; thank you very much." the girls had their hair in small plaits, which seemed to be well waxed together. one of the boys, about ten years of age, clothed in a peculiar manner, was finely formed, and made a favorable impression on my mind. i would like to see what could be made of him if he were taken entirely away from his unfavorable surroundings and brought up with the care and attention that many american boys receive. he and another lad went with me to see the obelisk in the granite quarry, and i tried to teach them to say: "blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see god." as i was repeating the first word of the sentence and trying to induce one of them to follow me, he said, "no blessed," and i failed to get either of them to say these beautiful words. in egypt and other countries there are millions of persons just as ignorant of the gospel and just as much in need of it as the curly-headed bisharin lad who conducted me to the granite quarry. i took a pleasant boat ride across the river, past the beautiful grounds of the savoy hotel, to the rock tombs of the great persons of ancient elephantine. i tarried a little too long at the tombs, or else did not start soon enough, for darkness came upon us soon after leaving them. for some distance the boatman walked on the shore and towed the boat with a long rope, while i tried to keep it off of the rocks with the rudder. there was not enough wind to make the sail useful, and as we were passing around the end of elephantine island we drifted against the rocks, but with no other loss than the loss of some time. it was my desire to see the nilometer on the island, and i did see it, but not until after i had sent the boatman to buy a candle. this ancient water-gauge was repaired in , after a thousand years of neglect. the following description by strabo is taken from baedeker's _guide to egypt_: "the nilometer is a well, built of regular hewn stones, on the bank of the nile, in which is recorded the rise of the stream--not only the maximum, but also the minimum, and average rise, for the water in the well rises and falls with the stream. on the side of the well are marks measuring the height for the irrigation and other water levels. these are published for general information. * * * this is of importance to the peasants for the management of the water, the embankments, the canals, etc., and to the officials on account of the taxes, for the higher the rise of the water, the higher the taxes." it needs to be said, however, that this "well" is not circular, but rectangular, and has a flight of steps leading down to the water. on the way back to cairo i stopped at luxor, on the site of the ancient city of thebes. the chief attraction here is the temple of luxor, six hundred and twenty-one feet long and one hundred and eighty feet wide. in recent times this temple was entirely buried, and a man told me he owned a house on the spot which he sold to the government for about four hundred and fifty dollars, not knowing of the existence of a temple buried beneath his dwelling. some of the original statues of rameses ii. remain in front of the ruins. i measured the right arm of one of these figures, from the pit where it touches the side to the same point in front, a distance of about six feet, and that does not represent the entire circumference, for the granite between the arm and the body was never entirely cut away. near by stands a large red granite obelisk, with carvings from top to bottom. a companion to this one, for they were always erected in pairs, has been removed. in ancient times a paved street led from this temple to karnak, which is reached by a short walk. this ancient street was adorned by a row of ram-headed sphinxes on each side. toward karnak many of them are yet to be seen in a badly mutilated condition, but there is another avenue containing forty of these figures in a good state of preservation. the first of the karnak temples reached is one dedicated to the theban moon god, khons, reared by rameses iii. the temple of ammon, called "the throne of the world," lies a little beyond. i spent half a day on the west side of the river in what was the burial ground of ancient thebes, where also numerous temples were erected. my first stop was before the ruins of kurna. the temple of sethos i. originally had ten columns before it, but one is now out of place. the temple der el bahri bore an english name, signifying "most splendid of all," and it may not have been misnamed. it is situated at the base of a lofty barren cliff of a yellowish cast, and has been partially restored. in a french explorer discovered the mummies of several egyptian rulers in an inner chamber of this temple, that had probably been removed to this place for security from robbers. in the number were the remains of rameses ii., who was probably reigning in the boyhood days of moses, and the mummy of set ii., perhaps the pharaoh of the oppression, and i saw both of them in the museum in cairo. the ramasseum is another large temple, built by rameses ii., who is said to have had sixty-nine sons and seventy daughters. there are also extensive remains of another temple called medinet habu. about a half a mile away from this ruin are the two colossal statues of memnon, which were surrounded by water, so i could not get close to them. the following dimensions of one of them are given: "height of the figure, fifty-two feet; height of the pedestal on which the feet rest, thirteen feet; height of the entire monument, sixty-five feet. but when the figure was adorned with the long-since vanished crown, the original height may have reached sixty-nine feet. * * * each foot is ten and one-half feet long. * * * the middle finger on one hand is four and a half feet long, and the arm from the tip of the finger to the elbow measures fifteen and one-half feet." all about these temples are indications of ancient graves, from which the arabs have dug the mummies. as i rode out, a boy wanted to sell me a mummy hand, and another had the mummy of a bird. they may both have been counterfeits made especially for unsuspecting tourists. there are also extensive rock-cut tombs of the ancient kings and queens, which are lighted by electricity in the tourist season. i did not visit them on account of the high price of admission. the government has very properly taken charge of the antiquities, and a ticket is issued for six dollars that admits to all these ruins in upper egypt. tickets for any one particular place were not sold last season, but tourists were allowed to visit all places not inclosed without a ticket. while in luxor i visited the american mission boarding school for girls, conducted by miss buchanan, who was assisted by a miss gibson and five native teachers. a new building, with a capacity for four hundred boarders, was being erected at a cost of about thirty-five thousand dollars. this would be the finest building for girls in egypt when finished, i was told, and most of the money for it had been given by tourists. i spent a night in luxor, staying in the home of youssef saïd, a native connected with the mission work. his uncle, who could not speak english, expressed himself as being glad to have "a preacher of jesus christ" to stay in his house. leaving luxor, i returned to cairo for some more sight-seeing, and i had a very interesting time of it. in gen. : we read: "pharaoh called joseph's name zaphenath-paneah; and gave him to wife asenath, the daughter of potipherah, priest of on." heliopolis, meaning city of the sun, is another name for this place, from whence the wife of joseph came. it is only a few miles from cairo, and easily reached by railway. all that i saw of the old city was a lonely obelisk, "probably the oldest one in the world," standing in a cultivated field and surrounded by the growing crop. it is sixty-six feet high, six feet square at the base, and is well preserved. the ezbekiah gardens are situated in the best portion of cairo. this beautiful park contains quite a variety of trees, including the banyan, and is a resort of many of the people. band concerts are held, and a small entrance fee is taken at the gate. on the thirtieth of the month i visited the museum, which has been moved to the city and installed in its own commodious and substantial building. this vast collection of relics of this wonderful old country affords great opportunities for study. i spent a good deal of time there seeing the coffins of wood, white limestone, red granite, and alabaster; sacrificial tables, mummies, ancient paintings, weights and measures, bronze lamps, necklaces, stone and alabaster jars, bronze hinges, articles of pottery, and many other things. it is remarkable how some of the embalmed bodies, thousands of years old, are preserved. i looked down upon the pharaoh who is supposed to have oppressed israel. the body is well preserved, but it brought thoughts to me of the smallness of the fleshly side of man. he who once ruled in royal splendor now lies there in very humble silence. in some cases the cloths wrapped around these mummies are preserved almost perfectly, and i remember a gilt mask that was so bright that one might have taken it for a modern product. after the body was securely wrapped, a picture was sometimes painted over the face, and now, after the lapse of centuries, some of these are very clear and distinct. i saw a collection of scarabaei, or beetles, which were anciently worshiped in this country. dealers offer figures of this kind for sale, but the most of them are probably manufactured for the tourist trade. on lord's day, october thirtieth, i attended the evening services at the american mission, and went to bedrashen the following day. this is the nearest railway station to memphis, the ancient capital of egypt, now an irregular pile of ruined mud bricks. i secured a donkey, and a boy to care for it and tell me where to go. we soon passed the dilapidated ruins of the old capital. two prostrate statues of great size were seen on the way to the step pyramid of sakkara, which is peculiar in that it is built with great offsets or steps, still plainly visible, although large quantities of the rock have crumbled and fallen down. the department of antiquities has posted a notice in french, arabic and english, to the effect that it is dangerous to make the ascent, and that the government will not be responsible for accidents to tourists who undertake it. i soon reached the top without any special difficulty, and with no more danger, so far as i could see, than one experiences in climbing a steep hill strewn with rocks. i entered another pyramid, which has a stone in one side of it twenty-five feet long and about five and a half feet high. some more tombs were visited, and the delicate carving on the inner walls was observed. in one instance a harvest scene was represented, in another the fish in a net could be discerned. the serapeum is an underground burial place for the sacred bull, discovered by mariette in , after having been buried since about b.c. in those times the bull was an object of worship in egypt, and when one died, he was carefully embalmed and put in a stone coffin in one of the chambers of the serapeum. some of these coffins are twelve feet high and fifteen feet long. before leaving cairo, i went into the famous shepheard's hotel, where i received some information about the place from the manager, who looked like a well-salaried city pastor. the grand continental presents a better appearance on the outside, but i do not believe it equals shepheard's on the inside. i was now ready to turn towards home, so i dropped down to port said again, where there is little of interest to the tourist except the ever-changing panorama of ships in the mouth of the suez canal, and the study of the social condition of the people. my delay in the city while waiting for a ship gave me a good deal of time for writing and visiting the missionaries. the seamen's rest is conducted by mr. locke, who goes out in the harbor and gathers up sailors in his steam launch, and carries them back to their vessels after the service. one night, after speaking in one of these meetings, i rode out with him. the american mission conducts a school for boys, and feltus hanna, the native superintendent, kindly showed me around. the peniel mission is conducted by two american ladies. the british and foreign bible society has a depot here, and keeps three men at work visiting ships in the harbor all the time. i attended the services in the chapel of the church of england one morning. with all these religious forces the city is very wicked. the street in which my hotel was located was largely given up to drinking and harlotry. on the ninth of november the french ship _congo_ stopped in the harbor, and i went down late in the evening to embark, but the authorities would not permit me to go aboard, because i had not been examined by the medical officer, who felt my pulse and signed a paper that was never called for, and i went aboard all right. the ship stopped at alexandria, and i went around in the city, seeing nothing of equal interest to pompey's pillar, a monument standing ninety-eight feet and nine inches high. the main shaft is seventy-three feet high and nearly thirty feet in circumference. we reached marseilles in the evening of november sixteenth, after experiencing some weather rough enough to make me uncomfortable, and several of the others were really seasick. i had several hours in paris, which was reached early the next day, and the united states consulate and the louvre, the national museum of france, were visited. from paris i went to london by way of dieppe and new haven. i left summer weather in egypt, and found that winter was on hand in france and england. london was shrouded in a fog. i went back to my friends at twynholm, and made three addresses on lord's day, and spoke again on monday night. i sailed from liverpool for new york on the _ss. cedric_ november twenty-third. we were in the harbor at queenstown, ireland, the next day, and came ashore at the new york custom house on the second of december. the _cedric_ was then the second largest ship in the world, being seven hundred feet long and seventy-five feet broad. she carries a crew of three hundred and forty, and has a capacity for over three thousand passengers. on this trip she carried one thousand three hundred and thirty-six, and the following twenty classes of people were represented: americans, english, french, german, danes, norwegians, roumanians, spanish, arabs, japanese, negroes, greeks, russian jews, fins, swedes, austrians, armenians, poles, irish, and scotch. a great stream of immigrants is continually pouring into the country at this point. twelve thousand were reported as arriving in one day, and a recent paper contains a note to the effect that the number arriving in june will exceed eighty thousand, as against fifty thousand in june of last year. "the character of the immigrants seems to grow steadily worse." my traveling companion from port said to marseilles and from liverpool to new york was solomon elia, who had kindly shown me through the israelite alliance school in jerusalem. i reached philadelphia the same day the ship landed in new york, but was detained there with brethren on account of a case of quinsy. i reached home on the fourteenth of december, after an absence of five months and three days, in which time i had seen something of fourteen foreign countries, having a very enjoyable and profitable trip. chapter viii. geography of palestine. this section of country has been known by several names. it has been called the "land of canaan," the "land of israel," the "land of promise," the "land of the hebrews," and the "holy land." canaan was simply the country between the mediterranean and the jordan, extending from mt. lebanon on the north to the desert of arabia on the south. dan was in the extreme northern part, and beer-sheba lay in the southern end of the country, one hundred and thirty-nine miles distant. the average width of the land is about forty miles, and the total area is in the neighborhood of six thousand miles. "it is not in size or physical characteristics proportioned to its moral and historical position as the theater of the most momentous events in the world's history." palestine, the land occupied by the twelve tribes, included the land of canaan and a section of country east of the jordan one hundred miles long and about twenty-five miles wide, occupied by reuben, gad, and the half tribe of manasseh. the land of promise was still more extensive, reaching from "the river of egypt unto the great river, the river euphrates," embracing about sixty thousand square miles, or a little less than the five new england states. the country is easily divided into four parallel strips. beginning at the mediterranean, we have the maritime plain, the mountain region, the jordan valley, and the eastern table-land. the long stretch of lowland known as the maritime plain is divided into three sections. the portion lying north of mt. carmel was called phoenicia. it varies in width from half a mile in the north to eight miles in the south. the ancient cities of tyre and sidon belonged to this section. directly east of mt. carmel is the plain of esdraelon, physically a part of the maritime plain. it is an irregular triangle, whose sides are fourteen, sixteen, and twenty-five miles respectively, the longest side being next to mt. carmel. here barak defeated the army of sisera under jabin, and here josiah, king of judah, was killed in a battle with the egyptians under pharaoh-necoh. the plains of sharon and philistia, lying south of carmel, are usually regarded as the true maritime plain. sharon extends southward from carmel about fifty miles, reaching a little below jaffa, and has an average width of eight miles. the zerka, or crocodile river, which traverses this plain, is the largest stream of palestine west of the jordan. there are several other streams crossing the plain from the mountains to the sea, but they usually cease to flow in the summer season. joppa, lydda, ramleh, and caesarea belong to this plain. herod the great built caesarea, and spent large sums of money on its palace, temple, theater, and breakwater. the plain of philistia extends thirty or forty miles from the southern limits of sharon to gaza, varying in width from twelve to twenty-five miles. it is well watered by several streams, some of which flow all the year. part of the water from the mountains flows under the ground and rises in shallow lakes near the coast. water can easily be found here, as also in sharon, by digging wells, and the soil is suitable for the culture of small grains and for pasture. during a part of the year the plain is beautifully ornamented with a rich growth of brightly colored flowers, a characteristic of palestine in the wet season. gaza figures in the history of samson, who "laid hold of the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and plucked them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before hebron." ashkelon, on the coast, is connected with the history of the crusades. ashdod, or azotus, is where philip was found after the baptism of the eunuch. it is said that psammetichus, an ancient egyptian king, captured this place after a siege of twenty-seven years. ekron and gath also belonged to this plain. the ridge of mountains lying between the coast plain and the jordan valley form the backbone of the country. here, more than elsewhere, the israelites made their homes, on account of the hostility of the inhabitants in the lowlands. this ridge is a continuation of the lebanon range, and extends as far south as the desert. in upper galilee the mountains reach an average height of two thousand eight hundred feet above sea level, but in lower galilee they are a thousand feet lower. in samaria and judaea they reach an altitude of two or three thousand feet. the foot-hills, called the shefelah, and the negeb, or "south country," complete the ridge. the highest peak is jebel mukhmeel, in northern palestine, rising ten thousand two hundred feet above the sea. mt. tabor, in galilee, is one thousand eight hundred and forty-three feet high, while gerizim and ebal, down in samaria, are two thousand eight hundred and fifty feet and three thousand and seventy-five feet respectively. the principal mountains in judaea are mt. zion, two thousand five hundred and fifty feet; mt. moriah, about one hundred feet lower; mount of olives, two thousand six hundred and sixty-five feet, and mt. hebron, three thousand and thirty feet. nazareth, shechem, jerusalem, and hebron belong to the mountain region. the jordan valley is the lowest portion of the earth's surface. no other depressions are more than three hundred feet below sea level, but the jordan is six hundred and eighty-two feet lower than the ocean at the sea of galilee, and nearly thirteen hundred feet lower where it enters the dead sea. this wonderful depression, which includes the dead sea, forty-five miles long, and the valley south of it, one hundred miles in length, is two hundred and fifty miles long and from four to fourteen miles in width, and is called the arabah. the sources of the jordan are one hundred and thirty-four miles from the mouth, but the numerous windings of the stream make it two hundred miles long. the jordan is formed by the union of three streams issuing from springs at an elevation of seventeen hundred feet above the sea. the principal source is the spring at dan, one of the largest in the world, as it sends forth a stream twenty feet wide and from twenty to thirty inches deep. the spring at banias, the caesarea philippi of the scriptures, is the eastern source. the hashbany flows from a spring forming the western source. a few miles south of the union of the streams above mentioned the river widens into the waters of merom, a small lake nearly on a level with the mediterranean. in the next few miles it descends rapidly, and empties into the sea of galilee, called also the sea of chinnereth, sea of tiberias, and lake of gennesaret. in the sixty-five miles from the sea of galilee to the dead sea the fall is about six hundred feet. the rate of descent is not uniform throughout the whole course of the river. in one section it drops sixty feet to the mile, while there is one stretch of thirteen miles with a descent of only four and a half feet to the mile. the average is twenty-two feet to the mile. the width varies from eighty to one hundred and eighty feet, and the depth from five to twelve feet. caesarea philippi, at the head of the valley, capernaum, magdala, tiberias, and tarrichaea were cities on the sea of galilee. jericho and gilgal were in the plain at the southern extremity, and sodom, gomorrah, admah, and zeboim, upon which the wrath of god was poured, were somewhere in the region of the dead sea. the eastern table-land has a mountain wall four thousand feet high facing the river. this table-land, which is mostly fertile, extends eastward about twenty miles, and terminates in the arabian desert, which is still higher. here the mountains are higher and steeper than those west of the jordan. mt. hermon, in the north, is nine thousand two hundred feet high. south of the jarmuk river is mt. gilead, three thousand feet high, and mt. nebo, lying east of the northern end of the dead sea, reaches an elevation of two thousand six hundred and seventy feet. besides the jarmuk, another stream, the jabbok, flows into the jordan from this side. the arnon empties into the dead sea. the northern section was called bashan, the middle, gilead, and the southern part, moab. bashan anciently had many cities, and numerous ruins yet remain. in the campaign of israel against og, king of bashan, sixty cities were captured. many events occurred in gilead, where were situated jabesh-gilead, ramoth-gilead, and the ten cities of the decapolis, with the exception of beth-shean, which was west of the jordan. from the summit of mt. pisgah, a peak of mt. nebo, moses viewed the land of promise, and from these same heights balaam looked down on the israelites and undertook to curse them, moab lies south of the arnon and east of the dead sea. in the time of a famine, an israelite, named elimelech, with his wife and sons, sojourned in this land. after the death of elimelech and both of his sons, who had married in the land, naomi returned to bethlehem, accompanied by her daughter-in-law, ruth, the moabitess, who came into the line of ancestry of david and of the lord jesus christ. once, when the kings of judah, israel, and edom invaded the land, the king of moab (when they came to kir-hareseth, the capital) took his oldest son, who would have succeeded him on the throne, "and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall." at this the invaders "departed from him and returned to their own land." the political geography of palestine is so complicated that it can not be handled in the space here available. only a few words, applicable to the country in new testament times, can be said. the provinces of galilee, samaria, and judaea were on the west side of the jordan, while the decapolis and perea lay east of that river. the northern province of galilee, which saw most of the ministry of jesus, extended from the mediterranean to the sea of galilee, and a much greater distance from the north to the south. it was peopled with jews, and was probably a much better country than is generally supposed, as it contained a large number of cities and villages, and produced fish, oil, wheat, wine, figs, and flax. "it was in christ's time one of the gardens of the world--well watered, exceedingly fertile, thoroughly cultivated, and covered with a dense population."--_merrill_. samaria, lying south of galilee, extended from the mediterranean to the jordan, and was occupied by a mixed race, formed by the mingling of jews with the foreigners who had been sent into the land. when they were disfellowshiped by the jews, about b.c., they built a temple on mt. gerizim. the province of judaea was the largest in palestine, and extended from the mediterranean on the west to the dead sea and the jordan on the east. it was bounded on the north by samaria, and on the south by the desert. although but fifty-five miles long and about thirty miles wide, it held out against egypt, babylonia, and rome. the decapolis, or region of ten gentile cities, was the northeastern part of palestine, extending eastward from the jordan to the desert. perea lay south of the decapolis, and east of the jordan and dead sea. the kingdom of herod the great, whose reign ended b.c. , included all of this territory. after his death the country was divided into tetrarchies. archelaus ruled over judaea and samaria; antipas ("herod the tetrarch") had control of galilee and perea; philip had a section of country east of the sea of galilee, and lysanius ruled over abilene, a small section of country between mt. hermon and damascus, not included in the domain of herod the great. herod agrippa was made king by caligula, and his territory embraced all that his grandfather, herod the great, had ruled over, with abilene added, making his territory more extensive than that of any jewish king after solomon. he is the "herod the king" who killed the apostle james and imprisoned peter. after delivering an oration at caesarea, he died a horrible death, "because he gave not god the glory." at his death, in a.d. , the country was divided into two provinces. the northern section was ruled by herod agrippa ii. till the jewish state was dissolved, in a.d. . he was the "king agrippa" before whom paul spoke. the southern part of the country, called the province of judaea, was ruled by procurators having their seat at caesarea. when jerusalem was destroyed in a.d. , the country was annexed to syria. the climate depends more upon local conditions than on the latitude, which is the same as southern georgia and alabama, jerusalem being on the parallel of savannah. in point of temperature it is about the same as these localities, but in other respects it differs much. the year has two seasons--the dry, lasting from the first of april to the first of november, and the rainy season, lasting the other five months, during which time there are copious rains. one authority says: "were the old cisterns cleaned and mended, and the beautiful tanks and aqueducts repaired, the ordinary fall of rain would be quite sufficient for the wants of the inhabitants and for irrigation." the summers are hot, the winters mild. snow sometimes falls, but does not last long, and ice is seldom formed. palestine is not a timbered country. the commonest oak is a low, scrubby bush. the "cedars of lebanon" have almost disappeared. the carob tree, white poplar, a thorn bush, and the oleander are found in some localities. the principal fruit-bearing trees are the fig, olive, date palm, pomegranate, orange, and lemon. grapes, apples, apricots, quinces, and other fruits also grow here. wheat, barley, and a kind of corn are raised, also tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons, and tobacco. the ground is poorly cultivated with inferior tools, and the grain is tramped out with cattle, as in the long ago. sheep and goats are the most numerous domestic animals, a peculiarity of the sheep being the extra large "fat tail" (lev. : ), a lump of pure fat from ten to fifteen inches long and from three to five inches thick. cattle, camels, horses, mules, asses, dogs and chickens are kept. chapter ix. historic sketch of palestine. in the ancient babylonian city called ur of the chaldees lived the patriarch terah, who was the father of three sons, abram, nahor, and haran. lot was the son of haran, who died in ur. terah, accompanied by abram, sarai, and lot, started for "the land of canaan," but they "came unto haran and dwelt there," "and terah died in haran." "now jehovah said unto abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that i will show thee: and i will make of thee a great nation, and i will bless thee and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing: and i will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will i curse: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." so abram, sarai, and lot came into the land of canaan about b.c., and dwelt first at shechem, but "he removed from thence unto the mountain on the east of bethel, and pitched his tent, having bethel on the west and ai on the east." abram did not remain here, but journeyed to the south, and when a famine came, he entered egypt. afterwards he returned to the southern part of canaan, and still later he returned "unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between bethel and ai. * * * and lot also, who went with abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents." on account of some discord between the herdsmen of the two parties, "abram said unto lot, let there be no strife, i pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we are brethren." accepting his uncle's proposition, lot chose the well watered plain of the jordan, "journeyed east," "and moved his tent as far as sodom," but "abram moved his tent, and came and dwelt by the oaks of mamre, which are in hebron." some time after this chedorlaomer, king of elam, entered the region occupied by lot, and overcame the kings of sodom, gomorrah, admah, zeboiim, and bela, carrying away the goods of sodom and gomorrah, "and they took lot * * * and his goods." "and there came one that had escaped, and told abram the hebrew," who "led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as dan." as a result of this hasty pursuit, abram "brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people." "the king of sodom went out to meet" abram after his great victory, and offered him the goods for his services, but the offer was refused. abram was also met by "melchizedek, king of salem," who "brought forth bread and wine," and "blessed him." before his death, the first hebrew saw the smoke from sodom and gomorrah going up "as the smoke of a furnace," and he also passed through the severe trial of sacrificing his son isaac. at the age of one hundred and seventy-five "the father of the faithful" "gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, * * * and isaac and ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of machpelah," at hebron, where sarah had been laid to rest when the toils and cares of life were over. from abraham, through ishmael, descended the ishmaelites; through midian, the midianites; and through isaac, the chosen people, called israelites, from jacob, whose name was changed to israel. the interesting story of joseph tells how his father and brothers, with their families, were brought into egypt at the time of a famine, where they grew from a few families to a great nation, capable of maintaining an army of more than six hundred thousand men. a new king, "who knew not joseph," came on the throne, and after a period of oppression, the exodus took place, about b.c., the leader being moses, a man eighty years of age. at his death, after forty years of wandering in the wilderness, joshua became the leader of israel, and they crossed the jordan at gilgal, a few miles north of the dead sea, capturing jericho in a peculiar manner. two other incidents in the life of joshua may be mentioned here. one was his victory over the amorites in the neighborhood of gibeon and beth-horon, where more were slain by the hailstones which jehovah cast down upon them than were killed by israel with the sword. it was on this occasion that joshua said: "sun, stand thou still upon gibeon; and thou, moon, in the valley of aijalon. and the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the nation had avenged themselves of their enemies. * * * and there was no day like that before or after it." the other event is the complete victory of israel over the immense army of jabin, king of hazor, fought at the waters of merom, in galilee. the combined forces of jabin and several confederate kings, "even as the sand that is upon the sea-shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many," were utterly destroyed. then came the allotment of the territory west of the jordan to the nine and a half tribes, as reuben, gad, and the half tribe of manasseh had been assigned land east of the river. the allotment was made by joshua, eleazer, the priest, "and the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of israel." the period of the judges, extending from joshua to saul, over three hundred years, was a time in which israel was troubled by several heathen tribes, including the moabites, ammonites, midianites, amalekites, and canaanites. the most troublesome of all were the philistines, who "were repulsed by shamgar and harassed by samson," but they continued their hostility, capturing the ark of the covenant in the days of eli, and finally bringing israel so completely under their power that they had to go to the philistines to sharpen their tools. the cry was raised: "make us a king to judge us, like all the nations." although this was contrary to the will of god, and amounted to rejecting the lord, the almighty gave directions for making saul king, when the rebellious israelites "refused to hearken to the voice of samuel," and said: "nay, but we will have a king over us." two important events in saul's reign are the battle of michmash and the war with amalek. in the first instance a great host of philistines were encamped at michmash, and saul, with his army, was at gilgal. samuel was to come and offer a sacrifice, but did not arrive at the appointed time, and the soldiers deserted, till saul's force numbered only about six hundred. in his strait, the king offered the burnt offering himself, and immediately samuel appeared, heard his explanation, and declared: "thou hast done foolishly; thou hast not kept the commandment of jehovah thy god. * * * now thy kingdom shall not continue." saul's loyalty to god was again tested in the affair with amalek, and his disobedience in sparing agag and the best of the cattle and sheep should be better known and more heeded than it is. concerning this, the prophet of god chastised him, saying: "behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. because thou hast rejected the word of jehovah, he hath also rejected thee from being king." the dark picture of saul's doings is here and there relieved by the unadulterated love of jonathan and david, "which, like the glintings of the diamond in the night," takes away some of the deepest shadows. the next king, jesse's ruddy-faced shepherd boy, was anointed by samuel at bethlehem, and for seven and a half years he reigned over judah from his capital at hebron. abner made ish-bosheth, the only surviving son of saul, king over israel, "and he reigned two years. but the house of judah followed david." abner, who had commanded saul's army, became offended at the king he had made, and went to hebron to arrange with david to turn israel over to him, but joab treacherously slew him in revenge for the blood of asahel. it was on this occasion that david uttered the notable words: "know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in israel?" afterwards rechab and baanah slew ish-bosheth in his bedchamber and carried his head to david, who was so displeased that he caused them to be killed, and their hands and feet were cut off and hanged up by the pool in hebron. then the tribes of israel came voluntarily and made themselves the subjects of king david, who captured jebus, better known as jerusalem, and moved his capital to that city. during his reign the philistines were again troublesome, and a prolonged war was waged against the ammonites. during this war david had his record stained by his sinful conduct in the matter of uriah's wife. david was a fighting king, and his "reign was a series of trials and triumphs." he not only subdued the philistines, but conquered damascus, moab, ammon, and edom, and so extended his territory from the mediterranean to the euphrates that it embraced ten times as much as saul ruled over. but his heart was made sad by the shameful misconduct of amnon, followed by his death, and by the conspiracy of absalom, the rebellion following, and the death of this beautiful son. "the story of david's hasty flight from jerusalem over olivet and across the jordan to escape from absalom is touchingly sad. 'and david went up by the ascent of the mount of olives, and wept as he went up, and he had his head covered, and went barefoot.' then what a picture of paternal love, which the basest filial ingratitude could not quench, is that of david mourning the death of absalom, 'the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, o, my son absalom, my son, my son absalom! would i had died for thee, o absalom, my son, my son!'" after finishing out a reign of forty years, "the sweet singer of israel" "slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of david." his son solomon succeeded him on the throne, and had a peaceful reign of forty years, during which time the temple on mount moriah was erected, being the greatest work of his reign. david had accumulated much material for this house; hiram, king of tyre, furnished cedar timber from the lebanon mountains, and skilled workmen put up the building, into which the ark of the covenant was borne. this famous structure was not remarkable for its great size, but for the splendid manner in which it was adorned with gold and other expensive materials. israel's wisest monarch was a man of letters, being the author of three thousand proverbs and a thousand and five songs. his wisdom exceeded that of all his contemporaries, "and all the earth sought the presence of solomon to hear his wisdom, which god had put in his heart." a case in point is the visit of the queen of sheba, who said: "the half was not told me; thy wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame which i heard." but the glory of his kingdom did not last long. "it dazzled for a brief space, like the blaze of a meteor, and then vanished away." nehemiah says there was no king like him, "nevertheless even him did foreign women cause to sin." solomon's reign ended about b c., and his son, rehoboam, was coronated at shechem. jereboam, the son of nebat, whose name is proverbial for wickedness, returned from egypt, whence he had fled from solomon, and asked the new king to make the grievous service of his father lighter, promising to support him on that condition. rehoboam counseled "with the old men, that had stood before solomon," and refused their words, accepting the counsel of the young men that had grown up with him. when he announced that he would make the yoke of his father heavier, the ten northern tribes revolted, and jereboam became king of what is afterwards known as the house of israel. the kingdom lasted about two hundred and fifty years, being ruled over by nineteen kings, but the government did not run smoothly. "plot after plot was formed, and first one adventurer and then another seized the throne." besides the internal troubles, there were numerous wars. benhadad, of damascus, besieged samaria; hazael, king of syria, overran the land east of the jordan; moab rebelled; pul (tiglath-pileser), king of assyria, invaded the country, and carried off a large amount of tribute, probably amounting to two millions of dollars; and thirty years later he entered the land and carried away many captives. at a later date the people became idolatrous, and shalmaneser, an assyrian king, reduced them to subjection, and carried numbers of them into assyria, and replaced them with men from babylon and other places. by the intermarriage of jews remaining in the country with these foreigners a mixed race, called samaritans, sprang up. the southern section of the country, known as the kingdom of judah, was ruled over by nineteen kings and one queen for a period of about three hundred and seventy-five years. asa, one of the good kings, was a religious reformer--even "his mother he removed from being queen, because she had made an abominable image for an asherah; and asa cut down her image and burnt it at the brook kidron." but he, like many other reformers, failed to make his work thorough, for "the high places were not taken away: nevertheless the heart of asa was perfect with jehovah all his days." joash caused a chest to be placed "at the gate of the house of jehovah," into which the people put "the tax that moses, the servant of god, laid upon israel in the wilderness," until they had gathered an abundance of money, with which the house of god was repaired, for the wicked sons of athaliah had broken it up and bestowed the dedicated things upon the baalim. but after the death of jehoida, the priest, joash was himself led into idolatry, and when zechariah, the son of jehoida, rebuked the people for turning from god, they stoned him to death by the order of king joash. the last words of the dying martyr were: "the lord look upon it and require it." this is strangely different from the last expression of stephen, who "kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, lord, lay not this sin to their charge." amaziah returned "from the slaughter of the edomites," and set up the gods of the idolatrous enemies he had whipped, "to be his gods." ahaz was a wicked idolater, worshiping baal and sacrificing his own sons. in strong contrast with such men as these we have the name of hezekiah, whose prosperous reign was a grand period of reformation and improvement. he was twenty-five years old when he came on the throne, and in the twenty-nine years he ruled, "he removed the high places, and brake the pillars, and cut down the asherah." the brazen serpent, made by moses in the wilderness, had become an object of worship, but hezekiah called it "a piece of brass," and broke it in pieces. the passover had not been kept "in great numbers in such sort as it is written," so hezekiah sent messengers from city to city to call the people to observe the passover. some "laughed them to scorn, and mocked them," but others "humbled themselves, and came to jerusalem," and in the second month the "very great assembly * * * killed the passover. * * * so there was great joy in jerusalem; for since the time of solomon the son of david, king of israel, there was not the like in jerusalem." manasseh, the next king, reëstablished idolatry, and his son amon, who ruled but two years, followed in his footsteps. josiah, who next occupied the throne, was a different kind of a man. "he did that which was right in the eyes of jehovah, and walked in all the way of david his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left." in his reign, hilkiah the priest found the book of the law in the temple, and delivered it to shaphan the scribe, who read it, and took it to the king and read it to him. "and it came to pass when the king heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes," and commanded that inquiry be made of the lord concerning the contents of the book. as a result, the temple was cleansed of the vessels that had been used in baal worship, the idolatrous priests were put down, the "houses of the sodomites," that were in the house of jehovah, were broken down, the high places erected by solomon were defiled, and a great reformation was worked. zedekiah was the last king in the line. in his day, nebuchadnezzar, king of babylon, invaded the land, and besieged jerusalem for sixteen months, reducing the people to such straits that women ate the flesh of their own children. when the city fell, a portion of the inhabitants were carried to babylon, and the furnishings of the temple were taken away as plunder. zedekiah, with his family, sought to escape, going out over olivet as david in his distress had done, but he was captured and carried to riblah, thirty-five miles north of baalbec, where his sons were slain in his presence. then his eyes were put out, and he was carried to babylon. in this way were fulfilled the two prophecies, that he should be taken to babylon, and that he should not see it. thus, with jerusalem a mass of desolate, forsaken ruins, the babylonian period was ushered in. some of the captives rose to positions of trust in the babylonian government. daniel and his three associates are examples. during this period ezekiel was a prophet. no doubt the frame of mind of most of them is well expressed by the psalmist: "by the rivers of babylon, there we sat down, yea we wept when we remembered zion. upon the willows in the midst thereof we hanged up our harps." the medo-persian period began with the conquest of babylon by cyrus, who brought the jews under his rule. the captives were permitted to return to palestine, and zerubbabel soon had the foundations of the temple laid; but here the work came to a standstill, and so remained for seventeen years. about b.c., when darius was king of persia, the work was resumed, and carried on to completion. for some years the service of god seems to have been conducted in an unbecoming manner. nehemiah came upon the stage of action, rebuilt the city walls, required the observance of the sabbath, and served as governor twelve years without pay. ezra brought back a large number of the people, repaired the temple, and worked a great reformation. under his influence, those who had married foreign wives put them away, and "some had wives by whom they had children." as the samaritans were not allowed to help build the temple, they erected one of their own on mt gerizim. a few samaritans still exist in nablus, and hold services on gerizim. "after nehemiah, the office of civil ruler seems to have become extinct." the greek period begins with the operations of alexander the great in asia, b.c., and extends to the time of the maccabees, b.c. after alexander's death, his empire fell into the two great divisions of egypt and syria. the egyptian rulers were called ptolemies, and those of syria were called the selucidae. for one hundred and twenty-five years palestine was held by egypt, during which time ptolemy philadelphus had the septuagint version of the old testament made at alexandria. syria next secured control of palestine. the walls of jerusalem were destroyed, and the altar of jehovah was polluted with swine's flesh. we now hear of an aged priest named mattathias, who at modin, a few miles from jerusalem, had the courage to kill a jew who was about to sacrifice on a heathen altar. he escaped to the mountains, where he was joined by a number of others of the same mind. his death soon came, but he left five stalwart sons like himself. judas, called maccabeus, became the leader, and from him the whole family was named the maccabees. he began war against the syrians and apostate jews. the syrians, numbering fifty thousand, took up a position at emmaus, while the maccabees encamped at mizpah. although greatly outnumbered, they were victorious, as they were in another engagement with sixty thousand syrians at hebron. judas entered jerusalem, and repaired and cleansed the temple. thus the maccabean period was ushered in. after some further fighting, judas was slain, and simon, the only surviving brother, succeeded him, and jerusalem was practically independent. his son, john hyrcanus, was the next ruler. the pharisees and sadducees now come prominently into jewish affairs. the essenes also existed at this time, and dressed in white. after some time (between - b.c.), pompey, the roman general, entered the open gates of the city, but did not capture the citadel for three weeks, finally taking advantage of the day of pentecost, when the jews would not fight. the roman period began with the slaughter of twelve thousand citizens. priests were slain at the altar, and the temple was profaned. judaea became a roman province, and was compelled to pay tribute. herod the great became governor of galilee, and later the roman senate made him king of judaea. he besieged jerusalem, and took it in b.c. "a singular compound of good and bad--mostly bad--was this king herod." he hired men to drown a supposed rival, as if in sport, at jericho on the occasion of a feast, and in the beginning of his reign he slaughtered more than half of the members of the sanhedrin. the aged high priest hyrcanus was put to death, as was also mariamne, the wife of this monster, who was ruling when the messiah was born at bethlehem. herod was a great builder, and it was he who reconstructed the temple on magnificent lines. he also built caesarea, and rebuilt samaria. after his death, the country was divided and ruled by his three sons. achelaus reigned ingloriously in jerusalem for ten years, and was banished. judaea was then ruled by procurators, pilate being the fifth one of them, ruling from a.d. - . in the year a.d. the jews rebelled against the romans, after being their subjects for one hundred and twenty-two years. they were not subdued until the terrible destruction of the holy city in a.d. , when, according to josephus, one million one hundred thousand jews perished in the siege, two hundred and fifty-six thousand four hundred and fifty were slain elsewhere, and one hundred and one thousand seven hundred prisoners were sold into bondage. the temple was completely destroyed along with the city, which for sixty years "lay in ruins so complete that it is doubtful whether there was a single house that could be used as a residence." the land was annexed to syria, and ceased to be a jewish country. hadrian became emperor in a.d. , and issued an edict forbidding the jews to practice circumcision, read the law, or to observe the sabbath. these things greatly distressed the jews, and in a.d. they rallied to the standard of bar cochba, who has been styled "the last and greatest of the false messiahs." the romans were overthrown, bar cochba proclaimed himself king in jerusalem, and carried on the war for two years. at one time he held fifty towns, but they were all taken from him, and he was finally killed at bether, or bittir. this was the last effort of the jews to recover the land by force of arms. hadrian caused the site of the temple to be plowed over, and the city was reconstructed being made thoroughly pagan. for two hundred years the jews were forbidden to enter it. in a.d. the empress helena visited jerusalem, and built a church on the mount of olives. julian the apostate undertook to rebuild the jewish temple in a.d. , but was frustrated by "balls of fire" issuing from under the ruins and frightening the workmen. in a.d. the greek emperor justinian built a church in the city in honor of the virgin. the persians under chosroes ii. invaded palestine in a.d. and destroyed part of jerusalem. after fourteen years they were defeated and jerusalem was restored, but the mohammedans under omar captured it in a.d. . the structure called the dome of the rock, on mt. moriah, was built by them in a.d. . the crusades next engage our attention. the first of these military expeditions was made to secure the right to visit the holy sepulcher. it was commenced at the call of the pope in . a force of two hundred and seventy-five thousand men began the march, but never entered palestine. another effort was made by six hundred thousand men, who captured antioch in . a little later the survivors defeated the mohammedan army of two hundred thousand. still later they entered jerusalem, and godfrey of bouillon was made king of the city in . by conquest he came to rule the whole of palestine. the orders of knights hospitallers and knights templars were formed, and godfrey continued in power about fifty years. in two european armies, aggregating one million two hundred thousand men, started on the second crusade, which was a total failure. saladin, the sultan of egypt, conquered jerusalem in , and the third crusade was inaugurated, which resulted in securing the right to make pilgrimages to jerusalem free from taxes. the power of the crusaders was now broken. another band assembled at venice in to undertake the fourth crusade, but they never entered palestine. the fifth effort was made, and frederick, emperor of germany, crowned himself king of jerusalem in , and returned to his native land the next year. the turks conquered palestine in and burned jerusalem. louis ix. of france led the seventh crusade, another failure, in . he undertook it again in , but went to africa, and prince edward of england entered palestine in and accepted a truce for ten years, which was offered by the sultan of egypt. this, the eighth and last crusade, ended in by the return of edward to england. in palestine was invaded by the mamelukes, and in the war of the crusaders ended with the fall of acre, "the last christian possession in palestine." besides these efforts there were children's crusades for the conversion or conquest of the moslems. the first, in , was composed of thirty thousand boys. two ship loads were drowned and the third was sold as slaves to the mohammedans. in the country passed to the control of the ottoman empire, and so remained until , when it fell back to egypt for eight years. the present walls around jerusalem, which inclose two hundred and ten acres of ground, were built by suleiman the magnificent in . in palestine again became turkish territory, and so continues to this day. the really scientific exploration of the land began with the journey of edward robinson, an american, in . in the united states consulate was established in jerusalem, and twelve governments are now represented by consulates. sir charles wilson created an interest in the geography of palestine by his survey of jerusalem and his travels in the holy land from to . palestine was surveyed from dan to beer-sheba and from the jordan to the great sea in the years from to . the siloam inscription, the "only known relic of the writing * * * of hezekiah's days," was discovered in . the railroad from jaffa to jerusalem was opened in . within the last ten years several carriage roads have been built. protestant schools and missions have been established at many important places. the population of the city is now about fifty-five thousand souls, but they do not all live inside of the walls. what the future of palestine may be is an interesting subject for thought. chapter x. churches of christ in great britain. no doubt many of my readers will be specially interested in knowing something of my experience and association with the brethren across the sea, and it is my desire to give them as fair an understanding of the situation as i can. there are five congregations in glasgow, having a membership of six hundred and seventy-eight persons. the oldest one of these, which formerly met in brown street and now meets in shawlands hall, was formed in , and has one hundred and sixty-one members. the coplaw street congregation, which branched from brown street, and is now the largest of the five, dates back to , and numbers two hundred and nineteen. it was my privilege to attend one of the mid-week services of this congregation and speak to those present on that occasion. i also met some of the brethren in edinburgh, where two congregations have a membership of two hundred and fifty-three. at kirkcaldy, the home of my worthy friend and brother, ivie campbell, jr., there is a congregation of one hundred and seventy disciples, which i addressed one lord's day morning. in the evening i went out with brother and sister campbell and another brother to coaltown of balgonie, and addressed the little band worshiping at that place. my next association with the brethren was at the annual meeting of "churches of christ in great britain and ireland," convened at wigan, england, august second, third, and fourth. while at wigan i went out to platt bridge and spoke to the brethren. there are ninety members in this congregation. one night in birmingham i met with the brethren in charles henry street, where the congregation, formed in , numbers two hundred and seventy-four, and the next night i was with the geach street congregation, which has been in existence since , and numbers two hundred and twenty-nine members. bro. samuel joynes, now of philadelphia, was formerly connected with this congregation. while i was in bristol it was my pleasure to meet with the thrissell street church, composed of one hundred and thirty-one members. i spoke once in their place of worship and once in a meeting on the street. the last band of brethren i was with while in england was the church at twynholm, london. this is the largest congregation of all, and will receive consideration later in the chapter. the next place that i broke bread was in a little mission to the jews in the holy city. to complete a report of my public speaking while away, i will add that i preached in mr. thompson's tabernacle in jerusalem, and spoke a few words on one or both of the lord's days at the mission to which reference has already been made. i also spoke in a mission meeting conducted by mr. locke at port said, egypt, preached once on the ship as i was coming back across the atlantic, and took part in a little debate on shipboard as i went out on the journey, and in an entertainment the night before i got back to new york. in this chapter i am taking my statistics mainly from the year book containing the fifty-ninth annual report of the churches in great britain and ireland co-operating for evangelistic purposes, embracing almost all of the congregations of disciples in the country. according to this report, there were one hundred and eighty-three congregations on the list, with a total membership of thirteen thousand and sixty-three, at the time of the annual meeting last year. (since writing this chapter, the sixtieth annual report of these brethren across the sea has come into my hands, and the items in this paragraph are taken mainly from the address of bro. john wyckliffe black, as chairman of the annual meeting which assembled in august of this year at leeds. the membership is now reported at thirteen thousand eight hundred and forty-four, an increase of about eight hundred members since the meeting held at wigan in . in the british brotherhood numbered thirteen hundred, and in it had more than doubled. after the lapse of another period of twenty years, the number had more than doubled again, standing at six thousand six hundred and thirty-two. in , when twenty years more had passed, the membership had almost doubled again, having grown to twelve thousand five hundred and thirty-seven. in the average number of members in each congregation was thirty-one; in it was forty; in it had reached sixty-one; and in it was seventy-two. the average number in each congregation is now somewhat higher than it was in .) soon after the meeting was convened on tuesday, "the conference recognised the presence of mrs. hall and miss jean hall, of sydney, n.s.w., and brother don carlos janes, from ohio, u.s.a., and cordially gave them a christian welcome." the address of welcome and the address of the chairman, brother james anderson, of fauldhouse, scotland, came early in the day. the meeting on wednesday opened with worship and a short address, followed by reports from the general sunday-school, reference, general training, and magazine committees. one interesting feature of the proceedings of this day was the conference paper by bro. t.j. ainsworth on the subject of "the relation of christianity to the social questions of the day." besides a discussion of this paper, there was a preaching service at night. thursday, the last day of the meeting, was occupied, after the morning worship and short address, with the reports of committees and the appointment of committees. at the social meeting at night several brethren, who had been previously selected, spoke on such subjects as seemed good to them. bro. w.a. kemp, of melbourne, australia, and the writer were the only speakers not residents of the british isles. at the close of the meeting the following beautiful hymn was sung to the tune of "auld lang syne": hail, sweetest, dearest tie, that binds our glowing hearts in one; hail, sacred hope, that tunes our minds to harmony divine. it is the hope, the blissful hope which jesus' words afford-- the hope, when days and years are past, of life with christ the lord. what though the northern wintry blast shall howl around our cot? what though beneath an eastern sun be cast our distant lot? yet still we share the blissful hope his cheering words afford-- the hope, when days and years are past, of glory with the lord. from burmah's shores, from afric's strand, from india's burning plain, from europe, from columbia's land, we hope to meet again. oh, sweetest hope, oh, blissful hope, which his own truth affords-- the hope, when days and years are past, we still shall be the lord's. no lingering look, no parting sigh, our future meeting knows; there friendship beams from every eye, and love immortal glows. oh, sacred hope, the blissful hope, his love and truth afford-- the hope, when days and years are past, of reigning with the lord. i am not willing to accept everything done in the annual meeting, but the hearty good will manifested and the pleasant and happy associations enjoyed make it in those respects very commendable. these brethren are very systematic and orderly in their work. some one, who has been designated beforehand, takes charge of the meeting, and everything moves along nicely. when a visiting brother comes in, he is recognized and made use of, but they do not turn the meeting over to him and depend upon him to conduct it. the president of the lord's day morning meeting and part or all of the officers sit together on the platform. the following is the order of procedure in one of the meetings which i attended: after singing a hymn and offering prayer, the brother presiding announced the reading lessons from both testaments, at the same time naming two brethren who would read these scriptures. after they had come forward and read the lessons before the church, another hymn was sung, and certain definite objects of prayer were mentioned before the congregation again engaged in that part of the worship. two prayers were offered, followed by the announcements, after which a brother delivered an address. then the president made mention of the visitors present, and an old gentleman from the platform extended "the right hand of fellowship" to some new members before the contribution was taken and the lord's supper observed, a hymn being sung between these two items. a concluding hymn and prayer closed the service, which had been well conducted, without discord or confusion. a brother in wigan gave me a statement of the work of one of the congregations there in the winter season. on the lord's day they have school at : a.m. and at p.m.; breaking the bread at : a.m., and preaching the gospel at : p.m. at this evening meeting the lord's table is again spread for the benefit of servants and others who were not able to be at the morning service. this is a common practice. the young people's social and improvement class meets on monday evening, a meeting for prayer and a short address is held on tuesday evening, and the band of hope, a temperance organization for young people, meets on wednesday evening. the singing class uses thursday night, and the officers of the church sometimes have a meeting on friday night. during the life of bro. timothy coop much money was spent in an effort to build up along the lines adopted by the innovators here in america. bro. coop visited this country, and was well pleased with the operations of the congregations that had adopted the modern methods, and he was instrumental in having some american evangelists to go to england, and a few churches were started. i was told that there are about a dozen congregations of these disciples, called "american brethren" by the other english disciples, with a membership of about two thousand, and that it is a waning cause. the rank and file of these british brethren are more conservative than the innovators here at home, but they have moved forward somewhat in advance of the churches here contending for apostolic simplicity in certain particulars. a few of the congregations use a musical instrument in gospel meetings and sunday-school services, and some have organizations such as the band of hope and the dorcas society. the organization of the annual meeting is said to be only advisory. the following lines, a portion of a resolution of the annual meeting of will help the reader to form an idea of the purpose and nature of the organization: "that this coöperation shall embrace such of the churches contending for the primitive faith and order as shall willingly be placed upon the list of churches printed in its annual report. that the churches thus coöperating disavow any intention or desire to recognize themselves as a denomination, or to limit their fellowship to the churches thus coöperating; but, on the contrary, they avow it both a duty and a pleasure to visit, receive, and coöperate with christian churches, without reference to their taking part in the meetings and efforts of this coöperation. also, that this coöperation has for its object evangelization only, and disclaims all power to settle matters of discipline, or differences between brethren or churches; that if in any instance it should see fit to refuse to insert in or to remove from the list any church or company of persons claiming to be a church, it shall do so only in reference to this coöperation, leaving each and every church to judge for itself, and to recognize and fellowship as it may understand the law of the lord to require." the question of delegate voting with a view to making the action of the annual meeting more weighty with the congregations was discussed at the wigan meeting, but was voted down, although it had numerous advocates. one of the brethren, in speaking of the use of instrumental music in the singing, said they try not to use it when they worship the lord, but i consider the use they make of it is unscriptural, and it puts the church in great danger of having the innovation thrust into all the services at some future time. all of these churches could learn a valuable lesson from some of our home congregations that have been rent asunder by the unholy advocacy of innovations. but there are some very commendable things about these brethren. i noticed careful attention being given to the public reading of the scriptures, and the congregation joins heartily in the singing. i am informed that every member takes part in the contribution without exception. they do not take contributions from visitors and children who are not disciples. the talent in the congregation is well developed. in this they are far ahead of us. while there are not many giving their whole time to evangelistic work, there are many who are acceptable speakers. one brother said they probably have a preacher for each twenty-five members. men heavily involved in business take time to attend the meetings. for instance, one brother, who is at the head of a factory employing about a thousand people, and is interested in mining and in the manufacture of brick besides, is an active member of the congregation with which he worships. the brethren in general are faithful in the matter of being present at the breaking of bread. when visiting brethren come in, they are given a public welcome, and are sometimes pointed out to the congregation. also, when brethren return from a vacation or other prolonged absence, they are given a welcome. they pray much. the week-night meeting for prayer and study of the bible is largely taken up with prayer. i like the way they point out definite objects of prayer. for instance, two sisters are leaving for canada; some one is out of employment, and some have lost friends by death. these matters are mentioned, and some one is called on to lead the prayer, and these points are included in his petition to the lord. sometimes but one brother is asked to lead in prayer; sometimes more than one are designated, and at other times they leave it open for some one to volunteer. the following hymn was sung in one of these meetings which i attended: let us pray. come, let us pray; 'tis sweet to feel that god himself is near; that, while we at his footstool kneel, his mercy deigns to hear; though sorrows crowd life's dreary way, this is our solace--let us pray. come, let us pray; the burning brow, the heart oppressed with care, and all the woes that throng us now, may be relieved by prayer; jesus can smile our griefs away; oh, glorious thought! come, let us pray. come, let us pray; the mercy-seat invites the fervent prayer, and jesus ready stands to greet the contrite spirit there; oh, loiter not, nor longer stay from him who loves us; let us pray. they do not publish as many papers as we do, but have one weekly journal, the _bible advocate_, edited by bro. l. oliver, of birmingham, which has a general circulation, reaching almost four thousand copies. one feature of the paper last summer was the publication of the life of elder john smith as a serial. the colored covers of the _bible advocate_ contain a long list of the hours and places of worship of congregations in different parts of the country, and even outside of the british isles in some cases. in some instances the local congregation publishes a paper of its own, affording a good medium through which to advertise the meetings and to keep distant brethren informed of the work that is being done, as well as to teach the truth of god. a book room is maintained in birmingham, where the british and american publications may be purchased. they were using a hymn-book (words only) of their own and a tune-book published by others, but a new hymnbook was under consideration when i was among them last year. a list of isolated members is kept, and persons elected by the annual meeting conduct a correspondence with these brethren. the following are extracts from some of the letters received in reply to those that had been sent out: "i am hoping that the day will come when i can leave this district and get to one where i can have the fellowship of my brethren; but meanwhile i am glad and thankful to be held in remembrance of my brethren and to be on your list, and i pray god to help your work, for i have still hope in him, and know he has not given me up." another brother says: "though i can not say that i have anything important or cheering to write, yet i can say that i am rejoicing in the salvation of god, which is in christ jesus our lord. my isolation from regular church fellowship has been so long that i have almost given up the hope of enjoying it again in arbroath; but still my prayer is that the lord would raise up some here or send some here who know the truth, and who love the lord with their whole heart, and would be able and willing to declare unto the people the whole counsel of god concerning the way of salvation." a sisters' conference was held in connection with the annual meeting, and a temperance conference and meeting was held on monday before the annual meeting opened. missionary work is being carried on in burmah, siam, and south africa. in burmah some attention has been given to translating and publishing a part of the psalms in one of the languages of that country. "much time has been spent in the villages by systematic visitation, by the distribution of literature, and by seizing upon any and every opportunity of speaking to the people. street meetings have been constantly held, visitors received on the boat, the gospel preached from the mission-boat to the people sitting on the banks of the river, and also proclaimed to the people in their homes, in the villages, and in the fields, and on the fishing stations. although there were but two baptisms during the year the congregation numbers fifty-one." the brethren in siam were working where the rivers, numerous canals, and creeks form the chief roadways. the year book contains the following concerning the medical missionary in this field: "his chief work during the year has been rendering such help as his short medical training has fitted him to give. for a time twelve to twenty patients a day came to him for treatment. after a while the numbers fell off, he thought because all the sick in the neighborhood had been cured." "the little church in nakon choom * * * now consists of two karens, one burman, one mon, two chinamen, and two englishmen. as several of these do not understand the others' language, the gift of tongues would seem not undesirable." in south africa there are congregations at johannesburg, pretoria, bulawayo, cape town, and carolina. the church in bulawayo numbers about fifty members, nearly all of whom are natives "who are eager learners." i saw more of the workings of the church at twynholm than any other congregation visited, as i stayed at twynholm house while in london both on the outward trip and as i returned home. of the seven congregations in this city, twynholm is the largest, and is the largest in the british brotherhood, having a membership of above five hundred. this church was established in with twenty-five members, and has had a good growth. they open the baptistery every lord's day night, and very frequently have occasion to use it. there were fifty-three baptisms last year, and twenty-one others were added to the membership of the church. at the close of a recent church year the band of hope numbered five hundred and fifteen, and the lord's day school had twelve hundred and fifty pupils and one hundred and two teachers. i think it was one hundred and sixty little tots i saw in one room, and down in this basement there were about fifty more. i was told that there were more children attending than they had accommodation for, but they disliked to turn any of them away. the woman's meeting had one hundred and sixteen members; the total abstinence society, one hundred and fifty; and the membership of the youths' institute and bible students' class were not given. five thousand copies of _joyful tidings_, an eight-page paper, are given away each month. the following announcement from the first page of this paper will indicate something of the activities of this congregation: church of christ, twynholm assembly hall, fulham cross, s.w. regular services and gatherings. _lord's day._ : a.m.--bible students' class. : a.m.--divine worship and "the breaking of bread". (acts : , etc.) : p.m.--lord's day schools. : p.m.--young men's institute. : p.m.--teachers' prayer meeting (first lord's day in the month). : p.m.--_evangelistic service_. : p.m.--believers' immersion (usually). : p.m.--"the breaking of bread" (continued). _monday._ : p.m.--woman's own meeting. : p.m.--band of hope. : p.m.--social gathering for young people (over fourteen). : p.m.--total abstinence society (last monday night in the month). _thursday._ : p.m.--mid-week service for prayer, praise, and public exposition of the word. : p.m.--singing practice. _friday._ : p.m.--teachers' preparation class and devotional meeting. (open to all). seat all free and unappropriated. no public collections. hymn-books provided for visitors. this church of christ earnestly pleads for the complete restoration of the primitive christianity of the new testament, for the cultivation of personal piety, and benevolence, and for loving service for jesus the christ. twynholm is the name given to a piece of property, originally intended for a hotel, situated in the western part of london, at the intersection of four streets in fulham cross. these streets make it a place easily reached, and the numerous saloons make the necessity for such an influence as emanates from a church of god very great. there is a good, commodious audience-room at the rear, and several smaller rooms about the premises. the front part is owned and controlled by a brother who has a family of christians to live there and run the restaurant on the first floor and the lodging rooms on the two upper floors, where there are accommodations for a few young men. here i had a desirable room, and was well cared for by the brother and sister who manage the house. the restaurant is not run for profit, but to afford the people a place to eat cheaply and to spend time without going where intoxicants are sold. the patrons are allowed to sit at the tables and play such games as dominoes, the aim being to counteract the evil influences of that part of the city as far as possible. one night i attended a meeting of the band of hope in a big basement room at twynholm, where a large number of small children were being taught to pray, and were receiving good instruction along the line of temperance. several older persons were on duty to preserve order among these children, many of whom had doubtless come from homes where little about order and good behavior is ever taught. soon after this meeting i went up on the street, and there, near a saloon with six visible entrances, a street musician was playing his organ, while small girls, perhaps not yet in their teens, were being encouraged to dance. at twynholm i also attended the social hour meeting, which was an enjoyable affair. a program of recitations, songs, etc., was rendered. this also, i suppose, is to offset some of the evil agencies of the great city and keep the young people under good influences. the woman's meeting convenes on monday afternoon. the leaders of the meeting are ladies of the church, who are laboring for the betterment of an inferior class of london women. i spoke before this meeting, by request, and was, so far as i now recollect, the only male person present. it is the custom to use the instrument in connection with the singing in this meeting, but i asked them to refrain on this occasion. an orphans' home is also conducted, having members of this congregation as its managers. it is a very busy church, and for being busy and diligent it is to be commended, but i believe there is too much organization. but here, as elsewhere in britain, there are many very commendable things about the brethren. i have already spoken of system in their proceedings. they outline their work for a given period of time, specifying the scriptures to be read, the leaders of the meetings, and who is to preach on each lord's day night. then, for the sake of convenience, these schedules are printed, and they are carefully followed. this is far ahead of the haphazard method, or lack of method, at home, where brethren sometimes come together neither knowing what the lesson will be nor who will conduct the meeting. whatever may be the faults of these disciples in the old country, it must be said to their credit that they are kind and hospitable to strangers, and make a visiting brother welcome. the talent in their congregations is better developed than it is here, and their meetings are conducted in a more orderly and systematic manner. they are more faithful in the observance of the lord's supper than many in this land. the percentage of preachers giving their whole time to the work is less than it is here, but the number who can and do take part in the public work of the church is proportionately larger than it is here. i will now close this chapter and this volume with the address of brother anderson, chairman of the annual meeting held last year at wigan: dear brethren:--in accepting the responsible and honorable position in which you have placed me, i do so conscious of a defect that i hope you will do your best to help and bear with. please speak as distinctly as possible, so that i may hear what is said. there may be other defects that i might have helped, but please do your best to help me in this respect. i heartily thank you for the honor conferred upon me. whether i deserve it or not, i know that it is well meant on your part. we prefer honor to dishonor; but what one may count a great honor, another may lightly esteem. the point of view is almost everything in these matters; but if positions of honor in the kingdoms of the earth are lightly esteemed, positions of honor in the kingdom of god have a right to be esteemed more highly. we are met in conference as subjects of the kingdom of god, as heirs of everlasting glory, having a hope greater than the world can give, and a peace that the world can neither give nor take away. to preside over such a gathering, met to consider the best means of spreading the gospel of christ among men, is a token of respect upon which i place a very high value. the fact that it came unexpectedly does not lessen the pleasure. i know that you have not placed me here on account of my tact and business ability to manage this conference well. had i possessed these qualities in a marked degree, you would no doubt have taken notice of them before this time. i know that you only wish to pay a token of respect to a plain old soldier before he lays aside his harness, and, brethren, i thank you for that. for forty-four years i have enjoyed sweet and uninterrupted fellowship in this brotherhood. for over forty years my voice has been heard in the preaching of the gospel of the grace of god. for close on thirty years all my time has been given to the proclamation and defense of new testament truth as held by us as a people. every year has added strength to the conviction that god has led me to take my stand among the people who of all the people on the earth are making the best and most consistent effort to get back to the religion established by christ and his apostles. i therefore bless the day that i became one of you. had our position been wrong, i have given myself every opportunity of knowing it. circumstances have compelled me to examine our foundations again and again. i have been called upon to defend our faith, when attacked, times not a few. whatever may be the effect that i have had upon others, my own confidence has been increased at every turn. to-day i am certain that if the new testament is right, we can not be far wrong; and if the new testament can not be trusted, there is an end to the whole matter. but the claims of christ and the truth of the new testament are matters upon which a doubt never rises. as years roll on, it becomes more easy to believe and harder to doubt. knowledge, reason, and experience now supply such varied yet harmonious and converging lines of evidence that a doubt seems impossible. difficulties we may have, and perhaps must have, as long as we live, but we can certainly rise above the fog land of doubt. considering all this, it gives me more pleasure to preside over this gathering than over any other voluntary gathering on earth. it is a voluntary gathering. we do not profess to be here by divine appointment. it is a meeting of heaven's freemen to consider the best means of advancing the will of god among men. while met, may we all act in a manner worthy of the great object which brings us together. faith, forbearance and watchfulness will be required as long as we live, if we wish to keep the unity of the faith in the bond of peace. all those who set out for a complete return to jerusalem have not held on their way; some have gone a long way back and others are going. what has happened in other lands may happen here, unless we watch and are faithful. the more carefully we look into matters, we shall be the less inclined to move. putting all god's arrangements faithfully and earnestly to the test, and comparing them with others, increases our faith in them. faithfulness increases faith. this keeps growing upon you till you become certain that only god's means will accomplish god's ends. sectarianism, tested by experience, is a failure. the time was when our danger in departing from our simple plea of returning to the bible alone lay in our being moved by clerical and sectarian influences. to the young in particular in the present day that can hardly be called our greatest danger. the influences at work to produce doubt in regard to the truth of the bible were never so great as they are now. this used to be the particular work of professed infidels; now it is more largely the work of professed christian scholars. if you wish to pass for a "scholar," you must not profess to believe the old testament. you must not say too much against the truth of that book, or you may be called in question, but you can go a good long way before there is much danger. jesus believed that old book to be the word of god. but he was not a "scholar." he was the son of a country joiner, and you must not expect him to rise too far above his environment. it surprises me that the "scholars" have not called more attention to the ignorance of jesus in this respect. they will no doubt pay more attention to this later on; for as _christian_ "scholars" it becomes them to be consistent, and i have no doubt that they will shortly, in this respect, make up for lost time. to expect that none of our young people will be influenced by this parade of scholarship is to expect too much. but faith in christ should keep them from rushing rashly out against a book that christ professed to live up to and came to fulfill. this battle of the scholars over the truth of the bible is only being fought. we have no wish that it should not be fought. everything has a right to be tested with caution and fairness, and when the battle is lost, it will be time enough for us to pass over to the side of the enemy. this question as to the truth of the old testament will be settled, and as sure as christ is the son of god, and has all power in heaven and on earth, it will be settled upon the lines of the attitude which he took up towards that book, and it will be settled to the disgrace of those who professed to believe in jesus, but deserted his position before full examination was made. that no transcriber ever made a slip, or that no translator ever made a mistake, is not held by any one. but the day that it is proved that the old testament is not substantially true, faith in christ and christianity will get a shake from which it will never recover. we have not lost faith in the bible. there is no need for doing so. the word of the lord will endure forever. but meantime, brethren, let us be faithful, prayerful, and cautious, and be not easily moved from the rock of god's word by the pretensions of "scholars" or of science, falsely so called. i do not know that there is any necessary connection between the two, but a belief in evolution and scholarly doubts about large portions of the old testament, as a rule, go together. you must not profess to know anything of science in many quarters if you doubt evolution. in the bulk of even religious books it is referred to as a matter that science has settled beyond dispute. to expect that many of our young people will not be so far carried along by this current is to expect too much. many of them will be carried so far; it is a question of how many and how far. there perhaps never was a theory before believed by as many educated people without proof as the theory of evolution. it is an unproved theory; there is not a fact beneath it. that you have low forms of life, and forms rising higher and higher till you get to man, is fact. but that a higher species ever came from a lower is without proof. let those who doubt this say when and where such a thing took place, and name the witnesses. not only are there no facts in proof of it, but it flies in the face of facts without number. if like from like is not established, then nothing can be established by observation and experience. what other theory do we believe which contradicts all that we know to be true in regard to the subject to which it refers? not only does it contradict fact and experience, it contradicts reason. if you listen to the voice of reason, you can no more believe that the greater came from the less than you can believe that something came from nothing. we are intuitively bound to believe that an effect can not be greater than its cause. but the theory of evolution contradicts this at every step along the whole line. i am anxious to find the truth in regard to anything that has a bearing upon my belief in god or religion. but in trying to find the truth, i have never regretted being true to myself. to slavishly follow others is, to say the least of it, unmanly. i do not believe in evolution because god has so made me that i can not. wherever man came from, he sprang not from anything beneath him. when a man asks me to believe a thing that has not facts, but only theory to support it,--said theory contradicting fact, experience and reason,--he asks me more than i can grant. the thing is absurd, and must one day die. i am agreeably surprised that we, as a people, have suffered so little as yet from the sources of error referred to. still they are all living dangers, and if we would hold fast the faith once for all delivered to the saints, we must see to our own standing, and as god has given us opportunity let us be helpful to others. our ground is god-given and well tested. the fellowship with god and with each other that it has brought to us has given us much happiness here. let us be faithful and earnest the few years that we have to remain here, and our happiness will be increased when the lord comes to reward us all according to our works. none this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] joshua by georg ebers volume . chapter xxiv. the prisoners of state who were being transported to the mines made slow progress. even the experienced captain of the guards had never had a more toilsome trip or one more full of annoyances, obstacles, and mishaps. one of his moles, ephraim, had escaped; he had lost his faithful hounds, and after his troop had been terrified and drenched by a storm such as scarcely occurred in these desert regions once in five years, a second had burst the next evening--the one which brought destruction on pharaoh's army--and this had been still more violent and lasting. the storm had delayed the march and, after the last cloud-burst, several convicts and guards had been attacked by fever owing to their wet night- quarters in the open air. the egyptian asses, too, who were unused to rain, had suffered and some of the best had been left on the road. finally they had been obliged to bury two dead prisoners, and place three who were dangerously ill on the remaining asses; and the other prisoners were laden with the stores hitherto carried by the beasts of burden. this was the first time such a thing had happened during the leader's service of five and twenty years, and he expected severe reproofs. all these things exerted a baneful influence on the disposition of the man, who was usually reputed one of the kindest-hearted of his companions in office; and joshua, the accomplice of the bold lad whose flight was associated with the other vexations, suffered most sorely from his ill- humor. perhaps the irritated man would have dealt more gently with him, had he complained like the man behind him, or burst into fierce oaths like his yoke-mate, who made threatening allusions to the future when his sister- in-law would be in high favor with pharaoh and know how to repay those who ill-treated her dear relative. but hosea had resolved to bear whatever the rude fellow and his mates chose to inflict with the same equanimity that he endured the scorching sun which, ever since he had served in the army, had tortured him during many a march through the desert, and his steadfast, manly character helped him keep this determination. if the captain of the gang loaded him with extra heavy burdens, he summoned all the strength of his muscles and tottered forward without a word of complaint until his knees trembled under him; then the captain would rush to him, throw several packages from his shoulders, and exclaim that he understood his spite; he was only trying to be left on the road, to get him into fresh difficulties; but he would not allow himself to be robbed of the lives of the men who were needed in the mines. once the captain inflicted a wound that bled severely; but he instantly made every effort to cure it, gave him wine to restore his strength, and delayed the march half a day to permit him to rest. he had not forgotten prince siptah's promise of a rich reward to any one who brought him tidings of hosea's death, but this was the very reason that induced the honest-hearted man to watch carefully over his prisoner's life; for the consciousness of having violated his duty for the sake of reaping any advantage would have robbed him of all pleasure in food and drink, as well as of the sound sleep which were his greatest blessings. so though the hebrew prisoner was tortured, it was never beyond the limits of the endurable, and he had the pleasure of rendering, by his own great strength, many a service to his weaker companions. he had commended his fate to the god who had summoned him to his service; but he was well aware that he must not rest content with mere pious confidence, and therefore thought by day and night of escape. but the chain that bound him to his companions in suffering was too firmly forged, and was so carefully examined and hammered every morning and evening, that the attempt to escape would only have plunged him into greater misery. the prisoners had at first marched through a hilly region, then climbed upward, with a long mountain chain in view, and finally reached a desert country from which truncated sandstone cones rose singly from the rocky ground. on the fifth evening they encamped near a large mountain which nature seemed to have piled up from flat layers of stone and, as the sun of the sixth day rose, they turned into a side valley leading to the mines in the province of bech. during the first few days they had been overtaken by a messenger from the king's silver-house; but on the other hand they had met several little bands bearing to egypt malachite, turquoise, and copper, as well as the green glass made at the mines. among those whom they met at the entrance of the cross-valley into which they turned on the last morning was a married couple on their way homeward, after having received a pardon from the king. the captain of the guards pointed them out to encourage his exhausted moles, but the spectacle produced the opposite effect; for the tangled locks of the man, who had scarcely passed his thirtieth year, were grey, his tall figure was bowed and emaciated, and his naked back was covered with scars and bleeding wales; the wife, who had shared his misery, was blind. she sat cowering on an ass, in the dull torpor of insanity, and though the passing of the convicts made a startling interruption to the silence of the wilderness, and her hearing had remained keen, she paid no heed, but continued to stare indifferently into vacancy. the sight of the hapless pair placed hosea's own terrible future before him as if in a mirror, and for the first time he groaned aloud and covered his face with his hands. the captain of the guards perceived this and, touched by the horror of the man whose resolution had hitherto seemed peerless, called to him: "they don't all come home like that, no indeed!" "because they are even worse off," he thought. "but the poor wights needn't know it beforehand. the next time i come this way i'll ask for hosea; i shall want to know what has become of this bull of a man. the strongest and the most resolute succumb the most quickly." then, like a driver urging an unharnessed team forward, he swung the lash over the prisoners, but without touching them, and pointing to a column of smoke which rose behind a cliff at the right of the road, he exclaimed: "there are the smelting furnaces! we shall reach our destination at noon. there will be no lack of fire to cook lentils, and doubtless you may have a bit of mutton, too; for we celebrate to-day the birth of the good god, the son of the sun; may life, health, and prosperity be his!" for the next half-hour their road led between lofty cliffs through the dry bed of a river, down which, after the last rains, a deep mountain torrent had poured to the valley; but now only a few pools still remained. after the melancholy procession had passed around a steep mountain whose summit was crowned with a small egyptian temple of hathor and a number of monuments, it approached a bend in the valley which led to the ravine where the mines were located. flags, hoisted in honor of pharaoh's birth-day, were waving from tall masts before the gates of the little temple on the mountain; and when loud shouts, uproar, and clashing greeted the travellers in the valley of the mines, which was wont to be so silent, the captain of the guards thought that the prisoners' greatest festival was being celebrated in an unusually noisy way and communicated this conjecture to the other guards who had paused to listen. then the party pressed forward without delay, but no one raised his head; the noon-day sun blazed so fiercely, and the dazzling walls of the ravine sent forth a reflected glow as fierce as if they were striving to surpass the heat of the neighboring smelting furnaces. spite of the nearness of the goal the prisoners tottered forward as if asleep, only one held his breath in the intensity of suspense. as the battle-charger in the plough arches his neck, and expands his nostrils, while his eyes flash fire, so joshua's bowed figure, spite of the sack that burdened his shoulders, straightened itself, and his sparkling eyes were turned toward the spot whence came the sounds the captain of the guards had mistaken for the loud tumult of festal mirth. he, joshua, knew better. never could he mistake the roar echoing there; it was the war-cry of egyptian soldiers, the blast of the trumpet summoning the warriors, the clank of weapons, and the battle-shouts of hostile hordes. ready for prompt action, he bent toward his yokemate, and whispered imperiously: "the hour of deliverance is at hand. take heed, and obey me blindly." strong excitement overpowered his companion also, and hosea had scarcely glanced into the side-valley ere he bade him hold himself in readiness. the first look into the ravine had showed him, on the summit of a cliff, a venerable face framed in snowy locks--his father's. he would have recognized him among thousands and at a far greater distance! but from the beloved grey head he turned a swift glance at the guide, who had stopped in speechless horror, and supposing that a mutiny had broken out among the prisoners, with swift presence of mind shouted hoarsely to the other guards: "keep behind the convicts and cut down every one who attempts to escape!" but scarcely had his subordinates hurried to the end of the train, ere joshua whispered to his companion: "at him!" as he spoke the hebrew, who, with his yoke-mate, headed the procession, attacked the astonished leader, and ere he was aware of it, joshua seized his right arm, the other his left. the strong man, whose powers were doubled by his rage, struggled furiously to escape, but joshua and his companion held him in an iron grasp. a single rapid glance had showed the chief the path he must take to join his people true, it led past a small band of egyptian bow-men, who were discharging their arrows at the hebrews on the opposite cliff, but the enemy would not venture to fire at him and his companion; for the powerful figure of the captain of the guards, clearly recognizable by his dress and weapons, shielded them both. "lift the chain with your right hand," whispered joshua, "i will hold our living buckler. we must ascend the cliff crab-fashion." his companion obeyed, and as they advanced within bow-shot of the enemy --moving sometimes backward, sometimes sideways--they held the egyptian before them and with the ringing shout: "the son of nun is returning to his father and to his people!" joshua step by step drew nearer to the hebrew combatants. not one of the egyptians who knew the captain of the prisoners' guard had ventured to send an arrow at the escaping prisoners. while the fettered pair were ascending the cliff backward, joshua heard his name shouted in joyous accents, and directly after ephraim, with a band of youthful warriors, came rushing down the height toward him. to his astonishment joshua saw the huge shield, sword, or battle-axe of an egyptian heavily-armed soldier in the hands of each of these sons of his people, but the shepherd's sling and the bag of round stones also hung from many girdles. ephraim led his companions and, before greeting his uncle, formed them into two ranks like a double wall between joshua and the hostile bow-men. then he gave himself up to the delight of meeting, and a second glad greeting soon followed; for old nun, protected by the tall egyptian shields which the sea had washed ashore, had been guided to the projecting rock in whose shelter strong hands were filing the fetters from joshua and his companion, while ephraim, with several others, bound the captain. the unfortunate man had given up all attempt at resistance and submitted to everything as if utterly crushed. he only asked permission to wipe his eyes ere his arms were bound behind his back; for tear after tear was falling on the grey beard of the warder who, outwitted and overpowered, no longer felt capable of discharging the duties of his office. nun clasped to his heart with passionate fervor the rescued son whom he had already mourned as lost. then, releasing him, he stepped back and never wearied of feasting his eyes on him and hearing him repeat that, faithful to his god, he had consecrated himself to the service of his people. but it was for a brief period only that they gave themselves up to the bliss of this happy meeting; the battle asserted its rights, and its direction fell, as a matter of course, to joshua. he had learned with grateful joy, yet not wholly untinged with melancholy, of the fate which had overtaken the brave army among whose leaders he had long proudly numbered himself, and also heard that another body of armed shepherds, under the command of hur, miriam's husband, had attacked the turquoise mines of dophkah, which situated a little farther toward the south, could be reached in a few hours. if they conquered, they were to join the young followers of ephraim before sunset. the latter was burning with eagerness to rush upon the egyptians, but the more prudent joshua, who had scanned the foe, though he did not doubt that they must succumb to the fiery shepherds, who were far superior to them in numbers, was anxious to shed as little blood as possible in this conflict, which was waged on his account, so he bade ephraim cut a palm from the nearest tree, ordered a shield to be handed to him and then, waving the branch as an omen of peace, yet cautiously protecting himself, advanced alone to meet the foe. the main body were drawn up in front of the mines and, familiar with the signal which requested negotiations, asked their commander for an interview. the latter was ready to grant it, but first desired to know the contents of a letter which had just been handed to him and must contain evil tidings. this was evident from the messenger's looks and the few words which, though broken, were pregnant with meaning, that he had whispered to his countryman. while some of pharaoh's warriors offered refreshments to the exhausted, dust-covered runner, and listened with every token of horror to the tidings he hoarsely gasped, the commander of the troops read the letter. his features darkened and, when he had finished, he clenched the papyrus fiercely; for it had announced tidings no less momentous than the destruction of the army, the death of pharaoh menephtah, and the coronation of his oldest surviving son as seti ii., after the attempt of prince siptah to seize the throne had been frustrated. the latter had fled to the marshy region of the delta, and aarsu, the syrian, after abandoning him and supporting the new king, had been raised to the chief command of all the mercenaries. bai, the high-priest and chief-judge, had been deprived of his rank and banished by seti ii. siptah's confederates had been taken to the ethiopian gold mines instead of to the copper mines. it was also stated that many women belonging to the house of the separated had been strangled; and siptah's mother had undoubtedly met the same fate. every soldier who could be spared from the mines was to set off at once for tanis, where veterans were needed for the new legions. this news exerted a powerful influence; for after joshua had told the commander that he was aware of the destruction of the egyptian army and expected reinforcements which had been sent to capture dophkah to arrive within a few hours, the egyptian changed his imperious tone and endeavored merely to obtain favorable conditions for retreat. he was but too well aware of the weakness of the garrison of the turquoise mines and knew that he could expect no aid from home. besides, the mediator inspired him with confidence; therefore, after many evasions and threats, he expressed himself satisfied with the assurance that the garrison, accompanied by the beasts of burden and necessary provisions, should be allowed to depart unharmed. this, however, was not to be done until after they had laid down their arms and showed the hebrews all the galleries where the prisoners were at work. the young hebrews, who twice outnumbered the egyptians, at once set about disarming them; and many an old warrior's eyes grew dim, many a man broke his lance or snapped his arrows amid execrations and curses, while some grey-beards who had formerly served under joshua and recognized him, raised their clenched fists and upbraided him as a traitor. the dregs of the army were sent for this duty in the wilderness and most of the men bore in their faces the impress of corruption and brutality. those in authority on the nile knew how to choose soldiers whose duty it was to exercise pitiless severity against the defenceless. at last the mines were opened and joshua himself seized a lamp and pressed forward into the hot galleries where the naked prisoners of state, loaded with fetters, were hewing the copper ore from the walls. already he could hear in the distance the picks, whose heads were shaped like a swallow's tail, bite the hard rock. then he distinguished the piteous wails of tortured men and women; for cruel overseers had followed them into the mine and were urging the slow to greater haste. to-day, pharaoh's birthday, they had been driven to the temple of hathor on the summit of the neighboring height, to pray for the king who had plunged them into the deepest misery, and they would have been released from labor until the next morning, had not the unexpected attack induced the commander to force them back into the mines. therefore to-day the women, who were usually obliged merely to crush and sift the ores needed to make glass and dyes, were compelled to labor in the galleries. when the convicts heard joshua's shouts and footsteps, which echoed from the bare cliffs, they were afraid that some fresh misfortune was impending, and wailing and lamentations arose in all directions. but the deliverer soon reached the first convicts, and the glad tidings that he had come to save them from their misery speedily extended to the inmost depths of the mines. wild exultation filled the galleries which were wont to witness only sorrowful moans and burning tears; yet loud cries for help, piteous wailings, groans, and the death-rattle reached joshua's ear; for a hot- blooded man had rushed upon the overseer most hated and felled him with his pick-axe. his example quickly inflamed the others' thirst for vengeance and, ere it could be prevented, the same fate overtook the other officials. but they had defended themselves and the corpse of many a prisoner strewed the ground beside their tormentors. obeying joshua's call, the liberated multitude at last emerged into the light of day. savage and fierce were the outcries which blended in sinister discord with the rattling of the chains they dragged after them. even the most fearless among the hebrews shrank in horror as they beheld the throng of hapless sufferers in the full radiance of the sunlight; for the dazzled, reddened eyes of the unfortunate sufferers,--many of whom had formerly enjoyed in their own homes or at the king's court every earthly blessing; who had been tender mothers and fathers, rejoiced in doing good, and shared all the blessings of the civilization of a richly gifted people,--these dazzled eyes which at first glittered through tears caused by the swift transition from the darkness of the mines to the glare of the noon-day sun, soon sparkled as fiercely and greedily as those of starving owls. at first, overwhelmed by the singular change in their destiny, they struggled for composure and did not resist the hebrews, who, at joshua's signal, began to file the fetters from their ankles; but when they perceived the disarmed soldiers and overseers who, guarded by ephraim and his companions, were ranged at the base of a cliff, a strange excitement overpowered them. amid shrieks and yells which no name can designate, no words describe, they broke from those who were trying to remove their fetters and, though no glance or word had been exchanged between them, obeyed the same terrible impulse, and unheeding the chains that burdened them, rushed upon the defenceless egyptians. before the hebrews could prevent it, each threw himself upon the one who had inflicted the worst suffering upon him; and here might be seen an emaciated man clutching the throat of his stronger foe, yonder a band of nude women horribly disfigured by want and neglect, rush upon the man who had most rudely insulted, beaten, and abused them, and with teeth and nails wreak upon him their long repressed fury. it seemed as though the flood-tide of hate had burst its dam and, unfettered, was demanding its victims. there was a horrible scene of attack and defence, a ferocious, bloody conflict on foot and amid the red sand of the desert, shrieks, yells, and howls pierced the ear; nay, it was difficult to distinguish individuals in this motley confusion of men and women, animated on the one side by the wildest passion, a yearning for vengeance amounting to blood- thirstiness, and on the other by the dread of death and the necessity for self-defence. only a few of the prisoners had succeeded in controlling themselves; but they, too, shouted irritating words to their fellows, reviled the egyptians in violent excitement, and shook their clenched fists at the disarmed foe. the fury with which the liberated serfs rushed upon their tormentors was as unprecedented as the cruelties they had suffered. but joshua had deprived the egyptians of their weapons, and they were therefore under his protection. so he commanded his men to separate the combatants, if possible without bloodshed; but the task was no easy one, and many new and horrible deeds were committed. at last, however, it was accomplished, and they now perceived how terribly rage had increased the strength of the exhausted and feeble sufferers; for though no weapons had been used in the conflict a number of corpses strewed the spot, and most of the guards were bleeding from terrible wounds. after quiet had been restored, joshua asked the wounded commander for the list of prisoners, but he pointed to the clerk of the mines, whom none of the convicts had assailed. he had been their physician and treated them kindly-an elderly man, he had himself undergone sore trials and, knowing the pain of suffering, was ready to alleviate the pangs of others. he willingly read aloud the names of the prisoners, among which were several hebrew ones, and after each individual had responded, many declared themselves ready to join the wandering tribes. when the disarmed soldiers and guards at last set out on their way home, the captain of the band that had escorted joshua and his companions left the other egyptians, and with drooping head and embarrassed mien approached old nun and his son, and begged permission to go with them; for he could expect no favor at home and there was no god in egypt so mighty as theirs. it had not escaped his notice that hosea, who had once been a chief in the egyptian service, had raised his hands in the sorest straits to this god, and never had he witnessed the same degree of resolution that he possessed. now he also knew that this same mighty god had buried pharaoh's powerful army in the sea to save his people. such a god was acceptable to his heart, and he desired nothing better than to remain henceforward with those who served him. joshua willingly allowed him to join the hebrews. then it appeared that there were fifteen of the latter among the liberated prisoners and, to ephraim's special delight, reuben, the husband of poor melancholy milcah, who clung so closely to miriam. his reserved, laconic disposition had stood him in good stead, and the arduous forced labor seemed to have inflicted little injury on his robust frame. the exultation of victory, the joy of success, had taken full possession of ephraim and his youthful band; but when the sun set and there was still no sign of hur and his band, nun and his followers were seized with anxiety. ephraim had already proposed to go with some of his companions in quest of tidings, when a messenger announced that hur's men had lost courage at the sight of the well-fortified egyptian citadel. their leader, it is true, had urged them to the assault, but his band had shrunk from the peril and, unless nun and his men brought aid, they would return with their mission unfulfilled. it was therefore resolved to go to the assistance of the timorous. with joyous confidence they marched forward and, during the journey through the cool night, ephraim and nun described to joshua how they had found kasana and how she had died. what she had desired to communicate to the man she loved was now made known to him, and the warrior listened with deep emotion and remained silent and thoughtful until they reached dophkah, the valley of the turquoise mines, from whose center rose the fortress which contained the prisoners. hur and his men had remained concealed in a side-valley, and after joshua had divided the hebrew force into several bodies and assigned to each a certain task, he gave at dawn the signal for the assault. after a brief struggle the little garrison was overpowered and the fortress taken. the disarmed egyptians, like their companions at the copper mines, were sent home. the prisoners were released and the lepers, whose quarters were in a side-valley beyond the mines--among them were those who at joshua's bidding had been brought here--were allowed to follow the conquerors at a certain distance. what hur, miriam's husband, could not accomplish, joshua had done, and ere the young soldiers departed with ephraim, old nun assembled them to offer thanks to the lord. the men under hur's command also joined in the prayer and wherever joshua appeared ephraim's companions greeted him with cheers. "hail to our chief !" often rang on the air, as they marched forward: "hail to him whom the most high himself has chosen for his sword! we will gladly follow him; for through him god leads us to victory." hur's men also joined in these shouts, and he did not forbid them; nay, after the storming of the fortress, he had thanked joshua and expressed his pleasure in his liberation. at the departure, the younger man had stepped back to let the older one precede him; but hur had entreated grey-haired nun, who was greatly his senior, to take the head of the procession, though after the deliverance of the people on the shore of the red sea he had himself been appointed by moses and the elders to the chief command of the hebrew soldiers. the road led first through a level mountain valley, then it crossed the pass known as the "sword-point ", which was the only means of communication between the mines and the red sea. the rocky landscape was wild and desolate, and the path to be climbed steep. joshua's old father, who had grown up on the flat plains of goshen and was unaccustomed to climbing mountains, was borne amid the joyous acclamations of the others, in the arms of his son and grandson, to the summit of the pass; but miriam's husband who, at the head of his men, followed the division of ephraim's companions, heard the shouts of the youths yet moved with drooping head and eyes bent on the ground. at the summit they were to rest and wait for the people who were to be led through the wilderness of sin to dophkah. the victors gazed from the top of the pass in search of the travellers; but as yet no sign of them appeared. but when they looked back along the mountain path whence they had come a different spectacle presented itself, a scene so grand, so marvellous, that it attracted every eye as though by a magic spell; for at their feet lay a circular valley, surrounded by lofty cliffs, mountain ridges, peaks, and summits, which here white as chalk, yonder raven-black, here grey and brown, yonder red and green, appeared to grow upward from the sand toward the azure sky of the wilderness, steeped in dazzling light, and unshadowed by the tiniest cloudlet. all that the eye beheld was naked and bare, silent and lifeless. on the slopes of the many-colored rocks, which surrounded the sandy valley, grew no blade of grass nor smallest plant. neither bird, worm, nor beetle stirred in these silent tracts, hostile to all life. here the eye discerned no cultivation,--nothing that recalled human existence. god seemed to have created for himself alone these vast tracts which were of service to no living creature. whoever penetrated into this wilderness entered a spot which the most high had perchance chosen for a place of rest and retreat, like the silent, inaccessible holy of holies of the temple. the young men had gazed mutely at the wonderful scene at their feet. now they prepared to encamp and showed themselves diligent in serving old nun, whom they sincerely loved. resting among them under a hastily erected canopy he related, with sparkling eyes, the deeds his son had performed. meanwhile joshua and hur were still standing at the top of the pass, the former gazing silently down into the dreary, rocky valley, which overarched by the blue dome of the sky, surrounded by the mountain pillars and columns from god's own workshop, opened before him as the mightiest of temples. the old man had long gazed gloomily at the ground, but he suddenly interrupted the silence and said: "in succoth i erected a heap of stones and called upon the lord to be a witness between us. but in this spot, amid this silence, it seems to me that without memorial or sign we are sure of his presence." here he drew his figure to a greater height and continued: "and i now raise mine eyes to thee, adonai, and address my humble words to thee, jehovah, thou god of abraham and of our fathers, that thou mayst a second time be a witness between me and this man whom thou thyself didst summon to thy service, that he might be thy sword." he had uttered these words with eyes and hands uplifted, then turning to the other, he said with solemn earnestness: "so i ask thee hosea, son of nun, dost thou remember the vow which thou and i made before the stones in succoth?" "i do," was the reply. "and in sore disaster and great peril i perceived what the most high desired of me, and am resolved to devote to him all the strength of body and soul with which he has endowed me, to him alone, and to his people, who are also mine. henceforward i will be called joshua.... nor will i seek service with the egyptians or any foreign king; for the lord our god through the lips of thy wife bestowed this name upon me." then hur, with solemn earnestness, broke in: "that is what i expected to hear and as, in this place also, the most high is a witness between me and thee and hears this conversation, let the vow i made in his presence be here fulfilled. the heads of the tribes and moses, the servant of the lord, appointed me to the command of the fighting-men of our people. but now thou dost call thyself joshua, and hast vowed to serve no other than the lord our god. i am well aware thou canst accomplish far greater things as commander of an army than i, who have grown grey in driving herds, or than any other hebrew, by whatever name he is known, so i will fulfil the vow sworn at succoth. i will ask moses, the servant of the lord, and the elders to confide to thee the office of commander. in their hands will i place the decision and, because i feel that the most high beholds my heart, let me confess that i have thought of thee with secret rancor. yet, for the welfare of the people, i will forget what lies between us and offer thee my hand." with these words he held out his hand to joshua and the latter, grasping it, replied with generous candor: "thy words are manly and mine shall be also. for the sake of the people and the cause we both serve, i will accept thy offer. yet since thou hast summoned the most high as a witness and he hears me, i, too, will not withhold one iota of the truth. the lord himself has summoned me to the office of commander of the fighting-men which thou dost desire to commit to me. it was done through miriam, thy wife, and is my due. yet i recognize thy willingness to yield thy dignity to me as a praiseworthy deed, since i know how hard it is for a man to resign power, especially in favor of a younger one whom he does not love. thou hast done this, and i am grateful. i, too, have thought of thee with secret rancor; for through thee i lost another possession harder for a man to renounce than office: the love of woman." the hot blood mounted into hur's cheeks, as he exclaimed: "miriam! i did not force her into marriage; nay i did not even purchase her, according to the custom of our fathers, with the bridal dowry--she became my wife of her own free will." "i know it," replied joshua quietly, "yet there was one man who had yearned to make her his longer and more ardently than thou, and the fire of jealousy burned fiercely in his heart. but have no anxiety; for wert thou now to give her a letter of divorce and lead her to me that i might open my arms and tent to receive her, i would exclaim: "why hast thou done this thing to thyself and to me? for a short time ago i learned what woman's love is, and that i was mistaken when i believed miriam shared the ardor of my heart. besides, during the march with fetters on my feet, in the heaviest misfortune, i vowed to devote all the strength and energy of soul and body to the welfare of our people. nor shall the love of woman turn me from the great duty i have taken upon myself. as for thy wife, i shall treat her as a stranger unless, as a prophetess, she summons me to announce a new message from the lord." with these words he held out his hand to his companion and, as hur grasped it, loud voices were heard from the fighting-men, for messengers were climbing the mountain, who, shouting and beckoning, pointed to the vast cloud of dust that preceded the march of the tribes. chapter xxv. the hebrews came nearer and nearer, and many of the young combatants hastened to meet them. these were not the joyous bands, who had joined triumphantly in miriam's song of praise, no, they tottered toward the mountain slowly, with drooping heads. they were obliged to scale the pass from the steeper side, and how the bearers sighed; how piteously the women and children wailed, how fiercely the drivers swore as they urged the beasts of burden up the narrow, rugged path; how hoarsely sounded the voices of the half fainting men as they braced their shoulders against the carts to aid the beasts of burden. these thousands who, but a few short days before, had so gratefully felt the saving mercy of the lord, seemed to joshua, who stood watching their approach, like a defeated army. but the path they had followed from their last encampment, the harbor by the red sea, was rugged, arid, and to them, who had grown up among the fruitful plains of lower egypt, toilsome and full of terror. it had led through the midst of the bare rocky landscape, and their eyes, accustomed to distant horizons and luxuriant green foliage, met narrow boundaries and a barren wilderness. since passing through the gate of baba, they had beheld on their way through the valley of the same name and their subsequent pilgrimage through the wilderness of sin, nothing save valleys with steep precipices on either side. a lofty mountain of the hue of death had towered, black and terrible, above the reddish-brown slopes, which seemed to the wanderers like the work of human hands, for the strata of stones rose at regular intervals. one might have supposed that the giant builders whose hands had toiled here in the service of the sculptor of the world had been summoned away ere they had completed the task, which in this wilderness had no searching eye to fear and seemed destined for the service of no living creature. grey and brown granite cliffs and ridges rose on both sides of the path, and in the sand which covered it lay heaps of small bits of red porphyry and coal-black stones that seemed as if they had been broken by the blows of a hammer and resembled the dross from which metal had been melted. greenish masses of rock, most peculiar in form, surrounded the narrow, cliff circled mountain valleys, which opened into one another. the ascending path pierced them; and often the hebrews, as they entered, feared that the lofty cliffs in the distance would compel them to return. then murmurs and lamentations arose, but the mode of egress soon appeared and led to another rock-valley. on departing from the harbor at the red sea they had often found thorny gum acacias and an aromatic desert plant, which the animals relished; but the farther they entered the rocky wilderness, the more scorching and arid the sand became, and at last the eye sought in vain for herbs and trees. at elim fresh springs and shade-giving palms were found, and at the red sea there were well-filled cisterns; but here at the camp in the wilderness of sin nothing had been discovered to quench the thirst, and at noon it seemed as though an army of spiteful demons had banished every inch of shade cast by the cliffs; for every part of the valleys and ravines blazed and glowed, and nowhere was there the slightest protection from the scorching sun. the last water brought with them had been distributed among the human beings and animals, and when the procession started in the morning not a drop could be found to quench their increasing thirst. then the old doubting rancor and rebelliousness took possession of the multitude. curses directed against moses and the elders, who had led them from the comfort of well-watered egypt to this misery, never ceased; but when they climbed the pass of the "swordpoint" their parched throats had become too dry for oaths and invectives. messengers from old nun, ephraim, and hur had already informed the approaching throngs that the young men had gained a victory and liberated joshua and the other captives; but their discouragement had become so great that even this good news made little change, and only a flitting smile on the bearded lips of the men, or a sudden flash of the old light in the dark eyes of the women appeared. miriam, accompanied by melancholy milcah, had remained with her companions instead of, as usual, calling upon the women to thank the most high. reuben, the husband of her sorrowful ward whom fear of disappointment still deterred from yielding to his newly-awakened hopes, was a quiet, reticent man, so the first messenger did not know whether he was among the liberated prisoners. but great excitement overpowered milcah and, when miriam bade her be patient, she hurried from one playmate to another assailing them with urgent questions. when even the last could give her no information concerning the husband she had loved and lost, she burst into loud sobs and fled back to the prophetess. but she received little consolation, for the woman who was expecting to greet her own husband as a conqueror and see the rescued friend of her childhood, was absent- minded and troubled, as if some heavy burden oppressed her soul. moses had left the tribes as soon as he learned that the attack upon the mines had succeeded and joshua was rescued; for it had been reported that the warlike amalekites, who dwelt in the oasis at the foot of mt. sinai, were preparing to resist the hebrews' passage through their well-watered tract in the wilderness with its wealth of palms. accompanied by a few picked men he set off across the mountains in quest of tidings, expecting to join his people between alush and rephidim in the valley before the oasis. abidan, the head of the tribe of benjamin, with hur and nun, the princes of judah and ephraim after their return from the mines--were to represent him and his companions. as the people approached the steep pass hur, with more of the rescued prisoners, came to meet them, and hurrying in advance of all the rest was young reuben, milcah's lost husband. she had recognized him in the distance as he rushed down the mountain and, spite of miriam's protest, darted into the midst of the tribe of simeon which marched in front of hers. the sight of their meeting cheered many a troubled spirit and when at last, clinging closely to each other, they hurried to miriam and the latter beheld the face of her charge, it seemed as though a miracle had been wrought; for the pale lily had become in the hue of her cheeks a blooming rose. her lips, too, which she had but rarely and timidly opened for a question or an answer, were in constant motion; for how much she desired to know, how many questions she had to ask the silent husband who had endured such terrible suffering. they were a handsome, happy pair, and it seemed to them as if, instead of passing naked rocks over barren desert paths, they were journeying through a vernal landscape where springs were gushing and birds carolling their songs. miriam, who had done everything in her power to sustain the grieving wife, was also cheered by the sight of her happiness. but every trace of joyous sympathy soon vanished from her features; for while reuben and milcah, as if borne on wings, seemed scarcely to touch the soil of the wilderness, she moved forward with drooping head, oppressed by the thought that it was her own fault that no like happiness could bloom for her in this hour. she told herself that she had made a sore sacrifice, worthy of the highest reward and pleasing in the sight of god, when she refused to obey the voice of her heart, yet she could not banish from her memory the dying egyptian who had denied her right to be numbered among those who loved hosea, the woman who for his sake had met so early a death. she, miriam, lived, yet she had killed the most fervent desire of her soul; duty forbade her thinking with ardent longing of him who lingered up yonder, devoted to the cause of his people and the god of his fathers, a free, noble man, perhaps the future leader of the warriors of her race, and if moses so appointed, next to him the first and greatest of all the hebrews, but lost, forever lost to her. had she on that fateful night obeyed the yearning of her woman's heart and not the demands of the vocation which placed her far above all other women, he would long since have clasped her in his arms, as quiet reuben embraced his poor, feeble milcah, now so joyous as she walked stoutly at his side. what thoughts were these? she must drive them back to the inmost recesses of her heart, seek to crush them; for it was a sin for her to long so ardently to meet another. she wished for her husband's presence, as a saviour from herself and the forbidden desires of this terrible hour. hur, the prince of the tribe of judah, was her husband, not the former egyptian, the liberated captive. what had she to ask from the ephraimite, whom she had forever refused? why should it hurt her that the liberated prisoner did not seek her; why did she secretly cherish the foolish hope that momentous duties detained him? she scarcely saw or heard what was passing around her, and milcah's grateful greeting to her husband first informed her that hur was approaching. he had waved his hand to her while still afar, but he came alone, without hosea or joshua, she cared not what the rescued man called himself; and it angered her to feel that this hurt her, nay, pierced her to the heart. yet she esteemed her elderly husband and it was not difficult for her to give him a cordial welcome. he answered her greeting joyously and tenderly; but when she pointed to the re-united pair and extolled him as victor and deliverer of reuben and so many hapless men, he frankly owned that he had no right to this praise, it was the due of "joshua," whom she herself had summoned in the name of the most high to command the warriors of the people. miriam turned pale and, in spite of the steepness of the road, pressed her husband with questions. when she heard that joshua was resting on the heights with his father and the young men and refreshing themselves with wine, and that hur had promised to resign voluntarily, if moses desired to entrust the command to him, her heavy eye-brows contracted in a gloomy frown beneath her broad forehead and, with curt severity, she exclaimed: "you are my lord, and it is not seemly for me to oppose you, not even if you forget your own wife so far that you give place to the man who once ventured to raise his eyes to her." "he no longer cares for you," hur eagerly interrupted; "nay, were i to give you a letter of divorce, he would no longer desire to possess you." "would he not?" asked miriam with a forced smile. "do you owe this information to him?" "he has devoted himself, body and soul, to the welfare of the people and renounces the love of woman," replied hur. but his wife exclaimed: "renunciation is easy, where desire would bring nothing save fresh rejection and shame. not to him who, in the hour of the utmost peril, sought aid from the egyptians is the honor of the chief command of the warriors due, but rather to you, who led the tribes to the first victory at the store-house in succoth and to whom the lord himself, through moses his servant, confided the command." hur looked anxiously at the woman for whom a late, fervent love had fired his heart, and seeing her glowing cheeks and hurried breathing, knew not whether to attribute these symptoms to the steep ascent or to the passionate ambition of her aspiring soul, which she now transferred to him, her husband. that she held him in so much higher esteem than the younger hero, whose return he had dreaded, pleased him, but he had grown grey in the strict fulfilment of duty, and would not deviate from what he considered right. his mere hints had been commands to the wife of his youth whom he had borne to the grave a few years before, and as yet he had encountered no opposition from miriam. that joshua was best fitted to command the fighting-men of the people was unquestionable, so he answered, with panting breath, for the ascent taxed his strength also: "your good opinion is an honor and a pleasure to me; but even should moses and the elders confer the chief command upon me, remember the heap of stones at succoth and my vow. i have ever been mindful of and shall keep it." miriam looked angrily aside, and said nothing more till they had reached the summit of the pass. the victorious youths were greeting their approaching kindred with loud shouts. the joy of meeting, the provisions captured, and the drink which, though sparingly distributed, was divided among the greatest sufferers, raised the drooping courage of the exhausted wayfarers; and the thirsting hebrews shortened the rest at the summit of the pass in order to reach dophkah more quickly. they had heard from joshua that they would find there not only ruined cisterns, but also a hidden spring whose existence had been revealed to him by the ex-captain of the prisoners' guards. the way led down the mountain. "haste" was the watchword of the fainting hebrews on their way to a well; and thus, soon after sunset, they reached the valley of the turquoise mines, where they encamped around the hill crowned by the ruined fortress and burned store-houses of dophkah. the spring in an acacia grove dedicated to the goddess hathor was speedily found, and fire after fire was quickly lighted. the wavering hearts which, in the desert of sin, had been on the verge of despair were again filled with the anticipation of life, hope, and grateful faith. the beautiful acacias, it is true, had been felled to afford easier access to the spring whose refreshing waters had effected this wonderful change. at the summit of the pass joshua and miriam had met again, but found time only for a hasty greeting. in the camp they were brought into closer relations. joshua had appeared among the people with his father. the heir of the princely old man who was held in such high esteem received joyous greetings from all sides, and his counsel to form a vanguard of the youthful warriors, a rear-guard of the older ones, and send out chosen bands of the former on reconnoitering expeditions was readily adopted. he had a right to say that he was familiar with everything pertaining to the guidance and defence of a large army. god himself had entrusted him with the chief command, and moses, by sending him the monition to be strong and steadfast, had confirmed the office. hur, too, who now possessed it, was willing to transfer it to him, and this man's promise was inviolable, though he had omitted to repeat it in the presence of the elders. joshua was treated as if he held the chief command, and he himself felt his own authority supreme. after the assembly dispersed, hur had invited him, spite of the late hour, to go to his tent and the warrior accompanied him, for he desired to talk with miriam. he would show her, in her husband's presence, that he had found the path which she had so zealously pointed out to him. in the presence of another's wife the tender emotions of a hebrew were silent. hur's consort must be made aware that he, joshua, no longer cherished any love for her. even in his solitary hours, he had wholly ceased to think of her. he confessed that she was a noble, a majestic woman, but the very memory of this grandeur now sent a chill through his veins. her actions, too, appeared in a new light. nay, when at the summit of the pass she had greeted him with a cold smile, he felt convinced that they were utterly estranged from one another, and this feeling grew stronger and stronger beside the blazing fire in the stately tent of the chief, where they met a second time. the rescued reuben and his wife milcah had deserted miriam long before and, during her lonely waiting, many thoughts had passed through her mind which she meant to impress upon the man to whom she had granted so much that its memory now weighed on her heart like a crime. we are most ready to be angry with those to whom we have been unjust, and this woman regarded the gift of her love as something so great, so precious, that it behooved even the man whom she had rejected never to cease to remember it with gratitude. but joshua had boasted that he no longer desired, even were she offered to him, the woman whom he had once so fervently loved and clasped in his embrace. nay, he had confirmed this assertion by leisurely waiting, without seeking her. at last he came, and in company with her husband, who was ready to cede his place to him. but she was present, ready to watch with open eyes for the welfare of the too generous hur. the elderly man, to whose fate she had linked her own, and whose faithful devotion touched her, should be defrauded by no rival of the position which was his due, and which he must retain, if only because she rebelled against being the wife of a man who could no longer claim next to her brothers the highest rank in the tribes. never before had the much-courted woman, who had full faith in her gift of prophesy, felt so bitter, sore, and irritated. she did not admit it even to herself, yet it seemed as if the hatred of the egyptians with which moses had inspired her, and which was now futile, had found a new purpose and was directed against the only man whom she had ever loved. but a true woman can always show kindness to everyone whom she does not scorn, so though she blushed deeply at the sight of the man whose kiss she had returned, she received him cordially, and with sympathetic questions. meanwhile, however, she addressed him by his former name hosea, and when he perceived it was intentional, he asked if she had forgotten that it was she herself who, as the confidante of the most high, had commanded him henceforward to call himself "joshua." her features grew sharper with anxiety as she replied that her memory was good but he reminded her of a time which she would prefer to forget. he had himself forfeited the name the lord had given him by preferring the favor of the egyptians to the help which god had promised. faithful to the old custom, she would continue to call him "hosea." the honest-hearted soldier had not expected such hostility, but he maintained a tolerable degree of composure and answered quietly that he would rarely afford her an opportunity to address him by this or any other name. those who were his friends readily adopted that of joshua. miriam replied that she, too, would be ready to do so if her husband approved and he himself insisted upon it; for the name was only a garment. of course offices and honors were another matter. when joshua then declared that he still believed god himself had summoned him, through the lips of his prophetess, to command the hebrew soldiers and that he would admit the right of no one save moses to deprive him of his claim to this office, hur assented and held out his hand to him. then miriam dropped the restraint she had hitherto imposed on herself and, with defiant eagerness, continued: "there i am of a different opinion. you did not obey the summons of the most high. can you deny this? and when the omnipresent one found you at the feet of pharaoh, instead of at the head of his people, he deprived you of the office with which he had entrusted you. he, the mightiest of generals, summoned the tempest and the waves, and they swallowed up the foe. so perished those who were your friends till their heavy fetters made you realize their true disposition toward you and your race. but i, meanwhile, was extolling the mercy of the most high, and the people joined in my hymn of praise. on that very day the lord summoned another to command the fighting-men in your stead, and that other, as you know, is my husband. if hur has never learned the art of war, god will surely guide his arm, and it is he and none other who bestows victory. "my husband--hear it again--is the sole commander of the hosts and if, in the abundance of his generosity, he has forgotten it, he will retain his office when he remembers whose hand chose him, and when i, his wife, raise my voice and recall it to his memory." joshua turned to go, in order to end the painful discussion, but hur detained him, protesting that he was deeply incensed by his wife's unseemly interference in the affairs of men, and that he insisted on his promise. "a woman's disapproving words were blown away by the wind. it would be moses' duty to declare whom jehovah had chosen to be commander." while making this reply hur had gazed at his wife with stern dignity, as if admonishing discretion, and the look seemed to have effected its purpose; for miriam had alternately flushed and paled as she listened; nay, she even detained the guest by beckoning him with a trembling hand to approach, as though she desired to soothe him. "let me say one thing more," she began, drawing a long breath, "that you may not misunderstand my meaning. i call everyone our friend who devotes himself to the cause of the people, and how self-sacrificingly you intend to do this, hur has informed me. it was your confidence in pharaoh's favor that parted us--therefore i know how to prize your firm and decisive breach with the egyptians, but i did not correctly estimate the full grandeur of this deed until i learned that not only long custom, but other bonds, united you to the foe." "what is the meaning of these words?" replied joshua, convinced that she had just fitted to the bowstring another shaft intended to wound him. but miriam, unheeding the question, calmly continued with a defiant keenness of glance that contradicted her measured speech: "after the lord's guidance had delivered us from the enemy, the red sea washed ashore the most beautiful woman we have seen for a long time. i bandaged the wound a hebrew woman dealt her and she acknowledged that her heart was filled with love for you, and that on her dying bed she regarded you as the idol of her soul." joshua, thoroughly incensed, exclaimed: "if this is the whole truth, wife of hur, my father has given me a false report; for according to what i heard from him, the hapless woman made her last confession only in the presence of those who love me; not in yours. and she was right to shun you--you would never have understood her." here he saw a smile of superiority hover around miriam's lips; but he repelled it, as he went on: "ah, your intellect is tenfold keener than poor kasana's ever was. but your heart, which was open to the most high, had no room for love. it will grow old and cease to beat without having learned the feeling. and, spite of your flashing eyes, i will tell you you are more than a woman, you are a prophetess. i cannot boast of gifts so lofty. i am merely a plain man, who understands the art of fighting better than that of foretelling the future. yet i can see what is to come. you will foster the hatred of me that glows in your breast, and will also implant it in your husband's heart and zealously strive to fan it there. and i know why. the fiery ambition which consumes you will not suffer you to be the wife of a man who is second to any other. you refuse to call me by the name i owe to you. but if hatred and arrogance do not stifle in your breast the one feeling that still unites us--love for our people, the day will come when you will voluntarily approach and, unasked, by the free impulse of your heart, call me 'joshua.'" with these words he took leave of miriam and her husband by a short wave of the hand, and vanished in the darkness of the night. hur gazed gloomily after him in silence until the footsteps of the belated guest had died away in the sleeping camp; then the ill-repressed wrath of the grave man, who had hitherto regarded his young wife with tender admiration, knew no bounds. with two long strides he stood directly before her as she gazed with a troubled look into the fire, her face even paler than his own. his voice had lost its metallic harmony, and sounded shrill and sharp as he exclaimed: "i had the courage to woo a maiden who supposed herself to be nearer to god than other women, and now that she has become my wife she makes me atone for such presumption." "atone?" escaped miriam's livid lips, and a defiant glance blazed at him from her black eyes. but, undismayed, he continued, grasping her hand with so firm a pressure that it hurt her: "aye, you make me atone for it!--shame on me, if i permit this disgraceful hour to be followed by similar ones." miriam strove to wrest her hand from his clasp, but he would not release it, and went on: "i sought you, that you might be the pride of my house. i expected to sow honor, and i reap disgrace; for what could be more humiliating to a man than to have a wife who rules him, who presumes to wound with hostile words the heart of the friend who is protected by the laws of hospitality? a woman of different mould, a simple-hearted, upright wife, who looked at her husband's past life, instead of planning how to increase his greatness, that she might share it with him, need not have had me shout into her ears that hur has garnered honors and dignities enough, during his long existence, to be able to spare a portion of them without any loss of esteem. it is not the man who holds the chief command, but the one who shows the most self-sacrificing love for the people that is greatest in the eyes of jehovah. you desire a high place, you seek to be honored by the multitude as one who is summoned by the lord. i shall not forbid it, so long as you do not forget what the duty of a wife commands. you owe me love also; for you vowed to give it on your marriage day; but the human heart can bestow only what it possesses, and hosea is right when he says that love, which is warm itself and warms others, is a feeling alien to your cold nature." with these words he turned his back upon her and went to the dark portion of the tent, while miriam remained standing by the fire, whose flickering light illumined her beautiful, pallid face. with clenched teeth and hands pressed on her heaving bosom, she stood gazing at the spot where he had disappeared. her grey-haired husband had confronted her in the full consciousness of his dignity, a noble man worthy of reverence, a true, princely chief of his tribe, and infinitely her superior. his every word had pierced her bosom like the thrust of a lance. the power of truth had given each its full emphasis and held up to miriam a mirror that showed her an image from which she shrank. now she longed to rush after him and beg him to restore the love with which he had hitherto surrounded her--and which the lonely woman had gratefully felt. she knew that she could reciprocate his costly gift; for how ardently she longed to have one kind, forgiving word from his lips. her soul seemed withered, parched, torpid, like a corn-field on which a poisonous mildew has fallen; yet it had once been green and blooming. she thought of the tilled fields in goshen which, after having borne an abundant harvest, remained arid and bare till the moisture of the river came to soften the soil and quicken the seed which it had received. so it had been with her soul, only she had flung the ripening grain into the fire and, with blasphemous hand, erected a dam between the fructifying moisture and the dry earth. but there was still time! she knew that he erred in one respect; she knew she was like all other women, capable of yearning with ardent passion for the man she loved. it depended solely on herself to make him feel this in her arms. now, it is true, he was justified in thinking her harsh and unfeeling, for where love had once blossomed in her soul, a spring of bitterness now gushed forth poisoning all it touched. was this the vengeance of the heart whose ardent wishes she had heroically slain? god had disdained her sorest sacrifice; this it was impossible to doubt; for his majesty was no longer revealed to her in visions that exalted the heart, and she was scarcely entitled to call herself his prophetess. this sacrifice had led her, the truth-loving woman, into falsehood and plunged her who, in the consciousness of seeking the right path lived at peace with herself, into torturing unrest. since that great and difficult deed she, who had once been full of hope, had obtained nothing for which she longed. she, who recognized no woman as her superior, had been obliged to yield in shame her place to a poor dying egyptian. she had been kindly disposed toward all who were of her blood, and were devoted to the sacred cause of her people, and now her hostile bitterness had wounded one of the best and noblest. the poorest bondman's wife rejoiced to bind more and more closely the husband who had once loved her--she had wickedly estranged hers. seeking protection she had approached his hearthstone shivering, but she had found it warmer than she had hoped, and his generosity and love fell upon her wounded soul like balm. true, he could not restore what she had lost, but he could give a welcome compensation. ah, he no longer believed her capable of a tender emotion, yet she needed love in order to live, and no sacrifice seemed to her too hard to regain his. but pride was also a condition of her very existence, and whenever she prepared to humbly open her heart to her husband, the fear of humiliating herself overpowered her, and she stood as though spell-bound till the blazing wood at her feet fell into smoking embers and darkness surrounded her. then a strange anxiety stole over her. two bats, which had come from the mines and circled round the fire darted past her like ghosts. everything urged her back to the tent, to her husband, and with hasty resolution she entered the spacious room lighted by a lamp. but it was empty, and the female slave who received her said that hur would spend the time until the departure of the people with his son and grandson. a keen pang pierced her heart, and she lay down to rest with a sense of helplessness and shame which she had not felt since her childhood. a few hours after the camp was astir and when her husband, in the grey dawn of morning, entered the tent with a curt greeting, pride again raised its head and her reply sounded cold and formal. he did not come alone; his son uri was with him. but he looked graver than was his wont; for the men of judah had assembled early and adjured him not to give up the chief command to any man who belonged to another tribe. this had been unexpected. he had referred them to moses' decision, and his desire that it might be adverse to him was intensified, as his young wife's self-reliant glance stirred fresh wrath in his soul. chapter xxvi. early the following morning the people resumed their march with fresh vigor and renewed courage; but the little spring which, by digging, had at last been forced to flow was completely exhausted. however, its refusal to bestow a supply of water to take with them was of no consequence; they expected to find another well at alush. the sun had risen in radiant majesty in a cloudless sky. the light showed its awakening power on the hearts of men, and the rocks and the yellow sand of the road sparkled like the blue vault above. the pure, light, spicy air of the desert, cooled by the freshness of the night, expanded the breasts of the wayfarers, and walking became a pleasure. the men showed greater confidence, and the eyes of the women sparkled more brightly than they had done for a long time; for the lord had again showed the people that he remembered them in their need; and fathers and mothers gazed proudly at the sons who had conquered the foe. most of the tribes had greeted in the band of prisoners some one who had long been given up as lost, and it was a welcome duty to make amends for the injuries the terrible forced labor had inflicted. there was special rejoicing, not only among the ephraimites, but everywhere, over the return of joshua, as all, save the men of the tribe of judah, now called him, remembering the cheering promise the name conveyed. the youths who under his command had put the egyptians to rout, told their relatives what manner of man the son of nun was, how he thought of everything and assigned to each one the place for which he was best suited. his eye kindled the battle spirit in every one on whom it fell, and the foe retreated at his mere war-cry. those who spoke of old nun and his grandson also did so with sparkling eyes. the tribe of ephraim, whose lofty pretensions had been a source of much vexation, was willingly allowed precedence on this march, and only the men of judah were heard to grumble. doubtless there was reason for dissatisfaction; for hur, the prince of their tribe, and his young wife walked as if oppressed by a heavy burden; whoever asked them anything would have been wiser to have chosen another hour. so long as the sun's rays were oblique, there was still a little shade at the edge of the sandstone rocks which bordered the road on both sides or towered aloft in the center; and as the sons of korah began a song of praise, young and old joined in, and most gladly and gratefully of all milcah, now no longer pale, and reuben, her happy, liberated husband. the children picked up golden-yellow bitter apples, which having fallen from the withered vines, lay by the wayside as if they had dropped from the sky, and brought them to their parents. but they were bitter as gall and a morose old man of the tribe of zebulun, who nevertheless kept their firm shells to hold ointment, said: "these are a symbol of to-day. it looks pleasant now; but when the sun mounts higher and we find no water, we shall taste the bitterness." his prediction was verified only too soon; for as the road which, after leaving the sandstone region, began to lead upward through a rocky landscape which resembled walls of red brick and grey stone, grew steeper, the sun rose higher and higher and the heat of the day hourly increased. never had the sun sent sharper arrows upon the travellers, and pitiless was their fall upon bare heads and shoulders. here an old man, yonder a younger one, sank prostrate under its scorching blaze or, supported by his friends, staggered on raving with his hand pressed to his brow like a drunken man. the blistered skin peeled from the hands and faces of men and women, and there was not one whose palate and tongue were not parched by the heat, or whose vigorous strength and newly-awakened courage it did not impair. the cattle moved forward with drooping heads and dragging feet or rolled on the ground till the shepherds' lash compelled them to summon their failing powers. at noon the people were permitted to rest, but there was not a hand's breadth of shade where they sought repose. whoever lay down in the noonday heat found fresh tortures instead of relief. the sufferers themselves urged a fresh start for the spring at alush. hitherto each day, after the sun had begun its course toward the west through the cloudless sky of the desert, the heat had diminished, and ere the approach of twilight a fresher breeze had fanned the brow; but to-day the rocks retained the glow of noonday for many hours, until a light cool breeze blew from sea at the west. at the same time the vanguard which, by joshua's orders, preceded the travellers, halted, and the whole train stopped. men, women, and children fixed their eyes and waved hands, staves, and crutches toward the same spot, where the gaze was spell-bound by a wondrous spectacle never beheld before. a cry of astonishment and admiration echoed from the parched weary lips, which had long since ceased to utter question or answer; and it soon rang from rank to rank, from tribe to tribe, to the very lepers at the end of the procession and the rear-guard which followed it. one touched another, and whispered a name familiar to every one, that of the sacred mountain where the lord had promised moses to "bring them unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey." no one had told the weary travellers, yet all knew that for the first time they beheld horeb and the peak of sinai, the most sacred summit of this granite range. though a mountain, it was also the throne of the omnipotent god of their fathers. the holy mountain itself seemed at this hour to be on fire like the bush whence he had spoken to his chosen servant. its summit, divided into seven peaks, towered majestically aloft in the distance, dominating the heights and valleys far and near, glowing before the people like a giant ruby, irradiated by the light of a conflagration which was consuming the world. no eye had ever beheld a similar spectacle. then the sun sank lower and lower, till it set in the sea concealed behind the mountains. the glowing ruby was transformed into a dark amethyst, and at last assumed the deep hue of a violet; but the eyes of the people continued to dwell on the sacred scenes as though spell-bound. nay, when the day-star had completely disappeared, and its reflection gilded a long cloud with shining edges, their eyes dilated still more, for a man of the tribe of benjamin, overwhelmed by the grandeur of the spectacle, beheld in it the floating gold-bordered mantle of jehovah, and the neighbors to whom he showed it, believed him, and shared his pious excitement. this inspiring sight had made the hebrews for a short time forget thirst and weariness. but the highest exaltation was soon to be transformed into the deepest discouragement; for when night closed in and alush was reached after a short march it appeared that the desert tribe which dwelt there, ere striking their tents the day before, had filled the brackish spring with pebbles and rubbish. everything fit to drink which had been brought with them had been consumed at dophkah, and the exhausted spring at the mines had afforded no water to fill the skins. thirst not only parched their palates but began to fever their bowels. their dry throats refused to receive the solid food of which there was no lack. scenes that could not fail to rouse both ruth and anger were seen and heard on all sides. here men and women raved and swore, wailed and moaned, yonder they gave themselves up to dull despair. others, whose crying children shrieked for water, had gone to the choked spring and were quarrelling around a little spot on the ground, whence they hoped to collect a few drops of the precious fluid in a shallow dish. the cattle, too, lowed so mournfully and beseechingly that it pierced the shepherds' hearts like a reproach. few took the trouble to pitch a tent. the night was so warm, and the sooner they pressed forward the better, for moses had promised to join them a few leagues hence. he alone could aid, it was his duty to protect man and beast from perishing. if the god who had promised them such splendid gifts left them to die in the wilderness with their cattle, the man to whose guidance they had committed themselves was a cheat; and the god whose might and mercy he never ceased extolling was more false and powerless than the idols with heads of human beings and animals, to whom they had prayed in egypt. threats, too, were loudly uttered amid curses and blasphemies. wherever aaron, who had returned to the people, appeared and addressed them, clenched fists were stretched toward him. miriam, too, by her husband's bidding, was compelled to desist from comforting the women with soothing words, after a mother whose infant was expiring at her dry breast, picked up a stone and others followed her example. old nun and his son found more attentive hearers. both agreed that joshua must fight, no matter in what position moses placed him; but hur himself led him to the warriors, who joyously greeted him. both the old man and the younger one understood how to infuse confidence. they told them of the well-watered oasis of the amalekites, which was not far distant, and pointed to the weapons in their hands, with which the lord himself had furnished them. joshua assured them that they greatly outnumbered the warriors of the desert tribe. if the young men bore themselves as bravely as they had done at the copper mines and at dophkah, with god's aid the victory would be theirs. after midnight joshua, having taken counsel with the elders, ordered the trumpets which summoned the fighting-men to be sounded. under the bright starry sky he reviewed them, divided them into bands, gave to each a fitting leader, and impressed upon them the importance of the orders they were to obey. they had assembled torpidly, half dead with thirst, but the new occupation to which their sturdy commander urged them, the hope of victory, and the great value of the prize: a piece of land at the foot of the sacred mountain, rich in springs and palm-trees, wonderfully strengthened their lost energy. ephraim was among them animating others by his tireless vigor. but when the ex-chief of the egyptians--whom the lord had already convinced that he considered him worthy of the aid his name promised--adjured them to rely on god's omnipotence, his words produced a very different effect from those uttered by aaron whose monitions they had heard daily since their departure. when joshua had spoken, many youthful lips, though parched with thirst, shouted enthusiastically: "hail to the chief! you are our captain; we will obey no other." but he now explained gravely and resolutely that the obedience he exacted from them he intended to practise rigidly himself. he would willingly take the last place in the ranks, if such was the command of moses. the stars were still shining brightly in a cloudless sky when the sound of the horns warned the people to set out on their march. meanwhile the vanguard had been sent forward to inform moses of the condition of the tribes, and after the review was over, ephraim followed them. during the march joshua kept the warriors together as closely as though an attack might be expected; profiting meanwhile by every moment to give the men and their captains instructions for the coming battle, to inspect them, and range their ranks in closer order. thus he kept them and their attention on the alert till the stars paled. opposition or complaint was rare among the warriors, but the murmurs, curses, and threats grew all the louder among those who bore no weapons. even before the grey dawn of morning the thirsting men, whose knees trembled with weakness, and who beheld close before their eyes the suffering of their wives and children, shouted more and more frequently: "on to moses! we'll stone him when we find him!" many, with loud imprecations and flashing eyes, picked up bits of rock along the road, and the fury of the multitude at last expressed itself so fiercely and passionately that hur took counsel with the well-disposed among the elders, and then hurried forward with the fighting-men of judah to protect moses, in case of extremity, from the rebels by force of arms. joshua was commissioned to detain the bands of rioters who, amid threats and curses, were striving to force their way past the warriors. when the sun at last rose with dazzling splendor, the march had become a pitiful creeping and tottering onward. even the soldiers moved as though they were paralysed. only when the rebels tried to press onward, they did their duty and forced them back with swords and lances. on both sides of the valley through which the hebrews were passing towered lofty cliffs of grey granite, which glittered and flashed marvellously when the slanting sunbeams struck the bits of quartz thickly imbedded in the primeval rock. at noon the heat could not fail to be scorching again between the bare precipices which in many places jutted very near one another; but the coolness of the morning still lingered. the cattle at least found some refreshment; for many a bush of the juicy, fragrant betharan--[cantolina fragrantissima]--afforded them food, and the shepherd-lads lifted their short frocks, filled the aprons thus made with them and, spite of their own exhaustion, held them up to the hungry mouths of the animals. they had passed an hour in this way, when a loud shout of joy suddenly rang out, passing from the vanguard through rank after rank till it reached the last roan in the rear. no one had heard in words to what event it was due, yet every one knew that it meant nothing else than the discovery of fresh water. ephraim now returned to confirm the glad tidings, and what an effect it produced upon the discouraged hearts! they straightened their bent figures and struggled onward with redoubled speed, as if they had already drained the water jar in long draughts. the bands of fighting-men put no farther obstacles in their way, and joyously greeted those who crowded past them. but the swiftly flowing throng was soon dammed; for the spot which afforded refreshment detained the front ranks, which blocked the whole procession as thoroughly as a wall or moat. the multitude became a mighty mob that filled the valley. at last men and women, with joyous faces, appeared bearing full jars and pails in their hands and on their heads, beckoning gaily to their friends, shouting words of cheer, and trying to force their way through the crowd to their relatives; but many had the precious liquid torn from them by force ere they reached their destination. joshua and his band had forced their way to the vicinity of the spring, to maintain order among the greedy drawers of water. but they were obliged to have patience for a time, for the strong men of the tribe of judah, with whom hur had led the way in advance of all the rest, were still swinging their axes and straining at the levers hastily prepared from the trunks of the thorny acacias to move huge blocks out of the way and widen the passage to the flow of water that was gushing from several clefts in the rock. at first the spring had lost itself in a heap of moss-covered granite blocks and afterwards in the earth; but now the overflow and trickling away of the precious fluid had been stopped and a reservoir formed whence the cattle also could drink. whoever had already succeeded in filling a jar had obtained the water from the overflow which had escaped through the quickly-made dam. now the men appointed to guard the camp were keeping every one back to give the water in the large new reservoir into which it flowed in surprising abundance, time to grow clear. in the presence of the gift of god for which they had so passionately shouted, it was easy to be patient. they had discovered the treasure and only needed to preserve it. no word of discontent, murmuring, or reviling was heard; nay, many looked with shame and humiliation at the new gift of the most high. loud, gladsome shouts and words echoed from the distance; but the man of god, who knew better than any one else, the valleys and rocks, pastures and springs of the horeb region and had again obtained so great a blessing for the people, had retired into a neighboring ravine; he was seeking refuge from the thanks and greetings which rose with increasing enthusiasm from ever widening circles, and above all peace and calmness for his own deeply agitated soul. soon fervent hymns of praise to the lord sounded from the midst of the refreshed, reinvigorated bands overflowing with ardent gratitude, who had never encamped richer in hope and joyous confidence. songs, merry laughter, jests, and glad shouts accompanied the pitching of every tent, and the camp sprung up as quickly as if it had been conjured from the earth by some magic spell. the eyes of the young men sparkled with eagerness for the fray, and many a head of cattle was slaughtered to make the meal a festal banquet. mothers who had done their duty in the camp, leading their children by the hand went to the spring and showed them the spot where moses' staff had pointed out to his people the water gushing from the clefts in the granite. many men also stood with hands and eyes uplifted around the place where jehovah had shown himself so merciful to his people; among them many a rebel who had stooped for the bit of rock with which he meant to stone the trusted servant of god. no one doubted that a new and great miracle had been performed. old people enjoined the young never to forget this day and this drink, and a grandmother sprinkled her grandchildren's brows at the edge of the spring with water to secure for them divine protection throughout their future lives. hope, gratitude, and warm confidence reigned wherever the gaze was turned, even fear of the warlike sons of amalek had vanished; for what evil could befall those who trusted to the favor of such an omnipotent defender. one tent alone, the stateliest of all, that of the prince of the tribe of judah, did not share the joy of the others. miriam sat alone among her women, after having silently served the meal to the men who were overflowing with grateful enthusiasm; she had learned from reuben, milcah's husband, that moses had given to joshua in the presence of all the elders, the office of commander-in-chief. hur, her husband, she had heard farther, had joyfully yielded the guidance of the warriors to the son of nun. this time the prophetess had held aloof from the people's hymns of praise. when milcah and her women had urged her to accompany them to the spring, she had commanded the petitioners to go alone. she was expecting her husband and wished to greet him alone; she must show him that she desired his forgiveness. but he did not return home; for after the council of the elders had separated, he helped the new commander to marshal the soldiers and did so as an assistant, subordinate to hosea, who owed to her his summons and the name of joshua. her servants, who had returned, were now drawing threads from the distaff: but this humble toil was distasteful to her, and while she let her hands rest and gazed idly into vacancy, the hours dragged slowly along, while she felt her resolution of meekly approaching her husband become weaker and weaker. she longed to pray for strength to bow before the man who was her lord and master; but the prophetess, who was accustomed to fervent pleading, could not find inspiration. whenever she succeeded in collecting her thoughts and uplifting her heart, she was disturbed. each fresh report that reached her from the camp increased her displeasure. when evening at last closed in, a messenger arrived and told her not to prepare the supper which, however, had long stood ready. hur, his son, and grandson had accepted the invitation of nun and joshua. it was a hard task for her to restrain her tears. but had she permitted them to flow uncontrolled, they would have been those of wrath and insulted womanly dignity, not of grief and longing. during the hours of the evening watch soldiers marched past, and from troop after troop cheers for joshua reached her. even when the words "strong and steadfast!" were heard, they recalled the man who had once been dear to her, and whom now--she freely admitted it--she hated. the men of his own tribe only had honored her husband with a cheer. was this fitting gratitude for the generosity with which he had divested himself, for the sake of the younger man, of a dignity that belonged to him alone? to see her husband thus slighted pierced her to the heart and caused her more pain than hur's leaving her, his newly- wedded wife, to solitude. the supper before the tent of the ephraimites lasted a long time. miriam sent her women to rest before midnight, and lay down to await hur's return and to confess to him all that had wounded and angered her, everything for which she longed. she thought it would be an easy matter to keep awake while suffering such mental anguish. but the great fatigues and excitements of the last few days asserted their rights, and in the midst of a prayer for humility and her husband's love sleep overpowered her. at last, at the time of the first morning watch, just as day was dawning, the sound of trumpets announcing peril close at hand, startled her from sleep. she rose hurriedly and glancing at her husband's couch found it empty. but it had been used, and on the sandy soil--for mats had been spread only in the living room of the tent--she saw close beside her own bed the prints of hur's footsteps. so he had stood close by it and perhaps, while she was sleeping, gazed yearningly into her face. ay, this had really happened; her old female slave told her so unasked. after she had roused hur, she had seen him hold the light cautiously so that it illumined miriam's face and then stoop over her a long time as if to kiss her. this was good news, and so rejoiced the solitary woman that she forgot the formality which was peculiar to her and pressed her lips to the wrinkled brow of the crooked little crone who had served her parents. then she had her hair arranged, donned the light-blue festal robe hur had given her, and hurried out to bid him farewell. meanwhile the troops had formed in battle array. the tents were being struck and for a long time miriam vainly sought her husband. at last she found him; but he was engaged in earnest conversation with joshua, and when she saw the latter a chill ran through the prophetess' blood, and she could not bring herself to approach the men. chapter xxvii. a severe struggle was impending; for as the spies reported, the amalekites had been joined by other desert tribes. nevertheless the hebrew troops were twice their number. but how greatly inferior in warlike skill were joshua's bands to the foes habituated to battle and attack. the enemy was advancing from the south, from the oasis at the foot of the sacred mountain, which was the ancient home of their race, their supporter, the fair object of their love, their all, well worthy that they should shed their last drop of blood in her defence. joshua, now recognized by moses and the whole hebrew people as the commander of the fighting-men, led his new-formed troops to the widest portion of the valley, which permitted him to derive more advantage from the superior number of his force. he ordered the camp to be broken up and again pitched in a narrower spot on the plain of rephidim at the northern end of the battle-field, where it would be easier to defend the tents. the command of this camp and the soldiers left for its protection he confided to his cautious father. he had wished to leave moses and the older princes of the tribes within the precincts of the well-guarded camp, but the great leader of the people had anticipated him and, with hur and aaron, had climbed a granite cliff from whose lofty summit the battle could be witnessed. so the combatants saw moses and his two companions on the peak dominating the valley, and knew that the trusted servant of the most high would not cease to commend their cause to him and pray for their success and deliverance. but every private soldier in the army, every woman and old man in the camp knew how to find the god of their fathers in this hour of peril, and the war-cry joshua had chosen: "jehovah our standard!" bound the hearts of the warriors to the ruler of battles, and reminded the most despairing and untrained hebrew that he could take no step and deal no blow which the lord did not guide. the trumpets and horns of the hebrews sounded louder and louder; for the amalekites were pressing into the plain which was to be the scene of the battle. it was a strange place of conflict, which the experienced soldier would never have selected voluntarily; for it was enclosed on both sides by lofty, steep, grey granite cliffs. if the enemy conquered, the camp would be lost, and the aids the art of war afforded must be used within the smallest conceivable space. to make a circuit round the foe or attack him unexpectedly in the flank seemed impossible; but the rocks themselves were made to serve joshua; for he had commanded his skilful slingers and trained archers to climb the precipices to a moderate height and wait for the signal when they were to mingle in the battle. at the first glance joshua perceived that he had not overestimated the foe; for those who began the fray were bearded men with bronzed, keen, manly features, whose black eyes blazed with the zest of battle and fierce hatred of the enemy. like their grey-haired, scarred leader, all were slenderly formed and lithe of limb. they swung, like trained warriors, the brazen sickle- shaped sword, the curved shield of heavy wood, or the lance decked below its point with a bunch of camel's hair. the war-cry rang loud, fierce, and defiant, from the steadfast breasts of these sons of the desert, who must either conquer or lose their dearest possession. the first assault was met by joshua at the head of men, whom he had armed with the heavy shields and lances of the egyptians; incited by their brave leader they resisted a long time--while the narrow entrance to the battle field prevented the savage foe from using his full strength. but when the foe on foot retreated, and a band of warriors mounted on swift dromedaries dashed upon the hebrews many were terrified by the strange aspect of the huge unwieldy beasts, known to them only by report. with loud outcries they flung down their shields and fled. wherever a gap appeared in the ranks the rider of a dromedary urged it in, striking downward with his long keen weapon at the foe. the shepherds, unused to such assaults, thought only of securing their own safety, and many turned to fly; for sudden terror seized them as they beheld the flaming eyes or heard the shrill, fierce shriek of one of the infuriated amalekite women, who had entered the battle to fire the courage of their husbands and terrify the foe. clinging with the left hand to leather thongs that hung from the saddles, they allowed themselves to be dragged along by the hump-backed beasts wherever they were guided. hatred seemed to have steeled the weak women's hearts against the fear of death, pity, and feminine dread; and the furious yells of these megaerae destroyed the courage of many of the braver hebrews. but scarcely did joshua see his men yield than, profiting by the disaster, he commanded them to retreat still farther and give the foe admittance to the valley; for he told himself that he could turn the superior number of his forces to better account as soon as it was possible to press the enemy in front and on both sides at the same time, and allow the slingers and bowmen to take part in the fray. ephraim and his bravest comrades, who surrounded him as messengers, were now despatched to the northern end of the valley to inform the captains of the troops stationed there of joshua's intention and command them to advance. the swift-footed shepherd lads darted off as nimbly as gazelles, and it was soon evident that the commander had adopted the right course for, as soon as the amalekites reached the center of the valley, they were attacked on all sides, and many who boldly rushed forward fell on the sand while still waving sword or lance, struck by the round stones or keen arrows discharged by the slingers and archers stationed on the cliffs. meanwhile moses, with aaron and hur, remained on the cliff overlooking the battle-field. thence the former watched the conflict in which, grown grey in the arts of peace, he shared only with his heart and soul. no movement, no uplifted or lowered sword of friend or foe escaped his watchful gaze; but when the attack began and the commander, with wise purpose, left the way to the heart of his army open to the enemy, hur exclaimed to the grey-haired man of god: "the lofty intellect of my wife and your sister perceived the right course. the son of nun is unworthy of the summons of the most high. what strategy! our force is superior, yet the foe is pressing unimpeded into the midst of the army. our troops are dividing as the waters of the red sea parted at god's command, and apparently by their leader's order." "to swallow up the amalekites as the waves of the sea engulfed the egyptians," was moses' answer. then, stretching his arms toward heaven, he cried: "look down, jehovah, upon thy people who are in fresh need. steel the arm and sharpen the eyes of him whom thou didst choose for thy sword! lend him the help thou didst promise, when thou didst name him joshua! and if it is no longer thy will that he who shows himself strong and steadfast, as beseems thy captain, should lead our forces to the battle, place thyself, with the hosts of heaven, at the head of thy people, that they may crush their foes." thus the man of god prayed with arms uplifted, never ceasing to beseech and appeal to god, whose lofty will guided his own, and soon aaron whispered that their foes were sore beset and the hebrews' courage was showing itself in magnificent guise. joshua was now here, now there, and the ranks of the enemy were already thinning, while the numbers of the hebrews seemed increasing. hur confirmed these words, adding that the tireless zeal and heroic scorn of death displayed by the son of nun could not be denied. he had just felled one of the fiercest amalekites with his battle-axe. then moses uttered a sigh of relief, let his arms fall, and eagerly watched the farther progress of the battle, which was surging, raging and roaring beneath him. meanwhile the sun had reached its zenith and shone with scorching fire upon the combatants. the grey granite walls of the valley exhaled fiercer and fiercer heat and drops of perspiration had long been pouring from the burning brows of the three men on the cliff. how the noon-tide heat must burden those who were fighting and struggling below; how the bleeding wounds of those who had fallen in the dust must burn! moses felt all this as if he were himself compelled to endure it; for his immovably steadfast soul was rich in compassion, and he had taken into his heart, as a father does his child, the people of his own blood for whom he lived and labored, prayed and planned. the wounds of the hebrews pained him, yet his heart throbbed with joyous pride, when he beheld how those whose cowardly submission had so powerfully stirred his wrath a short time before, had learned to act on the defensive and offensive; and saw one youthful band after another shouting: "jehovah our standard!" rush upon the enemy. in joshua's proud, heroic figure he beheld the descendants of his people as he had imagined and desired them, and now he no longer doubted that the lord himself had summoned the son of nun to the chief command. his eye had rarely beamed as brightly as in this hour. but what was that? a cry of alarm escaped the lips of aaron, and hur rose and gazed northward in anxious suspense for thence, where the tents of the people stood, fresh war-cries rose, blended with loud, piteous shrieks which seemed to be uttered, not only by men, but by women and children. the camp had been attacked. long before the commencement of the battle a band of amalekites had separated from the others and made their way to it through a path in the mountains with which they were familiar. hur thought of his young wife, while before aaron's mind rose elisheba, his faithful spouse, his children and grandchildren; and both, with imploring eyes, mutely entreated moses to dismiss them to hasten to aid their dear ones; but the stern leader refused and detained them. then, drawing his figure to its full height, moses again raised his hands and eyes to heaven, appealing to the most high with fervent warmth, and never ceasing in his prayers, which became more and more ardent as time passed on, for the vantage gained by the soldiers seemed lost. each new glance at the battle-field, everything his companions told him, while his soul, dwelling with the lord, had rendered him blind to the scene at his feet, increased the burden of his anxieties. joshua, at the head of a strong detachment, had retreated from the battle, accompanied by bezaleel, hur's grandson, aholiab, his most beloved comrade, the youthful ephraim, and reuben, milcah's husband. hur's eyes had followed them, while his heart was full of blessings; for they had evidently quitted the battle to save the camp. with straining ears he listened to the sounds from the north, as if suspecting how nearly he was affected by the broken cries and moans borne by the wind from the tents. old nun had defended himself against the amalekite troop that assailed the camp, and fought valiantly; but when he perceived that the men whom joshua had placed under his command could no longer hold out against the attack of the enemy, he sent to ask for aid; joshua instantly entrusted the farther guidance of the battle to the second head of the tribe of judah, naashon, and uri the son of hur, who had distinguished himself by courage and discretion and hastened, with other picked men, to his father's relief. he had not lost a moment, yet the conflict was decided when he appeared on the scene of action; for when he approached the camp the amalekites had already broken through his father's troops, cut it off from them, and rushed in. joshua first saved the brave old man from the foe; then the next thing was to drive the sons of the desert from the tents and, in so doing, there was a fierce hand to hand struggle of man against man, and as he himself could be in only one place he was forced to leave the young men to shift for themselves. here, too, he raised the war-cry: "jehovah our standard!" and rushed upon the tent of hur,--which the enemy had seized first and where the battle raged most fiercely. many, corpses already strewed the ground at its entrance, and furious amalekites were still struggling with a band of hebrews; but wild shrieks of terror rang from within its walls. joshua dashed across the threshold as if his feet were winged and beheld a scene which filled even the fearless man with horror; for at the left of the spacious floor hebrews and amalekites rolled fighting on the blood-stained mats, while at the right he saw miriam and several of her women whose hands had been bound by the foe. the men had desired to bear them away as a costly prize; but an amalekite woman, frantic with rage and jealousy and thirsting for revenge, wished to devote the foreign women to a fiery death; fanning the embers upon the hearth she had brought them, with the help of the veil torn from miriam's head, to a bright blaze. a terrible uproar filled the spacious enclosure, when joshua sprang into the tent. here furious men were fighting, yonder the female servants of the prophetess were shrieking loudly or, as they saw the approaching warrior, screaming for help and rescue. their mistress, deadly pale, knelt before the hostile chief whose wife had threatened her with death by fire. she gazed at her preserver as if she beheld a ghost that had just risen from the earth and what now happened remained imprinted on miriam's memory as a series of bloody, horrible, disconnected, yet superb visions. in the first place the amalekite chieftain who had bound her was a strangely heroic figure. the bronzed warrior, with his bold hooked nose, black beard, and fiery eyes, looked like an eagle of his own mountains. but another was soon to cope with him, and that other the man who had been dear to her heart. she had often compared him to a lion, but never had he seemed more akin to the king of the wilderness. both were mighty and terrible men. no one could have predicted which would be the victor and which the vanquished; but she was permitted to watch their conflict, and already the hot-blooded son of the desert had raised his war-cry and rushed upon the more prudent hebrew. every child knows that life cannot continue if the heart ceases to throb for a minute; yet miriam felt that her own stood still as if benumbed and turned to stone, when the lion was in danger of succumbing to the eagle, and when the latter's glittering knife flashed, and she saw the blood gushing from the other's shoulder. but the frozen heart had now begun to beat again, nay it pulsed faster than ever; for suddenly the leonine warrior, toward whom she had just felt such bitter hatred, had again become, as if by a miracle, the friend of her youth. with blast of trumpets and clash of cymbals love had again set forth to enter, with triumphant joy, the soul which had of late been so desolate, so impoverished. all that separated her from him was suddenly forgotten and buried, and never was a more fervent appeal addressed to the most high than during the brief prayer for him which rose from her heart at that moment. and the swiftness with which the petition was granted equalled its ardor; for the eagle had fallen and lowered its pinions beneath the superior might of the lion. then darkness veiled miriam's eyes and she felt as if in a dream ephraim sever the ropes around her wrists. soon after she regained her full consciousness, and now beheld at her feet the bleeding form of the conquered chieftain; while on the other side of the tent the floor was strewed with dead and wounded men, hebrews and amalekites, among them many of her husband's slaves. but beside the fallen men stood erect, and exulting in victory, the stalwart warriors of her people, among them the venerable form of nun, and joshua, whose father was binding up his wounds. to do this she felt was her duty and hers only, and a deep sense of shame, a burning grief took possession of her as she remembered how she had sinned against this man. she knew not how she who had caused him such deep suffering could atone for it, how she could repay what she owed him. her whole heart was overflowing with longing for one kind word from his mouth, and she approached him on her knees across the blood-stained floor; but the lips of the prophetess, usually so eloquent, seemed paralyzed and could not find the right language till at last from her burdened breast the cry escaped in loud imploring accents: "joshua, oh, joshua! i have sinned heavily against you and will atone for it all my life; but do not disdain my gratitude! do not cast it from you and, if you can, forgive me." she had been unable to say more; then--never would she forget it--burning tears had gushed from her eyes and he had raised her from the floor with irresistible strength, yet as gently as a mother touches her fallen child, and from his lips mild, gentle words, full of forgiveness, echoed in her ears. the very touch of his right hand had assured her that he was no longer angry. she still felt the pressure of his hand, and heard his assurance that from no lips would he more gladly hear the name of joshua than from hers. with the war-cry "jehovah our standard!" he at last turned his back upon her; for a long time its clear tones and the enthusiastic shouts of his soldiers echoed in her ears. finally everything around her had lapsed into silence and she only knew that never had she shed such bitter, burning tears as in this hour. and she made two solemn vows in the presence of the god who had summoned her to be his prophetess. meanwhile both the men whom they concerned were surrounded by the tumult of battle. one had again led his troops from the rescued camp against the foe; the other was watching with the leader of the people the surging to and fro of the ever-increasing fury of the conflict. joshua found his people in sore stress. here they were yielding, yonder they were still feebly resisting the onslaught of the sons of the desert; but hur gazed with increasing and redoubled anxiety at the progress of the battle; for in the camp he beheld wife and grandson, and below his son, in mortal peril. his paternal heart ached as he saw uri retreat, then as he pressed forward again and repelled the foe by a well-directed assault, it throbbed joyously, and he would gladly have shouted words of praise. but whose ear would have been sharp enough to distinguish the voice of a single man amid the clash of arms and war-cries, the shrieks of women, the wails of the wounded, the discordant grunting of the camels, the blasts of horns and trumpets mingling below? now the foremost band of the amalekites had forced itself like a wedge into the rear ranks of the hebrews. if the former succeeded in opening a way for those behind and joined the division which was attacking the camp, the battle was lost, and the destruction of the people sealed; for a body of amalekites who had not mingled in the fray were still stationed at the southern entrance of the valley, apparently for the purpose of defending the oasis against the foe in case of need. a fresh surprise followed. the sons of the desert had fought their way forward so far that the missiles of the slingers and bowmen could scarcely reach them. if these men were not to be idle, it was needful that they should be summoned to the battle-field. hur had long since shouted to uri to remember them and use their aid again; but now the figure of a youth suddenly appeared approaching from the direction of the camp as nimbly as a mountain goat, by climbing and leaping from one rock to another. as soon as he reached the first ones he spoke to them, and made signs to the next, who passed the message on, and at last they all climbed down into the valley, scaled the western cliff to the height of several men, and suddenly vanished as though the rock had swallowed them. the youth whom the slingers and archers had followed was ephraim. a black shadow on the cliff where he had disappeared with the others must be the opening of a ravine, through which they were doubtless to be guided to the men who had followed joshua to the succor of the camp. such was the belief, not only of hur but of aaron, and the former again began to doubt joshua's fitness for the lord's call; for what benefited those in the tents weakened the army whose command devolved upon his son uri and his associate in office naashon. the battle around the camp had already lasted for hours and moses had not ceased to pray with hands uplifted toward heaven, when the amalekites succeeded in gaining a considerable vantage. then the leader of the hebrews summoned his strength for a new and more earnest appeal to the most high; but the exhausted man's knees tottered and his wearied arms fell. but his soul had retained its energy, his heart the desire not to cease pleading to the ruler of battles. moses was unwilling to remain inactive during this conflict and his weapon was prayer. like a child who will not cease urging its mother until she grants what it unselfishly beseeches for its brothers and sisters, he clung imploring to the omnipotent one, who had hitherto proved himself a father to him and to his people and wonderfully preserved them from the greatest perils. but his physical strength was exhausted, so he summoned his companions who pushed forward a rock on which he seated himself, in order to assail the heart of the most high with fresh prayers. there he sat and though his wearied limbs refused their service, his soul was obedient and rose with all its fire to the ruler of the destinies of men. but his arms grew more and more paralysed, and at last fell as if weighted with lead; for years it had become a necessity to him to stretch them heavenward when he appealed with all his fervor to god on high. this his companions knew, and they fancied they perceived that whenever the great leader's hands fell the sons of amalek gained a fresh advantage. therefore they eagerly supported his arms, one at the right side, the other at the left, and though the mighty man could no longer lift his voice in intelligible words, though his giant frame reeled to and fro, and though more than once it seemed to him as if the stone which supported him, the valley and the whole earth rocked, still his hands and eyes remained uplifted. not a moment did he cease to call upon the most high till suddenly loud shouts of victory, which echoed clearly from the rocky sides of the valley, rose from the direction of the camp. joshua had again appeared on the battle-field and, at the head of his warriors, rushed with resistless energy upon the foe. the battle now assumed a new aspect. the result was still uncertain, and moses could not cease uplifting his heart and arms to heaven, but at last, at last this long final struggle came to an end. the ranks of the amalekites wavered and finally, scattered and disheartened, dashed toward the southern entrance of the valley whence they had come. there also cries were heard and from a thousand lips rang the glad shout: "jehovah our standard! victory!" and again "victory!" then the man of god removed his arms from the supporting shoulders of his companions, swung them aloft freely and with renewed and wonderfully invigorated strength shouted: "i thank thee, my god and my lord! jehovah our standard! the people are saved!" then darkness veiled the eyes of the exhausted man. but a little later he again opened them and saw ephraim, with the slingers and bowmen, attack the body of amalekites at the southern entrance of the valley, while joshua drove the main army of the sons of the desert toward their retreating comrades. joshua had heard through some captives of a ravine which enabled good climbers to reach a defile which led to the southern end of the battle- field; and ephraim, obedient to his command, had gone with the slingers and bowmen along this difficult path to assail in the rear the last band of foemen who were still capable of offering resistance. pressed, harassed from two sides, and disheartened, the sons of amalek gave up the conflict and now the hebrews beheld how these sons of the desert, who had grown up in this mountain region, understood how to use their feet; for at a sign from their leader they spurred the dromedaries and flew away like leaves blown by the wind. rough mountain heights which seemed inaccessible to human beings they scaled on their hands and feet like nimble lizards; many others escaped through the ravine which the captured slaves had betrayed to joshua. chapter xxviii. the larger portion of the amalekites had perished or lay wounded on the battle-field. joshua knew that the other desert tribes, according to their custom, would abandon their defeated companions and return to their own homes. yet it seemed probable that despair would give the routed warriors courage not to let their oasis fall into the hands of the hebrews without striking a blow. but joshua's warriors were too much exhausted for it to be possible to lead them onward at once. he himself was bleeding from several slight wounds, and the exertions of the last few days were making themselves felt even on his hardened frame. besides the sun, which when the battle began had just risen, was already sinking to rest and should it prove necessary to force an entrance into the oasis it was not advisable to fight in darkness. what he and still more his brave warriors needed was rest until the grey dawn of early morning. he saw around him only glad faces, radiant with proud self-reliance, and as he commanded the troops to disband, in order to celebrate the victory in the camp with their relatives, each body that filed slowly and wearily past him burst into cheers as fresh and resonant as though they had forgotten the exhaustion which so short a time before had bowed every head and burdened every foot. "hail to joshua! hail to the victor!" still echoed from the cliffs after the last band had disappeared from his gaze. but far more distinctly the words with which moses had thanked him rang in his soul. they were: "thou bast proved thyself a true sword of the most high, strong and steadfast. so long as the lord is thy help and jehovah is our standard, we need fear no foes." he fancied he still felt on his brow and hair the kiss of the mighty man of god who had clasped him to his breast in the presence of all the people, and it was no small thing to master the excitement which the close of this momentous day awakened in him. a strong desire to regain perfect self-possession ere he again mingled in the jubilant throng and met his father, who shared every lofty emotion that stirred his own soul, detained him on the battle-field. it was a scene where dread and horror reigned; for all save himself who lingered there were held by death or severe wounds. the ravens which had followed the wanderers hovered above the corpses and already ventured to swoop nearer to the richly-spread banquet. the scent of blood had lured the beasts of prey from the mountains and dens in the rocks and their roaring and greedy growling were heard in all directions. as darkness followed dusk lights began to flit over the blood-soaked ground. these were to aid the slaves and those who missed a relative to distinguish friend from foe, the wounded from the dead; and many a groan from the breast of some sorely-wounded man mingled with the croaking of the sable birds, and the howls of the hungry jackals and hyenas, foxes and panthers. but joshua was familiar with the horrors of the battle-field and did not heed them. leaning against a rock, he saw the same stars rise which had shone upon him before the tent in the camp at tanis, when in the sorest conflict with himself he confronted the most difficult decision of his life. a month had passed since then, yet that brief span of time had witnessed an unprecedented transformation of his whole inner and outward life. what had seemed to him grand, lofty, and worthy of the exertion of all his strength on that night when he sat before the tent where lay the delirious ephraim, to-day lay far behind him as idle and worthless. he no longer cared for the honors, dignities and riches which the will of the whimsical, weak king of a foreign people could bestow upon him. what to him was the well-ordered and disciplined army, among whose leaders be had numbered himself with such joyous pride? he could scarcely realize that there had been a time when he aspired to nothing higher than to command more and still more thousands of egyptians, when his heart had swelled at the bestowal of a new title or glittering badge of honor by those whom he held most unworthy of his esteem. from the egyptians he had expected everything, from his own people nothing. that very night before his tent the great mass of the men of his own blood had been repulsive to him as pitiful slaves languishing in dishonorable, servile toil. even the better classes he had arrogantly patronized; for they were but shepherds and as such contemptible to the egyptians, whose opinions he shared. his own father was also the owner of herds and, though he held him in high esteem, it was in spite of his position and only because his whole character commanded reverence; because the superb old man's fiery vigor won love from every one, and above all from him, his grateful son. he had never ceased to gladly acknowledge his kinship to him, but in other respects he had striven to so bear himself among his brothers-in- arms that they should forget his origin and regard him in everything as one of themselves. his ancestress asenath, the wife of joseph, had been an egyptian and he had boasted of the fact. and now,--to-day? he would have made any one feel the weight of his wrath who reproached him with being an egyptian; and what at the last new moon he would only too willingly have cast aside and concealed, as though it were a disgrace, made him on the night of the next new moon whose stars were just beginning to shine, raise his head with joyous pride. what a lofty emotion it was to feel himself with just complacency the man he really was! his life and deeds as an egyptian chief now seemed like a perpetual lie, a constant desertion of his ideal. his truthful nature exulted in the consciousness that the base denial and concealment of his birth was at an end. with joyous gratitude he felt that he was one of the people whom the most high preferred to all others, that he belonged to a community, whose humblest members, nay even the children, could raise their hands in prayer to the god whom the loftiest minds among the egyptians surrounded with the barriers of secrecy, because they considered their people too feeble and dull of intellect to stand before his mighty grandeur and comprehend it. and this one sole god, before whom all the whole motley world of egyptian divinities sank into insignificance, had chosen him, the son of nun, from among the thousands of his race to be the champion and defender of his chosen people and bestowed on him a name that assured him of his aid. no man, he thought, had ever had a loftier aim than, obedient to his god and under his protection, to devote his blood and life to the service of his own people. his black eyes sparkled more brightly and joyously as he thought of it. his heart seemed too small to contain all the love with which he wished to make amends to his brothers for his sins against them in former years. true, he had lost to another a grand and noble woman whom he had hoped to make his own; but this did not in the least sadden the joyous enthusiasm of his soul; for he had long ceased to desire her as his wife, high as her image still stood in his mind. he now thought of her with quiet gratitude only; for he willingly admitted that his new life had begun on the decisive night when miriam set him the example of sacrificing everything, even the dearest object of love, to god and the people. miriam's sins against him were effaced from his memory; for he was wont to forget what he had forgiven. now he felt only the grandeur of what he owed her. like a magnificent tree, towering skyward on the frontier of two hostile countries, she stood between his past and his present life. though love was buried, he and miriam could never cease to walk hand in hand over the same road toward the same destination. as he again surveyed the events of the past, he could truly say that under his leadership pitiful bondmen had speedily become brave warriors in the field they had been willing and obedient and, after the victory, behaved with manliness. and they could not fail to improve with each fresh success. to-day it seemed to him not only desirable, but quite possible, to win in battle at their head a land which they could love and where, in freedom and prosperity, they could become the able men he desired to make them. amid the horrors of the battle-field in the moonless night joy as bright as day entered his heart and with the low exclamation: "god and my people!" and a grateful glance upward to the starry firmament he left the corpse-strewn valley of death like a conqueror walking over palms and flowers scattered by a grateful people on the path of victory. conclusion. there was an active stir in the camp. fires surrounded by groups of happy human beings were burning in front of the tents, and many a beast was slain, here as a thank-offering, yonder for the festal supper. wherever joshua appeared glad cheers greeted him; but he did not find his father, for the latter had accepted an invitation from hur, so it was before the prince of judah's tent that the son embraced the old man, who was radiant with grateful joy. ere joshua sat down hur beckoned him aside, ordered a slave who had just killed a calf to divide it into two pieces and pointing to it, said: "you have accomplished great deeds for the people and for me, son of nun, and my life is too short for the gratitude which is your due from my wife and myself. if you can forget the bitter words which clouded our peace at dophkah--and you say you have done so--let us in future keep together like brothers and stand by each other in joy and grief, in need and peril. the chief command henceforth belongs to you alone, joshua, and to no other, and this is a source of joy to the whole people, above all to my wife and to me. so if you share my wish to form a brotherhood, walk with me, according to the custom of our fathers, between the halves of this slaughtered animal." joshua willingly accepted this invitation, and miriam was the first to join in the loud acclamations of approval commenced by the grey-haired nun. she did so with eager zeal; for it was she who had inspired her husband, before whom she had humbled herself, and whose love she now once more possessed, with the idea of inviting joshua to the alliance both had now concluded. this had not been difficult for her; for the two vows she had made after the son of nun, whom she now gladly called "joshua," had saved her from the hand of the foe were already approaching fulfilment, and she felt that she had resolved upon them in a happy hour. the new and pleasant sensation of being a woman, like any other woman, lent her whole nature a gentleness hitherto foreign to it, and this retained the love of the husband whose full value she had learned to know during the sad time in which he had shut his heart against her. in the self-same hour which made hur and joshua brothers, a pair of faithful lovers who had been sundered by sacred duties were once more united; for while the friends were still feasting before the tent of hur, three of the people asked permission to speak to nun, their master. these were the old freedwoman, who had remained in tanis, her granddaughter hogla and assir, the latter's betrothed husband, from whom the girl had parted to nurse her grandparents. hoary eliab had soon died, and the grandmother and hogla--the former on the old man's ass--had followed the hebrews amid unspeakable difficulties. nun welcomed the faithful couple with joy and gave hogla to assir for his wife. so this blood-stained day had brought blessings to many, yet it was to end with a shrill discord. while the fires in the camp were burning, loud voices were heard, and during the whole journey not an evening had passed without strife and sanguinary quarrels. wounds and fatal blows had often been given when an offended man revenged himself on his enemy, or a dishonest one seized the property of others or denied the obligations he had sworn to fulfil. in such cases it had been difficult to restore peace and call the criminals to account; for the refractory refused to recognize any one as judge. whoever felt himself injured banded with others, and strove to obtain justice by force. on that festal evening hur and his guests at first failed to notice the uproar to which every one was accustomed. but when close at hand, amid the fiercest yells, a bright glare of light arose, the chiefs began to fear for the safety of the camp, and rising to put an end to the disturbance, they became witnesses of a scene which filled some with wrath and horror, and the others with grief. the rapture of victory had intoxicated the multitude. they longed to express their gratitude to the deity, and in vivid remembrance of the cruel worship of their home, a band of phoenicians among the strangers had kindled a huge fire to their moloch and were in the act of hurling into the flames several amalekite captives as the most welcome sacrifice to their god. close beside it the israelites had erected on a tall wooden pillar a clay image of the egyptian god seth, which one of his hebrew worshippers had brought with him to protect himself and his family. directly after their return to the camp aaron had assembled the people to sing hymns of praise and offer prayers of thanksgiving; but to many the necessity of beholding, in the old-fashioned way, an image of the god to whom they were to uplift their souls, had been so strong that the mere sight of the clay idol had sufficed to bring them to their knees, and turn them from the true god. at the sight of the servants of moloch, who were already binding the human victims to hurl them into the flames, joshua was seized with wrath and, when the deluded men resisted, he ordered the trumpets to be sounded and with his young men who blindly obeyed him and were by no means friendly to the strangers, drove them back, without bloodshed, to their quarters in the camp. the impressive warnings of old nun, hur, and naashon diverted the hebrews from the crime which ingratitude made doubly culpable. yet many of the latter found it hard to control themselves when the fiery old man shattered the idol which was dear to them, and had it not been for the love cherished for him, his son, and his grandson, and the respect due his snow-white hair, many a hand would doubtless have been raised against him. moses had retired to a solitary place, as was his wont after every great danger from which the mercy of the most high brought deliverance, and tears filled miriam's eyes as she thought of the grief which the tidings of such apostasy and ingratitude would cause her noble brother. a gloomy shadow had also darkened joshua's joyous confidence. he lay sleepless on the mat in his father's tent, reviewing the past. his warrior-soul was elevated by the thought that a single, omnipotent, never-erring power guided the universe and the lives of men and exacted implicit obedience from the whole creation. every glance at nature and life showed him that everything depended upon one infinitely great and powerful being, at whose sign all creatures rose, moved, or sank to rest. to him, the chief of a little army, his god was the highest and most far- sighted of rulers, the only one, who was always certain of victory. what a crime it was to offend such a lord and repay his benefits with apostasy! yet the people had committed before his eyes this heinous sin and, as he recalled to mind the events which had compelled him to interpose, the question arose how they were to be protected from the wrath of the most high, how the eyes of the dull multitude could be opened to his wonderful grandeur, which expanded the heart and the soul. but he found no answer, saw no expedient, when he reflected upon the lawlessness and rebellion in the camp, which threatened to be fatal to his people. he had succeeded in making his soldiers obedient. as soon as the trumpets summoned them, and he himself in full armor appeared at the head of his men, they yielded their own obstinate wills to his. was there then nothing that could keep them, during peaceful daily life, within the bounds which in egypt secured the existence of the meanest and weakest human beings and protected them from the attacks of those who were bolder and stronger? amid such reflections he remained awake until early morning; when the stars set, he started up, ordered the trumpets to be sounded, and as on the preceding days, the new-made troops assembled without opposition and in full force. he was soon marching at their head through the narrow, rocky valley, and after moving silently an hour through the gloom the warriors enjoyed the refreshing coolness which precedes the young day. then the grey light of early dawn glimmered in the east, the sky began to brighten, and in the glowing splendor of the blushing morning rose solemnly in giant majesty the form of the sacred mountain. close at hand and distinctly visible it towered before the hebrews with its brown masses of rock, cliffs, and chasms, while above the seven peaks of its summit hovered a pair of eagles on whose broad pinions the young day cast a shimmering golden glow. a thrill of pious awe made the whole band halt as they had before alush, and every man, from the first rank to the last, in mute devotion raised his hands to pray. then they moved on with hearts uplifted, and one shouted joyously to another as some pretty dark birds flew twittering toward them, a sign of the neighborhood of fresh water. they had scarcely marched half an hour longer when they beheld the bluish-green foliage of tamarisk bushes and the towering palm-trees; at last, the most welcome of all sounds in the wilderness fell on their listening ears--the ripple of flowing water. this cheered their hearts, and the majestic spectacle of mount sinai, whose heaven-touching summit was now concealed by a veil of blue mist, filled with devout amazement the souls of the men who had grown up on the flat plains of goshen. [the mountain known at the present day as serbal, not the sinai of the monks which in our opinion was first declared in the reign of justinian to be the mount whence the laws were given. the detailed reasons for our opinion that serbal is the sinai of the scriptures, which lepsius expressed before its and others share with us may be found in our works: "durch gosen zum sinai, aus dem wanderbuch and der bibliothek." aufl. leipzig. . wilh. engelmann.] they pressed cautiously forward; for the remainder of the defeated amalekites might be lying in ambush. but no foe was seen or heard, and the hebrews found some tokens of the thirst for vengeance of the sons of the wilderness in their ruined houses, the superb palm-trees felled, and little gardens destroyed. it was necessary now to remove from the road the slender trunks with their huge leafy crowns, that they might not impede the progress of the people; and, when this work was done, joshua ascended through a ravine which led to the brook in the valley, up to the first terrace of the mountain, that he might gaze around him far and near for a view of the enemy. the steep pathway led past masses of red granite, intersected by veins of greenish diorite, until he reached a level plateau high above the oasis, where, beside a clear spring, green bushes and delicate mountain flowers adorned the barren wilderness. here he intended to rest and, as he gazed around him, he perceived in the shadow of an overhanging cliff a man's tall figure. it was moses. the flight of his thoughts had rapt him so far away from the present and his surroundings, that he did not perceive joshua's approach, and the latter was restrained by respectful awe from approaching the man of god. he waited patiently till the latter raised his bearded face and greeted him with friendly dignity. then they gazed together at the oasis and the desolate stony valleys of the mountain region at their feet. the emerald waters of a small portion of the red sea, which washed the western slope of the mountain, also glittered beneath them. meanwhile they talked of the people and the greatness and omnipotence of the god who had so wonderfully guided them, and as they looked northward, they beheld the endlessly long stream of hebrews, which, following the curves of the rocky valley, was surging slowly toward the oasis. then joshua opened his heart to the man of god and told him the questions he had asked himself during the past sleepless night, and to which he had found no answer. the latter listened quietly, and in deep, faltering tones answered in broken sentences: "the lawlessness in the camp--ay, it is ruining the people! but the lord placed the power to destroy it in our hands. woe betide him who resists. they must feel this power, which is as sublime as yonder mountain, as immovable as its solid rock." then moses' wrathful words ceased. after both had gazed silently into vacancy a long time, joshua broke the silence by asking: "and what is the name of this power?" loudly and firmly from the bearded lips of the man of god rang the words; "the law!" he pointed with his staff to the summit of the mountain. then, waving his hand to his companion, he left him. joshua completed his search for the foe and saw on the yellow sands of the valley dark figures moving to and fro. they were the remnants of the defeated amalekite bands seeking new abodes. he watched them a short time and, after convincing himself that they were quitting the oasis, he thoughtfully returned to the valley. "the law!" he repeated again and again. ay, that was what the wandering tribes lacked. it was doubtless reserved for its severity to transform the hordes which had escaped bondage into a people worthy of the god who preferred them above the other nations of the earth. here the chief's reflections were interrupted; for human voices, the lowing and bleating of herds, the barking of dogs, and the heavy blows of hammers rose to his ears from the oasis. they were pitching the tents, a work of peace, for which no one needed him. lying down in the shadow of a thick tamarisk bush, above which a tall palm towered proudly, he stretched his limbs comfortably to rest in the assurance that the people were now provided for, in war by his good sword, in peace by the law. this was much, it renewed his hopes; yet, no, no--it was not all, could not be the final goal. the longer he reflected, the more profoundly he felt that this was not enough to satisfy him concerning those below, whom he cherished in his heart as if they were brothers and sisters. his broad brow again clouded, and roused from his repose by fresh doubts, he gently shook his head. no, again no! the law could not afford to those who were so dear to him everything that he desired for them. something else was needed to make their future as dignified and beautiful as he had beheld it before his mind's eye on his journey to the mines. but what was it, what name did this other need bear? he began to rack his brain to discover it, and while, with closed lids, he permitted his thoughts to rove to the other nations whom he had known in war and peace, in order to seek among them the one thing his own people lacked, sleep overpowered him and a dream showed him miriam and a lovely girl, who looked like kasana as she had so often rushed to meet him when a sweet, innocent child, followed by the white lamb which nun had given to his favorite many years before. both figures offered him a gift and asked him to choose one or the other. miriam's hand held a heavy gold tablet, at whose top was written in flaming letters: "the law!" and which she offered with stern severity. the child extended one of the beautifully-curved palm-leaves which he had often waved as a messenger of peace. the sight of the tablet filled him with pious awe, the palm-branch waved a friendly greeting and he quickly grasped it. but scarcely was it in his hand ere the figure of the prophetess melted into the air like mist, which the morning breeze blows away. in painful astonishment he now gazed at the spot where she had stood, and surprised and troubled by his strange choice, though he felt that he had made the right one, he asked the child what her gift imported to him and to the people. she waved her hand to him, pointed into the distance, and uttered three words whose gentle musical sound sank deep into his heart. yet hard as he strove to catch their purport, he did not succeed, and when he asked the child to explain them the sound of his own voice roused him and he returned to the camp, disappointed and thoughtful. afterwards he often tried to remember these words, but always in vain. all his great powers, both mental and physical, he continued to devote to the people; but his nephew ephraim, as a powerful prince of his tribe, who well deserved the high honors he enjoyed in after years, founded a home of his own, where old nun watched the growth of great-grand- children, who promised a long perpetuation of his noble race. everyone is familiar with joshua's later life, so rich in action, and how he won in battle a new home for his people. there in the promised land many centuries later was born, in bethlehem, another jehoshua who bestowed on all mankind what the son of nun had vainly sought for the hebrew nation. the three words uttered by the child's lips which the chief had been unable to comprehend were: "love, mercy, redemption!" etext editor's bookmarks: asenath, the wife of joseph, had been an egyptian most ready to be angry with those to whom we have been unjust pleasant sensation of being a woman, like any other woman woman's disapproving words were blown away by the wind [illustration: map of palestine] palestine or the holy land. from the earliest period to the present time. by the rev. michael russell, ll.d. preface. in giving an account of the holy land, an author, upon examining his materials, finds himself presented with the choice either of simple history on the one hand, or of mere local description on the other; and the character of his book is of course determined by, the selection which he makes of the first or the second of these departments. the volumes on palestine hitherto laid before the public will accordingly be found to contain either a bare abridgment of the annals of the jewish people, or a topographical delineation of the country, the cities, and the towns which they inhabited, from the date of the conquest under joshua, down to the period of their dispersion by titus and adrian. several able works have recently appeared on each of these subjects, and have been, almost without exception, rewarded with the popularity which is seldom refused to learning, and eloquence. but it occurred to the writer of the following pages, that the expectations of the general reader would be more fully answered were the two plans to be united, and the constitution, the antiquities, the religion, the literature, and even the statistics of, the hebrews combined with the narrative of their rise and fall in the sacred land bestowed upon their fathers. in following out this scheme, he has made it his study to leave no source of information unexplored which might supply the means of illustrating the political condition of the twelve tribes immediately after they settled on the banks of the jordan. the principles which entered into the constitution of their commonwealth are extremely interesting, both as they afford a fine example of the progress of society in one of its earliest stages, when the migratory shepherd gradually assumes the habits of the agriculturalist; and also as they confirm the results of experience, in other cases, in regard to the change which usually follows in the form of civil government, and in the concentration of power in the hands of an individual. the chapter on the literature and religion of the ancient hebrews cannot boast of a great variety of materials, because what of the subject is not known to the youngest reader of the bible must be sought for, in the writings of rabbinical authors, who have unfortunately directed the largest share of their attention to the minutest parts of their law, and expended the labour of elucidation on those points which are least interesting to the rest of the world. it is to be deeply regretted, that so little is known respecting the schools of the prophets--those seminaries which sent forth, not only the ordinary ministers of the temple and the synagogue, but also that more distinguished order of men who were employed as instruments for revealing the future intentions of providence. but the author hesitates not to say, that he has availed himself of all the materials which the research of modern times has brought to light, while he has carefully rejected all such speculations or conjectures as might gratify the curiosity of learning without tending to edify the youthful mind. the account which is given of the feasts and fasts of the jews, both before and after the babylonian captivity, will, it is hoped, prove useful to the reader, more especially by pointing out to him appropriate subjects of reflection while perusing the sacred records. the history of palestine, prior to the fall of jerusalem, rests upon the authority of the inspired writers, or of those annalists, such as josephus and tacitus, who flourished at the period of the events which they describe. the narrative, which brings down the fortunes of that remarkable country to the present day, is much more various both in its subject and references; more especially where it embraces the exploits of the crusaders, those renowned devotees of religion, romance, and chivalry. the reader will find in a narrow compass the substance of the extensive works of fuller, wilken, michaud, and mills. in the more modern part of this historical outline, in which the affairs of palestine are intimately connected with those of egypt, it was thought unnecessary to repeat facts mentioned at some length in the volume already published on the latter country.[ ] the topographical description of the holy land is drawn from the works of the long series of travellers and pilgrims, who, since the time of the faithful doubdan, have visited the interesting scenes where the christian faith had its origin and completion. on this subject maundrell is still a principal authority; for, while we have the best reason to believe that he recorded nothing but what he saw, we can trust implicitly to the accuracy of his details in describing every thing which fell under his observation. the same high character is due to pococke and sandys, writers whose simplicity of style and thought afford a voucher for the truth of their narratives. nor are thevenot, paul lucas, and careri, though less frequently consulted, at all unworthy of confidence as depositaries of historical fact. in more modern times we meet with equal fidelity, recommended by an exalted tone of feeling, in the volumes of chateaubriand and dr. richardson. clarke, burckhardt, buckingham, legh, henniker, jowett, light, macworth, irby and mangles, carne, and wilson, have not only contributed valuable materials, but also lent the aid of their names to correct or to conform the statements of some of the more apocryphal among their predecessors. the chapter on natural history has no pretensions to scientific arrangement or technical precision in its delineations. on the contrary, it is calculated solely for the common reader, who would soon be disgusted with the formal notation of the botanist, and could not understand the learned terms in which the student of zoology too often finds the knowledge of animal nature concealed. its main object is to illustrate the scriptures, by giving an account of the quadrupeds, birds, serpents, plants, and fruits which are mentioned from time to time by the inspired writers of either testament. edinburgh, _september_, . contents. chapter i. introductory observations. interest attached to the history of palestine; remarkable character of the hebrew people; their small beginning and astonishing increases; the variety of fortune they underwent; their constant attachment to the promised land; the subject presents an interesting problem to the historian and politician; the connexion with christianity; effect of this religion on the progress of society; importance of the subject to the pious reader; holy places; pilgrims; grounds for believing the ancient traditions on this head; constantine and the empress helena; relics; natural scenery; extent of canaan; fertility; geographical distribution; countries eastward of the jordan; galilee; samaria; bethlehem; jericho; the dead sea; table representing the possessions of the twelve tribes. chapter ii. history of the hebrew commonwealth. form of government after the death of joshua; in egypt; in the wilderness; princes of tribes and heads of families; impatience to take possession of promised land; the effects of it; renewal of war; extent of holy land; opinions of fleury, spanheim, reland, and lowman; principle of distribution; each tribe confined to a separate locality; property unalienable; conditions of tenure; population of the tribes; number of principal families; a general government or national council; the judges; nature of their authority; not ordinary magistrates; different from kings, consuls, and dictators; judicial establishments; judges and officers; described by josephus; equality of condition among the hebrews; their inclination for a pastoral life; freebooters, like the arabs; abimelech, jephthah, and david; simplicity of the times; boaz and ruth; tribe of levi; object of their separation; the learned professions hereditary, after the manner of the egyptians; the levitical cities; their number and uses; opinion of michaelis; summary view of the times and character of the hebrew judges. chapter iii. historical outline from the accession of saul to the destruction of jerusalem. weakness of republican government; jealousy of the several tribes; resolution to have a king; rules for regal government; character of saul; of david; troubles of his reign; accession of solomon; erection of the temple; commerce; murmurs of the people; rehoboam; division of the tribes; kings of israel; kingdom of judah; siege of jerusalem; captivity; kings of judah; return from babylon; second temple; canon of scripture; struggles between egypt and syria; conquest of palestine by antiochus; persecution of jews; resistance by the family of maccabaeus; victories of judas; he courts the alliance of the romans; succeeded by jonathan; origin of the asmonean princes; john hyrcanus; aristobulus; alexander jannaeus; appeal to pompey; jerusalem taken by romans; herod created king by the romans; he repairs to the temple; archelaus succeeds him, and antipas is nominated to galilee; quirinius prefect of syria; pontius pilate; elevation of herod agrippa; disgrace of herod philip; judea again a province; troubles; accession of young agrippa; felix; festus; floris; command given to vespasian; war; siege of jerusalem by titus. chapter iv. on the literature and religious usages of the ancient hebrews. obscurity of the subject; learning issued from the levitical colleges; schools of the prophets; music and poetry; meaning of the term prophecy; illustrated by references to the old testament and to the new; the power of prediction not confined to those bred in the schools; race of false prophets; their malignity and deceit; micaiah and ahab; charge against jeremiah the prophet; criterion to distinguish true from false prophets; the canonical writings of the prophets; literature of prophets; sublime nature of their compositions; examples from psalms and prophetical writings; humane and liberal spirit; care used to keep alive the knowledge of the law; evils arising from the division of israel and judah; ezra collects the ancient books; schools of prophets similar to convents; sciences; astronomy; division of time, days, months, and years; sabbaths and new moons; jewish festivals; passover; pentecost; feast of tabernacles; of trumpets; jubilee; daughters of zelophedad; feast of dedication; minor anniversaries; solemn character of hebrew learning; its easy adaptation to christianity; superior to the literature of all other ancient nations. chapter v. description of jerusalem. pilgrimages to the holy land; arculfus; willibald; bernard; effect of crusades; william de bouldessell; bertrandon de la broquiere; state of damascus; breidenbach; baumgarten; bartholemeo georgewitz; aldersey; sandys; doubdan; cheron; thevenot; gonzales; morison; maundrell; pococke; road from jaffa to jerusalem; plain of sharon; rama or ramla; condition of the peasantry; vale of jeremiah; jerusalem; remark of chateaubriand; impressions of different travellers; dr. clarke; tasso; volney; henniker; mosque of omar described; mysterious stone; church of holy sepulchre; ceremonies of good friday; easter; the sacred fire; grounds for skepticism; folly of the priests; emotion upon entering the holy tomb; description of chateaubriand; holy places in the city; on mount zion; pool of siloam; fountain of the virgin; valley of jehoshaphat; mount of offence; the tombs of zechariah, of jehoshaphat, and of absalom; jewish architecture; dr. clarke's opinion on the topography of ancient jerusalem; opposed by other writers; the inexpedience of such discussions. chapter vi. description of the country south and east of jerusalem. garden of gethsemane; tomb of virgin mary; grottoes on mount of olives; view of the city; extent and boundaries; view of bethany and dead sea; bethlehem; convent; church of the nativity described; paintings; music; population of bethlehem; pools of solomon; dwelling of simon the leper; of mary magdalene; tower of simeon; tomb of rachel; convent of st. john; fine church; tekoa bethulia; hebron; sepulchre of patriarchs; albaid; kerek; extremity of dead sea; discoveries of bankes, legh, and irby and mangles; convent of st. saba; valley of jordan; mountains; description of lake asphaltites; remains of ancient cities in its basin; quality of its waters; apples of sodom; tacitus, seetzen, hasselquist, chateaubriand; width of river jordan; jericho; village of rihhah; balsam; fountain of elisha; mount of temptation; place of blood; anecdote of sir f. henniker; fountain of the apostles; return to jerusalem; markets; costume; science; arts; language; jews; present condition of that people. chapter vii. description of the country northward of jerusalem. grotto of jeremiah; sepulchres of the kings; singular doors; village of leban; jacob's well; valley of shechem; nablous; samaritans; sebaste; jennin; gilead; geraza or djerash; description of ruins; gergasha of the hebrews; rich scenery of gilead; river jabbok; souf; ruins of gamala; magnificent theatre; gadara; capernaum, or talhewm; sea of galilee; bethsaida and chorazin; tarrachea; sumuk; tiberias; description of modern town; house of st. peter; baths; university; mount tor, or tabor; description by pococke, maundrell, burckhardt, and doubdan; view from the top; great plain; nazareth; church of annunciation; workshop of joseph; mount of precipitation; table of christ; cana, or kefer kenna; waterpots of stone; saphet, or szaffad; university; french; sidney smith; dan; sepphoris; church of st. anne; description by dr. clarke; vale of zabulon; vicinity of acre. chapter viii. the history of palestine from the fall of jerusalem, to the present time. state of judea after the fall of jerusalem; revolt under trajan; barcochab; adrian repairs jerusalem; schools at babylon and tiberias; attempt of julian to rebuild the temple; invasion of chosroes; sack of jerusalem; rise of islamism; wars of the califs; first crusade; jerusalem delivered; policy of crusades; victory at ascalon; baldwin king; second crusade; saladin; his success at tiberias; he recovers jerusalem; the third crusade; richard coeur de lion; siege and capture of acre; plans of richard; his return to europe; death of saladin; fourth crusade; battle of jaffa; fifth crusade; fall of constantinople; sixth crusade; damietta taken; reverses; frederick the second made king of jerusalem; seventh crusade; christians admitted into the holy city; inroad of karismians; eighth crusade under louis ix.; he takes damietta; his losses and return to europe; ninth crusade; louis ix. and edward i; death of louis; successes of edward; treaty with sultan; final discomfiture of the franks in palestine, and loss of acre; state of palestine under the turks; increased toleration; bonaparte invades syria; siege of acre and defeat of french; actual state of the holy land; number, condition, and character of the jews. chapter ix. the natural history of palestine. travellers too much neglect natural history--maundrell; hasselquist, clarke. geology--syrian chain; libanus; calcareous rocks; granite; trap; volcanic remains; chalk; marine exuviae; precious stones. meteorology--climate of palestine; winds; thunder; clouds; waterspouts; ignis fatuus. zoology--scripture animals; the hart; the roebuck; fallow-deer; wild goat; pygarg; wild ox; chamois; unicorn; wild ass; wild goats of the rock; saphan, or coney; mouse; porcupine; jerboa; mole; bat. birds--eagle; ossifrage; ospray; vulture; kite; raven; owl; nighthawk; cuckoo; hawk; little owl; cormorant; great owl; swan; pelican; gier eagle; stork; heron; lapwing; hoopoe. amphibia and reptiles--serpents known to the hebrews; ephe; chephir; acshub; pethen; tzeboa; tzimmaon; tzepho; kippos; shephiphon; shachal; seraph, the flying serpent; cockatrice' eggs; the scorpion; sea-monsters, or seals. fruits and plants--vegetable productions of palestine; the fig-tree; palm; olive; cedars of libanus; wild grapes; balsam of aaron; thorn of christ. engravings. map of palestine vignette--part of jerusalem, with the church of the holy sepulchre view of jerusalem from the mount of olives fountain of siloam tomb of absalom village of bethany, and dead sea subterranean church of bethlehem river jabbok, and hilts of bashan sea of galilee, town of tiberias, and baths of emmaus mount tabor chapter i. _introductory observations_. interest attached to the history of palestine; remarkable character of the hebrew people; their small beginning and astonishing increase; the variety of fortune they underwent; their constant attachment to the promised land; the subject presents an interesting problem to the historian and politician; the connexion with christianity; effect of this religion on the progress of society; importance of the subject to the pious reader; holy places; pilgrims; grounds for believing the ancient traditions on this head; constantine and the empress helena; relics; natural scenery; extent of canaan; fertility; geographical distribution; countries eastward of the jordan; galilee; bethlehem; samaria; jericho; the dead sea; table representing the possessions of the twelve tribes. the country to which the name of palestine is given by moderns is that portion of the turkish empire in asia which is comprehended within the st and th degrees north latitude, and extends from the mediterranean to the syrian desert, eastward of the river jordan and the dead sea. whether viewed as the source of our religions faith; or as the most ancient fountain of our historical knowledge, this singular spot of earth has at all times been regarded with feelings of the deepest interest and curiosity. inhabited for many ages by a people entitled above all others to the distinction of peculiar, it presents a record of events such as have not come to pass in any other land, monuments of a belief denied to all other nations, hopes not elsewhere cherished, but which, nevertheless, are connected with the destiny of the whole human race, and stretch forward to the consummation of all terrestrial things. to the eye of mere philosophy nothing can appear more striking than the events produced upon the world at large by the opinions and events which originated among the jewish people. a pastoral family, neither so numerous, so warlike, nor so well instructed in the arts of civilized life as many others in the same quarter of the globe, gradually increased into a powerful community, became distinguished by a system of doctrines and usages different from those of all the surrounding tribes; retaining it, too, amid the numerous changes of fortune to which they were subjected, and finally impressing its leading principles upon the most enlightened nations of asia and of europe. at a remote era abraham crosses the euphrates, a solitary traveller, not knowing whither he went, but obeying a divine voice, which called him from among idolaters to become the father of a new people and of a purer faith, at a distance from his native country. his grandson jacob, a "syrian ready to perish," goes down into egypt with a few individuals, where his descendants, although evil entreated and afflicted, became a "nation, great, mighty, and populous," and whence they were delivered by the special interposition of heaven. in prosperity and adversity they are still the objects of the same vigilant providence which reserved them for a great purpose to be accomplished in the latter days; while the israelites themselves, as if conscious that their election was to be crowned with momentous results, still kept their thoughts fixed on palestine, as the theatre of their glory, not less than as the possession of their tribes. we accordingly see them at one period in bondage, the victims of a relentless tyranny, and menaced with complete extirpation; but the hope of enjoying the land promised to their fathers never ceased to animate their hearts, for they trusted that god would surely visit them in the house of their affliction, and, in his appointed time, carry them into the inheritance of peace and rest. at a later epoch we behold them swept away as captives by the hands of idolaters, who used all the motives which spring from fear and from interest to secure their compliance with a foreign worship; but rejecting all such inducements, they still continued a separate people, steadily resisting the operation of those causes which, in almost every other instance, have been found sufficient to melt down a vanquished horde into the population and habits of their masters. at length they appear as the instruments of a dispensation which embraces the dearest interests of all the sons of adam; and which, in happier circumstances than ever fell to their own lot, has already modified and greatly exalted the character, the institutions, and the prospects of the most improved portion of mankind in both hemispheres of the globe. connected with christianity, indeed, the history of the hebrews rises before the reflecting mind in a very singular point of view; for, in opposition to their own wishes they laid the foundations of a religion which has not only superseded their peculiar rites, but is rapidly advancing towards that universal acceptation which they were wont to anticipate in favour of their own ancient law. in spite of themselves they have acted as the little leaven which was destined to leaven the whole lump; and in performing this office, they have proceeded with nearly the same absence of intention and consciousness as the latent principle of fermentation to which the metaphor bears allusion. they aimed at one thing, and have accomplished another; but while we compare the means with the ends; whether in their physical or moral relations, it must be admitted that we therein examine one of the most remarkable events recorded in the annals of the human race. abstracting his thoughts from all the considerations of supernatural agency which are suggested by the inspired narrative, a candid man will nevertheless feel himself compelled to acknowledge that the course of events which constitutes the history of ancient palestine has no parallel in any other part of the world. fixing his eyes on the small district of judea, he calls to mind that eighteen hundred years ago there dwelt in that little region a singular and rather retired people, who, however, differed from the rest of mankind in the very important circumstance of not being idolaters. he looks around upon every other country of the earth, where he discovers superstitions of the most hateful and degrading kind, darkening all the prospects of the human being, and corrupting his moral nature in its very source. he observes that some of these nations are far advanced in many intellectual accomplishments, yet, being unable to shake off the tremendous load of error by which they are pressed down, are extremely irregular and capricious, both in the management of their reason and in the application of their affections. he learns, moreover, that this little spot called palestine is despised and scorned by those proud kingdoms, whose wise men would not for a moment allow themselves to imagine, that any speculation or tenet arising from so ignoble a quarter could have the slightest influence upon their belief, or affect, in the most minute degree, the general character of their social condition. but, behold, while he yet muses over this interesting scene, a teacher springs up from among the lower orders of the hebrew people,--himself not less contemned by his countrymen than they were by the warlike romans and the philosophic greeks,--whose doctrines, notwithstanding, continue to gain ground on every hand, till at last the proud monuments of pagan superstition, consecrated by the worship of a thousand years, and supported by the authority of the most powerful monarchies in the world, fall one after another at the approach of his disciples, and before the prevailing efficacy of the new faith. a little stone becomes a mountain, and fills the whole earth. judea swells in its dimensions till it covers half the globe, carrying captivity captive, not by force of arms, but by the progress of opinion and the power of truth, all the nations of europe in successive ages,--greek, roman, barbarian,--glory in the name of the humble galilean; armies, greater than those which persia in the pride of her ambition led forth to conquest, are seen swarming into asia, with the sole view of getting possession of his sepulchre; while the east and the west combine to adorn with their treasures the stable in which he was born, and the sacred mount on which he surrendered his precious life.[ ] on these grounds, there is presented to the historian and politician a problem of the most interesting nature, and which is not to be solved by any reference to the ordinary principles whence mankind are induced to act or to suffer. the effects, too, produced on society, exceed all calculation. it is in vain that we attempt to compare them to those more common revolutions which have changed for a time the face of nations, or given a new dynasty to ancient empires. the impression made by such events soon passes away: the troubled surface quickly resumes its equilibrium, and displays its wonted tranquility; and hence we may assert, that the present condition of the world is not much different from what it would have been, though alexander had never been born and julius caesar had died in his cradle. but the occurrences that enter into the history of palestine possess an influence on human affairs which has no other limits than the existence of the species, and which will be everywhere more deeply felt in proportion as society advances in knowledge and refinement. the greatest nations upon earth trace their happiness and civilization to its benign principles and lofty sanctions. science, freedom, and security, attend its progress among all conditions of men; raising the low, befriending the unfortunate, giving strength to the arm of law, and breaking the rod of the oppressor. nor is the subject of less interest to the pious christian, who confines his thoughts to the momentous facts which illustrate the early annals of his religion. his affections are bound to palestine by the strongest associations; and every portion of its varied territory, its mountains, its lakes, and even its deserts are consecrated in his eyes as the scene of some mighty occurrence. his fancy clothes with qualities almost celestial that holy land, over whose acres walked those blessed feet, which eighteen hundred years ago were nailed for our advantage to the bitter cross.[ ] in a former age, when devotional feelings were wont to assume a more poetical form than suits the taste of the present times, an undue importance, perhaps, was placed on the mere localities of judea, viewed as the theatre on which the great events of christianity were realized, and more especially on those relics which were considered as identifying particular spots, honoured by the sufferings or triumph of its divine author. the zealous pilgrim, who had travelled many thousand miles amid the most appalling dangers, required a solace to his faith in the contemplation of the cross, or in being permitted to kiss the threshold of the tomb in which the body of his redeemer was laid. to such a character no description could be too minute, no details could be too particular. forgetful of the ravages inflicted on jerusalem by the hand of the romans, and by the more furious anger of her own children within her,--fulfilling unintentionally that tremendous doom which was pronounced from the mount of olives,--the simple worshipper expected to see the hall of judgment, the house of pilate, and the palace of the high-priest, and to be able to trace through the streets and lanes of the holy city the path which led his saviour to calvary. this natural desire to awaken piety through the medium of the senses, and to banish all unbelief by touching with the hand, and seeing with the eye, the memorials of the crucifixion, has, there is reason to apprehend, been sometimes abused by fraud as well as by ignorance. but it is nevertheless worthy of remark, that from the very situation of jerusalem, so well defined by natural limits which it cannot have passed, there is less difficulty in determining places with a certain degree of precision than would be experienced in any other ancient town. nor can it be justly questioned, that the primitive christians marked with peculiar care the principal localities distinguished by the deeds or by the afflictions of their divine master. it is natural to suppose, as m. chateaubriand well observes, that the apostles and relatives of our saviour, who composed his first church upon earth, were perfectly acquainted with all the circumstances attending his life, his ministry, and his death; and as golgotha and the mount of olives were not enclosed within the walls of the city, they would encounter less restraint in performing their devotions to the places which were sanctified by his more frequent presence and miracles. besides, the knowledge of these scenes was soon extended to a very wide circle. the triumph of pentecost increased vastly the number of believers; and hence a regular congregation appears to have been formed in jerusalem before the expiry of the third year from that memorable epoch. if it be admitted that the early christians were allowed to erect monuments to their religious worship, or even to select houses for their periodical assemblies, the probability will not be questioned that they fixed upon those interesting spots which had been distinguished by the wonders of their faith. at the commencement of the troubles in judea, during the reign of vespasian, the christians of jerusalem withdrew to pella, and as soon as their metropolis was demolished they returned to dwell among its ruins. in the space of a few months they could not have forgotten the position of their sanctuaries, which, generally speaking, being situated outside the walls, could not have suffered so much from the siege as the more lofty edifices within. that the holy places were known to all men in the time of adrian is demonstrated by an undeniable fact. this emperor, when he rebuilt the city, erected a statue of venus on mount calvary, and another of jupiter on the sacred sepulchre. the grotto of bethlehem was given up to the rites of adonis, the jealousy of the idolaters thus publishing by their abominable profanations, the sublime doctrines of the cross, which it was their object to conceal or calumniate. but adrian, although actuated by an ardent zeal in behalf of his own deities, did not persecute the christians at large. his resentment seems to have been confined to the nazarenes in jerusalem, whom he could not help regarding as a portion of the jewish nation,--the irreconcilable enemies of rome. we accordingly perceive, that he had no sooner dispersed the church of the circumcision established in the holy city, than he permitted within its walls the formation of a christian community, composed of gentile converts, whose political principles, he imagined, were less inimical to the sovereignty of the empire. at the same time he wrote to the governors of his asiatic provinces, instructing them not to molest the believers in christ, merely on account of their creed, but to reserve all punishment for crimes committed against the laws and the public tranquillity. it has therefore been very generally admitted; that during this period of repose, and even down to the reign of dioclesian, the faithful at jerusalem, now called aelia, celebrated the mysteries of their religion in public, and consequently had altars consecrated to their worship. if, indeed, they were not allowed the possession of calvary, the holy sepulchre, and of bethlehem, where they might solemnize their sacred rites, it is not to be imagined that the memory of these holy sanctuaries could be effaced from their affectionate recollection. the very idols served to mark the places where the christian redemption was begun and completed. nay, the pagans themselves cherished the expectation that the temple of venus, erected on the summit of calvary, would not prevent the christians from visiting that holy mount; rejoicing in the idea, as the historian sozomen expresses it, that the nazarenes, when they repaired to golgotha to pray, would appear to the public eye to be offering up their adoration to the daughter of jupiter. this is a striking proof that a perfect knowledge of the sacred places was retained by the church of jerusalem in the middle of the second century. at a somewhat later period, when exposed to persecution, if they were not allowed to build their altars at the sepulchre, or proceed without apprehension to the scene of the nativity, they enjoyed at least the consolation of keeping alive the remembrance of the great events connected with these interesting monuments of their faith; anticipating, at the same time, the approaching ruin of that proud superstition by which they had been so long oppressed. the conversion of constantine gave a new vigour to these local reminiscences of the evangelical history. that celebrated ruler wrote to macarius, bishop of jerusalem, to cover the tomb of jesus christ with a magnificent church; while his mother, the empress helena, repaired in person to palestine, in order to glue a proper efficacy to the zeal which animated the throne, and to assist in searching for the venerable remains of the first age of the gospel. to this illustrious female is ascribed the glory of restoring to religion some of its most valued memorials. not satisfied with the splendid temple erected at the holy sepulchre, she ordered two similar edifices to be reared under her own auspices; one over the manger of the messiah at bethlehem, and the other on the mount of olives, to commemorate his ascension into heaven. chapels, altars, and houses of prayer gradually marked all the places consecrated by the acts of the son of man; the oral traditions were forthwith committed to writing, and thereby secured for ever from the treachery of individual recollection.[ ] these considerations gave great probability to the conjectures of those pious persons who, in the fourth century of our era, assisted the mother of constantine in fixing the locality of holy scenes. from that period down to the present day, the devotion of the christian and the avarice of the mohammedan have sufficiently secured the remembrance both of the places and of the events with which they are associated. but no length of time can wear out the impression of deep reverence and respect which are excited by an actual examination of those interesting spots that witnessed the stupendous occurrences recorded in the inspired volume. or, if there be in existence any cause which could effectually counteract such natural and laudable feelings, it is the excessive minuteness of detail and fanciful description usually found to accompany the exhibition of sacred relics. the christian traveller is delighted when he obtains the first glance of carmel, of tabor, of libanus, and of olivet; his heart opens to many touching recollections at the moment when the jordan, the lake of tiberias, and even the waters of the dead sea spread themselves out before his eyes; but neither his piety nor his belief is strengthened when he has presented to him a portion of the cross whereon our saviour was suspended, the nails that pierced his hands and feet, the linen in which his body was wrapped, the stone on which his corpse reposed in the sepulchre, as well as that occupied by the ministering angel on the morning of the resurrection. the skepticism with which such doubtful remains cannot fail to be examined is turned into positive disgust when, the guardians of the grotto at bethlehem undertake to show the water wherein the infant messiah was washed, the milk of the blessed virgin his mother, the swaddling-clothes, the manger, and other particulars neither less minute nor less improbable. but such abuses, the fruit of many ages of credulity and ignorance, do not materially diminish the force of the impression produced by scenes which no art can change, and hardly any description can disguise. the hills still stand round about jerusalem, as they stood in the days of david and of solomon. the dew falls on hermon, the cedars grow on libanus, and kishon, that ancient river, draws its stream from tabor as in the times of old. the sea of galilee still presents the same natural accompaniments, the fig-tree springs up by the wayside, the sycamore spreads its branches, and the vines and olives still climb the sides of the mountains. the desolation which covered the cities of the plain is not less striking at the present hour than when moses with an inspired pen recorded the judgment of god; the swellings of jordan are not less regular in their rise than when the hebrews first approached its banks; and he who goes down from jerusalem to jericho still incurs the greatest hazard of falling among thieves. there is, in fact, in the scenery and manners of palestine, a perpetuity that accords well with the everlasting import of its historical records, and which enables us to identify with the utmost readiness the local imagery of every great transaction. the extent of this remarkable country has varied at different times, according to the nature of the government which it has either enjoyed or been compelled to acknowledge. when it was first occupied by the israelites, the land of canaan, properly so called, was confined between the shores of the mediterranean and the western bank of the jordan; the breadth at no part exceeding fifty miles, while the length hardly amounted to three times that space. at a later period, the arms of david and of his immediate successor carried the boundaries of the kingdom to the euphrates and orontes on the one hand, an in an opposite direction to the remotest confines of edom and moab. the population, as might be expected, has undergone a similar variation. it is true that no particular in ancient history is liable to a better-founded suspicion than the numerical statements which respect nations and armies; for pride and fear have, in their turn, contributed not a little to exaggerate, in rival countries, the amount of the persons capable of taking a share in the field of battle. proceeding on the usual grounds of calculation, we must infer, from the number of warriors whom moses conducted through the desert, that the hebrew people, when they crossed the jordan, did not fall short of two millions; while, from facts recorded in the book of samuel, we may conclude with greater confidence that the enrolment made under the direction of joab must have returned a gross population of five millions and a half. the present aspect of palestine, under an administration where every thing decays and nothing is renewed, can afford no just criterion of the accuracy of such statements. hasty observers have indeed pronounced that a hilly country destitute of great rivers, could not, even under the most skilful management, supply food for so many mouths. but this precipitate conclusion has been vigorously combated by the most competent judges, who have taken pains to estimate the produce of a soil under the fertilizing influence of a sun which may be regarded as almost tropical, and of a well-regulated irrigation which the syrians knew how to practise with the greatest success. canaan, it must be admitted, could not be compared to egypt in respect to corn. there is no nile to scatter the riches of an inexhaustible fecundity over its valleys and plains. still it was not without reason that moses described it as "a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains, and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil-olive and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayst dig brass."[ ] the reports of the latest travellers confirm the accuracy of the picture drawn by this divine legislator. near jericho the wild olives continue to bear berries of a large size, which give the finest oil. in places subjected to irrigation, the same field, after a crop of wheat in may, produces pulse in autumn. several of the trees are continually bearing flowers and fruit at the same time, in all their stages. the mulberry, planted in straight rows in the open field, is festooned by the tendrils of the vine. if this vegetation seems to languish or become extinct during the extreme heats,--if in the mountains it is at all seasons detached and interrupted,--such exceptions to the general luxuriance are not to be ascribed simply to the general character of all hot climates, but also to the state of barbarism in which the great mass of the present population is immersed. even in our day, some remains are to be found of the walls which the ancient cultivators built to support the soil on the declivities of the mountains; the form of the cisterns in which they collected the rain-water; and traces of the canals by which this water was distributed over the fields. these labours necessarily created a prodigious fertility under an ardent sun, where a little moisture was the only requisite to revive the vegetable world. the accounts given by native writers respecting the productive qualities of judea are not in any degree opposed even by the present aspect of the country. the case is exactly the same with some islands in the archipelago; a tract, from which a hundred individuals can hardly draw a scanty subsistence, formerly maintained thousands in affluence. moses might justly say that canaan abounded in milk and honey. the flocks of the arabs still find in it a luxuriant pasture, while the bees deposite in the holes of the rocks their delicious stores, which are sometimes seen flowing down the surface. the opinions just stated in regard to the fertility of ancient palestine receive an ample confirmation from the roman historians, to whom, as a part of their extensive empire, it was intimately known. tacitus, especially, in language which he appears to have formed for his own use, describes its natural qualities with the utmost precision, and, as is his manner, suggests rather than specifies a catalogue of productions, the accuracy of which is verified by the latest observations. the soil is rich, and the atmosphere dry; the country yields all the fruits which are known in italy, besides balm and dates.[ ] but it has never been denied that there is a remarkable difference between the two sides of the ridge which forms the central chain of judea. on the western acclivity, the soil rises from the sea towards the elevated ground in four distinct terraces, which are covered with an unfading verdure. the shore is lined with mastic-trees; palms, and prickly pears. higher up, the vines, the olives, and the sycamores amply repay the labour of the cultivator; natural groves arise, consisting of evergreen oaks, cypresses, andrachnés, and turpentines. the face of the earth is embellished with the rosemary, the cytisus, and the hyacinth. in a word, the vegetation of these mountains has been compared to that of crete. european visitors have dined under the shade of a lemon-tree as large as one of our strongest oaks, and have seen sycamores, the foliage of which was sufficient to cover thirty persons along with their horses and camels. on the eastern side, however, the scanty coating of mould yields a less magnificent crop. from the summit of the hills a desert stretches along to the lake asphaltites, presenting nothing but stones and ashes, and a few thorny shrubs. the sides of the mountains enlarge, and assume an aspect at once more grand and more barren. by little and little the scanty vegetation languishes and dies; even mosses disappear, and a red burning hue succeeds to the whiteness of the rocks. in the centre of this amphitheatre there is an arid basin, enclosed on all sides with summits scattered over with a yellow-coloured pebble, and affording a single aperture to the east through which the surface of the dead sea and the distant hills of arabia present themselves to the eye. in the midst of this country of stones, encircled by a wall, we perceive extensive ruins; stunted cypresses, bushes of the aloe and prickly pear, while some huts of the meanest order, resembling whitewashed sepulchres, are spread over the desolated mass. this spot is jerusalem.[ ] this melancholy delineation, which was suggested by the state of the jewish metropolis in the third century, is not quite inapplicable at the present hour. the scenery of external nature is the same, and the general aspect of the venerable city is very little changed. but as beauty is strictly a relative term, and is everywhere greatly affected by association, we must not be surprised when we read in the works of eastern authors the high encomiums which are lavished upon the vicinity of the holy capital. abulfeda, for example, maintains, not only that palestine is the most fertile part of syria, but also that the neighbourhood of jerusalem is one of the most fertile districts of palestine. in his eye, the vines, the fig-trees, and the olive-groves, with which the limestone cliffs of judea were once covered, identified themselves with the richest returns of agricultural wealth, and more than compensated for the absence of those spreading fields waving with corn which are necessary to convey to the mind of a european the ideas of fruitfulness, comfort, and abundance. following the enlightened narrative of malte brun, the reader will find that southward of damascus, the point where the modern palestine may be said to begin, are the countries called by the romans auranitis and gaulonitis, consisting of one extensive and noble plain, bounded on the north by hermon or djibel-el-sheik, on the south-west by djibel-edjlan, and on the east by haouran. in all these countries there is not a single stream which retains its water in summer. the most of the villages have their pond or reservoir, which they fill from one of the wadi, or brooks, during the rainy season. of all these districts, haouran is the most celebrated for the culture of wheat. nothing can exceed in grandeur the extensive undulations of their fields, moving like the waves of the ocean in the wind. bothin or batanea, on the other hand, contains nothing except calcareous mountains, where there are vast caverns, in which the arabian shepherds live like the ancient troglodytes. here a modern traveller, dr. seetzen, discovered, in the year , the magnificent ruins of gerasa, now called djerash, where three temples, two superb amphitheatres of marble, and hundreds of columns still remain among other monuments of roman power. but by far the finest thing that he saw was a long street, bordered on each side with a splendid colonnade of corinthian architecture, and terminating in an open space of a semicircular form, surrounded with sixty ionic pillars. in the same neighbourhood the ancient gilead is distinguished by a forest of stately oaks, which supply wealth and employment to the inhabitants. peraea presents on its numerous terraces a mixture of vines, olives, and pomegranates. karak-moab, the capital of a district corresponding to that of the primitive moabites, still meets the eye, but is not to be confounded with another town of a similar name in the stony arabia.[ ] the countries now described lie on the eastern side of the river jordan. but the same stream, in the upper part of its course, forms the boundary between gaulonitis and the fertile galilee, which is identical with the modern district of szaffad. this town, which is remarkable for the beauty of its situation amid groves of myrtle, is supposed to be the ancient bethulia, which was besieged by holofernes. tabara, an insignificant place, occupies the site of tiberias, which gave its name to the lake more generally known by that of genesareth, or the sea of galilee; but industry has now deserted its borders, and the fisherman with his skiff and his nets no longer animates the surface of its waters. nazareth still retains some portion of its former consequence. six miles farther south stands the hill of tabor, sometimes denominated itabyrius, presenting a pyramid of verdure crowned with olives and sycamores. from the top of this mountain, the modern tor and scene of the transfiguration, we look down on the river jordan, the lake of genesareth, and the mediterranean sea.[ ] galilee, says a learned writer, would be a paradise were it inhabited by an industrious people under an enlightened government. vine stocks are to be seen here a foot and a half in diameter, forming, by their twining branches, vast arches and extensive ceilings of verdure. a cluster of grapes, two or three feet in length, will give an abundant supper to a whole family. the plains of esdraelon are occupied by arab tribes, around whose brown tents the sheep and lambs gambol to the sound of the reed, which at nightfall calls them home.[ ] for some years this fine country has groaned and bled under the malignant genius of turkish despotism. the fields are left without cultivation, and the towns and villages are reduced to beggary; but the latest accounts from the holy land encourage us to entertain the hope, that a milder administration will soon change the aspect of affairs, and bestow upon the syrian provinces at large some of the benefits which the more liberal policy of mohammed ali has conferred upon the pashalic of egypt. proceeding from galilee towards the metropolis, we enter the land of samaria, comprehending the modern districts of areta and nablous. in the former we find the remains of cesarea; and on the gulf of st. jean d'acre stands the town of caypha, where there is a good anchorage for ships. on the south-west of this gulf extends a chain of mountains, which terminates in the promontory of carmel, a name famous in the annals of our religion. there elijah proved by miracles the divinity of his mission; and there, in the middle ages of the church, resided thousands of christian devotees, who sought a refuge for their piety in the caves of the rocks. then the mountain was wholly covered with chapels and gardens, whereas at the present day nothing is to be seen but scattered ruins amid forests of oak and olives, the bright verdure being only relieved by the whiteness of the calcareous cliffs over which they are suspended. the heights of carmel, it has been frequently remarked, enjoy a pure and enlivening atmosphere, while the lower grounds of samaria and galileo are obscured by the densest fogs. the shechem of the scriptures, successively known by the names of neapolis and nablous, still contains a considerable population, although its dwellings are mean and its inhabitants poor. the ruins of samaria itself are now covered with orchards; and the people of the district, who have forgotten their native dialect, as well perhaps as their angry disputes with the jews, continue to worship the deity on the verdant slopes of gerizim. palestine, agreeably to the modern acceptation of the term, embraces the country of the ancient philistines, the most formidable enemies of the hebrew tribes prior to the reign of david. besides gaza, the chief town, we recognise the celebrated port of jaffa or yaffa, corresponding to the joppa mentioned in the sacred writings. repeatedly fortified and dismantled, this famous harbour has presented such a variety of appearances, that the description given of it in one age has hardly ever been found to apply to its condition in the very next. bethlehem, where the divine messias was born, is a large village inhabited promiscuously by christians and mussulmans, who agree in nothing but their detestation of the tyranny by which they are both unmercifully oppressed. the locality of the sacred manger is occupied by an elegant church, ornamented by the pious offerings of all the nations of europe. it is not our intention to enter into a more minute discussion of those old traditions, by which the particular places rendered sacred by the redeemer's presence are still marked out for the veneration of the faithful. they present much vagueness, mingled with no small portion of unquestionable truth. at all events, we must not regard them in the same light in which we are compelled to view the story that claims for hebron the possession of abraham's tomb, and attracts on this account the veneration both of nazarenes and moslems. to the north-east of jerusalem, in the large and fertile valley called el-gaur, and watered by the jordan, we find the village of rah, the ancient jericho, denominated by moses the city of palms. this is a name to which it is still entitled; but the groves of opobalsamum, or balm of moses, have long disappeared; nor is the neighbourhood any longer adorned with those singular flowers known among the crusaders by the familiar appellation of jericho roses. a little farther south two rough and barren chains of hills encompass with their dark steeps a long basin formed in a clay soil mixed with bitumen and rock-salt. the water contained in this hollow is impregnated with a solution of different saline substances, having lime, magnesia, and soda for their base, partially neutralized with muriatic and sulfuric acid. the salt which it yields by evaporation is about one-fourth, of its weight. the bituminous matter rises from time to time from the bottom of the lake, floats on the surface, and is thrown out on the shores, where it is gathered for various economical purposes. it is to be regretted that this inland sea has not yet been examined with the attention which it deserves. we are told, indeed, by the greater number of those who have visited it, that neither fish nor shells are to be found in its waters; that an unwholesome vapour is constantly emitted from its bosom; and that its banks, hideous and desolate in the extreme, are never cheered by the note of any bird. but it is admitted by the same travellers, that the inhabitants are not sensible of any noxious qualities in its exhalations; while the accounts formerly believed, that the winged tribes in attempting to fly over it fell down dead, are now generally regarded as fabulous. tradition supports the narrative of sacred scripture so far as to teach that the channel of the dead sea was once a fertile valley, partly resting on a mass of subterranean water, and partly composed of a stratum of bitumen; and that a fire from heaven kindling these combustible materials, the rich soil sunk into the abyss beneath, and sodom and gomorrah were consumed in the tremendous conflagration. this brief outline of the geographical limits and physical characters of the holy land may prove sufficient as an introduction to its ancient history. details much more ample are to be found in numerous works, whose authors, fascinated by the interesting recollections which almost every object in palestine is fitted to suggest, have endeavoured to transfer to the minds of their readers the profound impressions which they themselves experienced from a personal review of ancient scenes and monuments. but we purposely refrain at present from the minute description to which the subject so naturally invites us, because, in a subsequent part of our undertaking, we shall be unavoidably led into a train of local particularities, while setting forth the actual condition of the country and of its venerable remains. meantime, we supply, in the following table, the means of comparing the division or distribution of canaan among the twelve tribes, with that which was afterward adopted by the romans. ancient canaanitish israelitish roman division. division. division. sidonians, tribe of asher (in libanus) ] unknown, [naphtali (north-west of the ]upper galilee. [ lake of genesareth) ] perizzites, zebulun (west of that lake) ] the same, [issachar (valley of esdraelon,]lower galilee. [ mount tabor) ] hivites, [half-tribe of manasseh (dora ] [ and cesarea) ]samaria. the same, ephraim (shechem, samaria) ] jebusites, benjamin (jericho, jerusalem) ] amorites, hittites, judah (hebron, judea proper) ] philistines, [simeon (south-west of judah) ]judea. [dan (joppa) ] moabites, reuben (peraea, heshbon) ] ammonites, gilead, gad (decapolis, ammonites) ] kingdom of bashan, [half-tribe of manasseh, ]peraea. [ gaulonitis, batanea ] in a pastoral country, such as that beyond the river jordan especially, where the desert in most parts bordered upon the cultivated soil, the limits of the several possessions could not at all times be distinctly marked. it is well known, besides, that the native inhabitants were never entirely expelled by the victorious hebrews, but that they retained, in some instances by force, and in others by treaty, a considerable portion of land within the borders of all the tribes,--a fact which is connected with many of the defections and troubles into which the israelites subsequently fell. chapter ii. _history of the hebrew commonwealth_. form of government after the death of joshua; in egypt; in the wilderness; princes of tribes and heads of families; impatience to take possession of promised land; the effects of it; renewal of war; extent of holy land; opinions of fleury, spanheim, reland, and lowman; principle of distribution; each tribe confined to a separate locality; property unalienable; conditions of tenure; population of the tribes; number of principal families; a general government or national council; the judges; nature of their authority; not ordinary magistrates; different from kings, onsuls, and dictators; judicial establishments; judges and officers; described by josephus; equality of condition among the hebrews; their inclination for a pastoral life; freebooters, like the arabs; abimelech, jephthah, and david; simplicity of the times; boaz and ruth; tribe of levi; object of their separation; the learned professions hereditary, after the manner of the egyptians; the levitical cities; their number and uses; opinion of michaelis; summary view of the times and character of the hebrew judges. learned men have long exercised their ingenuity with the view of determining the precise form of the social condition which was assumed by the israelites when they took possession of the promised land. the sacred writer contents himself with stating, that "it came to pass a long time after the lord had given rest unto israel from all their enemies round about, that joshua waxed old and stricken in age; and he called for all israel, for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers." the purport of the address he delivered on this occasion, and which is given at length in the twenty-third chapter of the book which bears his name, was solely to remind them of their religious obligations as the chosen people of jehovah, and of the labors that they had yet to undergo in subduing the remainder of canaan. neither in this speech, nor in the exhortation with which he afterward at shechem endeavoured to animate the zeal and constancy of his followers, did he make any allusion to the form of government that it behoved them to adopt; declining even to direct their choice in the appointment of a chief, who might conduct their armies in the field, and preside in the deliberations of the national council. the first events which occurred after the demise of joshua appear to establish the fact, that to every tribe was committed the management of its own affairs, even to the extent of being entitled to wage war and make peace without the advice or sanction of the general senate. the only government to which the sons of jacob had hitherto been accustomed, was that most ancient and universal system of rule which gives to the head of every family the direction and control of all its members. we find traces of this natural subordination among them, even under the pressure of egyptian bondage. during the negotiations which preceded their deliverance under the ministry of moses, the applications and messages were all addressed to the patriarchal rulers of the people. "go gather the elders of israel together," was the command of jehovah to the son of amram, when the latter received authority to rescue the descendants of isaac from the tyranny of pharaoh. but during the pilgrimage in the wilderness, and more particularly when the tribes approached the confines of the devoted nations of canaan, the original jurisdiction of the family chiefs was rendered subordinate to the military power of their inspired leader, who, as the commander of the armies of israel, was esteemed and obeyed by his followers as the lieutenant of the lord of hosts. in truth, the martial labours to which his office called him, placed the successor of moses at the head of his countrymen in quality of a general, guiding them on their march or forming their array in the field of battle, rather than as a teacher of wisdom or the guardian of a peculiar faith and worship. until the conquered lands were divided among the victorious tribes, joshua was a soldier and nothing more; while, on the other hand, the congregation of the hebrews, who seconded so well his military plans, appear at that juncture on the page of history in no other light than that of veteran troops, rendered hardy by long service in a parching climate, and formidable by the arts of discipline under a skilful and warlike leader. from the exode, in short, till towards the end of joshua's administration, we lose sight of that simple scheme of domestic superintendence which jacob established among his sons. the princes of tribes, and the heads of families, were converted into captains of thousands, of hundreds, and of fifties; regulating their movements by the sound of the trumpet, and passing their days of rest amid the vigilance and formality of a regular encampment. but no sooner did they convert the sword into a ploughshare, and the spear into a pruning-hook, than they unanimously returned to their more ancient form of society. as soon as there appeared a sufficient quantity of land wrested from the canaanites to afford to the tribes on the western side of the jordan a competent inheritance, joshua "sent the people away, and they departed;" and from this moment the military aspect that their community had assumed gave way to the patriarchal model, to which in fact all their institutions bore an immediate reference, and to the restoration of which their strongest hopes and wishes were constantly directed. actuated by such views, it cannot be denied that the hebrews manifested an undue impatience to enjoy the fruits of their successful invasion. they had fought, it should seem, to obtain an inheritance in a rich and pleasant country, rather than to avenge the cause of pure religion, or to punish the idolatrous practices of the children of moab and ammon. as soon, therefore, as the fear of their name and the power of their arms had scattered the inhabitants of the open countries, the israelites began to sow and to plant; being more willing to make a covenant with the residue of the enemy, than to purchase the blessings of a permanent peace by enduring a little longer the fatigue and privations of war. their eagerness to get possession of the land flowing with milk and honey seems to have compelled joshua to adopt a measure, which led at no distant period to much guilt and suffering on the part of his people. he consented that they should occupy the vacant fields before the nations which they had been commissioned to displace were finally subdued; that that they should cast lots for provinces which were still in the hands of the native gentiles; and that they should distribute, by the line and the measuring-rod, many extensive hills and fair valleys which had not yet submitted to the dominion of their swords. the effects of this injudicious policy soon rendered themselves apparent; and all the evils which were foreseen by the aged servant of god, when he addressed the congregation at shechem, were realized in a little time to their fullest extent. the hebrews did indeed find the remnant of the nations among whom they consented to dwell proving scourges in their sides and thorns in their eyes, and still able to dispute with them the possession of the good land which they had been taught to regard as a sacred inheritance conferred upon them in virtue of a divine promise made to their fathers. for example, the author of the book of judges relates, "the amorites forced the children of dan into the mountains;" for, he adds, "they would not suffer them to come down to the valley." hence arose the fact, that the israelites did not for several hundred years complete their conquest of palestine. the canaanites, recovering from the terror which had fallen upon them in the commencement of the hebrew invasion, attempted, not only to regain possession of their ancient territory, but even to obliterate all traces of their defeat and subjection. what movements were made by the petty sovereigns of the country, in order to effect their object, we are nowhere expressly told; but we find, from a consultation held by the southern tribes of israel, soon after the death of joshua, that the necessity of renewing military operations against the natives could no longer be postponed. it was resolved, accordingly, that judah and simeon should unite their arms, and take the field, to prevent, in the first place, an inroad with which their borders were threatened, and, subsequently, to reduce to a state of entire subjection the cities and towns that stood within the limits of their respective districts. "and judah said unto simeon his brother, come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the canaanites; and i likewise will go with thee into thy lot."[ ] but, leaving these preliminary matters, we shall proceed to take a survey of the hebrew commonwealth, as it appeared upon its first settlement under the successors of joshua; endeavouring to ascertain the grounds upon which the federal union of the tribes was established; their relations towards one another in peace and in war; the resources of which they were possessed for conquest or self-defence; their civil rights and privileges as independent states; their laws and judicatories; and, above all, the nature and extent of their property, as well as the tenure on which it was held by families and individuals. closely connected with this subject is a consideration of that agrarian law which was sanctioned by moses and acted upon by joshua, and which will be found, not only to have determined, but also to have secured, the inheritance of every israelite who entered the promised land. the extent of that portion of syria which was granted to the hebrew nation has been variously estimated. on the authority of hecataeus, a native of abdera, who is quoted by josephus, the limits of the territory possessed by the jews are fixed at three millions of acres, supposing the _aroura_ of the greeks to correspond to the denomination of english measure just specified. proceeding on this ground, the abbé fleury and other writers have undertaken to prove that the quantity of land mentioned by hecataeus would maintain only three millions three hundred and seventy-five thousand men,--a computation which is liable to many objections, and has not therefore been generally received. it is obvious, for instance, that the abderite, who lived in the reign of alexander the great, and is said to have afterward attached himself to the person of the first grecian king of egypt, described the country of the jews as he saw it, under the dominion of the syrian princes of the macedonian line. he accordingly beheld only the inheritance of the two tribes which had returned from the babylonian captivity, and of consequence confined his estimates to the provinces that they were permitted to enjoy; taking no account of those extensive districts that formerly belonged to the ten tribes of israel, and which, in his days, were in the hands of that mixed race of men who were descended from the assyrian colonists whom shalmaneser placed in their room.[ ] confiding in the greater accuracy of spanheim, reland, and lowman, we are inclined to compute the hebrew territory at about fifteen millions of acres; assuming, with these writers, that the true boundaries of the promised land were, mount libanus on the north, the wilderness of arabia on the south, and the syrian desert on the east. on the west some of the tribes extended their possessions to the very waters of the great sea, though on other parts they found their boundary restricted by the lands of the philistines, whose rich domains comprehended the low lands and strong cities which stretched along the shore. it has been calculated by spanheim, that the remotest points of the holy land, as possessed by king david, were situated at the distance of three degrees of latitude, and as many degrees of longitude, including in all about twenty-six thousand square miles.[ ] if this computation be correct, there was in the possession of the hebrew chiefs land sufficient to allow to every israelite capable of bearing arms a lot of about twenty acres; reserving for public uses, as also for the cities of the levites, about one-tenth of the whole. it is probable, however, that if we make a suitable allowance for lakes, mountains, and unproductive tracts of ground, the portion to every householder would not be so large as the estimate now stated. but within the limits of one-half of this quantity of land there were ample means for plenty and frugal enjoyment. the roman people under romulus and long after could afford only two acres to every legionary soldier; and in the most flourishing days of the commonwealth the allowance did not exceed four. hence the _quatuor jugera_, or four acres, is an expression which proverbially indicated plebeian affluence and contentment,--a full remuneration for the toils of war, and a sufficient inducement at all times to take up arms in defence of the republic. the territory of the hebrews was ordered to be equally divided among their tribes and families according to their respective numbers; and the persons selected to superintend this national work were eleazar, the high-priest, joshua, who acted in the character of judge, and the twelve princes or heads of israel. the rule which they followed is expressed in these words,--"and ye shall divide the land by lot, for an inheritance among your families; and to the more ye shall give the more inheritance; and to the fewer ye shall give the less inheritance: every man's inheritance shall be in the place where his lot falleth; according to the tribes of your fathers ye shall inherit." every tribe was thus put in possession of a separate district or province, in which all the occupiers of the land were not only israelites, but more particularly sprung from the same stock, and descendants of the same patriarch. the several families, again, were placed in the same neighbourhood, receiving their inheritance in the same part or subdivision of the tribe; or, to use the language of lowman, each tribe may be said to have lived together in one and the same country, and each family in one and the same hundred; so that every neighbourhood were relations to each other and of the same families, as well as inhabitants of the same place. to secure the permanence and independence of every separate tribe, a law was enacted by the authority of heaven, providing that the landed property of every israelite should be unalienable. whatever encumbrances might befall the owner of a field, and whatever might be the obligations under which he placed himself to his creditor, he was released from all claims at the year of jubilee. "ye shall hallow," said the inspired legislator, "the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof. it shall be a jubilee unto you, and ye shall return every man to his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. and the land shall not be sold for ever; for the land is mine, saith the lord; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me."[ ] the attentive reader of the mosaical law will observe, that though a hebrew could not divest himself of his land in perpetuity, he could dispose of it so far as to put another person in possession of it during a certain number of years; reserving to himself and his relations the right of redeeming it, should they ever possess the means; and having at all events the sure prospect of a reversion at the period of the jubilee. in the eye of the lawgiver this transaction was not regarded as a sale of the land, but merely of the crops for a stated number of seasons. it might indeed have been considered simply as a lease, had not the owner, as well as his nearest kinsman, enjoyed the privilege of resuming occupation whenever they could repay the sum for which the temporary use of the land had been purchased.[ ] the houses which were built in fields or villages were, in regard to the principle of alienation, placed on the same footing as the lands themselves; being redeemable at all times, and destined to return to their original owners in the year of jubilee. but, on the contrary, houses in cities and large towns were, when sold, redeemable only during one year; after which the sale was held binding forever. there was indeed an exception in this case in favour of the levites, who could at any time redeem "the houses of the cities of their possession," and who, moreover, enjoyed the full advantage of the fiftieth year. the hebrews, like most other nations in a similar state of society, held their lands on the condition of military service. the grounds of exemption allowed by moses prove clearly that every man of competent age was bound to bear arms in defence of his country,--a conclusion which is at once strikingly illustrated and confirmed by the conduct of the senate or heads of tribes, in the melancholy war undertaken by them against the children of benjamin. upon a muster of the confederated army at mizpeh, it was discovered that no man had been sent from jabesh-gilead to join the camp; whereupon it was immediately resolved that twelve thousand soldiers should be despatched to put all the inhabitants of that town to military execution. and the congregation commanded them, saying, go and smite jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and children; and the only reason assigned for this severe order was, that "when the people were numbered, there were none of the men of jabesh-gilead there."[ ] the reader will now be prepared to accompany us while we make a few remarks on the civil constitution of the hebrews, both as it respected the government of the several tribes viewed as separate bodies, and as it applied to that of the whole nation as a confederated republic. the tribes of israel, strictly speaking, amounted only to twelve, descended from the twelve sons of jacob. but as the posterity of joseph was divided into two tribes, it follows that the host which entered the land of canaan under joshua comprehended thirteen of these distinct genealogies. viewed in reference to merely secular rights and duties, however, the offspring of levi having no part nor lot with their brethren, are not usually reckoned in the number; while on other grounds, and chiefly an invincible propensity to idolatrous usages, the tribe of dan at a later period was sometimes excluded from the list. in the twenty-sixth chapter of the book of numbers, we have an account of the enrolment which was made on the plains of moab; from which the numerical strength of the eleven secular tribes may be exhibited as follows:-- joseph (including ephraim and manasseh) , judah , issachar , zebulun , asher , dan , benjamin , naphtali , reuben , gad , simeon , this catalogue comprehended all the men above twenty years of age, to which may be added , of the tribe of levi, "all males from a month old and upward: for they were not numbered among the children of israel, because there was no inheritance given them among the children of israel." the whole amounted to six hundred and six thousand seven hundred.[ ] in every tribe there was a chief called the prince of the tribe, or the head of thousands; and under him were the princes of families, or commanders of hundreds. for example, we find that at the muster which was made of the hebrews in the wilderness of sinai, nahshon, the son of amminadab, was prince of the tribe of judah. this tribe, again, like all the others, was divided into several families; the term being used here not in its ordinary acceptation, to signify a mere household, but rather in the heraldic sense, to denote a lineage or kindred descended from a common ancestor, and constituting the main branches of an original stock. in this respect the israelites were guided by the same principle which regulates precedency among the arabs, as well as among our own countrymen in the highlands of scotland. it appears, moreover, that a record of these families, of the households in each, and even of the individuals belonging to every household, was placed in the hands of the chief ruler; for it is related that, on the suspicion excited with regard to the spoils of jericho and the discomfiture at ai, "joshua brought israel by their tribes, and the tribe of judah was taken; and he brought the family of judah, and he took the family of the zarhites; and he brought the family of the zarhites man by man, and zabdi was taken; and he brought his household man by man, and achan, the son of carmi, the son of zabdi, the son of zerah, of the tribe of judah, was taken."[ ] we may collect from the twenty-sixth chapter of the book of numbers, that the heads of families, at the time the children of israel encamped on the eastern bank of the jordan, were in number fifty-seven. if to these we add the thirteen princes, the heads of tribes, the sum of the two numbers will be seventy; whence there is some ground for the conjectures of those who allege, that the council which moses formed in the wilderness consisted of the patriarchal chiefs, who in right of birth were recognized as bearing an hereditary rule over the several sections of the people. it is probable that the first-born of the senior family of each tribe was usually received as the prince of that tribe, and that the eldest son of every subordinate family succeeded his father in the honours and duties which belonged to the rank of a patriarch. but the sacred narrative presents too few details to permit us to form with confidence any general conclusions in regard to this point. the case of nahshon, besides, has been viewed as an instance quite irreconcilable with such an opinion; and it certainly seems to prove, that if the prince of the tribe was not elective, he was not always, at least, the direct descendant of the original chief. nahshon, as has just been stated, was the son of amminadab, the son of ram, who was a younger son of hezron the son of pharez who was a younger son of judah.[ ] from the particulars now stated, we find that every tribe had a head who presided over its affairs, administered justice in all ordinary cases, and led the troops in time of war. he was assisted in these important duties by the subordinate officers, the chiefs of families, who formed his council in such matters of policy as affected their particular district, supported his decisions in civil or criminal inquiries, and finally commanded under him in the field of battle. but the polity established by the jewish lawgiver was not confined to the constitution and government of the separate tribes. it likewise extended its regulations to the common welfare of the whole, as one kingdom under the special direction of jehovah; and provided that on all great occasions they should have the means of readily uniting their counsels and their strength. even during the less orderly period which immediately followed the settlement of the hebrews in the land of their inheritance, we find traces of such a general government; a national senate, whose deliberations guided the administration of affairs in all cases of difficulty or hazard; a judge, who was invested with a high degree of executive authority as the first magistrate of the commonwealth; and lastly, the controlling voice of the congregation of israel, whose concurrence appears to have been at all times necessary to give vigour and effect to the resolutions of their leaders. to these constituent parts of the hebrew government we may add the oracle or voice of jehovah, without whose sanction, as revealed by urim and thummim, no measure of importance could be adopted either by the council or by the judge. it has been justly remarked, at the same time, that however extensive the power might be which was committed to the supreme court of the nation, and how much soever the authority of a military judge among the israelites resembled that of a roman dictator, the privilege of making laws was at no period intrusted to any order of the jewish state. as long as the hebrews were governed by a theocracy, this essential prerogative was retained by the divine head of the nation. "now therefore hearken, o israel, unto the statutes, and unto the judgments, which i teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the lord god of your fathers giveth you. ye shall not add unto the word which i command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the lord your god which i command you."[ ] it is the opinion of learned men, that the council of seventy, established by moses in the wilderness, was only a temporary appointment, and did not continue after the hebrews were settled in the land of canaan. the only national assembly of which we can discover any trace subsequently to that event, is the occasional meeting of the princes of tribes and chiefs of families to transact business of great public importance. thus, in the case of the war against benjamin, of which we have a full account in the book of judges, we are informed that the heads "of all the tribes, even of all the tribes of israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of god." on that memorable occasion, the interests and character of the whole hebrew commonwealth were at stake; for which reason the natural leaders of the tribes gathered themselves together at the head of their kinsmen and followers,--even four hundred thousand men that drew the sword,--in order to consult with one another, and to adopt such measures as might be deemed most suitable for punishing the atrocities which had been committed at gibeah. during the period to which this part of our narrative refers, the supreme power among the hebrews was occasionally exercised by judges,--an order of magistrates to which nothing similar is to be found in any other country. the carthaginians, indeed, had a description of rulers, whose names, being derived from the same oriental term, appear to establish some resemblance in their office to that of the successors of joshua. but it will be found upon a comparison of their authority, both in its origin and the purposes to which it was meant to be subservient, that the hebrew judges and the suffites of carthage had very little in common. nor do we find any closer analogy in the duties of a grecian archon or of a roman consul. these were ordinary magistrates, and periodically elected; whereas the judge was never invested with power except when the exigencies of public affairs required the aid of extraordinary talents or the weight of a supernatural appointment. on this account the hebrew commander has been likened to the roman dictator, who, when the commonwealth was in danger, was intrusted with an authority almost unlimited; and with a jurisdiction which extended to the lives and fortunes of nearly all his countrymen. but in one important particular this similarity fails. the dictator laid down his office as soon as the crisis which called for its exercise had passed away; and in no circumstances was he entitled to retain such unwonted supremacy beyond a limited time. the judge, on the other hand, remained invested with his high authority during the full period of his life, and is therefore usually described by the sacred historian as presiding to the end of his days over the tribes of israel, amid the peace and security which his military skill, aided by the blessing of heaven, had restored to their land.[ ] the hebrew judges, says dupin, were not ordinary magistrates, but men raised up by god, on whom the israelites bestowed the chief government, either because they had delivered them from the oppressions under which they groaned, or because of their prudence and equity. they ruled according to the law of jehovah, commanded their armies, made treaties with the neighbouring princes, declared war and peace, and administered justice. they were different from kings,-- . in that they were not established either by election or succession, but elevated to power in an extraordinary manner. . in that they refused to take upon them the title and quality of king. . in that they levied no taxes upon the people for the maintenance of government. . in their manner of living, which was very far from the pomp and ostentation of the regal state. . in that they could make no new laws, but governed according to the statutes contained in the books of moses. . in that the obedience paid to them by the people was voluntary and unforced, being at most no more than consuls and magistrates of free cities.[ ] but it is less difficult to determine what the judges were not than to ascertain with precision the various parts of their complicated office. in war, they led the host of israel to meet their enemies; and in peace, it is probable they presided in such courts of judicature as might be found necessary for deciding upon intricate points of law, or for hearing appeals from inferior tribunals. those who went up to deborah for judgment had, we may presume, brought their causes in the first instance before the judges of their respective cities; and it was only, perhaps, in cases where greater knowledge and a higher authority were required to give satisfaction to the litigants that the chief magistrate of the republic, aided by certain members of the priesthood, was called upon to pronounce a final decision. it belongs to this part of the subject to mention the provision made by moses, and established by joshua, for the due administration of justice throughout the land. "judges and officers," said the former, "shalt thou make thee in all thy gates which the lord thy god giveth thee; and they shall judge the people with just judgment. thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift; for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise and pervert the words of the righteous." to the same purpose josephus relates, in his account of the last address delivered by moses to the hebrew people, that this great legislator gave instructions to appoint seven judges in every city, men who had distinguished themselves by their good conduct and impartial feelings. let those who judge, he adds, be permitted to determine according as they shall think right, unless any one can show that they have taken bribes to the perversion of justice, or can allege any other accusation against them.[ ] between the "judges" and the "officers" nominated by the jewish lawgiver there was no doubt a marked distinction; though from the remote antiquity of the appointment and the obscure commentaries of the rabbinical writers it has become extremely difficult to define the limits of their respective functions. maimonides asserts, that in every city where the number of householders amounted to a hundred and twenty there was a court consisting of twenty-three judges, who were empowered to determine in almost all cases both civil and criminal. this is unquestionably the same institution which is mentioned by josephus in the fourth book of his antiquities, and described by him as being composed of seven judges and fourteen subordinate officers, or assistants, selected from among the levites; for these, with the president and his deputy, make up the sum of twenty-three specified by the jewish writers. in smaller towns, the administration of law was intrusted to three judges, whose authority extended to the determination of all questions respecting debt, theft, rights of inheritance, restitution, and compensation. though they could not inflict capital punishments, they had power to visit minor offences with scourging and fines, according to the nature of the delinquency and the amount of the injury sustained.[ ] of the former of these judicial establishments, there were two fixed at jerusalem even during the period that the sanhedrim of seventy was invested with the supreme authority over the lives and fortunes of their countrymen, one of which sat in the gate of shusan, and the other in that of nicanor. the place where these judges held their audience was, as cardinal fleury remarks, the gate of the city; for as the israelites were all husbandmen who went out in the morning to their work, and did not return till the evening, the gate of the city was the place where the most frequently met; and we must not be astonished to find that the people laboured in the fields and dwelt in the towns. these were not cities like our provincial capitals, which can hardly subsist on what is supplied to them by twenty or thirty leagues of the surrounding soil. they were the habitations for as many labourers as were necessary to cultivate the nearest fields; hence, as the country was very populous, the towns were very thickly scattered. for a similar reason among the greeks and romans, the scene of meeting for all matters of business was the market-place, or forum, because they were all merchants.[ ] among the jews, the judges took their seats immediately after morning prayers, and continued till the end of the sixth hour, or twelve o'clock; and their authority, though not in capital cases, continued to be respected by the israelites long after jerusalem was levelled with the ground.[ ] with the aid of the particulars stated above, the reader mad have been enabled to form some notion of the civil and political circumstances of the ancient hebrews. they enjoyed the utmost degree of freedom that was consistent with the objects of regular society, acknowledging no authority but that of the laws as administered by the elders of their tribes and the heads of their families. the equality of their property, too, and the sameness of their occupations, precluded the rise of those distinctions in social life which, whatever may be their use in older nations, are opposed by all the habits of a people whose sole cares are yet devoted to the culture of their fields and the safety of their flocks. the form of government which suits best with such a distribution of wealth and employment is unquestionably that which was established by moses on the basis of the ancient patriarchal rule. but it is worthy of notice, that this model, so convenient in the earliest stage of social existence, was imperceptibly changed by the increasing power and intelligence of the people at large, until, as happened towards the close of samuel's administration, the public voice made itself be heard recommending an entire departure from obsolete notions. they glorified in the progress of the human race, that the simple authority of the family-chief passes through a species of oligarchy into a practical democracy, and ends at no very distant period in the nomination of an hereditary sovereign. the epoch at which we now contemplate the hebrew community is that very interesting one when the wandering shepherd settles down into the stationary husbandman. the progeny of abraham, isaac, and jacob, who themselves were pastoral chiefs, appear to have retained a decided predilection for that ancient mode of life. moses, even after he had brought the twelve tribes within sight of the promised land, found it necessary to indulge the families of reuben, gad, and manasseh so far as to give them the choice of a settlement beyond the jordan, where they might devote themselves to the keeping of cattle. from the conduct also of the other tribes, who showed no small reluctance to divide the land and enter upon their several inheritances, it has been concluded, with considerable probability, that they too would have preferred the erratic habits of their ancestors to the more restricted pursuits which their great law-giver had prepared for them amid cornfields, vineyards, and plantations of olives. "and joshua said unto the children of israel, how long are ye slack to go to possess the land which the lord god of your fathers hath given you?"[ ] among the arabs, even at the present day, the pastoral life is accounted more noble than that which leads to a residence in towns, or even in villages. they think it, as arvieux remarks, more congenial to liberty; because the man who with his herds ranges the desert at large will be far less likely to submit to oppression than people with houses and lands. this mode of thinking is of great antiquity in the eastern parts of the world. diodorus siculus, when speaking of the nabathaeans, relates, that they were by their laws prohibited from sowing, planting, drinking wine, and building houses; every violation of the precept being punishable with death. the reason assigned for this very singular rule is, their belief that those who possess such things will be easily brought into subjection by a tyrant; on which account they continue, says the historian, to traverse the desert, feeding their flocks, which consist partly of camels and partly of sheep. the fact now stated receives a remarkable confirmation from the notice contained in the book of jeremiah respecting the rechabites, who, though they had for several ages been removed from arabia into palestine, persevered in a sacred obedience to the command of their ancestor, refusing to build houses, sow land, plant vineyards, or drink wine, but resolving to dwell in tents throughout all their generations. in regard to these points, the hebrews, in the early age at which we are now considering them, appear to have entertained sentiments not very different from those of the arabs, from whose sandy plains they had just emerged. the life of a migratory shepherd, too, has a very close alliance with the habits of a freebooter; and the attentive reader of the ancient history of the israelites will recollect many instances wherein the descendants of isaac gave ample proof of their relationship to the posterity of ishmael. the character of abimelech, the son of gideon, for example, cannot be viewed in any other light than that of a captain of marauders. the men of shechem, whom he had hired to follow him, refused not to obey his commands, even when he added murder to robbery. jephthah, in like manner, when he was thrust out by his brethren, became the chief of a band of freebooters in the land of tob. "and there were gathered vain men to jephthah, and went out with him." but the elders of gilead did not on that account regard their brave countryman as less worthy to assume the direction of their affairs, and to be head over all the inhabitants of their land,--an honour which he even hesitated to accept when compared with the rank and emolument of the less orderly situation which they requested him to relinquish. nor did david himself think it unsuitable to his high prospects to have recourse for a time to a predatory life. when compelled to flee from the presence of saul, he took refuge in the cave of adullam; "and every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented gathered themselves unto him, and he became a captain over them." it has been suggested, indeed, that the son of the bethlehemite employed his arms against such persons only as were enemies to the hebrews. but there is no good ground for this distinction. his conduct to nabal, whose possessions were in carmel, proves, that when his camp was destitute of provisions he deemed it no violation of honour to force a supply for the wants of his men, even from the stores of a friendly house. we may judge, moreover, of the character of his followers, as well from the remonstrance that was made by the parsimonious rustic to whom he sent them, as from the effect which a refusal produced upon their ardent tempers. "who is david? and who is the son of jesse? there be many servants now-a-days that break away every man from his master. shall i then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that i have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men whom i know not whence they be?--so david's young men turned their way, and went again, and told him all those sayings. and david said unto his men, gird ye on every man his sword. and they girded on every man his sword, and david also girded on his sword: and there went after david about four hundred men, and two hundred abode by the stuff."[ ] it is manifest, that in the simple condition of society to which our attention is now directed, the profession of a freebooter was not in any sense accounted dishonourable. the courage and dexterity which such a life requires stand high in the estimation of tribes who are almost constantly in a state of war; and hence, in reading the history of the ancient israelites, we must form an opinion of their manners and principles, not according to the maxims of an enlightened age, but agreeably to the habits, pursuits, and mental cultivation which belonged to their own times. it is farther worthy of remark, that during the period of the hebrew judges there is not the slightest trace of those distinctions of rank which spring from mere wealth, office, or profession. from the princes of judah down to the meanest family in benjamin, all were agriculturists or shepherds, driving their own oxen, or attending in person to their sheep and their goats. the hospitable ephraimite, who received into his house at gibeah the levite and his unfortunate companion, is described as "an old man coming from his work out of the field at even." gideon, again, was thrashing his corn with his own hands when the angel announced to him that he was selected by divine providence to be the deliverer of his people. boaz was attending his reapers in the field when his benevolence was awakened in favour of ruth, the widow of his kinsman. when saul received the news of the danger which threatened the inhabitants of jabesh-gilead, he was in the act of "coming after the herd out of the field." sovereign as he was, he thought it not inconsistent with his rank to drive a yoke of oxen. every one knows that david was employed in keeping the sheep when he was summoned into the presence of samuel to be anointed king over israel; and even when he was upon the throne, and had by his talents and bravery extended at once the power and the reputation of his countrymen among the neighbouring nations, the annual occupation of sheep-shearing called his sons and his daughters into the hill country to take their share in its toils and amusements. in point of blood and ancestry, too, every descendant of jacob was held on the same footing; and the only ground of pre-eminence which one man could claim over another was connected with old age, wisdom, strength, or courage,--the qualities most respected in the original forms of civilized life.[ ] we have been the more careful to collect these fragments of personal history, because it is chiefly from them that the few rays of light are reflected which illustrate the state of society at the era of the hebrew commonwealth. that the times in which the judges ruled were barbarous and unsettled is rendered manifest, not less by the general tenor of events, than by the qualities which predominated in the public mind during the long period that elapsed between the death of joshua and the reign of solomon. these notices also convey to us some degree of information, in regard to the political relations which subsisted among the syrian tribes prior to the commencement of the regal government at jerusalem. the wars which were carried on at that remote epoch seem not to have been waged with any view to permanent conquest, or even to territorial aggrandizement, but merely to revenge an insult, to exact a ransom, or to abstract slaves and cattle. the history of the judges supplies no facts which would lead us to infer that during any of tie servitudes, which for their repeated transgressions were inflicted on the hebrews, their lands were taken from them, or their cities destroyed by their conquerors. it was not till a later age that a more systematic plan of conquest was formed by the powerful princes who governed beyond the euphrates and on the banks of the nile, and who, not content with the uncertain submission of tributaries, resolved to reduce the israelites for ever to the condition of subjects or of bondmen. the account which has been given of the political constitution of the ancient jews would not be complete were we to omit all notice of the tribe of levi, the duties and revenues of which were fixed by peculiar laws. it may, perhaps, be thought by some readers, that this institution rested on a basis altogether spiritual; but, upon suitable inquiry, it will be found that the levitical offices comprehended a great variety of avocations, much more closely connected with secular life than with the ministry of the tabernacle, or with the services which were due to the priesthood. this sacred tribe, indeed, supplied to the whole nation of the israelites their judges, lawyers, scribes, teachers, and physicians; for moses, in imitation of the egyptians, in whose wisdom he was early and deeply instructed, had thought proper to make the learned professions hereditary in the several families of levi's descendants. we find, in the first chapter of the book of numbers, a command issued by the authority of heaven to separate the tribe now mentioned from the rest of their brethren, and not to enrol them among those who were to engage in war. it was determined, on similar grounds, that the levites were to have no inheritance in the land like the other tribes, but were to receive from their kinsmen, in name of maintenance, a tenth part of the gross produce of their fields and vineyards. the occupations for which they were set apart were altogether incompatible with the pursuits of agriculture or the feeding of cattle. it was deemed expedient, therefore, that they should be relieved from the cares and toil connected with the possession of territorial estates, and devote their whole attention to the service of the altar and the instruction of the people. to effect these wise purposes, it was necessary that the members of this learned body should not be confined to one particular district, but that they should be distributed among all the other tribes, according to the extent of their several inheritances and the amount of their population. with this view the law provided that a certain number of cities should be set apart for them, together with such a portion of soil as might seem requisite for their comfort and more immediate wants. "command the children of israel, that they give unto the levites, of the inheritance of their possession, cities to dwell in; and ye shall give unto the levites suburbs for the cities round about them. and ye shall measure from without the city, on the east side, two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits; and the city shall be in the midst: this shall be to them the suburbs of the cities. so all the cities which ye shall give to the levites shall be forty and eight cities; them shall ye give with their suburbs."[ ] it was not till after the conquest and division of canaan that the provisions of this enactment were practically fulfilled. when the other tribes were settled in their respective possessions, the children of levi reminded joshua of the arrangement made by his predecessor, and claimed cities to dwell in, and suburbs for their cattle. the justice of their appeal being admitted, the levitical stations were distributed as follows,-- cities in the tribes of judah, simeon, and benjamin in ephraim, dan, and the half-tribe of manasseh in the other half-tribe of manasseh, issachar, asher, and naphtali in zebulun, reuben, and gad -- every reader of the bible is aware, that six of these cities were invested with the special right of affording refuge and protection to a certain class of criminals. the jewish doctors maintain that this privilege, somewhat limited, belonged to all the forty-eight; for, being sacred, no act of revenge or mortal retaliation was permitted to take place within their gates. into the six cities of refuge, properly so called, the manslayer could demand admittance, whether the levites were disposed to receive him or not; and on the same ground he was entitled to gratuitous lodging and maintenance, until his cause should be determined by competent judges. it is added, that they could exercise a discretionary power as to the reception of a homicide into any other of their cities, and even in respect to the hire which they might demand for the house used by him during temporary residence. but the institution of moses, afterward completed by joshua, affords no countenance to these rabbinical distinctions; and we have no reason whatever to believe that the benefit of asylum was granted to any levitical town besides hebron, shechem, ramoth, bezer, kedesh, and golan.[ ] as learning and the several professions connected with the knowledge of letters were confined almost exclusively the tribe of levi, the distribution of its members throughout the whole of the hebrew commonwealth was attended with many advantages. every levitical city became at once a school and a seat of justice. there the language, the traditions, the history, and the laws of their nation were the constant subjects of study, pursued with that zeal and earnestness which can only arise from the feeling of a sacred obligation, combined with the impulse of an ardent patriotism. within their walls were deposited copies of their religious, moral, and civil institutions; which it was their duty not only to preserve, but to multiply. they kept, besides, the genealogies of the tribes; in which they marked the lineage of every family who could trace their descent to the father of the faithful. being carefully instructed in the law, and possessed of the annals of their people from the earliest days, they were well qualified to supply the courts with magistrates and scribes, men who were fitted not only to administer justice, but also to frame a record of all their decisions. it is perfectly clear that, in the reign of david and of the succeeding kings, the judges and other legal officers were selected from among the levites; there being in those days not fewer than six thousand of this learned body who held such appointments. michaelis represents the levitical law among the hebrews in the light of a literary noblesse; enjoying such a degree of wealth and consideration as to enable them to act as a counterpoise to the influence of the aristocracy; while, on the other hand they prevented the adoption of those hasty measures which were sometimes to be apprehended from the democratical nature of the general government. they were not merely a spiritual brotherhood, but professional members of all the different faculties; and by birth obliged to devote themselves to those branches of study, for the cultivation of which they were so liberally rewarded. like the egyptian priesthood, they occupied the whole field of literature and science; extending their inquiries to philosophy, theology, natural history, mathematics, jurisprudence, civil history, and even medicine. perhaps, too, it was in imitation of the sages of the nile that the hebrews made these pursuits hereditary in a consecrated tribe; whence flowed this obvious advantage, that the sons of the levites, from the very dawn of reason, were introduced to scientific researches, and favoured with a regulated system of tuition suited to the occupation in which their lives were to be spent. in short, the institution bears upon it all the marks of that wisdom for which the mosaical economy is so remarkably distinguished, when viewed as the basis of a government at once civil, religious, and political.[ ] the youngest reader of the sacred volume cannot fail to have perceived, that the character and government of the hebrew judges withdraw the attention from the ordinary course of human events, and fix it on the marvellous or supernatural. these personages were raised up by the special providence of god, to discharge the duties of an office which the peculiar circumstances of a chosen people from time to time rendered necessary; and the various gifts with which they were endowed, as they constituted the main ground of vocation to their high employment, so were they suited to the difficulties that they had to overcome, and to the achievements they were called to perform. the sanctity of their manners did not, indeed, in all cases correspond to the dignity of their station; and the miracles which they wrought for the welfare of their country were not always accompanied with self-restraint and the due subordination of their passions. their military exploits were worthy of the highest admiration; while, in some instances, their private conduct calls forth only our surprise and regret. for examples of heroism and bravery, we can with confidence point to gideon, to samson, and to jephthah; but there is not in their character anything besides that a father could recommend to the imitation of his son, or that a lover of order and pureness of living would wish to see adopted in modern society. we observe, in the greater number of them, uncommon and even supernatural powers of body, as well as of mind, united with the gross manners and fierce passions of barbarians. we applaud their patriotism, admire their courage and talent to the field, and even share in the delight which accompanied their triumphs; yet, when we return to their dwellings, we dare not inspect too narrowly the usages of their domestic day, nor examine into the indulgences with which they sometimes thought proper to remunerate the ails and cares of their public life. divine wisdom, stooping to the imperfection of human nature, employed the instruments that were best fitted for the gracious ends which, by their means, were about to be accomplished; though it does not appear to have been intended that mankind should ever resort to the history of the judges for lessons of decorum, humanity, or virtue. chapter iii. _historical outline from the accession of saul to the destruction of jerusalem_. weakness of republican government; jealousy of the several tribes; resolution to have a king; rules for regal government; character of saul; of david; troubles of his reign; accession of solomon; erection of the temple; commerce; murmurs of the people; rehoboam; division of the tribes; kings of israel; kingdom of judah; siege of jerusalem; captivity; kings of judah; return from babylon; second temple; canon of scripture; struggles between egypt and syria; conquest of palestine by antiochus; persecution of jews; resistance by the family of maccabaeus; victories of judas; he courts the alliance of the romans; succeeded by jonathan; origin of the asmonean princes; john hyrcanus; aristobulus; alexander jannaeus; appeal to pompey; jerusalem taken by romans; herod created king by the romans; he repairs to the temple; archelaus succeeds him, and antipas is nominated to galilee; quirinius prefect of syria; pontius pilate; elevation of herod agrippa; disgrace of herod philip; judea again a province; troubles; accession of young agrippa; felix; festus; floris; command given to vespasian; war; siege of jerusalem by titus. the weakness and jealousy which seem inseparable from a government comprehending a number of independent states, had been deeply felt during the administration of eli, and even under that of samuel in his latter days. established in different parts of the country, the several tribes were actuated by local interests and selfish views; those in the north, who were exempted from the hostile inroads of the hilistines and ammonites, refusing to aid their brethren, the children of simeon and judah, whose territory was constantly exposed to the ravages of those warlike neighbours. in the time of the more recent judges, the federal union on which the hebrew commonwealth was founded appeared practically dissolved. nay, a spirit of rivalry and dissension occasionally manifested itself among the kindred communities of which it was composed;--ephraim, stimulated by envy, vexed judah, and judah vexed ephraim.[ ] meanwhile, several powerful kingdoms in the east, as well as the south, threatened the independence of the twelve tribes, especially those on the borders of the desert. assyria had already turned her views towards the fertile lands which skirt the shores of the mediterranean; and egypt, in order to protect her rich valley from the aggressions of that rising monarchy, began to open her eyes to the expediency of securing the frontier towns in the nearest parts of palestine. in a word, it was fast becoming manifest that the existence of the hebrews, as a free and distinct people, could only be secured by reviving the union which had originally subsisted among their leading families, under a form that would combine their physical strength and patriotism in the support of a common cause. an aged priest, although he might with the utmost authority direct the solemnities of their national worship, and even administer the laws to which they were all bound to submit, could not command the secular obedience of rude clans, or, with any prospect of success, lead them to battle against an enemy practised in all the stratagems of war. the people, therefore, demanded the consent of samuel to a change in the structure of their government, that they might have a king, not only to preside over their civil affairs, but also to go out before them and fight their battles.[ ] the principal reason assigned by the elders of israel for the innovation which they required at the hands of their ancient prophet was, that they might be "like all the nations;" evidently alluding to the advantages of monarchical power, when decisive measures become necessary to defend the interests of a state. it is remarkable that moses had anticipated this natural result in the progress of society, and even laid down rules for the administration of the regal government. this wise legislator provided that the king of the hebrews should not be a foreigner: lest he might be tempted to sacrifice the interest of his subjects to the policy of his native land, and perhaps to countenance the introduction of unauthorized rites into the worship of jehovah. it was also stipulated that the sovereign of the chosen people should not multiply horses to himself, lest he should be carried by his ambition to make war in distant countries, and neglect the welfare of the sacred inheritance promised to the fathers of the jewish nation.[ ] the qualities which recommended saul to the choice of samuel and the approbation of the tribes, leave no room for doubt that it was chiefly as a military leader that the son of kish was raised to the throne. nor was their expectation disappointed in the young benjaminite, so far as courage and zeal were required in conducting the affairs of war. but the impetuosity of his character, and a certain indifference in regard to the claims of the national faith, paved the way for his downfall and the extinction of his family. the scene of gilboa, which terminated the career of the first hebrew monarch, exhibits a most affecting tragedy; in which the valour of a gallant chief, contrasted with his despair and sorrow, throws a deceitful lustre over an event which the reader feels that he ought to condemn. david, to the skill of an experienced warrior, added a deep reverence for the institutions of his country and the forms of divine worship; whence he procured the high distinction of being a man after god's own heart. to this celebrated king was reserved the honour of taking from the jebusites a strong fortress on the borders of judah and benjamin, and of laying the foundations of jerusalem, viewed, at least, as the metropolis of palestine and the seat of the hebrew government. on mount zion he built a suburb of considerable beauty; and strength, which continued for many years to bear his name, and to reflect the magnificence of his genius. not satisfied with this acquisition, he extended his arms on all sides, till the borders of his kingdom touched the western bank of the euphrates and the neighbourhood of damascus. he likewise defeated the philistines, those restless enemies of the southern tribes, and added their dominions to the crown of israel. the moabites, who had provoked his resentment, were subjected to military execution, and deprived of a large portion of their land; an example of severity which, so far from intimidating the children of ammon, only provoked them to try the fortune of war against the victorious monarch. david despatched an army under the command of the irascible joab, who, after worsting them in the field, inflicted a tremendous chastisement upon the followers of hanun, for having studiously insulted the ambassadors of his master.[ ] but the splendour of this reign was afterward clouded by domestic guilt and treason; and the nation, which could now have defied the power of its bitterest enemies, was divided and rendered miserable by the foul passions that issued from the royal palace. still, notwithstanding the rebellion of absalom, and the defection of certain military leaders, david bequeathed to his successor a flourishing kingdom; rapidly advancing in the arts of civilized life, enjoying an advantageous commerce, the respect of neighbouring states, and a decided preponderance among the minor governments of western asia. his last years were spent in making preparations for the building of a temple at jerusalem,--a work that he himself was not allowed to accomplish, because his hands were stained with blood, which, however justly shed, rendered them unfit for erecting an edifice to the god of mercy and peace.[ ] the success which had attended the arms of his father rendered the accession of solomon tranquil and secure, so far, at least, as we consider the designs of the surrounding nations. accordingly; finding himself in possession of quiet as well as of an overflowing treasury, he proceeded to realize the pious intentions of david in regard to the house of god, and thereby to obey the last commands which had been imposed upon him before he had received the crown. the chief glory of solomon's administration identified with the erection of the temple. nor were the advantages arising from this great undertaking confined to the spiritual objects to which it was principally subservient on the contrary, the necessity of employing foreign artists, and of drawing part of his materials from a distance, suggested to the king the benefits of a regular trade; and as the plains of syria produced more corn than the natives could consume, he supplied the merchants of tyre and the adjoining ports with a valuable commodity, in return for the manufactured goods which his own subjects could not fabricate. it was in his reign that the hebrews first became a commercial people; and although we must admit that considerable obscurity still hangs over the tracks of navigation which were pursued by the mariners of solomon, there is no reason to doubt that his ships were to be seen on the mediterranean, the red sea, and the persian gulf.[ ] but the popularity of his government did not keep pace with the rapidity of his improvements or the magnificence of his works. perhaps the vast extent of his undertakings may have led to unusual demands upon the industry of his people, and given occasion to those murmurs which could hardly be repressed even within the precincts of the court. like his predecessor, too, he occasionally failed to illustrate, in his own conduct, the excellent precepts that he propounded for the direction of others; and towards the close of his life, particularly, the wisdom of his moral lessons was strongly contrasted with the practical follies which stand recorded against him in the inspired narrative. he totally disregarded the leading principles of the constitution constructed by moses and left for the guidance of all hebrew kings; not only multiplying horses even to the extent of maintaining a large body of cavalry, and marrying many wives who turned away his heart, but proceeding so far as to give his countenance to idolatrous worship within sight of the very temple which he had consecrated to jehovah, the god of all the earth.[ ] it was in this reign that the limits of jewish power attained their utmost reach, comprehending even the remarkable district of palmyrene, a spacious and fertile province in the midst of a frightful desert. there were in it two principal towns, thapsacus and palmyra, from the latter of which the whole country took its name. solomon, it is well known, took pleasure to adding to its beauty and strength, as being one of his main defences on the eastern border; and hence it is spoken of in scripture as tadmor in the wilderness. josephus calls it thadamor; the seventy recognise it under the name of theodmor and thedmor; while the arabs and syrians at the present day keep alive the remembrance of its ancient glory as tadmor, tadmier, and tatmor. but of solomon's labours not one vestige now remains. the inhabitants having revolted from the emperor aurelian, and pledged their faith to an adventurer called antiochus, or achilles, who had assumed the purple, this splendid town was attacked and razed to the ground. repenting of his hasty determination, the roman prince gave orders that palmyra should be immediately rebuilt; but so inefficient were the measures which he adopted, or so imperfectly was he obeyed in their execution, that the city in the desert has ever since been remarkable only as a heap of magnificent ruins. the first object that now presents itself to the traveller who approaches this forlorn place, is a castle of mean architecture and uncertain origin, about half an hour's walk from it, on the north side. "from thence," says mr. maundrell, "we descry tadmor, enclosed on three sides, by long ridges of mountains; but to the south is a vast plain which bounds the visible horizon. the barren soil presents nothing green but a few palm trees. the city must have been of large extent, if we may judge from the space now taken up by the ruins; but as there are no traces of its walls, its real dimensions and form remain equally unknown. it is now a deplorable spectacle, inhabited by thirty or forty miserable families, who have built huts of mud within a spacious court which once enclosed a magnificent heathen temple."[ ] the despotism exercised by solomon created a strong reaction, which was immediately felt on the accession of his son rehoboam. this prince, rejecting the advice of his aged counsellors, and following that of the younger and more violent, soon had the misfortune to see the greater part of his kingdom wrested from him. in reply to the address of his people, who entreated an alleviation of their burdens, he declared, that instead of requiring less at their hands he should demand more. "my father made your yoke heavy, i will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but i will chastise you with scorpions." such a resolution, expressed in language at once so contemptuous and severe, alienated from his government ten tribes, who sought a more indulgent master in jeroboam, a declared enemy of the house of david. hence the origin of the kingdom of israel, as distinguished from that of judah; and hence, too, the disgraceful contentions between these kindred states, which acknowledged one religion, and professed to be guided by the same law. arms and negotiation proved equally unavailing, in repeated attempts which were made to reunite the hebrews under one sceptre; till, at length, about two hundred and seventy years after the death of solomon, the younger people were subdued by shalmaneser, the powerful monarch of assyria, who carried them away captive into the remoter provinces of his vast empire.[ ] our plan does not admit a minuter detail of the sacred history than may be readily found in the pages of the old testament. suffice it therefore to observe, that jerusalem soon ceased to be regarded by the israelites as the centre of their religion, and the bond of union among the descendants of abraham. jeroboam had erected in his kingdom the emblems of a less pure faith, to which he confined the attention of his subjects; while the frequent wars that ensued, and the treaties formed on either side with the gentile nations on their respective borders, soon completed the estrangement which ambition had begun. little attached to the native line of princes, the israelites placed on the throne of samaria a number of adventurers, who had no qualities to recommend them besides military courage and an irreconcilable hatred towards the more legitimate claimants of the house of david. the following list will give a condensed view of the names, the order, and the length of the reigns which belong to the sovereigns of israel, from the demise of solomon down to the extinction of their kingdom by the arms of assyria:-- years b.c. . jeroboam . nadad . baasha . ela . zimri and omri . ahab . ahaziah . jehoram or joram . jehu . jehoahaz : jehoash or joash . jeroboam ii st interregnum . zechariah and shallum . menahem . pekahiah . pekah d interregnum . hoshea --- --- samaria taken it appears to have escaped the notice of the greater number of commentators, that the separation of interests, which in the days of rehoboam produced a permanent division of the tribes, had manifested itself at a much earlier period. in truth, it is extremely doubtful whether the union and co-operation between the northern and the southern communities, which was meant to be accomplished by the institution of monarchy, were ever cordial or efficient. there is no doubt, at least, that the two parties differed essentially in their choice of a successor to saul; for, while the people of judah invited david to the supreme power as their annointed sovereign, the suffrages of israel were unanimous in favour of ishbosheth, the son of the deceased king. we may therefore conclude, that the exactions of solomon were the pretext rather than the true cause of the unfortunate dismemberment of the hebrew confederation, which in the end conducted both sections of it by gradual steps to defeat and captivity. the kingdom of judah, less distracted by the pretensions of usurpers, and being confirmed in the principles of patriotism by a more rigid adherance to the law of moses, continued during one hundred and thirty years to resist the encroachments of the two rival powers, egypt and assyria, which now began to contend in earnest for the possession of palestine. several endeavours were made, even after the destruction of samaria, to unite the energies of the twelve tribes, and thereby to secure the independence of the sacred territory a little longer. but a pitiful jealousy had succeeded to the aversion generated by a long course of hostile aggression; while the overwhelming hosts, which incessantly issued from the euphrates and the nile to select a field of battle within the borders of canaan, soon left to the feeble councils of jerusalem no other choice than that of an egyptian or an assyrian master. in the year six hundred and two before the christian era, when jehoiakim was on the throne of judah, nebuchadnezzar, who already shared with his father the government of assyria, advanced into palestine at the head of a formidable army. a timely submission saved the city as well as the life of the pusillanimous monarch. but after a short period, finding the conqueror engaged in more important affairs, the vanquished king made an effort to recover his dominions by throwing off the babylonian yoke. the siege of jerusalem was renewed with greater vigour on the part of the invaders, in the course of which jehoiakim was killed, and his son coniah ascended the throne. scarcely, however, had the new sovereign taken up the reigns of government, when he found it necessary to open the gates of his capital to the assyrian prince, who carried him, his principal nobility, and the most expert of his artisans, as prisoners to the banks of the tigris. the nominal authority was now confided to a brother or uncle of the captive king, whose original name, mattaniah, was changed to zedekiah by his lord paramount, who considered him merely as the governor of a province. impatient of an office so subordinate, and instigated, it is probable, by the emissaries of egypt, he resolved to hazard his life and liberty for the chance of reconquering the independence of his crown. this imprudent step brought nebuchadnezzar once more before the walls of jerusalem. a siege, which appears to have continued fifteen or sixteen months, terminated in the final reduction of the holy city, and in the captivity of zedekiah, who was treated with the utmost severity. his two sons were executed in his presence, after which his eyes were put out; when, being loaded with fetters, he was carried to babylon and thrown into prison. the work of demolition was intrusted to nebuzar-adan, the captain of the guard, who "burnt the house of the lord and the king's house, and all the houses of jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire. and the army of the chaldees that were with the captain of the guard brake down the walls of jerusalem round about. the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did the captain of the guard carry away. but he left the poor of the land to be vine-dressers and husbandmen."[ ] the kings who reigned over judah from the demise of solomon to the destruction of the first temple are as follows:-- years b.c. . rhehoboam . abijah . asa . jehoshaphat . jehoram or joram . ahaziah . queen athaliah . joash or jehoash . amaziah interregnum . uzziah or azariah . jotham . ahaz . hezekiah . manasseh . amor . josiah . jehoahaz months . jehoiakim . coniah or jehoiachin months . zedekiah --- --- jerusalem taken the desolation inflicted upon jerusalem by the hands of her enemies excited the deepest sorrow, and gave rise to the most gloomy apprehensions in regard to the future. considering themselves under the special protection of jehovah, the inhabitants could not by any means be induced to believe that the throne of david would be overturned by the armies of the heathen. it was in vain that jeremiah, at the imminent peril of his life announced the approaching judgment, assuring the monarch and his princes that the king of babylon would certainly besiege and lay waste their holy city, unless the evil were averted by an immediate change of manners. all his remonstrances were greeted with contempt; and at length the prophet had to bewail the misery which thus overtook his people, and the varied sufferings, the contumely, and the degradation, which they were doomed to endure in the land of their conquerers. "how doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, is become tributary! she weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks! judah is gone into captivity; she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest."[ ] these sentiments, although applied to a later period, are beautifully expressed by a modern poet, to whom was granted no small share of the pathetic eloquence of the prophetic bard whose words have just been quoted. "reft of thy sons, amid thy foes forlorn, mourn, widowed queen, forgotten sion, mourn! is this thy place, sad city, this thy throne, where the wild desert rears its craggy stone, while suns unbless'd their angry lustre fling, and wayworn pilgrims seek the scanty spring? where now thy pomp which kings with envy viewed, where now thy might which all those kings subdued? no martial myriads muster in thy gate; no suppliant nations in thy temple wait; no prophet bards, thy glittering courts among, wake the full lyre, and swell the tide of song. but lawless force and meager want are there, and the quick-darting eye of restless fear; while cold oblivion, 'mid thy ruins laid, folds his dark wing beneath thy ivy shade."[ ] the seventy years which were determined concerning jerusalem began, not at the demolition of the city by nebuzar-adan, the captain of the guard, but at the date of the former invasion by his master, in the reign of jehoiakim, when the assyrians carried away some of the princes, and among others daniel and his celebrated companions, as captives, or perhaps as hostages for the good conduct of the king. the event now alluded to took place exactly six centuries before the christian era; and hence the return of the jews to the holy land must have occurred about the year prior to the same great epoch. but as their migration homeward was gradually accomplished under different leaders, and with various objects in view, their historians have not thought it necessary to enter into particulars; and hence has arisen a certain obscurity in the calculations of divines respecting the commencement, the duration, and the end of the babylonian captivity. the tribes of judah and benjamin, who now constituted the whole jewish nation, brought back with them to palestine the ancient spirit of hostility towards the israelitish kingdom, the people of which they were pleased to class under the general denomination of samaritans; an impure race, descended from the eastern colonists sent by shalmaneser to replace the hebrew captives whom he removed to halah and habor and the cities of the medes. in this way they roused an opposition, and created difficulties which otherwise they might not have experienced during their erection of the second temple. the countenance of the persian court itself was occasionally withdrawn from men, who appeared to acknowledge no affinity with any other order of human beings, and who seemed determined to exclude from their country, as well as from their religious rites and privileges, all who could not establish an immaculate descent from the father of the faithful. for this reason, the sympathy which is so naturally excited in the breast of the reader in behalf of the weary exiles, who sat down and wept by the waters of babylon with their thoughts fixed on zion, is very apt to be extinguished when he contemplates the bitter enmity with which they rejected the kind offices of their ancient brethren amid the ruins of their metropolis. the names of zerubbabel, nehemiah, and ezra occupy the most distinguished place among those worthies who were selected by divine providence to conduct the restoration of the chosen people. after much toil, interruption, and alarm, jerusalem could once more boast of a temple which, although destitute of the rich ornaments lavished upon that of solomon; was at least of equal dimensions, and erected on the same consecrated ground. but the worshipper had to deplore the absence of the ark, the symbolical urim and thummim, the shechinah or divine presence, and the celestial fire which had maintained an unceasing flame upon the altar. their sacred writings, too, had been dispersed, and their ancient language was fast becoming obsolete. to prevent the extension of so great an evil, the more valuable manuscripts were collected and arranged, containing the law, the earlier prophets, and the inspired hymns used for the purpose of devotion. some compositions, however, which respected the remotest period of their commonwealth, especially the book of jasher and the wars of the lord, were irretrievably lost. under the persian satraps, who directed the civil and military government of syria, the jews were permitted to acknowledge the authority, of their own high-priest, to whom, in all things pertaining to the law of moses, they rendered the obedience which was due to the head of their nation. their prosperity, it is true, was occasionally diminished or increased by the personal character of the sovereigns who successively occupied the throne of cyrus; but no material change in their circumstances took place until the victories of alexander the great had laid the foundations of the syro-macedonian kingdom in western asia, and given a new dynasty to the crown of egypt. the struggles which ensued between these powerful states frequently involved the interests of the jews, and made new demands upon their allegiance; although it is admitted, that as each was desirous to conciliate a people who claimed palestine for their unalienable heritage, the hebrews at large were, during two centuries, treated with much liberality and favour. but this generosity or forbearance was interrupted in the rein of antiochus epiphanes, who, alarmed by the report of insurrections, and harassed by the events of an unsuccessful war in egypt, directed his angry passions against the jews. marching at the head of a large force, he attacked jerusalem so suddenly that no means of defence could be used, and hardly any resistance attempted. forty thousand of the inhabitants were put to death, and an equal number condemned to slavery. not satisfied with this punishment, he proceeded to measures still more appalling in the eyes of a jew. he entered the temple, pillaged the treasury, seized all the sacred utensils, the golden candlestick, the table of shew-bread, and the altar of incense. he then commanded a great sow to be sacrificed on the altar of burnt offerings, part of the flesh to be boiled, and the liquor from this unclean animal to be sprinkled over every part of the sacred edifice; thus polluting with the most odious defilement even the holy of holies, which no human eye, save that of the high-priest, was ever permitted to behold. a short time afterward, being the year before the epoch of redemption, he issued an edict for the extermination of the whole hebrew race, against whom he had again conceived a furious dislike. this commission was intrusted to apollonius,--an instrument worthy of so sanguinary a tyrant,--who, waiting till the sabbath, when the people were occupied in the peaceful duties of religion, let loose his soldiers upon the unresisting multitude, slew all the men, whose blood deluged the streets, and seized the women as captives. he first proceeded to plunder and then to dismantle the city, which he set on fire in many places. he threw down the walls, and built a strong fortress on the highest part of mount sion, which commanded the temple and all the adjoining parts of the town. from this garrison he harassed the inhabitants of the country, who, with fond attachment, stole in to visit the ruins, or to offer a hasty and perilous worship in the place where their sanctuary had stood. all the public services had ceased, and no voice of adoration was heard within the holy gates, except that of the profane heathen calling on their idols.[ ] but the persecution did not end even with these furious expedients. antiochus next issued an order for uniformity of worship throughout all his dominions, and sent officers everywhere to enforce the strictest compliance. in the districts of judea and samaria, this invidious duty was intrusted to athenaeus, an old man, whose chief recommendation appears to have been his intimate acquaintance with the doctrines and usages of the grecian religion. the samaritans are said to have conformed without scruple, and even to have permitted their temple on mount gerizim to be regularly dedicated to jupiter, in his character of the stranger's friend. having so far succeeded, the royal envoy turned his steps to jerusalem, where, at the point of the sword, he prohibited every observance connected with the jewish faith; compelling the people to profane the sabbath, to eat swine's flesh, and to abstain, under a severe penalty, from the national rite of circumcision. the temple was consigned by consecration to the ceremonies of jupiter olympius; while the statue of that deity was erected on the altar of burnt-offerings, and sacrifice duly performed in his name. two women, who had the initiatory ordinance enjoined by the mosaical law performed on their children, were hanged to a conspicuous part of the city with their infants suspended round their necks; and many other cruelties were perpetrated, the very atrocity of which precludes them at once from popular belief and from the pages of history. neither age, nor sex, nor profession saved the proscribed jew from the horrors of a violent death. from jerusalem, too, the persecution spread over the whole country; in every city the same barbarities were executed and the same profanations introduced. as a last insult, the feasts of the bacchanalia, the license of which, as they were celebrated in the later ages of greece, shocked the severe virtue of the older romans, were substituted for the national festival of tabernacles. the reluctant hebrews were forced to join in these riotous orgies, and carry the ivy, the insignia of the god. so nearly were the jewish nation and the worship of jehovah exterminated by the double weapons of superstition and violence![ ] but this savage intolerance produced in due time a formidable opposition. to a sincere believer death has always appeared a smaller evil than the relinquishment of his faith; and, in this respect, no people ancient or modern have shown more resolution than the descendants of abraham. the severities of antiochus, which had inflamed the resentment of the whole jewish people, called forth in a hostile attitude the brave family of the maccabees, whose valour and perseverance enabled them to dispute with the powerful monarch of syria the sovereignty of palestine. judas, the ablest and most gallant of five sons, put himself at the head of the insurgents, whose zeal, more than compensating for the smallness of their numbers, carried him to victory against large armies and experienced generals. making every allowance for the enthusiastic description of an admiring countryman, who has recorded the exploits of the maccabaean chiefs, there will still remain the most ample evidence to satisfy every candid reader, that in all the great battles the fortune of war followed the standard of the jews. but the victorious maccabees, who had delivered their country from the oppression of foreigners, encountered a more formidable enemy in the factious spirit of their own people. alcimus, a tool of the syrians, assumed the title of high-priest, and in virtue of his office claimed the obedience of all who acknowledged the institutions of moses. in this emergency judas courted the alliance of the romans, who willingly extended their protection to confederates so likely to aid their ambitious views in the east; but before the republic could interpose her arms in his behalf, the hebrew general had fallen in the field of battle. this distinguished patriot was succeeded by his brother jonathan, who, though less celebrated as a warrior, had the good fortune to restore the drooping cause of his countrymen, and even to establish their rights on the footing of independence. profiting by a sanguinary competition for the throne of syria, he consented to employ his power in favour of alexander balas, on condition that, in return for so seasonable an aid; he should be allowed to assume the pontifical robe as ruler of judea. hence the origin of the asmonean princes, who, uniting civil with spiritual authority, governed palestine more than a hundred years. but jonathan fell the victim of that refined policy to which he was mainly indebted for his elevation. he left the sovereign priesthood to his brother simon, who, wisely abstaining from all interference in the disputes which embroiled egypt and syria, directed his whole attention to the improvement of the jewish kingdom. to secure the tranquillity which had been so dearly purchased he cultivated a more intimate connexion with rome; remitting, from time to time, such valuable tokens of his respect as could not fail to make an impression on the venal minds of those aspiring chiefs who already contended for the empire of the world in that celebrated capital. but a conspiracy, originating in his own house, and fomented by the agents of antiochus, put an end to the life of simon and of his eldest son, who had earned considerable reputation in the command of armies. the duty of avenging his death and of governing a distracted country devolved upon his younger son, afterward well known in history by the name of john hyrcanus. the unhappy circumstances under which he succeeded to power compelled him to submit for a time to the condition of vassalage; but no sooner had antiochus sidetes fallen in the parthian war, than john shook off the yoke of syria, and exercised the rights of an independent sovereign. he even extended his sway beyond the jordan, reducing several important towns to his obedience; though the achievement which most gratified his jewish subjects was the capture of shechem, followed by the demolition of the temple on gerizim, so long regarded as the opprobrium of the hebrew faith. at a later period he made himself master of samaria and galilee, when, to gratify still farther the vindictive grudge which yet rankled in the breasts of his people, he destroyed the capital of the former, and debased it to the condition of a stagnant lake. nor was his attention confined to foreign conquest. he strengthened the fortifications of jerusalem, and built the castle of baris within the walls which surrounded the hill of the temple,--a stronghold, that at a future period attracted no small degree of notice under the name of antonia. the government was enjoyed during a brief space by aristobulus, the son of hyrcanus, whose reign was only distinguished by the most painful domestic calamities. the throne was next occupied by alexander jannaeus, a man of ignoble birth, but of a warlike and very ambitious temper. the distracted state of the neighbouring countries induced him to take the field, with the view of reducing several towns on the coast of the mediterranean,--an undertaking which finally involved him in the troubled politics of egypt and cyprus. in process of time, the severity of his measures, or the meanness of his extraction, rendered him so unpopular at jerusalem that the inhabitants expelled him by force of arms. a civil war of the most sanguinary nature raged several years, during which the insurgents invited the assistance of demetrius euchaerus, one of the kings of syria. this measure seems to have united a large party of jews, who were equally hostile to the dominant faction within the city, and to the ally whom they had called to their aid. alexander, after having repeatedly suffered the heaviest losses, saw himself again at the head of a powerful army, with which he resolved to march against the rebellious capital. he inflicted a signal punishment upon such of the unfortunate citizens as fell into his hands; ordering nearly a thousand of them to be crucified, and their wives and children to be butchered before their eyes. having fully re-established his power to the remotest parts of palestine, the victorious high-priest, now drawing towards the close of his days, gave instructions to his wife for the future government of the country. alexandria, a woman of a vigorous mind, held the reins of civil power with great steadiness, while her eldest son, hyrcanus the second, was decorated with the sacred diadem as the head of the nation. but, unhappily, the commotions which had disturbed the reign of her husband were again excited, and once more divided the people into two furious parties. aristobulus, the younger son of jannaeus, gave his countenance to the body who opposed his brother, and at length threw off his disguise so completely as to aspire to supreme power in defiance of the rights of birth and of a legal investiture. hyrcanus, who was far inferior to his ambitious relative in point of talent and resolution, would probably, after the death of their mother, have been unable to keep his seat on the throne, had he not received the powerful aid of antipatar, a son of antipas, the governor of idumea. both sides were making preparation for an appeal to arms, when the romans, who had already overrun the finest parts of syria, advanced into the province of palestine in the character at once of umpires and of allies. pompey readily listened to the claims of the two competitors, but deferred coming to an immediate decision; having resolved, as it afterward appeared, that neither of the kinsmen should continue any longer to possess the civil and military command of judea. aristobulus, impatient of delay, and having no confidence in the goodness of his cause, had recourse to arms, and at length shut himself up in jerusalem. the roman general issued orders to his lieutenant gabinius to invest the holy city; which, after a siege of three months, was taken by assault at a great expense of human life. many of the priests who were employed in the duties of their office fell victims to the rage of the soldiers; while others, unable to witness the desecration of their temple by the presence of idolaters, threw themselves from the rock on which that building stood. induced by curiosity, the rival of caesar imitated the profane boldness of antiochus, penetrating into the holy of holies, and examining all the instruments of a worship which differed so much from that of all other nations. but pompey was more politic, or more generous than the syrian monarch; for although he found much treasure in the sanctuary as well as many vessels of gold and silver, he carried nothing away. he expressed much astonishment that, in a fane so magnificent, and frequented by jews from all parts of the earth, there should be no material form, statue, nor picture to represent the deity to whose honour it was erected. having, in order to satisfy the scruples of the people, ordered a purification of the temple, he renewed the appointment of hyrcanus to the high priesthood, but without any civil power; while in respect to the more turbulent aristobulus, he resolved to exercise the right of a conqueror, by sending him and his two sons to rome, that they might swell the train of his approaching triumph. the escape of one of these young men, and afterward of the father himself, rekindled the flame of war in palestine. but the romans under gabinius and the celebrated mark antony, speedily subdued the hasty levies of aristobulus, and completely re-established the ascendency of the republic in all the revolted districts. in the civil war which ensued, antipater, who still directed the affairs of the weak-minded hyrcanus, paid his court so successfully to the dominant faction as to obtain for his master the protection of caesar, and for himself the procuratorship of judea. raised to this commanding eminence, he named phasael, his eldest son, governor of jerusalem, and confided to the younger, the artful and unscrupulous herod, the charge of galilee. but there still remained an individual belonging to the family of aristobulus, who, having found refuge among the parthians, led a powerful army of that people into syria, and finally invested jerusalem. the invaders, after obtaining possession of the city, deprived hyrcanus of the priesthood and phasael of his life; the barbarian soldiers, meantime, committing pillage on all classes, both within the walls and in the adjoining country. herod, warned by his less fortunate relative in the capital, had fled to rome, with the view, it is said, of recommending the interests of another aristobulus, a grandson of hyrcanus, and brother of the beautiful mariamne, to whom he himself was already betrothed. octavius and antony, however, thought it morn expedient for their rising empire that herod should wear the vassal crown of judea in his own person, rather than see it placed on the head of an inexperienced youth; and as the son of antipater was about to unite himself with a descendant of the asmonean princes, it was considered that the claims of each family would be thereby fully satisfied. the reign of herod, who, to distinguish him from others of the same name, is usually called the great, was no less remarkable for domestic calamity than for public peace and happiness. urged by suspicion, he put to death his beloved wife,[ ] her mother, brother, grandfather, uncle, and two sons. his palace was the scene of incessant intrigue, misery, and bloodshed; his nearest relations being even the chief instruments of his worst sufferings and fears. it was, perhaps, to divert his apprehensions and remorse that he employed so much of his time in the labours of architecture. besides a royal residence on mount zion, he built a number of citadels throughout the country, and laid the foundations of several splendid towns. among these was cesarea, a station well selected both for strength and commerce, and destined to become, under a different government, a place of considerable importance. but the impurity of his blood as an idumean, and his undisguised attachment to the religion of his gentile masters, created an obstacle to a complete understanding with his subjects, which no degree of personal kindness, or of wisdom and munificence in the conduct of public affairs, could ever entirely remove. at length he determined on a measure which, he hoped, would at the same time employ the people and ingratiate himself with the higher classes--the rebuilding of the temple in its former splendour and greatness. the lapse of five hundred years, and the ravage of successive wars, had much impaired the structure of zerubbabel. as it was necessary to remove the dilapidated parts of the edifice before the new building could be begun, the jews looked on with a suspicious eye; apprehensive lest the king, under pretence of doing honour to their faith, should obliterate every vestige of their ancient sanctuary. but the prudence of herod calmed their fears; the work proceeded with the greatest regularity, and the nation saw, with the utmost joy, a fabric of stately architecture crowning the brow of mount moriah with glittering masses of white marble and pinnacles of gold. yet during this pious undertaking the jewish monarch maintained his double character; presiding at the olympic games, granting large donations for their support, and even allowing himself to be nominated president of this pagan festival.[ ] as he advanced towards old age his troubles multiplied, and his apprehensions were increased, till, at length, four years anterior to the common era of christianity, herod sank under the pressure of a loathsome disease. he was permitted by the romans so far to exercise the privileges of an independent prince as to distribute by will the inheritance of sovereignty among the more favoured of his children; and in virtue of this indulgence he assigned to archelaus the government of idumea, samaria, and judea, while he bestowed upon antipas a similar authority over peraea and galilee. but the young princes required the sanction of the roman emperor, whom they both regarded as their liege lord; and with that view repaired to the capital of italy. the will of the late king was acknowledged and confirmed by augustus, who was moreover pleased to give to herod philip, their elder brother, the provinces of auranitis, trachonitis, paneas, and batanea. achelaus, the metropolis of whose dominions was jerusalem, ruled in quality of ethnarch about nine years; but so little to the satisfaction either of his master at rome or of the people whom he was appointed to govern, that at the end of this period he was summoned to render an account of his administration at the imperial tribunal, when he was deprived of his power and wealth, and finally banished into gaul. judea was now reduced to a roman province, dependent on the prefecture of syria, though usually place under the inspection of a subordinate officer, called the procurator or governor. thus the sceptre passed away from judah, and the lawgiver descended from the family of jacob ceased to enjoy power within the confines of the promised land. no reader can require to be reminded, that it was at this epoch, in the last year of the reign of herod, the messias was born, and conveyed into egypt for security. the unjust and cruel government of archelaus, for which, as has just been related, he was stripped of his authority by the head of the empire, was probably the cause why the holy family did not again take up their residence in judea, but preferred the milder rule of antipas. when joseph "heard that archelaus did reign in judea in the room of his father herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of god in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of galilee: and he came and dwelt in a city called nazareth."[ ] the first thirty years of the christian era did not pass away without several insurrections on the part of the jews, and repeated acts of severity and extortion inflicted upon them by their stern conquerors. the commotion excited by judas, called the gallilean, is regarded by historians as one of the most important of those ebullitions which were constantly breaking forth among that inflammatory people, not only on account of its immediate consequences, but for the effects produced on the national character, in regard to the speculative tenets connected with tribute and submission to a heathen government. upon the exile of archelaus, the prefecture of syria was committed to publius sulpicius quirinius. this commander is mentioned in the gospel of st. luke by the name of cyrenius, and is described as the person under whom the taxing was first made in that province. hence we may conclude, that the enrolment which took place at the birth of our saviour was merely a census, comprehending the numbers, and perhaps the wealth and station of the several classes of the people. it was about the twenty-sixth year of our epoch that pontius pilate was nominated to the government of judea. ignorant or indifferent as to the prejudices of the jews, he roused among them a spirit of the most active resentment, by displaying the image of the emperor in jerusalem, and by seizing part of their sacred treasure for the purposes of general improvement. as the fiery temper of the inhabitants drove them, on most occasions, to acts of violence, he did not hesitate to employ force in return; and we find, accordingly, that his administration was dishonoured by several acts of military execution directed against jews and samaritans indiscriminately. his severity towards the latter people finally led to his recall and disgrace about the year , when vitellius, the father of the future emperor of the same name, presided over the affairs of the syrian province. the plan of our work does not permit us to do more than allude to the great event which took place at jerusalem under the auspices of pilate. we may nevertheless observe, that the narrative of the gospel is in strict harmony with the character, not only of the time to which it refers, but also of all the persons whose acts it describes. the expectation of the jews when jesus of nazareth first appeared,--their subsequent disappointment and rage--their hatred and impatience of the roman government,--the perplexity of the military chief, and the motive which at length induced him to sacrifice the innocent person who was listed before him, are facts which display the most perfect accordance with the tone of civil history at that remarkable period. during the troubles which agitated judea, the districts that owned the sovereignty of antipas and philip, namely, galilee and the country beyond the jordan, enjoyed comparative quiet. the former, who is the herod described by our saviour as "that fox," was a person of a cool and rather crafty disposition, and might have terminated his long reign in peace, had not herodias, whom he seduced from his brother--the second prince just mentioned--irritated his ambition by pointing to the superior rank of his nephew, herod agrippa, whom caligula had been pleased to raise to a provincial throne. urged by his wife to solicit a similar elevation, he presented himself at rome, and obtained an audience of the emperor; but the successor of tiberius was so little pleased with his conduct on this occasion, that he divested him of the tetrarchy, and banished him into gaul. the death of herod philip and the degradation of the galilean tetrarch paved the way for the advancement of agrippa to all the honour and power which had belonged to the family of david. he was permitted to reign over the whole of palestine, having under his direction the usual number of roman troops, which experience had proved to be necessary for the peace of a province at once so remote and so turbulent. the only event that disturbed the tranquillity of his government was an insane resolution expressed by caligula to place his own statue in the temple of jerusalem, as an object of respect, if not of positive and direct worship to the whole jewish nation. the prudence of the syrian prefect, and the influence which agrippa still possessed over the mind of his imperial friend, prevented the horrors that must have arisen from the attempt to desecrate, in this odious manner, a sanctuary deemed most holy by every descendant of abraham. but no position could be more difficult to hold with safety and reputation than that which was occupied by this hebrew prince. he was assailed on the one hand by the jealousy of the roman deputies, and on the other by the suspicion of his own countrymen, who could never divest themselves of the fear that his foreign education had rendered him indifferent to the rites of the mosaical law. to satisfy the latter, he spared no expense in conferring magnificence on the daily service of the temple, while he put forth his hand to persecute the christian church in the persons of st. peter and james the brother of john. to remove every ground of disloyalty from the eyes of the political agents who were appointed by claudius to watch his conduct, he ordered a splendid festival at cesarea in honour of the new emperor; on which occasion, when arrayed in the moat gorgeous attire, certain words of adulation reached his ear, not fit to be addressed to a jewish monarch. the result will be best described in the words of sacred scripture: "and upon a set day herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. and the people gave a shout, saying, it is the voice of a god, and not of a man. and immediately the angel of the lord smote him, because he gave not god the glory; and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost."[ ] he left a son and three daughters, of whom agrippa, bernice, and drusilla make a conspicuous figure towards the close of the book of acts. these events took place between the fortieth and the forty-fifth years of the christian faith. the youth and inexperience of the prince dictated to the roman government the propriety of assuming once more the entire direction of jewish affairs. the prefecture of syria was confided to cassius longinus, under whom served, as procurator of judea, caspius fadus, a stern though an upright soldier. but the impatience and hatred of the people were now inflamed to such a degree, that gentleness and severity were equally unavailing to preserve the tranquillity of the country. impostors appeared on every hand, proclaiming deliverance to the oppressed children of jacob, and provoking the more impetuous among their brethren to take up arms against the romans. various conflicts ensued, in which the discipline of the legions hardly ever failed to disperse or destroy the tumultuary bands who, under such unhappy auspices, attempted to restore the kingdom to israel. the holy city, which was from time to time beleaguered by both parties, sustained material injury from the furious assaults of pagan and jew alternately. the predictions of its downfall, already circulated among the christians, began to mingle with the shouts of its fanatical inhabitants; and already, even at the accession of agrippa the second to his limited sovereignty, every thing portended that miserable consummation which at no distant period closed the temporal scene of hebrew hope and dominion. every succeeding day witnessed the progress of that ferocious sect founded on the opinions of judas the gaulonite, who acknowledged no sovereign but jehovah, and who constantly denounced as the greatest of all sins those payments or services by means of which a heathenish government was supported. in prosecuting their revolutionary schemes; they esteemed no man's life dear, and set as little value upon their own. devoted to the principles of a frantic patriotism, they were content to sacrifice to its claims the clearest dictates of humanity and religion; being at all times ready to bind themselves by an oath that they would neither eat nor drink until they had slain the enemy of their nation or of their god. this was the school which supplied that execrable faction, who added tenfold to the miseries of jerusalem in the day of her visitation, and who contributed more than all the legions of rome to realize the bitterness of the curse which was poured upon her devoted head. a succession of unprincipled governors, who were sent forth to enrich themselves on the spoils of the syrian provinces, accelerated the crisis of judea. about the middle of the first century the notorious felix was appointed to the government, who, in the administration of affairs, habitually combined violence with fraud, sending out his soldiers to inflict punishment on such as had not the means or the inclination to bribe his clemency. an equal stranger to righteousness and temperance, he presented a fine subject for the eloquence of st. paul, who it is presumed, however, made the profligate governor tremble, without either affecting his religious principles or improving his moral conduct. the short residence of festus procured for the unhappy jews a respite from oppression. he laboured successfully to put down the bands of insurgents, whose ravages were inflicted indiscriminately upon foreigners and their own countrymen; nor was he less active in checking the excesses of the military, so long accustomed to rapine and free quarter. agrippa at the same time transferred the seat of his government to jerusalem, where his presence served to moderate the rage of parties, and thereby to postpone the final rupture between the provincials and their imperial master. but this brief interval of repose was followed by an increased degree of irritation and fury. florus, alike distinguished for his avarice and cruelty, and who saw in the contentions of the people the readiest means for filling his own coffers, connived at the mutual hostility which it was his duty to prevent. in this nefarious policy he received the countenance of cestius gallus, the prefect of syria, who, imitating the maxims of his lieutenant, studiously drove the natives to insurrection, in order that their cries for justice might be drowned amid the clash of arms. but he forgot that there are limits to endurance even among the most humble and abject. unable to support the weight of his tyranny, and galled by certain insults directed against their faith, the jewish inhabitants of cesarea set his power at defiance, and declared their resolution to repel his injuries by force. the capital was soon actuated by a similar spirit, and made preparations for defence. cestius marched to the gates, and demanded an entrance for the imperial cohorts, whose aid was required to support the garrison within. the citizens, refusing to comply; anticipated the horrors of a siege, when after a few days they saw, to their great surprise, the syrian prefect in full retreat carrying with him his formidable army. sallying from the different outlets with arms in their hands, they pursued the fugitives with the usual fury of an incensed multitude; and, overtaking their enemy at the narrow pass of bethhoron, they avenged the cause of independence by a considerable slaughter of the legionary soldiers, and by driving the remainder to an ignominious flight. nero received the intelligence of this defeat while amusing himself in greece, and immediately sent vespasian into syria to assume the government, with instructions to restore peace of the province by moderate concessions or by the most vigorous warfare. it was in the year sixty-seven that this great commander entered judea, accompanied by his son, the celebrated titus. the result is too well known to require details. a series of sanguinary battles deprived the jews of their principal towns one after another, until they were at length shut up in jerusalem; the siege and final reduction of which compose one of the most affecting stories that are anywhere recorded in the annals of the human race. chapter iv. _on the literature and religious usages of the ancient hebrews_. obscurity of the subject; learning issued from the levitical colleges; schools of the prophets; music and poetry; meaning of the term prophecy; illustrated by references to the old testament and to the new; the power of prediction not confined to those bred in the schools; race of false prophets; their malignity and deceit; micaiah and ahab; charge against jeremiah the prophet; criterion to distinguish true from false prophets; the canonical writings of the prophets; literature of prophets; sublime nature of their compositions; examples from psalms and prophetical writings; humane and liberal spirit; care used to keep alive the knowledge of the law; evils arising from the division of lsrael and judah; ezra collects the ancient books; schools of prophets similar to convents; sciences; astronomy; division of time, days months, and years; sabbaths and new moons; jewish festivals; passover; pentecost; feast of tabernacles; of trumpets; jubilee; daughters of zelophedad; feast of dedication; minor anniversaries; solemn character of hebrew learning; its easy adaptation to christianity; superior to the literature of all other ancient nations. there is no subject on which greater obscurity prevails than that of the learning and schools of the hebrews prior to their return from the babylonian captivity. the wise institution of moses, which provided for the maintenance of levitical towns in all the tribes, secured at least an hereditary knowledge of the law, including both its civil and its spiritual enactments. it is extremely probable, therefore, that all the varieties of literary attainment which might he deemed necessary, either for the discharge of professional duties or for the ornament of private life, were derived from those seminaries, and partook largely of their general character and spirit. an examination of the scanty remains of that remote period will justify, to a considerable extent, the conjecture now made. it will appear that the poetry, the ethics, the oratory, the music, and even the physical science cultivated in the time of samuel and david bore a close relation to the original object of the levitical colleges, and were meant to promote the principles of religion and morality, no less than of that singular patriotism which made the hebrew delight in his separation from all other nations of the earth. our attention is first attracted by the several allusions which are scattered over the earlier books of the old testament to the schools of the prophets. these were establishments obviously intended to prepare young men for certain offices analogous to those which are discharged in our days by the different orders of the clergy; maintained in some degree at the public expense; and placed under the superintendence of persons who were distinguished for their gravity and high endowments. the principal studies pursued in these convents appear to have been poetry and music, the elements of which were necessary to the young prophet when he was called to take a part in the worship of jehovah. in the book of samuel we find the pupils performing on psalteries, tabrets, and harps; and in the first section of the chronicles it is said that the sons of asaph, of heman, and of jeduthan prophesied with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals. for the same reason miriam the sister of moses is called a prophetess. when preparing to chant her song of triumph, upon the destruction of the egyptians at the red sea, "she took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances." on a similar ground is the expression to be interpreted when used by st. paul in the eleventh chapter of his first epistle to the corinthians. "every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered dishononreth her head;" that is, every female who takes a part in the devotions of the christian church,--the supplications and the praises,--ought, according to the practice of eastern nations, to have her face concealed in a veil, as becoming the modesty of her sex in a mixed congregation. the term prophesy, in this instance, must be restricted to the use of psalmody, because exposition or exhortation in public was not permitted to the women, who were not allowed to speak or even to ask a question in a place of worship. nay, the same apostle applies the title of prophet to those persons among the heathen who composed or uttered songs in praise of their gods. in his epistle to titus he alludes to the people of crete in these words, "one of themselves, even a prophet of their own, has said, the cretans were always liars." and every classical scholar is perfectly aware that in the language of pagan antiquity a poet and a prophet were synonymous appellations. but the function of the prophet was not confined to the duty of praise and thanksgiving; it also implied the ability to expound and enforce the principles of the mosaical law. he was entitled to exhort and entreat; and we accordingly find that the greater portion of the prophetical writings consist of remonstrances, rebukes, threatenings, and expostulations. in order to be a prophet, in the hebrew sense of the expression, it was not necessary to be endowed with the power of foreseeing future events. it is true that the holy men through whom the almighty thought meet to reveal his intentions relative to the church, were usually selected from the order of persons now described. but there were several exceptions, among whom stood preeminent the eloquent daniel and the pathetic amos. to prophesy, therefore, in the later times of the hebrew commonwealth meant most generally the explication and enforcement of divine truth--an import of the term which was extended into the era of the new testament, when the more recondite sense of the phrase was almost entirely laid aside. in truth, it should seem that even before the days of samuel the opinions, or rather perhaps the popular notions connected with the name and offices of a prophet, had undergone some change, and began to point to higher objects. saul, when employed in seeking his father's asses, had journeyed so far from home that he despaired of finding his way thither; and when he was come to the land of zuph he said to his servant, "come, and let us return; lest my father leave caring for the asses, and take thought for us. and he said unto him, behold now, there is in this city a man of god, and he is an honourable man; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can show us our way that we should go. then said saul to his servant, but, behold; if we go, what shall we bring the man; for the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of god; what have we? and the servant answered saul again, and said, behold, i have here at hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver; that will i give to the man of god to tell us our way. (beforetime in israel, when a man went to inquire of god, thus he spake, come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a prophet was beforetime called a seer.) then said saul to his servant, well said; come, let us go. so they went unto the city where the man of god was."[ ] the description of soothsayer whom saul and his servant had resolved to consult is very common in all lands at a certain stage of knowledge and civilization,--a personage who, without much reliance on divine aid, could amuse the curiosity of a rustic and perplex his ignorance with an ambiguous answer. but the age of samuel required more solid qualifications in the prophets, and hence the term seer had already given way to that of expounder or master of eloquence and wisdom. the expedient suggested by the attendant of the son of kish was very natural, and quite consistent with his rank and habits; while the easy acquiescence which he obtained from his master denotes the simplicity of ancient times, not less than the untutored state of mind in which the future king of israel had left his parent's dwelling. before he mounted the throne, however, he was sent to acquire the elements of learning among the sons of the prophets; whom, in a short time, he accompanied in their pious exercises in a manner so elevated as to astonish every one who had formerly known the young benjamite; till then remarkable only for a mild disposition and great bodily strength. the mental bias towards prediction, which is almost unavoidably acquired by the practice of elucidation and commentary on a dark text, soon showed itself in the schools of the prophets. many of them, trusting to their own ingenuity rather than to the suggestion of the spirit of truth, ventured to foretel the issue of events, and to delineate the future fortunes of nations, as well as of individuals. hence the race of false prophets, who brought so much obloquy upon the whole order, and not unfrequently barred against the approach of godly admonition the ears of those who were actually addressed by an inspired messenger. nay, it appears that some of them arrogated the power of realizing the good or the evil which they were pleased to foretel; allowing the people to believe that they were possessed with demons, who enabled them, not only to foresee, but to influence in no small measure the course of providence. the impression on the mind of ahab in regard to micaiah leaves no room for doubt that the king imagined the prophet to be actuated by a malignant feeling towards him. "i hate him," he exclaimed, "for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil." nor was the conviction that this ungracious soothsayer spoke from his own wishes rather than from a divine impulse confined to the israelitish monarch. the messenger who was sent to call micaiah spake unto him, saying, "behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth: let thy word, i pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good."[ ] when we consider the uncertainty which must have attended all predictions, where the wishes or feelings of the prophet could give a different expression to the purposes of god, we cannot any longer be surprised at the neglect with which such announcements were frequently treated by those to whom they were addressed. it is remarkable, too, that one prophet did not possess the gift of ascertaining the truth or sincerity of another who might declare that he spoke in the name of god; and hence there were no means of determining the good faith of this order of men, except the general evidence of a pious character, or the test of a successful experience. for example, when jeremish proclaimed the approaching fall of jerusalem, the other prophets were among the first to oppose him, saying, "thou shalt surely die: why hast thou prophesied in the name of the lord that this house shall be like shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant?" the princes of judah assembled in the temple to hear the charge repeated against this fearless minister; when again, "spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes, and to all the people, saying, this man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears." it is worthy of notice, too, that the prediction which gave so much offence was conditional and contingent, and that jeremiah, accordingly, incurred the hazard of suffering the severe punishment due to a false prophet; because if the people had turned from their sins the fate of their capital and nation would have been protracted. "the lord sent me to prophesy against this house, and against this city, all the words that ye have heard. therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the lord your god; and the lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you. as for me, behold, i am in your hand; do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you: but know ye for certain, that, if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof; for of a truth the lord hath sent me unto you, to speak all these words in your ears."[ ] the decision of the princes was more equitable than the accusation adduced by the priests and prophets; for according to the law of moses no man could be punished for predicting the most calamitous events, provided he persevered in the assertion that he spoke in the name of jehovah. the divine legislator denounced the penalty of death against every prophet who should speak in the name of any false god, or who should speak in the name of jehovah that which he was not commanded to speak; but, in regard to the latter offence, the guilt could only be substantiated by the failure of the prophecy. "and if thou say in thine heart, how shall we know the word which the lord hath not spoken? when a prophet speaketh in the name of the lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously."[ ] it is obvious, however, that in all cases where a condition was implied, the fulfilment of the prediction could not be regarded as essential to the establishment of the prophetic character. the capture of jerusalem produced the most undeniable testimony to the inspiration of jeremiah, as well as to the sincerity of his expostulation; yet it is well known that his motives did not escape suspicion, and that his memory was loaded by many of his countrymen with the charge of having favoured the chaldeans. it may not appear out of place to inform the young reader that the prophets whose writings are contained in the old testament are in number sixteen, and usually divided into two classes, the greater and the minor, according to the extent of their works and the importance of their subject. of the former, isaiah, who may be regarded as the chief, began to prophesy under uzziah, and continued till the first year of manasseh. jeremiah flourished a few years before the great captivity, and lived to witness the fulfilment of his own predictions. ezekiel, who had been carried into the babylonian territory some time before the ruin of his native country in the days of zedekiah, began to perform his office among the jewish captives in the land of the chaldees, in the fifth year after jehoiakim was made prisoner. daniel, the youngest of the four, was only twelve years of age when he was involved in the miseries of conquest, and reduced to the condition of a dependent at a foreign court. among the twelve minor prophets, jonas, hosea, amos, and micah preceded the destruction of the kingdom of israel. nahum and joel appeared between that catastrophe and the captivity of judah. habakkuk, obadiah, and zephaniah lived at the time when jerusalem was taken, and during part of the captivity. haggai, zecharias, and malachi, the last of the whole, prophesied after the return from babylon. but our business is rather with the literature of the prophets at large than with the special functions of the few individuals of their body who were commissioned by heaven to reveal the secrets of future time. of the fruits of their professional study we have fine examples preserved in the psalms of david and the proverbs of solomon; the former, a collection of sacred lyrics composed for the worship of jehovah; the latter, a compend of practical wisdom, suggested by an enlightened experience, and expressed in language equally striking for its divine truth and rare simplicity. in early times the dictates of moral philosophy are enounced in short sentences, the result of much thought, and of which the effect is usually heightened by the introduction of a judicious antithesis both in the sentiment and the expression. the apothegms ascribed to the wise men of greece belong to this kind of composition; being extremely valuable to a rude people who can profit by the fruits of reasoning without being able to attend to its forms, and deposite in their minds a useful precept, unencumbered with the arguments by means of which its soundness might be proved. the books which bear the name of solomon are distinguished above all others for the sage views that they exhibit of human life, and for the sensible maxims addressed to all conditions of men who have to encounter its manifold perils--proving a guide unto the feet and a lamp unto the path. in no respect does the hebrew nation appear to greater advantage than when viewed in the light of their sublime compositions. nor is this remark confined simply to the style or mechanism of their writings, which is nevertheless allowed by the best judges to possess many merits; but may be extended more especially to the exalted nature of their subjects,--the works, the attributes, and the purposes of jehovah. the poets of pagan antiquity, on the other hand, excite by their descriptions of divine things our ridicule or disgust. even the most approved of their order exhibit repulsive images of their deities, and suggest the grossest ideas in connexion with the principles and enjoyments which prevail among the inhabitants of olympus. but the contemporaries of david, inferior in many things to the ingenious people who listened to the strains of homer and of virgil, are remarkable for their elevated conceptions of the supreme being as the creator and governor of the world, not less than for the suitable terms in which they give utterance to their exalted thoughts. in no other country but judea, at that early period, were such sentiments as the following either expressed or felt. "o jehovah, our lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, thou that hast set thy glory above the heavens! when i consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou has ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou visitest him? bless jehovah, o my soul. o lord my god, thou art very great, and art clothed with honour and majesty! thou coverest thyself with light as with a garment, and stretchest out the heavens like a curtain: who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters, who maketh the clouds his chariot, and walketh upon the wings of the wind! bless jehovah, o my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. bless jehovah, o my soul, and forget not all his benefits; who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies. jehovah is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. he hath not dealt with us after our sins, neither rewarded us according to our iniquities. for as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. for he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust."--"o lord, thou hast searched me and known me: thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thoughts long before. thou art about my bed and about my path, and art acquainted with all my ways. whither shall i go from thy spirit, or whither shall i flee from thy presence? if i ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if i go down to the dwelling of the departed, thou art there also. if i take the wings of the morning and abide in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. if i say, surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be turned into day. yea, the darkness is no darkness with thee, but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee." a similar train of lofty conception pervades the writings of the prophets. "who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out the heavens with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance; be taketh up the isles as a very little thing. it is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grass-hoppers. lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, who bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power, no one faileth. hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting god, the lord, the creator of the ends of the earth; fainteth not, neither is weary! there is no searching of his understanding." the following quotation from the same inspired author is very striking, inasmuch as the truth contained in it is founded upon an enlarged view of the divine government, and directly pointed against that insidious manicheism, which, originating in the east, has gradually infected the religious opinions of a large portion of mankind. light was imagined to proceed from one source, add darkness from another; all good was traced do one being, and all evil was ascribed to a hostile and antagonist principle. spirit, pure and happy, arose from the former; while matter, with its foul propensities and jarring elements, took its rise from the latter. but isaiah, guided by an impulse which supersedes the inferences of the profoundest philosophy, thus speaks concerning the god of the hebrews:--"i am the lord, and there is none else; there is no god besides me: i form the light, and create darkness; i make peace and create evil; i, the lord, do all these things." but it is not only in such sublimity of language and exalted imagery that the literature of the hebrews surpasses the writings of the most learned and ingenious portion of the heathen world. a distinction not less remarkable is to be found in the humane and compassionate spirit which animates even the earliest parts of the sacred volume; composed at a time when the manners of all nations were still unrefined, and the softer emotions were not held in honour. "blessed is he who considereth the poor and needy; the lord will deliver him in the time of trouble. the lord will preserve him and keep him alive; he shall be blessed upon earth, and thou wilt not deliver him into the will of his enemies. the lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing; thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness." we shall in vain seek for instances of such a benign and liberal feeling in the volumes of the most enlightened of pagan writers, whether poets or orators. how beautifully does the following observation made by solomon contrast with the contempt expressed by horace for the great body of his countrymen:--"he that despiseth his neighbour sinneth; but he that bath mercy on the poor happy is he. he that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his maker." among the israelites there was no distinction as to literary privilege or philosophical sectarianism. there was no profane vulgar in the chosen people. the stores of divine knowledge were open to all alike. the descendant of jacob beheld in every member of his tribe a brother, and not a master; one who in all the respects which give to man dignity and self-esteem was his equal in the strictest sense of the term. hence the noble flame of patriotism which glowed in all the hebrew institutions before the people became corrupted by idolatry and a too frequent intercourse with the surrounding tribes; and hence, too, the still more noble spirit of fraternal affection which breathed in their ancient law, their devotional writers, and their prophets. it is worthy of remark, that in order to prevent any part of the sacred oracles from becoming obsolete or falling into oblivion, the inspired lawgiver left an injunction to read the books which bear his name, in the hearing of all the people, at the end of every seven years at farthest. "and moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests, the sons of levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the lord, and unto all the elders of israel. and moses commanded them, saying, at the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, when all israel is come to appear before the lord thy god in the place which he shall choose, thou shaft read this law before all israel in their hearing. gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the lord your god, and observe to do all the words of this law: and that their children which have not known any thing may hear, and learn to fear the lord your god, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over jordan to possess it."[ ] the value of the levitical institution, whence originated the schools of the prophets, will be the moat highly appreciated by those readers who have noted the evils which arose from its suppression among the ten tribes, and finally, in the kingdom of judah itself. the separation of the israelites under jeroboam led, in the first instance, to a defection from the mosaic ritual, and, in the end, to the establishment of a rival worship,--a revolution which compelled all the levites who remained attached to the primitive faith to desert such of their cities as belonged to the revolted tribes, and to seek an asylum among their brethren who acknowledged the successor of solomon. hence the reign of idolatry and that total neglect of the law which disgraced the government of the new dynasty; though it must be granted, that with a view to perpetuate their relationship to the father of the faithful, the people preserved certain copies of the pentateuch, even after the desolation of their land and the complete extinction of their political independence. it is more surprising to find, that even among the orthodox hebrews at jerusalem the law sank into a gradual oblivion; insomuch that in the days of jehosophat, the fifth from david, it was found necessary to appoint a special commission of levites and priests to revive the knowledge of its holy sanctions in all parts of the country. "and they taught in judah, and had the book of the law of the lord with them, and went about throughout all the cities of judah, and taught the people."[ ] at a later period, after a succession of idolatrous princes, the neglect of the mosaical writings became still more general, till at length the very manuscript, or book of the law, which used to be read in the ears of the congregation, could nowhere be found. josiah, famed for his piety and attention to the ceremonies of the national religion, gave orders to repair the temple for the worship of jehovah; on which occasion, hilkiah, the high-priest, found the precious record in the house of the lord, and sent it to the king.[ ] a momentary zeal bound the people once more to the belief and usages of their ancestors; but the example of the profane or careless sovereigns who afterward filled the throne of josiah plunged the country once more into guilt, obliterating all recollection of the divine statutes, at least as a code of public law. the captivity throws a temporary cloud over the hebrew annals, and prevents us from tracing beyond that point the progress of opinion on this interesting subject. but upon the return from babylon a new era commences; and we now observe the same people, who in their prosperity were constantly deviating into the grossest superstitions and most contemptible idolatry, remarkable for a rigid adherence to the ritual of moses, and for a severe intolerance towards all who questioned its heavenly origin or its universal obligation. ezra is understood to have charged himself with the duty of collecting and arranging the manuscripts which had survived the desolation inflicted upon his country by the arms of assyria, at the same time substituting for the more ancient characters usually known as the samaritan the chaldean alphabet, to which his followers had now become accustomed. from these notices, however, which respect a later period, we return to the more primitive times immediately succeeding the era of the commonwealth. we have ascribed the cultivation of sacred knowledge to the schools of the prophets, without having been able to trace very distinctly the institution of these seminaries to the levitical colleges, the proper fountains of the national literature. in the days of samuel, it would appear that the necessity of certain subordinate establishments had been admitted, in order to supply a class of persons qualified to instruct such of the people as lived at a distance from the cities of the levites. the rule of the prophetical schools seems to have borne some resemblance to that of the better description of christian convents in the primitive ages, enjoining abstinence and labour, together with an implicit obedience to the authority of their superiors. the clothing, also, it may be presumed, was humble, and somewhat peculiar. a rough garment fastened with a girdle round the loins is alluded to by zechariah; while the impression made on the courtiers at ramoth-gilead by the appearance of one of the sons of the prophets sent thither by elisha would lead us to the same conclusion. "wherefore," said they, "came this mad fellow to thee?" nor is it without reason that some authors have attributed the conduct of the children who mocked elieha to the uncouthness of his dress and to the want of a covering for his head. be this as it may, there is no doubt that from the societies now mentioned sprang the most distinguished men who adorned the happiest era of the jewish church. were we allowed to form a judgment from the few incidents recorded in the books of the kings, we should conclude that the accomplishment of writing was not very general among the subjects of david and solomon. it is ingeniously conjectured by michaelis, that joab, the captain of the host, and sister's son of the inspired monarch himself, could not handle the pen; else he would not, for the purpose of concealing from the bearer the real object for which he was sent, have found it necessary to tax his ingenuity by putting the very suspicious detail of uriah's death into the mouth of a messenger to be delivered verbally to the king. he would at once have written to him that the devoted man was killed.[ ] as to science in its higher branches, we can not expect any proofs of eminence among a secluded people, devoted, as the hebrews were, to the pursuits of agriculture and the feeding of cattle. solomon, indeed, is said to have been acquainted with all the productions of nature, from the cedar of libanus to the hyssop on the wall; and we may readily believe, that the curiosity which distinguished his temper would find some gratification in the researches of natural history,--the first study of the opening mind in the earliest stage of social life. but astronomy had not advanced farther than to present an interesting subject of contemplation to the pious mind, which could only regard the firmament as a smooth surface spread out like a curtain, or bearing some resemblance to the canopy of a spacious tent. the schools of the prophets, we may presume, were still strangers to those profound calculations which determine the distance, the magnitude, and the periodical revolutions of the heavenly bodies. even the sages of chaldea, who boast a more ancient civilization than is claimed by the hebrews, satisfied themselves with a few facts which they had not learned to generalize, and sometimes with conjectures which had hardy any relation to a fixed principle or a scientific object. long after the reign of david, these wise men had not distinguished the study of the stars from the dreams of astrology. the first application of astronomical principle is to the division of time, as marked out by the periodical movements of the heavenly bodies. the hebrews combined in their calculations a reference to the sun and to the moon, so as to avail themselves of the natural measure supplied by each. their year accordingly was lunisolar, consisting of twelve lunar months, with an intercalation to make the whole agree with the annual course of the sun. the year was further distinguished as being either common or ecclesiastical. the former began at the autumnal equinox, the season at which they imagined the world was created; while the latter, by divine appointment, commenced about six months earlier, the period when their fathers were delivered from the thraldom of egypt. their months always began with the new moon; and before the captivity they were merely named according to their order, the first, second, third, and so on down to the twelfth. but upon their return they used the terms which they found employed in babylon, according to the following series:-- nisan[ ] march. zif, or ijar april. sivan may. tamuz june. ab july. elul august. ethanim, or tisri september. bul, or mareshuan october. chisleu november. tebeth december. sebat january. adar february. one-half of these months consisted of thirty days, the other of twenty-nine, alternately making in all three hundred and fifty-four. to supply the eleven days and six hours which were deficient, they introduced every second year an additional month of twenty-two days, and every fourth year one of twenty-three days; by which means they approached as nearly to the true measure as any other nation had attained till the establishment of the gregorian calendar. the hebrews divided the space from sunrise to sunset into twelve equal parts, and hence the hours of their day varied in length according to the season of the year. for example, when the sun rose at five and set at seven, an hour contained seventy minutes; but when it rose at seven and set at five, the hour was reduced to fifty minutes, and so on in proportion to the duration of the time that the sun was above the horizon. a similar rule applied to the night, which was likewise divided into twelve equal portions. it must be acknowledged, however, that the observations now made apply rather to the acquirements of the jews after their return from the east, than to the more simple condition in which they appear under their judges and prophets. next to the learning of this early period, the reader of the sacred history will have his curiosity excited in regard to the time, the place, and the manner of religious worship. when the israelites had obtained possession of the holy land, and distributed the territory among their tribes, the tabernacle, or ambulatory temple, was placed at shiloh, a town in the possession of ephraim. to that sacred retreat the hebrews were wont to travel at the three great festivals, to accomplish the service enjoined by their law. but it appears that a more ordinary kind of religious duty was performed at certain stations within the several tribes, in the intervals between the stated feasts appointed fur the whole nation; having some reference, it is probable, to the periodical return of the sabbath and new moons. for this purpose the people seem to have repaired to high places, where they might more readily perceive the lunar crescent, and give utterance to their customary expression of gratitude and joy. this species of adoration was connived at rather than authorized by the priests and levites, who found it impossible to check altogether the propensity of the multitude to perform their worship on the high hill and under the green tree. samuel, the prophet and judge, saw the expediency on one occasion of building an altar unto the lord on ramah, which is called the high place; and in the reign of solomon the same practice was confirmed, "because there was no house built unto the name of the lord until those days."[ ] it is difficult to determine with precision at what epoch the hebrews first formed those meetings or congregations which are called synagogues,--a name afterward more frequently applied to the buildings in which they convened. the earliest allusion to them is found in the seventy-fourth psalm, where the writer, describing the havoc committed by the assyrians, remarks, "they have burnt up all the synagogues of god in the land." we might infer, from this statement alone, that such edifices were common before the babylonian captivity; but we are supplied with a more direct proof in the words of st. james, who informs us that "moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath-day."[ ] the duty in these places, which was confined to prayer and exposition, was performed by that section of the levites who are usually denominated scribes; the higher office of sacrifice, the scene of which was first the tabernacle and afterward the temple, being confined to the priests, the sons of aaron. perhaps in remote places, where the population was small, the inhabitants met in the house of the levite, a conjecture which derives some plausibility from an affecting incident mentioned in the second book of the kings. when the son of the woman of shunem died, "she called unto her husband and said, send me, i pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that i may run to the man of god. and he said, wherefore wilt thou go? it is neither new moon nor sabbath." it is reasonable to conclude, that on these days it was customary to repair to the dwelling of the holy man for religious purposes. we have already alluded to the fact, that at the first settlement of the promised land the tabernacle was established in shiloh, a village in ephraim, at that time the most numerous and powerful of all the tribes. the profanity or, disobedience of the people in this district led to the removal of the divine presence, the symbols of which were commanded to be deposited in jerusalem. "go ye," says the prophet jeremiah, "unto my place which was in shiloh, where i set my name at the first; and see what i did to it for the wickedness of my people israel." hence the origin of the feud which subsisted so long between ephraim and judah, and afterward between the jews and samaritans, in regard to the spot where jehovah ought to be worshipped. each laid claim to a divine appointment; neither would yield to the other or hold the slightest intercourse in their adoration of the same great being; and the question remained as far as ever from being determined when the romans finally cut down all distinctions by their victorious arms. our limits will not permit us to indulge in a minute account of the jewish festivals. still the three great institutions at which all the males of the hebrew nation were commanded to appear before jehovah are so frequently mentioned in the history of the holy land, that we must take leave to specify their general objects. the feast of the passover, comprehending that of unleavened bread, commemorated the signal deliverance of this wonderful people from the tyranny of pharaoh. it was to be kept upon the fifteenth day of the first month, to last seven days, and to begin, as all their festivals began, the evening before at the going down of the sun. the reader will attend to the distinction just stated--the beginning and end of their sacred days. the celebration of the ordinary sabbath, indeed, commenced on the evening of friday, and terminated at the going down of the sun on saturday. "from even unto even shall ye celebrate your sabbaths." but the jews, in the concluding period of their government, had innovated so far on the mosaical institution as to prohibit the passover from being observed on monday, wednesday, or friday, and to appoint the celebration of it on the following day. the year in which our lord suffered death this great annual feast fell on a friday--beginning, as already stated, at sunset on thursday evening--and the redeemer accordingly, who came to fulfil all righteousness, ate the paschal supper with his disciples on the evening of thursday. yet the jews, we find from the evangelical narrative, were not to observe that rite till the following evening; and hence, the early part of friday being the preparation, they would not go into the judgment hall "lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the passover" after the going down of the sun. for the same reason they besought pilate that the bodies might be removed; intimating that the day which was to begin at sunset was to them a high day, being in fact not only the sabbath, but also the paschal feast, both extremely solemn in the estimation of every true israelite. on the ground now stated is easily explained the apparent discrepancy between the account given by st. john and that of the other evangelists. they tell us that our lord celebrated the passover on thursday evening the first day of the yearly festival; whereas the beloved disciple relates, that the neat morning was still the preparation of that ordinance which was to be observed by the whole nation the ensuing night. both statements are perfectly correct; only our saviour adhered to the day fixed by the original institution, while the priests and lawyers followed the rule established by the sanhedrim, which threw the festival a day after its proper time. the proper preparation indeed of every festival began only at three o'clock, called by the hebrews the ninth hour, and continued till the close of the day, or the disappearance of the sun. it was at that hour, accordingly, that the jews entreated the governor to take down the bodies from the cross; holding it extremely improper that any token of a curse or capital punishment should meet their eyes while making ready to kill the paschal lamb. the feast of pentecost was an annual offering of gratitude to jehovah for having blessed the land with increase. it took place fifty days after the passover, and hence the origin of its name in the greek version of our scriptures. another appellation was applied to it--the feast of weeks--for the reason assigned by the inspired lawgiver. "seven weeks shall thou number unto thee; beginning to number the seven weeks from such time as thou puttest the sickle to the corn. and thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the lord thy god with a tribute of a free-will offering of thine hand, in the place which jehovah shall choose to place his name there: and thou shall remember that thou wast a bondman in egypt."[ ] this was a very suitable celebration in an agricultural society, where joy is always experienced upon the gathering in of the fruits of the earth. the hebrews were especially desired on that happy occasion to contrast their improved condition, as freemen reaping their own lands, with the miserable state from which they had been rescued by the good providence of jehovah. the month of may witnessed the harvest-home of all palestine in the days of moses, as well as in the present times; and no sooner was the pleasant toil of filling their barns completed, than all the males repaired to the holy city with the appointed tribute is their hands, and the song of praise in their mouths. jewish antiquaries inform us, that there was combined with this eucharistical service a commemoration of the wonders which took place at mount sinai, when the lord condescended to pronounce his law in the ears of his people. the history of our own religion has supplied a greater event, which at once supersedes the pious recollections of the hebrew, and touches the heart of the christian worshipper with the feeling of a more enlightened gratitude. the termination of the vintage was marked with a similar expression of thanksgiving, uttered by the assembled tribes in the place which had received the "name of jehovah;" the visible manifestation of his presence and power. the precept for this observance is given in the following terms:--"on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the lord seven days. and ye shall take unto you, on the first day, the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm-trees, and the boughs of thick trees and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the lord your god seven days. ye shall dwell in booths seven days, that your generations may know that i made the children of israel to dwell in booths when i brought them out of the land of egypt." this festival was of the most lively and animated description, celebrated with a joyous heart, and under the canopy of heaven, in a most delightful season of the year. if more exquisite music and more graceful dances accompanied the gathering in of the grapes on the banks of the cephisus, the tabret and the viol and the harp, which sounded around the walls of the sacred metropolis, were not wanting in sweetness and gayety; and, instead of the frantic riot of satyrs and bacchanals, the rejoicing was chastened by the solemn religious recollections with which it was associated, in a manner, remarkably pleasing and picturesque.[ ] the feast of trumpets had a reference to the mode practised by many of the ancients for announcing the commencements of seasons and epochs. the beginning of every month was made known to the inhabitants of jerusalem by the sound of musical instruments. "blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast-day: for this was a statute for israel, a law of the god of jacob." as the first day of the moon in september was the beginning of the civil year, the festivity was greater and more solemn than on other occasions. the voice of the trumpets waxed louder than usual, and the public mind was instructed by a grave assurance from the mouth of the proper officer, that another year was added to the age of the world. "in the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. ye shall do no servile work therein; but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the lord."[ ] we have already alluded to the jubilee which occurred periodically after the lapse of forty-nine years, or, as the jews were wont to express it, after a week of sabbaths. the benevolent uses of this most generous institution are known to every reader, more especially as they respected personal freedom and the restoration of lands and houses. great care was taken by the jewish legislator to prevent an accumulation of property in one individual, or even in one tribe. nor was his anxiety less to prevent the alienation of land, either by sale, mortgage, or marriage. with this view we find him enacting a rule, suggested by the case of the daughters of zelophedad, who had been allowed to become heirs to their father, of which the object was to perpetuate the possession of landed estates within the limits of each particular tribe. the heads of the chief families of manasseh, to which community the young women belonged, came before moses and the princes of israel, when, after reminding these dignitaries of the fact just mentioned, they said, "if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes, then shall their inheritance be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received; so shall it be taken from the lot of our inheritance. and when the jubilee of the children of israel shall be, then shall their inheritance be put unto the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers." to this judicious remonstrance moses gave the following answer:--"this is the thing which the lord doth command concerning the daughters of zelophedad; let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe of heir father shall they marry. and every daughter that possesseth an inheritance shall be wife unto one of the family, of the tribe of her father, that the children of israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his fathers. neither shall the inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe; but every one of the tribes of the children of israel shall keep himself to his own inheritance."[ ] besides the anniversaries enjoined by divine authority, the hebrews observed several which were meant to keep alive the remembrance of certain great events recorded in their history. of these was the feast of dedication mentioned by st. john, referring, it has been thought, to the purification of the altar by judas maccabaeus, after it had been profaned by antiochus, the king of syria. when the ceremony was performed, "judas and his brethren, with the whole congregation of israel, ordained that the days of the dedication of the altar should be kept in their season, from year to year, by the space of eight days, from the five-and-twentieth day of the ninth month (november), with mirth and gladness."[ ] the restoration of the heavenly fire in the temple, after the return from babylon, was likewise commemorated every year. this sacred flame, which had been long extinct, was revived on the altar the day that nehemiah performed sacrifice in the new building. for this reason the jews of palestine wrote to those in egypt, recommending an annual festival in remembrance of an event so important to their national worship. they thought it necessary to certify them of the fact, that their brethren also might celebrate the "feast of the fire which was given us when neemias offered sacrifice after that he had builded the temple and the altar."[ ] it was likewise a custom among this singular people, that the young women "went yearly to lament the daughter of jephthah, the gileadite, four days in a year." a more joyous ceremony, on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month adar, reminded the faithful hebrew of the triumph gained by his kindred over the cruel and perfidious haman, who had intended to extirpate their whole race. besides these, we find in the book of zecharias the prophet an allusion to the "fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth;" days of humiliation which probably recalled certain national calamities, such as the destruction of their city and temple, and the era of their long captivity. in concluding this chapter on the literature and religion of the ancient hebrews, we may remark, in regard to the system bequeathed to them by moses, that it contains the only complete body of law which was ever given to a people at one time,--that it is the only entire body of law which has come down to our days,--that it is the only body of ancient law which still governs an existing people,--that, the nation which it respects being scattered over the face of the whole earth, it is the only body of law that is equally observed in the four quarters of the globe,--and, finally, that all the other codes of law of which history has preserved any recollection, were given to communities who already had written statutes, but who wished to change their form or modify their application; whereas, in this case, we behold a new society under the hands of a legislator who proceeds to lay its very foundations.[ ] it may be said of the hebrews, that they had no profane literature, no works devoted to mere amusement or relaxation. as they admitted no image of any thing in heaven or in earth, they consequently rejected the use of all those arts called imitative, and which supply so large a portion of the more refined enjoyment characteristic of civilized nations. in like manner, they seem to have viewed in the light of sacrilege every attempt to bring down the sublime language in which they praised jehovah and recorded his mighty works, to the more common and less hallowed purposes of fictitious narrative, or of amatory, dramatic, and lyrical composition. the jews have no epic poem to throw a lustre on the early annals of their literature. even the song of songs is allowed to have a spiritual import, pointing to much higher themes than solomon and his egyptian bride. a solemn gravity pervades all their writings, befitting a people who were charged with the religious history of the world and with the oracles of divine truth. no smile appears to have ever brightened the countenance of a jewish author,--no trifling thought to have passed through his mind,--no ludicrous association to have been formed in his fancy. in describing the flood of deucalion, the roman poet laughs at the grotesque misery which he himself exhibits, and purposely groups together objects with the intention of exerting to his readers the feeling of ridicule. but in no instance can we detect the faintest symptom of levity in the hebrew penmen; their style, like their subject, is uniformly exalted, chaste, and severe; they wrote to men concerning the things of god, in a manner suitable to such a momentous communication; and they never ceased to remember that, in all their records, whether historical or prophetic, they were employed in propagating those glad tidings by which all the families of the earth were to be blessed. there can be no stronger proof of the pure and sublime nature of hebrew poetry than is supplied by the remarkable fact, that it has been introduced into the service of the christian church, and found suitable for expressing those lofty sentiments with which the gospel inspires the heart of every true worshipper. no other nation of the ancient world has produced a single poem which could be used by an enlightened people in these days for the purposes of devotion.[ ] hesiod, although much esteemed for the moral tone of his compositions, presents very few ideas indeed capable of being accommodated to the theology of an improved age. in perusing the works of the greatest writers of paganism, we are struck with a monstrous incongruity in all their conceptions of the supreme being. the majesty with which the hebrews surrounded jehovah is entirely wanting; the attributes belonging to the great sovereign of the universe are not appreciated; the providence of the divine mind, united with benevolence, compassion, and mercy, is never found to enter into their descriptions of the eternal first cause; while their incessant deviations into polytheism outrage our religious feelings, and carry us back to the verb rudest periods of human history. in these respects the literature of the jews is far exalted above that of every other nation of which history has preserved any traces. it must be acknowledged, that we remain ignorant of the learning and theological opinions cultivated among the persians at the time when the jews were under their dominion, and cannot therefore determine the precise extent to which the dogmas of the captive tribes were affected by their intercourse with a race of men who certainly taught the doctrine of the divine unity, and abstained from idolatrous usages. but confining our judgment even to the oldest compositions of the hebrews, those, for example, which may be traced to the days of moses, of samuel, and of david, we cannot hesitate to pronounce that they are distinguished by a remarkable peculiarity, indicating by the most unambiguous tokens, that, in all things pertaining to religious belief, the descendants of jacob were placed under a special superintendence and direction. chapter v. _description of jerusalem_. pilgrimages to the holy land; arculfus; willibald; bernard; effect of crusades; william de bouldessell; bertrandon de la broquiere; state of damascus; breidenbach; baumgarten; bartholemeo georgewitz; aldersey; sandys; doubdan; cheron; thevenot; gonzales; morison; maundrell; pococke; road from jaffa to jerusalem; plain of sharon; rama or ramla; condition of the peasantry; vale of jeremiah; jerusalem; remark of chateaubriand; impressions of different travellers; dr. clarke; tasso; volney; henniker; mosque of omar described; mysterious stone; church of holy sepulchre; ceremonies of good friday; easter; the sacred fire; grounds for skepticism; folly of the priests; emotion upon entering the holy tomb; description of chateaubriand; holy places in the city; on mount zion; pool of siloam; fountain of the virgin; valley of jehoshaphat; mount of offence; the tombs of zechariah, of jehoshaphat, and of absalom; jewish architecture; dr. clarke's opinion on the topography of ancient jerusalem; opposed by other writers; the inexpediency of such discussions. having described, as fully as the plan of our undertaking will admit, the constitution, history, learning, and religion of the ancient hebrews, we now proceed to give an account of the present condition of the country which they inhabited nearly years, interrupted only by short intervals of captivity or oppression. the connexion which christianity acknowledges with the people and soil of judea has, from the earliest times, given a deep interest to travels in the holy land. the curiosity natural to man in respect to things which have obtained celebrity, joined to the conviction, hardly leas natural, that there is a certain merit in enduring privation and fatigue for the sake of religion, has in every age induced pilgrims to visit the scenes where our divine faith was originally established, and to communicate to their contemporaries the result of their investigations. it is to be regretted, indeed, that some of them from ignorance, and others from a feeling of the weakest bigotry, have omitted to notice those very objects which are esteemed the most interesting to the general reader; thinking it their duty, as one of them expresses it, to "quench all spirit of vain curiosity, lest they should return without any benefit to their souls." about the year , jerusalem and its holy places were visited by arculfus, from whose report adamnan composed a narrative, which was received with considerable approbation. he describes the temple on mount calvary with some minuteness, mentioning its twelve pillars and eight gates. but his attention was more particularly attracted by relics, those objects which all jerusalem flocked to handle and to kiss with the greatest reverence. he saw the cup used at the last supper,--the sponge on which the vinegar was poured,--the lance which pierced the side of our lord,--the cloth in which he was wrapped,--also another cloth woven by the virgin mary, whereon were represented the figures of the saviour and of the twelve apostles. eighty years later, willibald, a saxon, undertook the same journey, influenced by similar motives. from his infancy he had been distinguished by a sage and pious disposition; and, on emerging from boyhood, he was seized with an anxious desire to "try the unknown ways of peregrination--to pass over the huge wastes of ocean to the ends of the earth." to this erratic propensity he owed all the fame which a place in the romish calendar and the authorship of an indifferent book can confer. in jerusalem he saw all that arculfus saw, and nothing more; but he had previously visited the tomb of the seven sleepers, and the cave in which st. john wrote the apocalypse. bernard proceeded to palestine in the year . he travelled first in egypt, and from thence made his way across the desert, the heat of which called vividly to his imagination the sloping hills of campania when covered with snow. at alexandria he was subjected to tribute by the avaricious governor, who paid no regard to the written orders of the sultan. the treatment which he received at cairo was still more distressing. he was thrown into prison, and in this extremity he asked counsel of god; whereupon it was miraculously revealed to him, that thirteen denari, such as he had presented to the other mussulman, would produce here an equally favourable result. the celestial origin of this advice was proved by its complete success. the pilgrim was not only liberated, but obtained letters from the propitiated ruler which saved him from all farther exaction. the crusades threw open the holy places to the eyes of all europe; and accordingly, so long as a christian king swayed the sceptre in the capital of judea, the merit of individual pilgrimage was greatly diminished. but no sooner had the warlike saracens recovered possession of jerusalem than the wonted difficulty and danger returned; and, as might be expected, the interest attached to the sacred buildings, which the "infidel dogs" were no longer worthy to behold, revived in greater vigour than formerly. in , william de bouldesell adventured on an expedition into arabia and palestine, of which some account has been published. in the monastery of st. catharine, at the base of mount sinai, he was hospitably received by the monks, who showed him the bones of their patron reposing in a tomb, which, however, they appear not to have treated with much respect. by means of hard beating, we are told, they brought out from these remains of mortality a small portion of blood, which they presented to the pilgrim as a gift of singular value. a circumstance which particularly astonished him would probably have produced no surprise in a less believing mind; the blood, it seems, "had not the appearance of real blood, but rather of some thick oily substance;" nevertheless, the miracle was regarded by him as one of the greatest that had ever been witnessed in this world. a hundred years afterward bertrandon de la broquiere sailed from venice to jaffa, where, according to the statistics of contrite pilgrims, the "pardons of the holy land begin." at jerusalem he found the christians reduced to a state of the most cruel thraldom. such of them as engaged in trade were locked up in their shops every night by the saracens, who opened the doors in the morning at such an hour as seemed to them most proper or convenient. at damascus they were treated with equal severity. the first two persons whom he met in this city knocked him down,--an injury which he dared not resent for fear of immediately losing his life. about thirty years before the period of his visit, the destroying arms of timur had laid a large portion of the syrian capital in ruins, though the population had again increased to nearly one hundred thousand. during his stay he witnessed the arrival of a caravan consisting of more than three thousand camels. its entry employed two days and two nights; the koran wrapped in silk being carried in front on the back of a camel richly adorned with the same costly material. this part of the procession was surrounded by a number of persons brandishing naked swords, and playing on all sorts of musical instruments. the governor, with all the inhabitants, went out to meet the holy cavalcade, and to do homage to the sacred ensign, which at once proclaimed their faith, and announced the object of the pious mission thus successfully concluded. broquiere found the greatest respect paid to every one who had performed the pilgrimage to mecca, and was gravely assured by an eminent moulah, that no such person could ever incur the hazard of everlasting damnation. we merely mention the names of breidenbach of mentz, and of martin baumgarten, who in the beginning of the sixteenth century achieved a journey into the holy land. the latter of these, while passing through egypt, was most barbarously treated by the saracen boys, who pelted him with dirt, brickbats, stones, and rotten fruit. at hebron he was shown the field "were it is said, or at least guessed, that adam was made;" but the reddish earth of which it is composed is now used in the manufacture of prayer-beads. the work of bartholemeo georgewitz, who travelled in the same century, gives a melancholy account of the miseries endured by such christians as were carried into slavery by the turks in those evil days. the armies of that nation were followed by slave-dealers supplied with chains, by means of which fifty or sixty were bound in a row together, leaving only two feet between to enable them to walk. the hands were manacled during the day, and at night the feet also. the sufferings inflicted upon men of rank, and those belonging to the learned professions, were almost beyond description; extending not only to the lowest labours of the field, but even to the work of oxen, being sometimes yoked like these animals in the plough. owing to the great rivers and arms of the sea, it was extremely difficult for those who were sent into asia to effect their escape; whence, in many cases, the horrors of captivity had no other limits than those of the natural life. no wonder that bartholemeo recommends to every one visiting those parts to make his will, "like one going not to the earthly, but to the heavenly jerusalem." laurence aldersey, who set out from london in , was the first protestant who encountered the perils of a voyage to syria. in the levant a turkish galley hove in sight, and caused great alarm. the master, "being a wise fellow, began to devise how to escape the danger; but, while both he and all of us were in our dumps, god sent us a merrie gale of wind." as they approached candia a violent storm came on, and the mariners began to reproach the englishman as the cause, "and saide i was no good christian, and wished i were in the middest of the sea, saying that they and the shippe were the worse for me." he replied, "i think myself the worst creature in the worlde, and do you consider yourselves also." these remonstrances were followed by a long sermon, the tenor of which was, "that they were not all good christians, else it were not possible for them to have such weather." a gentleman on board informed aldersey, that the suspicions respecting him originated in his refusal to join in the prayers to the virgin mary,--a charge which he parried by remarking that "they who praied to so many goe a wrong way to worke." the friars, resolving to bring the matter to an issue, sent round the image of our lady to kiss. on its approach the good protestant endeavoured to avoid it by going another way; but the bearer "fetched his course about," and presented it. the proffered salutation being then positively rejected, the affair might have become serious, had not two of the more respectable monks interceded in his behalf, and enforced a more charitable procedure. of the people of cyprus he remarks, that they "be very rude, and like beasts, and no better: they eat their meat sitting upon the ground, with their legs acrosse like tailors." on the th of august they arrived at joppa, but did not till the next day receive permission to land from the great pasha, "who sate upon a hill to see us sent away." aldersey had mounted before the rest, which greatly displeased his highness, who sent a servant to pull him from the saddle and beat him; "whereupon i made a long legge, saying, grand mercye, seignor." this timely submission seems to have secured forgiveness; and accordingly, "being horsed upon little asses," they commenced their journey towards jerusalem. rama he describes as so "ruinated, that he took it to be rather a heape of stones than a towne;" finding no house to receive them but such a one as they were compelled to enter by creeping on their knees. the party were exposed to the usual violence and extortion of the arabs; "they that should have rescued us stood still, and durst doe nothing, which was to our cost." on reaching the holy city they knelt down and gave thanks; after which they were obliged to enter the gate on foot, no christian at that period being allowed to appear within the walls mounted. the superior of the convent received the pilgrims courteously into his humble establishment, where aldersey tells us, "they were dieted of free cost, and fared reasonable well."[ ] the beginning of the seventeenth century witnessed a higher order of travellers, who, from such a mixture of motives as might actuate either a pilgrim or an antiquary, undertook the perilous tour of the holy land. among these, one of the most distinguished was george sandys, who commenced his peregrinations in the year . he was succeeded by doubdan, cheron, thevenot, gonzales, morison, maundrell, and pococke, all of whom have contributed many valuable materials towards a complete knowledge of the localities, government, and actual condition of modern palestine. in our own days the number of works on these important subjects has increased greatly, presenting to the historian of the turkish provinces in asia a nearer and more minute view of society than could be obtained by the earlier travellers, who, instead of yielding to the characteristic bigotry of moslem, usually opposed to it a prejudice not less determined and uncharitable. we must not hazard a catalogue of the enterprising authors to whom the european public are indebted for the information: now enjoyed by every class of readers, in regard to the most interesting of all ancient kingdoms,--the country inhabited by israel and judah. in the description which we are about to give of the principal towns, the buildings, the antiquities, the manners, the opinions, and the religious forms which meet the observation of the intelligent tourist in the land of canaan, we shall select the most striking facts from writers of all nations and sects, making no distinction but such as shall be dictated by a respect for the learning, the candour, and the opportunities which are recorded in their several volumes. palestine is usually approached, either from the sea at the port of jaffa (the ancient joppa), or from egypt, by way of the intervening desert. in both cases, the principal object is to obtain a safe and easy route to the capital, which, even at the present hour, cannot be reached without much danger, unless under the special protection of the native authorities. the power of mohammed ali, it is true, extends almost to the very walls of gaza; and wherever his government is acknowledged no violence can be committed with impunity on european travellers. but the syrian pashas, equally deficient in inclination and vigour, still permit the grossest extortion, and sometimes connive at the most savage atrocities. besides, there is a class of lawless arabs who scour the borders of the wilderness, holding at defiance all the restrictions which a civilized people impose or respect. sir frederick henniker, who followed the unwonted track which leads from mount sinai to the southern shore of the dead sea, narrowly escaped with his life, after having been severely wounded and repeatedly robbed by one of the most savage hordes of bedouins. the history of the crusades will draw our attention to jaffa more minutely than would be suitable at the present stage of our narrative; we shall therefore proceed on the usual route to jerusalem, collecting as we go along such notices as may prove interesting to the reader. at a short distance from this celebrated port the pilgrim enters the plain of sharon, celebrated in scripture for its beautiful roses. the monk neret informs us, that in his time it was covered with tulips, the variety of whose colours formed a lovely parterre. at present, the eye of the traveller is delighted with a profusion of roses white and red, the narcissus, the white and orange lily, the carnation, and a highly-fragrant species of everlasting-flower. this plain stretches along the coast from gaza in the south to mount carmel on the north, being bounded towards the east by the hills of judea and samaria. the whole of it is not upon the same level; it consists of four platforms separated from each other by a wall of naked stones. the soil is composed of a very fine sand, which, though mixed with ravel, appears extremely fertile; but owing to the desolating spirit of mohammedan despotism, nothing is seen in some of the richest fields except thistles and withered grass. here and there, indeed, are scanty plantations of cotton, with a few patches of doura, barley, and wheat. the villages, which are commonly surrounded with olive-trees and sycamores, are for the most part in ruins; exhibiting a melancholy proof that under a bad government even the bounty of heaven ceases to be a blessing. the path by which the billy barrier is penetrated is difficult, and in some places dangerous. but before you reach it, turning towards the east, you perceive rama, or ramla, the ancient arimathea, distinguished by its charming situation, and well known as the residence of a christian community. the convent, it is true, had been plundered five years before it was visited by chateaubriand; and it was not without the most urgent solicitation that the friars were permitted to repair their building, as if it were a maxim among the turks, who by their domination continue to afflict and disgrace the finest parts of palestine, that the progress of ruin and decay should never be arrested. volney tells us, that when he was at ramla a commander resided there in a serai, the walls and floors of which were on the point of tumbling down. he asked one of the inferior officers why his master did not at least pay some attention to his own apartment. the reply was, "if another shall obtain his place next year, who will repay the expense?" in those days the aga maintained about one hundred horsemen and as many african soldiers, who were lodged in an old christian church, the nave of which was converted into a stable, as also in an ancient khan, which was disputed with them by the scorpions. the adjacent country is planted with lofty olives, the greatest part of which are as large as the walnut-trees of france, though they are daily perishing through age and the ravages of contending factions. when a peasant is disposed to take revenge on his enemy, he goes by night and outs his trees close to the ground, when the wound, which he carefully covers from the sight, drains off the sap like an issue. amid these plantations are seen at every step dry wells, cisterns fallen in, and immense vaulted reservoirs, which prove that in ancient times this town must have been upwards of four miles in circumference. at present it does not contain more than a hundred miserable families. the houses are only so many huts, sometimes detached, and sometimes ranged in the form of cells round a court, enclosed by a mud wall. in winter, the inhabitants and their cattle may be said to live together; the part of the building allotted to themselves being raised only two feet above that in which they lodge their beasts. the peasants are by this means kept warm without burning wood,--a species of economy indispensable in a country absolutely destitute of fuel. as to the fire necessary for culinary purposes, they make it, as was the practice in the days of ezekiel the prophet, of dung kneaded into cakes, which they dry in the sun, exposing them to its rays on the walls of their huts. in summer, their lodging is more airy; but all their furniture consists of a single mat and a pitcher for carrying water. the immediate neighborhood of the village is sown at the proper season with grain and watermelons; all the rest is a desert, and abandoned to the bedouin arabs, who feed their flocks on it. there are frequent remains of towers, dungeons, and even of castles with ramparts and ditches, in some of which are a few barbary soldiers with nothing but a shirt and a musket. these ruins, however, are more commonly inhabited by owls, jackals, and scorpions.[ ] the only remarkable antiquity at ramla is the minaret of a decayed mosque, which, by an arabic inscription, appears to have been built by the sultan of egypt. from the summit, which is very lofty, the eye follows the whole chain of mountains, beginning at nablous, and skirting the extremity of the plain till it loses itself in the south. a ride of two hours brings the traveller to the verge of the mountains, where the road opens through a rugged ravine, and is formed in the dry channel of a torrent. a scene of marked solitude and desolation surrounds his steps as he pursues his journey in what is so simply described in the gospel as the "hill country of judea." he finds himself amid a labyrinth of mountains, of a conical figure, all nearly alike, and connected with each other at their base. a naked rock presents strata or beds resembling the seats of a roman amphitheatre, or the walls which support the vineyards in the valleys of savoy. every recess is filled with dwarf oaks, box, and rose-laurels. from the bottom of the ravines olive-trees rear their heads, sometimes forming continuous woods on the sides of the hills. on reaching the most elevated summit of this chain, he looks down towards the south-west on the beautiful valley of sharon, bounded by the great sea; before him opens the vale of st. jeremiah; and in the same direction, on the top of a rock, appears in the distance an ancient fortress called the castle of the maccabees. it is conjectured that the author of the lamentations came into the world in the village which has retained his name amid these mountains; so much is certain, at least, that the melancholy of this desolate scene appears to pervade the compositions of the prophet of sorrows. the unvarying manners of the east exhibit to the view of the stranger, at the present day, the same picture of rural innocence and simplicity which might have met the eye of the mother of the redeemer when she came into this pastoral country to salute her cousin elizabeth. herds of goats, with pendent ears, sheep with large tails, and asses which remind you, by their beauty, of the onagra of scripture, issue from the villages at the dawn of day. arab women are seen bringing grapes to dry in the vineyards; others with their faces veiled, carrying pitchers of water on their heads, like the daughters of midian. from the valley of jeremiah the traveller towards zion descends into that which bears the name of turpentine, and is deeper and narrower than the other. here are observed some vineyards, and a few patches of doura. he next arrives at the brook where the youthful david picked up the five smooth stones, with one of which he slew the gigantic goliath. having crossed the stream, he perceives the village of heriet-lefta on the bank of another dry channel, which resembles a dusty road. el bir_ appears in the distance on the summit of a lofty hill on the way to nablous, the shechem of the israelites and the neapolis of the herods. he now pursues his course through a desert, where wild fig-trees thinly scattered wave their embrowned leaves in the southern breeze. the ground, which had hitherto exhibited some verdure, becomes altogether bare; the sides of the mountains, expanding themselves, assume at once an appearance of greater grandeur and sterility. presently all vegetation ceases; even the very mosses disappear. the confused amphitheatre of the mountains is tinged with a red and vivid colour. in this dreary region he keeps ascending a whole hour to gain an elevated hill which he sees before him; after which he proceeds during an equal space across a naked plain strewed with loose stones. all at once, at the extremity of this plain, he perceives a line of gothic walls flanked with square towers, and the tops of a few buildings peeping above them;--he beholds jerusalem, once the joy of the whole earth! "i can now account," says m. chateaubriand, "for the surprise expressed by the crusaders and pilgrims at the first sight of jerusalem, according to the reports of historians and travellers. i can affirm that whoever has, like me, had the patience to read nearly two hundred modern accounts of the holy land; the rabbinical compilations, and the passages in the ancient writers respecting judea, still knows nothing at all about it. i paused with my eyes fixed on jerusalem, measuring the height of its walls, reviewing at once all the recollections of history from the patriarch abraham to godfrey of bouillon, reflecting on the total change accomplished to the world by the mission of the son of man, and in vain seeking that temple, not one stone of which is left upon another. were i to live a thousand years, never should i forget that desert, which yet seems to be pervaded by the greatness of jehovah and the terrors of death."[ ] on this occasion a camp of turkish horse, with all the accompaniments of oriental pomp, was pitched under the walls. the tents in general were covered with black lambskins, while those belonging to persons of distinction were formed of striped cloth. the horses, saddled and bridled, were fastened to stakes. there were four pieces of horse-artillery, well mounted on carriages, which appeared to be of english manufacture. these fierce soldiers are stationed near the capital, as well for the purpose of checking the savage bedouins, who acknowledge no master, as for enforcing the tribute demanded from all strangers who enter the holy city. the recollections of the mussulman, no less than those of the christian, inspire a reverential feeling for the town in which david dwelt; and hence, although the european pilgrim be oppressed by the present laws of palestine, his motives are usually respected, and even praised. the reader who has perused with attention some of the more recent works on palestine must have been struck with the diversity, and even the apparent contradiction, which prevail in their descriptions of jerusalem. according to one, the magnificence of its buildings rivals the most splendid edifices of modern times, while another could perceive nothing but filth and ruins, surmounted by a gaudy mosque and a few glittering minarets. the greater number, it must be acknowledged, have drawn from their own imagination the tints in which they have been pleased to exhibit the metropolis of judea; trusting more to the impressions conveyed by the brilliant delineations of poetry, than to a minute inspection of what they might have seen with their own eyes. dr. clarke, for example, has allowed his pen to be guided by the ardent muse of tasso, rather than by the cool observation of an unbiassed traveller. "no sensation of fatigue or heat," says he, "could counterbalance the eagerness and zeal which animated all our party in the approach to jerusalem; every individual pressed forward, hoping first to announce the joyful intelligence of its appearance. we passed some insignificant ruins, either of ancient buildings or of modern villages; but had they been of more importance they would have excited little notice at the time, so earnestly bent was every mind towards the main object of interest and curiosity. at length, after about two hours had been passed in this state of anxiety and suspense, ascending a hill towards the south--hagiopolis! exclaimed a greek in the van of our cavalcade; and, instantly throwing himself from his horse, was seen upon his knees, bare-headed, facing the prospect he surveyed. suddenly the sight burst upon us all. the effect produced was that of total silence throughout the whole company. many of our party, by an immediate impulse, took off their hats as if entering a church, without being sensible of so doing. the greeks and catholics shed torrents of tears; and, presently beginning to cross themselves with unfeigned devotion, asked if they might be permitted to take off the covering from their feet, and proceed, barefooted to the holy sepulchre. we had not been prepared for the grandeur of the spectacle which the city alone exhibited. instead of a wretched and ruined town, by some described as the desolated remnant of jerusalem, we beheld, as it were, a flourishing and stately metropolis, presenting a magnificent assemblage of domes, towers, palaces, churches, and monasteries; all of which, glittering in the sun's rays, shone with inconceivable splendour. as we drew nearer, our whole attention was engrossed by its noble and interesting appearance."[ ] the effect produced upon the christian army when they obtained the first view of the holy city is beautifully described by the italian poet, thereby supplying, it may be suspected, the model which has been so faithfully copied by the english tourist. we avail ourselves of the translation of hoole. "now from the golden east the zephyrs borne, proclaimed with balmy gales the approach of morn; and fair aurora decked her radiant head with roses cropp'd from eden's flowery bed; when from the sounding camp was heard afar the noise of troops preparing for the war: to this succeed the trumpet's loud alarms, and rouse, with shriller notes, the host to arms. "with holy zeal their swelling hearts abound, and their wing'd footsteps scarcely print the ground. when now the sun ascends the ethereal way, and strikes the dusty field with warmer ray; behold, jerusalem in prospect lies! behold, jerusalem salutes their eyes! at once a thousand tongues repeat the name, and hail jerusalem with loud acclaim! "at first, transported with the pleasing sight, each christian bosom glowed with full delight; but deep contrition soon their joy suppressed, and holy sorrow saddened every breast; scarce dare their eyes the city walls survey, where clothed in flesh their dear redeemer lay, whose sacred earth did once their lord enclose, and when triumphant from the grave he rose! "each faltering tongue imperfect speech supplies; each labouring bosom heaves with frequent sighs. each took the example as their chieftains led, with naked feet the hallowed soil they tread. each throws his martial ornaments aside, the crested helmets with their plumy pride; to humble thoughts their lofty hearts they bend, and down their cheeks the pious tears descend."[ ] no city assuredly presents a more striking example of the vicissitude of human affairs than the capital of the jews. when we behold its walls levelled, its ditches filled up, and all its buildings embarrassed with ruins, we scarcely can believe we view that celebrated metropolis which formerly withstood the efforts of the most powerful empires, and for a time resisted the arms of rome itself; though, by a whimsical change of fortune, its mouldering edifices now receive her homage and reverence. "in a word," says volney, "we with difficulty recognize jerusalem." still more are we astonished at its ancient greatness, when we consider its situation, amid a rugged soil, destitute of water, and surrounded by the dry channels of torrents and steep hills. remote from every great road, it seems not to have been calculated either for a considerable mart of commerce, or for the centre of a great consumption. it overcame, however, every obstacle, and may be adduced as a proof of what patriotism and religion may effect in the hands of a good government, or when favoured by happy circumstances from without. the same principles, in some degree modified, still preserve to this city its feeble existence. the renown of its miracles, perpetuated in the east, invites and retains a considerable number of inhabitants within its walls.[ ] as a contrast to the description of dr. clarke, the reader may not be displeased to peruse the notes of sir frederick henniker on the same subject:--"jerusalem is called, even by the mohammedans, the blessed city,--the streets of it are narrow and deserted,--the houses dirty and ragged,--the shops few and forsaken,--and throughout the whole there is not one symptom of either commerce, comfort, or happiness. is this the city that men call the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?--the town, which appears to me not worth possession, even without the trouble of conquest, is walled entirely round, is about a mile in length and half a mile in width, so that its circumference may be estimated at three miles. in three quarters of an hour i performed the circuit. it would be difficult to conceive how it could ever have been larger than it now is; for, independent of the ravines, the four outsides of the city are marked by the brook of siloam, by a burial-plate at either end, and by the hill of calvary; and the hill of calvary is now within the town, so that it was formerly smaller than it is at present. the best view of it is from the mount of olives; it commands the exact shape, and nearly every particular, namely, the church of the holy sepulchre, the armenian convent, the mosque of omar, st. stephen's gate, the round-topped houses, and the barren vacancies of the city. the mosque of omar is the st. peter's of turkey. the building itself has a light, pagoda appearance; the garden in which it stands occupies a considerable part of the city, and contrasted with the surrounding desert is beautiful; but it is forbidden ground, and jew or christian entering within its precincts must, if discovered, forfeit either his religion or his life."[ ] the observation made by sir frederick, in regard to the difficulty and danger of entering the mosque of omar, has been verified on more than one occasion. but the obstacles, apparently insurmountable, were overcome by dr. richardson, who, in return for the successful exercise of his professional skill, was rewarded by a clandestine visit to the shrine of the mussulman saint. it will appear, from the few details which we are about to select from his volume, that the veil of mystery does not conceal anything really worth seeing. like pompey in the temple, the christian visiter, whose presence, in like manner, profanes the holy place, feels no other surprise than is occasioned by the fact, that men have agreed to excite curiosity by prohibiting an imaginary gratification. "on our arrival at the door, a gentle knock brought up the sacristan, who, apprized of our intention, was within waiting to receive us. he demanded, rather sternly, who we were, and was answered by my black conductor in tones no less consequential than his own. the door immediately edged up, to prevent as much as possible the light from shining out, and we squeezed ourselves in with a gentle and noiseless step, although there was no person near who could be alarmed by the loudest sound of our bare feet upon the marble floor. the door was no sooner shut than the sacristan, taking a couple of candles in his hand, showed us all over the interior of the building, pointing, in the pride of his heart, to the elegant marble walls, the beautifully-gilded ceiling, the well where the true worshippers drink and wash,--with which we also blessed our palates and moistened our beards,--the paltry reading-desk with the ancient koran, the handsome columns, and the green stone with the wonderful nails. as soon as we had completed this circuit, pulling a key from his girdle, he unlocked the door of the railing that separates the outer from the inner part of the mosque, which, with an elevation of two or three steps, let us into the sacred recess. here he pointed out the patches of mosaic in the floor, the round flat stone which the prophet carried on his arm in battle, directed us to introduce our hand through the hole in the wooden box, to feel the print of the prophet's foot, and, through the posts of the wooden rail, to feel as well as to see the marks of the angel gabriel's fingers (into which i carefully put my own) in the sacred stone that occupies the centre of the mosque, and from which it derives the name of sakhara or locked-up, and over which is suspended a fine cloth of green and red satin. it was so covered with dust that, but for the information of my guide, i should not have been able to tell the composing colours. finally, he pointed to the door that leads into the small cavern below, of which he had not the key. "i looked up to the interior of the dome; but, there being few lamps burning, the light was not sufficient to show me any of its beauty farther than a general glance. the columns and curiosities were counted over again and again, the arches were specially examined and enumerated, to be sure that i had not missed nor forgotten any of them. writing would have been an ungracious behaviour, calculated to excite a thousand suspicions, that next day would have gone to swell the current of the city gossip, to the prejudice both of myself and of my friend. having examined the adytum, we once more touched the footstep of the prophet and the finger-prints of the angel gabriel, and descended the steps, over which the door was immediately secured."[ ] dr. richardson was afterward permitted to visit this splendid mosque during the day, when he found that the dimensions of the enclosure in which it stands is about fifteen hundred feet in length, and a thousand in breadth. in the sacred retirement of this charming spot, the followers of the prophet delight to saunter, or repose, as in the elysium of their devotions; and, arrayed in the gorgeous costume of the east, add much to the interest, the beauty, and solemn stillness of the scene, from which they seem loath to retire. the sakhara itself is a regular octagon of about sixty feet a side, and is entered by four spacious doors, each of which is adorned with a porch projecting from the line of the building and rising considerably on the wall. all the sides of it are paneled. the centre stone of one panel is square, of another it is octagonal, and thus they alternate all round; the sides of each running down the angles like a plain pilaster, and giving an appearance as if the whole were set in a frame. the marble is white, with a considerable tinge of blue; square pieces of the latter colour being introduced in different places, so as to confer upon the exterior a very pleasing effect. the upper story is faced with small tiles painted of different colours, white, yellow, green, and blue; some of them are also covered with sentences from the koran. at this height there are seven elegant windows on each side, except where the porches interfere, and then there are only six; the general appearance of the edifice being extremely light and beautiful, more especially from the mixture of the soft colours above and the delicate tints of the marble in the main body of the structure. the interior fully corresponds to the magnificence and beauty just described. there are twenty-four marble columns, placed parallel to the eight sides of the building, three opposite to each side, so as still to preserve the octagonal form. eight of them are large plain pillars belonging to no particular order of architecture, and all standing opposite to the eight entering angles of the edifice, and deeply indented on the inner side; so that they furnish an acute termination to the octagonal lines within. between every two of the square columns there are two of a round figure, well proportioned, and resting on a base. they are from eighteen to twenty feet high, with a sort of corinthian capital. a large square plinth of marble extends from the top of the one column to the other, and above it there is constructed a number of arches all round, which support the inner end of the roof or ceiling, the outer end resting upon the walls of the building. this is composed of wood, or plaster, highly ornamented with a species of carving, and richly gilt. but this gorgeous temple owes both its name and existence to a large irregular mass of stone, having an oblong shape, which still occupies the centre of the mosque. it is a portion of the calcareous rock on which the city is built, and which prevails in the other mountains in the neighbourhood of jerusalem, having very much the appearance of being a part of the bed that might have been left when the foundation of the building was levelled. it rises highest towards the south-west corner, and falls abruptly at the end, where are the prints of the prophet's foot. it is irregular on the upper surface, the same as when it was broken from the quarry. it is enclosed all round with a wooden rail about four feet high, and which in every place is nearly in contact with the stone. we have already mentioned that there is a cover or canopy of variously-coloured silk suspended over it; and nothing, we are assured can be held in higher veneration than the hadjr-el-sakhara, the locked-up stone.[ ] but this fragment of limestone has more weighty pretensions to the veneration of the moslem than the mere print of the angel gabriel's fingers or of the prophet's foot; for, like the palladium of ancient troy, it is said to have fallen from heaven on this very spot, at the time when prophecy commenced in jerusalem. it was employed as a seat by the venerable men to whom that gift was communicated; and, as long as the spirit of vaticination continued to enlighten their minds, the slab remained steady for their accommodation. but no sooner was the power of prophecy withdrawn, and the persecuted seers compelled to flee for safety to other lands, than the stone is declared to have manifested the profoundest sympathy in their fate, and even to have resolved to accompany them in their flight. on this occasion gabriel the archangel interposed his authority, and prevented the departure of the prophetical chair. he grasped it with his mighty hand, and nailed it to its rocky bed till the arrival of mohammed, who, horsed on the lightning's wing, flew thither from mecca, joined the society of seventy thousand ministering spirits, and, having offered up his devotions to the throne of god, fixed the stone immovably in this holy site, around which the caliph omar erected his magnificent mosque. within the same enclosure there is another house of prayer called el aksa, which, though a fine building, is greatly inferior to el sakhara. between the two there is a beautiful fountain, which takes its name from a clump of orange-trees overshadowing its water. the mosque is composed of seven naves supported by pillars and columns, and at the head of the centre nave is a fine cupola. two others branch off at right angles to the principal body of the edifice. before it is a portico of seven arches in front and one in depth, supported by square pillars. ali bey, who in his character of mussulman was permitted to examine the holy fane at leisure, describes the great central nave of the aksa as about feet long and broad. it is supported on each side by seven arches lightly pointed, resting upon cylindrical pillars, in the form of columns, but without any architectural proportion, with foliaged capitals which do not belong to any order. the fourth pillar to the right of the entrance is octangular, and enormously thick. it is called the pillar of sidi omar. the walls rise feet above the tops of the arches, and contain two rows of twenty-one windows each. the roof is of timber, without being vaulted. the cupola is supported by four large arches resting upon four square pillars. it is spherical, with two rows of windows, and is ornamented with arabesque paintings and gilding of exquisite beauty. its diameter is equal to that of the central nave. m. burckhardt describes the holy house in jerusalem as a union of several buildings erected at different periods of islamism, bearing upon them demonstrative proofs of the prevailing taste of the various ages in which they were successively constructed. it is not precisely one mosque, but a group of mosques. its name in arabic, el haram, strictly signifies a temple or place consecrated by the peculiar presence of the divinity. the profane and the infidel are forbidden to enter it. the mussulman religion acknowledges but two temples, those, namely, of mecca and of jerusalem; both are called el haram; both are equally prohibited by law to christians, jews, and every other person who is not a believer in the prophet. the mosques, on the other hand, are considered merely as places of meeting for certain acts of worship, and are not held so especially consecrated as to demand the total exclusion of all who do not profess the true faith. entrance into them is not denied to the unbeliever by any statute of the mohammedan law; and hence it is not uncommon for christians at constantinople to receive from the government a written order to visit even the mosque of st. sophia. but the sultan himself could not grant permission to an infidel either to pass into the territory of mecca, or to enter the temple of jerusalem. a firman granting such privileges would be regarded as a most horrid sacrilege: it would not be respected by the people; and the favoured object would inevitably become the victim of his own imprudent boldness.[ ] in the interior of the rock whereon the sakhara stands there is a cave, into which dr. richardson could not obtain admittance. he was four times in the mosque, and went twice thither under the express assurance that its doors should be thrown open to him. but when he arrived the key was always wanting, and when the keeper of it was sought he could never be found. ali bey, who encountered no obstacle, reveals all the mystery of this subterranean mansion. it is a room forming an irregular square of about eighteen feet surface, and eight feet high in the middle. the roof is that of a natural vault, quite irregular. in descending the staircase, there is upon the right-hand, near the bottom, a little tablet of marble, bearing the name of el makam souleman, the place of solomon. a similar one upon the left is named el makam daoud, the place of david. a cavity or niche on the south-west side of the rock is called el makam ibrahim, the place of abraham. a similar concave step at the north-west angle is described as el makam djibrila, the place of gabriel; and a sort of stone table at the north-east angle is denominated el makam el hoder, the place of elias. in the roof of the apartment, exactly in the middle, there is an aperture almost cylindrical through the whole thickness of the rock, about three feet in diameter. this is the place of the prophet. m. burckhardt observed a copy of the koran, the leaves of which were four feet long, and more than two feet and a half broad. tradition reports that it belonged to the caliph omar; but he saw a similar one in the grand mosque at cairo, and another at mecca, to both of which the same origin is assigned. the drawings supplied by this enterprising traveller give a very distinct notion of the extent and magnificence of the great mussulman temple,--the most prominent object in the modern jerusalem, and occupying the site of the still more interesting edifice erected by solomon in the proudest period of jewish history. but the christian pilgrim, who walks about the holy city "to tell her towers and mark her bulwarks," is more readily attracted by less splendid objects, the memorials of his own more humble faith. among these the most remarkable is the church of the holy sepulchre, which is built on the lower part of the sloping hill distinguished by the name of acre, near the place where it is joined to mount moriah. the turkish government, aware of the veneration which all christians entertain for relics in any way connected with the sufferings of the great author of their religion, have converted this feeling into a source of revenue; every person not subject to the sublime porte, who visits the shrine of jesus christ, being compelled to pay a certain sum of money for admittance. but the church, nevertheless, is opened only on particular days of the week, and cannot be seen at any other time without an order from the two convents, the latin and the greek, with the sanction of the governor of the city. on such occasions the pressure at the doors is very great; the zeal of the pilgrims checked by the insolence of the turks, who delight to insult and disappoint their anxiety, leading sometimes to scenes of tumult not quite in harmony with their pious motives. we shall give an account of the effect produced by the local and historical associations of the place on a sober spirit, in the words of a traveller to whom we have been already indebted:-- "the mind is not withdrawn from the important concerns of this hallowed spot by any tasteful decorations or dignified display of architecture in its plan or in its walls; but having cleared the throng, the religion of the place is allowed to take full possession of the soul, and the visiter feels as if he were passing into the presence of the great and immaculate jehovah, and summoned to give an account of the most silent and secret thoughts of his heart. having passed within these sacred walls, the attention is first directed to a large flat stone in the floor, a little within the door; it is surrounded by a rail, and several lamps hang suspended over it. the pilgrims approach it on their knees; touch and kiss it, and prostrating themselves before it, offer up their prayers in holy adoration. this is the stone on which the body of our lord was washed and anointed and prepared for the tomb. turning to the left and proceeding a little forward, we came into a round space immediately under the dome, surrounded with sixteen large columns which support the gallery above. in the centre of this space stands the holy sepulchre; it is enclosed in an oblong house, rounded at one end with small arcades or chapels for prayer, on the outside of it. these are for the copts, the abyssinians, the syrian mareonites, and other christians, who are not, like the roman catholics, the greeks, and armenians, provided with large chapels in the body of the church. at the other end it is squared off and furnished with a platform in front, which is ascended by a flight of steps, having a small parapet-wall of marble on each hand, and floored with the same material. in the middle of this small platform stands a block of polished marble about a foot and a half square; on this stone sat the angel who announced the blessed tidings of the resurrection to mary magdalene, and joanna, and mary the mother of james. advancing, and taking off our shoes and turbans at the desire of the keeper, he drew aside the curtain, and stepping down, and bending almost to the ground, we entered by a low narrow door into this mansion of victory, where christ triumphed over the grave, and disarmed death of all his terrors. here the mind looks on him who, though he knew no sin, yet entered the mansions of the dead to redeem us from death, and the prayers of a grateful heart ascend with a risen saviour to the presence of god in heaven."[ ] the tomb exhibited is a sarcophagus of white marble, slightly tinged with blue, being fully six feet long, three feet broad, and two feet two inches deep. it is but indifferently polished, and seems as if it had at one time been exposed to the action of the atmosphere, by which it has been considerably affected. it is without any ornament, made in the greek fashion, and not like the more ancient tombs of the jews, which we see cut in the rock for the reception of the dead. there are seven lamps constantly burning over it, the gifts of different sovereigns in a succession of ages. it occupies about one-half of the sepulchral chamber, and extends from one end of it to the other. a space about three feet wide in front of it is all that remains for the accommodation of visiters, so that not more than three or four can be conveniently admitted at a time. leaving this hallowed spot, the pilgrim is conducted to the place where our lord appeared to mary magdalene, and next to the chapel of apparition, where he presented himself to the blessed virgin. the greeks have an oratory opposite to the holy sepulchre, in which they have set up a globe, representing, as they are pleased to imagine, the centre of the earth; thus transferring from delphi to jerusalem the absurd notions of the pagan priests of antiquity relative to the figure of the habitable world. after this he enters a dark narrow staircase, which, by about twenty steps, carries him to mount calvary. "this," exclaims dr. richardson, "is the centre, the grand magnet of the christian church: from this proceed life and salvation; thither all hearts tend and all eyes are directed; here kings and queens cast down their crowns, and great men and women part with their ornaments; at the foot of the cross all are on a level, equally needy and equally welcome."[ ] on calvary is shown the spot where the redeemer was nailed to the cross, the hole into which the end of it was fixed, and the rent in the rock. all these are covered with marble, perforated in the proper places, so that they may be seen and touched. near at hand a cross is erected on an elevated part of the ground, and a wooden body stretched upon it in the attitude of suffering. descending from the mount, the traveller enters the chapel of st. helens, the mother of constantine, in which is the vault where the true cross is said to have been found,--an event that continues to be celebrated every year on the third of may by an appropriate mass. the place is large enough to contain about thirty or forty individuals, and on that annual solemnity it is usually crowded to the door. the spirit in which these commemorations are sometimes performed is by no means honourable to the christian character. an ancient rivalry between the members of the greek and those of the roman communion continues to imbitter their disputes in regard to their respective privileges and procedure. maundrell informs us that in his time each fraternity had their own altar and sanctuary, at which they had a peculiar right to celebrate divine services and to exclude all other nations. but, says he, that which has always been the great prize contended for by the several sects, is the command and appropriation of the holy sepulchre; a privilege contested with so much unchristian fury and animosity, especially between the greeks and latins that, in disputing which party should go in to celebrate their mass, they have sometimes proceeded to blows and wounds, even at the very door of the sepulchre, mingling their own blood with their sacrifices. the king of franca interposed about the end of the seventeenth century, and obtained an order for the grand vizier to put that holy place into the possession of the western church; an arrangement which was accomplished in the year , and secured to the latins the exclusive privilege of saying mass in it. "and though it be permitted to christians of all nations to go into it for their private devotions, yet none other may solemnize any public office of religion there."[ ] the daily employment of these recluses is to trim the lamps, and to make devotional visits and processions to the several sanctuaries in the church. thus they spend their time, many of them for four or six years together; nay, so far are some transported with the pleasing contemplation in which they here entertain themselves, that they will never come out to their dying day; burying themselves, as it were, alive in our lord's grave. it was at the holy season of easter that mr. maundrell visited jerusalem, when he witnessed the annual service performed by the monks; rather too minutely descriptive, perhaps, of the great event to which it refers. "their ceremony begins on good friday night, which is called by them the _nox tenebrosa_, and is observed with such an extraordinary solemnity that i cannot omit to give a particular description of it:--as soon as it grew dark, all the friars and pilgrims were convened in the chapel of the apparition, in order to go in a procession round the church. but before they set out one of the friars preached a sermon in italian: he began his discourse thus:--_in questa notte tenebrosa_,--at which words all the candles were instantly put out, to yield a livelier image of the occasion: and so we were held the preacher for nearly half an hour very much in the dark. sermon being ended, every person present had a large lighted taper put into his hand, as if it were to make amends for the former darkness; and the crucifixes and other utensils were disposed in order for beginning the procession. among the other crucifixes there was one of a very large size, which bore upon it the image of our lord as big as the life. the image was fastened to it with great nails, crowned with thorns, and besmeared with blood; and so exquisitely was it formed, that it represented, in a very lively manner, the lamentable spectacle of our lord's body as it hung upon the cross. this figure was carried all along in the head of the procession; after which the company followed to all the sanctuaries in the church, singing their appointed hymn at every one. "the first place they visited was that of the pillar of flagellation, a large piece of which is kept in a little cell just at the door of the chapel of the apparition. there they sang their proper hymn; and another friar entertained the company with a sermon in spanish, touching the scourging of our lord. from hence they proceeded in solemn order to the prison of christ, where they pretend he was secured while the soldiers made things ready for his crucifixion; here likewise they sang their hymn, and a third friar preached in french. from the prison they went to the altar of the division of our lord's garments, where they only sang their hymn without adding any sermon. having done here, they advanced to the chapel of the division; at which, after their hymn, they had a fourth sermon, as i remember, in french. "from this place they went up to calvary, leaving their shoes at the bottom of the stairs. here are two altars to be visited; one where our lord is supposed to have been nailed to the cross, another where his cross was erected. at the former of these they laid down the great crucifix upon the floor, and acted a kind of resemblance of christ's being nailed to the cross; and after the hymn another friar preached a sermon in spanish upon the crucifixion. from hence they removed to the adjoining altar, where the cross is supposed to have been erected, bearing the image of our lord's body. at this altar is a hole in the natural rock, said to be the very same individual one in which the foot of our lord's cross stood. here they set up their cross with the bloody crucified image upon it; and leaving it in that posture, they first sang their hymn, and then the father guardian, sitting in a chair before it, preached a passion sermon in italian. "at about one yard and a half distant from the hole in which the foot of the cross was fixed is seen that memorable cleft in the rock, said to have been made by the earthquake which happened at the suffering of the god of nature; when, as st. matthew witnesseth, the rocks rent and the very graves were opened. this cleft, or what now appears of it, is about a span wide at its upper part, and two deep; after which it closes. but it opens again below, as you may see in another chapel contiguous to the side of calvary, and runs down to an unknown depth in the earth. that this rent was made by the earthquake that happened at our lord's passion there is only tradition to prove; but that it is a natural and genuine breach, and not counterfeited by any art, the sense and reason of every one that sees it may convince him; for the sides of it fit like two tallies to each other, and yet it runs in such intricate windings as could not well be counterfeited by art, nor arrived at by any instruments. "the ceremony of the passion being over, and the guardian's sermon ended, two friars, personating, the one joseph of arimathea, the other nicodemus, approached the cross, and with a most solemn, concerned air, both of aspect and behaviour, drew out the great nails, and took down the feigned body from the cross. it was an _effigies_ so contrived that its limbs were soft and flexible, as if they had been real flesh; and nothing could be more surprising that to see the two pretended mourners bend down the arms which were before extended, and dispose them upon the trunk in such a manner as is usual in corpses. the body being taken down from the cross was received in a fair large winding-sheet, and carried down from calvary; the whole company attending as before to the stone of unction. this is taken for the very place where the precious body of our lord was annointed and prepared for the burial. here they laid down their imaginary corpse; and casting over it several sweet powders and spices, wrapped it up in the winding-sheet. while this was doing they sang their proper hymn, and afterward one of the friars preached in arabic a funeral-sermon. these obsequies being finished, they carried off their fancied corpse and laid it in the sepulchre, shutting up the door till easter morning. and now, after so many sermons, and so long, not to say tedious, a ceremony, it may well be imagined that the weariness of the congregation, as well as the hour of the night, made it needful to go to rest."[ ] easter-eve passed without any remarkable observance,--a period of leisure which was employed by many of the pilgrims in having their arms marked with the usual ensigns of jerusalem. "the artists who undertake the operation do it in this manner; they have stamps of wood of any figure that you desire, which they first print off upon your arm with powder of charcoal, then taking two very fine needles tied close together, and dipping them often, like a pen, in certain ink compounded, as i was informed, of gun-powder and ox-gall, they make with them small punctures all along the lines of the figure which they have printed; and then, washing the part in wine, conclude the work. the punctures they make with great quickness and dexterity, and with scarce any smart, seldom piercing so deep as to draw blood. in the afternoon of this day the congregation was assembled in the area before the holy grave; where the friars spent some hours in singing over the lamentations of jeremiah; which function, with the usual procession to the holy places, was all the ceremony required by the ritual of the place." on easter-day the scene was changed from gloom to the most lively congratulation. "the clouds of the former morning were cleared up; and the friars put on a face of joy and serenity, as if it had been the real juncture of our lord's resurrection. nor doubtless was this joy feigned, whatever their mourning might be; this being the day on which their lenten disciplines expired, and they were now come to a full belly again. the mass was celebrated this morning just before the holy sepulchre, being the most eminent place in the church; where the father guardian had a throne erected, and being arrayed in episcopal robes, with a mitre on his head, in the sight of the turks he gave the host to all that were disposed to receive it; not refusing it to children of seven or eight years old. this office being ended, we made our exit out of the sepulchre, and returning to the convent, dined with the friars."[ ] the latest travellers in palestine witnessed similar observances on the same solemn occasion, none of which were in the least calculated to edify an enlightened mind, and many of them such as could not be contemplated without feelings of just indignation, mingled with contempt. there is no greater obstacle to the propagation of christianity among the syrian tribes, and more especially among the turks and jews, than the foolish exhibitions which disgrace the return of the principal festivals in the holy land. the mummeries already described could not fail to be sufficiently revolting to a people who permit not any image or representation of created things, even in the uses of ordinary life. still, the sincerity and apparent devotion with which the ceremony of the crucifixion was performed might, in some degree, atone for the unseemly method adopted by the monks to commemorate an event at once so solemn and important. but what shall be said in defence of the manifest fraud which is annually practised in jerusalem on easter-eve by the greek church, when the credulous multitude are taught to believe that fire descends from heaven into the holy sepulchre to kindle their lamps and torches? upon comparing the description given by maundrell with the accounts of the latest travellers, we perceive that nearly a century and a half has passed away without producing any improvement, and that the friars of the present age are probably not less ignorant or dishonest than their predecessors five hundred years ago. "they began their disorders by running round the holy sepulchre with all their might and swiftness, crying out as they went _huia_, which signifies _this is he_, or _this is it_,--an expression by which they assert the verity of the christian religion. after they had by these religious circulations and clamours turned their heads and inflamed their madness, they began to act the moat antic tricks and postures in a thousand shapes of distraction. sometimes they dragged one another along the floor all round the sepulchre; sometimes they set one man upright upon another's shoulders, and in this posture marched round; sometimes they tumbled round the sepulchre after the manner of tumblers on the stage. in a word, nothing can be imagined more rude or extravagant than what was acted upon this occasion."[ ] "the greeks first set out in a procession round the holy sepulchre, and immediately at their heels followed the armenians. in this order they compassed the holy sepulchre thrice, having produced all their gallantry of standards, streamers, crucifixes, and embroidered habits. towards the end of this procession there was a pigeon came fluttering into the cupola over the sepulchre, at sight of which there was a greater shout and clamour than before. this bird, the latins told us, was purposely let fly by the greeks to deceive the people into an opinion that it was a visible descent of the holy ghost. the procession being over, the suffragan of the greek patriarch and the principal armenian bishop approached to the door of the sepulchre, and, cutting the string with which it is fastened and sealed, entered in, shutting the door after them, all the candles and lamps within having been before extinguished in the presence of the turks and other witnesses. the exclamations were doubled as the miracle drew nearer to its accomplishment; and the people pressed with such vehemence towards the door of the sepulchre that it was not in the power of the turks to keep them off. the cause of their pressing in this manner is, the great desire they have to light their candles at the holy flame as soon as it is first brought out of the sepulchre, it being esteemed the most sacred and pure as coming immediately from heaven. the two miracle-mongers had not been above a minute in the holy sepulchre when the glimmering of the holy fire was seen, or imagined to appear, through some chinks in the door; and, certainly, bedlam itself never saw such an unruly transport as was produced in the mob at this sight. "immediately after, out came two priests with blazing torches in their hands, which they held up at the door of the sepulchre; while the people thronged about with inexpressible ardour, every one striving to obtain a part of the first and purest flame. the turks, in the mean time, with huge clubs laid on without mercy; but all this could not repel them, the excess of their fury making them insensible of pain. those that got the fire applied it immediately to their beards, faces, and bosoms, pretending that it would not burn like an earthly flame. but i plainly saw none of them could endure this experiment long enough to make good that pretension. so many hands being employed, you may be sure it could not be long before innumerable tapers were lighted. the whole church, galleries, and every place seemed instantly to be in a flame; and with this illumination the ceremony ended. "it must be owned that those two within the sepulchre performed their part with great quickness and dexterity; but the behaviour of the rabble without very much discredited the miracle. the latins take a great deal of pains to expose this ceremony as a most shameful imposture and a scandal to the christian religion,--perhaps out of envy that others should be masters of so gainful a business. but the greeks and armenians pin their faith upon it; such is the deplorable unhappiness of their priests, that having acted the cheat so long already, they are forced now to stand to it for fear of endangering the apostacy of their people. going out of church after the rant was over, we saw several people gathered about the stone of unction, who, having got a good store of candles lighted with the holy fire, were employed in daubing pieces of linen with the wicks of them and the melting wax, which pieces of linen were designed for winding-sheets. and it is the opinion of these poor people, that if they can but have the happiness to be buried in a shroud smutted with this celestial fire, it will certainly secure them from the flames of hell."[ ] dr. richardson, who witnessed the same pitiful ceremony, is not inclined to give much honour to the performers in respect to skill or dexterous manipulation. on the contrary, he is of opinion that there is not a pyrotechnist in london who could not have improved the exhibition. from the station which he occupied in the church, being the organ-loft of the roman catholic division, he distinctly saw the flame issuing from a burning substance placed within the tomb, and which was raised and lowered according to circumstances. the priests meant to be very artful, but were in reality very ignorant. like the druids of old, no one, under the pain of excommunication, dared to light his torch at that of another; every individual was bound to derive his flame from the miraculous spark that descended from above, and which could only be conveyed by the hands of the chief priest.[ ] having seen the exhibition of this vile and infamous delusion, the traveller naturally inquires what credit he ought to give to the historical statements and local descriptions derived from the christians who now occupy jerusalem. are the honoured spots within these walls really what the guardians of the metropolitan church declare them to be? is the mount calvary shown at this day in the holy city the actual place where christ expired upon the cross to redeem the human race? is the sepulchre there exhibited really that of the just man joseph of arimathea, in which the body of the blessed jesus was laid? or are all these merely convenient spots, fixed on at random, and consecrated to serve the interested views of a crafty priesthood?[ ] we agree in the conclusion, that it is of no consequence to the christian faith in what way these questions shall be determined. the great facts on which the history of the gospel is founded are not so closely connected with particular spots of earth or sacred buildings as to be rendered doubtful by any mistake in the choice of a locality. nor is there any material discrepancy between the opinions of chateaubriand, which we are inclined to adopt, and those of dr. clarke, who treats with contempt all the traditions respecting holy places; for the outline may be correct, although the minuter details are open to a just suspicion. for example, it is now extremely difficult to trace the boundaries of calvary; the effects of time and the operations of the siege under the roman prince have obliterated some of the features by which that remarkable scene was distinguished; it has even ceased to present the appearance of a mount--an appellation, by-the-way, which is nowhere given to it in scripture. but it does not follow that the christians who returned from pella to inhabit the ruins of the sacred metropolis should have been equally ignorant of its extent and situation; nor is it at all probable that places so interesting to the affections of the infant church would be allowed to fall into a speedy oblivion. the main error of the modern priests at jerusalem arises from an anxiety to exhibit every thing to which any allusion is made by the evangelical historians; not remembering that the lapse of ages and the devastation of successive wars have destroyed much, and disguised more, which the early disciples could most readily identify. the mere circumstance that almost all the events which attended the close of our saviour's ministry are crowded into one scene, covered by the roof of a single church, might excite a very justifiable doubt as to the exactness of the topography maintained by the friars of mount moriah. "this edifice," says mr. maundrell, "is less than one hundred paces long, and not more than sixty wide; and yet it is so contrived, that it is supposed to contain under its roof twelve or thirteen sanctuaries, or places consecrated to a more than ordinary veneration, by being reputed to have some particular actions done in them relating to the death and resurrection of christ."[ ] all that can now be affirmed, observes dr. clarke, with any show of reason, is this, "that if helena had reason to believe she could identify the spot where the sepulchre was, she took especial care to remove every trace of it, in order to introduce the fanciful and modern work which now remains. the place may be the same pointed out to her; but not a remnant of the original sepulchre can now be ascertained. yet, with our skeptical feelings thus awakened, it may prove how powerful the effect of sympathy is, if we confess, that when we entered into the supposed sepulchre, and beheld, by the light of lamps there continually burning, the venerable figure of an aged monk, with streaming eyes and a long white beard, pointing to 'the place where the lord lay,' and calling upon us to kneel and experience pardon for our sins,--we did kneel, and we participated in the feelings of more credulous pilgrims. captain culverhouse, in whose mind the ideas of religion and of patriotism were inseparable, with firmer emotion, drew from its scabbard the sword he had so often wielded in the defence of his country, and placed it upon the tomb. humbler comers heaped the memorials of an accomplished pilgrimage; and while their sighs alone interrupted the silence of the sanctuary a solemn service was begun."[ ] it is observed by the author of the itinéraire, that the ancient travellers were extremely fortunate in not being obliged to enter into all these critical disquisitions; in the first place, because they found in their readers that religion which never contends against truth; and, secondly, because every mind was convinced that the only way of seeing a country as it is must be to see it with all its traditions and recollections. it is, in fact, with the bible as his guide that a traveller ought to visit the holy land. if we are determined to carry with us a spirit of cavil and contradiction, judea is not worth our going so far to examine it. what should we say to a man who, in traversing greece and italy, should think of nothing but contradicting homer and virgil? such, however, is the course adopted by too many modern travellers; evidently the effect of our vanity, which would excite a high idea of our own abilities, and at the same time fill us with disdain for those of other people.[ ] a short time after m. chateaubriand visited jerusalem, the church of the holy sepulchre was destroyed by fire; and although it has been since repaired, it is admitted that both the architecture and the internal decorations are much inferior to those of the original edifice. the general plan of the whole building, however, as well as the arrangement of the holy stations, are so exactly preserved, that the descriptions of the earliest writers apply as correctly to its present as to its former state. it is true, that the tombs of godfrey de bouillon and of baldwin his brother, which called forth the enthusiastic admiration of the french author just named, have been annihilated by the malignant greeks, so that not a vestige remains to mark the spot whereon they stood. the corinthian columns of fine marble which formerly adorned the interior being rendered useless by the fire, the dome is now supported by tall slender pillars of masonry, plastered on the outside, and so closely grouped together as to produce the worst effect. we are told, indeed, that the meanness of every thing about the architecture of the central dome, and of the whole rotunda which surrounds the sepulchre itself, can only be exceeded by the wretched taste of its painted decorations.[ ] it was of the older building that the vicomte made the following remarks:--"the church of the holy sepulchre, composed of several churches erected upon an unequal surface, illumined by a multitude of lamps, is singularly mysterious; a sombre light pervades it, favourable to piety and profound devotion. christian priests of various sects inhabit different parts of the edifice. from the arches above, where they nestle like pigeons, from the chapels below and subterraneous vaults, their songs are heard at all hours both of the day and night. the organ of the latin monks, the cymbals of the abyssinian priest, the voice of the greek caloyer, the prayer of the solitary armenian, the plaintive accents of the coptic friar, alternately, or all at once, assail your ear. you know not whence these accents of praise proceed; you inhale the perfume of incense without perceiving the hand that burns it: you merely observe the pontiff, who is going to celebrate the most awful of mysteries on the very spot where they were accomplished, pass quickly by, glide behind the columns, and vanish in the gloom of the temple. "christian readers will perhaps inquire what were my feelings upon entering this sacred place. i really cannot tell. so many reflections rushed at once upon my mind, that i was unable to dwell upon any particular idea. i continued nearly half an hour upon my knees in the little chamber of the holy sepulchre, with my eyes riveted upon the stone, from which i had not the power to turn them. one of the two monks who accompanied me remained prostrate on the marble by my side, while the other, with the testament in his hand, read to me by the light of the lamps the passages relating to the sacred tomb. all i can say is that when i beheld this triumphant sepulchre, i felt nothing but my own weakness; and that when my guide exclaimed with st. paul, o death, where is thy sting? o grave, where is thy victory? i listened, as if death were about to reply that he was conquered and enchained in this monument. where shall we look in antiquity for anything so impressive, so wonderful, as the last scenes described by the evangelists? these are not the absurd adventures of a deity foreign to human nature: it is a most pathetic history,--a history which not only extorts tears by its beauty, but whose consequences, applied to the universe, have changed the face of the earth. i had just beheld the monuments of greece, and my mind was still profoundly impressed with their grandeur; but how far inferior were the sentiments which they excited to those i felt at the sight of the places commemorated in the gospel!"[ ] we must not presume to follow the ardent pilgrim along the _via dolorosa_, the name given to the way which the saviour passed from the house of pilate to the mount of calvary, nor can we stop to revere the arch, called _ecce homo_, where, we are told, the window may still be seen from which the roman judge exclaimed to the vindictive jews, "behold the man!" we cannot resign our belief to the minute description which recognises the house of simon the pharisee, where mary magdalene confessed her sins; the prison of st. peter, and the dwelling of mary the mother of mark, in which the same apostle took refuge when he was set at liberty by the angel; and the mansion of dives, the rich man at whose gate the mendicant lazarus was laid, full of sores. on crossing the small ravine which divides the modern city from mount zion, the attention of the traveller is drawn to three ancient monuments, or more properly ruins. covered with buildings comparatively modern,--the house of caiaphas,--the place where christ held his last supper,--and the tomb or palace of david. the first of these is now a church, the duty of which is performed by the armenians; the second, consecrated by the affecting solemnity, with the memory of which it is still associated, presents a mosque and a turkish hospital; while the third, a small vaulted apartment, contains only three sepulchres formed of dark-coloured atone. this holy hill is equally celebrated in the old testament and in the new. here the successor of saul built a city and a royal dwelling,--here he kept for three months the ark of the covenant;--here the redeemer instituted the sacrament which commemorates his death,--here he appeared to his disciples on the day of his resurrection,--and here the holy ghost descended on the apostles. the place hallowed by the last supper, if we may believe the early fathers, was transformed into the first christian temple the world ever saw, where st. james the less was consecrated the first bishop of jerusalem, and where he presided in the first council of the church. finally, it was from this spot that the apostles, in compliance with the injunction to go and teach all nations, departed, without purse and without scrip, to seat their religion upon all the thrones of the earth. descending mount zion on the east side, you perceive in the valley the fountain and pool of siloam, so celebrated in the history of our saviour's miracles. the brook itself is ill supplied with water, and, compared with the ideas formed in the mind by the fine invocation of the poet, usually creates disappointment. going a few paces to the northward, you come to the source of the scanty rivulet, which is called by some the fountain of the virgin, from an opinion that she frequently came hither to drink. it appears in a recess about twenty feet lower than the surface, and under an arched vault of masonry tolerably well executed. the rock had been originally hewn down to reach this pool; and a small crooked passage, of which only the beginning is seen, is said to convey the water out of the valley of siloam, and to supply the means of irrigating the little gardens still cultivated in that spot. notwithstanding the dirty state of the water, and its harsh and brackish taste, it is still used by devout pilgrims for diseases of the eye.[ ] it is said to have a kind of ebb and flow, sometimes discharging its current like the fountain of vaucluse, at others retaining and scarcely suffering it to run at all. the levites, we are likewise told, used to sprinkle the water of siloam on the altar at the feast of tabernacles, saying, "ye shall draw water with joy from the wells of salvation." the reader will find on the opposite page a representation of the fountain or pool of siloam, as it appeared to the eye of an able traveller; a considerable part of the arch having fallen down, or been destroyed by the barbarians who continue to hold jerusalem in subjection. the valley of jehoshaphat stretches between the eastern walls of the city and the mount of olives, containing a great variety of objects, to which allusion is made in the sacred writings. it was sometimes called the king's dale, from a reference to an event recorded in the history of abraham, and was afterward distinguished by the name of jehoshaphat, because that sovereign erected in it a magnificent tomb. this narrow vale seems to have always served as a burying-place for the inhabitants of the holy city: there you meet with monuments of the most remote ages, as well as of the most modern times: thither the descendants of jacob resort from the four quarters of the globe, to yield up their last breath; and a foreigner sells to them, for its weight in gold, a scanty spot of earth to cover their remains in the land of their forefathers. observing many jews, whom i could easily recognise by their yellow turbans, quick dark eyes, black eyebrows, and bushy beards, walking about the place, and reposing along the brook kedron in a pensive mood, the pathetic language of the psalmist occurred to me, as expressing the subject of their meditation--'by the rivers we sat down and wept when we remembered zion.' upon frequently inquiring the motive that prompted them in attempting to go to jerusalem, the answer was, 'to die in the land of our fathers.'[ ] this valley or dale still exhibits a very desolate appearance. the western side is a high chalk-cliff supporting the walls of the city; above which you perceive jerusalem itself; while the eastern acclivity is formed by the mount of olives and the mount of offence, so called from the idolatry which oppresses the fame of solomon. these two hills are nearly naked, and of a dull red colour. on their slopes are seen, here and there, a few bleak and parched vines, some groves of wild olive-trees, wastes covered with hyssop, chapels, oratories, and mosques in ruins. at the bottom of the valley you discover a bridge of a single arch, thrown across the channel of the brook kedron. the stones in the jewish cemetery look like a heap of rubbish at the foot of the mount of offence, below the arab village of siloane, the paltry houses of which are scarcely to be distinguished from the surrounding sepulchres. from the stillness of jerusalem, whence no smoke arises and no noise proceeds,--from the solitude of these hills, where no living creature is to be seen,--from the ruinous state of all these tombs, overthrown, broken, and half-open, you would imagine that the last trumpet had already sounded, and that the valley of jehoshaphat was about to render up its dead. amid this scene of desolation three monuments arrest the eyes of the intelligent pilgrim,--the tombs of zachariah, of absalom, and of the king whose name still distinguishes the valley. the first-mentioned of these is a square mass of rock, hewn down into form, and isolated from the quarry out of which it is cut by a passage of twelve or fifteen feet wide on three of its sides; the fourth or western front being open towards the valley and to mount moriah, the foot of which is only a few yards distant. this huge stone is eight paces in length on each side, and about twenty feet high in the front, and ten feet high at the back; the hill on which it stands having a steep ascent. it has four semicolumns cut out of the same rock on each of its faces, with a pilaster at each angle, all of a mixed ionic order, and ornamented in bad taste. the architraves, the full moulding, and the deep overhanging cornice which finishes the square, are all perfectly after the egyptian manner; and the whole is surmounted by a pyramid, the sloping aides of which rise from the very edges of the square below, and terminate in a finished point. the body of this monument, we have already stated, is one solid mass of rock, as well as its semicolumns on each face; but the surmounting pyramid appears to be of masonry. its sides, however, are perfectly smooth, like the coated pyramids of sahara and dashour, and not graduated by stages like those of dijzeh in lower egypt. inconsiderable in size and paltry in its ornaments, this monument, as mr. buckingham observes, is eminently curious. there is no appearance of an entrance into any part of it; so that it seems; if a tomb, to have been as firmly closed as the egyptian pyramids, and, perhaps, for the same respect for the repose of the dead. it is probable, indeed, that the original style and plan of the building are derived from the country of the pharaohs; while the grecian columns and pilasters may be the work of a much later period, when the jews had learned to combine with the massy piles of their more ancient architecture the elegant lightness which distinguished the times of the seleucidae.[ ] in the immediate vicinity is the tomb of jehoshaphat,--a cavern which is more commonly called the grotto of the disciples, from an idea that they went frequently thither to be taught by their divine master. the front of this excavation has two doric pillars of small size, but of just proportions. in the interior are three chambers, all of them rude and irregular in their form, in one of which were several gravestones, removed, we may suppose, from the open ground for greater security. like all the rest, they were flat slabs of an oblong shape, from three to six inches in thickness, and evidently a portion of the limestone rock which composes the adjoining hills. opposite to this, on the east, is the reputed tomb of absalom, resembling nearly in the size, form, and decoration of its square base that of zachariah already described; except that it is sculptured with the metopes and triglyphs of the doric order. this is surmounted by a sharp conical dome, having large mouldings running round its base, and on the summit something like an imitation of flame. there is here again so strange a mixture of style and ornament, that one knows not to what age to attribute the monument as a whole. the square mass below is solid, and the ionic columns which are seen on each of its faces are half-indented in the rock itself. the dome is of masonry, and on the eastern side there is a square aperture in it. generally speaking, the sight of this monument rather confirms the idea suggested by the tomb of zachariah, that the hewn mass of solid rock, the surmounting pyramid and dome of masonry, and the sculptured frieze and ionic columns wrought on the faces of the square below were works of different periods; being probably ancient sepulchres, the primitive character of which had been changed by the subsequent addition of foreign ornaments. there is, besides, every reason to believe that this monument, represented below, really occupies the site of the one which was set up by him whose name it bears. "now absalom in his lifetime had reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king's dale: for he said, i have no son to keep my name in remembrance; and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day absalom's place."[ ] chateaubriand is of opinion, that except the pool of bethesda at jerusalem, we have no remains of the primitive architecture of its inhabitants. this reservoir, a hundred and fifty feet long and forty broad, is still to be seen near st. stephen's gate, where it bounded the temple on the north. the sides are walled by means of large stones joined together by iron cramps, and covered with flints imbedded in a substance resembling plaster. here the lambs destined for sacrifice were washed; and it was on the brink of this pool that christ said to the paralytic man, "arise, take up thy bed and walk." it receives a melancholy interest from the fact that it is probably the last remnant of jerusalem as it appeared in the days of solomon and of his immediate successors. it cannot be denied that the tombs in the valley of jehoshaphat display an alliance of egyptian and grecian taste; and, in naturalizing in their capital the architecture of memphis and of athens, it is equally certain that the jews mixed with it the forms of their own peculiar style. from this combination resulted a heterogeneous kind of structure, forming, as it were, the link between the pyramids and the parthenon,--monuments in which you discover a sombre, yet bold and elevated genius, associated with a pleasing and cultivated imagination. our limits forbid us to follow the footsteps of the pilgrim in his minute survey of the "sepulchres of the kings," which, it is acknowledged, cannot be traced back to a remoter era than that of the grecian dynasty at antioch and damascus. there are several other tombs and grottoes, to which tradition has attached venerable names, and even consecrated them as the scene of important events; but as they are not remarkable on any other account, we shall not extend to an undue length our description of the holy places under the walls of jerusalem. we shall simply remark, that a difference of opinion exists among modern travellers in regard to the extent of the ancient city, the ground which it actually covered, the changes that it has since undergone in point of locality, and hence, in respect to the position of some of the more prominent objects which attract the attention of the inquisitive tourist in our own days. dr. clarke has distinguished himself by some bold speculations on this head, the effect of which is to derange all the received notions relative to the scene of the crucifixion and the place of the holy sepulchre. it will indeed be readily granted, that it is a matter of very small importance to the faith of a christian to determine whether the decease which was accomplished at jerusalem took place on the north-western or the south-eastern extremity of that metropolis. but as the history and tradition of many ages have fixed the spot where the cross was erected and where the new tomb in the rock had its situation, it is requisite that the arguments of a writer who himself pays so little respect to authority should be examined with attention. in this case, it is obvious, an inspection of the ground candidly and distinctly reported is of much more weight than the most ingenious reasoning if destitute of facts; on which account, we are happy to have it in our power to refer to the journal of a learned gentleman hitherto unpublished, who about three years ago travelled in syria and palestine. "we passed by the place of st. stephen's martyrdom down into the valley of jehoshaphat. this valley, independently of associations, is highly picturesque. it is deep and narrow; the lower part is green with scattered olives. the slope up towards the city is also smooth and green, and crowned by the towers and battlements. on ascending the mount of olives, which we did towards the south, we had a splendid view of jerusalem. the chief ornaments are the two domes of the holy sepulchre, the mosque of omar, and another large mosque with a smaller dome; but the white houses make a good show, and the walls are picturesque. on looking at jerusalem from this place, the great features seemed to me to agree entirely with the established maps, and dr. clarke's theory appeared quite untenable. the only difficulty is, that there is no valley which _runs up all the way_ so as to divide entirely mount zion from mount moriah. a ravine does run far enough to cut off the temple, but no more. the extent of this difficulty must depend on the description left us of the tyropaeum and millo. was there a deep valley such as time and change might not have obliterated? the people of the convent gave the name of the mount of offence to a low hill on the south of the mount of olives; but clarke seems to think that the real mount of offence is that divided by jehinnom from zion, and called by our guide monte de mal consiglio. we visited the mohammedan chapel over the place of the ascension, and saw the alleged print of christ's foot. we next went to the place called viri galilaei (ye men of galilee), and, after looking in vain for dr. clarke's pagan remains, descended towards the cave of the prophets. we saw the well where nehemiah found the fire of the altar, and then went up the valley of hinnom; first to the tomb called the crypt of the apostles, close to the aceldama, or field of blood. we saw many other grottoes; one had [greek: taes hagias sion] inscribed upon it, as had another much farther up. near this last was that which clarke maintained to be the holy sepulchre. we saw one which would do very well for it; but so would many others. this one was a cave, with a place for a body cut out in the back part of it, but raised like a stone trough, not sunk in the floor. there is, of course, not a shadow of reason for thinking clarke's cave to be the real one, and very little that i can see for doubting that the nominal holy sepulchre is so in fact, or, rather, that it is _on the site_ of the real one, which must have been destroyed when adrian erected his temple to venus on the spot. from these caves we went by the pool of bathsheba to the bethlehem gate, and so along the west side of the town to the tombs of the judges and kings, which lie north or north-west of the city. i observed large foundations of ancient walls and heaps of rubbish west of the modern town, where clarke seems to assume that there was anciently no part of the city. there and on the north i also observed wells opening into large covered reservoirs for water. we entered only one of the tombs of the judges, the rest being insignificant. that one was large, with a pediment which had dentiles and other greek ornaments. inside there were at least three chambers, surrounded by receptacles for bodies. in returning we went to the tombs of the kings, which, like the others, are cut out of the rock, and, like them too, have grecian ornaments. there is one large cave; the front has a handsome entablature, the upper part ornamented with alternate circular garlands, bunches of grapes, and an ornament of acanthus leaves; the lower with a rich band of foliage disposed with much elegance."[ ] hence, it appears that the weight of evidence preponderates decidedly in favour of the common opinions in regard to the form of the ancient city and the places which are usually denominated holy. why, then, should any one attempt to disturb the belief or acquiescence of the christian world on a subject concerning which all nations have hitherto found reason to agree? the members of the primitive church had better means than we have of being fully informed respecting the scenes of the evangelical history; and it is manifest that amid all the changes which ensued in jerusalem, either from conquest or superstition, nothing was more unlikely than that the faithful should forget the sacred spot where their redemption was completed, or that they should consent to transfer their veneration to any other.[ ] chapter vi. _description of the country south and east of jerusalem_. garden of gethsemane; tomb of virgin mary; grottoes on mount of olives; view of the city; extent and boundaries; view of bethany and dead sea; bethlehem; convent; church of the nativity described; paintings; music; population of bethlehem; pools of solomon; dwelling of simon the leper; of mary magdalene; tower of simeon; tomb of rachel; convent of john; fine church; tekoa; bethulia; hebron; sepulchre of patriarchs; albaid; kerek; extremity of dead sea; discoveries of bankes, legh, and irby and mangles; convent of st. saba; valley of jordan; mountains; description of lake asphaltites; remains of ancient cities in its basin; quality of its waters; apples of sodom; tacitus, seetzen, hasselquist, chateaubriand; width of river jordan; jericho-village of rihhah; balsam; fountain of elisha; mount of temptation; place of blood; anecdote of sir f. henniker; fountain of the apostles; return to jerusalem; markets; costume; science; arts; language; jews; present condition of that people. in proceeding from jerusalem towards bethany, the traveller skirts the mount of olives; or, if he wishes to enjoy the magnificent view which it presents, both of the city and of the extensive tract watered by the jordan, he ascends its heights, and at the same time inspects the remains of sacred architecture still to be seen on its summit. as he passes from the eastern gate, the garden of gethsemane meets his eyes, as well as the tomb which bears the name of the blessed virgin. this has a building over it with a pretty front, although the grecian ornaments sculptured in marble are not in harmony with the pointed arch at the entrance. it is approached by a paved court, now a raised way, leading from the mount of olives over the brook kedron. the descent into it is formed by a handsome flight of steps composed of marble, being about fifty in number and of a noble breadth. about midway down are two arched recesses in the sides, said to contain the ashes of st. anne, the mother of mary, and of joseph her husband. reaching the bottom of the stairs, the visiter is shown the tomb of the holy virgin herself, which is in the form of a simple bench coated with marble. here the greeks and armenians say mass by turns, and near it there is an humble altar for the syrian christians; while opposite to it is one for the copts, consisting of earth, and entirely destitute of lamps, pictures, covering, and every other species of ornament. chateaubriand tells us that the turks had a portion of this grotto: buckingham asserts that they have no right to enter it, nor could he "learn from the keepers of the place that they ever had!" whereas the author of the anonymous journal, from which we have already quoted, states distinctly that "there is a place reserved for the mussulmans to pray, which at the virgin's tomb one would not expect to be much in request." so much for the clashing of authorities on the part of writers who could have no wish to deceive! there are various other grottoes on the acclivity of the hill, meant to keep alive the remembrance of certain occurrences which are either mentioned in the gospel, or have been transmitted to the present age by oral tradition. among these is one which is supposed to be the scene of the agony and the bloody sweat; a second, that marks the place where st. peter and the two sons of zebedee fell asleep when their master retired to pray; and a third, indicating the spot whereon judas betrayed the son of man with a kiss. here also is pointed out the rock from which our saviour predicted the sack of jerusalem and the destruction of the temple,--that dreadful visitation, of which the traces are still most visible both within and around the walls. the curious pilgrim is further edified by the sight of a cavern where the apostles were taught the lord's prayer; and of another where the same individuals at a later period met together to compose their creed. on the principal top of the mount of olives,--for the elevated ground presents three separate summits,--are a mosque and the remains of a church. the former is distinguished by a lofty minaret which commands an extensive prospect; but the latter is esteemed more remarkable, as containing the piece of rock imprinted with the mark of our saviour's foot while in the act of ascension. but the view of the venerable metropolis itself, which stretches out its lance and sacred enclosures under the eye of the traveller, is still more interesting than the recapitulation of ambiguous relics. it occupies an irregular square of about two miles and a half in circumference. eusebius gave a measurement of twenty-seven stadia, amounting to nearly a mile more than its present dimensions; a difference which can easily be explained, by adverting to the alterations made on the line of fortifications by the saracens and turks, especially on the north-west and western extremities of the town. its shortest apparent side is that which faces the east, and in this is the supposed gate of the ancient temple, shut up by the mussulmans from a superstitious motive, and the small projecting stone on which their prophet is to sit when he shall judge the world assembled in the vale below. the southern side is exceedingly irregular, taking quite a zigzag direction; the south-western entrance being terminated by a mosque built over the supposed sepulchre of david, on the elevation of mount zion. the form and exact direction of the western and northern walls are not distinctly seen from the position now assumed; but every part of them appears to be a modern work, and executed at the same time. they are flanked at certain distances by square towers, and have battlements all along their summits, with loopholes for arrows or musketry close to the top. their height is about fifty feet, but they are not surrounded by a ditch. the northern wall runs over ground which declines slightly outward; the eastern wall passes straight along the brow of mount moriah, with the deep valley of jehoshaphat below; the southern wall crosses mount zion, with the vale of hinnom at its feet; and the western wall is carried over a more uniform level, near the summit of the bare hills which terminate at the jaffa gate.[ ] turning towards the east, the traveller sees at the foot of the hill the little village of bethany, so often mentioned in the history of our lord and of his personal followers; and at a greater distance, a little more on the left, he beholds the magnificent scenery of the jordan and the dead sea. there are two roads from jerusalem to bethany; the one passing over the mount of olives; the other, the shorter and easier, winding round the eastern side of it. this village is now both small and poor, the cultivation of the soil around it being very much neglected by the indolent arabs into whose hands it has fallen. here are shown the ruins of a house, said to have belonged to lazarus whom our saviour raised from the dead; and, in the immediate neighbourhood, the faithful pilgrim is invited to devotion in a grotto, which is represented as the actual tomb wherein the miracle was performed. the dwellings of simon the leper, of mary magdalene, and of martha are pointed out by the mussulmans, who traffic on the credulity of ignorant christians. nay, they undertake to identify the spot where the barren fig tree withered under the curse, and the place where judas put an end to his life, oppressed by a more dreadful malediction. there is no traveller of any nation, whatever may be his creed or his impressions in regard to the gospel, who does not make the usual journey from the jewish capital to bethlehem the place of our lord's nativity. the road, as we find related, passes over ground extremely rocky and barren, diversified only by some cultivated patches bearing a scanty crop of grain, and by banks of wild-flowers which grow in great profusion. on the way the practised guide points out the ruined tower of simeon, who upon beholding the infant messiah expressed his readiness to leave this world; the monastery of elias, now in possession of the greeks; and the tomb of rachel, rising in a rounded top like the whitened sepulchre of an arab sheik. "this," says the honest maundrell, "may probably be the true place of her interment; but the present sepulchral monument can be none of that which jacob erected, for it appears plainly to be a modern and turkish structure." farther on is the well of which david longed to drink, and of which his mighty men, at the risk of their lives, procured him a supply; and here opens to view, in a great valley, that most interesting of all pastoral scenes, where the angel of the omnipotent appeared by night to the shepherds, to announce the glad tidings that christ was born in bethlehem.[ ] as there was another town of the same name in the tribe of zebulon, the bethlehem that we now approach was usually distinguished by the addition of ephrata, or by a reference to the district in which it was situated. the convent which marks the place of the redeemer's birth was built by helena, after removing the idolatrous structure said to have been erected by adrian from a feeling of contempt or jealousy towards the christians. at present it is divided among the monks of the greek, roman, and armenian sects, who have assigned to them separate portions, as well for lodging as for places of worship; though, on certain days, they may all celebrate the rites of their common faith on altars which none of them have been hitherto allowed to appropriate. there are two churches, an upper and a lower, under the same roof. the former contains nothing remarkable, if we except a star inlaid in the floor, immediately under the spot in the heavens where the supernatural sign became visible to the wise men, and, like it, directly above the place of the nativity in the church below. this last is an excavation in the rock, elegantly fitted up and floored with marble, and to which there is a descent by a flight of steps through a long narrow passage. here are shown a great number of tombs, and among them one in which were said to be buried all the babes of bethlehem murdered by the barbarous herod. from hence the pilgrim is conducted into a handsome chapel, of which the floors and walls are composed of beautiful marble, having on each side five oratories, or recesses for prayer, corresponding to the ten stalls supposed to have been in the stable wherein our blessed saviour was born. this sacred crypt is irregular in shape, because it occupies the site of the stable and the manger. it is thirty-seven feet six inches long, eleven feet three inches broad, and nine feet in height. as it receives no light from without, it is illumined by thirty-two lamps, sent by different princes of christendom; the other embellishments are ascribed to the munificent helena. at the farther extremity of this small church there is an altar placed in an arcade, and hollowed out below in the form of an arch, to embrace the sacred spot where emmanuel, having laid aside his glory, first appeared in the garb of human nature. a circle in the floor composed of marble and jasper, surrounded with silver, and having rays like those with which the sun is represented, marks the precise situation wherein that stupendous event was realized. an inscription, denoting that "here jesus christ was born of the virgin mary," meets the eye of the faithful worshipper. hic de virgine maria jesus christus natus est. adjoining the altar of the nativity is the manger in which the infant messiah was laid. it is also formed of marble, and is raised about eighteen inches above the floor, bearing a resemblance to the humble bed which alone the furniture of a stable could supply. before it is the altar of the wise men,--a memorial of their adoration and praise at the moment when they saw the young child and mary his mother. this edifice, says the vicomte de chateaubriand, is certainly of high antiquity, and, often destroyed and as often repaired, it still retains marks of its grecian origin. it is built in the form of a cross, the nave being adorned with forty-eight columns of the corinthian order in four rows, which are at least two feet six inches in diameter at the base, and eighteen feet high, including the base and capital. as the roof of the nave is wanting, these pillars support nothing but a frieze of wood, which occupies the place of the architrave and of the whole entablature. the windows are large, and were formerly adorned with mosaic paintings and passages from the bible in greek and latin characters, the traces of which are still visible. the top of the church affords a fine prospect into the surrounding country, extending to tekoa on the south and engedi on the east. in the latter place is the grotto where david, a native of bethlehem, cut off the skirt of saul's garment. there is also the convent of elias, in which is said to-be a large stone still retaining an impression of his body. between this point and jerusalem mr. buckingham was struck with the appearance of several small detached towers of a square form built in the midst of vine-lands. these, he learned, were for the accommodation of watchmen appointed to guard the produce from thieves and wild beasts; hence explaining a passage which occurs in the gospel according to st. mark:--"a certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the wine-fat, and built a _tower_, and let it out to husbandmen."[ ] it is painful to find that the same animosity which attends the claims of the several sects of christians at jerusalem for the possession of the holy sepulchre disgraces their contentions at bethlehem for the grotto of the nativity. a few years ago, during the celebration of the christmas festival, at which mr. bankes was present, a battle took place, in which some of the combatants were wounded, and others severely beaten; and in the preceding season the privilege of saying mass at the altar on that particular day had been fought for at the door of the sanctuary itself with drawn swords. dr. clarke, whose skepticism in regard to the holy places in the capital has been already mentioned, grants that the tradition respecting the cave of the nativity is so well authenticated as hardly to admit of dispute. having been always held in veneration, the oratory established there by the first christians attracted the notice and indignation of the heathens so early as the time of adrian, who, as is elsewhere stated, ordered it to be demolished, and the place to be set apart for the rites of adonis. this happened in the second century, and at a period in the emperor's life when the grotto of the nativity was as well known in bethlehem as the circumstance to which it owed its celebrity. in the fourth age, accordingly, we find this fact appealed to by st. jerome as an indisputable testimony by which the cave itself had been identified. upon this subject there does not seem to be the slightest ground for skepticism; and the evidence afforded by such a writer will be deemed sufficient for believing that the monastery erected over the spot, and where he himself resided, does at this day point out the place of our saviour's birth.[ ] nothing, observes a late traveller, can be more pleasing, or better calculated to excite sentiments of devotion, than this subterranean church. it is adorned with pictures of the italian and spanish schools, representing the mysteries peculiar to the place,--the virgin and child, after raphael; the annunciation; the adoration of the wise men; the coming of the shepherds; and all those miracles of mingled grandeur and innocence. the usual ornaments of the manger are of blue satin, embroidered with silver. incense is continually smoking before the cradle of the saviour. "i have heard an organ, touched by no ordinary hand, playing during mass the sweetest and most tender tunes of the best italian composers. these concerts charm the christian arab, who, leaving his camels to feed, repairs, like the shepherds of old, to bethlehem, to adore the king of kings in his manger. i have seen this inhabitant of the desert communicate at the altar of the magi with a fervour, a piety, a devotion unknown among the christians of the west." no place in the world, says father neret, excites more profound devotion. the continual arrival of caravans from all the nations of christendom--the public prayers--the prostrations--nay, even the richness of the presents sent thither by the christian princes--altogether produce feelings in the soul which it is much easier to conceive than to describe.[ ] it may be added, that the effect of all this is heightened by an extraordinary contrast; for, on quitting the grotto where you have met with the riches, the arts, the religion of civilized nations, you find yourself in a profound solitude, amid wretched arab huts, among half-naked savages and faithless mussulmans. this place is nevertheless the same where so many miracles were displayed; but this sacred land dares no more express its joy, and locks within its bosom the recollections of its glory. bethlehem has usually shared the vicissitudes of jerusalem, being, both from its situation and the nature of the relics which it contains, exposed to the rage or cupidity of barbarian conquerors. it fell under the power of the saracens when led by their victorious calif; but for seven centuries it has been guarded by a succession of religious persons who, it has been said, suffer a perpetual martyrdom. in the time of volney, they reckoned about six hundred men in this village capable of bearing arms, of whom about one hundred were latin christians. the necessity of uniting for their common defence against the bedouins, and the still morn relentless agents of despotism, has in many instances prevailed over points of faith, and induced the monks to live on good terms with the mohammedans. mr. buckingham assures us, that at present the town is equal to nazareth in extent, and contains from to inhabitants, who are almost wholly christians. dr. richardson gives the number at , an estimate, we should imagine, considerably below the actual population. the men are robust and well made, and the women are among the fairest and most handsome, that are to be seen in palestine. the neighbourhood of bethlehem presents a variety of objects too important to be passed without a slight notice. the pools of solomon, connected, it is probable, with a scheme for supplying jerusalem with water; are usually visited by the more enlightened class of travellers, who combine in their researches a regard to the arts as well as to the religion of judea. these reservoirs are four, in number, being so disposed, says maundrell, that the water of the uppermost may descend into the second, and that of the second into the third. their figure is quadrangular; the breadth is the same in all, amounting to about ninety paces. in their length there is some difference; the first being one hundred and sixty paces long, the second two hundred and the third two hundred and twenty. they are all lined with masonry and plastered. the springs whence the pools are supplied seem to have been secured with great care, having, says the author of the journey from aleppo, "no avenue to them but by a little hole like to the mouth of a narrow well." through this hole you descend directly about four yards, when you come to a chamber forty-five feet long and twenty-four broad, adjoining to which there is another apartment of the same kind, but not quite so large. both these rooms are neatly arched, and have an air of great antiquity. the water, which rises from four separate sources, is partly conveyed by a subterranean passage into the ponds; the remainder being received into an aqueduct of brick pipes, and carried by many turnings and windings among the mountains to the walls of jerusalem. the monks of bethlehem are perfectly convinced that it was in allusion to this guarded treasure, so valuable in palestine, that solomon called his beloved spouse a "sealed fountain." of the aqueduct here mentioned some traces are still to be detected in the intermediate space, and denote an acquaintance with the principles of hydraulics which we could not have expected among hebrew architects. it was constructed all along upon the surface of the ground, and framed of perforated stones let into one another, with a fillet round the cavity, so contrived as to prevent leakage, and united together with so firm a cement that they will sometimes sooner break than endure a separation. these pipes were covered with an arch, or layer of flags, strengthened by the application of a peculiarly strong mortar; the whole "being endued with such absolute firmness as if it had been designed for eternity. but the turks have demonstrated in this instance, that nothing can be so well wrought but they are able to destroy it; fur of this strong aqueduct, which was carried formerly five or six leagues with so vast expense and labour, you see now only here and there a fragment remaining."[ ] in a valley contiguous to bethlehem are the remains of a church and convent which were erected by the pious empress over the place where the angels appeared to the shepherds. nothing has survived the desolation to which every edifice in palestine has been repeatedly subjected but a small grotto wherein the heavenly communication was vouchsafed to the simple keepers of the flock. on the way back to jerusalem the traveller is induced to leave the more direct route, that he may visit the convent of st. john in the desert. this monastery is built over the dwelling where the baptist is supposed to have first seen the light; and accordingly, under the altar, the spot on which he was brought forth is marked by a star of marble bearing this inscription:-- "hic precursor domini christi natus est." here the forerunner of the lord christ was born. the church belonging to this establishment has been described as one of the best in the holy land, having an elegant cupola and a pavement of mosaic, with some paintings. but the appearance, nevertheless, is poor and deserted, as if its votaries were few, and but little concerned in preserving its ancient grandeur. the account given of it by sandys will amuse the reader by the simplicity of the narrative as well as by the deep interest the good man felt in the various scenes which passed before him:--"having travelled about a mile and a halfe farther, we came to the cave where the baptist is said to have lived from the age of seven until such time as he went into the wilderness by jordan, sequestered from the abode of man, and feeding on such wilde nourishment as these uninhabited places afforded. this cave is seated on the northern side of a desert mountaine,--only beholden to the locust-tree,--hewne out of the precipitating rock, so as difficultly to be ascended or descended to, entered at the east corner, and receiving light from a window in the side. at the upper end there is a bench of the selfesame, whereon, they say, he accustomed to sleeps; of which whoso breaks a piece off stands forthwith excommunicate. over this, on a little flat stand the ruins of a monastery, on the south aide, naturally walled with the steepe of a mountain; from whence there gusheth a living spring which entereth the rock, and again bursteth forth beneathe the mouth of the cave,--a place that would make solitarinesse delightful, and stand in comparison with the turbulent pompe of cities. this overlooketh a profound valley, on the far side hemmed with aspiring mountains, whereof some are cut (or naturally so) in degrees like allies, which would be else unaccessibly fruitlesse; whose levels yet bear the stumps of decayed vines, shadowed not rarely with olives and locusts. and surely i think that all or most of those mountains have bin so husbanded, else could this little country have never sustained such a multitude of people. after we had fed of such provision as was brought us from the city by other of the fraternitie that there met us, we turned towards jerusalem, leaving the way of bethlehem on the right-hand, and that of emmaus on the left. the first place of note that we met with was there where once stood the dwelling of zachary, seated on the side of a fruitful hill, well stored with olives and vineyards. hither came the blessed virgin to visit her cousin elisabeth. here died elisabeth, and here, in a grot, on the aide of a vault or chapell, lies buried; over which a goodly church war erected, together with a monastery, whereof now little standeth but a part of the walls, which offer to the view some fragments of painting, which show that the rest have been exquisit. beyond and lower is our lady's fountaine (so called of the inhabitants), which maintaineth a little current thorow the neighbouring valley. near this, in the bottome and uttermost extent thereof, there standeth a temple, once sumptuous, now desolate, built by helena, and dedicated to st. john baptist, in the place where zachary had another house, possest, as the rest, by the beastly arabians, who defile it with their cattell, and employ to the basest of uses."[ ] it is a point still unsettled, whether the food of him who was sent to prepare the way consisted of fruit or of insects; the name locust being indiscriminately applied to either, and both being used by the inhabitants of palestine. there is less doubt in regard to the opinions of the early christians, who were unanimous in the belief that the baptist lived on the produce of a particular tree which still abounds in the desert. nay, the friars at the present day assert, that the very plants which yielded sustenance to the holy recluse continue to flourish in their ancient vigour; and the popish pilgrims, says mr. maundrell, who dare not be wiser than such blind guides, gather the fruit of them, and carry it away with much devotion. but we must not permit the interesting associations of bethlehem to detain us any longer in its vicinity. we proceed now towards the extremity of the dead sea; whence, after having visited the most remarkable scenes on its western shore,--the mouth of the jordan and the position of jericho,--we shall return to the capital by a different route. after having satisfied his curiosity in church and convent, the traveller turns his face southward to tekoa and hebron, those remoter villages of the holy land. the former, which was built by rehoboam, and is distinguished as the birthplace of amos the prophet, presents considerable ruins, and even some remains of architecture. it appears to have stood upon a hill, which pococke describes as being about half a mile in length and a furlong broad. on the north-eastern corner there are fragments of an old building, supposed to have been a fortress, while about half-way up the accent there are similar indications of a church now in a state of complete dilapidation. there is preserved, however, a large font of an octagon form, composed of red and white marble; as also pieces of broken pillars consisting of the same material. farther towards the south, various manifestations present themselves of ancient civilization, the traces of which are most distinctly marked by places of worship and numerous strongholds. the traveler just named mentions a ruined castle called creightoun, situated on the side of a steep hill, and a church dedicated to st. pantaleone. at a little distance there is an immense grotto, which is said on one occasion to have contained , men; and hence it is conjectured to be one of those retreats in the fastnesses of engedi to which david fled from the pursuit of saul. about two miles farther, in a south-eastern direction, is the mount of bethulia, near a village of the same name; a position which is thought to agree with that of beth-haccerem, specified by jeremiah as a proper place for a beacon, where the children of benjamin were to sound the trumpet in tekoa.[ ] there is a tradition that the knights of jerusalem, during the holy war, held this strong post forty years after the capital had fallen. it is a single hill, and very high; and the top of it appears like a large mount formed by art, being defended by a double line of fortifications and several towers, which in a rude state of warfare might be pronounced almost impregnable. at the foot of an eminence towards the north there are the remains of a magnificent church as well as of other buildings. on a slope a little farther west there is a cistern connected with a pond, which appears to have had an island in it, and probably some structure suited to the supply of water. these works were also encompassed with a double wall; and it is said that two aqueducts may still be perceived terminating in the basin, one from the sealed fountain of solomon, and another from the hilly district which stretches between bethlehem and tekoa. in reference to the tradition that the knights of jerusalem held the garrison of bethulia forty years, captain mangles remarks, that the place is too small to have contained even half the number of men which would have been requisite to make any stand in such a country; and the ruins, though they may be those of a place once defended by franks, appear to have had an earlier origin, as the architecture seems to be decidedly roman. there can be little doubt, indeed, that it is one of the works of herod the great; and its distance does not differ much from that of herodium, which is described by josephus as being about sixty furlongs from the metropolis. the delineation of the hill, too, by the same historian, corresponds with the mount of the franks; and when he adds that water was conveyed to it at a great expense, we cannot permit ourselves to question the identity of herodium and the fortress of bethulia.[ ] hebron, habroun, or, according to the arabic orthography followed by the moderns, el hhalil, is considerably removed from the usual track of pilgrims and tourists. an accident or quarrel once excited the indignation of the inhabitants against the franks, who during a long course of time were dissuaded by the monks at jerusalem from extending their researches beyond bethlehem. sandys could only report, apparently on the information of others, that hebron was reduced to ruins; but he adds, there is a little village seated in the field of machpelah, "where standeth a goodly temple, erected over the burying-cave of the patriarchs by helena, the mother of constantine, converted now into a mosque." without minutely analyzing the topography of this rather credulous author, we may repeat the assurance which he gives relative to the existence of the imperial monument dedicated to the memory of abraham and his immediate descendants. m. burckhardt, who saw it in , bears testimony to the fact that the sepulchre, once a greek church, is now appropriated to the worship of mohammed. the ascent to it is by a large and fine staircase that leads to a long gallery, the entrance to which is by a small court. towards the left is a portico resting upon square pillars the vestibule of the temple contains two rooms; the one being the tomb of abraham, the other that of sarah. in the body of the church, between two large pillars on the right, is seen a small recess, in which is the sepulchre of isaac, and in a similar one upon the left is that of his wife. on the opposite side of the court is another vestibule, which has also two rooms, being respectively the tomb of jacob and of his spouse. at the extremity of the portico, upon the right-hand, is a door which leads to a sort of long gallery that still serves for a mosque; and passing from thence is observed another room containing the ashes of joseph, which are said to have been carried thither by the people of israel. all the sepulchres of the patriarchs are covered with rich carpets of green silk, magnificently embroidered with gold; those of their wives are red, embroidered in like manner. the sultans of constantinople furnish these carpets, which are renewed from time to time. m. burckhardt counted nine, one over another, upon the sepulchre of abraham. the rooms also which contain the tombs are covered with rich carpets; the entrance to them is guarded by iron gates, and wooden doors plated with silver, having halts and padlocks of the same metal. more than a hundred persons are employed in the service of this temple; affording, with the decorations and wealth lavished upon the structure, a remarkable contrast to the simple life of the venerable man to whose memory it is meant to do honour. if the description given by sandys in the seventeenth century was correct, we must conclude that hebron has subsequently enjoyed a period of improvement. according to the traveller whom we have just quoted, it contains about four hundred families, of which about a fourth part are jews. it is situated on the slope of a mountain; has a strong castle; can boast abundance of provisions, a considerable number of shops, and some neat houses. the whole of the country between tekoa and hebron is finer and better cultivated than in the neighbourhood of jerusalem; while the sides of the hills, instead of being naked and dreary, are richly studded with the oak, the arbutus, the scottish fir, and a variety of flowering-shrubs. beyond this point the information of europeans ceased until about twelve years ago, when the desert which stretches between the sepulchre of abraham and the dead sea was entered by mr. bankes, mr. legh, and captains irby and mangles. after a journey of three days from hebron towards the south, the travellers were informed of extensive ruins at abdi in the wilderness. on turning their faces to kerek, the object of their search, the road led in the direction of the lake asphaltites, through a country which, although well cultivated, was extremely uninteresting. they observed a variety of ruins, with some subterranean tombs in the neighbourhood, denoting the existence of an ancient town; when, after having advanced eight or nine miles farther, they found themselves on the borders of an extensive desert, entirely abandoned to the wandering bedouins. near the point at which this change of aspect begins is a place called by the natives al-baid, where there is a fountain in the rock and a pool of greenish water. the travellers, at some distance from this halting-place, arrived at a camp of jellaheen arabs, who told them that in years of scarcity they were accustomed to retire into egypt,--a practice which seems to have been handed down from the days of the patriarchs, or dictated by the same necessity that compelled the family of jacob to adopt a similar expedient. at the distance of eight hours from al-baid, in a deep barren valley, are the ruins of an old turkish fort, standing on a solitary rock to the left of the track. farther on the cliff is excavated, at a considerable height, into loopholes; where it is probable a barrier was formerly established for levying a certain duty on goods and travellers. the place is called el zowar, or el ghor. from hence a gravelly ravine, studded with bushes of acacia and other shrubs, conducts to the great plain at the southern extremity of the dead sea; bounded at the distance of eight or nine miles by a sandy cliff at least seventy feet high, which forms a barrier to the lake when at its greatest elevation. the existence of that long valley which extends from asphaltites to the aelanitic gulf was first ascertained by burckhardt; and the prolongation of it, as connected with the hollow of the jordan, has been considered as a proof that the river at one time discharged its waters into the eastern branch of the red sea. the change is attributed to that great volcanic convulsion mentioned in the nineteenth chapter of genesis, which, interrupting the course of the river, converted into a lake the fertile plain occupied by the cities of adma, zeboim, sodom, and gomorrah, and reduced all the valley southward to the condition of a sandy waste.[ ] but, having reached the shores of the dead sea by an unfrequented path, we have no guide to the examination of the wild country which rises on either side of it; we therefore prefer the more wonted route which leads to its northern border, near the mouth of the jordan and the site of the ancient jericho. avoiding, at the same time, the track of the caravan from jerusalem through the hilly desert which intervenes, we shall accompany the vicomte de chateaubriand from bethlehem through the interesting valley of santa saba. on leaving the church of the nativity the traveller pursues his course eastward, through a vale where abraham is said to have fed his flocks. this pastoral tract, however, is soon succeeded by a range of hilly ground, so extremely barren that not even a root of moss is to be seen upon it. descending the farther side of this meager platform two lofty towers are perceived, rising from a deep valley, marking the site of the convent of santa saba. nothing can be more dreary than the situation of this religious house. it is erected in a ravine, sunk to the depth of several hundred feet, where the brook kedron has formed a channel, which is dry the greater part of the year. the church is on a little eminence at the bottom of the dell; whence the buildings of the monastery rise by perpendicular flights of steps and passages hewn out of the rock, and thus ascend to the ridge of the hill, where they terminate is the two square towers already mentioned. from hence you descry the sterile summits of the mountains both towards the east and west; the course of the stream from jerusalem; and the numerous grottoes formerly occupied by christian anchorites. in advancing, the aspect of the country still continues the same, white and dusty, without tree, herbage, or even moss. at length the road seeks a lower level, and approaches the rocky border which bounds the valley of the jordan; when, after a toilsome journey of ten or twelve hours, the traveller sees stretching out before his eyes the dead sea and the line of the river. but the landscape, however grand, admits of no comparison to the scenery of europe. no fields waving with corn,--no plains covered with rich pasture present themselves from the mountains of lower palestine. figure to yourself two long chains of mountains, running in a parallel direction from north to south, without breaks and without undulations. the eastern or arabian chain is the highest; and, when seen at the distance of eight or ten leagues, you would take it to be a prodigious perpendicular wall, resembling mount jura in its form and azure colour. not one summit, not the smallest peak can be distinguished; you merely perceive slight inflections here and there, "as if the hand of the painter who drew this horizontal line along the sky had trembled in some places." the mountains of judea form the range on which the observer stands as he looks down on the lake asphaltites. less lofty and more unequal than the eastern chain, it differs from the other in its nature also; exhibiting heaps of chalk and sand, whose form, it is said, bears some resemblance to piles of arms, waving standards, or the tents of a camp pitched on the border of a plain. the arabian side, on the contrary, presents nothing but black precipitous rocks, which throw their lengthened shadow over waters of the dead sea. the smallest bird of heaven would not find among these crags a single blade of grass for its sustenance; every thing announces the country of a reprobate people, and well fitted to perpetuate the punishment denounced against ammon and moab. the valley confined by these two chains of mountains displays a soil resembling the bottom of a sea which has long retired from its bed, a beach covered with salt, dry mud, and moving sands, furrowed, as it were, by the waves. here and there stunted shrubs vegetate with difficulty upon this inanimate tract; their leaves are covered with salt, and their bark has a smoky smell and taste. instead of villages you perceive the ruins of a few towers. in the middle of this valley flows a discoloured river, which reluctantly throws itself into the pestilential lake by which it is engulfed. its course amid the sands can be distinguished only by the willows and the reeds that border it; among which the arab lies in ambush to attack the traveller and to murder the pilgrim.[ ] m. chateaubriand remarks, that when you travel in judea the heart is at first filled with profound melancholy. but when, passing from solitude to solitude, boundless space opens before you, this feeling wears off by degrees, and you experience a secret awe, which, so far from depressing the soul, imparts life and elevates the genius. extraordinary appearances everywhere proclaim a land teeming with miracles. the burning sun, the towering eagle, the barren fig-tree, all the poetry, all the pictures of scripture are here. every name commemorates a mystery,--every grotto announces a prediction,--every hill reechoes the accents of a prophet. god himself has spoken in these regions, dried up rivers, rent the rocks, and opened the grave. "the desert still appears mute with terror; and you would imagine that it had never presumed to interrupt the silence since it heard the awful voice of the eternal." the celebrated lake which occupies the site of sodom and gomorrah is called in scripture the dead sea. among the greeks and latins it is known by the name of asphaltites; the arabs denominate it bahar loth, or sea of lot. m. de chateaubriand does not agree with those who conclude it to be the crater of a volcano; for, having seen vesuvius, solfatara, the peak of the azores, and the extinguished volcanoes of auvergne, he remarked in all of them the same characters; that is to say, mountains excavated in the form of a tunnel, lava, and ashes, which exhibited incontestable proof of the agency of fire. the salt sea, on the contrary, is a lake of great length, curved like a bow, placed between two ranges of mountains, which have no mutual coherence of form, no similarity of composition. they do not meet at the two extremities of the lake; but while the one continues to bound the valley of jordan, and to run northward as far as tiberias, the other stretches away to the south till it loses itself in the sands of yemen. there are, it is true, hot springs, quantities of bitumen, sulphur, and asphaltos; but these of themselves are not sufficient to attest the previous existence of a volcano. with respect, indeed, to the ingulfed cities, if we adopt the idea of michaelis and of büsching, physics may be admitted to explain the catastrophe without offence to religion. according to their views, sodom was built upon a mine of bitumen,--a fact which is ascertained by the testimony of moses and josephus, who speak of wells of naphtha in the valley of siddim. lightning kindled the combustible mass, and the guilty cities sank in the subterraneous conflagration. malte brun ingeniously suggests that sodom and gomorrah themselves may have been built of bituminous stones, and thus have been set in flames by the fire from heaven. according to strabo, there were thirteen towns swallowed up in the lake asphaltites; stephen of byzantium reckons eight; the book of genesis, while it names five as situated in the vale of siddim, relates the destruction of two only: four are mentioned in deuteronomy, and five are noticed by the author of ecclesiasticus. several travellers, and among others troilo and d'arvieux, assure us, that they observed fragments of walls and palaces in the dead sea. maundrell himself was not so fortunate, owing, he supposes, to the height of the water; but he relates that the father guardian and procurator of jerusalem, both men of sense and probity, declared that they had once actually seen one of these ruins; that it was so near the shore, and the lake so shallow, that they, together with some frenchmen, went to it, and found there several pillars and other fragments of buildings. the ancients speak more positively on this subject. josephus, who employs a poetical expression, says, that he perceived on the shores of the dead sea the shades of the overwhelmed cities. strabo gives a circumference of sixty stadia to the ruins of sodom, which are also mentioned by tacitus.[ ] it is surprising that no pains have been taken by recent travellers to throw light upon this interesting point, or even to learn whether the periodical rise and fall of the lake affords any means for determining the accuracy of the ancient historians and geographers. should the turks ever give permission, and should it be found practicable, to convey a vessel from jaffa to this inland sea, some curious discoveries would certainly be made. is it not amazing that, notwithstanding the enterprise of modern science, the ancients were better acquainted with the properties, and even the dimensions of the lake asphaltites, than the most learned nations of europe in our own times? it is described by aristotle, strabo, diodorus siculus, pliny, tacitus, solinus, josephus, galen, and dioscorides. the abbot of santa saba is the only person for many centuries who has made the tour of the dead sea. from his account we learn, through the medium of father nau, that at its extremity it is separated, as it were, into two parts, and that there is a way by which you may walk across it, being only mid-leg deep, at least in summer; that there the land rises, and bounds another small lake of a circular or rather an oval figure, surrounded with plains and hills of salt; and that the neighbouring country is peopled by innumerable arabs.[ ] it is known that seven considerable streams fall into this basin, and hence it was long supposed that it must discharge its superfluous stores by subterranean channels into the mediteranean or the red sea. this opinion is now everywhere relinquished, in consequence of the learned remarks on the effect of evaporation in a hot climate, published by dr. halley many years ago; the justness of which were admitted by dr. shaw, though he calculated that the jordan alone threw into the lake every day more than six million tuns of water. it is deserving of notice, that the arabian philosophers, if we may believe mariti, had anticipated halley in his conclusions in regard to the absorbent power of a dry atmosphere.[ ] the marvellous properties usually assigned to the dead sea by the earlier travellers have vanished upon a more rigid investigation. it is now known that bodies sink or float upon it, in proportion to their specific gravity; and that, although the water is so dense as to be favourable to swimmers, no security is found against the common accident of drowning. josephus indeed asserts that vespasian, in order to ascertain the fact now mentioned, commanded a number of his slaves to be bound hand and foot and thrown into the deepest part of the lake; and that, so far from any of them sinking, they all maintained their place on the surface until it pleased the emperor to have them taken out. but this anecdote, although perfectly consistent with truth, does not justify all the inferences which have been drawn from it. "being willing to make an experiment," says maundrell, "i went into it, and found that it bore up my body in swimming with an uncommon force; but as for that relation of some authors, that men wading into it were buoyed up to the top as soon as they got as deep as the middle, i found it, upon trial, not true."[ ] the water of this sea has been frequently analyzed both in france and england. the specific gravity of it, according to malte brun, is . , that of fresh water being . . it is perfectly transparent. the applications of tests, or reagents, prove that it contains the muriatic and sulphuric acids. there is no alumina in it, nor does it appear that it is saturated with marine salt or muriate of soda. it holds in solution the following substances, and in the proportions here stated: muriate of lime . magnesia . soda . sulphate of lime . we need not add that such a liquid must be equally salt and bitter. as might be expected, too, it is found to deposit its salts in copious incrustations, and to prove a ready agent in all processes of petrifaction. clothes, boots, and hats, if dipped in the lake, or accidentally wetted with its water, are found, when dried, to be covered with a thick coating of these minerals. hence, we cannot be surprised to hear that the lake asphaltites does not present any variety of fish. mariti asserts that it produces none, and even that those which are carried into it by the rapidity of the jordan perish almost immediately upon being immerged in its acrid waves. a few shell-snails constitute the sole tenants of its dreary shores, unmixed either with the helix or the muscle. it was formerly believed that the approach to asphaltites was fatal to birds, and that, like another lake of antiquity, it had the power of drawing them down from the wing into its poisonous waters. this dream, propagated by certain visionary travellers, is now completely discredited. flocks of swallows may be seen skimming along its surface with the utmost impunity, while the absence of all other species is easily explained by a glance at the naked hills and barren plains, which supply no vegetable food. the historian josephus, who measured the dead sea, found that in length it extended about five hundred and eighty stadia, and in breadth one hundred and fifty,--according to our standard, somewhat more than seventy miles by nineteen. a recent traveller, to whose unpublished journal we have repeatedly alluded, remarks that the lake, when he visited it, was sunk or hollow, and that the banks had been recently under water, being still very miry and difficult to pass. the shores were covered with dry wood, some of it good timber, which they say is brought by the jordan from the country of the druses. "the water is pungently salt, like oxymuriate of soda. it is incredibly buoyant. g---- bathed in it, and when he lay still on his back or belly, he floated with one-fourth at least of his whole body above the water. he described the sensation as extraordinary, and more like lying on a feather-bed than floating on water. on the other hand, he found the greatest resistance in attempting to move through it: it smarted his eyes excessively. i put a piece of stick in: it required a good deal of pressure to make it sink, and when let go it bounded out again like a blown bladder. the water was clear, and of a yellowish tinge, which might be from the colour of the stones at bottom, or from the hazy atmosphere. there were green shrubs down to the water's edge in one place, and nothing to give an idea of any thing blasting in the neighbourhood of the sea; the desert character of the soil extending far beyond the possibility of being affected by its influence."[ ] the bitumen supplied by this singular basin affords the means of a comfortable livelihood to a considerable number of arabs who frequent its shores. the pasha of damascus, who finds it a valuable article of commerce, purchases at a small price the fruit of their labours, or supplies them with food, clothing, and a few ornaments in return for it. in ancient times it found a ready market in egypt, where it was used in large quantities for embalming the dead: it was also occasionally employed as a substitute for stone, and appeared in the walls of houses and even of temples. associated with the dead sea, every reader has heard of the apples of sodom, a species of fruit which, extremely beautiful to the eye, is bitter to the taste, and full of dust. tacitus, in the fifth book of his history, alludes to this singular fact, but, as usual, in language so brief and ambiguous, that no light can be derived from his description, _atra et inania velut in cinerem vanescunt_. some travellers, unable to discover this singular production, have considered it merely as a figure of speech, depicting the deceitful nature of all vicious enjoyments. hasselquist regards it as the production of a small plant called _solanum melongena_, a species of nightshade, which is to be found abundantly in the neighbourhood of jericho. he admits that the apples are sometimes full of dust; but this, he maintains, appears only when the fruit is attacked by a certain insect, which converts the whole of the inside into a kind of powder, leaving the rind wholly entire, and in possession of its beautiful colour. m. seetzen, again, holds the novel opinion, that this mysterious apple contains a sort of cotton resembling silk; and, having no pulp or flesh in the inside, might naturally enough, when sought for as food, be denounced by the hungry bedouin as pleasing to the eye and deceitful to the palate. chateaubriand has fixed on a shrub different from any of the others. it grows two or three leagues from the mouth of the jordan, and is of a thorny appearance, with small tapering leaves. its fruit is exactly like that of the egyptian lemon, both in size and colour. before it is ripe it is filled with a corrosive and saline juice; when dried, it yields a blackish seed that may be compared to ashes, and which in taste resembles bitter pepper. there can be little doubt that this is the true apple of sodom, which flatters the sight while it mocks the appetite.[ ] in ascending the western shore, the traveller at length reaches the point where the jordan mixes its muddy waters with those of the lake. hasselquist, the only modern author who describes the mouth of that celebrated river, tells us that the plain which extends from thence to jericho, a distance of more than three leagues, is, generally speaking, level, but uncultivated and barren. the soil is a grayish sandy clay, so loose that the horses often sank up to the knees in it. the whole surface of the earth is covered with salt in the same manner as on the banks of the nile, and would, it is probable, prove no less fruitful were it irrigated with equal care. the stones on the beach, it is added, were all quartz, but of various colours; some specimens of which, having a slaty structure, emitted, when exposed to fire, a strong smell of bitumen, thereby denoting, perhaps, its volcanic origin. there is a great want of unanimity among authors in respect to the width of the jordan. the swede whom we have just quoted relates, that opposite to jericho it was eight paces over, the banks perpendicular, six feet in height, the water deep, muddy, warm rather than cold, and much inferior in quality to that of the nile. chateaubriand, again, who measured it in several places, reports that it was about fifty feet in breadth, and six feet deep close to the shore,--a discrepancy which must arise from the period of the year when it was seen by these distinguished writers.[ ] the old testament abounds with allusions to the swellings of jordan; but at present, whether the current has deepened its channel, or whether the climate is less moist than in former days, this occurrence is seldom witnessed,--the river has forgotten its ancient greatness. maundrell could discern no sign or probability of such overflowings; for although he was there on the th of march,--the proper season of the inundation,--the river was running two yards at least under the level of its banks. the margin of the stream, however, continues as of old to be closely covered with a natural forest of tamarisk, willows, oleanders, and similar trees, and to afford a retreat to several species of wild beasts. hence the fine metaphor of the prophet jeremiah, who assimilates an enraged enemy to a lion coming up "from the swellings of jordan," driven from his lair by the annual flood, and compelled to seek shelter in the surrounding desert. jericho, which is at present a miserable village inhabited by half-naked arabs, derives all its importance from history. it was the first city which the israelites reduced upon entering the holy land. five hundred and thirty years afterward it was rebuilt by heliel of bethel, who succeeded in restoring its population, its splendour, and its commerce; in which flourishing condition it appears to have continued during several centuries. mark antony, in the pride of power, presented to cleopatra the whole territory of jericho. vespasian, in the course of the sanguinary war which he prosecuted in judea, sacked its walls, and put its inhabitants to the sword. re-established by adrian in the th year of our faith, it was doomed at no distant era to experience new disasters. it was again repaired by the christians, who made it the seat of a bishop; but in the twelfth century it was overthrown by the infidels, and has not since emerged from its ruins. of all its magnificent buildings there remain only the part of one tower, supposed to be the dwelling of zaccheus the publican, and a quantity of rubbish, which is understood to mark the line of its ancient walls. mr. buckingham saw reason to believe that the true site of jericho, as described by josephus, was at a greater distance from the river than the village of rahhah, commonly supposed to represent the city of palms. descending from the mountains which bound the valley on the western side, he observed the ruins of a large settlement, covering at least a square mile, whence, as well as from the remains of aqueducts and fountains, he was led to conclude that it must have been a place of considerable consequence. some of the more striking objects among the wrecks of this ancient city were large tumuli, evidently the work of art, and resembling those of the greek and trojan heroes on the plains of ilium. there were, besides, portions of ruined buildings, shafts of columns, and a capital of the corinthian order; tokens not at all ambiguous of former grandeur and of civilized life. josephus fixes the position of jericho at the distance of one hundred and fifty furlongs from jerusalem, and sixty from the river jordan; stating that the country, as far as the capital, is desert and hilly, while to the shores of the lake asphaltites it is low, though equally waste and unfruitful. nothing can apply more accurately, in all its particulars, than this description does to the ruins just mentioned. the spot lies at the very foot of the sterile mountains of judea, which may be said literally to overhang it on the west; and these ridges are still as barren, as rugged, and as destitute of inhabitants as formerly, throughout their whole extent, from the lake of tiberias to the dead sea. the distance, by the computation in time, amounted to six hours, or nearly twenty miles, from jerusalem; the space between the supposed city and the river being little more than one-third of that amount, the precise proportion indicated by the jewish historian. the soil round jericho was long celebrated for a precious balsam, which used to be sold for double its weight of silver. the historian justin relates, that the trees from which it exudes bear a resemblance to firs, though they are lower, and are cultivated after the manner of vines. he adds, that the wealth of the jewish nation arises from their produce, as they grow in no other part of syria. at present, however, there is not a tree of any description, either palm or balsam, to be seen near the site of this deserted town; but it is admitted, that the complete desolation with which its ruins are invested ought to be attributed to the cessation of industry rather than to any perceptible change either in the climate or the soil. rahhah stands about four miles nearer the river, or about half-way between the assumed position of jericho and the bank of the current. it consists of about fifty dwellings, all very mean in their appearance, and every one fenced in front with thorny bushes; one of the most effectual defences that could be raised against the incursions of the bedouins, whose horses will not approach these formidable thickets. the inhabitants, without exception, are professed believers in the creed of islamism. their habits are those of shepherds rather than of cultivators of the soil; this last duty, indeed, when performed at all, being done chiefly by the women and children, as the men roam the plain on horseback, and derive the principal means of subsistence from robbery and plunder. they are governed by a sheik, whose influence among them is more like the authority of a father over his children than that of a magistrate; and who is, moreover, checked in the exercise of his power, by the knowledge that he would instantly be deprived of life and station were he to exceed the bounds which, in all rude countries, are opposed even to the caprices of despotism. it is remarkable that the name of this village corresponds to rahab, the name of the hostess who received into her house the hebrew spies, and signifies odour or perfume; the slight change on the form of the arabic term implying no difference in the import of the root whence they are both originally derived. the mountains on the eastern side of the jordan are more lofty than those which skirt the vale of jericho, being not less than feet in height. from the summit of a towering peak, which the traveller still delights to recognise, moses was permitted to behold the promised inheritance, stretching towards the west, the south, and the north,--"all the land of gilead unto dan, and all naphtali, and the land of ephraim, and manasseh, and all the land of judah unto the utmost sea, and the south, and the plain of the valley of jericho, the city of palm-trees, unto zoar. and the lord said unto him, this is the land which i sware unto abraham, unto isaac, and unto jacob, saying, i will give it unto thy seed: i have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. so moses, the servant of the lord, died there, in the land of moab, according to the word of the lord. and he buried him in a valley in the land of moab, over against beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day."[ ] the road from jericho to jerusalem presents some historical reminiscences of the most interesting nature. when entering the mountains which protect the western side of the plain, the attention of the traveller is invited to the fountain of elisha, the waters of which were sweetened by the power of the prophet. the men of jericho represented to him that though the situation of the town was pleasant, "the water was naught, and the ground barren. and he said, bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein: and they brought it to him. and he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, thus with the lord, i have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land. so the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of elisha which he spake."[ ] its waters are at present received in a basin about nine or ten paces long, and five or six broad; and from thence, issuing out in good plenty, divide themselves into several small streams, dispersing their refreshment to all the land as far as jericho, and rendering it exceedingly fruitful. advancing into the savage country through which the usual road to the capital is formed, the tourist soon finds himself at the foot of the mountain called quarantina, from being the supposed scene of the temptation and fast of forty days endured by our saviour, who, --"looking round on every aide, beheld a pathless desert dusk with horrid shades: the way he came not having marked, return was difficult, by human steps untrod; and he still on was led, but with such thoughts accompanied of things past and to come lodg'd in his breast, as well might recommend such solitude before choicest society."[ ] the neighbourhood of this lofty eminence is, according to mr. maundrell, a dry, miserable, barren place, consisting of high rocky mountains, so torn and disordered, "as if the earth had here suffered some great convulsion, in which its very bowels had been turned outward." in a deep valley are seen the ruins of small cells and cottages, thought to be the remains of those sequestered habitations to which hermits were wont to retire for the uses of penance and mortification; and it is remarked that, in the whole earth, a more comfortless and desert place could not have been selected for so pious a purpose. from these hills of desolation, however, there is obtained a magnificent prospect of the plain of jericho, the dead sea, and of the distant summits of arabia; for which reason the highest of the group has been assigned by tradition as the very spot whence all the kingdoms of the world were seen in a moment of time. it is, as st. matthew styles it, an exceeding high mountain, and in its ascent not only difficult but dangerous. it has a small chapel at the top, and another about half-way down, founded upon a projecting part of the rock. near the latter are observed several caves and holes, excavated by the solitaries, who thought it the most suitable place for undergoing the austerities of lent,--a practice which has not even at the present day fallen altogether into disuse. hasselquist describes the path as "dangerous beyond imagination. i went as far up on this terrible mountain of temptation as prudence would admit, but ventured not to go to the top; whither i sent my servant to bring what natural curiosities he could find, while i gathered what plants and insects i could find below."[ ] mariti, whose religious zeal was fanned into a temporary flame, ascended the formidable steep as far as the grottoes, which he delineates with much minuteness. he pronounces the chapel inaccessible from the side on which he stood, and is very doubtful whether it could now be approached on any quarter, the ancient road being so much neglected. but it should seem that most travellers are smitten with the feeling which seized the breast of maundrell, although they all have not the candour to acknowledge it. alluding to the arabs, who demanded a sum of money for liberty to ascend, he says, "we departed without further trouble, not a little glad to have so good an excuse for not climbing so dangerous a precipice."[ ] the imagination of milton has thrown a captivating splendour around this scene, which, at the same time, he appears to have transferred to the mountain-range beyond the jordan in the country of the moabites. "thus wore out night; and now the herald lark left his ground-nest, high towering to descry the morn's approach, and greet her with his song, as lightly from his grassy couch up rose our saviour, and found all was but a dream; fasting he went to sleep, and fasting waked. up to a hill anon his steps he reared, from whose high top to ken the prospect round, if cottage were in view, sheepcote, or herd; but cottage, herd, or sheepcote, none he saw; only in a bottom saw a pleasant grove, with chant of tuneful birds resounding loud; thither he bent his way; determined there to rest at noon, and entered soon the shade high roofed, and walks beneath, and alleys brown, that opened in the midst a woody scene."[ ] leaving the quarantina with its dreary scenes and solemn recollections, the pilgrim returning from the jordan finds himself off a beaten path which, since the days of moses, it is probable has connected the rocks of salem with the banks of the sacred river. chateaubriand informs us that it is broad, and in some parts paved; having undergone, as he conjectures, several improvements while the country was in possession of the romans. on the top of a mountain there is the appearance of a castle, which, we may conclude, was meant to protect and command the road; and at a little distance, in the bottom of a deep gloomy valley is the place of blood, called in the hebrew tongue abdomim, where once stood a small town belonging to the tribe of judah, and where the good samaritan is imagined to have succoured the wounded traveller who had fallen into the hands of thieves. that sombre dell is still entitled to its horrible distinction; it is still the place of blood, of robbery, and of murder; the most dangerous pass for him who undertakes to go down from jerusalem to jericho. as a proof of this, we may shortly mention an assault which was made upon sir f. henniker, who a few years ago resolved to accomplish that perilous journey. "the route is over hills, rocky, barren, and uninteresting. we arrived at a fountain, and here my two attendants paused to refresh themselves; the day was so hot that i was anxious to finish the journey and hasten forwards. a ruined building, situated on the summit of a hill, was now within sight, and i urged my horse towards it; the janizary galloped by me, and making signs for me not to precede him, he himself rode into and round the building, and then motioned me to advance. we next came to a hill, through the very apex of which has been cut a passage, the rocks overhanging it on either side. i was in the act of passing through this ditch when a bullet whizzed by close to my head. i saw no one, and had scarcely time to think when another was fired, some short distance in advance. i could yet see no one, the janizary was beneath the brow of the hill in his descent. i looked back, but my servant was not yet within sight. i looked up, and within a few inches of my head were three muskets, and three men taking aim at me. escape or resistance was alike impossible. i got off my horse. eight men jumped down from the rocks and commenced a scramble for me.--as he (the janizary) passed, i caught at a rope hanging from his saddle; i had hoped to leap upon his horse, but found myself unable; my feet were dreadfully lacerated by the honeycombed rocks; nature would support me no longer; i fell, but still clung to the rope; in this manner i was drawn some few yards, till, bleeding from my ankle to my shoulder, i resigned myself to my fate. as soon as i stood up one of my pursuers took aim at me; but the other, casually advancing between us, prevented his firing. he then ran up, and with his sword aimed such a blow as would not have required a second: his companion prevented its full effect, so that it merely cut my ear in halves, and laid open one aide of my face: they then stripped me naked."[ ] it is impossible not to suspect that the depraved government at jerusalem connives at such instances of violence in order to give some value to the protection which they sell at a very dear rate to christian travellers. the administration of mohammed ali would be a blessing to palestine, inasmuch as it would soon render the intercourse between the capital and the dead sea as safe as that between alexandria and grand cairo. refreshing himself at the fountain where our lord and his apostles, according to a venerable tradition, were wont to rest on their journey to the holy city, the tourist sets his heart on revisiting the sacred remains of that decayed metropolis. when at the summit of the mount of olives, he is again struck with the mixture of magnificence and ruin which marks the queen of nations in her widowed estate. owing to the clear atmosphere and the absence of smoke, the view is so distinct that one might count the separate houses. the streets are tolerably regular, straight, and well paved; but they are narrow and dull, and almost all on a declivity. the fronts of the houses, which are generally two or three stories high, are quite plain, simply constructed of stone, without the least ornament; so that in walking past them a stranger might fancy himself in the galleries of a vast prison. the windows are very few and extremely small; and, by a singular whim, the doors are so low that it is commonly requisite to bend the body nearly double in order to enter them. some families have gardens of moderate dimensions; but, upon the whole, the ground within the walls is fully occupied with buildings, if we except the vast enclosures in which are placed the mosques and churches. there is not observed at jerusalem any square, properly so called; the shops and markets are universally opened in the public streets. provisions are said to be abundant and cheap, including excellent meat, vegetables, and fruit. water is supplied by the atmosphere; and preserved in capacious cisterns; nor is it necessary, except when a long drought has exhausted the usual stock, that the inhabitants should have recourse to the spring near the brook kedron. rice is much used for food; but as the country is quite unsuited to the production of that aquatic grain, it is imported from egypt in return for oil, the staple of palestine. there is a great diversity of costume, everybody adopting that which he likes best, whether arab, syrian, or turk; but the lower order of people generally wear a shirt fastened round the waist with a girdle, after the example of their neighbours in the desert. ali bey remarks, that he saw very few handsome females in the metropolis; on the contrary, they had in general that bilious appearance so common in the east,--a pale citron colour, or a dead yellow, like paper or plaster, and, wearing a white fillet round the circumference of their faces, they have not unfrequently the appearance of walking corpses. the children, however, are much healthier and prettier than those of arabia and egypt. the christians and jews wear, as a mark of distinction, a blue turban. the villagers and shepherds use white ones, or striped like those of the moslem. the christian women appear in public with their faces uncovered, as they do in europe. the arts are cultivated to a certain extent, but the sciences have entirely disappeared. there existed formerly large schools belonging to the harem; but there are hardly any traces of them left, if their place be not supplied by a few small seminaries where children of every form of worship learn to read and write the code of their respective religion. the grossest ignorance prevails even among persons of high rank, who, on the first interview, appear to have received a liberal education.[ ] the arabic language is generally spoken at jerusalem, though the turkish is much used among the better class. the inhabitants are composed of people of different nations and different religions, who inwardly despise one another on account of their varying opinions; but as the christians are very numerous, there reigns among the whole no small degree of complaisance, as well as an unrestrained intercourse in matters of business, amusement, and even of religion.[ ] it is well remarked by chateaubriand, who had travelled among the native tribes of north america as extensively as among the arabs of the syrian wilderness, that amid the rudeness of the latter you still perceive a certain degree of delicacy in their manners; you see that they are natives of that east which is the cradle of all the arts, all the sciences, all the religions. buried at the extremity of the west, the canadian inhabits valleys shaded by eternal forests and watered by immense rivers; the arab, cast, as it were, upon the high road of the world between africa and asia, roves in the brilliant regions of aurora over a soil without trees and without water. the jews--the children of the kingdom--have been cast out, and many have come from the east and the west to occupy their place in the desolate land promised to their fathers. they usually take up their abode in the narrow space between the temple and the foot of mount zion, defended from the tyranny of their turkish masters by their indigence and misery. here they appear covered with rags, and sitting in the dust, with their eyes fixed on the ruins of their ancient sanctuary. it has been observed that those descendants of abraham who come from foreign countries to fix their residence at jerusalem live but a short time; while such as are natives of palestine are so wretchedly poor as to be obliged to send every year to raise contributions among their brethren of egypt and barbary.[ ] the picture given by dr. richardson is much more flattering. he assures his readers that many of the jews are rich and in comfortable circumstances; but that they are careful to conceal their wealth, and even their comfort, from the jealous eye of their rulers, lest, by awakening their cupidity, some plot of robbery or murder should be devised. the whole population has been estimated by different travellers as amounting to from fifteen to thirty thousand, consisting of mohammedans, jews, and the various sects of christians. chapter vii. _description of the country northward of jerusalem_. grotto of jeremiah; sepulchres of the kings; singular doors; village of leban; jacob's well; valley of shechem; nablous; samaritans; sebaste; jennin; gilead; geraza, or djerash; description of ruins; gergasha of the hebrews; rich scenery of gilead; river jabbok; souf; ruins of gamala; magnificent theatre; gadara; capernaum, or talhewm; sea of galilee; bethsaida and chorazin; tarrachea; sumuk; tiberias; description of modern town; house of peter; baths; university; mount tor, or tabor; description by pococke, maundrell, burckhardt, and doubdan; view from the top; great plain; nazareth; church of annunciation; workshop of joseph; mount of precipitation; table of christ; cana, or kefer kenna; waterpots of stone; saphet, or szaffad; university; french; sidney smith; dan; sepphoris; church of st. anne; description by dr. clarke; vale of zabulon; vicinity of acre. upon leaving the northern gate of jerusalem, on the road which leads to damascus, there is seen a large grotto much venerated by christians, turks, and jews, said to have been for some time the residence, or rather the prison, of the prophet jeremiah. the bed of the holy man is shown, in the form of a rocky shelf, about eight feet from the ground; and the spot is likewise pointed out on which he is understood to have written his book of lamentations. in the days of maundrell, this excavation was occupied by a college of dervises. we have already alluded to the sepulchres of the kings as very singular remains of ancient architecture, and standing at a little distance from the city. there still prevails some obscurity in regard to the origin and intention of these places of burial, occasioned chiefly by the fact recorded in holy scripture, that the tombs of the kings of judah were on mount zion. pococke held the opinion, that they derived their name from helena, the queen of adiabene, whose body was deposited in a cave outside the northern wall of jerusalem; a conclusion which derives some countenance from the language of josephus, and has been adopted by dr. clarke. m. de chateaubriand, on the contrary, supposes these grottoes to have been appropriated to the family of herod; and in support of his views quotes a passage from the jewish historian, who, speaking of the wall which titus erected to press jerusalem still more closely than before, says, that "this wall, returning towards the north, enclosed the sepulchre of herod." now this, adds the frenchman, is the situation of the royal caverns. but whoever was buried here, this is certain, to use the words of the accurate maundrell, that the place itself discovers so great an expense both of labour and treasure, that we may well suppose it to have been the work of kings. you approach it on the east side through an entrance cut out of the rock, which admits you into an open court of about forty paces square. on the south side is a portico nine paces long and four broad, likewise hewn out of the natural rock, and having an architrave running along its front adorned with sculpture of fruits and flowers. the passage into the sepulchre is now so greatly obstructed with stones and rubbish that it is no easy matter to creep through; but having overcome this difficulty you arrive at a large room, seven or eight yards square, excavated in the solid body of the hill. it sides and ceiling are so exactly square, and its angles so just, that no architect could form a more regular apartment; while the whole is so firm and entire, that it resembles a chamber hollowed out of one piece of marble. from this room you pass into six others, all of the same construction; the two innermost being somewhat deeper than the rest, and are descended to by a certain number of steps. in every one of these, except the first, were coffins of stone placed in niches formed in the sides of the chamber. they had at first been covered with handsome lids; but the most of them have been long broken to pieces, and either scattered about the apartment, or entirely removed. one of white marble was observed by dr. clarke, adorned all over with the richest and most beautiful carving; though, like all the other sculptured work in the tombs, it represented nothing of the human figure, nor of any living thing, but consisted entirely of foliage and flowers, and principally of the leaves and branches of the vine. the receptacles for the dead bodies are not much larger than european coffins; but, having the more regular form of parallelograms, they thereby differ from the usual appearance presented in the sepulchral crypts of the country, where the soros is of considerable size, and generally resembles a cistern. the taste manifested in the interior of these chambers seems also to denote a later period in the history of the arts; the skill and neatness visible in the carving is admirable, and there is much of ornament displayed in several parts of the work. but the most surprising thing belonging to these subterranean chambers is their doors; of which, when mr. maundrell visited jerusalem, there was still one remaining. "it consisted," says he, "of a plank of stone of about six inches in thickness, and in its other dimensions equalling the size of an ordinary door, or somewhat less. it was carved in such a manner as to resemble a piece of wainscot: the stone of which it was made was visibly of the same kind with the whole rock; and it turned upon two hinges in the nature of axles. these hinges were of the same entire piece of stone with the door, and were contained in two holes of the immoveable rock, one at the top and another at the bottom."[ ] we are informed by dr. clarke, that the same sort of contrivance is to be found among the sepulchres at telmessus; and, moreover, that the ancients had the art of being able to close these doors in such a manner that no one could have access to the tomb who was not acquainted with the secret method of opening them, unless by violating the abode of the dead, and forcing a passage through the stone. this has been done in several instances at the place just named; but the doors, though broken, still remain closed with their hinges unimpaired.[ ] in pursuing the road to nablous, the ancient shechem, the first village which meets the eye of the traveller is beer, so named from the well or spring where the wayfaring man stops to quench his thirst. the inhabitants, who appear to be chiefly arabs, are in the greatest poverty, oppressed and alarmed by the incessant demands of their turkish rulers. it is the michmash of scripture, celebrated as the place whither jotham fled from the anger of his brother abimelech. it presents, too, the remains of an old church, created, as tradition reports, by the pious helena, on tho spot where the virgin sat down to bewail the absence of her son, who had tarried behind in jerusalem to commune with the doctors in the temple. beyond this interesting hamlet, at the distance of about four hours, is leban, called lebonah in the bible, a village situated on the eastern side of a delicious vale. the road between these two places is carried through a wild and very hilly country, destitute of trees or other marks of cultivation, and rendered almost totally unproductive by the barbarism of the government. in a narrow dell, formed by two lofty precipices, are the ruins of a monastery, being in the neighborhood of that mystic bethel where jacob enjoyed his vision of heavenly things, and had his stony couch made easy by the beautiful picture of ministering angels ascending and descending from the presence of the eternal. the next object of interest is connected with the name of the same patriarch. it is jacob's well,--the scene of the memorable conference between our saviour and the woman of samaria. such a locality was too important to be omitted by helena while selecting sites for christian churches. over it, accordingly, was erected a large edifice; of which, however, the "voracity of time, aided by the turks," has left nothing but a few foundations remaining. maundrell tells us that "the well is covered at present with an old stone vault, into which you are let down through a very straight hole; and then removing a broad flat stone you discover the mouth of the well itself. it is dug in a firm rock, and extends about three yards in diameter and thirty-five in depth; five of which we found full of water. this confutes a story commonly told to travellers who do not take the pains to examine the well, namely, that it is dry all the year round except on the anniversary of that day on which our blessed lord sat upon it; but then bubbles up with abundance of water."[ ] at this point the traveller enters the narrow valley of shechem, or sychar, as it is termed in the new testament, overhung on either side by the two mountains gerizim and ebal. these eminences, it is well known, have obtained much celebrity as the theatre on which was pronounced the sanction of the divine law--the blessings which attend obedience, and the curses which follow the violation of the heavenly statutes. "and it shall come to pass, when the lord thy god hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount gerizim, and the curse upon mount ebal. are they not on the other side jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against gilgal, beside the plains of moreh?"[ ] every reader is aware that the samaritans, whose principal residence since the captivity has been at shechem, have a place of worship on mount gerizim, to which they repair at certain seasons to perform the rites of their religion. it was upon the same hill, according to the reading in their version of the pentateuch, that the almighty commanded the children of israel to set up great stones covered with plaster, on which to inscribe the body of their law; to erect an altar; to offer peace-offerings; and to rejoice before the lord their god. in the hebrew edition of the same inspired books, mount ebal is selected as the scene of these pious services;--a variation which the samaritans openly ascribe to the hatred and malignity of the jews, who, they assert, have in this passage corrupted the sacred oracles. in the immediate vicinity of the town is seen a small mosque, which is said to cover the sepulchre of joseph, and to be situated in the field bought by jacob from hamor, the father of shechem, as is related in the book of genesis, and alluded to by st. john in the fourth chapter of his gospel.[ ] the road from leban to nablous, or naplosa, is described by dr. clarke as being mountainous, rocky, and full of loose stones. yet, he adds, the cultivation is everywhere marvellous; affording one of the most striking pictures of human industry that it is possible to behold. the limestone rocks and shingly valleys of judea are entirely covered with plantations of figs, vines, and olive-trees; not a single spot seemed to be neglected. the hills, from their bases to their upmost summits, are overspread with gardens; all of them free from weeds, and in the highest state of improvement. even the sides of the most barren mountains have been rendered fertile, by being divided into terraces, like steps rising one above another, upon which soil has been accumulated with astonishing labour. a sight of this territory can alone convey any adequate idea of its surprising produce; it is truly the eden of the east, rejoicing in the abundance of its wealth. the effect of this upon the people was strikingly portrayed in their countenances. instead of the depressed and gloomy looks seen on the desolated plains belonging to the pasha of damascus, health and hilarity everywhere prevailed. under a wise and beneficent government, the produce of the holy land, it is asserted, would exceed all calculation. its perennial harvests, the salubrity of its air, its limpid springs, its rivers, lakes, plains, hills, and vales, added to the serenity of its climate, prove this land to be indeed a "field which the lord hath blessed."[ ] the ancient shechem is one of the most prosperous towns in the holy land, being still the metropolis of a rich and extensive country, and abounding in agricultural wealth. nor is there any thing finer than its appearance when viewed from the heights by which it is surrounded. it strikes the eye of the traveller who advances from the north, as being imbosomed in the most delightful and fragrant bowers, half-concealed by rich gardens and stately trees, collected into groves all round the beautiful valley in which it stands. there is a considerable trade, as well as a flourishing manufacture of soap; and the population has been reckoned as high as ten thousand, an estimate, however, which mr. buckingham thinks somewhat overrated. within the town are six mosques, five baths, one christian church, an excellent covered bazaar for fine goods, and an open one for provisions, besides numerous cotton-cloth manufactories, and shops of every description. the inhabitants are chiefly mohammedans. the jews, inheriting their ancient enmity towards the samaritans, avoid the country which the latter formerly possessed; while the christians, alienated by the suspicion of heresy among their brethren at nablous, prefer the more orthodox assemblies at jerusalem and nazareth. the samaritans themselves do not exceed forty in number. they have a synagogue in the town, where they perform divine service every saturday. four times a year they go in solemn procession to the old temple on mount gerizim; on which occasion they meet before sunrise, and continue reading the law till noon. on one of these days they kill six or seven rams. they have but one school in nablous where their language is taught, though they take much pride in preserving ancient manuscripts of their pentateuch in the original character. mr. connor saw a copy which is reported to be three thousand five hundred years old, but was not allowed to examine, nor even to touch it. if any thing connected with the memory of past ages be calculated to awaken local enthusiasm, the land around this city is eminently entitled to that distinction. the sacred record of events transacted in the fields of shechem is from our earliest years remembered with delight. "along the valley," observes a late traveller, "we beheld a company of ishmaelites coming from gilead, as in the days of reuben and judah, with their camels, bearing spicery, and balm, and myrrh; who would gladly have purchased another joseph of his brethren, and-conveyed him as a slave to some potiphar in egypt. upon the hills around flocks and herds were feeding as of old; nor in the simple garb of the shepherds of samaria was there any thing to contradict the notions we may entertain of the appearance formerly exhibited by the sons of jacob."[ ] it has been remarked in reference to jacob's well, where our lord held his conversation with the woman of samaria, that no christian scholar ever read the fourth chapter of st. john's gospel without being struck with the numerous internal evidences of truth which crowd upon the mind in its perusal. within so small a compass it is impossible to find, in other writings, so many sources of reflection and of interest. independently of its importance as a theological document, it concentrates so much information that a volume might be filled with its singular illustration of the history of the jews and the geography of the country. all that can be collected upon these subjects from josephus seems to be but a comment on this chapter. the journey of our lord from judea into galilee--the cause of it--his passage through samaria--his approach to the metropolis of that country--its name--his arrival at the amorite field which terminates the narrow valley of schechem--the ancient custom of stopping at a well--the female employment of drawing water--the disciples sent into the city for food, by which the situation of the well and of the town is so obviously implied--the question of the woman referring to existing prejudices which separated the jews from the samaritans--the depth of the well--the oriental allusion contained in the expression "living water"--the history of the well itself, and the customs thereby illustrated--the worship upon mount gerizim--all these occur within a few verses, and supply a species of evidence for the truth of the narrative in which they are embodied that no candid mind has ever been able to resist.[ ] the ancient samaria presents itself to the traveller in these days under the name of sebaste, or the venerable,--an appellation conferred upon it by herod in honour of his patron augustus. the jewish historian describes at length the buildings erected by the idumean prince, especially a citadel, and a noble temple which he intended to exhibit to future generations as a specimen of his taste and munificence. he adds, that the town was twenty furlongs in circumference, and distant one day's journey from jerusalem. it is computed by modern tourists to be more than forty miles. the situation is extremely beautiful as well as naturally strong, being placed on a large hill encompassed all round by a broad deep valley, and therefore capable of an easy and complete fortification. but the splendid city of herod is now reduced to a village, small and poor, exhibiting only the remains of its former greatness. in one place, according to dr. richardson, there are sixty columns of the ionic order extended in a single row, marking the site of some gorgeous structure erected by the vassal of augustus. mr. buckingham counted eighty-three of these pillars, and alludes to a tradition current among the natives, that they formed part of herod's own palace. this may be the edifice mentioned by josephus, who says that the king just named built a sacred place of a furlong and a half in circuit, and adorned it with all sorts of decorations; and therein constructed a temple remarkable both for its largeness and its beauty. mr. maundrell relates, that in his time the place where the city had stood was entirely converted into gardens; and all the tokens that remain to testify that there ever was such a metropolis are only a large square piazza surrounded with pillars, and some poor ruins of a church, said to have been built by the empress helena over the place where st. john the baptist was both imprisoned and beheaded. in the body of this temple you go down a staircase into the very dungeon where that holy blood was shed. the turks hold the prison in great veneration, and over it have erected a small mosque; but for a little piece of money they suffer you to go in and satisfy your curiosity at pleasure. a hundred and thirty years, aided by the destructive habits of mohammedans, seem to have made a deep impression upon the remains of sebaste; for when dr. clarke passed through it, he could not discover even the relics of a great city, and was, therefore, disposed to question the existence of the splendid ruins mentioned by maundrell, and more minutely described by richardson and buckingham. he is inclined to identify the site of the ancient samaria with the high ground on which stands the castle of santorri; but his reasoning is not sufficiently cogent to satisfy the mind even of the least reflecting among his readers. at this point we leave the territory of ephraim, and pass into that of the half-tribe of manasseh. pursuing his course northwards, the traveller reaches a small hamlet called bethamareen; and afterward, at the distance of three or four miles, he finds himself at gibba, a village surrounded with trees bearing olives and pomegranates, and occupying a lofty station over a narrow valley. this place is succeeded by sannour, which appears to be nothing more than a castle erected on an insular hill, and is more commonly known by the name of fort giurali. another village, called abati, presents itself on the right-hand, imbosomed in a grove of fruit trees; but the stranger, desirous to proceed, advances along the valley until, after having ascended a rising ground, he beholds stretched out at his feet the fine plain of esdraëlon covered with the richest pasture.[ ] on the slope of the hill which bounds the southern extremity of this fertile valley stands the town of jennin, a place, like most of the cities of palestine, more remarkable for decayed grandeur than for actual wealth, beauty, or power. its ancient name was ginoa, and it is found recorded in the works of some of the older writers as a frontier place between samaria and galilee. the population at present is said to amount to about eight hundred; but the ruins of a palace and a mosque prove that it once possessed a greater importance than now belongs to it. marble pillars, fountains, and even piazzas still remain in a very perfect state; an arabic inscription over one of which induces the reader to believe that it was erected by a commander named selim. instead of pursuing our course towards nazareth and the lake of tiberias, we shall now cross the jordan into the land of gilead, and lay before our readers a brief outline of the discoveries which have been recently made in that section of palestine, the inheritance of reuben and of gad. we have already remarked, that to the indefatigable exertions of dr. seetzen the world are indebted for much of the knowledge they possess relative to the ancient city of geraza, the ruins of which are pointed out by the arabs under the name of djarash. approaching it from the south, the traveller first observes a triumphal gateway, nearly entire, bearing a striking resemblance in point of workmanship to the remains of antinoë in upper egypt. the front presents four columns of a small diameter, and constructed of many separate pieces of stone; their pedestals are of a square form, but tall and slender. on each of these is placed a design of leaves, very like a corinthian capital without the volutes; and on this again rises the shaft, which is plain, and composed of many small portions. as all the columns were broken near the top, the crowning capitals are not seen. the pediment and frieze are also destroyed; but enough remains to give an accurate idea of the original design, and to prove that the order of the architecture was corinthian. the building appears to have been a detached triumphal arch, erected for the entrance of some victorious hero passing into the city. just within this gateway is perceived an extensive naumachia, or theatre for the exhibition of sea-fights, constructed of fine masonry, and finished on the top with a large moulding wrought in the stone. the channels for filling it with water are still visible. passing onward there is seen a second gateway, exactly similar in design to the one already mentioned, but connected here on both sides with the walls of the city, to which it seems to have formed the proper entrance. turning to the left the stranger advances into a large and beautiful colonnade arrange in a circular form, all of the ionic order, and surmounted by an architrave. he next perceives beyond this point a long avenue of columns in a straight line, supposed to mark the direction of some principal street that led through the whole length of the town. these columns are all of the corinthian order, and the range on each side is ascended to by a flight of steps. making his way along this imaginary street over masses of ruins, his attention is attracted by four magnificent pillars of greater height and larger diameter than the rest; but, like all the others, supporting only a entablature, and probably standing before the front of some principal edifice now destroyed. he next arrives at a square formed by the first intersection of the main street by one crossing it at right angles, and, like it also, apparently once lined on both sides by an avenue of columns. at the point of intersection are four masses of building resembling pedestals; on the top of which there probably stood small corinthian columns, as shafts and capitals of that order are now scattered below. passing the fragments of a solid wall on the left, which appears to have constituted the front of a large edifice, the tourist next comes to the ruins of a temple of a semicircular form, with four columns in front, and facing the principal street in a right line. the spring of its half-dome is still remaining, as well as several columns of yellow marble and of red granite. the whole seems to have been executed with peculiar care, especially the sculpture of the friezes, cornices, pediments, and capitals, which are all of the corinthian order, and considered not less rich and chaste than the works of the best ages. on a broken altar near this ruin is observed an inscription, containing the name of marcus aurelius. "beyond this, again," says mr. buckingham, "we had temples, colonnades, theatres, arched buildings with domes, detached groups of ionic and corinthian columns, bridges, aqueducts, and portions of large buildings scattered here and there in our way; none of which we could examine with any degree of attention, from the restraint under which our guides had placed us."[ ] the author of the unpublished journal from which we have already drawn some rich materials, inspected the remains of geraza three years ago. "we set out for the ruins, and reached them before sunrise. having seen them only partially by a faint light and from a distance the previous evening, i had not formed a high opinion of them, and wondered that they should ever have been brought into comparison with palmyra. a full examination now altered my decision, and left me and all the party full of admiration at the grandeur and the elegance of the ruins. we were struck with the view down the main street of the city. close to us was a temple, a fine mass of building, surrounded by innumerable fallen columns and ruined cornices. beneath was the great street, commencing in an elegant circular or rather oval colonnade of fifty-seven pillars, and containing a succession of straight colonnades on each side, crossed at right angles by another line of columns with an entablature. on one side was a splendid temple with columns, on a height; and on the other a bridge crossing the stream on which the ruins stand. close to this temple is a theatre in remarkably high repair; almost all the seats are quite entire. the proscenium is still sufficiently so to give a complete idea of the plan; and it is easy to sit on one of the benches and fancy a greek play performing to a gerazan audience as it was seventeen hundred years ago. proceeding northward along the great street, we soon came to a building which seemed to me one of the finest things in jerash. it was a sort of semicircular temple, in front of which had been a portico of corinthian columns, composing part of the grand colonnade. i do not think they can be under fifty feet in height, and their form is very elegant. the semicircular building itself is covered with a half-dome, and ornamented with particular richness and beauty. it is remarkable throughout these ruins, how admirably the columns and buildings are disposed for producing effect in combination. of two bridges, a good deal of the one to the east remains, and the arches reach across the river, though it is not passable, owing to the destruction of the upper part. there is a paved road between the colonnades leading from the bridge." the ground occupied by this city, which was nearly in the form of a square, might have been, enclosed by a line of four english miles in length; the distance from the ruined gateway on the south to the small temple on the north being about five thousand feet. it stood on the corresponding sloes of two opposite hills, with a narrow but not a deep valley between them, through which ran a clear stream of water, springing from fountains near the centre of the town, and bending its way thence to the southward. but so complete is the desolation of this once magnificent place, that bedouin arabs now encamp among its ruins for the sake of the rivulet by which they are washed, as they would collect near a well in the midst of their native desert. such portions of the soil as are still cultivated, are ploughed by men who have no property in it; and the same spot accordingly is occupied by different persons every succeeding year, as time and chance may happen to direct. mr. buckingham thinks that the similarity of situation, as well as of name, would lead to the conclusion that this jerash of the arabs is the same with the gergasha of the hebrews. reland gives a variety of derivations, quoted from pliny, jamblichus, epiphanius, and origen; all of which are much more satisfactory as they regard the position of a certain town in the land of gilead, than as they convey any precise ideas as to its etymological import. after the romans conquered judea, the country beyond the jordan became one of their favourite colonies; to which, from the circumstance of its containing ten cities, they gave the name of decapolis, an appellation recognised by st. mark in the seventh chapter of his gospel. geraza, it is presumed, was one of those cities; and although its history is darkened with more than the usual doubt which attaches to the jewish annals after the fall of jerusalem, there is reason to believe that in the time of vespasian it suffered the penalty of rebellion, and was finally destroyed by the saracens when they attacked the eastern boundaries of the empire. we must satisfy ourselves with a mere glance at the hills of gilead; the rich pasture-lands of the tribe of reuben, and formerly the kingdom of the gigantic og, the monarch of bashan. it is well known that the valley of the jordan is bounded on the east by a range of mountains still more lofty than those which skirt its western limits; but it was not suspected till lately that the former concealed in their recesses some of the richest scenery and most valuable land anywhere to be found in palestine. rising gradually from the bed of the river, the traveller soon finds himself on a platform seven or eight hundred feet above its level; forming a district of extraordinary fertility, abounding with the most beautiful prospects, clothed with thick forests, diversified with verdant slopes, and possessing extensive plains of a fine soil, yielding in nothing to the most prolific parts of galilee and samaria. "we continued our way," says mr. buckingham, "to the north-east, through a country, the beauty of which so surprised us, that we often asked each other what were our sensations; as if to ascertain the reality of what we saw, and persuade each other by mutual confessions of our delight, that the picture before us was not an optical illusion. the landscape alone, which varied at every turn, and gave us new beauties from any point of view, was of itself worth all the pains of an excursion to the eastward of the jordan; and the park-like scenes that sometimes softened the romantic wildness of the general character as a whole, reminded us of similar spots in less neglected lands."[ ] the scenery continues of the same fascinating description till the traveller reaches the nahr el zerkah, or river jabbok, the ancient boundary between the amorites and the children of ammon. the banks are thickly clothed with the oleander and plane-tree, the wild olive and almond, and many flowering-shrubs of great variety and elegance. the stream is about thirty feet broad, deeper than the jordan, and nearly as rapid, rushing downwards over a rocky channel. on the northern side begins the kingdom of bashan, celebrated for its oaks, its cattle, and the bodily strength of its inhabitants. the opposite plate exhibits a view of the jabbok, and of the bold alpine range which fenced the territory of one of the most formidable enemies of israel; verifying in its fullest extent the description of moses, who says, "the border of the children of ammon was strong."[ ] the curious reader will find in the travels of mr. buckingham some ingenious reasoning employed by him to fix the locality of bozor, ramoth, jabesh, and other towns situated in gilead, and which were rendered important by the various events recorded in the sacred volume. about six miles from djerash towards the north stands the village of souf, on the brow of a lofty hill, and flanked by a deep ravine. it retains several marks of having been the site of some more ancient and considerable town, presenting large blocks of stone with mouldings and sculpture wrought into the modern buildings. in the neighbourhood are seen the walls of an edifice apparently roman, as also the ruins of two small towers which may with equal certainty be traced to the age of saracenic domination. souf can boast of nearly five hundred inhabitants, all rigid mohammedans, and remarkable for a surly and suspicious character. leaving this rather inhospitable village, the traveller who wishes to visit the remains of gamala proceeds in a north-westerly direction, descending into a fine valley, and again rising on a gentle ascent, the whole being profusely and beautifully wooded with evergreen oaks below, and pines upon the ridge of the hill above. "mr. bankes, who had seen the whole of england, the greater part of italy and france, and almost every province of spain and portugal, frequently remarked, that in all his travels he had met with nothing equal to it, excepting only in some parts of the latter country,--entre minho and douro,--to which alone he could compare it."[ ] several hamlets and some obscure indications of ancient buildings meet the eye in course of the journey to om keis. before reaching this town, the road emerges into a hilly district, bleak, rocky, and ill-cultivated. the view is as monotonous as that from jerusalem, forming a striking contrast to the rich, verdant, and beautiful scenery which distinguishes bashan and gilead. gamala, for under that name the ruins of the roman station are most familiarly known, must have covered a site nearly square; its greatest length, from east to west, being seventeen hundred short paces, and its breadth about one-fourth less. a considerable portion of it seems to have stood on the summit of a hill, well fortified all round; the traces of towers and other works of defence being still visible even on its steepest parts. the portals of the eastern gate remain, from whence a noble street appears to have run through the whole length of the city, lined by a handsome colonnade of ionic and corinthian pillars. the pavement is formed of square blocks of black volcanic stone, and is still so perfect, that the ruts of wheel-carriages are to be seen in it, of different breadths and about an inch in depth, as at the ruins of pompeii and herculaneum.[ ] the first edifice which presents itself on entering the eastern gate is a theatre, the scene and front of which are entirely destroyed, but the benches are preserved. still farther on are appearances of an ionic temple, the colonnade of the street being continued; and about half-way along is a range of corinthian pillars on pedestals, marking the position of some grand edifice. not a column, indeed, continues erect, but the plan can be distinctly traced. this supposed temple must have been a hundred paces in depth from north to south; and its façade, which fronted the street and came in a line with the grand colonnade already mentioned, cannot have been less than a hundred and eighty feet in breadth. the chief peculiarity of this structure, however, consists in its having been built on a range of fine arches, so that its foundations were higher than the general level of the town; and hence, as the pedestals of the columns were elevated considerably above the street, it must have presented a very striking object. there are the remains of numerous other edifices, theatres, and temples, but they are all too indistinct to enable even a professional eye to pronounce with confidence on their plan and particular purpose. the prevalent orders of architecture are ionic and corinthian, though some few capitals decidedly doric are discovered among the ruins. the stone generally used throughout the city is that of the neighbouring mountains,--a species of gray rock approaching to a carbonate of lime; but the shafts of some of the pillars are formed of a black substance, supposed to have a volcanic origin, and most commonly preferred for the internal decorations of funereal vaults and sarcophagi.[ ] as the ruins here described are not immediately on the position usually assigned to gamala on the maps, and as dr. seetzen, the only person besides mr. buckingham who has published any account of them, thinks that they are those of gadara, the latter enters into a lengthened discussion in support of his own views, calling in the authority of several ancient writers to establish his position. the reader will find that much of the ambiguity which prevails on this point arises from the fact of there being in different parts of canaan several towns of the same name. for example, there was unquestionably a place called gadara on the eastern shore of the lake of tiberias; while from the testimony of josephus, it is equally certain that the same appellation was given to the capital of perea. in the new testament, the country of the gadarenes is described as being on the other side of the sea, over-against galilee, a notice which removes all doubt from the opinion of those who maintain the existence of a town or village, named gadara; situated to the northward of the site generally claimed for gamala, and nearer the body of the lake. mr. buckingham tells us, that the account given in the gospel of the habitation of the demoniac, out of whom the legion of devils was cast, struck him very forcibly while wandering among savage mountains and surrounded by tombs, still used as houses by individuals and even by, whole families. a finer occasion for expressing the passions of madness in all their violence, contrasted with the serene virtue and benevolence of him who went about continually doing good, could hardly be chosen for the pencil of an artist; and a faithful delineation of the rugged and wild majesty of the mountain scenery on the one hand, with the still calm of the lake on the other, would give an additional charm to the picture.[ ] amid the interesting ruins of gamala, situated in a barren district, alike unfavourable for agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, it is impossible not to be surprised at the indications of wealth and luxury which must have centred within its walls. the opulence cannot but have been considerable which erected such splendid temples and colonnades, and supported two large theatres; erecting, at the same time, such massive tombs and splendid sarcophagi for all classes of the population. its desolation may be traced to the rebellious spirit of the inhabitants, and the sanguinary wars to which it led under successive emperors. vespasian, whose name is so closely associated with the history of palestine for good and for evil, directed against it on more than one occasion the fury of the roman legions, and finally levelled its walls, that they might not again be defended by such desperate insurgents. at a later period, its remote situation withdrew it from the attention of europeans; and, in truth, its very existence had ceased to be remembered, until its ruins were once more visited by travellers in the course of the present century. passing along the eastern border of the hike, and advancing towards its northern extremity, the traveller easily recognises that desert place where the multitude was fed upon the miraculous loaves and fishes. here, too, was the scene of the remarkable punishment inflicted upon the gadarenes for their insensibility to divine instruction, as well, perhaps, as for their unhallowed pursuit in feeding animals forbidden by the law of moses. the brink of the water presents many steep places where such a catastrophe might be easily realized. at the upper end of the lake are the remains of capernaum, now called talhewm, or tel hoom, situated about ten miles from tiberias, in a north-easterly direction. this village, although at present nothing more than a station of bedouins, appears to have been occupied in former times by a settlement of some importance, as the ruins of stately buildings are found scattered over a wide space in the neighbourhood. the foundations of a magnificent edifice can still be traced; but the structure itself is so much dilapidated that it is no longer possible to determine whether it was a temple or a palace. the northern end is sixty-five paces in length, and, as the eastern wall seems to have extended to the edge of the water, its length could not be less than five hundred feet. within this space are seen large blocks of sculptured stone, in friezes, cornices, and mouldings. the appearance of the sea of galilee, as seen from this point of view at capernaum, is very grand. its greatest length runs nearly north and south, from fifteen to eighteen miles, while its breadth averages from five to six. the barren aspect of the mountains on each side, and the total absence of wood, give, however, a cast of dulness to the picture; and this is increased even to a feeling of melancholy by the dead calm of its surface, and the silence which reigns throughout its whole extent, where not a boat or vessel of any kind is to be found. no fisherman any longer plies his laborious craft on the bosom of the lake, nor seeks to vary his scanty meal by letting down his net for a draught. mr. buckingham observed, from the heights above, shoals of fish darting through the water, and the shore in some places covered with storks and diving-birds, which repair hither in search of food; but when, on one occasion, he suggested that a supper might be procured for his party by exercising a little skill with the rod or net, he discovered that the ignorant barbarians whom he addressed had not yet taken a lesson from the fowls of the air. a circumstance deserving of notice is mentioned by hasselquist, in regard to the tenants of this lake. he thought it remarkable that the same kind of fish should be here met with as in the nile,--charmuth, silurus, baenni, mulsil, and sparus galilaeus. this explains the observations of certain travellers, who speak of the sea of tiberias as possessing fish peculiar to itself; not being acquainted perhaps with the produce of the egyptian river. josephus was of the same opinion; and yet it is worthy of remark, that in describing the fountain of capernaum his conjectures tend to confirm the conclusions of the swedish naturalist:-- "some consider it," says the jewish historian, "as a vein of the nile, because it brings forth fishes resembling the coracinus of the alexandrian lake."[ ] that capernaum was a place of some wealth and consequence in the time of our saviour may be inferred from the expostulation addressed to it, when he upbraided the other cities wherein most of his mighty works were done:--"wo unto thee, chorazin! wo unto thee, bethsaida! and thou, capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell." but the history of all the towns on the lake of genesareth has been covered with a cloud which it is now impossible to penetrate; and nothing, accordingly, is more difficult than to determine the situations occupied, even during the latter period of the roman ascendency, by some of the principal places on which the emperors lavished their wealth and taste. bethsaida was converted by herod from an insignificant village into the dignity and grandeur of a city, named julias, in compliment to the daughter of augustus. at the present moment, however, no traces remain to point out the line of its walls or the foundations of its palaces. genesareth has in like manner disappeared; or if there be any relics of the town which once gave its name to the inland sea whose shore it adorned, they are so indistinct and ambiguous as not to merit the notice of the traveller. tarachea is represented by the hamlet of sumuk, and the ruins of chorazin are imagined to meet the eye somewhere on the opposite coast; but, upon the whole, the denunciation uttered against the unbelieving cities of galilee has been literally fulfilled, as they are now brought down to the lowest pitch of obscurity and oblivion.[ ] tiberias is the only place on the sea of galilee which retains any marks of its ancient importance. it is understood to cover the ground formerly occupied by a town of a much remoter age, and of which some traces can still be distinguished on the beach, a little to the southward of the present walls. history relates that it was built by herod the tetrarch, and dedicated to the emperor tiberius, his patron, although there prevails, at the same time, an obscure tradition, that the new city owed its foundation entirely to the imperial pleasure, and was named by him who commanded it to be erected. josephus notices the additional circumstance, which of itself gives great probability to the opinion of its being established on the ruins of an older town, that, as many sepulchres were removed in order to make room for the roman structures, the jews could hardly be induced to occupy houses which, according to their notions, were legally impure. adrichomius considers tiberias to be the chinneroth of the hebrews; and says, that it was captured by benhadad, king of syria, who destroyed it, and was in after-ages restored by herod; who surrounded it with walls, and adorned it with magnificent buildings. the old jewish city, whatever was its name, probably owed its existence to the fame of its hot baths,--an origin to which many temples, and even the cities belonging to them, may be traced. the present town of tabaria, as it is now called, is in the form of an irregular crescent, and is enclosed towards the land by a wall flanked with circular towers. it lies nearly north and south along the edge of the lake, and has its eastern front so close to the water, on the brink of which it stands, that some of the houses are washed by the sea: the whole does not appear more than a mile in circuit, and cannot, from the manner in which they are placed, contain above separate dwellings. there are two gates visible from without, one near the southern and the other in the western wall; there are appearances also of the town having been surrounded by a ditch, but this is now filled up and used for gardens. the interior presents but few subjects of interest, among which are a mosque with a dome and minaret, and two jewish synagogues. there is a christian place of worship called the house of peter, which is thought by some to be the oldest building used for that purpose in any part of palestine. it is a vaulted room, thirty feet long by fifteen broad, and perhaps fifteen in height, standing nearly east and west, with its door of entrance at the western front, and its altar immediately opposite in a shallow recess. over the door is one small window, and on each side four others, all arched and open. the structure is of a very ordinary kind, both in workmanship and material; the pavement within is similar to that used for streets in this country; and the walls are entirely devoid of sculpture or any other architectural ornament. but it derives no small interest from the popular belief that it is the very house which peter inhabited at the time of his being called from his boat to follow the messias. it is manifest, notwithstanding, that it must have been originally constructed for a place of divine worship, and probably at a period much later than the days of the apostle whose name it bears, although there is no good ground for questioning the tradition which places it on the very spot long venerated as the site of his more humble habitation. here too it was, say the dwellers in tiberias, that he pushed off his boat into the lake when about to have his faith rewarded by the miraculous draught of fishes.[ ] besides the public buildings already specified are the house of the aga, on the rising ground near the northern quarter of the town, a small bazaar, and two or three coffee sheds; the ordinary dwellings of the inhabitants are such as are commonly seen in eastern villages, but are marked by a peculiarity which mr. buckingham witnessed there for the first time. on the terrace of almost every house stands a small square enclosure of reeds, loosely covered with leaves; to which, he learned, heads of families are wont to resort during the summer months, when, from the low situation of the town and the absence of cooling breezes, the heat of the nights is literally intolerable.[ ] according to the opinion of the best informed among the inhabitants, the population of tiberias (or tabareeah, as they pronounce it) does not exceed two thousand. of these about one-half are jews, many of whom are from europe, particularly from germany, russia, and poland; the rest are mohammedans, with the exception of twenty or thirty christian families who profess the tenets of the latin church. the warm baths, which have given celebrity to that neighbourhood, are still found at the distance of between two and three miles southward from the town. the building erected on the spring is small and mean, and altogether the work of the present rulers of palestine. the bath itself is a square room of eighteen or twenty feet, covered with a low dome, and having seats or benches on each side. the cistern for containing the hot water is in the centre of this room, and sunk below the pavement. it is a square of eight or nine feet only, and the spring rises to supply it through a small head of some animal but this is so badly executed that it is difficult to know for what it was intended. mr. buckingham states, that his thermometer, when immersed in the water, instantly rose to °, which was the utmost limit of the instrument. he is satisfied, however, that the heat was much greater, because is was painful to the hand as it issued from the spout, and could only be borne by those who had bathed in the cistern.[ ] tiberias makes a conspicuous figure in the jewish annals, and was the scene of some of the most remarkable events which are recorded by josephus. after the downfall of jerusalem, it continued until the fifth century to be the residence of jewish patriarchs, rabbis, and learned men. a university was established within its boundaries; and as the patriarchate was allowed to be hereditary, the remnant of the hebrew people enjoyed a certain degree of weight and consequence during the greater part of four centuries. in the sixth age, if we may confide in the accuracy of procopius, the emperor justinian rebuilt the walls; but in the following century, the seventh of the christian era, the city was taken by the saracens, under calif omar, who stripped it of its privileges, and demolished some of its finest edifices. it must not be concealed, however, that in the itinerary of willibald, who performed his journey into the holy land towards the close of the eighth century, mention is made of many churches and synagogues which the conquerors had either not destroyed or allowed to be repaired.[ ] from tiberias to nazareth the traveller has to encounter an almost uninterrupted ascent. the village of caber sabet first attracts his attention by its architectural remains, indicating the existence of an ancient building, which must have had marble columns and a magnificent portico. he soon afterwards reaches soak el khan,--a place chiefly celebrated for a weekly market, where every description of commodity in use among the people is collected for sale. it also presents the ruins of a saracenic fort of a square shape, with circular towers at the angles and in the centre of each wall. in pursuing this route we have mount tor, or tabor, on the left-hand, rising in solitary majesty from the plain of esdraëlon. its appearance has been described by some authors as that of a half-sphere, while to others it suggests the idea of a cone with its point struck off. according to mr. maundrell, the height is such as to require the labour of an hour to reach the summit; where is seen a level area of an oval figure, extending about two furlongs in length and one in breadth. it is enclosed with trees on all sides except the south, and is most fertile and delicious. having been anciently surrounded with walls and trenches, there are remains of considerable fortifications at the present day. burckhardt says, a thick wall, constructed of large stones, may be traced quite round the summit, close to the edge of the precipice; on several parts of which are relics of bastions. the area too is overspread with the ruins of private dwellings, built of stone with great solidity. pococke assures us that it is one of the finest hills he ever beheld, being a rich soil that produces excellent herbage, and most beautifully adorned with groves and clumps of trees. the height he calculates to be about two miles, making allowance for the winding ascent; but he adds, that others have imagined the same path to be not less than four miles. hasselquist conjectures that it is a league to the top, the whole of which may be accomplished without dismounting,--a statement amply confirmed by the experience of van egmont and heyman. these travellers relate that "this mountain, though somewhat rugged and difficult, we ascended on horseback, making several circuits round it, which took up about three-quarters of an hour. it is one of the highest in the whole country, being thirty stadia, or about four english miles. and it is the most beautiful we ever saw with regard to verdure, being everywhere decorated with small oak-trees, and the ground universally enamelled with a variety of plants and flowers. there are great number of red partridges, and some wild boars; and we were so fortunate as to see the arabs hunting them. we left, but not without reluctance, this delightful place, and found at the bottom of it a mean village, called deboura, or tabour,--a name said to be derived from the celebrated deborah mentioned in the book of judges." but this mountain derives the largest share of its celebrity from the opinion entertained among christians since the days of jerome, that it was the scene of a memorable event in the history of our lord. on the eastern part of the hill are the remains of a strong castle; and within the precincts of it is the grotto in which are three altars in memory of the three tabernacles that st. peter proposed to build, and where the latin friars always perform mass on the anniversary of the transfiguration. it is said there was a magnificent church built here by helena, which was a cathedral when this town was made a bishop's see. on the side of the hill they show a church in a grot, were they say christ charged his disciples not to tell what things they had seen till he should be glorified. it is very doubtful, however, whether this tradition be well founded, or whether it has not, as mr. maundrell and other writers suspect, originated in the misinterpretation of a very common greek phrase. our saviour is said to have taken with him peter, james, and john, and brought them into a high mountain "apart;" from which it has been rather hastily inferred that the description must apply to tabor, the only insulated and solitary hill in the neighbourhood. we may remark, with the traveller just named, that the conclusion may possibly be true, but that the argument used to prove it seems incompetent; because the term "apart" most likely relates to the withdrawing and retirement of the persons here spoken of, and not to the situation of the mountain. in fact, it means nothing more than that our lord and his three disciples betook themselves to a private place for the purpose of devotion. the view from mount tabor is extolled by every traveller. "it is impossible," says maundrell, "for man's eyes to behold a higher gratification of this nature." on the north-west you discern in the distance the noble expanse of the mediterranean, while all around you see the spacious and beautiful plains of esdraëlon and galilee. turning a little southward, you have in view the high mountains of gilboa, so fatal to saul and his sons. due east you discover the sea of tiberias, distant about one day's journey. a few points to the north appears the mount of beatitudes, the place where christ delivered his sermon to his disciples and the multitude. not far from this little hill is the city of saphet, or szaffad, standing upon elevated and very conspicuous ground. still farther, in the same direction, is seen a lofty peak covered with snow, a part of the chain of anti-libanus. to the south-west is carmel, and in the south the hills of samaria.[ ] the plain around, the most fertile part of the land of canaan, being one vast meadow covered with the richest pasture, is the inheritance where the tribe of issachar "rejoiced in their tents." here it was that barak, descending with his ten thousand men from tabor, discomfited sisera and all his chariots. in the same neighbourhood josiah, king of judah, fought in disguise against necho, king of egypt, and fell by the arrows of his antagonist, deeply lamented. the great mourning in jerusalem, foretold by zechariah, is said to be as the lamentations in the plain of esdraëlon, as the mourning of hadadrimmon in the valley of megiddon. vespasian reviewed his army in the same great plain. it has been a chosen place for encampments in every contest carried on in this country, from the days of nebuchadnezzar, king of the assyrians, down to the disastrous invasion of napoleon bonaparte. jews, gentiles, saracens, egyptians, persians, druses, turks, arabs, christian crusaders, and antichristian frenchmen,--warriors out of every nation under heaven,--have pitched their tents upon the plain of esdraëlon, and have beheld their various banners wet with the dews of tabor and of hermon. and shall we not add that here too is to be fought the great battle of armageddon, so well known to all interpreters of prophecy, which is expected to change the aspect of the eastern world? when the french invaded syria in , general kleber was attacked near a village called fouleh, in the great plain, by an army of , turks. at the head of twelve or fifteen hundred men, whom he formed into a square, he continued fighting from sunrise till midday, when he had expended all his ammunition. bonaparte, at length, informed of his perilous situation, advanced to his support with six hundred soldiers; at the sight of whom the enemy, after having lost several thousands in killed and wounded, commenced a hurried retreat, in the course of which many of them were drowned in the river daboury, at that time, like another kishon, overflowing its banks. in a word, the champaign country which stretches north-west from tabor has been the theatre of real or of mimic warfare in all ages. "we had the pleasure," says doubdan, "to view from the top of that mountain arabs encamped by thousands; tents and pavilions of all colours, green, red, and yellow; with so great a number of horses and camels, that it seemed like a vast army, or a city besieged."[ ] but we now proceed towards nazareth, the modern naszera or nassera, a journey of about two hours from the foot of the mountain which we have just examined. it seems, says one writer, as if fifteen mountains met to form an enclosure for this delightful spot; they rise round it like the edge of a shell to guard it from intrusion. it is a rich and beautiful field in the midst of barren hills. the church stands in a cave supposed to be the place where the blessed virgin received the joyful message of the angel, recorded in the first chapter of st. luke's gospel. it resembles the figure of a cross. that part of it which stands for the tree of the cross is fourteen paces long and six broad, and runs directly into the grot, having no other arch over it at top but that of the natural rock. the transverse part is nine paces in length and four in width, and is built athwart the mouth of the cave. just at the section of these divisions are erected two granite pillars, two feet in diameter, and about three feet distant from each other. they are supposed by the faithful to stand on the very places where the angel and the blessed virgin respectively stood at the time of the annunciation.[ ] when dr. clarke visited this sanctuary, the friars pointed out the kitchen and the fireplace of the virgin mary; and as all consecrated places in the holy land contain some supposed miracle for exhibition, the monks, he informs us, have taken care not to be altogether deficient in supernatural rarities. accordingly, the first things they show to strangers who descend into the cave are two stone pillars in the front of it; one of which, separated from its base, is said to sustain its capital and a part of its shaft miraculously in the air. the fact is, that the capital and a piece of the shaft of a pillar of gray granite have been fastened to the roof of the grotto; and "so clumsily is the rest of the _hocus pocus_ contrived, that what is shown for the lower fragment of the same pillar resting upon the earth is not of the same substance, but of cipolino marble."[ ] a variety of stories are circulated about the fracture of this miraculous pillar. the more ancient travellers were told that it was broken by a pasha in search of hidden treasure, who was struck with blindness for his impiety; at present it is said that it separated into two parts, in the manner in which it still appears, when the angel announced to mary the glad tidings with which he was commissioned. maundrell was not less observant than the author just quoted, although he does not so openly expose the deception. "it touches the roof above, and is probably hanged upon that; unless you had rather take the friars' account of it, namely, that it is supported by a miracle." pococke has proved that the tradition concerning the dwelling-place of the parents of jesus christ existed at a very early period; because the church built over it is mentioned by writers of the seventh century. nor is there in the circumstance that their abode was fixed in a grotto or natural cave, any thing repugnant to the notions usually entertained either of the ancient customs of the country or of the class of society to which joseph and his espoused wife belonged. but when we are called upon to surrender our belief to the legends invented by men whose ignorance is the best apology we can urge for their superstition, a certain degree of disgust and indignation is perfectly justifiable. in such a case we are disposed to question the good effects ascribed by some authors to the pious zeal of the empress helena, who, although she did not in fact erect one-half of the buildings ascribed to her munificence, most undoubtedly laboured, by her architectural designs, to obliterate every trace of those simple scenes which might have been regarded with reasonable veneration in all ages of the church. dr. clarke, in a fit of spleen with which we cannot altogether refuse to sympathize, remarks, that had the sea of tiberias been capable of annihilation by her means, it would have been dried up, paved, covered with churches and altars, or converted into monasteries and markets of indulgences, until every feature of the original had disappeared; and all this by way of rendering it more particularly holy.[ ] of the original edifice, said to have been erected by the mother of constantine, some remains may still be observed in the form of subverted columns, which, with the fragments of their capitals and bases, lie near the modern building. the present church and convent are of a comparatively recent date, at least so far as the outward structure and internal decorations are concerned; the former being filled with pictures supplied by the modern school, all of which are said to be below mediocrity. besides the antiquities already mentioned having a reference to the early history of our lord, the traveller is conducted to the "workshop of joseph," which is near the convent, and was formerly included within its walls. it is now a small chapel, perfectly modern, and whitewashed like a turkish sepulchre. after this is shown the synagogue where the redeemer is said to have read the scriptures to the jews; and also the precipice from which the monks aver he leaped down to escape the rage of his townsmen, who were offended at his application of the sacred text "and all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. but he, passing through the midst of them, went his way."[ ] the mount of precipitation, as it is now called, is, according to mr. buckingham, about two miles distant from nazareth; is almost inaccessible, from the steep and rocky nature of the road; and is decidedly not upon the hill where the town could ever have been built. dr. clarke, on the other hand, maintains that the words of the evangelist are most explicit, and prove the situation of the ancient city to have been precisely that which is now occupied by the modern town. in a recess there is an altar hewn out of the rock, said to be the very spot where christ dined with his disciples. close by are two large cisterns for preserving rain-water, and several portions of buildings, all described as the remains of a religious establishment founded by the pious and indefatigable helena. immediately over this scene, and on the edge of a precipice about thirty feet in height, are two flat stones set up on their edges. in the centre, and scattered over different parts of one of them, are several round marks like the deep imprint of fingers on wax; and it is insisted that these are the impression of our saviour's hand when he clung to the stone, and thereby escaped being thrown headlong down.[ ] one celebrated relic still remains to be noticed, which, although it is not alluded to in the new testament, is regularly authenticated by the pope; who, besides, grants a plenary indulgence to every pilgrim visiting the place where it is exhibited. this is nothing more than a large stone, on which it is affirmed that christ did eat with his disciples both before and after his resurrection from the dead. a chapel has been built over it, on the walls of which are several copies of a printed certificate, stating the grounds of its claim to veneration. dr. clarke transcribed this curious document, which we give in a note below, accompanied with a translation for the use of such readers as have not formed an acquaintance with the latin tongue.[ ] there is not an object in all nazareth so much the resort of pilgrims,--greeks, catholics, arabs, and even turks,--as this stone: the former classes on account of the seven years' indulgence granted to those who visit it; the two latter, because they believe some virtue must reside in a slab before which all comers are so eager to prostrate themselves. in a valley near the town is a fountain which bears the name of the virgin, and where the women are seen passing to and fro with pitchers on their heads, as in the days of old. it is justly remarked, that, if there be a spot throughout the holy land which was more particularly honoured by the presence of mary, we may consider this to be the place; because the situation of a copious spring is not liable to change, and because the custom of repairing thither to draw water has been continued among the female inhabitants of nazareth from the earliest period of its history. as another memorial of primitive times, we may mention that it is still common in nazareth to see "two women grinding at the mill;" illustrating the remarkable saying of our lord in reference to the destruction of jerusalem. the two females, seated on the ground opposite to each other, hold between them two round flat stones, such as are seen in lapland, and which in scotland are usually called querns. in the centre of the upper stone is a cavity for pouring in the corn; and by the side of this an upright wooden handle for moving it. to begin the operation, one of the women with her right hand pushes this handle to her companion, who in her turn sends it back to the first,--thus communicating a rotatory and very rapid motion to the upper stone; their left hands being all the while employed in supplying fresh corn, as fast as the bran and flour escape from the sides of the machine.[ ] it is not without pleasure that the traveller contemplates these unaltered tokens of the simple life which prevailed in palestine at the time when our saviour abode in the house of mary his mother; and more especially, as he cannot fail to contrast them with the pernicious mummery which continues to disgrace the more artificial monuments of christian antiquity. from the extravagances chargeable upon the priesthood at all the holy places in canaan, there has resulted this most melancholy fact, that devout but weak men, unable to distinguish between monkish fraud and simple truth, have considered the whole series of topographical evidence as one tissue of imposture, and have left the holy land worse christians than when they entered it. credulity and skepticism are extremes too often found to approximate; and the man, accordingly, who suddenly relinquishes the one, is almost sure to adopt the other. burckhardt remarks that the church of nazareth, next to the one over the holy sepulchre, is the finest in syria, and possesses two tolerably good organs. within the walls of the convent are several gardens and a small burying-ground; the building is very strong, and serves occasionally as a fortress to all the christians in the town. there are eleven friars on the establishment, the yearly expenses of which, amounting to about l., are defrayed by the rent of a few houses and the produce of a small portion of land, the property of the good fathers. before quitting this interesting place,--the scene where our lord passed the days of his childhood and youth,--we may observe, that there is a great variation in the accounts given by different travellers as to the number of its inhabitants. dr. richardson restricts it to six or seven hundred; mr. buckingham raises it to two thousand; while others assert that it does not fall short of half as many more. there are five hundred turks, and the remainder are christians,--the later described as a civil and very industrious class of people. at about an hour and a half towards the north-east, situated on the slope of a hill, stands kefer kenna, or cana of galilee, the village where the redeemer performed his first miracle. here, in a small church belonging to the greek communion, is shown an old stone pot made of the common rock of the country, and which is said to be one of the original vessels that contained the water afterward converted into wine. it is worthy of note, says dr. clarke, that in walking among the ruins of cana one sees large massy pots of stone answering to the description given by the evangelist; not preserved nor exhibited as relics, but lying about disregarded by the present inhabitants, as antiquities with the original use of which they are altogether unacquainted. from their appearance, and the number of them, it is quite evident that the practice of keeping water in large stone pots, each holding from eighteen to twenty-seven gallons, was once common in the country. the remains of the house in which the marriage was celebrated are likewise pointed out to the traveller, who, at the present day, is permitted to examine curiosities with greater deliberation than was allowed to honest doubdan.[ ] this pious confessor, whose zeal prompted him to leave nothing unexplored, found an old church in the village, ascribed as usual to the inexhaustible beneficence of st. helena; but his attention was more pleasantly engaged in tracing the course of the stream which issues from the sacred fountain whence the water was drawn for the marriage-feast. there is still a limpid spring near the village; which affords to the inhabitants their daily supply of a delicious beverage. pilgrims repair to it moved by feelings of piety, or, as doubdan expresses it, to satisfy at once their devotion and their thirst. a few olive-trees being near the spot, travellers alight, spread their carpets, and having filled their pipes, generally smoke tobacco and take some coffee; always preferring repose in these places to any accommodations which can be obtained in the village. such has been the custom of the country from time immemorial, extending, not only to the wayfaring man, but also to the shepherds on the surrounding hills, and to the companies of merchantmen whose trade carries them through the neighbouring deserts.[ ] as we must now leave the interior of palestine, and return to the shore of the mediterranean, we cannot do more at this advanced stage of our progress than take a distant view of the landscape which stretches from the lake of tiberias to the sources of the jordan. the mountains that terminate the prospect are extremely magnificent, some of them being covered with perpetual snow. the intervening country, too, is in many parts uncommonly fine, presenting luxuriant crops, thriving villages, and other tokens of security and comfort. the jordan issues from lake hoole, or julias, which in its turn is fed by so many streams, that it becomes very difficult to determine the true fountain of the sacred river. the only town of consequence between the ruins of capernaum and the alpine range of hermon and djibbel el sheik is saphet, already mentioned, being one of the four cities consecrated by the religious veneration of the hebrews. according to burckhardt, it stands upon several low hills that divide it into quarters, the largest of which is occupied by jews. the whole may contain six hundred houses, of which one hundred and fifty belong to the people just named, and nearly as many to the christians. the summit of the principal eminence is crowned with an ancient castle, part of which is regarded by the descendants of israel as being contemporary with their earliest kings. saphet is still a sort of university for the education of the jewish rabbis, of whom there are usually twenty of thirty resident, collected from different countries of europe, africa, and asia. they have no fewer than seven synagogues. their attachment to this place arises from various motives, and especially from the traditionary belief that the messias is to reign here forty years before he assumes the government at jerusalem. to the north of the hill on which the castle stands there are several wells, which, it is said, were dug by the patriarch isaac, and became the cause of contention between his herdsmen and those of gerar; but, says pococke, they have much mistaken the place, the valley of gerar being at a great distance on the other side of jerusalem. this town, which is only mentioned in the book of tobit as belonging to the tribe of naphtali, became famous during the crusades; it was occupied also by a detachment of french troops during the invasion of the country by bonaparte. it is worthy of notice, that when the celebrated chief now named retreated from before acre, the tyrant djezzar pasha, to avenge himself on the franks, inflicted a severe punishment on the jewish and christian inhabitants of saphet. it is said that he had resolved to massacre all the believers in moses and jesus christ who might be found in any part of his dominions, and had actually sent orders to nazareth and jerusalem to accomplish his barbarous design. but sir sidney smith, on being apprised of his intention, conveyed to him the assurance, that if a single christian head should fall, he would bombard acre, and set it on fire. the interposition of the british admiral is still remembered with heartfelt gratitude by all the inhabitants, who looked upon him as their deliverer. "his word," says burckhardt, "i have often heard both turks and christians exclaim, was like god's word,--it never failed." it is to no purpose that we endeavour to ascertain the position of dan, the extreme point of the ancient hebrew territory. its proximity to the fountains of jordan might be supposed to prove a sufficient guide to the geographer in his local researches; but, as has been already mentioned, the rivulets which contribute to form the main stream of this celebrated river are so numerous, and apparently so equally entitled to the honour of being accounted the principal source, that the precise situation of the temple where jeroboam set up one of his golden calves is still open to conjecture. the road from nazareth to acre proceeds for some time ever a barren, rocky tract of country, which hasselquist informs us is a continuation of a species of territory peculiar to the same meridian, and stretching through several parallels of latitude. at length the traveller reaches sephouri, or sepphoris, the zippor of the hebrews, and the diocesarea of the romans, once the chief town and bulwark of galilee. the remains of its fortifications exhibit one of the works of herod, who, after its destruction by varus, not only rebuilt and fortified it, but made it the principal city of his tetrarchy. its inhabitants often revolted against the romans, relying, on the advantages for defence supplied by its natural position. it is mentioned in the talmud as the seat of a jewish university, and was long famous for the learning of its rabbis. here also was held one of the five sanhedrims authorized by the spiritual governors of palestine; the others being established at jerusalem, jericho, gadara, and amathus. but its chief celebrity is connected with the tradition, that it was the residence of joachim and anna, the parents of the virgin mary. the house of st. anne, observes dr. clarke, is the "commencement of that superstitious trumpery which for a long time has constituted the chief object of devotion and of pilgrimage in the holy land." no sooner was the spot discovered where the pious couple had lived than constantine issued instructions to build upon it a magnificent church, the remains of which have been minutely described by the enterprising traveller to whom we have just alluded. "we are conducted to the ruins of a stately gothic edifice, which seems to have been one of the finest structures in the holy land. here we entered beneath lofty massive arches of stone. the roof of the building was of the same materials. the arches are placed at the intersection of a greek cross, and originally supported a dome or a tower; their appearance is highly picturesque, and they exhibit the grandeur of a noble style of architecture. broken columns of granite and marble lie scattered among the walls, and these prove how richly it was decorated. we measured the capital of a pillar of the order commonly called tuscan, which we found lying against one of granite. the top of this formed a square of, three feet. one aisle of this building is still entire; at the eastern extremity a small temporary altar had been recently constructed by the piety of pilgrims; it consisted of loose materials, and was of very modern date. some fragments of the original decorations of the church had been gathered from the ruins and laid upon this altar; and although they had remained open to every approach, even the moslems had respected the votive offerings."[ ] the date of this building is incidently mentioned by epiphanius, who relates that one joseph, a native of tiberias, was authorized by constantine to erect a, number of such edifices in the holy land, and that he fulfilled the intention of his sovereign at tiberias, capernaum, and diocesarea. reland, upon the authority of theophanes, places its destruction in the year of the christian era, when the town was demolished on account of the seditious conduct of its inhabitants. it is perhaps worthy of notice, that dr. clarke examined some pictures which had been recently discovered among these ruins. one appears to represent the interview between our saviour and the two disciples at emmaus, when in the set of making himself known to them by the breaking of bread. another exhibits the virgin bearing in swaddling-clothes the infant jesus; and a third seems to illustrate the same subject in circumstances somewhat different. they are said to bear a great resemblance to those used in the churches of russia, being executed upon a square piece of wood about half an inch in thickness. as they were not valued highly by the person into whose hands they had accidently fallen, the englishman bestowed a trifle on the ignorant mohammedan, and "took them into safer custody."[ ] the vale of zabulon divides the village just described from the ridge of hills which look down on acre and the shores of the great sea. this delightful plain appears everywhere covered with spontaneous vegetation, flourishing in the wildest exuberance. the scenery is described by dr. clarke as not less beautiful than that of the rich valleys upon the south of the crimea. it reminded him of the nest parts of kent and surrey. the prickly-pear, which grows to a prodigious size in the holy land, sprouts luxuriantly among the rocks, displaying its gaudy yellow blossoms, and promising abundance of a delicious cooling fruit. off either side of the road the ruins of fortified places exercise the ingenuity of the antiquarian traveller, who endeavours, through the mist of tradition and the perplexing obscurity of modern names, to identify towns which make a figure in jewish and roman history. all remains of the strong city of zabulon, called by josephus the "city of men," have disappeared; and its "admirable beauty," rivalling that of tyre, sidon, and berytus, is now sought for in vain among arab huts and scattered stones. the plain, which skirts the mediterranean from jaffa to cape blanco, presents many interesting memorials of hebrew antiquity and of european warfare. every town along the coast has been the scene of contention between the armies of christendom and those of islamism; whence arises the motive which has determined us to incorporate the history of these cities with the narrative of the exploits whereon their fortunes have chiefly depended. suffice it to mention as we go along, that the vicinity of acre invites the attention of the naturalist, on account of certain facts recorded by pliny, and repeated by subsequent historians. it is said by this writer, that it was at the mouth of the river belus the art of making glass was first discovered. a party of sailors, who had occasion to visit the shore in that neighbourhood, propped up the kettle in which they were about to cook their provisions with sand and pieces of nitre; when to their surprise they found produced by the action of the fire on these ingredients, a new substance, which has added immensely to the comforts of life and to the progress of science. the sand of this remarkable stream confirmed for ages to supply, not only the manufactories of sidon, but all other places, with materials for that beautiful production. vessels from italy were employed to remove it for the glass-houses of venice and genoa so late as the middle of the seventeenth century. there is another circumstance connected with the same river, which, in the mythological writings of antiquity, makes a still greater figure than the discovery just described. lucian relates that the belus, at certain seasons of the year, especially about the feast of adonis, is of a bloody colour,--a fact which the heathens looked upon as proceeding from a kind of sympathy for the death of this favourite of venus, who was killed by a wild boar in the mountains whence the stream takes its rise. "something like this," says maundrell, "we saw actually come to pass; for the water was stained to a surprising redness, and, as we had observed in travelling, had discoloured the sea a great way into a reddish hue, occasioned doubtless by a sort of minium, or red earth, washed into the river by the violence of the rain, and not by any stain from adonis's blood."[ ] the excellence of carmel, which here rises into view, has in a great measure passed away. the curse denounced by amos has fallen upon it,--"the top of carmel shall wither;"--for it is now chiefly remarkable as a mass of barren and desolate rocks. its sides are indeed graced by some native cedars, and even the brambles are still intermingled with wild vines and olives, denoting its ancient fertility, or more careful cultivation; but there are no longer any rich pastures to render it the "habitation of shepherds," or to recall to the fancy the beauty of carmel and of sharon, and to justify the comparison of it to the glory of libanus. it owes to its name and to its prominent situation on the coast, as a sentinel of the holy land, all the interest which can now be claimed for the mountain on which elias vindicated the worship of jehovah, and where thousands of holy christians have spent their lives in meditation and prayer. the monastery which stands on the summit of the hill, near the spot were the prophet offered up his sacrifice, was long the principal residence of the carmelite friars. it appears never to have been a fine building, and is now entirely abandoned. during the campaign of the french in syria, it was made an hospital for their sick, for which it was well adapted by its healthy and retired situation. it has been since ravaged by the turks, who have stripped its shrines and destroyed its roof; though there still remains, for the solace of devout visiters, a small stone altar in a grotto dedicated to saint elias, over which is a coarse painting representing the holy man leaning on a wheel, with fire and other instruments of sacrifice at his side.[ ] chapter viii. _the history of palestine from the fall of jerusalem to the present time_. state of judea after the fall of jerusalem; revolt under trajan; barcochab; adrian repairs jerusalem; schools at babylon and tiberias; the attempt of julian to rebuild the temple; invasion of chosroes; sack of jerusalem; rise of islamism; wars of the califs; first crusade; jerusalem delivered; policy of crusades; victory at ascalon; baldwin king; second crusade; saladin; his success at tiberias; he recovers jerusalem; the third crusade; richard coeur de lion; siege and capture of acre; plans of richard; his return to europe; death of saladin; fourth crusade; battle of jaffa; fifth crusade; fall of constantinople; sixth crusade; damietta taken; reverses; frederick the second made king of jerusalem; seventh crusade; christians admitted into the holy city; inroad of karismians; eighth crusade under louis ix.; he takes damietta; his losses and return to europe; ninth crusade; louis ix. and edward i.; death of louis; successes of edward; treaty with sultan; final discomfiture of the franks in palestine, and loss of acre; state of palestine under the turks; increased toleration; bonaparte invades syria; siege of acre and defeat of french; actual state of the holy land; number, condition, and character of the jews. the destruction of jerusalem, though it put an end to the polity of the hebrew nation as an independent people, did not entirely disperse the remains of their miserable tribes, nor denude the holy land of its proper inhabitants. the number of the slain was indeed immense, and the multitude of captives carried away by titus glutted the slave-markets of the roman empire; but it is true, nevertheless, that many fair portions of palestine were uninjured by the war, and continued to enjoy an enviable degree of prosperity under the government of their conquerors. the towns on the coast generally submitted to the legions without incurring the chance of a battle or the horrors of a siege; while the provinces beyond the jordan, which formed the kingdom of agrippa, maintained their allegiance to rome throughout the whole period of the insurrection elsewhere so fatal, and especially to the inheritance of judah and of benjamin. it has been already suggested that soon after the roman army was withdrawn, many of the jewish families, christians as well as followers of the mosaical law, returned to their sacred capital, and sought a precarious dwelling among its ruins. to prevent the rebuilding of the city, vespasian found it necessary to establish on mount zion a garrison of eight hundred men. the same emperor, it is related, commanded strict search to be made for all who claimed descent from the house of david, in order to cut off, if possible, all hope of the restoration of that royal race, and more especially of the advent of the messiah, the confidence in whose speedy coming still burned with feverish excitement in the heart of every faithful israelite. a similar jealousy, which dictated a similar inquisition, was continued in the subsequent reign,--a fact strongly illustrative of the spirit which prevailed at that period among the descendants of abraham, and explanatory also of their successive revolts against the roman power. under the mild sway of trajan, the jews in egypt, cyprus, and even in mesopotamia, flew to arms, to avenge the insults to which they had been subjected, or to realize the hopes that they have never ceased to cherish. after a war remarkable for the waste of blood with which it was accompanied, the unhappy insurgents were everywhere suppressed; having lost, according to their own confession, more than half a million of men in the field of battle, or the sack of towns. the skill and fortune of adrian, who soon afterward occupied the imperial throne, were displayed in the island of cyprus, from which the jews were expelled with tremendous slaughter, and prohibited from ever again touching its shores. to check the mutinous disposition, or to weaken the influence of the vanquished tribes, an edict was promulgated by their roman masters, forbidding circumcision, the reading of the law, and the observance of the weekly sabbath. still further to defeat their favourite schemes, and to blast all hopes of a restoration to civil power in jerusalem under their messiah, it was resolved by the government at rome to repair to a certain extent the city of the jews, and to establish in it a regular colony of greeks and latins. at this crisis appeared the notorious barcochab, whose name, denoting the "son of a star," made him be instantly hailed by a large majority of the nation as that predicted light which was to arise out of jacob in the latter days. recommended by akiba, one of the most popular of the rabbim, to the confidence of israel, this impostor soon saw himself at the head of a powerful army; amounting, say the jewish annalists, to more than two hundred thousand men. in the absence of the legions now called to other parts of the east, he found little difficulty in taking possession of jerusalem; and before a competent force, under the renowned julius severus, could arrive in palestine, the false messias had seized fifty of the strongest castles, and a great number of open towns. the details of the sanguinary campaigns which followed are given by the vanquished jews with more minuteness than probability. severus, who had learned all the arts of desultory warfare when employed against the barbarians of britain, used a similar policy on the banks of the jordan; choosing to cut off the supplies of the enemy, and attack their posts with overwhelming numbers, rather than encounter their furious fanaticism in a general engagement. bither, a strong city, and defended by barcochab in person, was the last to yield to the romans. at length it was taken by storm, at the expense of much human life on either side; but as the leader of the rebellion was among the slain, the victors did not consider their success too dearly bought, as with the star whose light was extinguished in the carnage of bither the hope of israel fell to the earth. dio cassius relates, that during this war no fewer than , fell by the sword, besides those who perished by famine and disease. the whole of judea was converted into a desert,--wolves and hyenas howled in the streets of the desolate cities,--and all the villages were consumed with fire. it was after these events that adrian, to annihilate for ever all hopes of the restoration of the jewish kingdom, accomplished his plan of founding a new city on the waste places of jerusalem, to be peopled by a colony of foreigners. this town, as we have elsewhere observed, was called aelia capitolina; the former epithet alluding to aelius, the praenomen of the emperor,--the latter denoting that it was dedicated to jupiter capitolinus, the tutelar deity of rome. an edict was issued, interdicting every jew from entering the new city on pain of death, or even approaching so near it as to be able to contemplate its towers and the venerable heights on which it stood. the more effectually to keep them away, the image of a cow was placed over the gate which leads to bethlehem. but the more peaceful christians, meanwhile, were permitted to establish themselves within the walls; and aelia, it is well known, soon became the seat of a flourishing church and of a bishopric.[ ] from this period the history of the holy land is less connected with the jews than with the policy of the different governments by which their country has been occupied. more attached to their ancient faith than when it was established at jerusalem, we find them, both in the east and west, labouring with the most indefatigable zeal to revive its principles and extend its authority. hence their celebrated schools at babylon and tiberias,--the source of all legislation, and the seat of judgment in all cases of doubtful opinion. hence, too, those mixed titles, so long recognised in their tribes, the patriarch of tiberias and the prince of the captivity,--appointments which, during a long period, constituted a bond of union, partly spiritual and partly political, among all the descendants of jacob. the numerous remains of that people, though still excluded from the precincts of jerusalem, were nevertheless permitted to form and to maintain considerable establishments both in italy and in the provinces; to acquire the freedom of rome; to enjoy municipal honours; and to obtain, at the same time, an exemption from the burdensome and expensive offices of society. the moderation or the contempt of the romans gave a legal sanction to the form of ecclesiastical police, which was instituted by the vanquished sect. the patriarch was empowered to appoint his subordinate ministers, to exercise a domestic jurisdiction, and to receive from his brethren an annual contribution. new synagogues were frequently erected in the principal cities of the empire; and the sabbaths, the fasts, and the festivals, which were either commanded by the mosaic law or enjoined by the traditions of the rabbim, were celebrated in the most solemn and public manner. they were, in like manner, restored to the privilege of circumcising their children, on the easy condition that they should never confer on any foreign proselyte the distinguishing mark of the hebrew race. such gentle treatment insensibly assuaged the stern temper of the jews. awakened from their dream of prophecy and conquest, they assumed the behaviour of peaceable and industrious subjects. their hatred of mankind, instead of flaming out in acts of blood and violence, evaporated in less dangerous gratifications. they embraced every opportunity of overreaching the idolaters in trade; and they pronounced secret and ambiguous imprecations against the haughty kingdom of edom, the name under which they were pleased to denounce the roman empire.[ ] the glories which were shed upon palestine by the munificent zeal of constantine and his mother have already been repeatedly mentioned. the splendid buildings which arose in every part of the holy land announced the triumph of the new faith in the country where it had its origin; exciting at once the pride of the christian, and the jealousy, resentment, and despair of the jew. the government of constantius was not more favourable to the children of israel; nor was it till the accession of julian that they were encouraged to look for revenge upon their enemies, if not for protection to their despised countrymen. the edict to rebuild the temple on mount moriah, and to establish once more at jerusalem the worship enjoined by moses, called forth their utmost exertions in behalf of a prince who at least abandoned a rival religion, destined, as they apprehended, to supplant their own more ancient ritual. the issue of this attempt to reinstate the ceremonies of the jewish law in the capital of palestine is known to every reader. the workmen employed in digging the foundation of the new temple were terrified by flames of fire darting forth from the ground, and accompanied with the most frightful explosions. no inducement could prevail on them to persevere in labours which appeared to excite the anger of heaven. the enterprise was relinquished, as at once hopeless and impious; and there is no doubt that, whatever additions may have been made to the circumstances by ignorance and a too easy belief, the views of julian were frustrated by the occurrence of some very extraordinary event, which still finds a place even in roman history. the skeptic may smile when he reads in the pages of a christian father, that flakes of fire which assumed the form of a cross settled on the dresses of the artisans and spectators; that a horseman was seen careering amid the flames; and that, when the affrighted labourers fled to a neighbouring church, its doors, fastened by some preternatural force within, refused to admit them into the sacred building. in such details the imagination is consulted more than the reason; and it cannot be denied that certain authors, who wrote long after the reign of julian; have admitted traditionary anecdotes into the narrative of a grave event. it is deserving of notice, however, that the mark of the cross, said to have been impressed upon the bystanders, is not the most incredible of the circumstances recorded. many instances have been known of persons touched by the electric fluid, whose bodies exhibited similar traces of its operation,--straight lines cutting one another at right angles--and hence that part of the description which appears the least entitled to belief will be found to be strictly within the limits of nature.[ ] the policy of the emperors continued to depress the jews in palestine, while it granted to them the enjoyment of considerable privileges in all the other provinces where their presence and peculiar views were less hazardous to the public peace. during the same period, the christian church possessed the countenance of the civil power, and gradually extended its doctrines into armenia, as well as into the more important region of the lower mesopotamia. it was not till the beginning of the seventh century that the course of events was materially disturbed by an invasion of the persians, under chosroes, who had resolved to humble the government of constantinople, and to check its pretensions in the east. the part of the army appointed to serve against palestine was entrusted to carnsia, an experienced general, who invited the jews to join his standard. this people, ever ready to aid the cause of revolt, assembled, it is said, to the number of , men, and made preparations for an attack on jerusalem. a sanguinary warfare had ensued, even before the arrival of their allies from beyond the euphrates; and both sides, accordingly, were exasperated to the highest degree of fury, and importuning heaven to hasten the moment of revenge. the christians within the walls massacred their enemies in cold blood, while the assailants without carried destruction to every point which their arms could reach. at length, the advance of the persians secured to the jews the hour of triumph and retaliation, when they fully quenched their thirst for vengeance in the blood of the nazarenes. the victors are said to have sold the miserable captives for money. but the rage of the jews was stronger than their avarice; for not only did they not scruple to sacrifice their treasures in the purchase of these devoted bondsmen at a lavish price, but they put to death without remorse all whom they bought. it was rumoured that no fewer than , christians perished. every church was demolished, including that of the holy sepulchre,--the greatest object of jewish hatred. the stately building of helena and constantine was abandoned to the flames, and the devout offerings of three hundred years were rifled in one sacrilegious day. but the arms of persia did not long support the persecuting spirit of the jews. the emperor heraclius, who had spent some inglorious years on the throne, was alarmed into activity by the progress of the enemy, who had threatened even the walls of constantinople itself. the discipline of ancient rome, which was not yet quite extinct among the legionary soldiers, maintained its wonted superiority over the less martial troops of chosroes, and recovered in the course of a few campaigns all the provinces that the invaders had overrun. heraclius visited jerusalem as a pilgrim, when the wood of the true cross, which, it was rumoured, had been carried away to persia, was reinstated with due solemnity. several christian churches, too, were restored to their former magnificence; and the law of adrian was again put in force, which prohibited the jews from approaching within three miles of the holy city.[ ] palestine continued to acknowledge the power of the emperor until the rise of islamism changed the face of western asia. the armies of the califs, which wrested from persia the dominion of the surrounding nations, conquered in succession the provinces of arabia, syria, and egypt, and at length planted the crescent on the walls of jerusalem. the victories of omar in decided the fate of the venerable city, and laid the foundations of a mosque on the sacred hill where the temple of solomon had stood. this conqueror was assassinated at jerusalem in ; after which, the establishment of several califates in arabia and syria, the fall of the ommiades, and the elevation of the abassides involved judea in trouble for more than two hundred years. in , achmet, a turk, who from being governor had made himself sovereign of egypt, conquered the capital of palestine; but his son having been defeated by the califs of bagdad; the holy city again returned under their dominion in the year of our era. mohammed ikschid, another turk, about thirty years after, having in his turn seized the throne of the pharaohs, carried his arms into palestine, and reduced the capital. the fatimites, again, issuing from the sands of cyrene, expelled the ikschidites from egypt in , and conquered several towns in judea. ortok, towards the end of the tenth century, made himself master of the holy city, whence his children were for a time driven out by mostali, calif of egypt. in , meleschah, the third of the turkish race, took jerusalem, and ravaged the whole country. the ortokides, who, as we have just related, were dispossessed by mostali, returned thither, and maintained themselves in it against redouan, prince of aleppo. they were expelled once more by the fatimites, who were masters of the place when the crusaders first appeared on the confines of syria. several generations passed away, during which the affairs of the holy land created no interest in europe, and when christians and jews, who could hardly obtain the most limited toleration from their mohammedan masters, sought an asylum among the states of europe. in the travels of benjamin of tudela are to be found some incidental notices which leave no doubt as to the fact that his countrymen, unable to bear the persecution directed against them, had gradually abandoned the birthplace of their fathers. jerusalem, in the twelfth century, did not contain more than two hundred descendants of abraham, poor, depressed, and calumniated; while at tiberias, the seat of learning and of their sovereign patriarch, the number did not exceed fifty,--the victims of suspicion and jealousy, not less on the part of the christians than of the moslem, who had already begun to contend with each other for the sepulchre of christ. it has often been observed, that pilgrimage to the holy places of palestine was from a very early period regarded as at once a wholesome discipline and an acceptable reverence on the part of christian worshippers. the arabian califs were, on various accounts, inclined to favour the resort of europeans to these shrines of their faith. they saw in it a fruitful source of revenue; while, as the progeny of abraham, they were not disposed to take offence at the veneration lavished upon the prophetic son of david, whose tomb the fortune of war had placed in their hands. but the seljukian turks, those irreclaimable barbarians, who had no sympathy with the believers in christ, laid on them such burdens and vexatious restraints as were altogether intolerable. the cries of the unhappy pilgrims had long resounded throughout all christendom; and the indignation which was universally felt against the bigoted mussulmans was inflamed in no slight degree by the eloquence of peter the hermit, who had witnessed in foreign lands the afflictions of his brethren. yielding to the impulse of the age, pope urban the second convoked a general council at clermont, in auvergne, to whom he addressed an oration well fitted to confirm the enthusiasm which he found already kindled. he encouraged them to attack the enemies of god, and in that holy warfare to earn the reward of eternal life promised to all the faithful servants of the redeemer; suggesting, that as a mark of their profession as well as of their saviour's love, they should wear red crosses on their garments when fighting the battles of christianity. the warlike spirit of the time was roused by every motive which can touch the heart of man in a rude state of society,--the love of glory, religion, revenge, and enterprise. many of the most illustrious princes of the christian world took up the cross, and were followed by persons of both sexes, and of all ages, classes, and professions. a vast army poured in from every country, under the most distinguished leaders, of whom the principal were, godfrey, duke of brabant and bouillon; robert of france, the brother of king philip; and robert, duke of normandy, the son of the english monarch. bohemond, too, the chief of the normans of apulia, and raymond, count of toulouse, led many renowned warriors to syria. the tumultuary bands who marched under the standard of the hermit suffered hardships altogether unknown to modern war. in passing through the countries watered by the danube, and the hilly countries which lie between that river and the mediterranean, more than half their number fell victims to disease, famine, and the rage of the barbarians whose lands they infested. but, in spite of these misfortunes, bohemond, one of the leaders, laid siege to antioch in ; and on the th july, two years after, the ancient and holy city of jerusalem was taken by assault, with a prodigious slaughter of the garrison. ten thousand mohammedans were slain on the site of the temple of solomon; a greater number was thrown from the tops of houses; and a fearful carnage was committed after all resistance had ceased. the siege had lasted two months with various success, and a considerable loss of life on either aide; and hence arose the savage ferocity which disgraced, on the part of the victors, the last scene of this miserable tragedy. the assailants having endured much from drought, as well as from the sword of the enemy, betook themselves to pious exercises in order to avert the anger of heaven. the soldiers, completely armed, made a holy procession round the walls. the clergy, with naked feet, and bearing images of the cross, led them in the sacred way. cries of _deus id vult_,--god commands it,--rent the air; and the people marched to the melody of hymns and psalms, and not to the sound of drums and trumpets. on mount olivet and mount zion they prayed for assistance in the approaching conflict. the saracens mocked these expressions of religious feeling, by throwing mud upon crucifixes which they raised for the purpose; but these insults had only the effect of producing louder shouts of sacred joy from the christians. the next morning every thing was prepared for battle; and there was no one who was not ready either to die for christ, or restore his city to liberty. the night was spent in watching an alarm by both armies. at dawn of day the conflict began which was to determine the fate of the great european expedition, and when noon arrived the issue was still in suspense, or seemed rather to incline in favour of the mohammedans. the cause of the western world appeared to totter on the brink of destruction, and the most valiant among the crusaders allowed themselves to fear that heaven had deserted its own cause and people.[ ] at the moment when all was considered lost, a knight was seen on mount olivet, waving his glittering shield as a sign to the soldiers that they should rally and return to the charge. godfrey and eustace cried aloud to the army, that st. george was come to their succour. the spirit of enthusiasm instantly revived, fatigue and pain were no longer felt, the princes led their columns to the breach, and even the women insisted upon sharing the honours of the fight. in the space of an hour the barbacan was broken down, and godfrey's tower rested against the inner wall. exchanging the duties of a general for those of a soldier, the duke of lorraine fought with his bow: "the lord guided his hand, and all his arrows pierced the enemy through and through." near him were eustace and baldwin, "like two lions beside another lion." at three o'clock, the hour when the saviour of the world was crucified, a soldier, named letoldus of tourney, leaped upon the fortifications; his brother, engelbert, followed, and godfrey was the third christian who stood as a conqueror upon the ramparts of jerusalem. the glorious ensign of the cross streamed from the walls, and the whole city was soon at the mercy of the besiegers. the mussulmans fought for a while, then fled to their temples, and submitted their necks to the sword. the victors, in a document which is still preserved, boasted, that in the mosque of omar, whither they pursued the fugitives, they rode in the blood of saracens up to the knees of their horses. after the slaughter had terminated, and the soldiers had soothed their minds by certain acts of devotion, the expediency of forming a regular government became manifest to all parties. godfrey, a hero whose name can not be too highly honoured, was chosen by the unanimous suffrages of rival warriors to be the first christian king of jerusalem. bohemond, the son of robert guiscard, reigned at antioch; baldwin, the brother of godfrey, at edessa; and the count of toulouse, at tripoli. the dominion of the crusaders extended from the confines of egypt to the euphrates on the east, and to the acclivities of mount taurus on the north; and several of their principalities lasted nearly two hundred years. many attempts have been made to defend the policy and excuse the enormities of the christian warriors in their enterprise against the moslem occupants of the holy land. these two points ought to be more carefully distinguished than they usually are, whether in the pages of friends or enemies; for while the general expediency of a combination of the christian powers may be supported on good grounds, the cruelty of some of their measures deserves the severest censure. it is remarked by mr. mills, that the massacre of the saracens on the capture of the holy city did not proceed alone from the inflamed passions of victorious soldiers, but from remorseless fanaticism. benevolence to turks, jews, infidels, and heretics made no part of christian ethics in those rude times; and as the moslem in their consciences believed it was the will of heaven that the religion of their prophet should be propagated by the sword, so their antagonists laboured under the mental delusion that they themselves were the ministers of god's wrath on a disobedient and stiff-necked people. the latins, on the day after the victory, massacred three hundred men, to whom tancred and gaston de bearn had promised protection, and even given a standard as a pledge of safety. but every engagement was broken, in consequence of the resolution that no pity should be shown to the mohammedans,--an expedient which was justified by the opinion now prevalent among the invaders, that in conjunction with the saracens of egypt they might again reduce the city and recover all the ground they had lost. it was for this reason that the inhabitants of jerusalem, armed and unarmed, were dragged forth into the public squares, and slain like cattle. women with children at the breast, boys, and even girls were slaughtered indiscriminately, and in such numbers that the streets were covered with dead bodies and mangled limbs. no heart melted into compassion or expanded into benevolence. the stones of the city were ordered to be washed, and the melancholy task was performed by some moslem slaves. the count of toulouse, whose avarice prevailed over his superstition, was loudly condemned for accepting a ransom from a few of the devoted prisoners, whom he sent in safety to ascalon. so unrelenting, in short, was the passion of revenge among the crusaders, that they set fire to the synagogues of the jews, many of whom perished in the flames.[ ] such conduct merits the deepest execration that moralist or statesman may be pleased to pour upon it. we are nevertheless convinced that, in the peculiar circumstances of the christian world when peter the hermit called its chiefs to arms, a united war against the mohammedan states of syria was dictated by the soundest political wisdom. the subjects of omar had already conquered an establishment in sicily and spain, and attempted the subjugation of france. their views were directed towards universal dominion in the west, as well as in the east; they hoped to witness the triumph of the crescent in europe not less certainly than in asia, and to be able to impose a tribute on the worshippers of christ, or compel them to relinquish their creed on the remotest shores of the atlantic. those, therefore, who perceive in the crusades nothing but a mob of armed pilgrims running to rescue a tomb in palestine must take a very limited view of history. the point in question was not merely the recovery of that sacred building from the hands of infidels, but rather to decide which of the two religions, the christian or mohammedan, should predominate in the world; the one hostile to civilization, and only favourable to ignorance, despotism, and slavery; the other friendly to improvement, learning, and freedom in all ranks and conditions of society. it is asserted by chateaubriand, that whoever reads the address of pope urban to the council of clermont must be convinced that the leaders in these military enterprises were not actuated by the petty views which have been ascribed to them; but, on the contrary, that they aspired to save the western world from a new inundation of barbarians. the spirit of islamism is conquest and persecution; the gospel, on the contrary, inculcates only toleration and peace. the christians, moreover, had endured for several centuries all the oppressions which the fanaticism of the saracens impelled them to exercise. they had merely endeavoured to interest charlemagne in their favour; for neither the conquest of spain, the invasion of france, the pillage of greece and the two sicilies, nor the entire subjugation of africa, could for nearly six hundred years rouse the christians to arms. if at last the cries of numberless victims slaughtered in the east, if the progress of the barbarians, who had already reached the gates of constantinople, awakened christendom, and impelled it to rise in its own defence, who can say that the cause of the holy wars was unjust? contemplate greece, if you would know the fate of a people subjected to the mussulman yoke. would those who at this day so loudly exult in the progress of knowledge wish to live under a religion that burned the alexandrian library, which makes a merit of trampling mankind under foot, and holding literature and the arts in sovereign contempt? the crusades, by weakening the moslem hordes in the very centre of asia, prevented europe from falling a prey to the turks and arabs; they did more, they saved her from revolutions at home, with which she was threatened; they suspended intestine wars by which she was ever and anon desolated; and, finally, they opened an outlet to that excess of population which sooner or later occasions the ruin of nations.[ ] the administration of godfrey was gentle and prosperous. he gained a decisive victory over the vizier of egypt, who had encamped on the plains of ascalon with the view of assisting his syrian allies to recover jerusalem from the hands of the christians. according to the spirit of the age, he joined to the qualities of a brave soldier the profession of an ardent faith and the utmost reverence for the authority of the church. he refused a precious diadem offered to him by his companions in arms, declaring that he would never wear a crown of gold in the city where the saviour of the world had worn a crown of thorns. in the same feeling he was disposed to reject the title of king and to exercise his office under the name of defender and baron of the holy sepulchre. upon the demise of this distinguished commander, which is supposed to have taken place at jaffa, the government devolved upon his brother baldwin, who sustained its glory and interests with a steady hand. about the year , he was succeeded on his throne by his nephew, who bore the same name, and who, although sometimes unfortunate, did not tarnish the honour of his family. melisandra, his eldest daughter, married foulques of anjou, and conveyed the kingdom of jerusalem into the hand of her husband, who enjoyed it ten or twelve years, when he lost his life by a fall from a horse. his son, baldwin the third, a youth of a rash temper and destitute of experience, assumed the sceptre of jerusalem, which he held twenty years,--a period rendered remarkable by the events of the second crusade, and the rise of various orders of knighthood,--the hospitallers, templars, and cavaliers. the news from palestine, that certain reverses had been sustained by the christians, acted so powerfully on the pious spirit of st. bernard and the troubled conscience of louis the seventh, the king of france, as to suggest a second confederation among the european princes for the security of the holy land. this new apostle of a sacred war was, on many accounts, greatly superior to peter the hermit. he was a man of noble birth; possessed learning sufficient to rival the attainments of abelard, his contemporary; and could speak with a degree of eloquence to which no orator of his age had the boldness to aspire. the french monarch, who had assembled around him a powerful and most splendid army, was joined by the emperor of germany, conrade the third, whose thousands equalled those of his warlike brother, and whose zeal in the cause of christendom was not less active. but the experience of their predecessors, fifty years before, was lost upon these fearless soldiers of the cross. without suitable preparation, they encountered the dangers of a long march through hostile countries and sickly climates, the effects of which appeared in the rapid diminution of their numbers, in mutual invectives, and in increasing despair. not more than a tenth part of the germans reached the coast of syria. the french, who had suffered less than their allies, were sooner ready to take the field against the saracens; and after proving their arms in a few unimportant skirmishes, they resolved to lay siege to damascus in concert with the battalions of conrade. but the evil genius of intrigue defeated their designs. after a fruitless display of force more than sufficient to have reduced the place, the christian chiefs withdrew from before the ramparts of the syrian capital, and fell back upon jerusalem in sorrow and shame. conrade soon returned to europe with the shattered remains of his gallant host; and about a year afterward his example was imitated by the french king and the greater number of his generals, who were disgusted with the narrow policy on which the war had been conducted. baldwin the third, dying without male issue, transmitted the precarious throne of jerusalem to his brother amaury, or almeric; who, after of a reign of eleven years, was succeeded by his son, baldwin the fourth. the young sovereign, being incapable of the duties of government, passed his minority under the wise counsels of raymond, count of tripoli, who endeavoured to sustain the weight of kingly power in the midst of very formidable enemies. the name of noureddin was long terrible to the christians of palestine, who had gradually lost their warlike virtues; but they were now about to encounter a still more able, and much more celebrated antagonist, in the person of saladin, the hero of the crescent, and one of the most distinguished leaders of that very romantic age. baldwin had given his sister sybilla, widow of william, surnamed longue-epée, or the long-sword, in marriage to guy of lusignan. the grandees of the kingdom, dissatisfied with the choice, divided into parties. the king, dying in , left for his heir baldwin the fifth, the son of sybilla and william just mentioned, a child not more than eight years of age, and who soon afterward sunk under a constitutional distemper. his mother caused the crown to be conferred on her husband, the ambitious guy,--a measure which did not allay the jealousy of the nobles who had opposed their union. an alarming dissension prevailed among the barons, some of whom refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new sovereign, and even offered the diadem to humphrey de thoron. but the intrigues of sybilla and the terror of saladin prevented an open rupture, while events of a more important nature were about to occupy the attention of either party. the sultan had received from several of the christian warriors just ground of offence, and failing to obtain redress from the feeble government of jerusalem, he took the field in order to chastise with his own hand the more guilty of the aggressors. he encamped near the lake of tiberias, where guy, listening to counsellors who saw not the danger of placing the fortunes of the kingdom on the issue of a single battle, resolved to attack him. for a whole day the engagement was in suspense, and at night the latins retired to some rocks in the neighbourhood, hoping that they might find a little water to quench their thirst. at the approach of dawn the two armies stood for a while gazing upon each other, as if conscious that the fate of the moslem and the christian worlds was in their hands. but no sooner did the sun appear than the crusaders raised their war-cry, and the turks sounded their trumpets and atabals,--a mutual challenge to renew the sanguinary conflict. thi bishops and clergy ran through the ranks cheering the soldiers of the church. a fragment of the true cross, intrusted to the knights of the holy sepulchre, was placed on a hillock, around which the broken squadrons repeatedly rallied, and recovered strength for the combat whereon the interests of their faith were suspended. but the crescent, supported by more numerous and stronger hands, triumphed on the plain of tiberias. the christians were defeated with great loss; the king, the master of the templars, and the marquis of montferrat were taken prisoners, and the piece of holy wood, in which they had put their trust, was snatched from the grasp of the bishop of acre. this victory placed the greater part of palestine in the power of saladin, who, upon the whole, used his success with moderation and clemency. the fugitives from every quarter fled to jerusalem, hoping to escape in that asylum the swords and fetters of the turks. one hundred thousand persons are said to have been crowded within the walls; but so few were the soldiers, and so feeble was the government of the queen, that the holy city presented no serious obstacle to the progress of the moslem arms. saladin declared his unwillingness to stain with human blood a place which even the followers of the prophet held in reverence, as having been sanctified by the presence of many inspired individuals. he therefore promised to the people, on condition that they would quietly surrender the city, a supply of money, and lands in the most fertile provinces of syria. this offer was rejected, as implying a sacrilegious contract to yield into the hands of infidels the sacred spot where the saviour of mankind had died. he therefore swore that he would enter their streets sword in hand, and retaliate upon them the dreadful carnage which the franks had committed in the days of godfrey. two weeks were spent in almost incessant fighting, during which the advantage was generally on the side of the assailants. finding resistance vain, the besieged at length appealed to the clemency of the conqueror. it was, stipulated that the military and the nobles should be escorted to tyre, and that the inhabitants should become slaves, if not ransomed at certain rates fixed by saladin. thus, to use the words of the historian, "after four days had been consumed by the miserable inhabitants, in weeping over and embracing the holy sepulchre and other sacred places, the latins left the city and passed through the enemy's camp. children of all ages clung round their mothers, and the strength of the fathers was used in bearing away some little part of their household furniture. in solemn procession, the clergy, the queen, and her retinue of ladies followed. saladin advanced to meet them, and his heart melted with compassion when he saw them approach in the attitude of suppliants." the softened warrior uttered some expressions of pity; and the women, encouraged by his tenderness, declared, that by pronouncing one word he might remove their distress. "our fortunes and possessions," said they, "you may freely enjoy; but restore to us our fathers, our husbands, and our brothers. with these dear objects we cannot be entirely miserable. they will take care of us; and that god whom we reverence, and who provides for the birds of the air, will not forget our children." saladin was a barbarian in nothing but the name. with the most courteous generosity, he released all the prisoners whom the women requested, and loaded them with presents. nor was this action, so worthy of a gentle and chivalrous knight, the consequence of a merely transient feeling of humanity; for when he had entered the city of jerusalem, and heard of the tender care with which the military friars of st. john treated their sick countrymen, he allowed ten of their order to remain in the hospital till they could fully complete their work of charity.[ ] the mohammedans, being once more in possession of the holy walls, took down the great cross from the church of the sepulchre, and soiled it with the mire of the streets. they also melted the bells which had summoned the christians to devotion, and at the same time purified the mosque of omar by a copious sprinkling of rose-water. ascalon, laodicea, gabala, sidon, nazareth, and bethlehem opened their gates to the victorious saladin, who, indeed, found no town of consequence able to resist his arms except tyre, garrisoned by a body of excellent soldiers under the gallant conrade. all the inhabitants took arms, and even the women shot arrows from the walls, or assisted in strengthening the fortifications. the saracens cast immense stones into the place, and attacked it with all the other means in their power; but the spirit of freedom triumphed over the thirst of revenge, and the conqueror of tiberias was finally compelled to relinquish the siege. the intelligence that jerusalem had fallen under the dominion of the unbelievers created in all parts of europe a profound sensation of grief and disappointment. the clergy, as on former occasions, preached to all classes the duty and honour of assuming the cross, and even of dying is the service of the redeemer, should the sacrifice of life be required at their hands. but the enthusiasm of the eleventh century had now very generally passed away. every family had to lament the loss of kindred in the field of battle or in the bonds of a hopeless captivity; and hence, the inducements which had crowded the ranks of godfrey and conrade were at this time listened to both in france and england with comparative indifference. at length, however, about the year , philip augustus, the french king, the emperor frederick barbarossa of germany, and the celebrated richard coeur de lion succeeded in raising forces, with the view of wresting once more the holy land from the thraldom of the saracens. philip received the staff and scrip at st. denys, and richard at tours. they joined their armies at vezelay, the gross amount of which was computed at one hundred thousand, and marched to lyons in company. there the royal commanders separated; the former pursued the road to genoa, the latter to marseilles,--the island of sicily being named as the place of their nest meeting. among the other fruits of the victory of tiberias reaped by the brave saladin was the possession of acre, or ptolemais, one of the moat valuable ports on the coast of syria. the crusaders, aware that they could not maintain their ground in the east without a constant communication with europe, resolved to recover this city at whatever expense of life or treasure; and with this view they had invested it more than twenty-two months before richard could carry his reinforcements into palestine. upon his arrival, an unhappy jealousy arose between him and the king of france, which divided the christians into two great parties; nor was it until each had attempted with his separate force to ascend the ramparts of ptolemais, and had even been repulsed with great loss, that they consented to unite their squadrons, and act in unison. a reconciliation being effected, it was determined that the one should attack the walls, while the other guarded the camp from the approaches of saladin. but the town had already suffered so dreadfully from the length of the siege, now extended to about two years, that the garrison were disposed to sue for terms the sultan endeavoured to infuse his own invincible spirit into the minds of his people, and to revive for a moment their languid courage, by turning their hopes to egypt, whence succour was expected. as no aid appeared, the citizens wrung from him permission to capitulate. they were accordingly allowed to purchase their safety by consenting to deliver the city into the hands of the two kings, together with five hundred christian prisoners who were confined in it. the true cross also was to be restored, with one thousand such captives as might be selected by the allies; it being covenanted, at the same time, that unless the mussulmans within forty days paid to richard and philip the sum of two hundred thousand pieces of gold, the inhabitants of acre should be at the mercy of the conquerors. it was on the th of july, , that ptolemais was recovered by the europeans; and in the following month, richard (for the king of france had already turned his face homewards) gained an important victory over saladin at azotus. the progress of coeur de lion being no longer disputed, he quickly arrived at jaffa. that city was now without fortifications; for when the tide of conquest ebbed from the moslem, their commander gave orders to dismantle all the fortresses in palestine. it was his policy to keep the invaders constantly in the field, and to exhaust them by incessant marching and sudden attacks. some time was accordingly lost in restoring the works of this ancient town,--a period which was employed by the enemy in recruiting their ranks, and preparing to contest once more the laurels gained by the conquerors of azotus. richard, still full of confidence, declared to the saracens that the only way of averting his wrath was to surrender the kingdom of jerusalem as it existed in the reign of baldwin the fourth. saladin did not reject this proposal with the disdain which he felt, but made a modification of the terms, by offering to yield all of palestine that lay between the river jordan and the mediterranean. the negotiation lasted some time without farther concession on either side, when at length it became manifest that the enemy were not in earnest, but merely sought to derive advantage from the delay which they had the ingenuity to create. hence the meditated attack on jerusalem was postponed, and dissension began to prevail in the ranks of plantagenet. the winter was passed amid privations of every description, which, as they were partly owing to the negligence of the king, gave rise to numerous desertions. the inactive season of the year was occupied in rebuilding the walls of ascalon,--a task in which the proudest nobles and the most dignified clergy laboured like the meanest of the people. on the return of spring both armies appeared in the field; but as political disturbances in england demanded the presence of richard, be manifested for the first time a greater disposition to negotiate than to fight. he made known to saladin that he would be satisfied with the possession of the holy city and of the true cross. but the latter replied, that jerusalem was as dear to the moslem as to the christian world; and, moreover, that he would never be guilty of conniving at idolatry by permitting the worship of a piece of wood. thwarted by the religious prejudices of his enemies, the english commander attempted a different expedient. he proposed a consolidation of the christian and mohammedan interests, the establishment of a government at jerusalem, partly european and partly asiatic; and this scheme of policy was to be carried into effect by the marriage of saphadin, the brother of the sultan, with the widow of william, king of sicily. the moslem princes would have acceded to these terms; but the union was thought to be so scandalous to religion, that the imans and priests raised a storm of clamour against it; and richard and saladin, accordingly, though the most powerful and determined men of their age, were compelled to submit to popular opinion. in the month of may, therefore, coeur de lion began his march towards jerusalem, with the firm resolution of accomplishing the main object of his armament. the generals and soldiers vowed that they would not leave palestine until they should have redeemed the holy sepulchre. everything wore the face of joy when this resolution was announced. hymns and thanksgivings gave utterance to the general exultation. terror seized the mussulmans who were appointed to defend the sacred walls, and even saladin himself gave way to apprehension for their safety. the crusaders arrive at bethlehem; and here the stout mind of plantagenet began to vacillate. he avowed his doubts as to the policy of a siege, as his force was not adequate to such a measure, and also to the regular maintenance of his communications with the coast, whence his supplies must be derived. he submitted his difficulties to the barons of syria, the templars, and hospitallers, declaring his readiness to abide by their decision, whether it should be to advance or to retreat. these officers received information that the turks had destroyed all the cisterns which were within two miles of the city, and they felt that the intolerable heats of summer had begun; for which reason, it was resolved that the attack on jerusalem should be deferred, and that the army, meantime, should proceed to some other conquest. saladin, aware of the hesitation which had chilled the wonted ardour of his foe, resolved to profit by this turn of affairs, so little to be expected under such a leader. he advanced by forced marches to jaffa, with the view of reducing it before richard could send relief. attacking it with his usual vigour, he succeeded in breaking down one of the gates; and such of the inhabitants as could not defend themselves in the great tower or escape by sea were put to the sword. already were the battering-rams prepared to demolish that fortress, when the patriarch and some french and english knights agreed to become the prisoners of the sultan, fixing, at the same time, a heavy sum for the ransom of the citizens, if succour did not arrive during the next day. before the morning, however, the brave plantagenet reached jaffa; and so furious was his onset, that the turks immediately deserted the town; while their army, which was encamped at a little distance, no sooner saw the standard of richard on the walls, than they retreated some miles into the interior. but the english chieftain, harassed by unfavourable tidings from home, and perplexed by dissensions in his camp, became heartily desirous of peace. nor was saladin less willing to grant repose to his country, now exhausted by protracted wars. the two heroes exchanged expressions of mutual esteem; but as richard had often avowed his contempt for the vulgar obligation of oaths, they only grasped each other's hands in token of fidelity. a truce was agreed upon for three years and eight months; the fort of ascalon was dismantled; but jaffa and tyre, with the intervening territory, were surrendered to the europeans. it was provided, also, that the christians should be at liberty to perform their pilgrimages to jerusalem, exempted from the taxes which the moslem princes were wont to impose.[ ] towards the end of the year , richard the lion-hearted withdrew from the holy land on his way to england,--a journey beset with many perils and adventures, which it is no part of our task to describe. we are told that his valour struck such terror into his enemies, that long after his death, when a horse trembled without any visible cause, the saracens were accustomed to say that he had seen the ghost of the english prince. in a familiar conversation which saladin held with the warlike bishop of salisbury, he expressed his admiration of the bravery of his rival, but added, that he thought "the skill of the general did not equal the valour of the knight." the courteous prelate replied to this remark, the justice of which, perhaps, he could not question, by assuring the sultan that there were not two such warriors in the world as the english and the syrian monarchs. without entering minutely into the comparison of two characters which presented little in common, it must be acknowledged, that the courage of richard at the head of his gallant troops prevented many of the evils which had been anticipated from the defeat at tiberias. palestine did not, as was apprehended, become a moslem colony. a portion of the seacoast, too, was preserved for the christians; while their great enemy was so enfeebled by repeated discomfitures, that fresh hostilities could be safely commenced whenever europe should again find it expedient to send into the east a renewed host of military adventurers. richard, besides, gained more honour in syria than any of the german emperors or french kings who had sought renown in foreign war; and although a rigid wisdom might censure his conduct as unprofitable to his country, it must be admitted that his actions were in unison with the spirit of the times in which he lived, when valour was held more important than the acquisition of wealth, and achievements in the field were esteemed more highly than the most beneficial results of victory. saladin did not long survive the departure of his distinguished rival. he died in the year ; leaving directions, that on the day of his funeral a shroud should be borne on the point of a spear, and a herald proclaim in a loud voice, "saladin, the conqueror of asia, out of all the fruits of his victories, carries with him only this piece of linen." the soldiers of this distinguished sultan rallied round his brother saphadin, whom they raised to the throne. nor did the new monarch disappoint the expectations that were entertained of his wisdom and valour; for by the exertions of military skill, as well as by a sagacious policy, he strengthened the government which was committed to his hands, and was found, at the expiration of the truce, ready to meet the armies of the combined powers of christendom. the fourth crusade was called into existence by the active zeal of pope celestine the third, and of henry the sixth, the german emperor, who was joined by many of the subordinate princes of northern europe. the term of peace fixed by richard and saladin had indeed expired; but both christians and moslem, exhausted by war and famine, were disposed to lengthen the period of repose, and at all events to abstain from a renewal of their sanguinary conflicts. nevertheless, when the new champions of the cross arrived at acre, all remonstrances against fresh aggression were disregarded. saphadin, who was informed of their hostile intentions, anticipated them in the field, and before they could advance to jaffa, he had battered down the fortifications, and put thousands of the inhabitants to the sword. a general action, it is true, took place soon afterward, in which the strength and discipline of the germans secured the victory; but, when advancing to jerusalem, the conquerors allowed themselves to be turned aside in order to reduce the insignificant fortress of thoron, where they met with a repulse so serious as to defeat the main object of the campaign. factious contentions now disturbed the councils of the latins; vice and insubordination raged in the camp; and, to crown their miseries, the crusaders were informed that the sultans of egypt and syria were concentrating their troops with the view of attacking them. alarmed at this intelligence, the german princes deserted their posts in the night, and fled to tyre; the road to which was soon filled with soldiers and baggage in indiscriminate confusion; the feeble relinquishing their property, and the cowardly casting away their arms. another battle took place in the neighbourhood of jaffa, which terminated, as before, to the advantage of the christians. but the death of the emperor henry, the patron of the expedition, again disconcerted their measures. many returned to europe to assist at the election of his successor; while the residue of the army, thrown into a fatal confidence by their late triumphs, were destroyed by a body of turkish auxiliaries, who surprised them during the revels in which they commemorated the virtues and abstinence of st. martin. the crown of palestine meantime, greatly shorn of its lustre, had devolved upon isabella, daughter of baldwin and sister to sybilla. her third husband, henry, count of champagne, was acknowledged as king; and upon his death she was advised to give her hand to almeric of lusignan, the brother of guy, who had formerly swayed the sceptre. this union being approved by the clergy and barons, the marriage was celebrated at acre, where almeric and isabella were proclaimed the sovereigns of cyprus and jerusalem. the repeated failure of the christian armaments impressed upon the people of europe a belief, either that the real difficulties of the enterprise had been concealed from them, or that the time fixed in the counsels of providence for the deliverance of the holy land had not yet arrived. in such circumstances, it required the authority of the church and the power of eloquence, seconded by the performance of numerous miracles, to rouse the slumbering zeal of those who had money to give or arms to use in the service of the cross. fulk, the preacher, who equalled peter the hermit in the ardour of his address, and bernard in oratorical talents, co-operated with the pope, innocent the third, in convincing the several kingdoms under his spiritual dominion of the necessity of a fifth combined effort, in order to expel the infidels from the sacred inheritance. the voice of religion was again listened to with pious obedience, and a large force was mustered in france and the low countries. as, however, the arms of the christian chiefs on this occasion were not employed against the saracens, but against their own brethren of the grecian empire, the object of our work does not require that we should do more than follow their steps to the shores of the bosphorus. in april, , constantinople fell into their hands, and was subjected to all the horrors and indignity which usually punish the resistance of a strong city. the remains of the fine arts, which the eastern church had preserved as consecrated memorials of her triumph over paganism, were destroyed with peculiar industry by the less polished latins, who were pleased to view with contempt the superior taste of their rivals. the establishment of the crusaders in the capital of the lower empire, where they elected a sovereign and formed an administration, was the only result of the fifth expedition against the moslem. their dominion lasted fifty-seven years, at the end of which manuel paleologus, descendant of lascaris, and son-in-law of the emperor alexis, recovered the throne of the cesars, and finally expelled the usurpers from the city of constantine. the successes of the french, against the greeks had, however, an indirect influence in promoting the welfare of the christians in palestine. the mussulmans were alarmed, and saphadin gladly concluded a truce for six years. but the country was doomed to be soon deprived of the tranquillity afforded by a cessation of arms. almeric and his wife being dead, mary, the daughter of isabella by conrade of tyre, was acknowledged queen of jerusalem; while hugh de lusignan, son of almeric by his first wife, was proclaimed king of cyprus. there was not at that time in palestine any powerful nobleman capable of governing the state; on which account the civil and ecclesiastical potentates resolved that philip augustus of france should be requested to provide a husband for mary. the french monarch fixed his eyes on john de brienne who was esteemed among the knights of europe as equally wise in council and experienced in war. the hopes inspired by this union raised the pretensions of the christian community so high, that they refused to prolong the truce which still subsisted between them and the sultan. the latter, therefore, marched an army to the neighbourhood of tripoli, and threatened hostilities. the young king took the field at the head of a respectable force and displayed his valour in many a fierce encounter; and though he did not succeed in concerning his foes, he saved his states from the utter annihilation with which they were threatened. he foresaw, however, the approaching ruin of the sacred cause; for he could not fail to observe that, while the saracens were constantly acquiring new advantages, the latin barons were embracing every opportunity of returning home. he accordingly wrote to the pope, that the kingdom of jerusalem consisted only of two or three towns, and that its fate must already have been determined but for the civil wars which had raged among the sons of saladin. his holiness was not deaf to a remonstrance so just and important. in a circular letter to the sovereigns of europe, he reminded them that the time was now come when a successful effort might be made to secure possession of palestine, and that, while those who should fight faithfully for god would obtain a crown of glory, such as refused to serve him would be punished everlastingly. he employed, among other arguments, a consideration which has since been often urged by protestant writers against his own church; stating, that "the mohammedan heresy, the beast foretold by the spirit, will not live for ever--its age is ." he concluded with the assurance, that jesus christ would condemn them for gross ingratitude and infidelity, if they neglected to march to his succour at a time when he was in danger of being driven from a kingdom he had acquired by his own blood. the preacher of the next crusade was robert de courçon, a man inferior in talents and rank to st. bernard, but whose fanaticism was as fervent as that of the hermit and fulk. he invited all to assume the cross, and enrolled in the sacred militia women, children, the old, the blind, the lame, and even the distempered. the multitude of crusaders, as might be expected, was very great, and the voluntary offerings of money were immense. a council was held in the church of the lateran, in which the emperor of constantinople, the kings of france, england, hungary, jerusalem, arragon, and other countries, were represented. war against the saracens was unanimously declared to be the most sacred duty of the christian world. the usual privileges, dispensations, and indulgences were granted to the pilgrims; and the pope, besides other expenses, contributed thirty thousand pounds. it was in the year that the sixth crusade, consisting chiefly of hungarians and the soldiers of lower germany, landed at acre. the sons of saphadin were now at the head of affairs in syria, their father having retired from the fatigues of royalty; and, although unprepared to oppose so large a host with any prospect of success, they mustered what forces they could collect and advanced to naplosa, the modern nablous. but the insubordination of the invaders made victory more easy than was anticipated. destitute of provisions, they wandered over the country, committing the greatest enormities, and suffering from time to time very severe losses from the just indignation of the inhabitants. at length the sovereign of hungary, disgusted with the campaign, refused to remain any longer in palestine,--a defection which compelled the king of jerusalem, the duke of austria, and the master of the hospitallers to take up a defensive position on the plain of cesarea. the knights of the other military orders, the templar and teutonic, seized upon mount carmel, which they fortified for the occasion. but their fears were relieved in the spring of the following year by the arrival of a large body of new and most zealous crusaders from the upper parts of germany. nearly three hundred vessels sailed from the rhine, which, after having sustained more than the usual casualties of a voyage in the north sea, landed on the shores of syria those martial bands who had assembled in the neighbourhood of the elbe and the weser. for reasons which are not very clearly assigned, but having some reference, it may be conjectured, to the exhausted state of the country, the chiefs of the crusade came to the resolution of withdrawing their troops from palestine, and of carrying the war into egypt. damietta, not unjustly regarded as the key of that kingdom on the line of the coast, was made the first object of attack; and so vigorous were the approaches of the assailants, that the castle or fortress, which was supposed to command the town, fell into their hands. meantime a reinforcement from europe appeared at the mouth of the nile. italy sent forth her choicest soldiers, headed by pelagius and de courçon, as legates of the pope. the counts of nevers and la marche, the archbishop of bourdeaux, the bishops of meaux, autun, and paris, led the youth of france; while the english troops were conducted by the earls of chester, arundel, and salisbury, men celebrated for their heroism and experience in the field. the tide of success flowed for some time so strongly in favour of the christians, that the saracen leaders were desirous to conclude a peace very advantageous to their invaders. when the loss of damietta appeared inevitable, the sultan of syria, khamel, the son of saphadin, apprehensive that the crusaders would immediately advance against jerusalem, issued orders to destroy the fortifications, to prevent its being held by them as a place of defence. but in the negotiation which was opened between the contending powers, the mussulmans consented to rebuild the walls of the sacred city, to return the portion of the true cross, and to liberate all the prisoners in syria and egypt. of the whole kingdom of palestine, they proposed to retain only the castles of karac and montereale, as necessary for the safe passage of pilgrims and merchants in their intercourse with mecca. as an equivalent for these important concessions, they required nothing more than the instant evacuation of egypt, and a complete relinquishment of the conquests which had been recently made in it by the arms of the crusaders. the christian chiefs, after a stormy discussion, determined to reject the terms offered by the allied sultans, and to prosecute the siege of damietta. this devoted town, having been invested more than a year and a half, was at length carried by assault; but so resolute and persevering had been the defence, that of seventy thousand inhabitants, who were shut up by the crusaders, only three thousand remained to witness their triumph. the saracens, fatigued with the horrors of war, once more proposed a treaty on terms similar to those which were offered before the fall of damietta. but the victors, whose wisdom in council was never equal to their valour in the field of battle, again refused to conclude a peace. the prevailing party recommended an immediate attack upon grand cairo; anticipating the reduction of the whole of egypt, and the final subjection of all the mahommedan states on the shores of the mediterranean. this vision of greatness, however, soon vanished before the real difficulties of a campaign on the banks of the nile. in a few months the leaders of the expedition found themselves reduced to the necessity of soliciting permission to return into palestine; consenting to purchase safety by giving up all the acquisitions they had made since the first day that they opened their trenches before damietta. the barons of syria and the military orders retired to acre, where they held themselves in readiness to sustain an attack from the indignant moslems; the mass of the volunteers and pilgrims soon afterward procuring the means of returning into europe. frederick the second of germany, who had engaged to lead a strong force into syria, was so long prevented by domestic cares from fulfilling his promise, that he incurred the resentment of the pope, who actually pronounced against him a sentence of excommunication.[ ] the emperor, at length, was induced to marry violante, the daughter of john de brienne, and accept as her dowry the kingdom of jerusalem. in the year he arrived at acre, with the view of making good his pretensions to the sacred diadem,--an object which he finally attained, not less by the connivance of the sultan than by the exertions of his military companions. the son of saphadin felt his throne rendered insecure by the ambition or treachery of his own kindred, and was therefore much inclined to cultivate an amicable feeling with so powerful a prince as the sovereign of germany. in pursuance of these views a treaty was signed, providing that for ten years the christians and mussulmans were to live on a footing of brotherhood; that jerusalem, jaffa, bethlehem, nazareth, and their dependencies, were to be restored to the former; that the holy sepulchre was likewise to be given up to them; and that the people of both religions might offer up their devotions in that house of prayer, which the one called the temple of solomon, and the other the mosque of omar. thus the address or good fortune of frederick more effectually promoted the object of the holy wars than the heroic phrensy of richard coeur de lion; many of the disasters consequent on the battle of tiberias were wiped away; and the hopes of europe for a permanent settlement in asia appeared to be realized. but the emperor had performed all these services while the stain of excommunication was yet unremoved from his character. the fidelity of the knights, accordingly, whose oaths had a reference to the supremacy of the church, and the attachment of the clergy, could not be relied upon. hence, when he went to jerusalem to be crowned, the patriarch would not discharge his office; the places of worship were closed; and no religious duties were observed in public during his stay. frederick repaired to the church of the holy sepulchre, surrounded by his courtiers, and boldly taking the crown from the altar, placed it on his own head. he then issued orders for rebuilding the fortifications of his eastern capital; after which he returned to acre, whence he almost immediately set sail for europe.[ ] the peace established between frederick and the saracen rulers was not faithfully observed by the latter, some of whom did not consider themselves as bound by its stipulations. the sufferings endured by the christians of palestine accordingly called their brethren in europe once more to arms. a council, held under the auspices of the pope at spoleto, decreed that fresh levies should be sent into asia so soon as the truce with khamel, the sultan of damascus, should have expired. many of the english nobility, inflamed by the love of warlike fame, took the cross, and prepared to follow the standard of the earl of chester, and of richard, earl of cornwall, brother to king henry the third. in this pious movement the lords of england were anticipated by those of france, who, in the year , landed in syria, and prepared to measure lances with the moslems. news of these warlike proceedings having reached the nephew of saladin, he forthwith drove the christians out of jerusalem, and demolished the tower of david,--a monument which till that time had been regarded as sacred by both parties. the combats which followed, although fought with great bravery on the side of the invaders, terminated generally in favour of the saracens; and the french accordingly, after losing a great number of their best warriors, were glad to have recourse to terms of peace. the templars entered into treaty with the emir of karac, while the hospitallers, actuated by jealousy or revenge, preferred the friendship of the sultan of egypt. the following year richard, the earl of cornwall, arrived with his levy, hoping to find his allies in possession of all the towns which had been ceded to the emperor of germany, and enjoying security in the exercise of their religious rites. his surprise was therefore very great, when he discovered that the principal leaders of the french had already fled from the plains of syria; that the knights of the two great orders had sought refuge in negotiation; and, finally, that the conquests of the former crusaders were once more limited to a few fortresses and a strip of territory on the coast. he marched in the first instance to jaffa, with the view of concentrating the scattered forces of europe; but receiving notice, as soon as he arrived, that the sultan of egypt, who was then at war with his brother of damascus, was desirous to cultivate friendly relations, he lent a ready ear to the terms proposed. the mussulman consented to relinquish jerusalem, beritus, nazareth, bethlehem, mount tabor, and a large portion of the holy land, provided the english earl would withdraw his troops and preserve a strict neutrality. the conditions being ratified by the egyptian sovereign, the earl of cornwall had the satisfaction to see the great object of the crusaders once more accomplished. palestine again belonged to the christians. the hospitallers opened their treasury to rebuild the walls of jerusalem, while the patriarch and clergy entered the holy city to reconsecrate the churches. for two years the gospel was the only religion administered in the sacred capital, and the faithful had begun to exult in the permanent subjection of their rivals, when a new enemy arose, more formidable to them than even the saracens. the victories of zingis khan had displaced several nations belonging to the great tartar family, and among others the karismians, who continued their retreat southward till they reached the confines of egypt. the sultan, who perhaps had repented the liberality of his terms to the soldiers of richard, advised the expatriated barbarians to take possession of palestine. he even sent one of his principal officers and a large body of troops to serve as them guides; upon which, barbacan, the karismian general, at the head of twenty thousand cavalry, advanced into the holy land. the garrison of jerusalem, being quite inadequate to its defence, retired, and were followed by many of the inhabitants. the invaders entered it without opposition, sparing neither life nor property, and respecting nothing, whether sacred or profane. at length the templars and hospitallers, forgetting their mutual animosities, united their bands to rescue the country from the grasp of such savages. a battle took place, which, after continuing two whole days, ended in the total defeat of the christians; the grand masters of st. john and of the temple being among the slain. only thirty-three individuals of the latter order, and sixteen of the former, with three teutonic cavaliers, remained alive, and succeeded in making their way to acre, the last refuge of the vanquished knights. the karismians, with their egyptian allies, after having razed the fortifications of ascalon and tiberias, encamped on the seacoast, laid waste the surrounding territory, and slew or carried into bondage every frank who fell into their hands. nor was it till the year that the syrians and mamlouks, insulted by this northern horde, attacked them near damascus, slew barbacan their chief, and compelled the remainder to retrace their steps to the borders of the caspian lake. the intelligence did not fail to reach europe that the members of the church in palestine had been put to death or dispersed by the exiles of karism. pope innocent the fourth suggested the expediency of another crusade, and even summoned all his faithful children to take arms. he wrote to henry the third, king of england, urging him to press on his subjects the necessity of punishing the karismians. but the spirit of crusading was more active in france than in any other country of the west and it revived in all the vigour of its chivalrous piety in the reign of louis the ninth. agreeably to the superstition of the times, he had vowed, while afflicted by a severe illness, that in case of recovery he would travel to the holy land. the cross was likewise taken by the three royal brothers, the counts of artois, poictiers, and anjou, by the duke of burgundy, the countess of flanders and her two sons, together with many knights of high degree. but it was not till that the soldiers of louis were mustered, and his ships prepared for sea; the former amounting to fifty thousand, while his vessels of all descriptions exceeded eighteen hundred. they set sail for egypt; a storm separated the fleet; but the royal division, in which were nearly three thousand knights and their men-at-arms, arrived in the neighbourhood of damietta. on the second day the king ordered the disembarkation; he himself leaped into the water; his warriors followed him to the shore; upon which the saracens, panic-struck at their boldness and determination, made but a slight show of defence, and fled into the interior. although damietta was better prepared for a siege than at that period when it defied the arms of the crusaders during eighteen months, yet the garrison were pleased to seek safety in the fleetness of their horses. louis fixed his residence in the city; a christian government was established; and the clergy, as they were wont on such occasions, proceeded to purify the mosques. towards the close of the year, after being joined by a body of english volunteers, the french monarch resolved to march to cairo and attack the sultan in the heart of his kingdom. but the floods of the nile, and the intersection of the country by numerous canals, occasioned a second time the loss of a brave army. famine and disease, too, aided the sword of the enemy, till at length the victors of damietta were compelled to sue for a peace which they could no longer obtain. a retreat was ordered; but those who attempted to escape by the river were taken prisoners, and the fate of such as proceeded by land was equally disastrous. while they were occupied in constructing a bridge over a canal, the saracens entered the camp and murdered the sick. the valiant king, though oppressed with the general calamity of disease, sustained boldly the shock of the enemy, throwing himself into the midst of them, resolved to perish rather than desert his troops. one of his attendants succeeded at length in drawing him from the presence of the foe, and conducted him to a village, where he sunk under his wounds and fatigue into a state of utter insensibility. in this miserable condition he was overtaken by the moslems, who announced to him that he was their captive. one of his brothers, the gallant artois, had already fallen in battle, but the two others, anjou and poictiers, with all the nobility, fell into the hands of the enemy. the sultan did not abuse his victory, nor seek to impose upon louis terms which a sovereign could not grant without forfeiting his honour. he agreed to accept a sum equivalent to five hundred thousand livres for the deliverance of the army, and the town of damietta as a ransom for the royal person. peace was to continue ten years between the mussulmans and the christians; while the franks were to be restored to those privileges in the kingdom of jerusalem which they had enjoyed previous to the recent invasion of the french. the repose which succeeded this treaty was interrupted by the murder of the sultan, who fell a victim to the jealousy, of the mamlouks; but after a few acts of hostility too insignificant to be recorded, the emirs renewed, with a few modifications, the basis of the agreement on which the peace was established. louis himself made a narrow escape from the sanguinary intrigues of those military slaves who had imbrued their hands in the blood of their own master. they declared that, as they had committed a sin by destroying their sultan, whom, by their law, they ought to have guarded as the apple of their eye, their religion would be violated if they suffered a christian king to live. but the other chiefs, more honourable than the mamlouks, disdained to commit a crime under any such pretext; and the french monarch, accordingly, was allowed to accompany the poor remains of his army to the citadel of acre. it has been remarked that the expedition of st. louis into egypt resembles in many respects the war carried on in that country thirty years before. in both cases the christian armies were encamped near the entrance of the ashmoun canal, beyond which they could not advance; and the surrender of damietta in each instance was the price of safety. the errors of the cardinal pelagius seem not to have been recollected by the french king, who, in fact, trod in his steps with a fatal blindness, and ended by paying a still severer penalty. a gleam of hope arose in the minds of the crusaders from finding the rulers of egypt and of syria engaged in a furious war. the mamlouks even condescended to solicit the cooperation of louis, and agreed to purchase it by remitting one-half of the ransom which still remained unpaid. they further consented to deliver up jerusalem itself, and also the youthful captives taken on the banks of the nile, whom they had compelled to embrace the mussulman faith. but before the franks could appear in the field, the interposition of the calif had restored peace to the contending parties, both of whom immediately resumed their wonted dislike to the european invaders. the infidels, however, at this period did not pursue their schemes of conquest with the vigour and ability which distinguished the movements of noureddin, and more especially of saladin, his renowned successor. they might have swept the feeble and exhausted christians from the shores of palestine; but they merely ravaged the country round acre, and then proceeded to sidon, in the strong castle of which louis and his army had taken refuge. the blood and property of the citizens satisfied the barbarians, who departed without trying the valour of the soldiers who occupied the garrison. the death of queen blanche, the mother of the king, and regent during his absence, afforded him a good apology for leaving the country, of which he had long been tired. the patriarch and barons of the holy land offered him their humble thanks for the honour he had bestowed upon their cause, and for the benefits which he had conferred upon themselves individually. louis, sensible that he had gathered no laurels in palestine, and that the interests of the church were even in a more hopeless condition than when he landed at damietta, listened to their address with mingled emotions of shame and regret, and forthwith prepared himself for his voyage homewards.[ ] thus terminated that expedition, of which, says a french author, the commencement filled all christian states with joy, and which, in the end, plunged all the west into mourning. the king arrived at vincennes on the th of september, , accompanied by a crowd collected from all quarters. the more they forgot his reverses, the more bitterly he called to mind the fate of his brave companions, whom he had left in the mud of egypt or on the sands of palestine; and the melancholy which he showed in his countenance formed a striking contrast to the public congratulation on the return of a beloved prince. his first care, says the historian, was to go to st. denys, to prostrate himself at the feet of the apostles of france; the next day he made his entrance into the capital, preceded by the clergy, the nobility, and the people. he still wore the cross upon his shoulder; the sight of which, by recalling the motives of his long absence, inspired the fear that he had not abandoned the enterprise of the crusade.[ ] the misfortunes sustained in the field were greatly increased by the dissensions which prevailed among the military orders after the departure of louis. the templars and hospitallers, especially, never forgot their jealousies except when engaged in battle with the mussulmans; for, in every interval of peace, they mutually gratified their arrogance and contempt by wrangling on points of precedency and professional reputation. at length an appeal to arms was made, with the view of determining which of these kindred associations should stand highest as soldiers in the estimation of europe. the knights of st. john gained the victory; and so bloody was the conflict that no quarter was granted, and hardly a single templar escaped alive. but these unseemly disputes were soon drowned amid the shouts of a more formidable warfare waged against palestine by the mamlouk sovereign of egypt, the sanguinary and bigoted bibars. his troops demolished the churches of nazareth and mount tabor; after which they advanced to the gates of acre, inflicting the most horrid cruelties upon the unprotected christians. sephouri and azotus were taken by storm, or yielded upon terms. at the reduction of the former, it was agreed that the knights and garrison, amounting in all to six hundred men, should be conducted to the nearest christian town. but no sooner was the sultan put in possession of the fortress than he violated the conditions of surrender, and left the knights only a few hours to determine on the alternative of death or conversion to islamism. the prior and two franciscan monks succeeded by their exhortations in fixing the faith of the religious cavaliers; and hence, at the time appointed for the declaration of their choice, they unanimously avowed their resolution to die rather than incur the dishonour of apostacy. the decree for the slaughter of the templars was pronounced and executed; while the three preachers of martyrdom, as if responsible for the conduct of their countrymen, were flayed alive. a large christian state had been formed at antioch, in alliance with the kingdom of jerusalem. bibars, after reducing jaffa and the castle of beaufort, marched his fierce soldiers against the capital of syria, and soon added it to the number of his conquests. forty thousand believers is christ were on this occasion put to the sword, and not fewer than one hundred thousand were led into captivity. the barbarian, indeed, avowed the fell purpose of exterminating the whole christian community in the east, extending the terror of death or the ascendency of the koran from the nile to the mountains of armenia. but his progress was stopped by the intelligence which reached him in palestine, that the king of cyprus had resolved to interpose his arms in behalf of the holy land, and was about to make a descent on the coast at the head of a large force collected from various nations. bibara returned to cairo, fitted out a fleet for the conquest of that island, and intended, during the absence of its sovereign, to annex it permanently to the dominions of egypt. but his ships were lost in a tempest; his military character suffered from the failure of the enterprise; his power was weakened; and he ceased to be any longer the scourge and dread of the christian world. before the atrocities of this mamlouk chief were made known in europe, the people of the west had made preparations for the ninth crusade. louis was not able to conceal from himself that his first expedition to the holy land had brought more shame on france than benefit to the christian cause. nay, he was not without fear, that his personal reputation was in some degree tarnished by the fatal result of his attack on egypt, so unwisely and rashly conducted. the pope favoured his inclination for a new attempt; and accordingly, in a general meeting of the higher clergy and nobles, held at paris in , the king exhorted his people to avenge the wrongs which christ had so long suffered at the hands of the unbelieving moslems. in england a similar spirit had long prevailed among the priesthood and the great body of the commons; but henry the third, taught by experience that the late crusades had only weakened the friends and strengthened the enemies of christianity, refused to countenance this popular folly at the time when louis first assumed the cross. on the present occasion, however, he permitted his son edward, with the earls of warwick and pembroke, to receive the holy ensign, and to join the sovereign of france in his renewed attempt to plant the emblem of his faith on the walls of jerusalem. it was not till the spring of that st. louis spread his sails the second time for the holy land. the feelings of religious and military ardour which animated the heart of this pious monarch were diffused through the sixty thousand soldiers who followed his banners. he could count, too, among his leaders, the descendants of those gallant chiefs, the lords of brittany, of flanders, and champagne, who in former generations had distinguished themselves in fighting the battles of the church. but notwithstanding such promising appearances, this proud armament took the sea under an evil omen. the fleet was driven into sardinia; and there a great and unfortunate change was made in the plan of operations. instead of proceeding to palestine, it was resolved that the troops should be landed in the neighbourhood of tunis, to assist the christians in extending their faith in opposition to the disciples of the koran. success, indeed, crowned the first efforts of the invaders; carthage fell into their hands; and more splendid conquests seemed to invite their progress into the heart of the mohammedan nations of northern africa. but a pestilential disease, the scourge of those burning shores, soon spread its ravages among the ranks of the christians. louis, the great stay of the crusaders, was stricken with the fatal sickness, and died, leaving his army, which had accomplished nothing, to prosecute the war, or to return with sullied standards into their native country.[ ] prince edward, who condemned the vacillating conduct of his allies, had already passed from africa into sicily, where he spent the following winter. in the early part of the year , he set sail for acre, where he landed at the head of only one thousand men; but so high was his reputation among the latins of palestine, that he soon found his army increased sevenfold, and eager to be employed in the redemption of the sacred territory. he led them, in the first place against nazareth, which did not long resist the vigour of his attack; and, almost immediately afterward, he surprised a large turkish force, whom he cut in pieces the moslems imagined that another coeur de lion had been sent from england to scourge them into discipline, or to shake the foundation of their power in syria. edward was brave and skilful as a warrior, and owed his success not less to his able dispositions than to his personal courage. but he was cruel and lavish of human blood. the barbarities which disgraced the triumphs of the first crusade were repeated on a smaller scale at nazareth, where the prince put the whole garrison to death, and subjected the inhabitants to unnecessary suffering. the resentment of the governor of jaffa is said to have pointed the dagger which was aimed at the heart of the english prince by the hand of an assassin. the wretch, as the bearer of letters, was admitted into the chamber of edward, who, not suspecting treachery, received several severe wounds before he could dash the assailant to the floor and despatch him with his sword. but as the weapon used by the saracen had been steeped in poison, the life of his intended victim was for some hours in imminent danger. the chivalrous fiction of that romantic age has ascribed his recovery to the kind offices of one of that sex whose generous affections are seldom chilled by the calculations of selfishness. his wife, eleanora, is said to have sucked the poison from his wound, at the hazard of instant death to herself,--a story which, having received the sanction of the learned camden, has not unfrequently been held as an indisputable fact. the more authentic edition of the narrative attributes the restoration of edward's health to the usual means employed by surgical skill, aided by the resources of a strong mind and a vigorous constitution.[ ] it soon became manifest that the valour and ability of edward, unsupported by an adequate force, could make no lasting impression upon the moslem power in syria. accordingly, after having spent fourteen months in acre, he listened to proposals for peace made by the sultan of egypt, who, being engaged in war with the saracens whom he had displaced, was eager to terminate hostilities with the english. a suspension of arms, to continue ten years, was formally signed by the two chiefs; whereupon the mamlook withdrew his troops from palestine, and edward embarked for his native country. the loan and discomfiture which for more than a hundred years had concluded every attempt to regain the holy land did not yet extirpate the hope of final success in the hearts of the clergy and sovereigns of the west. gregory the ninth, who himself had served in the christian armies of syria, exerted all the means in his power to equip another expedition against the enemies of the faith. the small republics of italy, which found a ready employment for their shipping in transporting troops to palestine, were the first to embrace the cause recommended by their spiritual ruler. the king of france seemed to favour the enterprise, and advanced money on the mortgage of certain estates within his dominions belonging to the templars; charles of anjou followed the example of his royal relation; and michael paleologus, the emperor of the east, announced his willingness to take arms against the ambitious sultan, who already threatened the independence of greece. a council held at lyons in sanctioned the obligations of a crusade, and imposed upon the church and other estates such taxes as appeared sufficient to carry it to a successful issue. but the death of the pope dissolved the coalition, and all preparations for renewing the war were immediately laid aside,--never to be resumed. the franks in palestine, now left to their own resources, ought to have cultivated peace, and more especially to have abstained from positive and direct aggression. their conduct, however, was not marked by such abstinence or wisdom. on the contrary, by attacking certain mohammedan merchants, they provoked the anger of the sultan, who swore by god and the prophet that he would avenge the wrong. a war fatal to the christian interests was the immediate consequence. their fortresses were rapidly demolished; and at length, in the year , the city of tripoli, the principal appanage of the kingdom of jerusalem, was taken, its houses were consumed by fire, its works dismantled, and its inhabitants massacred, or sold into slavery. acre now remained the sole possession of the latins, in the country where their sovereignty had been acknowledged during the lapse of nearly two centuries. a short peace granted to henry the second of cyprus, the nominal king of the holy land, postponed its fate, and the utter abolition of christian authority in syria, a few years longer. within its walls were crowded the wretched remains of those principalities which had been won by the valour of european soldiers. a reinforcement of unprincipled italians only added to the disorder which already prevailed in the town, and increased the number of offences by which they were daily accumulating upon their heads the vengeance of the fanatical mamlouks, who longed for an opportunity to attack them. at length, in the month of april, , a force which has been estimated at more than , men, issued from egypt, and encamped on the plain of acre. most of the inhabitants made their escape by sea from the horrors of the impending siege; the defence of the place being intrusted to about , good soldiers, belonging chiefly to the several orders of religious knighthood. the command was offered to the grand master of the templars, who, being prevailed upon to accept, discharged its duties with firmness and military skill. but the mamlouks were not inferior in valour, and their numbers were irresistible. prodigies of bravery were displayed on both sides: the assailants threw themselves, with desperate resolution, into the breach, from whence they were repeatedly driven back at the point of the sword, or hurled headlong into the ditch. but the sultan was prodigal of blood, and had vowed to humble the nazarenes who dared to dispute his authority. the walls, accordingly, after having been several times lost and won, were at length finally occupied by the tartars and mamlouks, who obeyed the sovereign of egypt, and the crescent was at that moment elevated to a place which it has continued to occupy during the greater part of five centuries. struck with terror, the few small towns which till this period had been allotted to the christians surrendered at the first summons, and saw their inhabitants doomed either to death or to a hopeless captivity. in one word, the holy land, which since the days of godfrey had cost to christendom so much anxiety, blood, and treasure, was now lost; the sacred walls of jerusalem were abandoned to infidels; and henceforth the disciple of christ was doomed to purchase permission to visit the interesting scenes consecrated by the events recorded in the gospel. the titular crown of palestine was worn for the last time by hugh the great, the descendant of hugh, king of cyprus, and alice, who was the daughter of mary and john de brienne. at a later period, this empty honour was claimed by the house of sicily, in right of charles, count of anjou and brother of louis ix, who was thought to unite in his own person the issue of the king of cyprus and of the princess mary, the daughter of frederick, sovereign of antioch. the knights of st. john of jerusalem, since denominated knights of rhodes and malta, and the teutonic knights, the conquerors of the north of europe and founders of the kingdom of prussia, are now the only remains of those crusaders who struck terror into africa and asia, and seized the thrones of jerusalem, cyprus, and constantinople. although no expedition from the christian states reached the holy land after the close of the thirteenth century, the fire which had so long warmed the hearts of the crusaders was not entirely extinguished in several parts of europe. edward the first of england, for example, still cherished the hope of opening the gates of jerusalem, or of leaving his bones in the sacred dust of palestine. a similar feeling animated the monarch of france; while the pope, who derived manifold advantages from the prosecution of such wars, summoned councils, issued pastoral letters, and employed preachers, as in the days that were past. but dissensions at home during the first half of the fourteenth century, and the general conviction of hopelessness which had seized the public mind respecting all armaments against the moslems, occasioned the failure of every attempt to unite once more the powers of chistendom in the common cause. in the following century, the ascendency of the turks, not only in the east, but on the banks of the danube and the northern shores of the mediterranean, compelled the people of europe to act on the defensive. the fall of the grecian empire, too, rendered the intercourse with syria at once more difficult and dangerous. egypt in like manner was shut against the christians, being subjected to the same yoke which pressed so heavily on the western parts of asia. hence, during more than two centuries a cloud hung over the affairs of palestine, which we in vain attempt to penetrate. suffice it to remark, that it remained subject to the mamlouk sultans of egypt till the year , when they were dispossessed by a body of circassians, who invaded and overran the country. upon the expulsion of these barbarians, it acknowledged again the government of cairo, under which it continued until the period of the more formidable irruption of the mogul tartars, led by the celebrated tamerlane. at his death the holy land was once more annexed to egypt as a province; but in , selim the ninth, emperor of the othman turks, carried his victorious arms from the euphrates to the libyan desert, involving in one general conquest all the intervening states. more than three hundred years have that people exercised a dominion over the land of judea, varied only by intervals of rebellion on the part of governors who wished to assert their independence, or by wars among the different pashas, who, in defiance of the supreme authority, have from time to time quarrelled about its spoils. from the period at which the crusaders were expelled from syria down to the middle of the last century, we are chiefly indebted for our knowledge of the holy land to the pilgrims whom religious motives induced to brave all the perils and extortions to which franks were exposed under the turkish government. the faith of the christians survived their arms at jerusalem, and was found within the sacred walls long after every european soldier had disappeared. the jacobite, armenian, and abyssinian believers were allowed to cling to those memorials of redemption which have at all times given so great an interest to the localities of palestine; and occasionally a member of the latin church had the good fortune to enter the gates of the city in disguise, and was permitted to offer up his prayers at the side of the holy sepulchre. in , when la broquiere undertook his pilgrimage into the east, there were only two french monks in jerusalem, who were held in the most cruel thraldom. the increasing intercourse between the turks at constantinople and the governments of europe gradually produced a more tolerant spirit among the former, and paved the way for a lasting accommodation in favour of the christians in palestine. we find, accordingly, that in the year , when baumgarten travelled in syria, there was at jerusalem a monastery of franciscans, who possessed influence sufficient to secure his personal safety, and even to provide for his comfort under their own roof. at a somewhat later period, the moslem rulers began to consider the reception of pilgrims as a regular source of revenue; selling their protection at a high price, and even creating dangers in order to render that protection indispensable. the christians, meantime, rose by degrees from the state of depression and contumely into which they were sunk by the conquerors of the grecian empire. they were allowed to nominate patriarchs for the due administration of ecclesiastical affairs, and to practise all the rites of their religion, provided they did not insult the established faith,--a condition of things which, with such changes as have been occasioned by foreign war or the temper of individual governors, has been perpetuated to the present day. as the civil history of palestine for three centuries is nothing more than a relation of the broils, the insurrections, the massacres, and changes of dynasty which have periodically shaken the turkish empire in europe as well as in asia, we willingly pass over it, as we thereby only refrain from a mere recapitulation of names and dates which could not have the slightest interest for any class of readers. at the close of the eighteenth century, however, its affairs assumed a new importance. napoleon bonaparte, whose views of dominion were limited only by the bounds of the civilized world, imagined that, by the conquest of egypt and syria, he should open for himself a path into the remoter provinces of the asiatic continent, and perhaps establish his power on either bank of the ganges. it was in the spring of that the french general, who had been informed of certain preparations against him in the pashalic of acre, resolved to cross the desert which divides egypt from palestine at the head of ten thousand chosen men. el arish soon fell into his hands, the garrison of which were permitted to retire on condition that they should not serve again during the war. gaza likewise yielded without much opposition to the overwhelming force by which it was attacked. jaffa set the first example of a vigorous resistance; the slaughter was tremendous; and bonaparte, to intimidate other towns from showing a similar spirit, gave it up to plunder and the other excesses of an enraged soldiery. a more melancholy scene followed--the massacre of nearly four thousand prisoners who had laid down their arms. napoleon alleged, that these were the very individuals who had given their parole at el arish, and had violated their faith by appearing against him in the fortress which had just fallen. on this pretext he commanded them all to be put to death, and thereby brought a stain upon his reputation which no casuistry on the part of his admirers, and no considerations of expediency, military or political, will ever succeed in removing.[ ] acre, so frequently mentioned in the history of the crusades, was again doomed to receive a fatal celebrity from a most sanguinary and protracted siege. achmet djezzar, the pasha of that division of palestine which stretches from the borders of egypt to the gulf of sidon, had thrown himself into this fortress with a considerable army, determined to defend it to the last extremity. after failing in an attempt to bribe the mussulman chief, bonaparte made preparations for the attack, with his usual skill and activity; resolving to carry the place by assault before the turkish government could send certain supplies of food and ammunition, which he knew were expected by the besieged. but his design was frustrated by the presence of a british squadron under sir sidney smith, who, in the first instance, captured a convoy of guns and stores forwarded from egypt, and then employed them against him, by erecting batteries on shore. notwithstanding these inauspicious circumstances, napoleon opened his trenches on the th of march, in the firm conviction that the turkish garrison could not long resist the fury of his onset and the skill of his engineers. "on that little town," said he, to one of his generals, as they were standing together on an eminence which still bears the name of richard coeur de lion, "on that little town depends the fate of the east. behold the key of constantinople or of india!" at the end of ten days a breach was effected, by which the french made their first attempt to reduce the towers of acre. their assault was conducted with so much firmness and spirit, that for a moment the garrison was overpowered, and the town seemed lost. the pasha, renowned for his personal courage, threw himself into the thickest body of the combatants, and at length, by strength of hand and the most heroic example, rallied his troops and drove the enemy from the walls. the loss of the french was great, and the disappointment of their leader extreme. napoleon was deeply mortified when he saw his finest regiments pursued to their lines by english sailors and undisciplined turks, who even proceeded to destroy their intrenchments. bourrienne relates, that during the assault of the th of may more than two hundred men penetrated into the city. already the shout of victory was raised; but the breach, taken in flank by the turks, could not be entered with sufficient promptitude, and the party was left without support. the streets were barricaded; the very women were running about throwing dust into the air, and exciting the inhabitants by cries and howling; all contributed to render unavailing this short occupation by a handful of men, who, finding themselves alone, regained the breach by a retrograde movement; but not before many had fallen. the want of proper means for forming a siege, and perhaps the contempt which he entertained for barbarians, occasioned a great deficiency in the works raised before acre. bonaparte was not ignorant of the disadvantages under which his men laboured from the cause now assigned; and was principally for this reason that he trusted more to the bayonet than to the mortar or cannon. he repeated his assaults day after day, till the ditch was filled with dead and wounded soldiers. his grenadiers at length felt greater horror at walking over the bodies of their comrades than at encountering the tremendous discharges of large and small shot to which the latter had fallen victims. on the st of may, after sixty days of ineffectual labor under a burning sun, napoleon ordered a last assault on the obstinate garrison of ptolemais, which had barred his path to the accomplishment of the most splendid conquests. this attempt was not less fruitless than those which had preceded it, and was attended with the loss of many brave warriors. a fleet was at hand to reinforce djezzar with men and arms; the french, on the contrary, were perishing under the plague, which had already found its way into their ranks, and were, besides, constantly threatened by swarms of arabs and mamlouks, who had assembled in the neighbouring mountains. his failure in this effort, accordingly, dictated the necessity of a speedy retreat towards egypt, where his affairs continued to enjoy some degree of prosperity, and in the magazines of which he might still find the means of restoring the health and vigour of his troops. the siege of acre, says the biographer of bonaparte, cost nearly three thousand men in killed, and of such as died of the plague and their wounds. had there been less precipitation in the attack, and had the advances been conducted according to the rules of art, the town, says he, could not have held out three days; and one assault such as that of the th of may would have sufficed. but he admits that it would have been wiser in their situation, destitute as they were of heavy artillery and provisions, while the place was plentifully supplied and in active communication with the english and ottoman fleets, not to have undertaken the siege at all. in the bulletins, he adds, always so veracious, the lose of the french is estimated at five hundred killed and a thousand wounded; while that of the enemy is augmented to fifteen thousand. these documents are doubtless curious pieces for history,--certainly not because they are true. bonaparte, however, attached the greatest importance to these relations, which were always drawn up or corrected by himself.[ ] the reader may not be displeased to consider the motives which induced napoleon to persevere so long in the siege of acre. "i see that this paltry town has cost me many men, and occupies much time; but things have gone too far not to risk a last effort. if we succeed, it is to be hoped we shall find in that place the treasures of the pasha, and arms for three hundred thousand men. i will raise and arm the whole of syria, which is already greatly exasperated by the cruelty of djezzar, for whose fall you have seen the people supplicate heaven at every assault. i advance upon damascus and aleppo; i recruit my army by marching into every country where discontent prevails; i announce to the people the abolition of slavery, and of the tyrannical government of the pashas; i arrive at constantinople with armed messes; i overturn the dominion of the mussulman; i found in the east a new and mighty empire which shall fix my position with posterity; and perhaps i return to paris by adrianople or vienna, having annihilated the house of austria."[ ] whatever accuracy there may be in these reminiscences, there is no doubt that napoleon frequently remarked, in reference to acre, "the fate of the east is in that place." nor was this observation made at random; for had the french subdued djezzar, and buried his army in the ruins of the fortress, the whole of palestine and syria would have submitted to their dominion. he expected, besides, a cordial reception from the druses, those warlike and semi-barbarous tribes who inhabit the valleys of libanus, and who, like all the other subjects of the ottoman government, had felt the pressure of the pasha's tyranny. his eyes were likewise turned towards the jews, who, in every commotion which affects syria, are accustomed to look for the indication of that happy change destined, in the eye of their faith, to restore the kingdom to israel in the latter days. it was not, indeed, till a somewhat later period that he openly extended his protection to the descendants of abraham; but it is not improbable that the notion had occurred to him during his eastern campaigns of employing them for the purpose of establishing an independent sovereignty in palestine, devoted to his ulterior views in the countries beyond the euphrates. during the siege of acre, the several detachments of the french army stationed in galilee were attacked by a powerful mussulman force, which had assembled in the adjoining mountains. junot, who was induced to risk an engagement near nazareth, would have been cut in pieces by the mamlouk cavalry, had not bonaparte hastened to his assistance we have already alluded to the masterly conduct of kleber, who, at the head of a few hundred men, kept the field a whole day against an overwhelming mass of horsemen that attacked his party near mount tabor. on this occasion, too, the speedy aid of napoleon secured a victory, and scattered the enemy's troops over the face of the desert. but he found, upon his return to the trenches, that the same men whose columns dissipated like smoke before his battalions on the plain were extremely formidable behind an armed wall, and that all the skill of his engineers and the bravery of his veterans were of no avail when opposed by the savage courage of turks directed by european officers and supported by english seamen. the sufferings which the french endured in their retreat across the desert were very great, and afforded constant exercise for the self-possession and equanimity of their leader. "a fearful journey," says one of their number, "was yet before us. some of the wounded were carried in litters, and the rest on camels and mules. a devouring thirst, the total want of water, an excessive heat, a fatiguing march among scorching sand-hills, demoralized the men; a most cruel selfishness, the most unfeeling indifference, took place of every generous or humane sentiment. i have seen thrown from the litters officers with amputated limbs, whose conveyance had been ordered, and who had themselves given money as a recompense for the fatigue. i have beheld abandoned among the wheatfields soldiers who had lost their legs or arms, wounded men, and patients supposed to be affected with the plague. our march was lighted up by torches kindled for the purpose of setting on fire towns, hamlets, and the rich crops with which the earth was covered. the whole country was in flames. it seemed as if we found a solace in this extent of mischief for our own reverses and sufferings. we were surrounded only by the dying, by plunderers, by incendiaries. wretched beings at the point of death, thrown by the wayside, continued to call with feeble voice, 'i have not the plague, i am but wounded;' and, to convince those that passed, they might be seen tearing open their real wounds, or inflicting new ones. nobody believed them. it was the interest of all not to believe. comrades would say, 'he is done for now; his march is over;' then pass on, look to themselves, and feel satisfied. the sun, in all his splendour under that beautiful sky, was obscured by the smoke of continual conflagration. we had the sea on our right; on our left and behind us lay the desert which we had made; before were the sufferings and privations that awaited us."[ ] since the departure of the french no event has occurred to give any interest to the history of palestine. the mussulman instantly resumed his power, which for a time he appeared determined to exercise with a strong arm and with little forbearance towards the franks, from the terror of whose might he had just escaped. but the ascendency of europe, as a great assemblage of christian states, checks the intolerance of the turk, and imposes upon him the obligations of a more liberal policy. hence we may confidently assert, that although the members of the greek and latin churches in syria are severely taxed, they are not persecuted. they are compelled to pay heavily for the privilege of exercising the rights of their worship, and of enjoying that freedom of conscience which is the natural inheritance of every human being; but their property is held sacred, and their personal security is not endangered, provided they have the prudence to rest satisfied with a simple connivance or bare permission in things relating to their faith. the actual state of the holy land may be known with sufficient accuracy from the topographical description which we have given in a former chapter. with regard, again, to the civil government of the country, it has been remarked that the pashas are so frequently changed, or so often at war with each other, that the jurisdiction of the magistrates in cities is so undefined, and the hereditary or assumed rights of the sheiks of particular districts are so various, that it is extremely difficult to discover any settled rule by which the administration is conducted. the whole turkish empire, indeed, has the appearance of being so precariously balanced, that the slightest movement within or from without seems likely to overturn it. everywhere is absolute power seen stretched beyond the limits of all apparent control, but finding, nevertheless, a counteracting principle in that extreme degree of acuteness to which the instinct of self-preservation is sharpened by the constant apprehension of injury. hence springs that conflict between force and fraud, not always visible, but always operating, which characterizes society in all despotic countries. in the minute subdivision of power, which in all cases partakes of the absolute nature of the supreme government, the traveller is often reminded of patriarchal times, when there were found judges, and even kings, exercising a separate dominion at the distance of a short journey from one another. as an instance of this, we may mention, that on the road from jerusalem to sannour, by way of nablous, there are no fewer than three governors of cities, all of whom claim the honours of independent sovereigns; for, although they acknowledge a nominal superiority in the pasha of damascus, they exclude his jurisdiction in all cases where he does not enforce his authority at the head of his troops: the same affectation of independence descends to the sheiks of villages, who, aware of the precarious tenure by which their masters remain in office, are disposed to treat their orders with contempt. like them, too, they turn to their personal advantage the power of imposition and extortion which belongs to every one who is clothed with official rank in syria. they sell justice and protection; and in this market, as in all others, he who offers the best price is certain to obtain the largest share of the commodity.[ ] this chapter would not be complete were we to omit all allusion to the jews, the ancient inhabitants of palestine. their number, according to a statement lately published in germany, amounts to between three and four millions, scattered over the face of the whole earth, but still maintaining the same laws which their ancestors received from their inspired legislator more than three thousand years ago. in europe there are nearly two millions, enjoying different privileges according to the spirit of the several governments; in asia, the estimate exceeds seven hundred thousand; in africa, more than half a million; and in america, about ten thousand. it is supposed, however, on good grounds, that the jewish population on both sides of mount taurus is considerably greater than is here given, and that their gross number does not fall much short of five millions.[ ] in palestine of late years they have greatly increased. it is said that not fewer than ten thousand inhabit saphet and jerusalem, and that in their worship they still sing those pathetic hymns which their manifold tribulations have inspired; bewailing, amid the ruins of their ancient capital, the fallen city and the desolate tribes. in persia, one of them addressed a christian missionary in these affecting words:--"i have travelled far; the jews are everywhere princes in comparison with those in the land of iran. heavy is our captivity, heavy is our burden, heavy is our slavery; anxiously we wait for redemption." history, says an eloquent writer, is the record of the past; it presumes not to raise the mysterious veil which the almighty has spread over the future. the destinies of this wonderful people, as of all mankind, are in the hands of the all-wise ruler of the universe; his decrees will certainly be accomplished; his truth, his goodness, and his wisdom will be clearly vindicated. this, however, we may venture to assert, that true religion will advance with the dissemination of sound and useful knowledge. the more enlightened the jew becomes, the more incredible will it appear to him that the gracious father of the whole human race intended an exclusive faith, a creed confined to one family, to be permanent; and the more evident also will it appear to him, that a religion which embraces within the sphere of its benevolence all the kindreds and languages of the earth is alone adapted to an improved and civilized age.[ ] we presume not to expound the signs of the times, nor to see farther than we are necessarily led by the course of events; but it is impossible not to be struck with the aspect of that grandest of all moral phenomena which is suspended upon the history and actual condition of the sons of jacob. at this moment they are nearly as numerous as when david swayed the sceptre of the twelve tribes; their expectations are the same, their longings are the same; and on whatever part of the earth's surface they have their abode, their eyes and their faith are all pointed in the same direction--to the land of their fathers and the holy city where they worshipped. though rejected by god and persecuted by man, they have not once, during eighteen hundred long years, ceased to repose confidence in the promises made by jehovah to the founders of their nation; and although the heart has often been sick and the spirit faint, they have never relinquished the hope of that bright reversion in the latter days which is once more to establish the lord's house on the top of the mountains, and to make jerusalem the glory of the whole world. chapter ix. _the natural history of palestine_. travellers too much neglect natural history; maundrell, hasselquist, clarke. geology--syrian chain; libanus; calcareous rocks; granite; trap; volcanic remains; chalk; marine exuviae; precious stones. meteorology--climate of palestine; winds; thunder; clouds; waterspouts; ignis fatuus. zoology--scripture animals; the hart; the roebuck; fallow-deer; wild goat; pygarg; wild ox; chamois; unicorn; wild ass; wild goats of the rock; saphan, or coney; mouse; porcupine; jerboa; mole; bat. birds--eagle; ossifrage; ospray; vulture; kite; raven; owl; nighthawk; cuckoo; hawk; little owl; cormorant; great owl; swan; pelican; gier eagle; stork; heron; lapwing; hoopoe. amphibia and reptiles--serpents known to the hebrews; ephe; chephir; acshub; pethen; tzeboa; tzimmaon; tzepho; kippos; shephiphon; shachal; saraph, the flying serpent; cockatrice eggs; the scorpion; sea-monsters, or seals. fruits and plants--vegetable productions of palestine; the fig-tree; palm; olive; cedars of libanus; wild grapes; balsam of aaron; thorn of christ. every one who writes on the holy land has occasion to regret that travellers in general have paid so little attention to its geological structure and natural productions. maundrell, it is true, was not entirely destitute of physical science; but the few remarks which he makes are extremely vague and unconnected, and, not being expressed in the language of system, throw very little light on the researches of the natural philosopher or the geologist. hasselquist had more professional learning, and has accordingly contributed more than any of his predecessors to our acquaintance with palestine, viewed in its relations to the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral kingdoms. still the reader of his voyages and travels in the levant cannot fail to perceive, that some of the branches of natural knowledge, which are now cultivated with the greatest care, were in his day very little improved; and more especially, that they were deficient in accuracy of description and distinctness of arrangement. dr. clarke's observations are perhaps more scientific than those of the swedish naturalist just named, and particularly in the departments of mineralogy and geology to which he had devoted a large share of his attention. but even in his works we look in vain for a satisfactory treatise on the mountain-rocks of palestine, on the geognostic formation of that interesting part of western asia, or on the fossil treasures which its strata are understood to envelop. we are therefore reduced to the necessity of collecting from various authors, belonging to different countries and successive ages, the scattered notices which appear in their works, and of arranging them according to a plan most likely to suit the comprehension of the common reader. section i.--geology. at first view it would appear that the ridges of palestine are all a ramification of mount taurus. but the proper syrian chain begins on the south of antioch, at the huge peak of casius, which shoots up to the heavens its tapering summit, covered with thick forests. the same chain, under various names, follows the direction of the eastern shore of the mediterranean, at no greater distance, generally speaking, than twenty-four miles from its waters. mount libanus forms its most elevated summit. at length it is divided into two branches, of which the one looks westward to the sea, the other, which bounds the plain of damascus, verges in the direction of the desert and the banks of the euphrates. hermon, whose lofty top condenses the moisture of the atmosphere, and gives rise to the dews so much celebrated in the sacred writings, stands between heliopolis and the capital of syria. the latter ridge received from the greeks the denomination of anti-libanus,--a name unknown among the natives, and which, being employed somewhat arbitrarily by historians and topographers, has occasioned considerable obscurity in their writings. the hills in this part of syria are composed of a calcareous rock having a whitish colour, is extremely hard, and which rings in the ear when smartly struck with a hammer. the same description applies to the masses that surround jerusalem, which on the one hand stretch to the river jordan, and on the other extend to the plain of acre and jaffa. like all limestone strata, they present a great number of caverns, to which, as places of retreat, frequent allusion is made in the books of samuel and of the kings. there is one near damascus, capable of containing four thousand men; and it must have been in a similar recess that david and his men encountered the ill-fated saul when pursued by him on the hills of the wild goats. the mountains that skirt the valley of the dead sea present granite and those other rocks which, according to the system of werner, characterize the oldest or primitive formation. mount sinai is a member of the same group, and exhibits mineral qualities of a similar nature, extending to a certain distance on both sides of the arabian gulf. it is probable that this region, at a remote epoch, was the theatre of immense volcanoes, the effects of which may still be traced along the banks of the lower jordan, and more especially in the lake itself. the warm baths at tabaria show that the same cause still exists, although much restricted in its operation,--an inference which is amply confirmed by the lavas, the bitumen, and pumice which continue to be thrown ashore by the waves of asphaltites. dr. clarke remarks, that in the neighborhood of cana there are several basaltic appearances. the extremities of columns, prismatically formed, penetrated the surface of the soil, so as to render the path very rough and unpleasant. these marks of regular or of irregular crystallization generally denote, according to his opinion, the vicinity of water lying beneath their level. the traveller, having passed over a series of successive plains, resembling in their gradation the order of a staircase, observes, as he descends to the inferior stratum upon which the water rests, that where rocks are disclosed the symptoms of crystallization have taken place, and then the prismatic configuration is commonly denoted basaltic. such an appearance, therefore, in the approach to the lake of tiberias is only a parallel to similar phenomena exhibited by rocks near the lakes of locarno and bolsenna in italy, by those of the wenner lake in sweden, by the bed of the rhine near cologne in germany, by the valley of ronca in the territory of verona, by the pont de bridon in the state of venice, and by numerous other examples in the same country. a corresponding effect is produced on a small scale on the southern declivity, of arthur seat, near edinburgh, where the hill overhangs the lake of duddingstone; and numerous other instances are known to occur in the islands which lie between the coast of ireland and norway, as well as spain, portugal, arabia, and india. when these crystals have obtained a certain regularity of structure, the form is often hexagonal, or six-sided, resembling particular kinds of spar, and the emerald. patrin, during his travels in the deserts of oriental tartary, discovered when breaking the asiatic emerald, if fresh taken from the matrix, not only the same alternate concave and convex fractures which sometimes characterize the horizontal fissures of basaltic pillars, but also the concentric layers which denote concretionary formation: it is hardly possible to have a more striking proof of coincidence, resulting from similarity of structure, in two substances otherwise remarkably distinguished from each other. in this state science remains at present, concerning an appearance in nature which exhibits nothing more than the common process of crystallization upon a larger scale than has usually excited attention. suffice it to remark, that such a phenomenon is very frequent in the vicinity of very ancient lakes, in the bed of all considerable rivers, or by the borders of the ocean.[ ] in a country where there are so many traces of volcanic action, the rocks of the lower levels cannot fail to bear marks of their origin. hasselquist relates, that the hill of tiberias, out of which issues the fountain whence the baths are supplied, consists of a black and brittle sulphurous stone, which is only to be found in large masses in the neighborhood, though it is commonly met with in rolled specimens on the shores of the dead sea, and in other parts of the valley. the sediment deposited by the water is also black, as thick as paste, smells strongly of sulphur, and is covered with two skins or cuticles, of which the lower is of a fine dark-green, and the uppermost of a light rusty colour. at the mouth of the outlet, where the stream formed little cascades over the stones, the first cuticle alone was found, and so much resembled a conferva, that one might have taken it for a vegetable production; but nearer the river, where the current became stagnant, both skins were visible, the yellow on the surface, and under it the green.[ ] there are observed, in the same hollow, small portions of quartz incrusted with an impure salt, and nodules of clay extremely compact. near the edge of the valley there lie scattered on the sand considerable portions of flinty slate; and amid the common clay, which forms the basis of the soil, are perpendicular layers of a lamellated brown argil, assuming, as it were, the slaty structure. dr. clarke noticed among the pebbles near the lake of tiberias pieces of a porous rock resembling the substance called toadstone in england; its cavities were filled with zeolite. native gold was likewise found there, but the quantity was so small as not to draw from the travellers a suitable degree of attention. the vale of the asphaltites is further remarkable for a species of limestone called the fetid, the smell of which, as its name imports, is extremely offensive. it is still manufactured in the east into amulets, and worn as a specific against the plague; and that a similar superstition existed in regard to this stone in very early ages is rendered manifest by the circumstance, that charms made of the same substance were found in the subterranean chambers under the pyramids of sakhara in upper egypt. the cause of the fetid effluvia emitted from this rock, when partially decomposed by means of friction, is now known to be connected with the presence of sulphuretted hydrogen. all bituminous limestone, however, does not possess this property. it is not uncommon in the calcareous beds called in england black marble, but it is by no means their characteristic. the fragments obtained in the valley of the jordan have this savour in a high degree; and it is admitted that the oriental limestone is more highly impregnated with hydrosulphuret than any hitherto found in europe.[ ] according to dr. shaw, the upper strata of rocks on the hills along the coast are composed of a soft chalky substance, including a great variety of corals, shells, and other marine exuviae. upon the castravan mountains, near beirout, there is a singular bed, consisting likewise of a whitish stone, but of the slate-kind, which unfolds in every flake of it a great number and variety of fishes. these, for the most part, lie exceedingly flat and compressed, like the fossil specimens of fern; yet are, at the same time, so well preserved, that the smallest lineaments and fibres of their fins, scales, and other specific properties of structure are easily distinguished. among these were some individuals of the squilla tribe, which, though one of the tenderest of the crustaceous family, had not suffered the least injury from pressure or friction. the heights of carmel, too, present similar phenomena. in the chalky beds which surround its summit are gathered numerous hollow flints, lined in the inside with a variety of sparry matter, and having some resemblance to petrified fruit. these are commonly bestowed upon pilgrims, not only as curiosities, but as antidotes against several distempers. those which bear a likeness to the olive, usually denominated "lapides judaici," are looked upon, when dissolved in the juice of lemons, as an approved medicine for curing the stone and gravel,--a specific, we may presume; which, after the fashion of many others, operates upon the body through the power of the imagination.[ ] the miserable condition of ignorance and neglect into which every thing connected with industry has fallen under the turkish government, prevents us from obtaining any information in regard to the mineral stores of that country, "whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayst dig brass." volney indeed relates, that ores of the former metal abound, in the mountains of kesraoun and of the druses, in other words, in the extensive range of which libanus is the principal member. every summer the inhabitants work those mines which are simply ochreous. there is a vague report in the district, that there was anciently a vein of copper near aleppo, but it must have been long since abandoned. it was also mentioned to the traveller, when among the druses, that a mineral was discovered which produced both lead and silver; though, as such a discovery would have ruined the whole district by attracting the attention of the turks, they made haste to destroy every vestige of it. a similar feeling prevails respecting precious stones,--the branch of mineralogy which first gains the attention of a rude people. from the geological character of the syrian mountains, there is no doubt that palestine might boast of the topaz, the emerald, the chryso-beryl, several varieties of rock-crystal, and also of the finer jaspers. the sacred writings prove that the jews were acquainted with a considerable variety of ornamental stones, as may be seen in the description of the mystical city in the book of revelation, of which "the twelve gates were twelve pearls." but the present inhabitants of canaan, regardless of the natural wealth with which the hills and the valleys abound, trust to violence for the means of luxury, and to the most unprincipled extortion and robbery for their accustomed revenue. from them, therefore, neither knowledge nor elegance can ever be expected to receive any attention. section ii.--meteorology. under this head we include the usual properties of the atmosphere which minister to health and vegetation, for it has been justly remarked that syria has three climates. the summits of libanus, for instance, covered with snow, diffuse a salubrious coolness in the interior; the flat situations, on the contrary, especially those which stretch along the line of the coast, are constantly subjected to heat, accompanied with great humidity; while the adjoining plains of the desert are scorched by the rays of a burning sun. the seasons and the productions, of course, undergo a corresponding variation. in the mountains the months of spring and summer very nearly coincide with those in the southern parts of europe; and the winter, which lasts from november till march, is sharp and rigorous. no year passes without snow, which often covers the surface of the ground to the depth of several feet during many weeks. the spring and autumn are agreeable, and the summer by no means oppressive. but in the plains, on the other hand, as soon as the sun has passed the equator, a sudden transition takes place to an overpowering heat, which continues till october. to compensate for this, however, the winter is so temperate that orange-trees, dates, bananas, and other delicate fruits grow in the open field. hence, we need hardly observe that a journey of a few hours carries the traveller through a succession of seasons, and allows him a choice of climate, varying from the mild temperature of france to the blood-heat of india, or the pinching cold of russia. the winds in palestine, as in all countries which approach the tropics, are periodical, and governed in no small degree by the course of the sun. about the autumnal equinox, the north-west begins to blow with frequency and strength. it renders the air dry, clear, and sharp; and it is remarkable that on the seacoast it causes the headache, like the north-east wind in egypt. we may further observe, that it usually blows three days successively, like the south and south-east at the other equinox. it continues to prevail till november, that is, about fifty days, when it is followed by the west and south-west, called by the arabs "the fathers of rain." in march arise the pernicious winds from the southern quarter, with the same circumstances as in egypt; but they become feebler as we advance towards the north, and are much more supportable in the mountains than in the low country. their duration at each return varies from twenty-four hours to three days. the easterly winds, which come next in order, continue till june, when they are commonly succeeded by an inconstant breeze from the north. at this season the wind shifts through all the points every day, passing with the sun from east to south, and from south to west, to return by the north and recommence the same circuit. at this time, too, a local wind, called the land-breeze, prevails along the coast during the night; it springs up after sunset, lasts till the appearance of the solar orb in the morning, and extends only a few leagues to sea. travellers have observed that thunder, in the lowlands of palestine as well as in egypt, is more common during the winter than in summer; while in the mountains, on the contrary, it is more frequent in the latter season, and very seldom heard in the former. in both these countries it happens oftenest in the rainy season, or about the time of the equinoxes, especially the autumnal; and it is further remarkable that it never comes from the land side, but always from the sea. these storms, too, generally speaking, take place either in the evening or morning, and rarely in the middle of the day. they are accompanied with violent showers of rain, and sometimes of uncommonly large hail, which, soon covering the face of the country with stagnant water, give rise to a copious evaporation. the phenomenon alluded to by the prophet elijah is still found to diversify the aspect of the eastern sky. volney remarks, that clouds are sometimes seen to dissolve and disperse like smoke; while on other occasions they form in an instant, and from a small speck increase to a prodigious size. this is particularly observable at the summit of lebanon; and mariners have usually found that the appearance of a cloud on this peak is an infallible presage of a westerly wind, one of the "fathers of rain" in the climate of judea.[ ] waterspouts are not unfrequent along the shores of syria, and more especially in the neighbourhood of mount carmel. those observed by dr. shaw appeared to be so many cylinders of water falling down from the clouds; though by the reflection it might be of these descending columns, or from the actual dropping of the fluid contained in them, they would sometimes, says he, appear at a distance to be sucked up from the sea. the theory of waterspouts in the present day does in fact admit the supposition here referred to; that the air, being rarefied by particular causes, has its equilibrium restored by the elevation of the water, on the same principle that mercury rises in the barometer, or the contents of a well in a common pump. the opinions of the learned traveller on this subject are extremely loose and unscientific, and are only valuable in our times as marking a certain stage in the progress of meteorological inquiry. the same author has recorded a fact which we have not observed in the pages of any other tourist. in travelling by night, in the beginning of april, through the valleys of mount ephraim, he was attended for more than an hour by an _ignis fatuus_ that displayed itself in a variety of extraordinary appearances. it was sometimes globular, and sometimes pointed like the flame of a candle; then it spread itself so as to involve the whole company in its pale inoffensive light; after which it contracted, and suddenly disappeared. but in less than a minute it would begin again to exert itself as at other times, running along from one place to another with great swiftness, like a train of gunpowder set on fire; or else it would expand itself over more than two or three acres of the adjacent mountains, discovering every shrub and tree that grew upon them. the atmosphere from the beginning of the evening had been remarkably thick and hazy; and the dew, as felt upon the bridles, was unusually clammy and unctuous. in such weather similar luminous bodies are observed skipping about the masts and yards of ships, and are called by the mariners _corpusanse_, a corruption of the _cuerpo santo_, or sacred body, of the spaniards. the same were the castor and pollux of the ancients. some writers have attempted to account for these phenomena, particularly for the _ignis fatuus_, by supposing it to be occasioned by successive swarms of flying glowworms, or other insects of the same nature. but, as dr. shaw observes, not to perceive or feel any of these insects, even when the light which they produce spreads itself around us, should induce us to explain both this appearance and the other on the received principle that they are actually meteors, or a species of natural phosphorus.[ ] section iii.--zoology. in this article we shall confine our attention to such animals as are mentioned in holy scripture; our object being restricted to an elucidation of the natural history of palestine as it presents itself to the common reader, and not according to the arrangement which might be required by the rules of science. in the fourteenth chapter of deuteronomy, where a distinction is made between the clean and the unclean, or those which might be eaten and those which were prohibited, we find in the former class the ox, the sheep, the goat, the hart, the roebuck, the fallow-deer, the wild goat, the pygarg, the wild ox, and the chamois. as to the domesticated animals, which are common in all countries, we shall not waste time by exhibiting any description. the next in order, or "hart," is also quite familiar; but every scholar knows that the hebrew term _aïl_ is so vague in its import, that it has been understood to signify a tree as well as a quadruped. thus the fine expression in the forty-ninth chapter of genesis, uttered by jacob in reference to one of his children, "naphtali is a hind let loose; he giveth goodly words," has been translated by bochart, houbigant, and others, in these terms:--"naphtali is a spreading tree, giving out beautiful branches." the meaning of the patriarch unquestionably was, that the tribe about to descend from his son would be active and powerful, enjoying at once unrestrained freedom and abundance of food. it might be expressed thus:--naphtali is a deer roaming at liberty; he shooteth forth noble branches, or majestic antlers; his residence shall be in a beautiful woodland country; and, as moses also predicted, "he shall be filled with the blessings of the lord." the _roebuck_, or tzebi of the hebrews, is regarded by dr. shaw as the gazelle, or antelope,--a beautiful creature, which is very common all over greece, syria, the holy land, egypt, and barbary. it is known among greek naturalists by the name of _dorcas_, from an allusion to its fine eyes, the brilliancy and liveliness of which have passed into a proverb in all eastern countries. the damsel whose name was tabitha, which is by interpretation dorcas, might be so called from this particular feature. the antelope likewise is in great esteem among the orientals for food, having a very sweet musky taste, which is highly agreeable to their palates; and, therefore, the tzebi might well be received as one of the dainties at solomon's table.[ ] if, then, says the author just quoted, we lay all these circumstances together, they will appear to be much more applicable to the gazelle, or antelope, which is a quadruped well known and gregarious, than to the roe, which was either not known at all, or at least was very rare in those countries. the _fallow-deer_, or yachmur of the bible, is received among commentators as the _wild beeve_,--an animal equal in size to the stag, or red deer, to which it bears some resemblance. it frequents the solitary parts of judea and the surrounding countries, and, like the antelope, is everywhere gregarious. its flesh is also very sweet and nourishing, and was frequently seen at the tables of kings. the _wild goat_, or akko, mentioned in deuteronomy, is not held sufficiently specific by naturalists, who imagine that it must be identified with another animal called by the seventy _tragelaphus_, literally the goat-deer. the horns of this species, which are furrowed and wrinkled as in the goat kind, are a foot or fifteen inches long, and bend over the back; though they are shorter and more crooked than those of the ibex or steinbuck. it is not unfrequently known by the more familiar name of _lerwee_. considerable obscurity hangs over the natural history of the _pygarg_, the characteristics of which have not hitherto been well determined. the word itself, it has been remarked, seems to denote a creature whose hinder parts are of a white colour. such, says dr. shaw, is the _lidmee_ which is shaped exactly like the common antelope, with which it agrees in colour and in the shape of its horns, only that in the lidmee they are of twice the length, as the animal itself is of twice the size. the sixth species is the _wild ox_, or thau of the mosaical catalogue, which has generally been rendered the _oryx_. now this animal is described to be of the goat-kind, with the hair growing forward, or towards the head. it is further described to be of the size of a beeve, and to be likewise a fierce creature, contrary to what is observed of the goat or deer kind, which, unless they are irritated and highly provoked, are all of them of a shy and timorous nature. the only quadruped that we are acquainted with to which these marks will apply is the buffalo, well known in egypt and in various parts of western asia. it may be so far reckoned of the goat kind, as the horns are not smooth and even as in the beeve, but rough and wrinkled as in the goat. it is, besides, nearly the same as the common beeve, and therefore agrees so far with the description of herodotus. it is also a sullen, spiteful animal, being often know to pursue the unwary, especially if clad in scarlet. for these reasons, the buffalo may not improperly be taken for the thau or oryx, whereof we have had hitherto little account.[ ] the _chamois_, or zomer of the ancient jews, has by different authors been described as the camelopard or giraffe. the syriac version renders the original term into one which signifies the mountain-goat, and so far coincides with our common translation of the scriptures, though it is extremely doubtful whether the chamois or the ibex was to be found in any district of palestine. dr. shaw holds the opinion that the zomer must have been the giraffe; for though it was a rare animal, and not known in europe before the dictatorship of julius caesar, it might, he thinks, have been common enough in egypt, as it was a native of ethiopia, the adjoining country. it may therefore be presumed, says he, that the israelites, during their long residence in the land of the pharaohs, were not only well acquainted with it, but might at different times have tasted its flesh. this inference is rejected with some show of reason by the editor of calmet's dictionary, who remarks, it is very unlikely that the giraffe, being a native of the torrid zone and attached to hot countries, should be so abundant in judea as to be made an article of food. the same argument applies to the chamois, which, as it inhabits the highest mountains, and seeks the most elevated spots, where snow and ice prevail, to shelter it from the heat of summer, was probably unknown to the people of israel. hence, it still remains doubtful to what class of animals the zomer of moses should be attached, though, in our opinion, the balance of authorities seem to incline in favour of a small species of goat which browsed in the hill-country of syria. the _unicorn_, or réem, mentioned in the book of job, has given similar occasion to a variety of opinion. parkhurst imagines that by this term is meant the wild bull, for it is evidently an animal of great strength and possessed of horns. mr. scott, in his commentary on the bible, adopts the same view, and reminds his reader, that the bulls of bashan described by the psalmist are by the same inspired writer denominated reems. other expounders of sacred writ maintain that the creature alluded to by the patriarch of uz can have been no other than the double-horned rhinoceros.[ ] the wild _ass_, or para, celebrated by the same ancient author, is generally understood to be the onager, an animal, which is to this day highly prized in persia and the deserts of tartary, as being fitter for the saddle than the finest breed of horses. it has nothing of the dulness or stupidity of the common ass; is extremely beautiful; and, when properly trained, is docile and tractable in no common degree. it was this more valuable kind of ass that saul was in search of when he was chosen by the prophet to discharge the duties of royalty. "who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass? whose house i have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings. he scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver. the range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing."[ ] the "wild goats of the rock," described in the chapter just quoted, are supposed to be the same as the ibex or bouquetin. this animal is larger than the tame goat, but resembles it much in form. the head is small is proportion to the body, with the muzzle thick and compressed, and a little arced. the eyes are large and round, and have much fire and brilliancy. the horns are so majestic, that when fully grown they occasionally weigh sixteen or eighteen pounds. he feeds during the night in the highest woods; but the sun no sooner begins to gild the summits, than he quits the woody region, and mounts, feeding in his progress, till he has reached the most considerable heights. the female shows much attachment to her young, and even defends it against eagles, wolves, and other enemies. she takes refuge in some cavern, and, presenting her head at the entrance of the hole, resolutely opposes the assailants. hence the allusion to this affectionate creature in the book of proverbs, "let thy wife be as the loving hind and the peasant roe." the saphan of the bible is usually translated _cony_. "the high hills are a refuge for the wild goats, and the rocks for the conies." but it is now believed that the ashkoko, an animal mentioned by bruce, presents properties which accord much better with the description of the saphan given in different parts of the old testament, than the cony, hare, or rabbit. this curious creature, we are told by that traveller, is found in ethiopia, in the caverns of the rocks, or under great stones. it does not burrow or make holes like the rat or rabbit, nature having interdicted this practice by furnishing it with feet, the toes of which are perfectly round, and of a soft, pulpy, tender substance: the fleshy part of them projects beyond the nails, which are rather sharp, very similar to a man's nails ill-grown, and appear given to it rather for the defence of its soft toes, than for any active use in digging, to which they are by no means adapted.[ ] a living writer, who has considered this subject with great attention, gives as the result of his inquiry, that the saphan of the ancient hebrews, rendered "cony" in the english bible, is a very different animal; that it has a nearer resemblance to the hedgehog, the bear, the mouse, the jerboa, or the marmot, though it is not any of these. it is the webro of the arabians, the daman-israel of shaw, the ashkoko of bruce, and clipdass of the dutch.[ ] the prophet isaiah, in recording the idolatrous and profane habits of his countrymen, mentions the "eating of swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the _mouse_." this is supposed to be the jerboa, an animal common in the east, about the size of a rat, and which only uses its hindlegs. there can be little doubt that this is the creature alluded to by the hebrew legislator when he said, "whatsoever goeth upon its _paws_, among all manner of beasts that go on all four, those are unclean unto you." hasselquist tells us that the jerboa, or leaping-rat, as he calls it, moves only by leaps and jumps. when he stops he brings his feet close under his belly, and rests on the juncture of his leg. he uses, when eating, his fore-paws, like other animals of his kind. he sleeps by day, and is in motion during the night. he eats corn, and grains of sesamum. though he does not fear man, he is not easily tamed; for which reason he must be kept in a cage. the porcupine, or _kephad_, is spoken of in the writings of isaiah under the denomination of the bittern. "i will make babylon a possession for the bittern and pools of water." in another chapter, the inspired author associates the kephad with the pelican, with the yanshaph or ardea ibis, and with oreb, or the raven kind; and hence a considerable difficulty has arisen in regard to the class of animals in which it ought to be ranked. bochart had no doubt that the porcupine was in the mind of the prophet when he wrote the description of the assyrian capital wasted and abandoned. this creature is a native of the hottest climates of africa and india, and yet can live and multiply in milder latitudes. it is now found in spain, and in the apennines near rome. pliny asserts that the porcupine, like the bear, hides itself in winter. in a memoir on babylon, by the late mr. rich, it is stated that great quantities of porcupine-quills were found on the spot; and that in most of the cavities are numbers of bats and owls. the mole and the bat are reckoned among the unclean animals forbidden to the jews by their divine lawgiver. the latter is distinctly included under the following description: "every creeping thing that flieth shall be unclean to you; they shall not be eaten." the legs of the bat appear to be absolutely different from those of all other animals, and indeed they are directed, and even formed in a very particular manner. in order to advance, he raises both his front-legs at once, and places them at a small distance forward; at the same time the thumb of each foot points outward, and the creature catches with the claw at any thing which it can lay hold of; then he stretches behind him his two hind-legs, so that the five toes of each foot are also directed backward; he supports himself on the sole of this foot, and secures himself by means of the claws on his toes; then he raises his body on the front-legs, and throws himself forward by folding the upper arm on the fore-arm, which motion is assisted by the extension of the hind-legs, which also push the body forward this gait, though heavy, because the body falls to the ground at every step, is yet sometimes pretty quick, when the feet can readily meet with good holding-places; but when the claw of the front foot meets with any thing loose, the exertion is inefficient.[ ] section iv.--birds. in the writings of moses, the winged tribes are divided into three classes, according as they occupy the air, the land, or the water. birds of the air. english translation. probable species. eagle eagle. ossifrage vulture. ospray black eagle. vulture hawk. kite kite. raven raven. land birds. owl ostrich. night-hawk night-owl. cuckoo suf-saf. hawk ancient ibis. water birds. little owl sea-gull. cormorant cormorant. great owl ibis ardea. swan wild goose. pelican pelican. gier eagle alcyone. stork stork. heron long-neck. lapwing hoopoe. these are the unclean birds, according to the mosaical arrangement and the views of the english translators. but it must not be concealed, that the attainments of the latter in ornithology were not particularly accurate; and, as a proof of this; we may mention a fact obvious to the youngest student of oriental languages, that the same hebrew words in leviticus and deuteronomy are not always rendered by the same term in our tongue. for example, the vulture of the former book is in the latter called the glede; and there are many similar variations, in different parts of the old testament, in regard to the others. the _swan_, or tinshemet of the hebrews, is a very doubtful bird. the seventy render it by _porphyrion_, which signifies a purple hen, a water-fowl well known in the east. dr. geddes observes that the root or etymon of the term _tinshemet_ denotes _breathing_ or _respiring_,--a description which is supposed to point to a well-known quality in the swan, that of being able to respire a long time with its bill and neck under water, and even plunged in mud. parkhurst thinks the conjecture of michaelis not improbable, namely, "that it is the goose, which every one knows is remarkable for its manner of breathing out or hissing when provoked." the latter writer observes, "what makes me conjecture this is, that the chaldee interpreters who in leviticus render it _obija_, do not use this word in deuteronomy, but substitute the 'white kak,' which, according to buxtorf, denotes the goose." norden mentions a goose of the nile whose plumage is extremely beautiful. it is of an exquisite aromatic taste, smells of ginger, and has a great deal of flavour. can this be the hebrew _tinshemet_, and the _porphyrion_ of the seventy? again, it is conjectured by modern naturalists that the heron should be included among storks. commentators, it is true, are quite at a loss in regard to the precise import of the original term _anapha_, and some of them accordingly leave it altogether untranslated. it is not improbable that the long-neck mentioned by dr. shaw may be the animal alluded to by the sacred lawgiver. this bird, we are told, is of the bittern kind, somewhat less than the lapwing. the neck, the breast, and the belly are of a light yellow colour, while the back and upper part of the wings are jet-black. the tail is short; the feathers of the neck are long, and streaked with white or a pale yellow. the bill, which is three inches long, is green, and in form like that of the stork; and the legs, which are short and slender, are of the same colour. in walking and searching for food, it throws out its neck seven or eight inches; whence the arabs call it boo-onk, or long-neck.[ ] the _hoopoe_ is thought to be pretty well ascertained; yet we might suppose that a bird which frequents water more than the european variety does, would not have been misplaced at the close of the list given above. the accuracy of the inspired writer, however, in treating this part of the subject, has been generally extolled,--an accuracy which, there is no doubt, will hereafter lead to the most satisfactory conclusions in determining the several species he enumerates. all these birds being fish-eaters, no distinction is afforded arising from diversity of food; but the hebrew naturalist begins with those which inhabit the sea and its rocky cliffs, the gannet and the cormorant; then he proceeds to the marsh birds, the bitterns; then to the river and lake birds, the pelican, the kingfisher, or the shagarag; then the stork, which is a bird of passage, lives on land as well as on water, and feeds on frogs and insects no less than on fish; then to another, which probably is a bird of passage also, because it is mentioned the last in the catalogue. the hoopoe is certainly a migratory bird, feeds less on fish than any of the former kinds, and has, in fact, no great relation to the water. it was objected by michaelis that the _chasidah_ of the hebrews could not be the stork, because the latter bird does not usually roost on trees; and yet it is asserted in the hundred-and-fourth psalm, that the fir-trees are a dwelling for the stork. but doubdan, who had no hypothesis to maintain, relates that he saw storks resting on trees between cana and nazareth; and dr. shaw says expressly, the storks breed plentifully in barbary; and that the fir-trees, and other trees when these are wanting, are a "dwelling for the stork." it is therefore probable that this bird conforms its manners to circumstances; that wherever it obtains rest, security, and accommodation, there it resides, whether in a ruin or a forest. so that on the whole we need not hesitate, merely because the european stork seldom inhabits trees, to admit that it is the chasidah of the sacred scriptures. we purposely abstain from the description of such birds as are common to palestine and to the climates of europe. the ostrich, no doubt, is peculiar to the deserts of syria and of arabia, and might therefore demand a more minute delineation than is consistent with our limits. suffice it to mention, that it is one of the largest and most remarkable of the feathered tribes, and has been celebrated from the most remote antiquity by many fabulous writers, who ascribe to it qualities more wonderful than even those which it actually possesses. its height is estimated at seven or eight feet, and in swiftness it surpasses every other animal. that it is gregarious no naturalist any longer doubts, being generally seen in large troops at a great distance from the habitations of man. the egg is about three pounds in weight, and in the warmer countries of the east is usually hatched by the rays of the sun alone; though in less heated regions the bird is observed to practise incubation. the same remarks might be applied to the pelican, whose solitary life as an inhabitant of the desert is occasionally referred to in the sacred writings. it appears, however, that this bird is migratory, whence we may conclude that it is also gregarious, and does not always remain alone. in their motion through the air, the pelicans imitate the procedure of the wild-goose, and form their van into an acute angle. when of full age, the male is superior in size to the swan, weighs twenty-five pounds, and from wing to wing extends not less than fifteen feet. the upper mandible is flat and broad, and hooked at the end; the lower mandible has appended to it a very dilatable bag, reaching eight or nine inches down the neck, and large enough to contain several quarts of water. its food is fish; in diving for which it sometimes descends from a great height. when it has filled its pouch, it flies to some convenient point of a rock, where it swallows its prey at leisure. the vulgar notion that the female pelican feeds her young with blood from her breast, has arisen from the use of the bag just described, which she opens from time to time to discharge a supply of fish or water for their nourishment. section v.--amphibia and reptiles. in the book of deuteronomy there is an allusion made to a destructive creature in the following terms:--"their wine is the poison of _dragons_ and the cruel venom of asps." it is thought that the gecko is the animal contemplated in this description, it being acknowledged by all naturalists to contain a mortal poison. nature, in this instance, says buffon, appears to act against herself: in a lizard, whose species is but too prolific, she exalts a corrosive liquid to such a degree as to carry death and dissolution into all living substances which it may happen to penetrate. this deadly reptile has some resemblance to the chameleon; his head, almost triangular, is big in proportion to his body; the eyes are very large, the tongue is flat, covered with small scales, and the end is rounded; the teeth are sharp, and so strong that, according to bontius, they are able to make an impression even on steel. the gecko is almost entirely covered with large warts, more or less rising; the under part of the thigh is furnished with a row of tubercles raised and grooved. the feet are remarkable for oval scales, more or less hollowed in the middle, as large as the under surface of the toes themselves, and regularly disposed over one another, like slates on a roof. the usual colour of this animal is a clear green, spotted with brilliant red. it inhabits the crevices of half-rotten trees as well as humid places; it is sometimes met with in houses, where it occasions great alarm, and where every exertion is made to destroy it speedily. bontius writes, that the bite is so venomous that, if the part bitten be not cut away or burned, death ensues in a few hours. calmet enumerates eleven kinds of serpents as known to the hebrews, the names of which are as follow:-- . ephe, the viper. . chephir, a sort of aspic. . acshub, the aspic. . pethen, a similar reptile. . tzeboa, speckled serpent. . tzimmaon. . tzepho, or tzephoni, a basilisk. . kippos, the acontias. . shephiphon, the cerastes. . shachal, the black serpent. . saraph, a flying-serpent. the first of these is remarkable for its quick and penetrating poison; it is about two feet long, and as thick as a man's arm, beautifully spotted with yellow and brown, and sprinkled over with blackish specks, similar to those of the horn-nosed snake. it has a wide mouth, by which it inhales a great quantity of air, and, when fully inflated, ejects it with such violence as to be heard at a considerable distance. the _shachal_, or black serpent, is described by forskall as being wholly of that colour, a cubit in length, and as thick as a finger. its bite is not incurable, but the wound swells severely; the application of a ligature prevents the venom from spreading; or certain plants, as the caper, may be employed to relieve it. mr. jackson describes a black serpent of much more terrific powers. it is about seven or eight feet long, with a small head, which, when about to assail any object, it frequently expands to four times its ordinary size. it is the only one that will attack travellers; in doing which it coils itself up, and darts to a great distance by the elasticity of its body and tail. the wound inflicted by the bite is small, but the surrounding part immediately turns black, which colour soon pervades the whole body, and the sufferer expires. but, viewed in connexion with scripture, the most interesting in the list given in the preceding page is that which stands the seventh in order. speaking of the happy time revealed by the prophetical spirit, isaiah remarks that "the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den." the editor of calmet's dictionary imagines that the naja, or cobra di capello, is the serpent here alluded to by the holy penman, and which is known to possess the most energetic poison. we cannot indeed discover positively, whether it lays eggs; but the evidence for that fact is presumptive, because all serpents issue from eggs; and the only difference between the oviparous and viviparous is, that in the former the eggs are laid before the foetus is mature, in the latter the foetus bursts the egg while yet in the womb of its mother. if the egg be broken, the little serpent is found rolled up in a spiral form. it appears motionless during some time; but if the term of its exclusion be near, it opens its jaws, inhales at several respirations the air of the atmosphere, its lungs fill, it stretches itself, and moved by this impetus it begins to crawl. the eggs of this reptile have probably given occasion to a fable, which says that cocks can lay eggs, but that these always produce serpents; and that though the cock does not hatch them, the warmth of the sand and atmosphere answers the purposes of incubation. the eggs of the tzepho, of which she lays eighteen or twenty, are equal to those of a pigeon, while those of the great boa are not more than two or three inches in length. as an instance, that the eggs of poisonous serpents do not always burst in the body of the female, we may mention the cerastes, which, we are assured, lays in the sand at least four or five, resembling in size those of a dove. on the grounds now explained, we may understand the language of the prophet isaiah, who says of the wicked that "they hatch cockatrice' eggs; he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh forth into a viper." the reptile here alluded to under the name of cockatrice, is the tzepho or tzephoni; which, we find, lays eggs so similar to those of poultry, as to be mistaken and eaten for them. labat farther relates that he crushed some eggs of a large serpent, and found several young in each egg; which were no sooner freed from the shell than they coiled themselves into the attitude of attack, and were ready to spring on whatever came in their way. in the forty-ninth chapter of genesis we find the remarkable prediction uttered by jacob in reference to dan, that he "shall be a serpent in the way, an adder in the path, which biteth the horse's heels." the original term here is shephiphon, and is understood by several authors to denote the cerastes, a very poisonous kind of viper, distinguished by having horns. this animal, we are informed by mr. bruce, moves with great rapidity, and in all directions, forward, backward, and sideways. when he wishes to surprise any one who is too far from him, he creeps with his side towards the person, and his head averted, till, judging his distance, he turns round and springs upon him. "i saw one of them at cairo crawl up the side of a box in which there were many, and there lie still as if hiding himself, till one of the people who brought him to us came near him; and though in a very disadvantageous posture, sticking as it were perpendicularly to the side of the box, he leaped nearly the distance of three feet, and fastened between the man's forefinger and thumb, so as to bring the blood. the fellow showed no signs of either pain or fear; and we kept him with us full four hours, without applying any sort of remedy, or his seeming inclined to do so." the arabs name this serpent siff, siphon, or suphon, which seems not very far distant from the root of the hebrew word siffifon or shephiphon. it is called by the orientals the _lier in wait_,--an appellation which agrees with the manners of the cerastes. pliny says, that it hides its whole body in the sand, leaving only its horns exposed, which, being like grains of barley in appearance, attract birds within its reach, so as to become an easy prey. from these circumstances we see, more distinctly, the propriety of the allusion made by the patriarch to the insidious policy which was to characterize the descendants of dan in the remoter periods of their history. there is mention made in holy scripture of the fiery flying-serpent, a creature about whose existence and qualities naturalists have entertained a considerable difference of opinion. it is now generally admitted, that, in guinea, java, and other countries, where there is at once great heat and a marshy soil, there exists a species of these animals, which have the power of moving in the air, or at least of passing from tree to tree. niebuhr relates, that at bazra, also, "there is a sort of serpents, called _heie sursurie_. they commonly live on dates; and as it would be troublesome to them to come down one high tree and creep up another, they hang by the tail to the branch of one, and, by swinging that about, take advantage of its motion to leap to that of a second. these the modern arabs call flying-serpents--_heie thiâre_. i do not know whether the ancient arabs were acquainted with any other kind of flying-serpent."[ ] near batavia there are certain flying-snakes, or dragons, as they are sometimes called. they have four legs, a long tail, and their skin speckled with many spots; their wings are not unlike those of a bat, which they move in flying, but otherwise keep them almost unperceived, close to the body. they fly nimbly, but cannot hold out long; so that they only shift from tree to tree at about twenty or thirty yards' distance. on the outside of the throat are two bladders, which, being extended when they fly, serve them instead of a sail.[ ] the _scorpion_, or okrab of the hebrews, has also been invested by oriental naturalists with the power of flying. lucian tells us that there are two kinds of scorpions, one residing on the ground, large, having claws, and many articulations at the tail; the other flies in the air, and has inferior wings like locusts, beetles, and bats. in tropical climates the scorpion is a foot in length. no animal in the creation seems endowed with such an irascible nature. when caught, they exert their utmost rage against the glass which contains them; will attempt to sting a stick when put near them; will, without provocation, wound other animals confined with them; and are the cruellest enemies to each other. maupertuis put a hundred of them together in the same glass; instantly they vented their rage in mutual destruction, universal carnage! in a few days only fourteen remained, which had killed and devoured all the others. it is even asserted, that when in extremity or despair the scorpion will destroy itself. well might moses mention this animal as one of the dangers of the howling wilderness! they are still very numerous in the desert between syria and egypt. dr. clarke tells us that one of the privates of the british army, who had received a wound from one of them, lost the upper joint of his forefinger before it could be healed. the author of the revelation considers them as emblematic of the evils which issue from the bottomless pit. "and there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth; and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. and they had tails like unto scorpions; and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months."[ ] we ought not to be surprised that the translators of the english bible were occasionally at a loss to distinguish the genera and species of the several animals mentioned in the sacred writings; for even at the present day, when we possess infinitely higher advantages in point of natural knowledge, we cannot precisely determine even the class or order to which some of them belong. we have an example of this obscurity in the fourth chapter of the book of lamentations, where it is said that "even the sea-monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones." the original expression, tannin, appears applicable to those amphibious animals that haunt the banks of rivers and the shores of the sea, and was probably used by the prophet with a reference to the seal species, which suckle their young in the manner described in his pathetic elegy. it is true, that it is used in genesis in connection with the epithet large, and is therefore not improperly rendered "great whales." hence it has been concluded, that the word tannin may comprehend the class of lizards from the eft to the crocodile, provided they be amphibious; also the seal, the manati, the morse, and even the whale, if he came ashore; but as whales remain constantly in the deep, they seem to be more correctly ascribed to the class of fishes. moreover, whether the people of syria had any knowledge of the whale kinds, strictly so called, is a point which deserves inquiry before it be admitted as certain. at all events, it is manifest that the tannin of the scripture must have indicated an animal which has many properties common to the seal, for it not only applies the breast to its young, but has the power of exerting its voice in a mournful tone. the prophet micah says, "i will make a wailing like the tanninim," a phrase which, in our translation, is unhappily rendered "dragons." it has also the faculty of suspending respiration, or of drawing in a quantity of breath and of emitting it with violence. "the wild asses," says jeremiah, "stand upon the high places; they puff out the breath like the tanninim (here again translated dragons); their eyes fail because there is no grass." on the whole, remarks the editor of calmet, we may consider the hebrew _tahash_ as being decidedly a seal; but tannin as including creatures resident both on land and in water, or, in other words, the amphibia.[ ] section vi.--fruits and plants. it has been remarked that, if the advantages of nature were duly seconded by the efforts of human skill, we might in the space of twenty leagues bring together in syria the vegetable riches of the most distant countries. besides wheat, rye, barley, beans, and the cotton-plant, which are cultivated everywhere, there are several objects of utility or pleasure, peculiar to different localities. palestine, for example, abounds in sesamum, which affords oil; and in dhoura, similar to that of egypt. maize thrives in the light soil of balbec, and rice is cultivated with success along the marsh of haoul_. within these twenty-five years sugar-canes have been introduced into the gardens of saida and beirout, which are not inferior to those of the delta. indigo grows without culture on the banks of the jordan, and only requires a little care to secure a good quality. the hills of latakie produce tobacco, which creates a commercial intercourse with damietta and cairo. this crop is at present cultivated in all the mountains. the white mulberry forms the riches of the druses, by the beautiful silks which are obtained from it; and the vine, raised on poles or creeping along the ground, furnishes red and white wines equal to those of bordeaux. jaffa boasts of her lemons and watermelons; gaza possesses both the dates of mecca and the pomegranates of algiers. tripoli has oranges which might vie with those of malta; beirout has figs like marseilles, and bananas like st. domingo. aleppo is unequalled for pistachio-nuts; and damascus possesses all the fruits of europe; inasmuch as apples, plums, and peaches, grow with equal facility on her rocky soil. niebuhr is of opinion that the arabian coffee-shrub might be cultivated in palestine.[ ] the _fig-tree_, the _palm_, and the _olive_, are characteristic of the holy land, and therefore deserve our more particular attention. in regard to the first, the earliest fruit produced, which is usually ripe in june, is called the boccore; the later, or proper fig, being rarely fit to be gathered before the month of august. the name of these last is the kermez, or kermouse. they constitute the article which passes through the hands of the merchant, after being either preserved in the common way or made up into cakes. they continue a long time on the tree before they fall off; whereas the boccore drop as soon as they are ripe, and according to the beautiful allusion of the prophet nahum, "fall into the mouth of the eater upon being shaken." the _palm_ must at one time have been common in palestine, though at present it fails to attract attention either on account of number or of beauty. in several coins of vespasian, as well as of his son titus, the land of judea is typified by a disconsolate woman sitting under one of these trees. jericho, which was formerly distinguished as the "city of palms," can still boast a few of them, because, besides the advantage of a sandy soil and a warm climate, it commands a plentiful supply of water, an element absolutely indispensable to their growth. at jerusalem, shechem, and other places to the northward of the capital, not more than two or three of them are ever seen together; and even these, as their fruit rarely comes to maturity, are of no farther service than, like the palm-tree of deborah, to shade the council of the sheiks, or to supply the branches, which, as in ancient days, may still be required for religious processions.[ ] the _olive_ no longer holds the place which it once occupied in the estimation of the inhabitants of palestine. the wretched government under which they exist has rooted out all the seeds of industry, by rendering the absence of wealth the only security against oppression. but in those places where it continues to be cultivated, it affords ample proof to establish the accuracy of the inspired writer, who denominated palestine a land of oil-olive and honey. the _cedars of libanus_ still maintain their ancient reputation for beauty and stature; while they are diversified by a thousand elegant plants, which dispute with them the possession of the lofty summits of the mountain. here the astragalus tragacanthoides displays its clusters of purple flowers; and the primrose, the amaryllis, the white and the orange lily, mingle their brilliant hues with the verdure of the birch-leaved cherry. even the snow of the highest peaks is skirted by shrubs possessing the most splendid colours. the coolness, humidity, and good quality of the soil support an uninterrupted vegetation; and the bounties of nature in those elevated regions are still protected by the spirit of liberty. hasselquist is of opinion that the _wild-grapes_ mentioned by the prophet isaiah must be the hoary night-shade, or solanum incanum, because it is common in egypt, palestine, and syria. the arabs call it wolf-grapes, as, from its shrubby stalk, it has some resemblance to a vine. but the sacred writer could not have found a weed more opposite to the vine than this, or more suitable to the purpose which he had in view, for it is extremely pernicious to that plant, and is rooted out whenever it appears. "wherefore," exclaims the holy seer, "when i looked that my vineyard should bring forth grapes, brought it forth poisonous night-shade?"[ ] the author just named, describes the "balsam of aaron" as a very fine oil, which emits no scent or smell, and is very proper for preparing odoriferous ointments. it is obtained from a tree called behen, which grows in mount sinai and upper egypt, and, it is presumed, in certain parts of the holy land. travellers assert that it is the very perfume with which the ancient high-priest of the jews, with whose name it is connected, was wont to anoint his beard, and which the psalmist extols so much on account of its rich odour and mollifying qualities,--the emblem of domestic harmony and brotherly love. there still exists a thorn in palestine known among botanists by the name of the "spina christi," or thorn of christ, and supposed to be the shrub which afforded the crown worn by our saviour before his crucifixion. it must have been very fit for the purpose, for it has many small sharp prickles, well adapted to give pain; and as the leaves greatly resemble those of ivy, it is not improbable that the enemies of the messiah chose it from its similarity to the plant with which emperors and generals were accustomed to be crowned; and hence that there might be calumny, insult, and derision, meditated in the very act of punishment.[ ] the end. [ ] no. xxiii. of this family library. [ ] see dialogues on natural and revealed religion. by the rev. robert morehead, d.d., p. ,--an able and interesting work. [ ] shakspeare, henry iv. part i. act i. [ ] chateaubriand itinéraire, tome i. p. , &c. sozom. lib. iii. c. i. euseb. hist. eccl. lib. vi. s. cyril, cat. xvi. [ ] deuteronomy viii. , , . [ ] terra finesque, qua ad orientem vergunt, arabia terminantur; a meridie aegyptus objacet; ab occasu phoenices et mare; septemtrionem a latere syriae longe prospectant. corpora hominum salubria et ferentia laborom: rari imbres, uber solum: fruges nostrum ad morem; preterque eas balsamum et palmae. hist. lib. v. c. . [ ] belon. observations de singularités, p. . hasselquist's travels, p. . korte's travels in palestine. chateaubriand, les martyrs, vol. iii. p. . schultze's travels, vol. ii p. . [ ] seetzen, in annales des voyages, i. ; and correspondance de m. zach. . [ ] maundrell, p. . [ ] chateaubriand itinérarie, ii. . malte brun, vol. ii. - . edin. edition. [ ] judges i. . [ ] joseph. contra apion. cap. . kings xvii. . [ ] reland, palestina illustrata, lib. ii. c. . spanheim, charta terris israelis. lowman on the civil government of the hebrews. [ ] lev. xxv. . [ ] lev. xxv. - . [ ] judges xxi. - . [ ] numbers xxvi. . [ ] joshua vii. , , . [ ] i chron. ii. , . [ ] deut. iv. , ; xii. . "hoc igitur argumento maximo est; juris illius majestatis quod in legibus ferendis est positum, nihil quicquam penes hominem fuisse."--_conringius de repub. heb_. [ ] livii. hist. lib. xxviii. ; lib. xxx. . bochart, geog. sacra, part ii. lib. ii. . [ ] complete history of the canon, book . c. . [ ] deut. xvi. , . josephus's antiquities, book iv. . [ ] reland. antiq. sac. pars, ii. c. . [ ] fleury, moeurs des israelites, xxv. [ ] lewis, orig. heb. lib. i. . [ ] michaelis's commentaries on the laws of moses, art. ; and joshua xviii. . [ ] samuel xxv. - . [ ] judges vi. . samuel xiii. , . [ ] numbers xxxv. , , . [ ] joshua xx. , . numbers xxxv. , . deut. xix. , . [ ] michaelis's commentaries on the laws of moses, vol. i. art. . jablonsky panth. aegypt. prolegomena, , , . [ ] isaiah xl. . [ ] samuel viii. , . [ ] deut. xvii. - . [ ] samuel viii. , . chron. xviii. , ; xix. - . [ ] chron. xxii. . [ ] chron. ii. and ix. throughout. [ ] kings xi. - . [ ] maundrell's journey from aleppo to jerusalem in . [ ] kings xvii. - . [ ] kings xxv. - . [ ] lamentations i. - . [ ] heber's palestine. [ ] history of the jews (nos. , , , family library), vol. ii. p. . [ ] history of the jews, vol. ii. p. . [ ] the effects produced upon the mind of the king by the murder of mariamne are powerfully described by two poetical writers, the author of the history of the jews, and the unfortunate lord byron. "all the passions," says the former, "which filled the stormy soul of herod were alike without bound: from violent love and violent resentment he sank into as violent remorse and despair. everywhere by day he was haunted by the image of the murdered mariamne; he called upon her name; he perpetually burst into passionate tears. in vain he tried every diversion,--banquets, revels, the excitements of society. a sudden pestilence broke out, to which many of the noblest of his court, and of his own personal friends, fell a sacrifice; he recognized and trembled beneath the hand of the avenging deity. on pretence of hunting, he sought out the most melancholy solitude, till the disorder of his mind brought on disorder of body, and he was seized with violent inflammation and pains in the back of his head, which led to temporary derangement."--vol. ii. p. . i. "oh, mariamne! now for thee the heart for which thou bled'st is bleeding; revenge is lost in agony, and wild remorse to rage succeeding. oh, mariamne! where art thou? thou canst not hear my bitter pleading: ah, couldst thou--thou wouldst pardon now, though heaven were to my prayer unheeding. ii. "and is she dead?--and did they dare obey my phrensy's jealous raving? my wrath but doomed my own despair: the sword that smote her's o'er me waving. but thou art cold, my murder'd love! and this dark heart is vainly craving for her who soars alone above, and leaves my soul unworthy saving. iii. "she's gone, who shared my diadem; she sunk, with her my joys entombing; i swept that flower from judah's stem whose leaves for me alone were blooming; and mine's the guilt, and mine the hell, this bosom's desolation dooming; and i have earned those tortures well, which unconsumed are still consuming." _hebrew melodies_. [ ] history of the jews, vol. ii. p. . [ ] matth. ii. , . "among the atrocities which disgraced the later days of herod, what we called the massacre of the innocents (which took place late in the year before, or early in the same year with the death of herod) passed away unnoticed. the murder of a few children in a village near jerusalem would excite little sensation among such a succession of dreadful events, except among the immediate sufferers. the jealousy of herod against any one who should be born as a _king in judea_,--the dread that the high religious spirit of the people might be re-excited by the hope of a real messiah,--as well as the summary manner in which he endeavoured to rid himself of the object of his fears, are strictly in accordance with the relentlessness and decision of his character." _history of the jews_, vol. ii. p. . [ ] acts xii. , , . [ ] samuel, ix. . [ ] kings xxii. , . [ ] jer. xxvi. , . [ ] deut. xviii. , . [ ] deut. xxxi. - . [ ] chronicles xii. . [ ] kings xxii. . [ ] samuel xi. , . commentaries on laws of moses, vol. i. p. . [ ] nisan was sometimes called abib, as descriptive of the state of vegetation in that month,--the earing of the corn and the blooming of the fruit-trees. [ ] kings iii. . [ ] acts xv. . [ ] deut. xvi. - . [ ] history of the jews vol. . p. . [ ] lev. xiii. , . [ ] numbers xxxvi. - . [ ] john x. . [ ] maccab. iv. , &c. macceb. i. , . [ ] croxall's scripture politics, p. , . histoire des hébreux, par rabelleau, tom. i. p. . esprit de l'histoire, tom. i. p. . [ ] the sentiment contained in the text is beautifully expressed in the following ode by lord byron: i. "the harp the monarch minstrel swept, the king of men, the loved of heaven, which music hallowed while she wept, o'er tones her heart of hearts had given, redoubled be her tears, its chords are riven! "it softened men of iron mould, it gave them virtues not their own; no ear so dull, no soul so cold, that felt not, fired not to the tone, till david's lyre grew mightier than his throne." ii. "it told the triumphs of our king, it wafted glory to our god; it made our gladden'd valleys ring, the cedars bow, the mountains nod; its sound aspired to heaven and there abode! since then, though heard on earth no more, devotion and her daughter love still bid the bursting spirit soar to sounds that seem as from above, in dreams that day's broad light cannot remove." [ ] murray's historical account of discoveries and travels in asia, vol. iii. p. . [ ] chateaubriand, itinéraire, tom. i. p. . volney's travels, vol. ii. p. . [ ] itinéraire, tom. ii. p. . [ ] travels, vol. iv. p. . [ ] the original presents one of the most animated and musical passages in the gerusalemme liberata:-- "ma quando il sol gli aridi campi fiede con raggi assai fervente, a in alto sorge, ecco apparir gerusalem si vede! ecco additar gerusalem si scorge! ecco da mille voci unitamente, gerusalemme salutar si sente!"--_canto_ iii. stan. v. . [ ] travels in egypt and syria, vol. ii. p. . [ ] notes on egypt, &c. p. . [ ] travels along the mediterranean and parts adjacent, vol. ii. p. . [ ] richardson's travels, vol. ii. p. . [ ] travels of ali bey, vol. ii, p. . [ ] richardson's travels, vol. ii. p. . [ ] travels, vol. ii. p. . [ ] maundrell's journey from aleppo to jerusalem, p. . [ ] journey, p. . [ ] journey, p. . [ ] maundrell's journey, p. . [ ] journey, p. . [ ] "je ne décrirai pas la suite des cérémonies réligieuses qui occupent le reste de la semaine sainte; c'est un récit qui peut bien édifier des ames dévotes, mais non pas plaire à quelqu'un qui lit un voyage pour s'instruire et s'amuser. "il n'en est pas de méme d'une pratique superstitieuse des grecs schismatiques, dont la bizarrerie ne laissera pas de divertir un moment. "cette secte, abusée par ses prêtres, croit de bonne foi que dieu fait annuellement un miracle pour lui envoyer le feu sacré. "a en croire les pretres grecs, cette faveur divine, dont on ne peut pas douter, est un preuve insigne de l'excellence de leur communion. mais ne pourrait-on pas objecter aux grecs, que les arméniens et les cofes, qu'ils traitent d'hérétiques, participent à cette même grace. ennemis acharnés les uns des autres, les ministres de ces trois sectes se réunissent en apparence pour la cérémonie du feu sacré. cette réconciliation momentanée n'est due qu'a l'intérêt de tous; séparément ils seraient obligés de payer au gouverneur, pour la permission de faire la miracle, une somme aussi forte que cette qu'ils donnent ensemble. "ces prêtres portent la fourberie jusqu'à vouloir persuader au peuple que le feu sacré ne brûle pas ceux qui sont en état de grace. ils se frottent les mains d'une certaine eau, qui les garantit de la brulure à la première approche, et par ce moyen ne se font aucun mal en touchant leurs cierges. leur prosélytes sont jaloux de les imiter; mais comme ils n'ont pas leur recette, bien souvent ils se brulent les doigts et le visage: il arrive de là que les prêtres, paraissant jouir exclusivement de la grace de dieu, en sont plus respectés et mieux prayés."--_mariti, voyages_, &c., tom. ii. p. . [ ] richardson, vol. ii. p. . [ ] journey, p. . [ ] travels, vol. iv. p. . [ ] vol. ii. p. . [ ] buckingham's travels, vol i. p. . [ ] travels in greece, palestine, egypt, &c. vol. ii. p. . [ ] the invocation alluded to must be familiar to the youngest reader: "sing, heavenly muse, that on the secret top of oreb or of sinai didst inspire that shepherd who first taught the chosen seed, in the beginning, how the heavens and earth rose out of chaos; or, if zion hill delight thee more, and siloa's brook that flowed fast by the oracle of god; i thence invoke thy aid to my advent'rous song." _paradise lost_, book i. [ ] travels by rae wilson, vol. i. p. . [ ] travels in palestine, vol. i. p. . [ ] samuel xviii. . travels in palestine, vol. i. p. . [ ] see tour of the holy land, by the rev. robert morehead, d.d.; in the appendix to which are extracts from this anonymous manuscript. [ ] "having so often mentioned clarke, i must say, that although an animated and interesting writer, and not incorrect in his descriptions, he is more deficient in judgment than any traveller i am acquainted with; and i do not recollect an instance, either here or in egypt, where he has attempted to speculate, without falling into some very decided error. i mention this the more, as his enthusiasm and conviction of the truth of his own theories led me formerly to place great faith in his authority."--_anonymous journal_. [ ] buckingham, vol. i. p. .--the following words, put into the mouth of titus by the eloquent author of the "fall of jerusalem," will be read with interest in connexion with the view just given. the son of vespasian stands on the mount of olives:-- "it must be-- and yet it moves me, romans! it confounds the counsels of my firm philosophy, that ruin's merciless ploughshare must pass o'er and barren salt be sown on yon proud city. as on our olive-crowned hill we stand, where kedron at our feet its scanty waters distils from stone to stone with gentle motion, as through a valley sacred to sweet peace, how boldly doth it front us! how majestically! like a luxurious vineyard, the hill-side is hung with marble fabrics, line on line, terrace o'er terrace, nearer still, and nearer to the blue heavens. here bright and sumptuous palaces, with cool and verdant gardens interspersed; here towers of war that frown in massy strength. while over all hangs the rich purple eve, as conscious of its being her last farewell of light and glory to that fated city. and as our clouds of battle, dust, and smoke are melted into air, behold the temple, in undisturbed and lone serenity, finding itself a solemn sanctuary in the profound of heaven! it stands before us a mount of snow fretted with golden pinnacles! the very sun, as though he worshipped there, lingers upon the gilded cedar roofs; and down the long and branching porticoes, on every flowery sculptured capital glitters the homage of his parting beams. by hercules! the sight might almost win the offended majesty of rome to mercy." old sandys, a simple and amusing writer, describes jerusalem as follows:--"this chic, once sacred and glorious, elected by god for his seate, and seated in the midst of nations,--like a diadem crowning the head of the mountaines,--the theatre of mysteries and miracles,--was founded by melchisedek (who is said to be the son of noah, and that not unprobably) about the year of the world , and called salem (by the gentiles solyma), which signifyeth peace: who reigned here fifty years.--this citie is seated on a rockie mountaine; every way to be ascended (except a little on the north) with steep ascents and deep valleys naturally fortified; for the most part environed with other not far removed mountaines, as if placed in the midst of an amphitheatre."--lib. iii. p. . [ ] "bethlehem soon after came in sight,--a fine village, surrounded with gardens of fig-trees and olives. there is a deep valley below, and half-way down on the top of a hill is a green plain, the only one we have seen in judea:--i could fancy boaz's field forming part of it. the convent is a very remarkable building, and well worth seeing. without, it is a perfect fortress, with heavy buttresses and small grated windows, on entering, we immediately came to a magnificent church, with a double row of ten corinthian pillars of marble on each side,--forty pillars to all. on the arched roof are the remains of mosaic, of the empress helena's time. one part was very distinct: it represented a city with temples, &c., and over it was written in greek characters, _laodicea_."--_anonymous journal_. [ ] richardson, buckingham, maundrell. [ ] bethleem nunc nostram, et augustissimum urbis locum de quo psalmista canit (ps. lxxxiv. ). _veritas de terra orta est_, lucus inumbrabat thamus, id est, adonidis; et in specu ubi quondam christus parvulus vagiit, veneris amasius plangebatur.--_epis. ad paul_. [ ] pour ce qui est des ornemens de ce saint temple, il n'en reste que fort peu en comparaison de ce qui y estoit. car tous les murs estoient autrefois magnifiquement reuestus et couvertes de belles tables de marbre gris onde, comme on en voit encore en quelques endroits que les infidelles n'ont poe avoir. comme ils ont emporté tout le reste pour en orner leurs mosquées, et est une chose pitoyable de voir que tous les murs sont remplis de gros clous et crampons de fer qui les tenoient attachez. au-dessus des colomnes de la nef est un mur tout couvert, et peint de la plus belle et fine mosaique qu'il est possible de voir, n'estant composée que de petites pierres fines et transparentes comme cristal de toutes les couleurs, qui representent grandes figures et histoires de la vie, miracles mort, et passion de nostre seigneur, si narument faites des couleurs si vives et éclatantes, et le fonds d'un or si luysant, qu'il semble qu'elles sont faites depuis peu, encore qu'il y ait plus de treize cens ans. entre ces figures sont treize fenestres de chacun costé, qui rendent un grand jour par toute l'eglise: derrière la troisième et quatrième colomne de la main droite est un tres-beau et riche base de marbre blanc de forme ronde à six pans de quelques trois pieds de diametre, qui sert de fonds baptismaux.--_doubdan_, p. . [ ] maundrell, p. . [ ] relation of a journey, p. . [ ] o ye children of benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in beth-haccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.--jer. vi. . [ ] modern traveller, vol. i. p. . joseph. antiq. lib. xiv e. . [ ] burckhardt's travels in syria, pref, vi. modern traveller, vol. i. p. . doubdun, voyage, p. , . [ ] chateaubriand, tom. i. p. . [ ] "haud procul inde campi, quos ferunt olim uberes, magnisque urbibus habitatos, fulminum jactu, arsisse; et manere vestigia, terramque ipsam, specie torridam, vim frugiferam perdidisse."--_tacit. hist._ lib. v. cap. . [ ] the abbé mariti, who saw little himself, is not willing to allow to others the advantage of having been more fortunate. "quelques voyageurs ont avancé qu'on distinguoit encore les debris de ces villes infortunées, lorsque les eaux de la mer etoient basses et lympides. il en est même que disent avoir apperçu des restes de colonnes avec leurs chapitaux. mais, il faut que l'imagination les ait trompés, ou que depuis leur retour, cette mer ait eprouvé de nouvelles secousses, car je n'y peux rien voir de semblable, malgré toute ma bonne volonté. un père capucin crut aussi reconnoître sur ces bords les effets frappans de la malédiction celeste. ici, ce sont des traces de feu, là, une surface de cendres, partout des champs arides et maudits. il croit même respirer encore un odeur de soufre. pour moi je suis affecté en sens contraire: rien dans ce lieu ne me rappelle la desolation dont parle la bible. l'air y est pure, le gazon d'un beau vert; en plus d'un endroit mon oeil se refraichit aux eaux argentines qui jaillissant en gerbes du sommet des monts; la sterilité dont une partie de ces campagnes fut frappée dès la naissance du monde, rend plus douce par le contraste l'apparence de fertilité que je remarquai dans le sol d'alvona. mais d'où vient donc que deux voyageurs peuvent être si opposés? c'est que un capucin porte partout les cinq sens de la foi, et que moi je ne suis doué que de deux de la nature."--tom. ii. p. . [ ] "on plutôt doit on admettre l'opinion des physiciens arabes, qui établissent, non sans quelque fondement, qu'elles se dissipent en evaporation?".--tom. ii. p. . [ ] mr. gordon, however, maintains, that persons who have never learned to swim will float on its surface.--chateaubriand, tom. i. p. . [ ] "le cardinal de vitry la nomme la mer du diable, et marinas sanutus dit qu'elle est tousjours couverte d'une fumée epaisse et de vapeurs noires, comme quelque soupirail ou cheminée d'enfer. d'autres disent que son eau est noire, gluante, epaisse, grasse, fanguese, et de tres mauvaise odeur; et toutefois j'ay parlé à des religieux qui m'ont asseuré y avoir été, et que cette eau est claire; nette, et liquide: mais très-amère et salée. et comme j'ay dit, je n'y ay veu, ny fumée ny brouillards."--_doubdan, voyage de la terre sainte_, p. . [ ] "as for the apples of sodom, so much talked of, i neither saw nor heard of any hereabouts; nor was there any tree to be seen near the lake from which one might expect such a fruit. which induces me to believe that there may be a greater deceit in this fruit than that which is usually reported of it, and that its very being, as well as its beauty, is a fiction, only kept up, as my lord bacon observes other false notions are, because it serves for a good allusion and helps the poet to a similitude." _maundrell_, p. . [ ] the reading in hasselquist must be _eighteen_ instead of eight, or eight fathoms, instead of feet, for mr. maundrell remarks that the breadth of the river "might be about twenty yards over, and in depth it far exceeded my height."--_journey_, p. . [ ] deut. xxxiv. - . [ ] kings ii. - . [ ] paradise regained, book i. v. , &c. [ ] among these he found, with great delight, a very curious new cimex or _bug_, p. . [ ] journey, p. . [ ] paradise regained, book ii. v. . [ ] a visit to egypt, &c. p. . [ ] travels of ali bey, vol. ii. p. . [ ] the mussulmans say prayers in all the holy places consecrated to the memory of jesus christ and the virgin except the tomb of the holy sepulchre, which they do not acknowledge. they believe that jesus christ did not die, but that he ascended alive into heaven, leaving the likeness of his face to judas, who was condemned to die for him; and that, in consequence, judas having been crucified, his body might have been contained in this sepulchre, but not that of jesus christ. it is for this reason that the mussulmans do not perform any acts of devotion at this monument, and that they ridicule the christians who go to revere it--_ali bey_, vol. ii. p. . [ ] chateaubriand. itinéraire, tom. ii. p. . [ ] journey, p. . [ ] pausanius, describing the sepulchre of helena at jerusalem, mentions this device: "it was so contrived that the door of the sepulchre, which was of stone, and similar in all respects to the sepulchre itself, could never be opened except upon the return of the same day and hour in each succeeding year. it then opened of itself by means of the mechanism alone, and after a short interval closed again. such was the case at the time stated; had you tried to open it at any other time, you would not have succeeded, but broken it first in the attempt." paus. in arcad. cap. xvi.--_clarke's travels_, vol. iv. p. . [ ] journey, p. . [ ] deut. xi. , . [ ] "then cometh he to a city of samaria, which is called sychar, near to the parcel of ground that jacob gave to his son joseph. now jacob's well was there."--john iv. , . [ ] travels, vol. iv. p. . [ ] clarke, vol. iv. p. . [ ] clarke, vol. iv. p. . [ ] richardson, vol. ii. p. . [ ] travels in palestine, &c. by j.s. buckingham, vol. ii. p. . [ ] travels in palestine, vol. ii. p. . [ ] num. xxi. . deut. ii. [ ] buckingham, vol. ii. p. . [ ] travels in palestine, p. . [ ] buckingham, vol. ii. p. . [ ] travels in palestine, vol. ii. p. . [ ] joseph, lib. iii. de bell. jud. hasselquist, p. . clarke, iv. p. . [ ] travels in palestine, vol. ii. p. .--"quae urbes, quod ipse servator ils praedixerat, hodie in ruinis jacent."--cluverius, lib. v. cap. . "capernaum was visited in the sixth century by antoninus the martyr, an extract from whose itinerary is preserved by reland, who speaks of a church erected upon the spot where st. peter's dwelling once stood."--_clarke's travels_, vol. iv. p. . [ ] buckingham, vol. ii. p. . [ ] "within two hours and a half of tiberias, we looked down on a fine cultivated plain, quite bare of trees; beyond which, at a much lower level, lay the narrow valley of the jordan. this plain was pastured over by horses from the town, for the keepers of which white tents were scattered about in all directions. we now came in sight of the sea of galilee: we only saw the northern half, and its size disappointed us; but the dark blue still water, the green hills around covered with bushes, and the high snowy ridge of djibbel el sheik made a very delightful landscape. tiberias, with its high-feudal citadel, its walls and towers, now forms a remarkable feature in the view; and the steep hills, which descend at once to the lake on the east, attract attention from their strangely-channelled sides diversified with dark green bushes and white chalky soil. the lake at the town may be six or eight miles broad. we could see no stream formed by the jordan through it. before it was dark we had a very fine view of the lake; at the southero part it is narrow, and the sides bold. the sun threw a deep shade on this side and on the water, while it marked the hills and valleys on the opposite side with strong light and shade. the northern part is much wider and tamer; but the hills are still high and green, and the lofty snowy mountain of djibbel el sheik rising over them gives great dignity to the landscape. this mountain was very striking late in the evening, as retaining the sun's rays after every thing around us was in darkness. in all respects it is the greatest ornament of the lake, and i am surprised that travellers have not mentioned it more."--_anonymous journal_. [ ] buckingham, vol. ii. p. . [ ] dr. clarke relates, that "the french, during the time their army remained under bonaparte in the holy land, constructed two very large ovens in the earth at tiberias. two years had elapsed at the time of our arrival since they had set fire to their granary; and it was considered as a miracle by the inhabitants that the combustion was not yet extinguished. we visited the place, and perceived, that whenever the ashes of the burnt corn were stirred, by thrusting a stick among them, sparks were even seen glowing throughout the heap; and a piece of wood left there became charred." [ ] the following extract from the unpublished journal already so often referred to will amuse the reader:--"we arrived at the foot of mount tabor. it is, in its general outline, a round, regular-shaped hill, but is rocky and rough enough when it is to be ascended. it has many trees, mostly valonia oaks. it stands on the east of the great plain of esdraëlon, up a recess formed by mount hermon on the one side, and the hills towards nazareth on the other. its height from the plain i should guess at feet. we ascended the greater part of the way on mules. on the top of the hill is one of those large cisterns, or granaries, so often alluded to before. there was one also near jennin, which we observed in coming in. i have since seen them in numerous other places, which puts an end to dr. clarke's pagan remains. the whole of the great plain is fully cultivated, yet we could hardly see a single village, which adds to the peculiarity of its appearance,--one sheet of cultivation without a rock or tree". [ ] clarke, vol. iv. p. . doubdan, voyage de la terre sainte, p. . paris, .--it is remarkable that all the descriptions of the view from mount tabor appear to be borrowed from this sedulous frenchman, whose work, in point of topography, is still unequalled. [ ] journey, p. . [ ] clarke, vol. iv. p. . [ ] vol. iv. p. . "up stairs, above the chapel of the incarnation," says dr. richardson, "we were shown another grotto, which was called the virgin mary's kitchen, and a black smoked place in the corner which was called the virgin mary's chimney. i believe none of the cinders, fire-irons, or culinary instruments have been preserved; these probably fled with the santa casa, or holy house, to loretto; and our only astonishment is, that the house should have taken flight and left the chimney and kitchen behind."--vol. ii. p. . [ ] luke iv. , , . [ ] travels in palestine, vol. ii. p. . [ ] "traditio continua est, et nunquam interrupta, apud omnes nationes orientales, hanc petram, dictam mensa christi, iliam ipsam esse supra quam dominus noster jesus christus cum suis comedit discipulis ante et post suam resurrectionem a mortuis. "et sancta romana ecclesia indulgentiam concessit septem annorum et totidem quadragenarum, omnibus christi fldelibus hunc sanctum locum visitantibus, recitando saltem ibi unum pater, et ave, dummodo sint in statu gratiae." "it is a continued and uninterrupted tradition among all the eastern churches, that this stone, called the table of christ, is that very one upon which our lord jesus christ ate with his disciples both before and after his resurrection from the dead. "and the holy roman church hath granted an indulgence of seven years, and as many lents, to all the faithful in christ visiting this sacred place, upon reciting at least one pater noster and an ave, provided they be in a state of grace." [ ] clarke, vol. iv. p. . [ ] "de là nous retournasmes sur nos pas, à l'entrée du village par où nous avions passé, pour aller voir la fontaine où on alla puiser l'eau qui servit à ce miracle; mais en allant ces femmes et enfans nous penserent accabler de pierres et d'injures, tant ils sont inhumains et enemies des chrêstiens."--_le voyage_, &c. p. . [ ] clarke, iv. p. . "we were afterward conducted into the chapel, in order to see the relics and sacred vestments there preserved. when the poor priest exhibited these, he wept over them with so much sincerity, and lamented the indignities to which the holy places were exposed in forms so affecting, that all our pilgrims wept also. such were the tears which formerly excited the sympathy and roused the valour of the crusaders. the sailors of our party caught the kindling zeal, and nothing more was necessary to incite in them a hostile disposition towards every saracen they might afterward encounter." [ ] travels, vol. iv. p. . [ ] travels vol. iv. p. . [ ] journey from aleppo to jerusalem, p. . [ ] buckingham, vol. i. p. . [ ] history of the jews, vol. iii. [ ] decline and fall, vol. ii. p. . [ ] the reader who wishes to examine the evidence for the miraculous nature of the interruption sustained by the agents of julian will find an ample discussion in the pages of basnage, lardner, warburton, gibbon, and of the author of the history of the jews. [ ] history of the jews, vol. iii. [ ] "when the first light brought news of a morning, they on afresh; because they had intercepted a letter tied to the leg of a dove, wherein the persian emperor promised present succours to the besieged. the turks cased the outside of their walls with bags of chaff, straw, and such like pliable matter, which conquered the engines of the christians by yielding unto them. as for one sturdy engine, whose force would not be tamed, they brought two old witches on the walls to enchant it; but the spirit thereof was too strong for their spells, so that both of them were miserably slain in the place. "we must not think that the world was at a loss for war-tools before the brood of guns was hatched: it had the battering-ramme, first found out by epeus at the taking of troy; the balista to discharge great stones, invented by the phenicians; the catapulta, being a sling of mighty strength, whereof the syrians were authors; and perchance king uzziah first made it, for we find him very dexterous and happy in devising such things. and although these bear-whelps were but rude and unshaped at the first, yet art did lick them afterward, and they got more teeth and sharper nails by degrees; so that every age set them forth in a new edition, corrected and amended. but these and many more voluminous engines are now virtually epitomized in the cannon. and though some say that the finding of guns hath been the losing of many men's lives, yet it will appear that battles now are fought with more expedition, and victory standeth not so long a neuter, before she express herself on one side or other."--_fuller's holy warre_, p. . [ ] fuller remarks, that "this second massacre was no slip of an extemporary passion, but a studied and premeditated act. besides, the execution was merciless upon sucking children whose not speaking spake for them; and on women whose weakness is a shield to defend them against a valiant man. to conclude, severity, hot in the fourth degree, is little better than poison, and becometh cruelty itself; and this act seemeth to be of the same nature."--_fuller's holy warre_, p. . [ ] on this interesting subject we refer to the "itinéraire" of chateaubriand, and his "génie du christianisme;" the history of england by sir james mackintosh, volume first; and to mills's history of the crusades, volume first, chapter sixth. we may add dr. robertson's "historical disquisition concerning the knowledge which the ancients had of india." [ ] mill's history of the crusades, vol. ii. p. . [ ] mills's history of the crusades, vol. ii. p. . michaud, histoire des croisades, tom. iii. p. . [ ] a curé at paris, instead of reading the bull from the pulpit in the usual form, said to his parishioners, "you know, my friends, that i am ordered to fulminate an excommunication against frederick. i know not the motive. all that i know is, that there has been a quarrel between that prince and the pope. god alone knows who is right. i excommunicate him who has injured the other, and i absolve the sufferer." the emperor sent a present to the preacher, but the pope and the king blamed this sally: _le mauvais plaisant_--the unhappy wit--was obliged to expiate his fault by a canonical penance.--_mills's history_, vol. ii. p. . [ ] the address of the pope to the fourth council of lateran, as translated by michaud, is not a little striking:--"o vous qui passez dans les chemins, disait jérusalem par la bouche du pontife, regardez et voyez si jamais il y eut une douleur semblable à la mienne! accourez donc tous, vous qui me cherissez, pour me delivrer de l'excès de mes miseres! moi, qui étais la reçue de toutes les nations, je suis maintenant asservie au tribut; moi, qui étais remplie de peuple, je suis restée presque seule. les chemins de sion sont en deuil, parceque personne ne vient à mes solemnités. mes ennemis ont écrasé ma tête; tous les lieux saints sont profanés: le saint sépulchre, si rempli d'éclat, est couvert d'opprobre; on adore le fils de la perdition et de l'enfer, là où naguères on adorait le fils de dieu. les enfants de l'etranger m'accablent d'outrages, et montrant la croix de jesus, ils me disent:--'_tu as mise toute la confiance dans un bois vil; nous verrons si ce bois te sauvera au jour de danger_.'"--_histoire des croisades_, tom. iii. p. . [ ] "on se rappelait alors les vertus dont il avait donné l'exemple, et surtout sa bonté, envers les habitants de la palestine, qu'il avait traités comme ses propres sujets. les uns exprimaient leur reconnaissance par de vives acclamations, les autres par une morne silence; tout le peuple qu'affligeait son depart, les proclamait _le père des chrétiens_, et conjurait le ciel de repandre ses benedictions sur la famille du vertueux monarque et sur la royaume de france. louis montrait sur son visage, qu'il partageait les regrets des chrétiens de la terra-sainte; il leur addressait des paroles consolantes, leur donnait d'utiles conseils, se reprochait de s'avoir fait assez pour leur cause, et témoignait le vif desir qu'un jour dieu le jugeat digne d'achever l'ouvrage de leur delivrance."--_michaud, histoire des croisades_, tom. iv. p. . [ ] ibid. p. . [ ] it was during the siege of tunis that louis died. "our edward would needs have had the town beaten down, and all put to the sword; thinking the foulest quarter too fair for them. their goods (because got by robbery) he would have sacrificed as an anathema to god, and burnt to ashes; his own share he execrated, and caused it to be burnt, forbidding the english to save any thing of it; because that coals stolen out of that fire would sooner burn their houses than warm their hands. it troubled not the consciences of other princes to enrich themselves herewith, but they glutted themselves with the stolen honie which they found in this hive of drones: and, which was worse, now their bellies were full, they would goe to bed, return home, and goe no farther. yea, the young king of france, called philip the bold, was fearful to prosecute his journey to palestine; whereas prince edward struck his breast, and swore, that though all his friends forsook him, yet he would enter ptolemais though but only with fowin his horsekeeper. by which speech he incensed the english to go on with him."--_fuller's holy warre_, p. . [ ] "it is storied how eleanor, his lady, sucked all the poison out of his wounds, without doing any harm to herself. so sovereign a remedy is a woman's tongue anointed with the virtue of loving affection! pity it is that so pretty a story should not be true (with all the miracles in love's legends), and sure he shall get himself no credit who undertaketh to confute a passage so sounding to the honour of the sex. yet can it not stand with what others have written."--_fuller's holy warre_, p. . [ ] the motives for the massacre of jaffa are given by bourrienne in so impartial a manner, that we are inclined to believe he has given a true transcript of his master's mind. "bonaparte sent his aids-de-camp, beauharnais and crosier, to appease as far as possible the fury of the soldiery, to examine what passed, and to report. they learned that a numerous detachment of the garrison had retired into a strong position, where large buildings surrounded a courtyard. this court they entered, displaying the scarfs which marked their rank. the albanians and arnauts, composing nearly the entire of these refugees, cried out from the windows that they wished to surrender, on condition their lives were spared; if not, threatening to fire upon the officers, and to defend themselves to the last extremity. the young men conceived they ought, and had power, to accede to the demand, in opposition to the sentence of death pronounced against the garrison of every place taken by assault. i was walking with general bonaparte before his tent when these prisoners, in two columns, amounting to about four thousand men, were marched into the camp. when he beheld the mass of men arrive, and before seeing the aids-de-camp, he turned to me with an expression of consternation, 'what would they have me to do with these? have i provisions to feed them; ships to transport them either to egypt or france? how the devil could they play me this trick!' the two aids-de-camp, on their arrival and explanations, received the strongest reprimands. to their defence, namely, that they were alone amid numerous enemies, and that he had recommended to them to appease the slaughter, he replied, in the sternest tone, 'yes, without doubt, the slaughter of women, children, old men, the peaceable inhabitants, but not of armed soldiers; you ought to have braved death, and not brought these to me. what would you have me do with them?' but the evil was done. four thousand men were there--their fate must be determined. the prisoners were made to sit down, huddled together before the tents, their hands being bound behind them. a gloomy rage was depicted to every lineament. a council was held in the general's tent," &c. on the third day an order was issued that the prisoners should be shot,--an order which was literally executed on four thousand men. "the atrocious crime," says m. bourrienne, "makes me yet shudder when i think of it, as when it passed before me. all that can be imagined of fearful on this day of blood would fall short of the reality!"--_memoirs_, vol i. p. . [ ] memoirs of napoleon bonaparte, vol. i. p. . [ ] memoirs of napoleon bonaparte, vol. i. p. . [ ] memoirs of napoleon bonaparte, vol. i. p. . [ ] jowett's christian researches in syria and the holy land, p. . [ ] weimar, geographical ephemerides; and history of the jews, vol. iii. p. . [ ] history of the jews, vol. iii. p. . [ ] see clarke's travels, vol. iv. p. . [ ] hasselquist's voyages and travels, p. . [ ] clarke's travels, vol. iv. p. and . [ ] travels or observations relating to several parts of barbary and the levent, vol. ii. p. . [ ] travels or observations, vol. ii. p. . [ ] travels through syria and egypt, vol. i. p. . [ ] kings, iv. . [ ] shaw's travels, vol. ii. p. . [ ] job xxxix. ver. , , , . [ ] job xxxix. , , , . [ ] appendix to bruce's travels, p. . [ ] see an article in the sixth volume of the wernerian memoirs, by dr. scott, of corstorphine, "on the animal called saphan in the hebrew scriptures." [ ] daubenton, calmet, vol. iv. p. . see also shaw, hasselquist and dochart. [ ] calmet's dictionary, vol. iv. p. . [ ] see calmet, vol. iv. p. . [ ] churchill's voyages, vol. ii, p. . [ ] revelation ix. , . [ ] calmet's dictionary, vol. iv. p. . [ ] malte brun, vol. ii p. . [ ] shaw's travels, vol. ii p. . [ ] isaiah, v. . [ ] voyages and travels in the levant, p. . proofreaders how jerusalem was won being the record of allenby's campaign in palestine by w.t. massey official correspondent of the london newspapers with the egyptian expeditionary force with illustrations and maps london preface this narrative of the work accomplished for civilisation by general allenby's army is carried only as far as the occupation of jericho. the capture of that ancient town, with the possession of a line of rugged hills a dozen miles north of jerusalem, secured the holy city from any turkish attempt to retake it. the book, in fact, tells the story of the twenty-third fall of jerusalem, one of the most beneficent happenings of all wars, and marking an epoch in the wonderful history of the holy place which will rank second only to that era which saw the birth of christianity. all that occurred in the fighting on the gaza-beersheba line was part and parcel of the taking of jerusalem, the freeing of which from four centuries of turkish domination was the object of the first part of the campaign. the holy city was the goal sought by every officer and man in the army; and though from the moment that goal had been attained all energies were concentrated upon driving the turk out of the war, there was not a member of the force, from the highest on the staff to the humblest private in the ranks, who did not feel that jerusalem was the greatest prize of the campaign. in a second volume i shall tell of that tremendous feat of arms which overwhelmed the turkish armies, drove them through miles of country in six weeks, and gave cavalry an opportunity of proving that, despite all the arts and devices of modern warfare, with fighters and observers in the air and an entirely new mechanism of war, they continued as indispensable a part of an army as when the legions of old took the field. this is too long a story to be told in this volume, though the details of that magnificent triumph are so firmly impressed on the mind that one is loth to leave the narration of them to a future date. for the moment jerusalem must be sufficient, and if in the telling of the british work up to that point i can succeed in giving an idea of the immense value of general allenby's army to the empire, of the soldier's courage and fortitude, of his indomitable will and self-sacrifice and patriotism, it will indeed prove the most grateful task i have ever set myself. _april ._ contents chap. i. palestine's influence on the war ii. old battlegrounds iii. difficulties of the attack iv. training the army v. railways, roads, and the base vi. preparing for 'zero day' vii. the beersheba victory viii. gaza defences ix. crushing the turkish left x. through gaza into the open xi. two yeomanry charges xii. looking towards jerusalem xiii. into the judean hills xiv. the deliverance of the holy city xv. general allenby's official entry xvi. making jerusalem secure xvii. a great feat of war xviii. by the banks of the jordan xix. the touch of the civilising hand xx. our conquering airmen appendices index list of maps plan of southern palestine plan of gaza-beersheba line plan of the beth-horon country plan of the battle of jerusalem list of illustrations official entry into the holy city. general allenby received by the military governor op jerusalem, december , kantara terminus of the desert military railway east force h.q. dug-outs near gaza wadi ghuzze near shellal our waterworks at shellal on the move in the desert the great mosque at gaza turkish headquarters at gaza. note the crusader lion in wall. a desert motor road near shellal turkish dug-outs at gaza beersheba railway station with mined rolling stock lieut.-gen. sir harry chauvel outside beersheba mosque, november , el mughar. the scene of a yeomanry charge burial-place of st. george, patron saint of england (at ludd) yeomanry graves at beth-horon the upper, where joshua commanded the sun to remain still to enable the israelites to overthrow the philistines in the judean hills a roman centurion's tomb, kuryet el enab one of king solomon's pools a typical new zealander wadi surar, crossed by london territorials on the morning of their assault on the jerusalem defences the deir yesin position west of jerusalem eastern face of nebi samwil mosque, showing destruction by turkish shell-fire official entry into the holy city. general allenby arriving outside the jaffa gate official entry. general allenby receiving the mayor of jerusalem (a descendant of mahomet) jerusalem from mount of olives jerusalem from garden of gethsemane panel in the chapel of the kaiserin augusta victoria hospice on the mount of olives bethlehem church of the nativity, bethlehem ain karim, part of the jerusalem defences river auja, crossed at night by lowland territorials jerisheh mill, river auja, one of the lowlanders' crossings barrel bridge over the river auja destroyed bridge on the jericho road the wilderness, with a glimpse of the dead sea londoners' bridge over the jordan. the river is in flood german prisoners crossing the jordan new zealand mounted rifles at bethlehem a hairpin bend on the jerusalem road chapter i palestine's influence on the war in a war which involved the peoples of the four quarters of the globe it was to be expected that on the world's oldest battleground would be renewed the scenes of conflict of bygone ages. there was perhaps a desire of some elements of both sides, certainly it was the unanimous wish of the allies, to avoid the clash of arms in palestine, and to leave untouched by armies a land held in reverence by three of the great religions of the world. but this ancient cockpit of warring races could not escape. the will of those who broke the peace prevailed. germany's dream of eastern empires and world domination, the lust of conquest of the kaiser party, required that the tide of war should once more surge across the land, and if the conquering hosts left fewer traces of war wreckage than were to be expected in their victorious march, it was due not to any anxiety of our foes to avoid conflict about, and damage to, places with hallowed associations, but to the masterly strategy of the british commander-in-chief who manoeuvred the turkish armies out of positions defending the sacred sites. the people of to-day who have lived through the war, who have had their view bewildered by ever-recurring anxieties, by hopes shattered and fears realised, by a succession of victories and defeats on a colossal scale, and by a sudden collapse of the enemy, may fail to see the palestine campaign in true perspective. but in a future generation the calm judgment of the historian in reviewing the greatest of all wars will, if i mistake not, pay a great tribute to general allenby's strategy, not only as marking the commencement of the enemy's downfall, but as preserving from the scourge of war those holy places which symbolise the example by which most people rule their lives. britons who value the good name of their country will appreciate what this means to those who shall come after us--that the record of a great campaign carried out exclusively by british imperial troops was unsullied by a single act to disturb the sacred monuments, and left the land in the full possession of those rich treasures which stand for the principles that guided our actions and which, if posterity observes them, will make a better and happier world. a few months after the turks entered the war it was obvious that unaided they could never realise the kaiser's hope of cutting the suez canal communications of the british empire. the german commitments in europe were too overwhelming to permit of their rendering the turks adequate support for a renewed effort against egypt after the failure of the attack on the canal in february . there was an attempt by the turks in august , but it was crushed by anzac horse and british infantry at romani,[ ] a score of miles from port said, and thereafter the turks in this theatre were on the defensive. some declare the dardanelles enterprise to have been a mistake; others believe that had we not threatened the turks there egypt would have had to share with us the anxieties that war brings alike upon attackers and defenders. gallipoli and mesopotamia, however we regard those expeditions in the first years of the struggle, undoubtedly prevented the turks employing a large army against egypt, and the possibilities resulting from a defeat there were so full of danger to us, not merely in that half-way house of the empire but in india and the east generally, that if gallipoli served to avert the disaster that ill-starred expedition was worth undertaking. we had to drive the turks out of the sinai peninsula--egyptian territory--and, that accomplished, an attack on the turks through palestine was imperative since the russian collapse released a large body of turkish troops from the caucasus who would otherwise be employed in mesopotamia. [footnote : _the desert campaigns_: london, constable and co., ltd.] when general allenby took over the command of the egyptian expeditionary force the british public as a whole did not fully realise the importance of the palestine campaign. most of them regarded it as a 'side show,' and looked upon it as one of those minor fields of operations which dissipated our strength at a time when it was imperative we should concentrate to resist the german effort on the western front. they did not know the facts. in our far-flung empire it was essential that we should maintain our prestige among the races we governed, some of them martial peoples who might remain faithful to the british flag only so long as we could impress them with our power to win the war. they were more influenced by a triumph in mesopotamia, which was nearer their doors, than by a victory in france, and the occupation of bagdad was a victory of greater import to the king's indian subjects than the german retirement from the hindenburg line. if there ever was a fear of serious trouble in india the advance of general maude in mesopotamia dispelled it, and made it easier not only to release a portion of our white garrison in india for active service elsewhere, but to recruit a large force of indians for the empire's work in other climes. bagdad was a tremendous blow to german ambitions. the loss of it spelt ruin to those hopes of eastern conquest which had prompted the german intrigues in turkey, and it was certain that the kaiser, so long as he believed in ultimate victory, would refuse to accept the loss of bagdad as final. russia's withdrawal as a belligerent released a large body of turkish troops in the caucasus, and set free many germans, particularly 'technical troops' of which the turks stood in need, for other fronts. it was then that the german high command conceived a scheme for retaking bagdad, and the redoubtable von falkenhayn was sent to constantinople charged with the preparations for the undertaking. certain it is that it would have been put into execution but for the situation created by the presence of a large british army in the sinai peninsula. a large force was collected about aleppo for a march down the euphrates valley, and the winter of - would have witnessed a stern struggle for supremacy in mesopotamia if the war cabinet had not decided to force the turks to accept battle where they least wanted it. the views of the british war cabinet on the war in the east, at any rate, were sound and solid. they concentrated on one big campaign, and, profiting from past mistakes which led to a wastage of strength, allowed all the weight they could spare to be thrown into the egyptian expeditionary force under a general who had proved his high military capacity in france, and in whom all ranks had complete confidence, and they permitted the mesopotamian and salonika armies to contain the enemies on their fronts while the army in palestine set out to crush the turks at what proved to be their most vital point. as to whether the force available on our mesopotamia front was capable of defeating the german scheme i cannot offer an opinion, but it is beyond all question that the conduct of operations in palestine on a plan at once bold, resolute, and worthy of a high place in military history saved the empire much anxiety over our position in the tigris and euphrates valleys, and probably prevented unrest on the frontiers of india and in india itself, where mischief makers were actively working in the german cause. nor can there be any doubt that the brilliant campaign in palestine prevented british and french influence declining among the mahomedan populations of those countries' respective spheres of control in africa. indeed i regard it as incontrovertible that the palestine strategy of general allenby, even apart from his stupendous rush through syria in the autumn of the last year of war, did as much to end the war in as the great battles on the western front, for if there had been failure or check in palestine some british and french troops in france might have had to be detached to other fronts, and the germans' effort in the spring might have pushed their line farther towards the channel and paris. if bagdad was not actually saved in palestine, an expedition against it was certainly stopped by our army operating on the old battlegrounds in palestine. we lost many lives, and it cost us a vast amount of money, but the sacrifices of brave men contributed to the saving of the world from german domination; and high as the british name stood in the east as the upholder of the freedom of peoples, the fame of britain for justice, fair dealing, and honesty is wider and more firmly established to-day because the people have seen it emerge triumphantly from a supreme test. in the strategy of the world war we made, no doubt, many mistakes, but in palestine the strategy was of the best, and in the working out of a far-seeing scheme, victories so influenced events that on this front began the final phase of the war--once turkey was beaten, bulgaria and austria-hungary submitted and germany acknowledged the inevitable. falkenhayn saw that the bagdad undertaking was impossible so long as we were dangerous on the palestine front, and general allenby's attack on the gaza line wiped the bagdad enterprise out of the list of german ambitions. the plan of battle on the gaza-beersheba line resembled in miniature the ending of the war. if we take beersheba for turkey, sheria and hareira for bulgaria and austria, and gaza for germany, we get the exact progress of events in the final stage, except that bulgaria's submission was an intelligent anticipation of the laying down of their arms by the turks. gaza-beersheba was a rolling up from our right to left; so was the ending of the hun alliance. chapter ii old battlegrounds it was in accordance with the fitness of things that the british army should fight and conquer on the very spots consecrated by the memories of the most famous battles of old. from gaza onwards we made our progress by the most ancient road on earth, for this way moved commerce between the euphrates and the nile many centuries before the east knew west. we fought on fields which had been the battlegrounds of egyptian and assyrian armies, where hittites, ethiopians, persians, parthians, and mongols poured out their blood in times when kingdoms were strong by the sword alone. the ptolemies invaded syria by this way, and here the greeks put their colonising hands on the country. alexander the great made this his route to egypt. pompey marched over the maritime plain and inaugurated that roman rule which lasted for centuries; till islam made its wide irresistible sweep in the seventh century. then the crusaders fought and won and lost, and napoleon's ambitions in the east were wrecked just beyond the plains. up the maritime plain we battled at gaza, every yard of which had been contested by the armies of mighty kings in the past thirty-five centuries, at akir, gezer, lydda, and around joppa. all down the ages armies have moved in victory or flight over this plain, and general allenby in his advance was but repeating history. and when the turks had been driven beyond the plain of philistia, and the commander-in-chief had to decide how to take jerusalem, we saw the british force move along precisely the same route that has been taken by armies since the time when joshua overcame the amorites and the day was lengthened by the sun and moon standing still till the battle was won. geography had its influence on the strategy of to-day as completely as it did when armies were not cumbered with guns and mechanical transport. of the few passes from the maritime plain over the shephelah into the judean range only that emerging from the green vale of ajalon was possible, if we were to take jerusalem, as the great captains of old took it, from the north. the syrians sometimes chose this road in preference to advancing through samaria, the romans suffered retreat on it, richard coeur de lion made it the path for his approach towards the holy city, and, precisely as in joshua's day and as when in the first century the romans fell victims to a tremendous jewish onslaught, the fighting was hardest about the beth-horons, but with a different result--the invaders were victorious. the corps which actually took jerusalem advanced up the new road from latron through kuryet el enab, identified by some as kirjath-jearim where the philistines returned the ark, but that road would have been denied to us if we had not made good the ancient path from the vale of ajalon to gibeon. jerusalem was won by the fighting at the beth-horons as surely as it was on the line of hills above the wadi surar which the londoners carried. there was fighting at gibeon, at michmas, at beeroth, at ai, and numerous other places made familiar to us by the old testament, and assuredly no army went forth to battle on more hallowed soil. of all the armies which earned a place in history in palestine, general allenby's was the greatest--the greatest in size, in equipment, in quality, in fighting power, and not even the invading armies in the romantic days of the crusades could equal it in chivalry. it fought the strong fight with clean hands throughout, and finished without a blemish on its conduct. it was the best of all the conquering armies seen in the holy land as well as the greatest. will not the influence of this army endure? i think so. there is an awakening in palestine, not merely of christians and jews, but of moslems, too, in a less degree. during the last thirty years there have grown more signs of the deep faiths of peoples and of their veneration of this land of sacred history. if their institutions and missions could develop and shed light over palestine even while the slothful and corrupt turk ruled the land, how much faster and more in keeping with the sanctity of the country will the improvement be under british protection? the graves of our soldiers dotted over desert wastes and cornfields, on barren hills and in fertile valleys, ay, and on the mount of olives where the saviour trod, will mark an era more truly grand and inspiring, and offer a far greater lesson to future generations than the crusades or any other invasion down the track of time. the army of general allenby responded to the happy thought of the commander-in-chief and contributed one day's pay for the erection of a memorial near jerusalem in honour of its heroic dead. apart from the holy sites, no other memorial will be revered so much, and future pilgrims, to whatever faith they belong, will look upon it as a monument to men who went to battle to bring lasting peace to a land from which the word of peace and goodwill went forth to mankind. in selecting general sir edmund allenby as the palestine army's chief the war cabinet made a happy choice. general sir archibald murray was recalled to take up an important command at home after the two unsuccessful attempts to drive the turks from the gaza defences. the troops at general murray's disposal were not strong enough to take the offensive again, and it was clear there must be a long period of preparation for an attack on a large scale. general allenby brought to the east a lengthy experience of fighting on the western front, where his deliberate methods of attack, notably at arras, had given the allies victories over the cleverest and bravest of our enemies. palestine was likely to be a cavalry, as well as an infantry, campaign, or at any rate the theatre of war in which the mounted arm could be employed with the most fruitful of results. general allenby's achievements as a cavalry leader in the early days of the war marked him as the one officer of high rank suited for the palestine command, and his proved capacity as a general both in open and in trench warfare gave the army that high degree of confidence in its commander-in-chief which it is so necessary that a big fighting force should possess. a tremendously hard worker himself, general allenby expected all under him to concentrate the whole of their energies on their work. he had the faculty for getting the best out of his officers, and on his staff were some of the most enthusiastic soldiers in the service. there was no room for an inefficient leader in any branch of the force, and the knowledge that the commander-in-chief valued the lives and the health of his men so highly that he would not risk a failure, kept all the staffs tuned up to concert pitch. we saw many changes, and the best men came to the top. his own vigour infected the whole command, and within a short while of arriving at the front the efficiency of the army was considerably increased. the palestine g.h.q. was probably nearer the battle front than any g.h.q. in other theatres of operations, and when the army had broken through and chased the enemy beyond the jaffa-jerusalem line, g.h.q. was opened at bir salem, near ramleh, and for several months was actually within reach of the long-range guns which the turks possessed. the rank and file were not slow to appreciate this. they knew their commander-in-chief was on the spot, keeping his eye and hand on everything, organising with his organisers, planning with his operation staff, familiar with every detail of the complicated transport system, watching his supply services with the keenness of a quartermaster-general, and taking that lively interest in the medical branch which betrayed an anxious desire for the welfare and health of the men. the rank and file knew something more than this. they saw the commander-in-chief at the front every day. general allenby did not rely solely on reports from his corps. he went to each section of the line himself, and before practically every major operation he saw the ground and examined the scheme for attack. there was not a part of the line he did not know, and no one will contradict me when i say that the military roads in palestine were known by no one better than the driver of the commander-in-chief's car. a man of few words, general allenby always said what he meant with soldierly directness, which made the thanks he gave a rich reward. a good piece of work brought a written or oral message of thanks, and the men were satisfied they had done well to deserve congratulations. they were proud to have the confidence of such a chief and to deserve it, and they in their turn had such unbounded faith in the military judgment of the general and in the care he took to prevent unnecessary risk of life, that there was nothing which he sanctioned that they would not attempt. such mutual confidence breeds strength, and it was the commander-in-chief's example, his tact, energy, and military genius which made his army a potent power for britain and a strong pillar of the allies' cause. let it not be imagined that general allenby in his victorious campaign shone only as a great soldier. he was also a great administrator. in england little was known about this part of the general's work, and owing to the difficulties of the task and to the consideration which had, and still has, to be shown to the susceptibilities of a number of friendly nations and peoples, it may be long before the full story of the administration of the occupied territory in palestine is unfolded for general appreciation. it is a good story, worthy of britain's record as a protector of peoples, and though from the nature of his conquest over the turks in the bible country the name of general allenby will adorn the pages of history principally as a victor, it will also stand before the governments of states as setting a model for a wise, prudent, considerate, even benevolent, administration of occupied enemy territory. in days when powers driven mad by military ambition tear up treaties as scraps of paper, general allenby observed the spirit as well as the letter of the hague convention, and found it possible to apply to occupied territory the principles of administration as laid down in the manual of military law. the natives marvelled at the change. in place of insecurity, extortion, bribery and corruption, levies on labour and property and all the evils of turkish government, general allenby gave the country behind the front line peace, justice, fair treatment of every race and creed, and a firm and equitable administration of the law. every man's house became his castle. taxes were readily paid, the tax gatherers were honest servants, and, none of the revenue going to keep fat pashas in luxury in constantinople, there came a prospect of expenditure and revenue balancing after much money had been usefully spent on local government. until the signing of peace international law provided that turkish laws should apply. these, properly administered, as they never were by the turks, gave a basis of good government, and, with the old abuses connected with the collection of revenue removed, and certain increased taxation and customs dues imposed by the turks during the war discontinued, the people resumed the arts of peace and enjoyed a degree of prosperity none of them had ever anticipated. what the future government of palestine may be is uncertain at the time of writing. there is talk of international control--we seem ever ready to lose at the conference table what a valiant sword has gained for us--but the careful and perfectly correct administration of general allenby will save us from the criticism of many jealous foreigners. certainly it will bear examination by any impartial investigator, but the best of all tributes that could be paid to it is that it satisfied religious communities which did not live in perfect harmony with one another and the inhabitants of a country which shelters the people of many different races. the yilderim undertaking, as the bagdad scheme was described, did not meet with the full acceptance of the turks. the 'mighty jemal', as the germans sneeringly called the commander of the syrian army, opposed it as weakening his prospects, and even enver, the ambitious creature and tool of germany, postponed his approval. it would seem the taking over of the command of the egyptian expeditionary force by general allenby set the turks thinking, and made the german military mission in constantinople reconsider their plans, not with a view to a complete abandonment of the proposal to advance on bagdad, as would have been wise, but in order to see how few of the yilderim troops they could allot to jemal's army to make safe the sinai front. there was an all-important meeting of turkish generals in the latter half of august, and jemal stood to his guns. von falkenhayn could not get him to abate one item of his demands, and there can be no doubt that falkenhayn, obsessed though he was with the importance of getting bagdad, could see that jemal was right. he admitted that the yilderim operation was only practicable if it had freedom for retirement through the removal of the danger on the palestine front. with that end in view he advocated that the british should be attacked, and suggested that two divisions and the 'asia corps' should be sent from aleppo to move round our right. jemal was in favour of defensive action; enver procrastinated and proposed sending one division to strengthen the ivth army on the gaza front and to proceed with the bagdad preparations. the wait-and-see policy prevailed, but long before we exerted our full strength bagdad was out of the danger zone. general allenby's force was so disposed that any suggestion of the yilderim operation being put into execution was ruled out of consideration. several documents captured at yilderim headquarters at nazareth in september , when general allenby made his big drive through syria, show very clearly how our palestine operations changed the whole of the german plans, and reading between the lines one can realise how the impatience of the germans was increasing turkish stubbornness and creating friction and ill-feeling. the german military character brooks no opposition; the turks like to postpone till to-morrow what should be done to-day. the latter were cocksure after their two successes at gaza they could hold us up; the germans believed that with an offensive against us they would hold us in check till the wet season arrived.[ ] [footnote : see appendices i., ii., and iii.] down to the south the turks had to bring their divisions. their line of communications was very bad. there was a railway from aleppo through rayak to damascus, and onwards through deraa (on the hedjaz line) to afule, messudieh, tul keram, ramleh, junction station to beit hanun, on the gaza sector, and through et tineh to beersheba. rolling stock was short and fuel was scarce, and the enemy had short rations. when we advanced through syria in the autumn of our transport was nobly served by motor-lorry columns which performed marvels in getting up supplies over the worst of roads. but as we went ahead we, having command of the sea, landed stores all the way up the coast, and unless the navy had lent its helping hand we should never have got to aleppo before the turk cried 'enough.' every ounce of the turks' supplies had to be hauled over land. they managed to put ten infantry divisions and one cavalry division against us in the first three weeks, but they were not comparable in strength to our seven infantry divisions and three cavalry divisions. in rifle strength we outnumbered them by two to one, but if the enemy had been well led and properly rationed he, being on the defensive and having strong prepared positions, should have had the power to resist us more strongly. the turkish divisions we attacked were: rd, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, rd, and th, and the rd cavalry division. the latter avoided battle, but all the infantry divisions had heavy casualties. that the moral of the turkish army was not high may be gathered from a very illuminating letter written by general kress von kressenstein, the g.o.c. of the sinai front, to yilderim headquarters on september , .[ ] [footnote : see appendix iv.] the troops who won palestine and made it happier than it had been for four centuries were exclusively soldiers of the british empire. there was a french detachment and an italian detachment with general allenby's army. the italians for a short period held a small portion of the line in the gaza sector, but did not advance with our force; the french detachment were solely employed as garrison troops. the french battleship _requin_ and two french destroyers cooperated with the ships of the royal navy in the bombardment of the coast. our army was truly representative of the empire, and the units composing it gave an abiding example that in unity rested our strength. from over the seven seas the empire's sons came to illustrate the unanimity of all the king's subjects in the prosecution of the war. english, scottish, irish, and welsh divisions of good men and true fought side by side with soldiers of varying indian races and castes. australia's valiant sons constituted many brigades of horse and, with new zealand mounted regiments, became the most hardened campaigners in the egyptian and palestine theatre of operations. their powerful support in the day of anxiety and trial, as well as in the time of triumph, will be remembered with gratitude. south africa contributed good gunners; our dark-skinned brethren in the west indies furnished infantry who, when the fierce summer heat made the air in the jordan valley like a draught from a furnace, had a bayonet charge which aroused an anzac brigade to enthusiasm (and colonial free men can estimate bravery at its true value). from far-away hong kong and singapore came mountain gunners equal to any in the world, kroomen sent from their homes in west africa surf boatmen to land stores, raratongas from the southern pacific vied with them in boat craft and beat them in physique, while egypt contributed a labour corps and transport corps running a long way into six figures. the communion of the representatives of the mother and daughter nations on the stern field of war brought together people with the same ideals, and if there are any minor jealousies between them the brotherhood of arms will make the soldiers returning to their homes in all quarters of the globe the best of missionaries to spread the imperial idea. instead of wrecking the british empire the german-made war should rebuild it on the soundest of foundations, affection, mutual trust, and common interest. chapter iii difficulties of the attack general allenby's first problem was of vital consequence. he had to pierce the gaza line. before his arrival there had been, as already stated, two attempts which failed. a third failure, or even a check, might have spelt disaster for us in the east. the turks held commanding positions, which they strengthened and fortified under the direction of german engineers until their country, between the sea and beersheba, became a chain of land works of high military value, well adapted for defence, and covering almost every line of approach. the turk at the dardanelles had shown no loss of that quality of doggedness in defence which characterised him in plevna, and though we know his commanders still cherished the hope of successfully attacking us before we could attempt to crush his line, it was on his system of defence that the enemy mainly relied to break the power of the british force. on arriving in egypt general allenby was given an appreciation of the situation written by lieut.-general sir philip chetwode, who had commanded the desert column in various stages across the sands of sinai, was responsible for forcing the turks to evacuate el arish, arranged the dash on magdaba by general sir harry chauvel's mounted troops, and fought the brilliant little battle of rafa. this appreciation of the position was the work of a master military mind, taking a broad comprehensive view of the whole military situation in the east, palestine's position in the world war, the strategical and tactical problems to be faced, and, without making any exorbitant demands for troops which would lessen the allies' powers in other theatres, set out the minimum necessities for the palestine force. general allenby gave the fullest consideration to this document, and after he had made as complete an examination of the front as any commander-in-chief ever undertook--the general was in one or other sector with his troops almost every day for four months--general chetwode's plan was adopted, and full credit was given to his prescience in general allenby's despatch covering the operations up to the fall of jerusalem. it was general chetwode's view at the time of writing his appreciation, that both the british and turkish armies were strategically on the defensive. the forces were nearly equal in numbers, though we were slightly superior in artillery, but we had no advantage sufficient to enable us to attack a well-entrenched enemy who only offered us a flank on which we could not operate owing to lack of water and the extreme difficulty of supply. general chetwode thought it was possible the enemy might make an offensive against us--we have since learned he had such designs--but he gave weighty reasons against the turk embarking upon a campaign conducted with a view to throwing us beyond the egyptian frontier into the desert again. if the enemy contemplated even minor operations in the sinai desert he had not the means of undertaking them. we should be retiring on positions we had prepared, for, during his advance across the desert, general chetwode had always taken the precaution of having his force dug in against the unlikely event of a turkish attack. every step we went back would make our supply easier, and there was no water difficulty, the pipe line, then miles long, which carried the purified waters of the nile to the amount of hundreds of thousands of gallons daily, being always available for our troops. it would be necessary for the turks to repair the beersheba-auja railway. they had lifted some of the rails for use north of gaza, and a raid we had carried out showed that we could stop this railway being put into a state of preparedness for military traffic. an attack which aimed at again threatening the suez canal was therefore ruled as outside the range of possibilities. on the other hand, now that the russian collapse had relieved the turk of his anxieties in the caucasus and permitted him to concentrate his attention on the mesopotamian and palestine fronts, what hope had he of resisting our attack when we should be in a position to launch it? the enemy had a single narrow-gauge railway line connecting with the jaffa-jerusalem railway at junction station about six miles south-east of ramleh. this line ran to beersheba, and there was a spur line running past deir sineid to beit hanun from which the gaza position was supplied. there was a shortage of rolling stock and, there being no coal for the engines, whole olive orchards had been hacked down to provide fuel. the hebron road, which could keep beersheba supplied if the railway was cut, was in good order, but in other parts there were no roads at all, except several miles of badly metalled track from junction station to julis. we could not keep many troops with such ill-conditioned communications, but turkish soldiers require far less supplies than european troops, and the enemy had done such remarkable things in surmounting supply difficulties that he was given credit for being able to support between sixty and seventy battalions in the line and reserve, with an artillery somewhat weaker than our own. if we made another frontal attack at gaza we should find ourselves up against a desperately strong defensive system, but even supposing we got through it we should come to another halt in a few miles, as the enemy had selected, and in most cases had prepared, a number of positions right up to the jaffa-jerusalem road, where he would be in a land of comparative plenty, with his supply and transport troubles very considerably reduced. no one could doubt that the turks intended to defend jerusalem to the last, not only because of the moral effect its capture would have on the peoples of the world, but because its possession by us would threaten their enterprise in the hedjaz, and the enormous amount of work we afterwards found they had done on the judean hills proved that they were determined to do all in their power to prevent our driving them from the holy city. the enemy, too, imagined that our progress could not exceed the rate at which our standard gauge railway could be built. water-borne supplies were limited as to quantity, and during the winter the landing of supplies on an open beach was hazardous. in the coastal belt there were no roads, and the wide fringe of sand which has accumulated for centuries and still encroaches on the maritime plain can only be crossed by camels. wells are few and yield but small volumes of water. with the transport allotted to the force in the middle of it was not possible to maintain more than one infantry division at a distance of twenty to twenty-five miles beyond railhead, and this could only be done by allotting to them all the camels and wheels of other divisions and rendering these immobile. this was insufficient to keep the enemy on the move after a tactical success, and he would have ample time to reorganise. general chetwode held that careful preliminary arrangements, suitable and elastic organisation of transport, the collection of material at railhead, the training of platelaying gangs provided by the troops, the utilisation of the earthwork of the enemy's line for our own railway, luck as regards the weather and the fullest use of sea transport, should enable us to give the enemy less breathing time than appeared possible on paper. it was beyond hope, however, whatever preparations were made, that we should be able to pursue at a speed approaching that which the river made possible in mesopotamia. general chetwode considered it would be fatal to attempt an offensive with forces which might permit us to attack and occupy the enemy's gaza line but which would be insufficient to inflict upon him a really severe blow, and to follow up that blow with sufficient troops. no less than seven infantry divisions at full strength and three cavalry divisions would be adequate for the purpose, and they would be none too many. further, if the turks began to press severely in mesopotamia, or even to revive their campaign in the hedjaz, a premature offensive might be necessitated on our part in palestine. the suggestion made by general chetwode for general allenby's consideration was that the enemy should be led to believe we intended to attack him in front of gaza, and that we should pin him down to his defences in the centre, while the real attack should begin on beersheba and continue at hareira and sheria, and so force the enemy by manoeuvre to abandon gaza. that plan general allenby adopted after seeing all the ground, and the events of the last day of october and the first week of november supported general chetwode's predictions to the letter. indeed it would be hard to find a parallel in history for such another complete and absolute justification of a plan drawn up several months previously, and it is doubtful if, supposing the turks had succeeded in doing what their german advisers advocated, namely forestalling our blow by a vigorous attack on our positions, there would have been any material alteration in the working out of the scheme. the staff work of general headquarters and of the staffs of the three corps proved wholly sound. each department gave of its best, and from the moment when beersheba was taken in a day and we secured its water supply, there was never a doubt that the enemy could be kept on the move until we got into the rough rocky hills about jerusalem. and by that time, as events proved, his moral had had such a tremendous shaking that he never again made the most of his many opportunities. the soundness of the plan can quite easily be made apparent to the unmilitary eye. yet the turk was absolutely deceived as to general allenby's intentions. if it be conceded that to deceive the enemy is one of the greatest accomplishments in the soldier's art, it must be admitted that the battle of gaza showed general allenby's consummate generalship, just as it was proved again, and perhaps to an even greater extent, in the wonderful days of september , in northern palestine and syria. a glance at the map of the gaza-beersheba line and the country immediately behind it will show that if a successful attack were delivered against gaza the enemy could withdraw his whole line to a second and supporting position where we should have to begin afresh upon an almost similar operation. the turk would still have his water and would be slightly nearer his supplies. since the two unsuccessful attacks in march and april, gaza had been put into a powerful state of defence. the houses of the town are mostly on a ridge, and enclosing the place is a mass of gardens fully a mile deep, each surrounded by high cactus hedges affording complete cover and quite impossible for infantry to penetrate. to reduce gaza would require a prolonged artillery bombardment with far more batteries than general allenby could ever expect to have at his command, and it is certain that not only would the line in front of the town have had to be taken, but also the whole of the western end of the turks' trench system for a length of at least , yards. and, as has been said, with gaza secured we should still have had to face the enemy in a new line of positions about the wadi hesi. gaza was the turks' strongest point. to attack here would have meant a long-drawn-out artillery duel, infantry would have had to advance over open ground under complete observation, and, while making a frontal attack, would have been exposed to enfilade fire from the 'tank' system of works to the south-east. it would have proved a costly operation, its success could only have been partial in that it did not follow that we should break the enemy's line, and it would not have enabled us to contain the remainder of the turkish force. nor would an attack on the centre have promised more favourably. here the enemy had all the best of the ground. at atawineh, sausage ridge, hareira, and teiaha there were defences supporting each other on high ground overlooking an almost flat plain through which the wadi ghuzze runs. all the observation was in enemy possession, and to attack over this ground would have been inviting disaster. there was little fear that the turks would attack us across this wide range of no man's land, for we held secure control of the curiously shaped heaps of broken earth about shellal, and the conical hill at fara gave an uninterrupted view for several miles northward and eastward. the position was very different about beersheba. if we secured that place with its water supply, and in this dry country the battle really amounted to a fight for water, we should be attacking from high ground and against positions which had not been prepared on so formidable a scale as elsewhere, with the prospect of compelling the enemy to abandon the remainder of the line for fear of being enveloped by mounted troops moving behind his weakened left. that, in brief outline, was the gist of general chetwode's report, and with its full acceptance began the preparations for the advance. these preparations took several months to complete, and they were as thorough as the energy of a capable staff could make them. chapter iv training the army those of us who were fortunate enough to witness the nature of the preparations for the first of general allenby's great and triumphant moves in palestine can speak of the debt britain and her allies owe not merely to the commander-in-chief and his headquarters staff, but to the three corps commanders, the divisional commanders, the brigadiers, and the officers responsible for transport, artillery, engineer, and the other services. the army had to be put on an altogether different footing from that which had twice failed to drive the turks from gaza. it serves nothing to ignore the fact that the moral of the troops was not high in the weeks following the second failure. they had to be tuned up and trained for a big task. they knew the turk was turning his natural advantages of ground about gaza into a veritable fortress, and that if their next effort was to meet with more success than their last, they had to learn all that experience on the western front had taught as to systems of trench warfare. and, more than that, they had to prepare to apply the art of open warfare to the full extent of their powers. a couple of months before general allenby took over command, general chetwode had taken in hand the question of training, and in employing the knowledge gained during the strenuous days he had spent in france and flanders, he not only won the confidence of the troops but improved their tone, and by degrees brought them up to something approaching the level of the best fighting divisions of our army in france. this was hard work during hot weather when our trench systems on a wide front had to be prepared against an active enemy, and men could ill be spared for the all-important task of training behind the front line. it was not long, however, before troops who had got into that state of lassitude which is engendered by a belief that they were settling down to trench warfare for the duration of the war--that, in fact, there was a stalemate on this front--became inspired by the energy of general chetwode. they saw him in the front line almost every day, facing the risks they ran themselves, complimenting them on any good piece of work, suggesting improvements in their defences, always anxious to provide anything possible for their comfort, and generally looking after the rank and file with a detailed attention which no good battalion commander could exceed. the men knew that the long visits general chetwode paid them formed but a small part of his daily task. it has been said that a g.o.c. of a force has to think one hour a day about operations and five hours about beef. in east force, as this part of the egyptian expeditionary force was then called, general chetwode, having to look months ahead, had also six worrying hours a day to think about water. for any one who did not love his profession, or who had not an ardent soldierly spirit within him, such a daily task would have been impossible. i had the privilege of living in general chetwode's camp for some time, and i have seen him working at four o'clock in the morning and at nine o'clock at night, and the notes on a writing tablet by the side of his rough camp-bed showed that in the hours when sleep forsook him he was planning the next day's work. his staff was entirely composed of hard workers, and perhaps no command in this war ever had so small a staff, but there was no officer in east force who laboured so long or with such concentration and energy and determination as its chief. this enthusiasm was infectious and spread through all ranks. the sick rate declined, septic sores, from which many men suffered through rough life in the desert on army rations, got better, and the men showed more interest in their work and were keener on their sport. the full effects had not been wholly realised when the war cabinet selected general allenby for the control of the big operations, but the improvement in the condition of the troops was already most marked, and when general allenby arrived and at once directed that general headquarters should be moved from cairo, which was pleasant but very far away from the front, to kelab, near khan yunus, there was not a man who did not see in the new order of things a sign that he was to be given a chance of testing the briton's supremacy over the turk. the improvement in the moral of the troops, the foundations of which were thus begun and cemented by general chetwode, was rapidly carried on under the new chief. divisions like the nd, rd, and th, which had worked right across the desert from the suez canal, toiling in a torrid temperature, when parched throats, sun-blistered limbs, and septic sores were a heavy trial, weakened by casualties in action and sickness, were brought up to something like strength. reinforcing drafts joined a lot of cheery veterans. they were taught in the stern field of experience what was expected of them, and they worked themselves up to the degree of efficiency of the older men. the th division, made up of yeomanry regiments which had been doing excellent service in the libyan desert, watching for and harassing the elements of the senussi army, had to be trained as infantry. these yeomen did not take long to make themselves first-rate infantry, and when, after the german attack on the somme in march , they went away from us to strengthen the western front, a distinguished general told me he believed that man for man the th would prove the finest division in france. they certainly proved themselves in palestine, and many an old yeomanry regiment won for itself the right to bear 'jerusalem, ' on its standard. the th division had brought some of the wessex territorials from india with two battalions of gurkhas and two of rifles. the / th duke of cornwall's light infantry joined it from aden, but for some months the battalion was not itself. it had spent a long time at that dreary sunburnt outpost of the empire, and the men did not regain their physical fitness till close upon the time it was required for the gaza operations. the th division came over from salonika and we were delighted to have them, for they not only gave us general bulfin as the xxist corps commander, but set an example of efficiency and a combination of dash and doggedness which earned for them a record worthy of the best in the history of the great war. these london territorials were second-line men, men recruited from volunteers in the early days of the war, when the county of london territorial battalions went across to france to take a part on a front hard pressed by german legions. the th division men had rushed forward to do their duty before the derby scheme or conscription sought out the cream of britain's manhood, and no one had any misgivings about that fine cheery crowd. the th division likewise came from salonika. unfortunately it had been doing duty in a fever-stricken area and malaria had weakened its ranks. a little while before the autumn operations began, as many as of its men were down at one time with malaria, but care and tonic of the battle pulled the ranks together, and the irish division, a purely irish division, campaigned up to the glorious traditions of their race. they worked like gluttons with rifle and spade, and their pioneer work on roads in the judean hills will always be remembered with gratitude. the cavalry of the desert mounted corps were old campaigners in the east. the anzac mounted division, composed of six regiments of australian light horse and three regiments of new zealand mounted rifles, had been operating in the sinai desert when they were not winning fame on gallipoli, since the early days of the war. they had proved sterling soldiers in the desert war, hard, full of courage, capable of making light of the longest trek in waterless stretches of country, and mobile to a degree the turks never dreamed of. there were six other regiments of australian light horse and three first-line regiments of yeomanry in the australian mounted division, and nine yeomanry regiments in the yeomanry mounted division. the th mounted brigade was attached to desert corps, as was also the imperial camel corps brigade, formed of yeomen and australians who had volunteered from their regiments for work as camelry. they, too, were veterans. all these divisions had to be trained hard. not only had the four infantry divisions of xxth corps to be brought to a pitch of physical fitness to enable them to endure a considerable period of open fighting, but they had to be trained in water abstinence, as, in the event of success, they would unquestionably have long marches in a country yielding a quite inadequate supply of drinking water, and this problem in itself was such that fully camels were required to carry drinking water to infantry alone. water-abstinence training lasted three weeks, and the maximum of half a gallon a man for all purposes was not exceeded, simply because the men had been made accustomed to deny themselves drink except when absolutely necessary. but for a systematic training they would have suffered a great deal. the disposition of the force is given in the appendix.[ ] [footnote : see appendix v]. chapter v railways, roads, and the base to ease the supply problem a spur line was laid from rafa to shellal, on the wadi ghuzze. in that way supplies, stores, and ammunition were taken up to our right flank. shellal was a position of great strategic importance. at one time it appeared as if we should have to fight hard to gain it. the turks had cut an elaborate series of trenches on wali sheikh nuran, a hill covering shellal, but they evacuated this position before we made the first attack on gaza, and left an invaluable water supply in our hands. at shellal the stony bed of the wadi ghuzze rests between high mud banks which have been cut into fantastic shapes by the rushing waters descending from the southern extremities of the judean range of hills during the winter rains. in the summer months, when the remainder of the wadi bed is dry, there are bubbling springs of good water at shellal, and these have probably been continuously flowing for many centuries, for close above the spot where the water issues anzac cavalry discovered a beautiful remnant of the mosaic flooring of an ancient christian church, which, raised on a hundred-feet mound, was doubtless the centre of a colony of christians, hundreds of years before crusaders were attracted to the holy land. our engineers harnessed that precious flow. a dam was put across the wadi bed and at least a million gallons of crystal water were held up by it, whilst the overflow went into shallow pools fringed with grass (a delightfully refreshing sight in that arid country) from which horses were watered. pumping sets were installed at the reservoir and pipes were laid towards karm, and from these the camel transport corps were to fill fanatis--eight to twelve gallon tanks--for carriage of water to troops on the move. the railway staff, the department which arranged the making up and running of trains, as well as the construction staff, had heavy responsibilities. it was recognised early in that if we were to crush the turk out of the war, provision would have to be made for a larger army than a single line from the suez canal could feed. it was decided to double the track. the difficulties of the director of railway transport were enormous. there was great shortage of railway material all over the world. some very valuable cargoes were lost through enemy action at sea, and we had to call for more from different centres, and england deprived herself of rolling stock she badly needed, to enable her flag of freedom to be carried (though it was not to be hoisted) through the holy land. and incidentally i may remark that, with the solitary exception of a dirty little piece of red ensign i saw flying in the native quarter in jerusalem, the only british flag the people saw in palestine and syria was a miniature union jack carried on the commander-in-chief's motor car and by his standard-bearer when riding. thus did the british army play the game, for some of the allied susceptibilities might have been wounded if the people had been told (though indeed they knew it) that they were under the protection of the british flag. they had the most convincing evidence, however, that they were under the staunch protection of the british army. the doubling of the railway track went on apace. to save pressure at the alexandria docks and on the egyptian state railway, which, giving some of its rolling stock and, i think, the whole of its reserve of material for the use of the military line east of the canal, was worked to its utmost capacity, and also to economise money by saving railway freights, wharves were built on the canal at kantara, and as many as six ocean-going steamers could be unloaded there at one time. by and by a railway bridge was thrown over the canal, and when the war was over through trains could be run from cairo to jerusalem and haifa. kantara grew into a wonderful town with several miles of canal frontage, huge railway sidings and workshops, enormous stores of rations for man and horse, medical supplies, ordnance and ammunition dumps, etc. probably the enemy knew all about this vast base. any one on any ship passing through the canal could see the place, and it is surprising, and it certainly points to a lack of enterprise on the part of the germans, that no attempt was made to bomb kantara by the super-zeppelin which in november left its balkan base and got as far south as the region of khartoum on its way to east africa, before being recalled by wireless. this same zeppelin was seen about forty miles from port said and a visit by it was anticipated. aeroplanes with experienced pilots and armed with the latest anti-zeppelin devices were stationed at port said and aboukir ready to ascend on any moonlight night when the hum of aerial motor machinery could be heard. the super-zeppelin never came and kantara's progress was unchecked. the doubled railway track was laid as far as el arish by the time operations commenced, and this was a great aid to the railway staff. every engine and truck was used to its fullest capacity, and an enormous amount of time was saved by the abolition of passing stations for some ninety miles of the line's length. railhead was at deir el belah, about eight miles short of gaza, and here troops and an army of egyptian labourers were working night and day, week in week out, off-loading trucks with a speed that enabled the maximum amount of service to be got out of rolling stock. there were large depôts down the line too. at rafa there was a big store of ammunition, and at shellal large quantities not only of supplies but of railway material were piled up in readiness for pushing out railhead immediately the advance began. a decauville, or light, line ran out towards gamli from shellal to make the supply system easier, and i remember seeing some indian pioneers lay about three miles of light railway with astonishing rapidity the day after we took beersheba. every mile the line advanced meant time saved in getting up supplies, and the radius of action of lorries, horse, and camel transport was considerably increased. to supply the gaza front we called in aid a small system of light railways. from the railhead at deir el belah to the mouth of the wadi ghuzze, and from that point along the line of the wadi to various places behind the line held by us, we had a total length of kilometres of light railway. before this railway got into full operation horses had begun to lose condition, and during the summer ammunition-column officers became very anxious about their horses. the light railway was almost everywhere within range of the enemy's guns, and in some places it was unavoidably exposed, particularly where it ran on the banks of the wadi due south of gaza. i recollect while the track was being laid speaking to an australian in charge of a gang of natives preparing an earthwork, and asked why it was that a trench was dug before earth was piled up. he pointed to the hill of ali muntar, the most prominent feature in the enemy's system, and said that from the turks' observation post on that eminence every movement of the labourers could be seen, and the men were often forced by gunfire to the refuge of the trenches. when the railway was in running order trains had to run the gauntlet of shell-fire on this section on bright moonlight nights, and no camouflage could hide them. but they worked through in a marvellously orderly and efficient fashion, and on one day when our guns were hungry this little line carried tons of ammunition to the batteries. the horses became fit and strong and were ready for the war to be carried into open country. in christening their tiny puffing locomotives the tommy drivers showed their strong appreciation of their comrades on the sea, and the 'iron duke' and 'lion' were always tuned up to haul a maximum load. but the pride of the engine yard was the 'jerusalem cuckoo'--some prophetic eye must have seen its future employment on the light line between jerusalem and ramallah--though in popularity it was run close by the 'bulfin-ch,' a play upon the name of the commander of the xxist corps, for which it did sterling service. the navy formed part of the picture as well. some small steamers of to tons burden came up from port said to a little cove north of belah to lighten the railway's task. they anchored about yards off shore and a crowd of boats passed backwards and forwards with stores. these were carried up the beach to trucks on a line connected with the supply depôts, and if you wished to see a busy scene where slackers had no place the belah beach gave it you. the army tried all sorts of boatmen and labourers. there were kroo boys who found the mediterranean waters a comparative calm after the turbulent surf on their own west african shore. the maltese were not a success. the egyptians were, both here and almost everywhere else where their services were called for. the best of all the fellows on this beach, however, were the raratongas from the cook islands, the islands from which the maoris originally came. they were first employed at el arish, where they made it a point of honour to get a job done well and quickly, and, on a given day, it was found that thirty of them had done as much labourers' work as british soldiers. they were men of fine physical strength and endurance, and some one who knew they had the instincts of sportsmen, devised a simple plan to get the best out of them. he presented a small flag to be won each day by the crew accomplishing the best work with the boats. the result was amazing. every minute the boats were afloat the raratongas strained their muscles to win the day's competition, and when the day's task was ended the victorious crew marched with their flag to their camp, singing a weird song and as proud as champions. some raratongas worked at ammunition dumps, and it was the boast of most of them that they could carry four -pounder shells at a time. a few of these stalwart men from southern seas received a promotion which made them the most envied men of their race--they became loading numbers in heavy howitzer batteries, fighting side by side with the motherland gunners. however well the navy and all associated with it worked, only a very small proportion of the army's supplies was water borne. the great bulk had to be carried by rail. enormously long trains, most of them hauled by london and south-western locomotives, bore munitions, food for men and animals, water, equipment, medical comforts, guns, wagons, caterpillar tractors, motor cars, and other paraphernalia required for the largest army which had ever operated about the town of gaza in the thousands of years of its history. the main line had thrown out from it great tentacles embracing in their iron clasp vital centres for the supply of our front, and over these spur lines the trains ran with the regularity of british main-line expresses. besides , actual fighting men, there was a vast army of men behind the line, and there were over , animals to be fed. there were , horses, , camels, , mules, and donkeys on army work east of the canal, and not a man or beast went short of rations. we used to think kitchener's advance on khartoum the perfection of military organisation. beside the palestine expedition that soudan campaign fades into insignificance. in fighting men and labour corps, in animals and the machinery of war, this army was vastly larger and more important, and the method by which it was brought to palestine and was supplied, and the low sick rate, constitute a tribute to the master minds of the organisers. the army had fresh meat, bread, and vegetables in a country which under the lash of war yielded nothing, but which under our rule in peace will furnish three times the produce of the best of past years of plenty. a not inconsiderable portion of the front line was supplied with nile water taken from a canal nearly two hundred miles away. but the army once at the front depended less upon the waters of that father of rivers than it had to do in the long trek across the desert. then all drinking water came from the nile. it flowed down the sweet-water canal (if one may be pardoned for calling 'sweet' a volume of water so charged with vegetable matter and bacteria that it was harmful for white men even to wash in it), was filtered and siphoned under the suez canal at kantara, where it was chlorinated, and passed through a big pipe line and pumped through in stages into palestine. the engineers set about improving all local resources over a wide stretch of country which used to be regarded as waterless in summer. many water levels were tapped, and there was a fair yield. the engineers' greatest task in moving with the army during the advance was always the provision of a water supply, and in developing it they conferred on the natives a boon which should make them be remembered with gratitude for many generations. in the months preceding our attack royal engineers were also concerned in improving the means of communication between railway depôts and the front line. before our arrival in this part of southern palestine, wheeled traffic was almost unknown among the natives. there was not one metalled roadway, and only comparatively light loads could be transported in wheeled vehicles. the soil between khan yunus and deir el belah, especially on the west of our railway line, was very sandy, and after the winter rains had knitted it together it began to crumble under the sun's heat, and it soon cut up badly when two or three limbers had passed over it. the sandy earth was also a great nuisance in the region between khan yunus and shellal, but between deir el belah and our gaza front, excepting on the belt near the sea which was composed of hillocks of sand precisely similar to the sinai desert, the earth was firmer and yielded less to the grinding action of wheels. for ordinary heavy military traffic the engineers made good going by taking off about one foot of the top soil and banking it on either side of the road. these tracks lasted very well, but they required constant attention. ambulances and light motor cars had special arrangements made for them. hundreds of miles of wire netting were laid on sand in all directions, and these wire roads, which, stretching across bright golden sand, appeared like black bands to observers in aircraft, at first aroused much curiosity among enemy airmen, and it was not until they had made out an ambulance convoy on the move that they realised the purpose of the tracks. the rabbit wire roads were a remarkable success. motor wheels held firmly to the surface, and when the roads were in good condition cars could travel at high speed. three or four widths of wire netting were laced together, laid on the sand and pegged down. after a time loose pockets of sand could not resist the weight of wheels and there became many holes beneath the wire, and the jolting was a sore trial alike to springs and to a passenger's temper. but here again constant attention kept the roads in order, and if one could not describe travelling over them as easy and comfortable they were at least sure, and one could be certain of getting to a destination at an average speed of twelve miles an hour. in sand the ford cars have performed wonderful feats, but remarkable as was the record of that cheap american car with us--it helped us very considerably to win the war--you could never tell within hours how long a journey would take off the wire roads. once leave the netting and you might with good luck and a skilful driver get across the sand without much trouble, but it often meant much bottom-gear work and a hot engine, and not infrequently the digging out of wheels. the drivers used to try to keep to the tracks made by other cars. these were never straight, and the swing from side to side reminded you of your first ride on a camel's back. the wire roads were a great help to us, and the officer who first thought out the idea received our daily blessings. i do not know who he was, but i was told the wire road scheme was the outcome of a device suggested by a medical officer at romani in , when infantry could not march much more than six miles a day through the sand. this officer made a sort of wire moccasin which he attached to the boot and doubled the marching powers of the soldier. a sample of those moccasins should find a place in our war museum. chapter vi preparing for 'zero day' about the middle of august it was the intention that the attack on the turks' front line in southern palestine should be launched some time in september. general allenby knew his force would not be then at full strength, but what was happening at other points in the turkish theatres of operations might make it necessary to strike an early blow at gaza to spoil enemy plans elsewhere. however, it was soon seen that a september advance was not absolutely necessary. general allenby decided that instead of making an early attack it would be far more profitable to wait until his army had been improved by a longer period of training, and until he had got his artillery, particularly some of his heavy batteries, into a high state of efficiency. he would risk having to take jerusalem after bad weather had set in rather than be unable, owing to the condition of his troops, to exploit an initial success to the fullest extent. how wholly justified was this decision the subsequent fighting proved, and it is doubtful if there was ever a more complete illustration of the wisdom of those directing war policy at home submitting to the cool, balanced calculations of the man on the spot. the extra six weeks spent in training and preparation were of incalculable service to the allies. i have heard it said that a september victory in palestine would have had its reflex on the italian front, and that the caporetto disaster would not have assumed the gigantic proportions which necessitated the withdrawal to italy of british and french divisions from the western front and prevented cambrai being a big victory. that is very doubtful. on the contrary, a september battle in palestine before we were fully ready to follow the turks after breaking and rolling up their line, even if we had succeeded in doing this completely, might have deprived us of the moral effect of the capture of jerusalem and of the wonderful influence which that victory had on the whole civilised world by reason of the sacrifices the commander-in-chief made to prevent any fighting at all in the precincts of the holy city. of this i shall speak later, giving the fullest details at my command, for there is no page in the story of british arms which better upholds the honour and chivalry of the soldier than the preservation of the holy place from the clash of battle. that last six weeks of preparation were unforgettable. the london newspapers i had the honour to represent as war correspondent knew operations were about to begin, but i did not cable or mail them one word which would give an indication that big things were afoot. they never asked for news, but were content to wait till they could tell the public that victory was ours. in accordance with their practice throughout the war the london press set an example to the world by refraining from publishing anything which would give information of the slightest value to the enemy. it was a privilege to see that victory in the making. some divisions which had allotted to them the hardest part of the attack on beersheba were drawn out of the line, and forming up in big camps between belah and shellal set about a course of training such as athletes undergo. they had long marches in the sand carrying packs and equipment. they were put on a short allowance of water, except for washing purposes. they dug, they had bombing practice, and with all this extra exercise while the days were still very hot they needed no encouragement to continue their games. football was their favourite sport, and the british tommy is such a remarkable fellow that it was usual to see him trudge home to camp looking 'fed up' with exercise, and then, after throwing off his pack and tunic, run out to kick a ball. the italian and french detachments used to look at him in astonishment, and doubtless they thought his enthusiasm for sport was a sore trial. he got thoroughly fit for marches over sand, over stony ground, over shifting shingle. during the period of concentration he had to cross a district desperately bad for marching, and it is more than probable the enemy never believed him capable of such endurance. he was often tired, no doubt, but he always got to his destination, was rarely footsore, and laughed at the worst parts of his journey. the sand was choking, the flies were an irritating pest, equipment became painfully heavy; but a big, brave heart carried tommy through his training to a state of perfect condition for the heavy test. to enable about two-thirds of the force to carry on a moving battle while the remainder kept half the enemy pinned down to his trench system on his right-centre and right, it was necessary to reinforce strongly the transport service for our mobile columns. the xxist corps gave up most of its lorries, tractors, and camels to xxth corps. these had to be moved across from the gaza sector to our right as secretly as possible, and they were not brought up to load at the supply depôts at shellal and about karm until the moment they were required to carry supplies for the corps moving to attack. it is not easy to convey to any one who has not seen an army on the move what a vast amount of transport is required to provision two corps. in france, where roads are numerous and in comparatively good condition, the supply problem could be worked out to a nicety, but in a roadless country where there was not a sound half-mile of track, and where water had to be developed and every gallon was precious, the question of supply needed most anxious consideration, and a big margin had to be allowed for contingencies. it will give some idea of the requirements when i state that for the supply of water alone the xxth corps had allotted to it camels and lorries. to feed these water camels alone needed a big convoy. we got an impression of the might and majesty of an army in the field as we saw it preparing to take the offensive. the camp of general headquarters where i was located was situated north of rafa. the railway ran on two sides of the camping ground, one line going to belah and the other stretching out to shellal, where everything was in readiness to extend the iron road to the north-east of karm, on the plain which, because the turks enjoyed complete observation over it, had hitherto been no man's land. we saw and heard the traffic on this section of the line. it was enormous. heavily laden trains ran night and day with a mass of stores and supplies, with motor lorries, cars, and tractors; and the ever-increasing volume of traffic told those of us who knew nothing of the date of 'zero day' that it was not far off. the heaviest trains seemed to run at night, and the returning empty trains were hurried forward at a speed suggesting the urgency of clearing the line for a fully loaded train awaiting at rafa the signal to proceed with its valuable load to railhead. perfect control not only on the railway system but in the forward supply yards prevented congestion, and when a train arrived at its destination and was split up into several parts, well-drilled gangs of troops and egyptian labourers were allotted to each truck, and whether a lorry or a tractor had to be unshipped and moved down a ramp, or a truck had to be relieved of its ten tons of tibbin, boxes of biscuit and bully, or of engineers' stores, the goods were cleared away from the vicinity of the line with a celerity which a goods-yard foreman at home would have applauded as the smartest work he had ever seen. there was no room for slackers in the army, and the value of each truck was so high that it could not be left standing idle for an hour. the organisation was equally good at kantara, where the loading and making up of trains had to be arranged precisely as the needs at the front demanded. those remarkable haulers, the caterpillar tractors, cut many a passage through the sand, tugging heavy guns and ammunition, stores for the air and signal services, machinery for engineers and mobile workshops, and sometimes towing a weighty load of petrol to satisfy their voracious appetites for that fuel. the tractors did well. sand was no trouble to them, and when mud marooned lorries during the advance in november the rattling, rumbling old tractor made fair weather of it. the mechanical transport trains will not forget the service of the tractors on the morning after beersheba was taken. from railhead to the spot where father abraham and his people fed their flocks the country was bare and the earth's crust had yielded all its strength under the influence of the summer sun. loaded lorries under their own power could not move more than a few yards before they were several inches deep in the sandy soil, but a motor transport officer devised a plan for beating down a track which all lorries could use. he got a tractor to haul six unladen lorries, and with all the vehicles using their own power the tractor managed to pull them through to beersheba, leaving behind some wheel tracks with a hard foundation. a hundred lorries followed, the drivers steering them in the ruts, and they made such good progress that by the afternoon they had deposited between and tons of supplies in beersheba. the path the tractor cut did not last very long, but it was sound enough for the immediate and pressing requirements of the army. within a month of his arrival in egypt, general allenby had visited the whole of his front line and had decided the form his offensive should take. as soon as his force had been made up to seven infantry divisions and the desert mounted corps, and they had been brought up to strength and trained, he would attack, making his main offensive against the enemy's left flank while conducting operations vigorously and on an extensive scale against the turkish right-centre and right. the principal operation against the left was to be conducted by general chetwode's xxth corps, consisting of four infantry divisions and the imperial camel brigade, and by general chauvel's desert mounted corps. general bulfin's xxist corps was to operate against gaza and the turkish right-centre south-east of that ancient town. if the situation became such as to make it necessary to take the offensive before the force had been brought up to strength, the xxist corps would have had to undertake its task with only two divisions, but in those circumstances its operations were to be limited to demonstrations and raids. by throwing forward his right, the xxist corps commander was to pin the enemy down in the atawineh district, and on the left he would move against the south-western defences of gaza so as to lead the turks to suppose an attack was to come in this sector. that movement being made, the xxth corps and desert mounted corps were to advance against beersheba, and, having taken it, to secure the valuable water supply which was known to have existed there since abraham dug the well of the oath which gave its name to the town. because of water difficulties it was considered vital that beersheba should be captured in one day, a formidable undertaking owing to the situation of the town, the high entrenched hills around it and the long marches for cavalry and infantry before the attack; and in drawing up the scheme based on the commander-in-chief's plan, the commanders of xxth corps and desert mounted corps had always to work on the assumption that beersheba would be in their hands by nightfall of the first day of the attack. general barrow's yeomanry mounted division was to remain at shellal in the gap between xxth corps and xxist corps in case the enemy should attempt to attack the xxth corps' left flank. having dealt with the enemy in beersheba, general chetwode with mounted troops protecting his right was to move north and north-west against the enemy's left flank, to drive him from his strong positions at sheria and hareira, enveloping his left flank and striking it obliquely. while the xxth corps was moving against this section of the enemy line, desert mounted corps was to bring up the mounted division left at shellal, and passing behind the xxth corps to march on nejile, where there was an excellent water supply, and the wadi hesi, so as to threaten the left rear and the line of retreat of the turkish army. it was always doubtful whether xxth corps would be able to close up the gap between it and the xxist corps owing to the length of its marches and the distance it was from railhead, and the scheme therefore provided that the xxist corps should confirm successes gained on our right by forcing its way through the tremendously strong gaza position to the line of the wadi hesi and joining up with desert mounted corps. a considerable number of xxth corps troops would then return to the neighbourhood of railhead and release the greater part of its transport for the infantry of xxist corps moving up the maritime plain. this, in summary form, was the scheme general allenby planned before the middle of august, and though the details were not, and could not be, worked out until a couple of months had passed, it is noteworthy as showing that, notwithstanding the moves an enterprising enemy had at his command in a country where positions were entirely favourable to him, where he had water near at hand, where the transport of supplies was never so serious a problem for him as for us when we got on the move, and where he could make us fight almost every step of the way, the commander-in-chief foresaw and provided for every eventuality, and his scheme worked out absolutely and entirely 'according to plan,' to use the favourite phrase of the german high command. when the corps commanders began working out the details two of the greatest problems were transport and water. only patience and skilful development of known sources of supply would surmount the water difficulty, and we had to wait till the period of concentration before commencing its solution. but to lighten the transport load which must have weighed heavily on corps staffs, the commander-in-chief agreed to allow the extension of the railway east of shellal to be begun sooner than he had provided for. it was imperative that railway construction should not give the enemy an indication of our intentions. if he had realised the nature and scope of our preparations he would have done something to counteract them and to deny us that element of surprise which exerted so great an influence on the course of the battle. general allenby, however, was willing to take some risks to simplify supply difficulties, and he ordered that the extension to a railway station north-east of karm should be completed by the evening of the third day before the attack, that a decauville line from gamli, not to be begun before the sixth day prior to the attack, was to be completed to karm by the day preceding the opening of the fighting at beersheba, and that a new decauville line should be started at karm when fighting had begun, and should be carried nearly three miles in the beersheba direction early on the following morning. these new lines, though of short length, were an inestimable boon to the conductors of supply trains. the new railheads both of the standard gauge and light lines were well placed, and they not only saved time and shortened the journeys of camel convoys and lorry transport columns, but prevented congestion at depôts in one central spot. a big effort was made to escape detection by enemy aircraft. for the first time since the egyptian expeditionary force took the field we had obtained mastery in the air. on the th and th october two enemy planes were shot down behind our lines, and the keenness of our airmen for combat made the german aviators extremely careful. they had been bold and resolute, taking their observations several thousand feet higher than our pilots, it is true, but neither anti-aircraft fire nor the presence of our machines in the air had up to this time deterred them. however, just at the moment when airwork was of extreme importance to the turks, the german flying men, recognising that our pilots had new battle planes and were full of resource and daring, showed an unusual lack of enterprise, and we profited from their inactivity. the concentration of the force in the positions from which it was to attack beersheba was to have taken seven days, but owing to the difficulties attending the development of water at asluj and khalasa the time was extended to ten days. during this period the uppermost thought of commanders was to conceal their movements. all marching was done at night and no move of any kind was permitted till nearly six o'clock in the evening, when enemy aircraft were usually at rest and the light was sufficiently dull to prevent the fritzes seeing much if they had made an exceptionally late excursion. all the tents and temporary shelters which had been occupied for weeks were left standing. cookhouses, horse lines, canteens, and so on were untouched, and one had an eerie feeling in passing at night through these untenanted camping grounds, deserted and lifeless, and a prey to the jackal and pariah dog. a vast area of many square miles which had held tens of thousands of troops and animals almost became a wilderness again, and the few natives hereabouts who had made large profits from the sale of eggs, fruit, and vegetables looked disconsolate and bewildered at the change, hoping and believing that the empty tents merely denoted a temporary absence. but the great majority of the army never came that way again. when the infantry started on the march, divisions and brigades had allotted to them particular areas for their march routes, and all over that country, where scarcely a tree or native hut existed to make a landmark, there were dotted small arrow-pointed boards with the direction 'a road,' 'b road,' 'z road,' as the case might be. marching in the dark hours when a refreshing air succeeded the heat of the day, the troops halted as soon as a purple flush threw into high relief the southern end of the judean hills, and they hid themselves in the wadis and broken ground; and on one unit vacating a bivouac area it was occupied by another, thus making the areas in which the troops rested as few as possible. the concentration was worked to a time-table. not only were brigades allotted certain marches each night, but they were given specified times to cover certain distances, and these were arranged according to the condition of the ground. in parts it was very broken and covered with loose stones, and the pace of infantry by night was very slightly more than one mile per hour. the routes for guns were not chosen until the whole country had been reconnoitred, and it was a highly creditable performance for artillery to get their field guns and heavy howitzer batteries through to the time-table. but the clockwork precision of the movements reflected even more highly on the staff working out the details than on the infantry and artillery, and it may be said with perfect truth that the staff made no miscalculation or mistake. the xxth corps staff maps and plans, and the details accompanying them, were masterpieces of clearness and completeness. the men who fought out the plans to a triumphant finish were glad to recognise this perfection of staff work.[ ] [footnote : see appendix vi.] chapter vii the beersheba victory the xxth corps began its movement on the night of - st october. the whole corps was not on the march, but a sufficient force was sent forward to form supply dumps and to store water at esani for troops covering desert mounted corps engineers engaged on the development of water at khalasa and asluj. some of the australian and new zealand troops engaged on this work had previously been at these places. in the early summer it was thought desirable to destroy the turkish railway which ran from beersheba to asluj and on to kossaima, in order to prevent an enemy raid on our communications between el arish and rafa, and the mounted troops with the imperial camel corps had had a most successful day in destroying many miles of line and several bridges. the turks were badly in need of rails for the line they were then constructing down to deir sineid, and they had lifted some of the rails between asluj and kossaima, but during our raid we broke every rail over some fifteen miles of track. khalasa and asluj being water centres became the points of concentration for two mounted divisions, and the splendid colonials in the engineer sections worked at the wells as if the success of the whole enterprise depended upon their efforts, as, indeed, to a very large extent it did. theirs was not an eight hours day. they worked under many difficulties, often thigh deep in water and mud, cleaning out and deepening wells and installing power pumps, putting up large canvas tanks for storage, and making water troughs. the results exceeded anticipations, and the commander-in-chief, on a day when the calls on his time were many and urgent, made a long journey to thank the officers and men for the work they had done and to express his high appreciation of their skill and energy. the principal work carried out by the xxth corps during the period of concentration consisted in laying the standard gauge line to imara and opening the station at that place on october ; prolonging the railway line to a point three-quarters of a mile north-north-east of karm, where the station was opened on november ; completing by october the light railway from the east bank of the wadi ghuzze at gamli _via_ karm to khasif; and developing water at esani, malaga, and abu ghalyun for the use first by cavalry detachments and then by the th division. cisterns in the khasif and imsiri area were stocked with , gallons of water to be used by the rd and th divisions, and this supply was to be supplemented by camel convoys. apparently the enemy knew very little about the concentration until about october , and even then he could have had only slight knowledge of the extent of our movements, and probably knew nothing at all of where the first blow was to fall. in the early hours of october he did make an attempt to interfere with our concentration, and there was a spirited little action on our outpost line which had been pushed out beyond the plain to a line of low hills near the wadi hanafish. the turks in overwhelming force met a most stubborn defence by the middlesex yeomanry, and if the enemy took these london yeomen as an average sample of general allenby's troops, this engagement must have given them a foretaste of what was in store for them. the middlesex yeomanry (the st county of london yeomanry, to give the regiment the name by which it is officially known, though the men almost invariably use the much older territorial title) and the st machine gun squadron, held the long ridge from el buggar to hill . there was a squadron dismounted on hill , three troops on hill , the next and highest point on the ridge, and a post at el buggar. at four o'clock in the morning the latter post was fired on by a turkish cavalry patrol, and an hour later it was evident that the enemy intended to try to drive us off the ridge, his occupation of which would have given him the power to harass railway construction parties by shell-fire, even if it did not entirely stop the work. some turkish infantry, cavalry, and twelve guns had advanced from the kauwukah system of defences to attack our outpost line on the ridge. they heavily engaged hill , working round both flanks, and brought heavy machine-gun and artillery fire to bear on the squadron holding it. the royal flying corps estimated that a force of men attacked the garrison, which was completely cut off. a squadron of the city of london yeomanry sent to reinforce was held up by a machine-gun barrage and had to withdraw. the garrison held out magnificently all day in a support trench close behind the crest against odds of twenty to one, and repeatedly beat off rushes, although the bodies of dead turks showed that they got as close as forty yards from the defenders. two officers were wounded, and four other ranks killed and twelve wounded. the attack on hill was made by cavalry supported by a heavy volume of shell and machine-gun fire. during the early morning two desperate charges were beaten off, but in a third charge the enemy gained possession of the hill after the detachment had held out for six hours. all our officers were killed or wounded and all the men were casualties except three. at six o'clock in the evening the turks were holding this position in strength against the rd australian light horse, but two infantry brigades of the rd division were moving towards the ridge, and during the evening the enemy retired and we held the ridge from this time on quite securely. the strong defence of the middlesex yeomanry undoubtedly prevented the turks establishing themselves on the ridge, and saved the infantry from having to make a night attack which might have been costly. thereafter the enemy made no attempt to interfere with the concentration. the yeomanry losses in this encounter were officer and other ranks killed, officers and other ranks wounded, officers and other ranks missing. on the night of october - a brilliant moon lit up the whole country. the day had been very hot, and at sunset an entire absence of wind promised that the night march of nearly , troops of all arms would be attended by all the discomforts of dust and heat. the thermometer fell, but there was not a breath of wind to shift the pall of dust which hung above the long columns of horse, foot, and guns. where the tracks were sandy some brigades often appeared to be advancing through one of london's own particular fogs. men's faces became caked with yellow dust, their nostrils were hot and burning, and parched throats could not be relieved because of the necessity of conserving the water allowance. a hot day was in prospect on the morrow, and the fear of having to fight on an empty water-bottle prevented many a gallant fellow broaching his supply before daybreak. most of the men had had a long acquaintance with heat in the middle east, and the high temperature would have caused them scarcely any trouble if there had been wind to carry away the dust clouds. the cavalry marched over harder and more stony ground than the infantry. they advanced from khalasa and asluj a long way south of beersheba to the east of the town. it was a big night march of some thirty miles, but it was well within the powers of the veterans of the anzac mounted division and australian mounted division, whose men and horses were in admirable condition. the infantry were ordered to be on their line of deployment by four o'clock on the morning of october , and in every case they were before time. there had been many reconnaissances by officers who were to act as guides to columns, and they were quite familiar with the ground; and the guns and ammunition columns were taken by routes which had been carefully selected and marked. in places the banks of wadis had been cut into and ramps made to enable the rough stony watercourses to be practicable for wheels, and, broken as the country was, and though all previous preparations had to be made without arousing the suspicions of turks and wandering bedouins, there was no incident to check the progress of infantry or guns. occasional rifle fire and some shelling occurred during the early hours, but at a little after three a.m. the xxth corps advanced headquarters had the news that all columns had reached their allotted positions. the xxth corps plan was to attack the enemy's works between the khalasa road and the wadi saba with the th and th divisions, while the defences north of the wadi saba were to be masked by the imperial camel corps brigade and two battalions of the rd division, the remainder of the latter division protecting the left flank of the corps from any attack by enemy troops who might move south from the sheria area. the first objective was a hill marked on the map as ' ,' about yards south-west of beersheba. it was a prominent feature, yards or perhaps a little more from a portion of the enemy's main line, and the turks held it strongly and were supported by a section of german machine-gunners. we had to win this height in order to get good observation of the enemy's main line of works, and to allow of the advance of field artillery within wire-cutting range of an elaborate system of works protecting beersheba from an advance from the west. at six the guns began to bombard , and the volume of fire concentrated on that spot must have given the turks a big surprise. on a front of yards we had in action seventy-six -pounders, twenty . -inch howitzers, and four . -inch howitzers, while eight -pounders, eight -inch howitzers, and four . -inch howitzers were employed in counter battery work. the absence of wind placed us at a heavy disadvantage. the high explosive shells bursting about the crest of raised enormous clouds of dust which obscured everything, and after a short while even the flames of exploding shells were entirely hidden from view. the gunners had to stop firing for three-quarters of an hour to allow the dust to settle. they then reopened, and by half-past eight, the wire-cutting being reported completed, an intense bombardment was ordered, under cover of which, and with the assistance of machine-gun fire from aeroplanes, the st infantry brigade of the th division went forward to the assault. they captured the hill in ten minutes, only sustaining about one hundred casualties, and taking nearly as many prisoners. a german machine-gunner who fell into our hands bemoaned the fact that he had not a weapon left--every one of the machine guns had been knocked out by the artillery, and a number were buried by our fire. the first phase of the operations having thus ended successfully quite early in the day, the second stage was entered upon. field guns were rushed forward at the gallop over ground broken by shallow wadis and up and down a very uneven stony surface. the gun teams were generally exposed during the advance and were treated to heavy shrapnel fire, but they swung into action at prearranged points and set about wire-cutting with excellent effect. the first part of the second phase consisted in reducing the enemy's main line from the khalasa road to the wadi saba, though the artillery bombarded the whole line. the th division on the right had two brigades attacking and one in divisional reserve, and the th division attacking on the left of the th likewise had a brigade in reserve. the th, while waiting to advance, came under considerable shell-fire from batteries on the north of the wadi, and it was some time before their fire could be silenced. as a rule the enemy works were cut into rocky, rising ground and the trenches were well enclosed in wire fixed to iron stanchions. they were strongly made and there were possibilities of prolonged opposition, but by the time the big assault was launched the turks knew they were being attacked on both sides of beersheba and they must have become anxious about a line of retreat. general shea reported that the wire in front of him was cut before noon, but general girdwood was not certain that the wire was sufficiently broken on the th division's front, though he intimated to the corps commander that he was ready to attack at the same time as the th. it still continued a windless day, and the dust clouds prevented any observation of the wire entanglements. general girdwood turned this disadvantage to account, and ordering his artillery to raise their fire slightly so that it should fall just in front of and about the trenches, put up what was in effect a dust barrage, and under cover of it selected detachments of his infantry advanced almost into the bursting shell to cut passages through the wire with wire-cutters. the dismounted yeomanry of the st and th infantry brigades rushed through, and by half-past one the th division had secured their objectives. the th and st brigades of the th division had won their trenches almost an hour earlier, and about yards of works were in our hands south of the wadi saba. the enemy had yards of trenches north of the wadi, and though these were threatened from the south and west, it was not until five o'clock that the th brigade occupied them, the turks clearing out during the bombardment. during the day, on the left of the th division, the imperial camel corps brigade and two battalions of the rd division held the ground to the north of the wadi saba to a point where the remainder of the rd division watched for the approach of any enemy force from the north, while the th division about shellal protected the line of communications east of the wadi ghuzze, and the yeomanry mounted division was on the west side of the wadi ghuzze in g.h.q. reserve. the xxth corps' losses were officers killed and wounded, other ranks killed, wounded and missing, a light total considering the nature of the works carried during the day. it was obvious that the enemy was taken completely by surprise by the direction of the attack, and the rapidity with which we carried his strongest points was overwhelming. the turk did not attempt anything in the nature of a counter-attack by the beersheba garrison, nor did he make any move from hareira against the rd division. had he done so the th division and the yeomanry mounted division would have seized the opportunity of falling on him from shellal, and the turk chose the safer course of allowing the beersheba garrison to stand unaided in its own defences. the xxth corps' captures included officers, other ranks, guns, and numerous machine guns. the desert mounted corps met with stubborn opposition in their operations south-east and east of beersheba, but they were carried through no less successfully than those of the xxth corps. the mounted men had had a busy time. general ryrie's nd australian light horse brigade and the imperial camel corps brigade had moved southwards on october , and on them and on the st and nd field squadrons australian engineers the bulk of the work fell of developing water and making and marking tracks which, in the sandy soil, became badly cut up. on the evening of october the anzac mounted division was at asluj, the australian mounted division at khalasa, the th mounted brigade at esani, imperial camel brigade at hiseia, and the yeomanry mounted division in reserve at shellal. the anzac division commanded by general chaytor left asluj during the night, and in a march of twenty-four miles round the south of beersheba met with only slight opposition on the way to bir el hamam and bir salim abu irgeig, between five and seven miles east of the town. the nd australian light horse brigade during the morning advanced north to take the high hill tel el sakaty, a little east of the beersheba-hebron road, which was captured at one o'clock, and the brigade then swept across the metalled road which was in quite fair condition, and which subsequently was of great service to us during the advance of one infantry division on bethlehem and jerusalem. the st australian light horse brigade commanded by general cox, and the new zealand mounted rifles brigade under general meldrum, moved against tel el saba, a -feet hill which rises very precipitously on the northern bank of the wadi saba, yards due east of beersheba. tel el saba is believed to be the original site of beersheba. it had been made into a strong redoubt and was well held by a substantial garrison adequately dug in and supported by nests of machine-gunners. the right bank of the wadi khalil was also strongly held, and between the hebron road and tel el saba some german machine-gunners in three houses offered determined opposition. the new zealanders and a number of general cox's men crept up the wadi saba, taking full advantage of the cover offered by the high banks, and formed up under the hill of saba. they then dashed up the steep sides while the horse artillery lashed the crest with their fire, and driving the turks from their trenches had captured the hill by three o'clock. at about the same time the st light horse brigade suitably dealt with the machine-gunners in the houses. much ground east of beersheba had thus been made good, and the hebron road was denied to the garrison of the town as a line of retreat. the anzac mounted division was then reinforced by general wilson's rd australian light horse brigade, and by six p.m. the division held a long crescent of hills from point , a mile north of beersheba, through tel el sakaty, round south-eastwards to bir el hamam. general hodgson's australian mounted division had a night march of thirty-four miles from khalasa to iswawin, south-east of beersheba, and after the rd light horse brigade had been detached to assist the anzac division, orders were given to general grant's th australian light horse brigade to attack and take the town of beersheba from the east. the orders were received at four o'clock, and until we had got an absolute hold on tel el saba an attack on the town from this direction would have been suicidal, as an attacking force would have been between two fires. the shelling of the cavalry during the day had been rather hot, and enemy airmen had occasionally bombed them. it was getting late, and as it was of the greatest importance that the town's available water should be secured that night, general grant was directed to attack with the utmost vigour. his brigade worthily carried out its orders. the ground was very uneven and was covered with a mass of large stones and shingle. the trenches were well manned and strongly held, but general grant ordered them to be taken at the gallop. the australians carried them with an irresistible charge; dismounted, cleared the first line of all the enemy in it, ran on and captured the second and third system of trenches, and then, their horses having been brought up, galloped into the town to prevent any destruction of the wells. the first-line eastern trenches of beersheba were eight feet deep and four feet wide, and as there were many of the enemy in them they were a serious obstacle to be taken in one rush. this charge was a sterling feat, and unless the town had been occupied that night most, if not all, of the cavalry would have had to withdraw many miles to water, and subsequent operations might have been imperilled. until we had got beersheba there appeared small prospect of watering more than two brigades in this area. luckily there had been two thunderstorms a few days before the attack, and we found a few pools of sweet water which enabled the whole of the corps' horses to be watered during the night. these pools soon dried up and the water problem again became serious. the commander-in-chief rewarded general grant with the d.s.o. as an appreciation of his work, and the brigade was gratified at a well-earned honour. the th mounted brigade was held up for some time in the afternoon by a flanking fire from ras ghannam, south of beersheba, but this was silenced in time to enable the brigade to assist in the occupation of beersheba at nightfall. the th light horse brigade's captures in the charge were officers, other ranks, and field guns, and the total 'bag' of the desert mounted corps was officers and other ranks. the loss of beersheba was a heavy blow to the turk. yet he did not even then realise to the full the significance of our capture of the town. he certainly failed to appreciate that we were to use it as a jumping-off place to attack his main line from gaza to sheria by rolling it up from left to right. in this plan there is no doubt that general allenby entirely deceived his enemy, for in the next few days there was the best of evidence to show that general kress von kressenstein believed we were going to advance from beersheba to jerusalem up the hebron road, and he made his dispositions to oppose us here. it was not merely the moral effect of the loss of beersheba that disturbed the turks; they had been driven out of a not unimportant stronghold. all through the many centuries since abraham and his people led a pastoral life near the wells, beersheba had been a meanly appointed place. there were no signs as far as i could see of any elaborate ruins to indicate anything larger than a native settlement. elsewhere we saw crumbling walls of ancient castles and fortresses to tell of conquerors and glories long since faded away, of relics of an age when great captains led martial men into new worlds to conquer, of the time when the crusading spirit was abroad and the flower of western chivalry came east to hold the land for christians. here the native quarter suggested that trade in beersheba was purely local and not ambitious, that it provided nothing for the world's commerce save a few skins and hides, and that the inhabitants were content to live the rude, simple lives of their forefathers. but the enterprising german arrived, and you could tell by his work how he intended to compel a change in the unchanging character of the people. he built a handsome mosque--but before he was driven out he wired and mined it for destruction. he built a seat of government, a hospital, and a barracks, all of them pretentious buildings for such a town, well designed, constructed of stone with red-tiled roofs, and the gardens were nicely laid out. there were a railway station and storehouses on a scale which would not yield a return on capital expenditure for many years, and the water tower and engine sheds were built to last longer than merely military necessities demanded. they were fashioned by european craftsmen, and the solidity of the structures offered strange contrast to the rough-and-ready native houses. the primary object of the hun scheme was, doubtless, to make beersheba a suitable base for an attack on the suez canal, and the manner of improving the hebron road, of setting road engineers to construct zigzags up hills so that lorries could move over the road, was part of the plan of men whose vision was centred on cutting the suez canal artery of the british empire's body. the best laid schemes.... when i entered beersheba our troops held a line of outposts sufficiently far north of the town to prevent the turks shelling it, and the place was secure except from aircraft bombs, of which a number fell into the town without damaging anything of much consequence. some of the troops fell victims to booby traps. apparently harmless whisky bottles exploded when attempts were made to draw the corks, and several small mines went up. besides the mines in the mosque there was a good deal of wiring about the railway station, and some rolling stock was made ready for destruction the instant a door was opened. the ruse was expected; some australian engineers drew the charges, and the coaches were afterwards of considerable service to the supply branch. chapter viii gaza defences meanwhile there were important happenings at the other end of the line. gaza was about to submit to the biggest of all her ordeals. she had been a bone of contention for thousands of years. the pharaohs coveted her and more than years ago made bloody strife within the environs of the town. alexander the great besieged her, and persians and arabians opposed that mighty general. the ptolemies and the antiochi for centuries fought for gaza, whose inhabitants had a greater taste for the mart than for the sword, and when the maccabees were carrying a victorious war through philistia, the people of gaza bought off jonathan, but the jews occupied the city itself about a century before the christian era. later on the place was captured after a year's siege and destroyed, and for long it remained a mass of mouldering ruins. pompey revived it, making it a free city, and gabinius extended it close to the harbour, whilst under caesar and herod its prosperity and fame increased. in succeeding centuries gaza's commerce flourished under the greeks, who founded schools famous for rhetoric and philosophy, till the mahomedan wave swept over the land in the first half of the seventh century, when the town became a shadow of its former self, though it continued to exist as a centre for trade. the crusaders made their influence felt, and many are the traces of their period in this ancient city, but askalon always had more crusader support. napoleon's attack on gaza found abdallah's army in a very different state of preparedness from von kress's turkish army. nearly all abdallah's artillery was left behind in a gun park at jaffa owing to lack of transport, and though he had a numerically superior force he did not like napoleon's dispositions, and retreated when kleber moved up the plain to pass between gaza and the sea, and the cavalry advanced east of the mound of hebron, or ali muntar, as we know the hill up which samson is reputed to have carried the gates and bar of gaza. for nearly a century and a quarter since napoleon passed forwards and backwards through the town, gaza pursued the arts of peace in the lethargic spirit which suits the native temperament, but in eight months of it was the cockpit of strife in the middle east, and there was often crammed into one day as much fighting energy as was shown in all the battles of the past thirty-five centuries, napoleon's campaign included. fortunately after the battles of march and april nearly all the civilian population left the town for quieter quarters. some of them on returning must have had difficulty in identifying their homes. in the centre of the town, where bazaars radiated from the quarter of which the great mosque was the hub, the houses were a mass of stones and rubble, and the narrow streets and tortuous byways were filled with fallen walls and roofs. the great mosque had entirely lost its beauty. we had shelled it because its minaret, one of those delicately fashioned spires which, seen from a distance, lead a traveller to imagine a native town in the east to be arranged on an artistic and orderly plan, was used as a turkish observation post, and the mosque itself as an ammunition store. i am told our guns were never laid on to this objective until there was an accident within it which exploded the ammunition. be that as it may, there was ample justification for shelling the mosque. i went in to examine the structure a few hours after the turks had been compelled to evacuate the town, and whilst they were then shelling it with unpleasant severity. amid the wrecked marble columns, the broken pulpit, the torn and twisted lamps and crumbling walls were hundreds of thousands of rounds of small-arms ammunition, most of it destroyed by explosion. a great shell had cut the minaret in half and had left exposed telephone wires leading direct to army headquarters and to the turkish gunners' fire control station. most of the mosque furniture and all the carpets had been removed, but a few torn copies of the koran, some of them in manuscript with marginal notes, lay mixed up with german newspapers and some typical turkish war propaganda literature. that mosque, which saladin seized from the crusaders and turned from a christian into a mahomedan place of worship, was unquestionably used for military purposes, and the turks cared as little for its religious character or its venerable age as they did for the mosque on nebi samwil, where the remains of the prophet samuel are supposed to rest. their stories of the trouble taken to avoid military contact with holy places and sites were all bunkum and eyewash. they would have fought from the walls of the holy city and placed machine-gun nests in the church of the holy sepulchre and the mosque of omar if they had thought it would spare them the loss of jerusalem. gaza had, as i have said, been turned into a fortress with a mass of field works, in places of considerable natural strength. if our force had been on the defensive at gaza the germans would not have attacked without an army of at least three times our strength. it is doubtful if the turks put as much material in use on gallipoli as they did here. their trenches were deeply cut and were protected by an immense amount of wire. in the sand-dune area they used a vast quantity of sandbags, and they met the shortage of jute stuffs by making small sacks of bedstead hangings and curtains which, in the dry heat of the summer, wore very well. looking across no man's land one could easily pick out a line of trenches by a red, a vivid blue, or a saffron sandbag. the turkish dug-outs were most elaborate places of security. the excavators had gone down into the hard earth well beneath the deep strata of sand, and they roofed these holes with six, eight, and sometimes ten layers of palm logs. we had seen these beautiful trees disappearing and had guessed the reason. but an even greater protection than the devices of military engineers had been provided for the turks by dame nature. along the southern outskirts of the town all the fields were enclosed by giant cactus hedges, sometimes with stems as thick as a man's body and not infrequently rearing their strong limbs and prickly leaves twenty feet above the ground. the hedges were deep as well as high. they were at once a screen for defending troops and a barrier as impenetrable as the walls of a fortress. if one line of cactus hedges had been cut through, infantry would have found another and yet another to a depth of nearly two miles, and as the whole of these thorny enclosures were commanded by a few machine guns the possibility of getting through was almost hopeless. there were similar hedges on the eastern and western sides of gaza, but they were not quite so deep as on the south. on the western side, and extending south as far as the desert which the army had crossed with such steady, methodical, and one may also say painful progression, was a wide belt of yellow sand, sometimes settled down hard under the weight of heavy winds, and in other places yielding to the pressure of feet. the turks had laboured hard in this mile and a half width of sand, right down to the sea, to protect their right flank. there was a point about yards due west from the edge of the west town of gaza which we called sea post. it was the western extremity of the enemy's exceedingly intricate system of defences. the beach was below the level of the post. from sea post for about yards the turkish front line ran to rafa redoubt. there were wired-in entrenchments with strong points here and there, and a series of communication trenches and redoubts behind them for yards to sheikh hasan, which was the port of gaza, if you can so describe an open roadstead with no landing facilities. from rafa redoubt the contour of the sand dunes permitted the enemy to construct an exceedingly strong line running due south for yards, the strongest points being named by us zowaid trench, el burj trench, triangle trench, peach orchard, and el arish redoubt, the nomenclature being reminiscent of the trials of the troops in the desert march. behind this line there was many a sunken passageway and shelter from gunfire, while backing the whole system, and, for reasons i have given, an element of defence as strong as the prepared positions, were cactus hedges enclosing the west town's gardens. from el arish redoubt the line ran east again to mazar trench with a prodigal expenditure of wire in front of it, and then south for several hundred yards, when it was thrown out to the south-west to embrace a position of high importance known as umbrella hill, a dune of blazing yellow sand facing, about yards away, samson's ridge, which we held strongly and on which the enemy often concentrated his fire. this ended the turks' right-half section of the gaza defences. close by passed what from time immemorial has been called the cairo road, a track worn down by caravans of camels moving towards kantara on their way with goods for egyptian bazaars. but there was no break in the trench system which ran across the plain, a beautiful green tinted with the blooms of myriads of wild flowers when we first advanced over it in march, now browned and dried up by absolutely cloudless summer days. in the gardens on the western slopes of the hills running south from ali muntar the turk had achieved much spadework, but he had done far more work on the hills themselves, and these were a frame of fortifications for ali muntar, on which we once sat for a few hours, and the possession of which meant the reduction of gaza. by the end of summer the hill of muntar had lost its shape. when we saw it during the first battle of gaza it was a bold feature surmounted by a few trees and the whitened walls and grey dome of a sheikh's tomb. in the earlier battles of much was done to ruffle muntar's crest. we saw trees uprooted, others lose their limbs, and naval gunfire threatened the foundations of the old chief's burying place. but ali muntar stoutly resisted the heavy shells' attack. as if samson's feat had endowed it with some of the strong man's powers, muntar for a long time received its daily thumps stoically; but by degrees the resistance of the old hill declined, and when agents reported that the sheikh's tomb was used as an observation post, -inch howitzers got on to it and made it untenable. there was a bit of it left at the end, but not more than would offer protection from a rifle bullet, and the one tree left standing was a limbless trunk. the crest of the hill lost its roundness, and the soil which had worked out through the shell craters had changed the colour of the summit. old ali muntar had had the worst of the bombardment, and if some future sheikh should choose the site for a summer residence he will come across a wealth of metal in digging his foundations. to capture gaza the formidable it was proposed first to take the western defences from umbrella hill to sea post, to press on to sheikh hasan and thus turn the right flank of the whole position. that would compel the enemy to reinforce his right flank when he was being heavily attacked elsewhere, and if he had been transferring his reserves to meet the threat against the left of his main line after beersheba had been won for the empire he would be in sore trouble. gaza had already tasted a full sample of the war food we intended it should consume. before the attack on beersheba had developed, ships of war and the heavy guns of xxist corps had rattled its defences. the warships' fire was chiefly directed on targets our land guns could not reach. observers in aircraft controlled the fire and notified the destruction of ammunition dumps at deir sineid and other places. the work of the heavy batteries was watched with much interest. some were entirely new batteries which had never been in action against any enemy, and they only arrived on the gaza front five weeks before the battle. these were not allowed to register until shortly before the battle began, and they borrowed guns from other batteries in order to train the gun crews. so desirous was general bulfin to conceal the concentration of heavies that the wireless code calls were only those used by batteries which were in position before his corps was formed, and the volume of fire came as an absolute surprise to the enemy. it came as a surprise also to some of us in camp at g.h.q. one night at the end of october. suddenly there was a terrific burst of fire on about four miles of front. vivid fan-shaped flashes stabbed the sky, the bright moonlight of the east did not dim the guns' lightning, and their thunderous voices were a challenge the enemy was powerless to refuse. he took it up slowly as if half ashamed of his weakness. then his fire increased in volume and in strength, but it ebbed again and we knew the reason. we held some big 'stuff' for counter battery work, and our fire was effective. the preliminary bombardment began on october and it grew in intensity day by day. the navy co-operated on october and subsequent days. the whole line from middlesex hill (close to outpost hill) to the sea was subjected to heavy fire, all the routes to the front line were shelled during the night by -pounder and field-gun batteries. gas shells dosed the centres of communication and bivouac areas, and every quarter of the defences was made uncomfortable. the sound-ranging sections told us the enemy had between sixteen and twenty-four guns south of gaza, and from forty to forty-eight north of the town, and over guns were disclosed, including more than thirty firing from the tank redoubt well away to the eastward. on october some of the guns south of gaza had been forced back by the severity of our counter battery work, and of the ten guns remaining between us and the town on that date all except four had been removed by november . for several nights the bombardment continued without a move by infantry. then just at the moment von kress was discussing the loss of beersheba and his plans to meet our further advance in that direction, some infantry of the th division raided outpost hill, the southern extremity of the entrenched hill system south of ali muntar, and killed far more turks than they took prisoners. there was an intense bombardment of the enemy's works at the same time. the next night--november - --was the opening of xxist corps' great attack on gaza, and though the enemy did not leave the town or the remainder of the trenches we had not assaulted till nearly a week afterwards, the vigour of the attack and the bravery with which it was thrust home, and the subsequent total failure of counter-attacks, must have made the enemy commanders realise on the afternoon of november that gaza was doomed and that their boasts that gaza was impregnable were thin air. their reserves were on the way to their left where they were urgently wanted, there was nothing strong enough to replace such heavy wastage caused to them by the attack of the night of november and the morning of the nd, and our big gains of ground were an enormous advantage to us for the second phase in the gaza sector, for we had bitten deeply into the turks' right flank. like the concentration of the xxth corps and the desert mounted corps for the jump off on to beersheba, the preparations against the turks' extreme right had to be very secretly made. the xxist corps commander had to look a long way ahead. he had to consider the possibility of the enemy abandoning gaza when beersheba was captured, and falling back to the line of the wadi hesi. his troops had been confined to trench warfare for months, digging and sitting in trenches, putting out wire, going out on listening patrols, sniping and doing all the drudgery in the lines of earthworks. they were hard and strong, their health having considerably improved since the early summer, but at the end of september the infantry were by no means march fit. realising that, if general allenby's operations were successful, and no one doubted that, we should have a period of open warfare when troops would be called upon to make long marches and undergo the privations entailed by transport difficulties, general bulfin brought as many men as he could spare from the trenches back to deir el belah and the coast, where they had route marches over the sand for the restoration of their marching powers. gradually he accumulated supplies in sheltered positions just behind the front. in three dumps were collected seven days' mobile rations, ammunition, water, and engineers' material. tracks were constructed, cables buried, concealed gun positions and brigade and battalion headquarters made, and from the th october troops were ready to move off with two days' rations on the man. should the enemy retire, general hill's nd (lowland) division was to march up the shore beneath the sand cliffs, get across the wadi hesi at the mouth, detach a force to proceed towards askalon, and then move eastward down to the ridge opposite deir sineid, and, by securing the bridge and crossings of the wadi hesi, prevent the enemy establishing himself on the north bank of the wadi. the operations on the night of november - were conducted by major-general hare, commanding the th division, to which general leggatt's th infantry brigade was temporarily attached. the latter brigade was given the important task of capturing umbrella hill and el arish redoubt. umbrella hill was to be taken first, and as it was anticipated the enemy would keep up a strong artillery fire for a considerable time after the position had been taken, and that his fire would interfere with the assembly and advance of troops detailed for the second phase, the first phase was timed to start four hours earlier than the second. for several days the guns had opened intense fire at midnight and again at a.m. so that the enemy should not attach particular importance to our artillery activity on the night of action, and a creeping barrage nightly swept across no man's land to clear off the chain of listening posts established yards in front of the enemy's trenches. some heavy banks of cloud moved across the sky when the scottish rifle brigade assembled for the assault, but the moon shed sufficient light at intervals to enable the scots to file through the gaps made in our wire and to form up on the tapes laid outside. at p.m. the th scottish rifles stormed umbrella hill with the greatest gallantry. the first wave of some sixty-five officers and men was blown up by four large contact mines and entirely destroyed. the second wave passed over the bodies of their comrades without a moment's check and, moving through the wire smashed by our artillery, entered umbrella hill trenches and set about the turks with their bayonets. they had to clear a maze of trenches and dug-outs, but they bombed out of existence the machine-gunners opposing them and had settled the possession of umbrella hill in half an hour. the th royal scots led the attack on el arish redoubt. it was a bigger and noisier 'show' than the royal scots had had some months before, when in a 'silent' raid they killed with hatchets only, for the scots had seen the condition of some of their dead left in turkish hands and were taking retribution. not many turks in el arish redoubt lived to relate that night's story. the scots were rapidly in the redoubt and were rapidly through it, cleared up a nasty corner known as the 'little devil,' and were just about to shelter from the shells which were to answer their attack when they caught a brisk fire from a bedouin hut. a platoon leader disposed his men cleverly and rushed the hut, killing everybody in it and capturing two machine guns. the vigorous resistance of the turks on umbrella hill and el arish redoubt resulted in our having to bury over enemy dead in these positions. the second phase was to attack the enemy's front-line system from el arish redoubt to the sea at sea post. at a.m., after the enemy guns had plentifully sprinkled umbrella hill and had given it up as irretrievably lost, we opened a ten-minutes' intense bombardment of the front line, exactly as had been done on preceding mornings, but this time the st and nd infantry brigades followed up our shells and carried yards of trenches at once. three-quarters of an hour afterwards the rd infantry brigade tried to get the support trenches several hundred yards in rear, but the difficulties were too many and the effort failed. having secured sea post and beach post the nd brigade completed the programme by advancing up the coast and capturing the 'port' of gaza, sheikh hasan, with a considerable body of prisoners. the enemy's guns remained active until seven o'clock, when they reserved their fire till the afternoon. then a heavy counter-attack was seen to be developing by an aerial observer, whose timely warning enabled the big guns and warships to smash it up. another counter-attack against sheikh hasan was repulsed later in the day, and a third starting from crested rock which aimed at getting back el burj trench was a complete failure. after the second phase our troops buried enemy dead. without doubt there were many others killed and wounded in the unsuccessful counter-attacks, particularly the first against sheikh hasan, when many heavy shells were seen to fall in the enemy's ranks. we took prisoners officers, including two battalion commanders, and other ranks. our casualties were officers and other ranks killed, officers and other ranks wounded, and officers and other ranks missing. considering the enormous strength of the positions attacked, the numbers engaged, and the fact that we secured enemy front yards long and yards deep, the losses were not more severe than might have been expected. the turks clung to their trenches with a tenacity equal to that which characterised their defences on gallipoli, and officer prisoners told us they had been ordered to hold gaza at all costs. that was good news, though even if they had got back to the wadi hesi line it is doubtful if, when sheria was taken, they could have done more than temporarily hold us up there. during the next few days the work against the enemy's right consisted of heavy bombardments on the line of hills running from the north-east to the south of gaza, and on the prominent position of sheikh redwan, east of the port. the enemy made some spirited replies, notably on the th, but his force in gaza was getting shaken, and prisoners reluctantly admitted that the heavy naval shells taking them in flank and rear were affecting the moral of the troops. the gunfire of rear-admiral jackson's fleet of h.m.s. _grafton_, _raglan_, monitors , , , and , river-gunboats _ladybird_ and _amphis_, and the destroyers _staunch_ and _comet_, was worthy of the king's navy. they were assisted by the french battleship _requin_. we lost a monitor and destroyer torpedoed by a submarine, but the marks of the navy's hard hitting were on and about gaza, and we heard, if we could not see, the best the ships were doing. on one day there was a number of explosions about deir sineid indicating the destruction of some of the enemy's reserve of ammunition, and while the turks were still in gaza they received a shock resembling nothing more than an earthquake. one of the ships--the _raglan_, i believe--taking a signal from a seaplane, got a direct hit on an ammunition train at beit hanun, the railway terminus north of gaza. the whole train went up and its load was scattered in fragments over an area of several hundred square yards, an extraordinary scene of wreckage of torn and twisted railway material and destroyed ammunition presenting itself to us when we got on the spot on november . there was another very fine example of the navy's indirect fire a short distance northward of this railway station. a stone road bridge had been built over the wadi hesi and it had to carry all heavy traffic, the banks of the wadi being too steep and broken to permit wheels passing down them as they stood. during our advance the engineers had to build ramps here. a warship, taking its line from an aeroplane, fired at the bridge from a range of , yards, got two direct hits on it and holed it in the centre, and there must have been thirty or forty shell craters within a radius of fifty yards. the confounding of the turks was ably assisted by the navy. chapter ix crushing the turkish left now we return to the operations of xxth corps and desert mounted corps on our right. after the capture of beersheba this force was preparing to attack the left of the turkish main line about hareira and sheria, the capture of which would enable the fine force of cavalry to get to nejile and gain an excellent water supply, to advance to the neighbourhood of huj and so reach the plain and threaten the enemy's line in rear, and to fall on his line of retreat. it was proposed to make the attack on the kauwukah and rushdi systems at hareira on november , but the water available at beersheba had not been equal to the demands made upon it and was petering out, and mounted troops protecting the right flank of xxth corps had to be relieved every twenty-four hours. the men also suffered a good deal from thirst. the weather was unusually hot for this period of the year, and the dust churned up by traffic was as irritating as when the khamseen wind blew. the two days' delay meant much in favour of the enemy, who was enabled to move his troops as he desired, but it also permitted our infantry to get some rest after their long marches, and supplies were brought nearer the front. 'rest' was only a comparative term. brigades were on the move each day in country which was one continual rise and fall, with stony beds of wadis to check progress, without a tree to lend a few moments' grateful relief from a burning sun, and nothing but the rare sight of a squalid native hut to relieve the monotony of a sun-dried desolate land. the troops were remarkably cheerful. they were on their toes, as the cavalry told them. they had drawn first blood profusely from the turk after many weary months of waiting and getting fit, and they knew that those gaunt mountain ridges away on their right front held behind them bethlehem and jerusalem, goals they desired to reach more than any other prizes of war. they had seen the turk, and had soundly thrashed him out of trenches which the british could have held against a much stronger force. their confidence was based on the proof that they were better men, and they were convinced that once they got the enemy into the open their superiority would be still more marked. the events of the next six weeks showed their estimate of the turkish soldier was justified. the rd division with the imperial camel corps on its right moved to towal abu jerwal on november to protect the flank guard of the xxth corps during the pending attack on the kauwukah system. the infantry had some fighting on that day, but it was mild compared with the strenuous days before them. the th division attacked irgeig railway station north-west of beersheba and secured it, and waited there with the th division on its right while the welsh division went forward to fight for khuweilfeh on november . the welshmen could not obtain the whole of the position on that day, and it was not until the th that it became theirs. khuweilfeh is about ten miles due east of sheria, the same distance north of beersheba, and some five miles west of the hebron road. it is in the hill country, difficult to approach, with nothing in the nature of a road or track leading to it, and there was no element in the position to suggest the prospect of an easy capture. when general mott advanced to these forbidding heights the strength of the enemy in these parts was not realised. prisoners taken during the day proved that there were portions of three or four turkish divisions in the neighbourhood, and the strong efforts made to prevent the welsh troops gaining the position and the furious attempts to drive them out of it suggested that most of the turkish reserves had been brought over to their left flank to guard against a wide movement intended to envelop it. it afterwards turned out that von kressenstein believed general allenby intended to march on jerusalem up the hebron road, and he threw over to his left all his reserves to stop us. that was a supreme mistake, for when we had broken through at hareira and sheria the two wings of his army were never in contact, and their only means of communication was by aeroplane. the magnificent fight the rd division put up at khuweilfeh against vastly superior forces and in the face of heavy casualties played a very important part in the overwhelming defeat of the turks. for four days and nights the welsh division fought without respite and with the knowledge that they could not be substantially reinforced, since the plan for the attack on hareira and sheria entailed the employment of all the available infantry of xxth corps. attack after attack was launched against them with extreme violence and great gallantry, their positions were raked by gunfire, whilst water and supplies were not over plentiful. but the staunch division held on grimly to what it had gained, and its tenacity was well rewarded by what was won on other portions of the field. during the night of november - and the day of the th, the th, th, and th divisions concentrated for the attack on the kauwukah system. the enemy's positions ran from his jerusalem-beersheba railway about five miles south-east of hareira, across the gaza-beersheba road to the wadi sheria, on the northern bank of which was an exceedingly strong redoubt covering hareira. the eastern portion of this line was known as the kauwukah system, and between it and hareira was the rushdi system, all being connected up by long communication and support trenches, while a light railway ran from the rushdi line to dumps south of sheria. at the moment of assembly for attack our line from right to left was made up as follows: the th infantry brigade was on the right, south of tel khuweilfeh. then came the th brigade and th brigade. the yeomanry mounted division held a long line of country and was the connecting link between the rd and th divisions. the latter division disposed from right to left the st brigade, the th brigade, and th brigade, who were to march from the south-east to the north-west to attack the right of the kauwukah system of entrenchments on the railway. the st brigade, th brigade, and th brigade of the th division were to march in the same direction to attack the next portion of the system on the left of the th division's objectives, then swinging to the north to march on sheria. the st brigade, th brigade, and th brigade were to operate on the th division's left, with the australian mounted division watching the left flank of xxth corps. the turkish viith army and rd cavalry division were opposing the xxth corps, another division was opposite the rd division and the imperial camel corps with the th depôt regiment at dharahiyeh on the hebron road, the th division opposite our th, the th and th divisions opposite our th, and the th against the th division. the rd, rd, and th turkish divisions were in the gaza area. at daybreak the troops advanced to the attack. the first part of the line in front of the st brigade was a serious obstacle. two or three small outlying rifle pits had to be taken before the division could proceed with its effort to drive the enemy out of sheria and protect the flank of the th division, which had to cross the railway where a double line of trenches was to be tackled, the rear line above the other with the flank well thrown back and protected by small advanced pits to hold a few men and machine guns. the turks held on very obstinately to their ground east of the railway, and kept the th division at bay till one o'clock in the afternoon, but the artillery of that division had for some time been assisting in the wire-cutting in front of the trenches to be assaulted by the th division, and the latter went ahead soon after noon, and with the assistance of one brigade of the th division, had won about yards of the complicated trench system and most of the rushdi system by half-past two. the londoners then swung to the north and occupied the station at sheria, while the dismounted yeomanry worked round farther east, taking a series of isolated trenches on the way, the irish troops relieving the th in the captured trenches at kauwukah. the th division, having possession of the larger part of sheria, intended to attack the hill there at nightfall, and the attack was in preparation when an enemy dump exploded and a huge fire lighted up the whole district, so that all troops would have been exposed to the fire of the garrison on the hill. general shea therefore stopped the attack, but the hill was stormed at . next morning and carried at the point of the bayonet. a bridgehead was then formed at sheria, and the londoners fought all day and stopped one counter-attack when it was within yards of our line. on that same morning the irish troops had extended their gains westwards from the rushdi system till they got to hareira tepe redoubt, a high mound yards across the top, which had been criss-crossed with trenches with wire hanging about some broken ground at the bottom. here there was a hot tussle, but the irishmen valiantly pushed through and not only gave xxth corps the whole of its objectives and completed the turn of the enemy's left flank, but joined up with the xxist corps. the working of xxth corps' scheme had again been admirable, and once more the staff work had enabled the movements to be timed perfectly. the desert mounted corps was thus able to draw up to sheria in readiness to take up the pursuit and to get the water supply at nejile. this ended the xxth corps' task for a few days, though the th division became temporarily attached to desert mounted corps. xxth corps had nobly done its part. the consummate ability, energy, and foresight of the corps commander had been supported throughout by the skill of divisional and brigade commanders. for the men no praise could be too high. the attention given to their training was well repaid. they bore the strain of long marches on hard food and a small allowance of water in a way that proved their physique to be only matched by their courage, and that was of a high order. their discipline was admirable, their determination alike in attack and defence strong and well sustained. to say they were equal to the finest troops in the world might lay one open to a charge of exaggeration when it was impossible to get a fair ground of comparison, seeing the conditions of fighting on different fronts was so varied, but the trials through which the troops of xxth corps passed up to the end of the first week of november, and their magnificent accomplishments by the end of the year, make me doubt whether any other corps possessed finer soldierly qualities. the men were indeed splendid. the casualties sustained by the xxth corps from october to november were: killed, officers , other ranks ; wounded, officers , other ranks ; missing, no officers, other ranks--a total of officers and other ranks. during the period after beersheba when the xxth corps troops were concentrating to break up the turks' defensive position on the left, the desert mounted corps was busily engaged holding a line eight or ten miles north and north-east of beersheba, and watching for any movement of troops down the hebron road. the nd australian light horse brigade and th mounted brigade tried to occupy a line from khuweilfeh to dharahiyeh, but it was not possible to reach it--a fact by no means surprising, as in the light of subsequent knowledge it was clear that the turks had put much of their strength there. a patrol of light horsemen managed to work round to the north of dharahiyeh, a curious group of mud houses on a hill-top inhabited by natives who have yet to appreciate the evils of grossly overcrowded quarters as well as some of the elementary principles of sanitation, and they saw a number of motor lorries come up the admirably constructed hill road designed by german engineers. the lorries were hurrying from the jerusalem area with reinforcements. prisoners--several hundreds of them in all--were brought in daily, but no attempt was made to force the enemy back until november , when the rd division, which for the time being was attached to the desert mounted corps, drove the turks off the whole of khuweilfeh, behaving as i have already said with fine gallantry and inflicting severe losses. there were also counter-attacks launched against the th mounted brigade, the new zealand mounted rifles brigade, and the imperial camel corps brigade, but these were likewise beaten off with considerable casualties to the enemy. when the xxth corps had captured the khauwukah system, a detachment for the defence of the right flank of the army was formed under the command of major-general g. de s. barrow, the g.o.c. yeomanry mounted division, consisting of the imperial camel corps brigade, rd division, yeomanry mounted division, new zealand mounted rifles brigade, and two squadrons and eight machine guns of the nd australian light horse brigade. the australian mounted division marched from karm, whither it had been sent on account of water difficulties, to rejoin desert mounted corps to whom the th division was temporarily attached. the desert corps had orders on november to push through as rapidly as possible to the line wadi jemmameh-huj, and from that day the corps commenced its long march to jaffa, a march which, though strongly opposed by considerable bodies of troops, was more often interfered with by lack of water than by difficulty in defeating the enemy. the scarcity of water was a sore trouble. there was an occasional pool here and there, but generally the only water procurable was in deep wells giving a poor yield. the cavalry will not forget that long trek. no brigade could march straight ahead. those operating in the foothills on our right had to fight all the way, and they were often called upon to resist counter-attacks by strong rearguards issuing from the hills to threaten the flank and so delay the advance in order to permit the turks to carry off some of their material. it was necessary almost every day to withdraw certain formations from the front and send them back a considerable distance to water, replacing them by other troops coming from a well centre. in this way brigades were not infrequently attached to divisions other than their own, and the administrative services were heavily handicapped. several times whole brigades were without water for forty-eight hours, and though supplies reached them on all but one or two occasions they were often late, and an exceedingly severe strain was put on the transport. during that diagonal march across the maritime plain i heard infantry officers remark that the australians always seemed to have their supplies up with them. i do not think the supplies were always there, but they generally were not far behind, and if resource and energy could work miracles the australian supply officers deserve the credit for them. the divisional trains worked hard in those strenuous days, and the 'q' staff of the desert mounted corps had many a sleepless night devising plans to get that last ounce out of their transport men and to get that little extra amount of supplies to the front which meant the difference between want and a sufficiency for man and horse. on the th november the th division after its spirited attack on tel el sheria crossed the wadi and advanced north about two miles, fighting obstinate rearguards all the way. the st australian light horse took prisoners and a considerable quantity of ammunition and stores at ameidat, and with the remainder of the anzac division reached tel abu dilakh by the evening, and the australian mounted division filled the gap between the anzacs and the londoners, but having been unable to water could not advance further. the th november was a busy and brilliantly successful day. the corps' effort was to make a wide sweeping movement in order first to obtain the valuable and urgently required water at nejile, and then to push across the hills and rolling downs to the country behind gaza to harass the enemy retreating from that town. the turks had a big rearguard south-west of nejile and made a strong effort to delay the capture of that place, the importance of which to us they realised to the full, and they were prepared to sacrifice the whole of the rearguard if they could hold us off the water for another twenty-four hours. the pressure of the anzac division and the th mounted brigade assisting it was too much for the enemy, who though holding on to the hills very stoutly till the last moment had to give way and leave the water in our undisputed possession. the sherwood rangers and south notts hussars were vigorously counter-attacked at mudweiweh, but they severely handled the enemy, who retired a much weakened body. by the evening the anzacs held the country from nejile to the north bank of the wadi jemmameh, having captured prisoners and two guns. the australian mounted division made an excellent advance round the north side of huj, which had been the turkish viiith army headquarters, and the th australian light horse brigade was in touch with the corps cavalry of xxist corps at beit hanun, while the rd australian light horse brigade had taken prisoners and two of the troublesome austrian . howitzers. it was the work of the th division in the centre, however, which was the outstanding feature of the day, though the londoners readily admitted that without the glorious charge of the worcester and warwickshire yeomanry in the afternoon they would not have been in the neighbourhood of huj when darkness fell. the th were in the centre, sandwiched between the anzacs and australian mounted division, and their allotted task was to clear the country between sheria and huj, a distance of ten miles. the country was a series of billowy downs with valleys seldom more than yards wide, and every yard of the way was opposed by infantry and artillery. considering the opposition the progress was good. the londoners drove in the turks' strong flank three times, first from the hill of zuheilika, then from the cultivated area behind it, and thirdly from the wadi-torn district of muntaret el baghl, from which the infantry proceeded to the high ground to the north. it was then between two and three o'clock in the afternoon, and maps showed that between the division and huj there was nearly four miles of most difficult country, a mass of wadi beds and hills giving an enterprising enemy the best possible means for holding up an advance. general shea went ahead in a light armoured car to reconnoitre, and saw a strong body of turks with guns marching across his front. it was impossible for his infantry to catch them and, seeing ten troops of warwick and worcester yeomanry on his right about a mile away, he went over to them and ordered lieut.-colonel h. cheape to charge the enemy. it was a case for instant action. the enemy were a mile and a half from our cavalry. the gunners had come into action and were shelling the london territorials, but they soon had to switch off and fire at a more terrifying target. led by their gallant colonel, a master of foxhounds who was afterwards drowned in the mediterranean, the yeomen swept over a ridge in successive lines and raced down the northern slope on to the flat, at first making direct for the guns, then swerving to the left under the direction of colonel cheape, whose eye for country led him to take advantage of a mound on the opposite side of the valley. over this rise the midland yeomen spurred their chargers and, giving full-throated cheers, dashed through the turks' left flank guard and went straight for the guns. their ranks were somewhat thinned, for they had been exposed to a heavy machine-gun fire as well as to the fire of eight field guns and three . howitzers worked at the highest pressure. the gunners were nearly all germans and austrians and they fought well. they splashed the valley with shrapnel, and during the few moments' lull when the yeomanry were lost to view behind the mound they set their shell fuses at zero to make them burst at the mouth of the guns and act as case shot. they tore some gaps in the yeomen's ranks, but nothing could stop that charge. the midlanders rode straight at the guns and sabred every artilleryman at his piece. the londoners say they heard all the guns stop dead at the same moment and they knew they had been silenced in true balaclava style. having wiped out the batteries the yeomen again answered the call of their leader and swept up a ridge to deal effectively with three machine guns, and having used the white arm against their crews the guns were turned on to the retreating turks and decimated their ranks. this charge was witnessed by general shea, and i know it is his opinion that it was executed with the greatest gallantry and élan, and was worthy of the best traditions of british cavalry. the yeomanry lost about twenty-five per cent. of their number in casualties, but their action was worth the price, for they completely broke up the enemy resistance and enabled the london division to push straight through to huj. the warwick and worcester yeomanry received the personal congratulations of the commander-in-chief, and general shea was also thanked by general allenby. during this day general shea accomplished what probably no other divisional commander did in this war. when out scouting in a light armoured car he was within yards of a big ammunition dump which was blown up. he saw the three men who had destroyed it running away, and he chased them into a wadi and machine-gunned them. they held up their hands and were astonished to find they had surrendered to a general. these men were captured in the nick of time. but for the appearance of general shea they would have destroyed another dump, which we captured intact. i was with the division the night after they had taken huj. it was their first day of rest for some time, but the men showed few signs of fatigue. no one could move among them without being proud of the londoners. they were strong, self-reliant, well-disciplined, brave fellows. i well remember what colonel temperley, the g.s.o. of the division, told me when sitting out on a hill in the twilight that night. colonel temperley had been brigade major of the first new zealand infantry brigade which came to egypt and took a full share in the work on gallipoli on its way to france. he had over two years of active service on the western front before coming out to palestine for duty with the th division, and his views on men in action were based on the sound experience of the professional soldier. of the london county territorials he said: 'i cannot speak of these warriors without a lump rising in my throat. these cockneys are the best men in the world. their spirits are simply wonderful, and i do not think any division ever went into a big show with higher moral. after three years of war it is refreshing to hear the men's earnestly expressed desire to go into action again. these grand fellows went forward with the full bloom on them, there never was any hesitation, their discipline was absolutely perfect, their physique and courage were alike magnificent, and their valour beyond words. the cockney makes the perfect soldier.' i wrote at the time that 'whether the men came from bermondsey, camberwell or kennington, or belonged to what were known as class corps, such as the civil service or kensingtons, before the war, all battalions were equally good. they were trained for months for the big battle till their bodies were brought to such a state of fitness that spartan fare during the ten days of ceaseless action caused neither grumble nor fatigue. the men may well be rewarded with the title "london's pride," and london is honoured by having such stalwarts to represent the heart of the british empire. in eight days the londoners marched sixty-six miles and fought a number of hot actions. the march may not seem long, but palestine is not salisbury plain. a leg-weary man was asked by an officer if his feet were blistered, and replied: "they're rotten sore, but my heart's gay." that is typical of the spirit of these unconquerable cockneys. i have just left them. they still have the bloom of freshness and i do not think it will ever fade. scorching winds which parched the throat and made everything one wore hot to the touch were enough to oppress the staunchest soldier, but these sterling territorials, costers and labourers, artisans and tradesmen, professional men and men of independent means, true brothers in arms and good britons, left their bivouacs and trudged across heavy country, fearless, strong, proud, and with the cheerfulness of good men who fight for right.' what i said in those early days of the great advance was more than borne out later, and in the capture of jerusalem, in taking jericho, and in forcing the passage of the jordan this glorious division of londoners was always the same, a pride to its commander, a bulwark of the xxth corps, and a great asset of the empire. chapter x through gaza into the open on the gaza section of the front the xxist corps had been busily occupied with preparations for a powerful thrust through the remainder of the defences on the enemy's right when the xxth corps should have succeeded in turning the main positions on the left. the nd division on the coast was ready to go ahead immediately there was any sign that the enemy, seeing that the worst was about to happen, intended to order a general retirement, and then it would be a race and a fight to prevent his establishing himself on the high ground north of the wadi hesi. should he fail to do that there was scarcely a possibility of the turks holding us up till we got to the jaffa-jerusalem road, though between gaza and that metalled highway there were many points of strength from which they could fight delaying actions. it is very doubtful whether the turkish general staff gave the cavalry credit for being able to move across the plain in the middle of november when the wadis are absolutely dry and the water-level in the wells is lower than at any other period of the year. nor did they imagine that the transport difficulties for infantry divisions fed as ours were could be surmounted. they may have thought that if they could secure the wadi hesi line before we got into position to threaten it in flank they would immobilise our army till the rains began, and there was a possibility of sitting facing each other in wet uncomfortable trench quarters till the flowers showed themselves in the spring, by which time, the bagdad venture of the german higher command proving hopeless before it was started, a great volume of reinforcements might be diverted to southern palestine with turkish divisions from the salonika front and a stiffening of german battalions spared from europe in consequence of the russian collapse. whatever they may have been, the turkish calculations were completely upset. the cavalry's water troubles remained and no human foresight could have smoothed them over, but the transport problem was solved in this way. during the attack on beersheba xxist corps came to the aid of xxth corps by handing over to it the greater part of its camel convoys and lorries, so much transport, indeed, that a vast amount of work in the gaza sector fell to be done by a greatly depleted supply staff. when beersheba had been won and the enemy's left flank had been smashed and thrown back, the xxth corps repaid the xxist corps, not only by returning what it had borrowed, but by marching back into the region of railhead at karm, where it could live with a minimum of transport and send all its surplus to work in the coastal sector. the switching over of this transport was a fine piece of organisation. on the allotted day many thousands of camels were seen drawn out in huge lines all over the country intersected by the wadi ghuzze, slowly converging on the spots at which they could be barracked and rested before loading for the advance. the lorries took other paths. there was no repose for their drivers. they worked till the last moment on the east, and then, caked with the accumulated dust of a week's weary labour in sand and powdered earth, turned westward to arrive just in time to load up and be off again in pursuit of infantry, some making the mistake of travelling between the west and east towns of gaza, while others took the longer and sounder but still treacherous route east of ali muntar and through the old positions of the turks. these lorry drivers were wonderful fellows who laughed at their trials, but in the days and nights when they bumped over the uneven tracks and negotiated earth rents that threatened to swallow their vehicles, they put their faith in the promise of the railway constructors to open the station at gaza at an early date. even gaza, though it saved them so many toilsome miles, did not help them greatly because of a terrible piece of road north-east of the station, but beit hanun was comfortable and for the relief brought by the railway's arrival at deir sineid they were profoundly grateful. but this is anticipating the story of gaza's capture. the xxist corps had not received its additional transport when it gained the ancient city of the philistines, though it knew some of it was on the way and most of it about to start on its westward trek. on the day of november and during the succeeding night the navy co-operated with the corps' artillery in destroying enemy trenches and gun positions, and the ali muntar ridge was a glad sight for tired gunners' eyes. the enemy showed a disposition to retaliate, and on the afternoon of the th he put up a fierce bombardment of our front-line positions from outpost hill to the sea, including in his fire area the whole of the trenches we had taken from him from umbrella hill to sheikh hasan. many observers of this bombardment by all the turks' guns of heavy, medium, and small calibre declared it was the prelude not of an attack but of a retirement, and that the turks were loosing off a lot of the ammunition they knew they could not carry away. they were probably right, though the enemy made no sign of going away for a couple of days, but if he thought his demonstration by artillery was going to hasten back to gaza some of the troops assembling against the left of his main line he was grievously in error. the xxist corps was strong enough to deal with any attack the turks could launch, and they would have been pleased if an attempt to reach our lines had been made. next day the turks were much quieter. they had to sit under a terrific fire both on the th and th november, when in order to assist xxth corps' operations the corps' heavy artillery, the divisional artillery, and the warships' guns carried out an intense bombardment. the land guns searched the turks' front line and reserve systems, while the navy fired on fryer's hill to the north of ali muntar, sheikh redwan, a sandhill with a native chief's tomb on the crest, north of gaza, and on trenches not easily reached by the corps' guns. during the night of november - general palin's th division, as a preliminary to a major operation timed for the following morning, attacked and gained the enemy's trenches on outpost hill and the whole of middlesex hill to the north of it, the opposition being less serious than was anticipated. at daylight the th division pushed on over the other hills towards ali muntar and gained that dominating position before eight o'clock. the fighting had not been severe, and it was soon realised that the enemy had left gaza, abandoning a stronghold which had been prepared for defence with all the ingenuity german masters of war could suggest and into which had been worked an enormous amount of material. it was obvious from the complete success of xxth corps' operations against the turkish left, which had been worked out absolutely 'according to plan,' that general allenby had so thoroughly mystified von kressenstein that the latter had put all his reserves into the wrong spot, and that the rd division's stout resistance against superior numbers had pinned them down to the wrong end of the line. there was nothing, therefore, for the turk to do but to try to hold another position, and he was straining every nerve to reach it. the east anglian division went up west of gaza and held from sheikh redwan to the sea by seven o'clock, two squadrons of the corps' cavalry rode along the seashore and had patrols on the wadi hesi a little earlier than that, and the imperial service cavalry brigade, composed of troops raised and maintained by patriotic indian princes, passed through gaza at nine o'clock and went out towards beit hanun. to the lowland division was given the important task of getting to the right or northern bank of the wadi hesi. these imperturbable scots left their trenches in the morning delighted at the prospect of once more engaging in open warfare. they marched along the beach under cover of the low sand cliffs, and by dusk had crossed the mouth of the wadi and held some of the high ground to the north in face of determined opposition. the th brigade, after a march through very heavy going, got to the wadi at five in the afternoon and saw the enemy posted on the opposite bank. the place was reconnoitred and the brigade made a fine bayonet charge in the dark, securing the position between ten and eleven o'clock. on this and succeeding days the division had to fight very hard indeed, and they often met the enemy with the bayonet. one of their officers told me the scot was twice as good as the turk in ordinary fighting, but with the bayonet his advantage was as five to one. the record of the division throughout the campaign showed this was no too generous an estimate of their powers. after securing ali muntar the th division advanced over fryer's hill to australia hill, so that they held the whole ridge running north and south to the eastward of gaza. the enemy still held to his positions to the right of his centre, and from the atawineh redoubt, tank redoubt, and beer trenches there was considerable shelling of gaza and the ali muntar ridge throughout the day. a large number of shells fell in the plantations on the western side of the ridge; our mastery of the air prevented enemy aviators observing for their artillery, or they would have seen no traffic was passing along that way. we were using the old cairo 'road,' and as far as i could see not an enemy shell reached it, though when our troops were in the town of gaza there were many crumps and woolly bears to disturb the new occupation. but all went swimmingly. it was true we had only captured the well-cracked shell of a town, but the taking of it was full of promise of greater things, and those of us who looked on the mutilated remnants of one of the world's oldest cities felt we were indeed witnesses of the beginning of the downfall of the turkish empire. next morning the th division captured beer trenches and tank and atawineh redoubts and linked up with the irish division of xxth corps on its right. they were shelled heavily, but it was the shelling of rearguards and not attackers, and soon after twelve o'clock we had the best of evidence that the turks were saying good-bye to a neighbourhood they had long inhabited. i was standing on raspberry hill, the battle headquarters of xxist corps, when i heard a terrific report. staff officers who were used to the visitations of aerial marauders came out of their shelters and searched the pearly vault of the heavens for fritz. no machine could be found. some one looking across the country towards atawineh saw a huge mushroom-shaped cloud, and then we knew that one enormous dump at least contained no more projectiles to hold up an advance. this ammunition store must have been eight miles away as the crow flies, but the noise of the explosion was so violent that it was a considerable time before some officers could be brought to believe an enemy plane had not laid an egg near us. the blowing up of that dump was a signal that the turk was off. the lowlanders had another very strenuous day in the sand-dune belt. first of all they repulsed a strong counter-attack from the direction of askalon. then the th infantry brigade went forward and, swinging to the right, drove the turks off the rising ground north-west of deir sineid, the possession of which would determine the question whether the turk could hold on in this quarter sufficiently long to enable him to get any of his material away by his railway and road. the enemy put in a counter-attack of great violence and forced the scots back. the th brigade in the early evening attacked the ridge and gained the whole of their objectives by eight o'clock. there ensued some sanguinary struggles on this sandy ground during the night. the turks were determined to have possession of it and the scots were willing to fight it out to a finish. the first counter-attack in the dark hours drove the lowlanders off, but they were shortly afterwards back on the hills again. the turks returned and pushed the highland light infantry and argyll and sutherland highlanders off a second time. a third attack was delivered with splendid vigour and the enemy left many dead, but they renewed their efforts to get the commanding ground and succeeded once more. the dogged scots, however, were not to be denied. they re-formed and swept up the heavy shifting sand, met the turk on the top with a clash and knocked him down the reverse slope. soon afterwards there was another ding-dong struggle. the turks, putting in all their available strength, for a fourth time got the upper hand, and the lowlanders had to yield the ground, doing it slowly and reluctantly and with the determination to try again. they were robert bruces, all of them. it's the best that stays the longest. after a brief rest these heroic scots once more swarmed up the ridge. their cheers had the note of victory in them, they drove their bayonets home with the haymakers' lift, and what was left of the turks fled helter-skelter down the hill towards deir sineid, broken, dismayed, beaten, and totally unable to make another effort. the h.l.i. brigade's victory was bought at a price. the cost of that hill was heavy, but the turks' tale of dead was far heavier than ours, and we had won and held the hills and consolidated them. the turks then turned their faces to the north and the scots hurried them on. the imperial service cavalry brigade had also met with considerable resistance, but they worked up to and on the ridge overlooking beit hanun from the east and captured a . . by evening these indian horsemen were linked up with the th australian light horse brigade on their right and the nd division on their left, and pursued the enemy as far as tumrah and deir sineid. general headquarters directed that two infantry divisions should advance to the line julis-hamameh in support of mounted troops, and the th division was accordingly ordered from its position east of gaza up to beit hanun. on the th november the nd division was again advancing. the th brigade had moved forward from the gaza trenches. one officer, five grooms, and two signallers mounted on second horses formed a little party to reconnoitre askalon, and riding boldly into the ancient landing place of the crusader armies captured the ruined town unaided. there are visible remains of its old strength, but the power of askalon has departed. it still stands looking over the blue mediterranean as a sort of watch tower, a silent, deserted outpost of the land the crusaders set their hearts on gaining and preserving for christianity, but behind it is many centuries' accumulation of sand encroaching upon the fertile plain, and no effort has been made to stop the inroad. the gallant half-dozen having reported to the th brigade that askalon was open to them--the brigade occupied the place at noon--rode across the sand-dunes to the important native town of mejdel, where there was a substantial bazaar doing a good trade in the essentials for native existence, beans and cereals in plenty, fruit, and tobacco of execrable quality. at mejdel the six accepted the surrender of a body of turks guarding a substantial ammunition dump and rejoined their units, satisfied with the day's adventure. the turks had retired a considerable distance during the day. the principal body was moving up what is called the main road from deir sineid, through beit jerjal to julis, to get to suafir esh sherkiyeh, kustineh, and junction station, from which they could reach latron by a metalled road, or ramleh by a hard mud track by the side of their railway. they were clearly going to oppose us all the way or they would lose the whole of their material, and their forces east and west of the road were well handled in previously selected and partially prepared positions. they left behind them the unpleasant trail of a defeated army. turks had fallen by the way and the natives would not bury them. our aircraft had bombed the road, and the dead men, cattle and horses, and smashed transport were ghastly sights and made the air offensive. there they lay, one long line of dead men and animals, and if a london fog had descended to blind the eyes of our army the sense of smell would still have carried a scout on the direct line of the turkish retreat. i will break off the narrative of fighting at this point to describe a scene which expressed more eloquently than anything else i witnessed in palestine how deeply engraved in the native mind was the conviction that britain stood for fair dealing and freedom. the inhabitants, like the arabs of the desert, do not allow their faces to betray their feelings. they preserve a stolid exterior, and it is difficult to tell from their demeanour whether they are friendly or indifferent to you. but their actions speak aloud. early on the morning after the lowlanders had entered mejdel i was in the neighbourhood. our guns banging away to the north were a reminder that there was to be no promenade over the plain, and that we had yet to make good the formidable obstacle of the wadi sukereir, when i passed a curious procession. people whom the turks had turned out of gaza and the surrounding country were trekking back to the spots where they and their forefathers had lived for countless generations. all their worldly goods and chattels were packed on overloaded camels and donkeys. the women bore astonishingly heavy loads on their heads, the men rode or walked carrying nothing, while patriarchs of families were either held in donkey saddles or were borne on the shoulders of younger men. agriculturists began to turn out to plough and till the fields which had lain fallow while the turkish scourge of war was on the land, and the people showed that, now they had the security of british protection, they intended at once to resume their industry. the troops had the liveliest welcome in passing through villages, though the people are not as a rule demonstrative; and one could point to no better evidence of the exemplary behaviour of our soldiers than the groups of women sitting and gossiping round the wells during the process of drawing water, just as they did in biblical days, heedless of the passing troops whom they regarded as their protectors. the man behind a rude plough may have stopped his ill-matched team of pony and donkey to look at a column of troops moving as he had never seen troops march before, a head of a family might collect the animals carrying his household goods and hurry them off the line of route taken by military transport, but neither one nor the other had any fear of interference with his work, and the life of the whole country, one of the most unchanging regions of the world, had suddenly again become normal, although only yesterday two armies had disputed possession of the very soil on which they stood. the moment we were victorious old occupations were resumed by the people in the way that was a tradition from their forefathers. our victory meant peace and safety, according to the native idea, and an end to extortion, oppression, and pillage under the name of requisitions. it also meant prosperity. the native likes to drive a bargain. he will not sell under a fair price, and he asks much more in the hope of showing a buyer who has beaten him down how cheaply he is getting goods. the army chiefly sought eggs, which are light to carry and easy to cook, and give variety to the daily round of bully, biscuit, and jam. the soldier is a generous fellow, and if a child asked a piastre ( - / d.) for an egg he got it. the price soon became four to five for a shilling in cash, though the turks wanted five times that number for an equivalent sum in depreciated paper currency. the law of supply and demand obtained in this old world just as at home, and it became sufficient for a soldier to ask for an article to show he wanted it and would pay almost anything that was demanded. it was curious to see how the news spread not merely among traders but also among villagers. the men who first occupied a place found oranges, vegetables, fresh bread, and eggs cheap. in ramleh, for example, a market was opened for our troops immediately they got to the town, and the goods were sound and sold at fair rates. the next day prices were up, and the standards fixed behind the front soon ruled at the line itself. there was no real control attempted, and while the extortionate prices charged by jews in their excellent agricultural colonies and by the natives made a poor people prosperous, it gave them an exaggerated idea of the size of the british purse, and they may be disappointed at the limitation of our spending powers in the future. also it was hard on the bravest and most chivalrous of fighting men. but it opened the eyes of the native, whose happiness and contentment were obvious directly we reached his doors. our movements on november were limited by the extent to which general chauvel was able to use his cavalry of the desert mounted corps. water was the sole, but absolute handicap. the yeomanry mounted division rejoined the corps on that day and got south of huj, but could not proceed further through lack of water and supply difficulties. the australian mounted division also had to halt for water, and it was left to anzac mounted division, plus the th mounted brigade, to march eighteen miles north-westwards to occupy the line et tineh-beit duras-jemameh-esdud (the ashdod of the bible). the nd division occupied the area esdud-mejdel-herbieh by the evening of the th, and on the way, australian cavalry being held up on a ridge north of beit duras, the th brigade made another of its fine bayonet charges at night and captured the ground, enabling the cavalry to get at some precious water. the brigade made the attack just after completing a fourteen miles' march in heavy going, achieving the remarkable record of having had three bayonet battles on three nights out of four. on this occasion the turks again suffered heavy casualties in men and lost many machine guns. the th division prolonged the infantry line through gharbiyeh to berberah. the th division was in the gaza defences with all its transport allotted to the divisions taking part in the forward move, but as the th had five days' rations in dumps close at hand it was able to maintain itself, and the railway was being pushed on from the wadi ghuzze with the utmost speed. the iron road in war is an army's jugular vein, and each mile added to its length was of enormous value during the advance. general allenby, looking well ahead and realising the possibilities opened out by his complete success in every phase of the operations on the turks' main defensive line, on the th november ordered the nd and th divisions to concentrate on their advanced guards so as to support the cavalry on their front and to prevent the turk consolidating on the line of the wadi sukereir. the enemy was developing a more organised resistance on a crescent-shaped line from et tineh through yasur to beshshit, and it was necessary to adopt deliberate methods of attack to move him. the advance on the th was the preliminary to three days of stirring fighting. the turks put up a very strong defence by their rearguards, and when one says that at this time they were fighting with courage and magnificent determination one is not only paying a just tribute to the enemy but doing justice to the gallantry and skill of the troops who defeated him. the scots can claim a large share of the success of the next two days, but british yeomanry took a great part in it, and their charge at mughar, and perhaps their charge at abu shushe as well, will find a place in military text-books, for it has confounded those critics who declared that the development of the machine gun in modern warfare has brought the uses of cavalry down to very narrow limits. the th brigade was directed to take burkah on the th so as to give the infantry liberty of manoeuvre on the following day. burkah was a nasty place to tackle. the enemy had two lines of beautifully sited trenches prepared before he fell back from gaza. the scots had to attack up a slope to the first line, and having taken this to pass down another slope for yards before reaching the glacis in front of the second line. the scottish rifles assaulted this position by day without much artillery support, but they took it in magnificent style. it looked as if the turks had accepted the verdict, but at night they returned to a brown hill on the right and drove the th royal scots from it. this battalion came back soon afterwards and retook the hill with the assistance of some gurkhas of general colston's rd infantry brigade, and the turk retired to another spot, hoping that his luck would change. while this fighting was going on about burkah the th brigade went ahead up a road which the cavalry said was strongly held. they got eight miles north of esdud, and were in advance of the cavalry, intending to try to secure the two heights and villages of katrah and mughar on the following day. katrah was a village on a long mound south of mughar, native mud huts constituting its southern part, whilst separated from it on the northern side by some gardens was a pretty little jewish settlement whose red-tiled houses and orderly well-cared-for orchards spoke of the industry of these settlers in zion. all over the hill right up to the houses the cactus flourished, and the hedges were a replica of the terrible obstacles at gaza. from katrah the ground sloped down to the flat on all four sides, so that the village seemed to stand on an island in the plain. a mile due west of it was beshshit, while one mile to the north across more than one wadi stood el mughar at the southern end of an irregular line of hills which separated yebnah and akir, which will be more readily recognised, the former as the jamnia of the jews and the latter as ekron, one of the famous philistine cities. while the th division was forcing back the line turmus-kustineh-yasur and mesmiyeh athwart the road to junction station the th brigade attacked katrah. the whole of the artillery of two divisions opened a bombardment of the line at eight o'clock, but the turks showed more willingness to concede ground on the east than at katrah, where the machine-gun fire was exceptionally heavy. general pollak m'call decided to assault the village with the bulk of his brigade, and seizing a rifle and bayonet from a wounded man, led the charge himself, took the village, and gradually cleared the enemy out of the cactus-enclosed gardens. the enemy losses at katrah were very heavy. in crossing a rectangular field many turks were caught in a cross fire from our machine guns, and over dead were counted in this one field. chapter xi two yeomanry charges in front of the mud huts of mughar, so closely packed together on the southern slope of the hill that the dwellings at the bottom seemed to keep the upper houses from falling into the plain, there was a long oval garden with a clump of cypresses in the centre, the whole surrounded by cactus hedges of great age and strength. in the cypresses was a nest of machine guns whose crews had a perfect view of an advance from katrah. the infantry had to advance over flat open ground to the edge of the garden. the turkish machine-gunners and riflemen in the garden and village were supported by artillery firing from behind the ridge at the back of the village, and although the brigade made repeated efforts to get on, its advance was held up in the early afternoon, and it seemed impossible to take the place by infantry from the south in the clear light of a november afternoon. the th mounted brigade commanded by brigadier-general c.a.c. godwin, d.s.o., composed of the / st bucks hussars, / st berkshire yeomanry, and / st dorset yeomanry, the berkshire battery royal horse artillery, and the th machine gun squadron--old campaigners with the egyptian expeditionary force--had worked round to the left of the lowlanders and had reached a point about two miles south-west of yebnah, that place having been occupied by the th mounted brigade, composed of the / st city of london yeomanry, / st county of london yeomanry, and the / rd county of london yeomanry. at half-past twelve the bucks hussars less one squadron and the berks battery, which were in the rear of the brigade, advanced _via_ beshshit to the wadi janus, a deep watercourse with precipitous banks running across the plain east of yebnah and joining the wadi rubin. one squadron of the bucks hussars had entered yebnah from the east, co-operating with the th brigade. general godwin was told over the telephone that the infantry attack was held up and that his brigade would advance to take mughar. this order was confirmed by telegram a quarter of an hour later as the brigadier was about to reconnoitre a line of approach. the berks battery began shelling mughar and the ridge behind the village from a position half a mile north of beshshit screened by some trees. brigade headquarters joined the bucks hussars headquarters in the wadi janus half a mile south-east of yebnah, where lieut.-colonel the hon. f. cripps commanding the bucks hussars had, with splendid judgment, already commenced a valuable reconnaissance, the dorset and berks yeomanry being halted in a depression out of sight a few hundred yards behind. the turks had the best possible observation, and, knowing they were holding up the infantry, concentrated their attention upon the cavalry. therein they showed good judgment, for it was from the mounted troops the heavy blow was to fall. lieut. perkins, bucks hussars, was sent forward to reconnoitre the wadi shellal el ghor, which runs parallel to and east of the wadi janus. he became the target of every kind of fire, guns, machine guns, and rifles opening on him from the ridge whenever he exposed himself. captain patron, of the th machine gun squadron, was similarly treated while examining a position from which to cover the advance of the brigade with concentrated machine-gun fire. it was not an easy thing to get cavalry into position for a mounted attack. except in the wadis the plain between yebnah and mughar offered no cover and was within easy range of the enemy's guns. the wadi janus was a deep slit in the ground with sides of clay falling almost sheer to the stony bottom. it was hard to get horses into the wadi and equally troublesome to get them to bank again, and the wadi in most places was so narrow that horses could only move in single file. the dorsets were brought up in small parties to join the bucks in the wadi, and they had to run the gauntlet of shell and rifle fire. the berks were to enter the wadi immediately the bucks had left it. behind mughar village and its gardens the ground falls sharply, then rises again and forms a rocky hill some yards long. there is another decline, and north of it a conical shaped hill, also stony and barren, though before the crest is reached there is some undulating ground which would have afforded a little cover if the cunning turks had not posted machine guns on it. the dorset yeomanry were ordered to attack this latter hill and the bucks hussars the ridge between it and mughar village, the berks yeomanry to be kept in support. there seems to be no reason for doubting that mughar would not have been captured that day but for the extremely brilliant charge of these home counties yeomen. the th brigade was still held fast in that part of the wadi janus which gave cover south-west and south of mughar, and after the charge had been completely successful and the yeomanry were working forward to clear up the village a message was received--timed . p.m., but received at p.m.--which shows the difficulties facing that very gallant infantry brigade: ' nd division unable to make progress. co-operate and turn mughar from the north.' it was a hot bright afternoon. the dispositions having been made, the bucks hussars and dorset yeomanry got out of the wadi and commenced their mounted attack, the berks battery in the meantime having registered on certain points. the bucks hussars, in column of squadrons extended to four yards interval, advanced at a trot from the wadi, which was yards distant from the ridge which was their objective. two machine guns were attached to the bucks and two to the dorsets, and the other guns under captain patron were mounted in a position which that officer had chosen in the wadi el ghor from which they could bring to bear a heavy fire almost up to the moment the bucks should be on the ridge. this machine-gun fire was of the highest value, and it unquestionably kept many turkish riflemen inactive. 'b' squadron under captain bulteel, m.c., was leading, and when yards from the objective the order was given to gallop, and horses swept over the last portion of the plain and up the hill at a terrific pace, the thundering hoofs raising clouds of dust. the tap-tap of machine guns firing at the highest pressure, intense rifle fire from all parts of the enemy position, the fierce storm of shells rained on the hill by the berks battery, which during the charge fired with splendid accuracy no fewer than rounds of shrapnel at a range of to yards, and the rapid fire of turkish field guns, completely drowned the cheers of the charging yeomen. 'c' squadron, commanded by lord bosebery's son, captain the hon. neil primrose, m.c., who was killed on the following day, made an equally dashing charge and came up on the right of 'b' squadron. once the cavalry had reached the crest of the hill many of the turks surrendered and threw down their arms, but some retired and then, having discovered the weakness of the cavalry, returned to some rocks on the flanks and continued the fight at close range. captain primrose's squadron was vigorously attacked on his left flank, but captain bulteel was able to get over the ridge and across the rough, steep eastern side of it, and from this point he utilised captured turkish machine guns to put down a heavy barrage on to the northern end of the village. 'a' squadron under captain lawson then came up from yebnah at the gallop, and with his support the whole of the bucks' objectives were secured and consolidated. the dorset yeomanry on the left of the bucks had yards farther to go, and the country they traversed was just as cracked and broken. their horses at the finish were quite exhausted. at the base of the hills captain dammers dismounted 'a' squadron, which charged on the left, and the squadron fought their way to the top of the ridge on foot. the held horses were caught in a cone of machine-gun fire, and in a space of about fifty square yards many gallant chargers perished. 'b' squadron (major wingfield-digby) in the centre and 'c' squadron (major gordon, m.c.) on the right, led by colonel sir randolf baker, m.p., formed line and galloped the hill, and their horse losses were considerably less than those of the dismounted squadron. the berks yeomanry moved to the wadi el ghor under heavy machine-gun and rifle fire from the village and gardens on the west side, and two squadrons were dismounted and sent into the village to clear it, the remaining squadron riding into the plain on the eastern side of the ridge, where they collected a number of stragglers. dotted over this plain were many dead turks who fell under the fire of the machine-gun squadron while attempting to get to ramleh. the turkish dead were numerous and their condition showed how thoroughly the sword had done its work. i saw many heads cleft in twain, and mughar was not a sweet place to look upon and wanted a good deal of clearing up. the yeomanry took officers and other ranks prisoners, whilst fourteen machine guns and two field guns were captured. but for the tired state of the horses many more prisoners would have been taken, large numbers being seen making their way along the red sand tracks to ramleh, and an inspection of the route on the morrow told of the pace of the retirement brought about by the shock of contact with cavalry. machine guns, belts and boxes of ammunition, equipment of all kinds were strewn about the paths, and not a few wounded turks had given up the effort to escape and had lain down to die. the casualties in the th mounted brigade were officer killed and wounded, other ranks killed and wounded and missing, a remarkably small total. among the mortally wounded was major de rothschild, who fell within sight of some of the jewish colonies which his family had founded. two hundred and sixty-five horses and two mules were killed and wounded in the action. mughar was a great cavalry triumph, and the regiments which took part in it confirmed the good opinions formed of them in this theatre of war. the dorsets had already made a spirited charge against the senussi in the western desert in ,[ ] and having suffered from the white arm once those misguided arabs never gave the cavalry another chance of getting near them. the bucks and berks, too, had taken part in that swift and satisfactory campaign. all three regiments on the following day were to make another charge, this time on one of the most famous sites in the battle history of palestine. the th mounted brigade moved no farther on the day of mughar because the nd mounted brigade, when commencing an attack on akir, the old philistine city of ekron, were counter-attacked on their left. during the night, however, the turks in akir probably heard the full story of mughar, and did not wait long for a similar action against them. the nd mounted brigade drove them out early next morning, and they went rapidly away across the railway at naaneh, leaving in our hands the railway guard of seventy men, and seeking the bold crest of abu shushe. they moved, as i shall presently tell, out of the frying-pan into the fire. [footnote : _the desert campaigns_: constable.] the th infantry which helped to finish up the mughar business took a gun and fourteen machine guns. then with the remainder of the nd division it had a few hours of hard-earned rest. the division had had a severe time, but the men bore their trials with the fortitude of their race and with a spirit which could not be beaten. for several days, when water was holding up the cavalry, the lowlanders kept ahead of the mounted troops, and one battalion fought and marched sixty-nine miles in seven days. their training was as complete as any infantry, even the regimental stretcher-bearers being taught the use of lewis guns, and on more than one occasion the bearers went for the enemy with mills bombs till a position was captured and they were required to tend the wounded. a stokes-gun crew found their weapon very useful in open warfare, and at one place where machine guns had got on to a large party of turks and enclosed them in a box barrage, the stokes gun searched every corner of the area and finished the whole party. the losses inflicted by the scots were exceptionally severe. farther eastwards on the th, the th division had also been giving of its best. the objective of this division was the important junction station on the turks' jaffa-jerusalem railway, and a big step forward was made in the early afternoon by the overcoming of a stubborn resistance at mesmiyeh, troops rushing the village from the south and capturing prisoners and machine guns. the th brigade began an advance on junction station during the night, but were strongly counter-attacked and had to halt till the morning, when at dawn they secured the best positions on the rolling downs west of the station, and by . the station itself was occupied. two engines and vehicles were found intact; two large guns on trucks and over prisoners were also taken. the enemy shelled the station during the morning, trying in vain to damage his lost rolling stock. this booty was of immense value to us, and to a large extent it solved the transport problem which at this moment was a very anxious one indeed. the line was metre gauge and we had no stock to fit it, though later the egyptian state railways brought down some engines and trucks from the luxor-assouan section, but this welcome aid was not available till after the rains had begun and had made lorry traffic temporarily impossible between our standard gauge railhead and our fighting front. junction station was no sooner occupied than a light-railway staff under colonel o'brien was brought up from beit hanun. the whole of the line to deir sineid was not in running order, but broken culverts were given minor repairs, attention was bestowed on trucks, and the engines were closely examined while the turks were shelling the station. the water tanks had been destroyed, as a result of which two men spent hours in filling up the engines by means of a water jug and basin found in the station buildings, and the turks had the mortification of seeing these engines steam out of the station during the morning to a cutting which was effective cover from their field-gun fire. the light-railway staff were highly delighted at their success, and the trains which they soon had running over their little system were indeed a boon and a blessing to the fighting men and horses. on this morning of november the infantry were operating with desert mounted corps' troops on both their wings. the australian mounted division was on the right, fighting vigorous actions with the enemy rearguards secreted in the irregular, rocky foothills of the shephelah which stand as ramparts to the judean mountains. it was a difficult task to drive the turks out of these fastnesses, and while they held on to them it was almost impossible to outflank some of the places like et tineh, a railway station and camp of some importance on the line to beersheba. they had already had some stiff fighting at tel el safi, the limestone hill which was the white guard of the crusaders. the division suffered severely from want of water, particularly the th mounted brigade, and it was necessary to transfer to it the th mounted brigade and the nd australian light horse brigade. on the left of the infantry the yeomanry mounted division was moving forward from akir and mansura, and after the nd mounted brigade had taken naaneh they detailed a demolition party to blow up one mile of railway, so that, even if the th division had not taken junction station, jerusalem would have been entirely cut off from railway communication with the turkish base at tul keram, and haifa and damascus. between naaneh and mansura the th mounted brigade was preparing for another dashing charge. the enemy who had been opposing us for two days consisted of remnants of two divisions of both the turkish viith and viiith armies brought together and hurriedly reorganised. the victory at mughar had almost, if not quite, split the force in two, that is to say that portion of the line which had been given the duty of holding mughar had been so weakened by heavy casualties, and the loss of moral consequent upon the shock of the cavalry charge, that it had fallen back to ramleh and ludd and was incapable of further serious resistance. there was still a strong and virile force on the seaside, though that was adequately dealt with, but the centre was very weak, and the enemy's only chance of preventing the mounted troops from working through and round his right centre was to fall back on abu shushe and tel jezar to cover latron, with its good water supply and the main metalled road where it enters the hills on the way to jerusalem. the loss of tel jezar meant that we could get to latron and the vale of ajalon, and the action of the th mounted brigade on the morning of the th gave it to us. the berks yeomanry had had outposts on the railway south-east of naaneh since before dawn. they had seen the position the previous day, and at dawn sent forward a squadron dismounted to engage the machine guns posted in the walled-in house at the north of the village. from the railway to the abu shushe ridge is about three miles of up and down country with two or three rises of sufficient height to afford some cover to advancing cavalry. general godwin arranged that six machine guns should go forward to give covering fire, and, supported by the berks battery r.h.a. from a good position half a mile west of the railway, the bucks hussars were to deliver a mounted attack against the hill, with the assistance on their left of two squadrons of berks yeomanry. the dorset yeomanry were moved up to the red hill of melat into support. at seven o'clock the attack started, the nd mounted brigade operating on foot on the left. the bucks hussars, taking advantage of all the dead ground, galloped about a mile and a half until they came to a dip behind a gently rising mound, when, it being clear that the enemy held the whole ridge in strength, colonel cripps signalled to brigade headquarters at melat for support. the dorset yeomanry moved out to the right of the bucks, and the latter then charged the hill a little south of the village and captured it. it was a fine effort. the sides of the hill were steep with shelves of rock, and the crest was a mass of stones and boulders, while from some caves, one or two of them quite big places, the turks had machine guns in action. when the bucks were charging there was a good deal of machine-gun fire from the right, but the dorsets dealt with this very speedily, assisted by the berks battery which had also moved forward to a near position from which they could command the ridge in flank. a hostile counter-attack developed against the dorsets, but this was crushed by the berks battery and some of the nd division's guns. two squadrons of the berks yeomanry in the meantime had charged on the left of the bucks and secured the hill immediately to the south-east of abu shushe village, and at nine o'clock the whole of this strong position was in our hands, the brigade having sustained the extremely slight casualties of three officers and thirty-four other ranks killed and wounded. so small a cost of life was a wonderful tribute to good and dashing leading, and furnished another example of cavalry's power when moving rapidly in extended formation. to the infinite regret of the brigade, indeed of the whole of general allenby's army, one of the officers killed that day was the hon. neil primrose, an intrepid leader who, leaving the comfort and safety of a ministerial appointment, answered the call of duty to be with his squadron of the bucks hussars. he was a fine soldier and a favourite among his men, and he died as a good cavalryman would wish, shot through the head when leading his squadron in a glorious charge. his body rests in the garden of the french convent at ramleh not far from the spot where humbler soldiers take their long repose, and these graves within visual range of the tomb of st. george, our patron saint, will stand as memorials of those britons who forsook ease to obey the stern call of duty to their race and country. the overwhelming nature of this victory is illustrated by a comparison of the losses on the two sides. whereas ours were all told, we counted between and dead turks on the field, and the enemy left with us prisoners and some material. the extraordinary disparity between the losses can only be accounted for first by the care taken to lead the cavalry along every depression in the ground, and secondly by rapidity of movement. the cavalry were confronted by considerable shell fire, and the volume of machine-gun fire was heavy, though it was kept down a good deal by the covering fire of the th machine gun squadron. i have referred to the importance of jezar as dominating the approaches to latron on the north-east and ramleh on the north-west. jezar, as we call it on our maps, has been a stronghold since men of all races and creeds, coloured and white, pagan, mahomedan, jew, and christian, fought in palestine. it is a spot which many a great leader of legions has coveted, and to its military history our home county yeomen have added another brilliant page. let me quote the description of jezar from george adam smith's _historical geography of the holy land_, a book of fascinating interest to all students of the sacred history which many of the soldiers in general allenby's army read with great profit to themselves: 'one point in the northern shephelah round which these tides of war have swept deserves special notice--gezer, or gazar. it is one of the few remarkable bastions which the shephelah flings out to the west--on a ridge running towards ramleh, the most prominent object in view of the traveller from jaffa towards jerusalem. it is high and isolated, but fertile and well watered--a very strong post and striking landmark. its name occurs in the egyptian correspondence of the fourteenth century, where it is described as being taken from the egyptian vassals by the tribes whose invasion so agitates that correspondence. a city of the canaanites, under a king of its own--horam--gezer is not given as one of joshua's conquests, though the king is; but the israelites drave not out the canaanites who dwelt at gezer, and in the hands of these it remained till its conquest by egypt when pharaoh gave it, with his daughter, to solomon and solomon rebuilt it. judas maccabeus was strategist enough to gird himself early to the capture of gezer, and simon fortified it to cover the way to the harbour of joppa and caused john his son, the captain of the host, to dwell there. it was virtually, therefore, the key of judea at a time when judea's foes came down the coast from the north; and, with joppa, it formed part of the syrian demands upon the jews. but this is by no means the last of it. m. clermont ganneau, who a number of years ago discovered the site, has lately identified gezer with the mont gisart of the crusades. mont gisart was a castle and feif in the county of joppa, with an abbey of st. katharine of mont gisart, "whose prior was one of the five suffragans of the bishop of lydda." it was the scene, on the th november , seventeen years before the third crusade, of a victory won by a small army from jerusalem under the boy-king, the leper baldwin iv., against a very much larger army under saladin himself, and, in , saladin encamped upon it during his negotiations for a truce with richard. 'shade of king horam, what hosts of men have fallen round that citadel of yours. on what camps and columns has it looked down through the centuries, since first you saw the strange hebrews burst with the sunrise across the hills, and chase your countrymen down ajalon--that day when the victors felt the very sun conspiring with them to achieve the unexampled length of battle. within sight of every egyptian and every assyrian invasion of the land, gezer has also seen alexander pass by, and the legions of rome in unusual flight, and the armies of the cross struggle, waver and give way, and napoleon come and go. if all could rise who have fallen around its base--ethiopians, hebrews, assyrians, arabs, turcomans, greeks, romans, celts, saxons, mongols--what a rehearsal of the judgment day it would be. few of the travellers who now rush across the plain realise that the first conspicuous hill they pass in palestine is also one of the most thickly haunted--even in that narrow land into which history has so crowded itself. but upon the ridge of gezer no sign of all this now remains, except in the tel jezer, and in a sweet hollow to the north, beside a fountain, where lie the scattered christian stone of deir warda, the convent of the rose. 'up none of the other valleys of the shephelah has history surged as up and down ajalon and past gezer, for none are so open to the north, nor present so easy a passage to jerusalem.' chapter xii looking towards jerusalem the anzac mounted division had only the st australian light horse and the new zealand mounted rifles brigade operating with it on the th. the australians, by the evening, were in the thick olive groves on the south of ramleh, and on the ridges about surafend. on their left the turks were violently opposing the new zealanders who were working along the sand-dunes with the port and town of jaffa as their ultimate objective. there was one very fierce struggle in the course of the day. a force attacked a new zealand regiment in great strength and for the moment secured the advantage, but the regiment got to grips with the enemy with hand-grenades and bayonets, and so completely repulsed them that they fled in hopeless disorder leaving many dead and wounded behind them. it was unfortunate that there was no mobile reserve available for pursuit, as the turks were in such a plight that a large number would have been rounded up. general cox's brigade seized ramleh on the morning of the th, taking ninety prisoners, and then advanced and captured ludd, being careful that no harm should come to the building which holds the grave of st. george. in ludd prisoners were taken, and the brigade carried out a good deal of demolition work on the railway running north. the new zealanders made jaffa by noon on the th, the turks evacuating the town during the morning without making any attempt to destroy it, though there was one gross piece of vandalism in a christian cemetery where monuments and tombstones had been thrown down and broken. in the meantime, in order to protect the rear of the infantry, five battalions of the nd division with three batteries were stationed at yebnah, mughar, and akir until they could be relieved by units of the th division advancing from gaza. to enable the th to move, the transport lent to the nd and th divisions had to be returned, which did not make the supply of those divisions any easier. the main line of railway was still a long way in the rear, and the landing of stores by the navy at the mouth of the wadi sukereir had not yet begun. a little later, and before jaffa had been made secure enough for the use of ships, many thousands of tons of supplies and ammunition were put ashore at the wadi's mouth, and at a time when heavy rains damaged the newly constructed railway tracks the sukereir base of supply was an inestimable boon. yet there were times when the infantry had a bare day's supply with them, though they had their iron rations to fall back upon. it speaks well for the supply branch that in the long forward move of xxist corps the infantry were never once put on short rations. while the th were coming up to take over from the nd, plans were prepared for the further advance on jerusalem. the commander-in-chief was deeply anxious that there should be no fighting of any description near the holy places, and he gave the turks a chance of being chivalrous and of accepting the inevitable. we had got so far that the ancient routes taken by armies which had captured jerusalem were just before us. the turkish forces were disorganised by heavy and repeated defeats, the men demoralised and not in good condition, and there was no hope for them that they could receive sufficient reinforcements to enable them to stave off the ultimate capture of bethlehem and jerusalem, though as events proved they could still put up a stout defence. we know from papers taken from the enemy that the turks believed general allenby intended to go right up the plain to get to the defile leading to messudieh and nablus and thus threaten the hedjaz railway, in which case the position of the enemy in the holy city would be hopeless, and the turks formed an assault group of three infantry divisions in the neighbourhood of tul keram to prevent this, and continued to hold on to jerusalem. general allenby proposed to strike through the hills to the north-east to try to get across the jerusalem-nablus road about bireh (the ancient beeroth), and in this operation success would have enabled him to cut off the enemy forces in and about the holy city, when their only line of retreat would have been through jericho and the east of the jordan. the turks decided to oppose this plan and to make us fight for jerusalem. that was disappointing, but in the end it could not have suited us better, for it showed to our own people and to the world how after the turks had declined an opportunity of showing a desire to preserve the holy places from attack--an opportunity prompted by our strength, not by any fear that victory could not be won--general allenby was still able to achieve his great objective without a drop of blood being spilled near any of the holy sites, and without so much as a stray rifle bullet searing any of their walls. that indeed was the triumph of military practice, and when jerusalem fell for the twenty-third time, and thus for the first time passed into the hands of british soldiers, the whole force felt that the sacrifices which had been made on the gaunt forbidding hills to the north-west were worth the price, and that the graves of englishman, scot and colonial, of gurkha, punjabi, and sikh, were monuments to the honour of british arms. the scheme was that the th division would advance along the main jerusalem road, which cuts into the hills about three miles east of latron, and occupy kuryet el enab, and that the lowland division should go through ludd, strike eastwards and advance to beit likia to turn from the north the hills through which the road passes, the yeomanry mounted division on the left flank of the nd division to press on to bireh, on the nablus road about a dozen miles north of jerusalem. a brief survey of the country to be attacked would convince even a civilian of the extreme difficulties of the undertaking. north and east of latron (which was not yet ours) frown the hills which constitute this important section of the judean range, the backbone of palestine. the hills are steep and high, separated one from another by narrow valleys, clothed here and there with fir and olive trees, but elsewhere a mass of rocks and boulders, bare and inhospitable. practically every hill commands another. there is only one road--the main one--and this about three miles east of latron passes up a narrow defile with rugged mountains on either side. there is an old roman road to the north, but, unused for centuries, it is now a road only in name, the very trace of it being lost in many places. in this strong country men fought of old, and the defenders not infrequently held their own against odds. it is pre-eminently suitable for defence, and if the warriors of the past found that flint-tipped shafts of wood would keep the invader at bay, how much more easily could a modern army equipped with rifles of precision and machine guns adapt nature to its advantage? it will always be a marvel to me how in a country where one machine gun in defence could hold up a battalion, we made such rapid progress, and how having got so deep into the range it was possible for us to feed our front. we had no luck with the weather. in advancing over the plain the troops had suffered from the abnormal heat, and many of the wells had been destroyed or damaged by the retreating enemy. in the hills the troops had to endure heavy rains and piercingly cold winds, with mud a foot deep on the roads and the earth so slippery on the hills that only donkey transport was serviceable. yet despite all adverse circumstances the infantry and yeomanry pressed on, and if they did not secure all objectives, their dash, resource, and magnificent determination at least paved the way for ultimate triumph. to the trials of hard fighting and marching on field rations the wet added a severe test of physical endurance. the troops were in enemy country where they scrupulously avoided every native village, and no wall or roof stood to shelter them from wind or water. the heat of the first two weeks of november changed with a most undesirable suddenness, and though the days continued agreeably warm on the plain into december, the nights became chilly and then desperately cold. the single blanket carried in the pack--most of the infantry on the march had no blanket at all--did not give sufficient warmth to men whose blood had been thinned by long months of work under a pitiless eastern sun, and lucky was the soldier who secured even broken sleep in the early morning hours of that fighting march across the northern part of the maritime plain. the generals, with one eye on the enemy and the other on the weather, must have been dismayed in the third week of november at the gathering storm clouds which in bursting flooded the plain with rains unusually heavy for this period of the year. the surface is a very light cotton soil several feet deep. when baked by summer sun it has a cracked hard crust giving a firm foothold for man and horse, and yielding only slightly to the wheels of light cars; even laden lorries made easy tracks over the country. the lorries generally kept off the ill-made unrolled turkish road which had been constructed for winter use and, except for slight deviations to avoid wadis and gullies cut by nature to carry off surplus water, the supply columns could move in almost as direct a course as the flying men. when the heavens opened all this was altered. the first storm turned the top into a slippery, greasy mass. in an hour or two the rain soaked down into the light earth, and any lorry driver pulling out of the line to avoid a skidding vehicle ahead, had the almost certainty of finding his car and load come to a full stop with the wheels held fast axle deep in the soft soil. an hour's hard digging, the fixing of planks beneath the wheels, and a towing cable from another lorry sometimes got the machine on to the pressed-down track again and enabled it to move ahead for a few miles, but many were the supply vehicles that had to wait for a couple of sunny days to dry a path for them. my own experience of the first of the winter rains was so like that of others in the force who moved on wheels that i may give some idea of the conditions by recounting it. we had taken ludd and ramleh, and guided by the ruined tower of the church of the forty martyrs i had followed in the cavalry's wake. i dallied on the way back to see if akir presented to the latter-day crusader any signs of its former strength when it stood as the philistine stronghold of ekron. near where the old city had been the ghastly sight of turks cut down by yeomanry during a hot pursuit offended the senses of sight and smell, and when you saw natives moving towards their village at a rate somewhat in excess of their customary shuffling gait you were almost led to think that their superstitious fears were driving them home before sundown lest darkness should raise the ghosts of the turkish dead. a few of the jewish settlers, whose industry has improved the landscape, were leaving the fields and orchards they tended so well, though there was still more than an hour of daylight and their tasks were not yet done. they were weatherwise. they could have been deaf to the rumblings in the south and still have noticed the coming of the storm. i was some forty miles from the spot at which my despatch could be censored and passed over land wire and cable to london, when a vivid lightning flash warned me that the elements were in forbidding mood and that i had misread the obvious signal of the natives' homeward movement. the map showed a path from akir through mansura towards junction station, from which the so-called turkish road ran south. in the gathering gloom my driver picked up wheel tracks through an olive orchard and, crossing a nullah, found the marks of a ford car's wheels on the other side. the rain fell heavily and soon obliterated all signs of a car's progress, and with darkness coming on there was a prospect of a shivering night with a wet skin in the open. an australian doctor going up to his regiment at grips with the turk told me that he had no doubt we were on the right road, for he had been given a line through mansura, which must be the farmhouse ahead of us. these australians have a keen nose for country and you have a sense of security in following them. the doctor's horse was slipping in the mud, but my car made even worse going. it skidded to right and left, and only by the skill and coolness of my driver was i saved a ducking in a narrow wadi now full of storm water. after much low-gear work we pulled up a slight rise and saw ahead of us one or two little fires. under the lee of a dilapidated wall some scottish infantry were brewing tea and making the most of a slight shelter. it was mansura, and if we bore to the right and kept the track beaten down by lorries across a field we might, by the favour of fortune, reach junction station during the night. the scots had arranged a bivouac in that field before it became sodden. they knew how bad it had got, and a native instinct to be hospitable prompted an invitation to share the fire for the night. however, london was waiting for news and i decided to press on. the road could not be worse than the sea of mud in which i was floundering, and it might be better. we turned right-handed and after a struggle came up against three lorry drivers hopelessly marooned. they had turned in. up a greasy bank we came to a stop and slid back. we tried again and failed. i relieved the car of my weight and made an effort to push it from behind, but my feet held fast in the mud and the car cannoned into me when it skidded downhill. 'better give it up till the morning,' said an m.t. driver whose sleep was disturbed by the running of our engine. 'can't? who've you got there? eh? oh, very well. here, jim, give them a hand or we'll have no sleep to-night'--or words to that effect. three of the lorry men and the engine got us on the move, and before they took mud back with them to the dry interiors of the lorries they hoped, they said, that we would reach g.h.q., but declared that it was hopeless to try. before getting much farther a light, waved ahead of us, told of some one held up. i walked on and found general butler, the chief of the army veterinary service with the force, unable to move an inch. the efforts of two drivers failed to locate the trouble, and everything removable was taken off the general's car and put into ours, and with the heavier load we started off again for junction station. this was not difficult to pick up, for there were many flares burning to enable working parties to repair engines, rolling stock, and permanent way. we got on to the road ultimately, carrying more mud on our feet than i imagined human legs could lift. leaving a driver and all spare gear at the station, we thrashed our way along a road metalled with a soft, friable limestone which had been cut into by the iron-shod wheels of german lorries until the ruts were fully a foot deep, and the soft earth foundation was oozing through to the surface. it was desperately hard to steer a course on this treacherous highway, and a number of lorries we passed had gone temporarily out of action in ditches. the germans with the turks had blown up most of the culverts, and the road bridges which had been destroyed had only been lightly repaired with planks and trestles, no safety rails being in position. to negotiate these dangerous paths in the dark the driver had to put on all possible speed and make a dash for it, and he usually got to the other side before a skid became serious. most of the lorry drivers put out no light because they thought no car would be able to move on such a night, and we had several narrow escapes of finishing our career on a half-sunken supply motor vehicle. reinforcements for infantry battalions moved up the road as we came down it. they were going to the front to take the place of casualties, for weather and mud are not considered when bayonets are wanted in the line. so the stolid british infantryman splashed and slipped his way towards the enemy, and he would probably have been sleeping that night if there had not been a risk of his drowning in the mud. the camel transport corps fought the elements with a courage which deserved better luck. the camel dislikes many things and is afraid of some. but if he is capable of thinking at all he regards mud as his greatest enemy. he cannot stand up in it, and if he slips he has not an understanding capable of realising that if all his feet do not go the same way he must spread-eagle and split up. this is what often happens, but if by good luck a camel should go down sideways he seems quite content to stay there, and he is so refractory that he prefers to die rather than help himself to his feet again. on this wild night i had a good opportunity of seeing white officers encourage the egyptian boys in the camel transport corps. at julis the roadway passes through the village. there was an ambulance column in difficulties in the village, and while some cars were being extricated a camel supply column came up in the opposite direction. the camels liked neither the headlights nor the running engines, and these had to be made dark and silent before they would pass. the water was running over the roadway several inches deep, carrying with it a mass of garbage and filth which only arab villagers would tolerate. officers and gyppies coaxed and wheedled the stubborn beasts through julis, but outside the place the animals raised a chorus of protest and went down. they held me up for an hour or more, and though officers and boys did their utmost to get them going again it was a fruitless effort, and the poor beasts were off-loaded where they lay. that night of rain and thunder, wind and cold, was bad alike for man and beast, but beyond a flippant remark of some soldier doing his best and the curious chant of the gyppies' chorus you heard nothing. tommy could not trust himself to talk about the weather. it was too bad for words, for even the strongest. it took our car ten hours to run forty miles, and as the last ten miles was over wet sand and on rabbit wire stretched across the sand where the car could do fifteen miles an hour, we had averaged something under three miles an hour through the mud. wet through, cold, with a face rendered painful to the touch by driven rain, i reached my tent with a feeling of thankfulness for myself and deep sympathy for the tens of thousands of brave boys enduring intense discomfort and fatigue, coupled with the fear of short rations for the next day or two. the men in the hills which they were just entering had a worse time than those in the waterlogged plain, but no storms could damp their enthusiasm. they were beating your enemies and mine, and they were facing a goal which britain had never yet won. jerusalem the golden was before them, and the honour and glory of winning it from the turk was a prize to attain which no sacrifice was too great. those who did not say so behaved in a way to show that they felt it. they were very gallant, perfect knights, these soldiers of the king. chapter xiii into the judean hills when the nd division were moving out of ludd on the th november the th division were fighting hard about latron, where the turks held the monastery and its beautiful gardens and the hill about amwas until late in the morning. having driven them out, the th pushed on to gain the pass into the hills and to begin two days of fighting which earned the unstinted praise of general bulfin who witnessed it. for nearly three miles from latron the road passes through a flat valley flanked by hills till it reaches a guardhouse and khan at the foot of the pass which then rises rapidly to saris, the difference in elevation in less than four miles being feet. close to the guardhouse begin the hills which tower above the road. the turks had constructed defences on these hills and held them with riflemen and machine guns, so that these positions dominated all approaches. our guns had few positions from which to assist the infantry, but they did sterling service wherever possible. in general palin the division had a commander with wide experience of hill fighting on the indian frontier, and he brought that experience to bear in a way which must have dumb-founded the enemy. frontal attacks were impossible and suicidal, and each position had to be turned by a wide movement started a long way in rear. all units in the division did well, the gurkhas particularly well, and by a continual encircling of their flanks the turks were compelled to leave their fastnesses and fall back to new hill crests. thus outwitted and outmatched the enemy retreated to saris, a high hill with a commanding view of the pass for half a mile. the hill is covered with olive trees and has a village on its eastern slope, and as the road winds at its foot and then takes a left-handed turn to kuryet el enab its value for defence was considerable. the turks had taken advantage of the cover to place a large body of defenders with machine guns on the hill, but with every condition unfavourable to us the th division had routed out the enemy before three o'clock and were ready to move forward as soon as the guns could get up the pass. rain was falling heavily, the road surface was clinging and treacherous, and, worse still, the road had been blown up in several places. the guns could not advance to be of service that day, and the infantry had, therefore, to remain where they were for the night. there was a good deal of sniping, but nature was more unkind than the enemy, who received more than he gave. the troops were wearing light summer clothing, drill shorts and tunics, and the sudden change from the heat and dryness of the plain to bitter cold and wet was a desperate trial, especially to the indian units, who had little sleep that night. they needed rest to prepare them for the rigour of the succeeding day. a drenching rain turned the whole face of the mountains, where earth covered rock, into a sea of mud. on the positions about saris being searched a number of prisoners were taken, among them a battalion commander. men captured in the morning told us there were six turkish battalions holding enab, which is something under two miles from saris. the road proceeds up a rise from saris, then falling slightly it passes below the crest of a ridge and again climbs to the foot of a hill on which a red-roofed convent church and buildings stand as a landmark that can be seen from jaffa. on the opposite side of the road is a substantial house, the summer retreat of the german consul in jerusalem, whose staff traded in jordan holy water; and this house, now empty, sheltered a divisional general from the bad weather while the operations for the capture of the holy city were in preparation. i have a grateful recollection of this building, for in it the military attachés and i stayed before the official entry into jerusalem, and its roof saved us from one inclement night on the bleak hills. on the th november the turks did their best to keep the place under german ownership. the hill on which it stands was well occupied by men under cover of thick stone walls, the convent gardens on the opposite side of the highway was packed with turkish infantry, and across the deep valley to the west were guns and riflemen on another hill, all of them holding the road under the best possible observation. the enemy's howitzers put down a heavy barrage on all approaches, and on the reverse of the hill covering the village lying in the hollow there were machine guns and many men. reconnaissances showed the difficulties attending an attack, and it was not until the afternoon that a plan was ready to be put into execution. no weak points in the defences could be discovered, and just as it seemed possible that a daylight attack would be held up, a thick mist rolled up the valley and settled down over enab. the / rd gurkhas seized a welcomed opportunity, and as the light was failing the shrill, sharp notes of these gallant hillmen and the deep-throated roar of the / th somersets told that a weighty bayonet charge had got home, and that the keys of the enemy position had been won. the men of the bold th went beyond enab in the dark, and also out along the old roman road towards biddu to deny the turks a point from which they could see the road as it fell away from the enab ridge towards the wadi ikbala. that night many men sought the doubtful shelter of olive groves, and built stone sangars to break the force of a biting wind. a few, as many as could be accommodated, were welcomed by the monks in a monastery in a fold in the hills, whilst some rested and were thankful in a crypt beneath the monks' church, the oldest part of the building, believed to be the work of sixth-century masons. the monks had a tale of woe to tell. they had been proud to have as their guest the latin patriarch in jerusalem, who was a french protégé, and this high ecclesiastic remained at the monastery till november , when turkish gendarmerie carried him away. the spanish consul in jerusalem lodged a vigorous protest, and, so the monks were told, he was supported by the german commandant. but to no purpose, for when general allenby entered jerusalem he learned that the latin patriarch had been removed to damascus. for quite a long time the monks did many kindly things for our troops. they gave up the greater part of the monastery and church for use as a hospital, and many a sick man was brought back to health by rest within those ancient walls. some, alas, there were whose wounds were mortal, and a number lie in the monks' secluded garden. they have set up wooden crosses over them, and we may be certain that in that quiet sequestered spot their remains will rest in peace and will have the protection of the monks as surely as it has been given to the grave of the roman centurion which faces those of our brave boys who fell on the same soil fighting the same good fight. while the th division were making their magnificent effort at enab the lowlanders had breasted other and equally difficult hills to the north. general hill had posted a strong force at beit likia, and then moved south-east along the route prepared by cestius gallus nearly years ago to the height of beit anan, and thence east again to beit dukku. on the st the road and ground near it were in exceedingly bad condition, and the difficulty of moving anything on wheels along it could hardly have been greater. already the nd division had realised it was hopeless to get all their divisional artillery into action, and only three sections of artillery were brought up, the horses of the guns sent back to ramleh being used to double the teams in the three advanced sections. it was heavy work, too, for infantry who not only had to carry the weight of mud-caked boots, but were handicapped by continual slipping upon the rocky ground. the th advancing along the road from enab to kustul got an idea of the turkish lack of attention to the highway, the main road being deep in mud and full of dangerous ruts. they won kustul about midday, and officers who climbed to the top got their first glimpse of the outskirts of jerusalem from the ruined walls of a roman castle that gives its name to the little village perched on the height. they did not, however, see much beyond the syrian colony behind the main turkish defences, and the first view of jerusalem by the troops of the british army was obtained by general maclean's brigade when they advanced from biddu to nebi samwil, that crowning height on which many centuries before richard the lion heart buried his face in his casque and exclaimed: 'lord god, i pray that i may never see thy holy city, if so be that i may not rescue it from the hands of thine enemies.' what a fight it was for nebi samwil! the turk had made it his advanced work for his main line running from el jib through bir nabala, beit iksa to lifta, as strong a chain of entrenched mountains as any commander could desire. general maclean's brigade advanced from biddu along the side of a ridge and up the exposed steep slope of nebi samwil, not all of which, in the only direction he could select for an advance, was terraced, as it was on the turks' side. he was all the time confronted by heavy artillery and rifle fire, and, though supported by guns firing at long range from the neighbourhood of enab, he could not make nebi samwil in daylight. round the top of the hill the turk had dug deeply into the stony earth. he knew the value of that hill. from its crest good observation was obtained in all directions, and if, when we had to attack the main jerusalem defences on december , the summit of nebi samwil had still been in turkish hands, not a movement of troops as they issued from the bed of the wadi surar and climbed the rough face of the western buttresses of jerusalem would have escaped notice. the brigade won the hill and held it just before midnight, but the battle for the crest ebbed and flowed for days with terrific violence, we never giving up possession of it, though it was stormed again and again by an enemy who, it is fair to admit, displayed fine courage and not a little skill. that hill-top at this period had to submit to a thunderous bombardment, and the mosque of nebi samwil became a battered shell. here are supposed to lie the remains of the prophet samuel. the tradition may or may not be well founded, but at any rate mahomedans and christians alike have held the place in veneration for centuries. the turk paid no regard to the sanctity of the mosque, and, as it was of military importance to him that we should not hold it, he shelled it daily with all his available guns, utterly destroying it. there may be cases where the turks will deny that they damaged a holy place. they could not hide their guilt on nebi samwil. i was at pains to examine the mosque and the immediate surroundings, and the photographs i took are proof that the wreckage of this church came from artillery fired from the east and north, the direction of the turkish gun-pits. it is possible we are apt to be a little too sentimental about the destruction in war of a place of worship. if a general has reason to think that a tower or minaret is being used as an observation post, or that a church or mosque is sheltering a body of troops, there are those who hold that he is justified in deliberately planning its destruction, but here was a sacred building with associations held in reverence by all classes and creeds in a land where these things are counted high, and to have set about wrecking it was a crime. the german influence over the turk asserted itself, as it did in the heavy fighting after we had taken jerusalem. we had batteries on the mount of olives and the turk searched for them, but they never fired one round at the kaiserin augusta victoria hospice near by. that had been used as falkenhayn's headquarters. general chetwode occupied it as his corps headquarters soon after he entered jerusalem. there was a wireless installation and the turks could see the coming and going of the corps' motor cars. i have watched operations from a summer-house in the gardens, and no enemy plane could pass over the building without discovering the purpose to which it was put. and there were spies. but not one shell fell within the precincts of the hospice because it was a german building, containing the statues of the kaiser and kaiserin, and (oh, the taste of the hun!) with effigies of the kaiser and his consort painted in the roof of the chapel not far from a picture of the saviour. britain is rebuilding what the turks destroyed, and there will soon arise on nebi samwil a new mosque to show mahomedans that tolerance and freedom abide under our flag. when the th division were making the attack on nebi samwil the nd division put all the men they could spare on to the task of making roads. to be out of the firing line did not mean rest. in fact, as far as physical exertion went, it was easier to be fighting than in reserve. from sunrise till dark and often later the roadmakers were at work with pick, shovel, and crowbar, and the tools were not too many for the job. the gunners joined in the work and managed to take their batteries over the roads long before they were considered suitable for other wheels. the battery commanders sometimes selected firing positions which appeared quite inaccessible to any one save a mountain climber, but the guns got there and earned much credit for their teams. on the nd nebi samwil was thrice attacked. british and indian troops were holding the hill, but the turks were on the northern slopes. they were, in fact, on strong positions on three sides, and from el burj, a prominent hill yards to the south-east, and from the wooded valley of the wadi hannina, they could advance with plenty of cover. there was much dead ground, stone walls enclosed small patches of cultivation, and when troops halted under the terraces on the slopes no gun or rifle fire could reach them. the enemy could thus get quite close to our positions before we could deal with them, and their attacks were also favoured by an intense volume of artillery fire from . 's placed about the jerusalem-nablus road and, as some people in jerusalem afterwards told me, from the mount of olives. the attackers possessed the advantage that our guns could not concentrate on them while the attack was preparing, and could only put in a torrent of fire when the enemy infantry were getting near their goal. these three attacks were delivered with the utmost ferocity, and were pressed home each time with determination. but the th division held on with a stubbornness which was beyond praise, and the harder the turk tried to reach the summit the tighter became the defence. each attack was repulsed with very heavy losses, and after his third failure the enemy did not put in his infantry again that day. the th division endeavoured to reach el jib, a village on the hill a mile and a half to the north of nebi samwil. the possession of el jib by us would have attracted some of the enemy opposing the advance of the yeomanry mounted division on the left, but not only was the position strongly defended in the village and on the high ground on the north and north-west, but our infantry could not break down the opposition behind the sangars and boulders on the northern side of nebi samwil. the attack had to be given up, but we made some progress in this mountainous sector, as the nd division had pushed out from dukku to beit izza, between and yards from el jib, and by driving the enemy from this strong village they made it more comfortable for the troops in biddu and protected the nebi samwil flank, the securing of which in those days of bitter fighting was an important factor. it was evident from what was happening on this front, not only where two divisions of infantry had to strain every nerve to hold on to what they had got but where the yeomanry mounted division were battling against enormous odds in the worse country to the north-west, that the turks were not going to allow us to get to the nablus road without making a direct attack on the jerusalem defences. they outnumbered us, had a large preponderance in guns, were near their base, and enjoyed the advantage of prepared positions and a comparatively easy access to supplies and ammunition. everything was in their favour down to the very state of the weather. but our army struggled on against all the big obstacles. on the rd the th division renewed their attack on el jib, but although the men showed the dash which throughout characterised the division, it had to be stopped. the garrison of el jib had been reinforced, and the enemy held the woods, wadi banks, and sangars in greater strength than before, while the artillery fire was extremely heavy. not only was the th division tired with ceaseless fighting, but the losses they had sustained since they left the plain of ajalon had been substantial, and the nd division took over from them that night to prepare for another effort on the following day. the scots were no more successful. they made simultaneous attacks on the northern and southern ends of nebi samwil, and a brigade worked up from beit izza to a ridge north-west of el jib. two magnificent attempts were made to get into the enemy's positions, but they failed. the officer casualties were heavy; some companies had no officers, and the troops were worn out by great exertions and privations in the bleak hills. the two divisions had been fighting hard for over three weeks, they had marched long distances on hard food, which at the finish was not too plentiful, and the sudden violent change in the weather conditions made it desirable that the men should get to an issue of warmer clothing. general bulfin realised it would be risking heavy losses to ask his troops to make another immediate effort against a numerically stronger enemy in positions of his own choice, and he therefore applied to general allenby that the xxth corps--the th division was already at latron attached to the xxist corps--might take over the line. the commander-in-chief that evening ordered the attack on the enemy's positions to be discontinued until the arrival of fresh troops. during the next day or two the enemy's artillery was as active as hitherto, but the punishment he had received in his attacks made him pause, and there were only small half-hearted attempts to reach our line. they were all beaten off by infantry fire, and the reliefs of the various brigades of the xxist corps were complete by november . it had not been given to the xxist corps to obtain the distinction of driving the turks for ever from jerusalem, but the work of the corps in the third and fourth weeks of november had laid the foundation on which victory finally rested. the grand efforts of the nd and th divisions in rushing over the foothills of the shephelah on to the judean heights, in getting a footing on some of the most prominent hills within three days of leaving the plain, and in holding on with grim tenacity to what they had gained, enabled the commander-in-chief to start on a new plan by which to take the holy city in one stride, so to speak. the nd and th divisions and, as will be seen, the yeomanry mounted division as well, share the glory of the capture of jerusalem with the rd, th, and th divisions who were in at the finish. the fighting of the yeomanry mounted division on the left of the nd was part and parcel of the xxist corps' effort to get to the nablus road. it was epic fighting, and i have not described it when narrating the infantry's daily work because it is best told in a connected story. if the foot sloggers had a bad time, the conditions were infinitely worse for mounted troops. the ground was as steep, but the hillsides were rougher, the wadis narrower, the patches of open flat fewer than in the districts where infantry operated. so bad indeed was the country that horses were an encumbrance, and most of them were returned to the plain. after a time horse artillery could proceed no farther, and the only guns the yeomanry had with them were those of a section of the hong kong and singapore mountain battery, manned by sikhs, superb fellows whose service in the egyptian deserts and in palestine was worthy of a martial race. but their little guns were outranged by the turkish artillery, and though they were often right up with the mounted men they could not get near the enemy batteries. the supply of the division in the nooks and crannies where there was not so much as a goat-path was a desperate problem, and could not have been solved without the aid of many hundreds of pack-donkeys which dumped their loads of supplies and ammunition on the hillsides, leaving it to be carried forward by hand. the division were fighting almost continually for a fortnight. they got farther forward than the infantry and met the full force of an opposition which, if not stronger than that about nebi samwil, was extremely violent, and they came back to a line which could be supplied with less difficulty when it was apparent that the turks were not going to accept the opportunity general allenby gave them to withdraw their army from jerusalem. the division's most bitter struggle was about the beth-horons, on the very scene where joshua, on a lengthened day, threw the canaanites off the shephelah. the yeomanry mounted division received orders on the afternoon of november to move across ajalon into the foothills and to press forward straight on bireh as rapidly as possible. their trials they began immediately. one regiment of the th brigade occupied annabeh, and a regiment of the nd brigade got within a couple of miles of nalin, where a well-concealed body of the enemy held it up. soon the report came in that the country was impassable for wheels. by the afternoon of the next day the th brigade were at beit ur el foka--beth-horon the upper--a height where fig trees and pomegranates flourish. eastwards the country falls away and there are several ragged narrow valleys between some tree-topped ridges till the eye meets a sheikh's tomb on the zeitun ridge, standing midway between foka and beitunia, which rears a proud and picturesque head to bar the way to bireh. the wadis cross the valleys wherever torrent water can tear up rock, but the yeomanry found their beds smoother going, filled though they were with boulders, than the hill slopes, which generally rose in steep gradients from the sides of watercourses. during every step of the way across this saw-toothed country one appreciated to the full the defenders' advantage. if dead ground hid you from one hill-top enemy marks-men could get you from another, and it was impossible for the division to proceed unless it got the enemy out of all the hills on its line of advance. the infantry on the right were very helpful, but the brigade on the left flank had many difficulties, which were not lessened when, on the second day of the movement, all royal horse artillery guns and all wheels had to be sent back owing to the bad country. up to this point the fight against nature was more arduous than against the enemy. thenceforward the enemy became more vigilant and active, and the hills and stony hollows more trying. all available men were set to work to make a road for the hong kong and singapore gunners, a battery which would always get as far into the mountains as any in the king's army. the road parties laboured night and day, but it was only by the greatest exertions that the battery could be got through. the heavy rain of the th added to the troubles. the th brigade, having occupied beit ur et tahta (beth-horon the lower) early on the morning of the th, proceeded along the wadi sunt until a force on the heights held them up, and they had to remain in the wadi while the th mounted brigade turned the enemy's flank at foka. the nd mounted brigade on the north met with the same trouble--every hill had to be won and picqueted--and they could not make ain arik that day. as soon as it was light on the following morning the th mounted brigade brushed away opposition in foka and entered the village, pushing on thence towards beitunia. the advance was slow and hazardous; every hill had to be searched, a task difficult of accomplishment by reason of the innumerable caves and boulders capable of sheltering snipers. the turk had become an adept at sniping, and left parties in the hills to carry on by themselves. when the th brigade got within two miles of the south-west of beitunia they were opposed by turks well screened by woods on the slopes and the wadi. both sides strove all day without gaining ground. divisional headquarters were only a short distance behind the th, and the th brigade was moved up into the same area to be ready to assist. by two o'clock in the afternoon the nd brigade got into ain arik and found a strong force of the enemy holding beitunia and the hill of muntar, a few hundred yards to the north of it, thus barring the way to ramallah and bireh. rain fell copiously and the wind was chilly. after a miserable night in bivouac, the th brigade was astir before daylight on the st. they were fighting at dawn, and in the half light compelled the enemy to retire to within half a mile of beitunia. a few prisoners were rounded up, and these told the brigadier that turks were holding beitunia with four batteries of field guns and four heavy camel guns. that estimate was found to be approximately accurate. a regiment of the th brigade sent to reinforce the th brigade on their left got within yards of the hill, when the guns about bireh and ramallah opened on them and they were compelled to withdraw, and a turkish counter-attack forced our forward line back slightly in the afternoon. the enemy had a plentiful supply of ammunition and made a prodigal use of it. while continuing to shell fiercely he put more infantry into his fighting line, and as we had only rifles and four mountain guns, which the enemy's artillery outranged, it was clear we could not dislodge him from the beitunia crest. the nd mounted brigade had made an attempt to get to ramallah from ain arik, but the opposition from muntar and the high ground to the east was much too severe. our casualties had not been inconsiderable, and in face of the enemy's superiority in numbers and guns and the strength of his position it would have been dangerous and useless to make a further attack. general barrow therefore decided to withdraw to foka during the night. all horses had been sent back in the course of the afternoon, and when the light failed the retirement began. the wounded were first evacuated, and they, poor fellows, had a bad time of it getting back to foka in the dark over four miles of rock-strewn country. it was not till two o'clock on the following morning that all the convoys of wounded passed through foka, but by that time the track to tahta had been made into passable order, and some of these helpless men were out of the hills soon after daylight, journeying in comparative ease in light motor ambulances over the plain of ajalon. the arrangements for the withdrawal worked admirably. the th mounted brigade, covering the retirement so successfully that the enemy knew nothing about it, held on in front of beitunia till three o'clock, reaching foka before dawn, while the nd brigade remained covering the northern flank till almost midnight, when it fell back to tahta. the division's casualties during the day were killed and wounded. we still held the zeitun ridge, observation was kept on ain arik from el hafy by one regiment, and troops were out on many parts north and east of tahta and foka. on the next two days there was nothing beyond enemy shelling and patrol encounters. on the th demonstrations were made against beitunia to support the left of the nd division's attack on el jib, but the enemy was too strong to permit of the yeomanry proceeding more than two miles east of foka. the roadmakers had done an enormous amount of navvy work on the track between foka and tahta. they had laboured without cessation, breaking up rock, levering out boulders with crowbars, and doing a sort of rough-and-ready levelling, and by the night of the th the track was reported passable for guns. the leicester battery r.h.a. came along it next morning without difficulty. i did not see the road till some time later and its surface had then been considerably improved, but even then one felt the drivers of those gun teams had achieved the almost impossible. the leicester battery arrived at foka just in time to unlimber and get into action behind a fig orchard in order to disperse a couple of companies of enemy infantry which were working round the left flank of the staffordshire yeomanry at khurbet meita, below the zeitun height. the enemy brought up reinforcements and made an attack in the late afternoon, but this was also broken up. the berkshire battery reached tahta the following day and, with the leicester gunners, answered the turks' long-range shelling throughout the day and night. on the th the enemy made a determined attempt to compel us to withdraw from the zeitun ridge, which is an isolated hill commanding the valleys on both sides. the th mounted brigade furnished the garrison of officers and men, who occupied a stone building on the summit. against them the enemy put infantry with machine guns, and they also brought a heavy artillery fire to bear on the building from beitunia, yards away. the garrison put up a most gallant defence. they were compelled to leave the building because the enemy practically destroyed it by gunfire and the infantry almost surrounded the hill, but they obtained cover on the boulder-strewn sides of the hill and held their assailants at bay. at dusk, although the garrison was reduced to officers and men, they refused to give ground. they were instructed to hold on as long as possible, and a reinforcement of men was sent up after dark--all that could be spared, as the division was holding a series of hills ten miles long and every rifle was in the line. this front was being threatened at several points, and the activity of patrols at deir ibzia and north of it suggested that the enemy was trying to get into the gap of five miles between the yeomanry and the right of the th division which was now at shilta. it was an anxious night, and no. light armoured car battery was kept west of tahta to enfilade the enemy with machine guns should he appear in the neighbourhood of suffa. the th mounted brigade was ordered up to reinforce. the fresh troops arrived at dawn on the th, and had no sooner got into position at hellabi, half a mile north-west of tahta, than their left flank was attacked by turks with machine guns. the th brigade of the nd division was on its way through beit likia to rest after its hard work in the neighbourhood of nebi samwil and el jib, and it was ordered up to assist. at midday the brigade attacked suffa but could not take it. the scots, however, prevented the turks breaking round the left flank of the yeomanry. the post which had held zeitun so bravely was brought into foka under cover of the leicester and berkshire batteries' fire, and very heavy fighting continued all day long on the foka-tahta-suffa line, but though the enemy employed infantry in his attack, and had four batteries of 's and four heavy camel guns, he was unsuccessful. at dusk the attack on tahta, which had been under shell-fire all day, was beaten off and the enemy was compelled to withdraw one mile. suffa was still his, but his advanced troops on the cairn south of that place had suffered heavily during the day at the hands of the th mounted brigade, who several times drove them off. some howitzers of the nd division were hauled over the hills in the afternoon and shelled the cairn so heavily that the post sought shelter in suffa. to the south-east of the line of attack the turks were doing their utmost to secure foka. they came again and again, and their attacks were always met and broken with the bayonet by yeomen who were becoming fatigued by continuous fighting, and advancing and retiring in this terrible country. they could have held the place that night, but there was no possibility of sending them reinforcements, and as the enemy had been seen working round to the south of the village with machine guns it might have been impossible to get them out in the morning. general barrow accordingly withdrew the foka garrison to a new position on a wooded ridge half-way between that place and tahta, and the enemy made no attempt to get beyond foka. late at night he got so close to tahta from the north that he threw bombs at our sangars, but he was driven off. during the evening the yeomanry mounted division received welcome reinforcements. the th australian light horse brigade were placed in support of the th mounted brigade and a battalion of the th infantry brigade assisted the th mounted brigade. on the th the turks made their biggest effort to break through the important line we held, and all day they persisted with the greatest determination in an attack on our left. at midnight they had again occupied the cairn south of suffa, and remained there till a.m., when the th brigade royal field artillery crowned the hill with a tremendous burst of fire and drove them off. the machine-gunners of the th mounted brigade caught the force as it was retiring and inflicted many casualties. the turks came back again and again, and the cairn repeatedly changed hands, until at last it was unoccupied by either side. towards dusk the turks' attacks petered out, though the guns and snipers continued busy, and the yeomanry mounted division was relieved by the st infantry brigade of the th division and the th infantry brigade of the nd division, the australian mounted division ultimately taking over the left of the line which xxth corps troops occupied. the yeomanry mounted division had made a grand fight against a vastly superior force of the enemy in a country absolutely unfavourable to the movement of mounted troops. they never had more than rifles holding a far-flung barren and bleak line, and the fine qualities of vigorous and swift attack, unfaltering discipline and heroic stubbornness in defence under all conditions, get their proof in the casualties incurred by the division in the hill fighting, exclusive of those sustained by the th mounted brigade which reinforced them. the division was made up entirely of first-line yeomanry regiments whose members had become efficient soldiers in their spare time, when politicians were prattling about peace and deluding parties into the belief that there was little necessity to prepare for war. their patriotism and example gave a tone to the drafts sent out to replace casualties and the wastage of war, and were a credit to the stock from which they sprang. while the yeomanry mounted division had been fighting a great battle alongside the infantry of the xxist corps in the hills, the remainder of the troops of the desert mounted corps were employed on the plain and in the coastal sector, hammering the enemy hard and establishing a line from the mouth of the river auja through some rising ground across the plain. they were busily engaged clearing the enemy out of some of the well-ordered villages east of the sandy belt, several of them german colonies showing signs of prosperity and more regard for cleanliness and sanitation than other of the small centres of population hereabouts. the village of sarona, north of jaffa, an almost exclusively german settlement, was better arranged than any others, but wilhelma was a good second. the most important move was on november , when, with a view to making the enemy believe an attack was intended against his right flank, the new zealand mounted rifles brigade was sent across the river auja to seize the villages of sheikh muannis near the sea, and hadrah farther inland, two companies of infantry holding each of the two crossings. the enemy became alarmed and attacked the cavalry in force early next morning, infantry marching on muannis. the hadrah force was driven back across the auja and the two companies of infantry covering the crossing suffered heavily, having no support from artillery, which had been sent into bivouac. some of the men had to swim the river. a bridge of boats had been built at jerisheh mill during the night, and by this means men crossed until muannis was occupied by the enemy later in the morning. the cavalry crossed the ford at the mouth of the auja at the gallop. the / th essex held on to hadrah until five out of six officers and about fifty per cent. of the men became casualties. there was a good deal of minor fighting on this section of the front, and in a number of patrol encounters the resource of the australian light horse added to their bag of prisoners and to the army's store of information. nothing further of importance occurred in this neighbourhood until we seized the crossings of the auja and the high ground north of the river a week before the end of the year. chapter xiv the deliverance of the holy city the impossibility of getting across the road north of jerusalem by making a wide sweep over the judean hills caused a new plan to be put into execution. this necessitated a direct attack on the well-prepared system of defences on the hills protecting jerusalem from the west, but it did not entail any weakening of general allenby's determination that there should be no fighting by british troops in and about the precincts of the holy city. that resolve was unshaken and unshakable. when a new scheme was prepared by the xxth corps, the question was put whether the turks could be attacked at lifta, which was part of their system. now lifta is a native village on one of the hill-faces to the west of jerusalem, about a mile from the holy city's walls, and, as it is not even connected by a road with any of the various colonies forming the suburbs of jerusalem, could not by any stretch of imagination be described by a hun propaganda merchant as part of jerusalem. i happen to know that on the th november the commander-in-chief sent this communication to general chetwode: 'i place no restriction upon you in respect of any operation which you may consider necessary against lifta or the enemy's lines to the south of it, except that on no account is any risk to be run of bringing the city of jerusalem or its immediate environs within the area of operations.' the spirit as well as the letter of that order was carried out, and in the very full orders and notes on the operations issued before the victorious attack was made, there is the most elaborate detail regarding the different objectives of divisions and brigades, and scrupulous care was taken that no advance should be made against any resisting enemy within the boundaries not only of the holy city but of the suburbs. we shall see how thoroughly these instructions were followed. when it became obvious that jerusalem could not be secured without the adoption of a deliberate method of attack, there were many matters requiring the anxious consideration of the xxth corps staff. they took over from xxist corps at a time when the enemy was still very active against the line which they had gained under very hard conditions. the xxth corps, beginning with the advantage of positions which the xxist corps had won, had to prepare to meet the enemy with equal gun power and more than equality in rifle strength. we had the men and the guns in the country, but to get them into the line and to keep them supplied was a problem of considerable magnitude. time was an important factor. the rains had begun. the spells of fine weather were getting shorter, and after each period of rain the sodden state of the country affected all movement. to bring up supplies we could only rely on road traffic from gaza and deir sineid, and the light soil had become hopelessly cut up during the rains. the main line of railway was not to be opened to mejdel till december , and the captured turkish line between deir sineid and junction station had a maximum capacity of one hundred tons of ordnance stores a day, and these had to be moved forward again by road. an advance must slow down while communications were improved. the xxth corps inherited from the xxist corps the track between beit likia and biddu which had been prepared with an infinity of trouble and exertion, but this and the main latron-jerusalem road were the only highways available. general chetwode's corps relieved general bulfin's corps during the day of november , and viewed in the most favourable light it appeared that there must be at least one week's work on the roads before it would be possible for heavy and field batteries, in sufficient strength to support an attack, to be got into the mountains. a new road was begun between latron and beit likia, and another from enab to kubeibeh, and these, even in a rough state of completion, eased the situation very considerably. an enormous amount of labour was devoted to the main road. the surface was in bad order and was getting worse every hour with the passage of lorry traffic. it became full of holes, and the available metal in the neighbourhood was a friable limestone which, under heavy pressure during rains, was ground into the consistency of a thick cream. pioneer battalions were reinforced by large parties of egyptian labour corps, and these worked ceaselessly, clearing off top layers of mud, carrying stones down from the hills and breaking them, putting on a new surface and repairing the decayed walls which held up the road in many places. the roadmakers proved splendid fellows. they put a vast amount of energy into their work, but when the roads were improved rain gravely interfered with traffic, and camels were found to be most unsatisfactory. they slipped and fell and no reliance could be placed on a camel convoy getting to its destination in the hills. two thousand donkeys were pressed into service, and with them the troops in the distant positions were kept supplied. it would not be possible to exaggerate the value of this donkey transport. in anticipation of the advance the quartermaster-general's department, with the foresight which characterised that department and all its branches throughout the campaign, searched egypt for the proper stamp of asses for pack transport in the hills. the egyptian donkey is a big fellow with a light-grey coat, capable of carrying a substantial load, hardy, generally docile, and less stubborn than most of the species. he is much taller and heavier than the palestine donkey, and our army never submitted him to the atrociously heavy loads which crush and break the spirit of the local arabs' animals. it is, perhaps, too much to hope that the natives will learn something from the british soldier's treatment of animals. it was one of the sights of the campaign to see the donkey trains at work. they carried supplies which, having been brought by the military railway from the suez canal to railhead, were conveyed by motor lorries as far as the state of the road permitted self-propelled vehicles to run, were next transhipped into limbers, and, when horse transport could proceed no farther, were stowed on to the backs of camels. the condition of the road presently held up the camels, and then donkey trains took over the loads. under a white officer you would see a chain of some two hundred donkeys, each roped in file of four, led by an egyptian who knew all that was worth knowing about the ways of the ass, winding their way up and down hills, getting a foothold on rocks where no other animal but a goat could stand, and surmounting all obstacles with a patient endurance which every soldier admired. they did not like the cold, and the rain made them look deplorably wretched, but they got rations and drinking-water right up to the crags where our infantry were practising mountaineering. shell-fire did not disturb them much, and they would nibble at any rank stuff growing on the hillsides to supplement the rations which did not always reach their lines at regular intervals. the gyppy boys were excellent leaders, and to them and the donkeys the front-line fighting men in the hill country owe much. they were saved a good deal of exhausting labour in manhandling stores from the point where camels had to stop, and they could therefore concentrate their attention on the turk. by december the fine exertions of the troops on the line of communications had enabled the xxth corps commander to make his plans for the capture of jerusalem, and at a conference at enab on the following day general chetwode outlined his scheme, which, put in a nutshell, was to attack with the th and th divisions in an easterly direction on the front ain karim-beit surik and, skirting the western suburbs of jerusalem, to place these two divisions astride the jerusalem-nablus road, while the rd division advanced from hebron to threaten the enemy from the south and protect the right of the th division. i will not apologise for dealing as fully as possible with the fighting about jerusalem, because jerusalem was one of the great victories of the war, and the care taken to observe the sanctity of the place will for all time stand out as one of the brightest examples of the honour of british arms. but before entering upon those details i will put in chronological sequence the course of the fighting on this front from the moment when the xxth corps took over the command, and show how, despite enemy vigilance and many attacks, the preparations for the outstanding event of the campaign were carried through. it is remarkable that in the short period of ten days the plans could be worked out in detail and carried through to a triumphant issue, notwithstanding the bad weather and the almost overwhelming difficulties of supply. only the whole-hearted co-operation of all ranks made it possible. on the day after the xxth corps became responsible for this front general chetwode had a conference with generals barrow, hill, and girdwood, and after a full discussion of the situation in the hills decided to abandon the plan of getting on to the jerusalem-nablus road from the north in favour of attempting to take jerusalem from the west and south-west. the commanders of the yeomanry mounted division and the nd division were asked to suggest, from their experience of the fighting of the past ten days, what improvement in the line was necessary to make it certain that the new plan would not be interfered with by an enemy counter-attack. they were in favour of taking the western portion of the beitunia-zeitun ridge. preparations were made immediately to relieve the yeomanry mounted division by the australian mounted division, and when the th division arrived--it was marching up from gaza--the nd division was to be returned to the xxist corps. the hard fighting and the determined attacks of the turks had made it unavoidable that some portions of the divisions should be mixed, and the reliefs were not completed till the nd of december. the yeomanry mounted division troops gave over the tahta defences to the th infantry brigade on the night of november - , and the enemy made an attack on the new defenders at dawn, but were swiftly beaten off. a local effort against nebi samwil was easily repulsed, but the th division reported that the enemy had in the past few days continued his shelling of the mosque, and had added to his destruction of that sacred place by demolishing the minaret by gunfire. the st infantry brigade with one battalion in the front line took over from the th mounted brigade from beit dukku to jufna, and while the reliefs were in progress there was continual fighting in the et tireh-foka area. the former place was won and lost several times, and finally the infantry consolidated on the high ground west of those villages. early on the th a detachment of the st brigade took foka, capturing eight officers and men, but as it was not possible to hold the village the infantry retired to our original line. on december the th division relieved the nd in the sector wadi zait-tahta-kh. faaush, but on that day the th brigade had had another hard brush with the turks. a regiment of the rd australian light horse on a hill north of el burj in front of them was heavily attacked at half-past one in the morning by a specially prepared sturmtruppen battalion of the turkish th division, and a footing was gained in our position, but with the aid of a detachment of the gloucester yeomanry and the / th royal scots fusiliers the enemy was driven out at daybreak and six officers and unwounded and wounded turks, wearing steel hats and equipped like german storming troops, were taken prisoners. the attack was pressed with the greatest determination, and the enemy, using hand grenades, got within thirty yards of our line. during the latter part of their advance the turks were exposed to a heavy cross fire from machine guns and rifles of the th light horse regiment, and this fire and the guns of the th brigade royal field artillery and the hong kong and singapore battery prevented the retirement of the enemy. the capture of the prisoners was effected by an encircling movement round both flanks. our casualties were killed and wounded. that storming battalion left over dead about our trenches. at the same time a violent attack was made on the tahta defences held by the th brigade; the enemy, rushing forward in considerable strength and with great impetus, captured a ridge overlooking tahta--a success which, if they had succeeded in holding the position till daylight, would have rendered that village untenable, and would have forced our line back some distance at an important point. it proved to be a last desperate effort of the enemy at this vital centre. no sooner were the scots driven off the ridge than they re-formed and prepared to retake it. reinforced, they attacked with magnificent courage in face of heavy machine-gun fire, but it was not until after a rather prolonged period of bayonet work that the lowland troops got the upper hand, the turks trying again and again to force them out. at half-past four they gave up the attempt, and from that hour tahta and the rocks about it were objects of terror to them. nor did the turks permit nebi samwil to remain in our possession undisputed. the londoners holding it were thrice attacked with extreme violence, but the defenders never flinched, and the heavy losses of the enemy may be measured by the fact that when we took jerusalem and an unwonted silence hung over nebi samwil, our burying parties interred more than turkish dead about the summit of that lofty hill. their graves are mostly on the eastern, northern, and southern slopes. ours lie on the west, where scot, londoner, west countryman, and indian, all equally heroic sons of the empire, sleep, as they fought, side by side. the last heavy piece of fighting on the xxth corps' front before the attack on jerusalem was on december , when a regiment of yeomanry, which like a number of other yeomanry regiments had been dismounted to form the th division, covered itself with glory. the th (royal devon yeomanry) battalion of the devon regiment belonging to the th brigade was ordered to make an attack on beit ur el foka in the dark hours of the morning. all the officers had made reconnaissances and had learned the extreme difficulties of the ground. at a.m. these yeomen worked their way up the wadi zeit to the head of that narrow watercourse at the base of the south-western edge of the hill on which the village stands. the attack was launched from this position, the company on the right having the steepest face to climb. here the villagers, to get the most out of the soil and to prevent the winter rains washing it off the rocks into the wadi, had built a series of terraces, and the retaining walls, often crumbling to the touch, offered some cover from the turkish defenders' fire. with the advantage of this shelter the troops on the right reached the southern end of the village soon after o'clock, but the company on the left met with much opposition on the easier slope, and had to call in aid the support of a machine-gun section posted in the woods on a ridge north-west of the village. by o'clock the whole battalion was in the village, using rifle and bayonet in the road scarcely more than a couple of yards wide, and bombing the enemy out of native mud and stone houses and caves. two officers and fifteen unwounded men were taken prisoners with three machine guns, but before any consolidation could be done the turks began a series of counter-attacks which lasted all day. as we had previously found, foka was very hard to defend. it is overlooked on the north, north-east, and east by ridges a few hundred yards away, and by a high hill north of ain jeruit, yards to the north, by another hill yards to the east, and by the famous zeitun ridge about yards beyond it, and attacks from these directions could be covered very effectively by overhead machine-gun fire. to enlarge the perimeter of defence would be to increase the difficulties and require a much larger force than was available, and there was no intention of going beyond foka before the main operation against jerusalem was started. to hold foka securely a force must be in possession of the heights on the north and east, and to keep these beitunia itself must be gained. before daylight arrived some work on defences was begun, but it was interfered with by snipers and not much could be done. immediately the sun rose from behind the judean hills there was a violent outburst of fire from machine guns and rifles on three sides, increasing in volume as the light improved. the enemy counter-attacked with a determination fully equal to that which he had displayed during the past fortnight's battle in the hills. he had the advantage of cover and was supported by artillery and a hurricane of machine-gun fire, but although he climbed the hill and got into the small gardens outside the very houses, he was repulsed with bomb and bayonet. at one moment there was little rifle fire, and the two sides fought it out with bombs. the turks retired with heavy losses, but they soon came back again and fought with the same determination, though equally unsuccessfully. the devons called for artillery, and three batteries supported them splendidly, though the gunners were under a great disadvantage in that the ground did not permit the effect of gunfire to be observed and it was difficult to follow the attackers. the supplies of bombs and small-arms ammunition were getting low, and to replenish them men had to expose themselves to a torrent of fire, so fierce indeed that in bringing up two boxes of rifle ammunition which four men could carry twelve casualties were incurred. a head shown in the village instantly drew a hail of bullets from three sides. reinforcements were on the way up, and the fife and forfar yeomanry battalion of the royal highlanders were prepared to make a flank attack from their outpost line three-quarters of a mile south-east of foka to relieve the devons, but this would have endangered the safety of the outpost line without reducing the fire from the heights, and as the fife and forfar men would have had to cross two deep wadis under enfilade fire on their way to foka their adventure would have been a perilous one. by this time three out of four of the devons' company commanders were wounded and the casualties were increasing. the officer commanding the battalion therefore decided, after seven hours of terrific fighting, that the village of foka was no longer tenable, and authority was given him to withdraw. in their last attack the enemy put men against the village, and it was not until the o.c. devons had seen this strength that he proposed the place should be evacuated. his men had put up a great fight. the battalion went into action strong; it came out . three officers were killed and nine wounded, and other ranks killed and wounded. thirteen were wounded and missing and missing. in foka to-day you will see most of the battered houses repaired, but progress through the streets is partially barred by the graves of devon yeomen who were buried where they fell. it was not possible to hew a grave in rock, therefore earth and stone were piled up round the bodies, so that in at least two spots you find several graves serving as buttresses to rude dwellings. on one of these graves, beside the identification tablet of two strong sons of devon, you will find, on a piece of paper inserted in a slit cut into wood torn from an ammunition box, the words 'grave of unknown turk.' friend and foe share a common resting-place. the natives of this village are more than usually friendly, and those graves seem safe in their keeping. between the th and th december there was a reshuffling of the troops holding the line to enable a concentration of the divisions entrusted with the attack on the defences covering jerusalem. the th division relieved the th and th brigades of the th division and extended its line to cover beit dukku, a point near and west of et tireh, to tahta, and when the enemy retired from the immediate front of the th division's left, hellabi and suffa were occupied. the australian mounted division also slightly advanced its line. on the night of december the st brigade relieved the th division in the beit izza and nebi samwil positions, and on december the line held by the th was extended to a point about a mile and a half north of kulonieh. the rd division had passed through hebron, and its advance was timed to reach the bethlehem-beit jala district on december . the information gained by the xxth corps led the staff to estimate the strength of the enemy opposite them to be , rifles and sabres, disposed as follows: east of jerusalem the th cavalry regiment, sabres; the th division covering jerusalem and extending to the junction station-jerusalem railway at bitter station, rifles; thence to the latron-jerusalem road with strong points at ain karim and deir yesin, the rd turkish division, rifles; from the road to nebi samwil (beit iksa being very strongly held) the th turkish division, rifles; nebi samwil to beit ur el foka, th turkish division with the / st regiment and the th regiment attached, rifles; beit ur el foka to about suffa, the th division, rifles; thence to the extreme left of the xxth corps the rd cavalry division, sabres. the th turkish division was in reserve at bireh with rifles. the enemy held a line covering bethlehem across the hebron road to balua, then to the hill kibryan south-west of beit jala, whence the line proceeded due north to ain karim and deir yesin, both of which were strongly entrenched, on to the hill overlooking the jerusalem road above lifta. from this point the line crossed the road to the high ground west of beit iksa--entrenchments were cut deep into the face of this hill to cover the road from kulonieh--thence northward again to the east of nebi samwil, west of el jib, dreihemeh (one mile north-east of beit dukku) to foka, kh. aberjan, and beyond suffa. during the attack the australian mounted division was to protect the left flank of the th division, which with one brigade of the th division was to hold the whole of the line in the hills from tahta through foka, dukku, beit izza to nebi samwil, leaving the attack to be conducted by two brigade groups of the th division, the whole of the th division, and two brigade groups of the rd division, with the th regiment of australian light horse watching the right flank of the th division until the left of the rd could join up with it. one brigade of the rd division was to advance from the bethlehem-beit jala area with its left on the line drawn from sherafat through malhah to protect the th division's flank, the other brigade marching direct on jerusalem, and to move by roads south of the town to a position covering jerusalem from the east and north-east, but--and these were instructions specially impressed on this brigade--'the city of jerusalem will not be entered, and all movements by troops and vehicles will be restricted to roads passing outside the city.' the objective of the th and th divisions was a general line from ras et tawil, a hill east of the nablus road about four miles north of jerusalem, to nebi samwil, one brigade of the th division holding nebi samwil and beit izza defences and to form the pivot of the attack. the dividing line between the th and th divisions was the enab-jerusalem road as far as lifta and from that place to the wadi beit hannina. the form of the attack was uncertain until it was known how the enemy would meet the advance of the rd division, which, on the rd december, was in a position north of hebron within two ten-mile marches of the point at which it would co-operate on the right of the th. if the enemy increased his strength south of jerusalem to oppose the advance of the rd division, general chetwode proposed that the th and th divisions should force straight through to the jerusalem-nablus road, the th throwing out a flank to the south-east, so as to cut off the turks opposing the rd from either the nablus or the jericho road. it was not considered probable that the enemy would risk the capture of a large body of troops south of jerusalem. on the other hand, should the turks withdraw from in front of the welsh division, the alternative plan provided that the latter attack should take the form of making a direct advance on jerusalem and a wheel by the th and th divisions, pivoting on the beit izza and nebi sainwil defences, so as to drive the enemy northwards. the operations were to be divided into four phases. the first phase fell to the th and th divisions, and consisted in the capture of the whole of the south-western and western defences of jerusalem. these ran from a point near the railway south-west of malhah round to the west of ain karim, then on to the hill of khurbet subr, down a cleft in the hills and up on to the high deir yesin ridge, thence round the top of two other hills dominating the old and new roads to jerusalem from jaffa as they pass by the village of kulonieh. north of the new road the enemy's line ran round the southern face of a bold hill overlooking the village of beit iksa and along the tortuous course of the wadi el abbeideh. in the second phase the th division was to move over the jaffa-jerusalem road with its right almost up to the scattered houses on the north-western fringe of jerusalem's suburbs, and its left was to pass the village of lifta on the slope of the hill rising from the wadi beit hannina. the objective of the th division in the third phase was the capture of a line of a track leaving the jerusalem-nablus road well forward of the northern suburb and running down to the wadi hannina, the th division advancing down the spur running south-east from nebi samwil to a point about yards south-west of beit hannina, the latter a prominent height with a slope amply clothed with olive trees. the fourth phase was an advance astride the road to ras et tawil. as will be seen hereafter all these objectives were not obtained, but the first, and chief of them, was, and the inevitable followed--jerusalem became ours. let us now picture some of the country the troops had to cross and the defences they had to capture before the turks could be forced out of jerusalem. we will first look at it from enab, the ancient kir-jath-jearim, which the somersets, wilts, and gurkhas had taken at the point of the bayonet. from the top of enab the jaffa-jerusalem road winds down a deep valley, plentifully planted with olive and fig trees and watered by the wadi ikbala. a splendid supply of water had been developed by royal engineers near the ruins of a crusader fortress which, if native tradition may be relied on, housed richard of the lion heart. from the wadi rises a hill on which is kustul, a village covering the site of an old roman castle from which, doubtless, its name is derived. kustul stands out the next boldest feature to nebi samwil, and from it, when the atmosphere is clear, the red-tiled roofs of houses in the suburbs of jerusalem are plainly visible. a dozen villages clinging like limpets to steep hillsides are before you, and away on your right front the tall spires of christian churches at ain karim tell you you are approaching the holy sites. looking east the road falls, with many short zigzags in its length, to kulonieh, crosses the wadi surar by a substantial bridge (which the turks blew up), and then creeps up the hills in heavy gradients till it is lost to view about lifta. the wadi surar winds round the foot of the hill which kustul crowns, and on the other side of the watercourse there rises the series of hills on which the turks intended to hold our hands off jerusalem. the descent from kustul is very rapid and the rise on the other side is almost as precipitous. on both sides of the wadi olive trees are thickly planted, and on the terraced slopes vines yield a plentiful harvest. big spurs run down to the wadi, the sides are rough even in dry weather, but when the winter rains are falling it is difficult to keep a foothold. south-west of kustul is soba, a village on another high hill, and below it and west of ain karim, on lower ground, is setaf, both having orchards and vineyards in which the inhabitants practise the arts of husbandry by the same methods as their remote forefathers. an aerial reconnaissance nearly a year before we took jerusalem showed the turks busily making trenches on the hills east of the wadi surar. an inspection of the defences proved the work to have been long and arduous, though like many things the turk began he did not finish them. what he did do was done elaborately. he employed masons to chisel the stone used for revetting, and in places the stones fit well and truly one upon the other, while an enormous amount of rock must have been blasted to excavate the trenches. the system adopted was to have three fire trenches near the top of the hills, one above the other, so that were the first two lines taken the third would still offer a difficult obstacle, and, if the defenders were armed with bombs, it would be hard for attackers to retain the trenches in front of them. there was much dead ground below the entrenchments, but the defences were so arranged that cross fire from one system swept the dead ground on the next spur, and, if the hills were properly held, an advance up them would have been a stupendous task. the turk had put all his eggs into one basket. perhaps he considered his positions impregnable--they would have been practically impregnable in british hands--and he made no attempt to cut support trenches behind the crest. there was one system only, and his failure to provide defences in depth cost him dear. looking eastwards from kustul, the turkish positions south of the jaffa-jerusalem road, each of them on a hill, were called by us the 'liver redoubt' (near lifta), the 'heart redoubt,' 'deir yesin,' and 'khurbet subr,' with the village of ain karim in a fold of the hills and a line of trenches south-west of it running down to the railway. against the th division's front the nature of the country was equally difficult. from beit surik down to the kulonieh road the hills fell sharply with the ground strewn with boulders. our men had to advance across ravines and beds of watercourses covered with large stones, and up the wooded slopes of hills where stone walls constituted ready-made sangars easily capable of defence. the hardest position they had to tackle was the hill covering beit iksa, due north of the road as it issued from kulonieh, where long semicircular trenches had been cut to command at least half a mile of the main road. in front of the rd division was an ideal rearguard country where enterprising cavalry could have delayed an advance by infantry for a lengthened period. to the south of bethlehem, around beit jala and near urtas, covering the pools of solomon, an invaluable water supply, there were prepared defences, but though the division was much delayed by heavy rain and dense mist, the fog was used to their advantage, for the whole of the division's horses were watered at solomon's pools one afternoon without opposition from the urtas garrison. december was the date fixed for the attack. on december rain fell unceasingly. the roads, which had been drying, became a mass of slippery mud to the west of jerusalem, and on the hebron side the welsh troops had to trudge ankle deep through a soft limy surface. it was soon a most difficult task to move transport on the roads. lorries skidded, and double teams of horses could only make slow progress with limbers. off the road it became almost impossible to move. the ground was a quagmire. on the sodden hills the troops bivouacked without a stick to shelter them. the wind was strong and drove walls of water before it, and there was not a man in the attacking force with a dry skin. sleep on those perishing heights was quite out of the question, and on the day when it was hoped the men would get rest to prepare them for the morrow's fatigue the whole army was shivering and awake. so bad were the conditions that the question was considered as to whether it would not be advisable to postpone the attack, but general chetwode, than whom no general had a greater sympathy for his men, decided that as the rd division were within striking distance by the enemy the attack must go forward on the date fixed. that night was calculated to make the stoutest hearts faint. men whose blood had been thinned by summer heat in the desert were now called upon to endure long hours of piercing cold, with their clothes wet through and water oozing out of their boots as they stood, with equipment made doubly heavy by rain, caked with mud from steel helmet to heel, and the toughened skin of old campaigners rendered sore by rain driven against it with the force of a gale. groups of men huddled together in the effort to keep warm: a vain hope. and all welcomed the order to fall in preparatory to moving off in the darkness and mist to a battle which, perhaps more than any other in this war, stirred the emotions of countless millions in the old and new worlds. yet their spirits remained the same. nearly frozen, very tired, 'fed up' with the weather, as all of them were, they were always cheerful, and the man who missed his footing and floundered in the mud regarded the incident as light-heartedly as his fellows. an army which could face the trials of such a night with cheerfulness was unbeatable. one section of the force did regard the prospects with rueful countenances. this was the divisional artillery. tractors, those wonderfully ugly but efficient engines which triumphed over most obstacles, had got the heavies into position. the th heavy group, consisting of three -inch howitzer batteries, one complete -pounder battery, and a section of another -pounder battery, and the hong kong and singapore mountain battery, were attached to and up with the th division. the and b mountain batteries were with the th division waiting to try their luck down the hills, and the st heavy battery ( -pounders) was being hauled forward with the rd. the heavies could get in long-range fire from kustul, but what thought the -pounder batteries? with the country in such a deplorable state it looked hopeless for them to expect to be in the show, and the prospect of remaining out of the big thing had more effect upon the gunners than the weather. as a matter of fact but few field batteries managed to get into action. those which succeeded in opening fire during the afternoon of december did most gallant work for hours, with enemy riflemen shooting at them from close range, and their work formed a worthy part in the victory. the other field gunners could console themselves with the fact that the difficulties which were too great for them--and really field-gun fire on the steep slopes could not be very effective--prevented even the mountain batteries, which can go almost anywhere, from fully co-operating with the infantry. the preliminary moves for the attack were made during the night. the th infantry brigade group consisting of / th london, / th london, / th london, and / th london with the / rd london attached, the th mountain battery and b mountain battery, a section of the st field coy. r.e., c company of loyal north lancashire pioneers, and the / th field ambulance specially equipped on an all-mule scale, moved to the wadi surar in two columns. the right column was preceded by an advance guard of the kensington battalion, the loyal north lancashire pioneers, and the section of r.e., which left the brigade bivouacs behind soba at five o'clock on the afternoon of the th to enable the pioneers and engineers to improve a track marked on the map. for the greater part of the way the track had evidently been unused for many years, and all traces of it had disappeared, but in three hours' time a way had been made down the hill to the wadi, and the brigade got over the watercourse just north of setaf a little after midnight. as a preliminary to the attack on the first objective it was necessary to secure the high ground south of ain karim and the trenches covering that bright and picturesque little town. at two o'clock, when rain and mist made it so dark it was not possible to see a wall a couple of yards ahead, the kensingtons advanced to gain the heights south of ain karim in order to enable the th brigade to be deployed. a scrambling climb brought the kensingtons to the top of the hill, and, after a weird fight of an hour and a half in such blackness of night that it was hard to distinguish between friend and foe, they captured it and beat off several persistent counter-attacks. the th brigade thus had the ground secured for preparing to attack their section of the main defences. the th infantry brigade, whose brigadier, brig.-general watson, had the honour of being the first general in jerusalem, the first across the jordan, and the first to get through the turkish line in september when general allenby sprang forward through the turks and made the mighty march to aleppo, was composed of the / th london, / th london, / th london, and / th london, th coy. r.e., two platoons of pioneers, and the / th field ambulance. it reached its position of assembly without serious opposition, though a detachment which went through the village of kulonieh met some enemy posts. these, to use the brigadier's phrase, were 'silently dealt with.' it was a fine feat to get the two brigades of londoners into their positions of deployment well up to time. the infantry had to get from kustul down a precipitous slope of nearly a thousand feet into a wadi, now a rushing torrent, and up a rocky and almost as steep hill on the other side. nobody could see where he was going, but direction was kept perfectly and silence was well maintained, the loosened stones falling into mud. the assault was launched at a quarter-past five, and in ten minutes under two hours the two brigades (the st brigade being in reserve just south of kustul) had penetrated the whole of the front line of the defences. the queen's westminsters on the left of the kensingtons had cleared the turks out of ain karim and then climbed up a steep spur to attack the formidable khurbet subr defences. they took the garrison completely by surprise, and those who did not flee were either killed or taken prisoners. the queen's westminsters were exposed to a heavy flanking fire at a range of about a thousand yards from a tumulus south-east of ain karim, above the road from the village to the western suburbs of jerusalem. turkish riflemen were firmly dug in on this spot, and their two machine guns poured in an annoying fire on the th brigade troops which threatened to hold up the attack. indeed preparations were being made to send a company to take the tumulus hill in flank, but two gallant london scots settled the activity of the enemy and captured the position by themselves. corporal c.w. train and corporal f.s. thornhill stalked the garrison. corporal train fired a rifle grenade at one machine gun, which he hit and put out of action, and then shot the whole of the gun team. thornhill was attacking the other gun, and he, with the assistance of train, accounted for that crew as well. the two guns were captured and tumulus hill gave no more trouble. both these scots were rewarded, and train has the unique honour of wearing the only v.c. awarded during the capture of jerusalem. at about the same time there was another very gallant piece of work being done by two men of the queen's westminsters above the khurbet subr ridge. when the battalion got to the first objective an enemy battery of 's was found in action on the reverse slope of the hill. the guns were firing from a hollow near the ain karim-jerusalem track, some yards behind the forward trenches on subr, and were showing an uncomfortable activity. a company was pushed forward to engage the battery. the movement was exposed to a good deal of sniping fire, and it was not a simple matter for riflemen to work ahead on to a knoll on the east of the subr position to deal with the guns. to two men may be given the credit for capturing the battery. lance-corporal w.h. whines of the westminsters got along quickly and brought his lewis gun to bear on the battery and, with an admirably directed fire, caused many casualties. two gun teams were wiped out, either killed or wounded, by the corporal. at the same time rifleman c.d. smith, who had followed his comrade, rushed in on another team and bombed it. smith's rifle had been smashed and was useless, but with his bombs he laid low all except one man. his supply was then exhausted, but before the turk could use his weapons smith got to grips and a rare wrestling bout followed. the turk would not surrender, and smith gave him a stranglehold and broke his neck. the enemy managed to get one of the four guns away. the battery horses were near at hand, but while this one gun was escaping at the gallop the westminsters' fire brought down one horse and two drivers, and i saw their bodies on the road as evidence of how the westminsters had developed the art of shooting at a rapidly moving target. the two incidents i have described in detail merely as examples of the fighting prowess, not only of one but of all three divisions alike in the capture of jerusalem. perhaps it would be fairer to say that they were examples of the spirit of general allenby's whole force, for english, scottish, irish, welsh, australians, new zealanders, indians, cavalry, infantry, and artillery, had all, during the six weeks of the campaign, shown the same high qualities in irresistible attack and stubborn defence. the position of the th brigade at this time was about one mile east of ain karim, where it was exposed to heavy enfilade fire from its right and, as it was obvious that the advance of the rd division had been delayed owing to the fog and rain, the brigadier decided not to go further during the early part of the day but to wait till he could be supported by the mountain batteries, which the appalling state of the ground had prevented from keeping up with him. now as to the advance of the th infantry brigade. their principal objective was the deir yesin position, the hill next on the northern side of subr, from which it was separated by a deep though narrow valley. the trenches cut on both sides of this gorge supported subr as well as deir yesin, and the subr defences were also arranged to be helpful to the deir yesin garrison by taking attackers in flank. the th brigade's advance was a direct frontal attack on the hill, the jumping-off place being a narrow width of flat ground thickly planted with olive trees on the banks of the wadi surar. the / th londons, the right battalion of the th brigade, had not got far when it became the target of concentrated machine-gun fire and was unable to move, with the result that a considerable gap existed between it and the th brigade. the stoppage was only temporary, for, with the advance of the centre and right, the th battalion pushed forward in series of rushes and, with the other battalions, carried the crest of deir yesin at the point of the bayonet, so that the whole system of entrenchments was in their hands by seven o'clock. the brigade at once set about reorganising for the attack on the second objective, which, as will be remembered, was a wheel to the left and, passing well on the outside of the western suburbs of jerusalem, an advance to the rocky ground to the north-west of the city down to the wadi beit hannina. the commander of the / th londons in his preparations had pushed out a platoon in advance of his left, and these men at half-past nine saw of the enemy with pack mules retiring down a wadi north-east of kulonieh. the platoon held its fire until the turks were within close range, and then engaged them with rifles and machine guns, completely surprising them and taking prisoners the whole of the survivors, officers and men. the turks now began to develop a serious opposition to the th brigade from a quarry behind deir yesin and from a group of houses forming part of what is known as the syrian colony, nearly a mile from the deir yesin system. there were some germans and a number of machine guns in these houses, and by noon they held up the advance. the brigade was seriously handicapped by the difficulty in moving guns. the road during the morning had got into a desperate state. it was next to impossible to haul field guns anywhere off the road, and as the turks had paid no attention to the highway for some time--or where they had done something it was merely to dump down large stones to fill a particularly bad hole--it had become deeply rutted and covered with a mass of adhesive mud. the guns had to pass down from kustul by a series of zigzags with hairpin bends in full view of enemy observers, and it was only by the greatest exertion and devotion to duty that the gunners got their teams into the neighbourhood of the wadi. the bridge over the surar at kulonieh having been wholly destroyed, they had to negotiate the wadi, which was now in torrent and carrying away the waters which had washed the face of the hills over a wide area. the artillery made a track through a garden on the right of the village just before the road reached the broken bridge, and two batteries, the st and nd, got their guns and limbers across. they went up the old track leading from kulonieh to jerusalem, when first one section and then another came into action at a spot between deir yesin and heart redoubt, where both batteries were subjected to a close-range rifle fire. for several hours the artillery fought their guns with superb courage, and remained in action until the fire from the houses was silenced by a brilliant infantry attack. at half-past one general watson decided he would attack the enemy on a ridge in front of the houses of the syrian colony with the th and th battalions. with them were units of other battalions of the brigade. soon after three o'clock they advanced under heavy fire from guns, machine guns, and rifles, and at a quarter to four a glorious bayonet charge, during which the london boys went through germans and turks in one overwhelming stride, sealed the fate of the turk in jerusalem. that bayonet charge was within sight of the corps commander, who was with general shea at his look-out on kustul, and when he saw the flash of steel driven home with unerring certainty by his magnificent men, general chetwode may well have felt thankful that he had been given such troops with which to deliver jerusalem from the turks. the th division, having taken the whole of its first objectives early in the morning and having throughout the day supported the left of the london division, was ready to commence operations against the second objective. the dismounted yeomanry, whose condition through the wet and mud was precisely similar to that of the th division troops, for they, too, had found the hills barren of shelter and equally cold, did extremely well in forcing the enemy from his stronghold on the hill covering beit iksa and the kulonieh-jerusalem road, from which, had he not been ejected, he could have harassed the londoners' left. the beit iksa defences were carried by a most determined rush. a gallant attempt was also made to get the el burj ridge which runs south-east from nebi samwil, but owing to strong enfilade fire from the right they could not get on. there was no doubt in any minds that jerusalem would be ours, but the difficulties the rd division were contending with had slowed down their advance. thus the right flank of the th division was exposed and a considerable body of turks was known to be south of jerusalem. late in the afternoon the advance was ordered to be stopped, and the positions gained to be held. with a view to continuing the advance next day the st brigade ( / st london, / nd london, / rd london, and / th london) was ordered to get into a position of readiness to pass through the th brigade and resume the attack on the right of the th brigade. on the evening of december the position of the attacking force was this. the rd division (i will deal presently with the advance of this division) was across the bethlehem-hebron road from el keiseraniyeh, two miles south of bethlehem, to ras el balua in an east and west direction, then north-west to the hill of haud kibriyan with its flank thrown south to cover kh. el kuseir. the th australian light horse were at malhah. the th and th brigades of the th division occupied positions extending from malhah through a line more than a mile east of the captured defences west of jerusalem to lifta, with the st brigade in divisional reserve near kustul. the th and th brigades of the th division held a due north and south line from the jaffa-jerusalem road about midway between kulonieh and lifta through beit iksa to nebi samwil. the rd division had not reached their line without enormous trouble. but for the two days' rain and fog it is quite possible that the whole of the four objectives planned by the xxth corps would have been gained, and whether any substantial body of turks could have left the vicinity of jerusalem by either the nablus or jericho roads is doubtful. the weather proved to be the turks' ally. the rd division battled against it. until fog came down to prevent reconnaissance in an extremely bad bit of country they were well up to their march table, and in the few clear moments of the afternoon of the th, general mott, from the top of ras esh sherifeh, a hill feet high, the most prominent feature south of jerusalem, caught a glimpse of bethlehem and the holy city. it was only a temporary break in the weather, and the fog came down again so thick that neither the positions of the bethlehem defences nor those of beit jala could be reconnoitred. the division, after withstanding the repeated shocks of enemy attacks at khuweilfeh immediately following the taking of beersheba, had had a comparatively light time watching the hebron road. they constructed a track over the mountains to get the division to dharahiyeh when it should be ordered to take part in the attack on the jerusalem defences, and while they were waiting at dilbeih they did much to improve the main road. the famous zigzag on the steep ridge between dharahiyeh and dilbeih was in good condition, and you saw german thoroughness in the gradients, in the well-banked bends, and in the masonry walls which held up the road where it had been cut in the side of a hill. it was the most difficult part of the road, and the germans had taken as much care of it as they would of a road in the fatherland--because it was the way by which they hoped to get to the suez canal. other portions of the road required renewing, and the labour which the welshmen devoted to the work helped the feeding of the division not only during the march to jerusalem but for several weeks after it had passed through it to the hills on the east and north-east. the rations and stores for this division were carried by the main railway through shellal to karm, were thence transported by limber to a point on the turks' line to beersheba, which had been repaired but was without engines, were next hauled in trucks by mules on the railway track, and finally placed in lorries at beersheba for carriage up the hebron road. at this time the capacity of the latron-jerusalem road was taxed to the utmost, and every bit of the welshmen's spadework was repaid a hundredfold. the th brigade got into hebron on the night of the th of december, but instead of going north of it--if they had done so an enemy cavalry patrol would have seen them--they set to work to repair the road through the old biblical town, for the enemy had blown holes in the highway. next day the infantry had a ten-miles' march and made the wadi arab, a brigade being left in hebron to watch that area, the natives of which were reported as not being wholly favourable to us. there were many rifles in the place, and a number of unarmed turks were believed to be in the rough country between the town and the dead sea ready to return to take up arms. armoured cars also remained in hebron. the infantry and field artillery occupied the roads during the day, and the heavy guns came along at night and joined the infantry as the latter were about to set off again. on the night of the th the division got to a strong line unopposed and saw enemy cavalry on the southern end of sherifeh, on which the turks had constructed a powerful system of defences, the traverses and breastworks of which were excellently made. in front of the hill the road took a bend to the west, and the whole of the highway from this point was exposed to the ground in enemy hands south of bethlehem, and it was necessary to make good the hills to the east before we could control this road. next morning the th cheshires, supported by the th welsh, deployed and advanced direct on sherifeh and gained the summit soon after dawn in time to see small parties of enemy cavalry moving off; then the fog and rain enveloped everything. the th welsh held the hill during the night in pouring rain with no rations--pack mules could not get up the height--and the men having no greatcoats were perished with the cold. colonel pemberton, their c.o., came down to report the men all right, and asked for no relief till the morning when they could be brought back to their transport. the general went beyond solomon's pools and was within rifle fire from the turkish trenches in his efforts to reconnoitre, but it was impossible to see ahead, and instead of being able to begin his attack in the beit jala-bethlehem area on the morning of the th, that morning arrived before any reconnaissance could be made. he decided to attack on the high ground of beit jala (two miles north-west of bethlehem) from the south, to send his divisional cavalry, the westminster dragoons, on the infantry's left to threaten beit jala from the west and to refuse bethlehem. before developing this attack it was essential to drive the enemy off the observation post looking down upon the main road along which the guns and troops had to pass. the fog enabled the guns to pass up the road, although the turks had seven mountain guns in the gardens of a big house south of bethlehem and had registered the road to a yard. they also had a heavy gun outside the town. the weather cleared at intervals about noon, but about two o'clock a dense fog came down again and once more the advance was held up. late in the afternoon the welsh division troops reached the high ground west and south-west of beit jala, but the defences of bethlehem on the south had still to be taken. advance guards were sent into bethlehem and beit jala during the night, and by early morning of the th it was found that the enemy had left, and the leading brigade pressed on, reaching mar elias, midway between bethlehem and jerusalem, by eleven o'clock, and the southern outskirts of jerusalem an hour later. meanwhile the th and th divisions had actively patrolled their fronts during the night, and the turks having tasted the quality of british bayonets made no attempt to recover any of the lost positions. we had outposts well up the road above lifta, and at half-past eight they saw a white flag approaching. the nearest officer was a commander of the nd brigade royal field artillery, to whom the mayor, the head of the husseiny family, descendants of the prophet and hereditary mayors of jerusalem, signified his desire to surrender the city. the mayor was accompanied by the chief of police and two of the gendarmerie, and while communications were passing between general shea, general chetwode and general headquarters, general watson rode as far as the jaffa gate of the holy city to learn what was happening in the town. i believe major montagu cooke, one of the officers of the nd artillery brigade, was the first officer actually in the town, and i understand that whilst he and his orderly were in the post office a substantial body of turks turned the corner outside the building and passed down the jericho road quite unconscious of the near presence of a british officer. general shea was deputed by the commander-in-chief to enter jerusalem in order to accept the surrender of the city. it was a simple little ceremony, lasting but a minute or two, free from any display of strength, and a fitting prelude to general allenby's official entry. at half-past twelve general shea, with his aide-de-camp and a guard of honour furnished by the / th londons, met the mayor, who formally surrendered the city. to the chief of police general shea gave instructions for the maintenance of order, and guards were placed over the public buildings. then the commander of the th division left to continue the direction of his troops who were making the holy city secure from turkish attacks. i believe the official report ran: 'thus at . the holy city was surrendered for the twenty-third time, and for the first time to british arms, and on this occasion without bloodshed among the inhabitants or damage to the buildings in the city itself.' simple as was the surrender of jerusalem, there were scenes in the streets during the short half-hour of general shea's visit which reflected the feeling of half the civilised world on receiving the news. it was a world event. this deliverance of jerusalem from turkish misgovernment was bound to stir the emotions of christian, jewish, and moslem communities in the two hemispheres. in a war in which the moral effect of victories was only slightly less important than a big strategical triumph, jerusalem was one of the strongest possible positions for the allies to win, and it is not making too great a claim to say that the capture of the holy city by british arms gave more satisfaction to countless millions of people than did the winning back for france of any big town on the western front. the latter might be more important from a military standpoint, but among the people, especially neutrals, it would be regarded merely as a passing incident in the ebb and flow of the tide of war. bagdad had an important influence on the eastern mind; jerusalem affected christian, jew, and moslem alike the world over. the war cabinet regarded the taking of jerusalem by british imperial troops in so important a light that orders were given to hold up correspondents' messages and any telegrams the military attachés might write until the announcement of the victory had been made to the world by a minister in the house of commons. this instruction was officially communicated to me before we took jerusalem, and i believe it was the case that the world received the first news when the mouthpiece of the government gave it to the chosen representatives of the british people in the mother of parliaments. the end of ottoman dominion over the cradle of christianity, a place held in reverence by the vast majority of the peoples of the old and new world, made a deep and abiding impression, and as long as people hold dearly to their faiths, sentiment will make general allenby's victory one of the greatest triumphs of the war. the relief of the people of jerusalem, as well as their confidence that we were there to stay, manifested itself when general shea drove into the city. the news had gone abroad that the general was to arrive about noon, and all jerusalem came into the streets to welcome him. they clapped their hands and raised shrill cries of delight in a babel of tongues. women threw flowers into the car and spread palm leaves on the road. scarcely had the turks left, probably before they had all gone and while the guns were still banging outside the entrances to jerusalem, stray pieces of bunting which had done duty on many another day were hung out to signify the popular pleasure at the end of an old, hard, extortionate regime and the beginning of an era of happiness and freedom. after leaving jerusalem the enemy took up a strong position on the hills north and north-east of the city from which he had to be driven before jerusalem was secure from counter-attack. during the morning general chetwode gave orders for a general advance to the line laid down in his original plan of attack, which may be described as the preliminary line for the defence of jerusalem. the th and st brigades were already on the move, and some of the rd division had marched by the main road outside the holy city's walls to positions from which they were to attempt to drive the enemy off the mount of olives. the th brigade, fresh and strong but still wet and muddy, went forward rapidly over the boulders on the hills east of the wadi beit hannina and occupied the rugged height of shafat at half-past one. shafat is about two miles north of jerusalem. in another half-hour they had driven the turks from the conical top of tel el ful, that sugar-loaf hill which dominates the nablus road, and which before the end of the year was to be the scene of an epic struggle between londoner and turk. the st brigade, on debouching from the suburbs of jerusalem north-east of lifta, was faced with heavy machine-gun and rifle fire on the ridge running from the western edge of the mount of olives across the nablus road through kh. es salah. on the left the th brigade lent support, and at four o'clock the / st and / th londons rushed the ridge with the bayonet and drove off the turks, who left seventy dead behind them. the london division that night established itself on the line from a point a thousand yards north of jerusalem and east of the nablus road through ras meshari to tel el ful, thence westwards to the wadi behind the olive orchards south of beit hannina. the th division reached its objective without violent opposition, and its line ran from north of nebi samwil to the height of beit hannina and out towards tel el ful. the rd division was strongly opposed when it got round the south-east of jerusalem on to the jericho road in the direction of aziriyeh (bethany), and it was necessary to clear the turks from the mount of olives. troops of the welsh division moved round the holy city and drove the enemy off the mount, following them down the eastern spurs, and thus denied them any direct observation over jerusalem. the next day they pushed the enemy still farther eastwards, and by the night of the th held the line from the well at azad, yards south-east of jerusalem, the hill yards south of aziriyeh, aziriyeh itself, to the mount of olives, whence our positions continued to ras et tawil, north of tel el ful across the nablus road to nebi samwil. this was our first line of positions for the defence of jerusalem, and we continued to hold these strong points for some time. they were gradually extended on the east and north-east by the welsh division in order to prevent an attack from the direction of jericho, where we knew the turks had received reinforcements. indeed, during our attack on the jerusalem position the turks had withdrawn a portion of their force on the hedjaz railway. a regiment had passed through jericho from the hedjaz line at amman and was marching up the road to assist in jerusalem's defence, but was 'too late.' the regiment was turned back when we had captured jerusalem. our casualties from november to december --these figures include the heavy fighting about tahta, foka, and nebi samwil prior to the xxth corps' attack on the jerusalem defences--were: officers, killed, wounded, missing; other ranks, killed, wounded, missing, a total of . the casualties of the th division during the attack on and advance north of jerusalem on december - are interesting, because they were so extremely light considering the strength of the defences captured and the difficulties of the ground, namely: officers killed and wounded, other ranks killed, wounded and missing, a total of . the total for the whole of the xxth corps on these days was officers killed, wounded, and other ranks killed, wounded and missing--in all officers and other ranks. the prisoners taken from november to december were: officers, other ranks--total, . on december and , officers and other ranks-- in all--were captured. the booty included two - krupp howitzers, three -mm. field guns and carriages, nine heavy and three light machine guns, boxes of small-arms ammunition, and , loose rounds. chapter xv general allenby's official entry jerusalem became supremely happy. it had passed through the trials, if not the perils, of war. it had been the headquarters and base of a turkish army. great bodies of troops were never quartered there, but staffs and depôts were established in the city, and being in complete control, the military paid little regard to the needs of the population. unfortunately a not inconsiderable section of jerusalem's inhabitants is content to live, not by its own handiwork, but on the gifts of charitable religious people of all creeds. when war virtually shut off jerusalem from the outer world the lot of the poor became precarious. the food of the country, just about sufficient for self-support, was to a large extent commandeered for the troops, and while prices rose the poor could not buy, and either their appeals did not reach the benevolent or funds were intercepted. deaths from starvation were numbered by the thousand, jews, christians, and moslems alike suffering, and there were few civilians in the holy city who were not hungry for months at a time. when i reached jerusalem the people were at the height of their excitement over the coming of the british and they put the best face on their condition, but the freely expressed feeling of relief that the days of hunger torture were nearly past did not remove the signs of want and misery, of infinite suffering by father, mother, and child, brought about by a long period of starvation. that a people, pale, thin, bent, whose movements had become listless under the lash of hunger, could have been stirred into enthusiasm by the appearance of a khaki coat, that they could throw off the lethargy which comes of acute want, was only to be accounted for by the existence of a profound belief that we had been sent to deliver them. some hours before the official entry i was walking in david street when a jewish woman, seeing that i was english, stopped me and said: 'we have prayed for this day. to-day i shall sing "god save our gracious king, long live our noble king." we have been starving, but what does that matter? now we are liberated and free.' she clasped her hands across her breasts and exclaimed several times, 'oh how thankful we are.' an elderly man in a black robe, whose pinched pale face told of a long period of want, caught me by the hand and said: 'god has delivered us. oh how happy we are.' an american worker in a red crescent hospital, who had lived in jerusalem for upwards of ten years and knew the people well, assured me there was not one person in the holy city who in his heart was not devoutly thankful for our victory. he told me that on the day we captured nebi samwil three wounded arab officers were brought to the hospital. one of them spoke english--it was astonishing how many people could speak our mother tongue--and while he was having his wounds dressed he exclaimed: 'i can shout hip-hip-hurrah for england now.' the officer was advised to be careful, as there were many turkish wounded in the hospital, but he replied he did not care, and in unrestrained joy cried out, 'hurrah for england.' the deplorable lot of the people had been made harder by profiteering officers. those who had money had to part with it for turkish paper. the turkish note was depreciated to about one-fifth of its face value. german officers traded in the notes for gold, sent the notes to germany where, by a financial arrangement concluded between constantinople and berlin, they were accepted at face value. the german officer and soldier got richer the more they forced turkish paper down. turkish officers bought considerable supplies of wheat and flour from military depôts, the cost being debited against their pay which was paid in paper. they then sold the goods for gold. that accounted for the high prices of foodstuffs, the price in gold being taken for the market valuation. in the middle of november when there was a prospect of the turks evacuating jerusalem, the officers sold out their stocks of provisions and prices became less prohibitive, but they rose again quickly when it was decided to defend the city, and the cost of food mounted to almost famine prices. the turks by selling for gold that which was bought for paper, rechanging gold for paper at their own prices, made huge profits and caused a heavy depreciation of the note at the expense of the population. grain was brought from the district east of the dead sea, but none of it found its way to civilian mouths except through the extortionate channel provided by officers. yet when we got into jerusalem there were people with small stocks of flour who were willing to make flat loaves of unleavened bread for sale to our troops. the soldiers had been living for weeks on hard biscuit and bully beef, and many were willing to pay a shilling for a small cake of bread. they did not know that the stock of flour in the town was desperately low and that by buying this bread they were almost taking it out of the mouths of the poor. some traders were so keen on getting good money, not paper, that they tried to do business on this footing, looking to the british army to come to the aid of the people. the army soon put a stop to this trade and the troops were prohibited from buying bread in jerusalem and bethlehem. as it was, the quarter-master-general's branch had to send a large quantity of foodstuffs into the towns, and this was done at a time when it was a most anxious task to provision the troops. those were very trying days for the supply and transport departments, and one wonders whether the civilian population ever realised the extent of the humanitarian efforts of our army staff. during the period when no attempt was made to alleviate the lot of the people the turks gave them a number of lessons in frightfulness. there were public executions to show the severity of military law. gallows were erected outside the jaffa gate and the victims were left hanging for hours as a warning to the population. i have seen a photograph of six natives who suffered the penalty, with their executioners standing at the swinging feet of their victims. before the first battle of gaza the turks brought the rich mufti of gaza and his son to jerusalem, and the mufti was hanged in the presence of a throng compulsorily assembled to witness the execution. the son was shot. their only crime was that they were believed to have expressed approval of britain's policy in dealing with moslem races. thus were the people terrorised. they knew the turkish ideas of justice, and dared not talk of events happening in the town even in the seclusion of their homes. the evils of war, as war is practised by the turk, left a mark on jerusalem's population which will be indelible for this generation, despite the wondrous change our army has wrought in the people. when general allenby had broken through the gaza line the turks in jerusalem despaired of saving the city. that all the army papers were brought from hebron on november , shows that even at that date von kress still imagined we would come up the hebron road, though he had learnt to his cost that a mighty column was moving through the coastal sector and that our cavalry were cutting across the country to join it. the notorious enver reached jerusalem from the north on november and went down to hebron. on his return it was reported that the turks would leave jerusalem, the immediate sale of officers' stocks of foodstuffs giving colour to the rumour. undoubtedly some preparations were made to evacuate the place, but the temptation to hold on was too great. one can see the influence of the german mind in the turkish councils of war. at a moment when they were flashing the wireless news throughout the world that their caporetto victory meant the driving of italy out of the war they did not want the icy blast of jerusalem's fall to tell of disaster to their hopes in the east. accordingly on the th november a new decision was taken and jerusalem was to be defended to the last. german officers came hurrying south, lorries were rushed down with stores until there were six hundred german lorry drivers and mechanics in jerusalem. reinforcements arrived and the houses of the german colony were turned into nests of machine guns. the pains the germans were at to see their plans carried out were reflected in the fighting when we tried to get across the jerusalem-nablus road and to avoid fighting in the neighbourhood of the holy city. but all this effort availed them nought. our dispositions compelled the enemy to distribute his forces, and when the attack was launched the turk lacked sufficient men to man his defences adequately. and german pretensions in the holy land, founded upon years of scheming and the formation of settlements for german colonists approved and supported by the kaiser himself, were shattered beyond hope of recovery, as similar pretensions had been shattered at bagdad by general maude. the turks had made their headquarters at the hospice of notre dame in jerusalem, and, taking their cue from the hun, carried away all the furniture belonging to that french religious institution. they had also deported some of the heads of religious bodies. falkenhayn wished that all americans should be removed from jerusalem, issuing an order to that effect a fortnight before we entered. some members of the american colony had been running the red crescent hospital, and turkish doctors who appreciated their good work insisted that the americans should remain. their protest prevailed in most cases, but just as we arrived several americans were carried off. i have asked many men who were engaged in the fight for jerusalem what their feelings were on getting their first glimpse of the central spot of christendom. some people imagine that the hard brutalities of war erase the softer elements of men's natures; that killing and the rough life of campaigning, where one is familiarised with the tragedies of life every hour of every day, where ease and comfort are forgotten things, remove from the mind those earlier lessons of peace on earth and goodwill toward men. that is a fallacy. every man or officer i spoke to declared that he was seized with emotion when, looking from the shell-torn summit of nebi samwil, he saw the spires on the mount of olives; or when reconnoitring from kustul he got a peep of the red roofs of the newer houses which surround the old city. possibly only a small percentage of the army believed they were taking part in a great mission, not a great proportion would claim to be really devout men, but they all behaved like christian gentlemen. one londoner told me he had thought the scenes of war had made him callous and that the ruthless destruction of those things fashioned by men's hands in prosecuting the arts of peace had prompted the feeling that there was little in civilisation after all, if civilisation could result in so bitter a thing as this awful fighting. man seemed as barbaric as in the days before the saviour came to redeem the world, and whether we won or lost the war all hopes of a happier state of things were futile. so this cockney imagined that his condition showed no improvement on that of the savage warrior of two thousand years ago, except in that civilisation had developed finer weapons to kill with and be killed by. the finer instincts had been blunted by the naked and unashamed horrors of war. but the lessons taught him before war scourged the world came back to him on getting his first view of the holy city. he felt that sense of emotion which makes one wish to be alone and think alone. he was on the ground where sacred history was made, perhaps stood on the rock the saviour's foot had trod. in the deep stirring of his emotions the rougher edges of his nature became rounded by feelings of sympathy and a belief that good would come out of the evil of this strife. that view of jerusalem, and the knowledge of what the holy sites stand for, made him a better man and a better fighting man, and he had no doubt the first distant glimpse of the holy city had similarly affected the bulk of the army. that bad language is used by almost all troops in the field is notorious, but in jerusalem one seldom heard an oath or an indecent word. when jerusalem was won and small parties of our soldiers were allowed to see the holy city, their politeness to the inhabitants, patriarch or priest, trader or beggar, man or woman, rebuked the thought that the age of chivalry was past, while the reverent attitude involuntarily adopted by every man when seeing the sacred places suggested that no crusader army or band of pilgrims ever came to the holy land under a more pious influence. many times have i watched the troops of general allenby in the streets of jerusalem. they bore themselves as soldiers and gentlemen, and if they had been selected to go there simply to impress the people they could not have more worthily upheld the good fame of their nation. these soldier missionaries of the empire left behind them a record which will be remembered for generations. if it had been possible to consult the british people as to the details to be observed at the ceremony of the official entry into jerusalem, the vast majority would surely have approved general allenby's programme. americans tell us the british as a nation do not know how to advertise. our part in the war generally proves the accuracy of that statement, but the official entry into jerusalem will stand out as one great exception. by omitting to make a great parade of his victory--one may count elaborate ceremonial as advertisement--general allenby gave britain her best advertisement. the simple, dignified, and, one may also justly say, humble order of ceremony was the creation of a truly british mind. to impress the inhabitant of the east things must be done on a lavish ostentatious scale, for gold and glitter and tinsel go a long way to form a native's estimate of power. but there are times when the native is shrewd enough to realise that pomp and circumstance do not always indicate strength, and that dignity is more powerful than display. contrast the german emperor's visit to jerusalem with general allenby's official entry. the kaiser brought a retinue clothed in white and red, and blue and gold, with richly caparisoned horses, and, like a true showman, he himself affected some articles of arab dress. he rode into the holy city--where one before had walked--and a wide breach was even made in those ancient walls for a german progress. all this to advertise the might and power of germany. in parenthesis i may state we are going to restore those walls to the condition they were in before german hands defiled them. the general who by capturing jerusalem helped us so powerfully to bring germany to her knees and humble her before the world, entered on foot by an ancient way, the jaffa gate, called by the native 'bab-el-khalil,' or the friend. in this hallowed spot there was no great pageantry of arms, no pomp and panoply, no display of the mighty strength of a victorious army, no thunderous salutes to acclaim a world-resounding victory destined to take its place in the chronicles of all time. there was no enemy flag to haul down and no flags were hoisted. there were no soldier shouts of triumph over a defeated foe, no bells in ancient belfrys rang, no te deums were sung, and no preacher mounted the rostrum to eulogise the victors or to point the moral to the multitude. a small, almost meagre procession, consisting of the commander-in-chief and his staff, with a guard of honour, less than all told, passed through the gate unheralded by a single trumpet note; a purely military act with a minimum of military display told the people that the old order had changed, yielding place to new. the native mind, keen, discerning, receptive, understood the meaning and depth of this simplicity, and from the moment of high noon on december , , when general allenby went into the mount zion quarter of the holy city, the british name rested on a foundation as certain and sure as the rock on which the holy city stands. right down in the hearts of a people who cling to jerusalem with the deepest reverence and piety there was unfeigned delight. they realised that four centuries of ottoman dominion over the holy city of christians and jews, and 'the sanctuary' of mahomedans, had ended, and that jerusalem the golden, the central site of sacred history, was liberated for all creeds from the blighting influence of the turk. and while war had wrought this beneficent change the population saw in this epoch-marking victory a merciful guiding hand, for it had been achieved without so much as a stone of the city being scratched or a particle of its ancient dust disturbed. the sacred monuments and everything connected with the great life and its teaching were passed on untouched by our army. rightly did the people rejoice. when general allenby went into jerusalem all fears had passed away. the official entry was made while there was considerable fighting on the north and east of the city, where our lines were nowhere more than yards off. the guns were firing, the sounds of bursts of musketry were carried down on the wind, whilst droning aeroplane engines in the deep-blue vault overhead told of our flying men denying a passage to enemy machines. the stern voices of war were there in all their harsh discordancy, but the people knew they were safe in the keeping of british soldiers and came out to make holiday. general allenby motored into the suburbs of jerusalem by the road from latron which the pioneers had got into some sort of order. the business of war was going on, and the general's car took its place on the highway on even terms with the lorry, which at that time when supplying the front was the most urgent task and had priority on the roads. the people had put on gala raiment. from the outer fringe of jerusalem the jaffa road was blocked not merely with the inhabitants of the city but with people who had followed in the army's wake from bethlehem. it was a picturesque throng. there were sombre-clad jews of all nationalities, armenians, greeks, russians, and all the peoples who make jerusalem the most cosmopolitan of cities. to the many styles of european dress the brighter robes of the east gave vivid colour, and it was obvious from the remarkably free and spontaneous expression of joy of these people, who at the end of three years of war had such strong faith in our fight for freedom, that they recognised freedom was permanently won to all races and creeds by the victory at jerusalem. the most significant of all the signs was the attitude of moslems. the turks had preached the holy war, but they knew the hollowness of the cry, and the natives, abandoning their natural reserve, joined in loud expression of welcome. from flat-topped roofs, balconies, and streets there were cries of 'bravo!' and 'hurrah!' uttered by men and women who probably never spoke the words before, and quite close to the jaffa gate i saw three old mahomedans clap their hands while tears of joy coursed down their cheeks. their hearts were too full to utter a word. there could be no doubt of the sincerity of this enthusiasm. the crowd was more demonstrative than is usual with popular assemblies in the east, but the note struck was not one of jubilation so much as of thankfulness at the relief from an insufferable bondage of bad government. outside the jaffa gate was an imperial guard of honour drawn from men who had fought stoutly for the victory. in the british guard of fifty of all ranks were english, scottish, irish, and welsh troops, steel-helmeted and carrying the kit they had an hour or two earlier brought with them from the front line. opposite them were fifty dismounted men of the australian light horse and new zealand mounted rifles, the australians, under the command of captain throssel, v.c., being drawn from the th light horse regiment, which had been employed in the capture of jerusalem on the right of the london division. these colonial troops had earned their place, for they had done the work of the vanguard in the sinai desert, and their victories over the turks on many a hard-won field in the torrid heat of summer had paved the way for this greater triumph. a french and an italian guard of honour was posted inside the jaffa gate. as i have previously said, the italians had held a portion of the line in front of gaza with a composite brigade, but the french troops had not yet been in action in palestine, though their navy had assisted with a battleship in the gaza bombardment. we welcomed the participation of the representatives of our allies in the official entry, as it showed to those of their nationality in jerusalem that we were fighting the battle of freedom for them all. outside the jaffa gate the commander-in-chief was received by major-general borton, who had been appointed military governor of the city, and a procession being formed, general allenby passed between the iron gates to within the city walls. preceded by two aides-de-camp the commander-in-chief advanced with the commander of the french palestine detachment on his right and the commander of the italian palestine detachment on his left. four staff officers followed. then came brigadier-general clayton, political officer; m. picot, head of the french mission; and the french, italian, and united states military attachés. the chief of the general staff (major-general sir l.j. bols) and the brigadier-general general staff (brigadier-general g. dawnay) marched slightly ahead of lieutenant-general sir philip w. chetwode, the xxth corps commander, and brigadier-general bartholomew, who was general chetwode's b.g.g.s. the guard closed in behind. that was all. the procession came to a halt at the steps of el kala, the citadel, which visitors to jerusalem will better remember as the entrance to david's tower. here the commander-in-chief and his staff formed up on the steps with the notables of the city behind them, to listen to the reading of the proclamation in several languages. that proclamation, telling the people they could pursue their lawful business without interruption and promising that every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, traditional site, endowment, pious bequest, or customary place of prayer of whatsoever form of three of the great religions of mankind would be maintained and protected according to existing customs and beliefs to those to whose faiths they are sacred, made a deep impression on the populace. so you could judge from the expressions on faces and the frequent murmurs of approval, and it was interesting to note how, when the procession was being re-formed, many christians, jews, and moslems broke away from the crowd to run and spread the good news in their respective quarters. how faithfully and with what scrupulous care our promises have been kept the religious communities of jerusalem can tell. the procession next moved into the old turkish barrack square less than a hundred yards away, where general allenby received the notables of the city and the heads of religious communities. the mayor of jerusalem, who unfortunately died of pneumonia a fortnight later, and the mufti, who, like the mayor, was a member of a mahomedan family which traces its descent back through many centuries, were presented, as were also the sheikhs in charge of the mosque of omar, 'the tomb of the rock,' and the mosque of el aksa, and moslems belonging to the khaldieh and alamieh families. the patriarchs of the latin, greek orthodox, and armenian churches and the coptic bishop had been removed from the holy city by the turks, but their representatives were introduced to the commander-in-chief, and so too were the heads of jewish communities, the syriac church, the greek catholic church, the abyssinian bishop, and the representative of the anglican church. a notable presentation was the spanish consul, who had been in charge of the interests of almost all countries at war, and whom general allenby congratulated upon being so busy a man. the presentations over, the commander-in-chief returned to the jaffa gate and left for advanced general headquarters, having been in the holy city not more than a quarter of an hour. for succinctness it would be difficult to improve upon the commander-in-chief's own description of his official entry into jerusalem. cabling to london within two hours of that event, general allenby thus narrated the events of the day: ( ) at noon to-day i officially entered this city with a few of my staff, the commanders of the french and italian detachments, the heads of the picot mission, and the military attachés of france, italy, and the united states of america. the procession was all on foot. i was received by guards representing england, scotland, ireland, wales, australia, india, new zealand, france, and italy at the jaffa gate. ( ) i was well received by the population. ( ) the holy places have had guards placed over them. ( ) my military governor is in touch with the acting custos of latins, and the greek representative has been detailed to supervise christian holy places. ( ) the mosque of omar and the area round it has been placed under moslem control and a military cordon composed of indian mahomedan officers and soldiers has been established round the mosque. orders have been issued that without permission of the military governor and the moslem in charge of the mosque no non-moslem is to pass this cordon. ( ) the proclamation has been posted on the walls, and from the steps of the citadel was read in my presence to the population in arabic, hebrew, english, french, italian, greek, and russian. ( ) guardians have been established at bethlehem and on rachel's tomb. the tomb of hebron has been placed under exclusive moslem control. ( ) the hereditary custodians of the wakfs at the gates of the holy sepulchre have been requested to take up their accustomed duties in remembrance of the magnanimous act of the caliph omar who protected that church. as a matter of historical interest i give in the appendix the orders issued on the occasion of the official entry into jerusalem, the order of general allenby's procession into the holy city for the reading of the proclamation, together with the text of that historic document, and the special orders of the day issued by the commander-in-chief to his troops after the capture of jerusalem.[ ] [footnote : see appendix vii.] chapter xvi making jerusalem secure general allenby within two days of capturing jerusalem had secured a line of high ground which formed an excellent defensive system, but his xxth corps staff was busy with plans to extend the defences to give the holy city safety from attack. nothing could have had so damaging an influence on our prestige in the east, which was growing stronger every day as the direct result of the immense success of the operations in palestine, as the recapture of jerusalem by the turks. we thought the wire-pulling of the german high command would have its effect in the war councils of turkey, and seeing that the regaining of the prize would have such far-reaching effect on public opinion no one was surprised that the germans prevailed upon their ally to make the attempt. it was a hopeless failure. the attack came at a moment when we were ready to launch a scheme to secure a second and a third line of defences for jerusalem, and gallantly as the turks fought--they delivered thirteen powerful attacks against our line on the morning of december --the venture had a disastrous ending, and instead of reaching jerusalem the enemy had to yield to british arms seven miles of most valuable country and gave us, in place of one line, four strong lines for the defence of the holy city. by supreme judgment, when the turks had committed themselves to the attack on tel el ful, without which they could not move a yard on the nablus road, general chetwode started his operations on the left of his line with the th and th divisions, using his plan as it had been prepared for some days to seize successive lines of hills, and compelled the enemy, in order to meet this attack, to divert the fresh division held in waiting at bireh to throw forward into jerusalem the moment the storming troops should pierce our line. with the precision of clockwork the irish and dismounted yeomanry divisions secured their objectives, and on the second day of the fighting we regained the initiative and compelled the turks to conform to our dispositions. on the fourth day we were on the ramallah-bireh line and secured for jerusalem an impregnable defence. prisoners told us that they had been promised, as a reward for their hoped-for success, a day in jerusalem to do as they liked. we can imagine what the situation in the holy city would have been had our line been less true. the londoners who had won the city saved it. probably only a few of the inhabitants had any knowledge of the danger the city was in on december . their confidence in the british troops had grown and could scarcely be stronger, but some of them were alarmed, and throughout the early morning and day they knelt on housetops earnestly praying that our soldiers would have strength to withstand the turkish onslaughts. from that day onward the sound of the guns was less violent, and as our artillery advanced northwards the people's misgivings vanished and they reproached themselves for their fears. it will be remembered how the troops of the xxth corps were disposed. the rd division held the line south-east and east of jerusalem from bir asad through abu dis, bethany, to north of the mount of olives, whence the th division took it up from meshari, east of shafat to tel el ful and to beit hannina across the jerusalem-nablus road. the th division carried on to nebi samwil, beit izza to beit dukku, with the th division on their left through foka, tahta to suffa, the gap between the xxth corps to the right of the xxist corps being held by the rd australian light horse brigade of the australian mounted division. against us were the th turkish division and the th and th cavalry regiments south of the jericho road, with the th, rd, th, and th divisions on the north of that road and to the west of the jerusalem-nablus road, one division being in reserve at bireh, the latter a new division fresh from the caucasus. the th and th turkish cavalry regiments were facing our extreme left, the estimated strength of the enemy in the line being , rifles and sabres. just as it was getting dark on december a party of the enemy attacked the th brigade at tel el ful but were repulsed. there was not much activity the following day, but the rd division began a series of minor operations by which they secured some features of tactical importance. on the th the st brigade made a dashing attack on ras el kharrabeh and secured it, taking prisoners and two machine guns, with casualties to themselves. it was about this time the corps commander framed plans for the advance of our front north of jerusalem. there had been a few days of fine weather, and a great deal had been done to improve the condition of the roads and communications. an army of egyptian labourers had set to work on the enab-jerusalem road and from the villages had come strong reinforcements of natives, women as well as men (and the women did quite as much work as the men), attracted by the unusual wage payable in cash. in jerusalem, too, the natives were sent to labour on the roads and to clean up some of the filth that the turks had allowed to accumulate for years, if not for generations, inside the holy city. the army not merely provided work for idle hands but enabled starving bodies to be vitalised. food was brought into jerusalem, and with the cash wages old and young labourers could get more than a sufficiency. the native in the hills proved to be a good road repairer, and the boys and women showed an eagerness to earn their daily rates of pay; the men generally looked on and gave directions. it was some time before steam rollers crushed in the surface, but even rammed-in stones were better than mud, and the lorry drivers' tasks became lighter. general chetwode's plan was to secure a line from obeid, yards east of bethlehem, the hill of zamby covering the jericho road three miles from jerusalem, anata, hismeh, jeba, burkah, beitun, el balua, kh. el burj, deir ibzia to shilta. the scheme was to strike with the rd and th divisions astride the jerusalem-nablus road, and at the same time to push the th division and a part of the th division eastwards from the neighbourhood of tahta and foka. the weather again became bad on december and the troops suffered great discomfort from heavy rains and violent, cold winds, so that only light operations were undertaken. on the th the west kent and sussex battalions of the th brigade stalked the high ground east of abu dis at dawn, and at the cost of only casualties took the ridge with officers and other ranks prisoners, and buried enemy dead. one battalion went up the hill on one side, while the sussex crept up the opposite side, the turks being caught between two fires. the rd division also improved their position on the st december. as one leaves bethany and proceeds down the jericho road one passes along a steep zigzag with several hairpin bends until one reaches a guardhouse near a well about a mile east of bethany. the road still falls smartly, following a straighter line close to a wadi bed, but hills rise very steeply from the highway, and for its whole length until it reaches the jordan valley the road is always covered by high bare mountains. soon after leaving the zigzag there is a series of three hills to the north of the road. it was important to obtain possession of two of these hills, the first called zamby and the second named by the welsh troops 'whitehill,' from the bright limestone outcrop at the crest. the th brigade attacked and gained zamby and then turned nearer the jericho road to capture whitehill. the turks resisted very stoutly, and there was heavy fighting about the trenches just below the top of the hill. by noon the brigade had driven the enemy off, but three determined counter-attacks were delivered that day and the next and the brigade lost killed and wounded. the turks suffered heavily in the counter-attacks and left over dead behind them; also a few prisoners. at a later date there was further strong fighting around this hill, and at one period it became impossible for either side to hold it. by the st there was a readjustment of the line on the assumption that the xxth corps would attack the turks on christmas day, the rd division taking over the line as far north as the wadi anata, the th division extending its left to include nebi samwil, and the th going as far west as tahta. as a preliminary to the big movement the th brigade was directed to move on kh. adaseh, a hill between tel el ful and tawil, in the early hours of december , and the st brigade was to seize a height about half a mile north of beit hannina. the latter attack succeeded, but despite the most gallant and repeated efforts the th brigade was unable to gain the summit of adaseh, though they got well up the hill. the weather became bad once more, and meteorological reports indicated no improvement in the conditions for at least twenty-four hours, and as the moving forward of artillery and supplies was impossible in the rain, general chetwode with the concurrence of g.h.q. decided that the attack should not be made on christmas day. the th division thereupon did not further prosecute their attack on adaseh. on the th december, while general chetwode was conferring with his divisional commanders, information was brought in that the turks were making preparations to recapture jerusalem by an attack on the th division, and the corps commander decided that the moment the enemy was found to be fully committed to this attack the th division and one brigade of the th division would fall on the enemy's right and advance over the zeitun, kereina, and ibzia ridges. how well this plan worked out was shown before the beginning of the new year, by which time we had secured a great depth of ground at a cost infinitely smaller than could have been expected if the turks had remained on the defensive, while the turkish losses, at a moment when they required to preserve every fighting man, were much greater than we could have hoped to inflict if they had not come into the open. there was never a fear that the enemy would break through. we had commanding positions everywhere, and the more one studied our line on the chain of far-flung hills the more clearly one realised the prevision and military skill of general chetwode and the staff of the xxth corps in preparing the plans for its capture before the advance on jerusalem was started. the 'fourth objective' of december - well and truly laid the foundations for jerusalem's security, and relieved the inhabitants from the accumulated burdens of more than three years of war. we had nibbled at pieces of ground to flatten out the line here and there, but in the main the line the turks assaulted was that fourth objective. the turks put all their hopes on their last card. it was trumped; and when we had won the trick there was not a soldier in general allenby's army nor a civilian in the holy city who had not a profound belief in the coming downfall of the turkish empire. troops in the line and in bivouac spent the most cheerless christmas day within their memories. not only in the storm-swept hills but on the plain the day was bitterly cold, and the gale carried with it heavy rain clouds which passed over the tops of mountains and rolled up the valleys in ceaseless succession, discharging hail and rain in copious quantities. the wadis became roaring, tearing torrents fed by hundreds of tributaries, and men who had sought shelter on the lee side of rocks often found water pouring over them in cascades. the whole country became a sea of mud, and the trials of many months of desert sand were grateful and comforting memories. transport columns had an unhappy time: the hebron road was showing many signs of wear, and it was a long journey for lorries from beersheba when the retaining walls were giving way and a foot-deep layer of mud invited a skid every yard. the latron-jerusalem road was better going, but the soft metal laid down seemed to melt under the unceasing traffic in the wet, and in peace time this highway would have been voted unfit for traffic. the worst piece of road, however, was also the most important. the nablus road where it leaves jerusalem was wanted to supply a vital point on our front. it could not be used during the day because it was under observation, and anything moving along it was liberally dosed with shells. nor could its deplorable condition be improved by working parties. the ground was so soft on either side of it that no gun, ammunition, or supply limber could leave the track, and whatever was required for man, or beast, or artillery had to be carried across the road in the pitch-black hours of night. supplies were only got up to the troops after infinite labour, yet no one went hungry. boxing day was brighter, and there were hopes of a period of better weather. during the morning there were indications that an enemy offensive was not far off, and these were confirmed about noon by information that the front north of jerusalem would be attacked in the night. general chetwode thereupon ordered general longley to start his offensive on the left of the xxth corps line at dawn next morning. shortly before midnight the turks began their operations against the line held by the th division across the nablus road precisely where it had been expected. they attacked in considerable strength at ras et tawil and about the quarries held by our outposts north of that hill, and the outposts were driven in. about the same time the th welsh regiment--dismounted yeomanry--made the enemy realise that we were on the alert, for they assaulted and captured a hill quite close to et tireh, just forestalling an attack by a turkish storming battalion, and beat off several determined counter-attacks, as a result of which the enemy left seventy killed with the bayonet and also some machine guns on the hill slopes. the night was dark and misty, and by half-past one the turks had developed a big attack against the whole of the th division's front, the strongest effort being delivered on the line in front of tel el ful, though there was also very violent fighting on the west of the wadi ed dunn, north of beit hannina. the turks fought with desperate bravery. they had had no food for two days, and the commander of one regiment told his men: 'there are no english in front of you. i have been watching the enemy lines for a long time; they are held by egyptians, and i tell you there are no english there. you have only to capture two hills and you can go straight into jerusalem and get food. it is our last chance of getting jerusalem, and if we fail we shall have to go back.' this officer gave emphatic orders that british wounded were not to be mutilated. between half-past one and eight a.m. the turks attacked in front of tel el ful eight times, each attack being stronger than the last. tel el ful is a conical hill covered with huge boulders, and on the top is a mass of rough stones and ruined masonry. the turks had registered well and severely shelled our position before making an assault, and they covered the advance with machine guns. in one attack made just after daybreak the enemy succeeded in getting into a short length of line, but men of the / th londons promptly organised a counter-attack and, advancing with fine gallantry, though their ranks were thinned by a tremendous enfilade fire from artillery and machine guns, they regained the sangars. for several hours after eight o'clock this portion of the line was quieter, but the turk was reorganising for a last effort. a very brilliant defence had been made during the night of beit hannina by the / th londons, which battalion was commanded by a captain, the colonel and the majors being on the sick list. the two companies in the line were attacked four times by superior numbers, the last assault being delivered by more than five hundred men, but the defenders stood like rocks, and though they had fifty per cent, of their number killed or wounded, and the turks got close to the trenches, the enemy were crushingly defeated. the morning lull was welcome. our troops got some rest though their vigilance was unrelaxed, and few imagined that the turks had yet given up the attempt to reach jerusalem. we were ready to meet a fresh effort, but the strength with which it was delivered surprised everybody. the turk, it seemed, was prepared to stake everything on his last throw. he knew quite early on that morning that his caucasus division could not carry out the role assigned to it. general chetwode had countered him by smashing in with his left with a beautiful weighty stroke precisely at the moment when the turk had compromised himself elsewhere, and instead of being able to put in his reserves to support his main attack the enemy had to divert them to stave off an advance which, if unhindered, would threaten the vital communications of the attackers north of jerusalem. it was a remarkable situation, but all the finesse in the art of war was on one side. every message the turkish commander received from his right must have reported progress against him. each signal from the jerusalem front must have been equally bitter, summing up want of progress and heavy losses. with us, time was a secondary factor; with the turk, time was the whole essence of the business, so he pledged his all on one tremendous final effort. it was almost one o'clock when it started, and it was made against the whole front of our xxth corps. it was certainly made in unexpected strength and with a courage beyond praise. the turk threw himself forward to the assault with the violence of despair, and his impetuous onrush enabled him to get into some small elements of our front line; but counter-attacks immediately organised drove him out. over the greater portion of the front the advance was stopped dead, but in some places the enemy tried a whirlwind rush and used bomb against bomb. he had met his match. the th division which bore the brunt of the onslaught, as it was bound to do from its position astride the main road, was absolutely unbreakable, and at tel el ful there lay a dead turk for every yard of its front. the enemy drew off, but to save the remnants of his storming troops kept our positions from near ras et tawil, tel el ful to the wadi beit hannina under heavy gunfire for the rest of the day. the turk was hopelessly beaten, his defeat irretrievable. he had delivered thirteen costly attacks, and his sole gains were the exposed outpost positions at the tawil and the quarries. all his reserves had been vigorously engaged, while at two o'clock in the afternoon general chetwode had in reserve nineteen battalions less one company still unused, and the care exercised in keeping this large body of troops fresh for following up the turkish defeat undoubtedly contributed to the great success of the advances on the next three days. simultaneously with their attack on the th division positions the turks put in a weighty effort to oust the rd division from the positions they held north and south of the jericho road. whether in their wildest dreams they imagined they could enter jerusalem by this route is doubtful, but if they had succeeded in driving in our line on the north they would have put the rd division in a perilous position on the east with only one avenue of escape. the turks concentrated their efforts on whitehill and zamby. a great fight raged round the former height and we were driven off it, but the divisional artillery so sprinkled the crest with shell that the turk could not occupy it, and it became no man's land until the early evening when the th royal welsh fusiliers recaptured and held it. the contest for zamby lasted all day, and for a long time it was a battle of bombs and machine guns, so closely together were the fighting men, but the turks never got up to our sangars and were finally driven off with heavy loss, over dead being left on the hill. the turkish ambulances were seen hard at work on the jericho road throughout the day. there was a stout defence of a detached post at ibn obeid. a company of the / th middlesex regiment had been sent on to obeid, about five miles east of bethlehem, to watch for the enemy moving about the rough tracks in that bare and broken country which falls away in jagged hills and sinuous valleys to the dead sea. the little garrison, whose sole shelter was a ruined monastic building on the hill, were attacked at dawn by turkish cavalry supported by mountain guns. the garrison stood fast all day though practically surrounded, and every attack was beaten off. the turks tried again and again to secure the hill, which commands a track to bethlehem, but, although they fired shells at the position, they could not enter it, and a battalion sent up to relieve the middlesex men next morning found that the company had driven the enemy off, its casualties having amounted to only killed and wounded. thus did the 'die hards' live up to the traditions of the regiment. having dealt with the failure of the turkish attacks against the th and rd divisions in front of jerusalem, let us change our view point and focus attention on the left sector of xxth corps, where the enemy was feeling the full power of the corps at a time when he most wished to avoid it. general longley had organised his attacking columns in three groups. on the right the th brigade of the th division was set the task of moving from the wadi imeish to secure the high ground of bir esh shafa overlooking beitunia; the st brigade, starting from near tahta, attacked north of the wadi sunt, to drive the enemy from a line from jeriut through hafy to the west of the olive orchards near ain arik; while the left group, composed of the th and th brigades, aimed at getting shabuny across the wadi sad, and sheikh abdallah where they would have the australian mounted division on their left. the advance started from the left of the line. the th brigade leading, with the th brigade in support, left their positions of deployment at six o'clock, by which time the turk had had more than he had bargained for north and east of jerusalem. the st leinsters and th connaught rangers found the enemy in a stubborn mood west of deir ibzia, but they broke down the opposition in the proper irish style and rapidly reached their objectives. the centre group started one hour after the left and got their line without much difficulty. the right group was hotly opposed. beginning their advance at eight o'clock the th brigade had reached the western edge of the famous zeitun ridge in an hour, but from this time onwards they were exposed to incessant artillery and machine-gun fire, and the forward movement became very slow. in five hours small parties had worked along the ridge for about half its length, fighting every yard, and it was not until the approach of dusk that we once more got control of the whole ridge. it was appropriate that dismounted yeomen should gain this important tactical point which several weeks previously had been won and lost by their comrades of the yeomanry mounted division. descending from the ridge the brigade gave the turk little chance to stand, and with a bayonet charge they reached the day's objective in the dark. at two o'clock, when the turks' final effort against jerusalem had just failed, the th and th divisions both sent in the good news that the turkish commander was moving his reserve division from bireh westwards to meet the attack from our left. airmen confirmed this immediately, and it was now obvious that general chetwode's tactics had compelled the enemy to conform to his movements and that we had regained the initiative. at about ten o'clock the th royal welsh fusiliers of the st brigade captured kh. ed dreihemeh on the old roman road a mile east of tireh, and at eleven o'clock advanced to the assault of hill , a little farther eastward. they gained the crest, but the enemy had a big force in the neighbourhood and counter-attacked, forcing the welshmen to withdraw some distance down the western slope. they held this ground till . when our guns heavily bombarded the summit, under cover of which fire the infantry made another attack. this was also unsuccessful owing to the intense volume of fire from machine guns. the hill was won, however, next morning. the night of december - was without incident. the turk had staked and lost, and he spent the night in making new dispositions to meet what he must have realised was being prepared for him on the following day. it is doubtful whether there was a more successful day for our army in the palestine campaign than december . the portion of our line which was on the defensive had stood an absolutely unmovable wall, against which the enemy had battered himself to pieces. our left, or attacking sector, had gained all their objectives against strong opposition in a most difficult country, and had drawn against them the very troops held in reserve for the main attack on jerusalem. the physical powers of some of our attacking troops were tried highly. one position captured by the th brigade was a particularly bad hill. the slope up which the infantry had to advance was a series of almost perpendicular terraces, and the riflemen could only make the ascent by climbing up each others' backs. when dismounted yeomen secured another hill some men carrying up supplies took two hours to walk from the base of the hill to the summit. the trials of the infantry were shared by the artillery. what surprises every one who has been over the route taken by the th and th divisions is that any guns except those with the mountain batteries were able to get into action. the road work of engineers and the th royal irish regiment (pioneers) was magnificent, and they made a way where none seemed possible; but though these roadmakers put their backs into their tasks, it was only by the untiring energies of the gunners and drivers that artillery was got up to support the infantry. the guns were brought into action well ahead of the roads, and were man-hauled for considerable distances. two howitzers and one field gun were kept up with the infantry on the first day of the advance where no horses could get a foothold, and the manner in which the gunners hauled the guns through deep ravines and up seemingly unclimbable hills constituted a wonderful physical achievement. the artillery were called upon to continue their arduous work on the th and th under conditions of ground which were even more appalling than those met with on the th. the whole country was devoid of any road better than a goat track, and the ravines became deeper and the hills more precipitous. in some places, particularly on the th division front, the infantry went forward at a remarkable pace; but guns moved up with them, and by keeping down the fire of machine guns dotted about on every hill, performed services which earned the riflemen's warm praise. the th and th mountain batteries were attached to the th division, but field and howitzer batteries were also well up. on the th the rd division bit farther into the enemy's line in order to cover the right of the th division, which was to continue its advance up the nablus road towards bireh. the th brigade captured anata, and after fighting all day the / th royal welsh fusiliers secured ras urkub es suffa, a forbidding-looking height towering above the storm-rent sides of the wadi ruabeh. the / st herefords after dark took kh. almit. in front of the th division the turks were still holding some strong positions from which they should have been able seriously to delay the londoners' advance had it not been for the threat to their communications by the pressure by the th and th divisions. the londoners had previously tested the strength of adaseh, and had found it an extremely troublesome hill. they went for it again--the th brigade this time--and after a several hours' struggle took it at dusk. meanwhile the st brigade had taken the lofty villages of bir nebala and el jib, and after adaseh became ours the division went ahead in the dark and got to the line across the nablus road from er ram to rafat, capturing some prisoners. the th division also made splendid progress. in the early hours the division, with the th royal welsh fusiliers and the th welsh regiment attached, secured jufeir and resumed their main advance in the afternoon, the th and st brigades cooperating with the th brigade which was under the orders of the th division. before dark they had advanced their line from the left of the th division in rafat past the east of beitunia to the hill east of abu el ainein, and this strong line of hills once secured, everybody was satisfied that the turks' possession of ramallah and bireh was only a question of hours. part of this line had been won by the th division, which began its advance before noon in the same battle formation as on the th. soon after the three groups started the heavy artillery put down a fierce fire on the final objectives, and before three o'clock the turks were seen to be evacuating kefr skyan, ainein, and rubin. the enemy put up a stout fight at beitunia and on a hill several hundred yards north-west of the village, but the th brigade had good artillery and machine-gun assistance, and got both places before four o'clock, capturing seventy prisoners, including the commander of the garrison, and a number of machine guns. the left group was hotly opposed from a hill a mile west of rubin and from a high position south-west of ainein. the nature of the ground was entirely favourable to defence and for a time the turk took full advantage of it, but our artillery soon made him lose his stomach for fighting, and doubtless the sound of many shell-bursts beyond ramallah made him think that his rock sangars and the deep ravines in front of him were not protection against a foe who fought nature with as much determination as he fought the turkish soldier. six-inch howitzers of the th siege battery had been brought up to foka in the early hours, and all the afternoon and evening they were plastering the road from ramallah along which the enemy were retreating. the left group defied the nests of machine guns hidden among the rocks and broke down the defence. the centre group had been delayed by the opposition encountered by the left, but they took skyan at six o'clock and all of the objectives for one day were in our hands by the early evening. an advance along the whole front was ordered to begin at six o'clock on december . on his right flank the enemy was willing to concede ground, and the th brigade occupied hismeh, jeba, and the ridges to the north-west to protect the flank of the th division. the rd division buried enemy dead on their front as the result of three days' fighting. the st brigade made a rapid advance up the nablus road until they were close to bireh and tahunah, a high rocky hill just to the north-west of the village. the turks had many machine guns and a strong force of riflemen in these places, and it was impossible for infantry to advance against them over exposed ground without artillery support. the rd field artillery brigade was supporting the brigade, and they were to move up a track from kullundia while the foot-sloggers used the high road, but the track was found impassable for wheels and the guns had to be brought to the road. the attack was postponed till the guns were in position. the gunners came into action at half-past two, and infantry moved to the left to get on to the ramallah-bireh metalled road which runs at right angles to the trunk road between nablus and jerusalem. the / nd and the / rd londons, working across the road, reached the tahunah ridge, and after a heavy bombardment dashed into the turkish positions, which were defended most stubbornly to the end, and thus won the last remaining hill which commanded our advance up the nablus road as far as bireh. on the eastern side of the main highway the th brigade had once more done sterling service. there is a bold eminence called shab saleh, a mile due south of bireh. it rises almost sheer from a piece of comparatively flat ground, and the enemy held it in strength. the / th and the / th londons attacked this feature, and displaying great gallantry in face of much machine-gun fire seized it at half-past three. once again the gunners supported the infantry admirably. the / th and / th londons pushed past saleh in a north-easterly direction and, leaving bireh on their left, got into extremely bad country and took the turks by surprise on a wooded ridge at sheikh sheiban. the two brigades rested and refreshed for a couple of hours and then advanced once more, and by midnight they had routed the turks out of another series of hills and were in firm possession of the line from beitin, across the nablus road north of the balua lake, to the ridge of el burj, having carried through everything which had been planned for the division. ramallah had been taken at nine o'clock in the morning without opposition by the th and th brigades, and at night the th division held a strong line north of the picturesque village as far as et tireh. the th division also occupied the tireh ridge quite early in the day, and one of their field batteries and both mountain batteries got within long range of the nablus road, and not only assisted in shelling the enemy in bireh but harassed with a hot fire any bodies of men or transport seen retreating northwards. the flying corps, too, caused the turks many losses on the road. the airmen bombed the enemy from a low altitude and also machine-gunned them, and moreover by their timely information gave great assistance during the operations. by the th december all organised resistance to our advance had ceased and the xxth corps consolidated its line, the th division going forward slightly to improve its position and the other divisions rearranging their own. the consolidation of the line was not an easy matter. it had to be very thoroughly and rapidly done. the supply difficulty compelled the holding of the line with as few troops as possible, and when it had been won it was necessary to put it in a proper order in a minimum of time, and to bring back a considerable number of the troops who had been engaged in the fighting to hold the grand defensive chain which made jerusalem absolutely safe. the standard gauge railway was still a long way from ramleh, and the railway construction parties had to fight against bad weather and washouts. the turkish line from ramleh to jerusalem was in bad order; a number of bridges were down, so that it was not likely the railway could be working for several weeks. lorries could supply the troops in the neighbourhood of the nablus road, though the highway was getting into bad condition, but in the right centre of the line the difficulties of terrain were appalling. the enemy had had a painful experience of it and was not likely to wish to fight in that country again; consequently it was decided to hold this part of the line with light forces. in this description of the operations i have made little mention of the work of the australian mounted division which covered the gap between xxth and xxist corps. these australian horsemen and yeomanry guarded an extended front in inaccessible country, and every man in the division will long remember the troubles of supply in the hills. they had some stiff fighting against a wily enemy, and not for a minute could they relax their vigilance. when, with the turks' fatal effort to retake jerusalem, the th division changed their front and attacked in a north-easterly direction, the australian mounted division moved with it, and they found the country as they progressed become more rugged and bleak and extremely difficult for mounted troops. the division was in the fighting line for the whole month of december, and when they handed over the new positions they had reached to the infantry on the last day of the year, their horses fully needed the lengthened period of rest allotted to them. chapter xvii a great feat of war from the story of how jerusalem was made secure (for we may hope the clamour of war has echoed for the last time about her holy shrines and venerable walls) we may turn back to the coastal sector and see how the xxist corps improved a rather dangerous situation and laid the foundations for the biggest break-through of the world struggle. for it was the preparations in this area which made possible general allenby's tremendous gallop through northern palestine and syria, and gave the allies haifa, beyrout, and tripoli on the seaboard, and nazareth, damascus, and aleppo in the interior. the foundations were soundly laid when the xxist corps crossed the auja before christmas , and the superstructure of the victory which put turkey as well as bulgaria and austria out of the war was built up with many difficulties from the sure base provided by the xxist corps line. the crossing of the auja was a great feat of war, and this is the first time i am able to mention the names of those to whom the credit of the operation is due. it was one of the strange regulations of the army council in connection with the censorship that no names of the commanders of army corps, divisions, brigades, or battalions should be mentioned by correspondents. nor indeed was i permitted to identify in my despatches any particular division, yet the divisions concerned--the nd, rd, th, th, and so on--had often been mentioned in official despatches; the enemy not only knew they were in palestine but were fully aware of their positions in the line; their commanders and brigadiers were known by name to the turks. on the other hand, in describing a certain battle i was allowed to speak of divisions of lowland troops, welshmen and londoners, allusions which would convey (if there were anything to give away) precisely as much information to the dull old turk and his sharper hun companion in arms as though the nd, rd, and th divisions had been explicitly designated. this practice seemed in effect to be designed more with the object of keeping our people at home in the dark, of forbidding them glory in the deeds of their children and brothers, than of preventing information reaching the enemy. some gentleman enthroned in the authority of an official armchair said 'no,' and there was an end of it. you could not get beyond him. his decision was final, complete--and silly--and the correspondent was bound hand and foot by it. doubtless he would have liked one to plead on the knee for some little relaxation of his decision. then he would have answered 'no' in a louder tone. let me give one example from a number entered in my notebooks of how officers at home exercised their authority. in january the military railway from the suez canal had been constructed across the sinai desert and the first train was run into el arish, about ninety miles from the canal. i was asked by general headquarters to send a cablegram to london announcing the fact that railhead was at el arish, the town having been captured a fortnight previously after a fine night march. that message was never published, and i knew it was a waste of time to ask the reason. i happened to be in london for a few days in the following august and my duties took me to the war office. a colonel in the intelligence branch heard i was there and sent for me to tell me i had sent home information of value to the enemy. i reminded him there was a g.h.q. censorship in egypt which dealt with my cablegrams, and asked the nature of the valuable information which should have been concealed. 'you sent a telegram that the railway had reached el arish when the turks did not know it was beyond bir el abd.' abd is fifty miles nearer the suez canal than el arish. what did this officer care about a request made by g.h.q. to transmit information to the british public? he knew better than g.h.q. what the british public should know, and he was certain the enemy thought we were hauling supplies through those fifty miles of sand to our troops at el arish, an absolutely physical impossibility, for there were not enough camels in the east to do it. but he did not know, and he should have known, being an intelligence officer, that the turks were so far aware of where our railhead was that they were frequently bombing it from the air. i had been in these bombing raids and knew how accurately the german airmen dropped their eggs, and had this intelligence officer taken the trouble to inquire he would have found that between thirty and forty casualties were inflicted by one bomb at el arish itself when railhead was being constructed. this critic imagined that the turk knew only what the english papers told him. if the turks' knowledge had been confined to what the war office intelligence branch gave him credit for he would have been in a parlous state. while this ruling of the authorities at home prevailed it was impossible for me to give the names of officers or to mention divisions or units which were doing exceptionally meritorious work. unfortunately the bureaucratic interdict continued till within a few days of the end of the campaign, when i was told that, 'having frequently referred to the work of the australians, which was deserved,' the mention of british and indian units would be welcomed. we had to wait until within a month of the end of the world war before the war office would unbend and realise the value of the best kind of propaganda. no wonder our american friends consider us the worst national advertisers in the world. the officer who was mainly responsible for the success of the auja crossing was major-general j. hill, d.s.o., a.d.c., commanding the nd division. his plan was agreed to by general bulfin, although the corps commander had doubts about the possibility of its success, and had his own scheme ready to be put into instant operation if general hill's failed. in the state of the weather general hill's own brigadiers were not sanguine, and they were the most loyal and devoted officers a divisional commander ever had. but despite the most unfavourable conditions, calling for heroic measures on the part of officers and men alike to gain their objectives through mud and water and over ground that was as bad as it could be, the movements of the troops worked to the clock. one brigade's movements synchronised with those of another, and the river was crossed, commanding positions were seized, and bridges were built with an astoundingly small loss to ourselves. the lowland scots worked as if at sport, and they could not have worked longer or stronger if the whole honour of scotland had depended upon their efforts. at a later date, when digging at arsuf, these scots came across some marble columns which had graced a hall when apollonia was in its heyday. the glory of apollonia has long vanished, but if in that age of warriors there had been a belief that those marble columns would some day be raised as monuments to commemorate a great operation of war the ancients would have had a special veneration for them. three of the columns marked the spots where the scots spanned the river, and it is a pity they cannot tell the full story to succeeding generations. the river auja is a perennial stream emptying itself into the blue mediterranean waters four miles north of jaffa. its average width is forty yards and its depth ten feet, with a current running at about three miles an hour. till we crossed it the river was the boundary between the british and turkish armies in this sector, and all the advantage of observation was on the northern bank. from it the town of jaffa and its port were in danger, and the main road between jaffa and ramleh was observed and under fire. the village of sheikh muannis, about two miles inland, stood on a high mound commanding the ground south of the river, and from hadrah you could keep the river in sight in its whole winding course to the sea. all this high ground concealed an entrenched enemy; on the southern side of the river the turks were on bald hill, and held a line of trenches covering the jewish colony of mulebbis and fejja. a bridge and a mill dam having been destroyed during winter the only means of crossing was by a ford three feet deep at the mouth, an uncertain passage because the sand bar over which one could walk shifted after heavy rain when the stream was swollen with flood water. reconnaissances at the river mouth were carried out with great daring. as i said, all the southern approaches to the river were commanded by the turks on the northern bank, who were always alert, and the movement of one man in the auja valley was generally the signal for artillery activity. so often did the turkish gunners salute the appearance of a single british soldier that the scots talked of the enemy 'sniping' with guns. to reconnoitre the enemy's positions by daylight was hazardous work, and the scots had to obtain their first-hand knowledge of the river and the approaches to it in the dark hours. an officers' patrol swam the river one night, saw what the enemy was doing, and returned unobserved. a few nights afterwards two officers swam out to sea across the river mouth and crept up the right bank of the stream within the enemy's lines to ascertain the locality of the ford and its exact width and depth. they also learnt that there were no obstacles placed across the ford, which was three feet deep in normal times and five feet under water after rains. it was obvious that bridges would be required, and it was decided to force the passage of the river in the dark hours by putting covering troops across to the northern bank, and by capturing the enemy's positions to form a bridgehead while pontoon bridges were being constructed for the use of guns and the remainder of the division. time was all-important. december and january are the wettest months of the season at jaffa, and after heavy rains the auja valley becomes little better than a marsh, so that a small amount of traffic will cut up the boggy land into an almost impassable condition. the xxist corps' plan was as follows: at dawn on december a heavy bombardment was to open on all the enemy's trenches covering the crossings, the fire of heavy guns to be concentrated on enemy batteries and strong positions in the rear, while ships of the royal navy bombarded two strong artillery positions at tel el rekket and el jelil, near the coast. when darkness fell covering troops were to be ferried across the river, and then light bridges would be constructed for the passage of larger units charged with the task of getting the turks out of their line from hadrah, through el mukras to tel el rekket. after these positions had been gained the engineers were to build pontoon bridges to carry the remainder of the division and guns on the night of the nd- rd december, in time to advance at daylight on the rd to secure a defensive line from tel el mukhmar through sheikh el ballatar to jelil. on the right of the nd division the th division was to attack bald hill on the night of st- nd december, and on the following morning assault the trench system covering mulebbis and fejja; then later in the day to advance to rantieh, while the th division farther east was to attack bireh and beida. this plan was given to divisional commanders at a conference in jaffa on december . two days later general hill submitted another scheme which provided for a surprise attack by night with no naval or land artillery bombardment, such a demonstration being likely to attract attention. general hill submitted his proposals in detail. general bulfin gave the plan most careful consideration, but decided that to base so important an operation on the success of a surprise attack was too hazardous, and he adhered to his scheme of a deliberate operation to be carried through systematically. he, however, gave general hill permission to carry out his surprise attack on the night of december , but insisted that the bombardment should begin according to programme at daylight on the st unless the surprise scheme was successful. a brigade of the th division and the st australian light horse brigade relieved the scots in the trenches for three nights before the attempt. every man in the lowland division entered upon the work of preparation with whole-hearted enthusiasm. there was much to be done and materials were none too plentiful. pontoons were wired for and reached jaffa on the th. there was little wood available, and some old houses in jaffa were pulled down to supply the army's needs. the material was collected in the orange groves around the german colony at sarona, a northern suburb of jaffa, and every man who could use a tool was set to work to build a framework of rectangular boats to a standard design, and on this framework of wood tarpaulins and canvas were stretched. these boats were light in structure, and were so designed that working parties would be capable of transferring them from their place of manufacture to the river bank. each boat was to carry twenty men fully armed and equipped over the river. they became so heavy with rain that they in fact only carried sixteen men. the boat builders worked where enemy airmen could not see them, and when the craft were completed the troops were practised at night in embarking and ferrying across a waterway--for this purpose the craft were put on a big pond--and in cutting a path through thick cactus hedges in the dark. during these preparations the artillery was also active. they took their guns up to forward positions during the night, and before the date of the attack there was a bombardment group of eight -inch howitzers and a counter battery group of ten -pounders and one -inch mark vii. gun in concealed positions, and the artillery dumps had been filled with rounds for each heavy gun and rounds for each field piece. the weather on the th, th, and th december was most unfavourable. rain was continuous and the valley of the auja became a morass. the luck of the weather was almost always against general allenby's army, and the troops had become accustomed to fighting the elements as well as the turks, but here was a situation where rain might have made all the difference between success and failure. general bulfin saw general hill and his brigadiers on the afternoon of the th. the brigadiers were depressed owing to the floods and the state of the ground, because it was then clear that causeways would have to be made through the mud to the river banks. general hill remained enthusiastic and hopeful and, the corps commander supporting him, it was decided to proceed with the operation. for several nights, with the object of giving the enemy the impression of a nightly strafe, there had been artillery and machine-gun demonstrations occurring about the same time and lasting as long as those planned for the night of the crossing. after dusk on december there was a big movement behind our lines. the ferrying and bridging parties got on the move, each by their particular road, and though the wind was searchingly cold and every officer and man became thoroughly drenched, there was not a sick heart in the force. the th brigade proceeded to the ford at the mouth of the auja, the th brigade advanced towards the river just below muannis, and the th brigade moved up to the mill and dam at jerisheh, where it was to secure the crossing and then swing to the right to capture hadrah. the advance was slow, but that the scots were able to move at all is the highest tribute to their determination. the rain-soaked canvas of the boats had so greatly added to their weight that the parties detailed to carry them from the sarona orange orchards found the task almost beyond their powers. the bridge rafts for one of the crossings could not be got up to the river bank because the men were continually slipping in the mud under the heavy load, and the attacking battalion at this spot was ferried over in coracles. on another route a section carrying a raft lost one of its number, who was afterwards found sunk in mud up to his outstretched arms. the tracks were almost impassable, and a lancashire pioneer battalion was called up to assist in improving them. the men became caked with mud from steel helmet to boots, and the field guns which had to be hauled by double teams were so bespattered that there was no need for camouflage. in those strenuous hours of darkness the weather continued vile, and the storm wind flung the frequent heavy showers with cutting force against the struggling men. the covering party which was to cross at the ford found the bar had shifted under the pressure of flood water and that the marks put down to direct the column had been washed away. the commanding officer reconnoitred, getting up to his neck in water, and found the ford considerably out of position and deeper than he had hoped, but he brought his men together in fours and, ordering each section to link arms to prevent the swirling waters carrying them out to sea, led them across without a casualty. in the other places the covering parties of brigades began to be ferried over at eight o'clock. the first raft-loads were paddled across with muffled oars. a line was towed behind the boats, and this being made fast on either side of the river the rafts crossed and recrossed by haulage on the rope, in order that no disturbance on the surface by oars on even such a wild night should cause an alarm. as soon as the covering parties were over, light bridges to carry infantry in file were constructed by lashing the rafts together and placing planks on them. one of these bridges was burst by the strength of the current, but the delay thus caused mattered little as the surprise was complete. when the bridges of rafts had been swung and anchored, blankets and carpets were laid upon them to deaden the fall of marching feet, and during that silent tramp across the rolling bridges many a keen-witted scot found it difficult to restrain a laugh as he trod on carpets richer by far than any that had lain in his best parlour at home. he could not see the patterns, but rightly guessed that they were picked out in the bright colours of the east, and the muddy marks of war-travelled men were left on them without regret, for the carpets had come from german houses in sarona. how perfectly the operation was conducted--noiselessly, swiftly, absolutely according to time-table--may be gathered from the fact that two officers and sixteen turks were awakened in their trench dug-outs at the ford by the river mouth two hours after we had taken the trenches. the officers resisted and had to be killed. two miles behind the river the lowlanders captured the whole garrison of a post near the sea, none of whom had the slightest idea that the river had been crossed. an officer commanding a battalion at muannis was taken in his bed, whilst another commanding officer had the surprise of his life on being invited to put his hands up in his own house. he looked as if he had just awakened from a nightmare. in one place some turks on being attacked with the bayonet shouted an alarm and one of the crossings was shelled, but its position was immediately changed and the passage of the river continued without interruption. the whole of the turkish system covering the river, trenches well concealed in the river banks and in patches of cultivated land, were rushed in silence and captured. muannis was taken at the point of the bayonet, the strong position at hadrah was also carried in absolute silence, and at daylight the whole line the scots had set out to gain was won and the assailants were digging themselves in. and the price of their victory? the scots had officers and other ranks casualties. they buried over turkish dead and took officers and other ranks prisoners, besides capturing ten machine guns. the forcing of the passage of the auja was a magnificent achievement, planned with great ability by general hill and carried out with that skill and energy which the brigadiers, staff, and all ranks of the division showed throughout the campaign. one significant fact serves to illustrate the scots' discipline. orders were that not a shot was to be fired except by the guns and machine guns making their nightly strafe. death was to be dealt out with the bayonet, and though the lowlanders were engaged in a life and death struggle with the turks, not a single round of rifle ammunition was used by them till daylight came, when, as a keen marksman said, they had some grand running-man practice. during the day some batteries got to the north bank by way of the ford, and two heavy pontoon bridges were constructed and a barrel bridge, which had been put together in a wadi flowing into the auja, was floated down and placed in position. there was a good deal of shelling by the turks, but they fired at our new positions and interfered but little with the bridge construction. on the night of the st- nd december the th division assaulted bald hill, a prominent mound south of the auja from which a magnificent view of the country was gained. stiff fighting resulted, but the enemy was driven off with a loss of officers and other ranks killed, and officers and men taken prisoners. at dawn the division reported that the enemy was retiring from mulebbis and fejja, and those places were soon in our hands. h.m.s. _grafton_, with admiral t. jackson, the monitors m , m , and m , and the destroyers _lapwing_ and _lizard_, arrived off the coast and shelled jelil and arsuf, and the nd division, advancing on a broad front, occupied the whole of their objectives by five o'clock in the afternoon. the th brigade got all the high ground about arsuf, and thus prevented the enemy from obtaining a long-range view of jaffa. a few rounds of shell fired by a naval gun at a range of nearly twenty miles fell in jaffa some months afterwards, but with this exception jaffa was quite free from the enemy's attentions. the brilliant operation on the auja had saved the town and its people many anxious days. by the end of the year there were three strong bridges across the river, and three others substantial enough to bear the weight of tractors and their loads were under construction. the troops received their winter clothing; bivouac shelters and tents were beginning to arrive. baths and laundries were in operation, and the rigours of the campaign began to be eased. but the xxist corps could congratulate itself that, notwithstanding two months of open warfare, often fifty to sixty miles from railhead, men's rations had never been reduced. horses and mules had had short allowances, but they could pick up a little in the country. the men were in good health, despite the hardships in the hills and rapid change from summer to winter, and their spirit could not be surpassed. chapter xviii by the banks of the jordan we have seen how impregnable the defences of jerusalem had become as the result of the big advance northwards at the end of december. as far as any military forecast could be made we were now in an impenetrable position whatever force the turk, with his poor communications, could employ against us either from the direction of nablus or from the east of the jordan. there seemed to be no risk whatever, so long as we chose to hold the line xxth corps had won, of the turks again approaching jerusalem, but the commander-in-chief determined to make the situation absolutely safe by advancing eastwards to capture jericho and the crossings of the jordan. this was not solely a measure of precaution. it certainly did provide a means for preventing the foe from operating in the stern, forbidding, desolate, and awe-inspiring region which has been known as the wilderness since biblical days, and doubtless before. in that rough country it would be extremely difficult to stop small bands of enterprising troops getting through a line and creating diversions which, while of small military consequence, would have been troublesome, and might have had the effect of unsettling the natives. a foothold in the jordan valley would have the great advantage of enabling us to threaten the hedjaz railway, the turks' sole means of communication with medina, where their garrison was holding out staunchly against the troops of the king of the hedjaz, and any assistance we could give the king's army would have a far-reaching effect on neutral arabs. it would also stop the grain trade on the dead sea, on which the enemy set store, and would divert traffic in foodstuffs to natives in lower palestine, who at this time were to a considerable extent dependent on supplies furnished by our army. the quartermaster-general carried many responsibilities on his shoulders. time was not the important factor, and as general allenby was anxious to avoid an operation which might involve heavy losses, it was at first proposed that the enemy should be forced to leave jericho by the gradually closing in on the town from north and south. the turks had got an immensely strong position about talat ed dumm, the 'mound of blood,' where stands a ruined castle of the crusaders, the chastel rouge. one can see it with the naked eye from the mount of olives, and weeks before the operation started i stood in the garden of the kaiserin augusta victoria hospice and, looking over one of the most inhospitable regions of the world, could easily make out the turks walking on the road near the khan, which has been called the good samaritan inn. the country has indeed been rightly named. gaunt, bare mountains of limestone with scarcely a patch of green to relieve the nakedness of the land make a wilderness indeed, and one sees a drop of some four thousand feet in a distance of about fifteen miles. the hills rise in continuous succession, great ramparts of the judean range, and instead of valleys between them there are huge clefts in the rock, hundreds of feet deep, which carry away the winter torrents to the jordan and dead sea. over beyond the edge of hills are the green wooded banks of the sacred river, then a patch or two of stunted trees, and finally the dark walls of the mountains of moab shutting out the view of the land which still holds fascinating remains of greek civilisation. but there was no promise of an early peep at such historic sights, and the problem of getting at the nearer land was hard enough for present deliberation. it was at first proposed that the whole of the xxth corps and a force of cavalry should carry out operations simultaneously on the north and east of the corps front which should give us possession of the roads from mar saba and muntar, and also from taiyibeh and the old roman road to jericho, thus allowing two cavalry forces supported by infantry columns to converge on jericho from the north and south. however, by the second week of february there had been bad weather, and the difficulties of supplying a line forty miles from the railway on roads which, notwithstanding a vast amount of labour, were still far from good, were practically insuperable, and it was apparent that a northerly and easterly advance at the same time would involve a delay of three weeks. new circumstances came to light after the advance was first arranged, and these demanded that the enemy should be driven across the jordan as soon as possible. general allenby decided that the operations should be carried out in two phases. the first was an easterly advance to thrust the enemy from his position covering jericho, to force him across the jordan, and to obtain control of the country west of the river. the northerly advance to secure the line of the wadi aujah was to follow. this river aujah which flows into the jordan must not be confused with the auja on the coast already described. the period of wet weather was prolonged, and the accumulation of supplies of rations and ammunition did not permit of operations commencing before february . that they started so early is an eloquent tribute to the hard work of the army, for the weather by the date of the attack had improved but little, and the task of getting up stores could only be completed by extraordinary exertions. general chetwode ordered a brigade of the th division to capture mukhmas as a preliminary to a concentration at that place. on the th the division occupied a front of about fourteen miles from near muntar, close to which the ancient road from bethlehem to jericho passes, through ras umm deisis, across the jerusalem-jericho road to arak ibrahim, over the great chasm of the wadi farah which has cliff-like sides hundreds of feet deep, to the brown knob of ras et tawil. the line was not gained without fighting. the turks did not oppose us at muntar--the spot where the jews released the scapegoat--but there was a short contest for ibrahim, and a longer fight lasting till the afternoon for an entrenched position a mile north of it; ras et tawil was ours by nine in the morning. tawil overlooks a track which has been trodden from time immemorial. it leads from the jordan valley north-west of jericho, and passes beneath the frowning height of jebel kuruntul with its bare face relieved by a monastery built into the rock about half-way up, and a walled garden on top to mark the mount of temptation, as the pious monks believe it to be. the track then proceeds westwards, winding in and out of the tremendous slits in rock, to mukhmas, and it was probably along this rough line that the israelites marched from their camp at gilgal to overthrow the philistines. on the right of the londoners were two brigades of the anzac mounted division, working through the most desolate hills and wadis down to the dead sea with a view to pushing up by nebi musa, which tradition has ascribed as the burial place of moses, and thence into the jordan valley. northward of the th division the rd was extending its flank eastwards to command the taiyibeh-jericho road, and the welsh troops occupied rummon, a huge mount of chalk giving a good view of the wilderness. this was the position on the night of th february. at dawn on the th the londoners were to attack the turks in three columns. the right column was to march from el muntar to ekteif, the centre column to proceed along the jerusalem-jericho road between the highway and the wadi farah, and the left column was to go forward by the tawil-jebel kuruntul track. the st australian light horse brigade and the new zealand mounted rifles brigade were, if possible, to make nebi musa. the infantry attack was as fine as anything done in the campaign. i had the advantage of witnessing the centre column carry out the whole of its task and of seeing the right column complete as gallant an effort as any troops could make, and as one saw them scale frowning heights and clamber up and down the roughest of torrent beds, one realised that more than three months' fighting had not removed the 'bloom' from these cockney warriors, and that their physique and courage were proof against long and heavy trials of campaigning. the chief objective of the centre column was talat ed dumm which, lying on the jericho road just before the junction of the old and the new road to the jordan valley, was the key to jericho. it is hard to imagine a better defensive position. to the north of the road is the wadi farah, a great crack in the rocks which can only be crossed in a few places, and which a few riflemen could cover. likewise a platoon distributed behind rocks on the many hills could command the approaches from all directions, while the hill of talat ed dumm, by the good samaritan inn, and the height whereon the crusader ruins stand, dominated a broad flat across which our troops must move. this position the th brigade attacked at dawn. the guns opened before the sun appeared above the black crest line of the mountains of moab, and well before long shadows were cast across the jordan valley the batteries were tearing to pieces the stone walls and rocky eyries sheltering machine-gunners and infantry. this preliminary bombardment, if short, was wonderfully effective. from where i stood i saw the heavies pouring an unerring fire on to the crusader castle, huge spurts of black smoke, and the dislocation of big stones which had withstood the disintegrating effect of many centuries of sun power, telling the forward observing officer that his gunners were well on the target and that to live in that havoc the turks must seek the shelter of vaults cut deep down in the rock by masons of old. no enemy could delay our progress from that shell-torn spot. lighter guns searched other positions and whiffs of shrapnel kept turks from their business. there are green patches on the western side of talat ed dumm in the early months of the year before the sun has burned up the country. over these the infantry advanced as laid down in the book. the whirring rap-rap of machine guns at present unlocated did not stop them, and as our machine-gun sections, ever on the alert to keep down rival automatic guns, found out and sprayed the nests, the enemy was seen to be anxious about his line of retreat. one large party, harried by shrapnel and machine-gun fire, left its positions and rushed towards a defile, but rallied and came back, though when it reoccupied its former line the londoners had reached a point to enfilade it, and it suffered heavily. we soon got this position, and then our troops, ascending some spurs, poured a destructive fire into the defile and so harassed the turks re-forming for a counterattack as to render feeble their efforts to regain what they had lost. by eight o'clock we had taken the whole of the talat ed dumm position, and long-range sniping throughout the day did not disturb our secure possession of it. immediately the heights were occupied the guns went ahead to new points, and armoured cars left the road to try to find a way to the south-east to protect the flank of the right column. they had a troublesome journey. some of the crews walked well ahead of the cars to reconnoitre the tracks, and it speaks well for the efficiency of the cars as well as for the pluck and cleverness of the drivers that in crossing a mile or two of that terribly broken mountainous country no car was overturned and all got back to the road without mishap. throughout the night and during the greater part of the day of february the right column were fighting under many difficulties. in their march from the hill of muntar they had to travel over ground so cracked and strewn with boulders that in many parts the brigade could only proceed in single file. in some places the track chosen had a huge cleft in the mountain on one side and a cliff face on the other. it was a continual succession of watercourses and mountains, of uphill and downhill travel over the most uneven surface in the blackness of night, and it took nearly eight hours to march three miles. the nature of the country was a very serious obstacle and the column was late in deploying for attack. but bad as was the route the men had followed during the night, it was easy as compared with the position they had set out to carry. this was jebel ekteif, the southern end of the range of hills of which talat ed dumm was the northern. ekteif presented to this column a face as precipitous as gibraltar and perhaps half as high. there was a ledge running round it about three-quarters of the way from the top, and for hours one could see the turks lying flat on this rude path trying to pick off the intrepid climbers attempting a precarious ascent. some mountain guns suddenly ranged on the enemy on this ledge, and, picking up the range with remarkable rapidity, forced the turks into more comfortable positions. the enemy, too, had some well-served guns, and they plastered the spurs leading to the crest from the west, but our infantry's audacity never faltered, and after we had got into the first lines on the hill our men proceeded methodically to rout out the machine guns from their nooks and crannies. this was a somewhat lengthy process, but small parties working in support of each other gradually crushed opposition, and the huge rocky rampart was ours by three o'clock in the afternoon. meanwhile two brigades of the anzac mounted division were moving eastwards from muntar over the hills and wadis down to the dead sea, whence turning northwards they marched towards nebi musa to try to get on to the jordan valley flats to threaten the turks in rear. the terrain was appallingly bad and horses had to be led, the troops frequently proceeding in indian file. no guns could be got over the hills to support the anzacs, and when they tried to pass through a narrow defile south of nebi musa it was found that the enemy covered the approach with machine guns, and progress was stopped dead until, during the early hours of the following morning, some of the londoners' artillery managed by a superhuman effort to get a few guns over the mountains to support the cavalry. by this time the turks had had enough of it, and while it was dark they were busy trekking through jericho towards the ghoraniyeh bridge over the river, covered by a force on the jebel kuruntul track which prevented the left column from reaching the cliffs overlooking the jordan valley. by dawn on the st nebi musa was made good, the st australian light horse brigade and the new zealand brigade were in jericho by eight o'clock and had cleared the jordan valley as far north as the river aujah, the londoners holding the line of cliffs which absolutely prevented any possibility of the enemy ever again threatening jerusalem or bethlehem from the east. this successful operation also put an end to the turks' dead sea grain traffic. they had given up hope of keeping their landing place on the northern shores of the dead sea when we took talat ed dumm, and one hour after our infantry had planted themselves on the hill of blood we saw the enemy burning his boats, wharves, and storehouses at rujm el bahr, where he had expended a good deal of labour to put up buildings to store grain wanted for his army. subsequently we had some naval men operating motor boats from this point, and these sailors achieved a record on that melancholy waterway at a level far below that at which any submarine, british or german, ever rested. chapter xix the touch of the civilising hand it is doubtful whether the population of any city within the zones of war profited so much at the hands of the conqueror as jerusalem. in a little more than half a year a wondrous change was effected in the condition of the people, and if it had been possible to search the oriental mind and to get a free and frank expression of opinion, one would probably have found a universal thankfulness for general allenby's deliverance of the holy city from the hands of the turks. and with good reason. the scourge of war so far as the british army was concerned left jerusalem the golden untouched. for the , people in the city the skilfully applied military pressure which put an end to turkish misgovernment was the beginning of an era of happiness and contentment of which they had hitherto had no conception. justice was administered in accordance with british ideals, every man enjoyed the profits of his industry, traders no longer ran the gauntlet of extortionate officials, the old time corruption was a thing of the past, public health was organised as far as it could be on western lines, and though in matters of sanitation and personal cleanliness the inhabitants still had much to learn, the appearance of the holy city and its population vastly improved under the touch of a civilising hand. sights that offended more than one of the senses on the day when general allenby made his official entry had disappeared, and peace and order reigned where previously had been but misery, poverty, disease, and squalor. one of the biggest blots upon the turkish government of the city was the total failure to provide an adequate water supply. what they could not, or would not, do in their rule of four hundred years his majesty's royal engineers accomplished in a little more than two months, and now for the first time in history every civilian in jerusalem can obtain as much pure mountain spring water as he wishes, and for this water, as fresh and bright as any bubbling out of welsh hills, not a penny is charged. the picturesque, though usually unclean, water carrier is passing into the limbo of forgotten things, and his energies are being diverted into other channels. the germs that swarmed in his leathern water bags will no longer endanger the lives of the citizens, and the deadly perils of stagnant cistern water have been to a large extent removed. for its water jerusalem used to rely mainly upon the winter rainfall to fill its cisterns. practically every house has its underground reservoir, and it is estimated that if all were full they would contain about , , gallons. but many had fallen into disrepair and most, if not the whole of them, required thorough cleansing. one which was inspected by our sanitary department had not been emptied for nineteen years. to supplement the cistern supply the mosque of omar reservoir halved with bethlehem the water which flowed from near solomon's pools down an aqueduct constructed by roman engineers under herod before the saviour was born. this was not nearly sufficient, nor was it so constant a supply as that provided by our army engineers. they went farther afield. they found a group of spring-heads in an absolutely clean gathering ground on the hills yielding some , gallons an hour, and this water which was running to waste is lifted to the top of a hill from which it flows by gravity through a long pipe-line to jerusalem, where a reservoir has been built on a high point on the outskirts of the city. supplies of this beautiful water run direct to the hospitals, and at standpipes all over the city the inhabitants take as much as they desire. the water consumption of the people became ten times what it was in the previous year, and this fact alone told how the boon was appreciated. the scheme did not stop at putting up standpipes for those who fetched the water. a portion of the contents of the cisterns was taken for watering troop horses in the spring--troops were not allowed to drink it. the water level of these cisterns became very low, and as they got emptied the authorities arranged for refilling them on the one condition that they were first thoroughly cleansed and put in order. the british administration would not be parties to the perpetuation of a system which permitted the fouling of good crystal water. a householder had merely to apply to the military governor for water, and a sanitary officer inspected the cistern, ordered it to be cleansed, and saw that this was done; then the department of public health gave its certificate, and the engineers ran a pipe to the cistern and filled it, no matter what its capacity. two cisterns were replenished with between , and , gallons of sparkling water from the hills in place of water heavily charged with the accumulation of summer dust on roofs, and the dust of jerusalem roads, as we had sampled it, is not as clean as desert sand. the installation of the supply was a triumph for the royal engineers. in peace times the work would have taken from one to two years to complete. a preliminary investigation and survey of the ground was made on february , and a scheme was submitted four days later. owing to the shortage of transport and abnormally bad weather work could not be commenced till april . many miles of pipe line had to be laid and a powerful pumping plant erected, but water was being delivered to the people of jerusalem on the th of june. other military works have done much for the common good in palestine, but none of them were of greater utility than this. mahomedans seeing bright water flow into jerusalem regarded it as one of the wonders of all time. it is interesting to note that the american red cross society, which sent a large and capable staff to the holy land after america came into the war, knew of the lack of an adequate water supply for jerusalem, and with that foresight which americans show, forwarded to egypt for transportation to jerusalem some thousand tons of water mains to provide a water service. when the american red cross workers reached the holy city they found the army's plans almost completed, and they were the first to pay a tribute to what they described as the 'civilising march of the british army.' those who watched the ceaseless activities of the public health administration were not surprised at the remarkable improvement in the sick and death rates, not only of jerusalem but of all the towns and districts. the new water supply will unquestionably help to lower the figures still further. a medical authority recently told me that the health of the community was wonderfully good and there was no suspicion of cholera, outbreaks of which were frequent under the turkish regime. government hospitals were established in all large centres. in this country where small-pox takes a heavy toll the 'conscientious objector' was unknown, and many thousands of natives in a few months came forward of their own free will to be vaccinated. typhus and relapsing fever, both lice-borne diseases, used to claim many victims, but the figures fell very rapidly, due largely, no doubt, to the full use to which disinfecting plants were put in all areas of the occupied territory. the virtues of bodily cleanliness were taught, and the people were given that personal attention which was entirely lacking under turkish rule. it is not easy to overcome the prejudices and cure the habits of thousands of years, but progress is being made surely if slowly, and already there is a gratifying improvement in the condition of the people which is patent to any observer. in jerusalem an infants' welfare bureau was instituted, where mothers were seen before and after childbirth, infants' clinics were established, a body of health was formed, and a kitchen was opened to provide food for babies and the poor. the nurses were mainly local subjects who had to undergo an adequate training, and there was no one who did not confidently predict a rapid fall in the infant mortality rate which, to the shame of the turkish administration, was fully a dozen times that of the highest of english towns. the spadework was all done by the medical staff of the occupied enemy territory administration. the call was urgent, and though labouring under war-time difficulties they got things going quickly and smoothly. some voluntary societies were assisting, and the enthusiasm of the american red cross units enabled all to carry on a great and beneficent work. chapter xx our conquering airmen the airmen who were the eyes of the army in sinai and palestine can look back on their record as a great achievement. enormous difficulties were faced with stout hearts, and the royal flying corps spirit surmounted them. it was one long test of courage, endurance, and efficiency, and so triumphantly did the airmen come through the ordeal that general allenby's army may truthfully be said to have secured as complete a mastery of the air as it did of the plains and hills of southern palestine. those of us who watched the airmen 'carrying on,' from the time when their aeroplanes were inferior to those of the germans in speed, climbing capacity, and other qualities which go to make up first-class fighting machines, till the position during the great advance when few enemy aviators dared cross our lines, can well testify to the wonderful work our airmen performed. with comparatively few opportunities for combat because the enemy knew his inferiority and declined to fight unless forced, the pilots and observers from the moment our attack was about to start were always aggressive, and though the number of their victims may seem small compared with aerial victories on the western front they were substantial and important. in the month of january the flying men accounted for eleven aeroplanes, five of these falling victims to one pilot. the last of these victories i myself witnessed. in a single-seater the pilot engaged two two-seater aeroplanes of a late type, driving down one machine within our line, the pilot killed by eleven bullets and the observer wounded. he then chased the other plane, whose pilot soon lost his taste for fighting, dropped into a heavy cloud bank, and got away. no odds were too great for our airmen. i have seen one aeroplane swoop down out of the blue to attack a formation of six enemy machines, sending one crashing to earth and dispersing the remainder. in one brief fight another pilot drove down three german planes. the airman does not talk of his work, and we knew that what we saw and heard of were but fragments in the silent records of great things done. much that was accomplished was far behind our visual range, high up over the bleak hills of judea, above even the rain clouds driven across the heights by the fury of a winter gale, or skimming over the dull surface of the dead sea, flying some hundreds of feet below sea level to interrupt the passage of foodstuffs of which the turk stood in need. all through the army's rapid march northwards from the crushed gaza-beersheba line the airmen's untiring work was of infinite value. when the turkish retreat began the enemy was bombed and machine-gunned for a full week, the railway, aerodromes, troops on the march, artillery, and transport being hit time and again, and five smashed aeroplanes and a large quantity of aircraft stores of every description were found at menshiye alone. the raid on that aerodrome was so successful that at night the germans burnt the whole of the equipment not destroyed by bombs. three machines were also destroyed by us at et tineh, five at ramleh and one at ludd, and the country was covered with the debris of a well-bombed and beaten army. after jerusalem came under the safe protection of our arms airmen harassed the retiring enemy with bombs and machine guns. the wind was strong, but defying treacherous eddies, the pilots came through the valleys between steep-sloped hills and caught the turks on the nablus road, emptying their bomb racks at a height of a few hundred feet, and giving the scattered troops machine-gun fire on the return journey. a glance at the list of honours bestowed on officers and other ranks of the r.f.c. serving with the egyptian expeditionary force in is sufficient to give an idea of the efficiency of the service of our airmen. it must be remembered that the palestine wing was small, if thoroughly representative of the flying corps; its numbers were few but the quality was there. indeed i heard the australian squadron of flying men which formed part of the wing described by the highest possible authority as probably the finest squadron in the whole of the british service. this following list of honours is, perhaps, the most eloquent testimony to the airmen's work in palestine: victoria cross . . . . . distinguished service order . . . military cross . . . . . croix de guerre . . . . military medal . . . . . meritorious service medal . . . order of the nile . . . . the sum total of the r.f.c. work was not to be calculated merely from death and damage caused to the enemy from the air. strategical and tactical reconnaissances formed a large part of the daily round, and the reports brought in always added to our army's store of information. in palestine, possibly to a greater extent than in any other theatre of war, our map-makers had to rely on aerial photographs to supply them with the details required for military maps. the best maps we had of palestine were those prepared by lieutenant h.h. kitchener, r.e., and lieutenant conder in for the palestine exploration fund. they were still remarkably accurate so far as they went, but 'roads,' to give the tracks a description to which they were not entitled, had altered, and villages had disappeared, and newer and additional information had to be supplied. the royal flying corps--it had not yet become the royal air force--furnished it, and all important details of hundreds of square miles of country which survey parties could not reach were registered with wonderful accuracy by aerial photographers. the work began for the battle of rafa, and the enemy positions on the magruntein hill were all set out before general chetwode when the desert column attacked and scored an important victory. then when , turks were fortifying the weli sheikh nuran country covering the wadi ghuzze and the shellal springs, not a redoubt or trench but was recorded with absolute fidelity on photographic prints, and long before the turks abandoned the place and gave us a fine supply of water we had excellent maps of the position. in time the whole gaza-beersheba line was completely photographed and maps were continually revised, and if any portion of the turkish system of defences was changed or added to the commander in the district concerned was notified at once. to such perfection did the r.f.c. photographic branch attain, that maps showing full details of new or altered trenches were in the hands of generals within four hours of the taking of the photographs. later on the work of the branch increased enormously, and the results fully repaid the infinite care and labour bestowed upon it. the r.f.c. made long flights in this theatre of war, and some of them were exceptionally difficult and dangerous. a french battleship when bombarding a turkish port of military importance had two of our machines to spot the effect of her gunfire. to be with the ship when the action opened the airmen had to fly in darkness for an hour and a half from a distant aerodrome, and they both reached the rendezvous within five minutes of the appointed time. the turks on their lines of communication with the hedjaz have an unpleasant recollection of being bombed at maan. that was a noteworthy expedition. three machines set out from an aerodrome over miles away in a straight line, the pilots having to steer a course above country with no prominent landmarks. they went over a waterless desert so rough that it would have been impossible to come down without seriously damaging a plane, and if a pilot had been forced to land his chance of getting back to our country would have been almost nil. water bottles and rations were carried in the machines, but they were not needed, for the three pilots came home together after hitting the station buildings at maan and destroying considerable material and supplies. the aeroplane has been put to many uses in war and, it may be, there are instances on other fronts of it being used, in emergencies, as an ambulance. when a little mobile force rounded up the turkish post at hassana, on the eastern side of the sinai peninsula, one of our men received so severe a wound that an immediate operation was necessary. an airman at once volunteered to carry the wounded man to the nearest hospital, forty-four miles away across the desert, and by his action a life was saved. appendices i the following telegram was sent by enver pasha to field-marshal von hindenburg, at supreme army command headquarters, from constantinople on august , : the news of the despatch of strong enemy forces to egypt, together with the nomination of general allenby as commander-in-chief on our syrian front, indicates that the british contemplate an offensive on the syrian front, and very probably before the middle of november. the preservation of the sinai front is a primary condition to the success of the yilderim undertaking. after a further conversation with the commander of the ivth army (jemal pasha) i consider it necessary to strengthen this front by one of the infantry divisions intended for yilderim, and to despatch this division immediately from aleppo. with this reinforcement the defence of the sinai front by the ivth army is assured. general von falkenhayn takes up the position that he does not consider the defence assured, and that the further reduction of yilderim forces is to be deprecated under any circumstances. he consequently recommends that we on our side should attack the british, and as far as possible surprise them, before they are strengthened. he wishes to carry out this attack with four infantry divisions, and the 'asia' corps. two of the four infantry divisions have still to be despatched to the front. i cannot yet decide to support the proposal, nor need i do so, as the transport of an infantry division from aleppo to bayak requires twenty days. during this period the situation as regards the enemy will become clear, and one will become better able to estimate the chance of success of an attack. i must, however, in any case be able to dispose of more forces than at present, either for the completion of yilderim, or for the replacement of the very heavy losses which will certainly occur in the syrian attack. i must consequently reiterate, to my deep regret, my request for the return of the vith army corps (which was operating at that time in the dobrudja) and for the despatch of this corps, together with the th infantry division, commencing with the th infantry division. in my opinion the army corps could be replaced by bulgarians, whose task is unquestionably being lightened through the despatch of troops (british) to egypt. should this not be the case, i would be ready to exchange two divisions from the vth army for the two infantry divisions of the vith army corps, as the former are only suited for a war of position, and would have to be made mobile by the allotment of transport and equipment. if these two infantry divisions were given up, the vth army would have only five infantry divisions of no great fighting value, a condition of things which is perhaps not very desirable. for the moment my decision is: defence of syria by strengthening that front by one infantry division, and prosecution of the yilderim scheme. should good prospects offer of beating the british decisively in syria before they have been reinforced i will take up general von falkenhayn's proposal again, as far as it appears possible to carry it out, having in view the question of transport and rationing, which still has to be settled in some respects.--turkish main headquarters, enver. ii von falkenhayn despatched the following telegram from constantinople on august , , to german general headquarters: the possibility of a british attack in syria has had to be taken into consideration from the beginning. its repercussion on the irak undertaking was obvious. on that account i had already settled in my conversations in constantinople during may that, if the centre of gravity of operations were transferred to the sinai front, command should be given me there too. the news now to hand--reinforcement of the british troops in egypt, taking over of command by allenby, the demands of the british press daily becoming louder--makes the preparation of a british attack in syria probable. jemal pasha wishes to meet it with a defensive. to that end he demands the divisions and war material which were being collected about aleppo for yilderim. the natural result of granting this request will be that true safety will never be attained on the sinai front by a pure defensive, and that the irak undertaking will certainly fritter away owing to want of driving power or to delays. i had consequently proposed to the turkish higher command to send two divisions and the 'asia' corps as quickly as possible to southern syria, so as to carry out a surprise attack on the british by means of an encircling movement before the arrival of their reinforcements. railways allow of the assembly of these forces (inclusive of heavy artillery, material and technical stores) in the neighbourhood of beersheba by the end of october. the disposable parts of the ivth army (two to three divisions) would be added to it. in a discussion between enver, jemal, and myself, enver decided first of all to strengthen the ivth army by the inclusion of one division from the army group. this division would suffice to ward off attack. the irak undertaking could be carried through at the same time. judging from all former experiences i am firmly convinced as soon as it comes to a question of the expected attack on the sinai front, or even if the ivth army only feels itself seriously threatened, further troops, munitions, and material will be withdrawn from the army group, and turkey's forces will be shattered. then nothing decisive can be undertaken in either theatre of war. the sacrifice of men, money, and material which germany is offering at the present moment will be in vain. the treatment of the question is rendered all the more difficult because i cannot rid myself of the impression that the decision of the turkish higher command is based far less on military exigencies than on personal motives. it is dictated with one eye on the mighty jemal, who deprecates a definite decision, but yet on the other hand opposes the slightest diminution of the area of his command. consequently as the position now stands, i consider the irak undertaking practicable only if it is given the necessary freedom for retirement through the removal of the danger on the syrian front. the removal of this danger i regard as only possible through attack. v. falkenhayn. iii here is another german estimate of the position created by our war cabinet's decision to take the offensive in palestine, and in considering the view of the german staff and the prospect of success any turkish attack would have, it must be borne in mind that under the most favourable circumstances the enemy could not have been in position for taking an offensive before the end of october. von falkenhayn wished to attack the british 'before the arrival of their reinforcements.' not only had our reinforcements arrived before the end of october, but they were all in position and the battle had commenced. beersheba was taken on october . this appreciation was written by major von papen of yilderim headquarters on august , : enver's objections, the improbability of attaining a decisive result on the sinai front with two divisions plus the 'asia corps' and the difficulty of the aleppo-rayak transport question, hold good. the execution of the offensive with stronger forces is desirable, but is not practicable, as, in consequence of the beginning of the rainy weather in the middle of november, the british offensive may be expected at the latest during the latter half of october; ours therefore should take place during the first part of that month. the transport question precludes the assembly of stronger forces by that date. should the idea of an offensive be abandoned altogether on that account? on the assumption that general allenby--after the two unsuccessful british attacks--will attack only with a marked superiority of men and munitions, a passive defence on a thirty-five kilometre front with an exposed flank does not appear to offer any great chance of success. the conditions on the western front (defensive zone, attack divisions) are only partially applicable here, since the mobility of the artillery and the correct tactical handling of the attack division are not assured. the intended passive defensive will not be improved by the theatrical attack with one division suggested by general von kress. on the contrary this attack would be without result, as it would be carried out too obliquely to the front, and would only mean a sacrifice of men and material. the attack proposed by his excellency for the envelopment of the enemy's flank--if carried out during the first half of october with four divisions plus the 'asia corps'--will perhaps have no definite result, but will at all events result in this: that the gaza front flanked by the sea will tie down considerable forces and defer the continuation of british operations in the wet season, during which, in the opinion of general von kress, they cannot be carried on with any prospect of success. the situation on the sinai front will then be clear. naturally it is possible that the position here may demand the inclusion of further effectives and the yilderim operation consequently become impracticable. this, however, will only prove that the determining factor of the decisive operation for turkey during the winter of - lies in palestine and not in mesopotamia. an offensive on the sinai front is therefore--even with reduced forces and a limited objective--the correct solution. papen. iv _letter from general kress von kressenstein to yilderim headquarters, dated september_ , , _on moral of turkish troops_. a question which urgently needs regulating is that of deserters. according to my experience their number will increase still more with the setting in of the bad weather and the deterioration of rations. civil administration and the gendarmerie fail entirely; they often have a secret understanding with the population and are open to bribery. the cordon drawn by me is too weak to prevent desertion. i am also too short of troops to have the necessary raids undertaken in the hinterland. it is necessary that the hunt for deserters in the area between the front and the line jerusalem-ramleh-jaffa be formally organised under energetic management, that one or two squadrons exclusively for this service be detailed, and that a definite reward be paid for bringing in each deserter. but above all it is necessary that punishment should follow in consequence, and that the unfortunately very frequent amnesties of his majesty the sultan be discontinued, at least for some time. the question of rationing has not been settled. we are living continually from hand to mouth. despite the binding promises of the headquarters ivth army, the vali of damascus, the lines of communication, major bathmann and others, that from now on tons of rations should arrive regularly each day, from the th to the th of this month, for example a total of tons or only tons per diem have arrived. i cannot fix the blame for these irregularities. the headquarters ivth army has received the highly gratifying order that, at least up to the imminent decisive battle, the bread ration is raised to grammes. this urgently necessary improvement of the men's rations remains illusory, if a correspondingly larger quantity of flour (about one wagon per day) is not supplied to us. so far the improvement exists only on paper. the condition of the animals particularly gives cause for anxiety. not only are we about animals short of establishment, but as a result of exhaustion a considerable number of animals are ruined daily. the majority of divisions are incapable of operating on account of this shortage of animals. the ammunition supply too is gradually coming into question on account of the deficiency in animals. the menacing danger can only be met by a regular supply of sufficient fodder. the stock of straw in the area of operations is exhausted. with gold some barley can still be bought in the country. every year during the rainy season the railway is interrupted again and again for periods of from eight to fourteen days. there are also days and weeks in which the motor-lorry traffic has to be suspended. finally we must calculate on the possibility of an interruption of our rear communications by the enemy. i therefore consider it absolutely necessary that at least a fourteen days' reserve of rations be deposited in the depôts at the front as early as possible. the increase of troops on the sinai front necessitates a very considerable increase on the supply of meat from the line of communication area, damascus district. v the troops of general allenby's army before the attack on beersheba were distributed as follows: xxth corps. th division. _ th brigade. th brigade. st brigade_. th r. irish rifles. st r. irish regt. th r. inniskillings. th con. rangers. th r. munst. fus. th r. inniskillings. th leinsters. th r. dublin fus. nd r. irish fus. st leinsters th r. dublin fus. th r. irish rifles. rd division. _ th brigade. th brigade. th brigade._ / th r. welsh fus. / th cheshires. / th r. sussex. / th " / th " / th r. west surrey. / th " / th welsh / th r. west kent. / st hereford. / th " / th middlesex. th division. _ th brigade. th brigade. st brigade_. / th london. / th london. / st london. / th " / th " / nd " / th " / th " / rd " / th " / th " / th " th division. _ th brigade. th brigade. st brigade_. th devons ( st th e. kent (r.e. th shrop. (shrop. devon & r.n. kent & w. kent & cheshire yeo.). devon yeo.). yeo.). th somerset l.i. th r. sussex th r. welsh fus. (yeo.). (yeo.). (denbigh yeo.). th r. highrs.(fife th suffolk (yeo.) th r. welsh fus. & forfar yeo.). (montgomery yeo. & welsh horse). th r. scots fus. th norfolk (yeo.) th welsh regt. (ayr & lanark (pembroke & glanmorgan yeo.). yeo.). xxist corps. nd (lowland) division. _ th brigade. th brigade. th brigade._ l/ th r. scots fus. / th royal scots. / th h.l.i. l/ th r. scots fus. / th royal scots. / th h.l.i. l/ th k.o.s.b. / th scot. rifles. / th h.l.i. l/ th k.o.s.b. / th scot. rifles. / th a. & s. highrs. th (east anglian) division. _ th brigade. th brigade. th brigade._ l/ th essex. / th bedfords. / th norfolk. l/ th essex. / th northants. / th norfolk. l/ th essex. / th london. / th suffolk. l/ th essex. / th london. / th hampshire. th division. _ th brigade. th brigade. th brigade._ / th devon. / th somersets. / th d.c.l.i. / th hampshire. / th wilts. / th dorsets. / th somersets. / th hampshire. rd rifles. / rd gurkhas. / rd gurkhas. th rifles. desert mounted corps. anzac mounted division. _ st a.l.h. bde. nd a.l.h. bde. n.z. mtd. rifles bde._ st a.l.h. regt. th a.l.h. regt. auckland m. rifles. nd a.l.h. regt. th a.l.h. regt. canterbury m. rifles. rd a.l.h. regt. th a.l.h. regt. wellington m. rifles. australian mounted division. _ rd l.h. brigade. th l.h. brigade. th mtd. brigade._. th a.l.h. regt. th a.l.h. regt. / st warwick yeo. th " th " / st gloucester yeo. th " th " / st worcester yeo. yoemanry mounted division _ th mtd. brigade. th mtd. brigade. nd mtd. brigade_. / st bucks hussars. / st city of london / st lincolnshire yeo. yeo. / st berkshire yeo. / st co. of london / st staffordshire yeo. yeo. / st dorset yeo. l/ rd co. of london / st e. riding yeo. yeo. th mounted brigade (attached desert corps). / st sherwood rangers. / st south notts hussars. imperial camel brigade. vi there can be no better illustration of how one battle worked out 'according to plan' than the quotation of the following force order: force order general headquarters, _ nd october_ . it is the intention of the commander-in-chief to take the offensive against the enemy at gaza and at beersheba, and when beersheba is in our hands to make an enveloping attack on the enemy's left flank in the direction of sheria and hareira. on zero day xxth corps with the th division and imperial camel brigade attached and the desert mounted corps less one mounted division and the imperial camel brigade will attack the enemy at beersheba with the object of gaining possession of that place by nightfall. as soon as beersheba is in our hands and the necessary arrangements have been made for the restoration of the beersheba water supply, xxth corps and desert mounted corps complete will move rapidly forward to attack the left of the enemy's main position with the object of driving him out of sheria and hareira and enveloping the left flank of his army. xxth corps will move against the enemy's defences south of sheria, first of all against the kauwukah line and then against sheria and the hareira defences. desert mounted corps calling up the mounted division left in general reserve during the beersheba operation will move north of the xxth corps to gain possession of nejile and of any water supplies between that place and the right of xxth corps and will be prepared to operate vigorously against and round the enemy's left flank if he should throw it back to oppose the advance of the xxth corps. on a date to be subsequently determined and which will probably be after the occupation of beersheba and to hours before the attack of xxth corps on the kauwukah line, the xxist corps will attack the south-west defences of gaza with the object of capturing the enemy's front-line system from umbrella hill to sheikh hasan, both inclusive. the royal navy will co-operate with the xxist corps in the attack on gaza and in any subsequent operations that may be undertaken by xxist corps. on z-- day the g.o.c. xxist corps will open a systematic bombardment of the gaza defences, increasing in volume from z-- day to zx day and to be continued until zx day at the least. the royal navy will co-operate as follows: on z-- and zero days two -inch monitors will be available for bombardment from the sea, special objective sheikh hasan. on zero day a third -inch monitor will be available so that two of these ships may be constantly in action while one replenishes ammunition. on zxl day -inch monitors will discontinue their bombardment which they will reopen on zx day. from zxl day the french battleship _requin_ and h.m.s. _raglan_ will bombard deir sineid station and junction for huj, the roads and railway bridges and camps on the wadi hesi and the neighbourhood. the _requin_ and _raglan_ will be assisted by a seaplane carrier. from zero day one monitor will be available from dawn, special objective sheikh redwan. from z-- day inclusive demands for naval co-operation will be conveyed direct from g.o.c. xxist corps to the senior naval officer, marine view, who will arrange for the transmission of the demands so made. xxth corps will move into position during the night of z-l=zero day so as to attack the enemy at beersheba on zero day south of the wadi saba with two divisions while covering his flank and the construction of the railway east of shellal with one division on the high ground overlooking the wadis el sufi and hanafish. the objective of xxth corps will be the enemy's works west and south-west of beersheba as far as the khalasa-beersheba road inclusive. desert mounted corps will move on the night of z- =zero day from the area of concentration about khalasa and asluj so as to co-operate with xxth corps by attacking beersheba with two divisions and one mounted brigade. the objective of desert mounted corps will be the enemy's defences from south-east to the north-east of beersheba and the town of beersheba itself. the g.o.c. desert mounted corps will endeavour to turn the enemy's left with a view to breaking down his resistance at beersheba as quickly as possible. with this in view the main weight of his force will be directed against beersheba from the east and north-east. as soon as the enemy's resistance shows signs of weakening the g.o.c. desert mounted corps will be prepared to act with the utmost vigour against his retreating troops so as to prevent their escape, or at least to drive them well beyond the high ground immediately overlooking the town from the north. he will also be prepared to push troops rapidly into beersheba in order to protect from danger any wells and plant connected with the water supply not damaged by the enemy before beersheba is entered. the yeomanry mounted division will pass from the command of the g.o.c. xxth corps at five on zero day and will come directly under general headquarters as part of the general reserve in the hands of the commander-in-chief. when beersheba has been taken the g.o.c. xxth corps will push forward covering troops to the high ground north of the town to protect it from any counter movement on the part of the enemy. he will also put in hand the restoration of the water supply in beersheba. the g.o.c. desert mounted corps will be responsible for the protection of the town from the north-east and east. as soon as possible after the taking of beersheba the g.o.c. desert mounted corps will report to g.h.q. on the water supplies in the wells and wadis east of beersheba and especially along the wadi saba and the beersheba-tel-el-nulah road. if insufficient water is found to exist in this area g.o.c. desert mounted corps will send back such of his troops as may be necessary to watering places from which he started or which may be found in the country east of the khalasa-beersheba road during the operations. a preliminary survey having been made, the g.o.c. xxth corps will report by wire to g.h.q. on the condition of the wells and water supply generally in beersheba and on any water supplies found west and north-west of that place. he will telegraph an estimate as soon as it can be made of the time required to place the beersheba water supply in working order. when the situation as regards water at beersheba has become clear so that the movement of xxth corps and desert mounted corps against the left flank of the enemy's main position can be arranged, the g.o.c. xxist corps will be ordered to attack the enemy's defences south-west of gaza in time for this operation to be carried out prior to the attack of xxth corps on the kauwukah line of works. the objective of xxist corps will be the defences of gaza from umbrella hill inclusive to the sea about sheikh hasan. instructions in regard to the following have been issued separate to all corps: amount of corps artillery allotted. amount of ammunition put on corps charge prior to operations. amount of ammunition per gun that will be delivered daily at respective railheads and the day of commencement. amount of transport allotted for forward supply from railheads. the general average for one day's firing has been calculated on the following basis: field and mountain guns and mountain howitzers ... rounds per gun. . -inch howitzers.... rounds per gun. -pounders and -inch howitzers. rounds per gun. -inch howitzers and -inch mark vii. rounds per gun. this average expenditure will only be possible in the xxist corps up to zx day and for the desert mounted corps and xxth corps to zx . after these dates if the average has been expended the daily average will have to drop to the basis of rounds per -pounder per day and other natures in proportion. aircraft, army wing.--strategical reconnaissance including the reconnaissance of areas beyond the tactical zone and in which the enemy's main reserves are located, also distant photography and aerial offensive, will be carried out by an army squadron under instructions issued direct from g.h.q. protection from hostile aircraft will be the main duty of the army fighting squadron. a bombing squadron will be held in readiness for any aerial offensive which the situation may render desirable. corps squadrons.--two corps squadrons will undertake artillery co-operation, contact patrols, and tactical reconnaissance for the corps to which they are attached. in the case of the desert mounted corps one flight from the corps squadron attached to xxth corps will be responsible for the above work. photography of trench areas will normally be carried out daily by the army wing. vii orders for the official entry into jerusalem . the commander-in-chief will enter jerusalem by the bab-el-khalil (jaffa gate) at noon, th december . the order of procession is shown below: two aides-de-camp. (twenty paces.) o.c. italian palestine commander-in-chief. o.c. french palestine contingent(col. contingent dagostino). (col. piepape). staff officer. two staff officers. staff officer. (ten paces.) m. picot (head of french mission). french mil. brig.-gen. italian mil. att. american att. (capt. clayton. (major caccia). mil. att. st. quentin). (col. davis). (five paces.) chief of general staff (maj.-gen. sir l.j. bols). brig.-general general staff (brig.-gen. g. dawnay). (five paces.) g.o.c. xxth corps, lieut.-gen. sir philip w. chetwode, bart., d.s.o. staff officer. brig.-gen. bartholomew. (ten paces.) british guard. australian and new zealand guard. french guard. italian guard. . guards.--the following guards will be found by xxth corps: outside the gate-- british guard: fifty of all ranks, including english, scottish, irish, and welsh troops. australian and new zealand guard: fifty of all ranks, including twenty new zealand troops. these guards will be drawn up facing each other, the right flank of the british guard and the left flank australian guard resting on the city wall. the o.c. british guard will be in command of both guards and will give the words of command. inside the gate-- french guard: twenty of all ranks. italian guard: twenty of all ranks. these guards will be drawn up facing each other, the left flank of the french guard and the right flank of the italian guard resting on the city wall. . salute.--on the approach of the commander-in-chief, guards will come to the salute and present arms. . the military governor of the city will meet the commander-in-chief at the gate at noon. . route.--the procession will proceed _via_ sueikat allah and el maukaf streets to the steps of el kala (citadel), where the notables of the city under the guidance of a staff officer of the governor will meet the commander-in-chief and the proclamation will be read to the citizens. the british, australian and new zealand, french and italian guards will, when the procession has passed them, take their place in column of fours in the rear of the procession in that order. on arrival at el kala the guards will form up facing steps on the opposite (_i.e._ east) side of el maukaf street, the british guard being thus on the left, italian guard on the right of the line, and remain at the slope. the british and italian guards will bring up their left and right flanks respectively across the street south and north of el kala. on leaving the citadel the procession will proceed in the same order as before to the barrack square, where the commander-in-chief will confer with the notables of the city. on entering the barrack square the guards will wheel to the left and, keeping the left-hand man of each section of fours next the side of the barrack square, march round until the rear of the italian guard has entered the square, when the guards will halt, right turn (so as to face the centre of the square), and remain at the slope. the procession will leave the city by the same route as it entered and in the same order. as the commander-in-chief and procession move off to leave the barrack square the guards will present arms, and then move off and resume their places in the procession, the british guard leading. on arrival at the jaffa gate the guards will take up their original positions, and on the commander-in-chief's departure will be marched away under the orders of the g.o.c. xxth corps. . police, etc.--the military governor of the city will arrange for policing the route of the procession and for the searching of houses on either side of the route. he will also arrange for civil officials to read the proclamation at el kala. viii the proclamation read from the steps of david's tower on the occasion of the commander-in-chief's official entry into jerusalem was in these terms: to the inhabitants of jerusalem the blessed and the people dwelling in its vicinity: the defeat inflicted upon the turks by the troops under my command has resulted in the occupation of your city by my forces. i therefore here and now proclaim it to be under martial law, under which form of administration it will remain as long as military considerations make it necessary. however, lest any of you should be alarmed by reason of your experiences at the hands of the enemy who has retired, i hereby inform you that it is my desire that every person should pursue his lawful business without fear of interruption. furthermore, since your city is regarded with affection by the adherents of three of the great religions of mankind, and its soil has been consecrated by the prayers and pilgrimages of multitudes of devout people of those three religions for many centuries, therefore do i make it known to you that every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, traditional site, endowment, pious bequest, or customary place of prayer, of whatsoever form of the three religions, will be maintained and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs of those to whose faiths they are sacred. ix no story of the capture of jerusalem would be complete without the tribute paid by general allenby to his gallant troops of all arms. the commander-in-chief's thanks, which were conveyed to the troops in a special order of the day, were highly appreciated by all ranks. the document ran as follows: special order of the day g.h.q., e.e.p., _ th december_ . with the capture of jerusalem another phase of the operations of the egyptian expeditionary force has been victoriously concluded. the commander-in-chief desires to thank all ranks of all the units and services in the force for the magnificent work which has been accomplished. in forty days many strong turkish positions have been captured and the force has advanced some sixty miles on a front of thirty miles. the skill, gallantry, and determination of all ranks have led to this result. . the approach marches of the desert mounted corps and the xxth corps ( th, rd, th, and th divisions), followed by the dashing attacks of the th and th divisions and the rapid turning movement of the desert mounted corps, ending in the fine charge of the th australian light horse brigade, resulted in the capture of beersheba with many prisoners and guns. . the stubborn resistance of the rd division, units of the desert mounted corps and imperial camel brigade in the difficult country north-east of beersheba enabled the preparations of the xxth corps to be completed without interference, and enabled the commander-in-chief to carry out his plan without diverting more than the intended number of troops to protect the right flank, despite the many and strong attacks of the enemy. . the attack of the xxth corps ( th, th, and th divisions), prepared with great skill by the corps and divisional commanders and carried out with such dash and courage by the troops, resulted in the turning of the turkish left flank and in an advance to the depth of nine miles through an entrenched position defended by strong forces. in this operation the desert mounted corps, covering the right flank and threatening the turkish rear, forced the turks to begin a general retreat of their left flank. . the artillery attack of the xxist corps and of the ships of the royal navy, skilfully arranged and carried out with great accuracy, caused heavy loss to the enemy in the gaza sector of his defences. the success of this bombardment was due to the loyal co-operation of the rear-admiral s.n.o. egypt and red sea, and the officers of the royal navy, the careful preparation of plans by the rear-admiral and the g.o.c. xxist corps, and the good shooting of the royal navy, and of the heavy, siege, and field artillery of the xxist corps. . the two attacks on the strong defences of gaza, carried out by the nd and th divisions, were each completely successful, thanks to the skill with which they were thought out and prepared by the g.o.c. xxist corps, the divisional commanders and the brigade commanders, and the great gallantry displayed by the troops who carried out these attacks. . the second attack resulted in the evacuation of gaza by the enemy and the turning of his right flank. the nd and th divisions at once began a pursuit which carried them in three weeks from gaza to within a few miles of jerusalem. . this pursuit, carried out by the desert mounted corps and these two divisions of the xxist corps, first over the sandhills of the coast, then over the plains of palestine and the foothills, and finally in the rocky mountains of judea, required from all commanders rapid decisions and powers to adapt their tactics to varying conditions of ground. the troops were called upon to carry out very long marches in great heat without water, to make attacks on stubborn rearguards without time for reconnaissance, and finally to suffer cold and privation in the mountains. in these great operations commanders carried out their plans with boldness and determination, and the troops of all arms and services responded with a devotion and gallantry beyond praise. . the final operations of the xxth corps which resulted in the surrender of jerusalem were a fitting climax to the efforts of all ranks. the attack skilfully prepared by the g.o.c. xxth corps and carried out with precision, endurance, and gallantry by the troops of the rd, th, and th divisions, over country of extreme difficulty in wet weather, showed skill in leading and gallantry and determination of a very high order. . throughout the operations the royal flying corps have rendered valuable assistance to all arms and have obtained complete mastery of the air. the information obtained from contact and reconnaissance patrols has at all times enabled commanders to keep in close touch with the situation. in the pursuit they have inflicted severe loss on the enemy, and their artillery co-operation has contributed in no small measure to our victory. . the organisation in rear of the fighting forces enabled these forces to be supplied throughout. all supply and ammunition services and engineer services were called upon for great exertions. the response everywhere showed great devotion and high military spirit. . the thorough organisation of the lines of communication, and the energy and skill with which all the services adapted themselves to the varying conditions of the operations, ensured the constant mobility of the fighting troops. . the commander-in-chief appreciates the admirable conduct of all the transport services, and particularly the endurance and loyal service of the camel transport corps. . the skill and energy by which the signal service was maintained under all conditions reflects the greatest credit on all concerned. . the medical service was able to adapt itself to all the difficulties of the situation, with the result the evacuation of wounded and sick was carried out with the least possible hardship or discomfort. . the veterinary service worked well throughout; the wastage in animals was consequently small considering the distances traversed. . the ordnance service never failed to meet all demands. . the work of the egyptian labour corps has been of the greatest value in contributing to the rapid advance of the troops and in overcoming the difficulties of the communications. . the commander-in-chief desires that his thanks and appreciation of their services be conveyed to all officers and men of the force which he has the honour to command. g. dawnay, b.g.g.s., for major-general, chief of the general staff, e.e.f. x the men of units forming the xxth corps were deeply gratified to receive this commendation from their gallant corps commander: special order of the day by lieutenant-general sir philip w. chetwode, bt., k.c.m.g., c.b., d.s.o., _commanding xxth corps_ headquarters, xxth corps, _ th december_ . now that the efforts of general sir e.h.h. allenby's army have been crowned by the capture of jerusalem, i wish to express to all ranks, services, and departments of the xxth army corps my personal thanks and my admiration for the soldierly qualities they have displayed. i have served as a regimental officer in two campaigns, and no one knows better than i do what the shortness of food, the fatigue of operating among high mountains, and the cold and wet has meant to the fighting troops. but in spite of it all, and at the moment when the weather was at its worst, they responded to my call and drove the enemy in one rush through his last defences and beyond jerusalem. a fine performance, and i am intensely proud of having had the honour of commanding such a body of men. i wish to give special praise to the divisional ammunition columns, divisional trains a.s.c., supply services, mechanical transport personnel, camel transport personnel, and to the royal army medical corps and all services whose continuous labour, day and night, almost without rest, alone enabled the fighting troops to do what they did. special order of the day headquarters, xxth corps, _st december_ . i have again to thank the xxth corps and to express to them my admiration of their bravery and endurance during the three days' fighting on december , , and . the enemy made a determined attempt with two corps to retake jerusalem, and while their finest assault troops melted away before the staunch defence of the rd and th divisions, the th and th were pressing forward over the most precipitous country, brushing aside all opposition in order to relieve the pressure on our right. their efforts were quickly successful, and by the evening of the th we had definitely regained the initiative, and i was able to order a general advance. the final result of the three days' fighting was a gain to us of many miles and extremely heavy losses to the enemy. a fine three days' work. index abu shushe. adaseh. ain ari. --karim. air force honours. akir. allenby, general. --administration. american red cross society. arsuf. askalon. auja, river. baker, colonel sir randolf. bald hill. barrow, major-general g. de s. bartholomew, brigadier-general. bayley, colonel. beersheba, anzac march on. --battle of --german preparations beit hannina. --iksa. --izza. --jala. --ur el foka. --ur et tahta. beitunia. bethany. beth-horons. bethlehem. biblical battlefields. biddu. bireh. bols, major-general. borton, major-general. bulfin, lieutenant-general. bulteel, captain. burkah. butler, brigadier-general. chauvel, lieutenant-general. chaytor, major-general. cheape, lieutenant-colonel h. chetwode, lieutenant-general sir. --thanks to xxth corps troops. clayton, brigadier-general colston, brigadier-general. cox, brigadier-general cripps, colonel hon. f. dammers, captain. dawnay, brigadier-general. deir sineid. --yesin. de rothschild, major. desert railways. --pipeline. dukku. ekteif. el jib. el kala. enver. farah, wadi. force order, general allenby's thanks to troops. ful, tel el. gaza, plan of attack on. --ali muntar. --defences. --el arish redoubt. --great mosque. --naval gunnery. --outpost hill. --sea post. gaza, sheikh hasan. --umbrella hill. german hospice. gilgal. girdwood, major-general. godwin, brigadier-general. good samaritan inn. grant, brigadier-general. hadrah. hanafish, action on wadi. hebron. hill . hill, major-general j. hodgson, major-general. hong kong and singapore battery. huj. ibn obeid. imperial service cavalry. jackson, admiral t. jaffa. --gate. jebel kuruntul. jelil. jericho. jerisheh. jerusalem, battle of. --civil administration --memorial to army --official entry --order of procession --proclamation to people --water supply jordan. jezar. junction station. katrah. kantara. kanwukah. khurbet subr. khuweilfeh. kressenstein, von. kulonieh. kuryet el enab. kustul. latron. lawson, captain. lifta. longley, major-general. ludd. m'call, brigadier-general pollak. maclean, brigadier-general. mejdel. meldrum, brigadier-general. mott, major-general. mount of olives. mughar. mukhmas. mulebbis. nablus road. nebi musa. nebi samwil. nejile. o'brien, colonel. palestine army, composition of. palin, major-general. patron, captain. pemberton, colonel. perkins, lieutenant. primrose, captain hon. neil. ramallah. ramleh. raratongas. ras et tawil. rushdi trenches. ryrie, brigadier-general. saba, tel el. sakaty, tel el. saris. sarona. shea, major-general h. sheikh muannis. sheria. sherifeh. shilta. smith, rifleman. soba. solomon's pools. strategy in palestine. --the german view. suffa. supplying the front. surar, wadi. sukereir, wadi. talat ed dumm. temperley. thornhill, corporal. train, corporal, v.c. turkish line of communications. --moral. watson, brigadier-general. whines, corporal. whitehill. wingfield-digby, captain. wire roads. yebnah. yilderim undertaking. --von falkenhayn's doubts. zamby. zeitun ridge. printed by t. and a. constable, printers to his majesty at the edinburgh university press proofreaders with the turks in palestine by alexander aaronsohn [illustration: djemal pasha] to my mother who lived and fought and died for a regenerated palestine _what have i done, or tried, or said in thanks to that dear woman dead_? masefield acknowledgment to the editors of the _atlantic monthly_, to the publishers, and to the many friends who have encouraged me, i am and shall ever remain grateful contents introduction i. zicron-jacob ii. pressed into the service iii. the german propaganda iv. road-making and discharge v. the hidden arms vi. the suez campaign vii. fighting the locusts viii. the lebanon ix. a robber baron of palestine x. a rash adventure xi. escape illustrations djemal pasha _photograph by underwood & underwood_ saffÊd _photograph by underwood & underwood_ the author on his horse kochba _photograph by mr. julius rosenwald, of chicago, in march, _ soldiers' tents in samaria nazareth, from the northeast _photograph by underwood & underwood_ house of the author's father, ephraim fishl aaronsohn, in zicron-jacob in a native cafÉ, saffÊd _photograph by mr. julius rosenwald_ a lemonade-seller of damascus _photograph by mr. julius rosenwald_ railroad station scene between haifa and damascus _photograph by mr. julius rosenwald_ camels bringing in newly cut trees, damascus _photograph by mr. julius rosenwald_ the christian town of zahleh in the lebanon _photograph by underwood & underwood_ haifa _photograph by underwood & underwood_ haifa and the bay of akka. looking east from mount carmel _photograph by underwood & underwood_ the bazaar of jaffa on a market day _photograph by underwood & underwood_ stormy sea breaking over rocks off jaffa _photograph by underwood & underwood_ the author's sister on her horse tayar _photograph by mr. julius rosenwald in march, _ beirut, from the deck of an outgoing steamer _photograph by underwood & underwood_ introduction while belgium is bleeding and hoping, while poland suffers and dreams of liberation, while serbia is waiting for redemption, there is a little country the soul of which is torn to pieces--a little country that is so remote, so remote that her ardent sighs cannot be heard. it is the country of perpetual sacrifice, the country that saw abraham build the altar upon which he was ready to immolate his only son, the country that moses saw from a distance, stretching in beauty and loveliness,--a land of promise never to be attained,--the country that gave the world its symbols of soul and spirit. palestine! no war correspondents, no red cross or relief committees have gone to palestine, because no actual fighting has taken place there, and yet hundreds of thousands are suffering there that worst of agonies, the agony of the spirit. those who have devoted their lives to show the world that palestine can be made again a country flowing with milk and honey, those who have dreamed of reviving the spirit of the prophets and the great teachers, are hanged and persecuted and exiled, their dreams shattered, their holy places profaned, their work ruined. cut off from the world, with no bread to sustain the starving body, the heavy boot of a barbarian soldiery trampling their very soul, the dreamers of palestine refuse to surrender, and amidst the clash of guns and swords they are battling for the spirit with the weapons of the spirit. the time has not yet come to write the record of these battles, nor even to attempt to render justice to the sublime heroes of palestine. this book is merely the story of some of the personal experiences of one who has done less and suffered less than thousands of his comrades. alexander aaronsohn with the turks in palestine. chapter i zicron-jacob thirty-five years ago, the impulse which has since been organized as the zionist movement led my parents to leave their homes in roumania and emigrate to palestine, where they joined a number of other jewish pioneers in founding zicron-jacob--a little village lying just south of mount carmel, in that fertile coastal region close to the ancient plains of armageddon. here i was born; my childhood was passed here in the peace and harmony of this little agricultural community, with its whitewashed stone houses huddled close together for protection against the native arabs who, at first, menaced the life of the new colony. the village was far more suggestive of switzerland than of the conventional slovenly villages of the east, mud-built and filthy; for while it was the purpose of our people, in returning to the holy land, to foster the jewish language and the social conditions of the old testament as far as possible, there was nothing retrograde in this movement. no time was lost in introducing progressive methods of agriculture, and the climatological experiments of other countries were observed and made use of in developing the ample natural resources of the land. [illustration: the cemetery of zicron-jacob] eucalyptus, imported from australia, soon gave the shade of its cool, healthful foliage where previously no trees had grown. in the course of time dry farming (which some people consider a recent discovery, but which in reality is as old as the old testament) was introduced and extended with american agricultural implements; blooded cattle were imported, and poultry-raising on a large scale was undertaken with the aid of incubators--to the disgust of the arabs, who look on such usurpation of the hen's functions as against nature and sinful. our people replaced the wretched native trails with good roads, bordered by hedges of thorny acacia which, in season, were covered with downy little yellow blossoms that smelled sweeter than honey when the sun was on them. more important than all these, a communistic village government was established, in which both sexes enjoyed equal rights, including that of suffrage--strange as this may seem to persons who (when they think of the matter at all) form vague conceptions of all the women-folk of palestine as shut up in harems. a short experience with turkish courts and turkish justice taught our people that they would have to establish a legal system of their own; two collaborating judges were therefore appointed--one to interpret the mosaic law, another to temper it with modern jurisprudence. all jewish disputes were settled by this court. its effectiveness may be judged by the fact that the arabs, weary of turkish venality,--as open and shameless as anywhere in the world,--began in increasing numbers to bring their difficulties to our tribunal. jews are law-abiding people, and life in those palestine colonies tended to bring out the fraternal qualities of our race; but it is interesting to note that in over thirty years not one jewish criminal case was reported from forty-five villages. zicron-jacob was a little town of one hundred and thirty "fires"--so we call it--when, in , on the advice of my elder brother, who was head of the jewish experiment station at athlit, an ancient town of the crusaders, i left for america to enter the service of the united states in the department of agriculture. a few days after reaching this country i took out my first naturalization papers and proceeded to washington, where i became part of that great government service whose beneficent activity is too little known by americans. here i remained until june, , when i returned to palestine with the object of taking motion-pictures and stereopticon views. these i intended to use in a lecturing tour for spreading the zionist propaganda in the united states. during the years of my residence in america, i was able to appreciate and judge in their right value the beauty and inspiration of the life which my people led in the holy land. from a distance, too, i saw better the need for organization among our communities, and i determined to build up a fraternal union of the young jewish men all over the country. two months after my return from america, an event occurred which gave impetus to these projects. the physician of our village, an old man who had devoted his entire life to serving and healing the people of palestine, without distinction of race or religion, was driving home one evening in his carriage from a neighboring settlement. with him was a young girl of sixteen. in a deserted place they were set upon by four armed arabs, who beat the old man to unconsciousness as he tried, in vain, to defend the girl from the terrible fate which awaited her. night came on. alarmed by the absence of the physician, we young men rode out in search of him. we finally discovered what had happened; and then and there, in the serene moonlight of that eastern night, with tragedy close at hand, i made my comrades take oath on the honor of their sisters to organize themselves into a strong society for the defense of the life and honor of our villagers and of our people at large. these details are, perhaps, useful for the better understanding of the disturbances that came thick and fast when in august, , the war-madness broke out among the nations of europe. the repercussion was at once felt even in our remote corner of the earth. soon after the german invasion of belgium the turkish army was mobilized and all citizens of the empire between nineteen and forty-five years were called to the colors. as the young turk constitution of provided that all christians and jews were equally liable to military service, our young men knew that they, too, would be called upon to make the common sacrifice. for the most part, they were not unwilling to sustain the turkish government. while the constitution imposed on them the burden of militarism, it had brought with it the compensation of freedom of religion and equal rights; and we could not forget that for six hundred years turkey has held her gates wide open to the jews who fled from the spanish inquisition and similar ministrations of other civilized countries. of course, we never dreamed that turkey would do anything but remain neutral. if we had had any idea of the turn things were ultimately to take, we should have given a different greeting to the _mouchtar_, or sheriff, who came to our village with the list of mobilizable men to be called on for service. my own position was a curious one. i had every intention of completing the process of becoming an american citizen, which i had begun by taking out "first papers." in the eyes of the law, however, i was still a turkish subject, with no claim to american protection. this was sneeringly pointed out to me by the american consul at haifa, who happens to be a german; so there was no other course but to surrender myself to the turkish government. chapter ii pressed into the service there was no question as to my eligibility for service. i was young and strong and healthy--and even if i had not been, the physical examination of turkish recruits is a farce. the enlisting officers have a theory of their own that no man is really unfit for the army--a theory which has been fostered by the ingenious devices of the arabs to avoid conscription. to these wild people the protracted discipline of military training is simply a purgatory, and for weeks before the recruiting officers are due, they dose themselves with powerful herbs and physics and fast, and nurse sores into being, until they are in a really deplorable condition. some of them go so far as to cut off a finger or two. the officers, however, have learned to see beyond these little tricks, and few arabs succeed in wriggling through their drag-net. i have watched dozens of arabs being brought in to the recruiting office on camels or horses, so weak were they, and welcomed into the service with a severe beating--the sick and the shammers sharing the same fate. thus it often happens that some of the new recruits die after their first day of garrison life. together with twenty of my comrades, i presented myself at the recruiting station at acco (the st. jean d'acre of history). we had been given to understand that, once our names were registered, we should be allowed to return home to provide ourselves with money, suitable clothing, and food, as well as to bid our families good-bye. to our astonishment, however, we were marched off to the hân, or caravanserai, and locked into the great courtyard with hundreds of dirty arabs. hour after hour passed; darkness came, and finally we had to stretch ourselves on the ground and make the best of a bad situation. it was a night of horrors. few of us had closed an eye when, at dawn, an officer appeared and ordered us out of the hân. from our total number about three hundred (including four young men from our village and myself) were picked out and told to make ready to start at once for saffêd, a town in the hills of northern galilee near the sea of tiberias, where our garrison was to be located. no attention was paid to our requests that we be allowed to return to our homes for a final visit. that same morning we were on our way to saffêd--a motley, disgruntled crew. [illustration: saffÊd] it was a four days' march--four days of heat and dust and physical suffering. the september sun smote us mercilessly as we straggled along the miserable native trail, full of gullies and loose stones. it would not have been so bad if we had been adequately shod or clothed; but soon we found ourselves envying the ragged arabs as they trudged along barefoot, paying no heed to the jagged flints. (shoes, to the arab, are articles for ceremonious indoor use; when any serious walking is to be done, he takes them off, slings them over his shoulder, and trusts to the horny soles of his feet.) to add to our troubles, the turkish officers, with characteristic fatalism, had made no commissary provision for us whatever. any food we ate had to be purchased by the roadside from our own funds, which were scant enough to start with. the arabs were in a terrible plight. most of them were penniless, and, as the pangs of hunger set in, they began pillaging right and left from the little farms by the wayside. from modest beginnings--poultry and vegetables--they progressed to larger game, unhindered by the officers. houses were entered, women insulted; time and again i saw a stray horse, grazing by the roadside, seized by a crowd of grinning arabs, who piled on the poor beast's back until he was almost crushed to earth, and rode off triumphantly, while their comrades held back the weeping owner. the result of this sort of "requisitioning," was that our band of recruits was followed by an increasing throng of farmers--imploring, threatening, trying by hook or by crook to win back the stolen goods. little satisfaction did they get, although some of them went with us as far as saffêd. our garrison town is not an inviting place, nor has it an inviting reputation. lord kitchener himself had good reason to remember it. as a young lieutenant of twenty-three, in the royal engineering corps, he was nearly killed there by a band of fanatical arabs while surveying for the palestine exploration fund. kitchener had a narrow escape of it (one of his fellow officers was shot dead close by him), but he went calmly ahead and completed his maps, splendid large-scale affairs which have never since been equaled--and which are now in use by the turkish and german armies! however, though saffêd combines most of the unpleasant characteristics of palestine native towns, we welcomed the sight of it, for we were used up by the march. an old deserted mosque was given us for barracks; there, on the bare stone floor, in close-packed promiscuity, too tired to react to filth and vermin, we spent our first night as soldiers of the sultan, while the milky moonlight streamed in through every chink and aperture, and bats flitted round the vaulting above the snoring carcasses of the recruits. next morning we were routed out at five. the black depths of the well in the center of the mosque courtyard provided doubtful water for washing, bathing, and drinking; then came breakfast,--our first government meal,--consisting, simply enough, of boiled rice, which was ladled out into tin wash-basins holding rations for ten men. in true eastern fashion we squatted down round the basin and dug into the rice with our fingers. at first i was rather upset by this sort of table manners, and for some time i ate with my eyes fixed on my own portion, to avoid seeing the arabs, who fill the palms of their hands with rice, pat it into a ball and cram it into their mouths just so, the bolus making a great lump in their lean throats as it reluctantly descends. in the course of that same morning we were allotted our uniforms. the turkish uniform, under indirect german influence, has been greatly modified during the past five years. it is of khaki--a greener khaki than that of the british army, and of conventional european cut. spiral puttees and good boots are provided; the only peculiar feature is the headgear--a curious, uncouth-looking combination of the turban and the german helmet, devised by enver pasha to combine religion and practicality, and called in his honor _enverieh_. (with commendable thrift, enver patented his invention, and it is rumored that he has drawn a comfortable fortune from its sale.) an excellent uniform it is, on the whole; but, to our disgust, we found that in the great olive-drab pile to which we were led, there was not a single new one. all were old, discarded, and dirty, and the mere thought of putting on the clothes of some unknown arab legionary, who, perhaps, had died of cholera at mecca or yemen, made me shudder. after some indecision, my friends and i finally went up to one of the officers and offered to _buy_ new uniforms with the money we expected daily from our families. the officer, scenting the chance for a little private profit, gave his consent. the days and weeks following were busy ones. from morning till night, it was drill, drill, and again drill. we were divided into groups of fifty, each of which was put in charge of a young non-commissioned officer from the military school of constantinople or damascus, or of some arab who had seen several years' service. these instructors had a hard time of it; the german military system, which had only recently been introduced, was too much for them. they kept mixing up the old and the new methods of training, with the result that it was often hopeless to try and make out their orders. whole weeks were spent in grinding into the arabs the names of the different parts of the rifle; weeks more went to teaching them to clean it--although it must be said that, once they had mastered these technicalities, they were excellent shots. their efficiency would have been considerably greater if there had been more target-shooting. from the very first, however, we felt that there was a scarcity of ammunition. this shortage the drill-masters, in a spirit of compensation, attempted to make up by abundant severity. the whip of soft, flexible, stinging leather, which seldom leaves the turkish officer's hand, was never idle. this was not surprising, for the arab is a cunning fellow, whose only respect is for brute force. he exercises it himself on every possible victim, and expects the same treatment from his superiors. so far as my comrades and i were concerned, i must admit that we were generally treated kindly. we knew most of the drill-exercises from the gymnastic training we had practiced since childhood, and the officers realized that we were educated and came from respectable families. the same was also true with regard to the native christians, most of whom can read and write and are of a better class than the mohammedans of the country. when turkey threw in her lot with the germanic powers, the attitude toward the jews and christians changed radically; but of this i shall speak later. it was a hard life we led while in training at saffêd; evening would find us dead tired, and little disposed for anything but rest. as the tremendous light-play of the eastern sunsets faded away, we would gather in little groups in the courtyard of our mosque--its minaret towering black against a turquoise sky--and talk fitfully of the little happenings of the day, while the arabs murmured gutturally around us. occasionally, one of them would burst into a quavering, hot-blooded tribal love-song. it happened that i was fairly well known among these natives through my horse kochba--of pure maneghi-sbeli blood--which i had purchased from some anazzi bedouins who were encamped not far from aleppo: a swift and intelligent animal he was, winner of many races, and in a land where a horse is considerably more valuable than a wife, his ownership cast quite a glamour over me. [illustration: the author on his horse kochba] in the evenings, then, the arabs would come up to chat. as they speak seldom of their children, of their women-folk never, the conversation was limited to generalities about the crops and the weather, or to the recitation of never-ending tales of abou-zeid, the famous hero of the beni-hilal, or of antar the glorious. politics, of which they have amazing ideas, also came in for discussion. napoleon bonaparte and queen victoria are still living figures to them; but (significantly enough) they considered the kaiser king of all the kings of this world, with the exception of the sultan, whom they admitted to equality. seldom did an evening pass without a dance. as darkness fell, the arabs would gather in a great circle around one of their comrades, who squatted on the ground with a bamboo flute; to a weird minor music they would begin swaying and moving about while some self-chosen poet among them would sing impromptu verses to the flute _obbligato_. as a rule the themes were homely. "to-morrow we shall eat rice and meat," the singer would wail. "_yaha lili-amali"_ (my endeavor be granted), came the full-throated response of all the others. the chorus was tremendously effective. sometimes the singer would indulge in pointed personalities, with answering roars of laughter. these dances lasted for hours, and as they progressed the men gradually worked themselves up into a frenzy. i never failed to wonder at these people, who, without the aid of alcohol, could reproduce the various stages of intoxication. as i lay by and watched the moon riding serenely above these frantic men and their twisting black shadows, i reflected that they were just in the condition when one word from a holy man would suffice to send them off to wholesale murder and rapine. it was my good fortune soon to be released from the noise and dirt of the mosque. i had had experience with corruptible turkish officers; and one day, when barrack conditions became unendurable, i went to the officer commanding our division--an old arab from latakieh who had been called from retirement at the time of the mobilization. he lived in a little tent near the mosque, where i found him squatting on the floor, nodding drowsily over his comfortable paunch. as he was an officer of the old régime, i entered boldly, squatted beside him and told him my troubles. the answer came with an enormous shrug of the shoulders. "you are serving the sultan. hardship should be sweet!" "i should be more fit to serve him if i got more sleep and rest." he waved a fat hand about the tent. "look at me! here i am, an officer of rank and"--shooting a knowing look at me--"i have not even a nice blanket." "a crime! a crime!" i interrupted. "to think of it, when i, a humble soldier, have dozens of them at home! i should be honored if you would allow me--" my voice trailed off suggestively. "how could you get one?" he asked. "oh, i have friends here in saffêd but i _must_ be able to sleep in a nice place." "of course; certainly. what would you suggest?" "that hotel kept by the jewish widow might do," i replied. more amenities were exchanged, the upshot of which was that my four friends and i were given permission to sleep at the inn--a humble place, but infinitely better than the mosque. it was all perfectly simple. [illustration: soldiers' tents in samaria] chapter iii the german propaganda so passed the days of our training, swiftly, monotonously, until the fateful december morning when the news came like a thunderbolt that turkey was about to join hands with germany. we had had reports of the war--of a kind. copies of telegrams from constantinople, printed in arabic, were circulated among us, giving accounts of endless german victories. these, however, we had laughed at as fabrications of a prussophile press agency, and in our skepticism we had failed to give the teutons credit for the successes they had actually won. to us, born and bred in the east as we were, the success of german propaganda in the turkish empire could not come as an overwhelming surprise; but its fullness amazed us. it may be of timely interest to say a few words here regarding this propaganda as i have seen it in palestine, spreading under strong and efficient organization for twenty years. in order to realize her imperialistic dreams, germany absolutely needed palestine. it was the key to the whole oriental situation. no mere coincidence brought the kaiser to damascus in november, ,--the same month that kitchener, in london, was hailed as gordon's avenger,--when he uttered his famous phrase at the tomb of saladin: "tell the three hundred million moslems of the world that i am their friend!" we have all seen photographs of the imperial figure, draped in an amazing burnous of his own designing (above which the prussian _pickelhaube_ rises supreme), as he moved from point to point in this portentous visit: we may also have seen caran d'ache's celebrated cartoon (a subject of diplomatic correspondence) representing this same imperial figure, in its oriental toggery, riding into jerusalem on an ass. the nations of europe laughed at this visit and its transparent purpose, but it was all part of the scheme which won for the germans the concessions for the konia-bagdad railway, and made them owners of the double valley of the euphrates and tigris. through branch lines projected through the firman, they are practically in control of both the syrian routes toward the cypriotic mediterranean and the lebanon valleys. they also control the three armenian routes of cappadocia, the black sea, and the trans-caucasian branch of urfa, marach, and mardine. (the fall of erzerum has altered conditions respecting this last.) they dominate the persian routes toward tauris and teheran as well; and last, but not least, the gulf branch of zobeir. these railways delivered into german hands the control of persia, whence the road to india may be made easy: through syria lies the route to the suez canal and egypt, which was used in february, , and will probably be used again this year. to make this oriental dream a reality, the germans have not relied on their railway concessions alone. their government has done everything in its power to encourage german colonization in palestine. scattered all over the country are german mills that half of the time have nothing to grind. german hotels have been opened in places seldom frequented by tourists. german engineers appeared in force, surveying, sounding, noting. all these colonists held gatherings in the arab villages, when the ignorant natives were told of the greatness of germany, of her good intentions, and of the evil machinations of other powers. what i state here can be corroborated by any one who knows palestine and has lived in it. about the time when we first knew that turkey would join the germanic powers came the news that the "capitulations" had been revoked. as is generally known, foreigners formerly enjoyed the protection of their respective consuls. the turkish government, under the terms of the so-called capitulations, or agreements, had no jurisdiction over an american, for instance, or a frenchman, who could not be arrested without the consent of his consul. in the ottoman empire, where law and justice are not at a premium, such protection was a wholesome and necessary policy. the revoking of the capitulations was a terrible blow to all the europeans, meaning, as it did, the practical abolition of all their rights. upon the arabs it acted like an intoxicant. every boot-black or boatman felt that he was the equal of the accursed frank, who now had no consul to protect him; and abuses began immediately. moreover, as if by magic, the whole country became germanized. in all the mosques, friday prayers were ended with an invocation for the welfare of the sultan and "hadji wilhelm." the significance of this lies in the fact that the title "hadji" can be properly applied only to a moslem who has made the pilgrimage to mecca and kissed the sacred stone of the kaaba. instant death is the penalty paid by any christian who is found within that enclosure: yet wilhelm ii, head of the lutheran faith, stepped forward as "hadji wilhelm." his pictures were sold everywhere; german officers appeared; and it seemed as if a wind of brutal mastery were blowing. the dominant figure of this movement in palestine was, without doubt, the german consul at haifa, leutweld von hardegg. he traveled about the country, making speeches, and distributing pamphlets in arabic, in which it was elaborately proved that germans are not christians, like the french or english, but that they are descendants of the prophet mohammed. passages from the koran were quoted, prophesying the coming of the kaiser as the savior of islam. chapter iv road-making and discharge the news of the actual declaration of war by turkey caused a tremendous stir in our regiment. the prevailing feeling was one of great restlessness and discontent. the arabs made many bitter remarks against germany. "why didn't she help us against the italians during the war for tripoli?" they said. "now that she is in trouble she is drawing us into the fight." their opinions, however, soon underwent a change. in the first place, they came to realize that turkey had taken up arms against russia; and russia is considered first and foremost the arch-enemy. german reports of german successes also had a powerful effect on them. they began to grow boastful, arrogant; and the sight of the plundering of europeans, jews, and christians convinced them that a very desirable régime was setting in. saffêd has a large jewish colony, and it was torment for me to have to witness the outrages that my people suffered in the name of "requisitioning." the final blow came one morning when all the jewish and christian soldiers of our regiment were called out and told that henceforth they were to serve in the _taboor amlieh_, or working corps. the object of this action, plainly enough, was to conciliate and flatter the mohammedan population, and at the same time to put the jews and christians, who for the most part favored the cause of the allies, in a position where they would be least dangerous. we were disarmed; our uniforms were taken away, and we became hard-driven "gangsters." i shall never forget the humiliation of that day when we, who, after all, were the best-disciplined troops of the lot, were first herded to our work of pushing wheelbarrows and handling spades, by grinning arabs, rifle on shoulder. we were set to building the road between saffêd and tiberias, on the sea of galilee--a link in the military highway from damascus to the coast, which would be used for the movement of troops in case the railroad should be cut off. it had no immediate strategic bearing on the attack against suez, however. from six in the morning till seven at night we were hard at it, except for one hour's rest at noon. while we had money, it was possible to get some slight relief by bribing our taskmasters; but this soon came to an end, and we had to endure their brutality as best we could. the wheelbarrows we used were the property of a french company which, before the war, was undertaking a highway to beirut. no grease was provided for the wheels, so that there was a maddening squeaking and squealing in addition to the difficulty of pushing the barrows. one day i suggested to an inspection officer that if the wheels were not greased the axles would be burned out. he agreed with me and issued an order that the men were to provide their own oil to lubricate the wheels! i shall not dwell on the physical sufferings we underwent while working on this road, for the reason that the conditions i have described were prevalent over the whole country; and later, when i had the opportunity to visit some construction camps in samaria and judaea found that in comparison our lot had been a happy one. while we were breaking stones and trundling squeaking wheelbarrows, however, the most disquieting rumors began to drift in to us from our home villages. plundering had been going on in the name of "requisitioning"; the country was full of soldiery whose capacity for mischief-making was well known to us, and it was torture to think of what might be happening in our peaceful homes where so few men had been left for protection. all the barbed-wire fences, we heard, had been torn up and sent north for the construction of barricades. in a wild land like palestine, where the native has no respect for property, where fields and crops are always at the mercy of marauders, the barbed-wire fence has been a tremendous factor for civilization, and with these gone the arabs were once more free to sweep across the country unhindered, stealing and destroying. the situation grew more and more unbearable. one day a little christian soldier--a nazarene--disappeared from the ranks. we never saw him again, but we learned that his sister, a very young girl, had been forcibly taken by a turkish officer of the nazareth garrison. in palestine, the dishonor of a girl can be redeemed by blood alone. the young soldier had hunted for his sister, found her in the barracks, and shot her; he then surrendered himself to the military authorities, who undoubtedly put him to death. he had not dared to kill the real criminal,--the officer,--for he knew that this would not only bring death to his family, but would call down terrible suffering on all the christians of nazareth. [illustration: nazareth, from the northeast] when i learned of this tragedy, i determined to get out of the army and return to my village at all costs. nine turkish officers out of ten can be bought, and i had reason to know that the officer in command at saffêd was not that tenth man. now, according to the law of the country, a man has the right to purchase exemption from military service for a sum equivalent to two hundred dollars. my case was different, for i was already enrolled; but everything is possible in turkey. i set to work, and in less than two weeks i had bought half a dozen officers, ranging from corporal to captain, and had obtained consent of the higher authorities to my departure, provided i could get a physician's certificate declaring me unfit for service. this was arranged in short order, although i am healthy-looking and the doctor found some difficulty in hitting on an appropriate ailment. finally he decided that i had "too much blood"--whatever that might mean. with his certificate in hand, i paid the regular price of two hundred dollars from funds which had been sent me by my family, and walked out of the barracks a free man. my happiness was mingled with sadness at the thought of leaving the comrades with whom i had suffered and hoped. the four boys from my village were splendid. they felt that i was right in going home to do what i could for the people, but when they kissed me good-bye, in the eastern fashion, the tears were running down their cheeks; and they were all strong, brave fellows. on my way back to zicron-jacob, i passed through the town of sheff'amr, where i got a foretaste of the conditions i was to find at home. a turkish soldier, sauntering along the street, helped himself to fruit from the basket of an old vender, and went on without offering to pay a farthing. when the old man ventured to protest, the soldier turned like a flash and began beating him mercilessly, knocking him down and battering him until he was bruised, bleeding, and covered with the mud of the street. there was a hubbub; a crowd formed, through which a turkish officer forced his way, demanding explanations. the soldier sketched the situation in a few words, whereupon the officer, turning to the old man, said impressively,--"if a soldier of the sultan should choose to heap filth on your head, it is for you to kiss his hand in gratitude." chapter v the hidden arms when i finally reached zicron-jacob, i found rather a sad state of affairs. military law had been declared. no one was supposed to be seen in the streets after sundown. the village was full of soldiers, and civilians had to put up with all kinds of ill-treatment. moreover, our people were in a state of great excitement because an order had recently come from the turkish authorities bidding them surrender whatever fire-arms or weapons they had in their possession. a sinister command, this: we knew that similar measures had been taken before the terrible armenian massacres, and we felt that some such fate might be in preparation for our people. with the arms gone, the head men of the village knew that our last hold over the arabs, our last chance for defense against sudden violence, would be gone, and they had refused to give them up. a house-to-house search had been made--fruitlessly, for our little arsenal was safely cached in a field, beneath growing grain. it was a tense, unpleasant situation. at any time the turks might decide to back up their demand by some of the violent methods of which they are past masters. a family council was held in my home, and it was decided to send my sister, a girl of twenty-three, to some friends at the american syrian protestant college at beirut, so that we might be able to move freely without the responsibility of having a girl at home, in a country where, as a matter of course, the women-folk are seized and carried off before a massacre. at beirut we knew that there was an american consul-general, who kept in continual touch with the battleship anchored in the harbor for the protection of american interests. my sister got away none too soon. one evening shortly after her departure, when i was standing in the doorway of our house watching the ever fresh miracle of the eastern sunset, a turkish officer came riding down the street with about thirty cavalrymen. he called me out and ordered me to follow him to the little village inn, where he dismounted and led me to one of the inner rooms, his spurs jingling loudly as we passed along the stone corridor. i never knew whether i had been selected for this attention because of my prominence as a leader of the jewish young men or simply because i had been standing conveniently in the doorway. the officer closed the door and came straight to the point by asking me where our store of arms was hidden. he was a big fellow, with the handsome, cruel features usual enough in his class. there was no open menace in his first question. when i refused to tell him, he began wheedling and offering all sorts of favors if i would betray my people. then, all of a sudden, he whipped out a revolver and stuck the muzzle right in my face. i felt the blood leave my heart, but i was able to control myself and refuse his demand. the officer was not easily discouraged; the hours i passed in that little room, with its smoky kerosene lamp, were terrible ones. i realized, however, how tremendously important the question of the arms was, and strength was given me to hold out until the officer gave up in disgust and let me go home. [illustration: house of the author's father, ephraim fishl aaronsohn, in zicron-jacob] my father, an old man, knew nothing of what had happened, but the rest of my family were tremendously excited. i made light of the whole affair, but i felt sure that this was only the beginning. sure enough, next morning--the sabbath--the same officer returned and put three of the leading elders of the village, together with myself, under arrest. after another fruitless inquisition at the hotel, we were handcuffed and started on foot toward the prison, a day's journey away. as our little procession passed my home, my father, who was aged and feeble, came tottering forward to say good-bye to me. a soldier pushed him roughly back; he reeled, then fell full-length in the street before my eyes. it was a dismal departure. we were driven through the streets shackled like criminals, and the women and children came out of the houses and watched us in silence--their heads bowed, tears running down their cheeks. they realized that for thirty-five years these old men, my comrades, had been struggling and suffering for their ideal--a regenerated palestine; now, in the dusk of their life, it seemed as if all their hopes and dreams were coming to ruin. the oppressive tragedy of the situation settled down on me more and more heavily as the day wore on and heat and fatigue told on my companions. my feelings must have been written large on my face, for one of them, a fine-looking patriarch, tried to give me comfort by reminding me that we must not rely upon strength of arms, and that our spirit could never be broken, no matter how defenseless we were. thus he, an old man, was encouraging me instead of receiving help from my youth and enthusiasm. at last we arrived at the prison and were locked into separate cells. that same night we were tortured with the _falagy_, or bastinado. the victim of this horrible punishment is trussed up, arms and legs, and thrown on his knees; then, on the bare soles of his feet a pliant green rod is brought down with all the force of a soldier's arm. the pain is exquisite; blood leaps out at the first cut, and strong men usually faint after thirty or forty strokes. strange to say, the worst part of it is not the blow itself, but the whistling of the rod through the air as it rushes to its mark. the groans of my older comrades, whose gasps and prayers i could hear through the walls of the cell, helped me bear the agony until unconsciousness mercifully came to the rescue. for several days more we were kept in the prison, sick and broken with suffering. the second night, as i lay sleepless and desperate on the strip of dirty matting that served as bed, i heard a scratch-scratching at the grated slit of a window, and presently a slender stick was inserted into the cell. i went over and shook it; some one at the other end was holding it firm. and then, a curious whispering sound began to come from the end of the stick. i put my ear down, and caught the voice of one of the men from our village. he had taken a long bamboo pole, pierced the joints, and crept up behind a broken old wall close beneath my window. by means of this primitive telephone we talked as long as we dared. i assured him that we were still enduring, and urged him on no account to give up the arms to the turkish authorities--not even if we had to make the ultimate sacrifice. finally, when it was found that torture and imprisonment would not make us yield our secret, the turks resorted to the final test--the ordeal which we could not withstand. they announced that on a certain date a number of our young girls would be carried off and handed over to the officers, to be kept until the arms were disclosed. we knew that they were capable of carrying out this threat; we knew exactly what it meant. there was no alternative. the people of our village had nothing to do but dig up the treasured arms and, with broken hearts, hand them over to the authorities. and so the terrible news was brought to us one morning that we were free. personally, i felt much happier on the day i was put in prison than when i was released. i had often wondered how our people had been able to bear the rack and thumbscrew of the spanish inquisition; but when my turn and my comrades' came for torture, i realized that the same spirit that helped our ancestors was working in us also. now i knew that our suffering had been useless. whenever the turkish authorities wished, the horrors of the armenian massacres would live again in zicron-jacob, and we should be powerless to raise a hand to protect ourselves. as we came limping home through the streets of our village, i caught sight of my own smith & wesson revolver in the hands of a mere boy of fifteen--the son of a well-known arab outlaw. i realized then that the turks had not only taken our weapons, but had distributed them among the natives in order to complete our humiliation. the blood rushed to my face. i started forward to take the revolver away from the boy, but one of the old men caught hold of my sleeve and held me back. [illustration: in a native cafÉ, saffÊd/a lemonade-seller of damascus] chapter vi the suez campaign i have already spoken of the so-called "requisitioning" that took place among our people while i was working at saffêd. this, of course, really amounted to wholesale pillage. the hand of the turkish looters had fallen particularly heavy on carts and draught animals. as the arabs know little or nothing of carting, hauling, or the management of horses and mules, the turks, simply enough, had "requisitioned" many of the owners--middle-aged or elderly men--and forced them to go south to help along with the tremendous preparations that were being made for the attack on suez. among these were a number of men from our village. in the course of time their families began to get the most harrowing messages from them. they were absolutely destitute, no wages being paid them by the turks; their clothes were dropping off them in rags; many were sick. after much excited planning, it was decided to send another man and myself down south on a sort of relief expedition, with a substantial sum of money that had been raised with great difficulty by our people. through the influence of my brother at the agricultural experiment station, i got permission from the _mouchtar_ to leave zicron-jacob, and about the middle of january, , i set out for jerusalem. to western minds, the idea of the holy city serving as a base for modern military operations must be full of incongruities. and, as a matter of fact, it _was_ an amazing sight to see the streets packed with khaki-clad soldiers and hear the brooding silence of ancient walls shattered by the crash of steel-shod army boots. here, for the first time, i saw the german officers--quantities of them. strangely out of place they looked, with their pink-and-whiteness that no amount of hot sunshine could quite burn off. they wore the regular german officer's uniform, except that the _pickelhaube_ was replaced by a khaki sun-helmet. i was struck by the youthfulness of them; many were nothing but boys, and there were weak, dissolute faces in plenty--a fact that was later explained when i heard that palestine had been the dumping-ground for young men of high family whose parents were anxious to have them as far removed as possible from the danger zone. fast's hotel was the great meeting-place in jerusalem for these young bloods. every evening thirty or forty would foregather there to drink and talk women and strategy. i well remember the evening when one of them--a slender young prussian with no back to his head, braceleted and monocled--rose and announced, in the decisive tones that go with a certain stage of intoxication: "what we ought to do is to hand over the organization of this campaign to thomas cook & sons!" however, the german officers were by no means all incompetents. they realized (i soon found out) that they had little hope of bringing a big army through the egyptian desert and making a successful campaign there. their object was to immobilize a great force of british troops around the canal, to keep the mohammedan population in palestine impressed with turkish power, and to stir up religious unrest among the natives in egypt. it must be admitted that in the first two of these purposes they have been successful. the turks were less far-sighted. they believed firmly that they were going to sweep the english off the face of the earth and enter cairo in triumph, and preparations for the march on suez went on with feverish enthusiasm. the ideas of the common soldiers on this subject were amusing. some of them declared that the canal was to be filled up by the sandbags which had been prepared in great quantities. others held that thousands of camels would be kept without water for many days preceding the attack; then the thirsty animals, when released, would rush into the canal in such numbers that the troops could march to victory over the packed masses of drowned bodies. the army operating against suez numbered about one hundred and fifty thousand men. of these about twenty thousand were anatolian turks--trained soldiers, splendid fighting material, as was shown by their resistance at the dardanelles. the rest were palestinian arabs, and very inferior troops they were. the arab as a soldier is at once stupid and cunning: fierce when victory is on his side, but unreliable when things go against him. in command of the expedition was the famous djemal pasha, a young turk general of tremendous energy, but possessing small ability to see beyond details to the big, broad concepts of strategy. although a great friend of enver pasha, he looked with disfavor on the german officers and, in particular, on bach pasha, the german governor of jerusalem, with whom he had serious disagreements. this dislike of the germans was reflected among the lesser turkish officers. many of these, after long years of service, found themselves subordinated to young foreigners, who, in addition to arbitrary promotion, received much higher salaries than the turks. what is more, they were paid in clinking gold, whereas the turks, when paid at all, got paper currency. beersheba, a prosperous town of the ancient province of idumea, was the southern base of operations for the advance on suez. some of our villagers had been sent to this district, and, in searching for them, i had the opportunity of seeing at least the taking-off place of the expedition. beyond this point no jew or christian was allowed to pass, with the exception of the physicians, all of whom were non-mohammedans who had been forced into the army. beersheba was swarming with troops. they filled the town and overflowed on to the sands outside, where a great tent-city grew up. and everywhere that the turkish soldiers went, disorganization and inefficiency followed them. from all over the country the finest camels had been "requisitioned" and sent down to beersheba until, at the time i was there, thousands and thousands of them were collected in the neighborhood. through the laziness and stupidity of the turkish commissariat officers, which no amount of german efficiency could counteract, no adequate provision was made for feeding them, and incredible numbers succumbed to starvation and neglect. their great carcasses dotted the sand in all directions; it was only the wonderful antiseptic power of the eastern sun that held pestilence in check. the soldiers themselves suffered much hardship. the crowding in the tents was unspeakable; the water-supply was almost as inadequate as the medical service, which consisted chiefly of volunteer red crescent societies--among them a unit of twenty german nurses sent by the american college at beirut. medical supplies, such as they were, had been taken from the different mission hospitals and pharmacies of palestine--these "requisitions" being made by officers who knew nothing of medical requirements and simply scooped together everything in sight. as a result, one of the army physicians told me that in beersheba he had opened some medical chests consigned to him and found, to his horror, that they were full of microscopes and gynecological instruments--for the care of wounded soldiers in the desert! visits of british aeroplanes to beersheba were common occurrences. long before the machine itself could be seen, its whanging, resonant hum would come floating out of the blazing sky, seemingly from everywhere at once. soldiers rushed from their tents, squinting up into the heavens until the speck was discovered, swimming slowly through the air; then followed wholesale firing at an impossible range until the officers forbade it. true to the policy of avoiding all unnecessary harm to the natives, these british aviators never dropped bombs on the town, but--what was more dangerous from the turkish point of view--they would unload packages of pamphlets, printed in arabic, informing the natives that they were being deceived; that the allies were their only true friends; that the germans were merely making use of them to further their own schemes, etc. these cleverly worded little tracts came showering down out of the sky, and at first they were eagerly picked up. the turkish commanders, however, soon announced that any one found carrying them would pay the death penalty. after that, when the little bundles dropped near them, the natives would, run as if from high explosive bombs. all things considered, it is wonderful that the turkish demonstration against the canal came as near to fulfillment as it did. twenty thousand soldiers actually crossed the desert in six days on scant rations, and with them they took two big guns, which they dragged by hand when the mules dropped from thirst and exhaustion. they also carried pontoons to be used in crossing the canal. guns and pontoons are now at rest in the museum at cairo. just what took place in the attack is known to very few. the english have not seen fit to make public the details, and there was little to be got from the demoralized soldiers who returned to beersheba. piece by piece, however, i gathered that the attacking party had come up to the canal at dawn. finding everything quiet, they set about getting across, and had even launched a pontoon, when the british, who were lying in wait, opened a terrific fire from the farther bank, backed by armored locomotives and aeroplanes. "it was as if the gates of jehannum were opened and its fires turned loose upon us," one soldier told me. the turks succeeded in getting their guns into action for a very short while. one of the men-of-war in the canal was hit; several houses in ismaïlia suffered damage; but the invaders were soon driven away in confusion, leaving perhaps two thousand prisoners in the hands of the english. if the latter had chosen to do so, they could have annihilated the turkish forces then and there. the ticklish state of mind of the mohammedan population in egypt, however, has led them to adopt a policy of leniency and of keeping to the defensive, which subsequent developments have more than justified. it is characteristic of england's faculty for holding her colonies that batteries manned by egyptians did the finest work in defense of the canal. the reaction in palestine after the defeat at suez was tremendous. just before the attack, djemal pasha had sent out a telegram announcing the overwhelming defeat of the british vanguard, which had caused wild enthusiasm. another later telegram proclaimed that the canal had been reached, british men-of-war sunk, the englishmen routed--with a loss to the turks of five men and two camels, "which were afterwards recovered." "but," added the telegram, "a terrible sand-storm having arisen, the glorious army takes it as the wish of allah not to continue the attack, and has therefore withdrawn in triumph." these reports hoodwinked the ignorant natives for a little while, but when the stream of haggard soldiers, wounded and exhausted, began pouring back from the south, they guessed what had happened, and a fierce revulsion against the germano-turkish régime set in. a few weeks before the advance on suez, i was in jaffa, where the enthusiasm and excitement had been at fever-pitch. parades and celebrations of all kinds in anticipation of the triumphal march into egypt were taking place, and one day a camel, a dog, and a bull, decorated respectively with the flags of russia, france, and england, were driven through the streets. the poor animals were horribly maltreated by the natives, who rained blows and flung filth upon them by way of giving concrete expression to their contempt for the allies. mr. glazebrook, the american consul at jerusalem, happened to be with me in jaffa that day; and never shall i forget the expression of pain and disgust on his face as he watched this melancholy little procession of scapegoats hurrying along the street. now, however, all was changed. the arabs, who take defeat badly, turned against the authorities who had got them into such trouble. rumors circulated that djemal pasha had been bought by the english and that the defeat at suez had been planned by him, and persons keeping an ear close to the ground began to hear mutterings of a general massacre of germans. in fact, things came within an ace of a bloody outbreak. i knew some germans in jaffa and haifa who firmly believed that it was all over with them. in the defeated army itself the turkish officers gave vent to their hatred of the germans. three german officers were shot by their turkish comrades during the retreat, and a fourth committed suicide. however, djemal pasha succeeded in keeping order by means of stern repressive methods and by the fear roused by his large body-guard of faithful anatolians. [illustration: railroad station scene between haifa and damascus/camels bringing in newly cut trees, damascus] we felt sure that the turkish defeat would put a damper on the arrogance of the soldiery. but even the mohammedan population were hoping that the allies would push their victory and land troops in syria and palestine; for though they hated the infidel, they loved the turk not at all, and the country was exhausted and the blockade of the mediterranean by the allies prevented the import and export of articles. the oranges were rotting on the trees because the annual liverpool market was closed to palestine, and other crops were in similar case. the country was short, too, of petroleum, sugar, rice, and other supplies, and even of matches. we had to go back to old customs and use flint and steel for fire, and we seldom used our lamps. money was scarce, too, and, turkey having declared a moratorium, cash was often unobtainable even by those who had money in the banks, and much distress ensued. as the defeated army was pouring in from the south, i decided to leave beersheba and go home. the roads and the fields were covered with dead camels and horses and mules. hundreds of soldiers were straggling in disorder, many of them on leave but many deserting. soon after the defeat at the canal several thousand soldiers deserted, but an amnesty was declared and they returned to their regiments. when i arrived at jerusalem i found the city filled with soldiers. djemal pasha had just returned from the desert, and his quarters were guarded by a battery of two field guns. nobody knew what to expect; some thought that the country would have a little more freedom now that the soldiery had lost its braggadocio, while others expected the lawlessness that attends disorganization. i went to see consul glazebrook. he is a true american, a southerner, formerly a professor of theology at princeton. he was most earnest and devoted in behalf of the american citizens that came under his care, rendering at jerusalem the same sort of service that ambassador morgenthau has rendered at constantinople. he was practically the only man who stood up for the poor, defenseless people of the city. he received me kindly, and i told him what i knew of conditions in the country, what i had heard among the arabs, and of my own fears and apprehensions. he was visibly impressed and he advised me to see captain decker, of the u.s.s. tennessee, who was then in jaffa, promising to write himself to the captain of my proposed visit. i went to jaffa the same day and after two days' delay succeeded in seeing captain decker, with the further help of mr. glazebrook, who took me with him. the police interfered and tried to keep me from going aboard the ship, but after long discussions i was permitted to take my place in the launch that the captain had sent for the consul. captain decker was interested in what i had to say, and at his request i dictated my story to his stenographer. what became of my report i do not know,--whether it was transmitted to the department of state or whether captain decker communicated with ambassador morgenthau,--but at all events we soon began to see certain reforms inaugurated in parts of the country, and these reforms could have been effected only through pressure from constantinople. the presence of the two american cruisers in the mediterranean waters has without any doubt been instrumental in the saving of many lives. chapter vii fighting the locusts while i was traveling in the south, another menace to our people's welfare had appeared: the locusts. from the soudan they came in tremendous hosts--black clouds of them that obscured the sun. it seemed as if nature had joined in the conspiracy against us. these locusts were of the species known as the pilgrim, or wandering, locust; for forty years they had not come to palestine, but now their visitation was like that of which the prophet joel speaks in the old testament. they came full-grown, ripe for breeding; the ground was covered with the females digging in the soil and depositing their egg-packets, and we knew that when they hatched we should be overwhelmed, for there was not a foot of ground in which these eggs were not to be found. the menace was so great that even the military authorities were obliged to take notice of it. they realized that if it were allowed to fulfill itself, there would be famine in the land, and the army would suffer with the rest. djemal pasha summoned my brother (the president of the agricultural experiment station at athlit) and intrusted him with the organization of a campaign against the insects. it was a hard enough task. the arabs are lazy, and fatalistic besides; they cannot understand why men should attempt to fight the _djesh allah_ ("god's army"), as they call the locusts. in addition, my brother was seriously handicapped by lack of petroleum, galvanized iron, and other articles which could not be obtained because of the allies' blockade. in spite of these drawbacks, however, he attempted to work up a scientific campaign. djemal pasha put some thousands of arab soldiers at his disposition, and these were set to work digging trenches into which the hatching locusts were driven and destroyed. this is the only means of coping with the situation: once the locusts get their wings, nothing can be done with them. it was a hopeless fight. nothing short of the coöperation of every farmer in the country could have won the day; and while the people of the progressive jewish villages struggled on to the end,--men, women, and children working in the fields until they were exhausted,--the arab farmers sat by with folded hands. the threats of the military authorities only stirred them to half-hearted efforts. finally, after two months of toil, the campaign was given up and the locusts broke in waves over the countryside, destroying everything. as the prophet joel said, "the field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.... the land is as the garden of eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness." not only was every green leaf devoured, but the very bark was peeled from the trees, which stood out white and lifeless, like skeletons. the fields were stripped to the ground, and the old men of our villages, who had given their lives to cultivating these gardens and vineyards, came out of the synagogues where they had been praying and wailing, and looked on the ruin with dimmed eyes. nothing was spared. the insects, in their fierce hunger, tried to engulf everything in their way. i have seen arab babies, left by their mothers in the shade of some tree, whose faces had been devoured by the oncoming swarms of locusts before their screams had been heard. i have seen the carcasses of animals hidden from sight by the undulating, rustling blanket of insects. and in the face of such a menace the arabs remained inert. with their customary fatalism they accepted the locust plague as a necessary evil. they could not understand why we were so frantic to fight it. and as a matter of fact, they really got a good deal out of the locusts, for they loved to feast upon the female insects. they gathered piles of them and threw them upon burning charcoal, then, squatting around the fire, devoured the roasted insects with great gusto. i saw a fourteen-year-old boy eat as many as a hundred at a sitting. chapter viii the lebanon during the locust invasion my brother sent me on an inspection tour to investigate the ravages of the insect in syria. with an official _boyouroulton_ (passport) in my pocket, i was able to travel all over the country without being interfered with by the military authorities. i had an excellent opportunity to see what was going on everywhere. the locusts had destroyed everything from as far south as the egyptian desert to the lebanon mountains on the north; but the locust was not the only, nor the worst, plague that the people had to complain of. the plundering under the name of "military requisitions," the despotic rule of the army officers, and the general insecurity were even more desolating. as i proceeded on my journey northward, i hoped to find consolation and brighter prospects in the independent province of the lebanon. few americans know just what the lebanon is. from the repeated allusions in the bible most people imagine it to be nothing but a mountain. the truth is that a beautiful province of about four thousand square miles bears that name. the population of the lebanon consists of a christian sect called maronites and the druses, the latter a people with a secret religion the esoteric teachings of which are known only to the initiated, and never divulged to outsiders. both these peoples are sturdy, handsome folk. through the machinations of the turks, whose policy is always to "divide and rule," the maronites were continually fighting against the druses. in turkish troops joined with the druses and fell upon the maronites with wholesale massacres that spread as far south as damascus, where ten thousand christians were killed in two days. [illustration: the christian town of zahleh in the lebanon] the european powers were moved at last. fifty warships were sent to beirut, and ten thousand french troops were landed in the lebanon, to create order. under the pressure of the european powers the sublime porte was forced to grant an autonomy for the province of the lebanon. the french, english, german, russian, austrian, and, a year later, the italian, governments were signing the guaranty of this autonomy. since then the lebanon has had peace. the governor of the province must always be a christian, but the general council of the lebanon includes representatives of all the different races and religions of the population. a wonderful development began with the liberation from turkish oppression. macadamized roads were built all over the province, agriculture was improved, and there was complete safety for life and property. there is a proverb now in palestine and syria which says, "in the lebanon a virgin may travel alone at midnight and be safe, and a purse of gold dropped in the road at midday will never be stolen." and the proverb told the literal truth. when one crossed the boundary from turkish palestine into the lebanon province, what a change met his eyes!--peaceful and prosperous villages, schools filled with children, immense plantations of mulberry trees and olives, the slopes of the mountains terraced with beautiful vineyards, a handsome and sturdy population, police on every road to help the stranger, and young girls and women with happy laugh and chatter working in the fields. with a population of about six hundred thousand this province exported annually two million dollars' worth of raw silk, silkworm-raising being a specialty of the lebanon. when autonomy was granted the lebanon, french influence became predominant among the maronites and other christians of the province. french is spoken by almost all of them, and love for france is a deep-rooted sentiment of the people. on the other hand, the druses feel the english influence. for the last sixty years england has been the friend of the druses, and they have not forgotten it. it may be worth while to tell in a few words the story of one man who accomplished wonders in spreading the influence of his country. sir richard wood was born in london, a son of catholic parents. from his early boyhood he aspired to enter the diplomatic service. the east attracted him strongly, and in order to learn arabic he went with another young englishman to live in the lebanon. in beirut they sought the hospitality of the maronite patriarch. for a few days they were treated with lavish hospitality, and then the patriarch summoned them before him and told them that they must leave the city within twenty-four hours. the reason for their disgrace they discovered later. not suspecting that they were being put to the test, they had eaten meat on a friday, and this made the patriarch think that they were not true catholics, but were there as spies. leaving beirut in haste, wood and his friend sought shelter with the druses, who received them with open arms. for two years wood lived among the druses, in the village of obey. there he learned arabic and became thoroughly acquainted with the country and with the ways of the druses, and there he conceived the idea of winning the druses for england to counteract the influence of the french maronites. he went back to london, where he succeeded in impressing his views upon the foreign office, and he returned to syria charged with a secret mission. before long he persuaded the druse chieftains to address a petition to england asking for british protection. british protection was granted, and for over thirty years richard wood, virtually single-handed, shaped the destiny of syria. it was he who broke the power of ibrahim pasha, the son of mehemet ali; it was he who guided admiral stopford in the bombardment of beirut; it was he, again, who brought about the landing of english troops in syria in ; we find him afterwards in damascus as british consul, and wherever he went he was always busy spreading english power and prestige. he understood the east thoroughly and felt that england must be strong in syria if she wished to retain her imperial power. it is very unfortunate that the policy of sir richard wood was not carried out by his nation. it was with high hopes and expectations that i approached the lebanon. i was looking forward to the moment when i should find myself among people who were free from the turkish yoke, in a country where i should be able to breathe freely for a few hours. but how great was my consternation, when, on entering the lebanon, i found on all the roads turkish soldiers who stopped me every minute to ask for my papers! even then i could not realize that the worst had happened. of course, rumors of the turkish occupation of the lebanon had reached us a few weeks before, but we had not believed it, as we knew that germany and austria were among those who guaranteed the autonomy of the lebanon. it was true, however; the scrap of paper that guaranteed the freedom of the lebanon had proved of no more value to the lebanese than had that other scrap of paper to belgium. as i entered the beautiful village of ed-damur, one of the most prosperous and enchanting places on earth, i saw entire regiments of turkish troops encamped in and about the village. while i was watering my horse, i tried to ask questions from a few inhabitants. my fair hair and complexion and my khaki costume made them take me for a german, and they barely answered me, but when i addressed them in french their faces lit up. for the lebanon, for all it is thousands of miles away from france, is nevertheless like a french province. for fifty years the french language and french culture have taken hold of the lebanon. no frenchman has more love for and faith in france than lie in the hearts of the lebanese christians. they have never forgotten that when massacres were threatening to wipe out all the christians of the lebanon, ten thousand french soldiers swept over the mountains to spread peace, life, and french gayety. and when the poor people heard the language they loved, and when they found out that i too was the son of an oppressed and ruined community, all the sadness and bitterness of their hearts was told me,--how the turkish soldiers had spread over the beloved mountains of lebanon; how the strong, stalwart young lebanese had been taken away from the mountains and forced into the turkish army; how the girls and women were hiding in their homes, afraid to be seen by the soldiers and their officers; how the chieftains were imprisoned and even hanged; and how violence and pillage had spread over the peaceful country.[footnote: since the above was written the american press has chronicled many atrocities committed in the lebanon. the execution of leaders and the complete blockade of the mountains by the turkish authorities resulted in the starving of eighty thousand lebanese. the french government has warned turkey through the american ambassador that the turks will be held accountable for their deeds.] i could not help wondering at the mistakes of the allies. if they had understood the situation in palestine and syria, how differently this war might have eventuated! the lebanon and syria would have raised a hundred thousand picked men, if the allies had landed in palestine. the lebanon would have fought for its independence as heroically as did the belgians. even the arab population would have welcomed the allies as liberators. but alas! with a saddened heart i pursued my journey into beirut. my coming was a joyful surprise to my sister. many sad things had happened since she had last seen me. during my imprisonment she had suffered tortures, not knowing what would happen to me, and now that she saw me alive she cried from happiness. she told me how kindly she had been treated by president bliss, of the syrian protestant college, and of all the good things the college had done. what a blessing the college was for the people of beirut! many unfortunate people were saved from prison and hardships through the intervention of president bliss. he never tired of rendering service, wonderful personal service. but alas, even his influence and power began to wane. the american prestige in the country was broken, and the turkish government no longer respected the american flag. an order issued from constantinople demanded that the official language of the college be turkish instead of english, and turkish officers even dared to enter the college premises to search for citizens belonging to the belligerent nations, without troubling to ask permission from the american consul. [illustration: haifa] chapter ix a robber baron of palestine beirut is a city of about two hundred thousand inhabitants, half of whom are christians and the rest mohammedans and jews. the pinch of hunger was already felt there. bread was to be had only on tickets issued by the government, and prices in general were extremely high. the population were discontented and turbulent, and every day thousands of women came before the governor's residence to cry and protest against the scarcity of bread. the allies' warships often passed near the town, but the people were not afraid of them, for it was known that the allies had no intention of bombarding the cities. only once had a bombardment taken place. toward the end of march, , a french warship approached the bay of haifa and landed an officer with a letter to the commandant of that town giving notice of his intention to bombard the german consulate at p.m. sharp. this was in retaliation for the propaganda carried on by the consul, leutweld von hardegg, and chiefly because of his desecration of the grave of bonaparte's soldiers. the consul had time to pack up his archives and valuables, and he left his house before three. the bombardment began exactly at three. fifteen shells were fired with a wonderful precision. not one house in the neighborhood of the consulate was touched, but the consulate itself was a heap of ruins after a few shells had struck it. the population was exceedingly calm. only the german colony was panic-stricken, and on every german house an american flag was raised. it was rather humorous to see all the germans who were active in the turkish army in one capacity or another seek safety by means of this trick. this bombardment had a sobering effect upon the mohammedan population. they saw that the allies were not wholly ignorant of what was going on in the country and that they could retaliate, and safety for the non-mohammedans increased accordingly. in general beirut was a rather quiet and safe place. the presence of an american cruiser in the port had much to do with that. the american sailors were allowed to come ashore three times a week, and they spent their money lavishly. it was estimated that beirut was getting more than five thousand dollars a week out of them. but the natives were especially impressed by the manliness and quick action of the american boys. frequently a few sailors were involved in a street fight with scores of arabs, and they always held their own. in a short time the americans became feared, which in the orient is equivalent to saying they were respected. the beirut people are famous for their fighting spirit, but this spirit was not manifested after a few weeks of intimate acquaintance with the american blue-jackets. my inspection of the devastation caused by the locusts completed, i returned home. the news that greeted me there was alarming. i must narrate with some detail the events which finally decided me to leave the country. about one hour's ride on horseback from our village lives a family of turkish nobles, the head of which was sadik pasha, brother of the famous kiamil pasha, several times grand vizier of the empire. sadik, who had been exiled from constantinople, came to palestine and bought great tracts of land near my people. after his death his sons--good-for-nothing, wild fellows--were forced to sell most of the estate--all except one fewzi bey, who retained his part of the land and lived on it. here he collected a band of friends as worthless as himself and gradually commenced a career of plundering and "frightfulness" much like that of the robber barons of mediaeval germany. before the outbreak of the war he confined his attentions chiefly to the arabs, whom he treated shamefully. he raided cattle and crops and carried off girls and women in broad daylight. on one occasion he stopped a wedding procession and carried off the young bride. then he seized the bridegroom, against whom he bore a grudge, and subjected the poor bedouin to the bastinado until he consented to divorce his wife by pronouncing the words, "i divorce thee," three times in the presence of witnesses, according to mohammedan custom. this bedouin was the grandson of the sheikh hilou, a holy man of the region upon whose grave the arabs are accustomed to make their prayers. but we villagers of zicron-jacob had never submitted to fewzi bey in any way; our young men were organized and armed, and after a few encounters he let us alone. after the mobilization, however, and the taking away of our arms, this outlaw saw that his chance had come. he began to send his men and his camels into our fields to harvest our crops and carry them off. this pillage continued until the locusts came--fewzi, in the mean while, becoming so bold that he would gallop through the streets of our village with his horsemen, shooting right and left into the air and insulting old men and women. he boasted--apparently with reason--that the authorities at haifa were powerless to touch him. [illustration: haifa and the bay of akka. looking east from mount carmel] there was one hope left. djemal pasha had boasted that he had introduced law and order; the country was under military rule; it remained to see what he would say and do when the crimes of fewzi bey were brought to his notice. accordingly, armed with my _boyouroulton_, or passport, of a locust-inspector, i rode to jerusalem, where i procured, through my brother, who was then in favor, an interview with djemal pasha. he received me on the very day of my arrival, and listened attentively while for a whole hour i poured out the story of fewzi bey's outrages. i put my whole heart into the plea and wound up by asking if it was to the credit of the progressive young turks to shelter feudal abuses of a bygone age. djemal seemed to be impressed. he sprang from his chair, began walking up and down the room; then with a great dramatic gesture he exclaimed, "justice shall be rendered!" and assured me that a commission of army officers would be sent at once to start an investigation. i returned to zicron-jacob with high hopes. sure enough, a few days later fewzi bey was summoned to jerusalem; at the same time the "commission," which had dwindled to one single officer on secret mission, put in an appearance and began to make inquiries among the natives. he got little satisfaction at first, for they lived in mortal terror of the outlaw; they grew bolder, however, when they learned his purpose. complaints and testimonies came pouring in, and in four days the officer had the names of hundreds of witnesses, establishing no less than fifty-two crimes of the most serious nature. fewzi's friends and relatives, in the mean while, were doing their utmost to stem the tide of accusations. the kaimakam (lieutenant- governor) of haifa came in person to our village and threatened the elders with all sorts of severities if they did not retract the charges they had made. but they stood firm. had not djemal pasha, commander-in- chief of the armies in palestine, given his word of honor that we should have redress? we were soon shown the depth of our naïveté in fancying that justice could be done in turkey by a turk. fewzi bey came back from jerusalem, not in convict's clothes, but in the uniform of a turkish officer! djemal pasha had commissioned him commandant of the moujahaddeen (religious militia) of the entire region! it was bad enough to stand him as an outlaw; now we had to submit to him as an officer. he came riding into our village daily, ordering everybody about and picking me out for distinguished spitefulness. my position soon became unbearable. i was, of course, known as the organizer of the young men's union which for so long had put up a spirited resistance to fewzi; i was still looked upon as a leader of the younger spirits, and i knew that sooner or later fewzi would try to make good his threat, often repeated, that he would "shoot me like a dog." it was hardly likely that an open attempt on my life would be made. when ambassador morgenthau visited palestine, he had stayed in our village and given my family the evidence of his sincere friendship. these things count in the east, and i soon got the reputation of having influential friends. however, there were other ways of disposing of me. one evening, about sunset, while i was riding through a valley near our village, my horse shied violently in passing a clump of bushes. i gave him the spur and turned and rode toward the bushes just in time to see a horseman dash out wildly with a rifle across his saddle. i kept the incident to myself, but i was more cautious and kept my eyes open wherever i went. one afternoon, a fortnight later, as i was riding to hedera, another jewish village, two hours' ride away, a shot was fired from behind a sand-dune. the bullet burned a hole in the lapel of my coat. that night i had a long talk with my brother. there was no doubt whatever in his mind that i should try to leave the country, while i, on the contrary, could not bear to think of deserting my people at the crisis of their fortunes. it was a beautiful night, such a night, i think, as only palestine can show, a white, serene, moon-bathed night. the roar of the mediterranean came out of the stillness as if to remind us that help and salvation could come only from the sea, the sea upon which scores of the warships of the allies were sailing back and forth. we had argued into the small hours before i yielded to his persuasion. [illustration: the bazaar of jaffa on a market day] chapter x a rash adventure it was all very well to decide to leave the country; to get safely away was a different matter. there were two ways out. one of these--the land route by constantinople--could not be considered. the other way was to board one of the american cruisers which, by order of ambassador morgenthau, were empowered to assist citizens of neutral countries to leave the ottoman empire. these cruisers had already done wonderful rescue work for the russian jews in palestine, who, when war was declared, were to have been sent to the mesopotamian town of urfa--there to suffer massacre and outrage like the armenians. this was prevented by mr. morgenthau's strenuous representations, with the result that these russian jews were gathered together as in a great drag-net and herded to jaffa, amidst suffering unspeakable. there they were met by the american cruisers which were to transport them to egypt. up to the very moment when they set foot on the friendly warships they were robbed and horribly abused by the jaffa boatmen. the eternal curse of the wandering jew! driven from russia, they come to seek shelter in turkey; turkey then casts them from her under pretext that they are loyal to russia. truly, the jew lifts his eyes to the mountains, asking the ancient and still unanswered question, "whence shall come my help?" the turkish government later repented of its leniency in allowing these russian jews to escape, and gave orders that only neutrals should leave the country--and then only under certain conditions. i was not a neutral; my first papers of american citizenship were valueless to further my escape. i had heard, however, that the united states cruiser tennessee was to call at jaffa, and i determined to get aboard her by hook or by crook. one evening, as soon as darkness had fallen, i bade a sorrowful farewell to my people, and set off for jaffa, traveling only by night and taking out-of-the-way paths to avoid the pickets, for now that the locust campaign was over, my _boyouroulton_ was useless. at dawn, two days later, i slipped into jaffa by way of the sand-dunes and went to the house of a friend whom i could trust to help me in every possible way, and begged him to find me a passport for a neutral. he set off in search and i waited all day at his house, consumed with impatience and anxiety. at last, toward evening, my friend returned, but the news he brought was not cheering. he had found a passport, indeed, but his report of the rigors of the inspection at the wharf was such as to make it clear that the chances of my getting through on a false passport were exceedingly slim, since i was well known in jaffa. if i were caught in such an undertaking, it might mean death for me and punishment for the friends who had helped me. evidently this plan was not feasible. all that night i racked my brain for a solution. finally i decided to stake everything on what appeared to be my only chance. the tennessee was due on the next day but one, early in the morning. i gave my friend the name of a boatman who was under obligations to me and had sworn to be my friend for life or death. even under the circumstances i hesitated to trust a mohammedan, but it seemed the only thing to do; i had no choice left. my friend brought the boatman, and i put my plan before him, appealing to his daring and his sense of honor. i wanted him to take me at midnight in his fishing-boat from an isolated part of the coast and wait for the appearance of the tennessee; then, on her arrival, amid the scramble of boats full of refugees, i was to jump aboard, while he would return with the other boats. the poor fellow tried to remonstrate, pointing out the dangers and what he called--rightly enough, doubtless--the folly of the plan. i stuck to it, however, making it clear that his part would be well paid for, and at last he consented and we arranged a meeting-place behind the sand-dunes by the shore. i put a few personal belongings into a little suit-case and had my friend give it to one of the refugees who was to sail on the tennessee. if i succeeded, i was to recover it when we reached egypt. the only thing i took with me was the paper which declared my "intention of becoming an american citizen," the "first paper." from this document i was determined not to part. i shall not tell how i kept it on me, as the means i used may still be used by others in concealing such papers and a disclosure of the secret might bring disaster to them. suffice it to say that i had the paper with me and that no search would have brought it to light. arrived next morning at the appointed place, i gave the signal agreed upon, the whine of a jackal, and, after repeating it again and again, i heard a very low and muffled answer. my boatman was there! i had some fear that he might have betrayed me and that i should presently see a soldier or policeman leap out of the little boat, but my fears proved groundless, the man was faithful. [illustration: stormy sea breaking over rocks off jaffa] we rowed out quietly, our boat a little nutshell on the tossing waves. but i was relieved; the elements did not frighten me; on the contrary, i felt secure and refreshed in the midst of the sea. when morning began to dawn, scores of little boats came out of the harbor and circled about waiting for the cruiser. this was our chance. i crouched in the bottom of our boat and to all appearances my boatman was engaged merely in fishing. after i had lain there over an hour with my heart beating like a drum and with small hopes for the success of my undertaking, i heard at last the whistle of the approaching cruiser followed by a babel of mad shouting and cursing among the boatmen. in the confusion i felt it safe to sit up. no one paid the slightest attention to me. all were engaged in a wild race to reach and mount the tennessee's ladder. i scrambled up with the rest, and when, on the deck, an officer demanded my passport, i put on a bold front and asked him to tell captain decker that mr. aaronsohn wished to see him. ten minutes later i stood in the captain's cabin. there i unfolded my story, and wound up by asking him if, under the circumstances, my "first papers" might not entitle me to protection. as i spoke i could see the struggle that was going on within him. when he answered it was to explain, with the utmost kindness, that if he took me aboard his ship it would be to forfeit his word of honor to the turkish government, his pledge to take only citizens of neutral countries; that he could not consider me an american on the strength of my first papers; and that any such evasion might lead to serious complications for him and for his government. well, there was nothing for me to do but to withdraw and go back to jaffa to face trial for an attempt to escape. when i reached the deck again i found it swarming with refugees, many of whom knew me and came up to congratulate me on getting away. i could only shake my head and with death in my heart descend the tennessee's ladder. it did not matter now what boat i took. any boatman was eager enough to take me for a few cents. as i sat in the boat, every stroke of the oars bringing me nearer to the shore and to what i felt was inevitable captivity, a great bitterness swelled my heart. i was tired, utterly tired of all the dangers and trials i had been going through for the last months. from depression i sank into despair and out of despair came, strange to say, a great serenity, the serenity of despair. on the quay i ran into hassan bey, commandant of the police, who was superintending the embarkation of refugees. i knew him and he knew me. half an hour later i was in police headquarters under examination by hassan bey. i was desperate, and answered him recklessly. a seasick man is indifferent to shipwreck. this was the substance of our conversation:-- "how did you get aboard the ship?" "in a boat with some refugees. a woman hid me with her skirts." "so you were trying to escape, were you?" "if i had been, i shouldn't have come back." "then what did you do on the cruiser?" "i went to talk to the captain, who is a friend of mine. my life is in danger. fewzi bey is after me, and i wanted _my friends in america_ to know how justice is done in palestine." "who are your friends in america?" "men who could break you in a minute." "do you know to whom you are speaking?" "yes, hassan bey. i am sick of persecution. i wish you would hang me with your own hands as you hanged the young christian; my friends would have your life for mine." i wonder now how i dared to speak to him in this manner. but the bluff carried. hassan bey looked at me curiously for a moment--then smiled and offered me a cigarette, assuring me that he believed me a loyal citizen, and declaring he felt deeply hurt that i had not come to him for permission to visit the cruiser. we parted with a profusion of eastern compliments, and that evening i started back to zicron-jacob. [illustration: the author's sister on her horse tayar] chapter xi escape the failure of my attempt to leave the country only sharpened my desire to make another trial. the danger of the enterprise tended to reconcile me to deserting my family and comrades and seeking safety for myself. as i racked my brain for a promising plan, a letter came from my sister in beirut with two pieces of news which were responsible for my final escape. the american college was shortly to close for the summer, and the u.s.s. chester was to sail for alexandria with refugees aboard. beirut is a four days' trip from our village, and roads are unsafe. it was out of the question to permit my sister to come home alone, and it was impossible for any of us to get leave to go after her; nor did we want to have her at home in the unsettled condition of the country. i began wondering if i could not possibly get to beirut and get my sister aboard the chester, which offered, perhaps, the last opportunity to go out with the refugees. it would be a difficult undertaking but it might be our only chance and i quickly made up my mind to carry it out if it were a possible thing. i had to act immediately; no time was to be lost, for no one could tell how soon the chester might sail. my last adventure had been entered upon with forebodings, but now i felt that i should succeed. to us orientals intuition speaks in very audible tones and we are trained from childhood to listen to its voice. it was with a feeling of confidence in the outcome, therefore, that i bade this second good-bye to my family and dearest friends. solemn hours they were, these hours of farewell, hours that needed few words. then once more i slipped out into the night to make my secret way to beirut. it was about midnight when i left home, dressed in a soldier's uniform and driving a donkey before me. i traveled only by night and spent each day in hiding in some cave or narrow valley where i could sleep with some measure of security. for food i had brought bread, dried figs, and chocolate, and water was always to be found in little springs and pools. in these clear, warm nights i used to think of david, a fugitive and pursued by his enemies. how well i could now understand his despairing cry: "how long wilt thou forget me, o lord? for ever?... how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?" five nights i journeyed, and at last one morning beautiful beirut appeared in the distance and i found myself in the forest of pines that leads into the city. the fresh dawn was filled with the balmy breath of the pines and all the odors of the lebanon. driving my donkey before me, i boldly approached the first picket-house and saluted the non-commissioned officer in military fashion. he stopped me and asked whence i came and where i was going. i smiled sweetly and replied that i was the orderly of a german officer who was surveying the country a few hours to the south and that i was going to beirut for provisions. then i lighted a cigarette and sat down for a chat. after discussing politics and the war for a few minutes, i jumped up, exclaiming that if i didn't hurry i should be late, and so took my departure. it was all so simple, and it brought me safely to beirut. my donkey, having served the purpose for which i had brought him, was speedily abandoned, and i hurried to a friend's house, where i exchanged my uniform for the garb of a civilian. my sister was the most surprised person on earth when she saw me walking into her room, and, when i told her that i wanted her to go with me on the chester, she thought me crazy, for she knew that hundreds of persons were trying in vain to find means of leaving the country and it seemed to her impossible that we, who were turkish subjects, could succeed in outwitting the authorities. even when i had explained my plans and she was willing to admit the possibility of success, she still felt doubts as to whether it would be right for her to leave the country while her friends were left behind in danger. i assured her, however, that our family would feel relieved to know that we were in safety and could come back fresh and strong after the war to help in rebuilding the country. having gained her consent, i still had the difficult problem of ways and means before me. the chester had orders to take citizens of neutral countries only. passports had to be examined by the turkish authorities and by the american consul-general, who gave the final permission to board the cruiser. how was i to pass this double scrutiny? after long and arduous search, with the assistance of several good friends, i at last discovered a man who was willing to sell me the passports of a young couple belonging to a neutral nation. i cannot go into particulars about this arrangement, of course. suffice it to say that my sister was to travel as my wife and that we both had to disguise ourselves so as to answer the descriptions on the passports. when i went to the american consulate-general to get the permit, i found the building crowded with people of all nations,--spanish and greek and dutch and swiss,--all waiting for the precious little papers that should take them aboard the american cruiser, that haven of liberty and safety. the chester was to take all these people to alexandria, and those who had the means were to be charged fifty cents a day for their food. from behind my dark goggles i recognized many a person in disguise like myself and seeking escape. we never betrayed recognition for fear of the spies who infested the place. after securing my permit, i ran downstairs and straight to "my" consul, whose dragoman i took along with me to the _seraya_, or government building. of course, the dragoman was well tipped and he helped me considerably in hastening the examination i had to undergo at the hands of the turkish officials. all went well, and i hurried back to my sister triumphant. the chester was to sail in two days, but while we were waiting, the alarming news came that the american consul had been advised that the british government refused to permit the landing of the refugees in egypt and that the departure of the chester was indefinitely postponed. with a sinking at my heart i rushed up to the american consulate for details and there learned that the u.s.s. des moines was to sail in a few hours for rhodes with italian and greek refugees and that i could go on her if i wished. in a few minutes i had my permit changed for the trip on the des moines and i hurried home to my sister. we hastily got together the few belongings we were to take with us, jumped into a carriage, and drove to the harbor. we had still another ordeal to go through. my sister was taken into a private room and thoroughly searched; so was i. nobody could leave the country with more than twenty-five dollars in cash on his person. our baggage was carefully overhauled. no papers or books could be taken. my sister's bible was looked upon with much suspicion since it contained a map of ancient canaan. i explained that this was necessary for the orientation of our prayers and that without it we could not tell in which direction to turn our faces when praying! this seemed plausible to the moslem examiners and saved the bible, the only book we now possess as a souvenir from home. now our passports were examined again and several questions were asked. my sister was brave and self-possessed, cool and unconcerned in manner, and at last the final signature was affixed and we jumped into the little boat that was to take us out to the ship. at this moment a man approached, a dry-goods dealer of whom my sister had made some purchases a few months before. he seemed to recognize her and he asked her in german if she were not miss aaronsohn. i felt my blood leave my face, and, looking him straight in the eye, i whispered, "if you say one word more, you will be a dead man; so help me god!" he must have felt that i meant exactly what i said, for he walked off mumbling unintelligibly. at last the boat got away, and five minutes later we were mounting the side of the des moines. throngs of refugees covered the decks of the cruiser. their faces showed tension and anxiety. their presence there seemed too good to be true, and all awaited the moment when the ship should heave anchor. a filipino sailor showed us about, and as he spoke italian, i told him i wanted to be hidden somewhere till the ship got under way. i felt that even yet we were not entirely safe. that my fears were justified i discovered shortly, when from our hiding-place i saw the shopkeeper approaching in a small boat with a turkish officer. they looked over all the refugees on the deck, but searched for us in vain. after a half-hour more of uncomfortable tension the engines began to sputter, the propellers revolved, and--we were safe! [illustration: beirut, from the deck of an outgoing steamer] the day was dying and a beautiful twilight softened the outlines of the lebanon and the houses of beirut. the mediterranean lay quiet and peaceful around us, and the healthy, sturdy american sailors gave a feeling of confidence. as the cruiser drew out of the harbor, a great cry of farewell arose from the refugees on board, a cry in which was mingled the relief of being free, anguish at leaving behind parents and friends, fear and hope for the future. a little later the sailors were lined up in arms to salute the american flag when it was lowered for the night. moved by a powerful instinct of love and respect, all the refugees jumped to their feet, the men bareheaded and the women with folded hands, and in that moment i understood as i had never understood before the real sacred meaning of a flag. to all those people standing in awe about that piece of cloth bearing the stars and stripes america was an incarnation of love universal, of freedom and salvation. the cool syrian night, our first night on the cruiser, was spent in songs, hymns, and conversation. we were all too excited to sleep. friends discovered friends and tales of woe were exchanged, stories of hardship, injustice, oppression, all of which ended with mutual congratulations on escaping from the clutches of the turks. the end this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] joshua by georg ebers volume . chapter xx. the storm which had risen as night closed in swept over the isthmus. the waves in its lakes dashed high, and the red sea, which thrust a bay shaped like the horn of a snail into it from the south, was lashed to the wildest fury. farther northward, where pharaoh's army, protected by the migdol of the south, the strongest fort of the etham line, had encamped a short time before, the sand lashed by the storm whirled through the air and, in the quarter occupied by the king and his great officials, hammers were constantly busy driving the tent-pins deeper into the earth; for the brocades, cloths, and linen materials which formed the portable houses of pharaoh and his court, struck by the gale, threatened to break from the poles by which they were supported. black clouds hung in the north, but the moon and stars were often visible, and flashes of distant lightning frequently brightened the horizon. even now the moisture of heaven seemed to avoid this rainless region and in all directions fires were burning, which the soldiers surrounded in double rows, like a living shield, to keep the storm from scattering the fuel. the sentries had a hard duty; for the atmosphere was sultry, in spite of the north wind, which still blew violently, driving fresh clouds of sand into their faces. only two sentinels were pacing watchfully to and fro at the most northern gate of the camp, but they were enough; for, on account of the storm, no one had appeared for a long time to demand entrance or egress. at last, three hours after sunset, a slender figure, scarcely beyond boyhood, approached the guards with a firm step and, showing a messenger's pass, asked the way to prince siptah's tent. he seemed to have had a toilsome journey; for his thick black locks were tangled and his feet were covered with dust and dried clay. yet he excited no suspicion; for his bearing was that of a self-reliant freeman, his messenger's pass was perfectly correct, and the letter he produced was really directed to prince siptah; a scribe of the corn storehouses, who was sitting at the nearest fire with other officials and subordinate officers, examined it. as the youth's appearance pleased most of those present, and he came from tanis and perhaps brought news, a seat at the fire and a share in the meal were offered; but he was in haste. declining the invitation with thanks, he answered the questions curtly and hurriedly and begged the resting soldiers for a guide. one was placed at his disposal without delay. but he was soon to learn that it would not be an easy matter to reach a member of the royal family; for the tents of pharaoh, his relatives, and dignitaries stood in a special spot in the heart of the camp, hedged in by the shields of the heavily- armed troops. when he entered he was challenged again and again, and his messenger's pass and the prince's letter were frequently inspected. the guide, too, was sent back, and his place was filled by an aristocratic lord, called i the 'eye and ear of the king,' who busied himself with the seal of the letter. but the messenger resolutely demanded it, and as soon as it was again in his hand, and two tents standing side by side rocking in the tempest had been pointed out to him, one as prince siptah's, the other as the shelter of masana, the daughter of hornecht, for whom he asked, he turned to the chamberlain who came out of the former one, showed him the letter, and asked to be taken to the prince; but the former offered to deliver the letter to his master--whose steward he was--and ephraim--for he was the messenger--agreed, if he would obtain him immediate admission to the young widow. the steward seemed to lay much stress upon getting possession of the letter and, after scanning ephraim from top to toe, he asked if kasana knew him, and when the other assented, adding that he brought her a verbal message, the egyptian said smiling: "well then; but we must protect our carpets from such feet, and you seem weary and in need of refreshment. follow me." with these words he took him to a small tent, before which an old slave and one scarcely beyond childhood were sitting by the fire, finishing their late meal with a bunch of garlic. they started up as they saw their master; but he ordered the old man to wash the messenger's feet, and bade the younger ask the prince's cook in his name for meat, bread, and wine. then he led ephraim to his tent, which was lighted by a lantern, and asked how he, who from his appearance was neither a slave nor a person of mean degree, had come into such a pitiable plight. the messenger replied that on his way he had bandaged the wounds of a severely injured man with the upper part of his apron, and the chamberlain instantly went to his baggage and gave him a piece of finely plaited linen. ephraim's reply, which was really very near the truth, had cost him so little thought and sounded so sincere, that it won credence, and the steward's kindness seemed to him so worthy of gratitude that he made no objection when the courtier, without injuring the seal, pressed the roll of papyrus with a skilful hand, separating the layers and peering into the openings to decipher the contents. while thus engaged, the corpulent courtier's round eyes sparkled brightly and it seemed to the youth as if the countenance of the man, whose comfortable plumpness and smooth rotundity at first appeared like a mirror of the utmost kindness of heart, now had the semblance of a cat's. as soon as the steward had completed his task, he begged the youth to refresh himself in all comfort, and did not return until ephraim had bathed, wrapped a fresh linen upper-garment around his hips, perfumed and anointed his hair, and, glancing into the mirror, was in the act of slipping a broad gold circlet upon his arm. he had hesitated some time ere doing this; for he was aware that he would encounter great perils; but this circlet was his one costly possession and, during his captivity, it had been very difficult for him to hide it under his apron. it might be of much service to him but, if he put it on, it would attract attention and increase the danger of being recognized. yet the reflection he beheld in the mirror, vanity, and the desire to appear well in kasana's eyes, conquered caution and prudent consideration, and the broad costly ornament soon glittered on his arm. the steward stood in astonishment before the handsome, aristocratic youth, so haughty in his bearing, who had taken the place of the unassuming messenger. the question whether he was a relative of kasana sprang to his lips, and receiving an answer in the negative, he asked to what family he belonged. ephraim bent his eyes on the ground for some time in embarrassment, and then requested the egyptian to spare him an answer until he had talked with hornecht's daughter. the other, shaking his head, looked at him again, but pressed him no farther; for what he had read in the letter was a secret which might bring death to whoever was privy to it, and the aristocratic young messenger was doubtless the son of a dignitary who belonged to the circle of the fellow-conspirators of prince siptah, his master. a chill ran through the courtier's strong, corpulent body, and he gazed with mingled sympathy and dread at the blooming human flower associated thus early in plans fraught with danger. his master had hitherto only hinted at the secret, and it would still be possible for him to keep his own fate separate from his. should he do so, an old age free from care lay before him; but, if he joined the prince and his plan succeeded, how high he might rise! terribly momentous was the choice confronting him, the father of many children, and beads of perspiration stood on his brow as, incapable of any coherent thought, he led ephraim to kasana's tent, and then hastened to his master. silence reigned within the light structure, which was composed of poles and gay heavy stuffs, tenanted by the beautiful widow. with a throbbing heart ephraim approached the entrance, and when he at last summoned courage and drew aside the curtain fastened firmly to the earth, which the wind puffed out like a sail, he beheld a dark room, from which a similar one opened on the right and left. the one on the left was as dark as the central one; but a flickering light stole through numerous chinks of the one on the right. the tent was one of those with a flat roof, divided into three apartments, which he had often seen, and the woman who irresistibly attracted him was doubtless in the lighted one. to avoid exposing himself to fresh suspicion, he must conquer his timid delay, and he had already stooped and loosed the loop which fastened the curtain to the hook in the floor, when the door of the lighted room opened and a woman's figure entered the dark central chamber. was it she? should he venture to speak to her? yes, it must be done. panting for breath and clenching his hands, he summoned up his courage as if he were about to steal unbidden into the most sacred sanctuary of a temple. then he pushed the curtain aside, and the woman whom he had just noticed greeted him with a low cry. but he speedily regained his composure, for a ray of light had fallen on her face, revealing that the person who stood before him was not kasana, but her nurse, who had accompanied her to the prisoners and then to the camp. she, too, recognized him and stared at him as though he had risen from the grave. they were old acquaintances; for when he was first brought to the archer's house she had prepared his bath and moistened his wound with balsam, and during his second stay beneath the same roof, she had joined her mistress in nursing him. they had chatted away many an hour together, and he knew that she was kindly disposed toward him; for when midway between waking and sleeping, in his burning fever, her hand had stroked him with maternal tenderness, and afterwards she had never wearied of questioning him about his people and at last had acknowledged that she was descended from the syrians, who were allied to the hebrews. nay, even his language was not wholly strange to her; for she had been a woman of twenty when dragged to egypt with other prisoners of rameses the great. ephraim, she was fond of saying, reminded her of her own son when he was still younger. the youth had no ill to fear from her, so grasping her hand, he whispered that he had escaped from his guards and come to ask counsel from her mistress and herself. the word "escaped" was sufficient to satisfy the old woman; for her idea of ghosts was that they put others to flight, but did not fly themselves. relieved, she stroked the youth's curls and, ere his whispered explanation was ended, turned her back upon him and hurried into the lighted room to tell her mistress whom she had found outside. a few minutes after ephraim was standing before the woman who had become the guiding star of his life. with glowing cheeks he gazed into the beautiful face, still flushed by weeping, and though it gave his heart a pang when, before vouchsafing him a greeting, she enquired whether hosea had accompanied him, he forgot the foolish pain when he saw her gaze warmly at him. yet when the nurse asked whether she did not think he looked well and vigorous, and withal more manly in appearance, it seemed as though he had really grown taller, and his heart beat faster and faster. kasana desired to learn the minutest details of his uncle's experiences; but after he had done her bidding and finally yielded to the wish to speak of his own fate, she interrupted him to consult the nurse concerning the means of saving him from unbidden looks and fresh dangers--and the right expedient was soon found. first, with ephraim's help, the old woman closed the main entrance of the tent as firmly as possible, and then pointed to the dark room into which he must speedily and softly retire as soon as she beckoned to him. meanwhile kasana had poured some wine into a goblet, and when he came back with the nurse she made him sit down on the giraffe skin at her feet and asked how he had succeeded in evading the guards, and what he expected from the future. she would tell him in advance that her father had remained in tanis, so he need not fear recognition and betrayal. her pleasure in this meeting was evident to both eyes and ears; nay, when ephraim commenced his story by saying that prince siptah's command to remove the prisoners' chains, for which they were indebted solely to her, had rendered his escape possible, she clapped her hands like a child. then her face clouded and, with a deep sigh, she added that ere his arrival her heart had almost broken with grief and tears; but hosea should learn what a woman would sacrifice for the most ardent desire of her heart. she repaid with grateful words ephraim's assurance that, before his flight, he had offered to release his uncle from his bonds and, when she learned that joshua had refused to accept his nephew's aid, lest it might endanger the success of the plan he had cleverly devised for him, she cried out to her nurse, with tearful eyes, that hosea alone would have been capable of such a deed. to the remainder of the fugitive's tale she listened intently, often interrupting him with sympathizing questions. the torturing days and nights of the past, which had reached such a happy termination, seemed now like a blissful dream, a bewildering fairy-tale, and the goblet she constantly replenished was not needed to lend fire to his narrative. never before had he been so eloquent as while describing how, in the ravine, he had stepped on some loose stones and rolled head foremost down into the chasm with them. on reaching the bottom he had believed that all was lost; for soon after extricating himself from the rubbish that had buried him, in order to hurry to the pool, he had heard the whistle of the guards. yet he had been a good runner from his childhood, had learned in his native pastures to guide himself by the light of the stars, so without glancing to the right or to the left, he had hastened southward as fast as his feet would carry him. often in the darkness he had fallen over stones or tripped in the hollows of the desert sand, but only to rise again quickly and dash onward, onward toward the south, where he knew he should find her, kasana, her for whose sake he recklessly flung to the winds what wiser-heads had counselled, her for whom he was ready to sacrifice liberty and life. whence he derived the courage to confess this, he knew not, and neither the blow from her fan, nor the warning exclamation of the nurse: "just look at the boy!" sobered him. nay, his sparkling eyes sought hers still mote frequently as he continued his story. one of the hounds which attacked him he had flung against a rock, and the other he pelted with stones till it fled howling into a thicket. he had seen no other pursuers, either that night, or during the whole of the next day. at last he again reached a travelled road and found country people who told him which way pharaoh's army had marched. at noon, overwhelmed by fatigue, he had fallen asleep under the shade of a sycamore, and when he awoke the sun was near its setting. he was very hungry, so he took a few turnips from a neighboring field. but their owner suddenly sprang from a ditch near by, and he barely escaped his pursuit. he had wandered along during a part of the night, and then rested beside a well on the roadside, for he knew that wild beasts shun such frequented places. after sunrise he continued his march, following the road taken by the army. everywhere he found traces of it, and when, shortly before noon, exhausted and faint from hunger, he reached a village in the cornlands watered by the seti-canal, he debated whether to sell his gold armlet, obtain more strengthening food, and receive some silver and copper in change. but he was afraid of being taken for a thief and again imprisoned, for his apron had been tattered by the thorns, and his sandals had long since dropped from his feet. he had believed that even the hardest hearts could not fail to pity his misery so, hard as it was for him, he had knocked at a peasant's door and begged. but the man gave him nothing save the jeering counsel that a strong young fellow like him ought to use his arms and leave begging to the old and weak. a second peasant had even threatened to beat him; but as he walked on with drooping bead, a young woman whom he had noticed in front of the barbarian's house followed him, thrust some bread and dates into his hand, and whispered hastily that heavy taxes had been levied on the village when pharaoh marched through, or she would have given him something better. this unexpected donation, which he had eaten at the next well, had not tasted exactly like a festal banquet, but he did not tell kasana that it had been embittered by the doubt whether to fulfil joshua's commission and return to his people or yield to the longing that drew him to her. he moved forward irresolutely, but fate seemed to have undertaken to point out his way; for after walking a short half hour, the latter portion of the time through barren land, he had found by the wayside a youth of about his own age who, moaning with pain, held his foot clasped between both hands. pity led him to go to him and, to his astonishment, he recognized the runner and messenger of kasana's father, with whom he had often talked. "apu, our nimble nubian runner?" cried the young widow, and ephraim assented and then added that the messenger had been despatched to convey a letter to prince siptah as quickly as possible, and the swift-footed lad, who was wont to outstrip his master's noble steeds, had shot over the road like an arrow and would have reached his destination in two hours more, had he not stepped on the sharp edge of a bottle that had been shattered by a wagon-wheel--and made a deep and terrible wound. "and you helped him?" asked kasana. "how could i do otherwise?" replied ephraim. "he had already lost a great deal of blood and was pale as death. so i carried him to the nearest ditch, washed the gaping wound, and anointed it with his balsam." "i put the little box in his pouch myself a year ago," said the nurse who was easily moved, wiping her eyes. ephraim confirmed the statement, for apu had gratefully told him of it. then he went on. "i tore my upper garment into strips and bandaged the wound as well as i could. meanwhile he constantly urged haste, held out the pass and letter his master had given him and, knowing nothing of the misfortune which had befallen me, charged me to deliver the roll to the prince in his place. oh, how willingly i undertook the task and, soon after the second hour had passed, i reached the camp. the letter is in the prince's hands, and here am i--and i can see that you are glad! but no one was ever so happy as i to sit here at your feet, and look up to you, so grateful as i am that you have listened to me so kindly, and if they load me with chains again i will bear it calmly, if you will but care for me. ah, my misfortune has been so great! i have neither father nor mother, no one who loves me. you, you alone are dear, and you will not repulse me, will you?" he had fairly shouted the last words, as if beside himself, and carried away by the might of passion and rendered incapable by the terrible experiences of the past few hours of controlling the emotions that assailed him, the youth, still scarcely beyond childhood, who saw himself torn away from and bereft of all that had usually sustained and supported him, sobbed aloud, and like a frightened birdling seeking protection under its mother's wings, hid his head, amid floods of tears, in kasana's lap. warm compassion seized upon the tender-hearted young widow, and her own eyes grew dim. she laid her hands kindly upon his head, and feeling the tremor that shook the frame of the weeping lad, she raised his head with both hands, kissed his brow and cheeks, looked smilingly into his eyes with tears in her own, and exclaimed: "you poor, foolish fellow! why should i not care for you, why should i repel you? your uncle is the most beloved of men to me, and you are like his son. for your sakes i have already accepted what i should otherwise have thrust far, far from me! but now i must go on, and must not care what others may think or say of me, if only i can accomplish the one thing for which i am risking person, life, all that i once prized! wait, you poor, impulsive fellow!"--and here she again kissed him on the cheeks--"i shall succeed in smoothing the path for you also. that is enough now!" this command sounded graver, and was intended to curb the increasing impetuosity of the ardent youth. but she suddenly started up, exclaiming with anxious haste: "go, go, at once!" the footsteps of men approaching the tent, and a warning word from the nurse had brought this stern order to the young widow's lips, and ephraim's quick ear made him understand her anxiety and urged him to join the old nurse in the dark room. there he perceived that a few moments' delay would have betrayed him; for the curtain of the tent was drawn aside and a man passed through the central space straight to the lighted apartment, where kasana--the youth heard it distinctly--welcomed the new guest only too cordially, as though his late arrival surprised her. meanwhile the nurse had seized her own cloak, flung it over the fugitive's bare shoulders, and whispered: "be near the tent just before sunrise, but do not enter it until i call you, if you value your life. you have neither mother nor father, and my child kasana ah, what a dear, loving heart she has!--she is the best of all good women; but whether she is fit to be the guide of an inexperienced young blusterer, whose heart is blazing like dry straw with love for her, is another question. i considered many things, while listening to your story, and on account of my liking for you i will tell you this. you have an uncle who--my child is right there--is the best of men, and i know mankind. whatever he advised, do; for it will surely benefit you. obey him! if his bidding leads you far away from here and kasana, so much the better for you. we are walking in dangerous paths, and had it not been done for hosea's sake, i would have tried to hold her back with all my might. but for him--i am an old woman; but i would go through fire myself for that man. i am more grieved than i can tell, both for the pure, sweet child and for yourself, whom my own son was once so much like, so i repeat: obey your uncle, boy! do that, or you will go to ruin, and that would be a pity!" with these words, without waiting for an answer, she drew the curtain of the tent aside, and waited until ephraim had slipped through. then, wiping her eyes, she entered, as if by chance, the lighted chamber; but kasana and her late guest had matters to discuss that brooked no witnesses, and her "dear child" only permitted her to light her little lamp at the three-armed candelabra, and then sent her to rest. she promptly obeyed and, in the dark room, where her couch stood beside that of her mistress, she sank down, hid her face in her hands, and wept. she felt as though the world was upside down. she no longer understood her darling kasana; for she was sacrificing purity and honor for the sake of a man whom--she knew it--her soul abhorred. chapter xxi. ephriam cowered in the shadow of the tent, from which he had slipped, and pressed his ear close to the wall. he had cautiously ripped a small opening in a seam of the cloth, so he could see and hear what was passing in the lighted room of the woman he loved. the storm kept every one within the tents whom duty did not summon into the open air, and ephraim had less reason to fear discovery on account of the deep shadow that rested on the spot where he lay. the nurse's cloak covered him and, though shiver after shiver shook his young limbs, it was due to the bitter anguish that pierced his soul. the man on whose breast he saw kasana lay her head was a prince, a person of high rank and great power, and the capricious beauty did not always repel the bold man, when his lips sought those for whose kiss ephraim so ardently longed. she owed him nothing, it is true, yet her heart belonged to his uncle, whom she had preferred to all others. she had declared herself ready to endure the most terrible things for his liberation; and now his own eyes told him that she was false and faithless, that she granted to another what belonged to one alone. she had bestowed caresses on him, too, but these were only the crumbs that fell from hosea's table, a robbery--he confessed it with a blush--he had perpetrated on his uncle, yet he felt offended, insulted, deceived, and consumed to his inmost soul with fierce jealousy on behalf of his uncle, whom he honored, nay, loved, though he had opposed his wishes. and hosea? why, he too, like himself, this princely suitor, and all other men, must love her, spite of his strange conduct at the well by the roadside--it was impossible for him to do otherwise--and now, safe from the poor prisoner's resentment, she was basely, treacherously enjoying another's tender caresses. siptah, he had heard at their last meeting, was his uncle's foe, and it was to him that she betrayed the man she loved! the chink in the tent was ready to show him everything that occurred within, but he often closed his eyes that he might not behold it. often, it is true, the hateful scene held him in thrall by a mysterious spell and he would fain have torn the walls of the tent asunder, struck the detested egyptian to the ground, and shouted into the faithless woman's face the name of hosea, coupled with the harshest reproaches. the fervent passion which had taken possession of him was suddenly transformed to hate and scorn. he had believed himself to be the happiest of mortals, and he had suddenly become the most miserable; no one, he believed, had ever experienced such a fall from the loftiest heights to the lowest depths. the nurse had been right. naught save misery and despair could come to him from so faithless a woman. once he started up to fly, but he again heard the bewitching tones of her musical laugh, and mysterious powers detained him, forcing him to listen. at first the seething blood had throbbed so violently in his ears that he felt unable to follow the dialogue in the lighted tent. but, by degrees, he grasped the purport of whole sentences, and now he understood all that they said, not a word of their further conversation escaped him, and it was absorbing enough, though it revealed a gulf from which he shrank shuddering. kasana refused the bold suitor many favors for which he pleaded, but this only impelled him to beseech her more fervently to give herself to him, and the prize he offered in return was the highest gift of earth, the place by his side as queen on the throne of egypt, to which he aspired. he said this distinctly, but what followed was harder to understand; for the passionate suitor was in great haste and often interrupted his hasty sentences to assure kasana, to whose hands in this hour he was committing his life and liberty, of his changeless love, or to soothe her when the boldness of his advances awakened fear and aversion. but he soon began to speak of the letter whose bearer ephraim had been and, after reading it aloud and explaining it, the youth realized with a slight shudder that he had become an accomplice in the most criminal of all plots, and for a moment the longing stole over him to betray the traitors and deliver them into the hand of the mighty sovereign whose destruction they were plotting. but he repelled the thought and merely sunned himself in the pleasurable consciousness--the first during this cruel hour-of holding kasana and her royal lover in his hand as one holds a beetle by a string. this had a favorable effect on him and restored the confidence and courage he had lost. the baser the things he continued to hear, the more clearly he learned to appreciate the value of the goodness and truth which he had lost. his uncle's words, too, came back to his memory. "give no man, from the loftiest to the lowliest, a right to regard you save with respect, and you can hold your head as high as the proudest warrior who ever wore purple robe and golden armor." on the couch in kasana's house, while shaking with fever, he had constantly repeated this sentence; but in the misery of captivity, and on his flight it had again vanished from his memory. in the courtier's tent when, after he had bathed and perfumed himself, the old slave held a mirror before him, he had given it a passing thought; but now it mastered his whole soul. and strange to say, the worthless traitor within wore a purple coat and golden mail, and looked like a military hero, but he could not hold his head erect, for the work he sought to accomplish could only succeed in the sccresy that shuns the light, and was like the labor of the hideous mole which undermines the ground in the darkness. his tool was the repulsive cloven-footed trio, falsehood, fraud, and faithlessness, and she whom he had chosen for his help-mate was the woman--it shamed him to his inmost soul-for whom he had been in the act of sacrificing all that was honorable, precious, and dear to him. the worst infamies which he had been taught to shun were the rounds of the ladder on which this evil man intended to mount. the roll the youth had brought to the camp contained two letters. the first was from the conspirators in tanis, the second from siptah's mother. the former desired his speedy return and told him that the syrian aarsu, the commander of the foreign mercenaries, who guarded the palace, as well as the women's house, was ready to do him homage. if the high-priest of amon, who was at once chief-judge, viceroy and keeper of the seal, proclaimed him king, he was sovereign and could enter the palace which stood open to him and ascend the throne without resistance. if pharaoh returned, the body-guards would take him prisoner and remove him as siptah, who liked no halfway measures, had secretly directed, while the chief-priest insisted upon keeping him in mild imprisonment. nothing was to be feared save the premature return from thebes of seti, the second son of menephtah; for the former, after his older brother's death, had become heir to the throne, and carrier doves had brought news yesterday that he was now on his way. therefore siptah and the powerful priest who was to proclaim him king were urged to the utmost haste. the necessary measures had been adopted in case of possible resistance from the army; for as soon as the hebrews had been destroyed, the larger portion of the troops, without any suspicion of the impending dethronement of their commander-in-chief, would be sent to their former stations. the body-guards were devoted to siptah, and the others who entered the capital, should worst come to worst, could be easily overpowered by aarsu and his mercenaries. "there is nothing farther for me to do," said the prince, "stretching himself comfortably, like a man who has successfully accomplished a toilsome task," except to rush back to tanis in a few hours with bai, have myself crowned and proclaimed king in the temple of amon, and finally received in the palace as pharaoh. the rest will take care of itself. seti, whom they call the heir to the throne, is just such another weakling as his father, and must submit to a fixed fact, or if necessary, be forced to do so. the captain of the body-guards will see that menephtah does not again enter the palace in the city of rameses. the second letter which was addressed to the pharaoh, had been written by the mother of the prince in order to recall her son and the chief-priest bai to the capital as quickly as possible, without exposing the former to the reproach of cowardice for having quitted the army so shortly before the battle. though she had never been better, she protested with hypocritical complaints and entreaties, that the hours of her life were numbered, and besought the king to send her son and the chief-priest bai to her without delay, that she might be permitted to bless her only child before her death. she was conscious of many a sin, and no one, save the high-priest, possessed the power of winning the favor of the gods for her, a dying woman. without his intercession she would perish in despair. this letter, too, the base robber of a crown read aloud, called it a clever bit of feminine strategy, and rubbed his hands gleefully. treason, murder, hypocrisy, fraud, shameful abuse of the most sacred feelings, nay all that was evil must serve siptah to steal the throne, and though kasana had wrung her hands and shed tears when she heard that he meant to remove pharaoh from his path, she grew calmer after the prince had represented that her own father had approved of his arrangements for the deliverance of egypt from the hand of the king, her destroyer. the letter from the prince's mother to pharaoh, the mother who urged her own son to the most atrocious crimes, was the last thing ephraim heard; for it roused in the young hebrew, who was wont to consider nothing purer and more sacred than the bonds which united parents and children, such fierce indignation, that he raised his fist threateningly and, springing up, opened his lips in muttered invective. he did not hear that kasana made the prince swear that, if he attained the sovereign power, he would grant her first request. it should cost him neither money nor lands, and only give her the right to exercise mercy where her heart demanded it; for things were in store which must challenge the wrath of the gods and he must leave her to soothe it. ephraim could not endure to see or hear more of these abominable things. for the first time he felt how great a danger he ran of being dragged into this marsh and becoming a lost, evil man; but never, he thought, would he have been so corrupt, so worthless, as this prince. his uncle's words again returned to his mind, and he now raised his head proudly and arched his chest as if to assure himself of his own unbroken vigor, saying meanwhile, with a long breath, that he was of too much worth to ruin himself for the sake of a wicked woman, even though, like kasana, she was the fairest and most bewitching under the sun. away, away from the neighborhood of this net, which threatened to entangle him in murder and every deed of infamy. resolved to seek his people, he turned toward the gate of the camp, but after a few hasty steps paused, and a glance at the sky showed him that it was the second hour past midnight. every surrounding object was buried in silence save that from the neighboring dens of the royal steeds, came the sound of the rattle of a chain, or of the stamp of a stallion's hoof. if he risked escaping from the camp now, he could not fail to be seen and stopped. prudence commanded him to curb his impatience and, as he glanced around, his eyes rested on the chamberlain's tent from which the old slave had just emerged to look for his master, who was still waiting in the prince's tent for his lord's return. the old man had treated ephraim kindly, and now asked him with good- natured urgency to come in and rest; for the youth needed sleep. and ephraim accepted the well-meant invitation. he felt for the first time how weary his feet were, and he had scarcely stretched himself upon the mat which the old slave--it was his own--spread on the floor of the tent for him, ere the feeling came over him that his limbs were relaxing; and yet he had expected to find here time and rest for calm deliberation. he began, too, to think of the future and his uncle's commission. that he must join his people without delay was decided. if they escaped pharaoh's army, the others could do what they pleased, his duty was to summon his shepherds, servants, and the youths of his own age, and with them hurry to the mines to break joshua's chains and bring him back to his old father and the people who needed him. he already saw himself with a sling in his girdle and a battle-axe in his hand, rushing on in advance of the others, when sleep overpowered him and bound the sorely wearied youth so firmly and sweetly that even dreams remained aloof from his couch and when morning came the old slave was obliged to shake him to rouse him. the camp was already pervaded with bustling life. tents were struck, asses and ox-carts laden, steeds curried and newly-shod, chariots washed, weapons and harnesses cleaned, breakfast was distributed and eaten. at intervals the blare of trumpets was heard in one direction, loudly shouted commands in another, and from the eastern portion of the camp echoed the chanting of the priests, who devoutly greeted the new-born sun-god. a gilded chariot, followed by a similar one, drove up to the costly purple tent beside kasana's, which active servants were beginning to take down. prince siptah and the chief-priest bai had received pharaoh's permission to set off for tanis, to fulfil the wish of a "dying woman." soon after ephraim took leave of the old slave and bade him give kasana's nurse the cloak and tell her that the messenger had followed her advice and his uncle's. then he set off on his walk. he escaped unchallenged from the egyptian camp and, as he entered the wilderness, he heard the shout with which he called his shepherds in the pastures. the cry, resounding far over the plain, startled a sparrow- hawk which was gazing into the distance from a rock and, as the bird soared upward, the youth fancied that if he stretched out his arms, wings must unfold strong enough to bear him also through the air. never had he felt so light and active, so strong and free, nay had the priest at this hour asked him the question whether he would accept the office of a captain of thousands in the egyptian army, he would undoubtedly have answered, as he did before the ruined house of nun, that his sole desire was to remain a shepherd and rule his flocks and servants. he was an orphan, but he had a nation, and where his people were was his home. like a wanderer, who, after a long journey, sees his home in the distance, he quickened his pace. he had reached tanis on the night of the new moon and the round silver shield which was paling in the morning light was the same which had then risen before his eyes. yet it seemed as though years lay between his farewell of miriam and the present hour, and the experiences of a life had been compressed into these few days. he had left his tribe a boy; he returned a man; yet, thanks to this one terrible night, he had remained unchanged, he could look those whom he loved and reverenced fearlessly in the face. nay, more! he would show the man whom he most esteemed that he, too, ephraim, could hold his head high. he would repay joshua for what he had done, when he remained in chains and captivity that he, his nephew, might go forth as free as a bird. after hurrying onward an hour, he reached a ruined watch-tower, climbed to its summit, and saw, at a short distance beyond the mount of baal- zephon, which had long towered majestically on the horizon, the glittering northern point of the red sea. the storm, it is true, had subsided, but he perceived by the surging of its emerald surface that the sea was by no means calm, and single black clouds in the sky, elsewhere perfectly clear, seemed to indicate an approaching tempest. he gazed around him asking himself what the leader of the people probably intended, if--as the prince had told kasana--they had encamped between pihahiroth--whose huts and tents rose before him on the narrow gulf the northwestern arm of the red sea thrust into the land--and the mount of baal-zephon. had siptah lied in this too? no. this time the malicious traitor had departed from his usual custom; for between the sea and the village, where the wind was blowing slender columns of smoke asunder, his falcon-eye discovered many light spots resembling a distant flock of sheep, and among and beside them a singular movement to and fro upon the sands. it was the camp of his people. how short seemed the distance that separated him from them! yet the nearer it was, the greater became his anxiety lest the great multitude, with the women and children, herds and tents, could not escape the vast army which must overtake them in a few hours. his heart shrank as he gazed around him; for neither to the east, where a deeper estuary was surging, nor southward, where the red sea tossed its angry waves, nor even toward the north, whence pharaoh's army was marching, was escape possible. to the west lay the wilderness of aean, and if the wanderers escaped in that direction, and were pressed farther, they would again enter egyptian soil and the exodus would be utterly defeated. so there was nothing left save to risk a battle, and at the thought a chill ran through the youth's veins; for he knew how badly armed, untrained, savage, unmanageable, and cowardly were the men of his race, and had witnessed the march of the powerful, well-equipped egyptian army, with its numerous foot-soldiers and superb war-chariots. to him now, as to his uncle a short time before, his people seemed doomed to certain destruction, unless succored by the god of his fathers. in former years, and just before his departure, miriam, with sparkling eyes and enthusiastic words, had praised the power and majesty of this omnipotent lord, who preferred his people above all other nations; but the lofty words of the prophetess had filled his childish heart with a slight fear of the unapproachable greatness and terrible wrath of this god. it had been easier for him to uplift his soul to the sun-god, when his teacher, a kind and merry-hearted egyptian priest, led him to the temple of pithom. in later years he had felt no necessity of appealing to any god; for he lacked nothing, and while other boys obeyed their parents' commands, the shepherds, who well knew that the flocks they tended belonged to him, called him their young master, and first in jest, then in earnest, paid him all the honor due a ruler, which prematurely increased his self-importance and made him an obstinate fellow. he whom stalwart, strong men obeyed, was sufficient unto himself, and felt that others needed him and, as nothing was more difficult for him than to ask a favor, great or small, from any one, he rebelled against praying to a god so far off and high above him. but now, when his heart was oppressed by the terrible destiny that threatened his people, he was overwhelmed by the feeling that only the greatest and mightiest could deliver them from this terrible, unspeakable peril, as if no one could withstand this powerful army, save he whose might could destroy heaven and earth. what were they that the most high, whom miriam and hosea described as so pre-eminently great, should care for them? yet his people numbered many thousands, and god had not disdained to make them his, and promise great things for them in the future. now they were on the verge of destruction, and he, ephraim, who came from the camp of the enemy, was perhaps the sole person who saw the full extent of the danger. suddenly he was filled with the conviction that it was incumbent upon him, above all others, to tell the god of his fathers,--who perhaps in caring for earth and heaven, sun and stars, had forgotten the fate of his people--of the terrible danger impending, and beseech him to save them. he was still standing on the top of the ruined tower, and raised his arms and face toward heaven. in the north he saw the black clouds which he had noticed in the blue sky swiftly massing and rolling hither and thither. the wind, which had subsided after sunrise, was increasing in strength and power, and rapidly becoming a storm. it swept across the isthmus in gusts, which followed one another more and more swiftly, driving before them dense clouds of yellow sand. he must lift up his voice loudly, that the god to whom he prayed might hear him in his lofty heaven, so, with all the strength of his young lungs, he shouted into the storm: "adonai, adonai! thou, whom they call jehovah, mighty god of my fathers, hear me, ephraim, a young inexperienced lad, of whom, in his insignificance, thou hast probably never thought. i ask nothing for myself. but the people, whom thou dost call thine, are in sore peril. they have left durable houses and good pastures because thou didst promise them a better and more beautiful land, and they trusted in thee and thy promises. but now the army of pharaoh is approaching, so great a host that our people will never be able to resist it. thou must believe this, eli, my lord. i have seen it and been in its midst. so surely as i stand here, i know that it is too mighty for thy people. pharaoh's power will crush them as the hoofs of the cattle trample the grain on the threshing-floor. and my people, who are also thine, are encamped in a spot where pharaoh's warriors can cut them down from all directions, so that there is no way for them to fly, not one. i saw it distinctly from this very spot. hear me now, adonai. but canst thou hear my words, oh lord, in such a tempest? surely thou canst; for they call thee omnipotent and, if thou dost hear me and dost understand the meaning of my words, thou wilt see with thy mighty eyes, if such is thy will, that i speak the truth. then thou wilt surely remember the vow thou didst make to the people through thy servant moses. "among the egyptians, i have witnessed treachery and murder and shameful wiles; their deeds have filled me, who am myself but a sinful, inexperienced youth, with horror and indignation. how couldst thou, from whom all good is said to proceed, and whom miriam calls truth itself, act like those abominable men and break faith with those who trusted in thee? i know, thou great and mighty one, that this is far from thee, nay, perhaps it is a sin even to cherish such a thought. hear me, adonai! look northward at the troops of the egyptians, who will surely soon leave their camp and march forward, and southward to the peril of thy people, for whom escape is no longer possible, and thou wilt rescue them by thy omnipotence and great wisdom; for thou hast promised them a new country, and if they are destroyed, how can they reach it?" with these words he finished his prayer, which, though boyish and incoherent, gushed from the inmost depths of his heart. then he sprang with long leaps from the ruined tower to the barren plain at his feet, and ran southward as fleetly as if he were escaping from captivity a second time. he felt how the wind rushing from the north-east urged him forward, and told himself that it would also hasten the march of pharaoh's soldiers. perhaps the leaders of his people did not yet know how vast was the military power that threatened them, and undervalued the danger in which their position placed them. but he saw it, and could give them every information. haste was necessary, and he felt as though he had gained wings in this race with the storm. the village of pihahiroth was soon gained, and while dashing by it without pausing, he noticed that its huts and tents were deserted by men and cattle. perhaps its inhabitants had fled with their property to a place of safety before the advancing egyptian troops or the hosts of his own people. the farther he went, the more cloudy became the sky,--which here so rarely failed to show a sunny vault of blue at noonday,--the more fiercely howled the tempest. his thick locks fluttered wildly around his burning head, he panted for breath, yet flew on, on, while his sandals seemed to him to scarcely touch the ground. the nearer he came to the sea, the louder grew the howling and whistling of the storm, the more furious the roar of the waves dashing against the rocks of baal-zephon. now--a short hour after he had left the tower--he reached the first tents of the camp, and the familiar cry: "unclean!" as well as the mourning-robes of those whose scaly, disfigured faces looked forth from the ruins of the tents which the storm had overthrown, informed him that he had reached the lepers, whom moses had commanded to remain outside the camp. yet so great was his haste that, instead of making a circuit around their quarter, he dashed straight through it at his utmost speed. nor did he pause even when a lofty palm, uprooted by the tempest, fell to the ground so close beside him that the fan-shaped leaves in its crown brushed his face. at last he gained the tents and pinfolds of his people, not a few of which had also been overthrown, and asked the first acquaintances he met for nun, the father of his dead mother and of joshua. he had gone down to the shore with moses and other elders of the people. ephraim followed him there, and the damp, salt sea-air refreshed him and cooled his brow. yet he could not instantly get speech with him, so he collected his thoughts, and recovered his breath, while watching the men whom he sought talking eagerly with some gaily-clad phoenician sailors. a youth like ephraim might not venture to interrupt the grey-haired heads of the people in the discussion, which evidently referred to the sea; for the hebrews constantly pointed to the end of the bay, and the phoenicians sometimes thither, sometimes to the mountain and the sky, sometimes to the north, the center of the still increasing tempest. a projecting wall sheltered the old men from the hurricane, yet they found it difficult to stand erect, even while supported by their staves and clinging to the stones of the masonry. at last the conversation ended and while the youth saw the gigantic figure of moses go with slow, yet firm steps among the leaders of the hebrews down to the shore of the sea, nun, supported by one of his shepherds, was working his way with difficulty, but as rapidly as possible toward the camp. he wore a mourning-robe, and while the others looked joyous and hopeful when they parted, his handsome face, framed by its snow-white beard and hair, had the expression of one whose mind and body were burdened by grief. not until ephraim called him did he raise his drooping leonine head, and when he saw him he started back in surprise and terror, and clung more firmly to the strong arm of the shepherd who supported him. tidings of the cruel fate of his son and grandson had reached him through the freed slaves he had left in tanis; and the old man had torn his garments, strewed ashes on his head, donned mourning robes, and grieved bitterly for his beloved, noble, only son and promising grandson. now ephraim was standing before him; and after nun had laid his hand on his shoulders, and kissed him again and again, he asked if his son was still alive and remembered him and his people. as soon as the youth had joyfully assured him that such was the case, nun threw his arms around the boy's shoulders, that henceforth his own blood, instead of a stranger, should protect him from the violence of the storm. he had grave and urgent duties to fulfil, from which nothing might withhold him. yet as the fiery youth shouted into his ear, through the roar of the hurricane, on their way through the camp, that he would summon his shepherds and the companions of his own age to release hosea, who now called himself joshua, old nun's impetuous spirit awoke and, clasping ephraim closer to his heart, he cried out that though an old man he was not yet too aged to swing an axe and go with ephraim's youthful band to liberate his son. his eyes sparkled through his tears, and waving his free arm aloft, he cried: "the god of my fathers, on whom i learned to rely, watches over his faithful people. do you see the sand, sea-weed, and shells yonder at the end of the estuary? an hour ago the place was covered with water, and roaring waves were dashing their white spray upward. that is the way, boy, which promises escape; if the wind holds, the water--so the experienced phoenicians assure us--will recede still farther toward the sea. their god of the north wind, they say, is favorable to us, and their boys are already lighting a fire to him on the summit of baal- zephon yonder, but we know that it is another, who is opening to us a path to the desert. we were in evil case, my boy!" "yes, grandfather!" cried the youth. "you were trapped like lions in the snare, and the egyptian host--it passed me from the first man to the last--is mighty and unconquerable. i hurried as fast as my feet could carry me to tell you how many heavily-armed troops, bowmen, steeds, and chariots...." "we know, we know," the old man interrupted, "but here we are." he pointed to an overturned tent which his servants were trying to prop, and beside which an aged hebrew, his father elishama, wrapped in cloth, sat in the chair in which he was carried by bearers. nun hastily shouted a few words and led ephraim toward him. but while the youth was embracing his great-grandfather, who hugged and caressed him, nun, with youthful vivacity, was issuing orders to the shepherds and servants: "let the tent fall, men! the storm has begun the work for you! wrap the covering round the poles, load the carts and beasts of burden. move briskly, you, gaddi, shamma, and jacob, join the others! the hour for departure has come! everybody must hasten to harness the animals, put them in the wagons, and prepare all things as fast as possible. the almighty shows us the way, and every one must hasten, in his name and by the command of moses. keep strictly to the old order. we head the procession, then come the other tribes, lastly the strangers and leprous men and women. rejoice, oh, ye people; for our god is working a great miracle and making the sea dry land for us, his chosen people. let everyone thank him while working, and pray from the depths of the heart that he will continue to protect us. let all who do not desire to be slain by the sword and crushed by the weight of pharaoh's chariots put forth their best strength and forget rest! that will await us as soon as we have escaped the present peril. down with the tent-cover yonder; i'll roll it up myself. lay hold, boy! look across at the children of manasseh, they are already packing and loading. that's right, ephraim, you know how to use your hands! "what more have we to do! my head, my forgetful old head! so much has come upon me at once! you have nimble feet, raphu;--i undertook to warn the strangers to prepare for a speedy departure. run quickly and hurry them, that they may not linger too far behind the people. time is precious! lord, lord, my god, extend thy protecting hand over thy people, and roll the waves still farther back with the tempest, thy mighty breath! let every one pray silently while working, the omnipresent one, who sees the heart, will hear it. that load is too heavy for you, ephraim, you are lifting beyond your strength. no. the youth has mastered it. follow his example, men, and ye of succoth, rejoice in your master's strength." the last words were addressed to ephraim's shepherds, men and maid servants, most of whom shouted a greeting to him in the midst of their work, kissed his arm or hand, and rejoiced at his return. they were engaged in packing and wrapping their goods, and in gathering, harnessing, and loading the animals, which could only be kept together by blows and shouts. the people from succoth wished to vie with their young master, those from tanis with their lord's grandson, and the other owners of flocks and lesser men of the tribe of ephraim, whose tents surrounded that of their chief nun, did the same, in order not to be surpassed by others; yet several hours elapsed ere all the tents, household utensils, and provisions for man and beast were again in their places on the animals and in the carts, and the aged, feeble and sick had been laid on litters or in wagons. sometimes the gale bore from the distance to the spot where the ephraimites were busily working the sound of moses' deep voice or the higher tones of aaron. but neither they nor the men of the tribe of judah heeded the monition; for the latter were ruled by hur and naashon, and beside the former stood his newly-wedded wife miriam. it was different with the other tribes and the strangers, to the obstinacy and cowardice of whose chiefs was due the present critical position of the people. chapter xxii. to break through the center of the etham line of fortifications and march toward the north-east along the nearest road leading to palestine had proved impossible; but moses' second plan of leading the people around the migdol of the south had also been baffled; for spies had reported that the garrison of the latter had been greatly strengthened. then the multitude had pressed around the man of god, declaring that they would rather return home with their families and appeal to pharaoh's mercy than to let themselves, their wives, and their families be slaughtered. several days had been spent in detaining them; but when other messengers brought tidings that pharaoh was approaching with a powerful army the time seemed to have come when the wanderers, in the utmost peril, might be forced to break through the forts, and moses exerted the full might of his commanding personality, aaron the whole power of his seductive eloquence, while old nun and hur essayed to kindle the others with their own bold spirit. but the terrible news had robbed the majority of the last vestige of self reliance and trust in god, and they had already resolved to assure pharaoh of their repentance when the messengers whom, without their leader's knowledge, they had sent forth, returned, announcing that the approaching army had been commanded to spare no hebrew, and to show by the sharp edge of the sword, even to those who sued for mercy, how pharaoh punished the men by whose shameful sorcery misery and woe had come upon so many egyptians. then, too late, they became aware that to return would ensure more speedy destruction than to boldly press forward. but when the men capable of bearing arms followed hur and nun to the migdol of the south, they turned to fly at the defiant blare of the egyptian war trumpets. when they came back to the camp with weary limbs, depressed and disheartened, new and exaggerated reports of pharaoh's military force had reached the people, and now terror and despair had taken possession of the bolder men. every admonition was vain, every threat derided, and the rebellious people had forced their leaders to go with them till, after a short march, they reached the red sea, whose deep green waves had forced them to pause in their southward flight. so they had encamped between pihahiroth and baal-zephon, and here the leaders again succeeded in turning the attention of the despairing people to the god of their fathers. in the presence of sure destruction, from which no human power could save them, they had again learned to raise their eyes to heaven; but moses' soul had once more been thrilled with anxiety and compassion for the poor, sorely afflicted bands who had followed his summons. during the night preceding, he had climbed one of the lower peaks of baal-zephon and, amid the raging of the tempest and the roar of the hissing surges, sought the lord his god, and felt his presence near him. he, too, had not wearied of pleading the need of his people and adjuring him to save them. at the same hour miriam, the wife of hur, had gone to the sea-shore where, under a solitary palmtree, she addressed the same petition to her god, whose trusted servant she still felt herself. here she besought him to remember the women and children who, trusting in him, had wandered forth into distant lands. she had also knelt to pray for the friend of her youth, languishing in terrible captivity; but had only cried in low, timid accents: "oh, lord, do not forget the hapless hosea, whom at thy bidding i called joshua, though he showed himself less obedient to thy will than moses, my brother, and hur, my husband. remember also the youthful ephraim, the grandson of nun, thy faithful servant." then she returned to the tent of the chief, her husband, while many a lowly man and poor anxious woman, before their rude tents or on their thin, tear-drenched mats, uplifted their terrified souls to the god of their fathers and besought his care for those who were dearest to their hearts. so, in this night of utmost need, the camp had become a temple in which high and low, the heads of families and the housewives, masters and slaves, nay, even the afflicted lepers sought and found their god. at last the morning came on which ephraim had shouted his childish prayer amid the roaring of the storm, and the waters of the sea had begun to recede. when the hebrews beheld with their own eyes the miracle that the most high was working for his chosen people, even the discouraged and despairing became believing and hopeful. not only the ephraimites, but the other tribes, the foreigners, and lepers felt the influence of the newly-awakened joyous confidence, which urged each individual to put forth all his powers to prepare for the journey and, for the first time, the multitude gathered and formed into ranks without strife, bickering, deeds of violence, curses, and tears. after sunset moses, holding his staff uplifted, and aaron, singing and praying, entered at the head of the procession the end of the bay. the storm, which continued to rage with the same violence, had swept the water out of it and blew the flame and smoke of the torches carried by the tribes toward the south-west. the chief leaders, on whom all eyes rested with trusting eagerness, were followed by old nun and the ephraimites. the bottom of the sea on which they trod was firm, moist sand, on which even the herds could walk as if it were a smooth road, sloping gently toward the sea. ephraim, in whom the elders now saw the future chief, had been entrusted, at his grandfather's suggestion, with the duty of seeing that the procession did not stop and, for this purpose, had been given a leader's staff; for the fishermen whose huts stood at the foot of baal-zephon, like the phoenicians, believed that when the moon reached her zenith the sea would return to its old bed, and therefore all delay was to be avoided. the youth enjoyed the storm, and when his locks fluttered and he battled victoriously against the gale in rushing hither and thither, as his office required, it seemed to him a foretaste of the venture he had in view. so the procession moved on through the darkness which had speedily followed the dusk of evening. the acrid odor of the sea-weed and fishes which had been left stranded pleased the boy,--who felt that he had matured into manhood,--better than the sweet fragrance of spikenard in kasana's tent. once the memory of it flashed through his brain, but with that exception there was not a moment during these hours which gave him time to think of her. he had his hands full of work; sometimes a heap of sea-weed flung on the path by a wave must be removed; sometimes a ram, the leader of a flock, refused to step on the wet sand and must be dragged forward by the horns, or cattle and beasts of burden must be driven through a pool of water from which they shrank. often, too, he was obliged to brace his shoulder against a heavily-laden cart, whose wheels had sunk too deeply into the soft sand; and when, even during this strange, momentous march, two bands of shepherds began to dispute about precedence close to the egyptian shore, he quickly settled the dispute by making them draw lots to decide which party should go first. two little girls who, crying bitterly, refused to wade through a pool of water, while their mother was busy with the infant in her arms, he carried with prompt decision through the shallow puddle, and the cart with a broken wheel he had moved aside by the light of the torches and commanded some stalwart bondmen, who were carrying only small bundles, to load themselves with the sacks and bales, nay, even the fragments of the vehicle. he uttered a word of cheer to weeping women and children and, when the light of a torch fell upon the face of a companion of his own age, whose aid he hoped to obtain for the release of joshua, he briefly told him that there was a bold adventure in prospect which he meant to dare in concert with him. the torch-bearers who usually headed the procession this time were obliged to close its ranks, for the storm raging from the northeast would have blown the smoke into the people's faces. they stood on the egyptian shore, and already the whole train had passed them except the lepers who, following the strangers, were the last of the whole multitude. these "strangers" were a motley crew, comprising asiatics of semitic blood, who had escaped from the bondage or severe punishments which the egyptian law imposed, traders who expected to find among the wanderers purchasers of their wares, or shasu shepherds, whose return was prohibited by the officials on the frontier. ephraim had much trouble with them, for they refused to leave the firm land until the lepers had been forced to keep farther away from them; yet the youth, with the aid of the elders of the tribe of benjamin, who preceded them, brought them also to obedience by threatening them with the prediction of the phoenicians and the fishermen that the moon, when it had passed its zenith, would draw the sea back to its old bed. finally he persuaded the leader of the lepers, who had once been an egyptian priest, to keep at least half the distance demanded. meanwhile the tempest had continued to blow with increased violence, and its howling and whistling, blended with the roar of the dashing waves and the menacing thunder of the surf, drowned the elders' shouts of command, the terrified shrieks of the children, the lowing and bleating of the trembling herds, and the whining of the dogs. ephraim's voice could be heard only by those nearest and, moreover, many of the torches were extinguished, while others were kept burning with the utmost difficulty. seeking to recover his wind and get a little rest, he walked slowly for a time over the damp sand behind the last lepers, when he heard some one call his name and, turning, he saw one of his former playmates, who was returning from a reconnoitring expedition and who, with the sweat pouring from his brow and panting breath, shouted into the ear of the youth, in whose hand he saw the staff of a leader, that pharaoh's chariots were approaching at the head of his army. he had left them at pihahiroth and, if they did not stop there to give the other troops time to join them, they might overtake the fugitives at any moment. with these words he darted past the lepers to join the leaders; but ephraim stopped in the middle of the road, pressing his hand upon his brow, while a new burden of care weighed heavily upon his soul. he knew that the approaching army would crush the men, women, and children whose touching fear and helplessness he had just beheld, as a man's foot tramples on an ant-bill, and again every instinct of his being urged him to pray, while from his oppressed heart the imploring cry rose through the darkness: "eli, eli, great god most high! thou knowest--for i have told thee, and thine all-seeing eye must perceive it, spite of the darkness of this night--the strait of thy people, whom thou hast promised to lead into a new country. remember thy vow, jehovah! be merciful unto us, thou great and mighty one! our foe is approaching with resistless power! stay him! save us! protect the poor women and children! save us, be merciful to us!" during this prayer he had raised his eyes heavenward and saw on the summit of baal-zephon the red blaze of a fire. it had been lighted by the phoenicians to make the baal of the north-wind favorable to the men of kindred race and hostile to the hated egyptians. this was a kindly deed; but he put his trust in another god and, as his eye glanced over the vault of heaven and noted the grey and black storm-clouds scurrying, gathering, parting, and then rushing in new directions, he perceived between two dispersing masses of clouds the silvery light of the full moon, which had now attained her zenith. fresh anxiety assailed him; for he remembered the prediction of men skilled in the changes of winds and waves. if the sea should now return to its ancient bed, his people would be lost; for there was no escape, even toward the north, where deep pools of water were standing amid the mire and cliffs. should the waves flow back within the next hour, the seed of abraham would be effaced from the earth, as writing inscribed on wax disappears from the tablet under the pressure of a warm hand. yet was not this people thus marked for destruction, the nation which the lord had chosen for his own? could he deliver it into the hand of those who were also his own foes? no, no, a thousand times no! and the moon, which was to cause this destruction, had but a short time before been the ally of his flight and favored him. only let him keep up his hope and faith and not lose confidence. nothing, nothing was lost as yet. come what might, the whole nation need not perish, and his own tribe, which marched at the head of the procession, certainly would not; for many must have reached the opposite shore, nay, perhaps more than he supposed; for the bay was not wide, and even the lepers, the last of the train, had already advanced some distance across the wet sand. ephraim now remained alone behind them all to listen to the approach of the hostile chariots. he laid his ear to the ground on the shore of the bay, and he could trust to the sharpness of his hearing; how often, in this attitude, he had caught the distant tramp of stray cattle or, while hunting, the approach of a herd of antelopes or gazelles. as the last, he was in the greatest danger; but what cared he for that? how gladly he would have sacrificed his young life to save the others. since he had held in his hand the leader's staff, it seemed to him as if he had assumed the duty of watching over his people, so he listened and listened till he could hear a slight trembling of the ground and finally a low rumble. that was the foe, that must be pharaoh's chariots, and how swiftly the proud steeds whirled them forward. springing up as if a lash had struck him, he dashed on to urge the others to hasten. how oppressively sultry the air had grown, spite of the raging storm which extinguished so many torches! the moon was concealed by clouds, but the flickering fire on the summit of the lofty height of baal-zephon blazed brighter and brighter. the sparks that rose from the midst of the flames glittered as they swept westward; for the wind now came more from the east. scarcely had he noticed this, when he hurried back to the boys bearing pans of pitch who closed the procession, to command them in the utmost haste to fill the copper vessels afresh and see that the smoke rose in dense, heavy clouds; for, he said to himself, the storm will drive the smoke into the faces of the stallions who draw the chariots and frighten or stop them. no means seemed to him too insignificant, every moment that could be gained was precious; and as soon as he had convinced himself that the smoke-clouds were pouring densely from the vessels and making it difficult to breathe the air of the path over which the people had passed, he hurried forward, shouting to the elders whom he overtook that pharaoh's chariots were close at hand and the march must be hastened. at once pedestrians, bearers, drivers, and shepherds exerted all their strength to advance faster; and though the wind, which blew more and more from the east, impeded their progress, all struggled stoutly against it, and dread of their approaching pursuers doubled their strength. the youth seemed to the heads of the tribes, who nodded approval wherever he appeared, like a shepherd dog guarding and urging the flock; and when he had slipped through the moving bands and battled his way forward against the storm, the east wind bore to his ears as if in reward a strange shout; for the nearer he came to its source, the louder it rang, and the more surely he perceived that it was a cry of joy and exultation, the first that had burst from a hebrew's breast for many a long day. it refreshed ephraim like a cool drink after long thirsting, and he could not refrain from shouting aloud and crying joyously to the others: "saved, saved!" two tribes had already reached the eastern shore of the bay and were raising the glad shouts which, with the fires blazing in huge pans on the shore, kindled the courage of the approaching fugitives and braced their failing strength. ephraim saw by their light the majestic figure of moses on a hill by the sea, extending his staff over the waters, and the spectacle impressed him, like all the other fugitives, from the highest to the lowest, more deeply than aught else and strongly increased the courage of his heart. this man was indeed the trusted servant of the most high, and so long as he held his staff uplifted, the waves seemed spell-bound, and through him god forbade their return. he, ephraim, need no longer appeal to the omnipotent one--that was the appointed task of this great and exalted personage; but he must continue to fulfil his little duty of watching the progress of individuals. back against the stream of fugitives to the lepers and torch-bearers he hastened, shouting to each division, "saved! saved! they have gained the goal. moses' staff is staying the waves. many have already reached the shore. thank the lord! forward, that you, too, may join in the rejoicing! fix your eyes on the two red beacons! the rescued ones lighted them! the servant of the lord is standing between them with uplifted staff." then, kneeling on the wet sand, he again pressed his ear to the ground, and now heard distinctly, close at hand, the rattle of wheels and the swift beat of horses' hoofs. but while still listening, the noise gradually ceased, and he heard nothing save the howling of the furious storm and the threatening dash of the surging waves, or a single cry borne by the east wind. the chariots had reached the dry portion of the bay and lingered some time ere they continued their way along this dangerous path; but suddenly the egyptian war-cry rang out, and the rattle of wheels was again heard. they advanced more slowly than before but faster than the people could walk. for the egyptians also the road remained dry; but if his people only kept a short distance in advance he need feel no anxiety; during the night the rescued tribes could disperse among the mountains and hide in places where no chariots nor horses could follow. moses knew this region where he had lived so long as a fugitive; it was only necessary to inform him of the close vicinity of the foe. so he trusted one of his play-fellows of the tribe of benjamin with the message, and the latter had not far to go to reach the shore. he himself remained behind to watch the approaching army; for already, without stooping or listening, spite of the storm raging around him, he heard the rattle of wheels and the neighing of the horses. but the lepers, whose ears also caught the sound, wailed and lamented, feeling themselves in imagination flung to the ground, crushed by the chariots, or crowded into a watery grave, for the pathway had grown narrower and the sea seemed to be trying in earnest to regain the land it had lost. the men and cattle could no longer advance in ranks as wide as before, and while the files of the hurrying bodies narrowed they lengthened, and precious time was lost. those on the right were already wading through the rising water in haste and terror; for already the commands of the egyptian leaders were heard in the distance. but the enemy was evidently delayed, and ephraim easily perceived the cause of their diminished speed; for the road constantly grew softer and the narrow wheels of the chariots cut deeply into it and perhaps sank to the axles. protected by the darkness, he glided forward toward the pursuers, as far as he could, and heard here a curse, yonder a fierce command to ply the lash more vigorously; at last he distinctly heard one leader exclaim to the man next him: "accursed folly! if they had only let us start before noon, and not waited until the omen had been consulted and anna had been installed with all due solemnity in bai's place, it would have been easy work, and we should have caught them like a flock of quail! the chief-priest was wont to bear himself stoutly in the field, and now he gives up the command because a dying woman touches his heart." "siptah's mother!" said another soothingly. "yet, after all, twenty princesses ought not to have turned him from his duty to us. had he remained, there would have been no need of scourging our steeds to death, and that at an hour when every sensible leader lets his men gather round the camp-fires to eat their suppers and play draughts. look to the horses, heter! we are fast in the sand again!" a loud out-cry rose behind the first chariot, and ephraim heard another voice shout: "forward, if it costs the horses their lives!" "if return were possible," said the commander of the chariot-soldiers, a relative of the king, "i would go back now. but as matters are, one would tumble over the other. so forward, whatever it may cost. we are close on their heels. halt! halt! that accursed stinging smoke! wait, you dogs! as soon as the pathway widens, we'll run you down with scant ceremony, and may the gods deprive me of a day of life for each one i spare! another torch out! one can't see one's hand before one's face! at a time like this a beggar's crutch would be better than a leader's staff" "and an executioner's noose round the neck rather than a gold chain!" said another with a fierce oath. "if the moon would only appear again! because the astrologers predicted that it would shine in full splendor from evening till morning, i myself advised the late departure, turning night into day. if it were only lighter! . . . ." but this sentence remained unfinished, for a gust of wind, bursting like a wild beast from the south-eastern ravine of mount baal-zephon, rushed upon the fugitives, and a high wave drenched ephraim from head to foot. gasping for breath, he flung back his hair and wiped his eyes; but loud cries of terror rang from the lips of the egyptians behind him; for the same wave that struck the youth had hurled the foremost chariots into the sea. ephraim began to fear for his people and, while running forward to join them again, a brilliant flash of lightning illumined the bay, mount baal- zephon, and every surrounding object. the thunder was somewhat long in following, but the storm soon came nearer, and at last the lightning no longer flashed through the darkness in zigzag lines, but in shapeless sheets of flame, and ere they faded the deafening crash of the thunder pealed forth, reverberating in wild uproar amid the hard, rocky precipices of the rugged mountain, and dying away in deep, muttering echoes along the end of the bay and the shore. whenever the clouds, menacing destruction, discharged their lightnings, sea and land, human beings and animals, far and near, were illumined by the brilliant glare, while the waters and the sky above were tinged with a sulphurous yellow hue through which the vivid lightning shone and flamed as through a wall of yellow glass. ephraim now thought he perceived that the blackest thunder-clouds came from the south and not from the north, but the glare of the lightning showed behind him a span of frightened horses rushing into the sea, one chariot shattered against another, and farther on several jammed firmly together to the destruction of their occupants, while they barred the progress of others. yet the foe still advanced, and the space which separated pursued and pursuers did not increase. but the confusion among the latter had become so great that the warriors' cries of terror and their leaders' shouts of encouragement and menace were distinctly heard whenever the fierce crashing of the thunder died away. yet, black as were the clouds on the southern horizon, fiercely as the tempest raged, the gloomy sky still withheld its floods and the fugitives were wet, not with the water from the clouds but by the waves of the sea, whose surges constantly dashed higher and more and more frequently washed the dry bed of the bay. narrower and narrower grew the pathway, and with it the end of the procession. meanwhile the flames blazing in the pitch pans continued to show the terrified fugitives the goal of escape and remind them of moses and the staff god had given him. every step brought them nearer to it. now a loud shout of joy announced that the tribe of benjamin had also reached the shore; but they had at last been obliged to wade, and were drenched by the foaming surf. it had cost unspeakable effort to save the oxen from the surging waves, get the loaded carts forward, and keep the cattle together; but now man and beast stood safe on shore. only the strangers and the lepers were still to be rescued. the latter possessed no herds of their own, but the former had many and both sheep and cattle were so terrified by the storm that they struggled against passing through the water, now a foot deep over the road. ephraim hurried to the shore, called on the shepherds to follow him and, under his direction, they helped drive the herds forward. the attempt was successful and, amid the thunder and lightning, greeted with loud cheers, the last man and the last head of cattle reached the land. the lepers were obliged to wade through water rising to their knees and at last to their waists and, ere they had gained the shore, the sluices of heaven opened and the rain poured in torrents. yet they, too, arrived at the goal and though many a mother who had carried her child a long time in her arms or on her shoulder, fell upon her knees exhausted on the land, and many a hapless sufferer who, aided by a stronger companion in misery, had dragged the carts through the yielding sand or wading in the water carried a litter, felt his disfigured head burn with fever, they, too, escaped destruction. they were to wait beyond the palm-trees, whose green foliage appeared on the hilly ground at the edge of some springs near the shore; the others were to be led farther into the country to begin, at a given signal, the journey toward the southeast into the mountains, through whose inhospitable stony fastnesses a regular army and the war-chariots could advance only with the utmost difficulty. hur had assembled his shepherds and they stood armed with lances, slings, and short swords, ready to attack the enemy who ventured to step on shore. horses and men were to be cut down and a high wall was to be made of the fragments of the chariots to bar the way of the pursuing egyptians. the pans of burning pitch on the shore were shielded and fed so industriously that neither the pouring rain nor the wind extinguished them. they were to light the shepherds who had undertaken to attack the chariot-soldiers, and were commanded by old nun, hur, and ephraim. but they waited in vain for the pursuers, and when the youth, first of all, perceived by the light of the torches that the way by which the rescued fugitives had come was now a wide sea, and the smoke was blown toward the north instead of toward the southwest--it was at the time of the first morning watch--his heart, surcharged with joy and gratitude, sent forth the jubilant shout: "look at the pans. the wind has shifted! it is driving the sea northward. pharaoh's army has been swallowed by the waves!" the group of rescued hebrews remained silent for a short time; but suddenly nun's loud voice exclaimed: "he has seen aright, children! what are we mortals! lord, lord! stern and terrible art thou in judgment upon thy foes!" here loud cries interrupted him; for at the springs where moses leaned exhausted against a palm-tree, and aaron was resting with many others, the people had also perceived what ephraim had noticed--and from lip to lip ran the glad, terrible, incredible, yet true tidings, which each passing moment more surely confirmed. many an eye was raised toward the sky, across which the black clouds were rushing farther and farther northward. the rain was ceasing; instead of the lightning and thunder only a few pale flashes were seen over the isthmus and the distant sea at the north, while in the south the sky was brightening. at last the setting moon emerged from the grey clouds, and her peaceful light silvered the heights of baal-zephon and the shore of the bay, whose bottom was once more covered with tossing waves. the raging, howling storm had passed into the low sighing of the morning breeze, and the sea, which had dashed against the rocks like a roaring wild-beast, now lay quivering with broken strength at the stone base of the mountain. for a short time the sea still spread a dark pall over the many egyptian corpses, but the paling moon, ere her setting, splendidly embellished the briny resting-place of a king and his nobles; for her rays illumined and bordered their coverlet, the sea, with a rich array of sparkling diamonds in a silver setting. while the east was brightening and the sky had clothed itself in the glowing hues of dawn, the camp had been pitched; but little time remained for a hasty meal for, shortly after sunrise, the gong had summoned the people and, as soon as they gathered near the springs, miriam swung her timbrel, shaking the bells and striking the calf-skin till it resounded again. as she moved lightly forward, the women and maidens followed her in the rhythmic step of the dance; but she sang: "i will sing unto the lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. "the lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my god, and i will prepare him an habitation; my father's god, and i will exalt him. "the lord is a man of war: the lord is his name. "pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the red sea. "the depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone. "thy right hand, o lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, o lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. "and in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. "and with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. "the enemy said, i will pursue, i will overtake, i will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; i will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. "thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters. "who is like unto thee, o lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? "thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. "thou, in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation." men and women joined in the song, when she repeated the words: "i will sing unto the lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." this song and this hour of rejoicing were never forgotten by the hebrews, and each heart was filled with the glory of god and the glad and grateful anticipation of better, happier days. chapter xxiii. the hymn of praise had died away, but though the storm had long since raged itself into calmness, the morning sky, which had been beautiful in the rosy flush of dawn, was again veiled by grey mists, and a strong wind still blew from the southwest, lashing the sea and shaking and swaying the tops of the palm-trees beside the springs. the rescued people had paid due honor to the most high, even the most indifferent and rebellious had joined in miriam's song of praise; yet, when the ranks of the dancers approached the sea, many left the procession to hurry to the shore, which presented many attractions. hundreds had now gathered on the strand, where the waves, like generous robbers, washed ashore the booty they had seized during the night. even the women did not allow the wind to keep them back; for the two strongest impulses of the human heart, avarice and the longing for vengeance, drew them to the beach. some new object of desire appeared every moment; here lay the corpse of a warrior, yonder his shattered chariot. if the latter had belonged to a man of rank, its gold or silver ornaments were torn off, while the short sword or battle-axe was drawn from the girdle of the lifeless owner, and men and women of low degree, male and female slaves belonging to the hebrews and foreigners, robbed the corpses of the clasps and circlets of the precious metal, or twisted the rings from the swollen fingers of the drowned. the ravens which had followed the wandering tribes and vanished during the storm, again appeared and, croaking, struggled against the wind to maintain their places above the prey whose scent had attracted them. but the dregs of the fugitive hordes were still more greedy than they, and wherever the sea washed a costly ornament ashore, there were fierce outcries and angry quarrelling. the leaders kept aloof; the people, they thought, had a right to this booty, and whenever one of them undertook to control their rude greed, he received no obedience. the pass to which the egyptians had brought them within the last few hours had been so terrible, that even the better natures among the hebrews did not think of curbing the thirst for vengeance. even grey- bearded men of dignified bearing, and wives and mothers whose looks augured gentle hearts thrust back the few hapless foes who had succeeded in reaching the land on the ruins of the war-chariots or baggage-wagons. with shepherds' crooks and travelling staves, knives and axes, stones and insults they forced their hands from the floating wood, and the few who nevertheless reached the land were flung by the furious mob into the sea which had taken pity on them in vain. their wrath was so great, and vengeance so sacred a duty, that no one thought of the respect, the pity, the consideration, which are misfortune's due, and not a word was uttered to appeal to generosity or compassion or even to remind the people of the profit which might be derived from holding the rescued soldiers as prisoners of war. "death to our mortal foes! destruction to them! down with them! feed the fishes with them! you drove us into the sea with our children, now try the salt waves yourselves!" such were the shouts that rose everywhere, and which no one opposed, not even miriam and ephraim, who had also gone down to the shore to witness the scene it presented. the maiden had become the wife of hur, but her new condition had made little change in her nature and conduct. the fate of her people and the intercourse with god, whose prophetess she felt herself to be, were still her highest aims. now that all for which she had hoped and prayed was fulfilled; now that at the first great triumph of her efforts she had expressed the feelings of the faithful in her song, she felt as if she were the leader of the grateful multitude at whose head she had marched singing and as if she had attained the goal of her life. ephraim had reminded her of hosea and, while talking with him about the prisoner, she moved on as proudly as a queen, answering the greetings of the throng with majestic dignity. her eyes sparkled with joy, and her features wore an expression of compassion only at brief intervals, when the youth spoke of the greatest sufferings which he had borne with his uncle. she doubtless still remembered the man she had loved, but he was no longer necessary to the lofty goal of her aspirations. ephraim had just spoken of the beautiful egyptian, who had loved hosea and at whose intercession the prisoner's chains had been removed, when loud outcries were heard at a part of the strand where many of the people had gathered. shouts of joy mingled with yells of fury; and awakened the conjecture that the sea had washed some specially valuable prize ashore. curiosity drew both to the spot, and as miriam's stately bearing made the throng move respectfully aside, they soon saw the mournful contents of a large travelling-chariot, which had lost its wheels. the linen canopy which had protected it was torn away, and on the floor lay two elderly egyptian women; a third, who was much younger, leaned against the back of the vehicle thus strangely transformed into a boat. her companions lay dead in the water which had covered its floor, and several hebrew women were in the act of tearing the costly gold ornaments from the neck and arms of one of the corpses. some chance had preserved this young woman's life, and she was now giving her rich jewels to the israelites. her pale lips and slender, half-frozen hands trembled as she did so, and in low, musical tones she promised the robbers to yield them all she possessed and pay a large ransom, if they would spare her. she was so young, and she had shown kindness to a hebrew surely they might listen to her. it was a touching entreaty, but so often interrupted by threats and curses that only a few could hear it. just as ephraim and miriam reached the shore she shrieked aloud--a rude hand had torn the gold serpent from her ear. the cry pierced the youth's heart like a dagger-thrust and his cheeks paled, for he recognized kasana. the bodies beside her were those of her nurse and the wife of the chief priest bai. scarcely able to control himself, ephraim thrust aside the men who separated him from the object of the moment's assault, sprang on the sand-hill at whose foot the chariot had rested, and shouted with glowing cheeks in wild excitement: "back! woe to any one who touches her!" but a hebrew woman, the wife of a brickmaker whose child had died in terrible convulsions during the passage through the sea, had already snatched the dagger from her girdle, and with the jeering cry "this for my little ruth, you jade!" dealt her a blow in the back. then she raised the tiny blood-stained weapon for a second stroke; but ere she could give her enemy another thrust, ephraim flung himself between her and her victim and wrenched the dagger from her grasp. then planting himself before the wounded girl, he swung the blade aloft exclaiming in loud, threatening tones: "whoever touches her, you robbers and murderers, shall mingle his blood with this woman's." then he flung himself beside kasana's bleeding form, and finding that she had lost consciousness, raised her in his arms and carried her to miriam. the astonished plunderers speechlessly made way for a few minutes, but ere he reached the prophetess shouts of: "vengeance! vengeance!" were heard in all directions. "we found the woman: the booty belongs to us alone!--how dares the insolent ephraimite call us robbers and murderers? --wherever egyptian blood can be spilled, it must flow!--at him!--snatch the girl from him!" the youth paid no heed to these outbursts of wrath until he had laid kasana's head in the lap of miriam, who had seated herself on the nearest sand-hill, and as the angry throng, the women in front of the men, pressed upon him, he again waved his dagger, crying: "back--i command you. let all of the blood of ephraim and judah rally around me and miriam, the wife of their chief! that's right, brothers, and woe betide any hand that touches her. do you shriek for vengeance? has it not been yours through yonder monster who murdered the poor defenceless one? do you want your victim's jewels? well, well; they belong to you, and i will give you mine to boot, if you will leave the wife of hur to care for this dying girl!" with these words he bent over kasana, took off the clasps and rings she still wore, and gave them to the greedy hands outstretched to seize them. lastly he stripped the broad gold circlet from his arm, and holding it aloft exclaimed: "here is the promised payment. if you will depart quietly and leave this woman to miriam, i will give you the gold, and you can divide it among you. if you thirst for more blood, come on; but i will keep the armlet." these words did not fail to produce their effect. the furious women looked at the heavy broad gold armlet, then at the handsome youth, and the men of judah and ephraim who had gathered around him, and finally glanced enquiringly into one another's faces. at last the wife of a foreign trader cried: "let him give us the gold, and we'll leave the handsome young chief his bleeding sweetheart." to this decision the others agreed, and though the brickmaker's infuriated wife, who thought as the avenger of her child she had done an act pleasing in the sight of god, and was upbraided for it as a murderess, reviled the youth with frantic gestures, she was dragged away by the crowd to the shore where they hoped to find more booty. during this threatening transaction, miriam had fearlessly examined kasana's wound and bound it up with skilful hands, the dagger which prince siptah had jestingly given the beautiful lady of his love, that she might not go to war defenceless, had inflicted a deep wound under the shoulder, and the blood had flowed so abundantly that the feeble spark of life threatened to die out at any moment. but she still lived, and in this condition was borne to the tent of nun, which was the nearest within reach. the old chief had just been supplying weapons to the shepherds and youths whom ephraim had summoned to go to the relief of the imprisoned hosea, and had promised to join them, when the mournful procession approached. as kasana loved the handsome old man, the latter had for many years kept a place in his heart for captain homecht's pretty daughter. she had never met him without gladdening him by a greeting which he always returned with kind words, such as: "the lord bless you, child!" or: "it is a delightful hour when an old man meets so fair a creature." many years before--she had then worn the curls of childhood--he had even sent her a lamb, whose snowy fleece was specially silky, after having bartered the corn from her father's lands for cattle of his most famous breed--and what his son had told him of kasana had been well fitted to increase his regard for her. he beheld in the archer's daughter the most charming young girl in tanis and, had she been the child of hebrew parents, he would have rejoiced to wed her to his son. to find his darling in such a state caused the old man grief so profound that bright tears ran down upon his snowy beard and his voice trembled as, while greeting her, he saw the blood-stained bandage on her shoulder. after she had been laid on his couch, and nun had placed his own chest of medicines at the disposal of the skilful prophetess, miriam asked the men to leave her alone with the suffering egyptian, and when she again called them into the tent she had revived the strength of the severely-wounded girl with cordials, and bandaged the hurt more carefully than had been possible before. kasana, cleansed from the blood-stains and with her hair neatly arranged, lay beneath the fresh linen coverings like a sleeping child just on the verge of maidenhood. she was still breathing, but the color had not returned to cheeks or lips, and she did not open her eyes until she had drunk the cordial miriam mixed for her a second time. the old man and his grandson stood at the foot of her couch, and each would fain have asked the other why he could not restrain his tears whenever he looked at this stranger's face. the certainty that kasana was wicked and faithless, which had so unexpectedly forced itself upon ephraim, had suddenly turned his heart from her and startled him back into the right path which he had abandoned. yet what he had heard in her tent had remained a profound secret, and as he told his grandfather and miriam that she had compassionately interceded for the prisoners, and both had desired to hear more of her, he had felt like a father who had witnessed the crime of a beloved son, and no word of the abominable things he had heard had escaped his lips. now he rejoiced that he had kept silence; for whatever he might have seen and heard, this fair creature certainly was capable of no base deed. to the old man she had never ceased to be the lovely child whom he had known, the apple of his eye and the joy of his heart. so he gazed with tender anxiety at the features convulsed by pain and, when she at last opened her eyes, smiled at her with paternal affection. her glance showed that she instantly recognized both him and ephraim, but weakness baffled her attempt to nod to them. yet her expressive face revealed surprise and joy, and when miriam had given her the cordial a third time and bathed her brow with a powerful essence, her large eyes wandered from face to face and, noticing the troubled looks of the men, she managed to whisper: "the wound aches--and death--must i die?" one looked enquiringly at another, and the men would gladly have concealed the terrible truth; but she went on: "oh, let me know. ah, i pray you, tell me the truth!" miriam, who was kneeling beside her, found courage to answer: "yes, you poor young creature, the wound is deep, but whatever my skill can accomplish shall be done to preserve your life as long as possible." the words sounded kind and full of compassion, yet the deep voice of the prophetess seemed to hurt kasana; for her lips quivered painfully while miriam was speaking, and when she ceased, her eyes closed and one large tear after another ran down her cheeks. deep, anxious silence reigned around her until she again raised her lashes and, fixing her eyes wearily on miriam, asked softly, as if perplexed by some strange spectacle: "you are a woman, and yet practise the art of the leech." "my god has commanded me to care for the suffering ones of our people," replied the other. the dying girl's eyes began to glitter with a restless light, and she gasped in louder tones, nay with a firmness that surprised the others: "you are miriam, the woman who sent for hosea." and when the other answered promptly and proudly: "it is as you say!" kasana continued: "and you possess striking, imperious beauty, and much influence. he obeyed your summons, and you--you consented to wed another?" again the prophetess answered, this time with gloomy earnestness: "it is as you say." the dying girl closed her eyes once more, and a strange proud smile hovered around her lips. but it soon vanished and a great and painful restlessness seized upon her. the fingers of her little hands, her lips, nay, even her eyelids moved perpetually, and her smooth, narrow forehead contracted as if some great thought occupied her mind. at last the ideas that troubled her found utterance and, as if roused from her repose, she exclaimed in terrified accents: "you are ephraim, who seemed like his son, and the old man is nun, his dear father. there you stand and will live on.... but i--i .... oh, it is so hard to leave the light.... anubis will lead me before the judgment seat of osiris. my heart will be weighed, and then...." here she shuddered and opened and closed her trembling hands; but she soon regained her composure and began to speak again. miriam, however, sternly forbade this, because it would hasten her death. then the sufferer, summoning all her strength, exclaimed hastily, as loudly as her voice would permit, after measuring the prophetess' tall figure with a long glance: "you wish to prevent me from doing my duty-- you?" there had been a slight touch of mockery in the question; but kasana doubtless felt that it was necessary to spare her strength; for she continued far more quietly, as though talking to herself: "i cannot die so, i cannot! how it happened; why i sacrificed all, all.... i must atone for it; i will not complain, if he only learns how it came to pass. oh, nun, dear old nun, who gave me the lamb when i was a little thing--i loved it so dearly--and you, ephraim, my dear boy, i will tell you everything." here a painful fit of coughing interrupted her; but as soon as she recovered her breath, she turned to miriam, and called in a tone which so plainly expressed bitter dislike, that it would have surprised any one who knew her kindly nature: "but you, yonder,--you tall woman with the deep voice who are a physician, you lured him from tanis, from his soldiers and from me. he, he obeyed your summons. and you . . . . you became another's wife; probably after his arrival .... yes! for when ephraim summoned him, he called you a maiden . . . i don't know whether this caused him, hosea, pain .... but there is one thing i do know, and that is that i want to confess something and must do so, ere it is too late.... and no one must hear it save those who love him, and i--do you hear--i love him, love him better than aught else on earth! but you? you have a husband, and a god whose commands you eagerly obey--you say so yourself. what can hosea be to you? so i beseech you to leave us. i have met few who repelled me, but you--your voice, your eyes--they pierce me to the heart--and if you were near i could not speak as i must.... and oh, talking hurts me so! but before you go--you are a leech--let me know this one thing--i have many messages to leave for him ere i die.... will it kill me to talk?" again the prophetess found no other words in answer except the brief: "it is as you say," and this time they sounded harsh and ominous. while wavering between the duty which, as a physician, she owed the sufferer and the impulse not to refuse the request of a dying woman, she read in old nun's eyes an entreaty to obey kasana's wish, and with drooping head left the tent. but the bitter words of the hapless girl pursued her and spoiled the day which had begun so gloriously and also many a later hour; nay, to her life's end she could not understand why, in the presence of this poor, dying woman, she had been overpowered by the feeling that she was her inferior and must take a secondary place. as soon as kasana was left alone with nun and ephraim, and the latter had flung himself on his knees beside her couch, while the old man kissed her brow, and bowed his white head to listen to her low words, she began: "i feel better now. that tall woman.... those gloomy brows that meet in the middle.... those nightblack eyes.... they glow with so fierce a fire, yet are so cold.... that woman.... did hosea love her, father? tell me; i am not asking from idle curiosity!" "he honored her," replied the old man in a troubled tone, "as did our whole nation; for she has a lofty spirit, and our god suffers her to hear his voice; but you, my darling, have been dear to him from childhood, i know." a slight tremor shook the dying girl. she closed her eyes for a short time and a sunny smile hovered around her lips. she lay in this attitude so long that nun feared death had claimed her and, holding the medicine in his hand, listened to hear her breathing. kasana did not seem to notice it; but when she finally opened her eyes, she held out her hand for the cordial, drank it, and then began again: "it seemed just as if i had seen him, hosea. he wore the panoply of war just as he did the first time he took me into his arms. i was a little thing and felt afraid of him, he looked so grave, and my nurse had told me that he had slain a great many of our foes. yet i was glad when he came and grieved when he went away. so the years passed, and love grew with my growth. my young heart was so full of him, so full.... even when they forced me to wed another, and after i had become a widow." the last words had been scarcely audible, and she rested some time ere she continued: "hosea knows all this, except how anxious i was when he was in the field, and how i longed for him ere he returned. at last, at last he came home, and how i rejoiced! but he, hosea....? that woman--ephraim told me so-- that tall, arrogant woman summoned him to pithom. but he returned, and then.... oh, nun, your son.... that was the hardest thing....! he refused my hand, which my father offered.... and how that hurt me....! i can say no more....! give me the drink!" her cheeks had flushed crimson during these painful confessions, and when the experienced old man perceived how rapidly the excitement under which she was laboring hastened the approach of death, he begged her to keep silence; but she insisted upon profiting by the time still allowed her, and though the sharp pain with which a short cough tortured her forced her to press her hand upon her breast, she continued: "then hate came; but it did not last long--and never did i love him more ardently than when i drove after the poor convict--you remember, my boy. then began the horrible, wicked, evil time.... of which i must tell him that he may not despise me, if he hears about it. i never had a mother, and there was no one to warn me.... where shall i begin? prince siptah --you know him, father--that wicked man will soon rule over my country. my father is in a conspiracy with him.... merciful gods, i can say no more!" terror and despair convulsed her features as she uttered these words; but ephraim interrupted her and, with tearful eyes and faltering voice, confessed that he knew all. then he repeated what he had heard while listening outside of her tent, and her glance confirmed the tale. when he finally spoke of the wife of the viceroy and chief-priest bai, whose body had been borne to the shore with her, kasana interrupted him with the low exclamation: "she planned it all. her husband was to be the greatest man in the country and rule even pharaoh; for siptah is not the son of a king." "and," the old man interrupted, to quiet her and help her tell what she desired to say, "as bai raised, he can overthrow him. he will become, even more certainly than the dethroned monarch, the tool of the man who made him king. but i know aarsu the syrian, and if i see aright, the time will come when he will himself strive, in distracted egypt, rent by internal disturbances, for the power which, through his mercenaries, he aided others to grasp. but child, what induced you to follow the army and this shameful profligate?" the dying girl's eyes sparkled, for the question brought her directly to what she desired to tell, and she answered as loudly and quickly as her weakness permitted: "i did it for your son's sake, for love of him, to liberate hosea. the evening before i had steadily and firmly refused the wife of bai. but when i saw your son at the well and he, hosea.... oh, at last he was so affectionate and kissed me so kindly.... and then--then.... my poor heart! i saw him, the best of men, perishing amid contumely and disease. "and when he passed with chains one thought darted through my mind......" "you determined, you dear, foolish, misguided child," cried the old man, "to win the heart of the future king in order, through him, to release my son, your friend?" the dying girl again smiled assent and softly exclaimed: "yes, yes, i did it for that, for that alone. and the prince was so abhorrent to me. and the shame, the disgrace--oh, how terrible it was!" "and you incurred it for my son's sake," the old man interrupted, raising her hand, wet with his tears, to his lips; but she fixed her eyes on ephraim, sobbing softly: "i thought of him too. he is so young, and it is so horrible in the mines." she shuddered again as she spoke; but the youth covered her burning hand with kisses, while she gazed affectionately at him and the old man, adding in faltering accents: "oh, all is well now, and if the gods grant him freedom...." here ephraim interrupted her to exclaim in fiery tones: "we are going to the mines this very day. i and my comrades, and my grandfather with us, will put his guards to flight." "and he shall hear from my lips," nun added, "how faithfully kasana loved him, and that his life will be too short to thank her for such a sacrifice." his voice failed him--but every trace of suffering had vanished from the countenance of the dying girl, and for a long time she gazed heavenward silently with a happy look. by degrees, however, her smooth brow contracted in an anxious frown, and she gasped in low tones: "well, all is well.... only one thing.... my body.... unembalmed.... without the sacred amulets. . . ." but the old man answered: "as soon as you have closed your eyes, i will give it, carefully wrapped, to the phoenician captain now tarrying here, that he may deliver it to your father." kasana tried to turn her head toward him to thank him with a loving glance, but she suddenly pressed both hands on her breast, crimson blood welled from her lips, her cheeks varied from livid white to fiery scarlet and, after a brief, painful convulsion, she sank back. death laid his hand on the loving heart, and her features gained the expression of a child whose mother has forgiven its fault and clasped it to her heart ere it fell asleep. the old man, weeping, closed the dead girl's eyes. ephraim, deeply moved, kissed the closed lids, and after a short silence nun said: "i do not like to enquire about our fate beyond the grave, which moses himself does not know; but whoever has lived so that his or her memory is tenderly cherished in the souls of loved ones, has, i think, done the utmost possible to secure a future existence. we will remember this dead girl in our most sacred hours. let us do for her corpse what we promised, and then set forth to show the man for whom kasana sacrificed what she most valued that we do not love him less than this egyptian woman." etext editor's bookmarks: i do not like to enquire about our fate beyond the grave then hate came; but it did not last long [illustration: cover] the syrian christ by abraham mitrie rihbany boston and new york houghton mifflin company the riverside press cambridge copyright, , by the atlantic monthly company copyright, , by abraham mitrie rihbany all rights reserved _published october _ {v} preface this little volume is sent forth in the confident hope that it may throw fresh light on the life and teachings of christ, and facilitate for the general public the understanding of the bible. as may be readily seen, from its perusal, the present work is not intended to be a commentary on the bible, nor even an exhaustive study of the subject with which it deals. that it leaves many things to be desired is very evident to the author, who fears that his book will be remembered by its readers more by the things it lacks than by the things it contains. yet, from the cordial reception with which the opening chapters of this publication (which made their first appearance in the _atlantic monthly_) met from readers, of various religious affiliations, the author has been encouraged to believe that his aim has not only been clearly {vi} discerned, but thoroughly approved. the books which undertake the systematic "expounding of the scriptures" are a host which no man can number, nor is there any lack of "spiritual lessons drawn from the bible." therefore, as one of the master's fellow countrymen, and one who has enjoyed about twenty years of service in the american pulpit, i have for several years entertained the growing conviction that such a book as this was really needed. not, however, as one more commentary, but as an oriental guide to afford occidental readers of the bible a more intimate view of the original intellectual and social environment of this sacred literature. so what i have to offer here is a series of suggestions, and not of technically wrought bible lessons. the need of the western readers of the bible is, in my judgment, to enter sympathetically and intelligently into the atmosphere in which the books of the scriptures first took form: to have real intellectual, as well as spiritual, fellowship with those orientals who sought {vii} earnestly in their own way to give tangible form to those great spiritual truths which have been, and ever shall be, humanity's most precious heritage. my task has not been a light one. it is comparatively easy to take isolated bible texts and explain them, treating each passage as a detached unit. but when one undertakes to group a large number of passages which never were intended to be gathered together and treated as the kindred thoughts of an essay, the task becomes rather difficult. how far i have succeeded in my effort to relate the passages i have treated in this book to one another according to their intellectual and social affinities, the reader is in a better position to judge than i am. it may not be absolutely necessary for me to say that infallibility cannot justly be ascribed to any author, nor claimed by him, even when writing of his own experiences, and the social environment in which he was born and brought up. however, in yankee, not in oriental, {viii} fashion, i will say that _to the best of my knowledge_ the statements contained in this book are correct. finally, i deem it necessary before i bring this preface to a close to sound a note of warning. so i will say that the orientals' extensive use of figurative speech should by no means be allowed to carry the idea that _all_ oriental speech is figurative. this manner of speech, which is common to all races of men, is only _more extensively_ used by orientals than by occidentals. i could wish, however, that the learned theologians had suspected more strongly the literal accuracy of oriental utterances, and had thus been saved at times from founding a huge doctrinal structure on a figure of speech. notwithstanding all this, the gospel and the christian faith still live and bless and cheer the hearts and minds of men. as an oriental by birth, and as an american from choice, i feel profoundly grateful that i have been enabled to render this modest service to the churches of {ix} america, and to present this book as an offering of love and homage to my master, the syrian christ. abraham mitrie rihbany boston, massachusetts. {xi} contents part i. the syrian christ. i. son of the east ii. birth of a man child iii. the star iv. mystic tones v. filial obedience vi. feast and sacrament vii. the last scene part ii. the oriental manner of speech. i. daily language ii. imprecations iii. love of enemies iv. "the unveracious oriental" v. impressions _vs._ literal accuracy vi. speaking in parables vii. swearing viii. four characteristics {xii} part iii. bread and salt i. the sacred 'aish ii. "our daily bread" iii. "compel them to come in" iv. delaying the departing guest v. family feasts part iv. out in the open i. shelter and home ii. resigned travelers iii. the market place iv. the housetop v. the vineyards and the fields vi. the shepherd part v. sisters of mary and martha i. woman east and west ii. paul and woman iii. jesus and his mother iv. "a gracious woman" part vi. here and there in the bible index { } part i the syrian christ the syrian christ chapter i son of the east jesus christ, the incarnation of the spirit of god, seer, teacher of the verities of the spiritual life, and preacher of the fatherhood of god and the brotherhood of man, is, in a higher sense, "a man without a country." as a prophet and a seer jesus belongs to all races and all ages. wherever the minds of men respond to simple truth, wherever the hearts of men thrill with pure love, wherever a temple of religion is dedicated to the worship of god and the service of man, there is jesus' country and there are his friends. therefore, in speaking of jesus as the son of a certain country, i do not mean in the least to localize his gospel, or to set bounds and limits to the flow of his spirit and the workings of his love. nor is it my aim in these chapters to imitate { } the astute theologians by wrestling with the problem of jesus' personality. to me the secret of personality, human and divine, is an impenetrable mystery. my more modest purpose in this writing is to remind the reader that, whatever else jesus was, as regards his modes of thought and life and his method of teaching, he was a syrian of the syrians. according to authentic history jesus never saw any other country than palestine. there he was born; there he grew up to manhood, taught his gospel, and died for it. it is most natural, then, that gospel truths should have come down to the succeeding generations--and to the nations of the west--cast in oriental moulds of thought, and intimately intermingled with the simple domestic and social habits of syria. the gold of the gospel carries with it the sand and dust of its original home. from the foregoing, therefore, it may be seen that my reason for undertaking to throw fresh light on the life and teachings of christ, and { } other portions of the bible whose correct understanding depends on accurate knowledge of their original environment, is not any claim on my part to great learning or a profound insight into the spiritual mysteries of the gospel. the real reason is rather an accident of birth. from the fact that i was born not far from where the master was born, and brought up under almost the identical conditions under which he lived, i have an "inside view" of the bible which, by the nature of things, a westerner cannot have. and i know that the conditions of life in syria of to-day are essentially as they were in the time of christ, not from the study of the mutilated tablets of the archæologist and the antiquarian, precious as such discoveries are, but from the simple fact that, as a sojourner in this western world, whenever i open my bible it reads like a letter from home. its unrestrained effusiveness of expression; its vivid, almost flashy and fantastic imagery; its naïve narrations; the rugged unstudied simplicity of its parables; its unconventional (and { } to the more modest west rather unseemly) portrayal of certain human relations; as well as its all-permeating spiritual mysticism,--so far as these qualities are concerned, the bible might all have been written in my primitive village home, on the western slopes of mount lebanon some thirty years ago. nor do i mean to assert or even to imply that the western world has never succeeded in knowing the mind of christ. such an assertion would do violent injustice, not only to the occidental mind, but to the gospel itself as well, by making it an enigma, utterly foreign to the native spirituality of the majority of mankind. but what i have learned from intimate associations with the western mind, during almost a score of years in the american pulpit, is that, with the exception of the few specialists, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for a people to understand fully a literature which has not sprung from that people's own racial life. as a repository of divine revelation the bible knows no geographical limits. its spiritual truths are { } from god to man. but as a literature the bible is an imported article in the western world, especially in the home of the anglo-saxon race. the language of the scriptures, the mentality and the habits of life which form the setting of their spiritual precepts, and the mystic atmosphere of those precepts themselves, have come forth from the soul of a people far removed from the races of the west in almost all the modes of its earthly life. you cannot study the life of a people successfully from the outside. you may by so doing succeed in discerning the few fundamental traits of character in their local colors, and in satisfying your curiosity with surface observations of the general modes of behavior; but the little things, the common things, those subtle connectives in the social vocabulary of a people, those agencies which are born and not made, and which give a race its rich distinctiveness, are bound to elude your grasp. there is so much in the life of a people which a stranger to that people must receive { } by way of unconscious absorption. like a little child, he must learn so many things by involuntary imitation. an outside observer, though wise, is only a photographer. he deals with externals. he can be converted into an artist and portray the life of a race by working from the soul outward, only through long, actual, and sympathetic associations with that race. from the foregoing it may be seen that i deem it rather hazardous for a six-weeks tourist in that country to publish a book on the _life_ of syria. a first-class camera and "an eye to business" are hardly sufficient qualifications for the undertaking of such a task. it is very easy, indeed, to take a photograph, but not so easy to relate such a picture to the inner life of a race, and to know what moral and social forces lie behind such externals. the hasty traveler may easily state what certain modes of thought and life in a strange land mean to _him_, but does that necessarily mean that _his_ understanding of such things is also the understanding of the _people_ of that land themselves? { } with the passing of the years, this thought gains in significance with me, as a syrian immigrant. at about the end of my second year of residence in this country, i felt confident that i could write a book on america and the americans whose accuracy no one could challenge. it was so easy for me to grasp the significance of certain general aspects of american life that i felt i was fully competent to state how the american people lived, what their racial, political, and religious tendencies were, what their idioms of speech meant, and to interpret their amorous, martial, dolorous, and joyous moods with perfect accuracy and ease. but now, after a residence of about twenty-four years in america--years which i have spent in most intimate association with americans, largely of the "original stock"--i do not feel half so confident that i am qualified to write such a book. the more intimate i become with american thought, the deeper i penetrate the american spirit, the more enlightened my associations become with american fathers, mothers, { } and children in the joys and sorrows of life, the more fully do i realize how extremely difficult, if not impossible, it is for one to interpret successfully the life of an alien people before one has actually _lived it_ himself. many westerners have written very meritorious books on the thought and life of the east. but these are not of the "tourist" type. such writers have been those who, first, had the initial wisdom to realize that the beggars for _bakhsheesh_ in the thoroughfares of syrian cities, and those who hitch a woman with an ox to the plough in some dark recesses of palestine, did not possibly represent the deep soul of that ancient east, which gave birth to the bible and to the glorious company of prophets, apostles, and saints. second, such writers knew, also, that the fine roots of a people's life do not lie on the surface. such feeders of life are both deep and fine; not only long residence among a people, but intimate association and genuine sympathy with them are necessary to reveal to a stranger the hidden { } meaning of their life. social life, like biological life, energizes from within, and from within it must be studied. and it is those common things of syrian life, so indissolubly interwoven with the spiritual truths of the bible, which cause the western readers of holy writ to stumble, and which rob those truths for them of much of their richness. by sheer force of genius, the aggressive, systematic anglo-saxon mind seeks to press into logical unity and creedal uniformity those undesigned, artless, and most natural manifestations of oriental life, in order to "understand the scriptures." "yet show i unto you a more excellent way," by personally conducting you into the inner chambers of syrian life, and showing you, if i can, how simple it is for a humble fellow countryman of christ to understand those social phases of the scriptural passages which so greatly puzzle the august minds of the west. { } chapter ii birth of a man child in the gospel story of jesus' life there is not a single incident that is not in perfect harmony with the prevailing modes of thought and the current speech of the land of its origin. i do not know how many times i heard it stated in my native land and at our own fireside that heavenly messengers in the forms of patron saints or angels came to pious, childless wives, in dreams and visions, and cheered them with the promise of maternity. it was nothing uncommon for such women to spend a whole night in a shrine "wrestling in prayer," either with the blessed virgin or some other saint, for such a divine assurance; and i remember a few of my own kindred to have done so. perhaps the most romantic religious practice in this connection is the _zeara_. interpreted literally, the word _zeara_ means simply a visit. in its social use it is the equivalent of { } a call of long or short duration. but religiously the _zeara_ means a pilgrimage to a shrine. however, strictly speaking, the word "pilgrimage" means to the syrians a journey of great religious significance whose supreme purpose is the securing of a blessing for the pilgrim, with no reference to a special need. the _zeara_ is a pilgrimage with a specific purpose. the _zayir_ (visitor to a shrine) comes seeking either to be healed of a certain ailment, to atone for a sin, or to be divinely helped in some other way. unlike a pilgrimage also, a _zeara_ may be made by one person in behalf of another. when, for example, a person is too ill to travel, or is indifferent to a spiritual need which such a visit is supposed to fill, his parents or other close friends may make a _zeara_ in his behalf. but much more often a _zeara_ is undertaken by women for the purpose of securing the blessing of fecundity, or consecrating an approaching issue of wedlock (if it should prove to be a male) to god, and to the patron saint of the visited sanctuary. { } again the word "pilgrimage" is used only to describe a visit by a christian to jerusalem, or by a mohammedan to mecca, while the _zeara_ describes a visit to any one of the lesser shrines. the happy journey is often made on foot, the parties most concerned walking all the way "on the flesh of their feet"; that is, with neither shoes nor sandals on. this great sacrifice is made as a mark of sincere humility which is deemed to be pleasing to god and his holy saints. however, the wearing of shoes and even the use of mounts is not considered a sinful practice on such occasions, and is indulged in by many of the well-to-do families. the state of the heart is, of course, the chief thing to be considered. in the fourth chapter of the second book of kings we are told that "the shunammite woman" used an ass when she sought elisha to restore her dead son to her. in the twenty-second verse (the revised version), we are told, "and she called unto her husband, and said, { } send me, i pray thee, one of the servants, and one of the asses, that i may run to the man of god, and come again.... then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, drive, and go forward; slacken me not the riding, except i bid thee. so she went, and came unto the man of god to mount carmel." fasting and prayer on the way are often pronounced phases of a _zeara_. however, wine-drinking by the men in the company and noisy gayety are not deemed altogether incompatible with the solemnity of the occasion. the pious visitors carry with them presents to the abbot and to the monks who serve the shrine. a silver or even gold candlestick, or a crown of either metal for the saint, is also carried to the altar. the young mother in whose behalf the _zeara_ is undertaken is tenderly cared for by every member of the party. she is "the chosen vessel of the lord." the _zûwar_ (visitors) remain at the holy shrine for one or two nights, or until the "presence" is revealed; that is, until the saint { } manifests himself. the prayerfully longed-for manifestation comes almost invariably in a dream, either to the mother or some other worthy in the party. how like the story of joseph all this is! in the first chapter of st. matthew's gospel, the twentieth verse, it is said of joseph, "but while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, joseph, thou son of david, fear not to take unto thee mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the holy ghost. and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins." in this manner the promise is made to the waiting mother, who "keeps these things, and ponders them in her heart." the promise thus secured, the mother and the father vow that the child shall be a _nedher_; that is, consecrated to the saint who made the promise to the mother. the vow may mean one of several things. either that a sum of { } money be "given to the saint" upon the advent of the child, or that the child be carried to the same sanctuary on another _zeara_ with gifts, and so forth, or that his hair will not be cut until he is seven years old, and then cut for the first time before the image of his patron saint at the shrine, or some other act of pious fulfillment. the last form of a vow, the consecration of the hair of the head for a certain period, is practiced by men of all ages. the vow is made as a petition for healing from a serious illness, rescue from danger, or purely as an act of consecration. in the eighteenth chapter of the book of acts, the eighteenth verse, we have the statement: "and paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into syria, and with him priscilla and aquila; _having shorn his head in cenchrea: for he had a vow_." it was also in connection with this practice that paul was induced by the "brethren" at jerusalem to make a compromise which cost him dearly. { } in the twenty-first chapter of acts, the twenty-third verse, we are told that those brethren said to paul, "we have four men who have a vow on them; them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges for them, that they may _shave their heads_." the last service of this kind which i attended in syria was for a cousin of mine, a boy of twelve, who was a _nedher_, or as the word is rendered in the english bible, a nazarite. we assembled in the church of st. george of sûk. the occasion was very solemn. a mass was celebrated after the order of the greek orthodox church. near the close of the service the tender lad was brought by his parents in front of the royal door at the altar. while repeating a prayer, the priest cut the hair on the crown of the boy's head with the scissors, in the shape of a cross. the simple act released the child and his parents of their solemn vow. "twentieth-century culture" is prone to call all such practices superstitions. so they are to a large extent. but i deem it the higher { } duty of this culture to _interpret_ sympathetically rather than to condemn superstition in a sweeping fashion. i am a lover of a rational theology and a reasonable faith, but i feel that in our enthusiasm for such a theology and such a faith we often fail to appreciate the deep spiritual longing which is expressed in superstitious forms of worship. what is there in such religious practices as those i have mentioned but the expression of the heart-burning of those parents for the spiritual welfare and security of their children? what do we find here but evidences of a deep and sincere yearning for divine blessings to come upon the family and the home? thoughts of god at the marriage altar; thoughts of god when the promise of parenthood becomes evident; thoughts of god when a child comes into the world; thoughts of god and of his holy prophets and saints as friends and companions in all the changes and chances of the world. here the challenge to modern rationalism is not to content itself with rebuking superstitions, but to give { } the world deeper spiritual visions than those which superstitions reveal, and to compass childhood and youth by the gracious presence of the living god. in a most literal sense we always understood the saying of the psalmist, "children are a heritage from the lord." above and beyond all natural agencies, it was he who turned barrenness to fecundity and worked the miracle of birth. to us every birth was miraculous, and childlessness an evidence of divine disfavor. from this it may be inferred how tenderly and reverently agreeable to the syrian ear is the angel's salutation to mary, "hail, thou that art highly favored, the lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women!--behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son."[ ] a miracle? yes. but a miracle means one thing to your western science, which seeks to know what nature is and does by dealing with secondary causes, and quite another thing to { } an oriental, to whom god's will is the law and gospel of nature. in times of intellectual trouble this man takes refuge in his all-embracing faith,--the faith that to god all things are possible. the oriental does not try to meet an assault upon his belief in miracles by seeking to establish the historicity of concrete reports of miracles. his poetical, mystical temperament seeks its ends in another way. relying upon his fundamental faith in the omnipotence of god, he throws the burden of proof upon his assailant by challenging him to substantiate his _denial_ of the miracles. so did paul (in the twenty-sixth chapter of the book of acts) put his opponents at a great disadvantage by asking, "why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that god should raise the dead?" but the story of jesus' birth and kindred bible records disclose not only the predisposition of the syrian mind to accept miracles as divine acts, without critical examination, but { } also its attitude toward conception and birth,--an attitude which differs fundamentally from that of the anglo-saxon mind. with the feeling of one who has been reminded of having ignorantly committed an improper act, i remember the time when kind american friends admonished me not to read from the pulpit such scriptural passages as detailed the accounts of conception and birth, but only to allude to them in a general way. i learned in a very short time to obey the kindly advice, but it was a long time before i could swing my psychology around and understand why in america such narratives were so greatly modified in transmission. the very fact that such stories are found in the bible shows that in my native land no such sifting of these narratives is ever undertaken when they are read to the people. from childhood i had been accustomed to hear them read at our church, related at the fireside, and discussed reverently by men and women at all times and places. there is nothing in the { } phraseology of such statements which is not in perfect harmony with the common, everyday speech of my people. to the syrians, as i say, "children are a heritage from the lord." from the days of israel to the present time, barrenness has been looked upon as a sign of divine disfavor, an intolerable calamity. rachel's cry, "give me children, or else i die,"[ ] does not exaggerate the agony of a childless syrian wife. when rebecca was about to depart from her father's house to become isaac's wife, her mother's ardent and effusively expressed wish for her was, "be thou the mother of thousands of millions."[ ] this mother's last message to her daughter was not spoken in a corner. i can see her following the bride to the door, lifting her open palms and turning her face toward heaven, and making her affectionate petition in the hearing of a multitude of guests, who must have echoed her words in chorus. in the congratulations of guests at a { } marriage feast the central wish for the bridegroom and bride is invariably thus expressed: "may you be happy, live long, and have many children!" and what contrasts very sharply with the american reticence in such matters is the fact that shortly after the wedding, the friends of the young couple, both men and women, begin to ask them about their "prospects" for an heir. no more does a prospective mother undertake in any way to disguise the signs of the approaching event, than an american lady to conceal her engagement ring. much mirth is enjoyed in such cases, also, when friends and neighbors, by consulting the stars, or computing the number of letters in the names of the parents and the month in which the miracle of conception is supposed to have occurred, undertake to foretell whether the promised offspring will be a son or a daughter. in that part of the country where i was brought up, such wise prognosticators believed, and made us all believe, that if the calculations resulted in an odd number the birth would be a son, but { } if in an even number, a daughter, which, as a rule, is not considered so desirable. back of all these social traits, and beyond the free realism of the syrian in speaking of conception and birth, lies a deeper fact. to eastern peoples, especially the semites, reproduction in all the world of life is profoundly sacred. it is god's life reproducing itself in the life of man and in the living world below man; therefore the evidences of this reproduction should be looked upon and spoken of with rejoicing. notwithstanding the many and fundamental intellectual changes which i have undergone in this country of my adoption, i count as among the most precious memories of my childhood my going with my father to the vineyard, just as the vines began to "come out," and hearing him say as he touched the swelling buds, "blessed be the creator. he is the supreme giver. may he protect the blessed increase." of this i almost always think when i read the words of the psalmist, "the earth is the lord's and the fullness thereof!" { } now i do not feel at all inclined to say whether the undisguised realism of the orientals in speaking of reproduction is better than the delicate reserve of the anglo-saxons. in fact, i have been so reconstructed under anglo-saxon auspices as to feel that the excessive reserve of this race with regard to such things is not a serious fault, but rather the defect of a great virtue. my purpose is to show that the unreconstructed oriental, to whom reproduction is the most sublime manifestation of god's life, cannot see why one should be ashamed to speak anywhere in the world of the fruits of wedlock, of a "woman with child." one might as well be ashamed to speak of the creative power as it reveals itself in the gardens of roses and the fruiting trees. here we have the background of the stories of sarah, when the angel-guest prophesied fecundity for her in her old age; of rebecca, and the wish of her mother for her, that she might become "the mother of thousands"; of elizabeth, when the "babe leaped in her womb," { } as she saw her cousin mary; and of the declaration of the angel to joseph's spouse; "thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son." here it is explained, also, why upon the birth of a "man-child," well-wishers troop into the house,--even on the very day of birth,--bring their presents, and congratulate the parents on the divine gift to them. it was because of this custom that those strangers, the three "wise men" and magi of the far east, were permitted to come in and see the little galilean family, while the mother was yet in childbed. so runs the gospel narrative: "and when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts,--gold, frankincense, and myrrh."[ ] so also were the humble shepherds privileged to see the wondrous child shortly after birth. "and it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the { } shepherds said one to another, let us now go to bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the lord hath made known unto us. and they came with haste, and found mary and joseph and the babe lying in a manger."[ ] in the twelfth verse of the second chapter of the gospel of st. luke, the english version says, "and this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." here the word "clothes" is somewhat misleading. the arabic version gives a perfect rendering of the fact by saying, "ye shall find a _swaddled_ babe, _laid_ in a manger." according to general syrian custom, in earliest infancy a child is not really clothed, it is only swaddled. upon birth the infant is washed in tepid water by the midwife, then salted, or rubbed gently with salt pulverized in a stone mortar especially for the occasion. (the salt commonly used in syrian homes is coarse-chipped.) next the babe is sprinkled with { } _rehan_,--a powder made of dried myrtle leaves,--and then swaddled. the swaddle is a piece of stout cloth about a yard square, to one corner of which is attached a long narrow band. the infant, with its arms pressed close to its sides, and its feet stretched full length and laid close together, is wrapped in the swaddle, and the narrow band wound around the little body, from the shoulders to the ankles, giving the little one the exact appearance of an egyptian mummy. only a few of the good things of this mortal life were more pleasant to me when i was a boy than to carry in my arms a swaddled babe. the "salted" and "peppered" little creature felt so soft and so light, and was so appealingly helpless, that to cuddle it was to me an unspeakable benediction. such was the "babe of bethlehem" that was sought by the wise men and the shepherds in the wondrous story of the nativity. and in describing such oriental customs it may be significant to point out that, in certain { } localities in syria, to say to a person that he was not "salted" upon birth is to invite trouble. only a _bendûq_, or the child of an unrecognized father, is so neglected. and here may be realized the full meaning of that terrible arraignment of jerusalem in the sixteenth chapter of the book of ezekiel. the holy city had done iniquity, and therefore ceased to be the legitimate daughter of jehovah. so the prophet cries, "the lord came unto me, saying, son of man, cause jerusalem to know her abominations, and say, thus saith the lord god unto jerusalem; thy birth and thy nativity are of the land of canaan; thy father was an amorite, and thy mother a hittite. and as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born--neither wast thou washed in water to supple[ ] thee; _thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all_. no eye pitied thee, to do any of these things for thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the loathing of thy person, in the day thou wast born." [ ] luke i: , . [ ] gen. xxx; . [ ] gen. xxiv: . [ ] matt. ii: . [ ] luke ii: - . [ ] "cleanse" in the revised version. { } chapter iii the star how natural to the thought of the east the story of the "star of bethlehem" is! to the orientals "the heavens declare the glory of god," and the stars reveal many wondrous things to men. they are the messengers of good and evil, and objects of the loftiest idealization, as well as of the crudest superstitions. those who have gazed upon the stars in the deep, clear syrian heavens can find no difficulty in entering into the spirit of the majestic strains of the writer of the eighth psalm. "when i consider thy heavens," says this ancient singer, "the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" deeps beyond deeps are revealed through that dry, soft, and clear atmosphere of the "land of promise," yet the constellations seem as near { } to the beholder as parlor lamps. "my soul longeth" for the vision of the heavens from the heights of my native lebanon, and the hills of palestine. it is no wonder to me that my people have always considered the stars as guides and companions, and as awe-inspiring manifestations of the creator's power, wisdom, and glory. "the heavens declare the glory of god; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge."[ ] so great is the host of the stars seen by the naked eye in that land that the people of syria have always likened a great multitude to the stars of heaven or the sand of the sea. of a great assemblage of people we always said, "they are _methel-ennijoom_--like the stars" (in number). so it is written in the twenty-eighth chapter of deuteronomy, the sixty-second verse, "and ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were _as the stars of heaven for multitude_; because thou wouldst not obey the { } voice of the lord thy god." according to that great narrative in genesis, god promised abraham that his progeny would be as the stars in number. in the fifteenth chapter, the fifth verse, it is said, "and he brought him forth abroad, and said, look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, so shall thy seed be." in speaking of the omniscience of god the writer of the one hundred and forty-seventh psalm says, "he telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. great is our lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite." but the numberless lights of the firmament were brought even closer to us through the belief that they had vital connection with the lives of men on the earth. i was brought up to believe that every human being had a star in heaven which held the secret of his destiny and which watched over him wherever he went. in speaking of an amiable person it is said, "his star is attractive" (_nejmo jeddeeb_). persons { } love one another when "their stars are in harmony." a person is in unfavorable circumstances when his star is in the sphere of "misfortune" (_nehiss_), and so forth. the stars indicated the time to us when we were traveling by night, marked the seasons, and thus fulfilled their creator's purpose by serving "for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years." in every community we had "star-gazers" who could tell each person's star. we placed much confidence in such mysterious men, who could "arrest" an absent person's star in its course and learn from it whether it was well or ill with the absent one. like a remote dream, it comes to me that as a child of about ten i went out one night with my mother to seek a "star-gazer" to locate my father's star and question the shining orb about him. my father had been away from home for some time, and owing to the meagerness of the means of communication in that country, especially in those days, we had no news of him at all. during that afternoon { } my mother said that she felt "heavy-hearted" for no reason that she knew; therefore she feared that some ill must have befallen the head of our household, and sought to "know" whether her fear was well grounded. the "star-arrester," leaning against an aged mulberry tree, turned his eyes toward the stellar world, while his lips moved rapidly and silently as if he were repeating words of awful import. presently he said, "i see him. he is sitting on a cushion, leaning against the wall and smoking his _narghile_. there are others with him, and he is in his usual health." the man took pains to point out the "star" to my mother, who, after much sympathetic effort, felt constrained to say that she did see what the star-gazer claimed he saw. but at any rate, mother declared that she was no longer "heavy-hearted." in my most keen eagerness to see my father and his _narghile_ in the star, at least for mere intellectual delight, i clung to the arm of the reader of the heavens like a frightened kitten, { } and insisted upon "seeing." the harder he tried to shake me off, the deeper did my organs of apprehension sink into his sleeve. at last the combined efforts of my mother and the heir of the ancient astrologers forced me to believe that i was "too young to behold such sights." it was the excessive leaning of his people upon such practices that led isaiah to cry, "thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flames." beyond all such crudities, however, lies the sublime and sustaining belief that the stars are alive with god. the lofty strains of such scriptural passages as the nineteenth psalm and the beautiful story of the star of bethlehem, indicate that to the oriental mind the "hosts of heaven" are no mere masses of dust, { } but the agencies of the creator's might and love. so the narrative of the nativity in our gospel sublimates the beliefs of the orientals about god's purpose in those lights of the firmament, by making the guide of the wise men to the birthplace of the prince of peace a great star, whose pure and serene light symbolized the peace and holiness which, in the "fullness of time," his kingdom shall bring upon the earth. the presentation of a child at the temple, or the "admittance of an infant into the church," is one of the most tender, most beautiful, and most impressive services of my mother church--the greek orthodox.[ ] it is held for every child born within that fold, in commemoration of the presentation of jesus at the temple in jerusalem. as luke tells us ( : ), "and when the days of her purification according to the law of moses were accomplished, they brought him to jerusalem, to present him to the lord." { } the purification period "according to the law of moses" is forty days.[ ] until this is "accomplished," the mother is not permitted to enter into the house of worship. as a general rule the baptismal service, which takes place any time between the eighth day and the fortieth day after birth, is held at the home. on the first sabbath day after the "forty days," the mother carries the infant to the door of the church during mass, where the robed priest, who has been previously applied to for the sacred rite, meets the mother and receives the child in his arms. after making the sign of the cross with the child at the door, the priest says, "now enters the servant of god [naming the child] into the holy church, in the name of the father, and the son, and the holy ghost. amen." then the priest walks into the church with the child, saying, in its behalf, "i will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will i worship toward thy holy temple."[ ] as he { } approaches the center of the church, he says again, "now enters the servant of god," etc. then standing in the center of the church, and surrounded by the reverently silent congregation, the priest says again, in behalf of the child, "in the midst of the congregation will i praise thee, o lord."[ ] again, in front of the royal gate (the central door in the _anastasis_, or partition which screens the altar from the congregation) the priest says for the third time, "now enters the servant of god," etc. after this the priest carries the infant through the north door, which is to the left of the royal gate, into the _mizbeh_, which corresponds to the "holy place" in the ancient temple. here he walks around the _maideh_ (altar of sacrifice), makes the sign of the cross with the child, and walks out into the midst of the congregation, through the south door. in this position the priest utters as his final petition the words of the aged simeon (luke : ), "lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, { } according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the gentiles, and the glory of thy people israel." then he delivers the child back to its mother. female children are presented in front of the royal gate, but are not admitted into the _mizbeh_. [ ] ps. xix: - . [ ] see the author's autobiography, _a far journey_, p. . [ ] lev. xii: - . [ ] ps. v: . [ ] ps. xx: . { } chapter iv mystic tones i love to listen to the mystic tones of the christmas carol. the story of the "star of bethlehem" is the medium of transmission of those deeper strains which have come into the world through the soul of that ancient east. i love to mingle with the social joys of the christmas season and its spirit of good-will, the mystic accents of the ancient seers who expressed in the rich narratives of the new testament the deepest and dearest hopes of the soul. i leave most respectfully to the "biblical critic" the task of assigning to the narrative of the nativity its rightful place in the history of the new testament. my deep interest in this story centers in those spiritual ideals it reveals, which have through the ages exercised such beneficent influences over the minds of men. and i believe that both as a christian { } and as an oriental, i have a perfect right to be a mystic, after the wholesome new testament fashion. in the second chapter of st. luke's gospel the story of the nativity is presented in a most exquisite poetical form. the vision of humble shepherds, wise men, and angels, mingling together in the joy of a new divine revelation, could have been caught only by a deep-visioned spiritual artist. had this fragment of religious literature been discovered in this year of , its appearance would have marked a significant epoch in the history of religion. it is the expression of a sublime and passionate desire of the soul for divine companionship and for infinite peace. "and there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night. "and, lo, the angel of the lord came upon them, and the glory of the lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. "and the angel said unto them, fear not; { } for, behold, i bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. "for unto you is born this day in the city of david a savior, which is christ the lord. "and this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. "and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising god, and saying, "glory to god in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." when the angel delivered his message to the effect that god had visited his people in the person of the new-born christ, then the humble, unlettered shepherds heard the heavenly song, which gave god the glory, and prophesied peace and good-will for all mankind. could there be anything more profoundly and accurately interpretative of the deepest hopes of the human soul than this picture? even the uncouth shepherds, being living souls, could realize that when the divine and the { } human met heaven and earth became one, and peace and good-will prevailed among men. what encouragement, what hope this vision holds out even to the humblest among men! what assurance that heaven with all its treasures of peace and love is so near to our dust! "and the angel said unto them, fear not: for, behold, i bring you glad tidings." the shepherds looked up to heaven through the eyes of all mankind. it was the upward look of a world-old hope. no soul ever looked up to heaven with different results. the divine response always is, "fear not, for i bring you good tidings!" no soul ever needs to dwell in doubt and fear. no soul ever needs to be lonely and forlorn. heaven has nothing for us but "good tidings of great joy." the higher powers are near at hand, and the soul of man may have invisible companions. again we learn from this new testament passage that in the visit of the shepherds and the wise men to the holy child both were equally blest. both those who were steeped { } in the wisdom of that ancient east and the simple-minded sons of the desert stood at the shrine of a holy personality as naked souls, divested of all artificial human distinctions. there were no "assigned" pews in that little shrine. all those who came into it by way of the heart received a blessing, and went away praising god. here we have a foregleam of that longed-for kingdom of god--the home of all aspiring and seeking souls, regardless of rank and station. "there is no great and no small to the soul that maketh all: and where it cometh, all things are; and it cometh everywhere." the christmas carol is dear to the human heart because it is a song of spiritual optimism. to pessimism the heavens are closed and silent; the world has no windows opening toward the infinite. pessimism cannot sing because it has no hope, and cannot pray because it has no faith. and i deem it essential at this point to ask, { } whither is the spirit of the present age leading us? are we drifting away from the mount of vision? there seems to be but little room in this vast and complex life of ours for spiritual dreams and visions. the combination of our commercial activities and the never-ceasing whir of the wheels of our industries close up our senses to the intimate whisperings of the divine spirit. we see, but with the outward eye. we hear, but with the outward ear. our inward senses are in grave danger of dying altogether from lack of exercise. the things of this life are too much with us, and they render us oblivious to the gracious beckonings of the higher world. let not the lesser interests of this life close our hearing to the angel-song which never dies upon the air. the star of hope never sets, and god's revelations are from everlasting to everlasting. { } chapter v filial obedience of jesus' life between the period spoken of in the narrative of the nativity and the time when he appeared on the banks of the jordan, seeking to be baptized by john, the new testament says nothing. one single incident only is mentioned. when twelve years old, the boy jesus went with his parents on a pilgrimage to jerusalem. annual pilgrimages to the great shrines are still very common in syria. the mohammedans go to mecca, the christians and the jews to jerusalem. but there are many other and more accessible sanctuaries which are frequented by the faithful in all those communions. however, a visit to any other sanctuary than jerusalem and mecca is called _zeara_, rather than a pilgrimage.[ ] the simple record of jesus' pilgrimage to jerusalem with his parents is that of a typical { } experience. in writing about it i seem to myself to be giving a personal reminiscence. in the second chapter of the gospel of luke, the forty-first verse, it is said: "now his parents went to jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. and when he was twelve years old, they went up to jerusalem after the custom of the feast. and when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child jesus tarried behind in jerusalem; and joseph and his mother knew not of it. but they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. and when they found him not, they turned back again to jerusalem, seeking him." in syria male children are taken on a pilgrimage or _zeara_, and thus permitted to receive the blessing, which this pious act is supposed to bring upon them, as soon as they are able to make the journey. full maturity is no essential condition. i went with my parents on two _zearas_ before i was fifteen. at the { } present time there is no definite rule, at least among christians, as to how many days should be spent at a sanctuary. pilgrims usually "vow" to stay a certain number of days. in ancient judaism, "the feast of the passover" occupied eight days, and it was that number of days which mary and joseph "fulfilled." according to luke, on their return journey to nazareth jesus' parents went a day's journey before they discovered that he was not with them. this phase of the story seems to have greatly puzzled the good old commentator, adam clarke. "knowing what a treasure they possessed," he observes, "how could they be so long without looking on it? where were the bowels and tender solicitude of the mother? let them answer this question who can." clarke did not need to be so perplexed or so mystified. for one who knows the customs of the syrians while on religious pilgrimages knows also that the experience of the "holy family" was not at all a strange one. the whole mystery is cleared up in the saying, { } "and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance." kinsfolk and acquaintances travel in large groups, and the young pilgrims, such as the twelve-year-old jesus, are considered safe so long as they keep in close touch with the company. on such journeys, parents may not see their sons for hours at a time. the homogeneous character of the group, and the sense of security which faith gives, especially at such times, present no occasion for anxiety concerning the dear ones. the saying of luke that joseph and mary "went a day's journey" before they discovered that jesus was not in the company must, it seems to me, include also the time consumed in their return journey to jerusalem to seek their son. perhaps they discovered his absence about noontime when the company halted by a spring of water to partake of the _zad_ (food for the way). at such a time families gather together to break bread. and what i feel certain of also is that the boy jesus must have been with his parents when they first { } set out on their homeward journey early in the morning from jerusalem, and that he detached himself from his kinsfolk and returned to the holy city shortly after the company had left that place. no syrian family ever would start out on a journey before every one of its members had been accounted for. the evangelist's omission of these details is easily understood. his purpose was not to give a photographic account of all that happened on the way. it was rather to reveal the lofty spiritual ideals which led the boy jesus to return to the temple, where he was found by his anxious parents "sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions." in this brief but significant record of all the filial graces which jesus must have possessed one only is mentioned in the second chapter of the gospel of luke, where it is stated that he went down to nazareth with his parents "and was subject unto them." this seemingly casual remark is full of { } significance. with us in syria, _ta'at-el-walideen_ (obedience to parents) has always been youth's crowning virtue. individual initiative must not overstep the boundary line of this grace. only in this way the patriarchal organization of the family can be kept intact. in my boyhood days in that romantic country, whenever my father took me with him on a "visit of homage" to one of the lords of the land, the most fitting thing such a dignitary could do to me was to place his hand upon my head and say with characteristic condescension, "bright boy, and no doubt obedient to your parents." as regards the grace of filial obedience, i am not aware of a definite break between the east and the west. but there is a vital difference. to an oriental who has just come to this country, the american youth seem to be indifferent to filial obedience. the strong passion for freedom, the individualistic sense which is a pronounced characteristic of the aggressive anglo-saxon, and the economic stress { } which ever tends to scatter the family group, and which the east has never experienced so painfully as the west has, all convey the impression that parental love and filial obedience are fast disappearing from american society. but to those of us sons of the east who have intimate knowledge of the american family, its cohesion does not seem to be so alarmingly weak. the mad rush for "business success" is indeed a menace to the american home, but love and obedience are still vital forces in that home. the terms "father," "mother," "brother," and "sister," have by no means lost their spiritual charms in american society. the deep affection in which the members of the better american family hold one another and the exquisite regard they have for one another command profound respect. but the vital difference between the east and the west is that to easterners filial obedience is more than a social grace and an evidence of natural affection. it is a _religious_ duty of far-reaching significance. god commands { } it. "thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother" is a divine command. the "displeasure" of a parent is as much to be feared as the wrath of god. this sense permeates syrian society from the highest to the lowest of its ranks. the explanation of the origin of sin in the third chapter of genesis touches the very heart of this matter. the writer ascribes the "fall of man," not to any act which was in itself really harmful, but to disobedience. adam was commanded by his divine parent not to eat of the "tree of knowledge of good and evil"; but he did eat, and consequently became a stranger to the blessings of his original home. this idea of filial obedience has been at once the strength and weakness of orientals. in the absence of the restraining interests of a larger social life this patriarchal rule has preserved the cohesion of the domestic and clannish group, and thus safeguarded for the people their primitive virtues. on the other hand, it has served to extinguish the spirit of { } progress, and has thus made oriental life a monotonous repetition of antiquated modes of thought. and it was indeed a great blessing to the world when jesus broke away from mere formal obedience to parents, in the oriental sense of the word, and declared, "whosoever shall do the will of my father in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." [ ] see above, p. . { } chapter vi feast and sacrament of jesus' public ministry and his characteristics as an oriental teacher, i shall speak in later chapters. here i will give space only to a portrayal of the closing scenes in his personal career. the events of the "upper room" on mount zion, and of gethsemane, are faithful photographs of striking characteristics of syrian life. the last supper was no isolated event in syrian history. its fraternal atmosphere, intimate associations, and sentimental intercourse are such as characterize every such gathering of syrian friends, especially in the shadow of an approaching danger. from the simple "table manners" up to that touch of sadness and idealism which the master gave that meal,--bestowing upon it the sacrificial character that has been its propelling force through the ages,--i find nothing which is { } not in perfect harmony with what takes place on such occasions in my native land. the sacredness of the last supper is one of the emphatic examples of how jesus' life and words sanctified the commonest things of life. he was no inventor of new things, but a discoverer of the spiritual significance of things known to men to be ordinary. the informal formalities of oriental life are brimful of sentiment. the oriental's chief concern in matters of conduct is not the correctness of the technique, but the cordiality of the deed. to the anglo-saxon the oriental appears to be perhaps too cordial, decidedly sentimental, and over-responsive to the social stimulus. to the oriental, on the other hand, the anglo-saxon seems in danger of becoming an unemotional intellectualist. be that as it may, the oriental is never afraid to "let himself go" and to give free course to his feelings. the bible in general and such portions of it as the story of the last supper in particular illustrate this phase of oriental life. { } in syria, as a general rule, the men eat their fraternal feasts alone, as in the case of the master and his disciples at the last supper, when, so far as the record goes, none of the women followers of christ were present. they sit on the floor in something like a circle, and eat out of one or a few large, deep dishes. the food is lifted into the mouth, not with a fork or spoon,--except in the case of liquid food,--but with small "shreds" of thin bread. even liquid food is sometimes "dipped up" with pieces of bread formed like the bowl of a spoon. here may be readily understood jesus' saying, "he that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me."[ ] in his famous painting, the last supper, leonardo da vinci presents an oriental event in an occidental form. the high table, the chairs, the individual plates and drinking-glasses are european rather than syrian appointments. from a historical standpoint, the picture is misleading. but da vinci's great { } production was not intended to be a historical, but a character, study. such a task could not have been accomplished if the artist had presented the master and his disciples as they really sat in the "upper room"--in a circle. he seats them on one side of the table, divides them into four groups of three each--two groups on each side of the master. as we view the great painting, we feel the thrill of horror which agitated the loyal disciples when jesus declared, "verily, i say unto you, that one of you shall betray me."[ ] the gestures, the sudden change of position, and the facial expression reveal the innermost soul of each disciple. this is the central purpose of the picture. the artist gave the event a european rather than an oriental setting, in order to make it more intelligible to the people for whom it was intended. but the appointments of the great supper were genuinely oriental. the master and his disciples sat on the floor and ate out of one or { } a few large, deep dishes. in mark's account of that event[ ] we read: "and when it was evening he cometh with the twelve. and as they sat and were eating, jesus said, verily i say unto you, one of you shall betray me, even he that _eateth_ with me." the fact that they were _all_ eating with him is shown in the statement, "they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him, is it i? and he said unto them, it is one of the twelve, he that dippeth with me in the dish." the last sentence, "he that dippeth with me in the dish," has been construed to mean that it was judas only (who was sitting near to jesus) who was dipping in the dish out of which the master was eating. this is altogether possible, but by no means certain. the fact is that according to syrian customs on such occasions each of the few large dishes contains a different kind of food. each one of the guests is privileged to reach to any one of the dishes and dip his bread in it. from this it may be { } safely inferred that several or all of the disciples dipped _in turn_ in the dish which was nearest to jesus. the fact that the other disciples did not know whom their master meant by his saying that one of them should betray him, even after he had said, "he that dippeth with me in the dish," shows plainly that judas was eating in the same fashion as all the other disciples were. therefore the saying, "he that dippeth with me," etc., was that of disappointed love. it may be thus paraphrased: "i have loved you all alike. i have chosen you as my dearest friends. we have often broken bread and sorrowed and rejoiced together, yet one of you, my dear disciples, one who is now eating with me _as the rest are_, intends to betray me!" and that forlorn but glorious company who met in the upper room on mount zion on that historic night had certainly one cup out of which they drank. at our feasts we always drank the wine out of one and the same cup. we did not stay up nights thinking about { } microbes. to us the one cup meant fellowship and fraternal communion. the one who gives drink (_sacky_) fills the cup and passes it to the most honored member of the company first. he drinks the contents and returns the cup to the _sacky_, who fills it again and hands it to another member of the group, and so on, until all have been served once. then the guests drink again by way of _nezel_. it is not easy to translate this word into english. the english word "treating" falls very short of expressing the affectionate regard which the _nezel_ signifies. the one guest upon receiving the cup wishes for the whole company "health, happiness, and length of days." then he singles out one of the group and begs him to accept the next cup that is poured as a pledge of his affectionate regard. the pourer complies with the request by handing the next cup to the person thus designated, who drinks it with the most effusive and affectionate reciprocation of his friend's sentiments. it is also customary for a gracious host to request as a { } happy ending to the feast that the contents of one cup be drunk by the whole company as a seal of their friendship with one another. each guest takes a sip and passes the cup to the one next to him until all have partaken of the "fruit of the vine." i have no doubt that it was after this custom that the disciples drank when jesus "took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave to them: and they _all_ drank of it."[ ] no account of fraternal feasting in syria can be complete without mention of the _z[i-breve]kreh_ (remembrance). to be remembered by his friends after his departure from them is one of the syrian's deepest and dearest desires. the _z[i-breve]kreh_ plays a very important part in the literature of the east, and expresses the tenderest spirit of its poetry. the expressions "i remember," "remember me," "your remembrance," "the remembrance of those days" and like phrases are legion among the syrians. "o friends," cries the arabian poet, { } "let your remembrance of us be as constant as our remembrance of you; for such a remembrance brings near those that are far away." rarely do friends who have been feasting together part without this request being made by those of them who do not expect to meet with their friends again for a time. "remember me when you meet again," is said by the departing friend with unspeakable tenderness. he is affectionately grateful also when he knows that he is held in remembrance by his friends. so st. paul pours out his soul in grateful joy for his friends' remembrance of him. "but now when timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that _ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you_."[ ] this affectionate request, "remember me," signifies, "i love you, therefore i am always with you." if we love one another, we cannot { } be separated from one another. the _z[)i]ikreh_ is the bond of fraternity between us. was not this the very thing which the master meant when he said, "this do in remembrance of me"?[ ] the disciples were asked never to allow themselves to forget their master's love for them and for the world: never to forget that if his love lived in their hearts he was always with them, present at their feasts, and in their struggles in the world to lead the world from darkness into light. "this do in remembrance of me," is therefore the equivalent of "lo, i am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."[ ] "now there was leaning on jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom jesus loved."[ ] the posture of the "beloved disciple," john,--so objectionable to occidental taste,--is in perfect harmony with syrian customs. how often have i seen men friends in such an attitude. there is not in it the slightest infringement of the rules of propriety; the act was as natural { } to us all as shaking hands. the practice is especially indulged in when intimate friends are about to part from one another, as on the eve of a journey, or when about to face a dangerous undertaking. they then sit with their heads leaning against each other, or the one's head resting upon the other's shoulder or breast. they talk to one another in terms of unbounded intimacy and unrestrained affection. the expressions, "my brother," "my eyes," "my soul," "my heart," and the like, form the life-centers of the conversation. "my life, my blood are for you; take the very sight of my eyes, if you will!" and lookers-on say admiringly, "behold, how they love one another! by the name of the most high, they are closer than brothers." was it, therefore, strange that the master, who knew the deepest secret of the divine life, and whose whole life was a living sacrifice, should say to his intimate friends, as he handed them the bread and the cup on that { } momentous night, "take, eat; this is my body"; and "drink ye all of it; for this is my blood"? here again the nazarene charged the ordinary words of friendly intercourse with rare spiritual richness and made the common speech of his people express eternal realities. but let me here call attention to da vinci's master-stroke which changes for a moment john's posture and relieves the last supper of a feature which is so objectionable to occidental taste. the artist seizes the moment when peter pulled john from jesus' breast by beckoning to the beloved disciple "that he should ask who it should be of whom he spoke" (the one who should betray him). john remains in the attitude of loving repose; he simply lifts his body for an instant, and inclines his head to hear peter. the treachery of judas is no more an oriental than it is a human weakness. traitors can claim neither racial nor national refuge. they are fugitives in the earth. but in the judas episode is involved one of the most tender, { } most touching acts of jesus' whole life. to one familiar with the customs of the east, jesus' handing the "sop" to his betrayer was an act of surpassing beauty and significance. in all my life in america i have not heard a preacher interpret this simple deed, probably because of lack of knowledge of its meaning in syrian social intercourse. "and when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to judas iscariot, the son of simon."[ ] at syrian feasts, especially in the region where jesus lived, such sops are handed to those who stand and serve the guests with wine and water. but in a more significant manner those morsels are exchanged by friends. choice bits of food are handed to friends by one another, as signs of close intimacy. it is never expected that any person would hand such a sop to one for whom he cherishes no friendship. i can never contemplate this act in the master's story without thinking of "the love of christ which passeth knowledge." to the one { } who carried in his mind and heart a murderous plot against the loving master, jesus handed the sop of friendship, the morsel which is never offered to an enemy. the rendering of the act in words is this: "judas, my disciple, i have infinite pity for you. you have proved false, you have forsaken me in your heart; but i will not treat you as an enemy, for i have come, not to destroy, but to fulfill. here is my sop of friendship, and 'that thou doest, do quickly.'" apparently jesus' demeanor was so cordial and sympathetic that, as the evangelist tells us, "now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. for some of them thought, because judas had the bag, that jesus had said unto him, buy those things that we have need of against the feast, or that he should give something to the poor."[ ] thus in this simple act of the master, so rarely noticed by preachers, we have perhaps the finest practical example of "love your enemies" in the entire gospel. { } is it therefore to be wondered at that in speaking of judas, the writer of st. john's gospel says, "and after the sop satan entered into him"? for, how can one who is a traitor at heart reach for the gift of true friendship without being transformed into the very spirit of treason? again, judas's treasonable kiss in gethsemane was a perversion of an ancient, deeply cherished, and universally prevalent syrian custom. in saluting one another, especially after having been separated for a time, men friends of the same social rank kiss one another on both cheeks, sometimes with very noisy profusion. when they are not of the same social rank, the inferior kisses the hand of the superior, while the latter at least pretends to kiss his dutiful friend upon the cheek. so david and jonathan "kissed one another, until david exceeded." paul's command, "salute one another with a holy kiss," so scrupulously disobeyed by occidental christians, is characteristically oriental. as a child i always felt { } a profound reverential admiration for that unreserved outpouring of primitive affections, when strong men "fell upon one another's neck" and kissed, while the women's eyes swam in tears of joy. the passionate, quick, and rhythmic exchange of affectionate words of salutation and kisses sounded, with perhaps a little less harmony, like an intermingling of vocal and instrumental music. so judas, when "forthwith he came to jesus, and said, hail, master, and kissed him,"[ ] invented no new sign by which to point jesus out to the roman soldiers, but employed an old custom for the consummation of an evil design. just as jesus glorified the common customs of his people by using them as instruments of love, so judas degraded those very customs by wielding them as weapons of hate. [ ] matt. xxvi: . [ ] matt. xxvi: . [ ] revised version, xiv: - . [ ] mark xiv: . [ ] thess. iii: . [ ] luke xxii: . [ ] matt. xxviii: . [ ] john xiii: . [ ] john xiii: . [ ] john xiii: , . [ ] matt. xxvi: . { } chapter vii the last scene perhaps nowhere else in the new testament do the fundamental traits of the oriental nature find so clear an expression as in this closing scene of the master's life. the oriental's _dependence_, to which the world owes the loftiest and tenderest scriptural passages, finds here its most glorious manifestations. as i have already intimated, the oriental is never afraid to "let himself go," whether in joy or sorrow, and to give vent to his emotions. it is of the nature of the anglo-saxon to suffer in silence, and to kill when he must, with hardly a word of complaint upon his lips or a ripple of excitement on his face. he disdains asking for sympathy. his severely individualistic tendencies and spirit of endurance convince him that he is "able to take care of himself." during my early years in this country the reserve of americans in times of sorrow { } and danger, as well as in times of joy, was to me not only amazing, but appalling. not being as yet aware of their inward fire and intensity of feeling, held in check by a strong bulwark of calm calculation, as an unreconstructed syrian i felt prone to doubt whether they had any emotions to speak of. it is not my purpose here to undertake a comparative critical study of these opposing traits, but to state that, for good or evil, the oriental is preëminently a man who craves sympathy, yearns openly and noisily for companionship, and seeks help and support outside himself. whatever disadvantages this trait may involve, it has been the one supreme qualification that has made the oriental the religious teacher of the whole world. it was his childlike dependence on god that gave birth to the twenty-third and fifty-first psalms, and made the lord's prayer the universal petition of christendom. it was also this dependence on companionship, human and divine, which inspired the great commandments, { } "thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself." now it is in the light of this fundamental oriental trait that we must view christ's utterances at the last supper and in gethsemane. the record tells us that while at the supper he said to his disciples, "with desire i have desired to eat this passover with you before i suffer,"[ ]--or, as the marginal note has it, "i have heartily desired," and so forth, which brings it nearer the original text. again, "he was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, verily, verily, i say unto you, that one of you shall betray me." "this is my body ... this is my blood ... do this in remembrance of me." we must seek the proper setting for these utterances, not merely in the upper room in zion, but in the deepest tendencies of the oriental mind. and the climax is reached in the dark hour of gethsemane, in the hour of intense suffering, imploring need, and ultimate triumph in { } jesus' surrender to the father's will. how true to that demonstrative oriental nature is the scriptural record, "and being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."[ ] the faithful and touching realism of the record here is an example of the childlike responsiveness of the syrian nature to feelings of sorrow, no less striking than the experience itself. it seems to me that if an anglo-saxon teacher in similar circumstances had ever allowed himself to agonize and to sweat "as it were great drops of blood," his chronicler in describing the scene would have safeguarded the dignity of his race by simply saying that the distressed teacher was "visibly affected"! the darkness deepened and the master "took with him peter and the two sons of zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. then saith he unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; tarry { } ye here, and watch with me."[ ] three times did the great teacher utter that matchless prayer, whose spirit of fear as well as of trust vindicates the doctrine of the humanity of god and the divinity of man as exemplified in the person of christ: "o my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as i will, but as thou wilt!"[ ] the sharp contrast between the semitic and the anglo-saxon temperament has led some unfriendly critics of christ to state very complacently and confidently that he "simply broke down when the critical hour came." in this assertion i find a very pronounced misapprehension of the facts. if my knowledge of the traits of my own race is to be relied on, then in trying to meet this assertion i feel that i am entitled to the consideration of one who speaks with something resembling authority. the simple fact is that while in gethsemane, as indeed everywhere else throughout his ministry, jesus was not in the position of one { } trying to "play the hero." his companions were his intimate earthly friends and his gracious heavenly father, and to them he spoke as an oriental would speak to those dear to him,--_just as he felt_, with not a shadow of show or sham. his words were not those of weakness and despair, but of confidence and affection. the love of his friends and the love of his father in heaven were his to draw upon in his hour of trial, with not the slightest artificial reserve. how much better and happier this world would be if we all dealt with one another and with god in the warm, simple, and pure love of christ! as the life and words of christ amply testify, the vision of the oriental has been to teach mankind not science, logic, or jurisprudence, but a simple, loving, childlike faith in god. therefore, before we can fully know our master as the cosmopolitan christ, we must first know him as the syrian christ. [ ] luke xxii: . [ ] luke xxii: . [ ] matt. xxvi: - . [ ] _ibid._ . { } part ii the oriental manner of speech chapter i daily language the oriental i have in mind is the semite, the dweller of the near east, who, chiefly through the bible, has exerted an immense influence on the life and literature of the west. the son of the near east is more emotional, more intense, and more communicative than his far-eastern neighbors. although very old in point of time, his temperament remains somewhat juvenile, and his manner of speech intimate and unreserved. from the remote past, even to this day, the oriental's manner of speech has been that of a worshipper, and not that of a business man or an industrial worker in the modern western sense. to the syrian of to-day, as to his ancient ancestors, life, with all its activities and cares, revolves around a religious center. of course this does not mean that his religion { } has not always been beset with clannish limitations and clouded by superstitions, or that the oriental has always had a clear, active consciousness of the sanctity of human life. but it does mean that this man, serene or wrathful, at work or at play, praying or swearing, has never failed to believe that he is overshadowed by the all-seeing god. he has never ceased to cry: "o lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising; thou understandest my thought afar off. thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, i cannot attain unto it!"[ ] and it is one of the grandest, most significant facts in human history that, notwithstanding his intellectual limitations and superstitious fears, because he has maintained the altar of god as life's center of gravity, and never let die the consciousness that he was compassed about by the living god, the oriental { } has been the channel of the sublimest spiritual revelation in the possession of man. the histories of races are the records of their desires and rewards, of their seeking and finding. the law of compensation is all-embracing. in the long run "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."[ ] "he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully."[ ] in the material world the oriental has sown but sparingly, and his harvests here have also been very meager. he has not achieved much in the world of science, industry, and commerce. as an industrial worker he has remained throughout his long history a user of hand tools. previous to his very recent contact with the west, he never knew what structural iron and machinery were. as a merchant he has always been a simple trader. he has never been a man of many inventions. his faithful repetition of the past has left no gulf between him and his remote ancestors. { } the implements and tools he uses to-day are like those his forefathers used in their day. the supreme choice of the oriental has been religion. to say that this choice has not been altogether a conscious one, that it has been the outcome of temperament, does by no means lessen its significance. from the beginning of his history on the earth to this day the oriental has been conscious above all things of two supreme realities--god and the soul. what has always seemed to him to be his first and almost only duty was and is to form the most direct, most intimate connection between god and the soul. "the fear of the lord," meaning most affectionate reverence, is to the son of the east not "the beginning of wisdom" as the english bible has it, but the _height_ or _acme_ of wisdom. his first concern about his children is that they should know themselves as living souls, and god as their creator and father. an unbeliever in god has always been to the east a strange phenomenon. i never heard of atheism or of an atheist before { } i came in touch with western culture in my native land. my many years of intimate and sympathetic contact with the more varied, more intelligent life of the west has not tended in the least to lessen my reverence for religion nor to lower my regard for culture. culture gives strength and symmetry to religious thought, and religion gives life and beauty to culture. and just as i believe that men should pray without ceasing, so also do i believe that they should strive to make their religious faith ever more free and more intelligent. yet the history of the orient compels me to believe that the soil out of which scriptures spring is that whose life is the active sympathy of religion, regardless of the degree of acquired knowledge. when the depths of human nature are thoroughly saturated with this sympathy, then it is prepared both to receive and to give those thoughts of which scriptures are made. industry and commerce have their good uses. but an industrial and { } commercialistic atmosphere is not conducive to the production of sacred books. where the chief interests of life center in external things, religion is bound to become only one and perhaps a minor concern in life. the oriental has always lived in a world of spiritual mysteries. fearful or confident, superstitious or rational, to him god has been all and in all. "the judgments of the lord are true and righteous altogether. in keeping of them there is great reward."[ ] the son of the east has been richly rewarded. he is the religious teacher of all mankind. through him all scriptures have come into being. all the great, living religions of the world originated in asia; and the three greatest of them--judaism, christianity, and mohammedanism--have come into the world through the semitic race in that little country called syria. the perpetual yearning of the oriental for spiritual dreams and visions has had its rewards. he sowed bountifully, he reaped bountifully. { } note the syrian's daily language: it is essentially biblical. he has no _secular_ language. the only real break between his scriptures and the vocabulary of his daily life is that which exists between the classical and the vernacular. when you ask a syrian about his business he will not answer, "we are doing well at present," but "_allah mûn 'aim_" (god is giving bounteously). to one starting on a journey the phrase is not "take good care of yourself," but "go, in the keeping and protection of god." by example and precept we were trained from infancy in this manner of speech. coming into a house, the visitor salutes by saying, "god grant you good morning," or "the peace of god come upon you." so it is written in the tenth chapter of matthew, "and as ye enter into the house, salute it. and if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it be not worthy, let your peace return unto you." in saluting a day laborer at work we said, "_allah, yaatik-el-afie_" (god give you health { } and strength). in saluting reapers in the field, or "gatherers of the increase" in the vineyards or olive groves, we said just the words of boaz, in the second chapter of the book of ruth, when he "came from bethlehem and said unto the reapers, the lord be with you. and they answered him, the lord bless thee." or another scriptural expression, now more extensively used on such occasions, "the blessing of the lord be upon you!" it is to this custom that the withering imprecation which is recorded in the one hundred and twenty-ninth psalm refers: "let them all be confounded and turned back that hate zion: let them be as the grass upon the housetops which withereth afore it groweth up: wherewith the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom. neither do they which go by say, the blessing of the lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the lord." in asking a shepherd about his flock we said, "how are the blessed ones?" or a parent about his children, "how are the preserved ones?" { } they are preserved of god through their "angels," of whom the master spoke when he said, "take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for i say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my father."[ ] speaking of a good man we said, "the grace of god is poured upon his face." so in the book of proverbs,[ ] "blessings are upon the head of the just." akin to the foregoing are such expressions as these. in trying to rise from a sitting posture (the syrians sit on the floor with their legs folded under them), a person, using the right arm for leverage, says, as he springs up, "ya _allah_" (o god [help]). in inquiring about the nature of an object, he says, "_sho dinû_?" (what is its religion?) and one of the queerest expressions, when translated into english, is that employed to indicate that a kettleful of water, for example, has boiled beyond the required degree: "this water has turned to be an infidel" (_kaffer_). it may be noticed here { } that it is not the old theology only which associates the infidel with intense heat. so this religious language is the oriental's daily speech. i have stated in my autobiography that the men my father employed in his building operations were grouped according to their faith. he had so many druses, so many greek orthodox, maronites, and so forth. the almost total abstinence from using "pious" language in ordinary business and social intercourse in america may be considered commendable in some ways, but i consider it a surrender of the soul to the body, a subordination of the spirit of the things which are eternal to the spirit of the things which are temporal. in my judgment, the superior culture of the west, instead of limiting the vocabulary of religion to the one hour of formal worship on sunday, and scrupulously shunning it during the remainder of the week, should make its use, on a much higher plane than the orient has yet discovered, coextensive with all the activities of life. [ ] ps. cxxxix: - . [ ] gal. vi: . [ ] cor. ix: . [ ] ps. xix: , . [ ] matt. xviii: . [ ] x: . { } chapter ii imprecations again, the oriental's consideration of life as being essentially religious makes him as pious in his imprecations and curses as he is in his aspirational prayer. beyond all human intrigue, passion, and force, the great avenger is god. "vengeance is mine, i will repay, saith the lord."[ ] "see now that i, even i, am he, and there is no god with me: i kill and i make alive; i wound and i heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand."[ ] by priests and parents these precepts have been transmitted from generation to generation in the orient, from time immemorial. we all were instructed in them by our elders with scrupulous care. of course as weak mortals we always tried to avenge ourselves, and the idea of _thar_ (revenge) lies deep in the oriental nature. but to us our vengeance was nothing { } compared with what god did to our "ungodly" enemies and oppressors. the oriental's impetuosity and effusiveness make his imprecatory prayers, especially to the "unaccustomed ears" of americans, blood-curdling. and i confess that on my last visit to syria, my countrymen's (and especially my countrywomen's) bursts of pious wrath jarred heavily upon me. in his oral bombardment of his enemy the oriental hurls such missiles as, "may god burn the bones of your fathers"; "may god exterminate your seed from the earth"; "may god cut off your supply of bread (_yakta rizkak_)"; "may you have nothing but the ground for a bed and the sky for covering"; "may your children be orphaned and your wife widowed"; and similar expressions. does not this sound exactly like the one hundred and ninth psalm? speaking of his enemy, the writer of that psalm says, "let his days be few, and let another take his office. let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. let his children be continually { } vagabonds, and beg; let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. let there be none to extend mercy unto him; neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children. let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out." the sad fact is that the oriental has always considered his personal enemies to be the enemies of god also, and as such their end was destruction. such sentiments mar the beauty of many of the psalms. the enemies of the israelites were considered the enemies of the god of israel, and the enemies of a syrian family are also the enemies of the patron saint of that family. in that most wonderful scriptural passage--the one hundred and thirty-ninth psalm--the singer cries, "surely thou wilt slay the wicked, o god: depart from me, ye bloody men. for they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. do not i hate them, o lord, that hate thee? and am i not grieved with those that rise against thee? _i hate them with perfect hatred: { } i count them mine enemies._" yet this ardent hater of his enemies most innocently turns to god and says in the next verse: "search me, o god, and know my heart: try me and know my thoughts: _and see if there be any wicked way in me_, and lead me in the way everlasting." this mixture of piety and hatred, uttered so naïvely and in good faith, is characteristically syrian. such were the mutual wishes i so often heard expressed in our neighborhood and clan fights and quarrels in syria. when so praying, the persons would beat upon their breasts and uncover their heads, as signs of the total surrender of their cause to an avenging omnipotence. of course the syrians are not so cruel and heartless as such imprecations, especially when cast in cold type, would lead one to believe. i am certain that if the little children of his enemy should become fatherless, the imprecator himself would be among the first to "favor" them. if you will keep in mind the juvenile temperament of the oriental, already mentioned, and his habit of turning to { } god in all circumstances, as unreservedly as a child turns to his father, your judgment of the son of palestine will be greatly tempered with mercy. the one redeeming feature in these imprecatory petitions is that they have always served the oriental as a safety-valve. much of his wrath is vented in this manner. he is much more cruel in his words than in his deeds. as a rule the orientals quarrel much, but fight little. by the time two antagonists have cursed and reviled each other so profusely they cool off, and thus graver consequences are averted. the anglo-saxon has outgrown such habits. in the first place the highly complex social order in which he lives calls for much more effective methods for the settling of disputes, and, in the second place, he has no time to waste on mere words. and just as the anglo-saxon smiles at the wordy fights of the oriental, the oriental shudders at the swiftness of the anglo-saxon in using his fists and his pistol. both are needy of the grace of god. [ ] rom. xii: . [ ] deut. xxxii: . { } chapter iii love of enemies the preceding chapter makes it very clear why jesus opened the more profound depths of the spiritual life to his much-divided and almost hopelessly clannish countrymen, by commanding them to love their enemies. he who taught "as one having authority, and not as the scribes," knew the possibilities and powers of divine love as no man did. it is in such immortal precepts that we perceive his superiority to his time and people and the divinity of his character. his knowledge of the father was so intimate and his repose in the father's love so perfect that he could justly say, "i and my father are one." "ye have heard," he said to his followers, "that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor [in the original, _quarib_--kinsman] and hate thine enemy: but i say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do { } good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your father which is in heaven."[ ] here we have the very heart and soul of the gospel, and the dynamic power of jesus' ministry of reconciliation. yet to many devout christians, as well as to unfriendly critics of the new testament, the command, "love your enemies," offers a serious perplexity. an "independent" preacher in a large western city, after reading this portion of the sermon on the mount to his congregation, stated that jesus' great discourse should be called, "the sarcasm on the mount." is not love of enemies beyond the power of human nature? this question is pertinent. and it is an obvious fact that we cannot love by command; we cannot love to order. this mysterious flow of soul which we call love is not of our own making; therefore we cannot _will_ to love. such a discussion, however, falls outside the scope { } of this publication. what i wish to offer here is a linguistic explanation which i believe will throw some light on this great commandment. the word "love" has been more highly specialized in the west than in the east. in its proper english use it means only that ardent, amorous feeling which cannot be created by will and design. in the west the word "love" has been relieved of the function of expressing the less ardent desires such as the terms "to like," "to have good-will toward," and "to be well-disposed toward" imply. not so in the east. the word "like," meaning "to be favorably inclined toward," is not found either in the bible or in the arabic tongue. in the english version it is used in two places, but the translation is incorrect. in the twenty-fifth chapter of deuteronomy the seventh verse, "if the man like not to take his brother's wife," should be rendered, "if the man _consent_ not"; and in the fourth chapter of amos, the fifth verse, "for this liketh you, o ye children of israel," is in the original, "for this ye { } _loved_, o ye children of israel." in any standard concordance of the bible, the hebrew verb _aheb_ (to love) precedes these quotations. so to us orientals the only word which can express any cordial inclination of approval is "love." one loves his wife and children, and loves grapes and figs and meat, if he likes these things. an employer says to an employee, "if you _love_ to work for me according to this agreement, you can." it is nothing uncommon for one to say to a casual acquaintance whom he likes, "i must say, _sahib_ [friend], that i love you!" i know of no equivalent in the arabic for the phrase, "i am interested in you." "love" and "hate" are the usual terms by which to express approval and disapproval, as well as real love and hatred. the scriptural passages illustrative of this thought are not a few. in the ninth chapter of the epistle to the romans, the thirteenth verse, it is said, "as it is written, jacob have i loved, but esau have i hated." god does not "hate." the two terms here, "loved" and { } "hated," mean "approved" and "disapproved." it is as a father approves of the conduct of one of his children and disapproves that of another of them. another example of this use of the word "hate" is found in the twenty-first chapter of deuteronomy, the fifteenth verse: "if a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated: then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the first-born: but he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath." here it is safe to infer that the writer meant to distinguish between the wife who was a "favorite" and the one who was not. there could be no valid reason why a husband should live with a wife whom he really hated when he could very easily divorce her, according to the jewish { } law, and marry another. in such a case the husband was simply partial in his love. the hatred which is felt toward an enemy and a destroyer does not apply here. another scriptural passage which illustrates the free use of the word "love" is the story of the rich man in the tenth chapter of st. mark's gospel. beginning with the seventeenth verse, the passage reads: "and when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeling to him, and asked him, good master, what shall i do that i may inherit eternal life? and jesus said unto him, why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, god. thou knowest the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honor thy father and mother. and he answered and said unto him, master, all these have i observed from my youth. _then jesus, beholding him, loved him_, and said unto him, one thing thou lackest"; and so forth. apparently the brief conversation with the young man { } showed jesus that his questioner was both polite and intelligent, so the master liked him. stating the case in western phraseology it may be said that the young hebrew seeker was an agreeable, or likable man. quite different is the import of the word "love" in such of the master's sayings as are found in the fifteenth chapter of st. john's gospel: "as the father hath loved me, so have i loved you: continue ye in my love. this is my commandment, that ye love one another, as i have loved you." here the term "love" is used in its truest and purest sense. from all this it may be seen that when the great oriental teacher said to his countrymen, who considered all other clans than their own as their enemies, "love your enemies," he did not mean that they should be enamored of them, but that they should have good will toward them. we cannot love by will and design, but we certainly can will to be well disposed even toward those who, we believe, have ill will toward us. he who really thinks this { } an impossibility gives evidence not of superior "critical knowledge," but of being still in the lower stages of human evolution. but i have something more to say on this great subject. whether used in a general or a highly specialized sense the word "love" speaks indeed of the "greatest thing in the world." when the master of the art of living said, "love your enemies," he urged upon the minds of men the divinest law of human progress. yet compliance with this demand seems, to the majority of men, to be beyond the reach of humanity. when you are admonished to love your enemies, you will be likely to think of the meanest, most disagreeable human being you know and wonder as to how you are going to love _such_ a person. but the master's law far transcends this narrow conception of love. its deeper meaning, when understood, renders such a conception shallow and childish. it is to be found, not in the freakish moods of the sensibility, but in the realm of permanent ideals. { } there are in the world two forces at work, love and hatred. hatred destroys, love builds; hatred injures, love heals; hatred embitters life, love sweetens it; hatred is godlessness, love is godliness. the supreme question, therefore, is, not as to whether there are unlovable persons in the world or not, but rather, which one of these two forces would you have to rule your own life and the life of humanity at large, love or hatred? which nutrition would you give your own soul and the souls of those who are near and dear to you, that of hatred, or that of love? can it be your aim in life to aid that power which injures, destroys, embitters life and estranges from god, or the power which heals, builds up, sweetens life and makes one with god? you say you have been injured through the malicious designs of others, you are pained by the injury, and a sense of hatred impels you to avenge yourself. but what formed such designs against you, love or hatred? hatred! you enjoy, idealize, adore the love of those who { } love you. the designs of love give you joyous satisfaction, and not pain. you know now by actual personal experience that the fruits of hatred are bitter, and the fruits of love are sweet. is it your duty, therefore, to give your life over to the power of hatred, and thus increase its dominion among men and multiply its bitter, poisonous fruit in the world, or to consecrate your life to the power of love, which you idealize and adore, and whose fruits are joy and peace? this, therefore, is the master's law of love: give your life and service to that power which merits your holiest regard and engages your purest affections, regardless of the "evil and the undeserving." recognize no enemies, and you shall have none. the only power which can defeat the designs of hatred is love. the foams of hatred and fumes of vengeance are destined to pass away with all their possessors; only love is permanent and sovereign good. the man of hatred is destined, sooner or { } later, to lose his nobler qualities, his own self-respect and the respect of others, and to occupy the smallest and most undesirable social sphere. therefore love, and do not hate! exercise good will toward those even who have injured you. you may not be able to reach and redeem by your generous thoughts and designs such persons as have injured you, but a hundred others may learn from you the law of redeeming love. let your children grow to know you as a man of love. let your employees and fellow citizens think of you as a man of peace and good will, a builder and not a destroyer. let your fireside be ever cheered by the music of love. when the shadows of night fall and you come to enter into the unknown land of sleep, let loving thoughts be your companions; let them course into the deepest recesses of your nature and leaven your entire being. be a man of love! love even your blind and misguided enemies! [ ] matt. v: - . { } chapter iv "the unveracious oriental" the oriental's juvenile temperament and his partial disregard for concrete facts have led his anglo-saxon cousin to consider him as essentially unveracious. "you cannot believe what an oriental says." "the orientals are the children of the 'father of lies.'" "whatever an oriental says, the opposite is likely to be the truth"; and so forth. i do not wish in the least to undertake to excuse or even condone the oriental's unveracity, any more than to approve of the ethics of american politicians during a political campaign. i have no doubt that the oriental suffers more from the universal affliction of untruthfulness than does the anglo-saxon, and that he sorely needs to restrict his fancy, and to train his intellect to have more respect for facts. nevertheless, i feel compelled to say that a { } clear understanding of some of the oriental's modes of thought will quash many of the indictments against his veracity. his ways will remain different from the ways of the anglo-saxon, and perhaps not wholly agreeable to the latter; but the son of the east--the dreamer and writer of scriptures--will be credited with more honesty of purpose. it is unpleasant to an anglo-saxon to note how many things an oriental says, but does not mean. and it is distressing to an oriental to note how many things the anglo-saxon means, but does not say. to an unreconstructed syrian the brevity, yea, even curtness, of an englishman or an american, seems to sap life of its pleasures and to place a disproportionate value on time. for the oriental, the primary value of time must not be computed in terms of business and money, but in terms of sociability and good fellowship. poetry, and not prosaic accuracy, must be the dominant feature of speech. there is much more of intellectual inaccuracy than of moral delinquency in the easterner's { } speech. his misstatements are more often the result of indifference than the deliberate purpose to deceive. one of his besetting sins is his _ma besay-il_--it does not matter. he sees no essential difference between nine o'clock and half after nine, or whether a conversation took plate on the housetop or in the house. the main thing is to know the substance of what happened, with as many of the supporting details as may be conveniently remembered. a case may be overstated or understated, not necessarily for the purpose of deceiving, but to impress the hearer with the significance or the insignificance of it. if a sleeper who had been expected to rise at sunrise should oversleep and need to be awakened, say half an hour or an hour later than the appointed time, he is then aroused with the call, "arise, it is noon already--_qûm sar edh-hir_." of a strong and brave man it is said, "he can split the earth--_yekkid elaridh_." the syrians suffer from no misunderstanding in such cases. they _discern_ one another's meaning. { } so also many scriptural passages need to be _discerned_. the purpose of the oriental speaker or writer must be sought often beyond the letter of his statement, which he uses with great freedom. in the first chapter of st. mark's gospel, the thirty-second and thirty-third verses, it is said, "and at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed of devils. and _all the city_ was gathered together at the door." the swiftness with which the poor people in eastern communities bring their sick to a healer, be he a prophet or only a physician, is proverbial. because of the scarcity of physicians, as well as of money with which to pay for medical attendance, when a healer is summoned to a home many afflicted persons come or are brought to him. the peoples of the east have always believed also in the healing of diseases by religious means. when a prophet arises the first thing expected of him is that he should heal the sick. both the priest and the physician { } are appealed to in time of trouble. to those who followed and believed in him jesus was the healer of both the soul and the body. but note the account of the incident before us. the place was the city of capernaum, and we are told that "_all the city_ was gathered together at the door" of the house where jesus was bestowing the loving, healing touch upon the sick. was the _whole city_ at the door? were _all_ the sick in that large city brought into that house for jesus to heal them? here we are confronted by a physical impossibility. an anglo-saxon chronicler would have said, "quite a number gathered at the door," which in all probability would have been a _correct_ report. but to the oriental writer the object of the report was not _to determine the number_ of those who stood outside, nor to insist that each and every sick person in capernaum was brought into the humble home of simon and andrew. it was rather to glorify the great teacher and his divine work of mercy, and not to give a photographic report of the attendant { } circumstances. the saying, "quite a number gathered at the door," may be correct, but to an oriental it is absolutely colorless and tasteless, an inexcusably parsimonious use of the imagination. take another scriptural passage. in the seventeenth chapter of st. matthew's gospel, the first verse, we read: "and after six days jesus taketh peter, james, and john his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them; and his face did shine as the sun." "after six days" from what time? in the preceding chapter a general reference to time is made in the thirteenth verse, where it is said: "when jesus came into the coasts of cæsarea philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, whom do men say that i the son of man am?" but here no definite date is given. chapter sixteenth ends with those great words, "for whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. for what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and { } lose his own soul?" the two last verses of this chapter promise the speedy coming of the kingdom. "after six days" from what time? well, what does it matter from what time? do you not see that the object of the record is to give a glimpse of what happened on that "high mountain" where the light and glory of the unseen world were reflected in the face of the christ? the intelligent lay reader of the new testament cannot fail to notice, especially in the gospels, gaps and abrupt beginnings such as "in those days"; "then came the disciples to jesus"; "and it came to pass"; and many similar expressions which seem to point nowhere. the record seems to be rather incoherent. yes, such difficulties, which are due largely to the oriental's indifference to little details, exist in the bible, but they are very unimportant. the central purpose of these books is to enable the reader to perceive the secret of a holy personality, whose mission was, is, and forever shall be, to emancipate the soul of man from the { } bondage of a world of fear, weakness, sin, and doubt, and lead it onward and upward to the realms of faith, hope, and love. this purpose the scriptures abundantly subserve. { } chapter v impressions _vs._ literal accuracy a syrian's chief purpose in a conversation is to convey an impression by whatever suitable means, and not to deliver his message in scientifically accurate terms. he expects to be judged not by what he _says_, but by what he _means_. he does not expect his hearer to listen to him with the quizzical courtesy of a "cool-headed yankee," and to interrupt the flow of conversation by saying, with the least possible show of emotion, "do i understand you to say," etc. no; he piles up his metaphors and superlatives, reinforced by a theatrical display of gestures and facial expressions, in order to make the hearer _feel_ his meaning. the oriental's speech is always "illustrated." he speaks as it were in pictures. with him the spoken language goes hand in hand with the more ancient gesture language. his profuse gesticulation is that phase of his life which first { } challenges the attention of occidental travelers in the east. he points to almost everything he mentions in his speech, and would portray every feeling and emotion by means of some bodily movement. no sooner does he mention his eye than his index finger points to or even touches that organ. "do you understand me?" is said to an auditor with the speaker's finger on his own temple. in rebuking one who makes unreasonable demands upon him, a syrian would be likely to stoop down and say, "don't you want to ride on my back?" one of the most striking examples of this manner of speech in the bible is found in the twenty-first chapter of the book of acts. beginning with the tenth verse, the writer says: "and as we tarried there [at cæsarea] many days, there came down from judea a certain prophet, named agabus. and when he was come unto us, he took paul's girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, thus saith the holy ghost, so shall the jews at jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall { } deliver him into the hands of the gentiles." now an occidental teacher would not have gone into all that trouble. he would have said to the great apostle, "now you understand i don't mean to interfere with your business, but if i were you i would n't go down to jerusalem. those jews there are not pleased with what you are doing, and would be likely to make things unpleasant for you." but in all probability such a polite hint would not have made paul's companions weep, nor caused him to say, "what mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for i am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at jerusalem for the name of the lord jesus." it is also because the syrian loves to speak in pictures, and to subordinate literal accuracy to the total impression of an utterance, that he makes such extensive use of figurative language. instead of saying to the pharisees, "your pretensions to virtue and good birth far exceed your actual practice of virtue," john the baptist cried: "o generation of vipers, who hath warned { } you to flee from the wrath to come? bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance: and think not to say within yourselves, we have abraham to our father: for i say unto you that god is able _of these stones_ to raise up children unto abraham." just as the oriental loves to flavor his food strongly and to dress in bright colors, so is he fond of metaphor, exaggeration, and positiveness in speech. to him mild accuracy is weakness. a host of illustrations of this thought rise in my mind as i recall my early experiences as a syrian youth. i remember how those jovial men who came to our house to "sit"--that is, to make a call of indefinite duration--would make their wild assertions and back them up by vows which they never intended to keep. the one would say, "what i say to you is the truth, and if it is not, i will cut off my right arm"--grasping it--"at the shoulder." "i promise you this,"--whatever the promise might be,--"and if i fail in fulfilling my promise i will pluck out my right eye." { } to such speech we always listened admiringly and respectfully. but we never had the remotest idea that in any circumstances the speaker would carry out his resolution, or that his hearers had a right to demand it from him. he simply was in earnest; or as an american would say, "he meant that he was right." such an oriental mode of thought furnishes us with the background for jesus' saying, "if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee."[ ] to many western christians, especially in the light of the protestant doctrine of the infallibility of the letter of the bible, these sayings of christ present insurmountable difficulties. to such the question, "how can i be a true disciple of christ, if i do not obey what he commands?" makes these misunderstood sayings of christ great stumbling blocks. some time ago a lady wrote me a letter saying that at a prayer-meeting which she attended, the minister, after { } reading the fifth chapter of matthew, which contains these commands, said, "if we are true christians we must not shrink from obeying these explicit commands of our lord." my informant stated also that on hearing that, she asked the preacher, "suppose the tongue should offend, and we should cut it off; should we be better christians than if we did endeavor to atone for the offense in some other way?" the preacher, after a moment of perplexed silence, said, "if there is no one here who can answer this question, we will sing a hymn." the best commentary on these sayings of christ is given by paul in the sixth chapter of his epistle to the romans. this is precisely what the master meant: "neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto god, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto god." cutting or mutilation of the body has nothing to do with either passage, nor indeed with the christian life. the amputation of an { } arm that steals is no sure guaranty of the removal of the desire to steal; nor would the plucking out of a lustful eye do away with the lust which uses the eye for an instrument. with this should be classed also the following commands: "whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." "if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also; and whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain."[ ] the command to give the coat and the cloak to a disputant, rather than to go to law with him, will seem much more perplexing when it is understood that these words mean the "under garment" and the "upper garment." the orientals are not in the habit of wearing a coat and a cloak or overcoat. in the arabic version we have the _thaub_ ("th" as in "throw") and the _rada'_. the _thaub_ is the main article of clothing--the ample gown worn over a shirt next to the body. the _rada'_ is the cloak worn { } on occasions over the _thaub_. the scriptural command literally is, "to one who would quarrel with thee and would take thy _thaub_, give him the _rada'_ also." it may be clearly seen here that literal compliance with this admonition would leave the non-resistant person, so far as clothes are concerned, in a pitiable condition. the concluding portion of this paragraph in the fifth chapter of st. matthew's gospel--the forty-second verse--presents another difficulty. it says, "give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." of all those whom i have heard speak disparagingly of this passage i particularly recall a lawyer, whom i knew in a western state, whose dislike for these words of christ amounted almost to a mental affliction. it seems to me that on every single occasion when he and i discussed the scriptures together, or spoke of christianity, i found him armed with this passage as his most effective weapon against the innocent nazarene. "what was jesus thinking of," he would say, "when he { } uttered these words? what would become of our business interests and financial institutions if we gave to every one that asked of us, and lent money without good security to every tom, dick, and harry?" the thought involved in this text suffers from the unconditional manner in which it is presented, and which gives it its oriental flavor. seeing that he was addressing those who knew what he meant, the writer did not deem it necessary to state exactly the reason why this command was given. it seems, however, that when jesus spoke those words he had in mind the following passage: "and if thy brother be waxed poor, and his hand fail with thee; then thou shalt uphold him: as a stranger and a sojourner shall he live with thee. take thou no interest of him or increase, but fear thy god: that thy brother may live with thee. _thou shalt not give him thy money upon interest_, nor give him thy victuals for increase."[ ] according to this legal stipulation, an israelite could not { } lawfully charge a fellow israelite interest on a loan. therefore, "as a matter of business," the money-lenders preferred to lend their money to the gentiles, from whom they were permitted to take interest, and to "turn away" from borrowers of their own race. and as the teachers of israel of his day often assailed jesus for his non-observance of the law, he in turn never failed to remind them of the fact that their own practices did greater violence to the law than his own liberal interpretation of it in the interest of man. from all that i know of oriental modes of thought and life i cannot conceive that jesus meant by all these sayings to give brute force the right of way in human life. he himself drove the traders out of the temple by physical force. these precepts were not meant to prohibit the use of force in self-defense and for the protection of property, but were given as an antidote to that relentless law of revenge which required "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." the master does not preach a gospel { } of helplessness, but enjoins a manly attitude toward peace and concord, in place of a constantly active desire for vengeance and strife. again let me say that an oriental expects to be judged chiefly by what he means and not by what he says. as a rule, the oriental is not altogether unaware of the fact that, as regards the letter, his statements are often sadly lacking in correctness. but i venture to say that when a person who is conversing with me knows that i know that what he is saying is not exactly true i may not like his manner of speech, yet i cannot justly call him a liar. a neighbor of mine in a mount lebanon village makes a trip to damascus and comes to my house of an evening to tell me all about it. he would not be a syrian if he did not give wings to his fancy and present me with an idealistic painting of his adventure, instead of handing me a photograph. i listen and laugh and wonder. i know his statements are not wholly correct, and he knows exactly how i feel about it. we both are aware, however, that { } the proceedings of the evening are not those of a business transaction, but of an entertainment. my friend does not maliciously misrepresent the facts; he simply loves to speak in poetic terms and is somewhat inhospitable to cross-examination. certainly we would not buy and sell sheep and oxen and fields and vineyards after that fashion, but we like to be so entertained. beyond the wide margin of social hospitality and the latitude of intellectual tolerance, i am aware of the fact that in all the flourish of metaphor and simile, what my visitor really meant to say was either that his trip to damascus was pleasant or that it was hazardous, and that there were many interesting things to see in that portion of the world; all of which was indubitably true. while on a visit to syria, after having spent several years in this country, where i had lived almost exclusively with americans, i was very strongly impressed by the decidedly sharp contrast between the syrian and the american modes of thought. the years had worked many { } changes in me, and i had become addicted to the more compact phraseology of the american social code. in welcoming me to his house, an old friend of mine spoke with impressive cheerfulness as follows: "you have extremely honored me by coming into my abode [_menzel_], i am not worthy of it. this house is yours; you can burn it if you wish. my children also are at your disposal; i would sacrifice them all for your pleasure. what a blessed day this is, now that the light of your countenance has shone upon us"; and so forth, and so on. i understood my friend fully and most agreeably, although it was not easy for me to translate his words to my american wife without causing her to be greatly alarmed at the possibility that the house would be set on fire and the children slain for our pleasure. what my friend really meant in his effusive welcome was no more or less than what a gracious american host means when he says, "i am delighted to see you; please make yourself at home." { } had the creed-makers of christendom approached the bible by way of oriental psychology, had they viewed the scriptures against the background of syrian life, they would not have dealt with holy writ as a jurist deals with legislative enactments. again, had the unfriendly critics of the bible real acquaintance with the land of its birth, they would not have been so sure that the bible was "a mass of impossibilities." the sad fact is that the bible has suffered violence from literalists among its friends, as from its enemies. for example, in their failure to heal a sick lad[ ] the disciples came to jesus and asked him why they could not do the beneficent deed. according to the revised and the arabic versions, the master answered, "because of your unbelief; for verily i say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove." colonel robert ingersoll never tired of challenging the christians { } of america to put this scripture to a successful test, and thus _convince_ him that the bible is inspired. in the face of such a challenge the "believer" is likely to feel compelled to admit that the church does not have the required amount of faith, else it could remove mountains. to one well acquainted with the oriental manner of speech this saying was not meant to fix a rule of conduct, but to idealize faith. in order to do this in real syrian fashion, jesus spoke of an infinitesimal amount of faith as being capable of moving the biggest object on earth. his disciples must have understood him clearly, because we have no record that they ever tried to remove mountains by faith and prayer. it would be most astounding, indeed, if christ really thought that those disciples, who forsook all and followed him, had not as much faith as a grain of mustard seed, and yet said to them, "ye are the light of the world. ye are the salt of the earth." of a similar character is the master's saying, { } "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of god,"[ ] which has quickened the exegetical genius of commentators to mighty efforts in "expounding the scriptures." judging by the vast number of persons in this country who have asked my opinion, as a syrian, concerning its correctness, and the fact that i have myself seen it in print, the following interpretation of this passage must have been much in vogue. the walled cities and feudal castles of palestine, the explanation runs, have large gates. because of their great size, such gates are opened only on special occasions to admit chariots and caravans. therefore, in order to give pedestrians thoroughfare, a smaller opening about the size of an ordinary door is made in the center of the great gate, near to the ground. now this smaller door through which a camel cannot pass is the eye of the needle mentioned in the gospel. { } i once heard a sunday-school superintendent explain this passage to his scholars by saying that a camel could pass through this eye of a needle--meaning the door--if he was not loaded. therefore, and by analogy, if we cast off our load of sin outside, we can easily enter into the kingdom of heaven. were the camel and the gate left out, this statement would be an excellent fatherly admonition. there is perhaps no gate in the celestial city large enough to admit a man with a load of sin strapped to his soul. however, the chief trouble with these explanations of the "eye-of-the-needle" passage is that they are wholly untrue. this saying is current in the east, and in all probability it was a common saying there long before the advent of christ. but i never knew that small door in a city or a castle gate to be called the needle's eye; nor indeed the large gate to be called the needle. the name of that door, in the common speech of the country, is the "plum," and i am certain the { } scriptural passage makes no reference to it whatever. the koran makes use of this expression in one of its purest classical arabic passages. the term employed here--_sûm-el-khiat_--can mean only the sewing instrument, and nothing else. nothing can show more clearly the genuine oriental character of this new testament passage and that of the teacher who uttered it, than the intense positiveness of its thought and the unrestrained flight of its imagery. i can just hear the master say it. jesus' purpose was to state that it was extremely difficult "for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of god."[ ] to this end he chose the biggest animal and the smallest opening known to his people and compared the impossibility of a camel passing through the eye of a needle with that of a man weighted down with earthly things becoming one with god. the master's rebuke of the scribes and pharisees, { } "ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel,"[ ] expresses a similar thought in a different form and connection. there is no need here to puzzle over the anatomical problem as to whether the throat of a pharisee was capacious enough to gulp a camel down. the strong and agreeable oriental flavor of this saying comes from the sharp contrast between the size of the gnat and that of the camel. so the master employed it in order to show the glaring contradictions in the precepts and practices of the priests of his day, who tithed mint and rue, but "passed over judgment and the love of god." one of the most interesting examples of oriental speech is found in the eighteenth chapter of st. matthew's gospel, the twenty-first verse: "then came peter and said to him, lord how oft shall my brother sin against me, and i forgive him? till seven times? jesus saith unto him, i say not unto thee, until seven times; but, until seventy times seven." did jesus { } really mean that an offender should be forgiven four hundred and ninety times? would it be to the interest of the offender himself and to society at large to forgive an embezzler, a slanderer or a prevaricator four hundred and ninety times? is not punishment which is guided by reason and sympathy, and whose end is corrective, really a great aid in character-building? let us try to interpret this passage with reference to certain scenes in jesus' own life. in the sixteenth chapter of matthew, the twenty-first verse, we read: "from that time forth began jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. then peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, lord: this shall not be unto thee. but he turned, and said unto peter, _get thee behind me, satan: thou art an offence to me_: for thou savourest not the things that be of god, but those that be of men." in the second chapter of st. john's gospel, { } the thirteenth verse, we are told: "and the jews' passover was at hand, and jesus went up to jerusalem, and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: _and when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple_, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; and said unto them that sold doves, take these things hence; make not my father's house an house of merchandise." the forgiving "seventy times seven" did not apply, as it seems, in these cases. in the very chapter from which this saying comes,[ ] the master gives us two superb examples of certain and somewhat swift retribution for offenses. in the fifteenth verse, he says: "moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. but if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth { } of two or three witnesses every word may be established. and if he neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church; but if he neglect to hear the church, _let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican_." the parable of the "certain king" and the "wicked servant" follows immediately the "seventy times seven" passage. "therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. and when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. but forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment be made. the servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, lord, have patience with me, and i will pay thee all. then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. but the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, { } and took him by the throat, saying, pay me that thou owest. and his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, have patience with me, and i will pay thee all. and he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. so when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, o thou wicked servant, i forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as i had pity on thee? _and his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him_. so likewise shall my heavenly father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses." now as a matter of fact the lord of the wicked servant did not forgive him seventy times seven, but "delivered him to the tormentors" for his first offense. will the heavenly father do { } _likewise_? do we not have irreconcilable contradictions in these scriptural passages? no doubt there are difficulties here. but once the "seventy-times-seven" passage is clearly understood, the difficulties will, i believe, disappear. in harmony with his legalistic preconception, peter chose the full and sacred number "seven" as a very liberal measure of forgiveness. apparently jesus' purpose was to make forgiveness a matter of disposition, sympathy, and discretion, rather than of arithmetic. to this end he made use of an oriental saying which meant _indefiniteness_, rather than a fixed rule. this saying occurs in one of the most ancient old testament narratives, and, most fittingly, in a bit of poetry:[ ] "and lamech said unto his wives: adah and zillah, hear my voice; ye wives of lamech, hearken unto my speech: for i have slain a man for wounding me, and a young man for bruising me: if cain shall be avenged sevenfold truly lamech seventy and sevenfold." { } in both testaments the meaning of the saying is the same--indefiniteness. it is one of that host of bible passages and current oriental sayings which must be judged by what they _mean_, and not by what they _say_. the writer of the eighteenth chapter of matthew grouped those seemingly contradictory passages together, because they all dealt with forgiveness. that they must have been spoken under various circumstances is very obvious. the object of the admonition concerning the trespassing brother (verses - ) is to encourage christians to "reason together" in a fraternal spirit about the differences which may arise between them, and, _if at all possible_, to win the offending member back to the fold. and the object of the parable of the "wicked servant" is to contrast the spirit of kindness with that of cruelty. [ ] matt. v: - . [ ] matt. v: - . [ ] lev. xxv: ; revised version. [ ] matt. xvii: . [ ] matt. xix: . [ ] mark x: . [ ] matt. xxiii: . [ ] matt. xviii. [ ] gen. iv: ; revised version. { } chapter vi speaking in parables teaching and conversing in parables and proverbs is a distinctly oriental characteristic. a parable is a word picture whose purpose is not to construct a definition or to establish a doctrine, but to convey an impression. however, the oriental makes no distinction between a proverb and a parable. in both the hebrew and the arabic, the word _mathel_ signifies either a short wise saying, such as may be found in the book of proverbs, or a longer utterance, such as a new testament parable. in the arabic bible, the wise sayings of the book of proverbs are called _amthal_, and the parabolic discourses of jesus are also called _amthal_. this term is the plural of _mathel_ (parable or proverb). this designation includes also any wise poetical saying, or any human state of fortune or adversity. thus a very generous man becomes a _mathel bilkaram_ (a parable of generosity); and a man { } of unsavory reputation becomes a _mathel beinennass_ (a saying or a by-word among the people). in the forty-fourth psalm, the fourteenth verse, the poet cries: "thou makest us a by-word among the nations, a shaking of the head among the people." a fine illustration of the _mathel_ as a poetical saying, although not strictly allegorical, is the opening passage of the twenty-ninth chapter of the book of job, where it is said:-- "and job again took up his parable and said, oh that i were as in the months of old, as in the days when god watched over me; when his lamp shined upon my head, and by his light i walked through darkness; as i was in the ripeness of my days, when the friendship of god was upon my tent; when the almighty was yet with me, and my children were about me; when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil!"[ ] where in human literature can we find a passage to surpass in beauty and tenderness this introspective utterance? { } parabolic speech is dear to the oriental heart. it is poetical, mystical, sociable. in showing the reason why jesus taught in parables, biblical writers speak of the indirect method, the picture language, the concealing of the truth from those "who had not the understanding," and so forth. but those writers fail to mention a most important reason, namely, the _sociable_ nature of such a method of teaching, which is so dear to the syrian heart. in view of the small value the orientals place upon time, the story-teller, the speaker in parables, is to them the most charming conversationalist. why be so prosy, brief, and abstract? the spectacular charm and intense concreteness of the parable of the prodigal son is infinitely more agreeable to the oriental mind than the general precept that god will forgive his truly penitent children. how romantic and how enchanting to me are the memories of those _sehrat_ (evening gatherings) at my father's house! how simple and how human was the homely wisdom of the stories and the parables which were spoken on { } those occasions. the elderly men of the clan loved to speak of what "was said in the ancient days" (_qadeem ezzeman_). "_qal el-wathel_" (said the parable) prefaced almost every utterance. and as the speaker proceeded to relate a parable and to reinforce the ancient saying by what his own poetic fancy could create at the time of kindred material, we listened admiringly, and looked forward with ecstatic expectation to the _maana_ (meaning, or moral). oral traditions, the scriptures, mohammedan literature, and other rich sources are drawn upon, both for instruction in wisdom and for entertainment. in picturing the condition of one who has been demoralized beyond redemption, the entertaining speaker proceeds in this fashion: "once upon a time a certain man fell from the housetop and was badly injured. the neighbors came and carried him into the house and placed him in bed. then one of his friends approached near to the injured man and said to him, 'asaad, my beloved friend, how is your condition [_kief halak_]?' the much-pained man { } opened his mouth and said, 'my two arms are broken; my back and one of my legs are broken; one of my eyes is put out; i am badly wounded in the breast, and feel that my liver is severed. but i trust that god will restore me.' whereupon his friend answered, 'asaad, i am distressed. but if this is your condition, it will be much easier for god to make a new man to take your place than to restore you!'" one of the most beautiful parables i know, and which i often heard my father relate, bears on the subject of partiality, and is as follows:-- "once upon a time there were two men, the one named ibrahim, the other yusuf. each of the men had a camel. it came to pass that when yusuf fell sick he asked of his neighbor ibrahim, who was about to journey to alappo, to take his camel with him also, with a load of merchandise. yusuf begged ibrahim to treat the camel in exactly the same manner as he did his own, and promised him that if god kept him alive until he came back he would repay him both the good deed, and the cost of the { } camel's keep. ibrahim accepted the trust, and took his journey to alappo, with the two camels. upon his return yusuf saw that his own camel did not look so well as ibrahim's. so he spoke to his friend: 'ibrahim, by the life of god, what has happened to my camel? he is not as good as your camel. o ibrahim, did you care for my camel as you did for your camel?' then ibrahim answered and said, 'by the life of god, o yusuf, i fed, and watered, and groomed your camel as i did my camel. god witnesseth between us, yusuf, this is the truth. but i will say to you, you my eyes, my heart, that when night came and i lay me down on my cloak to sleep between the two camels, i placed my head nearer to my camel than to yours.'" it was the desirableness to orientals of this type of speech which prompted the writer of the gospel of matthew to say of jesus, "and without a parable spake he not unto them."[ ] this utterance itself is characteristically { } oriental. as a matter of fact, jesus _did_ often speak to the multitude _without_ parables. but his strong tendency to make use of the parable, and its agreeableness to his hearers, seemed to the scriptural writer to be a sufficient justification for his sweeping assertion. of the new testament parables some are quoted in this work in connection with other subjects than that with which this chapter deals. i will mention here a few more of these sayings as additional illustrations of the present subject, and with reference to the allusions to oriental life which they contain. in the thirteenth chapter of matthew, we have the parable of the wheat and the tares: "the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. but when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also." the tare (_zewan_) is a grain which when ground with the wheat and eaten causes dizziness { } and nausea, a state much like seasickness. for this reason this plant is hated by the syrians, although they use tares very extensively as chicken feed. wheat merchants are likely to sell _kameh mizwen_ (wheat mixed with tares) in hard times, because they can buy it for less money than pure wheat. i do not believe there is a family among the common people of syria which has not suffered at one time or another from "tare-sickness." having tasted the gall of this affliction a few times myself, i do not at all wonder at the syrians' belief that tares must have come into the world by the devil. and what i still remember with both amusement and sympathy are the heartfelt, withering imprecations which the afflicted ones always showered upon the seller of the "tarey wheat." when the food had taken real effect and the staggering, nauseated members of a family felt compelled to allow nature to take its course, the gasps and groans punctuated the ejaculations, "may god destroy his home!" "may the gold turn into dust in his hands!" { } "may he spend the price of what he sold us at the funerals of his children!"--and so forth. do you feel now the force of the allusion to the tares in the parable? "so the servants of the householder came and said unto him, sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? he said unto them, an enemy hath done this." enemies are of course always disposed to injure one another, and in an agricultural country like syria harm is often done to property for revenge. so the scattering of tares for this purpose in a newly sown wheat-field is not utterly unnatural or unthinkable. but the reference in the parable is to a belief which is prevalent in some districts in syria, to the effect that in spite of all that the sower can do to prevent it, the tares do appear mysteriously in fields where only wheat had been sown. some evil power introduces the noxious plant. once i listened to a heated controversy on the subject between some syrian landowners and an american missionary. the landowners clung to the belief { } that tares would appear in a field even if no tare seed was ever planted in that field, while the son of the west insisted that no such growth could take place without the seed having first been introduced into the field in some natural way. the fight was a draw. "the servants said unto him, wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? but he said, nay, lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them." the attempt is often made to pull up the hated tares from among the wheat, but in vain. the concluding admonition in the parable may well be taken to heart by every hasty reformer of the type of a certain regenerator of society, who, when asked to proceed slowly, said, "the fact is i am in a hurry, and god is not!" in the same chapter (matt. xiii) occurs the parable of the "leaven." "the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." the setting of this short { } parable in syrian life is given in another chapter.[ ] but i mention it here in order to give my comment on a rather strange interpretation of the parable which came recently to my knowledge. in the course of a conversation i had with a prominent baptist minister not long since, he stated to me that certain interpreters assert that the leaven in this parable meant the corruption which has come into the christian church, etc. my friend was anxious to know whether to my knowledge the syrians associated leaven with corruption. this interpretation echoes an ancient idea of leaven of which modern syrians have no knowledge. they hold the leaven in high and reverential esteem.[ ] to them it is the symbol of growth and fecundity. in many of the rural districts of syria, upon approaching the door of her future home the bride is given the _khamera_ (the lump of leaven) which she pastes on the upper doorsill and passes under it into the house. as she performs the solemn act her { } friends exclaim, "may you be as blessed and as fruitful as the _khamera_!" however, it is a well-known fact to readers of ancient records that in the earliest times bread was entirely unleavened. when the israelites were roaming tribes they ate and offered to jehovah unleavened bread. the arab tribes of to-day on the borders of syria eat no leavened bread. they believe that it tends to reduce the vitality and endurance of the body. perhaps the real reason for preferring the unleavened bread is that it is much easier to make, and dispenses with taking care of the lump of leaven between bakings, which is not so convenient for roaming tribes to do. the use of unleavened bread for so many generations among the israelites constituted its sacredness, and it was the conservatism of religion which still called for unleavened bread for the offering, even after leavened bread had become universally the daily food of the people. so to the ancients the fermentation in the process of leavening was considered corruption. { } it was something which entered into the lump and soured it. the new testament use of the word "leaven" as meaning corruption is purely figurative, and signifies influence, or bad doctrine. it was in this sense that jesus used the word when he said to his disciples:[ ] "take heed and beware of the leaven of the pharisees and of the sadducees"; and again:[ ] "take heed, beware of the leaven of the pharisees, and of the leaven of herod." the fact that the disciples did not understand at first what the master meant shows that to the general public "leaven" and "corruption" were not synonymous terms. had they been, it is certain that jesus never would have said, "the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven." the fifteenth chapter of st. luke's gospel contains the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. the parable of the lost sheep is discussed in another chapter.[ ] the parable of the lost coin portrays a very familiar scene in the ordinary syrian home. "what { } woman," says the master, "having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? and when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbors together, saying, rejoice with me; for i have found the piece which i had lost." the candle spoken of here is a little olive-oil lamp--an earthen saucer, with a protruding lip curled up at one point in the rim for the wick. how often have i held that flickering light for my mother while she searched for a lost coin or some other precious object. the common syrian house has one door and one or two small windows, with wooden shutters, without glass.[ ] consequently the interior of the house is dimly lighted, especially in the winter season. the scarcity of money in the hands of the people makes the loss of a coin, of the value of that which is mentioned in the parable (about sixteen cents), a sad event. the { } little house is searched with eager thoroughness--"diligently." the straw mats, cushions, and sheepskins which cover the floor are turned over, and the earthen floor swept. the search continues, with diligence and prayerful expectations, until the lost coin is found. the arabic bible states that the gladdened woman "calls her _women_ neighbors and friends (_jaratiha wesedikatiha_), saying, rejoice with me; for i have found the piece which i had lost." the singling out of the _women_ neighbors is significant here. as a rule the loss of a precious coin by a woman calls her husband's wrath upon her, regardless of whether the coin had been earned by her or by him. the _women friends_ have a keen fellow-feeling in such matters. they keep one another's secrets from the men, and rejoice when one of their number escapes an unpleasant situation. the total meaning of this parable is plain as it is most precious. through this common occurrence in a syrian home, jesus impresses upon the minds of his hearers, as well as upon { } the consciousness of all mankind, the infinite worth of the human soul, and the father's love and care for it. "likewise, i say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of god over one sinner that repenteth." the parable of the prodigal son follows immediately that of the lost coin. "a certain man had two sons: and the younger of them said to his father, father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. and he divided unto them his living." the first thing in this parable to challenge the attention is the father's quick compliance with the request of his son. "and he divided unto them his living." the custom of a father dividing his property among his grown sons before his death prevails much more extensively in the east than in the west. as a rule neither the law nor custom gives legal standing to a will. sometimes the father's wishes with regard to how his property should be divided after his death are carried out by his sons. but as a general rule the father who does not divide his property legally between his sons before his { } death leaves to them a situation fraught with danger. litigation in such cases is very slow and uncertain. it was such a situation, no doubt, which led the man referred to in the twelfth chapter of luke, the thirteenth verse, to say to jesus, "master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. and he said unto him, man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?" and we may easily infer what jesus thought of that particular case from his saying which follows immediately his answer to this man. "and he said unto them, take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." so the father of the prodigal son acted normally when he divided his substance between his two sons. "and not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living." the singling out of the younger son for this adventure comports with { } a highly cherished oriental tradition. the elder son, who was the first-born male child in this household, could not very well be made to commit such an act. in a syrian family the _bikkr_ (the first-born son) stands next to the father in the esteem, not only of the members of his own household, but of the community at large. he cannot be supposed to be so rash, so unmindful of his birthright, as to break the sacred family circle, and to waste his inheritance in riotous living. "and when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. and he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. and he would fain have been filled with the husks that the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him." to be a swineherd, or a "swine-shepherd," is the most contemptible occupation an oriental can think of. it is no wonder at all to me that the gospel writers make the destination of the "legion" of devils which jesus cast out of the { } man "in the country of the gadarenes," a herd of swine.[ ] you cannot hire a syrian to make a pet of a "little piggie." if he did, he would be called "_abu khenzier_" (pig man) for the rest of his life, and transmit the unenviable title to his posterity, "even unto the third and fourth generation." the word "husks" in the english version is not a correct rendering of the original term. the marginal note in the revised version reads, "the pods of the carob tree." the arabic version says simply _kherrûb_ (carob). the carob tree is very common in the lowlands of syria. it is a large tree of dense foliage, and round, glossy, dark-green leaves. the pods it bears measure from five to ten inches in length, are flat, and largely horn-shaped. i do not know why the english translators of the bible called those pods "husks." they are sold in almost every town in western syria for food. children are very fond of _kherrûb_. some of the pods contain no small amount of sugar. in my boyhood { } days, a pocketful of _kherrûb_, which i procured for a penny, was to me rather a treat. the older people, however, do not esteem _kherrûb_ so highly as do the children. the bulk of it is so out of proportion to the sugar it contains that its poverty is proverbial in the land. of one whose conversation is luxuriant in words and barren of ideas it is said, "it is like eating _kherrûb_; you have to consume a cord of wood in order to get an ounce of sweet." by eating these pods, the poor people seem to themselves "to have been filled" while in reality they have received but little nutrition. therefore _kherrûb_ is generally eaten by animals. it may be observed that the saying in the parable, "and he would fain have been filled with _kherrûb_ that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him," simply describes the prodigal's poverty. for as a "swine-shepherd" the "_kherrûb_ that the swine did eat" was certainly very accessible to him. the purpose of the passage is to draw the contrast between the rich parental home which the prodigal had willingly { } left and the extremely humble fare on which in his wretched state he was compelled to subsist. the return of the prodigal son to his father's house, impoverished but penitent, the affectionate magnanimity of the father toward his son, and the spreading of the feast in honor of the occasion, are acts of humility and generosity which cannot be said to be exclusively oriental. but the command of the father to his servants, "bring hither the fatted calf and kill it; and let us eat and be merry," brings out the idea of the _zebihat_ (animal sacrifice) with which the west is not familiar. the ancient custom, whose echoes have not yet died out in the east, was that the host honored his guest most highly by killing a sheep at the threshold of the house, upon the guest's arrival, and inviting him to step over the blood into the house. this act formed the "blood covenant" between the guest and his host. it made them one. to us one of the most cordial and dignified expressions in { } inviting a guest, especially from a distant town, was, "if god ever favors us with a visit from you, we will kill a _zebihat_!" in his great rejoicing in the return of his son, the father of the prodigal is made to receive him as he would a most highly honored guest. "the fatted calf"--and not only a sheep--is killed as the _zebihat_ of a new covenant between a loving father and his son, who "was dead and is alive again; was lost, and is found."[ ] the parable of the "treasure hid in a field"[ ] alludes to a very interesting phase of syrian thought. "again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field, the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field." i cannot refrain from quoting again in this connection the famous commentator, adam clarke. speaking of this parable, he says: "we are not to imagine that the _treasure_ here { } mentioned, and to which the gospel salvation is likened, means a _pot_ or _chest_ of money hidden in the field, but rather a gold or silver _mine_, which he who found out could not get at, or work, without turning up the field, and for this purpose he bought it. mr. wakefield's observation is very just: 'there is no sense in the _purchase_ of a field for a _pot_ of _money_, which he might have carried away very _readily_ and as _honestly_, too, as by overreaching the owner by an unjust purchase.' ... from this view of the subject, the translation of this verse, given above, will appear proper--a _hidden treasure_, when applied to a _rich mine_, is more proper than a _treasure hid_, which applies better to a _pot of money_ deposited there, which i suppose was our translator's opinion; and _kept secret_, or _concealed_, will apply better to the subject of his discovery till he made the purchase, than _hideth_, for which there could be no occasion, when the pot was already _hidden_, and the place known only to himself." i have inserted here this double quotation, { } italics and all, in order to show how when the real facts are not known to a writer the temptation to play on words becomes irresistible. in this exposition the simple parable is treated as a legal document. every word of it is subjected to careful scrutiny. "hid" is converted into "hidden," and "concealed" is summoned to supplant "hideth," in order to make the "treasure" mean a vast deposit of gold ore, and get the poor syrian peasant into the mining business. the facts in the case, however, stand opposed to this explanation. i am absolutely safe in saying that every man, woman, and child in syria understands that this parable refers simply and purely to a treasure of gold and silver which had been buried in a field by human hands. the entanglement of the commentator just quoted in the literary fault of the parable is inexcusable. the new testament writer might have said, not that the man in the parable _found_ the treasure, but that he was _led_ by certain { } signs _to believe_ that a treasure lay hidden in the field. however, this is not the oriental way of stating things, nor should the speaker in parables be denied the freedom of the poet and the artist to manipulate the particulars in such a way as to make them serve the central purpose of his production. i could fill a book with the stories of hidden treasures which charmed my boyhood days in syria. i have already put into print[ ] a detailed account of my personal experience in digging for a hidden treasure, which will clearly show that the securing of such riches is not always so easy to diggers as the quotation just cited would make one believe. in order to show the attitude of syrians in general toward this subject, i will quote the following from my own personal account:-- "in syria it is universally believed that hidden treasures may be found anywhere in the land, and especially among ancient ruins. this { } belief rests on the simple truth that the tribes and clans of syria, having from time immemorial lived in a state of warfare, have hidden their treasures in the ground, especially on the eve of battles. "furthermore, the wars of the past being wars of extermination, the vanquished could not return to reclaim their hidden wealth; therefore the ground is the keeper of vast riches. the tales of the digging and finding of such treasures fill the country. there are thrilling tales of treasures in various localities. gold and other valuables are said to have been dug up in sealed earthen jars, often by the merest accident, in the ground, in the walls of houses, under enchanted trees, and in sepulchers. from earliest childhood the people's minds are fed on these tales, and they grow up with all their senses alert to the remotest suggestions of such possibilities." the writer of the parable did not need to explain the situation to his oriental readers. the mere mention of a "hidden treasure" was { } sufficient to make them know what the words meant. his supreme purpose was to impress them with the matchless worth of the kingdom of heaven which christ came to reveal to the world. [ ] revised version. [ ] matt. xiii: . [ ] see page . [ ] see page . [ ] matt. xvi: . [ ] mark viii: . [ ] see page . [ ] see the author's autobiography, _a far journey_, chap. , entitled "my father's house." [ ] matt. viii: ; mark v: ; luke viii: . [ ] for the reason why the mother of the prodigal is not mentioned in the parable, see pages and . [ ] matt. xiii: . [ ] _atlantic monthly_, december, . this story, with other essays, will soon appear in book form. { } chapter vii swearing perhaps the one phase of his speech which lays the oriental open to the charge of unveracity is his much swearing. of course this evil habit knows no geographical boundaries and no racial limits. however, probably because of their tendency to be profuse, intense, and positive in speech, the orientals no doubt have more than their legitimate share of swearing. but it should be kept in mind that in that part of the world swearing is not looked upon with the same disapproval and contempt as in america; swearing by the name of the deity has always been considered the most sacred and solemn affirmation of a statement. it is simply calling god to witness that what has been said is the sacred truth. thus in the twenty-first chapter of the book of genesis abimelech asks abraham, "now therefore swear unto me here by god that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor { } with my son, nor with my son's son." "and abraham said, i will swear." st. paul employs this type of speech in a milder form, after the new testament fashion, in the opening verse of the twelfth chapter of his epistle to the romans, where he says: "i beseech you, therefore, brethren, _by the mercies of god_, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto god, which is your reasonable service." in the opening verse of the ninth chapter of the epistle to the romans, paul succeeds in an elegant manner in dispensing with swearing altogether, when he says: "i say the truth in christ, i lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the holy ghost." generally speaking, however, the custom of swearing after the manner of the old testament has undergone no change in syria since the days of abraham. swearing is an integral element in oriental speech. instinctively the speaker turns his eyes and lifts his hands toward heaven and says, "by allah, what i have { } said is right and true. _yeshhedo-allah_ [god witnesseth] to the truth of my words." in a similar manner, and as in a score of places in the old testament, the maker of a statement is asked by his hearer to swear by god as a solemn assurance that his statement is true and sincere. the mohammedan law, which is the law of modern syria, demands swearing in judicial contests. the judge awards the accuser--that is, the plaintiff--the right to lead the defendant to any shrine he may choose, and cause him to swear the _yemîn_ (solemn oath) as a final witness to his innocence. by this act the plaintiff places his adversary in the hands of the supreme judge, whose judgments are "true and righteous altogether." a false oath is supposed to bring awful retribution upon its maker and upon his posterity. of such importance is this mode of speech to orientals that the israelites thought of jehovah himself as making such affirmations. in the twenty-second chapter of genesis we have the words, "by myself have i sworn, saith the { } lord." further light is thrown on this point by the explanation given to the verse just quoted in the sixth chapter of the epistle to the hebrews, where it is said, "for when god made promise to abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself." i have no doubt that this thought of god swearing by himself sprang from the custom of oriental aristocrats of sealing a vow, or solemnly affirming a statement, or an intention to do some daring deed, by saying, "i swear by my head"--an oath which, whenever i heard it in my youth, filled me with awe. thus, also, in the sixty-second chapter of isaiah we have the words, "the lord hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength." among the mohammedans, swearing "by the most high god" and "by the life of the prophet" and "by the exalted koran" in affirmation of almost every statement, is universal. the christians swear by god, christ, the virgin, the cross, the saints, the repose of their dead, the holy city, the eucharist, { } heaven, great holidays, and many other names. a father swears by the life of a dear child, and sons of distinguished fathers swear by them. "by the life of my father, i am telling the truth," is a very common expression. the antiquity of this custom is made evident by the passage in the thirty-first chapter of genesis and the fifty-third verse: "and jacob sware by the fear of his father isaac." however, the word "fear" does violence to the real meaning of the verse, which the arabic version rescues by saying, "and jacob swore by the _heybet_ [benignity, or beautiful dignity] of his father." he swore by that which he and others loved, and not feared, in his father. but what must seem to americans utterly ridiculous is the oriental habit of swearing by the mustache and the beard, which is, however, one phase of swearing by the head. to swear by one's mustache, or beard, means to pledge the integrity of one's manhood. "i swear by this," is said solemnly by a man with his hand upon his mustache. swearing by the { } beard is supposed to carry more weight because, as a rule, it is worn by the older men. to speak disrespectfully of one's mustache or beard, or to curse the beard of a person's father, is to invite serious trouble. the sacredness of the beard to orientals goes back to the remote past when all the hair of the head and the face was considered sacred. growing a beard is still esteemed a solemn act in syria, so much so that, having let his beard grow, one cannot shave it off without becoming a by-word in the community. to speak of the scissors or of a razor in the presence of one wearing a beard, especially if he be a priest, or of the aristocracy, is considered a deep insult to him. such unseemly conduct seldom fails to precipitate a fight. in samuel, the tenth chapter, fourth verse, we have the record of hanun's disgraceful treatment of david's men, whom he had thought to be spies. "wherefore hanun took david's servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, { } and sent them away. when they told it unto david, he sent to meet them, because the men _were greatly ashamed_: and the king said, tarry at jericho _until your beards be grown_, and then return." it is because of this ancient conception of the hair that the syrians still swear by the mustache and the beard, although the majority of them know not the real reason why they do so. i remember distinctly how proud i was in my youth to put my hand upon my mustache, when it was yet not even large enough to be respectfully noticed, and swear by it _as a man_. i recall also to what roars of laughter i would provoke my elders at such times, to my great dismay. here it may easily be seen that swearing in the orient had so lost its original sacredness and become so vulgar, even as far back as the time of christ, that he deemed it necessary to give the unqualified command, "swear not at all: neither by heaven, for it is god's throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool: neither by { } jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. but let your communication be yea, yea; nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." this was perhaps the most difficult command to obey that jesus ever gave to his countrymen. { } chapter viii four characteristics of the other characteristics of oriental speech, i wish to speak of four before i bring this part of my book to a close. the first, the many and picturesque dialects. the entire absence of the public school, the scarcity of other educational institutions, as well as of books and periodicals, and the extreme slowness of transportation, have always tended to perpetuate the multitude of dialects in the speech of the syrian people. the common language of the land is the arabic, which is divided into two types--the classical and the common, or the language of learning and that of daily speech. the classical language is one, but the common language is a labyrinth of dialects. each section of that small country has its _lehjah_ (accent), and it is no exaggeration to say that each town within those sections has a _lehjah_ of its own. certain letters of the { } alphabet are also sounded differently in different localities. thus, for an example, the word for "stood" is pronounced _qam_ in certain localities, and _aam_ in others. the word for "male" is pronounced _zeker_ by some communities, and _deker_ by others. that such a state of things prevailed also in ancient israel and in new testament times is very evident. in the twelfth chapter of the book of judges we have the record of a fight between the gileadites and the ephraimites, in which we find the following statement: "and the gileadites took the passages of jordan before the ephraimites: and it was so, that when those ephraimites which were escaped said, let me go over; that the men of gilead said unto him, art thou an ephraimite? if he said, nay; then said they unto him, say now shibboleth: and he said sibboleth: _for he could not frame to pronounce it right_. then they took him, and slew him." this simple means of identification might be used in present-day syria with equal success. { } in the fourteenth chapter of st. mark's gospel we have another striking illustration of this characteristic of oriental speech, in peter's experience in the palace of the high priest. in the fifty-third verse it is said: "and they led jesus away to the high priest: and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. and peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest." the record continues (verses - ): "and as peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest: and when she saw peter warming himself, she looked upon him, and said, and thou also wast with jesus of nazareth. but he denied, saying, i know not, neither understand i what thou sayest. and he went out into the porch.... and a little after, they that stood by said again to peter, surely thou art one of them: for thou art a galilaean, _and thy speech agreeth thereto_.[ ] but he began to curse and to swear, saying, i know not this man of whom ye speak." { } poor peter! the more he swore and cursed the more clearly he revealed his identity. his cowardice might have concealed him, but for his dialect. he spoke the dialect of galilee in the city of jerusalem, and so far as the identification of his person was concerned, even a certificate from the authorities of the town of his birth, testifying to his being a native of galilee, could not have so effectively served that purpose. the second characteristic is the juvenile habit of imploring "in season and out of season" when asking a favor. to try to exert "undue" influence, virtually to beg in most persuasive tones, is an oriental habit which to an american must seem unendurable. of the many illustrations of this custom which fill my memory i will relate the following incident, which i once heard a man relate to my father. this man had bought, for six hundred piasters, a piece of land which had been given as a _nezer_ (vow) to our greek orthodox church. after he had given his note for the { } sum and secured the deed, it occurred to him that the price was too high, and, being himself a son of the church, that he ought to secure the land for four hundred piasters. so, as he stated, he went to beyrout, the seat of our bishop, where he stayed three days. by constant petitioning, he secured the privilege of interviewing the bishop four times on the subject. with great glee he stated that at the last interview he refused to rise from his seat at the feet of that long-suffering ecclesiastic until his petition was granted. one of the most striking examples of this characteristic is the parable of the unrighteous judge, in the eighteenth chapter of luke. "there was in a city a judge, which feared not god, neither regarded man: and there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him saying, avenge me [the original is "do me justice"] of mine adversary. and he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, though i fear not god, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me, i will { } avenge her, _lest by her continual coming she weary me_." here is a case--by no means a rare exception in that country--where a judge rendered a verdict against his own best judgment in sheer self-defense. and i must say that, knowing such oriental tendencies as i do, especially as manifested by widows, i am in deep sympathy with the judge. yet it was this very persistence in petitioning the father of all men which gave mankind the lofty psalms and tender prayers of our scriptures. it was this persistent filial pleading and imploring which made israel turn again and again to the "god of righteousness" and say, "we have sinned," and ask for a deeper revealing of his ways to them. job's cry, "though he slay me, yet will i trust in him," may not be the proper language of modern etiquette, but it certainly is the language of religion. in the very parable just quoted, jesus recommends to his disciples the insistence of the widow as a means to draw the benediction of heaven upon { } them, and to secure for them justification at the hands of the righteous judge. honest seekers after spiritual gifts should not be averse to imitating this oriental trait. they should never be afraid to come to their father again and again for his gracious blessing, or refrain from "storming the gates of heaven with prayer." the third characteristic of oriental speech is its intimacy and unreserve. mere implications which are so common to reserved and guarded speech leave a void in the oriental heart. it is because of this that the orientals have always craved "signs and wonders," and interpreted natural phenomena in terms of direct miraculous communications from god to convince them that he cared for them. although gideon was speaking with jehovah himself, who promised to help him to save his kinsmen from the midianites, he asked for a more tangible, more definite sign. we are told in the sixth chapter of judges, thirty-sixth verse: "and gideon said unto god, if thou wilt save israel by mine hand, as thou hast spoken, behold, i will put a { } fleece of wool on the threshing-floor; if there be dew on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the ground, then shall i know that thou wilt save israel by mine hand, as thou hast spoken. and it was so." but gideon, still unsatisfied, speaks again in childlike simplicity and intimacy; "let not thine anger be kindled against me, and i will speak but this once: let me make trial, i pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. and god did so that night." it is not at all uncommon for old and tried friends in syria to give and ask for affectionate assurances, that they do love one another. such expressions are the wine of life. especially when new confidences are exchanged or great favors asked, a man turns with guileless eyes to his trusted friend and says, "now you love me; i say you love me, don't you?" "my soul, my eyes," answers the other, "you know what is in my heart toward you; you know and the creator knows!" then the request is made. { } one of the noblest and tenderest passages in the new testament, a passage whose spirit has fed the strength of the christian missionaries throughout the ages, is that portion of the twenty-first chapter of st. john's gospel where jesus speaks to peter in this intimate syrian fashion. how sweet and natural it sounds to a son of the east! "so when they had dined, jesus saith to simon peter, simon, son of jonas, lovest thou me?" how characteristic also is peter's answer, "yea, lord; thou knowest that i love thee." then came the precious request, "feed my lambs." three times did the affectionate master knock at the door of peter's heart, till the poor impetuous disciple cried, "lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that i love thee. jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep." the fourth characteristic of oriental speech is its unqualified positiveness. outside the small circles of europeanized syrians, such qualifying phrases as "in my opinion," "so it seems to me," "as i see it," and the like, are { } almost entirely absent from oriental speech. the oriental is never so cautious in his speech as a certain american editor of a religious paper, who in speaking of cain described him as "the _alleged_ murderer of abel"! such expressions, also, are rarely used in the bible, and then only in the new testament, in which greek influence plays no small part. thus in the seventh chapter of his second epistle to the corinthians, paul, in giving his opinion on marriage said, "_i suppose_, therefore, that this is good for the present distress," and so forth. i am not aware that this form of speech is used anywhere in the entire old testament. the language of the oriental is that of sentiment and conviction, and not of highly differentiated and specialized thought. when you say to him, "i think this object is beautiful," if he does not think it is so, he says, "no, it is not beautiful." although he is expressing his own individual opinion, he does not take the trouble to make that perfectly clear: if an object is not beautiful to him, it _is not_ beautiful. { } from an intellectual and social standpoint, this mode of speech may be considered a serious defect. so do children express themselves. but it should be kept in mind that the oriental mind is that of the prophet and the seer, and not of the scientist and the philosopher. it is the mind which has proven the most suitable transmissive agency of divine revelation. when the seer beholds a vision of the things that are eternal, he cannot speak of it as a supposition or a guess, or transmit it with intellectual caution and timidity. "thus saith the lord." "the word of the lord came unto me saying, son of man, prophesy." when we speak of the deepest realities of life, we do not beset our utterances with qualifying phrases. true love, deep sorrow, a real vision of spiritual things transcend all speculative speech; they press with irresistible might for direct and authoritative expression. take for an example jesus' matchless declaration: "the spirit of the lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the { } gospel [glad tidings] to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the lord."[ ] how would this great utterance sound if given in the nice, cautious language of an "up-to-date" thinker? what force would it carry if put in this form, "it seems to me, although i may be entirely mistaken, that something like what may be termed the 'spirit of the lord' is upon me, and i feel that, in my own limited way, i must preach the gospel"? of course reckless, dogmatic assertions from the pulpit are never wise nor profitable. ultimately, whether in the realms of science or spiritual experience, the facts are the things which will count. nevertheless, it must be admitted that the modern pulpit suffers to a large extent from overcautiousness. by many ministers the facts are evaluated more in an intellectual than in a spiritual sense. hence that { } cautiousness in utterance which is seriously threatening the spirit of prophecy and the authority of real spiritual _experience_ in the religious teachers of the present day. legitimate intellectual caution should never be allowed to degenerate into spiritual timidity, nor the knowledge of outward things to put out the prophetic fire in the soul. there is, no doubt, much food for thought in the following legend. it is said of a preacher, who was apparently determined not to make "rash statements," that in speaking to his people on repentance he had this for his final word: "if you do not repent, as it were, and be converted, in a measure, you will be damned, to a certain extent." the congregation that has such a preacher is damned already! and i perceive some difference between such a preacher and him who says, "verily, i say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."[ ] this seeming weakness in oriental speech { } and in the bible is in reality tremendous spiritual strength. through our sacred scriptures we hear the voices of those great oriental prophets who spoke as they saw and felt; as seers, and not as logicians. and it was indeed most fortunate for the world that the bible was written in an age of instinctive listening to the divine voice, and in a country whose juvenile modes of speech protected the "rugged maxims" of the scriptures from the weakening influences of an overstrained intellectualism. [ ] see also matt. xxvi: . [ ] luke iv: . [ ] matt. xviii: . { } part iii bread and salt chapter i the sacred 'aish to an oriental the phrase "bread and salt" is of sacred import. the saying, "there is bread and salt between us," which has been prevalent in the east from time immemorial, is equal to saying, "we are bound together by a solemn covenant." to say of one that he "knows not the significance of bread and salt" is to stigmatize him as a base ingrate. a noble foe refuses to "taste the salt" of his adversary--that is, to eat with him--so long as he feels disinclined to be reconciled to him. such a foe dreads the thought of repudiating the covenant which the breaking of bread together forms. in the rural districts of syria, much more than in the cities, is still observed the ancient custom that a man on an important mission should not eat his host's bread until the errand is made known. the covenant of "bread and salt" should not be entered into { } before the attitude of the host toward his guest's mission is fully known. if the request is granted, then the meal is enjoyed as a fraternal affirmation of the agreement just made. so in the twenty-fourth chapter of the book of genesis we are told that abraham's servant, who had gone to mesopotamia, "unto the city of nahor," to bring a wife of his master's kindred to his son isaac, refused to eat at laban's table before he had told his errand. with characteristic oriental hospitality the brother of rebekah, after hearing his sister's story, sought abraham's faithful servant, "and, behold, he stood by the camels at the well. and he said, come in, thou blessed of the lord; wherefore standest thou without? for i have prepared the house, and room for the camels. and the man came into the house.... and there was set meat before him to eat: but he said, _i will not eat, until i have told mine errand_."[ ] the errand having been told, "the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and { } gave them to rebekah.... _and they did eat and drink_, he and the men that were with him."[ ] of all his enemies, the writer of the forty-first psalm considered the "familiar friend" who went back on his simple covenant to be the worst. "yea," he cries, mournfully, "mine own familiar friend, in whom i trusted, which did eat my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." as the son of a syrian family i was brought up to think of bread as possessing a mystic sacred significance. i never would step on a piece of bread fallen in the road, but would pick it up, press it to my lips for reverence, and place it in a wall or some other place where it would not be trodden upon. what always seemed to me to be one of { } the noblest traditions of my people was their reverence for the _'aish_ (bread; literally, "the life-giver"). while breaking bread together we would not rise to salute an arriving guest, whatever his social rank. whether spoken or not, our excuse for not rising and engaging in the cordial oriental salutation before the meal was ended, was our reverence for the food (_hirmetel-'aish_). we could, however, and always did, invite the newcomer most urgently to partake of the repast. at least once each year, for many years, i carried the _korban_ (the bread offering) to the _mizbeh_ (altar of sacrifice) in our village church, as an offering for the repose of the souls of our dead as well as for our own spiritual security. bread was one of the elements of the holy eucharist. the mass always closed with the handing by the priest to the members of the congregation of small pieces of consecrated bread. the gospel taught us also that christ was the "bread of life." the _'aish_ was something more than mere { } matter. inasmuch as it sustained life, it was god's own life made tangible for his child, man, to feed upon. the most high himself fed our hunger. does not the psalmist say, "thou openest thine hand, and satisfieth the desire of every living thing"? where else could our daily bread come from? [ ] verses - . [ ] verses - . the word "drink," which is frequently used in the bible in connection with the word "eat," does not necessarily refer to wine drinking. the expression "food and drink" is current in syria, and means simply "board." an employer says to an employee, "i will pay you so much wages, and your food and drink" (aklek washirbek). the drink may be nothing but water. { } chapter ii "our daily bread" i have often heard it said by "up-to-date" religionists in this country that the saying in the lord's prayer, "give us this day our daily bread," was at best a beggar's lazy petition. it has been suggested that those words should be omitted from the prayer, because they pertain to "material things." and at any rate we can get our daily bread only by working for it. yes; and the oriental understands all that. but he perceives also that by working for his daily bread he does not _create_ it, but simply _finds_ it. the prayer, "give us this day our daily bread" is a note of pure gratitude to the "giver of all good and perfect gifts." the oriental does not know "material things" as the occidental knows them. to him organic chemistry does not take the place of god. he is, in his totality, god-centered. his center of gravity is the altar and not the factory, and back { } of his prayer for daily bread is the momentum of ages of mystic contemplation. the oriental finds kinship, not with those who go for their daily bread no farther than the bakery, but with the writer of this modern psalm:-- "back of the loaf is the snowy flour, back of the flour the mill; back of the mill is the wheat and the shower and the sun and the father's will." it is not my purpose to exaggerate the piety and moral rectitude of the oriental. i am fully aware of the fact that he is lamentably lacking in his efforts to rise to the height of his noblest traditions. nevertheless, those who know the oriental's inner life know also that from seed-time until harvest, and until the bread is placed upon the family board, this man's attitude toward the "staff of life" is essentially religious. in the name of god he casts the seed into the soil; in the name of god he thrusts the sickle into the ripe harvest; in the name of god he scatters his sheaves on the threshing floor and grinds his grain at the mill; and in the name of { } god his wife kneads the dough, bakes the bread, and serves it to her family. in my childhood days "kneading-day" at our house was always of peculiar significance to me. i had no toys or story-books to engage my attention, and it was with the greatest interest that i watched my mother go through the process of kneading. her pious words and actions made kneading a sort of religious service. after making the sign of the cross and invoking the holy name, she drew the required quantity of flour out of a small opening near the bottom of the earthen barrel in which the precious meal was stored. it was out of such a barrel that the widow of "zarephath which belongeth to zidon" drew the "handful of meal" she had, and made of it a cake for elijah, for which favor the fiery prophet prayed that the widow's barrel of meal "shall not waste." then my mother packed the flour in the shape of a crescent on one side of the large earthen _maajan_ (kneading basin) which is about thirty inches in diameter. she dissolved the { } salt in warm water, which she poured in the basin by the embankment of flour. then with a "god bless" she took out the leaven--a lump of dough saved from the former baking--which she had buried in flour to keep it "from corruption," that is, from overfermentation. this leaven she dissolved carefully in the salt water, and by slowly mixing the meal with this fluid, she "hid" the leaven in the meal. it was this process which jesus mentioned very briefly in the parable of the leaven in the thirteenth chapter of st. matthew's gospel. "the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." the kneading done, my mother smoothed the surface of the blessed lump, dipped her hand in water, and with the edge of her palm marked a deep cross the whole length of the diameter of the basin, crossed herself three times, while she muttered an invocation, and then covered the basin and left the dough to rise. the same pious attitude was resumed { } when the raised dough was made into small loaves, during the baking, and whenever the mother of the family put her hand into the basin where the loaves were kept, to take out bread for her family's needs. does it now seem strange, unnatural, or in any way out of harmony with the trend of her whole life, for such a woman to pray, "give us this day our daily bread"? shall we receive the gifts and forget the giver? however circuitous our way to our daily bread may be, the fact remains that we do feed on god's own life. "the earth is the lord's and the fullness thereof." the use of iron stoves was unknown to the syrians in my childhood days; and this modern convenience is now used only by some of the well-to-do people in the large cities. the rank and file of the people, as in the days of ancient israel, still bake their bread at semi-public ovens, a few of which are found in every village and town. this baking-place is mentioned often in the bible, but the word "oven" in the english translation is somewhat misleading. it { } is so because the _tennûr_ (translated "oven" in the bible) is unknown to the english-speaking world, if not to the entire occident. the _tennûr_ is a huge earthen tube about three feet in diameter and about five feet long; it is sunk in the ground within a small, roughly constructed hut. the women bake their bread at the _tennûr_ in turn, certain days being assigned to certain families. the one baking comprises from one hundred to two hundred loaves. the fuel, which consists of small branches of trees, and of thistles and straw, is thrown into the _tennûr_ in large quantities. it is to this that jesus alludes in the passage, "if then god so clothe the grass which is to-day in the field, and to-morrow is _cast into the oven_, how much more will he clothe you, o ye of little faith?" when i recall the sight of a burning _tennûr_, i do not find it difficult to imagine what the old theologians meant by the "burning pit." the billows of black smoke, pierced at intervals by tongues of flame issuing from the deep hole, convert the chimneyless hut into an active { } crater. no one who has seen such a sight can fail to understand what the prophet malachi meant when he exclaimed, "for, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble."[ ] and no one who has seen that little hut, virtually plastered with the blackest soot, can fail to understand the full meaning of that passage in the fifth chapter of the book of lamentations, the tenth verse, which says, "our skin was black like an oven, because of the terrible famine." a large baking is a source of pride as well as a means of security. a syrian housewife is proud to have the oven all to herself for a whole day. it is a disgrace--nay, a curse--to have a small baking, or to buy bread in small quantity, "one weight" at a time. one of the terrible threats to israel, recorded in the twenty-sixth chapter of the book of leviticus, the twenty-sixth verse, is this: "when i have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall { } bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat and not be satisfied." my mother often admonished us to be thankful that we were not like those who had to buy their bread by weight--that is, in small quantities. but this saying, "and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight," may mean also the weighing of the portions delivered to the various members of the family, in order that no one may receive more than any other, and that the scanty supply of food may be more carefully doled out. however, probably because no real famine ever occurred in syria within my memory, i never knew of the actual resorting, within the family circle, to such severe restrictions in the distribution of the daily food. a similar practice, however, prevails among the arab tribes in sharing their meager supply of water, while traveling in the desert. in order to insure equality, a pebble is placed in the bottom of a small wooden cup into which the water is poured. the draught { } which each traveler receives at long intervals is "the covering of the pebble," that is, only the quantity of water needed just to cover the pebble in the cup. [ ] mal. iv: . { } chapter iii "compel them to come in" the hospitality of orientals is proverbial the world over. and while some westerners have an exaggerated idea of oriental generosity, the son of the east is not unjustly famous for his readiness to offer to wayfarers the shelter of his roof and his bread and salt. the person who fails to extend such hospitality brings reproach, not only upon himself, but upon his whole clan and town. but whether hospitality is extended to strangers or to friends, it is the man who entertains, and not the woman. the invitation is extended in the name of the husband alone, or, if the husband is not living, in the name of the eldest son. in the case of a widow who has no male children, a man relative is asked to act as host. the man of the house should not allow a wayfarer to pass him without offering him a "morsel of bread to sustain his heart." so did { } abraham of old extend hospitality to the three mysterious strangers who came upon him "in the plains of mamre," as stated in the eighteenth chapter of genesis, the second and following verses, "and he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, and said, my lord, if now i have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, i pray thee, from thy servant; ... and i will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts: after that ye shall pass on." how natural and how truly syrian all this sounds! sarah was not at all slighted because abraham did not say, "sarah and i will be glad to have you stop for lunch with us, if you can." on the contrary, she was greatly honored by not being mentioned in the invitation. we have another striking illustration of this syrian custom in the parable of the prodigal son, in the fifteenth chapter of st. luke's gospel. here we are told that, when the wayward { } boy returned to his father's house, desolate but penitent, it was the father who ran out to meet the son and "fell on his neck, and kissed him." it was the father who said to his servants, "bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry." i know well that the mother of the prodigal could not have been less affectionate nor less effusive in her welcome to her poor son than his father was. but in harmony with the best traditions of the east, and without the least intention of slighting the good mother, the record takes no notice of her. it should be stated here that the prominent mention in the gospels of mary and martha as jesus' friends and entertainers is due to the fact that to those women the master was not merely a _guest_, but a _saint_, nay, the "promised one of israel." as such jesus was a privileged personage. yet--and it is not at all strange in view of oriental customs--jesus took with him none of his women friends and disciples on such { } great occasions as the transfiguration and the last supper. to extend hospitality in genuine syrian fashion is no small undertaking. brevity on such occasions is the soul of stinginess. oriental effusiveness and intensity of speech are never more strenuously exercised than at such times. the brief form of the american invitation, "i should be pleased to have you dine with us, if you can," however sincere, would seem to an oriental like an excuse to escape the obligation of hospitality. again, the ready acceptance of an invitation in the west would seem to the son of the east utterly undignified. although the would-be guest could accept, he must be as insistent in saying, "no, i can't," as the would-be host in saying, "yes, you must." approaching his hoped-for guest, a syrian engages him in something like the following dialogue, characterized by a glow of feeling which the translation can only faintly reveal:-- "ennoble us [_sherrifna_] by your presence." { } "i would be ennobled [_nitsherref_] but i cannot accept." "that cannot be." "yea, yea, it must be." "no, i swear against you [_aksim 'aleik_] by our friendship and by the life of god. i love just to acquaint you with my bread and salt." "i swear also that i find it impossible [_gheir mimkin_] to accept. your bread and salt are known to all." "yea, do it just for our own good. by coming to us you come to your own home. let us repay your bounty to us [_fadhlek_]." "_astaghfero allah_ [by the mercy of god] i have not bestowed any bounty upon you worth mentioning." here the host seizes his guest by the arm and with an emphatic, "i _will not_ let you go," pulls at him and would drag him bodily into his house. then the guest, happy in being vanquished "with honor," consents to the invitation. do you now understand fully the meaning { } of the passage in the fourteenth chapter of luke's gospel? "a certain man made a great supper, and bade many ... and they all with one consent began to make excuse.... and the lord said unto the servant, go out into the highways and hedges, and _compel_ them to come in, that my house may be filled."[ ] so also did lydia, "a seller of purple, of the city of thyatira," invite the apostles, who had converted her to the new faith. in the sixteenth chapter of the book of acts, the fifteenth verse, paul says, "and when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, if ye have judged me to be faithful to the lord, come into my house, and abide there. _and she constrained us_." in the interior towns and villages of syria the ancient custom still prevails that, when a stranger arrives in a town late in the day, he goes and sits in the "open space" (_saha_). while not designed to be so, this open space corresponds to the village common. in the english bible it is called "the street." streets, however, { } are unknown to syrian towns. sitting in the _saha_, the stranger is the guest of the whole village. the citizen who first sees such a wayfarer must invite him to his home in real syrian fashion. failing in this, he brings disgrace, not only upon himself, but upon the whole town. it is needless to say that no people ever rise to the height of their ideals, and that failure to be "given to hospitality" occurs, even in the east. in the nineteenth chapter of the book of judges we have the record of a stranger who sat in the _saha_ of a certain village, but was not offered the usual hospitality very readily. this man was a levite, and, with his wife, servant, and a couple of asses, was on his way from bethlehem "toward the side of mount ephraim." "and the sun went down upon them when they were by gibeah, which belongeth to benjamin. and they turned aside thither, to go in and to lodge in gibeah: and when he went in, he sat him down in a street of the city; for there was no man that took them into his house to lodging. and, behold, there came an old man from { } his work out of the field at even.... and when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the city: and the old man said, whither goest thou? and whence comest thou? and he said unto him, we are passing from bethlehem-judah toward the side of mount ephraim ... but i am now going to the house of the lord; and there is no man that receiveth me to house." and in order to add to the shame of the inhospitable village the stranger adds, "yet there is both straw and provender for our asses; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for thy handmaid [the wife], and for the young man which is with thy servants: there is no want of any thing." what a rebuke to that community! "and the old man said, peace be with thee; howsoever let all thy wants lie upon me; _only lodge not in the street_. so he brought him into his house, and gave provender unto the asses: and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink." the old man saved the name of the town. { } one of the noblest and most tender utterances of job is the thirty-second verse of the thirty-first chapter. here the afflicted patriarch, in pleading his own cause before the most high, says, "the stranger did not lodge in the street, but i opened my doors to the traveller." syrian rules of hospitality make it improper for a householder to ask a guest who has suddenly come to him such a question as "have you had your lunch?" before putting food before him. the guest, even though he has not had the meal asked about by the host, considers it below his dignity to make the fact known. upon the arrival of such a visitor, the householder greets him with the almost untranslatable words, "_ahlan wa sahlan_." literally translated, these words are "kindred and smooth ground"; which, elucidated further, mean, "you have come not to strangers but to those who would be to you as your kindred are, and among us you tread smooth and easy ground." and even while the guest is being yet saluted by the man of the house in the { } protracted manner of oriental greeting, the good wife proceeds to prepare "a morsel" for the wayfarer, whatever hour of the day or night it may happen to be. the food then is placed before the guest and he is "compelled" to eat. there is in the eleventh chapter of st. luke's gospel a parabolic saying which is uncommonly rich in allusions to syrian home life. beginning with the fifth verse we read: "and he said unto them, which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and i have nothing to set before him; and he from within shall answer and say, trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; i cannot rise and give thee?" here we have a man to whom a guest comes at midnight; he must set something before him, whether the wayfarer is really hungry or not. the host happens to be short of bread, and he sets out to borrow a few loaves. owing to the homogeneous character of life in the east, { } borrowing has been developed there into a fine art. the man at the door asks for three loaves. three of those thin syrian loaves is the average number for one individual's meal. it was for this reason that the master used this number in the parable, and not because that was all the bread the occasion required. for obvious reasons, the host needed to put before his guest more than the exact number of loaves necessary for one adult's meal. perhaps because he is very sleepy, the man "within" runs counter to the best syrian traditions in his answer. his excuse--that because the door is shut he cannot open it and accommodate his friend--has been a puzzle to a host of western readers of the bible. could he not have opened the door? or, as a certain preacher asked in my hearing, "could it be possible that the man, because of fear of robbers in that country, had a sort of combination lock on his door which could not be easily opened?" the simple fact is that in syria as a rule the door of a house is never shut, summer or winter, until bedtime. the words of my { } father and mother to me whenever they thought that i had "remained wakeful"--that is, "stayed up"--longer than i should after they had gone to bed,--"shut the door and go to sleep,"--still ring in my ears. what the man "within" meant was, not that he could not open the door, but that at such a late hour, _after the door had been shut_, it was no time to call for such favors as the neighbor asked for. "and my children are with me in bed." from this it may be inferred easily that individual beds and individual rooms are well-nigh unknown to the common people of syria. the cushion-mattresses are spread side by side in the living room, in a line as long as the members of the family, sleeping close together, require. the father sleeps at one end of the line, and the mother at the other end, "to keep the children from rolling from under the cover." so the man was absolutely truthful when he said by way of an excuse, "my children are with me in bed." in the remaining portion of this parable, as in that of the unrighteous judge, jesus { } emphasizes, by commending to his disciples, the syrian habit of importuning. "i say unto you, though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth." again, the master gives dignity and elevation to the common customs of his people by using them as means of approach to high spiritual ideals, when he says, "and i say unto you, ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." [ ] verses - . { } chapter iv delaying the departing guest the best rules of syrian hospitality require that when a guest from a distant town makes it known what day he expects to take his leave, the host should do his best to trick his visitor into forgetfulness of the time set, or devise some other means to delay his departure as much as possible. on the day he wishes to depart, the wayfarer says to his host, "your exceeding bounty has covered me, far above my head; may god perpetuate your house and prolong the lives of your dear ones. may he enable me some day to reward you for your boundless generosity. and now i who have been so immersed in the sea of your hospitality [_baher karamek_] beg you to permit me to depart." then the host, confessing his unworthiness of such praise and manifesting great surprise at the sudden announcement, begs his guest to "take no thought of departing." the { } guest insists that he "must go," even though he could stay. the host says, "stay, i pray you [_betrajjak_], until you partake of our noon meal; then you may depart." after the noon meal the host says, "i beg you to consider that the day is already far spent, and your journey is long, and the road is dangerous for night travel. tarry until the morrow, and then go." the same performance takes place on the morrow, and perhaps another morrow, until the guest prevails. in the nineteenth chapter of the book of judges, in the story of the levite mentioned above, we have a fine example of a generous syrian host. his words are so much like those i often heard spoken in syria on such occasions that it makes me feel homesick to read them. the ancient bethlehemite was entertaining his son-in-law, who had stayed with them three days, the traditional length of such a visit in the east. so the record says: "and it came to pass on the fourth day, when they arose early in the morning, that he rose up to depart: and the { } damsel's father said unto his son-in-law, comfort thine heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward go your way. and they sat down, and did eat and drink both of them together; for the damsel's father had said unto the man, be content, i pray thee, and tarry all night, and let thine heart be merry. and when the man rose up to depart, his father-in-law urged him: therefore he lodged there again. and he rose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart: and the damsel's father said, comfort thine heart, i pray thee. and they tarried until afternoon,[ ] and they did eat both of them. and when the man rose up to depart, ... his father-in-law, the damsel's father, said unto him, behold, now the day draweth toward evening, i pray you tarry all night: ... lodge here, that thine heart may be merry; and to morrow get you early on your way, that thou mayest go { } home. but the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed." when an honored guest takes his departure, as a mark of high regard his host walks with him out of town a distance the length of which is determined by the affectionate esteem in which the host holds his visitor. at times we walked for a whole hour with our departing guest, and desisted from going farther only at his most urgent request. so in the eighteenth chapter of the book of genesis we are told that abraham's guests "rose up from thence, and looked toward sodom: and abraham went with them _to bring them on the way_." the english phrase, however, "to bring them on the way," falls far short of expressing the full meaning of the term _shy-ya'_. pilgrimages to holy places and fraternal feasts--such as are enjoyed on betrothal occasions, weddings, baptisms of children, and great holidays--are practically the only occasions the common people of syria have to bring them together. on such occasions the guests { } are invited in families; therefore the number of those who come to the feast is never exactly known in advance. the food is served in large quantities, but not in such great variety as in the west. the table appointments are very simple. there are no flowers, no lace doilies, nor the brilliant and sometimes bewildering array of knives, forks, and spoons which grace an american host's table on such festive occasions. the guests sit close together on the floor, about low tables, or trays, and eat in a somewhat communistic fashion from comparatively few large dishes. if twenty guests are expected, and thirty come, they simply enlarge the circle, or squeeze closer together. their sitting so close to one another makes the "breaking of bread together" for these friends more truly fraternal. in the third chapter of st. mark's gospel, the twentieth verse, the writer speaks of the large concourse of people who followed jesus and his disciples into a certain house. he tells us that "the multitude cometh together again, so that they _could not so much as eat bread_." { } the cross-reference in the bible points to the sixth chapter of the same gospel, the thirty-first verse, where it is said, "for there were many coming and going, and they _had no leisure so much as to eat_." my opinion is that the two occasions are not the same, therefore the reference is incorrect. the first passage alludes to the fact that although, owing to the very simple table appointments among the common people of syria, only _little space_ is required for one to eat his dinner, the crowd was so dense that not even such space was available. the second passage points to the fact that the master's audience was a stream of people "coming and going" so that _his disciples_ had not leisure enough to eat. the preceding verse and the first half of the verse just quoted say: "and the apostles gathered themselves together unto jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. and he said unto them, come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while." the remainder of the verse gives the reason why jesus { } felt so concerned about his fatigued and hungry disciples, by saying, "for there were many coming and going, and they [the disciples] had no leisure so much as to eat." the syrian feels satisfied even on ordinary occasions when he can secure one or two loaves of the thin bread he habitually eats, and a few olives, or some other modest delicacy, for what the americans would call a "lunch." he needs neither a table nor even a "lunch counter" to facilitate his eating. he can perform that essential function sitting down on the floor with his legs folded under him, standing up, or even walking, as well as seated at a table. in view of all this there is no little significance in the saying of the gospel writer, "and the multitude cometh together again, so that they _could not so much as eat bread_." in several places in the gospels reference is made to jesus' "sitting at meat."[ ] the marginal note in the revised version gives the word "recline" as the real equivalent of the { } original greek term which is rendered "sit" in the text. this, no doubt, is correct, so far as the original text is concerned, but the reference is to a greek and not to a syrian custom. the greeks were in the habit of reclining on couches while eating, and it is not at all improbable that certain wealthy orientals imitated this custom in the time of christ, as certain wealthy syrian families of the present time imitate european customs. but i fail to find, either within my own experience, or in the traditions and literature of syria, that reclining at the table was ever countenanced as at all a proper posture; certainly never among the common people of which the master was one. to sit erect on the floor at the low table, with the legs either folded under the body, or thrown back as in the act of kneeling, is the seemly (_laiyik_) posture, which is ever sung in arabic poetry. in this we were instructed from childhood. on unusual occasions, such as those of sorrow or great joy, friends might rest their heads on one another's shoulders, or breasts, as john did at the last { } supper, but these are rare exceptions. good breeding and "reverence for the food" require the sitting erect at meat. certain commentators have found the reference to the habit of reclining at meat very serviceable in explaining mary's act of anointing jesus' feet with nard, as he sat at supper at her home in bethany. in the twelfth chapter of the gospel of john, the third verse, it is said: "then took mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair." a similar incident is mentioned also in the seventh chapter of luke, the thirty-sixth and following verses:[ ] "and one of the pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. and he entered into the pharisee's house, and sat down to meat. and behold, a woman which was in the city, a sinner; and when she knew that he was sitting at meat in the pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster cruse of ointment, and standing behind at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his { } feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment." the explanation is that it was convenient for the woman to wash and anoint jesus' feet in this manner, because he was _reclining_ on a couch. what i am certain of is that the couch or any elevated seat is not at all necessary in such cases. whenever an oriental indulges in the practice of washing his feet he sits on the floor, as is his custom, and lifts the feet into the basin of water. this is the only way i ever knew in my old home, and it is no less effective than is the more "scientific" way of the west. king james's version renders the passage a little more difficult by giving greater definiteness to the woman's position at jesus' feet. while the revised version says, "and standing behind at his feet," the older version says, "and stood behind _him_," etc. yet even here the couch affords no greater advantage than the floor, because by folding the legs under the body, the feet are partially visible under the knee joints { } and could be touched from behind, and in the case of a kneeling posture, the feet may be easily reached from that direction.[ ] however, it should be borne in mind here that the real significance of the entire passage is to be found, not in the woman's physical but spiritual act. it was her spirit of love and devotion to the master, and, in the case of her who was a "sinner," her profound repentance and deep humility in touching jesus' feet in this manner, which immortalized her act in the scriptures. to the orientals the feet are unclean in a ceremonial sense; they are not "honorable" members of the body; therefore to touch them in an act of devotion marks the deepest depth of humility. it was in this sense that jesus humbled himself as an example to his disciples by washing their feet. but objections may be made to the foregoing explanation on the ground that reclining at meat is mentioned in one of the most ancient books { } in the old testament, and which cannot be ascribed to the influence of greek thought. in the sixth chapter of the book of amos, the third and fourth verses, it is said, according to the revised version: "ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; that lie upon beds of ivory, and _stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the stall_." to some writers there is here a direct reference to the habit of reclining on couches while eating. but a careful study of the passage will show that its construction does not warrant such a conclusion. the passage cannot be made to read, "ye ... that stretch themselves upon their couches _and eat_." the hebrew word _weaukhalim_ may mean, in this connection, "while eating," or, "and the eaters,"--those that eat. the rendering of the arabic, which is a close kin of the hebrew, is, "ye ... who lie upon beds of ivory, and who are stretched on cushions [_fûrsh_], _and who eat lambs_," and so forth. here it may easily be seen that the { } passage gives the theory of reclining at meat no real support, and the table customs of syria past and present oppose any effort to force the passage to yield such a meaning. in his scathing condemnation of those who rolled in luxury and forgot god and his people, the prophet mentioned contemptuously the ease and the feasting of those whose life should have been more productive of good. he might have said, "ye who lie on couches, and sing idle songs, and drink wine," as fittingly as, "ye who lie on couches, and who eat lambs and calves." [ ] the more accurate rendering of this sentence in the revised version is, "and tarry ye until the day declineth." in the hot season a good excuse to delay a departing guest is to beg him to wait until the cool late afternoon, "the decline of the day [_assar_]." [ ] matt. xxvi: , ; john xii: . [ ] the revised version. [ ] as has already been mentioned, the common people of syria wear no shoes in the house. { } chapter v family feasts of the feasts which are considered more strictly family affairs, i will speak of two which live in my memory clothed with romantic charms. the one is that which we enjoyed at the "killing of the sheep." as a rule every syrian family fattens a sheep during the summer season. the housewife feeds the gentle animal by hand so many times during the day and so many during the night, until he is so fat that he "cannot rise from the ground." no person is expected to speak of this sheep or touch him without saying, "the blessing from god" (be upon the lamb). oh, if i could but feel again the thrilling joy which was always mine when, as a small boy, i sat beside my mother and rolled the small "morsels" of mulberry and grape-leaves, dipped them in salted bran water, and handed them to my mother to feed the "blessed sheep"! { } early in the autumn came the time for "killing." wherever my father was, he came home, for the father of the household must kill the sheep. as a rule the blood of the animal was shed upon the threshold--a custom which echoes the ancient semitic practice of thus honoring the household god. now, however, perhaps for sanitary reasons, the sheep is killed a short distance from the door. the solemnity of the act robbed it for us of its cruelty. on the day of "killing" we sharpened the knives, crushed the salt in the stone mortar, and fed the sheep only sparingly. as the day began to decline the animal was "led to the slaughter," and laid gently on the ground, as the ancient sacrifice was laid before the lord. my father, holding with his left hand the animal's head, made the sign of the cross with the knife on the innocent throat, and, in the name of god, slew the sheep. the fact that many householders in a community "kill the sheep" on the same day makes the occasion a reproduction of the night of the { } exodus from egypt. in the twelfth chapter of the book of exodus, the third and sixth verses, jehovah speaks to moses concerning israel, saying, "in the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house.... and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of israel shall kill it in the evening." with a few intimate friends we feasted at the killing of the sheep, and then cut the red meat in small pieces "the size of a fledgeling's head," fried it in the fat, and sealed it in glazed earthen jars for our winter use. the other most joyous feast was that of the _marafeh_--the carnivals which precede the great lent. for about two weeks before lent begins, the christians of the east give themselves over to feasting. the dish which is a great favorite on this occasion is called _kibbey_. it is made of meat and crushed wheat. the meat is "beaten" in a stone mortar, with a { } large wooden masher, until it is reduced to a very fine pulp. then the crushed wheat, soaked in cold water, is mixed with the meat, together with a generous supply of spices and salt. the whole mixture is then "beaten" together so thoroughly that when rightly done it resembles a lump of dough. the writer of the book of proverbs, with characteristic syrian intensity, alludes to the process of _kibbey_-making in one of his assaults upon "the fool." in the twenty-second verse of the twenty-seventh chapter he says, "though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him." be that as it may, the craving of a syrian for _kibbey_ (and i fully know whereof i speak) makes the craving of a bostonian for baked beans and fish-balls for a sunday breakfast pale into insignificance. during _marafeh_ friends and neighbors feast together until the last night that precedes the beginning of lent. the feast of that night is one { } of family solemnity, upon which no outsiders may intrude. the members of the family come together to eat the last feast and drink their cup of wine before entering upon the solemn period of self-denial, fasting, and prayer. as at the ancient sacrificial feasts, all the members of the family must be present. it was this very custom which afforded jonathan the excuse to send his beloved friend david away from king saul's court, and thus save him from the murderous design which that monarch had against the son of jesse. so it was when the suspicious saul asked his son, "wherefore cometh not the son of jesse to meat, neither yesterday nor to-day?" jonathan answered saul, "david earnestly asked leave of me to go to bethlehem: and he said, let me go, i pray thee; for our family hath a sacrifice in the city; and my brother, he hath commanded me to be there."[ ] on that solemnly joyous evening my mother spreads the feast, and with most tender and pious affections my parents call their sons and { } daughters to surround the low table. my father pours the wine. to us all the cup is symbolic of sacred joy. holding the cup in his hand, my father leans forward and says to my mother, "may god prolong your life and grant you the joy of many returns of this feast!" and to us, "may your lives be long; may we be granted to drink the cup at your weddings; may god grant you health and happiness and many future feasts!" we all answer, "may your drinking be health and happiness and length of days!" my mother, after wishing my father the blessings he wished for her, and imploring the most high to bless and keep him "over our heads," drinks next. then the wine is passed to every one of us. "drink ye all of it" is my father's command; for who can tell whether the family circle shall remain unbroken until the easter festival? not a trace of the feast is kept in the house until the morrow. what is not eaten is burned or thrown away, for on the next day no meat, eggs, or milk is permitted to the faithful. wine also is not supposed to be indulged in { } during lent, until the easter bell heralds the tidings of the resurrection. so did the master speak to his disciples on the eve of his suffering. in the twenty-sixth chapter of st. matthew's gospel we read, "and he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, drink ye all of it.... but i say unto you, i will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when i drink it new with you in my father's kingdom." thus from the simplest conception of bread as a means to satisfy physical hunger to the loftiest mystic contemplation of it as a sacramental element, the orientals have always eaten bread with a sense of sacredness. "bread and salt," "bread and wine," "christ the bread of life," "for we, being many, are one bread," "give us this day our daily bread," these and other sayings current in the bible and in oriental speech all spring from the deepest life of the ancient east. and the sacredness of this common article of food has been of most inestimable value to { } oriental peoples. in the absence of other means of social cohesion, and the higher civil interests which bind men together, it has been a great blessing indeed to those much-divided orientals to find peace and security in the simple saying, "there is bread and salt between us." [ ] sam. xx: - . { } part iv out in the open chapter i shelter and home some one has said that the ancient israelites called god a "shelter" and a "refuge," and not a "home," because for the most part the syrians lived out of doors. all the habitation an israelite needed was a shelter from the storm and a refuge from the enemy. hence the prayer of the psalmist: "for thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy,"[ ] and the prophecy of isaiah, the fourth chapter and the sixth verse, according to the revised version: "and there shall be a pavilion for a shadow in the day-time from the heat, and for a refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain." the assertion that the syrian, both ancient and modern, lives for the most part out of doors is substantially correct. the long and rainless summers, the almost exclusively agricultural { } and pastoral life of the people, outside the few large cities, and the primitive modes of travel, enable the syrian to live his life out in the open. his one-story house, consisting of one or two rooms very simply furnished, conveys the impression that it is only an emergency shelter. yet that artless structure and the living "close to nature" have proved so agreeable and so satisfactory to the people of the east as to defy the forces of evolution. certainly the continuance of that simple environment, "from age to age the same," indicates that in the universal scheme of things evolution is not altogether compulsory. man can, if he chooses, stand still, and live somewhat comfortably by simply repeating the past. to the oriental life is neither an evolution nor an achievement, but an inheritance. to his passive yet poetical mind the ancient landmarks possess enchanting sentimental value. the thought of the same modes of life linking fifty centuries together appeals powerfully to his imagination. it spells security, and establishes { } confidence in the laws of being, at least to old age. however, it should not be inferred from the foregoing that the syrian thinks lightly of his humble home. no; he is a passionate lover of it, and associates with it the deepest joys and sorrows of life. but he does not have for his abode the two designations "house" and "home," which prevail in the west. the hebrew word _bayith_ and the arabic _bait_ mean primarily a "shelter." the english equivalent is the word "house." the richer term, "home," has never been invented by the son of palestine because he has always considered himself "a sojourner in the earth." his tent and his little house, therefore, were sufficient for a shelter for him and his dear ones during the earthly pilgrimage. the word which is translated "home" in about forty places in the english version of the bible does not differ in the original from the word "house," which is found in about three thousand five hundred passages in the bible. the terms "tent," "house," "place of residence," { } and the phrases, "to go to his kindred," "to return to his place," etc., are all translated "home," and "go home." to the oriental the word "house" is very precious. it means the place of safe retreat (malja). and it is this word which he uses in speaking of god as his protector. it means more than "shelter." it is a place of protection and comfort. the word "refuge" is a more suitable equivalent. in that contentious east we always thought of a safe refuge in time of trouble. every family of the common people "belonged" to some powerful lord who was its refuge in time of danger. he was strong, rich, compassionate. he protected his own. how much stronger, richer, and more compassionate, therefore, is the lord of hosts! the needy and much terrified oriental discovered long ago the frailty of all earthly shelters. the king of kings and the lord of hosts was his never-failing refuge. the trustful contemplation of god as an ever-present helper has steadied the faltering steps of countless generations. "the { } lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my god, my strength, in whom i will trust; my buckler, and the horn[ ] of my salvation, and my high tower."[ ] "god is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea."[ ] is it not really worth while to fear and to suffer, if by so doing one is brought so close to god? the writer of the one hundred and nineteenth psalm had the world in his debt when he turned his inward vision toward the most high and prayed:[ ] "it is good for me that i have been afflicted; that i might learn thy statutes. the law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver." and who can estimate the debt which humanity owes to the sufferer of calvary? [ ] ps. lxi: . [ ] the "horn" symbolizes strength. [ ] ps. xviii: , . [ ] ps. xlvi: , . [ ] ps. cxix: , . { } chapter ii resigned travelers traveling by the "twentieth century, limited," is fast transit; but, excepting in case of a wreck, the trip is devoid of incident. the mechanical perfection of the conveyance, and the infallibility of the time-table reduce journeying to transportation. there is no girding of the loins, no pilgrim's staff, no salutations by the way and no wayfarer's song. the journey is not humanized by the tender care for the camel, the mule, and the ass, nor are the hunger and thirst satisfied by the breaking of bread beside the lonely springs of water. the terrors and triumphs of st. paul in his "journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, ... in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, ... in cold and nakedness,"[ ] are all to the { } modern western traveler echoes of a remote past. but such are still the common experiences of the sons of the east. one of the heroic wedding songs which was much in vogue in my boyhood days was this (addressed to the bride): "thy father, o beauteous one, journeyed to damascus alone!" previous to the introduction of the railway train, which now runs between beyrout and damascus, the journey from my home town to the latter city consumed two days. in those days, as is still the case in many parts of syria, men traveled in large groups for mutual protection from the "hidden dangers of the way," and he who journeyed to the ancient city alone was proclaimed hero. my memories of the tales of adventure which i heard the men relate are very thrilling. tales of encounters with robbers, battles with snakes and wild beasts, suffering from the insufficiency of "the food for the way" (_zad_) and the thirst occasioned by the early "failure," that is, the { } drying up, of springs of water which had been thought to be still flowing. only those who have traveled under such circumstances can fully appreciate the promise given in the fifty-eighth chapter of isaiah, the eleventh verse, "and the lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat[ ] thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, _whose waters fail not_." this recalls forcibly to my mind the occasions when in our travels in the late summer we would stand at the parting of two roads and wonder which one to take. the opinion of the more experienced men in the party, that the spring of water on one of those roads was likely to be dry in that season of the year, always turned our steps in the other direction. in that thirsty land such a possibility could not be safely ignored. in those long summer days, when the mouth of the traveler on the dusty roads of syria "turns bitter from the thirst," the arrival { } at a spring which had "failed" is almost a tragic experience. hence it is that the "springs of water" are one of the precious promises of the bible, and their failure was one of the fearful threats. it was indeed a call to his disciples to make the great renunciation when jesus sent them out to preach the glad tidings of the kingdom which was "at hand," with the command, "provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves."[ ] so far as the comforts and protection that earthly things can give, those disciples were sent out perfectly helpless. the master's programme for those disciples is just the antithesis of that which an ordinary oriental traveler follows. no traveler in the interior of syria ever starts out on a journey, be it short or long, without _zad_. true, syrian generosity to a wayfarer is to be depended upon, but the traditions of the country are that self-respect requires that a { } traveler shall provide himself with _zad_, and shall accept hospitality only as a last resort. the best etiquette requires that when a traveler is invited to another's table, he should take out his _zad_ and place it before him. the host, on the other hand, positively refuses to allow his chance guest to eat of his own _zad_. the host removes the _zad_ from the table, and either adds to it and gives it to the guest upon his departure or gives him a new _zad_. without scrip, the traveler seems to himself to be utterly a dependent, a beggar, and not a guest. "put up a few loaves for _zad_," is the first thing said when a person is about to start out on a journey. the thin loaves are folded into small bundles, which may contain such delicacies as ripe black olives, cheese, boiled eggs, and figs conserved in grape molasses, and wrapped up in a large napkin, which the traveler ties around his waist, with the bread on the back. the bread is often carried in a leather bag (_jerab_). this is the "scrip" and "wallet" of the gospel command. on a long { } journey, say of a day or more, the thin bread dries up and breaks into small pieces. a dry and crumby _zad_ indicates a long journey. the gibeonites certainly "did work wilily" when they used their dry and broken bread as a means to deceive joshua. although they were israel's near neighbors, by carrying dry crumbs in their bags and saying to joshua upon their arrival at his camp, "this our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry, and it is mouldy,"[ ] made him and "the princes of the congregation" believe that the wily travelers had come from a distant country. the english translation, however, by using the word "mouldy" introduces a foreign element into the text. in the dry climate of palestine the bread does not get _mouldy_ on a journey, but it dries up and crumbles into small fragments, as every syrian knows. the arabic version has it, "this our bread ... is now dry and in crumbs [_fetat_]." { } "provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses." the original text has "girdles" instead of "purses." while traveling in the east we always carried our money in the girdle and only a few coins in the purse. the girdle of the present day is a stout woolen or cotton belt, which is called, in the vernacular arabic, _kummer_. it is worn under the sash, and the longest specimen of it measures about five feet. it is double to the length of about thirty inches. the two folds are very securely sewed together at the edge, and only a small opening provided near the buckle, through which the money is inserted. the double part, containing the money, is first fastened around the waist by means of a short leather buckle, then the single part is wound over it. it may be seen here that in case of an encounter with robbers, the money cannot be snatched from its owner until he is completely subdued by his antagonist. the common people of syria speak of the _kummer_ as of a man's financial strength. there are practically no "bank accounts." "how is { } the _kummer_?" means, "how do you stand financially?" to tap the _kummer_ cheerfully indicates good circumstances. it is joy and glory for a youth when he reaches the age when he may have a _kummer_. the thrill of satisfaction which that possession gives still lingers with me. it was as much of a sign of maturity and independence for me to tap that scriptural girdle which i wore, when i had money in it, as to swear by my newly sprouting mustache. it was my treasure! from all this it may be noted that the master's command, "provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your girdles," meant, not only to carry no money on their missionary journey, but to seek and _horde_ no money. an oriental's girdle is his bank. the part of the command which says, "neither two coats," means two changes of clothing. the thing sought here, however, as well as in the saying, "neither shoes," is not the abandonment of the necessary wearing apparel, but willing self-denial. { } "nor yet staves." the staff, or the "stick of travel," is the symbol of journeying in syria. there, _elkeina el'asa_ (rested the staff) means we reached the end of our journey. _el'asa_ (staff) occupies a significant place in syrian lore. it is difficult for me to imagine a syrian starting on a journey without an _asa_. the israelites were given explicit directions concerning their preparations for the journey on the eve of their exodus from egypt. they were told[ ] to eat the lamb of the passover "with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, _and your staff in your hand_." in our travels in syria the staff was to us a most valuable support in climbing the steep hills, crossing the streams of water, battling with snakes and ferocious dogs, and with highway robbers. "the staff is a companion" is a current saying in the land. the disciples were commanded in this manner to detach themselves from the material interests of this world, and to give themselves wholly to the preaching { } of the kingdom. in their need and in their weakness they were to be rich and strong through their vision of the eternal realities. in the tenth chapter of st. luke's gospel, jesus' commission to the disciples contains the command, "and salute no man by the way." it would seem strange, indeed, that those messengers of peace and good-will, who were being sent out to spread the leaven of friendliness and good cheer in the world, should be enjoined by their master to salute no man by the way. but when it is known in what manner the orientals salute one another on those weary journeys, the gospel restriction will not seem so very strange. wayfarers in the east do not content themselves with the severely brief western salutation, "how d' you do; nice day," and then pass on. the oriental salutation is a copious flow of soul, whose intimacy and inquisitiveness are quite strange to the mentality of the west. when the ways of two travelers converge, or the one overtakes the other, and they decide to _yatrafeko_ (be companion the one to the other) { } and "wear away the road in friendly speech," the salutation runs as follows:-- "_allah y'atek el'afieh_ [may god give you health and strength]." "_allah y'afie imrak_ [may god refresh and strengthen your life]." "whence has your excellent presence [_heth-retek_] come, and whither are you facing?" "from nazareth have i come, and am facing towards damascus." "what is the precious name?" "your humble servant mas'ud, son of yusuf of the clan of ayyub [job]." "_wann'am, wann'am_ [all honor, all honor]!" "_wann'am_ to your excellent presence, and your respected clan!" "what are your years?" "my years, friend, are four and thirty." "may your life be long and happy!" "may allah lengthen your days!" "what children have you?" (it is taken for granted that a man of that age has been long since married.) { } "three sons in the keeping of god." "long life to them and health and happiness!" "what men does your clan count?" "we turn out _seb'een baroody_ [seventy shotguns]." "_seb'een baroody_! valiant men. what enemies have you in your native town?" "our chief enemy is the clan of haddad. they turn out one hundred _baroody_, but whenever the iron gets hot [that is, whenever a fight occurs] we shatter their forces." thus the mutually complimentary conversation and the searching of hearts continue until each of the travelers is thoroughly informed concerning the personal, domestic, and social affairs of the other. the trade, the income, the profession, the cares and anxieties, and even the likes and dislikes of each are made known to the other before their ways part. hence the master's command, "salute no man by the way." surely the intention was not to be rude and unfriendly to fellow travelers, { } but to be completely absorbed by the glorious message of the gospel. the command was given because "the king's business required haste." even an oriental must quicken his pace when his mission is "to seek and to save that which was lost." [ ] cor. xi: , . [ ] the arabic and the revised versions: "make strong." [ ] matt. x: , . [ ] joshua ix: . [ ] exod. xii: . { } chapter iii the market place i cannot think of the market place in the east without at the same time thinking of the camel caravan. in many parts of syria, the arrival of the caravan makes the market. _el-habbet_ (the grain) is the chief commodity, and the camel is the chief carrier. in very recent years the railway train has to a certain extent taken from the camel his ancient occupation, but it has by no means completely supplanted the "ship of the desert." the coming of camel caravans from the "land of the east" to our lebanon town, laden with the "blessed grain," is one of my most enchanted memories of outdoor life in syria. the sight of a train of camels, with their curved necks bridging the spaces between them, suggests to the beholder an endless line. it is not at all surprising to me to read the assertion of the writer of the seventh chapter of the book of { } judges, where he speaks of the midianites and amalekites, that "their camels were without number, as the sand of the sea-side for multitude." it seems to me that it does not require more than a train of one hundred camels to convey the idea of endlessness. at the first glimpse of the approaching caravan we boys would swarm to the _saha_ (the open space) of the town. there the caravan unloads, and awaits the buyers of wheat. it makes me long for my early years when i read in the twenty-fourth chapter of the book of genesis the story of abraham's servant when he journeyed to mesopotamia. "and the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master and departed.... and he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water." it is decidedly thrilling to hear the cameleer say, _ich, ich, i--ch--ch!_ and pull at the halter of his camel to make him "kneel." and, with a friendly roar, the great beast drops, first forward on his huge, thick, { } hardened knees, then comes down on his haunches, and then, swaying in all directions, like an island shaken by an earthquake, rests his enormous body on the ground. "at the time of the evening [in the late afternoon], even the time that women go out to draw water," the camels are led to the fountains to be watered. the ancient writer's reference to "the time that women go out to draw water" is to a syrian as definite as the reference to a swiss clock. _wakket elmeliah_ (the time to fill the jars) is in the early morning and the late afternoon. for obvious reasons the women choose the "cool of the day" for carrying their heavy jars of water from the fountain to the house. the syrian women have faithfully kept this custom from before the days of abraham. and it is in the cool of the day that the cameleers also deem it best to water their precious animals. the women always view this event with disfavor. the thirsty camels completely drain the pond into which the surplus water of the slender fountain flows, and which the { } housewives put to other household uses than drinking. no doubt the ancient israelitish women in certain sections of palestine grumbled when the cameleers drew heavily out of the wells on which the home-makers depended entirely for their water supply. but to us boys the occasion was festive. by bribing the cameleers with gifts of grapes, figs, raisins, or any other sweets, for which the craving of the bedouins is proverbial, we were allowed to mount the camels and lead them to the water. it may be true, as some scholars assert, that the swaying walk of the camel first quickened the measured song of the arab, but my first camel ride was anything but poetical. i had, upon the arrival of the caravan, smuggled from our store of raisins two large pocketfuls, the one with which to bribe the bedouin to give me a ride, the other to eat while on the camel's back, like a gay rider. as i climbed confidently on the wooden saddle of the kneeling beast, the arab, who was already devouring the raisins, stems and all, by the handful, gave { } the familiar signal, _tshew, tshew_, and instantly the thirsty camel rose and flew toward the fountain. i felt as if my brain was being torn off its base. i lost the sense of direction, and seemed to myself to be suspended between earth and heaven, tossed by violent winds. i screamed; but the bedouin would not let me down until i promised him the other pocketful of raisins. in syria the _sûk_ (market place) is more than a place of exchange of commodities. it is rather an occasion of varied business and social interests. the oriental knows no business without sociability. his _dekkan_ (store) is a gathering-place for friends, and a business transaction with him, especially in the interior of the country, is almost always preceded by a friendly visit with the customer. so the market is a place where the dignitaries of the town meet and exchange salutations and discuss various interests. the social nature of such occasions is indicated in jesus' warning to his disciples, "beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and _love salutations in the { } marketplaces_."[ ] apparently those teachers of israel were very frequent visitors at the markets, where men of all classes paid them the homage which their calling, if not their person, merited. in the past the arab markets were also significant conventions of literary men, especially poets. discussions of all sorts of subjects are carried on at the market. so it was in athens in paul's time, where he "disputed ... in the market daily with them that met with him."[ ] and, of course, the children love to gather in the market place, play their pranks, and watch the interesting activities of their elders. it was to such a crowd of youngsters that jesus likened the fickle and peevish men of his time. in the eleventh chapter of st. matthew's gospel, the sixteenth verse, he says, "but whereunto shall i liken this generation? it is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying, we have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented." { } to my youthful mind the chief charm of the market place was the _keyyal_ (measurer). the strong man who measured the wheat will live in my memory as long as life endures. he it is who gives the "good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over." in syria the custom is that every measure must run over. friendship must forever be mixed with business. liquid measures, also, of such things as milk and oil, must run over a little into the vessel of the buyer, for "with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."[ ] after the price has been agreed upon, the sturdy cameleer spreads his ample cloak on the ground and pours the golden grain in a heap upon it. the _keyyal_ kneels by the little hillock of wheat, and, naming the holy name, thrusts the _midd_ (a wooden measure) into the precious wheat. the grain is sacred; therefore, the language of the _keyyal_ must be pious. as he tosses the first measure into the buyer's bag, or the skirt of his cloak, he says, "blessing!" that { } means "one"; "from god" means "two." then the counting is continued in the ordinary language--three, four, and so on. after it is first thrust into the heap of wheat, the _midd_, about half full, is whirled around on its bottom, lifted slightly from the ground and dropped several times. the _keyyal_, constantly repeating the number of the _midds_ he has already measured, "lest he forget," pours the wheat into the measure with his hands, packs it down with his palms, and all his strength. he whirls the _midd_ round again, shakes it, presses it, and again heaps the wheat, pyramid-like, above the rim. the circular shower of the golden grain falls gently over the edges. the artful _keyyal_ pours small handfuls of wheat with his right hand into his left, which is formed into a funnel over the apex of the heaped _midd_, until the point is "as sharp as a needle's." then with swift deftness, which elicits the admiration of the spectators, he lifts the heaped measure and tosses it into the bag, without allowing a single grain to fall outside. { } with what telling effect and rich simplicity does the master allude to this custom of measuring grain in the eastern markets. in the sixth chapter of st. luke's gospel, the command and the promise are, "give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom." but the word "bosom" here somewhat weakens the sense of the text. i do not know why the english translators used it in place of the original word "lap." the oriental does not carry grain in his _bosom_, but in the skirt of his ample garments, much as a woman carries things in the fold of her apron. again the word "lap" is used here in another and a more significant sense. it is the symbol of plentifulness; just as the "bosom" is the symbol of affection. the generous measure, even though it be poured into one's bag, as a _blessing_, may be said to be given into his _lap_. here again, as in many other scriptural passages, jesus gives the ideal spiritual touch to the common things of life. here an ordinary { } act is made the symbol of the fullness of the spiritual life. he whose life is like the divine parent's life--a perpetual outgoing and an everlasting gift--shall never lack anything. men will be taught by his generosity how to be generous themselves, and the divine giver will give him of the fullness of his own life. there is no void which the divine life cannot fill, no need which it cannot meet, and no hunger which it cannot satisfy. [ ] mark xii: . [ ] acts xvii: . [ ] matt. vii: . { } chapter iv the housetop while a caravan of camels needs no other means than its own majestic appearance to herald its arrival into a town, muleteer merchants shout their wares from the housetop. upon the arrival of a muleteer into the _saha_ of the town with a load of lentils, potatoes, apricots, or any other commodity, he "drops the load" from the animal's back onto the ground, and goes upon the roof of the nearest house and proclaims his wares at the top of his voice, in prolonged strains. to reach the flat earthen roof of the one-story syrian house needs no extension ladder. it is so easily and quickly reached by the few rough stone steps in the rear of the house that jesus, in speaking of the incredibly swift coming of the "end" in the twenty-fourth chapter in st. matthew's gospel, says, "let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his { } house." so sudden was to be the consummation of the eternal's design, "because iniquity shall abound, and the love of many shall wax cold," that even the short distance between the housetop and the ground could not be safely traversed by those who cared for earthly possessions. the ease with which the roof of an ordinary syrian house is reached accounts also for the carrying of the man who was "sick of the palsy" upon the housetop. the account in the second chapter of st. mark's gospel, the third and fourth verses, runs, "and they came unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. and when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was; and when they had broken it up [the arabic, "broken through"], they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay." this account describes perfectly the process of making an opening in a syrian roof. in st. luke's gospel, however, the statement { } is:[ ] "and when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the _tiling_ with his _couch_ into the midst before jesus." the coloring here is decidedly roman and not syrian. the writer of luke was a latin christian. he related the incident in terms which were easily understood by his own people. the syrians never covered their roof with tiles nor slept on couches. mark's account speaks of uncovering the _roof_ and letting down the _bed_. the syrian roof is constructed as follows: the main timbers which carry the roof covering are laid across, horizontally, at intervals of about two to three feet. crosswise over the timbers are laid the _khasheb_ (sticks long enough to bridge the spaces between) quite close together. over the _khasheb_ reeds and branches of trees and thistles are laid, and the whole is covered with about twelve inches of earth. the dirt is rolled down by a stone roller and made hard enough to { } "shed water." in many houses during the summer season an opening, called _qafa'a_, is made in the roof for the purpose of letting down the grain and other provisions which are dried in the sun on the housetop. the space between the timbers admits easily the large basket called _sell_, which is as big around as a bushel basket. now, those who let down the palsied man either made an entirely new opening in the roof, or simply extended the _qafa'a_ enough to admit the unfortunate man in his folded quilt or thick cushion, tied by the four corners. and it was this which jesus commanded him to carry, when he said to him, "arise, and take up thy bed, and walk." from the foregoing it may be seen that a couch could not have been so easily let down through the roof, nor _carried_ by the newly healed man. sleeping on the housetop in the summer season is an oriental custom the advantage of which the occident has just "discovered." to use the roofs of high buildings in american cities as sleeping quarters is a "new" suggestion of { } that genius known as the "social reformer." to the ancient east, "there is nothing new under the sun." however, to dwell on the housetop is an expression which symbolizes desolation. nevertheless the writer of proverbs says:[ ] "it is better to _dwell_ in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house." from the housetop the muleteer merchant shouts his wares; from the housetop men call one another for various purposes; from the housetop the _nowateer_ (men appointed by the municipality to watch the vineyards) proclaim the names of trespassers; and from that elevation the special orders of the governor of the district are proclaimed to the populace. by night or by day, whenever we heard a voice calling from a housetop, we instinctively listened most intently in order to catch the message. the voice of the crier is so much like a distant, prolonged railway whistle that in my first few years in america, whenever i heard { } such a sound, especially in the night, i listened involuntarily, expecting to hear a message. how often must jesus have heard the free and full voice of the crier from the housetop! how it must have appealed to him as the very antithesis of the whisperings of fear, cowardice, and doubt, may be realized from his command to his disciples. in the tenth chapter of st. matthew's gospel we read christianity's declaration of independence. here the antagonism of the world is portrayed with complete fullness. "behold, i send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves." "ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake." "fear them not ... for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known." in the face of all hatred and danger and death the master's command to those who carried the world-transcending message, the supreme treasure of time and eternity, was, "what i tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetop." { } in the rainless syrian summer the housetop is used for various household purposes. the grass which grows on the earthen roof, especially on its thick edges, withers early in the season. to this the scripture alludes in several places where it speaks of the enemies of israel as being "like the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up." in some cases the whole roof is plastered with clay mortar and used for drying grain, fruits, and vegetables. also in the summer season the housetop is used for holding wedding festivities and funeral gatherings, which almost all the adult inhabitants of the town are supposed to attend. with solemn brevity does the prophet jeremiah refer to this custom in the forty-eighth chapter, and the thirty-eighth verse. the more accurate rendering of the revised version is: "_on all the housetops_ of moab and in the streets thereof there is lamentation every where." the custom of praying on the housetop, which has come down from the time when the syrians worshiped the "hosts of heaven," still { } survives in the east. in the first chapter of the book which bears his name, the prophet zephaniah threatens with the awful retribution of jehovah those who indulged in this practice. "i will also stretch out mine hand upon judah, and upon all the inhabitants of jerusalem; and i will cut off the remnant of baal from this place ... and _them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops_." this custom survives in syria, although much less extensively than in the past, and it is "the god of the whole earth" that is worshiped, and not the host of heaven. with much reverential regard i still remember an old neighbor of ours, a devout maronite, a man who really feared god and worked righteousness, whose habit was to say his evening prayer upon the housetop. of all the rich treasures of our scriptures, few perhaps are more precious and dearer to christian hearts than the record of peter's vision while in the city of joppa, and which is so intimately associated with that low, flat, earthen syrian roof. the tenth chapter of the book of { } acts hints at the broader and more profound spirit which had begun to agitate the inner life of the "very small remnant" of expectant souls in israel. the wider horizon which the christ of god had revealed to his jewish disciples had engendered serious doubts in their minds with regard to the exclusive claims of judaism to the blessings of the messianic kingdom. the spirit of the beatitudes and the parables was resistlessly pressing the claims of all the eager gentiles to a share in those blessings. no doubt the soul of peter, the ultra-conservative disciple, was rent in twain and wavered in its allegiance between the old claims of a "chosen people" and the new vision of a universal kingdom founded on purity of heart and hunger and thirst after righteousness. it would seem that while in such a state of mind, and after the oriental custom, "peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour;[ ] and he became very hungry, and { } would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, and saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth; wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. and there came a voice to him, rise, peter; kill, and eat. but peter said, not so, lord; for i have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. and the voice spake unto him the second time, what god hath cleansed, that call not thou common." peter obeyed. that oriental, who was not afraid of the mystic revelations of god's designs took the lesson to heart. presently we see this conservative jew again at the home of cornelius, the roman, and hear him interpret his own vision. "of a truth," he said to the roman soldier, "i perceive that god is no { } respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." here we have the sure basis of christian unity and the unshaken foundation of a human commonwealth. "other foundation can no man lay." when all the sects and nations who profess to be the followers of jesus christ respond to this scriptural summons, and give decent burial to their divisive creeds, however "authoritative" they might think them to be, then will the world have valid reason to expect swords to be beaten into ploughshares, and to hope for the coming of god's kingdom upon the earth. [ ] luke v: ., [ ] prov. xxi: . [ ] the noon hour, according to oriental calculation: timepieces are set at twelve, at sunset. six o'clock is the hour of midnight and midday. the time kept by western peoples is known in syria as _affrenje_. so the laborers who came to work at "the eleventh hour," as it is mentioned in matthew, the twentieth chapter, and the ninth verse, came one hour before sunset. { } chapter v the vineyards and the fields from time immemorial the vine and the fig tree have been the oriental's chief joy. together with their actual value they possessed for him a sacred symbolic value, especially the vine. the fullness and sweetness of their fruits symbolized the joys of the kingdom of heaven. the mystery of the wine cup, which the world has so sadly vulgarized, remains very sacred to the oriental. christ used "the fruit of the vine," or, as the arabic version has it, the _yield_ of the vine,--meaning the wine, and not grapes,--as the visible means of spiritual communion. in the fifteenth chapter of st. john's gospel the master says, "i am the vine, ye are the branches." this usage was no doubt extant in the east before christ. the vine, as a symbol of spiritual as well as physical family unity, is spoken of in the old testament. israel's was jehovah's vine. "thou hast brought a vine out of egypt" is the { } plaintive cry of the writer of the eightieth psalm: "thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. thou preparest room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.... return, we beseech thee, o god of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine; and the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted." we always thought and spoke of the church as "the vine which god has planted." the chanting of the foregoing words of the psalmist by our priest of the greek orthodox church, with his hand uplifted over the solemnly silent congregation, remains one of the most beautiful memories of my youth. we spoke also of the family as a vine. one of the tenderest passages in the whole bible is the third verse of the one hundred and twenty-eighth psalm: "thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table." "they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them { } afraid,"[ ] is micah's vision of peace and security. to a syrian in america the reading of this passage is strongly conducive to homesickness. to sit in the luxuriant shade of the fig tree was a daily blessing to us in the summer season. it must have been in that season of the year that jesus first met nathanael. in the first chapter of st. john's gospel we read: "jesus saw nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, behold an israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! nathanael saith unto him, whence knowest thou me? jesus answered and said unto him, before that philip called thee, _when thou wast under the fig tree, i saw thee_." i have no doubt that nathanael's habit of sitting under the fig tree was one of the characteristics which made him "an israelite indeed." the wine press is an ancient landmark in syrian life, and one of the most picturesque features of the scriptures. the word "press" is likely to be misleading in this mechanical age. the grapes are not _pressed_ by any mechanical { } contrivance, but are trodden with the feet. therefore, to the orientals the wine press is _ma'sara_ (squeezing place). the grapes are thrown in a heap in a stone-flagged enclosure about the size of an ordinary room, and trodden by the men in their bare feet. much gayety characterizes the _ma'sara_ season. the work is carried on day and night until all the grapes which had been gathered by the various families for the _ma'sara_ are converted into wine and molasses. the quaint songs and stories which i always loved to hear the "treaders" exchange, as they walked back and forth over the grapes, come to me now like the echoes of a remote past. and as i recall how at the end of a long "treading" those men came out with their garments spattered with the rich juice of the grapes of lebanon, the words of isaiah--"wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments _like him that treadeth the wine fat_?"[ ]--breathe real life for me. but in this age of rampant microbiology i { } introduce this subject with at least an implied apology. the picture of men treading grapes in this manner and under such circumstances will not, i fear, appeal strongly to the æsthetic sense of my readers. nevertheless, all the scriptural wine, including the cup of the last supper, was produced in this way. to the orientals the mystic fermentation and the fire purify the juice of the vine. the precious juice runs from the wide, stone-flagged enclosure into deep wells, where it is allowed to become _rawook_ (clear juice). the fresh _rawook_ is considered a delicious drink. one of job's bitter complaints against those who oppressed the poor was that those unfortunates were made to "tread the wine presses, and _suffer thirst_."[ ] having been allowed thoroughly to settle, the juice is then heated according as to whether the wine is to be "sweet" or "bitter." the longer the juice is boiled the sweeter the wine. sweet wine is called _khemer niswani_ (woman wine); the men, as a rule, preferring the "bitter" wine. in { } making molasses of the grape juice, fine white clay is scattered over the grapes before they are trodden, in order to hasten and insure a perfect settling of all the coarse organic matter while the juice is in the "clearing wells." i often wonder whether it is because the memories of youth grow more romantic with the passing of the years, that the agricultural life of the orient seems to me more poetical than that of the occident, or whether it really is more enchanting. it seems to me that tools possess more charms than machinery does, and handwork of the more instinctive type is much more interesting than the carefully studied and designed task. the life of the american farmer is too intelligent to be romantic. there is so much in him of the agricultural college and the farm journal. no awful mysteries haunt his scientifically treated fields. insect powders and the daily weather report and the market "quotations" arm him with forethought, and make of him a speculating merchant. the constant { } improvements of agricultural implements place a wide and ever-widening gulf between the american farmer and his forefathers. not so with the syrian farmer. to this man life is not an evolution, but an inheritance. if the men who tilled abraham's fields in hebron should rise from the dead to-day, they would find that the four thousand years of their absence from the earth had effected no essential changes in the methods and means of farming in the "land of promise." they would lay their hand to the plough and proceed to perform their daily tasks, as though nothing had happened. a very few european ploughs are being tried in certain sections of syria, but that is all. the syrian sower goes forth to sow with his long, primitive plough on his right shoulder, the yoke hanging from the left shoulder and the leather bag of seed strapped to his back. in his left hand he carries his long, hard, strong goad--the same as the one with which "shamgar, son of anath, slew of the philistines six hundred men." through this simple instrument he keeps { } in touch with his pair of oxen, or cows, which pace leisurely before him. the plough, which consists of two wooden beams joined together, measures about twelve feet in length. the quantity of wood in the syrian plough makes plain the meaning of the passage in the story of the prophet elisha, son of shaphat. in the nineteenth chapter of the first book of kings, the nineteenth verse, we have the account of elijah's first meeting with his successor elisha, when he was ploughing in the field, "with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth." so, when elijah cast his mantle upon him, the son of shaphat "took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, _and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen_, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. then he arose, and went after elijah, and ministered unto him." at the forward end the long plough is hooked to the yoke, and at the rear end joined to a cross-piece, whose upper extremity forms the _cabousa_ (handle); and the lower holds the iron ploughshare. when he puts "his hand to the { } plough," he simply grasps the _cabousa_ with his right hand while he wields the goad with his left. the uneven, stony ground and the lightness of the plough compel him to maintain a firm hold on it, and to look ever _forward_. in the ninth chapter of st. luke's gospel, the sixty-second verse, jesus makes excellent use of this point when he says, "no man, having put his hand to the plough, and _looking back_, is fit for the kingdom of god." the parable of the sower, in the thirteenth chapter of st. matthew's gospel, is a faithful picture of the environment of the farmer in the region of galilee and mount lebanon. that primitive farmer does not sow his seed by means of "drills" in symmetrical rows. out of his leathern seed bag he takes generous handfuls of grain and, "in the name of the bounteous god," he casts the blessed seed into the soil, and then "covers it" by ploughing. the bridle paths which wind through the fields, and the still narrower footpaths which the wayfarers make through those fields every season in { } taking "short cuts" on their weary journeys, provide ample chance for "some seeds" to fall "by the wayside," and be devoured by the fowls of the air. in certain sections of the country where i was brought up the "stony places" are the rule and the "good ground" the exception. so the seeds which "fell upon stony places" came up quickly "because they had no deepness of earth; and when the sun was up, they were scorched." there is another reason for this than the shallowness of the soil. the almost utter lack of rain in that country from april to october leaves no chance for seed cast into shallow soil to live long. "and some fell among the thorns; and the thorns sprang up, and choked them." for this the syrian farmer himself is largely to blame. he preserves the thorns for cattle feed and for fuel. certain kinds of thorns, especially _bellan_, are used as fuel for summer cooking, which is done out of doors, and for baking at the _tennûr_.[ ] other thorns are harvested, after the barley and { } wheat harvests, threshed, and stored for winter feed. in the sixth verse of the seventh chapter of the book of ecclesiastes the writer says, "for as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool." the threshing of thorns is referred to in the book of judges,[ ] where it says, "when the lord hath delivered zabah and zalmunna into mine hand, then i will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers." but here again the english translation fails to give an exact rendering of the text, although the marginal note replaces the word "tears" by the word "thresh." the arabic version says, "i will _thresh_ your flesh with the thorns and briers of the wilderness _with the threshing boards_," which is an exact picture of the treading of the oxen as they drag the threshing board over the thorns upon the threshing floor. when a boy it was a great delight to me to wander in the wheatfields when the grain had just passed the "milk stage" and had begun to { } mature and harden. it is then called _fereek_, and is delicious to eat, either raw or roasted. i could subsist a whole day by plucking the heads of wheat, rubbing them in my hand and eating the fat, soft, fragrant grain. from time immemorial wayfarers in the east have been allowed to trespass in this manner, provided they carried no more grain away than that which they ate. in the twenty-fifth verse of the twenty-third chapter of the book of deuteronomy the reading of the revised version is, "when thou comest into thy neighbor's standing corn, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbor's standing corn." it was the indulgence in this practice by the disciples, on the sabbath, which formed the basis of the pharisees' protest to jesus to the effect that his followers dishonored the sacred day. in the sixth chapter of st. luke's gospel, the first verse, the revised version rendering of the text is, "now it came to pass on a sabbath, that he was going through the grainfields and his disciples plucked the { } ears, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands." the protest of the guardians of israel's law, and jesus' answer in the verses which follow, give us another revelation of the master's central thought and motive as a religious teacher; namely, that man's legitimate needs take precedence of all ecclesiastical formalities. i do not believe any account of agricultural life in syria should omit mentioning the plague which above all others strikes terror into the heart of the eastern tiller of the soil. in his prayer at the dedication of the temple, solomon mentions "blasting, mildew, locust, and caterpillar."[ ] of all those unwelcome visitors, the locusts are the most abhorred. i will give my impression of this pest in a quotation from my autobiography:[ ] one of the never-to-be-forgotten phenomena of my early years, a spectacle which the most extravagantly imaginative american mind cannot picture, was the coming of the locusts into our part of the country. if my memory serves me well, i was about twelve years old when my father { } and all his men, together with all the male population over fifteen, were impressed by the governor of our district to fight the devastating hosts of oriental locusts. no one who has not seen such a spectacle and the desolation those winged creatures leave behind them can appreciate in the least degree the force of the saying of "the lord god of the hebrews" to pharaoh, "if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to-morrow i will bring the locusts into thy coasts."[ ] for a few weeks before they deluged our district the news came with the caravans that the locusts were sweeping toward our region from the "land of the south." we youngsters did not know why our elders were so terror-stricken when they heard of it, until the scourge had come and gone. it was a few weeks before the time of the harvest when the clouds of locusts enveloped our community. they hid the sun with their greenish-yellow wings, covered the trees and the ground, the walls and roofs of the houses, and dashed in our faces like flakes of snow driven by the wind. the utter hopelessness of the task which confronted our people and seemed to unite all classes in despair, assumed in my sight a very comic aspect, and converted the calamity into a holiday. it was so amusing to me to see our sedate aristocrats and old men and women join the youth { } and the common laborers in shouting, beating on tin cans, firing muskets, setting brush on fire, striking at the cursed insects with their hands, stamping them with their feet, and praying god to send "a strong wind" to drive the enemy of man away. every _mutekellif_ (payer of the toll-tax) had to fight the locusts for so many days or hire a substitute, i do not clearly remember whether it was the beating on tin cans and howling of the people or the prayed-for "strong wind" that drove the merry locusts away. what i do remember is that when they did go away they left the land almost stripped clean of every green thing. it was no vain threatening when the writer of deuteronomy warned israel, saying, "if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the lord thy god,, to observe to do all his commandments.... all thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume."[ ] [ ] mic. iv: . [ ] is. lxiii: . [ ] job xxiv: . [ ] see page . [ ] judges viii: . [ ] kings viii: . [ ] _a far journey_, page , etc. [ ] exod. x: . [ ] deut. xxvii: , . { } chapter vi the shepherd "i am the good shepherd" is one of jesus' most tender, most compassionate sayings. the first sixteen verses of the tenth chapter of st. john's gospel, from which this saying comes, should be joined to the twenty-third psalm. notwithstanding the fact that john's words are tinged with greek thought, as descriptive of shepherd life in the east, those two portions of scripture belong together. the various phases of shepherd life in syria are indelibly printed in my memory. our mountain village home was situated on the upper slope of a rather steep hill, at the base of which a thin stream flowed over its rocky bed. across the narrow ravine, on the lower slope of another hill, just opposite our home, there were three sheep and goat folds. there for years i watched the shepherds and their flocks go out and come in, morning and evening, from early { } spring until late autumn, when the shepherds dismantled the folds by removing their thorny fences, pulled down their rude bowers, and led their flocks to the "lowlands," where they spent the short winter season. the wailing of isaiah, in the twelfth verse of the thirty-eighth chapter (revised version), "my dwelling is removed and is carried away from me as a shepherd's tent," reminds me very strongly of the easy removal and complete disappearance of that temporary shelter, which i so often saw torn down and carried away. while at work in the fields cutting stone for my father's building operations in various parts of mount lebanon, the shepherds were all around us. in those days i watched the shepherd lead his flock "into the waters of rest," or the restful, refreshing waters, which the english version renders "still waters." i watched him as, by inarticulate, deep, guttural sounds, whistling, certain characteristic words which the flock seemed to understand, and the flinging of pebbles or "smooth stones," such as those { } with which david smote goliath, he guided, i might say invited, the "blessed creatures," into every nook and corner among the rocks where there was pasture. it was this solicitous watchfulness of the shepherd which the writer of the twenty-third psalm had in mind when he said, "the lord is my shepherd, _i shall not want_." in the heat of the day the shepherd made his flock "to lie down" in the pasture ground, and the "blessed ones," as the shepherd always calls his sheep and goats, would fold their nimble legs and lie down, singly and in small groups, a surpassing picture of contentment, trustfulness, and peace. they seemed to realize that although they were in the wilderness they had nothing to fear. for the loving shepherd, with his strong and heavy staff, was in their midst to ward off all danger from them. the opening verses of the tenth chapter of the gospel of john contain most significant allusions to the sheepfold. "verily, verily, i say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other { } way, the same is a thief and a robber." here the reference is to the fold of the dry season, such as those i have already mentioned. the winter sheepfold is a roofed stone hovel called _merah_. it has one low door and no windows; therefore, by climbing up the fold, "some other way" the robber could secure no booty. the roofless fold is called _hedherah_ and is built of rough stones (such as are used in new england stone fences) to the height of five feet. above the stone construction rises a high _seyaj_ (hedge) of thorny branches, securely fastened between the stones. it is this hedge which is especially designed to prevent the "thief and robber" from climbing into the sheepfold. "but he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. to him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out." the shepherd's rude tent is located near the door. there also his faithful dog lies. the word "porter" in the text refers more, perhaps, to a greek than syrian custom. however, in case of { } large flocks, the under-shepherd, or the "helper," who guards the door, answers to the "porter." the calling of the sheep or goats by name should not be taken literally. the animals are not named as persons are. the shepherd _knows_ all the members of his flock by certain individual characteristics, and realizes the fact quickly when one of them is lost. the more prominent ones are given adjectival names, such as the "pure white," the "striped," the "black," the "brown," the "gray-eared," etc. but it should be borne in mind that the saying, "and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out," indicates the tender love of the shepherd for his flock, but not that the animals answer to their names. they are never trained to do that. he "leadeth them out," not by calling their names, but by giving certain sounds which they recognize. "and when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice." i find that the strong emphasis which commentators in general place { } upon the shepherd's going _before_ the flock carries the impression that he does so _invariably_. so far as i know, this is not absolutely correct. _as a rule_, the shepherd goes before the flock, but not infrequently he is seen behind it. the shepherd walks behind, especially in the evening when the flock is on its way to the fold, in order that he may gather the stragglers and protect them from the stealthy wolf. the shepherd often walks by the side of the flock, at about the middle of the line. in case of large flocks the shepherd goes before, and the helper behind. one of the great delights of my boyhood days was the sight of the "returning flock" every evening on the pebbly road on the side of the hill close by our house. i go up on the housetop at dusk. as soon as i hear the swishing roar of the multitude of little sharp hoofs on the stony road, which is like the sound of an approaching hailstorm among the trees, then i know that the "blessed ones" are near. the long line of horny and hornless heads sweeps down the slope { } of the hill like an army on a "double-quick." with his strong, protecting staff in hand, the stalwart, tender, ever-watchful shepherd appears at the end of the line, and like an overshadowing providence _guides_ his beloved flock safely over the little stream and into the fold. the effective, and, i might say, unerring, guidance of the shepherd is especially shown when he leads his flock in the "narrow paths." in syria as a rule the fields are not fenced. the pastures and the planted fields are separated by narrow footpaths, and here and there by low stone walls, which are intended, however, more for landmarks than for fences. the fields are the forbidden ground. in transferring his flock from one pasture to another, the shepherd must not allow any of his animals to stray from the beaten path into the fields. for if he does, he will not only have to pay damages to the owners of the fields, but will ruin his own reputation as a shepherd. in my home town we had a shepherd who was widely famed for his skill in leading his flock in the narrow paths. sa'ied, who { } supplied our community with goat's milk during the summer, was often known to guide a flock of about one hundred and fifty head of goats (which are much more unruly than sheep) without a helper, in a narrow path or over a stone wall, for a considerable distance, without allowing a single one of them to set foot on the forbidden ground. the flock obeyed him because they _knew his voice_ as that of their good shepherd. it was no doubt such shepherds as sa'ied that lent the writer of the twenty-third psalm his telling figure. it was the faithful guidance of such earthly shepherds that led the ancient singer to meditate upon the lord's faithfulness to his own, and to utter his faith in the line, "he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." the fields of temptation lie on either side of the narrow path of rectitude and life. the lord will protect and lead in the right path all those who know him and hear his voice. another enchanting picture of syrian pastoral { } life is the gathering of the flock. the shepherd seeks and gathers his sheep for the purpose of transferring them to a richer pasture, or, at the end of the day, to lead them back to the fold. he stands in the midst of the far-scattered flock and gives certain sounds, which are to the sheep what the notes of a bugle are to an army. his trained right arm, whose long range and precision are proverbial, sends the pebbles whirring in all directions, and thus "turns back" the more heedless of the flock. it was this which the psalmist had in mind when he said, "he restoreth my soul." the arabic phrase _yeriddo nefsee_, means, "he turns back my soul," and refers to the action of the shepherd in turning the course of his sheep toward himself. the faithful shepherd never proceeds to lead his flock away until he is assured that all his dumb companions are gathered together. with what pathos does the prophet ezekiel portray this pastoral scene when he speaks of the infinite compassion of the divine shepherd of israel, who never slumbers nor sleeps! in the { } thirty-fourth chapter, the eleventh verse, the promise to scattered israel is, "for thus saith the lord god: behold, i, even i, will both search for my sheep, and seek them out. as a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will i seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all the places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. and i will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. i will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of israel shall their fold be; there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of israel.... i will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away." the climax of the shepherd figure, as it is used in the tenth chapter of the gospel of john, is reached in christ's saying, "i am the good { } shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep," and in the twenty-third psalm, in the passage, "though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death, i will fear no evil; for thou art with me: thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." only those who have heard the howling of a faithful shepherd at the approach of a wild beast to the flock can clearly realize how literally true is this saying of christ's: "the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." of all the shepherds i have known or have known about in my native land, the commanding figure of one--yusuf balua'--rises most prominently before me. i never want to forget old yusuf. he was over sixty when i first knew him. he was every inch a shepherd, having known no other vocation in all his life. i knew that elemental man in the "lowlands," where i spent two winters with my father, who was called thither to erect several farmhouses for the lord of the land. yusuf, as he himself expressed it, "revered" my father; therefore, i { } was always welcome to visit yusuf at his cave in the rocky gorge, and to roam with him and his flock whenever my duties as my father's helper permitted. the flocks are kept in the "lowlands" until after the "time of birth," which comes in march; then they are led up into the mountains. it was during that blessed time of birth, and while with yusuf, that i first beheld the original of that infinitely tender picture which is drawn in the fortieth chapter of isaiah, the eleventh verse, and which is also christ's most appealing picture. "he shall feed his flock like a shepherd," says the prophet; "he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." the text is very effectively improved by the marginal note which says, "and shall gently lead those that _give suck_." it was that which yusuf balua' was doing once when i happened to be with him. his roughly hewn figure stands now before me, with three newly born lambs held close to his bosom, and their { } wilted heads resting on his massive arm. he walked gently before the anxious, slowly moving mothers, which came close behind him, emitting low, humming sounds, through which nature poured out her compassionate heart. "let me carry one of them," i begged yusuf. "no, my boy, not the helpless ones," answered the tender friend. "they need the shepherd's care now. besides, the mothers don't know you and they would fear." but they knew _his_ voice and followed him! oh, if we will but know and trust and follow our heavenly shepherd, as the sheep trust and follow theirs! but i must not lose sight of what i have called the climax of the shepherd figure in the gospel and the psalms; namely, the shepherd's interposing with his own life between the flock and the wolf. the wolf, the hyena, and the leopard are the flock's most formidable foes. during his long life yusuf fought many battles with those ferocious beasts, but never lost a hoof to them in all those encounters. on more { } than one occasion he followed the hyena to his lair, and, by his characteristic howling, flinging his deadly stones with his sling, and striking with his heavy staff on the rocks, compelled the beast to abandon his prey. whether the unfortunate sheep was yet alive or whether it had died, yusuf, as a good and faithful shepherd, always carried it back to the fold. does not the prophet amos assure israel of their shepherd's infinite care for them in an allusion to the faithful seeking by the earthly shepherd for even a fragment of his lost sheep? "thus saith jehovah," cries amos; "as the shepherd _rescueth out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear_; so shall the children of israel be rescued."[ ] to this care and devotion of the shepherd, jesus also alludes in his parabolic saying in which he speaks of his having "come to save that which was lost." "how think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, { } and seeketh that which is gone astray? and if so be that he find it, verily i say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. even so it is not the will of your father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish!"[ ] when i think of that deep, rocky gorge where yusuf wintered with his flock, and the many similar valleys which the syrian shepherds have to traverse daily; when i think of the wild beasts they have to fight, of the scars they bear on their bodies as marks of their unreserved and boundless devotion to their flocks, i realize very clearly the depth of the psalmist's faith when he said, "though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death, i will fear no evil; for thou art with me: thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." [ ] amos iii: . revised version. [ ] matt. xviii: - . { } part v sisters of mary and martha chapter i woman east and west perhaps on no other subject do the orient and the occident diverge more widely than on that of the status of woman. so far as they really differ, and as they imagine that they differ in their regard for woman, the orientals and the occidentals form two distinct human types. from the beginning of their history, the teutonic races, especially the anglo-saxons, have been characterized by their high regard for woman. this trait of the dwellers of north-western europe so impressed the latin christian missionaries, when they first visited those peoples, that they described them as having "such high regard for woman to the extent that adultery was unknown among them." and while the concluding phrase of this historical testimony does not describe the present state of anglo-saxon society with absolute correctness, { } the statement as a whole seems to me to be a substantially correct description of present anglo-saxon life. among the peoples of north-western europe, and especially among their descendants in america, woman enjoys man's highest regard. on the other hand, "the oriental view of woman" has always been considered by those western peoples to be very contemptuous. we always hate most deeply that vice which is the opposite of our strongest virtue. we are most likely to exaggerate and to condemn mercilessly any deviation from that which we ourselves consider to be the sacred path of duty. respect for woman being one of his strongest virtues, the anglo-saxon is lashed to fury by what seems to him to be the oriental's utter disrespect for the mother of the race. as i have already stated in other connections in this work, my object is neither to accuse the oriental nor to excuse his moral failures. my aim is rather to interpret him to my western readers and to determine, if possible, to what { } extent he really is a transgressor of the normal rules of behavior toward woman. my intimate knowledge of life in both hemispheres and my affectionate regard for the good qualities of both the orientals and the occidentals lead me to venture to be a reconciler of their differences. they certainly misunderstand one another, especially with reference to the domestic and social relations of the sexes. time was when the various races hugged their prejudices close to their own hearts and really enjoyed ridiculing one another. but "the hour cometh and now is" when the peoples of the earth are beginning to realize that righteousness and truth, kindness and good manners, are the exclusive possessions of no one race. the peoples of the earth are beginning to realize that a mutual sympathetic understanding between the various races is an asset of civilization, and a promoter of the cause of that human commonwealth for which all good men pray and hope. therefore, as one who owes much to both the east and the west, { } i deem it my duty to do what i can to promote such a sympathetic understanding, without doing violence to the truth. what is an obvious fact, and which can by no means be ignored, even by the most zealous special pleader, is that the eastern woman is far from being the equal of her western sister, either in culture or in domestic and social privileges. perhaps in no other country does woman enjoy these blessings to the extent to which the american woman enjoys them. woman as man's intellectual companion, as a promoter of ideals, as a factor in domestic and social evolution, the orient has never known. the western type of woman is now partially represented in my native land by a minority of cultivated women, but their number is comparatively very small. the oriental social code (if the simple social usages in that part of the world may be termed such) gives man the precedence. to give woman the social and domestic prominence, the little attentions and courtesies which she { } enjoys in america, is to the orientals not only unnecessary, but uncomplimentary to both sexes. it is perhaps for lack of such attentions and courtesies, more than for anything else, that the occidentals consider the oriental woman to be the slave of her husband. and, conversely, because of his giving the precedence to woman in all the courtesies and comforts of life, the orientals, _both men and women_, consider the occidental to be the slave of his wife. how often have i heard syrians say, "an _affrenjee_ [that is, a european] is quite a man until his wife whispers something to him. then he becomes her slave; he does just what she tells him." the oriental's indifference to those fine points of behavior toward woman does not spring from the fact that he considers her to be intrinsically his inferior, and consequently his slave. i never had the slightest reason, nor the faintest suggestion, either by example or precept, to believe that my mother was in any way { } my father's inferior. "thou shalt honour thy father _and_ thy mother" is a commandment which was born of the deepest life of the east. i can think of no circumstances in eastern life which compel a syrian to think of his mother, sister, and wife in other than terms of equality in all essentials with the male members of the family.[ ] in my judgment it is the oriental's deportment, rather than his real intentions, which condemns him in the sight of occidentals for his attitude toward woman. it is perhaps hazardous to undertake to differentiate between character and conduct, between the motive and the method by which that motive is put into action. it is customary, however, to say of a person that "his heart is in the right place, but he does not know how to act." i venture to say that { } this characterization fits the case of the average oriental. his heart is in the right place. his natural endowments are good. he is quick-witted, kind, generous, pious, obedient to parents, and a lover of his home. so far as all these fundamentals are concerned, i find no great difference between the easterners and the westerners. however, compared with his western cousin, the son of the near east has only a slight acquaintance with the _art_ of living. the working-out of details with the view of creating harmony has always seemed to him vanity and vexation of spirit. his intense desire for simple, spontaneous, easy living has always refused to be encumbered by exacting standards. in this respect he is a boy in man's clothing. for an example, the home to him is little more than a shelter. the riches of the home are not the artistic appointments, but human associations. architectural schemes, interior decorations, books, musical instruments, living by the clock, and other western glories are to the oriental { } dispensable luxuries. the one-room or two-room house, very simply furnished, is the essential part of the home. why then should one be burdened with more? the "color scheme," the harmony or contrast of wall-paper with picture frames and carpets, and the thousand and one articles of useful and ornamental furniture which crowd the american home and make the "servant-girl problem" well-nigh insoluble, are to the average oriental a delusion and a snare. his table appointments are also very simple. to him the "one thing needful" is enough food to sustain life. he has no "cook-book." the varieties of cake and pie, and the multitude of side dishes which load the american table, do not appear on the syrian's bill of fare. one dish of cooked cereals, or meat and rice or some other wholesome combination, and a few loaves of bread, satisfy his hunger. his modest stores of grape molasses, figs, and raisins, which he visits at irregular intervals, satisfy his craving for sweets, and his home-made wine gives color and gayety to his feasts. { } the same simple rules govern the oriental's social activities. whether as an individual or as a domestic and social being, he hates to be standardized. to him formalities have no claim upon those who are true friends and social equals. spontaneous living must not be too closely yoked with etiquette, nor native wisdom with technical culture. "_meta weck'at elmahabbet artafa' ettekleef_" (when love occurs formalities cease) is one of the oriental's ancient and cherished maxims. from early childhood the americans are taught to observe, even within the family circle, the niceties of "please," "thank you," "pardon me," "i beg your pardon," "may i trouble you," and so forth. to a son of the east such behavior is altogether proper among strangers, but not among those who really _love one another_. between husband and wife, parent and child, brothers and sisters, and true friends such formalities appear to easterners not only superficial, but utterly ridiculous. for such persons the most essential thing is that they should love one another. as { } lovers they have a right to _demand_ favors from one another. the commands of love are sweet; they must not be alloyed with tiresome formalities. of course this "friendliness" of the oriental is not altogether an unmixed blessing. he relies too much upon his good intentions, which his conduct does not always show. judged, not only by western standards, but by the standards of the cultivated minority of his own people, he is found wanting. it is not always easy for him to be familiar without being vulgar, and to distinguish between the legitimate claims of friendship and intrusion upon the exclusive rights of others. his plea always is that he means well, which is generally true. "his heart is in the right place." now i believe it can be easily seen that the easterner's attitude toward woman, which now rises to the height of religious reverence, now verges on contempt, is to be traced to his uneven, juvenile temperament and lack of culture, and not to the fact that he despises her. { } so long as he respects her "in his heart" and is ready to defend her at whatever cost, he considers the fine points of conduct toward her after the american fashion to be simply dispensable little details. nor does his attitude toward woman differ essentially from his attitude toward the male portion of mankind. he has one vocabulary for both sexes, with the inclination to be more respectful toward the gentler sex. so woman in the east is not considered a slave by the man, and there is a multitude of wife-ruled husbands. the family system, however, is patriarchal. the man is recognized as the "lord of the household." the venerable father of a family is supposed to rule, not only over the women of the household, but over his grown sons, his younger brothers, and even the men of his clan who are younger than himself. but such an authority is often purely formal. the higher the level of culture in the home, the more freedom and equality exists among the members of the family. in cultivated syrian { } homes the women are free and highly and uniformly respected by the men. such women have no reason to envy even the happiest american women. [ ] my statements apply particularly to the christian women of syria, who enjoy greater domestic and social privileges than the mohammedan women. however, notwithstanding the serious limitations which orthodox mohammedanism imposes upon women, it would be sheer injustice to the better class of mohammedans to be stigmatized as enslavers and debasers of woman. { } chapter ii paul and woman perhaps nowhere else is the syrian attitude toward woman so clearly stated as in the teachings of st. paul. the great apostle deals with the fundamentals of this subject, and speaks freely of both the privileges and the limitations of woman in the christian east. in the third chapter of the epistle to the galatians, the twenty-eighth verse, paul says, "there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in christ jesus." and this equality is not to be understood to be limited to the bestowal of church rites upon men and women alike. it embraces the essential points of conduct of the male and female members of the household toward one another. fidelity to the marriage vow is to be equally observed by both husband and wife. this the apostle urges upon his fellow believers, not as a superior authority, { } but as a friend. in the seventh chapter of the first epistle to the corinthians, the fourth verse, he says, "the wife hath not power over her own body, but the husband; and _likewise_ also the husband hath not power over his own body, but the wife." in the fourteenth verse of this same chapter, the equal potency of the spiritual influence of both the husband and the wife is also recognized. "the unbelieving husband," says the apostle, "is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband." in the fifth chapter of the epistle to the ephesians, the "apostle to the gentiles" rises to the noblest height of eastern thought concerning woman and reveals christianity's conserving and sanctifying power. beginning at the twenty-fifth verse, he says: "husbands, love your wives, even as christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it, ... that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. { } so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. he that loveth his wife loveth himself. for no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the lord the church." this is precisely what the marriage union in the east always meant to us. by this sacred bond the husband and the wife are made "one flesh." that the oriental has not definitely succeeded in making his daily conduct always conform to his highest ideals and to the noble precepts of the gospel is evident, and not at all strange. here he has succeeded no better than his anglo-saxon superior has in conforming his conduct to the command, "love your enemies." my point is that down deep in the syrian heart the spirit of paul's words abides. it serves the son of the east in time of trouble as his quick and tender conscience. the real trouble with him has been his aversion to strictly systematic living. he does love his wife as he loves himself, but in reality he does not fully know how to love himself. { } paul, on the other hand, does not ignore the conventional limitations which eastern traditions impose upon woman. he recognizes the patriarchal government of the family. in the chapter just quoted, the apostle says: "wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the lord. for the husband is the head of the wife, even as christ is the head of the church." much trouble may be avoided by the unfriendly critics of paul and christianity in general, if such critics would keep in mind the conditional nature of this command. whether as a syrian or as an american i do not believe in subjecting the wife to the husband, nor the husband to the wife. domestic life should be based on perfect coöperation of husband and wife, in spiritual as well as in administrative matters. toward this goal the americans have made the greatest advance. however, paul's command can by no means be justly construed as giving the husband unlimited tyrannical authority over the wife. "the husband is the head of the wife, _even as christ is the head of the { } church_." the church is not the slave of christ, but his beloved bride. so the supremacy here is that of loving care and consideration. therefore, the fact that the traditions of the east give the man conventional supremacy over the woman has never meant to us sons of that land that our mothers and sisters were abject slaves. and it should be borne in mind that the women of syria are not always so submissive as those traditions would lead a westerner to believe. i might say that in the majority of cases the man finds it no easy task to make his formal authority over the woman of real effect. the heartfelt complaints of discouraged husbands, that "not even all the angels of heaven can subdue a woman," are not unfrequently heard in the land of the bible. perhaps the part of paul's teaching which seems to westerners to seal the fate of woman is that found in the eleventh chapter of the first epistle to the corinthians. here the apostle declares: "for a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory { } of god: but the woman is the glory of the man. neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man." i think any serious bible student will easily realize that as a good shepherd paul must have felt that he should not travel much faster than the weakest of his flock. in the passage just quoted he stoops low for the purpose of accommodating the prejudices of _certain_ orientals. and in so doing he contradicts his own saying, "there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in christ jesus," and the great passage in the first chapter of genesis, the twenty-seventh verse, "so god created man in his own image, in the image of god created he him; _male and female_ created he them." the eastern man has from time immemorial decreed that woman's social privileges should be limited, because of his fear for her. in such an unstable social order as that which has existed in the east for ages woman is constantly exposed to danger. woman-stealing was very prevalent in ancient times, and is still practiced { } among the arabian tribes which hover on the eastern borders of syria. in modern syria such practices no longer exist, but their faint echoes are still heard in times of tribal fights. on such occasions the cry is heard (and i often heard it myself), "you dogs, to-day we shall take your women booty [_nesbee hereemekûm_]." it is because of these ancient fears, and not from a desire on the part of the man to enslave her, that the social privileges of the woman in the east are so limited. the duty to protect always carries with it the right to discipline. and the greater the danger, the more strict the discipline. the weaker men of the clan, because they need to be protected, are also in subjection to the "men of counsel" (_ahil erry_) and to the stronger fighters. and it may be easily inferred that in such circumstances woman's charms are a danger to her. she must be secluded, as among the mohammedans, or simply limited in her social intercourse, as among the christians, in order to hide those charms from the curious stranger. { } for this reason also she must be heavily veiled when she goes out, as among the moslems, or at least have her head covered always, as among the christians. so when paul said, "every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoreth her head,"[ ] he simply gave wise recognition to an ancient social custom. a more liberal course on his part would have marked paul as a violent disturber of venerable traditions. the chief charm of an oriental woman is her _hishmat_ (modesty). but modesty in a stricter sense than that accepted in the occident. feminine timidity (_jubn_) is very extensively sung by the arabian poets. a charming woman, especially a maiden, is she who is timid, shy, retiring, of a few words. "she has a mouth to eat, but not to speak," is a high tribute paid to a maiden. for a woman to take a leading part in conversation in the presence of men is boldness. i do not know how they manage to do it, but, _as a rule_, in the presence of men the women of { } syria exercise marvelous control over their organs of speech. do you understand now why paul says, in the fourteenth chapter of his first epistle to the corinthians, the thirty-fourth verse, "let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience"? to oriental ears, as perhaps to puritan ears of the good old type, such words are poetry set to music. they do not degrade, but honor woman by not making her common. it would, perhaps, throw further light on the easterners' regard of woman as a sacred being when it is known why they call the wife _hûrmat_. this term is derived from _heram_--a consecrated and wholly sacred object. _heram_ is the name of the mohammedans' most sacred shrine of mecca. the wife is the husband's most sacred possession, therefore she is called _hûrmat_. the plural of this is _harem_, a term which to westerners has a most obnoxious connotation. but not so to orientals. in the west { } _harem_ simply means sensuality and polygamy in their worst form. in the east it means simply and purely the women of a household, or of a clan, whether it be christian or mohammedan. it does not necessarily mean plurality of wives. a man's mother, wife, sisters, and daughters constitute his _harem_; for they are all sacred to him. now it will not be difficult to understand, i believe, why it is that the man in the east takes precedence of the woman in all social affairs, and why the sexes are segregated at public feasts and on other similar occasions. it is for the same reason that we find no women disciples at the last supper. in the parable of the prodigal son, the father meets the returning penitent, the father bestows "the best robe" on the son, the father orders the feast, and doubtless presides over it. so it was also when abraham entertained the angels, and zacchæus entertained jesus--the man was the entertainer. however, in these two cases the women might have acted as hostesses,--because the { } guests were holy persons. we have a striking example of the freedom which is permitted to women in such cases in the story of mary and martha. they entertained jesus, first because apparently they had no parents living, and their brother was young, and second because jesus was no mere guest, but a holy person.[ ] notwithstanding all these social conventions, however, the mother has a right to demand from her children the same loving obedience which they accord to their father. they must honor their father and their mother alike. upon coming home from a journey i always saluted my parents by kissing their hands, as a mark of loving submission. according to custom, i saluted my father first, and my mother second, but in the same identical manner, and invoked their _radha_ (good pleasure) toward me, with religious reverence. i always knew that to disrespect and disobey my mother was not only bad manners, but a sin. so obnoxious has disobedience to parents been to the respectable { } families of the east that the ancient israelites made it a capital crime. in the twenty-first chapter of the book of deuteronomy the stipulation of the law is: "if a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of _his mother_, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: then shall his father _and_ his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; and they shall say unto the elders of his city, this our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice.... and all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die."[ ] needless to say that this cruel punishment is no longer inflicted upon rebellious sons in the east. the record, however, indicates the joint authority of the husband and wife over their own children, and the public approval of it. but there is more to be said about _radha-elwalideen_ (the parents' good pleasure). i do { } not know whether the words "good pleasure" convey the real significance of the word _radha_, which as it pertains to parents is one of the most sacred terms in oriental speech. the _radha_ of a parent is a benediction which includes complete forgiveness to the child of all offenses and indicates the parent's spiritual satisfaction with his offspring. to secure the parent's expressed _radha_ at the hour of death is equal to a sacrament. i can think of no human experience that can be more impressive, more tender, and more deeply religious than that of an oriental imploring a dying parent to assure him of his or her _radha_ before the end came. the weeping son grasps the hand of his dying parent, and, leaning over tenderly to catch the faint utterances, says: "father,[ ] bestow your _radha_ upon me; forgive me and bless me, so that allah also may forgive and bless me; your _radha_, father!" if the departing parent is still able to speak, he looks up toward heaven and says: "you have my _radha_, my dearly beloved { } son; and may allah bestow his holy _radha_ upon you and bless you and the work of your hands. may the earth produce riches for you, and heaven shower benedictions upon you; pray for me, my dearly beloved." but if the departing father or mother is no longer able to utter words, the repeated pressing of the hand and the turning of the eyes upward indicate the parent's response to the petition of the son or daughter. the refusal of a parent to grant his _radha_, which is most rare, is to an oriental a haunting horror. in ancient israel the deathbed blessing was bestowed with special emphasis upon the first-born son because with it came the heritage of the patriarchal office. thus, when isaac bestowed his last blessing upon his tricky son jacob, he said:[ ] "god give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down { } to thee." and what is also most touching in this story is poor esau's agony when he discovered that the blessing to which he was the rightful heir had gone to his brother. "and esau said unto his father, hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, o my father. and esau lifted up his voice and wept."[ ] [ ] cor. xi: . [ ] see page . [ ] verses - . [ ] the same also is asked of the mother. [ ] gen. xxvii: , . [ ] gen. xxvii: . { } chapter iii jesus and his mother one of the perplexing passages in the new testament is that found in the fourth verse of the second chapter of st. john's gospel, where jesus says to his mother, "woman, what have i to do with thee?" that it has been very difficult for many devout readers of the bible to reconcile this passage to the master's gentleness and goodness is very well known to me. on numerous occasions i have been asked to give my interpretation of this saying in the light of the status of woman in the east, and to state whether, in my opinion as a syrian, jesus could have meant to be harsh and disrespectful to his mother. before undertaking to give my own view of this passage, i wish to present two interpretations of it which i have heard certain american preachers give. one of those preachers who was proud to call himself "a free lance" stated in my hearing that on the { } occasion when jesus spoke these words "he simply lost his temper." the redeeming feature of this comment, in my opinion, is its brevity. it is short, but neither sweet nor to the point. the other interpreter (or interpreters, for i do not recall where and when i heard this), assuming that the station of woman in the east was very low, stated that by addressing his mother in a seemingly harsh manner, jesus infringed no rule of propriety. having already stated at considerable length the "oriental view of woman," i deem it necessary here simply to say that the foregoing interpretation rests on a misconception of the facts. in trying to throw some light on this passage i will say that, notwithstanding its seeming harshness in the english translation, i find no real reason to believe that in uttering it jesus indicated that he was angry, or that he meant to be disrespectful to his mother. this somewhat impersonal form of address to a woman is very common in the east. it _might_ be so spoken as to mean disrespect, but as a rule, and { } according to the oriental manner of speech, it is dignified and in good taste. at present the term _hûrmat_ is more extensively used in such cases in syria. among the nobility and the educated minority of the people the word _sitt_ (lady) is employed in addressing a woman. however, this impersonal form of address is employed by a man when speaking to a woman who is a stranger to him. the correct form is, "o woman," the same which jesus used in saying to the "woman of canaan," in the fifteenth chapter of matthew, the twenty-eighth verse, "o woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt." in the same manner the master assured the woman who had "a spirit of infirmity,"[ ] "woman,[ ] thou art loosed from thine infirmity." a superb example of this oriental usage is found in the fourth chapter of st. john's gospel, the twenty-first verse, in jesus' conversation with the samaritan woman. with solemn dignity he says to her: "woman, { } believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at jerusalem, worship the father.... but the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the father in spirit and in truth." from the foregoing examples it may be easily seen that the form of jesus' address to his mother could not be considered disrespectful. therefore the difficulty which the text offers springs from the fact that it represents jesus as speaking to his own mother as he would speak to a woman _who was a stranger to him_. why did he do that? the answer to this question depends partially on thorough knowledge of oriental thought and largely on acquaintance with the theology of st. john's gospel. as every bible scholar knows, the purpose of this gospel is to present jesus to the world as the incarnation of the logos--the word. here the master is spoken of, not as the prophet of galilee, but as the one who came down from heaven. therefore the son of god was by virtue of this supernatural character above all { } earthly connections. his mother was only human, only finite. on the occasion of his addressing her as a stranger she is represented as interfering with him as he was about to work a miracle. such a thing, according to st. john's gospel, was beyond her understanding. consequently as a _divine_ being speaking to a _human_ being, jesus said to his earthly mother, "woman, what is mine and what is thine?" this is the original form. the english translation, "woman, what have i to do with thee," is good, although the more refined attitude of the west toward woman makes the expression seem rather harsh. stated in simplest terms the oriental understanding of these words is, "leave me alone." in jesus' case the further implication of the passage is that, as mary's vision of spiritual things was not jesus' vision, even though he was her son in the flesh, she was not competent to exercise authority over him, seeing that he was a divine being. in a higher sense she was a stranger to him. with real consistency the writer of the fourth { } gospel clings to this view of jesus' divinity to the end. in the nineteenth chapter we find the master speaking from the cross. he speaks, not as a human sufferer, but as a triumphant heavenly being. he addresses his mother in the same manner as he did at the marriage feast in cana of galilee--"woman." in the twenty-fifth verse it is said: "now there stood by the cross of jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, mary the wife of cleophas, and mary magdalene. when jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, woman, behold thy son!" in this lofty yet tender manner the master committed his loving mother to the care of his beloved disciple. the excellent qualities of a man are credited by orientals largely to _haleeb el-omm_ (the mother's milk) and the mysterious influences of the prenatal period. aside from its nutritive qualities, _el-redha'_ (suck) is supposed to possess certain mystic influences which tend to fashion the possibilities of character. whenever a man, { } especially a youth, speaks "words of wisdom," his admiring hearer is likely to exclaim, "precious was the milk that nourished thee!" among the choice blessings which jacob asked for joseph the patriarch did not forget to include the "blessings of the breasts, and of the womb."[ ] nothing can be loftier to an oriental than the passage in the eleventh chapter of st. luke's gospel, the twenty-seventh verse. jesus is represented in the preceding verses as disputing triumphantly with his theological adversaries. his trenchant periods, "every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation.... he that is not with me is against me," and his simple yet profound reasoning that a human heart which is not filled with the spirit of god is bound to become the abode of evil spirits, deeply stir his hearers. so the text tells us, "a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said unto him, blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the breasts which thou hast sucked!" { } the most solemn occasion on which i heard this expression used in my native land was that when the great patriarch of antioch visited our town in mount lebanon. upon his arrival at the priest's house, where he was entertained, the waiting multitude, including the governor of the district, stood with bowed heads to receive the prelate's benediction. i shall never forget that scene. standing in the door, our revered and beloved patriarch seemed to us to be a visitor from the celestial sphere, full of truth and grace. as he lifted his right arm and imparted his blessing to the silent assemblage, a woman of our church, a mother, who was almost overcome with emotion, advanced toward the spiritual ruler, and with her face and open palms turned toward heaven, exclaimed, in the vernacular arabic, "blessed be the inwards that bore you, and the breasts you sucked!" whereupon the distinguished visitor bestowed a special blessing upon the humble suppliant, to the great satisfaction of the profoundly affected multitude. [ ] luke xiii: . [ ] the english translation changes the form, "o woman" to "woman" arbitrarily. [ ] gen. xlix: . { } chapter iv "a gracious woman" to the east woman is known only as wife and mother, and, of course, as the home-maker. the statement, "woman's place is in the home," is never a matter of dispute in that part of the world. in the home are to be found both "woman's rights" and woman's duties. education, literary pursuits, "club life," and civic endeavors are no vital interests to the eastern woman, nor to her husband to any appreciable extent. marriage is a religious union. the highest and most sacred duty of the husband and wife is to beget many children, bring them up "in the fear of the lord," and be such good example to them, as to enable them to live a pious life, and to transmit their good heritage to the unborn generations. marriage of inclination, preceded by a period of courtship as in the west, is very rare in the east. the reason of this has { } been hinted in the preceding chapters. lack of education and social and political stability necessitates the curtailing of woman's social privileges, for her own safety. these limitations are especially narrow in the case of "maidens," or "virgins"; that is, unmarried young women. they are not supposed to participate in social functions as their mothers do, nor to form friendships with young men, even among their near relatives. the contracting of a marriage is not so much an individual as it is a clannish affair. the young people may, or may not be acquainted with one another. among christians, the young man may frequent the home of his future wife's parents, and even converse with her now and then, but only in the presence of other members of the family. "going with a young lady" is unknown to the east, and is a feature of western life which orientals generally condemn. the marriage is agreed upon by the families or clans of the contracting parties, because the family or clan is involved in the conduct and affected by the { } reputation of each one of its members. the shame of a woman is a burden to all her kindred. interclannish marriages form alliances and impose defensive and offensive obligations. whenever a woman of one clan, who is married into another, is cruelly treated by her husband, her own clansmen are supposed to rise and defend her, else they become a byword in the community. this difference of procedure between the east and the west in contracting a marriage does not seem to result in a decidedly marked difference in domestic happiness. in both the east and the west, the perfectly happy and the perfectly unhappy marriages are rare. in both hemispheres the large majority of married people soon learn that domestic happiness depends in no small measure on adherence to the well-known rule: "in essentials unity; in non-essentials liberty; in all things charity." as i have already stated, the oriental does not know the art of living as the occidental does, yet the easterner enjoys as much home happiness { } as those occidentals who are on the same level of culture with him. women in the east are classified, not with reference to education and social interests or the lack of them, but with reference to virtue and its opposite. a happy husband says, "i lift my head high [_arfa' rasy_] because of my wife. her _siett_ [reputation] is like musk in fragrance. she is _taj rasy_ [a crown to my head]." so also speaks the writer of the book of proverbs, in the twelfth chapter, and the fourth verse: "a virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones." in both the east and the west the opinion is accepted that "as a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion."[ ] the orient and the occident diverge considerably in their description of feminine charms in poetry and literature. here i find the orientals to be very inconsistent. their strong aversion to the free mention of women in { } conversation and to her sharing of social privileges equally with the man, contrasts very sharply with their license in describing her charms in their poetry. a most perfect specimen of this poetry in the bible is solomon's song. its oriental freedom in describing the "beloved spouse," renders it practically unfit for public use. its poetical charms are exquisite, and its passion is pure, but judged by western standards, the faithfulness of its realism appears licentious. it is exhilarating to read the poet's lines in which he calls his "fair one" to go with him into the fields and vineyards. "rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. for, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land; the fig tree ripeneth her green figs, and the vines are in blossom, they give forth their fragrance. arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. o my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the steep place, let me see thy countenance, { } let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely."[ ] in the opening verses of the fourth chapter the poet's vision of his "love" is also beautiful. "behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thine eyes are as doves behind thy veil: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that lie along the side of mount gilead. thy teeth are like a flock of ewes that are newly shorn which are come up from the washing; ... thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy mouth is comely." all this is beautiful and perfectly acceptable to both the east and the west. not so the opening lines of the seventh chapter. the revised version modifies the original text. king james's version gives the lines just as oriental poetry past and present would render them. the rendering of the second verse by the revised version, "thy body is like a round goblet," and, "thy waist is like an heap of wheat," renders the words meaningless. however, the modesty of the revisers is to be commended. { } arabic poetry is full of such passages, which abound also in syrian vernacular songs, which are sung with perfect propriety among all classes. in discussing such a subject as this one can hardly resist the temptation to judge. to me the more chaste way of the west in poetizing feminine charms is far superior to the altogether too free realism of the east, which i do not feel at all inclined to defend. yet i would not be loyal to good conscience if i did not offer an explanation in behalf of the land of my birth. ever since i began to read arabic poetry, for which i developed great fondness, to the present day, i do not remember that its descriptions of feminine loveliness ever really suggested to me licentious thoughts. the general effect of such delineations upon me was of the same sort as that which the sketching of love scenes by a great novelist produces. its charms were those of the poetic art, and not those of the seductive feelings of sordid passion. to us _'aroos esshi'ar_ (the bride, or spouse of the poet) is purely an imaginary creature. it is { } the poet's spirit of inspiration objectified in a female form. he does not describe a woman, but an angelic creature whose body and soul are both pure. only the very commonplace versifier gets demoralized and infects his reader with the same feeling. the true poet soars far above "the things that perish," and is perfectly safe to follow. his infatuation is known as _el howa el'adhry_ (pure, or aspirational love). here, then, without the slightest attempt to excuse his phraseology, i find at least a partial justification for the eastern poet, and for the writer of solomon's song. the simple, eloquent, and fully inclusive description of the "virtuous woman," in the thirty-first chapter of the book of proverbs, is rather a composite than an individual picture. it expresses the syrian's noblest idea of the true wife and the real home-maker:-- who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need for spoil. { } she will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. she seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. she is like the merchant's ships; she bringeth her food from afar. she riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. she considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruits of her hands she planteth a vineyard. she girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. she perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night. she layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. she stretcheth out her hands to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. she is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet. she maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. she maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. strength and honor are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. { } she openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. she looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the lord, she shall be praised. give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates. here we have the real "oriental view of woman," and a glorification of virtue, loyalty, industry, wisdom, kindness, and charity, unsurpassed in its beauty and simplicity. i have said that this remarkable picture is rather composite than individual. yet the true, diligent, and virtuous syrian wife and mother comes near being the ideal woman of the ancient scriptural writer. his question, "who can find a virtuous woman?" does not mean that such a woman cannot be found; nor his saying, "for her price is far above rubies" mean that women are bought and sold in the market. the { } sense of the writer can be adequately expressed by saying, "happy is he who hath a virtuous woman, for her worth is far above all earthly riches." but for the existence of women approaching his ideal, this writer could not have given the world his picture of the "virtuous woman." i feel that no detailed commentary on these verses is needed. the virtues here enumerated are universally cherished. i will, however, call attention to the oriental features of this great passage. in saying that "the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her," the writer shows that the good wife is by no means a despised creature in the syrian home. she is loved and trusted as her husband's life-partner, and exerts no inconsiderable influence upon him. the value of such a wife's counsel in the estimation of her husband and friends is also indicated in the saying, "she openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness." "she seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands," or, as the arabic version { } has it, "with willing hands." the flax is now rarely found in syria. wool and silk cocoons are spun into thread by means of the spindle, woven on hand looms, and made into garments by the women, especially in the rural districts. this verse should be joined to verse nineteen, which says, "she layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff." the revised version says, "she layeth her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle." in explaining this passage some commentators speak of the spinning wheel, and of the distaff, as the dictionary defines it: "a rotating vertical staff that holds the bunch of flax or wool in hand-spinning." but this is not the "spindle" which is intended in the passage before us. the syrian spindle (_meghzel_) which a woman may carry wherever she goes, is a small instrument. it consists of a smooth wooden pin, or stem, about the size and shape of a long wooden pen holder. this is inserted at its thick end into a hole of a hemispherical "top" or whorl, which is the exact shape of the crown of a small { } mushroom. it is this top which the english translation calls "distaff." a small brass hook fastened to the end of the stem, which protrudes slightly above the whorl, completes the spindle. in spinning a quantity of wool is wound on a small wooden or wire frame into which the woman inserts her left hand, the frame passing over the fingers and held inside the palm next to the thumb, thus leaving the thumb and all the fingers free. the spinner fastens the hook of the spindle to the bunch of wool and twirls the spindle swiftly at its lower end, between the thumb and the middle finger of the right hand, and then draws the thread deftly with the fingers of both hands. when the twisted thread is about the "length of an arm," the spinner unhooks it without breaking it off, winds it on the stem of the spindle, just below the whorl, then fastens it again to the hook close to the raw material. the operation is thus continued until the bunch of wool is converted into a "spindleful" of thread. the spindle as it is mentioned in the passage { } under consideration, and in this peculiarly constructed language, symbolizes diligence and industry. "she layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff" is equivalent to saying "she is never idle," or as the syrians say, "her spindle is never out of her hands." as a general rule spinning in syria is done by the older women. it is often used as an occasion for diligent spinners "to get together." i recall very clearly the palmy days of my grandmother as a spinner, and some of the delightful spinning sociables she enjoyed with her peers. it was a delight to me to watch those good women lay their hands to the spindle. it is always delightful to watch an expert at his work. they worked with the ease and inerrancy of instinct. they spun while walking, talking, eating (informally) or even disputing. the only thing about the useful industry which i hated heartily as a boy was that when i came close to the feminine spinners the flying hairs from their whirling spindles fell on me, and "made my flesh creep." { } again the virtuous woman "considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard." here the language of the scriptural writer is figurative. it refers to a good wife's thrift. she saves the coins she earns and treasures them in the well-known _kees_ (money bag) in a corner of the clothes chest, where heirlooms and other precious objects are stored. in time of need she surprises her husband by the substantial sum of money she places in his hands, which enables him to buy a field or plant a vineyard. "she is not afraid of the snow for her household; for all her household are clothed in scarlet." the marginal note greatly improves the translation by saying "double garments" instead of "scarlet." the arabic version says _hillel_--that is, full, or substantial, garments. the snow is always dreaded by the common people of syria. with it come no sleighbells and no skating. it is a time of stress (_dhieq_). the snow "blocks the roads and cuts a man off from his neighbor." at such a time, because { } of lack of fuel and adequate clothing, many of the people suffer. so the writer of proverbs praises the "virtuous woman" very highly when he says, "she is not afraid of the snow for her household," because by her foresight and unremitting care she has amply provided for their comfort. "her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land." the syrian husband of the good old type does not buy his wearing apparel "ready-made" at the clothier's. his garments are made by his wife. when he sits with the elders of the community in the market place or at the gate of the town where those dignitaries converse on matters of public interest, and speak parables and tell stories, his neat appearance bespeaks the diligence and loving care of his wife. "verily his wife is a costly jewel," is the likely remark of such a fortunate man's admirers. how true also to the nobler instincts of the east are these words in this poetical description of the virtuous woman. "her children arise up, and call { } her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her." the closing words of this oriental writer who lived long before the advent of "modern culture," reveal him as one of woman's truest friends and wisest counselors. "favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the lord, she shall be praised. give her of the fruits of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates." this is the true "order of merit." [ ] prov. xi: . [ ] revised version; ii: - . { } part vi here and there in the bible here and there in the bible during the time when the earlier chapters of this book were being published in the "atlantic monthly," requests came to the author from readers of those chapters for his comments on certain scriptural passages which did not appear in them. some of the passages suggested by those interested readers, i have considered in other parts of this publication. the other passages thus suggested, and others which presented themselves to the author during the progress of this work, but which for some reason or other he could not include in the preceding chapters, will now be considered, without the attempt to make of this portion of the book a coherent whole. "and abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, put, i pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: and i will make thee swear by the lord, the god of { } heaven, and the god of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the canaanites, among whom i dwell: but thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son isaac."[ ] in the east the general custom is that the "speaking concerning a damsel" in behalf of a young man is entrusted to the most distinguished of his male relatives. sometimes women are included in the mission. they approach the young woman's father and clansmen in a very dignified and formal manner, and, if possible, secure the "promise" for their son. it is only in rare instances that this significant undertaking is entrusted to one who is an alien to the groom's family (_ghareeb_) and who acts as an ambassador. abraham was compelled to assign this duty to his trusted servant, because the patriarch had no relatives in canaan. his demand from his servant to put his hand under his master's thigh and { } swear by the god of heaven and earth that he would do as he was asked is characteristically oriental. the custom of calling upon god to "witness" a promise or a covenant between two individuals or clans is still extant in syria. the placing of the hand under the thigh, however, is no longer done, but the habit of placing the hand under the girdle (_zinnar_) for the same purpose is generally practiced. however, it is the one who makes the request who puts his hand under the girdle of the one from whom the favor is asked. _eedy tahit zinnarek_ (my hand is under your girdle) means i come to you with the fullest confidence to do such and such a thing for me. in the eastern parts of syria this practice is highly valued. putting one's hand under another person's girdle is almost the equivalent of entering "under his roof" for protection from a pursuing enemy. if at all possible, the favor must be granted. i have no doubt that this custom is a survival in a different form of that of placing the hand under the thigh in making a solemn promise. { } abraham's experience upon the death of his wife with "the children of heth" and with "ephron son of zohar," presents an interesting picture of oriental courtesy. in the twenty-third chapter of genesis, beginning with the third verse, the record reads, "and abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of heth, saying, i am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that i may bury my dead out of my sight." the burying-places in the east are clannish or church possessions. the orientals, now as in ancient times, dread "a lonely grave." it is always expected that a worthy stranger be offered a burying-place for his dead in a sepulcher of the community where he happens to be, as that he should be offered the hospitality of a home. so we read, "and the children of heth answered abraham, saying unto him, hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre." { } that was noble of the children of heth; they upheld the noblest oriental tradition by their generous act. so also did joseph of arimathea when he took jesus' body, "wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock."[ ] abraham, however, who expected to be a permanent dweller in canaan, wished to have a burying-place of his own. so the aged patriarch said again to the hittites (verse ), "if it be your mind that i should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me to ephron the son of zohar, that he may give me the cave of machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field." but ephron would not be outdone in courtesy by his kinsman; at least he would not be accused of having omitted the nice formalities of such an occasion. "nay, my lord," he said to abraham (verse ), "hear me: the field give i thee, and the cave that is therein, i give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give i it thee: bury thy dead." { } to me this sounds "very natural." ephron meant simply to be courteous. it is an oriental custom to avoid a business transaction whenever a question of hospitality is involved, although it is not expected that the gift would be received as offered. the language on such occasions is purely complimentary. an oriental offers to give you anything you may admire of his personal possessions, but as a rule you are not expected to accept the offer. ephron did not really mean that he would give his field to abraham without money and without price, but he would have abraham know that he was ready to befriend him in his sorrow, and not to deal with him simply as a customer. the patriarch acknowledged the kindness by bowing himself down before the hittites, but would not accept the field as a gift. thereupon ephron quoted the price of the field to the father of israel in a truly characteristic syrian fashion, by saying (verse ), "my lord, hearken unto me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that betwixt me and thee? { } bury therefore thy dead." the gentle hint accomplished its purpose, "and abraham weighed to ephron the silver which he had named in the audience of the children of heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant." in speaking of the haste in which the israelites were compelled to leave egypt, the writer of the book of exodus says,[ ] "and the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders." in the thirty-first verse it is said that pharaoh "called for moses and aaron by night, and said, rise up, and get you forth from among my people." as a rule the syrian housewife kneads the dough in the evening in order that it may "leaven" during the night and be ready for baking early the next morning. the saying, "and the people took their dough before it was leavened," is meant to show that they departed before the early { } morning hours. apparently the israelites had wooden kneading-troughs such as at present the arabs in the interior of syria still use. the syrians use earthen basins.[ ] what is called kneading-trough in the bible resembles a large chopping-bowl, but is heavier and not so perfectly round as the chopping-bowl which is commonly used in the american home. in this basin the bread is also kept after it is baked. in the thirty-ninth verse it is said, "and they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual." the "cakes" are known to the east as _melleh_; this is the word the arabic bible uses. the _melleh_ is a round cake or loaf about fifteen inches in diameter and about three inches thick. it is baked, unleavened, on the _redhef_; that is, hot pebbles. the fire is built over an especially prepared bed of small stones; when these are { } thoroughly heated, the _melleh_ is placed upon them and covered with the live coals until it is baked. the shepherds in the mountains of syria bake the _melleh_ very often and think there is no bread like it in delicious flavor and sustaining quality. it was such a "cake" which elijah fed upon on his way to "horeb the mount of god." in the nineteenth chapter of the first book of kings, the fourth verse, we are told that elijah "sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, it is enough; now, o lord, take away my life; for i am not better than my fathers." it is of no small significance that the legend states that the lord answered elijah's prayer in terms of food. the prophet was both tired and hungry, so when he "lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, arise and eat. and he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head." we have no record that elijah after he had eaten { } of the _redhef_ cake, which was provided, no doubt, by the shepherds in that region for the _nasik_ (hermit), ever longed for death. in the sixth chapter of the book of judges, the eleventh verse, begins the story of gideon, the "mighty man of valour," who delivered israel out of the hands of the midianites. "and there came an angel of the lord, and sat under an oak which was in ophrah, that pertained unto joash the abiezrite: and his son gideon threshed wheat by the wine-press, to hide it from the midianites." it is a prevailing belief in the east that spirits and angelic visitors appear especially under trees and by streams of water. huge oaks are often found in burying-grounds and in front of houses of worship. "rag trees" also may be seen in many localities in syria. a rag tree (_shajeret-omm-shrateet_) is a supposedly sacred or "possessed" tree, generally an oak, on whose branches the people hang shreds of the garments of afflicted dear ones for the { } purpose of securing healing power for them. when the angel visited him, gideon, we are told, was threshing wheat by the wine-press. the more correct rendering of the revised version and of the arabic is, "gideon was beating out wheat in the wine-press." as i have already stated,[ ] the grapes are squeezed by being trodden in a large stone-flagged enclosure, which is about the size of an ordinary room. as the harvest time comes early in the summer, long before the wine-making season, gideon could use the clean floor of this enclosure to beat out wheat, with a fair chance of escaping being discovered by his oppressors, the midianites. he was not "threshing." he was beating with a club the sheaves he had smuggled, before threshing time came when the midianites exacted their heavy toll from oppressed israel. threshing is done with the threshing-board (_nourej_), which is called in the bible the "threshing instrument." the _nourej_ resembles a stone-drag. it consists of two heavy pine planks joined { } together, and is about three feet wide, and six feet long. on its under side are cut rows of square holes into which sharp stones are driven. it is these sharp stones which isaiah, refers to when he says, "behold, i will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument _having teeth_; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff."[ ] the sheaves are scattered on the threshing-floor about a foot deep; the thresher attaches the threshing-board to the yoke and sits on it, with his goad in his hand. as the oxen which "tread the corn" drag the heavy board round and round, the sharp stones cut the sheaves. in three days the "threshing" is ready to be sifted. the finely cut sheaves are thrown up into a heap and tossed up in the air with large wooden pitchforks. the breeze blows the chaff and straw away, leaving the heap of the golden grain in the center of the threshing-floor to gladden the eyes of the grateful tiller of the soil. to this "purging" of the threshing-floor--that { } is, the freeing of the wheat from the chaff and straw--luke alludes in the third chapter, the seventeenth verse, where he says, referring to the christ, "whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable." the reference to the burning of the chaff is meant to show its comparative worthlessness. i am not aware that the syrian farmer always takes the trouble to burn the chaff, which is not easy to gather after the wind has carried it away from the threshing-floor and scattered it over acres of ground. the coarser part of it, which falls near the floor, is gathered and saved to be used in making the clay mortar with which the houses are plastered, and also sun-dried brick. we always went to the threshing-floor and secured a few bagfuls of chaff which we used in the annual plastering of the floor of our house. among the chief joys of my boyhood days were those hours when i was permitted to sit { } on the threshing-board and goad the oxen which carried me round and round over the glistening, fragrant sheaves. i often bribed the owner to grant me the precious privilege; and even now i should in all probability prefer threshing after this manner to an automobile ride. in the seventh chapter of the book of judges we have a description of the simple process by which gideon's army, with which he attacked the midianites, was selected. the very honest record states that out of thirty-two thousand men whom gideon had first mobilized only three hundred stood the final test. that test was very simple. in the fifth verse it is said, "so he brought down the people unto the water: and the lord said unto gideon, every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. and the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three { } hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water." the three hundred constituted gideon's army. bowing down upon the knees while drinking from a stream or a bubbling spring (_fowwar_) is the prevailing custom in syria. this kind of drinking is called _ghebb_; that is, the sucking in of the water with the lips. but to strong and wary men this is disdainful. such a prostration betokens lassitude; besides it is not always safe for one to be so recklessly off his guard while traveling, and to render himself an easy prey to lurking robbers. therefore the men of strength and valor (_shijaan_) upon approaching the water assume a squatting position, lift the water with the hand to the mouth and lap it quickly with the tongue. this manner of drinking indicates strength, nimbleness, and alertness. one of the most reprehensible syrian habits is the mocking of those afflicted with diseases, or any sort of physical defects. i have no { } doubt that the afflicted of palestine flocked to jesus to be healed by him as much for the purpose of escaping the shame of the affliction as of securing bodily comfort. "there comes the one-eyed man [_'awar_]"; "there goes the limping man [_afkah_]"; "the half dumb [maybe one who stutters] is trying to discourse"; "the hunch-back is trying to class himself with real men"; "the diseased head [_akkra'_] is approaching, give way." these and other stigmatizations are very extensively current in the east. in the story of elisha[ ] it is said, "and he went up from thence unto bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children ["young lads," revised version] out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. and he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the lord. and there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them." what those children really said to elisha { } was, "go up thou _akkra'_." the _akkra'_ is one who is afflicted with a disease of the scalp, a malady not uncommon among the poor people of syria. complete baldness of the head is spoken of also as _qara'_. it was this perhaps which the ill-mannered children noticed in the itinerant prophet. his cursing of the lads "in the name of the lord" was no less an eastern characteristic than their mocking of him. as to the coming of the hungry bears out of the wood and devouring or tearing forty-two of those children, all i can say is that such narratives, which filled my childhood days, are deemed by syrian parents to be the best means to teach the children not to be naughty. in the opening verses of the fourth chapter of the second book of kings we have the record of elisha's kindness to a poor widow. "now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto elisha, saying, thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the lord: and the { } creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. and elisha said unto her, what shall i do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? and she said, thine handmaid hath not anything in the house, save a pot of oil. then he said, go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. and when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. so she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. and it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, bring me yet a vessel. and he said unto her, there is not a vessel more. and the oil stayed." the belief in the miraculous increase of certain products, especially oil and wheat, is prevalent in syria. in almost every community stories of such occurrences are told. godly men and women, largely of the past, are said to have { } seen such wonders, and to have spoken of them to many before their death. such blessings are supposed to come especially on the blessed night of epiphany.[ ] in the locality where i was brought up, the miracle of "increase" was said to happen in this wise: in some holy hour the cover of the jar of oil is thrown off by some unseen power and the oil begins to flow out of the mouth of the jar. the person who is fortunate enough to see such a sight must show neither fear nor surprise, but in the spirit of deepest prayer he must bring empty vessels and receive into them the increase. if he should fear or manifest surprise, the blessed flow would immediately cease, but if he receives the blessing in a spirit of gratitude and prayer the flow continues until all the vessels that can be brought are filled. but only godly men and women can see such a sight. among the noble traditions of our clan is the story of one godly man of the rihbany stock who witnessed the "miracle of increase" in his own storehouse. the flow of { } the blessing stopped, however, when his wife, who went into the storehouse to see why he was there so long, came in and threw up her hands in surprise at the strange occurrence. from childhood i heard this enchanting story, but i never felt deeply curious to investigate it until after i had gone to the american mission school in my native land. then i sought the son of the "godly man" and begged him to tell me all that he knew about it. he assured me of his firm conviction that the miracle did happen in their storehouse when he was too young to see such wonders, and that his father and mother both saw it and spoke of it on occasions. at the time i became interested in the study of the origins of such narratives, both those good parents were dead. but why allow shallow curiosity to weaken one's faith in the great spiritual principle which underlies all such beliefs? attach all such pious tales to the oriental's foundation belief that all good comes from god, and they become intelligible and acceptable. his intellectual { } explanations are faint attempts to grasp the great mystery of divine providence, to explain the ways of the great giver. if you do not attempt to make an infallible creed of these spiritual imaginings, they will serve as well as any intellectual devices to urge upon the mind the truth that ultimately "every good and every perfect gift cometh from above." whether the resources were a few loaves and fishes, or thousands of loaves and fishes, it was god who fed the "five thousand," and it is he who feeds all the millions of his children through the annual miracle of increase in all the fields and vineyards of the world. in his heart-stirring prayer, which begins with, "out of the depths have i cried unto thee, o lord," the writer of the one hundred and thirtieth psalm says, "my soul waiteth for the lord more than they that watch for the morning: i say more than they that watch for the morning." the revised version's rendering, "more than watchmen wait for the { } morning," limits the sense of the text, and, consequently, fails to express fully the phase of eastern thought to which the psalmist alludes. i have no doubt that the ancient poet meant that his longing for the manifestation of god was as keen as the longing of _el-mûtesehhid_ for the dawn. this term comes from _sûhad_ (sleeplessness). eastern poetry is full of references to the _sûhad_, either from fear or other intense feelings like sorrow or love. in a land of tribal feuds and where wild beasts abound, the night is full of terror. _el-mûtesehhid_ "wrestles" with the night, keenly observes the stars which mark the night watches, and restlessly watches for the advent of the day to dispell his haunting fears. the arabian poet exclaims, "oh, the night's curtains which are like the waves of the sea are fallen upon me, to afflict me with every type of anxiety. it seems that the pleiades [which marked the march of the night] have been arrested in their course by being tied with hemp ropes to an adamant!" it is not the watchman only that is meant { } here. he might watch keenly for the morning in times of fear, but the reference is to all those who watch for the morning in times of _sûhad_--a state which orientals readily understand. the psalmist would have that confidence and cheer in the presence of the lord which come to the restless watcher of the night with the dawning of the day; that inward calm and peace which only the presence of god in the soul can give. "thus saith the lord god, behold, i will lift up mine hand to the gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders."[ ] the reference in these lines is to the custom of carrying the children in the east. the habit of carrying the children on the shoulders is, i believe, unknown to the west, but is universal in the east. in early infancy the little ones are carried in the arms. (the revised version { } prefers the word "bosom.") as soon, however, as the child is old enough to sit up alone, it is carried on the shoulder. the mother lifts the child and places it astride her right shoulder, and instinctively the little one clings to her head, where there is no dainty hat to hinder. the custom is so familiar to the mothers that often one sees a mother spinning or knitting with the child astride her shoulder. as is well known, the message in the lofty strains of the later isaiah is the glad tidings of the restoration of scattered and oppressed israel. it is a prophecy born of israel's ever-lasting hope that god will not cast off his own forever. so the prophet assures israel in the name of the lord that he will lead the alien peoples, not only to let israel return to its own home, but to carry the children of the "chosen people" in their arms and on their shoulders, as do the servants of aristocratic parents. the prophet's hope of the restoration of his own people appears in the succeeding verse clothed { } in language which oriental aristocrats love to use. it is the phraseology of earthly glory and a narrow vision of national destiny, which the new testament liberates and enlarges. says isaiah: "and kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their faces toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet." our world still has many grave faults, but it has certainly progressed since the days of isaiah. in the third chapter of st. matthew's gospel, the eleventh verse, john the baptist, in paying his tribute to the coming messiah, says: "i indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than i, whose shoes i am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the holy ghost, and with fire." the same thought is expressed in the somewhat different presentation in the third chapter and sixteenth verse of luke's gospel, where it is said, "the latchet of whose shoes i am { } not worthy to unloose." i have already stated elsewhere that to the syrians the feet are ceremonially unclean; therefore it is very improper for one to mention the feet or the shoes in conversation, without first making ample apology by saying to his hearer, _ajell allah shanak_ (may god elevate your dignity); that is, above what is about to be mentioned. in the presence of an aristocrat, however, no apology is sufficient to atone for the mention of such an unclean object as the shoes. therefore, when one says to another, in pleading for a favor, "i would carry your shoes, or bow at your feet," he sinks to the lowest depth of humility. so when some of those who came to him to be baptized thought that john the baptist was the promised one of israel, he humbled himself in oriental fashion by saying that he was not worthy to carry the shoes of the coming deliverer, or even to touch the latchet with which those shoes were tied to the ankles. in this last expression, the sandals, rather than the shoes, are meant. { } the three evangelists, matthew, mark, and luke, speak of the woman who was healed from a long illness by touching the hem or border of jesus' garment. luke's version is found in the eighth chapter, and the forty-third verse, and is as follows: "and a woman, having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. and jesus said, who touched me? ... somebody hath touched me: for i perceive that virtue is gone out of me. and when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. and he said unto her, daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace." the belief that holy persons and holy things impart divine power to those who trustfully and reverently touch them is not exclusively an { } oriental possession. the orientals, however, have always believed this doctrine. the woman mentioned in the gospel followed a custom which no doubt antedated her own time by many centuries. the practice is followed by orientals of all shades of religious opinion. as a son and adherent of the greek orthodox church in my youth, i always considered it a great privilege to touch the hem of the priest's garment as he passed through the congregation, elevating the host. to me the act was a means of spiritual reinforcement. i never would pass the church building without pressing my lips to the door or to the cornerstone of the sanctuary. virtue, as i believed, came out of those sacred objects into me. the interpretation of the details of such records as the passage which is before us can be easily pressed too far. such gospel pictures should be sought for the general impression they make upon the mind, and not subjected to minute critical analysis as the reports of a scientific expedition. jesus' reported saying, "for i perceive that virtue is { } gone out of me," refers perhaps to the belief that holy persons impart virtue or spiritual power to those who come in touch with them. whatever really happened in palestine nineteen hundred years ago, this belief is well founded. whomsoever and whatsoever we love and reverence becomes to us a source of power. many indifferent and merely curious persons touched jesus, but nothing happened; for the _garment_ possesses no healing virtues. but when an afflicted woman came to him with dearest hope and deepest prayer, the mere touch of his person reinforced her strength and revived her spirits. the master indicated plainly that the healing power was not in the garment when he said to the woman, "daughter, be of good comfort: _thy faith_ hath made thee whole; go in peace." in the story of the crucifixion[ ] we read: "and as they led him away, they laid hold upon one simon, a cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that { } he might bear it after jesus. and there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him. but jesus, turning unto them, said, daughters of jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.... for if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" the saying with which the passage ends is current in oriental speech in various forms. of one who is greedy and voracious it is said (when the thing he eats is not very tempting), "if his tooth works so effectively in the bitter, what would it do in the sweet?" and, reversing the scriptural saying, "if the dry is so palatable to him, how much more must the green be!" again, "if one is not good to those that are his kin, what must he be to strangers?"--and so forth. jesus' saying to the women who followed him, "daughters of jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and your children," facilitates the understanding of the closing sentence { } of the passage. he admonishes them not to lament the state of one who, though condemned, is utterly innocent, but the state of those who are so hard of heart, so devoid of human sympathy as to condemn one so innocent. with amazement he exclaims, "for if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" if they deal so cruelly with a good and innocent person, what must be their attitude toward a real culprit. the mention in the gospel of the crowing of the cock recalls to my mind a very familiar oriental expression. the shrill sound of the wakeful fowl always served us in the night as a "striking clock." we always believed that the cock crew three times in the night, and thus marked the night watches. the first crowing is at about nine o'clock, the second at midnight, and the third about three in the morning. the common people of syria house the chickens in a small enclosure which is built, generally, immediately under the floor of the house. it has one { } small opening on the outside, which is closed at night with a stone, and another opening on the inside, through which the housewife reaches for the eggs. so "the evening crow," "the midnight crow," and the "dawn crow" can be very conveniently heard by members of the household. and how often, while enjoying a sociable evening with our friends at one of those humble but joyous homes, we were startled by the crowing of the cock, and said, "whew! it is _nissleil_ [midnight]." the hospitable host would try to trick us into staying longer by assuring us that it was the evening and not the midnight crow. now some "enlightened" critics assert that "in fact the cock crows at any hour of the night." well, the critics are welcome to their "enlightenment." for us syrians of the unsophisticated type the cock crowed only three times, just as i have stated, and thus marked for us the four divisions of the night. the new testament makes definite reference to the "evening crow" and the "dawn { } crow." as a rule the cock crows three times (separated by short intervals) at the end of each watch of the night. we are told that after the last supper, the master and his disciples "went out into the mount of olives," where jesus said to them, "all ye shall be offended because of me this night.... but peter said unto him, although all shall be offended, yet will not i. and jesus saith unto him, verily i say unto thee, that this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice."[ ] this refers to the "evening crow," for the entire scene falls in the early evening. and so it was that when peter did deny his master in most earnest terms, "he went out into the porch; and the cock crew."[ ] again, while peter was still being questioned as to whether he was not one of jesus' followers, "he began to curse and to swear, saying, i know not this man of whom ye speak. and the second time the cock crew."[ ] { } the other passage[ ] refers to the "dawn crow." "watch ye, therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning." in speaking of the speedy and mysterious "coming of the son of man," in the twenty-fourth chapter of matthew, jesus alludes to the grinding at the handmill--a very common syrian custom. the portentous saying in the forty-first verse is: "two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left." the _jaroosh_ (handmill, literally, "grinder") has always been considered a necessary household article in syria.[ ] our family possessed one, which, however, was shared by the families of my two uncles. the _jaroosh_ consists of two round stones--an upper and a nether--from eighteen to twenty inches in diameter, and about four inches in thickness. it is a portable { } article. the two stones are held together by a wooden pin which is securely fastened in the center of the nether stone, and passes through a funnel-shaped hole in the center of the upper stone. a wooden handle is inserted near the outer edge of the upper stone. as a rule a strong woman can grind a small quantity of wheat at this mill alone. but as coöperation tends to convert drudgery into pleasant work, the women grind in pairs. the mill is placed on a cloth--something like a bed-sheet--or on a sheepskin. the two women sit on the floor, exactly opposite, and of necessity close to each other, with the mill between them. they both grasp the wooden handle and turn the upper stone with the right hand, while they feed the mill through the funnel-shaped hole with the left hand. the circular shower of coarse flour falls from between the stones onto the cloth or skin below. at present the handmill is rarely used in syria for grinding wheat into flour, which is now ground by the regular old-fashioned, { } waterwheel flouring mills. the _jaroosh_ is used in the lebanon districts and in the interior of syria for crushing wheat into _bûrghûl_. the wheat is first boiled and then thoroughly dried in the sun on the housetop. just before it is poured into the mill the wheat is dampened with cold water, so that while it is being crushed it is also hulled. the _bûrghûl_ is one of the main articles of food among the common people; it is especially used for making the famous dish, _kibbey_.[ ] the whole season's supply of a family is ground in one or two evenings. the occasion is usually a very gay one. the neighbors gather around the mill, the men help in the grinding, and the telling of stories and singing of songs make of what is ordinarily a hard task a joyous festival. the foregoing makes evident the meaning of the passage as used by the evangelist. "the coming of the son of man," that great consummation of all things in the advent of the kingdom, which the faithful disciples of christ { } hoped and prayed for, was to be so swift and so mysterious that only the fully awake and watchful could have a share, in it. no one could tell who would be included in the family kingdom. for even those, who in this world sat as close together as "two women grinding at the mill," were not certain of being taken together. "watch, therefore: for ye know not what hour your lord doth come."[ ] it is vain to deny that this watchfulness, this expectation of the sudden and mysterious coming of the kingdom, has been a mighty factor in the development of the christian church. among my correspondents who have been readers of my articles in the "atlantic monthly," are those who are interested to know the attitude of the syrian christians in general toward the creeds and dogmas of the church as they are known and accepted in the west, and also whether i would not enlarge the scope of this publication so as to include { } in it a discussion of certain doctrines which claim to have firm scriptural basis. as may be very readily seen, these questions involve the study of a complexity of subjects which the original plan of this book was never intended to compass. again the author feels that it would be inexcusable boldness on his part to enter a field of thought which noted scholars and historians have thoroughly explored, and to pretend to discuss issues which only such scholars have a right to discuss. however, in compliance with the requests of those interested readers i will contribute my mite to the vast literature of a very old subject. as is well known to church historians, the syrian christians of the semitic stock have had very little to do with the development of the "creeds of christendom." theological organization has been as foreign to the minds of the eastern christians as political organization. they have always been worshippers rather than theologians, believers rather than systematic { } thinkers. their religious thinking has never been brought by them into logical unity, nor their mysticism into full metaphysical development. the oriental has been a lender in religion and a borrower in theology. the course of religion ran from the east to the west, the course of theology ran from the west to the east. had it been left to itself, it is certain that the christianity of palestine never would have built up such a massive structure of doctrine as the athanasian creed. wherever the great doctrinal statements of our religion may have originated,--whether in rome, constantinople, antioch, or alexandria,--their essential parts were greek and roman, and not oriental. the christian church had its simple origin with a group of jewish followers of jesus christ in palestine, but it had its marvelous expansion and organization among the "gentiles." in palestine the faith of the church may be said to have been instinctive, but { } among the gentiles and under greek and roman influences that faith became highly reflective. faith in god the father, and in his son (by anointing) jesus christ, and love of the brethren, constituted the simple creed of the palestinian christians. it is not within my power, nor do i deem it necessary here, to trace the steps by which this simple faith was transformed into a ponderous, learned, and authoritative creed, whose essentials were finally fixed in the early years of the fourth century. it is sufficient for the purpose of this sketch to state that when the great doctrines which were wrought by the ecumenical councils were thus fixed, sealed with an "anathema," and backed up by imperial and ecclesiastical power, the churches which refused to accept them had but a very slender chance to live. the intention of those beneficent ecclesiastics and politicians who controlled the actions of the councils was to do away with the schismatic spirit in the church and to have "one flock and one shepherd." { } thus it may be readily realized that it was not very long after the crucifixion when the subtle mentality of the greek and the organizing genius of the roman began to assume control of the thought and practice of the syrian churches. excommunication, exile, and martyrdom swept away in course of time all obstacles out of the way of the "authoritative creed"; simple faith in christ was forced to be hospitable to intricate scholastic statements of doctrine, and "love of the brethren" gave way, as a bond of union, to ecclesiastical authority. when the ambitious ecclesiastics of rome and constantinople finally brought about the great schism which divided christendom into two bodies, known as the eastern and the western, or the greek and the latin churches, the churches of syria aligned themselves with either the one or the other. the creeds became to those churches party slogans and means of division and hatred, and thus christ was "divided," and those who claimed to be his followers, in both the orient and the occident, { } took up the cry, "i am of paul; and i of apollos; and i of cephas." so the doctrines of the syrian churches of every name are essentially those of the two great roman catholic and greek orthodox communions. in answer to the second question i will say that i have refrained from doctrinal discussion in the present work; first, because so many of the speculative doctrines of christendom have very little to do with the new testament; second, because the central purpose of this publication is simply and purely to give the oriental background of certain scriptural passages, whose correct understanding depends upon knowledge of their original environment. i have deemed it unnecessary even to follow in the footsteps of the "higher critics" and inquire into the "genuineness" and "non-genuineness" of some of those passages. for the purpose of this work every scriptural passage which reflects a phase of eastern thought and life is "genuine." the aim of the author is { } that this book shall be as free from labored arguments as the simple statements of the gospel themselves. there is perhaps no phase of human thought which the christian churches have not used in the advancement of their divisive creeds and pet speculative doctrines. there is an untold number of doctrinal documents which are now lying in the libraries of the world as repositories of moth and dust. they are of the earth earthy. the idea of universal brotherhood and human solidarity which is agitating the minds of men of all races and countries at the present time, is leading the christian bodies back to the simple faith of jesus of nazareth, and causing them to heap contempt upon their technical subtleties and forced uniformities of intellectual belief. at least protestantism is beginning to be sympathetically aware of its own precious heritage, and to feel the urging of its own genius. free and coöperative individualism is winning signal victories over the unnatural authority of creed in the protestant { } bodies, and the bondage of the letter is giving way to the freedom of the spirit. the gospel of christ is triumphing over the theories _about_ christ, and spiritual self-fulfillment by becoming christ-like is crowding out of existence all theories of magical salvation. the creed of the theologians consists of many "articles"; the creed of christ only of two,--"love the lord thy god with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself." i prefer christ's creed. the end [ ] gen. xxiv: - . [ ] matt. xxvii: , . [ ] exod. xii: . [ ] see page . [ ] see page . [ ] is. xli: . revised version. [ ] kings : - . [ ] see my autobiography, _a far journey_, page . [ ] is. xlix: . [ ] luke xxiii: - . [ ] mark xiv: - . [ ] mark xiv: . [ ] mark xiv: , . [ ] mark xiii: . [ ] see deut. xxiv: . [ ] see page . [ ] matt. xxiv: . { } index admittance of an infant into the church, - . agricultural life, in america, ; in syria, - . _'aish_, the sacred, . american and syrian modes of thought, contrast between, , . american farmer, lack of romance in his life, . american life, interpretation of, , . american mind, attitude toward conception and birth, . american women, highly regarded by men, ; cultivation and privileges of, . american youth, seem to be indifferent to filial obedience, , . angels as heavenly messengers, . anglo-saxon, the, and the oriental, as they appear to each other, ; the reserve of, , ; uses deeds rather than words in his quarrels, ; curtness of, ; has high regard for woman, . anointing the feet, - . arabic, the language of the syrians, ; poetry, . athanasian creed, . atheism unknown among the orientals, , . athens, . baking of bread in syria, - . baldness, . baptism, , . barrenness, . basins for kneading, , . beard, swearing by the, , ; the sacredness of the, among orientals, . bears, , . bed, letting down the, - ; taking up the, . bethlehem, star of, , , , . betrothals, . bible, the, cast in oriental moulds of thought, ; reads like a letter from syria, , ; characteristics of, , ; as a repository of divine revelation, knows no geographical limits, ; as literature, an imported article in the western world, ; misunderstood through misunderstanding of syrian life, ; critics of, , , ; inaccuracy of statement in, - ; metaphors and exaggerations of, - ; many passages of, to be judged by what they mean rather than by what they say, ; the positiveness of speech of, , ; prominent mention of mary and martha as jesus' entertainers in, , ; the words _home_ and _house_ in the translation of, ; purpose of st. john's gospel, - . _passages cited or expounded_: acts x, p. - ; xvi: , p. ; xvii: , p. ; xviii: , p. ; xxi: - , p. ; xxi: , p. ; xxvi: , p. . amos iii: , p. ; iv: , p. ; vi: - , p. . cor. vii: , , p. ; vii: , p. ; xi: , p. ; xi: - , p. ; xiv: , p. . cor. ix: , p. ; xi: - , p. . deut. xxi: - , p. ; xxi: - , p. ; xxiii: , p. ; xxiv: , p. ; xxv: , p. ; xxv: , p. ; xxviii, , , p. ; xxviii: , p. ; xxxii: , p. . eccles. vii: , p. . ephes. v: - , p. ; v: - , p. . exod. x: , p. ; xii: , , p. ; xii: , p. ; xii: , p. ; xii: , p. . ezek. xvi: - , p. ; xxxiv: - , , p. . gal. iii: , p. ; vi: , p. . gen. i: , p. ; iii, p. ; iv: , p. ; xv: , p. ; xviii: - , , p. ; xviii: , p. ; xxi: , p. ; xxii: , p. ; xxiii: - , p. ; xxiii: - , p. ; xxiii: , p. ; xxiii: - , p. ; xxiv: - , pp. , ; xxiv: - , p. ; xxiv: - , p. ; xxiv: - , pp. , ; xxiv: , p. ; xxvii: - , p. ; xxvii: , p. ; xxx: , p. ; xxxi: , p. ; xlix: , p. . hebr. vi: , p. . is. iv: , p. ; xxxviii: , p. ; xl: , p. ; xli: , p. ; xlvii: - , p. ; xlix: - , pp. - ; lviii: , p. ; lxii: , p. ; lxiii: , p. . jerem. lxviii: , p. . job xiii: , p. ; xxi: , p. ; xxiv: , p. , xxix: - , p. ; xxxi: ; p. . john i: - , p. ; ii: , p. ; ii: - , pp. , ; iv: , , p. ; x: - , pp. - ; x: - , p. ; x: , p. ; xii: , p. ; xii: , p. ; xiii: , p. ; xiii: , p. ; xiii: - , p. ; xv: , p. ; xv: , , p. ; xix: - , p. ; xxi: - , p. . joshua ix: , p. . judges vi: , p. ; vi: - , pp. , ; vii: - , p. ; vii: , p. ; viii: , p. ; xii: - , p. ; xix: - , pp. - ; xix: - , pp. , . kings viii: , p. ; xix: , p. ; xix: , p. . kings : - , p. ; iv: - , pp. , ; iv: , - , p. . lament. v: , p. . lev. xii: - , p. ; xxv: , p. ; xxvi: , p. . luke i: , , p. ; ii: - , pp. , ; ii: , - , p. ; ii: , p. : ii: , p. ; ii: , p. ; ii: , p. ; ii: , p. ; iii: , p. ; iii: , p. ; iv: , p. ; v: , pp. - ; vi: - , p. ; vi: , p. ; vii: - , p. ; viii: , p. ; vii: - , p. ; ix: , p. ; x: ; p. ; xi: - , p. ; xi: - , p. ; xi: , , , p. ; xii: - , p. ; xiii: , p. ; xiv: - , p. ; xv: - , pp. - ; xv: - , pp. , ; xviii: - , p. ; xxii: , p. ; xxii: , p. ; xxii: , p. ; xxiii: - , p. . mal. iv: , p. . mark : - , p. ; ii: - , p. ; iii: , p. ; v: , p. ; vi: , p. ; viii: , p. ; x: - , p. ; x: , p. ; xii: , pp. , ; xiii: , p. ; xiv: - , p. ; xiv: , p. ; xiv: - , , - , p. ; xiv: , - , p. . matt. i: - , p. ; ii: , p. ; iii: - , pp. , ; iii: , p. ; v, p. ; v: - , p. ; v: - , pp. , ; v: - , p. ; v: , p. ; v: - , p. ; vii: , p. ; viii: , p. ; x: - , p. ; x: - , p. ; x: , , - , p. ; xi: - , p. ; xiii: - , pp. - , ; xiii: - , pp. , ; xiii: , p. ; xiii: , p. ; xv: , p. ; xvi: , p. ; xvi: , p. ; xvi: - , p. ; xvi: - , p. ; xvii: , p. ; xvii: , p. ; xviii: , p. ; xviii: , p. ; xviii: - , pp. , ; xviii: - , pp. , , ; xviii: - , p. ; xviii: - , pp. , ; xix: , p. ; xx: , p. n.; xxiii: , p. ; xxiv: , p. ; xxiv: , p. ; xxiv: , p. ; xxvi: , , p. ; xxvi: , p. ; xxvi: , p. ; xxvi: , , p. ; xxvi: - , p. ; xxvi: , p. ; xxvi: , p. ; xxvii: - , p. ; xxviii: , p. . mic. iv: , p. . prov. x: , p. ; xi: , p. ; xii: , p. ; xxi: , p. ; xxvii: , p. ; xxxi: - , pp. - ; xxxvii: , p. . psalms v: , p. ; viii: - , p. ; xviii: - , p. ; xix, p. ; xix: - , p. ; xix: , , p. ; xx: , p. ; xxiii, pp. , ; xxiii: , p. ; xxiii: , pp. , ; xxiii: , pp. , ; xli: , p. ; xliv: , p. ; xlvi: - , p. ; li, p. ; lxi: , p. ; lxxx: - , - , p. ; cix: - , pp. , ; cxix: - , p. ; cxxviii: , p. ; cxxix: - , p. ; cxxx: , , p. ; cxxxix: - , p. ; cxlv: , p. ; cxlvii: - , p. . rom. vi: , p. ; ix: , p. ; ix: , p. ; xii: , p. ; xii: , p. . ruth ii: , p. . sam. xx: - , p. . sam. x: - , p. . sol. ii: - , pp. , ; iv: - , p. ; vii: - , p. . thess. iii: , p. . zeph. i: - , p. . birth, of jesus, ; a miracle, ; attitude of syrian mind toward, - ; attitude of american mind toward, , ; of man-child, - ; customs at, . _see_ nativity. blood covenant, the, . books on the east, . borrowing and lending, - , . _bosom_, in the translation of the bible, . bread, unleavened, ; not to be eaten until errand is known, , ; considered to possess mystic sacred significance, ; the "life-giver, " ; offering of, ; of life, christ, ; "our daily bread, " , ; the oriental's attitude toward, is religious, ; the process of mixing, - ; the process of baking, - ; bought by weight, ; always eaten with a sense of sacredness, , ; carried on a journey, , ; does not mould in syria, . bread and salt, - , . _bûrghûl_, an article of food, . burning pit, the, . burying-places in the east, , . "business success, " . cakes of the bible, - . cameleers, - , . camels, caravans of, , ; the watering of, , ; riding on, , . caravans, , . carnivals, . carob tree, the, , . carrying children on the shoulder, - . chaff, . childlessness, evidence of divine disfavor, , . children, a heritage from the lord, , ; presentation of, at the temple, ; owe obedience to both mother and father, , ; carrying on the shoulder, - . christ. _see_ jesus. christian church. _see_ church. christians, oaths of, , ; syrian, of the semitic stock, have had little to do with the development of creeds, ; creed of the palestinian, . christmas, . christmas carol, , . church, spoken of as the vine which god has planted, ; the origin and the expansion and organization of, ; division of, , . churches, of syria, , ; the greek and the latin, ; the roman catholic and the greek orthodox, . clarke, adam, and jesus pilgrimage to jerusalem, ; on the parable of the treasure hid in the field, , . clocks in syria, n. clothing made at home in syria, . _coat_ and _cloak_, the words, , . cock crow, - . coin, lost, parable of the, - . coming of the son of man, the, - . conception, attitude of the syrian mind toward, - ; attitude of the american mind toward, , . constantinople, , . corruption, fermentation considered to be, , . couches, reclining on, - ; sleeping on, , . courtesy, example of oriental, - . creed-makers of christendom, . creeds, , , , , . crier from the housetop, , . critics, of the bible, , , ; of paul and christianity, ; higher, . crowds, - . crowing of the cock, - . crucifixion, the story of the, - . culture gives strength and symmetry to religious thought, . curses. _see_ imprecations. curtness of the anglo-saxon, . da vinci, leonardo, his painting of the last supper, , , . dependence of the oriental, , . dialects of the oriental's speech, - . "dipping in the dish, " , , . disobedience, , , . distaff, the, , . dough, . drawing water, . _drink_, the word as used in the bible, n. drinking, at feasts, - , , ; manner of, , . eating, - , - . ecumenical councils, . eleventh hour, the, n. elijah, . elisha, the story of, , ; his kindness to a poor widow, , . enemies, love of. _see_ love. evolution, not altogether compulsory, . exaggeration, oriental fondness for, . "eye-of-the-needle" passage, the, - . faith, of the oriental, ; syrian idealization of, ; early palestinian, . familiar friend, the, . family, spoken of as a vine, . farmer, the american, ; the syrian, - . fasting, . feasts, fraternal, in syria, - , ; family, - . fecundity, a gift of the lord, ; leaven a symbol of, . feet, washing and anointing, - ; unclean in a ceremonial sense, , . fermentation, considered to be corruption, , . fig tree, and the vine, the oriental's chief joys, ; sitting under, , . filial obedience, - , , . flocks of sheep and goats, and their folds, , ; returning, ; the shepherd's guidance of, , ; the gathering of the, . folds, sheep and goat, - . forgiveness, - . forty days, the purification period, . garment, cure effected by touch of, - . gathering of the flock, the, . gentiles, the, , . gesticulation of the oriental, - . gethsemane, the kiss in, , , . _ghebb_ (sucking of the water with the lips), . gideon, the story of, , ; his army, , . girdle, the syrian, , ; placing the hand under, . goad, the syrian, , , . goatfolds, - . goats, the calling of, by name, . god, called shelter and refuge, , , ; the oriental's belief that all good comes from, , . good pleasure, - . gospel. _see_ bible. gracious woman, a, - . grain, measuring, - ; threshing, - . greeks, their custom of reclining at meals, . green tree, , . grinding wheat, - . guest, at the feast, ; sudden arrival of, - ; delaying the departing, - ; departure of, ; invited in families, , ; sit on the floor, ; and _zad_, . hair, cutting the, release from vow, , . handmill, - . _harem_, the, , . _hate_, the word, in the arabic tongue, ; in the bible, , . hatred and love, - . hidden treasures, - . holidays, . home, no word for, among the syrians, , ; the word in the translation of the bible, . honoring father and mother, . horn, symbol of strength, n. hospitality, of orientals, ; extended by the man, not the woman, - , , ; syrian fashion of extending, - ; compulsion to accept, , ; syrian rules of, - ; to the traveler, , . host, the man, not the woman, acts as, - , , ; the urging of hospitality by, - ; bringing the guest on the way, ; and _zad_, . _house_, syrian use of the word, - ; the word in the translation of the bible, ; the word precious to the oriental, . house, the syrian, , . housetop, the shouting of wares from, , ; easily reached, , ; making an opening in, - ; the construction of, ; sleeping on, ; to dwell on, ; calling from, , ; used for household purposes, , ; praying on, - . _hûrmat_, term for _wife_, ; term for _woman_, . husband and wife, according to st. paul, - , . husks, . hyenas, , . imploring, oriental habit of, - , . importunity, oriental habit of, - , . imprecations, , - , . _see_ swearing. impressions _vs._ literal accuracy, - . inaccuracy, intellectual, of the oriental, - . increase, the miracle of, - . indefiniteness, effect produced by, , . individualism, . infant, the, in syria, , ; admittance of, into the church, - . ingersoll, robert, . inheritances, division of, , . interpretation, sympathetic, a duty of present-day culture, . isaiah, . _jaroosh_ (handmill), - . jerusalem, arraignment of, ; jesus goes on pilgrimage to, - . jesus christ, a man without a country, ; belongs to all races and all ages, ; as regards his modes of thought and life and his method of teaching, was a syrian of the syrians, ; never out of palestine, ; story of his birth, ; goes on pilgrimage to jerusalem, - ; filial obedience of, - ; closing scenes in his personal career, , ; his command to his countrymen to love their enemies, ; and the money-lenders, - ; tendency of, to use parables, ; his command in regard to swearing, , ; his words to peter, ; entertained by mary and martha, , ; the anointing of his feet, - ; sending his disciples forth, ; his injunction, "salute no man by the way, " , ; his first meeting with nathaniel, ; on dishonoring the sacred day, , ; and his mother, - ; his conversation with the samaritan woman, ; as the incarnation of the logos, - ; cure effected by the hem of his garment, - ; the crucifixion of, - ; conversation of, with peter after the last supper, ; the gospel of christ is triumphing over the theories about, ; his creed, . john, "leaning on jesus' bosom, " - . john the baptist, , . joseph, story of, . journeys. _see_ traveling. judas, the treachery of, - . judicial contests, swearing in, . _keyyal_ (measurer), , . _kherrûb_ (carob), , . _kibbey_, a dish of meat and crushed wheat, , , . killing of the sheep, the, - . kiss, judas's, , . kissing, among men, a syrian custom, , ; of the hands of parents, . kneading done in the evening, . kneading-day, - . kneading-troughs, . _kummer_ (girdle), , . lambs, newly born, carried by shepherd, , . language, daily, of the syrian, is biblical, - ; abstinence from "pious, " in america, . _see_ speech. _lap_, in the bible, . last supper, the, - , ; in harmony with syrian life, , ; painted by da vinci in occidental form, , ; appointments of, were oriental, - ; no women at, , ; conversation of jesus and peter after, . leaven, parable of the, , ; held in esteem by the syrians, ; the meaning _corruption_ figurative, ; use of, in making bread, . lent, - . leopards, . levite, the story of the, , , - . life, of a people, cannot be studied from the outside, - ; to the oriental an inheritance, . _like_ ("to be favorably inclined toward"), not in the bible or the arabic tongue, ; in english version of the bible, . literature, difficult to understand if it has not sprung from the people's racial life, ; the bible as, . loaves, parable of the three, - . locusts, - . lord's prayer, the, . love, of enemies, - ; not of our own making, ; meaning of, in the west, ; meaning of, in the east, - ; speaks of the greatest thing in the world, ; and hatred, - ; assurances of, . man-child, birth of, - . _marafeh_, feast of the, - . market-place, syrian, and the caravan, ; a place of sociability as well as business, , ; measuring grain in, - . marriage in the east, - . marriage wishes, , . martha, not at the last supper, , , . mary, not at the last supper, , , ; jesus and, - . maternity, pilgrimage for, - . _mathel_, meaning of, . mattresses, . measure, the generous, - . measurer, the, - . mecca, . _melleh_ (cakes), , . merchants, muleteer, , . metaphor, oriental fondness for, . _midd_ (a wooden measure), , . miracles, , , - . mocking of the afflicted, - . modesty the chief charm of the oriental woman, . mohammedans, pilgrimages of, ; oaths of, , ; position of women among, n., . molasses, the method of making, in the east, . money-lenders, - . mortar, . mother, claiming same obedience as father, , ; jesus and his, - ; the mother's milk, - . _mouldy_, in translation of the bible, . mount zion, meeting in the upper room on, - . muleteer, merchants, , . mustache, swearing by, - . mysticism, , . nativity, narrative of the, , - . nazarite (_nedher_), , . _nezel_, . oaks, . oaths. _see_ imprecations, swearing. obedience, filial, - , , . oil, miraculous increase of, - . open space, the, in syrian villages, . optimism, . oriental, the, and the anglo-saxon, in each other's eyes, ; not afraid to "let himself go, " , ; dependence of, , ; craves sympathy, ; the vision of, ; his manner of speech, ; has not achieved much in the material world, ; his supreme choice has been religion, ; always conscious of god and the soul, ; does not know of atheism, , ; has always lived in a world of spiritual mysteries, ; his imprecations, - ; considers his personal enemies to be the enemies of god, ; more cruel in words than in deeds, ; the unveracious, - ; intellectual inaccuracy of, ; expects to be judged by what he means, not by what he says, , ; his speech is always illustrated, ; fond of metaphor and exaggeration, ; does not maliciously misrepresent, ; use of parables and proverbs, a characteristic of, ; makes no distinction between a parable and a proverb, ; his contempt for swineherds, , ; his tendency to swear, - ; the dialects of his speech, - ; his habit of imploring, - ; the intimacy and unreserve of his speech, - ; the unqualified positiveness of his speech, - ; bread and salt to, - ; his understanding of the prayer "give us our daily bread, " , ; religious attitude of, toward bread, ; bread-making of, - ; hospitality of, - ; his table appointments, , ; life is an inheritance to, ; the word _house_ precious to, ; his method of salutation, - ; knows no business without sociability, ; his reputed lack of regard for women, , ; gives man the precedence, , ; his manner rather than intentions toward woman at fault, , , , ; has only comparatively slight acquaintance with the art of living, ; his life simple and without exacting standards, , ; his social activities simple, ; hates to be standardized, ; abhors formalities in the family circle, , ; the family system of, patriarchal, , ; his attitude toward woman according to st. paul, - ; limits woman's social privileges because of fear for her, , ; his descriptions of feminine loveliness, - ; his description of the virtuous woman, - ; example of courtesy of, - ; his belief that all good comes from god, , ; his belief in the efficacy of touch to impart divine power, ; has been a leader in religion and a borrower in theology, . _see_ syria, syrians. oven, of the bible, - . overcautiousness in the pulpit, , . palestine, . parable, of the prodigal son, ; , - , , ; to picture demoralization beyond redemption, , ; on partiality, , ; of the wheat and the tares, - ; of the leaven, , ; of the lost sheep, , ; of the lost coin, - ; of the treasure hid in the field, - ; of the unrighteous judge, , ; of the three loaves, - . parables, speaking in, - ; and proverbs, oriental makes no distinction between, ; fondness of oriental for, , ; sociableness of, . parents, honoring and obeying, - , , . passover, feast of the, . path, the beaten, , . patron saints as heavenly messengers, . paul, his statements concerning the syrian attitude toward women, - . pebble, the covering of the, , . personality, secret of, an impenetrable mystery, . pessimism, . peter, his experience in the palace of the high priest, , ; jesus and, ; his vision, - . pilgrimage, meaning, to a syrian, , ; the _zeara_, - , , ; of jesus to jerusalem, - ; still common in syria, ; occasion of union among the common people, . place of residence, the term, . plough, the syrian, - . poetry, dominant feature of oriental speech, ; description of feminine loveliness in, , . _porter_, in translation of the bible, . positiveness of speech, oriental fondness for, , , - . prayer, ; the lord's, . prayers of the scriptures, due to persistence in petitioning, . praying on the housetop, - . presentation of child at temple, . prodigal son, parable of the, , , - , , . pronunciation of the syrians, - . protestantism, . proverbs, use of, an oriental characteristic, ; and parables, oriental makes no distinction between, . psalms due to persistence in petitioning, . purification period, . purse, the, . _rada'_ (cloak), , . _radha_ (good pleasure), - . rag trees, . rationalism, modern, . rebecca, , . reclining at meals, - . _refuge_, use of the term, , . religion, gives life and beauty to culture, ; the course of, has been from the east to the west, . religions, the three greatest, have originated in syria, . remembrance, - . reproduction, attitude of eastern peoples toward, , ; attitude of anglo-saxons toward, . retribution, - . revenge, idea of, lies deep in oriental nature, . rome, , . roof. _see_ housetop. st. john's gospel, the purpose of, - . sacrament, feasts and, - . salt, used at births, in syria, ; bread and, - , . "salted, " - . salutation, the oriental method of, - . sarah, . scribes and pharisees, rebuke of, , . scrip, the, . scriptures, spring from soil whose life is active sympathy of religion, . scriptures, the. _see_ bible. sermon on the mount, the, . "seventy times seven, " - . sheep, lost, parable of the, , - ; the killing of the, - ; the calling of, by name, ; the return of, at evening, ; guided by the shepherd, , ; the gathering of, ; their trust in their shepherd, . sheepfolds, - . _shelter_, use of the term, , . shepherd, solicitous watchfulness of, , , ; his tent and dog, ; going before the flock, , ; the guidance of, , ; the good, , ; carrying newly born lambs, , ; rescuing from wild beasts, - . shepherd life in syria, - . shoes, n., . signs and wonders, . sin, origin of, . sitting at meals, , - . sleeping, on couches, ; on the housetop, . sleeplessness, , . snow in syria, , . sociability, no business without, . sociableness of parabolic speech, . solomon's song, the realism of, - . "sop, " the, handed to judas, - . sower, the syrian, - . sowing in syria, , . speech, oriental's, his manner that of a worshipper, , ; his daily, - ; imprecations, - ; intellectual inaccuracy of, ; always illustrated, ; full of metaphor and exaggeration, - , ; its positiveness, , , - ; parabolic, - ; swearing, - ; the many and picturesque dialects of, - ; habit of imploring, - ; its intimacy and unreserve, - . spindle, the syrian, - . spinning in syria, - . spiritual visions, little room for, in modern life, . springs of water, , . staff, the syrian, . star of bethlehem, , , , . star-gazers, , . stars, oriental attitude toward, , ; multitude likened to, , ; of persons, , ; belief that they are alive with god, . stoves, . "strain at a gnat and swallow a camel, " streets, - . superstitions, - . swaddle, the, , . swearing, - . _see_ imprecations. swineherds, . syria, life in, to-day, the same as in the time of christ, , ; life of, must be studied from the inside, , , ; pilgrimages still common in, ; events on mount zion and in gethsemane illustrative of life in, - ; belief in regard to tares in wheat-field, common in, ; hidden treasures in, , ; sitting and reclining at meals in, - ; traveling in, - ; the market-place in, - ; caravans in, , ; drawing water in, ; measuring grain in, - ; the housetop in, - ; the vineyard and the fig tree in, - ; making wine in, - ; agricultural life in, - ; shepherd life in, - ; status of woman in, _see_ oriental, woman; marriage in, - ; the process of spinning in, - ; snow in, , ; grinding wheat in, - . _see_ oriental, syrians. syrian and american modes of thought, contrast between, , . syrian churches, , . syrians, attitude toward miracles, ; attitude toward conception and birth, ; customs of, at birth, ; attitude of, toward the stars, - ; their custom of kissing, ; life revolves around a religious center to, , ; their daily language is biblical, - ; have no secular language, ; mixture of piety and hatred characteristic of, ; expect to be judged by what they mean, not by what they say, ; love to speak in pictures, - ; their use of figurative language, ; their regard for leaven, ; the dialects of, - ; hospitality of, - ; family feasts of, - ; their use of the words _shelter_, _house_, _refuge_, - ; live for the most part out of doors, , ; have no word for _home_, ; lovers of their homes, . _see_ oriental, syria. _sûhad_ (sleeplessness), , . table appointments, , . tares, - . tare-sickness, . _tennûr_, for use in baking, . _tent_, the term, . _thaub_ (gown), . theology, the course of, has been from the west to the east, . theories about christ, . thigh, placing the hand under, - . thorns, , . threshing, , - . threshing-board, , - . tiles, . timepieces in syria, n. touch, divine power imparted by, - . tourists, books by, , . traitors, . traveling, in america, ; in the east, - . treading, the grapes, , ; the grain, , . treasure hid in a field, parable of, - . "treating, " . unleavened bread, . unrighteous judge, parable of the, , . unveracity of the oriental, - . vengeance, oriental idea of, . vine, and the fig tree, the oriental's chief joys, ; symbol of spiritual as well as physical family unity, ; the church as a, ; the family as a, . vineyard, blessings for the increase of, . vows, - , . wakefield, mr., quoted, . wallet, the, . washing the feet, - . watching for the dawn, - . wedding songs, . weddings, . wheat, measuring, - ; plucking and eating, ; threshing, - ; miraculous increase of, ; the grinding of, - . wild beasts, - . wills, . wine, the method of making, in the east, - , ; sweet and bitter, . wine cup, the mystery of, . wine-drinking, , . wine press, , , . wise men, the, , , . wolves, . woman, with child, ; east and west differ greatly in status of, , ; anglo-saxon regard for, ; reputed occidental contempt for, , ; culture and privileges of the american, ; the oriental indifferent to fine points of behavior toward, , ; the oriental does not consider man superior to, - ; christian and mohammedan, in syria, n., ; explanation of the oriental's attitude toward, , , ; in home of cultivated syrian, , ; syrian attitude toward, according to st. paul, - ; of syria, not always submissive, ; her social privileges in the east limited because of fear for her, , , ; a reason for veiling, in the east, ; modesty the chief charm of oriental, ; why called _hûrmat_, ; the _harem_, , ; reason for man's precedence of, in social affairs, , ; her place is in the home, ; classified with reference to virtue and its opposite, ; the oriental's descriptions of, - ; the virtuous, description of, - . _woman_, as a term of address, - . woman-stealing, , . wrestling in prayer, . yusuf balua', - . _zad_, - . _zeara_, the (pilgrimage to a shrine), - , - . _zûkreh_ (remembrance), , . the riverside press cambridge . massachusetts u. s. a. with the british army in the holy land by major h. o. lock the dorsetshire regiment with maps london: robert scott roxburghe house paternoster row, e.c. contents chapter i page egypt and the suez canal modern egypt--military geography of egypt--the eastern boundary--outbreak of war, --invasion of egypt by the turks--the dardanelles--defence problem at the opening of . chapter ii the desert of sinai across the canal--the military railway--the pipe-line--kantara--oghratina, katia and dueidar--romani--bir-el-abd--el arish--maghdaba--magruntein and rafa--sea-borne supplies--khan yunus--the land of promise--personnel. chapter iii mesopotamia, the caucasus, and the hejaz landing in mesopotamia-- operations--kut--baghdad--consolidation--interdependence of mesopotamia and palestine--caucasus--collapse of russia--the yemen--revolt of the hejaz--mecca--medina--maan--arab co-operation in eastern palestine. chapter iv palestine general idea--a comprehensive view--the sea--sand dunes--coastal plain--judæan hills--jordan valley--eastern palestine--armageddon--climate--railways--population. chapter v gaza history--importance of situation--topography--first battle of gaza--second battle of gaza--reorganization of the egyptian expeditionary force. chapter vi trench warfare fresh arrivals--journey to railhead--acclimatization--the turkish line--the british line--campaigning conditions--flies and dust--morale--humorous incidents--spies--raiding and shelling--defences at the apex--preparations for the offensive. chapter vii gaza and beersheba general plan of the battle--reasons--water--transport--bombardment of gaza--capture of beersheba--infantry attack on gaza--counter-attack at khuweilfeh--attack on sheria--evacuation of gaza--retreat of the enemy--the apex--shelling and raids. chapter viii full cry flight of the enemy--cavalry pursuit--crossing no man's land--infantry pursuit--water--arak-el-menshiyeh demonstration--mesmiyeh engagement--junction station captured--naaneh--gezer--jaffa--summary of the situation. chapter ix neby samwil routes into the hills--bireh--scheme of operations--the saris pass--contrast with hill fighting in india--enab--neby samwil--the key to jerusalem--consolidation and reliefs. chapter x jerusalem the th corps movements--the new line--counter-attacks--final advance--fighting round jerusalem--the enemy outmanoeuvred--surrender of the city--general allenby's entry and proclamation. chapter xi the holy city sacred to the jew, the christian and the moslem--the kings--nebuchadnezzar--nehemiah--alexander--ptolemy i--antiochus--the maccabees--pompey--herod--christ--titus--hadrian--constantine--chosroes-- islam--the crusaders--saladin--richard--the kharezmians--expulsion of the crusaders--tamerlane--the ottomans--napoleon--mohammed ali--routes taken by the several invaders. chapter xii junction station and ludd chaos--looting--turkish hospital--prisoners of war--vale of sorek--town planning--movements of troops--railway development--bridges--armoured train--junction station superseded by ludd--development of ludd--st. george. chapter xiii the jordan attempt to retake jerusalem--winter in palestine--jericho--advancing the line--crossing the jordan--raid on amman--raid on shunat nimrin. chapter xiv the wadi deir ballut crossing the auja--front line life in march--musketry--aircraft--flowers--wadi deir ballut--capture of deir ballut ridge. chapter xv the mountains of ephraim the new line--turkish reinforcements--method of holding the line--a patrol incident--capture of ikba. chapter xvi rafat arara--rafat--three bushes hill--collapse in france--reorganization. chapter xvii the crowning victory situation in september, --the terrain--preparations--mugheir--the sweep from rafat to the sea--cavalry--deraa--the turkish rout--eastern palestine--sea of galilee--damascus--summary of results. chapter xviii conclusion pursuit--beyrout--aleppo--armistices--close of the war--cross and crescent--résumé. sketch maps page i railways in ii gaza and beersheba iii country round jerusalem iv railways in v country round rafat note my aim in compiling this little book has been to provide a short account of the palestine campaign, illustrated from the experiences of one who was present. the manuscript was written on active service, soon after the occurrence of the events recorded. it may, on this account, be sketchy, but, it is hoped, not the less interesting. my acknowledgments are due to the official despatches and publications, and also to the writings of mr. w.t. massey, official correspondent with the egyptian expeditionary force. h. o. l. in the field, . [illustration] with the british army in the holy land chapter i egypt and the suez canal the holy land has been the scene of war since the dawn of history. long before belgium became the cock-pit of europe, palestine was the cock-pit of the known world. here, on the high road between asia and africa, were fought the great wars of egyptians and assyrians, israelites and canaanites, greeks and romans, saracens and crusaders. with these few square miles are associated the names of the world's greatest soldiers no less than that of the prince of peace. none can fail to be interested in the latest campaign in this land of armageddon. to understand the causes and events that led up to the campaign in palestine of - , we must first summarize, as shortly as possible, the modern history of egypt. that country had for many centuries formed an integral part of the turkish empire. but she had been rapidly slipping from the grasp of the turk. early in the nineteenth century mohamed ali had effectually thrown off the turkish yoke. true, the turkish suzerainty remained; but that authority was little more than nominal and was represented by an annual money tribute paid to the porte by the khedive out of the revenues of egypt. both france and england had large financial interests in egypt, especially after the construction of the suez canal, which was opened for traffic in . the suez canal, in fact, became of vital importance to great britain. by a stroke of policy the british government acquired the shares of the almost bankrupt khedive, ismail pasha, and thus had a holding in the company worth several million pounds. but far more important to britain was the position of the canal as the great artery of the british empire, the most vulnerable point on the short sea route to india. thus britain became directly concerned in the affairs of egypt, in its internal administration to secure peace within, and in its military defence to secure the country in general, and the canal zone in particular, from invasion by a foreign enemy. but the affairs of egypt were in a most unsatisfactory condition. the army was wholly unreliable, and extravagance in high places had brought the exchequer to the verge of bankruptcy. in matters reached a crisis. a revolution broke out, headed by arabi pasha, and the situation looked desperate. joint naval and military action by britain and france was proposed, but the french ships sailed away and left britain with a free hand. the british fleet bombarded the forts at alexandria and a military force, based on the suez canal, was landed at ismailia. this force completely defeated the army of arabi pasha at tel-el-kebir, put down the rebellion, and restored the government of the then khedive, tewfik pasha. but the khedivial government had been unable to cope with the rebellion single-handed; it had only been restored to power by british arms; it could not hope to retain that power unless continuously backed by the power of britain. from this time forward, whether she liked it or not, britain found herself effectually saddled with the direction of the government of egypt. in this position she became more fully confirmed by the anglo-egyptian military operations against the soudan in , under gordon, and in , under kitchener. outstanding differences with france were dispelled on the conclusion of the anglo-french entente cordiale, and britain was left virtually mistress of egypt. let us look for a minute at the military geography of egypt, particularly with regard to the security of her frontiers from invasion. egypt consists, or prior to the seventies consisted, of the nile, its valley and delta, and the country rendered fertile by that river. on either side of this fertile belt is dry, barren desert. on the north is the mediterranean sea, and on the south the tropical soudan. thus, in the hands of a power that holds the command of the sea, egypt is well adapted for defence. the tropical soudan makes a well-nigh impossible line of advance for a large hostile force from the south, and the routes of approach from the east and from the west, across the waterless deserts, present obstacles scarcely less formidable. since the seventies, however, another important factor has entered the problem, namely, the suez canal and the area of cultivation and civilization which has sprung up along its banks. the large amount of fresh water required for the maintenance of the canal, for the use of the towns that have sprung up along its banks, and for the existence of the large population which the canal has attracted, is brought by a canal known as the sweet water canal, from the river nile. this sweet water canal, and the piped services which it supplied, were, in , wholly upon the western or egyptian side of the suez canal. this western side was also well provided with communications. trunk railways connected ismailia, at the centre of the canal, with cairo and alexandria, and lateral railways, running along the whole length of the canal, connected it with port said and suez. although, as was subsequently discovered, the problem of defending the suez canal was by no means the same as that of defending egypt, the problems may, at first sight, appear identical. an enemy force moving from palestine against the suez canal and egypt, would have to cross a comparatively waterless desert for a distance of over a hundred miles. on coming into collision with the defenders of the canal, such an enemy would be operating far from his base, with a long and vulnerable line of communications, and with little or no available fresh water. the defenders, operating along the line of the suez canal, would be close to their base, with admirable communications, both lateral and to the rear, and with the rich cultivated lands of egypt on which to draw for supplies, whilst their supply of fresh water would be unlimited. the boundary line between egypt and palestine in ran from rafa, on the mediterranean, to the head of the gulf of akaba, the north-eastern arm of the red sea. this line runs right across the desert and is distant about miles from the suez canal. at first sight the boundary seems ideal, and in so far as the defence of egypt alone was concerned, it left little or nothing to be desired. but, as subsequent events proved, this line was not good enough to safeguard the defences of the canal. on the outbreak of war, in august, , between germany and austria-hungary on the one hand, and great britain, france, russia and belgium on the other, the garrison of egypt was augmented by troops sent out from england and india and from australia. the suez canal, through which vast numbers of troops were passing, was of vital importance to the communications of the allies, and was strongly guarded accordingly. two months later (november ), turkey threw in her hand with the central powers. one of the baits held out by germany to induce the turks to enter the struggle, was a promise that they should be restored to complete supremacy in egypt. with the entering of turkey into the war, and her open threats to invade egypt, the protection of that country and of the canal became a matter of extreme urgency. the policy of defence adopted was that of making the line of the canal the line of resistance. a large portion of the low-lying desert to the north-east of the canal was flooded, so as to render approach by that direction impossible. warships took up stations in the canal itself, while naval patrol launches took over the duty of guarding the bitter lakes. the troops detailed for the defence of the canal itself were entrenched upon the western side, with reserves concentrated at points of tactical importance. in this way full advantage was taken of the lateral communications on the western side of the canal, while it was thought that the difficulties of crossing the desert on the eastern side would make approach by the turks well-nigh impossible. meanwhile, the turk was not letting the grass grow under his feet. whether the germans ever intended to pay the price for turkish adhesion by sending a strong enough force to make the invasion of egypt practicable is open to doubt. the turkish rank and file were certainly led to believe that a serious invasion of egypt was intended. but it is much more likely that the object of the germans was to detain as large a british force as possible in egypt and thus prevent their taking part in the fighting in france. a secondary object may have been to render the suez canal temporarily impassable. whatever may have been the chestnuts that germany hoped to get out of the fire, it was clear that turkey was willing to act as catspaw, and attempt a foolhardy invasion of egypt. consequently, the construction of a new military railway in syria was put in hand, and by january, , the turks had formed advanced posts at auja, on the frontier, and also at kosseima, el arish, and khan epenus in the desert. the problem of water supply has always presented a difficulty to armies crossing this waterless desert. there are a certain number of reservoirs and cisterns which hold up water during the rains. in the winter time these would be full. the turk is less particular about the water which he drinks than the white man, and doubtless he could, to some extent, be supplied from some of the brackish pools in the desert, with water that no one would think of offering to a british soldier. the light pontoons that the turks dragged across the desert for crossing the canal are said to have been used for carrying water during certain stages of the advance. suffice it to say that the turks did succeed in solving the water problem, and in crossing the desert with a force of some considerable strength. on the rd february, , the threatened attack materialized. before dawn, some of the light pontoons which the turks had brought with them, were launched on the canal. these were manned, while other turks deployed along the eastern bank and opened fire to cover the crossing. the troops defending this portion of the canal, mostly indians, opened fire upon the pontoons, with the result that many of them were sunk. two of the pontoons, however, reached the western bank, and their crews, numbering about twenty, surrendered. there was fighting throughout the day, but no further crossing of the canal. on the next day the east bank was swept, with the result that a considerable party of the enemy were captured. after this, the turks withdrew, and marched back to palestine. this was the only time that a formed body of the enemy succeeded in reaching the canal. but they had shown that it was possible for them to achieve the almost impossible, and thus they gave the authorities responsible for the defence of egypt much food for thought. the menace to egypt was for a time delayed, though not wholly removed, by the expedition against the dardanelles. to co-operate with our russian allies, the british government decided, early in , to attempt to force the passage of the dardanelles. the strategic gains promised were highly attractive, and included--the passage of arms and munitions from the allies to russia in exchange for wheat, the neutrality and possible adherence of the outstanding balkan states, the severing of communications between european and asiatic turkey, the drawing off of turkish troops from the theatres of the war, and the expulsion of the turks from constantinople, and ultimately from europe. incidentally, it was considered, on the principle that the best defensive is an offensive, that a thrust at the very heart of turkey, a threat against constantinople itself, would afford the best means of defending egypt. the story of the dardanelles expedition has been often told, and scarcely forms a part of this history, so a few words must suffice. in february, , we started by bombarding the forts with a few old warships. the forts at the outer entrance were soon silenced, and early in march, the warships moved up to the narrows. on the th, a great effort was made to reduce the forts about the narrows; but it failed, with the loss of three battleships and more than , men. this demonstrated the fact that the dardanelles could never be opened by sea power alone, and, accordingly, amphibious operations became necessary. an expeditionary force was assembled in egypt, and mudros was selected as the advanced base. on april , landings were effected on the extreme point of the gallipoli peninsula. in spite of heroic attempts, we did little more than effect a precarious lodgment. further operations were necessary; additional divisions were brought out from home; and on the night of the th/ th august, another landing was effected at suvla bay. but the new plan was no more successful than the old. within a couple of days this force also had settled down to a war of positions. winter was approaching; our positions on the peninsula would then become no longer tenable. no progress could be made, and at length it was decided to evacuate. the suvla bay force was withdrawn first; and the evacuation of the main body of troops was completed on the th december. the withdrawal was carried out with the same brilliance that had characterized the various landings, and with so small a number of casualties that it was described as "an achievement without parallel in the annals of war." many of the regiments that fought against the turks at gallipoli were withdrawn, directly or indirectly to egypt, and subsequently met the turk again during the advance into palestine. included among these were the th, nd, rd and th divisions, besides regiments of anzacs and yeomanry. in so far as the dardanelles operations aimed at protecting egypt, they were a success; for, while they were in progress, no organized invasion of egypt was attempted. but the evacuation had the effect of liberating a large force of turkey's best troops for operations against mesopotamia and egypt. it would be convenient to pause here and take stock of the military situation in egypt, in the light of over a year's experience of actual war. in the first place, the turks had disillusioned us as to the impossibility of crossing the waterless desert, and had actually crossed it with a considerable armed and organized force. they announced that what they had effected had been nothing more than a reconnaissance. in any case, they had shown us what they could do, and that, backed by the resources of the central powers, there would be no insuperable obstacle to their bringing a large and fully equipped army across the desert. in the second place, we had discovered that the problems of defending the suez canal and of defending egypt were not identical. while the canal formed an admirable moat, an obstacle difficult to negotiate when stoutly defended, and so a capital defensive line for the protection of the nile; yet this line was inadequate for the protection of the canal itself or for securing the immunity of the passing shipping. and so, thirdly, we realized that some other line must be found for the protection of the canal. while we were sitting on the west bank, small parties of turks approached the eastern bank. on more than one occasion, in the summer of , they succeeded in placing mines in the fairway of the canal. it would, therefore, have been quite possible for them to have seriously interfered with the working of the canal and the passage of shipping. granted that a new line must be found, the question arises where such new line should be drawn. a line across the actual desert may be all very well in war time, though none too easy to hold, for the reasons that we have already discussed. but to keep a garrison on such a line for ever would be well-nigh intolerable. thus, by a process of elimination, we find that the most suitable line for the permanent defence of the suez canal is the fertile country beyond the eastern desert--in other words, palestine. fourthly, it had been brought home to us that the worst form of defence is a passive defence. as, therefore, the turk would not leave well alone, but insisted on attacking us in egypt, so it became necessary for us to meet him on his own ground, to push a vigorous offensive, and eventually to carry the war into palestine. chapter ii the desert of sinai in accordance with the policy of defending the suez canal upon a line further east, the construction of a new defensive line was put in hand during the early months of . no longer were the turks to be allowed to annoy us by actually reaching the canal. a line of trenches, protected by barbed wire entanglements, was constructed out in the desert, a few miles to the east of the canal. as may be imagined, this was no easy task. a large amount of excavation was necessary for a small amount of trench; walls had to be built up with sandbags; and other steps had to be taken to prevent the sides from foundering, and to construct a work that would withstand shell fire. meanwhile, other preparations were put in hand for carrying the defensive line further to the east. the construction was commenced of a broad gauge of railway from kantara eastwards across the desert. this railway eventually became the trunk line between egypt and palestine. in the days of trench warfare before gaza, it transported freight trains heavily laden with rations and ammunitions, troop trains conveying officers and men in open trucks, hospital trains evacuating sick and wounded, and an all-sleeping-car express running nightly in each direction. in , a swing-bridge was improvised across the suez canal, and jerusalem and cairo were then connected by rail without change of carriage being necessary. the future prospects of this railway seem unbounded. it will undoubtedly be continued through to damascus and aleppo, where it will connect with railways to constantinople and to baghdad and the persian gulf. thus it will form part of a grand trunk railway system along the old caravan routes connecting the three continents of europe, asia, and africa. in its conception, it was just a military railway, laid, with but little preparation, across the sands of the desert. to this railway, however, was largely due the success of the campaign that we are about to consider. we have already seen that the sinaitic desert is almost waterless. although it has often been crossed by invading armies in both directions, the provision of water has always presented the greatest difficulty. the carriage of water in tanks upon the backs of camels, a method used by us for locally supplying troops between water dumps and the headquarters of units, proved successful here thousands of years ago. the plan adopted by the turks of dragging water-holding pontoons across the desert was not to be despised. further progress was made when supplies of water were transported in tank-trucks along the railway. but a bolder adaptation of modern science to desert fighting was reached, when it was decided to lay on a piped supply of water from the nile. we have seen that the western bank of the suez canal was already provided with a plentiful supply of fresh water by the sweet water canal. plant was now installed for making this water available for the troops. purity had to be considered as well as adequacy of supply. a peculiar danger had to be guarded against. there is a disease prevalent in egypt, of a particularly unpleasant character and persistent type, called by the medical profession bilhaziosis, but better known to our men as "bill harris." this disease is conveyed by a parasitic worm found in the waters of the nile, and affects not only those who drink the water, but also those who bathe in it or merely wash. consequently, orders were stringent against even touching nile water which had not previously been treated. this necessitated the troops east of the canal being put upon a very restricted supply, and they were accordingly rationed at the rate of a gallon of water per head per day for all purposes, including washing, cooking and drinking. at the kantara waterworks water was drawn in from the sweet water canal, mixed with alum, and pumped through settling tanks into filters. when it had passed through these, it was pumped underneath the suez canal into reservoirs on the eastern bank. here it was chlorinated; and hence the water, now fit for all purposes, was pumped forward to its destination. there being no gradient to assist the natural flow of the water, it had to be pumped forward by successive stages. the first stage was as far as romani; when working at greatest length the pumping stages numbered no less than seventeen. at times, during the advance, the railway had to be called in aid; and train-loads of water for the use of advanced troops were railed from pipe-head up to rail-head. at some stages of the advance this supply could be supplemented by local water, which, though generally somewhat brackish, was employed for the horses, mules and camels. it was even found to have no ill-effect upon the troops, if used for a limited period, and if necessary precautions were taken. at other stages, where water was non-existent, or rendered wholly unapproachable by enemy dispositions, our force became entirely dependent upon the supply delivered through the pipe-line. ultimately, when we settled down to protracted trench warfare before gaza, this pipe-line was delivering a constant supply of water into our trenches, distant some couple of hundred miles from the banks of the nile. kantara started upon a process of development worthy of the base of such an expedition. before the war, it had been little more than a small canal village, comprising a few huts. it eventually grew into an important railway terminus with wharves and cranes, a railway ferry and miles of sidings. miles of first-class macadamized roads were made, vast ordnance and supply dumps arose, and camps and depots were established for man and beast. the scale on which this mushroom town developed was stupendous. early in , the turks, relieved from imminent danger near home by our evacuation of gallipoli, came down again in force through syria, palestine and the desert, to attack us in egypt. our construction gangs, engaged upon the new railway and upon the development of local water supplies, were at this time covered by escorts, mainly of cavalry, spread out upon a wide front. on the rd of april several thousand turks, operating in three columns, attacked our desert posts at oghratina, katia and dueidar respectively, the two former being about miles and the last named about miles to the east of kantara. oghratina and katia, being well out in the desert, were cavalry posts held by yeomanry. these two posts were rushed by a large force of the enemy under cover of fog, and, though a stubborn resistance was offered, and the fighting was severe, the posts were overwhelmed. at dueidar, an infantry post, some miles or so nearer our base, the turk was less successful. under cover of the same fog, about turks tried to rush this post at dawn. they found the garrison standing to, and were beaten off. though they made three distinct attempts to break through, they were unsuccessful. the garrison was reinforced and the turks were repulsed. in order to hamper or prevent such bodies of turks from again crossing the desert and approaching the canal, it was decided to draw off the local water supplies in the desert. accordingly, these supplies, mainly in pools and cisterns constructed by men in a bygone age, were systematically pumped or drained dry. by the end of june, no water was left available for enemy use within easy reach of the canal. from this time forward the enemy attempted no more sporadic raids. he concentrated instead upon a serious attack against our main positions, which attack materialized at romani. by july, , our railway had reached the village of romani, which is some miles from kantara, and is in the neighbourhood of oghratina and katia, where the enemy had secured his success in april. the turkish force had been stiffened with germans and austrians, and was under the command of the german general von kressenstein. it moved from the turkish railroad at auja on the frontier, and advanced by way of maghdaba and the wadi el arish to el arish, and thence westward along the caravan route towards egypt. this force had been well equipped and trained for this class of warfare, and it succeeded in dragging heavy guns across the desert byroads which it improvised for the purpose. making his advanced base at bir-el-abd, the enemy first occupied and fortified a line about mageiba. on the morning of the rd august, he made a general advance, and took up a line fronting our position at romani. here our left flank rested on the sea; the left of the line was held by the nd division, while the rd division was on the right. the east lancashire division was in reserve. the right flank comprised a chain of posts, behind which were a force of cavalry. the weak point was, therefore, our right flank, for a little force working round by the south would threaten our communications and might possibly cut us off from our reinforcements down the line and from our base at kantara. accordingly, on the night of the rd/ th, one light horse brigade moved out to hold a three-miles line from our infantry post on the right, sending out patrols a considerable distance in front. about midnight, the enemy were found to be advancing in this direction. before light next morning this brigade were heavily engaged, holding up the advance of a considerable body of the enemy. gradually the brigade were pressed back by weight of numbers, until, at about five o'clock in the morning, the timely arrival of reinforcements secured the complete arrest of the enemy advance in this direction. soon after daylight the enemy swung round his left flank and established himself upon mount royston. this enforced upon us a further retirement; but he had reached the limit of his success. towards the sea, the enemy attacks against the nd division were beaten off, and here he could make no progress. at about . in the afternoon, a counter-attack was launched against mount royston, and this position was recaptured. early on the following morning, the th, before daylight, the nd division recaptured wellington ridge, the last of our lost positions remaining in the hands of the turk. the tide had now turned definitely in our favour and the turk was in full retreat. an attempt was made to encircle his southern flank and to cut him off with our cavalry, but his rearguard actions were fought stubbornly, and the pursuing cavalry had to be withdrawn. during the night of the th/ th, the enemy evacuated katia, which was occupied by us on the following morning. by the th, he had abandoned oghratina, and had fallen back to his advanced base at bir-el-abd. from this base he now proceeded to evacuate camps and stores, but he was not allowed to do so unmolested. he was followed up by the whole of our cavalry and effectually shelled by our horse artillery. on the afternoon and evening of this day (the th) the turk counter-attacked our cavalry, who were clearly outnumbered. nevertheless the turk considered it more prudent to burn the remainder of his stores. he completed the evacuation of abd by the th, and it remained in our hands from this time forward. this abortive advance against romani marked the last determined attempt of the turks to invade the suez canal and egypt. henceforth the efforts of the turks were confined to opposing the storm which their misguided cupidity had raised up against them. after the battle of romani, our mounted troops held a line about abd. the enemy now consolidated a position at mazar, a little more than miles further to the east. in the middle of september, a cavalry column moved out to mazar and attacked the turkish positions. neither side was anxious to bring on a general engagement at that time. however, the losses which the turk suffered in this operation caused him sufficient uneasiness to induce him to withdraw altogether from mazar. he therefore withdrew his troops to a position close to el arish. the turkish garrison at el arish consisted of some , infantry in all, in a strong entrenched position. in the second week of december increased activity was shown by the turks, and aerial reconnaissance of their camps behind their front line showed evidence of the proximity of reinforcements. our preparations for a forward move were pressed on strenuously, and, though they were somewhat delayed through lack of water, we were ready to move by the th december. the enemy realized that the swiftness of our final preparations had been too much for him. knowing that his reinforcements could not arrive in time, he hurriedly withdrew his troops from el arish. this retirement was reported by the r.f.c. on the th december, and our mounted troops, supported by infantry, were ordered to move on el arish the same night. the town was found to be evacuated. aircraft reports showed that about , of the enemy were on the march, in two columns, in the neighbourhood of maghdaba and abu aweigila, while sheikh zowaid and rafa appeared to be clear. the enemy were evidently not retreating by the caravan route towards gaza, but were falling back southwards by the wadi el arish (the biblical "river of egypt") upon their rail-head at auja. this evidence went to show that the garrison which had recently evacuated el arish were at maghdaba, and it seemed likely that this force were preparing to hold maghdaba as a rearguard. a flying column of cavalry was immediately despatched against them from el arish. this column found the enemy strongly posted and entrenched on both banks of the wadi el arish. an attack was set in motion on the morning of the rd december, and lasted for the greater part of the day. by half-past four that afternoon, however, all organized resistance was over, and the enemy were surrendering everywhere. no further advance was attempted along the enemy's line of communications towards auja, and the troops, being but a flying column, retired at once to el arish. within a few days after the destruction at maghdaba of the rearguard, or garrison withdrawing from el arish, another body of the enemy started to entrench a position at magruntein near rafa. this was obviously intended to bar our progress eastwards along the coastal route, the old caravan route to gaza. rafa is the frontier town upon the turco-egyptian frontier. the operation to which we are about to refer was, therefore, the last engagement that took place upon egyptian territory. it was not possible at the end of december for the british force to push on and occupy rafa permanently, owing to difficulties of supply. but since the enemy had again placed a small detached garrison within striking distance of our mounted troops, the temptation was held out for a repetition of the maghdaba success at magruntein. accordingly, a flying column, composed wholly of mounted troops and artillery, moved out from el arish on the evening of the th/ th january, . the enemy was taken completely by surprise, and by dawn on the th january his position was almost entirely surrounded. the position, however, was a formidable one, with ground in front entirely open and devoid of cover. the main attack was timed for ten o'clock a.m., and was delivered from the east and south-east. the town of rafa was soon occupied, and, in the course of the morning, our attack against the turkish system of defences developed on every side. the enemy's works were dominated by a central redoubt or keep, and orders were given for a concerted attack to be developed against this at . p.m. meanwhile the enemy had despatched a relieving force from shellal, which is about twenty miles to the south-east of rafa and mid-way between that town and the nearest turkish railway. this relieving force was detected by our aircraft, who frequently attacked it with bombs and machine gun fire. orders were at once given for the attack on the redoubt to be pressed with vigour, and, before five o'clock, the redoubt was captured. with this position in our hands, the remaining works soon fell, and by . p.m. all organized resistance was over, and the enemy position, with all its garrison, was captured. the relieving force were driven off without much difficulty, and withdrew, presumably, to shellal, which thereafter became the enemy's next point of concentration. our column, taking with them all prisoners, animals and captured material, withdrew again to el arish. from the time of our occupation of el arish on the nd december, that town developed apace. mine-sweeping operations were at once commenced in the roadstead, a pier was erected, and, on the th, the supply ships from port said began unloading stores and supplies. the lie of the land gives unlimited opportunity to a power having the command of the sea to supplement his other means of bringing forward supplies by landing sea-borne goods upon the open beach. repeatedly, in the subsequent history of this war, we availed ourselves of this means of supply, as our army moved northwards in palestine. the landing of stores at el arish, however, was not wholly successful, owing to the strong currents, a shelving and shifting beach, and heavy surf. in winter, the sea is apt to be stormy here, and then such landing may become impossible. supplies were also hastened to el arish by camel convoy, and dumps were accumulated. the railway was pushed on with and, before the end of january, the railway station at el arish was completed; during the following month the railway was pushed further out along the coast preparatory to another advance. after the destruction of their post at rafa, the turks immediately began to concentrate their forces near shellal. west of this place they prepared a strong defensive position near weli sheikh nuran, with the object of covering their lines of communication both along the beersheba railway and along the jerusalem-hebron-beersheba road. they also established themselves at khan yunus, on the coastal road a few miles to the east of rafa. on the rd february, a reconnaissance was carried out against khan yunus. the column, arriving at dawn, found the position strongly held, and, after manoeuvring the enemy out of his front line of defence and capturing prisoners, withdrew without difficulty. continuous pressure maintained by our troops in this neighbourhood, however, induced the enemy to withdraw the garrison of khan yunus, which place was entered by our cavalry without opposition on the th february. the enemy also evacuated without firing a shot the position which he had prepared near weli sheikh nuran. our troops had crossed the desert with success attending them at every stage. and now at last they had set foot in the promised land. many of them must have felt, what a soldier was afterwards heard to express, "this may be the land of promise; it's certainly not the land of fulfilment." history repeats itself. as the israelites had much trial and suffering to endure after reaching this stage of their journey from egypt, before they were permitted to "go in and possess the land," so had our lads many a fierce and bloody battle to fight before they, too, might set foot within the holy city. a few words as to personnel may not be out of place before we leave the subject of this desert campaign. throughout this time the commander-in-chief of the egyptian expeditionary force was general sir archibald murray, g.c.m.g., k.c.b. a reorganization of the force took place in october, , in consequence of which general murray moved his headquarters back from ismailia to cairo. at the same time, the new headquarters of the eastern force came into existence at ismailia under the command of lieut.-general sir charles dobell, k.c.b., c.m.g., d.s.o., under whose direction thus came more immediately the operations in the eastern desert. amongst the troops employed were the australians and new zealanders and several regiments of english yeomanry, and, included among the infantry, were the nd (lowland), the rd (welsh and home counties), the th (east anglian) and the th (dismounted yeomanry) divisions. this review of the advance across the desert has of necessity been superficial. strictly speaking, the desert campaign is outside the scope of this book. but a summarized history of the advance forms a necessary introduction to our subject. here, on the threshold of palestine, we must leave this army for a short space, while we review some other operations, and while we take a glance at the nature of the country in which this army was about to operate. chapter iii mesopotamia, the caucasus, and the hejaz having taken a hurried glance at the campaign in sinai, which directly led up to that in palestine, we will take a yet more hurried glance at three other campaigns in asiatic turkey which had their bearing, direct or indirect, upon the palestine operations. most important among these was the expedition to mesopotamia. in , when turkey came into the war against us, a british indian brigade was landed at the mouth of the shatt-el-arab, the common estuary by which the tigris and the euphrates reach the persian gulf. the objects of this expedition were to secure the oil-fields of persia in which britain was largely interested; to neutralize german ascendancy, which was rapidly developing in this part of the world through her interests in the baghdad railway; and to embarrass turkey by attacking her at a point where facilities of manoeuvre and supply seemed to hold out a reasonable promise of success. throughout this expedition met with uninterrupted success. the british indian forces engaged were increased in number and strength, and, in spite of appalling conditions of climate, and notwithstanding more than one narrow escape from disaster, the british flag was pushed further and further forward into this flat alluvial country. in the autumn of , we held all the country up to nasiriyeh on the euphrates and to kut el amara on the tigris. then that ill-fated decision was arrived at which sent general townshend, with the inadequate force at his command, up the tigris to capture baghdad. this force went heroically forward, and, just short of that city, defeated the turks at the battle of ctesiphon. but general townshend's casualties were heavy, and his available reinforcements were neither sufficiently numerous nor at hand. the pick of the turkish army released by our withdrawal from gallipoli, had poured down to reinforce the enemy, and general townshend had no alternative but to beat a hasty retreat. accordingly, he fell back to kut el amara. partly from inability to get his war-worn forces further away, and partly from a disinclination to abandon this important tactical point to the enemy, he consolidated here and prepared to withstand a siege. the history of that siege will live as one of the noblest in the annals of the british army. but the stars in their courses fought against us. strong enemy positions, inadequate supplies and transport arrangements, floods, and appalling conditions of country and weather, proved overwhelming. in spite of the unremitting efforts of the relieving army, which fought battle after battle without stint of labour or loss, the garrison of kut found themselves, at the beginning of may, , left with no alternative but to capitulate. almost the whole of the garrison were removed into asia minor, to a captivity which few were destined to survive. naturally the turks were much elated by this success, following upon their successes in gallipoli, and were persuaded that the might of the british arm was nothing which they need fear. leaving a sufficient force to check any further british advance into mesopotamia, the turk withdrew the bulk of his forces to operate against the russians and, perhaps wisely, made no great effort to dislodge us from the territory which we already occupied. the opposing forces sat down and watched each other for many months in the entrenched positions below kut. in march of the following year, , general maude, on whom had fallen the command of the british army in mesopotamia, won a decisive victory at kut; and, pursuing the remnants of the routed enemy, entered baghdad. the turks withdrew to the higher country north and north-east of the city, whither they were pursued. after these operations, the british were in occupation of the completed section of the baghdad railway, which was then open from baghdad as far north as samarra. they also effected a junction with the russian troops operating in persia. in the following september, engagements were fought at ramadi and elsewhere on the euphrates, with the result that the turkish garrisons were rounded up, and but few turkish troops were left to oppose the british forces in mesopotamia. nevertheless, an immediate advance was not made up to mosul and the upper territories of mesopotamia. owing to the collapse of russia, it became necessary for us to take over some of the country in persia, which had previously been occupied by russian troops, and an expedition was also sent to assist the armenians at baku on the caspian sea. other troops which could be spared from mesopotamia were sent round, in the spring of , to take part in the operations in palestine, and the forces that remained were devoted to the garrisoning and consolidation of the territory already occupied. a glance at the map of turkey in asia will show that the provinces of mesopotamia and syria consist of long narrow strips of fertile country bordered by desert, and resemble two legs which fork at aleppo. as far as aleppo, troops and supplies from europe passed over one common route. from the turkish point of view, therefore, the campaigns in these two countries were to some extent interdependent. this enabled the turks to concentrate a reserve at aleppo, ready to be moved down into either theatre of war as the exigencies of the situation might demand. conversely, therefore, a british offensive in mesopotamia might draw off troops destined for palestine, or an offensive in palestine might attract troops otherwise intended for operations in mesopotamia. there is strong evidence that a turco-german offensive was contemplated in mesopotamia for . in the spring of that year, however, a british offensive was undertaken in palestine, which had the immediate effect of drawing to that country strong turkish and german reinforcements from aleppo. nothing more was heard of the offensive in mesopotamia, and, by the autumn of , there was scarcely a fighting turk to be found in that country. just as our expedition against the dardanelles, by engaging the enemy at a vital spot near home, had materially assisted the defence of egypt, so did our offensives in palestine materially assist the defence of mesopotamia. turning to another corner of the map of turkey, where europe and asia meet in the mountains of the caucasus, we see that the turkish frontier here marches with that of russia. in the earlier days of the war, the russians carried out an important and successful advance in this neighbourhood, and, early in , occupied the cities of trebizond and erzerum. thus, at the time when the campaign in palestine was embarked upon, the armies of the allies were closing in upon eastern turkey simultaneously from three directions, the russian caucasus army from the north-east, the british mesopotamian army from the south-east, and the egyptian expeditionary force from the south. strategically, the situation seemed full of promise. but, in the winter of - , followed the disastrous collapse of russia, and the setting free of many turkish soldiers of good quality from all the russian fronts for service elsewhere. we had hoped that our offensive in syria might have been supported by the co-operation of the russians. instead, we felt the pinch of their defection in the stiffening of enemy resistance on our front by the transfer of good troops from the caucasus to palestine. there is yet another theatre of warfare in asiatic turkey, the operations in which exerted considerable influence on those in palestine. the whole of the eastern shores of the red sea formed part of the ottoman empire. the southernmost sector, known as the yemen, was the farthest outpost of that empire. here a few turks and arabs conducted a sporadic warfare against our garrison at aden, more calculated to cause annoyance and to detain a british force of some strength than to exercise much influence upon the war as a whole. farther to the north, on this red sea littoral, is a province of much more importance, the hejaz, in which are situate the most holy of cities in the moslem world, mecca and medina. to christians, the hejaz is forbidden ground. to mahomedans, it is the focus of pilgrimage from all parts of the world. the sultan of turkey, as the ruler of mecca, is looked up to by the sunni or orthodox mahomedans in all lands as the spiritual head of their church. though rulers of the hejaz, the turks were not at one with the local population. these are arabs, and to them the turkish rule was as unpopular as to most other non-turkish subjects of that decaying empire. profiting by turkey's embarrassments in other parts, the arabs rose in the summer of , resolved on ridding themselves of the hated turkish yoke. sheikh hussein of mecca was proclaimed king of the hejaz. at this time there were garrisons of turkish troops stationed at mecca, medina and at the port of jiddah. their communication with turkey was by the recently opened railway to damascus and aleppo. this railway, south of damascus, ran along the high plateau on the eastern side of the dead sea, through maan, and along the desert to medina. the intention was to carry the line ultimately through to mecca, but at this time it was only open for traffic as far as medina. the revolt broke out on the th june, , at which date a cordon was spread round medina. jiddah was attacked on the th, and capitulated after holding out for only a week. the bulk of the mecca garrison were at this time at taif. accordingly, the town of mecca passed into the hands of the emir, with the exception of the ports. these put up a small fight, but had all surrendered by the middle of july. the force at taif were blockaded, and, on the rd september, this force also surrendered. by this time, all the outlying garrisons had been disposed of, and the hejaz generally cleared of turks. meanwhile, medina had not only held out, but had been reinforced, and the fighting strength brought up to some , . late in september, the turks sallied out and established a cordon of posts at a distance of some to miles from the city. they also pushed further afield; but, arab armies moving up from the south, the turks withdrew, at the end of the year, behind the cordon of posts which they had established. for the next six months, the railway to the north of medina was frequently raided by the arabs, but the town was effectually cut off from its communications with turkey. in july, , akaba, at the head of the gulf of that name, the north-eastern arm of the red sea, was captured. this is at no great distance from maan, an important depot on the hejaz railway, the last outpost of syria at the edge of the desert of north arabia. from akaba, the railway was now attacked at maan, with serious results to medina; nevertheless, that city continued to hold out, and was probably never very closely invested. in october and november, , about the time of the third battle of gaza, the turks were still in maan, and tried to assume the offensive against the arabs, but proved too weak to succeed. after the fall of jerusalem, the turks withdrew to some extent, and the arabs advanced towards the lands east of the dead sea. from this period forward, the history of the hejaz revolt merges in that of the palestine campaign. the arab forces east of the dead sea afforded a safeguard against any possible turkish attempt to move round our right flank and raid our line of communications. in february and in march, , turkish expeditions moving against the arab forces of the king of the hejaz southward from kerak, near the south-eastern corner of the dead sea, met with failure. the former expedition ended in disaster, and the latter was forced to withdraw, owing to the imminence of a british crossing of the jordan in its rear. arab activity on the railway now definitely isolated medina. although the arabs were never strong enough to push a powerful force up through eastern palestine, yet the presence of a friendly force operating in that country exercised considerable influence upon the later stages of the palestine campaign. the assistance which the arabs gave in the ultimate destruction of the turkish army was invaluable. chapter iv palestine the story of a campaign is more interesting if we have a general idea of the topography of the country in which it is conducted. our time will, therefore, not be wasted if we leave the british army on the frontiers of the holy land for a few minutes longer and form a mental picture of the terrain over which they are about to operate. picture a country, about the size of wales, divided into parallel strips running north and south, zones of alternate elevation and depression. this will give a rough idea of the conformation of southern palestine. on the west is the mediterranean sea. skirting the sea are a series of sand dunes, beyond which comes the coastal plain. together, these form the first depressed strip, averaging about miles in width. northwards, it tapers to a point where the mountains reach the sea at cape carmel. beyond the coastal plain is the range of mountains on which stands jerusalem, the mountains of samaria and of judæa, rising to a height of about , feet above the level of the sea. on the eastern side of these mountains is a steep drop to the valley of the jordan and the dead sea, the level of the latter being nearly , feet below the level of the mediterranean, and more than , feet below the summit of the adjoining mount of olives. beyond the jordan valley the country rises again abruptly into the hills of moab or eastern palestine. beyond lies the waterless desert. before entering into details, let us imagine ourselves to be standing on one of the mountains round about jerusalem.[ ] away to the north, mount carmel rises abruptly from the sea. thence the chain of carmel runs s.s.e. for some miles, dividing the coastal plain from the plain of esdraelon. about dothan and tul keram it merges in the range comprising the mountains of samaria and judæa, which range runs north and south through the land like the backbone of a fish, with steep spurs, like ribs, thrown out on either side towards the coastal plain and the jordan valley. westwards, we look down upon the cultivated plain, and across it to the golden belt of sand dunes, tapering like the waist of an hour-glass where the olive plain touches the sea at jaffa; beyond, lies the deep blue of the mediterranean. eastwards is a sheer abyss falling into the jordan valley, where that river, like a silver thread, winds its way along until it falls into the dead sea. beyond, as if across a fifteen-mile moat, rise abruptly the mountains of moab. the map of palestine might be aptly compared to a bridge marker. the horizontal line is the plain of esdraelon. in vertical columns "below the line" lie the strips of the country which we have just described. "above the line" are the mountains of lebanon, tabor and hermon, galilee and the sea of tiberias, and the valleys and rivers of damascus. let us consider these zones in greater detail, more especially with regard to their influence on war. the sea, which skirts palestine throughout its length, confers a twofold advantage upon her mistress. in the first place, it provides a supplementary line of communication. we have already seen that, during the advance across the desert, sea-borne supplies from port said were landed at el arish. this method was continued throughout our advance in palestine, and landing places were improvised at various convenient stages. there is no good harbour along this coast; and landing, which has to be done by beach boats, is difficult, especially in a westerly wind. nevertheless, considerable supplies were thus landed, chiefly of fuel and fodder, which would be little liable to damage by immersion. in the second place, help can be given during actual military operations by the navy. our ships frequently lay off the coast and bombarded the enemy's positions. of necessity, each side had a flank resting on the sea. to the british, this was a feature of strength; to the turk, it was one of weakness. he was compelled therefore at all times to draw back or "refuse" his coastal flank, while the british flank was constantly thrown forward menacing the flank of the enemy. there is little to be said about the sand dunes, though, being on the flank, they were often the scene of operations. the sand here is soft and the going bad. recourse in these operations was therefore had to camel transport. to the field engineer, difficulties were presented much as in the desert. during the trench warfare before gaza, when a raid was carried out on beach post, no attempt was made to cut the enemy wire with our artillery, but the wire was simply pulled up by hand with the standards, for which the soft sand had provided no firm foundations. the coastal plain comprises, towards the north, the biblical plain of sharon, and, towards the south, the land of philistia. by this plain, and not through judæa, lies the road from the nile to the euphrates. along this plain have marched the invading armies of all the ages. though generally a flat country, the flatness is relieved by a few rolling hills, of no great height. it is very fertile and has a good supply of water, contained in wells. it thus presents many advantages, and but few disadvantages, to an army operating in the field. roads are good or are easily improvised, while such obstacles to an invader's advance do not exist here as in the hills. our successes in the campaign under consideration were generally attained by first pushing forward along the plain and then turning right-handed into the hills. from the plain, the country rises, in places through the intermediate foot hills of the shephelah, in places more abruptly and directly into the mountains of judæa. these mountains are of limestone formation, terraced, where possible, for cultivation, and often wooded with olive trees or tilled as corn patches or vineyards. the scenery is rugged and pretty, the hill-sides generally steep, sometimes precipitous. this is the palestine of the picture books. deep gorges have been cut out by water action; but, as no rain falls throughout the summer months, these are, for the most part, but dry watercourses. there are a few good springs to be found in the valleys; the villagers upon the hills are, however, mainly dependent upon cisterns constructed in the rock, in which they catch as much water as possible during the winter rains. these mountains formed the stronghold of the israelites, who never maintained sway for any length of time over the lower surrounding country. the mountains abound in ruins and are rich in caves, such as may have been the caves of en-gedi and adullam. one of the caves witnessed a lurid scene in our mountain fighting. a party of the enemy had established themselves in a cave with machine guns. ghurkhas attacked, and the enemy, after inflicting casualties, thought to make good their escape by a back exit. but outside there were other ghurkhas lying in wait, and, as the enemy emerged, they killed them all. we have seen that the general formation of this range of mountains is like the backbone of a fish. we should therefore expect to find communications from north to south easy enough along the "spine" or ridge, but difficult on either side, where there would be a succession of "ribs" or spurs to be crossed. this is the case. there is only one first-class road from north to south through this hill-country, namely, that which runs along the ridge from samaria through nablus, jerusalem, bethlehem and hebron to beersheba. communications from east to west are, however, more easy along the spurs and intervening valleys. to attempt an advance northwards, from spur to spur, is tedious work; after a comparatively short push a pause is necessary to enable roads to be constructed for bringing forward guns and supplies. we had an illustration of this in march, , when a forward move of this character met at first with but moderate opposition. a pause of a few weeks was necessary to enable fresh roads to be made. in the meantime, the enemy had been heavily reinforced, and, when the next advance was attempted, stout resistance was encountered. this hill-country lent itself readily to defence. mutually supporting heights could be held. a hill, when captured thus, became a focus for fire concentrated from all the hills around. so when the turks attacked us in these hills they met with much less success than in the jordan valley; and, on the other hand, they were able to offer a stouter resistance to our attacks in these hills than they could on the coastal plain. the jordan valley, as we have already seen, is more than a thousand feet below the level of the mediterranean, that is, below what we speak of as "sea level." in this respect it is unique in the geography of the world. in winter time the climate is equable; in summer it is unbearable. in peace time, even the bedouin forsake it in summer. the district is pestilential to a degree, and, in no sense of the word, a white man's country. it possesses a feature of considerable importance in the river jordan itself, almost the only river in palestine with a perennial flow. the river is tortuous and rapid and not adapted to navigation. these features indicate this area as a difficult one in which to hold a fighting line, and a no less difficult one across which to maintain communications. in the summer of , our line ran along the river valley, and the troops in this sector suffered much from diseases. east of this strong natural boundary formed by the deep trough of the jordan, we find a very different country. it rises abruptly from the jordan valley, and is in itself a plateau. it is at first fertile, but, at distances ranging from to miles inland, it merges into steppe and then into sheer desert. thus it is a country apart, difficult of access from jerusalem and western palestine, more easy of access from damascus or from arabia. through it, from north to south, runs the hejaz railway, on its way from damascus to medina. and so it proved an area in which the turks, based on damascus, and the arabs, operating from hejaz, were at greater advantage than our columns based on jerusalem. we have now glanced at those portions of palestine in which took place the principal fighting in this campaign. our review would still be incomplete if we omitted all reference to the plain of esdraelon. starting from the sea coast immediately north of cape carmel, at the ports of haifa and acre, this plain runs east south-east across the country to the jordan valley. rising slightly at first, it forms the watershed of "that ancient river, the river kishon." after the watershed is crossed, there is a drop towards the jordan valley; this latter portion of the plain constitutes the vale of jezreel. this plain of esdraelon is armageddon. here barak overthrew sisera, gideon defeated the midianites, and saul and jonathan met disaster and death at the hands of the philistines. here josiah was defeated and slain by pharaoh necho. near here, the christians were defeated and their kingdom overthrown by the saracens. on this plain napoleon won his final and crushing victory over the turks. no battle, beyond a few cavalry engagements, took place here during the campaign which we are to consider. the turks had been totally defeated before ever this line was reached. but this plain has still for us a military interest. it may well be that here, where the mountains of samaria overlook and command all approaches from the north, is to be found the best strategic line for the defence of the suez canal. in a country like palestine, where levels and characteristics are so divergent, diversities of climate are to be expected. we have seen that the summer climate of the lower jordan valley is pestilential. parts of the coastal plain also are very malarious, particularly from north of jaffa to mount carmel. with these exceptions, the climate is by no means unpleasant nor unsuitable for the conduct of military operations. far enough south to enjoy plenty of bright sunshine, it is still some distance north of the tropics. pleasant and regular breezes from the sea mitigate the discomfort which might otherwise prevail in a country almost surrounded by desert. the whole of the rainfall comes in the winter months. from about april to october, though dews are heavy, rain is unknown. but in the winter months, especially december and january, and to some extent february, the rainfall is intense, and the country on the plains and lower lying districts is reduced to a sea of mud well-nigh impassable. thus military operations in summer are liable to be prejudiced by a shortage of water; in winter by an excess. the ideal season for operations is therefore in the spring, when there is an abundance of water and a plentiful feed; and, next to this, the autumn, when the heat of the summer has passed its height and the rains of winter have not yet made the country impassable. the importance of good railways in modern war is immense. we have already traced the construction of the broad gauge line from egypt which followed close behind the british in their advance across the desert and into southern palestine. the turks in western palestine were at a perpetual disadvantage through the inferiority of the railway service; but, in eastern palestine, i.e. across the jordan, the position was reversed. before the war, syria had been connected with asia minor by a broad gauge line from aleppo to rayak, where it effected a junction with a narrow gauge line from beyrout to damascus. the broad gauge line was part of the baghdad railway scheme. but at this time, that railway, even between constantinople and aleppo, was only partially completed. the tunnelling of the taurus mountains was yet unfinished. thus troops or supplies, coming from constantinople to damascus, had to break the journey at the taurus mountains and again at rayak. these two interruptions provided admirable opportunities for delay and confusion, which the dilatory turk embraced. the tunnelling of the taurus was pushed on with during the war, and in rumours reached us that these mountains had been pierced, so that trains could then run through from constantinople (haida pasha) to rayak. the installation of more business-like germans at the latter station went far towards minimising the delays and confusion due to the break of gauge. from damascus, the hejaz railway, constructed nominally for mecca pilgrims, runs due south, and, passing along the high plateau of eastern palestine, had already reached medina. a branch from this line, starting from a junction at deraa, ran westwards along the plain of esdraelon to haifa. another line, almost parallel to the hejaz railway, ran from damascus due south to mezerib; this line was removed by the turks after the commencement of the war, as the materials were required for railway construction elsewhere. unconnected with any of these railways, a french line ran from jaffa to jerusalem; this also the turks removed, as between jaffa and ludd, while, for the remainder of its length, they altered the gauge so as to adapt it to the rolling stock of the hejaz railway. all these railways south of damascus were narrow-gauge lines, without much rolling stock available, so that their carrying capacity was limited. on the outbreak of war, the turks, acting under the guidance of the germans, embarked upon a considerable programme of railway construction. starting from a point on the plain of esdraelon, el apele, they constructed a new line which crossed the mountains about samaria and reached the plain of sharon at tul keram. thence it ran down the length of the coastal plain to beersheba, and, ultimately, to auja in the desert. this railway was constructed in for the invasion of egypt. into this railway was incorporated portions of the old jaffa-jerusalem line, as between ludd and "junction station." this was the none too distinctive name given to the important station which was constructed at the point where the older railway left the plain; this now became the junction for jerusalem. at a later date, the turks withdrew from auja to beersheba, the line south of the latter place was removed and a new line was constructed from near junction station to points just north of gaza. roads in the coastal sector are good, though difficult for heavy motor traffic after rain. in the hills, the only first-class roads were the road running north and south along the ridge from nablus through jerusalem to beersheba, and the road west and east from jaffa to jerusalem, continued eastwards through jericho and across the jordan to es salt and amman station on the hejaz railway. the population of palestine is very mixed, comprising moslems, christians and jews with their various subdivisions and sects. the moslem inhabitants, arabs and syrians, have little in common with the turks except their religion. the jews and the christians groaned under turkish oppression. both jews and christians welcomed the advent of the british, while the moslems accepted the situation, if not with pleasure, at least with equanimity. the turks themselves form no part of the regular population. they are alien rulers, speaking a language unknown to the people, and incapable of understanding the language of the country. although palestine has been governed by moslems for upwards of a thousand years, it has only been annexed to the ottoman empire for four centuries. more than once during that period it would have been torn away but for the aid of the british. the government of syria by the ottoman turk had been oppressive and corrupt and marked by the discouragement of all progress and enterprise. it was high time that it should cease. footnotes: [footnote : the point chosen is imaginary. the view described combines those obtainable from two or three points in this neighbourhood.] chapter v gaza gaza! what pictures this name conjures up in our imagination. from childhood the city has been familiar to us for its dramatic associations with samson. it was here that he removed the city gates and carried them to the summit of ali muntar, "to the top of an hill that is before hebron," and it was here that he took hold of the two middle pillars, and, bowing himself with all his might, destroyed the temple of dagon with the thousands of philistines that were his tormentors. the whole history of gaza is steeped in blood. it is the outpost of africa, the gate of asia. throughout the ages its strategic importance has been immense. scarcely an invading army has passed here without fighting a battle. it figured in the wars of the eastern invaders, was totally destroyed by alexander the great, was the scene of one of napoleon's battles, and, during our campaign, saw six months of trench warfare and no less than three distinct and sanguinary engagements. in the course of its history, gaza is said to have been taken and destroyed in war between forty and fifty times. no city in the world has been destroyed more often. happy, indeed is the city that has no history! prior to this war, gaza was a town of some , inhabitants, mostly moslems, to whom the city is sacred. it owed its importance in modern times to being the junction of the caravan routes from egypt to syria and from arabia to the mediterranean. the town itself stands back some couple of miles from the sea, from which it is separated by sand dunes. it is surrounded by gardens and plantations; most of these are bordered by thick cactus hedges, which played a prominent part in the days of trench warfare. the surrounding country is by no means level, but consists of rolling arable land with low ridges and some hills. the most prominent feature is the hill, ali muntar, a commanding height south-east of the town. when we first approached it, the hill was clad with trees and surrounded by a tomb; but six months' persistent bombardment soon removed the trees and tomb and altered the conformation of the hill. there are other ridges lying about the town, which were afterwards incorporated in the defensive schemes of the turks and of ourselves. the geographical feature of principal military importance in this neighbourhood is the wadi ghuzzeh. this wadi is a watercourse, which, in times of rain, carries off the water from the hills between beersheba and the dead sea. it runs, approximately, from south-east to north-west, at right angles to the coast line, and passes gaza at a distance of about miles from the south-western or egyptian side of the town. during the greater part of the year this watercourse is dry, though the sides are steep, and wheeled traffic can only cross at properly constructed crossings. on either side of this wadi, distant a mile or so from its bed, are ridges which run approximately parallel to the wadi. that on the right bank is known as mansura ridge, that on the left bank as in seirat. the latter is a relatively high ridge and affords cover for troops beyond. on the other side of this ridge, protected by it, and distant some nine or ten miles from gaza, is a small village with a good supply of water. this village is known as deir el belah, or, more frequently, merely as belah. it formed our advanced base during the later operations against gaza. we have seen that, at the end of february, , general dobell's force had reached el arish, while portions of it had crossed the border at rafa, and his cavalry had occupied khan yunus. the turks had withdrawn to gaza, where they now took up a position. they had one force at gaza and another in the neighbourhood of beersheba, with other troops between. in march, it was decided to attack the enemy at gaza. the british force was concentrated at rafa, whence it marched up secretly by night. on the night of the th march, it moved forward from belah against the first objective, the in seirat ridge. this was secured without serious opposition. there was a dense fog on the morning of the th, and, as the troops were moving through standing crops, finding the way was none too easy. however, the wadi ghuzzeh was crossed, and the high ground at mansura ridge was secured. from there, an attack was delivered across the open against ali muntar and gaza. the main attack was made by the rd division, plus one brigade of the the th, while the nd division were in reserve. our troops captured, and established themselves on ali muntar, and also on the hill beyond, known as australia hill. from these points they looked down upon and dominated the town of gaza. meanwhile, the cavalry had been ordered to go round by the right, and to cut off the enemy when he should retreat. the cavalry not only got round, but succeeded in entering the town itself, where they captured some of the turkish staff. the turks believed that the game was up, and were now preparing to surrender. it was the opinion of many who took part in the battle, that, had we held on for a short time longer, we should have captured the town and the whole of this force, and that we should have then been in a position to meet and to defeat the enemy reinforcements, since the nd division in reserve had not yet been brought into action. however, turkish reinforcements were now reported to be coming up from the direction of beersheba, and to be threatening our right flank. accordingly, a withdrawal was ordered, and our troops fell back on the mansura ridge, the new zealanders coming right through the town of gaza itself. that night, orders were given for an immediate retirement, and our forces recrossed the wadi ghuzzeh. the bulk of the force retired to belah, while outposts held the in seirat ridge. after a two days' battle, wherein complete success had been almost within our grasp, we had but little to show save casualties. from the summit of in seirat ridge, a commanding view is obtained over the whole country from gaza to beersheba. from this point of vantage the turks could be seen, throughout the first fortnight in april, busily digging themselves in and wiring their positions. we, on our side, were no less assiduous in preparations for another battle. patrols were sent out to reconnoitre the country, and working parties went out into no man's land to construct ramparts and make all preparations for getting guns across the wadi ghuzzeh. the th division were brought up to belah. a few of the newly invented "tanks" arrived from england, and aroused great expectations. the day of the second battle of gaza arrived. on the th april, the force moved out from belah and crossed the wadi ghuzzeh by night. on this occasion, the first objective was mansura ridge, which was captured without much difficulty. the second, and principal objective, was the strong line of turkish positions to the south and south-east of gaza, and fronting the gaza-beersheba road. the troops detailed for the attack were the nd, the rd and the th divisions, the th to move forward from mansura, the nd on their left and the rd close to the sea. it was contemplated that most of our difficulties would be obviated by a long artillery preparation and by the newly arrived tanks which had acquired a high reputation in france. accordingly, the enemy positions were shelled for two hours, and then the infantry advanced, preceded by these tanks. but, alas, the tanks were few in number; some were soon put out of action, or caught fire; and the hopes that they had raised were disappointed. the infantry advanced over some , yards of perfectly open plain, until they reached the enemy's uncut wire; here they were mown down by the enemy's machine guns. that night, those that were able to do so, crept back under cover of darkness to mansura ridge. the dead lay where they fell, a gruesome spectacle, for over six months, until buried by our own parties after the third battle of gaza. those that returned were collected and reorganized at mansura ridge, and at once commenced to dig in at this position. this was the night of the th april. next morning, the turks came pouring out of their positions to gloat over their success. by this time we had done little more than scratch the surface; had the turks closed to deliver a determined counter-attack, they might have made matters distinctly uncomfortable. as it was, they came out merely as spectators. our guns opened upon them and they withdrew. after this, our digging proceeded apace, and we soon had a satisfactory position entrenched from mansura to the sea. there is a saying in the east that the british always come back, meaning that reverses only make them more determined to try again and to succeed. thus did the british come back into the soudan, and into the transvaal. thus was the surrender of kut wiped out by the capture of baghdad. and so were our losses at gaza in this spring avenged by our victory on these same battlefields in the following autumn. for the time being, however, both sides settled down to the routine life of modern trench warfare. now followed a complete reorganization of our army in egypt. on the th june, , the post of commander-in-chief of the egyptian expeditionary force was taken over by general sir edmund allenby, g.c.m.g., k.c.b. the organization into an eastern force under a subordinate commander, which had been instituted in the summer of , was abolished, and the force was organized in corps. the strength of the egyptian expeditionary force was augmented, much artillery being added, besides three divisions of infantry. the th (irish) and the th (london) divisions were brought across from salonica. the th division was organized in the country and consisted of four battalions of indian troops, taken from the suez canal zone defences, and nine battalions of west of england territorials, that had been in the east since the beginning of the war, and had, for the most part, been garrisoning india. when this reorganization was complete, this army was constituted as follows: the th corps, comprising the th (irish), the rd (welsh), the th (london) and the th (dismounted yeomanry) divisions. the st corps, comprising the nd (scottish lowland), the th (east anglian) and the th (wessex and indian) divisions. the desert mounted corps, comprising the australian mounted division, the anzac mounted division and the yeomanry division. general allenby had, as his chief-of-staff, major-general l. j. bols, c.b., d.s.o. in addition to the above troops, there was, on this front, a composite brigade, consisting of french and italians, familiarly known as the "mixed vermouth" brigade. other regiments were represented, such as indian imperial troops, and battalions of the british west india regiment, while representative units of the egyptian army did duty upon the lines of communication. although each division was associated with some particular portion of great britain, from which it took its name, the association was not exclusive. thus, the nd lowland division had at least one highland battalion, the rd welsh had more battalions from england than from wales, and the th east anglian contained one battalion from london and one from the south of england. it will be best, therefore, if, in our future pages, we refer to divisions only by number. an interesting feature about general allenby's army was that, from this time forward, the greater portion consisted of territorials. chapter vi trench warfare it was in the late summer of that the regiment with which i was serving joined the expeditionary force. coming from india, we landed at suez and were railed through at once to kantara. this place we found a hive of industry, as befitted the military base of so important an expedition. like other units similarly arriving from india, we were kept here for a fortnight. this time was devoted to the equipping of the battalion on the scale applicable to this country, with transport, draught and riding animals, lewis guns and such other equipment as we required for the operations on which we were to embark. immediately we were ready to move, we were railed up to the front, to belah, which, at that time, was railhead. this was our first experience of travelling on the kantara military railway, and is not likely to be forgotten. the shortage of rolling stock available did not permit of troops, or, at that time, even of officers accompanying troops, travelling in passenger coaches. on the contrary, a number of open trucks were adapted for troop traffic, being roofed over with a covering affording protection from the sun but with sides left open. these trucks had neither continuous brakes nor screw couplings. our journey, therefore, was enlivened by the frequent successful attempts of our truck to overtake the truck ahead, followed by a difference of opinion with the truck behind, a wavering between two opinions, and then another mad plunge into the darkness in pursuit of the truck ahead, and the next check brought about a repetition of this pleasing diversion from sleep. if the writer of a recent popular song really believed that the sands of the desert never grow cold, let him try travelling across them by night in an open truck. the train was not furnished with that luxury of modern travel, steam heating. for the men, a substitute was found by adopting the method by which sheep are kept cosy on similar occasions, that is, by packing into each truck a few more than it can accommodate. the officers rolled themselves up in their valises, bruised every protruding bone in their bodies, "and wished for the day." on arrival at the front, we moved first into a position in reserve near the wadi ghuzzeh. as we crossed the summit of in seirat ridge, what a view unfolded itself before our eyes! before us lay the plain of philistia, spreading from the sea to the judæan hills, to our left front lay the white buildings of the town of gaza, while, ever and anon, were heard and seen the booming of cannon and the bursting of shell. we were now put through a gradual process of acclimatization. ensconced in one of the offshoots of the wadi ghuzzeh well behind the front line, we enjoyed safety from shelling. we were, however, sufficiently in the picture to have guns constantly firing around us and aeroplanes flying overhead, and could watch our friends being shelled in the front line and the daily anti-aeroplane shoots, both by our own and by the enemy's "archies." here we were able to carry out a certain amount of training, and to organize the battalion upon the lines of the new "normal formation," giving the platoon commander control over each kind of weapon with which the infantry are armed--rifle, bayonet, bomb, rifle-bomb and lewis gun. gas masks were issued, and all ranks were instructed in their use. in a couple of weeks this training, or rather adaptation of our previous training to the conditions of trench warfare upon this front, had so far progressed that we could enter upon the next stage of our acclimatization. individual companies were now sent up into the front line "for instruction." this consisted of their being attached to other units that were garrisoning the front line. our men were posted in the trenches with men of such other units; and some of the officers and men accompanied patrols into "no man's land." after three weeks of acclimatization, we moved up to the front line and ourselves took over a section of the defences. and here we remained until after the fall of gaza. the turkish army at this time, as we have seen, held a strong position from the sea at gaza, roughly along the main gaza-beersheba road to beersheba. his force was on a wide front, the distance from gaza to beersheba being about miles. gaza itself had been made into a strong modern fortress, heavily entrenched and wired, offering every facility for protracted defence. the civilian population had been evacuated. the remainder of the enemy's line consisted originally of a series of strong localities, which were known as the sihan group of works, the atawinah group, the baha group, the abu hareira-arab el teeaha trench system, and finally, the works covering beersheba. during the period from july to october, the defences had been considerably strengthened, and these strong localities had, by the end of october, been joined up to form a practically continuous line from the sea to a point south of sheria, except for a gap of some , to , yards between ali muntar and the sihan group. the defensive works round beersheba remained a detached system, but had been improved and extended. a new railway had been made from el tine, just south of junction station on the damascus-beersheba railway to beit hanun, just north of gaza, with a subsidiary branch to huj, the latter intended to supply the centre of the defensive line. it was evident, therefore, that the enemy was determined to make every effort to maintain his position on the gaza-beersheba line. the british force was extended on a front of miles from the sea opposite gaza to gamli. about miles inland, the wadi ghuzzeh is joined by a short tributary wadi, on the right bank, known as the wadi nukhabir. the point at which this wadi commenced was about a mile or so nearer to the enemy than the line of our positions opposite gaza. its head-waters (to use an expression scarcely appropriate to a dry watercourse) were within the apex of a =v=-shaped escarpment, the point of the =v= protruding towards the enemy. the feature might be compared to a heel-mark in soft ground. on the convex side were slight ridges with gentle forward slopes; on the concave were steep escarpments. the ridges of the =v= were known as mansura and sheikh abbas ridges respectively; the point was merely known as "the apex." our trench system here ran along the forward slopes of these ridges, a hundred yards or so below the crest, whence the country fell towards the enemy in a gentle glacis slope devoid of cover. our reserves and our day positions were behind the escarpment, where was excellent cover from hostile shelling. the portion of the enemy's works in front of this sector was the sihan group, a strongly prepared position distant about a mile. the apex itself formed a salient, necessary to hold since its ridges would otherwise have dominated our positions; but, though a salient, the position was undoubtedly strong. the situation and the conformation of the apex, therefore, both invited attack and assisted defence. from the sea to the apex we had a continuous line of trenches. beyond sheikh abbas our defences consisted of a series of redoubts, our right flank being to some extent in the air. here, however, was a waterless desert, so difficult to cross that this flank could be sufficiently protected by cavalry patrols. considering that there was a war on, campaigning life on this front was by no means uncomfortable. those who had seen service in france bemoaned the lack of comforts and amusements behind the line, and the absence of home leave, those who had come from salonica were congratulating themselves on the exchange; while those of us who had been in mesopotamia during the bad times of , considered ourselves in the lap of luxury. rations were good and plentiful and canteen well stocked. the turkish rations, on the other hand, were scanty and poor, with the result that morale was low, discomfort rife, and desertions frequent. on one occasion, when the enemy were making a raid upon our trenches, a couple of turks got into an empty bag where one of our men had left his pack. the manner in which they pursued their advantage was by helping themselves to his tin of bully beef and getting away with all speed. a turkish officer, who was subsequently taken prisoner, said, "if the turkish rations had been as good as yours, you would never have captured gaza." the health of our troops, on the whole, was good. in so far as there was sickness it consisted of a certain amount of dysentery, almost unavoidable in an army in the field, septic sores, which are unusually rife, and a slight epidemic of sandfly fever. foremost among the inconveniences to be tolerated were the flies, which made it difficult for the men to sleep by day, the time when they most need rest after manning the trenches all night. next to the flies came the dust. the country, in which for the time we were making our home, consisted of arable ground devoid of crops, and thoroughly cut up by the passing of transport. a breeze, that blew daily without fail, served to raise a fine impalpable dust that permeated everything. this powder dust made marching difficult, but wise forethought caused galvanized iron netting to be laid along all the principal routes, forming "wire roads" for the use of light motor-cars and "foot-sloggers." if we grumbled at the dust, we had, at this time at least, no cause to complain, like our brethren in flanders, of the mud. taken all together, the morale was good and the men distinctly happy. life in these days was not without its diversions and touches of humour. a nice roman tessellated pavement was unearthed near the wadi ghuzzeh, at the place called umm jerar, which is associated with abraham. going one day to look for it, i found a military policeman on duty within half a mile of the spot. i said to him, "can you tell me the way to the tessellated pavement?" he looked at me vacantly for a minute and then replied: "is it the wire road that you happen to mean, sir?" on one occasion, the general was going round the front line accompanied by the intelligence officer (who is the officer that selects the pass-word which is changed daily) and by the c.o. of the unit in this sector. staying out rather later than they had intended, it was dusk or dark when they approached one of the posts. the sentry challenged, "halt--hands up." up went the general's hands in prompt compliance. "advance one, and give the countersign," continued the sentry. the general turned to the intelligence officer, "what is the countersign to-day?" said he. "really i am afraid i have forgotten," replied the intelligence officer, and both referred to the colonel. "when i left my headquarters, it had not yet come through," was his reply. the sentry remained obdurate. then followed explanations, and, after some parley and identifications, the party were allowed to proceed. as they were leaving, the general hurried again to the sentry, saying, "well, my man, you might just tell us now what the pass-word is." "i am sorry, sir," was his reply, "but i haven't the least idea." about this time the spy peril was rather rife. we had orders not to leave our lines without revolvers, for protection against assassination by spies. to one particular "hush-hush" spot rode up a general with his staff officer, both faultlessly attired, accompanied by the usual orderly. the general asked to be shown round, and his request was conceded with the thoroughness and courtesy due to his high rank. his inspection completed, the general expressed his thanks, and the party rode away, never to be heard of again,--at least not in that capacity. shortly afterwards, a notorious spy was seen working as a coolie in the egyptian labour corps. perhaps he was the general. the monotony of trench life was varied by occasional raids into the enemy trenches. some very successful raids were carried out on the enemy's defences near the sea, especially at beach post, and other successful raids were made from the apex upon the advanced trenches of the sihan group of works. mutual bombardments frequently enlivened the proceedings, the supremacy in which undoubtedly lay with our artillery. these never allowed a day to pass without doing some firing, and they had sniping guns ever ready to fire on any movement that might be seen in enemy territory. the enemy guns, largely manned by austrians, reserved their fire for concentrated bombardments; evidently they were less able to replenish their supplies of ammunition. the sector of the front line which fell to our lot to hold was a portion of the apex. our front line companies manned a continuous system of trenches, while the reserve company and headquarters occupied dug-outs dug into, or constructed with sand bags upon, the steep slopes of the escarpment. there were deep tunnel dug-outs, extending into the bowels of the earth, in the support area, but these were never used. in the front line there were no such dug-outs, except for such purposes as signal office and platoon head-quarters. in case of intense shelling, the front line garrison, except sentries, could obtain fair cover behind the traverses in the narrow trenches which connected up the wider and more exposed fire bays. it is a debatable question whether deep dug-outs in or near the front line are advisable. when the enemy shells intensively, if he means business, his barrage is closely followed by his infantry. when the barrage lifts, therefore, it is of vital importance to man the fire-step immediately. it is not easy to turn a large number of men quickly out of deep dug-outs which may thus prove only a fool's paradise. in one of the raids made near the sea, our infantry, following closely up to the barrage, caught the enemy taking refuge in dug-outs, and had no difficulty in capturing or accounting for the whole garrison of the raided trench. at the apex we were three times bombarded and raided. on each occasion the garrison merely took refuge behind the traverses. although they endured it, the bombardment was much more uncomfortable here than if the men had been in good dug-outs; yet they were able to man the trenches so quickly that in no case could the enemy effect a lodgment, and in only one case did he even reach the trench. when we took over the apex, the days of sporadic raids by us were past, and all thought was concentrated on preparations for the great day that was then imminent. on the other hand, there was great patrolling activity. our officers' patrols went out nightly into no man's land, and brought back information as to enemy works in progress and activity in their trenches. these patrols had many exciting experiences, and, in the dark, frequently encountered patrols sent out by the enemy. much useful information was brought in by these patrols to the battalions holding this sector of the line, especially during the first few days after the commencement of the great offensive which resulted in the capture of gaza and beersheba. [illustration] chapter vii gaza and beersheba the plan by which general allenby defeated the turks and captured their gaza-beersheba line, involved three distinct operations. it will be remembered that the enemy defences consisted of a substantially continuous line from the sea at gaza to arab el teeaha, where the left flank was bent back or "refused" at or about sheria. some - / miles farther on were the detached works covering beersheba, which thus constituted a strong outwork protecting the left flank of the main position. the decisive blow was to be struck against the left flank of the main turkish position at hareira and sheria. before this blow could be struck, it was necessary to clear away the obstacle presented by beersheba. it was also necessary to keep the enemy in doubt as to where the decisive blow was to fall; so another operation, on as large a scale as the available force would permit, and calculated both to mystify the enemy and to draw off a portion of his reserves, was undertaken on the immediate sea front at gaza. thus we get, firstly, the capture of beersheba; secondly, the attack on the gaza coastal defences; and, thirdly, the main attack delivered against sheria. "this plan of operations was chosen for the following reasons. the enemy's works in the hareira-sheria sector were less formidable than elsewhere, and they were easier of approach than other parts of the enemy's defences. the capture of beersheba was a necessary preliminary to the main operation, in order to secure the water supply at that place, and to give room for the deployment of the attacking force on the high ground to the north and north-west of beersheba, from which direction the main attack was to be developed. when beersheba was in our hands, we should have an open flank against which to operate, and full use could be made of our superiority in mounted troops. moreover, a success here offered prospects of pursuing our advantage, and forcing the enemy to abandon the rest of his fortified positions, which no other line of attack would afford." the difficulties to be overcome in the operations against beersheba and the hareira-sheria line were considerable. foremost among them were our old friend, the shortage of water, and, scarcely less formidable, the difficulty of transport. with regard to water, no supply existed in the area over which operations were to take place. "an ample supply of water was known to exist at beersheba, but it was uncertain how quickly it could be developed or to what extent the enemy would have damaged the wells before we succeeded in occupying the town. except at beersheba, no large supply of water would be found till sheria and hareira had been captured. arrangements had therefore to be made to ensure that the troops could be kept supplied with water, while operating at considerable distances from their original water base, for a period which might amount to a week or more." this was to some extent met by developing the water supplies at ecani, khalassa and asluj, all places in no man's land some miles beyond our right flank. the transport problem was no less difficult. beersheba, itself some thousand feet above the sea level, lies in a recess on the western slopes of the judæan hills. in the bed of this recess runs the wadi es saba. towards the north-east a good metalled road leads gradually to the summit of the hills and on through hebron to jerusalem. north-west a good road led along the enemy's front to gaza. the railway line, avoiding the heights, for the first ten or twelve miles follows approximately the direction of the gaza road, and then turns northwards along the plain or foothills. but south of the gaza-beersheba line there were no good roads, "and no reliance could therefore be placed on the use of motor transport." owing to the steep banks of many of the wadis which intersected the area of operations, the routes passable by wheeled transport were limited, and, in many places, the going was heavy and difficult. practically the whole of the transport available in the force, including , pack camels, had to be allotted to one portion of the eastern force, to enable it to be kept supplied with food, water and ammunition, at a distance of to miles in advance of railhead. there already existed a branch from the kantara military railway; which branch, leaving the main line at rafa, ran to shellal and gamli, supplying the right of our line. arrangements were made for this railhead to be pushed forward as rapidly as possible from shellal towards karm (some miles to the east-south-east of shellal), and for a line to be laid from gamli towards beersheba for the transport of ammunition. no man's land being some or miles wide in this sector, railway construction was carried on in front of our front line under cover of yeomanry outposts. this line of outposts was attacked on the morning of the th october by a strong reconnoitring party that the turks sent out from the direction of kauwukah to make a reconnaissance towards karm. on a division of our infantry coming up, the turks withdrew. by the end of october all our preparations were ready. the bombardment of the gaza defences commenced on the th and continued nightly. on the th, warships of the royal navy, assisted by a french battleship, began co-operating in this bombardment. the actual infantry attack on gaza was not intended to take place, however, until after the capture of beersheba, and was delayed accordingly. the date fixed for the attack on beersheba was the st october. the plan was to attack with two divisions the hostile works between the khalassa road and the wadi saba, that is, the sector to the south-west of the town. the works north of the wadi saba were to be masked with the imperial camel corps and some infantry, while a portion of the rd division further north covered the left of the corps. the right of the attack was covered by a cavalry regiment. further east, mounted troops took up a line opposite the southern defences of beersheba. a mounted force, starting from khalassa and asluj, beyond our original right flank, were detailed to make a wide flanking movement and attack beersheba from the east and north-east. the units detailed for the attack moved by a night march, and were in their appointed positions by dawn of the st. as a preliminary to the main attack, in order to enable field guns to be brought within effective range for wire-cutting, an attack was made upon the enemy's advanced works on the high ground about a couple of miles south-west of the town, at hill . this had been successfully accomplished by . a.m., and the cutting of the wire proceeded satisfactorily, though pauses had to be made to allow the dust to clear. the assault was ordered for . p.m., and proved successful. by about p.m., the whole of the works between the khalassa road and the wadi saba were in our hands. "meanwhile the mounted troops, after a night march of, for a portion of the force, some miles, arrived early on this same morning, the st, at about khasim zanna, in the hills, some miles east of beersheba. from the hills, the advance into beersheba from the east and north-east lies over an open and almost flat plain, commanded by the rising ground north of the town and flanked by an underfeature in the wadi saba, called tel el saba. "a force was sent north to secure bir es sakaly, on the hebron road, and protect the right flank. this force met with some opposition, and was engaged with hostile cavalry at bir es sakaly and to the north during the day. tel el saba was found strongly held by the enemy, and was not captured till late in the afternoon. "meanwhile, attempts to advance in small parties across the plain towards the town made slow progress. in the evening, however, a mounted attack by australian light horse, who rode straight at the town from the east, proved completely successful. they galloped over two deep trenches held by the enemy just outside the town, and entered the town at about p.m., capturing numerous prisoners. "a very strong position was thus taken with slight loss, and the turkish detachment at beersheba almost completely put out of action. this success laid open the left flank of the main turkish position for a decisive blow." the actual date of the attack at gaza had been left open till the result of the attack at beersheba was known, as it was intended that the attack on gaza, which was designed to draw hostile reserves towards that sector, should take place a day or two before the attack on the sheria position. after the complete success of the beersheba operations, it was decided that the attack on gaza should take place on the morning of the nd november. "the objectives of this attack were the hostile works from umbrella hill ( , yards south-west of the town) to sheikh hasan, on the sea (about , yards north-west of the town). the front of the attack was about , yards, and sheikh hasan, the farthest objective, was over , yards from our front line. the ground over which the attack took place consisted of sand dunes, rising in places up to feet in height. this sand is very deep and heavy going. the enemy's defences consisted of several lines of strongly built trenches and redoubts. "as umbrella hill flanked the advance against the turkish works farther west, it was decided to capture it by a preliminary operation, to take place four hours previous to the main attack. it was accordingly attacked and captured at . p.m. on the st november by a portion of the nd division. this attack drew a heavy bombardment of umbrella hill itself and our front lines, which lasted for two hours, but ceased in time to allow the main attack, which was timed for . a.m., to form up without interference." this attack partook of the nature of a modern trench to trench advance, as seen on the battlefields of france, with the co-operation of tanks and the accompaniment of other products of modern science. it was successful in reaching most of its objectives. the enemy losses were heavy, especially from the preliminary bombardment. "subsequent reports from prisoners stated that one of the divisions holding the gaza sector was withdrawn on account of casualties, a division from the general reserve being drawn into this sector to replace it. the attack thus succeeded in its primary object, which was to prevent any units being withdrawn from the gaza defences to meet the threat to the turkish left flank and to draw into gaza as large a proportion as possible of the available turkish reserves. further, the capture of sheikh hasan and the south-western defences constituted a very direct threat to the whole of the gaza position, which could be developed on any sign of a withdrawal on the part of the enemy." here the force attacking gaza stayed its hand, merely holding on to the positions already captured, while the main attack was being developed on the right. having captured beersheba on the st october, a force was pushed out early on the following day, the st november, into the hills north of beersheba, with the object of securing the flank of the attack on sheria, while mounted troops were sent north along the hebron road. accordingly, the rd division took up a position from towal abu jerwal ( miles north of beersheba) to muweileh ( - / miles farther west) and the th division occupied abu irgeig, on the railway, miles from beersheba. next day, the nd, our mounted troops found and engaged considerable enemy forces to the north of towal abu jerwal. accordingly, on the rd, we advanced in that direction towards ain kohleh and khuweilfeh, where the enemy were found to be holding a strong position with considerable and increasing forces. it will be borne in mind that this was only the right flank-guard; our main attack, which was to be delivered against sheria, was not timed to commence until two or three days later. however, the enemy elected to employ the whole of his available reserves in an immediate counter-attack. during the th and th he made several determined attacks on the mounted troops in this locality. these attacks were repulsed; and the enemy's action was not allowed to make any essential modification to the original plan, which it had been decided to carry out at dawn on november th. it was this exhausting of the turkish reserves, so early in the operations and so far away to the east as khuweilfeh, that paved the way for the success of our attack on sheria. at dawn, on the th, the force detailed for the main attack had taken up positions of readiness to the south-east of the kauwukah system of trenches. the yeomanry opened the ball by assaulting the group of works forming the extreme left of the enemy's defensive system, following this up by an advance due west up the railway, capturing the line of detached works which lay east of the railway line. meanwhile, london and irish troops moved towards the kauwukah system, bringing forward their guns to within wire-cutting range. soon after noon, these troops commenced their attack upon the south-eastern face of the kauwukah system. this was completely successful in capturing all its objectives. sheria station was also reported as captured before dark. on this same day the right flank-guard, the rd division, had successfully attacked khuweilfeh. the position at nightfall, then, was that our right flank-guard were at kauweilfeh, the yeomanry had reached the line of the sheria to wadi union, and the troops on the left were close to hareira redoubt which was still occupied by the enemy. next day, the th, the situation remained practically unchanged on our extreme right, the enemy maintaining his positions opposite our right flank-guard. in the sheria-hareira locality, the hareira tepe redoubt was captured at dawn. tel el sheria was captured at . a.m. and the line was pushed forward about a mile to the north of tel el sheria. that night the enemy withdrew. meanwhile, on our extreme left, the bombardment of gaza had continued. another attack was ordered to take place on the night of the th/ th. an attack was made at . p.m. that night against outpost hill and middlesex hill, south of the town, which met with little opposition. "as soon, after they had been taken, as patrols could be pushed forward, the enemy was found to be gone. early in the morning, the main enemy force occupied the northern and eastern defences of gaza. rearguards were still occupying beit hanun and the atawinah and tank system (part of the sihan group of works), from whence turkish artillery continued to fire on gaza and ali muntar until dusk." "as soon as it was seen that the turks had evacuated gaza, on the morning of the th, a part of the force pushed along the coast to the mouth of the wadi hesi, some miles north of gaza, so as to turn the wadi hesi line and prevent the enemy making any stand there. this force reached the wadi hesi by evening, and succeeded in establishing itself on the north bank in the face of considerable opposition from a turkish rearguard. cavalry had already pushed on round the north of gaza and become engaged at beit hanun with an enemy rearguard which maintained its position till night-fall." this brings our history down to the night of november th/ th. by the morning of the th the enemy were in retreat all along the line. meanwhile, what had been happening to our own party in the apex? the general plan of attack did not contemplate any advance from here. nevertheless, it was necessary that this portion of the line should be firmly held, and it was more than likely that the enemy would try to create a diversion by raiding this inviting salient. by the end of october "liveliness" was increasing all round, and mutual bombardments were growing more intense. fortunately, a large number of the shells fired by the enemy were "duds." we were puzzled at the time to know why duds figured so largely in this and following bombardments; subsequent inspection of the enemy trenches afforded an explanation. great dumps of ammunition had been formed by the enemy close to the guns, and these, for safety and concealment, had been placed in deep dug-outs. on the evening of the th october, a great thunderstorm burst over gaza, causing the enemy considerable damage, flooding the dug-outs, and presumably damping the fuses and ruining their ammunition. on the evening of the rd november, the enemy tried to create a diversion by raiding the apex. on this evening we were sitting quietly having dinner in our headquarters dug-out, when sharp rifle fire was heard from the front line of the battalion on our right. we walked out, and saw a veritable brock's benefit display of verey lights. a telephone message from our front line informed us that a considerable party of the enemy had crept quietly up, and were now prowling round our wire and trying to pick a way through. a hot fire from rifles, lewis guns and machine guns, soon convinced the enemy of the uselessness of attempting, without artillery preparation, a raid against an alert enemy well entrenched with wire intact. they were beaten off, and withdrew to a fold in the ground a couple of hundred yards out in no man's land, where they were fired upon by our trench mortars. nevertheless they managed to rally, and came forward again to the attack. this time their reception was no more encouraging than before; our artillery got into them with a barrage and they withdrew. now they sent up a red verey light signal, whereupon a hostile barrage came down upon our trenches, under cover of which they not only withdrew themselves, but also removed their killed and wounded. it is a part of their religion to spare no pains in removing their dead and giving them a decent burial. a couple of deserters crept into our lines towards the morning, from whom we were able to gather something about their side of the operations. desertion was fairly common among the turks about this time, partly because rations were poor, but mainly because they had no stomach for the fight that they knew to be imminent. in so far as this raid affected us, our trenches were badly smashed by the artillery, but our casualties were insignificant. the next evening we sent a small patrol across no man's land, which, being boldly and pluckily led, crept right up to the enemy's trenches. here they heard the sound of much traffic on the gaza-beersheba road, token doubtless of the impending withdrawal. more important from our immediate point of view, the patrol heard sounds of an enemy concentration in their front trenches, in apparent preparation for another raid on the apex. our artillery put salvoes at once upon those trenches; and the raid of that night proved a damp squib. about midnight we were wakened from our slumbers by a thunderstorm, the thunder, lightning and hail being provided by a deluge of bursting shells, splinters and shrapnel bullets. when the barrage lifted, glimpses were caught of the enemy moving along our front wire; but this raid never succeeded in forcing an entrance to our trenches. we had every reason to "remember the fifth of november." it came in with a display of fireworks; it went out like an inferno. profiting by his previous experience, the enemy shelled a portion of our front deliberately from early evening until dark, with the obvious intention of cutting the wire on a portion of our sector. at ten o'clock that night, down came another intensive bombardment, which lasted for an hour. under cover of the darkness, the enemy even brought trench mortars on camels up to our wire to assist in the bombardment. next morning the ground looked like a veritable sea beach after a wreck; the litter consisted of splinters and duds of all sizes and descriptions, largely . " h.es. this hostile barrage made a really satisfactory job of the wire cutting. as soon as it lifted, the enemy's infantry made a determined effort to penetrate our line. during the bombardment our fellows had taken shelter in the narrow passage ways behind the traverses, and so lost no time, immediately the barrage lifted, in manning the fire-step. they at once got busy with rifles, lewis guns and machine-guns, and gave the turk, as he crossed the ruins of our wire, a distinctly warm reception. this proved more than enough for most of the enemy; but a few brave spirits succeeded in entering our trench and throwing bombs. they were not supported by their fellows, and were soon disposed of. at length, up went the now familiar red light, down came the closing barrage, the enemy drew off and we were left in peace. after these three abortive raids the apex was left unmolested, except for occasional shelling on the th and th. on the th, we were relieved at the apex by lines of communication troops, in order that we might take part in the pursuit of the enemy who were now in full retreat. the quotations in this and the three following chapters, are from general allenby's despatch, dated the th december, . chapter viii full cry we have seen that during the night of the th/ th november, the enemy had retreated all along the line. the enemy opposite our right flank-guard withdrew towards hebron, that is, north-east into the judæan hills. he was pursued for a short distance by the yeomanry, and some prisoners and camels were captured. the yeomanry were then recalled to rejoin the main body of the mounted troops for the more important work of the pursuit of the enemy's main body. the enemy force that thus escaped into the hills there reorganized, and later descended to the plain on the flank of our pursuing force with a view to creating a diversion; but of this, more anon. on the afternoon of the th, when it was seen that our sheria operations in the centre had been successful, the cavalry were ordered to push forward from there in the direction of huj, which was the terminus of the enemy's branch railway line from deir sineid. had this force of cavalry been able to push forward and join up with the cavalry that had worked round by the sea and were engaging the enemy rearguard at beit hanun, the bulk of the turkish force engaged upon this front might have been surrounded and captured. the mounted troops on the right moved towards huj, but met with considerable opposition from hostile rearguards. on this account, and through difficulty in watering horses, the consummation devoutly to be desired was not attained. it will be remembered that the gaza operations had the effect of almost turning the enemy's right flank as long ago as november nd, and that, by the evening of the th, the force advancing along the coast had already established itself on the north bank of the wadi hesi, some miles or so behind the enemy's defensive line. throughout the th, turkish rearguards clung to beit hanun and to the atawineh and tank systems to the east of ali muntar. the effect of this was, that, when our troops eventually got under way in pursuit of the retreating turks, those near the sea had several miles' start of those further inland. this feature, a pursuit in echelon with the left flank advanced, continued throughout these operations. and so we shall see that jaffa fell into our hands some weeks before the capture of jerusalem had even been attempted. the bulk of the turkish army retreated northwards along the coastal plain. here ran their railway, their main line of communications, and also an excellent road from gaza to jerusalem. little or no opportunity was afforded of catching the disorganized enemy in narrow defiles, as happened in the rout of the following autumn, but the open plain offered ample opportunities for a hasty retreat, of which the enemy fully availed themselves. "during the th, then, the advance was continued, and interest was chiefly centred in an attempt to cut off, if possible, the turkish rearguard which had held the tank and atawineh systems. considerable captures of prisoners, guns, ammunition and other stores were made, especially at huj and deir sineid, but no large formed body of the enemy was cut off. the turkish rearguards fought stubbornly and offered considerable opposition." at this time the brunt of the work was being borne by the cavalry and the royal flying corps, the infantry not having yet been ordered forward. "near huj, a fine charge by some squadrons of the worcester and warwick yeomanry captured twelve guns, and broke the resistance of a hostile rearguard." "it soon became obvious from the reports of the royal flying corps, who throughout the th and th attacked the retreating columns with bombs and machine-gun fire, and from other evidence, that the enemy was retiring in considerable disorganization, and could offer no very serious resistance if pressed with determination. "instructions were accordingly issued on the morning of the th to the mounted troops, directing them on to the line el tine-beit duras, that is, on to a line a little to the south-west of junction station, with orders to press the enemy relentlessly. a portion of the infantry was ordered forward in support. "by the th, therefore, operations had reached the stage of a direct pursuit by as many troops as could be supplied so far in front of the railhead." the th division had hitherto been principally engaged between gaza and the sea. the nd division, therefore, passed through the th and took up the pursuit along the coast, the pursuit along the gaza-jerusalem road falling to the lot of the th. on the night of the th, our regiment was relieved in the trenches at the apex, and, on the th, the th division concentrated behind the line, ready to take its part in the pursuit. next day we all went forward in column of route. we crossed no man's land along the enemy's old front line trenches by ali muntar. having looked out upon this scene for months through glasses, telescopes and periscopes, it was interesting now to obtain a close view of these fortress defences. but there were other sights that met our eyes, sad and gruesome, that can be better imagined than described. portions of the enemy's wire, and of the gentle slopes in front, were littered with the remains of brave lads that had fallen in the sad days of march and april. it was strange that, in their own interests, the turks had not buried these bodies. instead they had left them lying there for months, beneath an almost tropical sun, and had actually fixed up their new wire entanglements over the unburied bodies. in some cases death had evidently been instantaneous. in others, where death had come more slowly, lads were to be found grasping open testaments or letters from home. it seemed so sad that these poor fellows, who had endured the hardships of the desert and marched victoriously across sinai, should, like moses, have been privileged to see, but not to enter, the promised land. after crossing no man's land, we marched along past pleasanter sights, great stacks of ammunition, gas cylinders, and other interesting captures. we enjoyed glimpses of how the enemy here had made himself comfortable; still more did we enjoy glimpses of how we here had made the enemy uncomfortable. huge craters there were, made by naval guns shelling from the sea. these guns had bombarded the enemy communications behind his front line, and had obtained direct hits on the track and rolling stock, causing a train or two, valuable booty, to fall into our possession. bomb holes were to be seen, made by our aircraft in their efforts to destroy the bridges on the enemy's line of retreat. we bivouacked on the night of the th at deir sineid. for the next two days we marched forward, close upon the heels of the pursuing cavalry, but not close enough yet to come into action or to deploy from column of route. all along our route lay evidences of the enemy's rout. at one time, we were passing a convoy of prisoners being shepherded along by a few cavalry; at another, a party of refugees hurrying back with their worldly possessions to those homes to which they knew they could now return in safety. here and there lay the body of some unfortunate turk; while all along the line lay the wreckage of vehicles and the carcases of transport animals. throughout these days the troops suffered considerably from thirst. a hot exhausting wind was blowing, and the men were heavily laden for long-distance route marching in a semi-tropical country. water was the ever-recurring trouble. a little for the men to carry on with was generally procurable, but the difficulty of watering the animals at times became acute. the usual tidings were, that there was plenty of water at the next village. when the next village was reached the tidings proved to be true, but so long was the queue of animals already waiting to be watered, that fresh arrivals stood but little chance. at many places the water was insufficient; and "even when water was found in sufficient quantities, it was usually in wells and not on the surface; consequently, if the machinery for working the wells was damaged, or a sufficient supply of troughs was not available, the process of watering a large quantity of animals was slow and difficult." meanwhile, how were our cavalry progressing? a glance at the map will show that, after the fall of gaza, the next point of tactical importance in palestine was junction station. with this in our hands, jerusalem would be cut off from railway communication with the outer world, and quantities of rolling stock, supplies, war material and possibly prisoners, should fall into our hands. while still pursuing the retreating enemy, therefore, the cavalry had been directed to make junction station their next objective. the portion of the enemy's force that had withdrawn into the hills towards hebron now made a descent from the hills to the plain. their object was to threaten the flank of our pursuing cavalry, create a diversion, and thus relieve the pressure from their main body. from hebron, a couple of difficult tracks wind down the mountains to the village of beit jibrin, where they join a road coming from bethlehem and jerusalem. this latter road reaches the plain and beersheba railway at arak el menshiyeh. this was the spot, then, towards which the counter-attack, or demonstration from the hills, was organized. "it was obvious that the hebron force, which was believed to be short of transport and ammunition, to have lost heavily, and to be in a generally disorganized state, could make no effective diversion, and that this threat could practically be disregarded. the imperial camel corps, however, was ordered to move to the neighbourhood of tel el nejile, where it would be on the flank of any counterstroke from the hills; while orders were issued for the main pursuit to be pressed so that junction station might be reached with all speed. the hebron group made an ineffective demonstration in the direction of arak el menshiyeh on the th, and then retired north-east so as to prolong the enemy's line towards beit jibrin." close to the sea, the advance-guard of the nd division pushed on as far as burkah on the th, and, on the th, the yeomanry pushed north and seized tel el murreh, on the right or northern bank of the nahr sukereir and close to its mouth. "the operations of these days showed a stiffening of the enemy's resistance on the general line of the wadi sukereir, with centre about el kustineh. reports from the r.f.c. indicated the total hostile forces opposed to us on this line at about , ; and this increased resistance, coupled with the capture of prisoners from almost every unit of the turkish force, tended to show that we were no longer opposed to rearguards, but that all the remainder of the turkish army, which could be induced to fight, was making a last effort to arrest our pursuit south of the important junction station. "on the morning of the th november, the situation was, that the enemy had strung out his force on a front of miles from el kubeibeh on the north to about beit jibrin to the south. the right half of his line ran roughly parallel to, and only about five miles in front of, the railway to the north of junction station, which was the main line of supply from the north." we have seen that our pursuit along the sea coast had a considerable start of that further to the right, and the rapidity of this pursuit had dictated to the enemy this rather unsatisfactory position which he was forced to take up. his right flank was already almost turned. in so far as he could do so, he held a strong position on the line of heights running north and south near the right flank of his position, on which heights stand the villages of katrah and el mughar. the th was a day of preparation. on the th, an attack was delivered against the enemy's position by the th division on the right and the nd on the left, the extreme right of the attack being protected by the australian mounted troops, who had pressed forward towards balin berkussie and tel es safi. the country over which the attack took place is open and rolling. it is dotted with small villages surrounded by mud walls, with plantations of trees and thick cactus hedges outside the walls. these hedges afforded admirable opportunities for the concealment of machine guns. in spite of heavy machine gun fire, the th attacked and captured the village of el mesmiye. a turning movement was directed against the enemy's right flank. there was a dashing charge of mounted troops, who galloped across the plain under heavy fire and turned the enemy's position from the north. the kahan el mughar position, protecting the enemy's right flank, fell to the nd division. after this, the enemy resistance weakened, and by the evening his forces were in retreat. early the following morning we occupied junction station. the enemy's flight from junction station was precipitate. two trains escaped shortly before our occupation, one of which was believed to have contained von kressenstein himself. nevertheless our captures of rolling stock and material were considerable. the enemy's army had now been broken into two separate parts, which retired eastwards towards jerusalem and northwards through ramleh towards tul keram. throughout the th our mounted troops pressed on toward ramleh and ludd. on the right, naaneh, on the railway to ramleh, was attacked and captured in the morning. on the left, the new zealand mounted rifles had a smart engagement at ayun kara, miles south of jaffa, where the turks made a determined counter-attack, and were only repulsed at the point of the bayonet. on the morning of the th our mounted troops dislodged a hostile rearguard, which had taken up a position on the high ground, flanking the railway north of junction station, and covering the main road from jaffa to jerusalem. this is the site of gezer, one of the most ancient of the canaanitish cities in palestine, and one of the first objects of interest sought by the eye of the tourist on his journey up from jaffa to jerusalem. thus, commanding both the railway and the main jerusalem road, this position might have considerably delayed our advance had it been held with determination. as it was, our mounted troops were able to occupy ramleh and ludd that evening and to push forward patrols to within a short distance of jaffa. jaffa, the ancient port of jerusalem, was occupied without further opposition on the evening of the th. "the situation was now as follows. the enemy's army, cut in two by our capture of junction station, had retired partly east into the mountains towards jerusalem, and partly north along the plain. the nearest line on which these two portions could reunite was the line tul keram-nablus." although jerusalem itself could still be supplied along the road connecting it with nablus, or along the road across the jordan to ammam station on the hejaz railway, yet "reports from the r.f.c. indicated that it was the probable intention of the enemy to evacuate jerusalem and withdraw to organize on the line tul keram-nablus. "on our side, the mounted troops had been marching and fighting continuously since october st, and had advanced a distance of miles measured in a straight line from asluj to jaffa. the infantry, after their last fighting at gaza, had advanced, in nine days, distances of from to miles, with two severe engagements and continual advanced-guard fighting. the railway was being pushed forward as rapidly as possible, and every opportunity was taken of landing stores at points along the coast; but the landing of stores was dependent on a continuance of favourable weather, and might at any moment be stopped for several days together. "a pause was therefore necessary to await the progress of railway construction. but before our position in the plain could be considered secure, it was essential to push forward into the hills, and to obtain a hold of the one good road which traverses the judæan range from north to south, from nablus to jerusalem." chapter ix neby samwil our advance had hitherto been northwards along the low country, and had already reached a point on the maritime plain some miles north of the parallel of jerusalem. it now wheeled to the right and struck into the hills, with the object of getting astride the jerusalem-nablus road and of thus capturing the holy city. it will be remembered, from our survey of the geography of palestine, that the ridge of the judæan hills runs approximately north and south, and that along the top of this ridge runs a first-class metalled road connecting nablus with jerusalem. from this ridge spurs run east and west down towards the maritime plain. these spurs are steep, bare and stony, and in places, precipitous, and are separated from one another by narrow valleys. between such spurs, a few miles to the north-west of jerusalem, sweeps down the valley of ajalon, with the villages of beit-ur el-foka (beth-horon the upper) and beit-ur el-tahta (beth-horon the lower), where joshua won his memorable victory over the five kings of the amorites. it was here that the routed hosts of the amorites were pursued in panic, and near here that the sun and moon "stood still" at the bidding of joshua. further to the south, another gorge, or pass, roughly parallel to the valley of ajalon, leads down to the plain, and along this pass runs the metalled road through kurzet-el-enab (kirjath-jearim), saris and bab-el-wad, to ramleh and jaffa; this is the road followed by the pilgrims. other paths were shown upon the map, but these were found to be mere tracks on the hillside or up the stony beds of wadis, and, without considerable improvement, were impracticable for wheeled guns or transport. the only routes along which guns, other than mountain artillery, could be moved, were the two first-class roads running northwards and westwards out of jerusalem. ten miles north of jerusalem, along the nablus road, at a height of nearly , feet above sea level, is the village of bireh. this commanding position overlooks the jordan valley and all the surrounding country. this was the point which general allenby decided to make his next objective. reports had indicated that it was the probable intention of the enemy to evacuate jerusalem, and in the known or suspected state of the demoralisation of the enemy, it was felt that considerable risks could be taken. thus a bold and immediate dash for bireh seemed to be indicated. furthermore, an advance on this objective would take our forces well clear of jerusalem itself. and so this plan best conformed with the determination that had previously been arrived at, that fighting should be within five miles of the holy city. the general idea of the operation was, that our troops should move up into the hills, some going by the valley of ajalon, and some by the main jaffa-jerusalem road as far as enab, and thence by the "roman road" running north-east. although it was thought likely that the turks, reinforced from damascus, and perhaps from aleppo, would come down and attack our new line, yet it was hoped that bireh would be reached before serious opposition was encountered. the enemy, however, changed his mind. having, early in november, decided to withdraw from jerusalem, he now determined to hold it till the bitter end. turkish resistance stiffened immensely. pushed far into the hills, as were our advanced troops, and without much artillery support, it was found impossible for them to reach bireh in the first stride; and further operations upon a more elaborate scale had to be undertaken before jerusalem could be captured. but we anticipate. let us, then, return to the middle of november, at which time our forces had captured, and were holding, positions covering jaffa, ramleh and junction station. on the th november, the yeomanry commenced to move from ramleh through the hills direct on bireh, viâ the valley of ajalon and lower beth-horon; and, by the evening of the th, one portion of the yeomanry had reached lower beth-horon, while another portion had occupied shilta. on the th, the infantry commenced its advance. latron and anwas were captured in the morning. for nearly miles, between bab el wad ( - / miles east of latron) and saris, the jaffa-jerusalem road passes through a narrow gorge or defile. the remainder of the day was spent in clearing this defile up to saris. "these narrow passes from the plain to the plateau of the judæan range have seldom been forced, and have been fatal to many invading armies." the natural facilities for defence in this pass were undoubtedly very strong. "had the attempt not been made at once, or had it been pressed with less determination, the enemy would have had time to reorganize his defences here, and the conquest of the plateau would then have been slow, costly and precarious." the character of the fighting now changed, and more nearly resembled the mountain warfare of the north-west frontier of india. the bulk of this hill fighting fell upon the th division, whose indian experience proved invaluable. it was interesting to note the points of resemblance and of distinction between hill fighting here and on the indian frontier. in india, frontier warfare is usually conducted against ill-organized semi-savages, unarmed with artillery or machine guns, but furnished with the instincts and cunning of beasts of prey. here the conditions were reversed. the enemy were well provided with artillery and machine guns, both of which they had had abundant opportunity to post advantageously and use effectually; whereas we had difficulties in getting forward our guns and bringing them into action, and were at times without artillery assistance. on the other hand, our troops surpassed the enemy in their familiarity with mountain fighting. here, as in all mountain fighting, the cardinal principle was piquetting the heights--that is to say, the necessity of sending up piquets from the advanced-guard, who deny to the enemy all commanding eminences, before the main body and transport move up the defile which those eminences command. our piquets had frequently to fight their way up to the heights, and to be prepared, on reaching the summit, to withstand a shelling or repulse a counter-attack. they had, therefore, to be stronger than is usually necessary in india, but had to be particularly careful not to concentrate too much upon the summit. in india, where the enemy generally fight a guerilla warfare, hanging on to rearguards and cutting off stragglers, the stiffest part of the fighting is to be expected during the subsequent withdrawal of the piquets from the heights. here, the fighting was done by the advanced-guard, and during the taking of the heights, subsequent withdrawal being generally unmolested. quickness in the attack was found to be of great value. in some cases the garrisons of heights were surprised and captured before they could get away; more than once the advanced-guard, pushing rapidly up the road, were able to cut off such garrisons as they were coming down the reverse slopes of their hills. with regard to armament, our field artillery were able to assist with their . inch howitzers, but the -pounder field guns, with their flat projectory, were, at this stage, found to be of little use. during later stages of this mountain warfare, the -pounder came again into its own; but that was when suitable positions could be chosen deliberately, and when, through the length of the range or the use of reduced charges, they were able to drop their shells with a steep angle of descent. a high velocity gun, with a flat projectory, like our -pounder, has two disadvantages in mountain warfare. when the gun is firing from behind a steep hill, the shell, on leaving the gun, is liable to strike the hill in front instead of clearing the crest. when the projectile reaches the distant ridge (behind which the enemy are presumably taking cover), the angle of descent is not sufficiently steep to cause damage. more satisfactory results were obtainable with howitzers, whose high angle fire could both clear the forward crests and search the reverse slopes. unfortunately, at this time, we had little or no mountain artillery up forward, while the wheeled guns were often badly handicapped for want of good roads. we had marched away from gaza well enough supplied with artillery for normal or plain country fighting, but scarcely so for this very different fighting in the mountains. another disadvantage under which we laboured, through this abrupt merging from trench into mountain warfare, was the overloading of the men. for the latter class of warfare men must be lightly equipped; in india, even the men's great-coats are carried for them on pack-mules. here, the men were, of necessity, loaded up as for trench fighting, and were carrying gas masks and extra bandoliers ( rounds) of ammunition, making a total of rounds per man. the key to success in modern mountain fighting proved to be the rapidity with which roads could be constructed for bringing forward artillery. the defile up to saris having been piquetted and cleared on the th, enab was captured on the th in the face of organized opposition. other infantry had moved from the plain along the more northern track (the ajalon valley route) by berfilja and beit likia, and, on this same th, they captured beit dukka. on the same day the yeomanry got to within miles of the nablus-jerusalem road, but were stopped by strong opposition about beihesnia, or miles west-south-west of bireh. in this night it rained, as only in tropical and semi-tropical countries it knows how. the men, clad in their indian drill, were soaked immediately, and lay down on the road or in the streets of enab, or slept where they stood, the picture of misery. an isolated turk rushed down the road, determined to sell his life dearly. but he could find nobody enthusiastic enough to fight, or even to take sufficient interest in him to accept his surrender; until at last he found a military policeman, who, this being his job, had no alternative but to take him prisoner. at length dawn broke; and it then became clear that enab was under turkish observation. so a cold night of rain was followed by a hot morn of fire. from enab, a "roman road" leaves the main jaffa-jerusalem road and strikes away north-east to biddu, and thence towards bireh. in roman days, this may have been an important road, but now it was found to be a mere rocky track, impassable for wheels, or for anything except infantry and pack animals. on the morning of the st, a portion of the th division moved forward by this track, while another portion of the division was left at enab to cover the flank and demonstrate along the main jerusalem road. the latter body drove hostile parties from kushel, - / miles east of enab, and secured this ridge. meanwhile, progress along the "roman road" was slow. the track was under hostile shell-fire, and it was found impossible to bring up guns to support the advance of the infantry. the advanced guard, pushing on towards bireh, had got as far as biddu, when it was held up there by intensive hostile shelling. the remainder of the leading brigade thereupon captured a commanding position about a couple of miles to the east of biddu, and - / miles short of the jerusalem-nablus road. this commanding position was neby samwil. neby samwil, one of the most prominent heights round jerusalem, must always have been a place of considerable importance. it is identified with mizpeh, one of the cities built by king asa. ecclesiastical tradition connects this place with ramah, the birth and burial place of the prophet samuel, whose tomb is said to lie under the crusading church, the ruins of which still exist here. to the honour of this prophet, the moslems had erected a fine mosque upon this spot, which was a landmark for miles round. as subsequent events proved, neby samwil was the key to jerusalem. the question has been often asked: who was the first to capture neby samwil? the honour has sometimes been claimed for the th division. no doubt that division fought here, and fought well. but at least two other divisions, the nd and the th, had been fighting on this hill for a day or so before the arrival of the th. as a matter of fact, this hill, the "key" to jerusalem, was first captured by a brigade of the th division, in honour of which a "key" was thereafter adopted as the proud distinguishing mark of this division. on neby samwil occurred some of the bitterest fighting in the palestine campaign. both sides realized the vital importance of the position. all the first night the hill was distinctly unhealthy. the trees were infested with snipers who picked off our men in the bright moonlight. some refuge from the sniping was procurable inside the mosque, but the turkish artillery had no compunction in shelling the building and bringing it down in ruins. as the night progressed, more troops were poured on to the hill. the snipers were hunted down and summarily dealt with. machine guns were established in the ruined mosque and other appropriate positions, and preparations made to hold the hill at all costs. towards the morning the turks delivered a determined counter-attack. during the nd, the enemy made two counter-attacks on the neby samwil ridge, which we repulsed. in one case, the ghurkhas, having run out of ammunition, hurled down rocks and boulders upon the heads of the ascending enemy. at one time the mosque was deserted by all except one machine-gun officer, who continued to work his gun single-handed. by this time the nd division had come up and were, in some cases relieving, in some fighting side by side with, the th. on the rd and on the th, determined and gallant attacks were made on the strong positions to the west of the nablus road held by the enemy, who had brought up reinforcements and numerous machine guns, and could support his infantry by artillery fire from guns placed in position along the main road. our artillery, from lack of roads, could not be brought up to give adequate support to our infantry, and both attacks failed. the yeomanry, who by the afternoon of the st had got to within a couple of miles of the nablus road, were heavily counter-attacked, and fell back, after bitter fighting, on beit-ur el-foka (upper beth-horon). this fighting had been taking place over classical and sacred ground. troops fighting on neby samwil looked down upon the holy city, still in the hands of the turk. our advanced dressing station was established in the beautiful monastery on the traditional site of emmaus; here the men were dying on the very spot that the risen christ had been made known to his disciples in the breaking of bread. "the positions reached on the evening of the st practically marked the limit of the progress in this first attempt to gain the nablus road. positions had been won from which our final attack could be prepared and delivered with good prospects of success. nevertheless, it was evident that a period of preparation and organization would be necessary before an attack could be delivered in sufficient strength to drive the enemy from his positions." orders were accordingly issued to consolidate the position gained and prepare for relief. the th division had been lent to the st corps, and had already taken their place in the fighting on neby samwil. now the st corps were gradually relieved and moved over to the left; while the operations about jerusalem were taken over by the th corps. [illustration] chapter x jerusalem let us trace the fortunes of the th corps, whom we last saw engaged in the fighting about beersheba. after the fall of gaza and beersheba, most of the mounted troops went forward in pursuit of the enemy along the maritime plain. these were closely followed up and supported by the st corps, i.e. the nd and th divisions, with the th following close upon their heels. it was impossible at this time to supply more than a limited number of troops far forward of railhead. so the divisions of the th corps after their successful operations at beersheba and sheria, were first moved backwards to rest and re-equip, before going forward again into the field zone. of these th corps divisions, the th were the first to go forward. following along the main gaza-junction station road, in the footsteps of the th and th divisions, the th arrived at junction station on the nd november, on which date the head-quarters of the th corps also moved up to, and opened at, junction station. the th division were now lent to the st corps. they moved forward next day, following along the jerusalem road to enab, and about the th or th began to take their place in the fighting on the neby samwil ridge. shortly after the th came forward the th. by the time that they got sufficiently far forward, the th corps were taking over from, and relieving, the st, and the th division soon found itself in the zone of operations to the west and north-west of jerusalem. the th division remained in the neighbourhood of gaza for a few weeks, until the possibilities of supply permitted their also going forward. the rd division did not go forward by the maritime plain at all. they remained about beersheba until the th december. then they moved forward, without meeting with opposition, along the higher road, that is, through hebron towards bethlehem; and subsequently arrived in the hills at such time and place as their presence was required for manoeuvring the enemy out of jerusalem. while these reliefs were in progress, several determined counter-attacks were delivered by the enemy in their attempt to dislodge us from the positions of advantage that we had already gained. at this time our line was, of necessity, somewhat thinly held, especially towards the sea. the imperial camel corps, whom we last saw protecting the right flank of the pursuit from the threat near beit jibrin, had been moved across to the extreme left, where they and cavalry held positions on the north bank of the river auja, protecting jaffa. further to the right, the line was carried on by the th division, who thus linked up, along the ridge north of the valley of ajalon, with the nd and th divisions then fighting in the neighbourhood of neby samwil. "on the th november our advanced posts north of the river auja were driven back across the river. an attack on the night of the th succeeded in penetrating our outpost line north-east of jaffa; but next morning the whole hostile detachment, numbering , was surrounded and captured by the australian light horse. attacks were also delivered against the left flank of our position in the hills from beit-ur el-foka to el burj and the neby samwil ridge. one such attack was delivered on the th near el burj, when a counter-attack by australian light horse took prisoners and practically destroyed the attacking battalion. there was particularly heavy fighting between el burj and beit-ur el-foka, but all these attacks were successfully resisted and severe losses were inflicted on the enemy. all efforts by the enemy to drive us off the neby samwil ridge were completely repulsed. "these attacks in no way affected our positions nor impeded the progress of our preparations. favoured by a continuance of fine weather, preparations for a fresh advance against the turkish positions west and south of jerusalem proceeded rapidly. existing roads and tracks were improved and new ones constructed to enable heavy and field artillery to be placed in position and ammunition and supplies brought up. the water supply was also developed. by december th all reliefs were complete." a line was then held from kushel, about miles to the west of jerusalem, along the ridge that runs north-east some or miles to neby samwil. from this point, the line bent back at a right angle, and ran along the northern ridge of the valley of ajalon through beit izza and beit dukka to beit-ur el-tahta (beth-horon the lower), from which point it was carried west and north-west to the sea. the enemy held a line approximately facing our kushel-neby samwil line, protecting jerusalem from attack from the west or north-west, his front line being distant about three miles from the city, and artillery and machine guns being posted in the outskirts of the city itself. he had two good lines of supply or retreat, namely the north road from nablus and the eastern road through jericho and across the jordan to amman station on the hejaz railway. it will be remembered that, in the words of the psalmist, "the hills stand round about jerusalem." the turks were able to select positions of considerable natural strength in these surrounding hills. in fact, the country is one continual succession of hills and valleys, the hillsides steep and rocky, the valleys deep and strewn with boulders. these positions of natural strength the enemy had improved by the construction of trenches and strong points and other devices of modern field engineering. the general idea of the operations for the capture of jerusalem was the simultaneous pressure of three divisions, whereby the enemy should be driven off his main roads, and the city be isolated, and so forced to surrender. the th and th divisions had already arrived in the fighting zone and were occupying positions in the line, the th on the right, about kushel, and the th about neby samwil. on december th, the rd division commenced their march from beersheba up the hebron-jerusalem road. no opposition was met, and, by the evening of the th, the head of this column was ten miles north of hebron. the infantry were directed to reach the bethlehem area by the th, and a line about three miles south of jerusalem by dawn on the th. the th was the date fixed for the commencement of the renewed operations against jerusalem. "on the th the weather broke, and for three days rain was almost continuous. the hills were covered with mist at frequent intervals throughout the fighting, rendering observation from the air and visual signalling impossible." great was the discomfort caused to the men by this rain, fog and mud. the cold was intense, and soldiers who had borne the brunt of a long day's fighting could not sleep, but just lay huddled together longing for the dawn. an even more serious effect of the rain was to jeopardise the supply arrangements, by converting the roads into seas of liquid mud, rendering them almost impassable, in places quite impassable for camels and mechanical transport. by dawn on the th, all the troops were in their allotted positions, except the rd division. it had been recognized that these troops on the extreme right might be delayed and fail to reach the positions assigned to them by dawn on the th, and arrangements had accordingly been made for the protection of our right flank west of jerusalem in case of such delay occurring. this contingency did occur. the rd division was held up by mud and fog, and by roads blown up by the enemy, so that, by the morning of the th, it was still some distance south of jerusalem; on that day it exercised little or no influence on the fighting. during the darkness of the night of the th/ th december, and in weather such as we have described, portions of the th division clambered down the mountain side, crossed the deep wadi bed in front of the right of our line, and crept up the steep terraced sides of the opposite ridge where ran a portion of the turkish line. one brigade was to make a frontal attack, while another was to turn the left flank of the enemy's position, by scaling a spur to the south-west of the village of ain karim. these two brigades stormed the main line of works before daylight and captured the western defences of jerusalem. considerable rifle and artillery fire was experienced from the outskirts of jerusalem, so that it was necessary for our troops to throw back their right and form a defensive flank facing eastwards towards the city. artillery support from our own guns soon became difficult, owing to the length of the advance and the difficulty of moving guns forward. it thus became difficult for these troops to attain their subsequent objectives in the direction of the nablus road north of jerusalem. accordingly, it was decided, early in the afternoon, to consolidate the line gained and resume the advance next day, when the right column (the rd division) would be in a position to exert its pressure. meanwhile, the task of the th division was to swing forward, with their left resting and pivoting on neby samwil, to capture beit iksa village and works, and so to swing forward to the nablus road. they each captured their first objective, and we were preparing for a further advance. but the delay on the right made it desirable to check for the time the advance on the left, and to consolidate the positions already attained. by nightfall, our line ran from neby samwil to the east of beit iksa, through lifta, to a point of about - / miles west of jerusalem, whence it was thrown back facing east. thus, our main line had swung forward, circling on its pivot at neby samwil, with its extreme right flank refused. the refused right flank afforded protection against the fire coming from the city. the main directions of our advance, however, now menaced, not so much jerusalem itself, as the main nablus road a few miles to the north of the city. all the enemy's prepared defences west and north-west of jerusalem had been captured, and our troops were within a short distance of the nablus-jerusalem road. that night the turks withdrew. on the following morning, the th december, the th and th divisions, driving back rearguards, occupied a line across the nablus-jerusalem road miles north of jerusalem. in the meantime, the rd division had arrived on the scene of operations to the south of jerusalem. they bore right-handed, cleared the mount of olives, which commands jerusalem from the east, drove the enemy away eastwards, and occupied a position east of jerusalem across the jericho road. these operations isolated jerusalem. at about noon on the th december, , the city was surrendered. two days later general allenby made his official entry into jerusalem. it was a simple ceremony. the general entered the city on foot, preceded by his aides-de-camp, and accompanied by the commanders of the french and italian detachments, by the french, italian and american military attachés, and by a few members of the general staff. outside the jaffa gate he was received by the military governor, and a guard of honour composed of representatives of troops from the various portions of the british empire, which had taken part in the recent operations; while, inside the walls, were small parties from the french and italian detachments which those countries had sent to assist us in palestine. inside the city, at the base of the tower of david, the ceremony was concluded by the reading of the proclamation. its terms promised that every person could pursue his lawful business without interruption, and that every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, traditional site, endowment, pious bequest, or customary place of prayer of whatsoever form of the great religions of mankind, would be maintained and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs of those to whose faiths they were sacred. chapter xi the holy city[ ] it is beyond the scope of this book to attempt a detailed history of jerusalem. it cannot, however, fail to interest those readers who have followed us thus far, if we glance at a few incidents in the history of this sacred spot. of little importance, perhaps non-existent, in the days of the patriarchs, and still in the hands of the jebusites through the days of joshua, the judges, and samuel, it first sprang into fame about a thousand years before christ when it was captured by king david, who made it his capital. solomon built his temple on mount moriah, and prayed to jehovah that he would especially hear the prayers of his people when they prayed toward the city which he had chosen and the house which solomon had built for his name. then did this city become, and has ever since remained, the sacred city of the jews. with the advent of christ, born within a few miles of its walls, who here preached and healed, instituted his holy sacrament, suffered under pontius pilate, was crucified, dead and buried and the third day rose again from the dead, who here laid the foundations of the most beautiful religion that the world has ever seen, jerusalem became and has ever since remained, the sacred city of the christian. and then, six hundred years later, came the rise of islam. the great prophet mahomet, in evolving his religion, based his teaching upon the principles of judaism and christianity, the prophets of which were to be honoured, including "the prophet david" and "the prophet christ." so, in accordance with the prayer of solomon, and until the antagonism between judaism and islam led to the substitution of mecca, it was towards jerusalem that devout moslems were required to turn when they prayed. from mount moriah did mahomet, as his followers believe, miraculously ascend to heaven. and so did jerusalem become, and has ever since remained, no less a sacred city of the mahomedan. thus it will be seen that jerusalem, the sacred city of three mighty religions, became the most holy city in the world, the poetical prototype of heaven. jerusalem, situate away on the hills and far from the main trading and military route, was of but little commercial or strategical importance. yet we readily understand how its religious value caused it so often to become the goal and prize of contending creeds and armies. sometimes the motive was religious antagonism, as with antiochus epiphanes and titus; sometimes it was religious devotion, as with the maccabees and crusaders. pitiful though it be, yet, throughout the ages, the city of the prince of peace has been associated with the most terrible scenes, the most savage excesses, in the whole dreadful drama of war. not once nor twice in the reigns of the kings of judah and israel, did jerusalem resound with the clash of arms. although, after the fall of the northern kingdom, it was delivered by divine intervention from the invasion of sennacherib, yet its submersion by the rising tide of babylon could not long be averted. the evil day had only been postponed and, in b.c., jerusalem fell before nebuchadnezzar, before that power which, like turkey of yesterday, dominated the whole stretch of country from the persian gulf to the border of egypt. twenty years later, jerusalem, with the temple of solomon, was destroyed, the city, palaces and temple being levelled in one, and the population were put to death or led away captive to babylon. when, some years later, the capital of the babylonians was captured by the persians and their empire annexed, the jews were permitted to return to jerusalem. in the sixth and fifth centuries b.c. the temple and walls were rebuilt under ezra and nehemiah, and jerusalem took a fresh lease of life as a jewish city. in the fourth century b.c., when alexander the great marched southwards through syria to egypt, securing the mediterranean littoral before embarking on his expedition into asia, overthrowing tyre in his march and totally destroying gaza, the jews no doubt made their submission, and their city thus escaped destruction. after the death of alexander, judæa did not escape the anarchy which ensued during the internecine warfare waged by his generals and successors. in b.c., ptolemy i, king of egypt, advanced against jerusalem, and, assaulting it on the sabbath, the jew's day of rest, met with no resistance. he is said to have carried away , captives, whom he settled in alexandria and cyrene. the founding of a syro-grecian kingdom in northern syria brought judæa again into the unfortunate situation of a buffer state. jerusalem seemed doomed to be among the prizes of an interminable warfare between the ptolemies of egypt and the seleucidæ of syria and in turns vassal to each. at the commencement of the second century b.c. judæa passed into the hands of the syrian king antiochus the great, who at once proceeded to ingratiate himself with the whole nation. it was not the tyranny of foreign sovereigns, but the unprincipled ambition of their own native rulers, that led to calamities little less dreadful than the babylonian captivity. jason, the high priest, had been dispossessed by his brother menelaus, by double dealing with the syrian king, who at this time was antiochus epiphanes. a rumour of the king's death having reached palestine in b.c., jason seized the opportunity and revolted against his brother menelaus. but the rumour was false. "the intelligence of the insurrection, magnified into a deliberate revolt of the whole nation, reached antiochus. he marched without delay against jerusalem, put to death in three days' time , of the inhabitants, and seized as many more to be sold as slaves. he entered every court of the temple, pillaged the treasury, and seized all the sacred utensils. he then commanded a great sow to be sacrificed on the altar of burnt offerings, part of the flesh to be boiled, and the liquor from the unclean animal to be sprinkled over every part of the temple; and thus desecrated with the most odious defilement the sacred place which the jews had considered for centuries the one holy spot in all the universe."[ ] two years afterwards, antiochus determined to exterminate the hebrew race from the face of the earth. this produced the revolt of the jews under mattathias, whose illustrious son, judas maccabæus, founded the maccabæan dynasty. by b.c., the jews, under john hyrcanus, recovered their complete independence, which they maintained until compelled to acknowledge the dominion of rome. but the native rulers could not govern for long without dissension. soon were two more competitors, aristobulus and hyrcanus, quarrelling about the succession to the jewish throne. the republic of rome, having trampled under foot the pride and strength of the great asiatic monarchies, assumed a right of interfering in the affairs of every independent kingdom. the ambassadors of aristobulus and hyrcanus appeared before pompey, who was then in syria and was at the zenith of his power. after subjugating arabia, pompey, in b.c., marched directly into judæa. espousing the candidature of hyrcanus, pompey marched against jerusalem, within the walls of which he was admitted by the party of hyrcanus. aristobulus and his supporters, with the priesthood, withdrew to the temple and prepared for an obstinate defence. at the end of three months, and after great loss of life, the romans made themselves masters of the temple. "the conduct of the roman general excited at once the horror and the admiration of the jews. he entered the temple, and even penetrated and profaned with his heathen presence the holy of holies. all the riches he left untouched, and the temple he commanded to be purified from the carnage of his soldiers."[ ] he stipulated the tribute which the country was to pay, demolished the walls of the city, and nominated hyrcanus to the priesthood, though without the royal diadem. the magnanimity of pompey, in respecting the treasures of the temple, could not obliterate the deeper impression of jewish hatred excited by his profanation of the sacred precincts. from this time forward judæa becomes more and more under the shadow of rome. the walls of jerusalem were rebuilt by antipater, and later, the temple, which had become much dilapidated, was demolished, and rebuilt in great magnificence by herod the great. he was the last king of judæa with any semblance of autonomy, and, in the year a.d. , palestine was annexed to the roman empire. we pass over the incidents in the life and death of our lord, which, at the time, could have but little affected current events, but which were destined to influence so deeply the subsequent history, not merely of palestine but of the whole world. and we come to the cataclysm of which our lord had been the sorrowful yet unerring prophet. blinded by religious fanaticism, and convinced that god must fight upon their side and give victory to his chosen people, be their conduct never so cruel and their bearing never so arrogant, the jewish race, though a mere handful of men, offered war to the mistress of the world. with little military organization or training, divided by factions and torn asunder by internal dissensions, they yet dared to defy the mighty power of rome. they defeated the ill-starred expedition of cestius gallus, and inflicted upon the roman arms the most terrible disgrace they had ever endured in the east. but the triumph was short-lived; a terrible revenge was at hand. it was in this year, a.d. , that titus laid siege to the city. at the time, its population was swollen ten or twenty-fold by the pilgrims attending the passover. the reserves of food were destroyed in faction fights even before the romans arrived outside the city walls. "of all wretched and bloody sieges in the world's history, few, if any, have been more wretched or more bloody than the siege of jerusalem by titus. fierce and bloody as was the fighting, the deaths from sickness and famine were yet more terrible. dead bodies were thrown out into the valleys, where they lay rotting, a loathsome mass. the number of those who died in the siege were estimated at , . at night, miserable, starving wretches would steal into the ravines to gather roots for food; here they were pounced upon by ambushed romans and crucified by hundreds next morning in full view of the battlements."[ ] gradually the assaulting romans got possession of portions of the city, yet the portions still uncaptured refused to surrender, their defenders still hoping against hope for a divine intervention, as in the days of sennacherib. at length the city fell. the romans, pouring in, began by slaying indiscriminately. tiring of butchery, they turned their thoughts to plunder, but stood aghast at the houses filled with dead and putrefying corpses. the temple of herod was burnt, the city was desolate, while those whose miseries had not been relieved by death, were carried away into yet more miserable slavery or to a death more ignominious at rome. as a jewish city, jerusalem had perished for ever. sixty years later, jerusalem was rebuilt by the emperor hadrian. he resolved to suppress altogether the troublesome and turbulent judaism. the measures which he took caused the jews to rise against him under barcochebas. this was the wildest and the most bloodthirsty of all the jewish revolts; but it was the last. jerusalem having been recaptured, hadrian converted it into a roman colony, forbade jews to approach, and built a temple of jupiter on the site of the temple. it was when the roman emperor constantine embraced christianity, and his mother helena discovered the true cross and the holy places, that jerusalem came again into prominence. thereafter, churches and monasteries sprung up throughout palestine, which thus, for a time, became thoroughly christianized, under the christian emperors of rome and byzantium. but the seventh century saw the fall of the christian ascendancy in syria. in a.d. , the persians, under chosroes, swept through the land, massacring the christians wholesale, and destroying most of their churches, including the church of the holy sepulchre. the withdrawal of the persians was followed by a brief return of christian ascendancy lasting but eight years, under the emperor heraclius. and then, in , jerusalem fell to the growing power of islam. it was this new religion, with a calendar only dating from a.d. , which was to control the future destinies of the holy city. islam arose at mecca and medina in barren and uninviting arabia. when it started on that expansion, whereby it overspread half of the known world, syria, from its situation, was naturally the first country to tempt its restless and devoted arab warriors. within ten years of the hegira, or commencement of the mahomedan era, we find the followers of the prophet already in syria. the byzantine army was overwhelmed at the battle of the yarmuk, and the arabs laid siege to jerusalem. the city capitulated to omar, who granted terms of comparative magnanimity. his terms gave to the christians security of person and property, safety of their churches, and non-interference on the part of mahomedans with their religious exercises, houses or institutions. upon the site of the temple, which had been systematically defiled by the christians out of abhorrence for the jews, but which was honoured by the moslems as the spot from which mahomed ascended to heaven, was now erected the mosque of omar. this site became to the mussulman, the most venerated spot in jerusalem, as was the church of the holy sepulchre to the christian. when, in after years, pilgrimages to mecca were temporarily interrupted, devout mahomedans made the pilgrimage to jerusalem instead. for the next few centuries christian and muslim lived together upon a fairly workable basis of toleration. massacres of christians and destruction of their churches occurred periodically, either in revenge for christian successes elsewhere, or in connexion with other mussulman disorders when mutual assassination was popular. but, on the whole, pilgrims, who at this time swarmed from all over europe to visit the holy places at jerusalem, were allowed to do so comparatively unmolested--that is, they were probably not robbed more in palestine than in other professedly christian countries through which they had to pass along their road. had the arab mussulman remained master of jerusalem, the christians of europe would probably have remained content with the situation. a change came in the year . jerusalem was then taken by the turks, who had conquered all asia minor and were already threatening the byzantine empire in europe. the treatment which the christian pilgrims now received at jerusalem aroused intense indignation in europe, chiefly stimulated by the preaching of peter the hermit. other motives there were, such as the protection of the byzantine empire from the menaces of the turk, the desire of the latin church to prevail over the byzantine, and the temptations always offered in a holy war of loot upon earth and salvation in heaven. nevertheless, there undoubtedly spread, throughout western europe, a mighty wave of religious enthusiasm which was sincere. the first crusade was mainly recruited in france. great were the vicissitudes through which the crusaders passed on their pilgrimage through europe and asia minor, largely through quarrels with their fellow-christians before the turks had even been encountered or their country entered. having defeated the turks at antioch, the army marched south along the coast and at length reached and besieged jerusalem. of the numbers that set out from western europe, probably not less than a million, only a remnant of twenty thousand fighting men, with an equal number of followers, had reached the holy city. though thus decimated and war weary, the crusaders were ecstatic with religious fervour; st. george was said to have appeared to them clad in shining armour; the saracens gave way, and jerusalem was taken by assault. the usual massacre of the inhabitants followed, and estimates of the slain vary from forty to a hundred thousand. in was established the christian kingdom of jerusalem, the kingdom of the crusaders, latin in creed, french in nationality, feudal in character and precarious in existence. the state of affairs seems now rather to have resembled the relationship which formerly existed between the hebrews and the philistines, or, even more analogously, that between the italian city-states of the middle ages. most of the cities of palestine were gradually annexed by the christians, but some, notably askalon, did not pass out of the hands of the saracens for many decades. accordingly, wars became matters of almost annual occurrence, and "never, during the whole eighty years of its existence, was the kingdom of jerusalem free from war and war's alarms."[ ] the bulk of the original crusaders left alive soon returned to their homes in europe. there was little or no native christian population on which to draw, and the kingdom became dependent for the support of its army, both as to men and money, on the pilgrims that swarmed from europe to jerusalem; naval assistance was given by genoese and by venetians, more, alas, from motives of commerce than of piety. religious enthusiasm had been capable of conquering and establishing this kingdom, but it proved quite unequal to the tasks of sustenance or protection. and so, after eighty years of romance and trouble, of love and war, of lust and murder, often inflicted, more often endured, this kingdom fell, because it had no sure foundation. the decline and fall of the latin kingdom of jerusalem forms a sordid story of jealousy, and intrigue, of futile ambition and divided counsels, of perjury and perfidy. the crusaders intermarried with the women of the country, and, except so far as it was constantly recruited from europe, the race rapidly degenerated. with no resources at their back, except the charity of europe, the crusaders yet had dreams of worldly aggrandisement, which included in their ken the whole of egypt and syria. the second crusade of - came, not to conquer, but to support and defend this already tottering kingdom. it did that kingdom more harm than good, for it drained europe of its potential pilgrims, anticipating and exhausting the natural flow of men and money on which the kingdom had come to rely, and dissipated them on a futile attempt to annex damascus. the knights templars, the feudal barons of the country, built castles throughout the land, and lived at constant variance with the king and central government. every baron fought for his own land and for his own aggrandisement. the kingdom of jerusalem was fast tottering to its fall. it was in that saladin, having made himself master of egypt and of damascus, attacked tiberias, as a first step towards overthrowing the kingdom of jerusalem. the crusaders moved against him from seffuriyeh. it was july, and the crusaders were absolutely without water; the saracens, with lake tiberias at their back, had abundance. the crusaders, suffering terribly from thirst, nevertheless attacked. the result of the battle was a foregone conclusion. here, at the horns of hattin, the mount of beatitudes, was the crusaders' army destroyed and the power of the christian completely crushed. jerusalem itself, after a short, fierce struggle, fell in the following october. the inhabitants were not put to the sword. huge ransoms were paid and the christian population allowed to disperse throughout syria. jerusalem had passed again (it seemed as if for ever) into the hands of the mahomedan. "the news of the fall of jerusalem was received in europe with a thrill of horror and indignation."[ ] thereupon set forth the third crusade, that which is identified with richard i of england. travelling by sea, these crusaders avoided the horrible sufferings inevitable to the crossing of asia minor. acre was captured in , by the crusaders, after a siege lasting for two years. thence they marched southwards, through cæsarea to jaffa, fighting on their way the great battle of assur, when saladin was defeated. but richard, instead of marching upon jerusalem, which lay in his grasp, vacillated and negotiated. at length he decided to go up against jerusalem. some twenty miles from the city he stopped. again he vacillated. dissensions broke out between the duke of burgundy and king richard. the design of besieging jerusalem was given up, and the army slowly and sadly returned to jaffa. thereupon, in , a peace was concluded, whereby the sea coast, from jaffa to acre, was ceded to the franks, but jerusalem still remained in the hands of the saracens. there were several more crusades. none of them (unless we except the treaty of the excommunicated frederick in ) ever reached jerusalem. some of them never even reached palestine, being shamefully diverted to other purposes. saddest of all was the children's crusade, when fifty thousand poor misguided children followed the cross (like the pied piper of hamelin) to slavery, dishonour, or death. but these form no part of the history of jerusalem. in , we find christian and saracen making common cause in palestine against the kharezmians. these mongols, who only appeared on the stage of history for a brief period of four years, swept through the country, captured jerusalem, massacred all on whom they could lay hands, moslem and christian alike, and destroyed such sacred relics as they could find. then, defeated by the egyptians, they perished out of history as suddenly as they had appeared. in , the christians, by this time reduced to their last stronghold of acre, were finally expelled by the moslems from palestine--and that was the end of the crusades. europe became reconciled to the fact that the kingdom of christ is a kingdom, not of the sword but of the soul. and so, the watchword by which the crusades were inspired now became the consolation of their end--"dieu le veut." in , syria and palestine fell under another mongol invasion by timoor the tartar (tamerlane). in , palestine was annexed to the ottoman empire under selim i, of which empire it has since formed an integral part. at the close of the eighteenth century, napoleon marched through the country, defeating the turks at gaza and on the plain of esdraelon, but was forced to withdraw. in , mohammad ali, having thrown off the turkish yoke in egypt, conquered syria, but nine years later, through the action of the european powers, the country was restored again to the ottoman porte. in so far as any principles can be deduced from this history, they seem to show that jerusalem, situated as it is, could never become the capital of a great empire. on the other hand, this city, coveted by so many races and creeds, must be safeguarded by the arms and resources of some great empire, or it can never remain at peace. it may be of interest to close this résumé of the history of jerusalem by comparing the route taken by general allenby with those taken by previous soldiers in their conquests of judæa. the routes taken by the british have already been fully described. in only one known case, that of the first crusade, had judæa been successfully invaded before by an invader who had not previously made himself master of at least three of her borders.[ ] the attempt at a swift rush across one border made by cestius gallus, ended in a failure, which was only wiped out four years later after the romans, under vespasian and titus, had first overrun galilee and samaria and mastered the strongholds round the judæan borders. this was the policy followed, a thousand years later, by saladin. the upland of judæa has almost never been invaded from the barren waterless south.[ ] david, operating from hebron, must have approached jerusalem from the south, but he was already in possession of the judæan plateau. the original attempt of the israelites to enter the country from the south was checked, and they subsequently crossed the jordan and entered judæa through jericho from the east. the philistines must have come up by the passes from the west. sennacherib did not approach jerusalem himself, but it was whilst warring against egypt at lachish (tel el hesi on the maritime plain) that he sent his arrogant message to jerusalem; and it was on the plain that his victorious army, infected by the plague from egypt, melted away as by a miracle. egypt was his objective, not judæa. nebuchadnezzar may have invaded judæa from the north, but it is more probable that he also came up from the west, after first making himself master of the maritime plain. pompey was returning from his expedition in arabia when he invaded, so he entered from the east, ascending the judæan plateau by way of jericho and bethel. herod invaded from the north. in the christian era, cestius gallus made his disastrous expedition by the valley of ajalon, beth-horon and gibeon. titus, after the surrounding country had been subjugated, moved his army up to jerusalem by gophna (jufna) and bethel, and so through bireh, from the north-west and north. the moslems, in , first captured damascus; subsequently they approached jerusalem across the jordan. the first crusaders came through asia minor and won a decisive victory at antioch; thence they came southward along the coast, through ramleh, and up the valley of ajalon, their advance through the mountains being unopposed. saladin, by the decisive battle of hattin, near tiberias, made himself master of the surrounding country before closing in upon jerusalem, which he eventually did from hebron (south), from askalon (west), and from the north. in the third crusade, richard and his crusaders came oversea to acre; after marching to ramleh, they tried first to reach the holy city up the valley of ajalon, and afterwards by the vale of elah, the wady es sunt, further to the south, but both attempts failed. many of the invading armies that have swept through palestine have confined themselves to the great inter-continental road along the maritime plain, and have passed by jerusalem, secure upon its plateau. we have seen that this was so with sennacherib. this was probably the case with alexander the great, and was undoubtedly so with napoleon. the latter defeated the turks at gaza and again on the plain of esdraelon. his objective was syria, but he was foiled by the action of the british in the siege of acre. this distraction also prevented him from making any attempt to reach jerusalem. prior to the arrival of the british, it was seven centuries since a christian conqueror had set foot in jerusalem. but there was now no gloating of the cross over the crescent. on the contrary, guards of moslem troops from our indian army were placed upon every building sacred to islam, while christian guards were mounted over those sacred to christianity. never before had jerusalem fallen into the hands of conquerors so zealous for the safety of its populace or so concerned for the preservation of the city and all that it contained. [illustration] footnotes: [footnote : much of the material in this chapter is derived from milman's _history of the jews_, w. besant and e. h. palmer's _jerusalem_, and george adam smith's _historical geography of the holy land_, to which my acknowledgments are accordingly due.] [footnote : milman.] [footnote : milman.] [footnote : milman.] [footnote : besant & palmer.] [footnote : besant & palmer.] [footnote : g. a. smith.] chapter xii junction station and ludd an interesting task fell to my lot, in the reduction to order of the chaos existing at junction station. this place had been an important rest camp on the enemy's line of communications. that the germans thought they had come to stay was manifested by the style in which the station and other buildings had been erected, as well as by the plans which they had left behind them for intended future development. most of the buildings, including an up-to-date flour mill fitted with modern machinery, had been substantially built with stone. the erection of many additional houses was clearly contemplated, while the work had already been put in hand of planting fruit orchards. the disgusting state in which these premises were left was indescribable. rotting carcases of beasts lay all about the place, while other filth almost surpassed them in stench. the buildings were infested with flies by day and mosquitoes by night, while other forms of vermin carried on the good work throughout the whole twenty-four hours. a large amount of stores had been left behind and had fallen into our hands, consisting mainly of grain, flour, and fodder (tibbin). the enemy had destroyed some of the buildings, smashed up the mill machinery, and set on fire as much of the corn as possible. this fire lasted for days, until at length it burned itself out, for it was useless attempting to salve any portion of the grain composing the bonfire. before we had so much as taken possession, swarms of bedouin came through the premises to loot. thieving with them is instinctive. they could not understand why they had not a right to help themselves to what the turks had abandoned. however, a strong guard was posted at once; those bedouin who had taken up their abode on the premises were evicted; and preparations were made to face a somewhat stormy night. all that night through the crack of rifles resounded. although the bag next morning proved to be small, yet, for days afterwards, bedouin kept dropping in at our hospitals with bullet wounds to be dressed, as to the cause of which they could offer no satisfactory explanation. after this the looting fell off considerably. nevertheless, a certain number of looters, averaging about a dozen a day, were caught and put into the guard room. we were glad of their assistance, as there was much filthy cleaning up to be done, so, fools that came to loot, remained to scavenge. once we had an awkward predicament, for the sergeant of the guard, having confined in the same lock-up some looters, whose detention should be for twenty-four hours, and some prisoners, whose detention should be for the duration of the war, could not subsequently tell them apart. the enemy left here intact an entire turkish hospital. it was one of the most picturesque of eastern sights that anybody could wish to see. crowded together in one huge ward were men of every shade, in variegated costumes, lying on beds with coverlets rivalling joseph's coat of many colours. unfortunately, the hospital was infected, or suspected of infection, with typhus. therefore, as soon as the patients and staff had been evacuated, it was set on fire, and the whole hospital, woodwork, tents and all that they contained, ascended to heaven in a great column of smoke. among the contents was a nice new camp bedstead. pending the decision as to the competent military authority in whose custody this should be placed, i gave orders for it to be transferred to my quarters. but, strangely enough, each senior officer that arrived considered that the competent military authority to take charge of this bedstead was himself. it must have had at least a dozen owners by the time that it ascended in smoke. this hospital also contained one case of sardines. it was wonderful how widely spread became the fame of those sardines. every british officer in palestine seems to have licked his lips and looked forward to a meal of sardines when he should pass through junction station. unfortunately, nobody could find those sardines. but a week later, when the rush of officers had gone, it was discovered that they had been appropriated as medical comforts by the r.a.m.c. now, it so happened, that none of the patients then arriving were on a sardine diet, so other measures had to be taken to ensure that the sardines were not wasted. as the army went forward, they sent back large numbers of turkish prisoners of war. these were collected at junction station, where a compound was formed. such as were required for labour were temporarily detained, while the others were marched back under guard to railhead. during this sojourn, the prisoners were usefully employed in clearing up the messes which had been left behind, particularly in burying carcases. at one place we found half-a-dozen dead buffaloes lying half submerged. before they could be got at and cleared away it was necessary to drain off the water. a party of the prisoners were detailed for this task; a few hours later they were found seriously trying to drain this water away up-hill. among the prisoners were a few officers. in default of other suitable accommodation, one of them was allowed to live in a room at the commandant's house. he displayed great anxiety lest somebody should touch the disused telephone or other wires, fire a booby trap possibly left behind by his kind friends, and so blow him to eternity. there was not much time to spare for contemplation. nevertheless, in this, the vale of sorek, i often thought of samson and delilah, and "mon coeur s'ouvre à ton voix"; or, pictured the ark of the covenant wend its way past my very door, on a cart drawn by two milch kine, on that wonderful journey from ekron to beth-shemesh. there was plenty of work to be done, in reducing chaos to order, in protecting much valuable property, in meeting the requirements of thousands of passing troops, and in spreading, as it were, the spawn for this mushroom town. it had been an important place under turkish administration. it promised, under the british régime, to become the most important railway centre in palestine. consequently, schemes of water supply, sanitation, and town planning had to be evolved and installed immediately, hospitals opened in the most appropriate buildings, spaces set apart for camping grounds for all classes of troops and animals, huge dumps and supply dumps respectively, railway sidings laid down and cemeteries opened both for christians and for mahomedans, while roads had to be improved and sign-boards set up in all directions. many and diverse were the arrivals and departures in the course of one busy week. foremost came the fighting troops of the st corps, the th and th divisions, followed later by those of the th corps, the th and th divisions. with them arrived field ambulances, which took possession of the best of the buildings and converted them into hospitals. companies of royal engineers arrived, and travelling workshops staffs of the ordnance department, and both of these lost no time in opening their workshops. enormous supply dumps were formed and camel convoys, miles long, arrived with supplies. the camels were specially inconsiderate, and would select awkward spots, like cross-roads, at which to lie down and die. they were welcome to die, if only they could and would have first made adequate arrangements for their own obsequies. a battalion of british west indians that arrived, aroused both sympathy and amusement. they had marched through torrential rain and arrived soaked to the skin. in spite of a warning as to what they might expect, they rushed for shelter into some of the buildings which had not yet been disinfected; but their exit was even faster than their entrance, and they preferred the wet and cheerless exterior to being eaten alive within. scarcely a day's march behind the fighting troops, arrived a thousand or more of the egyptian labour corps. these were immediately set to work on the roads, and such good work did they do that the roads were soon in an excellent condition for mechanical transport. full of irony was the arrival of several guards and a staff of military police _en route_ for jerusalem. it was believed, at this time, that the fall of jerusalem was imminent. that britain's fair name might not be sullied by any foolish misbehaviour, or any still more foolish collection of souvenirs, it was decided that guards should at once be mounted upon the holy places in jerusalem. these guards, christian and moslem, collected at junction station, ready to march straight into the city; but, when its fall was postponed _sine die_, they had sadly but surely to return to their own regiments. the intention had been to surround jerusalem with a cordon of british sentries; an order, accordingly, was published that any british soldier found within miles of jerusalem would be liable to be shot. our unfortunate british soldiers fighting on neby samwil, which was within the prescribed distance, readily endorsed that sentiment, though scarcely in the sense implied by the authorities. of all activities at this time of industry, none were greater than those of the railway development companies of the royal engineers. the turkish line had been destroyed in several places and the rolling stock much damaged. nevertheless, repairs were put in hand immediately, leaky engines were made water-tight, damaged trucks and coaches were made fit to travel, and, within a very short space of time, there was a train running each way between junction station and deir sineid. as being the services of primary importance, the first trains were confined to the bringing up of ammunition and the taking down of wounded. the captured rolling stock was limited, and so the number of trains was painfully restricted. fortunately, this narrow gauge line was of similar gauge to certain light railways in egypt, and rolling stock from those lines was brought up with all convenient speed. moreover, two quite new engines, said to have been originally destined for this line but captured at sea during the early days of the war, were hurried up and put into commission. new constructional work was also put in hand at once, including an embankment for continuing the line northwards across the bed of the wadi surar (sorek), the original steel girder bridge having unfortunately been destroyed. the fate of the bridges here was similarly unfortunate. the railway bridge, which should have been blown up before, so as to prevent the escape of the turkish trains, was only destroyed after they had got away; and so the destruction of this bridge proved of great hindrance to us, but caused no inconvenience whatever to the enemy. the other bridge across the wadi was a timber bridge, which carried the road. as this bridge was insecure and required strengthening, a party of military police were posted upon it to stop all traffic from crossing it through the night. seized with a brain wave, they lit a fire upon the centre of the bridge. this expedient proved so successful, that it not only stopped the traffic for that night, but for all time. when morning came, it was discovered that they had burnt away the bridge itself, and a new bridge had to be constructed. an armoured train was improvised from such trucks as were available, the sides being sandbagged and a lewis gun mounted in front. with this, the railway line was patrolled towards jerusalem for some miles, until destroyed bridges made further progress impossible. the result of this reconnaissance showed that trains could run for some distance along this line, and ammunition trains were pushed forward accordingly. when i left junction station to rejoin the fighting troops, it was well on the high road to importance and fame. this, however, never matured. it was to the policy of railway construction that this place owed its primary existence; it was to an extension of that policy that it looked for its future development; it was through a change in that policy that its glory soon afterwards departed. the original intention had been to adapt to our use the turkish railway system, merely broadening the gauge. in that case, our own broad gauge line from kantara, which, immediately on the fall of gaza, had been brought through to deir sineid, would have been continued along the route of the turkish line from deir sineid to junction station. the first months of working this turkish line, still in its narrow gauge condition as captured, did not afford a promising outlook. these were months of torrential and persistent rain. the country became a quagmire. landslips along the permanent way, and the washing away of culverts, became of such frequent occurrence, that it was decided to abandon this portion of this line altogether. committed, therefore, to no predetermined route, the engineers were left with the whole country open to them to choose a course for their new trunk railway to the north. they chose a line much nearer the coast, and approximately followed the border line between the fertile plain and the sand dunes from deir sineid as far north as yebna, thence bearing north-east towards ramleh and ludd. this had the effect of making the future railhead at ludd. situate at the cross-roads where the valley of ajalon debouches upon the plain, and the ancient route from jerusalem to jaffa crosses the yet more ancient route from egypt and gaza to acre and damascus, the neighbourhood of ramleh and ludd has for many centuries been the site of an important town. in biblical days it was ludd; in crusading days it was ramleh. the towns are but a couple of miles apart. and so it came about that now, once again, this spot became the great traffic junction of palestine. as time passed on, and as, through the spring and summer of , we held a line across palestine to the north of and covering jerusalem and jaffa, railway development proceeded apace, being focussed on ludd. in spite of the difficulties of railway engineering in the mountains, the broad gauge line was carried from ludd through junction station right up to jerusalem. well-constructed narrow gauge lines were laid down between ludd and jaffa, and between railhead and various distributing centres close behind the front line. the line from junction station to beersheba was changed from narrow to broad gauge and extended to rafa. thereafter the line was double from kantara to rafa. from rafa, one single line went forward, by belah, gaza and yebna, to ludd, while another single line went forward to ludd by way of beersheba and junction station. the advantages of a double line system north of rafa were thus secured at times of pressure by working the full freight trains forward to ludd viâ gaza and yebna, and working the trains of returned empties back again by way of beersheba. ludd developed apace. soon were seen all the evidences and activities of a great advanced base and distributing centre. huge ordnance and supply dumps arose, workshops and depots were to be seen on all sides, a great bakery was installed and even a mineral-water factory. the importance of ludd far eclipsed the quondam glory of belah, and came nearer to rivalling that of kantara. to an englishman, the chief interest of ludd lies in its being the place of martyrdom and burial of st. george. was it not appropriate that the victorious british armies in palestine should have been provided and fed from beside the very tomb of their own patron saint? chapter xiii the jordan jerusalem having surrendered on the th december, the enemy lay round about in an encircling line on the north and east. the first thing to be done was to make good our hold upon the city. accordingly, a series of minor operations took place, with the object of clearing the enemy from any points of vantage that he held and driving him further from the city. on the night of the / th december, determined counter-attacks were delivered by the turks. they attacked the rd division at points east of jerusalem, and the th to the north, their principal objective being tel el ful, a conspicuous hill miles east of neby samwil, from which jerusalem and the intervening ground could be overlooked. on the morning of the th, a lull occurred in the fighting, followed by an attack of unexpected strength against the whole front. the successes gained by this attack were short-lived. a counter-attack by the th and th divisions, further to the left, now made itself felt. this was launched against the enemy's reserves, and thus deprived the enemy of the initiative. the turkish attack being spent, a general advance northward, took place, not, however, without further heavy fighting. pursuing our advantage, we further advanced our line on the th, and occupied a line from beitior (bethel), miles north-east of bireh, to janieh and ras kerker, miles west, north-west of bireh. bireh, which had been our objective in november, was, at last, securely in our possession. the turkish attempt to recapture jerusalem had ended in crushing defeat. throughout the winter months the weather was miserably wet, and the troops in palestine, whether engaged in active operations or merely holding the line, suffered intense discomfort. the mails brought us letters from our friends at home, saying how much they envied us who were spending christmas in the holy land. but those who were up the line spent christmas day soaked to the skin in a gale of wind and rain, while their christmas dinner consisted of half-rations of bully beef and biscuit. they were wishing themselves anywhere else upon this earth. the appalling weather conditions made it impossible to get more than the bare necessities of life forward from railhead, and tons of christmas luxuries sent from england through egypt lay soaked and rotting in dumps at deir sineid. january was much too wet for operations in this country. in february, however, general allenby determined on the capture of jericho. the country from round jerusalem slopes down, as we have seen, very abruptly to jericho and the jordan valley. precipitous slopes, rocky ridges and narrow ledges, confined the advance to definite lines on which the enemy could concentrate fire. the advance began on the th, and, by the evening of the th, the th division had reached a line miles west of the cliffs overlooking jericho. in the meantime, the mounted troops were working on the right or south of the infantry, towards the commanding position of neby musa, near the north-west corner of the dead sea. this advance was held up at the last wadi which was directly overlooked by, and subjected to, a heavy fire from neby musa. other mounted troops, further to the right, discovered a way down to the jordan plain, where they were firmly established by dusk. that night the turks withdrew, and our mounted troops, moving up the plain, entered jericho on the morning of the st. there are two or three routes between jericho and the summit of the judæan plateau. that by which the british had now come down was not the route followed by joshua and the israelites. they, on the other hand, ascended by a route farther north, through mukhmas (michmash) and beitin (bethel), thus reaching the summit near bireh. the route followed by the pilgrims was that of the main road, which hereafter became the main line of supply of the forces operating in this direction. having secured jericho and the low country beyond as far as the jordan, operations were now commenced with the object of pushing the enemy northwards, and clearing him from another substantial portion of palestine. this would, at the same time, broaden the base for future operations which were contemplated across the river jordan. operations on a large scale were commenced on march th. both the th and st corps were engaged. we will, however, consider here only the operations of the th corps, leaving those of the st until a subsequent chapter. the reader is already familiar with the type of country, which resembled that between jerusalem and jericho. the downward slopes were exceptionally steep, in places precipitous. the slopes were swept by machine-gun and rifle fire, and the beds of the wadis were enfiladed. the ascent on the far side was steeply terraced. men had alternately to hoist and pull each other up under fire, and finally to expel the enemy from the summits in hand-to-hand fighting. under these conditions no rapid advance could be looked for. the th division, by night, crossed the wadi el auja, north of jericho (not to be confused with the wadi of the same name to the north of jaffa). this division seized a position astride the beisan-jericho road. the rd division captured tel-asur, a conspicuous landmark among a mass of high hills, which mountain the enemy tried repeatedly, but in vain, to recover. farther to the left, a counter-attack was repulsed by the th division. at the conclusion of the operations, the high ground covering the approaches to the jordan by the jericho-beisan road had been secured, and also, farther west, linking up with the st corps, the high ground stretching across the hills of mount ephraim. we come now to the passage of the river jordan and the operations in eastern palestine. it will be remembered, from what has already been written,[ ] that active operations were in progress about this time between the turks south-east of the dead sea and our arab allies, the troops of the king of the hejaz. the turkish line of communications ran down the hejaz railway through eastern palestine, temptingly near our forces at jericho. it will also be remembered,[ ] that the jordan valley, and ascent therefrom into the hills of eastern palestine are unique. it would therefore have been difficult or impossible to cut the turks' hejaz communications by maintaining a permanent garrison astride the railway, such garrison being based on jericho with an extremely vulnerable line of communications across the valley. it was thought, however, that much useful service might be rendered to the arabs if a raiding force were to cross the jordan and destroy the railway in the neighbourhood of amman. the country between the jordan and amman offered many obstacles to our advance. there were the marshes of the jordan valley to be crossed, ridges of clay to be surmounted, scrub to be negotiated, followed by an ascent of , feet. the metalled road to amman crosses the jordan at the ghoraniyeh bridge, and reaches the hills at shunet nimrin. it then winds up a wadi to es salt, whence it strikes due eastward to amman. the operations commenced in the latter part of march. no serious obstacle was encountered until the crossings of the jordan were reached. a small party was sent in motor-boats across the dead sea to dispose of any enemy who might be in the district to the north-east of the dead sea, but they met with few traces of the enemy. the enemy had destroyed the bridge at ghoraniyeh early in the month. other means had therefore to be devised for effecting a crossing. "jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest." on the th march, owing to heavy rain, the river rose feet. floods had, therefore, to be contended with. the current is at all times rapid, and the banks, on account of the floods, are boggy and difficult for the approach of transport. on the night of the st/ nd march, the main crossings of the river were attempted, both at ghoraniyeh, and a few miles further south at hajlah, where the pilgrim road from jerusalem reaches the jordan. at the former point three attempts to swim the river were made, under fire, by men with ropes attached to their bodies, but in each case the swimmers were carried away by the strong current and found it impossible to reach the opposite bank. then a punt was launched, but this was no sooner launched than it was swept away. the attempt was commenced in the bright moonlight, but was much hampered by enemy fire. it was renewed after the moon had gone down, but then it was impossible to find the easiest route or to negotiate the current in the dark. farther down stream, however, the efforts met with better fortune. a small party succeeded in swimming across in the dark and landing on the left bank. these towed a rope behind them, by which, after landing, they hauled across light rafts. the crossing by the raft-loads of men had to be carried out in the face of some hostile fire. portions of the scrub had been set on fire by the enemy, and these fires to some extent lit up the rafts as they were being pulled across. by daylight, men had been got across, and a small bridge-head established. a barrel bridge was without delay constructed by the engineers. very little progress could be made that day as the scrub was infested with enemy machine guns. on the following night, however, a rush was made, and the bridge-head enlarged to a width of , yards. that night the engineers constructed a steel pontoon bridge, and an entire cavalry regiment was passed over by dawn. the cavalry soon cleared away the enemy, not only from hajlah, but also from in front of ghoraniyeh. bridges were built now at ghoraniyeh and the passage of the river assured. having successfully crossed the jordan, the force pushed on eastwards across the low country, meeting with some opposition. eventually we reached shunat nimrin. the enemy retreating up the es salt road were bombed and machine-gunned by our aircraft. part of our force, following on their heels, entered es salt on the th, while, on the th, our mounted troops occupied amman. the railway to the south of the station was successfully cut, but north of amman the cutting was not complete. consequently, the enemy were able to receive considerable reinforcements. before amman could be attacked in strength some , turks were in position covering the viaduct and tunnel, while , more were moving on es salt from the north. five miles of railway line were however, destroyed, while much other damage was done to the railway line. but, in view of the strength of the enemy and the difficulties of our communications (we had only been able to bring forward mountain-artillery), our force withdrew. the raid had not entirely fulfilled its object, but much good work had been done, and it had materially assisted sherif faisal with his hejaz troops in his operations further south against maan. our force returning from eastern palestine did not abandon the hardly-won eastern bank of the jordan. bridge-heads were retained. the turks, however, became aggressive, and, on the th april, attacked our bridge-head at ghoraniyeh. they were repulsed from here and driven back to shunet nimrin, which they strongly garrisoned. on the th april another raid was made across the jordan. this time our infantry attacked the shunet nimrin position, while the cavalry, intending to cut off the garrison, moved round the flank and reached es salt. but a strong turkish force, crossing the jordan from the nablus area at jisr ed damieh, drove back the cavalry, who lost nine guns in their retirement. this raid had been planned to co-operate with the beni sakr arabs. their promised assistance did not materialize, and the whole force was brought back to the crossings of the jordan. thenceforth, until the sweep of the following september the jordan river and bridge-heads remained our front line. footnotes: [footnote : see before chapter iii.] [footnote : see before chapter iv.] chapter xiv the wadi deir ballut in the last chapter we saw how, after the capture of jerusalem, the th corps proceeded to improve the line on the right. we will now follow the operations of the st corps on the left. the first operation of importance was that carried out by the nd division on the extreme left. on the night of the th/ st december, , crossings, partly by fording and partly by rafts, were effected over the wadi auja, a few miles to the north of jaffa. the high ground overlooking the wadi from the north was rushed before dawn, and a line was consolidated which effectually deprived the enemy of all observation from the north over the valley of the wadi auja. incidentally, the distance between the enemy and jaffa was increased from to miles. this safeguarded jaffa and its harbour, and the main jaffa-jerusalem road. further adjustments of the line were made, including the capture of rantieh on the railway and el tine and bornat to the right, which gave commanding views over the forward country and increased elbow room to the troops covering ludd and ramleh. as the result of these operations the line ran, at the beginning of march, approximately as follows. the th division on the right had reached the jordan, our line running along that river as far north as the wadi auja and then bending westwards. on their left came the rd division, a little to the north of bireh, and on their left again the th division completed the front of the th corps. they joined up the th division, whose frontage ran from midieh (the modin of the maccabees) through kibbiah to the foot-hills at et tireh; from here the th division extended across the plain; while the nd division held the sector close to the sea, a little to the north of the other wadi auja. [illustration] except for occasional rains, our soldiering in the th division sector, throughout february and the early part of march, was campaigning _de luxe_. the enemy had gone right back to the line of the wadi deir ballut, leaving a no man's land in front of us about miles across. he held advanced posts a mile or two in front of our line, but his guns had been taken well back out of range. we therefore enjoyed immunity both from sniping and shelling, and could move about in front of our line without anxiety, even in broad daylight. the observation posts that we occupied commanded extensive views across no man's land, and we should have had early intimation had there been any considerable hostile movement. we thus had opportunities for training, and preparing ourselves for the next forward push. the whole battalion was put through a course of musketry. the forward slopes of our position provided an admirable field firing range, with all no man's land for the stray bullets to spend themselves upon. how it must have made the turk itch to see men lying about in platoons in the open before his very eyes, and how he must have longed to have had a gun within range, and to have dispersed us with a few rounds of shrapnel. we also instituted a very successful shooting-gallery. in the front line beer was seldom procurable, though much appreciated. such as we were able to obtain from the canteen was taken to the rifle range. an empty bottle was set up yards in front of the firer and a full one behind him. if he hit the former he became entitled to the contents of the latter. each man was entitled to one free shot, and as many more as he liked at a cost of a penny each. the result was, that, at a very nominal cost to the canteen funds, the individual shooting of the battalion considerably improved. aerial activity was interesting. we soon became accustomed to the distinctive hum of the hun machines flying high above us, followed by the barking of our "archies." then we could trace the track of the planes across the sky by the line of white smoke puffs left by our bursting archy shells. archy seldom reckons to get a direct hit on a plane, but, by the expenditure of quantities of ammunition, he makes the hun fly too high to see anything of value or to drop bombs with much hope of success. more tangible results were obtained by our fighting planes, which engaged the hun in the air. a pretty little fight took place a thousand feet or so above our heads, between two of our planes and a couple of huns. after preliminary circling and manoeuvring for place, during which one hun machine discreetly went all out for home, one of our planes swooped straight on to the remaining hun, pouring a burst of lewis gun fire into the pilot and observer at short range. badly wounded, the hun pilot turned his machine full speed for home. but our other plane, which had retained its altitude, hovered over him, headed him off from home, and shepherded him down on to the plain, where he was forced to land and was captured. on another occasion, we were puzzled to see a hun plane, returning from our lines, pitch in enemy territory, and, though unattacked, go up in smoke and flame. subsequent reports furnished an explanation. the hun pilot had descended without being very sure of his whereabouts. the turks, mistaking him for a britisher, opened fire upon him with a machine gun. thereupon, believing himself to be in hostile territory, the pilot burnt his machine and surrendered--to his own friends! campaigning _de luxe_! the wild flowers did all that lay in their power to add to the luxury. the warm sun of february and march, following the drenching rain of the winter, produces in palestine a profusion of beautiful flowers that is probably surpassed nowhere. the country-side was literally carpeted with choice flowers of sweet smell and varied colour. to mention but a few--there were red, white, and blue anemones; cyclamen, white, pink and mauve; aromatic herbs; poppies and corn-flowers; scarlet tulips; pink phlox; blue irises, velvety arum lilies, black and crimson, tall, stately hollyhocks. and the catalogue is scarce begun. truly a floral paradise! early in march came rumours of a forward move. the nominal pretext was an improvement of our line. other motives may possibly have been influencing the higher authorities, such as keeping the initiative in our hands, fostering an aggressive spirit, and feeling the strength of the enemy with a view to subsequent operations on a larger scale. almost opposite jaffa the central range of judæan hills is cleft by a great gorge. starting at a point on the edge of, and almost overlooking the jordan valley, it runs approximately due east and west, with many turns and even hairpin bends, until it debouches on the plain at mejdel yaba, thence forming a main tributary of the river auja. in the days of the maccabees this gorge formed the frontier between the jews and the samaritans. this gorge is the wadi deir ballut. the sides of this wadi are at all points steep, at some precipitous, presenting in places an almost sheer drop of several hundred feet. the bed of the wadi is from a hundred to a couple of hundred yards wide and the surface level. thus the wadi ballut formed an admirable defensive line for the turk; after it had passed into our hands, it provided us with an admirable line of communication. the turk, at this time, held the line of the wadi ballut with such advanced posts as could deny to our patrols all access to the wadi. available information about the wadi was thus restricted to reports and maps, and was none too ample or reliable. the intermediate country consisted of approximately flat "merjs," intersected with wadis, and dotted about with hills, villages, and other features of tactical importance. at this time of the year it somewhat resembled the general appearance of exmoor. for several days prior to the advance patrols were sent out into no man's land, that as much as possible might be ascertained about, and as many as possible be made familiar with, the terrain over which we had to operate. on the th march, the whole th division, in co-operation with the divisions on its flanks, moved forward. the operations of this day were perhaps little more than minor operations, certainly not one of the decisive battles of the war, although their effect in drawing reinforcements to palestine may have had far-reaching results in other zones such as mesopotamia. nevertheless, as they formed such a pretty field day, so like our manoeuvres at home, i venture upon a short description, in the hope that it may be of interest to those whose soldiering experience has been confined to the home front. there was no horrid barbed wire to contend with, nor gas. there were not even trenches, for the turks' defence work here consisted only of stone walls, technically known as sangars. during the commencing stages we were not even shelled. shortly after dawn, our heavy artillery opened the ball by shelling the advanced posts of the enemy. at seven o'clock the whole line moved forward. our first objective, a prominent knoll, was , yards away, and no previous opposition was expected. having assumed the appropriate formation before crossing the crest, we moved forward in "artillery" formation, that is to say, in lines of platoons in file. for the non-military reader, it should be explained that this is the formation in which troops are considered least vulnerable against artillery or distant rifle and machine-gun fire. great care was taken to ensure that direction was maintained, an officer with compass being specially detailed for this purpose, and that touch was not lost with the units on either flank. a battery of field artillery had been detailed to support the advance of this battalion; the forward observation officer went forward with the infantry; the battery, less one section temporarily left behind, moved forward close behind us to a previously selected position from which the deir ballut ridge would be within easy range. a section of machine gunners moved forward close behind the leading companies. in a fold of the ground, some , yards short of the first objective, the infantry shook out into lines of skirmishers. they continued their advance, and occupied the knoll which was their first objective without opposition. meanwhile, after a concentrated bombardment on the left, the first and second of the enemy's forward posts were captured without serious opposition; it appeared probable that these had been occupied mainly for observation and that his principal resistance was to be offered upon the ballut ridge. after a short halt on the first objective, to conform to the time-table, we moved forward again in the same formation against our second objective, a ridge which seemed to overlook the wadi deir ballut. we still met with no opposition, until we put our heads up over the ridge, when we were greeted with a torrent of bullets from machine guns posted on the opposite side of the wadi. this wadi, it will be remembered, was to us _terra incognita_. the first thing to be done therefore was to make a hurried reconnaissance, and decide on the best method of getting down and across. it was found that the descent was almost a sheer precipice, and that we had not one but two wadis to cross; a smaller tributary wadi, scarcely marked on the map, forming, in fact, a rather serious obstacle. carrying out such a reconnaissance, upon a forward slope, under machine gun fire from across the wadi, was none too easy. it had been intended that the leading company, which took the ridge, should at once open covering fire across the wadi, whilst the company following should pass through them and cross the wadi under cover of their fire. however, the difficulty of taking up suitable positions for seeing the target, and the extremity of the range (about , yards), made it inadvisable for the infantry to fire. but the machine gunners attached to us soon brought their machine guns into action, while our artillery f.o.o. took up a position on the ridge from which he could fire his guns to good effect. about this time, away to our left, developed the attack on mejdel yaba. this village occupies a commanding position overlooking the plain, and, in crusading days, was a fortress. that phase of the battle proved an artillery action pure and simple. the whole artillery of a division, with several heavies added, was concentrated on that luckless spot. it afforded a spectacle not soon to be forgotten. when the infantry arrived, they found the work all over; the turks had all been killed by the bombardment or fled from the village, most of the latter having been cut off and killed by our machine guns. before leaving, the turks had taken the precaution of interviewing the headman of the village and cutting his throat. to return to our own corner of the picture, under cover of the fire of our own artillery and machine guns the first company went forward. slipping down that mountain side was a veritable case of running the gauntlet. but, once the bottom of the first wadi was reached, some cover was afforded for a breather. almost in front of us, on the far ridge, lay the village of deir ballut, on which the enemy evidently intended to base their strongest resistance. on our left, the infantry were making a good pace; on the right they were held up, but, seeing us going forward, they pushed forward too, so that pressure might be maintained all along the line. the enemy had organized his defences and placed his machine guns with great skill. the slopes of the wadi were too steep for good shooting straight down the slope. so he had taken full advantage of the curves and hairpin bends of the wadi to place his machine guns in position sweeping the spurs and giving each other mutual support. our leading company lost no time in getting to work. they dumped their packs and set out at once to storm the ridge. meanwhile, our infantry advancing on the left, had taken some of the enemy machine guns in flank, forcing them to withdraw, which materially assisted the advance of the leading company. and so the leading company, closely followed by companies in support, established itself on the ridge. the fiercest of the fighting, however, was yet to come. a great burst of machine-gun fire caused the leading platoon to take cover under one of the terraces. hence they were at once led forward again. the turks now delivered a strong counter-attack. seeing this, the leading platoon dashed forward with their bayonets, led by the company cook, and the turks were put to flight. the lewis-gunners caught them as they were getting away and effectually quenched all desire to renew the counter-attack. then the company pushed forward, and, ignoring the village of deir ballut, with its machine guns tried to get across the line of retreat from the village. seeing this, the turks evacuated deir ballut, and, under cover of machine guns posted on the further ridges, those left alive made good their escape. that evening found us in undisputed possession of deir ballut ridge from beyond the village of deir ballut down to the plain at mejdel yaba. chapter xv the mountains of ephraim we now found ourselves well established in the mountains of ephraim, and at no great distance from the enemy. after the taking of ballut ridge he had dropped back, and was soon seen to be entrenching and sangaring a new line from , to , yards further north. ballut ridge had been fixed as our final objective. had there been possible roads by which guns and supplies could have been brought forward, an immediate pursuit or attack of the enemy might have proved successful; but, with such hopeless communications, deliberate action was a necessity. after the ridge had been captured, the enemy were pursued with all the fire from rifles, machine guns and artillery that could be brought to bear. cavalry, or even infantry pursuit across these mountains was out of the question. an outpost line was established and the troops settled down to a wet and somewhat cheerless night. the mountain sides had been so steep that it had been impossible to bring up any comforts, and even the camels bearing the reserve supply of ammunition could only be got forward with extreme difficulty. except for shelling, we were left unmolested during the night and next morning, which gave us the opportunity of constructing sangars, making tracks for the pack transport animals, and generally making ourselves more comfortable. patrols were sent forward, and it was ascertained that the country to our immediate front was clear of the enemy. the effect of this advance was to draw down reinforcements into this sector, and to divert into palestine reserves of turkish troops; these came largely from the caucasus, where the total collapse of russia had set many good turkish troops at liberty. there was evidence that these troops had been intended for an offensive campaign in mesopotamia. it is probable, therefore, that this advance, indirectly, yet substantially, contributed to the defence of mesopotamia, for the turkish offensive in that area never materialized. two or three german divisions came down to stiffen up the turks, and from this time forward the resistance which we had to face became unmistakeably hardened. the days of campaigning _de luxe_ had gone for ever. before our "archies" could get forward, the hun aeroplanes had very much their own way, and, flying low, dropped bombs and machine-gunned us in a manner that was most uncomfortable. enemy artillery shelled any movements on the forward slope, and brought a searching fire to bear, in the hope of damaging our bivouac areas behind the crest. the manner in which the front line was held in the mountains by the turks as well as by ourselves, was as follows. strong sangars were constituted on the forward slope of a hill or ridge. by day these were occupied only by a small and well-protected observation party, at times supplemented with a lewis gun team; and the remainder of the garrison were withdrawn behind the crest to bivouac areas on the reverse slope. at dusk, the garrison moved forward and manned the front line, being withdrawn again during the half-light of dawn. thus the hostile artillery could never see a target upon which to fire. searching a steep reverse slope with guns is almost impossible while, even with howitzers, unless observation can be obtained, an enormous amount of ammunition has to be fired to secure any result. meanwhile, preparations proceeded apace. with a genius little short of that which has made roads across the himalayas and the alps, roads were soon engineered down and up the steep sides of the wadi, so that within two or three weeks it was possible to bring guns across the wadi and over the ballut ridge. water supplies, of which excellent springs were discovered in the bed of the wadi, were developed; later, the cisterns on the hills were closed down to prevent mosquito breeding and malaria. on the th march, the enemy moved forward to counter-attack the ballut ridge line, but were caught in close formation by our artillery and the counter-attack never developed. on the th, a slight advance was made on our right, which brought the village of beit rima (possibly the ramathaim of the maccabees) within our line. another forward move was evidently in the wind and patrolling activity increased all along our line. a detailed account of one of these patrol incidents may be instructive as affording an example of how such a patrol should be handled. the patrol commander was an experienced soldier who had seen service with almost every battalion of the regiment and in most of the theatres of this war; his sleeve was covered with wound stripes, and hostile snipers only made him angry. the orders which he received were to patrol as far as ikba, and to protect some senior officers, who wished to make a reconnaissance and for whose safety he was responsible. he had under his command one platoon, consisting of three sections of riflemen and one of lewis gunners; also one other officer to assist. a glance at the sketch map will show ballut ridge, which formed our front line, and three bushes hill, the most forward position held by the enemy. ikba, or to give it its full name, khurbet umm el ikba, thus lay in no man's land at no great distance from the enemy. though standing on a hill and commanding an admirable view of the surrounding country, it is overlooked at a range of a mile from three bushes hill, and also at shorter distances within effective rifle range from the points marked a, b and c, and, to some extent, from the point marked e. f is a lower knoll, commanded from ikba. both e and f are commanded from a. moving forward before dawn, the patrol commander led his patrol forward down the wadi ikba. each section was kept apart, and moved forward in single file under its own commander. to each section commander were given precise orders as to the position which he was to occupy, what he was to do, and when he was to withdraw. one section moved down the ridge on the right of the wadi, and took up a position at the point b. one section, with the junior officer, moved first along the wadi bed, and then, while it was still only half light, ascended the left-hand spur and took up a position at a. the lewis-gun team occupied the hill at c. the remaining section, which had been kept in reserve at the hills about d, now moved forward and occupied ikba. all being reported clear, the senior officers moved forward, arriving at ikba just as the daylight became strong enough for them to obtain the forward view of the enemy country which they desired. an even better view of the country seemed probable from the spur at a. so across there went the officers, including the patrol commander. by the time they arrived, rifle reports were cracking, and the situation was becoming interesting. the reconnaissance finished, the patrol commander gave the senior officers five minutes in which to withdraw, before the expiration of which he would not begin to withdraw his patrol. meanwhile, the enemy upon three bushes hill, had espied the party in ikba, and set out to capture the patrol. creeping along under cover, they established themselves at the point e. thence they started to move on to the point f, but came under fire from the section on point a. it became a case of running the gauntlet, but the section were shooting well and dropped their men. the section at ikba was withdrawing; the enemy, failing to realize that the spur a was occupied, rushed across to a intending to shoot up the wadi at the section withdrawing from ikba. they were greeted with a warm reception from the section already at a and beat a hasty retreat. the section at a now withdrew up the wadi, covered by the fire of the section still in position at b and by the lewis gunners at c. the reserve section from ikba, who had been the first to withdraw, had meanwhile taken up another section in rear, and, under their protection, the section at b and the lewis-gunners from c withdrew up the wadi. the enemy had apparently had enough of it, for the pursuit was not pressed. a few rounds of shrapnel were fired at us as a parting present, but no casualties were sustained. this patrol commander had paid attention to, and illustrated the soundness of, the cardinal principles of mountain fighting, namely, the necessity for seizing and piquetting the commanding heights, and the support of the movement of one party of troops by the fire of other parties already in position. the plan of using the lewis gun as a reserve of fire, kept well back to cover the retirement of the remainder, was undoubtedly sound. had the commanding heights not been first secured, it is difficult to see how the patrol could have withdrawn in the face of the enemy without confusion and without casualty. on the th march the whole line moved forward. the advance was only intended to be for a depth of about a mile, in order to secure a better tactical line for defence. none of the objectives were believed to be held by the enemy. accordingly, the advance was carried out by night. a full moon, giving light throughout the night, facilitated the operation. as soon as daylight was gone, the whole line crept noiselessly forward, with bayonets fixed ready to meet any possible opposition with cold steel. away to our right, the enemy detected movement, and put down a barrage. but their firing was somewhat wild; the barrage came down behind the advancing troops and caused no casualties. on our front the enemy had not awakened to what was taking place, and our objectives were attained without molestation. it was realized that our new positions would be overlooked from the enemy's observation posts on three bushes hill and on arara, and that, when they saw us by daylight occupying the nearer ridges, they would shell us unmercifully. accordingly, the remainder of the night was not devoted to sleep, but to the intensive building of sangars on the new defensive line, and the preparations of bivouac areas in such few spots as might be under cover from view and from fire. when morning came, the enemy commenced to shell, but the night had not been wasted, and our fellows had made themselves secure. this new line was not very comfortable. to such an extent was it overlooked by the enemy that all movement by day was out of the question, and even incinerator fires had for a time to be forbidden. the enemy attacked this new line a few days after it had been taken up. however, our artillery caught the enemy's troops in close order before they had been deployed, and so we experienced no greater inconvenience than a bombardment, doing no great damage. it was not expected that this new line would have to be held for any great length of time. already preparations were being pushed on for another encounter with the enemy. chapter xvi rafat we have seen, in an earlier chapter, that throughout the campaign in palestine the left british flank, near the sea, was at all times much in advance of the right. we have already discussed the cause and advantages; there was one distinct disadvantage. as the trend of the country sloped up from the maritime plain, the enemy on our right front was on higher ground and had the advantages of observation. if there were a commanding position to our front, and we moved forward and captured it, we found that there were yet other positions beyond, from which that position was itself commanded. our positions on the ephraim mountains along the ballut ridge were at this time overlooked from three commanding hills in the possession of the enemy, known as arara, rafat, and three bushes. further to the right were the villages of el kep and berukin, also on high ground. owing to the conformation of the country the key of this district was arara. in order to improve the general line, and in preparation for a further advance, it was decided to move forward and to capture all these commanding positions. accordingly, on the morning of the th april, the line moved forward. the village of el kep was a nest of machine guns. after heavy bombardment it was captured after stubborn resistance. berukin was also captured after sharp fighting, but further progress in this locality was held up. next day these villages were heavily counter-attacked, and, though they were firmly held, further progress was out of the question. meanwhile, a battalion of somersets had captured rafat, and a battalion of dorsets three bushes hill. enemy shelling now became intense, followed up by counter-attacks, all of which were repulsed. the intention had been that the somersets should capture rafat first and then take arara, the main objective of these operations. the capture of three bushes hill was necessary to secure arara and rafat from reverse fire. but, to enable arara to be held, it was also necessary to capture other heights to the south-east, notably one called the pimple. most of these heights were captured, but, although determined efforts were made, the enemy could not be dislodged from the pimple. nevertheless, the somersets moved forward from rafat and successfully established themselves upon arara. here they were fired at from all sides. they found that arara was itself commanded from a height called sheikh silbih, a thousand or two yards beyond, while the reserve fire from the machine guns on the pimple soon made their position on arara untenable. they fell back upon, and firmly established themselves in, their positions at rafat. one lad, who was left behind in this retirement, had a terrible experience. wounded in three or four places, he was unable to withdraw with the remainder of his company. he lay out on arara for three days, after which he was discovered by some turks. these proceeded to strip him, whereupon he made known to them that he was still alive. they then bayonetted him, and left him for dead. he lay out there for yet another day, now naked, when he was found by a german stretcher-party. these took pity upon him, and removed him to a hospital where he was nursed back to life. the position on three bushes hill had become interesting. if left in our undisputed possession, it would have rendered the main line of enemy trenches untenable. on the other hand, if the enemy could drive us off, he might from there roll up rafat and our other positions. he therefore made several determined attempts throughout the day to retake this hill. the position was not altogether unlike that on spion kop. each side clung to the slope immediately below the summit, the forward slope being untenable through shell fire; our guns were unable to silence the hostile batteries. there was this difference, however, from spion kop, for here there was no question at present of withdrawing. the difficulties of bringing supplies, water and ammunition up, and the even greater difficulty of carrying the wounded down a pathless precipice feet high, can be better imagined than described. this work had mostly to be done by night, for our communication line was under enemy observation. the last of the ambulance camels, which were evacuating wounded from the regimental aid post had not crossed the ballut ridge and got out of sight before dawn, and were shelled accordingly. the enemy delivered counter-attacks again in the night; these also were repulsed. next morning he changed his tactics. continuing to shell the back areas, he now pushed up snipers, who established themselves where they could fire at any movement. in so far as the snipers near the summit of the ridge were concerned, a service of counter-sniping was established. but, what was more difficult to deal with, he established snipers on the lower slopes of his own side of the ridge, who could look down upon, and make themselves unpleasant towards, rafat. accordingly, it was decided to clear the forward slope. the dorsets had now been fighting on the hill for forty-eight hours. accordingly, on the night of the th/ th, they were relieved by an indian battalion, the outrans. just before dawn this battalion moved forward, surprised the turks, drove them down the hill and consolidated a line along the forward slope, with observation posts and lewis gunners, withdrawing the remainder of the battalion behind the crest. the sniping had thus been stopped for the time, and the day was passed in comparative quiet. at dusk, that evening, down came one of the most furious bombardments put down by the enemy in palestine. guns from all quarters concentrated on the hill, and practically blotted out the devoted band that were holding the forward line. the bombardment was followed up by a determined counter-attack, but this was repulsed, the battalion of dorsets being brought back to support the outrans on the hill. it was now realized that the only way by which the arara position could be captured and held, was by a general advance of the line to at least a thousand yards farther to the north, so as to capture the pimple, sheikh subih, and the enemy works beyond three bushes. accordingly, preparations were put in hand, and all was ready for this further advance, when there came--the disaster in france. the great german offensive in france had commenced on the st march, and, a few days later, occurred that great break through which very nearly altered the whole complexion of the war. at first this was not allowed to prejudice the operations in palestine. but, as the seriousness of the situation in france became realized, no effort was spared to collect more men to fill the gap. orders were given to cease all further active operations on a large scale in palestine, and to send to france all the men that could be spared. accordingly, there was no alternative but to consolidate, to heavily wire and sangar in upon the line that had been already reached, making such tactical readjustments as were necessary. it might appear at first sight that the net result of these operations was negative, and that the poor fellows who had given their lives here had died in vain. but this was not so. rafat was destined to become famous. it was fortified on an almost impregnable scale, thousands of pounds were spent, and a couple of million sand-bags were worked into its defences. a veritable fortress was established which overlooked much of the enemy positions. more than once was this fortress attacked by the turks, but in vain. it ultimately formed the firm pivot on which was based the great sweep which conquered palestine. feeling between the turks and the germans was growing intensely bitter. germans were not allowed to walk about singly behind the turkish lines, for fear of assassination. in an attack made by them in the jordan valley in july, not only did the turks fail to move forward in support of the germans, but they actually fired upon the germans, when, through lack of that support, they were compelled to retire. it was a case of "a house divided against itself" and it could not therefore hope long to stand. active operations on a large scale in palestine having been stopped, the army was not reorganized. it was a matter of keen regret to many who had followed the fortunes of this campaign since the days of gaza, that they and their battalions were not to play a part in the final act. the nd and the th divisions were withdrawn entirely, their places being taken by the rd and th indian divisions from mesopotamia. all those remaining, except the th, were converted into indian divisions, per cent of their battalions being withdrawn and replaced by fresh battalions from india. those withdrawn were, in some cases, sent to france, in others, broken up and used for reinforcements in the country. hitherto the army in palestine had consisted mainly of territorials. henceforth it was to consist mainly of indians. chapter xvii the crowning victory the turkish forces in palestine, in the autumn of , consisted of three armies, the th and the th, plus one added division on the west of the jordan, and the th army on the east. all were under the supreme command of the german general, liman von sanders. the line held by the enemy west of the jordan extended roughly from the sea, south of the nahr el falyk (some miles north of jaffa), across western palestine approximately east, south-east to near rafat, thence easterly and south-easterly, across the nablus-jerusalem road, and so down to the jordan valley. thus, a portion of his force was entrenched across the maritime plain, while the remainder was in the mountains of the central range. these mountains of ephraim and samaria form a rugged, isolated plateau, which is bounded on the north and east by the low-lying valleys of esdraelon and the jordan. north-west, the mountains continue in a broken chain, till they fall precipitously to the sea at cape carmel. there were two or three routes available to the enemy for supply or retreat, behind the samaritan plateau. most important of these was the railway, which, leaving the main damascus-hejaz line at deraa, ran westwards down the yarmuk valley to the jordan, thence through beisan, and up the vale of jezreel and along the plain of esdraelon to haifa. from el afule, a junction in the middle of the esdraelon plain, the south-bound line branched off, and, passing through jenin (close by jezreel), wound its way among the mountains up to messudieh station, close to samaria. thence a short line ran on to nablus, while the main line continued down the slope of the wadi shair to the maritime plain, which it reached at tul keram. the advanced enemy bases at nablus and tul keram were served also by good roads. that from tul keram followed the line of the railway up to a point near samaria, where it joined the main north-bound road leading from nablus down to jenin and el afule. from el afule it would be possible to go down the vale of jezreel (along the road where jehu drove furiously) to beisan, and thence northward up the jordan valley. but the better road from jenin and el afule leads across the plain of esdraelon to nazareth and tiberias and round the northern side of the sea of galilee to damascus. another road from nablus leads eastwards, and, dropping steeply down along the wadi fara, leads to the jordan, which it crosses by a ford at jisr ed damie. the places of tactical importance on the enemy lines of communication behind his advanced bases were, therefore, the railway junctions at deraa and el afule, the ford of jisr ed damie, and the towns of beisan, jenin and nazareth. the broad outline of general allenby's plan of operations was an attack in overwhelming force against the enemy's positions on the maritime plain, followed by a right wheel of his left flank on a front of miles from rafat to the sea, thereby rolling up the turkish line and driving them all into the samaritan hills; meanwhile, his cavalry were to dash for the tactical points behind the turkish line and so close all enemy lines of retreat. some weeks before the date fixed for the commencement of operations, the several divisions were by turn withdrawn behind the line and put through a three weeks' course of intensive training. then a rearrangement of the line took place, whereby an overwhelming force was concentrated on the left. the th division, and most of the cavalry, were moved across to the extreme left from the jordan valley. divisions in the line were so rearranged that the line from rafat to the right was only held thinly, while the garrison of the line from rafat to the sea was doubled by the addition of three more divisions, including the th on the sea and a french division at rafat. all these movements were carried out with the utmost secrecy. the fact that the push was coming along the maritime plain was successfully camouflaged, and the enemy led to believe that the push would come up the jordan valley. the hotel at jerusalem was closed, and got in readiness, ostensibly for occupation by g.h.q. empty lorries were run up and down the jordan valley. tents were left standing there and dummy-horse lines arranged. dummy horses were left in the jordan valley to convey to enemy aerial observers the impression that cavalry were still there in strength. all the marching towards the jordan valley was by day; all the marching towards the maritime plain was carried out by night, while by day these troops were hidden in the olive and orange groves that abound on this portion of the plain. so successful were these ruses, and so complete the surprise, that enemy aerial reconnaissances, made a day before the attack, reported that there was unusual movement in the jordan valley and that there was no unusual movement on the coastal sector. the whole of the operations were a triumph of secrecy and of organization. on the day before the main attack, a small advance was carried out by the right wing just west of the jordan, occupying el mugheir. this place is the junction of several roads leading from the west to the east of the jordan. the object of this preliminary move was to prevent the turks west of the river escaping by this route to the east, and also to draw the attention of the enemy towards the jordan valley and distract it from the coastal sector. by the night of the th/ th september, our troops were in position. the divisions occupying the line from the sea on the left were the th, the th and the th on the plain, the rd where plain and hills meet about mejdel yaba, the th and the french at rafat. thence the line was held by the th division, assisted by a composite force, and, on the extreme right, about the recently captured mugheir, by the rd. cavalry were concentrated behind the th division ready to dash forward directly the line should be broken. at . on the morning of the th september, there suddenly opened an intensive bombardment of the enemy's coastal positions, carried out by all the artillery, trench-mortars and machine-guns that could be concentrated in this small sector, the navy also co-operating. after ten minutes' bombardment, the infantry moved forward and assaulted the enemy's front line positions, which were carried with but little opposition. thereafter the barrage lifted and crept, being supplemented in places by smoke barrages dropped from aeroplanes. the infantry pushed forward and captured the enemy's second and third lines and strong points in rear. shortly before seven o'clock, the th division had broken right through the enemy defences by the sea, and had reached, and established a bridge-head at the wadi nahr el falyk, a mile or so behind the enemy line. engineers and pioneers got to work at once, and in a very short space of time had made roads and bridges through the enemy trench system, and over the nahr el falyk, by which cavalry and guns could be pushed forward. at . , the cavalry passed through on their dash for the tactical points behind the enemy's lines. meanwhile, all along the line our infantry had taken their first objectives with little opposition, the enemy having been taken completely by surprise. the whole line advanced to a maximum depth of miles, and then swung to the right, pivoting on rafat. such opposition as was encountered was met with at the strong points well behind the front line, where the enemy had had the time and opportunity to man his defences. for example, both at el tireh and at kalkilieh, stubborn resistance was encountered. thus the line swung right-handed into the hills, crumpling up the whole enemy line west of rafat. the th division, after their break through, marched for the greater part of the day, and, by . in the afternoon, had reached tul keram. our line, that evening, ran approximately south and north from rafat to tul keram. the cavalry passing through the gaps broken at the sea and close to tabsor, pushed rapidly northward along the coastal plain. some of them made for tul keram, and, passing thence up the valley towards nablus, had already reached anebta before dark, cutting off large bodies of the retreating enemy with guns and transport between tul keram and the railway junction at messudieh. another strong cavalry force moved farther north. they passed through the mountains east of mount carmel that night, by the musmus pass (megiddo), and, early on the following morning, the th, they charged the enemy holding the northern exit of the pass and debouched on to the plain of esdraelon (armageddon). these seized the railway junction at el afule. some pushed on eastwards towards the jordan and captured beisan (bethshan), some northwards and captured nazareth, while some, turning southwards, took jenin in reverse. by nightfall on the th all these tactical points were in our possession. yet another exploit remains to be chronicled. far away across the eastern desert, but beautifully co-ordinated, and working as part of one great machine, moved a raiding force of the arab troops of hussein, king of the hejaz. at the critical moment these swooped down upon the junction at deraa, where they destroyed the railway in all directions, completely depriving the enemy of their main line of retirement. throughout the operations our airmen had the time of their lives. some hovered all day over the enemy aerodrome at jenin, and effectually prevented enemy machines from leaving the ground. some maintained contact between the infantry and the higher command. some, flying low, bombed and machine-gunned the retreating turks, and completed their confusion. the advance was continued on the th. on this day, the th division, which had hitherto remained stationary to the right of rafat, moved forward in a north-easterly direction, taking in rear the strong enemy position at furkha. the whole line was now advancing and driving the retreating turks towards samaria and nablus, and down the roads leading northwards and eastwards from these points. by the evening of the th, the turkish resistance had collapsed everywhere on the west of the jordan, except on the turkish left in the jordan valley. our right wing had advanced slightly, and occupied a line from near el mugheir to es sawieh, while our left wing had swung round and reached the line bidich-baka-messudieh junction--that is to say, we were gradually closing in on nablus from the south, south-west, and west. owing to the tactical positions behind the enemy lines having been seized by our cavalry, all avenues of escape which might have been open to the enemy had been closed, except the fords across the jordan between beisan and jisr-ed-damieh. by the st, the retreating turks had become a demoralized rabble, fleeing to the fords of the jordan, like the discomfited midianites, under oreb and zeeb, had fled more than three thousand years before from the pursuit of gideon. those who fled down the northward road were captured and collected by our cavalry at jenin. those who fled down the eastward road by the wadi fara, hoping to reach the still open ford at jisr-ed-damieh, met with a more cruel fate. this road led down a steep and narrow gorge, dominated by the heights east of nablus. a brigade of the th division was rushed forward by a forced march, and seized these heights, effectually closing the trap. our airmen had already got the situation well in hand here, and the road soon became a veritable shambles. the enemy had been forced or shepherded by our infantry into this bottle-neck, and our airmen, swooping down to feet and bombing the head of the column, soon made the road impassable. that accomplished, they flew up and down the struggling column, bombing and machine-gunning without let or hindrance. it seemed as though the unspeakable turk had at last been delivered over to vengeance in this valley of death. an eye-witness[ ] describes the scene. "in no section of napoleon's retreat from moscow could there have been a more terrible picture of hopeless and irretrievable defeat. in this area alone, eighty-seven guns of various calibres, and fully a thousand horse and oxen-drawn vehicles, nearly a hundred motor-lorries, cars, field-kitchens, water carts, and a mass of other impedimenta blocked the road, with the carcases of thousands of animals and the bodies of dead turks and germans." on the nd, our cavalry moved up the jordan valley and seized the ford at jisr-ed-damieh, thus cutting off the last possible means of escape. prisoners were surrendering in thousands. they looked weak and exhausted; in many cases they had fled over a parched country and beneath a burning sun for three or four days, without touching a drop of water. their plight was pitiable. by that evening, the turkish armies west of the jordan had ceased to exist. there still remained the turkish th army in eastern palestine. an expedition, consisting largely of cavalry, was sent against them. these crossed the jordan valley, and, moving up the eastern slopes, on the rd september captured es salt, and, on the th, amman. a day or two later, the turkish force south of amman, about , strong, surrendered. the remainder of the turkish th army tried to withdraw. they were closely pursued by our cavalry and airmen, and, to some extent, cut off by the arab forces of the king of the hejaz. many prisoners were taken from this army, while, such as could do so, made their escape to damascus. the whole of palestine, south of, and including the plain of esdraelon, was now in the hands of the british and their arab allies. but there was still work to be done in a sweep forward towards damascus. the turks had some reserves at damascus, and with these, and the remnants of their th army, they attempted to check our advance against that city. accordingly, they sent a small force down to the upper jordan, that is, to the river north of the sea of galilee. this force, which consisted of germans, turks and circassians, was rushed down from damascus in motor-lorries, in order to deny the crossing at jisr benat yakub. they blew up the bridge and covered the crossing with machine guns. on the th our cavalry, pushing north from tiberias, swam the river both to the south and to the north of this crossing, and surprised and captured many of the enemy. they then, with armoured cars, pushed forward along the main tiberias-damascus road. on the same day, other cavalry joined hands with the arab army at deraa. from this point, also, cavalry and armoured cars pushed northward. it seemed a question whether this force or that from jisr benat yakub would be the first to reach damascus, as both forces were rapidly approaching the city from the south and south-west respectively. the advance was still disputed by enemy rear guards, from whom prisoners and guns were captured. the enemy rear-guards were defeated, and, by the evening of the th, the city was partially surrounded. early on the morning of the st october, a british force and a portion of the arab army of king hussein occupied the city of damascus. in the course of a fortnight the enemy line had been broken; samaria, galilee, eastern palestine and damascus had been conquered; three turkish armies had been destroyed, with a loss of their entire war material; and over guns and , prisoners had been captured. footnotes: [footnote : mr. w. t. massey, official correspondent with the e.e.f.] chapter xviii conclusion serious fighting had practically finished with the capture of damascus. the northward flight of the turks continued, closely pursued by our cavalry and armoured cars. a division of infantry was brought forward in support, but the difficulties of supplying a large force so far away from a base made it impossible to bring forward the infantry in any strength. australians rounded up a turkish column some miles north of damascus, and a few thousand more prisoners were captured. beyrout, the port of damascus, was abandoned without a blow, and, on the th october, was occupied by the allies. a division of french troops was landed here, and, thereafter, this port became the main channel of supply for the troops operating in northern syria. our forces pushed on northwards, meeting with little or no opposition, and occupying baalbek, tripolis and homs. a turkish force, under general liman von sanders, and estimated at about , , concentrated a few miles south of aleppo, where they threatened to offer some resistance. the advance northward was, however, unopposed. the enemy had constructed trenches covering aleppo, and at first showed signs of holding them. but, after our armoured cars had got into touch, and our airmen had bombed them, the enemy decided to evacuate, and withdrew to the hills towards alexandretta. aleppo was entered by our cavalry on the th october, and the station was seized at muslimie, the junction of the baghdad railway. by these captures we had made ourselves masters of the main line of communications with constantinople of the turkish armies in mesopotamia. their armies virtually destroyed, the turks now concluded an armistice, which took effect as from the st october. their allies, the bulgarians, who had suffered disastrous reverses in macedonia, had just concluded an armistice; the austrians were being badly beaten by the italians and were clearly nearing the end; and the germans were fast retiring from france and belgium: so, with all hope of succour gone, the turks had no alternative but to conclude an armistice, the terms of which practically amounted to unconditional surrender. the terms of the armistice included the following. immediate demobilization of the turkish army, except troops required for the surveillance of the frontier and the maintenance of internal order; the surrender of the garrisons of the hejaz, assir, yemen, syria and mesopotamia, and the withdrawal of troops from cilicia; the surrender of all ports there; occupation by the allies of the taurus mountains tunnel system; the allied control of all railways; occupation by the allies of any strategic points considered necessary for their security; prohibition of destruction of military or similar material; all germans and austrians to quit turkey within a month; turkey to cease all relations with the central powers; all allied prisoners in turkish possession to be handed over unconditionally, but turkish prisoners in the allies' hands to be kept at the disposal of the allies. in addition, all war vessels in turkish waters were to be surrendered, the dardanelles were to be opened, and free access secured for allied ships to all turkish ports and exchanges and to the black sea. a few days later, austria threw in her hand, and, on the th november, an armistice was concluded with germany. the central powers had surrendered. the greatest war in the history of the world had been brought to a close. will our campaign be passed down to history as "the last crusade"? presumably not. throughout the campaign there was little or no religious animosity, except that the moslem turk extended no quarter to the hindoo. to speak of this as a campaign of the cross against the crescent is untrue. the turkish high command was controlled by germans, so-called christians. the british soldier fought with no less zest than when opposed to turks. at the final battle, the moslems, serving in our armies, by far outnumbered the christians. the close of the great war forms a fitting point at which to bring our story also to a close. its aim has been a blend of history and reminiscence. much has been set down here which would have been omitted from a history; much more has been omitted which a complete history would have contained. in particular i plead guilty to omitting names of units deserving of special mention. generally their names have not been known to me; in such cases as they were known, i have feared that to mention them might have caused more jealousy than satisfaction. we each of us think, and rightly so, that our own unit does better than any other engaged. so, many a reader may be disappointed at finding no mention of the unit in which he is particularly interested. i can only refer him to the congratulatory telegrams which his unit received in the field, and which are doubtless preserved among the records of the regiment. we have now completed our brief review of this campaign. we have seen its small beginnings in the defence of the suez canal, when turkey, leaning upon germany, a broken reed, vaunted herself in an attempt to conquer egypt. we have traced the footsteps of the british army as, pushing back the invading turk, it crept across the desert. we have watched its struggles on the frontier of asia, culminating in the victory of gaza and beersheba. we have followed its progress in the onward sweep, which conquered jerusalem, and watched it through succeeding months of trial, patience and disappointment. finally, we have seen it destroy the remnants of the turkish armies, and, in one great rush, conquer the whole of northern syria. proud, indeed, should those of us feel who have been privileged to play a part in this campaign. index abd, abu aweigila, abu hareira, ain karim, ajalon, akaba, gulf of, , aleppo, , alexandretta, ali muntar, amman, , anwas, apex, the, , , arara, armageddon, asluj, atawinah, , , auja, , australia hill, baalbek, baghdad, baha, baku, beersheba, , , , beihesnia, beit dukka, beit iksa, beit hanun, , , beit jibrin, belah, bethel, beth-horon, bethshan, bireh, bir-el-abd, bir-es-sakaly, bitter lakes, constantinople, ctesiphon, damascus, dardanelles, dead sea, deraa, dueidar, egypt, el arish, el burj, el kep, el kubeibeh, el mesmiye, el mughar, el tine, el tireh, emmaus, enab, ephraim, erzerum, esdraelon, es salt, , gallipoli, gamli, gaza, , , gezer, ghoraniyeh, hajlah, hareira, hejaz, hill , homs, huj, ikba, in seirat, jaffa, , jericho, jerusalem, , , jiddah, jisr-ed-damieh, jordan, , , junction station, , , , kalkilieh, kantara, katia, katrah, kauwukah, khalassa, khan epenus, khan yunus, khasim zanna, kosseima, kut el amara, latron, ludd, , , maan, mageiba, maghdaba, magruntein, mansura ridge, mazar, mecca, medina, mejdel yaba, middlesex hill, mosul, mount carmel, mount royston, mudros, muslimie, muweileh, naaneh, nablus, nasiriyeh, nazareth, neby musa, neby samwil, , , , oghratina, , outpost hill, palestine, philistia, plain of sharon, rafa, , rafat, ramadi, ramleh, , rayak, romani, , shatt-el-arab, sheikh hasan, sheikh zowaid, shellal, sheria, shunat nimrin, suez canal, , suvla bay, taurus, tel-el-kebir, tel-el-saba, three bushes hill, , towal abu jerwal, trebizond, tripolis, tul keram, umbrella hill, umm jerar, wadi auja, wadi deir ballut, , wadi ghuzzeh, , wadi hesi, wadi nahr, wellington ridge, yemen, _printed in great britain for_ robert scott, _publisher_, paternoster row, london, _by_ butler & tanner, frome transcriber's note list of fixed issues p. v--typo fixed, changed "judaean" to "judæan" p. vi--typo fixed, changed "khuweilfah" to "khuweilfeh" p. vii--typo fixed, changed "tamberlane" to "tamerlane" p. --typo fixed, changed "weli sheikh nura" to "weli sheikh nuran" p. --typo fixed, changed "keran" to "keram" p. --typo fixed, changed a comma into a period after "ali muntar and gaza" p. --inserted a missing period after "in our hands" p. --inserted a missing closing bracket after "farther west" p. --typo fixed, changed "via" to "viâ" p. --inserted a missing period after "his positions" p. --typo fixed, changed "napolean" to "napoleon" p. --typo fixed, changed "garrision" to "garrison" p. --typo fixed, changed "hajleh" to "hajlah" p. --typo fixed, changed "nahr el falik" to "nahr el falyk" p. --typo fixed, changed "abou aweigila" to "abu aweigila" p. --typo fixed, changed "birel abd" to "bir-el-abd" p. --typo fixed, changed "beth-horon" to "beth-horon" p. --typo fixed, changed "maza" to "mazar" transcriber's note: text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). with the judÆans in the palestine campaign [illustration: _photo by vandek_ lieut.-col. j. h. patterson, d.s.o.] with the judÆans in the palestine campaign by lieut.-col. j. h. patterson, d.s.o. author of: "the man-eaters of tsavo," "in the grip of the nyika," "with the zionists in gallipoli." with a map and illustrations. london: hutchinson & co. paternoster row preface the formation of a battalion of jews for service in the british army is an event without precedent in our annals, and the part played by such a unique unit is assured of a niche in history owing to the fact that it fought in palestine, not only for the british cause, but also for the restoration of the jewish people to the promised land. in writing the following narrative, my object has been to give a faithful account of the doings of this jewish battalion while it was under my command. i am much indebted to captain h. davis, the rev. l. a. falk, mr. bendov of jerusalem, and canon parfit for permission to reproduce the photographs illustrating this book, which add considerably to its interest. j. h. p. london, . contents introduction vii chapter i. the balfour declaration chapter ii. the sanballats chapter iii. the formation of the jewish regiment chapter iv. training at plymouth chapter v. the kosher problem chapter vi. we set out for palestine chapter vii. back in the land of bondage chapter viii. the feast of the passover chapter ix. we set out for the front chapter x. the nablus front chapter xi. we march to the jordan valley chapter xii. our position in the mellahah chapter xiii. life in the mellahah chapter xiv. we win our first honours chapter xv. capture of the umm esh shert ford chapter xvi. the lost transport wagons chapter xvii. we go up to ramoth gilead chapter xviii. the crown of victory chapter xix. page the strategical value of palestine chapter xx. hospital scandal at jerusalem chapter xxi. life at ludd chapter xxii. at rafa chapter xxiii. return of the anzacs chapter xxiv. a red-letter day chapter xxv. jewish soldiers are forbidden to enter the holy city chapter xxvi. the great boxing competition chapter xxvii. bir salem--an exciting race chapter xxviii. damascus chapter xxix. among the philistines chapter xxx. the fall of goliath chapter xxxi. protests chapter xxxii. a trip to the sea of galilee chapter xxxiii. strange methods of the e. e. f. staff chapter xxxiv. the first judÆans chapter xxxv. the jerusalem pogrom chapter xxxvi. the dawn appendices list of illustrations lieut.-col. j. h. patterson, d.s.o. _frontispiece_ "i had an able and enthusiastic staff" facing page lieut. vladimir jabotinsky " " the rev. l. a. falk " " jerusalem " " the battalion on parade " " tomb of rachel, near bethlehem " " choir of the jewish regiment " " the wailing wall at jerusalem " " the jerusalem-jericho road " " near the wadi kelt " " the auja ("a pleasant, swiftly flowing streamlet") " " es salt (the ancient ramoth gilead) " " roman arch at amman " " in the old citadel at amman " " part of the great amphitheatre at amman " " circassian cart at amman " " "here the tents of israel were pitched" " " group of officers at rafa " " ruins of baalbek " " my charger betty " " ruins of the old city of tiberias " " introduction in the darkest days of the war, the british cabinet decided that it would be good policy to create a jewish regiment, and accordingly, in august, , the first jewish battalion was formed. from that day forth, as a matter of duty and loyalty to king and country, it was clearly incumbent on all those in authority to treat this new unit with justice, and do everything in their power to make it a success. it is to be deplored that this jewish battalion--this ewe lamb of israel--did not receive, while on active service in the holy land, that measure of justice and fair play that was its due. in common with the vast majority of my countrymen i have the "fair play" sense strongly developed. i am always prone to be on the side of the under dog--more especially when i see that the poor devil is getting more kicks than in all fairness are his due. in palestine, unfortunately, i was constantly called upon to ward off unfair blows aimed at the jewish battalion under my command by certain members of the local staff of the egyptian expeditionary force. i have passed over many of our sufferings in silence, and no record of them will be found in this book, but i am afraid they have left an indelible mark in the mind and heart of every man who served in the jewish battalion under my command, and i fear that the evil effects of the local military administration will reverberate throughout palestine for many a long year. but before i proceed further, let me first of all make it clearly understood that i am not a jew,--indeed, at the outbreak of the great war i knew nothing of this ancient people, always excepting what i had read about them in the bible, and other jewish books. my first contact with jews was in the gallipoli campaign, where i was sent in command of a corps composed of zionists who had escaped from palestine at the outbreak of war and taken service with the british forces. presumably because i had had this experience, i was appointed to the command of the first jewish infantry unit raised for service with the british army. the career of such a unique unit is bound to be closely followed by all jews, while it would not surprise me if the historian of the future seizes upon this dramatic appearance of the jewish warrior, fighting for the redemption of israel under the banner of england, as one of the most interesting episodes of the great world war. unfortunately for us, with a few honourable exceptions, the local staff of the e.e.f. were "troublers of israel." instead of furthering the policy of the home government by holding out a helping hand to this new unit, on the contrary every obstacle was placed in its way. in our times of tribulation in the holy land, my thoughts often went back to the dardanelles, and i was heartened and cheered by the remembrance of the vastly different treatment meted out to the jewish soldiers by the staff in gallipoli. sir ian hamilton had vision enough to foresee what a tremendous force would be won over to the cause of england by dealing justly with israel. in the mediterranean expeditionary force the attitude was essentially british. i regret i cannot say the same of the staff of the egyptian expeditionary force in and . i am happy to be able to put on record that the battalion was treated fairly and justly all the time it was stationed in england. the staff at plymouth always held out a helping hand when needed, and we embarked for egypt with the blessing of the war office, and of the adjutant-general, sir nevil macready, who told us before we sailed that it was his aim to form a jewish brigade, and that he was writing to the commander-in-chief of the e.e.f. to recommend that this should be done as soon as our numbers justified such a step. i felt that the adjutant-general had confided a great trust to me when i was selected for the command of this jewish unit. it was a complete change from the command of an irish battalion, but the irishman and the jew have much in common--temperament, generosity, love of children, devotion to parents, readiness to help those down on their luck, and, be it noted, great personal bravery. these qualities will probably not appear out of place to my readers so far as the irishman is concerned, but i imagine many will be surprised when they hear that they also apply to the jew. it is true, however, and so should be more widely known. the soul-stirring deeds on the battlefield of such heroes as judas maccabæus, bar kochba, and many others can never be forgotten. i had one fear when i took over command of the judæans, and that was that i might not be able to do them justice. i felt that, if a suitable jewish officer could be found, it would be more appropriate that he should have the honour of leading these soldiers of israel in the struggle for the redemption of palestine; but, although i publicly stated that i should be glad to see a jewish officer appointed to the command, no one came forward, and i was left with the whole weight of this great responsibility to the jewish people on my shoulders. i therefore made up my mind, from the moment i took command, that, so far as was humanly possible, the jewish battalion should be brought through its fiery ordeal with honour. it was unfortunate for the new regiment, and doubly unfortunate for the jewish people in palestine, as this narrative will show, that the attitude of the local staff was diametrically opposed to the declared policy of his majesty's government, which had announced to the world, in the famous balfour declaration, that palestine should once again become a national home for the jewish people. in the face of this british announcement, certain officials in the holy land acted as if this epoch-making declaration were nothing but a mere "scrap of paper." when i observed the vain strivings of these men, and remembered the promise to israel, i called to mind the saying of gamaliel, the great rabbi, "if this work be of men it will come to naught, but if it be of god, ye cannot overthrow it." this local anti-jewish policy eventually culminated in the jerusalem pogrom, described at the close of this book, when, under british rule, murderous native mobs ran riot, practically unchecked, for nearly three days within the walls of the city. this deplorable outrage at last opened the eyes of the imperial authorities to what was going on in palestine, with the result that the military administration was abolished. a competent civil governor replaced the military administrator, and sir herbert samuel was sent out to pour oil and wine into the wounds which the unfortunate jewish inhabitants had received, and to carry out the declared policy of england as announced in the balfour declaration. [illustration: map showing chief places mentioned in the book.] with the judÆans in the palestine campaign chapter i. the balfour declaration. in the early days of the outlook for the allied powers was particularly black and menacing. england, the mainstay in the great struggle, was in deadly peril, for, just about this time, the ruthless submarine campaign was at its height and our shipping losses were appalling. the central powers, with startling rapidity, had crushed and overrun belgium, serbia, and roumania, and a large slice of france was in the grip of the invader. it was a case of stalemate with italy, while russia, the colossus with the feet of clay, was in the throes of a revolution and lost to the allies. turkey, the so-called "sick man of europe," was found not only able to "sit up and take nourishment," but strong enough to administer some nasty knocks to the surgeon, as we discovered to our cost in gallipoli, and other places in the near east. the great republic of the west did indeed throw in her lot with us in april, , but many perilous months would have to elapse before she could pull her full weight, or even make her enormous power felt to any appreciable extent on the battlefields of europe. at such a moment as this it was of the very greatest importance that the world should be carefully scanned, and every available ideal and policy made use of, which could be of advantage to our righteous cause. the happy inspiration thereupon seized upon our ministers to win over to the side of the allies the teeming millions of the children of israel scattered throughout the world. the restoration of these people to the land of their forefathers had long been engaging the thoughts of mankind, and our statesmen now felt that the time was ripe for this age-long issue to be brought to fruition. it was of course known to the leading zionists that the british government was considering the policy of making a pronouncement in favour of the jewish people, and many of the leaders of zionism, such as dr. weizmann, mr. sokolow, mr. jabotinsky, mr. joseph cowen, etc., lost no opportunity of pressing home the importance of winning jewry, the world over, to england's side, by declaring boldly for a jewish palestine. it was felt by many that the right and proper way for jewry to help england was by raising a jewish legion to aid in the redemption of palestine, and of this movement the leading spirit was vladimir jabotinsky, a distinguished orator, author, and journalist. ever since the beginning of the war this remarkable man, a jew from russia, had carried on a vigorous propaganda on behalf of england. at his own expense, he had founded a newspaper in copenhagen, and distributed it broadcast among jews in russia, poland, neutral countries, america, etc. his propaganda was of great value to the allies, for the jews naturally hated russia, owing to their harsh treatment and persecution in that country, and it was not until jabotinsky set to work that they perceived that their real interests lay with the allies. to show a good example to others, he enlisted as a private in the th battalion london regiment, where he gathered round him a platoon composed principally of men who had recently been serving in gallipoli in the zion mule corps. from his humble position in the ranks he bombarded the prime minister, and the secretaries of state for war and foreign affairs in this country; he sent emissaries to america, north and south, to russia, poland, the caucasus, etc., and when, in july, , the government declared their intention of creating a jewish regiment, he had everything in train for the formation of a legion at least , strong. i mention this here as one instance of this gallant officer's efforts for england, and i will ask the reader to make a mental note of it, for before this narrative is ended it will be my painful duty to show how jabotinsky was rewarded for all his invaluable services to the british cause. the government policy towards world jewry was brought to a head by a vigorous zionist offensive, and resulted in the creation of a jewish battalion in august, , followed a little later by the famous balfour declaration in favour of a national home for the jewish people in palestine. this bold and wise pronouncement of british policy was of great and far-reaching importance, and is regarded by jewry throughout the world as their charter of liberty. it is embodied in the following letter to lord rothschild:-- foreign office, nd november, . dear lord rothschild, i have much pleasure in conveying to you on behalf of h.m.'s government, the following declaration of sympathy with jewish zionist aspirations, which has been submitted to and approved by the cabinet: =his majesty's government view with favour the establishment in palestine of a national home for the jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object=, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-jewish communities in palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by jews in any other country. i should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the zionist federation. yours sincerely, (signed) arthur james balfour. this was, perhaps, the most momentous declaration made throughout the war, and it derived a special significance from the fact that it was made just at the time when the first definite steps were being taken towards freeing palestine from the yoke of the turk. it was received by practically all sections of the british press with the most cordial approval. by pious jews it was regarded as little short of the voice of god, bringing their long-cherished aspirations within sight of fulfilment. all down the centuries from the time of the dispersion it has been the dream of the jew that one day he would be restored to his ancestral home. in his exile the age-long cry of his stricken soul has ever been "next year in jerusalem." christians too have always believed in the fulfilment of prophecy, and the restoration of the jewish people is of no little interest to them, so it can be imagined with what feelings of joy and gratitude the masses of the jewish people looked upon this promise of england, holding out as it did the prospect of the realization of their dearest hope. nothing like it has been known since the days of king cyrus. it is not too much to say that this epoch-making declaration uplifted the soul of israel the world over. sir arthur balfour may not live to see the full fruits of his famous pronouncement, but prophecy will assuredly be fulfilled, and his name will go down for all time, second only to that of cyrus, in the chronicles of israel. jeremiah's prophecy on the restoration of israel has a wonderful significance in these days: "hear the word of the lord, _o ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off_, and say, he that scattered israel _will gather him and keep him_, as a shepherd doth his flock." chapter ii. the sanballats. on the th july, , while i was stationed at the curragh in command of a battalion of the royal dublin fusiliers, i got a telegram from the war office ordering me to report there and commence the organization of the jewish legion about to be raised, so i set out forthwith for london. on getting my instructions from major-general r. hutchison, the director of organization, he told me, among other things, that a certain sergeant jabotinsky would probably be most useful to me, for he was a very keen worker and an ardent advocate of the jewish regiment. i told him that i had already met jabotinsky, and i knew his assistance would be invaluable, and requested that he might be attached to me for duty at once. i was given a room at the war office annexe which had been taken over from the national liberal club. here i was joined in due course by jabotinsky, now a full-fledged sergeant. we had hardly begun to move in the matter of recruiting for the jewish regiment, when i became aware that in certain quarters of influential english jewry there was violent hostility to zionist aspirations, and also to the very idea of a jewish regiment. i therefore felt that, in order to clear the air, it would be necessary to hold a meeting of those who were in favour of, as well as those who were opposed to, the formation of a jewish regiment, and try to induce the latter to cease obstructing a policy which had already been decided upon by the british government, and to give me their help in making the proposed regiment a success. a meeting of representative men on both sides was held at the war office on the th august, . among those present were: lord rothschild, major lionel de rothschild, major neil primrose, captain ormsby gore, m.p., mr. sebag montefiore, dr. weizmann, mr. joseph cowen, dr. eder, captain salaman, r.a.m.c., mr. m. j. landa, mr. l. j. greenberg, the rev. s. lipson (senior jewish chaplain to the forces in england), and sergeant jabotinsky--about twenty in all. colonel sir mark sykes, m.p. (whose untimely death i deeply lament), and lieut.-colonel l. s. amery, m.p., who were then secretaries to the war cabinet, also attended, both being warm friends of the movement. i briefly addressed the meeting and explained that i had called them together to give me their advice and assistance in the formation of the jewish regiment. i was, of course, aware that there was somewhat of a cleavage amongst the jews on this question, but the bitterness and hostility shown was quite a revelation to me. i could not understand how any jew could fail to grasp this heaven-sent opportunity and do all in his power to further the efforts of the british government on behalf of the jewish people. imagine my surprise, therefore, when certain of the jews in opposition vigorously denounced the formation of a jewish regiment, and equally vigorously damned the aspirations of the zionists! dr. weizmann gave a slashing reply to the sanballats from the zionist point of view which cut the ground from under their feet; and jabotinsky, in his address for the cause he had at heart, lifted the debate to a level immeasurably above the point of view of his opponents. a few others spoke, and then i again addressed the meeting and said i thought it was a good thing the government had not left it to the community to form a jewish regiment, for i saw that they would never agree; but, as the government had already made up its mind, and was determined to have a jewish legion of some kind, i begged them to lay aside all differences and help me to make a success of a movement which was bound to affect jews, one way or another, throughout the world. in conclusion, i said i would rather know who were my friends, and asked all those who did not intend to further this scheme, which after all was a scheme propounded and adopted by the british government, to retire. not a man moved. while i was making my address a note was passed to me from hand to hand. on opening it i read, "can you dine with me this evening? i should like to join your new battalion. n.p." i little knew when i scribbled back: "so sorry, am engaged," what serious consequences hung on my answer, for i feel sure that neil primrose would not have been cut off in his prime had i dined with him that night and "recruited" him for the jewish battalion, but i never saw this very gallant officer again. he went out to palestine soon afterwards, where he met his death while leading his men in a charge. to return to the meeting: when i found that not one of our opponents was prepared to declare himself an open enemy of the policy of h.m.'s government, i said that as the formation of the various committees connected with the regiment was an essentially jewish matter i would now retire, and i asked lord rothschild to take the chair. within half an hour i was summoned by brigadier-general sir auckland geddes, as he then was. the general appeared to be extremely flurried and annoyed. apparently, immediately after i had left the meeting, two gentlemen had gone straight from it to sir auckland, and made a bitter attack on me for having, as they said, held a zionist meeting in the war office. i assured him that there was no attempt at holding a zionist meeting, but that a number of representative jews and others had been called to help me in carrying out the policy of the war office, and i pointed out that it was entirely due to the two gentlemen who complained, that any question of zionism had been raised. why any jew should be an anti-zionist passes my comprehension, for the zionist ideal in no way interfe[ ] with the rights and privileges of those fortunate jews who have found happy homes in friendly countries, but aims at establishing a national home for those less happy ones, who, against their will, are forced to live in exile, and who have never ceased to yearn for the land promised to their forefather abraham and his seed for ever. yet i will have to show that, as there were sanballats[ ] who bitterly opposed the restoration in the days of king artaxerxes , years ago, so there were modern sanballats who bitterly opposed the restoration in the days of king george. footnote: [ ] see nehemiah, chapters and . chapter iii. the formation of the jewish regiment. on the rd august, , the formation of the "jewish regiment" was officially announced in the _london gazette_, and i was appointed to the command of a battalion. at the same time it was officially intimated that a special jewish name and badge would be given to the battalions of this regiment. on hearing of this determination the sanballats immediately got very busy. heads were put together, and letters written up and down the land to all and sundry who were likely to serve their purpose, with the result that, on the th august, , a deputation waited upon lord derby (then secretary of state for war), for the purpose of making representations against the proposed name and badge of the jewish regiment, and, in fact, against the formation of any such unit as a jewish battalion. one member of this deputation went so far as to represent to lord derby that lord rothschild, the head of the celebrated jewish family, to whom, as representing the jewish people, mr. balfour later on addressed the famous declaration, was also opposed to the formation of a jewish regiment. lord rothschild assured me that this was not the case; for, once it became the policy of the british government to form a jewish regiment, he felt bound as a patriotic jew to back it up and do all in his power to make it a success. no little thanks are due to lord rothschild for the way he devoted himself to the comfort and welfare of the jewish battalions, from the first day they were formed. the result of the deputation was that the name "jewish regiment" was abolished, and no jewish badge was sanctioned. all jewish battalions raised were to be called "royal fusiliers." but our worthy friends might have saved themselves all the trouble they took, and the trouble they gave to the war ministry, because, from the moment that the battalions were formed, although they were known officially as royal fusiliers, yet unofficially, everywhere, and by every person, they were known solely as the jewish battalions. lord derby made the mistake of thinking that these few rich men represented the jewish masses. a greater mistake was never made, for, from my own experience, i can vouch for the fact that they are altogether out of touch with the thoughts and feelings of the vast majority of the jewish people. what a different tale i should have to tell had men such as these played up to the policy of england. had their vision only been broader, they would have said among themselves, "this is a policy we do not like. it may affect us adversely, but it is the policy of england, and england in peril, and we must therefore bind ourselves together and make it a success." if they feared that these jews from russia and poland would not worthily uphold jewish traditions, they might have gone to the secretary for war and told him their fears, and said that, as it was absolutely necessary for world jewry that this experiment of creating jewish battalions should have a fair chance, they would request his aid in this matter, and ask that at least twenty-five per cent. of every battalion be composed of jews from england, who, having seen service in france, would therefore give some necessary and valuable stiffening to these raw jewish units. with such a stiffening, and a solid english jewry at the back of the jewish regiment, what a triumphant page in jewish history these battalions would have written! instead of this, every possible obstacle was placed in the way of success. interested parties scoured the east end of london and the big provincial cities, advising young jews not to enlist. even in france the jewish soldiers serving in the various units there were told by jews who ought to have known better that they should on no account transfer. the result of this was that recruiting went on very slowly, and instead of being able to form a jewish legion in the course of a few weeks, as could easily have been done out of the , jewish young men in england alone, it took over four months to form even one battalion. i happened by chance one day to meet a prominent member of the sanballat deputation in the war office, and, in the course of conversation, i asked him why he objected so strongly to the formation of a jewish regiment. he replied that he had no faith in the russian jews, and feared they would bring discredit on jewry. i said that, from what i had seen in gallipoli of the jew from russia, i had more faith in him than he had, and that i felt confident i could make him into a good soldier. he was kind enough to remark, "well, perhaps under you they will turn out to be good soldiers, but then they might win palestine, and _i_ don't want to be sent there to live." i replied that his fears in this respect were entirely groundless. he remarked that he was not so sure about that, for if the jews had a country of their own, pressure might be brought to bear upon them to go and live there--which clearly shows that these rich and fortunate jews cannot have given much real thought to the question, for there is nothing in the zionist movement to force anyone to live in palestine, and it would be manifestly impossible to pack , , of people within the narrow limits of their ancestral home. when my pessimistic friend told me that these foreign jews were no good, and would bring discredit upon the best part of jewry, i made a mental resolve that i would prove to him one day that his despised jewish brethren, from russia and elsewhere, would make as good soldiers, and as good all-round men, as those in any unit of the british army. as these pages progress, and the history of the th jewish battalion is unfolded before the eyes of the reader, it will be seen that my expectations were more than realised, for the battalion drilled, marched, fought, and generally played the game as well as any battalion in the army. it is a curious fact that, so far as i could gather, the inner actions committee of the zionist organization, with the honoured exception of dr. weizmann, looked on us with suspicion. the formation of jewish battalions did not appeal to them. how it was possible that the leaders of zionism should not have grasped, and taken to their hearts, this gift of jewish battalions from the british government, for the furtherance of their own ends, is one of the greatest examples of ineptitude that have ever come within my experience. here was a body of keen and enthusiastic men, devoting their lives to the restoration of the holy land to its rightful owners, and yet they shied when the one essential weapon that could have given it to them was being virtually thrust into their hands. how different would have been the position of the zionists at the peace conference after the armistice was signed if they had been able to point proudly to , jewish troops in palestine, instead of to the , who were actually serving there at the close of the war. i know that dr. weizmann had vision enough to foresee the strength which such a legion would give to his diplomacy, but unfortunately his colleagues on the zionist council did not see eye to eye with him in this matter until it was too late. i tried to do what in me lay with certain of the leaders of zionism, and spent some time endeavouring to enthuse a devoted and spiritual jew who was deeply interested in the restoration; indeed, i thought i had won him over to the cause of the legion, for at times during our conversation his face lit up at the possibilities unfolded to him, but, alas, after i left him, i fear he fell away from grace! some of the zionists, men such as mr. joseph cowen, fully realised all the advantages which would accrue from a jewish legion helping to win palestine from the enemy, and these were eager workers towards this end. vladimir jabotinsky always believed in the proverb that the lord helps those who help themselves, and, therefore, he felt that it was essential that a jewish legion should fight for the redemption of israel's ancient heritage. and it was well for jewry that jabotinsky was a chosen instrument, because, if no jewish troops had fought in palestine, and no jewish graves could be seen in the cemetery on the mount of olives, and in every military cemetery in egypt and palestine, it would have been, for all time, a reproach unto israel, and i have grave doubts whether the peace conference would have considered the time ripe for the jewish people to be restored to their ancient land. i am certain of this, that if jabotinsky's ideals of a powerful legion had been more fully realised, dr. weizmann's position at the table of the peace conference would have been immeasurably strengthened. it must, however, be recorded for the honour of british jewry, that the vast majority of english jews were heartily in accord with the government policy, and proud of the fact that, practically for the first time in jewish history since the days of judas maccabæus and bar kochba, battalions of jewish infantry were to be raised and led against the common enemy in palestine. it was also to the credit of english jewry that a deputation representing the jewish masses in england, sought and obtained an interview with the secretary of state for war, with the view to the retention of a distinctive jewish name and badge for the battalions. this deputation was introduced on sept. th by mr. j. d. kiley, m.p., a non-jew, and among others the following men were present:--captain redcliffe salaman, dr. eder, messrs. elkin adler, joseph cowen, l. j. greenberg, m. j. landa, etc. lord derby had, however, committed himself to the first deputation, and all he could promise to the deputation representing the jewish masses was that, if the regiment distinguished itself in the field, it would then be given a jewish title and a jewish badge. this deputation also obtained the war secretary's sanction to the supply of kosher food, and to the observance of saturday as the day of rest; lord derby also promised that, as far as possible, all jewish festivals should be respected, and that jewish units would, service conditions permitting, be employed only in palestine. how the battalions distinguished themselves, and won a special jewish name and badge, will be recorded faithfully in the following pages. chapter iv. training at plymouth. i was delighted when, at last, i got away from organization duty at the war office, with all its worries and vicissitudes, and commenced the real active work of training a fighting battalion of jews. plymouth was the spot chosen as our training centre, and at the crown hill barracks, near this famous and beautiful harbour, we commenced our military career. a recruiting depôt was at the same time established in london at , chenies street, where a staff was installed under the command of major knowles, an excellent officer, who had previously served under me in the south african war, and who was an ardent supporter of zionist ideals. recruits were received here, and fitted out with uniforms before being sent on to plymouth. the comfort of the men while at the depôt was ably attended to by various committees of ladies and gentlemen, whose names will be found in the appendix. they were fortunately in a position to give much needed financial aid to various dependents from the moment the committees began work, for public-spirited and liberal jews were found who gave to the good cause with both hands. among these was mr. leopold frank, who gave the princely donation of £ , . mr. lionel d. walford especially was untiring in his efforts for the welfare and happiness of every recruit who came to the depôt, and so won the hearts of all by the personal service that he gave, day in and day out, that he was universally and affectionately known to the judæans as "daddy." as a nucleus for the jewish battalion i arranged for the transfer of a platoon of my old zion mule corps men from the th battalion of the london regiment, where they were then serving under the command of colonel a. pownall. my best thanks are due to this officer for the help he gave me in effecting the transfer of my old veterans. these warlike sons of israel, not content with the laurels they had already won in gallipoli, sought for fresh adventure in other fields, and so volunteered for service in france. on the way their ship was torpedoed and sunk by an austrian submarine, but fortunately not a zion man was drowned; all managed to cling on to spars and other wreckage and floated safely to a grecian isle from which they were rescued. they eventually reached england in safety, but all their personal belongings were lost. men soon began to arrive at plymouth in batches of twenties and thirties, from all over the kingdom. many trades and professions were represented, but the vast majority were either tailors or in some way connected with the tailoring trade. i made it a practice to see every recruit as soon as he joined and find out something about his family and affairs. i also gave every man some advice as to how he was to conduct himself as a good soldier and a good jew. the famous sculptor, jacob epstein, was one of my most promising recruits, and after he had served for some months in the ranks i recommended him for a commission. when the th battalion left plymouth for palestine, epstein remained behind with the second jewish battalion then formed, but owing to some bungling the commission was never granted. the difficulties of my command were not few. on broad religious grounds judaism is not compatible with a soldier's life--and i may say i had many strict jews in the battalion; then the men were aliens, utterly unaccustomed to army life, and with an inherent hatred of it, owing to the harsh military treatment to which the jew in russia was subjected; some of them did not speak english, and practically all of them hated serving any cause which might in the end help russia; they knew also that there was a strong body of jewish opinion in england which was hostile to the idea of a jewish unit. to make matters worse, the recruits came from sedentary occupations. they had never been accustomed to an out-door, open-air life, and naturally dreaded, and really felt, the strain of the hard military training which they had to undergo in those cold winter days in plymouth. it can be imagined, therefore, that i had no easy task before me in moulding these sons of israel, and inspiring them with that martial ardour and _esprit de corps_ which is so necessary, if men are to be of any use on the field of battle. i impressed upon them that strict discipline, and hard training, was not merely for my amusement or benefit, but was entirely in their own interests, so that when the day of battle came they would be fitter men and better fighters than their enemies, and with these two points in their favour the chances were that instead of getting killed, they would kill their opponents and emerge from the battle triumphant. the men soon grasped the idea, and took to soldiering and all that it means with a hearty goodwill. i am happy to say that all difficulties were surmounted, and, at the close of the campaign, the battalion presented as fine and steady an appearance on parade as any battalion in the e.e.f. luckily for me, i had an able and enthusiastic staff to assist me in my endeavours. i cannot sufficiently praise the great service rendered to the battalion, during its infant stages, by captain redcliffe salaman, r.a.m.c., who was our medical officer. his knowledge of the men and of jewish matters generally was invaluable to me. my adjutant, captain neill, had already had two years' experience in a similar position with a battalion of the rifle brigade. i found him to be able and diplomatic--the latter an essential quality in the handling of jewish soldiers. in my second in command, major macdermot, i had an officer of wide experience and high principles, who had served under my command in the dublin fusiliers. in my assistant adjutant, lt. b. wolffe (whose tragic death in palestine i shall relate in its proper place), i had an exceptionally gifted jewish officer, hardworking, painstaking, conscientious, and all out in every way to make the jewish battalion a success. i tried to induce senior jewish officers to join the battalion, but i found it very hard to get volunteers, for the senior men preferred to remain in their own british regiments. i was able to obtain the services of a fair number of junior jewish officers, and the battalion gradually filled up in officers, n.c.o.'s and men. i would like to mention here that, although the great majority of all ranks were jews, yet there were some christian officers, n.c.o.'s and one or two men. in spite of this there was never the very slightest question between us of either race or religion. all eventually became animated with one spirit--the success, welfare and good name of this jewish battalion. i am glad to say that we had practically no crime to stain our record. there was not a single case of a civil offence being recorded against us all the time we were at plymouth, which is something new in army annals. and yet another record was created by this unique battalion. the wet canteen, where beer only was sold, had to be closed, for not a single pint was drunk all the time it was open. the men showed wonderful quickness and aptitude in mastering the details of their military training. it came as a surprise to me to find that a little tailor, snatched from the purlieus of petticoat lane, who had never in all his life wielded anything more dangerous than a needle, soon became quite an adept in the use of the rifle and bayonet, and could transfix a dummy figure of the kaiser in the most approved scientific style, while negotiating a series of obstacle-trenches at the double. [illustration: "i had an able and enthusiastic staff" (_see page _)] i noticed that the men were particularly smart in all that they did whenever a general came along. i remember on one occasion, when we were about to be inspected, i told the men to be sure and stand steady on parade during the general salute; i impressed upon them that it was a tradition in the british army that, unless a battalion stood perfectly steady at this critical moment, it would be thought lacking in discipline and smartness, and would get a bad report from the general. so zealous were my men to uphold this time-honoured tradition, that i verily believe that these wonderful enthusiasts for rigid british discipline never blinked an eyelid while the general was taking the salute. certainly every commander who inspected us always expressed his astonishment at the rock-like steadiness of the jewish battalion on parade. during our training period at plymouth we received many kindnesses from the jewish community there, more especially from its president, mr. meyer fredman. in the long winter evenings we had lecturers who addressed the men on various interesting subjects. the famous and learned rabbi kuk of jerusalem paid us a visit, and gave the men a stirring address on their duties as jewish soldiers. jabotinsky gave various lectures, one especially on bialik, the great jewish poet, being particularly memorable. we had many talented music-hall and theatrical men in our ranks; our concerts were, therefore, excellent, and our concert party was in great request throughout the plymouth district. if there was one officer more than another who helped to promote the men's comfort, it was lieut. e. vandyk. he was in charge of the messing arrangements, and the battalion was exceptionally fortunate in having a man of his experience to undertake this most exacting of all tasks. later on vandyk proved himself equally capable as a leader in the field, where he was promoted to the rank of captain. i must not forget the kindness shown to us at plymouth by lady astor, m.p., who gave us a recreation hut, and by sir arthur yapp, the secretary of the y.m.c.a., who furthered our comfort in every possible way. while we were yet at plymouth i received orders from the war office to form two more jewish battalions in addition to the th. as soon as sufficient recruits justified it i recommended the authorities to proceed with the formation of the th battalion and to appoint major knowles, from the depôt, to the command. this was done, and from what i saw during the time i was in plymouth, i felt quite confident that colonel knowles would make an excellent commander. colonel knowles was succeeded at the depôt in london by major schonfield, who worked untiringly to promote the interests of the recruits, and to imbue them with a good, soldierly spirit while they were passing through his hands in chenies street. about the same time as colonel knowles was appointed, captain salaman so highly recommended his brother-in-law, colonel f. d. samuel, d.s.o., to me that i asked the adjutant-general if this officer might be recalled from france to take charge of the training at plymouth, and jewish affairs there generally, after my departure for palestine. the adjutant-general very kindly agreed to my request, and transferred colonel samuel from france to plymouth at very short notice. soon after i left for palestine recommendations were made to the war office that it would be preferable to have a jewish officer in command of the th battalion, and the result was that colonel samuel was appointed to the th battalion in the place of colonel knowles. this treatment was most unfair to the latter, who had worked extremely hard and enthusiastically, both at the depôt and during the time he held command of the th battalion, where he did all the spade work and made things very easy for his successor. colonel knowles afterwards went to france and later on served with the north russian expeditionary force. of course, it was all to the good to have a jewish commanding officer, but it should have been arranged without doing an injustice to colonel knowles. about this time major margolin, d.s.o., a jewish officer attached to the australian forces, was transferred to the depôt at plymouth, and eventually replaced colonel samuel in the command of the th battalion. outsiders will never be able to imagine the immense amount of trouble and detail involved in the formation of this unique unit. i must say that the war office, and the local command at plymouth, gave me every possible assistance. colonel king, of the military secretary's staff at the w.o., helped me through many a difficulty in getting jewish officers brought back from france. colonel graham, also of the war office, came to my assistance whenever he could possibly do so, while the late military secretary, general sir francis davies, under whom i had served in gallipoli, was kindness itself. general hutchison, the director of organization, was always a tower of strength, and the jewish battalions owe him a heavy debt. lieut.-colonel amery, m.p., and the late sir mark sykes, m.p., also did what was in their power to make our thorny path smooth. chapter v. the kosher problem. the only serious trouble we had in plymouth occurred over kosher food. as most people probably know, jewish food has to be killed and cooked in a certain way as laid down in jewish law, and it is then known as "kosher," _i.e._ proper. this was, of course, quite new to the military authorities, and the army being a very conservative machine, and, at times, a very stubborn one, they failed to see the necessity of providing special food for the jewish troops--a curious state of mentality considering the care taken with the food of our moslem soldiers. i have a fairly shrewd idea that all the blame for the trouble we were put to in this matter must not rest altogether on the shoulders of the army officials, for i strongly suspect that our jewish "friends," the enemy, who were so anxious to destroy the jewishness of the regiment, had their fingers in this kosher pie! now i felt very strongly that unless the jewish battalion was treated as such, and all its wants, both physical and spiritual, catered for in a truly jewish way, this new unit would be an absolute failure, for i could only hope to appeal to them as jews, and it could hardly be expected that there would be any response to this appeal if i countenanced such an outrage on their religious susceptibilities as forcing them to eat unlawful food. i made such a point of this that i was at length summoned to the war office by the adjutant-general, sir nevil macready, who informed me that i was to carry on as if i had an ordinary british battalion, and that there was to be no humbug about kosher food, or saturday sabbaths, or any other such nonsense. i replied very respectfully, but very firmly, that if this was to be the attitude taken up by the war office, it would be impossible to make the battalion a success, for the only way to make good jewish soldiers of the men was by first of all treating them as good jews; if they were not to be treated as jews, then i should request to be relieved of my command. accordingly, as soon as i returned to plymouth, i forwarded my resignation, but the g.o.c. southern command returned it to me for reconsideration. in the meantime a telegram was received from the war office to say that the kosher food would be granted, and saturday would be kept as the sabbath. after this things went smoothly; sir nevil macready readily lent us his ear when i put up an s.o.s., and, as a matter of fact, he became one of our staunchest friends. i was more than gratified to receive, a few days later, the following "kosher" charter from the war office--a charter which helped us enormously all through our service, not only in england, but also when we got amongst the philistines in palestine. th sept., . /gen. no. (a.g. a). sir, with reference to army council instruction of the th sept., , relating to the formation of battalions for the reception of friendly alien jews, i am commanded by the army council to inform you that, as far as the military exigencies permit, saturday should be allowed for their day of rest instead of sunday. arrangements will be made for the provision of kosher food when possible. i am, etc., (signed) b. b. cubitt. to the general officer commanding in chief, southern command. o.c. th bn. royal fusiliers. forwarded for information. devonport, / / . (signed) e. montagu, colonel. a.a. and q.m.g. before we sailed for the front, general macready did us the honour of coming all the way from london, travelling throughout the night, to pay us a friendly visit, without any of the pomp or circumstance of war, and he was so impressed by what he saw of the soldierly bearing of the men that, from that day until the day he left office, no reasonable request from the jewish battalion was ever refused. i had a final interview with general macready at the w.o. before setting out for palestine, when he told me in the presence of major-general hutchison, director of organization, that the object he aimed at was the formation of a complete jewish brigade, and that he was recommending general allenby to commence that formation as soon as two complete jewish battalions arrived in egypt. of course, this was very welcome news to me, because it would mean all the difference in the world to our welfare and comfort if we formed our own brigade. it would mean that the brigade would have its own commander who would be listened to when he represented jewish things to higher authority. it would mean direct access to the divisional general, to ordnance, to supplies, and the hundred and one things which go to make up the efficiency and cater for the comfort of each unit of the brigade. no worse fate can befall any battalion than to be left out by itself in the cold, merely "attached" to a brigade or a division, as the case may be. it is nobody's child, and everybody uses it for fatigues and every other kind of dirty work which is hateful to a soldier. it can be imagined, therefore, how grateful i was to general macready for promising a jewish brigade, for i knew that such a formation would make all the difference in the world to the success of the jewish cause as a whole and, what was of great importance, to the good name of the jewish soldier. chapter vi. we set out for palestine. towards the end of january, , we were notified that the th battalion was to proceed on active service to palestine. this news was received with great joy by all ranks, and every man was granted ten days' leave to go home and bid farewell to his family. of course, our pessimistic friends took every opportunity of maligning the jew from russia, and said that the men would desert and we should never see a tenth of them again. i, however, felt otherwise, and had no anxiety about their return. nor was i disappointed, for when the final roll-call was made there were not so very many absentees, certainly no more than there would have been from an ordinary british battalion, so here again our enemies were confounded and disappointed, for they had hoped for better things. the battalion was ordered to concentrate at southampton for embarkation on the th february. two days before this date sir nevil macready ordered half the battalion to come to london to march through the city and east end, before proceeding to southampton. this march of jewish soldiers, unique in english military history, proved a brilliant success. the men were quartered in the tower for the night, and on the morning of the th february started from this historic spot, in full kit and with bayonets fixed, preceded by the band of the coldstream guards. the blue and white jewish flag as well as the union jack was carried proudly through the city amid cheering crowds. at the mansion house the lord mayor (who had granted us the privilege of marching through the city with fixed bayonets) took the salute, and sir nevil macready was also present to see us march past. as we approached the mile end road the scenes of enthusiasm redoubled, and london's ghetto fairly rocked with military fervour and roared its welcome to its own. jewish banners were hung out everywhere, and it certainly was a scene unparalleled in the history of any previous british battalion. jabotinsky (who had that day been gazetted to a lieutenancy in the battalion) must have rejoiced to see the fruit of all his efforts. after a reception by the mayor of stepney, the march was resumed to camperdown house, where the men were inspected by sir francis lloyd, g.o.c. london district. he complimented them on their smart and soldierly appearance, and made quite an impressive speech, reminding them of the heroism and soldierly qualities of their forefathers, and concluded by saying that he was sure this modern battalion of jews now before him would be no whit behind their forbears in covering themselves with military glory. an excellent lunch was provided for the men in camperdown house, where speeches were delivered by the chief rabbi, the mayor of stepney, mr. kiley, m.p., mr. joseph cowen (the chairman), and other friends of the battalion. [illustration: lieut. vladimir jabotinsky] afterwards the troops proceeded, amid more cheering, to waterloo, where, before they entrained for southampton, they were presented by captain fredman with a scroll of the law. my new adjutant, captain leadley, who came to take the place vacated by captain neill on promotion to major, had only just joined us on the morning of our march. he was much surprised at the first regimental duty he was called upon to perform, which was to take charge, on behalf of the battalion, of the scroll of the law. the excellent jewish padre who had just been posted to us, and whose duty this should have been, was with the remainder of the troops at plymouth. i was very favourably impressed by captain leadley from the first moment i saw him, and during the whole time he remained with the battalion i never had cause to change my opinion. he was a splendid adjutant, and, in my opinion, was capable of filling a much higher position on the army staff. when the half battalion reached southampton, it joined forces with the other half, which had been brought to that place from plymouth by major ripley, who was now second-in-command in place of major macdermot, who remained behind with the depôt. the whole battalion proceeded to embark on the little steamship _antrim_ on the th february. just as captain salaman was about to go on board, he was confronted by another medical officer, captain halden davis, r.a.m.c., who, at the last moment, was ordered by the war office to proceed with us instead of captain salaman. i knew nothing about this, and was naturally loth to lose captain salaman, while he, on his part, was furious at the idea of being left behind. however, there was no help for it, so back he had to go to plymouth. i think a certain number of the shirkers in the battalion may have been pleased to see him go, for he stood no nonsense from gentlemen of this kidney. i had, for some time, been making strenuous efforts to obtain the services of the rev. l. a. falk, the acting jewish chaplain at plymouth, as our spiritual guide, and luckily i was successful, for, at the last moment, all difficulties were surmounted, and he joined us as we embarked. i had had many warnings from people who ought to have known better that he was not a suitable man for the post, but i had seen him and judged for myself, and i felt sure that he would suit my jews from russia much better than a rabbi chosen because he was a jew from england. his work and his example to others, during the whole time he served with us, were beyond all praise, and i often felt very glad, when he was put to the test of his manhood, that i had not listened to the voice of the croaker in england. the embarkation of the battalion was complete by p.m. on the th february, and after dark we steamed out of the harbour and made for cherbourg. it is fortunate that we escaped enemy submarines, for the little _antrim_ was packed to its utmost limits, not only with the jewish battalion, but also with other troops. we were kept at the british rest camp at cherbourg until the th, and then entrained for st. germain, near lyons, where we rested from the th to the th. from here we went on to faenza, along the beautiful french and italian riviera. [illustration: the rev. l. a. falk] the arrangements throughout the journey for feeding the men and giving them hot tea, etc., were not perfect, but on the whole we did not fare badly. we arrived at faenza on the th, and we will always cherish a kindly remembrance of this well-arranged rest camp, and of the staff in charge there. the greatest credit is due to the commandant, colonel scott harden, for having made a veritable garden in the wilderness, and arranged everything for the comfort and well-being of the tired and travel-stained soldier passing through his capable hands. the only drawback was that my unsophisticated boys were no match for the scotsmen whom they met in the sergeant's mess! however that may be, we all came away with the liveliest feelings of gratitude towards our kindly hosts who had given us a real good time at faenza. during our halt at this delightful camp we gave a concert and also a boxing exhibition to the italian officers of the garrison, both of which were much appreciated. the italian g.o.c., with all his staff, also came, and was highly interested in the exhibition. as a special compliment to us, because we were the first complete british battalion to go through italy, he reviewed us in front of the town hall on our march to the station at o'clock at night. from faenza we continued our journey to taranto, and on the way spent a few pleasant hours at brindisi. i walked along the docks, and, by the number of naval vessels of all types moored there, i realized that there could not be many italian warships at sea; but it must be remembered that the mediterranean was at this time infested with german and austrian submarines, so that our allies must not be blamed if they were taking as few chances as possible with their ships of war. i remember asking myself the question, what is the use of a ship of war that is afraid to show itself on the open sea? as we ran along the shores of the adriatic, we were all wondering whether an austrian war vessel would not suddenly dash up and blow us and our train to pieces, but, wherever the austrian fleet may have been that day, fortunately for us it was not cruising on the adriatic coast of italy, and we reached taranto on the th. thieving from the trains running through southern italy was a pleasant pastime for the natives, but we were fortunate in that we lost but little. we had a couple of accidents during our long railway journey which might, without luck, have proved disastrous. just before we reached marseilles a coupling about the middle of the train parted, and the rear carriages were left standing on the line. fortunately, however, this was discovered before anything serious occurred, and a relief engine brought the stranded portion along. the same thing happened on the italian railway between brindisi and taranto, which delayed us for about eight hours. the behaviour of the men during the whole long journey of nine days was exemplary, and i wired a message to this effect to the war office, for, as russia was just out of the war, there was some anxiety in england as to how russian subjects in the british army would behave on hearing the news. as a matter of fact recruiting of russian jews in england had been stopped after we left southampton, and many of the men naturally questioned the fairness of the authorities in freeing slackers or late comers, while retaining those who had promptly answered the call. i cabled this point of view to the adjutant-general on reaching taranto and received a reply that all such matters could be settled in egypt. we remained basking in the sunshine of southern italy for over a week. i met here an old friend of mine, captain wake, who had been badly wounded in one of our little wars on the east african coast many years ago. although minus a leg he was still gallantly doing his bit for england. we were encamped at camino, a few miles from taranto, and our strength at this time was officers, and roughly other ranks. two officers and about n.c.o.'s and men sailed on another boat from marseilles, with the horses, mules and wagons, under the command of captain julian, m.c. while we were at taranto the rev. l. a. falk and i, accompanied by jabotinsky, searched for and eventually found a suitable ark in which to place the scroll of the law. at the close of our last sabbath service before we embarked, i addressed the men, and, pointing to the ark, told them that while it was with us we need have no fear, that neither submarine nor storm would trouble us, and, therefore, that their minds might be easy on board ship. we embarked on the _leasoe castle_ at o'clock a.m. on the th, steamed out of the harbour in the afternoon, under the escort of three japanese destroyers, and arrived safely in alexandria on the th february, never having seen a submarine or even a ripple on the sea throughout the voyage. owing to this piece of good luck my reputation as a prophet stood high! it is a curious fact that on her next voyage the _leasoe castle_ was torpedoed and sunk. chapter vii. back in the land of bondage. when we landed at alexandria on the st march the battalion was invited by the jewish community, headed by the grand rabbi, to commemorate its safe arrival in egypt by attending a special service in the beautiful temple in the street of the prophet daniel. the men got a splendid reception from the alexandrians as they marched to the synagogue, where a most impressive service was held, the grand rabbi giving the soldiers a special benediction in the grand old language of the prophets. after the service, refreshments were served by a number of jewish ladies, who could hardly indeed believe that they were waiting upon a battalion, composed of men of their own race, who were now serving as jewish soldiers under the flag of england. their faces glowed with joy at the thought that a complete jewish unit was now before their eyes, and was on its way to assist in releasing the land of their forefathers from the hand of the turkish oppressor. it was a great pleasure to meet again those good people who had helped me so wholeheartedly in looking after the wives and dependents of my zion mule corps men who had served in gallipoli in . perhaps none worked more zealously or gave more unselfish devotion to those poor and miserable refugees than the baroness rosette de menasce. no matter what i wanted done in the way of help or assistance for the impoverished dependents, i could always rely on this beautiful and charitable lady to see it through. after lunch was over we marched to the station and entrained for helmieh, a village a few miles outside cairo, where the battalion was to be encamped, while completing its training for the front. on arrival there we found awaiting us captain julian with the transport section complete, which had safely arrived a couple of days previously. at cairo we were met by an emissary from palestine, who informed us that there was a great jewish volunteer movement on foot in judæa, and that hundreds of young men were eager to join the army, and scores of jewish ladies were anxious to give their services as nurses, or even as transport drivers. this was cheering news--news which i naturally thought would prove most welcome to the commander-in-chief of the e.e.f. the leading jewish citizens of cairo, not to be outdone by their brethren of alexandria, arranged with the authorities, soon after our arrival, that we should attend a religious service in the chief synagogue; the battalion had a wonderful reception as it marched through the city, which was thronged with cheering crowds. the high commissioner, general sir francis reginald wingate, took the salute as the men marched past the residency, and evinced the greatest and most friendly interest in this jewish unit and the jewish movement generally. i must mention here that the battalion was much indebted to mr. maurice gattegno, of cairo, for the immense amount of trouble he took in everything which could be helpful, and the generous way in which he contributed to all our comforts. he had an able helper in his sister-in-law, miss viterbo (now mrs. hopkin), who was untiring in her efforts on the men's behalf. mr. franco and mr. cohen, of alexandria, were also ardent supporters of the battalion. the jews who have made egypt their home are a kindly hospitable people, and we owe them a debt of gratitude for the way they received us and the interest they took in our welfare. the land of the pharaohs is supposed to eat away the soul of a people and send them after strange gods, but, in my intercourse with the jews of egypt, i found that there are to-day many devout men, who work, and pray, and give lavishly of their substance, to the end that israel may be restored. the usual infantry training was carried out at helmieh--drill, physical training, bayonet fighting, bombing, marching, musketry, signalling, etc., went on from morning until night, and the men made excellent progress. in fact, within a few weeks of our arrival in egypt, no one would have recognized in these bronzed and well set up men, who walked about with a conscious look of pride in themselves and their battalion, the pale, pinched, miserable looking conscripts who joined up at plymouth. soon after our arrival in egypt i sent the following letter to the commander-in-chief: cairo, th march, . my dear general, no doubt you have heard of the arrival of the jewish battalion in egypt. i am very anxious to see you in connection with the formation of a jewish brigade, about which the war office have given me to understand they have made some communication to you. first of all there will be the position of the russians to discuss, as i have some hundreds of these with me. they are at present performing their duties cheerfully and well, and i have no fault to find with their attitude; but, as russia has signed a separate peace, a new situation may arise which i would like to be ready to meet. there are already two more jewish battalions formed in england, and one of these, the th, was under orders to embark when i left plymouth. presumably, it will arrive in egypt soon. i hear of other battalions for service with the jewish brigade being formed in new york; and the adjutant-general informed me that it was probable that the french authorities would transfer the polish jews now serving in france to this brigade. i am told that there are several hundred young jews waiting to enlist in palestine. there are a number more in cairo and alexandria. with your permission i would gladly commence recruiting in these areas, and form a new battalion here. for the purpose of enlisting the palestine volunteers, it would require a recruiting party to make a trip round the jewish colonies to collect the recruits. i have an ideal party for such a duty in my present battalion, all speaking hebrew, headed by an officer who knows palestine. with your approval i would send this party as soon as possible on tour. recruiting offices should also be opened in cairo and alexandria, where i have promises of every support from the jewish communities of these cities. in england the adjutant-general allowed transfers of jewish officers, n.c.o.'s and men. i hope you will be equally indulgent to those who wish to join me from other units now under your command. i am strongly of the opinion that the training ground of the jewish brigade should be in judæa itself, firstly for its great moral effect on the men; secondly, the climate of cairo during the training months of march and april will make it practically impossible to do much satisfactory work here. i am convinced that twice the results could be obtained in such a place as jaffa, or other suitable colony, while the health of the troops would greatly benefit by the cooler climate. it would also enormously stimulate recruiting in palestine. i know that the home government attach the greatest importance to the moral effect of this jewish brigade on the outer world of jewry--not only in allied and neutral, but also in enemy countries--and such full effect can only be obtained by placing the brigade in palestine at the earliest possible moment. there are some other points which i would like to bring to your notice, but i will not add to the length of this letter by mentioning them now. i should, however, be very glad to see you, and discuss these matters generally with you, and hope you will send instructions for me to report at your headquarters at an early date. yours sincerely, (signed) j. h. patterson. i got a reply from major-general louis jean bols, the chief of staff, asking me to come to g.h.q., but at the same time informing me that general allenby was not in favour of my suggestions. this was somewhat of a surprise to me, for at a time when men were so badly needed, i thought that a jewish legion, of say , men, would have been most acceptable on the palestine front, and, had general allenby shown himself at all favourable to the idea of a jewish legion, it would at that time have been an easy task to have obtained any number of men, from america and elsewhere, to fight in palestine. nothing daunted, however, i proceeded to g.h.q., where i had an interview with the commander-in-chief, who told me quite frankly that he was not in sympathy with the war office policy in sending this jewish battalion to palestine, and that he did not want any further addition such as i suggested to his forces. at a subsequent interview which i had with his chief of staff, i gathered that i need expect but little sympathy for my battalion, as major-general louis jean bols told me quite plainly that he was not favourably disposed towards jewish aspirations. this anti-jewish policy of general allenby and his chief of staff came as a shock to me, for i knew that it was the settled intention of his majesty's government to support these jewish battalions, and the jewish claim to palestine, and i had been expecting quite a different reception for my proposals from the e.e.f. authorities to that which they received. i found, to my amazement, that the policy adopted by the staff towards this jewish battalion, and the jewish problem generally, ran counter to the declared policy of the home government. alas! it seemed that another pharaoh had arisen who knew not joseph; and once again we would be expected to make bricks without straw, and become hewers of wood and drawers of water. instead of this new unit being helped and encouraged, we were, on the contrary, throughout our service in the e.e.f., made to feel that we were merely ishmaelites, with every hand uplifted against us. i knew full well what our fate would be once the policy of g.h.q. on this question was known, and, as i will show later, the underlings of the staff did not fail to play up to the attitude of the higher command. i hoped, however, that the battalion would do such good work that we would eventually overcome all prejudice. we looked for no favours, and only wanted to be treated as a battalion "all out" to do its duty. the commander-in-chief was of course aware by this time of the arab pretensions to syria, and as his mind was, no doubt, wholly centred on his own war theatre, he was naturally anxious to placate the arab at all costs. the arab was at his door, giving him certain assistance by harrying the turks to the east of the jordan, and the fact that the hedjaz army was fighting on our side kept bedouins and other marauders from interfering with our lines of communication--no small matter in palestine and syria. the intrusion of the jew was a disturbing factor to his policy, and was therefore resented. the local military authorities, however, seemed oblivious of the fact that there was a much bigger question involved than that which loomed so largely in their eyes on the palestine horizon. there was england's world policy to be considered, and her statesmen had already decided that it was very much in her interests to win over to her side jewish help and sympathy the world over. let no one under-estimate what that help meant to the allies during the great war. the jewish element, owing to the balfour declaration, came solidly to our side in every land, and in america greatly helped to counter the german propaganda which was fast gripping hold of the united states. it was unfortunate that this far-sighted and wise policy of our imperial statesmen was never grasped by their local agents in palestine. in the e.e.f., so far as one on the spot could judge, but scant heed was paid to any policy unless it bore on local affairs and coincided with the point of view held by g.h.q. and the satellites revolving round it. if only a little wise diplomacy had been employed, i am strongly of the opinion that it would have been quite practicable for the local authorities to have treated the jewish problem fairly and on the lines of the balfour declaration and, at the same time, have retained the arabs on our side. after all the arabs were as much interested in the downfall of the turk as we were ourselves, and, to his honour be it said, the emir feisal never showed himself hostile to jewish aspirations. on the contrary he expressed the utmost goodwill and worked hand in hand with dr. weizmann for the common good of both peoples. the jew and the arab are necessary to each other in the near east, and if england wishes to retain her empire it is vital to her interests to keep friendly with both. i am afraid that at the moment we are at a discount to the east of suez. during the stress of war certain promises were made to the arabs which appear difficult to redeem, mainly due to the policy of france in syria. i admire france immensely, and that is why i so much deplore her imperialistic aims beyond the lebanons. she is sowing a rich crop of troubles for herself in these regions, and i am certain that ere long we shall see her reaping a bitter harvest. i met a much travelled french officer in cairo, who had just relinquished an administrative post in beyrout, and he told me that, if his government was wise, it would clear out of syria, where it would have nothing but trouble for generations to come. "if only," he went on, "england would give us a bit of africa and take syria instead, france would make a good bargain." we, however, do not want syria, but we do want to see a strong and settled arab state in these strictly arab regions, and i sincerely hope that our statesmen will be wise enough, and energetic enough, to bring about such a desirable consummation. if we permit the bolshevists and turks to oust us from our friendship with the jews and arabs, and with king hussein and his son the emir feisal (now the king of irak), upon whom we have alternately blown hot and cold, just as it pleased france to pipe the tune then we shall witness the beginning of the end of our power and prestige in the orient. my trip to g.h.q. was not quite in vain, for just before we left egypt sanction was given to enlist palestinian volunteers. i sent to judæa a specially trained recruiting party, all fluent hebrew speakers, under the command of lieutenant lipsey, to report to major james de rothschild of the th battalion, who was the officer appointed to supervise this work in egypt and palestine. the response to major de rothschild's appeal was enthusiastic--in fact his chief trouble was to keep out grey-beards and unfledged youths, so eager were all to join up. lieutenant lipsey had some difficulty in keeping his end up in jerusalem, where there were many anti-zionists, but finally he worsted his opponents and emerged triumphant with nearly , recruits. the following is a translation of the hebrew recruiting poster sent throughout palestine at this time:-- hear, o israel! hear! what does your heart prompt you to do? shall we not reclaim our heritage and establish its possession in the eyes of the world? hearken! what does your reason say to you? the british are fighting here before our eyes, and shall we remain in our houses until they return from the battle to give us our country which they have redeemed with their blood? hearken! what does your honour and conscience dictate? is it possible for us to accept from the hands of our righteous redeemers such an offering of blood? shall not we too, together with them, offer our lives for our country? hear, o israel! the blood of our heroic forefathers, the blood of the british who fight for us this day, and the blood of the martyrs, cry unto us from this sacred ground. enlist! enlist! shoulder to shoulder, together with our saviours, to the battle let us go. and salvation is with the lord. be strong! chapter viii. the feast of the passover. at this time g.h.q. was situated at a place called bir salem (the well of peace), ten miles to the east of jaffa, and as, after my interview, i had the whole day before me, i borrowed a motor-car and paid a flying visit to jerusalem, some thirty miles away to the eastward. i will not attempt to describe here what i felt as i approached the holy city, along the winding road which leads up to it through the rocky judæan mountains. i entered the old walled city through the jaffa gate, and was soon buried in its gloomy bazaars and labyrinthine passages, seeking out the old historic spots which i had reverenced from the days of my youth. i had but a few hours for my explorations, but they were about the busiest hours i ever spent, and although i have paid many visits to jerusalem since that date i have not forgotten the glamour thrown over me by my first visit to these sacred shrines and temples of antiquity. i left jerusalem at three in the afternoon and was back in my camp at helmieh within twenty-four hours. [illustration: jerusalem] the battalion was attached to the school of instruction at zeitoun (close to helmieh), which was an unfortunate arrangement, for our requirements were not attended to, and we were often kept idle for long periods owing to want of equipment, such as rifles, etc., to enable the men to fire their musketry course. there was no excuse for this, for there was plenty of equipment of all kinds in the ordnance stores at cairo. it was the fault of the vicious system of having to get everything we wanted through the school of instruction, whose staff did not seem to think that our requirements needed speeding up. it was not until brigadier-general a. b. robertson assumed command of the school that matters were mended, for this officer took a very friendly interest in us and did everything in his power to help us along. the feast of the passover was celebrated during our stay at helmieh. thus history was repeating itself in the land of bondage in a jewish military camp, after a lapse of over , years from the date of the original feast. i had considerable trouble with the authorities in the matter of providing unleavened bread. however, we surmounted all difficulties, and had an exceedingly jovial first night, helped thereto by the excellent palestinian wine which we received from mr. gluskin, the head of the celebrated wine press of richon-le-zion, near jaffa. the unleavened bread for the battalion, during the eight days of the feast, cost somewhat more than the ordinary ration would have done, so i requested that the excess should be paid for out of army funds. this was refused by the local command in egypt, so i went to the h.q. office, where i saw a jewish staff officer, and told him i had come to get this matter adjusted. he said that, as a matter of fact, he had decided against us himself. i told him that i considered his judgment unfair, because the battalion was a jewish battalion, and the army council had already promised kosher food whenever it was possible to obtain it, and it would have been a deadly insult to have forced ordinary bread upon the men during passover. i therefore said that i would appeal against his decision to a higher authority. he replied, "this will do you no good, for you will get the same reply from g.h.q." he was mistaken, for i found the gentile, on this particular occasion, more sympathetic than the jew, and the extra amount was paid by order of the q.m.g., sir walter campbell. during our stay at this camp we were reviewed by h.r.h. the duke of connaught, and, towards the end of may, by the commander-in-chief, general allenby. both these officers expressed themselves as pleased with the smart soldierly appearance and steadiness of the men, the duke of connaught remarking that "the men all appeared to be triers." towards the close of our training at helmieh, and just as i was beginning to congratulate myself that the battalion was shaping well and would soon be fit for the front, i was staggered by the receipt of a letter from g.h.q. which aimed a deadly blow at our very existence. it was nothing less than the proposal to break up the battalion and allow the men to join labour units! this was undoubtedly a clever move on the part of the staff to rid themselves of the jewish problem and, at the same time, bring the derision of the world upon the jew. [illustration: the battalion on parade] [illustration: tomb of rachel, near bethlehem (_see page_ )] it put me in a very difficult position, for i felt very keenly that, if the battalion were disbanded and turned over to labour units, it would throw an indelible stigma on jewry. i felt that it was my duty to protect the battalion from the disgrace that would attach to it if it could be said that the only jewish unit raised for war purposes had refused to fight--even for palestine. i therefore ordered a parade of the men by companies, and got the officers to point out to the men their sacred duty, and gave instructions for any malcontents to be sent before me for a final appeal. only twelve men were found who wished to join a labour unit, and to these twelve (i thought the number appropriate, as it was one for each tribe) i made a strong personal appeal, and after i had pointed out, in the best language at my command, what a stigma they were placing on the battalion, and on their fellow jews throughout the world, ten saw the error of their ways and cheerfully said they wished to do their duty as soldiers, and continued serving with the battalion, and i am glad to be able to place on record that these ten did very well afterwards in the field, one of them making the supreme sacrifice. two only remained obdurate to all appeals, and insisted on being posted to a labour unit, and i think jewry should remember them to all time. their names and numbers, and the evil which they did, are recorded in the chronicles of the battalion. they were turned out of the camp and drafted to a labour unit at a moment's notice, just as if they had been lepers. towards the end of april, , we were delighted to welcome the th battalion from england, under the command of lieut.-colonel margolin, d.s.o., and with them as m.o. i was glad to see captain r. salaman. we gave the new arrivals a very hearty welcome, the band of the th battalion playing them into camp amid great enthusiasm. there was much friendly rivalry between these jewish battalions, and honours were about easy in our sporting competitions. we gave one or two "at homes," to which all cairo seemed to flock, and i am sure our good cairene friends were favourably impressed with what they saw of the jewish battalions at work and play. just about this time we were visited at helmieh by dr. weizmann, mr. joseph cowen, and mr. aaronson. all three gave addresses to the men. mr. aaronson moved his audience to fury by graphically describing the torture which the turks had inflicted on his aged father and young sister in palestine, because they had dared to help england. mr. aaronson lived to see his home land freed from the turk, but soon afterwards lost his life in an aeroplane disaster while crossing from england to france. dr. weizmann has done much and suffered much since he addressed us on that peaceful evening in the egyptian desert. if he could have foreseen everything i doubt if even his undaunted soul would have faced unblenched all the trials and tribulations which have fallen to his lot since he undertook the arduous task of leading his people back to the land of israel. his task has been, if anything, more difficult than was that of the great lawgiver. the latter had only to surmount the obstinacy of one pharaoh, while dr. weizmann had to overcome that of thousands--not a few of them being jews! what a pity it was that the modern leader had not the power to dispense a few of the plagues which moses eventually found so efficacious. it is a striking testimonial to the genius of dr. weizmann that so much has already been accomplished towards the restoration; the fact that the jewish people are now within sight of their hearts' desire is, without doubt, mainly due to the patient, persistent, and able diplomacy of this brilliant leader. it must not be forgotten, however that he was at all times, and often in the teeth of bitter opposition, given the ready help and sympathy of mr. lloyd george and sir arthur balfour. chapter ix. we set out for the front. by the end of may our training was completed and on the th june, , we left egypt for palestine, getting a very hearty "send-off" from col. margolin and the th battalion. before we set out i had the gratification of receiving from general robertson the following letter: savoy hotel, cairo, th june, . dear colonel patterson, on the eve of your departure for the front i desire to wish you and the officers and men of the th royal fusiliers god-speed, and success in the tasks which you may be called upon to undertake in the future. from what i have seen of your battalion i know it will uphold the glorious traditions of the regiment to which it has the honour to belong, and its career will be watched with interest and sympathy by its well-wishers in all parts of the world. personally i am proud to have been associated with the battalion even for a short time. its well-known good behaviour must be a source of satisfaction to you, because that will provide a sound foundation on which to build a solid battle discipline, while the progress it made in the training at helmieh augurs well for its future efficiency. yours sincerely, (signed) a. b. robertson. lieut.-col. j. h. patterson, d.s.o., th battn., royal fusiliers, e.e.f. the battalion entrained smoothly and quickly at the railway siding close to our camp and we were soon rolling onward to realize our ideals and aspirations in the promised land. our chaplain, who was a man of insight and vision, arranged that our trumpets should sound, and that a short prayer should be said by the troops as they entered, for the first time, the ancient land of their fathers. all through the night, as we sped across the sinai desert seated in our open trucks, we could see the funnel of the engine belching forth a pillar of flame, and we were greatly reminded of the wanderings of the forefathers of these men in this very desert, who in their night journeys were always guided by a pillar of fire. nor did the simile cease as dawn broke, for then the pillar of flame turned into a cloud of smoke shot up into the still morning air. soon after sunrise we passed gaza, the scene of samson's exploits, and saw, in the distance, the hill to the top of which he carried the gates of the town. gaza may be considered the bridgehead leading into or out of egypt. in biblical times it was always a thorn in the side of the jews, and they were never able to capture it. it was, however, captured from the philistines on various occasions both by the egyptians on their expeditions into syria and by the syrians on their expeditions into egypt. no army could afford to leave it untaken on their lines of communication. it will be remembered that we ourselves made two costly failures here in our first attempts to enter palestine during the great war. the third time of course we succeeded, and with its fall the whole plain of philistia was at our mercy. as we rolled onward historical places cropped up every few miles and kept us spellbound with interest. beersheba was away thirty miles to the east, and we hoped in good time to see dan; meanwhile the shephelah downs ran parallel to us, ending up with mount gezer where david won a victory over the philistines. this hill was well known to every invading force that has passed through palestine, and around its base gallant men of many nations have fallen. in the distance, like a cobalt mist, loomed the mountains of ephraim and of judæa, while the "utmost sea" occasionally shimmered on our left. about noon we steamed through a grove of olives into ludd (the ancient lydda), where we detrained. it was one of the hottest days i have ever experienced, and our march to surafend, under a blazing midday midsummer sun, loaded up as we were with full kit, was a severe test of the endurance of the men. [illustration: choir of the jewish regiment] almost as soon as we reached our bivouac at surafend the jewish colonists of richon-le-zion, jaffa, rechoboth and all the surrounding colonies came out in their hundreds with flags and banners, on foot, on horseback, and in chariots, to greet us, and show us how much they thought of their brethren who had come all the way from england to help them to redeem their country. amongst the zionists from jaffa and richon-le-zion were many scores of both men and women who had already volunteered for service with the army. it was an inspiring sight to see how these young men and women rode and managed their horses. no cowboy of the western states of america could be more expert. it is quite evident that a new and free jewish race is arising among the colonists of palestine, for even the small children of eight and nine years of age can ride and manage horses with ease. we celebrated our first sabbath in palestine at surafend, where special prayers for the occasion were recited, including one composed by the haham bashi of egypt, rabbi simeon. richon-le-zion, besides sending its quota of young men and women to greet us, sent us also three casks of choice richon wine, which in those thirsty days the battalion much appreciated. we remained at surafend for three days, and during our stay there, were inspected in our bivouac by general allenby, who again expressed himself as well pleased with all he saw. major james de rothschild came over from jaffa, where he was then doing recruiting duty, and gave us a god-speed as we left our pleasant surroundings at surafend for our journey to the front. we marched off at o'clock on the afternoon of the th june, and reached el kubab at . the same evening. personally i only went half-way, for i was recalled to cairo to preside at a general court-martial assembled there for the trial of three royal air force officers who had been performing some unauthorised stunts. i rejoined the battalion at umm suffah, a few miles short of the turkish lines. while the th was at this place there was an air raid on our lines, but no damage was done. from el kubab the battalion went to beit nuba. they left on the th, and reached harith the same day, where they came under the orders of brigadier-general e. m. morris, a first-rate soldier commanding the th irish division. they marched out of harith at p.m. on the th, and arrived at umm suffah at p.m. the same day. we were now among the hills of samaria and the transport was much delayed on this march owing to the frightfully rough and stony road. several wheels got broken and, as a matter of fact, the transport, with the food, etc., did not arrive until the early morning of the th. on the th june the battalion was placed in divisional reserve. on saturday the th it first came under shell fire while we were holding divine service. shells exploded quite close to the men, but no damage was done, and the battalion took its baptism of fire quite cheerfully. during the week that followed the companies were posted to units already in the line, to gain some knowledge of the country, and to learn the nature of the duties to be carried out in the fighting zone. before we took our place in the line we were inspected by the g.o.c. th division, who, when the inspection was over, expressed himself as very pleased with the general appearance and steadiness of the men. on the th june a, b, and c companies were detailed to garrison supporting points on the front occupied by the st infantry brigade, to which we were now attached, and which was under the command of brigadier-general w. b. emery, a genial gunner. battalion headquarters and d company moved up to the front on the th june and took over the second line of supporting points, from a place known as the wadi tiyur to the wadi belat, just to the west of the main road running from jerusalem to nablus (the ancient shechem), where it cuts the wadi jib some twenty miles north of the holy city. on the rd july the battalion relieved / grenadiers in the left sector of the st infantry brigade front, the relief being commenced after dark and completed by . p.m. we found the piece of country we took over most interesting. we occupied the summits of the hills facing the turkish position, and were responsible for some three or four miles of front. our right rested upon jiljilia, a pretty hamlet of samaria, and our left upon abwein, a strong, stone-built arab village, nestling half-way down a steep hillside, surrounded by fig and olive trees. our line on the hills between these two places twisted and turned about like a snake, for of course we conformed to the nature of the ground. our frontage towards the enemy descended into the valley, some feet below, in a series of rocky terraces, each having a drop of from six to twenty feet. these terraces and hill slopes were dotted with olive trees. a wadi, called the wadi gharib, ran through the narrow valley which lay at the bottom, and then there was a very steep ascent up the opposite side to the turkish line. our front wire was actually a few hundred yards down over the crest of the hill on the turkish side, for from this position we had a better field of fire. when we took over this position from lieut.-colonel strong, the o.c. of the / grenadiers, a considerable amount of work necessarily remained to be done, building stone sangars, digging trenches, making roadways, and generally improving the position in every possible way. our line was divided into four sections, one company guarding each part, major neill on the extreme right holding jiljilia, and captain brown with his company in abwein. we at once assumed a vigorous offensive policy; our patrols were pushed out every night down into the valley, and often up to the turkish wire on the opposite hills. during daylight only the observation posts were manned along our front wire. a couple of men in each vantage point, equipped with field glasses or telescopes, and provided with a telephone, kept us informed of any movement in the turkish lines. as soon as darkness had fallen each company marched its men over the crest of the hills and took up position in the sangars and defence posts along the barbed wire fence. all night long work and building, etc., went on, the unfortunate men getting very little rest. listening posts were established well out beyond the wire, and strong patrols went down the ledges looking for trouble in turkish territory. our aggressive policy thoroughly scared the turks, so much so that they never once attempted to come anywhere near our front. just as dawn was breaking, having made certain by means of patrols and scouts that no turks were in the neighbourhood, the troops returned to their bivouacs behind the crest, leaving only the observation posts on the watch. i had a very good intelligence officer in lieutenant simon abrahams, who explored "no man's land" very methodically, and who earned a high measure of praise from our brigade commander. abrahams would go out with a daring scout like pte. angel (who afterwards won the m.c.) and sketch roads, routes, tracks, etc., right under the very noses of the turks, and so careful was he, and so secretive, that his presence on the debatable ground was never even suspected by the enemy. it might be thought that when the men had finished their night's vigil they would be allowed to rest, but instead of this, as soon as a hasty breakfast had been swallowed, they immediately had to fix up barbed wire entanglements, build stonework redoubts, gun emplacements, make railways down the hills, or bury animals which had died or been killed in somebody else's camp. anything and everything was demanded from the battalion, and every call, no matter how distasteful, was responded to with readiness, if not with cheerfulness. all the time we were holding this bit of the nablus front, from the wadi jib to the wadi gharib, the men were constantly running about on arduous jobs and as busy as bees. about this time there was a rumour that we were soon to take the offensive, and i was especially pleased when i got a confidential communication from our brigade commander ordering me to prepare a careful reconnaissance of the country to our left front, where the surprise attack on the turks was to be made. a good track up to the enemy wire, concealed as much as possible from his view, had to be found, the general idea being that once there we would make a sweep to the right along the turkish front opposed to our lines. i detailed captain t. b. brown for this important task, which he carried out admirably. a suitable route by which to return with the expected prisoners and loot had also to be discovered and sketched, and lieutenant simon abrahams was in his element when i selected him for this adventure. the hope of coming to grips with the turks buoyed us up considerably, and the prospect of a battle in which we felt sure we would do well helped us through the trying and weary round of daily routine. our brigadier was a soldier whom we all liked, but he had a mania for putting up barbed-wire fences, and at last we erected so much on our front that we caused a serious shortage of this material in the e.e.f., and further wiring was prohibited. on the th july our transport was shelled. luckily only one mule was killed and one wounded. we were heavily bombarded by guns of various calibres at . in the morning on july th, but it was an absolute waste on the part of the turks, for not a single casualty of any kind was sustained. on this day the turks and germans attacked in the jordan valley and got severely mauled by the anzac mounted division. we, too, expected an attack, but soon after dawn the shelling ceased and the situation became normal. while the battalion was holding the forward trenches i always made a round of the posts every night to see that every one was on the alert and that they knew what to do in case of attack. i made the men place white stones along the wire so that they could take aim on them in case of a turkish assault in the dark, and arranged bombing parties at various points; in fact, we were all ready to give the enemy a very warm reception if he ever came our way. once, on going my rounds, i heard a noise a little way down the hill, so i ordered a young soldier to throw a bomb; he failed to get the pin quite out and slipped the "dud" into his great-coat pocket; fortunately, a sergeant standing near saw what had happened and, on examining the "dud," found the pin practically released! the slightest movements would have set the bomb off and we should all have been blown sky high. no matter at what hour i returned from my tour of inspection along the battle line, i always found my faithful orderly, corporal hutchinson, awaiting me with a "nightcap" such as could only be mixed by the dexterous hand of an old campaigner. hutchinson served with me when i commanded a battalion of the irish fusiliers, and followed my fortunes when i went to command the dublin fusiliers. on asking him if he would go with me to the jewish battalion, he replied, "oh, be the hokey!--but shure, sir, that's where you'll be wanting me the most." hutchinson remained with me until we set out for the jordan valley, when he was taken ill and invalided home. i missed him sadly, for he used to remain by my tent door and ward off any undesirable intruder like a well-trained watch dog. a more faithful, loyal and trust-worthy soldier never shouldered a rifle. chapter x. the nablus front. on the th july we were transferred to the th division and attached to one of its brigades. we were very sorry to leave the th division, for we had made many good friends all round, and our divisional and brigade commanders had always treated us fairly and justly. on the evil day of our transfer a fatal accident befell lieutenant b. wolffe. he was in charge of the transport wagons and was engaged in loading up supplies at the ordnance depôt. the drivers were, of course, dismounted and standing by their teams while the work of loading was going ahead. a sudden noise frightened one of the teams, and off the four horses careered at a mad gallop. they were heading straight for some troops standing near, and lieutenant wolffe, seeing this, made a gallant attempt to stop them by springing at the heads of the leaders as they dashed past. unfortunately they were going too fast for him, and he was dragged under their feet, the wagon passing over his body. i visited him in hospital, as did also our chaplain and others, and we cheered him up as much as possible, but he died on the th, and his death cast a gloom over the whole battalion, for he was a most conscientious officer, a good jew, and well liked by all ranks. he was buried with full jewish rites, a "minyan" from the battalion attending. the commander-in-chief in general orders eulogised the gallant attempt which he made when he sacrificed his own life in his plucky effort to save others. on the th july i was requested by dr. weizmann to bring a representative party of officers and men of the battalion to a most interesting ceremony at jerusalem--the laying of the foundation stones of the hebrew university on mount scopus. in the days of her past greatness the law was expounded at jerusalem. it is quite possible that again, even in our own days, we shall hear a message of peace and goodwill issue forth from the temple of learning overlooking the holy city. the site chosen for the building is a magnificent one. it looks down on the domes and minarets of jerusalem on the one side, and, on the other, overlooks the jordan valley and the dead sea, with the green hills of moab looming in the distance. the ceremony itself was a most interesting one. the commander-in-chief was present; also all the civil and religious heads of the jewish, christian, and moslem communities, while a vast multitude of people of all creeds thronged along the slopes of scopus from jerusalem--a seemingly good omen for future peace and concord. it was a truly inspiring and historic occasion, and augured well for the future greatness of the university. stones were laid by the christian bishop in jerusalem and by the mufti (the chief mohammedan dignitary). one was also laid by dr. weizmann in the name of the jewish regiment, while what perhaps appealed to me most of all was the part taken by jewish children in laying a stone representing the hope of israel. on my return to the battalion i found the headquarters encamped in a pretty grove of olives on the inniskilling road, some two miles behind the firing line. while we were here our chaplain, the rev. l. a. falk, one day discovered a red granite column embedded in the side of a hill. this we unearthed and, on measuring it, found that it was about feet high and about feet in diameter. we erected it in our camp in a grove of olive trees. i much perturbed our good rabbi by chaffingly suggesting to him that we had been erecting an altar to baal, in a grove, in one of the high places! our find got noised abroad, and the governor of jerusalem, colonel storrs, with his assistant, lord william percy, motored out from jerusalem to see it. they had lunch with us, and i was delighted to note that lord william percy took a keen interest in preserving the fauna of palestine, and had induced general allenby to impose strict limitations on the shooting of birds and beasts. our transfer to the th division did not, for the time at least, result in any change in our position in the line, but, almost from the moment we joined the new brigade, we felt the hostility shown towards all things jewish by the brigade commander. i endeavoured to counter his prejudice against the battalion, during a friendly after-dinner chat, by pointing out the immense debt we owed to the "people of the book" for all they have done towards civilising and humanizing the world for thousands of years. during their struggle for existence through centuries of exile, in countries where every form of torture and repression had been in vogue against them, they never lost their age-long hope of a restoration. the general seemed, like many others, to have a very vague idea as to the aim of the zionists, which is simply to establish a national home in palestine where jewish life, rooted in its own soil, would have an opportunity of developing on modern lines, in accordance with its own ideals. i gave the brigadier some new ideas on jews, but all my eloquence was in vain, for i failed to convert him, and he hinted that i was only wasting my time by being mixed up with a jewish unit! but although the brigadier was right in one way when he said "you will get nothing out of it," yet in another way he was altogether wrong, for i have got a very great deal out of my service with this jewish battalion. i have had the satisfaction of proving that, in spite of all obstacles placed in its path, this new unit showed that it was worthy of the best traditions of the maccabæans, those doughty jewish soldiers who, on many a well-fought field, defeated the legions of antiochus and freed judæa from a foreign yoke. but it is not by fighting alone that a good battalion is proved, and the jewish unit was tested in many ways as this record will show. there was no respite from such work as digging trenches, building stone sangars, and constructing roads along the hill-sides, by day and by night; nevertheless, every soldierly duty allotted was carried out cheerfully and promptly. the rumour which had got abroad about the attack on the turkish trenches opposite our front now crystallised into definite shape, and the actual date of the attack was often hinted at. a few days before the assault was to take place our brigadier gave us the special job of making stone emplacements, almost within sight of the turks, just above the village of jiljilia, and as we fondly hoped we would have a place in the assaulting column, all hands worked with a will, especially our two christian lithuanians, stenelus and sterilitis; these men amazed the british gunners by the ease with which they placed huge blocks of stone in position--all done by sheer strength of muscle combined with hearty good will. this particular piece of work was under the supervision of major neill, and, as it had to be done in record time, his task was no easy one, but, fortunately for him and his company, the turks never spotted what was going on, and before we left these parts major neill saw the guns safely emplaced without suffering a single casualty. all this stone work on the steep sides of a hill, coupled with heavy marching to and fro, and scrambling up and down, was not good for the men's clothing, which soon got worn, ragged and dirty. a false step on a slippery slope meant that the seat of a man's flimsy shorts was rent asunder, and it was quite usual to see the tail of a shirt hanging out! yet, no matter how ragged and disreputable-looking the men were, i found it impossible to get any renewal of clothing, although it was freely handed out to other units. it seemed as if it were a joy to some people to be able to withhold necessary articles of clothing, such as shirts, boots, socks, shorts, etc., and keep the men working on dirty jobs, and then say with glee, "look at the ragged dirty jews." it must be remembered that we could not obtain enough water even to wash our faces, for every drop had to be carried up the precipitous sides of the hills on camels as far as they could clamber, and then by mules and donkeys up the steeper parts. often there was a shortage of the precious fluid even for tea-making. i wrote urgent letters again and again, and protested that the men were unfit to march for want of shoes, and that many of them were actually exposing their nakedness for want of clothing. i sent my quartermaster, lieutenant smythe, day after day, to the ordnance stores trying to extract necessary articles, but all in vain! we were nobody's children, and consequently we could get nothing. i saw the brigadier, and represented to him that in many cases our men were ragged, shirtless, sockless, and bootless, but if he made any representations on our behalf there was no result. had we belonged to a brigade instead of being merely "attached" most of our troubles would never have arisen, but the policy adopted by the local staff was to keep us as "wandering jews," pitched from one brigade to another, in a continuous round of general post. it was a heart-breaking experience as any soldier will understand. at last i rode over to my old gallipoli friend, colonel o'hara, who was on the staff of the th division, and he, like the good soldier that he is, helped me out of my difficulty as far as it lay in his power. what a difference it makes when one meets a good staff officer! not nearly enough care is given to the task of selecting the right men for this all-important branch of the army. they are too often selected for any reason except the right one, viz., efficiency. the brigade to which we were attached was fortunate in having at least one good staff officer. the brigade major was a thoroughly capable soldier, and always out to help in every way in his power. the brigadier often caused me much inward amusement by pointedly appealing in my presence to the judgment of a certain colonel x, an officer junior to me, who was in command of a section on our right. if i had a sangar built which commanded a good field of fire, it was sure to be found fault with, and another had to be built in a site chosen by their joint wisdom. one night the gallant brigadier came across the spot where i had my outlook post established; he thought it was in the wrong place, of course, and consulted his friend, colonel x, as to where it should be. "don't you think it ought to be on the top of this house?" said the general. the colonel climbed to the top of the house, gazed round in the inky darkness, came down again, and said he quite agreed with the general, as all good, well-trained colonels, with an eye to the main chance, invariably do! i was then ordered to put the outlook on the top of the house, which had a flat roof, where a man would be seen by every turk for miles round! needless to say, i never placed an observer in this absurd position. just about this time one of my men, quite a youth, was found asleep at his post, and as this is about the most serious crime of which a sentry can be guilty, he was tried by general court martial and sentenced to death. a few days later a telegram came from the provost marshal ordering me to send the condemned man under strong escort, with two senior non-commissioned officers, to the prisoners' compound some distance away. i feared that the unfortunate lad would be shot at dawn, and as i knew he had been working exceedingly hard, day and night, for hours before he was found asleep at his post, and was of good character and very young, i determined to try to save him. i therefore sent a private wire to general allenby asking him on these grounds to reprieve him. my friend the brigadier saw the wire before it was despatched and stopped it. however, one of my men in the signal office told me of this, so i immediately wrote a confidential letter to general allenby, gave it to a motor-cyclist, and sent him off post haste to g.h.q., some thirty miles away, telling him to ride for all he was worth, as a man's life hung on his speed. i am glad to say that not only did general allenby reprieve the man and reduce the sentence to a certain number of years' imprisonment, but he suspended even that punishment, provided the man proved himself worthy of forgiveness by doing his duty faithfully in the battalion. the young soldier returned to us overjoyed and full of gratitude for his release. he proved himself worthy in every respect, and was never afterwards called upon to do a day's imprisonment. not satisfied with having held up the wire, the brigadier motored some miles away to report the matter to the divisional general, sir john shea. i was duly haled before the general, not knowing for what reason, until he said, "you know you will get yourself into trouble if you go sending telegrams direct to the commander-in-chief." it then dawned on me for the first time why i had been sent for. i explained all the circumstances to the general, and said that, in such an emergency, i felt justified in what i had done. besides, i said, i had not addressed the commander-in-chief as such, but as general allenby, an officer whom i had known for many years. i also confessed that, when i found that the wire had been blocked, i had immediately written a letter of appeal to general allenby, and had sent it off by a special cyclist despatch rider. the general pretended to be so horrified at this that he needed a cocktail to revive him--in which i may add he asked me to join him. i do not know what he thought of the brigadier's action, but i can leave the reader to imagine what i thought of it! a few days later, when i was breakfasting with general shea, i was much amused when he told me that when he was at home his children insisted on his reading a lion story to them every evening out of "the man-eaters of tsavo"! from the frequent consultations between the brigadier and his friend colonel x i felt that something was on foot, but little realised that it was a matter which, if carried out, would strike a blow at the very identity of the jewish battalions. this, however, soon became evident. shortly after my interview with the divisional general i was called to the telephone to speak to the brigadier, who said, apparently with great satisfaction, "i want to tell you that your battalion and the th battalion (which was then on its way up from egypt) are to be brigaded with two west indian battalions, and you are to be placed under the command of colonel x, who is now a general and has come to live near my camp. you will find general x a very nice man." i thanked the brigadier for his interesting information and hung up the receiver. it was now clearly my duty to stop this second attempt to destroy the identity of the jewish battalions in palestine or resign my command. it was no easy task to achieve, because our good friends had worked underground all the time, and sprang this surprise upon me only when it became an accomplished fact; colonel x had actually been appointed to the command, a brigade major and a staff captain had been posted to the new brigade, while the transport and ordnance section of the formation had been already organized and sent to jericho. the staff at g.h.q. had, of course, arranged the whole affair, and it would be no easy task to get the commander-in-chief to countermand the brigade formation. i felt that a very firm stand must be taken if this blow aimed at jewish prestige was to be averted. i accordingly wrote a strong letter direct to general allenby, pointing out that, if such a scheme were carried out, it would involve very grave issues. the adjutant-general at the war office had promised that the jewish battalions would be formed into a jewish brigade, and to depart from this declared policy would be looked upon as a direct slight, both by the jewish battalions and by jewry the world over. loth as i was to worry the commander-in-chief, i considered it my duty to him, to my men, to myself, and to jewry to see that jewish interests were not trampled upon without a protest while i retained command. i requested therefore that the orders should be cancelled, and, if not, that i should be relieved of my command. that my attitude on this question was correct was proved by the receipt of a most friendly reply from general allenby, in which he thanked me for my letter and said: i see the undesirability of brigading jewish with west indian battalions, and i have decided not to do so. i shall form a provisional brigade of the two jewish battalions until a complete jewish brigade can be formed, and they will be under you. the whole tone of this letter showed that the c.-in-c. had been badly advised by his staff in this attempted amalgamation of the jewish with the west indian battalions. a few hours after i had received general allenby's communication a wire came from g.h.q. cancelling all the orders which had already been issued with regard to the formation of the new brigade. thus i won the second round in my fight for fair play for the jewish battalions and jewish ideals generally. i realized that my stand for justice would be bitterly resented by certain individuals at g.h.q., and that, sooner or later, i would be penalised for having upset their attempted little coup. chapter xi. we march to the jordan valley. within two days of the receipt of general allenby's letter cancelling the mixed brigade formation, we were suddenly ordered to leave the cool and pleasant hill-tops of ephraim and march down to the sweltering heat and fever-stricken desolation of the jordan valley, , feet below sea level, in the very hottest and most unhealthy month of the year. we, of course, took our orders for the deadly valley quite cheerfully, feeling that it was "not ours to reason why," but we did feel that it was a blow below the belt to be taken out of the line on the nablus front, just as an attack, for which we had done most of the spade work, was about to be made. had we remained with general emery, i feel sure that he would have given us a chance to show our mettle in the raid which was timed to take place on th august, . even when we were transferred to the brigade in the th division we still looked forward to taking part in this move, and, as i have already mentioned, we slaved away at every kind of preparation for the affair, but, alas, we were taken out of the line, and ordered to march to a new front, just three days before the attack. it almost looked as if our enemies feared we would do well, and our prowess would then get noised abroad to the discomfiture of our detractors. on the th august we marched from our pretty camp at inniskilling road, where we had revelled in the grateful shade of the olive trees which abound there, and took the road, bag and baggage, for ram allah, our first halt, where we were to bivouac. here we were to get further orders from the g.o.c. rd division, whose headquarters were in that ancient town. it was midnight when we got to our camp, where we found that someone had carefully chosen a site for us which was literally one mass of stones. it must have been the favourite place of execution in olden days when stoning to death was in vogue, and the stones had never since been gathered up! there was no grumbling, however; every man cleared a little patch whereon to lie down on his waterproof sheet, and slept the sleep of the tired. we remained at this delectable spot for the best part of two days, and on the afternoon of the th we marched to jerusalem, where we came under the orders of the desert mounted corps. we bivouacked about a mile or so short of jerusalem, and, as the camp was reached long after dark, the city remained hidden until dawn next morning. i had a cheery and welcome dinner the evening we arrived with lieutenant-general sir philip chetwode, who commanded the th corps, at his headquarters at the german hospice on the mount of olives. [illustration: the wailing wall at jerusalem (_see page_ )] i was awake about o'clock next morning, just as the mist was beginning to disperse, and woke up everybody all round about me to have their first look at the holy city. my officers were all very tired, so merely gave one peep at it out of sleepy eyes, and then buried themselves once more in their blankets. later on the men spent the whole of the forenoon visiting jerusalem, and especially the celebrated wailing wall, which is the only authentic portion of the temple enclosure which still remains. its huge blocks of stone seem to be as indestructible as the indomitable race which designed, shaped, and placed them in position so many centuries ago. the jewish "bevel" is a noticeable feature in the stones. here the jews for nearly two thousand years have wept and wailed, placing their foreheads against the walls and copiously watering the masonry with their tears. the wailing of the jews at this remnant of their temple is one of the most pathetic and curious sights i have ever witnessed. the jewish mendicants who are allowed to congregate in the vicinity of the wailing wall are not a pleasing spectacle, and i hope that one of the first acts of the zionists will be the removal of this blot on jewry. bethlehem can be reached in a few minutes by motor from jerusalem, and near to it rachel's tomb stands by the roadside, while almost opposite is the field in which ruth gleaned. at . in the afternoon of this day ( th august) we marched off under the walls of jerusalem, past the damascus gate, skirted the garden of gethsemane, and wended our way on to the road which would take us down to jericho. it was a lovely sight as we halted and looked back over the valley of jehoshaphat, with the brook kidron between us and the walls of the venerable city, the beautiful mosque of omar overshadowing the temple area, the mysterious golden gates fronting us, sealed up, and the westering sun gilding mount zion. i have seen jerusalem since from many points, but the view from the corner of the jericho road, where it skirts the mount of olives on the descent to bethany, is, to my mind, by far the most beautiful and impressive. i halted every platoon there, so that all might look well at the glory of it--a glory which, alas, some of them would never again return to look upon. we bivouacked about three miles beyond jerusalem, and next morning ( th august) marched through bethany while it was yet dark, and reached our bivouac at talaat ed dumm at . in the afternoon. i reported our arrival to general chauvel, of the australian mounted division, whose headquarters were at this place, and from his hut i had a splendid view of the beauty and desolation of the jordan valley which lay spread out before me. talaat ed dumm is a weird uncanny spot. it is mentioned in the book of joshua as adummim, and is the gate of the judæan wilderness. the red and yellow barren hills and rocky narrow valleys have a peculiar desolation all their own, while the heat at the time we were there was scorching. by some jugglery on the part of the staff, all our transport animals had been taken away from us, and we found ourselves stranded without a particle of shade, shelter, or food on this god-forsaken spot, sweltering in the fierce rays of the burning sun. at last, towards sundown, our baggage and rations arrived in motor lorries, dinners and teas were rolled into one, and peace reigned once more in this drowsy wilderness. when the terrific heat had become somewhat less scorching, accompanied by the padre, i wandered up to an ancient ruin which topped the summit of a hill dominating the roadway. this proved to be the castle of a redoubtable robber chief, who had lived here in bygone days and taken his toll from every traveller. from time immemorial this had been the stronghold of the robber bands who waylaid, robbed, and even murdered those journeying to and fro between jerusalem and jericho. it was close to this bandit's castle that the good samaritan poured oil and wine into the wounds of the unfortunate wayfarer who had fallen among thieves. it was an ideal spot for a robber's lair, because it commands a full view of what is practically the only route for caravans through this dreary barren wilderness. we were not sorry to leave our camp at dawn, and strode out so merrily that we overtook a cavalry brigade which blocked our way! as we marched down the steep descent to the jordan valley we had on our left the wadi kelt, which wound its tortuous course through the boulders at the bottom, hundreds of feet sheer below us. some people say that it was here that the prophet elijah was fed by the ravens, but it has been satisfactorily proved that the brook cherith, where elijah hid, is now known as the wadi fusail. it runs into the jordan from the westward, near a place called the rock of oreb. this suggested an idea to me that the "ravens" spoken of in the bible were not birds but people, for the word "oreb" means a raven. now we know there was a prince called oreb, for we have an account of his death in judges, chapter , verse . it is also a well-known fact that in the east tribes take their names from their prince or chief man, so that in all probability there was a tribe called orbim (the plural of "oreb" or raven). the place where prince oreb was slain was the rock of oreb, and it is known to this day as "tel el orbaim." moreover, this place is in gilead, which was elijah's old home, so it was quite natural that he should flee to this neighbourhood and be fed with flesh and bread, night and morning, by his friends the orbim, or "ravens." how similar, too, are the words used in the th and th verses of st kings, chapter : "i have commanded the ravens to feed thee there," and "i have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee!" can it be possible that the ravens were people and not birds, and that our old and learned translators fell into the error of thinking that they were birds, because they did not know of the possible existence of a tribe called "orbim" or "ravens"? we continued our march down through the judæan wilderness, the place where the high priest yearly turned loose the scapegoat which bore on its head the sins of the children of israel. occasionally, away to our right, between the desolate, dusty, sulphurous-looking hills, we caught a momentary glimpse of the emerald sheen of the dead sea, while away on our left on the edge of the valley, stood out the mount of temptation. [illustration: the jerusalem-jericho road] [illustration: near the wadi kelt (see page )] the moment we got down to the jordan valley (or ghor, as the arabs call it) the real trials of the men began. the heat was intense, and the going became very heavy, for we had no longer a good metalled road on which to march. dust lay a foot deep on the path; it was exceedingly fine and looked like the best powdered cement. as the men marched clouds of it arose and choked them, while their feet were actually sucked down at each step, and an effort had to be made to draw the foot out again, as if some devil were below, pulling at the sole of the boot. the sixteen platoons forming the battalion marched well apart in order to evade as much of this blinding, choking, sulphurous dust as possible. jericho, the city of the palms, lay a little to our right. we passed its outskirts and halted for a rest under old jericho, the walls of which the bible tells us miraculously fell to joshua's trumpets over , years ago. this was a thought which acted as a spur to every jewish soldier, and although the march was a hard one and the worst of it had yet to be done, the men came through the ordeal triumphantly, and very few dropped out by the way. those who did fall by the wayside were helped along by our padre, the rev. l. a. falk, who gave up his horse to the footsore and carried the pack and rifle of the weary, thus cheering them along into camp. this time it was the priest who proved the good samaritan on the road to jericho. soon after we recommenced our march from under the walls of old jericho a huge black column of fine dust, whose top was lost in the heavens, arose in front of us and gyrated slowly and gracefully as our vanguard, leading us onward to our bivouac on the banks of a cool and pleasant brook, where it vanished. i felt that this was a good omen for our success in the jordan valley, for it was a case of the children of israel being led once more by a pillar of cloud. the headquarters of the australian mounted division was close beside our bivouac, and here i had a very welcome breakfast with major-general h. w. hodgson, its capable and genial commander. the general told me that he would review the battalion on the following afternoon, on its march out to the new camping ground on the auja. next morning, while the men were resting and refreshing themselves on the banks of the nueiameh (for so the cool stream was named), i rode down the valley to the eastward of jericho, accompanied by our padre. we waded through the wadi kelt, luxuriant grass growing where the water had overflowed its banks, showing how fruitful the valley would be if it were irrigated. we searched the plain to discover, if possible, some traces of the ancient gilgal, joshua's g.h.q., and eventually we came upon what we took to be the site, some three miles to the south-east of old jericho. at all events we found some very ancient stonework buried in grass-grown mounds just about where gilgal might be looked for, and i feel sure that if excavations were carried out here some very interesting discoveries would be made. after we had briefly examined the ruins, i suggested to the padre that we should go and breakfast in jericho, if indeed we could find a caravanserai there, so in search of a hostelry we rode into the modern city of the palms. it proved to be but a poor tumble-down jumble of buildings, as might have been expected. however, as we rode along, we came upon a somewhat pretentious looking building on which was painted "the gilgal hotel." whatever doubt there may have been about the ancient gilgal, here at any rate was a modern one, the discovery of which at this moment was most opportune, for we were both decidedly hungry after our explorations. as we rode into the courtyard a dozen arab urchins who had been lounging about made a dash for our horses, each eager to grasp the reins in the hope of some "baksheesh." an elderly dame, on hearing the scuffle, emerged from a doorway, scattered the surplus boys, and called loudly, "victoria, victoria." a musical voice from a room above responded to this familiar name, and, on looking up, we saw a buxom, olive-tinted damsel step on to the balcony. a voluble dialogue then took place between mother and daughter, the result of which was that victoria, in excellent english, invited us up to breakfast. we had a most sumptuous feast, or so it appeared to us, inured as we were to plain camp fare. i was particularly pleased with the flavour of the honey, which victoria informed me was taken from a hive in the garden. the milk, too, was good and plentiful, so we had at last reached the "land flowing with milk and honey." before we left, i asked our fair hostess how it came about that she, a syrian damsel, was known as victoria, to which she promptly replied, "because i am queen of jericho." some time afterwards i made a special visit to old jericho. naturally, during the , odd years that have elapsed since its capture by joshua, the old city has got silted up and the place has been covered over by soil washed down from the judæan hills; but just before the war a party of antiquarians commenced excavation work and exposed several buildings of the old city, some twenty or thirty feet below the surface of the ground. there the lintels and door-posts of wood may still be seen embedded in the brickwork, but they are all turned into charcoal, probably from the fire which consumed the city by joshua's command. it will be remembered that the rebuilding of jericho was forbidden under a terrible curse, "cursed be the man before the lord that riseth up and buildeth this city jericho; he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it." the battalion left its pleasant bivouac by the nueiameh at o'clock in the afternoon, and waded across through its cool waters; when we had marched through the appalling dust of the valley for some three miles, i observed general hodgson waiting to review us on the far side of a steep nullah. i cantered on, and took my place beside the general and his a.d.c., captain buxton. i am certain that a review was never held under more peculiar circumstances. the men marched in column of fours, platoon after platoon, down one side of the steep gully and up the other, and then past the general, who apparently expected to see them marching as steadily as if they had been in the long valley at aldershot; and the strange part of it is that they _were_ marching steadily, shoulder to shoulder, in spite of the difficult ground which they had to negotiate and the enormous load they had to carry. they were one mass of dust from head to foot. nothing could be seen of their faces except a pair of eyes blinking out of a countenance which looked as if it had been dipped in a flour barrel and then streaked with lines of soot, for rivulets of black sweat ran in parallel lines down their dust-covered faces. it was the funniest sight i ever saw in my life, but the men were as grave as owls. i could hardly keep my face straight when, on the command "eyes left" being given, they turned their comical looking faces boldly up to the general! i remarked to him that it was a bit of an ordeal to review them just after scrambling down and up the steep sides of a gully, and he replied, "that is exactly why i am here. i want to see how they shape under the most difficult possible circumstances, and i must congratulate you on their soldierly bearing and steadiness." the battalion certainly did itself credit that day, for it was no light ordeal to go through, considering the dust and heat, and the enormous weight that the unfortunate men had to carry stowed away on every part of the person. when we had completed about six miles of the march towards our camping place at the auja, we were met by the brigade major of the th cavalry brigade, an energetic staff officer, who, besides coming himself, had thoughtfully provided guides to lead us into the camp in the darkness. it must be remembered that we were now within sight and range of the turkish guns, and all large bodies of troops had to move in the dark. we were very glad to reach our bivouac on the auja, which is a pleasant, swiftly-flowing streamlet, with many cool and shady nooks amid the foliage which grows in profusion along its banks. chapter xii. our position in the mellahah. we were now attached to the th cavalry brigade, commanded by brigadier-general j. t. wigan, and on the th, th, and th august we took over d and e sections of the desert corps front line, relieving the th indian lancers and the th indian cavalry regiments. we were unfortunately only a few days with the th brigade, which was moved to ludd soon after we were posted to it. the jordan valley, at the place where we were entrenched, is about fifteen miles wide and is over , feet below sea level. it is for the most part fairly flat, but is intersected here and there by huge ravines, which are in places quite narrow, and at others some hundreds of yards across, with sheer cliffs some thirty to fifty feet high as banks. looking at the valley from the hills that border it, one would never suspect the existence of these great rifts. the river jordan runs in the centre of one of these depressions, which in places is to feet below the ordinary level of the rest of the valley. the wadi mellahah is another huge cleft or rift, running about a mile to the west of, and more or less parallel to, the jordan. it is some miles long, and varies from a few score yards to a mile in width. steep cliffs and slopes shut it in on both sides, and make the bed of the mellahah about as hot and stifling a spot as can well be imagined, while, to add further abomination to it, noxious fumes arose in places from its barren and desolate looking sides and bed. a tiny, briny streamlet runs its straggling course through it in the dry season, although in places it spreads out into large reed-covered swamps. the water of this rivulet was so salt that a single drop was more than one could bear to take on the tip of one's tongue. we made our headquarters in this gully some three miles from where it flows into the auja, of which it is a tributary, and here we fixed up a reed hut as our mess house, under the shade of the only tree in this depressing spot. of course we had to keep down in the depths of the ravine, otherwise we would be seen and shelled by the turks. this mellahah wadi had been made in the course of ages by the rush of water coming down from the judæan range and from other hills to the north where there is a heavy annual rainfall. here and there in the ravine, where it is at its broadest, stand isolated hillocks which the water has not worn away, and on these had been constructed some of our more northern redoubts; they were easy to defend and commanded a good view, for their tops were on a level with the surface of the surrounding valley. one of our redoubts was named "salt," and just to the north of it a sparkling spring bubbled out of the side of the cliff. it looked so pure and inviting that i took a mouthful, and was nearly poisoned for my pains. it was the most briny, sulphurous liquid imaginable. there is a fortune awaiting the man who exploits its medicinal properties! the northern end of the mellahah was held by the turks, and there it opened out into a huge swamp. of course the mosquitoes bred and thrived in this natural reserve, and played havoc, not only with the turkish army, but with our men too; when the wind blew from the north it carried the little demons amongst us in swarms. we had drained the swampy part of the mellahah within our own lines at enormous pains, so that unless the wind blew from the north, we were fairly free of the irritating pests. as a matter of fact we used to go out every night half a mile or so in front of our wire, deepening and diverting the streamlet, in order to dry up the swamp and remove the breeding ground of the mosquitoes as far as possible from our posts. this was always risky work, for, if the turks had discovered what we were about, they would no doubt have made it very lively for us with rifle and machine-gun fire. from a military point of view our position in the mellahah was a hazardous one. we were now on the extreme right flank and extreme north front of the british army in palestine--the post of honour and danger in the line, with the turks practically on three sides of us in the salient which we held. we had the most exposed piece of front to guard which it is possible to conceive, and we were so badly supported by guns, etc., that, had the turks made a determined attack in force, we would probably have been annihilated before succour could reach us. it was altogether an extraordinarily risky position in which to place a raw battalion. the authorities must have had great faith in our fighting abilities. we were the only troops in the mellahah, or within miles of it, our next nearest neighbours being the west indian regiment, which had a much better position than ours, close under the judæan hills, with the swift sweet waters of the auja running through their lines. the th indian infantry brigade held the jordan some three miles to the south of us, and it would have been quite feasible for the turks to have concentrated a considerable force and thrust themselves into the gap between our lines and theirs, and by so doing we would have been completely cut off. the anzac mounted division was strung out a long way southward, from the auja to the dead sea, and some considerable time would have to elapse before these doughty warriors could come to our assistance. the guns guarding our section of the front were very few--about six -pounders and a couple of howitzers, the latter being rarely brought into action. we had in our neighbourhood part of the th turkish army, some , strong, with over guns, so it can be seen how precarious our position was. in our infant days some wag had bestowed upon us the unofficial motto of "no advance without security," but here we did not live up to it, for we were indeed well advanced without any security. the turks were in possession of the important umm esh shert ford on the jordan, and held very strong positions covering the ford on our side of the river, and their entrenched line ran right across our front and onward to the judæan foothills, some ten miles to the west of our position. to the southward of the umm esh shert ford we had an observation post on the cliffs which overlooked the jordan, and on a moonlight night it was an eerie experience to stroll across to it and lie on the warm sand, listening to the melancholy howling of the jackals and hyenas which filled the air with their dismal cries and wailings. i often wondered if the thick growth of tangled trees and shrubs which spread out over feet below me up and down the river banks did not conceal many strange wild creatures, still unsuspected in these regions; the place lends itself to the weird in all things, but the only uncanny thing i saw there was a reddish coloured hare with enormous ears, which, on that occasion at all events, got away safely to the shelter of the reeds. the turkish outposts at this point were established on the opposite bank of the jordan, but they never molested us, or attempted to cross at this point. our sector of some seven miles of front stretched from this point in a north-westerly direction, and we held a series of redoubts, some on the jordan bank of the wadi mellahah, others on hillocks in the ravine, as i have already described, and three more on the right bank of the wadi. this sector was divided into two. i placed major ripley in command of the north-western part, while major neill commanded the south-eastern wing. each of these officers had some six redoubts to defend, and several of the posts were quite isolated and had to depend entirely on themselves in case of attack. i recommended that two of these posts should be abolished, for they were unsuitable for defence purposes. the corps commander (general chauvel), the divisional commander, and all their staffs came out one day to see if my suggestion was sound. i remember we all stood in a row looking over one of the parapets of the useless redoubt in full view of the turks; if they had only fired a lucky shot from "jericho jane" that morning they might have made a good bag! all the generals agreed that the two posts were useless, so we dismantled them gladly, for it meant less men to find for duty each night--a most important consideration when one's men are all too few for the work in hand. this was the last i saw of general chauvel and general hodgson, for they were soon afterwards ordered out of the valley to prepare for the great concentration which was being secretly carried out on the extreme left of the army near jaffa. when the australian division was removed we were attached to major-general sir edward chaytor, who commanded the anzac mounted division of immortal fame. this was a piece of rare good fortune for us, for we found in general chaytor a man of wide sympathy and understanding, a demon for work and efficiency, but always ready to give honour where honour was due--even unto jews. although our position in the mellahah was such an isolated and precarious one, we had no pessimistic forebodings with regard to our ability to give a good account of ourselves if attacked. we felt that "the greater the danger, the greater the honour," and it behoved us to be all the more vigilant, and up and doing at all times. the magnificent way in which the men responded to the call of duty in that desolate, nerve-racking region, is beyond all praise. all day long the sun beat down mercilessly on them, their only shelter being a flimsy bit of bivouac canvas, and the nights were stifling. perspiration streamed from every pore, even when resting. flies and mosquitoes deprived everyone of sleep, for our mosquito nets soon became torn and worthless, and could not be replaced. just before dark every available man other than those required to go on patrols and reconnoitring duty had to parade fully equipped and march to his post on the redoubts. here the apparently endless night was spent. at dawn the men marched back to their comfortless bivouacs to snatch what repose they could before they were again called upon to work on strengthening the redoubts and deepening the trenches. it was in truth an exceedingly strenuous life under such terrible climatic conditions. water could only be obtained in very limited quantities; every drop had to be carried from the auja four or five miles away. the whole place was constantly enveloped in stagnant dust, so it can be imagined with what appetite a man could tackle food under such appalling conditions, every mouthful of which was necessarily full of sand and grit. an australian summed up life in the jordan valley very well, when he remarked one sweltering day, "god need not have troubled to make hell when he had the jordan valley." this part of the jordan valley is not supposed to be habitable during the months of august and september. even the wild bedouins, who linger in these parts to feed their flocks of goats, flee from the accursed place in these two dreaded months. no british soldier had yet been called upon to endure the horrors of the mellahah even for a week; nevertheless the jewish battalion was kept there for over seven weeks at the most deadly period of the year. looking back upon it all i can only say that the jewish people may well be proud of their battalion for the admirable way it "carried on" in this abomination of desolation. it was about the hottest, most unhealthy, and most god-forsaken place in the universe--in fact some of my men assured me that they saw the devil himself there, horns, tail and all! such was the position allotted to the th battalion to defend and hold, and it can be imagined that the change from the hill tops of ephraim to this inferno was appalling. knowing that our enemies had already tried to abolish the jewish battalion, i was strongly reminded of the story of uriah the hittite! how terribly we suffered owing to our tour of duty in this pestilential region will be described in a later chapter. chapter xiii. life in mellahah. although the climatic change from the cool hill-tops of samaria to the inferno of the jordan valley differed as does heaven from hell, still we had compensations in the fair, just, and kindly treatment meted out to us by general chaytor and every officer, non-commissioned officer, and man of the anzac mounted division. the battalion stood entirely on its merits, and that it found favour in the sight of these famous fighters is the proudest feather in its cap. their minds were as broad as the wide spaces from whence they had come, and in their strong souls there was no room for petty spite or discrimination. if we quitted ourselves like men and performed our duties like good soldiers, then it did not matter, even if we were jews. the anzac mounted division headquarters were about eight miles from my own, and it frequently fell to my lot to ride there through the devouring heat of the day for a conference with the general. never shall i forget the delicious cool draught of shandy that always welcomed me, straight from the ice-box, mixed by the cunning hand of colonel bruxner, the a.a. and q.m.g. of the division. bruxner would spy me from afar off, and, being a man of understanding, had the nectar all ready by the time i reached his tent, and oh, how good it was! no place in the world can raise a thirst like the jordan valley, but it was almost worth enduring when it could be quenched by a long draught of bruxner's elixir. the principal objective on our special piece of front was the umm esh shert ford over the jordan. it was some two miles to the east of our most northerly posts on the mellahah, and it was well protected by a series of trenches, by barbed wire entanglements, and by the fortified jordan cliffs. if we could, by any chance, get possession of this crossing, it would mean that the turkish communications would be thrown considerably out of gear, and all their local arrangements east and west of the jordan completely upset. furthermore, in the case of an advance on our part, by pushing mounted troops across this ford, the whole of the turkish position, ten miles to the east-south-east of us at nimrin, would be turned, for the road by the umm esh shert ford was the short cut to es salt (the old ramoth gilead) and amman (the ancient rabbath ammon, where that splendid hittite soldier uriah was treacherously sent to his death). our constant endeavour, therefore, in patrol and reconnaissance, was to gather all possible information as to the ways and means of getting at this spot and making it our own. no stone was left unturned and no risk avoided which would lead to this important result, and in due course we had our reward. in such an isolated position as ours, the only thing to be done was to adopt an aggressive attitude towards our enemies and so induce them to think that we were a great deal stronger than was actually the case. this policy succeeded admirably, and we put up such a good bluff, and harried the turks so vigorously, that they were in constant dread of attack, and immediately began to erect barbed wire fences right along their entire front, with every appearance of haste and nervousness. considering the nature and extent of the position which we held, we lost very few men in killed, wounded, and missing during the seven odd weeks we grilled in the jordan valley. we were daily and nightly shelled, but the turkish gunners rarely had any luck. on the other hand we harassed them continuously, with the result that deserters began to come in freely, sometimes singly, and often in twos and threes. it is strange, but true, that until we came into the valley, prisoners and deserters were very scarce. on one occasion a prisoner was brought before me trembling violently. on asking him what was the matter, he replied that he feared his throat was about to be cut! his officer, he said, had told him that we finished off all our prisoners in this way. i laughed, and (wishing to prove him) told him that after he had had some food i proposed to send him back to his camp so that he might tell all his comrades how well we treated those who fell into our hands. on hearing this he cried bitterly that he did not want to return to his camp at any price, and begged to be kept by the british, a request to which i of course readily acceded. a turkish sergeant who was captured one day made us all laugh heartily. before he was marched off to the prisoners' compound somebody wanted to take a photo of him. the little sergeant (for he was quite diminutive) preened himself like a peacock, gave a rakish tilt to his headgear, a fierce twist to his moustache, and struck a dramatic pose before he would allow himself to be snapped. he was a regular turkish charley chaplin! most of our prisoners told us quite frankly that they were tired of the war, their ill usage, and bad food, and were glad to be in our hands, more especially as they never got any rest in front of our lines. on the th august thirteen turks of the st infantry battalion of the nd regiment of the th division surrendered. these men deserted _en bloc_ while they were holding a post which guarded the flank of their battalion. i found out from them that their relief party was due to arrive before i could possibly get a half platoon from my battalion to occupy the deserted post. if time had allowed me to lay a little trap, i should like to have seen the faces of the incoming turks when they found themselves looking down our rifle barrels as they marched into their post. they must have been sufficiently astonished as it was to find the place empty. i watched an exciting little adventure one morning as i stood in one of the fire bays of our most advanced redoubt, just as dawn was breaking, peering through my field glasses to the northward, along the jagged course of the mellahah where it spread out into many channels and ravines near the turkish lines. all at once i spied, some yards off, two turkish officers standing at the foot of a huge sand slope, gazing at something away to their left. they looked to me as if they had come out to shoot a hare, or perhaps a gazelle, as there were some of these pretty creatures in the valley. one of the officers was extremely tall and wore a long black cloak. now i knew that i had an officer (lieutenant evans) and man out scouting in that neighbourhood, and i felt rather anxious for their safety if they should, unexpectedly, come upon the turks. i therefore searched the vicinity with my glasses, and sure enough, there they were walking calmly along on the opposite side of the high sand bank under which the turks were standing. neither party was aware of the presence of the other. i felt it was not a time to take any chances, for i did not know how many more turks there might be concealed from my view behind the many sand hills that were dotted about, so i called up major ripley and sent him and half-a-dozen men at the double, to cause a diversion, and, if possible, to capture the enemy officers. while giving these directions i kept my glasses on my two scouts, hoping that a lucky turn would take them out of danger, or expose the enemy to them before they themselves were spotted. all at once lieutenant evans headed up the side of the sand ridge, and i knew then that all would be well, for the turks had their backs to him. as soon as he reached the top he cautiously peered over, and he must have been astonished to see the enemy so near, for he promptly ducked his head out of view. he then slid down the slope, took his orderly with him, and ran to put himself between the turks and their lines, hoping, i suppose, to ambush them as they returned. the latter, all unconscious of what was going on, were taking things very casually, and instead of going back to camp, they came on a little way in the direction of our lines. this upset evans' calculations, so he and his man began to stalk the turks, and just as he was about to open fire on them they discovered him, and then both sides loosed off their rifles and a regular duel began. meanwhile major ripley and his men had climbed half-way up the side of the ravine, and they in turn began to blaze away at the turks, who were now thoroughly scared. they took to flight, and in the many twists, turns and channels thereabouts managed to get safely away to their own lines. evans and his scout got back to ours, none the worse for their adventure. i had a narrow shave myself in this same post a couple of days later. it was my custom to scan the enemy's lines soon after daybreak every morning from this commanding position in order to see if any changes had taken place in the night. a turkish sniper must have seen me and marked me for his own. at all events i had just finished my survey, and stepped down from my perch, when a bullet buried itself with a thud in the bank just where my head had been! a couple of days later lieutenant mendes and sergeant levy were out scouting along the intricate course of the mellahah, to the north of our lines, when they walked into an ambuscade; the sergeant fell at the first volley, but luckily mendes was not hit. he refused to surrender, and, in spite of some fleet-footed turks making the pace very hot for him, he eluded the lot and got back to our lines safely, but thoroughly exhausted. chapter xiv. we win our first honours. on the th august a patrol of six privates, under the command of a sergeant, crept up to the turkish trenches near the umm esh shert ford. it was a dark and windy night, so they got quite close to the enemy without being seen. when about thirty yards short of the turks they lay down and then observed a sentry standing a little way off. one of the patrol, private sapieshvili, a jew from the caucasus, began to crawl forward and cautiously stalk the unwary sentinel. when eventually he succeeded in getting behind him, he stood up and advanced boldly, pretending to be a turk, for he was able to speak a few words of turkish. all at once he pounced on the sentry, seized him by the throat and bore him to the ground. the enemy in the trenches heard the scuffle and opened fire and one man of our patrol was badly hit. sapieshvili, however, stuck to his prisoner, disarmed him and took him triumphantly off to our camp. the turks in the trenches numbered about a score, and kept up a heavy fire, so the rest of the patrol withdrew. before doing so, private gordon lifted his wounded comrade (private marks) and carried him back to our lines under a rain of bullets from the turks. i recommended these men to general chaytor for their gallantry and coolness under fire. it was unfortunate that private marks' wound proved to be a mortal one. he had only joined the battalion some three days previously, and this was his first encounter with the turks. he had served in france and other war centres, and had passed through many a fierce fight scathless. we gave him a very impressive burial the following morning, under the lea of a little hillock, with his face turned towards jerusalem; the spires of the buildings on the mount of olives could actually be seen from the spot where we were standing around his grave. one of the ten men who, at helmieh, had wished to join a labour battalion, but who, on reconsideration, had seen that it was his duty to remain as a fighting soldier, was private greyman. he was a man who disapproved of all forms of violence. he hated war and all the brutalities pertaining thereto, yet he carried out his military duties most conscientiously. he happened to be one of a party on duty in the forward trenches on the day of atonement, and while repelling some snipers who were attempting to make it unpleasant for us in our camp, poor greyman met with an instantaneous death, an enemy bullet passing through his head. i heard afterwards that when his widow received the usual war office notification that he was killed in action, she refused to believe it, for she saw that the date given was the day of atonement, a day on which she said no jew could possibly be fighting; but alas, we had to man the trenches continuously, no matter how sacred or in what reverence any particular day was held by jew or gentile. we were sometimes attached to the st and sometimes to the nd australian light horse brigades under generals cox and ryrie; when they moved we were placed under general meldrum, the commander of the new zealand mounted rifles brigade. all were keen soldiers and good and gallant comrades. while we were under general ryrie i remember he said to me one day that he would like to come out and inspect my posts. "very good, general," i said. "come out with me any morning you wish." "when do you start?" he asked. "generally at a.m.," i replied. "that's a d--d good time to sleep," said the general. another night some of our patrols scared the turks badly, and they started a tremendous fusillade with every rifle and gun that could be brought into action. the noise of the battle reverberated down the mellahah and reached the auja, where general ryrie was encamped. thinking that a serious attack had begun, the general sprang hastily out of bed and planted his naked foot right on to the tail of a huge black scorpion. for a full half-hour afterwards australia was heard at her best. when i saw him a couple of days later he philosophically remarked that there was virtue even in a scorpion sting, for it had completely cured him of ever attempting to get out of bed again in the dark, even if all the turks in the ottoman empire were at his door. general ryrie, afterwards promoted to major-general, was appointed to the command of the australian mounted division, and had the k.c.m.g. conferred on him. towards the end of august general allenby reviewed the anzacs at their headquarters, some four miles to the north of jericho. the mounted division was formed into three sides of a square, and into this general allenby galloped, followed by his staff. it was well for the commander-in-chief that he was a good horseman, for the spirited animal which he rode gave one or two very hearty bucks, quite enough to have unseated the majority of our generals. later, the chief decorated a number of the officers and men who had gallantly won distinctions, and at the end of the ceremony made a good soldierly speech to the division. i was invited to be present at the review, and on being presented by general chaytor to the commander-in-chief the latter remarked, "oh, by the way, patterson, i fear i cannot form your jewish brigade, for i have been notified by the war office that there are no more jewish troops coming out." i replied that i thought this information must be inaccurate, for i had just had a letter from the officer commanding the th battalion at plymouth, informing me that he was about to embark with his battalion for service in palestine. the commander-in-chief seemed somewhat surprised on hearing this, but remarked that he considered his information later and better than mine, so of course there was nothing more to be said. a few days afterwards, on th august, general chaytor had a conference with all his brigade and infantry commanders, and as he had heard general allenby saying to me that he considered his information with regard to jewish reinforcements better than mine, he remarked: "well, patterson, your information about the coming of the other jewish battalions was better than the chief's after all, for one of my officers has just come from england, and he tells me that a strong jewish battalion came out with him in the same ship and landed in egypt a couple of days ago." as i considered it only right to let the commander-in-chief know that the information he had received was not accurate, i wrote and told him that i understood that another jewish battalion, some , strong, had already arrived in egypt. in reply to this i got a memorandum from the chief of staff, major-general louis jean bols, intimating that in future i was only to address the commander-in-chief through the ordinary channels of communication. it was evident from this that the chief of staff was not pleased that the commander-in-chief should have any sidelight from me on jewish affairs. of course this had long been apparent, for anything i had previously written through the ordinary channels--no matter how important to the welfare of the battalion--had invariably been returned to me with the remark that it was not considered necessary to refer the matter further. some months after my interview with the commander-in-chief yet another thousand men arrived from england, and altogether there were over five thousand jewish soldiers serving in the jewish units in palestine. the formation of a jewish brigade had been the definite policy of the war office, and an intimation to this effect had been sent to general allenby. the commander-in-chief of the e.e.f. had himself written to me to say that a jewish brigade would be formed, yet this promise, which meant so much to the comfort and efficiency of the men and to the prestige of jews the world over, was never fulfilled; instead, we were pushed about from brigade to brigade and from division to division in the most heart-breaking manner, with the result that we got all the kicks and none of the traditional halfpence! in the space of three months we were shunted about like so many cattle trucks and found ourselves, in that brief period, attached to no less than twelve different formations of the british army! general chaytor gave a great lift to the spirit of the battalion when he conferred the military medal on privates sapieshvili and gordon for their gallant conduct on the night patrol already mentioned. we had a special parade in "salt" post redoubt, after divine service on the first day of the jewish new year ( th september, ). before all their comrades the general recounted their gallant deeds, pinned the coveted ribbons on their breasts, and then ordered the battalion to march past and salute--not himself, but the two men whom he had just decorated. from this moment general chaytor had with him the heartfelt devotion of every man in the unit. a small thing can win the respect, goodwill, and devotion of a regiment, but it is not every general who has the knack of gaining it. chapter xv. capture of the umm esh shert ford. as the date fixed for the great advance of the army in palestine drew near, certain parts of the jordan valley began to look very comical. here and there would be seen a battery of artillery parked, or a cavalry regiment, with its horses tethered in neat and orderly array, in the most approved army style, but on closer inspection both horses and guns were found to be merely dummies! great camps were pitched, but there was not a soldier in them; fires were lighted all over the place at dusk, as if a mighty army were bivouacked round about, and every conceivable kind of bluff was put up in order to deceive the turks and make them think that the long expected attack was to be made through gilead, to effect a junction with the arab army of the hedjaz. the jewish battalion was even ordered to march and counter march from jericho to the dead sea by some wight at g.h.q. who still remembered us, but general chaytor scotched this stunt, for of course he knew it was quite impossible for us to guard our front throughout the night and march some forty miles by day as well in that terrific heat. there were really very few troops in the valley, if one considers the enemy force that could have been concentrated against us. according to general allenby's despatch, there were some , rifles, , sabres, and guns facing us in the jordan valley. general allenby in his despatch of the st october, , writes:-- "by reducing the strength of the troops in the jordan valley to a minimum," etc., and "to prevent the decrease in strength in the jordan valley being discovered by the enemy i ordered major general sir edward chaytor, k.c.m.g., c.b., a.d.c., to carry out with the australian and new zealand mounted division, the th indian (imperial service) infantry brigade, the th and th battalions of the royal fusiliers, and the st and nd battalions british west indies regiment a series of demonstrations with the object of inducing the enemy to believe that an attack east of the jordan was intended, either in the direction of madeba or amman. "the enemy was thought to be anticipating an attack in these directions and every possible step was taken to strengthen his suspicions." on the th september the th battalion royal fusiliers, under the command of colonel margolin, d.s.o., arrived in the jordan valley, and took up its position on the auja in support of the th battalion in the line. a couple of days before the big offensive which began on the th september, general allenby visited my headquarters, where i presented to him all the officers not on duty. he took me a little apart and asked me if i was sure i could trust the men to fight, and i assured him that he need have no anxiety on that score, for the men were all right and would respond to any call when it was made. he then asked me if there was any other point i should like to bring to his notice: i told him that malaria was daily becoming more prevalent and i was losing men a week from this cause alone: i also pointed out that i did not think that the medical arrangements for the evacuation and care of the men were all that they should be. the general made a note of this in his book. the only result was that i got an irate letter from the deputy adjutant-general asking me for a full report as to why i had misinformed the commander-in-chief about my sick, and about medical matters generally, so that on the morning of the rd september, the day we were ordered to pursue the enemy, when i should have been solely devoted to the leading of my men and all the problems pertaining thereto, i had to sit down and smooth the ruffled feathers of the deputy adjutant-general. i not only proved my case to the hilt, but emphasized it by giving further evidence which i had not troubled the commander-in-chief by recounting. general chaytor specially warned us that, during the offensive on our left, we were to increase our patrols and harry the enemy as much as possible, to keep him in his lines and to prevent, if possible, any large force of turks crossing from the east of the jordan to reinforce their armies holding the line from the jordan to the sea. this is how the official report runs:--"chaytor's force in the jordan valley had so far confined itself to vigorous patrolling to insure that the enemy could make no move without their knowledge. the rôle of this composite force was to secure the right flank of the army and the jordan crossings, to keep in close touch with the enemy and take advantage of any withdrawal on their part, but to run no risk of being involved with a more powerful foe too early in the battle. this difficult task was admirably carried out." during the nights of the th, th, th and st september we made demonstrations against the turkish positions along our front. parties would crawl out into favourable positions, such as a fold in the ground, and open fire all down the line. this always made the turks nervy, and their trenches would be manned and every individual would blaze away for all he was worth. on the th and th they got so "windy" that they called on their artillery to put down a barrage to prevent us from making an assault. each time the barrage was put down our men were well clear, and lay snug and safe until the enemy had uselessly expended hundreds of rounds, when they quietly returned to camp, not a whit the worse for all the cannonading. there was very little sleep on these nights for anyone, and the jewish battalion certainly did all that in it lay to further the intentions of the commander-in-chief by holding every turk in the neighbourhood of the jordan closely to his lines. on the th we pushed well up against the turkish trenches, found them all manned, and again drew heavy rifle, machine-gun and artillery fire. we had a few men wounded in this affair. why we had not a heavy casualty list on these occasions is a mystery to me, for the men had to advance in the open over a stretch of ground as level as a billiard table. number trench mortar battery r.a. was under my command in the mellahah, and i ordered this battery to open fire on the turkish position round umm esh shert, if we should find difficulty in ousting the enemy from this important place. i had arranged to attack this position on the nd september, but at midnight on the st my intelligence officer sent me news that the enemy's resistance in the trenches opposite umm esh shert ford was weakening. i immediately ordered out my reserve, and sent them under lieutenant cross to reinforce major neill, whose duty it was to push in the turks and take the ford at the earliest possible moment. i got favourable news by telephone of the steady advance of the men; trench after trench was occupied, and when i left my headquarters at a.m. for the scene of the fight, i was able to report to general chaytor's staff officer that we were almost in possession of the crossing. i galloped off as dawn was breaking, scrambled up the cliffs and across the ground from which the turks had fled, and arrived in time to go down with major neill, captain julian, and lieutenants jabotinsky and cross, to take possession of this coveted passage over the jordan. i may mention here that jabotinsky had been attached to g.h.q. for special work, but, as soon as the battalion went into the line, he requested to be returned to duty in order to share in all our dangers and hardships. the moment we had secured the umm esh shert ford i signalled the news to general chaytor, who immediately took advantage of our capture by pushing mounted troops across the jordan, thus outflanking the turks who held the foothills of shunat nimrin, which barred the way to es salt. the st australian light horse brigade crossed while we covered the ford with our rifles and machine-guns, and they never drew rein until es salt was reached that evening, where a large force of the enemy with guns, etc., was captured by the anzac mounted division. that same afternoon, two companies of the th battalion royal fusiliers moved up to our support and took up position in the posts which we had vacated in the mellahah. it is a curious fact that the whole movement of the british army in palestine, which swept the turks out of the country, was actually pivoted on the sons of israel, who were once again fighting the enemy, not far from the spot where their forefathers had crossed the jordan under joshua. chapter xvi. the lost transport wagons. meanwhile i was ordered to clear away the enemy believed to be still holding the ground to the north of our trenches round red hill. i detailed captain h. h. harris and his company for this duty, the remainder of the battalion taking up position in the vacated turkish trenches overlooking the jordan. lieutenant jabotinsky, with his platoon, took possession of umm esh shert and put the captured ford in a state of defence, making machine-gun emplacements, etc., to cover the crossing. i myself with captain julian, lieutenant cross, and a platoon reconnoitred up the river, for i had heard that there was a bridge in existence, which had been thrown across by the turks in the neighbourhood of the ford, and i was anxious to find it if possible. after going some little way i found it was nearly o'clock a.m., and time to be getting back to my battalion headquarters, so i left julian, cross, and the patrol to push on and make what discoveries they could along the river. when i got back to my tent i found a telegram awaiting me from general chaytor which informed me that i had been given command of a body of troops to be known officially as "patterson's column." it was composed of the th and th battalions royal fusiliers, and was ordered to concentrate on the auja bridgehead. i handed over command of the th to major ripley, who was the next senior officer, and issued the necessary concentration orders. later on i rode out to view the position which we had wrested from the turks on the jordan and, on the way, i was surprised to meet captain julian being brought in wounded on a camel. he was in considerable pain, but quite cheery and able to give me a full account of what had happened. it seems that soon after i had left them the party was ambushed by the turks, who caught them, in the neighbourhood of red hill, with machine-gun and rifle fire. julian, cross, and private mildemer fell; the remainder of the patrol melted into a fold of the ground and made their escape. julian, although severely wounded in the foot, also managed to get away, aided by corporal elfman, who gallantly helped him to safety, although under heavy fire from the enemy. reinforcements had been sent out as quickly as possible to the scene of the fight by the nearest company, but by the time they arrived the turks had gone. no trace could be found of lieutenant cross's body, but private mildemer was found lying dead where he fell. on receipt of this news i sent another party under lieutenant bullock to give burial according to jewish rites to the gallant man who had fallen, and to make a thorough search of the locality for lieutenant cross's body, but no trace of the missing officer could be found. telegrams were dispatched to the hospitals at amman, deraa, and to damascus after we had captured that city, but nothing was known of him at any of these places, and in the end we all came to the sad conclusion that we had seen the last of poor cross and that the turks must have thrown his body into the jordan after he had died from his wounds. his loss cast a gloom over the battalion. i was also exceedingly sorry to be deprived of captain julian's services with the transport, just at the moment when we were ordered to start off in pursuit of the enemy, for he was an ideal transport officer, and never once let the battalion down while he served in that capacity, and he had held this important position from the day he joined us. it was not long until we had a sharp reminder of his loss, for that same evening our transport trekked off and could not be found anywhere. someone (i never could discover who) gave the transport sergeant orders to leave his lines on the auja and report, with all wagons, etc., to major ripley in the mellahah. in the darkness he failed to find the major, and on the morning of the rd not a single soul in the battalion knew anything about where the transport had gone, or how it could be found. they had completely vanished from the ken of everybody, taking with them our food, forage, cooking pots, and spare ammunition. the new transport officer, captain cunningham, who had been detailed to take captain julian's place, was unable to find any trace of them when he went to take over charge. they had mysteriously disappeared from their bivouac and gone off into the blue. this was a very disturbing factor in the situation, for we had orders to start off in pursuit of the enemy at o'clock a.m. next morning. cunningham, quartermaster smythe, and all available men who could be pressed into the service, were sent in every direction to run the transport to earth. eventually smythe came back to say that he had been tracking wagon wheels for at least five miles, but they could not be ours, for the tracks led steadily in a northerly direction towards the turkish lines. after duly strafing major ripley for having, this early in his command, lost his transport, i set off in quest of the rovers. luckily my charger betty was in splendid condition, and i certainly put her on her mettle that morning. i took up the trail that smythe had abandoned, followed it for seven or eight miles at a steady canter, and then lost all trace on hard ground. i had to cast round in a big circle before i found it once more, then i went on again for another three or four miles when i met some australians. on asking them if they had seen a column of wagons going northward they said, "no, we have been along here for a couple of miles, but we have seen nothing." this was very disheartening news, and i almost felt inclined to give up the quest in this direction and turn back; but having come so far, i made up my mind to go on, even to the turkish lines themselves, before i gave up the hunt. i was then about eight miles short of the turkish position, or what had been the turkish position at the foot of the hills towards which the tracks still led. when i had covered another few miles, to my inexpressible relief, i at last caught sight of the transport, steadily pursuing its way northward! i made betty put on an extra spurt and soon caught them up. it is lucky that there was no grass about, or the prairie itself would have caught fire when i at last overtook the transport sergeant. the language addressed to the jackdaw by the cardinal lord archbishop of rheims was angel talk compared to mine. when i ordered him sharply to get back at once to where he came from, he was so confused that he promptly turned his horse round and began to ride off towards camp--leaving his baggage wagons still calmly proceeding in the opposite direction. i called the dazed sergeant back and told him very forcibly to halt the column and take the wagons back as quickly as possible to his original camp. i was never able to get any satisfactory information from the sergeant (who by the way was a welshman and a christian) as to what induced him to trek off into the unknown in such a mad fashion. i can only imagine that the devil, who lives in the jordan valley, had impersonated major ripley and had ordered the sergeant to push for all he was worth for the turkish lines, leaving us without food, water, cooking pots, or ammunition--in fact leaving us "beggars by the wayside." my chase of the transport wasted some precious hours, but i was back in camp soon after a.m., where i found the battalion full of bustle and activity, preparing for concentration on the auja bridgehead. on my return to headquarters i found that major ripley was ill and only fit for hospital. he had had a most nerve-shattering time while commanding his section; for his posts were very much exposed and there was always the dread and anxiety of an attack in overwhelming numbers. sleep rarely comes to soothe a man's nerves in such trying circumstances, especially in the awful heat we endured in the mellahah; in fact, major ripley's features had wasted away so much owing to the worry and anxiety of all he had undergone that he reminded me of nothing so much as one of the mummified birds i had once seen in a cave of upper egypt. i never saw major ripley again in the battalion, but i am glad to say he made an excellent recovery, and was eventually given a good staff job in alexandria. i gave the command of the battalion to major neill, and from that moment i had no further anxieties, outside my own province, with which to contend. chapter xvii. we go up to ramoth gilead. when i took command of the column i chose captain douglas leadley as my staff officer, and a better man it would be almost impossible to find. i never knew leadley to forget anything, and it was a great relief to feel that when once i had given him any instructions, i need have no further anxiety about them, for he was absolutely reliable and competent in every way. when leadley came to me, major neill selected captain t. b. brown to replace him as adjutant of the th battalion, and an excellent staff officer he made, as far as i could judge. the concentration on the auja bridgehead proceeded as rapidly as possible, for the column had to move soon after midnight. i found that the th battalion could not possibly concentrate in time, for captain h.h. harris's company was many miles to the north, where it had been sent in pursuit of the enemy. i therefore ordered major neill to follow me as quickly as possible to shunat nimrin, a position on the moab foothills, some ten miles to the eastward of the auja. at a.m. on the th, column headquarters and the th battalion crossed the jordan at the auja bridgehead, scrambled up the steep jordan cliffs, and marched on towards nimrin. general chaytor had meanwhile ordered an advance upon es salt (the ancient ramoth gilead) and amman, with his whole force, which consisted of the anzac mounted division (less one squadron), a field battery, a heavy battery, two mountain batteries, patterson's column, the th indian infantry brigade, and the st and nd battalions british west indies regiment. the mounted troops pushed forward rapidly, and soon out-distanced the infantry and guns. the anzacs were such gluttons for battle that they broke down every resistance and completely destroyed and broke up the enemy before the infantry could come into action. the th indian infantry and the guns followed the horsemen, for, from their position on the jericho-es salt road, they were much better situated to take the lead than any other dismounted troops. my column struck the advancing troops at nimrin, where i was just in time to see general chaytor fly past in a motor car. the general always believed in being well to the front when there was a fight on, and has been known on more than one occasion to be mixed up in the fray itself. my orders were to form the rearguard to chaytor's force, and all day long the main column wound its way slowly past nimrin until o'clock in the afternoon of the th. i then gave the order for the th to advance, and left orders for the th, on arrival at nimrin, to follow on to es salt. it was interesting to observe the strong positions from which we had driven the turks, and to see overturned cannon, limbers, wagons, ammunition carts strewing the road; "jericho jane," an enormous gun that used to fire into jericho, the divisional headquarters, and generally rake us all round, was lying ignominiously on her back in a ditch; dead bodies of men, horses, and draught bullocks made the world unpleasant in their vicinity; bedouins flocked around like locusts, looting machine guns, rifles, ammunition and stores of all kinds which had been abandoned by the turks in their hasty flight. the arabs in these parts had the time of their lives, for loot is to them as honey to the bee. general chaytor had left word at nimrin that he wished to see me, so i was anxious to get on to es salt as quickly as possible, where i hoped to find him. i therefore gave all necessary instructions to colonel margolin, and, leaving captain leadley with him in case anything unforeseen should crop up, and he should require the assistance of my staff officer, i rode on as fast as possible to es salt, taking my groom with me. after great difficulty and much squeezing we forced our way through the miles and miles of wagons, baggage, guns, etc., which were slowly and painfully crawling up the steep mountain side towards es salt. i arrived there at about p.m., but failed to find the general, who had already pushed further ahead. i was hospitably entertained by the indian infantry brigade, and afterwards turned aside, and, tethering my horse, lay down a little way off the road, with my saddle for my pillow, glad to have a blanket to wrap round me on these heights, which felt decidedly chilly after the suffocating heat of the mellahah. i woke up in the middle of the night just in time to recover betty, who had broken loose and was straying off towards a forage cart. having tied her up, i settled down again and slept until dawn. i wondered during the night how it was that my bed was so warm, and as soon as daylight came i discovered the reason--i had been sleeping on a bed of dry stable litter! after an early cup of tea with the indians, i pushed on through es salt to general chaytor's headquarters, which were just beyond. here i found that the general had gone on to direct the operations which were then in progress round amman. major anderson of his staff provided me with an excellent breakfast, and soon afterwards we were joined by my friend, colonel bruxner, who had had a strenuous night marshalling the guns and transport on their toilsome journey up from the valley. i received telegraphic instruction from general chaytor to make es salt my headquarters and put it into a state of all-round defence. i put up my "bivvy" a little way out of the town, under an enormous fig tree then laden with delicious fruit, close to the nimrin, which flowed swiftly by, almost at the edge of our bivouac. colonel margolin and the th took over es salt and at once occupied the commanding hills round about, where he was soon entrenched and ready to give the enemy a very warm reception in case of attack. [illustration: the auja "a pleasant, swiftly-flowing streamlet" (see _page_ )] [illustration: es salt (the ancient ramoth gilead)] the turks had left a number of sick and wounded soldiers at this place in a dreadful state. captain redcliffe salaman took these poor wretches in hand and soon brought about a wonderful improvement in their condition. the town itself was in a state of indescribable filth, and had it not been for the unceasing efforts of captain salaman and the sanitary department which he organised, an outbreak of typhoid or other dreadful disease must have ensued. no praise is too high for the work which salaman did during the period he was in medical charge at es salt. soon after we had established ourselves here i found that the bedouins were looting the abandoned turkish munitions, stores, etc., right and left; as they were our allies, i did not want to interfere without orders, so i reported the matter to general chaytor. the general promptly wired me to stop all looting by these marauders--a proceeding which annoyed them intensely. i had to send out strong parties from the th battalion to patrol that part of the country towards amman, and the whole of the road from es salt back to nimrin had, in addition, to be watched and guarded. the th patrolled the country from es salt as far as the el howeij bridge, some six miles south of es salt, while the th took up guard duty from this point to nimrin. this was rather hard luck on the th, for they had almost reached es salt when the order to counter-march came. they had to turn and go back all that long weary way, practically without rest or food. it was a march and counter-march that would have reflected credit on the best marching regiment in the british army, and no better testimonial could be given than that of lieut. cameron, a regular highlander of the old school, who freely admitted that this was the very worst he had ever experienced in all his eighteen years of soldiering. cameron won the military cross, and also a bar thereto, while serving with the th battalion. major neill afterwards told me that he received the greatest assistance in getting the men along on this trying march from captain h.h. harris, who had the arduous task of shepherding the weary ones along with the rearguard. no doubt if was one of these laggards who, some weeks afterwards, wrote me a letter full of reproaches, which made me laugh heartily, and helped to brighten the gloomy days through which i was then passing. i give an extract from a very lengthy episode:-- "you kept us in torture for six and a half weeks at nablus. then we left nablus and thought after this torture you will send us for a rest, but no, you make us march to the jordan in full marching order. you also gave us a bomb each man to put in our pocket so as to lighten the burden of the transport. you had consideration for horses, but not for humans. we travelled like pedlars to the jordan, living on fresh air. when we reached the jordan, it was a grand place, was it not? it surprises me you could not pick out a worse place to send us. is there any worse place than the mellalah in this god-forsaken country? (evidently a non-zionist, this fellow!) you kept us in this hot hole for another six-and-a-half weeks, no other troops ever being known to stay there for more than two or three weeks--but of course anywhere was good enough for the jews." from the above it will be seen that at least some of the men were of the opinion that i was responsible for their troubles, while all the time i was getting into the bad books of authority in my endeavours to get them better treatment. chapter xviii. the crown of victory. the moment things were satisfactorily settled in the neighbourhood of es salt i hurried on to amman. jumping into a passing motor, i discovered that the name of the officer in the car was lowe, and on asking him whether he was, by chance, any relation of a man i knew named harry lowe, he replied, "i am his brother." on our arrival at amman i found that general chaytor's camp was some distance beyond the town and close to the hedjaz railway station. seeing the divisional flag flying over his tent, i made for it, and was delighted at last to run him to earth. i heartily congratulated him on the great victory he had won in such record time. in four days his troops had covered over miles; he had forced his way through the hills and mountains of moab, a most difficult country, in the face of a superior force; he had captured the two ancient cities of es salt and amman, got astride of the hedjaz railway, and had completely routed the th turkish army. he had captured altogether some , prisoners, some guns, about machine-guns, hundreds of tons of ammunition of all kinds, millions of rounds of small arms ammunition, large quantities of railway rolling-stock, and all kinds of other material, foodstuffs, horses, mules, transport wagons, motor lorries, etc.--altogether as brilliant a piece of work as was done in this or any other theatre of the great war. [illustration: roman arch at amman (_see page _)] [illustration: in the old citadel at amman (_see page _)] i would have those who pin their faith to the sword make a special note of the fact that not a single sabre or lance was carried by the mounted men. the hefty anzac was able to do all that was wanted by the combination of man, horse, and rifle. of course chaytor's force lacked one great weapon, and that was a war correspondent to write up its deeds! while i was in general chaytor's camp a sad accident happened. a signalling sergeant quite close to us was examining a "dud" aerial bomb when it exploded in his hands, killing him and wounding several others. i found amman (the philadelphia of the romans) rich in old græco-roman architectural remains. a mighty amphitheatre, still in a fairly good state of preservation, stands out boldly amidst the ruins. judging by the number of shattered columns and broken arches strewn about over a wide area, it must have been a very important city in the days when rome was mistress of the world. little or nothing of the old rabbah ammon is left. the walls of a very ancient citadel still crown a hill-top close by the roman city, but whether it is the citadel which so long resisted joab, or a later structure, i cannot say. i remained at amman all night, in the shadow of the great ruined amphitheatre. once it must have rocked to the roar of the multitude encircling its spacious arena. now all was silent. only bats and owls circled through its broken arches or flew from its tilted columns, alarmed perchance by the curse of an australian trooper sleeping uneasily amidst its ruins. while the bivouac fires yet flickered on this hoary pile i sought the shelter of a motor lorry, in which, rolled in a blanket, i lay snug and warm throughout the night. from my own observation i can testify that the words of the prophet ezekiel were literally fulfilled when he wrote: "and i will make rabbah (ammon) a stable for camels, and the ammonites a couching place for flocks."--(ezekiel, chap. xxv. verse .) it must have been a very pleasant city in the old days, and i see no reason why its glories should not be revived under a stable form of government. the country all round is fruitful and its waters sweet and abundant. in the present straggling town there is a large colony of circassians, and in the two previous raids made by the british on this place these people had in each case made a treacherous attack on our rearguard. the new zealand mounted rifles suffered somewhat severely in the raid made on march th, . i left the ancient capital of the ammonites soon after daybreak and, as i journeyed towards es salt, i had a magnificent view of the snow-capped lebanons away in the far distance, while gilead and bashan lay spread out before me to the foot of mount hermon. es salt and the hills surrounding it form the gateway to a vast rich hinterland. i have never seen grapes as large as those that grow in gilead, or tasted any to compare with them in flavour. figs, too, were delicious and abundant in and about es salt. [illustration: part of the great amphitheatre at amman (_see page _)] [illustration: circassian cart at amman (_see page _)] rumours now began to get about that the turkish force, still on the hedjaz railway to the south of amman, would attempt to break through and try to escape northwards to damascus by way of nimrin. general chaytor ordered me to take steps to meet such an emergency, so i wired to major neill to put the place in a state of defence, and on september th i proceeded there myself and resumed command of the battalion. while chaytor's force was holding the enemy on the jordan and, later, chasing him through the moab hills, the c.-in-c. was using the bulk of his forces in destroying the enemy holding the country to the west of the jordan, and a very brief account of the operations may prove interesting to the reader. in the neighbourhood of jaffa a franco-british force was assembled consisting of five divisions of infantry, a french detachment about , strong, the th australian light horse brigade, two brigades of mountain artillery, and eighteen batteries of heavy and siege artillery. carefully concealed in the orange and olive groves round about jaffa and ludd lay the th and th cavalry divisions, the australian mounted division (less one brigade), and four squadrons of french colonial cavalry (spahis and chasseurs d'afrique). all these were ready to dash north the moment the infantry and artillery had broken a gap in the enemy's line to the north of jaffa. with this highly mobile force a brilliant victory was achieved, but of course the historian will not give to the e.e.f. campaign the extravagant praise which has been lavished upon it by an ill-informed public, ignorant as yet of the fact that in the field of operations the strength of the british to that of the turk was as that of a tiger to a tom-cat. the bulk of the turkish forces were on or south of a line drawn from jisr ed damie, on the jordan, through nablus and tul keram to the mediterranean. his fighting strength on this front was, roughly, , infantry, , cavalry, and guns. his line of communication was long and bad. he was about , miles from his base at constantinople, and, owing to incomplete tunnels at amanus and taurus and a change of gauge at ryak, there were no less than three bad breaks in the single line of railway which had to carry his reinforcements, munitions, equipment, and food both to the palestinian and mesopotamian fronts. his troops were badly fed and badly led; medical arrangements were very poor; there was considerable friction between the turks and germans, and the turkish army was composed of a mixture of races, many of them hating their masters with a fierce hatred. here were all the elements of a _débâcle_ on a grand scale. on the morning of september th one of the most triumphant cavalry marches ever recorded in the world's history began at jaffa, and before the troops engaged in it drew rein in far-off aleppo, five weeks later, they had covered some miles through an enemy's country, captured or destroyed over , turks, seized damascus, beyrout, and aleppo, and brought to an inglorious end the ottoman empire. this was no mean record for a mere handful of mounted men to accomplish. we must not forget, however, that without the lavish help of the other arms--infantry, artillery, and especially the air force, victory on such a colossal scale could not have been achieved. it almost seems as if this crowning victory had been pre-ordained to take place in the year . everybody knows that the jewish era differs from the christian era, but perhaps not so many are aware that the jewish year corresponds to the year of our era. a peculiarity of the hebrew language is that every numeral has a special meaning other than that connected with time or figures. in the dim and distant past, when seers, sages, and scribes were devoutly engaged in evolving such things, was it even then pre-ordained that this crowning victory--this victory which will surely hasten the restoration of israel--should take place in the year ? however that may be, it is certainly extraordinary that the figures , , , , being interpreted, should mean ha-atereth--"crown of victory." chapter xix. the strategical value of palestine. when turkey, unfortunately for herself, ranged her forces on the side of our enemies in the great war she severed a friendship which had lasted for the greater part of a century. our policy had for many years been to uphold the integrity of the ottoman empire because, with that power holding palestine, our egyptian interests were quite safe. now that the turkish empire has practically ceased to exist, palestine becomes of cardinal importance to our eastern interests. situated as it is at the gate of the three continents of europe, asia, and africa, its strategical, political, and economic importance is beyond computation and out of all proportion to the size of this diminutive country. students of strategy and military history will agree that palestine, although some distance from the suez canal region, dominates that main artery of our trade and commerce. the eastern boundary of egypt, running from rafa on the mediterranean to akaba on the gulf of that name in the red sea, is, from a military point of view, worthless. history tells us that all down the ages armies have crossed the sinai desert and worked their will on the dwellers by the nile. early in the war we ourselves were unable to hold this egyptian frontier and were forced to retire to the line of the suez canal. it is true we defeated the turks there and drove them out of egypt, but the risk to our communications was very grave. it is a risk that should never again be taken, and for the future the suez canal must be defended, at all events on the eastern side, from its strategical frontier--palestine. with a friendly people established in the judæan strongholds, and with sea power in our hands, the invasion of egypt from the east or north would be a well-nigh impossible enterprise. it was always a cause of surprise to me that we did not very early in the war seize and fortify the harbours of haifa and jaffa. this might easily have been done, as they were practically undefended, and the people were in their hearts pro-british. even gaza could have been occupied and fortified in the early days. with these three towns in our hands no turkish force could have been organised in palestine or used against egypt. no army could possibly march down the maritime plain with these occupied towns menacing their flank, while the other route to egypt by the eastward of the jordan valley is almost impossible for a large army. some eighty years ago ibrahim pasha was forced to retire to egypt from damascus by this eastern route because we held the coast ports. he left the ancient capital of syria with some eighty thousand men, and, although he fought no battle on the way, his losses from sickness, hunger, thirst, and fatigue amounted to over sixty-five thousand men. this gives one some little idea of the chance we missed in not making adequate use of our sea power by seizing the coast towns in the levant during the great war. the physical conformation of palestine adds enormously to its strategical strength. the country is divided into four longitudinal belts running practically throughout the length of the country from north to south. along the sea coast run the narrow maritime plains of philistia, sharon, and acre. these narrow plains stretch from the borders of egypt to the mountains of lebanon. the next belt of country consists of the continuation of the lebanon range, which runs down practically unbroken through central palestine, losing itself in the southern desert. this hilly range constitutes the heart of the holy land and comprises the provinces of galilee, samaria, and judæa. the only complete break in this range occurs between galilee and samaria, where the plain of esdraelon and the valley of jezreel cut right across and leave an open doorway from east to west. through this gap from time immemorial armies have marched and counter-marched to and from egypt. the next belt of country is the great depression of the jordan valley, the deepest known in the world. it runs from "the waters of merom," near the foothills of hermon, where it is on a level with the mediterranean, to the dead sea, where it is nearly , ft. below sea-level. to the eastward of the jordan valley runs the table-land of the hauran, gilead, and moab. this rich belt of territory is from twenty to sixty miles wide and ranges from , ft. to , ft. above sea-level. it loses itself to the south and east in the arabian and syrian deserts. the natural frontiers of palestine are the mediterranean on the west, the syrian desert to the east, the arabian and sinai deserts to the south, and the difficult mountain passes of the lebanon to the north. next to the sea no better frontiers can be found than mountain passes and deserts. it will therefore be seen that if palestine is given anything like her biblical frontiers, troops could readily be placed on any threatened point and practically make the invasion of the country an impossibility. as a matter of fact, a small national army in palestine would make that country almost as impregnable as are the cantons of switzerland. it is of the first importance to british interests to further the creation of a friendly state in palestine which would act as a buffer between herself and any aggressive neighbour to the north or east. the greatest soldiers and statesmen of the past realised that in order to obtain dominion over the east it was first of all necessary to secure the friendly co-operation of the people of palestine. alexander the great knew what a help to his greek empire of the east the jews would be. he therefore showed them the greatest friendship, and allowed them every possible civil and religious liberty. later on, when palestine came under the dominion of rome, julius cæsar, the first and greatest of the roman emperors, realized so fully that without a friendly palestine he could not hope to overthrow the parthians and persians to the eastward that in order to obtain the friendship of the jews he freed palestine from tribute, withdrew his legions from the country, exempted jews from serving in the army, and allowed them full liberty of conscience, not only in palestine but throughout the entire empire. coming down to more modern times, we find napoleon following as far as possible the policy of his two great predecessors. at one time, early in his career, he made an effort to restore the jews to palestine, and he would probably have been successful in his scheme, and made himself ruler of a french empire in the east, only, unfortunately for him, nelson, at the battle of the nile, deprived him of the command of the sea. nothing daunted by this, however, he marched his soldiers through the sinai desert and subdued practically all palestine, but, owing to british sea-power, we were able to throw troops into acre, and by his defeat at the famous siege of that place, napoleon's eastern ambitions came to an end. great as was the importance of a friendly palestine to the greek and roman empires, a friendly palestine to-day is of immensely more importance to the peace and prosperity of the british empire. our statesmen were, therefore, but following in the footsteps of the greatest men of the past when they issued the world-famous balfour declaration pledging england to use her best endeavours to establish a national home in palestine for the jewish people. it is useless to deny the fact that england is not nearly so popular in the near east as she was thirty or forty years ago. the egyptians have shown us pretty clearly that they have no love for us, while it is very evident that the arab kingdoms have ambitions of their own in those regions, which might prove a very grave menace to our eastern communications. naturally, turkey--or what is left of that once great empire--realises that it is to england that she owes her downfall, while the policy of greece, at the moment at all events, also runs counter to our own. it is very necessary, therefore, that palestine should be colonised by a people whose interests will go hand in hand with those of england and who will readily grasp at union with the british empire. the jews are the only people who fulfil these conditions. they have ever looked upon palestine as their natural heritage, and although they were ruthlessly torn from it some two thousand years ago, yet through all the terrible years of their exile they have never lost the imperishable hope of a return to the land of promise. they have always had a friendly feeling for this country, and if england now deals justly with israel, this friendly feeling will be increased tenfold. they would be quite unable to stand alone in palestine for some time, and therefore their one aim and object would be to co-operate wholeheartedly with the power that had not only reinstated them in their own land, but whose strong arm was adequate to protect them from the encroachments and aggressions of neighbouring states. it will undoubtedly be their policy to walk hand in hand with england. british and jewish interests are so similar and so interwoven that they fit into each other as the hand does the glove. in short, when the long-expected restoration of the jewish people to the promised land becomes an accomplished fact, then the vital interests of the british empire in those regions will be unassailable. chapter xx. hospital scandal at jerusalem. it will be remembered that i had been ordered to proceed to nimrin to intercept any turks who might attempt to break through from the south. when i reached my camp i found about , turkish prisoners already concentrated there; hundreds of them were too feeble and ill to be marched further, but about , were considered fit enough to go on, and these were escorted by captain harris and a small detachment of the th to jericho, and, after a short rest there, on to the prisoners' cage at ludd. on october st battalion headquarters moved to jerusalem, and on the way thither it was pitiful to see these unfortunate turkish prisoners, starving and sick, crawling at a snail's pace up the steep ascent from the jordan valley through the judæan wilderness; many fell by the way and died from sheer exhaustion. the medical arrangements were quite inadequate to cope even with our own sick, who now began to feel the effect of the poisonous mellahah, and went down daily by scores. our new camp was situated about a mile outside the walls of jerusalem to the southward, on the hebron road, and by the time we reached it hundreds of the men, exhausted and worn out from the effects of their terrible experiences in the jordan valley, were ill with malaria; practically every officer also was struck down with the same fell disease. i myself had been far from well throughout the recent operations, but i managed, with the skilful aid of our medical officer, captain haldin davis, to keep going. unfortunately, just before we arrived in camp, there had been a terrific downpour of rain, which had thoroughly soaked the ground, and as there was no hospital accommodation available, the unfortunate patients had to lie on the wet earth, with only one blanket, and no medical comforts or treatment. there were no nurses or orderlies, and the men received no attention of any kind, except such as could be given by those of their comrades who were still able to move about. as a result of this lamentable state of affairs, which could easily have been prevented by a little forethought on the part of the staff, many died of malaria and pneumonia, and one poor fellow killed himself by cutting his throat in his delirium. captain davis had been taken ill at nimrin, and removed in an ambulance to hospital. i made urgent appeals for another doctor, but without avail, and it was nearly a whole year before the authorities thought it worth while to provide a medical officer for this jewish battalion, which at one time was almost , strong. not only were the jewish troops unable to find hospital accommodation, but hundreds of others also--british, australian, new zealand, and indian. the whole thing was a grave scandal, which must be laid at the door of the responsible muddlers. it was distressing to see the german hospice on the mount of olives, a building which was absolutely ideal for a hospital, used for staff purposes, while the sick and wounded men, who had suffered all the hardships and done all the fighting, were allowed to lie about on the wet ground in and around jerusalem. the muddle was not the fault of the few medical men on the spot, for they worked like slaves. the whole of the blame for this wanton lack of organisation rests with g.h.q. i had written in the previous july recommending that hospital accommodation should be provided at jerusalem for jewish troops, but no notice was taken of my recommendation. if this had been acted upon many deaths and much unnecessary suffering would have been avoided. in my own battalion we lost over a score of men in this way, who, i am convinced, would not have died if proper hospital arrangements had been available, and had it not been for the timely arrival of captain salaman, r.a.m.c., with the th battalion, to whom i turned over all my sick, the death-roll would in all probability have been much greater. the battalion numbers, owing to the hardships we had undergone, were reduced from a strength of nearly , to about six officers and less than men. i can illustrate the pettiness of at least some of the g.h.q. staff no better than by giving the following correspondence. it will be remembered that i had reported to general allenby in the jordan valley that the medical arrangements were not good. this apparently displeased some of the staff, for they hunted up a private telegram which i had sent some months previously (on july th), addressed to the secretary, medical committee, jewish regiment, london, in which i had said:-- "you should see sir nevil macready. am strongly advising base to be at jerusalem." on discovering this mare's nest the d.a.g. sent the following memo. to general chaytor:-- a. . to general chaytor, subject: medical headquarters, arrangements for chaytor's force. jewish battalions. please find attached herewith a copy of a telegram purporting to have been sent by the officer commanding th royal fusiliers. please call upon this officer to furnish his reasons and such explanation as he may have to offer for advising a course of action which concerns the c.-in-c. under whom he is serving, without reference to or obtaining permission from the c.-in-c. (signed)--major-general, _d.a.g._ g.h.q. st echelon, th september, . all this ado because i had simply sent a private telegram to the jewish hospital committee months before to say i was advising a hospital base to be set up at jerusalem. this telegram was in reply to a cable from the committee in london asking if special hospital accommodation could be provided for jewish soldiers. from the date on this memorandum it will be seen that g.h.q. thought fit to send out such a communication on the very eve of the great advance. it would have been much more useful if the deputy adjutant general had devoted his attention to providing hospital accommodation for the unfortunate sick and wounded, instead of choosing such a moment to harry troops in the field engaged in a great offensive, the success of which meant everything to england. there was no excuse whatever for this memo., because on the th june, , immediately on receipt of the cable from the hospital committee, i had sent the following to g.h.q.:-- th battn. r.f. no. a/ / / . st inf. brg. no. d. th divn. no. a. xx. corps no. p.c.a. . g.h.q. st echelon no. a/ . head q. st. inf. brg. i have received the following cable from the hon. sec. medical committee for jewish units: "the matron-in-chief q.a.i.m.n.s. sanctions jewish nursing staff for service in palestine. can you arrange jewish wards in existing military hospitals or other special provision? "committee awaits reply." with reference to the above cable i have to state that when i was organising the jewish units in england, i had recommended a jewish base hospital, and the a.g., sir n. macready, had sanctioned this, and given instructions, after i left england for egypt, that it was to be based at plymouth. the a.g. probably misunderstood my intention when he based it at plymouth, as i had intended that the hospital should be based in egypt or palestine. i therefore wrote home and suggested that there was no need for a special jewish hospital in england. i have no doubt that the above cable is the result of some negotiation with the a.g., and i would suggest that this matter be referred to g.h.q., st echelon, so that they may get into touch with the w.o., and find out what has been decided upon in this question. _personally i would recommend that the hospital should be at jerusalem_. (signed) j. h. patterson, lt.-colonel, commanding th battn., r.f. in the field, / / . to the above i received the following reply: a/ . subject: jewish wards, and military hospitals. h.q. th corps. with reference to your memo. no. p.c.a. , dated / / , and attached correspondence regarding the question of jewish wards in military hospitals. all jewish soldiers will be sent to one particular ward in the th general hospital, as long as the casualty rate allows of this procedure being followed. (signed) f. dalrymple, lt.-colonel, a.a.g. for d.a.g. g.h.q., st echelon, / / . it will be seen therefore that if the d.a.g. had only known what was going on in his own office there would have been no need for him to trump up this petty inquisition, or trouble anybody for an explanation about a private telegram which had been sent to london a couple of months previously. general chaytor had the good sense to retain the d.a.g.'s memo, until active operations were over, upon which he sent it on to me. as an explanation had to be given, the following is a copy of my reply: headquarters, chaytor's force. a/ / / . with reference to your m.c. dated / / re medical arrangements for jewish battalions, i think that perhaps it will explain the situation if i point out that i was in direct touch with the war office on all questions affecting the jewish battalions, and i had several interviews with sir nevil macready on matters relating to this jewish movement; in fact, i was looked upon in england as the responsible leader, and i had every conceivable kind of case to investigate and decide. i had already told sir nevil macready my views while in england re hospital for jewish soldiers, and when i got a cable from this unofficial medical committee i replied in a private cable recommending them to consult him, and stating my own private views on the question. i certainly do not consider this private expression of opinion as "advising a course of action," and when i sent the cable nothing was further from my mind. i simply referred the committee to sir nevil macready, with whom i had already discussed the matter, and said what i personally thought the best place for a base. naturally no action could be taken without consulting the c.-in-c., e.e.f.; as a matter of fact i did forward a copy of this telegram to g.h.q., and also a letter in which i recommended jerusalem as a base. i attach copy of my letter and, at the same time, i regret that my advice re hospital at jerusalem was not taken. if a jewish hospital had been established there, before the recent operations took place, much unnecessary suffering and many deaths would have been avoided. men of the jewish battalions, who were very ill indeed, were lying about in hundreds on wet ground in jerusalem, because there was no room for them in the overcrowded hospitals, and it was quite impossible to get our sick evacuated for days after they had really become cot cases. it was no fault of the medical officers on the spot; it was simply impossible to cope with the sick for want of medical officers and hospital accommodation. i may mention that of the battalion under my command alone there are officers and other ranks in hospital, as a result of the jordan valley and subsequent operations. in conclusion i must say i am somewhat surprised that a private communication which i sent to a private individual in july last should be produced at this stage. i again and most emphatically state that i advised no course of action, merely gave my private opinion, and had no idea of any such action when i sent the cable. (signed) j. h. patterson, lt.-colonel, commanding th battn. royal fusiliers. in the field, / / . as a result of the representations made by the medical committee in england on behalf of the jewish battalions, a staff of jewish nurses, in charge of sister oppenheimer, were sent out to the th general hospital at abbasieh, near cairo, and i have on many occasions heard expressions of gratitude showered on these nurses by men who had been under their care. it will be remembered that a number of palestinian jewish ladies volunteered for nursing service as soon as the british occupied jaffa and jerusalem. i had strongly urged that their offer of service should be accepted and that they should be taken on and trained, for i foresaw that they would be required as soon as a determined effort to oust the turk from palestine was made. unfortunately, my advice was not taken, for, as i have already shown, they were sadly needed in jerusalem. later on about half-a-dozen jewish ladies, including the misses berline, who were well known in jaffa and jerusalem, were enrolled and attached to the general hospital at belah. i went there on more than one occasion to see my men, and on enquiring from the matron-in-charge how the jewish nurses were getting on she told me that she had never had better or more conscientious workers under her in all her experience. it was deplorable that the staff had ignored the voluntary offer of the jewish ladies until it was almost too late to make use of their services. chapter xxi. life at ludd. on the th october the battered remnant of the battalion moved from jerusalem to ludd by rail, where it was taken on the strength of lines of communication troops for garrison duties. when we heard that we were to be severed from the anzacs our feeling was one of regret, for every individual in the battalion had the greatest admiration, respect, and affection for general chaytor and his staff, and, in fact, a feeling of real comradeship for every officer and man in the anzac mounted division. my sick and ailing could not even yet be taken into hospital owing to lack of accommodation, so i left them attached to the th battalion, under the care of captain salaman, r.a.m.c. our transport had been ordered to proceed from jerusalem to ludd by road on the th october, but as the animals were worn to mere skin and bone by hard work, and nearly all the drivers were down with malaria, i represented to the authorities that it would be impossible for them to move for at least a week, so they remained in jerusalem for some days after battalion headquarters had left the city. when eventually the transport marched in to ludd i found both animals and men in a most pitiable condition. one of my best n.c.o.s, corporal lloyd, was delirious with fever, and several other men who should have gone into hospital at jerusalem but were unable to gain admission were brought down on the wagons. all these i sent into the local hospital; corporal lloyd unfortunately did not recover, and died soon after he was admitted. of the half-dozen officers who had so far escaped the malaria, one after another went down and were carried off to hospital, until, out of the whole battalion, only captain leadley, lieutenant bullock, and myself were left in camp! major neill was one of the last to succumb, and his attack was so severe that his life was despaired of. he was on the "dangerously ill" list for some time, but fortunately recovered. day after day the few remaining men we had left went to hospital until, in the end, i was put to such straits that i had to appeal once more to the australians, who had a reinforcement camp near us under the command of major ferguson. i rode over and told him the difficulty i had in finding men even to feed my animals, and asked him to spare me a score of troopers to help with the exercising, watering, and grooming, etc., of the transport animals. as usual, the australians were all out to help, and readily gave me all the assistance i asked for. soon after the th battalion left jerusalem, colonel margolin also received orders to proceed to ludd, although it was well known that hundreds of sick were in the camp. what would have happened to these unfortunate sufferers if he had obeyed orders and marched away leaving them to their fate, sick and helpless as they were, i shall leave the reader to imagine. luckily for these poor fellows colonel margolin refused to leave until such time as they could be accommodated in hospital. eventually he succeeded in getting his men into medical wards, and then he and what was left of his battalion came and camped within a mile of us at surafend, a village between ludd and jaffa. on the evening of the nd october colonel margolin and captain salaman rode into my camp and complained to me of the discrimination and unfair treatment to which the jewish soldiers were being subjected in the hospitals--giving me various instances to illustrate certain of their statements. as the senior officer of the jewish battalions, not being myself a jew, i was deeply hurt at the un-english methods adopted towards men who had done so well in the field in england's cause, and felt that i would not be doing my duty to those under my command, and to jewry generally, unless i protested against this unfair discrimination. i considered that the best way of bringing matters to a head was by requesting to be relieved of my command as a protest against the anti-jewish policy which prevailed. i accordingly sent forward my resignation. this found its way to g.h.q., but as certain individuals there had no desire to see me land unmuzzled in england, my resignation was not accepted. some of the staff knew only too well that if i were free to return to england i would at once let the authorities there know that their representatives in palestine were not carrying out the declared policy of the imperial government, but, on the contrary, were doing their best to make of the balfour declaration a mere "scrap of paper." as g.h.q. was then only some two miles from my camp i thought it might help matters if i could see major-general louis jean bols, the chief-of-staff, and get him to put a stop to the persecution that was going on, and see that his underlings "played the game." i therefore called on this gentleman, but he, for reasons best known to himself, refused to see me. i told his a.d.c. that i was camped close by and would be glad to see the general any time that was convenient to him, but i left his office feeling there never would be a convenient time, and so, in fact, it turned out. when my resignation was refused and my request for an interview treated in the same manner, i made a vigorous protest against the anti-jewish policy which prevailed, and stated that if it was not altered i would have the matter placed before the secretary of state for war in parliament. as a result of this i got a letter from g.h.q. requesting me to furnish a list of the complaints i wished to make, and also asking me to forward recommendations for the improvement and comfort of the jewish battalion. in my reply i pointed out how the battalion had suffered owing to the discrimination to which it had been subjected, and gave specific instances of unfair and unjust treatment during our service with the e.e.f. i also forwarded a separate memorandum recommending various changes for the improvement and comfort of the men. i made five specific suggestions; not a single one of these was carried out. one of my suggestions was that a special jewish name and badge should be given to the battalion. this had been promised by the war office, but the fact that it was granted was _purposely withheld from our knowledge_ by the staff, and it was only by accident, a whole year later, that i discovered this deliberate shelving of army council orders by g.h.q. in egypt. this could not have been an oversight because i had written more than once to enquire whether this distinction had yet been conferred on the battalion. having seen the majority of my officers and men all carried off to hospital, and feeling ill and depressed in my lonely camp, i sat down late one night and wrote a letter of condolence to mrs. cross. i told her that although we had wired to every turkish hospital, from es salt to damascus, we could obtain no information about her husband; i wound up my letter by stating that although there might still be some very faint hope, she must steel herself to face the facts, for i feared she would never see her husband again. it must have been close on midnight when i lay down, and, as i was unable to sleep, i was reading by the dim light of a candle when suddenly i saw a white ghostly face appear in the tent door, and only that i knew cross was dead i would have thought it was the face of cross. then a sepulchral voice said, "are you awake, sir?" and i began to wonder if it were all a dream. when the figure approached the light, i saw that it really _was_ cross, so i bounded up to give him a welcome--such a welcome as one would give to a friend who had risen from the dead. it appeared that when the patrol had been ambushed, cross got wounded and lay under a sandbank where he was discovered by the turks; they carried him off, and, as they were then retiring as fast as they could, took him with them, pushed him on to amman, and from there by rail to damascus. he was about to be sent further north when the british entered the city. in the confusion cross made good his escape and eventually worked his way back to me. thus it was that nobody knew anything of his whereabouts, for he had never reported to any of the hospitals en route. mrs. cross had already been informed by the war office that he was missing and reported killed. i told cross that i had just posted a letter to his wife to say that i feared that he must have been killed: he, of course, at once sent a private cable to tell her that he was alive and well, while i sent an official one to the war office giving the same account. at all events, my letter of condolence to mrs. cross will always be a good souvenir of the part her husband took in the great war. chapter xxii. at rafa. the armistice with turkey was announced on the st october, , amid the firing of guns and rockets and joy stunts by the air force above our camp at ludd. on the th november the battalion was ordered to proceed to rafa to recuperate, refit and reorganise, and on the th, in the early morning, we arrived at this frontier station bordering on "the desert and the town." rafa is actually in egypt, just over the borders of palestine, on the palestine-egyptian railway line some five miles from the mediterranean, and here the tents of israel were pitched. along the whole coast in this neighbourhood there runs a belt, about four miles deep, of sand dunes and sand hills. these are very irregular in outline, running in some places to peaks nearly feet in height, and in others forming miniature precipices, valleys and gullies. it is, in fact, a mountainous country on a lilliputian scale. the sand is so firm that a horse can be ridden all over it, thereby giving great joy to the hunters of the jackals and hyenas which roam on its barren surface. the air on this stretch of sandy dunes is wonderfully fresh and exhilarating, and we drank it in with delight after our trying experience in the jordan valley. the seashore itself abounds with millions of curious shells. the sand belt ends abruptly landwards and, at the very edge of it, the bedouin scratches up the soil with an antiquated plough which dates from the time of abraham. green waving crops, pleasant to the eye, may be seen almost under the shadow of a sand cliff. the country inland consists of a somewhat sandy soil and gently undulating plains which are, for the greater part, cultivated by arabs who live in scattered villages, and by bedouins who come and go as the spirit moves them. the whole place is honeycombed with holes burrowed by the little conies, which makes riding at a fast pace somewhat hazardous. such was the quiet little spot in which we found ourselves after our strenuous and exciting days in the jordan valley and the land of gilead. day by day our men gradually came back from hospital and, owing to drafts from the th battalion, our strength was soon over officers and , other ranks. after a brief time for rest, we took over "line of communication" duties, and found ourselves with many miles of railway and country to safeguard. our life now became one constant round of guards, escorts, fatigues, and drills whenever a few men could be spared from other duties for the latter purpose. there were thousands of prisoners of war in our custody, as well as a huge captured turkish ammunition depot, supply stores, engineer park, and all kinds of workshops, etc., etc. [illustration: "here the tents of israel were pitched" (_see page _)] soon after we got to rafa i lost the services of captain leadley, m.c., who was demobilized at his own request and returned to england. i selected to succeed him captain duncan sandison--as stubborn a scot as ever wore a kilt, a first-rate officer, loyal to the core, and a great favourite with everybody except the evil-doers. early in december i received another large draft of raw jewish recruits from the th battalion royal fusiliers--all american citizens. i strongly objected to these untrained men being sent to me under the circumstances in which i was placed, for it was impossible to give them any training owing to the excessive duties we were called upon to perform day and night. i knew that the result of putting raw recruits to fulfil duties which should have been carried out only by seasoned soldiers, must, before very long, end in disaster. i foresaw endless breaches of discipline, not because the men were evilly disposed, but because they were untrained and knew nothing of military discipline. i accordingly urged the staff to remove all these recruits, of whom i had about , to a training centre, and repeatedly warned the authorities of what the result must be if this were not done, but not the slightest notice was taken of my appeal. it was a thousand pities that these enthusiastic american volunteers did not get a fair chance to show their mettle. i well remember how favourably i was impressed with their physique and general appearance when i inspected them on their arrival at rafa. they were miles ahead, physically, of the men who joined the battalion in england--in fact i do not believe that there was a unit in the whole of the e.e.f. that held such a fine-looking body of men. because they were untrained and had no idea of discipline, these hefty youths were constantly in trouble for committing breaches of military rules and regulations. they simply did not understand soldiering or what it meant. in this way i got to know the majority of them fairly well. we had many interesting meetings at "office hour." of course, in dealing with these volunteers, i never forgot that the faults they were guilty of were, in great measure, due to lack of training, and i dealt with them accordingly. their military offences were not grave, just the delinquencies that must be expected of recruits, because they are recruits. nevertheless, it is always a danger to have a battalion, supposed to be at any moment ready to take the field, swamped with some raw untrained men. i felt so strongly on this question, and so clearly foresaw the inevitable end, that having failed to move the authorities myself, i cast about me to see where i could look for help and sympathy in the difficult situation in which i was placed; the only possible man who might be able to do something was the acting-chairman of the zionist commission then in palestine. it will be remembered that, soon after the famous balfour declaration, dr. weizmann, the president of the zionist organisation, was sent out at the head of a commission to investigate conditions and safeguard jewish interests in palestine. dr. weizmann was received by h.m. the king before his departure from england, and came out armed with strong letters from the prime minister and mr. balfour to general allenby. dr. weizmann spent some time doing useful work in palestine, and was then recalled to england in connection with the zionist policy then before our government. the mantle of dr. weizmann eventually fell on dr. eder, and to him i now applied myself, as it was a matter of the greatest importance that no undeserved slur should fall upon the jewish battalion. like myself, however, dr. eder was unable to effect anything. i felt very strongly that the whole attitude adopted towards the jewish battalions was unworthy of british traditions of fair play. it is of course possible that general allenby did not know of the treatment to which we were subjected by certain members of his staff and other underlings, for naturally only the greater questions would come before him. if he had known he would surely never have countenanced the jeopardising of the good name of any battalion in the e.e.f. by swamping it with over raw recruits who, owing to the "exigencies of the service," had to be put on trained soldiers' duties the moment they joined. unfortunately i was unable to let him know of our dilemma, for the chief of staff, major-general louis jean bols, had forbidden me to address the commander-in-chief direct, and apparently the appeals which i had made on this question never reached a sympathetic quarter. as i have already said, i had been ill from the time we began operations in the jordan valley and was now reduced to a skeleton, but by careful dieting i had hoped to weather the storm and had so far managed to keep out of hospital. thinking that a few days change would improve my health i applied for leave and went to cairo. while i was there i happened by chance to meet captain salaman in the street, and he was so shocked at my appearance that he straightway convoyed me off to nasrieh hospital, where i was taken in hand by captain wallace, r.a.m.c. in a couple of weeks he had me well enough to be transferred to the beautiful convalescent home at sirdariah, where the matron and staff of nurses were kindness and consideration personified; a short spell in this well-managed institution completed my cure, at the end of which i rejoined the battalion. chapter xxiii. return of the anzacs. about this time the battalion was inspected by the g.o.c. lines of communication, and the following is what he wrote of the impression we made on him: headquarters, palestine lines of communication, th january, . i was very glad to inspect your battalion and i was much struck with the soldierly appearance presented by the men. (signed) e. w. broadbent, general officer commanding p.l. of c. isolated as we were on the edge of the desert we found life at rafa somewhat dull and dreary. sandstorms were the bane of one's life there; a "khamsin" or hot wind would blow for days at a time, enveloping the place in a cloud of fine sand and making life one long misery while it lasted. one's eyes, nose, and throat got choked up, while every morsel of food was full of grit. "khamsin" is arabic for fifty; the hot wind is supposed to blow for that number of days but, thank heaven, it rarely lasted more than a week on end at rafa. there were no other troops in the place to vary the deadly monotony. true, there were some engineers of the railway operating division, but we found them somewhat selfish, for although they had an excellent concert hall they refused our concert party permission to use it. even at rafa the few underlings on the staff took their cue from above and did what they could to make our life as uncomfortable as possible, until they came to know us better. it can be imagined, therefore, with what joyful feelings we saw our old friends of the anzac division march into rafa and make it their headquarters. since we had parted from the anzacs in gilead we had seen nothing of them, but we knew that they had been camped in the green fields and pleasant pastures surrounding the jewish colony of richon-le-zion. the slings and arrows of misfortunes removed them from these sylvan surroundings, but whatever ill wind blew them to rafa it was a godsend for us. in these piping days of peace, now that we were among our old friends once more, there was horse-racing, hunting, tournaments and boxing galore, while an enterprising kinema man came and photographed camp scenes and groups of officers and men. in the sand dunes around rafa many ancient coins were to be found, and general chaytor himself could always be relied on to head a hunt for these and other relics of antiquity. we never failed to find some objects of interest--bits of glazed pottery, glass, beads, pins, bangles, rings, etc. every time there was a storm the top sand would get blown away and we could always go and make fresh finds in the ground we had already explored, and great was the competition as to who should discover the best specimens. [illustration: group of officers at rafa] the general had the eye of a lynx for such things, and it was rarely indeed that anyone else had a look in while he was to the fore. he discovered some very beautiful old mosaics buried at shellal, and these he had carefully sketched and artistically coloured, exactly as they were in the original. i was very pleased when he kindly presented me with a copy. the rolling downs round about us were dotted here and there with the graves of fallen australian and new zealand soldiers, and, riding as i often did with general chaytor, he would explain the operations which took place when the british first entered palestine at this point. he gave me many vivid descriptions of the part which his brigade had taken in the overthrow of the turks at the battle of rafa. the general had a very narrow escape on that occasion. in the middle of the battle, when he was galloping from one position to another, attended only by his orderly, he came suddenly upon a concealed trench full of turks. fortunately they thought he was at the head of a squadron, so threw up their hands and surrendered. the general left his orderly to march off the prisoners and galloped on to conduct the fight elsewhere. we motored over to gaza once and spent a most interesting day there. from ali muntar, a hill to the east of the town, which had been the general's headquarters in the first battle of gaza, he described the whole situation. from this point almost every bit of gaza and the surrounding country could easily be seen. it will be remembered that at the first battle we claimed a victory which history has not since been able to verify, for we retired in hot haste on rafa; but it is said that, if there had only been a little more push and go in the high command that day, gaza would have been ours. as a matter of fact it was ours at one time, for part of general chaytor's brigade was right in the town, where they captured some hundreds of prisoners and a couple of guns which they turned on the turks in gaza with considerable effect, sighting their strange new pieces at point blank range by peeping through the bore of the guns. the turks were everywhere beginning to throw up the sponge, when, alas, the british force was suddenly ordered to retire because a turkish relieving column was seen approaching in the distance; but if only the british division, which all this time had been held in reserve, had been thrust forward to intercept this column, tired, thirsty, and done up as it was, we could, no doubt, have shattered it and won a complete victory. general chaytor was ordered to retire somewhat early in the afternoon, but, as he had a squadron right in the town, and many wounded men in advanced positions, he waited until nightfall before withdrawing, taking with him all his wounded, and also the turkish prisoners and captured guns. no matter who had the "wind up" that day, it certainly was not general chaytor or his brigade. the second battle of gaza was, of course, a terrible fiasco, in which we were repulsed and lost thousands of men to no purpose. on another occasion i motored, with colonel croll, r.a.m.c., of the anzacs, to beersheba. it was at this point that general allenby made a successful thrust when he first took command in palestine, and from that day to this he has never looked back. the anzacs and the australian mounted division in this attack made a wide turning movement, outflanked beersheba, burst suddenly in upon tel el saba, some three miles to the east of it, galloped the turkish trenches, and poured into beersheba at one end in a whirlwind of dust and storm while the turks skedaddled out of it as fast as ever they could run from the other end, and made for the shelter of the foothills towards hebron. the new zealanders say that they were responsible for the capture of tel el saba, for it was they who outflanked it; while the australians assured me that it was they who had stormed it at a mad gallop. at all events it was a decisive victory for the australians and new zealanders (for both took part in it), and as fine a piece of mounted work as had been done so far during the war. dash, energy, and initiative were shown in a very high degree by all ranks engaged. in the little cemetery at beersheba i visited the grave of major markwell, one of the bravest officers who fell that day. we also paid a visit to the site of old beersheba, and were greatly interested in peering down into the well dug at this celebrated place by the patriarch abraham. from beersheba we motored to gaza along the former turkish front; every inch of the way had been fortified and turned into a maze of trenches, with formidable redoubts here and there throughout the line. once beersheba was captured, the heart was taken out of the turkish resistance, though they put up some stiff fighting before they were dislodged, especially at atawineh, a strong redoubt near the centre of the position. after the capture of beersheba, lieutenant-colonel s. f. newcombe, d.s.o., r.e., dashed northwards with part of the camel corps, to cut off the turks retreating on the beersheba-hebron road. he reached a point within a few miles of the latter place, but was surrounded by six battalions of the enemy. he held out gallantly for three days; but at last, when he had exhausted all his ammunition and suffered heavy casualties, he was obliged to surrender. fate holds in its lap many surprises. if colonel newcombe had not been captured that day he would undoubtedly, with ordinary luck, have won distinction and rank, but there was another and better prize awaiting him at constantinople, for, while he was a prisoner and convalescing in that city, he met a charming young lady who, at great personal risk, helped him to escape from the clutches of the turk, and afterwards became his wife. chapter xxiv. a red-letter day. soon after the anzac division came to rafa, general chaytor expressed a wish to inspect the battalion and present decorations to those officers, n.c.o.s, and men who had won them while under his command. it was a gloriously sunny afternoon, and every available man in the battalion was on parade when general chaytor, accompanied by colonel bruxner and major anderson, rode on to the review ground and took the "general salute." the battalion was then formed up on three sides of a square; the officers, n.c.o.s, and men to be decorated stood in the centre, and as each was called out to have the coveted honour pinned to his breast, his deeds were recounted to the assembled troops. captain t. b. brown won the military cross and bar for having gallantly led many a dangerous reconnaissance into the enemy's lines. lieutenant fligelstone was also decorated with the military cross for good, gallant, and dangerous work successfully performed while he was acting as machine-gun officer. lieutenant cameron and lieutenant bullock both won military crosses and bars for good and gallant patrol and intelligence work in the jordan valley. corporal bloom, lance-corporal elfman, and privates angel and robinson were all decorated with the military medal for various gallant acts performed in the mellahah, and during the recent operations. major neill had the d.s.o. conferred on him for his able handling of the battalion while it was under his command in "patterson's column," captain leadley received the military cross for his good staff work, and company sergeant-major plant won the d.c.m. for special services rendered by him during the whole time we were in the fighting line. at the end of the presentation the general made the following address: colonel patterson, officers, n.c.o.s, and men of the th jewish battalion royal fusiliers, i have specially come here to-day, first of all to present decorations to the officers and men who have won them in the recent operations under my command. secondly, i want to tell you how sorry i am that i was not able to put you in the van in the advance on es salt. i wished that you had been there, and i wanted you to be there, but the indian infantry and other units were in a more favourable position from which to spring off, while you were still entangled miles to the northward in the heavy sandhills of the jordan valley. in any case, even had you been in the van you would have seen but little fighting, for the mounted men got well to the front and were able to effect the capture of es salt and amman before the infantry could possibly come up. i am pleased to be able to tell you, however, that i was particularly struck with your good work on the mellahah front, and by your gallant capture of the umm esh shert ford and defeat of the turkish rearguard when i gave you the order to go, for i was then enabled to push my mounted men over the jordan at that crossing, and so you contributed materially to the capture of es salt and of the guns and other material which fell to our share; to the capture of amman; the cutting of the hedjaz railway, and the destruction of the th turkish army, which helped considerably towards the great victory won at damascus. i briefly thanked the general for his praise of the battalion, and a march past the decorated officers and men concluded the pleasant ceremony. it was indeed a red-letter day for the battalion. it will be seen from the above what really good work was done by the jewish battalion, and how much it was appreciated by the one man who was in a position to judge of our fighting abilities by actual experience in the field. yet all mention of jewish troops was deliberately suppressed by the staff at g.h.q. true, jewish troops were mentioned in official despatches all over the world, but the part of these despatches relating to jewish troops was never allowed to appear in the palestinian and egyptian papers. this naturally upset and humiliated both jewish troops and the jewish population generally, for it gave outsiders the impression that we had failed to do our duty, whereas, on the contrary, the jewish battalion had done extraordinarily good work for england. it would, therefore, have been only mere justice and fair play if it had received recognition in the local egyptian and palestinian press, but it was rigidly excluded from all mention by what the _times_ truthfully branded as "the most incompetent, the most inept, and the most savagely ruthless censorship in any country under british control." this omission was especially noted by all when the commander-in-chief in his speech at cairo, in december, , mentioned all nationalities who fought under his command, including armenians and west indians, but maintained a stony silence on the doings of jewish troops in palestine. coming on the top of all our persecution, this was most marked. the following is indeed in his despatch published in england, which must by some fluke or other have dodged the censor: general allenby's despatch, st october, . in operations east of the jordan. the enemy, however, still held the bridgeheads on the west bank, covering the crossings of the jordan at umm es shert, etc. early in the morning of the nd september, the th battalion royal fusiliers captured the bridgehead at umm es shert. of the fighting troops, all have taken their share and have carried out what was required of them. i will bring to notice the good fighting qualities shown by the newer units. these include ... the th and th (jewish) battalions of the royal fusiliers. (signed) e. h. h. allenby, general, commander-in-chief, e.e.f. the commander-in-chief also wrote in reply to a letter of congratulation which he received from the secretary of the zionist organization of america: d november, . dear sir, i have the honour to acknowledge your letter.... you will be glad to hear that the jewish regiment did consistently good work.... i received letters of congratulations from many prominent people, but the most valued of all was from that wonderful and truly great man, theodore roosevelt. i only received this letter, written three weeks before his lamented death, towards the end of march--over two months after he had passed away. it had been sent to france in error, and wandered in and out amongst the different armies there until somebody noticed that it had "e.e.f." on the address, and sent it on to palestine: th december, . my dear colonel patterson, i most heartily congratulate you on leading in what was not only one of the most important, but one of the most dramatic incidents in the whole war. to have the sons of israel smite ammon "hip and thigh" under your leadership is something worth while. as for my own loss, the death of my son quentin was very bitter, but it would have been far more bitter if he had been a hand's breadth behind his friends in entering the war. two of my other sons have been wounded, one of them crippled. the other wounded one has recovered, and as lieutenant-colonel is now commanding his regiment on the march towards the rhine. kermit is captain of artillery, having first served in mesopotamia, and then under pershing in the argonne fight. with hearty congratulations, faithfully yours, t. roosevelt. although the staff denied us any local credit, our zionist friends in the country knew what good work the battalion had done, and we were glad to receive the following official letter from the zionist commission: zionist commission to palestine, c/o chief political officer, g.h.q., tel-aviv, jaffa, palestine, th october, . colonel j. h. patterson, d.s.o., th r.f. dear colonel patterson, it gives us great pleasure to express to you and to the men under your command of the th and th royal fusiliers, on behalf of the zionist commission, our warmest congratulations on the successful part taken by the royal fusiliers in the last battle that brought about the liberation of the rest of palestine. we have always followed with the keenest interest the doings of the regiment, and we are proud to know that it has done bravely and well. at a meeting of the zionist commission held yesterday, lieutenant jabotinsky informed us of the distinctions conferred upon four of the men of your battalion. it was resolved at this meeting to congratulate you thereon and ask you to be good enough to convey the congratulations of the commission to the men who had earned these distinctions. with our best wishes for your welfare and that of the officers and men under your command, i am, dear colonel patterson, yours faithfully, (signed) jack mosseri, secretary. soon after my return to england i received the following letter from general chaytor, which will, i know, fill the hearts of the old boys of the th with pride: wellington, new zealand, th march, . my dear patterson, i hope the history of the th battalion is out by now. so few people have heard of the battalion's good work, or of the very remarkable fact that in the operations that we hope have finally reopened palestine to the jews a jewish force was fighting on the jordan, within a short distance of where their forefathers, under joshua, first crossed into palestine, and all who hear about it are anxious to hear more. i shall always be grateful to you and your battalion for your good work while with me in the jordan valley. the way you smashed up the turkish rearguard when it tried to counter-attack across the jordan made our subsequent advance up the hills of moab an easy matter. with best wishes, yours sincerely, (signed) e. w. c. chaytor. chapter xxv. jewish soldiers are forbidden to enter the holy city. on the th february, , i was appointed to the command of "rafa area." the "area" was rather an extensive one; it included nearly the whole of the sinai desert to the south, and palestine to the north, almost as far as bir salem, while to the east it went beyond beersheba to the arabian desert. there were over miles of railway to guard, and the bedouins had to be constantly watched and checked, or they would have played all sorts of pranks with the line. constant patrols had to be maintained, and every day provided a fresh problem for solution. the fresh-water pipe line from egypt ran alongside the railway and, of course, the wandering and thirsty ishmaelite thought nothing of smashing this in order to get a drink for himself and his camel. we had to be on the alert all the time and nip these little enterprises of our friendly allies in the bud. they did not hesitate to attempt to loot the supply stores of flour, forage, etc., stored at rafa, and our sentries had many lively little encounters with these marauders, and i must say that the wily rascals took their chance of a bullet quite casually. while the anzac division was with us i felt quite easy in my mind about being able to keep these slippery customers in check, but it was quite "another pair of shoes" when the anzacs were hurriedly called away to suppress the disorders in egypt. in addition to the th battalion, i had some indian infantry holding gaza, and some south african troops holding el arish. as demobilization progressed these were withdrawn and the whole of this great area was, in the end, solely garrisoned and guarded by the jewish battalion. they performed their arduous duties extraordinarily well. they were scattered up and down the line in small posts, often in the midst of arab villages and bedouin camps, yet there was never any friction between jew and arab, although here was a likely setting for it, if there had been any real ill-feelings animating either side; but, as a matter of fact, the jew and arab got on wonderfully well together all over palestine, and had worked amicably side by side for over forty years in the jewish colonies. when the egyptian nationalist riots started the military governor of el arish feared an outbreak in this large arab town, so i had to send reinforcements to the garrison there under the command of captain jaffe, an officer of the battalion. aeroplanes flew up from the aerodrome at heliopolis, and swooping low over el arish put the fear of the lord into the inhabitants; this demonstration, and the great personal influence of the military governor, colonel parker, kept these people quiet, and they gave us no trouble whatever. later on we had to guard a number of political prisoners who were sent up from egypt as a result of the disturbances there, and this added considerably to the heavy work of the battalion. at rafa there was an enormous ammunition depôt, covering acres of ground, and this was a constant source of anxiety, and had to be guarded on all sides, night and day. while the jewish troops held it in custody nothing untoward happened, but, after they were removed, by some evil chance the whole place was blown up with considerable loss of life. notwithstanding the heavy work exacted from the battalion, there was one great consolation for the men. no petty discrimination could now be practised against them within my jurisdiction, and although i had five staff officers under my command, i found them quite good fellows, and willing to do all in their power to do the right thing by the jewish troops. discrimination against jews was, however, still shown in other quarters. early in april the men were considerably upset on the receipt of orders from g.h.q. that no jewish soldier would be allowed to enter jerusalem during the passover; the order ran thus: "the walled city (of jerusalem) is placed out of bounds to all _jewish_ soldiers from the th to the nd april, inclusive." i cannot conceive a greater act of provocation to jewish soldiers than this, or a greater insult. the days during which they were prohibited from entering jerusalem were the days of the passover. think of it! jewish soldiers for the first time in their lives in palestine and barred from the temple wall of jerusalem during passover! only a jew can really understand what it meant to these men, and the great strain it put on their discipline and loyalty. how provocative and insulting this order was will be better understood when it is realized that the majority of the population of jerusalem is jewish, and, therefore, there could have been no possible reason for excluding jewish troops belonging to a british unit, while other british troops were freely admitted, more especially as the conduct of the jewish soldiers was, at all times, exemplary. not since the days of the emperor hadrian had such a humiliating decree been issued. however, to make up somewhat for the action of the authorities, i made arrangements for the passover to be observed at rafa with all the joy and ceremony usually attending that great feast of the jewish people. at considerable cost we provided unleavened bread, as well as meat and wine--all strictly "kosher." as we were nearly , strong at this time, the catering for the feast had to be most carefully gone into, and lieut. jabotinsky, lieut. lazarus, and the rev. l. a. falk did yeoman service in providing for all needs. it was a wonderful sight when we all sat down together and sang the hagadah on the edge of the sinai desert. the zionist commission and miss berger, an american zionist, helped us materially with funds, and our friends in england did likewise. the acting chairman of the zionist commission sent me the following letter for the occasion:-- zionist commission to palestine, c/o chief political officer, g.h.q., palestine. jerusalem, april , . to the colonel of the th battalion, col. j. h. patterson, d.s.o. my dear colonel, may i request, in the name of the zionist commission, that you have this letter read to the men of your battalion at their seder service. the commission is glad to be the means of aiding them in celebrating our pesach, the feast of deliverance, and we trust that it will bring them all great joy. we have hopes now that our age-long prayers will soon be realized, and it should be a source of pride and happiness to them to know that they have contributed by their courage and their sacrifices toward its fulfilment. the commission speaks in the name of the zionist organization in expressing to them the thanks of the nation for the devoted services they have rendered and are rendering, in the service of the liberty-loving nation, great britain, to which they have sworn fidelity, and to our people of israel for whose future glory they have been willing to sacrifice their lives. the splendid part they have played, and will continue to play, will ever be remembered as a bright spot in the long history of our ancient people. very cordially yours, (signed) harry friedenwald, acting chairman, zionist commission. as rafa was just over the border of palestine, and therefore in the "galuth," the feast had to be kept for eight days. many of the men thought that, as we were only a matter of yards from the boundary, i would on the eighth day issue leavened bread, which some of them were already hankering after, but this i would not hear of, and from that day forth i was considered the strictest jew in the battalion! chapter xxvi. the great boxing competition. there was a great deal of unrest and unhealthy excitement during demobilization, so to keep the troops interested and amused, competitions were got up throughout the e.e.f. in boxing, football, cricket, and sports of all kinds. soon after we reached rafa a programme of coming sporting events was circulated from g.h.q. naturally, in a fighting army like the british, the greatest interest of all was taken in the boxing competition, and the th royal fusiliers entered with keenness for all events. by the terms of the contest teams could be chosen from brigades, or even from divisions, but, as we belonged to no brigade or division, we could only choose our men from our own battalion, which was of course a considerable handicap. however, i considered that this was a grand opportunity of proving that men picked from this jewish battalion, if properly trained, would be able to hold their own against any team that might be brought against them from other units, or brigades, or even divisions, of the british army. i therefore formed a sports committee, collected my team of boxers, bought them boxing gloves, punch balls, etc., and despatched them with a trainer to el arish, some miles away, on the shores of the mediterranean. there they raced, chased, boxed, bathed, danced, and were generally licked into condition by sergeant goldberg, the boxing instructor to the battalion. in order to weed out the weaker teams so that only the very best should appear at the finals in cairo, the contest was subdivided into four great tournaments: one for all the troops in egypt, another for all the troops in palestine, the third for all the troops in syria, and the fourth for the best team among the australians and new zealanders. at my inspection of the th team, just before the tournament, i was much impressed with our prospects of success, for the men boxed wonderfully well. we were all agog with excitement, and i may say with hope, when the great day for the palestine championship arrived and our men stepped inside the ropes at kantara, surrounded by thousands of onlookers. there was some splendid fighting, but i cannot go into the details of it here. it is sufficient to say that we defeated all comers, won five gold medals, and emerged as the champions of palestine, with the right, therefore, of representing it in the great cairo tournament for the championship of the e.e.f. could anything be more fitting? jewish soldiers as champions of palestine. it can be imagined what jubilation there was in camp when our team returned to rafa, and the ringing cheers which roared out when, at one of our concerts, i presented the gold medals to the victors, whose names are as follows:-- heavy-weight private burack. welter-weight private tankinoff. light-weight private cohen. feather-weight private franks. bantam-weight private goldfarb. the first round of this essentially british form of sport had been fought and won by the despised jewish battalion! there yet remained the great contest at cairo, where we would have to meet the champions of egypt, and of the australian forces, and of syria. real hard training was once more the order of the day at el arish, and i can guarantee that no fitter men than ours stepped into the ring at cairo on that glorious night of the th march, when the first rounds of the championship were fought in the presence of thousands of spectators from all parts. again the jewish battalion won practically every contest, defeating all its opponents among the british regiments. eventually, it was left in to fight out the final round of the championship for the whole of the e.e.f. with the australians, who on their side had defeated their opponents. it was a memorable night (the ides of march) when this final contest took place. excitement and feeling ran very high round the ring, and there was some magnificent fighting on both sides. in the end it was found that the jewish battalion had tied for victory with the australians. a decision, however, was given against us, on the grounds that we had not entered an officer of the battalion in the team. as a matter of fact, i _had_ entered an officer of the battalion with the teams, but the judge (who was a british general, not an australian) said that my team officer was only "attached" to the th for duty, and therefore could not be claimed as belonging to the battalion. of course practically every officer in the battalion was only "attached" for duty, but there--i suppose it really would not have been the "right thing" for one jewish battalion to have defeated the whole of the egyptian expeditionary force! in football the men were almost equally good, and we were good runners-up for the championship of palestine. in cricket also--that essentially english game--the battalion acquitted itself most creditably under captain pope's tuition, defeating all comers in the bir salem matches, with the exception of the flying corps; while our americans were, of course, unrivalled at base ball, at which they were real experts. they often gave exhibitions of their skill, to the great delight of all those who had never before seen the game played. our concert party was also still well to the fore, and easily took first place in palestine--its only possible rival being that of the th battalion. i had only got to let it be known that tchaikov--our first violinist--would give a performance to draw a crowd big enough to pack our concert tent four times over. in the end a covetous man succeeded in wheedling tchaikov away from us. colonel storrs, the governor of jerusalem, begged him from me so persuasively that i could not refuse him, more especially as it was to tchaikov's advantage to settle in the holy city, where he took up the post of director of the school of music. chapter xxvii. bir salem--an exciting race. early in may we were transferred from rafa to bir salem. the advance party moved on the th, and on the th the battalion headquarters followed, and took over duties from the th indian infantry brigade, which was then sent to haifa. we were replaced at rafa by the th (jewish) battalion royal fusiliers, which was now composed mainly of the palestinian youths recruited by major james de rothschild and lieutenant lipsey. for a time they were commanded by lieut.-colonel f. d. samuel d.s.o., but he left for england while the battalion was doing garrison duty at haifa. the command then fell to colonel scott, a most conscientious officer, and a man in full sympathy with zionist aspirations. while at rafa he had a most anxious time owing to the unwise action of the military authorities. the men of the th battalion had enlisted for service in palestine only, but the local staff ignored this definite contract and ordered part of the battalion to cyprus. as this was a breach of their terms of enlistment, the men refused to go, and in the end the officials had to climb down and cancel all their unjust orders. why did the staff, when they knew all about this special contract for service in palestine only, drive this excellent battalion almost to the verge of mutiny? there were many other battalions available for cyprus. happily, colonel scott brought his men safely through the rough time at rafa, and he served on with them until december, , when the th was merged in the th battalion. all through the early days of may i saw chalked up everywhere--on the railway station, signal boxes, workshops, on the engines, trucks, and carriages--the mystic words, "remember the th may." this was, of course, the date on which all soldiers, rightly or wrongly, believed themselves entitled to their release, because it was six months after the armistice granted to the germans on november th, . i heard it rumoured that there was a conspiracy on foot in the e.e.f. for a general mutiny on that day, and found that men from other units had endeavoured to seduce my battalion from its duty. on learning this, i at once determined to nip the attempt in the bud, and so made it my business to speak to every man in the battalion, and on every isolated post, impressing upon them the responsibility which rested on their shoulders as jews, and urging them on no account to be led away by the hot-heads in other units. i told them that british troops could perhaps afford to mutiny, but jewish troops, while serving england, never. i am proud to be able to state that not a man of my battalion failed on the th may, but just "carried on" as usual. mutinies took place elsewhere, and thousands of british soldiers at kantara ran riot and had the place in a blaze. however, the matter was hushed up, concessions were made, the mutineers were not punished, so far as i know, and things gradually became normal again. our effective strength when we left rafa was officers and , other ranks. our duties at bir salem, ludd, and ramleh were exceptionally heavy, the men being very often on duty three nights in a week, and when they were off guard duties they were immediately put on to prisoner of war escorts, etc., as there was a very large turkish and german prisoners of war camp at ludd. at bir salem we were attached to the rd (lahore) division, under the command of general hoskin. it is a great pleasure to me to be able to state here that this officer and his staff gave us a very hearty and cordial welcome to bir salem, and did everything possible for our comfort and welfare. i look upon general hoskin with his staff as the one bright luminary amidst the gloomy british constellations among whom we were continually revolving! what an immense difference it makes to the feelings of a regiment or a battalion when it is known that the staff are out to help and assist (as is their proper function), instead of to crab and block everything; in the former case one is ready to work the skin off one's bones, while in the latter everybody's back is up, with the result that co-ordination and happy working is impossible. this was a happy time for the young lions of judah, for the g.o.c. and his staff were out to help and assist in every possible way. we were not then aware of all the trials and tribulations that awaited us on the departure of general hoskins and his excellent staff--sahibs to a man. the battalion owes a deep debt of gratitude to mr. jessop, the capable secretary of the y.m.c.a. in egypt, who supplied us with a magnificent marquee, completely furnished with tables, chairs, forms, lamps, etc., etc. only for this gift from the y.m.c.a. we should have been very badly off indeed, for we were camped on a sandy waste without huts or any conveniences which other troops in our neighbourhood fortunately possessed. it is a fact worthy of note that, although the wealthy jews of cairo and alexandria contributed generously to the e. e. f. comforts fund, not a single article of any kind was ever sent to the jewish battalion to cheer them in their desolate surroundings. we asked for gramophones, etc., but got nothing--not even a reply! there were compensations, however, at bir salem. we had many interesting visitors who came to cheer us in our camp in the sands, among others the haham bashi (grand rabbi of jaffa) and the famous dutch poet dr. de haan. i remember that the latter took great interest in a pet monkey which belonged to one of the men of the battalion, but the quaint-looking little animal showed little respect for the poet, for she evinced a decided desire to leave the print of her teeth in his finger as a souvenir of his visit. we were always kindly and hospitably received by the citizens of jaffa, headed by mr. bezalel jaffe, and by those of richon-le-zion, headed by mr. gluskin, when we visited those colonies. while stationed here i spent many a pleasant evening chatting with mr. aharoni, a well-known naturalist, who lives at rechoboth. there is perhaps no man in all syria and palestine with such a wide knowledge of the flora and fauna of those countries, and he gave me many interesting accounts of his adventures among the bedouins while in quest of specimens for various european museums. when the great war broke out he had secured two live ostrich chicks, new to science, and these he had hoped to send alive to england. however, when the pinch for food came there was none for the ostriches, so they had to be killed; they were stuffed, and may now be seen at lord rothschild's famous museum at tring park, hertfordshire. this story of the ostrich chicks was related to me by mr. aharoni while i was celebrating with him the "feast of tabernacles," under the shade of "boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook," and we did greatly rejoice, for the feast was a goodly one, and the pottage of gevereth aharoni was such as my soul loved. about this time many military race meetings were organized in different parts of palestine, syria, and egypt, and officers were encouraged to take part in them and get the men interested in the sport, so as to take their thoughts away from the absorbing topic of demobilization. on the th june a race meeting was held at surafend, a few miles from bir salem, and as we were all expected to support the programme, i entered my charger betty for one of the events. betty was a beautiful dark-brown creature, but somewhat skittish and wayward, like many of her sex. i knew her little ways and how to humour her to perfection, and she always gave me of her best. more than once she managed to slip her fastenings in the horse lines, and used her freedom to gallop off to my tent, where she would thrust her head through the doorway; then, apparently satisfied, she would fly back to her place in the lines. she appeared at times to see something not visible to the human eye, because, now and again, when cantering quickly along, for no apparent reason she would suddenly bound aside as if the devil himself had scared her out of her wits. the rd lahore division had at this time on its staff an able and energetic sportsman, major pott, of the indian cavalry; this officer provided an excellent programme and ran the meeting without a hitch. it was a lovely sunny afternoon, and thousands of people flocked to the course, soldiers from the camps round about, civilians from jerusalem, jaffa, and the surrounding colonies; the arabs and bedouins also sent a very strong contingent. in the race for which i had entered betty (i called her betty in memory of another betty, also beautiful and with a turn of speed!) a full score of horses went to the post, and i, unfortunately, drew the outside place. i therefore felt that unless i got well away at the start, and secured sufficient lead to enable me to cross to the inside, i would have but a poor chance of winning, for, about half-way down the course, there was a tremendous bend to negotiate. i was lucky enough to jump away in front, and, soon finding myself well ahead, swerved across to the inside, where i hugged the rails. for three parts of the way round betty made the running, but soon after we came into the straight for home i eased her a bit and was passed by major pott, who was riding a well-known mare, also, strange to say, called betty. at the distance the major was quite a length ahead of me, but i felt that there was still plenty of go in my betty, so i called upon the game little mare to show her mettle. gradually she forged herself forward until there was but a head between them, and for the last dozen strides the two bettys raced forward dead level amid the frantic roars of the crowd, all shouting, "go on, betty! go on, betty!" we both rode for all we were worth, my betty straining every nerve to defeat her namesake, and finally, amid terrific cheering, by the shortest of heads, betty won--but, alas, it was the other betty! [illustration: ruins at baalbek (_see page_ )] [illustration: my charger betty (_see page_ )] chapter xxviii. damascus. towards the end of june i took part in the military races at alexandria, and from the "home town" of hypatia i took ship and went to beyrout--a lovely seaport, nestling under the mighty and magnificent lebanon. here i was most hospitably entertained by my friends, the bustroses. from the balcony of her palatial residence madame bustros enjoys a view second to none in the world, and every imaginable fruit and flower grows and blooms on her estate. beyrout is undoubtedly a place of milk and honey, and is unquestionably within the biblical boundaries of the promised land. ezekiel xlvii., , states: "and the border from the sea shall be hazar-enan, the border of damascus and the north northward and the border of hamath." this was the northern boundary assigned to israel and was actually occupied in the days of david and solomon. my journey across the lebanon was one long feast of the most beautiful scenery in the world. as we topped the range my last peep of mountain and valley, stretching away down to beyrout, hemmed in by the glittering sea, was like a vision of paradise. instead of going to damascus direct, i branched off at ryak and ran up the bakaa, the valley which stretches between lebanon and anti-lebanon to baalbek, where i spent a wonderful time amid the mighty ruins of that ancient temple to baal. baalbek is the most beautiful and impressive ruin that it has ever been my good fortune to look upon. thebes may exceed it in size, but the wonder of egypt had not the effect upon me that was produced when i stood under the magnificent columns of this great temple to the heathen god. i wandered through the vast pile, an insignificant speck amidst its gigantic pillars and fallen lintels, overthrown and shattered by the devastating earthquake which centuries ago wrecked this mighty structure. who were the architects who designed it? and who were the engineers who set on high those stupendous blocks? verily there were giants in those days. at baalbek railway station i came across one of the prettiest girls i had seen for many a long day engaged in selling peaches. she was a syrian from lebanon, which is noted for the beauty of its maidens; i overheard her companions address this houri of the mountains as "edeen." while i was standing waiting for my train to arrive a dust storm suddenly sprang up, and when it was over edeen sat down and calmly _licked_ the dust off every peach until they all bloomed again in her basket; then presently she presented the fruit, fresh and shining, to the incoming passengers, who eagerly bought it from the smiling damsel! i need hardly say that peaches were "off" for me during the rest of my trip, for not all sellers were as beautiful as edeen! a few hours in the train took me over the anti-lebanon, and i caught my first glimpse of damascus, that most ancient of cities, which i had long desired to see. when mohammed was a camel driver, making a caravan journey from medina to aleppo, the story goes that he once camped on a hill overlooking damascus. his companions asked him to join them and go into the city but he replied--"no; paradise should only be entered after death!" i viewed the city from the same spot, but, not being so sure of my hereafter as was the prophet, i decided to take my chance of entering this earthly paradise while it offered. it is rightly described as a pearl set in emeralds. white mosques, minarets, and cupolas peep dazzlingly in all directions out of the emerald foliage. trees, gardens, and flowers of all kinds abound in this delectable city, whose charm is enhanced by the murmur of the many rivers running through it. i, too, like naaman the syrian, found "abana and pharpar, rivers of damascus, better than all the waters of israel." the latter is in the district, and runs some ten miles to the south of the oldest city in the world. the great saladin is buried in damascus, and of course i made a pilgrimage to the tomb of this famous warrior. i like to avoid the caravanserais set up for europeans as much as possible when travelling in the east, so that i may see something of the life of the people. in this way one has many pleasant little adventures, experiences and remembrances, which give zest to life. while lunching at a famous arab restaurant i made the acquaintance of dr. yuseff, a well-known medical man of damascus and beyrout; among other subjects we talked horses and races, and we became such good friends that he lent me his fiery, pure-bred arab steed to ride while sight-seeing in the neighbourhood--a sure token of friendship from this cultured arab of syria. just on the outskirts of the city on the banks of the river barada (the biblical abana) i had noticed a bedouin camp crowded with good-looking horses, so thither i went and called on the sheik of the tribe. while sitting with the elders in a huge circle, sipping coffee out of tiny cups, i discovered from their conversation that my hosts were wandering kurds, who were just about to set off for the confines of persia. i hinted that i would like to join their caravan, and was immediately given a warm welcome, but, much as i should have liked to roam the desert with them, i had to think of my jewish battalion waiting for me at bir salem. the kurds expressed much interest when i told them i had to go on a pilgrimage to el kuds (meaning jerusalem), for of course they were good moslems and reverenced the holy city. on leaving damascus i travelled down the hedjaz railway as far as deraa. the moment the ancient syrian capital is left the train enters the desert, the home of the ishmaelite. these bold rovers, from time immemorial, have hunted and harried the peaceful traveller caught toiling through their fastnesses. we were not molested for the simple reason that troops of cavalry, british and indian, were posted at strategic points all along the railway. a few months later, when we withdrew from these parts, the bedouins began their old games, and took a fierce joy in derailing trains, and robbing, and even killing, the passengers. in this way a good friend of mine, comandante bianchini, an officer of the royal italian navy, met his untimely end at the hands of these desert marauders. bianchini was deeply interested in, and worked hard for, the zionist cause, and his loss is a sad blow to his many friends. a more cheery, lovable man never sailed the seas. we reached deraa (the ancient edrei) without incident, and then branched off westward to haifa, the train clambering down and around the precipitous sides of the yarmuk escarpment, past the southern shore of the lake of galilee at samakh, across the jordan and running parallel to it for some miles, then curving upwards out of the jordan valley, into the valley of jezreel, which continues into the plain of esdraelon. these narrow plains, the heritage of issachar, sever the head of palestine from the body, or, in other words, separate galilee from samaria and judæa. to use an irishism, this neck had been the "achilles' heel" of israel throughout her history. all down the ages armies from babylonia, assyria, persia, and egypt have marched and counter-marched through this fertile belt. open passes southward made samaria an easy prey. beisan (the ancient bethshan), which guards the eastern end and dominates the passage over the jordan, was generally in the hands of the stranger. it was in the neighbourhood of this famous old stronghold that barak defeated sisera, captain of the host of jaban, king of the canaanites--a victory celebrated in the famous song of deborah. it was also in this neighbourhood that gideon smote the midianites. his motto, "the sword of the lord and of gideon," was also the motto of the zionists who served england so stoutly in gallipoli, and it was a curious coincidence that, just as the midianites were routed by the shouting and clamour of gideon's three companies, so was the turkish army routed by the zion mules when, with rattling chains and clattering hoofs, they stampeded one dark night and galloped through the turks as they were creeping stealthily up to attack the british trenches. later on in the military history of the israelites we find the philistines battling for the supremacy on these plains and overthrowing the army of israel under their first king saul, who, in the bitterness of defeat, and finding he could not escape, fell on his sword and died on mount gilboa. in the same battle and the same place the death of jonathan put an end to his immortal friendship with david and called forth the famous lament: "the beauty of israel is slain upon thy high places; how are the mighty fallen." these stories of the old testament flashed vividly through my mind as we rolled onward through this historic valley between mount gilboa and beisan on the left, and the cone-shaped mount tabor away on the right. other countries and other scenes were recalled to my mind when i spied half a dozen beautiful antelope near some standing corn, and my thoughts of africa were further intensified when i caught a glimpse, on the railway bank, of a huge black snake, some six feet long, rapidly darting away out of danger. soon afterwards, on looking to the north, i saw nazareth perched upon a southern galilean hill-top. we wound in and out by the brook kishon, where elijah smote the false prophets. finally we passed along the mighty shoulder of mount carmel into that great natural anchorage of haifa, nestling under its shadow; then southward to ludd and bir salem--the whole train journey from damascus taking some fifteen hours and giving me an unrivalled feast of biblical landscapes. early in july i visited acre to take part in the races there (which proved a fiasco owing to the antics of the starter), and suddenly found myself close to the dwelling of the famous abdul baha, the exponent of the doctrine of the brotherhood of man. he certainly has a wide field before him, for at the present moment there seems to be very little brotherly love in any part of the world! his particular mission is to unite the peoples of the earth, and do away with all barriers of race, creed, and prejudice. since patriarchs, popes, archbishops, mullahs, and ministers of all creeds have failed to make humanity realise the necessity of "brotherly love," the league of nations would be well advised to adopt the sage of acre and make him president of a "league of teachers," pledged to inculcate love for one's fellowmen as the cardinal feature of his curriculum. one thing is certain--the league of nations will never bring the world into harmony unless the young are taught to love and help their brothers, irrespective of nationality. it will be remembered that acre was the town to which napoleon laid siege after his wonderful march from egypt with about , french infantry. this extraordinary man was able to cross the sinai desert with his army, without either roads, railway, or water supply, capture gaza, jaffa, and haifa with ease, and only for the british fleet would undoubtedly have added acre, and probably all syria, to his spoils. those who have traversed the sinai sands in a comfortable railway coach can afford to pay a warm tribute to this redoubtable warrior, and to the no less redoubtable infantry of france. chapter xxix. among the philistines. when general hoskin left bir salem to take up a command in england he was replaced by major-general sir john shea, under whom we had served for a short time in the line. if this officer had not been called elsewhere, i am quite sure that the regrettable incidents which i shall have to relate would never have taken place; but, unfortunately, general shea was away practically all the time we were attached to his division, and a senior brigadier acted in his place. this brigadier was apparently well aware of the anti-jewish attitude taken up by certain members of the g.h.q. staff, and trimmed his sails accordingly, but unfortunately for himself, as the sequel will show, his zeal to second their ill-advised efforts carried him to such lengths that even those influential members whose policy he was supporting were unable to save him from the consequences of his own outrageous folly. no sooner had we come under his command than his anti-semitic bias became apparent. certain areas were placed out of bounds to "jewish soldiers" but not to men in other battalions. jewish soldiers were so molested by the military police that the only way they could enjoy a peaceful walk outside camp limits was by removing their fusilier badges and substituting others which they kept conveniently in their pockets for the purpose. they found that by adopting this method they were never interfered with by the military police. traditional british fair play seemed to have taken wings as soon as general z. appeared on the scene. i repeatedly made official complaints about the way the men were persecuted, but nothing was done to mend matters. as a british officer i felt ashamed to hold my head up in my own camp owing to the unfair and un-english treatment to which the men were subjected. it may well be imagined that this attitude of the staff made my command anything but an easy one. in the first place, knowing how all ranks were discriminated against, no officer or man wished to remain in the battalion. it was exceedingly difficult under the circumstances to get the best out of the men. while we were with the anzacs, although we suffered exceedingly from the deadly climate in the desolate jordan valley, yet we were all thoroughly happy, because we were treated with justice and sympathy by the staff and by all other ranks in that famous division. at bir salem, on the contrary, we were anything but a happy unit. it will be remembered that before we left rafa the battalion had been swamped by about recruits. physically they were a very fine lot, but, being young and hailing from the united states, they were a bit wild and difficult to handle. the moment they joined the battalion they had to do real hard soldiering, and were put on outposts and detachments up and down the country, guarding thousands of prisoners of war, long stretches of railway line, millions of pounds worth of munitions, food, ordnance supplies, etc. in fact, so arduous were these duties that the men had scarcely more than every alternate night in bed, although it is the rule in the army that whenever possible every man should be allowed at least three consecutive nights' rest. the great majority of my old trained men of the th had by this time either been demobilised, invalided to england, or employed on special duties between cairo and aleppo, so that a great part of the heavy duties which had to be carried out fell on the american recruits. there was absolutely no time to train these men, and i consider it was really wonderful that they did so well under the circumstances. i know of no more heart-breaking task for a commanding officer than to endeavour to keep a battalion in a high state of discipline when he is surrounded by a hostile staff, apparently all out to irritate and humiliate both officers and men. from "reveille" to "lights out" it was a case of countering the actions of those in authority which constantly tended to create discontent and ill-feeling in our ranks. i may mention that i had scores of protests from the men, often daily, owing to the persecution to which they were subjected while we were at bir salem. is it to be wondered at that, suffering all these things, some of the american volunteers at last became restive and asked themselves, "why should we serve england and be treated like dogs?" i often felt it necessary to speak to the men, for i knew that their loyalty was strained almost to breaking-point. at such moments i told them that the honour of jewry rested on their shoulders, and no matter what provocation they might be subjected to, they must at all times remain steadfast. the imperial government in england was sound and sympathetic to their ideals, and eventually justice must prevail, and the evil days through which we were passing would soon come to an end. i appealed to them as jews to be good soldiers, and, to their credit, they always responded. before this persecution became acute volunteers were called for to serve with the army of occupation in palestine. several hundred american enthusiasts in the battalion offered their services, but owing to the treatment they received their enthusiasm died out, and they requested that they should be demobilized and repatriated. a small party of these american citizens who were on outpost duty at belah, some sixty miles to the south of bir salem, sent in a signed memorial requesting demobilization; otherwise they stated that they would refuse to do duty after a certain date which was mentioned. this document i, of course, forwarded to divisional headquarters. i had been writing to the authorities for months, requesting that these men should be demobilized and sent back to the united states, and at last i heard, unofficially, that the order for repatriation was on its way. i sent my adjutant to inform the belah men that their release was coming through in the course of a few days, and to tell them to carry on meanwhile like good soldiers. more than half of the men responded, but the rest, being young and untrained, refused to perform any further soldierly duties after the expiry of the time limit; they just remained quietly in their tents, for they wished to bring matters to a head. i am glad to say that the jewish soldiers, both americans and british, serving with me at bir salem, stood firm and carried out their duties as usual. after personal investigation into the conduct of these foolish youths at belah i remanded them for trial by field general court martial, and forwarded the charge sheets, with summaries of evidence, to general z. i had framed the charge sheets most carefully, but apparently my drafting did not suit the general, for he framed fresh charges of mutiny, and sent his a.d.c. with them to me for immediate signature. i had but a moment to scan the charge sheets, for the a.d.c. was impatient to catch a train which was due to leave. i did not like the general's drafting, but, being a very obedient soldier, i duly signed the documents as ordered and handed them back to the waiting staff officer, wishing him luck with them as he galloped off. according to king's regulations, a soldier remanded for trial by court martial has the right to request the help of an officer to act as his friend at the trial, and, of course, it is the bounden duty of such officer to do everything in his power to get the accused acquitted. the belah men petitioned lieutenant jabotinsky to act as their advocate, and he, somewhat unwillingly, assented to undertake the ungrateful task. he was not anxious to defend these men of belah because he held that they should have carried out their duties faithfully to the end, even although they felt that they had a grievance against authority. the trial took place at kantara, and, in the course of it, lieutenant jabotinsky pointed out a fatal flaw in the charge sheets, with the result that the charge of mutiny failed, and the court had to be dissolved. the president (who belonged to major-general louis jean bols' late regiment) was furious at the fiasco, and said, "this is all the fault of colonel patterson, and i shall report him." my adjutant, captain sandison, a staunch and sturdy scot, was present in court as prosecutor, and, knowing all the facts of the case, at once turned on the president and said, "you have no right, sir, to make such a statement about my commanding officer. the g.o.c. division rejected his charge sheets, which were in perfect order, and framed the faulty ones himself, so now you know whom to report." a new court had to be convened, but the men were now arraigned merely on the lesser charge of disobeying an order. even on this lesser charge they were savagely sentenced to various terms of penal servitude, ranging from seven years downwards. had they been found guilty by the first court on the charge of mutiny i presume they would all have been shot! i am confident that if these young americans had been properly trained as soldiers, this belah incident would never have taken place. i had given the authorities ample warning of what was likely to happen when these recruits were thrust upon me, but my advice was ignored. all i can say is that if an australian, english, irish, or a scottish battalion had been treated as this jewish battalion was treated, divisional headquarters would have gone up in flames and the general himself would have been lucky to escape. be it noted that the mutineers of other british units, the men who had openly defied all authority and set kantara in a blaze, were not even put on trial! until the recruits were forcibly thrust upon me, i can vouch for it that the th battalion royal fusiliers was one of the most exemplary units that ever took the field, crime being practically unknown. the men endured hard marching, hard knocks, fatiguing manual labour, at times scanty rations of food and water, the seething heat of the jordan valley and the anti-semitism of the local military authorities, and withal gained the highest praise from the general officer commanding under whom they served in the field. notwithstanding the fact that we were so despitefully used, the authorities found that the men's services were invaluable. in addition to garrisoning large areas of palestine, i had officers, n.c.o.s, and men, holding all kinds of important posts throughout the e.e.f., from aleppo to cairo. the demand for men from the th battalion was ever on the increase, for executive officers found the jewish soldier steady, sober and reliable, three qualities, the importance of which i was always impressing on the men, although, as a matter of fact, sobriety is one of the outstanding virtues of the jewish soldier. chapter xxx. the fall of goliath. the violent anti-semitism shown by general z at last reached such a pitch that on one occasion (the th july to be exact), he rode into camp and, without the slightest provocation, abused and insulted the men, threatened one of them, and actually went so far as to strike an unoffending private soldier with his whip, using at the same time language which would make billingsgate blush. i was not present at this outrage, but i heard a full account of all that happened from various eye-witnesses who reported the affair, and all i could imagine was that the general must have suddenly gone insane. the whole battalion was in an uproar, and i had much ado to pacify the men and keep things going. the man who was struck was sent to hospital with a swollen arm, and the other men who were specifically insulted reported to me at the orderly room and complained of the treatment they had received. i forwarded their complaint to general z, together with the sick report of the man he had struck with his whip. he replied requesting me to have these particular men paraded so that he might speak to them. i arranged for this embarrassing interview, and, to prevent any hostility which the outraged battalion might have shown towards general z when he entered the camp, i kept the men in their tents, with n.c.o.s in charge of each door, with instructions to see that no untoward incident took place. on arrival the general apologised to the insulted men, but so indignant were they that at first they refused to accept it, or to shake hands when he offered to do so. finally, after over half-an-hour's persuasion, they agreed to accept his apology, provided it was given publicity, and also to the whole battalion on parade. this he did very fully, and i sincerely hoped that the incident was happily ended, and that for the future, in dealing with us, general z would see that no injustice was done merely because we were jews. to compensate for all the misfortunes we were called upon to endure, our life in the battalion itself was quite smooth and happy, all pulling well together. personally, i took no thought whether a man was a jew or a gentile; i remember that an officer joined us while we were serving at the front, and, through some misunderstanding, i took him to be a jewish officer. he distinguished himself later and earned the m.c., which pleased me very much, for i was always glad when i was able to recommend a jewish officer for promotion or reward. i sent this officer with nine others to form a "minyan" (the number required to hold a jewish religious service) at the burial of a jewish soldier who was killed on the day we captured the umm esh shert ford, and it was not until after this incident happened that i discovered he was a gentile. there was one exception, however, to the general harmony and _esprit de corps_ of the battalion. a staff officer was sent to do duty with us from g.h.q., where he had been employed for over a year. some time after his arrival he publicly insulted one of my jewish officers and refused to apologise. the matter was then brought before me, and, as he still remained obdurate, i brought him before general z. when asked by the latter why he had insulted the jewish officer his reply was, "i don't like jews. _the jews are not liked at g.h.q., and you know it, sir."_ the general ordered him to apologise, which i must say he did most handsomely, but his remarks about the dislike of jews at g.h.q., though no news to me or the general, may be somewhat illuminating to the reader! although we hoped that all unpleasantness with the general was over, i regret to say that this was not the case. i could give many instances of unfair treatment to which we were subjected, but i will not weary the reader by relating them here. after his apology the general never again came near us, and every indignity, slight and petty tyranny that could be invented was put upon the battalion. the whole subsequent attitude of the g.o.c. showed us that his apology was merely eye-wash, and had simply been extracted from him by fear of the consequences of his outrageous behaviour. in fact, in the end, i had to bring his conduct to the notice of the commander-in-chief, with the result that he was removed from his command and no longer troubled israel. chapter xxxi. protests. in case any readers may think that my account is exaggerated i give some letters of protest which i received from some of the officers in my battalion. from this it will be seen what a difficult position i was placed in, owing to the policy of g.h.q. towards jewish aspirations. a few interested parties, for their own ends, sedulously spread the rumour that there was no anti-semitism shown in palestine. i will leave the reader to judge whether these people were knaves or fools: ludd, - - , a / . sir, i beg to report that the men are discontented, not only in our battalion, but also in the other jewish units, which cannot fail to influence our men still more. the causes of their discontent are much deeper than delay of demobilization. over / ths of the judæans in this country are men who volunteered to serve in palestine in the name of their zionist ideals, and in reply to the pledge embodied in the declaration which mr. balfour, on behalf of h.m. government, issued on the nd november, . it is now a general impression among our soldiers, an impression shared by the public opinion of palestine, that this pledge has been broken, so far as local authorities are concerned. palestine has become the theatre of an undisguised anti-semitic policy. elementary equality of rights is denied the jewish inhabitants; the holy city, where the jews are by far the largest community, has been handed over to a militantly anti-semitic municipality; violence against jews is tolerated, and whole districts are closed to them by threats of such violence under the very eyes of the authorities; high officials, guilty of acts which any court would qualify as instigation to anti-jewish pogroms, not only go unpunished, but retain their official positions. the hebrew language is officially disregarded and humiliated; anti-semitism and anti-zionism is the fashionable attitude among officials who take their cue from superior authority; and honest attempts to come to an agreement with arabs are being frustrated by such means as penalising those arab notables who betray pro-jewish feeling. the jewish soldier is treated as an outcast. the hard and honest work of our battalions is recompensed by scorn and slander, which, starting from centres of high authority, have now reached the rank and file, and envenomed the relations between jewish and english soldiers. when there is a danger of anti-jewish excesses, jewish soldiers are removed from the threatened areas and employed on fatigues, and not even granted the right to defend their own flesh and blood. passover was selected to insult their deepest religious feelings, by barring them access to the wailing wall during that week. no jewish detachment is allowed to be stationed in jerusalem or any of the other holy cities of jewry. when a jewish sentry is attacked and beaten by a dozen drunken soldiers, and a drunken officer disarms with ignominy a jewish guard, nobody is punished. leave to certain towns has become a torture because the military police have been specially instructed to hunt the jew, and the weaker ones among our men escape this humiliation by concealing their regimental badge, and substituting the badge of some other unit. in addition, army pledges given to them are also disregarded; men who were recruited for service in palestine are sent against their will to messina or egypt or cyprus; men who enlisted under the understanding that their pay would be equal to that of any british soldier suddenly discover that no allowances will be paid to their wives and children. under these conditions, even some of the best among them give way to despair; they see no purpose in carrying on, conscious that the great pledge has been broken, that instead of a national home for the jewish people, palestine has become the field of operations of official anti-semitism; they abhor the idea of covering with their tacit connivance what they--and not they alone--consider a fraud. they cannot formulate these grievances in full, nor gather the documents necessary to prove them, but under their desire to "get out of the show" there is bitter disappointment, one of the most cruel even in jewish history. you, sir, have always been in favour of speeding up their demobilization; i, as you know, was of the opinion that it is the duty of every volunteer to stick to the jewish regiment as long as circumstances might demand, and i still hope that many will stick to it in spite of all. but even i myself am compelled to admit that things have reached a stage when no further moral sacrifice can fairly be demanded of men whose faith has been shattered. i only hope that those who give up the struggle will not follow the example of a few misguided irresponsibles who chose the wrong way to support a right claim. i hope that they will await their release in a calm and dignified manner, discharging their duties to the last moment, and thus giving those who misrule this country a lesson in fair play--a lesson badly needed. i remain, sir, your obedient servant, xx. to lieutenant-colonel j. h. patterson, d.s.o., commanding th battalion royal fusiliers. bir salem, - - . to officer commanding th royal fusiliers. sir, i have the honour to request that this application praying that i may be permitted to resign my commission in his majesty's forces be forwarded through the usual channels, together with the undermentioned reasons for my taking this step after having originally volunteered for the army of occupation. my resignation, sir, is my only method of protest against the grossly unfair and all too prevalent discrimination against the battalion to which i have the honour to belong. i desire to point out to you, sir, the fact that this unfair and un-british attitude affects not only my honour as a jew, but my prestige as a british officer, and this latter point must inevitably handicap me in the efficient discharge of my military duties. the disgraceful exhibition of yesterday morning is but a fitting climax to the endless series of insults and annoyances to which this battalion--because it is a _jewish battalion_--has been subjected, almost since our first arrival in the e.e.f. insults to a battalion as a whole, sir, are insults directed to every individual member of that battalion, and as long as i remain a member of his majesty's forces, i regret to say i find myself unable to fittingly resent in a manner compatible with my own honour, and the honour of my race, the insulting attitude towards my race, and through my race, towards me, of my military superiors. in passing, may i point out that my being a jew did not prevent me doing my duty in france, in flanders, and in palestine, and in the name of the countless dead of my race who fell doing their duty in every theatre of war, i resent, and resent very strongly indeed, the abusive attitude at present prevalent towards jewish troops. i have innumerable instances of petty spite, and not a few cases of a very serious character indeed, all of which i can readily produce should the occasion ever arise. i have the honour to be, sir, your obedient servant, y.y. it was not only my jewish officers who found life unbearable under these conditions, but the other officers also felt the strain. i received the following letter from one of my senior christian officers after an outburst on the part of the staff: to the o.c. th battalion royal fusiliers. sir, i have the honour to request that i be immediately relieved of my duties and permitted to proceed to england for demobilization. i am years of age, and have had nothing except my desire to do my duty to keep me in the service. the impossible conditions forced on the battalion by higher authority are too much for me, and i very much regret that i should have to trouble you with this application at the present time. i have the honour to be, sir, your obedient servant, ss. bir salem, th august, . letters such as these give some slight conception of the extremely difficult position in which i was placed. on the one hand i had to ward off the blows aimed at the battalion by the local military authorities, while on the other hand i had to do my utmost to allay the angry feelings of my officers, n.c.o.s, and men, goaded almost to desperation by the attitude adopted towards the battalion. this anti-jewish policy was directed not only against the jewish battalions, but also, in a flagrant manner, against the jewish civil population, upon whom every indignity was poured; in fact, the british military administration made of the famous balfour declaration--the declared policy of the british government--a byword and a laughing stock. early in the chief administrator then in office in palestine, the man who represented the british government, offered a public insult to the jews at a jewish concert, by deliberately sitting down and ordering his staff to do the same when the hatikvah, the jewish national hymn, was being sung, while, of course, all others were standing. this was as deliberate an insult as could be offered to the feelings of any people. england must be in a bad way when a man such as this is appointed to represent her as governor. judge brandies, of the united states supreme court, visited palestine about the time when these anti-jewish manifestations were at their height, and was shocked and horrified at the un-english attitude he saw adopted towards the jews and all things jewish. i myself told him of the mockery of the balfour declaration as exemplified by the british military administration in palestine, and said i thought it was a pity that mr. balfour had not added three more words to his famous utterance. the judge asked me what words i meant, and i said they were that palestine was to be a national home for "the baiting of" the jewish people! i know that judge brandies went home hurriedly, very much perturbed at what he heard and saw, which was so contrary in everything to the spirit of the declared policy of england. he represented the state of affairs in palestine to downing street, with the result that the local military authorities were told that the policy as laid down in the balfour declaration must be carried out. this was a sad blow to those purblind ones who had looked forward to a long rule in the middle east; for them the writing was already on the wall. i want it to be clearly understood that this attitude was merely the policy of the local military officials who, by their attitude, were practically defying and deriding the policy of england, as expressed by the home government. chapter xxxii. a trip to the sea of galilee. i had long looked forward to a visit to the sea of galilee (lake tiberias), and eventually, late in october, my ambition was fulfilled, for, taking advantage of "damascus week," when leave was easy to get, i slipped off from ludd one morning at . , and arrived at samakh, on the southern shores of the sea, at o'clock in the afternoon. my first peep of the lake, as it stretched out before me and melted away in the purple haze to the north, was delightful. the colouring was superb and, as i sat on the edge of the rickety pier, i drank in my novel surroundings with all the enthusiasms of a rapturous pilgrim. the lake glistened and glinted in the brilliant sunshine, the abrupt arid-looking hill-sides deepened the silent mystery that seemed to hang over it. away to the right was the spot where the gadarene swine, possessed of the evil spirit, rushed down to the sea and destroyed themselves. peering through my glasses straight north, i could see in the shimmering distance the dense groves of evergreens which told me that this was the place where the jordan plunged down from "the waters of merom" through a rocky gorge, and entered the lake. away to the left i caught a glimpse of a few trees and houses, and i realized that i was looking at capernaum, the place in which it will be remembered the worthy roman centurion built a synagogue. glancing further west, and somewhat nearer to me, i saw the site of bethsaida; sweeping further westward and yet nearer, the round towers and rectangular walls of tiberias itself stood revealed, while close to my left hand, at the south-west corner of the lake, the thriving jewish colony of kinnereth overlooked the spot where the jordan rushed out of the lake on its way to the dead sea. round about me were children revelling in the limpid water, and even a few discreetly-veiled damsels displayed a fair share of their neat limbs, while paddling along the sandy shore in the shade of the cliffs. suddenly, into all this old-world scenery, there dashed a lively motor-boat, which had come from tiberias to collect passengers. we scrambled down from the crazy pier, and within an hour found ourselves climbing up the rickety gangway leading to tiberias, a city which stands to-day much as king herod antipas, the builder, left it, although, in the meantime, it has been much devastated by earthquakes. i was agreeably surprised to find a clean and fairly comfortable hotel, most capably managed by frau grossmann. it was still hot at tiberias, and yet, by some mysterious means, frau grossmann always managed to produce a bottle of cold beer for dinner, a most grateful drink in this thirsty valley. in the early morning, i hired a boat with a good-humoured arab crew of three, and made an expedition across to capernaum. fish are still as plentiful here as they were in the days of simon peter, and the capernaum fishermen still cast their nets as they did in apostolic times, and wear just as little clothing. as i wandered among the ruins, i met a striking franciscan, father vendelene, who was hospitality itself. he was a venerable german, a very fine-looking man, standing over six feet high, full of christian charity, and apparently resigned to the blow which had fallen upon his nation. besides being a monk he was also an architect and had built many monasteries, convents, and churches for the franciscans in many parts of the world; but he had been a soldier before he became a monk, and i noticed, as he smoked a pipe and related to me his varied career, that his eyes glowed, and his broad shoulders were thrown back, as he described how he charged at the head of his squadron of hussars in one of the battles of the franco-prussian war. the good father took me round what was left of the synagogue built by the worthy centurion whose servant was healed. it must have been a fine piece of architecture in its day, and it is a thousand pities that it has been levelled to the ground by an earthquake. on my return to the hotel i found that two nursing sisters had arrived from egypt to spend a few days at tiberias, and at dinner i suggested that they should join me in my boat on a voyage of discovery which i intended to make across the lake on the following morning, and to this they readily agreed. the military governor of tiberias had very kindly arranged for a mounted escort and a horse to be ready for me at the north end of the lake where the jordan enters it, as i wished to make an exploring expedition as far as possible up the river towards lake merom. we left tiberias at dawn and had a most delightful trip across the lake, breakfasting in the boat on the way. sister cook, who was blessed with a charming voice, was moved to song, and the time passed so pleasantly that before we knew where we were, we found ourselves stuck on a sandbar in the jordan river itself. our boatmen hopped out, pushed the boat over the bar into deep water, and off we paddled again up the famous river. great fields of ripe maize stretched away on either hand, and it was curious to see dusky youths perched aloft on stagings, armed with a sling, doing slaughter among any birds that dared to settle on their crops. we shoved the nose of our boat into the bank, took a stroll along a path through the tangled undergrowth, and soon met a crowd of bedouins who presented us with some delicious maize cobs. in this manner we pleasantly meandered up the jordan, now landing on this bank, and now on that, as it took our fancy, until at last a point was reached where the river was so shallow that the boat could go no further, and here i found my pony and escort awaiting me. the latter was composed of local mounted arab gendarmerie, under the command of a jewish corporal, who had at one time served in the th battalion royal fusiliers, and i noticed with pleasure that the jew and the arabs seemed to be on excellent terms. i charged the boatman to take the sisters to capernaum, where i told them to call on father vendelene, who i knew would give them a warm welcome. having seen the boat safely started on the way, and with strict injunctions to the sailors to return for me in good time, i mounted my pony and started my exploration of the upper jordan. my escort (who were also supposed to be guides) often got completely lost in the dense oleander jungle that here abounds, but after many trials and tribulations, in the course of which i came upon a submerged herd of buffalo sleeping peacefully in a marshy backwater, i emerged torn and bleeding at the entrance of the black rocky gorge down which the jordan rushes. riding here became impossible, so i went on foot until the westering sun warned me it was time to return. on the way back, which was by another and much easier route, we came across a stalwart bedouin hunter who, only five days before, had shot a splendid leopard on the hillside. i asked him if there was any chance of my being able to do likewise. he replied that it was possible, but i might have to wait a month before i got a shot; i could, however, have other good hunting any day i liked, for the thickets were alive with wild boar. this man knew every track round about, and, as we were still shut in by dense thickets, he volunteered to come with me as a guide to the lake. on parting he refused all offers of money, but later i sent him some tobacco, which i hope he received safely. my escort, when we reached open level country, raced and chased each other on their ponies, pulling up suddenly, or darting to the right or left in wild career. both rode thoroughbred arab mares and were immensely proud of their steeds, and their own prowess thereon. on reaching the lake, i espied the boat coming along, and as the water was shallow i urged my mount into it and rode out to meet the little vessel. the arab boatmen, singing some quaint chorus, came alongside and i slipped off the saddle on to the gunwale, waved good-bye to my friends of the gendarmerie, and headed the boat for capernaum to pick up the sisters. here i found that they had had a great time. just as they were in the midst of a mild flirtation with father vendelene, who was showing them round his demesne, who should walk in but the papal legate, cardinal filippo giustini, just arrived from rome on a tour of inspection! the good cardinal was not horrified, however, for he insisted on the ladies coming into the refectory, where he himself poured them out a cup of tea. on the way back from capernaum we hugged the west coast of the lake and made a call at migdal, an up-to-date jewish fruit farm on the site of the ancient magdala, the birthplace of that romantic figure in the new testament, mary magdalene. unfortunately, the manager, mr. glickin, was away, but his representative gave us a delightful tea in the open, under the shade of an enormous fig tree. here fruits and flowers of all kinds were showered upon us, oranges, pomegranates, bananas, nuts, almonds, etc., all of the most delicious flavour. our boatmen had much ado in carrying all our gifts down to the shore. [illustration: ruins of the old city of tiberias (_see page _)] we then skirted the lake, and when nearing tiberias saw the caves where the famous jewish philosopher maimonides, and the two famous rabbis, meir and ben akiba, are buried. not very far from tiberias is the pit of joseph, which old arabian geographers maintain is the identical one into which the favourite son of jacob was cast. darkness was now swiftly coming on and, as we neared tiberias, in the twinkling of an eye, a sudden squall burst upon us, and we were glad to reach the little haven in safety. altogether it had been a very full day and the sisters assured me that they would look upon it as one of the red-letter days of their lives. before leaving the sea of galilee, i made an excursion to the wonderful hot sulphur baths, about three miles to the south of tiberias, and saw the boiling water gushing out of the cleft in a rock. there is a bathhouse close by where people afflicted with rheumatism dip in these medicinal waters and are made whole again. on the way back from these springs i passed through the ruins of the old city of tiberias, with its columns all awry and prostrate, and mounds of débris covering a considerable extent. on a hill, just above the modern tiberias, stand the ruins of herod's palace, and i there saw what is reputed to be the chamber where herodias' daughter danced for the head of john the baptist. in enterprising hands, tiberias could be made to flourish exceedingly as a winter resort. there one can have excellent boating, fishing, boar-hunting, explorations on horseback through the exceedingly interesting country which surrounds it, and at the same time cure all one's ills in the wonderful hot baths. beautiful palestinian lace is made in this old hebrew city by industrious jewish girls, and i brought away some very fine examples of their work. there is an old synagogue near the hot springs where the celebrated rabbi meir expounded the law to israel. before i left galilee i met my old friend, captain trumpeldor, who had served under me in the zion mule corps in gallipoli. i was delighted to see this gallant officer once more, and we had a long chat over old times. trumpeldor had only just returned from russia, where he had been organizing a jewish legion for service in palestine. the bolsheviks, however, interfered with his plans, and he was lucky to escape from their clutches. sad to relate, a few months after our meeting in galilee, captain trumpeldor met his death there, while defending a jewish colony from a raiding party of bedouins. he directed the defence for two hours after he had been mortally wounded, and then died, fighting to the last. he was one of the most gallant men i have ever met, and his loss is keenly felt by all his friends and comrades. the sea of galilee is bound to have an enormous influence on the economic life of palestine. here we have stored up practically an unlimited supply of latent energy. this great mass of water is situated some feet above the level of the dead sea, into which its overflow, the jordan runs. a canal constructed from the south-west corner of lake tiberias, and graded along the jordan valley, would, in the length of a few miles, give a vertical fall of over feet. a suitable hydro-electric plant erected at the site of the falls would produce enough energy to revolutionise every phase of life in the holy land. it must be remembered that so far neither coal nor oil have been found in the country, while forests do not exist; consequently the cost of all kinds of fuel is very high, and industrial undertakings, where cheap power is a factor, are out of the question. what a heaven-sent boon then is this stored-up energy of the blessed jordan. cheap light, heat, and power can be had from it throughout the length and breadth of palestine. touch a switch in summer and a whirling fan will keep one's house delightfully cool, while in the winter electrical fires will provide warmth in the chilly evenings on the hill-tops. evil smelling paraffin lamps and stoves will be a thing of the past, for, of course, electricity will provide all that is necessary in the way of fuel and light. ample power is available for the electrification of the existing railways, and, of course, light tramways could be operated all over the country. great areas of land now lying fallow could be irrigated and made fruitful and capable of sustaining a large population. if palestine is to become a home for any large number of the jewish people, this great source of economic life must be turned to account, and all the land blessed by the amazing benefits which electricity can shower upon it. jewish brains, jewish capital, and jewish workers will undoubtedly carry out this scheme, and gradually the country, which is now arid and neglected, will be turned once more into a land flowing with milk and honey. the hills will again be terraced and crowned with fig and olive trees, and the valleys and plains will abound with ripening corn. the country which for hundreds of years has been at a standstill, lends itself to all kinds of industrial enterprises, such as fruit-farming, olive oil and soap factories, fishing and canning, etc. the trade and commerce that will flow through palestine is not to be measured by the paltry revenue returns now shown. when the country is developed, the old trade routes with the hinterland reopened, and the ports at haifa and jaffa improved, its importance, commercially, will be enhanced beyond all recognition. chapter xxxiii. strange methods of the e.e.f. staff. it will be remembered that lieutenant jabotinsky was responsible for the idea of forming a jewish legion to help england in her great struggle for world freedom. the british government was impressed with the possibilities he placed before it, and eventually he was summoned to the war office by lord derby, then secretary of state for war, and to the war cabinet by general smuts, to expound his proposals. these high officials did not disdain to meet and confer with jabotinsky on the jewish legion question, although at that time he was merely a private soldier, serving in the th battalion of the london regiment. they knew that he held a very high place in the zionist movement, and was looked up to by the jewish masses the world over as one of its most brilliant young leaders. this fact was also known to the staff of the e.e.f., but when, as an officer, in august, , lieutenant jabotinsky sought an interview with the commander-in-chief, hoping that he might induce the local authorities to change their anti-jewish policy in palestine, he was not only refused a hearing, but methods were immediately employed to strike him down which i can only describe as despicable and un-english. jabotinsky was, of course, pro-british to the core. during his service in palestine he had been for a time specially attached to the zionist commission with the sanction of the commander-in-chief. while he was employed in this capacity he brought about the acceptance of a programme by the jewish colonists, expressly calling for a british mandate for palestine. all through his military service with the battalion he, to my personal knowledge, did his utmost to allay the feelings of resentment felt by the jewish soldiers at the bad treatment they received at the hands of the military authorities, treatment utterly undeserved and uncalled for, but apparently deliberately adopted to further what appeared to be the local policy of making the practical application of the balfour declaration an impossibility. hostility to all things jewish was so open, that only those who wilfully shut their eyes could fail to see the game that was being played by certain interested parties. jabotinsky saw that the line of action adopted must inevitably lead to outbreaks against the jews, and naturally wanted to ward off such a calamity. do not let the reader imagine that there was bad blood between the palestinian arabs and the zionists. that both had dwelt together in unity and concord for over forty years is proof to the contrary. the anti-jewish outbreak, which actually took place later on, was carefully fostered, and the hooligan element amongst the arabs openly encouraged to acts of violence by certain individuals who, for their own ends, hoped to shatter the age-long aspirations of the jewish people. there can be no doubt that it was assumed in some quarters that when trouble, which had been deliberately encouraged, arose, the home government, embarrassed by a thousand difficulties at its doors, would agree with the wire-pullers in palestine, and say to the jewish people that the carrying out of the balfour declaration, owing to the hostility displayed by the arabs, was outside the range of practical politics. to these schemers it must have been somewhat galling, to say the least of it, to find certain men openly fighting them, foot by foot, and inch by inch, for the realisation of the ideals expressed in the famous declaration. one of these men was jabotinsky, a man with a notable name in jewry, therefore a thrust at him would also be a blow to jewish prestige in palestine. he was a mere foreigner, a jew from russia, and presumably without influential friends--a man, surely, on whom officialdom could safely pour out the vials of its unjust wrath, without any fear of evil consequences to itself. at all events, contemptible methods were adopted in order to strike at the man who had dared to let the authorities know that their local policy was a menace to his people dwelling in the holy land, and a serious danger to the restoration. when jabotinsky saw that certain members of the staff were adopting measures towards jewish soldiers, and jewish ideals in palestine, which must inevitably result in disaster, and being loth to believe that the commander-in-chief could be privy to such a policy, he addressed the following letter to general allenby. sir, i was the initiator of both the zion mule corps and the actual jewish battalions. to-day i am forced to witness how my work is breaking into pieces under the intolerable burden of disappointment, despair, broken pledges, and anti-semitism, permeating the whole administrative and military atmosphere, the hopelessness of all effort and of all devotion. the common opinion is that you are an enemy of zionism in general, and of the jewish legion in particular. i still try to believe that this is not true, that things happen without your knowledge, that there is a misunderstanding, and that the situation can yet improve. in this hope, as the last attempt to stop a process which threatens to impair for ever anglo-jewish friendship throughout the world, i beg you to grant me a personal interview and permission to speak freely. this letter is entrusted to your chivalry. (signed) v. jabotinsky. i knew nothing whatever about the despatch of this letter, and although i am aware that red tape will hold up its hands in holy horror at the audacity of it, it must be remembered that jabotinsky's position was an exceptional one. he was not a british subject, and not used to the routine of british red tape. members of the british imperial war cabinet thought it good policy to hear his views, and, no doubt, when he entrusted this letter to the chivalry of general allenby, he felt confident that if he was making any deviation from ordinary routine, it was for a good purpose and would not be counted against him. it is an open, straightforward, honest letter, a heartfelt cry from a man who sees that the whole structure which he has been at such pains to build is in serious peril of being overthrown by the machinations of the anti-jewish people on the staff. and now a curious thing happened. it was known to the staff that jabotinsky was at the time staying in jaffa, and that he was to be found almost daily at the house of a friend who was living there. about a week after he had sent his letter to the commander-in-chief, a staff-major from g.h.q., e.e.f., appeared in jaffa and took up his quarters in the same house as that in which jabotinsky's friend dwelt. when the inevitable meeting took place, the staff-major, who, by the way, knew jabotinsky well, remarked that the commander-in-chief had received his (jabotinsky's) letter, and would probably send for him one of these days, but that, in the meantime, it would be well if jabotinsky stated his grievances then and there to himself. "you can speak to me openly as to a friend," said the major. "i have some influence at g.h.q., and i shall be glad to assist in righting any wrong done to jews." on hearing this, jabotinsky unhesitatingly explained the situation, both as to its effects on the regiment and on jewish aspirations in palestine. the result of this "friendly conversation" was a mendacious report written by the staff-major to the deputy adjutant-general at g.h.q., e.e.f. sometime afterwards, by a mere chance, i saw a copy of this report, and so far as it referred to jabotinsky, it was practically untrue from beginning to end. if the responsible authorities at g.h.q. knew of the method adopted to lure jabotinsky into the "friendly conversation" which served as a pretext for a gross libel on his character, it reminds one of the good old days when governments had recourse to "agents provocateurs." what g.h.q. certainly should have known was that the accusations levelled at jabotinsky by a member of their staff were absolutely untrue. they knew him to be a good and gallant officer who had done his duty, and much more than his duty, faithfully and well to england, but it would appear as if they were greedy for such a document and swallowed it with avidity without any reference to me or, so far as i know, to anybody else. i think that even the most prejudiced of my readers will admit that in fairness and justice to jabotinsky this secret report should have been submitted to him for his information, and such explanation and refutation as he could give, before any action was taken against him. it is strictly laid down in the king's regulations that all adverse reports must be shown to the officer whose reputation is affected, but, as i have shown over and over again, the staff of the e.e.f. were apparently a law unto themselves and above even king's regulations! i knew nothing whatever of all that had been going on; i knew nothing of jabotinsky's letter to the commander-in-chief; i knew nothing of his interview with the staff-major from g.h.q., and, needless to say, i knew nothing of the report which the latter had written. my first inkling of the situation was through an official letter emanating from the deputy adjutant-general, which stated that "the commander-in-chief has his own duly constituted advisers on matters of policy and is not prepared to grant an interview to a lieutenant of the th battalion royal fusiliers to discuss such matters." from this moment g.h.q. lost no time in getting rid of jabotinsky. on the th august, , i received an urgent order to send this officer to kantara for immediate demobilization. this took me by surprise, for i was very short of jewish officers, and stood much in need of jabotinsky's services in the battalion. i wrote and protested against his demobilization, stating that i needed his services, but the only result was the receipt of the following peremptory memorandum: "a direct order was conveyed for lieutenant jabotinsky to proceed to demobilization camp, kantara, forthwith. if he has not already gone, this officer will leave for kantara by rail to-day. non-compliance with this order will lead to disciplinary action being taken. please report departure." the above was signed by a staff officer. as a result of this piece of prussianism, jabotinsky had to proceed to kantara, where at lightning speed he was demobilised. he wrote a protest to the army council, which i forwarded with my own views on the case. the appeal was a lengthy one, but i will merely quote the following passage: "with the deepest reluctance and regret i must say that i consider this action shows ingratitude. i do not deserve it at the hands of the british authorities. from the first days of this war i have worked and struggled for british interests. i am neither a british subject nor an immigrant. i had never been in the united kingdom or in any british dominion before this war. i came to england in as a russian journalist, correspondent of the oldest liberal paper in russia, the moscow _wiedomosti_. as a correspondent i did my best to explain to the russian public the british effort and to combat the anti-british propaganda. at the same time i started on my own initiative a pro-entente and pro-british propaganda amongst neutral and russian jewry. at that time many jews bitterly resented england's alliance with russia. in the autumn, , i founded a yiddish fortnightly (_di tribune_) in copenhagen, which took up a strong anti-german and anti-turkish attitude. its articles were constantly quoted in the american jewish press, and found their way even into germany and austria. here again i have the right to say that i was one of the few--perhaps one of the _two_ men (counting dr. weizmann first)--responsible for the origin of the present pro-british attitude of all jewry. i may add that i did all this at my own expense, or with means provided by my zionist friends, without any support from any british source. against this i know of no facts which could justify the attitude taken up by g.h.q., e.e.f. i have never heard of any complaint or censure of my conduct as officer or man; i have never been informed or even given a hint that anything in my activity could be objected to. my compulsory demobilization under these conditions will throw a slur on my name. i consider it unjust. i request that it be annulled, and that i be reinstated in my well-earned position as an officer of the judæans." a reply to this appeal was never received, and i do not know whether it ever reached the army council. thus came about the victimization of jabotinsky, the man who had done so much for england in her hour of need; who had over and over again in the firing line shown that he was prepared to make even the last great sacrifice itself in the cause for which england was fighting. as a reward for all his devotion to england he was, by strange and un-english devices, practically drummed out of the army. i think my readers will agree with me that the scandalous course of action pursued by the staff of the e.e.f. in the case of lieutenant jabotinsky would, if it became popular in high places, soon bring our country to ruin and rob us of our fair name. we know what the corrupt bureaucrats have done for the once mighty russian empire. had fair play and justice held sway there we would never have beheld the present orgy of bolshevism which is sweeping through that unhappy country. let all kings, princes, rulers and governors remember that to "do justice and ensue it" makes the stoutest barrier against bolshevism, for, as it says in ecclesiastes, "oppression maketh a wise man mad." chapter xxxiv. the first judÆans. nothing but a sense of the duty which i owed to my officers and men induced me to continue serving in such a hostile atmosphere after the armistice had been declared. we suffered, but we suffered in silence, and just "carried on." in the midst of our tribulations we, however, scored a decided triumph, for the year-old decision of the war office was at last announced by the local staff that we had won a special name, viz., the judæans, and that h.m. the king had sanctioned the menorah as a special badge for the battalion. the withholding of this information from us for a full year could not have been an oversight, for i had repeatedly written to ask if the war office had not sanctioned this name and badge for the battalion, but received no reply. i can only presume that the object of g.h.q. in withholding this information, which would have brought prestige to the jews, was that they had hoped to get the battalion disbanded and abolished so that it might never have the gratification of knowing that the imperial authorities considered that the jewish battalion had distinguished itself, and was therefore entitled to the special name and badge promised in by lord derby when secretary of state for war. just after we had received this good news, i was gladdened by receiving from the council of jews at jerusalem a beautifully illuminated parchment scroll, thanking me for the stand i had made in upholding the ideals expressed in the balfour declaration, and for having led the jewish battalions successfully in the great struggle which resulted in the "crown of victory." yet one more triumph was in store for the st judæans, for, in the beginning of december, , orders came from the war office that it was to be retained to garrison palestine, and that the th and th battalions were to be amalgamated with it. it was a great satisfaction to me to learn that it was to be retained, for a time at least, as a unit of the british army, and that it was to be officially known as the first judæans battalion. i now felt that my work was done and i could chant my "nunc dimittis." i had seen my child weather the storms which had beaten so fiercely about it, and in the end specially chosen to garrison its own home land. a permanent force of judæans in palestine is an essentially sound measure from every point of view. world jewry would, i am sure, be willing to take the entire cost of the maintenance of this force on its own shoulders; the money spent on it would be well invested, for it would be the training centre of palestinian volunteers. such a training would instil a sense of responsibility, and enable young jewry the more readily to follow steadfastly in the simple but sublime footsteps of their heroic forefathers. as soon as i got back to england, i had an interview with the adjutant-general at the war office, and requested that the savage sentences passed on the young americans at belah should be revised. although the adjutant-general was most sympathetic, he could not, at the moment, see his way to interfere, so i then wrote to the prime minister to let him know that these american soldiers had been very harshly treated and were still imprisoned in the citadel at cairo. i pointed out that it was hardly sound policy to offend a powerful ally by inflicting such a barbarous sentence on men who had come over the seas as volunteers to help us in the great war. i therefore begged him to have their case investigated. the result of this letter was that the men were speedily released and went back to their homes in the united states. chapter xxxv. the jerusalem pogrom. shortly after my return to england events occurred in palestine which prove up to the hilt all that i have written with regard to the anti-jewish attitude of certain members of the e.e.f. staff. a veritable "pogrom," such as we have hitherto only associated with tsarist russia, took place in the holy city of jerusalem in april, , and as this was the climax to the maladministration of the military authorities, i consider that the facts of the case should be made public. to the observant onlooker it was quite evident that the hostile policy pursued by the administration must inevitably lead to outbreaks against the jews. an intelligent people, such as the arabs, could not be blind to the anti-jewish course being steered. the balfour declaration, that divinely inspired message to the people of israel, was never allowed to be officially published within the borders of palestine; the hebrew language was proscribed; there was open discrimination against the jews; the jewish regiment was at all times kept in the background and treated as a pariah. this official attitude was interpreted by the hooligan element and interested schemers in the only possible way, viz., that the military authorities in palestine were against the jews and zionism, and the conviction began to grow, in some native minds at least, that any act calculated to deal a death blow to zionist aspirations would not be unwelcome to those in authority in the holy land. moreover, this malign influence was sometimes strengthened by very plain speaking. the military governor of an important town was actually heard to declare in a y.m.c.a. hut, in the presence of british and french officers, and of arab waiters, that in case of anti-jewish riots in his city, he would remove the garrison and take up his position at a window, where he could watch, and laugh at, what went on! this amazing declaration was reported to the acting chief administrator, and the acting chief political officer, but no action was taken against the governor. only one interpretation can be placed on such leniency. in march, , the following extraordinary order was issued to the troops in palestine:--"as the government _has to pursue_ in palestine a policy unpopular with the majority of the population, trouble may be expected to arise between the jews and the arabs." this wording is very significant. it was obviously calculated to throw the blame for any trouble on the jews, at the same time representing the government as an unfortunate victim, who, under some mysterious pressure, "_has to pursue_" a zionist policy. the moment i heard that a certain officer was to be appointed to an important post in palestine i felt it my duty to warn the chief zionist leader of the evil that would follow such an appointment, and told him that in the interests not only of jewry, but of england, it was necessary that he should make a public protest against the appointment of this official. although i warned dr. weizmann of the dangers that would follow, he was loth to believe that a british officer would be disloyal to the policy laid down by his government. the good doctor had not suffered with the jewish battalion and did not realize the situation or the intrigues that were in the air. so far as i am aware, no protest was made and this official was duly appointed. i feared for the future, not so much on account of the jews, as on account of the harm that would be done to the prestige and good name of england, and the result will show that my fears were only too well grounded. within a few months of this appointment, public anti-zionist demonstrations were permitted throughout the land. these manifestations took the form of processions through the streets with drums beating and banners flying, the chanting of fanatical verses against the jews being a feature of these displays. in jaffa inflammatory speeches were delivered from the steps of the military governor's office, in the presence of british officials, calling for the extermination of zionism. arab papers were allowed to write the most outrageous articles against the jews, while on the other hand, if a jewish paper dared to say the least word of protest, it was immediately called to account. with these significant happenings taking place before their eyes, and feeling that they would get little or no protection from the military administration, the jews clearly saw that it was absolutely essential for their own safety to form a self-defence corps, for purely protective purposes. this they did, and lieutenant jabotinsky was entrusted with the command. this officer, with the full knowledge of the administration, enrolled a body of young men and trained them in case of need. his first act on taking command was to inform the authorities of the corps' existence, its arming, and its purpose. he even asked the government for weapons, reminding them that rifles and ammunition had been issued to jewish colonists in galilee under similar circumstances. it must be remembered that the jewish people in palestine never gave the authorities a moment's anxiety; on the contrary, they were most law-abiding citizens, who helped the british administration in every conceivable way. they were astounded and mystified by the hostility displayed towards them by the local military administration, and it is not too much to say that they went in fear of their lives, for the hooligan element in the arab quarter began to declare openly that they would slaughter them. the day when an outbreak on the part of the cut-throats was expected was friday, nd april, for on that date the celebrated "nebi musa" procession was to take place. moslems from all parts of palestine meet once a year for prayer at the mosque of omar (built on the site of solomon's temple), and then form a procession to the tomb of moses in the jordan valley, near the dead sea. the moslem world holds moses in great veneration as a prophet, and believes that when he died on mount nebo, a bedouin carried his body across the jordan and buried it at the shrine now known as nebi musa, which is annually visited by thousands of moslem pilgrims. the day dreaded by the jews passed without incident, but in the light of what took place a couple of days later, i am inclined to think that this desirable result was achieved, not so much by the precautions taken by the administration, as by those taken by the jewish self-defence corps, which was known to be held in readiness for all eventualities on that day. on sunday, th april, a belated crowd of pilgrims from hebron approached the holy city by the jaffa gate. fanatical agitators posted themselves on the balcony of the municipality building and, for the space of two hours, delivered brutally inflammatory speeches against the jews to this mob, in the presence of british officials who understood arabic. it must be remembered that these pilgrims were armed, and yet no attempt was made to suppress the agitators, although there was ample police and military strength available in the neighbourhood. immediately after the inflammatory speeches, acts of violence began. i reproduce here extracts from a couple of letters which i received, giving graphic descriptions of the outbreak by eye-witnesses, one of them a senior british officer, not a jew: palestine, th april, . my dear colonel, we are passing through terrible and unprecedented times. who could ever have thought that a pogrom "à la russe," with all its horrors, could take place in jerusalem under british rule! who could ever have conceived that it should be possible, in the holy city of jerusalem, that for three days jews, old and young, women and children could be slaughtered; that rape should be perpetrated, synagogues burnt, scrolls of the law defiled, and property plundered right and left, under the banner of england! the anti-jewish feeling of the administration here you, of course, know all about, as you have experienced it yourself, but latterly the notorious _syria genuba_ (an arab daily in jerusalem) printed day after day inflammatory articles against the jews.... anti-jewish demonstrations were allowed to take place and inflammatory speeches were allowed to be made against the jews. the evil men amongst the arabs openly declared that they would slaughter the jews at the festival of nebi musa. the government was warned by the jewish press, and by jewish responsible leaders, but these were not listened to, and, as a matter of fact, the feast was proclaimed with great pomp, lord allenby and major-general louis jean bols, the chief administrator, being present.... (signed) xx. palestine, th april, . my dear colonel, ... with my wife i went up to jerusalem to spend the easter week-end, and a very nice week-end it surely was! long before this letter reaches you, you will have learned something of the happenings in the holy city, but as my wife and i saw the first blow struck, and had very personal experience of the immediately ensuing bother, you may be interested. the happenings here have raised all sorts of questions, and while for the moment the trouble is over, i fear the end is not yet. on the morning of easter sunday we were standing on the balcony of the new grand hotel watching the progress of an arab procession just arrived from hebron. as the procession reached the entrance to the jaffa gate it just had the appearance of the usual show of this kind--a bit noisy, but apparently well-behaved. it was escorted by two officers of the military administration and a few of the arab police. all at once the members of the procession formed themselves into a square, just inside the gate, and the first thing we saw then was an old jew, about years of age, get his head split open with an arab's sword, and as soon as he was down he was stoned; within a few minutes a lot more jews got like treatment. by this time the crowd was well out of hand and rushed quickly into the old city looting and killing, and a few hours afterwards there was a steady evacuation of battered jews. there was no military present. the following day the trouble started again, and a lot more were injured, and the third morning there was more looting and more casualties, and then at last the military took strong steps and the trouble was at an end. .... yours sincerely, (signed) e.n. in less than half an hour from the beginning of the outbreak, two companies of the self-defence corps marched to the jaffa and damascus gates to assist in quelling the disturbance within the walls, but they found the gates closed to them and held by british troops. it is very significant that within a few minutes of the commencement of the pogrom, british troops held all the gates of the city, with explicit orders to allow no one in and _no one out_--not even helpless women, fleeing from the horrors that were being enacted in the jewish quarter, unless they held special permits. for nearly three days the work of murder, rape, sacrilege, and pillage went on practically unchecked--all under british rule. there is only one word which fittingly describes the situation, and that is the russian word "pogrom." it means a semi-lawful attack on jews. the assailants believe that they may murder, rape, burn and loot to their hearts' content, with the silent blessing of the authorities, and it is a very significant fact that all through this jerusalem pogrom the hooligans' cry was "_el dowleh ma ana,_" which means "_the government is with us._" the attackers were absolutely convinced of the truth of their battle cry. during these three terrible days several jews were killed, hundreds were wounded (many of these being old men, women and children), rape was perpetrated, synagogues were burnt, and tens of thousands of pounds worth of jewish property was looted or destroyed. the pogrom was confined to that part of jerusalem within the walls of the old city, where the moslems greatly outnumber the jews--in fact the latter are here a small and helpless minority. they take no part in politics, not even in political zionism, but are absorbed in religious practices and observances, and abhor all things worldly. even self-defence is repellent to them, and all forms of violence anathema. these harmless people dwell in half-a-dozen narrow tortuous streets and bazaars, in one corner of the old city. this jewish quarter is quite easy to defend. a few armed men posted at the narrow entrances could hold any mob at bay. why did not the military authorities see that this was done? it was not until the third day that effective action was taken. in the meantime, hell was let loose on these unfortunate people. even the wretched few who got to the city gates, unless they possessed special permits, were refused permission to escape and were forced to return to the devilries being enacted by the murdering, raping, looting mob. it is a black page in our history, and those responsible should not be allowed to escape just punishment. to cover their own blunders the local administration looked round for a scapegoat, and arrested jabotinsky and some score members of the jewish self-defence corps. jabotinsky was tried on a ridiculous charge of "banditism, instigating the people of the ottoman empire to mutual hatred, pillage, rapine, devastation of the country, and homicide in divers places"--in fact the ottoman penal code was ransacked to trump up these absurd charges against him. jabotinsky had been guilty of nothing except that he had organised the self-defence corps with the full knowledge of the authorities, many weeks before the outbreak, and it was owing to the existence of this corps that the pogrom did not take much more serious dimensions. by far the greater part of the jews, and practically all the zionist jews, dwell outside the old city in the modern part of jerusalem, and it would naturally be upon these that the mob would have fallen, but not a jewish house outside the city walls was raided, for the simple reason that the jewish self-defence corps was there and ready to act. the self-defence corps did nothing whatever against the british authorities, and many members of it were in fact used by the administration to police the environs of the city. nevertheless, a british military court, which publicly stated that it would be bound by no rules of procedure, was found, which convicted jabotinsky, and inflicted upon him the savagely vindictive sentence of fifteen years' penal servitude! this trumping up of the preposterous charges mentioned is a disgrace to british justice, and the whole history of this atrocious outrage is a foul stain on our fair fame. it may be noted in passing that two arabs caught raping jewish girls during the pogrom received the same sentence as jabotinsky, whose only crime was that he was a jew. jabotinsky was cast into prison, clothed in prison garb, had his hair cropped, and was marched in company with the two arabs convicted of rape through jerusalem and kantara, places where he was well known as a british officer. even the worst hun that we have read of could hardly have exceeded the savagery and tyranny shown by the military authorities of the e.e.f. towards jabotinsky, an officer who fought stoutly for us and helped england and her cause in every possible way to the full extent of his power during the war. of course a storm of public indignation was aroused. in fact one of our leading statesmen, on seeing the telegram announcing the barbarous sentence, was heard to remark:-- "the military in palestine must have gone mad." the matter was raised in the house of commons, and mr. churchill, who was then secretary of state for war, was called upon to make a statement. the war office took action and, in a very short time, the sentence was annulled. it apparently required this outrage to open the eyes of the home government to what was going on in palestine. as soon as they realised the situation, matters began to move in the right direction, and one of the first steps taken was the removal of the military administration which had failed so hopelessly to carry out the policy of the imperial government. chapter xxxvi. the dawn. while jerusalem was yet plunged in sorrow and filled with lamentation, the glad tidings arrived from san remo that the allied council had endorsed england's promise of a national home for the jews in palestine, and that great britain had been appointed the mandatory power. england, to emphasize her determination to deal justly with israel, wisely decided that the ruler of palestine should be a jew, and appointed sir herbert samuel as first high commissioner of the holy land. when the great roll-call is made of those who have helped in bringing about the restoration, the name of baron edmund de rothschild will take a high and honourable place. his boundless munificence to the zionist cause and to the zionist colonists in palestine has helped the movement enormously. palestine will loom larger and larger in world importance as the years roll by. we have seen that it is the very keystone of our policy in the near and far east, and when it is colonized by a friendly people working hand in hand with england then the vexed question of our interests in those regions will be solved. there is plenty of room in palestine for both jew and arab, and, in fact, one is the complement of the other. at present there are about , arabs in the country, but when palestine is watered and tilled and made a fruitful country once again, it will support a population of five or six millions of people. not only would the jews not injure the arabs, but, on the contrary, jewish colonization and jewish enterprise will prove extremely beneficial to all the dwellers in palestine. the jewish immigrants now going into the country are full of boundless enthusiasm, ready to work and give even life itself to bring about the reconstruction of their ancient homeland. with jewish brains, jewish labour, and jewish capital, palestine will be made to flourish like the proverbial green bay tree. the land will be irrigated and afforested; water power will be "harnessed" and made to supply light and heat. trade of all sorts will spring up, fresh markets for goods will be opened, the wonderful natural harbour of haifa will be improved--and all of this will naturally bring increased wealth and comfort to the arab as well as to the jew. even at the present moment the jewish colonies are a joy to behold, and the land in their immediate neighbourhood has gone up in value threefold. for many years the jew and the arab have worked together without the slightest friction, and i see no reason for any in the future. there will be no trouble whatever in palestine between these two peoples when the country is properly governed, and the local officials loyally carry out the policy of the imperial government. with an efficient straightforward administration, holding the scales of justice evenly, and working in co-operation with jew and arab, the dawn of a new and prosperous era for the holy land is assured, and israel's age-long aspirations will at last be fulfilled. britain's share towards the fulfilment of prophecy must, however, not be forgotten, and the names of mr. lloyd george and sir arthur balfour, two men who were raised up to deal justly with israel, will, i feel sure, live for all time in the hearts and affections of the jewish people. it is owing to the stimulus given by the balfour declaration to the soul of jewry throughout the world that we are now looking upon the wonderful spectacle unfolding itself before our eyes, of the people of israel returning to the land promised to abraham and his seed for ever. in the ages to come it will always redound to the glory of england that it was through her instrumentality that the jewish people were enabled to return and establish their national home in the promised land. "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." appendix i. honours list. distinguished service order major e. neill. military cross capt. d. g. leadley. military cross with bar capt. t. b. brown. military cross second lieut. t. h. fligelstone. military cross with bar second lieut. j. cameron. military cross with bar second lieut. a. b. bullock. distinguished conduct medal company sergt.-major plant. military medal corp. m. bloom. military medal lance-corp. m. elfman. military medal private j. sapieshvili. military medal private j. gordon. military medal private j. angel. military medal private a. j. robinson. mentioned in despatches major r. ripley. mentioned in despatches capt. g. cunningham. mentioned in despatches lieut. simon abrahams. mentioned in despatches company sergt.-major p. tennens. (died on service.) mentioned in despatches company sergt.-major c. black. mentioned in despatches corp. w. benjamin. mentioned in despatches private j. blumenthal. mentioned in despatches private n. karstadt. casualty list. _killed._ lieut. b. wolffe. sergt. b. levy. sergt. c. levy. private s. mildemer. private s. grayman. private r. marks. _died from wounds or disease._ company sergt.-major p. tennens. lance-corp. a. lloyd. lance-corp. h. strong. private b. brick. private c. serember. private g. redlikh. private s. hart. private l. black. private i. goldrich. private j. malkin. private p. soborinsky. private s. abrahamson. private s. rosenberg. private m. deitz. private w. weinberg. private j. berman. private n. freeman. private h. canter. private j. levy. private n. alick. private m. bienstock. private m. bloomenthal. private l. allonowitz. private m. freiner. private m. galinsky. private j. shaft. _wounded._ capt. a. w. julian, m.c. lieut. h. b. cross. private a. j. robinson. private p. lefcovitch. appendix ii. care and comforts committee, th- nd royal fusiliers, known also as the jewish regiment and the judÆans. _civil executive committee._ the rt. hon. lord rothschild, president. mr. m. j. landa, hon. sec. mrs. j. h. hertz. mrs. ch. weizmann. j. d. kiley, esq., m.p. sir adolph tuck, bart. e. n. adler, esq. joseph cowen, esq. dr. m. d. eder. j. ettinger, esq. leopold frank, esq. l. j. greenberg, esq. m. kaye, esq. dr. goodman levy. lionel d. walford, esq. henry wolff, esq. _hon. members._ lieut.-col. j. h. patterson, d.s.o. lieut.-col. f. d. samuel, d.s.o lieut.-col. e. l. margolin, d.s.o. major w. schonfield. major rev. s. lipson, c.f. lieut. w. a. langhorne. lieut. v. jabotinsky. lieut. s. lipsey. sergt. joseph l. cohen. _care and comforts committee._ mrs. j. h. hertz, chairman. mr. henry wolff, hon. sec. mrs. m. epstein, chairman, comforts committee. mrs. paul goodman, chairman, canteen committee. m. j. landa, esq., chairman, literature committee. mrs. e. l. rowson, chairman, dependents committee. mrs. henry wolff, chairman, hospitality committee. miss francesca woolf, chairman, entertainments committee. m. wallach, esq. printed by the field press ltd. windsor house, bream's buildings, london, e.c. * * * * * * transcriber's note: obvious punctuation errors were corrected. hyphen removed: out[-]flanked (p. ). hyphen added: hill-tops (p. ), hill-sides (p. ). p. : "was" changed to "were" (the men were inspected). p. : "sangers" changed to "sangars" (took up position in the sangars). p. : "befel" changed to "befell" (a fatal accident befell). p. : "engalnd" changed to "england" (has just come from england). p. : "thus" changed to "this" (this early in his command). p. : "betwen" changed to "between" (a village between ludd and jaffa). p. : "frustated" changed to "frustrated" (are being frustrated by such means). travels in syria and the holy land; by the late john lewis burckhardt. published by the association for promoting the discovery of the interior parts of africa. [ ] preface of the editor. [p.i]it is hoped that little apology is necessary for the publication of a volume of travels in asia, by a society, whose sole professed object is the promotion of discoveries in the african continent. the association having had the good fortune to obtain the services of a person of mr. burckhardt's education and talents, resolved to spare neither time nor expense in enabling him to acquire the language and manners of an arabian musulman in such a degree of perfection, as should render the detection of his real character in the interior of africa extremely difficult. it was thought that a residence at aleppo would afford him the most convenient means of study, while his intercourse with the natives of that city, together with his occasional tours in syria, would supply him with a view of arabian life and manners in every degree, from the bedouin camp to the populous city. while thus preparing himself for the ultimate object of his mission, he was careful to direct his journeys through those parts of syria which had been the least frequented by european travellers, and thus he had the opportunity of making some important additions to our knowledge of one of those countries of which the geography is not less interesting by its connection with ancient history, than it is imperfect, in consequence of the impediments which modern barbarism has opposed to scientific researches. after consuming near three years in syria, mr. burckhardt, on his arrival in egypt, found himself prevented from pursuing the execution of his instructions, by [p.ii] a suspension of the usual commercial intercourse with the interior of africa, and was thus, during the ensuing five years, placed under the necessity of employing his time in egypt and the adjacent countries in the same manner as he had done in syria. after the journeys in egypt, nubia, arabia, and mount sinai, which have been briefly described in the memoir prefixed to the former volume of his travels, his death at cairo, at the moment when he was preparing for immediate departure to fezzan, left the association in possession of a large collection of manuscripts concerning the countries visited by their traveller in these preparatory journeys, but of nothing more than oral information as to those to which he had been particularly sent. as his journals in nubia, and in the regions adjacent to the astaboras, although relating only to an incidental part of his mission to africa, were descriptive of countries coming strictly within the scope of the african association, these, together with all his collected information on the interior of africa, were selected for earliest publication. the present volume contains his observations in syria and arabia petraea; to which has been added his tour in the peninsula of mount sinai, although the latest of all his travels in date, because it is immediately connected, by its subject, with his journey through the adjacent districts of the holy land. there still remain manuscripts sufficient to fill two volumes; one of these will consist of his travels in arabia, which were confined to the hedjaz, or holy land of the musulmans, the part least accessible to christians; the fourth volume will contain very copious remarks on the arabs on the desert, and particularly the wahabys. the two principal maps annexed to the present volume have been constructed under the continued inspection of the editor, by mr. john walker, junior, by whom they have been delineated and engraved. [p.iii]in the course of this process, it has been found, that our traveller's bearings by the compass are not always to be relied on. those which were obviously incorrect, and useless for geographical purposes, have been omitted in the journal; some instances of the same kind, which did not occur to the editor until the sheets were printed, are noticed in the errata, and if a few still remain, the reader is intreated not to consider them as proofs of negligence in the formation of the maps, which have been carefully constructed from burckhardt's materials, occasionally assisted and corrected by other extant authorities. one cannot easily decide, whether the errors in our traveller's bearings are chiefly to be attributed to the variable nature of the instrument, or to the circumstances of haste and concealment under which he was often obliged to take his observations, though it is sufficiently evident that be fell into the error, not uncommon with unexperienced travellers, of multiplying bearings to an excessive degree, instead of verifying a smaller number, and measuring intermediate angles with a pocket sextant. however his mistakes may have arisen, the consequence has been, that some parts of the general map illustrative of his journeys in syria and the holy land have been constructed less from his bearings than from his distances in time, combined with those of other travellers, and checked by some known points on the coast. hence also a smaller scale has been chosen for that map than may be formed from the same materials when a few points in the interior are determined by celestial observations. in the mean time it is hoped, that the present sketch will be sufficient to enable the reader to pursue the narrative without much difficulty, especially as the part of syria which the traveller examined with more minuteness than any other, the haouran, is illustrated by a map upon a larger scale, which has been composed from two delineations made by him in his two journeys in that province. [p.iv]it appears unnecessary to the editor to enter into any lengthened discussion in justification of the ancient names which he has inserted in the maps; he thinks it sufficient to refer to the copious exposition of the evidences of sacred geography contained in the celebrated work of reland. much is still wanting to complete this most interesting geographical comparison; and as a great part of the country visited by burckhardt has since his time been explored by a gentleman better qualified to illustrate its antiquities by his learning; who travelled under more favourable circumstances, and who was particuarly diligent in collecting those most faithful of all geographical evidences, ancient inscriptions, it may be left to mr. w. bankes, to illustrate more fully the ancient geography of the decapolis and adjoining districts, and to remove some of the difficulties arising from the ambiguity of the ancient authorities. it will be found, perhaps, that our traveller is incorrect in supposing, that the ruins at omkeis are those of gamala, for the situalion of omkeis, the strength of its position, and the extent of the ruins, all favour the opinion that it was gadara, the chief city of peraea, the strongest place in this part of the country, and the situation of which, on a mountain over against tiberias and scythopolis, [polyb. . .c. . joseph.de bel. jud.l. .c. . euseb. onomast. in [greek text]. the distance of the ruins at omkeis from the hieromax and the hot baths seems to have been burckhardt's objection to their being the remains of gadara; but this distance is justified by st. jerom, by eusebius, and by a writer of the th century. according to the two former authors the hot baths were not at gadara, but at a place near it called aitham, or aimath, or emmatha; and the latter correctly states the distance at five miles. reland palaest. p. , . perhaps gamala was at el hosn; gaulanitis, of which gamala was the chief town, will then correspond very well with djolan.] corresponds precisely with that of omkeis. but it will probably be admitted, that our traveller has rightly placed several other cities, such as scythopolis, hippus, abila,[there were two cities of this name. abil on the western borders of the haouran appears to have been the abila of lysanias, which the emperors claudius and nero gave together with batanaea and trachonitis, to herodes agrippa. joseph. ant. jud. l. .c. .--sl. .c. .] gerasa, amathus; [p.v]and he has greatly improved our knowledge of sacred geography, by ascertaining many of the hebrew sites in the once populous but now deserted region, formerly known by the names of edom, moab, ammon, and the country of the amorites. the principal geographical discoveries of our traveller, are the nature of the country between the dead sea and the gulf of aelana, now akaba;-- the extent, conformation, and detailed topography of the haouran;--the site of apameia on the orontes, one of the most important cities of syria under the macedonian greeks;--the site of petra, which, under the romans, gave the name of arabia petraea to the surrounding territory;-- and the general structure of the peninsula of mount sinai; together with many new facts in its geography, one of the most important of which is the extent and form of the aelanitic gulf, hitherto so imperfectly known as either to be omitted in the maps, or marked with a bifurcation at the extremity, which is now found not to exist. m. seetzen, in the years and , had traversed a part of the haouran to mezareib and draa, had observed the paneium at the source of the jordan at banias, had visited the ancient sites at omkeis, beit-er- ras, abil, djerash and amman, and had followed the route afterwards taken by burckhardt through rabbath moab to kerek, from whence he passed round the southern extremity of the dead sea to jerusalem. the public, however, has never received any more than a very short account of these journeys, taken from the correspondence of m. seetzen with m. de zach, at saxe-gotha.[this correspondence having been communicated to the palestine association, was translated and printed by that society in the year , in a quarto of forty-seven pages.] he was quite unsuccessful in his inquiries for petra, and having taken the road which leads to mount sinai [p.vi]from hebron, he had no suspicion of the existence of the long valley known by the names of el ghor, and el araba. this prolongation of the valley of the jordan, which completes a longitudinal separation of syria, extending for three hundred miles from the sources of that river to the eastern branch of the red sea, is a most important feature in the geography of the holy land,--indicating that the jordan once discharged itself into the red sea, and confirming the truth of that great volcanic convulsion, described in the nineteenth chapter of genesis, which interrupted the course of the river, which converted into a lake the fertile plain occupied by the cities of adma, zeboin, sodom and gomorra, and which changed all the valley to the southward of that district into a sandy desert. the part of the valley of the orontes, below hamah, in which stood the greek cities of larissa and apameia, has now for the first time been examined by a scientific traveller, and the large lake together with the modern name of famia, which have so long occupied a place in the maps of syria, may henceforth be erased. the country of the nabataei, of which petra was the chief town, is well characterized by diodorus,[diod. sic.l. ,c. .] as containing some fruitful spots, but as being for the greater part, desert and waterless. with equal accuracy, the combined information of eratosthenes, [eratosth. ap. strab. p. .] strabo,[strabo, p. .] and pliny, [plin. hist nat.l. ,c. .] describes petra as falling in a line, drawn from the head of the arabian gulf (suez) to babylon,--as being at the distance of three or four days from jericho, and of four or five from phoenicon, which was a place now called moyeleh, on the nabataean coast, near the entrance of the aelanitic gulf,--and as situated in a valley of about two miles in length surrounded with deserts, inclosed within precipices, and watered by a river. the latitude of degrees minutes [p.vii]ascribed by ptolemy to petra, agrees moreover very accurately with that which is the result of the geographical information of burckhardt. the vestiges of opulence, and the apparent date of the architecture at wady mousa, are equally conformable with the remains of the history of petra, found in strabo,[p. .] from whom it appears that previous to the reign of augustus, or under the latter ptolemies, a very large portion of the commerce of arabia and india passed through petra to the mediterranean: and that armies of camels were required to convey the merchandise from leuce come, on the red sea,[leuce come, on the coast of the nabataei, was the place from whence aelius gallus set out on his unsuccessful expedition into arabia, (strabo, ibid.) its exact situation is unknown.] through petra to rhinocolura, now el arish. but among the ancient authorities regarding petra, none are more curious than those of josephus, eusebius, and jerom, all persons well acquainted with these countries, and who agree in proving that the sepulchre of aaron in mount hor, was near petra.[euseb. et hieron. onomast. in greek text]. joseph. ant. jud.l. .c. .] for hence, it seems evident, that the present object of musulman devotion, under the name of the tomb of haroun, stands upon the same spot which has always been regarded as the burying-place of aaron; and there remains little doubt, therefore, that the mountain to the west of petra, is the mount hor of the scriptures, mousa being, perhaps, an arabic corruption of mosera, where aaron is said to have died. [deuter.c.x.v. . in addition to the proofs of the site of petra, just stated, it is worthy of remark that the distance of eighty-three roman miles from aila, or aelana, to petra, in the table (called theodosian or peutinger,) when compared with the distance on the map, gives a rate of about / of a roman mile to the geographical mile in direct distance, which is not only a correct rate, but accords very accurately with that resulting from the other two routes leading from aila in the table, namely, from aila to clysma, near the modern suez, and from aila to jerusalem. szadeka, which burckhardt visited to the south of wady mousa, agrees in distance and situation as well as in name with the zadagasta of the table, or zodocatha of the notitiae dignitatum imperii. see reland palaest. p. . most of the other places mentioned on the three roads of the table are noticed by ptolemy or in the notitiae. and here, the editor may be permitted to add a few words on a third roman route across these deserts, (having travelled the greater part of it three times,) namely, that from gaza to pelusium. in the itinerary of antoninus, the places, and their interjacent distances are stated as follows, gaza, m.p. raphia, m.p. rhinocolura, m.p. ostracine, m.p. casium, m.p. pentaschoenus, m.p. pelusium. the theodosian table agrees with the itinerary, but is defective in some of the names and distances; gerrhae, placed by the table at m.p. eastward of pelusium, is confirmed in this situation by strabo and ptolemy. strabo confirms the itinerary in regard to raphia, omits to notice ostracine, and in placing casium at three hundred stades from pelusium, differs not much from the m.p. of the itinerary, or the ten schoenes indicated by the word pentaschoenus, midway. the name of rafa is still preserved near a well in the desert, at six hours march to the southward of gaza, where among many remains of of ancient buildings, two erect granite columns are supposed by the natives to mark the division between africa and asia. polybius remarks (l. ,c. ), that raphia was the first town of syria, coming from rhinocolura, which was considered an egyptian town. between raphia and the easternmost inundations of the nile, the only two places at which there is moisture sufficient to produce a degree of vegetation useful to man, are el arish and katieh. the whole tract between these places, except where it has been encroached upon by moving sands, is a plain strongly impregnated with salt, terminatig towards the sea in a lagoon or irruption of the sea anciently called sirbonis. as the name of katieh, and its distance from tineh or pelusium, leave no doubt of its being the ancient casium, the only remaining question is, whether el arish is rhinocolura, or ostracine? a commentary of st. jerom, on the nineteenth chapter of isaiah, v. , suggests the possibility that the modern name el arish may be a corruption of the hebrew ares, which, as jerom observes, means [greek text], and alludes to ostracine. jerom was well acquainted with this country; but as the translators of isaiah have supposed the word not to have been ares, and as jerom does not state that ares was a name used in his time, the conjecture is not of much weight. it is impossible to reconcile the want of water so severely felt at ostracine (joseph. de bel. jud. l. , ad fin. plutarch, in m. anton. gregor. naz. ep. .), with el arish, where there are occasional torrents, and seldom any scarcity of well water, either there or at messudieh, two hours westward. ostracine, therefore, was probably near the [greek text] of the lagoon sirbonis, about mid-way between el arish and katieh, on the bank described by strabo (p. ), which separates the sirbonis from the sea. this maritime position of ostracine is confirmed by the march of titus, (joseph. ibid.) leaving the limits of the pelusiac territory, he moved across the desert on the first day, not to the modern katieh, but to the temple of jupiter, at mount casium, on the sea shore, at the cape now called ras kasaroun; on the second day to ostracine; on the third to rhinocolura; on the fourth to raphia; on the fifth to gaza. it will be seen by the map that these positions, as now settled, furnished exactly five convenient marches, the two longest being naturally through the desert of total privation, which lies between el arish and katieh. as the modern route, instead of following the sea shore, passes to the southward of the lagoon, the site of ostracine has not yet been explored. [p.viii]it would seem, from the evidence regarding petra which may be collected in ancient history, that neither in the ages prior to the [p.ix]commercial opulence of the nabataei, nor after they were deprived of it, was wady mousa the position of their principal town. when the macedonian greeks first became acquainted with this part of syria by means of the expedition which antigonus sent against the nabataei, under the command of his son demetrius, we are informed by diodorus that these arabs placed their old men, women, and children upon a certain rock [greek text], steep, unfortified by walls, admitting only of one access to the summit, and situated stades beyond the lake asphaltitis. [diod. sic. l. .c. , .] as this interval agrees with that of kerek from the southern extremity of the dead sea, and is not above half the distance of wady mousa from the same point; and as the other parts of the description are well adapted to kerek, while they are inapplicable to wady mousa, we can hardly doubt that kerek was at that time the fortress of the nabataei; and that during the first ages of the intercourse of that people with the greeks, it was known to the latter by the name petra, so often applied by them to barbarian hill-posts. when the effects of commerce required a situation better suited than kerek to the collected population and increased opulence of the nabataei, the appellation of petra was transferred to the new city at wady mousa, which place had before been known to the [p.x]greeks by the name of arce [greek text], a corruption perhaps of the hebrew rekem.[joseph. antiq. jud. l. ,c. .] to wady mousa, although of a very different aspect from kerek, the name petra was equally well adapted; and kerek then became distinguished among the greeks by its indigenous name, in the greek form of charax, to which the romans added that of omanorum, or kerek of ammon,[plin. hist. nat. l. ,c. .] to distinguish it from another kerek, now called kerek el shobak. the former kerek was afterwards restored by the christians to the jewish division of moab, to which, being south of the river arnon, it strictly belonged, and it was then called in greek charagmoba, under which name we find it mentioned as one of the cities and episcopal dioceses of the third palestine.[hierocl. synecd. notit. episc. graec.] when the stream of commerce which had enriched the nabataei had partly reverted to its old egyptian channel, and had partly taken the new course, which created a palmyra in the midst of a country still more destitute of the commonest gifts of nature, then arabia petraea,[a comparison of the architecture at wady mousa, and at tedmour, strengthens the opinion, that palmyra flourished at a period later than petra.] wady mousa was gradually depopulated. its river, however, and the intricate recesses of its rocky valleys, still attract and give security to a tribe of arabs; but the place being defensible only by considerable numbers, and being situated in a less fertile country than kerek, was less adapted to be the chief town of the nabataei, when they had returned to their natural state of divided wanderers or small agricultural communities. the greek bishopricks of the third palestine were obliterated by the musulman conquest, with the sole exception of the metropolitan petra, whose titular bishop still resides at jerusalem, and occasionally visits kerek, as being the only place in his province which contains [p.xi]a christian community. hence kerek has been considered the see of the bishoprick of petra, and hence has arisen the erroneous opinion often adopted by travellers from the christians of jerusalem, that kerek is the site of the ancient capital of arabia petraea. the haouran being only once mentioned in the sacred writings, [ezekiel. c. xlvii v. . ] was probably of inconsiderable extent under the jews, but enlarged its boundaries under the greeks and romans, by whom it was called auranitis. it has been still farther increased since that time, and now includes not only auranitis, but ituraea also, or ittur, of which djedour is perhaps a corruption; together with the greater part of basan, or batanaea, and trachonitis. burckhardt seems not to have been aware of the important comment upon trachonitis afforded by his description of the singular rocky wilderness of the ledja, and by the inscriptions which he copied at missema, in that district.[see p. , .] it appears from these inscriptions, that missema was anciently the town of the phaenesii, and the metrocomia or chief place of trachon, the descriptions of which district by strabo and josephus,[strabo, , . joseph. antiq. jud. l. ,c. .] are in exact conformity with that which burckhardt has given us of the ledja. from strabo and ptolemy,[strabo, ibid. ptolemy, l. ,c. .] we learn that trachonitis comprehended all the uneven country extending along the eastern side of the plain of haouran, from near damascus to boszra. it was in consequence of the predatory incursions of the arabs from the secure recesses of the ledja into the neighbouring plains, that augustus transferred the government of trachonitis from zenodorus, who was accused of encouraging them, to herod, king of judaea. [joseph. antiq. jud.l. ,c. . de bell. jud.l. ,c. .] the two trachones, into which trachonitis was divided, agree with the two natural divisions of the ledja and djebel haouran. [p.xii]oerman, an ancient ruin at the foot of the djebel haouran, to the east of boszra, appears from an inscription copied there by burckhardt, to be the site of philippopolis, a town founded by philip, emperor of rome, who was a native of boszra. another ancient name is found at hebran, in the same mountains, to the n.e. of boszra, where an inscription records the gratitude of the tribe of aeedeni to a roman veteran. the kelb haouran, or summit of the djebel haouran, appears to be the mount alsadamum of ptolemy.[ptolem.l. ,c. .] of the ancient towns just mentioned, philippopolis alone is noticed in ancient history; and although the name of phaeno occurs as a bishoprick of palestine, and that the adjective phaenesius is applied to some mines at that place [greek text], it seems evident that these phaenesii were different from those of trachon, and that they occupied a part of idumaea, between petra and the southern extremity of the dead sea.[reland. palaest. . , voce phaeno.] mezareib, a village and castle on the hadj route, appears to be the site of astaroth, the residence of og, king of bashan; [deuter. c.l.v. . josh. c.ix.v. .] for eusebius [euseb. onomast. in [greek text].] places astaroth at miles from adraa (or edrei, now draa,) between that place and abila (now abil), and at miles from bostra, a distance very nearly confirmed by the theodosian table, which gives roman miles between those two places. it will be seen by the map, that the position of mezareib conforms to all these particulars. the unfailing pool of the clearest water, which now attracts the men and cattle of all the surrounding country to mezareib in summer, must have made it a place of importance in ancient times, and therefore excited the wonder of our traveller at its having preserved only some very scanty relics of antiquity. although mount sinai, and the deserts lying between that peninsula [p.xiii]and judaea, have not, like the latter country, preserved many of the names of holy scripture, the new information of burckhardt contains many facts in regard to their geography and natural history, which may be useful in tracing the progress of the israelites from egypt into syria. the bitter well of howara, hours southward of ayoun mousa, corresponds as well in situation as in the quality of its water, with the well of marah, at which the israelites arrived after passing through a desert of three days from the place near suez where they had crossed the red sea.[exodus, c.xiv. xv. numbers. c.xxxiii.] the wady gharendel, two hours beyond howara, where are wells among date trees, seems evidently to be the station named elim, which was next to marah, and at which the israelites found "twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees." [exodus, c.xv. numbers, c.xxxiii.] and it is remarkable, that the wady el sheikh, and the upper part of the wady feiran, the only places in the peninsula where manna is gathered from below the tamarisk trees, accord exactly with that part of the desert of sin, in which moses first gave his followers the sweet substance gathered in the morning, which was to serve them for bread during their long wandering;[exodus, c.xvi.] for the route through wady taybe, wady feiran, and wady el sheikh, is the only open and easy passage to mount sinai from wady gharendel; and it requires the traveller to pass for some distance along the sea shore after leaving gharendel, as we are informed that the israelites actually did, on leaving elim.[numbers, c.xxxiii.v. , .] the upper region of sinai, which forms an irregular circle of or miles in diameter, possessing numerous sources of water, a temperate climate, and a soil capable of supporting animal and vegetable nature, was the part of the peninsula best adapted to [p.xiv]the residence of near a year, during which the israelites were numbered and received their laws. about the beginning of may, in the fourteenth month from the time of their departure from egypt, the children of israel quitted the vicinity of mount horeb, and under the guidance of hohab, the midianite, brother- in-law of moses, marched to kadesh, a place on the frontiers of canaan, of edom, and of the desert of paran or zin.[numbers, c.x. et seq. and c. . deuter. c.i.] not long after their arrival, "at the time of the 'first ripe grapes,'" or about the beginning of august, spies were sent into every part of the cultivated country, as far north as hamah.[numbers, c.xiii. deuter. c.i.] the report which they brought back was no less favourable to the fertility of the land, than it was discouraging by its description of the warlike spirit and preparation of the inhabitants, and of the strength of the fortified places; and the israelites having in consequence refused to follow their leaders into canaan, were punished by that long wandering in the deserts lying between egypt, judaea, and mount sinai, of which the sacred historian has not left us any details, but the tradition of which is still preserved in the name of el tyh, annexed to the whole country; both to the desert plains, and to the mountains lying between them and mount sinai. in the course of their residence in the neighbourhood of kadesh, the israelites obtained some advantages over the neighbouring canaanites,[numbers, c.xxi.] but giving up at length all hope of penetrating by the frontier, which lies between gaza and the dead sea, they turned to the eastward, with a view of making a circuit through the countries on the southern and eastern sides of the lake. [numbers, c.xx, xxi.] here however, they found the difficulty still greater; mount seir of edom, which under the modern names of djebal, shera, and hesma, [p.xv]forms a ridge of mountains, extending from the southern extremity of the dead sea to the gulf of akaba, rises abruptly from the valleys el ghor and el araba, and is traversed from west to east by a few narrow wadys only, among which the ghoeyr alone furnishes an entrance that would not be extremely difficult to a hostile force. this perhaps was the "high way," by which moses, aware of the difficulty of forcing a passage, and endeavouring to obtain his object by negotiation, requested the edomites to let him pass, on the condition of his leaving the fields and vineyards untouched, and of purchasing provisions and water from the inhabitants.[numbers, c.xx. deuter, c.i.] but edom "refused to give israel passage through his border," and "came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand."[numbers, c.xx.] the situation of the israelites therefore, was very critical. unable to force their way in either direction, and having enemies on three sides; (the edomites in front, and the canaanites, and amalekites on their left flank and rear,) no alternative remained for them but to follow the valley el araba southwards, towards the head of the red sea. at mount hor, which rises abruptly from that valley, "by the coast of the land of edom,"[numbers, ibid.] aaron died, and was buried in the conspicuous situation, which tradition has preserved as the site of his tomb to the present day. israel then "journeyed from mount hor, by the way of the red sea, to compass the land of edom,"[numbers, c.xxi.] "through the way of the plain from elath, and from eziongeber," until "they turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of moab, and arrived at the brook zered."[deuter, c.ii.] it may be supposed that they crossed the ridge to the southward of eziongeber, about the place where burckhardt remarked, from the opposite coast, that the mountains were lower than to the northward, and it [p.xvi] was in this part of their wandering that they suffered from the serpents, of which our traveller observed the traces of great numbers on the opposite shore of the aelanitic gulf. the israelites then issued into the great elevated plains which are traversed by the egyptian and syrian pilgrims, on the way to mekka, after they have passed the two akabas. having entered these plains, moses received the divine command, "you have compassed this mountain long enough, turn you northward."--"ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of esau, which dwell in seir, and they shall be afraid of you." [deuter, c.ii.] the same people who had successfully repelled the approach of the israelites from the strong western frontier, was alarmed now that they had come round upon the weak side of the country. but israel was ordered "not to meddle" with the children of esau, but "to pass through their coast" and to "buy meat and water from them for money," in the same manner as the caravan of mekka is now supplied by the people of the same mountains, who meet the pilgrims on the hadj route. after traversing the wilderness on the eastern side of moab, the israelites at length entered that country, crossing the brook zered in the thirty-eighth year, from their first arrival at kadesh barnea, "when all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host."[deuter, c.ii.] after passing through the centre of moab, they crossed the arnon, entered ammon, and were at length permitted to begin the overthrow of the possessors of the promised land, by the destruction of sihon the amorite, who dwelt at heshbon.[numbers, c.xxi. deuter, c.ii.] the preservation of the latter name, and of those of diban, medaba, aroer, amman, together with the other geographical facts derived from the journey of burckhardt through the countries beyond the dead sea, furnishes a most satisfactory illustration of the sacred historians. [p.xvii]it remains for the editor only to add, that while correcting the foreign idiom of his author, and making numerous alterations in the structure of the language, he has been as careful as posible not to injure the originality of the composition, stamped as it is with the simplicity, good sense, and candour, inseparable from the author's character. in the editor's wish, however, to preserve this originality, he cannot flatter himself that incorrect expressions may not sometimes have been left. in regard to the greek inscriptions, he thinks it necessary only to remark, that although the propriety of furnishing the reader with fac-similes of all such interesting relicts of ancient history cannot in general be doubted, yet in the present instance, the trouble and expense which it would have occasioned, would hardly have been compensated by the importance of the monuments themselves, or by the degree of correctness with which they were copied by the traveller. they have therefore been printed in a type nearly resembling the greek characters which were in use at the date of the inscriptions, and the editor has taken the liberty of separating the words, and of supplying in the small cursive greek character, the defective parts of the traveller's copies. the editor takes this opportunity of stating, that in consequence of some discoveries in african geography, which have been made known since the publication of burckhardt's travels in nubia, he has made some alterations in the maps of the second edition of that work. the observations of captain lyon have proved morzouk to be situated a degree and a half to the southward of the position formerly assigned to it, and his enquiries having at the same time confirmed the bearing and distance between morzouk and bornou, as reported by former travellers, a corresponding change will follow in the latitude of bornou, as well as in the [p.xviii]position of the places on the route leading to those two cities from the countries of the nile. a journey into nubia, by the earl of belmore, and his brother, the hon. capt. corry, has furnished some latitudes and longitudes, serving to correct the map of "the course of the nile, from assouan to the confines of dongola", which the editor constructed from the journals of burckhardt, without the assistance of any celestial observatians. the error in the map as to the most distant point observed by lord belmore is however so small, that it has not been thought necessary to make any alteration in that map for the second edition of burckhardt's journey in nubia; but the whole delineation of this part of the nile will be corrected from the recent observations, in a new edition of the supplement to the editor's general map of egypt. since the journey of lord belmore, mr. waddington and mr. hanbury, taking advantage of an expedition sent into aethiopia by the viceroy of egypt, have prolonged the examination of the nile four hundred miles beyond the extreme point reached by burckhardt; and some french gentlemen have continued to follow the army as far as sennaar. the presence of a turkish army in that country will probably furnish greater facilities for exploring the bahr el abiad, or western branch of the nile, than have ever before been presented to travellers; there is reason to hope, that the opportunity will not be neglected, and thus a survey of this celebrated river from its sources to the mediterranean, may, perhaps, at length be made, if not for the first time, for the first time at least since the extinction of egyptian science. the expedition of the pasha of egypt has already produced some important additions to african geography. by permission of mr. waddington, the editor has corrected, from that gentleman's delineation, the parts of the nile above mahass, for the second [p.xix] edition of burckhardt's nubia, and from the information transmitted to england by mr. salt, he has been enabled to insert in the same map, the position of the ruins of an ancient city situated about miles to the north-eastward of shendy. these ruins had already been partially seen by bruce and burckhardt, [burckhardt passed through the vestiges of what seems to have been a dependency of this city on the nile, at seven hours to the north of shendy, and two hours to the south of djebail; the latter name, which is applied by burckhardt to a large village on a range of hills, is evidently the same as the mount gibbainy, where bruce observed the same ruins, which have now been more completely explored by m. cailliaud. see travels in nubia, p. . bruce's travels, vol. iv. p. , to.] and there can be little doubt that bruce was right in supposing them to be the remains of meroe, the capital of the great peninsula of the same name, of which the general geography appears to have been known with considerable accuracy to men of science in the augustan age, although it had not been visited by any of the writers whose works have reached us. for, assuming [to illustrate the following observations, as well as some of the preceding, a small drawing of the course of the nile is inserted in the margin of the map of syria which accompanies the present volume.] these ruins to mark the site of the city meroe, and that the latitude and longitude of shendy have been accurately determined by bruce, whose instruments were good, and whose competency to the task of observation is undoubted, it will be found that ptolemy is very nearly right in ascribing the latitude of . to the city meroe.[ptolem. l. ,c. .] pliny [plin. hist. nat. l. ,c. .] is equally correct in stating that the two points of the ecliptic, in which the sun is in the zenith at meroe, are the th degree of taurus, and the th degree of leo. the stades which strabo[strabo, p. .] and pliny [plin. ibid.] we learn from another passage in pliny, (l. ,c. ,) that the persons sent by nero to explore the nile, measured miles, "by the river", from syene to meroe.] assert to be the distance between meroe and syene is correct, at a rate of between and [p.xx]stades to the geographical mile; if the line be taken in direct distance, as evidently appears to have been the intention of strabo, by his thrice stating (upon the authority of eratosthenes,) that the distance from meroe to alexandria was , stades.[eratosth. ap. strab. p. . strabo, p. , .] the latitudes of ptolemy equally accord in shewing the equidistance of syene from meroe and from alexandria; the latitude of syene being stated by him at - ,[ptolem. l. ,c. .] and that of alexandria at - . [ptolem. ibid.] the description of the island of meroe as being stades long, and broad, in form like a shield, and as formed by the confluence of the astasobas, astapus, and astaboras,[eratosth. ap. strab. p. . strab. p. . diodor. sic. l.l,c. . heliodor. aethiop. l. ,c. ] is perfectly applicable to the great peninsula watered on the east by the tacazze, and on the west by the bahr el abiad, after receiving the bahr el azrek. the position of the city meroe is shewn by artemidorus, ptolemy, and pliny,[artemid. ap. strab. p. . ptolem. l. ,c. . plin. hist. nat. l. ,c. .] to have been, like the ruins near shendy, near the northern angle of the island, or the confluence of the rivers. the island between djebail and shendy which bruce calls kurgos, answers to that which pliny describes as the port of meroe; and finally, the distance of " days to a good walker," which artemidorus [artemid. ibid.] places between meroe and the sea, giving a rate of about english miles a-day, in direct distance, is a correct statement of the actual distance between the ruins near shendy and souakin. [it is fair to remark, that there are two authorities which tend to place the city of meroe or miles to the southward of the ruins near shendy. eratosthenes states it to have been at stades, and pliny at miles above the confluence. but it is rare indeed to find a coincidence of many ancient authorities in a question where numbers are concerned, unless one author has borrowed from another, which is probably the case in regard to the two just quoted.] [p.xxi]it will hardly be contested, that the modern name of merawe, which is found attached to a town near the ruins of an ancient city, discovered by messrs. waddington and hanbury in the country of the sheygya, is sufficient to overthrow the strong evidence just stated. it may rather be inferred, that the greek meroe was formed from a word signifying "city" in the ancient aethiopic language, which has continued up to the present time, to be attached to the site of one of the chief cities on the banks of the nile,--thus resembling in its origin many names of places in various countries, which from simple nouns expressive in the original language of objects or their qualities, such as city, mountain, river, sacred, white, blue, black, have been converted by foreigners into proper names. the ruins near merawe seem to those of napata, the chief town of the country intermediate between meroe and egypt, and which was taken by the praefect petronius, in the reign of augustus, when it was the capital of queen candace;[ptolem. l. ,c. . strabo, p. . plin. hist. nat.l. ,c. .] for pliny, on the authority of the persons sent by nero to explore the river above syene, states roman miles to have been the interval between syene and napata, and miles to have been that between napata and meroe, which distances correspond more nearly than could have been expected with the real distances between assouan, merawe, and shendy, taken along the general curve of the river, without considering the windings in detail.[we must not, however, too confidently pronounce on real distances until we possess a few more positions fixed by astronomical observations.] the island of argo, from its extent, its important ruins, its fertility, as well as from the similarity of name, seems to be the gora, of juba,[ap. plin. ibid.] or the gagaudes, which the explorers of nero reported to be situated at miles below napata. [p.xxii]in placing napata at the ruins near mérawe, it is necessary to abandon the evidence of ptolemy, whose latitude of napata is widely different from that of merawe; and as we also find, that he is considerably in error, in regard to the only point between syene and meroe, hitherto ascertained, namely, the great cataract, which he places minutes to the north of wady halfa, still less can we rely upon his authority for the position of the obscurer towns. although the extreme northern point to which the nile descends below berber, before it turns to the south, is not yet accurately determined in latitude, nor the degree of southern latitude which the river reaches before it finally takes the northern course, which it continues to the mediterranean, we cannot doubt that eratosthenes had received a tolerably correct account of its general course from the egyptians, notwithstanding his incorrectness in regard to the proportionate length of the great turnings of the river. "the nile," he says "after having flowed to the north from meroe for the space of stades, turns to the south and southwest for stades, entering very far into lybia, until it arrives in the latitude of meroe; then making a new turn, it flows to the north for the space of stades, to the great cataract, whence inclining a little eastward, it traverses stades to the small cataract of syene, and then stades to the sea.[ap. strab. p. . the only mode of reconciling these numbers to the truth, is to suppose the three first of them to have been taken with all the windings of the stream, the two last in a direct line, and even then they cannot be very accurate.] the nile receives two rivers, which descending from certain lakes surround the great island of meroe. that which flows on the eastern side is called astaboras, the other is the astapus, though some say it is the astasobas," &c. this ambiguity, it is hardly necessary to observe, was caused by the greater magnitude of the astasobas, or bahr el abiad, or white [p.xxiii] river, which caused it to give name to the united stream after its junction with the astapus, or bahr el azrek, or blue river; and hence pliny,[plin. hist. nat. l. ,c. .] in speaking of meroe, does not say that it was formed by the astapus, but by the astasobas. in fact, the astapus forms the boundary of the island, as it was called, on the s.w. the astasobas, or united stream, on the n.w. william martin leake, acting secretary of the african association. errata. [not included] contents. journal of a tour from damascus, in the countries of the libanus and anti-libanus ...................................page journal of an excursion into the haouran, in the autumn and winter of ,................................................. journal of a tour from aleppo to damascus, through the valley of the orontes and mount libanus, in february and march, ........................................................... journal of a tour from damascus into the haouran, and the mountains to the e. and s.e. of the lake of tiberias, in the months of april and may, .................................. description of a journey from damascus through the mountains of arabia petraea and desert el ty, to cairo, in the summer of ........................................................ journal of a tour in the peninsula of mount sinai, in the spring of ........................................................ appendix. no. i. an account of the ryhanlu turkmans....................... no. ii. on the political division of syria, and the recent changes in the government of aleppo............................ no. iii. the hadj route from damascus to mekka.................... no. iv. description of the route from boszra in the haouran, to djebel shammor.............................................. no. v. a route to the eastward of the castle el hasa............. travels in syria, and the holy land. journal of a tour from damascus countries of the libanus, and anti-libanus. september , .--i left damascus at four o'clock p.m. with a small caravan destined for tripoli; passed salehíe, and beyond it a kubbe,[kubbe, a cupola supported by columns or walls; the sepulchre of a reputed saint.] from whence i had, near sun-set, a most beautiful view of the city of damascus and its surrounding country. from the kubbe, the road passes along the left side of the valley in which the barrada runs, over uneven ground, which for the greater part is barren rock. after a ride of two hours and a quarter from salehie, we descended to the river's side, and passed the djissr [djissr--bridge.] wady barrada [p. ]dumar; on the other side of which we encamped. it is a well-built bridge, with two archies, at twenty minutes distance from the village dumar. september .--we set off before daylight, crossing the mountains, in one of whose wadys[wady--valley.] the barrada winds along; we crossed it repeatedly, and after two hours arrived at the village eldjdide [arabic], built on the declivity of a hill near the source of one of the numerous rivulets that empty themselves into the barrada. one hour and three quarters further, we descended into the wady barrada, near two villages, built on either side of the river, opposite to each other, called souk barrada.[souk (market) is an appellation often added to villages, which have periodical markets.] the valley of the barrada, up to djissr barrada, is full of fruit trees; and where its breadth permits, dhourra and wheat are sown. half an hour further, is husseine, a small village in the lower part of the valley. three-quarters of an hour, el souk; here the wady begins to be very narrow. a quarter of an hour beyond, turning round a steep rock, the valley presents a very wild and picturesque aspect. to the left, in the mountain, are six chambers cut in the rock; said to be the work of christians, to whom the greater part of the ancient structures in syria are ascribed. the river was not fordable here; and it would have taken me at least two hours to reach, by a circuitous route, the opposite mountains. a little way higher up is the djissr el souk, at the termination of the wady; this bridge was built last year, as appears by an arabic inscription on the rock near it. from the bridge the road leads up the side of the mountain, and enters, after half an hour's ride, upon a plain country. the river has a pretty cascade, near which are zebdeni [p. ] the remains of a bridge. the above mentioned plain is about three- quarters of an hour in breadth, and three hours in length; it is called ard zebdeni, or the district of zebdeni; it is watered by the barrada, one of whose sources is in the midst of it; and by the rivulet called moiet[moye--water.] zebdeni [arabic], whose source is in the mountain, behind the village of the same name. the latter river, which empties itself into the barrada, has, besides the source in the ard zebdeni, another of an equal size near fidji, in a side branch of the wady barrada, half an hour from the village husseine. the fall of the river is very rapid. we followed the plain of zebdeni from one end to the other: it is limited on one side by the eastern part of the anti- libanus, called here djebel zebdeni. its cultivable ground is waste till near the village of beroudj [arabic], where i saw plantations of mulberry trees, which seemed to be well taken care of. half an hour from beroudj is the village of zebdeni [arabic], and between them the ruined khan benduk (the bastard khan). zebdeni is a considerable village; its inhabitants breed cattle, and the silk-worm, and have some dyeing houses. i had a letter for the sheikh of zebdeni from a damascene; the sheikh ordered me an argile[argile--a persian pipe, in which the smoke passes through water.] and a cup of coffee, but went to supper with his household, without inviting me to join them. this being considered an insult, i left his house and went to sup with the muleteers, with whom i slept upon an open piece of ground before a ruined bath, in the midst of the village. the inhabitants of zebdeni are three-fourths turks, and the remainder greek catholics; it is a place much frequented by those passing from damascus to the mountain. september .--left the village before day-light and crossed the anti- libanus, at the foot of which zebdeni lies. this chain of el kanne [p. ] mountains is, by the inhabitants of the bekaa and the belad [belad--district, province.] baalbec, called djebel[djebel--mountain.] essharki (or the eastern mountain), in opposition to djebel el gharbi, the western mountain, otherwise called djebel libnan (libanus); but that part of it which lies nearer to zebdeni than to the great valley, is called djebel zebdeni. we travelled for the greater part of the morning upon the mountain. its rock is primitive calcareous, of a fine grain; upon the highest part i found a sandy slate: on the summit and on the eastern side of this part of the anti-libanus there are many spots, affording good pasturage, where a tribe of turkmans sometimes feed their cattle. it abounds also in short oak trees [arabic], of which i saw none higher than twelve or fifteen feet. our road lay n.w. two hours and a half from zebdeni we passed a spot with several wells, called bir[bir-- well.] anhaur, or bekai. the western declivity of the mountain, towards the district of baalbec, is completely barren, without pasture or trees. after five hours and three quarters riding we descended into the plain, near the half-ruined village of el kanne [arabic], and passed the river of el kanne, whose source is at three hours distance, in the mountain. it empties itself into the liettani, in the plain, two hours below kanne. i here left the caravan and took a guide to zahle, where i meant to stay a few days. our way lay w.b.n. across the plain; passed the village el nahrien haoush hale, consisting of miserable mud cottages. the plain is almost totally uncultivated. passed the liettani [arabic] at two hours from el kanne. half an hour, on the other side of it, is the village kerak, at the foot of the djebel sannin; it consists of about one hundred and fifty-houses and has some gardens in the plain, which are watered by a branch of the berdoun, or river of zahle. kerak is entirely inhabited by turks; it belongs to: zahle [p. ] the dominions of the emir of the druses, who some years ago took it by force from the emir of baalbec. on the southern side of the village is a mosque, and adjoining to it a long building, on the eastern side of which are the ruins of another mosque, with a kubbe still remaining. the long building contains, under a flat roof, the pretended tomb of noah [arabic]; it consists of a tomb-stone above ten feet long, three broad and two high, plastered all over; the direction of its length is s.e. and n.w. the turks visit the grave, and pretend that noah is really buried there. at half an hour from kerak is the town of zahle [arabic], built in an inlet of the mountain, on a steep ascent, surrounded with kerums (vineyards). the river berdoun [arabic] here issues from a narrow valley into the plain and waters the gardens of zahle. september th.--took a walk through the town with sheikh hadj farakh. there are eight or nine hundred houses, which daily increase, by fugitives from the oppressions of the pashas of damascus and of the neighbouring petty tyrants. twenty-five years ago there were only two hundred houses at zahle: it is now one of the principal towns in the territory of the emir beshir. it has its markets, which are supplied from damascus and beirout, and are visited by the neighbouring fellahs, and the arabs el naim, and el harb, and el faddel, part of whom pass the winter months in the bekaa, and exchange their butter against articles of dress, and tents, and horse and camel furniture. the inhabitants, who may amount to five thousand, are all catholic greeks, with the exception only of four or five turkish families. the christians have a bishop, five churches and a monastery, the turks have no mosque. the town belongs to the territory of the druses, and is under the authority of the emir beshir, but a part of it still belongs to the family of aamara, whose influence, formerly very [p. ] great in the mountain, has lately been so much circumscribed by the emir, that the latter is now absolute master of the town. the emir receives the miri, which is commonly the double of its original assessment (in belad baalbec it is the triple), and besides the miri, he makes occasional demands upon the town at large. they had paid him forty-five purses a few weeks before my arrival. so far the emir beshir's government resembles perfectly that of the osmanlys in the eastern part of syria: but there is one great advantage which the people enjoy under his command--an almost complete exemption from all personal exactions, and the impartiality of justice, which is dealt out in the same manner to the christian and to the turk. it is curious, that the peace of so numerous a body should be maintained without any legal power whatsoever. there is neither sheikh nor governor in the town; disputes are settled by the friends of the respective parties, or if the latter are obstinate, the decision is referred to the tribunal of the emir beshir, at deir el kammar. the inhabitants, though not rich, are, in general, in independent circumstances; each family occupies one, or at most two rooms. the houses are built of mud; the roofs are supported by one or two wooden posts in the midst of the principal room, over which beams of pine-wood are laid across each other; upon these are branches of oak trees, and then the earth, which forms the flat terrace of the house. in winter the deep snow would soon break through these feeble roofs, did not the inhabitants take care, every morning, to remove the snow that may have fallen during the night. the people gain their subsistence, partly by the cultivation of their vineyards and a few mulberry plantations, or of their fields in the bekaa, and partly by their shops, by the commerce in kourdine sheep, and their manufactures. almost every family weaves cotton cloth, which is used as shirts by the inhabitants and [p. ] arabs, and when dyed blue, as kombazes, or gowns, by the men. there are more than twenty dyeing houses in zahle, in which indigo only is employed. the pike [the pike is a linear measure, equal to two feet english, when used for goods of home manufacture, and twenty-seven inches for foreign imported commodities.] of the best of this cotton cloth, a pike and a half broad, costs fifty paras, (above s. d. english). the cotton is brought from belad safad and nablous. they likewise fabricate abbayes, or woollen mantles. there are above one hundred horsemen in the town. in june , when the emir beshir joined with his corps the army of soleiman pasha, to depose youssef pasha, he took from zahle men, armed with firelocks. on the west side of the town, in the bottom of the wady, lies the monastery of mar elias, inhabited by a prior and twenty monks. it has extensive grape and mulberry plantations, and on the river side a well cultivated garden, the products of which are sold to the town's people. the prior received me with great arrogance, because i did not stoop to kiss his hands, a mark of respect which the ecclesiastics of this country are accustomed to receive. the river of zahle, or berdoun, forms the frontier of the bekaa, which it separates from the territory belonging to the emir of baalbec, called belad baalbec; so that whatever is northward from the bridge of the berdoun, situated in the valley, a quarter of an hour below zahle, belongs to belad baalbec; and whatever is south-ward, to the bekaa. since soleiman pasha has governed damascus, the authority of the emir beshir has been in some measure extended over the bekaa, but i could not inform myself of the distinct laws by which it had been regulated. the pashas of damascus, and the emir beshirs, have for many years been in continual dispute about their rights over the villages of the bekaa. andjar [p. ] following up the berdoun into the mountain, are the villages of atein, heraike, and another in the vicinity of zahle. september .--on the night of the th to the th, was the aid essalib, or feast of the cross, the approach of which was celebrated by repeated discharges of musquets and the lighting of numerous fires, which illuminated all the mountains around the town and the most conspicuous parts of the town itself. i rode to andjar [arabic], on the eastern side of the bekaa, in a direction south-east by south, two hours and a half good walking from zahle. i found several encampments of the arabs naim and faddel in the plain. in one hour and a quarter, passed the liettani, near an ancient arched bridge; it had very little water: not the sixth part of the plain is cultivated here. the place called andjar lies near the anti-libanus, and consists of a ruined town-wall, inclosing an oblong square of half an hour in circumference; the greater part of the wall is in ruins. it was originally about twelve feet thick, and constructed with small unhewn stones, loosely cemented and covered by larger square stones, equally ill cemented. in the enclosed space are the ruins of habitations, of which the foundations alone remain. in one of these buildings are seen the remains of two columns of white marble, one foot and a quarter in diameter. the whole seems to have been constructed in modern times. following the mountain to the southward of these ruins, for twenty minutes, i came to the place where the moiet andjar, or river of andjar, has its source in several springs. this river had, when i saw it, more than triple the volume of water of the liettani; but though it joins the latter in the bekaa, near djissr temnin, the united stream retains the name liettani. there are remains of ancient well-built walls round all the springs which constitute the source of the andjar; one of the springs, in particular, [p. ]which forms a small but very deep basin, has been lined to the bottom with large stones, and the wall round it has been constructed with large square stones, which have no traces of ever having been cemented together. in the wall of a mill, which has been built very near these springs, i saw a sculptured architrave. these remains appear to be much more ancient than those of andjar, and are perhaps coeval with the buildings at baalbec. i was told, by the people of the mill, that the water of the larger spring, in summer time, stops at certain periods and resumes its issue from under the rock, eight or ten times in a day. further up in the mountain, above the spring, is a large cavern where the people sometimes collect saltpetre; but it is more abundant in a cavern still higher in the mountain. following the road northward on the chain of the anti-libanus, half an hour from these springs, i met with another copious spring; and a little higher, a third; one hour further, is a fourth, which i did not visit. near the two former are traces of ancient walls. the waters of all these sources join in moiet andjar, and they are all comprised under the appellation of the springs of moiet andjar [arabic]. they are partly covered with rushes, and are much frequented by water fowls, and wild boars also resort to them in great numbers. august th.--being disappointed in my object of proceeding to baalbec, i passed the day in the shop of one of the petty merchants of zahle, and afterwards supped with him. the sales of the merchants are for the greater part upon credit; even those to the arabs for the most trifling sums. the common interest of money is percent. august th.--set out in the afternoon for baalbec, with a native of that place, who had been established with his family at zahle, for several years. passed the villages of kerak, abla, temnin, beit baalbec [p. ]shaeme, haoush el rafka, tel hezin, and arrived, after seven hours, at baalbec.[the following are the names of villages in belad baalbec, between baalbec and zahle. on the libanus, or on the declivity near its foot; kerak, fursul, nieha, nebi eily, temnin foka (the upper temnin) bidneil, smustar, hadad tareie, nebi ershaedi, kefferdein saide, budei, deir akhmar, deir eliaout, sulife, btedai. in the plain; abla, temnin tahte (the lower temnin) ksarnabe, beit shaeme, gferdebesh, haoush el rafka, haoush el nebi, haoush esseneid, telhezin (with a copious spring), medjdeloun, haoush barada, haoush tel safie, tel wardin, sergin, ain, ouseie, haoush mesreie, bahami, duris, yead. on the anti-libanus, or near its foot; briteil, tallie, taibe, khoreibe, el aoueine, nebi shit, marrabun, mouze, kanne, deir el ghazal, reia, hushmush. all these villages are inhabited by turks or metawelis; abla and fursul are the only christian villages. i subjoin the villages in the plain to the n. of baalbec, belonging to the territory of baalbec. on the libanus; nebba, essafire, harbate. on the plain; tunin, shaet, ras el haded, leboue, el kaa. anti-libanus, and at its foot: nahle, el ain, nebi oteman, fiki, erzel, mukra, el ras.] the territory of baalbec extends, as i have before mentioned, down to the bekaa. on the eastern side it comprises the mountain of the anti- libanus, or djebel essharki, up to its top; and on the western side, the libanus likewise, as far as its summits. in the plain it reaches as far as el kaa, twelve hours from baalbec and fourteen hours from homs, where the anti-libanus terminates, and where the valley between the two mountains widens considerably, because the anti-libanus there takes a more eastern direction. this district is abundantly watered by rivulets; almost every village has its spring, all of which descend into the valley, where most of them lose themselves, or join the liettani, whose source is between zahle and baalbec, about two hours from the latter place, near a hill called tel hushben. the earth is extremely fertile, but is still less cultivated than in the bekaa. even so late as twelve years ago, the plain, and a part of the mountain, to the distance of a league and a half round the town, were covered with grape plantations; the oppressions of the governors, [p. ]and their satellites have now entirely destroyed them; and the inhabitants of baalbec, instead of eating their own grapes, which were renowned for their superior flavour, are obliged to import them from fursul and zahle. the government of baalbec has been for many years in the hands of the family of harfush, the head family of the metaweli of syria.[the metaweli are of the sect of ali, like the persians; they have more than houses at damascus, but they conform there to the rites of the orthodox mohammedans.] in later times, two brothers, djahdjah and sultan, have disputed with each other the possession of the government; more than fifteen individuals of their own family have perished in these contests, and they have dispossessed each other by turns, according to the degree of friendship or enmity which the pashas of damascus bore to the one or the other. during the reign of youssef pasha, sultan was emir; as soon as soleiman was in possession of damascus, sultan was obliged to fly, and in august, , his brother djahdjah returned to his seat, which he had already once occupied. he pays a certain annual sum to the pasha, and extorts double its amount from the peasant. the emir beshir has, since the reign of soleiman pasha, likewise acquired a certain influence over baalbec, and is now entitled to the yearly sum of fifteen purses from this district. the emir djahdjah resides at baalbec, and keeps there about metaweli horsemen, whom he equips and feeds out of his own purse. he is well remembered by several europeans, especially english travellers, for his rapacity, and inhospitable behaviour. the first object which strikes the traveller arriving from the bekaa, is a temple [this temple is not seen in approaching baalbec from damascus.] in the plain, about half an hour's walk from the town, which has received from the natives the appellation of kubbet duris. volney has not described this temple. it is an [p. ]octagon building supported by eight beautiful granite columns, which are all standing. they are of an order resembling the doric; the capitals project very little over the shaft, which has no base. over every two pillars lies one large stone, forming the architrave, over which the cornice is still visible, very little adorned with sculpture. the roof has fallen in. on the n.w. side, between two of the columns, is an insulated niche, of calcareous stone, projecting somewhat beyond the circumference of the octagon, and rising to about two feet below the roof. the granite of the columns is particularly beautiful, the feldspath and quartz being mixed with the hornblende in large masses. the red feldspath predominates. one of the columns is distinguished from the rest by its green quartz. we could not find any traces of inscriptions. september th.--i took lodgings in a small room belonging to the catholic priest, who superintends a parish of twenty-five christian families. this being near the great temple, i hastened to it in the morning, before any body was apprised of my arrival. the work of wood, who accompanied dawkins to baalbec in , and the subsequent account of the place given by volney, who visited baalbec in , render it unnecessary for me to enter into any description of these ruins. i shall only observe that volney is incorrect in describing the rock of which the buildings are constructed as granite; it is of the primitive calcareous kind, but harder than the stone of tedmor. there are, however, many remains of granite columns in different parts of the building. i observed no greek inscriptions; there were some few in latin and in arabic; and i copied the following cufic inscription on the side of a stair-case, leading down into some subterranean [p. ]chambers below the small temple, which the emir has walled up to prevent a search for hidden treasures. [cufic inscription] having seen, a few months before, the ruins of tedmor, a comparison between these two renowned remains of antiquity naturally offered itself to my mind. the entire view of the ruins of palmyra, when seen at a certain distance, is infinitely more striking than those of baalbec, but there is not any one spot in the ruins of tedmor so imposing as the interior view of the temple of baalbec. the temple of the sun at tedmor is upon a grander scale than that of baalbec, but it is choked up with arab houses, which admit only of a view of the building in detail. the archilecture of baalbec is richer than that of tedmor. the walls of the ancient city may still be traced, and include a larger space than the present town ever occupied, even in its most flourishing state. its circuit may be between three and four miles. on the e. and n. sides the gates of the modern town, formed in the ancient wall, still remain entire, especially the northern gate; it is a narrow arch, and comparatively very small. i suppose it to be of saracen origin. [p. ] the women of baalbec are esteemed the handsomest of the neighbouring country, and many damascenes marry baalbec girls. the air of belad baalbec and the bekaa, however, is far from being healthy. the chain of the libanus interrupts the course of the westerly winds, which are regular in syria during the summer months; and the want of these winds renders the climate extremely hot and oppressive. september th.--i again visited the ruins this morning. the emir had been apprised of my arrival by his secretary, to whom i had a letter of recommendation. he sent the secretary to ask whether i had any presents for him; i answered in the negative, but delivered to him a letter, which the jew bankers of the pasha of damascus had given me for him; these jews being men of great influence. he contented himself with replying that as i had no presents for him, it was not necessary that i should pay him my respects; but he left me undisturbed in my pursuits, which was all i wanted. near a well, on the s. side of the town, between the temple and the mountain, i found upon a stone the following inscription; c. cassivs arrianvs monvmentvm sibi -oco svo vivvs fecit in the afternoon i made a tour in the invirons of baalbec. at the foot of the anti-libanus, a quarter of an hour's walk from the town, to the south is a quarry, where the places are still visible from whence several of the large stones in the south wall of the castle were extracted; one large block is yet remaining, cut on three sides, ready to be transported to the building, but it must be done by other hands than those of the metaweli. two other blocks, cut in [p. ]like manner, are standing upright at a little distance from each other; and near them, in the rock, are two small excavated tombs, with three niches in each, for the dead, in a style of workmanship similar to what i saw to the north of aleppo, in the turkman mountains towards deir samaan. in the hills, to the s.w. of the town, just behind this quarry, are several tombs, excavated in the rock, like the former, but of larger dimensions. in following the quarry towards the village of duris, numerous natural caverns are met with in the calcareous rocks; i entered more than a dozen of them, but found no traces of art, except a few seats or steps rudely cut out. these caverns serve at present as winter habitations for the arabs who pasture their cattle in this district. the principal quarry was a full half hour to the southward of the town. the mountains above baalbec are quite uncultivated and barren, except at the ras el ain, or sources of the river of baalbec, where a few trees only remain. this is a delightful place, and is famous amongst the inhahitants of the adjoining districts for the salubrity of its air and water. near the ain, are the ruins of a church and mosque. the ruined town of baalbec contains about seventy metaweli families, and twenty-five of catholic christians. amidst its ruins are two handsome mosques, and a fine bath. the emir lives in a spacious building called the serai. the inhabitants fabricate white cotton cloth like that of zahle; they have some dyeing houses, and had, till within a few years, some tanneries. the men are the artizans here, and not the women. the property of the people consists chiefly of cows, of which every house has ten or fifteen, besides goats and sheep. the goats are of a species not common in other parts of syria; they have very long ears, large horns, and long hair, but not silky like that of the goats of anatolia. [p. ]the breed of baalbec mules is much esteemed, and i have seen some of them worth on the spot £ to £ . sterling. october st.--after having again visited the ruins, i engaged a man in the forenoon, to shew me the way to the source of the rivulet called djoush [arabic]. it is in a wady in the anti-libanus, three quarters of an hour distant from baalbec. the rivulet was very small, owing to the remarkable dryness of the season, and was lost in the wady before it reached the plain; at other times it flows down to baalbec and joins the river, which, after irrigating the gardens and fields round the town, loses itself in the plain. a little higher in the mountain than the spot where the water of the djoush first issues from the spring, is a small perpendicular hole, through which i descended, not without some danger, about sixteen feet, into an aqueduct which conveys the water of the djoush underground for upwards of one hundred paces. this aqueduct is six feet high and three feet and a half wide, vaulted above, and covered with a thick coat of plaister; it is in perfect preservation; the water in it was about ten inches deep. in following up this aqueduct i came to a vaulted chamber about ten feet square, built with large hewn stones, into which the water falls through another walled passage, but which i did not enter, being afraid that the water falling on all sides might extinguish the only candle that i had with me. below this upper passage, another dark one is visible through the water as it falls down. the aqueduct continues beyond the hole through which i descended, as far as the spot where the water issues from under the earth. above ground, at a small distance from the spring, and open towards it, is a vaulted room, built in the rock, now half filled with stones and rubbish. ten or twelve years ago, at the time when the plague visited deir el akhmar [p. ]these countries and the town of baalbec, all the christian families quitted the town, and encamped for six weeks around these springs. from djoush we crossed the northern mountain of the valley, and came to wady nahle, near the village of nahle, situated at the foot of the mountain, and one hour and a half e.b.n. from baalbec. there is nothing remarkable in the village, except the ruins of an ancient building, consisting at present of the foundations only, which are strongly built; it appeared to me to be of the same epoch as the ruins of baalbec. the rivulet named nahle rises at one hour's distance, in a narrow wady in the mountain. the neighbourhood of baalbec abounds in walnut trees; the nuts are exported to zahle and the mountains, at two or two and a half piastres per thousand. in the evening we left baalbec, and began to cross the plain in the direction of the highest summit of mount libanus. we passed the village of yeid on the left, and a little farther on, an encampment of turkmans. during the winter, the territory of baalbec is visited by a tribe of turkmans called suedie, by the hadidein akeidat, the arabs abid, whose principal seat is near hamil, between el kaa and homs; and the arabs harb. the suedie turkmans remain the whole year in this district, and in the valleys of the anti-libanus. all these tribes pay tribute to the emir of baalbec, at the rate of twelve or fifteen pounds of butter for each tent, for the summer pasture. at the end of three hours march we alighted at the village deir el akhmar, two hours after sunset. this village stands just at the foot of the mountain; it was at this time deserted, its inhabitants having quitted it a few weeks before to escape the extortions of djahdjah, and retired to bshirrai. in one of the abandoned houses we found a shepherd who tended a flock belonging to the emir; he treated us with some milk, and made a large fire, round which we lay down, and slept till day-break. mount libanus [p. ]october d.--the tobacco of deir el akhmar is the finest in syria. there is no water in the village, but at twenty minutes from it, towards the plain, is a copious well. after ascending the mountain for three hours and a half, we reached the village ainnete: thus far the mountain is covered with low oak trees (the round-leaved, and common english kinds), and has but few steep passages. nearly one hour from ainnete begins a more level country, which divides the upper from the lower libanus. this part was once well cultivated, but the metaweli having driven the people to despair, the village is in consequence deserted and in ruins. a few fields are still cultivated by the inhabitants of deir eliaout and btedai, who sow their seed in the autumn, and in the spring return, build a few huts, and watch the growing crop. the walnut tree abounds here. there are three springs at ainnete, one of which was dried up; another falls over the rock in a pretty cascade; they unite in a wady which runs parallel with the upper mountain as far as the lake liemoun, two hours west of ainnete; at this time the lake was nearly dry, an extraordinary circumstance; i saw its bed a little higher up than ainnete. from ainnete the ascent of the mountain is steep, and the vegetation is scanty; though it reaches to the summit. a few oaks and shrubs grow amongst the rocks. the road is practicable for loaded mules, and my horse ascended without difficulty. the honey of ainnete, and of the whole of libanus, is of a superior quality. at the end of two hours and a half from ainnete we reached the summit, from whence i enjoyed a magnificent view over the bekaa, the anti- libanus, and djebel essheikh, on one side, and the sea, the sea shore near tripoli, and the deep valley of kadisha on the other. we were not quite upon the highest summit, which lay half an hour to the right. baalbec bore from hence s. by e, [p. ]and the summit of djebel essheikh s. by w. the whole of the rock is calcareous, and the surface towards the top is so splintered by the action of the atmosphere, as to have the appearance of layers of slates. midway from ainnete i found a small petrified shell, and on breaking a stone which i picked up on the summit, i discovered another similar petrifaction within it. having descended for two hours, we came to a small cultivated plain. on this side, as well as on the other, the higher libanus may be distinguished from the lower; the former presenting on both sides a steep barren ascent of two to two hours and a half; the latter a more level wooded country, for the greater part fit for cultivation this difference of surface is observable throughout the libanus, from the point where i crossed it, for eight hours, in a s. w. direction. the descent terminates in one of the numerous deep valleys which run towards the seashore. i left my guide on the small plain, and proceeded to the right towards the cedars, which are visible from the top of the mountain, standing half an hour from the direct line of the route to bshirrai, at the foot of the steep declivities of the higher division of the mountain. they stand on uneven ground, and form a small wood. of the oldest and best looking trees, i counted eleven or twelve; twenty-five very large ones; about fifty of middling size; and more than three hundred smaller and young ones. the oldest trees are distinguished by having the foliage and small branches at the bshirrai. [p. ]top only, and by four, five, or even seven trunks springing from one base; the branches and foliage of the others were lower, but i saw none whose leaves touched the ground, like those in kew gardens. the trunks of the old trees are covered with the names of travellers and other persons, who have visited them: i saw a date of the seventeenth century. the trunks of the oldest trees seem to be quite dead; the wood is of a gray tint; i took off a piece of one of them; but it was afterwards stolen, together with several specimens of minerals, which i sent from zahle to damascus. at an hour and a quarter from the cedars, and considerably below them, on the edge of a rocky descent, lies the village of bshirrai, on the right bank of the river kadisha [arabic]. october d.--bshirrai consists of about one hundred and twenty houses. its inhabitants are all maronites, and have seven churches. at half an hour from the village is the carmelite convent of deir serkis (st. sergius,) inhabited at present by a single monk, a very worthy old man, a native of tuscany, who has been a missionary to egypt, india, and persia. nothing can be more striking than a comparison of the fertile but uncultivated districts of bekaa and baalbec, with the rocky mountains, in the opposite direction, where, notwithstanding that nature seems to afford nothing for the sustenance of the inhabitants, numerous villages flourish, and every inch of ground is cultivated. bshirrai is surrounded with fruit trees, mulberry plantations, vineyards, fields of dhourra, and other corn, though there is scarcely a natural plain twenty feet square. the inhabitants with great industry build terraces to level the ground and prevent the earth from being swept down by the winter rains, and at the same time to retain the water requisite for the irrigation of their crops. water is very abundant, as streams from numerous springs descend kanobin. [p. ]on every side into the kadisha, whose source is two hours distant from bshirrai, in the direction of the mountain from whence i came. bshirrai belongs to the district of tripoli, but is at present, with the whole of the mountains, in the hands of the emir beshir, or chief of the druses. the inhabitants of the village rear the silk-worm, have excellent plantations of tobacco, and a few manufactories of cotton stuffs used by the mountaineers as shawls for girdles. forty years ago the village was in the hands of the metaweli, who were driven out by the maronites. in the morning i went to kanobin; after walking for two hours and a half over the upper plain, i descended the precipitous side of a collateral branch of the valley kadisha, and continued my way to the convent, which i reached in two hours and a half. it is built on a steep precipice on the right of the valley, at half an hour's walk from the river, and appears as if suspended in the air, being supported by a high wall, built against the side of the mountain. there is a spring close to it. the church, which is excavated in the rock, and dedicated to the virgin, is decorated with the portraits of a great number of patriarchs. during the winter, the peasants suspend their silk-worms in bags, to the portrait of some favourite saint, and implore his influence for a plenteous harvest of silk; from this custom the convent derives a considerable income. kanobin is the seat of the patriarch of the maronites, who is at the head of twelve maronite bishops, and here in former times he generally passed the summer months, retiring in the winter to mar hanna; but the vexations and insults which the patriarchs were exposed to from the metaweli, in their excursions to and from baalbec, induced them for many years to abandon this residence. the present patriarch is the first who for a long time has resided in hosrun. [p. ]kanobin. though i had no letter of introduction to him, and was in the dress of a peasant, he invited me to dinner, and i met at his table his secretary, bishop stefano, who has been educated at rome, and has some notions of europe. while i was there, a rude peasant was ordained a priest. kanobin had once a considerable library; but it has been gradually dispersed; and not a vestige of it now remains. the cells of the monks are, for the most part, in ruins. three hours distant from kanobin, at the convent kashheya, which is near the village ehden, is a printing office, where prayer-books in the syriac language are printed. this language is known and spoken by many maronites, and in this district the greater part of them write arabic in the syriac characters. the names of the owners of the silk-worms were all written in this character in different hands, upon the bags suspended in the church. i returned to bshirrai by an easier road than that which i had travelled in the morning; at the end of three quarters of an hour i regained the upper plain, from whence i proceeded for two hours by a gentle ascent, through fields and orchards, up to the village. the potatoe succeeds here very well; a crop was growing in the garden of the carmelite convent; it has also been cultivated for some time past in kesrouan. in the mountains about kanobin tigers are said to be frequently met with; i suppose ounces are meant. october th.--i departed from bshirrai with the intention of returning to zahle over the higher range of the libanus. we crossed the kadisha, at a short distance from bishirrai, above the place where it falls over the precipice: at one hour distant from bshirrai, and opposite to it, we passed the village of hosrun. the same cultivation prevails here as in the vicinity of bshirrai; mulberry and ard laklouk. walnut [p. ]trees, and vines, are the chief productions. from hosrun we continued our way along the foot of the highest barren part of libanus. about two hours from its summit, the mountain affords pasturage, and is capable of cultivation, from the numerous springs which are everywhere met with. during the greater part of this day's journey i had a fine view of the sea shore between tartous and tripoli, and from thence downwards towards jebail. at three hours and a half from hosrun, still following the foot of the upper chain of the libanus, we entered the district of tanurin (ard tanurin), so called from a village situated below in a valley. the spots in the mountain, proper for cultivation, are sown by the inhabitants of tanurin; such as afford pasture only are visited by the arabs el haib. i was astonished at seeing so high in the mountain, numerous camels and arab huts. these arabs pass the winter months on the sea shore about tripoli, jebail, and tartous. though like the bedouins, they have no fixed habitations, their features are not of the true bedouin cast, and their dialect, though different from that of the peasants, is not a pure bedouin dialect. they are tributary to the turkish governors, and at peace with all the country people; but they have the character of having a great propensity to thieving. their property, besides camels, consists in horses, cows, sheep, and goats. their chief is khuder el aissy [arabic]. on leaving the district of tanurin, i entered ard laklouk [arabic], which i cannot describe better, than by comparing it to one of the pasturages in the alps. it is covered with grass, and its numerous springs, together with the heavy dews which fall during the summer months, have produced a verdure of a deeper tint than any i saw in the other parts of syria which i visited. the arabs el haib come up hither also, and wander about the district for five months in the year; some of them even remain here the whole akoura. [p. ]year; except that in winter they descend from the pastures, and pitch their tents round the villages of tanurin and akoura, which are situated in a valley, sheltered on every side by the perpendicular sides of the upper libanus. at tanurin and laklouk the winter corn was already above ground. the people water the fields for three or four days before they sow the seed. akoura has a bad name amongst the people of this country; its inhabitants, who are all greek catholics, are accused of avarice, and inhospitality. the mountaineers, when upon a journey, never think of spending a para, for their eating, drinking, or lodging. on arriving in the evening at a village, they alight at the house of some acquaintance, if they have any, which is generally the case, and say to the owner, "i am your guest," djay deyfak [arabic]. the host gives the traveller a supper, consisting of milk, bread, and borgul, and if rich and liberal, feeds his mule or mare also. when the traveller has no acquaintance in the village, he alights at any house he pleases, ties up his beast, and smokes his pipe till he receives a welcome from the master of the house, who makes it a point of honour to receive him as a friend, and to give him a supper. in the morning he departs with a simple "good bye." such is the general custom in these parts; the inhabitants of akoura, however, are noted for refusing to receive travellers, to whom they will neither give a supper, nor sell them provision for ready money; the consequence of which conduct is, that the akourans, when travelling about, are obliged to conceal their origin, in order to obtain food on the road. my guide had a friend at akoura, but he happened to be absent; we therefore alighted at another house, where we obtained with much difficulty a little barley for our horses; and we should have gone supperless to rest, had i not repaired to the sheikh, and made him believe i was a kourdine (my dress being somewhat like that of the kourds) in the service of the [p. ] pasha of damascus, on my way to the emir beshir. as i spoke with confidence, the sheikh became alarmed, and sent us a few loaves of bread, and some cheese; on my return, i found my guide in the midst of a large assembly of people, abusing them for their meanness. the property of the inhabitants of this village consists of cows and other cattle, silkworms, and plantations of olive trees. at akoura djebel libnan terminates; and farther down towards zahle and the bekaa, the mountain is called djebel sannin [arabic]. the libanus is here more barren and wild than further to the north. the rocks are all in perfectly horizontal layers, some of which are thirty to forty yards in thickness, while others are only a few yards. october th.--we left the inhospitable akoura before day light, and reached, after one hour and three quarters, a village called afka, situated in the bottom of a valley, near a spring, whose waters join those of wady akoura, and flow down towards jebail. the name afka is found in the ancient geography of syria. at aphaca, according to zosimus, was a temple of venus, where the handsomest girls of syria sacrificed to the goddess: it was situated near a small lake, between heliopolis and the sea coast. [zosim. l.i.c. .] the lake liemoun is at three hours distance from afka. i could not hear of any remains of antiquity near afka. all the inhabitants are metaweli, under the government of jebail. near it, towards jebail, are the metaweli villages of mghaiere, meneitere, and laese. from afka the road leads up a steep wady. at half an hour from it is the spring called ain bahr; three quarters of an hour beyond it is a high level country, still on the western side of the summit of the mountain. this district is called watty el bordj watty el bordj. [p. ] [arabic], from a small ruined tower. it is three or four hours in length, and two in breadth. in the spring the arabs abid, turkmans, and kourdines, here pasture their cattle. these kourdines bring annually into syria from twenty to thirty thousand sheep, from the mountains of kourdistan; the greater part of which are consumed by aleppo, damascus, and the mountains, as syria does not produce a sufficient number for its inhabitants. the kourd sheep are larger than those of syria, but their flesh is less esteemed. the kourd sheep-dealers first visit with their flocks aleppo, then hama, homs, and baalbec; and what they do not sell on the road, they bring to pasture at watty el bordj, whither the people of zahle, deir el kammar, and other towns in the mountains repair, and buy up thousands of them, which they afterwards sell in retail to the peasants of the mountains. they buy them for ready money at twenty to thirty piastres a head, and sell them two months afterwards at thirty to forty. the mountaineers of the druse and maronite districts breed very few sheep, and very seldom eat animal food. on the approach of their respective great festivals, (christmas with the maronites, and ramadan with the druses) each head of a family kills one or two sheep; during the rest of the year, he feeds his people on borgul, with occasionally some old cow's, or goat's flesh. it is only in the largest of the mountain towns of the druses and maronites that flesh is brought daily to market. there are no springs or water in the watty el bordj; but the melting of the snow in the spring affords drink for men and cattle, and snow water is often found during the greater part of the summer in some funnel- shaped holes formed in the ground by the snow. at the time i passed no water was any where to be found. in many places the snow remains throughout the year; but this year none was left, not even on the summits of the mountain, [p. ] except in a few spots on the northern declivity of the libanus towards the district of akkar. watty el bordj affords excellent pasturage; in many spots it is overgrown with trees, mostly oaks, and the barbery is also very frequent. we started partridges at every step. our route lay generally s.w. by s. four hours from ain bahr, we entered the mountain, a part of which is considered to belong to kesrouan. it is completely stony and rocky, and i found some calcareous spath. i shall here remark that the whole of the mountain from zahle to belad akkar is by the country people comprehended under the general name of djurd baalbec, djurd meaning, in the northern arabic dialect, a rocky mountain. crossing this part of the mountain sannin for two hours, we came to a spring called ain naena, from whence another road leads down north- eastwards, into the territory of baalbec. this route is much frequented by the people of kesrouan, who bring this way the iron ore of shouair, to the mesbek or smelting furnaces at nebae el mauradj, two hours from hence to the north-east, shouair, which is at least ten hours distance, affording no fuel for smelting. the iron ore is carried upon mules and asses, one day's journey and a half to the mesbek, where the mountain abounds in oak. from aine naena we gradually descended, and in three hours reached zahle. october th.--at zahle i found the catholic bishop, who was absent on his episcopal tour during my first visit to this place. he is distinguished from his countrymen by the politeness of his manners, the liberality of his sentiments, his general information, and his desire of knowledge, though at a very advanced age. i had letters for him; and he recommended himself particularly to me by being the friend of mr. browne, the african traveller, who had lived with him a fortnight, and had visited zahle. [p. ] baalbec in his company. his diocese comprises the whole christian community in the bekaa, and the adjoining villages of the mountain. he is, with five other bishops, under the orders of the patriarch at mekhalis, and there are, besides, seven monasteries under this diocese in syria. the bishop's revenue arises from a yearly personal tax of half a piastre upon all the male adults in his diocese. he lives in a truly patriarchal manner, dressing in a simple black gown, and black abbaye, and carries in his hand a long oaken stick, as an episcopal staff. he is adored by his parishioners, though they reproach him with a want of fervour in his intercourse with other christian sects; by which they mean fanatism, which is a striking feature in the character of the christians not only of the mountain, but also of the principal syrian towns, and of the open country. this bigotry is not directed so much against the mohammedans, as against their christian brethren, whose creed at all differs from their own. it need hardly be mentioned here, that many of those sects which tore europe to pieces in the earlier ages of christianity, still exist in these countries: greeks, catholics, maronites, syriacs, chaldeans, and jacobites, all have their respective parishes and churches. unable to effect any thing against the religion of their haughty rulers the turks, they turn the only weapons they possess, scandal and intrigue, with fury against each other, and each sect is mad enough to believe that its church would flourish on the ruins of those of their heretic brethren. the principal hatred subsists between the catholics and the greeks; of the latter, many thousands have been converted to catholicism, so that in the northern parts of syria all catholics, the maronites excepted, were formerly of the greek church: this is the case in aleppo, damascus, and in all the intermediate country; communities of original latin christians being found only around jerusalem and nablous. the greeks heusn nieha. [p. ] of course see with indignation the proselytism of their brethren, which is daily gaining ground, and avenge themselves upon the apostates with the most furious hatred. nor are the greek and original latin christians backward in cherishing similar feelings; and scenes most disgraceful to christianity are frequently the consequence. in those parts where no greeks live, as in the mountains of libanus, the different sects of catholics turn their hatred against each other, and the maronites fight with the converted greek catholics, or the latins, as they do at aleppo with the followers of the greek church. this system of intolerance, at which the turkish governors smile, because they are constantly gainers by it, is carried so far that, in many places, the passing catholic is obliged to practise the greek rites, in order to escape the effects of the fanatism of the inhabitants. on my way from zahle to banias, we stopped one night at hasbeya and another at rasheya el fukhar; at both of which places my guide went to the greek church, and prayed according to its forms; in passing through zahle, as he informed me, the greeks found it equally necessary to conform with the rites of the latin catholics. the intrigues carried on at jerusalem between the greek and latin monks contribute to increase these diputes, which would have long ago led to a christian civil war in these countries, did not the iron rod of the turkish government repress their religious fury. the vineyards are estimated at the exact number of vines they contain, and each vine, if of good quality, is worth one piastre. the miri or land tax of every hundred [arabic] vines is ten paras. for many years past a double miri has been levied upon zahle. october th.--remained at zahle, and enjoyed the instructive conversation of the bishop basilios. october th.--i went to see the ruined temple called heusn nieha, two hours from zahle, in the djebel sannin, and half an hour [p. ] from the village of fursul. these remains stand in a wady, surrounded by barren rocks, having a spring near them to the eastward. the temple faced the west. a grand flight of steps, twelve paces broad, with a column three feet and a half in diameter at each end of the lower step, formed the approach to a spacious pronaos, in which are remains of columns: here a door six paces in width opens into the cella, the fallen roof of which now covers the floor, and the side walls to half their original height only remain. this chamber is thirty-five paces in length by fifteen in breadth. on each of the side walls stood six pilasters of a bad ionic order. at the extremity of the chamber are steps leading to a platform, where the statue of the deity may, perhaps, have stood: the whole space is here filled up with fragments of columns and walls. the square stones used in the construction of the walls are in general about four or five cubic feet each, but i saw some twelve feet long, four feet high, and four feet in breadth. on the right side of the entrance door is a staircase in the wall, leading to the top of the building, and much resembling in its mode of construction the staircase in the principal temple of baalbec. the remains of the capitals of columns betray a very corrupt taste, being badly sculptured, and without any elegance either in design or execution; and the temple seems to have been built in the latest times of paganism, and was perhaps subsequently repaired, and converted into a church. the stone with which it has been built is more decayed than that in the ruins at baalbec, being here more exposed to the inclemency of the weather. no inscriptions were any where visible. around the temple are some ruins of ancient and others of more modern habitations. above fursul is a plain called habis, in which are a number of grottos excavated in the rock, apparently tombs; but i did not visit them. ain essouire [p. ] october th.--i was disappointed in my intention of proceeding, and passed the day in calling at several shops in the town, and conversing with the merchants and arab traders. october th.--i set out for hasbeya, accompanied by the same guide with whom i had made the mountain tour. we crossed the bekaa nearly in the direction of andjar.[the following are the villages in the bekaa, and at the foot of the western mountain, which from zahle southward takes the name of djebel riehan; namely, saad-nayel [arabic], talabaya [arabic], djetye [arabic], bouarish [arabic], mekse [arabic], kab elias [arabic], mezraat [arabic], bemherye [arabic], aamyk [arabic], deir tenhadish [arabic], keferya [arabic], khereyt kena [arabic], beit far [arabic], ain zebde [arabic], segbin [arabic], deire el djouze [arabic], bab mara [arabic], aitenyt [arabic], el kergoue [arabic], el medjdel [arabic], belhysz [arabic], lala [arabic], meshgara [arabic], sahhar wyhbar [arabic], shedite, nebi zaour, baaloul [arabic], bedjat [arabic], djub djenin [arabic], tel danoub [arabic], el khyare [arabic], el djezyre [arabic], el estabbel [arabic], el merdj [arabic], tel el akhdar [arabic], taanayl [arabic], ber elias [arabic], deir zeinoun [arabic].] the generality of the inhabitants of the bekaa are turks; one fifth, perhaps, are catholic christians. there are no metaweli. the land is somewhat better cultivated than that of belad baalbec, but still five- sixths of the soil is left in pasture for the arabs. the fellahs (peasant cultivators) are ruined by the exorbitant demands of the proprietors of the soil, who are, for the greater part, noble families of damascus, or of the druse mountains. the usual produce of the harvest is tenfold, and in fruitful years it is often twenty fold. after two hours and three quarters brisk walking of our horses, we passed medjdel to our right, near which, on the road, lies a piece of a large column of acalcareous and flinty breccia. half an hour beyond medjdel, we reached a spring called ain essouire. above it in the hills which branch out of the anti-libanus, or hasbeya [p. ] djurd essharki, into the bekaa, is the village nebi israi, and to the left, in the anti-libanus, is the druse village of souire. a little farther on we passed hamara, a village on the anti-libanus. at one hour from ain essouire, is sultan yakoub, with the tomb of a saint, a place of holy resort of the turks. below it lies the ain sultan yakoub. half an hour farther is nebae el feludj, a spring. our road lay s. by w. at the end of three hours and a half from ain essouire, we reached the village el embeite, on the top of a hill, opposite to djebel essheikh. the route to this place, from medjdel, lay through a valley of the anti- libanus, which, farther on, towards el heimte, loses itself in the mountains comprised under the name of djebel essheikh. the summit of this mountain, which bears west from damascus, is probably the highest in syria, for snow was still lying upun it. the mountain belongs to the district of the emir of the druses, commanding at rasheia, a druse village at one hour and a half from el heimte. we slept at el heimte, in the house of the druse sheikh, and the khatib, or turkish priest of the village, gave us a plentiful supper. the druses in this district affect to adhere strictly to the religious precepts of the turks. the greater part of the inhabitants of el heimte are druses belonging to rasheia. near it are the villages of biri and refit. october th.--we set out at day-break, and at the end of an hour passed on the left the druse villages deneibe and mimis, and at two hours sefa on our right, also a druse village. our road lay over an uneven plain, cultivated only in spots. after three hours and a half, we came to ain efdjur, direction s.w. by w.; from thence in two hours and a half we reached the djissr-moiet-hasbeya, or bridge of the river of hasbeya, whose source is hard by; the road lying the whole way over rocky ground little susceptible of culture. from the djissr we turned up a steep wady e. b. s. and arrived, in about three quarters of an hour, at hasbeya, situated [p. ] on the top of a mountain of no great height. i had letters from the greek patriarch of damascus to the greek bishop of hasbeya, in whose house, four years ago, dr. seetzen spent a week, having been prevented from proceeding by violent snow and rain. the bishop happened to be absent on my arrival, and i therefore took up my lodging in the house of a poor greek priest, with whose behaviour towards me i had every reason to be satisfied. october th.--the village or town of hasbeya may contain seven hundred houses; half of which belong to druse families; the other half are inhabited by christians, principally greeks, though there are also catholics and maronites here. there are only forty turkish families, and twenty enzairie. the inhabitants make cotton cloth for shirts and gowns, and have a few dyeing houses. the principal production of their fields is olives. the chief of the village is an emir of the druses, who is dependent both on the pasha of damascus and the emir beshir. he lives in a well-built serai, which in time of war might serve as a castle. the following villages belong to the territory of hasbeya: ain sharafe, el kefeir, ain annia, shoueia, ain tinte, el kankabe, el heberie, rasheyat el fukhar, ferdis, khereibe, el merie, shiba, banias, ain fid, zoura, ain kamed banias, djoubeta, fershouba, kefaer hamam, el waeshdal, el zouye. the neighbourhood of hasbeya is interesting to the mineralogist. i was told by the priest that a metal was found near it, of which nobody knew the name, nor made any use. having procured a labourer, i found after digging in the wady a few hundred paces to the e. of the village, several small pieces of a metallic substance, which i took to be a native amalgam of mercury. according to the description given me, cinnabar is also found here, but we could discover no specimen of it after half an hour's digging. the ground all around, and the spring near the village, are souk el kahn. [p. ] strongly impregnated with iron; the rock is sandstone, of a dark red colour. the other mineral curiosities are, a number of wells of bitumen judaicum, in the wady at one hour below the village on the west side, after recrossing the bridge; they are situated upon the declivity of a chalky hill; the bitumen is found in large veins at about twenty feet below the surface. the pits are from six to twelve feet in diameter; the workmen descend by a rope and wheel, and in hewing out the bitumen, they leave columns of that substance at different intervals, as a support to the earth above; pieces of several rotolas in weight each[the rotola is about five pounds.] are brought up. there are upwards of twenty-five of these pits or wells, but the greater part of them are abandoned and overgrown with shrubs. i saw only one, that appeared to have been recently worked; they work only during the summer months. the bitumen is called hommar, and the wells, biar el hommar [arabic]. the emir possesses the monopoly of the bitumen; he alone works the pits, and sells the produce to the merchants of damascus, beirout, and aleppo. it was now at thirty-three paras the rotola, or about two-pence-halfpenny the pound. i left hasbeya on the same day, and continued to descend the valley on the side of the river. half an hour from the bridge, i arrived at souk el khan. in the hills to the right is the village kankabe. souk el khan is a large ruined khan, where the inhabitants, to the distance of one day's journey round, assemble every tuesday to hold a market. in the summer they exhibit their merchandize in the open air; but in the winter they make use of some large rooms, still remaining within the khan. the road to banias leads along the valley, parallel with the course of the river; but as i had heard of some ruins in the mountain, at a village called hereibe, to the east of the route, i turned in that direction, and reached the hereibe. [p. ] village in two hours after quitting hasbeya. between souk el khan and hereibe lies the village ferdous. hereibe is considerably higher than the river. all this neighbourhood is planted with olive-trees; and olives, from hence to damascus, are the most common food of the inhabitants, who put them into salt, but they do not thereby entirely remove the bitter taste. at aleppo and damascus, olives destined for the table are immersed for a fortnight in water, in which are dissolved one proportion of chalk and two proportions of alkali; this takes away all bitterness, but the fruit is at the same time deprived of a part of its flavour. on the west side of the village of hereibe stands a ruined temple, quite insulated; it is twenty paces in length, and thirteen in breadth; the entrance is towards the west, and it had a vestibule in front with two columns. on each side of the entrance are two niches one above the other, the upper one has small pilasters, the lower one is ornamented on the top by a shell, like the niches in the temple at baalbec. the door- way, which has no decoration whatever, opens into a room ten paces square, in which no columns, sculpture, or ornaments of any kind are visible; three of the walls only are standing. at the back of this chamber is a smaller, four paces and a half in breadth, by ten in length, in one corner of which is a half-ruined staircase, leading to the top of the building; in this smaller room are four pilasters in the four angles; under the large room are two spacious vaults. on the outside of the temple, at the east corners, are badly wrought pilasters of the ionic order. the roof has fallen in, and fills up the interior. the stone employed is of the same quality as that used at heusn nieha and baalbec. from hereibe i came to the spring ain ferkhan in one hour; and from thence, in three quarters of an hour, to the village banias. [p. ]rasheyat-el-fukhar, over mountainous ground. the village stands on a mountain which commands a beautiful view of the lake houle, its plain, and the interjacent country. it contains about one hundred houses, three-fourths of which are inhabited by turks and the remainder by greeks. the inhabitants live by the manufacture of earthen pots, which they sell to the distance of four or five days journey around, especially in the haouran and djolan; they mould them in very elegant shapes, and paint them with a red-earth: almost every house has its pottery, and the ovens in which the pots are baked are common to all. the houle bears from rasheyat-el-fukhar, between s. by e. and s.e. by s. kalaat el shkif, on the top of the mountain, towards acre, e. by n. and banias, though not visible, s. october th.--we set out in a rainy morning from rasheyat-el-fukhar. i was told that in the mountain to the e. one hour and a half, were considerable ruins. the mountains of hasbeya, or the chain of the djebel essheikh, divide, at five hours n. from the lake, into two branches. the western, a little farther to the south, takes the name of djebel safat, the eastern joins the djebel heish and its continuations, towards banias. between the two lie the lake of the houle and the ard el houle, the latter from three to four hours in breadth. we descended from rasheyat-el-fukhar into the plain, in which we continued till we reached banias, at the end of four hours, thoroughly drenched by a heavy shower of rain. we alighted at the menzel or medhaafe; this is a sort of khan found in almost every village through which there is a frequented route. strangers sleep in the medhaafe, and the sheikh of the village generally sends them their dinner or supper; for this he does not accept of any present, at least not of such as common travellers can offer; but it is custmary to give something to the servant or watchman (natur) who brings the meal, and takes care that castle of banais. [p. ]nothing is stolen from the strangers' baggage. the district of banias is classic ground; it is the ancient caesarea philippi; the lake houle is the lacus samachonitis. my money being almost expended, i had no time to lose in gratifying my curiosity in the invirons of banias. immediately after my arrival i took a man of the village to shew me the way to the ruined castle of banias, which bears e. by s. from it. it stands on the top of a mountain, which forms part of the mountain of heish, at an hour and a quarter from banias; it is now in complete ruins, but was once a very strong fortress. its whole circumference is twenty-five minutes. it is surrounded by a wall ten feet thick, flanked with numerous round towers, built with equal blocks of stone, each about two feet square. the keep or citadel seems to have been on the highest summit, on the eastern side, where the walls are stronger than on the lower, or western side. the view from hence over the houle and a part of its lake, the djebel safad, and the barren heish, is magnificent. on the western side, within the precincts of the castle, are ruins of many private habitations. at both the western corners runs a succession of dark strongly built low apartments, like cells, vaulted, and with small narrow loop holes, as if for musquetry. on this side also is a well more than twenty feet square, walled in, with a vaulted roof at least twenty-five feet high; the well was, even in this dry season, full of water: there are three others in the castle. there are many apartments and recesses in the castle, which could only be exactly described by a plan of the whole building. it seems to have been erected during the period of the crusades, and must certainly have been a very strong hold to those who possessed it. i saw no inscriptions, though i was afterwards told that there are several both in arabic and in frank (greek or latin). the castle has but one gate, on the south side. i could discover no traces banias. [p. ]of a road or paved way leading up the mountain to it. the valley at its s.e. foot is called wady kyb, that on its western side wady el kashabe, and on the other side of the latter, wady el asal. in winter time the shepherds of the felahs of the heish, who encamp upon the mountain, pass the night in the castle with their cattle. banias is situated at the foot of the heish, in the plain, which in the immediate vicinity of banias is not called ard houle, but ard banias. it contains about one hundred and fifty houses, inhabited mostly by turks: there are also greeks, druses, and enzairie. it belongs to hasbeya, whose emir nominates the sheikh. on the n.e. side of the village is the source of the river of banias, which empties itself into the jordan at the distance of an hour and a half, in the plain below. over the source is a perpendicular rock, in which several niches have been cut to receive statues. the largest niche is above a spacious cavern, under which the river rises. this niche is six feet broad and as much in depth, and has a smaller niche in the bottom of it. immediately above it, in the [p. ] perpendicular face of the rock, is another niche, adorned with pilasters, supporting a shell ornament like that of hereibe. there are two other niches near these, and twenty paces farther two more nearly buried in the ground at the foot of the rock. each of these niches had an inscription annexed to it, but i could not decipher any thing except the following characters above one of the niches which are nearly covered with earth. [greek] in the middle niche of the three, which are represented in the engraving, the base of the statue is still visible.[banias, [greek text], or caesareia philippi, was the dan of the jews. the name paneas was derived from the worship of pan. the niche in the cavern probably contained a statue of pan, and the other niches similar dedications to the same or other deities. the cavern and [greek text], or sanctuary of pan, are described by josephus, from whom it appears also that the fountain was considered the source of the jordan, and at the same time the outlet of a small lake called phiala, which was situated stades from caesareia towards trachonitis, or the north-east. the whole mountain had the name of paneium. the hewn stones round the spring may have belonged, perhaps, to the temple of augustus, built here by herod. joseph. de bel. jud. l.i,c. . antiq. jud. l. ,c. ,-l. ,c. . euseb. hist. eccl. l. ,c. . the inscription appears to have been annexed to a dedication by a priest of pan, who had prefixed the usual pro salute for the reigning emperors. ed.] upon the top of the rock, to the left of the niches, is a mosque dedicated to nebi khouder, called by the christians mar georgius, which is a place of devotion for mohammedan strangers passing this way. round the source of the river are a number of hewn stones. the stream flows on the north side of the village; where is a well built bridge and some remains of the ancient town, the principal part of which seems, however, to have been on the opposite side of the river, where the ruins extend for a [p. ]quarter of an hour from the bridge. no walls remain, but great quantities of stones and architectural fragments are scattered about. i saw also an entire column, of small dimensions. in the village itself, on the left side of the river, lies a granite column of a light gray colour, one foot and a half in diameter. october th.--it being ramazan, we remained under a large tree before the menzel, smoking and conversing till very late. the researches which mr. seetzen made here four years ago were the principal topic; he continued his tour from hence towards the lake of tabaria, and the eastern borders of the dead sea. the christians believe that he was sent by the yellow king (melek el aszfar, a title which they give the emperor of russia) to examine the country preparatory to an invasion, to deliver it from the turkish yoke. the turks, on the contrary, believe, that, like all strangers who enquire after inscriptions, he was in search of treasure. when questioned on this subject at baalbec, i answered, "the treasures of this country are not beneath the earth; they come from god, and are on the surface of the earth. work your fields and sow them; and you will find the greatest treasure in an abundant harvest." "by your life (a common oath) truth comes from your lips," ([arabic] is a common word used in syria for [arabic] which signifies "thy mouth."] [arabic] wuhiyatak, el hak fi tummak) was the reply. on the south side of the village are the ruins of a strong castle, which, from its appearance and mode of construction, may be conjectured to be of the same age as the castle upon the mountain. it is surrounded by a broad ditch, and had a wall within the ditch. several of its towers are still standing. a very solid bridge, which crosses the winter torrent, wady el kyd, leads to the entrance of the castle, over which is an arabic inscription; but for want of a ladder, i could make out nothing of it but the date " and ... years (.... [arabic])," taking the era of the hedjra, bostra. [p. ]it coincides with the epoch of the crusades. there are five or six granite columns built into the walls of the gateway. i went to see the ruins of the ancient city of bostra, of which the people spoke much, adding that mousa (the name assumed by mr. seetzen) had offered thirty piastres to any one who would accompany him to the place, but that nobody had ventured, through fear of the arabs. i found a good natured fellow, who for three piastres undertook to lead me to the spot. bostra must not be confounded with boszra, in the haouran; both places are mentioned in the books of moses. the way to the ruins lies for an hour and a half in the road by which i came from rasheyat- el-fukhar, it then ascends for three quarters of an hour a steep mountain to the right, on the top of which is the city; it is divided into two parts, the largest being upon the very summit, the smaller at ten minutes walk lower down, and resembling a suburb to the upper part. traces are still visible of a paved way that had connected the two divisions. there is scarcely any thing in the ruins worth notice; they consist of the foundations of private habitations, built of moderate sized square stones. the lower city is about twelve minutes walk in circumference; a part of the four walls of one building only remains entire; in the midst of the ruins was a well, at this time dried up. the circuit of the upper city may be about twenty minutes; in it are the remains of several buildings. in the highest part is a heap of wrought stones of larger dimensions than the rest, which seem to indicate that some public building had once stood on the spot. there are several fragments of columns of one foot and of one foot and a half in diameter. in two different places a short column was standing in the centre of a round paved area of about ten feet in diameter. there is likewise a deep well, walled in, but now dry. the country around these ruins is very capable of cultivation. sources of the jordan [p. ]near the lower city are groups of olive trees. pieces of feldspath of various colours are scattered about in great quantities upon the chalky rock of this mountain. i found in going up a species of locust with six very long legs, and a slender body of about four inches in length. my guide told me that this insect was called [this is the abbreviation of - [arabic].] [arabic] salli al-nabi, i.e. "pray to the prophet." i descended the mountain in the direction towards the source of the jordan, and passed, at the foot of it, the miserable village of kerwaya. behind the mountain of bostra is another, still higher, called djebel meroura djoubba. at one hour e. from kerwaye, in the houle, is the tomb of a turkish sheikh, with a few houses near it, called kubbet el arbai- in w-el-ghadjar [arabic]. the greater part of the fertile plain of the houle is uncultivated; the arabs el faddel, el naim, and the turkmans pasture their cattle here. it is watered by the river of hasbeya, the jordan, and the river of banias, besides several rivulets which descend from the mountains on its eastern side. the source of the jordan, or as it is here called, dhan [arabic], is at an hour and a quarter n.e. from banias. it is in the plain, near a hill called tel-el-kadi. there are two springs near each other, one smaller than the other, whose waters unite immediately below. both sources are on level ground, amongst rocks of tufwacke. the larger source immediately forms a river twelve or fifteen yards across, which rushes rapidly over a stony bed into the lower plain. there are no ruins of any kind near the springs; but the hill over them seems to have been built upon, though nothing now is visible. at a quarter of an hour to the n. of the spring are ruins of ancient habitations, built of the black tufwacke, the principal rock found in the plain. the few houses at present inhabited on that spot are called enkeil. banias. [p. ]i was told that the ancient name of the river of banias was djour, which added to the name of dhan, made jourdan; the more correct etymology is probably or dhan, in hebrew the river of dhan. lower down, between the houle and the lake tabaria, it is called orden by the inhabitants; to the southward of the lake of tabaria it bears the name of sherya, till it falls into the dead sea. october th.--my guide returned to zahle. it was my intention to take a view of the lake and its eastern borders; but a tumour, which threatened to prevent both riding and walking, obliged me to proceed immediately to damascus. i had reason to congratulate myself on the determination, for if i had staid a day longer, i should have been compelled to await my recovery at some village on the road. add to this, i had only the value of four shillings left, after paying my guide: this alone, however, should not have prevented me from proceeding, as i knew that two days were sufficient to enable me to gratify my curiosity, and a guide would have thought himself well paid at two shillings a day; as to the other expenses, travelling in the manner of the country people rendered money quite unnecessary. there are two roads from banias to damascus: the one lies through the villages of koneitza and sasa; the other is more northly; i took the latter, though the former is most frequented, being the route followed by all the pilgrims from damascus and aleppo to jerusalem; but it is less secure for a small caravan, owing to the incursions of the arabs. the country which i had visited to the westward is perfectly secure to the stranger: i might have safely travelled it alone unarmed, and without a guide. the route through the district of the houle and banias, and from thence to damascus, on the contrary, is very dangerous: the arabs as well as the felahs, are often known to attack unprotected strangers, and djoubeta. [p. ]a small body of men was stripped at koneitza during my stay at banias. as soon as i declared my wish to return to damascus, i was advised by several people present to take a guard of armed men with me, but knowing that this was merely a pretext to extort money without at all ensuring my safety, i declined the proposal, and said i should wait for a kaffle. it fortunately happened that the sheikh of the village had business at damascus, and we were glad of each other's company. we set out in the afternoon, accompanied by the sheikh's servant. the direction of the route is e.b.s. up the mountain of the heish, behind the castle of banias. we passed several huts of felahs, who live here the whole summer, and retire in winter to their villages. they make cheese for the damascus market. at the end of an hour and a half we came to ain el hazouri, a spring, with the tomb of sheikh othman el hazouri just over it; to the north of it one hour are the ruins of a city called hazouri. the mountain here is overgrown with oaks, but contains good pasturage; i was told that in the wady kastebe, near the castle, there are oak trees more than sixty feet high. one hour more brought us to the village of djoubeta, where we remained during the night at the house of some friends of the sheikh of banias. this village belongs to hasbeya; it is inhabited by about fifty turkish and ten greek families; they subsist chiefly by the cultivation of olives, and by the rearing of cattle. i was well treated at the house where we alighted, and also at that of the sheikh of the village, where i went to drink a cup of coffee. it being ramadan, we passed the greater part of the night in conversation and smoking; the company grew merry, and knowing that i was curious about ruined places, began to enumerate all the villages and ruins in medjel. [p. ]the neighbourhood, of which i subjoin the names.[the ruins of dara, bokatha, bassisa, alouba, afkerdouva, hauratha (this was described as being of great extent, with many walls and arches still remaining,) enzouby, hauarit, kleile, emteile, mesherefe, zar, katloube in the wady asal, kseire, kafoua, beit el berek. the villages of kfershouba, maonyre in the district kereimat, ain el kikan, mezahlak, merj el rahel, sheba, zeneble, zor or afid, merdj zaa. in the houle, amerie, nebi djahutha, sheheil.] the neighbouring mountains of the heish abound in tigers ([arabic] nimoura); their skins are much esteemed by the arab sheikhs as saddle cloths. there are also bears, wolves, and stags; the wild boar is met with in all the mountains which i visited in my tour. october th.--the friends of the sheikh of banias having dissuaded him from proceeding, on account of the dangers of the road, his servant and myself set out early in the morning. in three quarters of an hour we reached the village of medjel, inhabited by druses, with four or five christian families. the druses who inhahit the country near damascus are very punctual in observing the rites of the mohammedan religion, and fast, or at least pretend to do so, during the ramadan. in their own country, some profess christianity, others mohammedism. the chief, the emir beshir, keeps a latin confessor in his house; yet all of them, when they visit damascus, go to the mosque. medjel is situated on a small plain high up in the mountain; half an hour further on is a spring; and at one hour and a quarter beyond, is a spacious plain. the mountain here is in most places capable of cultivation. in one hour more we reached the top. the oak tree is very frequent here as well as the bear's plum [arabic] (khoukh eddeb), the berries of which afford a very refreshing nourishment to the traveller. the rock is partly calcareous, and partly of a porous tufa, but softer than that which i saw in the houle. at one hour and a quarter farther is the beit el djanne (the house of paradise), in a narrow wady, at a reitima. [p. ]spot where the valley widens a little. on its western side are several sepulchral caves hewn in the chalky rock. another quarter of an hour brought us to the ain beit el djanne, a copious spring, with a mill near it; and from thence, in half an hour, we reached the plain on the eastern side of the mountain. our route now lay n.e. by e.; to the right was the open country adjoining the haouran, to the left the chain of the heish, at the foot of which we continued to travel for the remainder of the day. the villages on the eastern declivity of the heish, between beit el djanne and kferhauar are, hyna, um esshara, dourboul, oerna, and kalaat el djendel. at three hours and a half from the point where the wady beit el djanne terminates in the plain is the village kferhauar. before we entered it i saw to the left of the road a tomb which attracted my attention by its size. i was told that it was the kaber nimroud (the tomb of nimrod); it consists of a heap of stones about twenty feet in length, two feet high, and three feet broad, with a large stone at both extremities, similar to the tombs in turkish cemeteries. this is probably the kalat nimroud laid down in maps, to the south of damascus; at least i never heard of any kalaat nimroud in that direction. to the right of our road, one hour and a half from kferhauar, lay sasa, and near it ghaptata. half an hour farther from kferhauar we alighted at the village beitima. on a slight eminence near kferhauar stands a small tower, and there is another of the same size behind beitima. the principal article of culture here is cotton: the crop was just ripe, and the inhabitants were occupied in collecting it. there are druses at kferhauar as well as at beitima; at the latter village i passed an uncomfortable rainy night, in the court-yard of a felah's house. october th.--we continued to follow the djebel heish (which djoun. [p. ]however takes a more northern direction than the damascus road for four hours, when we came to katana, a considerable village, with good houses, and spacious gardens; the river, whose source is close to the village, empties itself into the merj of damascus. three hours from katana, passing over the district called ard el lauan, we came to kfersousa. beyond katana begins the djebel el djoushe, which continues as far as the djebel salehie, near damascus, uniting, on its western side, the lower ridge of mountains of the djebel essheikh. kfersousa lies just within the limits of the gardens of the merdj of damascus. in one hour beyond it i re-entered damascus, greatly fatigued, having suffered great pain. after returning to damascus from my tour in the haouran, i was desirous to see the ruins of rahle and bourkoush, in the djebel essheikh, which i had heard mentioned by several people of rasheya during my stay at shohba. on the th of december, i took a man with me, and rode to katana, by a route different from that through the ard el lauan, by which i travelled from katana to damascus in october. it passes in a more southerly direction through the villages of deir raye [arabic], one hour beyond bonabet ullah; and another hour djedeide; one hour and a quarter from djedeide is artous [arabic], in which are many druse families; in an hour from artous we reached katana. this is a very pleasant road, through well cultivated fields and groves. i here saw nurseries of apricot trees, which are transplanted into the gardens at damascus. to the south of artous three quarters of an hour, is the village of kankab, situated upon a hill; below it is the village of djoun, opposite to which, rahle [p. ]and near the village sahnaya, lies the megarat mar polous, or st. paul's cavern, where the apostle is related to have hidden himself from the pursuit of his enemies at damascus. the monks of terra santa, who have a convent at damascus, had formerly a chapel at sahnaya, where one of their fraternity resided; but the roman catholic christians of the village having become followers of the greek church, the former abandoned their establishment. to the n.e. of djedeide, and half an hour from it, is the village maddharnie. katana is one of the chief villages in the neighbourhood of damascus; it contains about one hundred and eighty turkish families, and four or five of christians. the sheikh, to whom the village belongs, is of a very rich damascus family, a descendant of a santon, whose tomb is shewn in the mosque of the village. adjoining to the tomb is a hole in the rocky ground, over which an apartment has been built for the reception of maniacs; they are put down into the hole, and a stone is placed over its mouth; here they remain for three or four days, after which, as the turks pretend, they regain their senses. the christians say that the santon was a patriarch of damascus, who left his flock, and turned hermit, and that he gained great reputation amongst the turks, because whenever he prostrated himself before the deity, his sheep imitated his example. katana has a bath, and near it the sheikh has a good house. the villagers cultivate mulberry trees to feed their silk worms, and some cotton, besides corn. the day after my arrival i engaged two men to shew me the way to the ruins. we began to cross the lower branches of the djebel essheikh, at the foot of which katana is situated, and after an hour and a quarter came to bir karme, likewise called el redhouan, a spring in a narrow valley. we rode over mountainous ground in the road to rasheya, passed another well of castle of bourkush. [p. ]spring water, and at the end of four hours reached rahle, a miserable druse village, half an hour to the right of the road from katana to rasheia. the ruins are to the north of the village, in the narrow valley of rahle, and consist principally of a ruined temple, built of large square stones, of the same calcareous rock used in the buildings of baalbec: little else remains than the foundations, which are twenty paces in breadth, and thirty in length; within the area of the temple are the foundations of a circular building. many fragments of columns are lying about, and a few extremely well formed capitals of the ionic order. upon two larger stones lying near the gate, which probably formed the architrave, is the figure of a bird with expanded wings, not inferior in execution to the bird over the architrave of the great temple at baalbec; its head is broken off; in its claws is something of the annexed form, bearing no resemblance to the usual figure of the thunderbolt. on the exterior, wall, on the south side of the temple, is a large head, apparently of a female, three feet and a half high, and two feet and a half broad, sculptured upon one of the large square stones which form the wall: its features are perfectly regular, and are enclosed by locks of hair, terminating in thin tresses under the chin. this head seems never to have belonged to a whole length figure, as the stone on which it is sculptured touches the ground. near the ruins is a deep well. a few hundred paces to the south, upon an eminence, are the ruins of another edifice, of which there remain the foundations of the walls, and a great quantity of broken columns of small size. around these edifices are the remains of numerous private habitations; a short column is found standing in most of them, in the centre of the foundations of the building. in the neighbouring rocks about a dozen small cells are excavated, in some of which are cavities for bodies. i found no inscriptions. katana. [p. ]s.w. from rahle, one hour and a half, are the ruins of the castle of bourkush [arabic]. we passed the spring called ain ward (the rose spring), near a plain in the midst of the mountains called merdj bourkush. the ruins stand upon a mountain, which appeared to me to be one of the highest of the lower chain of the djebel essherk. at the foot of the steep ascent leading up to the castle, on the n.w. side, is a copious spring, and another to the w. midway in the ascent. these ruins consist of the outer walls of the castle, built with large stones, some of which are eight feet long, and five broad. a part only of the walls are standing. in the interior are several apartments which have more the appearance of dungeons than of habitations. the rock, upon which the whole structure is erected, has been levelled so as to form an area within, round which ran a wall; a part of this wall is formed by the solid rock, upwards of eight feet high, and as many broad, the rock having been cut down on both sides. to the e. of this castle are the ruins of a temple built much in the same style as that of rahle, but of somewhat smaller dimensions, and constructed of smaller stones. the architrave of the door is supported by two corinthian pilasters. a few druse families reside at bourkush, who cultivate the plain below. on the s.e. side of the ascent to the castle are small caverns cut in the rock. from this point katana bore s.e. we returned from bourkush to katana by ain embery, a rivulet whose source is hard by in the wady, with some ruined habitations near it. the distance from bourkush to katana is two hours and a half brisk walking of a horse. the summit of the mountain was covered with snow. i heard of several other ruins, but had no time to visit them. there are several villages of enzairie in the mountain. on the third day from my departure i returned to damascus. [p. ]journal of an excursion into the haouran in the autumn and winter of . november th.--on returning from the preceding tour, i was detained at damascus for more than a fortnight by indisposition. as soon as i had recovered my health i began to prepare for a journey into the plain of the haouran, and the mountains of the druses of the haouran, a country which, as well from the reports of natives, as from what i heard that mr. seetzen had said of it, on his return from visiting a part of it four years ago, i had reason to think was in many respects highly interesting. i requested of the pasha the favour of a bouyourdi, or general passport to his officers in the haouran, which he readily granted, and on receiving it i found that i was recommended in very strong terms. knowing that there were many christians, chiefly of the greek church, i thought it might be equally useful to procure from the greek patriarch of damascus, with whom i was well acquainted, a letter to his flock in the haouran. on communicating my wishes, he caused a circular letter to be written to all the priest, which i found of greater departure from damascus. [p. ]weight among the greeks than the bouyourdi was among the turks. being thus furnished with what i considered most necessary, i assumed the dress of the haouran people, with a keffie, and a large sheep-skin over my shoulders: in my saddle bag i put one spare shirt, one pound of coffee beans, two pounds of tobacco, and a day's provender of barley for my horse. i then joined a few felahs of ezra, of one of whom i hired an ass, though i had nothing to load it with but my small saddle-bag; but i knew this to be the best method of recommending myself to the protection of my fellow travellers; as the owner of the ass necessarily becomes the companion and protector of him who hires it. had i offered to pay him before setting out merely for his company on the way, he would have asked triple the sum i gave him, without my deriving the smallest advantage from this increase, while he would have considered my conduct as extraordinary and suspicious. in my girdle i had eighty piastres, (about £ . sterling) and a few more in my pocket, together with a watch, a compass, a journal book, a pencil, a knife, and a tobacco purse. the coffee i knew would be very acceptable in the houses where i might alight; and throughout the journey i was enabled to treat all the company present with coffee. my companions intending to leave damascus very early the next morning, i quitted my lodgings in the evening, and went with them to sleep in a small khan in the suburb of damascus, at which the haouaerne, or people of haouran, generally alight. november th.--we departed through this gate of the meidhan, three hours before sun-rise, and took the road by which the hadj annually commences its laborious journey; this gate is called bab ullah, the gate of god, but might, with more propriety be named bab-el-maut, the gate of death; for scarcely a third ever kessoue. [p. ]returns of those whom a devout adherence to their religion, or the hope of gain impel to this journey. the approach to damascus on this side is very grand: being formed by a road above one hundred and fifty paces broad, which is bordered on each side by a grove of olive trees, and continues in a straight line for upwards of an hour. a quarter of an hour from bab ullah, to the left, stands a mosque with a kiosk, called kubbet el hadj, where the pasha who conducts the hadj passes the first night of his journey, which is invariably the fifteenth of the month shauwal. on the other side of the road, and opposite to it, lies the village el kadem (the foot), where mohammed is said to have stopped, without entering damascus, when coming from mekka. half an hour farther is a bridge over a small rivulet: to the left are the villages zebeine and zebeinat; to the right the village deir raye. in another half hour we came to a slight ascent, called mefakhar; at its foot is a bridge over the rivulet el berde; to the right is the village el sherafie: to the left, parallel with the road, extends a stony district called war- ed-djamous [arabic] the buffaloes war, war being an appellation given to all stony soils whether upon plains or mountains. here the ground is very uneven; in traversing it we passed the megharat el haramie [arabic] or thief's cavern, the nightly refuge of disorderly persons. on the other side of the war is a descent called ard shoket el haik, which leads into the plain, and in half an hour to the village el kessoue; distant from damascus three hours and a quarter in a s.s.e. direction. el kessoue is a considerable village, situated on the river aawadj [arabic], or the crooked, which flows from the neighbourhood of hasbeya, and waters the plain of djolan; in front of the village a well paved bridge crosses the river, on each side of which, to the w. and e. appears a chain of low mountains; those to the east are called djebel manai [arabic], and contain large caverns; the ghabarib. [p. ]summits of the two chains nearest the village are called by a collective name mettall el kessoue [arabic]. i stopped for half an hour at kessoue, at a coffee house by the road side. the village has a small castle, or fortified building, over the bridge. from kessoue a slight ascent leads up to a vast plain, called ard khiara, from a village named khiara. in three quarters of an hour from kessoue we reached khan danoun, a ruined building. here, or at kessoue, the pilgrim caravan passes the second night. near khan danoun, a rivulet flows to the left. this khan, which is now in ruins, was built in the usual style of all the large khans in this country: consisting of an open square, surrounded with arcades, beneath which are small apartments for the accommodation of travellers; the beasts occupy the open square in the centre. from khan danoun the road continues over the plain, where few cultivated spots appear, for two hours and a quarter; we then reached a tel, or high hill, the highest summit of the djebel khiara, a low mountain chain which commences here, and runs in a direction parallel with the djebel manai for about twenty miles. the mountains khiara and manai are sometimes comprised under the name of djebel kessoue, and so i find them laid down in d'anville's map. the summit of djebel khiara is called soubbet faraoun. from thence begins a stony district, which extends to the village ghabarib [arabic], one hour and a quarter from the soubbet. upon a hill to the w. of the road, stands a small building crowned with a cupola, to which the turks resort, from a persuasion that the prayers there offered up are peculiarly acceptable to the deity. this building is called meziar eliasha [arabic], or the meziar of elisha. the hadj route has been paved in several places for the distance of a hundred yards or more, in order to facilitate the passage of the pilgrims in years when the hadj takes place during the rainy season. szanamein. [p. ]ghabarib has a ruined castle, and on the side of the road is a birket or reservoir, with a copious spring. these cisterns are met with at every station on the hadj route as far as mekka; some of them are filled by rain water; others by small streams, which if they were not thus collected into one body would be absorbed in the earth, and could not possibly afford water for the thousands of camels which pass, nor for the filling of the water-skins. at one hour beyond ghabarib is the village didy, to the left of the road: one hour from didy, es-szanamein [arabic], the two idols; the bearing of the road from kessoue is s.b.e.[the variation of the compass is not computed in any of the bearings of this journal.] szanamein is a considerable village, with several ancientbuildings and towers; but as my companions were unwilling to stop, i could not examine them closely. i expected to revisit them on my return to damascus, but i subsequently preferred taking the route of the loehf. i was informed afterwards that many greek inscriptions are to be found at szanamein. from szanamein the hadj route continues in the same direction as before to tafar and mezerib; we left it and took a route more easterly. that which we had hitherto travelled being the high road from the haouran to damascus, is perfectly secure, and we met with numerous parties of peasants going to and from the city; but we had scarcely passed szanamein when we were apprised by some felahs that a troop of arabs serdie had been for several days past plundering the passengers and villages in the neighbourhood. afraid of being surprised, my companions halted and sewed their purses up in a camel's pack saddle; i followed their example. i was informed that these flying parties of arabs very rarely drive away the cattle of the haouran people, but are satisfied with stripping them of cash, or any new piece of dress ezra. [p. ]which they may have purchased at damascus, always however giving them a piece of old clothing of the same kind in return. the country from szanamein to one hour's distance along our road is stony, and is thence called war szanamein. after passing it, we met some other haouran people, whose reports concerning the arabs so terrified my companions, that they resolved to give up their intention of reaching ezra the same day, and proceeded to seek shelter in a neighbouring village, there to wait for fresh news. we turned off a little to our left, and alighted at a village called tebne [arabic], distant one hour and a half from szanamein. we left our beasts in the court-yard of our host's house, and went to sup with the sheikh, a druse, at whose house strangers are freely admitted to partake of a plate of burgoul. tebne stands upon a low hill, on the limits of the stony district called the ledja, of which i shall have occasion to speak hereafter. the village has no water but what it derives from its cisterns, which were at this time nearly dry. it consists wholly of ancient habitations, built of stone, of a kind which i shall describe in speaking of ezra. november th.--we quitted tebne early in the morning, and passing the villages medjidel [arabic], mehadjer [arabic], shekara [arabic], and keratha [arabic], all on the left of the route, arrived, at the end of three hours and a quarter, at ezra [arabic]. here commences the plain of the haouran, which is interrupted by numerous insulated hills, on the declivities, or at the foot of which, most of the villages of the haouran are seated. from tebne the soil begins to be better cultivated, yet many parts of it are overgrown with weeds. on a hill opposite manhadje, on the west side of the road, stands a turkish meziar, called mekdad. in approaching ezra we met a troop of about eighty of the pasha's cavalry; they had, the preceding night, surprised the above- mentioned [p. ]party of arabs serdie in the village of walgha, and had killed aerar, their chief, and six others, whose heads they were carrying with them in a sack. they had also taken thirty-one mares, of which the greater number were of the best arabian breeds. afraid of being pursued by the friends of the slain they were hastening back to damascus, where, as i afterwards heard, the pasha presented them with the captured mares, and distributed eight purses, or about £ . amongst them. on reaching ezra i went to the house of the greek priest of the village, whom i had already seen at the patriarch's at damascus, and with whom i had partly concerted my tour in the haouran. he had been the conductor of m. seetzen, and seemed to be very ready to attend me also, for a trifling daily allowance, which he stipulated. ezra is one of the principal villages of the haouran; it contains about one hundred and fifty turkish and druse families, and about fifty of greek christians. it lies within the precincts of the ledja, at half an hour from the arable ground: it has no spring water, but numerous cisterns. its inhabitants make cotton stuffs, and a great number of millstones, the blocks for forming which, are brought from the interior of the ledja; the stones are exported from hence, as well as from other villages in the loehf, over the greater part of syria, as far as aleppo and jerusalem. they vary in price, according to their size, from fifteen to sixty piastres, and are preferred to all others on account of the hardness of the stone, which is the black tufa rock spread over the whole of the haouran, and the only species met with in this country. ezra was once a flourishing city; its ruins are between three and four miles in circumference. the present inhabitants continue to live in the ancient buildings, which, in consequence of the strength and solidity of their walls, are for the greater part in complete preservation [p. ]they are built of stone, as are all the houses of the villages in the haouran and djebel haouran from ghabarib to boszra, as well as of those in the desert beyond the latter. in general each dwelling has a small entrance leading into a court-yard, round which are the apartments; of these the doors are usually very low. the interior of the rooms is constructed of large square stones; across the centre is a single arch, generally between two and three feet in breadth, which supports the roof; this arch springs from very low pilasters on each side of the room, and in some instances rises immediately from the floor: upon the arch is laid the roof, consisting of stone slabs one foot broad, two inches thick, and about half the length of the room, one end resting upon short projecting stones in the walls, and the other upon the top of the arch. the slabs are in general laid close to each other; but in some houses i observed that the roof was formed of two layers, the one next the arch having small intervals between each slab, and a second layer of similar dimensions was laid close together at right angles with the first. the rooms are seldom higher than nine or ten feet, and have no other opening than a low door, with sometimes a small window over it. in many places i saw two or three of these arched chambers one above the other, forming so many stories. this substantial mode of building prevails also in most of the ancient public edifices remaining in the haouran, except that in the latter the arch, instead of springing from the walls or floor, rests upon two short columns. during the whole of my tour, i saw but one or two arches, whose curve was lofty; the generality of them, including those in the public buildings, are oppressively low. to complete the durability of these structures, most of the doors were anciently of stone, and of these many are still remaining; sometimes they are of one piece and sometimes they are folding doors; they turn upon hinges worked out of the stone, and are about four [p. ]inches thick, and seldom higher than about four feet, though i met with some upwards of nine feet in height. i remained at ezra, in the priest's house, this and the following day, occupied in examining the antiquities of the village. the most considerable ruins stand to the s.e. of the present habitations; but few of the buildings on that side have resisted the destructive hand of time. the walls, however, of most of them yet remain, and there are the remains of a range of houses which, to judge from their size and solidity, seem to have been palaces. the ezra people have given them the appellation of seraye malek el aszfar, or the palace of the yellow king, a term given over all syria, as i have observed in another place, to the emperor of russia. the aspect of these ruins, and of the surrounding rocky country of the ledja, is far from being pleasing: the ledja presents a level tract covered with heaps of black stones, and small irregular shaped rocks, without a single agreeable object for the eye to repose upon. on the west and north sides of the village are several public edifices, temples, churches, &c. the church of st. elias [arabic], in which the greeks celebrate divine service, is a round building, of which the roof is fallen in, and only the outer wall standing. on its s. side is a vestibule supported by three arches, the entrance to which is through a short arched dark passage. over the entrance is the following inscription: [greek] over a small side gate i observed the following words: [greek] [p. ] on the arch of the entrance alley, [greek] on the outer wall, on the north side of the rotunda; [greek] on the south side of the village stands an edifice, dedicated to st. georgius, or el khouder [arabic], as the mohammedans, and sometimes the christians, call that saint. it is a square building of about eighty- five feet the side, with a semicircular projection on the e. side; the roof is vaulted, and is supported by eight square columns, which stand in a circle in the centre of the square, and are united to one another by arches. they are about two feet thick, and sixteen high, with a single groove on each side. between the columns and the nearest part of the wall is a space of twelve feet. the niche on the east side contains the altar. the vaulted roof is of modern construction. the building had two entrances; of which the southern is entirely walled up; the western also is closed at the top, leaving a space below for a stone door of six feet high, over which is a broad stone with the following inscription upon it: [greek] [p. ] [greek] [a.d. . this was the third year of the emperor theodosius the younger, in whose reign the final decrees were issued against the pagan worship. it appears from the inscription that the building upon which it is written was an ancient temple, converted into a church of st. george. editor.] before the temple is a small paved yard, now used as the exclusive burial ground of the greek priests of ezra. in the midst of the present inhabited part of the village stand the ruins of another large edifice; it was formerly applied to christian worship, and subsequently converted into a mosque: but it has long since been abandoned. it consists of a quadrangle, with two vaulted colonnades at the northern and southern ends, each consisting of a double row of five columns. in the middle of the area stood a parallel double range of columns of a larger size, forming a colonnade across the middle of the building; the columns are of the doric order, and about sixteen feet high. the side arcades are still standing to half their height; those of the middle area are lying about in fragments; the e. and w. walls of the building are also in ruins. over the entrance gate are three inscribed tablets, only one of which, built upside down in the wall, is legible; it is as follows: [greek] over an inner gate i saw an inscription, much defaced, which seemed to be in syrian characters. adjoining this building stands a square tower, about fifty feet high; its base is somewhat broader than its top. i frequently saw [p. ]similar structures in the druse villages; and in szannamein are two of the same form as the above: they all have windows near the summit; in some, there is one window on each side, in others there are two, as in this at ezra. they have generally several stories of vaulted chambers, with a staircase to ascend into them. to the e. of the village is the gateway of another public building, the interior of which has been converted into private dwellings; this building is in a better style than those above described, and has some trifling sculptured ornaments on its gate. on the wall on the right side of the gate is this inscription. [greek] there are many private habitations, principally at the s. end of the town, with inscriptions over the doors; most of which are illegible. the following i found in different parts of the village, on stones lying on the ground, or built into the walls of houses. over the entrance of a sepulchral apartment, [greek] [p. ]i observed a great difference in the characters in which all the above inscriptions were engraved. that of s. georgius is the best written. in the evening i went to water my horse with the priest's cattle at the spring of geratha, one hour distant from ezra, n. by e. i met there a number of shepherds with theyr flocks; the rule is, that the first who arrives at the well, waters his cattle before the others; several were therefore obliged to wait till after sunset. there are always some stone basins round the wells, out of which the camels drink, the water being drawn up by leathern buckets, and poured into them: disputes frequent y happen on these occasions. the well has a broad staircase leading down to it; just by it lies a stone with an inscription, of which i could make out only the following letters [greek] this well is called rauad. november th.--i left ezra with the greek priest, to visit the villages towards the mountain of the haouran. i had agreed to pay him by the day, but i soon had reason to repent of this arrangement. in order to protract my journey, and augment the number of days, keratha. [p. ]he loaded his horse with all his church furniture, and at almost every village where we alighted he fitted up a room, and said mass; i was, in consequence, seldom able to leave my night's quarters before mid-day, and as the days were now short our day's journey was not more than four or five hours. his description of me to the natives varied with circumstances; sometimes i was a greek lay brother, sent to him by the patriarch, a deception which could not be detected by my dress, as the priesthood is not distinguished by any particular dress, unless it be the blue turban, which they generally wear; sometimes he described me as a physician who was in search of herbs; and occasionally he owned that my real object was to examine the country. our road lay s.e. upon the borders of the stony district called ledja; and at the end of two hours we passed the village of bousser [arabic] on our left, which is principally inhabited by druses; it lies in the war, and contains the turkish place of pilgrimage, called meziar eliashaa. near it, to the s. is the small village kherbet hariri. in one hour we passed baara, a village under the control of the sheikh of ezra; and at half an hour farther to our right, the village eddour [arabic]. the wady kanouat, a torrent which takes its rise in the mountain, passes baara, where it turns several mills in the winter season; towards the end of may it is generally dried up. at one hour from baara is the ain keratha, or geratha, according to bedouin and haouran pronunciation [arabic]. at the foot of a hill in the war are several wells; this hill is covered with the ruins of the ancient city of keratha, of which the foundations only remain: there had been such a scarcity of water this year, that the people of bousser were obliged to fetch it from these wells. a quarter of an hour e. of them is the village nedjran [arabic], in the ledja, in which are several ancient buildings inhabited by druses. in the ledja, in the neighbourhood of keratha, medjel. [p. ]are many spots of arable ground. upon a low hill, in our route, at an hour and a quarter from the ain or well, is deir el khouat [arabic], i.e. the brothers' monastery, a heap of ruins. from thence we travelled to the south-eastward for three quarters of an hour, to the village sedjen [arabic], where we alighted, at the house of the only christian family remaining among the druses of the place. sedjen is built, like all these ancient towns, entirely of the black stone peculiar to these mountains. november th.--we left sedjen about noon; and in half an hour came to the spring mezra [arabic], the water of which is conducted near to sedjen by an ancient canal, which empties itself in the summer time into a large pond; in the winter the stream is joined by a number of small torrents, which descend from the djebel haouran between kanouat and soueida; it empties itself farther to the west into the wady kanouat. above the spring is a ruined castle, and near it several other large buildings, of which the walls only are standing; the castle was most probably built to protect the water. there is a tradition that tamerlane filled up the well; and a similar story is repeated in many parts of the haouran: it is said that he threw quick-silver into the springs, which prevented the water from rising to the surface; and that the water collecting under ground from several sources near mezerib, at length burst forth, and formed the copious spring at that place, called bushe. from mezra to medjel we travelled e.n.e. one hour. it rained the whole day. on arriving at medjel i alighted to copy some inscriptions, when the druse sheikh immediately sent for me, to know what i was about. it is a general opinion with these people that inscriptions indicate hidden treasure; and that by reading or copying them a knowledge is obtained where the treasure lies. i often combated this opinion with success, by simply asking them, [p. ]whether, if they chose to hide their money under ground, they would be so imprudent as to inform strangers where it lay? the opinion, however, is too strongly rooted in the minds of many of the country people, to yield to argument; and this was the case with the sheikh of medjel. having asked me very rudely what business i had, i presented to him the pasha's bouyourdi; but of twenty people present no one could read it; and when i had read it to them, they refused to believe that it was genuine. while coffee was roasting i left the room, finished copying some inscriptions, and rode off in a torrent of rain. on the left side of a vaulted gate-way leading into a room in which are three receptacles for the dead is this inscription: [greek]. and opposite to it, on the right side of the gate-way, in large characters, [greek] over the eastern church, or mosque gate, [greek] kafer el loehha. [p. ]on the northern church gate, [greek]. on two stones built into the wall of a house on the side of the road, beyond the village, [greek] there are two other buildings in the town, which i suppose to have been sepulchral. in one of them is a long inscription, but the rain had made it illegible. we rode on for three quarters of an hour farther to the village kafer el loehha [arabic], situated in the wady kanouat, on the borders of the ledja. i here passed a comfortable evening, in the company of some druses, who conversed freely with me, on their relations with their own sheikhs, and with the surrounding arabs. november th.--the principal building of kafer el loehha is rima el loehf. [p. ]a church, whose roof is supported by three arches, which, like those in the private dwellings, spring from the floor of the building. upon a stone lying near it i read [greek]. not far from the church, on its west side, is another large edifice, with a rotunda, and a paved terrace before it. over the gateway, which is half buried, is the following inscription: [greek] from kafer el loehha we rode n. forty minutes, to a village called rima el loehf, [arabic] inhabited by only three or four druse families. at the entrance of the village stands a building eight feet square and about twenty feet high, with a flat roof, and three receptacles for the dead; it has no windows; at its four corners are pilasters. over the door is this inscription: [greek] the walls of this apartment are hollow, as appears by several doubba. [p. ] holes which have been made in them, in search of hidden treasure. beneath it is a subterraneous apartment, in which is a double row of receptacles for the dead, three in each row, one above the other; each receptacle is two feet high, and five feet and a half long. the door is so low as hardly to allow a person to creep in. i copied the following from a stone in an adjoining wall: [greek] this village has two birkets, or reservoirs for water, which are filled in winter time by a branch of the wady kanouat; they were completely dried up this summer, a circumstance which rarely happens. near both the birkets are remains of strong walls. upon an insulated hill three quarters of an hour s.e. from rima, is deir el leben [aarabic], i.e. monastery of milk; rima is on the limits of the ledja; deir in the plain between it and the mountain haouran. the deir consists of the ruins of a square building seventy paces long, with small cells, each of which has a door; it contained also several larger apartments, of which the arches only remain. the roof of the whole building has fallen in. over the door of one of the cells i read the following inscription: [greek] [hence it appears that rima has preserved its ancient name. ed.] half an hour e. of deir el leben lies a ruined, uninhabited village upon a tel, called doubba [arabic] it has a birket and a shohba. [p. ]spring. to the n.e. of it is the inhabited druse village bereike [arabic]. we advanced half an hour e. to the village mourdouk [arabic] on the declivity of the djebel haouran; it has a spring, from whence the druses of rima and bereike obtain their daily supply of water. from the spring we proceeded to the eastward on the side of the mountain. at our feet extended the ledja from between n.e.b.n. where it terminates, near tel beidhan, to n.w. by n. its furthest western point, on the haouran side. between the mountain and the ledja is an intermediate plain of about one hour in breadth, and for the greater part uncultivated. before us lay three insulated hills, called tel shiehhan, tel esszoub, which is the highest, and tel shohba; they are distant from each other half an hour, the second in the middle. one hour and a half to the s.e. of tel shohba is one of the projecting summits of the mountain called tel abou tomeir. from mourdouk our road lay for an hour and a half over stony ground, to shohba [arabic] the seat of the principal druse sheikhs, and containing also some turkish and christian families. it lies near the foot of tel shohba, between the latter and the mountain; it was formerly one of the chief cities in these districts, as is attested by its remaining town walls, and the loftiness of its public edifices. the walls may be traced all round the city, and are perfect in many places; there are eight gates, with a paved causeway leading from each into the town. each gate is formed of two arches, with a post in the centre. the eastern gate seems to have been the principal one, and the street into which it opens leads in a straight line through the town; like the other streets facing the gates, it is paved with oblong flat stones, laid obliquely across it with great regularity. following this street through a heap of ruined habitations on each side of it, where are many fragments of columns, i came to a place where four massy cubical structures [p. ]formed a sort of square, through which the street runs; they are built with square stones, are twelve feet long by nine high, and, as appears by one of them, which is partly broken down, are quite solid, the centre being filled up with stones. farther on to the right, upon a terrace, stand five corinthian columns, two feet and a quarter in diameter, all quite entire. after passing these columns i came to the principal building in this part of the town; it is in the form of a crescent, fronting towards the east, without any exterior ornaments, but with several niches in the front. i did not venture to enter it, as i had a bad opinion of its present possessor, the chief of shohba, who some years ago compelled m. seetzen to turn back from hence towards soueida. i remained unknown to the druses during my stay at shohba. before the above mentioned building is a deep and large reservoir, lined with small stones. to the right of it stands another large edifice of a square shape, built of massy stones, with a spacious gate; its interior consists of a double range of vaults, one above the other, of which the lower one is choaked up as high as the capitals of the columns which support the arches. i found the following inscription upon an arch in the upper story: [greek]. beyond and to the left of this last mentioned building, in the same street, is a vaulted passage with several niches on both sides of it, and dark apartments, destined probably for the reception of the bodies of the governors of the city. farther on are the remaining walls of a large building. upon two stones, close to each other, and projecting from the wall, i read the following inscriptions: [p. ] on the first, [greek]. on the second, [greek]. to the west of the five corinthian columns stands a small building, which has been converted into a mosque; it contains two columns about ten inches in diameter, and eight feet in height, of the same kind of fine grained gray granite, of which i had seen several columns at banias in the syrian mountains. to the south of the crescent formed building, and its adjoining edifice, stands the principal curiosity of shohba, a theatre, in good preservation. it is built on a sloping site, and the semicircle is enclosed by a wall nearly ten feet in thickness, in which are nine vaulted entrances into the interior. between the wall and the seats runs a double row of vaulted chambers one over the other. of these the upper chambers are boxes, opening towards the seats, and communicating behind with a passage which separates them from the outer wall. the lower chambers open into each other, those at the extremities of the semi- circle excepted, which have openings towards the area of the theatre. the entrance into the area is by three gates, one larger, with a smaller on either side; [p. ] on each side of the two latter are niches for statues. the diameter of the area, near the entrance, is thirty paces; the circle round the upper row of seats is sixty-four paces; there are ten rows of seats. outside the principal entrance is a wall, running parallel with it, close to which are several small apartments. to the s.e. of shohba are the remains of an aqueduct, which conveyed water into the town from a spring in the neighbouring mountain, now filled up. about six arches are left, some of which are at least forty feet in height. at the termination of this aqueduct, near the town, is a spacious building divided into several apartments, of which that nearest to the aqueduct is enclosed by a wall twelve feet thick, and about twenty-five feet high; with a vaulted roof, which has fallen in. it has two high vaulted entrances opposite to each other, with niches on each side. in the walls are several channels from the roof to the floor, down which the water from the aqueduct probably flowed. on one side of this room is an entrance into a circular chamber fourteen feet in diameter; and on the other is a similar apartment but of smaller dimensions, also with channels in its walls; adjoining to this is a room without any other opening than a very small door; its roof, which is still entire, is formed of small stones cemented together with mortar; all the walls are built of large square stones. the building seems evidently to have been a bath. on a stone built in the wall over the door of a private dwelling in the town, i copied the following: [greek]. [p. ] shakka. [greek] [legionis decimæ flavianae fortis. ed.] to the margin of the third line the following letters are annexed: [greek]. the inhabitants of shohba fabricate cotton cloth for shirts and gowns. they grow cotton, but it is not reckoned of good quality. there are only three christian families in the village. there are three large birkets or wells, in two of which there was still some water. there is no spring near. most of the doors of the houses, are formed of a single slab of stone, with stone hinges. november th.--our way lay over the fertile and cultivated plain at the foot of the jebel haouran, in a north-easterly direction. at a quarter of an hour from the town we passed the wady nimri w-el heif [arabic], a torrent coming from the mountain to the s.e. in the winter it furnishes water to a great part of the ledja, where it is collected in cisterns. there is a great number of ruined mills higher up the wady. three or four hours distant, we saw a high hill in the djebel, called um zebeib [arabic]. three quarters of an hour from shohba we passed the village asalie [arabic], inhabited by a few families; near it is a small birket. in one hour and three quarters we came to the village shakka [arabic]; on its eastern side stands an insulated building, consisting of a tower with two wings: it contains throughout a double row of arches and the tower has two stories, each of which forms a single chamber, without any opening but the door. upon the capital of a column is: [greek]. [p. ]adjoining the village, on the eastern side, are the ruins of a handsome edifice; it consists of an apartment fourteen paces square opening into an arcade, which leads into another apartment similar to the first. in the first, whose roof has fallen down, there are pedestals for statues all round the walls. on one side are three dark apartments, of which that in the centre is the largest; on the opposite side is a niche. the entrance is towards the east. to the south of these ruins stood another building, of which the front wall only is standing; upon a stone, lying on the ground before the wall, and which was probably the architrave of the door, i found the following inscription: [greek]. opposite to these ruins i copied the following from a stone built in the wall of one of the private dwellings: [greek] and this from a stone in the court-yard of a peasant's house: [greek]. [p. ]on the north side of the village are the ruins also of what was once an elegant structure; but nothing now remains except a part of the front, and some arches in the interior. it is thirty paces in length, with a flight of steps, of the whole length of the building, leading up to it. the entrance is through a large door whose sides and architrave are richly sculptured. on each side is a smaller door, between which and the great door are two niches supported by ionic pilasters, the whole finely worked. within are three aisles or rows of arches, of which the central is much the largest; they rest upon short thick columns of the worst taste. at some distance to the north of the village stands a small insulated tower; over its entrance are three inscriptions, of which i copied the two following; the third i was unable to read, as the sun was setting before i had finished the others: . [greek]. [p. ] . [greek] el hait there are several similar towers in the village, but without inscriptions. the inhabitants of shakka grow cotton; they are all druses, except a single greek family. to the s.e. of the village is the spring aebenni [arabic] with the ruined village tefkha, about three quarters of an hour distant from shakka. e.b.n. from shakka one hour lies djeneine [arabic], the last inhabited village on this side towards the desert. its inhabitants are the shepherds of the people of el hait. half an hour to the north of djeneine is tel-maaz [arabic], a hill on which is a ruined village. this is the n.e. limit of the mountain, which here turns off towards the s. behind djeneine. at three quarters of an hour from shakka, n.n.w. is el hait, inhabited entirely by catholic christians. here we slept. i copied the following inscriptions at el hait: from a stone in one of the streets of the village: [greek] from a stone over the door of a private dwelling: [greek]. tel shohba. [p. ]upon a stone in the wall of another house, i found the figure of a quadruped rudely sculptured in relief. on the wall of a solid building are the two following inscriptions: [greek] on the wall of another building: [greek] east of el hait three quarters of an hour lies the village heitt [arabic]. november th.--we returned from hait, directing our route towards tel shiehhan. in one hour we passed the village of ammera. from ammera our way lay direct towards tel shiehhan. the village um ezzeitoun lay in the plain below, one hour distant, in the borders of the ledja. upon the top of tel shiehhan is a meziar. tel szomeit [arabic], a hill in the ledja, was seen to the n.w. about three hours distant; tel aahere [arabic], also in the ledja, to the west, about four hours distant. the tel shiehhan is completely barren up to its top: near its eastern foot we passed the wady nimri w-el heif, close to a mill which works in the winter soueida. [p. ]time. from hence we passed between the tel shiehhan and tel es- szoub; the ground is here covered with heaps of porous tufa and pumice stone. the western side of the tel shohba seems to have been the crater of a volcano, as well from the nature of the minerals which lie collected on that side of the hill, as from the form of a part of the hill itself, resembling a crater, while the neighbouring mountains have rounded tops, without any sharp angles. we repassed ain mourdouk, and continued our way on the sloping side of the mountain to saleim, a village one hour from the spring; it has been abandoned by its former inhabitants, and is now occupied only by a few poor druses, who take refuge in such deserted places to avoid the oppressive taxes; and thus sometimes escape the miri for one year. they here grow a little tobacco. in the village is a deep birket. at the entrance of saleim are the ruins of a handsome oblong building, with a rich entablature: its area is almost entirely filled up by its own ruins. just by is a range of subterraneous vaults. the wady kanouat passes near the village. the day was now far gone, and as my priest was afraid of travelling by night, we quickened our pace, in order to reach soueida before dark. from saleim the road lies through a wood of stunted oaks, which continues till within one hour of soueida. we had rode three quarters of an hour when i was shewn, e. from our road, up in the mountain, half an hour distant, the ruins of aatin [arabic], with a wady of the same name descending into the plain below. in the plain, to the westward, upon a hillock one hour distant, was the village rima el khalkhal, or rima el hezam [arabic] (hezam means girdle, and khalkhal, the silver or glass rings which the children wear round their ankles.) our road from saleim lay s. by e. over a stony uncultivated ground, till within one hour of soueida, where the wood of oaks terminates, and the fields begins, which extend up [p. ]the slope of the mountain for half an hour to the left of the road. from saleim to soueida is a distance of two hours and three quarters. soueida is situated upon high ground, on a declivity of the djebel haouran; the kelb haouran, or highest summit of the mountain, bearing s.e. from it. it is considered as the first druse village, and is the residence of the chief sheikh. to the north, and close to it, descends the deep wady essoueida, coming from the mountain, where several other wadys unite with it; it is crossed by a strong well built bridge, and it turns five or six mills near the village. here, as in all their villages, the druses grow a great deal of cotton, and the cultivation of tobacco is general all over the mountain. soueida has no springs, but there are in and near it several birkets, one of which, in the village, is more than three hundred paces in circuit, and at least thirty feet deep: a staircase leads down to the bottom, and it is entirely lined with squared stones. to the s. of the village is another of still larger circumference, but not so deep, also lined with stone, called birket el hadj, from the circumstance of its having, till within the last century, been a watering place for the hadj, which used to pass here. to the west of soueida, on the other side of the wady, stands a ruined building, which the country people call doubeise: it is a perfect square of thirteen paces, with walls two feet thick, and ornamented on each side with six doric pilasters, sixteen spans high, and reaching to within two feet of the roof, which has fallen down, and fills up the interior. no door or opening of any kind is visible. on the wall between the pilasters are some ornaments in bas-relief. on the n. wall is the following inscription, in handsome characters; [p. ] [greek]. soueida was formerly one of the largest cities of the haouran; the circuit of its ruins is at least four miles: amongst them is a street running in a straight line, in which the houses on both sides are still standing; i was twelve minutes in walking from one end to other. like the streets of modern cities in the east, this is so very narrow as to allow space only for one person or beast to pass. on both sides is a narrow pavement. the great variety seen in the the mode of construction of the houses seems to prove that the town has been inhabited by people of different nations. in several places, on both sides of the street, are small arched open rooms, which i supposed to have been shops. the street commences in the upper part of the town, at a large arched gate built across it; descending from thence i came to an elegant building, in the shape of a crescent, the whole of whose front forms a kind of niche, within which are three smaller niches; round the flat roof is written in large characters: [greek]. on a stone lying upon the roof [greek]. continuing along the street i entered, on the left, an edifice with four rows of arches, built with very low pillars in the ugly style already described. upon a stone, built upside down in one of the interior walls, was this; [greek]. [p. ] [greek] [the fourteenth legion was surnamed gemina. see several inscriptions in gruter. ed.] at the lower end of the street is a tower about thirty feet high, and eighteen square. turning from the beginning of the street, to the south, i met with a large building in ruins, with many broken pillars; it seems to have been a church; and it is joined to another building which has the appearance of having once been a monastery. in the paved area to the s. of it lies a water trough, formed of a single stone, two feet and a half in breadth, and seven feet in length, ornamented with four busts in relief, whose heads have been knocked off. in a stony field about three hundred yards s. of the sheikh's house, i found engraved upon a rock: [greek]. kanouat. [p. ]round a pedestal, which now serves to support one of the columns in the front of the sheikh's house, is the following: [greek]. on the side of the pedestal is a figure of a bird with expanded wings, about one foot high, and below it is a man's hand grasping at something. near the sheikh's house stands a colonnade of corinthian columns, which surrounded a building, now entirely in ruins, but which appears to have been destined for sepulchres, as there are some small arched doors, quite choaked up, leading to subterraneous apartments. november th.--we rode to the ruined city called kanouat [arabic], two hours to the n.e. of soueida; the road lying through a forest of stunted oaks and zarour trees, with a few cultivated fields among them. kanouat is situated upon a declivity, on the banks of the deep wady kanouat, which flows through the midst of the town, and whose steep banks are supported by walls in several places. to the s.w. of the town is a copious spring. on approaching kanouat from the side of soueida, the first object that struck my attention was a number of high columns, upon a terrace, at some distance from the town; they enclosed an oblong square fifteen paces in breadth, by twenty-nine in length. there were originally six columns on one side, and seven on the other, including the corner columns in both numbers; at present six only remain, and the bases of two others; they are formed of six pieces of stone, and measure from the top of the pedestal to the base of the capital twenty-six feet; the height of the pedestal is five feet; the circumference of the column six feet. the capitals are elegant, and well finished. on the northern side was an [p. ]inner row of columns of somewhat smaller dimensions than the outer row; of these one only is standing. within the square of columns is a row of subterraneous apartments. these ruins stand upon a terrace ten feet high, on the n. side of which is a broad flight of steps. the pedestals of all the columns had inscriptions upon them; but nothing can now be clearly distinguished except [greek] upon one of them. two divisions of the town may be distinguished, the upper, or principal, and the lower. the whole ground upon which the ruined habitations stand is overgrown with oak trees, which hide the ruins. in the lower town, over the door of an edifice which has some arches in its interior, and which has been converted in modern times into a greek church, is an inscription, in which the words [greek] only, were distinguishable. a street leads up to this building, paved with oblong flat stones placed obliquely across the road in the same manner which i have described at shohba. here are several other buildings with pillars and arches: the principal of them has four small columns in front of the entrance and an anti-room leading to an inner apartment, which is supported by five arches. the door of the anti-room is of one stone, as usual in this country, but it is distinguished by its sculptured ornaments. a stone in this building, lying on the ground, is thus inscribed: [xxxxx]. [p. ]the principal building of kanouat is in the upper part of the town, on the banks of the wady. the street leading up to it lies along the deep bed of the wady, and is paved throughout; on the side opposite to the precipice are several small vaulted apartments with doors. the entrance of the building is on the east side, through a wide door covered with a profusion of sculptured ornaments. in front of this door is a vestibule supported by five columns, whose capitals are of the annexed form. this vestibule joins, towards the north, several other apartments; their roofs, some of which were supported by pillars, have now all fallen down. the abovementioned wide door opens into the principal apartment of the edifice, which is twenty-two paces in breadth by twenty-five in length. from each side of the entrance, through the middle of the room, runs a row of seven pillars, like those described above; at the further end, this colonnade is terminated by two corinthian columns. all the sixteen columns are twenty spans high, with pedestals two feet and a half high. in the wall on the left side of this saloon are three niches, supported by short pillars. to the west is another vestibule, which was supported by five corinthian columns, but four of them only are now standing. this vestibule communicates through an arched gate with an area, on the w. side of which are two corinthian pillars with projecting bases for statues. on the s. side of the area is a large door, with a smaller one on each side. that in the centre is covered with sculptured vines and grapes, and over the entrance is the figure of the cross in the midst of a bunch of grapes. i observed similar ornaments on the great gate at shakka, and i have often seen them since, over the entrances of public edifices. in the interior of the area, on the e. side, is a niche sixteen feet deep, arched at the bottom, with small vaulted rooms on both its sides, in which there is no other opening than the low door. kanouat. [p. ]on the s. and w. sides, the building is enclosed by a large paved area. at a short distance from thence is another building, whose entrance is through a portico consisting of four columns in front and of two others behind, between two wings; on the inner sides of which are two niches above each other. the columns are about thirty-five feet high, and three feet and a half in diameter. part of the walls only of the building are standing. in the wall opposite the entrance are two niches, one above the other. not far from this building, toward its western side, i found, lying upon the ground, the trunk of a female statue of very inelegant form and coarse execution; my companion the priest spat upon it, when i told him that such idols were anciently objects of adoration; by its side lay a well executed female foot. i may here mention for the information of future travellers in these parts, that on my return to soueida, i was told that there was a place near the source of spring water, where a great number of figures of men, women, beasts, and men riding naked on horses, &c. were lying upon the ground. besides the buildings just mentioned, there are several towers with two stories upon arches, standing insulated in different parts of the town; in one of them i observed a peculiarity in the structure of its walls, which i had already seen at hait, and which i afterwards met with in several other places; the stones are cut so as to dovetail, and fit very closely. the circuit of this ancient city may be about two miles and a half or three miles. from the spring there is a beautiful view into the plain of the haouran, bounded on the opposite side by the mountain of the heish, now covered with snow. there were only ezzehoue. [p. ]two druse families at kanouat, who were occupied in cultivating a few tobacco fields. i returned to soueida by the same road which i had come. november th.--after having made the tour of the city, i took coffee at the house of the sheikh, whose brother and sons received me very politely, and i visited some sick people in the village,--for i was continually pressed, wherever i went, to write receipts for the sick,--i then left soueida, with the intention of sleeping the following night in some arab tent in the mountain, where i wished to see some ruined villages. the priest's fear of catching cold prevented me from proceeding according to my wishes. passing the birket el hadj, we arrived in an hour and a quarter at a miserable village called erraha [arabic]; twenty minutes farther we passed the wady el thaleth [arabic], so called from three wadys which, higher up, in the mountain unite into one. here were pointed out to me, at half an hour to the n.e. on the side of the wady in the mountain, the spring called ain kerashe, and at half an hour's distance, in the plain, the druse village resas. in a quarter of an hour from thaleth, we reached kherbet rishe, a ruined village, and in one hour more ezzehhoue [arabic], where my companion insisted upon taking shelter from the rain. november th.--a rivulet passes ezzehhoue, called ain ettouahein [arabic]; i.e. the source of the mills, which comes down from ain mousa, the spring near kuffer, and flows towards aaere. ezzehhoue is a druse village, with a single christian family. i was not well received by the druse sheikh, a boy of sixteen years, although he invited me to breakfast with him; but i was well treated by the poor christian family. when i left the village there was a rumor amongst the druses, that i should not be permitted to depart, or if i was, that i should be waylaid on the road, but neither happened. the people of the village make coffee mortars out of aaere. [p. ]the trunks of oak trees, which they sell at twenty and twenty-five piastres each, and export them over the whole of the haouran. at three quarters of an hour from ezzehhoue, to the left of our route, is the tel ettouahein, an insulated hill in the plain, into which the road descends at a short distance from the village. near the hill passes the wady ezzehhoue, a winter torrent which descends from the mountain. two hours from ezzehhoue is aaere [arabic], a village standing upon a tel in the plain. aaere is the seat of the second chief of the druses in the haouran: he is one of the most amiable men i have met with in the east, and what is still more extraordinary, he is extremely desirous to acquire knowledge. in the conversations i had with him during my repeated visits at aaere, he was always most anxious to obtain information concerning european manners and institutions. he begged me one day to write down for him the greek, english, and german alphabets, with the corresponding sound in arabic beneath each letter; and on the following day he shewed me the copy he had taken of them. his kindness towards me was the more remarkable, as he could not expect the smallest return for it. he admired my lead pencils, of which i had two, but refused to accept one of them, on my offering it to him. these druses, as well as those of kesrouan, firmly believe that there are a number of druses in england; a belief originating in the declaration of the christians in these countries, that the english are neither greeks, nor catholics, and therefore not christians. upon a stone in the village i copied the following; [xxxxx]. november th.--being desirous of visiting the parts of the haouran bordering upon the desert, of crossing the djebel haouran, or mountainous part of the district, and of exploring several ruined hebran. [p. ]cities which i had heard of in the desert, i engaged, with the sheikh's permission, two druses and a christian, to act as guides. as there was considerable risque of meeting with some hostile tribe of arabs on the road, i gave my purse to the greek priest, who promised to wait for my return; he did not keep his word, however, for he quitted aaere, taking my money with him, no doubt in the view of compelling me to follow him to his village, from whence he might again have a chance of obtaining a daily allowance, by accompanying me, though he well knew that it was my intention to return to damascus by a more western route; nor was this all, he took twenty piastres out of my purse to buy straw for his camels. on his repeatedly confessing to me, afterwards, his secret wishes that some frank nation would invade and take possession of the country, i told him that he would by no means be a gainer by such an event, as a trick such as that he had played me would expose him to be turned out of his living and thrown into a prison. "you must imprison all the people of the country then," was his reply; and he spoke the truth. i have often reflected that if the english penal laws were suddenly promulgated in this country, there is scarcely any man in business, or who, has money-dealings with others, who would not be found liable to transportation before the end of the first six months. our road lay over the plain, e.n.e. for three quarters of an hour; we then began to mount by a slight ascent. in an hour and a quarter we came to two hills, with the ruins of a village called medjmar [arabic], on the right of the road. at a quarter of an hour from thence is the village afine [arabic], in which are about twenty-five druse families; it has a fine spring. here the ascent becomes more steep. at one hour from afine, e.b.s. upon the summit of the lower mountain, stands hebran [arabic]. here is a spring and a ruined church, with the foundations kuffer. [p. ]of another building near it. withinside the gate is the following inscription: [greek]. on the eastern outer wall: [greek]. in a ruined building, with arches, in the lower town; [xxxxx]. upon a stone over a door, in a private house: [greek]. the mountain upon which hebran stands is stony, but has places fit for pasturage. the plain to the s. is called amman, in which is a spring. that to the e. is called zauarat, and that to the s.w. merdj el daulet; all these plains are level grounds, with several hillocks, and are surrounded by mountains. there are a few families at hebran. proceeding from hebran towards the kelb (dog), or, as the arabs here call it, kelab haouran, in one houre we came to kuffer [arabic], once a considerable town. it is built in the usual style of this country, entirely of stone; most of the houses are still entire; the doors are uniformly of stone, and even the gates of the town, between nine and ten feet high, are of a single piece of stone. on each side [p. ]of the streets is a foot pavement two feet and a half broad, and raised one foot above the level of the street itself, which is seldom more than one yard in width. the town is three quarters of an hour in circumference, and being built upon a declivity, a person may walk over it upon the flat roofs of the houses; in the court-yards of the houses are many mulberry trees. amongst several arched edifices is one of somewhat larger dimensions, with a steeple, resembling that at ezra; in the paved court-yard lies an urn of stone. in later times this building had been a mosque, as is indicated by several arabic inscriptions. in the wall within the arched colonnade is a niche elegantly adorned with sculptured oak-leaves. we dined in the church, upon the kattas [arabic] which my guides had killed. these birds, which resemble pigeons, are in immense numbers here; but i found none of them in the eastern parts of the djebel haouran. to the n.e. of kutfer is the copious spring already mentioned, called ain mousa, the stream from which, we had passed at ezzehhoue. there is a small building over it, on which are these letters: [greek]. we arrived, after sunset, in one hour from kuffer, at an encampment of arabs rawafie, immediately at the foot of the kelab; and there took up our quarters for the night. the tent of our host was very neat, being formed with alternate white and black shoukes, or cloth made of goat's hair. i here found the meharem to the right of the man's apartment. we were treated as usual with coffee and feita. i had been rather feverish during the whole day, and in the evening the symptoms increased, but, cold as the night was, and more especially on the approach of morning wady awairid. [p. ]when the fire which is kept up till midnight gradually dies out, i found myself completely recovered the next day. this encampment consisted of ten or twelve tents, in the midst of the forest which surrounds the kelab. november st.--the kelab is a cone rising from the lower ridge of the mountains; it is barren on the s. and e. sides, but covered on the n. and w. with the trees common to these mountains. i was told that in clear weather the sea is visible from its top, the ascent to which, from the encampment, was said to be one hour. the morning was beautiful but very cold, the whole mountain being covered with hoar frost. we set off at sun-rise, and rode through the forest one hour, when we breakfasted at an encampment of arabs shennebele, in the midst of the wood. from thence i took two arabs, who volunteered their services, to guide me over the mountains into the eastern plain. we soon reached the termination of the forest, and in half an hour passed the merdj el kenttare [arabic], a fine meadow (where the young grass had already made its appearance), in the midst of the rocky mountain, which has no wood here. a rivulet called el keine [arabic], whose source is a little higher up in the mountain, flows through the meadow. three quarters of an hour farther, and to the right of the road, upon a hill distant half an hour, are the ruins of the village el djefne; to the left, at the same distance, is tel akrabe. we passed many excellent pasturing places, where the arabs of the mountain feed their cattle in the spring; but the mountain is otherwise quite barren. half an hour farther, descending the mountain, we passed wady awairid [arabic], whose torrent, in winter, flows as far as rohba, a district so called, where is a ruined city of the same name, on the eastern limits of the szaffa.[the szaffa [arabic] is a stony district, much resembling the ledja, with this difference, that the rocks with which it is covered are considerably larger, although the whole may be said to be even ground. it is two or three days in circumference, and is the place of refuge of the arabs who fly from the pasha's troops, or from their enemies in the desert. the szaffa has no springs; the rain water is collected in cisterns. the only entrance is through a narrow pass, called bab el szaffa, a cleft, between high perpendicular rocks, not more than two yards in breadth, which one ever dared to enter as an enemy. if a tribe of arabs intend to remain a whole year in the szaffa, they sow wheat and barley on the spots fit for cultivation on its precincts. on its e. limits are the ruined villages of boreisie, oedesie, and el koneyse. on its western side this district is called el harra, a term applied by the arabs to all tracts which are covered with small stones, being derived from harr, i.e. heat (reflected from the ground.)] our route lay to the north-east; we zaele. [p. ]descended by the banks of the wady into the plain, and at a short distance from where the wady enters it, arrived at zaele [arabic] in two hours and three quarters from the arab encampment where we had breakfasted. zaele owes its origin to the copious spring which rises there, and which renders it, in summer time, a much frequented watering place of the arabs. the ruined city which stands near the spring is half an hour in circuit; it is built like all those of the mountain, but i observed that the stone doors were particularly low, scarcely permitting one even to creep in. a cupola once stood over the spring, and its basin was paved. i found the following inscription upon a stone lying there: [greek]. and another above the spring, upon a terrace adjoining the ruins of a church: [greek]. the spring of zaele flows to the s.e. and loses itself in the plain. [p. ]one hour and a half to the eastward of zaele stands tel shaaf [arabic], with a ruined city. e. four hours, melleh [arabic], a ruined city in the plain; and upon a tel near it, deir el nuzrany. the plain, for two hours from zaele, is called el haoui. towards the e. and s.e. of zaele are the following ruined places: boussan [arabic], at the foot of the mountain; khadera [arabic]; aans [arabic], om ezzeneine [arabic]; kherbet bousrek [arabic]; habake [arabic]. the great desert extends to the n.e.e., and s.e. of zaele; to the distance of three days journey eastward, there is still a good arable soil, intersected by numerous tels, and covered with the ruins of so many cities and villages, that, as i was informed, in whatever direction it is crossed, the traveller is sure to pass, in every day, five or six of these ruined places. they are all built of the same black rock of which the djebel consists. the name of the desert changes in every district; and the whole is sometimes called telloul, from its tels or hillocks. springs are no where met with in it, but water is easily found on digging to the depth of three or four feet. at the point where this desert terminates, begins the sandy desert called el hammad [arabic], which extends on one side to the banks of the euphrates, and on the other to the n. of wady serethan, as far as the djof. i wished to proceed to melleh, but my druse companions were not to be prevailed upon, through fear of the arabs sheraka, a tribe of the arabs djelaes, who were said to be in that neighbourhood. we herefore recrossed the mountain from zaele, and passed its south-eastern corner, on which there are no trees, but many spots of excellent pasture. in two hours from zaele we came to a spring called ras el beder [arabic], i.e. the moon's head, whose waters flow down into the plain as far as boszra. from the spring we redescended, and reached zahouet el khudher [arabic], a ruined city, standing in a wady, at a short distance from the zahouet el khudher. [p. ]plain. one hour from these ruins a rivulet called moiet maaz [arabic] passes through the valley, whose source is to the n.w. up in the mountain, one hour distant, near a ruined place called maaz. this is a very romantic, secluded spot; immediately behind the town the valley closes, and a row of willows, skirting both banks of the rivulet in its descent, agreeably surprise the traveller, who rarely meets in these districts with trees raised by the labour of man; but it is probable that these willows will not long withstand the destroying hands of the arabs: fifteen years ago there was a larger plantation here, which was cut down for fire wood; and every summer many of the trees share the same fate. zahouet el khudher was formerly visited by the christians of the haouran, for the purpose of offering up their prayers to the khudher, or st. george, to whom a church in the bottom of the valley is dedicated. the turks also pay great veneration to this saint, so much so that a few goats-hair mats, worth five or six piastres, which are left on the floor of the sanctuary of the church, are safe from the robbers. my druse guides carried them to a house in the town, to sleep upon; but returned them carefully on the following morning. the arabs give the name of abd maaz to st. george. the church has a ruined cupola. on the outer door is this inscription: [greek]. on an arch in the vestibule [xxxxx]. ard aaszaf. [p. ] within the church: [greek]. upon elevated ground on the w. side of the wady stands the small ruined town of zahouet, with a castle on the summit of the hill. i could find no legible inscriptions there. we had reached zahouet after sunset; and the dread of arabs, who very frequently visit this place, made us seek for a night's shelter in the upper part of the town, where we found a comfortable room, and lighted a still more comfortable fire. we had tasted nothing since our breakfast; and my guides, in the full confidence of meeting with plenty of kattas and partridges on our road, had laid in a very small provision of bread on setting out, but had brought a sack of flour mixed with salt, after the arab fashion. unluckily, we had killed only two partridges during the day, and seen no kattas; we therefore had but a scanty supper. towards midnight we were alarmed by the sound of persons breaking up wood to make a fire, and we kept upon our guard till near sun-rise, when we proceeded, and saw upon the wet ground the traces of men and dogs, who had passed the night in the church, probably as much in fear of strangers as we were ourselves. november d.--i took a view of the town, after which we descended into the plain, called here ard aaszaf [arabic], from a tel named aazaf, at half an hour from the khudher. the abundant rains had already covered the plain with rich verdure. our way lay s. at the end of an hour and a quarter we saw to our left, one mile distant from the road, a ruined castle upon a tel called keres [arabic]; close to our road was a low birket. to the ayoun. [p. ]right, three or four miles off, upon another tel, stands the ruined castle el koueires [arabic]. from keres to ayoun [arabic], two hours distant from zahouet el khudher, the ground is covered with walls, which probably once enclosed orchards and well cultivated fields. at ayoun are about four hundred houses without any inhabitants. on its west side are two walled-in springs, from whence the name is derived. it stands at the eastern foot of the szfeikh [arabic] a hill so called, one hour and a half in length. i saw in the town four public edifices, with arches in their interior; one of them is distinguished by the height and fine curve of the arches, as well as by the complete state of the whole building. its stone roof has lost its original black colour, and now presents a variety of hues, which on my entering surprised me much, as i at first supposed it to be painted. the door is ornamented with grapes and vine leaves. there is another large building, in which are three doors, only three feet high; over one of them are these letters: [xxxxx]. over an arch in its interior is this: [greek]. from ayoun ruined walls of the same kind as those we met with in approaching ayoun extend as far as oerman [arabic], distant one hour and a half, in the open plain. oerman is an ancient city, somewhat larger than ayoun. in it are three towers, or steeples, built in the usual mode, which i have described at kuffer. on the walls of a miserable building adjoining the s. side of the town are the following six inscribed tablets, built into the wall; the second is inverted, a proof that they have been placed in this situation by modern barbarians as ornaments: oerman. [p. ] . [greek]. . [greek]. . [greek]. . [greek]. . [greek]. [p. ] [greek]. between the first and second inscriptions is a niche in the wall, about four feet high; resembling the annexed figure: [xxxxx]. over a door in the western part of the town is the following: [greek]. oerman has a spring; but my guides, afraid of prolonging our stay in these desert parts, denied its existence when i enquired for it. i was informed afterwards that a large stone, on which is an inscription, lies near it. there are also several birkets. from oerman we proceeded one hour and a quarter, to the town and castle called szalkhat [arabic]: the intermediate country is full of ruined walls. the soil of the desert, as well here szalkhat. [p. ]as between zahouet and oerman, is black; and, notwithstanding the abundant rains, the ground was intersected in every direction by large fissures caused by the summer heat. the castle of szalkhat is situated upon a hill at the southern foot of the szfeikh. the town, which occupies the south and west foot of the castle hill, is now uninhabited; but fifteen years since a few druse and christian families were established here, as well as at oerman: the latter retired to khabeb, where i afterwards saw them, and where they are still called szalkhalie. the town contains upwards of eight hundred houses, but presents nothing worthy of observation except a large mosque, with a handsome madene or minaret; the mosque was built in the year of the hedjra, or a.d. , as appears from an inscription upon it; the minaret is only two hundred years old. but even the mosque seems to have been nothing more than a repaired temple or church, as there are several well wrought niches in its outer walls: and the interior is vaulted, with arches supported by low pillars similar to those which have been before described. several stones are lying about, with greek inscriptions; but all so much defaced as to be no longer legible. within the mosque lies a large stone with a fleur-de-lis cut upon it. in the court-yards of the houses of the town are a great number of fig and pomegranate trees; the former were covered with ripe fruit, and as we had tasted nothing this day but dry flour, we made a hearty dinner of the figs. there is no spring either in the castle or town of szalkhat, but every house has a deep cistern lined with stone; there is also a large birket. the castle stands upon the very summit of the hill, and forms a complete circle; it is a very commanding position, and of the first importance as a defence of the haouran against the arabs. it is surrounded by a deep ditch, which separates the top of the hill [p. ]from the part immediately below it. i walked round the outside of the ditch in twelve minutes. the upper hill, except in places where the rock is firm, is paved with large flat stones, similar to those of the castle of aleppo: a number of these stones, as well as parts of the wall, have fallen down, and in many places have filled up the ditch to half its depth. i estimated the height of the paved upper hill to be sixty yards. a high arched bridge leads over the ditch into the castle. the wall of the castle is of moderate thickness, flanked all round by towers and turrets pierced with numerous loop holes, and is constructed of small square stones, like some of the eastern walls of damascus. most of the interior apartments of the castle are in complete ruins; in several of them are deep wells. on entering i observed over the gate a well sculptured eagle with expanded wings; hard by, on the left of the entrance, are two capitals of columns, placed one upon the other, each adorned with four busts in relief projecting from a cluster of palm leaves. the heads of the busts are wanting; the sculpture is indifferent. a covered way leads from the inside of the gateway into the interior; of this i took a very cursory view, as the day was near closing, and my companions pressed me very much to depart, that we might reach a village three hours distant; there being no water here for my horse, i the more readily complied with their wishes. over the entrance of a tower in the interior i read these two lines: [arabic]. "in the name of god, the merciful and the munificent. during the reign of the equitable king saad-eddin abou-takmar, the emir--- ordered the building of this castle;" which makes it probable that it was erected for the defence abd maaz. [p. ]of the country against the crusaders. in one of the apartments i found, just appearing above the earth, the upper part of a door built of calcareous stone, a material which i have not met with in any part of the haouran: over it is the following inscription, in well engraved characters: [greek]. upon the architrave of the door, on both sides of the inscription, are masques in bas-relief. in an apartment where i saw several small entrances to sepulchres, and where there are several columns lying about, is this: [greek]. and, on a stone in the wall of the same apartment: [greek]. the hill upon which the castle stands consists of alternate layers of the common black tufwacke of the country, and of a very porous deep red, and often rose-cloured, pumice-stone: in some caverns formed in the latter, salt-petre collects in great quantities. i met with the same substance at shohba. s.w. of szalkhat one hour and a half, stands the high tel abd maaz, with a ruined city of the same name; there still remain large plantations of vines and figs, the fruit of which is kereye. [p. ]collected by the arabs in autumn. near abd maaz is another ruin called deffen. s. one hour is tel mashkouk [arabic], towards which are the ruins tehhoule [arabic], kfer ezzeit [arabic], and khererribe [arabic]. we left szalkhat towards sunset, on a rainy evening, in order to reach kereye, a village three good hours distant. in one hour we passed the ruined village meneidhere [arabic], with a copious spring near it. our route lay through a stony plain, and the night now becoming very dark, with incessant rain, my guides lost their way, and we continued for three hours uncertain whether we should not be obliged to take up our night's quarters in the open plain. at length, however, we came to the bed of a wady called hameka, which we ascended for a short distance, and in half an hour after crossing it reached kereye, about ten at night; here we found a comfortable fellah's house, and a copious dish of bourgul. november d.--kereye is a city containing about five hundred houses, of which four only were at this time inhabited. it has several ancient towers, and public buildings; of the latter the principal has a portico consisting of a triple row of six columns in each, supporting a flat roof; seven steps, extending the whole breadth of the portico, lead from the first row up to the third; the capitals of the columns are of the annexed form; their base is like the capital inverted. behind the colonnade is a birket surrounded with a strong wall. upon a stone lying upon the upper step, in the midst of which is an excavation, is this inscription: [greek]. houshhoush. [p. ]to the s. and e. of kereye are the ruins called ai-in [arabic], barade [arabic], nimri [arabic], bakke [arabic], hout [arabic], souhab [arabic], rumman [arabic], szemad [arabic], and rafka [arabic]. kelab haouran bears from kereye n.&.e. kereye is three hours distance from boszra [arabic], the principal town in the haouran, remarkable for the antiquity of its castle, and the ancient ruins and inscriptions to be found there. i wished very much to visit it, and might have done so in perfect safety, and without expense; but i knew that there was a garrison of between three and four hundred moggrebyns in the town; a class of men which, from the circumstance of their passing from one service to another, i was particularly desirous of avoiding. it was very probable that i might afterwards meet with some of the individuals of this garrison in egypt, where they would not have failed to recognize my person, in consequence of the remarkable circumstance of my visit to boszra; but as i did not think proper to state these reasons to my guides, who of course expected me to examine the greatest curiosity in the haouran, i told them that i had had a dream, which made it advisable for me not to visit this place. they greatly applauded my prudent determination, accustomed as they had been to look upon me as a person who had a secret to insure his safety, when travelling about in such dangerous places. we therefore left kereye in the morning, and proceeding n.e. reached in three quarters of an hour houshhoush [arabic], after having crossed the wady djaar [arabic], which descends from the mountain. houshhoush is a heap of ruins, upon a tel in the plain, and is famed over all the haouran for the immense treasures said to be buried there. whenever i was asked by the fellahs where i had been, they never failed to enquire particularly whether i had seen houshhoush. the small ancient village contains nothing remarkable except a church, supported by a single arch which rests on pillars much higher than those generally seen in this country. at the shmerrin. [p. ]foot of the hill are several wells. we found here a great number of mushrooms; we had met with some at szalkhat; my guides taught me to eat them raw, with a morsel of bread. the quantity of kattas here was beyond description; the whole plain seemed sometimes to rise; and far off in the air they were seen like large moving clouds. w. of houshhoush half an hour, in the plain, are tel zakak and deir aboud; the latter is a building sixty feet square, of which the walls only are standing; they are built with small stones, and have a single low door. from this place w.s.w. three quarters of an hour is tahoun el abiad [arabic] i.e. the white mill, the ruins of a mill on the banks of the wady ras el beder, which i noticed in speaking of zahouet el khuder. s.w. from tahoun, three quarters of an hour, is the ruined village kourd [arabic], and w. from it one hour, the village tellafe [arabic]. our way from deir aboud lay w.s.w.; at one hour and a half from it is the considerable ruined village keires [arabic], on the wady zedi, the largest of all the wadys which descend from the mountain into the plain. the soil of this uncultivated district is of a red colour, and appears to be very fertile. from hence i proceeded towards boszra, which i observed at the distance of half an hour, from the high ground above keires. the castle of boszra bore w.s.w. that of szalkhat e.s.s., and the kelab haouran n.e.; i was near enough to distinguish the castle, and the mosque which is called by the mohammedans el mebrek, from the lying down of the caliph othman's camel. turning from hence, in a n.w. direction, we came to the ruined village shmerrin [arabic], about three quarters of an hour from keires. over a door in the village i read: [xxxxx]. near the village stands an insulated tower, with an arabic inscription, aaere. [p. ]but so high that i could not copy it; above it in large characters is [greek] [of felix. ed]. the wady zedi passes close to this village, where a bridge of three arches is built over it; i was told that in winter the waters often rise over the bridge. farther to the west this wady joins that of ghazale. from shmerrin we travelled to the northward; about an hour and a half to our left was the village kharaba. we were now upon the hadj route formerly pursued by the pilgrims from damascus through the ledja to soueida and boszra. the road is still marked by stones scattered over it, the remains, probably, of its pavement. thee quarters of an hour from shmerrin, close to the right of the road, stands deir esszebeir [arabic], a ruined village with a building like a monastery. at sunset we reached aaere, two hours and a quarter from shmerrin. november th and th.--i remained at aaere these two days, during which the sheikh continued his friendly behaviour towards me. it was my wish to make an excursion towards the western parts of the plain of the haouran, in order to visit draa, and the ruins of om edjemal and om ezzeroub, distant one day's journey from draa, which, judging from all the information i had received, seemed to be well worth seeing. i offered to any person, or company of men, who would undertake to guide me to the spot, thirty piastres, a large sum in these parts, but nobody was to be found. the fact was that the road from aaere to draa, as well as that from thence to om edjemal, was infested by a party of arabs serdie, the brother of whose chief had recently been killed by the pasha's troops; and besides these, it was known that numerous parties of arabs sheraka made incursions in the same direction i thaale. [p. ]was therefore obliged to give up my project, but with the intention of executing it at a future period. november th.--i left aaere in the company of a druse; at parting the sheikh made me promise that i would again visit his village. the direction of our route was to the n.w. in an hour and a quarter, over a plain, in most parts cultivated, we reached el kenneker [arabic], a solid building upon a hill, with a few habitations round it; all the villages in this part are inhabited; we saw the traces of the wahabi in a burnt field. e. from hence one hour is deir ettereife [arabic]. n.e. half an hour, the village hadid [arabic]; half an hour farther passed ousserha [arabic], a village with a copious spring. one hour and a half e. we saw walgha [arabic]. just before we reached ousserha we passed the wady el thaleth, which i have mentioned between soueida and zahouet. continuing on the side of the wady for three quarters of an hour, we came to thaale [arabic], where there is a birket: here we stopped to breakfast. it is inhabited by mohammedans only. in a building now used as a mosque, within which are four arches, and three short pillars in the vestibule, i copied the two following inscriptions placed opposite each other. [greek][a.d. , the twenty-third year of the emperor heraclius.]. on a long wall of a building entirely in ruins: [greek]. from thaale one hour s.w. is tel sheikh houssein, with the village deir ibn kheleif; to the w. of which is el kerak. we nahita. [p. ]proceeded from thaale in a w. direction, half an hour, to daara [arabic], a village with a birket. on the wall of the mosque i read as follows: [greek]. one hour to the w. of the village is rakham. travelling from daara n.w. we reached in one hour and a quarter the village melihat ali, to the s. of which, half an hour, stands melihat el ghazale. in one hour and a quarter from melihat ali we reached nahita [arabic], where we slept. on the s. side of the village, near a well, now filled up, stands a small square tower, built with large stones; there is a long inscription over its entrance, but illegible. november th.--in a ruined arched building i copied the following: [greek]. and over a door as follows: [greek]. this village has a large birket, and contains a ruined tower, with vaulted buildings adjoining. we proceeded one hour to melihat el hariri, so named from khabeb. [p. ]its sheikh being generally of the family of hariri; the proper name of the village is melihat el atash. i there copied the following, over a door: [greek]. from thence, in one hour and a quarter, i reached ezra, and alighted at the house of the priest. i again endeavoured to visit draa, but no body would undertake to act as my guide except a peasant, in whose company i did not think that i should be sufficiently secure; for it had been a constant rule with me, during this tour, not to expose myself to any hazard, well knowing that this was not the place, where duty and honour obliged me to do so; on the contrary, i felt that i should not be justified in risking my life, in this quarter, destined as i am to other, and it is hoped, more important pursuits. november th.--i left ezra this morning with the priest, to visit some villages in the northern loehf, and if possible to enter the ledja. we rode one hour to keratha, close to which is a spring. from keratha, in an hour and a quarter, we came to mehadje, whence i saw tel shiehhan bearing e.s.e. to the east of the road from ezra to mehadje on the ledja are the ruins of sour and aazim. from mehadje we entered the ledja, and continued in it, at half an hour's distance from the cultivated plain, in the direction n.e., till we reached khabeb [arabic] at the end of two hours. between tebne and khabeb lies the village bossir. from khabeb the kelab haouran bears s.s.e. this is a considerable village, inhabited for the greater part by catholic christians, who, as i have mentioned above, emigrated from szalkhat. the sheikh is a druse. i met here a poor arab, a native of the country three days journey from mekka; he told me that the dhami. [p. ]wahabi had killed four of his brothers; that he fled from home, and established himself at dael, a village in the haouran, which was ransacked last summer by the same enemies, when he lost the whole of his property. this man corroborated what i have repeatedly been told, that a single person may travel over the wahabi dominions with perfect safety. november th.--i here took two druses to conduct me into the interior of the ledja. the arabs who inhabit that district pay some deference to the druses, but none whatever to the turks or christians of the neighbouring villages. in one hour we passed the two ruined cities zebair [arabic] and zebir [arabic], close to each other. at the end of two hours and a quarter, our road lying in the direction of the kelab haouran, we came to the ruined village djedel [arabic]. thus far the ledja is a level country with a stony soil covered with heaps of rocks, amongst which are a number of small patches of meadow, which afford excellent pasture for the cattle of the arabs who inhabit these parts. from djedel the ground becomes uneven, the pasturing places less frequent, the rocks higher, and the road more difficult. i had intended to proceed to aahere, where there is a fine spring; but evening coming on we stopped near dhami [arabic], three hours and three quarters from khabeb, and two hours distant from aahere. it appears strange that a city should have been built by any people in a spot where there is neither water nor arable ground, and nothing but a little grass amidst the stones. dhami may contain three hundred houses, most of which are still in good preservation. there is a large building whose gate is ornamented with sculptured vine leaves and grapes, like those at kanouat. every house appears to have had its cistern; there are many also in the immediate vicinity of the town: they are formed by excavations in the rock, the surface of which is supported by props deir dhami. [p. ]of loose stones. some of them are arched and have narrow canals to conduct the water into them from the higher grounds. s.e. of dhami half an hour is deir dhami [arabic], another ruined place, smaller than the former, and situated in a most dreary part of the ledja, near which we found, after a good deal of search, an encampment of arabs medledj, where we passed the night. november th.--these arabs being of a doubtful character, and rendered independent by the very difficult access of their rocky abode, we did not think it prudent to tell them that i had come to look at their country; they were told, therefore, that i was a manufacturer of gunpowder, in search of saltpetre, for at dhami, and in most of the ruined villages in the ledja, the earth which is dug up in the court- yards of the houses, as well as in the immediate vicinity of them, contains saltpetre, or as it is called in arabic, melh baroud, i.e. gunpowder salt. the ledja, which is from two to three days journey in length, by one in breadth, is inhabited by several tribes of arabs; viz. selman [arabic], medledj [arabic], szolout [arabic], dhouhere [arabic], and siale [arabic]; of these the szolout may have about one hundred tents, the medledj one hundred and twenty, and the others fifty or sixty. they breed a vast number of goats, which easily find pasturage amongst the rocks; a few of them also keep sheep and cows, and cultivate the soil in some parts of the ledja, where they sow wheat and barley. they possess few horses; the medledj have about twenty, and the szolout and dhouhere each a dozen. but i shall have occasion to speak of these arabs again in describing the people of the country. the tent in which we slept was remarkably large, although it could not easily be perceived amidst the labyrinth of rocks where it was pitched; yet our host was kept awake the whole night by the ledja. [p. ]the fear of robbers, and the dogs barked incessantly. he told me next morning that the szolout had lately been very successful in their nightly depredations upon the medledj. our host having no barley, gave my horse a part of some wheat which he had just brought from the plain, to bake into bread for his family. december lst.--we departed at sunrise, the night having been so cold that none of us was able to sleep. we found our way with great difficulty out of the labyrinth of rocks which form the inner ledja, and through which the arabs alone have the clue. some of the rocks are twenty feet high, and the country is full of hills and wadys. in the outer ledja trees are less frequent than here, where they grow in great numbers among the rocks; the most common are the oak, the malloula, and the bouttan; the latter is the bitter almond, from the fruit of which an oil is extracted used by the people of the country to anoint their temples and forehead as a cure for colds; its branches are in great demand for pipe tubes. there are no springs in any part of this stony district, but water collects, in winter time, in great quantities in the wadys, and in the cisterns and birkets which are every where met with; in some of these it is kept the whole summer; when they are dried up the arabs approach the borders of the ledja, called the loehf, to water their cattle at the springs in that district. the camel is met with throughout the ledja, and walks with a firm step over the rocky surface. in summer he feeds on the flowers or dry grass of the pasturing places. in the interior parts of the ledja the rocks are in many places cleft asunder, so that the whole hill appears shivered and in the act of falling down: the layers are generally horizontal, from six to eight feet, or more, in thickness, sometimes covering the hills, and inclining to their curve, as appears from the fissures, which often traverse the rock from top to bottom. in [p. ] many places are ruined walls; from whence it may be conjectured that a stratum of soil of sufficient depth for cultivation had in ancient times covered the rock. we had lost our road, when we met with a travelling encampment of medledj, who guided us into a more open place, where their companions were pitching their tents. we breakfasted with them, and i was present during an interesting conversation between one of my druse companions and an arab. the wife of the latter, it appeared, had been carried off by another arab, who fearing the vengeance of the injured husband, had gone to the druse sheikh of khabeb, and having secured his dakhil [arabic], or protection, returned to the woman in the ledja. the sheikh sent word to the husband, cautioning him against taking any violent measures against his enemy. the husband, whom we here met with, wished to persuade the druses that the dakhil of the sheikh was unjust, and that the adulterer ought to be left to his punishment. the druse not agreeing with him, he swore that nothing should prevent him from shedding the blood of the man who had bereft him of his own blood; but i was persuaded that he would not venture to carry his threat into effect; for should he kill his enemy, the druses would not fail to be revenged upon the slayer or his family. the outer ledja is to be distinguished from the inner, on this side as well as on that by which we entered it, the former being much less rocky, and more fit for pasturage than the latter. on the borders of the inner ledja we passed several places where the mill-stones are made, which i have mentioned in a former part of my journal. the stones are cut horizontally out of the rocks, leaving holes of four or five feet in depth, and as many in circumference; fifty or sixty of these excavations are often met with in the circumference of a mile. the stones are carried to be finished at ezra, mehadje, aeib, khabeb, and shaara. shaara. [p. ] in one hour and a half from the borders of the ledja, we came to kastal kereim, a ruined village, with a birket; half an hour from it, kereim, a druse village. between kereim and khabeb in the loehf, is aeib [arabic], a druse village, in which is a powder manufactory; there is another at khabeb. half an hour from kereim is kalaat szamma [arabic], a ruined village, with several towers. one hour and a half, shaara, a village inhabited by about one hundred druse and christian families. we travelled this day about eight hours and a half. shaara was once a considerable city; it is built on both sides of a wady, half an hour from the cultivated plain, and is surrounded by a most dreary barren war. it has several large solidly built structures, now in ruins, and amongst others a tower that must have been about forty-five feet high. in the upper town is an ancient edifice with arches, converted into a mosque: over its door is this inscription: [greek]. there is a salt-petre manufactory in the town; the earth in which the salt-petre is found, is collected in great quantities in the ruined houses, and thrown into large wooden vessels perforated with small holes on one side near the bottom. water is then poured in, which drains through the holes, into a lower vessel, from whence it is taken, and poured into large copper kettles; after boiling for twenty-four hours, it is left in the open air; the sides of the kettles then become covered with crystals, which are afterwards washed to free them from all impurities. one hundred rotolas of saline earth give from one to one and a half rotola of salt-petre. i was told by the sheikh of the village, who is the manufacturer missema. [p. ]on his own account, that he sends yearly to damascus as much as one hundred kantars. here is also a gunpowder manufactory. december d.--the greek priest, who had not ventured to accompany me into the ledja, i found again at shaara. i wished to see some parts of the northern loehf, and particularly the ruins of missema, of which i heard much from the country people. i therefore engaged a man at shaara, to conduct me to the place, and from thence to damascus. we set out in the morning, proceeded along the limits of the war, in an easterly direction, and in three quarters of an hour came to the sources of water called sheraya [arabic]; they are five or six in number, are situated just on the borders of the war, and extend as far as missema, watering all the plain before them. here, in the spring, the people of shaara grow vegetables and water melons, and in summer the arabs of the ledja sometimes sow the neighbouring fields with wheat; but the frequent passage of the bedouins renders the collection of the harvest somewhat precarious. missemi, or missema, is situated in the ledja, at one hour and a half from shaara; it is a ruined town of three miles in circuit. over the door of a low vaulted building i read the following inscription in well executed characters: [greek]. [helvius] the principal ruin in the town is a temple, in tolerable preservation; it is one of the most elegant buildings which i have seen in the haouran. the approach to it is over a broad paved area, which has once been surrounded by a row of short pillars; a flight of six steps, the whole length of the façade, [p. ] leads up to the portico, which consists of seven doric columns, but of which three only are now standing. the entrance to the temple is through a large door in the centre, on each side of which is a smaller door; over the latter are niches. there are no sculptured ornaments on any part of the great door: the temple is sixteen paces square within. four corinthian columns standing in a square in the centre of the chamber support the roof. about two feet and a half under their capitals is a ring; their pedestals are three feet and a half high. opposite the entrance is a large semicircular niche, the top of which is elegantly sculptured so as to resemble a shell. on either side of the niche is a pilaster, standing opposite to one of the columns. at the door are two pilasters similarly placed, and two others upon each of the side walls. projecting from the bottom of each of these side walls, are four pedestals for busts or statues. the roof is formed of several arches, which, like the walls, are constructed with large stones. on either side of the interior niche is a small dark room. the door of the temple faces the south, and is almost completely walled up with small stones. over the pedestals of two of the remaining columns of the portico are the following inscriptions: [greek]. over the great door: [greek] missema. [p. ] [greek]. in larger characters immediately under the former. [greek] [legionis tertiae gallicae. ed.]. on one of the jambs of the door; [greek]. upon a broken stone in the portico: [greek]. [p. ] [greek]. on the pedestal of a statue in the temple: [greek]. on another pedestal: [greek][tribunum ([greek]) legionis flaviae firmae. this was the th legion, as appears from the two following inscriptions. the th has the same title in an inscription in gruter (p. ). ed.]. under the niche to the left of the great door: [greek]. under that to the right: [greek]. there are several other public buildings at missema; but in no way remarkable for their architecture. i had been told that in one of these buildings was a large stone covered with small greek characters. i sought for it in vain. missema has no inhabitants; we met with only a few workmen, digging the saline earth: there are no springs here, but a number of cisterns. e. of missema are no inhabited villages, but the loehf contains several in ruins. merdjan. [p. ]from missema our way lay n.n.w. over the desert plain, towards djebel kessoue. this route is much frequented in the summer time by the aeneze, who pass this way to and from the haouran. the plain is intersected in every direction by paths formed by camels, called daroub el aarb [arabic]. at the end of two hours we saw to the left, in the mountains, the ruined village om el kezour; and one hour eastward from thence, in the plain, an insulated pillar called amoud esszoubh [arabic], i.e. the column of the morning, on which, as i was afterwards told, are several inscriptions. our road now turned n. and we reached, after sunset, in three hours and a quarter from missema, the ruined village merdjan, where we found some men who had come to sow a few acres of ground, and partook of a frugal supper with them. december d.--the small village of merdjan is picturesquely situated on a gentle declivity near the foot of the mountain, and is surrounded by orchards, and poplar trees, which have escaped the rapacious hands of the arabs: hard by flows a rivulet, which irrigates the adjacent grounds. we left merdjan early in the morning. twenty minutes north is ain toby [arabic], or the spring of the gazelle, consisting of several wells, round one of which are the remains of a well built wall. at one hour and a half is soghba [arabic], a few houses surrounded by a wall; three quarters of an hour from thence is deir ali [arabic], a village at the western foot of djebel mane; before we came to the village we crossed the moiet deir ali, a rivulet whose source is in the neighbourhood. half an hour from deir ali is meshdie [arabic], a small village, in the valley between djebel mane and djebel khiara, which is about three hours in breadth. the ground is here for the greater part cultivated. our route was n.n.w. from deir ali, from whence, in two hours, we reached el kessoue, and towards sunset we entered damascus. [p. ] journal of a tour from aleppo to damascus, through the valley of the orontes and mount libanus, in february and march, . february th.--i left aleppo at mid-day; and in half an hour came to the miserable village sheikh anszary [arabic], where i took leave of my worthy friends messieurs barker and van masseyk, the english and dutch consuls, two men who do honour to their respective countries. i passed the two large cisterns called djob mehawad [arabic], and djob emballat [arabic], and reached, at the end of two hours and a half, the khan called touman [arabic], near a village of the same name, situated on the koeyk, or river of aleppo. the khan is in a bad state; pashas no longer think of repairing public edifices. february th--after a march of ten hours and a half, i arrived at sermein, having had some difficulty in crossing the muddy plain. the neighbourhood of sermein is remarkable for great numbers of cisterns and wells hewn in the rock: in the town every house has a similar cistern; those in the plain serve to water the peasants' cattle in the summer, for there are no springs in these parts. on the s.e. side of sermein is a large subterraneous vault, cut in the solid rock, divided into several apartments, and edlip. [p. ]supported in various places by round pillars with coarsely wrought capitals; near this are several other excavations, all inhabited by the poor peasants. sermein belongs to the family of khodsy effendy of aleppo. february th.--half an hour to the left, near our road, is an insulated hill, with the tomb of a saint, called kubbet denneit [arabic]; the plain is here well cultivated, but nothing is sown at present between khan touman and sermein. to the right of the road, on a similar hill, stands mezar kubbet menebya [arabic]; and one hour to the right, also upon a tel, mezar tar [arabic]. half an hour s.e. from denneit is the village gemanas. in two hours and a half from sermein we reached the town of edlip [arabic], the approach to which is very picturesque; it lies round the foot of a hill, which divides it into two parts; there is a smaller hill on the n. side: the town is surrounded by olive plantations, and the whole landscape put my companion, an english traveller, in mind of athens and its vicinity. here again are many wells cut in the rocky soil round the town. this place is called little edlip [arabic]. of great edlip [arabic], the name only remains: it stood at half an hour's distance from the present town, which is of modern date, or about the middle of the seventeenth century. i reckoned the number of its houses at about one thousand. the inhabitants are for the most part turks; there are only eighty greek christian families, and three of armenian greeks. they have a church, and three priests, and are under the immediate jurisdiction of the greek patriarch of damascus. the principal trade of edlip is in soap; there are some manufactories of cotton stuffs, and a few dyeing-houses. the bazars are well built, some of them of stone. in the town are several khans, two of which are destined for the reception of strangers; [p. ]but the best edifice is the soap manufactory (el meszbane), a large building. edlip has no gardens, because there is no water but from wells and cisterns; there are a few orchards of pomegranate and fig trees, and some vine plantations. the place is supplied with vegetables from rieha, and from aere, a village two hours distant, lying between darkoush and djissr shogher. there is a single spring in the town of brackish water, which is never used but in seasons of great drought; a man who had cleansed the bottom of the deep well in which the spring issues, told me that he found two openings in the rock, near each other, from the one of which flows sweet water, while that from the other is brackish. i made the tour of the town in thirty-seven minutes; the rocky ground is full of caverns, wells, and pits. edlip is held by the family of kuperly zaade of constantinople; but a part of its revenue is a wakf to the harameyn, that is to say, it contributes to defray the expenses of the two holy cities mekka and medina. the town pays annually to the above family, twenty purses for themselves, and fifteen for the holy cities; the latter sum was formerly sent to mekka every year with the pilgrim caravan; but it is now paid into the hands of the kuperlys. the town of djissr shogher [arabic], distant six hours from edlip, on the road to ladikia, belongs to the same family, and is likewise a wakf attached to the holy cities; it pays fifteen purses to the kuperlys, and seven to the harameyn. the revenue arising from thirteen or fourteen villages in the neighbourhood of djissr shogher has been assigned to the support of several hospitals which the kuperlys have built in that town, where a number of poor people are fed daily gratis. neither edlip nor shogher pays any land-tax or miri, in consequence of their being attached to mekka; but there is a custom-house at edlip, where duties are levied on all kinds of provisions, as rice, coffee, oil, raisins, tobacco, &c. [p. ]the proceeds of which amount to nearly one hundred purses; besides a house tax, which yields twenty purses. the duties levied on provisions at djissr shogher amount to twenty purses. the government of edlip is in the hands of a mutsellim, named by the porte; the real power had been for many years in the rich family of ayash [arabic], till the present chief of that family, mahmoud ibn ayash, a man famous for his hospitality and upright character, had the misfortune to lose all his influence. in his house became involved in a deadly quarrel with that of djahya, in consequence of a game of jerid, which took a serious turn, and in which much blood was shed. djahya left edlip, and went to rieha and djissr shogher, where he succeeded in engaging in his interest seyd aga and topal aly, the rebel chiefs of those towns, who only wanted a pretext to fall upon edlip; they accordingly stirred up the inhabitants against mahmoud, who was obliged to fly to aleppo, and having sent the mutsellim, moury aga, back to constantinople, they put abou shah, the brother-in-law of topal aly, in his place, and brought djahya back to edlip. after some months the two rebels came to a compromise with mahmoud, who returned to edlip, and djahya, in turn, fled to aleppo; mahmoud's power, however, was now at an end: the two chiefs are at present masters of the town, and share its spoils; but its wealth has much decreased since these events took place. in eighteen months it has paid upwards of six hundred purses; and on the day before our arrival a new contribution of two hundred had spread despair among the inhabitants. a kadhi is sent here early from constantinople. sermein bears from hence s.e. by e. there are no dependent villages in the territory of edlip. february th.--we left edlip after mid-day. our road lay through a wood of olive trees, in a fertile uneven plain of red argillaceous soil. in one hour we reached sheikh hassan, the tomb of rieha. [p. ]a saint; in an hour and a quarter the insulated hill tel stommak [arabic], with the village stommak on its west side. the direction from edlip s. by w.: this hill seems to be an artificial mound of earth. the wood of olive trees here terminates. in two hours and forty minutes we arrived at rieha [arabic], which we did not enter, through fear of the rebel seyd aga, who occupies it. it contains about four or five hundred houses, is a much frequented market, and has two large soap manufactories. rieha is situated on the northern declivity of the djebel erbayn [arabic], or the mountain of the forty; and belongs to the government of aleppo; but since the expulsion of mohammed pasha, seyd aga has been in the possession of it, and governs also the whole mountain of rieha, of which djebel erbayn forms a part. this man is a chief of that kind of cavalry which the turks call dehlys. he has about three hundred of them in his service, together with about one hundred arnaouts; common interests have closely connected him with topal aly, the chief of the dehlys at djissr shogher, who has about six hundred under his command, and with milly ismayl, another chief, who commands at kalaat el medyk. unless the porte finds means to disunite these three rebels, there is little probability of its reducing them. they at present tyrannize over the whole country from edlip to hamah. about two hours to the s.e. of rieha lies the village of marszaf [arabic], and s. of the latter about one hour, the ruined town benin. we ascended the mountain from rieha, turned round its eastern corner, and in one hour from rieha, reached the village of kefr lata [arabic]. we were hospitably received at the house of the sheikh of kefr lata, although his women only were at home. a wondering story-teller amused us in the evening with chanting the bedouin history of the beni helal. kefr lata belongs to ibn szeyaf, one of the first families of aleppo. february th.--kefr lata is situated upon the mountain of kefr lata. [p. ]rieha, on the s. side of a narrow valley watered by a rivulet; it contains forty or fifty houses, all well built of square stones, which have been taken from the buildings of a town of the lower empire, which occupied the same site. the remains deserve notice, on account of the vast quantity of stone coffins and sepulchres. the mountain is a barren calcareous rock, of no great hardness. in some places are a few spots of arable ground, where the inhabitants of the village grow barley and dhourra. on the side of the rivulet are some fruit trees. we were occupied the whole morning in visiting the neighbourhood of the village, which must have been anciently the burying place of all the great families of this district; the number of tombs being too considerable for so small a town as kefr lata appears to have been; no such sepulchres, or at least very few, are met with among the ruins of the large cities which we saw afterwards in the same mountain. beginning on the west side of the village, i counted sixteen coffins and seven caves; the coffins are all excavated in the rock; the largest are nine feet long, and three feet and a half in breadth; the smaller seven feet long, and three feet broad; their depth is generally about five feet. in the greater part of them there is on one side a curved recess, cut in the rock, about four feet in length, and two feet in breadth. all these coffins had originally stone lids of a single block of stone, exactly covering the aperture of the coffin. only a small proportion of these now remain entire, but there are some quite uninjured. i saw only two or three in which a sculptured frieze or cornice was carried along the whole length of the cover; the generality have only a few ornaments on the two ends; they are all of the annexed shape. the apertures of the coffins are invariably even with the surface of the ground, and the lids only are seen from without, as if lying upon the surface. [p. ]the sepulchral caves vary in their sizes and construction; the entrance is generally through a low door, sometimes ornamented by short pilasters, into a vaulted room cut in the rock, the size of which varies from six to fifteen feet in length, and from four to ten feet in breadth; the height of the vault is about six feet; but sometimes the cave terminates in a flat roof. they all contain coffins, or receptacles for the dead; in the smaller chambers there is a coffin in each of the three sides: the larger contain four or six coffins, two opposite the entrance, and one on each side, or two on each of the three sides: the coffins in general are very rudely formed. some of the natural caverns contain also artificial receptacles for the dead, similar to those already described; i have seen many of these caverns in different parts of syria. the south side of the village being less rocky, there are neither caves nor coffins on that side. on the east side i counted twenty-one coffins, and five sepulchral caves; of the former, fourteen are within a very small space; the greater part of them are single, but in same places they have been formed in pairs, upon the same level, and almost touching each other. crossing to the n. side of the valley of kefr lata, i met with a long wall built with large blocks of stone; to the north of it is an oblong square, thirty-seven paces in length, and twenty-seven in breadth, cut out of the rock; in its walls are several niches. in the middle of it is a large coffin, with the remains of a wall which had enclosed it. to the e. of this is a similar square, but of smaller dimensions. i counted in this neighbourhood twenty coffins and four sepulchral caves, besides several open niches very neatly wrought in the side of the mountain, containing recesses for the dead. returning towards the village i passed the source of the rivulet which waters the valley. over it stands an ancient building, which consists of a vaulted roof supported by four short columns, in a very bad heavy style; it is about thirieen feet in height. a djebel erbayn. [p. ] few letters of a greek in scription are visible on the lower part of the roof: [greek]. we left the village about mid-day, and crossed the mountain in a northerly direction, by the short foot way to rieha; in half an hour we reached the point of the mountain directly over rieha. it is this part of the djebel rieha which is properly called djebel erbayn. in the last century a summer residence was built here just above the town; but it is now abandoned, although a most beautiful spot, surrounded by fruit trees of all sorts, with a copious spring, and presenting a magnificent view over the plains of aleppo and edlip. a spring, which here issues from under the rock, collects in front of the building into a large basin, from whence it flows down to rieha. i here took the following bearings; edlip n. by e.; sermein n.e.b.n.; mount st. simon n.n.e.; khan touman e.n.e.; djebel el ala n.; djebel akra w.n.w. about one hour n.e. of rieha lies the village haleya. from djebel erbayn we continued our road in a s.s.w. direction, on the declivity of the mountain of rieha. in half an hour el bara. [p. ] we passed a copious spring, enclosed by a square building, called el monboaa [arabic]. in the plain to the right we saw the village kefrzebou [arabic], and half an hour to the west of it another, called ourim [arabic]. we met with several sepulchral caves on our road. wherever, in these parts, the soil admits of culture, wheat and barley are sown among the rocks. if such spots are distant from a village, the cultivators pitch a few tents for the purpose of watching the seed and crop; such encampments are called mezraa [arabic]. in an hour and ten minutes we reached nahle; two hours and forty minutes the village meghara [arabic], with many remains of ancient buildings. here i saw a neat sepulchral cave with a vaulted portico supported by two pillars. in three hours we reached the village merayan [arabic]; the direction of our route sometimes s.w. sometimes s.s.w. just by merayan is a large coffin, cut in the rocky ground, like those of kefr lata; and near it a spring, with ancient walls. in three hours and twenty minutes we came to ahsin [arabic], half an hour to the west of which is the village eblim [arabic]. the principal produce of all these villages is grapes, which are carried to the aleppo market, and there sold, in ordinary years, at about nine shillings per quintal; or else they are boiled to form the sweet glutinous extract called debs, which is a substitute for sugar all over the east. at the end of four hours and a half we reached the village el bara [arabic], where we finished our day's journey; but we met with a very cold reception, although i had taken the precaution of obtaining a letter of recommendation to the sheikh of the village from the proprietor of it, taleb effendi, of the family tcheleby effendi toha zade, the first house of aleppo. half an hour n.w. of bara lies the village belyoum. a high hill, contiguous to the djebel rieha, called neby ayoub [arabic], bears n.w. from el bara, distant about an hour and three [p. ]quarters. on its summit is a turkish chapel sacred to the memory of the prophet ayoub (job). two hours distant from el bara, s. by w. lies the village kefr nebyl. february th.--the mountain of rieha, of which el bara forms a part, is full of the ruins of cities, which flourished in the times of the lower empire;[the following are the names of other villages and ruined towns, situated upon the mountain of rieha from the information of a man or el bara: viz. medjellye [arabic], betersa [arabic], baouza [arabic], has [arabic], el rebeya [arabic], serdjelle [arabic], el djerada [arabic], moarrat houl [arabic], moarrat menhas [arabic], beshelle [arabic], babouza [arabic], el deir [arabic], el roweyha [arabic], with extensive ruins; zer szabber [arabic], zer louza [arabic], moar bellyt [arabic], moar szaf [arabic], serdjeb mantef [arabic], nahle [arabic], el rama [arabic], kefr rouma [arabic], shennan [arabic], ferkya [arabic], belshou [arabic], ahsarein [arabic], moarrat maater [arabic], djebale [arabic], kefrneba [arabic], beskala [arabic], moarrata [arabic], djousef [arabic], el fetteyry [arabic], el ahmeyry [arabic], erneba [arabic], el arous [arabic], kon szafra [arabic], el mezra [arabic], aweyt [arabic], kefr shelaye [arabic], szakhrein [arabic], benames [arabic], kefr djennab [arabic], szankoul [arabic].] those of el bara are the most considerable of the whole, and as i had often heard the people of the country mention them, i thought it worth while to take this circuitous road to hamah. the ruins are about ten minutes walk to the west of the village. directing our researches to that side we met with a sepulchral cave in the immediate vicinity of the town; a broad staircase leads down to the entrance of it, over which i copied this inscription: [greek]. the following figure, in relief, was over it. we saw the same figure, with variations, over the gates of several buildings in these ruins; the episcopal staff is found in all [p. ]of them. the best executed one that i saw was of this form. on the outside of the town are several sepulchral caves, and a few coffins. the town walls on the e. side are yet standing; they are very neatly built with small stones, with a square pillar at every six or seven paces, about nine feet high. the ruins extend for about half an hour from south to north, and consist of a number of public buildings, churches, and private habitations, the walls and roofs of some of which are still standing. i found no inscriptions here. the stone with which the buildings are constructed is a soft calcareous rock, that speedily decays wherever it is exposed to the air; it is of the same description as that found in the buildings of the towns about the mountain of st. simon, and in the ruins of st. simon, where not a single legible inscription remains, though, as at bara, traces of them are seen in many places. we surveyed the town in all directions, but saw no building worth noticing, except three tombs, which are plain square structures surmounted with pyramids. the pyramidal summit of one of them has fallen. the interior of these tombs is a square of six paces; on the side opposite the door is a stone coffin; and two others in each of the other two walls; the pyramidal roof is well constructed, being hollow to the top, with rounded angles, and without any interior support. on the outside the pyramid is covered with thin slabs, on each of which is a kind of knob, which gives the whole a very singular appearance. the height of the whole building may be about twenty-four feet. in one of the tombs is a window, the other is quite dark. two of them stand near together; a third is in a different part of the town. the sides of one of the coffins is carved with a cross in the middle. [p. ]the mode of construction in all the private habitations is similar to that which i noticed in the ancient towns of the haouran, and which, in fact, is still in use in most of the arab villages in syria, with this difference, that the latter build with timber and mud instead of stone. on the n. side of el bara stands a castle, built in the saracen or crusade style, with a spring near it, called bir alloun [arabic], the only one in the neighbourhood of the ancient town, and which apparently was insufficient to the inhabitants, as we found many cisterns cut very deep in the rock. turning from the spring towards the present village, we passed the tomb of a turkish saint, called kubbet ibn imaum abou beker, where the son of abou beker is reported to have been killed: near it is a cave, with eight receptacles for the dead. i saw there some rocks of the same basaltic tufwacke which i met with in the djebel el hasz and in ome of the districts of haouran. the greater part of the villages of djebel rieha belong to the dehly bashi, at rieha. feteyry belongs to the district of marra; its inhabitants have often been punished for their rebellious conduct, and their predatory incursions into the neighbouring districts; their spirit, however, is unbroken, and they still follow the same practices. the frontiers of the pashaliks of damascus and aleppo run across the mountain of rieha, which commences above rieha, and extends to kalaat el medyk, varying in breadth from two to five hours: it is a low but very rocky chain, little fit for culture, except in the valleys; but it abounds in game, especially wild boars; and ounces have sometimes been killed in it. we left the inhospitable bara at mid-day, with two armed men, to escort us over the mountain into the valley of the orontes. in half an hour we passed a ruined stone bridge across a narrow wady; it rests upon piers, which are formed of immense blocks el ghab. [p. ]of stone piled upon one another. in one hour and twenty minutes we came to kon szafra, in a fertile valley on the top of the mountain, where a few families live in wretched huts amidst the ruins of an ancient town. n.w. about three quarters of an hour is the village of mezraa. in an hour and forty minutes we reached the ruined town djerada, and at the end of two hours and a half, kefr aweyt, a small village; kefr, in the vulgar dialect, means ruins. here the mountain is much less rocky, and more fit for culture. our road lay s.w. b. s. the village of feteyry, lies about one hour and a half south of aweyt. after travelling three hours we came in sight of the orontes, and then began to descend. the mountain on this side is rather steep, and its side is overgrown with herbs which afford an excellent pasturage. the plant asphodel (siris [arabic]) is very common; the inhabitants of syria, by pulverising its dried roots, and mixing the powder with water, make a good glue, which is superior to that made with flour, as it is not attacked by worms. in the summer the inhabitants of the valley pasture their cattle in these mountains, as do likewise a few tribes of arabs; among these are the akeydat, of whom we passed a small encampment. the part of djebel rieha which, beginning at kon szafra, extends to the valley of the orontes, on the one side towards kalaat el medyk, on the other towards djissr shogher, bears the appellation of djebel shaehsabou [arabic]. the continuation of the same mountain towards rieha, besides its general name of djebel rieha, is likewise called djebel zaouy [arabic]. in four hours and a quarter we reached the plain below, near an insulated hill, called tel aankye [arabic], which seems to be artificial. the valley bordered on the e. side by djebel shaehsabou, and on the w. side by the mountains of the anzeyry, is called el ghab [arabic]. it extends almost due north from three hours s. of howash. [p. ]kalaat el medyk to near djissr shogher: its breadth is about two hours, but becomes narrower towards the north; it is watered by the aaszy [arabic], or orontes, which flows near the foot of the western mountain, where it forms numerous marshes. the inhabitants of el ghab are a mongrel race of arabs and fellahs, and are called arab el ghab. they live in winter time in a few villages dispersed over the valley, of which they cultivate only the land adjacent to their villages; on the approach of hot weather they retire with their cattle to the eastern mountains, in search of pasture, and in order to escape the immense swarms of flies and gnats [arabic], which infest the ghab in that season. in the winter the aaszy inundates a part of the low grounds through which it flows, and leaves many small lakes and ponds; the valley is watered also by numerous springs and by rivulets, which descend from the mountains, especially from those on the east. to the n. of tel aankye, on the e. side towards djissr shogher, which is eight hours distant from aankye, are the springs ayn bet lyakhom [arabic], ayn keleydyn [arabic], shaouryt [arabic], kastal hadj assaf [arabic], djob soleyman [arabic], djob el nassouh [arabic], djob tel el tyn [arabic]. having passed to the left of aankye, where is a small village, we continued our road up the valley due south; we passed near the spring ayn el aankye; in a quarter of an hour farther ayn el kherbe, and at the same distance farther south, the copious spring ayn el howash [arabic], from whence we turned to the right into the plain, and at the end of four hours and three quarters from el bara, reached the village howash, where we alighted at the sheikh's house. february st--howash is the principal village of the ghab; it is situated on the borders of a small lake, formed by the rivulet of ayn el howash. the surrounding country was at this time for [p. ]the greater part inundated, and the arabs passed in small boats from one village to another; in summer the inundation subsides, but the lakes remain, and to the quantity of stagnant water thus formed is owing the pest of flies and gnats abovementioned. there are about one hundred and forty huts at howash, the walls of which are built of mud; the roofs are composed of the reeds which grow on the banks of the orontes; the huts in which these people live in the mountain during the summer are formed also of reeds, which are tied together in bundles, and thus transported to the mountain, where they are put up so as to form a line of huts, in which the families within are separated from each other only by a thin partition of reeds. the arabs of howash cultivate dhourra and wheat, and, like all the arabs of the ghab, rear large herds of buffaloes, which are of a small kind, and much less spirited than those i saw in the plains of tarsous. it is a common saying and belief among the turks, that all the animal kingdom was converted by their prophet to the true faith, except the wild boar and buffalo, which remained unbelievers; it is on this account that both these animals are often called christians. we are not surprised that the boar should be so denominated; but as the flesh of the buffalo, as well as its leben or sour milk, is much esteemed by the turks, it is difficult to account for the disgrace into which that animal has fallen among them; the only reason i could learn for it, is that the buffalo, like the hog, has a habit of rolling in the mud, and of plunging into the muddy ponds in the summer time, up to the very nose, which alone remains visible above the surface. the territory of djissr shogher extends as far as howash; from thence, southward, begins the district of kalaat el medyk. the sheikh of howash, called mohammed el omar, is noted in the adjoining districts for his hospitality; but within bthese few years he ayn uktol. [p. ]has been reduced from great wealth to poverty by the extortions of topal aly of djissr shogher, and of milly ismayl of kalaat el medyk; the troops which are continually passing from one place to another are consuming the last remains of his property. the night we slept at his house, there were at least fifty people at supper, of whom about thirty were poor arabs of his village; the others were all strangers. we left howash early in the morning, and rode along the eastern mountains, in this beautiful valley, which i can compare only to the valley of the bekaa between the two libani; the ghab, however, has this great advantage over the bekaa, that it is copiously watered by a large river and many rivulets, while the latter, in summer time, has little or no water. at half an hour from howash we met with several fragments of shafts of columns, on the side of an ancient paved causeway. we followed this causeway for upwards of an hour, although in some places no remains of it were visible; at the distance of a quarter of an hour (at the rate of about three miles and a half an hour), from the first heap of fragments of columns, we met with a similar heap; then at an equal interval a third, and again a fourth; not more than four columns seemed to have stood together in any of these places. we conjectured that this had been a roman road, and the columns its milliaria. the causeway was traced here and there farther to the south, but without any appearance of stations; it probably followed the whole length of the valley from apamea to djissr shogher. one hour and a quarter from howash is ayn houyeth [arabic], a copious spring. the roman road is here about sixteen feet in breadth. to the right, in the plain, is the village of houyeth, and near it another village, called ain uktol [arabic]. on our right was a perpendicular rock, upon which were patches of rich verdure. two hours and a quarter is ayn el taka [arabic], a large spring, issuing lake el taka. [p. ]from near the foot of the mountain, and forming a small lake which communicates with the orontes. here are the remains of some ancient walls. the temperature of this spring, as well as of those which we passed on the way from aankye, is like that of water which has been heated by the sun in the midst of summer: it is probably owing to this temperature, that we observed such vast numbers of fish in the lake, and that they resort here in the winter from the orontes; it is principally the species called by the arabs the black fish, on account of its ash- coloured flesh; its length varies from five to eight feet. the fishery is at present in the hands of the governor of kalaat el medyk, who carries it on, on his own account; the period is from november till the beginning of january. the fishermen, who are inhabitants of the village sherya [arabic], situated on the borders of the lake, at half an hour's distance from ayn el taka, enjoy a partial exemption from the miri, or land-tax; they fish with harpoons during the night, in small boats, which carry five or six men; and so numerous are the fish, that by throwing the harpoons at random, they fill their boats in the course of the night. the quantity taken might be doubled, if there were a ready market for them. the kantar, of five hundred and eighty pounds weight, is sold at about four pounds sterling. the fish are salted on the spot, and carried all over syria, and to cyprus, for the use of the christians during their long and rigid fasts. the income derived from this fishery by the governor of kalaat el medyk amounts to about one hundred and twenty purses, or three thousand pounds sterling. besides the black fish, carp are also taken with nets, and carried to hamah and homs, where the turks are very fond of them. the depth of the lake is about ten feet; its breadth is quite irregular, being seldom more than half an hour; its length is about one hour and a half. one hour from ayn el taka, and the lake el taka, we arrived at kalaat el medyk. [p. ]the foot of the hill upon which stands kalaat el medyk [arabic], or the castle of medyk. it probably occupies the site of apamea: for there can be little doubt that travellers have been wrong in placing that city at hamah, the ancient epiphania, or at some ruins situated at four hours distance from hamah. notwithstanding our desire to enter the castle, we could not venture to do so. the governor, milly ismayl, a man eighty-five years of age, and whose name has been well known in syria for the last twenty years, was last year, when governor of hamah, ordered by the pasha of damascus to march with his corps of dehlys towards ladakie, to join the tripoli army, then fighting against the anzeyrys, who inhabit the mountains between ladakie and antioch; in passing by kalaat el medyk, on his way to djissr shogher, he found the castle without a garrison, and took possession of it, thereby declaring himself a rebel. orders have in consequence been given to strike off his head. although his strong fortress enables him to defy these orders, his dread of being surprised induces him to try every means in his power to obtain his pardon from the porte, and he has even sent considerable sums of money to constantinople. [damascus. april , .--in the latter end of march, milly ismayl went to hamah on some private business, and during his absence with his troops topal aly quietly seized upon the castle. the former now lives in retirement at hamah, while the power and reputation of topal have been thus considerably increased in the northern parts of syria.] under these circumstances my companion and myself were afraid that he might lay hold of us, in order to make our deliverance subservient to his purposes; we therefore passed by the foot of the hill, while we sent in our attendants to buy some provisions. the castle is built upon an almost insulated hill, communicating on its eastern side only with the mountain called djebel valley of the orontes. [p. ]oerimy [arabic], the southernmost point of djebel shaehsabou, which turns off here towards the east, and continues for about three hours in an easterly direction. to the south of oerimy the undulations of the mountain continue for about three hours, and terminate in the plain of terimsy, of which i shall speak presently. the castle of medyk is built of small stones, with several turrets, and is evidently of modern construction. on the e. side, close to the gate, are ruined habitations; and to the s. on the declivity of the hill, is a mosque enclosed by a wall, which forms a kind of out-work to the castle. within the castle wall are thirty or forty houses, inhabited by turks and greek christians. i was told that the only relic of antiquity is a wall in the governor's palace, built with large blocks of stone. at the western foot of the hill is a warm sulphureous spring, the water from which forms a pond; on the edge of the pond i found a fragment of a fine fluted doric column. near the spring is a large khan for the accommodation of travellers. on the n. side of the hill are several columns scattered about. as we wished to follow the valley of the orontes as far as possible, we continued in the direction s. by w. along the plain, instead of taking the straight road towards hamah. half an hour from kalaat el medyk is ayn djoufar [arabic], a rivulet flowing down the eastern hills through wady djoufar; it runs towards the castle, and empties itself into the pond at the castle spring. up in the hills, in the direction of wady djoufar, are the villages of keframbouda [arabic], kournas [arabic], sheikh hadid [arabic], and djournye [arabic], a little beyond ayn djoufar we passed the spring ayn abou attouf [arabic]. in three quarters of an hour, another rivulet called ayn el sheikh djouban [arabic], whose source is up in the hills. the valley el ghab continues here of the same breadth as below. in the plain, about three quarters of sekeylebye. [p. ]an hour from kalaat el medyk, is a broad ditch, about fifteen feet deep, and forty in breadth, which may be traced for an hour and a half, towards the orontes; near it is the village el khandak (or the ditch.) this ditch is not paved, and may formerly have served for the irrigation of the plain. after proceeding for two hours from the castle, our two guides refused to go any farther, insisting that it would be impossible to continue longer in the valley; to say the truth, it was in many parts covered with water, or deep mud, for the rains had been incessant during several months, and the road we had already come, from the castle, was with difficulty passable; we were therefore obliged to yield, and turning to our left a little way up the hill, rested at the village of sekeylebye [arabic], situated on one of the low hills, near a rivulet called wady sekeylebye. i may here observe that the springs coming from the eastern mountains of the ghab never dry up, and scarcely even diminish during the height of summer. from a point over the village, which belongs to hamah, i took the following bearings: tel zeyn abdein, near hamah, s.e. djebel erbayn, between hamah and homs, s.s.e. the gap which separates the anti-libanus from the northern chain, to the w. of homs and hamah, s.by e. the highest point of djebel szoleyb, to the w. of hamah and homs, s. tel aasheyrne, in the plain, s. by w., djebel maszyad s.w. the eastern termination of djebel shaehsabou n.e. by e. to the s. and e. of sekeylebye open the great plains which extend to the desert. to the s. distant one hour, near the borders of the hills which enclose the valley of the ghab on this side, lies the anzeyry village of sherrar [arabic], a quarter of an hour from whence is an insulated hill called tel amouryn. two hours southward of sekeylebye is tel aasheyrne, and half an hour farther, tel el shehryh. in the valley, [p. ]about one hour and a half s.w. of sekeylebye, lies the village el haourat [arabic], with a ford over the orontes, where there is a great carp [arabic] fishery. on the other side of the river is the insulated hillock tel el kottra [arabic]. the highest point of the mountain of the anzeyrys, on the w. side of the orontes, appears to be opposite to kalaat el medyk; it is called kubbet neby metta [arabic], and has a chapel upon it, dedicated to the saint metta, who is held in great veneration by the anzeyrys. the principal villages in this mountain, belonging to the anzeyrys, who live there upon the produce of their excellent tobacco plantations, are the following: to the w. of howash, el shattha [arabic], to the s. of it, merdadj [arabic], farther s. aanab [arabic]. to the w. of kalaat el medyk, ayn el keroum [arabic], a village whose inhabitants are rebels. to the w. of ayn djoban, fakrou [arabic]; above tel el kottra, kalaat el kebeys [arabic]. the mountain belongs to the government of ladakie, but is immediately under the anzeyry chief, el fakker [arabic], who resides in the castle of szaffytta. the inhabitants of the ghab hold the anzeyrys in contempt for their religion, and fear them, because they often descend from the mountains in the night, cross the aaszy, and steal, or carry off by force, the cattle of the valley. [a peasant of sekeylebye enumerated to me the following villages belonging to the government of hamah, and situated to the n. and w. of that town. beginning east-wards of his own village, he first mentioned el sohhrye, then setouhh, el deyr, kfer djebein, um kaszr, kassabye, um el aamed, kferambouda, kornas, el djeleyme, el mogheyer, el habyt, kefer sedjen, maar zeyt, maart maater, kefr ayn, kadhyb el ban, tel aas, kefr zeyty, el lattame [arabic], the principal village of the district of hamah, khan shiehoun, maryk, howeyr, tel berran, wady edjfar, wady daurat, maszyn latmein, tel faes, besseleya, meskyn, tayebe, um tennoura, el hammamye, el seyh, seidjar, khattab, meharabe, helfeya, bellata, kefr behon, zauran, mardys, maar shour, el djadjye, zeyn abdein, el oesher. east and south-east of hamah are the ruined villages: kefr houn, ekfer tab, um sedjra, altouny, kefr eydoun, sahyan, marhatal, heish, moaka, wady el fathh, [arabic], kefr baesein, el tahh, el djofer djerdjenaes, el ghatfa, mart arab, aar [arabic], seker, turky, etleyl el szauan, el temaanaa, el taamy, el sheteyb, el beleyl, um harteyn, el zekeyat, el hamra, kfer dadein, maar zelem, naszab, tel faes, el medjdel, howeyr, aatshan el gebeybat, sydy aaly, djaafar, berdj el abyadh, berdj el assuad, kalaat el ans, stabelt antar, deh lubby.] lake el terimsy. [p. ]we passed the night in a half ruined house, without being able to get any refreshments, although the village belonged to a particular friend of mine at hamah; indeed these peasants have scarcely any thing left to keep themselves from starving. february d--early this morning we set off in the direction of hamah, and after a march of an hour and a half over the plain, reached tel szabba [arabic], an insulated hillock in the plain; half an hour from it lies a lake called behirat terimsy [arabic], or, simply el terimsy. its extent is from s.w. to n.e. about five to six miles long by two or three in breadth; its waters are scarcely any where deeper than five feet; but the depth of mud at the bottom is so great as to render it fatal for any one to enter the lake, at least so i was informed by several peasants who joined us. the water of the lake diminishes considerably in the summer time, but very seldom dries up entirely; the only instance upon record was during the great drought in , when it is asserted that springs were discovered in the bed of the lake. i am not quite certain whether it communicates on the western side with the orontes; our guides were not unanimous in their answers; the river, however, must at least pass very close to the lake. on the southern borders of the lake are the tels or mounds of earth, called telloul el fedjera [arabic]; on the e. side is the tel waoyat [arabic]. the soil in the vicinity of the lake is a soft clay; and i had great seidjar. [p. ]difficulty in extricating my mare from the swamp as i approached to reconnoitre the lake, which our company had left to the right of the road. in the spring the earth hardens and is then covered with most luxuriant pasturage. in march the peasants and arabs of all the neighbouring districts and villages, as well as the inhabitants of hamah, send their horses and mules here to graze under the care of herdsmen, who regularly pitch their tents near the waoyat, and each of whom receives a piastre a head from the owners. the cattle remain here till april. the best pasture seems to be on the s. and e. sides, the banks of the lake being there lower than on the opposite sides. it was here, perhaps, that the seleucidae fed their herds of elephants. two hours and a half from sekeylebye, to the left of the road, is a ruined mosque, called el djelame; two hours and a half, tel el mellah, a hillock in the plain. our road continued through fertile but uncultivated fields. e. of tel mellah about two hours is tel szeyad. af ter three hours and a half slow march we reached the orontes, near a spot where a large wheel, of the same construction as those at hamah, raises the water from the river, and empties it into a stone canal, by means of which the neighbouring fields are irrigated. at the end of four hours we came to a bridge over the river, on the other side of which the castle of seidjar is [arabic] situated. if i recollect rightly, the bridge rests upon thirteen arches; it is well built, but of modern construction. it is placed at the point where the aaszy issues from between rugged mountains. on the summit of the range on the left bank stands the castle. to the s.e. of the castle, on the right bank of the river, is the tomb of a sheikh called aba aabeyda el djerrah [arabic], and to the s.e. of the latter, the turkish chapel el khudher. the windings of the river in the narrow rocky valley, where no space intervenes between the water and the base of the mountains, resemble kalaat seidjar. [p. ]those of the wye in monmouthshire. at the bridge of seidjar, it is nearly as large as the wye at chepstow. just by the bridge is a khan of ancient construction; probably of the period of the crusades. a paved way leads up to the castle, which is at present inhabited by a few hundred families of peasants. it appears from the style of construction that the castle as it now stands, is of the time of the latter califes; the walls, towers, and turrets, which surround it on the n., w. and s. sides, are evidently saracen; but it should seem, from the many remains of grecian architecture found in the castle, that a greek town formerly stood here. fragments of columns and elegant corinthian and doric capitals lie dispersed about it: amongst them is a coffin of fine marble, nine feet long, but i could find no remains of any ancient building. on the east side the river runs at the foot of a deep precipice. in the south wall a strong well built tower is still in perfect preservation; near it is a deep well, and a subterraneous passage, which, we were informed, leads down to the river side. we searched in vain for greek inscriptions; on the above mentioned tower is a fine arabic inscription, but too high to be copied by such short- sighted people as we both happened to be. on the gate of the castle, which leads through an arched passage into the interior, i copied the following, in which many foreign words are mixed with the arabic: [arabic]. part of the declivity of the hill upon which the castle is built is paved with flat stones, like the castle hills of aleppo, el hossn, plain of hamah. [p. ]and szalkhat. in the plain to the s. and s.w. of the castle are the remains of ancient buildings, which indicate the site of a town; several fragments of columns, wrought stones, and a great deal of rubbish, are lying about. we dug up an altar about four feet and a half high, and one foot and an half square; on one of its four sides was this inscription: [greek]. to the s.w. of the bridge is the tomb of a saint named sheikh mahmoud, which is to the w. of a small village called haourein [arabic]. the rock of the hills, in the neighbourhood of seidjar, is calcareous, of considerable hardness, and of a reddish yellow colour; on the s. side of the castle the rock seems to have been cut perpendicularly down almost as low as the river, either for the purpose of adding to the defence of the fortress on this side, or to facilitate the drawing up of water from the river. we now crossed the low hills to the south of seidjar, and entered the plain of hamah, which is very little cultivated here. we proceeded in a south-easterly direction. in one hour and a half from seidjar we passed a number of wells cut close to each other in the rocky ground. at one hour and three quarters is a small bridge over a torrent called el saroudj [arabic], which empties itself into the orontes. in two hours we saw to our left, about half an hour distant, the village hedjam, on the right bank of the river; in two hours and three quarters, a small village hamah. [p. ]called el shyhy [arabic], was to our right; at three hours, we passed the village el djadjye [arabic], distant from the left of the road a quarter of an hour; and near it the village el kasa. the fertile soil now begins to be well cultivated. in four hours we reached hamah, where we alighted, at the house of selym keblan, one of the mutsellim's secretaries, the most gentlemanly levantine i had yet known. hamah is situated on both sides of the orontes; a part of it is built on the declivity of a hill, and a part in the plain; the quarters in the plain are called hadher [arabic] and el djissr; those higher up el aleyat [arabic], and el medine. medine is the abode of the christians. the town is of considerable extent, and must contain at least thirty thousand inhabitants, of whom the greek families, according to the bishop's information, are about three hundred. in the middle of the city is a square mound of earth, upon which the castle formerly stood; the materials, as well as the stones with which it is probable that the hill was faced, have been carried away and used in the erection of modern buildings. there are four bridges over the orontes in the town. the river supplies the upper town with water by means of buckets fixed to high wheels (naoura) [arabic], which empty themselves into stone canals, supported by lofty arches on a level with the upper parts of the town. there are about a dozen of the wheels; the largest of them, called naoura el mohammedye, is at least seventy feet in diameter. the town, for the greater part, is well built, although the walls of the dwellings, a few palaces excepted, are of mud; but their interior makes amends for the roughness of their external appearance. the mutsellim resides in a seraglio, on the banks of the river. i enquired in vain for a piece of marble, with figures in relief, which la roque saw; but in the corner of a house in the bazar is a stone with a number [p. ]of small figures and signs, which appears to be a kind of hieroglyphical writing, though it does not resemble that of egypt. i counted thirteen mosques in the town, the largest of which has a very ancient minaret. the principal trade of hamah is with the arabs, who buy here their tent furniture and clothes. the abbas, or woollen mantles made here, are much esteemed. hamah forms a part of the province of damascus, and is usually the station of three or four hundred horsemen, kept here by the pasha to check the arabs, who inundate the country in spring and summer. few rich merchants are found in the town; but it is the residence of many opulent turkish gentlemen, who find in it all the luxuries of the large towns, at the same time that they are in some measure removed from the extortions of the government. naszyf pasha, of the family of adein, who has an annual income of about £ . sterling, has built a very handsome house here. he is well known for his travels in europe, and barbary, and for his brave defence of cairo, after the defeat of the grand vizir by general kleber near heliopolis. being curious to see him, i waited upon him, notwithstanding the rule i had prescribed to myself of mixing as little as possible with turkish grandees, and presented him a letter of recommendation. we conversed for about half an hour; he was very civil for a pasha, and made many enquiries concerning prince augustus (the duke of sussex), whom he had known in italy. the government of hamah comprises about one hundred and twenty inhabited villages, and seventy or eighty which have been abandoned. the western part of its territory is the granary of northern syria, though the harvest never yields more than ten for one, chiefly in consequence of the immense numbers of mice, [p. ]which sometimes wholly destroy the crops. i did not see any of these animals. from a point on the cliff above the orontes, called el sherafe, the traveller enjoys a beautiful view over the town. at one hour and a half from it lies the djebel zeyn aabdein [arabic] in the direction n. by e.; this mountain has two prominent summits, called the horns of zeyn aabdein [arabic]; its continuation southward is called djebel keysoun, the highest point of which bears e. / n.; still farther south it protrudes in a point in the neighbourhood of salamie, which bears s.e. and is called djebel el aala, upon which stands the castle called kalaat shemmasye [arabic]. to the s. of hamah, two hours distant, lies an insulated chalky mountain, two or three hours in length, from west to east, called djebel erbayn; its highest point bearing from hamah s. / e. the orontes flows on its e. side. the aaszy irrigates a great number of gardens belonging to hamah, which in winter time are generally inundated. whereever the gardens lie higher than the river, wheels like those already mentioned are met with in the narrow valley, for the purpose of raising up water to them. in summer the water of the river is quite clear. february th.--we remained five days in the hospitable house of selym, where a large company of turks and arabs assembled every evening; and it was with difficulty that we could prevail upon him to let us depart. the distance between hamah and tripoli, by the direct road, is four days, or three days by performing on the first a thirteen hours journey from hamah to hossn; but we wished to visit the castle of maszyad, the seat of the ismaylys, which is laid down upon most of the maps of syria, but has rarely been visited by any travellers. we set out about mid-day, and travelling in a s.w. shyghata. [p. ]direction came in an hour and a half to the christian village kefrbehoun arabic]; and in two hours, to a hillock in the plain called tel afyoun [arabic], i.e. the opium-hill, with an ancient well. the number of these insulated mounds of earth in the eastern plain of syria is very remarkable; their shape is sometimes so regular, that there can be no doubt of their being artificial; in several places there are two standing close together. it is a general remark that wherever there is such a mound, a village is found near it, and a spring, or at least an ancient well. at two hours and a half from hamah is el dobbe, a small village near the road: here the ground begins to be uneven, covered with rocks, and little fit for cultivation. at three hours and three quarters is tel mowah [arabic] upon elevated ground, with the ruins of a considerable village; from hence tel afyoun bears w. / s., hamah e.n.e., homs s.s.e. in four hours and a half we came to considerable heaps of large hewn stones, and ruined habitations, called el feiryouny [arabic], where a few families of kurdines had pitched their tents. on the side of the road is a large and very neatly cut ancient well. the face of the country is hilly with a rocky soil, here and there cultivated. at the end of five hours and a half we reached byszyn [arabic], a village inhabited by anzeyrys, where we slept. february th.--one hour and a half from byszyn is the village of shyghata [arabic] the road ascends, through a rocky country, overgrown with shrubs and low trees. at two hours and a half is a ruined bridge over the winter torrent el saroudj, which we had passed in the plain below, between seidjar and hamah; it was now so much swelled by the heavy rains, that we were trying in vain to cross it in different places, when a shepherd came to our assistance, and shewed us a ford. considerable as the stream was, it is dried up in summer. we proceeded from the bridge in a w.n.w. direction, and, after a march of an hour and three quarters, during [p. ]which we crossed several torrents, we reached the castle of maszyad [arabic], or, as it is written in the books of the miri, meszyaf [arabic]. the approach to the castle on two sides is across a large moor; to the n. of it are the highest points of the mountain of maszyad, at the foot of which it stands, upon a high and almost perpendicular rock, commanding the wild moor in every direction, and presenting a gloomy romantic landscape. on the w. side is a valley, where the inhabitants cultivate wheat and barley. the town of maszyad is built between the castle and the mountain, on the declivity of the mountain; it is upwards of half an hour in circumference, but the houses are in ruins, and there is not a single well built dwelling in the town, although stone is the only material used. the town is surrounded by a modern wall, and has three stone gates, of more ancient construction; on one of them i saw the following inscription: [arabic]. the last line, as i was told by a man of tripoli, contains the names of some of the deities of the ismaylys. the mosque is now in ruins. there are several arabic inscriptions in different parts of the town, which are all of the time of el melek el dhaher [arabic]. the castle is surrounded by a wall of moderate thickness; and contains a few private habitations. near the entrance, which is arched, stands a corinthian capital, of indifferent workmanship, the only remain of grecian architecture that i saw here. within this gate is an arched passage, through which the road ascends to the inner and highest parts of the castle. upon the vault i read the following inscription in large characters:--[arabic] maszyad. [p. ]"the deed (or fabric) of the mamlouk kosta." on the top of the rock are some apartments belonging to the castle; which appear to have had several floors. from a kyosk, which the present governor has built here, there is a beautiful view down into the western valley. maszyad is remarkable from being the chief seat of the religious sect called ismayly [arabic]. enquiries have often been made concerning the religious doctrines of this sect, as well as those of the anzeyrys and druses. not only european travellers, and europeans resident in syria, but many natives of influence, have endeavoured to penetrate the mysteries of these idolaters, without success, and several causes combine to make it probable, that their doctrines will long remain unknown. the principal reason is, that few individuals among them become acquainted with the most important and secret tenets of their faith; the generality contenting themselves with the observance of some exterior practices, while the arcana are possessed by the select few. it will be asked, perhaps, whether their religious books would not unveil the mystery? it is true that all the different sects possess books, which they regard as sacred, but they are intelligible only to the initiated. a sacred book of the anzeyrys fell into the hands of a chief of the army of youssef pasha, which plundered the castles of that sect in ; it came afterwards into the possession of my friend selym of hamah, who had destined it as a present to me; but he was prevailed upon to part with it to a travelling physician, and the book is now in the possession of m. rousseau, the french consul at aleppo, who has had it translated into french, and means to publish it; but it will probably throw little light upon the question. another difficulty arises from the extreme caution of the ismaylys upon this subject whenever they are obliged to visit any part of the country under the turkish government, they assume the character of mussulmans; being [p. ]well aware that if they should be detected in the practice of any rite contrary to the turkish religion, their hypocrisy, in affecting to follow the latter, would no longer be toleraled; and their being once clearly known to be pagans, which they are only suspected to be at present, would expose them to the heaviest exactions, and might even be followed by their total expulsion or extirpation. christians and jews are tolerated because mohammed and his immediate successors granted them protection, and because the turks acknowledge christ and the prophets; but there is no instance whatever of pagans being tolerated. the ismaylys are generally reported to adore the pudendum muliebre, and to mix on certain days of the year in promiscuous debauchery. when they go to hamah they pray in the mosque, which they never do at kalaat maszyad. this castle has been from ancient times their chief seat. one of them asserted that his religion descended from ismayl, the son of abraham, and that the ismaylys had been possessed of the castle since the time of el melek el dhaher, as acknowledged by the firmahns of the porte. a few years since they were driven out of it by the anzeyrys, in consequence of a most daring act of treachery. the anzeyrys and ismaylys have always been at enmity, the consequence, perhaps, of some religious differences. in , a tribe of the former having quarrelled with their chief, quitted their abode in their mountains, and applied to the emir of maszyad for an asylum. the latter, glad of an opportunity to divide the strength of his enemies, readily granted the request, and about three hundred, with their sheikh mahmoud, settled at maszyad, the emir carrying his hospitality so far as to order several families to quit the place, for the purpose of affording room for the new settlers. for several months all was tranquil, till one day, when the greater part of the people were at work in the fields, the anzeyrys, at a given signal, [p. ]killed the emir and his son in the castle, and then fell upon the ismaylys who had remained in their houses, sparing no one they could find, and plundering at the same time the whole town. on the following day the anzeyrys were joined by great numbers of their countrymen, which proved that their pretended emigration had been a deep-laid plot; and the circumstance of its being kept secret for three months by so great a number of them, serves to shew the character of the people. about three hundred ismaylys perished on this occasion; the families who had escaped in the sack of the town, fled to hamah, homs, and tripoli, and their treacherous enemies successfully attacked three other ismayly castles in the mountain. the ismaylys then implored the protection of youssef pasha, at that time governor of damascus, who marched with four or five thousand men against the anzeyrys, retook the castles which had belonged to the ismaylys, but kept the whole of the plunder of the anzeyrys to himself. this castle of maszyad, with a garrison of forty men, resisted his whole army for three months. in , after youssef pasha had been exiled by the porte, the ismaylys who had fled to hamah, homs, and tripoli returned, and maszyad is now inhabited by about two hundred and fifty ismayly families, and by thirty of christians. the chief, who resides in the castle, is styled emir; his name is zogheby [arabic], of the family of soleiman; he informed me that his family had been possessors of the emirship from remote times, and that they are recognised as such by express firmahns from the porte; zogherby is a nephew of mustafa, the emir who was slain by the anzeyrys. some of his relations command in the ismayly castles of el kadmous, el kohf, el aleyka, and el merkah, in the mountains towards ladakie. after what has lately taken place, it [p. ]extreme: they are, apparently, at peace, but many secret murders are committed: "do you suppose," said a handsome young man to me, while his eyes flashed with anger, "that these whiskers shall turn gray before i shall have taken my revenge for a slaughtered wife and two infant children?" but the ismaylys are weak; i do not think that they can muster eight hundred fire-locks, while the anzeyrys are triple that number. the principal produce of the neighbourhood of maszyad is silk. they have large plantations of mulberry trees, which are watered by numerous rivulets descending on all sides from the mountain into the valley; and as few of them dry up in summer, this must be a delightful residence during the hot season. there are three or four ismayly villages in the neighbourhood of maszyad. from the castle the ruins called deir szoleib bear w. distant about two hours and a half. i was told that there are large buildings at that place constructed with immense blocks of stone, and bearing infidel inscriptions; but the natives of these countries are unable to distinguish sculptured ornaments from letters in unknown languages, and travellers are often deceived by reports of long inscriptions, which prove to be nothing more than a few decorations of architecture. february th.--having been disappointed in our hopes of finding any thing remarkable at kalaat el maszyad, we directed our course to tripoli. we began to fear that the incessant rains would make the torrents impassable, particularly the saroudj, which we crossed yesterday. the emir gave us one of his men to guide and protect us through his territories. after travelling for an hour and a half across the moor, along the side of the upper ridge of the mountains of maszyad, we arrived at the village soeida, near to which is the mezar sheikh mohammed, with some plantations of mulberry trees. e. of it half an hour is nyszaf. [p. ]kherbet maynye, a ruined village, with some ancient buildings; and in the mountain above it, the ruined castles reszafa [arabic], and kalaat el kaher [arabic]. there are several other ruined castles in this district, which appear to have been all built about the twelfth century. at two hours and a half is beyadhein [arabic] a village inhabited by turkmans; to the e. of it, about half an hour, is a tel in the plain, with an arched building upon it called kubbet el aadera, or the dome of the virgin mary, reported to be the work of the empress helena. on the summit of a mountain s. of the village, one hour, is the ruined castle barein [arabic]. near beyadhein we crossed the torrent saroudj a second time; its different branches inundated the whole plain. two hours and a half is the village kortouman [arabic], inhabited by turkmans, from whence maszyad bears n. by w. here we passed another torrent, near a mill, and in a storm of heavy rain and thunder reached nyszaf, three hours and three quarters from maszyad, the road from kortouman lying s. by w. for the greater part in the plain. nyszaf is a considerable village, with large plantations of mulberry trees. it is inhabited by turks and anzeyrys. the mountain to the eastward, on the declivity of which it is built, is peopled by turkmans, the greater part of whom do not speak arabic. we dried our clothes at a fire in the sheikh's house, and took some refreshment; we then ascended the mountain to the s. of the village, and my guides, who were afraid of the road through the upper part of the mountain, refusing to proceed, we halted for the night at shennyn [arabic], an anzeyry village halfway up the mountain. the declivity of the mountain is covered with vineyards, growing upon narrow terraces, constructed to prevent the rain from washing away the soil. from the grapes is extracted the debs, which they sell at hamah; three quintals of grapes are shennyn. [p. ]necessary to make one quintal of debs, which was sold last year at the rate of £ . per quintal. as our hosts appeared to be good natured people, i entered, after supper, into conversation with them, with a view to obtain some information upon their religious tenets; but they were extremely reserved upon this head. i had heard that the anzeyrys maintained from time to time some communication with the east indies, and that there was a temple there belonging to their sect, to which they occasionally sent messengers. in the course of our conversation i said that i knew there were some anzeyrys in the east indies; they were greatly amazed at this, and enquired how i had obtained my information: and their countenances seemed to indicate that there was some truth in my assertion. they are divided into different sects, of which nothing is known except the names, viz. kelbye, shamsye, and mokladjye. some are said to adore the sun and the stars, and others the pudendum muliebre. the mokledjye wear in their girdle a small iron hook, which they use when making water; it is also said that they prostrate themselves every morning before their naked mothers, saying [arabic], and it is asserted that they have a promiscuous intercourse with their females in a dark apartment every friday night; but these are mere reports. it is a fact, however, that they entertain the curious belief that the soul ought to quit the dying person's body by the mouth. and they are extremely cautious against any accident which they imagine may prevent it from taking that road. for this reason, whenever the government of ladakie or tripoli condemns an anzeyry to death, his relations offer considerable sums, that he may be empaled instead of hanged. i can vouch for the truth of this belief, which proves at least that they have some idea of a future state. it appears that wady rowyd. [p. ]there are anzeyrys in anatolia and at constantinople. some years since a great man of this sect died in the mountain of antioch, and the water with which his corpse had been washed was carefully put into bottles and sent to constantinople and asia minor. march lst.--the weather having cleared up a little, we set out early, and in an hour and a half reached the top of the mountain, from whence we enjoyed a beautiful view to the east over the whole plain, and to the w. and s. towards hossn and the libanus. hamah bore e.n.e. and kalaat maszyad n. by e. the castle of hossn bore s.s.w. this part of the mountain is called merdj el dolb [arabic] or dhaheret hadsour [arabic]. on the top there is fine pasturage, with several springs. to the left, half an hour, is the high point called dhaheret koszeir, where is a ruined castle; this summit appears to be the highest point of the chain. the summit, on the western declivity, is the copious spring called near ayn kydrih [arabic]. in two hours we came to the village hadsour, on the western side of the mountain, with the mezar sheikh naszer. the country to the west of the summit belongs to the government of the district of hossn. we now descended into the romantic valley rowyd [arabic], full of mulberry and other fruit trees, with a torrent rolling in the bottom of it. at the end of two hours and three quarters is the village doueyrellin [arabic], on the e. side of the wady; on its w. side, in a higher situation, stands the village el keyme; and one hour farther, to the s. of the latter, on the same side, is the village el daghle [arabic]. we crossed the wady at the foot of the mountain, and continued along its right bank, on the slope of the mountain, through orchards and fields, till we arrived at the foot of the mountain upon which kalaat el hossn is built. our horses being rather fatigued, we sent them on to deir djordjos, (the convent of st. george), where we intended lalaat el hossn. [p. ]to sleep, and walked up to the castle, which is distant six hours and a half from shennyn. it is built upon the top of an insulated hill, which communicates on its western side only, with the chain of mountains we had passed. below the walls of the castle, on the east side, is the town of hossn, consisting of about one hundred and fifty houses. the castle is one of the finest buildings of the middle age i ever saw. it is evidently of european construction; the lions, which are carved over the gate, were the armorial bearings of the counts of thoulouse, whose name is often mentioned in the history of the crusades. it is surrounded by a deep paved ditch, on the outside of which runs a wall flanked with bastions and towers. the walls of the castle itself are very regularly constructed, and are ornamented in many places with high gothic arches, projecting several feet from the wall. the inner castle, which is seventy paces in breadth, and one hundred and twenty in length, is defended by bastions. a broad staircase, under a lofty arched passage, leads up from the gate into the castle, and was accessible to horsemen. in the interior we particularly admired a large saloon, of the best gothic architecture, with arches intersecting each on the roof. in the middle of a court-yard we noticed a round pavement of stones elevated about a foot and a half above the ground, and eighteen paces in diameter; we could not account for its use; it is now called el sofra, or the table. there are many smaller apartments in the castle, and several gothic chambers, most of which are in perfect preservation; outside the castle an aqueduct is still standing, into which the rain water from the neighbouring hills was conducted by various channels, and conveyed by the aqueduct into the castle ditch, which must have served as a reservoir for the use of the garrison, while it added at the same time to the strength of the fortress. figures of lions are seen in various places on the outer wall, as well as arabic inscriptions, mar djordjos. [p. ]which were too high to be legible from below. in other places, amidst half effaced inscriptions, the name of el melek el dhaher is distinguished. i saw no greek inscriptions, nor any remains of grecian architecture. the following is upon a stone at the entrance of one of the peasants' huts, of which there are about fifty within the castle and on the parapets: [latin]. there are roses sculptured over the entrance of several apartments. if syria should ever again become the theatre of european warfare, this castle would be an important position; in its neighbourhood the libanus terminates and the mountains of northern syria begin; it therefore commands the communication from the eastern plains to the sea shore. el hossn is the chief place of a district belonging to the government of hamah; the miri is rented of the pasha of damascus, by the greek family of el deib, who are the leading persons here. there is an aga in the castle, with a few men for its defence. having examined hossn, we descended to the convent of mar djordjos (st. george), which lies half an hour to the n.w. and there passed the night. in the wady towards the convent chestnut trees grow wild; i believe they are found in no other part of syria. the arabs call them abou feroue [arabic], i.e. "possessing a fur." march d.--the greek convent of st. george is famous throughout syria, for the miracles which the saint is said to perform there. it is inhabited by a prior and three monks, who live in a state of szaffytta. [p. ]affluence; the income of the convent being very considerable, passengers of all descriptions are fed gratis, and as it stands in the great road from hamah to tripoli, guests are never wanting. the common entertainment is bourgul, with bread and olives; to christians of respectability wine is added. the convent has large vine and olive plantations in its neighbourhood; it collects alms all over syria, anatolia, and the greek islands, and by a firmahn of the porte, is declared to be free from all duties to the pasha. youssef pasha of damascus, however, made them pay forty thousand piastres, on the pretence that they had built a khan for poor passengers without his permission. the prior, who is chosen by the brotherhood of the convent, is elected for life, and is under the immediate direction of the patriarch of damascus. caravans generally stop at the khan, while respectable travellers sleep in the convent itself. a spring near the convent is said to flow only at intervals of two or three days. the prior told me that the convent was built at the same time with the castle of hossn. we left mar djordjos in a heavy rain, descended into the wady mar djordjos, and after two hours slight descent reached the plain near a spring called neba el khalife [arabic], round which are some ancient walls. a vast plain now opened before us, bordered on the west by the sea, which, however, was not yet distinguishable; on the n. by the mountains of tartous, on the e. by the anzeyrys mountains, and on the south by the djebel shara [arabic], which is the lower northern continuation of the djebel libnan and djebel akkar. to the right, distant about three hours, we saw the castle of szaffytta [arabic], the principal seat of the anzeyry, where their chief el fakker resides. it is situated on the declivity of the anzeyry mountains; near it stands an ancient tower, called berdj mar mykhael, or st. michael's tower. about seven hours from szaffytta, towards kalaat maszyadt, [p. ]are the ruins of a temple now called hassn soleiman, which, according to all reports, is very deserving of the traveller's notice; as indeed are all the mountains of szaffytta, and the whole anzeyry territory, where are the castles of merkab, khowabe, kadmous, el aleyka, el kohf, berdj tokhle, yahmour, berdj miar, areyme, and several others. it would take ten days to visit these places. we continued along the foot of the hills which form the djebel shara; they are inhabited by turkmans and kurdines. we passed several torrents, and had great difficulty in getting through the swampy soil. after a march of five hours and a half, we came to a rivulet, which had swollen so much from the rain of last night and this day that we could not venture to pass it. we found several peasants who were as anxious to cross it as ourselves, but who could not get their mules over. as the rain had ceased, we waited on the banks for the decrease of the waters, which is usually as rapid as their rise, but it soon appeared that the rain still continued to fall in the mountains, for the stream, instead of decreasing, became much larger. in this difficulty we had to choose between returning to the convent and sleeping in the open air on the banks of the rivulet; we preferred the latter, and passed an uncomfortable night on the wet ground. by daylight the waters had so far decreased, that we passed over without any accident. march rd.--on the opposile side we met with another and larger branch of the same stream, and at the end of an hour and a quarter reached the nahr el kebir (the ancient eleutherus), near a ruined bridge. this is a large torrent, dangerous at this period of the year from its rapidity. the hamah caravans have been known to remain encamped on its banks for weeks together, without being able to cross it. on the opposite side stands a khan, called ayash, with the tomb of the saint, sheikh ayash [arabic], tel arka. [p. ]which is usually the third day's station of the caravans from hamah to tripoli. having crossed the river we followed the northern swellings of the mountain akkar in a s.w. direction, having the plain all the way on our right. in one hour and a quarter from the khan, we passed at half an hour's distance to the s. an insulated hillock in the plain, on which are some ruined buildings called kella [arabic], and to the east of it half an hour, another hillock called tel aarous [arabic]; and at the same distance s.e. of the latter, the village haytha [arabic]. at two hours and a quarter from the khan ayash we passed the torrent khereybe, coming down the wady of that name, on our left, and the castle and village khereybe, at a quarter of an hour from the road. two hours and three quarters, is the village halbe, on the declivity of the mountain. three hours and a half, an old mosque upon the mountain above the road, with a village called el djamaa ([arabic] the mosque). near to it, and where the mountains runs out in a point towards the north, is a hill called tel arka, which appears by its regularly flattened conical form and smooth sides to be artificial. i was told that on its top are some ruins of habitations, and walls. upon an elevation on its e. and s. sides, which commands a beautiful view over the plain, the sea, and the anzeyry mountains, are large and extensive heaps of rubbish, traces of ancient dwellings, blocks of hewn stone, remains of walls, and fragments of granite columns; of the latter i counted eight, six of which were of gray, and the other two of fine red granite. here then must have stood the ancient town of arca, where alexander severus was born: the hill was probably the citadel, or a temple may have stood on its top. on the west side of the hill runs the deep valley wady akka, with a torrent of the same name, which we passed, over a bridge near a mill. from thence the direction of our road continued w.s.w. from an elevated spot, at four tripoli. [p. ]hours and a half, sheikh ayash bore n.e. b. n. in five hours we reached the sea-shore; the sea here forms a bay extending from the point of tartous as far as tripoli. we now turned round the mountains on our left, along the sea-beach, and passed several tents of turkmans. five hours and a half, at a short distance to the left, is an ancient tower on the slope of the mountain, called abou hannein [arabic]. five hours and three quarters is khan el bered, with a bridge over the nahr el bered, or cold river. at six hours and a half is the village menny, to the left, at the foot of the mountain, the road lying through a low plain half an hour in breadth, between the mountain called torboul and the sea; that part only which is nearest to the mountain is cultivated. in nine hours we arrived at tripoli, and alighted at the house of the english agent mr. catziflis. this city, which is called tarabolos by the arabs, and tripoli by the greeks and italians, is built on the declivity of the lowest hills of the libanus, and is divided by the nahr kadisha [kadisha, in the syrian language, means the holy [arabic], the proper name of the river is nahr abou ali.] into two parts, of which the southern is the most considerable. on the n. side of the river, upon the summit of the hill, stands the tomb of sheikh abou naszer, and opposite to it, on the s. side, the castle, built in the time of the crusades; this castle has often been in a ruined state, but it has lately been put into complete repair by berber aga. many parts of tripoli bear marks of the ages of the crusades; amongst these are several high arcades of gothic architecture, under which the streets run. in general the town is well built, and is much embellished by the gardens, which are not only attached to the houses in the town, but cover likewise the whole triangular plain lying between it and the sea. tripoli stands in [p. ]one of the most favoured spots in all syria; as the maritime plain and neighbouring mountains place every variety of climate within a short distance of the inhabitants. the wady kadisha, higher up than tripoli, is one of the most picturesque valleys i ever saw. at half an hour from the town is an aqueduct across the wady, built upon arches; the natives call it kontaret el brins [arabic], a corruption, perhaps, of prince. it conveys the water used for drinking, into the town, by means of a canal along the left bank of the kadisha. a few yards above the aqueduct is a bridge across the stream. i estimate the inhabitants of tripoli at about fifteen thousand; of these one-third are greek christians, over whom a bishop presides. i was told that the greeks are authorized, by the firmahns of the porte, to prevent any schismatic greek from entering the town. this may not be the fact;--it is however certain, that whenever a schismatic is discovered here, he is immediately thrown into prison, put in irons, and otherwise very ill-treated. such a statement can be credited by those only who are acquainted with the fanatism of the eastern christians. there is no public building in the town deserving of notice. the serai was destroyed during the rebellion of berber. the khan of the soap manufacturers is a large well built edifice, with a water basin in the middle of it. ten minutes above the town, in the wady kadisha, is a convent of derwishes, most picturesquely situated above the river, but at present uninhabited. at half an hour's walk below the town, at the extreme angle of the triangular plain, is el myna, or the port of tripoli, which is itself a small town; the interjacent plain was formerly covered with marshes, which greatly injured the air; but the greater part of them have been drained, and converted into gardens. the remains of a wall may still be traced [p. ]across the triangular plain; from which it appears that the western point was the site of the ancient city; wherever the ground is dug in that direction the foundations of houses and walls are found; indeed it is with stones thus procured that the houses in the myna are built. from the myna northward to the mouth of the kadisha runs a chain of six towers, at about ten minutes walk from each other, evidently intended for the defence of the harbour; around the towers, on the shore, and in the sea, lie a great number of columns of gray granile; there are at least eighty of them, of about a foot and a quarter in diameter, lying in the sea; many others have been built into the walls of the towers as ornaments. to each of the towers the natives have given a name. the most northern is called berdj ras el nahr, from its being near the kadisha; those to the south are berdj el dekye, berdj el sebaa [arabic], or the lion's tower;[the natives say, that on the shield carved above the gateway of this tower two lions were formerly visible.--these were the arms of count raymond de thoulouse. i saw at tripoli a leaden seal of the count, with a tower, meant probably for the berdj el sebaa, on the reverse.] berdj el kanatter [arabic]; berdj el deyoun [arabic], and berdj el mogharabe [arabic]. the harbour of tripoli is formed by a line of low rocks, stretching from the point of the myna about two miles into the sea, towards the north; they are called by the natives feitoun [arabic]. on the north the point of tartous in some measure breaks the impetuosity of the sea; but when the northern winds blow with violence, vessels are often driven on shore. in a n.n.w. direction from the harbour extends a line of small islands, the farthest of which is about ten miles distant from the main land. they are named as follow: el bakar [arabic], which is nearest to the harbour, billan [arabic], about half a mile in circumference, with remains of [p. ]ancient habitations, and several deep wells; there are several smaller rocks, comprised under the general name of el mekattya [arabic], whose respective appellations are, [arabic]--next is sennenye [arabic], nakhle, or el eraneb [arabic], with several palm trees, formerly inhabited by a great number of rabbits; el ramkein [arabic], and shayshet el kadhi [arabic]. the inhabitants of the myna are chiefly greek sailors or ship-wrights; i found here half a dozen small country ships building or repairing. there is also a good khan. on the southern side of the triangular plain is a sandy beach, where the sand in some places has formed itself by concretion into rocks, in several of which are large cisterns. in the bottom of the bay formed by the plain and by the continuation of the shore to the south, is a spring of sweet water, and near it large hillocks of sand, driven up from the shore by the westerly winds. the sea abounds in fish and shell fish; the following are the names of the best, in french and arabic; they were given to me by a french merchant, who has long resided in tripoli; dorade [arabic], rouget [arabic], loupe [arabic], severelle [arabic], leeche [arabic], mulaye [arabic], maire noir [arabic], maire blanc [arabic], vieille [arabic]; these are caught with small baskets into which bait is put; the orifice being so made that if the fish enters, he cannot get out again. it is said that no other fish are ever found in the baskets. the names of some others fit for the table are pajot ([arabic or arabic]). [arabic]. [arabic], and [arabic]. half an hour north of tripoli, on the road we came by, is the tomb of sheikh el bedawy, with a copious spring near it, enclosed by a wall; it contains a great quantity of fish, which are considered sacred by the turks of tripoli, and are fed daily by the guardians of the tomb, and by the tripolitans; no person dares kill any of them; they are, as the turks express it, a wakf to the tomb. the same kind of fish is found in the kadisha. [p. ]the commerce of tripoli has decreased lately, in proportion with that of the entire commerce of syria. there are no longer any frank establishments, and the few franks who still remain are in the greatest misery. a french consul, however, resides here, m. guys, an able antiquary, and who was very liberal in his literary communications to us. he has a very interesting collection of syrian medals. mr. catziflis, who is a greek, is a very respectable man, and rendered considerable services to the english army during the war in egypt. he is extremely attentive and hospitable to english travellers. the principal commerce of tripoli is in silk produced upon the mountain, of which it exports yearly about quintals or cwt., at about £ . sterling per quintal. formerly the french merchants used to take silk in return for their goods, as it was difficult to obtain money in the levantine trade; it is true that they sold it to a disadvantage in france; yet not so great as they would have done had they insisted on being reimbursed ready money, upon which they must have paid the discount. the silk was bought up at marseilles by the merchants of barbary, who thus procured it at a lower rate than they could do at tripoli. this intercourse however has ceased in consequence of the ruin of french trade, and the moggrebyns now visit tripoli themselves, in search of this article, bringing with them colonial produce, indigo, and tin, which they buy at malta. the sale of west india coffee has of late increased greatly in syria; the turks have universally adopted the use of it, because it is not more than half the price of mokha coffee; a considerable market is thus opened to the west india planters, which is not likely to be interrupted, until the hadj is regularly re- established, the principal traffic of which was in coffee. the next chief article of exportation is sponges; they are procured on the sea shore; but the best are found at a little depth in [p. ]the sea. the demand for them during the last two years has been very trifling; but i was told that fifty bales of twelve thousand sponges each might be yearly furnished; their price is from twenty-five to forty piastres per thousand. soap is exported to tarsous, for anatolia and the greek islands, as well as alkali for its manufacture, which is procured in the eastern desert. it is a curious fact, that soap should also be imported into tripoli from candia; the reason is that the cretan soap contains very little alkali; here one-fourth of its weight of alkali is added to it, and in this state it is sold to advantage. the other exports are about one hundred or one hundred and twenty quintals of galls from the anzeyry mountains: of yellow wax, from libanus, about one hundred and twenty quintals, at about one hundred and fifty piastres per quintal; of rubia tinctorum [arabic], which grows in the plains of homs and hamah, about fourteen hundred quintals, at from twenty to twenty-four piastres per quintal; of scammony, very little; of tobacco, a few quintals, which are sent to egypt. the territory of tripoli extends over the greater part of mount libanus. the pashalik is divided into the following districts, or mekatta [arabic], as they are called: viz. el zawye [arabic], or the lower part of mount libanus to the right of the kadisha,--djebbet bshirrai [arabic], which lies round the village of that name near the cedars.--el kella [arabic],--el koura [arabic], or the lower part of mount libanus to the left of the kadisha.--el kattaa [arabic], or the mountains towards batroun;--batroun [arabic],--djebail [arabic],--el fetouh, over djebail, as far as kesrouan.--akkar [arabic], the northern declivity of mount libanus, a district governed at present by aly beg, a man famous for his generosity, liberality, and knowledge of arabian literature.--el shara [arabic], also under the government of aly beg.--el dhannye [arabic].--the mountains to the n. and n.w. of bshirrai.--el hermel [arabic], towards baalbec, on the [p. ] eastern declivity of the libanus; szaffeita [arabic], and tartous [arabic]. the greater part of the mountaineers are christians; in bshirrai they are all christians; in akkar, shara, and koura, three- fourths are christians. the metawelis have possessions at djebail, dhannye, and hermel. about eighty years since the latter peopled the whole district of bshirrai, el zawye, dhannye, and part of akkar; but the turk and christian inhabitants, exasperated by their vexatious conduct, called in the druses, and with their assistance drove out the metawelis. since that period, the druses have been masters of the whole mountain, as well as of a part of the plain. the emir beshir pays to the pasha of tripoli, for the miri of the mountain, one hundred and thirty purses, and collects for himself upwards of six hundred purses. the duties levied upon the peasants in this district are generally calculated by the number of rotolas of silk which the peasant is estimated to get yearly from his worms; the taxes on the mulberry trees are calculated in proportion to those on the silk. the peasant who rears silk-worms is reckoned to pay about twenty or twenty-five per cent. on his income, while he who lives by the produce of his fields pays more than fifty per cent. i obtained the following information respecting the modern history of the pashas of tripoli. fettah pasha, of three tails, was driven out of tripoli by the inhabitants, about , after having governed a few years. he was succeeded by abd-er-rahman pasha, but the rebels still maintained their ascendancy in the town. he had formerly been kapydji for the djerde or caravan, which departs annually from tripoli to meet the mekka caravan on its return. he made mustafa, the chief of the rebels, his touenkdji, and submitted to his orders, till he found an opportunity of putting him to death at ladakie, whither he had gone to collect the miri. the town was at the [p. ]same time surprised, the castle taken, and all the ring-leaders killed. abd-er-rahman pasha governed for about two years. youssef pasha, the son of othman pasha of damascus, of the family of adm, governed for eight or ten years, and was succeeded by his brother, abdullah pasha, who remained in the government upwards of five years, and was afterwards named pasha of damascus. he is at present pasha of orfa. hassan pasha, of the family of adm, remained two years in office. hosseyn pasha was sent with the djerde, to kill djezzar, who was on his way back from mekka; but djezzar poisoned him, before he could execute his design. derwish pasha governed two years. one of the chiefs of his troops, hassan youssef, usurped the greater part of the authority until he was killed by the pasha's orders. soleiman pasha, now pasha of acre, governed at tripoli about , while djezzar was at damascus. khalyl pasha, son of abdullah pasha, was driven out by the rebellious inhabitants, during the invasion of syria by the french. one of the ring-leaders, mustara dolby, took possession of the castle, and reigned for two years. he was succeeded by ibrahim sultan, who was driven away by mustafa aga berber, a man of talents and of great energy of character. he refused to pay the miri into the hands of youssef pasha of damascus, who had also been invested with the pashalik of tripoli, and having fortified the castle, he boldly awaited with a few trusty adherents the arrival of youssef, who approached the town with an army of five or six thousand men. all the inhabitants fled to the mountain, except the french consul, a secret enemy of berber. the army of youssef no sooner entered the city, than they began [p. ]plundering it; and in the course of a few months they completely sacked it, leaving nothing but bare walls; every piece of iron was carried off, and even the marble pavements were torn up and sold. the son of the french consul gained considerable sums by buying up a part of the plunder. the castle was now besieged, and some french artillerymen having been brought from cyprus, a breach was soon made, but though defended by only one hundred and fifty men, none had the courage to advance to the assault. after a siege of five months soleiman pasba of acre interceded for berber, and youssef pasha, glad of a pretext for retreating, granted the garrison every kind of military honours; the remaining provisions in the castle were sold to the pasha for ready money, and in february, , berber, accompanied by the officers of soleiman pasha, left the castle and retired to acre. he was again named governor of tripoli, when soleiman pasha of acre and damascus was, in , invested with the pashalik of tripoli. seid soleiman, pasha of damascus, received the same charge in . during our stay at tripoli, berber was in the neigbbourhood of ladakie, making war against some rebel anzeyrys; the castle of tripoli was intrusted to the command of an aga of arnaouts, without being under the orders of berber. it is very probable that berber may yet become a conspicuous character in syrian affairs, being a man of great spirit, firmness, and justice. the town of tripoli was never in a better state than when under his command. march th.--having spent ten days at tripoli very pleasantly, i took leave of my companion, who went to ladakie and antioch, and set out with a guide towards damascus, with the intention of visiting the kesrouan, and paying my respects to the chief of the deir keiftein. [p. ] mountain, the emir beshir, at deir el kammar. on the way i wished to visit some ruins in the koura, which i had heard of at tripoli. i therefore turned out of the great road, which follows the sea shore as far as beirout. we set out in the evening, ascended the castle hill to the s. of the town, and arrived after an hour and a half at deir keiftein [arabic], where i slept. the road lay through a wood of olive trees, on the left bank of the kadisha; over the lowest declivities of the libanus. it is a part of the district el koura, the principal produce of which is oil. the zawye, on the other side of the kadisha, also produces oil, and at the same time more grain than the koura. every olive tree here is worth from fifteen to twenty piastres. the soil in which the trees grow is regularly ploughed, but nothing is sown between the trees, as it is found that any other vegetation diminishes the quantity of olives. the ground round the stem is covered to the height of two or three feet with earth, to prevent the sun from hurting the roots, and to give it the full benefit of the rains. we met with a few tents of arabs zereykat and el hayb, who were pasturing their sheep upon the wild herbs by the road side. at half an hour's distance to the right runs the djebel kella [arabic] in a north-easterly direction towards the sea; this mountain is under the immediate government of tripoli, the emir beshir, to whom the whole libanus belongs, not having been yet able to gain possession of it. the following are the principal villages of the kella: deyr sakoub, diddy, fya, kelhat, betouratydj, ras meskha, bersa, nakhle, beterran, besh, mysyn, afs dyk. keiftein is a small greek convent, with a prior and two monks only; a small village of the same name stands near it. in the burying ground of the convent is a fine marble sarcophagus, under which an english consul of tripoli lies buried. a long english nscription, with a latin translation, records the virtues of john deir demitry. [p. ] carew, esq. of pembrokeshire, who was fifty years consul at tripoli, and died the th of may, , seventy-seven years of age. march th.--our road lay through the olive plantations called el bekeya [arabic], between the upper libanus and the djebel kella. half an hour to the right of the road, upon the latter mountain, is the village nakhle, below it, betouratydj, farther up the hill fya, then, more to the south, bedobba, and lastly, afs dyk; these villages stand very near together, although the kella is very rocky, and little fit for culture; the peasants, however, turn every inch of ground to advantage. half an hour from keiftein is the village ferkahel [arabic], on the side of the river; we saw here a few old date trees, of which there are also some at nakhle. the inhabitants of the koura are for the greater part of the greek church; in zawye all the christians are maronites. at one hour from keiftein is the village beserma [arabic]. one hour and three quarters, continuing in the valley between the libanus and the kella, is the village kfer akka; we here turned up the libanus. half an hour from the kfer akka, on the side of the mountain, is a considerable village called kesba, with the convent of hantoura [arabic]. at the same distance s. of akka, is the village kfer zeroun [arabic]. two hours and a quarter from keiftein, on the declivity of the mountain, is the convent of st. demetrius, or deir demitry. i here left my mare, and walked up the mountain to see the ruins of which i had been informed at tripoli. in twenty minutes i reached the remains of an ancient town, standing on a piece of level ground, but with few houses remaining. these ruins are called by the people of the country naous or namous, which name is supposed to be derived from the word [arabic], i.e. a burying-place; but i think its derivation from the greek [greek] more probable. on the s. side stand the ruins of two temples, which are worth the naous. [p. ]traveller's attention. the smaller one is very much like the temple of hossn el forsul, near zahle, which i had seen on my way to baalbec; it is an oblong building of about the same size; and is built with large square stones. the entrance is to the east. the door remains, together with the southern wall and a part of the northern. the west wall and the roof are fallen. in the south wall are two niches. before the entrance was a portico of four columns, with a flight of steps leading up to it. the bases of the columns and fragments of the shafts, which are three feet in diameter, still remain. at about forty paces from the temple is a gate, corresponding to the door of the temple; a broad staircase leads up from it to the temple. the two door-posts of this outer gate are still standing, each formed of a single stone about thirteen feet high, rudely adorned with sculpture. at about one hundred and fifty yards from this building is the other, of much larger dimensions; it stands in an area of fifty paces in breadth, and sixty in length, surrounded by a wall, of which the foundation, and some other parts, still remain. the entrance to this area is through a beautiful gate, still entire; it is fourteen feet high and ten feet wide, the two posts, and the soffit are each formed of a single stone; the posts are elegantly sculptured. at the west end of this area, and elevated four or five feet above its level, stood the temple, opposite to the great gate; it presents nothing now but a heap of ruins, among which it is impossible to trace the original distribution of the building. the ground is covered with columns, capitals, and friezes; i saw a fragment of a column, consisting of one piece of stone nine feet in length, and three feet and a half in diameter. the columns are corinthian, but not of the best workmanship. near the s.w. angle of the temple are the foundations of a small insulated building. beshiza. [p. ]in order to level the surface of the area, and to support the northern wall, a terrace was anciently raised, which is ten feet high in the north-west corner. the wall of the area is built with large blocks of well cut stone, some of which are upwards of twelve feet in length. it appears however to have undergone repairs, as several parts of the wall are evidently of modern construction; it has perhaps been used as a strong-hold by the arabs. the stone of the building is calcareous, but not so hard as the rock of baalbec. i saw no kind of inscriptions. the naous commands a most beautiful view over the koura and the sea. tripoli bears n. i descended to the convent of mar demitry, in which there is at present but one monk; and turning from thence in a s.w. direction, reached in half an hour the wild torrent of nahr beshiza [arabic]; which dries up in summer time, but in winter sometimes swells rapidly to a considerable size. when youssef pasha besieged tripoli, intelligence was received at a village near it, that a party of his troops intended to plunder the village; the inhabitants in consequence fled with their most valuable moveables the same evening, and retired up the wady beshiza, where they passed the night. it had unfortunately rained in the mountains above, and during the night the torrent suddenly swelled, and carried away eight or ten families, who had encamped in its bed; about fifteen persons perished. on the right bank, near the stream, lies the village beshiza, and at ten minutes from it to the s.e. the ruins of a small temple bearing the name at present of kenyset el awamyd [arabic], or the church of the columns. the principal building is ten paces in length on the inside, and eight paces in breadth. the s. and w. walls are standing, but the e. has fallen down; the s. wall has been thrown out of the perpendicular by an earthquake. the entrance is from the west, or rather from the n.w. for the temple does not face the four cardinal amyoun. [p. ]points; the northern wall, instead of completing the quadrangle, consists of two curves about twelve feet in depth, and both vaulted like niches, as high as the roof, which has fallen in. in the s. wall are several projecting bases for statues. the door and its soffit, which is formed of a single stone, are ornamented with beautiful sculptures, which are not inferior to those of baalbec. before the entrance was a portico of four ionic columns, of which three are standing; they are about eighteen feet high, and of a single stone. opposite to each of the exterior columns of this portico is a pilaster in the wall of the temple. there are also two other pilasters in the opposite or eastern wall. between the two middle columns of the portico is a gate six feet high, formed of two posts, with a stone laid across them; this is probably of modern date, as the exterior of the northern wall also appears to be; instead of forming two semicircles, as within, it is polygonal. between the door and the pilaster, to the northward of it, is a niche. the entablature of the portico is perfect. in the midst of the building stands a large old oak tree, whose branches overshadow the temple, and supply the place of the roof, rendering the ruin a highly picturesque object. i saw no inscriptions. half an hour to the west of beshiza lies the village of deir bashtar [arabic]. from the temple we turned n.-eastward, and at the end of half an hour passed the village amyoun [arabic], the chief place in the district of el koura, and the residence of assaf ibn asar, the governor of that province; he is a greek christian, and a collector of the miri, which he pays into the hands of the emir beshir. many christian families are governors of provinces and sheikhs of villages in the mountains: in collecting the [p. ]miri, and making the repartitions of the extraordinary demands made by the emir, they always gain considerable sums; but whenever a sheikh has filled his purse, he is sure to fall a victim to the avidity of the chief governor. these sheikhs affect all the pomp of the turks; surpass them in family pride, and equal them in avarice, low intrigue, and fanatism. the governor of the province of zawye is also a christian, of the family of dhaher. instead of descending towards the sea shore, which is the usual route to batroun, i preferred continuing in the mountain. at an hour and a quarter from amyoun, after having twice passed the beshiza, or, as it is also called, the nahr aszfour, which runs in a very narrow wady descending from the district of laklouk, we reached the village of keftoun, where is a convent. above it lies the village of betaboura, and in its neighbourhood dar shemsin and kferhata. west of amyoun is the village of kfer hasir [arabic]. the industry with which these mountaineers cultivate, upon the narrow terraces formed on the steep declivity of the mountain, their vines and mulberry trees, with a few acres of corn, is really admirable. at two hours the village of kelbata was on our right; a little farther, to the right, ras enhash. [arabic]; below on the sea shore, at the extremity of a point of land, is a large village called amfy [arabic], and near it the convent deir natour. it is with great difficulty that a horse can travel through these mountains; the roads are abominable, and the inhabitants always keep them so, in order to render the invasion of their country more difficult. the direction of batroun, from the point where the road begins to descend, is s.w.b.w. we descended the mountain called akabe el meszabeha, near the wady djaous, which lower down takes the name of nahr meszabeha. two hours and a half from amyoun, on the descent, is a fine spring, with a vaulted covering over it, called ayn el khowadja [arabic]. at the end of three hours we reached batroun. [p. ] a narrow valley watered by the last mentioned river, and bounded on the right hand by djebel nourye, which advances towards the sea, and on the left by another mountain; upon the former stands the village hammad, and on the point of it, over the sea, the convent of mar elias. at three hours and a quarter, and where the valley is scarcely ten minutes in breadth, a castle of modern construction stands upon an insulated rock; it is called kalaat meszabeha [arabic], its walls are very slight, but the rock upon which it stands is so steep, that no beast of burthen can ascend it. this castle was once in possession of the metaweli, who frequently attacked the passengers in the valley. near it is a bridge over the wady. at three hours and three quarters, where the valley opens towards the sea, is the village kobba [arabic], at the foot of the djebel nourye, with an ancient tower near it. at the end of four hours and a quarter we reached batroun [arabic], where i slept, in one of the small khans which are built by the sea side. batroun, the ancient bostrys, contains at present three or four hundred houses. its inhabitants are, for the greater part, maronites; the rest are greeks and turks. the town and its territory belong to the emir beshir; but it is under the immediate government of two of his relations, emir kadan and emir melhem. the principal man in the town is the christian sheikh, of the family of khodher. the produce of batroun consists chiefly in tobacco. there is no harbour, merely an inlet capable of admitting a couple of coasting boats. the whole coast from tripoli to beirout appears to be formed of sand, accumulated by the prevailing westerly winds, and hardened into rocks. an artificial shelter seems to have been anciently formed by excavating the rocks, and forming a part of them into a wall of moderate thickness for the length of one hundred paces, and to the height of twelve feet. it was probably behind this wall that the boats of bostrys anciently found shelter djebail. [p. ]from the westerly gales. i saw but one boat between the rocks of batroun. march th.--our road lay along the rocky coast. in three quarters of an hour we came to a bridge, called djissr medfoun [arabic], which crosses a winter torrent. the territory of batroun extends to this bridge; its northern limits begin at the village of hammad, upon the djebel nourye, which terminates the district of koura; beyond the bridge of medfoun is the village aabeidat [arabic] to the left. the mountain reaches quite down to the sea shore. the direction of our road was s.b.w. at two hours, upon a hill to the left of the road, called berdj reihani [arabic], stands a ruined arched building; on the road below it are three columns of sand stone. up in the mountain are the greek villages of manszef [arabic], berbar [arabic], gharsous [arabic], and korne [arabic]. in three hours and a quarter we passed a wady, without water, called halloue [arabic]. at every three or four miles on this road small khans are met with, where refreshments of bread, cheese, and brandy are sold. close to the sea shore are many deep wells, with springs of fresh water at their bottom. three hours and a half is djebail [arabic], the ancient byblus. above it, in the mountain, is the convent deir el benat, with the village aamsheit [arabic]. i passed on the outside of djebail without stopping. the town is enclosed by a wall, some parts of which appear to be of the time of the crusades. upon a stone in the wall i saw a rose, with a smaller one on each side. there is a small castle here, in which the emir beshir keeps about forty men. a few years ago djebail was the residence of the christian abd el ahad; he and his brother djordjos bas were the head men of the emir beshir, and in fact were more potent than their master. djordjos bas resided at deir el kammar. the district of djebail was under the command of abd el ahad, who built a [p. ]very good house here; but the two brothers shared the fate of all christians who attempt to rise above their sphere; they were both put to death in the same hour by the emir's orders; indeed there is scarcely an instance in the modern history of syria, of a christian or jew having long enjoyed the power or riches which he may have acquired: these persons are always taken off in the moment of their greatest apparent glory. abd el hak, at antioch; hanna kubbe, at ladakie; karaly, at aleppo; are all examples of this remark. but, as in the most trifling, so in the most serious concerns, the levantine enjoys the present moment, without ever reflecting on future consequences. the house of hayne, the jew seraf, or banker, at damascus and acre, whose family may be said to be the real governors of syria, and whose property, at the most moderate calculation, amounts to three hundred thousand pounds sterling, are daily exposed to the same fate. the head of the family, a man of great talents, has lost his nose, his ears, and one of his eyes, in the service of djezzar, yet his ambition is still unabated, and he prefers a most precarious existence, with power, in syria, to the ease and security he might enjoy by emigrating to europe. the christian sheikh abou nar commands at djebail, his brother is governor or sheikh of bshirrai. many fragments of fine granite columns are lying about in the neighbourhood of djebail. on the s. side of the town is a small wady with a spring called ayn el yasemein [arabic]. the shore is covered with deep sand. a quarter of an hour from djebail is a bridge over a deep and narrow wady; it is called djissr el tel [arabic]; upon a slight elevation, on its s. side, are the ruins of a church, called kenyset seidet martein [arabic]. up in the mountains are two convents and several maronite villages, with the names of which my greek guide was unacquainted. in half an hour we came to a pleasant grove of oaks skirting the meinet berdja. [p. ]road; and in three quarters of an hour to the wady feidar [arabic], with a bridge across it; this river does not dry up in summer time. a little farther to the right of the road is an ancient watch- tower upon a rock over the sea; the natives call it berdj um heish [arabic] from an echo which is heard here; if the name um heish be called aloud, the echo is the last syllable "eish," which, in the vulgar dialect, means "what?" ([arabic] for [arabic]). many names of places in these countries have trivial origins of this kind. at two hours and a half we crossed by a bridge the large stream of nahr ibrahim, the ancient adonis. above us in the mountain is the village el djissr. the whole lower ridge of mount libanus, from wady medfoun to beyond nahr ibrahim, composes the district of el fetouh [arabic], which is at present under the control of emir kasim, son of the emir beshir, who resides at ghadsir in kesrouan; he commands also in koura. at two hours and a half, and to the left of the road, which runs at a short distance from the sea, is the convent of mar domeitt [arabic], with the village of el bouar [arabic]. the soil is here cultivated in every part with the greatest care. in three hours and a quarter we came to a deep well cut in the rock, with a spring at the bottom, called ayn mahous [arabic]. at three hours and a half is a small harbour called meinet berdja [arabic], with a few houses round it. boats from cyprus land here, loaded principally with wheat and salt. to the right of the road, between meinet berdja and the sea, extends a narrow plain, called watta sillan [arabic]; its southern part terminates in a promontory, which forms the northern point of the bay of kesrouan. near the promontory stands an ancient tower, called berdj el kosszeir [arabic]. in four hours and a quarter we reached djissr maammiltein [arabic], an ancient bridge, falling into ruins, over a wady of the same name. the banks of this wady form entrance into kesrouan. [p. ] the boundary of separation between the pahaliks of saida and tripoli, and divide the district of fetouh from that of kesrouan. the country of kesrouan, which i now entered, presents a most interesting aspect; on the one hand are steep and lofty mountains, full of villages and convents, built on their rocky sides; and on the other a fine bay, and a plain of about a mile in breadth, extending from the mountains to the sea. there is hardly any place in syria less fit for culture than the kesrouan, yet it has become the most populous part of the country. the satisfaction of inhabiting the neighbourhood of places of sanctity, of hearing church bells, which are found in no other part of syria, and of being able to give a loose to religious feelings and to rival the mussulmans in fanatisim, are the chief attractions that have peopled kesrouan with catholic christians, for the present state of this country offers no political advantages whatever; on the contrary, the extortions of the druses have reduced the peasant to the most miserable state of poverty, more miserable even than that in the eastern plains of syria; nothing, therefore, but religious freedom induces the christians to submit to these extortions; added perhaps to the pleasure which the catholics derive from persecuting their brethren of the greek church, for the few greeks who are settled here are not better treated by the maronites, than a damascene christian might expect to be by a turk. the plain between the mountain and the sea is a sandy soil; it is sown with wheat and barley, and is irrigated by water drawn from wells by means of wheels. at five hours and a quarter is ghafer djouni [arabic], a market place, with a number of shops, built on the sea side, where there is a landing place for small boats. the beirout road continues from hence along the sea coast, but i wished to visit some convents in kesrouan, and therefore antoura. [p. ]turned up the mountain to the left. at the end of five hours and three quarters i came to a wood of firs, which trees are very common in these parts; to the right is the village haret el bottne [arabic]. six hours and three quarters zouk mykayl [arabic], the principal village in kesrouan, where resides the sheikh beshera, of the family of khazen, who is at present the governor of the province. the inhabitants of zouk consist, for the greater part, of the shopkeepers and artizans who furnish kesrouan with articles of dress or of luxury. i observed in particular many makers of boots and shoes. seven hours, is deir beshara; a convent of nuns. at the end of seven hours and a quarter, i arrived at antoura, a village in a lofty situation, with a convent, which formerly belonged to the jesuits, but which is now inhabited by a lazarist, the abbate gandolfi, who is the pope's delegate, for the affairs of the eastern church. i had letters for him, and met with a most friendly reception: his intimate acquaintance with the affairs of the mountain, and of the druses, which his residence of upwards of twelve years, and a sound understanding, have enabled him to acquire, renders his conversation very instructive to the inquisitive traveller. march th--i left antoura in the evening, to visit some convents in a higher part of the mountains of kesrouan. passed wady kheredj [arabic], and at three quarters of an hour from antoura, the ruined convent of bekerke [arabic], once the residence of the famous hindye, whose history volney has given. now that passions have cooled, and that the greater part of the persons concerned are dead, it is the general opinion that hindye's only crime was her ambition to pass for a saint. the abominable acts of debauchery and cruelty of which she was accused, are probably imaginary: but it is certain that she rigorously punished the nuns of her convent who hesitated to believe in her sanctity, or who doubted the visits of jesus christ, of which she boasted. hindye died about harissa--ghosta. [p. ]ten years since in retirement, in the convent of seidet el hakle. at one hour and a half from antoura, on the top of the mountain, is the convent of harissa, belonging to the franciscans of terra santa, and inhabited at present by a single piedmontese monk. on the breaking out of the war between england and the porte, mr. barker, the consul at aleppo, received from the emir beshir an offer of this convent as a place of refuge in his territory. mr. barker resided here for two years and a half, and his prudent and liberal conduct have done great credit to the english name in the mountain. the french consuls on the coast applied several times to the emir beshir, by express orders from the french government, to have mr. barker and his family removed; but the emir twice tore their letters in pieces and returned them by the messenger as his only answer. harissa [arabic] is a well built, large convent, capable of receiving upwards of twenty monks. near it is a miserable village of the same name. the view from the terrace of the convent over the bay of kesrouan, and the country as far as djebail, on one side, and down to beirout on the other, is extremely beautiful. the convent is situated in the midst of kesrouan, over the village sahel alma. march .--i slept at harissa, and left it early in the morning, to visit ayn warka. the roads in these mountains are bad beyond description, indeed i never before saw any inhabited country so entirely mountainous as the kesrouan: there are no levels on the tops of the mountain; but the traveller no sooner arrives on the summit, than he immediately begins the descent; each hill is insulated, so that to reach a place not more than ten minutes distant in a straight line, one is obliged to travel three or four miles, by descending into the valley and ascending again the other side. from harissa i went north half an hour to the village ghosta [arabic], near which are two convents called kereim and baklous. kereim ayn warka. [p. ]is a rich armenian monastery, in which are twenty monks. the silk of this place is esteemed the best in kesrouan. a little farther down is the village el basha. one hour and a quarter ayn warka [arabic], another maronite convent. i wished to see this place, because i had heard that a school had lately been established here, and that the convent contained a good library of syrian books; but i was not so fortunate as to see the library; the bishop, although he received me well, found a pretext for not opening the room in which the books are kept, fearing, probably, that if his treasures should be known, the convent might some day be deprived of them. i however saw a beautiful dictionary in large folio of the syriac language, written in the syriac character, which, i suppose, to be the only copy in syria. its author was djorjios el kerem seddany, who composed it in the year . kerem seddany is the name of a village near bshirrai. this dictionary may be worth in syria eight hundred or a thousand piastres; but the convent would certainly not sell it for less than two thousand, besides a present to the bishop. the school of ayn warka was established fifteen years since by youssef, the predecessor of the present bishop. it is destined to educate sixteen poor maronite children, for the clerical profession; they remain here for six or eight years, during which they are fed and clothed at the expense of the convent, and are educated according to the literary taste of the country; that is to say, in addition to their religious duties, they are taught grammar, logic, and philosophy. the principal books of instruction are the belough el arab, [arabic], and the behth el mettalae [arabic], both composed by the bishop djermanous [arabic]. at present there is only one schoolmaster, but another is shortly expected, bezommar. [p. ]to teach philosophy. the boys have particular hours assigned to the different branches of their studies. i found them sitting or lying about in the court-yard, each reading a book, and the master, in a common peasant's dress, in the midst of them. besides the arabic language they are taught to speak, write, and read the syriac. the principal syriac authors, whose books are in the library, are ibn el ebre [arabic], or as the latins call him, berebreo, obeyd yeshoua [arabic], and ibn el aassal [arabic], their works are chiefly on divinity. the bishop is building a dormitory for the boys, in which each of them is to have his separate room; he has also begun to take in pupils from all parts of syria, whose parents pay for their board and education. the convent has considerable landed property, and its income is increased by alms from the catholic syrians. the boys, on leaving the convent, are obliged to take orders. from ayn warka i ascended to the convent of bezommar [arabic], one hour and a quarter distant. it belongs to the armenian catholics, and is the seat of the armenian patriarch, or spiritual head of all the armenians in the east who have embraced the catholic faith. bezommar is built upon the highest summit of the mountain of kesrouan, which is a lower branch of the southern libanus. it is the finest and the richest convent in kesrouan, and is at present inhabited by the old patriarch youssef, four bishops, twelve monks, and seventeen priests. the patriarch himself built the convent, at an expense of upwards of fifteen thousand pounds sterling. its income is considerable, and is derived partly from its great landed possessions, and partly from the benefactions of persons at constantinople, in asia minor, and in syria. the venerable patriarch received me in his bed, from which, i fear, he will never rise again. the armenian priests state of kesrouan. [p. ]of this convent are social and obliging, with little of the pride and hypocrisy of the maronites. several of them had studied at rome. the convent educates an indefinite number of poor boys; at present there are eighteen, who are destined to take orders; they are clothed and fed gratis. boys are sent here from all parts of the levant. i enquired after armenian manuscripts, but was told that the convent possessed only armenian books, printed at venice. i left bezommar to return to antoura. half an hour below bezommar is the convent essharfe [arabic], belonging to the true syrian church. the rock in this part is a quartzose sand-stone, of a red and gray colour. to the left, still lower down, is the considerable village deir aoun [arabic], and above it the maronite convent mar shalleitta [arabic]. i again passed mar harissa on my descent to antoura, which is two hours and a half distant from it. march th.--the district of kesrouan, which is about three hours and a half in length, from n. to s. and from two to three hours in breadth across the mountains, is exclusively inhabited by christians: neither turks nor druses reside in it. the sheikh beshara collects the miri, and a son of the emir beshir resides at ghazir, to protect the country, and take care of his father's private property in the district. the principal and almost sole produce is silk; mulberry trees are consequently the chief growth of the soil; wheat and barley are sown, but not in sufficient quantity for the consumption of the people. the quantity of silk produced annually amounts to about sixty kantars, or three hundred and thirty english quintals. a man's wealth is estimated by the number of rotolas of silk which he makes, and the annual taxes paid to government are calculated and distributed in proportion to them. the miri or land-tax is taken upon the mule loads [p. ]of mulberry leaves, eight or ten trees, in common years, yielding one load; and as the income of the proprietors depends entirely upon the growth of these leaves, they suffer less from a bad crop, because their taxes are proportionally low. the extraordinary extortions of the government, however, are excessive: the emir often exacts five or six miris in the year, and one levy of money is no sooner paid, than orders are received for a fresh one of twenty or thirty purses upon the province. the village sheikh fixes the contributions to be paid by each village, taking care to appropriate a part of them to himself. last year many peasants were obliged to sell a part of their furniture, to defray the taxes; it may easily be conceived therefore in what misery they live: they eat scarcely any thing but the worst bread, and oil, or soups made of the wild herbs, of which tyranny cannot deprive them. notwithstanding the wretchedness in which they are left by the government, they have still to satisfy the greediness of their priests, but these contributions they pay with cheerfulness. many of the convents indeed are too rich to require their assistance, but those which are poor, together with all the parish priests and church officers, live upon the people. such is the condition of this christian commonwealth, which instead of deserving the envy of other christians, living under the turkish yoke, is in a more wretched state than any other part of syria; but the predominance of their church consoles them under every affliction, and were the druse governor to deprive them of the last para, they would still remain in the vicinity of their convent. contributions are never levied on the convents, though the landed property belonging to them pays duties like that of the peasant; their income from abroad is free from taxes. loans are sometimes required of the convents; but they are regularly reimbursed in the time of the next harvest. the priests are the most nahr el kelb. [p. ]happy part of the population of kesrouan; they are under no anxiety for their own support; they are looked upon by the people assuperior beings, and their repose is interrupted only by the intrigues of the convents, and by the mutual hostilities of the bishops. the principal villages in kesrouan, beginning from the north, are ghadsir [arabic], djedeide [arabic], aar amoun [arabic], shenanayr [arabic], sahel alma [arabic], haret szakher [arabic], ghozta [arabic], deir aoun [arabic], ghadir [arabic], zouk mikayl [arabic], djouni [arabic], zouk meszbah [arabic], zouk el kherab [arabic], and kornet el khamra [arabic]. march th--i left my amiable host, the abate gandolfi, and proceeded on my road to deir el kammar, the residence of the emir beshir. one hour from antoura is deir lowyz [arabic]. between it and the village zouk mikayl lies the village zouk meszbah, with deir mar elias. south of deir lowyz half an hour is the village zouk el kharab; half an hour e. of the latter, deir tanneis [arabic], and about the same distance s.e. the village kornet el khamra. from deir lowyz i again descended into the plain on the sea shore. the narrow plain which i mentioned as beginning at djissr maammiltein, continues only as far as djouni, where the country rises, and continues hilly, across the southern promontoy of the bay of kesrouan, on the farther side of which the narrow plain again begins, and continues as far as the banks of the nahr el kelb. i reached this river in half an hour from antoura, at the point of its junction with the sea, about ten minutes above which it is crossed by a fine stone bridge. from the bridge the road continues along the foot of the steep rocks, except where they overhang the sea, and there it has been cut through the rock for about a mile. this was a work, however, of no great labour, and hardly deserved the el mellaha. [p. ]following magnificent inscription, which is engraved upon the rock, just over the sea, where the road turns southward: imp caes m avrelivs antoninv s . pivs . felix . avgvstvs part . max . brit . max . germ . maximvs pontifex . maximvs montibvs inminentibvs lico flvmini caesis viam delatavit per . . . . . . . . . . . . . antoninianam svam the last line but one has been purposely erazed. below the frame in which the above is engraved, is this figure. higher up in the road are several other places in the rock, where inscriptions have been cut, but the following one only is legible: invictim antonin felix aug mv . . is nisim[in the year maundrell read this inscription as follows: invicte imp. antonine p. felix aug. multis annis impera. ed.] according to the opinion of m. guys, the french consul at tripoli, which seems well founded, the emperor mentioned in the above inscriptions is not antoninus pius, but caracalla; as the epithet britannus cannot be applied to the former, but very well to the latter. opposite to the bridge is an arabic inscription, but for the greater part illegible. the road continues for about half an hour through the rock over the sea, above which it is no where higher than fifty feet. at the southern extremity is a square basin hewn in the rock close by the sea, called el mellaha, in which the salt water is sometimes collected for the purpose of obtaining salt by evaporation. on the summit of the mountain, to the left of the rocky road, lies the deir youssef el berdj [arabic]; half an plain of beirout. [p. ]hour south of it, in the mountain, is the village dhobbye [arabic], and behind the latter the village soleima [arabic], with a convent of the terra santa. the road from el mellaha continues for an hour and a half on the sandy beach; about three quarters of an hour from the basin we passed the rivulet nahr antoun elias, so called from a village and convent of that name, to the left of the road. near the latter lies the village of abou romman [arabic], in the narrow plain between the mountain and the sea, and a little farther south, el zeleykat [arabic]. the district of kesrouan [arabic], extends, to the south, as far as a small khan, which stands a little beyond the mellaha; farther south commences the druse country of shouf [arabic]. at the termination of the sandy beach are seen ruins of saracen buildings, with a few houses called aamaret selhoub [arabic]. we now left the sea shore to our right, and rode across the riangular point of land on the western extremity of which the town of beirout is situated. this point projects into the sea about four miles beyond the line of the coast, and there is about the same distance in following that line across the base of the triangle. the road we took was through the fine cultivated plain called el boudjerye [arabic], in a direction s. by w. two hours and three quarters from el mellaha is the village hadded [arabic]. before we came to it, we crossed the nahr beirout, at a place where i saw, for the first time, a grove of date trees. beyond the river the country is called ard el beradjene, from a tower by the sea side called berdj el beradjene [arabic]; the surrounding country is all planted with olive trees. in three hours and a quarter we crossed the wady ghadiry [arabic], on the other side of which lies the village kefr shyna [arabic]. upon the hills about three quarters of an hour s.e. of the place where the ghadiry falls into the sea, stands the convent mar hanna el shoeyfat. at the end of three hours and kefrnouta. [p. ]a half, the road begins to ascend: the emir beshir has had a new road made the greater part of the way up to deir el kammar, to facilitate the communication between his residence and the provinces of kesrouan and djebail. at the end of four hours is a fine spring, with a basin shaded by some large oak trees; it is called ayn besaba [arabic]. at four hours and a half, the road still ascending, is the village ayn aanab [arabic], remarkable for a number of palm trees growing here at a considerable elevation above the sea. the mountain is full of springs, some of which form pretty cascades. on the front of a small building which has been erected over the spring in the village, i observed on both sides two figures cut upon the wall, with open mouths, and having round their necks a chain by which they are fastened to the ground. whether they are meant for lions or calves i could not satisfy myself, nor could i learn whether they have any relation to the religious mysteries of the druses. the country from kefr shyna is wholly inhabited by druses. the village of aanab is the hereditary seat of the family of ibn hamdan, who are the chiefs of the druses in the haouran. at five hours and a half is the village ayn aanoub [arabic]; a little above it the road descends into the deep valley in which the nahr el kadhi flows. the mountain is here overgrown with fine firs. six hours and a half, is a bridge (djissr el khadhi) under which the nahr flows in a rocky bed. the franks on the coast commonly give to the nahr kadhi the name of damour, an appellation not unknown to the natives. on the other side of the bridge the road immediately ascends to the village kefrnouta, on the n. side of the river, where it turns round the side of the mountain to deir el kammar, distant seven hours and a quarter from el mellaha. i rode through el kammar, without stopping, and proceeded to the village of beteddein, where the emir beshir is building a new palace. beteddein. [p. ]the town of deir el kammar is situated on the declivity of the mountain, at the head of a narrow valley descending towards the sea. it is inhabited by about nine hundred maronite, three hundred druse, and fifteen or twenty turkish families, who cultivate mulberry and vine plantations, and manufacture all the articles of dress of the mountaineers. they are particularly skilful in working the rich abbas or gowns of silk, interwoven with gold and silver, which are worn by the great sheikhs of the druses, and which are sold as high as eight hundred piastres a piece. the emir beshir has a serai here. the place seems to be tolerably well built, and has large bazars. the tombs of the christians deserve notice. every family has a stone building, about forty feet square, in which they place their dead, the entrance being always walled up after each deposit: this mode of interment is peculiar to deir el kammar, and arose probably from the difficulty of excavating graves in the rocky soil on which it is built. the tombs of the richer christian families have a small kubbe on their summit. the name of this town, signifying the monastery of the moon, originates in a convent which formerly stood here, dedicated to the virgin, who is generally represented in syria with the moon beneath her feet. half an hour from deir el kammar, on the other side of the valley, lies beteddein [arabic], which in syriac, means the two teats, and has received its name from the similarity of two neighbouring hills, upon one of which the village is built. almost all the villages in this neighbourhood have syriac names. march th.--the emir beshir, to whom i had letters of recommendation, from mr. barker at aleppo, received me very politely, and insisted upon my living at his house. his new palace is a very costly edifice; but at the present rate of its progress five more years will be required to finish it. the building consists of a large quadrangle, one on side of which are the [p. ]emir's apartments and his harem, with a private court-yard; two other sides contain small apartments for his people, and the fourth is open towards the valley, and deir el kammar, commanding a distant view of the sea. in the neighbouring mountain is a spring, the waters from which have been conducted into the quadrangle; but the emir wishes to have a more abundant supply of water, and intends to bring a branch of the nahr el kadhi thither; for this purpose the water must be diverted from the main stream at a distance of three hours, and the expense of the canal is calculated at three thousand pounds sterling. the emir beshir is at present master of the whole mountain from belad akkar down to near akka (acre), including the valley of bekaa, and part of the anti-libanus and djebel essheikh. the bekaa, together with a present of one hundred purses, was given to him in , by soleiman pasha of acre, for his assistance against youssef pasha of damascus. he pays for the possession of the whole country, five hundred and thirty purses, of which one hundred and thirty go to tripoli and four hundred to saida or acre; this is exclusive of the extraordinary demands of the pashas, which amount to at least three hundred purses more. these sums are paid in lieu of the miri, which the emir collects himself, without accounting for it. the power of the emir, however, is a mere shadow, the real government being in the hands of the druse chief, sheikh beshir.[beshir is a proper name borne by many people in the mountain. the accent is on the last syllable: the sound would be expressed in english by besheer.] i shall here briefly explain the political state of the mountain. it is now about one hundred and twenty years since the government of the mountain has been always entrusted by the pashas of acre and tripoli to an individual of the family of shehab [arabic], to which the emir beshir belongs. this family derives its origin [p. ]from mekka, where its name is known, in the history of mohammed and the first califes; they are mussulmans, and some of them pretend even to be sherifs. about the time of the crusades, for i have been unable to ascertain the exact period, the shehabs left the hedjaz, and settled in a village of the haouran, to which they gave their family name;[a branch of the family is said to inhabit some mountains in mesopotamia, under the command of emir kasem.] it is still known by the appellation of shohba; and is remarkable for its antiquities, of which i have given some account, in my journal of a tour in the haouran. the family being noble, or of emir origin, were considered proper persons to be governors of the mountain; for it was, and still is thought necessary that the government should not be in the hands of a druse. the druses being always divided into parties, a governor chosen from among them would have involved the country in the quarrels of his own party, and he would have been always endeavouring to exterminate his adversaries; whereas a turk, by carefully managing both parties, maintains a balance between them, though he is never able to overpower them completely; he can oppose the christian inhabitants to the druses, who are in much smaller numbers than the former, and thus he is enabled to keep the country in a state of tranquillity and in subjection to the pashas. this policy has long been successful, notwithstanding the turbulent spirit of the mountaineers, the continual party feuds, and the ambitious projects of many chiefs, as well of the druses as of the reigning house; the pashas were careful also not to permit any one to become too powerful; the princes of the reigning family were continually changed; and party spirit was revived in the mountain whenever the interests of the porte required it. about eighty years ago the country was divided into the two great parties of keisy [arabic], whose banner was red, and yemeny [arabic], whose banner was white, and the whole christian population [p. ]ranged itself on the one side or the other. the keisy gained at length the entire ascendancy, after which none but secret adherents of the yemeny remained, and the name itself was forgotten. then arose the three sects of djonbelat, yezbeky, and neked. these still exist; thirty years ago the two first were equal, but the djonbelat have now got the upper hand, and have succeeded in disuniting the yezbeky and neked. the djonbelat [arabic] draw their origin from the druse mountain of djebel aala, between ladakie and aleppo: they are an old and noble family, and, in the seventeenth century, one of their ancestors was pasha of aleppo; it forms at present the richest and most numerous family, and the strongest party in the mountain. the yezbeky [arabic], or as they are also called, el aemad [arabic], are few in number, but are reputed men of great courage and enterprize. their principal residence is in the district of el barouk, between deir el kammar and zahle. the neked, whose principal sheikh is at present named soleiman, inhabit, for the greater part, deir el kammar; seven of their principal chiefs were put to death thirteen years ago in the serai of the emir beshir, and a few only of their children escaped the massacre; these have now attained to years of manhood, and remain at deir el kammar, watched by the djonbelaty and the aemad, who are united against them. the djonbelat now carry every thing with a high hand; their chief, el sheikh beshir is the richest and the shrewdest man in the mountain; besides his personal property, which is very considerable, no affair of consequence is concluded without his interest being courted, and dearly paid for. his annual income amounts to about two thousand purses, or fifty thousand pounds sterling. the whole province of shouf is under his command, and he is in partnership [p. ] with almost all the druses who possess landed property there. the greater part of the district of djesn [arabic] is his own property, and he permits no one to obtain possesions in that quarter, while he increases his own estates yearly, and thus continually augments his power. the emir beshir can do nothing important without the consent of the sheikh beshir, with whom he is obliged to share all the contributions which he extorts from the mountaineers. it is from this cause that while some parts of the mountain are very heavily taxed, in others little is paid. the druses form the richest portion of the population, but they supply little to the public contributions, being protected by the sheikh beshir. it will be asked, perhaps, why the sheikh does not set aside the emir beshir and take the ostensible power into his own hands? many persons believe that he entertains some such design, while others, better informed perhaps, assert that the sheikh will never make the attempt, because he knows that the mountaineers would never submit to a druse chief. the druses are certainly in a better condition at present than they would be under the absolute sway of the sheikh, who would soon begin to oppress instead of protecting them, as he now does; and the christians, who are a warlike people, detest the name of druse too much ever to yield quietly to a chief of that community. it is, probably, in the view of attaching the christians more closely to him, and to oppose them in some measure to the druses, that the emir beshir, with his whole family, has secretly embraced the christian religion. the shehab, as i have already mentioned, were formerly members of the true mussulman faith, and they never have had among them any followers of the doctrines of the druses. they still affect publicly to observe the mohammedan rites, they profess to fast during the ramadhan, and the pashas still treat them as turks; but it is no longer matter of doubt, that the greater part of the shehab, with [p. ] the emir beshir at their head, have really embraced that branch only of the family which governs at rasheya and hasbeya continue in the religion of their ancestors. although the christians of the mountain have thus become more attached to their prince, their condition, on the whole, is not bettered, as the emir scarcely dares do justice to a christian against a druse; still, however, the christians rejoice in having a prince of their own faith, and whose counsellors and household are with few exceptions of the same religion. there are not more than forty or fifty persons about him who are not christians. one of the prince's daughters lately married a druse of an emir family, who was not permitted to celebrate the nuptials till he had been instructed in the doctrines of christianity, had been baptized, and had received the sacrament. how far the shehab may be sincere in their professions, i am unable to decide; it is probable that if their interests should require it, they would again embrace the religion of their ancestors. in order to strengthen his authority the emir beshir has formed a close alliance with soleiman pasha of acre, thus abandoning the policy of his predecessors, who were generally the determined enemies of the turkish governors; this alliance is very expensive to the prince, though it serves in some degree to counterbalance the influence of the sheikh beshir. the emir and the sheikh are apparently on the best terms; the latter visits the emir almost every week, attended by a small retinue of horsemen, and is always received with the greatest apparent cordiality. i saw him at beteddein during my stay there. his usual residence is at the village of mokhtar [arabic], three hours distant from beteddein, where he has built a good house, and keeps an establishment of about two hundred men. his confidential attendants, and even the porters of his harem, are christians; but his bosom friend [p. ] is sheikh el nedjem [arabic], a fanatical druse, and one of the most respected of their akals. the sheikh beshir has the reputation of being generous, and of faithfully defending those who have put themselves under his protection. the emir beshir, on the contrary, is said to be avaricious; but this may be a necessary consequence of the smallness of his income. he is an amiable man, and if any levantine can be called the friend of an european nation, he certainly is the friend of the english. he dwells on no topic with so much satisfaction as upon that of his alliance with sir sidney smith, during that officer's command upon this coast. his income amounts, at most, to four hundred purses, or about £ . . sterling, after deducting from the revenue of the mountain the sums paid to the pashas, to the sheikh beshir, and to the numerous branches of his family. his favourite expenditure seems to be in building. he keeps about fifty horses, of which a dozen are of prime quality; his only amusement is sporting with the hawk and the pointer. he lives on very bad terms with his family, who complain of his neglecting them; for the greater part of them are poor, and will become still poorer, till they are reduced to the state of fellahs, because it is the custom with the sons, as soon as they attain the age of fifteen or sixteen, to demand the share of the family property, which is thus divided among them, the father retaining but one share for himself. several princes of the family are thus reduced to an income of about one hundred and fifty pounds a year. it has constantly been the secret endeavour of the emir beshir to make himself directly dependent upon the porte, and to throw off his allegiance to the pasha; but he has never been able to succeed. the conduct of djezzar pasha was the cause of this policy. djezzar, for reasons which have already been explained, was continually changing the governors of the mountain, and each new governor was obliged to promise him large sums for his investiture. of these sums few [p. ]were paid at the time of djezzar's death, and bills to the amount of sixteen thousand purses were found in his treasury, secured upon the revenue of the mountain. at the intercession of soleiman pasha,who succeeded djezzar at akka, and of gharib effendi, the porte's commissioner (now pasha of aleppo), this sum was reduced to four thousand purses, of which the emir beshir is now obliged to pay off a part annually. by opposing the druse parties to each other, and taking advantage of the christian population, a man of genius and energy of the shehab family might perhaps succeed in making himself the independent master of the mountain. such an event would render this the most important government in syria, and no military force the turks could send would be able to overthrow it. but at present the shehab appear to have no man of enterprise among them. the shehab marry only among themselves, or with two druse families, the merad [arabic], and kaszbeya [arabic]. these and the reslan [arabic], are the only emir families, or descendants of the prophet, among the druses. these emirs inhabit the province called el meten. emir manzour, the chief of the merads, is a man of influence, with a private annual income of about one hundred and twenty purses. i shall now subjoin such few notes on the druses as i was able to collect during my short stay in the mountain; i believe them to be authentic, because i was very careful in selecting my authourities. with respect to the true religion of the druses, none but a learned druse can satisfy the enquirer's curiosity. what i have already said of the anzeyrys is equally applicable to the druses; their religious opinions will remain for ever a secret, unless revealed by a druse. their customs, however, may be described; and, as far as they can tend to elucidate the mystery, the veil may be [p. ] drawn aside by the researches of the traveller. it seems to be a maxim with them to adopt the religious practices of the country in which they reside, and to profess the creed of the strongest. hence they all profess islamism in syria; and even those who have been baptised on account of their alliance with the shehab family, still practise the exterior forms of the mohammedan faith. there is no truth in the assertion that the druses go one day to the mosque, and the next to the church. they all profess islamism, and whenever they mix with mohammedans they perform the rites prescribed by their religion. in private, however, they break the fast of ramadhan, curse mohammed, indulge in wine, and eat food forbidden by the koran. they bear an inveterate hatred to all religions except their own, but more particularly to that of the franks, chiefly in consequence of a tradition current among them that the europeans will one day overthrow their commonwealth: this hatred has been increased since the invasion of the french, and the most unpardonable insult which one druse can offer to another, is to say to him "may god put a hat on you!" allah yelebesak borneita [arabic]. nothing is more sacred with a druse than his public reputation: he will overlook an insult if known only to him who has offered it; and will put up with blows where his interest is concerned, provided nobody is a witness; but the slightest abuse given in public he revenges with the greatest fury. this is the most remarkable feature of the national character: in public a druse may appear honourable; but he is easily tempted to a contrary behaviour when he has reason to think that his conduct will remain undiscovered. the ties of blood and friendship have no power amongst them; the son no sooner attains the years of maturity than he begins to plot against his father. examples are not wanting of their assailing the chastity of their mothers, and towards their sisters such [p. ] conduct is so frequent, that a father never allows a full grown son to remain alone with any of the females of his family. their own religion allows them to take their sisters in marriage; but they are restrained from indulging in this connexion, on account of its repugnance to the mohammedan laws. a druse seldom has more than one wife, but he divorces her under the slightest pretext; and it is a custom among them, that if a wife asks her husband's permission to go out, and he says to her "go;" without adding "and come back," she is thereby divorced; nor can her husband recover her, even though it should be their mutual wish, till she is married again according to the turkish forms, and divorced from her second husband. it is known that the druses, like all levantines, are very jealous of their wives; adultery, however, is rarely punished with death; if a wife is detected in it, she is divorced; but the husband is afraid to kill her seducer, because his death would be revenged, for the druses are inexorable with respect to the law of retaliation of blood; they know too that if the affair were to become public, the governor would ruin both parties by his extortions. unnatural propensities are very common amongst them. the akal are those who are supposed to know the doctrines of the druse religion; they superintend divine worship in the chapels or, as they are called, khaloue [arabic], and they instruct the children in a kind of catechism. they are obliged to abstain from swearing, and all abusive language, and dare not wear any article of gold or silk in their dress. many of them make it a rule never to eat of any food, nor to receive any money, which they suspect to have been improperly acquired. for this reason, whenever they have to receive considerable sums of money, they take care that it shall be first exchanged for other coin. the sheikh el nedjem, who generally accompanies the sheikh beshir, in his visits to the emir, never tastes [p. ] food in the palace of the latter, nor even smokes a pipe there, always asserting that whatever the emir possesses has been unlawfully obtained. there are different degrees of akal, and women are also admitted into the order, a privilege which many avail themselves of, from parsimony, as they are thus exempted from wearing the expensive head-dress and rich silks fashionable among them. a father cannot entirely disinherit his son, in that case his will would be set aside; but he may leave him a single mulberry tree for his portion. there is a druse kadhi at deir el kammar, who judges according to the turkish laws, and the customs of the druses; his office is hereditary in a druse family; but he is held in little repute, as all causes of importance are carried before the emir or the sheikh beshir. the druses do not circumcise their children; circumcision is practised only in the mountain by those members of the shehab family who continue to be mohammedans. the best feature in the druse character is that peculiar law of hospitality, which forbids them ever to betray a guest. i made particular enquiries on this subject, and i am satisfied that no consideration of interest or dread of power will induce a druse to give up a person who has once placed himself under his protection. persons from all parts of syria are in the constant practice of taking refuge in the mountain, where they are in perfect security from the moment they enter upon the emir's territory; should the prince ever be tempted by large offers to consent to give up a refugee, the whole country would rise, to prevent such a stain upon their national reputation. the mighty djezzar, who had invested his own creatures with the government of the mountain, never could force them to give up a single individual of all those who fled thither from his tyranny. whenever he became [p. ] very urgent in his demands, the emir informed the fugitive of his danger, and advised him to conceal himself for a time in some more distant part of his territory; an answer was then returned to djezzar that the object of his resentment had fled. the asylum which is thus afforded by the mountain is one of the greatest advantages that the inhabitants of syria enjoy over those in the other parts of the turkish dominions. the druses are extremely fond of raw meat; whenever a sheep is killed, the raw liver, heart, &c. are considered dainties; the christians follow their example, but with the addition of a glass of brandy with every slice of meat. in many parts of syria i have seen the common people eat raw meat in their favourite dish the kobbes; the women, especially, indulge in this luxury. mr. barker told me that during his two years residence at harissa and in the mountain, he never heard any kind of music. the christians are too devout to occupy themselves with such worldly pleasures, and the druses have no sort of musical instruments. the druses have a few historical books which mention their nation; ibn shebat, for instance, as i was told, gives in his history of the califes, that of the druses also, and of the family of shehab. emir haidar, a relation of the emir beshir, has lately begun to compile a history of the shehabs, which already forms a thick quarto volume. i believe that the greatest amount of the military forces of the druses is between ten and fifteen thousand firelocks; the christians of the mountain may, perhaps, be double that number; but i conceive that the most potent pasha or emir would never be able to collect more than twenty thousand men from the mountain. the districts inhabited by druses in the pashalik of saida are the following. el tefahh, of which one half belongs to the [p. ] pasha. el shomar [arabic], belonging for the greater part to the pasha. el djessein, one half of which belongs to the porte. kesrouan. el metten. el gharb el fokany. el gharb el tahtany; in which the principal family is that of beit telhouk [arabic]. el djord [arabic], the principal family there is beit abd el melek. el shehhar [arabic]; the principal family meby el dein [arabic]. el menaszef, under sheikh soleiman of the family of abou neked [arabic]. el shouf [arabic], the residence of the sheikh beshir. el aarkoub [arabic], or ard barouk [arabic], belonging to the family of aemad; and el kharroub [arabic], belonging to the djonbelat. in , the druses of djebel ala, between ladakie and antioch, were driven from their habitations by topal aly, the governor of djissr shogher, whose troops committed the most horrible cruelties. upwards of fifteen hundred families fled to their countrymen in the libanus, where they were received with great hospitality; upwards of two hundred purses were collected for their relief, and the djonbelat assigned to them convenient dwellings in different parts of the mountain. some of them retired into the haouran. march st.--it was with difficulty that i got away from beteddein. the emir seemed to take great pleasure in conversing with me, as we spoke in arabic, which made him much freer than he would have been, had he had to converse through the medium of an interpreter. he wished me to stay a few days longer, and to go out a hunting with him; but i was anxious to reach damascus, and feared that the rain and snow would make the road over the mountain impassable; in this i was not mistaken, having afterwards found that if i had tarried a single day longer i should have been obliged to return along the great road by the way of beirout. the emir sent one of his horsemen to accompany me, wady dhobbye. [p. ] and we set out about mid-day. half an hour from beteddein is the village ain el maszer [arabic], with a spring and many large walnut trees. to the left, on the right bank of the nahr el kadhi, higher in the mountain, are the villages medjelmoush [arabic] and reshmeyia [arabic]. at one hour is the village kefrnebra [arabic], belonging to the yezdeky, under the command of abou salma, one of their principal sheikhs. the road lies along the mountain, gradually ascending. at one hour and a quarter are the two villages upper and lower beteloun [arabic] one hour and three quarters, the village barouk [arabic], and near it the village ferideis [arabic]; these are the chief residence of the yezdeky, and the principal villages in the district of barouk. they are situated on the wild banks of the torrent barouk, whose source is about one hour and a half distant. the sheikh beshir has conducted a branch of it to his new palace at mokhtar; the torrent falls into the sea near saida. from barouk the road ascends the steep side of the higher region of the mountain called djebel barouk; we were an hour and a half in ascending; the summit was covered with snow, and a thick fog rested upon it: and had it not been for the footsteps of a man who had passed a few hours before us we should not have been able to find our way. we several times sunk up to our waists in the snow, and on reaching the top we lost the footsteps, when discovering a small rivulet running beneath the snow, i took it as our guide, and although the druse was in despair, and insisted on returning, i pushed on, and after many falls reached the plain of the bekaa, at the end of two hours from the summit; i suppose the straight road to be not more than an hour and quarter. the rivulet by which we descended is called wady dhobbye [arabic]. we had no sooner entered the plain than it began to snow again, and it continued to rain and snow for several days. small caravans djob djennein. [p. ] from deir el kammar to damascus pass the mountain even in winter; but to prevent the sharp hoofs of the mules from sinking deep into the snow, the muleteers are accustomed in the difficult places to spread carpets before them as they pass. we reached the plain near a small village, inhabited only during the seed time. from thence the village of djob djennein bore s. by e. and the village of andjar, in the upper part of the bekaa, which i visited in the year , from zahle, e.n.e. from the foot of the mountain we were one hour in reaching the bridge over the liettani, which has been lately repaired by the emir beshir, who has also built a khan near it, for the accommodation of travellers. at twenty minutes from the bridge lies the village djob djennein [arabic], one of the principal villages of the bekaa; it is situated on the declivity of the anti-libanus, where that mountain begins to form part of the djebel essheikh. the anti- libanus here advances a little into the valley, which from thence takes a more western course. the emir beshir has seven or eight villages about djob djennein, which together with the latter are his own property; but the whole bekaa, since soleiman succeeded to the pashalik of damascus in , is also under his command. the villages to the north of djob djennein will be found enumerated in another place;[see page .] those to the south of it, and farther down in the valley, are balloula [arabic], el medjdel [arabic], hammara [arabic], sultan yakoub, [arabic] el beiry [arabic], el refeidh [arabic], kherbet kanafat [arabic], ain arab [arabic], and leila [arabic]. having one of the emir beshir's men with me, i was treated like a great man in the house of the sheikh of djob djennein; this i may be allowed to mention, as it is the only instance of my receiving such honours during my travels in syria. khan doumas. [p. ] march nd.--caravans reckon two days journey between djob djennein and damascus; but as i was tolerably well mounted, and my guide was on a good mare of the emir beshir's, i resolved on reaching it in one day; we therefore pursued our route at a brisk walk and sometimes at a trot. we crossed the plain obliquely, having the projection of the anti-libanus, which ends at djob djennein, on our right. at thirty-five minutes from djob djennein, to the right, is the village kamel el louz [arabic], where are many ancient caves in the rocky mountain which rises behind it. in three quarters of an hour we reached the foot of the anti- libanus. on the summit of the mountain on our left, i observed a singular rock called shekeik el donia [arabic], or hadjar el konttara [arabic]; my guide told me that the time would certainly arrive when some frank nation would invade this country, and that on reaching this rock they would be completely routed. after a short ascent the road lies through a narrow plain, and then up another wady, in the midst of which is the village of ayty [arabic], two hours distant from djob djennein; it belongs to sheikh hassan, the brother of sheikh beshir, a very rich druse, who is as avaricious as the latter is generous; he has however built a khan here for the accommodation of travellers. there is a fine spring in the village; the inhabitants manufacture coarse earthen ware [arabic], with which they supply damascus. at the end of two hours and three quarters we reached the summit of the anti-libanus, where the heavy rains had already melted the greater part of the snow; here are some stunted oaks, and numerous springs. in three hours and a quarter we descended into a fine plain watered by the wady halloue [arabic], which we followed into a narrow valley, and on issuing from it passed a ruined khan, with a spring, called khan doumas [arabic], which is five hours and a quarter from djob djennein. we left the plain of damascus. [p. ] village doumas, which is half an hour from the khan on our right, and at the end of six hours reached a high uneven plain, situated between the anti libanus and the chain of hills which commence near katana; the plain is called szakhret el sham [arabic]. seven hours and a half, the ruined khan meylesoun [arabic]. eight hours and a half brought us to the termination of the szakhret, from which we descended into the ghouta, or plain of damascus. at nine hours, the village mezze [arabic], among the gardens of damascus; and at the end of nine hours and three quarters we entered the city, which is generally reckoned fourteen hours journey from djob djennein. note. between kesrouan and zahle, i am informed that in the mountain, about six hours from the latter, are the ruins of an ancient city called fakkra or mezza. large blocks of stone, some remains of temples, and several greek inscriptions are seen there. between akoura and baalbec is a road cut in the rock, with several long greek inscriptions, and near the source of the rivulet of afka, near akoura, are the ruins of an ancient building, which i unfortunately did not see during my passage through that village in , although i enquired for them. [p. ] journal of a tour from damascus into the haouran, and the mountains to the e. and s.e. of the lake of tiberias. in the months of april and may, . in returning to damascus, it was my intention to obtain some further knowledge of the haouran, and to extend my journey over the mountains to the south of damascus, where i wished to explore the ruins of djerash (gerasa) and of amman (philadelphia) in the ancient decapolis, which m. seetzen had discovered in his journey from damascus to jerusalem. an unexpected change in the government of damascus obliged me to protract my stay in that city for nearly a month. the news had just been received of the dismissal of soleiman pasha, and it was necessary for me, before i set off, to ascertain whether the country would yield quietly to the command of the new pasha; for, if rebel parties started up, and submission became doubtful, the traveller would run great hazards, would be unable to derive any advantage from the protection of the government, and would be obliged to force his way by the means of endless presents to the provincial chiefs. as soon as i was satisfied of the tranquil state of the pashalik, i set out for the haouran. i took with me a damascene, who had been seventeen times to mekka, who was well acquainted with the deir ali. [p. ]bedouins, inured to fatigue, and not indisposed to favour my pursuits; i had indeed reason to be contented with my choice of this man, though he was of little further use to me than to take care of my horse, and to assist in intimidating the arabs, by some additional fire- arms. we left damascus on the morning of the st of april, ; and as my first steps were directed towards those parts of the ledja which i had not visited during my first tour, we took the road of el kessoue, deir ali, and el merdjan, to the description of which in my former journal i may here add the following particulars: the n.e. part of djebel kessoue is called djebel aadelye [arabic]. from kessoue our road bore s.s.e. in one hour and a quarter from that place we passed the small village called haush el madjedye [arabic]; haush being an appellation applied to small villages enclosed by a wall, or rather to those whose houses join, so as to present by their junction a defence against the arab robbers. the entrance to the haush is generally through a strong wooden gate, which is carefully secured every evening. at an hour and three quarters from kessoue is deir ali, to the north of which, upon the summit of djebel kessoue, is situated the mezar el khaledye [arabic]; deir ali is a village inhabited by druses, who keep the arabs in great awe, by the reputation for courage which they have acquired upon many occasions. it seems rather extraordinary that the druses, the known enemies of the mohammedan faith, should be allowed to inhabit the country so near to the gate of the holy city, as damascus is called; for not only deir ali, but three or four villages, as artous, esshera, fye, and others, at only three hours distant from damascus, are for the greater part peopled by them. numbers of them are even settled in the town; the quarters called bab mesalla and el hakle, in the meidhan, or suburbs of the city, contain merdjan. [p. ]more than one hundred druse families, who are there called teyamene [arabic]. in another quarter, called el khereb, live three or four hundred metaweli families, or shiytes, of the sect of aly; of this sect is the present mutsellim, aly aga. the religious creeds of all these people are publicly known; but the fanatism of the damascenes, however violent, is easily made subservient to their fears or interests; every religious and moral duty being forgotten when the prospect of gain or the apprehension of danger presents itself. at three hours and a quarter from kessoue is the village el merdjan. when i passed this place in , i found a single christian family in it; i now found eight or ten families, most of them druses, who had emigrated hither from shaara, a well peopled village in , but now deserted. they had brought the fertile soil round el merdjan into cultivation, and had this year sown eight ghararas of wheat and barley, or about one hundred and twenty cwt. english.[the gharara of damascus is eighty muds, at three and a half rotola per mud, or twenty pounds.] the taxes paid by the village amounted to a thousand piastres, or fifty pounds sterling, besides the tribute extorted by the bedouins. the vicinity of the village is watered by several springs. i was obliged to remain at merdjan the next day, because my mare fell ill, and was unable to proceed. as i did not like to return to damascus, i bought a mare of the sheikh of the village, a christian of mount libanus, who knew me, and who took a bill upon damascus in payment. this mare i afterwards bartered for a bedouin horse. april d.--i left merdjan to examine the eastern limits of the ledja. we passed the aamoud eszoubh [arabic], or column of the morning, an insulated pillar standing in the plain; it is formed berak. [p. ]of the black stone of the ledja, about twenty-five or thirty feet high, of the ionic order, and with a high pedestal. i had been told that there were some inscriptions upon it, but i did not find any. the column is half an hour distant from merdjan, to the eastward of south. round the column are fragments of three or four others, which appear to have formed a small temple. the remains of a subterraneous aqueduct, extending from the village towards the spot where the column stands, are yet visible. in one hour from thence we passed a ruined village called beidhan [arabic], with a saltpetre manufactory. two hours from merdjan is berak [arabic], bearing from it s.e.b.e. our road lay over a low plain between the djebel kessoue and the ledja, in which the bedouins of the latter were pasturing their cattle. berak is a ruined town, situated on the n.e. corner of the ledja; there is no large building of any consequence here; but there are many private habitations. here are two saltpetre manufactories, in which the saltpetre is procured by boiling the earth dug up among the ruins of the town; saline earth is also dug up in the neighbouring plain; in finding the productive spots, they are guided by the appearance of the ground in the morning before sunrise, and wherever it then appears most wet with dew the soil beneath is found impregnated with salt. the two manufactures produce about three kantars, or fifteen or sixteen quintals per month of saltpetre, which is sold at about fifteen shillings per quintal. the boilers of these manufactories are heated by brush-wood brought from the desert, as there is little wood in the ledja, about berak. the whole of the loehf, or limits of the ledja, is productive of saltpetre, which is sold at damascus and acre; i saw it sold near the lake of tiberias for double the price which it costs in the loehf. in the interior of a house among the ruins of berak, i saw the following inscription: [p. ] [greek] ["the tenth of peritius of the eighth year." peritius was one of the macedonian months, the use of which was introduced into syria by the seleucidae. it answered to the latter part of december and beginning of january. ed.]. on the outside wall of a house, in another part of the town, was the following: [greek] [[greek] apellaeus was another macedonian month, and answered to half october and half november. this inscription is within a tablet of the usual form. ed]. berak, like most of the ancient towns of the ledja, has a large stone reservoir of water. between these ruins and missema lies the ruined city om essoud [arabic], in the loehf. djebel kessoue runs out in a s.e. direction as far as the n.e. limits of the ledja, and consists of the same kind of rock as that district. the other branch of it, or djebel khiara, extends towards shaara. one hour s.w. from berak, in the ledja, are the ruins of a tower called kaszr seleitein [arabic], with a ruined village near it. an arab enumerated to me the following names of ruined cities and villages in the ledja, which may be added to those mentioned in my former journal: emseyke [arabic], el wyr el khelkhele. [p. ] [arabic], djedl [arabic], essemeyer [arabic], szour [arabic], aasem ezzeitoun [arabic], hamer [arabic], djerrein [arabic], dedjmere [arabic], el aareis [arabic] el kastall [arabic], bord [arabic], kabbara [arabic], el tof [arabic], etteibe [arabic], behadel [arabic], el djadj [arabic], szomeith [arabic], el kharthe [arabic], harran [arabic], djeddye [arabic], serakhed [arabic], deir [arabic], dami [arabic], aahere [arabic], om el aalek [arabic], moben el beit [arabic], deir lesmar [arabic]. i engaged a man at berak to conduct me along the loehf, or limits of the ledja; this eastern part is called el lowa, from the wady lowa [arabic], a winter torrent which descends from djebel haouran, and flows along the borders of the ledja, filling in its course the reservoirs of all the ancient towns situated there; it empties itself into the bahret el merdj, or marshy ground at seven or eight hours east of damascus, where the rivers of damascus also are lost. our road was s.s.e. in one hour from berak we passed the lowa, near a ruined bridge, where the wady takes a more eastern direction. some water remained in pools in different places in the wady, the rains having been very copious during the winter season. in an hour and a half we passed essowara [arabic], a ruined town on our right; we travelled along the fertile plain that skirts the rocky surface of the ledja, which at two hours took a more southern direction. on our right was el hazzem [arabic], a ruined town; and a little farther, meharetein [arabic], also in ruins. all these towns are on the borders of the ledja. their inhabitants formerly cultivated the fields watered by the lowa, of which the stone enclosures are still visible in some places. at three hours is el khelkhele [arabic], a ruined town, where we slept, in the house of the owner of a saltpetre manufactory. the wady lowa in some places approaches close to the ledja, and in others advances for a mile into the plain; its banks were covered with the most luxuriant herbage, of which little use is sowarat el dsakeir. [p. ]made; the arabs of the ledja being afraid to pass beyond its limits, from the almost continual state of warfare in which they live with the powerful tribe of aeneze, and the government of damascus; while the aeneze, on the other hand, are shy of approaching too near the ledja, from fear of the nightly robberies, and of the fire-arms of the arabs who inhabit it. the labourers in the saltpetre manufactories are druses, whose reputation for individual courage, and national spirit, keeps the arabs at a respectful distance. april th.--khelkhele, like all the ancient towns in the haouran, is built entirely with stone. i did not observe any public edifice of importance in the towns of the lowa; there are some towers of moderate height, which seem to have been the steeples of churches; and a few houses are distinguished from the rest by higher arches in the apartments, and a few rude carvings over their doors. from khelkhele, s.e. about two hours distant, is a high tel in the plain; it is called khaledie [arabic], and has the ruins of a town on its top; nearly joining to it are the most northern projections of djebel haouran, which are distinguished on this side by a chain of low hillocks. to the e. of khelkhele, about four hours, stands the tel el aszfar [arabic], farther e. the ruined village of djoh ezzerobe [arabic], and still further e. about nine or ten hours, from khelkhele, the ruined village el kasem [arabic], near which is a small rivulet. in the direction of tel el khaledie, and to the s.e. of it, are the ruined villages of bezeine [arabic], and bezeinat [arabic]. the direction of our route from khelkhele was sometimes s.e. sometimes s. following the windings of the ledja and the lowa. at half an hour is the ruined village dsakeir [arabic], in the ledja, which here turns to the e. in the direction of tel shiehhan. on its s.e. corner stands the ruined town sowarat el dsakeir [arabic], om ezzeitoun. [p. ] where we found a party of arabs szolout encamped, with whom we breakfasted. in one hour and a quarter we passed redheimy [arabic], where the ground was covered with remains of ancient enclosures. one hour and a half, el hadher [arabic]; one hour and three quarters, el laheda [arabic]; two hours, omten [arabic]; two hours and a half, meraszrasz [arabic]; three hours, om haretein [arabic]; three hours and a half, essammera [arabic]. all the above villages and towns are in ruins, and prove the once-flourishing state of the ledja. in four hours we reached om ezzeitoun [arabic], a village inhabited by druses. the advantages of a wady like the lowa are incalculable in these countries, where we always find that cultivation follows the direction of the winter torrents, as it follows the nile in egypt. there are not many wadys in this country which inundate the land; but the inhabitants make the best use of the water to irrigate their fields after the great rains have ceased. springs are scarce, and it is from the wadys that the reservoirs are filled which supply both men and cattle with water, till the return of the rainy season. it is from the numerous wadys which rise in the djebel haouran that the population of the haouran derives its means of existence, and the success of its agriculture. om ezzeitoun is inhabited by thirty or forty families. it appears, by the extent of its ruins, to have been formerly a town of some note. i here copied several inscriptions. upon a broken stone in the wall of a public building over the great reservoir of the town, was the following: [greek] [p. ] [greek]. the only ancient building of any consequence is a small temple, of which an arch of the interior, and the gate, only remain; on each side of the latter are niches, between which and the gate are these inscriptions: [greek]. the two last syllables are on the frame within which the inscription is engraved. [greek]. upon a stone lying on the ground near the temple is the following: [p. ] [greek].[[greek]. ed.] upon a long narrow stone in the wall of a court-yard near the temple: [greek]. i had intended to sleep at om ezzeitoun, but i found the druses very ill-disposed towards me. it was generally reported that i had discovered a treasure in at shohba, near this place, and it was supposed that i had now returned to carry off what i had then left behind. i had to combat against this story at almost every place, but i was nowhere so rudely received as at this village, where i escaped ill treatment only by assuming a very imposing air, and threatening with many oaths, that if i lost a single hair of my beard, the pasha would levy an avania of many purses on the village. i had with me an old passport from soleiman pasha, who, though no longer governor of damascus, had been charged pro tempore with the government till the arrival of the new pasha, who was expected from constantinople. soleiman had retired to his former government at acre, but his mutsellim at damascus very kindly granted me strong letters of recommendation to all the authorities of the country, which were of great use to me in the course of my journey. i left om ezzeitoun late in the evening, to proceed toward the mountain of haouran. our road lay on the n. side of tel shiehhan, bereit. [p. ]close to which runs the ledja; and the wady lowa descends the mountain on the west side of it. we proceeded in the direction of soueida, and in an hour and a quarter from the village stopped, after sunset, at an encampment of the djebel haouran arabs. my companion, and a guide whom i had engaged at om ezzeitoun, persuaded me to appear before the arabs as a soldier belonging to the government, in order to get a good supper, of which we were in great want, that of the preceding night, at the saltpetre works, having consisted of only a handful of dry biscuit. we were served with a dish of rice boiled in sour milk, and were much amused by the sports and songs of the young girls of the tribe, which they continued in the moonlight till near midnight. one of the young men had just returned to the encampment, who had been taken prisoner by the aeneze during a nightly predatory expedition. he showed us the marks of his fetters, and enlarged upon the mode of treating the rabiat, or prisoner, among the aeneze. a friend had paid thirty camels for his liberation. in spring the arabs of the djebel haouran and the ledja take advantage of the approach of the aeneze, to plunder daily among their enemies; they are better acquainted with the ground than the latter, a part of whose horses and cattle are every spring carried off by these daring mountaineers. april th.--at half an hour from the encampment is the hill called tel dobbe [arabic], consisting of a heap of ruins, with a spring. to the n.e. of it, a quarter of an hour, is the ruined village of bereit, which was inhabited in , but is now abandoned. the haouran peasants wander from one village to another; in all of them they find commodious habitations in the ancient houses; a camel transports their family and baggage; and as they are not tied to any particular spot by private landed property, or plantations, and find every where large tracts to cultivate, aatyl. [p. ]they feel no repugnance at quitting the place of their birth. in one hour we passed seleim, which in was inhabited by a few poor druses, but is now abandoned. here are the ruins of a temple, built with much smaller stones than any i had observed in the construction of buildings of a similar size in the haouran. on the four outer corners were corinthian pilasters. at one hour and a quarter, road s. we entered the wood of oak-trees, which is continued along the western declivity of the djebel. one hour and a half, in the wood, we passed the wady dyab [arabic], coming from the mountain. one hour and three quarters, passed wady kefr el laha [arabic]. at the end of two hours we reached aatyl [arabic], a small druse village in the midst of the wood. here are the remains of two handsome temples; that which is on the n. side, is in complete ruins; it consisted of a square building, with a high arch across its roof; two niches were on each side of the gate, and in front of it a portico of columns, the number of which it is impossible to determine, the ground being covered by a heap of fragments of columns, architraves, and large square stones. this temple is called el kaszr. from a small stone in its precincts i copied the following letters: [greek]. on the outside wall of the temple is the following inscription in remarkably fine characters. [greek]. on the s.e. side of aatyl stands the other temple, which is of small dimensions but of elegant construction. it has a portico of two [p. ]columns and two pilasters, each of which has a projecting base for a statue, elevated from the ground about one-third of the height of the column, like the pillars of the great colonnade at palmyra. the columns are corinthian, but not of the best time of that order. the interior of the temple consists of an apartment with several arches without any ornaments; but the gate is covered with sculpture. the two pilasters forming the portico have inscriptions on their bases. on the one is this: [greek]. near the other pilaster is an inscription upon two broken stones, lying near each other; these stones appear to have been formerly joined, and to have formed part of the base of the pilaster, and the inscription seems to have been a copy of the former. upon the one i read: [greek]. and upon the other: [greek] [p. ] [greek]. near the temple i saw a bas-relief about ten inches square, representing a female bust, with hair in ringlets, falling upon the shoulders; it was lying on the ground; but it was not of such workmanship as to tempt me to take it with me. upon the wall of one of the largest houses in the village was a long inscription; but too high for me to read. n.e. of aatyl, about one hour, up in the mountain, is a ruined tower called berdj mabroum [arabic]. the tobacco of aatyl is preferred to that of any other part of the haouran. i here saw a public woman, a kahirene, who seemed to be kept at the expense of the whole village; i was surprised at this, for manners in the haouran are generally almost as pure as among the bedouins: public women are not suffered, and adultery is punished by the death of the woman, while the man is ruined by the heavy penalties exacted by the government in expiation of his guilt. last year a married turkish woman at mohadje, a village in the loehf, was caught in the embraces of a young christian; her three brothers hastened to the spot, dragged her to the market place, and there in the presence of the whole community, cut her in pieces with their swords, loading her at the same time with the most horrible imprecations. the lover was fined ten purses. from aatyl i pursued my way one hour and a quarter s.s.e. to soueida, at a short distance from which are the remains of an ancient road. as i had examined the antiquities of this village in , and did not wish to be seen here a second time, i passed on without stopping, in the direction of aaere, which is two hours and a half distant in a south-westerly direction. in the plain, and at a quarter of an hour to the west of soueida, is the ruined convent aaere. [p. ] deir senan [arabic]. there is only a small kurdine village in the road between soueida and aaere. april th.--i remained this day at aaere, in the house of the druse chief the sheikh shybely ibn hamdan, where i alighted. the sheikh appeared to be greatly pleased at my reappearance. since my former visit, i had cultivated his friendship by letters and presents, which i had sent to him from aleppo, and by which he was so much gratified, that he would have loaded me with presents in return, had i not thought proper to decline every thing of that kind, contenting myself with some very strong letters of recommendation from him to the authorities in those places which i intended to visit. shybely is the kindest and most generous turk i have known in syria: and his reputation for these qualities has become so general, that peasants from all parts of the haouran settle in his village. the whole of the christian community of soueida, with the greek priest at their head, had lately arrived, so that aaere has now become one of the most populous villages in this district. the high estimation in which the sheikh is held arises from his great hospitality, and the justice and mildness with which he treats the peasants, upwards of forty of whom he feeds daily, besides strangers, who are continually passing here in their way to the bedouin encampments; the coffee pot is always boiling in the menzoul or stranger's room. he may now, in fact, be called the druse chief of the haouran, though that title belongs in strictness to his father-in-law, hossein ibn hamdan, the sheikh of soueida. in the mosque of aaere, a low vaulted building, i copied the following inscription from a stone in the wall: [greek]. boszra. [p. ]april th.--i now thought that i might visit boszra, which i had found it prudent to avoid in my former tour. shybely gave me one of his men as a guide, and we followed the road which i have already described, as far as shmerrin. at a quarter of an hour beyond shmerrin, we passed the wady rakeik [arabic]. boszra [arabic], is situated in the open plain, two hours distant from aaere and is at present the last inhabited place in the south-east extremity of the haouran; it was formerly the capital of arabia provincia, and is now, including its ruins, the largest town in the haouran. it is of an oval shape, its greatest length being from e. to w.; its circumference is three quarters of an hour. it was anciently enclosed by a thick wall, which gave it the reputation of a place of great strength. many parts of this wall, especially on the w. side, still remain; it was constructed with stones of a moderate size, strongly cemented together. the principal buildings in boszra were on the e. side, and in a direction from thence towards the middle of the town. the s. and s.e. quarters are covered with ruins of private dwellings, the walls of many of which are still standing, but most of the roofs have fallen in. the style of building seems to have been similar to that observed in all the other ancient towns of the haouran. on the w. side are springs of fresh water, of which i counted five beyond the precincts of the town, and six within the walls; their waters unite with a rivulet whose source is on the n.w. side, within the town, and which loses itself in the southern plain at several hours distance: it is called by the arabs el djeheir [arabic]. the nahr el ghazel, which in most maps, and even by d'anville, is laid down in the immediate vicinity of boszra, is unknown to the natives; but i was afterwards informed that there is a wady ghazel in the direction of amman (philadelphia), in the djebel belka, which descends from the mountain, [p. ]and flows into the eastern plains, to the s. of kalaat el belka. the principal ruins of boszra are the following: a square building, which within is circular, and has many arches and niches in the wall: on either side of the door within are two larger niches, and opposite to the door on the east side of the circle is the sanctuary, formed of low arches supported by corinthian pillars, without pedestals. several beautiful sculptured friezes are inserted in the wall, but i was unable to discover from whence they had been taken; in front of the door stand four columns. the diameter of the rotunda is four paces; its roof has fallen in, but the walls are entire, without any ornaments. it appears to have been a greek church. over the gate is a long inscription, but it was illegible to my sight. at a short distance to the west of this edifice is an oblong square building, called by the natives deir boheiry [arabic], or the monastery of the priest boheiry. on the top of the walls is a row of windows; on the north side is a high vaulted niche; the roof has fallen in; i observed no ornaments about it. on the side of its low gate is the following inscription in bad characters: ael avrel theoni leg avgg pr pr cos desig optiones [xx] leg iii kvrenaicae venerianae gallianae rarisi--mo et per omnia iustissimo socio between these two buildings stands the gate of an ancient house, communicating with the ruins of an edifice, the only remains of which is a large semi-circular vault, with neat decorations and four small niches in its interior; before it lie a heap of stones and broken columns. over the gate of the house is the following inscription: [p. ] [greek]. the natives have given to this house the name of dar boheiry, or the house of boheiry. this boheiry is a personage well known to the biographers of mohammed, and many strange stories are related of him, by the mohammedans, in honour of their prophet, or by the eastern christians, in derision of the impostor. he is said to have been a rich greek priest, settled at boszra, and to have predicted the prophetic vocation of mohammed, whom he saw when a boy passing with a caravan from mekka to damascus. abou el feradj, one of the earliest arabic historians, relates this anecdote. according to the traditions of the christians, he was a confidential counsellor of mohammed, in the compilation of the koran. to the west of the abovementioned buildings stands the great mosque of boszra, which is certainly coeval with the first aera of mohammedanism, and is commonly ascribed to omar el khattab [arabic]. part of its roof has fallen in. on two sides of the square building runs a double row of columns, transported hither from the ruins of some christian temple in the town. those which are formed of the common haouran stone are badly wrought in the coarse heavy style of the lower empire; but among them are sixteen fine variegated marble columns, distinguished both by the beauty of the material, and of the execution: fourteen are corinthian, and two ionic; they are each about sixteen or eighteen feet in height, of a single block, and well polished. upon two of them standing opposite to each other are the two following inscriptions: . [greek] [p. ] [greek]. . [greek]. the walls of the mosque are covered with a coat of fine plaster, upon which were many cufic inscriptions in bas-relief, running all round the wall, which was embellished also by numerous elegant arabesque ornaments; a few traces of these, as well as of the inscriptions, still remain. the interior court-yard of the mosque is covered with the ruins of the roof, and with fragments of columns, among which i observed a broken shaft of an octagonal pillar, two feet in diameter; there are also several stones with cufic inscriptions upon them. passing from the great mosque, southwards, we came to the principal ruin of boszra, the remains of a temple, situated on the side of a long street, which runs across the whole town, and terminates at the western gate. of this temple nothing remains but the back wall, with two pilasters, and a column, joined by its entablature to the main wall; they are all of the corinthian order, and both capitals and architraves are richly adorned with sculpture. in the wall of the temple are three rows of niches, one over the other. behind this is another wall, half ruined. in front of the temple, but [p. ]standing in an oblique direction towards it, are four large corinthian columns, equalling in beauty of execution the finest of those at baalbec or palmyra (those in the temple of the sun at the latter place excepted): they are quite perfect, are six spans in diameter, and somewhat more than forty-five feet in height; they are composed of many pieces of different sizes, the smallest being towards the top, and they do not appear to have been united by an entablature. they are not at equal distances, the space between the two middle ones being greater than the two other intervals. about thirty paces distant stands another column, of smaller dimensions, and of more elaborate but less elegant execution. i endeavoured in vain to trace the plan of the edifice to which these columns belonged, for they correspond in no way with the neighbouring temple; it appeared that the main building had been destroyed, and its site built upon; nothing whatever of it remaining but these columns, the immediate vicinity of which is covered with the ruins of private houses. these four large columns, and those of kanouat, are the finest remains of antiquity in the haouran. upon the base of the pilaster in the back wall of the temple is the following inscription, in handsome characters: [greek]. upon a broken stone in a modern wall near this temple i read: [greek]. [p. ] upon another broken stone not far from the former is this inscription, now almost effaced, and which i made out with difficulty: [greek]. the ruin of the temple just described is in the upper part of the town, which slopes gently towards the west; not far from it, in descending the principal street, is a triumphal arch, almost entire, but presenting nothing very striking in its appearance, from the circumstance of the approach to it being choked with private houses, as is the case with all the public buildings in boszra, except the church first mentioned. the arch consists of a high central arch, with two lower side arches; between these are corinthian pilasters, with projecting bases for statues. on the inside of the arch were several large niches, now choked up by heaps of broken stones. on one of the pilasters is this inscription: vlio ivlia . . . . . nar praef leg. p arthicae . . . . . . ppianae dvci devoti s . mo . trebicivs cavoinus praef alae nov. efirme catapracto philippian . praeposito optimo upon a stone in the wall over the gate of a private house on the west side of the temple, was the following, upside down: [p. ] [greek]. over the gate of another house, in the same neighbourhood: [greek]. among the ruins in the n.w. part of the town is an insulated mosque, and another stands near the above mentioned deir boheiry; in its court-yard is a stone covered with a long and beautiful cufic inscription, which is well worth transporting to europe; the characters being very small it would have required a whole day to copy it; it begins as follows: [arabic]. not far from the great mosque is another triumphal arch, of smaller dimensions than the former, but remarkable for the thickness of its walls: it forms the entrance to an arched passage, through which one of the principal streets passed: two doric columns are standing before it. in the eastern quarter of the town is a large birket or reservoir, almost perfect, one hundred and ninety paces in length, one hundred and fifty three in breadth, and enclosed by a wall seven feet in thickness, built of large square stones; its depth maybe about twenty feet. a staircase leads down to the water, as the basin is never completely filled. this reservoir is a work of the saracens; made for watering the pilgrim caravan to mekka, which as late as the seventeenth century passed by boszra. a branch of the wady zeid [see p. .]empties itself in winter into the birket. on the south side it is flanked by a row of houses, by some public edifices, and a [p. ]mosque; and on the west side by an ancient cemetery; the other sides are open. upon a broken stone, in the middle of the town, is the following inscription, in characters similar to those which i met with at hebron, kanouat, and aaere. [xxxxx]. i now quitted the precincts of the town, and just beyond the walls, on the s. side came to a large castle of saracen origin, probably of the time of the crusades: it is one of the best built castles in syria, and is surrounded by a deep ditch. its walls are very thick, and in the interior are alleys, dark vaults, subterraneous passages, &c. of the most solid construction. what distinguishes it from other syrian castles, is that on the top of it there is a gallery of short pillars, on three sides, and on the fourth side are several niches in the wall, without any decorations; many of the pillars are still standing. the castle was garrisoned, at the time of my visit, by six moggrebyns only. there is a well in the interior. i copied the following from a small altar-shaped stone lying on the ground within the castle: [greek]. [legionis tertiae cyrenaicae. ed.] the castle of boszra is a most important post to protect the harvests of the haouran against the hungry bedouins; but it is much neglected by the pashas of damascus, and this year the [p. ]crops of the inhabitants of boszra have been almost entirely consumed by the horses of the aeneze, who were encamped on the e. side of the djebel haouran. from a broken stone in the modern wall of a court-yard near the castle i copied the following letters: [greek]. in proceeding from the castle westwards, i arrived, in a quarter of an hour, at the western gate of the town, where the long street terminates. the gate is a fine arch, with niches on each side, in perfect preservation: the people of boszra call it bab el haoua [arabic], or the wind gate, probably because the prevailing or summer breezes blow from that point. a broad paved causeway, of which some traces yet remain, led into the town; vestiges of the ancient pavement are also seen in many of the streets, with a paved footway on each side; but the streets are all narrow, just permitting a loaded camel to pass. near the bab el haoua are the springs above mentioned, called ayoun el merdj; with some remains of walls near them. the late youssef pasha of damascus built here a small watch-tower, or barrack, for thirty men, to keep the hostile arabs at a distance from the water. the town walls are almost perfect in this part, and the whole ground is covered with ruins, although there is no appearance of any large public building. upon an altar near one of the springs was the following inscription: antoniae fortvnatae antonivs. v . . ces conivgi piisimae [p. ] near it is another altar, with a defaced inscription. in going northward from the springs, i passed the rivulet djeheir, whose source is at a short distance, within the precincts of the town. it issues from a stone basin, and was conducted anciently in a canal. over it seems to have stood a small temple, to judge by the remains of several columns that are lying about. the source is full of small fish. youssef pasha built a barrack here also; but it was destroyed by the wahabi who made an incursion into the haouran in , headed by their chief ibn saoud, who encamped for two days near this spot, without being able to take the castle, though garrisoned by only seven moggrebyns. the banks of the djeheir are a favourite encampment of the bedouins, and especially of the aeneze. beyond the town walls, and at some distance to the north of the djeheir, stands the famous mosque el mebrak; and near it is the cemetery of the town. ibn affan, who first collected the scattered leaves of the koran into a book, relates that when othman, in coming from the hedjaz, approached the neighbourhood of boszra with his army, he orderd his people to build a mosque on the spot where the camel which bore the koran should lie down; such was the origin of the mosque el mebrak. [mebrak [arabic] means the spot where a camel couches down, or a halting-place.] it is of no great size; its interior was embellished, like that of the great mosque, with cufic inscriptions, of which a few specimens yet remain over the mehrab, or niche towards which the face of the imam is turned in praying. the dome or kubbe which covered its summit has been recently destroyed by the wahabi. the above description comprises all the principal antiquities of boszra. a great number of pillars lie dispersed in all directions in the town; but i observed no remains of granite. its immediate [p. ]invirons are also covered with ruins, principally on the w. and n.w. sides, where the suburbs may have formerly stood. of the vineyards, for which boszra was celebrated, even in the days of moses, and which are commemorated by the greek medals of [greek], not a vestige remains. there is scarcely a tree in the neighbourhood of the town, and the twelve or fifteen families who now inhabit it cultivate nothing but wheat, barley, horse-beans, and a little dhourra. a number of fine rose trees grow wild among the ruins of the town, and were just beginning to open their buds. april th.--i was greatly annoyed during my stay at boszra, by the curiosity of the aeneze, who were continually passing through the place. it had been my wish to visit the ruined city of om el djemal [arabic], which is eight hours distant from boszra, to the s.; but the demands of the arabs for conducting me thither were so exorbitant, exceeding even the sum which i had thought necessary to bring with me from damascus to defray the expenses of my whole journey, that i was obliged to return to aaere towards mid-day, after having offered thirty piastres for a guide, which no one would accept. none but aeneze could have served me, and with them there was no reasoning; they believed that i was going in search of treasure, and that i should willingly give any sum to reach the spot where it was hid. april th.--i took leave of my worthy friend shybely, who would not let us depart alone, but engaged a bedouin to accompany us towards the western parts of the haouran; this man was a bedouin of sayd, or upper egypt, of the tribe of khelafye, who inhabit to the west of girge; he had entered the service of the mamelouks, and had been with one of them to mekka, from whence he returned to damascus, where he entered into the pasha's cavalry; here he had the misfortune to kill one of his comrades, which el hereyek. [p. ]obliging him to fly, he repaired to the aeneze, with whom he found security and protection. half an hour from aaere we passed wady ghothe [arabic], with the village of ghothe to our left; route n.w.b.n. one hour and a half, the village om waled [arabic], one hour and three quarters, the village el esleha [arabic], inhabited principally by christians. two hours and a quarter, passed wady soueida. two hours and a half the village thale [arabic], to the west of which, one hour, is tel hossein, with the village kheraba. at three hours and a quarter is the village el daara [arabic], with wady daara; here we dined at an encampment of arabs of djebel haouran, who are in the habit of descending into the plain to pasture their cattle, as soon as the country is evacuated by the aeneze. at four hours and three quarters is melieha el aattash [arabic], in a direction n.w. from daara; from thence our route lay w. by n. not more than one-third of the plain was cultivated, though the peasants had sown more grain this year, than they had done for many years back. s. of melieha half an hour lies the village rakham [arabic]. five hours and a half the village el herak [arabic]. five hours and three quarters, the village el hereyek [arabic]. in all these villages are several reservoirs of water, for the supply of the inhabitants during summer, and which are filled either by the winter torrents descending from the djebel haouran, or by rain water, which is conducted into them from every side by narrow channels: they are all of ancient date, and built entirely with the black haouran stone; but i saw in none of the villages any edifice of magnitude. near hereyek we fell in with the encampment of the damascus beggars, who make an excursion every spring to the haouran, to collect alms from the peasants and arabs; these contributions are principally in butter and wool, naeme. [p. ]which they sell on their return to damascus. they had about a dozen tents, and as many asses, and i saw a good mare tied before the tent of the sheikh, who is a man of consequence among the thieves and vagabonds of damascus. his name is el shuhadein [arabic]: he invited us to drink a cup of coffee, and take some refreshment; but my companions, who knew him, advised me to keep clear of him. at six hours and a quarter, we passed at a short distance to our left, the village olma [arabic], our route being n.w. about one hour s.w. of olma lies the village el kerek. eight hours and twenty-five minutes, the village naeme [arabic]. most of these villages stand upon, or near, low hillocks or tels, the only objects which break the monotony of the plain. it was at naeme that i saw, for the first time, a swarm of locusts; they so completely covered the surface of the ground, that my horse killed numbers of them at every step, whilst i had the greatest difficulty in keeping from my face those which rose up and flew about. this species is called in syria, djerad nedjdyat [arabic] or djerad teyar [arabic], i.e. the flying locusts, being thus distinguished from the other species, called djerad dsahhaf [arabic], or devouring locusts. the former have a yellow body; a gray breast, and wings of a dirty white, with gray spots. the latter, i was told, have a whitish gray body, and white wings. the nedjdyat are much less dreaded than the others, because they feed only upon the leaves of trees and vegetables, sparing the wheat and barley. the dsahhaf, on the contrary, devour whatever vegetation they meet with, and are the terror of the husbandmen; the nedjdyat attack only the produce of the gardener, or the wild herbs of the desert. i was told, however, that the offspring of the nedjdyat produced in syria partake of the voracity of the dsahhaf, and like them prey upon the crops of grain. shemskein. [p. ]those which i saw in the haouran, and afterwards in the gardens of damascus, fly in separate bodies, and do not spread over a whole district. the young of this species are quite black until a certain age. the bedouins eat locusts, which are collected in great quantities in the beginning of april, when the sexes cohabit, and they are easily caught; after having been roasted a little upon the iron plate [arabic], on which bread is baked, they are dried in the sun, and then put into large sacks, with the mixture of a little salt. they are never served up as a dish, but every one takes a handful of them when hungry. the peasants of syria do not eat locusts, nor have i myself ever had an opportunity of tasting them: there are a few poor fellahs in the haouran, however, who sometimes pressed by hunger, make a meal of them; but they break off the head and take out the entrails before they dry them in the sun. the bedouins swallow them entire. the natural enemy of the locust is the bird semermar [arabic]; which is of the size of a swallow, and devours vast numbers of them; it is even said that the locusts take flight at the cry of the bird. but if the whole feathered tribe of the districts visited by locusts were to unite their efforts, it would avail little, so immense are the numbers of these dreadful insects. at eight hours and three quarters from aaere, and at a short distance to the right, is the village obta [arabic]; our route n.w. by n. nine hours and a quarter, we saw, at one hour to the left, the village el kherbe [arabic]. nine hours and three quarters, shemskein [arabic], one of the principal villages in the haouran. as we had rode at a very brisk pace, the above distance of nine hours and three quarters may be computed at nearly twelve hours of the common travelling. shemskein, a village containing upwards of one hundred families, is situated on the hadj road, on the side of wady [p. ]hareir [arabic], over which a solid bridge has been built on one side of the village: this wady comes from the north-east at four or six hours distance, and flows south-west. it is one of the largest torrents of haouran, and was at this moment full of water, while most of the other wadys were nearly dried up. the sheikh of shemskein has the title of sheikh el haouran, and holds the first rank among the village sheikhs of the country. in the time of hadj he collects from the haouran and djolan about fifteen hundred camels, and accompanies them to mekka. his income is considerable, as the peasants of the different villages of the haouran, when engaged in disputes with neighbouring villagers, or with their sheikhs, generally apply in the first instance to his tribunal. we alighted at the sheikh's house, in the court-yard of which we found almost the whole population of the village assembled: there had been a nuptial feast in the village, and the nowars or gypsies, were playing music. these nowar [arabic], who are called korbatt [arabic] at aleppo, are dispersed over the whole of syria; they are divided into two principal bodies, viz. the damascenes, whose district extends as far as hassia, on the aleppo road; and the aleppines, who occupy the country to the north of that line. they never dare go beyond the limits which they have allotted to each other by mutual consent; both bodies have an aga, who pays to the grand signior about five hundred piastres per annum, and collects the tribute from his subjects, which in the damascus territory amounts annually to twenty piastres a head for every full grown male. april th.--as i wished to visit from shemskein the mezareib, and to ascend from thence the mountains of adjeloun, i set out in the company of an old acquaintance of aleppo, a janissary, who had entered into the service of the pasha of damascus, and was now stationed at mezareib. following the hadj road, in a s.s.e. direction, in an hour and a quarter from shemskein we crossed the el mezareib. [p. ]wady aar [arabic], coming from the east. half an hour to the left of the road is daal [arabic], a considerable village; and between daal and mezareib, but more to the eastward, lies the village of draa [arabic], the ancient edrei. two hours, tefas [arabic], with a well built mosque. at the end of three hours, we arrived at el mezareib [arabic], el mezareib is the first castle on the hadj road from damascus, and was built by the great sultan selym, three hundred and eight years ago. it is the usual residence of the aga of the haouran; but that office is now vacant, the late aga having been deposed, and no one has yet been appointed to succeed him. the garrison of the castle consisted of a dozen moggrebyns, whose chief, a young black, was extremely civil to me. the castle is of a square form, each side being, as well as i can recollect, about one hundred and twenty paces in length. the entrance is through an iron gate, which is regularly shut after sunset. the interior presents nothing but an empty yard enclosed by the castle wall, within which are ranges of warehouses, where the provisions for the hadj are deposited; their flat roofs form a platform behind the parapet of the castle wall, where sixteen or eighteen mud huts have been built on the top of the warehouses, as habitations for the peasants who cultivate the neighbouring grounds. on the east side two miserable guns are planted. within the castle is a small mosque. there are no houses, beyond its precincts. close by it, on the n. and e. sides, are a great number of springs, whose waters collect, at a short distance, into a large pond or lake, of nearly half an hour in circumference, in the midst of which is an island. on an elevated spot at the extremity of a promontory, advancing into the lake, stands a chapel, around which are many ruins of ancient buildings. the water of the lake is as clear as crystal, neither weeds [p. ]nor grass growing in it; its depth in the middle is much more than the heighth of a man; the bottom is sand, and gravel of the black haouran stone. it abounds with fish, particularly carp, and a species called emshatt [arabic]. in summer time, after the harvests of the haouran have been gathered in, when the aeneze approach the more populous parts of the country, the borders of the lake are crowded every evening with thousands of camels, belonging to these arabs, who prefer filling their water skins here, as they say that the water keeps better than any other. the water of the springs is slightly tepid, and nearly of the same temperature as that of the springs near kalaat el medyk, in the valley of the orontes. according to the arabs the springs emit a copious steam in the winter mornings. an ancient mill stands near one of them, with a few broken stones around it; but it does not appear that any village or city of note stood here, though the quantity of water seems inviting to settlers. the springs as well as the lake are known by the name of el budje [arabic]. the pilgrim caravan to mekka collects at the mezareib, where the pasha, or emir el hadj, remains encamped for ten days, in order to collect the stragglers, and to pay to the different arab tribes the accustomed tribute for the passage of the caravan through the desert. the warehouses of the castle are annually well stocked with wheat, barley, biscuit, rice, tobacco, tent and horse equipage, camel saddles, ropes, ammunition, &c. each of which has its particular warehouse. these stores are exclusively for the pasha's suite, and for the army which accompanies the hadj; and are chiefly consumed on their return. it is only in cases of great abundance, and by particular favour, that the pasha permits any articles to be sold to the pilgrims. at every station, as far as medina, is a castle, but generally smaller than this, filled with similar stores. [p. ]the haouran alone is required to deliver every year into the store houses of the mezareib, two thousand gharara of barley, or about twenty or twenty-five thousand cwt. english. the town of damascus has been fed for the last three months with the biscuit stored in the mezareib for the hadj. as far as the pasha was concerned, the affairs of the great caravan were generally well managed; but there still reigned a great want of economy, and the expenses of the hadjis increased every year. of late years, the hire of a single camel from damascus to mekka has been seven hundred and fifty piastres; as much, and often more, was to be paid on coming back; and the expenses on the road, and at mekka, amounted at least to one thousand piastres, so that in the most humble way, the journey could not be performed at less than two thousand five hundred piastres, or £ . sterling. a camel with a litter cost fifteen hundred in going, and as much in coming back. of the whole caravan not above one-tenth part were real pilgrims, the rest consisted of soldiers, the servants of soldiers, people attached to the pasha's suite, merchants, pedlars, camel-drivers, coffee and pipe waiters, a swarm of bedouins, together with several tents of public women from damascus, who were so far encouraged, that, whenever they were unable to obtain from their lovers the daily food for their horses or mules, they obtained a supply from the pasha's stores. the greater part of the pilgrims usually contract for the journey with one of the great undertakers, or mekouam [arabic], as they are called; this agreement is only for a beast of transport and for water; as to eating, the pilgrims generally mess together at their own expense, in bodies of about half a dozen. the mekouam, on agreeing to furnish a beast of burthen, are bound to replace whatever may die on the road, and are therefore obliged to carry with them at least one unloaded camel for every loaded one. it is a general [p. ]practice with the mekouam to obtain as large sums as possible on account from the pilgrims who engage with them for the journey; they generally agree among each other upon the sum to be demanded, as well as the moment at which it is to be called for: so that if the pilgrims resist the imposition, the hadj sometimes remains encamped on the same spot for several days, the mekouam all refusing to proceed, and feeing the pasha for his connivance at their injustice. on their return to damascus, if they have already extorted from the pilgrims in the course of the journey more than the amount of their contract, as often happens, they generally declare themselves to be bankrupts, and then the value of a few camels is all that remains to pay their debts to the pilgrims. those pilgrims who do not engage with the mekouam, as is generally the case with those who come from armenia and the borders of the black sea, perform the journey somewhat cheaper upon their own beasts; but they are ill-treated on the road by the mekouam, are obliged to march the last in the caravan, to encamp on the worst ground, to fill their water skins the last, and are often even avanized by the pasha. it is difficult to conceive the wretched condition of the greater part of the hadjis, and the bad conduct of the troops and arabs. thieving and robbery have become general among them, and it is more the want of sleep from fear of being plundered, which causes the death of so many pilgrims, than the fatigues of the journey. the pasha's troops, particularly those called howara, which bring up the rear of the caravan, are frequently known to kill the stragglers during the night, in order to strip them of their property. the pasha, it is true, often punishes such delinquents, and scarcely a day passes without some one being empaled alive; the caravan moves on, and the malefactor is left to be devoured by the birds of prey. the bedouins are particularly dexterous in pilfering; at night they sometimes assume the [p. ]dress of the pasha's infantry, and thus introduce themselves unnoticed amongst the camels of the rich hadjis, when they throw the sleeping owner from his mule or camel, and in the confusion occasioned by the cries of the fallen rider, drive off the beast. the caravan marches daily from asser, or about three hours after mid- day, during the whole of the night, and till the followingmorning, when the tents are pitched. it never stops but during prayers. the arabs of sokhne, tedmor, and haouran, together with the bedouins who let out their camels, precede or follow the caravan at the distance of one day's march. they transport the provisions for the pasha's troops, of which they steal, and publicly sell at least two-thirds. they march during the day, and encamp in the evening. their caravan is called el selma [arabic]. it passes the great caravan once every two or three days, and then encamps till the latter comes up, when they supply the pasha's suite with provisions. the cheapest mode of performing the pilgrimage is to agree for a camel with one of those arabs; but the fatigue is much greater in following the selma. the last year in which the hadj quitted damascus, the pilgrims reached the gates of medina, but they were not permitted to enter the town, nor to proceed to mekka; and after an unsuccessful negotiation of seven days, they were obliged to return to damascus. about two hundred persian hadjis only, who were with the caravan, were allowed to pass on paying a large sum of money. ibn saoud, the wahabi chief, had one interview with abdullah pasha, accompanied by the whole of his retinue, at djebel arafat, near mekka; they exchanged presents, and parted as friends. of the seven different pilgrim caravans which unite at mekka, two only bear the mahmal, the egyptian and syrian; the latter is the first in rank. we left mezareib towards the evening, and were obliged to proceed el torra. [p. ]alone along the hadj route, the fear of the aeneze rendering every one unwilling to accompany us. in a quarter of an hour we came to a bridge over the wady mezareib, called djissr kherreyan [arabic]; to the left, near the road, is the ruined village kherbet el ghazale [arabic], where the hadj sometimes encamps. it often happens that the caravan does not encamp upon the usual spots, owing to a wish either to accelerate or to prolong the journey. past the akabe, near the head of the red sea, beyond which the bones of dead camels are the only guides of the pilgrim through the waste of sand, the caravan often loses its way, and overshoots the day's station; in such cases the water-skins are sometimes exhausted, and many pilgrims perish through fatigue and thirst. at one hour from the mezareib, following the river that issues from the small lake, are several mills: from thence, south-west, begins the district called ollad erbed [arabic]. half an hour to the right, at some distance from the road, is the village tel el shehab [arabic]; forty minutes, wady om el dhan [arabic], coming from the eastward, with a bridge over it, built by djezzar pasha. in winter this generally proves a very difficult passage to the hadj, on account of the swampy ground, and the peasants of the adjacent villages are, in consequence, obliged to cover the road with a thick layer of straw. at one hour to the right of the road is the village el torra [arabic], on the top of a low chain of hills, forming a circle, through the centre of which lies the road. here, as in so many other parts of the haouran, i saw the most luxuriant wild herbage, through which my horse with difficulty made his way. artificial meadows can hardly be finer than these desert fields: and it is this which renders the haouran so favourite an abode of the bedouins. the peasants of syria are ignorant of the advantages of feeding their cattle with hay; they suffer the superfluous grass to wither away, and in summer and winter feed them on cut straw. in one remtha. [p. ]hour and a quarter we passed wady torra; our road lying s.s.e. one hour and three quarters, we came to wady shelale [arabic], a torrent descending from the southern hills, and flowing in a deep bed, along which the road continues for some time. in two hours and three quarters quick walking, we came to remtha [arabic], a station of the hadj; which encamps near two birkets or reservoirs formed in the bed of the wady by means of three high walls built across it. a large tribe of aeneze were watering their cattle as we passed. the surrounding country is hilly: the village is built upon the summits of several hills, and contains about one hundred families. in its neighbourhood are a number of wells of fresh water. we met with a very indifferent reception at the sheikh's house, for the inhabitants of the villages on the hadj route exceed all others in fanatism: an old man was particularly severe in his animadversions on kafers treading the sacred earth which leads to the kaabe, and the youngsters echoed his insulting language. i found means, however, to show the old man a penknife which i carried in my pocket, and made him a present of it, before he could ask it of me; we then became as great friends as we had been enemies, and his behaviour induced a like change in the others towards me. a penknife worth two shillings overcomes the fanatism of a peasant; increase the present and it will have equal effect upon a townsman; make it a considerable sum, and the mufti himself will wave all religious scruples. remtha is the last inhabited village on this side of the haoun: the greater part of its houses are built against the caverns, with which this calcareous country abounds; so that the rock forms the back of the house, while the other sides are enclosed by a semicircular mud wall whose extremities touch the rock. may st.--from remtha i wished to cross the mountains directly to djerash, which, i had reason to believe, was not more than seven wady warran. [p. ]or eight hours distant. it was with difficulty that i found a guide, because i refused to be answerable for the value of the man's horse and gun, in case we should be plundered by arab robbers. a sum of twelve piastres, however, at last tempted one of the fellahs, and we rode off late in the morning, our road lying toward the southern mountains, in a direction s. by w. remtha is on the boundary line of the haouran; which to the south-eastward runs by om el djemal and szamma, two ruined towns. the district bordering upon the haouran in this part is called ezzoueit [arabic], and stretches across the mountain nearly as far as djerash. to the e. of remtha runs a chain of low hills, called ezzemle [arabic], extending towards the s.e. nearly to kalaat mefrek, a ruined castle situated on the eastern extremity of djebel zoueit. at one hour and a quarter, brisk walking of our horses, we saw to the right, or west, about one hour distant, the ruins of a town called eszereikh [arabic], at the foot of djebel beni obeyd. from thence the village of hossn bore w. by s. the kalaat el mefrek, or, as the arabs call it, el ferka, lay in a s.e. direction, distant about three hours. about one hour and a half distant, in a s.w. direction, is the ruined village of remeith [arabic], with several large columns lying on the ground. at two hours and a half from remtha we passed a tel, with the ruined village dehama [arabic], on its top; near the foot-way lay several broken shafts of columns. at three hours, on reaching the wady warran [arabic], our route began to ascend. the wady, which descends from the mountain zoueit, was at this time dry. three hours and a quarter brought us to three fine doric columns lying on the ground. we met several arabs, but they did not venture to attack three men armed with musquets, and gave us a friendly salam aleykum. we now ascended the mountain, which is calcareous with flint, in following the windings of the wady. wild pistachio trees abound; souf. [p. ]higher up oaks become more frequent, and the forest thickens; near the top, which we reached in five hours and a quarter from remtha, are some remains of the foundations of ancient buildings. the djebel kafkafa [arabic], as this summit is called, commands a beautiful view over the plain of djerash and the neighbouring mountains of zerka and belka. the ruins of djerash, which were distinctly seen, and the highest points of djebel belka behind them, bore s.s.w.; the highest points of djebel zerka s. the district of zoueit terminates at djebel kafkafa; and the country called el moerad [arabic], lying s.w. and w. commences: to the s. the zoueit runs parallel with the moerad as far as wady zerka. on gaining djebel kafkafa, our guide discovered that he had gone astray, for it was not our intention, on setting out, to make directly for djerash, but to rest for the night in the village of souf, and from thence to visit the ruins on the following morning. we therefore turned more to the westward on quitting the djebel, and fell in with the road, which continued through a thick wood, till we saw souf, an hour and a half distant before us, bearing w.s.w. at the end of seven hours and a quarter from remtha, we reached the spring of souf, and allayed our thirst, for we had been without water the whole day; there being very few springs in the djebel zoueit; though it abounds in luxuriant pasture, and is full of hares and partridges. in seven hours and a half we reached the village of souf [arabic], where i alighted, at the house of the sheikh el dendel, an honest and hospitable man. souf is situated on the declivity of the mountain, on the western side of a wady called el deir, the stream of which, called also el kerouan [arabic], is supplied from three copious springs that issue from under a rock near the village, at a short distance from each [p. ]other. they bear the names of ain el faouar [arabic], ain el meghaseb [arabic], and ain el keykabe [arabic], and with their united waters the narrow plain of djerash is irrigated. souf is a village with about forty families, whose principal riches are some olive plantations on the sides of wady deir: it is the chief village in the country called moerad [arabic], in which the following are also situated: ettekitte [arabic], one hour distant from djerash, and abandoned last year; bourma [arabic]; hamtha [arabic]; djezaze [arabic]; and debein [arabic]. it is customary in these mountains for every house to manufacture gunpowder as well for its own consumption, as for sale to the neighbouring arabs. in every house which i entered i saw a large mortar, which was continually in motion, even when a fire was kindled in the midst of the room: the powder is formed of one part of sulphur, five and a half parts of saltpetre, and one part of the charcoal of the poplar tree [arabic]; it is not very good, but serves very well the purposes of this people. i passed a most unpleasant night here. it is the custom, for the sake of saving lamp-oil, to light every evening a large fire, for the supply of which, there is plenty of dry wood in the neighbouring mountain. the room where i lodged was thus soon filled with smoke, which had no other issue than a small door, and even this was shut to keep out the cattle. the peasants seemed to delight in the heat thus occasioned; they took off all their clothes except the abba, and sat smoaking and laughing till midnight; i wished to imitate them, but did not dare to strip, for fear of shewing the leathern girdle containing my money, which i wore under my clothes. towards the morning the fire went out, and the company was asleep: i then opened the door to let the smoke out, and slept a few hours under the influence of the morning breeze. [p. ]there is an ancient ruined square building at souf, with several broken columns. from one of them i copied the following inscription, written in very small characters: [greek]. upon a pillar near it is a fine inscription, but now quite illegible. at the spring of ayn keykebe, which is covered by a small arched building, i copied some characters from a broken stone lying in the water; the following were the ending of the inscription: [greek]. near the sources are numerous caverns, in which the poor families of souf reside. may d.--being impatient to reach djerash, i left souf early in the morning, taking with me a guide, who was afterwards to have conducted me towards szalt, in the djebel belka. our road lay along the mountain on the west side of wady deir. on the e. side of the wady, half an hour from souf, is the ruined place called kherbet mekbela [arabic]. three quarters of an hour from souf, in our road, and just over the ruined city of djerash, are the ruins called kherbet el deir, with a turkish chapel named mezar abou beker. our road lay s.s.e. in one hour we passed, n the declivity of the mountain, descending towards djerash, a place which i supposed to have been the burying place of djerash. [p. ]djerash. i counted upwards of fifty sarcophagi, and there were many more; they are formed of the calcareous stone with which the zoueit and moerad mountains are composed. some of them are sunk to a level with the surface of the ground, which is very rocky; others appear to have been removed from their original position. the largest was ten spans in length, and three and a half in breadth; but the greater part are much smaller, and are not even large enough to contain the corpse of a full grown person. on the sides of a few of them are sculptured ornaments in bas-relief, as festoons, genii, &c. but in a mutilated state, and not remarkable for beauty of execution; i saw only one that was elegantly wrought. the whole of these sarcophagi had flat covers, a few of which still remain. upon one of the largest of the sarcophagi, and which is one of those first met with in going from souf, is a long inscription, but so mutilated as to be almost wholly illegible. in the neighbourhood are several heaps of large square stones, the remains of some building. in an hour and a half from souf we reached the city walls of djerash, or kerash, [arabic], the dj being the bedouin pronunciation of the letter [arabic], which in the language of the city corresponds with our k. djerash was built upon an elevated plain in the mountains of moerad, on uneven ground, on both sides of wady deir, which, besides the name of kerouan [arabic], bears also that of seil djerash [arabic], or the river of djerash. this river empties itself, at a short distance from the town, into the wady zerka [arabic], probably the jabock of the ancients. the principal part of the city stands on the right bank of the river, where the surface is more level than on the opposite side, although the right bank is steeper than the other. the present ruins prove the magnitude and importance of the ancient city; and the modern name leads to the belief that it was the ancient gerasa, one of the principal djerash. [p. ]towns of the decapolis, although this position does not at all agree with that given to gerasa from the ancient authorities by d'anville, who places it to the north-east of the lake of tiberias, forty miles to the north-westward of this place. the ruins are nearly an hour and a quarter in circumference, following insulated fragments of the walls, which were upwards of eight feet in thickness, and built of square hewn stones of middling size; i could not judge of their original heighth, as the upper parts were every where demolished. i shall now enumerate the principal curiosities of djerash, agreeably to the annexed plan, which may give a general idea of the whole; for its accuracy in regard to distances i do not mean to vouch, as i had, at most, only four hours to make my survey, and it was with great difficulty that i could persuade my three companions to wait so long for me. none of them would accompany me through the ruins, on account of their fear of the bedouins, who are in the habit of visiting this wady, they therefore concealed themselves beneath the trees that overshade the river. the first object that strikes the attention in coming from souf, after passing the town-wall, is a temple (a). its main body consists of an oblong square, the interior of which is about twenty-five paces in length, and eighteen in breadth. a double row, of six columns in each row, adorned the front of the temple; of the first row five columns are yet standing, of the second, four; and on each side of the temple there remains one column belonging to the single row of pillars that surrounded the temple on every side except the front. of these eleven columns nine are entire, and two are without capitals. their style of architecture is much superior to that of the great colonnade hereafter to be mentioned, and seems to belong to the best period of the corinthian order, their capitals being beautifully ornamented with the acanthus leaves. the shafts are composed of five or six pieces, and are seven spans and a half in diameter, [p. ]and thirty-five to forty feet in heighth. i was unable to ascertain the number of columns in the flanks of the peristyle. the temple stands upon an artificial terrace elevated five or six feet above the ground. the interior of the temple is choaked with the ruins of the roof; a part of the front wall of the cella has fallen down; but the three other sides are entire. the walls are wthout ornament; on the interior of each of the two side walls, and about mid-way from the floor, are six niches, of an oblong shape, and quite plain: in the back wall, opposite to the door, is a vaulted recess, with a small dark chamber on each side. the upper part of a niche is visible on the exterior of the remains of the front wall, with some trifling but elegantly sculptured ornaments. this ruin stands within a peribolus or large area surrounded by a double row of columns. the whole edifice seems to have been superior in taste and magnificence to every public building of this kind in syria, the temple of the sun at palmyra excepted. on the two sides marked (x) of the colonnade of the peribolus many bases and broken shafts of the inner row of columns are yet standing; on the two other sides there are but few; these columns are three spans and a half in diameter. on the long side (x) forty columns may be traced to have stood, at only three paces distant from each other; on the opposite long side one perfect column is yet standing; on the short side (x) are three in the outer row without their capitals. the corner columns of this peribolus were double, and in the shape of a heart, as in the annexed figure. of the outer row of the peribolus very little remains; indeed it may be doubted whether any outer row ever existed opposite to the back of the temple, where the ground is rocky and uneven. the number of columns which originally adorned the temple and its area was not less than two hundred or two hundred and fifty. proceeding westwards from the above described ruin, through [p. ]the remains of private habitations, at about two hundred yards distant from it are the remains of a small temple (b), with three corinthian pillars still standing. a street, still paved in some places, leads from thence south-westwards, to a spot where several small broken columns are lying. turning from thence to the south-east, i entered a street (c) adorned with a colonnade on either side; about thirty broken shafts are yet standing, and two entire columns, but without their capitals. on the other side of the street, opposite to them, are five columns, with their capitals and entablatures. these columns are rather small, without pedestals, of different sizes, the highest being about fifteen feet, and in a bad taste. originally there must have been about fifty pillars in this street; a little farther on to the south-east this street crosses the principal street of the town; and where the two streets meet, are four large cubical masses of stone (d), each occupying one of the angles of the intersection, similar to those which i saw at shohba, and intended, perhaps, to imitate the beautiful pedestals in the middle of the great portico at palmyra. these cubes are about seven feet high, and about eighteen spans broad; on each side of them is a small niche; three are entire, and the fourth is in ruins. they may have served as pedestals for statues, or, like those at palmyra, may have supported a small dome upon columns, under which stood a statue. i endeavoured to examine the tops of the cubes, but they are all thickly overgrown with shrubs, which it was not in my power to clear away. there were no traces whatever of statues having stood upon those which i saw at shohba. following the great street, marked (e), south-westwards, i came again to the remains of columns on both sides: these were much larger than the former, and the street, of which some parts of the pavement yet remain, was much broader than that marked (c). on the right hand side of the street stand seventeen corinthian [p. ]columns, sixteen of which are united by their entablature; they vary in size, and do not correspond in height either with those opposite, to them or with those in the same line; a circumstance which, added to the style of the capitals, seems to prove that the long street is a patch-work, built at different periods, and of less ancient construction than the temple. some of the columns are as high as thirty feet, others twenty-five; the shortest i estimated at twenty feet. their entablatures are slightly ornamented with sculptured bas-reliefs. where a high column stands near a shorter one the architrave over the latter reposes upon a projecting bracket worked into the shaft of the higher one. next comes, following the street in the same s.w. direction, on the right, one insulated column; and three large columns with their entablature, joined to four shorter ones, in the way just described; then two columns, and five, and two, all with their entablatures; making, in the whole, on the right side of the street, counting from the cubes, thirty-four columns, yet standing. on the left, opposite the three large ones joined to the four smaller, are five columns of middling size, with their entablatures, and a single large one; but the greater number of the columns on this side have fallen, and are lying on the ground. in some places behind the colonnade on the right, are low apartments, some of which are vaulted, and appear to have been shops. they are similar to those which i saw in the long street at soueida, in the mountain of the druses.[see page .] the long street just described terminates in a large open space (f) enclosed by a magnificent semicircle of columns in a single row; fifty- seven columns are yet standing; originally there may have been about eighty. to the right, on entering the forum, are four, and then twenty- one, united by their entablatures. to the [p. ]left, five, seven, and twenty, also with entablatures; the latter twenty are taller than the others, the lower ground on which they stand having required an increased height of column in order to place the whole entablature of the semicircle on the same level. the pillars near the entrance are about fifteen feet in height, and one foot and a half in diameter: they are all of the ionic order, and thus they differ from all the other columns remaining in the city. the radius of the semicircle, in following the direction of the long street, was one hundred and five paces. at the end of the semicircle, opposite to the long street, are several basins, which seem to have been reservoirs of water, and remains of an aqueduct are still visible, which probably supplied them. to the right and left are some low arched chambers. from this spot the ground rises, and on mounting a low but steep hill before me, i found on its top the remains of a beautiful temple (g), commanding a view over the greater part of the town. the front of the temple does not stand directly opposite to the long street and the forum, but declines somewhat to the northward. like the temple first described, it was adorned with a corinthian peristyle, of which one column only remains, at the south angle. in front was a double row of columns, with eight, as i conjecture, in each row. they seem to have been thrown down by an earthquake, and many of them are now lying on the declivity of the hill, in the same order in which they originally stood. they are six spans and a half in diameter, and their capitals appeared to me of a still finer execution than those of the great temple. i am unable to judge of the number of columns on the long sides of the peristyle: their broken shafts lie about in immense heaps. on every side of the temple except the front, there appears to have been a large ditch round the temple. of the cella the walls only remain, the roof, entrance, and back wall having [p. ]fallen down. the interior of the cella is thirty paces in length, and twenty-four in breadth; the walls within are in a better state than those of the temple (a), which are much impaired. on the outside of each of the two long walls, was a row of six niches, similar to those within the temple (a). on entering the temple by the front door, i found on the right a side door, leading towards a large theatre (h), on the side of the hill, and at about sixty paces distant from the temple. it fronts the town, so that the spectators seated upon the highest row of benches, enjoyed the prospect of all its principal buildings and quarters. there are twenty- eight rows of seats, upwards of two feet in breadth: between the sixteenth and seventeenth rows, reckoning from the top, a tier of eight boxes or small apartments intervenes, each separated from the other by a thick wall. the uppermost row of benches is about one hundred and twenty paces in circuit. in three different places are small narrow staircases opening into the rows, to facilitate the ingress or egress of the spectators. in front, the theatre is closed by a proscenium or wall, about forty paces in length, embellished within by five richly decorated niches, connected with each other by a line of middling sized columns; of which two remain with their entablatures, and six without their capitals. within these was another parallel range of columns, of which five are yet standing, with their entablatures. the entrance to the theatre, was by steps between the two ends of the proscenium and the two extremities of the semicircle. near the proscenium the steps on both sides are ruined, but in the other parts they are perfect. the town wall runs very near the back of the theatre. on this side of the town there are no other ruins of any consequence, excepting the south-west gate, which is about five minutes walk from the semicircle of columns: it is a fine arch, and, apparently, [p. ] in perfect preservation, with a smaller one on each side adorned with several pilasters. i did not examine it closely; meaning to return to it in taking a review of what i had already seen, but my guides were so tired with waiting, that they positively refused to expose their persons longer to danger, and walked off, leaving me the alternative of remaining alone in this desolate spot, or of abandoning the hope of correcting my notes by a second examination of the ruins. returning from the theatre, through the long street, towards the four cubic pedestals, i continued from thence in a straight line along the main street (l), the pavement of which is preserved in several places. on the right hand, were first seven columns, having their entablatures; and farther on, to the left, seven others, also with their entablatures; then, on the right, three large columns without entablatures, but with pedestals, which none of those already mentioned have; opposite to the latter, on the left hand side of the street, are two insulated columns. the three large columns are equal in size to those of the peristyle of the temple (a); they stand in the same line with the colonnade of the street, and belonged to a small building (m), of the body of which nothing remains except the circular back wall, containing several niches, almost in complete ruins. on a broken pedestal lying on the ground between two of the columns of this building, is the following inscription: [greek]. there is another stone with an inscription upon it; but i could make nothing of it. the street is here choaked up with fragments of columns. close to the three columns stands a single one, and [p. ] at a short distance further, to the left, is a large gateway (n), leading up to the temple (a), which is situated on considerably higher ground, and is not visible from the street. on either side of the gateway are niches; and a wall, built of middling sized square stones, which runs for some distance, parallel with the street. among a heap of stones lying under the gate i copied the following inscriptions: from a broken stone: [greek]. the letters of the word opnha are five inches in length. upon another broken stone near it was this: [greek]. and close to the latter, upon the edge of a large stone, this: [greek]. continuing along the main street, i came at (q), to a single column, and then to two with entablatures, on the right; opposite to them, on the left, are three single columns. beyond the latter, for one hundred paces, all the columns have fallen; i then came to an open rotunda (r), with four entrances; around the inside of its wall are projecting pedestals for statues; the entraces on the right [p. ]and left, conduct into a street running at right angles to the main street. i followed this cross street to my left, and found on the right hand side of it three short ionic pillars with their entablatures, close to the rotunda. proceeding in the same direction i soon reached a quadrangle (s) of fine large corinthian columns, the handsomest in the town, next to those of the temple. to the right stand four with their entablatures, and one single; formerly they were six in number, the fifth is the deficient one: the first and sixth are heart-shaped, like those in the area of the temple (a.) they are composed of more than a dozen frusta, and what is remarkable in a place where stone is so abundant, each frustum consists of two pieces; opposite to the two first columns of the row just described are two columns with their entablatures. this colonnade stands in front of a theatre (t), to which it evidently formed an appendage. this theatre is not calculated to hold so many spectators as the one already described though its area is considerably larger, being from forty-five to fifty paces in diameter. it has sixteen rows of benches, with a tier of six boxes intervening between the tenth and eleventh rows, reckoning from the top. between every two boxes is a niche, forming a very elegant ornament. this theatre was evidently destined for purposes different from the other, probably for combats of wild beasts, &c.; the area below the benches is more extensive, and there is a suite of dark arched chambers under the lowest row of seats, opening into the area near the chief entrance of the theatre, which is from the south-east, in the direction by which i entered the colonnade in front of the theatre. there seems formerly to have been a wall across the diameter of the semi-circle, and between this wall and the colonnade there is on both sides a short wall, with a large niche or apartment in it; the colonnade stands upon lower ground than the theatre. having returned from hence to the rotunda in [p. ]the long street, i followed it along the colonnade (v) and found the greater number of the columns to have ionic capitals. on the right side are only two small columns, with their entablatures; to the left, are eight, two, three, two, four, and again three, each set with their entablatures; close to the ruined town-gate (w), near the bank of the river, is a single column. i shall now describe the ancient buildings, which i observed on the south-west side of the long street. the street which leads from the theatre across the rotunda (r) is prolonged from thence towards the side of the river: it was lined with columns, of which two only, with their entablatures, remain, and it terminates at a vast edifice (u), situated over the river, and extending along its banks forty or fifty paces; it is divided into many apartments, the greater part of which have arched roofs; some of them are very lofty. i now returned towards the gateway (n), and found, opposite to it, and to the great temple (a), a second cross street running towards the river; it had originally a colonnade, but none of the columns are now standing; it terminates, at about thirty paces from the main street, in a gate, through which i entered into a long quadrangle of columns, where, on the right hand, four, and then three columns, with their entablatures, are still standing. at the end of this place, are the remains of a circular building fronting a bridge (p) across the river: this bridge is of steep ascent, owing to the northern banks being considerably higher than the southern, and it is no longer passable. having returned to the four cubical pedestals (d), i followed to the left the continuation of the street (c), by which i had first approached those pedestals, and which having crossed the main street at the pedestals, leads south-westward to the river, where it terminated at a broad flight of steps, leading down to the bridge (k); of the colonnade of this street (i), some broken shafts [p. ]only are standing. the bridge is fourteen feet wide, with a high centre arch and two lower ones; it is built with great solidity, and its pavement is exactly of the same construction as that which i observed in the streets of shohba;[see page .] its centre is broken down. an aqueduct is traced from the side of the building (u), passing near the two bridges, towards the southern gate of the town. such weremy observations of the ruins on the right bank of the wady. on the left bank little else remains than heaps of ruins of private habitations, and numerous fragments of columns. i must confess, however, that i did not examine the part of the town towards the south gate; but i have reason to believe, from the view which i had of it while on the temple hill, that nothing of consequence, either as to buildings or columns, is there to be met with. the only buildings which i observed to the left of the river are near to it, upon a narrow plain which stretches along its banks. nearly opposite to the temple (m), are the remains of a building (y) similar in construction to that marked (u), on the right bank. i supposed it to be a bath; a stream of water descends from a spring in the mountain, and after flowing through this division of the town, passes this building, and empties itself into the river. the arched rooms of the building (y) are loftier than those in (u). near the former stand four columns; two insulated, and two with entablatures; also two broken shafts, the only fluted ones that i saw in the city. on the left bank of the river, nearly opposite to the town-gate (w), is a ruined building (x), which appears to have been a small temple; a single column is standing amidst a heap of broken ones. between this spot and the building (y) are the remains of an aqueduct. besides the one hundred and ninety columns, or thereabouts, [p. ]which i have enumerated in the above description, there are upwards of one hundred half columns also standing. i did not see any marks of the frusta of the columns having been joined by iron hooks, as at palmyra. of the private habitations of the city there is none in a state of preservation, but the whole of the area within the walls is covered with their ruins. the stone with which djerash is built is calcareous, of considerable hardness, and the same as the rock of the neighbouring mountains; i did not observe any other stone to have been employed, and it is matter of surprise that no granite columns should be found here, as they abound in syrian cities of much less note and magnificence than djerash. it had been my intention to proceed from djerash to the village of djezaze, in my way to the castle of szalt in the mountains of belka, from whence i hoped to be able to visit amman. after many fruitless enquiries for a guide, a man of souf at last offered to conduct me to szalt, and he had accompanied us as far as djerash; but when, after having surveyed the ruins, i rejoined my companions, he had changed his mind, and insisted on returning immediately to souf; this was occasioned by his fear of the arabs beni szakher, who had for sometime past been at war with the arabs of djebel belka and the government of damascus, and who were now extending their plundering incursions all over the mountain. the name of the beni szakher is generally dreaded in these parts; and the greater or less facility with which the traveller can visit them, depends entirely upon the good or bad terms existing between those arabs and the pasha; if they are friends, one of the tribe may easily be found to serve as a guide; but when they are enemies, the traveller is exposed to the danger of being stripped; and, if the animosity of the two parties is very great, of even being murdered. the mutsellim of damascus had given me letters to the chief of the aatyl. [p. ]arabs el belka, and to the commander of the pasha's cavalry, who had been sent to assist them against the beni szakher. the allies were encamped in the neighbourhood of kalaat el zerka, while the beni szakher had collected their forces at amman itself, a place still famous for the abundance of its waters. under these circumstances, i determined to proceed first to szalt, hoping that i might from thence attain amman more easily, as the inhabitants of szalt, who are always more or less rebellious towards the government of damascus, are generally on friendly terms with the bedouins. the fears of my guide, however, prevented me from executing this plan, and i was most reluctantly obliged to return to souf, for it would have been madness to proceed alone. we returned to souf, not by the road over the mountain, but in following the course of the rivulet in the valley el deir, which we reascended up to the village; we found the greater part of the narrow plain in the valley sown with wheat and barley by the people of souf. half an hour from the town, in the wady, are the remains of a large reservoir for water, with some ruined buildings near it. this is a most romantic spot; large oak and walnut trees overshade the stream, which higher up flows over a rocky bed; nearer the village are some olive plantations in the wady. we reached souf in two hours from djerash. i enquired in vain for a guide to szalt; the return of the man who had engaged to conduct me made the others equally cautious, and nobody would accept of the fifteen piastres which i offered. i thought in unnecessary, therefore, to stop any longer at souf, and left it the same evening, in order to visit djebel adjeloun. our road lay w.n.w. up a mountain, through a thick forest of oak trees. in three quarters of an hour from souf we reached the summit of the mountain, which forms the frontier between the district of moerad and the djebel adjeloun. this is the thickest forest i had yet seen in rabbad. [p. ]syria, where the term forest ([arabic] or [arabic]) is often applied to places in which the trees grow at twenty paces from each other. in an hour and a half we came to the village ain djenne [arabic], in a fertile valley called wady djenne, at the extremity of which several springs issue from under the rock. may d.--there are several christian families at ain djenne. in the neighbouring mountain are numerous caverns; and distant half an hour, is the ruined village of mar elias. when enquiring for ruins, which might answer to those of capitolias, i had been referred to this place, no person in these mountains having knowledge of any other ruins. an olive plantation furnishes the principal means of subsistence to the eighty families who inhabit the village of ain djenne. we set out early in the morning, and descended the valley towards adjeloun [arabic], which has given its name to the district: it is built in a narrow passage on both sides of the rivulet of djenne, and contains nothing remarkable except a fine ancient mosque. i left my horse here, and took a man of the village to accompany me to the castle of rabbad [arabic], which stands on the top of a mountain three quarters of an hour distant from adjeloun. to the left of the road, at a short distance, is the village kefrandjy. from ain djenne kalaat el rabbad bears w. by n.; it is the residence of the chief of the district of adjeloun. the house of barekat, in whom this authority has for many years resided, had lately been quarrelling about it among themselves; the chief, youssef el barekat, had been besieged for several months in the castle; he was now gone to the aga of tabaria, to engage him in his interests; and his family were left in the castle with strict orders not to let any unknown persons enter it, and to keep the gate secured. i had letters of recommendation to youssef from the mutsellim of damascus; when i arrived at the castle-gate, all the inhabitants obeid. [p. ]assembled upon the wall, to enquire who i was, and what i wanted. i explained to them the nature of my visit, and shewed them the mutsellim's letter, upon which they opened the iron gate, but continued to entertain great suspicions of me until a man who could read having been sent for, my letter was read aloud; all the family then vied in civilities towards me, especially when i told them that i intended to proceed to tabaria. kalaat er-rabbad is very strong, and, as appears from several arabic inscriptions, was built by sultan szelah-eddyn [arabic]; its date is, therefore, that of the crusades, and the same as that of many castles in other parts of syria, which owe their origin to the vigilance, and prudence of that monarch; i saw nothing particularly worth notice in it; its thick walls, arched passages, and small bastions, are common to all the castles of the middle ages. it has several wells; but on the outside, it is distinguished by the deep and broad ditch which surrounds it, and which has been excavated at immense labour in the rock itself upon which the castle stands. rabbad is two hours distant from the ghor, or valley of the river jordan, over which, as well as the neighbouring mountains, it commands a fine prospect. it is now inhabited by about forty persons, of the great family of el barekat. i returned from kalaat rabbad to adjeloun, where i rejoined my companions, and after mid-day set out for el hossn, the principal village in the district of beni obeid. our road lay up the mountain, in the narrow wady teis. at half an hour from adjeloun we passed the spring called ain teis [arabic]. at two hours the district of djebel adjeloun terminates, and that of obeid begins. the country is for the greater part woody, and here the inhabitants collect considerable quantities of galls. our road lay n.e.; the summits of the mountain bear the name el meseidjed [arabic]. at three hours and a half is a birket of rain-water, from whence the el hossn. [p. ]road descends over barren hills towards el hossn, distant five hours and a quarter from adjeloun. el hossn is the principal village of the district called beni obeid; it stands on the declivity of the mountain, and is inhabited by upwards of one hundred families, of which about twenty-five are greek christians, under the jurisdiction of the patriarch of jerusalem. i saw nothing remarkable here but a number of wells cut out of the rock. i happened to alight at the same house where m. seetzen had been detained for eleven days, by bad weather; his hospitable old landlord, abdullah el ghanem, made many enquiries after him. may th.--i found very bad company at el hossn. it is usual for the pasha of damascus to send annually one of the principal officers of his government to visit the southern provinces of the pashalik, to exact the arrears of the miri, and to levy new extortions. the aga of tabaria, who was invested this year with the office, had just arrived in the village with a suite of one hundred and fifty horsemen, whom he had quartered upon the peasants; my landlord had seven men and fifteen horses for his share, and although he killed a sheep, and boiled about twenty pounds of rice, for supper, yet the two officers of the party in his house were continually asking for more, spoiled all his furniture, and, in fact, acted worse than an enemy would have done. it is to avoid vexations of this kind that the peasants abandon the villages most exposed to such visits. we left hossn late in the morning and proceeded to erbad [arabic], one hour and a quarter n.n.e. from the former. our road lay over the plain. erbad is the chief place in the district of that name, likewise called the district of beni djohma [arabic], or of bottein [arabic], from the sheikh's being of the family of bottein. the names of beni obeid, and beni djohma, are probably derived hebras. [p. ]from arab tribes which anciently settled here; but nobody could tell me the origin of these appellations. the inhabitants do not pretend to be descendants of those tribes, but say that these were their dwelling places from time immemorial. the castle of erbad stands upon a low hill, at the foot of which lies the village. the calcareous rock which extends through zoueit, moerad, adjeloun, and beni obeid, begins here to give way to the black haouran stone, with which all the houses of erbad are built, as well as the miserable modern walls of the castle. a large ancient well built reservoir is the only curiosity of this place; around it lay several handsome sarcophagi, of the same kind of rock, with some sculptured bas- reliefs upon them. part of the suite of the aga of tabaria, consisting of moggrebyns, was quartered at erbad. from hence i wished to visit the ruins of beit el ras [arabic], which are upon a hill at about one hour and a half distant. i was told that the ruins were of large extent, that there were no columns standing, but that large ones were lying upon the ground. from beit el ras i intended again to cross the mountain in order to see the ruins of om keis, and from thence to visit the djolan. we were shewn the road from erbad, but went astray, and did not reach beit el ras. one hour and a half n. by w. of erbad we passed the village merou [arabic]; from thence we travelled w.n.w. to el hereimy [arabic], two hours from erbad; and from el hereimy n.n.w. to hebras [arabic], three hours from erbad. hebras is the principal village in the district of kefarat, and one of the largest in these countries. it is inhabited by many greek christian families. one hour and a half to the n.e. of it are the ruins of abil [arabic], the ancient abila, one of the towns of the decapolis; neither buildings nor columns remain standing; but i was told that there are fragments of columns of a very large size. om keis. [p. ]may th.--i took a guide from hence to shew me to om keis, which, i was told, was inhabited by several families. i there intended to pass the night, and to proceed the next day to feik, a village on the e. side of the lake of tabaria. in half an hour from hebras we passed the spring ain el terab [arabic], in a wady, which farther to the north-westward joins the wady szamma, and still lower down unites with the wady sheriat el mandhour. at one hour and a quarter to our right was the village obder [arabic], on the banks of wady szamma, which runs in a deep ravine, and half an hour farther north-west, the village szamma [arabic]. the inhabitants of the above villages cultivate gardens of fruit trees and all kinds of vegetables on the side of the rivulet. the villages belong to the district of kefarat. to the left of our route extends a country full of wadys, called the district of serou [arabic], to the southward of which begins that of wostye [arabic]. at one hour and a half to our left, distant half an hour, we saw, in the serou, the village faour [arabic]. between hebras and szamma begins the wady el arab [arabic], which continued to the left parallel with our route; it is a fertile valley, in which the arabs kelab and others cultivate a few fields. there are several mills on the water-side. our route lay w. by n. and w.n.w. across the kefarat, which is uneven ground, rising towards the west, and is intersected by many wadys. at the end of three hours and a quarter we reached om keis [arabic]. om keis is the last village to the west, in the district of kefarat; it is situated near the crest of the chain of mountains, which bound the valley of the lake of tabaria and jordan on the east. the s. end of the lake bears n.w. to the n. of it, one hour, is the deep wady called sheriat el mandhour, which is, beyond a doubt, the hieromax of the greeks and jarmouk of the israelites. to the south, at the same distance, flows the wady el arab, [p. ]which joins the sheriat in the valley of el ghor , not far from the junction of the latter with the jordan. i am doubtful to what ancient city the ruins of om keis are to be ascribed.[it was probably gamala, which josephus describes as standing upon a mountain bordered by precipices. gadara appears from the authorities of pliny and jerom to have been at the warm baths, mentioned below, on the north side of the sheriat el mandhour; gadara hieromiace praefluente. plin. nat. hist. l.i.c. . gadara, urbs trans jordanem contra scythopolin et tiberiadem, ad orientalem plagam, sita in monte, ad cujns radices aquae calidae erumpunt, balneis super aedificatis,--hieron. in topicis.] at om keis the remains of antiquity are very mutilated. the ancient town was situated round a hill, which is the highest point in the neighbourhood. to the east of the hill are a great number of caverns in the calcareous rock, some of which have been enlarged and rendered habitable. others have been used as sepulchral caves. great numbers of sarcophagi are lying about in this direction: they are all of black stone, which must have been transported from the banks of the river below: the dimensions of the largest are nine spans in length by three in breadth; they are ornamented with bas-reliefs of genii, festoons, wreaths of flowers, and some with busts, but very few of them are of elegant wor[k]manship. i counted upwards of seventy on the declivity of the hill. on the summit of the hill are heaps of wrought stones, but no remains of any important building: on its west and north sides are the remains of two large theatres, built entirely of black stone. that on the w. side is in better preservation than the other, although more ruined than the theatres at djerash. the walls and the greater part of the seats yet remain; a tier of boxes intervenes between the rows of seats, as at djerash, and there are deep vaulted apartments beneath the seats. there are no remains of columns in front of either theatre. the theatre on the north side of the hill, which is in a very dilapidated state, is remarkable for its great depth, [p. ]caused by its being built on a part of the steepest declivity of the hill; its uppermost row of seats is at least forty feet higher than the lowest; the area below the seats is comparatively very small. from these two theatres the principal part of the town appears to have extended westwards, over an even piece of ground at the foot of the hill; its length from the hill was at least half an hour. nothing is at present standing; but there are immense heaps of cut stones, columns, &c. dispersed over the plain. a long street, running westward, of which the ancient pavement still exists in most parts, seems to have been the principal street of the town. on both sides there are vast quantities of shafts of columns. at a spot where a heap of large corinthian pillars lay, a temple appears to have stood. i here saw the base of a large column of gray granite. the town terminates in a narrow point, where a large solid building with many columns seems to have stood. with the exception of the theatres, the buildings of the city were all constructed of the calcareous stone which constitutes the rock of every part of the country which i saw between wady zerka sheriat el mandhour. [p. ]and wady sheriat. in djebel adjeloun, moerad, and beni obeid, none of the basalt or black stone is met with; but in some parts of el kefarat, in our way from hebras to om keis, i saw alternate layers of calcareous and basaltic rock, with thin strata of flint. the habitations of om keis are, for the greater part, caverns. there is no water but what is collected in reservoirs during rains; these were quite dried up, which was the occasion, perhaps, of the place having been abandoned, for we found not a single inhabitant. my guide being ignorant of the road to feik, wished to return to hebras; and i was hesitating what to do, when we were met by some peasants of remtha, in the haouran, who were in their way to the ghor, to purchase new barley, of which grain the harvest had already begun in the hot climate of that valley. i joined their little caravan. we continued, for about half an hour from om keis, upon the high plain, and then descended the mountains, the western declivity of which is entirely basaltic. at the end of two hours from om keis, we reached the banks of the sheriat el mandhour, or sheriat el menadhere (arabic] or arabic) which we passed at a ford. this river takes the additional name of the arabs who live upon its banks, to distinguish it from the sheriat el kebir (great sheriat), by which the jordan is known. the sheriat el menadhere is formed by the united streams of the nahr rokad [arabic], which flows from near ain shakhab, through the eastern parts of djolan; of the hereir, whose source is in the swampy ground near tel dilly, on the hadj route, between shemskein and el szannamein: of the budje, which comes from mezareib, and after its junction with the hereir, is called aweired [arabic], and of the wady hamy sakkar, besides several other smaller wadys. the name of sheriat, is first applied to the united streams near szamme. from thence it flows in a deep bed of tufwacke; and its banks are cultivated by the arabs menadhere (sing. mandhour), who live under valley of the ghor. [p. ]tents, and remove from place to place, but without quitting the banks of the river. they sow wheat and barley, and cultivate pomegranates, lemons, grapes, and many kinds of fruit and vegetables, which they sell in the villages of the haouran and djolan. further to the west the wady becomes so narrow as to leave no space between the edge of the stream, and the precipices on both sides. it issues from the mountain not far from the south end of the lake of tabaria, and about one hour lower down is joined by the wady el arab; it then empties itself into the jordan, called sheriat el kebir, at two hours distant from the lake; d'anville is therefore wrong in making it flow into the lake itself. the river is full of fish, and in the wady its course is very rapid. the shrub called by the arabs defle [arabic], grows on its banks; it has a red flower, and according to the arabs is poisonous to cattle. the breadth of the stream, where it issues from the mountains, is about thirty-five paces, its depth (in the month of may) between four and five feet. we had now entered the valley of the ghor [arabic], which may be compared to the valley of the bekaa, between the libanus and anti- libanus, and the valley el ghab of the orontes. the mountains which enclose it are not to be compared in magnitude with those of the bekaa; but the abundance of its waters renders its aspect more pleasing to the eye, and may make its soil more productive. it is one of the lowest levels in syria; lower than the haouran and djolan, by nearly the whole height of the eastern mountains; its temperature is hotter than i had experienced in any other part of syria: the rocky mountains concentrating the heat, and preventing the air from being cooled by the westerly winds in summer. in consequence of this higher degree of heat, the productions of the ghor ripen long before those of the haouran. the barley harvest, which does not begin in the upper plain till fifteen days later szammagh. [p. ]we here found nearly finished. the haouran, on the other hand, was every where covered with the richest verdure of wild herbage, while every plant in the ghor was already dried up, and the whole country appeared as if in the midst of summer. volney has justly remarked that there are few countries where the changes from one climate to another are so sudden as in syria; and i was never more convinced of it than in this valley. to the north was the djebel el sheikh, covered with snow; to the east the fertile plainsof djolan clothed in the blossoms of spring; while to the south, the withered vegetation of the ghor seemed the effect of a tropical sun. the breadth of the valley is about an hour and a half, or two hours. from the ford over the sheriat we proceeded across the plain in a n.w. direction; it was covered with low shrubs and a tree bearing a fruit like a small apple, very agreeable to the taste; zaarour [arabic] is the name given to it by the inhabitants of mount libanus; those of damascus call it zaaboub [arabic]; and the arabs have also another name for it, which i forget. in an hour and upwards, from the ford, we reached the village szammagh [arabic], situated on the most southern extremity of the lake of tabaria; it contains thirty or forty poor mud houses, and a few built with black stone. the jordan issues out of the lake about a quarter of an hour to the westward of the village, where the lake ends in a straight line, extending for about forty minutes in a direction nearly east and west. from hence the highest point of djebel el sheikh bears n.n.w.; the town of szaffad n. by e. between the lake and the first bridge over the jordan, called djissr el medjami, at about two hours and a half from hence, are two fordable passages across the river. excepting about one hundred fedhans around szammagh, no part of the valley is cultivated in this neighbourhood. somewhat hot wells. [p. ]lower down begin the corn fields of the arabs el ghor, who are the principal inhabitants of the valley: those living near szammagh are the arabs el sekhour, and the beshaatoue. the only villages met with from hence as far as beysan (the ancient scythopolis), are to the left of the jordan, maad [arabic], at the foot of djebel wostye, and el erbayn [arabic]. from szammagh to beysan the valley is called ghor tabaria. i swam to a considerable distance in the lake, without seeing a single fish; i was told, however, that there were privileged fishermen at tabaria, who monopolize the entire fishery. the beach on this side is a fine gravel of quartz, flint, and tufwacke. there is no shallow water, the lake being of considerable depth close in shore. the only species of shell which i saw on the beach was of the smallest kind, white and about an inch and a half long. there are no kinds of rushes or reeds on the shores in this neighbourhood. may th.--the quantities of mosquitos and other vermin which always by preference attack the stranger accustomed to more northern climates, made me pass a most uncomfortable night at szammagh. we departed early in the morning, in order to visit the hot wells at the foot of the mountain of om keis, the situation of which had been pointed out to me on the preceding day. returning towards the place where the sheriat issues from the wady, we followed up the river from thence and in one hour and three quarters from szammagh, we reached the first hot-well. the river flows in a deep bed, being confined in some places on both sides by precipices of upwards of one hundred feet in height, whose black rocks present a most striking contrast with the verdure on their summits. for several hundred yards before we arrived at the hot-well, i perceived a strong sulphureous smell in the air. the spring is situated in a very narrow plain, in the valley, between the river and the northern hot wells. [p. ]cliffs, which we descended. the plain had been covered with rich herbage, but it was now dried up; a great variety of shrubs and some old palm trees also grow here: the heat in the midst of the summer must be suffocating. the spring bubbles up from a basin about forty feet in circumference, and five feet in depth, which is enclosed by ruins of walls and buildings, and forms below a small rivulet which falls at a short distance into the river. the water is so hot, that i found it difficult to keep my hand in it; it deposits upon the stones over which it flows a thick yellow sulphureous crust, which the neighbouring arabs collect, to rub their camels with, when diseased. just above the basin, which has originally been paved, is an open arched building, with the broken shaft of a column still standing; and behind it are several others, also arched, which may have been apartments for the accommodation of strangers; the large stones forming these structures are much decayed, from the influence of the exhalations. this spring is called hammet el sheikh [arabic], and is the hottest of them all. at five minutes distance, ascending the wady, is a second of the same kind, but considerably cooler; it issues out of a basin covered with weeds, and surrounded with reeds, and has some remains of ancient buildings about it; it is called hammet errih [arabic], and joins the waters from the first source. following the course of the river, up the wady, eight more hot springs are met with; i shall here mention their names, though i did not see them. . hammet aand ettowahein [arabic], near some mills; . hammet beit seraye [arabic]; . hammet essowanye [arabic]; . hammet dser aryshe [arabic]; . hammet zour eddyk [arabic]; . hammet erremlye [arabic]; . hammet messaoud [arabic]; . hammet om selym [arabic]; this last is distant from that of el sheikh two hours and a half. these feik. [p. ]eight springs are on both sides of the wady, and have remains of ancient buildings near them. i conceive that a naturalist would find it well worth his time to examine the productions of this wady, hitherto almost unknown. in the month of april the hammet el sheikh is visited by great numbers both of sick and healthy people, from the neighbourhood of nablous and nazaret, who prefer it to the bath of tabaria; they usually remain about a fortnight. we returned from the hamme by the same road we came; on reaching the plain of el ghor we turned to our right up the mountain. we here met a wild boar of great size; these animals are very numerous in the ghor, and my companions told me that the arabs of the valley are unable to cultivate the common barley, called here shayr araby [arabic], on account of the eagerness with which the wild swine feed upon it, they are therefore obliged to grow a less esteemed sort, with six rows of grains, called shayr kheshaby [arabic], which the swine do not touch. at three quarters of an hour from the spot where we began to ascend, we came to a spring called ain el khan, near a khan called el akabe, where caravans sometimes alight; this being the great road from the djolan and the northern parts of the haouran to the ghor. akabe is a general term for a steep descent. in one hour we passed a spring called ain el akabe, more copious than the former. from thence we reached the summit of the mountain, one hour and a quarter distant from its foot, where the plain commences; and in one hour and three quarters more, entered the village of feik, distant about four hours and a half from szammagh, by the road we travelled. one hour to the e. of szammagh, on the shore of the lake, lies the village kherbet szammera [arabic], with some ancient buildings: it is the only inhabited village on the e. side of the lake, its [p. ]site seems to correspond with that of the ancient hippos. farther north, near the shore, are the ruined places called doeyrayan [arabic], and telhoun [arabic]. three quarters of an hour to the n. of khan el akabe, near the summit of the mountain, lies, the half ruined, but still inhabited village of kefer hareb [arabic]. the country to the north of the sheriat, in the direction of feik, is, for a short distance, intersected by wadys, a plain then commences, extending northwards towards the djebel heish el kanneytra, and eastwards towards the haouran. feik is a considerable village, inhabited by more than two hundred families. it is situated at the head of the wady of the same name, on the ridge of a part of the mountain which incloses the e. shore of the lake of tabaria, and it enjoys a fine view over the middle part of the lake. the rivulet of feik has three sources, issuing from beneath a precipice, round the summit of which the village is built in the shape of a crescent. having descended the hill for three quarters of an hour, a steep insulated hill is met with, having extensive ruins of buildings, walls, and columns on its top; they are called el hossn, and are, perhaps, the remains of the ancient town of regaba or argob. feik [arabic], although situated in the plain of djolan, does not [p. ]actually belong to that district, but constitutes a territory of itself; it forms part of the government of akka, and is, i believe, the only place belonging to that pashalik on the e. side of the jordan; it was separated from the pashalik of damascus by djezzar pasha. there being a constant passage through feik from the haouran to tabaria and akka, more than thirty houses in the town have open menzels for the entertainment of strangers of every description, and supply their cattle, gratis. the landlords have an allowance from the government for their expenses, which is made by a deduction from the customary taxes; and if the menzel is much frequented, as in the case of that of the sheikh, no miri at all is collected from the landlord, and the pasha makes him also an yearly allowance in money, out of the miri of the village. the establishment of these public menzels, which are general over the whole country to the s. of damascus, does great honour to the hospitable spirit of the turks; but it is, in fact, the only expense that the government thinks itself obliged to incur for the benefit of the people of the country. a peasant can travel for a whole month without expending a para; but people of any distinction give a few paras on the morning of their departure to the waiter or watchman [arabic]. if the traveller does not choose to alight at a public menzel, he may go to any private house, where he will find a hospitable landlord, and as good a supper as the circumstances of his host can afford. i observed upon the terraces of all the houses of feik, a small apartment called hersh [arabic], formed of branches of trees, covered with mats; to this cool abode the family retires during the mid-day heats of summer. there are a few remains of ancient buildings at feik; amongst others, two small towers on the two extremities of the cliff. the village has large olive plantations. may th.--our way over the plain was in the direction n.e. by e. district of djolan. [p. ]beyond the fields of feik, the district of djolan begins, the southern limits of which are the wady hamy sakker, and the sheriat. djolan appears to be the same name as the greek gaulanitis; but its present limits do not quite correspond with those of the ancient province, which was confined to a narrow strip of land along the lake, and the eastern shore of the jordan. the territory of feik must have formed part of hippene; the mountain in front of it was mount hippos, and the district of argob appears to have been that part of the plain (making part of djolan), which extends from feik northwards for three or four hours, and which is enclosed on the east by the djebel heish, and on the west by the descent leading down to the banks of the lake. half an hour from feik we passed, on our left, a heap of ruins called radjam el abhar [arabic]. to the s.e. at about one hour distant, is the village djeibein [arabic]; to the left, at three quarters of an hour, is the ruined village el aal [arabic], on the side of the wady semak [arabic], which descended from the djebel heish: there is a rivulet of spring-water in the wady, which empties itself into the lake near the ruined city of medjeifera [arabic], in this part the wady is full of reeds, of which the people make mats. on the other side of the wady, about half an hour distant from it, upon a tel, is the ruined city called kaszr berdoweil [arabic] (castle of baldwin). the plain here is wholly uncultivated, and is overgrown with a wild herb called khob [arabic], which camels and cows feed upon. at one hour and three quarters is a birket of rain water, called nam [arabic], with a spring near it. at two hours and a quarter are the extensive ruins of a city, called khastein [arabic], built with the black stone of the country, but preserving no remains of any considerable building. two hours and three quarters, on our left, is tel zeky [arabic], to the left of which, about one hour and a half, is the southern extremity of the djebel heish, where stands a tel tseil. [p. ]called el faras. the djebel heish is separated from the plain bya stony district, of one hour in breadth, where the arabs of the country often take refuge from the extortions of the pasha. in three hours we passed wady moakkar [arabic], flowing from the mountain into the sheriat. here the direction of our road was e.s.e. the arab who accompanied me presented me with a fruit which grows wild in these parts, and is unknown in the northern parts of syria, and even at damascus; it is of the size of a small egg, of the colour of the tomato or love-apple, of a sweet agreeable taste, and full of juice. it grows upon a shrub about six inches high, which i did not see, but was told that its roots were three or four feet in length, and presented the figure of a man in all its parts. the fruit is called by the arabs djerabouh [arabic]. at three hours and a quarter, at a short distance to our left, was the ruined village om el kebour [arabic]. in three hours and a half we passed wady seide [arabic]; and at the end of three hours and three quarters reached the bridge of wady hamy sakker we met all the way arabs and peasants going to the ghor to purchase barley. the bridge of hamy sakker [arabic] is situated near the commencement of the wady , where it is of very little depth; lower down it has a rapid fall, and runs between precipices of perpendicular rocks of great height, until it joins the sheriat, about two hours and a half from the bridge. the bridge is well built upon seven arches. at four hours we reached a spring called ain keir [arabic], and a little farther another called ain deker [arabic]. the rocky district at the foot of djebel heish extends on this side as far as these springs. in five hours we passed wady aallan [arabic], a considerable torrent flowing towards the sheriat, with a ruined bridge; and in five hours and a half tseil, [arabic], an inhabited village. here the plain begins to be cultivated. there [p. ]are no villages excepting djeibein to the south of the road by which we had travelled, as far as the banks of the sheriat. the inhabitants of the country are bedouins, several of whose encampments we passed. tseil is one of the principal villages of djolan, and contains about eighty or one hundred families, who live in the ancient buildings of the ruined town; there are three birkets of rain water belonging to it. the only building of any size is a ruined mosque, which seems to have been a church. in coming from feik the soil of the plain is black, or gray; at tseil it begins to be of the same red colour as the haouran earth. after dinner we continued our route. in half an hour from tseil we passed on our left tel djemoua [arabic]. the greater part of the plain was covered with a fine crop of wheat and barley. during the years and , the crops were very bad all over syria; the rains of last winter, however, having been very abundant, the peasants are every where consoled with the hopes of a good harvest. it was expected that the haouran and djolan would yield twenty-five times the quantity of the seed sown, which is reckoned an excellent crop. half an hour north of tel djemoua lies tel djabye [arabic], with a village. at one hour and three quarters from tseil is the village nowa [arabic], where we slept. this is the principal village in the djolan, and was formerly a town of half an hour in circumference. its situation corresponds with that in d'anville's map of neve. there are a number of ruined private dwellings, and the remains of some public edifices. a temple, of which one column with its entablature remains, has been converted into a mosque. at the s. end of the village is a small square solid building, probably a mausoleum; it has no other opening than the door. beyond the precincts of the village, on the n. side, are the ruins of a large square building, of which the sculptured entrance only remains, with heaps of broken columns before it. the village el kessoue. [p. ]has several springs, as well as cisterns. the turks revere the tomb of a santon buried here, called mehy eddyn el nowawy [arabic]. may th.--our route lay n.e. at two hours from nowa is the village kasem [arabic], which forms the southern limits of the district of djedour, and the northern frontier of djolan; some people, however, reckon djolan the limits of nowa. one hour e.b.s. of kasem stands the village om el mezabel [arabic]; one hour and a half e.n.e. of kasem. the great village onhol [arabic]. in two hours and a half from nowa we passed, to the left, distant about half an hour, the tel el hara [arabic], with the village of the same name at its foot; this is the highest tel in the plains of haouran and djolan. three hours and a quarter is the village semnein [arabic]; and three hours and three quarters, the village djedye [arabic]. the plain was badly cultivated in these parts. from hence our road turned n.n.e. at five hours is kefer shams [arabic], with some ancient buildings; all these villages have large birkets. at five hours and three quarters is deir e aades [arabic], a ruined village in a stony district, intersected by several wadys. six hours and a quarter, tel moerad [arabic]; eight hours tel shak-hab [arabic], a village with a small castle, and copious springs; it lies about an hour and a half to the west of soubbet faraoun. the cattle of a large encampment of naym wa spread over the whole plain near shak-hab. at eight hours and three quarters, there was on our left a rocky country resembling the ledja; it is called war ezzaky [arabic], and has a ruined khan called ezzeiat [arabic]; the millstones for the supply of damascus are hewn in this war, which consists of the black haouran stone. in ten hours we reached khan denoun; and in ten hours and three quarters, long after sun-set, the village el kessoue. may th.--we arrived early in the morning at damascus. [p. ] political divisions of the country to the southward of damascus with remarks on the inhabitants of the haouran. before i submit to the reader, a few general remarks upon the inhabitants of the haouran, i shall briefly recapitulate the political divisions of the country which extends to the southward of damascus, as far as wady zerka. . el ghoutta [arabic]. under this name is comprehended the immediate neighhourhood of damascus, limited on the north by djebel szalehie, on the west by the djebel el sheikh, on the south by djebel kessoue, and on the east by the plain el merdj. it is under the immediate government of the mutsellim of damascus. all the gardens of damascus are reckoned in the ghoutta, which contains upwards of eighty villages, and is one of the most fertile districts in syria. . belad haouran [arabic]. to the south of djebel kessoue and djebel khiara begins the country of haouran. it is bordered on the east by the rocky district el ledja, and by the djebel haouran, both of which are sometimes comprised within the haouran; and in this case the djebel el drouz, or mountain of the druses, whose chief resides at soueida, may be considered another subdivision of the haouran. to the s.e. where boszra and el remtha are the farthest inhahited villages, the haouran borders upon the desert. its western limits are the chain of villages on the hadj road, from ghebarib as far south as remtha. the greater part of its villages will he found enumerated in the two journals. political divisions of the country [p. ]the haouran comprises therefore part of trachonitis and ituraea, the whole of auranitis, and the northern districts of batanaea. edrei, now draa, was situated in batanaea. .djedour [arabic]. the flat country south of djebel kessoue, east of djebel el sheikh, and west of the hadj road, as far as kasem or nowa, is called djedour. it contains about twenty villages. the following are the names of the inhabited villages of the country called djedour; el kenneya [arabic], sheriat el ghoufa [arabic], sheriat el tahna [arabic], deir maket, [arabic], um el mezabel [arabic], el nakhal [arabic], el szannamein, teil kefrein, merkasem, nawa, where are considerable ruins; heitt [arabic], el hara, akrebbe eddjedour [arabic], essbebhara, djelein [arabic], namr [arabic], essalemie [arabic], [arabic], el nebhanie [arabic], deir el ades, deir el bokht, [arabic], kafershamy, keitta [arabic], semlein, djedeie, thereya [arabic], um ezzeijtoun [arabic]. the greater part of ituraea appears to be comprised within the limits of djedour. the governor of djolan usually commands also in djedour. . djolan [arabic], which comprises the plain to the south of djedour, and to the west of haouran. its southern frontier is the nahr aweired by which it is separated from the district of erbad, and the sheriat el mandhour, which separates it from the district el kefarat. on the west it is limited by the territory of feik, and on the northwest by the southern extremity of djebel heish. part of batanaea, argob, hippene, and perhaps gaulanitis, is comprised within this district. the maps of syria are in general incorrect with regard to the mountains of djolan. the mountain el heish, which is the southern extremity of djebel el sheikh, terminates (as i have mentioned before) at tel el faras, which is about three hours and a half to the north of the sheriat or hieromax; and the mountains begin again at about the same distance to the south of the same river, in to the south of damascus [p. ]the district of wostye; leaving an open country between them, which extends towards the west as far as akabe feik, and akabe om keis, which are the steep descents forming the approaches to the lake of tabaria, and to the ghor of tabaria from the east. the maps, on the contrary, make the djebel heish join the southern chain of wostye, instead of leaving an open country of near eight hours between them. the principal villages of djolan, beginning from the south, are the following: aabedein [arabic], moarrye [arabic], shedjara [arabic], beiterren [arabic], sahhem [arabic], seisoun [arabic], kefr essamer [arabic], seiatein [arabic], beit akkar [arabic], djomra [arabic], sheikh saad [arabic], near tel sheikh saad, ayoub [arabic], deir ellebou [arabic], kefr maszer [arabic], adouan [arabic], tel el ashaara [arabic], tseil, el djabye [arabic], esszefeire [arabic], djernein [arabic], el kebbash [arabic], nowa [arabic]. the aga of haouran is generally at the same time governor of djolan. . el kanneytra [arabic] comprises the mountain el heish, from the neighbourhood of banias to its southern extremity. it is the mount hermon of the ancients. its chief place is kanneytra (perhaps the ancient canatha), where the aga el kanneytra resides. . belad erbad, or belad beni djohma [arabic], likewise called el bottein, which name it derives from the family of bottein, who are the principal men of the country. it is limited on the north by the aweired, which separates it from the djolan, on the east by the hadj route, on the south by the territory of beni obeid, and on the west, by the rising ground and the many wadys which compose the territory of el kefarat. the greater part of batanaea is comprised within its limits; and it is remarkable that the name of bottein has some affinity with that of batanaea. its principal villages are: erbad [arabic] (the sheikh's residence), el bareha [arabic], kefr djayz [arabic], tokbol [arabic], el aaal [arabic] (by some reckoned in djolan), kefr youba [arabic], djemha political divisions of the country [p. ][arabic]. the ruined villages and cities of belad erbad are as follows: djerye [arabic], zebde [arabic], hanneine [arabic], beit el ras [arabic], ain ed djemel [arabic]. . el kefarat [arabic], a narrow strip of land, running along the south borders of the wady sheriat el mandhour from the frontiers of belad erbad to om keis. its principal village is hebras. . esserou [arabic]. this district lies parallel to el kefarat, and extends from belad erbad to the ghor. it is watered by wady el arab. its principal village is fowar [arabic]. the kefarat as well as the serou are situated between the sheriat and the mountains of wostye. they may be called flat countries in comparison with wostye and adjeloun; and they appear still more so from a distance; but if examined near, they are found to be intersected by numerous deep valleys. there seems, however, a gradual ascent of the ground towards the west. the valleys are inhabited for the greater part by bedouins. . belad beni obeid [arabic] is on the eastern declivity of the mountains of adjeloun. it is bordered on the north by erbad, on the west by the mountain adjeloun, on the east and south by the district ezzoueit. the southern parts of batanaea are comprised within these limits. its principal village is el hossn, where the sheikh resides. its other villages are: haoufa [arabic], szammad [arabic], natefa [arabic], el mezar [arabic], ham [arabic], djehfye [arabic], erreikh [arabic], habdje [arabic], edoun [arabic]. in the mountain near the summit of djebel adjeloun, in that part of the forest which is called el meseidjed, are the following ruined places: nahra [arabic], kefr khal [arabic], hattein [arabic], aablein [arabic], keferye [arabic], kherbat [arabic], esshaara [arabic], aabbein [arabic], sameta [arabic], aabeda [arabic], aafne [arabic], deir laouz [arabic]. . el koura [arabic] is separated from adjeloun on the s.w. country to the south of damascus [p. ]side by wady yabes [arabic], which empties itself into the jordan, in the neighbourhood of beysan. to the west and north-west it borders on wostye, to the east on belad beni obeid. it is a mountainous country which comprizes the northern parts of the ancient galaaditis. its principal villages are, tobne [arabic], where resides the sheikh or el hakem, who exercises his influence likewise over the villages of omba [arabic], szammoua, [arabic], deir abou seid [arabic], hannein [arabic], zemmal [arabic], kefer aabeid [arabic], kefer awan [arabic], beit edes [arabic], khanzyre [arabic], kefer radjeb [arabic], kefer elma [arabic]. . el wostye [arabic]. to the south of serou, and east of the ghor beysan. . djebel adjeloun [arabic]. on the north-east and east, it borders on beni obeid, on the south and south-east on the district of moerad; on the west on the ghor, and on the north on the koura. it is throughout a mountainous country, and for the greater part woody. part of the ancient galaaditis is comprised within its limits. its principal place is kalaat rabbad, where the sheikh resides. it contains besides the following villages: ain djenne [arabic], adjeloun [arabic], ain horra [arabic], ardjan [arabic], rasoun [arabic], baoun [arabic], ousera [arabic], halawe [arabic], khara [arabic], el kherbe [arabic], kefrendjy [arabic]. the principal ruined places in this district are, rostem [arabic], seleim [arabic], kefer eddorra [arabic], szoan [arabic], deir adjeloun [arabic]. . moerad [arabic], is limited on the north by djebel adjeloun, on the east by ezzoueit, on the south by wady zerka, on the west by the ghor. it forms part of galaaditis, and is in every part mountainous. its principal village, where the sheikh lives, is souf; its other villages are borma [arabic], ettekitte [arabic], at present political divisions of the country. [p. ]abandoned; debein [arabic], djezaze [arabic], hamthe [arabic]. the summits of the mountain of adjeloun, which mark the limits between adjeloun and moerad, are called oeraboun [arabic]. half of it belongs to adjeloun, the other to moerad. it contains the following ruined places; szafszaf [arabic], el hezar [arabic], om eddjeloud [arabic], om djoze [arabic], el haneik [arabic], eshkara, [arabic], oeraboun [arabic], el ehsenye [arabic], serabeis [arabic], nedjde [arabic]. . ezzoueit [arabic] lies to the east of beni obeid and moerad, being separated from the latter by the wady deir and seil djerash; it is situated to the north of wady zerka, and extends eastwards beyond the hadj route to the southward of the ruined city of om eddjemal, between remtha and el fedhein. part of it is mountainous, the remainder a flat country. there are at present no inhabited villages in the zoueit. its ruined places are erhab, eydoun, dadjemye, djebe, kafkafa, mytwarnol, boeidha, khereysan, kherbet, szamara, khenezein, remeith, abou ayad, el matouye, essaherye, ain aby, eddhaleil, ayoun. it forms the southern parts of the galaaditis. beyond the zerka the chain of mountains increases in breadth, and the belka begins; it is divided into different districts, of which i may be able to give some account hereafter. the whole country, from kanneytra (exclusive) to the zerka, is at present in the government of the aga of tabaria; but this can only happen when the pasha of acre is at the same time pasha of damascus. remarks on the inhabitants of the haouran. [p. ] remarks on the inhabitants of the haouran. the haouran is inhabited by turks, druses, christians, and arabs, and is visited in spring and summer by several arab tribes from the desert. the whole country is under the government of the pasha of damascus, who generally sends a governor to mezareib, intituled agat el haouran. the pasha appoints also the sheikh of every village, who collects the miri from both turks and christians. the druses are not under the control of the agat el haouran, but correspond directly with the pasha. they have a head sheikh, whose office, though subject to the confirmation of the pasha, has been hereditary from a remote period, in the family of hamdan. the head sheikh of the druses nominates the sheikh of each village, and of these upwards of eight are his own relations: the others are members of the great druse families. the pasha constantly maintains a force in the haouran of between five and six hundred men; three hundred and fifty or four hundred of whom are at boszra, and the remainder at mezareib, or patrolling the country. the moggrebyns are generally employed in this service. i compute the population of the haouran, exclusive of the arabs who frequent the plain, the mountain (djebel haouran), and the ledja, at about fifty or sixty thousand, of whom six or seven thousand are druses; and about three thousand christians. the turks and christians have exactly the same modes of life; but the druses are distinguished from them in many respects. the two former very nearly resemble the arabs in their customs and manners; their ordinary dress is precisely that of the arabs; a coarse white cotton stuff forms their kombaz or gown, the keffie round the head is tied with a rope of camel's hair, they wear the abba over the shoulder, and have the breast and feet naked; they have also adopted, for the greater [p. ]part, the bedouin dialect, gestures, and phraseology; according to which most articles of housebold furniture have names different from those in the towns; it requires little experience however to distinguish the adults of the two nations from one another. the arabs are generally of short stature, with thin visage, scanty beard, and brilliant black eyes; while the fellahs are taller and stouter, with a strong beard, and a less piercing look; but the difference seems chiefly to arise from their mode of life; for the youth of both nations, to the age of sixteen, have precisely the same appearance. the turks and christians of the haouran live and dress alike, and religion seems to occasion very little difference in their respective conditions. when quarrels happen the christian fears not to strike the turk, or to execrate his religion, a liberty which in every town of syria would expose the christian to the penalty of death, or to a very heavy pecuniary fine. common sufferings and dangers in the defence of their property may have given rise to the toleration which the christians enjoy from the turks in the haouran; and which is further strengthened by the druses, who shew equal respect to both religions. of the christians four-fifths are greeks; and the only religious animosities which i witnessed during my tour, were between them and the catholics. among the fellahs of the haouran, the richest lives like the poorest, and displays his superior wealth only on the arrival of strangers. the ancient buildings afford spacious and convenient dwellings to many of the modern inhabitants, and those who occupy them may have three or four rooms for each family; but in newly built villages, the whole family, with all its household furniture, cooking utensils, and provision chests, is commonly huddled together in one apartment. here also they keep their wheat and barley in reservoirs formed of clay, called kawara [arabic], which are about five feet high and two feet in diameter. the chief articles [p. ]of furniture are, a handmill, which is used in summer, when there is no water in the wadys to drive the mills; some copper kettles; and a few mats; in the richer houses some woollen lebaet are met with, which are coarse woollen stuffs used for carpets, and in winter for horse- cloths: real carpets or mattrasses are seldom seen, unless it be upon the arrival of strangers of consequence. their goat's hair sacks, and horse and camel equipments, are of the same kind as those used by the bedouins, and are known by the same names. each family has a large earthen jar, of the manufacture of rasheiat el fukhar, which is filled every morning by the females, from the birket or spring, with water for the day's consumption. in every house there is a room for the reception of strangers, called from this circumstance medhafe; it is usually that in which the male part of the family sleeps; in the midst of it is a fire place to boil coffee. the most common dishes of these people are burgoul and keshk; in summer they supply the place of the latter by milk, leben, and fresh butter. of the burgoul i have spoken on other occasions; there are two kinds of keshk, keshk-hammer and keskh-leben; the first is prepared by putting leaven into the burgoul, and pouring water over it; it is then left until almost putrid, and afterwards spread out in the sun, to dry; after which it is pounded, and when called for, served up mixed with oil, or butter. the keskh-leben is prepared by putting leben into the burgoul, instead of leaven; in other respects the process is the same. keskh and bread are the common breakfast, and towards sunset a plate of burgoul, or some arab dish, forms the dinner; in honour of strangers, it is usual to serve up at breakfast melted butter and bread, or fried eggs, and in the evening a fowl boiled in burgoul, or a kid or lamb; but this does not very often happen. the women and children eat up whatever the men have left on [p. ] their plates. the women dress in the bedouin manner; they have a veil over the head, but seldom veil their faces. hospitality to strangers is another characteristic common to the arabs, and to the people of haouran. a traveller may alight at any house he pleases; a mat will be immediately spread for him, coffee made, and a breakfast or dinner set before him. in entering a village it has often happened to me, that several persons presented themselves, each begging that i would lodge at his house; and this hospitality is not confined to the traveller himself, his horse or his camel is also fed, the first with half or three quarters of a moud[the moud is about nineteen pounds english.] of barley, the second with straw; with this part of their hospitality, however, i had often reason to be dissatisfied, less than a moud being insufficient upon a journey for a horse, which is fed only in the evening, according to the custom of these countries. as it would be considered an affront to buy any corn, the horse must remain ill-fed, unless the traveller has the precaution to carry a little barley in his saddle-bag, to make up the deficiency in the host's allowance. on returning to aaere to the house of the sheikh, after my tour through the desert, one of my druse guides insisted upon taking my horse to his stables, instead of the sheikh's; when i was about to depart, the druse brought my horse to the door, and when i complained that he had fallen off greatly in the few days i had remained in the village, the sheikh said to me in the presence of several persons, "you are ignorant of the ways of this country [arabic]; if you see that your host does not feed your horse, insist upon his giving him a moud of barley daily; he dares not refuse it." it is a point of honour with the host never to accept of the smallest return from a guest; i once only ventured to give a few piastres to the child of a very poor family at zahouet, by whom we had been most hospitably treated, and rode off without [p. ] attending to the cries of the mother, who insisted upon my taking back the money. besides the private habitations, which offer to every traveller a secure night's shelter, there is in every village the medhafe of the sheikh, where all strangers of decent appearance are received and entertained. it is the duty of the sheikh to maintain this medhafe, which is like a tavern, with the difference that the host himself pays the bill: the sheikh has a public allowance to defray these expenses, &c. and hence a man of the haouran, intending to travel about for a fortnight, never thinks of putting a single para in his pocket; he is sure of being every where well received, and of living better perhaps than at his own home. a man remarkable for his hospitality and generosity enjoys the highest consideration among them. the inhabitant of the haouran estimates his wealth by the number of fedhans,[the word fedhan is applied both to the yoke of oxen and to the quantity of land cultivated by them, which varies according to circumstances. in some parts of syria, chiefly about homs, the fedhan el roumy, or greek fedhan, is used, which means two pair of oxen.] or pairs of cows or oxen which he employs in the cultivation of his fields. if it is asked, whether such a one has piastres (illou gheroush [arabic]), a common mode of speaking, the answer is, "a great deal; he drives six pair of oxen," (kethiar bimashi sette fedhadhin [arabic]); there are but few, however, who have six pair of oxen; a man with two or three is esteemed wealthy: and such a one has probably two camels, perhaps a mare, or at least a gedish (a gelding), or a couple of asses: and forty or fifty sheep or goats. the fertility of the soil in the haouran depends entirely upon the water applied to it. in districts where there is plenty of water for irrigation, the peasants sow winter and summer seeds; but where they have to depend entirely upon the rainy season [p. ]for a supply, nothing can be cultivated in summer. the harvest in the latter districts, therefore, is in proportion to the abundance of the winter rains. the first harvest is that of horse-beans [arabic] at the end of april: of these there are vast tracts sown, the produce of which serve as food for the cows and sheep. camels are fed with the flour made from these beans, mixed with barley meal, and made into a paste. next comes the barley harvest, and towards the end of may, the wheat: in the interval between the two last, the peasants eat barley bread. in abundant years, wheat sells at fifty piastres the gharara,[three rotola and a half make a moud, and eighty moud a gharara. a rotola is equal to about five and a halfpounds english.] or about two pounds ten shillings for fifteen cwt. english. in , the gharara rose as high as to one hundred and ninety piastres. the wheat of the haouran is considered equal, if not superior to any other in syria. barley is generally not more than half the price of wheat. when i was in the haouran, the price of an ox or cow was about seventy piastres, that of a camel about one hundred and fifty piastres. the lands which are not capable of artificial irrigation are generally suffered to lie fallow one year; a part of them is sometimes sown in spring with sesamum, cucumbers, melons, and pulse. but a large part of the fruit and vegetables consumed in the haouran is brought from damascus, or from the arabs menadhere, who cultivate gardens on the banks of the sheriat el mandhour. the peasants of haouran are extremely shy in speaking of the produce of their land, from an apprehension that the stranger's enquiries may lead to new extortions. i have reason to believe, however, that in middling years wheat yields twenty-five fold; in some parts of the haouran, this year, the barley has yielded fifty-fold, and even in some instances eighty. a sheikh, who formerly [p. ]inhabited the small village of boreika, on the southern borders of the ledja, assured me that from twenty mouds of wheat-seed he once obtained thirty ghararas, or one hundred and twenty fold. fields watered by rain (the arabs call them boal, [arabic]), yield more in proportion to the seed sown, than those which are artificially watered; this is owing to the seed being sown thinner in the former. the haouran crops are sometimes destroyed by mice [arabic], though not so frequently as in the neighbourhood of homs and hamah. where abundance of water may be conducted into the fields from neighbouring springs, the soil is again sown, after the grain harvests, with vegetables, lentils, peas, sesamums, &c. the fellahs who own fedhans often cultivate one another's fields in company: a turk living in a druse village often wishes to have a druse for his companion, to escape in some degree the vexations of the druse sheikh. at the druse sheikhs, black slaves are frequently met with; but the turk and christian proprietors cultivate their lands by hired native labourers. sometimes the labourer contracts with a townsman, and receives from him oxen, ploughs, and seed. a labourer who has one fedhan or two oxen under his charge, usually receives at the time of sowing one gharara of corn. after the harvest he takes one-third of the produce of the field; but among the druses only a fourth. the master pays to the government the tax called miri, and the labourer pays ten piastres annually. the rest of the agricultural population of the haouran consists of those who subsist by daily labour. they in general earn their living very hardly. i once met with a young man who had served eight years for his food only at the expiration of that period he obtained in marriage the daughter of his master, for whom he would, otherwise, have had to pay seven or eight hundred piastres. when i saw him he had been married three years; [p. ]but he complained bitterly of his father-in-law, who continued to require of him the performance of the most servile offices, without paying him any thing; and thus prevented him from setting up for himself and family. daughters are paid for according to the respectability of their father, sometimes as high as fifteen hundred piastres, and this custom prevails amongst druses, turks, and christians. if her family is rich the girl is fitted out with clothes, and a string of zequins or of silver coin, to tie round her head; after which she is delivered to her husband. i had an opportunity of witnessing an espousal of two christians at aaere, in the house of a christian: the bride was brought with her female friends and relations, from her native village, one day's journey distant, with two camels decorated with tassels, bells, &c., and was lodged with her relations in aaere. they entered the village preceded by women beating the tamborine, and by the village youths, firing off their musquets. soon afterwards the bridegroom retired to the spring, which was in a field ten minutes from the village, where he washed, and dressed himself in new clothes. he then entered the village mounted on a caparisoned horse, surrounded by young men, two of whom beat tamborines, and the others fired musquets. he alighted before the sheikh's house, and was carried for about a quarter of an hour by two men, on their arms, amidst continued singing and huzzaing: the sheikh then exclaimed, "mebarek el aris" [arabic], blessed be the bridegroom! which was repeated by all present, after which he was set down, and remained till sunset, exposed to the jests of his friends; after this he was carried to the church, where the greek priest performed the marriage ceremony, and the young couple retired to their dwelling. the bridegroom's father had slaughtered several lambs and kids, a part of which was devoured by mid- day; but the best pieces were brought in three [p. ]enormous dishes of bourgul to the sheikh's medhafe; two being for the mob, and the third for the sheikh, and principal men of the village. in the evening paras were collected by one of the bridegroom's friends, who sung verses in praise of all his acquaintance, every one of whom, when named, was expected to make a present. the oppressions of the government on one side, and those of the bedouins on the other, have reduced the fellah of the haouran to a state little better than that of the wandering arab. few individuals either among the druses or christians die in the same village in which they were born. families are continually moving from one place to another; in the first year of their new settlement the sheikh acts with moderation towards them; but his vexations becoming in a few years insupportable, they fly to some other place, where they have heard that their brethren are better treated, but they soon find that the same system prevails over the whole country. sometimes it is not merely the pecuniary extortion, but the personal enmity of the sheikh, or of some of the head men of the village, which drives a family from their home, for they are always permitted to depart. this continued wandering is one of the principal reasons why no village in the haouran has either orchards, or fruit- trees, or gardens for the growth of vegetables. "shall we sow for strangers?" was the answer of a fellah, to whom i once spoke on the subject, and who by the word strangers meant both the succeeding inhabitants, and the arabs who visit the haouran in the spring and summer. the taxes which all classes of fellahs in the haouran pay, may be classed under four heads: the miri; the expense of feeding soldiers on the march; the tribute to the arabs; and extraordinary contributions. the miri is levied upon the fedhan; thus if a village pay twelve purses to the miri, and there are thirty pair of [p. ] oxen in it, the master of each pair pays a thirtieth. every village being rated for the miri in the land-tax book of the pasha, at a fixed sum, that sum is levied as long as the village is at all inhabited, however few may be its inhabitants. in the spring of every year, or, if no strangers have arrived and settled, in every second or third spring, the ground of the village is measured by long cords, when every fellah occupies as much of it as he pleases, there being always more than sufficient; the amount of his tax is then fixed by the sheikh, at the ratio which his number of fedhans bears to the whole number of fedhans cultivated that year. whether the oxen be strong or weak, or whether the quantity of seed sown or of land cultivated by the owner of the oxen be more or less, is not taken into consideration; the fellah is supposed to keep strong cattle, and plough as much land as possible. some sow six gharara of wheat or barley in the fedhan, others five, and others seven. the boundaries of the respective fields are marked by large stones [arabic]. the miri is paid in kind, or in money, at the will of the pasha; the fellahs prefer the latter, by which they are always trifling gainers. from what has been said, it is evidently impossible for the fellah to foresee the amount of miri which he shall have to pay in any year; and in addition to this vexation, the miri for each village, though it is never diminished upon a loss of inhabitants, is sometimes raised upon a supposed increase of population, or upon some other pretext. it may, generally, be remarked, that the villages inhabited by the druses usually pay more miri than those in the plain, because some allowance is made to the latter, in consideration of the tribute which they are obliged to pay to the arabs, and from which the former are exempt. at aaere, the year before my first visit, the fedhan had paid one hundred and fifty piastres, at ezra, one hundred and eighty, and at some villages in the plain, [p. ]one hundred and twenty. in the year , the miri, including some extra demands, amounted in general to five hundred piastres the fedhan. the second tax upon the fellahs is the expense of feeding soldiers on the march; if the number is small they go to the sheikh's medhafe; but if they are numerous, they are quartered, or rather quarter themselves, upon the fellahs: in the former case, barley only for their horses is supplied by the peasant, while the sheikh furnishes provisions for the men, but the peasant is not much benefited by this regulation, for the soldiers are in general little disposed to be satisfied with the frugal fare of the sheikh, and demand fowls, or butcher's meat; which must be supplied by the village. on their departure, they often steal some article belonging to the house. the proportion of barley to be furnished by each individual to the soldiers horses, depends of course upon the number of horses to be fed, and of fedhans in the village: at aaere, in the year , it amounted to fifty piastres per fedhan. the sheikh of aaere has six pair of oxen, for which he pays no taxes, but the presence of strangers and troops is so frequent at his medhafe, that this exemption had not been thought a sufficient remuneration, and he is entitled to levy, in addition, every year, two or three gharara of corn, each gharara being in common years, worth eighty or one hundred piastres. some sheikhs levy as much as ten gharara, besides being exempted from taxation for eight, ten, or twelve pair of oxen. the third and most heavy contribution paid by the peasants, is the tribute to the arabs. the fahely, serdie, beni szakher, serhhan, who are constant residents in the haouran, as well as most of the numerous tribes of aeneze, who visit the country only in the summer, are, from remote times, entitled to certain tributes called khone (brotherbood), from every village in the haouran. in return [p. ]for this khone, the arabs abstain from touching the harvest of the village, and from driving off its cattle and camels, when they meet them in their way. each village pays khone to one sheikh in every tribe; the village is then known as his ukhta [arabic] or sister, as the arabs term it, and he protects the inhabitants against all the members of his own tribe. it may easily be imagined, however, that depredations are often committed, without the possibility of redress, the depredator being unknown, or flying immediately towards the desert. the amount of the khone is continually increasing; for the arab sheikh is not always contented with the quantity of corn he received in the preceding year, but asks something additional, as a present, which soon becomes a part of his accustomed dues. if the pasha of damascus were guided by sound policy, and a right view of his own interests, he might soon put an end to the exactions of the arabs, by keeping a few thousand men, well paid, in garrison in the principal places of the haouran; but instead of this, his object is to make the khone an immediate source of income to himself; the chief sheikhs of the fehely and serdie receive yearly from the pasha a present of a pelisse, which entitles them to the tribute of the villages, out of which the fehely pays about twenty purses, and the serdie twelve purses into the pasha's treasury. the serdie generally regulate the amount of the khone which they levy, by that which the fehely receive; and take half as much; but the khone paid to the aeneze chiefs is quite arbitrary, and the sum paid to a single sheikh varies according to his avidity; or the wealth of the fellahs, from thirty and forty piastres up to four hundred, which are generally paid in corn. these various oppressive taxes, under which the poor fellah groans, are looked upon as things of course, and just contributions; and he considers himself fortunate, if they form the whole of his [p. ]sufferings: but it too often happens that the pasha is a man who sets no bounds to his rapacity, and extraordinary sums are levied upon the village, by the simple command issued from the hakim el haouran to the village sheikh to levy three or four hundred piastres upon the peasants of the place. on these occasions the women are sometimes obliged to sell their ear-rings and bracelets, and the men their cattle, to satisfy the demand, and have no other hope than that a rich harvest in the following year shall make amends for their loss. the receipt of the miri of the whole pashalik of damascus is in the hands of the jew bankers, or serafs of the pasha, who have two and a half per cent. upon his revenue, and as much upon his expenditure. they usually distribute the villages amongst their creatures, who repair thither at the time of harvest, to receive the miri; and who generally extort, besides, something for themselves. the druses who inhabit the villages in the loehf, and those on the sides of the djebel haouran, are to be classed with the fellahs of the plain with regard to their mode of living and their relations with the government. their dress is the same as that of the fellahs to the w. of damascus; they seldom wear the keffie, and the grown up men do not go barefoot like the other fellahs of the haouran. i have already mentioned that their chief resides at soueida, of which village he is also the sheikh. on the death of the chief, the individual in his family who is in the highest estimation from wealth or personal character succeeds to the title, and is confirmed by the pasha. it is known that on the death of wehebi el hamdan, the present chief, who is upwards of eighty, shybely el hamdan, the sheikh of aaere, will succeed him. the chief has no income as such, it being derived from the village of which he is sheikh; and his authority over the others goes no further than to communicate to them the orders of the pasha. in manners these druses very much resemble those of the mountains of kesrouan. [p. ]the families form clans almost independent of each other; and among whom there are frequent quarrels. insults are studiously avenged by the respective families, and the law of blood-revenge is in full force among them, without being mitigated by the admission of any pecuniary commutation. they all go armed, as do the turks and christians of the haouran in general. few druses have more than one wife; but she may be divorced on very slight pretexts. with respect to their religion, the druses of the haouran, like those in mount libanus, have the class of men called akoul (sing. aakel), who are distinguished from the rest by a white turban, and the peculiarity of the folds in which they wear it. the akoul are not permitted to smoke tobacco; they never swear, and are very reserved in their manners and conversation. i was informed that these were their only obligations; and it appears probable, for i observed akoul boys of eight or ten years of age, from whom nothing more difficult could well be expected, and to whom it is not likely that any important secret would be imparted. i have seen akouls of that age, whose fathers were not of the order, because, as they told me, they could not abstain from smoking and swearing. the sheikhs are for the greater part akouls. the druses pray in their chapels, but not at stated periods; these chapels are called khalawe [arabic], i.e. an insulated place, and none but druses are allowed to enter them. they affect to follow the doctrines of mohammed, but few of them pray according to the turkish forms: they fast during ramadan in the presence of strangers, but eat at their own homes, and even of the flesh of the wild boar, which is frequently met with in these districts. it is a singular belief both among the western druses, and those of the haouran, that there are a great number of druses in england; an opinion founded perhaps upon the fanatical opinions of the christians of syria, who deny the english to be followers of christ, because they neither confess nor fast. when i first arrived at the druse village of aaere [p. ]there was a large company in the medhafe, and the sheikh had no opportunity of speaking to me in private; he therefore called for his inkstand, and wrote upon a piece of paper the following questions, which i answered as well as i could, and returned him the paper: "where do the five wadys flow to, in your country?--do you know the grain of the plant leiledj [arabic]; and where is it sown?--what is the name of the sultan of china?--are the towns of hadjar and nedjran in the yemen known to you?--is hadjar in ruins? and who will rebuild it?--is the moehdy (the saviour) yet come, or is he now upon the earth?". i have not been able to obtain any information concerning the period at which the druses first settled in these parts. min kadim [arabic], a long time ago, was the general answer of all those whom i questioned on the subject. during my stay at aaere news arrived there, that a body of one hundred and twenty druses had left the western mountains, and were coming to settle in haouran. the pasha of damascus has entrusted to the druses of the haouran, the defence of the neighbouring villages against such of the arabs as may be at war with him; but the druses perform this service very badly: they are the secret friends of all the arabs, to whom they abandon the villages of the plain, on the condition that their own brethren are not to be molested; and their sheikhs receive from the arabs presents in horses, cattle, and butter. while at aaere i witnessed an instance of the good understanding between the druses and the arabs serdie, whom i have already mentioned as having been at war with the pasha, at the time of my visit to the haouran: seeing in the evening some arabs stealing into the court-yard of the sheikh's house, i enquired who they were, and was told that they were serdie, come in search of information, whether any more troops were likely to be sent against them from damascus. it is for this kind of treachery that the fellahs in the haouran hate the druses. [p. ] the authority both of the druse and turkish village sheikh is very limited, in consequence of the facility with which the fellahs can transport themselves and families to another village. i was present during a dispute between a christian fellah and a druse chief, who wished to make the former pay for the ensuing year at the rate of the same number of fedhans that he had paid for the preceding year, though he had now one pair of oxen less. after much wrangling, and high words on both sides, the christian said, "very well, i shall not sow a single grain, but retire to another village;" and by the next morning he had made preparation for his departure; when the sheikh having called upon him, the affair was amicably settled, and a large dish of rice was dressed in token of reconciliation. when disputes happen between druses, they are generally settled by the interference of mutual friends, or by the sheikhs or their respective families, or by the great chiefs; or failing these, the two families of the two parties come to blows rather than bring their differences before the court of justice at damascus. among the turks litigations are, in the last extremity, decided by the kadhi of damascus, or by the pasha in person. the christians often bring their differences before the tribunal of priests or that of the patriarch of damascus, and before the kadhi in times when it is known that christians can obtain justice, which is not the case under every governor. the bedouins of the haouran are of two classes; those who are resident, and those who visit it in the spring and summer only. the resident arabs are the fehily [arabic], serdie [arabic], beni szakher [arabic], serhhan [arabic]; the arabs of the mountain haouran, or ahl el djebel [arabic], and those of the ledja [arabic]. by resident, i do not mean a fixed residence in villages, but that their wanderings are confined to the haouran, or to some particular districts of it. thus the four first mentioned move through every part of the country from zerka up to the plains of ard [p. ]zeikal, according to their relations with other tribes, their own affairs, and the state of pasturage in the different districts. the beni szakher generally encamp at the foot of the western mountains of belka and the heish, the serhhan near them, and the fehily and serdie in the midst of the cultivated districts, or at a short distance from them, according to the terms they are upon with the pasha.[when i was in the haouran the fehliy were encamped near the szaffa, the beni szakher near fedhein, the serhhan at the foot of the belka, and the serdie near om eddjemal.] the ahl el djebel move about in the mountain; those of the ledja seldom venture to encamp beyond their usual limits in that district. but i have spoken more largely of these tribes and their mutual interests in another place. the fehily and serdie are called ahl el dyrel, or national arabs, and pay tribute to the pasha, who, however, is often at war with them for withholding it, or for plundering his troops or the fellahs. if the pasha happens to be at war with other tribes, they are bound to join his troops; but in this they are guided entirely by the advantage which they are likely to derive from the contest. they receive khone from all the villages of the haouran, the djolan, and many of those in the djebel adjeloun. the ahl el djebel and the arabs el ledja are kept in more strict dependence upon the pasha than the other tribes; both are subject to an annual tribute, which is levied on each tent according to the wealth of its owner; this is collected from the arabs el ledja by the sheikh of the fellahs, and ascends from ten to sixty piastres for each tent. it seldom happens that the arabs el djebel prove rebels, but those of the ledja often with-hold the tribute, in the confidence that the recesses of their abode cannot he forced; in this case nothing makes them yield but want of [p. ]water, when their own springs failing, they are obliged to approach the perennial sources of the loehf. the arabs of the djebel haouran are the shepherds of the people of the plains, who entrust to them in summer and winter their flocks of goats and sheep, which they pasture during the latter season amongst the rocks of the mountains. in spring the arabs return the flocks to their owners, who sell a part of them at damascus, or make butter from the milk during the spring months. the arabs receive for their trouble one-fourth of the lambs and kids, and a like proportion of the butter. casual losses in the flocks are borne equally by both parties. the following are the different tribes of the ahl el djebel; esshenabele, el hassan, el haddie, ghiath, essherefat, mezaid, el kerad, beni adhan, and szammeral. of those of the ledja i have already spoken. the ahl el djebel are always at peace with the other arabs; but those of the ledja are often at war with the fehily and serdie. i come now to the second class, or wandering arabs. in may the whole haouran is coverered with swarms of wanderers from the desert, who remain there till after september; these are at present almost exclusively of the tribe of aeneze. formerly the haouran was often visited by the sherarat, from the mekka road, at fifteen stations from damascus; by the shammor, from djebel shammor, and by the dhofir from the irak country. on the arrival of the aeneze, the resident arabs who may happen to be at war with them, conceal themselves in the neighbourhood of the western mountain or in the szaffa, or they retire towards mezareib and szannamein. the aeneze come for a two-fold purpose, water and pasturage for the summer, and a provision of corn for the winter. if they are at peace with the pasha they encamp quietly among the villages, near the springs or wells if at [p. ]war with him, for their relations with the government of damascus are as uncertain as their own with each other, they keep in the district to the s. of boszra, towards om eddjemal and fedhein, extending their limits south as far as el zerka. the pasha generally permits them to purchase corn from the haouran, but in years when a scarcity is apprehended, a restriction is put upon them. till within a few years the aeneze were the constant carriers of the hadj, and made yearly contracts with the pasha for several thousand camels, by which they were considerable gainers, as well as by the fixed tribute which many of their sheikhs had made themselves entitled to from the pilgrim caravan; and by their nightly plunder of stragglers, and loaded camels during the march. these advantages have made the aeneze inclined to preserve friendly terms with the pashalik of damascus, and to break allegiance to the wahabi chief, notwithstanding they have been for twelve years converts to his religious doctrines. if, however, they shall become convinced that the hadj is no longer practicable, they will soon turn their arms against their former friends, an event which is justly dreaded by the people of the haouran. the tribe of aeneze which most usually visits the haouran is the would ali, under their chiefs etteiar and ibn ismayr; the latter has at present more interest than any other arab sheikh, with the pasha, from whom he occasionally receives considerable presents, as an indemnification for his losses by the suspension of the hadj, as well as to induce him to keep his arabs on good terms with the turkish governors of the pashalik. [p. ] description of a journey from damascus through the mountains of arabia petraea, and the desert el ty, to cairo; in the summer of . wishing to obtain a further knowledge of the mountains to the east of the jordan, and being still more desirous of visiting the almost unknown districts to the east of the dead sea, as well as of exploring the country which lies between the latter and the red sea, i resolved to pursue that route from damascus to cairo, in preference to the direct road through jerusalem and ghaza, where i could not expect to collect much information important for its novelty. knowing that my intended way led through a diversity of bedouin tribes, i thought it advisable to equip myself in the simplest manner. i assumed the most common bedouin dress, took no baggage with me, and mounted a mare that was not likely to excite the cupidity of the arabs. after sun-set, on the th of june, , i left damascus, and slept that night at kefer souse, a considerable village, at a short distance from the city-gate, in the house of the guide whom i had hired to conduct me to tabaria. kefer souse [arabic] is noted for its olive plantations; and the oil which they produce is esteemed the best in the vicinity of damascus. june th.--in one hour we passed the village dareya [arabic]; om el sheratytt [p. ] where terminate the gardens and orchards which surround damascus on all sides to a distance of from six to ten miles. we found the peasants occupied with the corn harvest, and with the irrigation of the cotton fields, in which the plants had just made their appearance above ground. the plain is every where cultivated. in two hours and three quarters we passed kokab [arabic], a small village on the western extremity of the chain of low hills known by the appellation of djebel kessoue. to the left of the road from dareya to kokab are the villages moattamye [arabic], djedeide [arabic] and artous [arabic]; and to the right of it, el ashrafe [arabic], and szahhnaya [arabic]. the direction of our route was w.s.w. beyond kokab, a small part only of the plain is cultivated. at three hours and three quarters, to our left, was the village wadhye [arabic], and a little farther the village zaky [arabic]. route s.w. b. w. four hours and a half, khan el sheikh [arabic], a house for the accommodation of travellers, this being the great road from akka to damascus. the khan is inhabited by a few families, and stands near the river seybarany [arabic], which flows towards the ghoutta of damascus. we followed the banks of the river over a stony desert; on the opposite bank extends the rocky district called war ezzaky [arabic], mentioned in my former journal.[see p. .] in five hours and three quarters we passed a rocky tract called om el sheratytt [arabic]. several heaps of stones indicate the graves of travellers murdered in this place by the druses, who, during their wars with djezzar pasha, were in the habit of descending from the neighbouring mountain, djebel el sheikh, in order to waylay the caravans. the seybarany runs here in a deep bed of the haouran black stone. in six hours and a quarter we passed the river, over a solid bridge. at six hours and kanneytra [p. ] three quarters is the village sasa [arabic], at the foot of an insulated hill; it is well built, and contains a large khan, with a good mosque. the former was full of travellers. we slept here till midnight, and then joined a small caravan destined for akka. june th.--our road lay over a rocky plain, called nakker sasa [arabic], slightly ascending. in one hour we passed a bridge over the river meghannye [arabic]. at the end of three hours we issued from the rocks, and entered into a forest of low straggling oak-trees, called heish shakkara [arabic]. three hours and a half, we passed to the right of an insulated hill, called tel djobba. the whole country is uncultivated. in four hours we saw, at about half an hour to our right, the ruined khan of kereymbe [arabic]; the road still ascending. near kereymbe begins the mountain called heish el kanneytra, a lower ridge of djebel el sheikh, (the mount hermon of the scriptures), from which it branches out southwards. at five hours tel hara [arabic] was about one hour and a half to the s. of the road, which from sasa followed the direction of s.w. and sometimes that of s.w. by w. at seven hours is the village of kanneytra [arabic]; from kereymbe to this place is an open country, with a fertile soil, and several springs. kanneytra is now in ruins, having been deserted by its inhabitants since the period of the passage of the visier�s troops into egypt. it is enclosed by a strong wall, which contains within its circuit a good khan, a fine mosque with several short columns of gray granite, and a copious spring; there are other springs also near it. on the north side of the village are the remains of a small ancient city, perhaps canatha; these ruins consist of little more than the foundations of habitations. the caravans coming from akka generally halt for the night at kanneytra. we reposed here a few hours, and then continued our journey, over ground reservoirs [p. ] which still continues to rise, until we reached the chain of hills, which form the most conspicuous part of the mountain heish. the ground being here considerably elevated above the plain of damascus and the djolan, these hills, when seen from afar, appear like mountains, although, when viewed from their foot, they are of very moderate height. they are insulated, and terminate, as i have already mentioned, at the hill called tel faras, towards the plain of djolan. the bedouins who pasture their cattle in these mountains retire in the hot season towards the djebel el sheikh. the governor of the heish el kanneytra, who receives his charge every year from the pasha, used formerly to reside at kanneytra; but since that place has been deserted, he usually encamps with the turkmans of the heish, and goes from one encampment to another, to collect the miri from these arabs. at the end of seven hours and a half we passed tel abou nedy [arabic], with the tomb of the sheikh abou nedy. at eight hours is a reservoir of water, a few hundred paces to the s. of the road, which the bedouins call birket el ram [arabic], and the peasants birket abou ermeil [arabic]; it lies near the foot of tel abou nedy, is about one hundred and twenty paces in circumference, and is supplied by two springs which are never dry; one of them is in the bottom of a deep well in the midst of the birket. just by this reservoir are the ruins of an ancient town, about a quarter of an hour in circuit, of which nothing remains but large heaps of stones. five minutes farther is another birket, which is filled by rain water only. the neighbourhood of these reservoirs is covered with a forest of short oak trees. the rock of the mountain consists of sand-stone, and the basalt of haouran. beyond the birkets the road begins to descend gently, and at nine hours and a half, just by the road, on the left, is a large pond called birket nefah or tefah [arabic] (i am uncertain which), about two hundred paces in djissr beni yakoub [p. ] circumference: there are remains of a stone channel communicating with the birket. some of my companions asserted that the pond contained a spring, while others denied it; from which i inferred that the water never dries up completely. i take this to be the lake phiala, laid down in the maps of syria, as there is no other lake or pond in the neighbourhood. from hence towards feik, upon the mountains to the e. of the lake of tiberias, is an open country intersected by many wadys. at ten hours we passed a large hill to the left, called tel el khanzyr [arabic], the boar�s hill. the ground was here covered with the finest pasturage; the dry grass was as high as a horse, and so thick, that we passed through it with difficulty. at ten hours and a half are several springs by the side of the road, called ayoun essemmam [arabic]. eleven hours and a quarter, are the ruins of a city called noworan [arabic], with a copious spring near it. some walls yet remain, and large hewn stones are lying about. at thirteen hours is the bridge over the jordan, called djissr beni yakoub [arabic]; the road continues in an easy slope till a quarter of an hour above the bridge, where it becomes a steep descent. the river flows in a narrow bed, and with a rapid stream; for the lake houle, whose southern extremity is about three quarters of an hour north of the bridge, is upon a level considerably higher than that of the lake of tiberias. the bridge is of a solid construction, with four arches: on its e. side is a khan, much frequented by travellers, in the middle of which are the ruins of an ancient square building constructed with basalt, and having columns in its four angles. the khan contains also a spring. the pasha of damascus here keeps a guard of a few men, principally for the purpose of collecting the ghaffer, or tax paid by all christians who cross the bridge. the ordinary ghaffer is about nine-pence a head, but the pilgrims who pass here about easter, in their way to jerusalem, pay seven ain feraein [p. ] shillings. the bridge divides the pashaliks of damascus and akka. on the west of it is a guard-house belonging to the latter. banias (caesarea philippi) bears from a point above the bridge n. by e. the lake of houle, or samachonitis, is inhabited only on the eastern borders; there we find the villages of esseira [arabic] and eddeir [arabic]; and between them a ruined place called kherbet eddaherye [arabic] complete. the south-west shore bears the name of melaha, from the ground being covered with a saline crust. the fisheries of the lake are rented of the mutsellim of szaffad by some fishermen of that town. the narrow valley of the jordan continues for about two hours s. of the bridge, at which distance the river falls into the lake of tiberias. about an hour and a quarter from the bridge, on the e. side of the river, is the village battykha (arabic); its inhabitants cultivate large quantities of cucumbers and gourds, which they carry to the market of damascus, three weeks before the same fruits ripen there; the village is also noted for its excellent honey. june st.--we ascended the western banks of the valley of the jordan, and then continued upon a plain, called ard aaseifera (arabic), a small part of which is cultivated by the inhabitants of szaffad. there are several springs in the plain. in an hour and a quarter, we began to ascend the chain of mountains known by the name of djebel szaffad, which begin on the n.w. side of the lake of houle, being a southern branch of the djebel el sheikh, or rather of the anti-libanus. on the steep acclivity of this mountain we passed to the left of the village feraab (arabic). the road ascends through a narrow valley, called akabet feraein, and passes by the spring of feraein (arabic). in two hours and three quarters from the bridge, we reached the summit of the mountain, from whence the djebel el sheik bears n.e. the whole is calcareous, szaffad [p. ] with very little basalt or tufwacke. at the end of three hours and a half, after a short descent, we reached szaffad (arabic), the ancient japhet; it is a neatly built town, situated round a hill, on the top of which is a castle of saracen structure. the castle appears to have undergone a thorough repair in the course of the last century, it has a good wall, and is surrounded by a broad ditch. it commands an extensive view over the country towards akka, and in clear weather the sea is visible from it. there is another but smaller castle, of modern date, with halfruined walls, at the foot of the hill. the town is built upon several low hills, which divide it into different quarters; of these the largest is inhabited exclusively by jews, who esteem szaffad as a sacred place. the whole may contain six hundred houses, of which one hundred and fifty belong to the jews, and from eighty to one hundred to the christians. in the jews quarter was completely sacked by the turks, after the retreat of the french from akka; the french had occupied szaffad with a garrison of about four hundred men, whose outposts were advanced as far as the bridge of beni yakoub. the town is governed by a mutsellim, whose district comprises about a dozen villages. the garrison consists of moggrebyns, the greater part of whom have married here, and cultivate a part of the neighbouring lands. the town is surrounded with large olive plantations and vineyards, but the principal occupations of the inhabitants are indigo dyeing, and the manufacture of cotton cloth. on every friday a market is held, to which all the peasants of the neighbourhood resort. mount tabor bears from szaffad s.s.w. june d.--as there is no khan for travellers at szaffad, and i had no letters to any person in the town, i was obliged to lodge at the public coffee house. we left the town early in the morning, and descended the side of the mountain towards the lake; here the ain tabegha [p. ] ground is for the greater part uncultivated and without trees. at two hours and a quarter is khan djob yousef (arabic), or the khan of joseph�s well, situated in a narrow plain. the khan is falling rapidly into ruin; near it is a large birket. here is shewn the well into which joseph was let down by his brothers; it is in a small court-yard by the side of the khan, is about three feet in diameter, and at least thirty feet deep. i was told that the bottom is hewn in the rock: its sides were well lined with masonry as far as i could see into it, and the water never dries up, a circumstance which makes it difficult to believe that this was the well into which joseph was thrown. the whole of the mountain in the vicinity is covered with large pieces of black stone; but the main body of the rock is calcareous. the country people relate that the tears of jacob dropping upon the ground while he was in search of his son turned the white stones black, and they in consequence call these stones jacob�s tears (arabic). joseph�s well is held in veneration by turks as well as christians; the former have a small chapel just by it, and caravan travellers seldom pass here without saying a few prayers in honour of yousef. the khan is on the great road from akka to damascus. it is inhabited by a dozen moggrebyn soldiers, with their families, who cultivate the fields near it. we continued to descend from djob yousef; the district is here called koua el kerd (arabic), and a little lower down redjel el kaa (arabic). at one hour and a half from the djob yousef we came to the borders of the lake of tiberias. at a short distance to the e. of the spot where we reached the plain, is a spring near the border of the lake, called ain tabegha (arabic), with a few houses and a mill; but the water is so strongly impregnated with salt as not to be drinkable. the few inhabitants of this miserable place live by fishing. to the n.e. of tabegha, hottein [p. ] between it and the jordan, are the ruins called tel houm (arabic), which are generally supposed to be those of capernaum. here is a well of salt water, called tennour ayoub (arabic). the rivulet el eshe (arabic) empties itself into the lake just by. beyond tabegha we came to a ruined khan, near the borders of the lake, called mennye (arabic), a large and well constructed building. here begins a plain of about twenty minutes in breadth, to the north of which the mountain stretches down close to the lake. that plain is covered with the tree called doum (arabic) or theder (arabic), which bears a small yellow fruit like the zaarour. it was now about mid-day, and the sun intensely hot, we therefore looked out for a shady spot, and reposed under a very large fig-tree, at the foot of which a rivulet of sweet water gushes out from beneath the rocks, and falls into the lake at a few hundred paces distant. the tree has given its name to the spring, ain-et-tin (arabic); near it are several other springs, which occasion a very luxuriant herbage along the borders of the lake. the pastures of mennye are proverbial for their richness among the inhabitants of the neighbouring countries. high reeds grow along the shore, but i found none of the aromatic reeds and rushes mentioned by strabo.[greek. l. , p. ] the n.w. and s. shores are generally sandy, without reeds, but large quantities grow at the mouths of the wadys on the e. side. in thirty-eight minutes from khan mennye we passed a small rivulet, which waters wady lymoun. at about one hour�s distance from our road, up in the mountain, we saw the village sendjol (arabic), about half an hour to the west of which lies the village hottein (arabic). in forty-five minutes we passed the large branch of the wady lymoun. the mountains which border the lake here terminate tabaria [p. ] in a perpendicular cliff, which is basaltish with an upper stratum of calcareous rock; and the shore changes from the direction s.w. by s. to that of s. by e. in the angle stands the miserable village el medjdel (arabic), one hour distant from ain-et-tin, and agreeing both in name and position with the ancient magdala. the wady hammam, in which stands the kalaat ibn-maan, branches off from medjdel. proceeding from hence the shore of the lake is overgrown with defle (solanum furiosum), and there are several springs close to the water�s side. at the end of two hours and a quarter from ain-et-tin, we reached tabaria (arabic). june d.--there being no khan for travellers at tabaria i went to the catholic priest, and desired him to let me have the keys of the church, that i might take up my quarters there; he gave them to me, but finding the place swarming with vermin, i removed into the open churchyard. tabaria, the ancient tiberias,[tel el faras, the southern extremity of djebel heish, bears from a point above tabaria n.e. by e.] stands close to the lake, upon a small plain, surrounded by mountains. its situation is extremely hot and unhealthy, as the mountain impedes the free course of the westerly winds which prevail throughout syria during the summer. hence intermittent fevers, especially those of the quartan form, are very common in the town in that season. little rain falls in winter, snow is almost unknown on the borders of the lake, and the temperature, on the whole, appears to be very nearly the same as that of the dead sea. the town is surrounded towards the land by a thick and well built wall, about twenty feet in height, with a high parapet and loop-holes. it surrounds the city on three sides, and touches the water at its two [p. ] extremities; but there are some remains on the shore of the lake, which seem to indicate that the town was once inclosed on this side also. i observed, likewise, some broken columns of granite in the water close to the shore. the town wall is flanked by twenty round towers standing at unequal distances. both towers and walls are built with black stones of moderate size, and seem to be the work of not very remote times; the whole being in a good state of repair, the place may be considered as almost impregnable to syrian soldiers. [map not included] a, the town gate; b, the serai or palace of the mutsellim, a spacious building, which has lately been repaired; c, the mosque, a fine building, but in bad condition; d, the catholic church; e, the gate of the jews quarter; f, a mosque; g, a range of large vaults; h, a small town-gate now walled up; i, a newly built bazar. the mosque (f) is a handsome arched building, and was anciently a church. the range of vaults at g, which are close to the sea shore, communicate with each other by cross alleys and have very low roofs, which terminate at top in a point: they are well built with stones joined with a very thick cement, and appear to have been destined for warehouses; in summer they are almost the only cool places in the town. i could not find any inscriptions, that might assist in determining their date. tabaria, with its district of ten or twelve villages, forms a part of the pashalik of akka. being considered one of the principal points of defence of the pashalik, a garrison of two or three hundred [p. ] men is constantly kept here, the greater part of whom are married, and settled. during the reign of djezzar a colony of two hundred afghan soldiers were persuaded by the pasha to establish themselves at tabaria; many of them were natives of kashmir: and among others their aga, who was sent for expressly by djezzar. after the pasha�s death they dispersed over syria, but i found two kashmirines still remaining, who gave me the history of their colony in broken arabic. the christian church is dedicated to st. peter, and is said to have been founded on the spot where st. peter threw his net. it belongs to the community of terra santa and is visited annually on st. peter�s day by the frank missionaries of nazaret, who celebrate mass in it on this occasion. in the street, not far from the church, is a large stone, formerly the architrave of some building; upon which are sculptured in bas-relief two lions seizing two sheep. there are about four thousand inhabitants in tabaria, one-fourth of whom are jews. the christian community consists only of a few families, but they enjoy great liberty, and are on a footing of equality with the turks. the difference of treatment which the christians experience from the turks in different parts of syria is very remarkable. in some places a christian would be deprived of his last farthing, if not of his life, were he to curse the mohammedan religion when quarrelling with a turk; while in others but a few hours distant, he retorts with impunity upon the mohammedan, every invective which he may utter against the christian religion. at szaffad, where is a small christian community, the turks are extremely intolerant; at tiberias, on the contrary, i have seen christians beating turks in the public bazar. this difference seems chiefly to depend upon the character of the local [p. ] government. that of soleiman pasha of akka, the successor of djezzar, is distinguished for its religious tolerance; while damascus still continues to be the seat of fanatism, and will remain so as long as there are no frank establishments or european agents in that city. a bazar has lately been built at tabaria, in which i counted about a dozen retail shops. the traffic of the inhabitants is principally with the bedouins of the ghor, and of the district of szaffad. the shopkeepers repair every monday to the khan at the foot of mount tabor, where a market, called souk el khan (arabic) is held, and where the merchandize of the town is bartered chiefly for cattle. the far greater part of the inhabitants of tabaria cultivate the soil; they sow the narrow plain to the west of the town, and the declivity of the western mountain, which they irrigate artificially by means of several springs. the heat of the climate would enable them to grow almost any tropical plant, but the only produce of their fields are wheat, barley, dhourra, tobacco, melons, grapes, and a few vegetables. the melons are of the finest quality, and are in great demand at akka and damascus, where that fruit is nearly a month later in ripening. knowing how fond the syrians in general are of the early fruits, i sent to my friends at damascus a mule load of these melons, which, according to eastern fashion, is a very acceptable and polite present. about three hundred and fifty pounds weight english of melons sell at tabaria for about eight shillings. i was informed that the shrub which produces the balm of mecca succeeds very well here, and that several people have it in their gardens.[strabo mentions the [greek], as growing on the lake, p. . ed.] it was described to me as a low shrub, with leaves resembling those of the vine, the fruit about three inches long and in the form of a cucumber, changing from green to a yellow colour when ripe; it is gathered in june, oil is then poured over [p. ] it, and in this state it is exposed to the sun, after which the juic[e] forming the balm is expressed from it. the jews of tiberias occupy a quarter on the shore of the lake in the middle of the town, which has lately been considerably enlarged by the purchase of several streets: it is separated from the rest of the town by a high wall, and has only one gate of entrance, which is regularly shut at sunset, after which no person is allowed to pass. there are one hundred and sixty, or two hundred families, of which forty or fifty are of polish origin, the rest are jews from spain, barbary, and different parts of syria. tiberias is one of the four holy cities of the talmud; the other three being szaffad, jerusalem, and hebron. it is esteemed holy ground, because jacob is supposed to have resided here, and because it is situated on the lake genasereth, from which, according to the most generally received opinion of the talmud, the messiah is to rise. the greater part of the jews who reside in these holy places do not engage in mercantile pursuits; but are a society of religious persons occupied solely with their sacred duties. there are among them only two who are merchants, and men of property, and these are styled kafers or unbelievers by the others, who do nothing but read and pray. jewish devotees from all parts of the globe flock to the four holy cities, in order to pass their days in praying for their own salvation, and that of their brethren, who remain occupied in worldly pursuits. but the offering up of prayers by these devotees is rendered still more indispensible by a dogma contained in the talmud, that the world will return to its primitive chaos, if prayers are not addressed to the god of israel at least twice a week in these four cities; this belief produces considerable pecuniary advantage to the supplicants, as the missionaries sent abroad to collect alms for the support of these religious fraternities plead the danger of the threatened chaos, to induce the rich jews to send supplies of money, in [p. ] order that the prayers may be constantly offered up. three or four missionaries are sent out every year; one to the coasts of africa from damietta to mogadore, another to the coasts of europe from venice to gibraltar, a third to the archipelago, constantinople, and anatolia; and a fourth through syria. the charity of the jews of london is appealed to from time to time; but the jews of gibraltar have the reputation of being more liberal than any others, and, from four to five thousand spanish dollars are received annually from them. the polish jews settled at tabaria send several collectors regularly into bohemia and poland, and the rich jewish merchants in those countries have their pensioners in the holy land, to whom they regularly transmit sums of money. great jealousy seems to prevail between the syrian and polish jews. the former being in possession of the place, oblige the foreighers to pay excessively high for their lodgings; and compel them also to contribute considerable sums towards the relief of the indigent syrians, while they themselves never give the smallest trifle to the poor from poland. the pilgrim jews, who repair to tiberias, are of all ages from twelve to sixty. if they bring a little money with them the cunning of their brethren here soon deprives them of it; for as they arrive with the most extravagant ideas, of the holy cities, they are easily imposed upon before their enthusiasm begins to cool. to rent a house in which some learned rabbin or saint died, to visit the tombs of the most renowned devotees, to have the sacred books opened in their presence, and public prayers read for the salvation of the new-comers, all these inestimable advantages, together with various other minor religious tricks, soon strip the stranger of his last farthing; he then becomes dependent upon the charity of his nation, upon foreign subsidies, or upon the fervour of some inexperienced pilgrim. those who go abroad as [p. ] missionaries generally realise some property, as they are allowed ten per cent. upon all alms collected, besides their travelling expenses. the jewish devotees pass the whole day in the schools or the synagogue, reciting the old testament and the talmud, both of which many of them know entirely by heart. they all write hebrew; but i did not see any fine hand-writing amongst them; their learning, seems to be on the same level as that of the turks, among whom an olema thinks he has attained the pinnacle of knowledge if he can recite all the koran together with some thousand of hadeath, or sentences of the prophet, and traditions concerning him; but neither jews, nor turks, nor christians, in these countries, have the slightest idea of that criticism, which might guide them to a rational explanation or emendation of their sacred books. it was in vain that i put questions to several of the first rabbins, concerning the desert in which the children of israel sojourned for forty years; i found that my own scanty knowledge of the geography of palestine, and of its partition amongst the twelve tribes, was superior to theirs. there are some beautiful copies of the books of moses in the syrian synagogue, written upon a long roll of leather, not parchment, but no one could tell me when or where they were made; i suspect, however, that they came from bagdad, where the best hebrew scribes live, and of whose writings i had seen many fine specimens at aleppo and damascus. the libraries of the two schools at tiberias are moderately stocked with hebrew books, most of which have been printed at vienna and venice. except some copies of the old testament and the talmud, they have no manuscripts. they observe a singular custom here in praying; while the rabbin recites the psalms of david, or the prayers extracted from them, the congregation frequently imitate by their voice or gestures, [p. ] the meaning of some remarkable passages; for example, when the rabbin pronounces the words, �praise the lord with the sound of the trumpet,� they imitate the sound of the trumpet through their closed fists. when �a horrible tempest� occurs, they puff and blow to represent a storm; or should he mention �the cries of the righteous in distress,� they all set up a loud screaming; and it not unfrequently happens that while some are still blowing the storm, others have already begun the cries of the righteous, thus forming a concert which it is difficult for any but a zealous hebrew to hear with gravity. the jews enjoy here perfect religious freedom, more particularly since soleiman, whose principal minister, haym farkhy, is a jew, has succeeded to the pashalik of akka. during the life of djezzar pasha they were often obliged to pay heavy fines; at present they merely pay the kharadj. their conduct, however, is not so prudent as it ought to be, in a country where the turks are always watching for a pretext to extort money; they sell wine and brandy to the soldiers of the town, almost publicly, and at their weddings they make a very dangerous display of their wealth. on these occasions they traverse the city in pompous procession, carrying before the bride the plate of almost the whole community, consisting of large dishes, coffee pots, coffee cups, &c., and they feast in the house of the bridegroom for seven successive days and nights. the wedding feast of a man who has about fifty pounds a year, and no jew can live with his family on less, will often cost more than sixty pounds. they marry at a very early age, it being not uncommon to see mothers of eleven and fathers of thirteen years. the rabbin of tiberias is under the great rabbin of szaffad, who pronounces final judgment on all contested points of law and religion. i found amongst the polish jews, one from bohemia, an honest [p. ] german, who was overjoyed on hearing me speak his own language, and who carried me through the quarter, introducing me to all his acquaintance. in every house i was offered brandy, and the women appeared to be much less shy than they are in other parts of syria. it may easily be supposed that many of these jews are discontented with their lot. led by the stories of the missionaries to conceive the most exalted ideas of the land of promise, as they still call it, several of them have absconded from their parents, to beg their way to palestine, but no sooner do they arrive in one or other of the four holy cities, than they find by the aspect of all around them, that they have been deceived. a few find their way back to their native country, but the greater number remain, and look forward to the inestimable advantage of having their bones laid in the holy land. the cemetery of the jews of tiberias is on the declivity of the mountain, about half an hour from the town; where the tombs of their most renowed persons are visited much in the same manner as are the sepulchres of mussulman saints. i was informed that a great rabbin lay buried there, with fourteen thousand of his scholars around him. the ancient town of tiberias does not seem to have occupied any part of the present limits of tabaria, but was probably situated at a short distance farther to the south, near the borders of the lake. its ruins begin at about five minutes walk from the wall of the present town, on the road to the hot-wells. the only remains of antiquity are a few columns, heaps of stones, and some half ruined walls and foundations of houses. on the sea-side, close to the water, are the ruins of a long thick wall or mole, with a few columns of gray granite, lying in the sea. about mid-way between the town and the hot-wells, in the midst of the plain, i saw seven columns, of which two only are standing upright; and there may probably be more lying on the ground, hid among the high [p. ] grass with which the plain is covered; they are of gray granite, about twelve or fourteen feet long, and fifteen inches in diameter; at a short distance from them is the fragment of a beautiful column of red egyptian granite, of more than two feet in diameter. these ruins stretch along the sea-shore, as far as the hot springs, and extend to about three hundred yards inland. the springs are at thirty-five minutes from the modern town, and twenty paces from the water�s edge; they were probably very near the gate of the ancient town. no vestiges of buildings of any size are visible here; nothing being seen but the ruins of small arched buildings, and heaps of stone. there are some other remains of ancient habitations on the north side of the town, upon a hill close to the sea, which is connected with the mountain; here are also some thick walls which indicate that this point, which commands the town, was anciently fortified. none of the ruined buildings in tiberias or the neighbourhood are constructed with large stones, denoting a remote age; all the walls, of which any fragments yet remain, being of small black stones cemented together by a very thick cement. upon a low hill on the s.w. side of the town stands a well built mosque, and the chapel of a female saint. the present hot-bath is built over the spring nearest the town, and consists of two double rooms, the men�s apartment being separated from that of the women. the former is a square vaulted chamber, with a large stone basin in the centre, surrounded by broad stone benches; the spring issues from the wall, and flows into the basin or bath. after remaining in the water for about ten minutes, the bathers seat themselves naked upon the stone benches, where they remain for an hour. with this chamber a coffee room cummunicates, in which a waiter lives during the bathing season, and where visitors from a distance may lodge. the spring [p. ] which has thus been appropriated to bathing, is the largest of four hot sources; the volume of its water is very considerable, and would be sufficient to turn a mill. continuing along the shore for about two hundred paces, the three other hot-springs are met with, or four, if we count separately two small ones close together. the most southern spring seems to be the hottest of all; the hand cannot be held in it. the water deposits upon the stones over which it flows in its way towards the sea, a thick crust, but the colour of the deposit is not the same from all the springs; in some it is white, in the others it is of a red yellowish hue, a circumstance which seems to indicate that the nature of the water is not the same in all the sources. there are no remains whatever of ancient buildings near the hottest spring. people from all parts of syria resort to these baths, which are reckoned most efficacious in july; they are recommended principally for rheumatic complaints, and cases of premature debility. two patients only were present when i visited them. some public women of damascus, who were kept by the garrison of tabaria, had established themselves in the ruined vaults and caverns near the baths. in the fourteenth century, according to the testimony of the arabian geographers, the tomb of lokman the philosopher was shewn at tiberias. not having been immediately able to find a guide to accompany me along the valley of the jordan, i visited a fortress in the mountain near medjdel,[see page .] of which i had heard much at tabaria. it is called kalaat ibn maan (arabic), the castle of the son of maan, or kalaat hamam (arabic), the pigeon�s castle, on account of the vast quantity of wild pigeons that breed there. it is situated half kalaat hamam [p. ] an hour to the west of medjdel, on the cliff which borders the wady hamam. in the calcareous mountain are many natural caverns, which have been united together by passages cut in the rock, and enlarged, in order to render them more commodious for habitation; walls have also been built across the natural openings, so that no person could enter them except through the narrow communicating passages; and wherever the nature of the almost perpendicular cliff permitted it, small bastions were built, to defend the entrance of the castle, which has been thus rendered almost impregnable. the perpendicular cliff forms its protection above, and the access from below is by a narrow path, so steep as not to allow of a horse mounting it. in the midst of the caverns several deep cisterns have been hewn. the whole might afford refuge to about six hundred men; but the walls are now much damaged. the place was probably the work of some powerful robber, about the time of the crusades; a few vaults of communication, with pointed arches, denote gothic architecture. below in the valley runs a small rivulet, which empties itself into the wady lymoun. here the peasants of medjdel cultivate some gardens. in returning from the kalaat hamam i was several times reprimanded by my guide, for not taking proper care of the lighted tobacco that fell from my pipe. the whole of the mountain is thickly covered with dry grass, which readily takes fire, and the slightest breath of air instantly spreads the conflagration far over the country, to the great risk of the peasant�s harvest. the arabs who inhabit the valley of the jordan invariably put to death any person who is known to have been even the innocent cause of firing the grass, and they have made it a public law among themselves, that even in the height of intestine warfare, no one shall attempt to set his enemy�s harvest on fire. one evening, while at tabaria, i saw a large fire on the opposite side of the lake, which lake of tiberias [p. ] spread with great velocity for two days, till its progress was checked by the wady feik. the water of the lake of tiberias along its shores from medjdel to the hot-wells, is of considerable depth, with no shallows. i was told that the water rises during the rainy season, three or four feet above its ordinary level, which seems not at all improbable, considering the great number of winter torrents which empty themselves into the lake. the northern part is full of fish, but i did not see a single one at szammagh at the southern extremity.[see p. ] the most common species are the binni, or carp, and the mesht (arabic), which is about a foot long, and five inches broad, with a flat body, like the sole. the fishery of the lake is rented at seven hundred piastres per annum: but the only boat that was employed on it by the fishermen fell to pieces last year, and such is the indolence of these people, that they have not yet supplied its loss. the lake furnishes the inhabitants of tiberias with water, there being no spring of sweet water near the town. several houses have salt wells. june th.�i took a guide to mount tabor. the whole of this country, even to the gates of damascus, is in a state of insecurity, which renders it very imprudent to travel alone. merchants go only in large caravans. we ascended the mountain to the west of the town, and in thirty-five minutes passed the ruined vil[lage] of szermedein (arabic), on the declivity of the mountain, where is a fine spring, and the tomb of a celebrated saint. the people of tabaria here cultivate dhourra, melons, and tobacco. at the end of one hour we reached the top of the steep mountain, from whence mount tabor, or djebel tor (arabic), as the natives call it, bears s.w. by s. from hence the road continues on a gentle mount tabor [p. ] declivity, in the midst of well cultivated dhourra fields, as far as a low tract called ardh el hamma (arabic). the whole district is covered with the thorny shrub merar (arabic). on the west side of ardh el hamma we again ascended, and reached the village of kefer sebt (arabic), distant two hours and a half from tabaria, and situated on the top of a range of hills which run parallel to those of tabaria. about half an hour to the n.e. is the spring ain dhamy (arabic), in a deep valley. from hence a wide plain extends to the foot of djebel tor; in crossing it, we saw on our right, about three quarters of an hour from the road, the village louby (arabic), and a little farther on, the village shedjare (arabic). the plain was covered with the wild artichoke, called khob (arabic); it bears a thorny violet coloured flower, in the shape of an artichoke, upon a stem five feet in height. in three hours and a quarter, we arrived at the khan of djebel tor (arabic), a large ruinous building, inhabited by a few families. on the opposite side of the road is a half ruined fort. a large fair is held here every monday. though the khan is at no great distance from the foot of mount tabor, the people could not inform us whether or not the mount was inhabited at present; nor were they hospitable enough either to lend or sell us the little provision we might want, should there be no inhabitants. at a quarter of an hour from the khan is a fine spring, where we found an encampment of bedouins of the tribe of szefeyh (arabic), whose principal riches consist in cows. my guide went astray in the valleys which surround the lower parts of djebel tor, and we were nearly three hours, from our departure from the khan, in reaching the top of the mount. mount tabor is almost insulated, and overtops all the neighbouring summits. on its south and west sides extends a large [p. ] plain, known by the name of merdj ibn aamer (arabic), the plain of esdrelon of the scriptures. to the s. of the plain are the mountains of nablous, and to the n. of it, those of nazareth, which reach to the foot of mount tabor, terminating at the village of daboury. the plain of esdrelon is about eight hours in length and four in breadth, it is very fertile, but at present almost entirely deserted. the shape of mount tabor is that of a truncated cone; its sides are covered to the top with a forest of oak and wild pistachio trees; its top is about half an hour in circuit. the mountain is entirely calcareous. we found on the top a single family of greek christians, refugees from ezra, a village in the haouran, where i had known them during my stay there in november, . they had retired to this remote spot, to avoid paying taxes to the government, and expected to remain unnoticed; they rented the upper plain at the rate of fifty piastres per annum from the sheikh of daboury, to which village the mountain belongs; the harvest, which they were now gathering in, was worth about twelve hundred piastres, and they had had the good fortune not to be disturbed by any tax-gatherers, which will certainly not be the case next year, should they remain here. on the top of mount tabor are found the remains of a large fortress. a thick wall, constructed with large stones, may be traced quite round the summit, close to the edge of the precipice; on several parts of it are the remains of bastions. on the west side a high arched gate, called bab el haoua (arabic), or the gate of the winds, is shewn, which appears to have been the principal entrance. the area is overspread with the ruins of private dwellings, built of stone with great solidity. there are no springs, but a great number of reservoirs have been cut in the rock, two of which are still of service in supplying water. the christians consider [p. ] mount tabor a holy place, in honour of the transfiguration, but the exact spot at which it took place is not known; and the latins and greeks are at variance upon the subject. the latins celebrate the sacred event in a small cavern, where they have formed a chapel; at about five minutes walk from which, the greeks have built a low circular wall, with an altar before it, for the same purpose. the latin missionaries of the frank convent of nazareth send annually two fathers to celebrate a mass in their chapel; they generally choose st. peter�s day for making this visit, and arrive here in the morning, in order that they may read the evening mass in the church of st. peter at tabaria. the greek priests of nazareth visit their chapel of mount tabor on the festival of the virgin, on which occasion several thousand pilgrims repair to the mountain, where they pass the night under tents with their families, in mirth and feasting. during the greater part of the summer mount tabor is covered in the morning with thick clouds, which disperse towards mid-day. a strong wind blows the whole of the day, and in the night dews fall, more copious than any i had seen in syria. in the wooded parts of the mountain are wild boars and ounces. i lodged with my old acquaintance the arab of ezra, who had taken up his quarters in one of the ruined habitations. june th.�after mid-day we returned to tabaria by the same road. on entering the church-yard of st. peter�s, my old lodgings, i was not a little surprised to find it full of strangers. mr. bruce, an english traveller, had arrived from nazareth, in company with several priests of the frank convent, who intended to celebrate mass at night, this being st. peter�s day. i was easily prevailed on by mr. bruce to accompany him on his return to nazareth the following morning, the more so, as i there hoped to find a guide for the valley of the jordan; for no person at tabaria nazareth [p. ] seemed to be inclined to undertake the journey, except in the company of an armed caravan. june th.�we left tabaria two hours before sun-rise. there are two direct roads to nazareth; one by kefer sebt and el khan, the other by louby. we took a third, that we might visit some spots recorded in the new testament. in one hour from tabaria we passed a spring called ain el rahham (arabic). at two hours and a half, the road leads over a high uncultivated plain, to hedjar el noszara (arabic), the stones of the christians, four or five blocks of black stone, upon which christ is said to have reclined while addressing the people who flocked around him. the priests of nazareth stopped to read some prayers over the stones. below this place, towards the n.e. extends a small plain, called sahel hottein (arabic). the country is intersected by wadys. about one hour distant from the stones, upon the same level, stands a hill of an oblong shape, with two projecting summits on one of its extremities; the natives call it keroun hottein (arabic), the horns of hottein. the christians have given it the appellation of mons beatitudinis, and pretend that the five thousand were there fed. we travelled over an uneven, uncultivated ground, until we arrived at kefer kenna (arabic), four hours and a quarter from tabaria, a neat village with a copious spring surrounded by plantations of olive and other fruit trees, and chiefly inhabited by catholic christians. this is the cana celebrated in the new testament for the miracle at the marriage feast; and the house is shewn in which our saviour performed it. we rested under an immense fig-tree, which afforded shelter from the sun to a dozen men and as many horses and mules. from hence the road ascends, and continues across chalky hills, overgrown with low shrubs, as far as naszera (arabic) or nazareth, eight hours from tabaria, by the road we travelled. i alighted at the convent [p. ] belonging to the missionaries of terra santa. here mr. bruce introduced me to lady hester stanhope, who had arrived a few days before from jerusalem and akka, and was preparing to visit the northern parts of syria, and among other places palmyra. the manly spirit and enlightened curiosity of this lady ought to make many modern travellers ashamed of the indolent indifference with which they hurry over foreign countries. she sees a great deal, and carefully examines what she sees; but it is to be hoped that the polite and distinguished manner in which she is every where received by the governors of the country, will not impress her with too favourable an opinion of the turks in general, and of their disposition towards the nations of europe. naszera is one of the principal towns of the pashalik of akka; its inhabitants are industrious, because they are treated with less severity than those of the country towns in general; two-thirds of them are turks, and one-third christians; there are about ninety latin families; together with a congregation of greek catholics and another of maronites. the house of joseph is shewn to pilgrims and travellers; but the principal curiosity of nazareth is the convent of the latin friars, a very spacious and commodious building, which was thoroughly repaired, and considerably enlarged in . within it is the church of the annunciation, in which the spot is shewn where the angel stood, when he announced to the virgin mary the tidings of the messiah; behind the altar is a subterraneous cavern divided into small grottos, where the virgin is said to have lived: her kitchen, parlour, and bedroom, are shewn, and a narrow hole in the rock, in which the child jesus once hid himself from his persecutors; for the syrian christians have a plentiful stock of such traditions, unfounded upon any authority of scripture. the pilgrims who visit these holy spots are in the habit of knocking off small pieces of stone from the [p. ] walls of the grottos, which are thus continually enlarging. in the church a miracle is still exhibited to the faithful; a fine granite column, the base and upper part of which remain, has lost the middle part of its shaft. according to the tradition, it was destroyed by the saracens, ever since which time, the upper part has been miraculously suspended from the roof, as if attracted by a load-stone. all the christians of nazareth, with the friars of course at their head, affect to believe in this miracle, although it is perfectly evident that the upper part of the column is connected with the roof. the church is the finest in syria, next to that of the holy sepulchre at jerusalem, and contains two tolerably good organs. within the walls of the convent are two gardens, and a small burying ground; the walls are very thick, and serve occasionally as a fortress to all the christians of the town. there are at present eleven friars in the convent. the yearly expenses of the establishment amount to upwards of £ . sterling, a small part of which is defrayed by the rent of a few houses in the town, and by the produce of some acres of corn land; the rest is remitted from jerusalem. the whole annual expenses of the terra santa convents are about £ , . they have felt very sensibly the occupation of spain by the french, and little has been received from europe for the last four years; while the turkish authorities exact the same yearly tribute and extraordinary contributions, as formerly;[the terra santa pays to the pasha of damascus about £ . a year; the greek convent of jerusalem pays much more, as well to maintain its own privileges, as with a view to encroach upon those of the latins.] so that if spain be not speedily liberated, it is to be feared that the whole establishment of the terra santa must be abandoned. this would be a great calamity, for it cannot be doubted that they have done honour to the european [p. ] name in the levant, and have been very beneficial to the cause of christianity under the actual circumstances of the east. the friars are chiefly spanjards; they are exasperated against france, for pretending to protect them, without affording them the smallest relief from the pasha�s oppressions:[i understood from the spanish consul at cairo, that when the news of the capture of madrid, in august, , reached jerusalem, the spanish priests celebrated a public te deum, and took the oaths prescribed by the new constitution of the cortes.] but they are obliged to accept this protection, as the spanish ambassador at constantinople is not yet acknowledged by the porte. they are well worth the attention of any ambassador at the porte, whose government is desirous of maintaining an influence in syria, for they command the consciences of upwards of eighty thousand souls. when the french invaded syria, nazareth was occupied by six or eight hundred men, whose advanced posts were at tabaria and szaffad. two hours from hence, general kleber sustained with a corps not exceeding fifteen hundred men, the attack of the whole syrian army, amounting to at least twenty-five thousand. he was posted in the plain of esdrelon, near the village of foule, where he formed his battalion into a square, which continued fighting from sun-rise to mid-day, until they had expended almost all their ammunition. bonaparte, informed of kleber�s perilous situation, advanced to his support with six hundred men. no sooner had he come in sight of the enemy and fired a shot over the plain, than the turks, supposing that a large force was advancing, took precipitately to flight, during which several thousands were killed, and many drowned in the river daboury, which then inundated a part of the plain. bonaparte dined at nazareth, the most northern point that he reached in syria, and returned the same day to akka. [p. ] after the retreat of the french from akka, djezzar pasha resolved on causing all the christians in his pashalik to be massacred, and had already sent orders to that effect to jerusalem and nazareth; but sir sidney smith being apprized of his intentions reproached him for his cruelty in the severest terms, and threatened that if a single christian head should fall, he would bombard akka and set it on fire. djezzar was thus obliged to send counter orders, but sir sidney�s interference is still remembered with heartfelt gratitude by all the christians, who look upon him as their deliverer. �his word,� i have often heard both turks and christians exclaim, �was like god�s word, it never failed.� the same cannot be said of his antagonist at akka, who maliciously impressed the christians, certainly much inclined in his favour, with the idea of his speedy return from egypt. on retreating from akka he sent word to his partizans at szaffad and nazareth, exhorting them to bear up resolutely against the turks but for three months, when, he assured them upon his honour, and with many oaths, that he would return with a much stronger force, and deliver them from their oppressors. the inhabitants of nazareth differ somewhat in features and colour from the northern syrians; their physiognomy approaches that of the egyptians, while their dialect and pronunciation differ widely from those of damascus. in western palestine, especially on the coast, the inhabitants, seem in general, to bear more resemblance to the natives of egypt, than to those of northern syria. towards the east of palestine, on the contrary, especially in the villages about nablous, jerusalem, and hebron, they are evidently of the true syrian stock, in features, though not in language. it would be an interesting subject for an artist to pourtray accurately the different character of features of the syrian nations; the aleppine, the turkman, the native of mount [p. ] libanus, the damascene, the inhabitant of the sea-coast from beirout to akka, and the bedouin, although all inhabiting the same country, have distict national physiognomies, and a slight acquaintance with them enables one to determine the native district of a syrian, with almost as much certainty as an englishman may be distinguished at first sight from an italian or an inhabitant of the south of france. the christians of nazareth enjoy great liberty. the fathers go a shooting alone in their monastic habits to several hours distance from the convent, without ever being insulted by the turks. i was told that about thirty years ago the padre guardiano of the convent was also sheikh or chief justice of the town, an office for which he paid a certain yearly sum to the pasha of akka; the police of the place was consequently in his hands, and when any disturbance happened, the reverend father used to take his stick, repair to the spot, and lay about him freely, no matter whether upon turks or christians. the guardian has still much influence in the town, because he is supposed, as usual, to be on good terms with the pasha, but at present the chief man at nazareth is m. catafago, a merchant of frank origin, born at aleppo. he has rented from the pasha about twelve villages situated in the neighbourhood of nazareth and the plain of esdrelon, for which he pays yearly upwards of £ .[the villages in the pashalik of akka are all of the description which the turkish law calls melk. they are all assessed at certain yearly sums, which each is obliged to pay, whatever may be the number of its inhabitants. this is one of the chief causes of the depopulation of many parts of syria.] his profits are very considerable, and as he meddles much in the politics and intrigues of the country, he has become a person of great consequence. his influence and recommendations may prove very useful to travellers in palestine, especially to those who visit the dangerous districts of nablous. nablous [p. ] it happened luckily during my stay at nazareth, that two petty merchants arrived there from szalt, to take up some merchandize which they sell at szalt on account of their principals at this place. szalt was precisely the point i wished to reach, not having been able to visit it during my late tour in the mountains of moerad; on their return therefore i gladly joined their little carayan, and we left nazareth at midnight, on the st of july. july d.�our road lay over a mountainous country. in two hours from nazareth we passed a small rivulet. two hours and a half, the village denouny (arabic), and near it the ruins of endor, where the witch�s grotto is shewn. from hence the direction of our route was s.s.e. leaving mount tabor to the left we passed along the plain of esdrelon: meeting with several springs in our road; but the country is a complete desert, although the soil is fertile. at five hours and a half is the village of om el taybe (arabic), belonging to the district of djebel nablous, or as it is also called belad harthe (arabic). the inhabitants of nablous are governed by their own chiefs, who are invested by the pasha. it is said that the villages belonging to the district can raise an army of five thousand men. they are a restless people, continually in dispute with each other, and frequently in insurrection against the pasha. djezzar never succeeded in completely subduing them, and junot, with a corps of fifteen hundred french soldiers, was defeated by them. the principal chief of nablous at present is of the family of shadely (arabic). in six hours and three quarters we passed the village of meraszrasz (arabic), upon the summit of a chain of hills on the side of wady oeshe (arabic), which falls into the jordan. at about half an hour to the north of this wady runs another, called wady byre (arabic), likewise falling into that river. between these two valleys are situated the villages of denna (arabic) and kokab (arabic). beyond meraszrasz bysan [p. ] we began to descend, and reached the bottom of the valley el ghor in seven hours and three quarters from our departure from nazareth. we now turned more southward, and followed the valley as far as bysan, distant eight hours and a quarter from nazareth. the two merchants and myself had left the caravan at meraszrasz, and proceeded to bysan, there to repose till the camels came up: but the drivers missed the road, and we continued almost the whole day in search of them. bysan (bethsan, scythopolis) is situated upon rising ground, on the west side of the ghor, where the chain of mountains bordering the valley declins considerably in height, and presents merely elevated ground, quite open towards the west. at one hour distant, to the south, the mountains begin again. the ancient town was watered by a river, now called moiet bysan (arabic), or the water of bysan, which flows in different branches towards the plain. the ruins of scythopolis are of considerable extent, and the town, built along the banks of the rivulet and in the valleys formed by its several branches, must have been nearly three miles in circuit. the only remains are large heaps of black hewn stones, many foundations of houses, and the fragments of a few columns. i saw only a single shaft of a column standing. in one of the valleys is a large mound of earth, which appeared to me to be artificial; it was the site perhaps of a castle for the defence of the town. on the left bank of the stream is a large khan, where the caravans repose which take the shortest road from jerusalem to damascus. the present village of bysan contains seventy or eighty houses; its inhabitants are in a miserable condition, from being exposed to the depredations of the bedouins of the ghor, to whom they also pay a heavy tribute. after waiting here some time for the arrival of the caravan, we rode across the valley, till we reached the valley of the jordan [p. ] banks of the jordan, about two hours distant from bysan, which bore n.n.w. from us. we here crossed the river at a ford, where our companions arrived soon afterwards. the valley of the jordan, or el ghor (arabic), which may be said to begin at the northern extremity of the lake of tiberias, has near bysan a direction of n. by e. and s. by w. its breadth is about two hours. the great number of rivulets which descend from the mountains on both sides, and form numerous pools of stagnant water, produce in many places a pleasing verdure, and a luxuriant growth of wild herbage and grass; but the greater part of the ground is a parched desert, of which a few spots only are cultivated by the bedouins. in the neighbourhood of bysan the soil is entirely of marle; there are very few trees; but wherever there is water high reeds are found. the river jordan, on issuing from the lake of tiberias, flows for about three hours near the western hills, and then turns towards the eastern, on which side it continues its course for several hours. the river flows in a valley of about a quarter of an hour in breadth, which is considerably lower than the rest of the plain of ghor; this lower valley is covered with high trees and a luxuriant verdure, which affords a striking contrast with the sandy slopes that border it on both sides. the trees most frequently met with on the banks of the jordan are of the species called by the arabs gharab (arabic) and kottab (arabic) [the following are the names or the rivulets which descend from the western mountains into the ghor, to the north or bysan. beginning at the southern extremity of the lake of tiberias are wady fedjaz (arabic), ain el szammera (arabic), wady djaloud (arabic), wady el byre (arabic), and wady el oeshe (arabic). to the south of bysan are wady el maleh (arabic), wady medjedda (arabic), with a ruined town so called, wady el beydhan (arabic), coming from the neighbourhood of nablous, and wady el farah (arabic). on the east side of the jordan, beginning at the sheriat el mandhour, and continuing to the place where we crossed the river, the following wadys empty themselves into it: wady el arab (arabic), wady el koszeir (arabic), wady el taybe (arabic), wady el seklab (arabic), which last falls into the jordan near the village erbayn, about one hour�s distance north of the place where we crossed. this wady forms the boundary between the districts; called el koura and el wostye. on the west side of the river, to the north of bysan, are the following ruined places in the ghor: beginning at the lake, faszayl (arabic), el odja (arabic), ayn sultan (arabic). near where we crossed, to the south, are the ruins of sukkot (arabic). on the western banks of the river, farther south than ayn sultan, which is about one hour distant from bysan, there are no ruins, as far as rieha, or jericho, the yalley in that direction being full of rocks, and little susceptible of cultivation.]. [p. ] the river, where we passed it, was about eighty paces broad, and about three feet deep; this, it must be recollected, was in the midst of summer. in the winter it inundates the plain in the bottom of the narrow valley, but never rises to the level of the upper plain of the ghor, which is at least forty feet above the level of the river. the river is fordable in many places during summer, but the few spots where it may be crossed in the rainy season are known only to the arabs. after passing the river we continued our route close to the foot of the eastern mountain. in half an hour from the ford we crossed wady mous (arabic), coming from the mountains of adjeloun. in one hour and a quarter we passed wady yabes, and near it, the mezar, or saint�s tomb called sherhabeib (arabic). in two hours we came to a stony and hilly district, intersected by several deep but dry wadys, called korn el hemar (arabic), the ass�s horn. our direction was alternately s. and s. by w. here the jordan returns to the western side of the valley. the korn el hemar abou obeida [p. ] projects into the ghor about four miles, so that when seen from the north the valley seems to be completely shut up by these hills. from thence a fertile tract commences, overgrown with many bouttom (arabic) or wild pistachio trees. large tracts of ground were burnt, owing probably to the negligence of travellers who had set the dry grass on fire. at the end of six hours, and late at night, we passed to the right, the ruins of an ancient city standing on the declivity of the mountain and still bearing its original name amata (arabic). my companions told me that several columns remain standing, and also some large buildings. a small rivulet here descends into the plain. in six hours and a half we reached the mezar abou obeida (arabic), where we rested for two hours. the tomb of the sheikh is surrounded by a few peasant�s houses; but there are no inhabitants at present, except the keeper of the tomb and his wife, who live upon the charity of the bedouins. it appears from the account given by the great barbary traveller, ibn batouta, that in the sixteenth century this part of the ghor was well cultivated, and full of villages. the valley of the jordan affords pasturage to numerous tribes of bedouins. some of them remain here the whole year, considering it as their patrimony; others visit it only in winter; of the latter description are the bedouins who belong to the districts of naszera and nablous, as well as those of the eastern mountains. we met with several encampments of stationary bedouins, who cultivate a few fields of wheat, barley, and dhourra. they are at peace with the people of szalt, to many of whom the greater part of them are personally known; we therefore passed unmolested; but a stranger who should venture to travel here unaccompanied by a guide of the country would most certainly be stripped.[for the names of the bedouin tribes see the classification, in the appendix.] elmeysera [p. ]july d.�we departed from abou obeida long before sun-rise, proceeding from thence in a more western direction. in a quarter of an hour we passed the northern branch of the river el zerka, near a mill, which was at work. in one hour we passed the principal stream, a small river, which empties itself into the jordan about one hour and a half to the s.w. of the spot where it issues from the mountain. its banks are overgrown with defle (solanum furiosum). on the other side of the zerka we ascended the mountain by a steep acclivity, but the road, from being much frequented, is tolerably good. the mountain consists of calcareous rock, with layers of various coloured sand-stone, and large blocks of the black haouran stone, or basalt, which forms a principal feature in the mineralogy of eastern syria. in two hours and three quarters we arrived at the top of the mountain, from whence abou obeida bore n.n.w. here we had a fine view over the valley below. on the west side of the jordan, between the river and the mountains of nablous, i remarked a chain of low calcareous rocky heights which begin at about three hours north of abou obeida, and continue for several hours distance to the s. of that place on the opposite side of the river. the highest point of djebel nablous bore n.w.; the direction of nablous itself was pointed out to me as w.n.w. on the summit where we stood are some large heaps of hewn stones, and several ruined walls, with the fragments of three large columns. the arabs call the spot el meysera (arabic). the zerka, or jabock of the scriptures, divides the district of moerad from the country called el belka (arabic). the highest summit of the mountains of moerad seems to be considerably higher than any part of the mountains of belka. from meysera the road continues over an uneven tract, along the summit of the lower ridge of mountains which form the northern limits of mount osha [p. ] the belka. we had now entered a climate quite different from that of the ghor. during the whole of yesterday we had been much oppressed by heat, which was never lessened by the slightest breeze; in the belka mountains, on the contrary, we were refreshed by cool winds, and every where found a grateful shade of fine oak and wild pistachio trees, with a scenery more like that of europe than any i had yet seen in syria. in three quarters of an hour from meysera we passed a spring. i was told that in the valley of the zerka, at about one hour above its issue from the mountains into the plain, are several hills, called telloul el dahab (arabic) (the hills of gold), so called, as the arabs affirm, from their containing a gold mine. in one hour and a quarter we passed the ruined place called el herath (arabic). the arabs cultivate here several fields of dhourra and cucumbers. my companions seeing no keepers in the neighbouring wood carried off more than a quintal of cucumbers. about one hour to the s.e. of herath are the ruined places called allan (arabic), and syhhan (arabic). at the end of two hours we reached the foot of the mountain called djebel djelaad and djebel djelaoud (arabic), the gilead of the scriptures, which runs from east to west, and is about two hours and a half in length. upon it are the ruined towns of djelaad and djelaoud. we ascended the western extremity of the mountain, and then reached the lofty mountain called djebel osha, whose summit overtops the whole of the belka. in three hours and a quarter from meysera we passed near the top of mount osha (arabic), our general direction being still s.s.e. the forest here grows thicker; it consists of oak, bouttom, and balout (arabic) trees. the keykab is also very common. in three hours and three quarters we descended the southern side of the mountain, near the tomb of osha, and reached szalt (arabic), four hours and a half distant from meysera. near the tomb of osha was an encampment of about sixty tents szalt [p. ] of the tribe of abad (arabic); they had lately been robbed of almost all their cattle by the beni szakher, and were reduced to such misery that they could not afford to give us a little sour milk which we begged of them. they were still at war with the beni szakher, and were in hopes of recovering a part of their property; but as they were too weak to act openly, they had encamped, for protection, in the neighbourhood of their friends the inhabitants of szalt. they intended to make from hence some plundering excursions against their enemies, for they had now hardly any thing more to lose in continuing at war with them. i alighted at szalt at the house of one of my companions, where i was hospitably entertained during the whole of my stay at this place. the town of szalt is situated on the declivity of a hill, crowned by a castle, and is surrounded on all sides by steep mountains. it is the only inhabited place in the province of belka, and its inhabitants are quite independent. the pashas of damascus have several times endeavoured in vain to subdue them. abdulla pasha, the late governor, besieged the town for three months, without success. the population consists of about four hundred musulman and eighty christian families of the greek church, who live in perfect amity and equality together: the musulmans are composed of three tribes, the beni kerad (arabic), the owamele (arabic), and the kteyshat (arabic), each of which has its separate quarter in the town; the principal sheikhs, at present two in number, live in the castle; but they have no other authority over the rest than such as a bedouin sheikh exercises over his tribe. the castle was almost wholly rebuilt by the famous dhaher el omar,[see the history of sheikh dhaher, the predecessor of djezzar pasha in the government of akka, in volney. voyage en egypte et en syrie, vol. ii. chap. . ed.] who resided here several years. he obtained possession by the assistance of the weakest of the two parties into which the place ain djedour [p. ] was divided, but he was finally driven out by the united efforts of both parties. the castle is well built, has a few old guns, and is surrounded by a wide ditch. in the midst of the town is a fine spring, to which there is a secret subterraneous passage from the castle, still made use of in times of siege. in a narrow valley about ten minutes walk from the town, is another spring called ain djedour (arabic), the waters of both serve to irrigate the gardens and orchards which lie along the valley. opposite to ain djedour is a spacious sepulchral cave cut in the rock, which the people affirm to have been a church. in the town, an old mosque is the only object that presents itself to the antiquary. the christians have a small church, dedicated to the virgin, where divine service is performed by two priests, who each receive annually from their community about £ . they are not very rigid observers either of their prayers or fasts; and although it was now the time of lent with the greeks, i daily saw the most respectable christians eating flesh and butter. the greater part of the population of szalt is agricultural, a few are weavers, and there are about twenty shops, which sell on commission for the merchants of nazareth, damascus, nablous, and jerusalem, and furnish the bedouins with articles of dress and furniture. the prices are at least fifty per cent. higher than at damascus. the culture consists of wheat and barley, the superfluous produce of which is sold to the bedouins; vast quantities of grapes are also grown, which are dried and sold at jerusalem. the arable fields are at least eight miles distant from szalt, in the low grounds of the neighbouring mountains, where they take advantage of the winter torrents. in the time of harvest the szaltese transport their families thither, where they live for several months under tents, like true bedouins. the principal encampment szalt [p. ] is at a place called feheis, about one bour and a half to the s.e. of szalt. in addition to the means of subsistence just mentioned the inhabitants of szalt have several others: in july and august they collect, in the mountains of the belka the leaves of the sumach, which they dry and carry to the market at jerusalem, for the use of the tanneries; upwards of five hundred camel loads are yearly exported, at the rate of fifteen to eighteen piastres the cwt. the merchants also buy up ostrich feathers from the bedouins, which they sell to great advantage at damascus. the food and clothing of the szaltese are inferior in quality to those of the peasants of northern syria. their dress, especially the women�s approaches to that of the bedouins: their language is the true bedouin dialect. the only public expense incurred by them is that of entertaining travellers: for this purpose there are four public taverns (menzel, or medhafe), three belonging to the turks and one to the christians; and whoever enters there is maintained as long as he chooses, provided his stay be not prolonged to an unreasonable period, without reasons being assigned for such delay. breakfast, dinner, and supper, with a proportionate number of cups of coffee, are served up to the stranger, whoever he may be. for guests of respectability a goat or lamb is slaughtered, and some of the inhabitants then partake of the supper. the expenses incurred by these menzels are shared among the heads of families, according to their respective wealth, and every tavern has a kind of landlord, who keeps the accounts, and provides the kitchen out of the common stock. i was told that every respectable family paid about fifty piastres per annum into the hands of the master of the menzels, which makes altogether a sum of about £ . spent in the entertainment of strangers. were the place dependent on any turkish government, [p. ] more than triple that sum would be extorted from its inhabitants for the support of passengers. besides the menzels every family is always ready to receive any acquaintances who may prefer their house to the public inn. it will readily be conceived, that upon these terms the people of szalt are friends of the neighbouring bedouins; who moreover fear them because they have a secure retreat, and can muster about four hundred fire-locks, and from forty to fifty horses. the powerful tribe of beni szakher alone is fearless of the people of szalt; on the contrary, they exact a small yearly tribute from the town, which is willingly paid, in order to secure the harvest against the depredations of these formidable neighbours; disputes nevertheless arise, and szalt is often at war with the beni szakher. while i remained at szalt i was told of a traveller of whom i had also heard in the haouran; he was a christian of abyssinia, whose desire it was to end his days at jerusalem; he first sailed from massoua to djidda, where he was seized by the wahabi, and carried to their chief ibn saoud at deraye, where he remained two years. from deraye he crossed the desert with the encampments of wandering bedouins, in the direction of damascus, and last year he reached boszra in the haouran, from whence he was sent by the christians to szalt, where he remained a few days, and then proceeded for jerusalem. when he arrived at the jordan, he declared to his companions that he was a priest, a circumstance which he had always kept secret; he continued two days on the banks of the river fasting and praying, and from thence made his way alone to jerusalem. he never tasted animal food, and although he had experienced no sickness on the road, he died soon after his arrival in the holy city. it was not my intention to tarry at szalt; i wished to proceed by the first opportunity to kerek, a town on the eastern side of the mezar osha [p. ] dead sea; but the communications in these deserted countries are far from being regular, and the want of a proper guide obliged me to delay my departure for ten days; during this delay i had the good fortune to see the ruins of amman, which i had not been able to visit in the course of my late tour in the decapolis. but before i describe amman i shall subjoin some notes on the neighbourhood of szalt. a narrow valley leads up from szalt towards the mezar osha, which i have already mentioned. half way up, the valley is planted with vines, which are grown upon terraces as in mount libanus, to prevent their being washed away by the winter torrents. the mezar osha is supposed to contain the tomb of neby osha, or the prophet hosea, equally revered by turks and christians, and to whom the followers of both religions are in the habit of offering prayers and sacrifices. the latter consist generally of a sheep, to be slain in honour of the saint, or of some perfumes to be burnt over his tomb. i was invited to partake of a sheep presented by a suppliant, to whose prayers the saint had been favourable. there was a large party, and we spent a very pleasant day under a fine oak-tree just by the tomb. the wives and daughters of those who were invited were present, and mixed freely in the conversation. the tomb is covered by a vaulted building, one end of which serves as a mosque; the tomb itself, in the form of a coffin, is thirty-six feet long, three feet broad, and three feet and a half in height, being thus constructed in conformity with the notion of the turks, who suppose that all our forefathers were giants, and especially the prophets before mohammed. the tomb of noah in the valley of coelo-syria is still longer. the coffin of osha is covered with silk stuffs of different colours, which have been presented to him as votive offerings. visitors generally throw a couple of paras upon the tomb. these are [p. ] collected by the guardian, and pay the expenses of illuminating the apartment during the summer months; for in the winter season hardly any body seeks favours at the shrine of the saint. in one corner stands a small plate, upon which some of the most devout visitors place a piece of incense. a wooden partition separates the tomb from the mosque, where the turks generally say a few prayers before they enter the inner apartment. on the outside of the building is a very large and deep cistern much frequented by the bedouins. here is a fine view over the ghor. rieha, or jericho, is visible at a great distance to the southward. about half an hour to the n.w. of osha, on the lower part of the mountain, is the ruined place called kafer houda (arabic). as pilgrimage in the east is generally coupled with mercantile speculations, osha�s tomb is much resorted to for commercial purposes, and like mekka and jerusalem, is transformed into a fair at the time of the visit of the pilgrims. the arabs of the belka, especially the beni szakher, bring here kelly or soap-ashes, which they burn during the summer in large quantities: these are bought up by a merchant of nablous, who has for many years monopolized the trade in this article. the soap-ashes obtained from the herb shiman, of the belka, are esteemed the best in the country, to the s. of damascus, as those of palmyra are reckoned the best in northern syria. they are sold by the arabs for about half a crown the english cwt., but the purchaser is obliged to pay heavy duties upon them. the chief of the arabs of el adouan, who is looked upon as the lord of the belka, although his tribe is at present considerably weakened, exacts for himself five piastres from every camel load, two piastres for his writer, and two piastres for his slave. the town of szalt takes one piastre for every load, the produce of which duty is divided among the public taverns of the town. the quantity of soap-ashes brought to [p. ] the osha market amounts, one year with another, to about three thousand camel loads. the nablous merchant is obliged to come in person to szalt in autumn. according to old customs, he alights at a private house, all the expenses of which he pays during his stay; he is bound also to feed all strangers who arrive during the same period at szalt; in consequence of which the menzels remain shut; and he makes considerable presents on quitting the place. in order that all the inhabitants may share in the advantages arising from his visits, he alights at a different house every year. in descending the narrow valley to the south of szalt, the ruins of a considerable town are met with, consisting of foundations of buildings and heaps of stones. the arabs call the place kherbet el souk (arabic). near it is a fine spring called ain hazeir (arabic) (perhaps the ancient jazer), which turns several mills, and empties itself into the wady shoeb (arabic). the latter joins the jordan near the ruined city of nymrein (arabic). in a s.w. direction from szalt, distant about two hours and a half, are the ruined places called kherbet ayoub (arabic), heremmela (arabic), ayra (arabic), one of the towns built by the tribe of gad, and yerka (arabic). east of szalt, about one hour, are the ruins called el deir (arabic). i found it impossible at szalt to procure a guide to amman; the country was in a state which rendered it very dangerous to travel through it: the beni szakher were at war with the arabs of adouan, with the government of damascus, and with the rowalla, a branch of the aeneze; and we heard daily of skirmishes taking place between the contending parties, principally near the river zerka. amman being a noted spring, was frequented by both the hostile parties; and although, the people of szalt were now at peace with the beni szakher, having concluded it on the day of my arrival, yet they were upon very indifferent terms with the feheis [p. ] adouan and rowalla. i had once engaged four armed men to accompany me on foot to the place, but when we were just setting out, after sunset, their wives came crying to my lodging, and upbraided their husbands with madness in exposing their lives for a couple of piastres. being equally unsuccessful in several other attempts, and tired of the exaggerations of my land-lord, who pretended that i should be in danger of being stripped, and even killed, i at length became impatient, and quitting szalt in the evening of the th, i rode over to feheis, where the greater part of the szaltese were encamped, for the labours of the harvest, and where it was more likely that i should meet with a guide. on my way i passed the deep wady ezrak (arabic), where is a rivulet and several mills. el feheis is a ruined city, with a spring near it; here are the remains of an arched building, in which the christians sometimes perform divine service. below feheis, upon the top of a lower mountain, is the ruined place called el khandok (arabic), which appears to have been a fort; it is surrounded with a wall of large stones, and the remains of several bastions are visible. from a point near khandok, the dead sea, which i saw for the first time, bears s.w. b. w. at feheis i was so fortunate as to find a guide who five years ago had served in the same capacity to mousa, the name assumed by m. seetzen. as he was well acquainted with all the bedouins, and on friendly terms with them, he engaged to take me to amman, in company with another horseman. july th.�we set off before sunrise. on leaving feheis we crossed a mountainous country, passed through a thick forest of oak trees, and in three quarters of an hour reached the ardh el hemar, which is the name of a district extending north and south for about two hours. here are a number of springs, which have rendered it a amman [p. ] favourite place of resort of the bedouins: the valley was covered with a fine coat of verdant pasture. from hence the road ascended through oak woods and pleasant hills, over flinty ground, till we reached, after a march of two hours and a half, an elevated plain, from whence we had an extensive view towards the east. the plain, which in this part is called el ahma (arabic), is a fertile tract, interspersed with low hills; these are for the greater part crowned with ruins, but they are of irregular forms, unlike the tels or artificial heights of the haouran, and of northern syria. just by the road, at the end of three hours, are the ruins called el kholda (arabic). to the left are the ruins of kherbet karakagheish (arabic); and to the right, at half an hour�s distance, the ruins of sar (arabic), and fokhara (arabic). at about one hour south of sar begins the district called kattar (arabic) or marka (arabic). the ruins which we passed here, as well as all those before mentioned in the mountains of belka, present no objects of any interest. they consist of a few walls of dwelling houses, heaps of stones, the foundations of some public edifices, and a few cisterns now filled up; there is nothing entire, but it appears that the mode of building was very solid, all the remains being formed of large stones. it is evident also, that the whole of the country must have been extremely well cultivated, in order to have afforded subsistence to the inhabitants of so many towns. at the end of three hours and a half we entered a broad valley, which brought us in half an hour to the ruins of amman, which lies about nineteen english miles to the s.e. by e. of szalt. the annexed plan [not included] will give an idea of the situation and ruins of amman, one of the most ancient of the cities recorded in jewish history. the town lies along the banks of a river called moiet amman, which has its source in a pond (a), at a few hundred paces from the south-western end of the town; i was informed that this river is [p. ] lost in the earth one hour below the pond, that it issues again, and takes the name of ain ghazale (arabic); then disappears a second time and rises again near a ruined place called reszeyfa (arabic); beyond which it is said to be lost for a third time, till it reappears about an hour to the west of kalaat zerka, otherwise called kaszr shebeib (arabic), near the river zerka, into which it empties itself. ain ghazale is about one hour and a half distant from amman, kalaat zerka is four hours distant. the river of amman runs in a valley bordered on both sides by barren hills of flint, which advance on the south side close to the edge of the stream. the edifices which still remain to attest the former splendour of amman are the following: a spacious church (b), built with large stones, and having a steeple of the shape of those which i saw in several ruined towns in the haouran. there are wide arches in the walls of the church.�a small building (c), with niches, probably a temple.�a temple (d), of which a part of the side walls, and a niche in the back wall are remaining; there are no ornaments either on the walls, or about the niche.��a curved wall (e) along the water side, with many niches: before it was a row of large columns, of which four remain, but without capitals, i conjecture this to have been a kind of stoa, or public walk; it does not communicate with any other edifice.�a high arched bridge (f) over the river; this appears to have been the only bridge in the town, although the river is not fordable in the winter. the banks of the river, as well as its bed, are paved, but the pavement has been in most places carried away by the violence of the winter torrent. the stream is full of small fish. on the south side of the river is a fine theatre, the largest that i have seen in syria. it has forty rows of seats; between the tenth and eleventh from the bottom occurs a row of eight boxes or small apartments, capable of holding about twelve spectators each; fourteen rows higher, a similar row [p. ] of boxes occupies the place of the middle seats, and at the top of all there is a third tier of boxes excavated in the rocky side of the hill, upon the declivity of which the theatre is built. on both wings of the theatre are vaults. in front was a colonnade, of which eight corinthian columns yet remain, besides four fragments of shafts; they are about fifteen feet high, surmounted by an entablature still entire. this colonnade must have had at least fifty columns; the workmanship is not of the best roman times. near this theatre is a building (h), the details of which i was not able to make out exactly; its front is built irregularly, without columns, or ornaments of any kind. on entering i found a semi-circular area, enclosed by a high wall in which narrow steps were formed, running all round from bottom to top. the inside of the front wall, as well as the round wall of the area, is richly ornamented with sculptured ornaments. the roof, which once covered the whole building, has fallen down, and choaks up the interior in such a way as to render it difficult to determine whether the edifice has been a palace, or destined for public amusements. nearly opposite the theatre, to the northward of the river, are the remains of a temple (k), the posterior wall of which only remains, having an entablature, and several niches highly adorned with sculpture. before this building stand the shafts of several columns three feet in diameter. its date appears to be anterior to that of all the other buildings of amman, and its style of architecture is much superior. at some distance farther down the wady, stand a few small columns (i), probably the remains of a temple. the plain between the river and the northern hills is covered with ruins of private buildings, extending from the church (c) down to the columns (i); but nothing of them remains, except the foundations and some of the door posts. on the top of the highest of the northern hills stands the castle of amman, a very extensive [p. ] building; it was an oblong square, filled with buildings, of which, about as much remains as there does of the private dwellings in the lower town. the castle walls are thick, and denote a remote antiquity: large blocks of stone are piled up without cement, and still hold together as well as if they had been recently placed; the greater part of the wall is entire, it is placed a little below the crest of the hill, and appears not to have risen much above the level of its summit. within the castle are several deep cisterns. at (m) is a square building, in complete preservation, constructed in the same manner as the castle wall; it is without ornaments, and the only opening into it is a low door, over which was an inscription now defaced. near this building are the traces of a large temple (n); several of its broken columns are lying on the ground; they are the largest i saw at amman, some of them being three feet and a half in diameter; their capitals are of the corinthian order. on the north side of the castle is a ditch cut in the rock, for the better defence of this side of the hill, which is less steep than the others. the ruins of amman being, with the exception of a few walls of flint, of calcareous stone of moderate hardness, have not resisted the ravages of time so well as those of djerash. the buildings exposed to the atmosphere are all in decay, so that there is little hope of finding any inscriptions here, which might illustrate the history of the place. the construction shews that the edifices were of different ages, as in the other cities of the decapolis, which i have examined. i am sensible that the above description of amman, though it notices all the principal remains, is still very imperfect; but a traveller who is not accompanied with an armed force can never hope to give very satisfactory accounts of the antiquities of these deserted countries. my guides had observed some fresh horse-dung near the water�s side, which greatly alarmed them, as it was a proof that szafout [p. ] some bedouins were hovering about. they insisted upon my returning immediately, and refusing to wait for me a moment, rode off while i was still occupied in writing a few notes upon the theatre. i hastily mounted the castle hill, ran over its ruins, and galloping after my guides, joined them at half an hour from the town. when i reproached them for their cowardice, they replied that i certainly could not suppose that, for the twelve piastres i had agreed to give them, they should expose themselves to the danger of being stripped and of losing their horses, from a mere foolish caprice of mine to write down the stones. i have often been obliged to yield to similar reasoning. a true bedouin, however, never abandons his companion in this manner; whoever, therefore, wishes to travel in these parts, and to make accurate observations, will do well to take with him as many horsemen as may secure him against any strolling party of robbers. about four or five bours s.s.w. from amman are the ruins called el kohf (arabic), with a large temple, and many columns. about eight hours s.s.e. is the ruined city of om el reszasz (arabic), i.e. the mother of lead, which, according to all accounts, is of great extent, and contains large buildings. in my present situation it was impossible for me to visit these two places. i hope that some future traveller will be more fortunate. we returned from amman by a more northern route. at one hour and three quarters, we passed the ruined place called djebeyha (arabic); in two hours the ruins of meraze (arabic). the hills which rise over the plain are covered to their tops with thick heath. at two hours and a half are the ruins of om djouze (arabic), with a spring. sources of water are seldom met with in this upper plain of the belka, a circumstance that greatly enhances the importance of the situation of amman. at three hours and a half is szalt [p. ] szafout (arabic), where are ruins of some extent, with a spring; the gate of a public edifice is still standing. to the north and north- east of this place, at the foot of the mountain on which it stands, extends a broad valley called el bekka (arabic); it is extremely fertile, and is in part cultivated by the people of szalt, and the arabs of the belka. the beni szakher had burnt up the whole of the crops before they concluded peace with szalt. in the bekka is a ruined place called ain el basha (arabic), with a spring. from szafout we returned by ardh el hemar to feheis, which we reached in four hours and a half from szafout. near the springs of hemar we found a cow that had gone astray from some bedouin encampment; my guides immediately declared her to be a fair prize, and drove her off before them to feheis, where she was killed, to prevent the owner from claiming her, and the encampment feasted upon the flesh for two days. n.e. from szafout, distant about two hours, is a ruined city, with several edifices still standing, called yadjoush (arabic). n. of amman, two hours, is a ruined building called el nowakys (arabic), on the interior wall of which are some busts in relief, according to the report of one who had seen them, but whose veracity was rather doubtful. on my return to szalt i was obliged to remain there several days longer, for want of a guide; for the road to kerek is a complete desert, and much exposed to the inroads of the arabs. at last i found a man who engaged to serve me, but his demands were so exorbitant, that i was several days in bargaining with him. mousa, (m. seetzen), he said, had paid his guide twenty-five piastres for the trip from hence to kerek, and he would not, therefore, go the same road for less than twenty- three; this was an enormous sum for a journey of two days, in a country where an arab will toil for a fortnight without obtaining so great a sum. my principal mekabbely [p. ] objection to paying so much was, that it would become known at kerek, which, besides other difficulties it might bring me into, would have obliged me to pay all my future guides in the same proportion. my landlord, however, removed this objection by making the guide take a solemn oath that he would never confess to having received more than six piastres for his trouble. there was no other proper guide to be got, and i began to be tired of szalt, for i saw that my landlord was very earnest in his endeavours to get me away; i resolved therefore to trust to my good fortune, and to set out with no other company than that of an armed horseman. in the evening i returned to feheis, from whence we departed early the next morning. july th.�we passed ardh el hemar, in the neighbourhood of which are the ruined places el ryhha (arabic), shakour (arabic), meghanny (arabic), and mekabbely (arabic); and at a short distance farther on in the wood, we met two men quite naked. whenever the bedouins meet any other arabs in the desert, of inferior force, and who are unknown to them, they level their lances, and stop their horses within about ten yards of the strangers, to enquire whether they are friends or not. my guide had seen the two men at a great distance among the trees; be called to me to get my gun ready, and we galloped towards them; but they no sooner saw us than they stopped, and cried out, �we are under your protection!� they then told us that they were peasants of a village near rieha or jericho; that they had been carried away from their own fields by a party of beni szakher, with whom their village happened to be at war, as far as yadjoush, where the latter had encampments; that after being required to pay the price of blood of one of the tribe slain by the inhabitants of their village, they had been beaten, and stripped naked; but that at last they had found means to escape. their bruises and sores bore testimony merdj ekke [p. ] to the truth of their story; instances of such acts of violence frequently occur in the desert. in one hour and three quarters we came to the ruins of kherbet tabouk (arabic), which seems to have been a place of some importance. many wild fig-trees grow here. the direction of our road was s. b. e. here the woody country terminates, and we found ourselves again upon the high plain called el ahma, which has fertile ground, but no trees. at two hours and a quarter is a ruined birket, or reservoir of rain water, called om aamoud (arabic), from some fragments of columns, which are found here. in two hours and a half we passed, on our right, the wady szyr (arabic), which has its source near the road, und falls below into the jordan. above the source, on the declivity of the valley, are the ruins called szyr. we continued to travel along a well trodden road for the greater part of the day. at three hours were the ruins of szar, to our left. at three hours and a half, and about half an hour west of the road, are the ruins of fokhara, on the side of the wady eshta (arabic), which empties itself into the jordan. here are a number of wild fig-trees. the whole of the country to the right of the road is intersected with deep wadys and precipices, and is overgrown in many parts with fine woods. we had at intervals a view of the ghor below. to the left of the road is the great plain, with many insulated hillocks. in three hours and a half we passed a hill called dhaheret el hemar (arabic), or the ass�s back. at three hours and three quarters, to the right, are the ruins of meraszas (arabic), with a heap of stones called redjem abd reshyd (arabic), where, according to bedouin tradition, a wonderful battle took place between a slave of an arab called reshyd, and a whole party of his master�s enemies. here terminates the district el ahma. to the left are the ruins called merdj ekke (arabic). the soil in this vicinity is chalky. last year a battle was fought here between the troops of the pasha of damascus, el aal [p. ] and the beni szakher, in which the former were routed. at four hours and a half, and about three quarters of an hour to our right, we saw the ruins of naour (arabic) on the side of a rivulet of that name, which falls into the jordan opposite rieha, or jericho, driving in its course several mills, where the bedouins of the belka grind their corn. on both sides of the road are many vestiges of ancient field-enclosures. from naour our road lay s. at five hours and three quarters are the ruins of el aal (arabic), probably the eleale of the scriptures: it stands upon the summit of a hill, and takes its name from its situation, aal meaning �the high.� it commands the whole plain; and the view from the top of the hill is very extensive, comprehending the whole of the southern belka. from hence the mountain of shyhhan (arabic), behind which lies kerek, bears s. by w. el aal was surrounded by a well built wall, of which some parts yet remain. among the ruins are a number of large cisterns, fragments of walls, and the foundations of houses; but nothing worth particular notice. the plain around is alternately chalk and flint. at six hours and a quarter is hesban (arabic), upon a hill, bearing s.w. from el aal. here are the ruins of a large ancient town, together with the remains of some edifices built with small stones; a few broken shafts of columns are still standing, a number of deep wells cut in the rock, and a large reservoir of water for the summer supply of the inhabitants. at about three quarters of an hour s.e. of hesban are the ruins of myoun (arabic), the ancient baal meon (arabic), of the tribe of ruben. in order to see medaba, i left the great road at hesban, and proceeded in a more eastern direction. at six hours and three quarters, about one hour distant from the road, i saw the ruins of djeloul (arabic), at a short distance to the east of which, are the ruined places called el samek (arabic), el mesouh (arabic), and madeba [p. ] om el aamed (arabic), situated close together upon low elevations. at about four hours distant, to the east of our road, i observed a chain of hills, which begins near kalaat zerka, passes to the east of amman, near the kalaat el belka, (a station of the syrian hadj, called by the bedouins kalaat remeydan [arabic]), and continues as far as wady modjeb. the mountains bear the name of el zoble (arabic); the hadj route to mekka lies along their western side. at seven hours and a quarter is el kefeyrat (arabic), a ruined town of some extent. in seven hours and a half we came to the remains of a well paved ancient causeway; my guide told me that this had been formerly the route of the hadj, and that the pavement was made by the mohammedans; but it appeared to me to be a roman work. at the end of eight hours we reached madeba, built upon a round hill; this is the ancient medaba, but there is no river near it. it is at least half an hour in circumference; i observed many remains of the walls of private houses, constructed with blocks of silex; but not a single edifice is standing. there is a large birket, which, as there is no spring at madeba might still be of use to the bedouins, were the surrounding ground cleared of the rubbish, to allow the water to flow into it; but such an undertaking is far beyond the views of the wandering arab. on the west side of the town are the foundations of a temple, built with large stones, and apparently of great antiquity. the annexed is its form and dimensions. a part of its eastern wall remains, constructed in the same style as the castle wall at amman. at the entrance of one of the courts stand two columns of the doric order, each of two pieces, without bases, and thicker in the centre than at either extremity, a peculiarity of which this is the only instance i have seen in syria. more modern capitals have been added, one of [p. ] which is corinthian and the other doric, and an equally coarse architrave has been laid upon them. in the centre of one of the courts is a large well. about half an hour west of madeba (arabic), are the ruins of el teym (arabic), perhaps the kerjathaim of the scripture, where, according to my guide, a very large birket is cut entirely in the rock, and is still filled in the winter with rain water. as there are no springs in this part of the upper plain of the belka, the inha[bi]tants were obliged to provide by cisterns for their supply of water during the summer months. we returned from madeba towards the great road, where we fell in with a large party of bedouins, on foot, who were going to rob by night an encampment of beni szakher, at least fourteen hours distant from hence. each of them had a small bag of flower on his back, some were armed with guns and others with sticks. i was afterwards informed that they drove off above a dozen camels belonging to the beni szakher. they pointed out to us the place where their tribe was encamped, and as we were then looking out for some place where we might get a supper, of which we stood in great need, we followed the direction they gave us. in turning a little westwards we entered the mountainous country which forms the eastern border of the valley of the jordan, and descending in a s.w. direction along the windings of a wady, we arrived at a large encampment of bedouins, at the end of ten hours and a half from our setting out in the morning. the upper part of the mountains consists entirely of siliceous rock. we passed on the road several spots where the bedouins cultivate dhourra. we were well received by the bedouins of the encampment; who are on good terms with the people of szalt: one of the principal sheikhs of which place is married to the daughter of the chief of this tribe. they belong to the ghanemat, whose sheikh, called the belka [p. ] abd el mohsen (arabic), is one of the first men in the belka. the chief tribe in this province, for many years, was the adouan, but they are now reduced to the lowest condition by their inveterate enemies the beni szakher. the latter, whose abode had for a long space of time been on the hadj road, near oella (arabic), were obliged, by the increasing power of the wahabi, to retire towards the north. they approached the belka, and obtained from the adouan, who were then in possession of the excellent pasturage of this country, permission to feed their cattle here, on paying a small annual tribute. they soon proved, however, to be dangerous neighbours; having detached the greater part of the other tribes of the belka from their alliance with the adouan, they have finally succeeded in driving the latter across the zerka, notwithstanding the assistance which they received from the pasha of damascus. peace had been made in , and both tribes had encamped together near amman, when hamoud el szaleh, chief of the adouan, made a secret arrangement with the pasha�s troops, and the tribe of rowalla, who were at war with the beni szakher to make a united attack upon them. the plot was well laid, but the valour of the beni szakher proved a match for the united forces of their enemies; they lost only about a dozen of their horsemen, and about two thousand sheep, and since that time an inveterate enmity has existed between the beni szakher and the adouan. the second chief of adouan, an old man with thirteen sons, who always accompany him to the field, joined the beni szakher, as did also the greater part of the arabs of the belka. in , the adouan were driven into the mountains of adjeloun, and to all appearance will never be able to re-enter the belka.[for the enumeration of the belka arabs, see the classification of syrian bedouins, in the appendix.] the superiority of the pasturage of the belka over that of all southern syria, is the cause of its possession being thus contested. zerka mayn [p. ] the bedouins have this saying, �thou canst not find a country like the belka.��methel el belka ma teltaka (arabic); the beef and mutton of this district are preferred to those of all others. the bedouins of the belka are nominally subject to an annual tribute to the pasha of damascus; but they are very frequently in rebellion, and pay only when threatened by a superior force. for the last two years abd el mohsen has not paid any thing. the contribution of the adouan is one- tenth of the produce of their camels, sheep, goats, and cows, besides ten pounds of butter for every hundred sheep.[the hundred of any kind of cattle is here called shilleie (arabic).] the arabs of the belka have few camels; but their herds of cows, sheep, and goats are large; and whenever they have a prospect of being able to secure the harvest against the incursions of enemies, they cultivate patches of the best soil in their territory. in summer they remain in the valleys on the side of the ghor, in the winter a part of them descend into the ghor itself, while the others encamp upon the upper plain of the belka. july th.�we left the encampment of abd el mohsen early in the morning, and at one hour from it, descending along a winding valley, we reached the banks of the rivulet zerka mayn (arabic), which is not to be confounded with the northern zerka. its source is not far from hence; it flows in a deep and barren valley through a wood of defle trees, which form a canopy over the rivulet impenetrable to the meridian sun. the red flowers of these trees reflected in the river gave it the appearance of a bed of roses, and presented a singular contrast with the whitish gray rocks which border the wood on either side. all these mountains are calcareous, mixed with some flint. the water of the zerka mayn is almost warm, and has a disagreeable taste, occasioned probably by the quantity of defle flowers that fall into it. having crossed the river we ascended the steep side of the mountain houma (arabic), wady wale [p. ] at the top of which we saw the summit of djebel attarous (arabic), about half an hour distant to our right; this is the highest point in the neighbourhood, and seems to be the mount nebo of the scripture. on its summit is a heap of stones overshaded by a very large wild pistachio tree. at a short distance below, to the s.w. is the ruined place called kereyat (arabic). the part of the mountain over which we rode was completely barren, with an uneven plain on its top. in two hours and a half we saw at about half an hour to our right, the ruins of a place called lob, which are of some extent. we passed an encampment of arabs ghanamat. at the end of three hours and three quarters, after an hour�s steep descent, we reached wady wale (arabic); the stream contains a little more water than the zerka mayn; it runs in a rocky bed, in the holes of which innumerable fish were playing; i killed several by merely throwing stones into the water. the banks of the rivulet are overgrown with willows, defle, and tamarisks (arabic), and i saw large petrifactions of shells in the valley. about one hour to the west of the spot where we passed the wale are the ruins of a small castle, situated on the summit of a lower ridge of mountains; the arabs call it keraoum abou el hossein (arabic). in the valley of wale a large party of arabs sherarat was encamped, bedouins of the arabian desert, who resort hither in summer for pasturage. they are a tribe of upwards of five thousand tents; but not having been able to possess themselves of a district fertile in pasturage, and being hemmed in by the northern aeneze, the aeneze of the nedjed, the howeytat, and beni szakher, they wander about in misery, have very few horses, and are not able to feed any flocks of sheep or goats. they live principally on the hadj route, towards maan, and in summer approach the belka, pushing northward sometimes as far as haouran. they wady modjeb [p. ] are obliged to content themselves with encamping on spots where the beni szakher and the aeneze, with whom they always endeavour to live at peace, do not choose to pasture their cattle. the only wealth of the sherarat consists in camels. their tents are very miserable; both men and women go almost naked, the former being only covered round the waist, and the women wearing nothing but a loose shirt hanging in rags about them. these arabs are much leaner than the aeneze, and of a browner complexion. they have the reputation of being very sly and enterprising thieves, a title by which they think themselves greatly honoured. in four hours and a half, after having ascended the mountain on the s. side of the wale, we reached a fine plain on its summit. all the country to the southward of the wale, as far as the wady modjeb, is comprised under the appellation of el koura, a term often applied in syria to plains: el koura is the �plains of moab� of the scripture; the soil is very sandy, and not fertile. the haouran black stone, or basalt, if it may be so called, is again met with here. the river el wale rises at about three hours distance to the e. of the spot where we passed it, near which it takes a winding course to the south until it approaches the modjeb, where it again turns westwards. the lower part of the river changes its name into that of seyl heydan (arabic), which empties itself into the modjeb at about two hours distant from the dead sea, near the ruined place called dar el ryashe (arabic). the wale seems to be the same called nahaliel in d�anville�s map, but this name is unknown to the arabs; its source is not so far northward as in the map. between the wady zerka mayn and the wale is another small rivulet called wady el djebel (arabic). at the end of six hours and a half we reached the banks of the wady modjeb, the arnon of the scriptures, which divides the [p. ] province of belka from that of kerek, as it formerly divided the small kingdoms of the moabites and the amorites. when at about one hour�s distance short of the modjeb i was shewn to the n.e. of us, the ruins of diban (arabic), the ancient dibon, situated in a low ground of the koura. on the spot where we reached the high banks of the modjeb are the ruins of a place called akeb el debs (arabic). we followed, from thence, the top of the precipice at the foot of which the river flows, in an eastern direction, for a quarter of an hour, when we reached the ruins of araayr (arabic), the aroer of the scriptures, standing on the edge of the precipice; from hence a foot-path leads down to the river. in the koura, about one hour to the west of araayr, are some hillocks called keszour el besheir (arabic). the view which the modjeb presents is very striking: from the bottom, where the river runs through a narrow stripe of verdant level about forty yards across, the steep and barren banks arise to a great height, covered with immense blocks of stone which have rolled down from the upper strata, so that when viewed from above, the valley looks like a deep chasm, formed by some tremendous convulsion of the earth, into which there seems no possibility of descending to the bottom; the distance from the edge of one precipice to that of the opposite one, is about two miles in a straight line. we descended the northern bank of the wady by a foot-path which winds among the masses of rock, dismounting on account of the steepness of the road, as we had been obliged to do in the two former valleys which we had passed in this day�s march; this is a very dangerous pass, as robbers often waylay travellers here, concealing themselves behind the rocks, until their prey is close to them. upon many large blocks by the side of the path i saw heaps of small stones, placed there as a sort of weapon for the traveller, [p. ] in case of need. no arab passes without adding a few stones to these heaps. there are three fords across the modjeb, of which we took that most frequented. i had never felt such suffocating heat as i experienced in this valley, from the concentrated rays of the sun and their reflection from the rocks. we were thirty-five minutes in reaching the bottom. about twelve minutes above the river i saw on the road side a heap of fragments of columns, which had been about eight feet in height. a bridge has been thrown across the stream in this place, of one high arch, and well built; but it is now no longer of any use, though evidently of modern date. at a short distance from the bridge are the ruins of a mill. the river, which flows in a rocky bed, was almost dried up, having less water than the zerka mayn and wale, but its bed bears evident marks of its impetuosity during the rainy season, the shattered fragments of large pieces of rock which had been broken from the banks nearest the river, and carried along by the torrent, being deposited at a considerable height above the present channel of the stream. a few defle and willow trees grow on its banks. the principal source of the modjeb is at a short distance to the n.e. of katrane, a station of the syrian hadj; there the river is called seyl sayde [seyl means rivulet in this country.] (arabic), lower down it changes its name to efm el kereim (arabic), or, as it is also called, szefye (arabic). at about one hour east of the bridge it receives the waters of the ledjoum, which flow from the n.e. in a deep bed; the ledjoum receives a rivulet caled seyl el mekhreys (arabic), and then the baloua (arabic), after which it takes the name of enkheyle (arabic). near the source of the ledjoum is the ruined place called tedoun [p. ] (arabic); and near the source of the baloua is a small ruined castle called kalaat baloua. the rivulet salyhha (arabic), coming from the south, empties itself into the modjeb below the bridge. near the confluence of the ledjoum and the modjeb there seemed to be a fine verdant pasture ground, in the midst of which stands a hill with some ruins upon it, and by the side of the river are several ruined mills. in mounting the southern ascent from the modjeb, we passed, upon a narrow level at about five minutes from the bridge, the ruins of a small castle, of which nothing but the foundations remains: it is called mehatet el hadj (arabic), from the supposition that the pilgrim route to mekka formerly passed here, and that this was a station of the hadj. near the ruin is a birket, which was filled by a canal from the ledjoum, the remains of which are still visible. this may, perhaps, be the site of areopolis. my guide told me that m. seetzen had been partly stripped at this place, by some arabs. we did not meet with any living being in crossing the wady. near the ruins is another heap of broken columns, like those on the opposite bank of the river; i conjecture that the columns were roman milliaria, because a causeway begins here, and runs all the way up the mountain, and from thence as far as rabba; it is about fifteen feet broad, and was well paved, though at present in a bad state, owing to a torrent which rushes along it from the mountain in winter time. at twenty-eight minutes from the mehatet el hadj are three similar columns, entire, but lying on the ground. we were an hour and three quarters in ascending from the bridge to the top; on this side the road might easily be made passable for horses. in several places the rock has been cut through to form the path. the lower part of the mountains is calcareous; i found great numbers of small petrified shells, and small pieces of mica are likewise met with. towards arabs hamaide [p. ] the upper part of the mountain the ground is covered with large blocks of the black haouran stone,[it is from this black and heavy stone, (which m. seetzen calls basalt, but which i rather conceive to belong to the species called tufwacke by the germans), that the ancient opinion of there having been mountains of iron on the east side of the jordan appears to have arisen. even now the arabs believe that these stones consist chiefly of iron, and i was often asked if i did not know how to extract it.] which i found to be more porous than any specimens of it which i had seen further northward. on the summit of this steep southern ascent are the ruins of a large square building, of which the foundations only remain, covered with heaps of stone; they are directly opposite araayr, and the ruins above mentioned are also called mehatet el hadj. i believe them to be of modern date. we had now again reached a high plain. to our right, about three quarters of an hour, was the djebel shyhhan, an insulated mountain, with the ruined village of that name on its summit. to our left, on the e. side of the ledjoum, about two or three hours distant, is a chain of low mountains, called el ghoweythe (arabic), running from n. to s. about three or four hours. to the south of el ghoweythe begins a chain of low hills, called el tarfouye (arabic), which farther south takes the name of orokaraye (arabic); it then turns westward, and terminates to the south-west of kerek. from the mehatet el hadj we followed the paved road which leads in a straight line towards rabba, in a s.w. direction; in half an hour, we met some shepherds with a flock of sheep, who led us to the tents of their people behind a hill near the side of the road. we were much fatigued, but the kindness of our hosts soon made us forget our laborious day�s march. we alighted under the tent of the sheikh, who was dying of a wound he had received a few days before from a thrust of a lance; but such is the hospitality of these people, and their attention to the comforts beit kerm [p. ] of the traveller, that we did not learn the sheikh�s misfortune till the following day. he was in the women�s apartment, and we did not hear him utter any complaints. they supposed, with reason, that if we were informed of his situation it would prevent us from enjoying our supper. a lamb was killed, and a friend of the family did the honours of the table: we should have enjoyed our repast had there not been an absolute want of water, but there was none nearer than the modjeb, and the daily supply which, according to the custom of the arabs, had been brought in before sun-rise, was, as often happens, exhausted before night; our own water skins too, which we had filled at the modjeb, had been emptied by the shepherds before we reached the encampment. this loss was the more sensible to me, as in desert countries where water seldom occurs, not feeling great thirst during the heat of the day, i was seldom in the habit of drinking much at that time; but in the evening, and the early part of the night, i always drank with great eagerness. july th.�we left our kind hosts, who belonged to the arabs hamaide, early in the morning, and continued our route along the ancient road. at half an hour from the encampment we passed the ruined village el ryhha (arabic), in one hour and a half we arrived at the ruins of an ancient city called beit kerm (arabic), belonging to which, on the side of the road, are the remains of a temple of remote antiquity. its shape is an oblong square, one of the long sides forming the front, where was a portica of eight columns in antis: the columns, three feet in diameter, are lying on the ground. within the temple, a great part of the walls of which are fallen, there are fragments of smaller columns. the stones used in the construction of the walls are about five feet long, and two feet broad. at one hour and three quarters is the ruined village of hemeymat (arabic). this district, which is an even plain, is kerek [p. ] very fertile, and large tracts are here cultivated by the inhabitants of kerek, and the arabs hamaide. at two hours and a half is rabba (arabic), probably the ancient rabbath moab, where the ancient causeway terminates. the ruins of rabba are about half an hour in circuit, and are situated upon a low hill, which commands the whole plain. i examined a part of them only, but the rest seemed to contain nothing remarkable. on the west side is a temple, of which one wall and several niches remain, by no means distinguished for elegance. near them is a gate belonging to another building, which stood on the edge of a birket. distant from these ruins about thirty yards stand two corinthian columns of middling size, one higher than the other. in the plain, to the west of the birket, stands an insulated altar. in the town many fragments are lying about; the walls of the larger edifices are built like those of heit kerm. there are many remains of private habitations, but none entire. there being no springs in this spot, the town had two birkets, the largest of which is cut entirely out of the rocky ground, together with several cisterns. about three quarters of an hour to the s.e. of rabba, are two copious springs, called el djebeyba (arabic), and el yaroud (arabic). from rabba our road lay s. by e. at four hours are the ruins of kereythela (arabic). at the end of five hours we entered a mountainous district, full of wadys; and after a march of six hours we reached the town of kerek. i hesitated where i should alight at kerek, and whether i should announce myself as a turk or a christian, for i knew that the success of my progress southward depended upon the good will of the people of this place. i had a letter of recommendation to the sheikh of the town, given to me by a turkish gentleman of damascus, whose wife was a native of kerek, and he had mentioned me in such terms as led me to anticipate a good reception; but as i knew that i should be much harassed by inquisitive visitors, were [p. ] i to take up my lodgings at the sheikh�s house, i determined to alight at some christian�s, and then consult upon my future proceeding with the greek priest, whom i knew by report. i no sooner entered the north gate of the town, where is the quarter of the christians, than i was surrounded by several of these hospitable people, who took hold of the bridle of my horse, every one insisting upon my repairing to his dwelling; i followed one, and the whole neighbourhood was soon assembled, to partake of the sheep that was slaughtered in honour of my arrival; still no one had asked me who i was, or whither i was going. after some conversation with the priest, i thought it expedient to pay a visit of ceremony to the sheikh, in order to deliver my letter; i soon however had reason to repent: he received me very politely; but when he heard of my intention of proceeding southward, he told me that he could not allow of my going forward with one guide only, and that as he was preparing to visit the southern districts himself, in a few days, i should wait for him or his people to conduct me. his secretary then informed me, that it was expected i should make some present to the sheikh, and pay him, besides, the sum which i must have given for a guide. the present i flatly refused to make, saying that it was rather the sheikh�s duty to make a present to the guest recommended to him by such a person as my damascene friend was. with respect to the second demand, i answered that i had no more money with me than was absolutely necessary for my journey. our negotiations on this point lasted for several days; when seeing that i could obtain no guide without an order from the sheikh, i at last agreed to pay fifteen piastres for his company as far as djebel sherah. if i had shewn a disposition to pay this sum immediately, every body would have thought that i had plenty of money, and more considerable sums would have been extorted; in every part of turkey it is a prudent rule not [p. ] to grant the turks their demands immediately, because they soon return to the charge. had i not shewn my letter to the sheikh, i should have procured a guide with little trouble, i should have had it in my power to see the borders of the dead sea, and should have been enabled to depart sooner; but having once made my agreement with him, i was obliged to wait for his departure, which was put off from day to day, and thus i was prevented from going to any distance from the town, from the fear of being left behind. i remained therefore at kerek for twenty successive days, changing my lodgings almost every day, in order to comply with the pressing invitations of its hospitable inhabitants. the town of kerek (arabic), a common name in syria, is built upon the top of a steep hill, surrounded on all sides by a deep and narrow valley, the mountains beyond which command the town. in the valley, on the west and north sides, are several copious springs, on the borders of which the inhabitants cultivate some vegetables, and considerable plantations of olive trees. the principal of these sources are, ain sara (arabic), which issues from the rock in a very romantic spot, where a mosque has been built, now in ruins; this rivulet turns three mills: the other sources are ain szafszaf (arabic), ain kobeyshe (arabic), and ain frandjy (arabic), or the european spring, in the rock near which, as some persons told me, is an inscription in frank characters, but no one ever would, or could, shew it me. the town is surrounded by a wall, which has fallen down in several places; it is defended by six or seven large towers, of which the northern is almost perfect, and has a long arabic inscription on its wall, but too high to be legible from the ground; on each side of the inscription is a lion in bas-relief, similar to those seen on the walls of aleppo and damascus. the town had originally only two entrances, one to the south and the other to the north; they are [p. ] dark passages, forty paces in length, cut through the rock. an inscription on the northern gate ascribes its formation to sultan seyf- eddin (arabic). besides these two gates, two other entrances have been formed, leading over the ruins of the town wall. at the west end of the town stands a castle, on the edge of a deep precipice over the wady kobeysha. it is built in the style of most of the syrian castles, with thick walls and parapets, large arched apartments, dark passages with loop-holes, and subterraneous vaults; and it probably owes its origin, like most of these castles, to the prudent system of defence adopted by the saracens against the franks during the crusades. in a large gothic hall are the remains of paintings in fresco, but so much defaced that nothing can be clearly distinguished. kerek having been for some time in the hands of the franks, this hall may have been built at that time for a church, and decorated with paintings. upon an uncouth figure of a man bearing a large chain i read the letters ioni, painted in large characters; the rest of the inscription was effaced. on the side towards the town the castle is defended by a deep fosse cut in the rock; near which are seen several remains of columns of gray and red granite. on the south side the castle hill is faced with stone in the same manner as at aleppo, el hossn, szalkhat, &c. on the west side a wall has been thrown across the wady, to some high rocks, which project from the opposite side; a kind of birket has thus been formed, which formerly supplied the garrison with water. in the castle is a deep well, and many of the private houses also have wells, but their water is brackish; others have cisterns, which save the inhabitants the trouble of fetching their water from the wady below. there are no antiquities in the town, excepting a few fragments of granite columns. a good mosque, built by melek el dhaher, is now in ruins. the christians have a church, dedicated to st. george, or el khuder, which has been [p. ] lately repaired. on the declivity of the wady to the south of the town are some ancient sepulchral caves, of coarse workmanship, cut in the chalky rock. kerek is inhabited by about four hundred turkish, and one hundred and fifty christian families; the former can furnish upwards of eight hundred firelocks, the latter about two hundred and fifty. the turks are composed of settlers from all parts of southern syria, but principally from the mountains about hebron and nablous. the christians are, for the greater part, descendants of refugees from jerusalem, bethlehem, and beit djade. they are free from all exactions, and enjoy the same rights with the turks. thirty or forty years ago kerek was in the hands of the bedouin tribe called beni ammer, who were accustomed to encamp around the town and to torment the inhabitants with their extortions. it may be remarked generally of the bedouins, that wherever they are the masters of the cultivators, the latter are soon reduced to beggary, by their unceasing demands. the uncle of the present sheikh of kerek, who was then head of the town, exasperated at their conduct, came to an understanding with the arabs howeytat, and in junction with these, falling suddenly upon the beni ammer, completely defeated them in two encounters. the ammer were obliged to take refuge in the belka, where they joined the adouan, but were again driven from thence, and obliged to fly towards jerusalem. for many years afterwards they led a miserable life, from not being sufficiently strong to secure to their cattle good pasturing places. about six years ago they determined to return to kerek, whatever might be their fate; in their way round the southern extremity of the dead sea they lost two thirds of their cattle by the attacks of their inveterate enemies, the terabein. when, at last, they arrived in the neighbourhood of kerek, they threw themselves upon the mercy of the present sheikh [p. ] of the town, youssef medjaby, who granted them permission to remain in his district, provided they would obey his commands. they were now reduced, from upwards of one thousand tents, to about two hundred, and they may at present be considered as the advanced guard of the sheikh of kerek, who employs them against his own enemies, and makes them encamp wherever he thinks proper. the inhabitants of kerek have thus become formidable to all the neighbouring arabs; they are complete masters of the district of kerek, and have great influence over the affairs of the belka. the christians of kerek are renowned for their courage, and more especially so, since an action which lately took place between them and the rowalla, a tribe of aeneze; a party of the latter had on a sunday, when the men were absent, robbed the christian encampment, which was at about an hour from the town, of all its cattle. on the first alarm given by the women, twenty-seven young men immediately pursued the enemy, whom they overtook at a short distance, and had the courage to attack, though upwards of four hundred men mounted on camels, and many of them armed with firelocks. after a battle of two hours the rowalla gave way, with the loss of forty-three killed, a great many wounded, and one hundred and twenty camels, together with the whole booty which they had carried off. the christians had only four men killed. to account for the success of this heroic enterprise, i must mention that the people of kerek are excellent marksmen; there is not a boy among them who does not know how to use a firelock by the time he is ten years of age. the sheikh of kerek has no greater authority over his people than a bedouin sheikh has over his tribe. in every thing which regards the bedouins, he governs with the advice of the most respectable individuals of the town; and his power is not absolute enough to deprive the meanest of his subjects of the smallest part [p. ] that prevails prevents the increase of wealth, and the richest man in the town is not worth more than about £ . sterling. their custom of entertaining strangers is much the same as at szalt; they have eight menzels, or medhafe (arabic), for the reception of guests, six of which belong to the turks, and two to the christians; their expenses are not defrayed by a common purse: but whenever a stranger takes up his lodging at one of the medhafes, one of the people present declares that he intends to furnish that day�s entertainment, and it is then his duty to provide a dinner or supper, which he sends to the medhafe, and which is always in sufficient quantity for a large company. a goat or a lamb is generally killed on the occasion, and barley for the guest�s horse is also furnished. when a stranger enters the town the people almost come to blows with one another in their eagerness to have him for their guest, and there are turks who every other day kill a goat for this hospitable purpose. indeed it is a custom here, even with respect to their own neighbours, that whenever a visitor enters a house, dinner or supper is to be immediately set before him. their love of entertaining strangers is carried to such a length, that not long ago, when a christian silversmith, who came from jerusalem to work for the ladies, and who, being an industrious man, seldom stirred out of his shop, was on the point of departure after a two months residence, each of the principal families of the town sent him a lamb, saying that it was not just that he should lose his due, though he did not choose to come and dine with them. the more a man expends upon his guests, the greater is his reputation and influence; and the few families who pursue an opposite conduct are despised by all the others. kerek is filled with guests every evening; for the bedouins, knowing that they are here sure of a good supper for themselves and their horses, visit it as often as they can; they alight at one medhafe, [p. ] go the next morning to another, and often visit the whole before they depart. the following remarkable custom furnishes another example of their hospitable manners: it is considered at kerek an unpardonable meanness to sell butter or to exchange it for any necessary or convenience of life; so that, as the property of the people chiefly consists in cattle, and every family possesses large flocks of goats and sheep, which produce great quantities of butter, they supply this article very liberally to their guests. besides other modes of consuming butter in their cookery, the most common dish at breakfast or dinner, is fetyte, a sort of pudding made with sour milk, and a large quantity of butter. there are families who thus consume in the course of a year, upwards of ten quintals of butter. if a man is known to have sold or exchanged this article, his daughters or sisters remain unmarried, for no one would dare to connect himself with the family of a baya el samin (arabic), or seller of butter, the most insulting epithet that can be applied to a man of kerek. this custom is peculiar to the place, and unknown to the bedouins. the people of kerek, intermarry with the bedouins; and the aeneze even give the kerekein their girls in marriage. the sum paid to the father of the bride is generally between six and eighthundred piastres; young men without property are obliged to serve the father five or six years, as menial servants, in compensation for the price of the girl. the kerekein do not treat their wives so affectionately as the bedouins; if one of them falls sick, and her sickness is likely to prevent her for some time from taking care of the family affairs, the husband sends her back to her father�s house, with a message that �he must cure her;� for, as he says, �i bought a healthy wife of you, and it is not just that i should be at the trouble and expense of curing her.� this is a rule with both mohammedans and christians. it is not the custom for the [p. ] husband to buy clothes or articles of dress for his wife; she is, in consequence, obliged to apply to her own family, in order to appear decently in public, or to rob her husband of his wheal and barley, and sell it clandestinely in small quantities; nor does she inherit the smallest trifle of her husband�s property. the kerekein never sleep under the same blanket with their wives; and to be accused of doing so, is considered as great an insult as to be called a coward. the domestic manners of the christians of kerek are the same as those of the turks; their laws are also the same, excepting those relating to marriage; and in cases of litigation, even amongst themselves, they repair to the tribunal of the kadhy, or judge of the town, instead of submitting their differences to their own sheikhs. the kadhy is elected by the sheikhs. with respect to their religious duties, they observe them much less than any other greeks in syria; few of them frequent the church, alleging, not without reason, that it is of no use to them, because they do not understand one word of the greek forms of prayer. neither are they rigid observers of lent, which is natural enough, as they would be obliged to live almost entirely on dry bread, were they to abstain wholly from animal food. though so intimately united with the turks both by common interests and manners, as to be considered the same tribe, yet there exists much jealousy among the adherents of the two religions, which is farther increased by the sheikh�s predilection for the christians. the turks seeing that the latter prosper, have devised a curious method of participating in the favours which providence may bestow on the christians on account of their religion: many of them baptise their male children in the church of st. george, and take christian godfathers for their sons. there is neither mollah nor fanatic kadhy to prevent this practice, and the greek priest, who [p. ] is handsomely paid for baptising, reconciles his conscientious scruples by the hope that the boy so baptized may perhaps die a christian; added to this, he does not give the child entire baptism, but dips the hands and feet only in the water, while the christian child receives total immersion, and this pious fraud sets all his doubts at rest as to the legality of the act. the priests pretend nevertheless that such is the efficacy of the baptism that these baptised turks have never been known to die otherwise than by old age. kerek is the see of a greek bishop, who generally resides at jerusalem. the diocese is called battra (arabic) in arabic, and [greek] in greek; and it is the general opinion among the clergy of jerusalem, that kerek is the ancient petra;[the greek bishops belonging to the patriarchal see of jerusalem are: . kaisaryet filistin; . bysan: . battra; . akka; . bethlehem; . nazareth. the greek bishops in partibus (arabic) are; . lyd; . gaza; . syna; . yaffa; . nablous; . shabashye; . tor thabour: . djebel adjeloun.] but it will be seen in the sequel of this journal that there is good reason to think they are mistaken; kerek therefore is probably the charax omanorum of pliny. the bishop�s revenue is about six pounds sterling per annum; he visits his diocese every five or six years. during my stay, a greek priest arrived from jerusalem, to collect for his convent, which had been at a great expense in rebuilding the church of the holy sepulchre. the greeks delivered to him in sheep to the value of about fifteen pounds sterling. the kerekein cultivate the plains in the neighbouring mountains and feed their cattle on the uncultivated parts. one-third of the people remain encamped the whole year at two or three hours distant from the town, to superintend the cattle; the rest encamp in the harvest time only. during the latter period the christians have two large camps or douars, and the turks five. here they [p. ] live like bedouins, whom they exactly resemble, in dress, food, and language. the produce of their fields is purchased by the bedouins, or exchanged for cattle. the only other commercial intercourse carried on by them is with jerusalem, for which place a caravan departs every two months, travelling either by the route round the southern extremity of the dead sea, which takes three days and a half, or by crossing the jordan, a journey of three days. at jerusalem they sell their sheep and goats, a few mules, of which they have an excellent breed, hides, wool, and a little fowa or madder (rubia tinctorum), which they cultivate in small quantities; in return they take coffee, rice, tobacco, and all kinds of articles of dress, and of household furniture. this journey, however, is undertaken by few of the natives of kerek, the trade being almost wholly in the hands of a few merchants of hebron, who keep shops at kerek, and thus derive large profits from the indolence or ignorance of the kerekein. i have seen the most common articles sold at two hundred per cent. profit. the trade is carried on chiefly by barter: and every thing is valued in measures of corn, this being the readiest representative of exchange in the possession of the town�s-people; hence the merchants, make their returns chiefly in corn and partly in wool. the only artizans in kerek who keep shops are a blacksmith, a shoemaker, and a silversmith. when the mekka caravan passes, the kerekein sell provisions of all kinds to the hadj, which they meet at the castle of katrana. many turks, as well as christians, in the town, have negro slaves, whom they buy from the bedouins, who bring them from djidda and mekka: there are also several families of blacks in kerek, who have obtained their liberty, and have married free black women. the houses of kerek have only one floor, and three or four are generally built in the same court-yard. the roof of the apartment [p. ] is supported by two arches, much in the same way as in the ancient buildings of the haouran, which latter however have generally but one arch. over the arches thick branches of trees are laid, and over the latter a thin layer of rushes. along the wall at the extremity of the room, opposite to the entrance, are large earthen reservoirs of wheat (kowari arabic). there is generally no other aperture in these rooms than the door, a circumstance that renders them excessively disagreeable in the winter evenings, when the door is shut and a large fire is kindled in the middle of the floor. some of the arab tribes in the territory of kerek pay a small annual tribute to the sheikh of kerek, as do likewise the peasants who cultivate the shores of the dead sea. in order, however, to secure their harvests against any casualties, the kerekein have deemed it expedient to pay, on their, part, a tribute to the southern arabs called el howeytat, who are continually passing this way in their expeditions against the beni szakher. the christians pay to one of the howeytat sheikhs one spanish dollar per family, and the turks send them annually about fifteen mule loads of carpets which are manufacured at kerek. whenever the sheikhs of the beni szakher visit the town, they receive considerable presents by way of a friendly tribute. the district of kerek comprises three other villages, which are under the orders of the sheikh of kerek: viz. ketherabba (arabic), oerak (arabic), and khanzyre (arabic). there are besides a great number of ruined places in the district, the principal of which are the following; addar (arabic), hedjfa (arabic), hadada (arabic), thenye (arabic), three quarters of an hour to the s. of the town; meddyn (arabic), mouthe (arabic), djeldjoun (arabic), djefeiras (arabic), datras (arabic), about an hour and a half s.e. of the town, where some walls of houses remain; medjdelein (arabic), yarouk (arabic), seraf [p. ] (arabic), meraa (arabic), and betra, where is a heap of stones on the foot of a high hill, distant from kerek to the southward and westward about five hours. several wadys descend from the mountains of kerek into the plain on the shore of the dead sea, and are there lost, either in the sands or in the fields of the peasants who cultivate the plain, none of them reaching the lake itself in the summer. to the s. of modjeb is the seyl djerra (arabic), and farther south, wady beni hammad (arabic). in the valley of this river, perhaps the zared of scripture, are hot-wells, with some ruined buildings near them, about five hours from kerek, in a northern direction. next follow seyl el kerek, wady el draah (arabic), seyl assal (arabic), perhaps assan, which rises nearer ketherabba; el nemeyra (arabic), coming from oerak; wady khanzyre (arabic), and el ahhsa, a river which divides the territory of kerek from the district to the s. of it, called el djebel. not having had an opportunity of descending to the borders of the dead sea, i shall subjoin here a few notes which i collected from the people of kerek. i have since been informed that m. seetzen, the most indefatigable traveller that ever visited syria, has made the complete tour of the dead sea; i doubt not that he has made many interesting discoveries in natural history. the mountains which inclose the ghor, or valley of the jordan, open considerably at the northern extremity of the dead sea, and encompassing it on the w. and e. sides approach again at its s. extremity, leaving only a narrow plain between them. the plain on the west side, between the sea and the mountains, is covered with sand, and is unfit for cultivation; but on the e. side, and especially towards the s. extremity, where it continues to bear the appellation of el ghor (arabic), the plain is in many places very fertile. its breadth [p. ] varies from one to four and five miles; it is covered with forests, in the midst of which the miserable peasants build their huts of rushes, and cultivate their dhourra and tobacco fields. these peasants are called el ghowárene (arabic), and amount to about three hundred families; they live very poorly, owing to the continual exactions of the neighbouring bedouins, who descend in winter from the mountains of belka and kerek, and pasture their cattle amidst the fields. the heat of the climate of this low valley, during the summer, renders it almost uninhabitable; the people then go nearly naked; but their low huts, instead of affording shelter from the mid-day heat rather increase it. at this period violent intermittent fevers prevail, to which, however, they are so much accustomed, that they labour in the fields during the intervals of the paroxysms of the disease. the principal settlement of the ghowárene is at the southern extremity of the sea, near the embouchure of the wady el ahhsa; their village is called ghor szafye (arabic), and is the winter rendezvous of more than ten large tribes of bedouins. its situation corresponds with that of zoar. the spots not cultivated being for the greater part sandy, there is little pasturage, and the camels, in consequence, feed principally upon the leaves of the trees. about eight hours to the n. of szafye is the ghor el mezra (arabic), a village much frequented by the people of kerek, who there buy the tobacco which they smoak. about the middle of the lake on the same eastern shore, are some ruins of an ancient city, called towahein el sukkar (arabic) i.e. the sugar mills. farther north the mountains run down to the lake, and a steep cliff overhangs the sea for about an hour, shutting out all passage along the shore. still farther to the north are the ruined places called kafreyn (arabic), and rama (arabic), and in the valley of the jordan, south of abou obeida, are the ruins of nemrin (arabic), probably productions of the ghor [p. ] the bethnimra of the scriptures. in the vegetable productions of this plain the botanist would perhaps discover several unknown species of trees and plants; the reports of the arabs on this subject are so vague and incoherent, that it is almost impossible to obtain any precise information from them; they speak, for instance, of the spurious pomegranate tree, producing a fruit exactly like that of the pomegranate, but which, on being opened, is found to contain nothing but a dusty powder; this, they pretend, is the sodom apple-tree; other persons however deny its existence. the tree asheyr (arabic), is very common in the ghor. it bears a fruit of a reddish yellow colour, about three inches in diameter, which contains a white substance, resembling the finest silk, and enveloping some seeds. the arabs collect the silk, and twist it into matches for their fire-locks, preferring it to the common match, because it ignites more readily. more than twenty camel loads might be annually procured, and it might perhaps be found useful in the silk and cotton manufactories of europe. at present the greater part of the fruit rots on the trees. on making an incision into the thick branches of the asheyr a white juice exsudes, which is collected by putting a hollow reed into the incision; the arabs sell the juice to the druggists at jerusalem, who are said to use it in medicine as a strong cathartic.[it is the same plant called oshour by the people of upper egypt and nubia. norden, who has given a drawing of it, as found by him near the first cataract of the nile, improperly denominates it oshar.] indigo is a very common production of the ghor; the ghowárene sell it to the merchants of jerusalem and hebron, where it is worth twenty per cent. more than egyptian indigo. one of the most interesting productions of this valley is the beyrouk honey, or as the arabs call it, assal beyrouk (arabic). i suppose it to be the manna, but i never had an opportunity of seeing it myself. it was described to me, as a juice dropping from the [p. ] leaves and twigs of a tree called gharrab (arabic), of the size of an olive tree, with leaves like those of the poplar, but somewhat broader. the honey collects upon the leaves like dew, and is gathered from them, or from the ground under the tree, which is often found completely covered with it. according to some its colour is brownish; others said it was of a grayish hue; it is very sweet when fresh, but turns sour after being kept two days. the arabs eat it like honey, with butter, they also put it into their gruel, and use it in rubbing their water skins, in order to exclude the air. i enquired whether it was a laxative, but was answered in the negative. the beyrouk honey is collected only in the months of may and june. some persons assured me that the same substance was likewise produced by the thorny tree tereshresh (arabic), and collected at the same time as that from the gharrab. in the mountains of shera grows a tree called arar (arabic), from the fruit of which the bedouins extract a juice, which is extremely nutritive. the tree talh (arabic), which produces the gum arabic (arabic), is very common in the ghor; but the arabs do not take the trouble to collect the gum. among other vegetable productions there is a species of tobacco, called merdiny (arabic), which has a most disagreeable taste; but, for want of a better kind, it is cultivated in great quantity, and all the bedouins on the borders of the dead sea are supplied with it. the coloquintida (arabic or arabic), grows wild every where in great quantities. the tree szadder (arabic), which is a species of the cochineal tree, is also very common. as to the mineral productions of the borders of the dead sea, it appears that the southern mountains are full of rock salt, which is washed off by the winter rains, and carried down into the lake. in the northern ghor pieces of native sulphur are found at a small dead sea [p. ] depth beneath the surface, and are used by the arabs to cure diseases in their camels. the asphaltum (arabic), hommar, which is collected by the arabs of the western shore, is said to come from a mountain which blocks up the passage along the eastern ghor, and which is situated at about two hours south of wady modjeb. the arabs pretend that it oozes from the fissures in the cliff, and collects in large pieces on the rock below, where the mass gradually increases and hardens, until it is rent asunder by the heat of the sun, with a loud explosion, and falling into the sea, is carried by the waves in considerable quantities to the opposite shores. at the northern extremity of the sea the stink-stone is found; its combustible properties are ascribed, by the arabs, to the magic rod of moses, whose tomb is not far from thence. the stones are thrown into the fires made of camel�s dung, to encrease the heat. concerning the lake itself, i was informed that no visible increase of its waters takes place in winter time, as the greater part of the torrents which descend from the eastern mountains do not reach the lake, but are lost in the sandy plain. about three hours north of szaffye is a ford, by which the lake is crossed in three hours and a half. some arabs assured me that there are spots in this ford where the water is quite hot, and where the bottom is of red earth. it is probable that there are hot springs in the bottom of the lake, which near the ford is nowhere deeper than three or four feet; and generally only two feet. the water is so strongly impregnated with salt, that the skin of the legs of those who wade across it soon afterwards peels entirely off. the mountains about kerek are all calcareous, with flint; they abound with petrified shells, and some of the rocks consist entirely of small shells. fine specimens of calcareous spath, called by the arabs hadjar ain el shems (arabic), the sun�s eye, are found [p. ] here. ancient coins of copper, silver, and even of gold are found in the fields near kerek; in general they are bought by the silversmiths, and immediately melted. i procured a few of copper upon which was the greek legend of [greek]. the direction of jerusalem from kerek, as pointed out to me several times, is n. by w. the direction of katrane, a station of the pilgrim caravan to mekka, is e.s.e. distant about eight hours. that of szaffye, or the s. point of the dead sea, is w. by s. distant about twelve hours. the dead sea is here called bahret lout, the sea of lot.	august th.�after having remained nearly three weeks at kerek, waiting from day to day for the departure of the sheikh, he at last set out, accompanied by about forty horsemen. the inhabitants of kerek muster about one hundred horsemen, and have excellent horses; the sheikh himself possessed the finest horse i had seen in syria; it was a gray saklawy, famous all over the desert. we descended into the valley of ain frandjy, and ascended the mountain on the other side, our road lying nearly s.s.w. in one hour and a half from kerek we reached the top of the mountain, from whence we had a fine view of the southern extremity of the dead sea, which presented the appearance of a lake, with many islands or shoals covered with a white saline crust. the water is very shallow for about three hours from its south end. where narrowest, it may be about six miles across. the mountain which we had passed was a barren rock of flint and chalk. we met with an encampment of beni hamyde, where we breakfasted. at the end of two hours and a half we reached, on the descent of the mountain, ain terayn (arabic), a fine spring, with the ruins of a city near it. the rivulet which takes its rise here joins that of ketherabba, and descends along a narrow valley into the ghor, which it reaches near the ruined place called assal, from which it takes the name of wady khanzyre [p. ] assal. near the rivulet are some olive plantations. at two hours and three quarters is ketherabba (arabic), a village with about eighty houses. many of its inhabitants live under tents pitched in the square open spaces left among the houses of the village. the gardens contain great numbers of large fig trees. the mountains in the neighbourhood are cultivated in some parts by the beni ammer. the village of szaffye in the ghor bears from hence w. august th.�we left ketherabba early in the morning. our road lay through a wild and entirely barren rocky country, ascending and descending several wadys. in one hour and a quarter we came to oerak (arabic), a village of the same size as the former, very picturesquely situated; it is built at the foot of a high perpendicular cliff, down which a rivulet rushes into the wady below. many immense fragments have separated from the cliff, and fallen down; and amongst these rocks the houses of the village are built. its inhabitants cultivate, besides wheat, barley, and dhourra, olives, figs, and tobacco, which they sell to advantage. we rested here the greater part of the day, under a large kharnoub tree. our sheikh had no pressing business, but like all arabs, fond of idleness, and of living well at other people�s expense, he by no means hastened his journey, but easily found a pretext for stopping; wherever we alighted a couple of sheep or goats were immediately killed, and the best fruits, together with plenty of tobacco, were presented to us. our company increased at every village, as all those arabs who had horses followed us, in order to partake of our good fare, so that our party amounted at last to eighty men. at two hours and a quarter is a fine spring; two hours and a half, the village khanzyre (arabic), which is larger than oerak and ketherabba. here we stopped a whole day, our sheikh having a house in the village, and a wife, whom he dared not carry to kerek, having another family there. in the evening he held a court [p. ] of justice, as he had done at ketherabba, and decided a number of disputes between the peasants; the greater part of these were concerning money transactions between husbands and the families of their wives; or related to the mixed property of the arabs in mares, in consequence of the bedouin custom of selling only one-half, or one-third of those animals. august th.���khanzyre is built on the declivity of one of the highest mountains on the eastern side of the dead sea; in its neighbourhood are a number of springs whose united waters form a rivulet which irrigates the fields belonging to the village, and an extensive tract of gardens. the villages of this country are each governed by its own sheikh, and the peasants are little better than bedouins; their manners, dress, and mode of living are exactly the same. in the harvest time they live in the mountains under tents, and their cattle is entrusted during the whole year to a small encampment of their own shepherds. in the afternoon of this day we were alarmed by loud cries in the direction of the opposite mountain. the whole of our party immediately mounted, and i also followed. on reaching the spot from whence the cries came, we found two shepherds of khanzyre quite naked; they had been stripped by a party of the arabs terabein, who live in the mountains of hebron, and each of the robbers had carried off a fat sheep upon his mare. they were now too far off to be overtaken; and our people, not being able to engage the enemy, amused themselves with a sham-fight in their return home. they displayed superior strength and agility in handling the lance, and great boldness in riding at full speed over rugged and rocky ground. in the exercise with the lance the rider endeavours to put the point of it upon the shoulder of his adversary, thus showing that his life is in his power. when the parties become heated, they often bear off upon their lances the turbands of their adversaries, and carry them [p. ] about with insolent vociferation. our sheikh of kerek, a man of sixty, far excelled all his people in these youthful, exercises; indeed he seemed to be an accomplished bedouin sheikh; though he proved to be a treacherous friend to me. as i thought that i had settled matters with him, to his entire satisfaction, i was not a little astonished, when he took me aside in the evening to announce to me, that unless he received twenty piastres more, he would not take charge of me any farther. although i knew it was not in his power to hinder me from following him, and that he could not proceed to violence without entirely losing his reputation among the arabs, for ill-treating his guest, yet i had acquired sufficient knowledge of the sheikh�s character to be persuaded that if i did not acquiesce in his demand, he would devise some means to get me into a situation which it would have perhaps cost me double the sum to escape from; i therefore began to bargain with him; and brought him down to fifteen piastres. i then endeavoured to bind him by the most solemn oath used by the bedouins; laying his hand upon the head of his little boy, and on the fore feet of his mare, he swore that he would, for that sum, conduct me himself, or cause me to be conducted, to the arabs howeytat, from whence i might hope to find a mode of proceeding in safety to egypt. my precautions, however, were all in vain. being satisfied that my cash was reduced to a few piastres, he began his plans for stripping me of every other part of my property which had excited his wishes. the day after his oath, when we were about to depart from ayme, he addressed me in the presence of the whole company, saying that his saddle would fit my horse better than my own did, and that he would therefore change saddles with me. mine was worth nearly forty piastres, his was not worth more than ten. i objected to the exchange, pretending that i was not accustomed to ride upon the low bedouin saddle; he replied, by assuring [p. ] me that i should soon find it much more agreeable than the town saddle; moreover, said he, you may depend upon it that the sheikh of the howeytat will take your saddle from you, if you do not give it to me. i did not dare to put the sheikh in mind of his oath, for had i betrayed to the company his having extorted from me so much, merely for the sake of his company, he would certainly have been severely reprimanded by the bedouins present, and i should thus have exposed myself to the effects of his revenge. all the bye-standers at the same time pressed me to comply with his request: �is he not your brother?� said they. �are not the best morsels of his dish always for you? does he not continually fill your pipe with his own tobacco? fie upon your stinginess.� but they did not know that i had calculated upon paying part of the hire of a guide to egypt with the value of the saddle, nor that i had already handsomely paid for my brotherhood. i at last reluctantly complied; but the sheikh was not yet satisfied: the stirrups he had given me, although much inferior to those he had taken from me, were too good in his eyes, to form part of my equipment. in the evening his son came to me to propose an exchange of these stirrups against a pair of his own almost unfit for use, and which i knew would wound my ankles, as i did not wear boots; but it was in vain to resist. the pressing intreaties of all my companions in favour of the sheikh�s son lasted for two whole days; until tired at length with their importunity, i yielded, and, as had expected, my feet were soon wounded. i have entered into these details in order to shew what arab cupidity is: an article of dress, or of equipment, which the poorest townsman would be ashamed to wear, is still a covetable object with the bedouins; they set no bounds to their demands, delicacy is unknown amongst them, nor have they any word to express it; if indeed one persists in refusing, they never take the thing by force; but it is extremely wady el ahsa [p. ] difficult to resist their eternal supplications and compliments without yielding at last. with regard to my behaviour towards the bedouins, i always endeavoured, by every possible means, to be upon good terms with my companions, whoever they were, and i seldom failed in my endeavours. i found, by experience, that putting on a grave face, and talking wisely among them was little calculated to further the traveller�s views. on the contrary, i aspired to the title of a merry fellow; i joked with them whenever i could, and found that by a little attention to their ways of thinking and reasoning, they are easily put into good humour. this kind of behaviour, however, is to be observed only in places where one makes a stay of several days, or towards fellow travellers: in passing rapidly through arab encampments, it is better for the traveller not to be too talkative in the tents where he alights, but to put on a stern countenance. we left khanzyre late in the evening, that we might enjoy the coolness of the night air. we ascended for a short time, and then began to descend into the valley called wady el ahsa. it had now become dark, and this was, without exception, the most dangerous route i ever travelled in my life. the descent is steep, and there is no regular road over the smooth rocks, where the foot slips at every step. we had missed our way, and were obliged to alight from our horses, after many of us had suffered severe falls. our sheikh was the only horseman who would not alight from his mare, whose step, he declared, was as secure as his own. after a march of two hours and a half, we halted upon a narrow plain, on the declivity of the wady, called el derredje (arabic), where we lighted a fire, and remained till day-break. august th.�in three quarters of an hour from derredje, we reached the bottom of the valley. the wady el ahsa (arabic), which takes its rise near the castle el ahsa, or el hassa, on the el kerr [p. ] syrian hadj road, runs here in a deep and narrow bed of rocks, the banks of which are overgrown with defle. there was more water in the rivulet than in any of those i had passed south of zerka; the water was quite tepid, caused by a hot spring, which empties itself into the ahsa from a side valley higher up the wady. this forms the third hot spring on the east of the dead sea, one being in the wady zerka mayn, and another in the wady hammad. the valley of el ahsa divides the district of kerek from that of djebal (plur. of djebel), the ancient gebalene. in the ghor the river changes its name into that of kerahy (arabic), and is likewise called szafye (arabic). this name is found in all the maps of arabia petræa, but the course of the river is not from the south, as there laid down; djebal also, instead of being laid down at the s.e. extremity of the lake, is improperly placed as beginning on the s.w. of it. the rock of the wady el ahsa is chiefly sand-stone, which is seldom met with to the n. of this valley; but it is very common in the southern mountains. we ascended the southern side of the valley, which is less steep and rocky than the northern, and in an hour and a half reached a fine spring called el kaszrein (arabic) surrounded by verdant ground and tall reeds. the bedouins of the tribe of beni naym, here cultivate some dhourra fields and there are some remains of ancient habitations. in two hours and a quarter we arrived at the top of the mountain, when we entered upon an extensive plain, and passed the ruins of an ancient city of considerable extent called el kerr (arabic), perhaps the ancient kara, a bishopric belonging to the diocese of rabba moabitis;[see reland. palæst. vol. i. p. .] nothing remains but heaps of stones. the plain, which we crossed in a s.w. by s. direction, consists of a fertile soil, and contains the ruins of several villages. at the end of two hours and three quarters we descended by a steep road, into a wady, and in three hours reached the village of ayme [p. ] ayme (arabic), situated upon a narrow plain at the foot of high cliffs. in its neighbourhood are several springs, and wherever these are met with, vegetation readily takes place, even among barren sandrocks. ayme is no longer in the district of kerek, its sheikh being now under the command of the sheikh of djebal, whose residence is at tafyle. one half of the inhabitants live under tents, and every house has a tent pitched upon its terrace, where the people pass the mornings and evenings, and sleep. the climate of all these mountains, to the southward of the belka, is extremely agreeable; the air is pure, and although the heat is very great in summer, and is still further increased by the reflexion of the sun�s rays from the rocky sides of the mountains, yet the temperature never becomes suffocating, owing to the refreshing breeze which generally prevails. i have seen no part of syria in which there are so few invalids. the properties of the climate seem to have been well known to the ancients, who gave this district the appellation of palæstina tertia, sive salutaris. the winter is very cold; deep snow falls, and the frosts sometimes continue till the middle of march. this severe weather is doubly felt by the inhabitants, as their dress is little fitted to protect them from it. during my stay in gebalene, we had every morning a fog which did not disperse till mid- day. i could perceive the vapours collecting in the ghor below, which, after sun-set, was completely enveloped in them. during the night they ascend the sides of the mountains, and in general are not entirely dissipated until near mid-day. from khanzyre we had the ghor all the way on our right, about eight or ten hours distant; but, in a straight line, not more than six hours. august th.�at one hour and a quarter from ayme, route s. b. w. we reached tafyle (arabic), built on the declivity of a mountain, at the foot of which is wady tafyle. this name bears some resemblance to that of phanon or phynon, which, according tafyle [p. ] to eusebius, was situated between petra and zoara.[euseb. de nom. s.s.] tafyle contains about six hundred houses; its sheikh is the nominal chief of djebal, but in reality the arabs howeytat govern the whole district, and their sheikh has lately constructed a small castle at tafyle at his own expense. numerous springs and rivulets (ninety-nine according to the arabs), the waters of which unite below and flow into the ghor, render the vicinity of this town very agreeable. it is surrounded by large plantations of fruit trees: apples, apricots, figs, pomegranates, and olive and peach trees of a large species are cultivated in great numbers. the fruit is chiefly consumed by the inhabitants and their guests, or exchanged with the bedouin women for butter; the figs are dried and pressed together in large lumps, and are thus exported to ghaza, two long days journey from hence. the inhabitants of djebal are not so independent as the kerekein, because they have not been able to inspire the neighbouring bedouins with a dread of their name. they pay a regular tribute to the beni hadjaya, to the szaleyt, but chiefly to the howeytat, who often exact also extraordinary donations. wars frequently happen between the people of djebal and of kerek, principally on account of persons who having committed some offence, fly from one town to seek an asylum in the other. at the time of my visit a coolness had existed between the two districts for several months, on account of a man of tafyle, who having eloped with the wife of another, had taken refuge at kerek; and one of the principal reasons which had induced our sheikh to undertake this journey, was the hope of being able to bring the affair to an amicable termination. hence we were obliged to remain three days at tafyle, tumultuous assemblies were held daily, upon the subject, and the meanest arab might give his opinion, though in direct [p. ] opposition to that of his sheikh. the father of the young man who had eloped had come with us from kerek, for the whole family had been obliged to fly, the bedouin laws entitling an injured husband to kill any of the offender�s relations, in retaliation for the loss of his wife. the husband began by demanding from the young man�s father two wives in return for the one carried off, and the greater part of the property which the emigrant family possessed in tafyle.	the father of the wife and her first cousin also made demands of compensation for the insult which their family had received by her elopement. our sheikh, however, by his eloquence and address, at last got the better of them all: indeed it must in justice be said that youssef medjaly was not more superior to the other mountaineers in the strength of his arm, and the excellence of his horsemanship, than he was by his natural talents. the affair was settled by the offender�s father placing his four infant daughters, the youngest of whom was not yet weaned, at the disposal of the husband and his father-in-law, who might betrothe them to whomsoever they chose, and receive themselves the money which is usually paid for girls. the four daughters were estimated at about three thousand piastres, and both parties seemed to be content. in testimony of peace being concluded between the two families, and of the price of blood being paid, the young man�s father, who had not yet shewn himself publickly, came to shake hands with the injured husband, a white flag was suspended at the top of the tent in which we sat, a sheep was killed, and we passed the whole night in feasting and conversation. the women of tafyle are much more shy before strangers than those of kerek. the latter never, or at least very seldom, veil themselves, and they discourse freely with all strangers; the former, on the contrary, imitate the city ladies in their pride, and reserved manners. the inhabitants of tafyle, who are of the tribe [p. ] of djowabere (arabic), supply the syrian hadj with a great quantity of provisions, which they sell to the caravan at the castle el ahsa; and the profits which they derive from this trade are sometimes very great. it is much to be doubted whether the peasants of djebal and shera will be able to continue their field-labour, if the syrian pilgrim caravan be not soon re-established. the produce of their soil hardly enables them to pay their heavy tribute to the bedouins, besides feeding the strangers who alight at their menzels: for all the villages in this part of the country treat their guests in the manner, which has already been described. the people of djebal sell their wool, butter, and hides at ghaza, where they buy all the little luxuries which they stand in need of; there are, besides, in every village, a few shopkeepers from el khalyl or hebron, who make large profits. the people of hebron have the reputation of being enterprising merchants, and not so dishonest as their neighbours of palestine: their pedlars penetrate far into the desert of arabia, and a few of them remain the whole year round at khaibar in the nedjed. the fields of tafyle are frequented by immense numbers of crows; the eagle rakham is very common in the mountains, as are also wild boars. in all the wadys south of the modjeb, and particularly in those of modjeb and el ahsa, large herds of mountain goats, called by the arabs beden (arabic), are met with. this is the steinbock, or bouquetin of the swiss and tyrol alps they pasture in flocks of forty or fifty together; great numbers of them are killed by the people of kerek and tafyle, who hold their flesh in high estimation. they sell the large knotty horns to the hebron merchants, who carry them to jerusalem, where they are worked into handles for knives and daggers. i saw a pair of these horns at kerek three feet and a half in length. the arabs told [p. ] me that it is very difficult to get a shot at them, and that the hunters hide themselves among the reeds on the banks of streams where the animals resort in the evening to drink; they also asserted, that when pursued, they will throw themselves from a height of fifty feet and more upon their heads without receiving any injury. the same thing is asserted by the hunters in the alps. in the mountains of belka, kerek, djebal, and shera, the bird katta [this bird is a species of partridge, tetrao alkatta, and is found in large flocks in may and june in every part of syria. it has been particularly described in russel�s aleppo, vol. ii. p. .] is met with in immense numbers; they fly in such large flocks that the arab boys often kill two and three at a time, merely by throwing a stick amongst them. their eggs, which they lay in the rocky ground, are collected by the arabs. it is not improbable that this bird is the seloua (arabic), or quail, of the children of israel. the peasants of tafyle have but few camels; they till the ground with oxen and cows, and use mules for the transport of their provisions. at half an hour south of tafyle is the valley of szolfehe (arabic). from a point above tafyle the mountains of dhana (which i shall have occasion to mention hereafter) bore s.s.w. august th.�during our stay at tafyle we changed our lodgings twice every day, dining at one public house and supping at another. we were well treated, and had every evening a musical party, consisting of bedouins famous for their performance upon the rababa, or guitar of the desert, and who knew all the new bedouin poetry by heart. i here met a man from aintab, near aleppo, who hearing me talk of his native town, took a great liking to me, and shewed me every civility. we left tafyle on the morning of the th. in one hour we reached a spring, where a party of beni szaleyt was encamped. at two hours was a ruined village, with a fine spring, at the head of beszeyra [p. ] a wady. two hours and three quarters, the village beszeyra (arabic). our road lay s.w. along the western declivity of the mountains, having the ghor continually in view. the wadys which descend the mountains of djebal south of tafyle do not reach the lowest part of the plain in the summer, but are lost in the gravelly soil of the valley. beszeyra is a village of about fifty houses. it stands upon an elevation, on the summit of which a small castle has been built, where the peasants place their provisions in times of hostile invasion. it is a square building of stone, with strong walls. the villages of beszeyra, szolfehe, and dhana are inhabited by descendants of the beni hamyde, a part of whom have thus become fellahein, or cultivators, while the greater number still remain in a nomadic state. those of beszeyra lived formerly at omteda, now a ruined village three or four hours to the north of it. at that time the arabs howeytat were at war with the djowabere, whose sheikh was an ally of the hamyde. the howeytat defeated the djowabere, and took tafyle, where they constructed a castle, and established a sheikh of their own election; they also built, at the same time, the tower of beszeyra. the hamyde of omteda then emigrated to this place, which appears to have been, in ancient times, a considerable city, if we may judge from the ruins which surround the village. it was probably the ancient psora, a bishopric of palaestina tertia.[see reland. palæst. vol i. p. .] the women of beszeyra were the first whom i saw wearing the berkoa (arabic), or egyptian veil, over their faces. the sheikh of kerek had come thus far, in order to settle a dispute concerning a colt which one of the hamyde of beszeyra demanded of him. we found here a small encampment of howeytat arabs, to one of whom the sheikh recommended me: he professed to know the man well, and assured me that he was a proper guide. we settled the price of his hire to cairo, at eighty piastres; and he was to provide me with a camel for myself and baggage. this was ain djedolat [p. ] the last friendly service of sheikh youssef towards me, but i afterwards learnt, that he received for his interest in making the bargain, fifteen piastres from the arab, who, instead of eighty, would have been content with forty piastres. after the sheikh had departed on his return, my new guide told me that his camels were at another encampment, one day�s distance to the south, and that he had but one with him, which was necessary for the transport of his tent. this avowal was sufficient to make me understand the character of the man, but i still relied on the sheikh�s recommendation. in order to settle with the guide i sold my mare for four goats and for thirty-five piastres worth of corn, a part of which i delivered to him, and i had the remainder ground into flour, for our provision during the journey; he took the goats in payment of his services, and it was agreed that i should give him twenty piastres more on reaching cairo. i had still about eighty piastres in gold, but kept them carefully concealed in case of some great emergency; for i knew that if i were to shew a single sequin, the arabs would suppose that i possessed several hundreds, and would either have robbed me of them, or prevented me from proceeding on my journey by the most exorbitant demands. august th.�i remained two days at beszeyra, and then set out with the family of my guide, consisting of his wife, two children, and a servant girl. we were on foot, and drove before us the loaded camel and a few sheep and goats. our road ascended; at three quarters of an hour, we came to a spring in the mountain. the rock is here calcareous, with basalt. at two hours and a half was ain djedolat (arabic), a spring of excellent water; here the mountain is overgrown with short balout trees. at the end of two hours and three quarters, direction s. we reached the top of the mountain, which is covered with large blocks of basalt. here a fine view opened upon us; to our right we had the deep valley of wady dhana, with the village of the el ghoeyr [p. ] same name on its s. side; farther west, about four hours from dhana, we saw the great valley of the ghor, and towards the e. and s. extended the wide arabian desert, which the syrian pilgrims cross in their way to medina. in three hours and a quarter, after a slight descent, we reached the plain, here consisting of arable ground covered with flints. we passed the ruins of an ancient town or large village, called el dhahel (arabic). the castle of aaneiza (arabic), with an insulated hillock near it, a station of the pilgrims, bore s.s.e. distant about five hours; the town of maan, s. distant ten or twelve hours; and the castle el shobak, s.s.w. east of aaneiza runs a chain of hills called teloul djaafar (arabic). proceeding a little farther, we came to the high borders of a broad valley, called el ghoeyr (arabic), (diminutive of arabic el ghor) to the s. of wady dhana. looking down into this valley, we saw at a distance a troop of horsemen encamped near a spring; they had espied us, and immediately mounted their horses in pursuit of us. although several people had joined our little caravan on the road, there was only one armed man amongst us, except myself. the general opinion was that the horsemen belonged to the beni szakher, the enemies of the howeytat, who often make inroads into this district; there was therefore no time to lose; we drove the cattle hastily back, about a quarter of an hour, and hid them, with the women and baggage, behind some rocks near the road, and we then took to our heels towards the village of dhana (arabic), which we reached in about three quarters of an hour, extremely exhausted, for it was about two o�clock in the afternoon and the heat was excessive. in order to run more nimbly over the rocks, i took off my heavy arab shoes, and thus i was the first to reach the village; but the sharp flints of the mountain wounded my feet so much, that after reposing a little i could hardly stand upon my legs. this was the first time i had ever felt fear during my travels dhana [p. ] in the desert; for i knew that if i fell in with the beni szakher, without any body to protect me, they would certainly kill me, as they did all persons whom they supposed to belong to their inveterate enemy, the pasha of damascus, and my appearance was very much that of a damascene. our fears however were unfounded; the party that pursued us proved to be howeytat, who were coming to pay a visit to the sheikh at tafyle; the consequence was that two of our companions, who had staid behind, because being inhabitants of maan, and friends of the beni szakher, they conceived themselves secure, were stripped by the pursuers, whose tribe was at war with the people of maan. dhana, which i suppose to be the ancient thoana, is prettily situated, on the declivity of tor dhana, the highest mountain of djebal, and has fine gardens and very extensive tobacco plantations. the howeytat have built a tower in the village. the inhabitants were now at war with those of beszeyra, but both parties respect the lives of their enemies, and their hostile expeditions are directed against the cattle only. having reposed at dhana we returned in the evening to the spot where we had left the women and the baggage, and rested for the night at about a quarter of an hour beyond it. august th.�we skirted, for about an hour, the eastern borders of wady ghoeyr, when we descended into the valley, and reached its bottom at the end of three hours and a half, travelling at a slow pace. this wady divides the district of djebal from that of djebal shera (arabic), or the mountains of shera, which continue southwards towards the akaba. these are the mountains called in the scriptures mount seir, the territory of the edomites. the valley of ghoeyr is a large rocky and uneven basin, considerably lower than the eastern plain, upwards of twelve miles across at its eastern extremity, but narrowing towards el ghoeyr [p. ] the west. it is intersected by numerous wadys of winter torrents, and by three or four valleys watered by rivulets which unite below and flow into the ghor. the ghoeyr is famous for the excellent pasturage, produced by its numerous springs, and it has, in consequence, become a favourite place of encampment for all the bedouins of djebal and shera. the borders of the rivulets are overgrown with defle and the shrub rethem (arabic). the rock is principally calcareous; and there are detached pieces of basalt and large tracts of brescia formed of sand, flint, and pieces of calcareous stone. in the bottom of the valley we passed two rivulets, one of which is called seil megharye (arabic), where we arrived at the end of a four hours walk, and found some bedouin women washing their blue gowns, and the wide shirts of their husbands. i had taken the lead of our party, accompanied by my guide�s little boy, with whom i reached an encampment, on the southern side of the valley, to which these women belonged. this was the encampment to which my guide belonged, and where he assured me that i should find his camels. i was astonished to see nobody but women in the tents, but was told that the greater part of the men had gone to ghaza to sell the soap-ashes which these arabs collect in the mountains of shera. the ladies being thus left to themselves, had no impediment to the satisfying of their curiosity, which was very great at seeing a townsman, and what was still more extraordinary, a man of damascus (for so i was called), under their tents. they crowded about me, and were incessant in their inquiries respecting my affairs, the goods i had to sell, the dress of the town ladies, &c. &c. when they found that i had nothing to sell, nor any thing to present to them, they soon retired; they however informed me that my guide had no other camels in his possession than the one we had brought with us, which was already lame. he soon afterwards arrived, and when i began to expostulate with him on his [p. ] conduct, he assured me that his camel would be able to carry us all the way to egypt, but begged me to wait a few days longer, until he should be well enough to walk by its side; for, since we left beszeyra he had been constantly complaining of rheumatic pains in his legs. i saw that all this was done to gain time, and to put me out of patience, in order to cheat me of the wages he had already received; but, as we were to proceed on the following day to another encampment at a few hours distance, i did not choose to say any thing more to him on the subject in a place where i had nobody but women to take my part; hoping to be able to attack him more effectually in the presence of his own tribe�smen. august th.�we remained this day at the women�s tents, and i amused myself with visiting almost every tent in the encampment, these women being accustomed to receive strangers in the absence of their husbands. the howeytat arabs resemble the egyptians in their features; they are much leaner and taller than the northern arabs; the skin of many of them is almost black, and their features are much less regular than those of the northern bedouins, especially the aeneze. the women are tall and well made, but too lean; and even the handsomest among them are disfigured by broad cheek bones. the howeytat occupy the whole of the shera, as far as akaba, and south of it to moyeleh (arabic), five days from akaba, on the egyptian hadj road. to the east they encamp as far as akaba el shamy, or the akaba on the syrian pilgrim route; while the northern howeytat take up their winter quarters in the ghor. the strength of their position in these mountains renders them secure from the attacks of the numerous hordes of bedouins who encamp in the eastern arabian desert; they are, however, in continual warfare with them, and sometimes undertake expeditions of twenty days journey, in order to surprise some encampment of their [p. ] enemies in the plains of the nedjed. the beni szakher are most dreaded by them, on account of their acquaintance with the country, and peace seldom lasts long between the two tribes. the encampment where i spent this day was robbed of all its camels last winter by the beni szakher, who drove off, in one morning, upwards of twelve hundred belonging to their enemies. the howeytat receive considerable sums of money as a tribute from the egyptian pilgrim caravan; they also levy certain contributions upon the castles on the syrian hadj route, situated between maan and tebouk, which they consider as forming a part of their territory. they have become the carriers of the egyptian hadj, in the same manner, as the aeneze transport with their camels the syrian pilgrims and their baggage. when at variance with the pashas of egypt, the howeytat have been known to plunder the caravan; a case of this kind happened about ten years ago, when the hadj was returning from mekka; the principal booty consisted of several thousand camel loads of mocha coffee, an article which the pilgrims are in the constant habit of bringing for sale to cairo; the bedouins not knowing what to do with so large a quantity, sold the greater part of it at hebron, tafyle, and kerek, and that year happening to be a year of dearth, they gave for every measure of corn an equal measure of coffee. the howeytat became wahabis; but they paid tribute only for one year, and have now joined their forces with those of mohammed aly, against ibn saoud. august th.�we set out for the encampment of the sheikh of the northern howeytat, with the tent and family of my guide: who was afraid of leaving them in this place where be thought himself too much exposed to the incursions of the beni szakher. we ascended on foot, through many wadys of winter torrents, up the southern [p. ] mountains of the ghoeyr; we passed several springs, and the ruined place called szyhhan (arabic), and at the end of three hours walk arrived at a large encampment of the howeytat, situated near the summit of the basin of the ghoeyr. it is usual, when an arab with his tent reaches an encampment placed in a douar (arabic), or circle, that some of the families strike their tents, and pitch them again in such a way as to widen the circle for the admission of the stranger�s tent; but the character of my guide did not appear to be sufficiently respectable to entitle him to this compliment, for not a tent was moved, and he was obliged to encamp alone out of the circle, in the hope that they would soon break up for some other spot where he might obtain a place in the douar. these arabs are much poorer than the aeneze, and consequently live much worse. had it not been for the supply of butter which i bought at beszeyra, i should have had nothing but dry bread to eat; there was not a drop of milk to be got, for at this time of the year the ewes are dry; of camels there was but about half a dozen in the whole encampment. i here came to an explanation with my guide, who, i saw, was determined to cheat me out of the wages he had already received. i told him that i was tired of his subterfuges, and was resolved to travel with him no longer, and i insisted upon his returning me the goats, or hiring me another guide in his stead. he offered me only one of the goats; after a sharp dispute therefore i arose, took my gun, and swore that i would never re-enter his tent, accompanying my oath with a malediction upon him, and upon those who should receive him into their encampment, for i had been previously informed that he was not a real howeytat, but of the tribe of billy, the individuals of which are dispersed over the whole desert. on quitting his tent, i was surrounded by the bedouins [p. ] of the encampment, who told me that they had been silent till now, because it was not their affair to interfere between a host and his guest, but that they never would permit a stranger to depart in that way; that i ought to declare myself to be under the sheikh�s protection, who would do me justice. this being what i had anticipated, i immediately entered the tent of the sheikh, who happened to be absent; my guide now changed his tone, and began by offering me two goats to settle our differences. in the evening the sheikh arrived, and after a long debate i got back my four goats, but the wheat which i had received at beszeyra, as the remaining part of the payment for my mare, was left to the guide. in return for his good offices, the sheikh begged me to let him have my gun, which was worth about fifteen piastres; i presented it to him, and he acknowledged the favour, by telling me that he knew an honest man in a neighbouring encampment, who had a strong camel, and would be ready to serve me as a guide. august th.�i took a boy to shew me the way to this person, and driving my little flock before us, we reached the encampment, which was about one hour to the westward. the boy told the bedouin that i had become the sheikh�s brother, i was therefore well received, and soon formed a favourable opinion of this arab, who engaged to take me to cairo for the four goats, which i was to deliver to him now, and twenty piastres (about one pound sterling) to be paid on my arrival in egypt. this will be considered a very small sum for a journey of nearly four hundred miles; but a bedouin puts very little value upon time, fatigue, and labour; while i am writing this, many hundred loaded camels, belonging to bedouins, depart every week from cairo for akaba, a journey of ten days, for which they receive twenty-five piastres per camel. had i been known to be an european, i certainly should not have been able to move without promising at least a thousand piastres to my guide. the excursion of m. boutin, a french traveller, from shobak [p. ] cairo to the oasis of jupiter ammon, a journey of twelve days, undertaken in the summer of , cost for guides only, four thousand piastres. august th.�in the morning i went to the castle of shobak, where i wished to purchase some provisions. it was distant one hour and a quarter from the encampment, in a s.e. direction. shobak, also called kerek el shobak (arabic), perhaps the ancient carcaria,[euseb. de locis s.s.] is the principal place in djebel shera; it is situated about one hour to the south of the ghoeyr, upon the top of a hill in the midst of low mountains, which bears some resemblance to kerek, but is better adapted for a fortress, as it is not commanded by any higher mountains. at the foot of the hill are two springs, surrounded by gardens and olive plantations. the castle is of saracen construction, and is one of the largest to the south of damascus; but it is not so solidly built as the castle of kerek. the greater part of the wall and several of the bastions and towers are still entire. the ruins of a well built vaulted church are now transformed into a public inn or medhafe. upon the architraves of several gates i saw mystical symbols, belonging to the ecclesiastical architecture of the lower empire. in several arabic inscriptions i distinguished the name of melek el dhaher. where the hill does not consist of precipitous rock, the surface of the slope is covered with a pavement. within the area of the castle a party of about one hundred families of the arabs mellahein (arabic) have built their houses or pitched their tents. they cultivate the neighbouring grounds, under the protection of the howeytat, to whom they pay tribute. the horsemen of the latter who happen to encamp near the castle, call regularly every morning at one of the medhafes of shobak, in order to have their mares fed; if the barley is refused, they next day kill one of the sheep belonging to the town. at one hour and a half north of shobak, on the side of the [p. ] ghoeyr, lies the village of shkerye (arabic). from shobak the direction of wady mousa is s.s.w. maan bears s.s.e. the mountain over dhana, n.n.e. to the east of the castle is an encampment of bedouin peasants, of the tribe of hababene (arabic), who cultivate the ground. as i had no cash in silver, and did not wish to shew my sequins, i was obliged to give in exchange for the provisions which i procured at shobak my only spare shirt, together with my red cap, and half my turban. the provisions consisted of flour, butter, and dried leben, or sour milk mixed with flour and hardened in the sun, which makes a most refreshing drink when dissolved in water. there are several hebron merchants at shobak. august th.�i remained in the tent of my new guide, who delayed his departure, in order to obtain from his friends some commissions for cairo, upon which he might gain a few piastres. in the afternoon of this day we had a shower of rain, with so violent a gust of wind, that all the tents of the encampment were thrown down at the same moment, for the poles are fastened in the ground very carelessly during the summer months. august st.�the whole encampment broke up in the morning, some bedouins having brought intelligence that a strong party of beni szakher had been seen in the district of djebal. the greater part of the males of the howeytat together with their principal sheikh ibn rashyd (arabic), were gone to egypt, in order to transport the pasha�s army across the desert to akaba and yambo; we had therefore no means of defence against these formidable enemies, and were obliged to take refuge in the neighbourhood of shobak, where they would not dare to attack the encampment. when the bedouins encamp in small numbers, they choose a spot surrounded by high ground, to prevent their tents from being wady nedjed [p. ] seen at a distance. the camp is, however, not unfrequently betrayed by the camels which pasture in the vicinity. in the evening we took our final departure, crossing an uneven plain, covered with flints and the ruins of several villages, and then descended into the wady nedjed (arabic); the rivulet, whose source is in a large paved basin in the valley, joins that of shobak. upon the hills which border this pleasant valley are the ruins of a large town of the same name, of which nothing remains but broken walls and heaps of stones. in one hour and a quarter from our encampment, and about as far from shobak, we reached the camp of another tribe of fellahein bedouins, called refaya (arabic), where we slept. they are people of good property, for which they are indebted to their courage in opposing the extortions of the howeytat. here were about sixty tents and one hundred firelocks. their herds of cows, sheep, and goats are very numerous, but they have few camels. besides corn fields they have extensive vineyards, and sell great quantities of dried grapes at ghaza, and to the syrian pilgrims of the hadj. they have the reputation of being very daring thieves. august nd.�i was particularly desirous of visiting wady mousa, of the antiquities of which i had heard the country people speak in terms of great admiration; and from thence i had hoped to cross the desert in a straight line to cairo; but my guide was afraid of the hazards of a journey through the desert, and insisted upon my taking the road by akaba, the ancient eziongeber, at the extremity of the eastern branch of the red sea, where he said that we might join some caravans, and continue our route towards egypt. i wished, on the contrary, to avoid akaba, as i knew that the pasha of egypt kept there a numerous garrison to watch the movements of the wahabi and of his rival the pasha of damascus; saoudye [p. ] a person therefore like myself, coming from the latter place, without any papers to shew who i was, or why i had taken that circuitous route, would certainly have roused the suspicions of the officer commanding at akaba, and the consequences might have been dangerous to me among the savage soldiery of that garrison. the road from shobak to akaba, which is tolerably good, and might easily be rendered practicable even to artillery, lies to the e. of wady mousa; and to have quitted it, out of mere curiosity to see the wady, would have looked very suspicious in the eyes of the arabs; i therefore pretended to have made a vow to slaughter a goat in honour of haroun (aaron), whose tomb i knew was situated at the extremity of the valley, and by this stratagem i thought that i should have the means of seeing the valley in my way to the tomb. to this my guide had nothing to oppose; the dread of drawing upon himself, by resistance, the wrath of haroun, completely silenced him. we left the refaya early in the morning, and travelled over hilly ground. at the end of two hours we reached an encampment of arabs saoudye (arabic), who are also fellahein or cultivators, and the strongest of the peasant tribes, though they pay tribute to the howeytat. like the refaya they dry large quantities of grapes. they lay up the produce of their harvest in a kind of fortress called oerak (arabic), not far from their camp, where are a few houses surrounded by a stone wall. they have upwards of one hundred and twenty tents. we breakfasted with the saoudye, and then pursued the windings of a valley, where i saw many vestiges of former cultivation, and here and there some remains of walls and paved roads, all constructed of flints. the country hereabouts is woody. in three hours and a half we passed a spring, from whence we ascended a mountain, and travelled for some time along its barren summit, in a s.w. direction, when we again descended, and reached ain eldjy [p. ] mousa, distant five hours and a half from where we had set out in the morning. upon the summit of the mountain near the spot where the road to wady mousa diverges from the great road to akaba, are a number of small heaps of stones, indicating so many sacrifices to haroun. the arabs who make vows to slaughter a victim to haroun, think it sufficient to proceed as far as this place, from whence the dome of the tomb is visible in the distance; and after killing the animal they throw a heap of stones over the blood which flows to the ground. here my guide pressed me to slaughter the goat which i had brought with me from shobak, for the purpose, but i pretended that i had vowed to immolate it at the tomb itself. upon a hill over the ain mousa the arabs lyathene (arabic) were encamped, who cultivate the valley of mousa. we repaired to their encampment, but were not so hospitably received as we had been the night before. ain mousa is a copious spring, rushing from under a rock at the eastern extremity of wady mousa. there are no ruins near the spring; a little lower down in the valley is a mill, and above it is the village of badabde (arabic), now abandoned. it was inhabited till within a few years by about twenty families of greek christians, who subsequently retired to kerek. proceeding from the spring along the rivulet for about twenty minutes, the valley opens, and leads into a plain about a quarter of an hour in length and ten minutes in breadth, in which the rivulet joins with another descending from the mountain to the southward. upon the declivity of the mountain, in the angle formed by the junction of the two rivulets, stands eldjy (arabic), the principal village of wady mousa. this place contains between two and three hundred houses, and is enclosed by a stone wall with three regular gates. it is most picturesquely situated, and is inhabited by the wady mousa [p. ] lyathene abovementioned, a part of whom encamp during the whole year in the neighbouring mountains. the slopes of the mountain near the town are formed into artificial terraces, covered with corn fields and plantations of fruit trees. they are irrigated by the waters of the two rivulets and of many smaller springs which descend into the valley below eldjy, where the soil is also well cultivated. a few large hewn stones dispersed over the present town indicate the former existence of an ancient city in this spot, the happy situation of which must in all ages have attracted inhabitants. i saw here some large pieces of beautiful saline marble, but nobody could tell me from whence they had come, or whether there were any rocks of this stone in the mountains of shera. i hired a guide at eldjy, to conduct me to haroun�s tomb, and paid him with a pair of old horse-shoes. he carried the goat, and gave me a skin of water to carry, as he knew that there was no water in the wady below. in following the rivulet of eldjy westwards the valley soon narrows again; and it is here that the antiquities of wady mousa begin. of these i regret that i am not able to give a very complete account: but i knew well the character of the people around me; i was without protection in the midst of a desert where no traveller had ever before been seen; and a close examination of these works of the infidels, as they are called, would have excited suspicions that i was a magician in search of treasures; i should at least have been detained and prevented from prosecuting my journey to egypt, and in all probability should have been stripped of the little money which i possessed, and what was infinitely more valuable to me, of my journal book. future travellers may visit the spot under the protection of an armed force; the inhabitants will become more accustomed to the researches of strangers; and the antiquities of [p. ] wady mousa will then be found to rank amongst the most curious remains of ancient art. at the point where the valley becomes narrow is a large sepulchral vault, with a handsome door hewn in the rock on the slope of the hill which rises from the right bank of the torrent: on the same side of the rivulet, a little farther on, i saw some other sepulchres with singular ornaments. here a mass of rock has been insulated from the mountain by an excavation, which leaves a passage five or six paces in breadth between it and the mountain. it forms nearly a cube of sixteen feet, the top being a little narrower than the base; the lower part is hollowed into a small sepulchral cave with a low door; but the upper part of the mass is solid. there are three of these mausolea at a short distance from each other. a few paces lower, on the left side of the stream, is a larger mausoleum similarly formed, which appears from its decayed state, and the style of its architecture, to be of more ancient date than the others. over its entrance are four obelisks, about ten feet in height, cut out of the same piece of rock; below is a projecting ornament, but so much defaced by time that i was unable to discover what it had originally represented; it had, however, nothing of the egyptian style. continuing for about three hundred paces farther along the valley, which is in this part about one hundred and fifty feet in breadth; several small tombs are met with on both sides of the rivulet, excavated in the rock, without any ornaments. beyond these is a spot where the valley seemed to be entirely closed by high rocks; but upon a nearer approach, i perceived a chasm about fifteen or twenty feet in breadth, through which the rivulet flows westwards in winter; in summer its waters are lost in the sand and gravel before they reach the opening, which is called el syk (arabic). the precipices on either side of the torrent are [p. ] about eighty-feet in height; in many places the opening between them at top is less than at bottom, and the sky is not visible from below. as the rivulet of wady mousa must have been of the greatest importance to the inhabitants of the valley, and more particularly of the city, which was entirely situated on the west side of the syk, great pains seem to have been taken by the ancients to regulate its course. its bed appears to have been covered with a stone pavement, of which many vestiges yet remain, and in several places stone walls were constructed on both sides, to give the water its proper direction, and to check the violence of the torrent. a channel was likewise cut on each side of the syk, on a higher level than the river, to convey a constant supply of water into the city in all seasons, and to prevent all the water from being absorbed in summer by the broad torrent bed, or by the irrigation of the fields in the valley above the syk. about fifty paces below the entrance of the syk a bridge of one arch thrown over the top of the chasm is still entire; immediately below it, on both sides, are large niches worked in the rock, with elegant sculptures, destined probably for the reception of statues. some remains of antiquities might perhaps be found on the top of the rocks near the bridge; but my guide assured me, that notwithstanding repeated endeavours had been made, nobody had ever been able to climb up the rocks to the bridge, which was therefore unanimously declared to be the work of the djan, or evil genii. in continuing along the winding passage of the syk, i saw in several places small niches cut in the rock, some of which were single; in other places there were three or four together, without any regularity; some are mere holes, others have short pilasters on both sides; they vary in size from ten inches to four or five feet in height; and in some of them the bases of statues are still visible. we passed several collateral chasms between perpendicular [p. ] rocks, by which some tributary torrents from the south side of the syk empty themselves into the river. i did not enter any of them, but i saw that they were thickly overgrown with defle trees. my guide told me that no antiquities existed in these valleys, but the testimony of these people on such subjects is little to be relied on. the bottom of the syk itself is at present covered with large stones, brought down by the torrent, and it appears to be several feet higher than its ancient level, at least towards its western extremity. after proceeding for twenty-five minutes between the rocks, we came to a place where the passage opens, and where the bed of another stream coming from the south joins the syk. on the side of the perpendicular rock, directly opposite to the issue of the main valley, an excavated mausoleum came in view, the situation and beauty of which are calculated to make an extraordinary impression upon the traveller, after having traversed for nearly half an hour such a gloomy and almost subterraneous passage as i have described. it is one of the most elegant remains of antiquity existing in syria; its state of preservation resembles that of a building recently finished, and on a closer examination i found it to be a work of immense labour. the principal part is a chamber sixteen paces square, and about twenty- five feet high. there is not the smallest ornament on the walls, which are quite smooth, as well as the roof, but the outside of the entrance door is richly embellished with architectural decorations. several broad steps lead up to the entrance, and in front of all is a colonnade of four columns, standing between two pilasters. on each of the three sides of the great chamber is an apartment for the reception of the dead. a similar excavation, but larger, opens into each end of the vestibule, the length of which latter is not equal to [p. ] that of the colonnade as it appears in front, but terminates at either end between the pilaster and the neighbouring column. the doors of the two apartments opening into the vestibule are covered with carvings richer and more beautiful than those on the door of the principal chamber. the colonnade is about thirty-five feet high, and the columns are about three feet in diameter with corinthian capitals. the pilasters at the two extremities of the colonnade, and the two columns nearest to them, are formed out of the solid rock, like all the rest of the monument, but the two centre columns, one of which has fallen, were constructed separately, and were composed of three pieces each. the colonnade is crowned with a pediment, above which are other ornaments, which, if i distinguished them correctly, consisted of an insulated cylinder crowned with a vase, standing between two other structures in the shape of small temples, supported by short pillars. the entire front, from the base of the columns to the top of the ornaments, may be sixty or sixty-five feet. the architrave of the colonnade is adorned with vases, connected together with festoons. the exterior wall of the chamber at each end of the vestibule, which presents itself to the front between the pilaster and the neighbouring column, was ornamented with colossal figures in bas-relief; but i could not make out what they represented. one of them appears to have been a female mounted upon an animal, which, from the tail and hind leg, appears to have been a camel. all the other ornaments sculptured on the monument are in perfect preservation. the natives call this monument kaszr faraoun (arabic), or pharaoh�s castle; and pretend that it was the residence of a prince. but it was rather the sepulchre of a prince, and great must have been the opulence of a city, which could dedicate such monuments to the memory of its rulers. [p. ] from this place, as i before observed, the syk widens, and the road continues for a few hundred paces lower down through a spacious passage between the two cliffs. several very large sepulchres are excavated in the rocks on both sides; they consist generally of a single lofty apartment with a flat roof; some of them are larger than the principal chamber in the kaszr faraoun. of those which i entered, the walls were quite plain and unornamented; in some of them are small side rooms, with excavations and recesses in the rock for the reception of the dead; in others i found the floor itself irregularly excavated for the same purpose, in compartments six to eight feet deep, and of the shape of a coffin; in the floor of one sepulchre i counted as many as twelve cavities of this kind, besides a deep niche in the wall, where the bodies of the principal members of the family, to whom the sepulchre belonged, were probably deposited. on the outside of these sepulchres, the rock is cut away perpendicularly above and on both sides of the door, so as to make the exterior facade larger in general than the interior apartment. their most common form is that of a truncated pyramid, and as they are made to project one or two feet from the body of the rock they have the appearance, when seen at a distance, of insulated structures. on each side of the front is generally a pilaster, and the door is seldom without some elegant ornaments. these fronts resemble those of several of the tombs of palmyra, [p. ] but the latter are not excavated in the rock, but constructed with hewn stones. i do not think, however, that there are two sepulchres in wady mousa perfectly alike; on the contrary, they vary greatly in size, shape, and embellishments. in some places, three sepulchres are excavated one over the other, and the side of the mountain is so perpendicular that it seems impossible to approach the uppermost, no path whatever being visible; some of the lower have a few steps before their entrance. in continuing a little farther among the sepulchres, the valley widens to about one hundred and fifty yards in breadth. here to the left is a theatre cut entirely out of the rock, with all its benches. it may be capable of containing about three thousand spectators: its area is now filled up with gravel, which the winter torrent brings down.	the entrance of many of the sepulchres is in like manner almost choked up. there are no remains of columns near the theatre. following the stream about one hundred and fifty paces further, the rocks open still farther, and i issued upon a plain two hundred and fifty or three hundred yards across, bordered by heights of more gradual ascent than before. here the ground is covered with heaps of hewn stones, foundations of buildings, fragments of columns, and vestiges of paved streets; all clearly indicating that a large city once existed here; on the left side of the river is a rising ground extending westwards for nearly a quarter of an hour, entirely covered with similar remains. on the right bank, where the ground is more elevated, ruins of the same description are also seen. in the valley near the river, the buildings have probably been swept away by the impetuosity of the winter torrent; but even here are still seen the foundations of a temple, and a heap of broken columns; close to which is a large birket, or reservoir of water, still serving for the supply of the inhabitants during the summer. the finest sepulchres in wady [p. ] mousa are in the eastern cliff, in front of this open space, where i counted upwards of fifty close to each other. high up in the cliff i particularly observed one large sepulchre, adorned with corinthian pilasters. farther to the west the valley is shut in by the rocks, which extend in a northern direction; the river has worked a passage through them, and runs underground, as i was told, for about a quarter of an hour. near the west end of wady mousa are the remains of a stately edifice, of which part of the wall is still standing; the inhabitants call it kaszr bent faraoun (arabic), or the palace of pharaoh�s daughter. in my way i had entered several sepulchres, to the surprise of my guide, but when he saw me turn out of the footpath towards the kaszr, he exclaimed: �i see now clearly that you are an infidel, who have some particular business amongst the ruins of the city of your forefathers; but depend upon it that we shall not suffer you to take out a single para of all the treasures hidden therein, for they are in our territory, and belong to us.� i replied that it was mere curiosity, which prompted me to look at the ancient works, and that i had no other view in coming here, than to sacrifice to haroun; but he was not easily persuaded, and i did not think it prudent to irritate him by too close an inspection of the palace, as it might have led him to declare, on our return, his belief that i had found treasures, which might have led to a search of my person and to the detection of my journal, which would most certainly have been taken from me, as a book of magic. it is very unfortunate for european travellers that the idea of treasures being hidden in ancient edifices is so strongly rooted in the minds of the arabs and turks; nor are they satisfied with watching all the stranger�s steps; they believe that it is sufficient for a true magician to have seen and observed the spot where treasures are hidden (of which he is supposed to be already informed by the [p. ] old books of the infidels who lived on the spot) in order to be able afterwards, at his ease, to command the guardian of the treasure to set the whole before him. it was of no avail to tell them to follow me and see whether i searched for money. their reply was, �of course you will not dare to take it out before us, but we know that if you are a skilful magician you will order it to follow you through the air to whatever place you please.� if the traveller takes the dimensions of a building or a column, they are persuaded that it is a magical proceeding. even the most liberal minded turks of syria reason in the same manner, and the more travellers they see, the stronger is their conviction that their object is to search for treasures, �maou delayl� (arabic), �he has indications of treasure with him,� is an expression i have heard a hundred times. on the rising ground to the left of the rivulet, just opposite to the kaszr bent faraoun, are the ruins of a temple, with one column yet standing to which the arabs have given the name of zob faraoun (arabic), i.e. hasta virilis pharaonis; it is about thirty feet high and composed of more than a dozen pieces. from thence we descended amidst the ruins of private habitations, into a narrow lateral valley, on the other side of which we began to ascend the mountain, upon which stands the tomb of aaron. there are remains of an ancient road cut in the rock, on both sides of which are a few tombs. after ascending the bed of a torrent for about half an hour, i saw on each side of the road a large excavated cube, or rather truncated pyramid, with the entrance of a tomb in the bottom of each. here the number of sepulchres increases, and there are also excavations for the dead in several natural caverns. a little farther on, we reached a high plain called szetouh haroun (arabic), or aaron�s terrace, at the foot of the mountain upon which his tomb is situated. there are several subterranean sepulchres [p. ] in the plain, with an avenue leading to them, which is cut out of the rocky surface. the sun had already set when we arrived on the plain; it was too late to reach the tomb, and i was excessively fatigued; i therefore hastened to kill the goat, in sight of the tomb, at a spot where i found a number of heaps of stones, placed there in token of as many sacrifices in honour of the saint. while i was in the act of slaying the animal, my guide exclaimed aloud, �o haroun, look upon us! it is for you we slaughter this victim. o haroun, protect us and forgive us! o haroun, be content with our good intentions, for it is but a lean goat! o haroun, smooth our paths; and praise be to the lord of all creatures!�[[arabic].] this he repeated several times, after which he covered the blood that had fallen on the ground with a heap of stones; we then dressed the best part of the flesh for our supper, as expeditiously as possible, for the guide was afraid of the fire being seen, and of its attracting hither some robbers. august d.�the plain of haroun and the neighbouring mountlains have no springs: but the rain water collects in low grounds, and in natural hollows in the rocks, where it partly remains the whole year round, even on the top of the mountain; but this year had been remarkable for its drought. juniper trees grow here in considerable numbers. i had no great desire to see the tomb of haroun, which stands on the summit of the mountain that was opposite to us, for i had been informed by several persons who had visited it, that it contained nothing worth seeing except a large coffin, like that of osha in the vicinity of szalt. my guide, moreover, insisted upon my speedy return, as he was to set out the [p. ] same day with a small caravan for maan; i therefore complied with his wishes, and we returned by the same road we had come. i regretted afterwards, that i had not visited haroun�s tomb, as i was told that there are several large and handsome sepulchres in the rock near it. a traveller ought, if possible, to see every thing with his own eyes, for the reports of the arabs are little to be depended on, with regard to what may be interesting, in point of antiquity: they often extol things which upon examination, prove to be of no kind of interest, and speak with indifference of those which are curious and important. in a room adjoining the apartment, in which is the tomb of haroun, there are three copper vessels for the use of those who slaughter the victims at the tomb: one is very large, and destined for the boiling of the flesh of the slaughtered camel. although there is at present no guardian at the tomb, yet the arabs venerate the sheikh too highly, to rob him of any of his kitchen utensils. the road from maan and from wady mousa to ghaza, leads by the tomb, and is much frequented by the people of maan and the bedouins; on the other side of haroun the road descends into the great valley. in comparing the testimonies of the authors cited in reland�s palaestina, it appears very probable that the ruins in wady mousa are those of the ancient petra, and it is remarkable that eusebius says the tomb of aaron was shewn near petra. of this at least i am persuaded, from all the information i procured, that there is no other ruin between the extremities of the dead sea and red sea, of sufficient importance to answer to that city. whether or not i have discovered the remains of the capital of arabia petræa, i leave to the decision of greek scholars, and shall only subjoin a few notes on these ruins. the rocks, through which the river of wady mousa has worked its extraordinary passage, and in which all the tombs and mausolea [p. ] of the city have been excavated, as high as the tomb of haroun, are sand-stone of a reddish colour. the rocks above eldjy are calcareous, and the sand-stone does not begin until the point where the first tombs are excavated. to the southward the sandstone follows the whole extent of the great valley, which is a continuation of the ghor. the forms of the summits of these rocks are so irregular and grotesque, that when seen from afar, they have the appearance of volcanic mountains. the softness of the stone afforded great facilities to those who excavated the sides of the mountains; but, unfortunately, from the same cause it is in vain to look for inscriptions: i saw several spots where they had existed, but they are all now obliterated. the position of this town was well-chosen, in point of security; as a few hundred men might defend the entrance to it against a large army; but the communication with the neighbourhood must have been subjected to great inconveniences. i am not certain whether the passage of the syk was made use of as a road, or whether the road from the town towards eldjy was formed through one of the side valleys of the syk. the road westwards towards haroun, and the valley below, is very difficult for beasts of burthen. the summer heats must have been excessive, the situation being surrounded on all sides by high barren cliffs, which concentrate the reflection of the sun, while they prevent the westerly winds from cooling the air. i saw nothing in the position that could have compensated the inhabitants for these disadvantages, except the river, the benefit of which might have been equally enjoyed had the town been built below eldjy. security therefore was probably the only object which induced the people to overlook such objections, and to select such a singular position for a city. the architecture of the sepulchres, of which there are at least two hundred and fifty in the vicinity of the ruins, are of very different periods. [p. ] on our return i stopped a few hours at eldjy. the town is surrounded with fruit-trees of all kinds, the produce of which is of the finest quality. great quantities of the grapes are sold at ghaza, and to the bedouins. the lyathene cultivate the valley as far as the first sepulchres of the ancient city; in their townhouses they work at the loom. they pay tribute to the howeytat and carry provisions to the syrian pilgrims at maan, and to the egyptian pilgrims at akaba. they have three encampments of about eighty tents each. like the bedouins and other inhabitants of shera they have become wahabis, but do not at present pay any tribute to the wahabi chief. wady mousa is comprised within the territory of damascus, as are the entire districts of shera and djebal. the most southern frontiers of the pashalik are tor hesma, a high mountain so called at one day�s journey north of akaba; from thence northward to kerek, the whole country belongs to the same pashalik, and consequently to syria; but it may easily be conceived that the pasha has little authority in these parts. in the time of djezzar, the arabs of wady mousa paid their annual land- tax into his treasury, but no other pasha has been able to exact it. i returned from eldjy to the encampment above ain mousa, which is considerably higher than the town, and set out from thence immediately, for i very much disliked the people, who are less civil to strangers than any other arabs in shera. we travelled in a southern direction along the windings of a broad valley which ascends from ain mousa, and reached its summit at the end of two hours and a quarter. the soil, though flinty, is very capable of cultivation. this valley is comprised within the appellation of wady mousa, because the rain water which collects here joins, in the winter, the torrent below eldjy. the water was anciently conducted through this valley in an artificial channel, of which the ain mefrak [p. ] stone walls remain in several places. at the extremity of the wady are the ruins of an ancient city, called betahy (arabic), consisting of large heaps of hewn blocks of silicious stone; the trees on this mountain are thinly scattered. at a quarter of an hour from betahy we reached an encampment, composed of lyathene and naymat, where we alighted, and rested for the night. august th.�our road lay s.s.w.; in one hour we came to ain mefrak (arabic), where are some ruins. from thence we ascended a mountain, and continued along the upper ridge of djebel shera. to our right was a tremendous precipice, on the other side of which runs the chain of sand- rocks which begin near wady mousa. to the west of these rocks we saw the great valley forming the continuation of the ghor. at the end of three hours, after having turned a little more southward, we arrived at a small encampment of djaylat (arabic) where we stopped to breakfast. the bedouin tents which composed a great part of this encampment were the smallest i had ever seen; they were about four feet high, and ten in length. the inhabitants were very poor, and could not afford to give us coffee; our breakfast or dinner therefore consisted of dry barley cakes, which we dipped in melted goat�s grease. the intelligence which i learnt here was extremely agreeable; our landlord told us that a caravan was to set out in a few days for cairo, from a neighbouring encampment of howeytat, and that they intended to proceed straight across the desert. this was exactly what i wished, for i could not divest myself of apprehensions of danger in being exposed to the undisciplined soldiers of akaba. it had been our intention to reach akaba from hence in two days, by way of the mountainous district of reszeyfa (a part of shera so called) and djebel hesma; but we now gladly changed our route, and departed for the encampment of the howeytat. we turned to the s.e. and in half an el szadeke [p. ] hour from the djeylat passed the fine spring called el szadeke (arabic), near which is a hill with extensive ruins of an ancient town consisting of heaps of hewn stones. from thence we descended by a slight declivity into the eastern plain, and reached the encampment, distant one hour and a half from szadeke. the same immense plain which we had entered in coming from beszeyra, on the eastern borders of the ghoeyr, here presented itself to our view. we were about six hours s. of maan, whose two hills, upon which the two divisions of the town are situated, were distinctly visible. the syrian hadj route passes at about one hour to the east of the encampment. about eight hours s. of maan, a branch of the shera extends for three or four hours in an eastern direction across the plain; it is a low hilly chain. the mountains of shera are considerably elevated above the level of the ghor, but they appear only as low hills, when seen from the eastern plain, which is upon a much higher level than the ghor. i have already noticed the same peculiarity with regard to the upper plains of el kerek and the belka: and it is observable also in the plain of djolan relatively to the level of the lake of tiberias. the valley of the ghor, which has a rapid slope southward, from the lake of tiberias to the dead sea, appears to continue descending from the southern extremity of the latter as far as the red sea, for the mountains on the e. of it appear to increase in height the farther we proceed southward, while the upper plain, apparently continues upon the same level. this plain terminates to the s. near akaba, on the syrian hadj route, by a steep rocky descent, at the bottom of which begins the desert of nedjed, covered, for the greater part, with flints. the same descent, or cliff, continues westward towards akaba on the egyptian hadj road, where it joins the djebel hesma (a prolongation of shera), maan [p. ] about eight hours to the n. of the red sea. we have thus a natural division of the country, which appears to have been well known to the ancients, for it is probably to a part of this upper plain, together with the mountains of shera, djebal, kerek, and belka, that the name of arabia petræa was applied, the western limits of which must have been the great valley or ghor. it might with truth be called petræa, not only on account of its rocky mountains, but also of the elevated plain already described, which is so much covered with stones, especially flints, that it may with great propriety be called a stony desert, although susceptible of culture: in many places it is overgrown with wild herbs, and must once have been thickly inhabited, for the traces of many ruined towns and villages are met with on both sides of the hadj road between maan and akaba, as well as between maan and the plains of haouran, in which direction are also many springs. at present all this country is a desert, and maan (arabic) is the only inhabited place in it. all the castles on the syrian hadj route from fedhein to medina are deserted. at maan are several springs, to which the town owes its origin, and these, together with the circumstance of its being a station of the syrian hadj, are the cause of its still existing. the inhabitants have scarcely any other means of subsistence than the profits which they gain from the pilgrims in their way to and from mekka, by buying up all kinds of provisions at hebron and ghaza, and selling them with great profit to the weary pilgrims; to whom the gardens and vineyards of maan are no less agreeable, than the wild herbs collected by the people of maan are to their camels. the pomgranates, apricots, and peaches of maan are of the finest quality. in years when a very numerous caravan passes, pomgranates are sold at one piastre each, and every thing in the same proportion. during [p. ] the two days stay of the pilgrims, in going, and as many in returning, the people of maan earn as much as keeps them the whole year. maan is situated in the midst of a rocky country, not capable of cultivation; the inhabitants therefore depend upon their neighbours of djebal and shera for their provision of wheat and barley. at present, owing to the discontinuance of the syrian hadj, they are scarcely able to obtain money to purchase it. many of them have commenced pedlars among the bedouins, and fabricators of different articles for their use, especially sheep-skin furs, while others have emigrated to tafyle and kerek. the barbary pilgrims who were permitted by the wahabi chief to perform their pilgrimage in , and , returned from medina by the way of maan and shobak to hebron, jerusalem, and yaffa, where they embarked for their own country, having taken this circuitous route on account of the hostile demonstrations of mohammed ali pasha on the egyptian road.	several thousands of them died of fatigue before they reached maan. the people of this town derived large profits from the survivors, and for the transport of their effects; but it is probable that if the syrian hadj is not soon reestablished, the place will in a few years be abandoned. the inhabitants considering their town as an advanced post to the sacred city of medina, apply themselves with great eagerness to the study of the koran. the greater part of them read and write, and many serve in the capacity of imams or secretaries to the great bedouin sheikhs. the two hills upon which the town is built, divide the inhabitants into two parties, almost incessantly engaged in quarrels which are often sanguinary; no individual of one party even marries into a family belonging to the other. on arriving at the encampment of the howeytat, we were informed that the caravan was to set out on the second day; i had howeytat encampment [p. ] the advantage, therefore, of one day�s repose. i was now reduced to that state which can alone ensure tranquillity to the traveller in the desert; having nothing with me that could attract the notice or excite the cupidity of the bedouins; my clothes and linen were torn to rags; a dirty keffye, or yellow handkerchief, covered my head; my leathern girdle and shoes had long been exchanged, by way of present, against similar articles of an inferior kind, so that those i now wore were of the very worst sort. the tube of my pipe was reduced from two yards to a span, for i had been obliged to cut off from it as much as would make two pipes for my friends at kerek; and the last article of my baggage, a pocket handkerchief, had fallen to the lot of the sheikh of eldjy. having thus nothing more to give, i expected to be freed from all further demands: but i was mistaken: i had forgotten some rags torn from my shirt, which were tied round my ancles, wounded by the stirrups which i had received in exchange from the sheikh of kerek. these rags happening to be of white linen, some of the ladies of the howeytat thought they might serve to make a berkoa (arabic), or face veil, and whenever i stepped out of the tent i found myself surrounded by half a dozen of them, begging for the rags. in vain i represented that they were absolutely necessary to me in the wounded state of my ancles: their answer was, �you will soon reach cairo, where you may get as much linen as you like.� by thus incessantly teazing me they at last obtained their wishes; but in my anger i gave the rags to an ugly old woman, to the no slight disappointment of the young ones. august th.�we broke up in the morning, our caravan consisting of nine persons, including myself, and of about twenty camels, part of which were for sale at cairo; with the rest the arabs expected to be able to transport, on their return home, some provisions and army-baggage to akaba, where mohammed ali pasha departure for cairo [p. ] had established a depot for his arabian expedition. the provisions of my companions consisted only of flour; besides flour, i carried some butter and dried leben (sour milk), which when dissolved in water, forms not only a refreshing beverage, but is much to be recommended as a preservative of health when travelling in summer. these were our only provisions. during the journey we did not sup till after sunset, and we breakfasted in the morning upon a piece of dry bread, which we had baked in the ashes the preceding evening, without either salt or leven. the frugality of these bedouins is indeed without example; my companions, who walked at least five hours every day, supported themselves for four and twenty hours with a piece of dry black bread of about a pound and a half weight, without any other kind of nourishment. i endeavoured, as much as possible to imitate their abstemiousness, being already convinced from experience that it is the best preservative against the effects of the fatigues of such a journey. my companions proved to be very good natured people: and not a single quarrel happened during our route, except between myself and my guide. he too was an honest, good tempered man, but i suffered from his negligence, and rather from his ignorance of my wants, as an european. he had brought only one water-skin with him, which was to serve us both for drinking and cooking; and as we had several intervals of three days without meeting with water, i found myself on very short allowance, and could not receive any assistance from my companions, who had scarcely enough for themselves. but these people think nothing of hardships and privations, and take it for granted, that other people�s constitutions are hardened to the same aptitude of enduring thirst and fatigue, as their own. we returned to szadeke, where we filled our water-skins, and proceeded from thence in a w.s.w. direction, ascending the eastern djebel koula [p. ] hills of djebel shera. after two hours march we began to descend, in following the course of a wady. at the end of four hours is a spring called ibn reszeysz (arabic). the highest point of djebel hesma, in the direction of akaba, bears from hence s.w. hesma is higher than any part of shera. in five hours we reached ain daleghe (arabic), a spring in a fertile valley, where the howeytat have built a few huts, and cultivate some dhourra fields. we continued descending wady daleghe, which in winter is an impetuous torrent. the mountains are quite barren here; calcareous rock predominates, with some flint. at the end of seven hours we left the wady, which takes a more northern direction, and ascended a steep mountain. at eight hours and a half we alighted on the declivity of the mountain, which is called djebel koula (arabic), and which appears to be the highest summit of djebel shera. our road was tolerably good all the way. august th.�after one hour�s march we reached the summit of djebel koula, which is covered with a chalky surface. the descent on the other side is very wild, the road lying along the edges of almost perpendicular precipices amidst large blocks of detached rocks, down a mountain entirely destitute of vegetation, and composed of calcareous rocks, sand-stone, and flint, lying over each other in horizontal layers. at the end of three hours we came to a number of tombs on the road side, where the howeytat and other bedouins who encamp in these mountains bury their dead. in three hours and a half we reached the bottom of the mountain, and entered the bed of a winter torrent, which like wady mousa has worked its passage through the chain of sand-stone rocks that form a continuation of the syk. these rocks extend southwards as far as djebel hesma. the narrow bed is enclosed by perpendicular cliffs, which, at the entrance of the wady, are about fifteen or twenty yards distant from each other, but wider lower down. wady gharendel [p. ] we continued in a western direction for an hour and a half, in this wady, which is called gharendel (arabic). at five hours the valley opens, and we found ourselves upon a sandy plain, interspersed with rocks; the bed of the wady was covered with white sand. a few trees of the species called by the arabs talh, tarfa, and adha (arabic), grow in the midst of the sand, but their withered leaves cannot divert the traveller�s eye from the dreary scene around him. at six hours the valley again becomes narrower; here are some more tombs of bedouins on the side of the road. at the end of six hours and a half we came to the mouth of the wady, where it joins the great lower valley, issuing from the mountainous country into the plain by a narrow passage, formed by the approaching rocks. these rocks are of sand-stone and contain many natural caverns. a few hundred paces above the issue of the wady are several springs, called ayoun gharendel, surrounded by a few date trees, and some verdant pasture ground. the water has a sulphureous taste, but these being the only springs on the borders of the great valley within one day�s journey to the n. and s. the bedouins are obliged to resort to them. the wells are full of leeches, some of which fixed themselves to the palates of several of our camels whilst drinking, and it was with difficulty that we could remove them. the name of arindela, an ancient town of palæstina tertia, bears great resemblance to that of gharendel. on issuing from this rocky country, which terminates the djebel shera, on its western side, the wady gharendel empties itself into the valley el araba, in whose sands its waters are lost. this valley is a continuation of the ghor, which may be said to extend from the red sea to the sources of the jordan. the valley of that river widens about jericho, and its inclosing hills are united to a chain of mountains which open and enclose the dead sea. at the southern wady el araba [p. ] extremity of the sea they again approach, and leave between them a valley similar to the northern ghor, in shape; but which the want of water makes a desert, while the jordan and its numerous tributary streams render the other a fertile plain. in the southern ghor the rivulets which descend from the eastern mountains, to the s. of wady szafye, or el karahy, are lost amidst the gravel in their winter beds, before they reach the valley below, and there are no springs whatever in the western mountain; the lower plain, therefore, in summer is entirely without water, which alone can produce verdure in the arabian deserts, and render them habitable. the general direction of the southern ghor is parallel to the road which i took in coming from khanzyre to wady mousa. at the point where we crossed it, near gharendel, its direction was from n.n.e. to s.s.w. from gharendel it extends southwards for fifteen or twenty hours, till it joins the sandy plain which separates the mountains of hesma from the eastern branch of the red sea. it continues to bear the appellation of el ghor as far as the latitude of beszeyra, to the s. of which place, as the arabs informed me, it is interrupted for a short space by rocky ground and wadys, and takes the name of araba (arabic), which it retains till its termination near the red sea. near gharendel, where i saw it, the whole plain presented to the view an expanse of shifting sands whose surface was broken by innumerable undulations, and low hills. the sand appears to have been brought from the shores of the red sea by the southerly winds; and the arabs told me that the valley continued to present the same appearance beyond the latitude of wady mousa. a few talh trees (arabic) (the acacia which produces the gum arable), tarfa (arabic) (tamarisk), adha (arabic), and rethem (arabic), grow among the sand hills; but the depth of sand precludes all vegetation of herbage. numerous bedouin tribes encamp here in the winter, when the torrents produce a copious supply of water, and a few [p. ] shrubs spring up upon their banks, affording pasturage to the sheep and goats; but the camels prefer the leaves of the trees, especially the thorny talh. the existence of the valley el araba, the kadesh barnea, perhaps, of the scriptures, appears to have been unknown both to ancient and modern geographers, although it forms a prominent feature in the topography of syria and arabia petræa. it deserves to be thoroughly investigated, and travellers might proceed along it in winter time, accompanied by two or three bedouin guides of the tribes of howeytat and terabein, who could be procured at hebron. akaba, or eziongeber, might be reached in eight days by the same road by which the communication was anciently kept up between jerusalem and her dependencies on the red sea, for this is both the nearest and the most commodious route, and it was by this valley that the treasures of ophir were probably transported to the warehouses of solomon. of the towns which i find laid down in d�anville�s maps, between zoara and aelana, no traces remain, thoana excepted, which is the present dhana. the name of zoar is unknown to the arabs, but the village of szafye is near that point; the river which is made by d�anville to fall into the dead sea near zoara, is the wady el ahhsa; but it will have been seen in the above pages, [t]hat the course of that wady is rather from the east than south. i enquired in vain among the arabs for the names of those places where the israelites had sojourned during their progress through the desert; none of them are known to the present inhabitants. the country, about akaba, and to the w.n.w. of it, might, perhaps, furnish some data for the illustration of the jewish history. i understand that m. seetzen went in a straight line from hebron to akaba, across the desert el ty; he may perhaps, have collected some interesting information on the subject. [p. ] the following ruined places are situated in djebal shera, to the s. and s.s.w. of wady mousa; kalaat beni madha (arabic), atrah (arabic), a ruined tower, with water near it, djerba (arabic), basta (arabic), eyl (arabic), ferdakh (arabic), with a spring; anyk (arabic), bir el beytar (arabic), a number of wells upon a plain surrounded by high cliffs, in the midst of tor hesma. the caravans from wady mousa to akaba make these wells their first station, and reach akaba on the evening of the second day; but they are two long days journeys of ten or twelve hours each. at the foot of hanoun are the ruins of wayra (arabic), and the two deserted villages of beydha (arabic) and heysha (arabic). west of hanoun is the spring dhahel (arabic), with some ruins. in that neighbourhood are the ruined places shemakh (arabic) and syk (arabic). we were one hour and a half in crossing the araba, direction w. by n. in some places the sand is very deep, but it is firm, and the camels walk over it without sinking. the heat was suffocating, and it was increased by a hot wind from the s.e. there is not the slightest appearance of a road, or of any other work of human art in this part of the valley. on the other side we ascended the western chain of mountains. the mountain opposite to us appeared to be the highest point of the whole chain, as far as i could see n. and s.; it is called djebel beyane (arabic); the height of this chain, however, is not half that of the eastern mountains. it is intersected by numerous broad wadys, in which the talh tree grows; the rock is entirely silicious, of the same species as that of the desert which extends from hence to suez. i saw some large pieces of flint perfectly oval, three to four feet in length, and about a foot and a half in breadth. after an hour and a half of gentle ascent we arrived at the summit of the hills, and then descended by a short and very gradual declivity into the western plain, the level of which although higher wady el lahyane [p. ] than that of the araba, is perhaps one thousand feet lower than the eastern desert. we had now before us an immense expanse of dreary country entirely covered with black flints, with here and there some hilly chains rising from the plain. about six hours distant, to our right, were the hills near wady szays (arabic). the horizon being very clear near sunset, my companions pointed out to me the mountains of kerek, which bore n.e. by n. djebel dhana bore n.e. by f., and djebel hesma s.s.e. i must here observe, that during all my journeys in the deserts i never allowed the arabs to get a sight of my compass, as it would certainly have been considered by them as an instrument of magic. when on horseback i took the bearings, unseen, beneath my wide arab cloak; under such circumstances it is an advantage to ride a mare, as she may easily be taught to stand quite still. when mounted on, a camel, which can never be stopped while its companions are moving on, i was obliged to jump off when i wished to take a bearing, and to couch down in the oriental manner, as if answering a call of nature. the arabs are highly pleased with a traveller who jumps off his beast and remounts without stopping it, as the act of kneeling down is troublesome and fatiguing to the loaded camel, and before it can rise again, the caravan is considerably ahead. from djebel beyane we continued in the plain for upwards of an hour; and stopped for the night in a wady which contains talh trees, and extends across the plain for about half an hour. we had this day marched eleven hours. august th.�in the morning we passed two broad wadys full of tamarisks and of talh trees, which have given to them the name of abou talhha (arabic). at the end of four hours we reached wady el lahyane (arabic). in this desert the water collects in a number of low bottoms and wadys, where it produces verdure in winter time: and an abundance of trees with [p. ] green leaves are found throughout the year. in the winter some of the arabs of ghaza, khalyl, as well as those from the shores of the red sea, encamp here. the wady lahyane [the road from akaba to ghaza passes here. it is a journey of eight long days. the watering places on it are, el themmed (arabic), mayeyu (arabic), and berein (arabic). the distance from akaba to hebron is nine days. the springs on the road are: el ghadyan (arabic), el ghammer (arabic), and weyba (arabic).] is several hours in extent; its bottom is full of gravel. we met with a few families of arabs heywat (arabic), who had chosen this place, that their camels might feed upon the thorny branches of the gum arabic tree, of which they are extremely fond. these poor people had no tents with them; and their only shelter from the burning rays of the sun, and the heavy dews of night, were the scanty branches of the talh trees. the ground was covered with the large thorns of these trees, which are a great annoyance to the bedouins and their cattle. each bedouin carries in his girdle a pair of small pincers, to extract the thorns from his feet, for they have no shoes, and use only a sort of sandal made of a piece of camel�s skin, tied on with leathern thongs. in the summer they collect the gum arabic (arabic), which they sell at cairo for thirty and forty patacks the camel load, or about twelve or fifteen shillings per cwt. english; but the gum is of a very inferior quality to that of sennaar. my companions eat up all the small pieces that had been left upon the trees by the road side. i found it to be quite tasteless, but i was assured that it was very nutritive. we breakfasted with the arabs heywat, and our people were extremely angry, and even insolent, at not having been treated with a roasted lamb, according to the promise of the sheikh, who had invited us to alight. his excuse was that he had found none at hand; but one of our young men had overheard his wife scolding biar omshash [p. ] him, and declaring that she would not permit a lamb to be slaughtered for such miserable ill-looking strangers! the bedouin women, in general, are much less generous and hospitable than their husbands, over whom they often use their influence, to curtail the allowance to guests and strangers. at the end of five hours we issued from the head of wady lahyane again into the plain. the hill on the top of this wady is called ras el kaa (arabic), and is the termination of a chain of hills which stretch across the plain in a northern direction for six or eight hours: it projects like a promontory, and serves as a land-mark to travellers; its rock is calcareous. the plain which we now entered was a perfect flat covered with black pebbles. the high insulated mountain behind which ghaza is situated, bore from hence n. by w. distant three long days journey. at the end of seven hours, there was an insulated hill to the left of our road two hours distant, called szoeyka (arabic); we here turned off to the left of the great road, in order to find water. in eight hours, and late at night, we reached several wells, called biar omshash (arabic), is where we found an encampment of heywat, with whom we wished to take our supper after having filled our water skins; but they assured us that they had nothing except dry bread to give us. on hearing this my companions began to reproach them with want of hospitality, and an altercation ensued, which i was afraid would lead to blows; i therefore mounted my camel, and was soon followed by the rest. we continued our route during the night, but lost our road in the dark, and were obliged to alight in a wady full of moving sands, about half an hour from the wells. august th.�this day we passed several wadys of talh and tamarisk trees intermixed with low shrubs. direction w. by s. the plain is for the greater part covered with flints; in some places desert el ty [p. ] it is chalky. wherever the rain collects in winter, vegetation of trees and shrubs is produced. in the midst of this desert we met a poor bedouin woman, who begged some water of us; she was going to akaba, where the tents of her family were, but had neither provisions nor water with her, relying entirely on the hospitality of the arabs she might meet on the road. we directed her to the heywat at omshash and in wady lahyane. she seemed to be as unconcerned, as if she were merely taking a walk for pleasure. after an uninterrupted march of nine hours and a half, we reached a mountain called dharf el rokob (arabic). it extends for about eight hours in a direction from n.w. to s.e. at its foot we crossed the egyptian hadj road; it passes along the mountain towards akaba, which is distant from hence fifteen or eighteen hours. we ascended the northern extremity of the mountain by a broad road, and after a march of eleven hours reached, on the other side, a well called el themmed (arabic), whose waters are impregnated with sulphur. the pilgrim caravan passes to the n. of the mountain and well, but the arabs who have the conduct of the caravan repair to the well to fill the water skins for the supply of the hadjis. the well is in a sandy soil, surrounded by calcareous rocks, and notwithstanding its importance, nothing has been done to secure it from being choaked up by the sand and gravel which every gust of wind drives into it. its sides are not lined, and the arabs take so little care in descending into it, that every caravan which arrives renders it immediately turbid. the level plain over which we had travelled from ras el kaa terminates at dharf el rokob. westward of it the ground is more intersected by hills and wadys, and here begins the desert el ty (arabic), in which, according to tradition, both jewish and mohammedan, the israelites wandered for several years, and from which odjme [p. ] belief the desert takes its name. we went this evening two hours farther than the themmed, and alighted in the wady ghoreyr (arabic), after a day�s march of thirteen hours and a half. the bedouins, when travelling in small numbers, seldom alight at a well or spring, in the evening, for the purpose of there passing the night; they only fill their water-skins as quickly as possible, and then proceed on their way, for the neighbourhood of watering places is dangerous to travellers, especially in deserts where there are few of them, because they then become the rendezvous of all strolling parties. august th.�on issuing from the wady ghoreyr we passed a chain of hills called odjme (arabic), running almost parallel with the dharf el rokob. we had now re-entered the hadj route, a broad well trodden road, strewn with the whitened bones of animals that have died by the way. the soil is chalky, and overspread with black pebbles. at the end of five hours and a half we reached wady rouak (arabic); here the term wady is applied to a narrow strip of ground, the bed of a winter torrent, not more than one foot lower than the level of the plain, where the rain water from the inequalities of the surface collects, and produces a vegetation of low shrubs, and a few talh trees. the greater part of the wadys from hence to egypt are of this description. the coloquintida grows in great abundance in all of them, it is used by the arabs to make tinder, by the following process: after roasting the root in the ashes, they wrap it in a wetted rag of cotton cloth, they then beat it between two stones, by which means the juice of the fruit is expressed and absorbed by the rag, which is dyed by it of a dirty blue; the rag is then dried in the sun, and ignites with the slightest spark of fire. the arabs nearest to egypt use the coloquint in venereal complaints; they fill the fruit with camel�s milk, roast it [p. ] over the fire, and then give to the patient the milk thus impregnated with the essence of the fruit. in nine hours and a half we passed a chain of low chalky hills called ammayre (arabic). on several parts of the road were holes, out of which rock salt had been dug. at the end of ten hours and a half we arrived in the vicinity of nakhel (i.e. date-tree), a fortified station of the egyptian hadj, situated about half an hour to the n. of the pilgrim�s road. our direction was still w. by n. nakhel stands in a plain, which extends to an immense distance southward, but which terminates to the n. at about one hour�s distance from nakhel, in a low chain of mountains. the fortress is a large square building, with stone walls, without any habitations round it. there is a well of brackish water, and a large birket, which is filled from the well, in the time of the hadj. the pasha of egypt keeps a garrison in nakhel of about fifty soldiers, and uses it as a magazine for the provisions of his army in his expedition against the wahabi. the appellation nakhel was probably given to this castle at a time when the adjacent country was covered with palm trees, none of which are now to be seen here. at akaba, on the contrary, are large forests of them, belonging for the greater part to the arabs heywat. the ground about nakhel is chalky or sandy, and is covered with loose pebbles. we passed along the road as quickly as we could, for my companions were afraid lest their camels should be stopped by the aga of nakhel, to transport provisions to akaba. the arabs heywat and sowadye, who encamp in this district, style themselves masters of akaba and nakhel, and exact yearly from the pasha certain sums for permitting him to occupy them; for though they are totally unable to oppose his troops, yet the tribute is paid, in order to take from them all pretext for plundering small caravans. nakhel [p. ] about six hours to the s.w. of nakhel is a chain of mountains called szadder (arabic), extending in a s. e. direction. near nakhel my arab companions fell in with an acquaintance, who was burning charcoal for the cairo market. he informed us that a large party of arabs sowaleha, with whom my howeytats were at war, was encamped in this vicinity; it was, in consequence, determined to travel by night, until we should be out of their reach, and we stopped at sunset, about one hour west of nakhel, after a day�s march of eleven hours and a half, merely for the purpose of allowing the camels to eat. being ourselves afraid to light a fire, lest it should be descried by the sowaleha, we were obliged to take a supper of dry flour mixed with a little salt. during the whole of the journey the camels had no other provender than the withered shrubs of the desert, my dromedary excepted, to which i gave a few handfuls of barley every evening. loaded camels are scarcely able to perform such a journey without a daily allowance of beans and barley. august st�we set out before midnight, and continued at a quick rate the whole night. in these northern districts of arabia the bedouins, in general, are not fond of proceeding by night; they seldom travel at that time, even in the hottest season, if they are not in very large numbers, because, as they say, during the night nobody can distinguish the face of his friend, from that of his enemy. another reason is, that camels on the march never feed at their ease in the day time, and nature seems to require that they should have their principal meal and a few hours rest in the evening. the favourite mode of travelling in these parts is, to set out about two hours before sun-rise, to stop two hours at noon, when every one endeavours to sleep under his mantle, and to alight for the evening at about one hour before sunset. we always sat round the fire, in conversation, for two or three hours after supper. during this night�s march my companions frequently alluded to el theghar [p. ] a superstitious belief among the bedouins, that the desert is inhabited by invisible female demons, who carry off travellers tarrying in the rear of the caravans, in order to enjoy their embraces. they call them om megheylan (arabic), from ghoul (arabic). the frequent loss of men who, exhausted by fatigue, loiter behind the great pilgrim caravans, and are cut off, stripped, and abandoned, by bedouin robbers, may have given rise to this fable, which afforded my companions a subject of numerous jokes against me. �you townsmen,� said they, �would be exquisite morsels for these ladies, who are accustomed only to the food of the desert.� we marched for four hours over uneven ground, and then reached a level plain, consisting of rich red earth fit for culture, and similar to that of the northern syrian desert. we crossed several wadys, in which we started a number of hares. at every twenty yards lay heaps of bones of camels, horses, and asses, by the side of the road. at six hours was a chain of low hills to the s. of the road, and running parallel with it. in seven hours we crossed wady nesyl (arabic), overgrown with green shrubs, but without trees. at the end of ten hours and a half we reached the mountainous country called el theghar (arabic), or the mouths, which forms a boundary of the desert el ty, and separates it from the peninsula of mount sinai. we ascended for half an hour by a well formed road, cut in several places in the rock, and then followed the windings of a valley, in the bed of a winter torrent, gradually descending. on both sides of the hadj road we saw numerous heaps of stones, the tombs of pilgrims who had died of fatigue; among others is shewn that of a woman who here died in labour, and whose infant was carried the whole way to mekka, and back to cairo in good health. at the end of fifteen hours we alighted in a valley of the theghar, where we found an abundance of shrubs and trees. mabouk [p. ] september st.�we continued descending among the windings of the wady, turning a little to the southward of the hadj route. among the calcareous hills of the wady deep sands have accumulated, which have been blown thither from the shores of the red sea; and in several parts there are large insulated rocks of porous tufwacke. after a march of four hours and a half we had a fine view of the sea, and gained the plain which extends to its shores, and which is apparently much below the level of the desert el ty; it is covered with moving sands, among which a few low shrubs grow. the direction of our route was w.s.w. in seven hours we reached the wells of mabouk (arabic), to our great satisfaction, as we had not a drop of water left in our skins. these wells are in the open plain, at the foot of some rocks. good water, but in small quantities, is found every where on digging to the depth of ten or twelve feet. there were about half a dozen holes, five or six feet in circumference, with a foot of water in each; on drawing up the water the holes fill again immediately. we here met some shepherds of the maazye, a tribe of bedouins of the desert between egypt and the red sea, who were busy in watering a large herd of camels.	they were so kind as to make room for us, in consideration of our being strangers and travellers; and we were occupied several hours in drawing up water. these wells were filled up last year by the moggrebyn hadj, on its passage, to revenge themselves upon mohammed ali, with whose treatment they were dissatisfied. the egyptian pilgrims take a more northern route, but the arabs who accompany them fill the water skins for the use of the caravan at these wells, and rejoin the hadj by the route we travelled this morning. near the wells are the ruins of a small building, with strong walls, which was probably constructed for the defence of the water, when the hadj was still in its ancient splendour. adjeroud [p. ] on quitting the wells we turned off in the direction of suez, our route lying w.n.w. there are no traces of a road here, for the track of caravans is immediately filled up by the moving sands, which covered the plain as far as i could discern, and in some places had collected into hills thirty or forty feet in height. at ten hours from our setting out in the morning we entered a plain covered with flints, and again fell in with the hadj road. here we took a w. by n. direction. at the end of eleven hours the plain was covered with a saline crust, and we crossed a tract of ground, about five minutes in breadth, covered with such a quantity of small white shells, that it appeared at a distance like a strip of salt. shells of the same species are found on the shores of the lake of tiberias. once probably the sea covered the whole of this ground. at twelve hours and a half suez bore s. about an hour and an half distant from us. to our right we saw marshy ground extending northwards, which the people informed me was full of salt; it is called, like all salt marshes, szabegha (arabic). at the end of thirteen hours we crossed a low and narrow wady, perhaps the remains of the canal of ptolemy; and at fourteen hours and a half, alighted in wady redjel (arabic), where there were many talh trees, and plenty of food for our camels. september d.�we continued to travel over the plain, route w. by n. in two hours we reached adjeroud (arabic), an ancient castle, which has lately been completely repaired by mohammed ali, who keeps a garrison here. there are two separate buildings, the largest of which is occupied by the soldiers, and the smaller contains a mosque with the tomb of a saint; they are both defended by strong walls against any attack of the arabs. here is also a copious well, but the water is very bitter, and can be used only for watering camels. the garrison is supplied from the wells of mousa, opposite to suez. our road was full of the aromatic wady mousa [p. ] herb baytheran (arabic), which is sold by the arabs at ghaza and hebron. beyond adjeroud many wadys cross the plain. to the left we had the chain of mountains called attaka. at the end of five hours, and about one hour to the right of the road, begins the chain of low mountains called oweybe (arabic), running parallel with the attaka. our route lay w. by n. at eight hours the attaka terminated on our left, and was succeeded by a ridge of low hills. the plain here is sandy, covered with black flints. we again passed several wadys, and met two large caravans, transporting a corps of infantry to suez. at the end of ten hours and a half we stopped in wady djaafar (arabic), which is full of low trees, shrubs, and dry herbs. from hence a hilly chain extends north-eastwards. september d.�after a march of six hours along the plain, the ground began to be overspread with egyptian pebbles. route w. we passed several wadys, similar to those mentioned above when describing wady rowak. at nine hours, we descried the nile, with its beautiful verdant shores; at eleven hours began a hilly tract, the last undulations of djebel makattam; and in thirteen hours and a half we reached the vicinity of cairo. here my arab companions left me, and proceeded to belbeis, where, they were informed, their principal men were encamped, waiting for orders to proceed to akaba. i discharged my honest guide, hamd ibn hamdan, who was not a little astonished to see me take some sequins out of the skirts of my gown. as it was too late to enter the town, i went to some bedouin tents which i saw at a distance, and entered one of them, in which, for the first time, i drank of the sweet water of the nile. here i remained all night.	a great number of bedouins were at this time collected near cairo, to accompany the troops which were to be sent into arabia after the ramadhan. cairo [p. ] september th.�i entered cairo before sunrise; and thus concluded my journey, by the blessing of god, without either loss of health, or exposure to any imminent danger. [p. ] journal of a tour in the peninsula of mount sinai, in the spring of . about the beginning of april cairo was again visited by the plague. the franks and most of the christians shut themselves up; but as i neither wished to follow their example nor to expose myself unnecessarily in the town, i determined to pass my time, during the prevalence of the disease, among the bedouins of mount sinai, to visit the gulf of akaba, and, if possible, the castle of akaba, to which, as far as i know, no traveller has ever penetrated. intending to pass some days at the convent of mount sinai, i procured a letter of introduction to the monks from their brethren at cairo; for without this passport no stranger is ever permitted to enter the convent; i was also desirous of having a letter from the pasha of egypt to the principal sheikh of the tribes of tor, over whom, as i knew by former experience, he exercises more than a nominal authority. with the assistance of this paper, i hoped to be able to see a good deal of the bedouins of the peninsula in safety, and to travel in their company to akaba. such letters of recommendation are in general easily procured in syria and egypt, though they are often useless, as i found on several occasions during my first journey into nubia, as well as in my kayt beg [p. ] travels in syria, where the orders of the pasha of damascus were much slighted in several of the districts under his dominion. a fortnight before i set out for mount sinai i had applied to the pasha through his dragoman, for a letter to the bedouin sheikh; but i was kept waiting for it day after day, and after thus delaying my departure a whole week, i was at last obliged to set off without it. the want of it was the cause of some embarrassment to me, and prevented me from reaching akaba. it is not improbable that on being applied to for the letter, the pasha gave the same answer as he gave at tayf, when i asked him for a firmahn, namely, that as i was sufficiently acquainted with the language and manners of the arabs, i needed no further recommendation. the arabs of mount sinai usually alight at cairo in the quarter called el djemelye, where some of them are almost constantly to be found. having gone thither, i met with the same bedouin with whom i had come last year from tor to cairo; i hired two camels from him for myself and servant, and laid in provisions for about six weeks consumption. we left cairo on the evening of the th of april, and slept that night among the ruined tombs of the village called kayt beg, a mile from the city. from this village, at which the bedouins usually alight, the caravans for suez often depart; it is also the resort of smugglers from suez and syria. april st.�we set out from kayt beg in the course of the morning, in the company of a caravan bound for suez, comprising about twenty camels, some of which belonged to moggrebyn pilgrims, who had come by sea from tunis to alexandria; the others to a hedjaz merchant, and to the bedouins of mount sinai, who had brought passengers from suez to cairo, and were now returning with corn to their mountains. as i knew the character of these bedouins by former experience, and that the road was perfectly derb el ankabye [p. ] safe, at least as far as the convent, i did not think it necessary this time to travel in the disguise of a pauper. some few comforts may be enjoyed in the desert even by those who do not travel with tents and servants; and whenever these comforts must be relinquished, it becomes a very irksome task to cross a desert, as i fully experienced during several of my preceding journeys. the bedouins of sinai, or, as they are more usually denominated, the towara, or bedouins of tor, formerly enjoyed the exclusive privilege of transporting goods, provisions, and passengers, from cairo to suez, and the route was wholly under their protection. since the increased power of the pasha of egypt, it has been thrown open to camel-drivers of all descriptions, egyptian peasants, as well as syrian and arabian bedouins; and as the egyptian camels are much stronger, for a short journey, than those of the desert, the bedouins of mount sinai have lost the greater part of their custom, and the transport trade in this route is now almost wholly in the hands of the egyptian carriers. the hire of a strong camel, from cairo to suez, was at this time about six or eight patacks, from one and a half to two spanish dollars. the desert from cairo to suez is crossed by different routes; we followed that generally taken by the towara, which lies mid-way between the great hadj route, and the more southern one close along the mountains: the latter is pursued only by the arabs terabein, and other syrian bedouins. the route we took is called derb el ankabye [arabic]. we proceeded on a gentle ascent from kayt beg, and passed on the right several low quarries in the horizontal layers of soft calcareous stone of which the mountain of mokattam, in the neighbourhood of cairo, is composed; it is with this stone that the splendid mamelouk tombs of kayt beg are built. at the end of el mogawa [p. ] an hour, the limestone terminated, and the road was covered with flints, petrosilex, and egyptian pebbles; here are also found specimens of petrified wood, the largest about a foot in length. we now travelled eastward, and after a march of three hours halted upon a part of the plain, called el mogawa [arabic], where we rested during the mid-day heat. beyond this spot, to the distance of five hours from cairo, we met with great quantities of petrified wood. large pieces of the trunks of trees, three or four feet in length, and eight or ten inches in diameter, lay about the plain, and close to the road was an entire trunk of a tree at least twenty feet in length, half buried in sand. these petrifactions are generally found in low grounds, but i saw several also on the top of the low hills of gravel and sand over which the road lies. several travellers have expressed doubts of their being really petrified wood, and some have crossed the desert without meeting with any of them. the latter circumstance is easily accounted for; the route we were travelling is not that usually taken to suez. i have crossed this desert repeatedly in other directions, and never saw any of the petrifactions except in this part of it. as to its really being petrified wood there cannot be any reason to doubt it, after an inspection of the substance, in which the texture and fibres of the wood are clearly distinguishable, and perfectly resemble those of the date tree. i think it not improbable, that before nechos dug the canal between the nile and the red sea, the communication between arsinoe or clysma and memphis, may have been carried on this way; and stations may have been established on the spots now covered by these petrified trees; the water requisite to produce and maintain vegetation might have been procured from deep wells, or from reservoirs of rain water, as is done in the equally barren desert between djidda and mekka. after the completion of the canal, this route was perhaps neglected, the trees, left without a el mograh [p. ] regular supply of water, dried up and fell, and the sands, with the winter rains and torrents, gradually effected the petrifaction. i have seen specimens of the petrified wood of date trees found in the libyan desert, beyond the bahr bala ma, where they were observed by horneman in , and in , by m. boutin, a french officer, who brought several of them to cairo. they resemble precisely those which i saw on the suez road, in colour, substance, and texture. some of them are of silex, in others the substance seems to approach to hornblende. we continued our route e. by s. over an uneven and somewhat hilly country covered with black petrosilex; and after a day�s march of eight hours and a quarter, we halted in a valley of little depth, called wady onszary [arabic], where our camels found good pasture. close by are some low hills, where the sands are seen in the state of formation into sand- rock, and presenting all the different gradations between their loose state and the solid stone. i saw a great quantity of petrified wood upon one of these hills, amongst which was the entire trunk of a date tree. april d.�from onszary we travelled e. by s. for one hour, and then e. at the end of three hours, the hilly country terminates, beyond which, in this route, no petrified wood is met with; we then entered upon a widely extended and entirely level plain, called by the bedouins el mograh [arabic], upon which we rested after a march of five hours and a half. while we were preparing our dinner two ostriches approached near enough to be distinctly seen. a shot fired by one of the arabs frightened them, and in an instant they were out of sight. these birds come into this plain, from the eastward, from the desert of tyh; but i never heard that the bedouins of this country take the trouble of hunting them. the plain of mograh is famous for the skirmishes which have taken place there, for the caravans that have been plundered in dar el hamra [p. ] crossing it, and for the number of travellers that have been murdered on it. in former times, when this desert was constantly over- run by parties of robbers, the mograh was always chosen by them as their point of attack, because, in the event of success, no one could escape them on a plain where objects can be distinguished in every direction to the distance of several hours. even at present, since the route has been made more secure by the vigilance of the pasha of cairo, robberies sometimes happen, and in the autumn of a rich caravan was plundered by the arabs terabein.[these arabs, under their sheikh abou djehame [arabic], made an excursion about the same time over the mountains towards cosseir, and plundered a caravan of pilgrims and merchants who were going to kenne. the sheikh was seized on his return by the maazy tribe and carried to cairo, where he remained a year in close confinement, and after having delivered part of his booty into the treasury of the pasha, was released a few days before i set out.] the desert of suez is never inhabited by bedouin encampments, though it is full of rich pasture and pools of water during winter and spring. no strong tribes frequent the eastern borders of egypt, and a weak insulated encampment would soon be stripped of its property by nightly robbers. the ground itself is the patrimony of no tribe, but is common to all, which is contrary to the general practice of the desert, where every district has its acknowledged owners, with its limits of separation from those of the neighbouring tribes, although it is not always occupied by them. in the afternoon we proceeded over the plain, and in eight hours and three quarters arrived opposite to the station of the hadj, called dar el hamra which we left about three miles to the north of us, and which is distinguished by a large acacia tree, the only one in this plain. at the end of nine hours and a half, and about half an hour from the road, we saw a mound of earth, which, wady emshash [p. ] the arabs told me, was thrown up about fifty years ago, by workmen employed by ali beg, then governor of egypt, in digging a well there. the ground was dug to the depth of about eighty feet, when no water appearing the work was abandoned. at eleven hours and a quarter, our road joined the great hadj route, which passes in a more northerly direction from dar el hamra to the birket el hadj, or inundation to the eastward of heliopolis, four hours distant from cairo, upon the banks of which the pilgrims encamp, previous to their setting out for mekka. between this road, and that by which we had travelled, lies another, also terminating at kayt beg. the southernmost route, which, as i have already mentioned, is frequented only by the arabs terabein, branches off from this common route at about six hours distant from suez, and is called harb bela ma (the road without water); it is very seldom frequented by regular caravans, being hilly and longer than the others, but i was told that notwithstanding its name, water is frequently met with in the low grounds, even in summer. just beyond where we fell in with the hadj route, we rested in the bed of a torrent called wady hafeiry [arabic], at the foot of a chain of hills which begin there, and extend to the n. of the route, and parallel with it towards adjeroud. our camels found abundance of pasture on the odoriferous herb obeitheran [arabic], santolina fragrantissima of forskal, which grew here in great plenty. april d.�our road lay between the southern mountain and the abovementioned chain of hills to the north, called djebel uweybe [arabic], direction e.s.e. in three hours we passed the bed of a torrent called seil abou zeid [arabic], where some acacia trees grow. the road is here encompassed on every side by hills.	in four hours and a half we reached, in the direction e. by s. wady emshash [arabic], a torrent like the former, which in winter is filled by a stream of several feet in depth. bir suez [p. ] rains are much more frequent in this desert than in the valley of egypt, and the same remark may be made in regard to all the mountains to the southward, where a regular, though not uninterrupted rainy season sets in, while in the valley of the nile, as is well known, rain seldom falls even in winter. the soil and hills are here entirely calcareous. we had been for the whole morning somewhat alarmed by the appearance of some suspicious looking men on camels at a distance in our rear, and our bedouins had, in consequence, prepared their matchlocks. when we halted during the mid-day hours, they also alighted upon a hill at a little distance; but seeing us in good order, and with no heavy loads to excite their cupidity, they did not approach us. they, however, this evening, fell upon a small party of unarmed egyptian peasants who were carrying corn to suez, stripped them, took away their camels and loads, and the poor owners fled naked into suez. it was afterwards learnt that they belonged to the tribe of omran, who live on the eastern shore of the gulf of akaba. without establishing regular patrols of the bedouins themselves on this road, it will never be possible to keep it free from robbers. at six hours and a half begins a hilly country, with a slight descent through a narrow pass between hills, called el montala [arabic], a favourite spot for robbers. at seven hours and a half we passed adjeroud [arabic], about half an hour to our left; about two miles west of it is a well in the wady emshash, called bir emshash, which yields a copious supply of water in the winter, but dries up in the middle of summer if rains have not been abundant; the garrison of adjeroud, where is a well so bitter that even camels will not drink the water, draws its supply of drinking water from the bir emshash. from hence the road turns s.e. over a slightly descending plain. at ten hours and a half is the well called bir suez, a suez [p. ] copious spring enclosed by a massive building, from whence the water is drawn up by wheels turned by oxen, and emptied into a large stone tank on the outside of the building. the men who take care of the wheels and the oxen remain constantly shut up in the building for fear of the bedouins. the water is brackish, but it serves for drinking, and the arabs and egyptian peasants travelling between cairo and suez, who do not choose to pay a higher price for the sweet water of the latter place, are in the habit of filling their water skins here, as do the people of suez for their cooking provision. from an inscription on the building, it appears that it was erected in the year of the hedjra . we reached suez about sunset, at the end of eleven hours and a half. i alighted with the bedouins upon an open place between the western wall of the town, and its houses. april th. in the time of niebuhr suez was not enclosed; there is now a wall on the west and south-west, which is rapidly falling to decay. the town is in a ruinous state; and neither merchants nor artisans live in it. its population consists only of about a dozen agents, who receive goods from the ports of the red sea, and forward them to their correspondents at cairo, together with some shop-keepers who deal chiefly in provisions. the pasha keeps a garrison here of about fifty horsemen, with an officer who commands the town, the neighbouring arabs, and the shipping in the harbour. as suez is one of the few harbours in the red sea where ships can be repaired, some vessels are constantly seen at the wharf; the repairs are carried on by greek shipwrights and smiths, in the service of the pasha, who are let out to the shipowners by the commanding officer. suez has of late become a harbour of secondary importance, the supplies of provisions, &c. for the hedjaz being collected principally at cosseir, and shipped from thence to yembo and djidda: but the trade in coffee and [p. ] india goods still passes this way to cairo. i saw numerous bales of spices and coffee lying near the shore, and a large heap of iron, together with packages of small wares, antimony, and egyptian goods for exportation to djidda, and ultimately to yemen and india. the merchants complained of the want of camels to transport their goods to cairo. the pasha, who owns a considerable part of the imports of coffee, has fixed the carriage across the desert at a low price, and none of the agents venture to offer more to the camel drivers; the consequence of which is, that few are encouraged to come to suez beyond the number required for the pasha�s merchandize. a caravan consisting of five or six hundred camels leaves suez for cairo on the th of each lunar month, accompanied by guards and two field-pieces; while smaller ones, composed of twenty or thirty beasts, depart almost every four or five days; but to these the merchants are shy of trusting their goods, because they can never depend on the safety of the road; accidents however seldom happen at present, so formidable is the name of mohammed ali. before the power of this pasha was established in egypt, and during the whole period of the mamelouk government, the bedouins might be called complete masters of suez. every inhabitant was obliged t[o] have his protector, ghafyr [arabic], among the bedouins of mount sinai, to whom he made annual presents of money, corn, and clothes, and who ensured to him the safe passage of his goods and person through the desert, and the recovery of whatever was plundered by the others. at that time the rate of freight was fixed by the bedouins, and camels were in plenty; but, whenever the governors of cairo quarrelled with the bedouins, or ill- treated any of them at cairo, the road was immediately interrupted, and the bedouins placed guards over the well of naba [arabic], two hours distant from suez, in the hills on the eastern side of the gulf, to prevent the people of the town from drawing from thence their [p. ] daily supply of sweet water. the difference was always settled by presents to the bedouins, who, however, as may readily be conceived, often abused their power; and it not unfrequently happened that, even in time of peace, a bedouin girl would be found, in the morning, sitting on the well, who refused permission to the water carriers of suez to draw water unless they paid her with a new shirt, which they were obliged to do; for to strike her, or even to remove her by force, would have brought on a war with her tribe. the authority of the bedouins is now at an end, though their sheikhs receive from the turkish governors of suez a yearly tribute, under the name of presents, in clothes and money; the pasha himself has become the ghafyr of the people of suez, and exacts from every camel load that passes through the gates from two to four dollars, for which he engages to ensure the passage through the desert; when the caravan however was plundered in , he never returned the value of the goods to the owners. the arabs terabein are the conductors of the caravans to ghaza, and khalyl (hebron), the latter of which is eight days distant. at this time the freight per camel�s load was eighteen patacks, or four dollars and a half. these caravans bring the manufactures of damascus, soap, glass- ware, tobacco, and dried fruits, which are shipped at suez for the hedjaz and yemen. the eastern part of the town of suez is completely in ruins, but near the shore are some well built khans, and in the inhabited part of the town are several good private houses. the aspect of suez is that of an arabian, and not an egyptian town, and even in the barren waste, which surrounds it, it resembles yembo and djidda; the same motley crowds are met with in the streets, and the greater part of the shop-keepers are from arabia or syria. the air is bad, occasioned by the saline nature of the earth, and the extensive low grounds on the north and north-east sides, which are filled [p. ] with stagnant waters by the tides. the inhabitants endeavour to counteract the influence of this bad atmosphere by drinking brandy freely; the mortality is not diminished by such a remedy, and fevers of a malignant kind prevail during the spring and summer. the water of the well of naba, though called sweet, has a very indifferent taste, and becomes putrid in a few days if kept in skins. the government has made a sort of monopoly of it; but its distribution is very irregular, and affrays often happen at the well, particularly when ships are on the point of sailing. in general, however, they touch at tor, for a supply; those lying in the harbour might fill their casks at the well of abou szoueyra [arabic], about seven hours to the south of ayoun mousa, and about half an hour from the sea shore, where the water is good; but arabs will seldom give themselves so much trouble for water, and will rather drink what is at hand, though bad, than go to a distance for good. ships, after delivering their cargoes at suez, frequently proceed to cosseir, to take in corn for the hedjaz. they first touch at tor for water, and then stand over to the western coast, anchoring in the creeks every evening till they reach their destination. the coast they sail along is barren, and without water, and no arabs are seen. at one or two days sail from suez is an ancient coptic convent, now abandoned, called deir zafaran or deir el araba [arabic]; it stands on the declivity of the mountain, at about one hour from the sea. some wild date-trees grow there. at the foot of the mountain are several wells three or four feet deep, upon the surface of whose waters naphtha or petroleum is sometimes found in the month of november, which is skimmed off by the hand; it is of a deep brownish black colour, and of the same fluidity as turpentine, which it resembles in smell. this substance, which is known [p. ] under the name of zeit el djebel [arabic], mountain oil, is collected principally by the christians of tor, and by the arabs heteim, of the eastern shore of the red sea; it is greatly esteemed in egypt as a cure for sores and rheumatism, and is sold at suez and tor, at from one to two dollars per pound. niebuhr, travelling in , says that suez derives its provisions in great part from mount sinai and ghaza: this is not the case now. from mount sinai it obtains nothing but charcoal, and a few fruits and dates in the autumn; dried fruits of the growth of damascus are the only import from ghaza. the town is supplied with provisions from cairo; vegetables are found only at the time of the arrival of the caravan. every article is of the worst quality, and twenty-five per cent. dearer than at cairo. syrian, turkish, and moggrebyn pilgrims are constantly seen here, waiting for the departure of ships to the hedjaz. i found three vessels in the harbour, and it may be calculated that one sails to the southward every fortnight. no europeans are settled here; but an english agent is expected next year, to meet the ships from bombay, according to a treaty made with the pasha, by several english houses, who wished to open a direct communication between india and egypt.[in may, , a small fleet arrived at suez direct from bombay, which was composed of english ships, and of others belonging to mohammed ali pasha: among the articles imported were two elephants destined by the pasha as presents to the porte. this has been the first attempt within the last forty years to open a direct trade between india and egypt, and will be as profitable to the pasha as it must be ruinous to his subjects. the cargoes of these ships and the coffee which he imports from yemen, are distributed by him among the merchants of cairo, in proportion to their supposed capital in trade, and they are obliged to take the articles off his hands at the highest prices which they bear in the bazar. if this trade is encreased by the pasha, it will entirely prevent the merchants from importing goods on their own account from djidda, the quantity they are thus obliged to take from the pasha being fully sufficient for the consumption of egypt.] april th.�as the small caravan with which i had come to el ahtha [p. ] suez remained there, i set out accompanied only by my guide and another arab, whom he had engaged, and who afterwards proved through the whole journey a most serviceable, courageous, and honest companion. we left suez early in the morning: the tide was then at flood, and we were obliged to make the tour of the whole creek to the n. of the town, which at low water can be forded. in winter time, and immediately after the rainy season, this circuit is rendered still greater, because the low grounds to the northward of the creek are then inundated, and become so swampy that the camels cannot pass them. we rode one hour and three quarters in a straight line northwards, after passing, close by the town, several mounds of rubbish, which afford no object of curiosity except a few large stones, supposed to be the ruins of clysma or arsinoë. we then turned eastwards, just at the point where the remains of the ancient canal are very distinctly visible: two swellings of the ground, of which the eastern is about eight or ten feet high, and the western somewhat less, run in a straight line northwards, parallel with each other, at the distance of about twenty-five feet. they begin at a few hundred paces to the n.w. of high-water mark, from whence northwards the ground is covered by a saline crust. we turned the point of this inlet, and halted for a short time at the wells of ayoun mousa, under the date trees. the water of these wells is copious, but one only affords sweet water, and this is so often rendered muddy by the passage of arabs, whose camels descend into the wells, that it is seldom fit to supply a provision to the traveller, much less for shipping. we rested, at two hours and three quarters from the wells, in the plain called el kordhye [arabic]. april th.�we proceeded over a barren sandy and gravelly plain, called el ahtha [arabic], direction s. by e. for about an hour the plain was uneven; we then entered upon a widely-extended flat, in which we continued s.s.e. low mountains, the commencement wady wardan [p. ] of the chain of tyh, run parallel with the road, to the left, about eight miles distant; they are inhabited by terabein. at the end of four hours and a half we halted for a few hours in wady seder which takes its name of wady only, from being overflown with water when the rains are very copious, which, however, does not happen every year. its natural formation by no means entitles it to be called a valley, its level being only a few feet lower than that of the desert on both sides. some thorny trees grow in it, but no herbs for pasture. we continued our way s. b. e. over the plain, which was alternately gravelly, stony, and sandy. at the end of seven hours and a half we reached wady wardan [arabic], a valley or bed of a torrent, similar in nature to the former, but broader. near its extremity, at the sea side, it is several miles in breadth; and here is the well of abou szoueyra, which i have already mentioned. the arabs of tor seldom encamp in this place, but the terabein arabs are sometimes attracted by the well. during the war which happened about eight years ago between the towara and the maazy bedouins, who live in the mountains between cairo and cosseir, a party of the former happened to be stationed here with their families. they were surprised one morning by a troop of their enemies, while assembled in the sheikh�s tent to drink coffee. seven or eight of them were cut down: the sheikh himself, an old man, seeing escape impossible, sat down by the fire, when the leader of the maazy came up, and cried out to him to throw down his turban and his life should be spared. the generous sheikh, rather than do what, according to bedouin notions, would have stained his reputation ever after, exclaimed, �i shall not uncover my head before my enemies;� and was immediately killed with the thrust of a lance. a low chain of sand-hills begins here to the west, near the sea; and the eastern mountains approach the road. at nine hours and a half, howara [p. ] s.s.e. the eastern mountains form a junction with the western hills. at ten hours we entered a hilly country; at ten hours and three quarters we rested for the night in a barren valley among the hills, called wady amara [arabic]. we met with nobody in this route except a party of yembo merchants, who had landed at tor, and were travelling to cairo. the hills consist of chalk and silex in very irregular strata: the silex is sometimes quite black; at other times it takes a lustre and transparency much resembling agate. april th.�we travelled over uneven hilly ground, gravelly and flinty. at one hour and three quarters we passed the well of howara [arabic], round which a few date trees grow. niebuhr travelled the same route, but his guides probably did not lead him to this well, which lies among hills about two hundred paces out of the road. he mentions a rock called hadj er rakkabe, as one german mile short of gharendel; i remember to have halted under a large rock, close by the road side, a very short distance before we reached howara, but i did not learn its name. the water of the well of howara is so bitter, that men cannot drink it; and even camels, if not very thirsty, refuse to taste it. from ayoun mousa to the well of howara we had travelled fifteen hours and a quarter. referring to this distance, it appears probable that this is the desert of three days mentioned in the scriptures to have been crossed by the israelites immediately after their passing the red sea, and at the end of which they arrived at marah.	in moving with a whole nation, the march may well be supposed to have occupied three days; and the bitter well at marah, which was sweetened by moses, corresponds exactly with that of howara. this is the usual route to mount sinai, and was probably therefore that which the israelites took on their escape from egypt, provided it be admitted that they crossed the sea near suez, as niebuhr, with good reason, conjectures. there is wady gharendel [p. ] no other road of three days march in the way from suez towards sinai, nor is there any other well absolutely bitter on the whole of this coast, as far as ras mohammed. the complaints of the bitterness of the water by the children of israel, who had been accustomed to the sweet water of the nile, are such as may daily be heard from the egyptian servants and peasants who travel in arabia. accustomed from their youth to the excellent water of the nile, there is nothing which they so much regret in countries distant from egypt; nor is there any eastern people who feel so keenly the want of good water as the present natives of egypt. with respect to the means employed by moses to render the waters of the well sweet, i have frequently enquired among the bedouins in different parts of arabia whether they possessed any means of effecting such a change, by throwing wood into it, or by any other process; but i never could learn that such an art was known. at the end of three hours we reached wady gharendel [arabic] which extends to the n.e. and is almost a mile in breadth, and full of trees. the arabs told me that it may be traced through the whole desert, and that it begins at no great distance from el arysh, on the mediterranean, but i had no means of ascertaining the truth of this statement. about half an hour from the place where we halted, in a southern direction, is a copious spring, with a small rivulet, which renders the valley the principal station on this route. the water is disagreeable, and if kept for a night in the water skins, it turns bitter and spoils, as i have myself experienced, having passed this way three times. if we admit bir howara to be the marah[morra in arabic means �bitter.� marah in hebrew is �bitterness.�] of exodus (xv. ), then wady gharendel is probably elim, with its wells and date trees, an opinion entertained by niebuhr, who, however, did not [p. ] see the bitter well of howara on the road to gharendel. the nonexistence, at present, of twelve wells at gharendel must not be considered as evidence against the just-stated conjecture; for niebuhr says that his companions obtained water here by digging to a very small depth, and there was a great plenty of it, when i passed; water, in fact, is readily found by digging, in every fertile valley in arabia, and wells are thus easily formed, which are quickly filled up again by the sands. the wady gharendel contains date trees, tamarisks, acacias of different species, and the thorny shrub gharkad [arabic], the peganum retusum of forskal, which is extremely common in this peninsula, and is also met with in the sands of the delta on the coast of the mediterranean. its small red berry, of the size of a grain of the pomegranate, is very juicy and refreshing, much resembling a ripe gooseberry in taste, but not so sweet. the arabs are very fond of it, and i was told that in years when the shrub produces large crops, they make a conserve of the berries. the gharkad, which from the colour of its fruit is also called by the arabs homra delights in a sandy soil, and reaches its maturity in the height of summer when the ground is parched up, exciting an agreeable surprise in the traveller, at finding so juicy a berry produced in the driest soil and season.[might not the berry of this shrub have been used by moses to sweeten the waters of marah? the words in exodus, xv. , are: �and the lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet.� the arabic translation of this passage gives a different, and, perhaps, more correct reading: �and the lord guided him to a tree, of which he threw something into the water, which then became sweet.� i do not remember, to have seen any gharkad in the neighbourhood of howara, but wady gharendel is full of this shrub. as these conjectures did not occur to me when i was on the spot, i did not enquire of the bedouins whether they ever sweetened the water with the juice of the berries, which would probably effect this change in the same manner as the juice of pomegranate grains expressed into it.] the bottom of the valley of gharendel swarms with ticks, which are extremely distressing both to men and beasts, and on this account the caravans usually encamp on the sides of the hills which border the valley. wady shebeyke [p. ] we continued in a s.e. / e. direction, passing over hills, and at the end of four hours from our starting in the morning, we came to an open, though hilly country, still slightly ascending, s.s.e. and then reached by a similar descent, in five hours and a half, wady oszaita [arabic], enclosed by chalk hills. here is another bitter well which never yields a copious supply, and sometimes is completely dried up. a few date trees stand near it. from hence we rode over a wide plain s.e. b. s. and at the end of seven hours and three quarters came to wady thale [arabic]. rock salt is found here as well as in gharendel; date, acacia, and tamarisks grow in the valley; but they were now all withered. to our right was a chain of mountains, which extend towards gharendel. proceeding from hence south, we turned the point of the mountain, and then passed the rudely constructed tomb of a female saint, called arys themman [arabic], or the bridegroom of themman, where the arabs are in the habit of saying a short prayer, and suspending some rags of clothing upon some poles planted round the tomb. after having doubled the mountain we entered the valley called wady taybe [arabic], which descends rapidly to the sea. at the end of eight hours and a half we turned out of wady taybe into a branch of it, called wady shebeyke [arabic], in which we continued e.s.e. and halted for the night, after a day�s march of nine hours and a quarter. this is a broad valley, with steep though not high cliffs on both sides. the rock is calcareous, and runs in even horizontal layers. just over the road, a place was shewn to me from whence, some years since, a bedouin of the arabs of tor precipitated his son, bound hands and feet, because he had stolen wady hommar [p. ] corn out of a magazine belonging to a friend of the family. in the great eastern desert the aeneze bedouins are not so severe in such instances; but they would punish a bedouin who should pilfer any thing from his guest�s baggage. april th.�we set out before dawn, and continued for three quarters of an hour in the wady, after which we ascended e. b. s. and came upon a high plain, surrounded by rocks, with a towering mountain on the n. side, called sarbout el djemel [arabic]. we crossed the plain at sun rise; and the fresh air of the morning was extremely agreeable. there is nothing which so much compensates for the miseries of travelling in the arabian deserts, as the pleasure of enjoying every morning the sublime spectacle of the break of day and of the rising of the sun, which is always accompanied, even in the hottest season, with a refreshing breeze. it was an invariable custom with me, at setting out early in the morning, to walk on foot for a few hours in advance of the caravan; and as enjoyments are comparative, i believe that i derived from this practice greater pleasure than any which the arts of the most luxurious capitals can afford. at two hours and a half the plain terminated; we then turned the point of the above-mentioned mountain, and entered the valley called wady hommar [arabic], in which we continued e. b. n. this valley, in which a few acacia trees grow, has no perceptible slope on either side; its rocks are all calcareous, with flint upon some of them; by the road side, i observed a few scratchings of the figures of camels, done in the same style as those in wady mokatteb copied by m. niebuhr and m. seetzen, but without any inscriptions. at four hours we issued from this valley where the southern rocks which enclose it terminate, and we travelled over a wide, slightly ascending plain of deep sand, called el debbe [arabic], a name given by the towara bedouins to several other sandy districts of the same kind. wady el naszeb [p. ] the direction of our road across it was s. e. by s. at six hours and a half we entered a mountainous country, much devastated by torrents, which have given the mountains a very wild appearance. here sand-stone rocks begin. we followed the windings of a valley, and in seven hours and a quarter reached the wady el naszeb [arabic], where we rested, under the shade of a large impending rock, which for ages, probably, has afforded shelter to travellers; it is i believe the same represented by niebuhr in vol. i. pl. . he calls the valley warsan, which is, no doubt, its true name, but the arabs comprise all the contiguous valleys under the general name of naszeb. shady spots like this are well known to the arabs, and as the scanty foliage of the acacia, the only tree in which these valleys abound, affords no shade, they take advantage of such rocks, and regulate the day�s journey in such a way, as to be able to reach them at noon, there to take the siesta. the main branch of the wady naszeb continues farther up to the s.e. and contains, at about half an hour from the place where we rested, a well of excellent water; as i was fatigued, and the sun was very hot, i neglected to go there, though i am sensible that travellers ought particularly to visit wells in the desert, because it is at these natural stations that traces of former inhabitants are more likely to be found than any where else. the wady naszeb empties its waters in the rainy season into the gulf of suez, at a short distance from the birket faraoun. while my guides and servant lay asleep under the rock, and one of the arabs had gone to the well to water the camels and fill the skins, i walked round the rock, and was surprised to find inscriptions similar in form to those which have been copied by travellers in wady mokatteb. they are upon the surface of blocks which have fallen down from the cliff, and some of them appear to have been engraved while the pieces still formed a part of the main [p. ] rock. there is a great number of them, but few can be distinctly made out. i copied the following from some rocks which are lying near the resting-place, at about an hundred paces from the spot where travellers usually alight. [not included] the fallen blocks must be closely examined in order to discover [p. ] the inscriptions; in some places they are still to be seen on the rock above. they have evidently been done in great haste, and very rudely, sometimes with large letters, at others with small, and seldom with straight lines. the characters appear to be written from right to left, and although mere scratches, an instrument of metal must have been required, for the rock, though of sandstone, is of considerable hardness. some of the letters are not higher than half an inch; but they are generally about fifteen lines in height, and four lines in breadth; the annexed figure, (as m. seetzen has already observed in his publication upon these inscriptions in the mines de l�orient) is seen at the beginning of almost every line. hence it appears that none of the inscriptions are of any length, but that they consist merely of short phrases, all similar to each other, in the beginning at least. they are perhaps prayers, or the names of pilgrims, on their way to mount sinai, who had rested under this rock. a few drawings of camels and goats, done in the coarsest manner, are likewise seen. m. niebuhr (vol. i. pl. ) has given some sketches of them. some syale trees, a species of the mimosa, grow in this valley. the pod which they produce, together with the tenderest shoots of the branches, serve as fodder to the camels; the bark of the tree is used by the arabs to tan leather. the rocks round the resting-place of naszeb are much shattered and broken, evidently by torrents; yet no torrents within the memory of man have ever rushed down the valley. in the afternoon we entered a lateral branch of the naszeb, more northerly than the main branch which contains the well, and we gradually ascended it. we had been joined at the ayoun mousa by an egyptian bedouin, belonging to the arabs of the province raml el morak [p. ] of sherkyeh, who was married to a girl of the towara arabs; last night, being in the vicinity of the place where he knew his wife to be, he put spurs to the ass on which he was mounted, and thinking that he knew the road, he quitted the wady shebeyke two hours before we did, and without any provision of water. he missed his way on the sandy plain of debbe, and instead of reaching the spring of naszeb, where he intended to allay his thirst, he rode the whole of this morning and afternoon about the mountain in different directions, in fruitless search after the shady and conspicuous rock of naszeb. towards the evening we met him, so much exhausted with thirst, that his eyes had become dim, and he could scarcely recognise us; had he not fallen in with us he would probably have perished. my companions laughed at the effeminate egyptian, as they called him, and his presumption in travelling alone in districts with which he was unacquainted. at the end of eight hours and three quarters, in a general direction of. e. by s. we passed a small inlet in the northern chain, where, at a short distance from the road, is said to be a well of tolerable water, called el maleha [arabic], or the saltish. we then ascended with difficulty a steep mountain, composed to the top of moving sands, with a very few rocks appearing above the surface. we reached the summit after a day�s march of nine hours and three quarters, and rested upon a high plain, called raml el morak [arabic]. from hence we had an extensive view to the north, bounded by the chain of mountains called el tyh [arabic]; this range begins near the abovementioned mountain of sarbout el djemel, and extends in a curve eastwards twenty or twenty-five miles, from the termination of the wady hommar. at the eastern extremity lies a high mountain called djebel odjme [arabic], to the north of which begins another chain, likewise running eastwards towards the gulf of wady khamyle [p. ] akaba. the name of el tyh is applied to this ridge as well as to the former, but it is specifically called el dhelel [arabic]. these chains form the northern boundaries of the sinai mountains, and are the pasturing places of the sinai bedouins. they are the most regular ranges of the peninsula, being almost throughout of equal height, without any prominent peaks, and extending in an uninterrupted line eastwards. they are inhabited by the tribes of terabein and tyaha, the latter of whom are richer in camels and flocks than any other of the towara tribes. the valleys of these mountains are said to afford excellent pasturage, and fine springs, though not in great numbers. the terabein frequently visit cairo and suez; but the tyaha have more intercourse with ghaza, and khalyl, and are a very bold, independent people, often at war with their neighbours, and, even now, caring little for the authority of the pasha of egypt. at the southern foot of the mountain tyh extends a broad sandy plain, called el seyh, which begins at the debbe, and continues for two days journey eastwards. it affords good pasturage in spring, but has no water, and is therefore little frequented by bedouins. april th.�we crossed the plain of raml morak in a s. by e. direction. from hence the high peak of serbal bore s. in an hour and a quarter we reached the upper chain of the mountains of sinai, where grünstein begins, mixed in places with layers of granite, and we entered the valley called wady khamyle [arabic]. at the end of two hours we passed in the valley a projecting rock, like that of naszeb, serving for a resting-place to travellers: here i observed several inscriptions similar to those of naszeb, but much effaced, together with rude drawings of mountain goats. as i did not wish to betray too much curiosity, until i could ascertain what conduct i ought to pursue in order to attain my chief object of penetrating to akaba, i did not stop to copy wady barak [p. ] these monuments. at the end of two hours and a half in the wady khamyle we came to the first bedouin encampment which i had seen since leaving suez. it belonged to the tribe of szowaleha [arabic]. on the approach of summer all the bedouins leave the lower country, where the herbage is dried up, and retire towards the higher parts of the peninsula, where, owing to the comparatively cooler climate, the pasture preserves its freshness much longer. ascending gently through the valley, we passed at three hours a place of burial called mokbera [arabic], one of the places of interment of the tribe of szowaleha. it seems to be a custom prevalent with the arabs in every part of the desert, to have regular burial-grounds, whither they carry their dead, sometimes from the distance of several days journey. the burying ground seen by niebuhr[voyage, vol. i. p. ] near naszeb, which, as i have already mentioned, i passed without visiting, and missed in my way back, by taking a more southern road, appears to have been an ancient cemetery of the same kind, formed at a time when hieroglyphical characters were in use among all the nations under egyptian influence. as there are no countries where ancient manners are so permanent as in the desert, it is probable that the same customs of sepulture then prevailed which still exist, and that the burying ground described by niebuhr by no means proves the former existence of a city. among the rude tombs of mokbera, which consist, for the most part, of mere heaps of earth covered with loose stones, the tomb of sheikh hamyd, a bedouin saint, is distinguished; the szowaleha keep it always carefully covered with fresh herbs. at the end of three hours and a half we entered another valley, called wady barak [arabic], where the ascent becomes more steep. here the rock changes to porphyry, with strata of grünstein; the surface of the former is in most places completely wady genne [p. ] black. the mountains on both sides of the valley are much shattered: detached blocks and loose stones covered their sides, and the bottom of the valley was filled, in many places to the depth of ten feet, with a layer of stones that had fallen down. the wady becomes narrower towards the upper end, and the camels ascended with difficulty. at the end of six hours and a quarter we reached the extremity, to which the bedouins apply the name of djebel leboua [arabic], the mountain of the lioness, a name indicating, perhaps, that lions existed at one period in the peninsula of mount sinai, though no longer to be found here. in ascending wady barak, i saw upon several blocks lying by the road side short inscriptions, generally of one line only, all of which began with the remarkable character already represented. from the top of djebel leboua we descended a little, and entered the wady genne [arabic, a fine valley, several miles in breadth, and covered with pasturage. it lay in a straight line before us, and presented much of alpine scenery. we here found several bedouins occupied in collecting brush-wood, which they burn into charcoal for the cairo market; they prefer for this purpose the thick roots of the shrub rethem [arabic], genista raetam of forskal, which grows here in abundance. of the herbs which grow in this valley many were odoriferous, as the obeytheran, sille [arabic], perhaps the zilla myagrum of forskal; and the shyh [arabic], or artemisia. the bedouins collect also the herb adjrem [arabic], which they dry, break in pieces and pound between stones, and then use as a substitute for soap to wash their linen with. i was told that very good water is found at about two miles to the e. of this valley. we gained the upper extremity of wady genne at the end of nine hours. the ranges of mountains in this country differ in their formation from all the other arabian chains which i have wady osh [p. ] seen, the valleys reaching to the very summits, where they form a plain, and thence descend on the other side. a very pointed peak of rocks, near the left of the summit of wady genne, is known by the appellation of zob el bahry [arabic]. after crossing a short plain, we again descended s.e. by s. and entered the valley called wady berah [arabic], where i saw another block with inscriptions. near it were many others, but effaced. the following was more regularly and clearly written than any i have seen: [not included] we descended slowly through this valley, which is covered with sand, till, at the end of ten hours, we entered a side valley called wady osh [arabic], and at ten hours and a half alighted at an encampment of bedouins, pitched at no great distance from a burial ground similar to that which we had passed in the morning. this encampment belonged to the oulad said [arabic], a branch of the szowaleha tribe, and one of their sheikhs, hassan [arabic], had his tent here; this we entered, though he was absent, and the arabs had a long and fierce dispute among themselves to decide who should have the honour of furnishing us a supper, and a breakfast the next morning. he who first sees the stranger from afar, and exclaims: �there comes my guest,� has the right of entertaining him, whatever tent he may alight at. a lamb was killed for me, which was an act of great hospitality; for these bedouins are poor, and a lamb was worth upwards of a spanish dollar, a sum that would afford a supply of butter and bread to the family for a whole week. i found the same custom to prevail here, which i observed in my journey through the northern parts of arabia petraea; when meat is served up, it is the duty of one of the guests to demand a, portion for the women, by calling out � lahm el [p. ] ferash,� i.e. �the meat for the apartment of the women;� and a part of it is then either set aside, or he is answered that this has been already done. in the evening we joined in some of the popular songs, of which a description will be found in my illustration of bedouin manners.[this will form part of a subsequent volume. ed] i was naturally asked for what object i had come to these mountains. as the passage of greeks on their way to visit the convent of sinai is frequent, i might have answered that i was a greek; but i thought it better to adhere to what i had already told my guides, that i had left cairo, in order not to expose myself to the plague, that i wished to pass my time among the bedouins while the disease prevailed, and that i intended to visit the convent. other moslems would have considered it impious to fly from the infection; but i knew that all these bedouins entertain as great a dread of the plague as europeans themselves. during the spring, when the disease usually prevails in egypt, no prospect of gain can induce them to expose themselves to infection, by a journey to the banks of the nile; the bedouins with whom i left cairo were the last who had remained there. had the pasha granted me a firmahn to the great sheikh of the towara arabs, i should have gone directly to his tent, and in virtue of it i should have taken guides to conduct me to akaba; but being without the firmahn, i thought it more prudent to visit the convent in the first instance, and to depart from thence for akaba, in order to take advantage of such influence as the prior might possess over the bedouins, for though they pay little respect to the priests, yet they have some fear of being excluded from the gains accruing from the transport of visitors to the convent. as every white-skinned person, who makes his appearance in the desert, is supposed by the arabs to be attached to the turkish army, or the government of cairo, my [p. ] going to akaba without any recommendations would have given rise to much suspicion, and i should probably have been supposed to be a deserter from the turkish army, attempting to escape by that circuitous route to syria; a practice which is sometimes resorted to by the soldiers, to whom, without the pasha�s passport, egypt is closed both by sea and land. in the wady osh there is a well of sweet water. from hence upwards, and throughout the primitive chain of mount sinai, the water is generally excellent, while in the lower chalky mountains all round the peninsula, it is brackish, or bitter, except in one or two places. the wady osh and wady berah empty their waters in the rainy season into wady el sheikh, above feiran. april th.�we did not leave our kind hosts till the afternoon, for they insisted on my taking a dinner before i set out. i gave to their children, who accompanied me a little way, some coffee beans to carry to their mothers, and some kammereddein, a sweetmeat made at damascus from apricots, of which i had laid in a large stock, and which is very acceptable to all the bedouins of syria, egypt, and the hedjaz. the offer of any reward to a bedouin host is generally offensive to his pride; but some little presents may be given to the women and children. trinkets and similar articles are little esteemed by the bedouins; but coffee is in great request all over the desert; and sweetmeats and sugar are preferred to money, which, though it will sometimes be accepted, always creates a sense of humiliation, and consequently of dislike towards the giver. for my own part, being convinced that the hospitality of the bedouin is afforded with disinterested cordiality, i was in general averse to making the slightest return. few travellers perhaps will agree with me on this head; but will treat the bedouins in the same manner as the turks, and other inhabitants of the towns, who never proffer their services or wady el sheikh [p. ] hospitality without expecting a reward; the feelings of bedouins, however, are very different from those of townsmen, and a bedouin will praise the guest who departs from him without making any other remuneration than that of bestowing a blessing upon them and their encampment, much more than him who thinks to redeem all obligations by payment. we returned from wady osh towards wady berah; but leaving the latter, which here takes a direction towards wady feiran, we ascended by a narrow valley called wady akhdhar [arabic]. here i again saw some inscriptions on blocks of stone lying by the road side. a few hours to the n.e. of wady osh is a mountain called sheyger, where native cinnabar is collected; it is called rasokht [arabic] by the arabs, and is usually found in small pieces about the size of a pigeon�s egg. it is very seldom crystallized; but there are sometimes nodules on the surface; it stains the fingers of a dark colour, and its fracture is in perpendicular fibres. i did not hear that the arabs traded at all in this metal. in wady osh are rocks of gneiss mixed with granite. gneiss is found in many parts of the peninsula. after one hour we came to a steep ascent, and descent, called el szaleib [arabic], which occupied two hours. we then continued our descent into the great valley called wady el sheikh [arabic], one of the principal valleys of the peninsula. the rocks of szaleib consist throughout of granite, on the upper strata of which run layers of red feldspath, some of which has fallen down and covers the valley in broken fragments. the wady el sheikh is broad, and has a very slight acclivity; it is much frequented by bedouins for its pasturage. whenever rain falls in the mountains, a stream of water flows through this wady, and from thence through wady feiran, into the sea. we rode in a s.e. direction along the wady el sheikh for two hours, and then halted in it for the [p. ] night, after an afternoon�s march of four hours. several arabs of the encampment where we slept the preceding night had joined our party, to go to the convent, for no other reason, i believe, than to get a good dinner and supper on the road. this evening eight persons kneeled down round a dish of rice, cooked with milk which i had brought from wady osh, and the coffee-pot being kept on the fire, we sat in conversation till near midnight. may st.�we continued in a s.e. direction, ascending slightly: the valley then becomes narrower. at two hours we came to a thick wood of tamarisk or tarfa, and found many camels feeding upon their thorny shoots. it is from this evergreen tamarisk, which grows abundantly in no other part of the peninsula, that the manna is collected. we now approached the central summits of mount sinai, which we had had in view for several days. abrupt cliffs of granite from six to eight hundred feet in height, whose surface is blackened by the sun, surround the avenues leading to the elevated platform, to which the name of sinai is specifically applied. these cliffs enclose the holy mountain on three sides, leaving the e. and n.e. sides only, towards the gulf of akaba, more open to the view. on both sides of the wood of tarfa trees extends a range of low hills of a substance called by the arabs tafal [arabic], which i believe to be principally a detritus of the feldspar of granite, but which, at first sight, has all the appearance of pipe-clay; it is brittle, crumbles easily between the fingers, and leaves upon them its colour, which is a pale yellow. the arabs sell it at cairo, where it is in request for taking stains out of cloth, and where it serves the poor instead of soap, for washing their hands; but it is chiefly used to rub the skins of asses during summer, being supposed to refresh them, and to defend them against the heat of the sun. at the end of three hours we entered the above-mentioned cliffs sheikh szaleh [p. ] by a narrow defile about forty feet in breadth, with perpendicular granite rocks on both sides. the ground is covered with sand and pebbles, brought down by the torrent which rushes from the upper region in the winter time. in a broader part of the pass an insulated rock, about five feet high, with a kind of naturally formed seat, is shewn as a place upon which moses once reposed, whence it has the name of mokad seidna mousa [arabic]; the bedouins keep it covered with green or dry herbs, and some of them kiss it, or touch it with their hands, in passing by. beyond it the valley opens, the mountains on both sides diverge from the road, and the wady el sheikh continues in a s. direction with a slight ascent. a little to the east, from hence, is the well called bir mohsen [arabic]. after continuing in the wady for an hour beyond the defile, we entered a narrow inlet in the eastern chain, and rested near a spring called abou szoueyr [arabic]. at four hours and a half was a small walled plantation of tobacco, with some fruit trees, and onions, cultivated by some of the bedouins oulad said. in the afternoon we crossed the mountain by a by-path, fell again into the wady el sheikh, and at the end of eight hours from our setting out in the morning reached the tomb of sheikh szaleh [arabic], from which the whole valley takes its name. the coffin of the sheikh is deposited in a small rude stone building; and is surrounded by a thin partition of wood, hung with green cloth, upon which several prayers are embroidered. on the walls are suspended silk tassels, handkerchiefs, ostrich eggs, camel halters, bridles, &c. the offerings of the bedouins who visit this tomb. i could not learn exactly the history of this sheikh szaleh: some said that he was the forefather of the tribe of szowaleha; others, the great moslem prophet szaleh, sent to the tribe of thamoud, and who is mentioned in the koran; and others, again, that he was a local saint, which i believe to be the truth. among convent of mount sinai [p. ] the bedouins, this tomb is the most revered spot in the peninsula, next to the mountain of moses; they make frequent vows to kill a sheep in honour of the sheikh should a wished-for event take place; and if this happens, the votary repairs to the tomb with his family and friends, and there passes a day of conviviality. once in every year all the tribes of the towara repair hither in pilgrimage, and remain encamped in the valley round the tomb for three days. many sheep are then killed, camel races are run, and the whole night is passed in dancing and singing. the men and women are dressed in their best attire. the festival, which is the greatest among these people, usually takes place in the latter part of june, when the nile begins to rise in egypt, and the plague subsides; and a caravan leaves sinai immediately afterwards for cairo. it is just at this period too that the dates ripen in the valleys of the lower chain of sinai, and the pilgrimage to sheikh szaleh thus becomes the most remarkable period in the bedouin year. in the western mountain opposite sheikh szaleh, and about one hour and a half distant, is a fruitful pasturing place, upon a high mountain, with many fields, and plantations of trees, called el fereya [arabic], where once a convent stood. it is in possession of the oulad said. we continued from sheikh szaleh farther s. till at the end of six hours and a half we turned to our right into a broad valley, at the termination of which i was agreeably surprised by the beautiful verdure of a garden of almond trees belonging to the convent. from thence, by another short turn to the left, we reached the convent, in seven hours and a half. we alighted under a window, by which the priests communicate with the arabs below. the letter of recommendation which i had with me was drawn up by a cord, and when the prior had read it, a stick tied across a rope was [p. ] let down, upon which i placed myself, and was hoisted up. like all travellers i received a cordial reception and was shewn into the same neatly furnished room in which all preceding europeans had taken up their abode. i rested in the convent three days. when i told the monks that i intended to go to akaba, they gave me very little encouragement, particularly when they learnt that i had no firmahn from the pasha; but finding that i was firmly resolved, they sent for the chief ghafyr, or protector of the convent, and recommended me strongly to him. the monks live in such constant dread of the bedouins, who knowing very well their timid disposition, take every opportunity to strengthen their fears, that they believe a person is going to certain destruction who trusts himself to the guidance of these bedouins any where but on the great road to suez or to tor. i had been particularly pleased with the character and behaviour of hamd ibn zoheyr, the bedouin who had joined us at suez; and not being equally satisfied with the guide who had brought me from cairo, i discharged him, and engaged hamd for the journey to akaba; he did not know the road himself, but one of his uncles who had been there assured us that he was well acquainted with the tribe of heywat, which we should meet on the road, and with all the passages of the country; i therefore engaged him together with hamd. as no visitor of the convent is permitted to leave it without the knowledge of one of the ghafyrs, who has a right to share in the profits of the escort, i was obliged to give a few piastres to him who is at present the director of the affairs of the convent in the desert. the arabs have established here the same custom which i remarked in my journey from tor to cairo. every one who is present at the departure of a stranger or of a loaded camel from the convent is entitled to a fee, provided the traveller has not passed wady sal [p. ] a line, which is about one mile from the convent. to avoid this unnecessary company and expense, i stole out of the convent by night, as secretly as possible; but we were overtaken within the limits by a bedouin, and my guides were obliged to give him six piastres, to make him desist from farther claims. i left my servant and unnecessary baggage at the convent, and mounted a camel, for the hire of which i gave five dollars, and i paid as much to each of my guides, who were also mounted, and were to conduct me to akaba and back again. may th.�i left the convent before day light, but travelled no farther to day than to the well of abou szoueyr, where we had rested on the first of may, and where a large company of arabs assembled when they heard of our arrival. they quarrelled long with my guides for having taken me clandestinely from the convent, but were at last pacified by a lamb which i bought, and partook of with them. in the evening we heard from afar the songs of an encampment, to which my guides went, to join in the dance. i remained with the baggage, in conversation with an arab who had lately come from khalyl or hebron, and who much dissuaded me from going to akaba. he assured me that the uncle of hamd my guide knew nothing of the arabs of those parts, nor even the paths through the country; but i slighted his advice, because i believed that it was dictated by envy, and that he wished himself to be one of the party. the result shewed, however, that he was right. may th.�at sunrise we left abou szoueyr, and ascended a hilly country for half an hour. after a short descent, which on this side terminates the district of sinai, properly so called, we continued over a wide open plain, with low hills, called szoueyry [arabic], direction n.e. b. e. in an hour and a half we entered a narrow valley called wady sal [arabic], formed by the [p. ] lower ridges of the primitive mountains, in the windings of which we descended slightly e. b. n. and e.n.e. on the top i found the rock to be granite; somewhat lower down grünstein, and porphyry began to appear; farther on granite and porphyry cease entirely, and the rock consists solely of grünstein, which in many places takes the nature of slate. some of the layers of porphyry are very striking; they run perpendicularly from the very summit of the mountain to the base, in a band of about twelve feet in width, and projecting somewhat from the other rocks on the mountain�s side. i had observed similar strata in wady genne, but running horizontally along the whole chain of mountains, and dividing it, as it were, into two equal parts. the porphyry i have met with in sinai is usually a red indurated argillaceous substance; in some specimens it had the appearance of red feldspath. in the argil are imbedded small crystals of hornblende, or of mica, and thin pieces of quartz at most two lines square. i never saw any large fragments of quartz in it. its universal colour is red. the lower mountains of sinai are much more regularly shaped than the upper ones: they are less rugged, have no insulated peaks, and their summits fall off in smooth curves. the wady sal is extremely barren: we found no pasture for our camels, as no rain had fallen during the two last years, in the whole of this eastern part of the peninsula. a few acacia trees grew in different places; we rested at noon under one of them while a cup of coffee was prepared, and then pursued the wady downwards until, at the end of seven hours, we issued from it into a small plain, which we soon crossed, and at seven hours and a half entered another valley, similar to the former, where i again saw some granite, of the gray, small-grained species[.] our descent was here very rapid, and at the end of nine hours and a half we reached a lower level, in a broad valley running southwards. haydar [p. ] from hence the summit of mount st. catherine, behind the convent, bore s.w. by w. calcareous and sand rocks begin here, and the bottom of the valley is deep sand. we rode in it in the direction n.e. by n. and after a march of eleven hours alighted in a plain, at a spot which afforded some shrubs for our camels to feed upon. the elder of my two guides, by name szaleh, soon proved himself to be ignorant of the road. he might have passed this way in his youth, and have had a recollection of the general direction of the valleys; but when we arrived in the plain, he proceeded in various directions, in search of a road from the east. we had now, about six or eight miles to our left, a long and straight chain of mountains, the continuation, i believe, of that of tyh or dhelel, mentioned above, and running almost parallel with our route. the northern side of these mountains is inhabited by the tribe of tyaha. here passes the road which leads straight from the convent to akaba, while the one we took descended to the sea, and had been chosen by my guides for greater security. the upper road passes by the watering places zelka, el ain (the well), a place much frequented by bedouins, and where many date-trees grow, and lastly by el hossey. it is the common route from the convent to khalyl and jerusalem. may th.�we started early, and continued our way over the plain, which is called haydar [arabic]. it appears to follow the mountain of tyh as far as its western extremity, and there to join the seyh, of which i have already spoken, thus forming the northern sandy boundary of the lower sinai chain. as we proceeded, we approached nearer to the mountain, and at length fell in with the looked for road. the ground is gravelly but covered with moving sands which are raised by the slightest wind. to the east the country was open, with low hills, as far as i could see. our road lay n.e. / n. at one hour and a half mount st. catharine bore wady rahab [p. ] s.w. by w. we now descended into a valley of deep sand covered with blocks of chalk rock. at one hour and three quarters the valley is contracted into a narrow pass, between low hills of sand-stone, bearing traces of very violent torrents. at the end of two hours, route east by north, we quitted the valley, and crossed a rough rocky plain, intersected on every side by beds of torrents; and at two hours and three quarters halted near a rock. one of the guides went with the camels up a side valley, to bring water from the well hadhra [arabic], (perhaps the hazeroth [hebrew] mentioned in numbers xxxiii. ), distant about two miles from the halting place. near the well are said to be some date trees, and the remains of walls which formerly enclosed a few plantations. we here met some towara bedouins on their way to cairo with charcoal. after employing a considerable time in collecting the wood and burning it into coal they carry it to cairo, a journey at least of ten days, and there sell it for three or four dollars per load: so cheap do they hold their labour, and so limited are their means of subsistence. in return, they bring home corn and clothes to their women and children. we started again as soon as the camels returned from the well, but should probably have gone astray had not the bedouins above mentioned pointed out the road we ought to take; for szaleh, the uncle of hamd, although he pretended to be quite at home in this district, gave evident proofs of being but very slightly acquainted with it. we made many windings between sand-stone rocks, which presented their smooth perpendicular sides to the road; some of them are of a red, others of a white colour; the ground was deeply covered with sand. the traces of torrents were observable on the rocks as high as three and four feet above the boszeyra [p. ] present level of the plain. our main direction was e.n.e. at four hours and three quarters from the time we set out in the morning, we entered wady rahab [arabic], a fine valley with many syale trees, where the sands terminate. route e. at five hours and a half we entered another valley, broader than the former, where i again found an alternation of sand-stone and granite. the barrenness of this district was greater than i had yet witnessed in my travels, excepting perhaps some parts of the desert el tyh; the nubian valleys might be called pleasure grounds in comparison. not the smallest green leaf could be discovered; and the thorny mimosa, which retains its verdure in the tropical deserts of nubia, with very little supply of moisture, was here entirely withered, and so dry that it caught fire from the lighted cinders which fell from our pipes as we passed. we continued to descend by a gentle slope, and at six hours and a half entered wady samghy [arabic], coming from the south, in which we descended n.e. at the end of eight hours and a half we left this valley and turned e. into a side one, called boszeyra [arabic]; where we halted for the night, at eight hours and three quarters. we had met in wady samghy two old bedouins of the mezeine tribe, who belong to the towara nation: they were fishermen, on their way to the sea to exercise their profession. one of them carried in a small sack a measure of meal which was to serve for their food on shore, the other had a skin of water upon his shoulder; they were both half naked, and both approaching to seventy years of age. one of them was deaf, but so intelligent that it was easy to talk with him by signs; he had established a vocabulary of gestures with his companion, who had been his fishing partner for ten years, and who was one of the shrewdest and hardiest bedouins i had ever seen; in his younger days he had been a noted robber, [p. ] and in attempting to carry off the baggage of a french officer in the sherkyeh province in egypt, he was seized, laid under the stick, and so severely beaten, that his back had from that time become bent; but notwithstanding this misfortune and his age, he had lost none of his spirits, and his robust constitution still enabled him to cross these mountains on foot, and to exert his activity whenever it was required. these two men partook this evening of my supper; they of course asked me where i was going, and shook their heads when i told them i was bound for akaba. none of my guides knew what business i had there, but they supposed that i had some verbal message to deliver to the turkish aga, who was at the head of the garrison. ayd es szaheny [arabic], the old robber, soon found out that my guide szaleh knew little of the road, and still less of the arab tribes before us. he plainly told him that he would not be able to ensure either my safety or his own, in passing through their districts, and reproached him for having deluded me with false assurances. there appeared to be so much good faith and sense in all the old man said, and i found him so well informed respecting the country, that i soon determined to engage him to join us; but as we were to descend the next morning by the same road to the sea-shore, i deferred making him any overtures till we should arrive there. the wady boszeyra is enclosed by gray granite rocks, out of which the towara arabs sometimes hew stones for hand mills, which they dispose of to the northern arabs, and transport for sale as far as khalyl. it is very seldom that any arabs pasture in the district we had traversed, from wady sal. the towara find better pasturage in the southern and south-western parts of the peninsula, and as its whole population is very small, the more barren parts of it are abandoned, and especially this side, where very few wells are found. wasta [p. ] may th.�from boszeyra we crossed a short ridge of mountains, and then entered a narrow valley, the bed of a torrent, called saada [arabic], in the windings of which we descended by a steeper slope than any of the former; our main direction e. the mountains on both sides were of moderate height and with gentle slopes, till after an hour and a half, when we reached a chain of high and perpendicular grünstein rocks, which hemmed in the valley so closely as to leave in several places a passage of only ten feet across. after proceeding for a mile in this very striking and majestic defile, i caught the first glimpse of the gulf of akaba; the valley then widens and descends to the sea, and after two hours and a quarter we alighted upon the sandy beach, which is here several hundred paces in breadth; the grünstein and granite rocks reach all the way down; but at the very foot of the mountain a thin layer of chalk appeared just above the surface of the ground. the valley opens directly upon the sea, into which it empties its torrent when heavy rains fall. some groves of date-trees stand close by the shore, among which is a well of brackish but drinkable water; the place is called el noweyba [arabic]. we now followed the coast in a direction n.n.e. and at the end of three hours and a quarter halted at a grove of date-trees, intermixed with a few tamarisks, called wasta [arabic], close by the sea. here is a small spring at a distance of fifty yards from the sea, and not more than eight feet above the level of the water; it was choked with sand, which we removed, and on digging a hole about three feet deep and one foot in diameter, it filled in half an hour with very tolerable water. the shore is covered with weeds brought hither by the tide[.] here the two bedouins intended to take up their quarters for fishing, but i easily prevailed upon ayd to accompany us farther on. he promised to conduct us as far as taba, a valley in sight of akaba, but declared that he should not be justified in [p. ] holding out to me promises of safety beyond that point. this was all that i wished, for the present, thinking that when we arrived thither, i should be able to prevail on him to continue farther. szaleh now gave me reason to suspect that, from the moment of our setting out, he had had treacherous intentions. he secretly endeavoured to persuade hamd to return, and finding the latter resolved to fulfil his engagements, he declared that he had now shown us enough of the way, that we had only to follow the shore to reach akaba, and that the weakness of his camel would not allow it to proceed farther. i replied that he was at liberty to take himself off, but that, on my return to the convent, i should pay him only for the three days he had travelled with me. this was not to his liking, and he therefore preferred going on. before we left this place ayd told me that as i had treated him with a supper last night, it was his duty to give me a breakfast this morning. while he kneaded a loaf of flour, and baked it in the ashes, his companion caught some fish, which we boiled, and made a soup of the broth mixed with bread. the deaf man was made to understand by signs that he was to wait for the return of ayd, and we set out together before mid-day. before us lay a small bay, which we skirted; the sands on the shore every where bore the impression of the passage of serpents, crossing each other in many directions, and some of them appeared to be made by animals whose bodies could not be less than two inches in diameter. ayd told me that serpents were very common in these parts; that the fishermen were much afraid of them, and extinguished their fires in the evening before they went to sleep, because the light was known to attract them. as serpents are so numerous on this side, they are probably not deficient towards the head of the gulf on its opposite shore, where it appears that the israelites passed, when they journeyed from mount hor, by the way of the red sea, to compass the land of [p. ] edom,� and when the �lord sent fiery serpents among the people.�[numbers c. xxi, v. , . the following passage of deuteronomy (viii. ) in giving a general description of this country, alludes to the serpents: �who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint. who fed thee in the wilderness with manna,� &c. scorpions are numerous in all the adjacent parts of palestine and the desert. the author observes in a note in another place, that the arabic translation of the pentateuch has �serpents of burning bites,� instead of �fiery serpents.� note of the editor.] on the opposite side of the gulf the mountains appeared to reach down to the sea-side. in the direction s.s.e. and s.e. they are high; to the northward the chain lowers, and from the point e.s.e. towards akaba the level is still lower. we saw at a distance several gazelles, which, my guides told me, descend at mid-day to the sea to bathe. at one hour from wasta we reached near the sea another collection of palm trees, larger than the former, and having a well, which was completely choaked up. these trees receive no other irrigation than the winter rains; each tree has its acknowledged owner among some of the towara tribes: those which i have just noticed belong to some persons of the tribe of aleygat. not the smallest attention is paid to the trees till the period of the date harvest, when the owners encamp under them with their families for about a week while the fruit is gathered. the shrub gharkad also grows here in large quantities. at one hour and three quarters we came to another small bay, round which lay the road, the main direction of the shore being n.e. by n. the mountains approach very near to the water, leaving only a narrow sloping plain covered with loose stones, washed down from above by the torrents. the road was profusely strewed with shells of different species, all of which were empty. the fishermen collect the shells, take out the animals, and wady om hash [p. ] dry them in the sun, particularly that of the species called zorombat [arabic], which i have also seen in plenty on the african coast of the red sea, north of souakin, and at djidda, where they are much esteemed by the mariners, and are sold by the fishermen at tor and suez. i here made a rough measurement of the breadth of the gulf: having assumed a base of seven hundred paces along the beach, and then measured with my compass the angles formed at either extremity of it, with a prominent point of the opposite mountain, the result gave a breadth of about twelve miles. the vegetation appeared to be much less impregnated with saline particles than i had found it on other parts of the coast of the red sea. at two hours and three quarters we had to pass round the bottom of another bay, of red and white sand-stone, where steep rocks advance so close to the water as to leave only a narrow path. at three hours and three quarters we passed an opening into the mountain, called wady om hash [arabic], from whence a torrent descends, which, after its issue from the mountain, spreads to a considerable distance along the shore, and produces verdure. the shrub doeyny [arabic] grows here in abundance; it is almost a foot in height, and continues green the whole year. the arabs collect and burn it, and sell the ashes at khalyl, where they are used in the glass manufactories. we passed on our left several similar inlets into the mountain, the beds of torrents, but my guides could not, or would not, tell their names.	the bedouins are generally averse to satisfying the traveller�s curiosity on such subjects; not being able to conceive what interest he has in informing himself of mere names, they ascribe to repeated questions of this nature improper motives. some cunning is often required to get proper answers, and they frequently give false names, for no other reason than to have the pleasure of deluding the enquirer, and laughing at him among themselves behind his back. ras om haye [p. ] at four hours and a quarter we passed wady mowaleh [arabic]; and at the end of five hours and three quarters reached the northern point of the last mentioned bay, formed by a projecting part of the mountain, or promontory, called abou burko [arabic], which means �he who wears a face veil,� because on the top of it is a white rock, which is thought to resemble the white berkoa, or face veil of the arab women, and renders it a conspicuous object from afar. noweyba, where we had first reached the shore, bore from hence s.s.w. we rested for the night in a pasturing place near the mountain, on the south side of the promontory. old ayd, who carried his net with him, brought us some fish. his dog eat the raw fish, and his master told me that the dog sometimes passed several months without any other food. may th.�we set out long before day-break. none of our party was ever more ready to alight, or to take his supper, than szaleh, and none more averse to start. during the whole way he was continually grumbling, and endeavouring to persuade the others to turn back. we were one hour in doubling the abou burko, a chalky rock, whose base is washed by the waves.	on the other side we passed, at two hours, in the bottom of a small bay, wady zoara [arabic], where a few date trees grow, and a well of saltish water is found, unfit to drink. the maritime plain was here nearly two miles in breadth. having made the tour of another bay from abou burko, we reached, at three hours and a half, a promontory forming its northern boundary, and called ras om haye [arabic], a name derived from the great quantity of serpents found there, some of which, ayd told me, were venemous; we however saw none of any kind. the whole coast of the aelanitic gulf, from ras abou mohammed to akaba, consists of a succession of bays separated from such other by head lands. the ras om haye forms the western extremity of the mountain of tyh, om haye [p. ] whose straight and regular ridge runs quite across the peninsula, and is easily distinguished from the surrounding mountains. we halted at the end of five hours in a rocky valley at the foot of ras om haye, where acacia trees and some grass grow. ayd assured us that in the mountain, at some distance, was a reservoir of rain water, called om hadjydjein [arabic], but he could not answer for its containing water at this time. he described to hamd its situation, and the way to it, with a view of persuading him to go and fetch some water for us; but his description was so confused, and i thought contradictory in several circumstances, and withal so pompous, that i concluded it to be all a story, and told him he was a babbler. �a babbler!� he exclaimed; �min allah, no body in my whole life ever called me thus before. a babbler! i shall presently shew you, which of us two deserves that name.� he then seized one of the large water skins, and barefooted as he was, began ascending the mountain, which was covered with loose and sharp stones. we soon lost sight of him, but saw him again, farther on, climbing up an almost perpendicular path. an hour and a half after, he returned by the same path, carrying on his bent back the skin full of water, which could not weigh less than one hundred pounds, and putting it down before us said, �there! take it from the babbler!� i was so overcome with shame, that i knew not how to apologize for my inconsiderate language; but when he saw that i really felt myself in the wrong, he was easily pacified, and said nothing more about it till night, when seeing me take a hearty draught of the water, and hearing me praise its sweetness, compared with the brackish water of the coast, he stopped me, and said, �young man, for the future never call an old bedouin a babbler.� on the opposite side of the gulf the mountains recede somewhat from the shore, leaving at their feet a sloping plain. a place on [p. ] the coast, called hagol [arabic], bore from hence e. b. s; it is a fruitful valley by the water side, with large date plantations, which were clearly discernible. it is in possession of the tribe of arabs called akraba [arabic]. behind them, in the mountains, dwells the strong and warlike tribe of omran [arabic]. hagol is one long day�s journey from akaba; to the south of it about four hours is a similar cluster of date trees, called el hamyde [arabic], which bore from us s.e. b. e. the mountains on that coast are steep, with many peaks. no arabs live on the western coast, owing to the scanty pasturage; it is occasionally visited by fishermen and others, who come to collect the herb from which the soda ashes are obtained, or to cut wood and burn it into charcoal. the fishermen are very poor and visit the coast only during the summer months; they cure their fish with the salt which they collect on the southern part of the coast, and when they have thus prepared a sufficient quantity of fish, they fetch a camel and transport it to tor or suez. at tor a camel�s load of the fish, or about four hundred pounds, may be had for three dollars. the fishermen prepare also a sort of lard by cutting out the fat adhering to the fish and melting it, they then mix it with salt, preserve it in skins, and use it all the year round instead of butter, both for cookery and for anointing their bodies. its taste is not disagreeable. as the bedouins prefer the upper road, this road along the coast is seldom visited, except by poor pilgrims who have been cut off from the caravan, or robbed by bedouins, and who being ignorant of the road across the desert to cairo, sometimes make the tour of the whole peninsula by the sea side, as they are thus sure not to lose their way, and in winter-time seldom fail in finding pools of water. ayd told me that he had frequently met with stragglers of this description, worn out with fatigue and hunger. wady mezeiryk [p. ] from hence northwards the shore runs n.e. / n. having doubled the point of om haye, we found on the other side, after again passing round a small bay, at five hours and three quarters, a bank of sand running into the sea to a considerable distance, and several miles in breadth; it is called wady mokabelat [arabic], and is the termination of a narrow wady in the mountains to our left, from whence issues a torrent which spreads in time of rain over a wide extent of ground, partly rocky and partly sandy, where it produces good pasturage, and irrigates many acacia trees. the view up this wady or inlet of the mountain is very curious: at its mouth it is nearly two miles wide, and it narrows gradually upwards with the most perfect regularity, so that the eye can trace it for five or six miles, when it becomes so narrow as to present only the appearance of a perpendicular black line. at six hours and a half we came again to a mountain forming a promontory, called djebel sherafe [arabic]. the mountains from om haye northward decline considerably in height. the highest point of the chain appears to be the summit above noweyba, where we had descended to the shore. beyond djebel sherafe we found the road along the shore obstructed by high cliffs, and were obliged to make a detour by entering a valley to the west, called wady mezeiryk [arabic]. we ascended through many windings, entered several lateral valleys, and descended again to the shore at the end of eight hours and a half, at a point not more than half an hour distant from where we had turned out of the road. we found the valley mezeiryk full of excellent pasture; many sweet-scented herbs were growing in it, and the acacia trees were all green. upon enquiry i learnt that to the north of djebel tyh copious rains had fallen during the winter, while to the south of it there had been very little for the last two years, and in the eastern parts none. [p. ] in the whole way from the convent i had not met with the smallest trace of antiquity, either inscriptions upon the rocks by the road-side or any other labour of man, until we reached the summit of wady mezeiryk, where, close to the road, is a large sand-stone rock, which seems, for a small space, to have received an artificial surface. upon it i found rude drawings of camels, and of mountain and other goats, resembling those which i had before seen, and those which i saw afterwards in the wady mokatteb. no inscriptions were visible, but the annexed figures were drawn between the animals. these were the only drawings or inscriptions that i met with in the mountains to the e. of the convent, although i passed many flat rocks, well suited to them. i am inclined to think that the inscriptions have been written by pilgrims proceeding to mount sinai, and that the drawings of animals which are executed in a ruder manner and with a less steady hand, are the work of the shepherds of the peninsula. we find only those animals represented which are natives of these mountains, such as camels, mountain and other goats, and gazelles, but principally the two first,[it may be worthy of mention in this place that among the innumerable paintings and sculptures in the temples, and tombs of egypt, i never met with a single instance of the representation of a camel. at thebes, in the highest of the tombs on the side of the djebel habou, called abd el gorne, which has not, i believe, been noticed by former travellers, or even by the french in their great work, i found all the domestic animals of the egyptians represented together in one large painting upon a wall, forming the most elaborate and interesting work of the kind, which i saw in egypt. a shepherd conducts the whole herd into the presence of his master, who inspects them, while a slave is noting them down. yet even here i looked in vain for the camel.] and i had occasion to remark in the course of my tour, that the present bedouins of sinai are in the habit of carving the figures of goats upon rocks and in grottos. niebuhr observes, that in the hieroglyphic wady taba [p. ] inscriptions which he saw in the ancient burying ground not far distant from naszeb, he found figures of goats upon almost every inscribed tomb-stone; this animal is not very frequent in the hieroglyphic inscriptions of egypt. from the point where we descended again to the shore, we followed a range of black basaltic cliffs, into which the sea has worked several creeks, appearing like so many small lakes, with very narrow openings towards the sea; they are full of fish and shells. at the end of nine hours and a half we had passed these cliffs, and reached the plain beyond, upon which we continued our route near the shore, and rested for the night at ten hours and a quarter, under a palm-tree, in the vicinity of a deep brackish well, which we were obliged to excavate, in order to procure some water for our camels, they having drank none since we quitted wasta. from hence the promontory of om haye bore s.w. b. s. this plain, which is the extremity of a valley descending from the western mountain, is called wady taba [arabic]. ayd had promised to conduct me to this spot, but no farther; nor would the new offers which i now made induce hire to advance. we had already passed beyond the limits of the arabs towara, which terminate on this side of wady mokabelat, and we were now in the territory of the heywat, who have a very bad reputation. we had met with nobody on the road, but in wady mezeiryk, as well as in wady taba, we saw footsteps, which shewed that some persons must have passed there a short time before. none of my guides were acquainted with the tribe of heywat; had we therefore met any strong party of them, they would certainly have stripped us, although not at war with the towara, for it is a universal practice among bedouins to plunder all passengers who are unknown to them, and not attended by guides of their own tribe, provided they possess akaba [p. ] any thing worth seizing. szaleh had completely deluded both myself and his own nephew hamd: he had confidently asserted that he knew the heywat well, and that the first individual of them whom we should meet would easily be prevailed upon to join our party, and to serve as an additional protector. about one hour before us was another promontory, beyond which we knew that the country was well peopled by two other tribes, the alowein and omran, who are the masters of the district of akaba, intrepid robbers, and allies of the heywat, and who are to this day quite independent of the government of egypt. through them we must unavoidably pass to reach akaba, and ayd could not give me the smallest hope of being able to cross their valleys without being attacked. had i been furnished with a firmahn from mohammed ali pasha, i should have repaired at once to the great sheikh of the towara, and obliged him to send for some heywat or omran guides, who might have ensured my safety. but having been disappointed in this respect, i had no alternative but to turn back. hamd, it is true, bravely offered to accompany me wherever i chose to go, though he knew nothing of the road before us, or the arabs upon it; but i saw little chance of success, and knew, from what i had heard during my journey from kerek to cairo, that the omran not only rob but murder passengers. ayd had seen on the shore the footsteps of a man, which he knew to be those of a fisherman, a friend of his who had probably passed in the course of this day. had we met with him he might have served as our guide, but not a soul was any where to be seen. under these circumstances i reluctantly determined to retrace my steps the next day, but, instead of proceeding by the shore, to turn off into the mountains, and return to the convent by a more western route. [p. ] akaba was not far distant from the spot from whence we returned. before sun-set i could distinguish a black line in the plain, where my sharp-sighted guides clearly saw the date-trees surrounding the castle, which bore n.e. e.; it could not be more than five or six hours distant. before us was a promontory called ras koreye [arabic], and behind this, as i was told, there is another, beyond which begins the plain of akaba. the castle is situated at an hour and a half or two hours from the western chain, down which the hadj route leads, and about the same distance from the eastern chain, or lower continuation of tor hesma, a mountain which i have mentioned in my journey through the northern parts of arabia petraea. the descent of the western mountain is very steep, and has probably given to the place its name of akaba, which in arabic means a cliff or a steep declivity; it is probably the akabet aila of the arabian geographers; makrizi says that the village besak stands upon its summit. in numbers, xxxiv. , the �ascent of akrabbim� is mentioned, which appears to correspond very accurately to this ascent of the western mountain from the plain of akaba. into this plain, which surrounds the castle on every side except the sea, issues the wady el araba, the broad sandy valley which leads towards the dead sea, and which i crossed in , at a day and a half, or two days journey from akaba. at about two hours to the south of the castle the eastern range of mountains approaches the sea. the plain of akaba, which is from three to four hours in length, from west to east, and, i believe, not much less in breadth northward, is very fertile in pasturage. to the distance of about one hour from the sea it is strongly impregnated with salt, but farther north sands prevail. the castle itself stands at a few hundred paces from the sea, and is surrounded with large groves of date-trees. it is a square building, with strong walls, erected, as it now [p. ] stands, by sultan el ghoury of egypt, in the sixteenth century. in its interior are many arab huts; a market is held there, which is frequented by hedjaz and syrian arabs; and small caravans arrive sometimes from khalyl. the castle has tolerably good water in deep wells. the pasha of egypt, keeps here a garrison of about thirty soldiers, to guard the provisions deposited for the supply of the hadj, and for the use of the cavalry on their passage by this route to join the army in the hedjaz. cut off from cairo, the soldiers of the garrison often turn rebellious; three years ago an aga made himself independent, and whenever a corps of troops passed he shut the gates of the castle, and prepared to defend it. he had married a daughter of the chief of the omran, and thus secured the assistance of that tribe. being at last attacked by some troops sent against him from cairo he fled to his wife�s tribe, and escaped into syria. it appears that the gulf extends very little farther east than the castle, distant from which one hour, in a southern direction, and on the eastern shore of the gulf, lies a smaller and half-ruined castle, inhabited by bedouins only, called kaszer el bedawy. at about three quarters of an hour from akaba, and the same distance from kaszer el bedawy, are ruins in the sea, which are visible only at low water: they are said to consist of walls, houses, and columns, but cannot easily be approached, on account of the shallows. this information was not given to me by my guides, but after my return to cairo, by some french mamelouks, in the army of mohammed ali pasha, who had formerly been for several weeks in garrison at akaba; they, however, had never seen the ruins except from a distance. i enquired particularly whether the gulf did not form two branches at this extremity, as it has always been laid down in the maps, but i was assured that it had only a single ending, at which the castle is situated. [p. ] to the north of akaba, in the mountain leading up to tor hesma, is a wady known by the name of wady ithem [arabic]. i was told that at a certain spot this valley is shut up by an ancient wall, the construction of which is ascribed by the arabs to a king named hadeid, whose intention in erecting it was to prevent the tribe of beni helal of nedjed from making incursions into the plain. by this valley a road leads eastwards towards nedjed, following, probably, a branch of the mountain which extends towards the akaba of the syrian hadj route, where the pilgrims coming from damascus descend by a steep and difficult pass into the lower plains of arabia. i believe this chain of mountains continues in a direct and uninterrupted line from the eastern shore of the dead sea to the eastern shore of the red sea, and from thence to yemen. makrizi, the egyptian historian, says, in his chapter on aila (akaba); �it is from hence that the hedjaz begins; in former times it was the frontier place of the greeks; at one mile from it, is a triumphal arch of the caesars. in the time of the islam it was a fine town, inhabited by the beni omeya. ibn ahmed ibn touloun (a sultan of egypt), made the road over the akaba or steep mountain before aila. there were many mosques at aila, and many jews lived there; it was taken by the franks during the crusades; but in , salaheddyn transported ships upon camels from cairo to this place, and recovered it from them. near aila was formerly situated a large and handsome town, called aszyoun [arabic],� (eziongeber.) my guides told me, that in the sea opposite to the above mentioned promontory of ras koreye, there is a small island; they affirmed that they saw it distinctly, but i could not, for it was already dusk when they pointed it out, and the next morning a thick fog covered the gulf. upon this island, according to their statement, are ruins of infidels, but as no vessels are kept in these parts, [p. ] ayd, who had been here several times, had never been able to take any close view of them; they are described as extensive, and built of hard stone, and are called el deir, �the convent,� a word often applied by arabs to any ruined building in which they suppose that the priests of the infidels once resided. the bedouins in the neighbourhood of akaba, as i have already observed, are the alouein, omran, and heywat. they are all three entitled to a passage duty from the hadj caravan; the alouein exact it as owners of the district extending from the western mountain, across the plain to akaba; the heywat, as the possessors of the country from the well of themmed, to the summit of the same mountain; and the omran as masters of the desert from akaba southward as far as the vicinity of moeleh. caravans of these tribes come occasionally to cairo in search of corn, but they are independent of the pasha of egypt, of which they give proofs, by continually plundering the loads of the hadj caravans, and of all those who pass the great hadj route through their districts. their intercourse with syria, especially with khalyl, is much more frequent than with cairo. we had had through the whole of this day a very intense simoum, or hot- wind, which continued also during the night. in the evening i bathed in the sea, but found myself immediately afterwards as much heated as i had been before. after retiring to sleep we were awakened by the barking of ayd�s dog, upon which ayd springing up said he was sure that some people were in the neighbourhood. we therefore got our guns ready, and sat by the fire the whole night, for whatever may be the heat of the season, the bedouin must have his fire at night. szaleh gave evident signs of fear, but happily the morning came without realizing his apprehensions. may th.�ayd still expressed his certainty that somebody had wady mezeiryk [p. ] approached us last night, so much confidence did he place in the barking of his dog; he therefore advised me to hasten my way back, as some arabs might see our footsteps in the sand, and pursue us in quest of a booty. on departing, ayd, who was barefooted, and whose feet had become sore with walking, took from under the date-bush round which we had passed the night, a pair of leathern sandals, which he knew belonged to his heywat friend, the fisherman, and which the latter had hidden here till his return. in order to inform the owner that it was he who had taken the sandals, he impressed his footstep in the sand just by, which he knew the other would immediately recognise, and he turned the toes towards the south, to indicate that he had proceeded with the sandals in that direction. we now returned across the plain to the before mentioned basalt cliffs, passed the different small bays, and turned up into wady mezeiryk. we had descended from our camels, which szaleh was driving before him, about fifty paces in advance; i followed, and about the same distance behind me walked hamd and ayd. as we had seen nobody during the whole journey, and were now returning into the friendly districts of the towara, we had ceased to entertain any fears from enemies, and were laughing at ayd for recommending us to cross the valleys as quickly as possible. my gun was upon my camel, and i had just turned leisurely round an angle of the valley, when i heard ayd cry out with all his might, �get your arms! here they are!� i immediately ran up to the camels, to take my gun, but the cowardly szaleh, instead of stopping to assist his companions, made the camels gallop off at full speed up the valley.	i, however, overtook them, and seized my gun, but before i could return to hamd, i heard two shots fired, and ayd�s war-hoop, �have at him! are we not towara?� immediately afterwards i saw hamd spring djebel sherafe [p. ] round the angle, his eyes flashing with rage, his shirt sprinkled with blood, his gun in one hand, and in the other his knife covered with blood; his foot was bleeding, he had lost his turban, and his long black hair hung down over his shoulders. �i have done for him!� he exclaimed, as he wiped his knife; �but let us fly.� �not without ayd,� said i: �no indeed,� he replied; �without him we should all be lost.�	we returned round the corner, and saw ayd exerting his utmost agility to come up with us. at forty paces distance an arab lay on the ground, and three others were standing over him. we took hold of ayd�s arm and hastened to our camels, though we knew not where to find them. szaleh had frightened them so greatly by striking them with his gun, that they went off at full-gallop, and it was half an hour before we reached them; one of them had burst its girths, and thrown off its saddle and load. we replaced the load, mounted ayd, and hastened to pass the rocks of djebel sherafe. we then found ourselves in a more open country, less liable to be waylaid amongst rocks, and better able to defend ourselves. hamd now told me that ayd had first seen four bedouins running down upon us; they had evidently intended to waylay us from behind the corner, but came a little too late. when he heard ayd cry out, he had just time to strike fire and to light the match of his gun, when the boldest of the assailants approached within twenty paces of him and fired; the ball passed through his shirt; he returned the fire but missed his aim; while his opponent was coolly reloading his piece, before his companions had joined him, ayd cried out to hamd, to attack the robber with his knife, and advanced to his support with a short spear which he carried; haind drew his knife, rushed upon the adversary, and after receiving a wound in the foot, brought him to the ground, but left him immediately, on seeing his companions hastening to his relief. ayd now said that if the [p. ] man was killed, we should certainly be pursued, but that if he was only wounded the others would remain with him, and give up the pursuit. we travelled with all possible haste, not knowing whether more enemies might not be behind, or whether the encampment of the wounded man might not be in the vicinity, from whence his friends might collect to revenge his blood. ayd had certainly not been mistaken last night; these robbers had no doubt seen our fire, and had approached us, but were frightened by the barking of the dog. uncertain whether we were proceeding northward or southward, they had waited till they saw us set out, and then by a circuitous route in the mountains had endeavoured, unseen, to get the start of us in order to waylay us in the passes of the wady mezeiryk. if they had reached the spot where we were attacked two or three minutes sooner, and had been able to take aim at us from behind the rock, we must all have inevitably perished. that they intended to murder us, contrary to the usual practice of bedouins, is easily accounted for they knew from the situation of the place, where they discovered us, as well as from the dress and appearance of my guides, that they were towara bedouins; but though i was poorly dressed, they must have recognized me to be a townsman, and a townsman is always supposed by bedouins to carry money with him. to rob us without resistance was impossible, their number being too small; or supposing this had succeeded, and any of the guides had escaped, they knew that they would sooner or later be obliged to restore the property taken, and to pay the fine of blood and wounds, because the towara were then at peace with all their neighbours. for these reasons they had no doubt resolved to kill the whole party, as the only effectual mode of avoiding all disclosures as to the real perpetrators of the murder. i do not believe that such atrocities often occur in the eastern desert, noweyba [p. ] among the great aeneze tribe; at least i never heard of any; but these heywat arabs are notorious for their bad faith, and never hesitate to kill those who do not travel under the protection of their own people, or their well known friends. scarcely any other bedouin robbers would have fired till they had summoned us to give up our baggage, and had received a shot for answer. i had at first intended to visit, on my return, the upper mountains, to which there is a road leading through the wady mokabelat; but ayd dissuaded me. he said that if the party from which we had just escaped meant to pursue us, they would probably lay in wait for us in some of the passes in that direction; as he did not doubt that it would be their belief, that we were bound for tor or suez, the nearest road to which places lies through the wady mokabelat. i yielded to his opinion, and we returned along the coast by the same road we had come. hamd�s wound was not dangerous; i dressed it as well as i could, and four days afterwards it was nearly healed. we travelled a part of the night, and may th,�early the next morning we again reached noweyba, the place where we had first reached the coast. we here met ayd�s deaf friend. szaleh had all the way, betrayed the most timorous disposition; in excuse for running away when we were attacked, he said that he intended to halt farther on in the wady, in order to cover our retreat, and that he had been obliged to run after the camels, which were frightened by the firing; but the truth was, that his terrors deprived him of all power of reflection, otherwise he must have known that the only course, to be pursued in the desert, when suddenly attacked, is to fight for life, as escape is almost impossible. having been foiled in my hopes of visiting akaba, i now wished to follow the shore of the gulf to the southward; but szaleh would not hear of any farther progress in that direction, and insisted upon wady djereimele [p. ] my going back to the convent. i told him that his company had been of too little use to me, to make me desirous of keeping him any longer; he therefore returned, no doubt in great haste, by the same route we had come, accompanied by the deaf man; i engaged ayd to conduct us along the coast, hamd being very ignorant of this part of the peninsula, where his tribe, the oulad sayd, never encamp. the date trees of noweyba belong to the tribe of mezeine; here were several huts built of stones and branches of the trees, in which the owners live with their families during the date-harvest. the narrow plain which rises here from the sea to the mountain, is covered with sand and loose stones. ayd told me that in summer, when the wind is strong, a hollow sound is sometimes heard here, as if coming from the upper country; the arabs say that the spirit of moses then descends from mount sinai, and in flying across the sea bids a farewell to his beloved mountains. we rode from noweyba round a bay, the southern point of which bore from thence s. by w. in two hours and three quarters from noweyba we doubled the point, and rested for the night in a valley just behind it, called wady djereimele [arabic], thickly overgrown with the shrub gharkad, the berries of which are gathered in great abundance. red coral is very common on this part of the coast. in the evening i saw a great number of shellfish leave the water, and crawl to one hundred or two hundred paces inland, where they passed the night, and at sun-rise returned to the sea. during the last two days of our return from the northward i had found no opportunity to take notes. i had never permitted my companions to see me write, because i knew that if their suspicions were once raised, it would at least render them much less open in their communications to me. it has indeed been a constant [p. ] maxim with me never to write before arabs on the road; at least i have departed from it in a very few instances only, in syria; and on the nile, in my first journey into nubia; but never in the interior of nubia, or in the hedjaz. had i visited the convent of mount sinai in the character of a frank, with the pasha�s firmahn, and had returned, as travellers usually do, from thence to cairo, i should not have hesitated to take notes openly, because the towara arabs dread the pasha, and dare not insult or molest any one under his protection. but wishing to penetrate into a part of the country occupied by other tribes, it became of importance to conceal my pursuits, lest i should be thought a necromancer, or in search of treasures. in such cases many little stratagems must be resorted to by the traveller, not to lose entirely the advantage of making memoranda on the spot. i had accustomed myself to write when mounted on my camel, and proceeding at an easy walk; throwing the wide arab mantle over my head, as if to protect myself from the sun, as the arabs do, i could write under it unobserved, even if another person rode close by me; my journal books being about four inches long and three broad, were easily carried in a waistcoat pocket, and when taken out could be concealed in the palm of the hand; sometimes i descended from my camel, and walking a little in front of my companions, wrote down a few words without stopping. when halting i lay down as if to sleep, threw my mantle over me, and could thus write unseen under it. at other times i feigned to go aside to answer a call of nature, and then couched down, in the arab manner, hidden under my cloak. this evening i had recourse to the last method; but having many observations to note, i remained so long absent from my companions that ayd�s curiosity was roused. he came to look after me, and perceiving me immoveable on the spot, approached on tip-toe, and came close behind [p. ] me without my perceiving him. i do not know how long he had remained there, but suddenly lifting up my cloak, he detected me with the book in my hand. �what is this?� he exclaimed. �what are you doing? i shall not make you answerable for it at present, because i am your companion; but i shall talk further to you about it when we are at the convent.� i made no answer, till we returned to the halting-place, when i requested him to tell me what further he had to say. �you write down our country,� he replied, in a passionate tone, �our mountains, our pasturing places, and the rain which falls from heaven; other people have done this before you, but i at least will never become instrumental to the ruin of my country.� i assured him that i had no bad intentions towards the bedouins, and told him he must be convinced that i liked them too well for that; �on the contrary,� i added, �had i not occasionally written down some prayers ever since we left taba, we should most certainly have been all killed; and it is very wrong in you to accuse me of that, which if i had omitted, would have cost us our lives.� he was startled at this reply, and seemed nearly satisfied. �perhaps you say the truth,� he observed; �but we all know that some years since several men, god knows who they were, came to this country, visited the mountains, wrote down every thing, stones, plants, animals, even serpents and spiders, and since then little rain has fallen, and the game has greatly decreased.� the same opinions prevail in these mountains, which i have already mentioned to be current among the bedouins of nubia; they believe that a sorcerer, by writing down certain charms, can stop the rains and transfer them to his own country. the travellers to whom ayd alluded were m. seetzen, who visited mount sinai eight years since, and m. agnelli, who ten years ago travelled for the emperor of austria, collecting specimens [p. ] of natural history, and who made some stay at tor, from whence he sent arabs to hunt for all kinds of animals. m. seetzen traversed the peninsula in several directions, and followed a part of the eastern gulf as far northward, i believe, as noweyba. this learned and indefatigable traveller made it a rule not to be intimidated by the suspicions and prejudices of the bedouins; beyond the jordan, on the shores of the dead sea, in the desert of tyh, in this peninsula, as well as in arabia, he openly followed his pursuits, never attempting to hide his papers and pencils from the natives, but avowing his object to be that of collecting precious herbs and curious stones, in the character of a christian physician in the holy land, and in that of a moslim physician in the hedjaz. if the knowledge of the natural history of syria and arabia was the principal object of m. seetzen�s researches, he was perfectly right in the course which he adopted, but if he considered these countries only as intermediate steps towards the exploring of others, he placed his ultimate success in the utmost peril; and though he may have succeeded in elucidating the history of the brute creation, he had little chance of obtaining much information on the human character, which can only be done by gaining the confidence of the inhabitants, and by accommodating our notions, views, and manners, to their own. when m. seetzen visited these mountains, the towaras were not yet reduced to subjection by mohammed ali; he was obliged, on several occasions, to pay large sums for his passage through their country, and the mezeine would probably have executed a plot which they had laid to kill him, had not his guides been informed of it, and prevented him from passing through their territory. i had much difficulty in soothing ayd; he remained quiet during the rest of the journey, but after our return to the convent, the ras methna [p. ] report spread among the arabs that i was a writer like those who had preceded me, and i thus completely lost their confidence. may th.�we continued along the coast s.s.w. and at four hours passed a promontory, called djebel abou ma [arabic], consisting of granite. from hence we proceeded s.w. by s. and at seven hours came to a sandy plain, on the edge of a large sheltered bay. we found here some bedouin girls, in charge of a few goats; they told us that their parents lived not far off in the valley omyle [arabic]. we went there, and found two small tents, where three or four women and as many little children were occupied in spinning, and in collecting herbs to feed the lambs and kids, which were frisking about them. ayd knew the women, who belonged to his own tribe of mezeine. their husbands were fishermen, and were then at the sea-shore. they brought us some milk, and i bought a kid of them, which we intended to dress in the evening. the women were not at all bashful; i freely talked and laughed with them, but they remained at several yards distance from me. ayd shook them by the hand, and kissed the children; but hamd, who did not know them, kept at the same distance as myself. higher up in the wady is a well of good water, called tereibe [arabic]. from hence we went s.w. by s. and at eight hours came to ras methna [arabic], a promontory whose cliffs continue for upwards of a mile close by the water side. granite and red porphyry here cross each other in irregular layers, in some places horizontally, in others perpendicularly. the granite of this peninsula presents the same numberless varieties as that above the cataract of the nile, and near assouan; and the same beautiful specimens of red, rose-coloured, and almost purple may be collected here, as in that part of egypt. the transition from primitive to secondary rocks, partaking of the nature of grünstein or grauwacke, wady methna [p. ] or hornstein and trap, presents also an endless variety in every part of the peninsula, so that were i even possessed of the requisite knowledge accurately to describe them, it would tire the patience of the reader. masses of black trap, much resembling basalt, compose several insulated peaks and rocks. on the shore the granite sand carried down from the upper mountains has been formed into cement by the action of the water, and mixed with fragments of the other rocks already mentioned, has become a very beautiful breccia. at the end of eight hours and three quarters we rested for the night, to the south of this promontory, in a valley still called wady methna. from some fishermen whom we met i bought some excellent fish, of a species resembling the turbot, and very common on this coast. these with our kid furnished an abundant repast to ourselves as well as to the fishermen. the love of good and plentiful fare was one of ayd�s foibles; and he often related with pride that in his younger days he had once eaten at a meal, with three other bedouins, the whole of a mountain goat; although his companions, as he observed, were moderate eaters. bedouins, in general, have voracious appetites, and whoever travels with them cannot adopt any better mode of attaching them to his interests than by feeding them abundantly, and inviting all strangers met with on the road to partake in the repast. pounds given as presents in money have less effect than shillings spent in victuals; and the reputation of hospitality which the traveller thus gains facilitates his progress on every occasion. my practice was to leave the provision sack open, and at the disposal of my guides, not to eat but when they did, not to take the choice morsels to myself, to share in the cooking, and not to give any orders, but to ask for whatever i wanted, as a favour. by pursuing this method i continued during the remainder of the journey to be on the best terms with my companions, dahab [p. ] and had not the slightest altercation either with hamd or ayd. on the eastern shore of the gulf, opposite the place where we rested, lies a valley called mekna [arabic], inhabited by the tribe of omran. close to the shore are plantations of date and other fruittrees. the inhabitants of mekna cross the gulf in small boats, and bring to this side sheep and goats for sale, of which they possess large flocks, and which are thus more plentiful in this part of the peninsula than in any other. the mountains behind mekna recede from the sea, and further to the south take a more eastern direction, so as to leave a chain of hills between them and the shore, rising immediately from the water-side. the appearance of this gulf, with the mountains enclosing it on both sides, reminded me of the lake of tiberias and of the dead sea; and the general resemblance was still further heightened by the hot season in which i had visited all these places. may th.�our road lay s.s.w. along a narrow sandy plain by the sea side. in one hour and a half we reached dahab [arabic], a more extensive cluster of date trees than i had before seen on this coast; it extends into the sea upon a tongue of land, about two miles beyond the line of the shore; to the north of it is a bay, which affords anchorage, but it is without protection against northerly winds. dahab is, probably, the dizahab mentioned in deut. i. . there are some low hummocks covered with sand close to the shore of the low promontory, probably occasioned by the ruins of buildings. the plantations of date trees ar[e] here enclosed by low walls, within many of which are wells of indifferent water; but in one of them, about twenty-five feet deep, and fifty yards from the sea, we found the best water i had met with on any part of this coast in the immediate vicinity of the sea. about two miles to the south of the date groves [p. ] are a number of shallow ponds into which the sea flows at hightide; here the salt is made which supplies all the peninsula, as well as the fishermen for curing their fish; the openings of the ponds being closed with sand, the water is left to evaporate, when a thick crust of salt is left, which is collected by the bedouins. dahab is a favourite resort of the fishermen, who here catch the fish called boury [arabic] in great quantities. the date trees of dahab, which belong to the tribe of mezeine and aleygat, presented a very different appearance to those of egypt and the hedjaz, where the cultivators always take off the lower branches which dry up annually; here they are suffered to remain, and hang down to the ground, forming an almost impenetrable barrier round the tree, the top of which only is crowned with green leaves. very few trees had any fruit upon them; indeed date trees, in general, yield a very uncertain produce, and even in years, when every other kind of fruit is abundant, they are sometimes quite barren. we met here several families of arabs, who had come to look after their trees, and to collect salt. in the midst of the small peninsula of dahab are about a dozen heaps of stones irregularly piled together, but shewing traces of having once been united; none of them is higher than five feet. the arabs call them kobour el noszara, or the tombs of the christians, a name given by them to all the nations which peopled their country before the introduction of the islam. we remained several hours under the refreshing shade of the palm trees, and there continued our road. in crossing the tongue of land i observed the remains of what i conceived to be a road or causeway, which began at the mountain and ran out towards the point of the peninsula; the stones which had formed it were now separated from each other, but lay in a straight line, so as to afford sufficient proof of their having been placed here by the wady ghayb [p. ] labour of man. to the south of dahab the camel road along the shore is shut up by cliffs which form a promontory called el shedjeir [arabic]; we were therefore obliged to take a circuitous route through the mountains, and directed our road by that way straight towards sherm, the most southern harbour on this coast. we ascended a broad sandy valley in the direction s.w.; this is the same wady sal in which we had already travelled in our way from the convent, and which empties itself into the sea. in the rocky sides of this valley i observed several small grottos, apparently receptacles for the dead, which were just large enough to receive one corpse; i at first supposed them to have been natural erosions of the sand-stone rock; but as there were at least a dozen of them, and as i had not seen any thing similar in other sand- rocks, i concluded that they had been originally formed by man, and that time had worn them away to the appearance of natural cavities. we left the valley and continued to ascend slightly through windings of the wady beney [arabic] and wady ghayb [arabic], two broad barren sandy valleys, till, at the end of four hours, we reached the well of moayen el kelab [arabic], at the extremity of wady ghayb, where it is shut up by a cliff. here is a small pond of water under the shade of an impending rock, and a large wild fig-tree. on the top of a neighbouring part of the granite cliff, is a similar pond with reeds growing in it. the water, which is never known to dry up, is excellent, and acquires still greater value from being in the vicinity of a spacious cavern, which affords shade to the traveller. this well is much visited by the mezeine tribe; on several trees in the valley leading to it, we found suspended different articles of bedouin tent furniture, and also entire tent coverings. my guides told me that the owners left them here during their absence, in order not to have the mofassel el korfa [p. ] trouble of carrying them about; and such is the confidence which these people have in one another, that no instance is known of any of the articles so left having ever been stolen: the same practice prevails in other parts of the peninsula. the cavern is formed by nature in a beautiful granite rock; its interior is covered on all sides with figures of mountain goats drawn with charcoal in the rudest manner; they are done by the shepherd boys and girls of the towaras. the heat being intense we reposed in the cavern till the evening, when, after retracing our road for a short distance, we turned into the wady kenney [arabic], which we ascended; at its extremity we began to descend in a wady called molahdje [arabic], a narrow, steep, and rocky valley of difficult passage. ayd�s dog started a mountain goat, but was unable to come up with it. we slept in this wady, at one hour and a half from moayen el kelab. may th.�farther down the wady widens and is enclosed by high granite cliffs. its direction is s. by w. four hours continued descent brought us into wady orta [arabic]. the rocks here are granite, red porphyry, and grünstein, similar to what i had observed towards akaba, at nearly the same elevation above the sea. at the end of six hours we left wady orta, which descends towards the sea, and turning to the right, entered a large plain called mofassel el korfa [arabic], in which we rode s.s.w. from the footsteps in the sand ayd knew the individuals of the mezeine, who had passed this way in the morning. the view here opened upon a high chain of mountains which extends from sherm in the direction of the convent, and which i had passed on my return from arabia, in going from sherm to tor. it is called djebel tarfa [arabic], and is inhabited principally by the mezeine. at eight hours the plain widens; many beds of torrents coming from the tarfa cross it in their way to the sea. this sherm [p. ] part is called el ak-ha [arabic], and excepting in the beds of the torrents, where some verdure is produced, it is an entirely barren tract. at nine hours we approached the tarfa, between which and our road were low hills called hodeybat el noszara [arabic], i. e. the hump backs of the christians. the waters which collect here in the winter flow into the sea at wady nabk. at ten hours the plain opens still wider, and declines gently eastwards to the sea. to the left, where the mountains terminate, a sandy plain extends to the water side. at eleven hours is an insulated chain of low hills, forming here, with the lowest range of the tarfa, a valley, in which our road lay, and in which we halted, after a fatigueing day�s journey of twelve hours. as there were only two camels for three of us, we rode by turns; and ayd regretted his younger days, when, as he assured us, he had once walked from the convent to cairo in four days. the hills near which we halted are called roweysat nimr [arabic], or the little heads of the tiger. may th.�we descended among low hills, and after two hours reached the harbour of sherm [arabic]. this is the only harbour on the western coast of the gulf of akaba, which affords safe anchorage for large ships, though, by lying close in shore, small vessels might, i believe, find shelter in several of the bays of this gulf. at sherm there are two deep bays little distant from each other, but separated by high land, in both of which, ships may lie in perfect safety. on the shore of the southern bay stands the tomb of a sheikh, held in veneration by the bedouins and mariners: a small house has been built over it, the walls of which are thickly hung with various offerings by the bedouins; and a few lamps suspended from the roof are sometimes lighted by sailors. sherif edrisi, in his geography, mentions these two bays of sherm, and calls the one sherm el beit [arabic], or of the house, and the other sherm el bir [arabic], or of the well, thus accurately describing both; [p. ] for near the shore of the northern bay are several copious wells of brackish water, deep, and lined with stones, and apparently an ancient work of considerable labour. the distance from sherm to the cape of ras abou mohammed is four or five hours; on the way a mountain is passed, which comes down close to the sea, called es-szafra [arabic], the point of which bears from sherm s.w. by s. bedouins are always found at sherm, waiting with their camels for ships coming from the hedjaz, whose passengers often come on shore here, in order to proceed by land to tor and suez. the arab tribes of mezeine and aleygat have the exclusive right of this transport. shortly after we had alighted at the well, more than twenty mezeine came down from the mountain with their camels; they claimed the right of conducting me from hence, and of supplying me with a third camel; and as both my camels belonged to arabs of the tribe of oulad sayd, they insisted upon hamd taking my baggage from his camel, and placing it upon one of theirs, that they might have the profits of hire. after breakfasting with them, a loud quarrel began, which lasted at least two hours. i told them that the moment any one laid his hands upon my baggage to remove it, i should consider it as carried off by force, and no longer my property, and that i should state to the governor of suez that i had been robbed here. although they could not all expect to share in the profits arising from my transport, every one of them was as vociferous as if it had been his exclusive affair, and it soon became evident that a trifle in money for each of them was all that was wanted to quiet them. they did not, however, succeed; i talked very boldly; told them that they were robbers, and that they should be punished for their conduct towards me. at last their principal man, seeing that nothing was to be got, told us that we might load and depart. he accompanied us to a short [p. ] distance, and received a handful of coffee-beans, as a reward for his having been less clamorous than the others. these people believed that my visit to sherm was for the mere purpose of visiting the tomb of the saint. i had assigned this motive to ayd, who was himself a mezeine, telling him that i had made a vow to thank the saint for his protection in our encounter with the robbers; ayd would otherwise have been much astonished at my proceeding to this distance without any plausible object. the nearest road from sherm to the convent is at first the same way by which we came, and it branches off northward from wady orta; but as i was desirous of seeing as much as possible of the coast, i suggested to my guides, that if we proceeded by that route the mezeine of sherm might possibly ride after us, and excite another quarrel in the mountain, where we should find it more difficult to extricate ourselves. they consented therefore to take the circuitous route along the shore. such stratagems are often necessary, in travelling with bedouins, to make them yield to the traveller�s wishes; for though they care little for fatigue in their own business, they are extremely averse to go out of their way, to gratify what they consider an absurd whim of their companion. from sherm we rode an hour and a quarter among low hills near the shore. here i saw for the first and only time, in this peninsula, volcanic rocks. for a distance of about two miles the hills presented perpendicular cliffs, formed in half circles, and some of them nearly in circles, none of them being more than sixty to eighty feet in height; in other places there was an appearance of volcanic craters. the rock is black, with sometimes a slight red appearance, full of cavities, and of a rough surface; on the road lay a few stones which had separated themselves from above. the cliffs were covered by deep layers of sand, and the valleys at their feet wady szygha [p. ] were also overspread with it; it is possible that other rocks of the same kind may be found towards ras abou mohammed, and hence may have arisen the term of black [arabic], applied to these mountains by the greeks. it should be observed, however, that low sand hills intervene between the volcanic rocks and the sea, and that above them, towards the higher mountains, no traces of lava are found, which seems to shew that the volcanic matter is confined to this spot. we issued from the low hills upon a wide plain, which extends as far as nabk, and is intersected in several places by beds of torrents. our direction was n.e. by n. the plain terminates three or four miles to the east, in rocks which line the shore. at the end of three hours and a half we halted under a rock, in the bed of one of the torrents. the whole plain appears to be alluvial; many petrified shells are found imbedded in the chalky and calcareous soil. in the afternoon we again passed several low water-courses in the plain, and, at the end of five hours wady szygha [arabic]. at six hours and a half from sherm we rested in the plain, in a spot where some bushes grew, amongst which we found a bedouin woman and her daughter, living under a covering made of reeds and brush-wood. her husband and son were absent fishing, but ayd being well known to them, they gave us a hearty welcome, and milked a goat for me. after sunset they joined our party, and sitting down behind the bush where i had taken up my quarters, eat a dish of rice which i presented to them. the daughter was a very handsome girl of eighteen or nineteen, as graceful in her deportment and modest in her behaviour, as the best educated european female could be; indeed i have often had occasion to remark among the bedouins, comparing them with the women of of the most polished parts of europe, that grace and modesty are not less than beauty the gifts of nature. among these arabs the wady nakb [p. ] men consider it beneath them to take the flocks to pasture, and leave it to the women. in front of our halting place lay an island called djezyret tyran [arabic]: its length from n. to s. is from six to eight miles, and it lies about four miles from the shore. half its length is a narrow promontory of sand, and its main body to the south consists of a barren mountain. it is not inhabited, but the bedouins of heteym sometimes come here from the eastern coast, to fish for pearls, and remain several weeks, bringing their provision of water from the spring of el khereyde [arabic], on that coast, there being no sweet water in the island. edrisi mentions a place on the western coast, where pearls are procured, a circumstance implied by the name of maszdaf [arabic], which he gives to it. the name is now unknown here, but i think it probable that edrisi spoke of this part of the coast. the quantity of pearls obtained is very small, but the heteym pick up a good deal of mother-of-pearl, which they sell to great advantage at moeleh, to the ships which anchor there. may th.�we continued over the plain in a direction n. by e. and in two hours reached wady nabk [arabic], which, next to dahab and noweyba, is the principal station on this coast. large plantations of date trees grow on the sea-shore, among which, as usual, is a well of brackish water. the plain which reaches from near sherm to nabk is the only one of any extent along the whole coast; at nabk it contracts, the western chain approaches to within two miles of the shore, and farther northward this chain comes close to the sea. the promontory of djebel abou ma bore from wady nabk n.n.e / e. from hence to dahab, as the arabs told me, is about six hours walk along the shore. the highest point of the mountain upon the island of tyran bore s.e. by s. [p. ] the opposite part of the eastern coast is low, and the mountains are at a distance inland. near nabk are salt-pits, similar to those at dahab. except during the date harvest, nabk is inhabited only by fishermen; they are the poorest individuals of their tribe, who have no flocks or camels, and are obliged to resort to this occupation to support themselves and families. we bought here for thirty-two paras, or about four-pence halfpenny, thirty-two salted fish, each about two feet in length, and a measure of the dried shell-fish, zorombat, which in this state the arabs call bussra. for the smaller kinds of fish the fishermen use hand-nets, which they throw into the sea from the shore; the larger species they kill with lances, one of which ayd carried constantly with him as a weapon; there is not a single boat nor even a raft to be found on the whole of this coast, but the bedouins of the eastern coast have a few boats, which may sometimes be seen in the gulf. we saw here a great number of porpoises playing in the water close to the shore. i wished to shoot at one of them, but was prevented by my companions, who said that it was unlawful to kill them, as they are the friends of man, and never hurt any body. i saw parts of the skin of a large fish, killed on the coast, which was an inch in thickness, and is employed by these arabs instead of leather for sandals. we now turned from nabk upwards to the convent, and in half an hour entered the chain of mountains along a broad valley called wady nabk, in which we ascended slightly, and rested at two hours and a quarter from nabk under a large acacia tree. in the vicinity were three tents of aleygat arabs, the women of which approached the place where we had alighted, and told us that two men and a child were there ill of the plague, which they had caught from a relative of theirs, who had lately come from egypt with the disease upon him, and who had died. at that time they were wady rahab [p. ] in a large encampment, but as soon as the infection shewed itself, their companions compelled them to quit the camp, and they had come to this place to await the termination of the disorder. my guides were as much afraid of the infection as i was, and made the women remain at a proper distance; they asked me for some rice, and sugar, which latter article they believe to be a sovereign remedy against diseases. i was glad to be able to gratify them, and i advised them to give the patients whey which is almost the only cooling draught the arabs know; they conceive that almost all illnesses proceed from cold, and therefore usually attempt to cure them by heat, keeping the patient thickly covered with clothes, and feeding him upon the most nourishing food they can afford. not far from our halting place, on the ascent of the mountain, is a reservoir of rain water, where we filled our skins. the acacia trees of the valley were thickly covered with guin arabic. the towara arabs often bring to cairo loads of it, which they collect in these mountains; but it is much less esteemed than that from soudan. i found it of a somewhat sweet and rather agreeable taste. the bedouins pretend, that upon journeys it is a preventive of thirst, and that the person who chews it may pass a whole day without feeling any inconvenience from the want of water. we set out in the afternoon, and at the end of three hours and a half from wady nabk, passed the mofassel el korfa, which i have already mentioned. at four hours and a quarter we crossed wady el orta, the direction of our road n.w. by n., and at the end of five hours and a quarter we halted in wady rahab [arabic]. all these valleys resemble one another; the only difference of appearance which they afford, is that in some places the ground is parched up, while in others, where a torrent passes during the winter, the shrubs still retain some green leaves. wady orta [p. ] may th.�during the night we had a heavy shower of rain with thunder and lightning, which completely drenched both ourselves and our baggage. a beautiful morning succeeded, and the atmosphere, which during the last three days had been extremely hot, especially on the low coast, was now so much refreshed, that we seemed to have removed from a tropical to an alpine climate. we passed through several valleys emptying themselves into wady orta; the principal of these is called wady ertama [arabic]. route n.n.w. although the rain had been heavy, the sands had so completely absorbed it, that we could scarcely find any traces of it. we started several gazelles, the only game i have seen in the peninsula, except mountain-goats. hares and wolves are found, but are not common, and the bedouins sometimes kill leopards, of one of which i obtained a large skin at the convent. the bedouins talk much of a beast of prey called wober [arabic], which inhabits the most retired parts only of the peninsula; they describe it as being of the size of a large dog, with a pointed head like a hog; i heard also of another voracious animal, called shyb [arabic], stated to be a breed between the leopard and the wolf. of its existence little doubt can be entertained, though its pretended origin is probably fabulous, for the arabs, and especially the bedouins, are in the common practice of assigning to every animal that is seldom met with, parents of two different species of known animals. on the coast, and in the lower valleys, a kind of large lizard is seen, called dhob [arabic], which has a scaly skin of a yellow colour; the largest are about eighteen inches in length, of which the tail measures about one-half. the dhob is very common in the arabian deserts, where the arabs form tobacco purses of its skin. it lives in holes in the sand, which have generally two openings; it runs fast, but a dog easily catches it. of birds i saw red-legged partridges in great numbers, pigeons, the katta, but not in such large flocks as i wady kyd [p. ] have seen them in syria, and the eagle rakham. the bedouins also mentioned an eagle whose outspread wings measure six feet across, and which carries off lambs. after four hours and a half we reached wady kyd [arabic], and rested at its entrance under two immense blocks of granite, which had fallen down from the mountain; they form two spacious caverns, and serve as a place of shelter for the shepherdesses; we saw in them several articles of tent furniture and some cooking utensils. on the sides figures of goats are drawn with charcoal; but i saw no inscriptions cut in the rock. the blocks are split in several places as if by lightning. we followed the wady kyd, continuing on a gentle ascent from the time of our setting out in the morning. the windings of the valley led us, at the end of five hours and a half, to a small rivulet, two feet across, and six inches in depth, which is lost immediately below, in the sands of the wady. it drips down a granite rock, which blocks up the valley, there only twenty paces in breadth, and forms at the foot of the rock a small pond, overshadowed by trees, with fine verdure on its banks. the rocks which overhang it on both sides almost meet, and give to the whole the appearance of a grotto, most delighful to the traveller after passing through these dreary valleys. it is in fact the most romantic spot i have seen in these mountains, and worthy of being frequented by other people than arabs, upon whom the beauties of nature make a very faint impression. the camels passed over the rocks with great difficulty; beyond it we continued in the same narrow valley, along the rivulet, amidst groves of date, nebek, and some tamarisk trees, until, at six hours, we reached the source of the rivulet, where we rested a little. this is one of the most noted date valleys of the sinai arabs; the contrast of its deep verdure with the glaring rocks by which it is closely hemmed in, is very striking, and shews that wherever water passes in these districts, however djebel mordam [p. ] barren the ground, vegetation is invariably found. within the enclosures of the date-groves i saw a few patches of onions, and of hemp; the latter is used for smoking; some of the small leaves which surround the hemp-seed being laid upon the tobacco in the pipe, produces a more intoxicating smoke. the same custom prevails in egypt, where the hemp leaves as well as the plant itself are called hashysh. in the branches of one of the date-trees several baskets and a gun were deposited, and some camels were feeding upon the grass near the rivulet, but not a soul was to be seen in the valley; these bedouins being under no fear of robbers, leave their goods and allow their beasts to pasture without any one to watch them; when they want the camels they send to the springs in search of them, and if not found there, they trace their footsteps through the valleys, for every bedouin knows the print of the foot of his own camel. notwithstanding its verdure, the wady kyd is an uncomfortable halting- place, on account of the great number of gnats and ticks with which it is infested. beyond the source of the rivulet, which oozes out of the ground, the vegetation ceases, and the valley widens. we rode on, and at seven hours entered wady kheysy, a wild pass, in which the road is covered with rocks, and the sides of the mountains are shattered by torrents. we ascended through many windings, in the general direction of w.n.w. until we found the valley shut up by a high mountain, called djebel mordam [arabic]. the rocks are granite and porphyry; in many parts of the valley grow wild fig-trees, called by the arabs hamad; here also grows the aszef [arabic], a tree which i had already seen in several of the wadys; it springs from the fissures in the rocks, and its crooked stem creeps up the mountain�s side like a parasitic plant; it produces, according to the arabs, a fruit of the size of a walnut, of a blackish colour, and very sweet to the taste. the bark of the tree mountain of mohala [p. ] is white, and the branches are thickly covered with small thorns; the leaves are heart-shaped, and of the same shade of green as those of the oak. this wady, as well as the kyd, is inhabited by mezeine; but they all return in summer to the highest mountains of the peninsula, where the pasture is more abundant than in these lower valleys. we ascended the mordam with difficulty, and on the other side found a narrow valley, which brought us, at the end of eleven hours, to a spring called tabakat [arabic], situated under a rock, which shuts up the valley. the spring is thickly overgrown with reeds and sometimes dries up in summer. above the rock extends a plain or rather a country somewhat more open, intersected with hills, and bounded by high mountains. the district is called fera el adlial [arabic], and is a favourite pasturing place of the arabs, their sheep being peculiarly fond of the little berries of the shrub rethem [arabic], with which the whole plain is overspread. in order to take the nearest road to the convent, we ascended in a n. direction, the high mountain of mohala [arabic], the top of which we reached at the end of eleven hours and three quarters; from hence the convent was pointed out to me n. b. e. on the other side we descended n.e. into a narrow valley on the declivity of the mountain, where we alighted, after a long day�s march of twelve hours and a quarter. this mountain is entirely of granite; but at tabakat beautiful porphyry is seen with large slabs of feldspath, traversed by layers of white and rose-coloured quartz. may th.�the night was so cold that we all lay down round the fire, and kept it lighted the whole night. early in the morning we continued to descend the mountain, by a road called nakb[a steep declivity is called by the bedouins nakb, the plural of which (ankaba [arabic]) is often used by them synonymously with djebal [arabic], mountains.] haszfet el ras [p. ] abou el far [arabic], and in half an hour reached the wady ahmar [arabic], which, below, joins the wady kyd. ascending again in this wady, we came in an hour to the springs of abou tereyfa [arabic], oozing, like that of tabakat, from below a rock which shuts up the narrow valley. on the declivity of the mountains, farther on, i saw many ruins of walls, and was informed by my guides, that fifty years ago this was one of the most fertile valleys of their country, full of date and other fruit trees; but that a violent flood tore up all the trees, and laid it waste in a few days, and that since that period it has been deserted. at the end of two hours and a half, we descended into a broad valley, or rather plain, called haszfet el ras [arabic], and perceived at its extremity an encampment, which we reached at three hours and a quarter, and alighted under the tent of the chief; he happened to be the same bedouin who had conducted me last year from tor to cairo, and who had also brought the from cairo to the convent. i knew that he was angry with me for having discharged him on my arrival at the latter place, and for having hired hamd to conduct me to akaba; he was already acquainted with my return, and that i had gone to sherm, but little expected to see me here. he, however, gave me a good reception, killed a lamb for my dinner, and would not let me depart in the afternoon, another arab having prepared a goat for our supper. we remained therefore the whole day with him, and, in the evening, joined in the dance and songs of the mesámer, which were protracted till long after-midnight, and brought several other young men from the neighbouring encampments. the stranger not accustomed to bedouin life can seldom hope to enjoy quiet sleep in these encampments. after the songs and dances are ended he must lie down in the tent of his host with a number of men, who think to honour him by keeping him company; but who, if the tent is not very large, wady sebaye [p. ] lie so close as to impart to him a share of the vermin with which they are sure to be infested. to sleep in the open air before the tent is difficult, on account of the fierce dogs of the encampment, who have as great an aversion for townsmen as their masters have; the bedouins too dislike this practice, because a sight of the female apartment may thus be obtained. i found the women here much more reserved than among other bedouins; i could not induce any of them to converse with me, and soon perceived that both themselves and their husbands disliked their being noticed; a fastidiousness of manners for which they are no doubt indebted to the frequent visits of their husbands to the capital of egypt. we had another shower in the night; flying showers are frequent during the summer, but they are never sufficiently copious in that season to produce torrents. may th left the tent before dawn, and proceeded along a wady and then n.w. up an ascent, whose summit we reached in two hours. from thence a fine view opened upon a broad wady called sebaye [arabic], and towards the mountain of tyh. we crossed wady sebaye, and then ascended the mountain which commands the convent on the south side, and descending again, reached the convent at the end of three hours and a half. our march during the whole of this journey had been slow, except on the day of our flight from the robbers; for our camels were weak and tired, and one of us usually walked. there is a more northern road from sherm to the convent, which branches off from that by which we came, at wady orta; it passes by the two watering places of naszeb [arabic], and ara- yne [arabic]; the former, which is in a fruitful valley, where date- trees grow, must not be confounded with the western naszeb, already mentioned. hamd, afraid of being liable to pay the fine of blood, if it should become known that the robber had fallen by his hand, had convent of mount sinai [p. ] made us all give him our solemn promise not to mention any thing of the affair. when i discharged him and ayd at the convent, i made them both some presents, which they had well deserved, particularly hamd; this he was so imprudent as to mention to his uncle szaleh, who was so vexed at not receiving a present, that he immediately divulged all the circumstances of our rencounter. hamd in consequence was under the greatest apprehensions from the relations of the robber, and having accompanied me on my return to cairo, he remained with me some time there, in anxious expectation of hearing whether the robber�s blood was likely to be revenged. not hearing any thing, he then returned to his mountain, four months after which a party of omran, to whose tribe the men had belonged, came to the tent of the sheikh of the towara to demand the fine of blood. the man had died a few days after receiving the wound, and although he was a robber and the first aggressor, the bedouin laws entitled his relations to the fine, if they waved the right of retaliation; hamd was therefore glad to come to a compromise, and paid them two camels, (which the two principal sheikhs of the towara gave him for the purpose), and twenty dollars, which i thought myself bound to reimburse to him, when he afterwards called on me at cairo. this was the third man hamd had killed in skirmish; but he had paid no fine for the others, as it was never known who they were, nor to what tribe they belonged. had hamd, whom every one knew to be the person who had stabbed the robber, refused to pay the fine, the omran would sooner or later have retaliated upon himself or his relations, or perhaps upon some other individual of his tribe, according to the custom of these bedouins, who have established among themselves the law of �striking sideways.�[see my remarks on the customs of blood-revenge, in the description of bedouin manners.] [p. ] the convent of mount sinai is situated in a valley so narrow, that one part of the building stands on the side of the western mountain, while a space of twenty paces only is left between its walls and the eastern mountain. the valley is open to the north, from whence approaches the road from cairo; to the south, close behind the convent, it is shut up by a third mountain, less steep than the others, over which passes the road to sherm. the convent is an irregular quadrangle of about one hundred and thirty paces, enclosed by high and solid walls built with blocks of granite, and fortified by several small towers. while the french were in egypt, a part of the east wall which had fallen down was completely rebuilt by order of general kleber, who sent workmen here for that purpose. the upper part of the walls in the interior is built of a mixture of granite-sand and gravel, cemented together by mud, which has acquired great hardness. the convent contains eight or ten small court-yards, some of which are neatly laid out in beds of flowers and vegetables; a few date-trees and cypresses also grow there, and great numbers of vines. the distribution of the interior is very irregular, and could not be otherwise, considering the slope upon which the building stands; but the whole is very clean and neat. there are a great number of small rooms, in the lower and upper stories, most of which are at present unoccupied. the principal building in the interior is the great church, which, as well as the convent, was built by the emperor justinian, but it has subsequently undergone frequent repairs. the form of the church is an oblong square, the roof is supported by a double row of fine granite pillars, which have been covered with a coat of white plaster, perhaps because the natural colour of the stone was not agreeeble to the monks, who saw granite on every side of them. the capitals of the columns are of different designs; several of them bear a resemblance to palm branches, while others [p. ] are a close but coarse imitation of the latest period of egyptian sculpture, such as is seen at philae, and in several temples in nubia. the dome over the altar still remains as it was constructed by justinian, whose portrait, together with that of his wife theodora, may yet be distinguished on the dome, together with a large picture of the transfiguration, in honour of which event the convent was erected. an abundance of silver lamps, paintings, and portraits of saints adorn the walls round the altar; among the latter is a saint christopher, with a dog�s head. the floor of the church is finely paved with slabs of marble. the church contains the coffin in which the bones of saint catherine were collected from the neighbouring mountain of st. catherine, where her corpse was transported after her death by the angels in the service of the monks. the silver lid of a sarcophagus likewise attracts attention; upon it is represented at full length the figure of the empress anne of russia, who entertained the idea of being interred in the sarcophagus, which she sent here; but the monks were disappointed of this honour. in a small chapel adjoining the church is shewn the place where the lord is supposed to have appeared to moses in the burning bush; it is called alyka [arabic], and is considered as the most holy spot in mount sinai. besides the great church, there are twenty-seven smaller churches or chapels dispersed over the convent, in many of which daily masses are read, and in all of them at least one every sunday. the convent formerly resembled in its establishment that of the holy sepulchre at jerusalem, which contains churches of various sects of christians. every principal sect, except the calvinists and protestants, had its churches in the convent of sinai. i was shewn the chapels belonging to the syrians, armenians, copts, and latins, but they have long been abandoned by their owners; the church of the latins fell into ruins at the close of [p. ] the seventeenth century, and has not been rebuilt. but what is more remarkable than the existence of so many churches, is that close by the great church stands a mahometan mosque, spacious enough to contain two hundred people at prayers. the monks told me that it was built in the sixteenth century, to prevent the destruction of the convent. their tradition is as follows: when selim, the othman emperor, conquered egypt, he took a great fancy to a young greek priest, who falling ill, at the time that selim was returning to constantinople, was sent by him to this convent to recover his health; the young man died, upon which the emperor, enraged at what he considered to be the work of the priests, gave orders to the governor of egypt to destroy all the christian establishments in the peninsula; of which there were several at that period. the priests of the great convent of mount sinai being informed of the preparations making in egypt to carry these orders into execution, began immediately to build a mosque within their walls, hoping that for its sake their house would be spared; it is said that their project was successful and that ever since the mosque has been kept in repair. this tradition, however, is contradicted by some old arabic records kept by the prior, in which i read a circumstantial account how, in the year of the hedjra , some straggling turkish hadjis, who had been cut off from the caravan, were brought by the bedouins to the convent; and being found to be well educated, and originally from upper egypt, were retained here, and a salary settled on them and their descendants, on condition of their becoming the servants of the mosque. the conquest of egypt by selim did not take place till a.h. . the mosque in the convent of sinai appears therefore to have existed long before the time [p. ] of selim. the descendants of these hadjis, now poor bedouins, are called retheny [arabic], they still continue to be the servants of the mosque, which they clean on thursday evenings, and light the lamps; one of them is called the imam. the mosque is sometimes visited by moslim pilgrims, but it is only upon the occasion of the presence of some mussulman of consequence that the call to prayers is made from the minaret. in the convent are two deep and copious wells of spring water; one of them is called the well of moses, because it is said that he first drank of its water. another was the work, as the monks say, of an english lord, it bears the date . there is also a reservoir for the reception of rain water. none of the churches or chapels have steeples. there is a bell, which, i believe, is rung only on sundays. the usual mode of calling the monks to morning prayers is by striking with a stick upon a long piece of granite, suspended from ropes, which produces a sound heard all over the convent; close by it hangs a piece of dry wood, which emits a different sound, and summons to vespers. a small tower is shewn which was built forty or fifty years ago for the residence of a greek patriarch of constantinople, who was exiled to this place by the orders of the sultan, and who remained here till he died. according to the credited tradition, the origin of the convent of mount sinai dates from the fourth century. helena, the mother of constantine, is said to have erected here a small church, in commemoration of the place where the lord appeared to moses in the burning bush, and in the garden of the convent a small tower is still shewn, the foundations of which are said to have been laid by her. the church of helena drawing many visitors and monks to these mountains, several small convents were erected in different [p. ] parts of the peninsula, in the course of the next century, but the ill treatment which the monks and hermits suffered from the bedouins induced them at last to present a petition to the emperor justinian, entreating him to build a fortified convent capable of affording them protection against their oppressors. he granted the request, and sent workmen from constantinople and egypt, with orders to erect a large convent upon the top of the mountain of moses; those however to whom the work was entrusted, observing the entire want of water in that spot, built it on the present site. they attempted in vain to cut away the mountain on each side of the building, with a view to prevent the arabs from taking post there and throwing stones at the monks within. the building being completed, justinian sent from constantinople some slaves, natives of the shores of the black sea, to officiate as servants in the convent, who established themselves with their families in the neighbouring valleys. the first prior was doulas, whose name is still recorded upon a stone built into the wall of one of the buildings in the interior of the convent. the above history is taken from a document in arabic, preserved by the monks. an arabic inscription over the gate, in modern characters, says that justinian built the convent in the thirtieth year of his reign, as a memorial of himself and his wife theodora. it is curious to find a passage of the koran introduced into this inscription; it was probably done by a moslem sculptor, without the knowledge of the monks. a few years after the completion of the convent, one of the monks is said to have been informed in his sleep, that the corpse of st. catherine, who suffered martyrdom at alexandria, had been transported by angels to the summit of the highest peak of the surrounding mountains. the monks ascended the mountain in [p. ] procession, found the bones, and deposited them in their church, which thus acquired an additional claim to the veneration of the greeks. monastic establishments seem soon after to have considerably increased throughout the peninsula. small convents, chapels, and hermitages, the remains of many of which are still visible, were built in various parts of it. the prior told me that justinian gave the whole peninsula in property to the convent, and that at the time of the mohammedan conquest, six or seven thousand monks and hermits were dispersed over the mountains, the establishments of the peninsula of sinai thus resembling those which still exist on the peninsula of mount athos. it is a favourite belief of the monks of mount sinai, that mohammed himself, in one of his journeys, alighted under the walls of the convent, and that impressed with due veneration for the mountain of moses, he presented to the convent a firmahn, to secure to it the respect of all his followers. ali is said to have written it, and mohammed, who could not write, to have confirmed it by impressing his extended hand, blackened with ink, upon the parchment. this firmahn, it is added, remained in the convent until selim the first conquered egypt, when hearing of the precious relic, he sent for it, and added it to the other relics of mohammed in the imperial treasury at constantinople; giving to the convent, in return, a copy of the original certified with his own cipher. i have seen the latter, which is kept in the sinai convent at cairo, but i do not believe it to be an authentic document. none of the historians of mohammed, who have recorded the transactions of almost every day of his life, mention his having been at mount sinai, neither in his earlier youth, nor after he set up as a prophet, and it is totally contrary to history that he should have granted to any [p. ] christians such privileges as are mentioned in this firmahn, one of which is that the moslems are bound to aid the christian monks in rebuilding their ruined churches. it is to be observed also that this document states itself to have been written by ali, not at the convent, but in the mosque of the prophet at medina, in the second year of the hedjra, and is addressed, not to the convent of mount sinai in particular, but to all the christians and their priests. the names of twenty-two witnesses, followers of mohammed, are subscribed to it; and in a note it is expressly stated that the original, written by ali, was lost, and that the present was copied from a fourth successive copy taken from the original. hence it appears that the relation of the priests is at variance with the document to which they refer, and i have little doubt therefore that the former is a fable and the latter a forgery. notwithstanding the difficulties to which the monks must have been exposed from the warlike and fanatical followers of the new faith in syria, arabia, egypt, and the desert, the convent continued uninjured, and defended itself successfully against all the surrounding tribes by the peculiar arms of its possessors, patience, meekness, and money. according to the statement of the monks, their predecessors were made responsible by the sultans of egypt for the protection of the pilgrim caravans from cairo to mekka, on that part of the road which lay along the northern frontiers of their territory from suez to akaba. for this purpose they thought it necessary to invite several tribes, and particularly the szowaleha and the aleygat to settle in the fertile valleys of sinai, in order to serve as protectors of this road. the bedouins came, but their power increasing, while that of the monks declined, they in the course of time took possession of the whole peninsula, and confined the monks to their convent. it appears from the original copy of a compact between the monks and the [p. ] above bedouins, made in the year of the hedjra , when sultan dhaher bybars reigned in egypt, that besides this convent, six others were still existing in the peninsula, exclusive of a number of chapels and hermitages; from a writing on parchment, dated in the a.h. , we find that in that year all these minor establishments had been abandoned, and that the great convent, holding property at feiran, tor, and in other fruitful valleys, alone remained. the priests assured me, that they had documents to prove that all the date valleys and other fertile spots in the gulf of akaba had been in their possession, and were confirmed to them by the sultans of egypt; but they either could not or would not shew me their archives in detail, without an order from the prior at cairo; indeed all their papers appeared to be in great confusion. whenever a new sultan ascends the throne of constantinople, the convent is furnished with a new firmahn, which is transmitted to the pasha of egypt; but as the neighbouring bedouins, till within a few years, were completely independent of egypt, the protection of the pashas was of very little use to the monks, and their only dependance was upon their own resources, and their means of purchasing and conciliating the friendship, or of appeasing the animosity of the arabs. at present there are only twenty-three monks in the convent. they are under the presidence of a wakyl or prior, but the ikonómos [greek], whom the arabs call the kolob, is the true head of the community, and manages all its affairs. the order of sinai monks dispersed over the east is under the control of an archbishop, in arabic called the reys. he is chosen by a council of delegates from mount sinai and from the affiliated convent at cairo, and he is confirmed, pro forma, by the greek patriarch of jerusalem. the archbishop can do nothing as to the appropriation of the funds without the unanimous vote of the council. formerly [p. ] he lived in the convent; but since its affairs have been on the decline, it has been found more expedient that he should reside abroad, his presence here entitling the bedouins to great fees, particularly on his entrance into the convent. i was told that ten thousand dollars would be required, on such an occasion, to fulfil all the obligations to which the community is bound in its treaties with the arabs. hence it happens that no archbishop has been here since the year , when the reys kyrillos resided, and i believe died, in the convent. i was informed that the gate has remained walled up since the year , but that if an archbishop were to come, it must be again opened to admit him, and that all the bedouin sheiks then have a right to enter within the walls. besides the convent at cairo, which contains a prior and about fifty monks, mount sinai has establishments and landed property in many other parts of the east, especially in the archipelago, and at candia: it has also a small church at calcutta, and another at surat. the discipline of these monks, with regard to food and prayer, is very severe. they are obliged to attend mass twice in the day and twice in the night. the rule is that they shall taste no flesh whatever all the year round; and in their great fast they not only abstain from butter, and every kind of animal food and fish, but also from oil, and live four days in the week on bread and boiled vegetables, of which one small dish is all their dinner. they obtain their vegetables from a pleasant garden adjoining the building, into which there is a subterraneous passage; the soil is stony, but in this climate, wherever water is in plenty, the very rocks will produce vegetation. the fruit is of the finest quality; oranges, lemons, almonds, mulberries, apricots, peaches, pears, apples, olives, nebek trees, and a few cypresses overshade the beds in which melons, beans, lettuces, onions, cucumbers, and all sorts of [p. ] culinary and sweet-scented herbs are sown. the garden, however, is very seldom visited by the monks, except by the few whose business it is to keep it in order; for although surrounded by high walls, it is not inaccessible to the bedouins, who for the three last years have been the sole gatherers of the fruits, leaving the vegetables only for the monks, who have thus been obliged to repurchase their own fruit from the pilferers, or to buy it in other parts of the peninsula. the excellent air of the convent, and the simple fare of the inhabitants, render diseases rare. many of the monks are very old men, in the full possession of their mental and bodily faculties. they have all taken to some profession, a mode of rendering themselves independent of egypt, which was practised here even when the three hundred private chambers were occupied, which are now empty, though still ready for the accommodation of pious settlers. among the twenty-three monks who now remain, there is a cook, a distiller, a baker, a shoemaker, a tailor, a carpenter, a smith, a mason, a gardener, a maker of candles, &c. &c. each of these has his work-shop, in the worn-out and rusty utensils of which are still to be seen the traces of the former riches and industry of the establishment. the rooms in which the provisions are kept are vaulted and built of granite with great solidity; each kind of provision has its purveyor. the bake-house and distillery are still kept up upon a large scale. the best bread is of the finest quality; but a second and third sort is made for the bedouins who are fed by the convent. in the distillery they make brandy from dates, which is the only solace these recluses enjoy, and in this they are permitted to indulge even during the fasts. most of the monks are natives of the greek islands; in general they do not remain more than four or five years, when they return to their own country, proud of having been sufferers among [p. ] bedouins; some, however, have been here forty years. a few of them only understood arabic; but none of them write or read it. being of the lower orders of society, and educated only in convents, they are extremely ignorant. few of them read even the modern greek fluently, excepting in their prayer-books, and i found but one who had any notion of the ancient greek. they have a good library, but it is always shut up; it contains about fifteen hundred greek volumes, and seven hundred arabic manuscripts; the latter, which i examined volume after volume, consist entirely of books of prayer, copies of the gospels, lives of saints, liturgies, &c.; a thick folio volume of the works of lokman, edited, according to the arab tradition, by hormus, the ancient king of egypt, was the only one worth attention. its title in arabic is [arabic]. the prior would not permit it to be taken away, but he made me a present of a fine copy of the aldine odyssey and an equally fine one of the anthology. in the room anciently the residence of the archbishop, which is very elegantly paved with marble, and extremely well furnished, though at present unoccupied, is preserved a beautiful ancient manuscript of the gospels in greek, which i was told, was given to the convent by �an emperor called theodosius.� it is written in letters of gold upon vellum, and ornamented with portraits of the apostles. notwithstanding the ignorance of these monks, they are fond of seeing strangers in their wilderness; and i met with a more cordial reception among them than i did in the convents of libanus, which are in possession of all the luxuries of life. the monks of sinai are even generous; three years ago they furnished a servian adventurer, who styled himself a knes, and pretended to be well known to the russian government, with sixty dollars, to pay his [p. ] journey back to alexandria, on his informing them of his destitute circumstances. at present the convent is seldom visited; a few greeks from cairo and suez, and the inhabitants of tor who repair here every summer, and encamp with their families in the garden, are the only persons who venture to undertake the journey through the desert. so late as the last century regular caravans of pilgrims used to come here from cairo as well as from jerusalem; a document preserved by the monks states the arrival in one day of eight hundred armenians from jerusalem; and at another time of five hundred copts from cairo. i believe that from sixty to eighty is the greatest number of visitors that can now be reckoned in a year. in the small but neat room which i occupied, and which is assigned to all strangers whom the prior receives with any marks of distinction, were the names of some of the latest european travellers who have visited the convent. the following inscriptions, written upon pieces of paper stuck against the walls, i thought worth the trouble of transcribing. �le quintidi, frimaire, l�an de la république française, de l�ère chrétienne, et ème de la conquête de l�egypte, les citoyens rozières et coutelle, membres de la commission des sciences et arts, sont venus visiter les lieux saints, les ports de tor, ras mohammed, et charms, la mer de suez et l�accaba, l�extrémité de la presqu�île, toutes les chaines de montagnes, et toutes les tribus arabes entre les deux golfes.� (seal of the french republic.) m. rozières made great mineralogical researches in these mountains, [p. ] but he and his companion did not succeed in visiting all the chains of mountains or all the tribes of arabs. they never reached akaba, nor traversed the northern ranges of the peninsula, nor visited the tribes of tyaha, heywat and terabein. the following is the memorial left by m. seetzen: �le d�avril, . u.j. seetzen, nommé mousa, voyageur allemand, m.d. et assesseur de collège de s. majestè l�empereur de toutes les russies dans la seigneurie de jever en allemagne, est venu visiter le couvent de la sainte cathérine, les monts d�horeb, de moise, et de la sainte catherine, &c. après avoir parcouru toutes les provinces orientales anciennes de la palestine; savoir, hauranitis, trachonitis, gaulonitis, paneas, batanea, decapolis, gileaditis, ammonitis, amorrhitis et moabitis, jusqu�aux frontières de la gebelene (idumaea), et après avoir fait deux fois l�entour de la mer morte, et traversé le désert de l�arabie petrée, entre la ville d�hebron et entre le mont sinai, par un chemin jusqu�à ce tems-là inconnu. après un séjour de dix jours, il continuait son voyage pour la ville de suez.� m. seetzen has fallen into a mistake in calling the convent by the name of saint catherine. it is dedicated to the transfiguration, or as the greeks call it, the metamorphosis, and not to saint catherine, whose relics only are preserved here. m. seetzen visited the convent a second time, previous to his going to arabia. he came then from tor, and stopped only one day. the visit of two english travellers, messrs. galley knight and fazakerly, is also recorded in a few lines dated february , . the same room contained likewise several modern arabic inscriptions, one of which says: �to this holy place came one who does not deserve that his name should be mentioned, so [p. ] manifold are his sins. he came here with his family. may whoever reads this, beseech the almighty to forgive him. june , .� the only habitual visitors of the convent are the bedouins. they have established the custom that whoever amongst them, whether man, woman, or child, comes here, is to receive bread for breakfast and supper, which is lowered down to them from the window, as no bedouins, except the servants of the house, are ever admitted within the walls. fortunately for the monks, there are no good pasturing places in their immediate neighbourhood; the arab encampments are therefore always at some distance, and visitors are thus not so frequent as might be supposed; yet scarcely a day passes without their having to furnish bread to thirty or forty persons. in the last century the bedouins enjoyed still greater privileges, and had a right to call for a dish of cooked meat at breakfast, and for another at supper; the monks could not have given a stronger proof of their address than by obtaining the abandonment of this right from men, in whose power they are so completely placed. the convent of sinai at cairo is subject to similar claims; all the bedouins of the peninsula who repair to that city on their private business receive their daily meal, from the monks, who, not having the same excuses as their brethren of mount sinai, are obliged to supply a dish of cooked meat. the convent has its ghafeirs, or protectors, twenty-four in number, among the tribes inhabiting the desert between syria and the red sea; but the more remote of them are entitled only to some annual presents in clothes and money, while the towara ghafeirs are continually hovering round the walls, to extort as much as they can. of the towara arabs the tribes of szowaleha and aleygat only are considered as protectors; the mezeine, who came in later times to the peninsula, have no claims; and of the szowaleha tribe, the [p. ] branches oulad said and owareme are exclusively the protectors, while the koreysh and rahamy are not only excluded from the right of protection but also from the transport of passengers and loads. of the oulad said each individual receives an annual gift of a dollar, and the ghafeir of this branch of the szowaleha is the convent�s chief man of business in the desert. if a sheikh or head man calls at the convent, he receives, in addition to his bread, some coffee beans, sugar, soap, sometimes a handkerchief, a little medicine, &c. &c. under such circumstances it may easily be conceived that disputes continually happen. if a sheikh from the protecting tribes comes to the convent to demand coffee, sugar, or clothing, and is not well satisfied with what he receives, he immediately becomes the enemy of the monks, lays waste some of their gardens, and must at last be gained over by a present. the independent state of the bedouins of sinai had long prevented the monks from endeavouring to obtain protection from the government of egypt, whose power in the peninsula being trifling, they would only by complaining have exasperated the bedouins against them; their differences therefore had hitherto been accommodated by the mediation of other sheikhs. it was not till that they solicited the protection of mohammed ali; this will secure them for the present against their neighbours; but it will, probably, as i told the monks, be detrimental to them in the end. ten or twenty dollars were sufficient to pacify the fiercest bedouin, but a turkish governor will demand a thousand for any effectual protection. the arabs, when discontented, have sometimes seized a monk in the mountains and given him a severe beating, or have thrown stones or fired their musquets into the convent from the neighbouring heights; about twenty years ago a monk was killed by [p. ] them. the monks, in their turn, have fired occasionally upon the bedouins, for they have a well furnished armory, and two small cannon, but they take great care never to kill any one. and though they dislike such turbulent neighbours, and describe them to strangers as very devils, yet they have sense enough to perceive the advantages which they derive from the better traits in the bedouin character, such as their general good faith, and their placability. �if our convent,� as they have observed to me, �had been subject to the revolutions and oppressions of egypt or syria, it would long ago have been abandoned; but providence has preserved us by giving us bedouins for neighbours.� notwithstanding the greediness of the bedouins, i have reason to believe that the expenses of the convent are very moderate. each monk is supplied annually with two coarse woollen cloaks, and no splendour is any where displayed except in the furniture of the great church, and that of the archbishop�s room. the supplies are drawn from egypt; but the communication by caravans with cairo is far from being regular, and the ikonómos assured me that at the time i was there the house did not contain more than one month�s provision. the yearly consumption of corn is about one hundred and sixty erdebs, or two thousand five hundred bushels, which is sufficient to cover all the demands of the bedouins, and i believe that £ . sterling, or dollars, is the utmost of the annual expenditure. the convent at cairo expends perhaps two or three times that sum. the monks complain greatly of poverty; and the prior assured me that he sometimes has not a farthing left to pay for the corn that is brought to him, and is obliged to borrow money from the bedouins at high interest; but an appearance of poverty is one of their great protections; and considering [p. ] the possessions of this convent abroad, and the presents which it receives from pilgrims, i am much inclined to doubt the prior�s assertion. the bedouins who occupy the peninsula of mount sinai are: i. the szowaleha [arabic]. they are the principal tribe, and they boast of having been the first bedouins who settled in these mountains, under their founder ayd, two of whose sons, they say, emigrated with their families to the hedjaz. the szowaleha are divided into several branches: . the oulad said [arabic], whose sheikh is at present the second sheikh of the towara arabs. they are not so poor as the other tribes, and possess the best valleys of the mountains. . korashy [arabic], or koreysh, whose sheikh, szaleh ibn zoheyr, is at present the great sheikh of the towara, and transacts the public business with the government of egypt. the korashy are descendants of a few families of beni koreysh, who came here as fugitives from the hedjaz, and settled with the szowaleha, with whom they are now intimately intermixed. . owareme [arabic], a subdivision of whom are the beni mohsen [arabic]; in one of the families of which is the hereditary office of agyd, or the commander of the towara in their hostile expeditions. . rahamy [arabic]. the szowaleha inhabit principally the country to the west of the convent, and their date valleys are, for the greater part, situated on that side. these valleys are the exclusive property of individuals, but the other pasturing places of the tribe are common to all its branches, although the latter usually remain somewhat separated from each other. ii. aleygat [arabic]. they are much weaker in number than the szowaleha, and encamp usually with the mezeine, and with them form a counterbalance to the power of the szowaleha. a tribe of aleygat is found in nubia on the banks of the nile about twenty miles north of derr, where they occupy the district called wady bedouins of sina [p. ] el arab, of which seboua makes a part.[see journey towards dongola, p. .] the aleygat of sinai are acquainted with this settlement of their brethren, and relate that in the time of the mamelouks, one of them who had embarked with a beg at tor for cosseir travelled afterwards towards ibrim, and when he passed seboua was delighted there to find the people of his own tribe. they treated him well, and presented him with a camel and a slave. i am ignorant by what chance the aleygat settled in nubia. iii. el mezeine [arabic], who live principally to the eastward of the convent towards the gulf of akaba. iv. oulad soleiman [arabic], or beni selman [arabic], at present reduced to a few families only, who are settled at tor, and in the neighbouring villages. v. beni waszel [arabic], about fifteen families, who live with the mezeine, and are usually found in the neighbourhood of sherm. they are said to have come originally from barbary. some of their brethren are also settled in upper egypt. these five tribes are comprised under the appellation towara, or the bedouins of tor, and form a single body, whenever any foreign tribe of the northern bedouins attacks any one of them; but sometimes, though not often, they have bloody quarrels among themselves. their history, according to the reports of the best informed among them, founded upon tradition, is as follows: at the period of the mohammedan conquest, or soon after, the peninsula of mount sinai was inhabited exclusively by the tribe of oulad soleiman, or beni selman, together with the monks. the szowaleha, and aleygat, the latter originally from the eastern syrian desert, were then living on the borders of egypt, and in the sherkieh or eastern district of the delta, from whence they were [p. ] accustomed to make frequent inroads into this territory, in order to carry off the date-harvest, and other fruits.[some encampments of szowaleha are still found in the sherkieh.] whenever the inundation of the nile failed, they repaired in great numbers to these mountains, and pastured their herds in the fertile valleys, the vegetation of which is much more nutritious for camels and sheep than the luxuriant but insipid pastures on the banks of the nile. after long wars the szowaleha and aleygat succeeded in reducing the oulad soleiman; many of their families were exterminated, others fled, and their feeble remains now live near tor, where they still pride themselves upon having been the former lords of this peninsula. the szowaleha and aleygat, however, did not agree, and had frequent disputes among themselves. at that period there arrived at sherm four families of the mezeine, a very potent tribe in the hedjaz, east of medina, where they are still found in large numbers, forming part of the great tribe of beni harb. they were flying from the effects of blood-revenge, and wishing to settle here, they applied to the szowaleha, begging to be permitted to join them in their pastures. the szowaleha consented, on condition of their paying a yearly tribute in sheep, in the same manner as the despised tribe of heteym, on the opposite coast of the gulf of akaba, does to all the surrounding arabs. [arabic]. the high spirited mezeine however rejected the offer, as derogatory to their free born condition, and addressed themselves to the aleygat, who readily admitted them to their brotherhood and all their pastures. long and obstinate wars between the szowaleha and aleygat were the consequence of this compact. the two tribes fought, it is said, for forty years; and in the greatest and the last battle, which took place in wady barak, the mezeine decided the contest in favour of the aleygat. �so [p. ] great,� says the bedouin tradition, �was the number of the szowaleha killed in this engagement, that the nails of the slain were seen for many years after, the sport of the winds in the valleys around the field of battle.�[no nation equals the bedouins in numerical exaggeration. ask a bedouin who belongs to a tribe of three hundred tents, of the numbers of his brethren, and he will take a handful of sand, and cast it up in the air, or point to the stars, and tell you that they are as numberless. much cross-questioning is therefore necessary even to arrive at an approximation to the truth.] a compromise now took place, the szowaleha and aleygat divided the fertile valleys of the country equally, and the mezeine received one-third of their share from the latter. the sheikh of the szowaleha was, at the same time, acknowledged as sheikh of the whole peninsula. at present the mezeine are stronger than the aleygat, and both together are about equal in number to the szowaleha. besides the towara tribes, three others inhabit the northern parts of the peninsula; viz. the heywat [arabic], who live towards akaba; the tyaha [arabic], who extend from the chain of the mountain el tyh northwards towards ghaza and hebron; and the terabein [arabic], who occupy the north-west part of the peninsula, and extend from thence towards ghaza and hebron. these three tribes are together stronger than the towara, with whom they are sometimes at war, and being all derived from one common stock, the ancient tribe of beni attye, they are always firmly united during hostilities. they have no right to the pasturages south of djebel tyh, but are permitted to encamp sometimes in that direction, if pasture is abundant. the pastures in their own territory, along the whole of the northern parts of djebel tyh, are said to be excellent, and to extend from one side of the peninsula to the other. i believe that the population of the entire peninsula, south of a [p. ] line from akaba to suez, as far as cape abou mohammed, does not exceed four thousand souls. in years of dearth, even this small number is sometimes at a loss to find pasturage for their cattle. the towara are some of the poorest of the bedouin tribes, which is to be attributed principally to the scarcity of rain and the consequent want of pasturage. their herds are scanty, and they have few camels; neither of their two sheikhs, the richest individuals amongst them, possesses more than eight; few tents have more than two; it often happens that two or three persons are partners in one camel, and great numbers are without any. there are no horses even among the sheikhs, who constantly ride on camels; but asses are common. their means of subsistence are derived from their pastures, the transport trade between suez and cairo, the sale at the latter place of the charcoal which they burn in their mountains, of the gum arabic which they collect, and of their dates and other fruits. the produce of this trade is laid out by them at cairo in purchasing clothing and provisions, particularly corn, for the supply of their families; and if any thing remains in hand, they buy with it a few sheep and goats at tor or at sherm, to which latter place they are brought by the bedouins of the opposite coast of arabia. when egypt was under the unsettled government of the mamelouks the towara bedouins, who were then independent, were very formidable, and often at war with the begs, as well as with the surrounding tribes. at present they have lost much of the profits which they derived from their traffic with suez, and from the passage of caravans to cairo; they are kept in awe by mohammed ali, and have taken to more peaceful habits, which, however, they are quite ready to abandon, on the first appearance of any change in the government of egypt. even now, they pay no duty whatever to [p. ] the pasha, who, on the contrary, makes their chief some annual presents; but they are obliged to submit to the rate of carriage which the pasha chooses to fix for the transport of his goods. they live, of course, according to their means; the small sum of fifteen or twenty dollars pays the yearly expenses of many, perhaps of most of their families, and the daily and almost unvarying food of the greater part of them is bread, with a little butter or milk, for which salt alone is substituted when the dry season is set in, and their cattle no longer yield milk. the mezeine appeared to me much hardier than the other tribes, owing probably to their being exposed to greater privations in the more barren district which they inhabit. they hold more intercourse with the neighbouring bedouins to the north than the other towaras, and in their language and manners approach more to the great eastern tribes than to the other bedouins of the peninsula. all the tribes of the towara complain of the sterility of their wives;[they wish for children because their tribe is strengthened by it. but providence seems to have wisely proportioned the fertility of their women to the barrenness of the country.] and though the bedouin women in general are less fruitful than the stationary arabs, the towara are even below the other bedouins in this respect, three children being a large family among them. to the true bedouin tribes above enumerated are to be added the advenae called djebalye [arabic], or the mountaineers. i have stated that when justinian built the convent, he sent a party of slaves, originally from the shores of the black sea, as menial servants to the priests. these people came here with their wives, and were settled by the convent as guardians of the orchards and date plantations throughout the peninsula. subsequently, when the bedouins deprived the convent of many of its possessions, these slaves turned [p. ] moslems, and adopted the habits of bedouins. their descendants are the present djebalye, who unanimously confess their descent from the christian slaves, whence they are often called by the other bedouins �the children of christians.� they are not to be distinguished, however, in features or manners, from other bedouins, and they are now considered a branch of the towara, although the latter still maintain the distinction, never giving their daughters in marriage to the djebalye, nor taking any of theirs; thus the djebalye intermarry only among themselves, and form a separate commmunity of about one hundred and twenty armed men. they are a very robust and hardy race, and their girls have the reputation of superior beauty over all others of the peninsula, a circumstance which often gives rise to unhappy attachments, and romantic love-tales, when their lovers happen to belong to other tribes. the djebalye still remain the servants of the convent; parties of three attend in it by turns, and are the only bedouins who are permitted to enter within the walls; but they are never allowed to sleep in the house, and pass the night in the garden. they provide fire-wood, collect dried herbage for the mule which turns the mill, bring milk, eggs, &c. and receive all the offals of the kitchen. some of them encamp as bedouins in the mountains surrounding the peaks of moses and st. catherine, but the greater part are settled in the gardens belonging to the convent, in those mountains. they engage to deliver one-half the fruit to the convent, but as these gardens produce the finest fruit in the peninsula, they are so beset by bedouin guests at the time of gathering, that the convent�s share is usually consumed in hospitality. the djebalye have formed a strict alliance with the korashy, that branch of the szowaleha which has no claims of protectorship upon the convent, and by these means they have maintained from [p. ] ancient times, a certain balance of power against the other szowaleha. they have no right to transport pilgrims to the convent, and are, in general, considered as pseudo-arabs, although they have become bedouins in every respect. they are divided into several smaller tribes, some of whom have become settlers; thus the tebna are settled in the date valley of feiran, in gardens nominally the property of the convent: the bezya in the convent�s gardens at tor; and the sattla in other parts, forming a few families, whom the true bedouins stigmatize with the opprobrious name of fellahs, or peasants. the monks told me that in the last century there still remained several families of christian bedouins who had not embraced islamism; and that the last individual of this description, an old woman, died in , and was buried in the garden of the convent. in this garden is the burial-ground of the monks, and in several adjoining vaulted chambers their remains are collected after the bodies have lain two years in the coffins underground. high piles of hands, shin bones, and sculls are placed separately in the different corners of these chambers, which the monks are with difficulty persuaded to open to strangers. in a row of wooden chests are deposited the bones of the archbishops of the convent, which are regularly sent hither, wherever the archbishops may die. in another small chest are shewn the sculls and some of the bones of two �indian princes,� who are said to have been shipwrecked on the coast of tor, and having repaired to the convent, to have lived for many years as hermits in two small adjoining caves upon the mountain of moses. in order to remain inseparable in this world, they bound two of their legs together with an iron chain, part of which, with a small piece of a coat of mail, which they wore under their cloaks, is still preserved. no one could tell me their names, nor the period at which they resided here. at the djebel mousa [p. ] entrance of the charnel houses is the picture of the hoary st. onuphrius. he is said to have been an egyptian prince, and subsequently one of the first monks of djebel mousa, in which capacity he performed many miracles. after two days repose in the convent and its delightful garden, i set out for the holy places around it, a pilgrimage which i had deferred making immediately on my first arrival, which is the usual practice, that the arabs might not confound me with the common run of visitors, to whom they shew no great respect. the djebalye enjoy the exclusive right of being guides to the holy places; my suite therefore consisted of two of them loaded with provisions, together with my servant and a young greek. the latter had been a sailor in the red sea, and appeared to have turned monk chiefly for the sake of getting his fill of brandy from the convent�s cellar. may th.�we were in motion before sunrise for the djebel mousa or mountain of moses, the road to which begins to ascend immediately behind the walls of the convent. regular steps were formerly cut all the way up, but they are now either entirely destroyed, or so much damaged by the winter torrents as to be of very little use. after ascending for about twenty-five minutes, we breathed a short time under a large impending rock, close by which is a small well of water as cold as ice; at the end of three quarters of an hour�s steep ascent we came to a small plain, the entrance to which from below is through a stone gateway, which in former times was probably closed; a little beneath it stands, amidst the rocks, a small church dedicated to the virgin. on the plain is a larger building of rude construction, which bears the name of the convent of st. elias; it was lately inhabited, but is now abandoned, the monks repairing here only at certain times of the year to read mass. pilgrims usually halt on this spot, where a tall cypress tree grows by the side of a stone tank, which receives the winter rains. [p. ] on a large rock in the plain are several arabic inscriptions, engraved by pilgrims three or four hundred years ago; i saw one also in the syriac language. according to the koran and the moslem traditions, it was in this part of the mountain, which is called djebel oreb, or horeb, that moses communicated with the lord. from hence a still steeper ascent of half an hour, the steps of which are also in ruins, leads to the summit of djebel mousa, where stands the church which forms the principal object of the pilgrimage; it is built on the very peak of the mountain, the plane of which is at most sixty paces in circumference. the church, though strongly built with granite, is now greatly dilapidated by the unremitted attempts of the arabs to destroy it; the door, roof, and walls are greatly injured. szaleh, the present sheikh of the towara, with his tribe the korashy, was the principal instrument in the work of destruction, because, not being entitled to any tribute from the convent, they are particularly hostile to the monks. some ruins round the church indicate that a much larger and more solid building once stood here, and the rock appears to have been cut perpendicularly with great labour, to prevent any other approach to it than by the southern side. the view from this summit must be very grand, but a thick fog prevented me from seeing even the nearest mountains. about thirty paces from the church, on a somewhat lower peak, stands a poor mosque, without any ornaments, held in great veneration by the moslems, and the place of their pilgrimage. it is frequently visited by the bedouins, who slaughter sheep in honour of moses; and who make vows to him and intreat his intercession in heaven in their favour. there is a feast-day on which the bedouins come hither in a mass, and offer their sacrifices. i was told that formerly they never approached the place without being [p. ] dressed in the ihram, or sacred mantle, with which the moslems cover their naked bodies on visiting mekka, and which then consisted only of a napkin tied round the middle; but this custom has been abandoned for the last forty years. foreign moslem pilgrims often repair to the spot, and even mohammed ali pasha and his son tousoun pasha gave notice that they intended to visit it, but they did not keep their promise. close by the footpath, in the ascent from st. elias to this summit, and at a small distance from it, a place is shown in the rock, which somewhat resembles the print of the fore part of the foot; it is stated to have been made by mohammed�s foot when he visited the mountain. we found the adjacent part of the rock sprinkled with blood in consequence of an accident which happened a few days ago to a turkish lady of rank who was on her way from cairo to mekka, with her son, and who had resided for some weeks in the convent, during which she made the tour of the sacred places, bare footed, although she was old and decrepid. in attempting to kiss the mark of mohammed�s foot, she fell, and wounded her head; but not so severely as to prevent her from pursuing her pilgrimage. somewhat below the mosque is a fine reservoir cut very deep in the granite rock, for the reception of rain water. the arabs believe that the tables of the commandments are buried beneath the pavement of the church on djebel mousa, and they have made excavations on every side in the hope of finding them. they more particularly revere this spot from a belief that the rains which fall in the peninsula are under the immediate control of moses; and they are persuaded that the priests of the convent are in possession of the taourat, a book sent down to moses from heaven, upon the opening and shutting of which depend the rains of the peninsula. the reputation, which the monks have thus obtained of having the dispensation of the rains [p. ] in their hands has become very troublesome to them, but they have brought it on by their own measures for enhancing their credit with the bedouins. in times of dearth they were accustomed to proceed in a body to djebel mousa, to pray for rain, and they encouraged the belief that the rain was due to their intercessions. by a natural inference, the bedouins have concluded that if the monks could bring rain, they had it likewise in their power to withhold it, and the consequence is, that whenever a dearth happens they accuse the monks of malevolence, and often tumultuously assemble and compel them to repair to the mountain to pray. some years since, soon after an occurrence of this kind, it happened that a violent flood burst over the peninsula, and destroyed many date trees; a bedouin, whose camel and sheep had been swept away by the torrent, went in a fury to the convent, and fired his gun at it, and when asked the reason, exclaimed; �you have opened the book so much that we are all drowned!� he was pacified by presents; but on departing he begged that in future the monks would only half open the taourat, in order that the rains might be more moderate. the supposed influence of the monks is, however, sometimes attended with more fortunate results: the sheikh szaleh had never been father of a male child, and on being told that providence had thus punished him for his enmity to the convent, he two years ago brought a load of butter to the monks, and entreated them to go to the mountain and pray that his newly-married wife, who was then pregnant, might be delivered of a son. the monks complied, and szaleh soon after became the happy father of a fine boy; since that period he has been the friend of the convent, and has even partly repaired the church on djebel mousa. this summit was formerly inhabited by the monks, but, at present they visit it only in time of festivals. bir shonnar [p. ] we returned to the convent of st. elias, and then descended on the western side of the mountain for half an hour by another decayed flight of steps, into a valley where is a small convent called el erbayn, or the forty; it is in good repair, and is at present inhabited by a family of djebalye, who take care of the garden annexed to it, which affords a pleasing place of rest to those who descend from the barren mountains above. in its neighbourhood are extensive olive plantations, but i was told that for the last five summers the locusts had devoured both the fruit and foliage of these trees, upon which they alight in preference to all others. this insect is not less dreaded here than in arabia, syria, and egypt, but the bedouins of mount sinai, unlike those of arabia, instead of eating them, hold them in great abhorrence. we passed the mid-day hours at st. elias, and towards evening ascended the mountain opposite to that of mousa, which forms the western cliff of this narrow valley. after proceeding about an hour we stopped near a small well, where we found several huts of djebalye, and cleared a place among the rocks, where our party encamped for the night. the well is called bir shonnar [arabic], from the circumstance of a monk who was wandering in these mountains, and nearly dying of thirst, having miraculously discovered it by seeing the bird shonnar fly up from the spot; it is closely surrounded by rocks, and is not more than a foot in diameter and as much in depth. the bedouins say that it never dries up, and that its water, even when exposed to the sun, is as cold as ice. several trees grow near it, amongst others the zarour [arabic], now almost in full bloom. its fruit, of the size of a small cherry, with much of the flavour of a strawberry, is, i believe, not a native of egypt, but is very common in syria. i bought a lamb of the bedouins, which we roasted among the rocks, and although there were only two women and one girl present, and [p. ] the steep side of the mountain hardly permitted a person to stand up with firmness, and still less to wheel about, yet the greater part of the night was spent in the mesámer, or national song and dance, to which several other neighbouring djebalye were attracted. the air was delightfully cool and pure. while in the lower country, and particularly on the sea shore, i found the thermometer often at °� °, and once even at °; in the convent it never stood higher than °. the semoum wind never reaches these upper regions. in winter the whole of the upper sinai is deeply covered with snow, which chokes up many of the passes, and often renders the mountains of moses and st. catherine inaccessible. the climate is so different from that of egypt, that fruits are nearly two months later in ripening here than at cairo; apricots, which begin to be in season there in the last days of april, are not fit to eat in sinai till the middle of june. may st.�we left our resting-place before sign-rise, and climbed up a steep ascent, where there had formerly been steps, which are now entirely destroyed. this side of djebel katerin or mount st. catherine, is noted for its excellent pasturage; herbs sprout up every where between the rocks, and as many of them are odoriferous, the scent early in the morning, when the dew falls, is delicious. the zattar [arabic], ocimum zatarhendi, was particularly conspicuous, and is esteemed here the best possible food for sheep. in the month of june, when the herbs are in blossom, the monks are in the habit of repairing to this and the surrounding mountains, in order to collect various herbs, which they dry, and send to the convent at cairo, from whence they are dispatched to the archbishop of sinai at constantinople, who distributes them to his friends and dependents; they are supposed to possess many virtues conducive to health. a botanist would find a rich harvest here, and it is much to be regretted that two mountains so easy of access, [p. ] and so rich in vegetation, as sinai and libanus, should be still unexplored by men of science. the pretty red flower of the noman plant [arabic], euphorbia retusa of forskal, abounds in al[l] the valleys of sinai, and is seen also amongst the most barren granite rocks of the mountains. as we approached the summit of the mountain we saw at a distance a small flock of mountain goats feeding among the rocks. one of our arabs left us, and by a widely circuitous road endeavoured to get to leeward of them, and near enough to fire at them; he enjoined us to remain in sight of them, and to sit down in order not to alarm them. he had nearly reached a favourable spot behind a rock, when the goats suddenly took to flight. they could not have seen the arab, but the wind changed, and thus they smelt him. the chase of the beden, as the wild goat is called, resembles that of the chamois of the alps, and requires as much enterprise and patience. the arabs make long circuits to surprise them, and endeavour to come upon them early in the morning when they feed. the goats have a leader, who keeps watch, and on any suspicious smell, sound, or object, makes a noise which is a signal to the flock to make their escape. they have much decreased of late, if we may believe the arabs, who say that, fifty years ago, if a stranger came to a tent and the owner of it had no sheep to kill, he took his gun and went in search of a beden. they are however even now more common than in the alps, or in the mountains to the east of the red sea. i had three or four of them brought to me at the convent, which i bought at threefourths of a dollar each. the flesh is excellent, and has nearly the same flavour as that of the deer. the bedouins make waterbags of their skins, and rings of their horns, which they wear on their thumbs. when the beden is met with in the plains the [p. ] dogs of the hunters easily catch him;	but they cannot come up with him among the rocks, where he can make leaps of twenty feet. the stout bedouin youths are all hunters, and excellent marksmen; they hold it a great honour to bring game to their tents, in proof of their being hardy mountain runners, and good shots; and the epithet bowardy yknos es-szeyd [arabic], �a marksman who hunts the game,� is one of the most flattering that can be bestowed upon them. it appears, from an ancient picture preserved in the convent, which represents the arrival of an archbishop from egypt, as well as from one of the written documents in the archives, that in the sixteenth century all the arabs were armed with bows and arrows as well as with matchlocks; at present the former are no longer known, but almost every tent has its matchlock, which the men use with great address, notwithstanding its bad condition. i believe bows are no longer used as regular weapons by the bedouins in any part of arabia. after a very slow ascent of two hours we reached the top of mount st. catherine, which, like the mountain of moses, terminates in a sharp point; its highest part consists of a single immense block of granite, whose surface is so smooth, that it is very difficult to ascend it. luxuriant vegetation reaches up to this rock, and the side of the mountain presented a verdure which, had it been of turf instead of shrubs and herbs, would have completed the resemblance between this mountain and some of the alpine summits. there is nothing on the summit of the rock to attract attention, except a small church or chapel, hardly high enough within to allow a person to stand upright, and badly built of loose uncemented stones; the floor is the bare rock, in which, solid as it is, the body of st. catherine is believed to have been miraculously buried by angels, after her martyrdom at alexandria. i saw inscribed here [p. ] the names of several european travellers, and among others that of the unfortunate m. boutin, a french officer of engineers, who passed here in .[m. boutin came to egypt from zante; he first made a journey to the cataracts of assouan, and then went to bosseir, where he hired a ship for mokha, but on reaching yembo, tousoun pasha, the son of mohammed ali, would not permit him to proceed, he therefore returned to suez, after visiting the convent of sinai, and its neighbouring mountains. after his return to cairo, he went to siwah, to examine the remains of the temple of jupiter ammon, carrying with him a small boat built at cairo, for the purpose of exploring the lake and the island in it, mentioned by browne. he experienced great vexations from the inhabitants of siwah; and the boat was of no use to him, owing to the shallowness of the lake, so that after a residence of three days at the oasis, where he seems to have made no discoveries, he returned to cairo in the company of some augila merchants. on his way he passed the wood of petrified date trees discovered by horneman; his route, i believe, was to the south of that of horneman, and nearer the lesser oasis. i had the pleasure of seeing him upon his return from siwah, when i first arrived at cairo. he remained two years in egypt, and then continued his travels towards syria, where he met with his death in , in the mountainous district of the nosayris, west of hamah, having imprudently exposed himself with a great deal of baggage, in company only of his interpreter and servant, and without any native guide, to the robbers of that infamous tribe. he was a lover of truth, and a man of observation and enterprize; the public, therefore, and his own government, have to regret his death no less than his friends.] from this elevated peak a very extensive view opened before us, and the direction of the different surroundings chains of mountains could be distinctly traced. the upper nucleus of the sinai, composed almost entirely of granite, forms a rocky wilderness of all irregular circular shape, intersected by many narrow valleys, and from thirty to forty miles in diameter. it contains the highest mountains of the peninsula, whose shaggy and pointed peaks and steep and shattered sides, render it clearly distinguishable from all the rest of the country in view. it is upon this highest region of the peninsula that the fertile valleys are found, which produce fruit trees; they are principally to the west and south-west of the convent at three or four hours distant. [p. ] water too is always found in plenty in this district, on which account it is the place of refuge of all the bedouins when the low country is parched up. i think it very probable that this upper country or wilderness is, exclusively, the desert of sinai so often mentioned in the account of the wanderings of the israelites. mount st. catherine appears to stand nearly in the centre of it. to the northward of this central region, and divided from it by the broad valley called wady el sheikh, and by several minor wadys, begins a lower range of mountains, called zebeir, which extends eastwards, having at one extremity the two peaks called el djoze [arabic], above the plantations of wady feiran, and losing itself to the east in the more open country towards wady sal. beyond the zebeir northwards are sandy plains and valleys, which i crossed, towards the west, at raml el moral, and towards the east, about hadhra.this part i[s] the most barren and destitute of water of the whole country. at its eastern extremity it is called el birka [arabic]. it borders to the north on the chain of el tyh, which stretches in a regular line eastwards, parallel with the zebeir, beginning at sarbout el djeinel. on reaching, in its eastern course, the somewhat higher mountain called el odjme [arabic], it separates into two; one of its branches turns off in a right angle northward, and after continuing for about fifteen miles in that direction, again turns to the east, and extends parallel with the second and southern branch all across the peninsula, towards the eastern gulf. the northern branch, which is called el dhelel [arabic], bounds the view from mount st. catherine. on turning to the east, i found that the mountains in this direction, beyond the high district of sinai, run in a lower range towards the wady sal, and that the slope of the upper mountains is much less abrupt than on the opposite side. from sal, east and north-east, the chains intersect each other in many irregular masses [p. ] of inferior height, till they reach the gulf of akaba, which i clearly distinguished when the sun was just rising over the mountains of the arabian coast. excepting the short extent from noweyba to dahab, the mountains bordering on the gulf are all of secondary height, but they rise to a considerable elevation between those two points. the country between sherm, nabk, and the convent, is occupied also by mountains of minor size, and the valleys, generally, are so narrow, that few of them can be distinguished from the point where i stood, the whole country, in that direction, appearing an uninterrupted wilderness of barren mountains. the highest points on that side appear to be above wady kyd, above the valley of naszeb, and principally the peaks called om kheysyn [arabic] and masaoud [arabic]. the view to the south was bounded by the high mountain of om shomar [arabic], which forms a nucleus of itself, apparently unconnected with the upper sinai, although bordering close upon it. to the right of this mountain i could distinguish the sea, in the neighbourhood of tor, near which begins a low calcareous chain of mountains, called djebel hemam (i.e. death), not hamam (or bath), extending along the gulf of suez, and separated from the upper sinai by a broad gravelly plain called el kaa [arabic], across which the road from tor to suez passes. this plain terminates to the w.n.w. of mount st. catherine, and nearly in the direction of djebel serbal. towards the kaa, the central sinai mountains are very abrupt, and leave no secondary intermediate chain between them and the plain at their feet. the mountain of serbal, which i afterwards visited, is separated from the upper sinai by some valleys, especially wady hebran, and it forms, with several neighbouring mountains, a separate cluster terminating in peaks, the highest of which appears to be as high as mount st. catherine. it borders on the wady feiran and the chain of zebeir. [p. ] i took the following bearings, from the summit of mount st. catherine. these, together with those which i took from the peak of om shomar and from serbal, and the distances and direction of my different routes, will serve to construct a map of the peninsula more detailed and accurate than any that has yet been published. el djoze [arabic], a rock distinguished by two peaks above that part of wady feiran where the date groves are, n.w. b. n. sarbout el djemel [arabic], the beginning of djebel tyh, n.w. / n. el odjme, n. / e. el fereya, a high mountain of the upper sinai region, n.n.e. zelka is in the same direction of n.n.e. it is a well, about one day�s journey from the convent, on the upper route from the convent to akaba, which traverses the chain of tyh. the stations in that road, beyond zelka, are, ayn [arabic], hossey [arabic], and akaba. the bearing of ayn was pointed out to me n.e. b. n. the mountain over el hadhra, a well which i passed on my road to akaba, n.e. / e. senned, a secondary mountain between the upper sinai and hadhra, bordering upon wady sal; extends from e.n.e. to n.e. noweyba, e. we could not see the sea shore at noweyba, but the high mountains over it were very conspicuous. wady naszeb, on the northern road from sherm to the convent, extended in a direction s.e. to e.s.e. dahab, on the eastern gulf, e.s.e. djebel masaoud, a high mountain on the borders of the upper sinai, s.e. b. e. wady kyd, and the mountain over it, s.e. the island of tyran, s.s.e. / e. [p. ] om kheysyn [arabic], a high mountain between sherm and the sinai, s. / e. the direction of sherm was pointed out to me, a little to the eastward of south. djebel thomman [arabic], a high peak, belonging to the mountains of om shomar, a little distant from the sinai, s. the peak of om shomar, s.s.w. el koly [arabic], a high peak of the upper sinai, s.w. ½ s. at its foot passes the road from the convent to tor. the direction of tor was pointed out to me s.w. the rocks of the upper sinai, which constitute the borders of it in that direction, are called el sheydek [arabic]. el nedhadhyh [arabic], mountains likewise on the skirts of the upper sinai, w. / s. madsous [arabic], another peak of the upper sinai, w. / n. serbal, n.w. / w. the well el morkha, lying near the birket faraoun, in the common road from tor to suez, is in the same direction. om dhad [arabic], n.w. this is the head of a wady, called wady kebryt, on the outside of the sinai chain. of the upper sinai, the peaks of djebel mousa, of st. catherine, of om thoman, of koly, and of fereya are the highest. in making the preceding observations i was obliged to take out my compass and pencil, which greatly surprised the arabs, who, seeing me in an arab dress, and speaking their language, yet having the same pursuits as the frank travellers whom they had seen here, were quite at a loss what to make of me. the suspicion was immediately excited, that i had ascended this mountain to practise some enchantment, and it was much increased by my further proceedings. the bedouins supposed that i had come to carry off the rain, and my return to cairo was, in consequence, much less agreeable than my journey from thence; indeed i might have been subjected to el ledja [p. ] some unpleasant occurrences had not the faithful hamd been by my side, who in the route back was of more service to me than all the firmahns of the pasha could have been. we returned from mount st. catherine to the place where we had passed the night, and breakfasted with the djebalye, for which payment was asked, and readily given. the conveying of pilgrims is one of the few modes of subsistence which these poor people possess, and at a place where strangers are continually passing, gratuitous hospitality is not to be expected from them, though they might be ready to afford it to the helpless traveller. the two days excursion to the holy places cost me about forty piastres, or five dollars. before mid-day we had again reached the convent el erbayn, in the garden of which i passed a most agreeable afternoon. the verdure was so brilliant and the blossoms of the orange trees diffused so fine a perfume that i was transported in imagination from the barren cliffs of the wilderness to the luxurious groves of antioch. it is surprising that the europeans resident at cairo do not prefer spending the season of the plague in these pleasant gardens, and this delightful climate, to remaining close prisoners in the infected city. we returned in the evening to the convent, by following to the northward the valley in which the erbayn stands. this valley is very narrow, and extremely stony, many large blocks having rolled from the mountains into it; it is called el ledja [arabic], a name given to a similar rocky district, described by me, in the haouran. at twenty minutes walk from the erbayn we passed a block of granite, said to be the rock out of which the water issued when struck by the rod of moses. it lies quite insulated by the side of the path, which is about ten feet higher than the lowest bottom of the valley. the rock is about twelve feet in height, of an irregular shape approaching to a cube. there are some apertures upon its surface, through which the water is said to have burst out; they are [p. ] about twenty in number, and lie nearly in a straight line round the three sides of the stone. they are for the most part ten or twelve inches long, two or three inches broad, and from one to two inches deep, but a few of them are as deep as four inches. every observer must be convinced, on the slightest examination, that most of these fissures are the work of art, but three or four perhaps are natural, and these may have first drawn the attention of the monks to the stone, and have induced them to call it the rock of the miraculous supply of water. besides the marks of art evident in the holes themselves, the spaces between them have been chiselled, so as to make it appear as if the stone had been worn in those parts by the action of the water; though it cannot be doubted, that if water had flowed from the fissures it must generally have taken quite a different direction. one traveller saw on this stone twelve openings, answering to the number of the tribes of israel; [breydenbach.] another [sicard, mémoires des missions.] describes the holes as a foot deep. they were probably told so by the monks, and believed what they heard rather than what they saw. about one hundred and fifty paces farther on in the valley lies another piece of rock, upon which it seems that the work of deception was first begun, there being four or five apertures cut in it, similar to those on the other block, but in a less finished state; as it is somewhat smaller than the former, and lies in a less conspicuous part of the valley, removed from the public path, the monks probably thought proper in process of time to assign the miracle to the other. as the rock of moses has been described by travellers of the fifteenth century, the deception must have originated among the monks of an earlier period. as to the present inhabitants of the convent and of the peninsula, they must be acquitted of any fraud respecting it, for they conscientiously believe that it is the very rock from whence the water gushed forth. in this part of [p. ] the peninsula the israelites could not have suffered from thirst: the upper sinai is full of wells and springs, the greater part of which are perennial; and on whichever side the pretended rock of moses is approached, copious sources are found within a quarter of an hour of it. the rock is greatly venerated by the bedouins, who put grass into the fissures, as offerings to the memory of moses, in the same manner as they place grass upon the tombs of their saints, because grass is to them the most precious gift of nature, and that upon which their existence chiefly depends. they also bring hither their female camels, for they believe that by making the animal couch down before the rock, while they recite some prayers, and by putting fresh grass into the fissures of the stone, the camels will become fertile, and yield an abundance of milk. the superstition is encouraged by the monks, who rejoice to see the infidel bedouins venerating the same object with themselves. those who should attempt to weaken the faith of the monks and their visitors respecting this rock, would be now almost as blameable as the original authors of the imposture; for, such is the ignorance of the oriental christians, and the impossibility of their obtaining any salutary instruction under the turkish government, that were their faith in such miracles completely shaken, their religion would soon be entirely overthrown, and they would be left to wander in all the darkness of atheism. it is curious to observe the blindness with which christians as well as turks believe in the pretended miracles of those who are interested in deceiving them. there is hardly a town in syria or egypt, where the moslems have not a living saint, who works wonders, which the whole population is ready to attest as eye-witnesses. when i was at damascus in , some christians returned thither from jerusalem, where they had been to celebrate easter. some striking miracles said to have been performed by the pope during his imprisonment at savona, and which had been industriously propagated by the [p. ] latin priests in syria, seem to have suggested to them the design of imitating his holiness: the returning pilgrims unanimously declared, that when the spanish priest of the convent of the holy sepulchre read the mass on easter sunday or monday, upon the mount of olives, the whole assembled congregation saw him rise, while behind the altar, two or three feet in the air, and support himself in that position for several minutes, in giving the people his blessing. if any christian of damascus had expressed his doubts of the truth of this story, the monks of the convent there would have branded him with the epithet of framasoun (freemason), which among the syrian christians is synonymous with atheist, and he would for ever have lost his character among his brethren. a little farther down than the rock above described is shewn the seat of moses, where it is said that he often sat; it is a small and apparently natural excavation in a granite rock, resembling a chair. near this is the �petrified pot or kettle of moses� [arabic], a name given to a circular projecting knob in a rock, similar in size and shape to the lid of a kettle. the arabs have in vain endeavoured to break this rock, which they suppose to contain great treasures. as we proceeded from the rock of the miraculous supply of water along the valley el ledja, i saw upon several blocks of granite, whose smooth sides were turned towards the path, inscriptions similar to those at naszeb; the following were the most legible: . upon a small block: [not included] . [not included] [p. ] . [not included] there are many effaced lines on this block. . upon a rock near the stone of moses: [not included] . upon a block close to the above: [not included] . [not included] . upon the rock called the pot: [not included] . upon a large insulated block of granite: [not included] el bostan [p. ] it is to be observed, that none of these inscriptions are found higher up the valley than the water rock, being all upon blocks on the way from thence to the convent, which seems to be a strong proof, that they were inscribed by those persons only who came from the convent or from cairo, to visit the rock, and not by pilgrims in their way to the mountain of moses or of st. catherine, who would undoubtedly have left some record farther up the valley, and more particularly upon the sides and summits of the mountains themselves: but i could there find no inscriptions whatever, although i examined the ground closely, and saw many smooth blocks by the road, very suitable to such inscriptions. at forty minutes walk from erbayn, where the valley el ledja opens into the broad valley which leads eastwards to the convent, is a fine garden, with the ruins of a small convent, called el bostan; water is conducted into it by a small channel from a spring in the ledja. it was full of apricot trees, and roses in full blossom. a few djebalye live here and take care of the garden. from hence to the convent is half an hour; in the way is shewn the head of the golden calf, which the israelites worshipped, transmuted into stone. it is somewhat singular that both the monks and the bedouins call it the cow�s head (ras el bakar), and not the calf�s, confounding it, perhaps, with the �red heifer,� of which the old testament and the koran speak. it is a stone half-buried in the ground, and bears some resemblance to the forehead of a cow. some travellers have explained this stone to be the mould in which aaron cast the calf, though it is not hollow but projecting; the arabs and monks however gravely assured me that it was the �cow�s� head itself. beyond this object, towards the convent, a hill is pointed out to the left, called djebel haroun, because it is believed to be the spot where aaron assembled the seventy elders of israel. both this and the cow�s head have evidently received these denominations from convent of mount sinai [p. ] the monks and bedouins, in order that they may multiply the objects of veneration and curiosity within the pilgrim�s tour round the convent. on my return to the convent i could not help expressing to several of the monks my surprise at the metamorphosis of a calf into a cow, and of an idol of gold into stone; but i found that they were too little read in the books of moses to understand even this simple question, and i therefore did not press the subject. i believe there is not a single individual amongst them, who has read the whole of the old testament; nor do i think that among eastern christians in general there is one in a thousand, of those who can read, that has ever taken that trouble. they content themselves, in general, with their prayer-books, liturgies, and histories of saints; few of them read the gospels, though more do so in syria than in egypt; the reading of the whole of the scripture is discountenanced by the clergy; the wealthy seldom have the inclination to prosecute the study of the holy writings, and no others are able to procure a manuscript copy of the bible, or one printed in the two establishments in mount libanus. the well meant endeavours of the bible society in england to supply them with printed copies of the scriptures in arabic, if not better directed than they have hitherto been, will produce very little effect in these countries. the cost of such a copy, trifling as it may seem in england, is a matter of importance to the poor christians of the east; the society has, besides, chosen a version which is not current in the east, where the roman translation alone is acknowledged by the clergy, who easily make their flocks believe that the scriptures have been interpolated by the protestants. it would, perhaps, have been better if the society, in the beginning at least, had furnished the eastern christians with cheap copies of the gospels and psalms only, which being the books chiefly in use among them in manuscript, [p. ] would have been not only useful to them, but more approved of by the directors of their consciences, than the entire scripture. upon mohammedans, it is vain to expect that the reading of the present arabic version of the bible should make the slightest impression. if any of them were brought to conquer their inherent aversion to the book, they could not read a page in it without being tired and disgusted with its style. in the koran they possess the purest and most elegant composition in their language, the rhythmical prose of which, exclusive of the sacred light in which they hold it, is alone sufficient to make a strong impression upon them. the arabic of the greater part of the bible, on the contrary, and especially that of the gospels, is in the very worst style; the books of moses and the psalms are somewhat better. grammatical rules, it is true, are observed, and chosen terms are sometimes employed; but the phraseology and whole construction is generally contrary to the spirit of the language, and so uncouth, harsh, affected, and full of foreign idioms, that no musselman scholar would be tempted to prosecute the study of it, and a few only would thoroughly understand it. in style and phraseology it differs from the koran more than the monkish latin from the orations of cicero. i will not take upon me to declare how far the roman and the society�s arabic translation of the old testament are defective, being unable to read the original hebrew text; but i can affirm that they both disagree, in many instances, from the english translation. the christians of the east, who will seldom read any book written by a moslem, and to whom an accurate knowledge of arabic and of the best writers in that language are consequently unknown, are perfectly satisfied with the style of the roman version which is in use among them; it is for the sake of perusing it that they undertake a grammatical study of the arabic language, and their priests and [p. ] learned men usually make it the model of their own style; they would be unwilling therefore to admit any other translation; and there is not, at present, either in syria or in egypt any christian priest so bold and so learned as bishop germanus ferhat of aleppo, who openly expressed his dislike of this translation, and had declared his intention of altering it himself, for which, and other reasons, he was branded with the epithet of heretic. for arab christians, therefore, the roman translation will not easily be superseded, and if mussulmans are to be tempted to study the scriptures, they must be clothed in more agreeable language, than that which has lately been presented to them, for they are the last people upon whom precepts conveyed in rude language will have any effect. in the present state of western asia, however, the conversion of mohammedans is very difficult; i have heard only of one instance during the last century, and the convert was immediately shipped off to europe. on the other hand, should an european power ever obtain a firm footing in egypt, it is probable that many years would not elapse before thousands of moslems would profess christianity; not from the dictates of their conscience or judgment, but from views of worldly interest. i was cordially greeted on my return to the convent, by the monks and the fatherly ikonómos, one of the best-natured churchmen i have met with in the east. the safe return of pilgrims from the holy mountains is always a subject of gratulation, so great is their dread of the arabs. i rested the following day in the convent, where several greeks from tor and suez had arrived; being friends of the monks, they were invited in the evening to the private apartments of the latter, where they were plied so bountifully with brandy that they all retired tipsy to bed. several bedouins had acquainted me that a thundering noise, wady owasz [p. ] like repeated discharges of heavy artillery, is heard at times in these mountains; and they all affirmed that it came from om shomar. the monks corroborated the story, and even positively asserted that they had heard the sound about mid-day, five years ago, describing it in the same manner as the bedouins. the same noise had been heard in more remote times, and the ikonómos, who has lived here forty years, told me that he remembered to have heard the noise at four or five separate periods. i enquired whether any shock of an earthquake had ever been felt on such occasions, but was answered in the negative. wishing to ascertain the truth, i prepared to visit the mountain of om shomar. as i had lost much of the confidence of the bedouins by writing upon the mountains, and could not intimidate them by shewing a passport from the pasha, i kept my intended journey secret, and concerting matters with hamd and two djebalye, i was let down from the window of the convent a little before midnight on the rd of may, and found my guides well armed and in readiness below. we proceeded by wady sebaye, the same road i had come from sherm. in this wady, tradition says, the israelites gained the victory over the amalekites, which was obtained by the holding up of the hands of moses (ex. xvii. .), but this battle was fought in raphidim, where the water gushed out from the rock, a situation which appears to have been to the westward of the convent, on the approach from the gulf of suez. i was much disappointed at being able to trace so very few of the ancient hebrew names of the old testament in the modern names of the peninsula; but it is evident that, with the exception of sinai and a few others, they are all of arabic derivation. on a descent from the summit of wady sebaye, at an hour and a half from the convent, we turned to the right from the road to sherm, and entered wady owasz [arabic], in a direction wady rahaba [p. ] s. b. w. i found here a small chain of white and red sand-stone hills in the midst of granite. the morning was so very cold that we were obliged to stop and light a fire, round which we sat till sunrise; my feet and hands were absolutely benumbed, for neither gloves or stockings are in fashion among bedouins. we continued in the valley, crossing several hills, till at four hours and a half we reached wady rahaba [arabic], in the lower parts of which we had passed a very rainy night on the th. rahaba is one of the principal valleys on this side of the peninsula; it is broad, and affords good pasturage. we halted under a granite rock in the middle of it, close by about a dozen small buildings, which are called by the bedouins makhsen (magazines), and which serve them as a place of deposit for their provision, clothes, money, &c. as bedouins are continually moving about, they find it inconvenient to carry with them what they do not constantly want; they therefore leave whatever they have not immediate need of in these magazines, to which they repair as occasion requires. almost every bedouin in easy circumstances has one of them; i have met with them in several parts of the mountains, always in clusters of ten or twenty together. they are at most ten feet high, generally about ten or twelve feet square, constructed with loose stones, covered with the trunks of date trees, and closed with a wooden door and lock. these buildings are altogether so slight, and the doors so insecure, that a stone would be sufficient to break them open; no watchmen are left to guard them, and they are in such solitary spots that they might easily be plundered in the night, without the thief being ever discovered. but such is the good faith of the towara towards each other, that robberies of this kind are almost unheard of; and their sheikh szaleh, whose magazine is well known to contain fine dresses, shawls, and dollars, considers his property as safe there as it would be in the best om shomar [p. ] secured building in a large town. the towara are well entitled to pride themselves on this trait in their character; for i found nothing similar to it among other bedouins. the only instance upon record of a magazine having been plundered among them, is that mentioned in page , for which the robber�s own father inflicted the punishment of death. we continued our route in a side branch of the rababa, till at the end of five hours and a half, we ascended a mountain, and then descended into a narrow valley, or rather cleft, between the rocks, called bereika [arabic]. the camel which i rode not being able to proceed farther on account of the rocky road, i left it here in charge of one of the djebalye. this part of sinai was completely parched up, no rain having fallen in it during the last winter. w.s.w. from hence, on entering a narrow pass called wady zereigye [arabic], we found the ground moist, there being a small well, but almost dried up; it would have cost us some time to dig it up to obtain water, which no longer rose above the surface, though it still maintained some verdure around it. this defile was thickly overgrown with fennel, three or four feet high; the bedouins eat the stalks raw, and pretend that it cools the blood. farther down we came to two copious springs, most picturesquely situated among the rocks, being overshaded by large wild fig-trees, a great number of which grow in other parts of this district. we descended the zereigye by windings, and at the end of eight hours reached its lowest extremity, where it joins a narrow valley extending along the foot of om shomar, the almost perpendicular cliffs of which now stood before us. the country around is the wildest i had yet seen in these mountains; the devastations of torrents are every where visible, the sides of the mountains being rent by them in numberless directions; the surface of the sharp rocks is blackened by the sun; all vegetation is dry and withered; and the whole [p. ] scene presents nothing but utter desolation and hopeless barrenness. we ascended s.e. in the valley of shomar, winding round the foot of the mountain for about an hour, till we reached the well of romhan [arabic], at nine hours from the convent, where we rested. this is a fine spring; high grass grows in the narrow pass near it, with several date-trees and a gigantic fig-tree. just above the well, on the side of the mountain, are the ruins of a convent, called deir antous; it was inhabited in the beginning of the last century, and according to the monks, it was the last convent abandoned by them. i found it mentioned in records of the fifteenth century in the convent; it was then one of the principal settlements, and caravans of asses laden with corn and other provisions passed by this place regularly from the convent to tor, for this is the nearest road to that harbour, though it is more difficult than the more western route, which is now usually followed. the convent consisted of a small solid building, constructed with blocks of granite. i was told that date plantations are found higher up in the valley of romhan, and that the monks formerly had their gardens there, of which some of the fruit trees still remain. may th.�early this morning i took hamd with me to climb the om shomar, while the other man went with his gun in pursuit of some mountain-goats which he had seen yesterday at sunset upon the summit of a neighbouring mountain; he was accompanied by another djebalye, whom we had met by chance. i had promised them a good reward if they should kill a goat, for i did not wish to have them near me, when examining the rocks upon the mountain. it took me an hour and a half to reach the top of shomar, and i employed three hours in visiting separately all the surrounding heights, but i could no where find the slightest traces of a volcano, or of any volcanic productions, which i have not observed in any part of [p. ] the upper sinai. om shomar consists of granite, the lower stratum is red, that at the top is almost white, so as to appear from a distance like chalk; this arises from the large proportion of white feldspath in it, and the smallness of the particles of hornblende and mica. in the middle of the mountain, between the granite rocks, i found broad strata of brittle black slate, mixed with layers of quartz and feldspath, and with micaceous schistus. the quartz includes thin strata of mica of the most brilliant white colour, which is quite dazzling in the sun, and forms a striking contrast with the blackened surface of the slate and red granite. the mountain of om shomar rises to a sharp-pointed peak, the highest summit of which, it is, i believe, impossible to reach; the sides being almost perpendicular, and the rock so smooth, as to afford no hold to the foot. i halted at about two hundred feet below it, where a beautiful view opened upon the sea of suez, and the neighbourhood of tor, which place was distinctly visible; at our feet extended the wide plain el kaa. the southern side of this mountain is very abrupt, and there is no secondary chain, like those on the descent from sinai to the sea, in every other direction. i have already mentioned the low chain called hemam, which separates the kaa from the gulf of suez. in this chain, about five hours from tor, northward, is the djebel nakous, or mountain of the bell. on its side next the sea a mass of very fine sand, which has collected there, rushes down at times, and occasions a hollow sound, of which the bedouins relate many stories; they compare it to the ringing of bells, and a fable is repeated among them, that the bells belong to a convent buried under the sands. the wind and weather are not believed to have any effect upon the sound. bearings from om shomar. tor, w. .s. the usual road to tor from the upper sinai lies through the valley of el ghor [arabic], not far distant to the n.w. wady rahaba [p. ] of shomar; to the south of el ghor extends the chain of djed el aali [arabic]; and another valley called el shedek [arabic], entered from the ghor, leads towards the lower plain djebel serbal, n. / w. the djoze, over feiran, n. / w. om dhad, n.n.w. fera soweyd [arabic], a high mountain between om shomar and mount st. catherine, n. b. e. it forms one range with the peak of koly, which branches of from hence, n.e. b. n. mountain of masaoud, e. mountain over wady kyd, e. / s. we took a breakfast after our return to romhan, and then descended by the same way we had come. in re-ascending wady zereigye we heard the report of a gun, and were soon after gratified by seeing our huntsman arrive at the place where we had left our camel, with a fine mountain goat. immediately on killing it he had skinned it, taken out the entrails, and then put the carcase again into the skin, carrying it on his back, with the skin of the legs tied across his breast. no butcher in europe can surpass a bedouin in skinning an animal quickly; i have seen them strip a camel in less than a quarter of an hour; the entrails are very seldom thrown away; if water is at hand, they are washed, if not, they are roasted over the fire without washing; the liver and lungs of all animals are usually eaten raw, and many of the hungry bystanders are seen swallowing raw pieces of flesh. after a hearty dinner we descended, by a different path from that we had ascended, into the upper part of wady rahaba, in which we continued n.e. b. e. for two or three hours, when we halted at a well called merdoud [arabic], at a little distance from several plantations of fruittrees. my departure from the convent had roused the suspicions of the bedouins; they had learnt that i was going to om shomar, and wady owasz [p. ] two of them set out this morning by different routes, in order to intercept my return, intending no doubt to excite a quarrel with me respecting my visits to their mountains, in the hope of extorting money from me. we met one of them at this well, and he talked as loud and was as boisterous as if i had killed some of his kindred, or robbed his tent. after allowing him to vent his rage for half an hour, i began to speak to him in a very lofty tone, of my own importance at cairo, and of my friendship with the pasha; concluding by telling him, that the next time he went to cairo i would have his camel seized by the soldiers. when he found that he could not intimidate me, he accepted of my invitation to be our guest for the night, and went in search of a neighbouring friend of his, who brought us an earthen pot, in which we cooked the goat. may th.�at one hour below merdoud we again fell in with wady owasz, and returned by the former road to the convent. the monks were in the greatest anxiety about me, for the bedouins who had gone in search of me, had sworn that they would shoot me; and had even refused a small present offered to them by the ikonómos to pacify them, expecting, no doubt, to obtain much more from myself; but they now returned, and obliged him to give them what he had offered them, pretending that it was for his sake only that they had spared my life; nor would the monks believe me when i assured them that i had been in no danger on this occasion. i passed the following four days in the convent, and in several gardens and settlements of djebalye at a little distance from it. i took this opportunity to look over some of the records of the convent which are written in arabic, and i extracted several interesting documents relative to the state of the bedouins in former times, and their affrays with the monks. in one, of the last century, is a convent of mount sinai [p. ] list of the ghafeyrs of the convent, not belonging to the towara. these are, el rebabein [arabic], a small tribe belonging to the great djeheyne tribe of the hedjaz; a few families of the rebabein have settled at moeleh on the arabian coast, and in the small villages in the vicinity of tor. they serve as pilots in that part of the red sea, and protect the convent�s property about tor. el heywat [arabic], el syayhe [arabic], are small tribes living east of akaba, among the dwelling-places of the omran. el reteymat [arabic], a tribe about ghaza and hebron. el omarein, or omran. el hokouk [arabic], the principal tribe of he tyaha. el mesayd [arabic], a small tribe of the sherkieh province of egypt. el alowein, a strong tribe north of akaba. el sowareka [arabic], in the desert between sinai and ghaza. el terabein. el howeytat. oulad el fokora [arabic], the principal branch of the tribe of wahydat near ghaza. individuals of all these tribes are entitled to small yearly stipends and some clothing, and are bound to recover the property of the monks, when seized by any persons of their respective tribes. in one of the manuscripts i found the name of a ghafeyr called shamoul (samuel), a hebrew name i had never before met with among arabs. on the th, i was visited by hassan ibn amer [arabic], the sheikh of the oulad said, who is also one of the two principal sheiks of the towara, and in whose tent i had slept one night in my way to the convent. he begged me to lend him twenty dollars, which he promised to repay me at cairo, as he wished to buy some sheep to be killed on the following day in honour of the saint sheikh szaleh. i told him that i never lent money to any body, but would willingly have made him a present of the sum if i had possessed it. he then said in many words, that if it had not been for his interference, the bedouins would have waylaid and [p. ] killed me in returning from djebel katerin. i told him that he and his tribe would have been responsible to the pasha of egypt for such an act; and in short that i never paid any tribute in the pasha�s dominions. it ended by my giving him a few pounds of coffeebeans, wrapped up in a good handkerchief, a few squares of soap, and a loaf of sugar, to present to his women, and thus we parted good friends. in the evening his brother came and also received a few trifles. he had brought a fat sheep to kill in honour of el khoudher (st. george), a saint of the first class among bedouins, and to whose intercession he thought himself indebted for the recovery of the health of his young wife. in the convent, adjoining to the outer wall, is a chapel dedicated to st. george; the bedouins, who are not permitted to enter the convent, address their vows and prayers to him on the outside, just below the chapel. i was invited to partake of the repast prepared by the brother of sheikh hassan, and much against the advice of the monks, i let myself down the rope from the window, and sat below for several hours with the arabs. i was invited also to the great feast of sheikh szaleh, in wady szaleh, which was to take place on the morrow, but as i knew that szaleh, the great chief of the towara, was to be there, and would no doubt press me hardly by his inquiries why i had come without the pasha�s firmahn; and as the arabs were greatly exasperated against me for my late excursion to om shomar in addition to other causes of displeasure, i thought it very probable that i might be insulted amongst them, and i therefore determined to seize the opportunity of this general assembly in wady szaleh to begin my journey to cairo; by so doing, i should also escape the disagreeable necessity of having bedouin guides forced upon me. i engaged hamd and his brother with two camels, and left the convent before dawn on the th, after having taken a farewell nakb el raha [p. ] of the monks, and especially of the worthy ikonómos, who presented me at parting with a leopard�s skin, which he had lately bought of the bedouins; together with several fine specimens of rock crystals, and a few small pieces of native cinnabar [arabic]. the crystals are collected by the arabs in one of the mountains not far distant from the convent, but in which of them i did not learn; i have seen some six inches in length, and one and a half in breadth; the greater part are of a smoky colour, with pyramidal tops. the cinnabar is said, by the bedouins, to be found in great quantities upon djebel sheyger [arabic], a few hours to the n.e. of wady osh, the valley in which i slept, at an arab encampment, two nights before i arrived at the convent from suez. may th.�we issued from the narrow valley in which the convent stands, into a broader one, or rather a plain, called el raha, leaving on our right the road by which i first reached the convent. we continued in el raha n.n.w. for an hour and an half, when we came to an ascent called nakb el raha [arabic], the top of which we reached in two hours from the convent. i had chosen this route, which is the most southern from the convent to suez, in order to see wady feiran, and to ascend from thence the mountain serbal, which, with mount saint catherine and shomar, is the highest peak in the peninsula. i had mentioned my intention to hamd, who it appears communicated it this morning to his brother, for the latter left us abruptly at nakb el raha, saying that he had forgot his gun, giving his camel in charge to hamd, and promising to join us lower down, as his tent was not far distant. instead, however, of going home, he ran straight to the arabs assembled at sheikh szaleh, and acquainted them with my designs. their chiefs immediately dispatched a messenger to feiran to enjoin the people there to prevent me from ascending serbal; but, wady solaf [p. ] fortunately, i was already on my way to the mountain when the messenger reached feiran, and on my return i had only to encounter the clamorous and now fruitless expostulations of the arabs at that place. we began to descend from the top of nakb el raha, by a narrow chasm, the bed of a winter torrent; direction n.w. by n. at the end of two hours and a quarter we halted near a spring called kanaytar [arabic]. upon several blocks near it i saw inscriptions in the same character as those which i had before seen, but they were so much effaced as to be no longer legible. i believe it was in these parts that niebuhr copied the inscriptions given in plate of his voyage. from the spring the descent was steep; in many parts i found the road paved, which must have been a work of considerable labour, and i was told that it had been done in former times at the expense of the convent. this road is the only one passable for camels, with the exception of the defile in which is the seat of moses, in the way from the upper sinai towards suez. at three hours and three quarters from the convent we reached the foot of this mountain, which is bordered by a broad, gravelly valley. this is the boundary of the upper mountains of sinai on this side; they extended in an almost perpendicular range on our right towards wady szaleh, and on our left in the direction w.n.w. we now entered wady solaf [arabic], �the valley of wine,� coming from the n. or n.e. which here separates the upper sinai range from the lower. at five hours we passed, to our right, a wady coming from the north, called abou taleb [arabic], at the upper extremity of which is the tomb of the saint abou taleb, which the bedouins often visit, and where there is an annual festival, like that of sheikh szaleh, but less numerously attended. our road continued through slightly descending, sandy valleys; at the end of five hours and a quarter, after having [p. ] passed several encampments without stopping, we turned n. by w. where a lateral valley branches off towards the sea shore, and communicates with the valley of hebran, which divides the upper sinai from the serbal chain. wady hebran contains considerable date- plantations and gardens, and this valley and wady feiran are the most abundant in water of all the wadys of the lower country. a route from the convent to tor passes through wady hebran, which is longer than the usual one, but easier for beasts of burthen. at six hours and three quarters we halted in wady solaf, as i found myself somewhat feverish, and in want of repose. we saw great numbers of red-legged partridges this day; they run with astonishing celerity along the rocky sides of the mountains, and as the bedouins do not like to expend a cartridge upon so small a bird, they are very bold. when we lighted our fire in the evening, i was startled by the cries of hamd �to take care of the venemous animal!� i then saw him kill a reptile like a spider, to which the bedouins give the name of abou hanakein [arabic], or the two-mouthed; hanak meaning, in their dialect, mouth. it was about four inches and a half in length, of which the body was three inches; it has five long legs on both sides, covered, like the body, with setae of a light yellow colour; the head is long and pointed, with large black eyes; the mouth is armed with two pairs of fangs one above the other, recurved, and extremely sharp. hamd told me that it never makes its appearance but at night, and is principally attracted by fire; indeed i saw three others during this journey, and always near the evening fire. the bedouins entertain the greatest dread of them; they say that their bite, if not always mortal, produces a great swelling, almost instant vomiting, and the most excruciating pains. i believe this to be the galeode phalangiste, wady rymm [p. ] at least it exactly resembles the drawing of that animal, given by olivier in his travels, pl. - . may st.�a good night�s rest completely removed my feverish symptoms. fatigue and a check of perspiration often produce slight fevers in the desert, which i generally cured by lying down near the fire, and drawing my mantle over my head, as the bedouins always do at night. the bedouins, before they go to rest, usually undress themselves entirely, and lie down quite naked upon a sheep�s skin, which they carry for the purpose; they then cover themselves with every garment which they happen to have with them. even in the hottest season they always cover the head and face when sleeping, not only at night but also during the mid-day hours. we continued in wady solaf, which was entirely parched up, for an hour and three quarters, and passed to the left a narrower valley called wady keyfa [arabic], coming from the serbal mountains. at two hours we passed wady rymm [arabic], which also comes from the same chain, and joins the solaf; from thence we issued, at three hours, into the wady el sheik, the great valley of the western sinai, which collects the torrents of a great number of smaller wadys. there is not the smallest opening into these mountains, nor the slightest projection from them, that has not its name; but these names are known only to the bedouins who are in the habit of encamping in the neighbourhood, while the more distant bedouins are acquainted only with the names of the principal mountains and valleys. i have already mentioned several times the wady el sheikh; i found it here of the same noble breadth as it is above, and in many parts it was thickly overgrown with the tamarisk or tarfa; it is the only valley in the peninsula where this tree grows, at present, in any great quantity, though small bushes of it are here and there met with in other parts. it is from the tarfa that the manna is obtained, and it is very strange that the fact should have remained unknown wady el sheikh [p. ] in europe, till m. seetzen mentioned it in a brief notice of his tour to sinai, published in the mines de l�orient. this substance is called by the bedouins, mann [arabic], and accurately resembles the description of manna given in the scriptures. in the month of june it drops from the thorns of the tamarisk upon the fallen twigs, leaves, and thorns which always cover the ground beneath that tree in the natural state; the manna is collected before sunrise, when it is coagulated, but it dissolves as soon as the sun shines upon it. the arabs clean away the leaves, dirt, &c. which adhere to it, boil it, strain it through a coarse piece of cloth, and put it into leathern skins; in this way they preserve it till the following year, and use it as they do honey, to pour over their unleavened bread, or to dip their bread into. i could not learn that they ever make it into cakes or loaves. the manna is found only in years when copious rains have fallen; sometimes it is not produced at all, as will probably happen this year. i saw none of it among the arabs, but i obtained a small piece of last year�s produce, in the convent; where having been kept in the cool shade and moderate temperature of that place, it had become quite solid, and formed a small cake; it became soft when kept sometime in the hand; if placed in the sun for five minutes it dissolved; but when restored to a cool place it became solid again in a quarter of an hour. in the season, at which the arabs gather it, it never acquires that state of hardness which will allow of its being pounded, as the israelites are said to have done in numbers, xi. . its colour is a dirty yellow, and the piece which i saw was still mixed with bits of tamarisk leaves: its taste is agreeable, somewhat aromatic, and as sweet as honey. if eaten in any considerable quantity it is said to be slightly purgative. the quantity of manna collected at present, even in seasons when the most copious rains fall, is very trifling, perhaps not amounting to more than five or six hundred pounds. it is entirely consumed [p. ] among the bedouins, who consider it the greatest dainty which their country affords. the harvest is usually in june, and lasts for about six weeks; sometimes it begins in may. there are only particular parts of the wady sheikh that produce the tamarisk; but it is also said to grow in wady naszeb, the fertile valley to the s.e. of the convent, on the road from thence to sherm. in nubia and in every part of arabia the tamarisk is one of the most common trees; on the euphrates, on the astaboras, in all the valleys of the hedjaz, and the bedja, it grows in great plenty, but i never heard of its producing manna except in mount sinai; it is true i made no inquiries on the subject elsewhere, and should not, perhaps, have learnt the fact here, had i not asked repeated questions respecting the manna, with a view to an explanation of the scriptures. the tamarisk abounds more in juices than any other tree of the desert, for it retains its vigour when every vegetable production around it is withered, and never loses its verdure till it dies. it has been remarked by niebuhr, (who, with his accustomed candour and veracity says, that during his journey to sinai he forgot to enquire after the manna), that in mesopotamia manna is produced by several trees of the oak species; a similar fact was confirmed to me by the son of the turkish lady, mentioned in a preceding page, who had passed the greater part of his youth at erzerum in asia minor; he told me that at moush, a town three or four days distant from erzerum, a substance is collected from the tree which produces the galls, exactly similar to the manna of the peninsula, in taste and consistence, and that it is used by the inhabitants instead of honey. we descended the wady el sheikh n.w. by w. upon several projecting rocks of the mountain i saw small stone huts, which hamd told me were the work of infidels in ancient times; they were wady feiran [p. ] probably the cells of the hermits of sinai. their construction is similar to that of the magazines already mentioned, but the stones although uncemented, are more carefully placed in the walls, and have thus resisted the force of torrents. upon the summits of three different mountains to the right were small ruined towers, originally perhaps, chapels, dependant on the episcopal see of feiran. in descending the valley the mountains on both sides approach so near, that a defile of only fifteen or twenty feet across is left; beyond this they again diverge, when a range of the same hills of tafel, or yellow pipe-clay are seen, which i observed in the higher parts of this wady. at the end of four hours we entered the plantations of wady feiran [arabic], through a wood of tamarisks, and halted at a small date-garden belonging to my guide hamd. wady feiran is a continuation of wady el sheikh, and is considered the finest valley in the whole peninsula. from the upper extremity, where we alighted, an uninterrupted row of gardens and date- plantations extends downwards for four miles. in almost every garden is a well, by means of which the grounds are irrigated the whole year round, exactly in the same manner as those in the hedjaz above szafra and djedeyde. among the date-trees are small huts where reside the tebna arabs, a branch of the djebalye, who serve as gardeners to the towara bedouins, especially to the szowaleha, who are the owners of the ground; they take one-third of the fruit for their labour. the owners seldom visit the place, except in the date harvest, when the valley is filled with people for a month or six weeks; at that season they erect huts of palm-branches, and pass their time in conviviality, receiving visits, and treating their guests with dates. the best species of these is called djamya [arabic], of which the monks send large boxes annually to constantinople as presents, after having taken out the stone of the date, and put an almond in its place. the [p. ] nebek (rhamnus lotus), the fruit of which is a favourite food of the bedouins, grows also in considerable quantity at wady feiran. they grind the dried fruit together with the stone, and preserve the meal, called by them bsyse [arabic], in leathern skins, in the same manner as the nubian bedouins do. it is an excellent provision for journeying in the desert, for it requires only the addition of butter-milk to make a most nourishing, agreeable, and refreshing diet. the tebna cultivators are very poor; they possess little or no landed property, and are continually annoyed by visits from the bedouins, whom they are under the necessity of receiving with hospitality. their only profitable branch of culture is tobacco, of which they raise considerable quantities; it is of the same species as that grown in the mountains of arabia petraea, about wady mousa and kerek, which retains its green colour even when dry. it is very strong, and esteemed for this quality by the towara bedouins, who are all great consumers of tobacco, and who are chiefly supplied with it from wady feiran; they either smoke it, or chew it mixed with natron or with salt. tobacco has acquired here such a currency in trade, that the tebna buy and sell minor articles among themselves by the mud or measure of tobacco. the other vegetable productions of the valley are cucumbers, gourds, melons, hemp for smoking, onions, a few badendjans, and a few carob trees. as for apple, pear, or apricot trees, &c. they grow only in the elevated regions of the upper sinai, where in different spots are about thirty or forty plantations of fruit trees; in a very few places wheat and barley are sown, but the crops are so thin that they hardly repay the labour of cultivation, although the cultivator has the full produce without any deduction. the soil is every where so stony, that it is impossible to make it produce corn sufficient for even the smallest arab tribe. wady ertama [p. ] the narrowness of the valley of feiran, which is not more than an hundred paces across, the high mountains on each side, and the thick woods of date-trees, render the heat extremely oppressive, and the unhealthiness of the situation is increased by the badness of the water. the tebna are far from being as robust and healthy as their neighbours, and in spring and summer dangerous fevers reign here. the few among them who have cattle, live during those seasons under tents in the mountains, leaving a few persons in care of the trees. as mount serbal forms a very prominent feature in the topography of the peninsula, i was determined if possible to visit it, and hamd having never been at the top of it, i was under the necessity of inquiring for a guide. none of the tebna present knew the road, but i found a young man who guided us to the tent of a djebalye, which was pitched in the lower heights of serbal, and who being a great sportsman, was known to have often ascended the mountain. leaving the servant with the camels, i set out in the evening on foot with hamd and the guide, carrying nothing with us but some butter-milk in a small skin, together with some meal, and ground nebek, enough to last us for two days. we ascended wady el sheikh for about three quarters of an hour, and then turned to the right, up a narrow valley called wady ertama [arabic] in the higher part of which a few date-trees grow. in crossing over a steep ascent at its upper extremity, i met with several inscriptions on insulated blocks, consisting only of one line in the usual ancient character; but i did not copy them, being desirous to conceal from my new guide that i was a writing man, as it might have induced him to dissuade the arabs in the mountains from accompanying me farther up. on the other side of this ascent we fell in with wady rymm, which i have already mentioned, and found here mount serbal [p. ] the ruins of a small village, the houses of which were built entirely with hewn stone, in a very solid manner. some remains of the foundations of a large edifice are traceable; a little lower down in the valley are some date trees, with a well, which probably was the first cause of building a village in this deserted spot, for the whole country round is a wilderness of rocks, and the valley itself is not like those below, flat and sandy, but covered with large stones which have been washed down by torrents. from hence an ascent of half an hour brought us to the djebalye arab, who was of the sattala tribe: he had pitched here two tents, in one of which lived his own, and in the other his son�s family; he spent the whole day in hunting, while the women and younger children took care of the cattle, which found good pasturage among the rocks. it was near sunset when we arrived, and the man was rather startled at our visit, though he received us kindly, and soon brought us a plentiful supper. when i asked him if he would show me the way to the summit of the serbal, which was now directly before us, he expressed great astonishment, and no doubt immediately conceived the notion that i had come to search for treasures, which appears the more probable to these bedouins, as they know that the country was formerly inhabited by rich monks. prepossessed with this idea, and knowing that nobody then present was acquainted with the road, except himself, he thought he might demand a most exorbitant sum from me. he declined making any immediate bargain, and said that he would settle it the next morning. june st.�we rose before daylight, when the djebalye made coffee, and then told me, that he could not think of accompanying me for less than sixty piastres. as the whole journey was to last only till the evening, and i knew that for one piastre any of these bedouins will run about the mountains on messages for a [p. ] whole day, i offered him three piastres, but he was inflexible, and replied, that were it not for his friendship for hamd, he would not take less than a hundred piastres. i rose to eight piastres, but on his smiling, and shrugging up his shoulders at this, i rose, and declared that we would try our luck alone. we took our guns and our provision sack, filled our water skin at a neighbouring well, called ain rymm [arabic], and began ascending the mountain straight before us. i soon began to wish that i had come to some terms with the djebalye; we walked over sharp rocks without any path, till we came to the almost perpendicular side of the upper serbal, which we ascended in a narrow difficult cleft. the day grew excessively hot, not a breath of wind was stirring, and it took us four hours to climb up to the lower summit of the mountain, where i arrived completely exhausted. here is a small plain with some trees, and the ruins of a small stone reservoir for water. on several blocks of granite are inscriptions, but most of them are illegible; i copied the two following: [not included]. after reposing a little, i ascended the eastern peak, which was to our left hand, and reached its top in three quarters of an hour, after great exertions, for the rock is so smooth and slippery, as well as steep, that even barefooted as i was, i was obliged frequently to crawl [p. ] upon my belly, to avoid being precipitated below; and had i not casually met with a few shrubs to grasp, i should probably have been obliged to abandon my attempt, or have rolled down the cliff. the summit of the eastern peak consists of one enormous mass of granite, the smoothness of which is broken only by a few partial fissures, presenting an appearance not unlike the ice-covered peaks of the alps. the sides of the peak, at a few paces below its top, are formed of large insulated blocks twenty or thirty feet long, which appeared as if just suspended, in the act of rushing down the steep. near the top i found steps regularly formed with large loose stones, which must have been brought from below, and so judiciously arranged along the declivity, that they have resisted the devastations of time, and may still serve for ascending. i was told afterwards that these steps are the continuation of a regular path from the bottom of the mountain; which is in several parts cut through the rock with great labour. if we had had the guide, we should have ascended by this road, which turns along the southern and eastern side of serbal. the mountain has in all five peaks; the two highest are that to the east, which i ascended, and another immediately west of it; these rise like cones, and are distinguishable from a great distance, particularly on the road to cairo. the eastern peak, which from below looks as sharp as a needle, has a platform on its summit of about fifty paces in circumference. here is a heap of small loose stones, about two feet high, forming a circle about twelve paces in diameter. just below the top i found on every granite block that presented a smooth surface, inscriptions, the far greater part of which were illegible. i copied the three following, from different blocks; the characters of the first are a foot long. upon the rock from which i copied the third there were a great many others; but very few were legible. [p. ] . [not included] . [not included] . [not included] there are small caverns large enough to shelter a few persons, between some of the masses of stone. on the sides of these caverns are numerous inscriptions similar to those given above. as the eye is very apt to be deceived with regard to the relative heights of mountains, i will not give any positive opinion as to that of mount serbal; but it appeared to me to be higher than all the peaks, including mount st. catherine, and very little lower than djebel mousa. the fact of so many inscriptions being found upon the rocks near the summit of this mountain, and also in the valley which [p. ] leads from its foot to feiran, as will presently be mentioned; together with the existence of the road leading up to the peak, afford strong reasons for presuming that the serbal was an ancient place of devotion. it will be recollected that no inscriptions are found either on the mountain of moses, or on mount st. catherine; and that those which are found in the ledja valley at the foot of djebel katerin, are not to be traced above the rock, from which the water is said to have issued, and appear only to be the work of pilgrims, who visited that rock. from these circumstances, i am persuaded that mount serbal was at one period the chief place of pilgrimage in the peninsula: and that it was then considered the mountain where moses received the tables of the law; though i am equally convinced, from a perusal of the scriptures, that the israelites encamped in the upper sinai, and that either djebel mousa or mount st. catherine is the real horeb. it is not at all impossible that the proximity of serbal to egypt, may at one period have caused that mountain to be the horeb of the pilgrims, and that the establishment of the convent in its present situation, which was probably chosen from motives of security, may have led to the transferring of that honour to djebel mousa. at present neither the monks of mount sinai nor those of cairo consider mount serbal as the scene of any of the events of sacred history: nor have the bedouins any tradition among them respecting it; but it is possible that if the byzantine writers were thoroughly examined, some mention might be found of this mountain, which i believe was never before visited by any european traveller. the heat was so oppressive during the whole day, that i felt it even on the summit of the mountain; the air was motionless, and a thin mist pervaded the whole atmosphere, as always occurs in these climates, when the air is very much heated. i took from the peak the following bearings. [p. ] el morkha, a well near birket faraoun on the road from tor to suez, n.w. b. w. wady feiran, n.w.n. sarbout el djemal, n.n.w. el djoze, just over feiran, n. mountain dhellel, n. b. e.-n.e. b. n. wady akhdar, which i passed on my road from suez to the convent, n.e. / e. wady el sheikh, where it appears broadest, and near the place where i had entered it, in coming from suez, e.n.e. sheikh abou taleb, the tomb of a saint mentioned above, e. / s. nakb el raha, from whence the road from the convent to feiran begins to descend from the upper sinai, e.s.e. mount st. catherine, s.e. / e. om shomar, s.s.e. daghade, [arabic], a fertile valley in the mountains, issuing into the plain of kaa, s.w. the direction of deir sigillye was pointed out to me s. b. e. or s.s.e. this is a ruined convent on the s.e. side of serbal, near the road which leads up to the summit of the mountain. it is said to be well built and spacious, and there is a copious well near it. it is four or five hours distant by the shortest road from feiran, and lies in a very rocky district, at present uninhabited even by bedouins. i found great difficulty in descending. if i had had a plentiful supply of water, and any of us had known the road, we should have gone down by the steps; but our water was nearly exhausted, and in this hot season, even the hardy bedouin is afraid to trust to the chance only of finding a path or a spring. i was therefore obliged to return by the same way which i had ascended wady aleyat [p. ] and by crawling, rather than walking, we reached the lower platform of serbal just about noon, and reposed under the shade of a rock. here we finished our stock of milk and of water; and hamd, who remembered to have heard once that a well was in this neighbourhood, went in search of it, but returned after an hour�s absence, with the empty skin. i was afterwards informed, that in a cleft of the rock, not far from the stone tank, which i have already mentioned, there is a small source which never dries up. we had yet a long journey to make, hamd, therefore, volunteered to set out before me, to fill the skin in the valley below, and to meet me with it at the foot of the cleft; by which we had entered the mountain. he departed, leaping down the mountain like a gazelle, and after prolonging my siesta i leisurely followed him, with the other arab. when we arrived, at the end of two hours and a half, at the point agreed upon, we found hamd waiting for us with the water, which he had brought from a well at least five miles distant. a slight shower of rain which had fallen, instead of cooling the air appeared only to have made it hotter. instead of pursuing, from our second halting-place, the road by which we had ascended in the morning from ain rymm, we took a more western direction, to the left of the former, and reached by a less rapid descent, the wady aleyat [arabic], which leads to the lower parts of wady feiran. after a descent of an hour, we came to a less rocky country. at the end of an hour and a half from the foot of serbal, where hamd had waited for us, we reached the well, situated among date-plantations, where he had filled the skins; its water is very good, much better than that of feiran. the date-trees are not very thickly planted; amongst them i saw several doum trees, some of which i had already observed in other parts of the peninsula. this valley is inhabited by bedouins during the date-harvest, wady makta [p. ] and here are many huts, built of stones, or of date-branches, which they then occupy. in the evening we continued our route in the valley aleyat, in the direction n.w. to our right was a mountain, upon the top of which is the tomb of a sheikh, held in great veneration by the bedouins, who frequently visit it, and there sacrifice sheep. it is called el monadja [arabic]. the custom among the bedouins of burying their saints upon the summits of mountains accords with a similar practice of the israelites; there are very few bedouin tribes who have not one or more tombs of protecting saints (makam), in whose honour they offer sacrifices; the custom probably originated in their ancient idolatrous worship, and was in some measure retained by the sacrifices enjoined by mohammed in the great festivals of the islam. in many parts of this valley stand small buildings, ten or twelve feet square, and five feet high, with very narrow entrances. they are built with loose stones, but so well put together, that the greater part of them are yet entire, notwithstanding the annual rains. they are all quite empty. i at first supposed them to be magazines belonging to the arabs, but my guides told me that their countrymen never entered them, because they were kobour el kofar, or tombs of infidels; perhaps of the early christians of this peninsula. i did not, however, meet with any similar structures in other parts of the peninsula, unless those already mentioned in the upper part of wady feiran, are of the same class. at half an hour from the spring and date-trees, we passed to our left a valley coming from the southern mountains, called wady makta [arabic], and half an hour farther on, at sunset, we reached wady feiran, at the place where the date plantations terminate, and an hour�s walk below the spot from whence we set out yesterday upon this excursion. wady aleyat [p. ] in the course of my descent from the cleft at the foot of mount serbal, through the wady aleyat, i found numerous inscriptions on blocks by the side of the road, those which i copied were in the following order; some i did not copy, and many were effaced. . upon a flat stone in the upper extremity of the wady, descending from the foot of serbal towards the well with date-trees: [not included] . upon a small block lower down: [not included] . upon a small rock still lower down: [not included] . . still descending: [not included] . near the spring: [not included] [p. ] . upon a large rock beyond the spring, and towards wady feiran: [not included] . further down, upon a rock, being one of the clearest inscriptions which i saw: [not included] on many stones were drawings of goats and camels. this was once probably the main road to the top of serbal, which continued along its foot, and turned by deir sigillye round its eastern side, thus passing the cleft and the road by which we had ascended, and which nowhere bears traces of having ever been a regular and frequented route. after my departure in the morning for mount serbal, the messenger dispatched by the arabs assembled in sheikh szaleh, arrived at wady feiran, and forbad the people from guiding me to the top of serbal; the news of this order had spread along the whole valley, so that on our reaching the first habitations under the date-trees, where i intended to rest for the night, all the arabs wady feiran [p. ] assembled, and became extremely clamorous as well against me, as against hamd for having accompanied me. i cared but little for their insolent language, which i knew how to reply to, but i was under some apprehensions for my servant and baggage, and therefore determined to rejoin them immediately. we ascended the valley, by a gentle slope, and reached hamd�s garden late at night, greatly fatigued, for we had been almost the whole day upon our legs. we here met the bedouins and their girls occupied in singing and dancing, which they kept up till near midnight. june d.�when i awoke i found about thirty arabs round me, ready to begin a new quarrel about my pursuits in their mountains. when they saw that i paid little attention to their remonstrances, and was packing up my effects, in order to proceed on my journey, they then asked me for some victuals and coffee. after having observed to them that i was more easily prevailed upon by civility than harshness, i distributed among the poorest such provisions as i should not want on my way back to suez, together with some coffee-beans and soap. this immediately put them into good humour, and in return, they brought me some milk, cucumbers, and a quantity of bsyse, or ground nebek. i purchased from them a skinful of dates reduced to a paste, and one of them joined us for the sake of travelling in our company to suez, where he intended to sell a load of charcoal; we then set out, leaving every body behind us well satisfied. we followed the same road by which we had ascended last night, and halted again where the date trees terminate. here the same arabs whom we had found yesterday evening, having been informed that i had made some presents where i had slept, thought, no doubt, that by being vociferous they would obtain something. in this, however, they were mistaken, for i gave them nothing, telling them they might seize my baggage if they chose, but this they [p. ] prudently declined to do. ten years ago i should hardly have been able to extricate myself in this manner. the valley of feiran widens considerably where it is joined by the wady aleyat, and is about a quarter of an hour in breadth. upon the mountains on both sides of the road stand the ruins of an ancient city. the houses are small, but built entirely of stones, some of which are hewn and some united with cement, but the greater part are piled up loosely. i counted the ruins of about two hundred houses. there are no traces of any large edifice on the north side; but on the southern mountain there is an extensive building, the lower part of which is of stone, and the upper part of earth. it is surrounded by private habitations, which are all in complete ruins. at the foot of the southern mountain are the remains of a small aqueduct. upon several of the neighbouring hills are ruins of towers, and as we proceeded down the valley for about three quarters of an hour, i saw many small grottos in the rocks on both sides, hewn in the rudest manner, and without any regularity or symmetry; the greater part seemed to have been originally formed by nature, and afterwards widened by human labour. some of the largest which were near the ruined city had, perhaps, once served as habitations, the others were evidently sepulchres; but few of them were large enough to hold three corpses, and they were not more than three or four feet high. i found no traces of antiquity in any of them. at half an hour from the last date-trees of feiran, i saw, to the right of the road, upon the side of the mountain, the ruins of a small town or village, the valley in the front of which is at present quite barren. it had been better built than the town above described, and contained one very good building of hewn stone, with two stories, each having five oblong windows in front. the roof [p. ] has fallen in. the style of architecture of the whole strongly resembles that seen in the ruins of st. simon, to the north of aleppo, the mountains above which are also full of sepulchral grottos, like those near feiran. the roofs of the houses appear to have been entirely of stone, like those in the ruined towns of the haouran, but flat, and not arched. there were here about a hundred ruined houses. feiran was formerly the seat of a bishopric. theodosius was bishop during the monothelite controversy. from documents of the fifteenth century, still existing in the convent of mount sinai, there appears at that time to have been an inhabited convent at feiran. makrizi, the excellent historian, and describer of egypt; who wrote about the same time, gives the following account of feiran, which he calls faran.[the present bedouins call it fyran or feiran [arabic], and thus it is spelt wherever it occurs in the arabic documents in the convent. niebuhr calls it faran, and i have heard some bedouins pronounce it as if it were written [arabic, giving it nearly the sound of fyran.]] �it is one of the towns of the amalakites, situated near the borders of the sea of kolzoum, upon a hill between two mountains; on each of which are numberless excavations, full of corpses. it is one day�s journey distant [in a straight line] from the sea of kolzoum, the shore of which is there called �the shore of the sea of faran;� there it was that pharaoh was drowned by the almighty. between the city of faran and the tyh are two days journey. it is said that faran is the name of the mountains of mekka, and that it is the name of other mountains in the hedjaz, and that it is the place mentioned in the books of moses. but the truth is, that tor and faran are two districts belonging to the southern parts of egypt, and that it is not the same as the faran (paran) mentioned in the books of moses. it is stated, that the mountains [p. ] of mekka derive their name from faran ibn amr ibn amalyk. some call them the mountains of faran others fyran. the city of faran was one of the cities belonging to midian, and remained so until the present times. there are plenty of palmtrees there, of the dates of which i have myself eaten. a large river flows by. the town is at present in ruins; bedouins only pass there.� makrizi is certainly right in supposing that the faran or paran mentioned in the scriptures is not the same as feiran; an opinion which has been entertained also by niebuhr, and other travellers. from the passage in numbers xiii. , it is evident that paran was situated in the desert of kadesh, which was on the borders of the country of the edomites, and which the israelites reached after their departure from mount sinai, on their way towards the land of edom. paran must therefore be looked for in the desert west of wady mousa, and the tomb of aaron which is shewn there. at present the people of feiran bury their dead higher up in the valley, than the ancient ruins in the neighbourhood of sheikh abou taleb. there is no rivulet, but in winter time the valley is completely flooded, and a large stream of water collected from all the lateral valleys of wady el sheikh empties itself through wady feiran into the gulf of suez near the birket faraoun. we rode for one hour from feiran, and then stopped near some date trees called hosseye [arabic], where are several arab huts, and where good water is found. here i remained the rest of the day, as i felt very much the effect of yesterday�s exertions. in the evening all the females quitted the huts to join in the mesámer, in which i also participated, and we kept it up till long after midnight. my servant[this was the same man who had accompanied me during my journey to upper egypt, as far as assouan. i again engaged him in my service after my return fro[m] the hedjaz.] attempted to join the party, but the proud wady romman [p. ] arabs told him that he was a fellah, not of good breed, and would not permit him to mix in the dance. he met with the same repulse last night at feiran. june d.�we followed the valley by a slight slope through its windings w.n.w. and n.w. many tamarisk trees grow here, and some manna is collected. the fertility of these valleys is owing chiefly to the alluvial soil brought down from the mountains by the torrents, and which soon acquires consistence in the bottom of the wady; but if a year passes without rain these alluvia are reduced to dust, and dispersed by the winds over the mountains from whence they came. the surface was covered with a yellow clay in which a variety of herbs was growing. at two hours the valley, for the length of about an hour, bears the name of wady el beka [arabic], or the valley of weeping, from the circumstance, as it is related, of a bedouin who wept because his dromedary fell here, during the pursuit of an enemy, and he was thus unable to follow his companions, who were galloping up the valley to wards feiran. the rock on the side of the road is mostly composed of gneiss. at three hours and a half we passed to our right wady romman [arabic]. i was told that in the mountains from which it descends is a fine spring, and some date- trees about four hours distant. the road now turned n.w. b. w.; the granite finishes and sand-stone begins; among the latter rock-salt is found. at five hours we halted under a large impending sandstone rock, where the valley widens considerably, and continues in a w. direction down to the sea-side. leaving this valley to the left, we rode in the afternoon n.w. b. w. ascending slightly over rocky ground, until we reached an upper plain at the end of wady mokatteb [p. ] six hours. the chain of granite mountains continued to our right, parallel with the road, which was overspread with silex, and farther on we met with a kind of basaltic tufa, forming low hills covered with sand. we then descended, and at six hours and a half entered the valley called wady mokatteb [arabic]. the appellation of djebel mokatteb, which several travellers have applied to the neighbouring mountains, is not in use. to the north of the entrance of this valley near the foot of the higher chain, is a cluster of magazines of the bedouins, at a spot called el bedja [arabic]. the wady mokatteb extends for three hours march in the direction n.w.; in the upper part it is three miles across, having to the right high mountains, and to the left a chain of lower sandrocks. half way down, it becomes narrower, and then takes the name of seyh szeder [arabic]. in most places the sand-rocks present abrupt cliffs, twenty or thirty feet in height. large masses have separated themselves from the cliffs and lie at their feet in the valley. these cliffs and rocks are thickly covered with inscriptions, which are continued with intervals of a few hundred paces only, for at least two hours and a half; similar inscriptions are found in the lower part of the wady, where it narrows, upon the sand-stone rocks of the opposite, or north-eastern side of the valley. to copy all these inscriptions would occupy a skilful draughtsman six or eight days; they are all of the same description as those i have already mentioned, consisting of short lines, written from right to left, and with the singular character represented in p. , invariably at the beginning of each. some of them are on rocks at a height of twelve or fifteen feet, which must have required a ladder to ascend to them. they are in general cut deeper than those on the granite in the upper country, but in the same careless style. amongst them are many in greek; containing, probably, like the others, the names of those who wady badera [p. ] passed here on their pilgrimage to the holy mountain. some of the latter contain jewish names in greek characters. there is a vast number of drawings of mountain goats and of camels, the latter sometimes represented as loaded, and with riders on their backs. crosses are also seen, indicating that the inscribers were christians. it should be observed that the mokatteb lies in the principal route to sinai, and which is much easier and more frequented than the upper road by naszeb, which i took in my way to the convent; the cliffs also are so situated as to afford a fine shade to travellers during the mid-day hours. to these circumstances may undoubtedly in great measure be attributed the numerous inscriptions found in this valley. we rested for the night, after a day�s march of nine hours and a quarter, near the lower extremity of the seyh szeder, and just beyond the last of the inscriptions. the bottom of the valley is here rocky, and as flat as if the rock had been levelled by art. june th.�at a few hundred paces below the place where we had slept, the valley becomes very narrow, the mountains to the right approach, and a defile of granite rocks is entered in a direction w. by s. called wady kenna [arabic], where the tomb of a saint of the name of wawa [arabic] stands. i was told afterwards at cairo, by some sinai bedouins, that lower down in wady kenna there is a very deep cavern in the rock. at three quarters of an hour we passed to the right of the defile, and turned n.w. into a valley called badera [arabic]. the valley of badera consists of sand rock, and the ground is deeply covered with sand. we ascended gently in it, and in an hour and three quarters reached its summit, from whence we descended by a narrow difficult path, down a cliff called nakb badera [arabic], into an open plain between the mountains; we crossed the plain, and at two hours and a quarter entered wady shellal [arabic], so called from wady shellal [p. ] the number of cataracts which are formed in the rainy season, by the torrents descending from the mountains. a great number of acacia trees grow here, many of which were completely dried up; during the whole of our morning�s journey not a green herb could be discovered. we here met several bedouins on foot, on their way from suez to feiran. they had started from the well of morkha early in the morning; and had ventured on the journey without water, or the hope of finding any till the following day in wady feiran. we gave them each a draught of water, and they went off in good spirits, purposing to pass the afternoon under some shady rock, and to continue their journey during the night. we descended the valley slowly, w.n.w. and at the end of four hours and a half reached its termination, opening upon a sandy plain on the sea- shore. many bones of camels were here lying about, as is generally the case on the great roads through the desert; i have observed that these skeletons are found in greatest numbers where the sands are deepest; which arises from the loaded camels passing such places with difficulty, and often breaking down in them. it is an erroneous opinion that the camel delights in sandy ground; it is true that he crosses it with less difficulty than any other animal, but wherever the sands are deep, the weight of himself and his load makes his feet sink into the sand at every step, and he groans, and often sinks under his burthen. it is the hard gravelly ground of the desert which is most agreeable to this animal. on the plain we fell in with the great road from tor to suez, but soon quitted it to the right, and turned to the north in search of a natural reservoir of rain, in which the bedouins knew that some water was still remaining. at the end of five hours and a half, we reached a narrow cleft in the mountain, where we halted, and my guides went a mile up in it to fill the skins. this is called wady morkha [p. ] el dhafary [arabic]; it is sometimes frequented by the arabs, because it furnishes the only sweet water between tor and suez, though it is out of the direct road, and the well of morkha is at no great distance. some rain had fallen here in the winter, and water was therefore met with in several ponds among the rocks. this is the lowest part of the primitive chain of mountains, and, i believe, the only place, on the road between tor and suez, where they approach the sea, which is only three miles distant, with a stony plain ascending from it. a slave of a towara bedouin here partook of our breakfast; he had been sent to these mountains by his master several weeks ago, to collect wood and burn charcoal, which he was doing quite alone, with no other provision than a sack of meal. charcoal, commonly called fahm in arabic, is by these bedouins called habesh, a term which i never heard given to it by any other arabs; this word may perhaps be the origin of the name of abyssinia, which may have been called habesh by the arabs from the colour of its inhabitants. travellers will do well to enquire for the dhafary, in their way to feiran, as the water of the morkha is of the very worst kind; this memorandum would be particularly useful to any person intending to copy the inscriptions of wady mokatteb. we reached morkha, [arabic], which bears from dhafary n.w. b. n. in half an hour, the road leading over level but very rocky ground. morkha is a small pond in the sand-stone rock, close to the foot of the mountains. two date-trees grow near its margin. the bad taste of the water seems to be owing partly to the weeds, moss, and dirt, with which the pond is filled, but chiefly, no doubt, to the saline nature of the soil around it. next to ayoun mousa, in the vicinity of suez, and gharendel, it is the principal station on this road. after watering our camels, which was our only motive for coming to the morkha, we returned to the bay of birket faraoun [p. ] sea-shore, one hour distant n.w. we followed the shore for three quarters of an hour in a n.w. b. n. direction, and then halted close by the sea, where the maritime level is greatly contracted by a range of chalk hills which in some places approaches close to the water. before us extended the large bay of birket faraoun, so called, from being, according to arab and egyptian tradition, the place where the israelites crossed the sea, and where the returning waves overwhelmed pharaoh and his host. there is an almost continual motion of the waters in this bay, which they say is occasioned by the spirits of the drowned still moving in the bottom of the sea; but which may also be ascribed to its being exposed on three sides to the sea, and to the sudden gusts of wind from the openings of the valleys. these circumstances, together with its shoals, render it very dangerous, and more ships have been wrecked in the bay of birket faraoun than in any other part of the gulf of tor, another proof, in the eyes of the arabs, that spirits or demons dwell here. this evening and night we had a violent simoum. the air was so hot, that when i faced the current, the sensation was like that of sitting close to a large fire; the hot wind was accompanied, at intervals with gusts of cooler air. i did not find my respiration impeded for a moment during the continuance of the hot blast. the simoum is frequent on this low coast, but the advantage of sea bathing renders it the less distressing. june th.�we rode close by the shore, at the foot of sandy cliffs; but as the road was passable only at low water, we were obliged, as the tide set in, to take a circuitous route over the mountain. at the end of an hour we again reached the sea, and then proceeded north over a wide sandy plain. towards the mountain is a tract of low grounds several miles in breadth, in which the shrubs gharkad and aszef were growing in great plenty. at the end of two hours and a half, having reached a very conspicuous wady wardan [p. ] promontory, of the mountain, over which lies the road to the hammam mousa, or hot-wells of moses, we turned, on its south side, into a fine valley called wady el taybe [arabic], inclosed by abrupt rocks, and full of trees, among which were a few of the date, now completely withered. want of rain is much more frequent in the lower ranges of the peninsula, than in the upper. at four hours and a half we passed wady shebeyke, reached soon afterwards the top of wady taybe, and then fell in with the road by which i had passed on my way to the convent from suez. we rested in wady thale, under a rock, in the shade of which, at p.m. the thermometer rose to °. after a march of eleven hours we halted in wady gharendel. june th.�we continued in the road described at the beginning of this journal, and at six hours and a half reached wady wardan. here we turned out of the great road to suez, in a more western direction, towards the sea, in order to take in water at the well of szoueyra, which we came to in three hours from wardan. the lower parts of wady wardan, extending six or eight miles in breadth, consist of deep sand, which a strong north wind drove full in our faces, and caused such a mist that we several times went astray. upon small sandy mounds in this plain tamarisk trees grow in great numbers, and in the midst of these lies the well of szoueyra, which it is extremely difficult to find without a guide. it is about two miles from the sea. we here met many terabein women occupied in watering their camels; i enquired of them whether they ever collected manna from the tamarisks; i understood from them that in this barren plain, the trees never yield that substance. in the evening we rode along a narrow path, parallel with the sea, for two hours and a half. the wind still continued, and obliged us to seek for shelter behind a desert of suez [p. ] hillock in the lower part of wady szeder, where we found protection against the driving sands. june th.�in the morning we reached ayoun mousa. we found here, as we had previously done, in many places near the shore, the tracks of wheel- carriages, a very uncommon appearance in the east, and more particularly in deserts. it was by this road that mohammed ali�s women passed last year from tor to suez in their elegant vehicles. towards evening we entered suez. june th.�a caravan was to leave suez this day, but its departure was delayed. as i knew that the plague had subsided at cairo, and thought that the road was tolerably safe, i asked hamd whether he would venture with me alone upon the journey; fear seemed to be quite unknown to this excellent young man, and he readily acquiesced in my proposal. we left suez in the evening with some hopes of overtaking a caravan of towaras, which we were informed had this day passed to the north of suez, in their way to cairo with charcoal. towards sunset we came in sight of the castle of adjeroud, when hamd having descried from afar some bedouins on foot, who, from the circumstance of their walking about in different directions in a place where no road passed, and where bedouins never alight, appeared to him to be suspicious characters, we halted behind a hill till it was dark, and took our supper. after sunset we saw several fires at a distance, in the plain, which hamd immediately concluded to be those of the towara caravan. taking advantage of the darkness, to avoid the observation of the suspected persons, we rode towards the fires, which, instead of being those of the towara, proved to belong to a small party of omran, encamped near the well in the wady emshash. hamd was much alarmed when he perceived his mistake, for he was well acquainted with the bad character of the omran, castle of adjeroud [p. ] and he dreaded them the more on account of the arab of their tribe whom he had killed near akaba. they looked very greedily at my travelling sack, but as i pretended to belong to the pasha�s garrison at suez, they did not make any attempt upon it. they told us that in coming here, they had found five bedouins sitting near the well, who retired when they approached it, and who were probably the men we saw. as we thought it very likely that they would waylay us farther on, in the narrow pass of montala, we deemed it prudent to retire to adjeroud, and take shelter in the castle for the night. when we reached that place, it was with great difficulty that i persuaded the officer to open the gates and let us in; he was in no less fear of the robbers than ourselves; for two days they had driven back his people from the well of emshash, where they were accustomed to fill their water skins, so that the garrison was reduced to great distress, as they had no provision of sweet water, and that of the castle well is scarcely drinkable. a turkish officer, with his wife and son, and eight peasants from the sherkieh, formed the whole garrison, and they trembled at the name and sight of the bedouins as much as the monks of the sinai convent. june th.�this morning i proposed to the officer that we should go out in force and drive the robbers from the well, which was only half an hour distant; but this he refused to do, saying that he had no orders to leave the castle; he found it more convenient to seize my skins, which i had filled at suez, and to make use of their contents for his family. towards noon we saw several of the bedouins hovering round the castle, no doubt expecting us to issue from it. in this difficulty, the turkish officer having refused to lend his horse, i mounted hamd in the evening upon the strongest of the camels, and told him to gallop to suez, and acquaint the commander there with our situation, or else to hire some of his [p. ] countrymen, who were there waiting for the departure of the caravan, and in their company to return to our relief, bringing with him a supply of water. he set out, but had not proceeded a mile before he saw the robbers running upon him from different quarters, and endeavouring to cut him off from the road. they fired at him, upon which he returned their fire, and gallopped back to the castle. the officer and his valiant garrison were now thrown into the greatest consternation, and could not devise any means of relief. i offered to ride to suez, provided the officer would lend me his horse; but he appeared to be more afraid of losing the horse, than of dying from thirst. being thus unable to effect any thing, i was under the necessity of waiting patiently till the great caravan from suez should pass. june th.�there was now not a drop of sweet water in the castle, and all that we could procure of the well-water of adjeroud had been standing in the tank since it was filled from the well at the time of the last pilgrimage. the wheels of the well, which is two hundred and fifty feet in depth, are put in motion only at that time; during the rest of the year the building which encloses the well is shut up; and the person who keeps the key was now at cairo. the water we were thus obliged to drink was saline, putrid, and of a yellow green colour, so that boiling produced no improvement in it, and our stomachs could not retain it. june th.�a slight shower of rain fell, which the turk ascribed to his prayers; but all the water we could collect in every vessel which the castle could furnish, scarcely afforded to each of us a draught. hamd made a second attempt to night to go to suez, but it being unfortunately moonlight, he was seen and again driven back. june th.�after three days blockade, i had the pleasure of descrying the suez caravan at a distance, on its way towards wady khouyfera [p. ] cairo; we immediately got every thing ready, and when the caravan was opposite the castle, at about twenty minutes distance, hamd and i hastily joined it. what became of the officer and his garrison, i never heard. i bought of the bedouins of the caravan a supply of water, sufficient to last me to cairo. although the passage of this desert is less dangerous than formerly, it is impossible to protect it effectually, without establishing a small body of horsemen or dromedaries at adjeroud; and it is a discredit to the government of egypt, that this is not done. the well of emshash affords a seasonable supply of water to robbers, who lay in wait in the rocky country of montala, where one of them stationed on the top of a hill gives notice of the approach of any enemy or object of plunder. the castle was undoubtedly intended as a look-out post against the arabs. the french once had a garrison in it, and its walls have been repaired by mohammed ali pasha, but the interior is in a very ruinous state, and few provisions are kept in the extensive store-houses within it. on proceeding to cairo, the caravan took, for the first stage from adjeroud, a route somewhat to the southward of that by which i had gone to sinai, and joined the latter at dar el hamra. six hours and a half from adjeroud we passed wady khoeyfera [arabic], the bed of a torrent, with trees growing in it, a very little below the level of the surrounding plain. here i saw the ruins of a small stone reservoir, and to a considerable distance round it, ruins of walls, and several wells, some built with brick and others with stone. they appear to have been surrounded by a wall, which now forms a circular enclosure of mounds almost wholly covered with sands. the existence of these ruins, which i do not remember to have seen mentioned by any traveller, confirms my belief, that in the most ancient times regular stations cairo [p. ] were established on this road, to which we must also attribute the date trees now found in a petrified state. a road, called derb el ban [arabic], leads from adjeroud to birket el hadj, by the north side of the mountain el oweybe; it is the most northern of all the routes to suez, and is little frequented. on the th of june, early in the morning, i entered cairo; the plague had ceased, and had been less destructive, than it was last year. [p. ] appendix. [p. ] appendix. no. i. an account of the ryhanlu turkmans. aleppo, may , . the district inhabited by the ryhanlu turkmans begins at about seven hours distance from aleppo, to the north-westward. the intermediate plain is stony and almost deserted, but it is in many parts susceptible of culture, and contains a great number of villages in ruins. at five hours march from aleppo to the w.n.w. upon the ridge of a low hill are some plantations of olive and fig trees; on the other side of the hill lies a valley of an oval shape about eighteen miles in circuit, called khalaka [arabic]; at the foot of the low hills which surround it, are the following villages: termine, tellade, hoesre, tellekberoun, bab, dana, and some others. the fellahs or inhabitants of these villages live in half ruined houses, which indicate the opulence of their ancient possessors. the soil of the plain is a fine red mould, almost without a stone. in march, when i visited the ryhanlu, it was sown with wheat, but it produces in another season the finest cotton. the whole plain is the property of abbas effendi of aleppo, the heir of tshelebi effendi, who was in his time the first grandee of aleppo[.] having crossed the plain of khalaka, and the rocky calcareous hills which border it on the western side, a very tedious passage for camels, the first turkman tents are met with at about six hours and a half or seven hours distance from aleppo. the turkmans, who prfer living on the hills, erect their tents on the declivities, and cultivate the valleys below them. these hills extend in a n.w. direction, above forty miles, the mountain of st. simon [arabic], is in the midst of them. their average breadth, including the numerous valleys which intersect them, may be estimated at fifteen or twenty miles. they lose themselves in the plain of antioch, which is bounded on the opposite side by the chain of high mountains, extending along the southern coast of the gulf of scanderoun. the river afrin [arabic] waters this plain; its course from the neighbourhood of killis to where it empties itself into the lake of antioch, is fifteen or twenty hours in length. at about seven hours above the lake, this river is about the size of the cam near cambridge; it regularly but moderately overflows in spring-time, and is full of carps and barbles; but the turkmans have no implements of fishing. besides the afrin there are numerous smaller rivers and sources, which water the valleys. one of the must considerable of these is the river of goul, which takes its rise near a turkman encampment [p. ] of the same name, about six hours distant from st. simon, to the w. by n. in a small lake, about one mile and a half in circumference, and joins the waters of the afrin, eight miles from its source. this beautiful little lake is so full of fish, that the boys of goul kill them by throwing stones at them. the river turns several mills near goul, and five or six more at six miles distance, at a place called tahoun kash, near a spot where the chieftain of the ryhanlu, mursal oglu hayder aga, has built a house for his winter residence, and has planted a garden. on the right bank of the afrin, about three quarters of an hour distant from it, and at three hours ride to the n.-westward of the tent of mohammed ali, my turkman host, are two warm springs at half an hour's walk from each other. i only saw the southernmost, which is strongly impregnated with sulphur, and made my thermometer rise to °; it constantly bubbles from a bottom of coarse gravel, in the middle of the bason, which is about twenty feet in circumference, and four feet deep. the sulphureous smell begins to be sensible at a distance of twenty-five yards from it, and i was told that the northern spring was still more sulphureous. the turkmans hold the medicinal powers of these springs, as baths, in great estimation: women as well as men use them for the cure of violent headaches, which are very prevalent amongst them. the fields of the turkmans are sown with wheat, barley, and several kinds of pulse. their wheat was sown only a fortnight before my arrival, viz, about the twentieth of february. as it is only a short time since they have become agriculturists, they have not yet any plantations of fruit trees, although the olive, pomegranate, and fig would certainly prosper in their valleys. thirty years ago the hills which they now inhabit were partly covered with wood; the trade of firewood with aleppo, however, has entirely consumed these forests. at present they cut the wood for the aleppo market, in the mountains of the kurds on the northern side of the afrin, and when that shall fail, aleppo must depend for its fuel upon the coast of caramania, from whence egypt is now supplied. the turkman hills are inhabited by vast numbers of jackals; wolves, and foxes are also numerous; and i saw flocks of gazelles, to the number of twenty or thirty in each flock; among a great variety of birds is the francoline, which the syrian sportsmen esteem the choicest of all game. in the mountains of badjazze, which borders on the turkman plains, stags are sometimes killed. the turkmans are passionately fond of hawking; they course the game with grey-hounds, or if in the plain, they run it down with their horses. the population of the ryhanlu turkmans may be roughly calculated from the number of their tents, which amount to about three thousand; every tent contains from two or three to fifteen inmates. they can raise a military force of two or three thousand horsemen, and of as many infantry. they are divided into thirteen minor tribes: . the serigialar, or tribe of the chief of the ryhanlu turkmans, hayder aga, has five hundred horsemen. . coudanlut, six hundred. . cheuslu, two hundred. . leuklu, one hundred. . kara akhmetlu one hundred and fifty. . kara solimanlu, fifty. . delikanlu, six hundred. . toroun, sixty. . bahaderlu, one hundred. . hallalu, sixty. . karken, twenty. . aoutshar, twenty. . okugu, fifty. the serigialar derive their origin from maaden, the cheuslu from the [p. ] neighbourhood of badjazze, the babaderli from the mountains of st. simon, the halalis from barak. each tribe has its own chief, whose rank in the divan is determined by the strength his tribe; hayder aga presides amongst them whenever it is found necessary to call together a common council. his authority over the ryhanlus seems to be almost absolute, as he sometimes carries his motions in the divan even against the opinion and will of the assembled chiefs. he settles the disputes, which occur between these chiefs, and which are often accompanied by hostile incursions into one another�s territory. the chiefs decide all disputes among their own followers according to the feeble knowledge which they possess of the turkish laws; but appeals from their tribunal may be made to that of the grand chief. the whole ryhanlu tribe is tributary to tshapan oglu, the powerful governor of the eastern part of anatolia, who resides at yuzgat. they pay him an annual tribute of six thousand two hundred and fifteen piastres, in horses, cattle, &c. he claims also the right of nominating to the vacant places of chieftains; but his influence over the turkman ryhanlu having of late much diminished, this right is at present merely nominal. the predecessors of hayder aga used to receive their firmahn of nomination, or rather of confirmation, from the porte. when the tribute for tshapan oglu is collected, hayder aga generally gives in an account of disbursements incurred during the preceding year for the public service, such as presents to officers of the porte passing through the camp, expenses of entertaining strangers of rank, &c. &c. the tribute, as well as hayder aga�s demands, are levied from the tribes according to the repartition of the minor agas; and each chief takes that opportunity of adding to the sum to which his tribe is assessed, four or five hundred piastres, which make up his only income as chief. the turkmans do not pay any miri, or general land tax to the grand signor, for the ground they occupy. families, if disgusted with their chief, often pass from one tribe to another without any one daring to prevent their departure. the ryhanlu, like most of the larger turkman nations, are a nomade people. they appear in their winter quarters in the plain of antioch at the end of september, and depart from thence towards the middle of april, when the flies of the plain begin to torment their horses and cattle. they then direct their march towards marash, and remain in the neighbourhood of that place about one month; from thence they reach the mountains of gurun and albostan. the mountains which they occupy are called keukduli, sungulu, and kara dorouk, (upon kara dorouk, they say, are some fine ruins). here they pass the hottest summer months; in autumn they repass the plains of albostan, and return by the same route towards antioch. the winter habitations of the turkmans in the hilly districts are, as i have mentioned before, erected on the declivity of the hills, so as to be by their position somewhat sheltered from the northerly winds. sometimes five or six families live together on one spot in as many tents, but for the greater part tents of single families are met with at one or two miles distance from each other. in proportion to the arable land, which the hilly parts contain, these districts are better peopled than the plain, where a thousand tents are scattered over an [p. ] extent, of the most fertile country, of at least five hundred square miles. the structure of the habitations of these nomades is of course extremely simple: an oblong square wall of loose stones, about four feet high, is covered over with a black cloth made of goats hair, which is supported by a dozen or more posts, so that in the middle of the tent the covering is elevated about nine feet from the ground. a stone partition is built across the tent, near the entrance: i found in every tent that the women had uniformly possession of the greater half to the left of the door; the smaller half to the right hand side is appropriated to the men, and there is also a partition at h [figure not included], which generally serves as a stable for a favourite horse of the master or of one of his sons. the rest of the horses and the cattle are kept in caverns, which abound in these calcareous hills, or in smaller huts built on purpose. besides those who live in tents, many of the turkmans, especially in the plain, live in large huts fifteen feet high, built and distributed like the tents, but having, instead of a tent covering, a roof of rushes, which grow in great abundance on the banks of the afrin. the women�s room serves also as the kitchen; there they work at their looms, and strangers never enter: unless, when, as i was told, the turkmans meaning to do great honour to a guest, allow him a corner of the harem to sleep in quiet among the women. the men�s apartment is covered with carpets, which serve as beds to strangers and to the unmarried members of the family; the married people retire into the harem. the turkmans have also a kind of portable tent made of wood, like a round bird cage, which they cover with large carpets of white wool. the entrance may be shut up by a small door; it is the exclusive habitation of the ladies, and is only met with in families who are possessed of large property. the tent or hut of a turkman is always surrounded by three or four others, in which the fellah families live who cultivate his land. these fellahs are the remaining peasants of abandoned villages, or some poor straggling kurds. the turkmans find the necessary seed, and receive in return half the produce, which is collected by a few of them who remain for this purpose in the winter quarters the whole year round. the fellahs live wretchedly; whenever they are able to scrape together a small pittance, their masters take it from them under pretence of borrowing it; i was treated by several of them at dinner with the best dish they could afford: bad oil, with coarse bread; they never taste meat except when they kill a cow or an ox, disabled by sickness or age; the greater part of them live literally upon bread and water, neither fruits or vegetables being cultivated here; they are nevertheless, a cheerful good-natured people; the young men play, sing, and dance, every evening, and are infinitely better tempered [p. ] than their haughty masters. my host, mohammed ali, began a few years ago to plant a small garden of fruit trees near his tents; his example will probably be generally followed, because the ryhanlu families, at every returning season, pitch their tents on the same spot. it is only about ten years, that the ryhanlu have cultivated the land; like the other turkman hordes they had always preferred the wandering life of feeders of cattle. agriculture was introduced among them by the persuasion of hayder aga, whose daughter having married a chief of the neighbouring kurds, an alliance took place, which enabled the turkmans to perceive the advantages, derived by the kurds from the cultivation of the soil. the principal riches of the turkmans however still consist in cattle. their horses are inferior to those of the arabs of the desert, but are well adapted for the mountains. their necks are shorter and thicker than those of the arab horses, the head larger, the whole frame more clumsy: the price of a good turkman horse at aleppo is four or five hundred piastres, while twice that sum or more is paid for an arab horse of a generous breed. contrary to the practice of the arabs, the turkmans ride males exclusively. the family of my host possessed four horses, three mares, about five hundred sheep, one hundred and fifty goats, six cows, and eight camels; he is looked upon as a man in easy circumstances; there are few families whose property does not amount to half as much, and there are many who have three or four times as many cattle. i have heard of some who are possessed of property in cattle and cash to the amount of one hundred and fifty thousand piastres. such sums are gained by the trade with aleppo and by usury amongst themselves. at the time of their departure for armenia the ryhanlu buy up buffaloes and arab camels, which they exchange in armenia for a better breed of camels and for some other cattle, for the aleppo market. the armenian or caramanian camel is taller and stronger than the arab, its neck is more bent, and the neck and upper part of the thighs are covered with thick hair; the arab camel, on the contrary, has very little hair. the common load of the latter is about six hundred weight, or one hundred and twenty rotolos, but the armenian camel will carry one hundred and sixty rotolos, or eight hundred weight. the price of an arabian camel is about two hundred and fifty piastres, that of an armenian at aleppo is twice as much.	this breed of camels is produced by a he-dromedary and a she- arabian camel. the people of anatolia keep these male dromedaries as stallions for the purpose of covering the females of the smaller arabian breed, which the turkmans, yearly bring to their market. if left to breed among themselves the caramanian camels produce a puny race of little value. the arabs use exclusively their smaller breed of camels, because they endure heat, thirst, and fatigue, infinitely better than the others, which are well suited to hilly districts. the camels of the turkmans feed upon a kind of low bramble called in turkish kufan, which grows in abundance upon the hills; in the evening they descend the mountains and come trotting towards the tents, where each camel receives a ball of paste, made of barley meal and water, weighing about one pound. the expense of feeding these useful animals is therefore reduced to the cost of a handful of barley per day. the turkmans do not milk their camels, but use them exclusively as beasts of burthen. through [p. ] their means they carry on a very profitable trade with aleppo. they provide the town with firewood, which they cut in the mountains of the kurds, distant about four hours to the n.w. of mohammed aga�s tent; the kurds themselves who inhabit those mountains have no camels, and are obliged to sell their wood and their labour in cutting it at a very trifling price. besides wood the turkmans carry to town the produce of their fields, together with sheep and lambs, wool, butter and cheese in the spring, and a variety of home made carpets. they transport the merchandize of the frank merchants at aleppo from alexandretta to the city. the profits arising from the trade with aleppo are almost entirely consumed by the demands of their families for cloth, coffee, sweetmeats, and various articles of eastern luxury; they seldom take back any cash to their tents. the manner of living of the turkmans is luxurious for a nomade people. their tents are for the greater part clean, the floor in the men�s room is furnished with a divan or sophas, leaving only a space in the middle where a large fire is continually kept up to cheer the company and to make coffee, of which they consume a great quantity. their coffee cups are three times the size of those commonly used in the levant, or as large as an english coffee cup; whenever coffee is handed round, each person�s cup is filled two or three times; when i was with them, i often drank twenty or more cups in the course of the day. the servants roast and pound the coffee immediately before it is drank. they pound it in large wooden mortars, and handle the pestle with so much address, that if two or three are pounding together they keep time, and made a kind of music which seemed to be very pleasing to their masters. the turkmans taste flesh only upon extraordinary occasions, such as a marriage or a circumcision, a nightly feast during the ramazan, or the arrival of strangers. their usual fare is burgoul; this dish is made of wheat boiled, and afterwards dried in the sun in sufficient quantity for a year�s consumption: the grain is re-boiled with butter or oil, and affords a very palateable nourishment; it is a favourite dish all over syria. besides burgoul they eat rice, eggs, honey, dried fruit, and sour milk, called leben. they have none but goats milk. their bread is a thin unleavened cake, which the women bake immediately before dinner upon a hot iron plate, in less than a minute. breakfast is served at eight o�clock in the morning, the principal meal takes place immediately after sunset. the turkmans, are great coxcombs at table, in comparison with other levantines; instead of simply using his fingers, the turkman twists his thin bread very adroitly into a sort of spoon, which he swallows, together with the morsel which he has taken out of the dish with it. i remember sitting with a dozen of them round a bason of sour milk, which we dispatched in a few minutes without any person, except myself, having in the least soiled his fingers. the turkman women do not hide themselves, even before strangers, but the girls seldom enter the men�s room, although they are permitted freely to talk with their father�s guests. i was much struck with the elegance of their shapes and the regularity of their features. their complexion is as fair as that of european women; as they advance in age the sun browns them a little. as to their morals, chastity becomes a necessary virtue where [p. ] even a kiss, is punished with death by the father or brother of the unhappy offender. i could mention several instances of the extreme severity of the turkmans upon this subject; but one may suffice. three brothers taking a ride end passing through an insulated valley, met their sister receiving the innocent caresses of her lover. by a common impulse they all three discharged their fire-arms upon her, and left their fallen victim upon the ground, while the lover escaped unhurt; my host mohammed ali, upon being informed of the murder, sent his servant to bring the body to his tent, in order to prevent the jackals from devouring it: the women were undressing and washing the body to commit it to the grave, when a slight breathing convinced them that the vital spark was not yet extinguished; in short the girl recovered. she was no sooner out of immediate danger, than one of ali�s sons repaired to the tent of his friends, the three brothers, who sat sullen and silent round the fire, grieving over the loss of their sister. the young man entered, and saluted them, and said, �i come to ask you, in the name of my father, for the body of your sister; my family wishes to bury her.� he had no sooner finished than the brothers rose, crying: �if she was dead you would not have asked for her, you would have taken the body without our permission.� then seizing their arms, they were hurrying out of the tent, in search of the still living victim; but mohammed ali�s son opposed the authority of his father and his own reputation of courage to their brutal intentions; he swore that he would kill the first who should leave the tent, told them that they had already sufficiently revenged the received injury, and that if their sister was not dead it was the visible protection of the prophet that had saved her: and thus, he at last persuaded them to grant his request. the girl was nursed for three months in mohammed ali�s family, and married after her complete recovery to the young man who had been the cause of her misfortune. notwithstanding such severity the young turkmans boast of their intrigues, and delight in all the dangers of secret courtship; and i have been assured, upon indisputable authority, that there are few men among them who have not enjoyed the favours of their mistresses before the consumnnation of their nuptials. if the woman happens to become a mother, she destroys her illegitimate offspring as the only means of saving her own life and that of the father. the turkman ladies dress in the common style of syrian women; their bonnet is adorned with strings of venetian zequins, or other gold pieces. the dress of the men is that of the turks of anatolia. the horsemen wear wide riding pantaloons, or sherwalls, of cloth; their head-dress consists of a red cap round which they twist a turban of cotton or silk stuff; the wealthy wear turbans of flowered stuffs, or even persian shawls. twenty years ago the national head-dress was a tall and narrow cap of white wool, in the shape of a sugar-loaf, since that time the ryhanlu have left off wearing it, but i remember to have seen a headdress of this kind during my stay with the turkmans near tarsus. the turkman women are very laborious; besides the care of housekeeping, they work the tent coverings of goats hair, and the woollen carpets, which are inferior only to those of persian manufacture. their looms are of primitive simplicity; they do not make use of the shuttle, but pass the woof with their hands. they seem to have made great progress in the art of dyeing; their colours [p. ] are beauitful. indigo and cochineal, which they purchase at aleppo, give them their blue, and red dyes, but the ingredients of all the others, especially of a brilliant green, are herbs which they gather in the mountains of armenia; the dyeing process is kept by them as a national secret. the wool of their carpets, is of the ordinary kind; the carpets are about seven feet long and three broad, and sell from fifteen to one hundred piastres a piece. while the females are employed in these labours the men pass their whole time in indolence; except at sunset, when they feed their horses and camels, they lounge about the whole day, without any useful employment, and without even refreshing their leisure by some trifling occupation. to smoke their pipes and drink coffee is to them the most agreeable pastime; they frequently visit each other, and collecting round the fire-place, they keep very late hours. i was told that there are some men amongst them, who play the tamboura, a sort of guitar, but i never heard any of them perform. if the young men would condescend to assist in agriculture, the wealth of the families would rapidly increase, and the whole of the plains of antioch might in time be cultivated: at present, as far as i could observe, there are few families growing rich; most of them spend their whole income. a turkman never leaves his tent to take a ride in the neighbourhood without being armed with his gun, pistols, and sabre. i was astonished to see that they do not take the smallest care of their fire arms: a great number of them were shewn to me, to know whether they were of english manufacture; i found them covered with rust, and they complained of their often missing fire. they have no gunsmiths amongst them; nor any artizans at all, except some farriers, and a few makers of bridles and of horse accoutrements[.] there are no lawyers or ulemas among the ryhanlu. some families of consequence carry with them a faqui or travelling imam, to teach their children to read and to pray, and who in case of need performs likewise the duties of a menial servant, much like the young german baron�s governor. these faqui are for the greater part natives of albostan, educated there in mosques: they follow the turkmans to participate in the pious alms which the koran prescribes. they are generally ignorant, even of the turkish law: they are often consulted however by the chiefs, and their sentence is generally confirmed by the chief whenever there is no precedent or customary law in point to the contrary. i did not see any books amongst the turkmans, and i am certain that out of fifty hardly one knows how to read or write. even few of them know the text of their prayers (which are throughout the mohammedan countries in the sacred language, the arabic), and therefore perform the prescribed prostrations silently and without the usual ejaculations. the married people, men as well as women, are tolerably exact in the performance of their devotions, but the young men never trouble themselves about them. i did not stay long enough among the turkmans to be able to judge correctly of their character, especially as i was ignorant of their language. i saw enough, however, to convince me that they possess most of the vices of nomade nations, without their good qualities. the turkmans are, like the arabs and kurds, a people of robbers, that is to say, [p. ] every thing which they can lay hold of in the open country is their lawful prize, provided it does not belong to their acknowledged friends. the arabs make amends in some measure for their robberies by the hospitality and liberality with which they receive friends and strangers. in this respect i soon found that i had been led to form a very erroneous opinion of the turkman character. i was introduced at aleppo to mohammed ali aga, a man of considerable influence amongst the ryhanlu, as a physician who was travelling in search of herbs, and i succeeded in supporting my assumed character during near a fortnight�s stay under his tent. before my departure from aleppo, i made him a present of coffee and sweetmeats, to the amount of sixty piastres, and i promised him another present, when he should have brought me back in safety to aleppo. notwithstanding these precautions, my reception in his tent was rather cool, and i soon found that i was among men who had no other idea than that of getting as much out of me as they could. they were not under the least restraint, but calculated in my presence how much my visit was worth to them, as i sufficiently understood, from their animated tone and gestures, added to the few turkish words, which i learnt. to spare my dinner my host took me out a visiting almost every day, just before the dinner hour; and that he might know how far it would be prudent to incur expence on my account, he permitted one of his friends to search my pockets, and was cruelly disappointed when he found that my purse did not contain more than four or five piastres. my horse, for the maintenance of which i had agreed with my host, was fed with straw, until i told them that i should take care of it myself, when they were obliged to deliver its daily portion of barley into my own hands. such was the liberality which i experienced in return for the medical advice and medicines which they received without hesitation from me upon demanding them. their minds seemed intent only upon money, except among the lovers there was no other subject of conversation, and instead of the arab virtues, of honour, frankness, and hospitality, there appeared to be no other motive of action among them than the pursuit of gain. the person of a frank may be safe among them, but his baggage will be exposed to close search, and whatever strikes the fancy of a powerful man, will be asked of him in such a manner, that it is adviseable to give up the object at once. i had fortunately hidden my compass in my girdle, but a thermometer which they found in my pocket, attracted general notice; if i had explained to them the use i meant to make of it, it would have confirmed the suspicion already hinted to me by one of them, that i intended to poison their springs. i pretended that the thermometer was a surgical instrument, which being put into the blood of an open wound served to shew whether the wound was dangerous or not. it is not more from the behaviour of the turkmans towards myself, that i formed my opinion of their character, than from their conduct towards each other. they are constantly upon their guard against robbers and thieves of their own tribe; they cheat each other in the most trifling affairs, and like most of the aleppo merchants, make use of the most awful oaths and imprecations to conceal their falsehood. if they have one good quality it is their tolerance in religious matters, which proves, on the other hand, how little they care about them. [p. ] the men marry at fourteen or fifteen, the girls at thirteen. excepting hayder aga, and some of his brothers, there are very few who have more than one wife. they celebrate their marriage feasts with great pomp. the young men play upon those occasions at a running game much resembling the �jeu de barre,� known on the continent of europe. their music then consists in drums and trumpets, only, for the turkmans, are not so fond of music as the aleppines and the arabs, nor did i ever meet among them with any of the story-tellers, who are so frequent amongst the arabs of the desert. whenever a son reaches the marriageable age, his father gives him, even before his marriage, a couple of camels and a horse to defray, by the profits of trade, his private expenses. at the death of the father, his property is divided amongst the family according to the turkish law. the ryhanlu bury their dead in the burying places which are found scattered among the ruins of deserted villages. my observations were confined to the ryhanlu. but they will probably in great measure apply to all the large turkman tribes which inhabit the western parts of asia minor, and concerning which i obtained a few particulars. in the level country between badjazze and adena lives a tribe which is tributary to the governors of these two places. they are called jerid, and are more numerous than the ryhanlu; they likewise leave their plains towards the approach of summer, and winter in the armenian mountains, in the neighbourhood of the ryhanlu. like the latter they have one head, and several minor chiefs, and they are divided into six tribes: viz. jerid (chief shahen beg), tegir (chief oglu kiaya), karegialar (chief rustam beg), bozdagan (chief kerem oglu), aoutshar (chief hassan beg), leck (chief agri bayouk). the lecks speak, besides the turkish, a language of their own, which has no resemblance either to the arabic, turkish, persian or kurdine; �it sounds like the whistling of birds,� said the turkman from whom i obtained this information, and the same remark was confirmed by others. the name of the leck, renders the supposition probable that they are descendants of the lazi, a people inhabiting the coast of the black sea, and who in the time of the great justinian opposed his forces with some success. chardin mentions having met descendants of the lazi near trebizond, whom he describes as a rude sea-faring people, with a peculiar language. the pehluvanlu are the most numerous tribe of the whole nation of turkmans. they are governed by a chief, (mahmoud beg), who is tributary to tshapan oglu. a part of them have for a long period been cultivators, others are shepherds. they inhabit the country from bosurk to near constantinople, and pass the summer months at one day�s journey distance from the ryhanlu. they are in possession of a very profitable transport trade, and their camels form almost exclusively the caravans of smyrna and of the interior of anatolia. they drive their sheep for sale as far as constantinople. the rishwans are more numerous than the ryhanlu, but their tribe is not held in esteem among the turkmans. they were formerly tributary to rishwan oglu, governor of besna, which lies at one day�s journey from aintab; and they used then to winter in the neighbourhood [p. ] of djeboul, on the borders of a small salt lake, five hours to the s. e. of aleppo. they are at present dependent on tshapan oglu, and winter in the plains near haimani in anatolia; they pass their summer months in the neighbourhood of the ryhanlu. their principal tribes are deleyanli (chief ali beg oglu), omar anli (chief omar beg), mandolli (omar aga), gelikanli (hassan beg mor oglu). the rishwans are noted, even among robbers, for their want of faith. the great tribes of the turkmans are often at war with each other, as well as with the kurds, with whom they are in contact in many places. these wars seldom cause the death of more than three or four individuals, after which peace is concluded. in a late war between the ryhanlu and the kurds, which lasted five or six months, and brought on several battles, the whole list of deaths was only six kurds and four turkmans. in the mountains, the turkmans are accompanied in their military expeditions by foot soldiers, armed with muskets; these are men of the tribe who cannot afford to keep a horse. neither the lance, nor the bow is used among them. some tribes of kurds, on the contrary, have never abandoned the use of the bow. the tar, or blood-revenge, is observed among the turkman nations, as well among themselves, as with respect to foreigners. they have a particular species of tar which i have never heard of among the arabs. it attaches to their goods; the following incident will best explain it: a caravan of turkman camels laden with wood was seized last winter, just before the gates of aleppo, by a detachment of karashukly (a mixt tribe of turkmans and arabs, who inhabit the banks of the euphrates, in the vicinity of bir). one of the turkmans was wounded, the loads were thrown down, and fifty camels driven away, worth about five hundred piastres apiece. the turkmans immediately dispatched an old arab woman as ambassadress to their enemies, to treat for the restoration of their camels, and she succeeded in recovering them at the rate of one hundred and sixty piastres apiece, or eight thousand piastres, for the whole. �thus,� i was told by a turkman chief, �the tar between us will not be for the whole sum of twenty-five thousand piastres, the real value of the camels, but only for the sum of eight thousand piastres, for which we shall, on the first opportunity take our revenge.� there are no sherif families, or families claiming a descent from the prophet, amongst the ryhanlu. but family pride is not unknown among them. descendants from ancient and renowned chiefs claim, though poor, some deference from wealthy upstarts. in one of their late battles with the kurds, a young man of noble extraction, but poor, and without authority, was crying out in the heat of action: �comrades, let us attack them on the left flank.� hayder aga, who heard it, exclaimed: �who are you? hold your tongue.� after the victory the young man, was seen thoughtful and melancholy in the midst of the rejoicings of his brethren; hayder aga, as proud a man as ever sat upon a throne, to whom it was reported, sent for the young man, and when he entered the tent rose, and kissed his beard, begging [p. ] him to forget whatever lie might have said in the heat of action, when he was not always master of himself. their ideas of decency appear singular, when compared with our own. a turkman will talk before his wife, daughter, or sister upon subjects which are banished from our discourse; at the same time that he would be much offended if any friend should in the presence of his females speak in raptures or poetical terms of the charms of a beloved mistress. remains of antiquity. one of the principal motives of my visit to the turkmans was my desire to visit some ruins near their encampments, particularly those of deir samaan, which at aleppo i had heard compared to the temples at baalbec. i therefore made it a condition with my turkman host, that he should take me to deir samaan as well as to several other ruins whose names i had collected from different aleppines. the day after my arrival under his tent, he set out with me towards the deir, and we reached it after a ride of four hours over the rocky hills which encircle the mountain of st. simon, called djebel samaan, or sheikh barekat. the deir samaan consists of the ruins of a church, monastery, or episcopal palace, built upon the top of an insulated hill, bearing from the top of the mountain of st. simon, n. e., about eight miles distant. it is now inhabited by several families of kurds, who have their black goat hair tents pitched in the middle of the ruins. they received us with much hospitality; a sheep was immediately killed, and all the delicacies of the season were served up to us. after dinner and coffee, tshay[fn# ] was served round, which the aleppines and all syrians esteem as one of the greatest dainties: it is a heating drink, made of ginger, cloves, rosewater, sugar and similar ingredients, boiled together to a thick syrup. mursa aga, the chief, a handsome young man, then took up his tamboura or guitar, and the rest of the evening passed in music and singing. the whole summit of the hill, which is six hundred paces in length and one hundred and seventy in breadth, was once covered with stately buildings. a thick wall of square hewn stones, is traceable all round. the principal ruins consist of two separate buildings, a palace, and a church, or monastery, which were separated from each other by a court- yard one hundred and ten paces in length. the palace, or perhaps the high priest�s habitation, is not remarkable either for its size or elegance. i could not enter it because it was occupied by the harem of mursa aga. a colonnade led from the palace to the church gate; the broken fragments only of the columns remain. of the church most of the side walls are still standing, ornamented with pillars and arches worked in the walls; it is divided into two circular apartments [p. ] of which the inner may have been the sanctuary. on the eastern side of the church is a dark vaulted room, which receives the daylight only from the door, and which appears to have been a sepulchre. a number of niches (if i recollect right, nine), not perpendicular like the egyptian sepulchral niches, but horizontal, have been built around the wall. into this chamber opens a subterraneous passage, which is said by the kurds, to continue a long way under ground, in the direction of antakia. i could not persuade any body to enter it with me. adjacent to this sepulchre is another vaulted, open hall, which has been changed by its present proprietors into stables, and an apartment for receiving strangers in the heat of summer. the softness of the calcareous stone from the adjacent hills, with which the buildings are constructed, has caused all the ornaments of the arches and columns and even the shafts themselves to decay; enough remains however, of their clumsy and overcharged ornaments, to shew that the edifices are of an advanced period of the greek empire. the columns are very small in proportion to the arches which they support, and i did not see any above eighteen or twenty feet high. the perishable nature of the stone has not left a single inscription visible, if there ever were any, with the exception of some names of frenchmen from aleppo, who visited the place eighty years ago. the sign of the cross is visible in several places. if these buildings were constructed in pious commemoration of the devout sufferings of st. simon stylites, who passed thirty-five years of his life upon a column, they are probably of the sixth century. st. simon died towards the end of the fifth century, and in the seventh century syria was conquered and converted to islamism by the successors of mohammed. the structures are certainly not of the date of the crusades. on the eastern side of the building are the remains of an aqueduct, the continuation of which is again met with on the opposite hill. the kurdine inhabitants of these ruins collect at present the rain water in cisterns. descending from the top of the hill on the western side, the remains of a broad paved causeway lead to an arch, which stands about ten minutes walk from the castle, and faces the ruins of a city, built at the foot of the hill, of which a number of buildings are still extant. these ruins, called bokatur, are uninhabited, their circumference may be estimated at about one mile and a half. amongst the many private houses a palace may be distinguished, surrounded by a low portico, at which terminates the causeway leading from the arch. at half an hour�s distance to the s.w. of bokatur, are ruins resembling the former in extent and structure. i saw several houses of which the front was supported by columns, of a smaller size than those of the palace at bokatur. this place is now called immature, at three quarters of an hour to the w. of it, are other similar ruins of a town called filtire, which i did not see. the two latter places are now inhabited by some poor kurdine families. the style of building which i observed in the houses of these ruined cities approaches more to the european than the asiatic taste. the roofs are somewhat inclined, and the windows numerous, and large, instead of being few and small, as in turkish houses. the walls, most of which are still remaining, are for the greatest part without ornament, [p. ] from one foot to about one foot and a half thick, and built of calcareous squared stones, like deir samaan. the pillars which are still to be seen in some of the ruined buildings are none of them more than fifteen feet high. their capitals, like those of the columns in the deir samaan, are rude and unfinished; if any order is discernible it is a corrupted corinthian. the neighbourbood of these towns, at least for five miles round, presents nothing but an uneven plain, thickly covered with barren rocks, which rise to the height of two or three feet above the surface. a few herbs grow in the fissures of the rocks, which are scarcely sufficient to keep from starving half a dozen horses, the property of the present miserable inhabitants. there are several wells of good water in the neighbourhood of the ruins. to the s.s.e. of the deir, at an hour and a half�s distance, stands a single pillar about thirty-five feet high, the base and capital of which are like those of the deir. no inscriptions are visible. at a few yards from the column is the entrance to a spacious subterraneous cavern. i passed this spot on my way to the deir, and purposed to examine the contents of the cave on our return; i returned however by another route. we left our friendly kurds on the following day at noon. at taking my leave i told the chief that i should be happy to make him some acknowledgments for the hospitality shewn to me, whenever he should visit aleppo. he excused himself for not having been able to treat us according to his wishes, and begged me to send him from aleppo a few strings for his guitar; which i gladly promised. these kurds have been for some time past at war with the janissaries at aleppo, which prevents them from going there. on our road back to mohammed ali�s tents, through bokatur and immature, we met halfway a poor gypsy, or as they are called here, kurpadh; these kurpadh are spread over the whole of anatolia and syria. the kurds have spread themselves over some parts of the plain which the afrin waters, as well as some of the neighbouring mountains. they live in tents and in villages, are stationary, and are all occupied in agriculture and the rearing of cattle. they form four tribes, of which the shum, who live in the plain, are the most considerable. the kurds seem to be of a more lively disposition than the turkmans; the aleppines say that their word is less to be depended upon than that of the turkmans. my hosts at deir samaan asked me many questions relative to european politics. i found the opinion prevalent among them which buonaparte has taken such pains to impress upon the winds of the continental nations, that great britain is and ought to be merely a maritime power. this belief, however, proves very advantageous to english travellers in these countries. a frenchman will every where be taken for a spy, as long as the french invasion of egypt and syria is in the memory of man, but it seems never to enter into the suspicions of these people that the english can have any wish to possess the countries of the levant. i was astonished to find that all the kurds spoke arabic fluently, besides the turkish and their own language, which latter is a corrupted mixture of persian, armenian, and turkish. on the other hand, i only met three or four turkmans who knew how to express themselves [p. ] in arabic, though both nations are alike in almost continual intercourse with arab peasants and aleppines. besides the ruins just described, there are many others dispersed over the turkman territories; which, to judge from the prevailing architecture, are of the same date as those already mentioned. tisin, sulfa, kalaa el [b]ent, jub abiad, and mayshat, all of them at two or three hours distance from the tent of mohammed ali, are heaps of ruined buildings, with a few remains of houses. kalaa el bent and jub abiad contain each of them a square tower about sixty feet high. they have only one small projecting window near the top; the roof is flat. tradition says that kalaa el bent or in turkish kislar kalassi, (the castle of girls), was formerly a convent; probably of nuns. at mayshat, a turkman encampment on the top of a hill, at the foot of which is a large deep well, with a solid wall, i was shewn a subterraneous chamber, about twenty feet long and fifteen in breadth, hewn out of the rock, at the entrance to which are two columns; there are two excavations in the bottom of it, like the sepulchral niches which i saw in the deir samaan. i have been told that near telekberoun, a village situated at the foot of the hills which encircle the plain of khalaka, there are remains of an ancient causeway elevated two or three feet from the ground, about fifteen feet broad, running in the direction from aleppo to antioch; it may be traced for the length of a quarter of an hour. in the plain of the afrin, about three miles from mursal oglu�s residence, and half an hour from the afrin, stands an insulated hillock in the plain with the ruins of a saracen castle, called daoud pasha; four miles to the n.e. of it is situated another similar hillock, with ruins of a castle, called tshyie. the sight of these numerous ruins fills the minds of the turkmans and kurds with ideas of hidden treasures, and they relate a variety of traditionary tales of moggrebyn sheikhs, who have been once on the point of getting out the treasure, when they have been interrupted by the shrieks of a woman, &c. &c. having provided myself at aleppo with a small hammer to break off spesimens of rocks, the turkmans could not be pursuaded that this instrument was not for the purpose of searching for gold. several turkmans pressed me to do them the favour of working for a day in their behalf. i endeavoured to persuade them that the hammer was to assist me in procuring medicinal herbs. [fn# ] tshay is the chinese word for tea; and our word is corrupted from it. the word tshay is used all over tartary and turkey, where the dried herb, which is brought over land from china, is also well known. in syria and egypt, where the word is better known than the herb, real tea is generally distinguished by the name of tshay hindy (tea of india). ed. appendix. no. ii. on the political division of syria, and the recent changes in the government of aleppo. the political division of syria has not undergone any changes, since the time of volney. the pashaliks are five in number. to the pashalik of aleppo belongs the government of aintab, badjazze, alexandretta, and antakia. damascus comprehends hebron, jerusalem, nablous, bostra, hums, and hama. the pashalik of tripoli extends along the seacoast from djebail to latikia; that of seide or akka, from djebail nearly to jaffa, including the mountains inhabited by the druses. the pasha of gaza governs in jaffa and gaza, and in the adjacent plains. the present pasha of damascus is at the same time pasha of tripoli, and therefore in possession of the greater half of syria. the pashalik of gaza is at present annexed to that of akka. such is the nominal division of syria. but the power of the porte in this country has been so much upon the decline, particularly since the time of djezzar pasha of akka, that a number of petty independent chiefs have sprung up, who defy their sovereign. badjazze, alexandretta, and antakia have each an independent aga. aintab, to the north of aleppo, edlip and shogre, on the way from aleppo to latikia, have their own chiefs, and it was but last year that the pasha of damascus succeeded in subduing berber, a formidable rebel, who had fixed his seat at tripoli, and had maintained himself there for the last six years. the pashas themselves follow the same practice; it is true that neither the pasha of damascus nor that of akka has yet dared openly to erect the standard of rebellion; they enjoy all the benefits of the protection of the supreme government, but depend much more upon their own strength, than on the caprice of the sultan, or on their intrigues in the seraglio for the continuance of their power. the policy of the porte is to flatter and load with honours those whom she cannot ruin, and to wait for some lucky accident by which she may regain her power; but, above all, to avoid a formal rupture, which would only serve to expose her own weakness and to familiarize the pashas and their subjects with the ideas of rebellion. the pashas of damascus and of akka continue to be dutiful subjects of the grand signior in appearance; and they even send considerable sums of money to constantinople, to ensure the yearly renewal of their offices. (the pashaliks all over the turkish dominions are given for the term of one year only, and at the beginning of the mohammedan year, the pashas receive [p. ] their confirmation or dismissal) the agas of aintab, antakia, alexandretta, edlip, and shogre, pay also for the renewal of their offices. there are a few chiefs who have completely thrown off the mask of subjection; kutshuk ali, the lord of badjazze openly declares his contempt of all orders from the porte, plunders and insults the sultan�s officers, as well as all strangers passing through his mountains, and with a force of less than two hundred men, and a territory confined to the half ruined town of badjazze, in the gulf of alexandretta, and a few miles of the surrounding mountains, his father and himself have for the last thirty years defied all the attempts of the neighbouring pashas to subdue them. the inhabitants of aleppo have been for several years past divided into two parties; the sherifs (the real or pretended descendants of the prophet), and the janissaries. the former distinguish themselves by twisting a green turban round a small red cap, the latter wear high barbary caps, with a turban of shawl, or white muslin, and a khandjar, or long crooked knife in their girdles. there are few turks in the city who have been able to keep aloof from both parties. the sherifs first showed their strength about forty years ago, during a tumult excited by their chiefs in consequence of a supposed insult received by mr. clarke, the then british consul. aleppo was governed by them in a disorderly manner for several years without a pasha, until the bey of alexandretta, being appointed to the pashalik, surprised the town and ordered all the chief sherifs to be strangled[.] the pasha however, found his authority greatly limited by the influence which tshelebi effendi, an independent aleppine grandee, had gained over his countrymen. the immense property of tshelebi�s family added to his personal qualities, rendered his influence and power so great that during twenty years he obliged several pashas who would not yield to his counsels and designs to quit the town.	he never would accept of the repeated offers made by the porte to raise him to the pashalik. his interests were in some measure supported by the corps of janissaries; who in aleppo, as in other turkish towns, constitute the regular military force of the porte; but until that period their chiefs had been without the smallest weight in the management of public affairs. one of tshelebi�s household officers, ibrahim beg, had meanwhile been promoted, through the friends of his patron at constantinople, to the first dignities in the town. he was made mutsellim (vice governor), and mohassel (chief custom house officer), and after the death of tshelebi, his power devolved upon ibrahim. this was in . kussa pasha, a man of probity and talents, was sent at that time as pasha to aleppo. being naturally jealous of ibrahim beg�s influence, he endeavoured to get possession of his person, by ordering him to be detained during a visit, made by ibrahim to compliment the pasha [p. ] upon his arrival, for a debt which ibrahim owed to a foreign merchant, who had preferred his complaints to the pasha�s tribunal. ibrahim paid the debt, and was no sooner out of the pasha�s immediate reach, than he engaged ahmed aga (one of the present janissary chiefs), to enter with him into a formal league against kussa. the janissaries, together with ibrahim�s party, attacked the pasha�s troops; who after several days fighting, were driven out of the town, and ibrahim was soon afterwards named pasha of three tails, and for the first time pasha of aleppo. from that period ( - ) may be dated the power of the janissaries. ibrahim had been the cause of their rising into consideration, but he soon found that their party was acquiring too much strength; he therefore deemed it necessary to countenance the sherifs, and being a man of great talents, he governed and plundered the town, by artfully opposing the two parties to each other. in the year , ibrahim was nominated to the pashalik of damascus. sherif pasha, a man of ordinary capacity, being sent to aleppo, the janissaries soon usurped the powers of government. at the time of the french invasion of egypt, the intrigues of djezzar pasha of akka drove ibrahim from his post at damascus, and he was obliged to follow the grand vizir�s army into egypt. when after the campaign of egypt the grand vizir with the remains of his army, was approaching aleppo upon his return to constantinople, ibrahim conceived hopes of regaining his lost seat at aleppo. through the means of his son mohammed beg, then mobassei, the janissaries were persuaded that the vizir had evil intentions against them, forged letters were produced to that effect, and the whole body of janissaries left the town before the vizir�s arrival in its neighbourhood. their flight gave ibrahim the sought for opportunity to represent the fugitives to the vizir as rebels afraid to meet their master�s presence; they were shortly afterwards, by a firmahn from the porte, formally proscribed as rebels, and the killing of any of them who should enter the territory of aleppo was declared lawful. they had retired to damascus, latikia, tripoli, and the mountains of the druses, and they spared no money to get the edict of their exile rescinded. after a tedious bargain for the price of their pardon, they succeeded at last in obtaining it, on condition of paying one hundred thousand piastres into the sultan�s treasury. ibrahim pasha, who had in the meanwhile regained the pashalik of aleppo, was to receive that sum from them, and he had so well played his game, that the janissaries still thought him their secret friend. the principal chiefs, trusting to ibrahim�s assurances, came to the town for the purpose of paying down the money; they were a few days afterwards arrested, and it was generally believed that ibrahim would order them the same night to be strangled. in turkey however, there are always hopes as long as the purse is not exhausted. the prisoners engaged mohammed, ibrahim�s beloved son, to intercede in their favour; they paid him for that service one thousand zequins in advance, and promised as much more: and he effectually extorted from his father a promise not to kill any of them. it is said that ibrahim foretold his son that the time would come when he would repent of his intercession. a short time afterwards ibrahim was nominated a second time to the pashalik of damascus, which [p. ] became vacant by djezzar�s death, in . his prisoners were obliged to follow him to damascus; from whence they found means to open a correspondence with the emir beshir, the chief of the druses, and to prevail upon him to use all his interest with ibrahim to effect their deliverance. ibrahim stood at that time in need of the emir�s friendship; he had received orders from the porte to seize upon djezzar�s treasures at akka, and to effect this the co-operation of the druse chief was absolutely necessary. upon the emir�s reiterated applications, the prisoners were at last liberated. when ibrahim pasha removed to damascus, he procured the pashalik of aleppo for his son mohammed pasha, a man who possesses in a high degree the qualification so necessary in a delegate of the porte, of understanding how to plunder his subjects. the chief of a sherif family, ibn hassan aga khalas (who has since entered into the corps of the janissaries, and is now one of their principal men), was the first who resolved to oppose open force to his measures; he engaged at first only seven or eight other families to join him, and it was with this feeble force that the rebellion broke out which put an end to the pasha�s government. the confederates began by knocking down the pasha�s men in the streets wherever they met them, janissaries soon assembled from all quarters to join hassan�s party; and between two or three hundred deli bashi or regular troops of the pasha were massacred in the night in their own habitations, to which the rebels found access from the neighbouring terraces or flat roofs. still the pasha�s troops would have subdued the insurgents had it not been for the desperate bravery of hassan aga. after several months daily fighting in the streets, in which the pasha�s troops had thrown up entrenchments, want of food began to be sensibly felt in the part of the city which his adherents occupied near the serai, a very spacious building now in ruins. he came therefore to the resolution of abandoning the city. at mohammed�s request a tartar was sent, from constantinople, with orders enjoining him to march against berber, governor of tripoli, who had been declared a rebel. having thus covered the disgrace of his defeat, he marched out of aleppo in the end of , but instead of proceeding to tripoli, he established his head quarters at sheikh abou beker, a monastery of derwishes situated upon an elevation only at one mile�s distance from aleppo, where he recruited his troops and prepared himself to besiege the town. his affairs, however, took a more favourable turn upon the arrival of a kapidgi bashi or officer of the porte from constantinople, who carried with him the most positive orders that mohammed pasha should remain governor of aleppo, and be acknowledged as such by the inhabitants, the kapidgi�s persuasions, as well as the sultan�s commands, which the janissaries did not dare openly to disobey, brought on a compromise, in consequence of which the pasha re-entered the city. so far he had gained his point, but he soon found himself in his palace without friends or influence; the janissaries were heard to declare that every body who should visit him would be looked upon as a spy; on fridays alone, the great people paid him their visit in a body. the place meanwhile was governed by the chiefs of the janissaries and the sherifs. at length the pasha succeeded, by a secret nightly correspondence, to detach the latter from the janissaries, who were gaining the ascendancy. the sherifs are the natural supporters [p. ] of government in this country; most of the villages round aleppo were then in their possession, they command the landed interests, all the aleppo grandees of ancient families, and all the ulemas and effendis belong to their body, and the generality of them have received some education, while out of one hundred janissaries, there are scarcely five who know how to read or to write their own names. the civil war now broke out afresh, and mohammed had again the worst of it. after remaining three months in the town, he returned to his former encampment at sheikh abou beker, from whence he assisted his party in the town who had taken possession of the castle and several mosques. this warfare lasted nearly two years without any considerable losses on either side. the sherifs were driven out of the mosques, but defended themselves in the castle. generally, the people of aleppo, janissaries as well as sherifs, are a cowardly race. the former never ventured to meet the pasha�s troops on the outside of their walls, the latter did not once sally forth from the castle, but contented themselves with firing into the town, and principally against bankousa, a quarter exclusively inhabited by janissaries. the pasha on his side would have ordered his arnaouts to take the town by assault, had not his own party been jealous of his military power, and apprehensive of the fury of an assaulting army, for which reason they constantly endeavoured to prevent any vigorous attack, promising that they would alone bring the enemy to terms. after nearly two years fighting, during which time a considerable part of the town was laid in ruins, the pasha with the sherifs were on the point of succeeding, and compelling the janissaries to surrender. the chiefs of the janissaries had applied to the european consuls for their mediation between them and the pasha, the conditions of their surrender were already drawn up, and in a few days more their power in aleppo would probably have been for ever annihilated by a treacherous infraction of the capitulation, when, by a fortunate mistake, a tartar, sent from constantinople to mohammed, entered the town, instead of taking his packet to sheikh abou beker; the janissaries opened the dispatches, and found them to contain a firmahn, by which mohammed pasha was recalled from his pashalik of aleppo. this put an end to the war; mohammed dismissed the greater part of his troops and retired: the janissaries came to a compromise with the sherifs in the castle, and have since that time been absolute masters of the city. i cannot omit mentioning that during the whole of the civil war, the persons and property of the franks were rigidly respected. it sometimes happened that parties of sherifs and janissaries skirmishing in the bazars, left off firing by common consent, when a frank was seen passing, and that the firing from the minarets ceased, when franks passed over their flat roofs from one house to another. the janissaries have this virtue in the eyes of the franks, that they are not in the smallest degree fanatical; the character of a sherif is quite the contrary, and whenever religious disputes happen, they are always excited and supported by some greenhead. since the removal of mohammed pasha the porte has continued to nominate his successors; but the name of pasha of aleppo is now nothing more than a vain title. his first successor was alla eddin pasha, a near relation of sultan selim: then waledin pasha, othman [p. ] pasha darukly, ibrahim pasha, a third time, and the present governor seruri mohammed pasha. except the last, who is now in the grand vizir�s camp near constantinople they have all resided at aleppo, but they occupied the serai more like state prisoners than governors. they never were able to carry the most trifling orders into effect, without feeing in some way or other the chiefs of the ja[n]issaries to grant their consent. the corps of janissaries, or the odjak of aleppo, was formerly divided, as in other turkish towns, into companies or ortas, but since the time of their getting into power, they have ceased to submit to any regular discipline: they form a disorderly body of from three to four thousand men, and daily increase their strength and number by recruits from the sherifs. those who possess the greatest riches, and whose family and friends are the most numerous, are looked upon as their chiefs, though they are unable to exercise any kind of discipline. of these chiefs there are at present six principal ones, who have succeeded in sharing the most lucrative branches of the revenue, and what seems almost incredible, they have for the last six years preserved harmony amongst themselves; hadji ibrahim ibn herbely is at this moment the richest and most potent of them all. the legal forms of government have not been changed, and the janissaries outwardly profess to be the dutiful subjects of the porte. the civil administration is nominally in the hands of the mutsellim, who is named by the pasha and confirmed by the porte. the kadhi presides in the court of justice, and the mohassel or chief custom house officer is [a]llowed to perform his functions in the name of his master, but the mutsellim dares not enforce any orders from the porte nor the kadhi decide any law suit of importance, without being previously sure of the consent of some of the chief janissaries. the revenue which the grand signior receives at this moment from aleppo is limited to the miri, or general landtax, which the janissaries themselves pay, the kharatsh or tribute of the christians and jews, and the income of the custom house, which is now rented at the yearly rate of eighty thousand piastres. besides these there are several civil appointments in the town, which are sold every year at constantinople to the highest bidder: the janissaries are in the possession of the most lucrative of them, and remit regularly to the porte the purchase money. the outward decorum which the janissaries have never ceased to observe towards the porte is owing to their fear of offending public opinion, so as to endanger their own security. the porte, on the other hand, has not the means of subduing these rebels, established as their power now is, without calling forth all her resources and ordering an army to march against them, from constantinople. the expense of such an enterprize would hardly be counterbalanced by the profits of its success; for the janissaries, pushed to extremities, would leave the town and find a secure retreat for themselves and their treasures in the mountains of the druses: both parties therefore endeavour to avoid an open rupture; it is well known that the chief janissaries send considerable presents to constantinople to appease their master�s anger, and provided the latter draws supplies for his pressing wants, no matter how or from whence, the insults offered to his supreme authority are easily overlooked. the janissaries chiefly exercise their power with a view to the filling of their purses. [p. ] every inhabitant of aleppo, whether turk or christian, provided he be not himself a janissary, is obliged to have a protector among them to whom he applies in case of need, to arrange his litigations, to enforce payment from his creditors, and to protect him from the vexations and exactions of other janissaries. each protector receives from his client a sum proportionate to the circumstances of the client�s affairs. it varies from twenty to two thousand piastres a year, besides which, whenever the protector terminates an important business to the client�s wishes, he expects some extraordinary reward. if two protectors happen to be opposed to each other on account of their clients, the more powerful of the two sometimes carries the point, or if they are equal in influence, they endeavour to settle the business by compromise, in such a way as to give to justice only half its due. those janissaries, who have the greatest number of clients are of course the richest, and command the greatest influence. but these are not the only means which the janissaries employ to extort money. they monopolize the trade of most of the articles of consumption, (which have risen in consequence, to nearly double the price which they bore six years ago), as well as of several of the manufactures of aleppo; upon others they levy heavy taxes; in short their power is despotic and oppressive; yet they have hitherto abstained from making, like the pashas, avanies upon individuals by open force, and it is for that reason that the greater part of the aleppines do not wish for the return of a pasha. though the janissaries extort from the public, by direct and indirect means, more than the pashas ever did by their avanies, each individual discharges the burthen imposed upon him more readily, because he is confident that it insures the remainder of his fortune; in the pasha�s time, living was cheaper, and regular taxes not oppressive; but the pasha would upon the most frivolous pretexts order a man of property to be thrown into prison and demand the sacrifice of one fourth of his fortune to grant him his deliverance. notwithstanding the immense income of the chief janissaries, they live poorly, without indulging themselves in the usual luxuries of turks-women and horses. their gains are hoarded in gold coin, and it is easy to calculate, such is the publicity with which all sort of business is conducted, that the yearly income of several of them cannot amount to less than thirty or forty thousand pounds sterling. it is necessary to have lived for some time among the turks, and to have experienced the mildness and peacefulness of their character, and the sobriety and regularity of their habits, to conceive it possible that the inhabitants of a town like aleppo, should continue to live for years without any legal master, or administration of justice, protected only by a miserable guard of police, and yet that the town should be a safe and quiet residence. no disorders, or nightly tumults occur; and instances of murder and robbery are extremely rare. if serious quarrels sometimes happen, it is chiefly among the young janissaries heated with brandy and amorous passion, who after sunset fight their rivals at the door of some prostitute. this precarious security is however enjoyed only within the walls of the city; the whole neighbourhood of aleppo is infested by obscure tribes of arab and kurdine robbers, who through the negligence of the janissaries, acquire every day more insolence and more confidence in the [p. ] success of their enterprises. caravans of forty or fifty camels have in the course of last winter been several times attacked and plundered at five hundred yards from the city gate, not a week passes without somebody being ill-treated and stripped in the gardens near the town; and the robbers have even sometimes taken their night�s rest in one of the suburbs of the city, and there sold their cheaply acquired booty. in the time of ibrahim pasha, the neighbourhood of aleppo to the distance of four or five hours, was kept in perfect security from all hostile inroads of the arabs, by the pasha�s cavalry guard of deli bashi. but the janissaries are very averse from exposing themselves to danger; there is moreover no head among them to command, no common purse to pay the necessary expences, nor any individual to whose hands the public money might be trusted. [p. ] appendix. no. iii. the hadj route from damascus to mekka. in later times the hadj has been accustomed to leave damascus on the th shauwal. on the th or th it leaves mezerib, and meets the new moon at remtha or fedhein. the hadj route from damascus to mekka has changed three different times; at first it passed on the eastern side of djebel haouran; the fear of the arabs made the pashas prefer afterwards the route through the ledja and boszra; about eighty years ago the present caravan route was established. st. day. the emir el hadj leaves the town about mid-day, and remains the night at kubbet el hadj el azeli [arabic], an ancient mosque at a quarter of an hour from bab ullah or the southern gate of damascus. near the kubbe lies the village of kadem [arabic]. . at four hours is the village of kessoue [arabic], with a well provided bazar. one hour khan denoun [arabic], situated on the river aawadj [arabic], which comes from hasbeia and empties itself into the ghouta of damascus. the khan is in ruins. at a quarter of an hour to the s.e. from it lies the village of khiara [arabic]. . four hours from denoun is the village ghebaib [arabic]; it has a small khan to the left of the hadj route, to the right of it is a birket or reservoir of water, which is supplied by the river shak-heb [arabic], whose source, ain shak-heb, with a village called shak-heb, lies to the n.w. of ghebaib. in that source the barbers of damascus collect leeches [arabic], the shak-heb loses itself in the plain of the haouran, after having watered the gardens and dhourra fields of ghebaib. three hours farther the village didy [arabic]; one hour farther the ruins of a town and castle called es-szanamein [arabic], where there are two towers built of black stone, still remaining. the fellahs have a few houses there. an hour and a half farther a hill with a small birket at its foot, called el fekia [arabic], containing a source which loses itself in the eastern plain. the hadj passes the night sometimes here, and sometimes at szannamein. . at four hours from szannamein is a hill called the hill of dilly [arabic], with a ruined village at the top. at its foot flows a river whose source is at tel serraia [arabic], a hill two hours w. of dilly, likewise with a ruined village. the river works a mill near dilly. in winter and spring time the district of dilly is a deep bog; at four hours farther is a village [p. ] called shemskein [arabic], of considerable size, and in a prosperous state. three hours farther is tafs [arabic], a village, ruined by the wahabis in june . one hour farther is el mezareib [arabic], with a castle of middling size, and the principal place in the haouran next to boszra. . at one hour from mezareib is the wady el medan [arabic], which comes from the djebel haouran. in winter time the hadjis were often embarrassed by it. djezzar pasha ordered a bridge to be built over it. the ground is a fine gravel; even in summer time, when the wady is dry, water is found every where underground by digging to the depth of two or three ells. at three hours is the village el remtha [arabic], inhabited by fellahs, who have about ten cisterns of rain-water, and a small birket in the neighbourhood of the village. most of them live in caverns underground, which they arrange into habitations; the caverns are in a white rock. the sheikh of remtha is generally a santon, that dignity being in the family of ezzabi [arabic], who possesses there a mosque of the same name. on account of the sanctity of his family, the pasha does not take any miri from the sheikh ezzabi. the hadjis sometimes sleep at remtha, at other times they go as far as fedhein [arabic], also called mefrak [arabic], a castle four hours from remtha, where the pasha keeps a small garrison, under the orders of an aga, or odabashi. the arabs of the belka are in the habit of depositing in the castle of fedhein their superfluous provisions of wheat and barley, which they retake the next year, or sell to the hadj, after having paid to the aga a certain retribution. from fedhein runs a wady e. which turns, after one day�s journey towards the s. and is then called wady botun. the djebel heish, which continues its southerly course to the w. of the hadj route, changes its name in the latitude of fedhein into that of djebel belka [arabic]. to the east of fedhein the djebel haouran terminates, not far to the north of boszra. at one day�s journey from where the mountain finishes lies the village of szalkhat [arabic]. from fedhein to the south-east the plain is uncultivated, and without habitations. . the castle of zerka [arabic] is at one day�s journey from fedhein. the hadj rests here one day, during which the hadjis amuse themselves with hunting the wild boars which are found in great numbers on the reedy banks of wady zerka. the castle is built in a low wady which forms in winter-time the bed of a river of considerable size, called naher ezzerka [arabic], whose waters collect to the south of djebel haouran. in summer time the wady to the e. of the castle has no water in it, but to the west, where there are some sources, the river is never completely dried up. it then enters the djebel belka and empties itself into the sheriat el kebir. the pasha of damascus has an aga in the castle, who is always an arab of the tribe of ehteim [arabic], part of whom live in tents round the castle and sow the ground. they have plenty of grapes, and sow dhourra and wheat. . one day�s journey is kalaat el belka [arabic]. the name of kalaat, or castle, is given on the hadj route, and over the greater part of the desert, to any building walled in, and covered, and having, like a khan, a large court-yard in its enclosure. the walls are sometimes of stone, but more commonly of earth, though even the latter are sufficient to withstand an [p. ] attack of arabs. the castle of belka has a large birket of rain-water. its commander or odabashi is always chosen from among the janissaries of damascus. it serves the arabs of the djebel belka as a depot for their provisions. to the west of the castle the mountain of belka terminates. the arabs of belka live in tents round the castle, and are felahein or cultivators of the ground. . one day�s journey from the latter is the kalaat el katrane [arabic], whose odabashi is likewise a janissary from damascus. it has a birket of rainwater. at one day�s journey to the n.w. of it is the kalaat kerek [arabic], from whence the arabs of kerek bring wheat and barley for sale to the odabashi of katrane, who sells it again to advantage to the hadjis. . one day�s journey kalaat el hassa, [arabic], with a fine source, whose water is drawn up by means of a large wheel. the castle is built in the middle of a wady running from e. to w.; in the winter a river runs through the wady, which is dry in summer; but at a quarter of an hour w. from the castle, there are several springs of good water, which are never dry. they collect into a river which empties itself into the jordan or sheriat el kebir at two days� journey from el hassa. the fellahs who live round the castle in the wady, in several small villages, sow dhourra and barley, those that live towards the western mountains, sow for their masters the el hadjaia arabs [arabic], and receive from them half of the harvest in return. to the s.e. of el hassa, on the northern side of the wady, about five hours distance from el hassa, is a high hill, called shehak [arabic], which is visible from masn and akaba. at the same distance due east from el hassa is a watering place called meshash el rekban [arabic], where water is found on digging to a small depth. to the s. of wady el hassa, in the djebel shera, is the town of tafyle. south of it the shera spreads into four or five branches, and embraces the whole country as far as djebel tor. at two days journey from wady el hassa, is a road leading along the summit of the mountain towards gaza; this road is called akaba, or more frequently eddhohel [arabic]; it is much frequented by the people of tafyle and the arabs toueiha. . half a day�s journey is kalaat aeneze [arabic], with a birket of rain-water. . another half day�s journey kalaat maan [arabic], where the hadjis remain for two days. maan has a large well of water. the town consists of about one hundred houses on both sides the hadj route, which divides the town; the eastern part is called shamie, the western maan. the inhabitants cultivate figs, pomegranates, and plums in large quantities, but do not sow their fields. they purchase wheat from kerek, which their women grind; and at the passage of the hadj they sell the flour as well as their fruits to the pilgrims; which, is their means of subsistence. they purchase articles of dress and luxury from ghaza and el khalil. . a long day�s journey to the castle of akaba esshamie [arabic], or the syrian akaba, so called in opposition to the akaba el masri or the egyptian akaba which is on the eastern branch of the red-sea, at one day�s journey from the akaba esshamie; here is a birket of rain-water. the hadj road, as far as akaba, is a complete desert on both sides, yet not incapable [p. ] of culture. the mountain chain continues at about ten hours to the west of the hadj route. akaba is in the hands of the arabs el howeytat [arabic], who are in communication with cairo. from the foot of the castle walls the hadj descends a deep chasm, and it takes half an hour to reach the plain below. the pilgrims fear that passage, and repeat this prayer before they descend; �may the almighty god be merciful to them who descend into the belly of the dragon� [arabic]. the mountain consists of a red gray sand stone, which is used at damascus for whetstones. there are many places where the stones are full of small holes. when the pilgrims reach the bottom of the descent they fire off their pistols for the sake of the echo. the mountain sinks gradually, and is lost at a great distance in the plain, which is very sandy.[fn# ] . medawara [arabic], one day�s journey, a castle with a birket of rainwater. . dzat hadj [arabic], a castle surrounded by a great number of wells, which are easily found on digging two or three feet. it has likewise a birket of rainwater. at four hours from it is a descent, rendered difficult by the deep sand. it is called el araie [arabic], or halat ammar [arabic]; it was here that in the time of daher el omar, pasha of acre, and of osman, pasha of damascus, the arabs beni szakher plundered the hadj in the year of the hedjra ( ), the only example of such an event in the last century. from halat ammar the plain is no longer sandy, but covered with a white earth as far as tebouk. the vicinity of dzat hadj is covered with palm trees: but the trees being male, they bear no fruit, and remain very low. the inhabitants sell the wood to the hadj. . one day from dzat hadj is tebouk [arabic], a castle, with a village of felahein, of the tribe of arabs hammeide. there is a copious source of water, and gardens of fig and pomegranate trees, where badintshaus (egg plant), onions, and ether vegetables are also cultivated. the fellahs collect in the neighbouring desert the herb beiteran (a species of milfoil), which the hadjis buy up, and bring to damascus. the castle is also surrounded by shrubs with long spines called mehdab, which the fellahs sell to the hadj as food for the camels, and likewise two other herbs called nassi and muassal. they thus earn their livelihood. if the hadj arrives in the neighbourhood of tebouk at night, the bones of dead camels indicate the way to the castle. the hadj rests here one day: and on its return is met by the djerde, or provision caravan, headed by the pasha of tripoli, by which all the syrian pilgrims, receive refreshments, sent by their families. . akhdhar [arabic], a castle with a birket of rainwater, upon a small ascent. two or three hundred years ago, the hadj went to the e. of the present route, and it is even now called the eastern road. . el moadham [arabic], a very long day�s march. [p. ] . dar el hamra [arabic]. . medayn szaleh [arabic], with a number of habitations hewn in the rock; and many sculptured figures of men and animals. . el olla [arabic], a village of about two hundred and fifty houses, with a rivulet and agreeable gardens of fruit trees. its inhabitants are all of barbaresque origin. . biar el ghanam [arabic], with many wells of fresh water. . byr zemerrod [arabic], a large well. . byr djedeyde [arabic]. . hedye, where the hadj remains two days. it is a ghadeir, or low wady coming from khaibar, which is four hours distant. the people of the caravan often go thither to buy fresh provisions. . el fahletein [arabic]; apes, and what the arabs call tigers, are met with here. an ancient building of black stones is near it; it is called stabel antar. . biar naszeif [arabic], a number of wells in the sandy ground, which are every year newly digged up, because the wind covers them immediately after the caravan�s departure. el fahletein is the last castle. at all these stations small castles have been built, close to the basons in which the rain water is collected. if there are any wells, they are within the walls of the castle, and the water is drawn up by camels in order to fill the basons, on the arrival of the hadj. the pilgrims, in order to lighten their loads, generally leave in every castle a small parcel of provisions, which they take on their return. these castles are garrisoned by four or five men of damascus, who remain shut up there the whole year until they are relieved by the passage of the caravan. it often happens that only one man is left alive of the number; the others having been either killed by the arabs, or having died from the effects of the confinement, for the fear of the arabs seldom permits them to issue out of the castle. each of these castles has a meghaffer [arabic], or protector, among the neighbouring arab tribes, to whom the pasha pays a certain tribute. the office of these guardians, who are usually inhabitants of the meidhan or suburb of damascus, is very lucrative, on account of the presents and small contributions paid to them by the pilgrims. one of them has been known to remain for twenty-three years at fahletein. ibn balousa, a man of the meidhan of damascus, is looked upon as the chief of all these castles, and resides generally at el hassa. . el medine, where the hadj remains three days. there are two different roads leading from medine to mekke, the eastern and western. the principal men of the arab tribes of both routes meet the pasha at medine, to learn which road the hadj intends to take, and to treat with him about the passage duty. on the eastern route [arabic], the first station from medine is: . ( ) el khona [arabic], a deep wady with rain water. . ( ) el dereybe [arabic], a village with walls. . ( ) sefyne [arabic], a village. . ( ) el kobab [arabic], an assemblage of wells. [p. ] . ( ) biar el hedjar [arabic], wells. . ( ) set zebeyde [arabic], a ruined village with a large birket. . ( ) el makhrouka [arabic], wells. . ( ) wady leimoun [arabic], a village with a rivulet. ( ) byr el baghle [arabic], wells. .( ) mekke [arabic]. the western road, or as it is likewise called, the great road [arabic] is the more usual, but djezzar always used to take the other. the first station from medine on this route is: . ( ) biar aly [arabic], a village with wells and gardens. . ( ) el shohada [arabic], a spot in the plain, without any water. . ( ) djedeyde [arabic], and at a short distance before it the well called byr dzat el aalem [arabic]. djedeyde is a considerable village on the sides of a rivulet. the sheikh of the western route lives here [arabic]. the year before the last hadj caravan effected its passage, abdullah pasha of damascus was attacked in a wady near djedeyde by the armed population of that village, who were wahabi. they routed his army, and obliged him to pay forty thousand dollars for his passage. from djedeyde the route leads through the villages of esszafra [arabic], and el hamra [arabic], to the second station, which is: . ( ) the famous beder [arabic], where mohammed laid the foundation of his power by his victory over his combined enemies. it contains upwards of five hundred houses, with a rivulet. the egyptian pilgrim caravan generally meets here the syrian. . ( ) el kaa [arabic], a spot in the desert without any water. from thence a long march to . ( ) el akdyd [arabic], which is twenty-eight hours distant from beder. . ( ) rabagh [arabic], a village. between rabagh and khalysz, the red sea is seen from the hadj route. there are wadys coming from the red sea, which in times of high flood are filled with the sea water; it remains sometimes during the whole summer, at a distance of six and seven hours from the sea. the water brings with it a large quantity of fish. the camels and horses drink the water of these wadys. . ( ) khalysz [arabic], a village with a rivulet. . ( ) el szafan [arabic], two wells. .( ) wady fatme [arabic], a rivulet, with a village and gardens. . mekke. [fn# ] to the southward of kerek all the women on the hadj route wear the egyptian face veil or berkoa [arabic], which is not a syrian fashion. [p. ] appendix. no. iv. description of the route from boszra in the haouran, to the djebel shammor. on the western side of the djebel haouran, at a small distance from its southern extremity, lies boszra. on the eastern foot and declivity of djebel haouran, are upwards of two hundred villages built of black stone in ruins, at a quarter or half an hour�s distance from each other. the country beyond them is completely level and is called el hammad [arabic]. about five hours to the s. of the djebel, lies the half ruined town of szalkhat [arabic]; it has a large castle, with strong walls, several cisterns and birkets of rainwater. from that place begins the wady serhhan [arabic], which runs to the e.s.e. it is a low ground, with sloping sides; at every three or four hours a well is met with in the wady, with a little grass round it, but even in winter there is no running stream; though water is found in many places at a small depth below the surface of the earth. the traveller frequently passes in that wady small hills (tels), which consist of thin layers of salt (about six inches thick), alternating with layers of earth of the same thickness. the arabs sell the salt in the villages of the haouran. following the course of that wady, which at length takes a more southerly direction, you arrive, after ten or eleven days journey (with camels about eight days), in the country called djof [arabic]. the tels about djof are called kara [arabic]. the djof is a collection of seven or eight villages, built at a distance of ten minutes or a quarter of an hour from each other, in an easterly line. the ground is pure sand. these villages are called souk (or markets), the principal of them are: souk ain um salim [arabic], souk eddourra [arabic], souk esseideiin [arabic], souk douma [arabic], souk mared [arabic]. these villages are all built alike: the houses are built round the inside of a large square mud wall, which has but one entrance. this wall therefore serves as a common back wall to all the houses, which amount in some of the souks to one hundred and twenty, in others from eighty to one hundred. the middle part of the enclosed square is empty. the roofs of the houses are made of palm wood, and their walls of bricks, called leben, dried in the sun, which are about two feet square, and one foot thick. when strangers arrive, their camels remain in the middle of the souk, and they themselves lodge at the different houses. round the souk are gardens of palm trees, which the inhabitants call houta [arabic]: in several of these are deep [p. ] wells, the water from some of which is conducted by small canals [arabic] into the gardens of those, who not having any wells are obliged to purchase water from their neighbours. she camels are employed to draw the water out of the wells; this is done by tying a rope round the camel, which walks away from the well till the bucket, which is fastened to the other end of the rope, is drawn up, and empties its contents into the canals. these she camels are called sanie [arabic]. most of the inhabitants of the djof are either petty merchants or artificers; they work in leather, wood, iron, and make boots, sword hilts, horse shoes, lance heads, &c. which they sell to the arabs, together with the produce of their palm trees; in return they, take camels. they sow very little wheat; the small extent of ground which they cultivate is worked with the hand; for they have no ploughs. they eat very little bread, living upon dates, butter, and flesh meat. besides the game which they hunt in the neighbourhood, they eat camels flesh almost daily, and they even devour the ostriches and wild dogs, the former of which are sold to them by the arabs sherarat. they preserve their dates in large earthen jars for the use of the great arab tribes which often pass here; of these the rowalla come almost every year: before the time of the wahabi, the el hessene and beni szakher likewise visited the djof. the felahein of the djof are called karaune [arabic], a name which in the neighbourhood of damascus is given to all syrians or those who are presumed to be of syrian origin. although fellahs, the people of the djof intermarry with arab girls, whence it happens that many arabs of shammor and serhan have settled here and become fellahs; and they continue notwithstanding, to be looked upon in their respective tribes by the heads of families, as proper husbands for their daughters. the workmen or artificers [arabic], on the contrary, never can marry arab girls, nor even the daughters of the fellahs, their immediate neighbours; they intermarry exclusively amongst themselves, or amongst the workmen who have settled in the bedouin encampments. every souk has a sheikh or chief; the name of the present grand sheikh is ibn deraa [arabic]. it is about twenty years since they were converted to the wahabi creed. their grand sheikh collects the tribute or zika [arabic], for ibn saoud, and lodges it in a particular house; after taking from it the necessary expense for entertaining strangers, or for provisions for wahabi corps which pass by, he sends the remainder to saoud. the people of the djof are all armed with firelocks; they have no horses. at souk mared is an ancient tower of remarkable structure. its height, i was told, is greater than the minaret near my lodgings at damascus, which i should compute at about forty-five feet. its basis is square, it rises in steps and ends in a point; i had already heard at aleppo from some travelling turks, that there were in the desert, towards deraye, pyramids like those of cairo; by which they probably meant the souk mared. the door of the tower is about ten feet high and eight broad; but it is half filled up. the kasr gate of salamia,[fn# ] which is of wood with iron bars, has been transported here by the arabs to serve as a gate for the tower. [p. ] the inside is not paved. there are three floors, and staircases leading from one to the other. there are very small windows in the sides of the tower, which seem rather to have been destined for loop holes for musquetty. the walls of the tower are built of large square white stones, and are in good preservation. the two floors one over the other are not vaulted. on the top of the tower a watchman constantly resides, to give notice of the arrival of strangers. to the e. and somewhat to the s. from djof, three hours, begins the plain called eddhahi or taous [arabic], a sandy desert full of small hills or tels, from which it derives the name of [arabic]. although there is no water in the plain, a tree is very abundant which the arabs call ghada [arabic], about eight feet high; the people of djof burn it as fire wood. near the trees grows in spring a kind of grass, which in summer soon dries up, it is called nassy [arabic], and resembles wheat. wild cows [arabic] are found here. my man told me that they resemble in every particular the domestic cow. the arabs sherarat kill them, eat them, and make of the leather targets, which are much esteemed [arabic]. of their horns the people of djof make knife handles. wild dogs, derboun [arabic], of a black colour, are likewise met with here; the arabs kill and eat them. it is principally in the dhahy that ostriches breed, and great quantities of them are killed there. this desert is moreover inhabited by a large lizard called dhab [arabic], of one foot and a half in length with a tail of half a foot, exactly resembling in shape the common lizard, but larger. the arabs eat them in defiance of the laws of their prophet; the scaly skin serves them instead of a goat skin to preserve their butter in. these arabs likewise eat all the eagles [arabic] and crows which they can kill. the plain of eddhahi continues for three days camel�s march (with a caravan it would take six days), without any water, extending as far as the chain of mountains called djebel shammor [arabic] which runs in an easterly direction five or six days journey. from where it ends to deraye, the seat of ibn saoud, are ten days more. the djebel shammor is inhabited by the arabs shammor, many of whom have become fellahs, and live in villages in these mountains. they are true and faithful wahabis. [fn# ] salamia is a ruin eight or ten hours s.e. of hamah. [p. ] appendix. no. v. a route to the eastward of the castle el hassa. from kalaat el hassa, towards e.s.e. continues the already mentioned wady el hassa. passing the tel esshehak, two days journey from it, you meet with a great number of tels, in the midst of which there is a well of good spring water called byr bair [arabic]; near it is a tombstone, said to be the burial place of the son of sultan hassan. from bair eastwards the wady and its vicinity are called the district of hudrush [arabic]; it is without water, with the exception of the rain water which collects in the low grounds. the hudrush extends for two days, as far as the country called ettebig [arabic]. from the beginning of hudrush the wady makes a bend to the n. and describing a half circle, again returns in the tebig to its original direction. to the n. from hudrush and tebig the plain takes the name of szauan [arabic], (i.e. flint) and extends for two days till it borders upon the wady serhhan. the plain szauan is covered so thickly with small black flints, that the arabs, whenever they are about to light a fire there, cover the ground with earth, which they carry with them, in order to prevent the splinters of the flint heated by the fire, from flying about and hurting them. there is but one spring in the szauan: it is about two hours from wady serhhan, and at the same distance from hudrush and tebig, and is called byr naam el aatta allah [arabic], in honour of a christian travelling merchant, who about sixty years ago lying upon the flint, heard the noise of the water under his head, and thus discovered the spring. on the western side of the szauan, nearer to the wady serhhan than to the hudrush, is a castle called kaszr amera [arabic], and at a quarter of an hour from it, on the foot of a hill, the ruins of a village. between the kaszr and the village is a low ground where the rain water collects, and forms a small lake in winter half an hour in length. before the castle is a well more than thirty feet deep, walled in by large stones, but without water. over the well are four white marble columns, which support a vaulted roof or kubbe, such as are often seen at wells in these countries. the castle is built of white square stones, which seem not to have been cemented together. its dimensions are thirty-six or forty feet from w. to e. and twenty-five from s. to n. the entrance door, which is only about three feet high, is on the s. side, and leads into an apartment half the size of the whole building. in the middle of the western wall of this apartment is another door, as low as the former, leading to a second apartment of the [p. ] same size as the former, except that one corner is partitioned off to form a third chamber. each of the two latter have a window in the western wall. the roof of the apartments are vaulted below, and flat above. the walls which divide the apartments are two yards in thickness; in the two first rooms there is a stone pavement, in the small room the arabs have taken up the pavement to dig for treasures; but they found nothing underneath, except small pieces of planks and some rusty iron. the ceiling of all the three apartments is chalked over, and looks quite new. in the small room it is painted all over with serpents, hares, gazelles, mares, and birds; there are neither human figures nor trees amongst the paintings. the colour of the paintings is red, green, and yellow, and they look as bright and well preserved, as if they had been done a short time ago. there are no kinds of niches, bas-reliefs, or inscriptions in the walls. from hudrush branches out a wady towards wady serhhan, called chadef [arabic]. four days beyond tebig you arrive at a byr called el sheben or szefan [arabic], situated upon a small ascent. according to my informant the byr is two hundred yards in depth. to the north of that well the desert is called beseita [arabic]. for two days farther the earth is covered to the depth of six inches with small black gray stones, looking like flints. the plant samah [arabic] grows there, which is collected by the people of djof. from the end of the beseita to the djof is one day�s journey farther, and the beseita ends in the dhahi. all the arabs along this road from el hassa, are sherarat, the aeneze do not come this way. between tebig, szauan, hudrush, and to the s. of these places, are a quantity of wild asses, which the arabs sherarat hunt, and eat (secretly). their skins and hoofs are sold to the wandering christian pedlars, and in the towns of syria. of the hoofs rings are made, which the fellahs of eastern syria wear on the thumb, or tied with a thread round the arm-pit, to prevent, or to heal rheumatic complaints. i may here make a general remark that there is an infinity of names of places in the desert. every tel, every declivity, or, elevation in a wady, every extent of plain ground, where a particular herb grows, has its name, well known to the arabs. the khabera [arabic], or places where the rain-water collects, winter-time, are generally distinguished by the name of some well known sheikh who once pitched his tent near them; as khabera ibn ghebein [arabic], the watering places of ibn ghebein. the side of a wady where the arab descends is called by him hadhera [arabic], the opposite side, where he re-ascends sende [arabic]. a ghadir [arabic] is distinguished from a wady, the two sides of the latter are hills which rise above the surface of the adjacent plain; the ghadir on the contrary is only a hollow in the plain. the wady is seen from afar, the ghadir only on arriving near the descent. [p. ]appendix. no. vi. description of the desert from the neighbourhood of damascus towards the euphrates. from the wady serhhan northward and north-eastward, the whole desert is called el hammad [arabic], till it reaches the neighbourhood of the euphrates, where the broad valley of the river is by the arabs called oerak (irak). that name therefore is not exclusively applied to the djezire or island between the tigris and the euphrates, but (in the bedouin acceptation of the word at least), to the fertile country also between the desert and the river�s right bank. at the end of the ghouta or merdj of damascus, begins the djebel haouran,[fn# ] which takes a south direction; to the north runs the djebel ruak (towards tedmor). the intermediate plain, which is about a day and a half in breadth, is called ard esseikal [arabic], having journied for two days in this plain, the mountains to the s. are no more visible, and a waterless plain lies before the traveller, which according to the camels strength may be crossed in seven, eight, or ten days. water is met with on the road, only in winter, when rainwater collects in the low grounds, and ghadirs. there are no hills or wadys. small pipe heads, in the eastern fashion, and made of stone, are frequently found in the plain. the arabs say that an ancient tribe called beni tamour [arabic] fabricated them. at the end of the number of days above-mentioned, a high insulated hill is met with, which is visible all round to the distance of two days journey. the arabs call it [p. ] djebel laha [arabic]. it consists of sandy earth: there are no springs near it. from the djebel laha run two wadys towards the euphrates, the one called wady haouran [arabic], begins on the hill�s western side; the other wady tebbel [arabic], on its northern side. they run in a parallel direction, till they unite in the vicinity of the euphrates. to the n.w. of the laha, at one day�s march, is another wady, called souan [arabic], which takes the same direction with the other two, and joins them, near their termination. in the middle of the wady tebbel is spring water. to the e. of laha, about three days from it, is a low ground called kaar [arabic] (the general name given to such places), which is four or five days in circuit. it extends towards the euphrates. the descent into it is two hundred or two hundred and fifty yards. there are two watering places in it, at a good day�s march from each other; rahh [arabic], with a number of springs, and molassa [arabic]. there is always some verdure in the kaar, and when the aeneze pass that way, the whole tribe encamps there. from molass it is one day�s journey to gebesse, a poor village in a n.e. direction, from thence to hit one. hit, or ith, is a well known station and village on the banks of the euphrates. the djebel ruak and the djebel abiad (which comes from the west) are united behind tedmor with the djebel belaes [arabic] which continues its course in a northerly direction, (somewhat to the e.) for two days. there is water in the belaes but no villages. this mountain at the end of two days changes its name to djebel bishr [arabic], and terminates after one day�s journey in the zor [arabic], which is the name of the broad valley of the euphrates, on its right bank, from byr down to aene and hit. there are sources in the bishr, and ruins of villages. it produces also a tree which is about eight feet high, and whose root has so little hold, that the smallest effort will throw it down. london: printed by w. bulmer and w. nicol, cleveland-row, st. james�s. [fn# ] this northern part of the djebel haouran is called es-szaffa [arabic]. on the eastern side of it is a pass called bab es-szaffa, where the mountain is entered by a deep clet in the perpendicular rock, about two yards broad. the passage is about one hundred yards long, it leads to a plain in the middle of the mountain, also called szaffa, which has no other known entrance, and is two days in circuit. this pass and plain are famed among the arabs, who often retire there, before the troops of the pasha of damascus. there is no water in the szaffa, except the ponds formed by the winter-rains. the earth is fertile and is occasionally sown by he arabs when they remain there a sufficient time. let us follow him [illustration] let us follow him by henryk sienkiewicz author of "quo vadis," "with fire and sword," etc. _translated from the polish_ by jeremiah curtin boston little, brown, and company _copyright, _, by jeremiah curtin. _all rights reserved._ plimpton press h. m. plimpton & co., printers & binders, norwood, mass., u.s.a. publishers' note. although the story "let us follow him" is included in the new volume by sienkiewicz entitled "hania," just issued in uniform style with mr. curtin's translations of the author's other works, its publication in a separate volume has been deemed advisable for the reason that this story gave to its author the idea of writing "quo vadis," which has been the literary sensation of the past twelve months. the period of "let us follow him" is that of the death of christ. antea, the wife of a roman patrician, ill with terrible visions, is advised by a physician to seek the air of jerusalem. there she and her husband meet pilate, who tells them of the doctrine of the nazarene, jesus, and his condemnation to death. they are present at the crucifixion, and antea gives honor to the condemned nazarene, saying, "thou art truth." let us follow him. chapter i. caius septimius cinna was a roman patrician. he had spent his youth in the legions and in severe camp-life. later he returned to rome to enjoy glory, luxury, and a great though somewhat shattered fortune. he used and abused at that time everything which the gigantic city could offer. his nights were spent at feasts in lordly suburban villas; his days in sword practice with fencers, in discussions with rhetors at the baths, where disputes were held, and where the scandal of the city and the world was related, in circuses, at races, at the struggles of gladiators, or among greek musicians, thracian soothsayers, and wonderful dancing-girls from the islands of the archipelago. he inherited from the renowned lucullus, a relative on the mother's side, a love for exquisite dishes. at his table were served grecian wines, neapolitan oysters, numidian mice, and locust fat preserved in honey from pontus. whatever rome possessed cinna must have, beginning with fish of the red sea, and ending with white ptarmigans from the banks of the borysthenes (dnieper). he made use of things not only as a soldier run riot, but as a patrician who passes the measure. he had instilled into himself, or had perhaps even roused in himself, a love for the beautiful,--a love for statues rescued from the ruins of corinth, for pitchers from attica, for etruscan vases from foggy sericum, for roman mosaics, for fabrics brought from the euphrates, for arabian perfumes, and for all the peculiar trifles which filled the void of patrician life. he knew how to talk of these trifles, as a specialist and connoisseur, with toothless old men, who decked out their baldness in wreaths of roses when going to a feast, and who after the feast chewed heliotrope blossoms to make the breath of their lungs odoriferous. he felt also the beauty of cicero's periods, and of verses of horace or ovid. educated by an athenian rhetor, he conversed in greek fluently; he knew whole pages of the "iliad" by heart, and during a feast could sing odes of anacreon till he had grown hoarse or drunk. through his master and other rhetors he had rubbed against philosophy, and become sufficiently acquainted with it to know the plans of various edifices of thought reared in hellas and the colonies; he understood too that all these edifices were in ruins. he knew many stoics personally; for these he cherished dislike, since he looked on them rather as a political party, and, besides, as hypochondriacs, hostile to joyous living. sceptics had a seat frequently at his table; and during intervals between courses they overturned entire systems, and announced at their cups, filled with wine, that pleasure was vanity, truth something unattainable, and that the object of a sage could be only dead rest. all this struck cinna's ears without piercing to the depth. he recognized no principle, and would have none. in cato he saw the union of great character and great folly. he looked on life as a sea, on which winds blew whithersoever they listed; and wisdom in his eyes was the art of setting sails in such fashion that they would urge one's boat forward. he esteemed his own broad shoulders and sound stomach; he esteemed his own beautiful roman head, with his aquiline nose and powerful jaws. he was certain that with these he could pass through life somehow. though not belonging to the school of sceptics, he was a practical sceptic and hence a lover of pleasure, though he knew that pleasure was not happiness. the genuine teaching of epicurus he did not know; hence he considered himself an epicurean. in general he looked on philosophy as mental fencing, as useful as that which was taught by the sword-master. when discourses on it wearied him, he went to the circus to see blood. he did not believe in the gods any more than in virtue, truth, and happiness. he believed only in soothsaying, and had his own superstitions; moreover, the mysterious beliefs of the orient roused his curiosity. to slaves he was a good master, unless when occasional tedium brought him to cruelty. he thought life a great amphora, which was the more valuable the better the wine contained in it; hence he tried to fill his own with the best. he did not love any one, but he loved many things, among others his own eagle-like face with splendid skull, and his shapely patrician foot. in the first years of his frolicking life he loved also to astound rome, and succeeded a number of times. later he grew as indifferent to that as to other things. chapter ii. at last he ruined himself. his creditors tore his property to pieces, and in place of it there remained to cinna weariness, as after great toil, satiety, and one more unexpected thing, a certain deep disquiet. he had tried wealth; he had tried love, as that age understood it; he had tried pleasure, military glory, and dangers. he had come to know the limits of human thought more or less; he had come in contact with poetry and art. hence he might suppose that from life he had taken what it had to give. now he felt as though he had overlooked something--and that the most important. but he did not know what it was, and tortured his head over this problem in vain. more than once had he striven to shake himself out of these thoughts, and out of this disquiet. he had tried to persuade himself that there was nothing more in life, and could not be; but straightway his disquiet, instead of diminishing, increased quickly to such a degree that it seemed to him that he was disquieted not only for himself, but for all rome. he envied the sceptics and also considered them fools, for they insisted that one may fill completely the void with the empty. there existed in him then two men, as it were, one of whom was astonished at the disquiet which he felt, while the other was forced to recognize it as perfectly normal. soon after the loss of his property, thanks to great family influence, cinna was sent to an official post in alexandria, partly to build up a new fortune in a rich country. his disquiet entered the ship at brundisium, and sailed across the sea with him. in alexandria cinna thought that questions concerning office, new people, another society, new impressions, would relieve him of the intrusive companion. but he was mistaken. two months passed, and just as the grain of demeter, brought from italy, grew still more luxuriantly in the rich soil of the delta, so his disquiet from a sturdy twig changed, as it were, into a spreading cedar, and began to cast a still greater shadow on the soul of cinna. at first he strove to free himself of this shadow by the same life that he had led in rome formerly. alexandria was a place of pleasure, full of grecian women with golden hair and clear complexions, which the egyptian sun covered with a transparent, amber lustre. in their society he sought rest. but when this also proved vain he began to think of suicide. many of his comrades had freed themselves from life's cares in that manner, and for causes still more foolish than those which cinna had,--frequently from weariness alone, from the emptiness of life, or a lack of desire to make further use of it. when a slave held a sword adroitly and with sufficient strength, one instant ended all. cinna caught at this idea; but when he had almost resolved to obey it, a wonderful dream held him back. behold, it seemed to him that when he was borne across the river[ ] he saw on the other bank his disquiet in the form of a wretched slave; it bowed to him, saying, "i have come in advance to receive thee." cinna was terrified for the first time in life; because he understood that if he could not think of existence beyond the grave without disquiet, then they would both go there. in this extreme, he resolved to make the acquaintance of sages with whom the serapeum was crowded, judging that among them perhaps he might find the solution of his riddle. they, it is true, were unable to solve any doubt of his; but to make up they entitled him "of the museum," which title they offered usually to romans of high birth and position. that was small consolation at first; and the stamp of sage, given a man who could not explain that which concerned him most highly, might seem to cinna ironical. he supposed, however, that the serapeum did not reveal all its wisdom at once, perhaps; and he did not lose hope altogether. the most active sage in alexandria was the noble timon of athens, a man of wealth, and a roman citizen. he had lived a number of years in alexandria, whither he had come to sound the depths of egyptian science. it was said of him that there was no parchment or papyrus in the library which he had not read, and that he possessed all the wisdom of mankind. he was, moreover, mild and forbearing. cinna distinguished him at once among the multitude of pedants and commentators with stiffened brains, and soon formed with him an acquaintance which, after a time, was changed into close intimacy, and even into friendship. the young roman admired the dialectic skill, the eloquence and dignity, with which the old man spoke of lofty themes touching man's destiny, and that of the world. he was struck especially by this, that that dignity was joined to a certain sadness. later, when they had grown more intimate, cinna was seized frequently by the wish to inquire of the old sage the cause of that sadness, and to open his own heart to him. in fact, it came to that finally. chapter iii. a certain evening, after animated discussions about the transmigration of souls, they remained alone on the terrace, from which the view was toward the sea. cinna, taking timon's hand, declared openly what the great torment of his life was, and why he had striven to approach the scholars and philosophers of the serapeum. "i have gained this much at least," said he; "i have learned to know you, o timon, and i understand now that if you cannot solve my life's riddle, no other man can." timon gazed for a time at the smooth surface of the sea, in which the new moon was reflected; then he said,-- "hast thou seen those flocks of birds, cinna, which fly past here in winter from northern glooms? dost thou know what they seek in egypt?" "i do. warmth and light." "souls of men also seek warmth, which is love, and light, which means truth. the birds know whither they are flying for their good; but souls are flying over roadless places, in wandering, in sadness, and disquiet." "why can they not find the road, noble timon?" "once man's repose was in the gods; to-day, faith in the gods is burnt out, like oil in a lamp. men thought that to souls philosophy would be the light of truth; to-day, as thou knowest best of all, on its ruins in rome and in the academy in athens, and here, sit sceptics, to whom it seemed that it was bringing in peace, but it brought in disquiet. for to renounce light and heat is to leave the soul in darkness, which is disquiet. hence, stretching out our hands before us, we seek an exit in groping." "hast thou not found it?" "i have sought, and i have not found it. thou hast sought it in pleasure, i in thought; and the same mist encircles us. know then that not thou alone art suffering, but in thee the soul of the world is tortured. is it long since thou hast ceased to believe in the gods?" "at rome they are honored publicly yet, and even new ones are brought from asia and egypt; but no one believes in them sincerely, except dealers in vegetables, who come in the morning from the country to the city." "and these are the only people who live in peace." "they are like those who bow down here to cats and onions." "just like those, who, in the manner of beasts, ask for nothing beyond sleep after eating." "but is life worth the living in view of this?" "do i know what death will bring?" "what is the difference, then, between thee and the sceptics?" "sceptics are satisfied with darkness, or feign that they are satisfied, but i suffer in it." "and thou seest no salvation?" timon was silent for a moment, and then answered slowly, as if with hesitation,-- "i wait for it." "whence?" "i know not." then he rested his head on the palm of his hand; and as if under the influence of that silence which had settled down on the terrace, he began to speak in a low and measured voice,-- "a wonderful thing; but at times it seems to me that if the world contained nothing beyond that which we know, and if we could be nothing more than we are, this disquiet would not exist in us. so in this sickness i find hope of health. faith in olympus and philosophy are dead, but health may be some new truth which i know not." beyond expectation, that talk brought great solace to cinna. when he heard that the whole world was sick, and not he alone, he felt as if some one had taken a great weight from him and distributed it on a thousand shoulders. chapter iv. from that time the friendship uniting cinna and the old greek became still more intimate. they visited each other frequently and exchanged thoughts, like bread in time of a banquet. besides, cinna, in spite of experience and the weariness which comes of use, had not reached the age yet when life has ceased to contain the charm of unknown things; and just this charm he found in antea, timon's only daughter. her fame was not less in alexandria than the fame of her father. eminent romans frequenting timon's house did her homage, greeks did her homage, philosophers from the serapeum did her homage, and so did the people. timon did not restrict her to the gineceum, after the manner of other women; and he tried to transfer to her everything that he himself knew. when she had passed the years of childhood, he read greek books with her, and even latin and hebrew; for, gifted with an uncommon memory, and reared in many-tongued alexandria, she learned those languages quickly. she was a companion to him in thoughts; she took frequent part in the discussions which were held in timon's house during symposiums. often in the labyrinth of difficult questions, she was able, like ariadne, to avoid going astray herself and to extricate others. her father honored and admired her. the charm of mystery and almost of sacredness surrounded her, besides; for she had prophetic dreams, in which she saw things invisible to common mortals. the old sage loved her as his own soul, and the more for this reason, that he was afraid of losing her; for frequently she said that beings appeared in dreams to her,--ominous beings,--also a certain divine light, and she knew not whether this light was the source of life or death. meanwhile she was met only by love. the egyptians, who frequented timon's house, called her the lotus; perhaps because that flower received divine honor on the banks of the nile, and perhaps also because whoever saw it might forget the whole world besides. her beauty was equal to her wisdom. the egyptian sun did not darken her face, in which the rosy rays of light seemed to be enclosed in transparent mother-of-pearl. her eyes had the blueness of the nile, and their glances flowed from a remoteness as unknown as the source of that mysterious river. when cinna saw and heard her the first time, on returning home, he conceived the wish to rear an altar to her in the atrium of his house, and offer a white dove on it. he had met thousands of women in his life, beginning with virgins from the remote north, with white eye-lashes and hair the color of ripe wheat, and ending with numidians, black as lava; but he had not met hitherto such a figure, or such a soul. and the oftener he saw her, the better he knew her, the oftener it happened to him to hear her words, the more did amazement increase in him. sometimes he, who did not believe in the gods, thought that antea could not be the daughter of timon, but of a god, hence only half woman, and therefore half immortal. and soon he loved her with a love unexpected, immense, irresistible, as different from the feeling which he had known up to that time as antea was different from other women. he desired to love her only to do her honor. hence he was willing to give blood to possess her. he felt that he would prefer to be a beggar with her than to be cæsar without her. and as a whirlpool of the sea sweeps away with irresistible might all that comes within its circle, so cinna's love swept away his soul, his heart, his thoughts, his days, his nights, and everything out of which life is composed. till at last it swept away antea. "_tu felix_ (thou art happy), cinna!" said his friends. "_tu felix_, cinna," said he to himself; and when at last he married her, when her divine lips uttered the sacramental words, "where thou art, caius, there am i, caia," it seemed to him that his felicity was like the sea,--inexhaustible and boundless. chapter v. a year passed, and that young wife received at her domestic hearth almost divine honor; to her husband she was the sight of his eyes, love, wisdom, light. but cinna, comparing his happiness with the sea, forgot that the sea has its ebbs. after a year antea fell into an illness cruel and unknown. her dreams changed into terrible visions, which exhausted her life. in her face the rays of light were quenched; there remained only the paleness of mother-of-pearl. her hands began to be transparent; her eyes sank deeply under her forehead; and the rosy lotus became more and more a white lotus, white as the face of the dead. it was noticed that falcons began to circle above cinna's house, which in egypt was a herald of death. the visions grew more and more terrible. when at midday the sun filled the world with bright light, and the city was buried in silence, it seemed to antea that she heard around her the quick steps of invisible beings, and in the depth of the air she saw a dry, yellow, corpse-like face gazing with black eyes at her. those eyes gazed persistently, as if summoning her to go somewhere into a darkness full of mysteries and dread. then antea's body began to tremble, as in a fever; her forehead was covered with pallor, with drops of cold sweat; and that honored priestess of the domestic hearth was changed into a helpless and terrified child, who, hiding on her husband's breast, repeated with pale lips,-- "save me, o caius! defend me!" and caius would have hurled himself at every spectre which persephone might send from the nether world, but in vain did he strain his eyes into space round about. as is usual in midday hours, it was lonely. white light filled the city; the sea seemed to burn in the sun, and in the silence was heard only the calling of falcons circling above the house. the visions grew more and more frequent, and at last they came daily. they pursued antea in the interior of the house, as well as in the atrium and the chambers. cinna, by advice of physicians, brought in egyptian sambuka players, and bedouins, blowing clay whistles; the noisy music of these was to drown the sound made by the invisible beings. but all this proved futile. antea heard the sound amid the greatest uproar; and when the sun became so high that a man's shadow was near his feet, like a garment hanging from the arm, in the air quivering from heat appeared the face of the corpse, and looking at antea with glassy eyes it moved away gradually, as if to say, "follow me!" sometimes it seemed to antea that the lips of the corpse moved slowly; sometimes that black disgusting beetles came out from between them and flew through the air toward her. at the very thought of that vision her eyes were filled with terror, and at last life became such a dreadful torture that she begged cinna to hold a sword for her, or to let her drink poison. but he knew that he had not strength for the deed. with that very sword he would have opened his own veins to serve antea, but he could not take her life. when he imagined that dear face of hers dead, with closed eyes, filled with icy composure, and that breast opened with his sword, he felt that he must go mad before he could kill her. a certain greek physician told him that hecate appeared to antea, and that those invisible beings whose noise frightened the sick woman were the attendants of the ominous divinity. according to him, there was no salvation for antea, for whoso has seen hecate must die. then cinna, who not long before would have laughed at faith in hecate, sacrificed a hecatomb to her. but the sacrifice was useless, and next day the gloomy eyes were gazing at antea about midday. attendants covered her head; but she saw the face even through the thickest covering. then they confined her in a dark room; the face looked at her from the walls, illuminating the darkness with its pale gleam of a corpse. every evening the sick woman grew better, and fell into such a deep sleep that to cinna and timon it seemed more than once as though she would not wake again. soon she grew so weak that she could not walk without assistance. she was borne about in a litter. cinna's former disquiet returned with a hundredfold greater force and took complete possession of him. he was terrified regarding the life of antea; but there was also a wonderful feeling that her sickness was in some way mysteriously connected with that of which he had spoken in his first conversation with timon. perhaps the old sage had the same thought; but cinna would not ask him, and feared to talk concerning this matter. meanwhile the sick woman withered like a flower in whose cup a poisonous spider has settled. but the despairing cinna strove against hope to save her. first he took her to the desert near memphis; but when a stay in the quiet of the pyramids gave no respite from the dreadful visions, he returned to alexandria and surrounded her with soothsayers, who professed to enchant away diseases. he brought in from every kind of shameless rabble people who exploited the credulity of mankind by marvellous medicines. but he had no choice left, and snatched at every method. at this time there came from cæsarea a renowned physician, a hebrew, joseph, son of khuza. cinna brought him at once to his wife, and for a time hope returned to his heart. joseph, who had no faith in greek and roman gods, rejected contemptuously the opinion about hecate. he supposed it more likely that demons had entered the sick woman, and advised cinna to leave egypt, where, in addition to demons, marshy effluvia of the delta might injure antea. he advised also, perhaps because he was a hebrew, to go to jerusalem,--a place where demons have no entrance, and where the air is dry and wholesome. cinna followed this advice the more willingly,--first, because there was no other, and second, because jerusalem was governed by an acquaintance of his, a procurator whose ancestors were formerly clients of the house of cinna. in fact, when they came, the procurator, pontius, received them with open arms and gave them as dwelling his own summer residence, which stood near the walls of the city. but cinna's hope was swept away before his arrival. the corpse-like face looked at antea even on the deck of the galley; on coming to the city the sick woman waited for midday with the same deathly terror as on a time in alexandria. and so their days began to pass in oppression, despair, and fear of death. chapter vi. in the atrium, in spite of the fountain, the shady portico, and the early hour, it was extremely hot, for the marble was heated by the spring sun; but at a distance from the house there grew an old, branching pistachio-tree, which shaded a considerable area round about. as the place was open, the breeze there was far greater than elsewhere; hence cinna commanded to carry to that spot the litter, decked with hyacinths and apple-blossoms, in which antea was resting. then sitting near her, he placed his palm on her hands, which were as pale as alabaster, and asked,-- "is it pleasant for thee here, carissima?" "pleasant," answered she, in a scarcely audible voice. and she closed her eyes, as if sleep had seized her. silence followed. only the breeze moved with a rustling the branches of the pistachio-tree; and on the earth around the litter were quivering golden spots, formed of sun-rays, which broke through between the leaves; locusts were hissing among the rocks. the sick woman opened her eyes after a moment. "caius," said she, "is it true that in this country a philosopher has appeared, who cures the sick?" "they call such men prophets here," answered cinna. "i have heard of him, and i wished to bring him to thee, but it turned out that he was a false miracle-worker. besides, he blasphemed against the sanctuary and the religion of this country; hence the procurator has delivered him to death, and this very day he is to be crucified." antea dropped her head. "time will cure thee," said cinna, seeing the sadness reflected on her face. "time is at the service of death, not of life," answered she, slowly. and again silence ensued; round about the golden spots quivered continually; the locusts hissed still more loudly, and from the crannies of the cliff little lizards crept out onto stones, and sought sunny places. cinna looked from moment to moment at antea, and for the thousandth time despairing thoughts flew through his head. he felt that all means of salvation had been spent, that there was no ray of hope, that soon the dear form before him would become a vanishing shadow and a handful of dust in a columbarium. even now while lying with closed eyes in the litter decked with flowers, she seemed dead. "i will follow thee!" said cinna, in his soul. meanwhile steps were heard in the distance. immediately antea's face became white as chalk; from between her half-open lips came hurried breathing; her bosom heaved quickly. the ill-fated martyr felt sure that the crowd of invisible beings which preceded the corpse with glassy eyes were drawing near. cinna seized her hands and strove to pacify her. "fear not, antea; i hear those steps too. that is pontius, who is coming to visit us," added he, after a while. in fact, the procurator, attended by two slaves, appeared at the turn of the path. he was a man no longer young; he had an oval face carefully shaven, full of assumed dignity, and also of suffering and care. "a greeting to thee, noble cinna, and to thee, divine antea!" said he, as he came under the shade of the pistachio-tree. "after a cold night the day has grown hot. may it favor you both, and may the health of antea bloom like those hyacinths and those apple-tree twigs, which adorn her litter." "peace be with thee, and be greeted!" answered cinna. the procurator seated himself on a piece of rock, looked at antea, frowned imperceptibly, and answered,-- "loneliness produces sadness and sickness; but in the midst of crowds there is no place for fear, hence i will give one advice to thee. unfortunately this is neither antioch nor cæsarea; there are no games here, no horse-races; and were we to erect a circus, those madmen would tear it down the next day. here thou wilt hear nothing but this phrase, 'the law,' and everything disturbs that law. i would rather be in scythia." "of what dost thou wish to speak, o pilate?" "indeed, i have wandered from my subject; but cares are the cause of this. i have said that among crowds there is no room for fear. now ye can have a spectacle to-day. in jerusalem, ye should be amused with something; above all, antea should be in the midst of crowds at midday. three men will die on the cross to-day; that is better than nothing! because of the pasch a mob of the strangest ruffians has come from out all this land to the city. ye can look at those people. i will command to give you a place apart near the crosses. i hope that the condemned will die bravely. one of them is a marvellous person: he calls himself the son of god; he is as mild as a dove, and has really done nothing to merit death." "and didst thou condemn him to the cross?" "i wanted to rid myself of trouble, and also avoid stirring up that nest of hornets that buzz around the temple; even as it is, they send complaints to rome against me. besides, the accused is not a roman citizen." "the man will not suffer less for that reason." the procurator made no answer, but after a while he began to speak, as if to himself,-- "there is one thing that i do not like,--exaggeration. whoever uses that word before me takes away my cheerfulness for the day. the golden mean! that is what wisdom commands us to follow, as i think. and there is not a corner of the world in which that principle is less respected than here. how all this tortures me! how it tortures me! in nothing is there repose, in nothing balance,--neither in men nor in nature. at present, for example, it is spring; the nights are cold; but during the day there is such heat that it is difficult to walk on stones. it is long yet till midday, and see what is happening! of the people--better not speak! i am here, because i must be here. never mind that! i might leave my subject a second time. go to witness the crucifixion. i am convinced that that nazarene will die valiantly. i gave command to flog him, thinking in that way to save him from death. i am not cruel. when he was lashed he was as patient as a lamb, and he blessed the people. when he was covered with blood, he raised his eyes and prayed. that is the most marvellous person that i have seen in my life. my wife has not given me a moment of peace because of him. 'permit not the death of that innocent man!' this is what she has been dinning into my ears since daybreak. i wanted to save him. twice i went to the bema and spoke to those priests and that mangy rabble. they answered in one voice, raising their heads and opening their jaws to the ears, 'crucify him!'" "didst thou yield to them?" asked cinna. "i did, for in the city there would be mobs, and i am here to keep peace. i must do my duty. i dislike exaggeration, and, besides, i am mortally wearied; but when i undertake a thing, i do not hesitate to sacrifice the life of one man for the general welfare, especially when he is an unknown person whom no one will mention. all the worse for him that he is not a roman." "the sun shines not on rome alone," whispered antea. "divine antea," answered the procurator, "i might answer that on the whole round of the earth the sun shines on roman rule; therefore for the good of that rule it is proper to sacrifice everything, and disturbances undermine our authority. but, above all, i beg of thee not to ask me to change the sentence. cinna will tell thee that that cannot be, and that, once sentence is pronounced, cæsar alone can change it. though i wished, i have not the power to change. is that not the case, caius?" "it is." but those words caused antea evident pain, for she said, thinking of herself, perhaps,-- "then it is possible to suffer and die without being guilty." "no one is without guilt," answered pontius. "this nazarene has committed no crime; hence i, as procurator, washed my hands. but as a man, i condemn his teaching. i conversed with him purposely rather long, wishing to test the man, and convinced myself that he announces monstrous things. the case is difficult! the world must stand on sound sense. who denies that virtue is needed? certainly not i. but even the stoics only teach men to endure opposition with calmness; they do not insist that we should renounce everything, from our property to our dinner. answer, cinna,--thou art a man of sound judgment,--what wouldst thou think of me were i, neither from one cause nor another, to bestow this house in which thou art dwelling on those tattered fellows who warm themselves in the sun at the joppa gate? and he insists on just such things. besides, he says that we should love all equally: the jews as well as the romans themselves, the romans as the egyptians, the egyptians as the africans, and so on. i confess that i have had enough of this. at the moment when his life is in peril, he bears himself as if the question were of some one else; he teaches--and prays. it is not my duty to save a man who has no care for his own safety. whoso does not know how to preserve measure in anything is not a man of judgment. moreover, he calls himself the son of god, and disturbs the foundations on which society rests, and therefore harms people. let him think what he likes in his soul, if he will not raise disturbance. as a man, i protest against his teaching. if i do not believe in the gods, let us concede that it is my affair. still i recognize the use of religion, and i declare so publicly, for i judge that religion is a curb on people. horses must be harnessed, and harnessed securely. finally, death should not be terrible to that nazarene, for he declares that he will rise from the dead." cinna and antea looked at each other with amazement. "that he will rise from the dead?" "neither more nor less; after three days. so at least his disciples declare. i forgot to ask him myself. for that matter, it is all one, since death liberates a man from promises. and even should he not rise from the dead, he will lose nothing, since, according to his teaching, genuine happiness and eternal life begin only after death. he speaks of this, indeed, as a man perfectly certain. in his hades it is brighter than in the world under the sun, and whoso suffers more in this world will enter that with greater certainty; he must only love, and love, and love." "a wonderful doctrine," said antea. "and these people here cry to thee, 'crucify him!'?" inquired cinna. "and i do not even wonder at this, for hatred is the soul of this people, for what, if not hatred, can demand that love be crucified?" antea rubbed her forehead with her emaciated hand. "and is he certain that it is possible to live and be happy after death?" "that is why neither the cross nor death terrify him." "how good that would be, caius!" "how does he know this?" inquired she, after a while. the procurator waved his hand: "he says that he knows it from the father of all, who for the jews is the same as jove for us, with this difference, that, according to the nazarene, the father alone is one and merciful." "how good that would be, caius!" repeated the sick woman. cinna opened his lips as if to make some answer, but remained silent; and the conversation stopped. evidently pontius was continuing to think of the strange doctrine of the nazarene, for he shook his head and shrugged his shoulders repeatedly. at last he rose and began to take leave. all at once antea said,-- "caius, let us go to look at that nazarene." "hasten," said pilate, as he was going away; "the procession will move soon." chapter vii. the day, hot and bright from early morning, was obscured about midday. from the northeast clouds were rolling up, either dark or copper-colored, not over large, but dense, as if pregnant with a tempest. between them the deep blue of the sky was still visible, but it was easy to foresee that they would soon pack together and conceal the whole round of the sky. meanwhile the sun covered the edges of them with fire and gold. over the city itself and the adjacent hills there extended yet a broad space of clear blue, and in the valley there was no breath of wind. on the lofty platform of ground called golgotha stood here and there small groups of people who had preceded the procession which was to move from the city. the sun illuminated broad, stony spaces, which were empty, gloomy, and barren; their monotonous pearl-color was interrupted only by the black net of ravines and gullies, the blacker because the platform itself was covered with light. in the distance were visible more elevated eminences, equally empty, veiled by the blue haze of distance. lower down, between the walls of the city and the platform of golgotha, lay a plain bordered in places with cliffs less naked. from crannies in which had collected some little fertile earth, fig-trees peeped forth with few and scant leaves. here and there rose flat-roofed buildings fixed to the cliff-side, like swallows' nests to stone walls, or shining from afar in the sun-rays were sepulchres, painted white. at present, because of the approaching holidays and the concourse of provincials in the capital, multitudes of huts and tents had been raised near the city walls; these formed whole encampments filled with men and camels. the sun rose ever higher on that expanse of heaven which was still free from clouds. the hours were approaching in which usually deep silence reigned on those heights, for every living creature sought refuge inside the walls or within the ravines. and even at this time, in spite of uncommon animation, there was a certain sadness in that neighborhood in which the dazzling light fell not on green, but on gray stone expanses. the noise of distant voices, coming from the direction of the walls, was changed into the sound of waves, as it were, and seemed to be swallowed by the silence. the single groups of people waiting on golgotha since morning turned their faces toward the city, whence the procession might move at any moment. antea's litter arrived; a few soldiers, sent by the procurator, preceded it. these were to open a way through the multitude, and in case of need restrain from deeds of disrespect the fanatical throng, and those who hated foreigners. at the side of the litter walked cinna, in company with the centurion rufilus. antea was calmer, less frightened than usual at the approach of midday, and with it the terror of dreadful visions, which had drawn the life out of her. what the procurator had said touching the young nazarene, had attracted her mind and turned attention from her own misery. for her there was in this something wonderful which she could hardly understand. the world of that time had seen many persons die as calmly as a funeral pile quenches when the fuel in it is consumed. but that was a calmness coming from bravery, or from a philosophic agreement with the implacable necessity of exchanging light for darkness, real life for an existence misty, vanishing, and indefinite. no one up to that time had blessed death; no one had died with unshaken certainty that only after the funeral pyre or the grave would real life begin,--life as mighty and endless as only a being all-powerful and eternal can give. and he whom they had appointed for crucifixion declared this as an undoubted truth. this teaching not only struck antea, but seemed to her the only source of consolation. she knew that she must die, and immense regret seized her. for what did death mean for her? it meant to lose cinna, to lose her father, to lose the world, to lose love, for a cold, empty gloom, which was half nothing. hence the more desirable it was for her in life, the greater must be her sorrow. if death could be good for anything, or if it were possible to take with her even the remembrance of love, or the memory of happiness, she would be able to gain resignation the more quickly. then, while she expected nothing from death, she heard all at once that it could give everything. and who had made that announcement? a certain wonderful man, a teacher, a prophet, a philosopher, who enjoined love as the highest virtue, who blessed people when they were lashing him; and this man they had condemned to the cross. hence antea thought: "why did he teach thus if the cross was his only reward? others desired power; he did not desire it. others desired wealth; he remained poor. others desired palaces, feasts, excesses, purple robes, and chariots inlaid with mother-of-pearl and ivory; he lived like a shepherd. meanwhile he enjoined love, compassion, poverty; therefore he could not be malicious and deceive people purposely. if he spoke the truth, let death be blessed as the end of earthly misery, as the change from a lower to a loftier happiness, as light for eyes that are quenching, as wings with which one flies away into endless bliss!" antea understood then what the promise of resurrection signified. the mind and heart of the poor sick woman cleaved with all their strength to that teaching. she recalled also the words of her father, who had repeated more than once that some new truth might bring the tortured soul of man out of darkness and imprisonment. and here was the new truth! it had conquered death; hence it had brought salvation. antea sank with her whole being in those thoughts; so that for many and many a day cinna for the first time failed to find terror in her face at the approach of midday. the procession moved at last from the city toward golgotha. from the height where antea was sitting, it could be seen perfectly. the crowd, though considerable, seemed lost on those stony expanses. through the open gate of jerusalem flowed more and more people, and on the way they were joined by those who had been waiting outside the walls. they went at first in a long line, which, as it moved forward, spread like a swollen river. at both sides were running swarms of children. the procession was made varied and many-colored by the white tunics and the scarlet and blue kerchiefs of women. in the centre were glittering the arms and spears of roman soldiers, on which the sun cast fleeting rays, as it were. the uproar of mingled voices came from afar and rose with increasing distinctness. at last the multitude came quite near; the first ranks began to ascend the height. the throng of people hurried on so as to occupy the nearest places and see the torment more clearly; because of this the division of soldiers, conducting the condemned, fell more and more toward the rear. children arrived first, mainly boys, half naked, with cloths fastened around their hips, with shaven heads, except two tufts of hair near the temple, embrowned, with eyes almost blue, and harsh voices. in the wild uproar they fell to pulling out of the crannies bits of stone broken from the cliffs; these they wished to throw at those who were to be crucified. right after them the height swarmed with a nondescript rabble. their faces were for the greater part excited by the movement and by the hope of a spectacle. on no face was there a sign of compassion. the noise of rasping voices, the endless number of words thrown out by each mouth, the suddenness of their movements, astonished antea, though accustomed in alexandria to the word-loving liveliness of greeks. before her, people spoke as if they wished to hurl themselves at one another. they screamed as if escaping death; they resisted as if some one were flaying them. the centurion rufilus, approaching the litter, gave explanations in a calm, official voice. meanwhile new waves flowed up from the city. the throng increased every moment. in the crowd were seen wealthy men of jerusalem, dressed in girded tunics, holding themselves aloof from the wretched rabble of the suburbs. in numbers also came villagers which the festival had brought to the city, with their families; field-workers, with kindly and astonished faces, came, bearing bags at their girdles; shepherds came, dressed in goat-skins. crowds of women came with the men; but as wives of the more wealthy citizens did not leave their homes willingly, these women were chiefly of the people. they were villagers, or women of the street; these last dressed gaudily, had dyed hair, brows, and nails; they wore immense ear-rings and coin necklaces, and gave out from a distance the odor of nard. the sanhedrim arrived at last; and in the midst of it, annas, an aged man with the face of a vulture and eyes with red lids; then appeared the unwieldy caiaphas, wearing a two-horned hat, with a gilded tablet on his breast. with these walked various pharisees; as, for instance, those who "drag their legs" and strike every obstacle purposely with their feet; pharisees with "bloody foreheads," who beat those foreheads against the wall, also by design; and pharisees "bent over," as if to receive the burden of the sins of the whole city on their shoulders. gloomy importance and cold vindictiveness distinguished them from the noisy rabble. cinna looked at this throng of people with the cool, contemptuous visage of a man of the ruling race, antea with astonishment and fear. many jews inhabited alexandria, but there they were half hellenized; here for the first time she saw jews as the procurator had described them, and as they were in their own native nest. her youthful face, on which death had imprinted its stamp, her form, resembling a shadow, attracted general attention. they stared at her with insolence in so far as the soldiers surrounding her litter permitted them; and so great among them was contempt for foreigners that no compassion was evident in the eyes of any; rather did gladness shine in them because the victim would not escape death. then the daughter of timon understood for the first time, and precisely, why those people demanded a cross for the prophet who had proclaimed love. and all at once that nazarene appeared to antea as some one so near that he was almost dear to her. he had to die, and so had she. nothing could save him now, after the issuing of the sentence, and sentence had fallen also on her; hence it seemed to antea that the brotherhood of misfortune and death had united them. but he approached the cross with faith in a morrow after death. she had not that faith yet, and had come to obtain it from the sight of him. meanwhile from afar was heard an uproar, a whistling, a howling, then all was silent. next came clatter of weapons and the heavy tread of legionaries. the crowds swayed, opened, and the division conducting the condemned began to push past the litter. in front, at both sides, and behind, advanced soldiers with slow and measured tread. next were three arms of crosses, which seemed to move of themselves; they were borne by persons bent under the weight of them. it was easy to divine that the nazarene was not among those three, for two had the insolent faces of thieves. the third was a simple countryman, no longer young; clearly the soldiers had impressed him to do work for another. the nazarene walked behind the crosses; two soldiers marched near him. he wore a purple mantle thrown over his garments, and a crown of thorns, from under the points of which drops of blood issued; of these some flowed slowly along his face, others had grown stiff under the crown, in the form of berries of the wild rose, or coral beads. he was pale, and moved forward with slow, unsteady, and weakened step. he advanced amid insults from the multitude, sunk, as it were, in the meditation of another world; he was as if seized away from the earth altogether, as if not caring for the cries of hatred, or as if forgiving beyond the measure of human forgiveness and compassionate beyond the measure of human compassion, for, embraced now by infinity, raised above human estimate, he was exceedingly mild, and was sorrowful only through his measureless sorrow for all men. "thou art truth," whispered antea, with trembling lips. the retinue was passing just near the litter. it halted for a moment while soldiers in front were clearing the road of the throng; antea saw then the nazarene a few steps away. she saw the breeze move his hair; she saw the ruddy reflection from his mantle on his pallid and almost transparent face. the mob, rushing toward him, surrounded with a dense half-circle the soldiers, who had to resist with spears, to save him from their rage. everywhere were visible outstretched arms with clinched fists, eyes bursting through their lids, gleaming teeth, beards thrown apart from mad movements, and foaming lips through which came hoarse shouts. but he looked around, as if wishing to ask, "what have i done to you?" then he raised his eyes to heaven and prayed--and forgave. "antea! antea!" cried cinna at that moment. but antea seemed not to hear his cries. great tears were falling from her eyes; she forgot her sickness, forgot that for many days she had not risen from the litter; and sitting up on a sudden, trembling, half conscious, from pity, compassion, and indignation at the mad shrieks of the multitude, she took hyacinths with apple blossoms and cast them before the feet of the nazarene. for a moment there was silence. amazement seized the crowd at sight of this noble roman lady giving honor to the condemned. he turned his eyes to her poor sick face, and his lips began to move, as if blessing her. antea fell again on the pillow of the litter; she felt that a sea of light, of goodness, of grace, of consolation, of hope, of happiness, was falling on her. "thou art truth," whispered she, a second time. then a new wave of tears came to her eyes. but they pushed him forward to a place a few tens of steps distant from the litter; on that place stood already the uprights of crosses, fixed in a cleft of the rocky platform. the crowd concealed him again; but, since that place was elevated considerably, antea soon saw his pale face and the crown of thorns. the legionaries turned once more toward the rabble, which they clubbed away, lest it might interrupt the execution. they began then to fasten the two thieves to the side crosses. the third cross stood in the middle; to the top of it was fastened, with a nail, a white card which the growing wind pulled and raised. when soldiers, approaching the nazarene at last, began to undress him, shouts rose in the crowds: "king! king! do not yield! king, where are thy legions? defend thyself!" at moments laughter burst forth,--laughter that bore away the multitude till on a sudden the whole stony height resounded with one roar. then they stretched him face upward on the ground, to nail his hands to the arms of the cross, and raise him afterward with it to the main pillar. thereupon some man, in a white tunic, standing not far from the litter, cast himself on the earth suddenly, gathered dust and bits of stone on his head, and cried in a shrill despairing voice, "i was a leper, and he cured me; why do ye crucify him?" antea's face became white as a kerchief. "he cured that man; dost hear, caius?" said she. "dost wish to return?" asked cinna. "no! i will remain here!" but a wild and boundless despair seized cinna because he had not called the nazarene to his house to cure antea. at that moment the soldiers, placing nails at his hands, began to strike. the dull clink of iron against iron was heard; this soon changed into a sound which went farther, for the points of the nails, having passed through flesh, entered the wood. the crowds were silent again, perhaps to enjoy cries which torture might bring from the mouth of the nazarene. but he remained silent, and on the height was heard only the ominous and dreadful sound of the hammers. at last they had finished the work, and the cross-piece was drawn up, with the body. the centurion in charge pronounced, or rather sang out monotonously, words of command, in virtue of which a soldier began to nail the feet. at this moment those clouds, which since morning had been extending on the horizon, hid the sun. the distant hills and cliffs, which had been gleaming in brightness, gleamed no longer. the light turned to darkness. an ominous bronze-colored gloom seized the region about, and, as the sun sank more deeply behind piles of clouds, the gloom became denser. men might have thought that some being from above was sifting down to the earth lurid darkness. the air now grew sultry. all at once even those remnants of lurid gleams became black. clouds, dark as night, rolled and pushed forward, like a gigantic wave, toward the height and the city. a tempest was coming! the world was filled with fear. "let us return!" said cinna again. "once more, once more, i wish to see him," answered antea. darkness had concealed the hanging bodies. cinna gave command to carry the litter nearer the place of torment. they carried it so near that barely a few steps were between them and the cross. on the dark tree they saw the body of the crucified, who in that general eclipse seemed made of silver rays of the moon. his breast rose with quick breathing. his face and eyes were turned upward yet. then from the rolls of clouds was heard a deep rumbling. thunder was roused; it rose and rolled with tremendous report from the east to the west, and then falling, as if into a bottomless abyss, was heard farther and farther down, now dying away, and now increasing; at last it roared till the earth shook in its foundations. a gigantic blue lightning-flash rent the clouds, lighted the sky, the earth, the crosses, the arms of the soldiers, and the mob huddled together, like a flock of sheep, filled with distress and terror. after the lightning came deeper darkness. close to the litter was heard the sobbing of women, who also drew near the cross. there was something ominous in this sobbing amid silence. those who were lost in the multitude began now to cry out. here and there were heard terrified voices,-- "o yah! oj lanu! [woe to us!] o yah! have they not crucified the just one?" "who gave true testimony! o yah!" "who raised the dead!" and another voice called,-- "woe to thee, jerusalem!" still another,-- "the earth trembles!" a new lightning-flash disclosed the depths of the sky, and in them gigantic figures of fire, as it were. the voices were silent, or rather were lost in the whistling of the whirlwind, which sprang up all at once with tremendous force; it swept off a multitude of mantles and kerchiefs, and hurled them away over the height. voices cried out anew,-- "the earth trembles!" some began to flee. terror nailed others to the spot; and they stood fixed in amazement, without thought, with this dull impression only,--that something awful was happening. but, on a sudden, the gloom began to be less dense. wind rolled the clouds over, twisted and tore them like rotten rags; brightness increased gradually. at last the dark ceiling was rent, and through the opening rushed in all at once a torrent of sunlight; presently the heights became visible, and with them the crosses and the terrified faces of the people. the head of the nazarene had fallen low on his breast; it was as pale as wax; his eyes were closed, his lips blue. "he is dead," whispered antea. "he is dead," repeated cinna. at this moment a centurion thrust his spear into the side of the dead. a wonderful thing: the return of light and the sight of that death seemed to appease that crowd. they pushed nearer and nearer, especially since the soldiers did not bar approach. among the throng were heard voices,-- "come down from the cross! come down from the cross!" antea cast her eyes once more on that low-hanging head, then she said, as if to herself,-- "will he rise from the dead?" in view of death, which had put blue spots on his eyes and mouth, in view of those arms stretched beyond measure, and in view of that motionless body which had settled down with the weight of dead things, her voice trembled with despairing doubt. not less was the disappointment rending cinna's soul. he also believed not that the nazarene would rise from the dead; but he believed that had he lived, he alone, with his power, good or evil, might have given health to antea. meanwhile more numerous voices were calling,-- "come down from the cross! come down from the cross!" "come down!" repeated cinna, with despair. "cure her for me; take my life!" the air became purer and purer. the mountains were still in mist, but above the height and the city the sky had cleared perfectly. "turris antonia" glittered in sunlight as bright itself as the sun. the air had become fresh, and was full of swallows. cinna gave command to return. it was an afternoon hour. near the house antea said,-- "hecate has not come to-day." cinna also was thinking of that. chapter viii. the vision did not appear the next day. the sick woman was unusually animated, for timon had come from cæsarea. alarmed for the life of his daughter and frightened by cinna's letters, he had left alexandria a few days earlier to look once again on his only child before her parting. at cinna's heart hope began to knock again, as if to give notice to receive it. but he had not courage to open the door to that guest; he did not dare to harbor hope. in the visions which had been killing antea, there had been intervals, it is true, not of two days, but of one in alexandria, and in the desert. the present relief cinna attributed to timon's arrival, and her impressions at the cross, which so filled the sick woman's soul that she could talk of nothing else, even with her father. timon listened with attention; he did not contradict; he meditated and merely inquired carefully about the doctrine of the nazarene, of which antea knew, for that matter, only what the procurator had told her. in general she felt healthier and somewhat stronger; and when midday had passed and gone, real solace shone in her eyes. she repeated that that was a favorable day, and begged her husband to make note of it. the day was really sad and gloomy. rain had begun in the early morning, at first very heavy, then fine and cutting, from low clouds which extended monotonously. only in the evening did the sky break through, and the great fiery globe of the sun look out of the mists, paint in purple and gold the gray rocks, the white marble porticoes of the villas, and descend with endless gleams toward the mediterranean. the next morning was wonderfully beautiful. the weather promised to be warm, but the morning was fresh, the sky without a spot, and the earth so sunk in a blue bath that all objects seemed blue. antea had given directions to bear her out and place her under the favorite pistachio-tree, so that from the elevation on which the tree stood she might delight herself with the view of the blue and gladsome distance. cinna and timon did not move a step from the litter, and watched the face of the sick woman carefully. there was in it a certain alarm of expectation, but it was not that mortal fear which used to seize her at the approach of midday. her eyes cast a more lively light, and her cheeks bloomed with a slight flush. cinna thought indeed at moments that antea might recover; and at this thought he wanted to throw himself on the ground, to sob from delight, and bless the gods. then again he feared that that was perhaps the last gleam of the dying lamp. wishing to gain hope from some source, he glanced every little while at timon; but similar thoughts must have been passing through his head, for he avoided cinna's glances. none of the three mentioned by a word that midday was near. but cinna, casting his eyes every moment at the shadows, saw with beating heart that they were growing shorter and shorter. and he sat as if sunk in thought. perhaps the least alarmed was antea herself. lying in the open litter, her head rested on a purple pillow; she breathed with delight that pure air which the breeze brought from the west, from the distant sea. but before midday the breeze had ceased to blow. the heat increased; warmed by the sun, the pepperwort of the cliffs and the thickets of nard began to give out a strong and intoxicating odor. bright butterflies balanced themselves over bunches of anemones. from the crevices of the rocks little lizards, already accustomed to that litter and those people, sprang out, one after the other, confident as usual, and also cautious in every movement. the whole world was enjoying that serene peace, that warmth, that calm sweetness and azure drowsiness. timon and cinna seemed also to dissolve in that sunny rest. the sick woman closed her eyes as if a light sleep had seized her; and nothing interrupted that silence except sighs, which from time to time raised her breast. meanwhile cinna noticed that his shadow had lost its lengthened form and was lying there under his feet. it was midday. all at once antea opened her eyes and called out in a kind of strange voice,-- "caius, give me thy hand." he sprang up, and all the blood was stiffened to ice in his heart. the hour of terrible visions had come. her eyes opened wider and wider. "dost thou see," said she, "how light collects there and binds the air; how it trembles, glitters, and approaches me?" "antea, look not in that direction!" cried cinna. but, oh, wonder! there was no fear on her face. her lips were parted; her eyes were gazing, and opening wider and wider; a certain immeasurable delight began to brighten her face. "the pillar of light approaches me," said she. "see! that is he; that is the nazarene!--he is smiling. o mild! o merciful! the transfixed hands he stretches out like a mother to me. caius, he brings me health, salvation, and calls me to himself." cinna grew very pale, and said,-- "whithersoever he calls us, let us follow him." * * * * * a moment later, on the other side, on the stony path leading to the city, appeared pontius pilate. before he had come near, it was evident from his face that he was bringing news, which, as a man of judgment, he considered a fresh, absurd invention of the ignorant and credulous rabble. in fact, while still at some distance, he began to call, wiping perspiration from his brow,-- "imagine to thyself, they declare that he has risen from the dead!" footnotes: [ ] styx. [transcriber's note: bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic text is surrounded by _underscores_.] our little jewish cousin the little cousin series (trade mark) each volume illustrated with six or more full page plates in tint. cloth, mo, with decorative cover per volume, $ . list of titles by col. f. a. postnikov, isaac taylor headland, edward c. butler, and others =our little african cousin= =our little alaskan cousin= =our little arabian cousin= =our little argentine cousin= =our little armenian cousin= =our little australian cousin= =our little austrian cousin= =our little belgian cousin= =our little bohemian cousin= =our little boer cousin= =our little brazilian cousin= =our little bulgarian cousin= =our little canadian cousin of the maritime provinces= =our little chinese cousin= =our little cossack cousin= =our little cuban cousin= =our little czecho-slovac cousin= =our little danish cousin= =our little dutch cousin= =our little egyptian cousin= =our little english cousin= =our little eskimo cousin= =our little finnish cousin= =our little french cousin= =our little german cousin= =our little grecian cousin= =our little hawaiian cousin= =our little hindu cousin= =our little hungarian cousin= =our little indian cousin= =our little irish cousin= =our little italian cousin= =our little japanese cousin= =our little jewish cousin= =our little korean cousin= =our little malayan (brown) cousin= =our little mexican cousin= =our little norwegian cousin= =our little panama cousin= =our little persian cousin= =our little philippine cousin= =our little polish cousin= =our little porto rican cousin= =our little portuguese cousin= =our little quebec cousin= =our little roumanian cousin= =our little russian cousin= =our little scotch cousin= =our little servian cousin= =our little siamese cousin= =our little spanish cousin= =our little swedish cousin= =our little swiss cousin= =our little turkish cousin= the page company beacon street boston, mass. [illustration: esther.] our little jewish cousin by mary hazelton wade _illustrated by_ l. j. bridgman [illustration] boston the page company _publishers_ _copyright, _ by l. c. page & company (incorporated) _all rights reserved_ published september, fourth impression, june, fifth impression, march, sixth impression, february, seventh impression, april, eighth impression, april, ninth impression, july, the colonial press c. h. simonds co., boston, u. s. a. preface in whatever direction you may travel,--north, south, east, or west,--you will doubtless meet some of your little black-eyed jewish cousins. they live among us here in america. they also dwell in the countries far away across the wide ocean. why are they so scattered, you may ask. is there no country which is really theirs, and which is ruled over by some one they have chosen? is there not some place where they can gather together happily whenever they please? the answer is always no. they cannot say of this land or of that, "it is ours," for they are homeless. palestine, which was once theirs, is now in the hands of the turks. jerusalem, the city they love best in the whole world, is in the power of those who look with scorn upon the jewish people. for many centuries they have been scattered far and wide. their children learn to speak the language of the country where they happen to be born. they play the games and dress in the fashion of that country. what is it that keeps them jews? it is their religion, and their religion alone. it binds them as closely together now as it did in the days when they worshipped in the great temple at jerusalem, two thousand years ago. these jewish cousins would say to us, "our people have suffered greatly. yet they do not lose courage. our parents tell us stories of the glorious past, over and over again. they will not let us forget it, and they teach us to hope for the time when jerusalem will again be ours, and a new temple, in which we shall be free to worship, will stand upon the spot where the old one was destroyed." contents chapter page i. the place of wailing ii. the gazelle iii. the feast of the passover iv. the orphan v. the jews of long ago vi. queer sights vii. the cave viii. the sweet singer of israel list of illustrations page esther _frontispiece_ "it was a dark, dreary court with stone walls on three sides of it" levi and his camel a woman of bethlehem a street in jerusalem a bedouin our little jewish cousin chapter i. the place of wailing "come, esther! come, solomon! i am waiting for you," cried a woman's voice. the two children were in the courtyard, but, when they heard their mother calling, they ran into the house at once. they knew why they were called, for it was friday afternoon. every week at this time they went to the "place of wailing" with their parents to weep over the troubles of their people and to think of the old days of jerusalem, before the romans conquered the city. "esther, your hair needs brushing. solomon, make your hands and face as clean as possible," said their mother, as she looked at the children. she loved them very dearly. she was proud of them, too. solomon was a bright, clever boy, quick in his studies, while esther was really beautiful. her glossy black hair hung in long curls down her back. her black eyes were soft and loving. her skin was of a pale olive tint, and her cheeks were often flushed a delicate pink. her mother looked tenderly at her as she brushed the little girl's hair. "mamma, grandma says i look ever so much as you did when you were my age," said esther, as she trudged by her mother's side down the narrow street. "yes, yes, my child, i have heard her say so. but never mind your looks or mine now. think of where we are going." it was a hot walk. the sun was shining brightly. the street, the stone houses, everything around shone dusty gray in colour. there were no sidewalks. when a camel drew near with his load, or a horseman passed by, esther had to walk close to the walls of the houses for fear the animals would rub against her. she was born in this old city of jerusalem. she had never been far away from it, and knew little of the wide streets and broad sidewalks found in many other cities. she had sometimes heard her father and mother talk of their life in spain. they came from that country before esther and her brother were born. it was a long journey, but they had said, "we cannot be happy anywhere except in jerusalem. that alone is the home of our people." esther's father might have grown rich in spain. he was a trader. he understood his business well. but in jerusalem it was harder for him to get money. what a strange name for the place where the family were going this afternoon! but it well deserved to be called "the place of wailing." it was a dark, dreary court with stone walls on three sides of it. many jews were already there when esther and her people arrived. [illustration: "it was a dark, dreary court with stone walls on three sides of it."] some of them were seated on the ground. they were weeping bitterly and rocking their bodies to and fro. others, with sad faces, were reading from the hebrew bible. still others were kissing the wall and bumping it with their foreheads. some parts of the rock had actually been worn smooth by the lips of those who had come here week after week and year after year. for they really believed it was a part of the old temple wall. little esther, with her glossy black curls, did just what she saw the others do. the tears began to fall from her eyes as she went close up to the wall and kissed the cold gray stone. did all of these people really feel as bad as they seemed to do? certainly. for they were grieving that jerusalem was no longer great and no longer theirs. it was now in the hands of the turks, but, long before they came, the romans had taken the city from the jews, after a long and bitter fight. saturday is the jewish sabbath. it is their holy day, and the time when they rest from work. on friday afternoon they begin to prepare for the sabbath. hundreds of the jews in jerusalem gather at the place of wailing at that time. they not only weep and read from their bible, but they also pray to the lord to take their country out of the hands of their enemies and give it back to them. as esther walked home she looked up at the mosque of omar. it is the turks' grandest place of worship in the city. her father told her that it stands on the very spot where solomon's wonderful temple was built. "that temple was the most beautiful one ever seen by men," said the jew. "its brightness was enough to dazzle the eyes of those who looked upon it. its walls were plated with gold. the very gate was golden. "a beautiful golden vine, with clusters of grapes as large as a man's body, was draped over the gate. the floor was paved with gold. golden lilies were carved upon the pillars and mouldings. "there was no door. but there was a reason for this. it was to show that the heavens are always open. they are closed to no one." "and now, papa, nothing is left of that beautiful building," said esther. "not one stone, my dear. but we jews all hope the time will come when it will be rebuilt." "it was not the first temple which was destroyed by the romans when they took jerusalem, was it?" "oh, no. the second temple had been standing in its place for hundreds of years at that time. it was wonderfully beautiful, too. herod the great spent vast sums of money on it. it was the wonder of every one who looked upon it. but our enemies destroyed it, as you well know." that evening, while esther and her brother sat by their father's side, he told them the story of the destruction of jerusalem and of the brave men and women who tried to save it. the jews had feared for some time that something dreadful would happen. they had seen strange visions. while the feast of the passover was taking place, the great temple was filled with a light like that of noonday. and this happened at the ninth hour of the night. something else quite as wonderful as this took place. the bronze door of the gate beautiful opened of itself at the sixth hour of the night. yet this very gate was so heavy that twenty men could scarcely move it, even when the great iron bolts had been drawn. esther looked up at her father with surprised eyes as he told of these things. but when he spoke of seven chariots that drove across the sky, and of the armies the frightened people saw in the clouds, she was still more astonished. "i should think our soldiers would have lost courage before they were attacked," she exclaimed. "not so, esther. but listen, my child, as i describe the mighty roman army that soon drew near jerusalem. multitudes of syrians had joined them, and these led the way as they came marching up the heights. "titus, the roman general, followed the syrians. the spearmen came with him. next came the legions with their terrible short swords and the trumpets that filled the air with word of their approach. "every footman among the romans was armed with a sword, a lance, and a shield. besides these, he carried with him a saw, axe, hook, pickaxe, and enough food to last him for three days. the horsemen were also furnished with everything they needed for battle or for a long siege. "this great army steadily drew nearer and nearer. do you think the brave soldiers guarding our city trembled with fear as they looked forth from the watch-towers and saw them?" "not so, father. a jew fears nothing." "you are quite right. but now, let us return to jerusalem as she stood then. a triple wall, thirty feet high, had been built around the city, except where it was separated from the rest of the country by deep ravines. one wall was quite enough to protect it in such places. many watch-towers had been set up around the city. it seemed impossible to take it by surprise at any point. "the temple stood on mount moriah in all its glory. but it was not a temple alone. it was also a strong fortress." "how could the romans take the city, even if their numbers were so great?" asked solomon. "they could never have won, except for one thing. our people were not wholly united. a party of them under the high priest, ananus, felt there was no hope. they believed it would be wisest to give up at once and make peace. "but the others said, 'no, we will fight to the end, and will drive our enemies from the city.' if every one had felt from the first as these did, all would have been well. it was too late when the different parties agreed to work for one end. "the romans threw immense stones into the city. they cut down the trees in all the country round, and made towers from which they hoped to fire and destroy the buildings inside the walls. "they succeeded, for they soon made an opening in the outer wall. then the second wall gave way before the mighty force. and all this time those romans, who were stationed across from the city on the mount of olives, were throwing such huge stones from their great engines that the houses and people inside jerusalem were being destroyed, both by day and by night. "worse still! they began to lack food and to suffer from starvation. they could not hold out much longer. the time soon came when the last wall was broken down and titus marched through the streets of the city. "it was very strange that it was the anniversary of the day when the first temple was destroyed by the soldiers of babylon. "'it is on fire! the glorious temple is burning!' cried our people, as they saw the flames. a roman soldier had kindled the fire without the knowledge of titus, who had not wished to injure this wonder of the whole world. "some of the priests threw themselves into the flames. before it was destroyed, titus, with his captains, entered the holy place. the roman general cried, 'it is more beautiful than i even imagined. its riches are a perfect marvel.' "the golden candlesticks and tables and cups, the sweet spices of which the priests made incense, the precious stones, were laid at the feet of the conqueror." "what did he do with all this wealth?" asked esther. "he carried most of it back to rome. but he rewarded the bravest of his soldiers with crowns of gold and chains of silver. "he had fought for many days before jerusalem gave up. in that time the country around us had been ruined. the forests had been cut down for the making of engines of war. the herds of cattle had been killed to furnish food for the army of titus. the harvests had been gathered for the same purpose. as for the people themselves, more than a million were killed and the rest were made the slaves of the romans." "don't feel bad, papa," said esther, lovingly. "that was a very long time ago." "yes, esther, but our people have been scattered over the world ever since then. we shall never be happy till we are once more the rulers of this city." "mother told me a story, the other day," said solomon, who had not spoken for a long time. "it was about a family who lived here when titus appeared before our gates. i think she told it to make me brave." "what is the story, solomon?" asked his father. "there was a brave man in our city. he was of noble blood and true to his faith. he had a faithful wife and seven sons. you shall hear how brave and true they were. "the roman army began the terrible siege. before it was over, the brave noble was killed, but his wife and children lived. after titus entered the city, he heard of this family. he ordered them to be brought before him. "as they stood in his presence he spoke to each in turn. he offered them freedom if they would give up their faith and bow down before his gods. but not one of them hesitated. they had not a single thought of giving up their faith in the one living god. no, not for the sake of life. "one by one they were led away to death. at last, only the youngest son was left before the conqueror. titus was moved to pity for the beautiful boy. he really wished to save him. he said, 'my child, see! i will drop my ring for the sake of the gods. if thou wilt pick it up, thy life shall be spared.' "the boy looked up at him firmly. he answered, 'it shall lie there where you dropped it. i am afraid of no living man. i fear only the thought of life without the one god.'" "of course, he followed his brothers. but what became of the mother?" asked esther. "she begged to die with her sons. she said abraham had built one altar on which to sacrifice to god. she had built seven! and she spoke truly." "it is a noble story of noble people," said the children's father. "there were many like them in that old time. let us hope there are still many in the world." chapter ii. the gazelle "shall i help?" asked solomon. "yes, indeed. take the seeds in the skirts of your coat and come along," was the answer. solomon and esther were visiting some friends in a village near jerusalem. it was the month of december and the time to plant the crops in palestine. "after we have scattered the grain," solomon's friend levi said, "the camel shall help us plough the ground. then the seed will take care of itself." it did not surprise solomon to hear of a camel drawing a plough. levi's camel was as useful to him as horses are to farmers in america. solomon and esther had been at their friend's many times when the great, slow, clumsy animal helped his master about the farm and garden. "he isn't handsome, but i love the dear old fellow," said levi. "he is more patient than most camels. i know he is slow beside some of his fellows, but he cannot help that." levi stroked the camel's head. "there, see! he likes to have me notice him as well as my new pet." the camel bent his head down toward his master, with a look that said as plainly as words, "i love you, master, for you are kind to me." "what is the new pet, levi?" asked solomon. "when i get through my sowing, you may go into the house and call esther. then you two shall see it together." solomon could hardly wait for levi to finish his work. but at last the seeds were all scattered. "i won't go at the ploughing just yet. i am tired, and it is warm. we will rest awhile. i know you are anxious to find out what i have to show you. i got it for my wife, rebecca." levi was a young man and had been married only a short time. he was very fond of his pretty wife, and liked to have surprises for her. he led the way to the house where esther was talking with rebecca. "solomon wishes to see our new pet," he said. "have you told esther about it?" "not yet. we will all go together," answered the young jewess. they went out to the stable and levi pointed to a bed of straw over in the corner. there something lay curled up and sound asleep. "it's a gazelle. oh, what a beauty!" cried esther. "it's only a baby still." "i never saw such a little one before," said solomon. "may i take it up in my arms?" the gazelle waked up at the sound of voices. it opened its soft, dark eyes with a frightened look. "it is very shy," said rebecca. "but we pet it so much it will soon get over its fear. you children ought to see it run and frolic with me." "here, little one, come and eat," said the gazelle's mistress, in a low, sweet voice. it sprang up and started toward rebecca. but, when it had come half-way, it became frightened again at the sight of the visitors. the food looked too tempting, however, and it came to rebecca's side. "i believe no other animal has as beautiful eyes as the gazelle. it is certainly the most graceful of all creatures," said levi. "see how white its breast is!" said esther. "the dear little thing! mayn't i hold it for just a minute?" "certainly, dear." rebecca was very fond of esther and her brother. she loved to have them visit her. she picked up the gazelle and put it in the little girl's lap as soon as she had seated herself on a pile of straw. esther patted the gazelle tenderly. "it is better than any doll. i wish i had one of my own. i should love it dearly." "i cannot stop any longer now," said levi. "my old camel is wondering why i don't go to work. are you coming with me, solomon?" "of course i am," answered the boy, and the two started for the field. "what shall we do with ourselves?" asked rebecca, when she and esther had been left alone. "oh, i know what you would like," she went on. "we will go over into our neighbour's orchard. he is gathering olives, and we will watch him." "i would like that ever so much," answered her little visitor. it took them only a few minutes to get to the olive orchard. the owner and his sons were heating the branches with long sticks, and knocking off the fruit to the ground. two women were busily at work gathering the olives in baskets. as soon as a basket was filled, it was carried away and emptied, and then brought back to be filled again. it was surprising how quickly the women gathered their loads. then away they would step with their baskets on their heads, walking as easily and gracefully as though they were free of all burdens whatever. "come on and help us," they cried to rebecca and esther. "the more at work the merrier we shall be. there are two empty baskets under that tree." the visitors were soon busy trying to see if they could fill their baskets as quickly as the others did. "i am not tempted to eat the olives," said esther. "they are too bitter. but i am very fond of them after they are pickled." "so are we all," answered one of the women. "i don't know how we should get along without olives and the oil we make from them." "they say the christians not only eat that unclean animal, the pig, but they also use its fat for cooking, just as we use olive oil," said rebecca. "ugh! what a horrid idea. i should be afraid to eat anything in the house of a christian, for fear of being poisoned," cried esther. "mamma has told me they sometimes die of diseases we hebrews never have. it is probably because they eat pork and use lard." "no doubt of it, esther," answered rebecca. "it is a wise law of our religion that forbids us to eat any food obtained from the hog." "we must not stop to talk too much, though. see! our friends are getting ahead of us." nothing more was said for some time. "it is surprising how quickly we finished," said one of the women to rebecca, as the last basket was emptied. "it is because our friends gave us so much help. won't you come to the house with us now and have a luncheon?" "no, thank you," answered rebecca. "it is nearly supper time, and i must go home and do some cooking." "i am anxious to see the dear little gazelle again," said esther. as she walked back to her friend's house rebecca told her stories about wild gazelles. "they like to keep together," she said. "they are very fond of each other's company. while they are feeding, one of them stands on guard to see if any enemies are stealing upon them. if he hears a sound that means danger, he gives the alarm and away the flock flees like the wind." "i have often heard father speak of being as fleet as a gazelle," said esther. "but what are its worst enemies?" "the lion and the leopard, i suppose. poor little creature! if a lion takes it by surprise, there is little hope for its life. its only chance is in flight. "there are times when less dangerous animals come upon a herd of gazelles, and then they make a stand to defend themselves. they gather in a close mass, with the mothers and little ones in the centre. the males make a ring on the outside, pointing their horns toward the enemy." "isn't it wonderful they should be so wise? how did you learn so much about gazelles, rebecca?" "levi told me. but i must hurry now to get supper. we are going to have something nice." rebecca was a good cook. although esther was quite hungry from being out-of-doors so much, it did not seem very long before a roast goose and a dish of onions were steaming on the supper table. "it is ready just in time, levi," said his wife, as her husband and solomon came into the house. "i am quite tired, but the smell of the supper is enough to make me forget all about it. tired as i was, though, i stopped to feed my faithful camel." "how old is he?" asked solomon. "my father had him before he was six months old, and that was twenty years ago. i was a little fellow just toddling about then. so, you see, the camel and i grew up together." [illustration: levi and his camel.] "it is no wonder you love him, levi," said solomon. "i don't believe i ever saw a baby camel." "isn't it hard work training a camel to obey you, and to kneel at your command?" "father said he had to use a great deal of patience at first. the camel kicked and fought and grumbled before he could be made to bend his knees. even now, he scolds a good deal about obeying, as you children know." "esther and i saw a camp of bedouins on our way here," said solomon. "they were tending a flock of beautiful sheep. one of the shepherds was holding a new-born lamb in his bosom." "those fierce bedouins are tender to their flocks, but cruel to men," said levi. "you cannot trust them for a moment. they look down upon us village people. but in our hearts we scorn them." "they are dreadful thieves," said rebecca. "when i was up in jerusalem, the other day, i heard a story about a bedouin woman who went last summer into a rich man's garden. the owner of the place was just coming into the entrance when he met the woman with a basket of lettuce on her head. she was a relation of one of his servants. he stopped and asked her several questions about her errand there. she told him she had just been to his place to try to sell her lettuce, but she could not do it, as the garden contained all his family could use. "the gentleman supposed she was telling the truth. what was his surprise, then, when he found out after she was safe out of sight that the woman had stolen every head of lettuce out of his garden!" "it is just like the deceitful creatures," said levi. "i dislike the sight of them." "are you going to have much honey this year?" asked solomon. "yes, i have several swarms of bees, and i hope they will do well." "it won't be long before we shall have some fresh honey," said rebecca. "then you children must pay us another visit, for i know you like sweet things." "i wish we didn't need to go home to-morrow. but mother said we mustn't stay here any longer this time. by and by, though, there will be more wild flowers to pick, and i had rather be here then. i love to get big bunches of tulips and poppies and trim the house with them." "how many red flowers we have here in palestine!" said rebecca. she did not know that christian travellers from other parts of the world speak of them as the "saviour's blood drops." they are sure to notice the fields dotted with brilliant scarlet flowers. "do you want me to tell you a story of king solomon?" asked levi. "your speaking of the honey and the flowers put it into my mind." "of course we do," said both children. "very well, then. it is about the visit of the queen of sheba with her generals and armies. as she approached, the great king received her sitting on his throne in that wondrous palace of which you have heard so much. "'is he as wise as people say?' the queen said to her attendants. 'i will find this out for myself.' "now it happened that her subjects were noted for their skill in making artificial flowers. those who made it their business to study flowers could not tell the difference between real ones and these imitation ones, they were so perfect. "the queen decided to test king solomon's wisdom in this matter. she ordered two beautiful wreaths to be prepared. one was to be made of real flowers and the other of artificial ones. taking the two wreaths in her hands, she presented herself before the king. "'choose one of these for yourself,' she said. "there seemed to be no choice as to which he would take, although he looked at them closely. but his wise mind told him there must be some difference. the birds and insects could tell him which one to take. he looked out of a window and saw honey-bees in the garden below. then he knew what to do. he ordered the window to be opened. the breeze carried the odour of the flowers out to the bees and they came flying into the room. "you can easily guess they alighted on the wreath of real flowers. the artificial ones did not attract them in the least. then solomon spoke. "'the bees have told me which wreath to choose,' he said." "the queen of sheba found out that the king was truly wise, didn't she?" said solomon. "yes, solomon, and you who are named for him should always remember what the queen of sheba learned,--that there is one thing worth more than riches or beauty." "and that is wisdom," said rebecca, softly. chapter iii. the feast of the passover it was the first evening of the seven days set apart to celebrate the deliverance of the jews from their bondage in egypt and their safe passage to a new home of their own. solomon and esther were dressed in their sabbath clothes. so were their father and mother. the house was trimmed as though for a wedding. "is the table ready?" esther's mother asked the servant. "quite ready. everything is in its place, i think," was the answer. the children's father led the way, and the family gathered around the table. there were lettuce and cress, unleavened bread, wine, and a meat bone which was carefully covered with a fine cloth. solomon and his father began to chant. they rocked themselves to and fro at the same time. this motion of their bodies was to express as well as possible the words of the psalm, "all my bones shall praise thee." when the chant was finished, the master of the house cut a slice from a loaf of bread shaped like a crescent. "these two pieces of bread," he said, solemnly, "are like the shores of the red sea. but now, as i join them together again, it seems as though we could see the waves sweeping over pharaoh's host." he then took one-half the loaf and, putting it in a napkin, tied it on solomon's shoulders. there it remained till the ceremony was over. everybody drank some wine, and then another chant was sung. after that, they ate some lettuce and jam and chanted again. esther's father now took some bread, spread it with jam, wrapped it in lettuce and wound cress around it. he gave some of it to each one to eat. this was done in memory of the ten plagues of egypt. the service was not finished until every one had eaten eggs. this was a sign of mourning that their temple had been destroyed. solomon and esther understood the meaning of all that was done this evening. they had been carefully taught the history of the "chosen people," as they liked to call themselves. but at this festival their father once more repeated many of the stories of the olden time. he said, "we do not celebrate this festival exactly as our forefathers did. they always sacrificed a lamb. they were also careful to eat no leavened food for the whole seven days. we follow the rule about unleavened bread still, and we look upon the first and last days as holy. you must never do labour of any kind on these two days." then he went on to tell the story of the first passover, and how pharaoh, as the ruler of egypt was called, wished to keep the hebrews in bondage. he was building two treasure-cities, and he needed great numbers of workmen to make the bricks. he did not wish the hebrews to join his enemies or leave the country. he was a stern ruler, and he made his slaves work very hard. yet they had many children. the pharaoh did not like this. he feared they would become too powerful. so he ordered that every new-born boy among them should be killed. it happened at this time that a little boy was born in a family where there were already two children. this new baby was a boy, and was given the name of moses. the mother of the child was fearful lest he should be discovered and killed by the cruel pharaoh. she hid him as best she could for three months. then she thought: "the danger grows greater every day. i must make some new plan to save him." she placed the baby in a little cradle or ark, and carried him down to the shore of the river, where she hid him in the reeds. she told her daughter miriam to stay near her brother and watch over him. then she went away. a little while after this, who should come but the noble princess, pharaoh's daughter. she was going to bathe in the river. it was not long before she spied the smiling baby in the bulrushes. she was so pleased with the little fellow that she said, "i will adopt the child." then the little miriam came to her side and told the princess she knew of a good nurse. in this way it came about that moses' own mother was hired to take care of the baby. as he grew up in the king's palace, his mother told moses all about himself and his people. he was very carefully taught, and soon showed that he was "mighty in words and deeds." it happened one day that moses saw one of the overseers cruelly beating an israelite. he was so angry that he killed the overseer. then he had to flee to save his own life from the wrath of pharaoh. he went into the desert not far from the red sea, and there he stayed for forty years. he became a shepherd. once while he was tending his sheep, he saw a strange sight. it was a burning bush. that in itself was nothing to wonder at. but the strange part of it all was that the bush looked as though it were in flames, yet it did not really burn up. it was a sign from heaven! as moses looked at the bush, he heard a voice. it cried, "take off your shoes, for you are standing on holy ground." he listened in wonder as he next received a command from god to seek the ruler of egypt, who was now treating the people of israel with great cruelty. he must give the pharaoh a message. it was this,--that god commanded moses to lead the people of israel out of egypt and into the desert. at first moses feared to do this. but the lord caused some miracles to be performed before his eyes. then he had faith, and became brave enough to do as god commanded him. he went with his brother aaron to the ruler of egypt. he told him that he had received word from heaven ordering him to lead the people of israel out into the desert to take part in a feast. the cruel pharaoh did not believe in god. he was angry with moses and refused to let the people go. moses now showed the power the lord had given him. he lifted his rod and commanded ten plagues to come down on the land of egypt. this was to punish the pharaoh and force him to free the israelites. one by one the plagues fell upon the country. the waters were changed to blood, and great numbers of frogs appeared upon the land. besides these creatures, there were swarms of lice, flies, and other pests. the people of egypt became sick. the land was covered with darkness. the pharaoh was frightened and promised to let the israelites leave his country. then the darkness lifted and the plagues ceased. but as soon as this happened, the pharaoh broke his promise. the troubles began again. pharaoh made fresh promises, only to break them again as soon as the plagues stopped. at last, god sent an angel into egypt to kill all the first-born of the people. the israelites, however, were not to be harmed. moses told them to smear their door-posts with the blood of a lamb. the angel moved from house to house, doing as the lord had directed. but when he came to a door-post marked with the blood of a lamb, he passed it by, and no one within was harmed. esther's father told the story that evening, as though the children had never heard it before. yet they had listened to it every year since they could remember. the blood of a lamb! yes, the people in olden time had good reason to sacrifice a lamb at the passover. it was well named the passover, in memory of the angel's passing over the homes of the chosen people. chapter iv. the orphan "dear me! how my head aches," said esther. "i do wish those dogs would stop barking." the little girl had been ill for two or three days. the hot days of summer had brought on a fever. the doctor had said, "keep the child quiet. all she needs is rest. she has played too much in the sunshine." but how could poor little esther have quiet? the street dogs were noisy enough in the daytime, but when night came, it seemed as though every single one was wide awake and quarrelling with his neighbours. "they have no home, and are almost obliged to fight, to get enough to eat. i am sorry for them," said esther's mother. she felt more kindly to the dogs than most of the people in jerusalem. they would have been glad to have the city rid of the creatures. these street dogs look very much like foxes. they have no homes of their own and almost no friends. those living in one part of the city are always ready to carry on war against those of every other part. "let us take esther up on the roof," said the little girl's father, one evening. "it is such a hot night, she cannot rest in this close room." esther felt better almost as soon as she had been carried up and settled on a soft couch. the roof of the stone house where she lived was flat. most of the houses around her were built in the same way. many of the neighbours spent their evenings on the roofs, and often moved from one roof to another to make calls on each other. esther had been up there only a few minutes before she had a caller. it was a little girl about her own age. she told esther some news about one of their playmates. she said: "only think of it! miriam's father has just died. you know, esther, her mother died so long ago that she doesn't even remember her. what will become of her now? there is no one in the world to take care of her." esther was very fond of miriam, and her heart was full of pity. she thought of her own comfortable home and then of the many jews in the city who were very, very poor. perhaps miriam would become a beggar! it was a dreadful thought. just then esther's mother came up on the roof. she was dressed in a beautiful yellow robe. a rich girdle belted it in at the waist. she wore large golden hoops in her ears, and a heavy chain around her neck. "mamma is as lovely as a queen," thought esther. "i know papa isn't rich. still, he has enough and to spare, and we have many nice things. i will ask him and mamma to adopt miriam. then i shall have a sister of my own. "mamma, dear, i have just heard about miriam, and now i want to ask you something. will you take her for your little daughter?" the mother sat down beside the sick girl. her face wore a gentle smile. "my dear, i am glad the thought came to you. you are a sweet, loving child. do you know, your father and i have just been talking about this very thing. there is nothing our church praises more highly than the adoption of an orphan. it is called 'a good work.' so we have decided to add one more to our little family." esther clapped her hands with joy. "i know i shall get well at once," she cried. "the fever will go away, for i sha'n't have time to think of it." it was just as she had said. it seemed as though she began to get better from that very moment. she had so much to do trying to entertain her new sister, she did not think of herself. miriam was sad at first. she could not help remembering she was an orphan. but her new father and mother were so kind to her, and solomon and his sister tried so hard to make her happy, she soon forgot to be lonesome and sad. one day a message came from rebecca and levi. they wished all the children to come and visit them. rebecca wrote: "we have a new pet, and i know you will be fond of it. it is a beautiful syrian sheep. its wool is a soft brown and yellow. its tail is very broad and flat. it is so tame, it follows me wherever i go. "besides," the letter went on, "we have quantities of fresh figs now, and i know you children are very fond of them." "may we go, mother? please say 'yes,'" asked esther. "if your father is willing," was the answer. "i shall be very lonesome, but it will do you all good to leave the city for awhile and visit our kind friends." that evening, esther and miriam ran to meet their father. "i wish father had a little farm," said esther, as the two girls walked arm in arm down the street. "i should think it would be ever so much easier than being a trader." "i spoke about that once to my other father," said thoughtful little miriam. "he said that in the good old times our people were generally shepherds or farmers. but nowadays they are almost all traders. "it is because those who do not believe as we do have treated us so cruelly. they have made it hard for us to hold land. we have been forced to become traders. our people are scattered all over the world. father said there is hardly a country without some of them." "let us ask papa to tell us stories of old times to-night," said esther. "there, i see his scarlet robe away down the street now." chapter v. the jews of long ago "may we go to levi's, papa dear?" asked esther, when the evening meal was over and the children were gathered with their parents on the housetop. "mamma said she was willing, but we must ask you." "i think it would be very pleasant for you, and i know levi and rebecca like to have you there. yes, you may go." "i knew you would say yes. and now we want to ask you something else. will you tell us some stories of long ago, before our city was destroyed?" "i suppose you would like best to hear about the children, esther?" "of course, papa." "they were very happy. their parents were as wise and tender in caring for them as they are to-day. "when they were yet quite young, they began to study the books of wisdom of our people. they went to school every day. there was one saying they heard over and over again. it was this, 'be not forgetful to entertain strangers.' "'our houses are not for us alone,' their parents said, and taught them this beautiful saying, 'let thy house be wide open, and let the poor be the children of the house.' "there were many pilgrim feasts in those days. people came to jerusalem to worship in the temple and to take part in the sacred festivals. yet it is said that not one of these pilgrims ever felt the need of entertainment. the houses were open for all. "only think of it! it was a common thing to walk along the street and see curtains hanging in front of the doors. this was a sign that there was still room for guests. some people went so far as to say, 'there should be four doors to every house. then travellers could be welcomed from every direction.'" "what kind of houses did the people live in?" asked solomon. "there were small cottages where the poor lived, for there were some, of course, who did not have much of this world's goods. then there were the houses of the middle class. these were built of brick or stone. and besides these there were the elegant marble homes of the rich, built around beautiful courtyards. "the houses had flat roofs paved with stone or brick. they were made to slant down a little, so as to let the rain-water run off through pipes into the cistern below. these cisterns were needed in the old days just as much as now, on account of the long months when no rain fell and the country became so dry. "a railing was built around each housetop. in this way it was made into a comfortable resting-place for the family and their friends. it was cool and quiet." "we follow the same fashion," said esther. "yes, but in the old times i suppose it was used even more than now. the older people often went up there to pray. meetings were sometimes held there. it was also a good place to watch for the enemy. "the rich people often had wide and costly stairs built up to the roof from the street. you can imagine the boys and girls running over these stairs in a game of chase or hide-and-seek." "how did the people of two thousand years ago furnish their houses?" asked miriam. "very much as we do now. they had couches, chairs and tables, and there were often many soft cushions for the head and arms. the people used candlesticks and lamps, exactly as we do. "but i promised to talk most about the children. they took part with their parents in family prayer every night and morning. they washed and prayed before every meal. after it, they gave thanks to god for his kindness to them. as each sabbath came around, the children looked forward to it as though they were going to welcome a king. it was a time of rest and joy. "when the father came home on the eve of the holy day, he found the house trimmed up as though for a feast. the sabbath lamp was lighted. the table was spread with the richest feast the family could afford. before doing anything else, the father blessed each child with the blessing of israel. the little ones felt that something beautiful and holy was about to take place. "they were quite willing to give up their play for the next day. they would have something better." "you have taught us all these things, papa," said esther. "i know it, my dear. but i tell them again so that you may see we have not changed much since the old days. "the children looked forward to the feast-days with joyful delight. it is hard to say which they liked best." "they must have loved the feast of the dedication," said miriam. "why, miriam?" "on account of the many candles. it is so pleasant to watch a great number of them burning at once." "yes, children always love lights and brightness. the first evening of the feast, a candle was lighted for each one in the house. the second evening, two were lighted, and so on to the eighth night." "but the feast of esther brings more sport," said solomon. "you are just like every other boy, solomon. you like noise and fun," said his father. "but, think a moment, children. must not the feast of the passover have been the greatest one of all?" "it was then that the father repeated the whole history of the children of israel to his listening children. they loved to hear it. it seemed to them as though they were really following the chosen people in their wanderings. they looked upon moses receiving the commandments from heaven. as they shut their eyes, they saw in their minds the waters of the red sea parting to let the children of israel pass across in safety. then, again coming together, the waves closed over their enemies and destroyed them." "father, you tell us the stories as well as any one possibly could," said solomon. "i do my best, solomon. but in the olden days the children were brought nearer to heaven by their visits to the temple. "think of that glorious building and its walls shining with gold! it seems as though i could see the throng of white-robed priests and hear the blasts they sounded on their silver trumpets. "listen! a chant from the psalms rings through the great building. it sounds like heavenly voices." esther's father closed his eyes and became silent. the children were filled with awe as they sat quietly beside him. "i wish i could have lived in the long ago," thought esther. "the temple must have seemed like a part of heaven brought to earth." "now we will repeat the night prayer and go to rest," said the father. chapter vi. queer sights "would you like to go shopping with me?" said esther's mother, the next afternoon. "i must buy some things you children will need to carry with you on your visit." esther and miriam jumped up from their play. they were always ready to go shopping. they liked to see the pretty things in the shops. esther's mother had made herself ready for her walk by fastening a bright red shawl over her head. she never wore a hat or a bonnet, as do her american sisters. "we will go to the market first," she told the children. "i wish to buy some fruit." it was quite a long walk, but there was so much to see on the way, esther and miriam did not think of that. "do see that drove of donkeys," exclaimed their mother, after they had entered one of the principal streets. "they are laden with goatskins filled with water, i suppose. listen, children! their arab driver is calling to them." "o-ar! o-ar! derak! derak!" sounded the driver's voice. a small boy running down a byway mimicked the arab. "o-ar! o-ar! derak! derak!" "see that solemn old camel," said esther. "he is laden with stones. they must be very heavy. poor old fellow! i don't blame him for growling at his master for trying to hurry him up." "his growl rattles so, it seems to come from his inmost stomach," said the mother, laughingly. "baksheesh! baksheesh!" yelled a beggar sitting cross-legged against the wall of a house. the man was ragged and dirty. he held a tin pail before him. kind-hearted people had dropped money, fruit, and vegetables into it as they passed by. "there are many poor people of our own faith here in the city," said esther's mother, as they went on their way. "they really suffer for lack of food. that man is a turk. it may be that he is really as poor as he looks, and needs all the help he can get. but it is quite possible he has a comfortable home, and only begs because it is an easy way of getting a living." "look, mamma, at that woman of bethlehem," said miriam. "i know her by the dress." miriam pointed to the dark blue robe. stripes of bright red, mixed with gold, reached down the sides. the sleeves were large and long, and trimmed in the same way. the woman's white veil hung down from a tall cap. "how heavy her cap must be," said esther. "it is like a crown." "all the coins she owns are sewed on her cap," answered the mother. "it tells every one just how rich she is." "i don't see how she does her work if she wears that robe all the time," said miriam. "the sleeves are so large, i should think they must be in the way." "she probably ties them together behind her. i have been told that is the way. she can use them as pockets." "i don't see how men ever get used to carrying such big loads," said esther. she pointed to two porters who were bent nearly double. their loads were strapped upon cushions fastened on their backs, and held in place by straps around their heads. [illustration: a woman of bethlehem.] "each of those men must have almost as much of a load as a camel carries," said esther's mother. "it seems almost impossible, but it is true. it is a hard life, a very hard life." while she was speaking they entered the market. the eyes of the little girls were kept busy looking at the many different things of interest. there were arabs in charge of camels laden with melons, grapes and figs. there were women selling vegetables, and at the same time taking care of their babies. there were patient donkeys longing to be freed from their loads of goods which their masters were trying to sell. "mamma, mamma!" whispered esther. "there is a baby gazelle in the basket on that woman's head. it is even smaller than the one i saw at rebecca's. i suppose she is trying to sell the little thing." "look at the woman beside her," said miriam. "she looks very tired. i suppose she has walked several miles from her own village with her baskets of fruit. her baby boy sits on her shoulders, crowing and laughing at every one who passes by." "come, children. we will go now to some shops where i must buy things not sold here," said esther's mother. she led the way out of the market and they entered a crowded street. there were turks in their flowing robes, arabs, armenians, syrians, and jews. almost all were gaily dressed, and many of them were handsome. the arabs were either barefooted, or else they wore red or yellow slippers. "they lift their feet as though they were passing over a desert," said esther to miriam, as they went by some arabs. [illustration: a street in jerusalem.] "i should think they would suffer from the heat," answered her sister. "their heads look so big, i'm sure they have two or three caps under their turbans." "perhaps they think the more clothing they wear, the better the heat will be kept out," said their mother, who heard what they were talking about. "here is the shop i was looking for. we will go in." she led the way into a sort of cave cut into the soft rock. it was a dark, dingy little place. there were shelves around the sides of it. in the middle was a sort of counter, where the storekeeper sat with his goods around him. as esther's mother entered, he slowly took his pipe from his mouth and stopped his gossiping with a friend who sat outside on the pavement. he was in no hurry, however. he acted more like a king on his throne than a trader who had to sell cloth for a living. "yellow plush, is it?" he asked. "ah! i have some beautiful, beautiful. it is the very thing." but his customer was not easily satisfied, and after she had finally picked out the piece she wished, there was a long talk about the price. both were satisfied at last. the plush was cut off and wrapped up, and the storekeeper was left to his own pleasure. esther's mother still had some errands to do, so they visited several other stores. they were not all in caves, however, but most of them were small and dark. at last, everything needed was purchased and the lady and children started homeward. "look at the sky," said esther. "isn't it beautiful to-night?" the sun was almost setting. the clouds were turning a rosy red. they were so bright that the city itself seemed to share in their glory. "jerusalem the blessed!" said miriam, in a low voice. "there is papa. we are late about getting home and so is he," said esther. "now we can have his company." her father had already seen his wife and the girls, and was smiling at them. it was a warm evening, yet he wore his fur-trimmed, round velvet hat over the tight-fitting cap that never left his head in the daytime. a long lock of hair hung down on each side of his face, as it always did after he was dressed for the day. "bless you, my little ones," he said, as esther and miriam each seized a hand. "now tell me what you have seen while you were shopping." the children chattered as they do everywhere in the world. they described the market and the people, the camels and the shopkeepers. "we were coming to your store when we found how late it was. then we thought it would be closed, and you on your way home. and so you were," said esther, laughingly. by the time the children had reached their own door, they were so tired they thought only of bed and sleep. they were even too tired to care about their supper. "but you must not slight your night prayer," said their father, soberly. esther's and miriam's eyes winked and blinked a good many times before they got through the prayer. "it never seemed so long before, except when i was sick," esther told her adopted sister, when they were at last stretched on their beds. "and, do you know, miriam," she added, sleepily, "i believe solomon doesn't always repeat it all. he says our people have so many prayers he gets tired of them sometimes. isn't that dreadful?" but miriam was already sound asleep, and did not answer. chapter vii. the cave "which way did you come?" asked levi, as he helped the two little girls down from the ass's back. solomon had walked by their side all the way. "we passed through the jaffa gate and then took the shortest way down here into the valley," said esther. jerusalem is surrounded by walls. there are seven gates through which the city may be entered or left. but the jaffa and damascus gates are the ones most used. "we saw a bedouin riding a beautiful horse. he was in full dress, and looked just elegant," said solomon. "i should like to own a horse like his." "tell me how he was dressed," said rebecca. "his long, wide cloak must have been quite new. i could tell, because the yellow stripes looked so clean and bright. the shawl bound around his head and hanging down over his shoulders was pure white," said miriam. "his high red leather boots were the handsomest part of his dress. there were tassels at the sides, of course," interrupted solomon. "but his sash! you ought to have seen the shining dagger and the pistol that were stuck in it. my! the man looked as though he were ready to meet any one. "his horse was a beauty, too. she was decked with red woollen tassels that reached clear to the ground. she snorted and stepped off with the spirit of a war-horse. you know the tassels are useful in keeping off the flies. there are such swarms of them the poor beasts suffer very much." [illustration: a bedouin.] "but come along, children, i know you want to have a romp under the trees. you need not stay here talking any longer." while levi was speaking, rebecca put her arm around miriam's waist and tried to make her feel at home. she had not been to jerusalem since the little orphan had come to live with esther and solomon. "she is a sweet child," she thought. "not as strong as esther nor as brave as solomon. but she will be grateful for kindness. i feel sure of that when i look into her eyes." in a few minutes rebecca and levi were playing with their young company as though they were children themselves. "to-morrow we will have a little picnic, and i will take you to a cave you have never visited," promised levi, as his young visitors were bidding him good night. "it is a pleasant walk there, and not so far as to tire us," added rebecca. the next morning was bright and clear. the breakfast was soon eaten, after which, esther and miriam helped rebecca clean up the house and prepare the lunch they were to carry. while they were waiting for levi and solomon to finish some farm work, the little girls had a chance to pet the gazelle and the tame sheep of which rebecca had written them. at last they were all ready to start. it was a pleasant walk, as rebecca had said, yet there were several rough and rather wild places to pass through. "almost all the caves around here are made of limestone," said levi. "it is so soft that the rains wear great hollows in the rocks." "did you ever go to the cave of adullam, levi?" asked solomon. "yes, once when i was a boy. it is beyond bethlehem. i had heard father speak of it. he told me that king david hid there with four hundred of his followers." "four hundred! it must be a very big cave, then," said esther. "you would think so, if you once got inside. there is one hall that is thirty-eight yards long. there are several passages leading into it. some are so low that one has to crawl through them on his hands and knees. others spread out into large chambers. many of these chambers are very beautiful. the water has trickled down the walls and worn the soft limestone into the loveliest patterns." "how could you see, levi? wasn't it dark inside the cave?" asked solomon. "of course it was, but every one in the party carried a lighted torch or candle. the torches gave light enough to show the beautiful ornaments." "there is our own cave ahead of us," said rebecca. "of course i mean it is the one we are to visit," she added, with a laugh. all the children could see was a great mass of rocks on the side of a hill. as they drew nearer, they spied a small hole near the ground. "must we crawl through that hole?" asked esther, with a shiver. "it is larger than you imagine," replied levi. "besides, you only have to crawl a few feet. after that the way opens up quite suddenly. i will go first with my torch. then you can all follow." "i'm afraid," miriam whispered to esther. she did not wish solomon to hear her. she feared he would make fun of her. "hold on to my hand and have courage. i will go ahead of you," was the answer. one by one, they passed through the opening. "isn't this fun!" cried solomon as they all stood in the chamber worn out of the rocks. "it makes me feel queer to think of being underground," said esther. "hark! what's that noise?" said miriam, in a frightened voice. "it's only a family of bats we have taken by surprise. they are not used to callers," said levi. the bats were more frightened than miriam. they flew about in a blind way. several times they almost brushed against the faces of rebecca and levi, the tallest ones in the party. "ugh! i don't like bats," said miriam. "i am going outside." "just wait a minute until i see if there are any pretty decorations on the walls. look! here is just what i was searching for." levi held his torch up near the roof. "isn't it beautiful? how can nature work in such a regular pattern?" said rebecca, half to herself. "it is because she is the handmaiden of the lord," replied levi, reverently. after they had left the cave and were once more out in the bright sunshine, the children were allowed to choose a place for the picnic dinner. they had brought water for bathing the hands and face as well as for drinking. levi had told them before they started that there was no well or spring near the place. after they had washed and prayed, they were all ready to enjoy the nice luncheon rebecca had prepared. "tell us stories about king david, won't you, please levi?" asked solomon. "when you spoke of the cave of adullam this morning you said david hid there with a great many of his followers. i suppose that made me think of him now." "i should like nothing better," said levi, stretching himself out on the ground. "but would you all like to hear about the 'sweet singer of israel'?" "indeed we would," sounded a chorus of voices. chapter viii. the sweet singer of israel "very well, then. let us go back to the days of long ago, long, even, before the destruction of our beloved city. let us seek david on the hillsides, tending his flocks with loving care. "one day a visitor came to the house of jesse, david's father. this visitor was no other than the prophet samuel. he had received a command from the lord telling him to take a vial of oil and seek the house of jesse. "'there,' said the lord, 'you will find the new king who is to succeed saul.' "samuel hastened to obey. when he reached jesse's house, he asked to see his sons. one by one passed before him till the eighth son, david, appeared. then the voice of the lord again spoke to samuel. it said: "'arise, anoint him, for this is he.' "as soon as the prophet had anointed david with the oil, the young man was filled with the spirit and power of god. at the same time, they left king saul, who did many foolish and bad deeds after this. "but what of david? did he go out into the world and declare himself the future king of israel? not so. he continued to live his peaceful, quiet life as a shepherd. he learned to sing, and play upon the harp. he now showed himself indeed the 'sweet singer of israel.' "he began to show power in other ways, too. many times the fierce lions and savage bears came creeping upon his flocks. many times david met and overpowered them with the strength given to him by the lord." "it seems as though i can see him guarding his flocks," said solomon, as levi stopped talking to rest for a moment. "his beautiful black eyes are looking out into the night and watching for danger. he looks at his sleeping sheep to see if all are safe. then he hears the sound of foes drawing near and springs to meet them." "i like best to think of him with a tiny lamb in his arms," said esther. "he holds it lovingly against his breast, as though he would say, 'i will save you from all harm, poor, helpless creature.'" levi now went on with his story. "while david was still tending his flocks, king saul was waging war upon the philistines, the bitter enemies of our people. they became more and more daring, until at last they gathered on the side of a mountain right here in israel. "three of david's brothers were fighting in saul's army and went out to meet the philistines. david often went to the camp to visit his brothers. he happened to be there once when a philistine giant marched forth and dared any israelite to fight with him. "there was no one who felt able to say, 'i am not afraid; i accept your challenge.' "'no one,' did i say? at first, this was true, for every one in saul's army kept silent. but when david saw this, he felt the spirit of the lord stir within him. he arose, saying, 'i will meet you.' "he was now led before saul, and there, in the presence of the king, he said he had faith that god would save him from harm, even from the hand of the giant. at first, saul thought: "'it is of no use for this young shepherd to go out alone to meet the giant. he will only lose his life.' "but when he heard what david said, he changed his mind. he got out a strong suit of armour, and even helped him to put it on. david was not used to such things. the armour weighed him down so that he staggered and almost fell. he said: "'it would be better for me to carry only such weapons as i know. let me take my shepherd's staff and the sling i have used so often in meeting the wild beasts.' "he was allowed to do as he chose. he went forth to meet the giant with nothing to help him save his staff and sling. "and what did the giant, goliath, say when he saw the young shepherd draw near? he spoke in scornful words. but he suddenly became silent as david sent a stone from his sling that passed through his forehead and entered his brain. as soon as david saw the success of his shot, he rushed to the giant's side, seized his sword, and cut off his head. "the watching philistines were filled with fear. they began to flee. but saul's army followed and overtook them and killed great numbers. "all israel now began to praise david. saul, too, was filled with delight. he declared he was willing david should marry his elder daughter after a while. "now the king, as you know, often did wild and foolish things. this was, perhaps, because he gave way to fits of bad temper. when he learned of david's power to play and sing, he often asked the young shepherd to quiet his angry feelings with the sweet music of his harp and voice. "he was very fond of david in those days, but after a while he became jealous when he heard the constant praises of the people. they said, 'saul hath slain his thousands, but david his ten thousands.' "his anger was now turned against the brave shepherd. at one time, he threw his spear at david. it was when the lad was playing on his harp. but saul failed to do what his wicked heart desired. the lord was protecting the future king of israel. "again he tried to kill david, and again he failed. saul must have thought that it was of no use, so now he sought to injure the young man in a different way. he gave the daughter he had promised david to another lover. "but saul soon found that his younger daughter loved david. he now said: "'you may have michal if you will first kill one hundred philistines.' he only said this because he hoped david would be killed by the enemy." "i know what david did," exclaimed solomon, who could keep still no longer. "he went out and destroyed two hundred philistines, instead of one hundred." "yes," said levi, "and he brought back the spoils and laid them at the feet of saul. the king was now obliged to have david for a son-in-law. but he hated him as much as ever. "so he told his son jonathan and some of his attendants to kill him. now jonathan, as you must know, loved david as a brother. he did all in his power to make his father feel more kindly toward him. he had almost succeeded, when saul was seized with a new spirit of madness. all his wicked feelings came back, and he hired some bad men to take david by surprise when he was asleep, and kill him. "somehow or other, michal heard of the plot. she warned david, and he fled from the palace. but michal did not stop here. she made the shape of a man and placed it in david's bed. in this way the bad men who came to kill him were deceived. "i am rather tired, rebecca," said levi, when he had got this far in his story. "won't you go on and tell the children about david's flight?" "certainly," said his wife. in her sweet, clear voice she made a picture of david hiding near ramah. "but he was not safe, for saul heard where he was. he sent men there to take him prisoner. a strange thing happened on their way. they were overcome by the spirit of the lord, and they did not dare seize david. "when saul was told how they had failed, he went himself in search of david. but he, too, was overpowered by the spirit of the lord. and what do you think happened? instead of harming him, he asked david to come back to the palace. "but david did not feel sure that saul was a true friend. he thought it would be the wisest thing for him to see jonathan first and ask him to find out how his father really felt. "jonathan was a true friend. it did not take him long to learn that saul was as much an enemy as ever. he must now let david know about it, and prevent his return to the palace. he knew where david was hiding, but he did not dare seek him out. "instead of that, he started from the palace to go shooting. he took a boy with him. when he had come close to the place where his friend was hidden, he began to shoot. he spoke to the boy from time to time. he used such words as to let the listening david know that the king was no more his friend than ever." when rebecca had got thus far, miriam looked a little perplexed. "i don't see how david could understand what he meant," she said. "he had agreed with jonathan that certain words should mean certain things, my dear." "oh, i see now. go on with the story, please." rebecca smiled pleasantly, and went on. "david prepared to flee at once. but he had no arms or food. he must have both. "he went to the house of the high priest. when he had entered, he told him he had come with a message from the king. he asked for the sword of goliath, which was in the high priest's keeping. he also asked for five sacred loaves of shewbread, which no one dared to eat except the priests. "when these had been given him he hurried away. he had one adventure after another. it was about this time that he hid in the cave of adullam. his brothers and a great many other israelites joined him there. "while he was hiding in the cave of adullam, the prophet of god came to him, telling him to go into the land of judah. he started at once to obey the prophet's command. saul heard where he was and followed him. on his way, the king heard how david had been helped by the high priest. he was so angry that he ordered not only the high priest to be killed, but also his eighty-five helpers, and all the people of the town in which he lived. "the son of the high priest managed to escape. he fled to david and told him the sad story. you can imagine how bad david felt when he learned what had happened through his own deceit. but his mind was kept busy with plans to keep out of saul's reach, for the king followed him from place to place. "one night while david was hiding in a cave, the king stopped to rest at that very spot. little did he dream who was so near him. while he lay sleeping david crept to his side and cut off a piece of his cloak. he might have killed saul at this time, but he had too great a heart. "the next day, just as the king was riding away in his chariot, david appeared in the mouth of the cave. he held up the piece he had cut from saul's cloak. then the king knew he had been in david's power. he saw how generously he had been treated. he felt such shame that he determined to do the young man no more harm. but his heart soon grew wicked again and once more he began to persecute him. "david again showed him how generous he was. he crept into saul's tent one night. the king's army was encamped all around him. only a servant went with david on this dangerous trip. "no one saw them as they stole along. no one heard them as david stepped to the side of the sleeping saul and seized his spear and cup; then away they sped till they reached the hilltop opposite the one where saul had taken his stand. "david now cried out in a loud voice to wake the sleeping army. he showed the cup and spear he had taken away from saul's tent. saul saw that david had spared his life a second time. he was again filled with gratitude. "but david had learned not to trust him. he sought a home among the philistines and helped them in their wars. they treated him with great kindness and their king became his true friend. "not long after this, the philistines went out to battle against saul. david was not with them at this time. it was a sad day for the israelites. they were badly beaten and saul's sons were killed. yes, even david's faithful friend jonathan lost his life. saul was overcome with sorrow. he threw himself upon his sword and died by his own hand. "when david heard the news he felt very sad. he mourned bitterly over the death of jonathan. but this could not be helped now, and there was much work to do for his people. "the israelites were in a pitiful state. the philistines had most of the country in their power. a leader was needed. that leader was at hand. it was david, the hero, the sweet singer. "'how just he is!' said the people. 'how brave he is!' all cried. "not long after this he was crowned king of israel. at first, he lived in hebron, but afterward he went to jerusalem, where a beautiful palace was built for him and his family. and now he went on and became great, for the lord god of hosts was with him." rebecca bowed her head as she said these words. "let us chant one of the psalms of david," said levi. "it is a good way to end our afternoon." rebecca began the words of the beautiful twenty-third psalm. the others joined their voices with hers. the end. selections from the page company's books for young people the blue bonnet series _each large mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume_ $ . =a texas blue bonnet= by caroline e. jacobs. "the book's heroine, blue bonnet, has the very finest kind of wholesome, honest, lively girlishness."--_chicago inter-ocean._ =blue bonnet's ranch party= by caroline e. jacobs and edyth ellenbeck read. "a healthy, natural atmosphere breathes from every chapter."--_boston transcript._ =blue bonnet in boston= by caroline e. jacobs and lela horn richards. "it is bound to become popular because of its wholesomeness and its many human touches."--_boston globe._ =blue bonnet keeps house= by caroline e. jacobs and lela horn richards. "it cannot fail to prove fascinating to girls in their teens."--_new york sun._ =blue bonnet--dÃ�butante= by lela horn richards. an interesting picture of the unfolding of life for blue bonnet. =blue bonnet of the seven stars= by lela horn richards. "the author's intimate detail and charm of narration gives the reader an interesting story of the heroine's war activities."--_pittsburgh leader._ the young pioneer series by harrison adams _each mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume_ $ . =the pioneer boys of the ohio;= or, clearing the wilderness. "such books as this are an admirable means of stimulating among the young americans of to-day interest in the story of their pioneer ancestors and the early days of the republic."--_boston globe._ =the pioneer boys on the great lakes;= or, on the trail of the iroquois. "the recital of the daring deeds of the frontier is not only interesting but instructive as well and shows the sterling type of character which these days of self-reliance and trial produced."--_american tourist, chicago._ =the pioneer boys of the mississippi;= or, the homestead in the wilderness. "the story is told with spirit, and is full of adventure."--_new york sun._ =the pioneer boys of the missouri;= or, in the country of the sioux. "vivid in style, vigorous in movement, full of dramatic situations, true to historic perspective, this story is a capital one for boys."--_watchman examiner, new york city._ =the pioneer boys of the yellowstone;= or, lost in the land of wonders. "there is plenty of lively adventure and action and the story is well told."--_duluth herald, duluth, minn._ =the pioneer boys of the columbia;= or, in the wilderness of the great northwest. "the story is full of spirited action and contains much valuable historical information."--_boston herald._ the hadley hall series by louis m. breitenbach _each large mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume_ $ . =alma at hadley hall= "the author is to be congratulated on having written such an appealing book for girls."--_detroit free press._ =alma's sophomore year= "it cannot fail to appeal to the lovers of good things in girls' books."--_boston herald._ =alma's junior year= "the diverse characters in the boarding-school are strongly drawn, the incidents are well developed and the action is never dull."--_the boston herald._ =alma's senior year= "a healthy, natural atmosphere breathes from every chapter."--boston transcript. the girls of friendly terrace series by harriet lummis smith _each large mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume_ $ . =the girls of friendly terrace= "a book sure to please girl readers, for the author seems to understand perfectly the girl character."--_boston globe._ =peggy raymond's vacation= "it is a wholesome, hearty story."--_utica observer._ =peggy raymond's school days= the book is delightfully written, and contains lots of exciting incidents. =the friendly terrace quartette= these four lively girls found their opportunities to serve their country. the story of their adventures will bring anew to every girl who rends about them the realization of what she owes to her country. famous leaders series by charles h. l. johnston _each large mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume_ $ . =famous cavalry leaders= "more of such books should be written, books that acquaint young readers with historical personages in a pleasant, informal way."--_new york sun._ =famous indian chiefs= "mr. johnston has done faithful work in this volume, and his relation of battles, sieges and struggles of these famous indians with the whites for the possession of america is a worthy addition to united states history."--_new york marine journal._ =famous scouts= "it is the kind of a book that will have a great fascination for boys and young men."--_new london day._ =famous privateersmen and adventurers of the sea= "the tales are more than merely interesting; they are entrancing, stirring the blood with thrilling force."--_pittsburgh post._ =famous frontiersmen and heroes of the border= "the accounts are not only authentic, but distinctly readable, making a book of wide appeal to all who love the history of actual adventure."--_cleveland leader._ =famous discoverers and explorers of america= "the book is an epitome of some of the wildest and bravest adventures of which the world has known."--_brooklyn daily eagle._ =famous generals of the great war= who led the united states and her allies to a glorious victory. "the pages of this book have the charm of romance without its unreality. the book illuminates, with life-like portraits, the history of the world war."--_rochester post express._ hildegarde-margaret series by laura e. richards eleven volumes the hildegarde-margaret series, beginning with "queen hildegarde" and ending with "the merryweathers," make one of the best and most popular series of books for girls ever written. _each large mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume_ $ . _the eleven volumes boxed as a set_ $ . list of titles =queen hildegarde= =hildegarde's holiday= =hildegarde's home= =hildegarde's neighbors= =hildegarde's harvest= =three margarets= =margaret montfort= =peggy= =rita= =fernley house= =the merryweathers= the captain january series by laura e. richards _each one volume, mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume_ cents =captain january= a charming idyl of new england coast life, whose success has been very remarkable. same. _illustrated holiday edition_ $ . =melody:= the story of a child. =marie= a companion to "melody" and "captain january." =rosin the beau= a sequel to "melody" and "marie." =snow-white;= or, the house in the wood. =jim of hellas;= or, in durance vile, and a companion story, bethesda pool. =narcissa= and a companion story, in verona, being two delightful short stories of new england life. ="some say"= and a companion story, neighbors in cyrus. =nautilus= "'nautilus' is by far the best product of the author's powers, and is certain to achieve the wide success it so richly merits." =isla heron= this interesting story is written in the author's usual charming manner. delightful books for little folks by laura e. richards =three minute stories= cloth decorative, mo, with eight plates in full color and many text illustrations $ . "little ones will understand and delight in the stories and poems."--_indianapolis news._ =five minute stories= cloth decorative, square mo, illustrated $ . a charming collection of short stories and clever poems for children. =more five minute stories= cloth decorative, square mo, illustrated $ . a noteworthy collection of short stories and poems for children, which will prove as popular with mothers as with boys and girls. =five mice in a mouse trap= cloth decorative, square mo, illustrated $ . the story of their lives and other wonderful things related by the man in the moon, done in the vernacular from the lunacular form by laura e. richards. a new book for girls by laura e. richards =honor bright= cloth decorative, mo, illustrated $ . no girl ever deserved more to have a series of stories written about her than does honor bright, the newest heroine of a talented author who has created many charming girls. born of american parents who die in the far east, honor spends her school days at the pension madeline in vevey, switzerland, surrounded by playmates of half a dozen nationalities. as are all of mrs. richards' heroines, honor bright is the highest type of the young girl of america, with all the independence of character which is american to the core in young as in old. the boys' story of the railroad series by burton e. stevenson _each large mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume_ $ . =the young section-hand;= or, the adventures of allen west. "the whole range of section railroading is covered in the story."--_chicago post._ =the young train dispatcher= "a vivacious account of the varied and often hazardous nature of railroad life."--_congregationalist._ =the young train master= "it is a book that can be unreservedly commended to anyone who loves a good, wholesome, thrilling, informing yarn."--_passaic news._ =the young apprentice;= or, allan west's chum. "the story is intensely interesting."--_baltimore sun._ boy scout stories by brewer corcoran _published with the approval of "the boy scouts of america."_ _each, one volume, mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume_ $ . =the boy scouts of kendallville= the story of a bright young factory worker who cannot enlist because he has three dependents, but his knowledge of woodcraft and wig-wagging, gained through scout practice, enables him to foil a german plot to blow up the munitions factory. =the boy scouts of the wolf patrol= the boys of gillfield who were not old enough to go to war found just as many thrills at home, chasing a german spy. the carita series by lucy m. blanchard _each, one volume, cloth decorative, mo, illustrated_ $ . =carita, and how she became a patriotic american= "one of the strongest points of the book is the fact that its characters seem to be real people, doing the things that real people do. more than that, they are wholesome, worth-while folks whose companionship inspires a sane and pleasing view of life."--_salt lake tribune, salt lake city._ =carita's new world= "wholesome and altogether fascinating; all this can be truly said of all of miss blanchard's stories for girls. 'carita's new world' has both of these characteristics."--_troy record, troy, n. y._ "there is a fine originality about carita that will make her adorable to all girls."--_oakland tribune._ the merrymakers series by herschel williams _each, one volume, mo, illustrated_ $ . =the merrymakers in new york= "the book is bright and clever and gives an excellent picture of our great metropolis. one can in his imagination see new york most entertainingly through the eyes of the young merrymakers."--_st. andrew's cross, philadelphia._ =the merrymakers in chicago= the merrymakers who had such a splendid christmas vacation in new york, enjoy another rollicking good time,--a summer vacation in chicago. while brother ned, the young newspaper reporter, "covers" the republican national convention in chicago, carl, the oldest of the four sightseeing merrymakers, decides that he wants to own a department store some day, and incidentally learns all the steps he must take from being an errand boy to a merchant magnate. ideal books for girls _each, one volume, cloth decorative, mo_, $ . =a little candy book for a little girl= by amy l. waterman. "this is a peculiarly interesting little book, written in the simple, vivacious style that makes these little manuals as delightful to read as they are instructive."--_nashville tennessean and american._ =a little cook-book for a little girl= by caroline french benton. this book explains how to cook so simply that no one can fail to understand every word, even a complete novice. =a little housekeeping book for a little girl= by caroline french benton. a little girl, home from school on saturday mornings, finds out how to make helpful use of her spare time, and also how to take proper pride and pleasure in good housework. =a little sewing book for a little girl= by louise frances cornell. "it is comprehensive and practical, and yet revealingly instructive. it takes a little girl who lives alone with her mother, and shows how her mother taught her the art of sewing in its various branches. the illustrations aid materially."--_wilmington every evening._ =a little preserving book for a little girl= by amy l. waterman. in simple, clear wording, mrs. waterman explains every step of the process of preserving or "canning" fruits and vegetables. =a little gardening book for a little girl= by peter martin. this little volume is an excellent guide for the young gardener. in addition to truck gardening, the book gives valuable information on flowers, the planning of the garden, selection of varieties, etc. * * * * * transcriber's note: obvious punctuation errors repaired. letters from the holy land agents america the macmillan company & fifth avenue, new york canada the macmillan company of canada, ltd. richmond street west, toronto. india macmillan & company, ltd. macmillan building, bombay bow bazaar street, calcutta [illustration] [illustration: the start (frontispiece)] letters from the holy land by elizabeth butler with sixteen illustrations in colour by the author [illustration: colophon] london adam and charles black _published march reprinted july _ to my mother christiana thompson preface these letters, written to my mother, and published chiefly at her request, can lay no claim to literary worth; their only possible value lies in their being descriptive of impressions received on the spot of that land which stands alone in its character upon the map of the world. but the reader will more easily excuse the shortcomings of my pen than, i hope, he will ever do those of my pencil! i will make no apologies for the sketches, save to remind the reader that most of them had to be done in haste. they are necessarily considerably reduced in size in the reproduction, so as to suit them to the book form. it was a happy circumstance for me that my husband's appointment to the command at alexandria should have enabled us to realize this journey. a four-weeks' leave just allowed of our accomplishing the whole tour. the wider round that includes damascus and palmyra would, of course, necessitate a much more extended holiday. the time of year chosen by my husband for our visit was one in which no religious festivals were being celebrated, so that we should be spared the sight of that distressing warring of creeds that one regrets at jerusalem more than anywhere else. also the spring season is the healthiest and most agreeable, and we timed our journey so as to begin and end it with the moon which beautified all our nights. we are chiefly indebted to mr. aquilina, the very capable and courteous agent for messrs. cook and son at alexandria, for the perfect way in which the machinery of the expedition was managed for us. without such good transport and camps one does not travel as smoothly as we did. to the archbishop of alexandria we owe a debt of gratitude for his kind offices in helping to render our way so pleasant. elizabeth butler. government house, devonport, _christmas day, _. list of illustrations . frontispiece facing page . jaffa . the "cenaculum." site of the house of the last supper . in the garden of gethsemane. noonday. looking towards valley of jehoshaphat . bethany . "ain kareem," reputed birthplace of john the baptist, from roof of convent of the visitation . solomon's pools, near jerusalem, looking towards dead sea . bethlehem from the sheepfold, field of boaz . the plain of the jordan, looking from "new jericho" towards mount pisgah . the plain of esdraelon, from foot of tabor, with the village of naim in distance . our first sight of lake galilee . galilee, looking towards hermon . galilee, looking from near the mouth of the jordan towards the "mount of beatitudes" and tabor . nazareth at sunrise . st. jean d'acre . ruins of the crusaders' banqueting hall, athleet _the illustrations in this volume have been engraved and printed by the carl hentschel colourtype process_ letters from the holy land in the adriatic, _ th february -_. my....--i am out on the dark waters of the adriatic. it is late, and the people on board are little by little subsiding into their cabins, and i shall write you my first letter _en route_ for the holy land. if all is well i shall join w. at alexandria, and we shall have our long-looked-forward-to expedition from thence. venice has given me a memorable "send-off," looking her loveliest this radiant day of spring, and were i not going where i am going my thoughts would linger regretfully amongst those lagoons already left so far behind. i watched to the very last the lovely city gradually fading from view in a faint rosy flush, backed by a blue-grey mist, and as we stood out to sea all land had sunk away and the sun set in a crimson cloud, sending a column of gold down to us on the perfectly unruffled waters. later on the moon, high overhead, shining through the mist, made the sea look like blue air, and quite undistinguishable from the sky. the horizon being lost we seemed to be floating through space, and the only solid things to be seen were the moon and our fellow planets and the stars, so that i felt as though i had passed out of this world altogether. indeed one does leave the ordinary world when shaping one's course for palestine! port said, _sunday, th april -_. my....--we are moored at port said on board the large messageries steamer, having left alexandria at . p.m. yesterday on our way to jaffa. what a hideous place is this! and this is the venice that modern commerce has conjured up out of the sea. truly typical! as i look at the deep ranks of steamers lining the canal mouth, begrimed with coal-dust and besmirched with brown smoke, i might be at the liverpool docks, so much is the light of this land of light obscured by their fumes. on the banks are dumped down quantities of tin houses with cast-iron supports to their verandahs. when my mind reverts to the merchant city of the adriatic and compares it with this flower of modern commerce i don't feel impressed with, or in the least thankful for, our modern "progress." last night, when we arrived, a barge of acheron came alongside full of negroes in sooty robes, one gnawing a raw beef bone by the light of the torch in the bows. they were coming to coal us. and, being coaled, we shall draw light out of darkness, loveliness out of hideousness, and this evening we shall be taking our course to the long-promised land! where shall i finish this? is it possible that my life-long wish is now so soon to be accomplished? no two people, i suppose, receive the same impression of the holy land. none of the books i have read tally as to the feelings it awakens in travellers. how will it be with me? ramleh, on the plain of sharon, _ th april_. at sunrise this morning the throbbing of the screw suddenly ceased, and as i went to the port-hole of our cabin i beheld the lovely coast of the land of christ, about a mile distant, with the exquisite town of jaffa, typically eastern, grouped on a rock by the sea, and appearing above huge, heaving waves, whose grey-blue tones were mixed with rosy reflections from the clouds. here was no modern harbour with piers and jetties, no modern warehouses, none of the characteristics of a seaport of our time. jaffa is much as it must have looked to the crusaders; and we approached it, after leaving the steamer, much as pilgrims must have done in the middle ages. the messageries ship could approach no nearer on account of the rocks, and we had to be rowed ashore in open boats--very large, stout craft, fit to resist the tremendous waves that thunder against the rocky ramparts of jaffa. how often i have imagined this landing, and have gone through it in delicious anticipation! everything was made as pleasant as possible to us, mr. ---- coming on board to direct the proceedings, and a franciscan monk also boarding the steamer with greetings from jerusalem, at the request of the archbishop of alexandria. as our boat was the last to leave the steamer i had time to watch the disconcerting process of trans-shipping the other tourists who all went off in the first boats, and nothing i have ever seen of the sort could compare with what i beheld during those breathless moments. the effect produced by brawny syrian boatmen tussling with elderly british and american females in sun-helmets and blue spectacles, and at the right moment, when the steamer heaved to starboard and met the boat rising on the crest of a particular wave, pushing them by the shoulders from above, and pulling them into the boat from below, was a thing to remember. (to go down the ladder was quite impossible, so violent was the bumping of boat against ship.) to miss the right moment was to have to wait till the steamer which then rolled to port, and the boat which then sank into the trough of the sea, met again with the next lurch. the poor tourists said nothing; they hadn't time given them for the feeblest protest, but they looked quite dazed when stuck down in their seats. thanks to our kind friends we had a boat to ourselves and we were not worked off so expeditiously, being thus able to submit with something more approaching grace. we had a large crew of rowers, and being only ourselves, the monk, and mr. ----, we went light. three or four times the helmsman had to be extra vigilant as a huge roller, which hid everything behind it, came racing in our wake, and lifting us as though we were so much seaweed, carried us forward with dizzy swiftness. woe betide that boat which such a wave should strike broadside on! at each crisis the "stroke oar" sang out a warning, and redoubled his work, the perspiration coursing down his face. the whole crew sang an answer to his wild signal in a barbaric minor. nothing could be more invigorating than this experience; one moment when hoisted on the crest of a wave one saw jaffa, the plain of sharon, and the hills of judea ahead, and astern the messageries steamer and small craft riding at anchor, and the next moment nothing between one and the sky but jagged and curling crests of wild billows! on landing at the rocks we were hoisted up slippery steps in more iron grips. on such occasions it is useless to hesitate--indeed they don't let you--and as you don't know what is best for you, you had much better at once surrender your individuality and become a passive piece of goods if you don't want a broken limb. we immediately found ourselves in such a picturesque crowd as even my egypt-saturated eyes took new delight in, and we passed through the custom-house with the agent obligingly clearing all before us, and got into a little carriage after climbing on foot the steep part of the town. what a town! no description i have yet read does full justice to its tumble-down picturesqueness. those black archways like caverns, those crooked streets filled with people, camels, and donkeys--all this to me is fascinating. i am too hurried to pause here long enough to try and define the difference between life here and life in egypt. there is not here the barbarism of the latter's picturesqueness, and one feels here more the beauty of the true east. i don't see the abject squalor of egypt, and the people's dresses are more varied. all this stone masonry is very acceptable after the brick and mud of egyptian hovels. here is the essence of asia--there, of africa. i am afraid these remarks are crude, but i think the definition is a just one. as we drove to the little german inn in the outskirts of the town, we noticed the air getting richer with the scent of orange-flowers, and soon we passed into the region of the orange-orchards. the trees were creamy white with dense blossom, and the ripe fruit was dotted about in the masses of white. the honey they gave us at breakfast was from these orange-flowers. here our dragoman, isaac, met us. i made my first sketch--the first, i trust, of a series i marked down before leaving alexandria. it was of jaffa, seen over the orange-trees from the inn garden, and charming it was to sit there in the cool shade, with birds singing overhead as never one hears them in egypt. fragments of classical pillars stood about and served as seats under the chequered shade of flowering fruit-trees along the garden paths. the mediterranean appeared to my right, and overhead sailed great pearly clouds in the vibrating blue of the fresh spring sky. i must say i felt very happy at the reality of my presence on the soil of palestine! [illustration: jaffa the upper part of the town is seen over the tops of orange orchards. time, morning.] at p.m. we started in a carriage like our dear old friend, the "vetturino," for ramleh, our halting-place for the night. how can i put before you the scenes of loveliness we passed through? the country was a vast plain of rolling wheat, bordered in the blue distance with the tender hills of judea. this land of the philistines far surpassed my expectations in its extent, its grand sweep of line, its breadth of colour and light and shade. it was some time before we came out on the plain of sharon, and we drove first a long way between orange-orchards bordered along the road by gigantic hedges of prickly pear. our vetturino was drawn by three horses abreast, all with bells, and it was exhilarating to set out at a fast trot along the easy road in company with other jingling and whip-cracking vehicles, and escorted by horsemen in brilliant syrian costumes dashing along on their little arabs, and carrying their long ornamental guns slung across their backs. i had just one horrible glimpse (of which i said nothing, as of some guilty thing), just as we started, of a railway engine under some palm-trees. it is waiting there the completion of the line to jerusalem to puff and whistle its beauty-marring career to the holy city. i am thankful my good luck has brought me here just in time to escape the sight of a railway and its attendant eyesores in this sacred land. why rush through this little country, every yard of which is precious? an express train could run in two hours "from dan to beersheba"--and what then? before emerging on the plain we passed a white mosque-like building placed between two cypresses by the roadside, which is supposed to stand on the site of the place where peter raised dorcas to life. be that as it may, the white dome and the black-green cypresses are charming. the soil of the country, now being ploughed in all directions between the green wheat-fields, is of a rich golden colour, like that i noticed with such pleasure around sienna, and makes a pleasing harmony with the vivid green. the dear olive-tree, beloved of my childhood, is here in its very home. i hailed its pinky-grey foliage and its hoary old gnarled trunk. and now for those wildflowers that all travellers who are so well advised as to come here in spring have told us of. well may they speak of them with rapture! as we proceeded they increased in variety, and so abundant were they that they made tracts and wide regions of colour over the land. come here in spring, o traveller! and not in the arid, dusty, burnt-up autumn. on entering the plain of sharon we saw to our left the town of lydda, with st. george's church gleaming in the sunshine. never have i seen, even in ireland, fresher effects of cloud shadow and sunlight over rolling spaces of waving green corn, and even the sky was typically west of ireland. yet lo! in the foreground strings of camels, mules, and wild bedouins and caracoling bashi-bazouks! the ploughing was done by tiny oxen, two abreast, and sometimes a tall camel stalked as leader. on arriving at ramleh we walked to the great tower, some distance out of the town, from the top of which i had my long-looked-for view of the whole of philistia--northward to carmel, westward to the sea, eastward to the mountains of judah. as the sun sank the tints deepened on that lovely plain, and nothing on earth could be more beautiful than that immense view. i made a hasty water-colour sketch up there, but what can one do in a few minutes with such a scene? a sad spectacle awaited us as we reached the german inn. as we walked i had become absorbed in the contemplation of the limpid sky, where the last lark was carolling to the sinking sun, and of the mountains whose rosy flush was fading into the cool greys that already veiled the plain, when my eyes sinking lower, i beheld in the cold grey of the narrow street, ranged along a stone wall, a row of lepers waiting for alms. life has no sadder detail than the leper. as i approached them with a coin the nearest of these poor creatures put out a fingerless palm on which i placed the money, and having only hollow sockets in the place of eyes it handed it to its neighbour, who, being also eyeless, passed it on to one in whose fleshless face there lingered the remnant of an eye. this one's hand lifted the coin to its fragment of eye to see its value, and deposited it in the recesses of its fluttering rags that only half veiled the decaying body. a low wail passed along the line, and bony arms were stretched out in gratitude. and then we go to our _table d'hôte_ and comfortable beds, and they--where do they sleep? do they lie down on those bare bones? jerusalem, _ th april -_. my....--we left ramleh early this brisk, fresh morning, the air full of scent from the wildflowers. frère benoît, the flemish franciscan who met us on board the steamer, came with us, and an english lady who had all but broken down the day before through the jolting of a shandrydan that had been palmed off on her and her husband at jaffa. so with the friar and mrs. g---- inside, w. on the box, and mr. g---- following in the aforesaid shandrydan with isaac, we set off in the usual whip-cracking, shouting, and prancing manner for jerusalem! the first point of interest i was looking for was ajalon. as we dipped down from one of the hills traversed by the road in steep zigzags it unfolded its fresh loveliness on our left, but we could not see the actual site of joshua's battle, as it was too deep in the folds of the hills. this view was, perhaps, the loveliest of all, and nothing could be fresher than those cornfields and rich spaces of ploughed earth in the light that streamed down from so pure a sky. now and then a single horseman with the well-known long gun inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and with his arab all over tassels, dashed past us, doing "fantasia" to impress us strangers. the proceeding was never without success as far as i was concerned. at . we left the plain and at once entered the hills of judea, which are much more uniformly stony than one would suppose them to be from a distance. we soon stopped at a wayside khan, about half-a-dozen vetturinos being assembled in the yard, and all the horses were rested. we then began the ascent of the dear hill country, fragrant with memories of mary on her journey made in haste from nazareth. i did not expect such a long and high ascent, having failed to realise from description the immense altitude of the height of land that holds jerusalem. "things seen are mightier than things heard." the wildflowers increased in beauty and variety, chief, i think, amongst them being the crimson anemones with black centre which tossed their gay heads everywhere in the mountain breeze. olives and stones, stones and olives on all sides. here and there a carob tree or a clump of tamarisk at a tomb. as we crested the first pass and looked back we saw the plains of philistia, with ramleh white in the sunshine and the sea beyond shining in a long flash of silver. before us to the right soon loomed against the clouds the great tombs of the maccabees, and away to our left on a high cone appeared, remote and awful, the "tomb of samuel," a dominating feature over all the land. as we descended on the other side of the pass we came in sight of ain kareem, the reputed birthplace of john the baptist, on the side of a high hill. the words of the magnificat sounded in one's mind's ear. it is a grand situation and most striking as seen from the road. at the bottom of the valley formed by the hill we were descending and the hill of ain kareem runs the dry bed of the brook from which david chose his smooth stone for goliath. w. went down and selected just such a smooth white stone as a memento. at the bottom of the valley we halted at a russian khan and i took a little sketch of a bit of hillside and a pear-tree in blossom. you must have seen this land with "second sight," for you have always seen a flowering fruit-tree in your mental pictures of it at eastertide and lady day. palestine is essentially the land of little fruit-trees. on leaving the russian khan, where we beheld chromo-lithographs of the late and the present czars on the walls, and were interested in the high muscovite boots of our host, we had another great ascent, and soon after reaching the top my feelings became more and more focussed on the look-out ahead. i saw signs that we were approaching jerusalem. there were more people on the road, and a detachment of the salvation army was marching along with a strangely incongruous appearance. yet only incongruous on account of the dress, for, morally, those earnest souls are amongst the fittest to be here. i stood up in the carriage, but w. from the box saw first. he raised his hat, and a second after i had the indescribable sensation of seeing the top of the mount of olives, and then the walls of zion! it was about three o'clock. we left the carriage outside the jaffa gate, for no wheeled vehicle can traverse the streets of jerusalem, and we passed in on foot. we had first to go to the hotel, of course, a very clean little place facing the tower of david. thence we soon set out to begin our wonderful experiences. i had what i can only describe as a qualm when we reached, in but a few hundred steps, the church of the holy sepulchre. it was all too easy and too quick. you can imagine the sense of reluctance to enter there without more recollection. i had a feeling of regret that we had not waited till the morrow, and i would warn others not to go on the day of arrival. we reached the church through stone lanes of indescribable picturesqueness, teeming with the life of the east, and there i saw the jerusalem jews i had so often read of--extraordinary figures in long coats and round hats, a ringlet falling in front of each ear, while the rest of the head is shaved. they looked white and unhealthy, many of them red-eyed and all more or less bent, even the youths. no greater contrast could be seen than between those poor creatures and the arabs who jostle them in these crowded alleys, and who are such upstanding athletic men, with clear brown skins, clean-cut features, and heads turbaned majestically. they stride along with a spring in every step. there are greeks here, and russians in crowds, and kurds, armenians, and kopts--in fact samples of all the dwellers of the near east, wearing their national dresses; and through this fascinating assemblage of types and costumes, most distracting to my thoughts, we threaded our way to-day, ascending and descending the lanes and bazaars, up and down wide shallow steps, till we came in front of the rich portal of the church of churches. with our eyes dazzled with all that colour, and with the sudden brilliance of the sunshine which flooded the open space in front of the façade, we passed in! do not imagine that the church stands imposingly on an eminence, and that its proportions can strike the beholder. you go downhill to it from the street, and it is crowded on all sides but the front by other buildings. but its gloomy antiquity and formlessness are the very things that strike one with convincing force, for one sees at once that the church is there for the sake of the sites it encloses, and that, therefore, it cannot have any architectural symmetry or plan whatever, and its enormous extent is necessitated by its enclosing the chapels over calvary and the holy sepulchre and many others besides, which the empress helena erected over each sacred spot whose identity she ascertained with so much diligence. it is very natural to wish that calvary was in the open air,--lonely, under the sky that saw christ suffer on the cross. but already, in the year , st. helena found the place of execution buried under mounds of rubbish purposely thrown upon it; and where would any trace of it be to-day had she not enclosed it--what with man's destroying acts and the violence of the storms that have beaten against this rock for nineteen centuries and more? it was, to begin with, but a small eminence close outside the walls. on entering the church you discern in the depths of the gloom of the tortuous interior the rough steep steps cut in the rock that lead to calvary, on your right hand. on climbing to the top, groping in the twilight, you find yourself in a chapel lined with plates of gold and hung with votive lamps. the sacred floor, which is the very top of calvary, is entirely cased in gold, and under the greek altar is shown the socket of the cross, a hole in the rock. our altar stands to the proper left of the greek, which has the post of honour. descending from calvary there is a long stretch of twilight church to traverse before we come to the sepulchre. again i had not realised, from the books i have read, the great distance that separates the two, and, indeed, many writers in their scepticism have done their best to belittle the whole thing. i confess that before to-day i was much under the influence of these writers, but i have now seen for myself, a privilege i am deeply thankful for. it was an overwhelming sensation to find the spaces that separate the sites so much vaster than i had expected, and to have, at every step, the conviction driven home that after all the modern wrangling and disputing the old tradition stands immovable. it certainly would be hard to believe that when st. helena came here the dwellers of jerusalem should have lost all knowledge of where their "tower-hill" stood in the course of three centuries. she was commissioned, as you know, by her son the emperor constantine, that ardent convert to christianity, to seek and secure with the utmost perseverance and care all the holy sites, and to her untiring labours we owe their identification to this day. the great central dome of the church rises above the chapel of the holy sepulchre, which chapel stands in the vast central space, a casket enclosing the rock hollowed out into our lord's tomb and its ante-chamber. you enter this ante-chamber and, stooping down, you pass on your hands and knees into the sepulchre itself. on your right is the little low, rough-hewn tomb, covered with a slab of stone worn into hollows by the lips of countless pilgrims throughout the long ages of our era. a monk keeps watch there, and beside him there is only space enough for one person at a time. i have made many attempts to tell you my thoughts and feelings during those bewildering moments of my first visit, but i find it is impossible, and you can understand why. jerusalem, _ th april -_. my....--to-day was exquisitely bright and full of heart-stirring sights to us. those who have not been here can scarcely, i think, realise the sensation of living in daily intimacy with the scenes of our lord's passion. think of lying down at night under the shadow of the cross. to-day we first visited the wailing place of the jews. strange and pathetic sight, these weird men and women and children weeping and moaning, with their faces against the gigantic stones of the wall that forms the only remaining portion of the foundation of their vanished temple, praying jehovah for its restoration to israel; and over their heads rises in its strong beauty the moslem mosque of omar, standing in the place of the "holy of holies," the varnished tiles of its dome ablaze with green and blue in the resplendent sun! jews below, moslems above, yet to the christian, christ everywhere! then we followed the "via dolorosa," which winds through the dense town, starting from the turkish barracks on the site of pilate's house. of course, i need not say that the surface of jerusalem being sixty to eighty feet higher than it was in our lord's time, the real via dolorosa is buried far below, but the general direction may be the true one. strange to see the stations of the cross appearing at intervals on the walls of alleys crowded with jews and mahometans. there are no evidences of turkish intolerance in palestine that i can see! the last stations are, of course, in the great church. we followed the walls from mount moriah to zion and round by accra to the damascus gate, outside which stands general gordon's "skull hill," which he so tenaciously clung to as the real calvary (on account of its resemblance to a gigantic skull), together with the sepulchre in a garden at the foot of the mound, which he held was that of joseph of arimathea. as far as my eye can tell, the distance between "skull hill" and this sepulchre is much the same as between calvary and the sepulchre that tradition hallows. i send you a sketch that i made on the spot of gordon's "sepulchre," to show you the universal plan of these burial-places. you will see three tombs (their lids are gone) in the inner chamber. at the holy sepulchre only our lord's is preserved, tallying with the one i have marked with a cross; the other two have been cut away. [illustration] i made a very hurried sketch of jerusalem, with the mount of olives and a glimpse of the mountains of moab, from the hotel roof. had i been perched a little higher i could have shown the head of the dead sea. we visited the mosque of omar, one of the great sights of the world. the immense plateau on which the temple stood is partly occupied by this, the second oldest of mosques, and by great open spaces planted with gigantic and ancient cypresses and by a smaller mosque. the whole group is surpassingly beautiful, but what thoughts rush into one's mind in this place! a vision of herod's temple fills the whole space for a few moments with its white and golden splendour, its forest of shining pinnacles flashing in the sun, and its tiers of pillared courts culminating in the holy of holies. and then the reality lies before us again--great empty spaces and two pagan mosques. from thence we went out by st. stephen's gate, and looked down on gethsemane on the opposite side of the valley of jehoshaphat. very dusty and stony looked that part of the mount of olives, and the excavations for the building of numerous churches by various sects have greatly spoilt its repose and beauty and disturbed its seclusion. but one must not complain. all christians naturally long to have a place of worship there. i cannot describe to you the charm of life here. all one's time is filled to overflowing with what i may call the "holy fascination" of the place, and though all this continual walking and standing about may be somewhat fatiguing in a physical sense, the mind never is weary and the fatigue is pleasant. at night, sound sleep, born of profound contentment at the day's doings, so full of keen interest without excitement, renews one's vitality for the succeeding day's enjoyment. _ th april -._ this has been a day of clear loveliness, much hotter and altogether exquisite. in the morning we first went to the "cenaculum," the rambling building erected over the site of the house of the last supper, which st. helena found and enclosed in a chapel, and also including the undoubted tomb of david, jealously guarded from us by the mahometans. the cenaculum stands out lonely and impressive, looking towards the mountains of moab and the dim regions to the south of the dead sea. i will show you a sunset sketch of this. i was not pleased to feel hurried through those rooms and narrow passages and stairs by the guide in a rather nervous manner, when i perceived that the reason was the unfriendly looks of the mahometans who moved about us, and who evidently resent the presence of christians so near the royal tomb. i was too much distracted to realise where i was, and indeed, not till we get away from the noise and bustle of town life into the solitudes shall we be able to fix our thoughts as we would wish. from the cenaculum we walked half-way down to the valley through which the brook cedron flows, and by very much the same path that our lord must have followed to go to gethsemane after the last supper. down to our right was the desolate gehenna--the pit of tophet--now only inhabited by lepers, and a ghastly hollow it looked. beyond rose that hill where once sat moloch of the red-hot hands, and deep down on the declivity between us and these landmarks of terror lay the potter's field. when looking from some commanding height [illustration: "the cenaculum." site of the house of the last supper the mass of buildings shown includes, in the centre of the block, the remains of the chapel built by the empress helena over the site of the house of the last supper. the tomb of david at the left-hand extremity is surmounted by a dome. time, sunset.] over the city and its surroundings the mind staggers at the thought of the appalling catastrophes that have burst upon this narrow area--the human agony that has been concentrated here through so many ages, of which we read in the old testament and in the writings of the early historians of our era. twenty-five fierce sieges has this mountain fastness endured. no other city ever went through such sufferings. if we could really concentrate our thoughts upon the events that have passed upon this ground which, from such a standpoint as ours of this morning, the sight can compass in one sweep of vision, it would be too painful to be endured. perhaps if i could see the place on some bleak twilight or in a sounding thunderstorm i might dimly appreciate the long agony of jerusalem, but to-day the april air was full of scents of flowers and aromatic shrubs, and the bees were humming; there were little butterflies amongst the anemones, and the lark was in full song. the very spirit of the gospel peace seemed to float in the gentle air of spring. i was glad i could not concentrate my thoughts on the gloomy side of that wondrous prospect. from the cave whither st. peter crept away to weep after the denial of our lord is certainly the finest view of the site of the temple to be obtained anywhere. this cave is some distance down the path from the cenaculum and the house of caiaphas, which latter we had also visited, now a beautiful chapel. in the afternoon we had our first ride, and went by the old stony track so often trodden by the saviour to bethany. never shall i forget the view of the dead sea, jordan, and mountains of moab which burst upon us as we crested the summit of the mount of olives and passed by the traditional site of the ascension. the ride down to bethany, on the reverse slope of the mount, was enchanting, and how solemn all was to us--the deep black "tomb of lazarus," the site of the house (now a ruined chapel) where jesus so often stayed. we returned by the lower, or new, road from jericho, and had at sunset that grand view of jerusalem from the lower slopes of olivet which has so often been painted. we reserved gethsemane for another time, but visited the ancient church of the assumption on our way home. jerusalem, _ th april_. my....--we spent the whole morning in the church of the holy sepulchre, i remaining alone for an hour after w. left to write letters at the hotel. there was hardly another soul in that vast building, except a few priests and the monk who keeps watch over the tomb. i find i can write least about this, the climax of what makes palestine the holy land. at two o'clock i went to gethsemane, escorted by isaac, where i sketched till six. i would have preferred a moonlight sketch of that garden, but i had to be content with a very hot daylight one. it was blissful sitting there undisturbed under the old olives whose trunks are as hard as stone, and i pleased myself with the idea that they might be offshoots of offshoots of the trees that shaded our lord. when titus had all the trees around jerusalem cut down, some saplings may have been overlooked! my protecting dragoman was somewhere out of sight, and the franciscan monks who own this most sacred "god's acre" were unobtrusively tending the flowers somewhere about. insects hummed amid the flowers, all the little _burrings_ of a hot day were in the air, it was a place of profound peace. as i returned, towards sunset, and climbed the steep sides of the valley of jehoshaphat up to st. stephen's gate--the shortest way to the city--i looked back towards the scene of my happy labours, and a sight lay there below me which impressed me, i am sure, for life. the western sides of the abyss which i was climbing were already in the shades of night, for twilight hardly exists here, but the opposite slopes received the red sunset light in its fullest force, and in that scarlet gleam shone out in intense relief thousands upon thousands of flat tombstones that cover the bones of countless jews who have, at their devout request, been buried there to await, on the spot, the last judgment which they and we and the mahometans all believe will take place in that valley. had i more time i would much like to make a study of this truly awful place in that last ray of the vanishing sun, for nothing could be more impressive and more touching, but higher-standing subjects claim all the time i can spare. my intention is to use all my sketching moments for scenes connected with our lord's revealed life. i resolutely deny [illustration: in the garden of gethsemane. noonday. looking towards valley of jehoshaphat part of the garden in foreground under old olive-trees and cypresses. stations of the cross along path inside boundary wall. walls of jerusalem and top of mosque of omar in background. time, early afternoon.] myself the indulgence of elaborately sketching the people and animals that seem to call out to the artist at every turn, though i have outlined some in my note-book. anywhere else our fellow-travellers at the hotel would be too tempting in my lighter moments, so comical they look in their sun-proof costumes. why such preparations against the april sun? but one is too "detached" here to be much distracted by their unspeakable outlines. and, talking of distractions, i really do not find the drawbacks of jerusalem, which so many travellers give prominence to in accounts of their experiences, so very bad. indeed our life here is without a single drawback, to my thinking. _saturday, th april -._ the heat is greatly increasing. at . we drove to bethlehem with our friend, frère benoît. the hill country we passed through was very stony and rocky, and only cultivated here and there. again olives and stones, stones and olives everywhere. the inhabitants are a splendid race, the men athletic, the women graceful, though their faces are sadly disfigured by tattooing. we were on the look-out for the little city of david long before it appeared, and very beautiful it looked as we beheld it from a high hill, crowning a slightly lower one amid a billowing sea of other hill-tops. it has a majestic appearance on its rocky throne, and its large, massive conventual buildings add greatly to its stateliness. we passed that pathetic monument, rachel's tomb, at the cross roads, our road leading to the left, and the other diving down to the right towards hebron. we ascended bethlehem's hill and were soon in its steep, narrow, slippery stone lanes, utterly unfitted for a carriage. we drove at once to the franciscan convent and then to the church built over the site of the nativity, and had the happiness of kneeling at the sacred spot where the manger stood, which is shown in the rocky vaults below, and marked with a white star inlaid in the floor. the cave was rich and lovely with votive lamps and gold and silver gifts. little by little the dislike i had to the too precise localisation of the events we love most in the bible is disappearing. speaking for myself, i find that, on the spot, the mind demands it. but i know that many people regret it. i only wish that, in their separate and individual ways, all [illustration: bethany the locality of the tomb of lazarus is marked by a little domed tower to the extreme right of the town. ruins of chapel built over site of house of lazarus, martha, and mary are in centre of village. the road to jerusalem of our lord's time passes over the brow of the hill to the right. mid-day.] who come here may feel the happiness that i do. in a very dark niche in the rocks close to where the white star shone out in the floor i perceived the figure of a turkish sentry, breech-loading rifle and all, standing on his little wooden stool, motionless. well, do you know, though my eyes saw him my mind was not thereby disturbed any more than it was by the turkish guard at the door of the church of the holy sepulchre. i could not bring my thoughts down to that figure and the reason of its being there. we visited st. jerome's cave, close by, where he worked, near the scene of his redeemer's birth, giving to the world the translation into the vulgate of the holy scriptures. then we walked down to the field of boaz, full of waving green wheat, in the midst of which stands the sheepfold surrounded by a stone wall. you must imagine the shepherds looking _up_ to bethlehem from there on that christmas eve. the little city is seen from the sheepfold high up against the sky to the west about two miles off. i had only time for a pencil outline of this view, hoping to colour it on a future occasion. all the country round was very pastoral, and just such a one as one would expect. wildflowers in great quantities, and larks--little tame things with crests on their heads--enjoying the sun and the breeze, quite unmolested; lovely sweeps of corn in the valleys, olive-clad or quite grassless hills bounding the horizon all round--can you see it? how many figures of our lady we saw about the fields and lanes with babes in their arms! surely the old masters got their facts about the drapery of their madonnas from here, where all the women wear blue and red robes, exactly as the italian painters have them. _sunday, th april._ we went to seven o'clock mass at the latin altar on calvary. we were in a dense knot of people, who were kneeling on the floor in that dark, low-roofed chapel, lit by the soft light of lamps hanging before each shrine. how often we say in our prayers, "here, at the foot of thy cross." we were literally there. after breakfast with the prior at the casa nova monastery, which used to be the hostelry for travellers before the hotel was in existence, we drove with frère benoît to the reputed birthplace of john the baptist, ain kareem in the judean hills. i believe there is considerable doubt as to this site, but there is the possibility. it was a very poetical landscape that we passed through, and there were many flowering apricot, pear, and almond trees as we neared st. elizabeth's mountain home. we first visited the site of the baptist's birth high up in the north end of the village, now covered by a church, and then we crossed over to the south side of the valley to st. elizabeth's country house, also now a chapel, where her cousin visited her. there is a deep well of most cool crystal water at the side of the altar in this "chapel of the visitation," which belongs to the spanish monks. from the roof of the convent over this chapel i made a sketch of the little town on its hillside planted with cypress trees. the heat here in this enclosed valley was very great. _monday, th april._ we were up at five for our drive to hebron. i longed to see this most ancient city and that mosque which, without any doubt whatever, covers the "double cave of machpelah" which abraham bought for his own and his descendants' burying-place. "there," said jacob when dying, "they buried abraham and sarah his wife; there they buried isaac and rebekah his wife; and there i buried leah," and there also they buried jacob. think of it! if we could look into those tombs and see the very bones of abraham and isaac and the mummy of jacob, for the bible tells us he was embalmed according to the manner of the egyptians. altogether, though, our visit to hebron has rather given me the horrors. near rachel's tomb we left the bethlehem road and dived down to the "vale of hebron," the heat increasing greatly as we descended. we halted for the mid-day refection (how more than usually horrid the word "lunch" sounds here!) and rested in the "shadow of a rock in a thirsty land," where tradition says philip met the eunuch journeying from far-off meroe on the upper nile. it was a wilderness of stones, where the big lizards of palestine were in strong force, panting over the top of every rock, their black heads and goggle eyes upturned to the burning sky in a very comical way. close to hebron is a nice cool german hostelry, where we rested before descending to the gloomiest town i have ever seen in the east, with [illustration: "ain kareem," reputed birthplace of john the baptist, from roof of convent of the visitation church built over supposed site of zacharias' and elizabeth's house to right of town, high up, where st. john was born. roof of chapel built over site of their country house, where mary visited her cousin, in foreground.] some of its bazaars like tunnels, into which scarcely any light could enter. here in the gloom we met insolent-looking moslems and spectral jews, their strongly-contrasted figures and faces appearing for a moment in the twilight as they passed us. and outside it was blinding noontide sunlight. we went all round the huge mosque that guards the precious tombs of the patriarchs, but had we attempted to enter we should have had a bad quarter of an hour from the mahometans. these sons of the bondwoman would stone any son of the free who would attempt an entry. there is a little black hole in the wall, which i am sure does not pierce it through, which we are told we can look through and see the tombs from outside, but i saw nothing in the hole but the beady eye of a lizard. we do not feel as though we would care to revisit hebron. we drove back to the german khan which was full of exhausted americans who had also returned from the oven of hebron. most of them had been trying to combine botany with biblical research, and near many of the figures that lay prone on the divans i saw bibles and limp flora on the floor. towards evening we drove from this place of rest a long way back on the road to jerusalem, but not far short of bethlehem we came in sight of our camp! how charming and inspiriting that sight was--three snowy tents pitched by the pools of solomon under the walls of a crusader castle, with some fifteen saddle and baggage animals picketed close by, and the dear old union jack flying from the central tent! i was delighted at the fact that our camp life was to begin that night. everything struck us as in excellent order, our horses, saddles and bridles, the tents, the servants and all. those pools of solomon are three immense reservoirs of water which the wise king made to supply the temple at jerusalem. myriads of frogs were enlivening the evening air with their multitudinous croakings which increased to deafening proportions as night closed in. i took a hasty sketch. much hyssop grows here, "asperges me, domine, hyssopo et mundabor." _ th april._ i was greatly pleased with my first night under canvas. to have grass and stones and little aromatic herbs for a bedroom carpet was a [illustration: solomon's pools, near jerusalem, looking towards dead sea shows the central one of three reservoirs which are built one below the other on a slope inclining towards valley of the dead sea. measurements of solomon's pools:--upper one, ft. by ft., ft. deep; middle one, ft. by ft., ft. deep; lower one, ft. by ft., ft. deep.] new and delightful sensation to me. we started this morning at sunrise, my sketching things handily strapped to my saddle by w.'s directions, in a flat straw _aumonière_. isaac had swathed his tarboush in a magnificent "cufia," and our retinue wore the baggy garb of syria. w. rode a steel-grey arab, i a silver-grey, isaac a roan-grey, and the man, whom we call the "flying column," because he is to accompany us with the lunch bags, while the heavy column with baggage, tents, etc., goes on ahead by short-cuts, rode a chestnut. we passed through bethlehem and down to the field of the shepherds, where i completed, as well as i could in the heat and glare, my sketch begun the other day. a group of some twenty russian pilgrims arrived as we did, and we saw them in the grotto of the sheepfold, each holding a lighted taper and responding to the chant of their old priest, who had a head which would do admirably for a picture of abraham. these poor men were in fur coats and high clumsy boots, and one told us he had come from tobolsk, and had been two years on that tramp. he assured us he could manage his return journey in no time, only ten months or so. their devotion was profound, as it always is, and was utterly un-self-conscious. i think we english are too apt to suppose that because devotion is demonstrative it is not deep. great pedestrians as we are, how many englishmen would walk for two years to visit this sheepfold? that two years' test borne by the russian peasant must have gone very deep. i remember reading with much approval, when a child, with a child's narrow-mindedness, miss martineau's shocked description of the demonstrative piety of a noble russian lady on calvary, who repeatedly laid her head in the hole where the cross had been, weeping and praying and behaving altogether in a most un-english manner. the memory of that passage came back to me to-day as i saw these rough peasants, so supremely unconscious of our presence, throwing themselves heart and soul into their adoration of god, and i thought of mary magdalene and _her_ prostrations and tears. after the service for the russian pilgrims "father abraham" fell asleep under an olive-tree, with his hoary head on a stone which he had cushioned with dock leaves, and the younger priest who had taken part in the service went back to his ploughing, which he had left on the approach of the pilgrims. they both had their fellaheen clothes under their cassocks, and they wore the tall greek sacerdotal cap. they were natives of bethlehem. "abraham" blessed our meal, but refused to partake of it, except the fruit, as this is the greek lent. we had a long talk with him through isaac, and a lively theological argument, which had the usual success of such undertakings, enhanced by its filtration through a mahometan interpreter converted to protestantism by the american baptist mission at jaffa. that old patriarch was a magnificent study as he sat, pointing heavenwards under the olive-trees and discoursing of his faith, with bethlehem rising in the distance behind his most venerable head. he made some coffee for us, a return civility for the fruit, and as we rode off many were the parting salutations between us and the group of people who had been the audience of our theological arguments, made unintelligible by isaac. among the crowd was an ex-papal zouave who turned out to have been orderly to a friend of ours in the old days at rome. we rode along a track in the field of boaz, now knee-deep in corn, a cavalry soldier, who had been sent to escort us through the "dangerous" region, leading the way. his escorting seems to consist of periodical "fantasia" manoeuvres, when he shakes his horse out at full gallop, picking a flower in mid-career and circling back to present it to me,--a picturesque proceeding in that floating caftan and white and brown striped burnous. i am pleased to see this figure in our foreground caracoling, curveting, and careering. he is in such pleasing harmony with his native landscape. he and isaac are all over pistols and weapons of various sorts, but w. says that the necessity for arms in palestine is now a thing of the past, and only a bogey. our course lay south-east, as we wished to visit the far-famed greek monastery of mar saba on our way to our camp. formerly there was great danger and difficulty in going to this extraordinary place, owing to the fierce robber bedouins that haunted these regions, and in many accounts of palestine travel i have read of the disappointment of the writers at the impossibility of making this visit. it is an awe-inspiring place. the [illustration: bethlehem from the sheepfold, field of boaz the town is shown on a hill. the convent of the nativity stands to the extreme left. field of boaz with green wheat in middle distance, enclosure of sheepfold in foreground.] monks have even denied themselves that great earthly consolation of natural beauty which our monasteries, as a rule, are so well situated to enjoy. on the edge of an abyss of rock, through which the now dry cedron once rushed to the dead sea, and facing the opposite rock pierced with the caves of former hermits, it is so placed as to have not one beautiful thing within sight, and as little of even the light of the sky above to give a ray of cheerfulness. we saw pigeons and paddy birds arriving in flocks to the rock ledges, and had glimpses of furtive furry things coming round corners. we marvelled at the presence of the paddy birds so far from water till we were told the pleasing fact that all these wild things since time immemorial have been in the habit of congregating here to the sound of the bugle, to be fed by those greek monks. they were waiting for their dinner-bell! i soon had enough of mar saba, but w. thought a month there with two camel-loads of books would be very pleasant. we espied our camp after leaving this dread place a long way below us in a hot hole, amongst most desolate mountains, whose cinder-coloured sides neither distance nor atmosphere could turn purple, and some of these were pale yellow, spotted at the top and half-way down with black shrubs, conveying an irresistible impression of mountains covered with titanic leopard-skins. the deadness of the dead sea was beginning to be felt. a great wind arose in the night, and had not w. seen himself to the tent ropes and pegs our tent would certainly have been blown down, and we should have been smothered in a mass of flapping canvas. as it was, the tent shook and heaved at its moorings and cracked like pistol-shots, some of the furniture coming down with a crash. all night the pistol-shots, the flappings, and the creakings went on, so that i was rather disconcerted at losing my night's rest, for the morrow was, as w. said, to be my "test day." if i stood it well--it being the hardest we should have--i would do the journey. _wednesday, th april -._ we were off at sunrise on a tremendous ride, down to the dead sea, up the jordan and round to jericho--about eight hours in the saddle, exclusive of dismounted halts. we were very fortunate, for the wind which had so troubled our slumbers kept away the heat, which in these regions is most trying. we descended to feet below the level of the mediterranean, and not a tree was to be seen till we gained the green banks of jordan, where we made our halt after half an hour's rest on the beach of the dead sea. all my expectations of the desolation of "lake asphaltites" were fulfilled, but the bitter burning of its salt far surpassed what i expected. i could realise how lot's wife, lingering in her flight from the doomed sodom to look back till the fringe of the destruction that engulfed the cities of the plain covered her, remained stiffened into the semblance of a pillar of salt ("statue" of salt in our version) when my hand in drying, after i had but dipped it into the crystal-clear water that now fills the hollow delved by the swirl of the great cataclysm, was stiff and white with the plaster-like brine. the wan look of the blue shrubs that grow here was like something in a dream, and the air was full of huge locusts, brilliant yellow, tossed by a high hot wind. the earth was cracked by the heat into deep chasms, and the treeless mountains round the sea were lost at its farther end in a mist of hot air. there was great beauty with this desolation, but the mind felt oppressed as well as the body. the blue of the sea was exquisitely delicate, and gave no idea in its soft beauty of the fierce bitterness of its waters. i felt deep emotion on sighting jordan's swift-rolling stream--a touching and unspeakably dear river--but beautiful only for its holiness, for the water is thick with grey mud, and the banks are tangled with the shaggy _débris_ that the over-hanging trees have caught as the winter flood brought them swirling down. the heat there was great, and the flies made it absolutely impossible to take a sketch of the place tradition says saw the baptism of our lord. i was much disappointed, for the flies fairly drove us away, and in the burning heat we turned our horses' heads towards jericho, unable to bear these tormentors any longer. we were to camp at "new jericho"--a huddled group of mud-pie houses situated in a garden of lovely trees and shrubs and flowers, which, owing to the abundance of water flowing through this region, grow in tropical luxuriance. in the far western distance, above all the mountain-tops intervening, we kept the mount of olives in view, with that tall landmark on the top, the tower of the russian "church of the ascension," and only lost it as we neared our camping-place. before us, to our right, a beautiful mountain of more stately lines than those of the weird crags around it rose solemnly against the west--it was the mountain of temptation, where our lord was tempted after his forty days' fast. immediately on reaching our camp i made a sketch of the plain, looking towards mount pisgah in the land of moab to the east. i was just in time to save the sunset. would that we could include pisgah in our pilgrimage, and receive on our retinæ the same image of the promised land that moses received on his! in spite of the baying of dogs, the braying of donkeys, and other camp noises sleep came swiftly and soundly that night. _thursday, th april._ we set out at six for jerusalem, the sun rising over the mountains of moab. we passed over the site of "old jericho," and saw what a magnificent site they chose for it, backed by mountains in a majestic semicircle, and looking on the plain of the jordan. the bible speaks of a "rose plant in jericho" as of something superlatively lovely amongst roses, and one may ask why particularly in jericho? here one can answer the question, for one sees how richly the flowers grow in this land of many streams, which is all the more conspicuous for its exuberance as contrasted with the aridity of the surrounding regions. i can best describe the fascinating quality of our journey by saying that it is like riding through the bible. at every turn some text in the old or new testament which alludes to the natural features of the land, springs before one's mind illumined with a light it could not have before. i know many devout christians shrink from a visit to the holy places for fear of--what? do not fear! the reality simply intensifies, gives substance and colour to, the ineffable poetry of the bible. it is simply rapture to see at last the originals of our childhood's imaginings, and, believe me, the reality becomes more precious in one's memory even than the cherished illusion. our ride through this land of little brooks, running clear over pebbly beds under cool foliage, was [illustration: the plain of the jordan, looking from "new jericho" towards mount pisgah wild vegetation in the plain. mountains of moab in distance. the slight eminence in their straight sky-line to extreme left is mount pisgah. sunset.] refreshing after my "test ride" of yesterday in the dry glare. we soon left this zone of verdure, however, and began the ascent to jerusalem through that gloomy pass which our lord chose for the parable of the good samaritan. they are making a road here, but, being as yet bridgeless at the ravines, it is not open to carriages. our halting-place was bethany,--most lowly hamlet--and i made a sketch of it at our mid-day halt. we then proceeded to our camping-ground, which w. had selected outside the north wall of jerusalem, and in skirting the base of olivet we had again that great view of the city that artists love (and i must say have often exaggerated as regards the height of its rocky pedestal). for the first time there was a "hitch" in the arrangements for the camp. on reaching the north wall no camp was there, and we rode in and out of olive-woods and ugly new roads and dusty building _débris_ in search of it, isaac _appearing_, at least, to be quite at sea. at last, after sending him _ventre-à-terre_ successively in several directions, we saw him returning and calling out that he had found it. to our horror we found the people in charge of the baggage had selected the only really hideous and repulsive spot in all jerusalem, of all places, the jewish extra-mural colony! there were our white tents pitched down in a hollow full of the back-door refuse from the houses of this unsavoury population, surrounded by youths and bedraggled women who might have just come out of houndsditch to look on at the preparations of the camp. the idea of a night on this ground was impossible. on catching sight of this state of things w. pushed forward at a gallop at the whole assemblage of servants, muleteers and cook, and the whole amalgamated crowd, and with an unmistakable twirl of his stick told them to "be out of that"; and the muleteers, servants, and cook fell on their knees and with joined hands called out "pardon! pardon!" in the twinkling of an eye tents were struck and reloaded, dinner preparations bundled away and an instant movement made to the place behind the north wall on mount moriah, which w. had fixed upon in the morning. he suspects that he was disobeyed on account of the ease with which the servants knew they would obtain drink from the jews. certainly our final encampment was enchanting, overlooking gethsemane deep down to the east, with the battlemented walls of jerusalem before us to the south, and tall pines waving above our tents. the moon was now waxing bright, and never can i forget that evening, as by its light i looked upon these things. what a change in the temperature here! it is quite cold. my kit is proving well devised for this country. you must be prepared for these very marked changes of temperature in a land which rises so high and sinks to such abnormal depths below the level of the sea in such a small space. i shall post this in jerusalem, for to-morrow we set out on a journey during which no post-offices will be found for many days. _friday, th april._ my....--i continue my letter in diary form from notes taken on the march. this morning we left rather late, as the weather was so cool, and after making some purchases in jerusalem we set out with our faces due north on our long ride into galilee. it was again an eight-hours-in-the-saddle day, but over such rolling stones that our horses seemed to me to be going at about three miles an hour. it was a relief at the almost impassable places to dismount and lead one's horse. as w. said, these paths of palestine seem to have been rather worn by the people's feet than made by their hands. these bare hills of benjamin were weary and sad, but what a thrilling view was our last one of jerusalem from a high point overlooking the ocean of mountains that bore afar off the island of the holy city and its domes. good-bye, jerusalem! good-bye, olivet! we sat many minutes on our horses looking back at that centre of the world, and then resuming our way a turn in the rocky track shut out the holy city from thenceforth. we overtook a large wedding party, the men armed with long flintlocks, and the women wearing brilliant dresses. we all moved forward together as far as bethel. how powerfully this assemblage of men and women and children journeying northward from jerusalem represented that large company in which were mary and joseph, who came along this way, a day's journey, to the evening halting-place at beeroth, and found there that the little jesus was missing. as i was thinking over this and watching the people, we passed a little goatherd who had evidently been out on the hills many days "on duty." his mother, who was amongst the wedding party, catching sight of her son--about twelve years old--snatched a moment to leave the line of march and ran up to him and kissed him and wept over him, then returning hurried forward to rejoin her companions. that meeting of mother and son, the bending form of the woman in her red and blue drapery, which concealed at that moment the rich dress worn underneath, the little goatherd held close in her arms, formed a group that startled me, with my mind engaged as it was. on reaching the village the men all let off their guns and were met by the people who had remained at home. we made our halt at bethel. what a place of hard, gritty, arid desolation! beth-el, "the house of god." from this great height lot looked down on the plain of sodom, then the acme of fertile beauty, where now lowers the dead sea! there are now only the dry bones of bethel left. the goats eat up every green sprout that appears above ground. i could not sketch such blinding nothingness at our halt there. towards evening the land grew more beautiful as we journeyed on, but so much struggling over boulders and jagged rock ledges made me very glad indeed to perceive the daily signal that we were nearing our camp. that signal is the dashing forward of isaac at full gallop and the pushing forward of the "flying column" (the man on the chestnut horse with the bags), whose place is at other times in the rear. the staff in camp being warned by these cavaliers of our approach tea is got ready, and very welcome it is on our arrival. w. was on ahead as we scrambled up a higher hill than ever, and when i saw him wave his helmet to cheer me on for a final spurt i knew rest was close at hand. our camp looked very lovely just at sunset on a plateau overlooking the hills and valleys of green samaria and the far-off mountain-tops of galilee! the moon shone brightly and the air felt quite frosty as we went to rest. i always take a little meditative walk before going to bed, a sweet ten minutes each evening. the hurried start in the morning and the rough riding all day leave one little time for quiet thought, and at our mid-day halts, when circumstances permit, i sketch with concentrated intensity against time. _saturday, th april._ to-day was breezy and the country less stony. waving corn as in philistia refreshes the eye. we are now in the goodly land of ephraim, which deepens in richness as we advance. we passed through shiloh, where the ark of the covenant rested so long, and the little samuel heard the call of god. the place is marked by some old ruins--roman or crusader? and a forlorn dead tree lies athwart them. a glorious cultivated plain opened out before we reached our halting-place, jacob's well. how i had longed to see this well, where our lord conversed with the samaritan woman. but i was disappointed at being unable to make the sketch of it i hoped for so much. the well is about five feet below the surface of a mass of ruins. an early christian chapel once enclosed it, but this has fallen in and all but buried the well. but you can imagine one's feelings as one rests one's hand on its edge and realises that our saviour sat there as he spoke to the woman who had come to draw water. you remember that it was at this well that he told his disciples to look up at the fields "already white unto harvest." there they are, those fields, filling the valley of sychar. but you cannot see them from the well now, in the pit enclosed by ruins, nor the town to which the disciples went "to buy meats," nor even the two great mountains of ebal and gerizim that rise so high quite close by. this well is like the cave of machpelah,--accepted by all as authentic beyond question. i cantered my horse all the way up to our camp, high up in an olive-wood on the other side of the town, for i must say i was longing to get the ride over and have a good rest. but society duties awaited me! the ministers of various denominations came to call on us, and when later on the catholic priest (an italian) honoured us with a visit i was called upon to take over isaac's duties as interpreter. we went, w. and i, for a pleasant stroll towards sundown, and had a perfectly exquisite view of nablous, the ancient shechem, lying between those two mountains whose names rang so sonorously to us all in childhood--the terrible ebal and the smiling gerizim. a most perfect, typical eastern town, this, embowered in orange and pomegranate trees--the home of the nightingale, whose music blends with that of the multitudinous cascades echoing from the over-hanging cliffs. a turkish sentry came and lit his fire close to our tents, and was suffered to mount his quite unnecessary guard over us all night, with an eye to backsheesh at sunrise. _sunday, th april._ the day of rest. no travel to-day. exquisite nablous, what a paradise to rest in! but all was not perfection. we went to church too early, by mistake, and had to wait an hour before mass began, passing the time in french small-talk (indeed reduced to a minimum of smallness on my part, for it dwindled away almost to nothing) with the courteous ecclesiastics and the nuns in the garden of the little presbytery. as i was fasting i was not fortified against the subsequent performance on the harmonium during mass, by a syrian. on nearing our tent, cheered by the prospect of breakfast, i had another set-back by isaac's announcing the imminent arrival of what sounded like "the rev. vulture," the lutheran minister. had that individual really been on the swoop i must have fled, but happily that morning call never took place. it is all very well to laugh, but i felt "in the pit of tophet." i have spent the rest of the day in sleep, and in writing to you, and in fascinating strolls through the town with w., and in returning calls. i am nicely burnt by the sun and wind, for nothing could induce me to let a veil blur or dim one single glimpse of the holy land. _monday, th april._ glorious breezy weather with flying cloud shadows. again eight hours in the saddle, but the sunday rest has made me quite fresh again. we passed to-day through the hill country of manasseh. after riding a mile or two out of nablous our "flying column" came running up on foot to the dragoman in front to ask what was to be done with a poor little stowaway who had begged him to let him ride the baggage horse to escape from his unhappy home. "his mother was dead and his stepmother beat him." he looked so piteous perched up on the bags, but, of course, we could not kidnap him, and after receiving some money he was put gently down on the roadside. as we rode on we got a last sight of him on the green bank swaying to and fro in his desolate grief, his gown making a little pink dot in the vast landscape. our mid-day halt was at a fountain in a fig country, and there we talked to the women and girls who were filling their pitchers. one showed me by signs how the figs were a failure this year, the young figs all falling off their stalks before ripening. her patient acceptance of the inevitable reminded me of the italian peasants and their "_pazienza, è la volontà di dio!_" then we deflected to the left on our journey to visit sebaste, where st. john is supposed to have been beheaded, and with great probability. the crusaders built a magnificent church to his memory there, the ruins of which are very grand. we rode to the site of the gates of the city, along a path lined with classic pillars, and at the end of this avenue we saw the sea, and where cæsarea, the harbour of sebaste, once stood. our camp that evening was at ain jenin, an ideal eastern town. i was not prepared for anything so beautiful as it looked in the evening light, when we emerged in sight of it from a defile between hills. we were well in the plain of jezreel, and lo! hermon at last! in the light of the after-glow we beheld his hoary head from our tents, to the north. tender moonlight succeeded the after-glow. all the mosques and minarets were lighted up with delicate golden lamps at sunset (for it is ramadan), as at jerusalem and nablous. this place is full of pomegranate trees, with their scarlet blossoms, and of flowering tamarisk. _tuesday, st april._ off at sunrise, the larks singing over the face of the land. we had a glorious ride through the plain of jezreel or esdraelon, often coming upon the brook kishon and its little trickling tributaries in their multitudinous windings, and fording the same. what a vast space is here, how biblical in its majesty, and how troubled too with recollections of battle from remotest ages of israelitish history down to napoleon's time. deflecting to the right we climbed up to naim for our halt, memorable for the raising of the widow's son. there was an immense view from this little bunch of mud houses towards tabor and galilee, with a foreground of purple iris. then descending again into the plain we rode to the foot of mount tabor, where, in an olive-wood, and on ploughed land, our camp was pitched. how refreshing it is never to be told we are trespassing in this country. [illustration: the plain of esdraelon, from foot of tabor, with the village of naim in distance plain full of green wheat. mountain to left is "little hermon," on which the village of naim stands. towards sunset.] on arriving i chose to remain and make a sunset sketch of distant naim on its hill, whilst w. rode up to the top of tabor. _wednesday, nd april._ off again at sunrise over the saddle of mount tabor. very rough riding through dells of oak, where the honeysuckle hung in masses and scented the air. tabor itself is scarcely beautiful in outline, and like the magnified mounds that the old masters intended for mountains. in their pictures of the transfiguration their tabors are very like the original. this was our most glorious day's journey, for it took us to the shores of the lake of galilee. hermon in distant lebanon was visible ahead of us throughout. we rode up to near the top of the "mount of beatitudes," and then on foot reached the very top, and had our first view of the sacred sea from that immense height. here christ preached the sermon on the mount, and down there, intensely blue, lay that dear lake whose shores were so often trodden by his feet. hermon rose above the majestic landscape, and a warm, palpitating light vibrated over all. in a scrap of shade from a rock we made our halt, and i had an hour and a half for a sketch. then we rode down to tiberias, descending into a furnace, though when once on the shore the breeze was sweet off the water. tiberias is a dreadful little town, and we were glad to thread its alleys as quickly as possible. our camp was on a pebbly strand about half a mile south of this, the only, town on these shores that once held such brilliant cities. i made an evening sketch, and before retiring for the night we strolled a long time by those sacred waters in the light of the full moon. the waves were strong, and sounded loud in that great stillness. at such times as this the sense of our lord's presence is almost more than one's mortal heart can hold. we picked up hundreds of shells, which will make appropriate rosaries, mounted in silver, the cross made out of olive wood which i have brought from gethsemane. i will send you one. _thursday, rd april._ we went by boat three hours' row to near the mouth of the jordan, at the north end of the lake, where the grassy slopes are supposed to [illustration: our first sight of lake galilee the snowy mountain is mount hermon. northern edge of the lake shown. tall fennel plants amongst rocks in foreground. early afternoon.] be the scene of the miracle of the loaves and fishes. it is very difficult to describe to you my enchantment at seeing one after another these places i have longed to see from early childhood, when our beloved father used to read us the bible every sunday. the lake was pale and calm, delicately tinted, and there was a heat-haze over everything in the early part of the day. we disembarked under some thorny acacias which gave a deep shade, and i had the delight of making a sketch there of the coast, looking westward, whilst w. went on by boat to the jordan. rosy oleanders fringe the water as far as the eye can reach; the "mount of beatitudes" and top of tabor are in the distance, and the site of capernaum in the middle distance. god has trodden these scenes with human feet; the feeling of sketching them is scarcely to be put before you in words. the boatmen were very angry at being kept, whilst i finished the sketch, from returning at the right time, for they told us that if the west wind sprang up we should never be able to get home that night. surely enough we were only able to get as far as capernaum with hard pulling against a strong west wind, which suddenly changed the whole face of the lake. its pale blue was now dirty green and the choppy waves lashed with foam, and so wild did the waves become that the progress of the boat was almost impossible. these sudden and violent gusts that come through the gullies between the mountains are dreaded by the fishermen of to-day as they were in peter's time. fortunately w. had in the morning ordered that our horses should be sent round to meet us here in case the wind arose, and we gladly got on them at this point, having an enchanting ride back and being able at many places to canter our horses. we heard afterwards that the boatmen did not get in till one in the morning. at capernaum are seen some rich roman ruins lying tumbled about as though by an earthquake. we rode through the supposed site of bethsaida, and passed through a portion of the old roman roadway for chariots, cut through the rock. no accumulation of earth has buried the original surface as elsewhere, so that this lane, with its polished floor of rock, must have undoubtedly been trodden by our lord as he passed from city to city. here are the remains [illustration: galilee, looking towards hermon mount hermon snow-capped in distance. town of tiberias on shore in middle distance to left.] of a roman aqueduct, in one place pouring a huge volume of clearest water over a ledge where, no doubt, in the city's time, a fountain stood. now the flood from the northern hills disperses itself in abundant streams that rush through dense herbage to the lake. we counted six of these little rivers on our way to magdala, the birthplace of the magdalen. we looked down from our mountain lanes to the milk-white strands of the little inlets that border the northern end of gennesaret, and i wondered at which of them the various episodes of the gospel took place--our lord preaching from the ship pushed out a little way to be free from the jostling crowd on shore--the embarkation for the miraculous draught of fishes----. besides oleanders the pomegranates grow all along this shore in dense masses half embedded in teeming vegetation. magdala is a tiny mud hamlet with a single palm. there are splendid fig-trees here. herds of oxen and goats and flocks of sheep browse knee-deep in the rich grass. our dragoman took us this time through the whole length of the town of tiberias. it happened to be a great jewish festival, and the men had all freshly oiled and curled their side locks, which dangled from under immense round fur caps, and the women wore artificial flowers in their hair and were clothed in velvets of splendid hue. it was strange to see them thus attired, coming upon them so suddenly when entering the town from the wilderness. the lanes were stifling and unwholesome, the children pale and sickly, and all had that same blighted look i noticed at jerusalem. none of them were tanned, but remained white under such a sun! it was a relief to come out at the other end and canter back along the margin of the "sea" to our camp, for that ride through tiberias had oppressed and saddened me. _friday, th april._ an early start as the sun rose over those dark cliffs of the country of the gadarenes down which the possessed swine careered to the abyss. good-bye, blessed sea of galilee! we had our last look from the immense height near the "mount of beatitudes," and thence we turned south-west on our way to nazareth over the hills of zebulon. young shepherds were piping on little fifes on the hills. the country became uninteresting [illustration: galilee, looking from near the mouth of the jordan towards the "mount of beatitudes" and tabor oleanders in flower skirting shore in foreground. top of mount tabor showing over nearer mountains in distance.] (comparatively!) after we left the immediate surroundings of the lake till we came to cana of galilee, where we halted, and where i made my only "failure" sketch. it was a dear, holy, lovable landscape, but hillocky and green and impossible in that flat noontide light. at cana is the fountain from which undoubtedly was drawn the water for the marriage feast, since there is absolutely no other spring in the place. it was a long journey to nazareth. that holy town is very lovely, and so much superior in its buildings to the others--quite well-to-do and exquisitely situated on the slope of a cypress-topped hill, in terraces, like a tiny genoa. here culminated my disappointment in the faces of the women of palestine, for the tattooing is simply outrageous, worse than anywhere else in the east. how can they be beautiful with blue lips and the mouth surrounded with blue trees, animals and birds? this spoilt my pleasure in coming upon the "fountain of the virgin," where these maids and matrons were filling their pitchers amid a great chattering, at the entrance to the town. we walked, after arriving, to the church of the annunciation. there, in the "holy house" (the front of which is at loretto), far below the present surface of the earth, on the very spot where the angel saluted mary, one can say the angelus. this is the portion of the house which (as is the custom here) is excavated out of the rock; the fronts only are of masonry. we visited the "mensa christi," which interested us but little, as it savours too much of the "pious fraud," and then the site of joseph's workshop. we were disappointed in the position of our camp, as other travellers had forestalled us in getting better places, and the best of all was bespoken for the great french pilgrimage expected on the morrow. on this account we settled not to tarry at nazareth and to send the heavy column back to jerusalem in the morning. we are only one day's journey from caïfa, our place of embarkation. as i was looking at the town from our tent door at the time of the angelus, the bells of the church over mary's house suddenly rang out a carillon, and the tune was that very one we used to hear when a. and i were five and six years old on our dear genoese riviera! i had not heard that tune since those days. later on i watched the full [illustration: nazareth at sunrise the church with spire to the left stands over the site of joseph's workshop, and near mary's house.] moon rising over those mountain outlines which our lord looked on every day of his hidden life at nazareth, and then turned and saw the town white in the moonbeams on its dark hillside. _saturday, th april._ we started later than usual, as w. had to close accounts with the "heavy column" and send a telegram to alexandria to warn them of our impending return. there was a heavy dew. i made a sunrise sketch of the town. a glorious ride we had to carmel, steeped in the poetry of the old testament. carmel is one mass of oak-trees. there we met the vast host of the french pilgrims coming from caïfa and beginning their experiences of palestine. we met amicably at the shady halting-place and exchanged a few words of _camaraderie_, and we watched them depart towards nazareth, each company headed by a banner. on our way to caïfa we crossed the kishon again, now near its mouth, flowing through a lovely plain, bordered, near the sandhills that skirt the sea, with date-palms. over the hills to our right towered lebanon against the blue. as we came in sight of the bay the town of st. jean d'acre looked beautiful on the opposite side, and caïfa appeared a bright little town at the foot of carmel. there we put up at the german inn, and i parted with my dear little horse "shiloh," and w. with his nimble "kishon," our good little steeds that brought us so well through the holy land. _sunday, th april._ a great rest and much letter-writing. the congregation at mass was large, for there is a considerable christian colony here. we shall make this our headquarters till friday, when we must leave for egypt. caÃ�fa, _monday, th april -_. my....--we had a very enjoyable expedition to acre, driving the whole way there and back _in the sea_. where the waves break the sand is hard, whereas higher up the beach no wheeled vehicle could get through in the soft sand. we were often covered with spray, and the lean horses splashed along knee-deep in the surf. at the ferry across the kishon, where it flows into the sea, our horses were unharnessed and swam alongside our punt, together with a string of camels that looked very comical swimming. the shivering horses were reharnessed on the farther shore, and away we went tearing through the waves. the poor beasts seemed to enjoy their oats at the end, if enjoyment is possible to such wretched, ill-treated creatures. i made a sketch as well as i could with the sun in my eyes from our shandrydan, about a quarter of a mile outside the one gate of acre, on the white sandy strand, whilst w. went exploring all over the town. the military authorities molested us not at all, and the commandant only asked w. for backsheesh, although i was conspicuously sketching the fortifications and w. was scanning everything in a place so saturated with napoleonic reminiscences. the same amphibious drive in the gloaming back to caïfa. _tuesday, th april -._ to-day we drove to remote athlit, a long way down the coast to the south, and spent quiet hours amid the gothic crusader ruins on the wave-lashed rocks beyond carmel. acre and athlit steep one's mind in crusader sentiment, which feels almost modern after so long a sojourn in the regions of the bible. the majestic fragments of northern gothic we saw to-day seem strange to the eye in this oriental land, but to the intellect they are full of touching meaning, for this was the point of departure for most of the crusaders. baffled, haggard, heart-broken, they took ship again from here. wednesday we spent in visiting the carmelite monastery, a perfect place to stay at instead of the rather dubious german inn. it is a fortress-like building commanding a sweeping view of the sea, south and west and north, and of the grand landscape eastward and south again. the whitewashed rooms are filled with the reflection from the light off the water and the land. the abbot and monks, in the well-known white cloak and brown habit, are, as everywhere, kindly and hospitable, and glad to see you. what a place for study and for painting; what a place for a retreat, where everything reminds you of religion and not one single mundane, worrying, or ugly object comes within your ken! by "ugly" i always mean some modern eyesore; it is not a word applicable to the poor and the diseased who humbly mount the steep path for the daily alms and food the monastery has ready for them. [illustration: st. jean d'acre the roadstead is seen to the left. a sandy shore. city surrounded by walls and fortifications.] somewhere amongst this series of oak-clad hills that forms mount carmel, elijah built his altar to the true god, whereon the burnt-offering was consumed by fire from heaven in sight of the prophets of baal. "then the fire of the lord fell, and consumed the holocaust, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench," iii kings xviii. . this was the scene of that mighty episode which is one of the most salient and impressive in one's memory of the old testament, and look! down below rushes that same kishon on whose banks elijah, after the great drama on the mountain, slew the prophets of baal in sight of all the children of israel. a thrill runs through one when recalling such scenes as one stands on the very spot where they took place. after seeing specimens of the ancient tombs in this country one can fully understand the words of st. luke and st. john alluding to the new sepulchre of joseph of arimathea "wherein no man had yet been laid." these tombs contain triple receptacles for the dead, as i showed you in the sketch plan at jerusalem, and some i believe have more than three. had the sepulchre at the foot of calvary contained but one, the words of the evangelists would be puzzling. this is an instance of the illumination that dispels certain obscurities in one's mind as one journeys across the theatre of bible history. it seems a strange paradox, but it is a very weighty fact, that the possession of the holy land by the conservative turk preserves all such tokens of the past for the elucidation of the christian's bible. were this land in possession of a "christian" power, i fear that the service of mammon would soon necessitate the obliteration of these tokens so precious to our faith. railways, factories, mines and new towns "run" by greedy syndicates, would very soon make an end of them all. there was a christian proposal a little while ago, i believe, to flood the whole of palestine for commercial purposes. my ideal would be (oh, vain dream!) that some great confederation of earnest people whose god is not the dollar, belonging to the various european powers and america, should purchase the little holy land as a possession "for ever" for christendom--_real_ christendom. to-day, thursday, we saw the "school of the prophets," a curious and awesome cavern in the side of the mountain. these have been quiet days, wherein i have been able to write much and assimilate the events of our glorious journey. looking back along these days of travel, many flitting thoughts that came and went as we journeyed on, return to one's mind in the stillness of repose. one of the facts that have struck us most in this ancient land which is yet so fresh--so fresh in its surprises and in its stirrings of the heart--is the fact that no book of human authorship dealing with the subject is readable on the spot. you may take with you dean stanley, dr. thomson (_the land and the book_), miss martineau, or any of the delightful works on palestine that have fascinated you in times gone by: you will open them once but not again. _the bible is the only book you can read here!_ all the others are inadequate: no man can measure himself with the infinite. (such books as père didon's sublime _jésus christ_ or father gallwey's _watches of the passion_ i do not consider as being of human authorship, because they are illustrative accompaniments of the scriptures.) the feeling i have when on the point of leaving the holy land is one difficult to describe worthily. we seem to have been allowed a glimpse into the other world through this sacred portal. to have stood on the summit of olivet whence our redeemer ascended into heaven in the form he reigns in now at the right hand of the father, is as though one had touched heaven itself. and then the force with which one realises certain episodes of his revealed life on earth makes one see the incarnation so vividly that the human mind bends beneath the might of the revelation. when i saw our boatmen the other day on galilee pulling with all their might, but in vain, against the sudden west wind, so peculiar to that particular lake, i saw before me the fishermen of peter's type, dressed in the same loose garments, going through the same dangerous work that he and his fellows had to face habitually. how easy it was, with that living illustration before me, to see the struggling boat's crew on the night that jesus, remaining to pray alone on the mountain on the eastern shore, sent them forward to capernaum without him, and how easy to see them trying to make their way as described in matthew xiv. . "but the boat in the midst of the sea was tossed with the waves: for the wind was contrary." and then the divine figure following them, moving over those tossing waves, can be imagined, approaching, full of calm reassurance, to still their fears at his apparition--"it is i, be not afraid." the direction in which the boat was steered, the mountain whence the divine figure came forward and overtook the boat--all now appears to the mind's eye in powerful vividness, in the setting of land and water that one has seen. again, the poor demoniacs that lived in the tombs that are cut out of the sides of those same mountains "over against galilee" (there are outcast maniacs like them to-day in the deserts, if not "possessed" as these men were),--i fancy i can see the look of the wild animal in their faces as they met our lord, and hear the quick, wild cry of one of them: "what have i to do with thee, jesus, son of the most high god?"--and the hoarse answer to christ's question, "my name is legion!" i have before me the recollection of a strange creature i saw running out of a sepulchral chamber in a ruined temple on the upper nile, like the incarnation of satan in some of the old masters' pictures: the head bald, and of the same cinder-coloured hue as the evil face, with its large pointed ears, and the muscular body. i do not mean that the possessed man of the gospel might have been like this dweller in tombs, but one sees strange beings in the deserts whose shelters are the resting-places of the dead. i continue to be haunted by the feeling that the sight of the holy places is too easily and too unceremoniously obtained nowadays. i hope we do not feel less devoutly with regard to them than in the "ages of faith," and that it is only our modern way to take these things as we do. do you remember how history tells us that richard coeur de lion, after his defeat by the saracens some distance short of jerusalem, falling back towards the coast, baffled in his heroic efforts to redeem the holy sepulchre from the infidel, refused to look on the city which came in sight in the rear of his line of march as he and his knights crested a high hill near emmaus? he would not look; he had failed; his eyes were too unworthy to rest upon the city of the lord. and to-day, with the infidel still in possession, the christian tourist, nothing doubting, takes a good look through his binocular on sighting the same jerusalem. i remember hearing that as some friends of ours, forming part of a mixed company, [illustration: ruins of the crusaders' banqueting hall, athleet the springs of the gothic arches can be traced on the high brick wall. the hills to the right form the lower western slopes of mount carmel, covered with oak woods.] came in sight of the city, one of their number dropped on his knees in as unobtrusive a manner as was possible under the circumstances. "i did not know your brother was a _fanatic_," whispered an american to his sister. as regards certain details of life in this country that so much embarrass and disappoint some travellers, do not imagine that i affectedly ignore their existence; but i do feel grateful that in my view of the whole scene they have everywhere kept their proper place. i know how disappointed some people are on their account, and i should be sorry if i was thought intolerant in my self-satisfaction at being so fortunate. one lady, in a little book i once read, describing her journey, takes for her text: "he is not here, but is risen." in bitter chagrin she acknowledges the fact that nowhere in jerusalem could she see our lord through her surroundings. i asked a friend once if she would like to see the holy land: "certainly not!" she exclaimed; "i have read mark twain's book." i inquired of an english traveller at jaffa the other day, who was on his way home, how the holy places had impressed him. his answers were dispirited: the dirt, the flies, etc., etc., had annoyed him. his ears were still ringing with the ubiquitous "baksheesh!"; the lepers had spoilt some of the best views--and so on. how much better it would have been for him not to come here, like the mark twain lady, and to have preserved his oxford impressions of the bible uncontaminated! in our lord's time, although the cities were splendid, the poor and the diseased were just as much _en évidence_ as now, and where he was his poor clustered thickest. yet who thinks of the merely squalid details of those crowds when reading the gospel narrative? why, then, dwell on them so much here to-day as we follow his footsteps on the very soil he trod? i must say any danger of distractions i may have felt has not come from what i have seen of the _native_ element here. not long ago a party of christian (?) european trippers (i will not define their nationality) reaching the jews' wailing place at jerusalem, charged with their donkeys all along the line of those preoccupied figures standing praying with their faces buried in their testaments or pressed against the stones of the great wall, and knocked them over. but "many men many minds," and as no country stirs the sincere heart as this one does, one must accept each thoughtful traveller's account of his experiences as being genuinely felt. i would warn intending tourists who are earnest and sensitive about this sacred land against forming large parties for the journey. amongst the group of fellow-travellers there is sure to be at least one discordant unit. facetious remarks, ignorant questions, thoughtless exclamations, are harder to bear here than elsewhere. of course, if the party forms a religious pilgrimage these warnings do not apply; but even a pilgrimage in company has drawbacks, if the time is limited, and many inevitable distractions. select as few companions as is practicable--one only, if possible, entirely one with you in faith and feeling. also, any one in delicate health should not attempt the entire journey. i have seen more than one sad procession of returning tourists escorting a litter containing some poor collapsed lady, depending on the fore-and-aft mules that carried her for a smooth transit back to jerusalem and the carriage road. woe betide her if either of the beasts came down or even stumbled! when i wrote to you from jerusalem i told you how convincing one feels the traditional sites of calvary and the holy sepulchre to be in spite of modern scepticism. but more modern still is the verification of their authenticity. it has lately been proved, by that "research" which we seem to require nowadays, that they stand _outside_ the line of the city walls of our lord's time. the great stumbling-block to those who could not accept the word of tradition consisted in the idea that those sites had always been within the city as now, for it is known that the jewish law forbade places of execution and of burial within the walls. to show you how the shape of jerusalem, marked out by its fortifications, has changed during its long history, i may mention that, whereas the house of the last supper stood within the lines in our lord's time, it stands far outside the walls of to-day. * * * * * and now the last sunset we shall see from the land of promise is steeping lebanon in rose and violet, and the slender shadows of the palms are lengthening across the sandy spaces of the plain. the sea has not a sail upon it, and the sky not even a cloud "the size of a man's hand," such as elijah's servant saw from the top of this carmel which overshadows us. undisturbed by wind or cloud, the mind can dwell upon thoughts which the approaching hour of leave-taking renders more poignant. * * * * * the afterglow is now kindling its fires, and transfiguring a scene one had thought could not be rendered more beautiful. of all the splendours of nature the afterglow is the most surprising. i think in the east it comes more swiftly after sunset than in italy, and it is more astonishing in its display of light. i have often, in egypt, tried to paint it, but it is no easy matter, for, although the light seems so powerful it is really too low to allow one to see one's work. the sky becomes a low-toned grey-green-blue ... what shall i call it?--a tone of the greatest subtlety, against which the illuminated objects on the earth shine with the colours of flame rather than of the sun. there follows this last effort of the dying day what i may call the last sigh,--a few moments of delicate greys of infinite tenderness, and then night,--absolute night. they are ringing the angelus up at the carmelite monastery on the wooded heights. those monks live a lonely life on the mountain whence their order takes its name. the author of _the land and the book_ speaks of this lonely monastery with its monks "chanting latin to nobody." only to the great god who chose this little country wherein to testify his love for man; who has trodden with weary feet those hills we have traversed in the journey that ends to-day! _friday, st may._ at . this morning we left these blessed shores, deeply grateful for the privilege of treading the soil of palestine which had been accorded us. we put off in boats for the austrian lloyd steamer lying in the offing by the light of a waning moon. by a.m. we anchored off jaffa, where we lay all day, and at sunset stood out to sea, soon losing sight of the holy land in the shades of night. _the letterpress has been printed by messrs. r. & r. clark, limited, edinburgh._ [illustration: book cover] [illustration] the boy travellers in the far east _part fourth_ * * * * * adventures of two youths in a journey to egypt and the holy land by thomas w. knox author of "the young nimrods" "camp-fire and cotton-field" "overland through asia" "underground" "john" "how to travel" etc. illustrated new york harper & brothers, franklin square entered according to act of congress, in the year , by harper & brothers, in the office of the librarian of congress, at washington. * * * * * _all rights reserved._ preface. the favorable reception, by press and public, accorded to "the boy travellers in the far east" is the author's excuse for venturing to prepare a volume upon egypt and the holy land. he is well aware that those countries have been the favorite theme of authors since the days of herodotus and strabo, and many books have been written concerning them. while he could not expect to say much that is new, he hopes the form in which his work is presented will not be found altogether ancient. the author has twice visited egypt, and has made the tour of palestine and syria. the experiences of frank and fred in their journeyings were mainly those of the writer of this book in the winter of -' , and in the spring of . he has endeavored to give a faithful description of egypt and the holy land as they appear to-day, and during the preparation of this volume he has sent to those countries to obtain the latest information concerning the roads, modes of travel, and other things that may have undergone changes since his last journey in the levant. in addition to using his own notes and observations, made on the spot, he has consulted many previous and some subsequent travellers, and has examined numerous books relating to the subjects on which he has written. it has been his effort to embody a description of the egypt of old with that of the present, and to picture the lands of the bible as they have appeared through many centuries down to our own time. if it shall be found that he has made a book which combines amusement and instruction for the youth of our land, he will feel that his labor has not been in vain. many of the works consulted in the preparation of this book are mentioned in its pages. to some authors he is indebted for illustrations as well as for descriptive or historical matter, the publishers having kindly allowed the use of engravings from their previous publications. among the works which deserve acknowledgment are "the ancient egyptians," by sir gardner wilkinson; "the modern egyptians," by edward william lane; the translation of "the arabian nights' entertainments," by the same author; "from egypt to palestine," by dr. s. c. bartlett; "the land and the book," by dr. w. m. thomson; "boat life in egypt," and "tent life in syria," by william c. prime, ll.d.; "the khedive's egypt," by edwin de leon; "the desert of the exodus," by professor e. h. palmer; "dr. olin's travels in the east;" "our inheritance in the great pyramid," by piazzi smith; and "the land of moab," by dr. h. b. tristram. the author is indebted to lieutenant-commander gorringe for information concerning egyptian obelisks, and regrets that want of space prevented the use of the full account of the removal of "cleopatra's needle" from alexandria to new york. with this explanation of his reasons for writing "the boy travellers in egypt and the holy land," the author submits the result of his labors to those who have already accompanied frank and fred in their wanderings in asia, and to such new readers as may desire to peruse it. he trusts the former will continue, and the latter make, an acquaintance that will prove neither unpleasant nor without instruction. * * * * * p.s.--this volume was written and in type previous to july, . consequently the revolt of arabi pasha and the important events that followed could not be included in the narrative of the "boy travellers." t. w. k. contents. chapter i. from bombay to suez.--the red sea, mecca, and mount sinai. chapter ii. suez.--where the israelites crossed the red sea.--the suez canal. chapter iii. from suez to cairo.--through the land of goshen. chapter iv. street scenes in cairo. chapter v. a ramble through the bazaars of cairo. chapter vi. mosques, dervishes, and schools.--education in egypt. chapter vii. the citadel.--the tombs of the caliphs.--the nilometer.--the rosetta stone. chapter viii. wonders of the egyptian museum of antiquities. chapter ix. the pyramids of gizeh and sakkara.--memphis and the apis mausoleum. chapter x. an oriental bath.--egyptian weddings and funerals. chapter xi. ascending the nile.--sights and scenes on the river. chapter xii. sugar plantations and mills.--snake-charmers.--sights at beni-hassan. chapter xiii. sioot, the ancient lycopolis.--scenes on the river. chapter xiv. girgeh and keneh.--the temples of abydus and denderah.--an egyptian dance. chapter xv. arrival at luxor.--the great temple of karnak. chapter xvi. the rameseum, medinet aboo, and the vocal memnon. chapter xvii. the tombs of the kings.--recent discoveries of royal mummies. chapter xviii. harem life in the east.--from luxor to assouan. chapter xix. a camel journey.--the island of philÆ, and the first cataract of the nile. chapter xx. from assouan to alexandria.--farewell to egypt. chapter xxi. voyage from egypt to palestine.--journey from jaffa to ramleh. chapter xxii. from ramleh to jerusalem.--the church of the holy sepulchre. chapter xxiii. in and around jerusalem. chapter xxiv. from jerusalem to bethlehem.--church and grotto of the nativity. chapter xxv. from bethlehem to mar saba and the dead sea. chapter xxvi. from the dead sea to the jordan, jericho, and jerusalem.--the valley of the jordan. chapter xxvii. from jerusalem to nabulus.--historic places on the route. chapter xxviii. from nabulus to nazareth, samaria, jenin, and the plain of esdraelon. chapter xxix. ascent of mount tabor.--around and on the sea of galilee. chapter xxx. from galilee to damascus.--a ride through dan and banias. chapter xxxi. sights and scenes in damascus. chapter xxxii. damascus to beyroot.--the ruins of baalbec.--farewell. illustrations. a scene in egypt. _frontispiece._ coast of the red sea. view in jeddah, on the red sea. captain burton in native dress. encampment of pilgrims at mount arafat, near mecca. view of medina (from a drawing by a native artist). scene near suez. travelling in the sinai desert. a shop in suez. the northern end of the gulf of suez. "ayoon moosa"--the wells of moses. preaching in a mosque. a landing-place on the fresh-water canal. oriental ships of ancient times. ferdinand de lesseps. suez canal and eastern egypt. night scene on lake menzaleh. camel and young. desert scene in eastern egypt. the modern shadoof. an ancient shadoof. a sakkieh, or water-wheel. a ploughman at work. an ancient plough. an egyptian thrashing-machine. ancient process of treading out the corn. egyptian lentils. the pyramids. a question of backsheesh. a street in cairo. a projecting window. a caliph of egypt on his throne. part of old cairo. a peddler of jewellery. a lady in street dress. a woman carrying water. the fountain of a mosque. a beggar at the way-side. a man carrying his keys. an oriental band of music. the nay (flute) and case. ancient egyptian playing the nay. the tamboora. a darabookah. coffee-pot and cups. oriental shopkeeper examining his books. interior of a caravansary. gate-way of a caravansary. a street in a bazaar at cairo. shopping scene in the hamzowee. eastern necklaces. weighing gold in the jewellers' bazaar. kitchen utensils. basin and ewer. bottle for rose-water. oriental guns. bab-el-nasr. street scene near the bab-el-nasr. the mosque of tooloon. mihrab, pulpit, and candlestick in a mosque. a begging dervish. a whirling dervish. performance of the whirling dervishes. a whirler in full action. arabic writing, with impression of a seal. scene in a primary school. instruction at home. entrance to the el-azhar. professors of the el-azhar. the citadel, cairo, with mosque of mohammed ali. view from the citadel, cairo. the tombs of the caliphs. the tomb of keit bey. the ferry at old cairo. the dress of an egyptian king. form of crown and aprons. menes. rameses ii., from an inscription. meneptah, the supposed pharaoh of the exodus. the name of egypt in hieroglyphics. ptolemy in hieroglyphics. the rosetta stone, with specimen lines from the inscription. specimens of the three forms of writing used by the egyptians. dedication of the pylon of a temple. egyptian sculptors at work. wooden statue found at sakkara. wooden dolls. children's toys. positions in playing ball. balls of leather and porcelain. playing ball mounted. playing checkers. sand-bag exercise. a bull-fight. goddesses of truth and justice. the name of apis, an egyptian god, in hieroglyphics. king and queen offering to the gods. different forms of mummy cases. transporting a mummy on a sledge. goddess of truth, with her eyes closed. lady's head-dress on a mummy case. rings, bracelets, and scarabæi. stone scarabæus with wings. jeweller with blow-pipe. egyptian goldsmiths (from a painting at thebes). golden baskets (from the tomb of rameses iii.). dresses of women of ancient egypt. camels and their burdens. old mode of transport on the nile. near view of the pyramids. the battle of the pyramids.--"forty centuries look down on you". egyptian captives employed at hard labor. removing stone from the quarries. cutting and squaring blocks of stone. section of the great pyramid. the sphinx. the sphinx by moonlight. egyptian captives making bricks. ploughing and sowing. taking it easy. a hunting scene. bronze figure of apis. huntsman with dogs and game. an arched tomb at sakkara. central room of the bath. the man who didn't like it. the barber. the bath among the ancient egyptians. a khatibeh, or marriage-broker. preparing for the wedding. a marriage procession at night. unveiling the bride. blind musicians among the ancient egyptians. view on the nile near cairo. ancient boat on the nile. a village on the bank of the river. general view of an eastern city. a plague of flies. a kangia. the captain. a gourd raft. the raft seen from below. view on a sugar plantation. interior of a sugar-mill. a secure point of view. interior of a tomb at beni-hassan. section of a tomb. spinning and weaving. artists at work. fishing scene at beni-hassan. an ancient donkey. a respectable citizen. an old inhabitant. a scene near sioot. a scene in the bazaars. room in an oriental house. an oriental gentleman. an egyptian lamp. pigeon-houses. the oriental pigeon. a watchman's booth. inflated skin raft (from assyrian sculpture). an ancient life-preserver. modern "keleks," or skin rafts. girgeh. scene during the inundation. a camel on his way to pasture. heads of captives of rameses ii. a lunch-party of other days. ancient potters at work. ancient vases, cups, and water-jars. date-palms, near keneh. ancient dancers and musicians. a modern musician. an egyptian king on his throne. front of the temple at denderah. egyptian prince carried in a palanquin. a complete egyptian temple. a "baris," or funeral-boat. an egyptian war-chariot of ancient times. luxor from the water. entrance to the temple of luxor. approach to karnak from luxor. the great hall of karnak. grand court-yard of the temple. a body of archers. making a list of captives. obelisk and part of grand hall at karnak. egyptian soldiers. dry footing. ruins in old thebes. grand hall of the memnonium. view in the memnonium, with ruined statue of rameses the great. the phalanx of the sheta. medinet aboo. an egyptian war-boat. the colossi during an inundation. egyptian priests clad in leopard-skins. rear view of the colossi, with luxor in the distance. sacred musicians, and a priest offering incense. valley of the tombs of the kings. view in belzoni's tomb. an egyptian harper. a chair from bruce's tomb. section of papyrus. coffin and mummy of a royal princess. coffin of queen nofretari. coffin of rameses ii. an oriental lady at home. eastern ladies listening to music. an oriental dancing girl. an eastern story-teller. a reception in a harem. sculptures mutilated by the persians. a thing of beauty. view in the temple of edfoo. hagar silsilis. the foot of the first cataract. the ship of the desert. bedouin arabs with their camel herds. camels (from an assyrian sculpture). a bactrian camel in good condition. foot and stomach of the camel. head of a camel. the dromedary regiment of napoleon i. view of philæ from the head of the cataract. the bank of the river below philæ. pharaoh's bed and the ruins of the temple. view from philæ, looking up the river. the papyrus jungles of the nile. an ancient poultry-shop. an arab and his camel. colossal heads in front of the temple of abou simbel. public square at khartoom. egyptian soldiers on camels. the barrage of the nile. general view of alexandria. cleopatra's needle at alexandria. pompey's pillar. view of alexandria from the sea. front of an eastern summer-house. one of the dragomen. joppa. a second-class horse. the city gate of jaffa. women at a well. public fountain at jerusalem. one of the wells of beersheba, with its watering-troughs. interior of a cistern. cistern under the temple of jerusalem. a syrian horseman. the tower of ramleh (from thomson's "the land and the book"). road in the foot-hills. view of jerusalem from the east. plan of jerusalem. the church of the holy sepulchre. ground-plan of the church of the holy sepulchre. the holy sepulchre. ancient arch in jerusalem. arms of jerusalem. knights of st catherine. the via dolorosa. the damascus gate. view of the mosque of omar and the mount of olives. wall at south-east corner of the temple area. wailing-place of the jews. the pool of bethesda. the pool of siloam. quarries under jerusalem. view on the mount of olives. gethsemane. a sycamore-tree. the road from jerusalem to bethlehem. the tomb of rachel. entrance to bethlehem. view in bethlehem. interior of the church of the nativity. the place of the nativity. the manger. adoration of the wise men. the flight into egypt. an arab encampment. a bedouin sheik. modern bedouins of mount sinai. scene in the wilderness. an arab guard in palestine. mar saba (from thomson's "the land and the book"). russian pilgrims in the holy land. road to the dead sea. the dead sea from the north. map of the dead sea. lynch's expedition to the dead sea. lynch's levelling party. the cavern of usdum. reeds and rushes on the jordan. an arab skirmish in the land of moab. bathing-place of the pilgrims (from thomson's "the land and the book"). source of the jordan. passage of the israelites. map of the jordan. recent aspect of the plain of jericho. ain-es-sultan, or fountain of elisha (from thomson's "the land and the book"). the village of bethany. the hotel-keeper. scene on the overland route from jerusalem. by babel's stream. the grapes of eshcol. hebron. street scene in bireh. a native group at a fountain. beasts of burden. roof of a house in nabulus. the woman of samaria. view of nabulus. an ancient olive-press. women working an olive-press. ancient lamps (matt. xxv. ). modern lamps. samaritans bearing tribute--an assyrian sculpture ( kings xvii. ). sebustieh, the ancient samaria. view of jenin, the ancient engannim. map of the valley of esdraelon. the plan of nazareth. view of nazareth. the annunciation. the country near nazareth, with the town in the distance. home of a cave-hermit in palestine. mount tabor. distant view of kefr kenna. the city and lake of tiberias. map of the sea of galilee. magdala and plain of gennesaret. herod's plan of attack. battle with the robbers. a galilee fishing-boat. ruins at tell hum. view of the lake from the western shore. the rock partridge. the plain of huleh. huts near lake huleh. an army of kedesh. head-spring of the jordan near hasbeiyah. map of the sources of the jordan. terebinth-tree at banias. substructions of the castle of banias. view from the castle of banias. a street in damascus. general view of damascus. interior of a house in damascus. bedouin camp near damascus. a scene in damascus. portrait of abd-el-kader. sword-blades of damascus. damask goods. attack on the citadel of damascus before the invention of gunpowder. paul led into damascus. a caravan near damascus. the river among the rocks. the fijeh source of the abana. the ruins of baalbec. modern wine-press. bridge over the litany. the cedars of lebanon. view of beyroot, looking toward the harbor. mission school in syria. fountain at beyroot. lebanon. map of egypt. _front cover._ map of the holy land. _back cover._ chapter i. from bombay to suez.--the red sea, mecca, and mount sinai. "here we are in port again!" said fred bronson, as the anchor fell from the bow of the steamer and the chain rattled through the hawse-hole. "three cheers for ourselves!" said frank bassett in reply. "we have had a splendid voyage, and here is a new country for us to visit." "and one of the most interesting in the world," remarked the doctor, who came on deck just in time to catch the words of the youth. "egypt is the oldest country of which we have a definite history, and there is no other land that contains so many monuments of its former greatness." their conversation was cut short by the captain, who came to tell them that they would soon be able to go on shore, as the quarantine boat was approaching, and they could leave immediately after the formalities were over. when we last heard from our friends they were about leaving bombay under "sealed orders." when the steamer was fairly outside of the beautiful harbor of that city, and the passengers were bidding farewell to colaba light-house, dr. bronson called the youths to his side and told them their destination. "we are going," said he, "to egypt, and thence to the holy land. the steamer will carry us across the indian ocean to the straits of bab-el-mandeb, and then through these straits into the red sea; then we continue our voyage to suez, where we land and travel by rail to cairo." one of the boys asked how long it would take them to go from bombay to suez. "about ten days," was the reply. "the distance is three thousand miles, in round numbers, and i believe we are not to stop anywhere on the way." the time was passed pleasantly enough on the steamer. the weather was so warm that the passengers preferred the deck to the stifling cabins, and the majority of them slept there every night, and lounged there during the day. the boys passed their time in reading about the countries they were to visit, writing letters to friends at home, and completing the journal of their travels. in the evenings they talked about what they had seen, and hoped that the story of their wanderings would prove interesting to their school-mates in america, and to other youths of their age.[ ] [ ] "the boy travellers in the far east." parts i., ii., and iii. adventures of two youths in a journey to japan, china, siam, java, cambodia, sumatra, the malay archipelago, ceylon, burmah, borneo, the philippine islands, and india. by thomas w. knox. published by harper & brothers, new york. [illustration: coast of the red sea.] soon after entering the red sea they passed the island of perim, a barren stretch of rock and sand, crowned with a signal station, from which the english flag was flying. as they were looking at the island, and thinking what a dreary place it must be to live in, one of the passengers told the boys an amusing story of how the english obtained possession of it. "of course you are aware," said he, "that the english have a military post at aden, a rocky peninsula on the shore of arabia, about a hundred and twenty miles from the entrance of the red sea. they bought it from the sultan of that part of arabia in by first taking possession, and then telling him he could name his price, and they would give him what they thought best, as they were determined to stay. aden is a very important station for england, as it lies conveniently between europe and asia, and has a fine harbor. the mail steamers stop there for coal, and the government always keeps a garrison in the fort. it is one of the hottest and most unhealthy places in the world, and there is a saying among the british officers that an order to go to aden is very much like being condemned to be shot. "soon after the suez canal was begun the french thought they needed a port somewhere near aden, and in they sent a ship-of-war to obtain one. the ship touched at aden for provisions, and the captain was invited to dine with the general who commanded at the fort. during dinner he became very talkative, and finally told the general that his government had sent him to take possession of perim, at the entrance of the red sea. "perim was a barren island, as you see, and belonged to nobody; and the english had never thought it was worth holding, though they occupied it from to . as soon as the french captain had stated his business in that locality the general wrote a few words on a slip of paper, which he handed to a servant to carry to the chief of staff. then he kept his visitor at table till a late hour, prevailed on him to sleep on shore that night, and not be in a hurry to get away the next morning. "the french ship left during the forenoon and steamed for perim. and you may imagine that captain's astonishment when he saw a dozen men on the summit of the island fixing a pole in the ground. as soon as it was in place they flung out the english flag from its top, and greeted it with three cheers. in the little note he wrote at the dinner-table the general had ordered a small steamer to start immediately for perim and take possession in the name of the queen, and his orders were obeyed. the french captain was dismissed from the navy for being too free with his tongue, and the english have 'hung on' to perim ever since." the doctor joined them as the story of the occupation of perim was concluded. there was a laugh over the shrewdness of the english officer and the discomfiture of the french one, and then the conversation turned to the red sea. "it may properly be called an inlet of the indian ocean," said the doctor, "as it is long and narrow, and has more the characteristics of an inlet than of a sea. it is about fourteen hundred miles long, and varies from twenty to two hundred miles in width; it contains many shoals and quicksands, so that its navigation is dangerous, and requires careful pilotage. at the upper or northern extremity it is divided into two branches by the peninsula of mount sinai; the western branch is called the gulf of suez, and is about one hundred and eighty miles long, by twenty broad. this gulf was formerly more difficult of navigation than the red sea proper, but recently the egyptian government has established a line of beacons and light-houses along its whole length, so that the pilots can easily find their way by day or at night." one of the boys asked why the body of water in question was called the _red_ sea. the doctor explained that the origin of the name was unknown, as it had been called the red sea since the time of herodotus and other early writers. it is referred to in the hebrew scriptures as _yam suph_, the sea of weeds, in consequence of the profusion of weeds in its waters. these weeds have a reddish color; the barren hills that enclose the sea have a strong tinge of red, especially at the hours of sunset and sunrise, and the coral reefs that stretch in every direction and make navigation dangerous are often of a vermilion tint. "you will see all these things as you proceed," he continued, "and by the time you are at suez you will have no difficulty in understanding why this body of water is called the _red_ sea." the boys found it as he had predicted, and the temperature for the first two days after passing perim led frank to suggest that the name might be made more descriptive of its character if it were called the red-hot sea. the thermometer stood at ° in the cabin, and was only a little lower on deck; the heat was enervating in the extreme, and there was no way of escaping it; but on the third day the wind began to blow from the north, and there was a change in the situation. thin garments were exchanged for thick ones, and the passengers, who had been almost faint with the heat, were beginning to shiver in their overcoats. "a change of this sort is unusual," said the gentleman who had told them of the seizure of perim, "but when it does come it is very grateful. only in january or february is the red sea anything but hot; the winds blow from the sandy desert, or from the region of the equator, and sometimes it seems as though you were in a furnace. from december to march the thermometer averages °, from thence to may it is °, and through the four or five months that follow it is often °. i have frequently seen it ° in the cabin of a steamer, and on one occasion, when the simoom was blowing from the desert, it was °. steamers going north when the south wind is blowing find themselves running just with the wind, so that they seem to be in a dead calm; in such cases they sometimes turn around every ten or twelve hours and run a few miles in the other direction, so as to let the wind blow through the ship and ventilate it as much as possible. the firemen are arabs and negroes, accustomed all their lives to great heat, but on almost every voyage some of them find the temperature of the engine-room too severe, and die of suffocation." [illustration: view in jeddah, on the red sea.] our friends passed by jeddah, the port of mecca, and from the deck of the steamer the white walls and towers of the town were distinctly visible. frank and fred would have been delighted to land at jeddah and make a pilgrimage to mecca, but the doctor told them the journey was out of the question, as no christian is allowed to enter the sacred city of the moslems, and the few who had ever accomplished the feat had done so at great personal risk. [illustration: captain burton in native dress.] "the first european who ever went there was burckhardt, in ," said dr. bronson. "he prepared himself for his travels by studying the arabic language, and went in the disguise of an arab merchant, under the name of sheikh ibrahim ibn abdallah. then he travelled through syria, asia minor, and egypt for several years, and became thoroughly familiar with the customs of the people, so that he was able to pass himself successfully as a learned moslem. captain burton went to mecca in , and since his time the city has been visited by maltzan, palgrave, and two or three others. captain burton followed the example of burckhardt and wore the arab dress; he spoke the language fluently, but in spite of this his disguise was penetrated while he was returning to jeddah, and he was obliged to flee from his companions and travel all night away from the road till he reached the protection of the seaport." "what would have happened if he had been found out?" frank inquired. "the mob of fanatical moslems would have killed him," was the reply. "they would have considered it an insult to their religion for him to enter their sacred city--the birthplace of the founder of their religion--and he would have been stoned or otherwise put to death. some europeans who have gone to mecca have never returned, and nothing was ever heard of them. it is supposed they were discovered and murdered." "what barbarians!" exclaimed fred. "yes," replied the doctor; "but if you speak to any of them about it, they will possibly reply that christian people have put to death those who did not believe in their religion. they might quote a good many occurrences in various parts of europe in the past five hundred years, and could even remind us that the puritans, in new england, hanged three men and one woman, and put many others in prison, for the offence of being quakers. religious intolerance, even at this day, is not entirely confined to the moslems." frank asked what could be seen at mecca, and whether the place was really worth visiting. [illustration: encampment of pilgrims at mount arafat, near mecca.] "as to that," the doctor answered, "tastes might differ. mecca is said to be a well-built city, seventy miles from jeddah, with a population of about fifty thousand. the most interesting edifice in the place is the 'caaba,' or shrine, which stands in the centre of a large square, and has at one corner the famous 'black stone,' which the moslems believe was brought from heaven by the angels. burckhardt thought it was only a piece of lava; but captain burton believes it is an aerolite, of an oval shape, and about seven feet long. the pilgrims walk seven times around the caaba, repeating their prayers at every step, and they begin their walk by prostrating themselves in front of the black stone and kissing it. the consequence is that it is worn smooth, as the number of pilgrims going annually to mecca is not less than two hundred thousand. the pilgrimage is completed with the ascent of mount arafat, twelve miles east of mecca; and when a moslem returns from his journey he is permitted to wear a green turban for the rest of his life. the pilgrimage is an easier matter than it used to be, as there are steamers running from suez and other points to carry the pilgrims to jeddah, and from there they can easily accomplish their journey to mecca and return in a couple of weeks." frank asked how far it was from mecca to medina, the place where mohammed died and was buried. "medina is about two hundred and fifty miles north of mecca," said the doctor, "and is only a third the size of the latter city. it is next to mecca in sanctity, and a great many pilgrims go there every year. the tomb of the prophet is in a large mosque, in the centre of the city, and there is an old story that the coffin of mohammed is suspended in the air by invisible threads hanging from heaven. captain burton visited medina, and reports that the moslems have no knowledge of the story, and say it must have been invented by a christian. the tomb is in one side of the building, but no one is allowed to look upon it, not even a moslem; the most that can be seen is the curtain surrounding it, and even that must be observed through an aperture in a wooden screen. the custodians say that any person who looks on the tomb of the prophet would be instantly blinded by a flood of holy light." [illustration: view of medina (from a drawing by a native artist).] so much for the two holiest places in the eyes of the moslems. frank and fred concluded that they did not care to go to mecca and medina, and the former instanced the old fable of a fox who despised the grapes which were inaccessible, and denounced them as too sour to be eaten. as they entered the gulf of suez the attention of the boys was directed to mount sinai, and they readily understood, from the barrenness and desolation of the scene, why it was called "mount sinai in the wilderness." with a powerful telescope not a sign of vegetation was anywhere visible. it was late in the forenoon of a pleasant day when the ship came to anchor, as we have described in our opening lines. the quarantine doctor came on board, and was soon convinced that no reason existed why the passengers, who chose to do so, might not go on shore. doctor bronson and his young friends bargained with a boatman to carry them and their baggage to the steps of the hotel de suez for a rupee each. the town, with the hotel, was about two miles from the anchorage, and the breeze carried them swiftly over the intervening stretch of water. half a dozen steamers lay at the anchorage, waiting for their turn to pass the canal; and a dozen or more native craft, in addition to the foreign ships, made the harbor of suez appear quite picturesque. the rocky hills behind the town, and the low slopes of the opposite shore, glistened in the bright sunlight; but the almost total absence of verdure in the landscape rendered the picture the reverse of beautiful. not a tree nor a blade of grass can be seen on the african side of the gulf, while on the opposite shore the verdure-seeking eye is only caught by the oasis at the wells of moses, where a few palm-trees bid defiance to the shifting sands of the desert. [illustration: scene near suez.] suez appeared to our friends a straggling collection of flat-roofed houses and whitewashed walls, where the sea terminates and the desert begins. before the construction of the canal it was little better than an arab village, with less than two thousand inhabitants; at present it is a town of ten or twelve thousand people, the majority of whom are supported, directly or indirectly, by the canal or the railway. there has been a town of some sort at this point for more than three thousand years, but it has never been of much importance, commercially or otherwise. the situation in the midst of desert hills, and more especially the absence of fresh water, have been the drawbacks to its prosperity. there is little to be seen in its shops, and for that little the prices demanded are exorbitant. few travellers remain more than a day at suez, and the great majority are ready to leave an hour or two after their arrival. [illustration: travelling in the sinai desert.] chapter ii. suez.--where the israelites crossed the red sea.--the suez canal. frank and fred were impatient to see the suez canal, which enables ships to pass between the red and mediterranean seas. in going from the anchorage to the town they passed near the southern end of the canal, and from the veranda of the hotel they could see steamers passing apparently through the sandy desert, as the position where they stood concealed the water from sight. as soon as they had secured their rooms at the hotel, they started out with the doctor to make a practical acquaintance with the great channel from sea to sea. [illustration: a shop in suez.] there was a swarm of guides and donkey-drivers at the door of the hotel, so that they had no difficulty in finding their way. at the suggestion of the doctor they followed the pier, nearly two miles in length, which leads from the south part of the town to the harbor; the water is very shallow near suez, and this pier was built so that the railway trains could be taken along side the steamers, and thus facilitate the transfer of passengers and freight. the pier is about fifty feet wide, and has a solid foundation of artificial stone sunk deep into the sand. at the end of the pier are several docks and quays belonging to the canal and railway companies, and there is a large basin, called port ibrahim, capable of containing many ships at once. the canal company's repair-shops and warehouses stand on artificial ground, which was made by dredging the sand and piling it into the space between the pier and the land, and frank thought that not less than fifty acres had thus been enclosed. a line of stakes and buoys extended a considerable distance out into the head of the gulf, and the doctor explained that, in consequence of the shallowness near the land, the suez canal began more than a mile from the shore. the sand-bar is visible at low tide, and when the wind blows from the north a large area is quite uncovered. a channel was dredged for the passage of ships, and the dredging-machines are frequently in use to remove the sand which blows from the desert or is swept into the channel by the currents. at the end of the long pier is a light-house; and while our friends stood there and contemplated the scene before them, the doctor reminded the boys that in all probability they were in sight of the spot where the hosts of pharaoh were drowned after the israelites had crossed over in safety. "that is very interesting," said frank; "but is this really the place?" "we cannot be absolutely certain of that," was the reply, "as there are different opinions on the subject. but it was in this neighborhood certainly, and some of those who have made a careful study of the matter say that the crossing was probably within a mile of this very spot." the eyes of the boys opened to their fullest width at this announcement, and they listened intently to the doctor's remarks on the passage of the israelites through the red sea. "you will remember," said the doctor, "that the bible account tells us how the lord caused a strong wind to blow from the north, which swept away the waters and allowed the israelites to pass over the bed of the sea. after they had crossed, and the hosts of pharaoh pursued them, the wind changed, the waters returned, and the army of the egyptian ruler was drowned in the waves. the rise of the tide at this place is from three to six feet, and the sand-bank is only slightly covered when the tide is out; now, when the wind blows from the north with great force the water is driven away, and parts of the sand-bank are exposed. on the other hand, when a strong wind blows from the south, the water is forced upon the sand-bank, and the tide, joined to this wind, will make a depth of six or seven feet where a few hours before the ground was dry. this is the testimony of many persons who have made careful observations of the gulf of suez, and the miracle described in the bible is in exact accordance with the natural conditions that exist to-day. [illustration: the northern end of the gulf of suez.] "one modern writer on this subject says he has known a strong north-east wind to lay the ford dry, and be followed by a south-west wind that rendered the passage impossible even for camels. m. de lesseps, the projector of the suez canal, says he has seen the northern end of the sea blown almost dry, while the next day the waters were driven far up on the land. in napoleon bonaparte and his staff came near being drowned here in a sudden change of wind, and fatal accidents occur once in a while from the same cause. on the map prepared by the officers of the maritime canal to show the difference between high and low water, you will see that the conditions are just as i have stated them. "some writers believe," the doctor continued, "that the sea was farther inland three thousand years ago, and that the crossing was made about ten miles farther north than where we now stand. there is some difficulty in locating all the places named in the biblical story of the exodus, and it would be too much to expect all the critics to agree on the subject. the weight of opinion is in favor of suez as the crossing-place of the israelites, and so we will believe we are at the scene of the deliverance of the captives and the destruction of the hosts of pharaoh. it is a mistake to suppose that pharaoh was himself drowned in the red sea; it was only his army that suffered destruction." from the point where this conversation took place they went to the waghorn quay, just beyond. it was named in honor of lieutenant waghorn, who devoted several years to the establishment of the so-called "overland route" between england and india. through his exertions the line of the peninsular and oriental steamers was established, and the mails between england and india were regularly carried through egypt, instead of taking the tedious voyage around the cape of good hope. he died in london in poverty in ; since his death the importance of his services has been recognized, and a statue to his memory stands on the quay which bears his name. at his suggestion the name of "overland route" was given to this line of travel between england and india, though the land journey is only two hundred and fifty miles, to distinguish it from the "sea route" around the cape of good hope. from waghorn quay it was only a short distance to the canal, and as they reached its bank a large steamer was just entering on its way to the mediterranean. frank observed that she was moving very slowly, and asked the doctor why she did not put on full steam and go ahead. "that would be against the rules of the canal company," was the reply. "if the steamers should go at full speed they would destroy the canal in a short time; the 'wash' or wake they would create would break down the banks and bring the sand tumbling into the water. they must not steam above four miles an hour, except in places where the canal widens into lakes, and even there they cannot go at full speed." "then there are lakes in the canal, are there?" fred inquired. "i'll explain that by-and-by," the doctor responded. "meantime look across the head of the gulf and see that spot of green which stands out so distinctly among the sands." the boys looked in the direction indicated and saw an irregular patch of verdure, on which the white walls of several houses made a sharp contrast to the green of the grass and the palm-trees that waved above them. [illustration: "ayoon moosa"--the wells of moses.] "that spot," said the doctor, "is known as 'ayoon moosa,' or 'the wells of moses.' it is an oasis, where several wells or springs have existed for thousands of years, and it is supposed that the israelites halted there and made a camp after their deliverance from egypt. as the pursuing army of pharaoh had been destroyed before their eyes, they were out of danger and in no hurry to move on. the place has borne the name of 'the wells of moses' from time immemorial; there is a tradition that the largest of them was opened by the divining-rod of the great leader of the hebrews in their escape from captivity, and is identical with marah, described in exodus, xv. . the wells are pools of water fed by springs which bubble in their centre; the water in all of them is too brackish to be agreeable to the taste, but the camels drink it readily, and the spot is an important halting place for caravans going to or from the desert." the doctor farther explained that suez was formerly supplied with water from these wells, which was brought in goat-skins and casks on the backs of camels. the springs are seven or eight miles from suez in a direct line, and the easiest way of reaching them is by a sail or row boat to the landing place, about two miles from the oasis. since the opening of the fresh-water canal in this business of supplying the city has ceased, and the water is principally used for irrigating the gardens in the oasis. most of the fresh vegetables eaten in suez are grown around the springs, and there is a hotel there, with a fairly good restaurant attached to it. the residents of suez make frequent excursions to the wells of moses, and almost any day a group of camels may be seen kneeling around the principal springs. our friends returned along the quay to suez, and strolled through some of the streets of the town. there was not much to be seen, as the shops are neither numerous nor well stocked, and evidently are not blessed with an enormous business. they visited a mosque, where they were obliged to take off their shoes, according to the custom of the east, before they could pass the door-way; the custodian supplied them with slippers, so that they were not required to walk around in their stockinged feet. when you go on a sight-seeing tour in an egyptian city, it is well to carry your own slippers along, or intrust them to your guide, as the moslems are rigid enforcers of the rule prohibiting you to wear your boots inside a mosque. [illustration: preaching in a mosque.] the principal attraction in the mosque was a group to whom a mollah, or priest, was delivering a lecture. the speaker stood in a high pulpit which was reached by a small ladder, and his hearers stood below him or squatted on the floor. what he said was unintelligible to our friends, as he was speaking in arabic, which was to them an unknown tongue. the audience was apparently interested in his remarks, and paid no attention to the strangers except to scowl at them. in some of the mosques of the east christians are not admitted; this was the rule half a century ago, but at present it is very generally broken down, and the hated infidel may visit the mosques of the principal cities of egypt and turkey, provided he pays for the privilege. they returned to the hotel in season for dinner. the evening was passed in the house, and the party went to bed in good season, as they were to leave at eight o'clock in the morning for cairo. they were at the station in due time for departure, and found the train was composed of carriages after the english pattern, in charge of a native conductor who spoke french. by judiciously presenting him with a rupee they secured a compartment to themselves. while they were waiting for the train to move on the doctor told the boys about the "overland route" through egypt. "the route that was established by lieutenant waghorn was by steamship from england to alexandria, and thence by river steamboats along the nile to cairo. from cairo, ninety miles, to suez the road was directly through the desert, and passengers were carried in small omnibuses, drawn by horses, which were changed at stations ten or fifteen miles apart. water for supplying these stations was carried from the nile and kept in tanks, and it was a matter of heavy expense to maintain the stations. the omnibus road was succeeded by the railway, opened in , and the water for the locomotives was carried by the trains, as there was not a drop to be had along the route. this railway was abandoned and the track torn up after the construction of the canal, as the expense of maintaining it was very great. in addition to the cost of carrying water was that of keeping the track clear of sand, which was drifted by the wind exactly as snow is drifted in the northern states of america, and sometimes the working of the road was suspended for several days by the sand-drifts. the present railway follows the banks of the maritime canal as far as ismailia, and thence it goes along the fresh-water canal, of which i will tell you. "the idea of a canal to connect the mediterranean and red seas is by no means a modern one." "yes," said frank, "i have read somewhere that the first napoleon in thought of making a canal between the two seas, and his engineers surveyed the route for it." "you are quite right," responded the doctor, "but there was a canal long before the time of napoleon, or rather there have been several canals." "several canals!" exclaimed frank. "not several canals at once?" [illustration: a landing-place on the fresh-water canal.] "hardly that," said the doctor, with a smile; "but at different times there have been canals between the two seas. they differ from the present one in one respect: the maritime canal of to-day runs from one sea to the other, and is filled with salt-water, while the old canals connected the nile with the red sea, and were constantly filled with fresh-water. the fresh-water canal of to-day follows the line of one of the old canals, and in several places the ancient bed was excavated and the ancient walls were made useful, though they were sadly out of repair." one of the boys asked how old these walls were, to be in such a bad condition. "we cannot say exactly how old they are," was the reply, "and a hundred years or so in our guessing will make no difference. according to some authorities, one of the rulers of ancient egypt, rameses ii., conceived and carried out the idea of joining the two seas by means of the nile and a canal, but there is no evidence that the work was accomplished in his time. the first canal of which we have any positive history was made by pharaoh necho i. about b.c., or nearly twenty-five hundred years ago. it tapped the nile at bubastis, near zagazig, and followed the line of the present fresh-water canal to the head of the bitter lake. the red sea then extended to the bitter lake, and the shallow places were dredged out sufficient to allow the passage of the small craft that were in use in those days. the canal is said to have been sixty-two roman miles long, or fifty-seven english ones, which agrees with the surveys of the modern engineers. "this canal does not seem to have been used sufficiently to keep it from being filled by the drifting sand, as it was altogether closed a hundred years later, when it was re-opened by darius; the latter made a salt-water canal about ten miles long near the south end of the bitter lake, to connect it with the red sea. traces of this work were found when the fresh-water canal was made, and for some distance the old track was followed. under the arrangement of the canals of necho and darius, ships sailed up the nile to bubastis, and passed along the canal to the bitter lake, where their cargoes were transferred to red sea vessels. about b.c. ptolemy philadelphus caused the two canals to be cleared out, and connected them by a lock, so that ships could pass from the fresh to the salt water, or _vice versa_. [illustration: oriental ships of ancient times.] "four hundred years later (about a.d.), according to some writers, a new canal was made, tapping the nile near cairo, and connecting with the old one, which was again cleared out and made navigable. another canal, partly new and partly old, is attributed to the seventh century, and still another to the eleventh century; since that time there has been nothing of the sort till the maritime canal company found it necessary, in , to supply the laborers on their great work with fresh-water. they cleared out the old canal in some places, and dug a new one in others as far as the bitter lake; afterward they prolonged it to suez, which it reached in , and at the same time they laid a line of iron pipes from ismailia to port said, on the mediterranean. it would have been impossible to make and maintain the maritime canal without a supply of fresh-water, and thus the work of the egyptians of twenty-five hundred years ago became of practical use in our day. "look on this map," said the doctor, as he drew one from his pocket and handed it to the youths, "and you will see the various points i have indicated, together with the line of the maritime canal, and of the fresh-water canal which supplies this part of egypt with water." several minutes were passed in the study of the map. before it was finished the train started, and in a short time our friends were busily contemplating the strange scene presented from the windows of their carriage. the railway followed very nearly the bank of the fresh-water canal, which varied from twenty to fifty feet in width, and appeared to be five or six feet deep. beyond it was the maritime canal, a narrow channel, where steamers were slowly making their way, the distances between them being regulated by the pilots, so as to give the least possible chance of collision. considering the number of steamers passing through the canal, the number of accidents is very small. frank could not understand how steamers could meet and pass each other, till the doctor explained that there were "turnouts" every few miles, where a steamer proceeding in one direction could wait till another had gone by, in the same way that railway-trains pass each other by means of "sidings." then there was plenty of space in lake timsah and the bitter lake, not only for ships to move, but to anchor in case of any derangement of their machinery. from the information derived from the doctor, and from the books and papers which he supplied, frank and fred made up the following account of the suez canal for the benefit of their friends at home: [illustration: ferdinand de lesseps.] "the canal is one hundred miles long, from suez, on the red sea, to port said, on the mediterranean. advantage was taken of depressions in the desert below the level of the sea, and when the water was let in, these depressions were filled up and became lakes (timsah and bitter lakes), as you see on the map. there were thirty miles of these depressions; and then there was a marsh or swamp (thirty miles across), called lake menzaleh, which was covered during the flood of the nile, and only needed a channel to be dug or dredged sufficiently deep for the passage of ships. the first spadeful of earth was dug by ferdinand de lesseps at port said on the th of april, , and the completed canal was opened for the passage of ships on the th of november, . about forty steamers entered it at port said on that day, anchored in lake timsah for the night, and passed to the red sea on the th. m. de lesseps projected the canal while he was serving in egypt as french consul, and it was through his great energy and perseverance that the plan was finally carried out. the canal was distinctively a french enterprise, and was opposed by england, but as soon as it was completed the english government saw its great importance, and bought a large amount of stock that had hitherto been held by the egyptian government. [illustration: suez canal and eastern egypt.] "the line of the canal where digging was necessary was through sand, but in many places it was packed very hard, so that pickaxes were needed to break it up. much of the sand was removed by native laborers with shovels and baskets; but after the first two years it was necessary to substitute machinery for hand labor. excavating and dredging machines driven by steam were put in operation, and the work was pushed along very rapidly; the channel through lake menzaleh was made by floating dredges equipped with long spouts that deposited the sand two or three hundred feet from where they were at work, and the dry cuttings at higher points were made by similar excavators mounted on wheels. at one place, just south of lake timsah, there was a bed of solid rock, where it was necessary to do a great deal of blasting, and the last blast in this rock was made only a few hours before the opening of the canal. "the cost of the work was nearly $ , , , of which about one-third was paid by egypt, under the mistaken impression that the canal would be beneficial to the country. the khedive, or viceroy of egypt, spent nearly $ , , on the festivities at the opening of the canal, and this foolish outlay is one of the causes of the present bankruptcy of the country. palaces and theatres were built for this occasion, roads were opened that were of no use afterward, and an enormous amount of money was spent for fireworks, music, banquets, and presents of various kinds to all the guests. the empress of france was present at the opening of the canal, and distinguished persons from all parts of the world were invited and entertained in princely style. "in , the first year the canal was in operation, vessels passed through it; in the next year the number was , and it steadily increased till it became vessels in , in , and in . more than two-thirds of the entire number of ships passing the canal are english, and in some years they have been fully three-fourths, while the french are less than one-thirteenth of the total number. france, which expected much from the canal, has realized very little; while england, which opposed its construction, has reaped nearly all the benefit therefrom.[ ] [ ] in the receipts were , , fr., which is , , fr. in excess of the receipts for . the number of english vessels that passed through the canal was not only larger than the total for all other nations, it was nearly four times as large as that total, and the english percentage also showed an increase over the former year. the number of english ships was . france ranked next, but she had only ships--about one-twentieth what england had. then came holland, with ships; austria, with ; italy, with ; spain, with ; and germany, with . egypt had only --the same number that turkey had; norway had and china . ten years ago the amount of coal supplied at port said was , tons; in it was , tons, or four times as much; and while the british proportion of the tonnage in was per cent. of the total, it was in . of share prices some equally interesting figures may be given. with a nominal value of fr., they had fallen in to fr. in , the year the canal was opened, they rose to fr.; in they had reached fr., and before the year closed had touched fr. they advanced to fr. in june of the following year, and between that month and january, , went rapidly on to fr., but fell ere the middle of the month to fr. in the dividend on the shares was per cent.; for it will probably be , so that fr., a point to which the shares were forced in a time of panic, even with dividends of per cent., would still be far higher than the actual value of the shares. "by the original charter the company was allowed to charge ten francs (two dollars) a ton on the measurement of each ship going through the canal, and ten francs for each passenger. the revenue, after deducting the expenses of operating, amounts to about five per cent. on the capital of the company, and the officers think it will be seven or eight per cent. before many years. "the following figures show the dimensions of the canal: feet width at water-line, where the banks are low width at water-line in deep cuttings, where the banks are high width at bottom of the canal depth of water in the canal [illustration: night scene on lake menzaleh.] "the scenery on the canal is not particularly interesting, as one soon gets tired of looking at the desert, with its apparently endless stretch of sand. at ismailia and kantara there has been an attempt at cultivation, and there are some pretty gardens which have been created since the opening of the fresh-water canal, and are kept up by irrigation. but nearly all the rest is a waste, especially on the last twenty-seven miles, through lake menzaleh to port said. if you make this ride on one of the small steamers maintained by the canal company you find that one mile is exactly like any other, and you are soon glad enough to seek the cabin and go to sleep. "here are some figures showing the saving in distances (in nautical miles) by the canal:" via cape of good hope. via canal. saving. england to bombay , new york to bombay , st. petersburg to bombay , marseilles to bombay , chapter iii. from suez to cairo.--through the land of goshen. [illustration: camel and young.] there is little to relieve the monotony of the desert between suez and ismailia beyond the view of the two canals, and the ships and boats moving on their waters. occasionally a line of camels may be seen walking with a dignified pace, or halted for the adjustment of their loads, or for some other purpose. in every direction there is nothing but the desert, either stretching out into a plain or rising in mountains, on which not a particle of verdure is visible. under the bright sun of the egyptian sky the sands glittered and sparkled till the light they reflected became painful to the eyes of the observers. the prudent doctor had bought some veils in the bazaar of suez, and now brought them from the recesses of his satchel for the use of the delighted boys as well as for his own. the color of the desert mountains on the southern horizon varied from white to yellow and purple, and from yellow and purple back again to white. frank said that some of them seemed to be composed of amethysts and garnets, mixed and melted together in a gigantic crucible. the doctor told him he was not the first to make such a description, as the idea had occurred to previous travellers, some of whom thought the mountains were composed of all kinds of precious stones mingled with glass. the dazzling appearance of these elevations had led many persons to explore them in search of gems; but of all these explorers none had ever found the fortune he sought. as they approached ismailia there were signs of vegetation on the banks of the fresh-water canal, and near the town they came to some pretty gardens which have been created since the opening of the canal. while the works of the canal were in progress ismailia was an active town, with a considerable population, but at present many of its buildings are unoccupied, and there is a general appearance of desolation. there are a few cottages near the banks of lake timsah, and of late years the town has obtained popularity with some of the european residents of cairo, who go there for the sake of the salt-water bathing. the air is clear and dry, the water is of the deep blue of the united seas, and is generally of an agreeable temperature, while it has the smoothness of an inland lake, and is not popular with sharks or any other disagreeable inhabitants of tropical waters. the current created by the changes of the tide between the two seas is sufficient to keep the water from becoming stagnant, but is not strong enough to interfere with navigation or disturb the bather. [illustration: desert scene in eastern egypt.] after a brief halt at the station the train moved off in the direction of cairo, and for an hour or more the views from the windows of the railway-carriage were remarkable in their character. on one side of the train the naked desert filled the picture, with its endless stretch of sand; on the other the gardens on the banks of the fresh-water canal were marvels of luxuriance. the richest soil in the world lay side by side with the most desolate, and our friends agreed that they had never seen so marked a contrast during a ride on a railway train. the doctor explained that the abundant vegetation was due to the wonderful fertilizing power of the nile water, and said it was no wonder that the ancient egyptians worshipped the river, and attributed all their wealth and prosperity to its influence. at zagazig the train stopped an hour or more for dinner, and there was a change of carriages for the passengers destined for cairo. zagazig is the junction of the lines for cairo and alexandria, and since the opening of the railway the town has become of considerable importance. a great deal of cotton is raised in the vicinity, and in some years not less than fifty thousand tons of that article are sent from the station. the country around here is very fertile, and is said to be the goshen of the bible. the ruins of the ancient town of bubastis are about a mile from zagazig, but they are so slight as to be unworthy a visit. bubastis was an important place two thousand years ago, and was famous for a festival to which more than half a million pilgrims went every year. for the remaining fifty-two miles from zagazig to cairo the route lay through a fertile country, and only occasional glimpses were afforded of the desert. boats and barges were moving on the canal, some of them carrying the local products of the country to cairo or ismailia, while others were laden with coal and other foreign importations which find a market among the egyptians. the boys were interested in the processes of irrigating the lands, and eagerly listened to the doctor's explanation of the matter. before reaching zagazig they had seen some men at work dipping water by means of buckets suspended from poles, and emptying it into basins formed by excavations on the banks; they were told that this apparatus for hoisting water was called a "shadoof," and had been in use from the most ancient days of egypt. [illustration: the modern shadoof.] "the simplest form of shadoof," said the doctor, "is the one you are looking at. it consists of two posts of wood or sun-dried mud, supporting a horizontal bar, on which the pole suspending the bucket is balanced in the centre. a lump of mud on one end of the pole balances the weight of the bucket on the other, and enables the man who operates it to lift his burden with ease. the bucket is made of rushes woven so tightly as to hold water, and at the same time be as light as possible, and it is dipped and raised with great rapidity. water is lifted from six to eight feet by the shadoof. if a higher elevation is needed, a second and even a third or a fourth may be used; on the upper part of the nile i have seen half a dozen of them in operation on a series of steps, one above the other. [illustration: an ancient shadoof.] "you will see representations of the shadoof on the walls of the temples and tombs of egypt, and the conclusion is certain that the form has not changed in the least in three thousand years. when the nile is at its height there is no need of anything of the sort, as the water flows all over the land, and the entire country is inundated. as soon as the river falls it is necessary to raise water by artificial means, as the growing plants in the fields would soon perish under the hot sun of egypt without a supply of moisture. then the shadoof comes in play, and the more the river descends the greater is the number demanded. in some parts of the country the _sakkieh_ is used in place of the shadoof, and the result is the same." fred wished to know the difference between the shadoof and the sakkieh. [illustration: a sakkieh, or water-wheel.] "the sakkieh," said the doctor, "is a wheel operated by a beast of burden--a horse, camel, mule, donkey, or ox. the animal walks in a circle, and turns a horizontal wheel which has cogs connected with an upright wheel, bearing a circle of earthen buckets on its rim. these buckets dip in water as the wheel turns; their mouths are then brought uppermost, and they raise the water and pour it into a trough. where the water must be raised to a great height from a well, or from the side of a perpendicular bank, two wheels are used, one at the spot where the animal walks, and the other at the surface of the water. a stout band or rope passes over the wheels, and to this band buckets are attached to lift the water. i have seen water raised fifty or sixty feet by this process, the ox or mule walking patiently for hours, until it was his turn to be relieved." while the doctor was talking the train passed a sakkieh, which was being turned by a pair of oxen driven by a small boy. the boys observed that the eyes of the animals were blindfolded by means of a piece of cloth drawn over their heads, and they naturally wished to know the reason of it. "it is the custom of the country," was the reply. "the animals are believed to work better when their attention is not drawn to things around them, and they are less likely to be frightened if anything unusual happens in their neighborhood. this is particularly the case with the native buffalo and with the mule, and the practice of blindfolding the latter animal is not unknown in our own country. on the western plains and among the rocky mountains it is the custom to throw a blanket over the head of a pack-mule when he is being saddled and is about to receive his burden. he stands perfectly quiet during the whole operation; while, if he were not temporarily deprived of sight, he would be very restive, and perhaps would break away from his driver, and scatter things around him very miscellaneously." [illustration: a ploughman at work.] just beyond the sakkieh they saw a man driving a pair of bullocks in front of a plough, and as the implement was lifted from the ground in turning they had an opportunity of seeing how it was made. "it is nothing but a wooden point," said frank, "like the end of a small log or stake." "yes," echoed fred, "and there is only one handle for the man to grasp. wonder what he would think of our two-handled ploughs of iron in america!" "he would probably decline to use it," the doctor responded, "as he needs one hand for managing his goad, and could not understand how he could control a goad and an american plough unless nature had equipped him with three hands." [illustration: an ancient plough.] "that the plough is the same here to-day that it was three thousand years ago, we have proof in the pictures of agriculture on the walls of the tombs at thebes. the ancient implement is identical with the modern one, the propelling force is the same, and the principal difference we can see is in the costume of the ploughman." "the plough only scratches the earth," said fred; "and if the soil was not very rich they would soon find out they needed something that would stir up the ground a little deeper." "sometimes," said the doctor, "you will see several ploughs following each other in the same furrow. the object is to accomplish by this repeated ploughing what we do by a single operation." close by the field where the man was ploughing another was planting grain or something of the sort, and another a little farther on was cutting some green stalks that looked like our indian-corn. the doctor explained that the stalks were probably intended for feed for cattle, and that the article in question was known as "doora" among the natives, and was a close relative of the corn grown in america. "but how funny," said frank, "that they should be ploughing, planting, and reaping, all in sight of each other!" "that is one of the peculiarities of the country," said the doctor, with a smile. "you must remember that they do not have cold and frost, as we do, and the operations of agriculture go on through the whole year." "all the year, from january to january again?" said fred. "yes," was the reply, "though some attention must be paid to the change of seasons in order to get the best crops. from two to five crops, according to the article planted, can be raised in the course of the year, provided always that there is a constant supply of water for irrigating the fields. when a crop is ready for gathering it is harvested, and the ground is immediately ploughed and planted again." [illustration: an egyptian thrashing-machine.] as if to emphasize what the doctor was saying, the train carried them past a thrashing-floor where the scriptural process of "treading out the corn" was going on. there was a floor of earth, which had been packed very hard and made smooth as possible, and on this floor the pair of oxen were walking in a circle and dragging a sort of sled, with rollers between the runners, on which a man was perched in a high chair. the straw which had been deprived of its grain was heaped in the centre of the circle, ready for removal; the doctor explained that the grain was separated from the chaff by throwing it in the air when the wind was blowing, and such a thing as a winnowing-machine was practically unknown in egypt. [illustration: ancient process of treading out the corn.] attempts have been made to introduce modern implements and machinery for agricultural purposes, but they have generally failed. the khedive expended a large amount of money for the latest improvements in farming; he had a large farm near cairo, on which the purchases were placed, but it was soon found that the implements were unpopular with the natives, and they were abandoned. they lay for some years in one of the sheds of the establishment, and were finally sold as old iron. [illustration: egyptian lentils.] the sight of the ploughs, shadoofs, thrashing-machines, and other aids of agriculture naturally led to a conversation on the products of egypt. the boys learned that two kinds of corn were grown there--doora, which they had seen, and millet, which has a single ear on the top of a stalk. egyptian wheat has been famous for many centuries, and is still cultivated, though to a less extent than formerly, as much of the ground once devoted to wheat is now given up to cotton. coffee is grown in some localities, and so are indigo and sugar; there is a goodly variety of beans, peas, lentils, and the like, and watermelons, onions, and cucumbers are easily raised. the tobacco crop is of considerable value; grapes are abundant, and there are many fruits, including dates, figs, apricots, oranges, peaches, lemons, bananas, and olives. the methods of agriculture are very primitive, and in many instances slovenly; and if a thousand english or american farmers could be sent to egypt to instruct the natives in the use of foreign implements, and teach them to till their farms on the western plan, the value of egyptian products would be doubled. but, to make the plan successful, it would be necessary to devise some means of compelling the natives to use the methods and machines that the strangers would bring among them, and this would be a difficult task. the train halted several times, and finally came to kallioob station, where it united with the direct line from cairo to alexandria. "now," said the doctor, "keep a sharp lookout on the right-hand side of the carriage and tell me what you see." in a few minutes frank gave a shout of delight, and called out, "there they are--the pyramids! the pyramids!" fred saw them almost at the same moment, and joined his cousin in a cheer for the pyramids, of which he had read and heard so much. [illustration: the pyramids.] there they were, pushing their sharp summits into the western sky, to which the sun was declining, for it was now late in the afternoon. clearly defined, they rose above the horizon like a cluster of hills from the edge of a plain; and as our friends came nearer and nearer the pyramids seemed to rise higher and higher, till it was difficult to believe that they were the work of human hands, and were only a few hundred feet in height. in a little while the attention of the youths was drawn to the minarets of the mosque of mohammed ali and the high walls of the citadel, on the summit of the hill that overlooks and commands the city of cairo. their glances turned from pyramids to mosque, and from mosque back again to pyramids, and from the sharp outline of the mokattam hills to the glistening sands of the western desert. near by were the rich fields of the valley of the nile, and now and then the shining water of the old river was revealed through openings among the fringe of palms; the mud-built villages of the egyptians passed as in a panorama, the white walls of the houses of cairo took the place of the more primitive structures, groups of men and camels, and other beasts of burden, were seen wending their way to the great city or returning from it. the population grew more dense, the houses and gardens assumed a more substantial appearance, roads gave way to streets, and gardens to blocks of houses, and all too soon for our excited travellers the train rolled into the station at cairo, and the journey to the wonderful city of the caliphs had been accomplished. from the sentimental to the practical the transition was instantaneous. hardly had the train halted before the carriages were surrounded by a crowd of hotel runners, dragomen, guides, and other of the numerous horde that live upon the stranger within the gates. doctor bronson had telegraphed to the hotel du nil to send a carriage and a guide to meet his party at the station; the guide was there with a card from the manager of the hotel, and at once took charge of the strangers and their baggage, and showed the way to the waiting carriage. frank said he should advise all his friends on their first visit to cairo to follow the doctor's example, and thus save themselves a struggle with the unruly crowd and a vast amount of annoyance. the worst feature of a journey in egypt is the necessity of a constant fight with the great swarm of cormorants that infest all public places where travellers are likely to go; many a journey that would have been enjoyable with this evil removed has been completely spoiled by its presence. [illustration: a question of backsheesh.] from the moment when you touch egyptian soil till the moment when you leave it there is little rest from the appeals of the beggar, and the demands, often insolent, of those who force themselves and their services upon you. the word "backsheesh" (a present) is dinned into your ears from morning till night; it is with you in your dreams, and if your digestion is bad you will have visions of howling arabs who beset you for money, and will not be satisfied. giving does no good; in fact it is worse than not giving at all, as the suppliant generally appeals for more; and if he does not do so he is sure to give the hint to others who swarm about you, and refuse to go away. if you hire a donkey or a carriage, and give the driver double his fare, in order to satisfy him, you find you have done a very unwise thing. his demand increases, a crowd of his fellows gather around, all talking at once, and there is an effort to convince you that you have not given half enough. not unfrequently your clothes are torn in the struggle, and if you escape without loss of money or temper you are very fortunate. the railway-station at cairo is an excellent place to study the character of the natives, and to learn their views regarding the money of others, and the best modes of transferring it to their own pockets. from the station our friends drove through the new part of cairo, where the broad streets and rows of fine buildings were a disappointment to the youths, who had expected to see quite the reverse. "don't be impatient," said the doctor, "we shall come to the narrow streets by-and-by. this part of cairo is quite modern, and was constructed principally under ismail pacha a few years ago. he had a fancy for making a city on the plan of paris or vienna, and giving it the appearance of the occident instead of the orient. in place of the narrow and sometimes crooked streets of the east he caused broad avenues to be laid out and tall buildings to be erected. the new city was to stand side by side with the old one, and for a time it seemed as though the eastern characteristics of cairo would be blotted out. but the money to carry on the improvements could not be had, and the new part of cairo has an unhappy and half desolate appearance. the natives preferred the old ways, and there was not a sufficient influx of foreigners to populate the new city. it had grown rapidly for a few years, but suddenly its growth was suspended, and here it has been ever since." [illustration: a street in cairo.] they passed several public and private buildings that would have done honor to any european city, and if it had not been for the natives walking in the streets, riding on donkeys, or now and then conducting a stately camel, they might easily have believed themselves far away from egypt. suddenly the scene changed; they passed the new theatre, where ismail pacha delighted to listen to european operas performed by european companies; they crossed the triangle known as the square of ibrahim pacha, and containing a bronze statue of that fiery ruler; and by a transition like that of the change in a fairy spectacle, they were in one of the crowded and shaded streets of the city of the caliphs. they had entered the "mooskee," one of the widest and most frequented streets of the part of cairo that has not succumbed to western innovations, and retains enough of its eastern character to remain unpaved. the speed of their carriage was reduced, and a boy who had been riding at the side of the driver jumped down, and ran ahead shouting to clear the way. the boys thought they were travelling in fine style to have a footman to precede them, but the doctor told them it was the custom of the country to have a runner, called a "syce," to go before every carriage, and clear the way for it. the syce carried a stick as the badge of his office, and when he was in the employ of an official he had no hesitation in striking right and left among those who were in the way. high officials and other dignitaries employed two of these runners, who kept step side by side, and were generally noticeable by the neatness of their dress. no matter how fast the horses go the syce will keep ahead of them, and he does not seem at all fatigued after a run that would take the breath out of an american. [illustration: a projecting window.] they met other carriages; they met camels and donkeys with riders on their backs, or bearing burdens of merchandise, and they passed through crowds of people, in which there were many natives and some europeans. the balconies of the houses projected over the street, and in some places almost excluded the sunlight, while their windows were so arranged that a person within was entirely concealed from the view of those without. the boys observed that the carving on the windows revealed a vast amount of patience on the part of the workmen that executed it, and they wondered if all the windows of cairo were like those they were passing. some of the walls were cracked and broken, as though threatening to fall; but the windows appeared so firmly fixed in their places that they would stay where they were when the rest of the building had tumbled. while they were engrossed with the strange sights and sounds around them, the carriage halted at the head of a narrow lane, and our three friends descended to walk to the hotel. chapter iv. street scenes in cairo. frank and fred were up in good season on the morning after their arrival in cairo. while waiting for breakfast they read the description of the city, and familiarized themselves with some of the most important points of its history, which they afterward wrote down to make sure of remembering them. here is what they found: [illustration: a caliph of egypt on his throne.] "the city known as 'cairo' (_ky_-ro) to europeans is called masr-el-ka_he_rah by the arabs, the word _kaherah_ meaning 'victorious.' it was founded about the end of the tenth century by a moslem general who had been sent from tunis to invade egypt; he signalled his victory by building a city not far from fostat; the latter is called masr-el-ateekah, or old cairo, and was formerly the capital; but the new city grew so fast that it became the capital very soon after it was founded. it has gone through a good many sieges, and had a prominent place in the history of the crusades; the great moslem conqueror, yoosef salah-ed-deen (known to us as saladin), built strong walls around cairo, and founded the citadel on the hill at the southern end. the city is about two miles broad by three in length, and stands on a plain overlooked by the range of the mokattam hills; the new quarter of ismaileeyah was recently added, and when that is included, the cairo of to-day will be nearly twice the extent of the city of fifty years ago. cairo was the city of the caliphs, or moslem rulers, down to ; from that time till it was captured by the french, in , it was the chief city of the turkish province of egypt. the french held it three years, when it was captured by the turks and english; ten years later mohammed ali became an almost independent ruler of the country, and from his time to the present egypt has been ruled by his family, who pay an annual tribute to turkey, and are required to do in certain things as they are ordered by the sultan. cairo is still the capital of egypt; the viceroy or khedive lives there except during the hottest part of summer, when he goes to alexandria, where he has a palace. "the word 'khedive' comes from the persian language, and means 'ruler' or 'prince.' it was adopted by ismail pacha, and continued by his successor; the english word which is nearest in meaning to khedive is 'viceroy,' and the head of the egyptian government is generally called the viceroy by europeans. he should be addressed as 'your highness.' "some of the most interesting stories of the 'arabian nights' entertainments' are laid in cairo, and the reader of those anecdotes will learn from them a great deal of the manners of the times when they were written. we are told that the translation by edward william lane is the best. lane was an englishman, who was a long time in cairo. he learned the language of the people, wore their dress, and lived among them, and he wrote a book called 'the modern egyptians,' which describes the manners and customs of the inhabitants of cairo better than any other work. when we are in doubt concerning anything, we shall consult 'the modern egyptians' for what we want. lane's translation of the 'arabian nights' occupied several years of his time, and was mostly made while he lived in cairo. we have read some of these stories, and find them very interesting, and often envy aladdin, with his wonderful lamp and his magic couch, and would very much like to sit down with sinbad the sailor and listen to the account of his adventures. [illustration: part of old cairo.] "there are so many things in cairo which we want to see that we will not try to make out a list in advance. we have engaged a guide to show us around, and shall trust to him for a day or two. at the end of that time we hope to know something about the city, and be able to go around alone." every evening, while the boys were in cairo, was devoted to the journal of their experiences during the day. they have allowed us to copy from it, and we can thus find out where they went and what they did. as there were so many things to describe the labor was divided, and while frank was busy over one thing, fred occupied himself with another. let us see what they did: "it is the custom to ride on donkeys when going about cairo, as many of the streets are so narrow that you cannot pass through them with carriages. we had the best we could secure, and very nice they were under the saddle, but we soon learned that it required some skill to ride them. the guide rode ahead, and we noticed that he did not put his feet in the stirrups as we did; while we were wondering the meaning of it, frank's donkey stumbled and fell forward, and frank went sprawling in the dust over the animal's head. "we all laughed (frank did not laugh quite as loud as the rest, but he did the best he could), and so did the people in the street where the accident happened. frank was up in an instant, and so was the donkey; and when we were off again the guide said that the donkey had a habit of stumbling and going down in a heap. if you have your feet in the stirrups when he goes down, you can't help being thrown over the animal's head; but if you ride as the guide does, your feet come on the ground when the donkey falls, and you walk gracefully forward a few steps till the boy brings your animal up for you to mount again. "we immediately began learning to ride with our feet free, and an hour's practice made us all right. "the donkeys all have names, generally those that have been given to them by travellers. we have had 'dan tucker,' 'prince of wales,' 'chicken hash,' and 'pinafore,' and in the lot that stands in front of the hotel there are 'general grant,' 'stanley,' 'new york,' and 'mince pie.' they are black, white, gray, and a few other colors, and sometimes the boys decorate them with hair-dye and paint so that they look very funny. the donkey-boys are sharp little fellows, though sometimes they keep at the business after they have become men. they generally speak a little english; there are two at our hotel that speak it very well, and know the city perfectly, so that when we take them along we have very little need of a guide. they will run all day as fast as the donkey can, sometimes holding him by the bridle, but generally close behind, ready to prod or strike him if he does not go fast enough. "the saddle is a curious sort of thing, as it has a great hump in front instead of a pommel, and there is not the least support to the back any more than in an english riding-pad. they explain the peculiarity of the saddle by saying that the donkey's shoulders are lower than his back, and the hump keeps you from sliding forward. "about the best thing we have yet seen in cairo is the people in the streets. they are so odd in their dress, and they have so many curious customs, that our attention is drawn to them all the time. we can't say how many varieties of peddlers there are, but certainly more than we ever saw in any other place, not excepting tokio or canton, or any of the cities of india. we will try to describe some of them. [illustration: a peddler of jewellery.] "here is an old woman with a crate like a flat basket, which she carries on her head. it is filled with little articles of jewellery, and she goes around in the harems and in the baths frequented by women, as they are her best customers. the guide says her whole stock is not worth a hundred francs, and if she makes a franc a day at her business she thinks she is doing well. "there are women who sell vegetables, fruits, and sweetmeats, which they carry in the same way as the one we have just described. they are wrapped from head to foot in long cloaks or outer dresses, and they generally follow the custom of the country and keep their faces covered. the oldest of them are not so particular as the others, and we are told that the custom of wearing the veil is not so universal as it was twenty or thirty years ago. [illustration: a lady in street dress.] "there is no change of fashion among the women of egypt. they wear the same kind of garments from one year to another, and as all are veiled, except among the very poorest classes, they all look alike. every lady, when she goes out, covers her face with the _yashmak_ or veil, so that only her eyes are visible; her body is wrapped in a black mantle which reaches the ground, and, though she looks at you as if she knew you, it is impossible to penetrate her disguise. we are told that when the european ladies residing here wish to call on each other, and have nobody to escort them, they put on the native dress, and go along the streets without the least fear that anybody will know them. "the wives of the high officials have adopted some of the fashions of europe in the way of dress; they wear boots instead of slippers, and have their dresses cut in the paris style, and they wear a great deal of jewellery mounted by parisian jewellers. their hats or bonnets are of european form; but they cling to the veil, and never go out-of-doors without it, though they often have it so thin that their features can be seen quite distinctly. we have seen some of them riding in their carriages, and if they had been friends of ours we think we should have recognized them through their thin veils. "how much we wish we could understand the language of the country! doctor bronson says the peddlers on the streets have a curious way of calling out their wares, quite unlike that of the same class in other countries. for instance, the water-carrier has a goat-skin on his back filled with water, and as he goes along he rattles a couple of brass cups together, and cries out, 'oh ye thirsty! oh ye thirsty!' a moment after he repeats the call, and says, 'god will reward me!' and sometimes he says, 'blessed is the water of the nile!' those who drink the water he offers usually give him a small piece of money, but if they give nothing he makes no demand, and moves on repeating his cry. "the seller of lemons shouts, 'god will make them light, oh lemons!' meaning that god will lighten the baskets containing the lemons. the orange peddler says, 'sweet as honey, oh oranges!' and the seller of roasted melon-seeds says, 'comforter of those in distress, oh melon-seeds!' behind him comes a man selling flowers of the henna-plant, and his cry is, 'odors of paradise, oh flowers of henna!' the rose-merchant says, 'the rose is a thorn--it bloomed from the sweat of the prophet!' we could make a long list of these street cries, but have given you enough to show what they are. [illustration: a woman carrying water.] "every few steps we meet women carrying jars of water on their heads. many of the houses are supplied in this primitive way, and the employment of carrying water supports a great many people in this strange city of the east. of late years pipes have been introduced, and an aqueduct brings water from the nile, so that the occupation of the bearer has been somewhat diminished. but the public fountain still exists, and the people gather there as they did in the days of the bible. every mosque has a fountain in the centre of its court-yard, not so much for supplying water for those who wish to carry it away as to furnish an opportunity for the faithful to wash their hands before saying their prayers. some of these fountains are large, and protected from the sun by a marble canopy. but the public fountains at the street corners are generally quite exposed to the weather, and many of them are quite small. [illustration: the fountain of a mosque.] "we walked slowly along the street during our first excursion, as there were many sights to attract our attention, and we did not wish to miss anything. two or three times we narrowly escaped being run over by camels or donkeys. the camels move along in a very stately way, and do not turn out unless ordered to do so by their drivers. they have a wicked expression in their eyes, and seem quite willing to knock over a stranger who gets in their way. sometimes the crowd of people was so dense that it was not easy to move among them; but everybody was good-natured, and there was no jostling or rudeness of any kind. there were a good many beggars sitting in little nooks where they were not in danger of being run over, and quite often we met blind men who were feeling their way along by means of long sticks. they called out something in arabic, and the people made way for them, so that none of them were hurt. [illustration: a beggar at the way-side.] "the portion of the mooskee where you enter it from the new part of cairo contains a good many european shops, so that you do not come at once into the old-fashioned orient. but as you go along the scene changes; the shops of the merchants are open to the streets, and the shopmen sit there cross-legged, in full view of everybody, so that you do not have to turn out of the way to see what there is to buy. "when you think of an oriental shop you must not picture to yourself an establishment like those on broadway or other great streets in new york, where dozens or hundreds of clerks are employed to wait on customers, and where the population of a small town might all be attended to at once. a shop in cairo or any other city of the east is generally about six feet square, and often not so large, and it requires only one man to tend it, for the simple reason that he can reach everything without moving from his place, and there would be no room for any one else. sometimes he has an assistant, but if so, he does nothing himself except sit still and talk to the customers, while the assistant does all the work of showing the goods. the front of the shop is open to the street, and the floor is about as high as an ordinary table, so that when the goods are spread on the floor the customer can examine them as he stands outside. we shall see more of these shops when we get to the bazaars. [illustration: a man carrying his keys.] "while we were standing near a shop we saw the owner shutting it up, which he did by folding some wooden doors, very much like the wooden window-shutters we have at home; then he fastened them with a great padlock, and started off with the key, which must have weighed a pound at least. while we wondered at the size of the lock and key, the doctor called our attention to a man with a cluster of wooden sticks over his shoulder, and told us that the sticks were the keys of a house. what funny things they were! each of them was nearly if not quite a foot long, and had a lot of wooden pegs near the end; the pegs fit into corresponding holes in a wooden bolt, in the same way that the different wards of a key fit into a lock, but the whole thing is so simple that it does not require much skill for a burglar to get into a house. the keys are so large that they must be slung over the shoulder or fastened to the belt, since they cannot go into an ordinary pocket. "the doctor proposed that we should sit down in front of a _café_ and drink some of the famous coffee of the east. of course we were glad to do so, and our guide took us to a place in a side street where he said they made excellent coffee, and we could have some music along with it. "we were quite as interested in the music as in the coffee, and thought of the old adage about killing two birds with one stone. we heard the music before we reached the place, and what odd music it was! [illustration: an oriental band of music.] "'that is a regular band of music,' said the guide, 'such as the coffee-houses keep to attract customers, and the rich people hire to play for them when they give an entertainment. you see there are four pieces, and i'll explain what they are, beginning from the left. [illustration: the nay (flute) and case.] "'the man on the left is playing on a _nay_, or flute, which is a reed about eighteen inches long, with a mouthpiece at one end. it has six holes for the fingers, and is blown in a peculiar way, so that a person not accustomed to the nay would be unable to make any sound with it at first.' [illustration: ancient egyptian playing the nay.] "frank asked if there was any other kind of flute. the guide told him there were several, but this was the most common. the doctor added that this form of instrument was very old, as it could be seen pictured on some of the monuments of ancient egypt, and appeared to have been used exactly as it is to-day. some forms of it were blown into sidewise, as with the european flute, while others were blown at the end. "'the man next to the end is playing on a _kemenjah_ or fiddle,' said the guide. 'the body of it is made of a cocoa-nut-shell, with a piece of fish-skin or some other thin membrane stretched over it, and the "bridge" rests on this thin covering. there are only two strings, and they are vibrated by means of a bow, just like what you see at home, though the shape is a little different. the long top-piece of the fiddle is of wood, while the lower end is of iron, and rests on the floor or ground. the performers are quite skilful, and it would surprise you to know how much music they can get out of a fiddle with only two strings. [illustration: the tamboora.] "'the next man has a _tamboora_, or lute, which corresponds to the guitar, or banjo of western countries. there are many sizes and shapes of this instrument, but the most common is the one you are looking at. "'the most perfect tamboora is about four feet long, and has ten strings and forty-seven stops. some of them cost a great deal of money, as they are made of valuable woods, and inlaid with ivory and mother-of-pearl. the form in use by the man in the band is called the _ood_, to distinguish it from the other varieties of the tamboora. it is about two feet long, and you observe that the handle bends back very sharply to accommodate the fingers of the player. a smaller variety of this instrument is called the _sadz_, and very often forms part of a soldier's equipment. as you travel about egypt you will often see a soldier playing on the sadz, which he accompanies with his voice. [illustration: a darabookah.] "'the next and last man of the party has a _darabookah_, a sort of drum, which he holds under his left arm while he plays on it with the fingers of his right hand. the body of the instrument is of earthen-ware or of wood, and a skin or membrane is stretched over the large end. it has changed its shape very little in three thousand years. you see pictures of the darabookah on the walls of the tombs, and on other ancient monuments of egypt, and the manner of playing it is the same as of old.' "so much, for the band of music, which i am sure will interest you. we sat down on little chairs, so low that it seemed like sitting on the floor, and then coffee was brought to us in little brass cups about as large as an egg shell, but a great deal thicker. each cup had a holder of brass filigree work, with a knob or handle at the bottom, and we were expected to grasp the latter, and not to touch the cup with our hands. the coffee was in a pot, also of brass, and the whole service--pot, cups, and holders--was on a tray of the same material. the trays, with the brightly-polished utensils upon them, looked very pretty, and we resolved to buy some of these coffee services to send to our friends at home. "we can't say much for the coffee, though possibly we may come to like it in time. it is made much thicker than with us, and if you let it stand for a minute before drinking, you will find a sediment at the bottom like fine dust. the servants stand ready to take away the cups as soon as you are done drinking, and they do it by holding out both hands, bringing one beneath and the other on top of the cup and holder. we watched them for some time, and did not once see them take hold of a cup as one would do in america. while waiting they stood with their hands crossed at the waist, and we were told that this is the proper attitude for a servant in egypt." [illustration: coffee-pot and cups.] chapter v. a ramble through the bazaars of cairo. from the _café_ doctor bronson and his young friends continued their excursion in the direction of the bazaars, which both the boys were impatient to visit. they had heard and read of the bazaars of cairo, and the strange things to be seen in them, and as they went along the doctor supplemented what they already knew by an explanation of the differences between oriental and occidental shopping. [illustration: an oriental shopkeeper examining his books.] "in our own land," said doctor bronson, "as well as in most countries of europe, you find shops and stores scattered about so as to catch as much custom as possible. as a general thing a tradesman endeavors to set up his business in a block or street where there is no one in the same line, and it is only in rare instances that you see two establishments of the same kind side by side. but in the east all the men in a certain line of trade gather together, and out of this tendency we have the bazaars of cairo and constantinople. suppose you go out in new york or chicago in search of a book, a coat, a pair of shoes, a piece of silk, some perfumes, and an article of jewellery. you might find them all in a single walk of a few hundred yards, as it is quite possible that a book-store, a clothing-store, a shoemaker's shop, and the other establishments might be found in a single block. but in cairo you would need to visit several bazaars or collections of shops; the book-stores are all in one place, the clothing-stores in another, the shoemakers in another, and so on through the list. it would take hours to accomplish what you would do at home in a few minutes, and there is nothing better than this system of shopping to illustrate the oriental disregard of time. the shops in any given bazaar are pretty much alike, and contain almost identically the same articles; the customers wander from one shop to another, and spend a great deal of time in bargaining and examining the goods. time is of no consequence either to them or to the dealers, and you will often wonder how the latter can possibly make a living." [illustration: interior of a caravansary.] as the doctor finished his remarks the guide called their attention to a large gate-way, and at his suggestion they passed inside. they found themselves in a broad court, which was formed by a series of rooms running round a square, and opening toward the enclosed space. goods were piled in many of these rooms; in the court-yard there were boxes and bales scattered about, and several camels with burdens on their backs were standing quietly, or being led by their owners according to the will of the latter. near one side of the square there was a fountain like a pile of whitewashed bricks, and a horse was drinking from a trough in front of it. [illustration: gate-way of a caravansary.] the guide explained that the place they had entered was a caravansary or inn (usually called a _khan_), and that it might be taken as a fair sample of the oriental hotel. "the rooms," said he, "are let out to travellers or merchants for a small sum, and the keeper will provide food for man and beast, just as a tavern-keeper would in america. the rooms have no furniture, nothing but the bare walls, and floors; the occupant spreads his carpet and bedding on the floor, and if he has any merchandise he piles it up, and can, if he chooses, convert the place into a shop. there are stables for camels and other beasts of burden on the side opposite the entrance; if you go into them you will find a small platform over the farther end of each compartment, and the trough or manger is directly beneath it. the drivers sleep on these platforms, so as to be near their animals, to prevent their being stolen, and to look after them generally." frank asked if the eastern caravansary of the present day was like the same institution mentioned several times in the bible. "there can be little doubt that it is," the doctor answered, "as the customs of the country have changed very little from bible times to our own. it was just such a place as this where our saviour was born, and the trough or manger where he was cradled was like any one of the feeding-troughs in this caravansary." while they were looking at the rooms and other parts of the caravansary, the _khanjy_, or keeper, came forward and asked what they wanted. the guide explained that they were strangers who wished to see the place, and he accompanied the explanation with a small backsheesh. the khanjy said they might remain as long as they liked; but they had seen all there was of interest about the place, and soon withdrew. [illustration: a street in a bazaar at cairo.] soon after leaving the khan they entered the cloth bazaar, where the shops were principally filled with cloths of different kinds. the merchants endeavored to attract their attention, and the runners were at times so troublesome that the doctor instructed the guide to say that they had not come there to buy, but simply to look around. he took the opportunity to tell the boys that the word _bazaar_ is persian, and means "a collection of shops," while the arabic word of the same meaning is _sook_. "we thus have," said he, "the 'sook el hamzowee,' the 'sook el attarin' (drug bazaar), the 'sook-es-soudan' (bazaar for soudan products), and many others whose character we shall learn by-and-by." [illustration: shopping scene in the hamzowee.] "we are now," said the guide, "in the 'sook el hamzowee,' or cloth market, though a more literal translation would make it 'the market of the christians.' the merchants here are all christians, either syrians or copts, and they close their places on sunday. many of the cloths here are of european manufacture, and the merchants are just as keen as their moslem competitors in demanding exorbitant prices for their wares. the man you see running up and down with a roll of cloth on his head is a _dallal_, or auctioneer; he is shouting out the last offer for the goods he is carrying, and is asking if anybody will give more. if he receives a new offer he instantly calls it out, and when nobody will give any more he shouts for the owner of the goods to come and close the transaction." our friends encountered several of these auctioneers in the course of their walk, and frank remarked that there was a fine opportunity for fraud if anybody chose to practise it. he thought that while out of sight round a corner the piece of cloth might be exchanged for a cheaper one of the same general appearance, and the purchaser would be defrauded. "not much chance of that," responded the doctor; "these fellows are altogether too sharp to be imposed on in that way; and if an auctioneer should play that trick once, and be detected, he would be forbidden to come into the bazaars to practise his profession." the narrow street that formed the double row of shops in the bazaar was covered with an arched roof containing openings for admitting the light. the doctor said that the dealers did not object to the sombre aspect of the place, as it made their goods appear finer than when submitted to the full glare of day. "you may sometimes notice," said he, "that the tailors of new york and other american cities take their customers to the rear of the shop when exhibiting materials, rather than to the front where the light is strongest. the reason is the same there as here; textile fabrics have a finer appearance under a subdued light than under a powerful one." from the hamzowee the promenade was continued through other bazaars, till the youths had seen a great deal more than they were likely to remember. they went through the bazaar of the jewellers, which consists of a series of narrow lanes, rather irregularly connected, and in many places not more than a yard in width; frank thought the place was originally intended for a labyrinth, and his opinion was confirmed when they came around in their wanderings to the point whence they started. frank wanted to buy something for his sister and miss effie, but was restrained by the doctor, who advised him to postpone his purchases till he was better acquainted with the ways of dealing with the jewellers. [illustration: eastern necklaces.] we may as well record at this point that he returned another day, and bought some necklaces which he thought would be prized at home, and the result proved the correctness of his theory. for his sister he chose a necklace consisting of a string of gold coins about as large as silver five-cent pieces, with one in the centre much larger than the rest. for miss effie he selected one of curiously shaped links, with tiny globes between them, while from the lower point of each link there hung a heart-shaped plate of gold that was intended to sparkle whenever the wearer moved. there were many of these necklaces for sale in the bazaar, and frank had no difficulty in finding one that suited his taste. the boys found that they could not buy things in a hurry in the bazaars of cairo. as before stated, time is of no consequence to an oriental, and he expects to spend an hour at least over a bargain. frank had been properly instructed, and so when he set out to buy the necklace for his sister he carelessly asked the price of one he was looking at. the dealer named a figure, and frank shook his head. the dealer named another figure, five or ten per cent. lower. frank again shook his head, and then the dealer asked what he would give. frank offered about a third of the price that had been demanded originally. it was now the dealer's turn to refuse, and he did so. he emphasized his refusal by putting the necklace back into the show-case, which he carefully locked. [illustration: weighing gold in the jewellers' bazaar.] frank offered a little advance on his first proposal, but the dealer again declined it, and our friends moved away. just as they did so the dealer named a lower price than he had yet asked for the article, but to no purpose, however. they went a few steps and stopped at another shop. while they were looking at something it contained they were called back by the merchant with whom they originally talked, and the bargaining was renewed. the dealer slowly lowered his figures, and frank as slowly advanced his offer. in fifteen or twenty minutes they met, and frank secured the necklace at a little more than half what had been demanded originally. the doctor told him he had done very well, and could be trusted to deal with the orientals. "remember," said the doctor, "that these people are never in a hurry, and consequently you must be like them if you are to deal with them. they think it absolutely necessary to pass a certain time over a transaction, and do not understand our western habits of coming to terms at once. you have bought that necklace for a certain price, and it is safe to say that the merchant has made a good profit by the transaction. if you had offered him that figure at first he would have refused it, and continued to refuse, as he would thereby have missed the necessary chaffering and haggling. "when i first visited egypt i was sometimes impatient of delay, and used to tell the dealers i had only one price to give, and would not bargain with them. i thought i could bring them to terms, though my friends told me i could not. one day i went to the hamzowee, and tried to buy a _cafieh_, or silk handkerchief, in gaudy colors, and embroidered with gold, which was worth about fifteen francs. the merchant demanded thirty-five francs for it. i offered him sixteen, and he fell to thirty at once. "i did not raise my bid, but repeated my offer two or three times. he fell to twenty-five francs, and would not go lower. i did not rise above sixteen, and he allowed me to go away. a friend of mine stood by, but pretended not to know me, and when i had finished my effort and gone he began to bargain for the cafieh, just as you bargained for the necklace. he offered five francs to begin with, and by spending half an hour over the matter he bought the article for fifteen francs, or one less than had been refused from me! "there was a shrewd old syrian who used to come around the hotels to peddle silk goods. knowing the fondness of english and americans for the one-price system, he would say, when exhibiting an article worth twenty francs, "'if you want to bargain for it, it is fifty francs; but if you want the last price, without bargaining, it is thirty-five francs.' "strangers were occasionally tricked in this way, and gave him his price without question, if they wanted the article; but those who had been a week or two in the country knew better, and began to bargain with thirty-five francs as the asking price. the result would be that they would bring him down to twenty francs after the usual amount of haggling. you must bargain for everything here when dealing with natives, and they are not to be believed if they say they have only one price. i have heard a man offer an article in about these words, after a bargain had been progressing for some time: "'the very lowest i can sell this for--i give you my word of honor it cost me that--is fifty francs. i will take nothing less than fifty francs, and you need not offer me anything under it.' "you believe he is not speaking the truth, and offer him thirty. he declares that the thing cost him fifty, but he will take forty-five, and absolutely nothing less. you offer him thirty-five--he falls to forty, and the bargain is concluded." frank profited by the advice, but carried the lesson too far. when he went the next day to the post-office to send some letters to america, the clerk weighed the letters, and told him the postage amounted to two francs and a half. the youth offered one franc and a half, and on the clerk refusing to accept it he turned to walk away. suddenly realizing the mistake he had made, he returned, bought the necessary stamps, affixed them to the letters, and dropped them in the letter-box. the journal kept by the youths contained the following record of their adventures in the bazaars: "in the bazaar of the jewellers, or rather of the gold and silver smiths, we saw the men at work with implements as primitive as those of the jewellers of india. the bellows of the silversmith was nothing more than a conical bag of goat-skin open at one end, where the air was pumped in by a skilful manipulation of a pair of handles. at the other end was an iron tube, which carried the air to a lump of clay supporting a charcoal fire. a few hammers and pincers constituted the entire 'kit' of the workman, but with them he managed to turn out articles of many different shapes. we were told that strangers are liable to be swindled, as the dealers often sell plated-ware and declare it is solid, and the government stamp to indicate its genuineness cannot be relied on. when a wealthy native desires an article of fine gold or silver he buys the metal, and then has the jeweller go to his house and work directly under his eye, so that there can be no cheating. [illustration: kitchen utensils.] "from the jewellers' bazaar we went to the 'sook-en-nahhasin,' or bazaar of the coppersmiths, where we saw some trays of copper and brass, and a great many pots and utensils for the kitchen and domestic use generally. we bought a couple of ink-and-pen holders, such as the arabs write with: there is a long handle for containing the little reeds which they use as pens, and a bottle at the end for holding ink. the apparatus is stuck into the waist-belt, and you see it worn by a great many people. [illustration: basin and ewer.] "there were many shapes and sizes of the kitchen utensils, and all were made of brass or copper. there were tongs and shovels very much like our own stewpans, with and without handles, and a little pot with a long handle, in which they make coffee. one of the prettiest things we saw for household use was a basin and ewer, or pitcher, for washing the hands after dinner. the doctor explained the manner of using it, and said it was carried round the table by a servant, who poured water on the hands of each guest, and allowed it to run into the basin after the ablution was performed. there is a perforated cover in the centre of the basin, and it has a cup in the top for holding a ball of scented soap. the ewer has a long slender spout opposite the handle, and there is a perforated cover to keep out the flies and other undesirable things. [illustration: bottle for rose-water.] "in the perfume bazaar we were welcomed by a variety of agreeable odors, and by the shop-keepers and their runners, who tried to sell us ottar of rose and oil of sandal-wood, which are the perfumes most sought by strangers. every shop promised to give us the genuine article, and said there was no other place where it could be bought. the doctor says it is simply impossible to get the real ottar of rose anywhere in the bazaar, no matter what price you pay, and consequently it is best to be moderate in your figures. the veritable perfume is worth, at the place of manufacture, about fifty dollars an ounce, and therefore, when you buy it for two or three or five dollars an ounce, you can hardly expect to get the best. it is very funny to hear the strangers at the hotel talk about their purchases of ottar of rose. each one knows a place, which has been shown him in strict confidence, where the genuine perfume can be bought; but it can only be obtained on a promise not to reveal the locality, or some similar nonsense. if you ever come to egypt this ottar of rose business will afford you much amusement if you are careful to manage it properly. [illustration: oriental guns.] "the shoe bazaar and the arms bazaar were not particularly interesting, as the former contained little else than a great lot of shoes, and the latter had a miserable collection of weapons that were hardly worth carrying away. formerly the arms bazaar was a favorite spot for visitors, as there were many old and curious things to be found there, but nearly everything worth buying up was secured long ago. we saw some oriental guns with funny shaped stocks. the doctor says the barrels of these weapons are nearly all from europe, while the stocks are of egyptian or other oriental manufacture. there is a strong prejudice against explosive caps, and if you give a gun with a percussion-lock to a native, he will have it changed as soon as possible to a flint-lock. they rarely use shot, and the best of the native sportsmen would hardly think of shooting a bird on the wing. [illustration: bab-el-nasr.] "from the bazaars we continued our walk to the bab-el-nasr, or 'gate of victory,' one of the most important gates of cairo. it was built in the eleventh century, and is mostly of hewn stone, with winding stairways leading to the top, holes for cannon and small arms, and is so large and strong that it was selected by napoleon as the central point of defence while he held the city. it is a little fort in itself, and we were very glad to have the opportunity of examining it. "we gave a little backsheesh to the gate-keeper, and he allowed us to go to the top, where we had a view of the nearest part of the city, and of the heaps of rubbish lying outside the gates. there were several wolfish-looking dogs prowling among the dust-heaps, and they growled as they caught sight of us, and saw that we were not natives. the dogs of cairo have a great hatred of foreigners, as we shall have occasion to say by-and-by." [illustration: street scene near the bab-el-nasr.] chapter vi. mosques, dervishes, and schools.--education in egypt. [illustration: the mosque of tooloon.] from the bab-el-nasr our friends returned, by the direction of the guide, through a street that led them past several of the famous mosques of cairo. they entered the mosque of tooloon, which is the oldest in the city, and said to be modelled after the kaaba at mecca; according to the historians it was built about a.d. , and there are several legends concerning it. one is that it stands on the spot where abraham sacrificed a goat in place of his son, and another puts it on the site where noah's ark ran aground, though the general belief of the moslems locates the latter event near moosool, in syria. the mosque has been neglected in the latter centuries of its existence, and at present is not specially inviting. it covers a very large area (about six hundred square feet), and consists of a series of arcades running around a court-yard, which has a fountain in the centre. on the east side there are five rows of these arcades, but on the other three sides there are only two rows. the west, north, and south sides are used as lodgings for poor people, and their continual begging renders a visit the reverse of agreeable. the east side is the holiest part of the edifice, but at the time our friends went there it was not easy to discover that it was any more respected than the other sections. the guide said there were not far from four hundred mosques in cairo, and that a good many of them were in ruins, and not likely to be repaired. the government does not build any new ones, as it has more practical uses for its money, and the followers of mohammed seem to be growing more and more indifferent to religious observances every year. the moslem sabbath is on friday; the mosques are tolerably filled on that day, but during the rest of the week the attendance is very light. formerly it was difficult or even dangerous to enter some of the mosques, but at present the whole matter can be arranged on payment of a backsheesh. once in a while a fanatic insults a stranger, but he is generally suppressed immediately by his friends. [illustration: mihrab, pulpit, and candlestick in a mosque.] frank and fred found that the general plan of the mosques was the same, and the difference was mainly in the outer walls and the style of architecture. in every mosque there is a _mihrab_, or alcove, usually opposite the entrance, and this mihrab points toward mecca, so that the faithful may know how to direct their faces when saying their prayers. near the alcove is a pulpit with a steep flight of steps ascending to it, and over the pulpit there is generally a column, like the spire of a church in miniature. on each side of the alcove is an enormous candlestick, and there is generally a frame with swinging lamps, not more than eight or ten feet from the floor. there are many of these lamps, and also a great many ostrich eggs, and altogether they present a curious effect. there is very little interior decoration in the mosque, as the religion of mohammed forbids its believers to make a representation of anything that has life. it was formerly very difficult to induce a moslem to allow his portrait to be made. the writer of this book once sought in vain to induce a wild native of central asia to sit for his photograph, the reason being that the man feared the portrait might get to paradise ahead of him, and prevent his own admission within the gates. the more intelligent of the moslems pay no heed to this superstition, but the decorators of the mosques adhere to it most carefully, consequently all the ornamentation of the walls consists of scroll-work or of sentences from the koran.[ ] [ ] it is said that this injunction was made by mohammed in order to prevent his converts lapsing again into the idolatry from which he had converted them. he enjoined them against making a representation of any living thing, as they might be confronted with it at the day of judgment, and required, under penalty of perpetual banishment from paradise, to endow it with life. from the mosque of tooloon our friends went to the mosque of sultan hassan, which is considered the finest in the city. it was built of stone taken from the pyramids of gizeh, and was begun in the year . according to the traditions it occupied three years in building, and was considered so fine that the sultan ordered the hands of the architect to be cut off, in order that he should not be able to construct another equal to it. the story is of doubtful authenticity, and has been told in various ways, and concerning other buildings in many parts of the world. whether it be true or not, the building is certainly a fine one, and has been greatly admired during all the centuries that it has been in existence. one of its minarets is the tallest in cairo, and probably in all the lands where the moslem religion prevails. it is two hundred and eighty feet high, and from its top there is a fine view of cairo, but, unfortunately, it is considered unsafe, and no one is allowed to ascend it. by the time they had finished with the mosque of sultan hassan our friends were weary, and glad to return to the hotel. the next day was friday, the moslem sunday, and at the suggestion of the doctor they went to see the whirling dervishes, who perform only on that day. we will let the boys tell the story of their visit to these singular people. "the dervishes are religious devotees corresponding to the monks of the catholic church, whom they resemble in some of their practices. they are supposed to be wholly occupied with religious matters, and there are several branches or orders of them, who are distinguished by their dress. they have property set apart for their use, and some of the societies are very wealthy; the most numerous, and at the same time the richest, are the mevlevies, who can be recognized by their tall caps of gray felt, with jackets and robes of the same color. the lower part of the robe is like a lady's skirt, as it is made in folds, and will spread out into a large circle when the wearer whirls rapidly. they are the most respectable of all the orders of dervishes, and some of them are men of education and former high position. [illustration: a begging dervish.] "there are many independent dervishes who are simply religious beggars, belonging to no sect or order: they go around soliciting charity, or sit at the street corners or in public places, dressed in a way to attract attention. we passed one yesterday who had the saw of a saw-fish in one hand and an instrument resembling a child's rattle in the other; a cocoa-nut shell hung on his breast, to hold the donations of the charitable, and he sat on a box that resembled a rude bird-cage. he was extremely dirty in appearance, his legs were bare, and his hair was long and uncombed; he stared at us, and shouted something we did not understand, and when we passed by without giving him anything, he shook his rattle in an angry way. the guide says these men often go into the houses of rich people, and the latter are afraid to turn them out because of their so-called holy character. they are the most impudent beggars you can find anywhere, and many of them are said to be thieves and murderers, who disguise their true character under the cloak of religion. "we went to see the mevlevies, and on the way to their temple the doctor told us that the whirling was a part of their religious observance, like the dancing of the shakers in america, and the practices of other sects, whose fervor is often followed by insensibility. the dizziness that results from whirling is considered a state of religious devotion, and the most suited to the contemplation of heavenly things, and hence their efforts to throw themselves into this ecstatic condition. [illustration: a whirling dervish.] "when we entered their mosque we removed our shoes, or rather exchanged them for the slippers we had brought along, as we knew beforehand that we would need them. the building was circular, with a railed space in the centre; outside of the rail the floor was covered with matting, but inside it was polished like the floor of a dancing-hall. "some of the dervishes were already seated in the ring when we entered, and others came in soon after. when all was ready the sheik or chief of the party rose and stood in the centre of the floor; the others bowed to him one after another, and then stood near the railing, with their arms folded and their heads bent slightly forward. all were barefoot, having left their shoes at the door. "half a dozen dervishes were in a little balcony overlooking the floor, and when the chief gave the signal that all was ready three of them began to play upon flutes, such as we have already described, and three upon tambourines. then the dervishes on the floor began to whirl; the music, at first slow, soon quickened, and the dancers or whirlers quickened their movements with it. "before getting into motion each man extended his arms, holding the palm of the right hand upward while he turned down that of the left. we asked the reason of this peculiar position of the hands, but the guide could not tell us. he simply said that they always did so, and he did not know why. [illustration: performance of the whirling dervishes.] "as they whirled, their skirts spread out so that they resembled wheels, or rather cones four or five feet in diameter. they kept their hands always in the same position, and as they whirled they moved slowly around the floor; it was a wonder that they didn't run against each other, but they didn't. the music went on, and so did the dancers, and they kept up their whirl for half an hour or more. we looked for some of them to fall down; but they were accustomed to this kind of work, and wouldn't oblige us. nobody fell; and finally, at a signal from their sheik, one after another stopped, made a low bow to him, and retired to the edge of the circle. we had seen enough, and so came away. [illustration: a whirler in full action.] "another day we went to see a sect called the howling dervishes; they are much like the mevlevies, except that they howl instead of whirl. they sat on the floor in a circle, and began to pronounce the names of deity ninety times each, and as there are ninety-nine different names for god in the arabic language, you can readily see that there were a great many words altogether. they bow each time they pronounce a word, and very soon after commencing they rose to their feet, joined hands together, and became greatly excited. they bent their bodies nearly double at every utterance, their turbans fell off, their hair flew wildly about, they stripped off their upper garments, perspired freely, and some of them, after a time, actually frothed at the mouth like mad dogs. we did not stay to see the end of the performance, but were told that it continued till the fanatics were exhausted, and one after another fell insensible to the floor. "let us turn to something more agreeable. "frequently while going around the city we have passed near school-rooms, where boys were studying their lessons under direction of their teachers, and once we went inside and saw a school in operation. it reminded us of the one we saw at allahabad, in india,[ ] as the boys were seated on the floor in front of their teacher, and were studying their lessons aloud. each boy had a wooden tablet like a large slate, with some sentences on it in arabic, which he was to commit to memory. they rock back and forward as they study, as the motion is thought to assist the memory. when a dozen boys are repeating their lessons all at once you can imagine what a din they keep up. the sentences they learn are from the koran, and as soon as they can repeat the first chapter of the sacred book they learn the last but one, and then the one preceding; the second chapter of the book is the one learned last of all, and when they can repeat the whole of the koran their education is considered complete, unless they are intended for occupations where they must know how to write. for instruction in writing they go to another school, or have special teachers at home. the teacher receives a small sum of money from the parents of each boy at the end of every week, and the room where he keeps his school is generally the property of a mosque, and costs nothing for rent. [ ] "the boy travellers in ceylon and india," pp. , . "mr. lane tells of a teacher who could not read or write, but managed to keep a school for some years without being found out. he could repeat the koran from memory, and under pretence that his eyes were weak he used to have the lessons written by the head boy or monitor. when people brought letters for him to read he made the same excuse, or gave some other reason for avoiding an exposure of his ignorance. [illustration: arabic writing, with impression of a seal.] "doctor bronson says girls are rarely taught to read, except among the wealthy inhabitants, and not always even them. one of us asked him if there were no schools at all for girls. "'yes,' he answered, 'but there are not many, and it is only within a few years that they have been established. one of the wives of ismail pacha took hold of the matter, and opened a school in an unoccupied palace of the khedive. invitations were given for parents to send their daughters to be educated, but for three weeks not a pupil came. gradually the prejudice was overcome, and in a few months there were three hundred pupils hard at work, while a great many who wished to come were unable to obtain admission for want of room. there are now several schools for girls in cairo, and there is hardly a large town in egypt without one or more.' "we next asked what was taught in the schools for girls. "'more than half the time,' said the doctor, 'is devoted to instruction in household duties, embroidery, and plain sewing, so that the girls can become intelligent servants or wives. then they are taught to read and sometimes to write, and if they show any marked aptitude for music, there are music-teachers for their special benefit. it was the idea of ismail pacha that the best way to improve the condition of his people was to make them intelligent, and to begin the work with the girls who are to be the mothers of the next generation of egyptians. "'it was also his idea that the abolition of slavery would be hastened by training a class of household servants to take the places of the slaves. the indications thus far are that his idea was an excellent one, and the education of the girls of the working-classes of the people will go far in the right direction. [illustration: scene in a primary school.] "'the khedive also did much toward giving egypt a system of public schools like those of europe and america. he appointed two europeans to superintend the matter, and gave large sums of money for establishing schools that could be free to all, in addition to the primary schools already described. foreign teachers were employed, together with the most intelligent native ones that could be found, and the system has already made great progress. the course in the lower schools covers four years of study, and after that the pupils may enter one of the higher schools and study medicine, engineering, surveying, law, mechanical construction, and the like. those who can pay for their instruction may do so, but any pupil can enter whether he has money or not. those who do not pay are liable to be called into the government service, and many of them are assigned to teach in the lower schools. "'the american and english missionaries have schools in various parts of egypt, and have done a great deal toward the cause of education. for a long time they labored under many disadvantages; but of late years the government has recognized the importance of their services, and made large donations in lands and money for their schools. miss whately, the daughter of archbishop whately, has a school here in cairo, which she has established by her own exertions, for the purpose of educating the girls of the lower classes; she devotes her entire time to this work of charity, and i am happy to say that she is fully appreciated by the native as well as the foreign population. it is quite possible that the example of this self-sacrificing woman led the wife of the khedive to establish the schools already mentioned. [illustration: instruction at home.] "'probably the largest school in egypt,' the doctor continued, 'is the religious one attached to the mosque el-azhar. the building is of no great consequence as a work of architecture, as it consists of a series of porticos of different periods of construction; but it has long been celebrated as a university for moslem instruction, and has had an uninterrupted career of more than eight hundred years. "'it is not only the largest school in egypt, but probably the largest in the world, as it has more than ten thousand students.' [illustration: entrance to the el-azhar.] "ten thousand students in one school? "yes, ten thousand students; the last year for which i have seen the figures there were ten thousand seven hundred and eighty students, and three hundred and twenty-one professors. the students are from all parts of the world where the religion of mohammed prevails; but naturally the great majority of them are from egypt. they remain from three to six years at the university, and pay no fees for instruction. the professors have no salaries, but depend upon presents from the pupils who can afford to make them, and upon what they can earn by private teaching, writing letters, and similar work. the poor pupils support themselves in the same way. many of them sleep in the mosque, and the building has an apartment set aside for students from each country or province of egypt. there is a library for the use of students in each of these apartments, and the university formerly had a large revenue, but it was taken away by mohammed ali, and has never been restored. "'the instruction in the university is mostly religious. when his religious course is ended the student is instructed in law, which is always based on the koran; after that he devotes some attention to poetry, and, if any time remains, he may learn something of geometry, arithmetic, and other miscellaneous knowledge. many of the students stay in cairo, to become professors in the el-azhar or other schools; but those from foreign lands generally return home when their course of study is over, in order to give their own people the advantages of the superior wisdom they have acquired.'" [illustration: professors of the el-azhar.] chapter vii. the citadel.--the tombs of the caliphs.--the nilometer.--the rosetta stone. [illustration: the citadel, cairo, with mosque of mohammed ali.] doctor bronson told his young friends that the finest general view of cairo, and the surrounding region, was from the citadel, at the southern end of the city. they went there several times, generally a little while before sunset, and the impression they received is well described in the following letter from frank to his mother: [illustration: view from the citadel, cairo.] ".... the view from the hill where the citadel stands has been called the finest in the world, or certainly one of the finest, and in all our travels we do not remember anything that can surpass it. we stood on the platform of the mosque of mohammed ali, and had the great city of cairo spread at our feet. immediately below us was an open square, with groups of people and camels moving slowly about. just beyond was the beautiful mosque of sultan hassan, and beyond the mosque was the plain covered with cupolas and flat roofs, seamed with streets and avenues, dotted with waving palm-trees, and revealing open spaces here and there, to give diversity to the picture. beyond the city was the bright green of the rich valley of the nile. in front of us was the famous old river of egypt, like a broad, irregular belt of silver, reflecting the light of the setting sun, and forming a sharp contrast with the land through which it flows. across the green fields, which were stippled with the white walls of palaces or dotted with the brown villages of the peasants, our gaze rested on the yellow desert, backed by the libyan mountains which form the western horizon. from the edge of the desert the great pyramids rose in all their grandeur, and it was not difficult for us to realize their enormous proportions. from other points the pyramids had appeared to be almost on a level with the valley of the river, but as we viewed them from the citadel we could see that they stood on a rocky platform fully a hundred feet in height. "doctor bronson says every traveller should make his plans so as to come often to the citadel, and there can be no better time for the view than at sunset. in the morning there is liable to be a haze on the landscape, and at noon there is too much glare of light, especially when the eye is turned toward the desert. at sunset the colors of the egyptian sky are at their best. you may have wondered sometimes, when looking at pictures of egypt, whether there is really as much color as the artists give us. we can assure you that no painting we have yet seen is at all exaggerated, and if you could have a sunset view from the citadel of cairo you would fully agree with us. "the citadel was built by the great conqueror saladin, and stone for its construction was brought from the pyramids and from the ruins of memphis, a few miles farther up the river. the spot was not wisely chosen, as the hill is commanded by a higher one just back of it. on this latter hill mohammed ali placed his cannons, and compelled the surrender of the citadel, and consequently of cairo. there are two roads leading up to the citadel, one a broad carriage-way, and the other a narrow lane. we went by one and came by the other. in the latter--the narrow lane--the guide showed us a spot which has an historic interest, and perhaps you would like to hear about it: "there was a body of soldiers in egypt called the mamelukes, and they ruled the country for several centuries. they chose the governors of the provinces, and could place one of their number on the throne at any time they wished; in fact, they controlled the country, and the nominal ruler was obliged to do as they wished. when napoleon came here in they fought him in the famous battle of the pyramids, and were defeated; many of them were killed, and others fled to upper egypt, but enough remained to give trouble. when mohammed ali came to egypt, after the french had been driven out by the english, the mamelukes made him understand that he could do nothing without them. he soon determined to do something with them, and get rid of their interference. "he sent invitations for the chiefs--four hundred and seventy in all--to come to the citadel on the first day of march, , to a grand banquet, where they would discuss the plans for a campaign into nubia. they came at the appointed hour, and assembled in the narrow lane i told you of, waiting for the upper gate to open. when they were all in the lane the lower gate was shut, and there they were in a trap! then the albanian soldiers of mohammed ali began to fire on the mamelukes from the loop-holes and the top of the walls. all were killed except one man, enim bey, who made his horse leap through a gap in the wall. the horse was killed by the fall, but his rider's life was saved. this was the end of the power of the mamelukes in egypt. "fred says mohammed ali reminds him of the spanish warrior who said, on his death-bed, "'i leave no enemies behind me; i've shot them all!' "the mosque, which was begun by mohammed ali and finished by his successors, is on the site of the palace erected by saladin. it is built of alabaster, from the quarries up the nile, and though faulty in many points of its architecture, is an interesting structure. it is sometimes called the 'alabaster mosque,' and as we went through it our admiration was excited by the richness of the materials of which it is composed. the tomb of mohammed ali is in one corner of the building, and is surrounded with a handsome railing, but there is nothing remarkable about the tomb itself. close by the mosque is the palace; but it is in a half-ruined condition, and contains only a few rooms worth visiting. "we went to joseph's well, which is a shaft nearly three hundred feet deep in the limestone rock; the tradition is that it is the well into which joseph was cast by his brethren, but it probably gets its name from 'yoosef,' which was the other name of saladin the conqueror. there was a well here when saladin built the citadel, but it was choked with sand, and the great ruler ordered it to be cleared out and made useful. it is probable that the well was originally made by the ancient egyptians, and, if so, it may be the one into which joseph was cast by his brethren. there is a sakkieh for raising water in this well, but it is of little importance at present, as the citadel is now supplied by means of a steam-pump." [illustration: the tombs of the caliphs.] from the citadel our friends went to "the tombs of the caliphs," which extend along the east side of the city, and are conveniently reached by the bab-el-nasr. they are supposed to be the burial-places of the caliphs or sultans who ruled from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century. some of them are or were magnificent structures, while others are comparatively plain in appearance. down to the beginning of this century they had large revenues for keeping them in repair, and were guarded by the descendants of the sheiks and their followers, who had charge of them during their days of glory. their revenues were taken away by mohammed ali, and since the time of that ruthless despot the custodians of the tombs have lived by what they could beg from visitors. beyond the citadel is a similar necropolis, called "the tombs of the mamelukes." evidently the buildings were erected, in most instances, without regard to cost, and before they began to decay they were to be ranked among the triumphs of moslem architecture. some of the domes and minarets are still magnificent, particularly those marking the resting-place of sultan barkuk and keit bey. the latter is considered the finest of all, and is the one most frequently drawn or painted by artists. [illustration: the tomb of keit bey.] the boys paid a second visit to the tomb of keit bey, and carried along their sketching materials. they found the architecture more difficult to represent than they had supposed, and frank made two or three attempts at the graceful minaret before he succeeded in satisfying himself. the minaret is one of the finest in cairo; it rises from a corner of the building, and has three stages or balconies, which diminish as they approach the top. the summit is shaped like a pear, and is usually disfigured with poles, from which flags are hung on days of festivals. the dome bears a marked resemblance to that of the taj mahal at agra, in india, and terminates in a sharp spire instead of the conventional half-moon that generally surmounts a moslem edifice. while frank was busy with the structure, fred made a sketch of several camels that were halted in front of the famous mausoleum, and the work of the two youths was afterward united into a single picture. an early day was devoted to the museum of egyptian antiquities at boulak, a suburb of cairo, and practically a part of the city. an excursion was made to old cairo, and from there by ferry to the island of rhoda. on the latter is the famous nilometer, or instrument for measuring the depth of water in the nile; it is a square well, connected with the river, so that the water can freely rise and fall within it. in the centre of the well is a stone column, marked like a scale, with the old arabic measures: the _dra_, or ell, was the unit of measurement, and was - / inches in length, divided into _kirat_. the height of the column is ells, or about feet, and the nile at its lowest point covers about ells of this length. when the water mounts to - / ells the river is considered full, and the whole valley of the lower nile can be inundated. the embankments that restrain the water are then cut with a great many ceremonies, and the prospect of an abundant harvest causes general rejoicing. doctor bronson explained to the youths that the taxation each year was based on the height of the water at the inundation, and the nilometer was the official evidence of the condition of the river. inscriptions on some of the monuments show that the ceremonies of cutting the banks were established as early as the fourteenth century before the christian era, and the taxation was based on the height of water in ancient times as at present. the nilometer was exclusively in charge of the priests, and the people were not allowed to see it. it was the object of the authorities to tax the people as heavily as possible, and there is good reason to believe that the priests made false statements concerning the height of the water, and no one could contradict them. the arab and turkish rulers did the same thing, and the practice is continued to the present time; at the period of the inundation the nilometer is closed to the public, and every one must depend upon the figures of the officer in charge. as he owes his position to the government, it is pretty certain that he does what the government desires, and reports the river at the highest figure whether it is so or not. the guide pointed out the spot at the end of the island where the infant moses was found by the daughter of pharaoh. the boys thought the place was pretty enough for the historical event to have occurred there, but were in some doubt as to the correctness of the guide's information. [illustration: the ferry at old cairo.] before the construction of the bridge over the nile the principal crossing of the river was by the ferry at old cairo. at present it is not so much in use; but there is yet a considerable business transacted there, and the stranger will generally find a crowd of men and camels waiting to be taken to the other side. the evening previous to the visit to the museum at boulak was devoted to a study of the history of ancient egypt, so that the youths would have an understanding of the interesting collection of antiquities in that establishment. at the doctor's suggestion frank and fred wrote a brief account of what they had learned, and placed it on the pages of their journal. here is what they prepared: [illustration: the dress of an egyptian king. form of crown and aprons.] "the history of ancient egypt is full of interest, and has been a subject of a great deal of study by many learned writers. herodotus, who has been called 'the father of history,' and flourished in the fifth century before the christian era, was the first of these writers, and some of the discoveries of the present time have been based on his records. another greek writer, manetho, lived two centuries later than herodotus, but, unfortunately, the greater part of his works have not come down to us. a large part of the history of ancient egypt has been obtained from the inscriptions on the walls of the temples and tombs, and from the writings upon papyrus scrolls, and the linen in which mummies were rolled. in modern times there have been many explorers and writers who have devoted years of study to the subject, and consequently we know more of ancient egypt than of any other country of antiquity. if you wish to know more than we can tell you now about the people that lived here four thousand years ago, we refer you to the works of wilkinson, poole, mariette, lepsius, belzoni, bunsen, brugsch, and many others. there are books enough on egypt to keep you busy a whole year, and perhaps two years, just to read them through. we are reading 'the ancient egyptians,' by sir gardner wilkinson, and find it very interesting. [illustration: menes.] "the first king of egypt that we know about was menes, who founded the city of memphis. there is a difference of opinion among the writers as to the date when he existed; wilkinson, poole, and others say he lived about b.c., bunsen says it was b.c., and mariette thinks it was b.c. the reason why they make this difference is because some of them believe the dynasties, or families of kings, of ancient egypt succeeded one another, while others believe some of them ruled at the same time in different parts of the country. the difference between the 'successive' and the 'contemporaneous' theories, when you add up the periods of all the dynasties, is more than two thousand years. down to the seventeenth dynasty the figures are uncertain; from the seventeenth to the twenty-first it is agreed that the dynasties were successive, but there is some difference about their dates; while from the twenty-first dynasty to the christian era there is no dispute. "perhaps this is dry reading; if so, you had better go over it carefully, and then skip. "whether king menes lived seven or five thousand years ago makes very little difference to us, and probably to him, as he is dead now. to avoid confusion we will take the theory of wilkinson, and suppose it was only five thousand years ago that the first dynasty began. that will seem more neighborly, and bring us so near to menes that we can almost imagine we knew him personally. just think of it--only five thousand years ago! "some of the dynasties of ancient egypt lasted two hundred years and more, while others were much less, the shortest dynasty being seventy days. during the fourth dynasty, which lasted two hundred years, the pyramids of gizeh were built (about b.c.). in the twelfth dynasty many monuments and temples were erected, and many of the famous tombs were made; abraham, and afterward joseph, came to egypt, and several important events of egyptian history belong to this dynasty. the eighteenth dynasty lasted nearly two hundred and fifty years (in the sixteenth, fifteenth, and fourteenth centuries b.c.), and was the most brilliant of all the periods of ancient egypt. thebes and other cities were in the height of their glory, the armies made great conquests, the temples at karnak and thebes were built, and the obelisks that are to-day the wonder of the world were brought from syene, and erected where they could attest the power of the rulers of the land. the inscriptions on the monuments say that during the reign of thothmes iii., one of the kings of the eighteenth dynasty, 'egypt placed her frontier where she pleased.' [illustration: rameses ii., from an inscription.] "during the nineteenth dynasty one king, rameses ii. (or 'the great'), reigned sixty-seven years, and left many monuments that remain to this day. one of his predecessors in the same dynasty, sethi i., built several magnificent temples, and made the first canal from the nile to the red sea. the flight of the israelites from bondage occurred in this dynasty during the reign of meneptah. he is generally known in history as the pharaoh of the exodus; and it is well to explain here that pharaoh was the egyptian word for 'king,' and is properly prefixed to the name of the ruler. the egyptians would say 'pharaoh rameses,' 'pharaoh necho,' and the like, just as we say 'king george,' or 'king charles.' [illustration: meneptah, the supposed pharaoh of the exodus.] "in the twenty-seventh dynasty egypt was taken by the persians, and held by them one hundred and twenty years. then the egyptians made a successful rebellion, and drove out their oppressors till the thirty-first dynasty, when the persians came back again. in the thirty-second dynasty ( b.c.) alexander the great conquered egypt, and founded alexandria. the greeks ruled the country for three hundred years, till the time of cleopatra, at the beginning of the christian era (thirty-fourth dynasty), when it became a roman province, and what is called 'ancient egypt' came to an end. as we are not concerned now with modern egypt, we will close our historical record and take breath." with this brief outline of the history of ancient egypt in their minds the boys were able to make an intelligent observation of the museum at boulak. on their way thither the doctor gave them a history of the museum which owed its existence to the labors of mariette bey.[ ] [ ] it was the good fortune of the author of this volume to form the acquaintance of mariette bey in egypt, in , and to meet him again in paris a few years later. the death of this eminent archæologist is greatly regretted by all students of the history of ancient egypt. [illustration: the name of egypt in hieroglyphics.] "in the early half of this century," said the doctor, "many of the tombs of the ancient egyptians were explored, and their contents carried away to the museums of europe. in the french government sent an officer, auguste edouard mariette, to examine the ruins of memphis. his mission was successful, as he discovered the serapeum, or tombs of the sacred bulls, and opened one of the principal temples of the long-ruined city. in the egyptian government appointed him director of the department for the preservation of egyptian antiquities, with the title of bey, and gave him a liberal allowance of money for carrying on his work. through his efforts an order was made forbidding the exportation of antiquities, and establishing a museum near cairo for their preservation. so much has been found that the museum at boulak has been filled, and a new and larger building has been erected on the opposite side of the nile, to which the collection will be transferred. many interesting discoveries have been made, and every year reveals something new. much light has been thrown on the history of ancient egypt, and many questions that were formerly matters of dispute have been set at rest. it is safe to say that we have learned more about ancient egypt through the labors of mariette bey than through those of all other explorers combined, with the possible exception of champollion." [illustration: ptolemy in hieroglyphics.] frank asked who champollion was, and what he discovered. "i know," said fred; "he discovered the rosetta stone, and told what was written on it." [illustration: the rosetta stone, with specimen lines from the inscription.] "he did not discover the rosetta stone," the doctor answered, "but he translated it. the stone was found at rosetta, in , by a french engineer, and when the english came to egypt they sent it to the british museum. it was a slab, with an inscription upon it in three languages. "previous to that time nobody could make anything out of the egyptian hieroglyphics; there were plenty of them, but no one was able to read a syllable, or even a letter. a key was wanted, and champollion found it in the rosetta stone. "the inscription was in three languages, one of them being greek, and the other two the hieroglyphic and demotic, or common language of the ancient egyptians. the greek inscription proved to be a decree of one of the ptolemies, about the beginning of the christian era. the name of the king occurred several times, and champollion observed that certain characters appeared at about the same intervals in the hieroglyphic and demotic versions as the royal title in the greek. with this as a starting-point he went to work and built up a grammar and dictionary of the language of ancient egypt. he found the key that had been missing for nearly two thousand years--the key to unlock the mysteries of the language of the people who built the pyramids and the great temples at thebes. "it is no wonder that the rosetta stone is considered one of the most precious treasures of the british museum, and that the name of champollion is revered by every student of history. "i cannot give you a better definition of the forms of writing among the egyptians than by quoting the words of mr. prime. 'there were,' he says, 'three styles of manuscript and sculpture--hieroglyphic, hieratic, and demotic. the first was a language of complete pictures, the second of outlines derived from the first, and the third was the character for the people--a species of running-hand derived from the others. the first was the style of the monumental sculptures; the second of the priestly writings; the third was for the ordinary transactions of the people.' [illustration: specimens of the three forms of writing used by the egyptians.] "and here," said the doctor, as he opened a book and exhibited a page with some characters upon it, "we have specimens of the three languages, one taken from the walls of a temple, and the other two from rolls of papyrus." the boys looked at the printed page, and readily distinguished the difference between the three kinds of writing. while they were discussing its curious features the carriage halted in front of the entrance to the museum, and the dialogue was suspended. [illustration: dedication of the pylon of a temple.] chapter viii. wonders of the egyptian museum of antiquities. boulak is the port of cairo, as the great city does not stand on the banks of the nile, but a couple of miles away from it. before the days of the railway boulak was a place of considerable importance, as it was the point of arrival and departure for the steamers plying between cairo and alexandria, and at the present day it is the station for steamers ascending the nile. it was chosen as the site of the museum of antiquities on account of the convenience of landing statues and other heavy objects directly from the boats that had brought them down the river, and the museum was erected on the very bank of the stream. but the position was found insecure, on account of the tendency of the nile to change its channel, and for several years the safety of the treasures accumulated under the direction of mariette bey has been seriously threatened. [illustration: egyptian sculptors at work.] our friends passed through the gate-way, and found themselves in a garden filled with large statues and sphinxes. their attention was attracted to the colossal statue of a king in a sitting posture, and close to it were several sphinxes. the doctor explained that the figure represented one of the kings of the twelfth dynasty. some of the sphinxes came from karnak, and once formed part of the great avenue leading to the temple, while others were from tanis and sakkara. the statue of the king was of solid granite and admirably carved, leaving no doubt that the egyptians were well advanced in the art of the sculptor. on the walls of the temples at karnak there are several pictures that show how the makers of royal statues performed their work, and the methods in vogue seem to have been almost identical with those of modern sculptors. we have neither time nor space for describing all that our friends saw in the museum, and can only refer to the objects of greatest importance. as they had talked about the rosetta stone, and the key it gave to the translation of the language of the ancient egyptians, the doctor led the way to the "tablet of tanis," in the first hall of the museum, and told the youths to observe it closely. "it is," he explained, "a more perfect stone than the one found at rosetta, as it is in a fine state of preservation, while the rosetta one was badly defaced. here is a decree in three languages--greek, hieroglyphic, and demotic--and the translation confirms the correctness of champollion's theory, which i have already explained. it was found in by doctor lepsius, and you see that it is regarded of great importance, as it is framed and covered with glass to protect it from possible injury." frank asked what was the language of the decree, and how old it was. "according to the translation," said doctor bronson, "it was made by an assembly of priests in the temple of canopus, on the th of march, b.c. it praises the king for having brought back the image of the gods from asia, gained many victories, established peace, and averted famine by importing corn; and it ordains that festivals shall be held in all the temples of egypt in honor of princess berenice, who died a short time before the date of the assembly. the inscription closes with a declaration that the decree shall be engraved on stone in three languages, just as you see it here, and there is no doubt that the stone we are looking at was prepared in obedience to this order." [illustration: wooden statue found at sakkara.] in another room the doctor halted in front of a wooden statue, and waited for the youths to fix their attention upon it. they were not long in doing so, nor in expressing their admiration for its wonderfully life-like appearance. when they had looked at it a few moments the doctor explained what it was. "it is probably the oldest wooden statue in existence," said he, "and some persons think it is the oldest statue of any kind in the world. it represents a _sheik el belyd_, or village chief, and was found in a tomb at sakkara. mariette bey says it belongs to the fourth dynasty, and is not far from six thousand years old." "six thousand years old!" said both the youths in a breath. "yes, six thousand years old," was the answer; "but, as i told you, there was a difference of opinion among the egyptologists; it may be more modern than that, and not over four thousand years old." "even if it is only four thousand," responded frank, "it is antique enough to be very interesting." "yes," the doctor continued, "we needn't trouble ourselves about a matter of twenty centuries. we will split the difference, and call it five thousand years." "how life-like it looks!" exclaimed fred. "it almost appears as if it were ready to speak to us. and what an expression about the eyes!" "the eyes are unequalled in any modern statue," said the doctor. "you observe that they are set in rims of bronze, which serve for eyelids; the eye itself is made of opaque quartz, like ground glass, and there is a piece of rock-crystal in the centre, which forms the pupil. if you look closely you see a glittering point below the crystal, which makes the eye sparkle as though its owner were about to smile. there is nothing of modern times that equals it." one of the boys asked if the statue was in the condition in which it was found. the doctor said the feet had been restored, so that the figure could be placed upright, and the stick in the left hand was modern. "in all other respects," said he, "the statue is just as it was found, and it is a rule of the museum to keep everything as nearly as possible in its original condition." other statues were examined, and at length the boys stopped in front of a case containing several small articles of wood and stone. "what are these things?" said frank, pointing to one corner of the case. "and these? and these?" said fred, as his eye wandered from one thing to another. [illustration: wooden dolls.] "they are mostly toys for children," the doctor answered. "you see that the ancient egyptians tried to amuse their little ones just as parents in america try to do to-day." [illustration: children's toys.] the collection of toys was an interesting one. here was a rude figure of a man supposed to be washing, or kneading dough, and he was made to move his hands up and down an inclined board by means of a string, like a "jumping-jack" of to-day. a wooden crocodile was there, with his under-jaw moving up and down at the will of the child who owned it, and there were several wooden dolls, some well modelled, and others painted in brilliant colors, intended to catch the juvenile eye. the sight of the toys naturally brought up a question relative to the games played by the ancient egyptians. [illustration: positions in playing ball.] [illustration: balls of leather and porcelain.] "there is abundant evidence," the doctor remarked, "that the egyptians were familiar with many games which are popular at the present time. we are not aware that they had base-ball clubs five thousand years ago, and there is no proof that they went about the country playing for 'gate-money;' but that they used to play ball we know very well from the pictures on the walls of the tombs, and from sculptures elsewhere. and, furthermore, the balls they played with have been found at thebes, some of them covered with leather like our own, and stuffed with bran or corn-husks, or of stalks of rushes plaited together into a solid mass. there were also balls covered with strips of leather of different colors, as we have them to day, and several have been found of glazed earthen-ware, on which the colors were laid before the ball was baked. [illustration: playing ball mounted.] "the positions they took in playing ball are the same that you will see at base-ball matches in america. there is one picture of a curious game, in which it was the custom for some of the players to mount on the backs of the others, probably on account of the latter failing to catch the ball when it was thrown at them, or for some other forfeit. they also had the trick of throwing two or more balls in the air and catching them, just as you see jugglers performing in our own time. if you want to believe that there is nothing new under the sun, you will go a long way toward it by studying the life and manners of the egyptians of the days that are gone. [illustration: playing checkers.] "they had the game of draughts or checkers almost identical with the one we play to-day. they did not play at cards, so far as we know. in fact, cards were invented in comparatively modern days, and the tradition is that they were originally made for the amusement of an insane king. the egyptians had the game of "mora," and from them it probably descended to the italians, with whom it is a national amusement. they were skilful in what we call 'the indian club exercise,' and one of the pictures represents men raising heavy weights, after the manner of the professors of gymnastics in new york or chicago. sometimes they used bags of sand instead of clubs or stones, but the result was the same in each case--an exhibition of strength. [illustration: sand-bag exercise.] "there are pictures that show bull-fights and rowing-matches, together with other amusements of the same sort. wrestlers were as numerous as they are to-day, and probably quite as skilful, and endowed with similar strength; but we have nothing to prove to us that they travelled with the circus, or that an egyptian barnum existed with his wonderful hippodrome. many of the wrestlers were women, and some of the pictures represent them showing feats of strength of which the men might be proud." [illustration: a bull-fight.] from the room of the toys our friends wandered to another which contained, among other things, several mummies, together with the cases in which they had reposed. some of the mummies were wholly and others only partially unrolled, and the boys eagerly examined the remains of the ancient inhabitants of the land. while they were doing so, doctor bronson explained the process by which bodies were preserved by the egyptians, and their reasons for devoting so much time and attention to the preservation of the dead. [illustration: goddesses of truth and justice.] "the ancient egyptians," said he, "had a great many gods: the list is so long that it would not be worth while to name them all, as you could not remember them; and, besides, it would take more time than we have to spare. each of the gods had distinct attributes, and was represented in a form unlike the others; some of them had the heads of birds, beasts, or reptiles, but their bodies were of human shape. they are thus represented on the walls of temples, and the evidences are that the ignorant classes believed the gods had the shapes ascribed to them. there was one supreme deity who had power over all the other gods, and his shape was not represented. the egyptians believed in the immortality of the soul, in the responsibility of every one for his individual acts, and in a future state of rewards and punishments. [illustration: the name of apis, an egyptian god, in hieroglyphics.] "they believed that the soul after death took its flight from the body and passed to another world, where it was judged according to its deeds, and received its proper punishment or reward. in course of time it could return to the body it had inhabited, and the length of the period of absence was determined by the god before whom it had been brought to be judged. of course no one was expected to know the length of the separation of soul and body. it was certain to be for a long period (not less than three thousand years), and therefore it was necessary to preserve the body from decay. this, in brief, is the outline of the religion of the ancient egyptians, and the reason of their careful preservation of the bodies of their friends. [illustration: king and queen offering to the gods.] "as the possessor of the greatest wealth the king was more carefully embalmed than his humble subjects; the process of embalming was a secret with certain classes of men, and its professors were looked upon with great respect. the whole work occupied seventy days, and consisted in preserving the body by means of strong salts, and the application of various kinds of aromatic spices, peppers, and the like. the bodies of the rich were carefully wrapped in fine linen, and sometimes hundreds of yards were used for a single operation. the fingers and toes were separately wrapped, and at each turn of the linen aromatic oils were poured on the cloth so as to saturate it thoroughly. a wooden case, into which the body fitted closely, was made for it, and covered with a history of his life, or with extracts from the 'book of the dead.' another case was placed outside the first, and the whole was then enclosed in a stone coffin or sarcophagus. then, with suitable ceremonies, the mummy was laid away to await the day of the return of the spirit, and the consequent resurrection." [illustration: different forms of mummy cases.] while the doctor was making this explanation the boys were examining the mummy that lay before them. he was a very quiet mummy, and made no objection to being handled, though the case was different with the attendant in charge of the place. the latter intimated that visitors were not expected to touch anything they saw, but if they wished to look into the box he would open it for them. the hint was taken, and a franc slipped into his hand; the result was our friends had the pleasure of examining the specimen to their complete satisfaction. [illustration: transporting a mummy on a sledge.] there was an odor of gums and spices as the box was opened, but it was not by any means overpowering. the doctor said the substances had lost a good deal of their strength in three thousand years, and it was a wonder that any odor at all was perceptible. some of the linen wrappings had been unwound, so that portions of the dried flesh of the mummy were perceptible. it resembled wood in a state of decay more than anything else, and a very brief inspection was all that our friends cared for. the inscription on the lid of the case was more interesting than was the occupant within, and fred remarked that the mummy must have been a person of great consequence to need so much door-plate on the outside. "and to think," he added, "that he was shut up for thirty centuries, and had no friends to call and see him!" [illustration: goddess of truth, with her eyes closed.] frank repeated some lines which were originally addressed to a mummy in belzoni's museum, in london, many years ago: "and thou hast walked about--how strange a story!-- in thebes's streets, three thousand years ago. when the memnonium was in all its glory, and time had not begun to overthrow those temples, palaces, and piles stupendous, of which the very ruins are tremendous. "speak! for thou long enough hast acted dummy. thou hast a tongue--come, let us hear its tune. thou'rt standing on thy legs above-ground, mummy, revisiting the glimpses of the moon; not like pale ghosts or disembodied creatures, but with thy bones, and legs, and limbs, and features. "tell us, for doubtless thou canst recollect, to whom should we ascribe the sphinx's fame? was cheops or cephrenes architect of either pyramid that bears his name? was pompey's pillar really a misnomer? had thebes a hundred gates, as sung by homer?" "good-bye, sweetheart, good-bye!" said fred, as frank paused, and the doctor turned away from the relic of other days. [illustration: lady's head-dress on a mummy case.] "you're wrong there," said the doctor; "he has not a sweet heart, but a solid one." turning to the attendant, he asked him in french to show the scarabæus and other things that came from the mummy at the time the case was opened. [illustration: rings, bracelets, and scarabÆi.] the attendant pointed to a glass case close at hand, containing some necklaces, and representations of beetles carved in stone. among them was a scarabæus, or beetle, in jasper (one of the hardest stones in the world), about three inches long and two in width. the rounded portion represented the back of a beetle with the wings folded, while the flat surface beneath was covered with hieroglyphics, with an oval line drawn around them. [illustration: stone scarabÆus with wings.] "the scarabæus," said the doctor, "was the symbol of resurrection among the ancient egyptians, and hence we find it very frequently used about the mummies, and the places where they were laid away to rest. this large one was deposited in place of the heart of our desiccated friend in the box, and these necklaces, principally composed of scarabæi, were around his neck. this flat one lay upon his breast in direct contact with the flesh; the circle in the centre represents the sun; on each side of it is the asp, a snake that was sacred to one of the gods, and the outstretched wings on either side are to indicate the power of the soul to take flight from the body. the egyptians had some process of cutting stone that is unknown to us, as the carving of these scarabæi, in the hardest materials as we find them, would defy the skill of modern lapidaries." after a general survey of the contents of the case the party moved to another room, where a quantity of gold and silver ornaments were conspicuously displayed. [illustration: jeweller with blow-pipe.] as they halted in front of the collection, the doctor explained that the jewels they were looking at were found in the coffin (and with the mummy) of aah-hotep--a queen who is supposed to have been the wife of one of the kings of the eighteenth dynasty. the show-case of a modern jeweller could not have been more attractive, and the boys were enchanted with the beauty of the articles displayed as well as with the exquisite workmanship. [illustration: egyptian goldsmiths (from a painting at thebes).] there was a bracelet with gold figures engraved on blue glass, in imitation of lapis lazuli; there was a large bracelet, hinged in the centre, representing a vulture, its wings composed of bits of lapis lazuli, carnelian, and green glass, in a gold setting, and its back ornamented with lines of small turquoises; and there was a gold chain nearly three feet long, with a scarabæus at the end. this chain, with the other treasures of the queen, was exhibited at the paris exposition of , and attracted much attention. it is composed of links curiously woven and twisted together, and a committee of french jewellers who examined it said that if it were broken they did not believe there was a jeweller of modern days who could properly mend it! and to think that this chain was made many centuries ago! [illustration: golden baskets (from the tomb of rameses iii).] we have not time to describe all the wonderful things in the case of aah-hotep, nor in the other cases near it. our friends lingered long among the treasures of the museum, and when the shadows indicated the hour for closing, and the attendants hinted that the official day was at an end, they were in no mood for departure. they all agreed that hereafter they should hold the ancient egyptians in great respect, and regretted that the arts and accomplishments they seem to have possessed are, in great measure, lost to the world. [illustration: dresses of women of ancient egypt.] chapter ix. the pyramids of gizeh and sakkara.--memphis and the apis mausoleum. the day after the visit to the museum was devoted to an excursion to the pyramids. an early start was made, so as to have all the time possible for seeing the great works which bear the names of cheops and cephren. down to a few years ago the traveller on his way to the pyramids was obliged to cross the nile by ferry, and make his land journey on foot or on the back of a donkey. but at present the bridge over the river at boulak, and the carriage-road all the way to the foot of the pyramids, have made the excursion comparatively easy. a ride of two hours suffices, as the distance is not over ten or twelve miles, and the route is along the level ground of the nile valley. the last two or three hundred yards must usually be made on foot, as the sand covers the road, and makes the progress of a carriage exceedingly difficult, even when empty. the sand is drifted by the action of the wind, exactly as snow is whirled in the northern states of america, and sometimes drifts will form in a few hours several feet in depth. [illustration: camels and their burdens.] the boys looked with interest on the troops of camels they met, just after leaving cairo, carrying great loads of freshly-cut grass for feeding the donkeys and other beasts of burden in the city. although the roads were good, the natives seemed to prefer the old ways of transportation, and almost the only vehicles to be seen were the carriages carrying visitors to the pyramids. as they drew nearer, our friends began to realize the great height of those structures; while they were yet an hour's drive from their base, it seemed to frank and fred that they would be there in ten or fifteen minutes. the optical illusion was partly due to the clear atmosphere, and partly to the immensity of the piles of stone. there was a house two stories high close to one of the pyramids; it seemed a mere speck against the great mass, and revealed the contrast more plainly than could be done in words. it was like placing a cigar-box in front of an ordinary dwelling, and comparing the one with the other. [illustration: old mode of transport on the nile.] a mile or two from the pyramids they passed some villages of natives; two or three dozen arabs swarmed from these villages and surrounded the carriage, keeping even pace with its progress, no matter how fast the horses went. they had an eye to making something out of the strangers, and were quite indifferent to suggestions that their company was not wanted. [illustration: near view of the pyramids.] we will let the youths tell the story of their visit to the pyramids: "when we reached the stone platform at the base of the pyramids the driver unharnessed his horses and removed the pole from his carriage. the arabs gathered about us to assist in making the ascent, and they proved the most persistent and annoying rascals we have yet seen. the hackmen and their kindred at niagara falls are politeness itself compared with the arabs at the pyramids. "there is a sheik or chief of the arabs, and he expects two shillings from each visitor who ascends the pyramids, and two more if he goes inside. for this sum he furnishes two men to assist you; half a dozen will offer to go, but two are enough. if you are liable to be thirsty, it is well to employ a boy to carry a _gargolet_ (or bottle) of water, and you may also let him carry your overcoat. "there are three pyramids in the group at gizeh, and they are called respectively, in order of size, the great, the second, and the third. the great pyramid is the one usually ascended by visitors; in fact, it is the only one they ascend, as it the highest; and, besides, the ascent of the others is much more dangerous. perhaps you will wonder why it is so. "when the pyramids were finished, they were covered with a casing of red granite, which was fitted into the steps between the blocks of limestone; the limestone came from the quarries on the other side of the river, but the red granite was brought from assouan, at the first cataract of the nile, and was consequently much more costly than the other material. when cairo was founded and built, much of the stone needed for it was taken from the pyramids, and from the ruins of memphis; all the granite casing of the first pyramid was removed, and some of that of the second, but enough remains on the latter to make the ascent quite difficult. "as soon as a bargain had been made, and the men were selected to accompany us, we started up the north-east corner of the huge pile. the blocks of stone are so large that the ascent is by a series of steps from two to four feet high, rarely less than three feet. imagine a long stairway, with steps as high as an ordinary dining-table, and remember that you must gain an elevation of four hundred and eighty feet before your journey is ended. the arabs go ahead of you, indicating the points where you are to put your feet, and pulling you up by the arms. we reached the top in about fifteen minutes, and then the whole crowd of arabs gave a loud hurrah, and demanded pay for it. "originally the pyramid had a sharp apex, but it has been torn away, so that the top is now an irregular platform, about thirty feet square, and makes a comfortable resting-place after the fatigue of the ascent. we were tired enough when we got there, and quite willing to sit down. the arabs kept bothering us for money, and would give us no peace till we told the men who accompanied us that we would give them a good backsheesh on condition that they kept all the rest away from us, and if they failed to do so they would not have a penny. the plan worked very fairly, but did not save us altogether from annoyance. "we were disappointed with the view from the top, and this is said to be the case with most travellers. there was the desert on one side, and the rich valley of the nile on the other; to the eastward, and across the river, were the walls of cairo, with the mokattam and other hills behind it; on the south was the valley of the river, with the double line of desert closing in upon it; while to the north was the delta, spreading out toward the mediterranean, and contrasting sharply with the clear blue sky above it. [illustration: the battle of the pyramids.--"forty centuries look down on you."] "the walls and domes and minarets of cairo gave an oriental aspect to the view in that direction, and told us, if nothing else had been needed to do so, that we were in the land of the moslem. but the most noticeable thing in the landscape was the contrast between the desert and the delta--between the most fertile soil in the world and the most barren. there is no middle ground; at one place lies the richest of all rich earths, and six inches away it is the driest and most unproductive sand. you may sit at the dividing line, and while you rest one hand on the dark green carpet of grass growing from the black alluvium, you can gather the gray sand with the other. it is the perfection of fertility on one side, and the perfection of desolation on the other. probably there is not, nor can there be, anywhere else in the world a sharper contrast in a picture drawn by nature. "the doctor had a magnifying-glass in his pocket, and we looked at some of the sand with it. it is not composed of angular fragments with sharp corners, such as you will see in the sand which you dig from the ground at home, but every particle is worn as smooth as the marbles that boys play with, or as the 'cobble-stones' with which our streets are paved. many centuries of attrition under the winds of africa have done the work. "do you want to know how large the great pyramid is? "well, it is about seven hundred and forty feet square, and four hundred and eighty feet high. it covers an area of nearly thirteen acres, and contains eighty-nine million cubic feet of stone. what do you suppose you could do with that amount of stone? [illustration: egyptian captives employed at hard labor.] "you could build a wall four feet high and two feet thick--a good wall for a farm or yard--all the way from new york to salt lake city; in round figures, two thousand miles! if you wanted a good solid wall, twelve feet high and four feet thick, from cincinnati to st. louis (three hundred and forty miles), you would find the stone for it in this great pyramid! and if new york city is in danger of an attack, and wants to surround the whole of manhattan island (twenty-one miles around) with a wall forty feet high and twenty feet thick, here is the material to do it with. and remember that all this stone was hewn from the quarries, and moved and set up, centuries before the power of steam was known! [illustration: removing stone from the quarries.] "of course we asked the doctor to tell us how the pyramids were built, but he says it is a conundrum he cannot answer. various engineers have made theories as to the mode of building the pyramids; but no sooner does one demonstrate how the work was done than somebody else shows how the theory is incorrect. doctor bronson says it is generally conceded that the egyptians must have had a knowledge of some mechanical power of which we are ignorant. one of the most convenient theories is, that as fast as a course of stone was laid, the earth was heaped up so as to form an inclined plane or road, and that this road was repeatedly increased till the top was reached. then, as the top was finished, and the granite casing placed in position, the earth was taken away, and the pyramid stood out in all its glory. "but we've kept you waiting while we talked about the size of the pyramid. we've been resting from the fatigue of the ascent, so you must not be impatient. "one of the arabs proposed to run from where we were to the top of the second pyramid in ten minutes; it seemed impossible for him to do it, but on our offering him five francs he started. how he jumped down from block to block, ran across the open space, and then mounted to the top of the second pyramid! of course he has been practising every day, at least during the season of visitors, and knows just what he can do. the doctor says this is one of the regular performances of the arabs at the pyramids; everybody who has written about the place in the last fifty years speaks of it, and the only reason why herodotus does not mention it is that in his day it was impossible to ascend the pyramids, their granite casing being complete and uninjured, and there were no arabs in existence. these arabs are the most impudent fellows in the world, and herodotus didn't lose anything by their absence. they have always had a bad reputation, and not unfrequently have been guilty of downright robbery; their demands for backsheesh are extremely insolent, and if they do not always threaten violence with words, they do so in their manner. "the man who built the pyramid was not there to meet us; he has been dead some time, how long we don't know exactly, but it is a good while. according to history the great pyramid was built by cheops, one of the kings of memphis, who belonged to the fourth dynasty, and ruled fifty years; mariette assigns him to b.c., and wilkinson to b.c. either date allows him plenty of time to be dead, and for the correctness of napoleon's remark to his soldiers at the battle of the pyramids, 'forty centuries look down upon you!' three hundred thousand men were employed twenty years in its construction, and some authorities say it was not completed till after cheops's death. when he had passed through the hands of the embalmers his mummy was taken to the inside of the pyramid, to the chamber prepared for it, and there stowed away. let's go and see where it was. [illustration: cutting and squaring blocks of stone.] "we descend the pyramid by the way we came, and in another quarter of an hour are on the ground again. then we walk about half-way along the north face of the pyramid and some distance up the side to a hole about three and a half feet square, descending at an angle of twenty-six degrees. it is hot and wearisome to go inside the pyramid, and most persons say it is much worse than the ascent to the top. we go about sixty feet down an incline, then ascend at the same angle nearly three hundred feet, and finally come to an apartment called the king's chamber; it measures thirty-four feet by seventeen, and is about nineteen feet high. the sides are of polished granite, and the only furniture is an empty coffin of stone, too large to be removed. "there is another room smaller than this directly beneath, and called the queen's chamber, and there are some other small rooms of no consequence. the dust chokes us, the heat threatens to melt us, the arabs keep up a frightful din--ten times as bad as they do outside--and altogether we are glad to get out again. "the arabs used to have the trick of taking away the lights, and leaving visitors in the black darkness, where they might easily become lunatics in a short time. they would stay away till they thought their victim was badly frightened, and then they shouted from the passage-way that they would only bring a light on condition of a heavy backsheesh. many a person has been robbed in this way, and not a season passes without an outrage of this sort. several times the government has been obliged to punish these rascals. they behave comparatively well for a short while after receiving punishment, but very soon they begin their outrages again. [illustration: section of the great pyramid.] "the passage by which we enter the pyramid continues at the same angle for more than three hundred feet, and it is so straight that you can see the sky from the farther end, as though looking through the tube of a telescope. it is said that the north star was visible through this passage-way two thousand years ago, but its position has changed so that it is now out of range. [illustration: the sphinx.] "from the pyramid we went to see the sphinx, which is about a quarter of a mile away in a south-easterly direction. it had originally the head of a man, the breast of a woman, and the body of a lion. but only the head and part of the back are now visible, the rest being covered by sand. by some it is thought to be as old as the great pyramid, or even older, while others believe it was made in the eighteenth dynasty, or long after the pyramids were built. the whole figure was hewn from the solid rock, and there was formerly a temple between the paws and directly beneath the head of the sphinx. "we walked around it, and one of us climbed up as far as he could without too much danger of a fall. it is an enormous head, as you will understand when we tell you that the width of the face is feet inches, the ear is - / feet long, the nose - / , and the mouth - / . from the top of the head to the pavement below was feet, and the length of the body is feet. it is feet from the top of the forehead to the bottom of the chin, and the front paws are feet long. don't these figures give you an idea of the grandeur of the sphinx? "how it has suffered in the five thousand years it has looked out on the unchanging landscape of egypt! large portions of the rock have been hewn away, or have broken off by the action of the elements on the soft limestone; but, worse yet, the great solemn face has been wantonly ruined by the hand of man. an arab fanatic tried to destroy it, then the mamelukes used it for a target for rifle practice, several explorers have dug into it, and the arabs of the present day have no hesitation in breaking off pieces of the head for any one who will pay for them. one of them climbed up to the face while we were there, and wanted to break off some fragments for us; but we told him to come down at once, as we would neither buy the pieces nor allow him to do any farther injury to the ancient monument, which is, next to the pyramids, the most interesting in this part of egypt. there were plenty of pieces on the ground in front of the sphinx, and we picked up a few of them to carry away as souvenirs of our visit. [illustration: the sphinx by moonlight.] "we went to a temple not far from the sphinx, which was discovered and excavated by mariette bey, but has since been partly filled by the drifting sand. it is built of red granite and alabaster, and is supposed to be as old as the sphinx, and to have some relation to its worship. the shaping and polishing of the hard granite is quite equal to that of any stone-cutter of the present day, and our admiration was excited at every step. a sitting figure of cephren, the builder of the second pyramid, was found in this temple, and is now in the museum at boulak. it was hewn from a single block of green breccia, or diorite, an exceedingly hard stone, and all the details of the work are as finely finished as that of the most careful sculptor in marble. eight other statues were found at the same time, and all bear evidence of the excellence of the egyptian workers in stone four or five thousand years ago. "we visited two or three tombs in the neighborhood of the sphinx, but after what we had seen they were not especially interesting. the whole stone platform where the pyramids stand is full of tombs; but they have all been examined and their contents removed. [illustration: egyptian captives making bricks.] "we carried our lunch with us from the hotel, and ate it after visiting the great pyramid, and before going to examine the sphinx. the arabs crowded around, and almost threatened to eat our lunch for us, and ourselves into the bargain; we tried in vain to drive them away, and finally drew a circle in the sand enclosing our carriage, and about ten feet from it, and stationed a couple of arabs inside with sticks to keep out the rest. the sticks were strong, and so were the men who wielded them. the doctor told our guards they would get no backsheesh if they failed to keep the rest out of the ring, and with this promise before them they succeeded. it is interesting to see how ready these men are to pound their most intimate friends for the sake of a little money. the more we see of the nature of these natives the more we despise it: perhaps they are not altogether to blame, and are only practising the lesson of rascality they have learned through centuries of oppression. "we returned to cairo by the carriage-road, and were followed a long way by the arabs shouting for backsheesh. a couple of days later we made an evening excursion there in order to see the sphinx and pyramids by moonlight, and were well repaid for the journey. many travellers go out there very early in the morning, so as to see them by sunrise; but we were too much fatigued with our work every day to leave our beds two or three hours before daybreak. "the day after our trip to gizeh we went to sakkara and memphis. there is very little to be seen of memphis, as the stone was mostly taken away for building cairo, and the site of the city is frequently overflowed in the inundations of the nile. the chief object of interest is a statue of rameses the great, originally forty-two feet high, but now lying on the ground, and about half covered with water. unfortunately its face is downward, so that we could not see its features; but it is said to be a fine work of art, and it is a great pity that it cannot be removed and placed on its feet again. [illustration: ploughing and sowing.] "at sakkara there are several pyramids. one of them is of sun-dried bricks instead of stone; it is built in a series of five steps, or degrees, and for this reason is known as the 'step-pyramid.' some authorities say it was built in the first dynasty, and is consequently the oldest pyramid in the world; others think it belongs to the fifth dynasty, and therefore is later than the structures at gizeh. tradition says it was built by the labor of the children of israel when they were captives in egypt, and it was here they complained that they were compelled to make 'bricks without straw.' the history of the pyramid is very obscure, and one theory may be just as good as another. the structure is less than two hundred feet high, and, as the ascent is dangerous, and the view from the top of no consequence after that from gizeh, we did not climb it. [illustration: taking it easy.] "the things of greatest importance at sakkara are the tombs. they cover an area nearly four miles long by a mile in width, and there is little doubt that the necropolis of sakkara is the most extensive in all egypt. many tombs that were opened have been filled up again by the sand; at present there are only two which are shown to visitors, but they are so large and interesting that nobody misses the others. one is the tomb of tih, a priest of memphis, who lived during the fifth dynasty, or about five thousand years ago; its walls are covered with inscriptions showing the manners and customs of the time, and it is said that we have learned more from this tomb than from any other about the life of the ancient egyptians. "the sculptures show the owner of the tomb, mr. tih, in a great many occupations. according to the custom of the period, he built the tomb during his lifetime, and made it all ready for use after death. an ancient writer says, 'the egyptians call their houses hostelries, on account of the short period during which they inhabit them; but they call their tombs eternal dwelling-places.' this tomb was built in tih's lifetime, and made ready for his long occupation by representing the scenes of his terrestrial existence. [illustration: a hunting scene.] "we have the priest of memphis engaged in agriculture, or, rather, he is present while his men are in the fields ploughing, sowing, harvesting, thrashing grain, driving oxen, donkeys, and other animals, and performing other ordinary work. we see him hunting, fishing, sailing in boats, listening to music, witnessing dances, and otherwise amusing himself; and we see him worshipping in the temple, and superintending sacrifices of oxen, according to the religious practices of his day. the sculptures are so numerous that it would take a ream of paper to describe all of them; they show that the artists knew their work, and many of them had a sense of the ridiculous that would secure them good situations on the comic papers of to-day. [illustration: bronze figure of apis.] "after seeing the tomb of tih we went to the apis mausoleum, or tombs of the sacred bulls. you know that apis, or the sacred bull, was worshipped as a divinity at memphis; he was kept in a temple during his lifetime, and a magnificent tomb was given him after his death. the site of the apis mausoleum was unknown for many centuries; it was found by mariette (in ) through the writings of one of the greek historians. while clearing away the sand in a certain place he found a sphinx, and he then remembered a passage in strabo, which says: "'there is also a serapeum in a very sandy spot, where drifts of sand are raised by the wind to such a degree that we saw some sphinxes buried up to their heads, and others half covered.' [illustration: huntsman with dogs and game.] "this was a hint to the explorer, and he acted on it by following up the line of sphinxes till he came to the entrance of the great tomb. the guide showed us into the tomb, and then lighted candles, by which we explored a series of long galleries cut in the solid rock; altogether there are more than four hundred yards of these galleries, and they have on each side of them niches, like large rooms, for holding the coffins of the bulls. some of these rooms are empty; but there still remain twenty-four coffins of solid granite in the places where they were left many years ago. the coffins are not all of the same size, but generally about thirteen feet long, eight wide, and eleven high; most of their covers are pushed aside or altogether removed, and it was evident, when the tomb was opened by mariette bey, that the place had been plundered, as nothing was found in the coffins except the mummy of a bull in one of them. "there was a ladder by the side of one of the coffins, so that we climbed into it, and found that four or five persons could sit there comfortably. and think that these coffins were of solid blocks of granite, and were brought down the nile from assouan, and put in the rooms made for them! how they were put there nobody can tell; a thousand men worked for three weeks to take out one of these coffins, under the direction of an engineer, and, with all sorts of pulleys and apparatus, he only got it a short distance along the gallery. the enterprise was then abandoned, and the coffin stands where they left it. "irreverent visitors sometimes call these tombs the 'bull pits,' and they speak of the necropolis of sakkara as the 'bone-yard.' but there are no bulls here at present, and the tombs of the surrounding region have been so thoroughly explored and plundered, that it would not be easy to find any bones in them." [illustration: an arched tomb at sakkara.] chapter x. an oriental bath.--egyptian weddings and funerals. the excursions to gizeh and sakkara had not been altogether free from dust, and, consequently, the suggestion of an oriental bath was not out of place. the boys had heard of the baths of damascus and constantinople, and the wonderful tales of travellers concerning them; the doctor said the baths of cairo were exactly like those of the cities mentioned, and they could satisfy their curiosity by trying one. the guide advised them to go early in the forenoon, and accordingly they left the hotel a little after ten o'clock. the doctor had no fondness for the genuine oriental bath, and the youths made the excursion in the company of their guide. a short walk brought them to the establishment, which was in a gloomy-looking building, surmounted with a large central dome and several smaller domes. frank could not understand the peculiarity of the bath architecture till he went inside, and found that the principal room was lighted by the central dome, while the others gave light to the smaller apartments. the windows were so small that the light was quite dim, and in some places only served, as fred expressed it, to make the darkness visible. the office of the bath-keeper was close to the entrance, and here the guide paid for the admission of the youths; they had left all their valuables at the hotel, and consequently had no use for the chest where the watches and purses of the bathers were deposited. near the keeper was a cupboard, from which he took a supply of towels for the youths, and they were then directed to the dressing, or, rather, the undressing room, where they were assigned to couches, and exchanged their clothing for towels. according to the custom of the establishment, one towel was wrapped around the head and the other about the waist, and thus arrayed our young friends were hardly to be recognized. from the dressing-room they passed to a smaller apartment, which was well but not uncomfortably warmed, and here they remained some minutes in order to become accustomed to the temperature. the bathing establishment is heated by means of fires under the floor, and in the more modern buildings by iron pipes around the sides of the rooms. an attendant took charge of each of the boys, and, when they were ready to move on, conducted them to the large central room of the place. frank gave an amusing account of his experience in the hands of the _tellak_, or bath attendant, who took charge of him: "he was a strong man," said frank, "about forty years old, and his head was shaved as smooth as a door-knob. he wore a towel around his waist, and carried another flung over his shoulder. he brought me a pair of wooden clogs, which i could not easily keep on my feet, though i tried hard to imitate the example of the people around me, and appear as though accustomed to them all my life. they tell us that there is a fashion about wearing these clogs, just as much as in putting on an overcoat or a necktie, and that you are liable to be treated rudely if you violate the custom. perhaps they have so many foreigners in this bath that they don't mind a little awkwardness; anyway we couldn't keep the clogs in place, and nobody was uncivil. [illustration: central room of the bath.] "we stayed in the anteroom till we got a little warm, and then went into the central one. and wasn't it hot! "people were reclining on the marble floor, or on a platform at one side; we were led to the platform, and our conductors made signs for us to lie down, and as they did so they spread towels for us to recline on, and brought small cushions for our heads. we did as they directed, and lay there for a while looking at the water playing in a fountain in the centre of the room, or counting the little windows in the roof. we counted them several times over, but couldn't make them come out twice alike. [illustration: the man who didn't like it.] "pretty soon there was something like a howl from one side of the place, and we looked over to see what it was. an attendant was at work on a man who appeared like a foreigner, and was evidently trying to give him the worth of his money. armed with a small brush, he went over the flesh of his victim very much as a boot-black makes a first-class shine. the stranger looked like a boiled lobster, and the expression of his face was much as though he was about to be sent to prison for life. "to confirm my belief that he was a foreigner, he made a remark in english, which, of course, the attendant did not understand, but went on scrubbing harder than ever. he seemed too weak to use his hands to stop the performance, but finally gathered strength enough to seize the brush, and motion to the performer that he had had enough. then he was taken to another part of the room and laid on a marble slab, where he was handled more gently. "while we were smiling at the misery of the englishman the perspiration was oozing out of us at every pore, in consequence of the great warmth of the place. 'our turn next,' fred whispered, as our attendants began to manipulate our limbs, to find out whether they were in a proper condition for operating on. "fred was right, as our tellaks evidently considered us sufficiently cooked for their purpose. they began by kneading us with their hands and knuckles, and went over our bodies so vigorously that we thought they would make holes in our flesh, though they didn't do anything of the sort. then they rubbed us down with brushes, and left us a few minutes; the rubbing and kneading increased the flow of perspiration, and when this had gone on long enough, they made us sit on little wooden frames close to a fountain in one of the side alcoves. then they soaped our heads and rubbed them vigorously with their hands, and kept pouring on water while the rubbing was progressing; they repeated the operation twice, and then brought some fibres of palm-leaves, which they used with soap and water for polishing our limbs, and they finished the performance with the brush, just as they had done with the englishman. "the brushing was the severest part of the process, and was followed by great quantities of water thrown over us till we were thoroughly rinsed. the water was warm enough to be quite comfortable, and sometimes a little too warm, but we said nothing, as we wanted to have the bath just as it is given to others. basin after basin of warm water was poured over us, and finally we were wrapped in dry towels that completely covered us, and thick towels were folded around our heads till we looked like turbaned turks. then we were taken to our couches, where we rested, and became cool enough to go out-of-doors again with safety. [illustration: the barber.] "coffee was brought to us as soon as we lay down, and we found it very refreshing. we stayed there at least half an hour before the guide suggested that it would be safe to dress and go back to the hotel. we felt a little weak and weary, but had the satisfaction of knowing that we were as clean as water, soap, heat, and scrubbing could make us. a barber tried to do up our hair, but did not succeed very well, as the oriental head-dressing is not exactly like our own. but he was desirous of making himself useful, and so we let him try his skill. [illustration: the bath among the ancient egyptians.] "the bath of to-day is much like that of thousands of years ago, as can be seen by the pictures on the walls of the tombs. the bath is the favorite resort of the women, and many of them spend the whole day there, or at least a large part of it. the baths for women are much more numerous than those for men; many of them are set apart on different days of the week for different religious sects, and sometimes families or parties of friends hire the bath for themselves, so that they shall not be disturbed by others. "doctor bronson says a good deal of nonsense has been written by travellers concerning the baths of the east. he says better and more comfortable bathing establishments may be found in paris, london, or new york than in constantinople or cairo, and the number is increasing every year. "the oriental bath is recommended for a good many things besides cleanliness, although the latter is the great consideration. it will cure colds and slight touches of rheumatism, is excellent for many maladies of the skin, improves the digestion, and has often restored invalids whom medicine had failed to benefit. doctor bronson has a friend in new york who suffers occasionally from gout, and whenever he feels it coming upon him he goes straight to a turkish bath, and, as he says, 'boils it out.' one should be very careful, after taking a bath, not to go too soon into the open air, for fear of catching cold." while on their way from the bath to the hotel the youths encountered a procession, and naturally asked the guide what it was. "that is a wedding," was the reply; "somebody is going to be married, and this is part of the ceremony." it occurred to frank on the instant that his sister and miss effie might be interested in the subject of weddings, and here would be an opportunity to write something to please them. accordingly, he made note of all he saw in the procession, interrogated the guide, and even took a peep within the pages of "the modern egyptians," to assure himself that he had made no mistake. as there may be others besides mary and effie who want to know the matrimonial customs of egypt, we will make an extract from frank's account: "the procession that we saw was composed of the family and friends of the bride on their way to the bath, where they would remain several hours. there were four musicians in front, and right behind them were six of the married friends of the bride, walking in couples; behind these were several young girls, and all the party had their faces covered with long veils that reached nearly to the ground. the married women wore robes of black material, but the girls were in striped or white shawls, so that it was easy to know at a glance whether one of them was married or single. "of course you want to know how the bride looked. she was close behind the young girls, but i can't describe her appearance, as she walked under a canopy of pink silk, supported on four poles, carried by as many men. it was like a small tent, and opened in front; the other sides were completely closed, so that our only view of the bride was just a glimpse through the opening of the canopy. even if we had more than a glimpse of her, it would have done no good, as she was wrapped from head to foot in a red cashmere shawl, and whether she was seventeen or seventy years old we could not say. the guide said she had a pasteboard crown on her head, and the shawl was hung over it so as to conceal her face and all the jewellery she wore. of course she could not see anything, and so a couple of women were walking inside the canopy, and just behind her, to tell her how to keep pace with the rest of the procession. "there were a couple of musicians behind the canopy, and then came a string of idle persons, just as we see a procession followed at home. we watched them as long as they were in sight, and were told they would spend several hours at the bath, where a feast had been ordered, and possibly an entertainment by dancers and singers hired for the occasion. then they would go home to the house of the bride's parents, and on the following day the bride would be carried by a similar procession to the house of the bridegroom. "now we'll go back to the beginning, and see how marriages are arranged in egypt. "the guide says such a thing as an 'old bachelor' in egypt is never heard of, as every man is expected to get married whether he wants to or not. matches are made here much easier than in america, as it is not at all necessary for the parties to be acquainted, and consequently they cannot have any objections to marrying each other. there are regular marriage-brokers who arrange everything, and thus save a great deal of trouble and perplexity. "when a man wishes to marry he tells his mother, or some near female relative; she goes directly to the relatives of any marriageable girls she knows of, or perhaps she engages a _khatibeh_, or woman who makes a business of negotiating marriages. the two go together to houses where there are young girls to be married, and when they find one that suits the mother's eye they begin talking business at once. "they ask how much property the girl has, how old she is, and what she can do, and then go away without any positive promise to come again. if the young man does not like the account they bring the matter is dropped, but if he is pleased with it he makes a present to the broker, and sends her again to confer with the girl and her parents. her parents have the right to arrange the whole matter without consulting the girl, unless she is over fifteen years of age; in the latter case she may choose her husband for herself, but her parents have still a good deal to say about it. [illustration: a khatibeh, or marriage-broker.] "the broker does not confine herself very closely to the truth in dealing with either party. she will describe a girl of ordinary appearance as the greatest beauty in the world, and will represent an equally ordinary man as handsome, graceful, and well educated, with plenty of money which he is ready to throw at the feet of his bride. and all this when she does not know whether he has any money or not, and has never seen or heard of him till the day she was engaged to find a bride. it is the object of the broker to make a commission. doctor bronson says she is not unlike some brokers he has known in new york, and other cities of america. "the girl must have a _wekeel_, or deputy, to arrange a marriage for her, and to sign the contract. this office is filled by her father, if living, or by some masculine relative or guardian; and when the preliminaries have been arranged by the broker, the bridegroom goes with two or three friends to meet the wekeel and sign the contract. "the first thing is to fix the amount of the dowry of the bride, and they spend a good deal of time haggling over it, just as they do in every transaction where money is concerned. the wekeel demands more than he expects to receive, and the bridegroom offers less than he expects to give. the amount varies according to the position and property of the parties; for those in fair circumstances it is usually a little over a hundred dollars. it is arranged that the money shall be paid to the bride's deputy when the marriage contract is signed, which is generally within a couple of days. [illustration: preparing for the wedding.] "when the contract is finished and the money paid over, the day is fixed--generally a couple of weeks later--for bringing the bride to the bridegroom's house. the time is consumed in preparations for the wedding; the amount of the dowry, and generally a great deal more, is spent in furniture and clothing for the bride, and all these articles are her property, and cannot be taken from her if she is divorced. the bridegroom gives a dinner and party to his friends, and for two or three nights before the wedding the street where he lives is hung with lanterns, and otherwise decorated, so that everybody may know that a wedding is about to take place. [illustration: a marriage procession at night.] "the bride goes to the bath in the procession i have described in the first part of this letter, and afterward she is taken to the house which is to be her home. this procession is in the night, and therefore it carries a good many torches, and sometimes the effect is very pretty. meantime the man is at the mosque saying his prayers, and when he comes home he finds his bride there with her friends. [illustration: unveiling the bride.] "she is still closely veiled, and in nine cases out of ten the two have never met. after a feast, which he has ordered before going to the mosque, he is permitted to raise her veil, and has an opportunity to look for the first time on the features of his wife. no matter how much either of them may be disappointed in the appearance of the other, they are expected to smile and seem happy. "in some parts of the east the bridegroom comes to the house accompanied by torches and music, and with a small boy walking at his side dressed like himself, and instructed to imitate all his motions. he carries a folded handkerchief held close to his face, and the boy does the same; a little behind them is a girl mounted on a horse, and dressed like the bride, and attended by two men who are supposed to be her guards. when this procession approaches the house, the friends of the bride light their lamps and go out a short distance to meet the procession. it is probably from this custom that we have the passage of scripture which says, 'behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.'" while frank was busy with his account of the wedding-party, fred was occupied with another and sadder procession he had seen the same day. while walking in the mooskee he met a funeral-party on its way to the cemetery, near the tombs of the caliphs, and his curiosity led him to ascertain some particulars concerning funerals in the east. [illustration: blind musicians among the ancient egyptians.] "the procession that i saw," said fred, "was led by half a dozen blind men, who walked slowly two and two together, and chanted the moslem confession of faith--'there is no god but god, and mohammed is the apostle of god!' behind them came several men who were relatives of the deceased, and then there was an open space of three or four yards. beyond the open space were four boys in pairs; the front pair carried a copy of the koran on a small frame or desk, covered with an embroidered handkerchief, and the second pair had their hands empty. "then came the coffin on a bier, supported on the shoulders of four men, and covered with a red shawl; the bearers were changed every few minutes, and those who were relieved took their places in the group behind the blind men. behind the bier were several women, who frequently shrieked as if in great grief. i was told that some of them were the family of the dead man, and the rest were mourners who had been hired, according to the custom of the country. from long practice in their profession they were able to shriek louder than the real mourners. "the funeral of a rich man is sometimes preceded by three or four camels laden with provisions that are to be given at the tomb to any poor people who may ask for them. then there will be a good many people in the procession, including men who have been invited to the funeral, and members of several religious sects, each delegation being not less than four. sometimes the flags of some of the orders of dervishes will be carried in the procession, and the line is closed by servants leading two or three horses. "the party generally stops at a mosque, where prayers are said, and the first chapter of the koran is repeated by a priest, and then it moves on to the cemetery. the ceremony at the tomb is very brief, and consists of a few prayers and the wailing of the hired mourners. the blind men and boys who have accompanied the procession receive their pay as soon as the body is laid in the ground, and then the funeral is supposed to be ended." chapter xi. ascending the nile.--sights and scenes on the river. having explored cairo and its neighborhood to their satisfaction, our friends turned their attention to the nile. they wished to make a voyage up the mysterious river as far as the first cataract. the time at their disposal did not permit them to plan a more extended journey. they found on investigation that there were two ways of ascending the nile, and each had its advantages and disadvantages. [illustration: view on the nile near cairo.] the old way of making the journey is by sailing-boat, or dahabeeah. the more modern system is by steamboat, and before many years it will be possible to go by rail along the banks of the river to the first cataract, and ultimately to khartoum and gondokaro, if the present scheme of railways in egypt is carried out. [illustration: ancient boat on the nile.] the most comfortable form of travel on the nile is by dahabeeah, but it is also the most expensive, and requires more time than the steamboat. from cairo to the first cataract and back will require from six to eight weeks by dahabeeah, and if the journey is prolonged to the second cataract, two or three weeks must be added. three weeks will cover the round trip to the first cataract and back by steamboat, and five weeks will include the second cataract. for the steamboat trip you have no trouble except to buy your ticket, go on board at the appointed day and hour, and submit patiently to the various impositions devised by the contractors who manage the business. the movements of the boat are carefully arranged beforehand, and the time for visiting the various temples, tombs, and other interesting things on the journey, is all on the schedule of the dragoman or conductor. travellers of various nationalities are herded together, and must move at the beck and call of the conductor. there is a printed programme of the places to be visited and the hours for visiting them, and if no accident happens you can count on being back in cairo in twenty days and four hours from the time of starting. a facetious traveller, who made the nile journey by steamboat, says that the conductor of his party had a private programme on which was marked the time to be devoted to sentiment as well as to sight-seeing. as they approached the great hall of the temple of karnak the conductor glanced at his programme and said, "gentlemen, prepare for sublime emotion!" of course due preparations were made, and when the grandeur of the hall was visible they gave utterance to the regulation number of "ohs!" and "ahs!" when these were ended, and silence came again, the guide looked at his watch and called out, "five minutes for sublime emotion!" when time was up they moved on. at another place they had "five minutes for musing on the decayed glories of ancient egypt," and at another they were requested to "think of the havoc that the centuries have wrought." in travelling by dahabeeah you charter the boat, and make up your own party. in a general way you are your own master, and can say where, and for how long, you will stop. during the winter the wind blows pretty steadily from north to south, so that you sail up the nile with the breeze in your favor. on the return the great sail is lowered, and the crew row the boat with the current. their rowing is just enough to give steerage-way, and the flowing river brings you safely back to cairo. the steamboat fare to the first cataract and back is £ ($ ), and to the second cataract £ ($ ). this includes meals, guides, donkeys, and some of the fees for seeing temples and tombs, but does not include saddles for riding the aforesaid donkeys, nor does it embrace the use of a chair for the deck of the boat. there are constant demands for backsheesh for various things, and the passengers are expected to make up a liberal purse at the end of the voyage for distribution among the officers, crew, and servants. about £ ($ ) will be needed for these inevitable "extras." the dahabeeah journey will usually cost $ for two persons to the first cataract and back, and $ for four persons; about $ should be added in each case for the second cataract. for these figures you can get a large, well-fitted boat, and will be entitled to live with every possible comfort. smaller and plainer boats may be had for less money, and the food supplied by the dragoman will be correspondingly less luxurious. prices vary according to the season, and the number of travellers desiring to make the journey, and it sometimes happens that a good boat may be had for less than the figures named above. the dahabeeah journey can be made by time or by the course; either way is not altogether satisfactory, and a traveller who has made it by one method generally advises his friends to try the other. if you go by time, the dragoman manages to delay you as much as he can, and will invent unheard-of excuses for stopping the boat; if you go by the course, he hurries you along altogether too rapidly, and you often find that you have sailed by a place you specially desired to visit. all things considered, the best plan is to charter the boat by the course, with a stipulation for a certain number of days for stoppages at the interesting points. from fourteen to twenty days are the ordinary stipulations for stoppages, and the whole journey can be made from cairo to the first cataract and back in about fifty days. [for forms of contract see murray's "hand-book for egypt."] a dahabeeah journey would have made our friends too late for their contemplated trip to palestine and syria, and so they decided to go by steamboat. they left boulak one pleasant afternoon a few minutes past three o'clock, and steamed slowly up the river. the boys sat beneath the awning that covered the deck and watched the gray walls of cairo, the palaces and hovels, the gardens of the island of rhoda, and the green fields that stretched out from the western bank till they met the glistening sands of the desert near the platform where the pyramids of gizeh rise toward the sky. on the other side of the river the mokattam hills bounded the horizon, and marked the beginning of the libyan desert; the tufted palm-trees waved here and there, sometimes in clusters or groups, and at others standing solitary in the surrounding waste. on the land there were trains of stately camels, and on the water the boats of the natives ploughed slowly along, many of them laden till their gunwales were dangerously near the water. as the boat steamed onward, the citadel of cairo, with the slender minarets of the mosque of mohammed ali, faded away in the distance, the broad valley became more and more enclosed, the hills seemed to shut in upon the river, and when the sun went down the great pyramids were little more than specks on the horizon, and just visible through the palm-trees. having seen the doctor and his young friends well under-way toward the south, we will rely for a while on the journal which was kept by frank and fred. after recording their departure from cairo, and briefly describing the scenes on the river, the journal says: [illustration: a village on the bank of the river.] "we were told that the steamers did not run at night on account of the liability to get on sand-bars, and the possibility of collisions with sailing boats. true to the promise, the boat came to anchor soon after sunset; or, rather, it was brought to the bank and made fast. we were just below a small village, and wanted to go to see it, but the guide said it was unsafe to venture there after dark, on account of the number of dogs prowling about. egyptian dogs have a great antipathy to foreigners, as we have already learned, and are not to be carelessly approached. "the orientals regard the dog as an unclean beast, and do not keep him for a pet, as is the custom of europe and america. consequently, nearly all the dogs you see around an eastern city are houseless and homeless, and a very ordinary set of curs they are. there are great numbers of them, and they manage to pick up a living by serving as scavengers, and by stealing whenever they have a chance. they do not disturb the natives, but have such a hatred for strangers that they are often dangerous; they have no terror for sticks and whips, and the only way to drive them is by pelting them with stones. in the daytime they rarely do more than bark and growl; but at night they are bolder, and as they can sneak up to you under cover of the darkness, you must look out for their teeth. [illustration: general view of an eastern city.] "we were off by daybreak the next morning, and as there was a mist hanging over the river the scenery was of no special consequence. about eight o'clock we stopped at a village to get some milk; fred and i followed the conductor, and were soon in a tangle of narrow lanes and mud huts that seemed a perfect labyrinth. the dogs barked, chickens cackled and flew to shelter, as if they knew that the advent of strangers was the signal for them to be killed, and two or three cows took fright at our appearance and ran into the houses. we made a sensation, but evidently the natives were not pleased at our visit, to judge by their scowling faces. "for several hours we steamed on in what is said to be a very uninteresting part of the river, and certainly one hour was very much like another. the villages had a family resemblance to each other--the banks were generally low and crumbling, and the barren hills were not agreeable resting-places for the eye. donkeys, camels, and arabs, succeeded by camels, arabs, and donkeys, were the moving sights on shore, in contrast to the numerous boats that dotted the river. sand-bars and islands relieved the monotony of the river, and there were occasional tufts of palm-trees fringing the bank or rising against the gray hills of the desert. "many of the boats on the river were dahabeeahs on their way southward with pleasure parties, and they are fitted up with great luxury, as we had a chance to observe. they usually carry the national flag of the party that charters them, and it is always a pleasure to us to see the stars and stripes floating over one of these boats. "we stopped about noon to repair some slight damage to the machinery, and it happened that a large dahabeeah was tied up to the bank close to where the steamer was made fast. a gentleman came from her to the steamer; very soon we found he was a mr. w----, an artist from new york, and, though he and doctor bronson had never met before, they had a good many mutual acquaintances. the result was we were invited to visit the dahabeeah, with the understanding that the steamer would give warning of her readiness to leave by blowing her whistle. "the dahabeeah is built somewhat after the model of the ships of a century ago--that is, she is low forward, and has a high cabin aft. the forward part is appropriated to the crew, and the stern to the passengers, the sailors only going there for handling the sails or performing other work. the cabin is entered from the deck, and consisted, in this instance, of a saloon the whole width of the boat, with sofas on each side, and nicely fitted with chairs and mirrors. beyond the saloon there were four single cabins; at the stern there was a larger cabin and a bath-room, besides a good-sized closet where linen and other things were kept. between the saloon and the entrance there was a pantry on one side and a room for the dragoman on the other; the galley or kitchen was near the bow of the boat, and the provisions were stowed in the hold, or kept in the store-room at the stern. [illustration: a plague of flies.] "we stayed a little while in the saloon and then went on deck, or to the roof of the cabin, which was covered with an awning. the air was cooler here than in the cabin, and, besides, the flies were not as abundant. let us remark here that the worst annoyance of the nile voyage is the number of flies that you have to fight; they are one of 'the plagues of egypt' now, as they were in the time of moses, and there is no way of being rid of them. "mr. w---- told us that when the wind was light the flies covered the boat and greatly annoyed them; but they had curtains for the saloon and the small rooms, and could protect their faces by means of nets drawn around their hats. the crew, at such times, wrapped their burnouses around their heads, or sat with switches in their hands to keep away the pests. either mode of getting rid of the annoyance was uncomfortable; it was stifling hot with the head covered, and it required continual exertion to make the switch effective. [illustration: a kangia.] "our new acquaintance called attention to a freight-boat that lay just beyond his dahabeeah, and to the general resemblance between the two. 'that boat,' said he, 'is called a _kangia_, and is sometimes used for travelling purposes by the natives, and by tourists whose purses are limited. you see it has the shape and style of the dahabeeah, but is much smaller, and the cabin can only accommodate one or two persons without crowding. a friend of mine once made the nile trip in a kangia, and said he had a good time; but he was young and vigorous, and spoke sufficient arabic to get along without a dragoman. the kangia wouldn't do for persons liable to be incommoded by scanty fare and poor quarters, and i shouldn't recommend it.' [illustration: the captain.] "while he was telling us that his crew consisted of twelve men and a captain, besides the dragoman, two cabin servants, and a cook--that there were four of them in the party, two americans and two englishmen, and giving us other information--the whistle sounded, and we returned to the steamer. the wind freshened as we went on board, and the dahabeeah started close behind us, and came ploughing along in our rear. she could not sail as fast as we steamed, and in an hour or more we lost sight of her in a bend of the river. "in the afternoon we passed a cliff on the east bank of the river, where there is a coptic convent; its inmates are in the habit of visiting passing boats to beg for backsheesh, and as we approached the cliff we saw a dozen or more of their heads in the water. four of them managed to get into the small boats that we towed astern, and they did it while we were going along at full speed. "how do you suppose they managed it? "they got out into the river as near as they could to where the steamer would pass without being liable to be struck by her wheels. as soon as the wheel was past them they swum with all their might directly toward the boat, and in this way several succeeded in grasping the skiffs and climbing into them. they do not swim like ourselves, with both hands together, but strike out hand-after-hand, or, to express it more plainly, 'dog-fashion.' "these men were entirely without clothing, and when they received any money they put it in their mouths. we gave one of them so many copper coins that his cheeks were filled almost to bursting, and when he dived off the boat to go home with his load he appeared as though suffering from a bad case of inflamed jaw. "the doctor says the copts are supposed to be the descendants of the ancient egyptians, and their features closely resemble those that we find pictured on the walls of the temples and tombs. the most of them are christians, and they form about a sixteenth of the population of egypt: their ancient language is used in the churches for reading prayers, just as the catholics use latin, and the russians sclavonic. in daily life they speak arabic: they are better educated than the rest of the people, and are largely employed in shops and in the government offices, and frequently go into business for themselves on an extensive scale. "the copts were converted to christianity very early in the history of that religion, but their doctrines were so mixed up with eastern superstitions and practices that they were denounced by the church in the sixth century. they have several convents that are supported by donations, and the occupants never omit an opportunity to beg. the men that climbed into our skiffs kept calling out 'backsheesh, howadji--ana chritiana' (a present, gentlemen--i am a christian), and these words seemed to be their whole stock in trade. "we did not leave the region of pyramids behind us when we lost sight of gizeh and sakkara. we passed in sight of the pyramid of meidoon, which is older than the pyramids of gizeh, and disputes antiquity with those of sakkara. the arabs call it the false pyramid, as it is built over a large rock, which forms a considerable part of its solid contents. there are tombs all around it, and many of them have been explored. two statues were found there which belong to the third dynasty, and are wonderfully life-like in appearance. quite recently the pyramid has been opened, and discoveries made that throw considerable light on the ancient history of the country. we have no time to visit meidoon, and perhaps we shall have had enough of antiquities before our voyage on the nile is ended. [illustration: a gourd raft.] "we have seen boats of all sizes and shapes; some of them seem to be perfect reproductions of the craft used by the ancient egyptians, and others are more modern. we saw a man fishing on what appeared to be a raft just large enough to hold him, and it seemed a wonder that his weight did not sink it. while we were looking at it, doctor bronson explained that it was supported by empty gourds beneath a flooring of reeds, the gourds being kept from floating away by means of a slight net-work. later on we had a chance to examine one of these frail structures, and make a sketch of it. [illustration: the raft seen from below.] "beyond meidoon we passed a good many sugar plantations, and saw the steam rising from the engines that drive the heavy machinery. on the banks of the river there were many _shadoofs_ and _sakkiehs_ at work, and now and then we saw steam-pumps puffing away, to raise water for irrigating the fertile land. many of the large cultivators find it economical to raise water by steam-power rather than by the old system of hand-labor, though the high price of coal makes steam-pumping very costly. "we are told that no coal is found in egypt, the entire supply needed for the railway and other modes of consumption being imported from england. the government has spent considerable money in looking for coal, but thus far has found only a few small beds, that will not pay for working. perhaps they will find some one of these days, and thus save a heavy outlay of money every year for imported coal. private parties have no inducement to search for this valuable mineral, as the government would immediately take possession of a coal-mine, and if the discoverer ventured to object, he might spend the rest of his life in prison for his impudence." chapter xii. sugar plantations and mills.--snake-charmers.--sights at beni-hassan. the first regular halt of the steamer was at beni-sooef, where the passengers were allowed two hours by the printed schedule. of course they went on shore at once, and devoted themselves to sight-seeing until recalled by the whistle. the town has a population of about five thousand, and is the capital of a province of the same name. frank and fred strolled through the bazaars, but were disappointed, as there was nothing to be found there which they had not already seen in the bazaars of cairo. the trade of the place has diminished considerably, and beni-sooef is of less importance to-day than it was three or four centuries ago. at minieh, the next halting-place, they had an opportunity to visit a sugar-mill, and eagerly embraced it. minieh is the centre of the sugar culture in egypt, and the first sugar-mill in the country was erected here and is still in operation. of late years some very large mills have been built, employing hundreds of people, and during the height of the season they present a busy scene. the mill visited by our friends was one of the largest. it was so constructed that, from the time the cane enters the crushers till the dry sugar is taken out, there is no lifting or handling of the material, except in a few instances. the machinery is all of french manufacture, and very expensive. a large amount of sugar is manufactured here every year; but there is no profit in the business, partly owing to the great cost of the mills, and partly, it is whispered, in consequence of the frauds of the managers. [illustration: view on a sugar plantation.] the sugar culture is in the hands of the khedive, and about two hundred and fifty thousand acres of land are devoted to it, chiefly on the west bank of the nile between cairo and sioot. there are more mills than are really needed for the amount of sugar made, and there is a large quantity of machinery which has never been put up, but lies neglected and rusting on the banks of the river. there is a system of railways for bringing the cane to the mills, and connected with the line of railway from cairo up the nile. the labor on the sugar estates is very poorly paid, and more frequently is not paid at all. the laborers are gathered from the villages along the river, and compelled to work three months on the sugar estates when they should be cultivating their own fields at home. frank and fred could not understand this mode of conducting business till the doctor explained it to them after their return to the steamer. "you observed," said the doctor, "that the laborers included both sexes, and all ages from five years old to fifty or sixty." "yes," answered one of the youths; "and i saw that they did not take much interest in their work, and appeared to be half starved." "you will not be surprised at it," replied doctor bronson, "when i tell you they are never paid in money, with the exception of the chiefs of gangs, and the men in charge of the machinery. "they receive a daily allowance of bread; it is not such bread as we are accustomed to, but simply coarsely ground wheat flour, containing a liberal proportion of mud and chopped straw, and very carelessly baked. with so bad a quality you might suppose the quantity would be abundant, but it is not; a laborer can devour his day's allowance at a single meal, and frequently it is not enough to satisfy his hunger." "but is that all they get?" one of the boys asked. "that is frequently all they get," was the reply. "true, they are promised something more, but they do not often receive it. "according to an official report on the subject," the doctor continued, "the wages of hands in the factories are fixed at fifteen cents a day for a man, and eight cents for a boy, while those of the field hands are eight cents for a man, and five for a boy. and when they are paid at all it is invariably in _kind_--that is, in grain, sugar, or molasses, at a high price--and not in money. it is difficult for them to sell these articles, and the best they can do is to eat them, or perhaps barter them off for something more desirable. not one laborer in twenty has anything to show for his work on the sugar estates or in the factories except his thin cheeks, and the bones half protruding from his skin." "it is no wonder," said fred, "that they begged so hard for backsheesh, and that they seemed, unlike the arabs of cairo, to be very grateful when we gave them some small coins." frank thought it very strange that the sugar culture in egypt should be unprofitable when the labor cost next to nothing. the doctor answered that it would undoubtedly pay handsomely whenever it was honestly and economically managed, but from present indications there was no prospect of a change for the better. [illustration: interior of a sugar-mill.] after visiting the sugar-mill our friends went to the market-square of minieh, where a juggler was amusing a crowd of natives with his tricks. his performances were not remarkable for any particular skill, but they served to entertain the people, though he did not succeed in drawing much money from them. after pretending to swallow knives, coins, and other inconvenient and indigestible things, he drew some snakes from a basket and twined them around his neck. everybody was inclined to stand at a respectful distance during this part of the show. whenever the juggler wished to enlarge the circle of spectators, he put the snake on the ground, and the crowd immediately fell back without being invited to do so. the snake was a huge fellow, seven or eight feet long, and perfectly black. the doctor said he was not dangerous, so far as his bite was concerned, as he belonged to the family of constrictors, and killed his prey by tightening his coils around it. [illustration: a secure point of view.] doctor bronson farther explained to the youths that the snake-charmers of egypt are a peculiar class. they give exhibitions in the streets in front of houses, and when they do so the favorite place for seeing the show is an upper window or balcony, as in that case the spectator is out of the reach of any possible harm. there are several snakes in egypt, but only two or three of them are poisonous. the _cobra di capella_, the famous hooded snake of india, is often carried about by the performers; but he is imported from the land of his nativity, and does not belong to the valley of the nile. before he is used for show purposes he is deprived of his fangs, and is therefore harmless, but it is not a pleasing sight to see him strike as though he meant serious business. the egyptian snake-charmers have a way of making a living by going to houses, and pretending to discover that snakes are concealed about the walls. they offer to remove them for a stipulated sum, and their proposal is generally accepted. then they begin a sort of incantation, calling upon the snake to come forth, and threatening him with death if he does not. in a little while the snake falls from the ceiling or from a crack in the wall, and is picked up by the performer and exhibited to the family as proof of his skill, and that he has earned his money. "of course it is strongly suspected," the doctor continued, "that the charmer secretly liberates the snake, or hires a confederate to do so, in order that he may obtain pay for catching him. this is undoubtedly the case in many instances, as the performer generally operates in a room where there is little light, and nobody is inclined to come near him for fear of being bitten. but not infrequently he has to perform in an open court-yard where there are many spectators, and sometimes he is taken suddenly to a house, and carefully examined before he begins operations. his trick, if it be one, has never been discovered, and the egyptian snake-charmer may be considered, on the whole, quite as skilful as his fellow-craftsman in india." one of the most deadly serpents of egypt is the asp, which was made famous centuries ago by cleopatra. there is another poisonous snake called the _naya_; it is of a greenish-brown color, and has a hood that expands like that of the indian cobra when the snake is enraged. some authorities suppose that the serpent with which cleopatra killed herself, after the death of marc antony, is none other than the naya. this is the snake which appears so often among the egyptian hieroglyphics, and it was worshipped as the representative of one of the divinities in the days of the pharaohs. a person who is bitten by a naya generally dies in a few minutes, and thus far no antidote has been discovered for its poison. sight-seeing among the temples and tombs of upper egypt began at beni-hassan, about fifteen miles above minieh. the boat touched at the landing-place, and the natives came down in dozens, bringing their donkeys for the tourists to ride to the tombs, three miles away. the natives had a most villainous appearance, and the donkeys, while no doubt more honest than their owners, were, if possible, less respectable, so far as looks were concerned. the people at beni-hassan have long had a bad reputation, and they were so notorious for their thievery during the reign of ibrahim pacha that he sent a military force to destroy their village and scatter its occupants. the village has been rebuilt, and the people have assembled again, but neither has improved by the severe lesson given by the son of mohammed ali. frank and fred selected two of the donkeys, and their saddles were brought out and placed on the beasts. the doctor likewise obtained a donkey; but he afterward said that the most agreeable way of riding the animal was to walk by his side. his donkey had a habit of sitting down suddenly, very much to the inconvenience of the rider, and no doubt induced by the weight of the latter. frank had not gone a dozen yards before he was pitched over the head of his steed, to the great amusement of fred. while the latter was laughing over the discomfiture of his cousin, he found himself stretched on the sand, and speedily concluded that the similarity of position left no farther reason for being amused. they remounted with greater caution; but it was observed that they had quite enough of saddle exercise on their way to the tombs, and concluded to walk back to the boat. the rest of the party met with varied mishaps on their way to the tombs, but nobody was seriously hurt, and all were inclined to laugh over the incidents of the ride, particularly those that happened to others. it is a curious circumstance that it is much more ludicrous to see some one else pitched over the head of a donkey, and left sprawling in the sand, than to be pitched over and sprawled yourself. of course we refer only to egypt in commenting on this matter; but it has been said in america that the fun of a mishap or a practical joke is never as apparent to the victim of it as to his friends. but the troubles of the ride were forgotten when the party reached the tombs which they went to see. [illustration: interior of a tomb at beni-hassan.] the tombs of beni-hassan are hewn in the solid rock, some in a cliff overlooking the nile, and others in a valley running back from the river. the rock is a soft limestone, which is very easy to quarry, and some geologists think it was even softer five thousand years ago than at present. a great deal of labor was devoted to it, and the inscriptions on the walls are so numerous that very little space is left uncovered. some of the tombs are entered through door-ways on a level with the floor, and others can only be reached by means of ladders. [illustration: section of a tomb.] the tombs are cut with pillars and vaulted roofs, in imitation of buildings; they belong to the eleventh and twelfth dynasties of ancient egypt, and are therefore older than the tombs and temples of thebes, but more modern than the pyramids of sakkara and gizeh. they were made for the resting-places of kings and priests, but were rifled of their contents centuries ago; their chief value at present is in the sculptures, which represent many of the trades and occupations of the ancient egyptians, and thus throw a vivid light on their daily life. frank wrote the following in his note-book on his return to the steamer: "we have been able to see to-day how the ancient egyptians lived, and what they did; and it seems as if i have only to close my eyes and imagine myself carried back five thousand years. there are barbers at work on their customers, and closely reminding us of the barbers of to-day; there are shoemakers cutting the leather, and preparing the thread for stitching shoes and sandals together; and there are spinners and weavers at work, the former using the spindle just as it is now used in nearly all countries, and will probably be used as long as the world stands. [illustration: spinning and weaving.] "there are glass-blowers and jewellers employed at their trades, both using the familiar blow-pipe, and evidently understanding it as perfectly as one could wish. painters are busy with their brushes, some making pictures on panels or on sheets of papyrus, and others engaged in coloring statues or decorating walls. there are tailors and carpenters, boat-builders and stone-cutters, and there is a series of pictures representing the whole process of preparing flax, and making it into twine and cloth. one man brings water to fill a tank, in which other men are placing the flax; beyond the tank two men are beating the flax after it has been properly soaked; others are twisting the fibres into yarn; others make the yarn into ropes or cloth; and, lastly, two men hold up a piece of cloth that has just been finished. no description in words could be more clear than is this pictorial representation. [illustration: artists at work.] "but industry is not the only thing seen on the walls of the tombs of beni-hassan. musicians are playing on instruments of different kinds. men and women are dancing or singing, others are seated at table or around fish-ponds, and others are playing ball, throwing heavy stones, or engaged at games similar to our chess or backgammon. they knew how to enjoy themselves fifty centuries ago no less than now. there are unpleasant things, too, depicted on the walls of the tombs: some of the tortures of prisoners are shown, and in one of the paintings several peasants are being held on the ground while a man strikes them across the shoulders with a heavy whip. [illustration: fishing scene at beni-hassan.] "in one of the tombs there is a picture representing the arrival of some strangers, and their presentation to the king. this was long thought to be the arrival of joseph and his brethren; but as the tombs are known to have been made several hundred years before joseph was born, the pictures must refer to somebody else. there are thirty-seven figures in all in this group, and their faces and style of dress show that they came from some other country than egypt. [illustration: an ancient donkey.] "we found a picture of a donkey with a saddle on his back exactly like the one he wears to-day for carrying burdens. there are several representations of this patient little beast, not only at beni-hassan, but in the tomb of tih, at sakkara; in the latter whole droves are shown, so that the donkey must have been a common beast of burden in ancient, as he his in modern egypt. if there were any doubt on the subject it could be settled by reference to the old testament, where the donkey, or ass, is frequently mentioned. "the conductor interrupted us in the middle of our studies of the sculptures, and said it was time to move on. we went to several tombs and found something interesting in all of them; we have not time to describe a tenth of what we saw, and, if you want to learn more about the place, we must refer you to the descriptions by wilkinson and others. these gentlemen spent a long time here making sketches, and taking impressions by means of wet paper; as far as we know, their descriptions are accurate, though they do not always agree as to the exact meaning of the hieroglyphics which are above some of the pictures. [illustration: a respectable citizen.] "when we came back to the boat we were annoyed by the natives begging for backsheesh; they were nearly as persistent as the arabs at the pyramids, and if we had been a small party they might have been insolent. as soon as we were on board the steamer they gathered on the bank close to it, and kept up such a howl that one of the passengers threw a few copper coins for them to scramble after. "how they rolled over each other, and tossed the dust in the air! every time a coin was thrown, there was a rush for it, and the rule seemed to be that might made right. the small children were pushed aside by the larger boys, and several times they would fight for the possession of a penny till both the combatants were exhausted, and had to stop to take breath. "some coins were thrown into the shallow water at the stern of the boat, and instantly the boys flung off their scanty clothing and plunged in. they would not go far out from the bank, or, rather, they would not try to find coins in any depth where they could not wade; the water of the nile is not at all transparent, and it was probably because they could not see to any depth that they refused to dive. we fastened a coin in a piece of wood and threw it far out into the river; half a dozen of the boys swum for it, and there was a very pretty race between them to get the prize. it was far better than the rough scramble on the bank, and we repeated the performance several times till the boat was ready to start from the landing-place. "these boys are excellent swimmers, and now that the crocodiles have pretty well disappeared from the nile below the first cataract, they do not run much risk in exercising in the water. doctor bronson says there were many crocodiles in the river thirty years ago, but they have been hunted so much by tourists that very few of them are left." [illustration: an old inhabitant.] chapter xiii. sioot, the ancient lycopolis.--scenes on the river. from beni-sooef the steamer proceeded to sioot, or asyoot, a city of twenty-five thousand inhabitants, and one of the most important places of upper egypt. it is about two miles back from the river, from which water is brought by a canal, and the roadway passes along a high embankment lined with shade-trees. just at the entrance of the city there is a picturesque gate-way, which reminded our friends of some of the gates of cairo. the city is on the site of the ancient lycopolis, and has borne its present name for more than two thousand years. nevertheless it is called a modern town by most of the writers on egyptian history, and is not allowed any claim to antiquity. [illustration: a scene near sioot.] "at the landing-place of sioot," said the boys in their journal, "we found better donkeys than at beni-sooef, and were able to ride with some degree of comfort. we went first to some tombs which are cut in the side of the mountain overlooking the valley, and were the burial-places of the ancient lycopolis. there are a good many of them, and they were formerly well filled with mummies, but at present the mummies are gone, and the tombs contain nothing worth carrying away. according to the historical accounts the inhabitants of lycopolis worshipped the wolf as a divinity, and when the tombs were plundered a good many mummies of wolves were found in them. "the view from the mountain where these tombs were excavated is very pretty, as it embraces a considerable extent of the nile valley; some writers have called it the finest in all egypt, as there is an unbroken view for several miles of beautiful green such as you find nowhere else in the world. dean stanley was charmed with the spot, and compared the mud villages that are scattered among the luxuriant fields to the marks of a soiled foot on a rich carpet. the mountain has an additional interest to many people, as the caves in its sides were the homes of the early christians during the periods of persecution. [illustration: scene in the bazaars.] "we had been told that the bazaars of sioot were almost as fine as those of cairo, though naturally less extensive, and so we hurried down from the mountain in order to see as much as possible of the place. "it happened to be market-day when we were there, much to our delight, as it enabled us to see what the country-people had brought in for sale. the market square was crowded with people, and also with donkeys and camels, and we had to keep both eyes wide open to escape being run over or knocked down. the camels were specially dangerous, as they seemed to have adopted the motto of the donkey dancing among the chickens--'let everybody look out for his own feet!' they had great loads of sugar-canes or fresh cut grass, and as these loads stuck out on each side they needed a wide path, and took it too. it was a wonder that they didn't kill somebody, or, at any rate, do a good deal of damage, but somehow they didn't. "all over the square were groups of men and women with heaps of sugar-cane, palm-stalks, beans, pease, wheat, and other products of the soil for sale. nobody seemed to be in a hurry, and every transaction required a great deal of bargaining before it was concluded. all around the edge of the square was a fringe of solemn old arabs, whose entire occupation appeared to be to sit on the ground and smoke their pipes. the stem of each pipe was about four feet long and made of a hollow reed, and when a man is engaged in smoking one of these pipes he can do very little else. in this part of the world the pipe is a very cumbersome thing, and occupies the entire attention of the smoker. "one of the most interesting parts of the market at sioot was the place where donkeys were sold. we went to see them, and asked the prices; but as the natives knew we did not want to buy any, they put the figures absurdly high. we found out that good ones could be bought for thirty or forty dollars--just good common donkeys for every-day wear; but if you wanted a fancy animal, you must go much higher. a hundred dollars would buy a handsome one, with a great deal of 'style' and corresponding strength, and there were some for which two hundred dollars had been refused. a two hundred dollar donkey is something that only the wealthy can afford. [illustration: room in an oriental house.] "we had a chance to go into a fine house, and of course we embraced it at once. we passed through a gate-way with a lofty arch, and entered a narrow passage that led to the principal room of the building. they tell us that this passage-way is generally made crooked, in order that people on the street cannot look inside when the doors are open by any chance; this is especially the case with the women's apartments, into which no man except the master is allowed to look under any pretence, and great care is taken that he shall not do so. we were shown into the reception-room, which had low windows that only let in a dim light: we wondered at this, until our guide explained that it was desirable to exclude the heat as much as possible, and therefore the windows were made low and the walls very thick. at one end of the room there was a platform six inches higher than the floor; there was an alcove in the middle of this platform, which was supposed to face toward mecca, and, consequently, it was the place of worship at the hours when prayers were said. "there were no chairs in the room, and no tables whatever; the only furniture we saw were some divans like wide sofas, and on these we were invited to sit while the servants brought coffee for us to drink. there were heavy cushions at the back of the divans, and these are arranged so that they can be moved around just as one may desire in order to make himself comfortable. the orientals sit cross-legged on these divans, and not after our style; and if you invite them to occupy an arm-chair they will quite likely double up into it, and put their feet beneath them. it is torture for them to sit as we do, just as it is torture for us to sit in the oriental way. [illustration: an oriental gentleman.] "the ordinary mode of sitting on one of these divans is to get into a corner, or rather to make one by piling two of the cushions together across the divan. if an oriental gentleman receives you, it is quite likely you will find him sitting as we have described, with his feet gathered under him, and his shoes lying where he can easily step into them in case he wishes to rise. in this position he will sit for hours perfectly contented, or, what is quite as likely, he will fall back on the divan and go to sleep. the divans are occupied pretty much all the time, as they are used to sit upon during the day, and form sleeping-couches by night. as they are rarely less than three feet wide, are well stuffed, and covered with cloth resembling chintz, they are not to be despised, and form excellent substitutes for beds. [illustration: an egyptian lamp.] "there was a handsome lamp in the hall-way of the house, and the doctor told us it was much like the lamps that are used for decorating the mosques. it hung under a wooden frame in the shape of a six-pointed star. the ornamentation upon the outside of the body of the lamp was in curious patterns of arabesque design; the light was given by a series of little cups hanging on the outside, and not by the lamp itself. each cup was partly filled with oil, and a tiny wick floated on its surface, and gave out a small blaze of light. it reminded us of the floating wicks for burning in a sick-room at home, and we readily understood why there were so many of them. a single flame would not have been enough to light the hall-way, and it was only by employing a great many that the proper illumination could be secured. "on leaving the house we went to the bazaars, which were crowded with people, partly because it was market-day, when so many country people, men and women, came to town, and partly because of the large party of strangers that had landed from the steamboat, and were sure to be in the bazaars before continuing their journey. "we bought some fans of ostrich feathers, which were offered for about half of what they would cost in cairo. sioot is one of the starting-points of the caravan routes to the regions where ostriches abound, and it is only natural that these things should be cheaper here than farther down the river. we also bought some cups and saucers, and a few pipe-bowls, made of a fine clay peculiar to the neighborhood of sioot, and highly prized throughout egypt. of course we were obliged to bargain a long time to save ourselves from being cheated. it is of no use to tell these people you are in a hurry, and must have the lowest price at once; they cannot understand you, and will lose the chance of selling their goods rather than change their mode of dealing. "leaving sioot we found ourselves in a region where the river winds considerably. the wind blowing from the north does not choose to follow all the bends of the nile. a boat sailing up the stream will have a fair wind one hour and an adverse one the next, and when she finds both wind and current against her she must wait for a change in the breeze, or send the crew out with the tow-line. towing up stream is slow work, but it is better than no progress at all. ten or fifteen miles a day may be made by it, and sometimes as many as twenty miles, and if the passengers have a fondness for hunting they can indulge it very easily. sometimes a walk of a few miles will cover a whole day's journey of the dahabeeah while she is working around a bend, and even the steamer is not averse to gaining distance while her passengers are on shore. "towing is the hardest part of the occupation of the crew of a nile boat. they are harnessed like horses, and attached to a rope which is taken to the bank. the captain remains on board to steer the craft, and if the sailors are remiss in their work he shouts to them in a voice the reverse of pleasing; and while it is a laborious task for the men it is a severe trial to the passengers, this dragging along at a snail's pace, and listening to the imprecations of the captain, which grate harshly on the ear, even though they are uttered in an unknown tongue. [illustration: pigeon-houses.] "we wound along the river, sometimes close to the cliffs that form the eastern bank, and sometimes in the midst of a fertile plain, with the desert at a distance. we passed several villages, and the conductor told us their names; but as they were all pretty much alike, we did not think it worth while to write them down. an interesting feature of the villages was the great number of pigeon-houses, some of them standing by themselves, and others built on the tops of dwellings. the pigeons are kept in great flocks. sometimes they are owned in common by a whole village, while at others they are the private property of individuals. the guano from the pigeon-houses is carefully saved for enriching the melon patches; and, where the house is the common property of the village, the key is kept by the sheik or chief. some of the houses are like square towers, with a great many holes where the birds enter, and the inside of the walls is full of niches, where the pigeons make their nests. others are of a circular shape, and have protuberances on the top like chimneys, which are filled with holes for admitting the pigeons, but too small for the hawks and other birds of prey that pursue them. [illustration: the oriental pigeon.] "the pigeons get their living in the fields around the village, and sometimes they do a great deal of damage. when the grain begins to ripen the people erect booths in the midst of the fields, where men are stationed to frighten away the birds. they are armed with slings, with which they can throw stones to a considerable distance, and they keep up the alarm by blowing horns and making other noises. that the ancient egyptians had the same practices we learn from the paintings in the tombs, where men are represented standing on platforms and using the sling to frighten away the thieving birds. [illustration: a watchman's booth.] "the abundance of pigeons in this part of egypt is shown by the frequency with which the bird appears on our table. we have broiled pigeon for breakfast, cold pigeon for lunch, and roast pigeon for dinner. we do not have cold pigeon for supper, and probably this can be accounted for by the fact that we do not have any supper at all. they give us a cup of tea and a piece of dry cake in the evening, and it is quite possible that if anybody asked for pigeon he would be accommodated; but nobody seems to want it. "we met some funny-looking rafts a few miles above sioot, and wondered what they could be. they did not appear to be made of logs, or barrels, or anything of the sort, and yet they were floating along, and each carried two or three men. what do you suppose they were? "doctor bronson said they were made up of large jars for holding water, and were principally from a town called ballas. the jars are arranged in rows, with the mouth uppermost, and when enough of them have been put together to form a raft, they are enclosed in a frame of poles and reeds; then they are ready to float down the river to cairo, where they are sold. the jar is made of a porous clay that lets the water filter slowly through it. every few hours the men in charge of the raft must bail out their conveyance, which they do by means of a sponge or bunch of reeds lowered into each jar. unless they do this the raft would soon take in water enough to sink it, and not only would the jars be lost, but the men would run the risk of being drowned into the bargain. [illustration: inflated skin raft (from assyrian sculpture).] "it seemed so funny to make up a raft in this way, but the doctor informed us that the idea was a very old one. he said it was in practice among the ancient assyrians, as there were pictures on the walls of their temples of men rowing rafts made of inflated skins, which were preferred to jars on account of their obviating the necessity of frequent bailing. "we thought of the scriptural phrase, and asked, 'is there anything new under the sun?' [illustration: an ancient life-preserver.] "'there are fewer new things than you might suppose,' was the doctor's reply. 'perhaps you think the inflated life-preserver is a modern invention, but it isn't. the assyrians had it centuries ago; and we learn from their sculptures that their warriors used to swim across rivers on the skins of goats that were filled with air, just as we fill the life-preservers that we buy in new york or london. i believe that a patent was granted to the modern inventor, but the assyrian was thousands of years ahead of him.' "one of us suggested that perhaps the modern inventor was honest, and thought he really had made an entirely new thing. "'that is quite likely,' the doctor answered. 'many a man has applied for a patent on something that he had honestly invented; he thought it out himself, and kept it from the knowledge of everybody else till he sent his model to the patent-office. then he learned to his surprise that his invention was an old one, and either secured already, or had been so long in use that no one could get a patent for it. the experts in the patent-office at washington could tell you of hundreds of instances of this kind, and they could also tell you that it not unfrequently happens that two or three persons in different parts of the country, and wholly unknown to each other, have hit upon the same thing at almost the same moment, without the least suspicion that either of them knew what the other was doing. "'one instance that occurs to me is of the use of chloroform and similar substances for preventing pain during surgical operations. there were no less than four claimants to the honor of the discovery of anæsthetics, and monuments have been erected to the memory of two of these gentlemen. there is no ground for believing that either of them encroached on the other, for their experiments were quite independent, and in different parts of the country, and each believed he was the first in the field. the invention of printing by means of movable types is claimed for two men; the steam-engine had two or three inventors, and so had the system of electric telegraphy. a curious circumstance is that many things which have been considered new in our times were known to the ancients. samuel colt received a patent for the revolving pistol, when the same weapon had been made in europe two or three centuries ago; and patents have been taken out for the invention of things that were afterward found in the ruins of pompeii, where they had been buried for years. of course there are many new things under the sun, but not everything is new that appears so when we first see it.'" [illustration: modern "keleks," or skin rafts.] chapter xiv. girgeh and keneh.--the temples of abydus and denderah.--an egyptian dance. [illustration: girgeh.] the first halting-place above sioot was girgeh, which may be considered the arabic for george, as the place was named in honor of the saint whose history is intimately connected with the dragon. st. george is the patron saint of the christians of egypt, and there was a coptic convent at girgeh, four or five centuries ago, that was named after him. it supported two hundred monks and had a large revenue; but its inhabitants died during a visitation of the plague, and for some time the buildings were without tenants. at present there is a small convent or monastery at girgeh, and it is said to be the oldest establishment of the kind in egypt. the superior is a european, but the rest of the members are native egyptians. formerly the town was some distance back from the river, but the nile has so changed its course that girgeh is now on the very brink of the stream, and some of its houses have been washed away. it was announced that the party would land at girgeh to visit the ruins of the ancient abydus, or thinis, twelve miles away; during their absence the boat would proceed to bellianeh, where they would find it at the end of their excursion. the start was made immediately after breakfast, not without considerable opposition on the part of the donkeys, and a wrangle with the natives over the question of backsheesh. [illustration: scene during the inundation.] the road lay through fields of sugar-cane, pease, beans, and other products of the egyptian soil; many of them were in blossom, and the boys thought the scene was the richest they had yet encountered during their visit to the country. frank remarked the great contrast between the luxuriant fields and the miserable villages of the natives. the villages here, as elsewhere in the valley, are generally built on mounds, so as to keep them out of the reach of the water when the river overflows its banks. during the season of the inundation the whole country is overflowed, and the natives cannot go from their villages except in boats, or unless they choose to swim. cattle seek the mounds for safety; and sometimes, when the banks give way, and the river rises suddenly, many of them are drowned. the people go out with boats to secure their goats, cows, and oxen, and the scene is a very active one. until the water subsides the villages are indiscriminately filled with live stock and their owners, and sometimes there is an animated contest between them for the right of occupation. at every village the children came out and begged for backsheesh, and their appearance was quite in keeping with the squalid aspect of the mud huts where they lived. frank wondered that they managed to reach the age of ten years in such habitations, and the doctor replied that it was a proof that the human race is capable of living anywhere, if it will only try. [illustration: a camel on his way to pasture.] there was the usual excitement among the cows and chickens at the presence of the strangers; in two or three cases the cows broke the ropes by which they were tethered, and scampered into the villages as though they feared immediate conversion into beef. the boys observed that the cows were required to cut their own fodder; they were tethered in the rich grass, and required to eat the spot entirely clean before their locations were changed. evidently it was not the custom to allow them to run loose and help themselves. now and then the tall form of a camel was visible, either carrying a burden of some sort or tethered out, like the cows and oxen. a ride of three hours brought the party to the object of their excursion, the temple of abydus. frank and fred will tell us about it. "the temple of abydus is one of the most interesting in egypt, as it is quite extensive, and its architectural character is excellent. we admired its vast proportions, the massive pillars covered with sculptures, and the walls that were everywhere blazing with hieroglyphics representing scenes of the country's glory. and while we were studying all these things we looked around for the doctor, and could not find him. "pretty soon he re-appeared, and said the historical interest of the place was in a narrow passage-way leading from the second hall to a small inner chamber. "we went there with him, and he pointed to the eastern wall of the passage. there were some hieroglyphics we could not understand, and we asked what they were. [illustration: heads of captives of rameses ii.] "'they are the names of seventy-six kings,' said the doctor, 'to whom sethi i., the founder and builder of the temple, and father of rameses ii., is offering homage. the list begins with menes, the founder of the first dynasty, and ends with the name of sethi. rameses ii. is offering homage with his father, and for this reason it has been supposed that the list was made by rameses after sethi's death. the list is called "the tablet of abydus," and is of great value to the writers on egyptian history; a similar list, but badly mutilated, was found in a temple near here, and carried to the british museum. there is some dispute as to whether it is a full or only partial list of the kings of egypt, but in either case it is of great historical interest.' "abydus was second only to thebes in importance, and was for a long time the capital of egypt. several temples, or rather their ruins, have been discovered here, and it is thought that others are still buried in the sand. a great many tombs have been opened, and where their contents were of any consequence they were carried to the museum at cairo, or sent to the large collections in europe. "one of the temples that we visited was in a very ruined state; it must have been a magnificent structure in the days of its perfection, as the walls were lined with alabaster and covered with beautiful sculptures, all painted in colors that still remain. some of the smaller rooms in the great temple were roofed with large stones placed on their edges, an arch was made in the stones, and then the whole of the cut surface was covered with hieroglyphics, which are as perfect as the day they were made. the sand that buried these temples for so many centuries was in one way their preserver. [illustration: a lunch-party of other days.] "we took our lunch in the great hall of the temple, and it was an odd sight to see a group of americans, english, and other modern people seated among the columns of this ancient edifice, engaged in picking the flesh from the bones of chickens, or devouring sandwiches, or slices of cold beef. doctor bronson leaned against one of the columns, and his hunger made him quite forget that his shoulders pressed upon the feet of a sculptured king, who had been patient and chickenless for many hundred years, and was totally unmoved by the incidents of modern days. wonder if they had sandwiches and kindred things in the time of sethi i., and is it possible that they used silver-plated knives and forks, or drank cold tea from glass tumblers? "of the great city that once stood here nothing remains but heaps of rubbish, ruined temples and tombs, and a miserable village with a few dozen inhabitants, who live by what they can extort from visitors. "we returned to the steamer at bellianeh by a road only half as long as that from girgeh. the route was pretty much the same, as it lay through richly-tilled fields, and passed near several small villages of mud huts and muddy inhabitants. at bellianeh there was the usual crowd of beggars, and we varied the monotony by throwing copper coins into heaps of dust, where the children scrambled for them. "just by the stern of the boat there was a dust-heap about forty feet high, and very steep on the sides; one of the passengers threw a coin so that it struck about midway from top to bottom of the heap, and what a scramble there was for it! those at the top rolled down, and those below climbed up. during the struggle they raised a perfect cloud, and several of them tumbled into the river. "somebody got the money, and then they made signs for trying it again. another copper was thrown, and then another, and the children evidently enjoyed the fun, and wanted it kept up as long as the boat remained. "while they were in the midst of the sport two or three men, who appeared to be elders of the village, came with whips and ordered the boys away. the passengers sent the conductor to argue with them to let the sport go on; his argument was very short, and consisted in giving each man a franc to go away. they accepted the money and walked off. the instant they were out of sight the performance was renewed, and it continued till the boat swung out and moved up the river. we had several swimming matches, like those we had farther down the nile. some of the boys were very expert swimmers, and seemed as much adapted for the water as for the land." from bellianeh the steamer proceeded to keneh, an important town on the east bank of the nile, and the terminus of a caravan road from kosseir, on the red sea. formerly it had a considerable trade with the red sea, but since the opening of the suez canal, and the facilities it affords for steam communication with alexandria, the business has declined very greatly. at one time it supplied a large part of the arabian coast with corn, which was carried on camels to kosseir, and then shipped to the points where it was wanted. the town stands a couple of miles back from the river, and is on the site of an ancient city, though it contains no ruins of any consequence. at the landing-place frank saw a large pile of jars or water-bottles made of porous clay, and, on asking about them, he learned that a considerable trade in these articles was carried on from keneh, which had the reputation of making them better than any other place on the nile. of course this assertion excited his curiosity, and led him to wonder why the potters of keneh should be more expert than other men in the same occupation. "it is not the potters, but the material they work with," replied the doctor, "that makes the superiority of the water-bottles of keneh." "how is that?" "close to the town there is a bed of clay," was the response, "which is said to be peculiarly adapted to the manufacture of these bottles. it is mixed with the ashes of halfa grass in certain proportions, and must be well mixed while both substances are in a dry state. then the mixture is moistened, and is ready for the potter. we will see one of the establishments where the work is performed." on their way to the town our friends visited a shed where several potters were engaged at their trade. the soft clay was placed on a horizontal wheel, which was turned rapidly either by the hand or the foot of the workman; while it revolved with its plastic burden the fingers of the potter gave the bottle its shape, and the whole operation was very quickly accomplished. then the bottle was carefully removed, and placed where it could dry in the open air, and the wheel was ready for fashioning another. [illustration: ancient potters at work.] the doctor explained that the modes of making these bottles had changed very little in five thousand years, as they could see by the pictures on the walls of the tombs. the ancient egyptians were familiar with the wheel and its uses; the potter of the time of rameses ii. manipulated the clay in the same manner as his descendant of to-day, and he doubtless knew the necessary proportions of clay and sifted ashes for making his composition. [illustration: ancient vases, cups, and water-jars.] the boys had already observed the porous character of the egyptian water-bottle. it allows the water to pass through so freely that the outside is constantly wet; in the dry air of egypt this outside water evaporates rapidly, and every student of natural philosophy knows that evaporation produces coolness. especially is this the case if the bottle is placed where there is a current of air, as the evaporation is greatly increased by the action of the wind. one day the boys made an experiment with one of these bottles with the following result: the temperature of the air was ° fahrenheit, and so was that of the water with which the bottle was filled. it was hung in a shady place, where there was a good draught, and in half an hour a thermometer lowered into the bottle showed that the water had fallen to °, or eighteen less than the surrounding temperature. this process, or a similar one, is in use in all hot countries. doctor bronson told the youths that he had seen bottles very like the egyptian ones in mexico and south america. in some cases, where the material was not porous, the coolness was produced by wrapping a piece of cloth around a bottle, and keeping it constantly wet while hanging in a current of air. [illustration: date-palms, near keneh.] another feature of keneh that attracted attention was the remarkably fine dates that were offered for sale. the dates of keneh have an excellent reputation in the markets of cairo and alexandria, and generally bring a high price. they are not pressed into a solid mass, like most of the dates sold in america, but each one is separate from the others, and only the best are selected for packing. our friends bought several boxes of these dates, and kept them in their rooms on the steamboat with the intention of taking them to cairo; but, like many other good intentions, their scheme fell through, as the sweetness and delicate flavor of the contents of the boxes were temptations that could not be resisted. continual dropping is said to wear away stone, and fred remarked that continual nibbling would wear away the best box of dates ever known. the boat was to remain at the landing during the night and until the greater part of the following day, and so our friends had the evening for seeing keneh. an invitation came for some of the passengers to visit the german consulate, and witness a characteristic dance of the country. the invitation included doctor bronson, and frank, and fred, and at the appointed hour the party set out. on reaching the consulate, they were ushered into a large hall that seemed to have been fitted up for the special entertainment of europeans, as it was furnished with chairs instead of divans, and the consul, though a native, was in european dress. [illustration: ancient dancers and musicians.] after a little delay the dance was announced, and the dancers made their appearance. there were four of them, and they were accompanied by two musicians, one playing the nay, and the other the darabookah, both of which have been already described. the musicians settled on the floor in one corner of the apartment, and the dancers stepped to the middle of the room. at a signal from the master of the house the dance began. [illustration: a modern musician.] the dancers were young women, who were rather fantastically dressed. they wore "rings on their fingers and bells on their toes," as the old nursery rhyme has it, and their heads and necks were covered with a profusion of jewellery, consisting principally of gold and silver coins strung closely together, and so arranged that they jingled every time the wearers moved. a richly embroidered jacket, and a long skirt which nearly touched the floor, were the outer garments worn by the dancers. the dresses of the four were precisely alike, and the doctor said the costume was pretty much the same all through egypt, where fashions rarely change from one year to another. the boys had read of the wonderful beauty of the egyptian dancers, and the great novelty of the scene they were about to witness. the doctor said nothing, but there was a smile on his features when the dance began. he knew that the youths were doomed to be disappointed, and in the first pause of the dance he asked them what they thought of it. "if that is what they call dancing," said frank, "i'm glad to know it. it seems more like the efforts of people learning to skate." "about as lively as the performance of the figures on a hand-organ," fred remarked. "i wonder why travellers have written so much nonsense about it." "some travellers have described the egyptian dance in the most enthusiastic language," answered the doctor, "and others thought they must do the same. it requires considerable courage to fly in the face of opinions that have been given over and over again by others, and consequently the fashion that was set long and long ago has been kept up. "i have seen a good many dances in egypt," he continued, "and never yet knew one that approached the most of the descriptions i have read. sometimes the girls are fairly pretty, but the great majority are of an ordinary type, and the dancing consists of that gliding and sliding from side to side which you have just witnessed. it is more suggestive of skating than of what is called dancing in western countries." the dance was resumed after a brief rest, and it continued with several intermissions for something over an hour. coffee was served two or three times in the course of the evening, and when the entertainment was ended our friends returned to the steamer. before they retired the conductor collected five francs from each passenger who had attended the dance, in order to remunerate the consul for his outlay. he said the consul went through the form of inviting strangers to an entertainment, but expected them to pay for it in a roundabout way. "not at all unusual in the east," the doctor remarked, "and certainly no one could expect a consul to spend his money in the entertainment of every party of strangers that comes along. we can imagine we were his guests, and forget that we have paid for what we saw. the illusion is very thin, but it does no harm to any one." [illustration: an egyptian king on his throne.] the next day was devoted to an excursion to the temple of denderah, which is on the opposite side of the nile from keneh, and a ride of about an hour from the landing. the party was ferried over in the ordinary boats of the natives, and found donkeys waiting on the bank with the usual crowd of importunate natives. the temple of denderah is the most modern in all egypt, as it was built less than two thousand years ago. after one is accustomed to the pyramids, and similar structures of forty or fifty centuries, and comes to the temple of denderah, he hesitates to rub against it for fear the paint is not sufficiently dried. but however much he may dislike the newness of the building, he can hardly fail to admire its solidity, and the magnificence of its halls and porticos. it is the best preserved of all the temples, as its walls and columns are practically uninjured, and the roof is almost entire. a mound of rubbish extends quite around it, and from a little distance the entrance of the temple is quite invisible. [illustration: front of the temple at denderah.] the entrance is through a fine portico of twenty-four columns. on the ceiling of this portico is a zodiac, which has been the subject of a great deal of discussion, as it was supposed to show that the signs of the zodiac were used by the ancient egyptians. recent discoveries show that it is of roman origin, and less ancient than was at first believed. every student of egyptology has had something to say about it, and we may safely remark that there are more opinions on the subject than there are signs in the zodiac itself. considerable time was spent in the inspection of the temple, and in admiring the sculptures on the walls. among them is a portrait of cleopatra, which is supposed to have been made in the lifetime of that historic lady, and may therefore be regarded as a fair likeness of her. it does not represent her as a pretty woman, and therefore we may doubt whether she was as handsome as the artists of modern times have tried to make her. some of those who wish to believe she was very pretty say the portrait at denderah was made by an artist who never saw her, and did his work from an inaccurate likeness. [illustration: egyptian prince carried in a palanquin.] chapter xv. arrival at luxor.--the great temple of karnak. frank and fred were impatient to get away from keneh, as their next halt was to be at luxor, the ancient thebes, where the steamer would remain three days, to enable them to see the monuments of ancient egypt in that vicinity. as the boat wound along the river in the direction of thebes, the youths were watching from the deck for the first indications of their proximity to that wonderful city. suddenly the sharp eyes of fred caught sight of a sort of tower in the distance, and he at once called his cousin's attention to his discovery. "yes, and there's another, and another!" shouted frank; "and the walls of a great building, too." "that must be karnak," said fred. "you know they told us karnak was a mile or more below thebes, and its ruins were the first we would see." "you are quite right," said the doctor, who just then came up. "that is karnak, or rather it is what remains of the great temple which, even in its ruin, is one of the wonders of the world." "what a pity it is in ruins," one of the youths remarked. "wouldn't it be nice if some rich man would amuse himself and spend his money by building a temple like what this once was? it would be so interesting and instructive." "i'm afraid you are not likely to find the rich man who will do it," said the doctor, with a smile. "it would take a vast amount of money, and he would be open to the charge of trying to revive the heathenism of the ancient egyptians, and instructing the people of our time in idolatrous practices." "i never thought of that," was the reply; "but any way i would like to see an egyptian temple just as it was finished, and before it began to go to ruin." "if a picture will satisfy you," the doctor answered, "you have only to refer to sir gardner wilkinson. he has made a drawing of an ancient temple, and reproduced it as exactly as he could from the materials in his possession, and from a personal visit to the best preserved temples to be found in the country." [illustration: a complete egyptian temple.] frank ran below for a copy of the book, and soon returned with it. as they neared the ruins of karnak the youths compared the scene before them with the printed picture, and tried to imagine themselves carried back to the time of rameses and sethi, when the temple was perfect, and not a stone of the vast mass had been displaced from its proper position. [illustration: a "baris," or funeral-boat.] "a procession is approaching the temple," said the doctor, "in one of the celebrations for which the ancient egyptians were famous. you see it passing along a raised causeway to the gate which admits to the grand enclosure; it carries banners with the devices of the king, and midway between the gate and the building at the end of the causeway you see one of the sacred boats in which the souls of the dead are ferried over the lake that separates this world from the next. this lake is symbolized by a small lake, or basin, in the enclosure of the temple; you see it in the fore-ground of the picture, and if it had not usually become filled with sand you would find it in all our visits to the ruins of these temples. a part of the funeral ceremony consisted of ferrying the mummy over the sacred lake in a _baris_, or funeral-boat; there were generally several boats in a procession, and that containing the mummy was usually towed by one of the others. "the wall of the enclosure was made high enough to prevent those on the outside from seeing what went on within. it is supposed that the priests wished to keep their rites and ceremonials to themselves, and were only willing to be seen when they had made proper preparations. sometimes there were two and sometimes four gates, but generally there was only one point of entrance, which was always carefully guarded. "the procession is just passing the outer gate-way, and leaving the paved road which leads to it. the gate-way consists of two massive towers, or _propylæ_ connected at the top by a broad platform, and the passage beneath is amply large enough for all the wants of the processions that enter the place. beyond the gate-way is another paved road, guarded on each side by a row of sphinxes, with their faces turned toward the causeway, and never deserting it for an instant, with their solemn stare. sometimes the outer causeway was protected by sphinxes the same as the inner one, but this was the case only with the most important temples. at the end of this road we generally find a couple of obelisks, and close beyond them is a second propylon, more massive and much taller than the one at the entrance. passing this propylon we enter an open court surrounded with a columned portico, and having a third propylon extending across its centre. passing this court-yard we reach the great hall, whose roof, supported by many columns hewn from solid stone, admits only a dim and sombre light. here the procession halts while the ceremonies for which it came are completed. "bear in mind," the doctor continued, "that the temple among the ancient egyptians was not strictly a place of religious worship, like the temples of the greeks and romans and the churches of modern days; it was a building erected by a king in honor of the divinities who were believed to have brought him prosperity in conquering his enemies or whose favor he sought. for this reason we always know by what king a temple was built, as he is always represented in the first place in the processions, and all the sacrifices and other ceremonies are in his name. "you observe that there is a grove on both sides of the temple; the egyptians always surrounded their temples with groves, and generally the trees were set out in rows. the divinities were supposed to linger about the trees, and certain deities were believed to shun a treeless spot. perhaps some of the respect for trees was due to the difficulty of keeping them alive. egypt is not a land of forests, and trees do not flourish here except with much care and attention." during this conversation about egyptian temples the steamer steadily made her way toward karnak and luxor; she passed the ruins of karnak, and soon drew up to the landing at the modern town. luxor is a wretched place of about four thousand inhabitants, and if it were not for the reputation of the spot, and the number of strangers visiting it every winter, the town would soon cease to exist. the inhabitants live almost entirely on what they obtain from visitors, and they drive quite a prosperous trade in mummies and other antiquities, besides finding a good market for the few things raised in their gardens. as soon as the boat was made fast to the bank the passengers hurried to land. the natives met them with donkeys for hire, and with all sorts of antiquities for sale. frank and fred were rather puzzled with the way in which the natives pressed their wares upon the strangers, and frank made an entry in his note-book as follows: "they are a silent people here, and when they have anything to sell they come in front of you, without saying a word, and hold the article directly before your eyes. if you wish to examine it you do so, and if desirous of buying you ask the price. [illustration: an egyptian war-chariot of ancient times.] "the figure named is in no way a criterion of the value of the goods; a native will ask fifty dollars for something he would gladly sell for as many cents; you must judge for yourself how much you are willing to pay, and then make your offer. most likely it will be refused, and the refusal is almost as silent as was the exhibition of the article. the man lowers it and walks away, but in five minutes he will come around again and repeat his performance. he asks less this time, perhaps, and you offer a little more, and he again goes away. you may come to terms after a time, but it seems to make no difference to him whether you do or not." [illustration: luxor from the water.] doctor bronson said that possibly the silence of the natives was due to the fact that nearly all their antiquities were false, and they wanted the articles to do as much of the lying as they could. "there are," he remarked, "very few chances of getting anything genuine at luxor; at present no excavations are in progress, and even if there were any, everything they bring to light should go to the government. they do a large business here in antiquities, and there certainly is no way of supplying the demand except by manufacture. it is currently reported that many of these things are made in england and france, and sent out here for sale; and it is also believed that there are factories here where false scarabæi are manufactured. let me tell you something that happened when i was here some years ago: "a man offered some scarabæi for sale, and declared they were genuine; to satisfy any doubts on that point, he offered to bring the certificate of the english consul, or we might go with him to the consulate and hear for ourselves. but it was whispered that the consul and the native were in partnership, and when we became satisfied that such was the case we suspended negotiations. "next it was whispered that the native had a factory where he manufactured the articles he offered for sale; we had a curiosity to see the inside of a factory of antiquities, and, on the theory that backsheesh will do anything in this country, we offered the man five francs to show it to us. "he denied having any factory, and we increased our offer; he still denied, and we increased again till we reached twenty francs, where we stopped. "he again denied having a factory, and we made him a last offer of twenty-five francs, and then walked away. "he became indignant, and as we retreated he said to us, with great emphasis, 'not for ten napoleons will i let you see it.' "he thus virtually admitted the existence of the factory, but of course it was not policy for him to allow foreigners to enter it. the story would be sure to leak out and ruin his business. "the fabrications are very cleverly executed, and sometimes the experts are deceived by them. the consuls are safer to deal with than the ordinary peddlers, but even they are frequently as bad as the rest. the best rule is to buy nothing, except at a very low price, or wait till your return to cairo, where you can purchase in the shops, and have the opinion of the experts." the doctor called on the american vice-consul, as he had been told that that worthy had some superior donkeys which he kept for hire; the rumor proved correct, and for a price a little above that demanded by the owners of ordinary beasts, the doctor and his young companions were provided with "consular donkeys" during their stay at luxor. an hour or two were devoted to an inspection of luxor and its temple, and then the party set out for karnak. the temple of luxor is greatly dilapidated; much of the building is in ruins, and portions of it are covered with the wretched huts of the arabs. the english consulate is built in one part of it, and the rubbish and sand around the rest are greatly to its detriment. at the side of the principal entrance there are two statues of enormous size, but only a small part of them can be seen, as the most of the figures are buried in the sand. we will read the account of the visit to karnak as it was given by frank and fred in their letters and journals. lest they should forget something, they wrote until a late hour in the evening, and declined the invitation of one of the consuls to attend a native dance at his house. they had quite enough of the dance at keneh. "we rode from luxor to karnak along a path through fields and across open spaces of uncultivated ground. there did not seem to be much of a road, and we were rather taken aback when told that there was once an avenue of sphinxes, six thousand feet long (the avenue, not the sphinxes), all the way from luxor to karnak. what a magnificent avenue it must have been, and wouldn't it have been fun to ride along it from one end to the other! as we approached karnak we came upon a few of the sphinxes still in their places; there were just enough of them to show what the avenue might have been in the days of its glory, and we wondered if the like would ever be seen again. all the sphinxes are much broken, and those that we saw had the heads of rams. frank suggests that you could hardly expect anything else when the temple was built to celebrate the exploits of rameses the great. (he worked hard on that joke, although it is so poor.) [illustration: entrance to the temple of luxor.] "we came to the propylon, or gate-way, which consisted of two enormous towers, each of them large enough to make a temple. there were six of these entrances; and to show you on what a scale this temple was, please look at the figures. one of the peristyles was feet long, feet deep, and feet high. some of them have partly fallen, but the others are very well preserved. "as we have said, when talking of the pyramids and other things, if you don't like figures you can look them over, and then skip. we are going to pelt you with a few handfuls of them, as it is impossible to give even a faint idea of the extent of this temple of karnak without them. [illustration: approach to karnak from luxor.] "here are the dimensions of this enormous work: from one end of the space where the temple stands to the other is feet, and it is about feet from one side to the other. the enclosing wall is feet thick and from to feet high, so that it formed quite a fortification in the days before the invention of gunpowder. a small army could find plenty of room inside the walls of karnak, and be able to repel a force of ten times its strength. "all the space included within the walls is covered with ruins of a most magnificent architecture, and it is not difficult to imagine that you are in the heart of a great city of past ages, rather than in the ruins of a single building. in one place there are the fragments of a fallen obelisk, and close by it is an obelisk, upright and uninjured, feet high and feet square at the base. it is said to be the largest existing obelisk, and the inscriptions show that it was made and set up in its place inside of seven months. remember that it was hewn from the quarries at assouan, and brought here in a single block. if you want to know how the ancient egyptians did it, we give up the conundrum at once. "never mind the obelisk just now; we want to show you into the great hall of the temple. and such a hall as it is! "stop and think of it as you read the figures, and see if they don't take away your breath. [illustration: the great hall of karnak.] "it is the grandest hall in the world! it is feet long and feet broad, and down its centre there are two rows of columns, twelve in all, each of them feet high, without counting capital and pedestal, and feet in diameter. then there are one hundred and twenty-two other columns arranged in fourteen rows, seven on each side of the two central rows, so that the whole room seems to consist of little else than columns. what a capital place for a game of hide-and-seek! how the egyptian children must have enjoyed it if they were permitted to play here, which we very much doubt! [illustration: grand court-yard of the temple.] "these one hundred and twenty-two columns are each feet high and feet in diameter. altogether there are one hundred and thirty-four columns in the hall of the temple, and they are all closely covered with sculptures. they once supported a roof, but it is nearly all gone now, and some of the columns have fallen. the stones used in building the temple were of great size, and they lie around us in all directions; they do not appear very large till you come close up to them, and then you seem dwarfed into nothing by their greatness. everything is on so grand a scale that you forget the dimensions of individual things until you are side by side with them. "some writers have said that there is as much stone here as in the great pyramid at gizeh. certainly there is a vast amount; but it is so scattered, and in such irregular masses, that you cannot easily make an estimate of it. at any rate, it is a much finer work than that of building the great pyramid, as the whole of the walls, the columns, the sides of all the rooms, in fact everywhere that a plain surface was presented, is covered with sculpture or painting. the pyramid impresses you with its vastness, and so does karnak; but the latter has another impression--that of beauty and artistic effect--which the pyramid has not. the stones used in the construction of karnak are many of them much larger than those in the pyramids; they show that the builders must have been very skilful engineers, and that their work covered a long period of years. [illustration: a body of archers.] "we looked at the sculptures till our eyes were weary. at every step something new was revealed, and we seemed to be living in the days of the great kings of egypt. the most of the sculptures represent battle scenes and kindred subjects; and the deeds of the kings are so well illustrated that anybody who has time and patience to study them can easily make out the whole history of a campaign. here the king is marching out with his army, some on foot, and others on horseback or in chariots, and bearing the swords, spears, and other weapons in use at that time. next we see him attacking a fortress or crossing a river; next he is putting the enemy to flight and securing the captives; and, finally, he is returning in triumph, and coming to the temple to offer thanks to the divinity who has protected and favored him. [illustration: making a list of captives.] "the sculptures here, and at other temples in the vicinity of thebes, show pretty certainly that the ancient egyptians were accustomed to make human sacrifices. there is a large picture representing the king striking off the heads of a group of captives, and sometimes the hands and feet of slain enemies are cut off and piled before the king, to show how great the slaughter has been. frequently the king is represented much larger than those that surround him, and the artists took the precaution to label each king with his name, so that there could be no mistake as to his identity. they also put labels on most of the battle scenes, and thus greatly assisted our study of egyptian history. [illustration: obelisk and part of grand hall at karnak.] "who built the great temple of karnak? "there has been and still is much dispute among egyptian scholars on this subject: it is now generally agreed that it was the work of no one king, but rather of several. there is a difference of two hundred and fifty years between the earliest and latest sculptures, and it is believed that from the beginning to the completion of the temple was nearly three centuries. on the walls, columns, and obelisks are the names of kings of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties, and they are so conspicuous that it is pretty certain the building of the temple covered these two periods in egyptian history. thothmes iii. and rameses ii. and iii. are prominently represented, and some of the inscriptions show that portions were added to the temple much later than any of the rulers mentioned. "it is supposed that the present temple is on the site of an older one, and that four thousand years at least must be given for its antiquity. the arabs have a tradition that noah visited the temple after the flood, and we may fairly believe that portions of it were finished before jacob went to egypt with his family. it was an old structure when moses led the israelites out of captivity, and its decay had begun when christ was born at bethlehem. shishak, or sheshonk, who plundered jerusalem and led the king of judea captive, is represented on its walls, and there is a picture showing his return with his train of unhappy prisoners. do you wonder that we stand astonished amid the ruins of karnak, which are older than the bible, and older than any of the histories that have come down to our hands? "we spent the afternoon among the ruins, and then returned to luxor. the evening was bright with the growing moon, and so we determined to see karnak by moonlight. if any reader of these lines should hereafter be at luxor when the moon favors, we advise him by all means to go there under its light, as he will find an effect that is not visible when the sun is in the sky. it is impossible to describe, and so we will not attempt a description; the play of light and the darkness of the shadows are surpassingly beautiful, and some of the columns and broken walls seem even more gigantic than at other times. there is an arab village close to the ruins, but not within the temple itself; the only inhabitants are owls and jackals, who resent your intrusion with their peculiar cries, and seem to consider themselves the rightful heirs of the kings so long dead and gone." [illustration: egyptian soldiers.] chapter xvi. the rameseum, medinet aboo, and the vocal memnon. [illustration: dry footing.] the morning after the visit to karnak an early start was made for the other side of the river. the party was ferried across in a couple of native boats to a sand-bank that pushed out some distance from the shore; the boats grounded in the shallow water, and our friends were carried on the backs of several arabs, who gladly accepted the chance to earn a few pennies by a temporary conversion into beasts of burden. everybody landed dry and unharmed with the exception of one unfortunate individual, whose bearer stumbled just before reaching the solid earth. luckily the accident resulted only in a slight wetting. the arab carrier demanded a large backsheesh because he waited so long before falling! there are several temples on the west bank of the nile, the most prominent of them being the rameseum, or memnonium, and medinet aboo. these two were on the same general plan as the temple of karnak, though less extensive; but, even when compared with karnak, they are entitled to very high rank as works of egyptian art and architecture. in the neighborhood there are half a dozen or more smaller temples, each possessing an historical and artistic interest peculiar to itself. it was a busy time for our friends, as they had a great deal to see in a few hours. what they saw we will learn from their accounts: "we had a delightful ride on the donkeys that were waiting on the bank as we arrived, our way lying through fields such as we have already described, and afterward passing over a stretch of barren ground--the border of the libyan desert. doctor bronson told us while we were riding along that this was formerly the libyan suburb of thebes, and that the ancient city stood on both sides of the river. sir gardner wilkinson says it was about five miles long by three in width. it was in its most flourishing condition during the eighteenth dynasty, and it began to decline in the eighth century before the christian era. there is a great deal of dispute as to its population; but it is said that it could send out twenty thousand horsemen to battle, and its walls were pierced with a hundred gates. its ruins are scattered over a large area, and its burial-grounds are so enormous that several days would be required for even a slight examination of them. [illustration: ruins in old thebes.] "according to some writers the greater part of the population was on the eastern or luxor side, while the western section was the residence of the kings and royal households; and, consequently, many of the temples were built there. for the same reason the tombs of the kings were on the western side, but were placed a considerable distance from the river, where the character of the limestone rock was such that it could be readily excavated. much of the site of the city is now overflowed every year at the time of the inundation, and in this portion there are only a few traces of the buildings that once stood there. "we went through some of the small temples, and then came to the rameseum, or memnonium. it owes its first name to the fact that it was founded by rameses the great, and its second to its dedication to the worship of memnon. it is grand enough to have half a dozen names instead of two, and the honor can certainly be divided between rameses and memnon without any fear that either of them will suffer. [illustration: grand hall of the memnonium.] "it was in the usual form of the egyptian temples, and its grand court was not far from fifty yards square. many of the columns have disappeared, or lie in ruins, but enough of them remain to show the magnificence of the original structure. "the great object of curiosity here is the statue of rameses the great, which stood in the court-yard, and is now overturned and broken. there are some mysteries about it, and we will try to name them. "in the first place, no one can guess how the egyptians managed to take such a huge block of granite from the quarries and convert it into a statue. it was a single piece of stone, and represented the king sitting on his throne (the usual position of egyptian statues) with his hands resting on his knees, and his face in that calm repose that a great ruler ought to exhibit when he has everything his own way. and how large do you suppose it was? [illustration: view in the memnonium, with ruined statue of rameses the great.] "we used a tape-line to be sure we were right in our estimates, and found that the figure was twenty feet across the shoulders and fifteen feet from shoulder to elbow. the foot was eleven feet from toe to heel, and the other parts of the statue were in proportion. the throne and legs are a good deal broken up, but the upper part of the statue down to the waist is in comparatively good condition. engineers have calculated that the whole statue, when perfect, weighed nearly nine hundred tons, or nearly three times as much as the largest obelisk at karnak. commander gorringe says that the obelisk he transported from egypt to america, and set up in central park, new york, weighs two hundred and twenty-four tons, so you see what a big thing was this statue of rameses, which the egyptians brought down the river from assouan and set up in thebes thousands of years ago. "when the persians conquered egypt, and destroyed many of its cities, they overturned the statue of rameses the great, and proceeded to break it up; and another of the mysteries is how they managed to break it, as gunpowder was not then invented, and there is nothing to show that they possessed any powerful explosives. but break it they did; and it is only because it was so large, or they were called away on other business, that they left any part of it for us to open our eyes about. "if possessing the largest statue ever known in ancient or modern times makes one happy, rameses ought to have been as jolly as he was great. but perhaps he did not enjoy himself much, after all, as he seems to have been a cruel tyrant, who oppressed his people, and compelled his prisoners of war to build the temples that remain to mark his greatness. the inscriptions around this and other temples show him to have been full of cruelty: he sacrificed prisoners with his own hand, or caused them to be put to death in his presence; and there is one picture wherein he is putting out the eyes of several captives, who are held by cords passed through their nostrils. on the whole, though we should have liked to look upon rameses in his great temple, we are not at all sorry that he belonged to an age long past. if he was a good man for his time, it was certainly not a good time to live in. "we have wished ever so much that we could read the inscriptions on the walls of the temple; but, after all, we need not feel so badly that we cannot do so, because many learned men have made translations for us. the pictures tell us a great deal, even without the hieroglyphics; they make it certain that the king was the most important personage at the time he lived, and if we believed what they represent, we should conclude that he did all the fighting, and his army only stood and looked on. one picture shows him sending a shower of arrows among the enemy and putting them to flight; and in another he is pulling down the walls of a fort, as though it was nothing but a toy house built of corn-cobs. [illustration: the phalanx of the sheta.] "there is a picture which is called 'the phalanx of the sheta,' which we could not make much of till it was explained to us, and then we saw there was a good deal in it. we enclose a drawing of it, so that you can see how the egyptians represented things on a plain surface without perspective. "the phalanx is represented as a reserve corps close by a fortified town, which is surrounded by double ditches for protection against an enemy. on each side of the town there is a bridge over the ditches, and there are men in the towers of the fort, as if they were expecting to be attacked. the soldiers in the phalanx are armed with short swords or knives, and with spears. doctor bronson says the swords have a very close resemblance to the famous bowie-knife of the south-western states of north america, and it is possible that the inventor of that weapon got his idea from the ancient egyptians. only the front and rear ranks have weapons, and what the men in the middle are holding out their hands for we cannot guess. [illustration: medinet aboo.] "we stayed at the rameseum as long as possible, and would gladly have ignored the whistle of the conductor summoning us to move on, had we not feared missing other important sights. we went next to the temple of medinet aboo, or rather to the temples, as there are two of them together, one much smaller than the other. the small temple was the work of several kings, and some of the later ones altered the plans of their predecessors, so that the architecture is not altogether harmonious. "heaps of ruins lie all around, and there is a broken statue of rameses ii. much smaller than the one we saw at the first temple we visited. the sculptures on the walls are less interesting than in the memnonium, and we did not spend much time over them. "the great temple of medinet aboo has a raised platform in front, and we were quite interested in the view from this platform of the plain where thebes once stood, and the various objects scattered over it. from the platform we passed into the temple through a wide gate-way, and found ourselves in a large court-yard enclosed by broken walls. from the court-yard we went into what is said to have been the palace of the king. the conductor called our attention to the sculptures on the walls, which are quite peaceful in their character, and show that the place was more a private residence than a temple. "the pictures represent the great ruler in his retirement; in some of them he is playing a game of draughts, similar to those at beni-hassan and other places; he is receiving garlands of flowers from the hands of the ladies of his court, or they are cooling him with fans; and in nearly every instance he is represented seated in a chair while all around him are standing. nobody was allowed to sit in the presence of the king, if we may believe these pictures, and it is quite probable that he required all the rules of etiquette to be rigidly observed. "in the front of the temple there are pictures of a different sort, where the king is represented sacrificing prisoners or making war on his enemies. in the large halls of the temple there is a series of battle pictures which reminded us of those at karnak, and they show the captives brought from various countries so clearly that the conquests of the kings may be readily traced. in one of the pictures the right hands of the slain are cut off and piled up in order that the king may see them, and an officer counts them while a scribe notes down their number. other pictures show the captured horses, and spears and other weapons piled up and counted, and we may believe the egyptians were quite systematic in their mode of keeping accounts. [illustration: an egyptian war-boat.] "on one of the walls there is a picture of a fight in galleys or war-boats, and it is said to be the only one of the kind in egypt. there are plenty of boats in their paintings and sculpture, but with this exception they are all engaged in peaceful pursuits. in spite of their cutting off the hands of the slain for the purpose of arithmetic, the egyptians seem to have had some humanity about them after all. the picture of the naval engagement shows them to have been victorious, and they are doing all they can to save the men in the sinking ships of their enemies. then the king distributes rewards to his officers and soldiers, and the army marches back to thebes. "perhaps you have had enough of the achievements of the kings who lived three thousand years ago, and the monuments they left behind them. well, there's the whistle, and we'll say good-bye to medinet aboo. "what school-boy has not read about the vocal memnon at thebes--the sitting statue that greeted the morning sun with its voice? here it is, on the plain, some distance in front of the rameseum, and it is supposed that an avenue of similar figures once led from the position of the vocal memnon up to the temple. there are two statues side by side, and they are known as 'the sitting colossi,' or simply 'the colossi,' and are sufficiently large to be seen at a long distance. [illustration: the colossi during an inundation.] "each statue rises about fifty feet from a pedestal at least ten feet high, so that when they were erected they were doubtless more than sixty feet above the ground; but the inundations of the nile have deposited the earth around them, and the pedestals are completely surrounded. when the river is at its height the two figures seem to be sitting in a lake. they were hewn from single blocks of sandstone; but one of them was injured, either by an earthquake or by the persian invaders, and was reconstructed with blocks of stone of the same character as the original. "they were made to represent amunoph iii., and were not, as many suppose, intended for divinities. the one nearest the north was known as the vocal memnon, that uttered a sound every morning when the rays of the sun fell upon it. "sometimes it was obstinate, and for several days refused to speak. kings, and princes, and other great men made long journeys to see, and especially to hear it, and they waited patiently day after day, too, for its utterance. "sometimes, when a very great personage like the emperor hadrian came, it gave forth its utterance twice on the same morning. then the whole of thebes talked of the wonder, and the emperor was regarded with special reverence. "we went to see and hear it, and we did not go at sunrise, as was necessary to do three thousand years ago. "we went in the afternoon, and for half a franc an arab climbed up the statue and struck a stone that lies in the lap of the figure. we beat the emperor hadrian completely, as we heard the sound a dozen times instead of twice, and if we had given the arab a franc he would have been delighted to pound the stone for half an hour. [illustration: egyptian priests clad in leopard-skins.] "the sound is what we call a metallic one, like that of a poorly tuned bell. the whole trick is clearly apparent. a priest was concealed in a niche behind the stone, where nobody could see him from the ground, and he could strike the stone at the proper moment without fear of discovery. perhaps he went to sleep occasionally, and then the sound was not heard; or it is possible he was in league with the hotel-keepers of thebes, and wished people to stay in town a week or two, instead of finishing their visit in a day and taking the train to the next place. at any rate, the colossi have ceased to be among the wonders of the world. for thirty centuries they have looked out on the plain of thebes. what a pity it is they cannot open their stony lips and tell us what has passed around them during all that period of time--what changes they have witnessed, and what generations have come and gone since they first began their long vigil!" [illustration: rear view of the colossi, with luxor in the distance.] chapter xvii. the tombs of the kings.--recent discoveries of royal mummies. "from temples to tombs," wrote one of the boys in his journal, "the transition is a natural one. the kings built the temples, and recorded their exploits on the walls. when they were done with temples and all other earthly things, they were carried to their tombs and laid away to rest. we saw their temples yesterday, and to-day we have made an excursion to their tombs. [illustration: sacred musicians, and a priest offering incense.] "the tombs of the kings are about three miles from the river, and the road to them is along a valley as barren as any part of the desert can possibly be. it must have been a weary route for the funeral processions from thebes to this desolate spot, and it is probable that the kings deferred their journeys there as long as possible. the way is impassable for carriages, and so we rode on donkeys, as we have done in most of our egyptian excursions. [illustration: valley of the tombs of the kings.] "the tombs are scattered along a narrow valley of barren mountains at the edge of the libyan desert, or, rather, just within its borders; they are excavated in the solid rock, and some of them are very large. every few years a new discovery is made, and the government allows any explorer to search for tombs under certain conditions: the conditions are now so onerous that few private researches have been undertaken for some time, and none are likely to be till the laws are changed. in the early part of the century several english, french, german, and other explorers were on the ground, and some of their discoveries were of great interest. the tombs they opened are generally known by the names of those who found them, though several have lost that distinction through a system of numbering adopted by sir gardner wilkinson. the guides usually point them out by their numbers. about thirty tombs in all have been opened, and it is certain there are ten or twelve more that have not been discovered. strabo, the greek historian, who came here about the beginning of the christian era, says he saw forty tombs; but some have conjectured that he included those in another valley, and known as the tombs of the queens. [illustration: view in belzoni's tomb.] "we didn't have time to see the whole twenty-five, and it would not have been worth while for us to do so, as several of them have no particular interest. we went first to number seventeen, which is also known as belzoni's tomb; it was discovered by belzoni, an italian traveller, and the most of its contents were carried to england, and are now in the british museum. perhaps you may wonder why these tombs are so difficult to find, but the reason is this: "when a king died, and had been properly turned into a mummy, the funeral rites were performed, and he was taken to the excavation in the rock prepared for him. when he was packed away in his stone coffin the entrance to the tomb was sealed up, and the side of the mountain broken away; all trace of the tomb or the entrance of it was destroyed; and there is a rumor that the men who performed the work were killed, in order to prevent any revelations. doubtless the locality of the tombs was known to a good many people; but the knowledge of it would be gradually lost, especially when the country was devastated by wars, and the whole population, in some instances, swept away. certainly the most of these tombs were unknown for a thousand years or so previous to the present century, with a few exceptions where the arabs had accidentally hit upon them, though many of them had been plundered and again closed during the greek and roman period. belzoni was guided in his search by an incident which the arabs had told him of the sinking of the earth in consequence of a rain, and the disappearance of water at a certain point. this led him to suspect that there might be a tomb there, and by digging away the fallen fragments of rock on the side of the mountain he came upon the entrance. "there is a general similarity in these tombs, and so we will not weary you with repetitions by describing them all. "the tomb has a narrow entrance, from which there is a descending passage-way, and sometimes a staircase. there are long halls and lateral chambers, and now and then the real resting-place of the king is beneath the main hall, which contained a bogus mummy intended to mislead any unauthorized visitor. the egyptians exhausted their brains in devices to conceal the royal mummies, and it is quite possible that in some cases they have succeeded. when belzoni opened the tomb that bears his name he came upon a staircase at the end of the passage, which he descended; there he found a horizontal chamber terminating in another staircase, and at its foot was an oblong chamber, or pit, of considerable depth. "this appeared to be the end of the tomb, and it was, as an hibernian might say, full of emptiness. "belzoni was disappointed, as his search had been fruitless. while wondering what to do next, he struck his hammer against the wall at the top of the pit, and found that it gave forth a hollow sound. he reasoned that the sound indicated a chamber beyond, and that the apparently solid rock was only a wall of masonry, carefully covered with stucco and hieroglyphics. "he sent out for the best battering-ram that could be procured, and it soon came in the shape of a log cut from a palm-tree. with this log he knocked down the wall and opened a way into the actual tomb. the inscriptions on the walls were found quite unharmed, and so was the alabaster coffin, which is now in london, but contained nothing of consequence when discovered. the tomb appears to be one of those that was partially plundered within a few hundred years of its occupation by the royal mummy, and again closed up. "the total distance from the entrance to the farthest point in belzoni's tomb is four hundred and seventy feet, and the perpendicular descent of the various stairways and inclines is one hundred and eighty feet. we had a fatiguing walk through it, in consequence of the unevenness of the way and the fragments of broken and fallen rock. the air was somewhat stifling, partly owing to its confined character, and partly from the effect of our torches and candles. we burnt a good deal of magnesium wire to light up the halls, and reveal the beautiful inscriptions that were around us in all directions except beneath our feet. remember that there was hardly a foot of space without inscriptions. the walls of this tomb afford material for a year's study, and hard study at that. "some of the inscriptions refer to the daily occupations of the egyptians, others to the deeds of the kings of egypt, and others to the funeral ceremonies attending the death of a king. these last are by far the most numerous, and there are long extracts from the 'book of the dead,' showing the progress of the soul after it leaves the body. "one inscription shows the soul passing to amenthes, where, after a short halt, it was ordered to the hall of justice. on its way to this hall it was attacked by demons and wild beasts, but all these were driven away if the body had been properly provided with prayers written on the rolls of papyrus and the scarabæi that are always found with the mummies. "another picture represents the soul in the hall of justice, where its heart is placed in one scale and the goddess of truth in the other. two of the gods superintend the weighing, and a third makes a note of the result. the god osiris (with forty-two councillors) pronounces sentence. the heart was found heavy, and therefore the spirit was ordered to the regions of the blessed, where it was to pass through centuries of happiness and then return to the mummy, which would be restored to life. of course they always found that the heart of the king was of the proper weight; it would have been dangerous for the artist to discover it too light, and thereby condemn it to suffer long tortures as a punishment for its sins before it could pass to a state of rest, and get ready to return to the mummy that waited for it. "belzoni's tomb was made for king sethi i., whose temple we visited from girgeh. portions of it were left unfinished, and some of the drawings are incomplete. this condition of the wall is to be regretted for some reasons, but is very fortunate in other respects, as it shows how the egyptian artists performed their work. the draughtsman made the outlines in red chalk, and they were then inspected by the chief artist, who corrected any errors or made alterations with a black crayon; the marks were then followed by the sculptor, and were afterward colored with the proper pigments. in some cases the wall was laid out in squares before the figures were drawn, but this does not seem to have been the universal rule, and there is abundant evidence that the egyptian artists were accomplished in what we call 'free-hand' drawing. [illustration: an egyptian harper.] "from this tomb we went to that of rameses iii. it was discovered by bruce, the famous traveller in egypt and abyssinia, and usually bears his name, though it is sometimes called 'the harper's tomb,' from the figure of a man playing on a harp, which is painted on one of the walls. it is much easier to visit than belzoni's, and its chief interest lies in the great number of agricultural, pastoral, and other scenes depicted on the walls. the daily life of the people is very clearly shown, and we have an excellent idea of what the ancient egyptians did, how they lived, and what were their articles of furniture, dress, and the like. we were astonished to see pictures of sofas, chairs, tables, and other adornments of the house that would be considered luxurious at the present time. doctor bronson says the designers of modern furniture might learn a great deal by coming here and copying the pictures on the walls. [illustration: a chair from bruce's tomb.] "we saw half a dozen tombs of the kings, and then went to the tombs of the assaséef. perhaps you'd like to know what they are? "they were the tombs of certain high-priests of thebes, who are reputed to have been very wealthy and powerful, and certainly they must have been pretty nearly as important as the king under whom they lived. their tombs are even larger than any of the tombs of the kings: the greatest of the assaséef tombs has a lineal distance from the entrance to the farthest point of eight hundred and sixty-two feet, and the floors of the various passages, rooms, and pits include an area of about an acre and a quarter. isn't that a pretty large tomb for one person--even though he included the members of his family and a few personal friends? "we lighted our torches at the entrance, and then began a long walk through the interior, though we did not visit all the side chambers and narrow rooms, of which there are a great many. the sculptures on the walls are inferior to those in belzoni's and bruce's tombs, and we did not spend much time over them. "several times some of our torches were put out by the bats, of which there are great numbers in the tomb. it was quite as bad for the bats as for the torches, as they could not fly into the flame without risk of having their wings singed. they flew in our faces, and were anything but agreeable. one of our party said he had heard of receiving 'a bat in the eye,' but never before experienced the sensation. he had a dozen of them at least before he got out of the place. "from this place we went to some private tombs, and then to the tombs of the queens, but only visited one of each. neither of these was particularly interesting after what we had seen, though they contained the usual profusion of mural paintings, which we had no time for inspecting. the best of the paintings and sculptures have been copied by wilkinson and others, and we may study them at our leisure when we get home, and our friends who are interested in the subject can do the same thing. in one of the tombs we found the work of an artist who evidently had the spirit of fun in him, as there were several caricatures of no mean order. in one picture a boat has collided with another, and a whole lot of cakes and other eatables are overturned on the rowers. we find caricatures occasionally, but not often, and, on the whole, the egyptians seem to have been a serious people. "we got back all right to the bank of the river, where the boats were waiting to ferry us over to luxor. so ends our sight-seeing at thebes, as we leave to-morrow morning to continue our journey up the nile. we have had no accident beyond a few slight tumbles and bruises, and have obtained a store of information that will severely tax our memories to retain. let us hope that we can remember it, and be able to impart our knowledge to others; if we can, we shall be rewarded a thousand times over for the trouble we have taken, and for the fatigues of our visits to the temples and tombs of this famous city of thirty centuries ago." since the travels of our friends in egypt an event has occurred of great interest to all who have any familiarity with the history of the land of the pharaohs. it will be noted that frank and fred, during their visits to the tombs of the kings, and to the museum at boulak, did not see the mummy of any royal personage, if we except that of queen amen-hotep, which was found by mariette bey, together with the remarkable collection of jewellery described in chapter viii. remembering that no mummy of a king had been found down to the date of the journey of our friends in egypt, and that all the royal tombs when opened were found to have been previously visited by vandals as free-handed as those of modern days, we can appreciate the importance of the announcement, toward the end of , that a new tomb had been opened and found to contain the mummies of several kings, together with those of other royal personages. the following description is taken from a recent publication, the details having been derived from the reports of m. maspero, the able successor of mariette pasha: "for the last ten years or more it had been suspected that the theban arabs (whose main occupation is tomb-pillage and mummy-snatching) had found a royal sepulchre. objects of great rarity and antiquity were being brought to europe every season by travellers who had purchased them from native dealers living on the spot; and many of these objects were historically traceable to certain royal dynasties which made thebes their capital city. at length suspicion became certainty. an english tourist, passing through paris, presented professor maspero with some photographs from a superb papyrus which he had then lately bought at thebes from an arab named abd-er-ranoul. this papyrus proved to be the ritual, or funereal sacred book, written for pinotem i., third priest-king of the twenty-first dynasty. evidently, then, the tomb of this sovereign had been discovered and pillaged. in january, , the late lamented mariette pasha died at cairo, and was succeeded by professor maspero, the present conservator of antiquities to h.h. the khedive. professor maspero at once resolved to get to the bottom of the theban mystery; and, with that object chiefly in view, proceeded last april to upper egypt upon his first official trip of inspection. arriving at luxor he straightway arrested the said abd-er-ranoul. threats, bribery, persuasion were, however, tried in vain, and abd-er-ranoul was consigned to the district prison at keneh, the chief town of the province. here for two months he maintained an obstinate silence. in the mean while professor maspero offered a reward of £ for the discovery of the secret, and returned to europe. scarcely had he embarked when the elder brother of abd-er-ranoul went privately before the governor of keneh, offered to betray the secret, and claimed the reward. [illustration: section of papyrus.] "the governor telegraphed immediately to cairo; and herr emil brugsch, keeper of the boulak museum (whom professor maspero had deputed to act for him in any case of emergency), was forthwith despatched to thebes. here he was conducted to a lonely spot in the most desolate and unfrequented part of the great necropolis which extends for between three and four miles along the western bank of the nile. hidden behind an angle of limestone cliff, and masked by a huge fragment of fallen rock, he beheld the entrance to a perpendicular shaft descending to a depth of thirty-nine feet. at the bottom of this shaft opened a gallery two hundred and forty feet in length, leading to a sepulchral vault measuring twenty-three feet by thirteen. in this gallery and vault were found some thirty-six mummies, including more than twenty kings and queens, besides princes, princesses, and high-priests, to say nothing of an immense store of sacred vessels, funereal statuettes, alabaster vases, and precious objects in glass, bronze, acacia-wood, etc. the treasure thus brought to light consisted of some six thousand items, not the least valuable of which were four royal papyri. professor maspero, in his official report, warmly eulogizes the energy with which herr emil brugsch, by the aid of five hundred native laborers, exhumed, packed, shipped, and brought to cairo the whole contents of this now famous hiding-place. [illustration: coffin and mummy of a royal princess.] "the following are the principal royal mummies found in this recently opened tomb: "king rasekenen-taaken and queen ansera, of the seventeenth dynasty. "king ahmes ra-neb-pehti, queen ahmes nofretari, queen aah-hotep, queen merit-amen, queen hontimoo-hoo, prince se amen, princess set-amen, king amen-hotep i., king thothmes i.,* king thothmes ii., king thothmes iii., queen sitka, all of the eighteenth dynasty. [illustration: coffin of queen nofretari.] "king rameses i.,* king sethi i., king rameses ii., of the nineteenth dynasty. [the asterisk indicates that the mummy is missing.] "queen notem-maut, king and high-priest pinotem i., king pinotem ii., prince and high-priest masahirti, queen hathor hout-taui, queen makara, queen isi-em-kheb, princess nasi-khonsu, prince tat-f-ankh, nebseni, a priest, noi-shounap, a priest, of the twenty-first dynasty. "in some instances the mummy reposes in its original mummy-case, and sometimes in two or three mummy-cases, the whole enclosed in an enormous outer sarcophagus. in others, only the mummy case is left, the mummy having been destroyed or abstracted. farther, some mummies are found in mummy-cases not their own, or in mummy-cases which have been altered and usurped for their use in ancient times. "there can be no doubt that the vault in which these various mummies and funereal treasures were found was the family sepulchre of the kings of the twenty-first dynasty. this dynasty was founded by her-hor, high-priest of amen of the great temple of amen at thebes, who, toward the close of the twentieth dynasty, at a time the throne of the last ramessides was tottering to its foundations, either inherited the crown by right of descent or seized it by force. "the close of the twentieth dynasty was an epoch of great internal trouble and disorder. during the reigns of the last four or five kings of that line there had been little security for life and property in thebes; and organized bands of robbers committed constant depredations in the more retired quarters of the necropolis, attacking chiefly the tombs of great personages, and venturing even to break open the sepulchres of the royal dead. hence it became the sacred duty of the reigning monarch to take every possible precaution to insure the mummies of his predecessors against profanation and pillage. "we accordingly find that her-hor caused the sepulchres of his predecessors to be periodically visited by a service of regularly appointed inspectors of tombs, whose duty it was to report upon the condition of the royal mummies; to repair their wrappings and mummy-cases when requisite; and, if necessary, to remove them from their own sepulchres into any others which might be deemed more secure. all of them seem to have been moved several times: at one time the tomb of queen ansera, at another time the tomb of sethi i., at another time the tomb of one of the amen-hoteps would seem to have been selected as the chosen hiding-place of several royal mummies, all of whom had been removed from their own original sepulchres by order of her-hor or his successors. the mummy of rameses ii. (to whose memory, as the supposed pharaoh of the oppression of the hebrews, so strong an interest attaches) appears to have been removed more frequently, and to have suffered more vicissitudes of fortune than any of the others. that his sepulchre in the valley of the tombs of the kings had been violated by robbers can scarcely be doubted, for his original mummy-cases were either destroyed or damaged beyond repair. "all the mummies were eventually consigned to the tomb of the her-hor family near the end of the twenty-first dynasty. professor maspero believes this final measure to have been taken during the reign of king menkheperra, the last sovereign but one of the her-hor line. menkheperra himself is not among those found in the vault; neither is his son and successor, pinotem iii. having piously deposited all these revered and deified pharaohs and other royal personages in the last home of his own immediate ancestors, menkheperra evidently closed the vault forever, and was himself content to be buried elsewhere. "it is interesting to learn from the reports of professor maspero and herr brugsch the heights of some of the famous kings of egypt. raskenen, it seems, was among egyptian kings like saul in israel. he measured six feet one inch, and very few of his descendants took after him in this particular. ashmes, for instance (his grandson), measured only five feet six inches, and the great thothmes iii. five feet seven inches. thothmes ii. approached the stature of his ancestor, but sethi i. was no more than five feet nine inches. it is satisfactory to learn that rameses ii. was taller than his father, and not, like thothmes iii., a little man, by any means, for his mummy wants but one inch of six feet. [illustration: coffin of rameses ii.] "one of the most interesting objects in the collection is the coffin of rameses ii. the face of the king is represented on the lid, and the hands are in high relief, grasping the osirian scourge and crook, but the face is not from the studio of the artists who carved the walls of abydus, and designed the sitting figures of aboo-simbel. on the breast is a legend which includes two royal cartouches or ovals, with an inscription in that hieratic or cursive hieroglyphic writing which is so difficult to read. the names in the ovals are easily read, however--'ra-messes-mer-amen' in one, 'ra-user-ma setep-en-ra' in the other. "considerable interest attaches to the mummy of king pinotem, as it was the latest of all the royal collection. pinotem was the third king of the twenty-first dynasty, who reigned as nearly as possible a millennium b.c. in addition to the royal mummies, a multitude of objects bearing cartouches will throw great light upon the succession of these kings; and the tent of pinotem, of leather, embroidered and colored, and covered with hieroglyphics, cannot fail to clear up some historical difficulties as to the priest-kings of thebes. his face has an ethiopian cast of features, and he is believed to have been descended from the princes of egypt who came from the south. the lips are slightly parted, and the upper teeth are almost visible. the absence of the eyeball is indicated by the way in which the eyelids are sunken; and the nostrils are forcibly distended, in consequence of the method employed by the embalmers for the removal of the brain, which was effected by means of a hooked instrument passed up through the nose. the expression is, nevertheless, not unpleasing. the shrouds are of somewhat coarse texture; and a few withered flowers may be observed stuck through the bands which hold the wrappings together." chapter xviii. harem life in the east.--from luxor to assouan. a surprise was in store for frank and fred when they returned from their excursion to the tombs of the kings. several ladies of the party had declined to visit the tombs, partly on account of the fatigue of the journey, and partly because they had been invited to see the harem of the english consul at luxor, and did not wish to miss the opportunity of learning how the women of the east pass their time. when our friends returned to the boat the ladies had only been back a short time from the harem, and there was an active interchange of accumulated information until dinner was announced. after dinner frank tried to persuade one of the ladies to write an account of what she saw in the harem, as he wished to send it home for his sister and miss effie to read. she was unwilling to write, but promised that she would tell him the next day, while they were steaming up the river, and then he might write it out for himself. frank accepted the conditions, and next morning he sat down, pencil in hand, to take the story from the lady's lips. he thought it would be more interesting in her words than in his, and, as he was a rapid writer, he managed to get down a good part of the story just as she told it. here is the result of his work: "we went to the office," said the lady, "and found the consul was all ready for us. we walked from there to his house, which is quite pretty when you get inside of it, and has a nice little garden on a balcony; from this balcony we went into the harem, accompanied by the consul's son, who speaks english. the consul remained outside with the husband of one of the ladies, as it would have been a great outrage upon oriental etiquette for a foreign gentleman to step inside the sacred spot. "the son of the consul only stayed long enough to introduce us, and then we were left to take care of ourselves. there were half a dozen women, some of them the wives of the consul, and others married to his son: we couldn't remember them all separately, and so when the young man left us we didn't know which was which. but it was of no particular consequence that we forgot, as we had to do all our talking by signs; the women spoke only arabic, and not one of us knew a dozen words of that language. the only word i could think of was _empshy!_ (clear out!), which you say to beggars when you want to be rid of them, and that wasn't exactly the kind of language to use when you are introduced to strangers. [illustration: an oriental lady at home.] "when we entered the room they saluted us in arabic, and invited us to sit on the carpet, which we did as well as we could. there were divans around the sides of the room, and a fine carpet in the centre, and we sat more on the carpet than on the divans. we wanted to do as nearly like our entertainers as we could, and when they invited us to the carpet we thought it would be rudeness to decline. of course we were rather awkward about it, and laughed at our clumsiness, so as to give them a chance to laugh with us if they wanted to. "they were dressed loosely in the flowing robes such as you see the arab women wear in the streets, but they had no veils on their faces. there was one who did not seem to be more than fifteen years old, and i presume she was the favorite wife of the consul's son. she wore a dress embroidered more richly than any other, and the material was of a costly silk. i wanted to ask her where it was made, and how much it cost, as i fancied it would be a nice one to take home and excite the envy of my friends. but then, you know, it might have been impolite to put such a question, and, besides, i didn't know how to ask in arabic. all things considered, i didn't ask at all. "as soon as we sat down on the carpet they began to examine us; they looked very intently into our faces, they scanned our clothing and boots, loosened our hair, took out our ear-drops, and appeared as curious and innocent as children. we returned the compliment by examining them, and they seemed greatly pleased that we did so. "what excited their curiosity more than anything else was mrs. ----'s hair. they pinched it and twisted it in all sorts of ways, passed it through their hands, and were not contented until they satisfied themselves that it grew naturally on her head. even then they kept touching it and looking at it closely every few minutes, all the time we were in the harem." [illustration: eastern ladies listening to music.] frank made a memorandum, for the benefit of his sister and miss effie, that the lady in question was english, and had hair of the purest blonde. it was rich and glossy, of the hue of old gold, and was doubtless the first hair of the kind these arab ladies had ever seen. it was no wonder that their curiosity was roused by it. black hair is universal among the arabs, and the tricks of the bleachers of london and new york are unknown in egypt. "before we knew what they were doing," the lady continued, "they had our heads in their laps, and were staining our eyelids. they wanted to stain our finger-nails and tattoo our chins, but we declined the honor, as we did not like the effect of the coloring matter, which will not wash off. it remains on for several days, and when it begins to wear off it makes the hands very dingy. they were as much amused at the whiteness of our finger-nails as we were at the dark color of theirs. "they wore their hair loose, with bands around the head to keep it in place, and the youngest of them had a very rich head-dress with many pieces of gold attached to it. they served us with pipes and coffee soon after we entered, and seemed much surprised at our refusal to smoke. one of us tried a few whiffs from a nargileh, and it made them laugh very much when the smoke choked her and set her to coughing. "our visit lasted about half an hour. they embraced us when we came away, but did not offer to kiss us, and the last thing they did was to give a farewell pinch to mrs. ----'s hair. they intimated by signs that they would like to come to the boat to see us; but of course that would not be according to eastern usage, and they are not at all likely to come." frank gathered other details about the life of eastern women which he appended to his account of the visit we have just described. a few of them will not be out of place in this narrative. "according to all i can learn," wrote frank, "the life of an eastern woman must be very monotonous. she goes out very little, and after she is married can only rarely visit her relatives. day and night her place is in the harem, and she never speaks to any man except her husband--not even to his most intimate friends or to her own brothers. the time must hang very heavily on her hands, especially when, as is generally the case, she is unable to read, and cannot obtain the consolation which books afford. [illustration: an oriental dancing girl.] "i have told you of the marriage ceremonies among the modern egyptians; they are practically the same in most of the moslem countries, and have the same result among all except the poorer classes. the wife of a man who can afford the expense of a harem passes the most of her time there, and only goes out on rare occasions. ladies of her own rank may call on her, and she can return their visits, but they are not very frequent, and she passes the most of the time entirely among the other women of her house. these include the servants or slaves, and possibly the other wives of her husband. "speaking of other wives, let me say here that, according to the koran, an arab or turk may have four wives, provided he can take care of them, but by custom he sometimes has more. doctor bronson says the intercourse of the east with europe has caused a great many men to adopt the customs of the latter country and have only one wife. some of the high officers of egypt have done so, and they are occasionally seen in public with their wives, which is a great innovation upon the old habits of the land. "where a man has two or more wives each of them is entitled to separate apartments, and to servants whose whole business is to wait on her; consequently, a harem is an expensive luxury, and there are not many who can afford it. perhaps the saving of expense has something to do with the spread of european ideas among the orientals. and then, too, there are apt to be quarrels among the occupants of the harem which the master is called upon to settle, and with a sufficient number of them his life is anything but a happy one. [illustration: an eastern story-teller.] "the amusements of the ladies of the harem consist of music and story-telling, and for this there are professional narrators and performers who go from house to house, and are paid for their services. of course these are women, as no man except the master of the house can enter the harem. their visits are always welcome, as they greatly assist in passing away the time. when a story-teller is present the women gather about her, and sometimes the master of the house is seated in a balcony, where he can hear the performance and look upon the assemblage below. for the musical entertainments there are generally two or more performers, one of them playing on the flute and the other on the guitar. then there are women who sing in addition to playing, or, if singers cannot play, they bring their own accompanists. "a lady in moslem countries gives a party very much like one in new york, with the difference that all the visitors are ladies. generally these parties are in the afternoon, though they sometimes take place in the evening. in either case the guests come at an appointed hour and are received by the hostess, who is in evening costume and without a veil. her visitors having come through the streets on their way to the house are of course veiled when they arrive, but the veil is laid aside with the shawls and cloaks, and the guests make themselves at home, very much as in christian countries. "if the hostess is the wife of an official, or merchant having business with foreigners, she sends invitations to their wives or sisters--in fact, to any ladies she knows, whether they are of her religion or not. in this way european ladies are introduced to the harems, and it often happens that warm friendships are formed between women of different religions, just as they are formed among men. [illustration: a reception in a harem.] "when there is a large party, some are seated on the divans and others on the carpet. coffee and cigarettes are served, and those who desire pipes to smoke can be accommodated, as the long-stemmed nargileh abounds in every harem, and is very much in use. conversation is very brisk, and it is said that the ladies of the east are quite as fluent with their tongues as their western sisters. "after a little time has been devoted to conversation the hostess gives a signal, and the entertainment provided for the occasion begins. if the lady has slaves that can sing they seat themselves on the floor and begin a song, but if there is not sufficient talent among them a party of professionals is especially engaged. the singing is followed by dancing, and this is almost always by professional dancing girls, and the affair is said to be much like the one we saw at keneh. "dancing follows singing, and singing follows dancing, and now and then a story-teller is introduced for the amusement of those who like them. sweetmeats and cakes are liberally served, and so are coffee and sherbet, which are taken from tiny cups such as we would disdain in our own country. "in addition to these amusements they have cards and checkers, and many of the eastern ladies are said to be very skilful at these games. in various ways the afternoon or evening is worn away, and, if the affair is a specially fine one, a supper is served on a large platter placed on a stand in the centre of the room. it consists mostly of preserved fruits and other dainties, and is not so extensive as the supper at a party of the same sort in america. nobody is expected to leave until some of the most fashionable or distinguished ladies give the signal. the hostess pretends to be very sorry to have them go, but is no doubt wishing to herself that they would make haste and leave her alone. "so much for harem life in egypt. i'm sorry i can't tell more about it, but all my information must come from somebody else, and therefore you must consider it second-hand. the condition of women in the east is improving, but it is yet far behind that of europe and america. the progress is more rapid in egypt than in turkey and other moslem lands, and the example of the rulers of this country in establishing schools for girls will have an effect in the right direction. but it will take a long time to overcome the prejudices that exist in consequence of the religion of the east, not only among the men but among the women themselves. many of the egyptian and turkish ladies have told their foreign visitors that they would not desire to change places with them: they enjoy their life of indolence and seclusion, as it gives them a feeling of protection they would not have if the customs of europe prevailed among them." esneh was the first stopping-place above luxor, and the object of interest was a temple partly cleared out and partly covered by the houses of the town. the only part to be seen was the portico, which was reached by a flight of steps descending to it. nobody knows the extent of the temple, as it was covered for many hundred years with heaps of rubbish. the attempts to clear it out were made quite recently, but enough has not been excavated to give even the outline of the original edifice. [illustration: sculptures mutilated by the persians.] the boys observed here, as they had already done at luxor and other places, that the sculptures were frequently injured by the destruction of the faces of the figures that had been engraved with so much care. they asked the doctor how this was done, and he thus explained it: "the persians," said he, "had a great objection to seeing figures on the walls of the temples, and when they overran egypt they mutilated them in the way you perceive. happily the sculptures were so numerous that they did not have sufficient time to destroy them all, or even a goodly portion of them. "the early christians, in their zeal for removing the evidences of paganism, continued the work which the persians began. in some instances they plastered the figures over so as to conceal them, and thus unintentionally caused them to be preserved. where the plaster is removed the figures are found in excellent condition." it did not require a long time for the visit to the temple of esneh, as the curiosity of the travellers concerning egyptian temples had somewhat diminished since their stay at thebes, and the many explorations they had made. after seeing the temple they strolled through the town, and listened to the songs of a group of arabs at the _cafés_ which line the bank of the river near the landing-place. just as the whistle of the steamer gave the signal for continuing the journey, frank's attention was attracted by what he pronounced a thing of beauty. [illustration: a thing of beauty.] it was not a girl, or a painting, or a temple, or even a scarabæus: it was a mule. both the boys pronounced it the handsomest beast of the kind they had seen in egypt, and were sorry their time was so limited they could not study the animal closely. its color was pure white, and fred suggested that the mule was probably kalsomined every morning, and was evidently treated with great care. the animal was the property of the governor, and his trappings were in keeping with his fine appearance. some of the travellers regarded the saddle quite as much as they did the animal that carried it. frank said he could understand why the arabs are such excellent horsemen, when the saddles are so formed that it is very difficult to throw a rider out of them. [illustration: view in the temple of edfoo.] from esneh to the foot of the first cataract there was no incident of importance. the boat stopped at two or three places where there were ruined temples, the most interesting being that of edfoo. it was cleared out in by order of the egyptian government, and the rubbish that had been there thousands of years lay piled around it. the rubbish had tended to the preservation of the sculptures, and after the clearing was completed they were found to be in better condition than in most of the other temples. the general plan of the building was much like that of the temple of denderah, and it was dedicated to the worship of the hawk. in the sanctuary is a cage hewn from a single block of granite, which was once the home of the sacred bird, who, no doubt, received the adoration of the faithful much against his will. he would have preferred freedom and a flock of chickens to the homage of the egyptians, unless he was unlike the hawks of modern days. [illustration: hagar silsilis.] at hagar silsilis, or "the rock of the chain," the boat stopped to give an opportunity for seeing the quarries, whence great quantities of stone were taken for the construction of the temples at esneh, edfoo, karnak, and other places. the excavations where the stones were cut have been partly filled by drifting sand, but enough of them remain to show how the work was done. the nile is here only a little more than a thousand feet wide at its narrowest part, and there is a tradition that when ancient egypt was threatened with invasion a chain was stretched across the river to prevent the passage of hostile boats. frank made a hasty sketch of the place, and included in his drawing the column of rock where the chain is said to have been fastened. there was once a flourishing town at this place, but at present little remains of it; and even the ruins have been so covered with sand that they cannot be readily found. the desert comes down on both sides of the river at hagar silsilis, and the fertile land of the nile disappears altogether. to the stranger ascending the river for the first time it seems as though he had reached the head of the nile, and his journey was to come suddenly to an end; but a turn of the stream undeceives him, and his eye rests upon a more agreeable scene. [illustration: the foot of the first cataract.] on and on went the boat, and the scenery became more and more picturesque as the sandstone formation disappeared and granite took its place. the barren shores of hagar silsilis were forgotten in the fertility of the soil below assouan and the brightness of the verdure on the island of elephantine, which lies at the foot of the first cataract of the nile. the hills around the cataract were crowned with little shrines and tombs of moslem saints, and there was a fringe of barren hills directly back of the town in sharp contrast to the fertility of the soil below it. the sun shone brightly on the water, which appeared quiet as a lake enclosed in the mountains; the black rocks that rose here and there on the bank of the river seemed to threaten danger to any boat that ventured near them, since it was not easy to know what might be concealed below the surface. beyond elephantine island the river was broken and lost, and our friends had no difficulty in comprehending that they were in a part of the nile quite unlike anything they had seen before. the steamer swung sharply around at the foot of the island, and in a few minutes was at the landing-place of assouan, the syene of the ancients. not only were our friends among new scenes of rocks and hills, but the crowds of natives that welcomed them were different from any they had seen before. it was a mingling of arabs and nubians: the former were nothing new, but the latter had put in an appearance for the first time. they were scantily dressed, their skins were black as ink, and their woolly hair was done up in little ringlets, like pen-holders, and apparently soaked in grease. the goods they offered for sale were ostrich feathers, nubian dresses, arrows, old coins, knives, and kindred things, and they were as shrewd in making bargains as their friends the arabs. whips and canes of the hide of the hippopotamus were liberally offered, and nearly every passenger made purchases of these articles. the hippopotamus whip is called a _courbash_ by the arabs, and has the reputation of being the most cruel whip in the world. it is much like the "green hide" that was in use in the southern states of north america during the days of slavery, and a blow from it is to be dreaded and long remembered by man or beast. it was late in the afternoon when our friends arrived at assouan, and there was only time to stroll through the bazaars before sunset. plans were made for an excursion to the island of philæ on the following day, and everybody went early to bed. chapter xix. a camel journey.--the island of philÆ, and the first cataract of the nile. frank and fred were destined to enjoy a novelty in the way of travelling. they were to make their excursion to the island of philæ on the backs of camels. it is about five miles from assouan to philæ, and the road is chiefly through the rocky desert, or along the equally rocky bank of the river. the travellers had the choice of camels or donkeys for the journey, and the two youths unhesitatingly decided in favor of the former. "you can ride almost any time on a donkey," said fred, "but it isn't every day you can have a camel." "i quite agree with you," frank replied. "we'll have a jolly ride of it, and have a good story to tell when we get home." the boys went out before breakfast and found, close to the landing-place, a group of camels waiting for the proposed excursion. they were all lying or kneeling on the ground, and the boys walked around them with the air of having been familiar with camels all their lives. finally they selected two, and at the suggestion of the drivers frank proceeded to mount his new beast of burden, just to try his qualities. "i began," said frank, afterward, in telling the story to the doctor--"i began by patting the camel on the head, and saying 'good fellow! good fellow!' he returned my kindness by trying to bite me, and if i had not jumped quickly to one side he would have had a good nip at my arm. the driver then stood by his head, and i proceeded to take my seat in the saddle, which resembled a wood-sawyer's 'horse' with a blanket thrown across it. "as soon as i was in place i seized the front and rear of the saddle; the driver then pulled at the halter, and said something that sounded like '_heyda! heyda!_' "the camel began to move as though there was a small earthquake under him. there were three motions--a surge backward, a surge forward, and then a backward plunge that brought him to a level. [illustration: the ship of the desert.] "i could not see exactly how it was done; but fred, who was looking on, said the camel rose on half his fore-legs, then on all of his hind-legs, and lastly on the remaining half of his fore-legs. this will account for the three motions that were required to bring him up standing." "yes," answered the doctor, "and he kneels in the reverse way--half the fore-legs, all the hind-legs, and then half the fore-legs. he is always made to kneel for receiving his burden or being relieved of it. he makes a great fuss when he is being loaded, and leads you to suppose that the burden placed on him is much more than he can bear. the older the camel the more noise does he make." "he must have thought i weighed a ton at least," frank responded, "for he began groaning and bellowing as soon as i entered the saddle, and did not stop till he was on his feet. then he concluded it was no use protesting any more and became quiet." [illustration: bedouin arabs with their camel herds.] the boys did not learn till after the commencement of their journey that the saddles on which they rode were nothing more than pack-saddles for transporting freight around the cataract, and their beasts of burden were the ordinary freight camels, and not those kept exclusively for riding. a blanket was thrown over the saddle, but it did not conceal the inequalities of it, and long before their return the youths would have been quite willing to exchange their poetic camels for prosaic donkeys. the last mile of frank's ride was performed on foot, and it would have been a difficult matter to persuade him to try the excursion over again under similar conditions. [illustration: camels (from an assyrian sculpture).] the regular saddle for camel riding is a sort of dish, in which you sit with your feet crossed around the pommel or hanging over the side. you can have a pair of stirrups attached if you like, for resting the feet, and they are by no means to be despised. an excellent plan for a long journey is to sling a couple of boxes or a pair of well-stuffed bags across a common pack-saddle, and cover them with mattresses and blankets, so as to make a platform about six feet broad; then put up your bed in a roll and fasten it to the back of the saddle, to form a comfortable rest, and with a pair of stirrups fastened to the saddle-bow you can select your own position for riding. if the sun is hot you can spread an umbrella; and if you have been fortunate in your selection of a camel, and his motion is easy, you will find no difficulty in reading and even in sleeping, though a nap on the back of a camel is not altogether safe. the camel has a peculiar rocking motion that is a great strain on the spine of the inexperienced rider. he does not feel it much till the second day, and then, as fred expressed it, he feels as though he had a back-bone of glass, or some other brittle substance. [illustration: a bactrian camel in good condition.] during the first part of the journey each of the boys watched the camel of the other, in order to understand the motions of his limbs and to observe the peculiarities of his feet. the doctor explained that the foot of the camel is wonderfully adapted to travelling over the sands of the desert. it is divided into two lobes, and each lobe is armed with a stout claw, like the point of the ox's hoof. the foot is like a great sponge, and when placed on the ground it spreads out very wide, but is immediately contracted when raised. it thus presents a broad surface to the sand or mud, and where the ground is steep and slippery it clings like the foot of a fly on a window-pane. the strong claw assists its adhesion, and consequently the camel can climb the side of a mountain which is impassable to a well-shod horse. [illustration: foot and stomach of the camel. , fore-foot; , sole; , hind-foot, side; , structure of the stomach.] his nostrils are formed so that he can close them at will to keep out the drifting sand, and his stomach is so contrived that it will hold a supply of water sufficient for six or eight days. there are numerous cells or cups in the animal's stomach, and when he has plenty of time for drinking he fills all these cells, and thus accumulates a store for future use. his scent is very keen, and he can discover water at a great distance, and will sometimes break his halter and rush in search of a pool or spring of whose existence his master is not aware. he can get along with a very small quantity of food, and can, moreover, lay in a supply for hard times. [illustration: head of a camel.] when he is not at work, and has good pasturage, the camel becomes fat, and his hump is especially round and full--it is a mass of fat; and when he is overworked and poorly fed, as he generally is in the desert, the fat goes away from the hump to nourish the rest of the body. this is particularly noticeable of the camels in asia minor, where they are in very active use till they get worn to skeletons, and are then turned out to rest and recover their fat. [illustration: the dromedary regiment of napoleon i.] camels are not unfrequently used by the egyptian government for military purposes, not only for carrying provisions and other munitions of war, but for mounting troops in regions where it is necessary to make long marches over the desert. napoleon bonaparte, during his expedition to egypt in , organized a regiment of this kind, and found it of great service. officers and men were mounted on camels or dromedaries, and on one occasion they made a march of ninety miles without halting for food or rest. napoleon was greatly pleased at the success of his scheme, as it enabled him to move his men more rapidly than by any other means. it required some time for the party to set out on the ride from assouan, as there was a good deal of difficulty in getting everybody comfortably seated. as we have before stated, frank and fred selected their camels before breakfast, and the doctor did not take many minutes for making his choice. the three set out in advance of the rest, and proceeded to the quarries that furnished the stone for the obelisks, the coffins of the sacred bulls, and many other things that have become famous in the history of ancient egypt. in the quarries is an obelisk partly finished, but not completely detached from its bed. according to measurements, it would have been ninety-five feet long and eleven feet square at the base. nobody can tell by what king it was ordered, or why it was never finished and removed. a crack extends across it, but the general belief is that it was made long after the abandonment of the work. a little distance from the quarries is a large coffin which became injured during its removal, and was consequently given up. the stone is of that peculiar red granite known as sienite, and admits of a very high polish. in response to a question by one of the youths, the doctor said that ordinary granite is composed of mica, felspar, and quartz, while in sienite there is little or no mica, and its place is filled by hornblende. sienite is harder than most of the other granites, and this quality, combined with its color, causes it to be preferred for ornamental work. he farther remarked that the rocks around assouan are not exclusively sienite; on the contrary, they are mostly true granite, with occasional variations of porphyry. some geologists assert that four or five kinds of rock may be found there, and interesting specimens may be gathered for mineralogical cabinets. the process of quarrying among the ancients was easy to comprehend, owing to the unfinished state of the obelisk to which we have referred. a crevice or trench was cut in the rock, and then wedges of dry wood were driven in; water was applied to the wedges; the wood swelled, and finally its great expansive force caused the rock to split asunder. it was slow work, but generally sure. the same plan is still in use in some parts of india, and the stones for the construction of king solomon's temple at jerusalem were quarried in the same way. from the quarries the ride was continued to the bank of the nile, opposite the island of philæ. the boys were elated to think they were really in nubia, a country of which they had read and heard, but considered so far away that they were not very likely to see it. they had crossed the boundary between egypt and nubia, and, by a free use of their imaginations, found no great difficulty in placing themselves in central africa. [illustration: view of philÆ from the head of the cataract.] the approach to philæ was the occasion of many expressions of admiration, as the scenery was different from any on which their eyes had yet rested. the river is set in an irregular basin of desert hills, and their barren sides contrast, in a very marked degree, with the waving palms on the famous isle. the rocks of the cataract serve to render the picture still more fantastic, and as the whole scene bursts suddenly into view, it gives an impression to be long remembered. remarkable as the view is from the bank of the nile, it is still unequal to that from the ruins of the temple on the island itself. [illustration: the bank of the river below philÆ.] while waiting for the boat to carry them over to philæ, frank and fred amused themselves with the antics of the natives in the water. they had observed several short logs on the bank as they arrived, and wondered what they were for. as soon as they had dismounted the doctor explained the uses of these pieces of wood. "they are the ferry-boats of the natives," said he, "and are the common property of the inhabitants." frank asked what he meant by ferry-boats, and how it was possible to use a short log for crossing a river. "wait a moment and you'll see," replied the doctor. "there's a boy making ready to launch one." a nubian urchin of ten or twelve years removed his very scanty clothing and made it into a bundle, which he placed on the top of his head; then he rolled one of the logs--a stick six feet long and ten inches in diameter--into the river and sprung in after it. using the log as a float to support himself, he paddled away, and was soon on the island. other boys and men followed his example; but, instead of swimming to the island, they remained around the landing-place till the boat started, and then they accompanied it. the doctor told the youths that when a native wishes to cross he makes a bundle of his clothing to tie on his head, and then swims over, leaving the log on the bank for his own or some other person's return. he takes the first log that comes in his way, and everybody does likewise. "you see," he continued, "how the logs serve as public ferry-boats." [illustration: pharaoh's bed and the ruins of the temple.] "we crossed the river," said frank in his journal, "in a _kangia_, or native boat, such as we have already described, and as the wind was favorable it was not long in making the passage. we landed just below the ruins of the temple, in what is called 'pharaoh's bed,' but were unable to ascertain if any of the monarchs of that name ever slept there, and, if so, how late they slept. we thought the place a very pretty one, and fred wished he could sit down and write some verses about it, as everything around seemed to favor such a performance. doctor bronson says the island of philæ has been the theme of the poets for many centuries, and farthermore, that a great deal of poetical prose has been composed concerning it. on learning this fred concluded that he could not improve on what had been done before him, and wisely desisted from the attempt. "from the landing-place we went to the ruins of the temple, where we spent a couple of hours. the building seems to have been the work of several architects at different periods, as it is very irregular in shape, and the floors are not all on the same level. it is more modern than any of the temples we have yet seen, as none of the dates which have been found upon it are earlier than the thirtieth dynasty, or about b.c. the propylon towers are sixty feet high, and there is a fine view from their top. we climbed up without difficulty, though in some places the steps are considerably broken. the solidity of the towers has preserved them from serious injury. "the colors on the walls and towers are better preserved than in the other temples, and some of them are exceedingly beautiful. at the time the temple was built the lotos flower seems to have been very popular among the artists, as it was extensively used in the ornamentation, and for the tops of the pillars that supported the roof of the grand hall. [illustration: view from philÆ looking up the river.] "philæ was one of the most sacred spots known to the ancient egyptians, as it was the resting-place of the god osiris, to whom they attributed the annual overflow of the nile, and the consequent fertility of the land. there was a fable that his body was deposited beneath the cataract, and that once a year he rose and 'troubled the waters' so that the nile burst its banks, and spread over the land of egypt, to insure an abundant harvest. "the temple was dedicated to this god, and to his wife and sister isis. on the monuments she has many titles: sometimes she is called 'mistress of heaven,' at others 'regent of the gods,' and at others 'the eye of the sun.' both isis and osiris represented the good and beautiful on earth, and perhaps it is for this reason that the lovely island was chosen as the site of their temple. "we had an agreeable surprise in two ways: we found the papyrus plant represented on the walls of the temple, and the guide took us to a spot near the ruins where the papyrus was growing. we had often heard of this plant, and longed to see it. you know, probably, that it was the substance from which the egyptians made their scrolls, whereon most of their writing was done, and it is from 'papyrus' that our modern word 'paper' is derived. [illustration: the papyrus jungles of the nile.] "the plant that we saw was a small one, or rather there was a little cluster of small plants growing in a pond among other aquatic products. it is uncertain whether the papyrus ever grew naturally in this part of egypt; at all events, it is not easy to find it at present, except where it is artificially cultivated. in abyssinia and farther up the nile the papyrus grows in marshy ground, and sometimes little else can be seen for miles and miles. it has a mass of roots that spread out in the mud, and throw up a cluster of stalks from five to ten feet high. the plant is a very graceful one, and it is no wonder that the egyptians made free use of it in their ornamentation. "in making paper from the papyrus plant the egyptians used to cut it into thin slices, which they laid side by side, and then covered with other slices at right angles to the first. in this form it was slightly moistened and pressed down, and the sheet could be made of any size by simply extending it and connecting the edges. it was used for many other purposes than the manufacture of paper: boats, baskets, and boxes were made from the papyrus plant; cordage was spun from the fibres, the pith was eaten as food, a salve was made from the pulp and applied to sores, and the roots were burnt as fuel in houses, or fashioned into useful or ornamental articles. altogether the papyrus seems to have been nearly as useful to the inhabitants of egypt three thousand years ago as the bamboo is to the native of china and japan to-day. "wherever there was space to scratch or write a name on the walls, we found that previous travellers had not scrupled to convert the temple of philæ into an autograph album. names of those who had come there in the last two hundred years were visible in great numbers; the most prominent memorial of this kind was a tablet recording the occupation of philæ by general desaix's army at the time egypt was held by napoleon i. this tablet was defaced by some englishmen in , but was afterward restored by french visitors, and has since been undisturbed. "when it was time to leave the island we again entered our boat, and were taken to the cataract. the famous cataract of the nile is nothing more than a rapid, or rather a succession of rapids, with an aggregate fall of not more than fifteen feet. the river divides into a series of channels among the rocks, and boats are taken through these channels without much trouble, though with a considerable expenditure of time and muscle, with the aid of tow-ropes and arabs. the arabs at the cataract are about as skilled in rascality as their brethren of the pyramids; they can easily take a boat up in a single day, but manage to consume three or four days in the operation, and extort a great deal of backsheesh for not being longer about it. the descent of the falls takes only a few minutes, as the principal rapid is about two hundred feet long by seventy wide: the water foams and rushes furiously, but with a skilful pilot there is no danger. accidents happen occasionally, but they are almost invariably due to bad management. "we stood on the bank and saw a dozen arabs 'shoot the rapids,' which they did on the short logs they use as ferry-boats. it was apparently dangerous, and we did not grudge the backsheesh they demanded when the show was over. they slid down very gracefully, and probably the risk was no greater for a good swimmer than is the process of coasting downhill for a school-boy. travellers' tales in the early part of the century represented the cataract of the nile to be something like niagara, when, in fact, it is not much worse than a large mill-race. the place is rather picturesque, on the whole, and we are very glad to have seen it. "from mahatta, a little village at the head of the falls, we returned by the bank of the river to assouan. our ascent of the nile is ended, and we will now turn our faces to the northward." chapter xx. from assouan to alexandria.--farewell to egypt. a part of the next day was passed on the island of elephantine, opposite assouan. by reference to the books in their possession, frank and fred learned that elephantine was a place of considerable importance two or three thousand years ago, and a large town once stood there. its ruins are now covered by a modern village, whose inhabitants are all nubians; in fact, there are no arabs living on the island, and it is said that elephantine has been the home of none but nubians from time immemorial. frank asked for the elephants, but could not learn that any had ever been seen there; he concluded that the island received its name from the entire absence of the largest of animals, or even of any fossil remains of him. [illustration: an ancient poultry-shop.] there were two temples, or rather their ruins, on the island at the beginning of the present century--but they were destroyed in order that the stone could be utilized for building the houses of assouan. a gate-way of one of them is yet standing, and there are some walls built by the romans, who are said to have made elephantine a military post. the nubians offered roman coins, polished stones, and other curiosities for sale; the coins were supposed to have been dug up on the island, but there was an appearance of newness about them which revealed their falsity. the quantity of false coins increases year by year, and in many instances the arabs do not take the trouble to submit them to the action of acids, in order to give them an antiquated look. the manufacturers of antiquities in cairo and luxor generally manage to make their goods have an appearance of genuineness; but sometimes the demand is unexpectedly great, and they rush off their fabrications in a hurry. on several occasions roman coins were offered to our friends that did not appear to have been out of the mint more than a day or two. one of them bought a copper denarius of the time of the emperor hadrian that was bright and fresh as though stamped an hour before; it was so new that the oil used for facilitating its passage through the mint had not been worn off, and was easily perceptible to the fingers. the boys regretted their inability to go farther than the first cataract of the nile, and as the steamer headed down the river they gave a longing and lingering look behind them. they were consoled with the reflection that they had seen a great deal in their journey from cairo, and were farther relieved when doctor bronson informed them that comparatively few travellers ever went beyond the first cataract. "down to within twenty years," said he, "the island of philæ was the _ultima thule_ of nearly all tourists on the nile, and any one who had penetrated farther was regarded as a sort of mungo park or dr. livingstone. once in a while somebody went to the second cataract, two hundred and forty miles above the first, and on rare occasions an englishman or other foreigner visited khartoom, at the junction of the blue and white nile. bayard taylor was one of these adventurous travellers, and he went some distance up the white nile to the country of the shillook negroes. "in ," he continued, "very little was known of the nile beyond the point reached by our enterprising countryman. exploring parties had been up the river considerably beyond the shillook region, but in most instances the explorers had died while beyond the limits of civilization, or their accounts were insignificant. for a long time it was supposed that the blue nile was the principal stream, and as its head-waters had been reached by the famous traveller bruce, he was credited with the discovery of the sources of the mysterious river. but it was afterward found that the white nile was the longer of the two and the greater in volume, and many lives were sacrificed in the attempt to find its origin. the discovery and exploration of the lakes of central africa, where the nile rises, belongs to our day; and the names of burton, speke, grant, livingstone, stanley, baker, long, and others, will go down in history for solving a mystery which has puzzled the world for centuries." one of the boys asked what they would have seen in case they had been able to ascend the nile a few hundred miles farther? [illustration: an arab and his camel.] "that is a difficult question to answer," was the doctor's reply, "but i will try to meet it. the second cataract is much like the first, and is a succession of rapids rather than a fall. it is two hundred and forty miles from assouan to wady halfa, a village at the second cataract, and the point where nearly all tourists who go beyond here turn back. on the way thither you pass a few ruined temples and other remains of ancient egypt; but there are none of great importance, with the exception of abou simbel, which ranks next after the pyramids and the temples of thebes. there are two temples there hewn in the solid rock, and dating from the time of rameses the great. a good deal of the history of that monarch has been gathered from the sculptures in these temples, and the door-way of the principal one of them is guarded by a couple of enormous statues that recall the sitting colossi of thebes. they have been pronounced the finest statues of their size in all egypt, and certainly i do not know of any that can rival them in grandeur and beauty. [illustration: colossal heads in front of the temple of abou simbel.] "these statues were formed by cutting away the solid rock, just as the statues of the temples of ellora, in india, were made. like most of the royal statues of egypt, they represent the king seated on his throne. they are partly covered with the sand that has drifted about them, and sometimes little more than the heads of the figures are visible. they are said to be sixty-six feet high without their pedestals. a friend of mine measured the head of one of them, and gave me the following notes: length of the nose, feet inches; height of the forehead, inches; width of the mouth, feet; length of the ear, feet. "the head of the statue is twelve feet high, without including the cap or crown that covers it. compare these figures with the measurements of the broken figure of rameses at the memnonium, and you will realize the grandeur of the work. [illustration: public square at khartoom.] "the second cataract is more difficult of passage than the first, and can only be accomplished when the nile is at its full height. above it the river makes a wide bend, and, as the navigation is difficult, the land route to the upper nile is preferable. travellers leave the nile at korosko, nearly a hundred miles below wady halfa, and cross the desert to khartoom. it is a journey of eight days by camels, and there is only one oasis on the route where water can be procured. khartoom is a town of considerable size--about twenty thousand inhabitants--and has a curiously mixed population of egyptians, nubians, turks, arabs, and half a dozen other races and tribes. it has a fine trade in ivory, ostrich feathers, and other products of central africa, and formerly was the centre of the slave-trade between egypt and the regions to the south. the situation is said to be quite picturesque, as it is on the angle between the blue and white nile, and the boats from both these rivers lie at its banks. "from khartoom there is good navigation on the nile for a long distance, till the _sudd_, or bank of reeds, is reached. the river is blocked by a great mass of aquatic plants, which have drifted down and accumulated so that they cover several miles of the course of the stream. imagine a small brook in which a load of hay has been overturned, and you have an idea of what the sudd is like. [illustration: egyptian soldiers on camels.] "beyond the sudd the principal town is gondokoro, in abyssinia, and as we go farther up the nile we enter the countries of the savage rulers of central africa. you can read about them in the works of livingstone, stanley, and other travellers who have gone there, and then--" "dinner is ready!" said one of the stewards, and the description of africa by the doctor was indefinitely postponed. the return voyage to cairo was quickly made, as the steamer halted but a few times, and then only briefly, at some of the principal points. there was no time for sight-seeing, as all of the visits to temples and tombs were planned for the upward journey. the principal incidents of the trip were a few slight quarrels among the passengers, growing out of the general lack of something to do, and a glimpse of a crocodile. everybody had been on the lookout for crocodiles during the voyage up the river, but none had been seen. the presence of these inhabitants of the nile had been nearly forgotten, when suddenly one afternoon somebody on deck called out, "crocodile!" instantly there was a rush from seats and lounging places, and those who happened to be in the cabin came out as though a shell had exploded among them. some ran one way and some another, and several went to the wrong side of the boat. the crocodile was lying on a sand-bank two hundred yards or more from the course of the steamer. he was evidently enjoying a sun-bath when disturbed by the sound of the paddle-wheels, and concluded that the wisest plan for him to follow was to drop into the water. while he remained quiet he could easily have been mistaken for a blackened log, but as soon as he was in motion there was no doubt on the subject. creeping rather than walking, he was soon at the edge of the water, and, without pausing to see what it was that disturbed him, he disappeared beneath the surface of the river. the doctor told the boys that many persons made the tour of the nile nowadays without getting a single glimpse of a crocodile below the first cataract. above assouan crocodiles are more frequent, and beyond khartoom they are so abundant that dozens of them may be counted in a single day. thirty years ago they were numerous in the vicinity of thebes and keneh, and it was dangerous to venture into the water lest they might take a notion to a breakfast on humanity. on the upper part of the nile, in the vicinity of gondokoro, they are large and ferocious, and hardly a day passes that they do not carry off a native who has incautiously ventured into the river or near its edge. it is the ambition of every tourist who ascends the nile in a dahabeeah to bring back the skin of at least one crocodile as a trophy. the best way of killing this kind of game is to shoot him when he is taking his nap on a sand-bank; and if proper caution is observed, and the position is favorable, the sportsman may approach within forty or fifty yards without disturbing his prey. the scales of the reptile are so thick and hard that an ordinary rifle-ball glances off as from an iron plate. the only vulnerable point is behind the fore-leg, and a good chance for a shot is not always presented. of late years considerable havoc has been made among crocodiles by means of explosive bullets, which burst as they strike and tear a hole in the crocodile, in addition to making a general disturbance internally if the proper spot has been reached. a large package of letters was at the hotel in cairo for our friends, and they sat till far into the night perusing and discussing these welcome missives. everybody at home was well, and there were lots of congratulations for frank and fred over the intelligent use they had made of their time, and their interesting accounts of what they had seen in their travels. the presents for mary and miss effie were greatly admired by those young ladies as well as by their friends, and one of the letters contained a polite intimation that similar selections in future would be as cordially welcomed. there was a renewal of the suggestion that the letters and journals of the youths ought to go into a book. mrs. bassett said the village editor had printed all the letters in his paper, and they had been so highly praised that he was sure they ought to be preserved in a more permanent form. "well," said fred, "it seems as though we were to become authors whether we want to or not." "i don't see any harm in it," responded his cousin. "authors may do some good in the world if they make good books, can't they?" "of course they can," was the reply; "and if we become authors we'll try to make books that nobody can object to." "i'm afraid you are counting on an impossibility," said doctor bronson, who had overheard the conversation. "what will please one will not please another, and you can never do your work so that somebody will not find fault with it. and there are some critics who prefer to say spiteful things, and will search a book from beginning to end to find something they can object to. if you ever write a book you must expect abuse. do your work well, satisfy your own conscience, give your book to the public, and leave the result to take care of itself." when the perusal of the letters was over the youths went to bed and slept soundly, despite many dreams of friends at home, mingled with pyramids, temples, tombs, mummies, arabs, deserts, valleys, and other things and places that had come under their observation since their arrival in cairo. they were up in good time the next morning arranging for speedy departure from the city of the caliphs, as the doctor had informed them it was necessary to take the afternoon train for alexandria. "here is our plan," said the doctor, as they sat down to breakfast. "we will take the train at noon, and be in alexandria four hours later; the distance is a hundred and twenty miles, and the train is a fast one. we will have a day in alexandria, and then take the steamer for jaffa. from jaffa we will go to jerusalem, and from that city make the tour of the holy land, arranging our route according to circumstances." the boys were delighted with the proposal, and were ready at the appointed time. there were no incidents of consequence in the railway journey. the boys looked earnestly at the pyramids and the tall minarets of the mosque of mohammed ali as the train bore them away toward the sea, and left cairo behind them. they were bidding farewell to ancient egypt, and we cannot wonder that they had many regrets in so doing. [illustration: the barrage of the nile.] they passed near the "barrage," an extensive structure which was intended for a dam across the nile to check the overflow of water during the inundation, and retain it till it was wanted for purposes of irrigation after the falling of the river. this great work was projected and begun during the time of mohammed ali, and an immense amount of money has been expended upon it. it consists of a long line of arches across the river, and the plan was to arrange gates at the openings of the arches, so that the flow of the water could be checked or allowed at pleasure. it has never been completed: the engineers say there was an error in the original calculations, and if the arches were closed, so as to raise the river to the proposed height, the force of water would sweep away the entire structure. the barrage has been partially utilized, and it is said that the government contemplates its completion by strengthening the work, so that it will retain the water as desired. there is no doubt that it would be of great advantage to lower egypt, as it would largely increase its productiveness. there is a story that abbas pacha once suggested to a french engineer to pull down the pyramids and use the material for constructing the barrage. the engineer was horrified at the idea, as he said it would cause him to be execrated by the whole world, and his name would go down to posterity covered with disgrace for having destroyed the finest monument of ancient egypt. our friends passed through tantah, a town of considerable importance, containing many handsome houses, and a palace where the khedive occasionally passes a few days. three times a year, in the months of january, april, and august, a fair is held at tantah which lasts eight days. sometimes as many as two hundred thousand people come to this fair; their ostensible object is to pray at the tomb of a moslem saint, but the most of their time is passed in amusements and in trading. there is a large business in camels, horses, and general merchandise, and in former times a good many slaves were sold there. all around the town there are tents and booths devoted to singing and to the performances of jugglers, snake-charmers, and others whose living is derived from the amusement they furnish to the public. the train swept along the bank of the mahmoodieh canal, which connects alexandria with the nile; it is fifty miles long and a hundred feet wide, and was built in less than a year by order of mohammed ali. two hundred and fifty thousand men were employed upon it, and of this number twenty thousand died of hunger, plague, and cholera. for several miles the route of the railway lay through a marsh, and as they neared alexandria our friends caught a glimpse of lake mareotis, a shallow body of water, whose principal use is to supply the alexandria market with fish. [illustration: general view of alexandria.] pompey's pillar came into view, and so did the domes and minarets of alexandria. there was the usual crowd of porters, guides, and the like at the railway-station, and with some difficulty the doctor and the youths made their way through the dense assemblage, and drove to the hotel. the boys found that the streets were paved with large blocks of stone, but the pavement was broken in many places, and had much need of repair. in rainy weather there are deep holes filled with mud, and the incautious pedestrian runs a great risk of taking an involuntary and very disagreeable bath. the morning after their arrival the party started out to see alexandria and engage passage for jaffa. the passage was secured, and then there was leisure for visiting the points of interest in and around the city. [illustration: cleopatra's needle at alexandria.] there is comparatively little remaining of the great city of alexandria, which once contained half a million inhabitants, and boasted of the finest library in the world. the library was burnt, the buildings disappeared, the city dwindled in importance, till at the end of the last century its population was barely six thousand. since it has been steadily reviving, till it now contains nearly a quarter of a million inhabitants, of whom a fourth are europeans. it is the commercial capital of egypt, and the viceroy lives there during the summer. of its ancient monuments pompey's pillar is almost all that can be found. there are some tombs near the city, but they are scarcely worth visiting: there were formerly two obelisks near the water's edge, but they have gone, one to england and the other to the united states. the latter was removed by commander h. h. gorringe, of the united states navy--the cost of the work being paid by mr. w. h. vanderbilt--and has been set up in central park, new york. it was famous in history as cleopatra's needle; the obelisk that was taken to england and set up on the bank of the thames above waterloo bridge had been lying prostrate for centuries. [illustration: pompey's pillar.] pompey's pillar is a single shaft of red granite, seventy feet high and about ten in diameter, standing on a broad base and crowned with a capital, the whole rising a hundred feet from the ground. it is supposed that a statue once stood on the top, and there are some old pictures of alexandria where a statue appears on the pillar. frank and fred wanted to climb to the top of the column, but were unable to see how they could do so, as there is no ladder or stairway, and the shaft is polished like a pane of glass. the doctor told them it had been twice ascended in the present century--once by an enterprising woman, and once by a party of sailors. in each case a kite was flown so that it came against the top of the pillar, then the string was used to draw up a cord, the cord drew up a rope, and the rope drew up a ladder. the ascent is easy enough when the ladder is properly secured, but it trembles so much that a steady head and strong hand are requisite to insure safety. after seeing the pillar the three visitors wandered through the bazaars, which repeated, on a small scale, the sights of the bazaars of cairo. they spent an hour or more in the great square in the centre of the city, where there are several rows of shade-trees and some bronze statues, and they visited two or three private gardens, which were very pretty, and contained rare varieties of plants. they went to the celebrated "pharos," which is one of the earliest light-houses ever known to mariners, and was built by ptolemy philadelphus at enormous expense. it is said to have been a square building of white marble in several stories, each smaller than the one below it. a winding road led to the top, and, according to history, cleopatra once drove a pair of horses to the summit, and then drove them down again. the name of the "pharos" is perpetuated in the french word for light-house (_phare_), but very little of the ancient structure exists to-day. it is still maintained as a light-house, and is a welcome sight to ships seeking the harbor of alexandria. at an early hour the next morning a procession left the door of the hotel and proceeded in the direction of the harbor. it was composed as follows: frank bassett and fred bronson mounted on donkeys, and attended by the drivers of the little beasts. doctor bronson similarly mounted and escorted. a servant from the hotel superintending the transportation of the baggage of the trio on the backs of a couple of arab porters. a miscellaneous array of beggars, peddlers, and their kindred, shouting for backsheesh. there were at least twenty individuals in the party, not counting the donkeys; but a good many of the beggars dropped off after a few dozen yards. their places were taken by others, so that there was no material loss of numbers on arrival at the landing, where the baggage was placed in a boat, after a gift of a couple of francs to a customs official, to save it from inspection. from the shore to the boat was a short journey, and any possible monotony was prevented by the boatmen. they had made a bargain to carry our three friends on board the steamer for five francs; about half-way they stopped rowing and demanded ten francs, which were refused. then the fellows turned, and threatened to row to the shore again, but the doctor prevented this performance by proposing to hand them over to the police. they did not proceed until he rose to his feet and shouted for the police-boat, and then they concluded it was best to do as they had agreed. the boatmen of alexandria are worse than those of any other port of the mediterranean, and it is a disgrace to the egyptian government that they are allowed to continue their practices. [illustration: view of alexandria from the sea.] and now behold our friends safely on board the french steamer. the smoke pours from her funnels, the anchor is lifted, the engine throbs, the screw revolves, churning the water into foam--the entrance of the harbor is passed, the shore fades from sight, and egypt is left behind. _bon voyage!_ chapter xxi. voyage from egypt to palestine.--journey from jaffa to ramleh. the steamer stopped a few hours at port said, the northern terminus of the suez canal, and the second morning after her departure from alexandria she dropped anchor in front of jaffa. the time at sea between alexandria and jaffa is from twenty to thirty hours, according to the speed of the steamer and the state of the weather. there are three companies--one carrying the french flag, one the austrian, and one the russian--each making a fortnightly service from alexandria; and there are several irregular lines, so that a traveller may be reasonably sure of being able to go from egypt to the holy land every four or five days. the french steamers are the best, the austrian the next in order, and the russian and the irregular steamers the worst of all. the steamer that carried our friends anchored about a mile from land, and the doctor explained to the youths that there is no harbor at jaffa which a ship can enter. in a calm sea, or when the wind blows from the north or east, passengers may land or embark with safety; but if a westerly or southerly wind is blowing a landing is impossible. in winter the prevailing wind is from the west, and many a traveller who takes his ticket for jaffa in that season has the vexation of being carried past the port, for the simple reason that he cannot be put on shore. fortunately for our friends the sea was perfectly calm when they came to anchor, and there was no hinderance to their going on shore. the steamer was quickly surrounded by boats, and a bargain was made with one of them for transportation to land. the strong arms of the arab boatmen sent the little craft spinning over the water; the oars rose and fell together as the men kept time by a song that was a trifle monotonous to the ears of frank and fred. but never mind its monotony; it carried the travellers from ship to shore, and every moment the walls of jaffa became more and more distinct through its measured cadence. they seemed to be heading for some jagged rocks that jutted a little distance from the line of the shore. the sharp eyes of the boys discovered an opening in the rocks, and when the boat was within a few yards of it the men paused in obedience to a signal from the steersman. then, watching the rise and fall of the waves, they dashed forward at the proper moment through the opening ten or twelve feet wide, and were borne into the smooth water of the little harbor. there is a wider entrance farther to the north, but it is rendered dangerous by several sunken rocks, and the narrow one is generally used by the boatmen. [illustration: front of an eastern summer-house.] "this harbor is mentioned several times in scripture," said doctor bronson, while the boatmen were waiting the proper moment to enter. "it was here that hiram, king of tyre, sent ships laden with wood from lebanon for the use of king solomon in building his temple at jerusalem, and some of the apostles, when they went out to preach the gospel through the world, sailed away from jaffa or joppa, as it was then called. according to tradition, the prophet jonah sailed from joppa just before he was swallowed by the whale. and there is another tradition that andromeda was chained to the rocks at the entrance of the harbor, in order that a sea-monster might devour her. the correctness of this latter tradition was maintained until the sixteenth century by the exhibition of the chains and rings by which she was held." [illustration: one of the dragomen.] doctor bronson saved himself a wrangle with the boatmen by putting his party in the care of the _commissionnaire_ of the hotel where he was going, and asking him to arrange everything. this plan is advisable for all travellers arriving at jaffa, and they are also recommended to pay no attention to the dragomen that crowd around them on the ship, and desire to make contracts for accompanying the strangers to jerusalem. wait till you get on shore, and don't make a bargain in a hurry. the _commissionnaire_ attended to the baggage of the party, paid the customary fees to the boatmen and the officials of the custom-house, and then escorted the strangers to the jerusalem hotel, which is, or was at that time, the best hotel in the place. it is a short distance out of the town, and in the german colony; its proprietor, a german, was the vice-consul of the united states of america, and his official position enabled him to be of service to travellers from beyond the atlantic. through his recommendation our friends were joined by three other americans who wished to make the tour of the holy land, and the rate for a party of six would be less for each person than if it consisted of half that number, or even four or five. negotiations were begun immediately. several contractors wished to be engaged, and the choice fell on a syrian named ali solomon, or solyman, who was strongly recommended both by the consul and by those who had previously employed him. after considerable bargaining the following terms were agreed upon: the contractor, or dragoman, was to provide all requisites for the journey. there were to be three double tents--one for every two persons--servants, beds, food, english saddles, horses for riding and carrying the baggage. he was to engage sufficient escort when needed, and pay all fees and backsheesh of every kind, except when the party visited churches, convents, and the like. whenever the party stopped in hotels or convents, instead of remaining in camp, he was to pay for their food and lodging. the horses were to be sound and kind, and if any of them became disabled the dragoman was to provide proper substitutes free of extra charge. the party could go where it pleased, change its route as often as it liked, select its own day for leaving any city or town, and, if the contract was closed anywhere but in jaffa, the dragoman was to have a fair allowance for the return journey. in case of dispute, the matter could be referred to the american or any other consul at the most convenient point. while on the road the food should consist of coffee or tea in the morning, with eggs and bread-and-butter; luncheon at noon, of chicken or other cold meat, eggs, bread, cheese, and fruit; and dinner should be as good as the hotel dinner. in jerusalem the party should choose for itself the hotel where it would stop. in consideration of the above, each person of the party was to pay twenty francs, or sixteen english shillings ($ ) per day. one-third of the money was to be paid before starting, one-third when the journey was half over, and the balance on the return to jaffa, or the discharge of the dragoman at some other point.[ ] [ ] the above is the contract, with some slight change of phrases, that was made by the party of six of which the author was a member when he visited the holy land. it should be remarked that it was not in the height of the travelling season, and consequently the terms were lower than usual. a party of six or more can generally secure everything as above stated for twenty-five francs (twenty shillings) each person daily. the tourist agencies charge thirty shillings per day, and require the whole amount to be paid in advance, and they generally manage to bring in a large bill for "extras" at the end of the journey. an excellent form of contract can be found in baedeker's "hand-book for palestine and syria." there is not much to be seen in jaffa, and it was decided to start in the afternoon and spend the night at ramleh, nine miles away. while the dragoman went to bring horses for the travellers to ride, our friends went out to "do" jaffa. dinner was to be served at one o'clock, and they were to be on the road a couple of hours later. they visited the house of simon the tanner--or, rather, one of the several houses which claim that distinction--mentioned in the new testament (acts ix. ). it is well to remark here that all through the holy land the locations of houses, tombs, and other places of scriptural or other historic interest, are frequently changed. in regard to the house of simon the tanner, at jaffa, it is said that its location depends somewhat on the liberality of the owner or tenant toward the guides who conduct strangers about the town. the latin convent is claimed to be on the site of the house, and so is a small mosque near the light-house. the christian guides generally conduct strangers to the former spot, while the moslems indicate the latter. there is no reason to believe that any part of the original house is in existence. [illustration: joppa.] a walk through the bazaars, a visit to an orange-grove, and a narrow escape from being trampled in the mud by a line of camels in a narrow street, completed the inspection of the ancient joppa. one of the most interesting features to frank and fred were the heaps of oranges piled in the market-place. jaffa is famous all through the levant for its oranges, which are an important article of export; and in the season when they ripen there is a very large trade in this delicious fruit. our friends bought a dozen for two or three cents, and pronounced them the finest oranges they had ever seen. [illustration: a second-class horse.] when they returned to the hotel they found some forty or more horses from which they were to make their selection. half an hour was spent in trying the steeds and the saddles on their backs, and when this operation was ended the rejected horses were led away, while the selected ones were fastened in front of the hotel at the doctor's suggestion. some of the owners wanted to take the horses away, in order to feed them before their departure for ramleh; but the doctor ended the discussion by saying that any desired nourishment could be given where the animals were standing. "it is a common trick," said he to the boys, "to change the horses after you have made your selection. we have picked out good horses, and i think we shall be satisfied with them; these fellows would very likely bring us animals of the same color and general appearance, and we should find them vicious, weak, bad in gait, or with some other defects. we will keep our horses directly under our eyes till we are away from here; when we are once on the road they are not likely to try the substitution trick." "but wouldn't they tell you so, if they had changed the horses?" said one of the boys. "not a bit of it," answered the doctor, with a laugh. "they would declare there had been no change whatever; and as we would not be familiar with the horses after seeing them only once, we would not be certain of the deception till too late to rectify it." "what dreadful story-tellers they must be!" was the very natural comment on the doctor's assertion. "yes," he responded; "and do you know how they account for it themselves?" neither of the youths had ever heard the explanation, and so the doctor gave it. "the arabs say that when the father of lies came on earth to distribute his goods he had nine bagfuls. he spread one bag of lies in europe, and then started for asia and africa. he landed in egypt one evening, intending to scatter a bagful over that country and syria, and then go on the next day to asia; but while he slept the arabs stole all his remaining stock, and distributed it among themselves. this accounts for the great difficulty they have in telling the truth." "this propensity among them," continued the doctor, "is practically universal, as an arab who can tell the straightforward truth is very difficult to find. if you ask a question of an arab, and he has no interest in deceiving you, he may possibly give you the correct answer if he happens to know it, though he is by no means sure to do so; if he does not know the answer, he will give you the first that his imagination suggests, and he would be very much surprised if you told him he had done wrong." as soon as dinner was over the travellers arranged their baggage, each of them packing what clothing and other things he wanted in a valise or bag, and leaving the trunks to be kept till their return, or sent up the coast to beyroot, according to the instructions they would send from jerusalem to the keeper of the hotel. each of them carried a suit of clothing in addition to the one he was wearing--an overcoat, a mackintosh, or light rubber coat, for rainy weather, and a limited supply of under-garments, socks, handkerchiefs, and other necessities of every-day life. the dragoman said that almost anything they would want could be bought in jerusalem, and there was no use in carrying things along simply on the ground that they might possibly be needed. frank and fred remembered the previous injunctions of the doctor about travelling in "light marching order," and reduced their baggage to a very low condition. all was ready before three o'clock, and they were off for their first ride in the holy land. [illustration: the city gate of jaffa.] there was a little restiveness among the horses at starting, and it threatened, at one time, very serious results to the riders of the animals. evidently they had not been very actively employed for the past few days. the doctor said their freshness would wear away before they had gone far into the country, and the principal thing to do was to keep them from injuring any of the party or doing harm to themselves. at the suggestion of ali, frank and fred put their horses to a gallop for a couple of miles, and the exercise had a visible effect in reducing the liveliness of the steeds. the boys were well satisfied with their horses, which were full of spirit, and very easy under the saddle. frank said he intended to see if he could not get up a friendship with his horse, but the doctor told him it would be of little use to do so, as the horses of palestine are changed around so often among tourists that they do not have an opportunity for becoming intimately acquainted with any of their riders. the youth soon after abandoned the attempt when his horse tried to bite him, and contented himself with treating the animal kindly, and holding him well in check whenever there was any manifestation of temper. [illustration: women at a well.] until they got clear of the town the road was anything but agreeable, as it was paved with mud and otherwise encumbered. orange groves were all around them for quite a distance, and the general aspect of the place was pleasing. they passed near a well where several women were engaged in filling their water-jars, after the manner recorded in scripture. the boys realized the fidelity of the descriptions they had read in their sunday-school days, and frank remarked that evidently the east had changed very little in many of its features since the time of christ. frank thought the dress of the women was very picturesque, and the flowing robes reminded him of the outer garments of the women of japan. fred said he could understand why the women of syria had such graceful figures; there could be no stooping or bending forward when one was carrying a jar of water on her head. he thought it would not be a bad plan if some of the american schools for young women would adopt the plan of having their pupils walk with slight weights on their heads, so as to teach them the value of an erect position. from jaffa to ramleh the country is flat or slightly undulating; most of it appears quite fertile, but there are numerous spots so deeply covered with sand that they are unfit for cultivation. there are some villages along or near the road; but, on the whole, the population is quite scattered, and the country could support more inhabitants than it has at present. a couple of miles out from jaffa the party halted a few minutes in order to tighten some of the saddle-girths, which had worked loose, and to arrange a few other matters about the travelling-gear. as the incident of the well was fresh in the minds of the youths they spoke of it, and the time of the halt was utilized by the doctor in a short lecture upon the wells of the holy land. "in most parts of palestine," said he, "the water is very scarce, and the possession of a spring or permanent stream is a matter of great importance. fierce fights have occurred for the ownership of springs, and sometimes the feuds that have arisen from this cause have lasted hundreds of years. the existence of a fine spring has often determined the site of a town or village, and every precaution is exercised to prevent the waste of the precious liquid. [illustration: public fountain at jerusalem.] "for public uses the water is made to flow into a fountain, with a stone trough in front of it. the women go to the fountain to fill their jars from the stream that flows through the stone, and the horses and cattle are driven there to drink from the trough. if from any cause the spring dries up there is great distress, and if there is no other water in the immediate neighborhood the site of the village or town must be abandoned. many of the ruined towns which we find in palestine to-day were given to desolation in consequence of the drying up of springs or streams. [illustration: one of the wells of beersheba, with its watering-troughs.] "the scarcity of running water led to the digging of wells, and we find them mentioned in the earliest books of the bible. there are many wells of this sort in the country, and some of them are thousands of years old. we read in genesis of the wells that were dug by abraham and his descendants, where the flocks were watered. the wells of beersheba which were made by the servants of isaac (gen. xxvi. , ) can be seen to-day, and the stone watering-troughs from which the flocks drank are where they have stood for thousands of years. in some of the ancient wells there are stone steps leading down to the water, while in others the water was drawn to the surface by means of buckets at the ends of ropes. the ropes made deep channels in the stone where they rubbed against it. some of the wells have been dry for hundreds of years, but the stones that surround them remain undisturbed. [illustration: interior of a cistern.] "where there are no running streams or springs, and the nature of the ground does not favor the digging of wells, the people rely upon cisterns to supply their wants. a cistern is simply a large excavation in the earth or rock; if in the former, it is lined with stone and cement to make it water-proof, but if it is hewn in the solid rock no such precaution is necessary. water is collected here during the rainy season and treasured up for use in the dry summer. some of the cisterns are of great extent, and will hold water sufficient for great numbers of people during several months. they are found all through the country; and even where there is a stream of water the whole year round it is often the custom to keep cisterns filled with water, to guard against an unusual drought. some of the cities of the east have vast cisterns beneath them, and if you ever go to constantinople you will see the cistern of 'the thousand and one pillars,' which gets its name from the number of columns that support the roof. [illustration: cistern under the temple of jerusalem.] "there is a cistern under the temple of jerusalem," continued the doctor, "that was hewn from the solid rock. portions of the rock were left standing to form a support for the temple, and they have performed their work so well that no part has ever given way." as the doctor paused it was announced that the horses were ready, and in a few minutes the cavalcade was again in motion. a tower on the right of the road attracted the attention of the youths. the doctor told them it was the station of a watchman, and that it was his duty to guard the fields and vineyards from depredations by men or beasts, and to preserve order along the road. "there are eighteen of these towers," said he, "between jaffa and jerusalem, about two miles apart, and the men in them are supposed to have control of the road, and to protect travellers from danger. the watch-tower is an institution of the east, and its use dates from a very early period." "yes," replied one of the boys; "i have read about watch-towers in the bible, and we saw in egypt how watchmen were stationed to guard the fields in ancient times the same as they guard them now." "you will find them referred to many times in the bible," was the reply, "and there has been no change in the custom. if you want to refresh your memory on the subject read the fifty-second chapter of isaiah, and you will find a description that might have been written yesterday instead of many centuries ago." over the undulating plain of sharon our friends continued their journey, passing groves of olive and orange trees, fields of grain, and occasional stretches of barren ground. in places the route was shaded by sycamore and cypress trees, and the fields were protected by hedges of cactus. a well-grown hedge of this plant makes an excellent fence, as it is impervious to man or beast, and it flourishes admirably in the soil of palestine. from the third watch-station the town of ramleh was visible, with a huge tower rising over it. the view was very pretty, as ramleh is situated in the midst of luxuriant groves and orchards of olives and sycamores interspersed with palm-trees. as they neared the town one of the horses became restive, and made a dash for a cactus hedge. he regretted his imprudence when the sharp spines of the plant entered his hide, and stopped so short that he narrowly missed throwing his rider over his head and into the thorny bushes. the other horses shared in the excitement, and for a few moments there was a scene of confusion among them. happily no accident resulted, and the party entered ramleh at a dignified pace. chapter xxii. from ramleh to jerusalem.--the church of the holy sepulchre. all the dragomans had told the travellers before leaving jaffa that there was a small hotel at ramleh, kept by a german, where a dozen or twenty persons could be accommodated, and there were convents of the latin and russian churches which served as hotels. they might have their choice, provided the place where he first applied was not already full. the boys thought it would be more interesting to go to one of the convents than to a hotel, and the rest of the party agreed with them; accordingly, it was arranged that they should spend the night either at the latin or russian establishment. when they were within a couple of miles of ramleh ali rode ahead at a gallop to arrange the matter, leaving the travellers to follow more leisurely. [illustration: a syrian horseman.] a messenger met them at the entrance of the town with the announcement that they were to put up at the russian convent. as they rode along the doctor explained to the boys that the "convents" were more properly hostelries, or hotels for the accommodation of pilgrims on their way to and from the holy places of the country. they are sustained by the churches to which they belong. those who can afford to pay for their entertainment are expected to do so, the same as at a hotel: but no bill is presented, nor is any payment demanded. poor pilgrims are received free, but their accommodations are much inferior to those for the traveller with a well-lined purse. the large number of russians, greeks, and other christians annually visiting palestine renders the maintenance of these convents a necessity. our friends found the russian convent so much like a hotel that they would never have known the difference if they had not been told of it. the lower story of the building served as a stable; the second story was reached by a flight of steps on the outside, which brought them to an open court surrounded by rooms that greatly resembled the cells of a prison. but the rooms were comfortably though plainly furnished, and as the youths were fatigued with their ride, and the other exertions of the day, they had no difficulty in sleeping. there was an hour to spare before supper, and the party went to see the curiosities of the place. frank said they would take a walk to get up an appetite, to which fred retorted that he thought the ride was enough to satisfy any reasonable being on that score. [illustration: the tower of ramleh (from thomson's "the land and the book").] the principal sight of ramleh is the tower, which is visible for quite a distance, and forms a conspicuous landmark. its history is not definitely known, but it is supposed to have been originally the tower of a christian church. the church was destroyed by the moslems, and the tower left standing, in order that it might serve as the minaret of the mosque erected on the site of the christian edifice. the tower is about a hundred feet high altogether, and its summit can be reached by means of steps in the interior. ivy and other vines give it an appearance of age and neglect, and on the top bushes have sprung up from seeds carried there by the birds. doctor thomson gives a fine view of this structure in "the land and the book," and says he was once detained for some time at ramleh. nearly every day he ascended to the summit of the tower, and was enchanted with the view. he wrote as follows in his journal: "the view from the top of the tower is inexpressibly grand. the whole plain of sharon, from the mountains of judea and samaria to the sea, and from the foot of carmel to the sandy deserts of philistia, lies spread out like an illuminated map. beautiful as vast, and diversified as beautiful, the eye is fascinated, and the imagination enchanted, especially when the last rays of the setting sun light up the white villages which sit or hang upon the many-shaped declivities of the mountains. what a paradise was here when solomon reigned in jerusalem, and sung of 'the roses of sharon!'" our friends ascended the tower and found that the description was by no means overdrawn. the mountains on one side, the undulating ground at their feet, the plain between them and the waters of the mediterranean--all were there, and above them spread the clear blue dome of the sky of the east. they lingered till the lengthening shadows told them the sunset was near and it was time to depart. descending from the tower, they were shown some vaults beneath the site of the mosque that once stood here. according to tradition, these vaults were the sepulchres of many christian martyrs, and there is reason to believe that the underground chambers were formerly much more extensive than at present, many of them having been filled up and abandoned. various attempts have been made to identify ramleh with some of the places named in sacred history, but none of them have been successful. some writers think it was the arimathea mentioned in the bible, and the monks claim that the latin church occupies the site of the house of joseph of arimathea. the arab writers say the town was founded in the eighth century by one of their rulers, and they assert that its name is purely arabic, and without the slightest trace of any other language. dr. bronson suggested that it was hardly worth their while to investigate the origin of ramleh, and, after looking at the bazaar, and studying the exterior of a few of the principal buildings, they returned to the russian convent, and prepared for a good rest, with the view of making an early start for jerusalem in the morning. they were up long before daybreak--they breakfasted by the light of a weak candle--and, just as the sun was preparing to show himself at the eastern horizon, they mounted their horses, and rode away in the direction of the holy city. at the edge of the town they found a row of beggars drawn up at the roadside, or, rather, squatted on the ground, and imploring the travellers for charity. several were blind, and others had lost their hands or fingers, and held up the mutilated stumps to attract attention. the guide said that some of them were lepers; but the majority had caused their hands to be cut off, or it had been done by their parents, in order to fit them for the mendicant profession. frank gave a small coin to one of the beggars, and immediately all that could walk joined in pursuing the travellers, who only escaped annoyance by quickening the speed of their horses. the doctor said it was one of the misfortunes of thus attempting to be charitable in syria, that you are immediately beset by all the beggars in sight. the one to whom you have made a donation joins in the assault, and clamors for more, and sometimes he is more persistent than any of the rest. a traveller is apt to have his heart hardened under such circumstances, and, as it is impossible for him to give to everybody, he very soon settles the matter by refusing to give at all. the government has suppressed the beggars of ramleh by moving them to other localities. the most of them find their way back again before long, and the places of those who do not return are speedily filled by others. [illustration: road in the foot-hills.] for three hours the route was much like that of the day before--though, as they approached the mountains, the land was less fertile, and the products of the plain gave place to those of the higher ground. at bab-el-wady, or the gate of the glen, they entered the mountains, and left the low land of sharon behind them. occasionally looking back, they found they were steadily rising, as the land lay lower and lower at each view, and the shining waters of the mediterranean occupied a larger space in the horizon. the guide pointed out the ruins of a village which tradition asserts was the residence of the thief who became penitent on the cross. the region was once a resort of robbers, and down to the beginning of the present century, and even later, it had a very bad reputation. there is a small hotel at the entrance of the valley. the guide had arranged that luncheon should be served here, and the result of the morning's ride made everybody ready to sit down as soon as the table was prepared. they were now among the hills of judea, and during the rest of their journey an abundance of historical events were brought to their notice. job's well was pointed out on the right of the road, and beyond it, on the crest of a hill, was a dilapidated building called job's monastery. the guide called their attention to the village of abu gosh, and said its modern name was given to it in the early part of the present century. according to the historians it is identical with baalah, mentioned in joshua xv. , and was famous as the place where the ark of the covenant was deposited for a long time. there is an old church near the village, but they did not stop to examine it. they were anxious to see the holy city as soon as possible, and every moment of delay was of great importance. the road was dreary enough as it wound among the rocky hills; it was so crooked in many places that it could only be made out for short distances in advance of the party, and sometimes the hills seemed to threaten to shut them in altogether. every little while they came upon narrow valleys, where stretches and patches of arable land were utilized as much as possible for the production of garden vegetables or for miniature plantations of olive-trees. here and there villages clung to the hill-sides, the houses rising one above another in terraces, and suggesting a series of broad steps on which a giant of the stature of goliath might take a walk. [illustration: view of jerusalem from the east.] as they wound up one of the ascents the guide said they would see jerusalem from the summit. everybody was in haste for the view, and it happened that frank and fred were in advance when the crest of the hill was reached. frank rose in his stirrups, waved his cap with a loud hurrah, and his example was followed by his cousin. as they reached the top of the hill they stopped, and in less than a minute their comrades were with them. all gazed in admiration at the holy city. there it lay, bathed in the sun of palestine, and crowning the rocky hills where it has stood for many centuries, the wonder of the civilized world and the goal which many a christian pilgrim has struggled to reach. for several minutes not a word was spoken. the towers and walls, the hills of israel, the domes and minarets, all were there, and recalled the pictures with which all students of christianity are familiar. when the silence was broken, one of the party repeated the lines of tasso which describe the first view of jerusalem by the crusaders: "winged is each heart, and winged every heel; they fly, yet notice scarce how fast they fly, but by the time the dewless meads reveal the golden sun ascended in the sky, lo! towered jerusalem salutes the eye. a thousand pointing fingers tell the tale-- 'jerusalem!' a thousand voices cry; 'all hail, jerusalem!' hill, down, and dale catch the glad sound, and shout 'jerusalem, all hail!'" it was a ride of less than an hour from the hill-top to the jaffa gate of jerusalem. they passed the building of the russian convent and of the greek monastery, but had no care for anything else than the holy city, and to get inside its walls. the gate was open, the turkish guard did not stop them, and in a few minutes they were at the door of the mediterranean hotel. they were weary with their ride, but the excitement of the occasion made the youths forget their fatigue. frank proposed that they should set out at once for the temple of solomon, and he was warmly seconded by fred. they yielded at once to the suggestion of doctor bronson that they had better wait till the whole party could go together, and see the city on a systematic plan. we will not follow our friends in all their wanderings around jerusalem, but refer our readers to the accounts which were written by the youths for the benefit of their friends at home. after describing the ride from jaffa, the experience on the road, and their arrival at jerusalem, they wrote as follows: "jerusalem disappoints us a little, as we had expected wider and cleaner streets than we find here. we were partly prepared for this, as we have been in the cities of egypt, and spent a few hours at jaffa, but it is our candid opinion that jerusalem is worse than cairo, suez, or any other city we have visited. the streets are very narrow, the pavement is bad, and nobody seems to care whether they are clean or not. some of the side streets and alleys would do honor to new york, and doctor bronson says they remind him of home more than anything else he has seen here. [illustration: plan of jerusalem.] "you may think jerusalem is a large city; if you do you have made a mistake. the population is estimated between twenty and twenty-four thousand, and the best authorities say it does not exceed the latter figure. the moslems do not take the census as we do; they count the families, and then make an average of the number in each family, and they don't do that very often. on the basis of twenty-four thousand inhabitants, they count thirteen thousand moslems, seven thousand christians, and four thousand jews. the city was much larger in ancient times than it is at present. we cannot say exactly when it had its greatest population, as the old writers do not agree; but it was quite likely in the reign of king solomon. the population at that time has been placed as high as half a million, but was probably not over half that number. we need not trouble ourselves on the subject, as it is the modern jerusalem we are looking at now. "jerusalem has suffered more from wars than any other city in the world, or, at all events, more than any city we have seen. it has been captured no less than seventeen times, if we may believe the historians, and some of them say that on several occasions the inhabitants have been slaughtered, the buildings destroyed, and the ground sown with salt. the question that comes up to us is, 'where did they get the salt for that purpose?' most of these terrible events in the history of jerusalem occurred hundreds, and some of them thousands, of years ago. the traces of the old walls of jerusalem are visible in many places, and any visitor can easily satisfy himself that the city was once much larger than it is at present. "as soon as we had brushed up a little after our ride from ramleh we went out to see the city and take a stroll through the streets of this interesting place. "near the front of the hotel is the tower of david on mount zion, along with several other buildings. there is a good deal of dispute as to the antiquity of the tower, and whether it is really the one built by king david or not. the general belief is that the foundations are the same, while the superstructure is more modern. the church of mount zion was founded during the fourth century, but has been rebuilt two or three times, its present form having been given to it four or five hundred years ago. near the church is a monastery, and its inmates call themselves the guardians of mount zion. a hospital is attached to the monastery, and there is a lodging-house where poor pilgrims are received and cared for during their stay in jerusalem. "we went down the street of david, which passes in front of the mediterranean hotel, and leads from the jaffa gate to mount moriah. we told the guide that we wanted to see the church of the holy sepulchre. when we had gone a short distance on the street of david we turned to the left into christ street, and in a few minutes were in front of the church that is revered as the burial place of our saviour. "there is an open space in front like a little square surrounded by buildings. we were reminded of the money-changers in the temple as we approached the church. the space in front of it was filled with peddlers and beggars, principally the former, and there was hardly a moment when we were free from their importunities. the goods offered for sale were photographs, and curiosities from various parts of the holy land, together with rosaries, charms, and similar trifles made from olive-wood, the seeds of the olive-tree, or mother-of-pearl. to judge by the numbers of these itinerent merchants they must do a good business among the visitors to this sacred spot. "wherever we stood to look at the building before us we were surrounded by these fellows, and we thought how little the customs of the east have changed since christ came on earth. the guide said the peddlers paid a license for the privilege of selling their goods here, and it is more than probable that the beggars have a similar authority for their importunities. "the church was closed when we arrived, and we learned that it was only open on certain hours of the day. there have been so many quarrels among the monks that the building has been put in the care of a moslem guard, and the key is kept by a moslem official. there is great jealousy between the different sects--latin, greek, and armenian--and the moslems have been obliged to step in to keep the peace! more than once there have been such fierce quarrels that blows have been struck, and blood has been shed within the walls of the church! "we did not enter the church at that time, but as we visited it afterward, and went through all parts of it, we may as well describe it while we are here. [illustration: the church of the holy sepulchre.] "to begin with, there has been a great deal of controversy concerning the spot where the church stands, some authorities contending that it is where christ was buried, while others insist that the golgotha mentioned in the scriptures was a considerable distance outside the walls. there are many traditions concerning it, and it would take more time than we can spare to give even a short account of them. so we will drop the discussion of the question, and tell what we saw. if you want more information you will find plenty of books on the subject. "we paid a backsheesh to the moslem custodians who were stationed at the entrance, and one of them accompanied us to see that we did not disturb anything, and also in the expectation of a fee when we were through with his services. [illustration: ground-plan of the church of the holy sepulchre. . principal door; . tomb of godfrey; . tomb of baldwin; . tomb of melchizedek; . chapel of adam and john the baptist; . tomb of adam; . place where the virgin mary stood while the body was anointed; . chapel of the angel; . tombs of joseph and nicodemus; . greek "centre of the world;" . where christ appeared to mary magdalene; . where mary magdalene stood; . part of the pillar of flagellation; . where christ appeared to his mother after the resurrection; . place of the recognition of the cross; . place of christ's bonds; . chapel of the virgin; . chapel of longinus the centurion; . chapel of the mocking; . chapel of st. helena; . chapel of the penitent thief; . chapel of the finding of the cross.] "close to the entrance of the church we came to the stone of unction, where the body of christ was laid to be anointed (john xix. - ). it is a slab of marble surrounded with an iron railing. the guide said it was above the real stone, in order that the latter might not be injured by the thousands of pilgrims that come here, and are frequently desirous of carrying away some relic of the place. "a short distance beyond this place we came to the spot where the virgin mary stood while the saviour's body lay on the stone of unction. we paused there only a moment, and then went to the next and greatest object of interest, the holy sepulchre. [illustration: the holy sepulchre.] "the sepulchre is in the rotunda of the church, which has been reconstructed several times, and has changed a good deal in shape since the original building was erected. the sepulchre is a small building, twenty-six feet by eighteen, entirely of marble, and with holes in the roof, to allow the escape of the smoke from the lamps which burn here continually. we first entered what is called the angel's chamber. it has in the centre a stone set in marble, and the priests in charge of the place say it is the stone that was rolled from the mouth of the sepulchre by the angel. it is probable that the stone has been changed many times since the crucifixion. the armenians claim that they have the real stone in their monastery on mount zion, and the latin monks accuse them of having stolen it. "the sepulchre is entered from the angel's chapel. it is about seven feet square, and has the sepulchral couch at one side covered with a marble slab. the space is so small that we could not all go inside at once, and the rule is that not more than three or four shall be admitted together. the inside of the room is divided among four religious bodies--the copts, greeks, armenians, and latins. the copts have four lamps burning there, and the other three sects have each thirteen. they take turns in the performance of religious services in the altar, and when they are thus engaged the moslem guard stands near to see that there is no interference. "we found it was not easy to believe that the sepulchre was hewn in the solid rock, as the monks declare it to have been. every foot of space is so completely covered with marble that no part of the original rock is visible. the marble was placed here hundreds of years ago, when the traditions were more authentic than at present, and perhaps it is not worth while to dispute them. "from the holy sepulchre we went to many places of interest to all students of christianity; they were so numerous that it was impossible to remember all of them, and we went about so rapidly that we did not even have time to make a complete list. we therefore refer to our guide-book, and will try to give their names, but without pretending to follow the order in which we saw them. "it seemed very odd to us that so many places mentioned in scripture should all be found under the roof of a single church. but, whatever may be our opinions concerning their authenticity, they were all very interesting, and we shall long retain the memory of what we saw and heard while within the walls of this famous building. we thought we were there not more than half an hour, but found we had passed over two hours in the visit: you can see how much we were absorbed in the subject when the time flew away so fast. "here are the places and objects that were pointed out: "the chapel of the apparition, where christ appeared to his mother after the resurrection. "the column of the scourging. "the latin sacristy, containing the sword, spurs, and cross of godfrey de bouillon. "fragment of a column, said to occupy the centre of the world. "the prison of christ, where he was kept while his cross was being made ready for the crucifixion. "chapel of st. longinus, the soldier who pierced the side of christ after his death. "chapel of the parting of the raiment. "column of the derision, where christ stood when he was crowned with thorns. "chapel of st. helena, containing the seat where the empress helena sat while the cross was being sought for. near it is the chapel of the finding of the cross, and the spot is indicated where the cross was discovered. the chapel of st. helena is reached by descending twenty-nine steps from the floor of the church, and the chapel of the cross is a cavern in the rock, thirteen steps farther down. "from this spot we ascended to the floor of the church and were taken to golgotha, or mount calvary, by an ascent of about fifteen feet. remember that everything we have mentioned is under the roof of the church, or, rather, of the different buildings that have been erected to make up the church. an architect who goes through it can readily perceive that the construction was not all of the same period, and that several men must have planned the various portions. the first chapel on mount calvary was erected by the emperor constantine, but it has been rebuilt two or three times, so that little if anything remains of it. "the first chapel we entered in this part of the church was that of the raising of the cross. they showed us the hole in the rock where the cross stood, and about five feet on either side were the crosses of the two thieves. the cleft in the rock, mentioned in matt. xxvi. , was pointed out in this chapel, and then we went to the next where christ was nailed to the cross, the positions being indicated by pieces of marble in the floor. beyond this is the chapel of the agony, which is reached by a short stairway; it is a small chapel, and belongs to the latin monks, while the chapel of the raising of the cross is the property of the greeks. "every day when the church is open to the public a good many pilgrims come there to worship at the sepulchre of the founder of christianity. at easter and other festivals the number is very large, and sometimes the building is densely crowded. for a long time the moslems used to make all visitors pay heavily for the privilege of entering the church, but of late years they have not been permitted to extort backsheesh. we went there at an hour when the church was closed, and were, consequently, obliged to pay the custodian before the key was produced. "we did not go to the cistern of the empress helena, as it would have prolonged our stay somewhat, and our time was limited. while we were in the chapel of the finding of the cross the guide told us the tradition of how the empress helena, the mother of constantine, directed the excavation, and was present when the three crosses were unearthed. a woman suffering from an incurable disease was brought and placed upon two of them without any benefit; as soon as she touched the third she rose and walked away in perfect health. by this it was determined which was the true cross, and from that time its fragments have been distributed among the cathedrals and churches of europe and other countries." chapter xxiii. in and around jerusalem. we will continue the account of the sights of jerusalem, as given by frank and fred in their journal: "one of the first places we asked for after the church of the holy sepulchre was mount zion, which we reached by a short walk. on our way we passed through the street of the christians, where there are several bazaars; they are much inferior to the bazaars of cairo, and the display of goods does not amount to much. the guide took us to several shops where carvings of olive-wood are sold. there is a great variety of these articles, and some of them are of great beauty and high price. to judge by the number and extent of the shops, we should think that the principal occupation of the inhabitants of jerusalem is the manufacture and sale of wood-carvings. [illustration: ancient arch in jerusalem.] "we visited the muristan, or site of the hospital of the knights of st. john, who were also known as the order of the hospitallers. there is not a great deal to see here, as the buildings are mostly in a state of decay, and some of the ground is covered with rubbish accumulated from the ruins. it is said that a monastery was formed here by the emperor charlemagne; afterward some rich merchants established a church and monastery on the spot, and later on the hospitallers erected a convent where pilgrims were received and cared for. perhaps you would like to know something about the knights of st. john. we'll tell you what we've read and heard about them: "the order was founded in the eleventh century, and established on the spot we have just visited. there were two hospitals or convents, one for men and one for women; but in the course of time the convent for women was removed to another part of the city, and the ground became the exclusive possession of the 'knights hospitallers of st. john of jerusalem.' that was their official name, and under it they built hospitals or convents for pilgrims to the holy land in most of the seaport cities of europe and along the eastern shores of the mediterranean. "they not only took care of the pilgrims, but they joined in wars against the infidels, and fought on many battle-fields. a great number of noblemen from all parts of europe joined the order, and they had a regular constitution and a long list of laws, which all were bound to obey. they had a military organization, and did a great deal of fighting, but were finally conquered and expelled from jerusalem; then they went to the island of rhodes, where they lived about two hundred years, and were known as the knights of rhodes. they were besieged twice by the turks, and were finally compelled to leave that island and go to malta, where they built a strong fortress, and were known as the knights of malta. the organization practically came to an end in , when napoleon captured malta and sent away the grand-master. since that time there have been several attempts to revive the order, but none have amounted to anything. [illustration: arms of jerusalem.] "the costume of the knights was a black dress, with a white cross on the left breast, and you often see the insignia in jewellery and other ornaments under the name of the 'cross of malta.' since their time the cross has been applied to the crusaders' 'arms of jerusalem,' in which there is the maltese cross with the crowns of the three wise men and the star of bethlehem below, while there are two branches of the palm-tree and the word 'jerusalem' above. these crosses are for sale here, and not unfrequently the pilgrims have the 'arms of jerusalem' tattooed on their wrists, to prove that they have been in the holy land. [illustration: knights of st. catherine.] "every order of knighthood in the holy land had its peculiar costume and device, and all of them had a patron saint. the knights of st. catherine, for example, wore on their shields as well as on their breasts a picture of a section of a wheel pierced by a dagger or sword. the legend is that st. catherine was ordered to be put to death by torture on a wheel, but as soon as she was placed on it the wheel was miraculously broken, and the executioner beheaded her. immediately the body and head were seized by angels and carried to mount sinai; its locality was revealed to a monk in a dream, and the next day he and his brethren carried it to a convent that had been established in the wilderness near the mountain, and piously buried it. the building has ever since been known as the convent of st. catherine, and is of great assistance to pilgrims and others who go to mount sinai. [illustration: the via dolorosa.] "we passed along the via dolorosa, and were shown the spot where christ rested his cross on his way to the crucifixion on mount calvary. then we traversed the street of the gate of the column, and followed the guide till he brought us to the damascus gate. we ought to explain right here that there are seven gates in the walls of jerusalem. the most in use are the damascus and jaffa gates, for the reason that nearly all visitors to the holy city enter and depart by one or the other. as their names imply, the damascus gate is on the road to the city of that name, while the jaffa gate is the nearest to the mediterranean. the latter is also called the hebron gate, for the reason that travellers to hebron depart through it. "there are two gates wholly or partly walled up; they are the golden gate, on mount moriah, and the so-called gate of herod. the other gates of most consequence are st. stephen's, which is supposed to be near the spot where stephen was stoned to death, and the zion gate, which leads from mount zion in the direction of david's tomb. "to make the circuit of the walls of jerusalem would require a walk of about two and a half miles, but owing to the nature of the ground a pedestrian could not keep at all times close to the line he wished to follow. the present walls were made by sultan suleiman in , but many parts of them were standing before his time, and some of the foundations are the same as they were two thousand years ago. jerusalem has not materially changed in its general characteristics since the time of christ, and consequently it has not been difficult to identify many of the places mentioned in the bible. [illustration: the damascus gate.] "we thought the damascus gate was very picturesque when we looked at it from the outside, and doctor bronson said it was considered the finest of all the gates of jerusalem. its arab name is _bab-el-amud_, or gate of the column, and it is constructed so that it can be easily defended against an enemy. it was built about three hundred years ago, and is supposed to stand on the foundations of one of the ancient gates, and there is a story that a stream of water may sometimes be heard flowing beneath it. "there was quite a group of people outside of the damascus gate, some on foot, some on horses, and others on camels. a peddler of cakes and other edible things had set up his shop at the side of the road, and was engaged in weighing out his merchandise to those who wanted it. instead of fairbanks's scales he used the old-fashioned balances; he was not at all in a hurry, and as soon as his customers were gone he sat down in the shadow of a little shelter he had erected, and was evidently resting from his labors. a dog that had been sitting a little distance away embraced the opportunity, and made off with one of the cakes before the owner could interfere to stop him. the dogs of jerusalem are quite as bad as those of cairo, and ready to steal whenever there is the least chance of doing so. "we will take a leap through the air from the damascus gate to mount zion, which we started out to see. we went to the armenian monastery, which is also called the house of caiaphas, and saw the stone which was said to have been rolled away from the door of the holy sepulchre, the spot where peter stood when he denied his master, and the yard where the cock crew at the time of the denial. the monks also showed us the prison of christ, and other points of interest. doctor bronson says the most of these things are on very poor authority, but, of course, we gave no indication of any doubt concerning them while we were inside the monastery. "continuing our walk on mount zion, we came to a building inhabited by a lot of insolent arabs, who demanded backsheesh before they would permit us to enter. they showed us an upper room which is said to have been the scene of the last supper, and the traditions concerning it are on better authority than those of the armenian monastery. the tomb of david is under this building, but is not shown to visitors; the coffin is supposed to be in a deep vault under the foundations, but no one is permitted to go there. "there is a story that a wealthy jew came here once and wanted to say his prayers at the tomb of david. the monks, who then had possession of the place, refused permission for him to do so, and as he went away he vowed he would be revenged on them. the next year he came back with an order from the sultan expelling the monks and giving the place to the moslems, and they have had it ever since. the jew said his prayers at the tomb, and then the vault was closed to everybody. "we saw several other points of interest here, and then returned to the hotel. our next excursion was along the street of david to mount moriah, to see the site of solomon's temple and what remains of it. down to quite recently no christians were allowed to visit the haram, or sacred enclosure on mount moriah, where the temple once stood, and which is now occupied by the mosques of omar and el-aksa. even now it is generally necessary to be accompanied by a policeman, or a janizary from the consulate of your country, to protect you from insult. we had a janizary from the american consulate, and experienced no difficulty in seeing what we wished to, though we were obliged to give quite an amount of backsheesh to get along. [illustration: view of the mosque of omar and the mount of olives.] "the haram includes nearly a fourth of the space enclosed in the walls of jerusalem, and the mosque of omar rises so high in the air that it is the principal object in any outside view of the city. it is supposed to have been built by sultan omar. there is some doubt on the subject, but there can be no doubt that it is a very beautiful building, and the architect knew what he was about when he planned it. the mosque is on the highest part of the hill, and on the thrashing-floor that king david bought for fifty shekels of silver; on the inside the rock is preserved in its original state and enclosed in a railing. from its position, and also from having the original rock preserved as we have described, the building is called the _kubbet-es-sukrah_, or dome of the rock. it is an octagonal structure, and each of the eight sides is sixty-seven feet long. "doctor bronson says this is probably the most interesting spot in the world, as it is revered by the adherents of three religions who have regarded it as a holy place through many centuries. the jews revered it, as we learn from the old testament, and from many events in modern as well as ancient history; the new testament tells us its intimate connection with the story of christ's coming on earth; and the moslems consider it the holiest place next to the kaaba at mecca. they believe mohammed came here in person, and at one time commanded his followers to turn their faces toward jerusalem when saying their prayers. it is for this reason that they refused to allow jews and christians to visit the temple grounds, just as they will not allow them to go to mecca at the present time. "the haram, or temple enclosure, is about one thousand six hundred feet long by one thousand wide: it is not a regular quadrangle, and consequently this measurement is not exact. there are several buildings there in addition to the two mosques, but none are of much consequence, and we did not visit them. we were allowed to walk through the mosque of omar, and went from there to the mosque el-aksa. we were greatly interested in the architecture of the buildings, and quite as much in the story of the guide who accompanied us. "at the kubbet-es-sukrah he pointed out the place where abraham was about to slay isaac as a sacrifice, and the spot where the ark of the covenant was deposited, besides other places interesting to readers of the bible. then he showed us the footprint of mohammed, where his foot last touched the earth before he ascended to heaven, and the marks of the hands of the angel who held the rock down to prevent its ascent with the moslem prophet. in a cavern under the rock he showed the places, which are marked by small altars, where abraham, david, solomon, and elijah offered up their prayers, and he pointed to an impression in the ceiling which is said to have been made by mohammed's head. "the moslems have a great many traditions concerning the rock, and it is very evident that they have allowed their imagination free-play in describing it. they say the rock was brought here from heaven, and that a river from paradise flows beneath it and waters the palm on which it rests. they also declare that the trumpet of the last judgment will sound from this rock; and one of their stories is that the rock is suspended over a deep abyss without any support. our guide was a native christian, but it seemed to us that he had told these stories so often that he half believed them, in spite of their opposition to his own religious faith. [illustration: wall at south-east corner of the temple area.] "from the buildings above-ground we went to the excavations and subterranean passages beneath. there was formerly some dispute as to the exact position of solomon's temple, owing to the difficulty of making explorations; but within the last twenty years many discoveries have been made, and the work of laying out the exact position of the temple is still going on. the american and english societies engaged in it are entirely harmonious, and every year they are throwing new light on subjects of great importance to students of the bible. they have spent large amounts of money in excavations among the substructions of the temple, and settled many points of dispute. anybody who wishes the details of what has been accomplished is referred to the book of captain warren on 'the recovery of jerusalem,' and to the reports of the palestine exploration society. "provided with candles and torches, we went among the substructions that were made to level the ground and prepare it for the building of the temple. the arches and pillars would be no discredit to a modern architect, and in some places we saw large blocks that must have required powerful machinery for their transportation. these underground vaults have not all been opened, and their full extent is not yet known. during the time of the crusaders these vaults were used as stables, and the holes where the halters of the horses were fastened may be seen to-day. in some places there are roots of trees that have run a long distance underground in search of water. the trees are evidently of great age, but we could hardly accept the statement of the guide that they were as old as the temple itself. "we returned to the open air after half an hour beneath the temple, and found that our eyes were dazzled by the sudden flood of light. we looked over the walls into the valley of jehoshaphat, and stood almost holding our breath as we saw the mount of olives, the garden of gethsemane, the tomb of absalom, and other objects whose names were familiar to us all. below us was the bed of the brook kedron, but dry and dusty as though no brook had ever flowed there. in winter, and after heavy rains, it is full of water; but ordinarily there is only a slender thread, and it disappears altogether in time of drought. [illustration: wailing-place of the jews.] "when we were through with our visit to the site of the temple we went to the wailing-place of the jews, which is supposed to be part of the wall of the original temple. it is a very solid wall of large stones, and has been a sacred spot with the jews for many hundreds of years. they come here from all parts of the earth to weep over the downfall of their race, and the destruction of the holy temple. on fridays they are seen in greatest number; but at almost any time there are several of them standing there with their faces against the wall, reading or reciting their prayers in a low, wailing tone. "we had hoped to see many of them there but were disappointed, as our visit was not on a friday. there were six or eight in all, and they did not look up when we entered the narrow court on which the wall fronts. they were all, to judge from their dress, inhabitants of jerusalem, and not, as often happens, pilgrims from distant lands. one of the gentlemen connected with the palestine exploration fund told us that he had seen two or three hundred jews at the wailing-place on a single occasion, and that they came from all the countries of europe. in some places the stones have been worn smooth by the kisses of devout lips, and there is no doubt that the majority of those who come here to mourn are earnest in the expression of their grief. 'oh, weep for those who wept by babel's stream, whose shrines are desolate, whose land a dream! weep for the harp of judah's broken spell-- mourn--where their god hath dwelt the godless dwell?' "the pool of bethesda is at one end of the haram enclosure, and, of course, we paid it a visit. isn't it curious that there has been a city here all these many centuries in a place where there are no wells? jerusalem depends altogether upon cisterns and pools for its water, and it is said that in the sieges of the city the inhabitants have never suffered for want of water, while the attacking armies have sometimes been compelled to bring their supplies of it from long distances. some of the cisterns are very large, and hewn in the solid rock, while others are built of masonry and lined with cement. they are filled with water from the roofs during the rainy season, and great care is exercised to prevent its being wasted. [illustration: the pool of bethesda.] "the pool of bethesda is oblong in shape, and on one side there are steps leading down to the water, of which there was very little at the time of our visit. the monks say it is the bethesda of the new testament, and they also call it the sheep pool. we looked in vain for the five porches, or arches, and were told that there is a doubt as to this being the real pool of bethesda, which some authorities locate at a deep shaft, or cistern, with an intermittent spring at the bottom, outside the walls of the haram. "having seen this historic place we naturally asked for the pool of siloam. the guide said it was outside the walls, and we would see it when we made the circuit of jerusalem, which we did. "we descended to the brook kedron, in the valley of jehoshaphat, which we have already mentioned. the valley is a good deal choked with rubbish, which has been accumulating there during many centuries, and the tomb of absalom is surrounded by a heap of small stones, which have been thrown there by the jews. every jew who goes by the place thinks he should throw a stone at the tomb, and you can readily understand what the result has been. doctor bronson says this is a reversal of the old proverb that a continual dropping will wear away stone. the continual dropping of pebbles around the tomb of absalom has heaped up a great mass of stone instead of wearing it away. [illustration: the pool of siloam.] "the pool of siloam is in the valley of kedron, at the south-eastern termination of mount zion, where a little brook joins it, but is not a part of the main stream of kedron. there is no biblical place around jerusalem more clearly identified than this. doctor thomson says it is beyond question the pool where the man born blind was sent by christ to wash, in order that he might receive sight. it is mentioned many times in history, and its waters are known to flow irregularly. the fact has been verified by several travellers, and was positively stated by the guide who took us there. "the sides are broken down in several places, and a good deal of rock has fallen in. there is a recess at one corner where steps go down to the bottom, and we found several women descending these steps to bring water from the pool. as we looked from one end of the pool the walls of jerusalem formed the background of the picture, and we carried our thoughts back to the time when the blind man came from the city to wash in the water of siloam, that he might bear witness to the miracle performed by the saviour of mankind. "there is a small village near the pool. its inhabitants are said to be moslems, and they derive quite a revenue from the backsheesh they extort from visitors. we did not remain long at the place, as there were many interesting things to be seen in our walk, and our time was precious. [illustration: quarries under jerusalem.] "we visited several tombs hewn in the solid rock, but they did not seem of much consequence when compared with the tombs we had seen in egypt. of more interest were the quarries, which extend a considerable way beneath the city, and are supposed to have furnished the stone from which the temple of king solomon was built. "we entered them near the damascus gate, descending into a hole that sloped rapidly downward, and soon found ourselves in what might have been a chamber of a natural cavern. the marks of the chisels and other tools of the workmen were plainly to be seen, and there were pillars of rock left standing to support the roof. we must have gone seven or eight hundred feet from the entrance before reaching the end, and in many places the way was so rough that we climbed rather than walked along. at the point farthest from the entrance there is a stone that was evidently abandoned when a few hours' additional labor would have detached it. the indications are that the process of quarrying stone was the same in jerusalem as in egypt. wedges of wood were driven into channels and grooves and then swelled, by being wet with water, till their expansive force became too great for the stone to resist. "parts of these quarries are directly beneath the city, and they are so extensive that some writers have declared that the whole of jerusalem might be buried in them. there is a tradition that a passage once led from the temple to the quarries, but there is good reason to doubt its existence. we wandered about for some time in the quarries, and were glad when the guide brought us once more to the light of day." chapter xxiv. from jerusalem to bethlehem.--church and grotto of the nativity. our friends made an excursion to the mount of olives, going out of jerusalem by st. stephen's gate, and descending into the valley of the kedron, which lies between the hill and the city. going down the hill from the gate they came in sight of the chapel and tomb of the virgin, a low and certainly very old building, which is annually visited by great numbers of pilgrims. there are serious doubts as to its authenticity, since it is not mentioned in history till the eighth century, and there is no inscription about it to indicate that it was the tomb of the mother of christ. the first object of interest was the garden of gethsemane; and for many visitors it is of more consequence than any other spot in the immediate vicinity of jerusalem, as it is so intimately connected with the final scene of the saviour's life. frank and fred could hardly restrain their impatience as they approached it; and we are safe in saying that every member of the little party quickened his steps as he approached the gate. but as soon as they were inside all haste was abandoned, and every voice was hushed as each one recalled the incidents of christ's visits to gethsemane with his disciples, together with the scene of his agony and betrayal.[ ] [ ] matt. xxvi. - ; mark xiv. - ; luke xxii. - ; john xviii. - . [illustration: gethsemane.] there are seven or eight olive-trees in the garden, and the monk in charge of the place points out the spot where christ prayed, together with that where his apostles slept during the prayer. the "grotto of the agony" is a small cave, and the place where the apostles slept is supposed to be indicated by the marks of their bodies on the stone. the monks claim that the olive-trees are the same that were standing in the time of christ; they are certainly very old, and some are of great size, but we may well doubt if they have existed nearly two thousand years. but there is little question that this is really the original garden; but beyond this fact the statements of the monks should be received with hesitation. the garden belongs to the latin monks; the greeks have started a garden of gethsemane of their own farther up the side of the mount of olives, but are cautious about admitting visitors, as the trees have not grown sufficiently large to be passed off as the original ones of the beginning of the christian era. [illustration: view on the mount of olives.] here is frank's memorandum concerning the visit to the mount of olives: "from the garden of gethsemane we ascended the slope by a steep path which carried us to the summit in fifteen or twenty minutes, or would have done so if we had not stopped several times on the way to look back at jerusalem. the summit of the hill is said to be two hundred and twenty feet above mount moriah, and consequently we looked down on the holy city, and had its entire outline before us. we could trace the course of the brook kedron, the valley of hinnom, the hills of zion and moriah, the village of siloam, near the celebrated pool, and directly in front of us lay the haram enclosure, where once stood the temple of solomon, but now occupied by the mosques we have already described. to the east, and far below us, were the blue waters of the dead sea, with the mountains of moab bounding the horizon. owing to the clearness of the atmosphere the dead sea appeared close to us, and it seemed not an impossibility to shoot a rifle-ball from where we stood so that it would fall upon its surface. the wilderness of judea, the valley of the winding jordan, the 'mountain of offence,' the 'hill of evil counsel,' the heights of bethlehem, and other places named in scripture were pointed out by the guide. in fact, the view from the mount of olives includes so much of which we have read, that it is impossible to recall everything without a great effort of memory. for the biblical interest of the spot i cannot do better than quote the following: "'no name in scripture calls up associations at once so sacred and so pleasing as that of olivet. the "mount" is so intimately connected with the private life of the saviour that we read of it and look at it with feelings of deepest interest and affection. here he sat with his disciples, telling them of wondrous events yet to come--of the destruction of the holy city, of the sufferings, the persecutions, and the final triumph of his followers (matt, xxiv.); here he related the beautiful parables of the "ten virgins" and the "five talents" (matt, xxv.); here he was wont to retire on each evening for meditation and prayer, and rest of body, when weary and harassed by the labors and trials of the day (luke xxi. ); and here he came on the night of his betrayal to utter that wonderful prayer, "o my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as i will, but as thou wilt" (matt. xxvi. ); and when the cup of god's wrath had been drunk, and death and the grave conquered, he led his disciples out again over olivet as far as to bethany, and after a parting blessing ascended to heaven (luke xxiv. , ; acts i. ).' [illustration: a sycamore-tree.] "the hill is covered in many places with olive-trees, and certainly merits its name. there are also fig, almond, sycamore, and a few other trees familiar to the traveller in palestine, and every foot of the ground that will produce anything is carefully cultivated. several churches have been erected on the summit, the first as early as the fourth century, and the last in . we went through the present building, which is known as the church of the ascension; there is nothing remarkable about its architecture, but it is a substantial structure, and will last a long time unless destroyed by invaders, like some of its predecessors. in the centre there is a sort of dome, which is known as the chapel of the ascension, and is supposed to mark the spot where christ rose to heaven." an entire forenoon was devoted to the visit to the mount of olives, and in the afternoon the party started for bethlehem, a ride of less than two hours. [illustration: the road from jerusalem to bethlehem.] they went out by the jaffa gate, passing the hill of evil counsel and the lower aqueduct, and winding among rocky hills similar to those by which they had come from ramleh to the holy city. they passed the convent of mar elyas, but did not stop to visit it, and their attention was constantly absorbed by the ancient and modern monuments scattered along the route. their first halt was made at the tomb of rachel, which is an insignificant building, with a dome above it, of the general type of the better class of tombs in palestine. [illustration: the tomb of rachel.] the tradition concerning the tomb of the mother of benjamin (gen. xxv. ) has been well preserved through thirty centuries, and many generations have worshipped at this spot. it has been revered alike by jews, christians, and moslems, and the spectacle is not infrequent of the adherents of three religions kneeling in harmony before this venerable structure. during the halt of our friends one of the party read aloud from the bible the story of the death of rachel. all remained silent, and with uncovered heads, till the touching narrative was ended. from the tomb of rachel the way led over hills and into valleys, and finally climbed the ridge on which bethlehem stands. the situation of the place is quite picturesque. the town stands on a steep hill-side, and when looked at from a distance of half a mile or more, it presents the appearance of a series of terraces. the houses are low, and the roofs almost invariably flat; in this respect it has the general aspect of a syrian town, and the position on the side of a hill gives an opportunity for thorough drainage. [illustration: entrance to bethlehem.] the most conspicuous building in the picture, as one approaches bethlehem, is the monastery connected with the church of the nativity, and the whole structure appears more like a fortress than a religious establishment. bethlehem would be of little consequence were it not for its biblical interest, as there are no natural or other attractions, and the streets are badly kept. the convent and church remind the stranger of the castles on the rhine and danube, and with a little play of the imagination he may think he is looking at the crags of drachenfels or the ruins above the iron gate. but as he ascends the last of the hills, and passes the massive gate-way leading into the streets, he finds that bethlehem is not unlike jaffa, jerusalem, and the other towns of the holy land that he has visited. ali had sent the tents ahead in the morning, and when our friends arrived everything was ready for them. there is no hotel at bethlehem, and consequently travellers must sleep in tents, or be lodged at one of the convents. it was the time of the christmas festivities, and all the convent accommodation had been secured by pilgrims and others, so that the camp became a necessity for doctor bronson's party. this was the first glimpse of tent life in the holy land for frank and fred, and they were delighted with it, but at the same time a trifle disappointed. "i thought we would have to 'rough it' in this country," said frank, "but i don't see much rough work in this." "nor i either," replied his cousin, as he examined the tents and their equipment. "just look at it," said he, "and say whether this meets your ideas of wild life." together they made an inventory of what was before them. there were three tents for the six travellers, and each tent was large enough for amply accommodating two persons with space for dressing and moving about. one tent was arranged for a dining-room, and the dinner was nearly ready to be served. there was a table large enough for six to be seated, and there were camp-chairs for all. ali explained that after dinner was over the table would be removed, and two beds set up, as in the other tents. the height of luxury seemed to be reached when frank pointed to the carpet which covered the ground beneath each tent, and was a welcome protection for slippered feet. "real beds, chairs, tables, carpets, and all the comforts of a home," said frank; "there isn't hardship enough here to make it interesting." "i thought," said fred, "we might have to sleep on the ground in the open air, or beneath a tent like the shelter of the bedouin. then we could eat dates which we gathered ourselves from the trees, or perhaps we could get some of the grapes that we see in the pictures in our sunday-school books. here we are on fare like what we get at the hotel, and it isn't wild life at all." "wait a little," said the doctor, with a smile. "we haven't fairly begun yet, and you may see some hard times before you are through with the country. quite likely we may have a storm some night, and if it proves to be a regular old-fashioned syrian storm, such as i once saw here, you'll have all you want." ali interrupted them to say there would be sufficient time before dinner to visit the "milk grotto," which was quite near their camp. accordingly they went there, and found a cavern that was reached by a flight of steps from the ground above. the roof is eight or ten feet above the floor, and the room, which is fitted up as a chapel, is about ten feet by fifteen. the tradition is that the holy family was concealed here during its flight into egypt, and consequently the place is visited by most of the christian pilgrims that come to bethlehem. [illustration: view in bethlehem.] they returned to the camp to dinner, and then went to the church of the nativity. every step of the way they were beset by peddlers of ornaments made of olive-wood, mother-of-pearl, and other things, just as they had been surrounded by the same class of men in jerusalem. the inhabitants of bethlehem drive a large trade among the pilgrims, and are chiefly engaged in the manufacture and sale of souvenirs of the place. the church of the nativity is not of itself a large building, but the convents connected with it, and belonging to the three rival sects of greeks, latins, and armenians, cover a broad area. the church measures about a hundred and twenty feet in length by a little less in breadth. it is divided by corinthian columns supporting horizontal architraves in such a way that the interior consists of a nave and four aisles. it is one of the oldest churches in the world, as it was erected in the beginning of the fourth century, and, though repaired from time to time, it is generally believed to retain its original form and characteristics. the building is now in a somewhat dilapidated condition, and the roof, which has been several times restored, threatens to fall in. at least that was the case when our friends went there, and one of the boys asked, very naturally, why it was allowed to be in such a condition, when it was one of the most venerated churches in all christendom, and there ought to be no lack of money for its preservation. "the trouble is," the doctor answered, "the religious sects are so jealous of each other that they prevent the repair and preservation of the church. no two of the three sects--greek, latin, and armenian--will consent that the third shall have the honor of repairing it, and they will not agree upon an architect to whom the work can be intrusted without interference from any of them. "the church and the grotto of the nativity, directly beneath it, are parcelled out among the three sects. each has its own altars where services are performed, and there are other altars which are common to all, but at different hours. several times there have been fights in the sacred grotto between these rival monks. a few years ago one of the sects set fire to some decorations that had been placed in the grotto by another, and the whole place was filled with smoke, and the walls were disfigured." one of the boys asked if there was any bloodshed in this affair. "yes," was the reply; "i believe two or three of the monks were killed, and others severely wounded. it was necessary to call in the turkish soldiers to suppress the disturbance, and the hostility among the christians is so great that a guard is kept there constantly to preserve order. "it is said that the crimean war owed its origin, in part, to a quarrel about the possession of the church of the nativity, and on several occasions the peace of europe has been threatened by disputes for a few square inches of the floor of the sacred grotto!" [illustration: interior of the church of the nativity.] during the above conversation the party had been walking through the church, admiring the beauty of the columns that support the roof, and listening to the chanting of the service at one of the altars in the side aisles. pilgrims were kneeling at the shrines, or seated near the columns, and several monks were moving among them, or guiding strangers around the building. the latin monks were easily distinguished from the others by their shaven heads, which contrasted in a marked degree with the tall hats of the greeks and armenians; and the boys observed that none of the rival sects said a word to either of the others. evidently there was a bitter hatred between them, and although they were all to be considered devout christians, they did not follow the injunction of their master to love one another. [illustration: the place of the nativity.] the doctor explained that there were two stairways descending into the grotto; that on the right being exclusively used by the greeks and armenians, while the other belonged to the latins. as their guide was of the latin church they descended by the stairway on the left, and soon found themselves in the spot revered throughout all christendom--the place where the founder of our religion was born. near the foot of the stairway they came to a niche in the wall of rock, and in front of it was a marble slab set in the floor, with a silver star in the centre. on the star was the inscription: "hic de virgine maria jesus christus natus est." ("here jesus christ was born of the virgin mary.") reverentially they gazed at the star--the star of bethlehem. pious pilgrims knelt and kissed it; the monks as they entered bowed low before it; voices were hushed, and the air was filled with adoration. the low roof, the wall of "living rock," the swinging censers, the glowing lamps, all seemed to tell that the place was one of sanctity, and earthly thoughts should here give way to those of heaven. over the star sixteen lamps of silver were burning, and they burn there from beginning to end of the year, and year after year their light is never allowed to become dim. the quarrels of the factions rage over the silver star; the lamps are parcelled among them--six to the greeks, and five each to the armenians and latins. over the star is an altar which belongs to them alternately; it is ordinarily kept plain, and is only dressed by each sect when its turn comes to possess it. [illustration: the manger.] in his next letter to his mother frank described the visit to the grotto of the nativity and the church above it. "we first," said he, "looked at the silver star, to which the eyes of the whole christian world are turned, and after several minutes spent in front of it our attention was directed to the chapel of the manger. it is a little to the right of the place of the nativity, and is a recess cut in the rock. the tradition is that christ was once laid in this manger, and a few feet away from it is the chapel of the magi, where the three wise men came to adore him. [illustration: adoration of the wise men.] "the whole grotto is about forty feet by twelve, and the ceiling is ten or twelve feet high in most places. there are several passages and chambers connected with it; in one of the chambers is the altar of the innocents, which is supposed to be erected over the spot where the children slain by order of king herod were buried. in another chamber are the altars and tombs of jerome and paula, who founded the convent of the nativity; along the sides of the principal grotto there are several oratories, which are said to correspond to the stalls in the original stable where the animals were tied. "every inch of the walls of the grotto is covered with richly embroidered cloth, and it is difficult to believe that the place was hewn from the rock. there are many lamps hanging from the ceiling, several of them adorned with jewels, and evidently costing a great deal of money. they are the gifts of kings and princes, and it is said that there is not room enough in the grotto to display a quarter of the splendid things that are sent here. "before we left the grotto we had an opportunity of seeing how the different sects regard each other. the latins were holding a service at the altar of the nativity, and while they were engaged at it the stairway on the right, which belongs to the greeks and armenians, was crowded with the monks of those orders. their manner was anything but reverential; during the service they whispered and laughed, and several times their laughter was not only visible but audible across the grotto to where we stood. "one thing that jarred heavily on our feelings was the presence of two turkish soldiers with bayonets fixed on their rifles; they belonged to the guard that has charge of the church, and two of them are constantly on duty in the grotto of the nativity, and close to the altar. the rest of the company was above in the church, and ready to be called upon at any moment to quell a disturbance. while the latins were holding their service the men on duty were relieved: the tramp of the soldiers down the stairs and along the grotto, together with the clash and clang of their weapons, sounded strangely with the chant of the monks paying homage to the founder of our religion. isn't it dreadful to think that only by force can order be maintained in this holy place?" [illustration: the flight into egypt.] chapter xxv. from bethlehem to mar saba and the dead sea. another visit was paid to the church of the nativity on the following morning, and then the party took a stroll through the streets of bethlehem while the tents and baggage were being packed for removal to the next camping-ground. a little before noon they started for a ride to the convent of mar saba, halting for a few moments to look at the well for whose waters king david longed when he was in the cave of adullum. they stopped at the grotto of the shepherds, the place where the keepers of the flocks were told of the coming of christ. frank and fred thought it a little singular that the shepherds should have been watching in a grotto when their flocks would naturally be above-ground, and they ought to be near their flocks. the doctor said this was the spot where tradition asserted that the shepherds were told of the coming of christ; there was a church and monastery there for several centuries, and it was not until the time of the crusades that any mention was made of a grotto. the authorities are pretty fairly agreed as to the locality, and it is hardly worth our while to make any objections. the custodian of the place brought the key, and they descended the steps leading to the cavern. the place is fitted up as a chapel, and contains a dozen or more paintings and several fragments of ancient mosaics. there are a few broken columns and other remains of the old church, but, aside from its historical interest, the place is by no means remarkable. the ride from the grotto to mar saba was through a rough region, and in some places the road wound along steep hill-sides, where a false step might have thrown horse and rider hundreds of feet to the bottom of a ravine. in the valleys, and on many of the slopes, there were fields and gardens, but the greater part of the country was a scene of desolation. the guide said they were coming into the region of the bedouins, but would be in no danger until after passing mar saba. even there they were entirely safe, as an escort had been engaged who would meet them at the convent, and accompany them the rest of the journey till they returned to jerusalem. [illustration: an arab encampment.] turning a sharp bend in the road they came suddenly upon an encampment of bedouins. there were half a dozen tents, none of them more than four or five feet high, and anything but comfortable to live in. frank thought their own camp was much to be preferred to the home of these wandering arabs, and he wondered how the natives managed to pass their lives there. the doctor explained that the bedouins were shepherds, and consequently were obliged to move with their flocks in search of pasturage; for many centuries they had been wanderers over the land, and refused to live in villages, and, as they had never known the comforts of civilization, they did not miss anything. a dozen half-naked children rushed from the tents, and shouted "hadji! hadji!" (pilgrims! pilgrims!)--several dogs barked, and there was a good deal of commotion in the camp. some of the children came to the path in front of the travellers, and demanded backsheesh with an insolent air; nobody paid any attention (or money) to them, and as none of the party wished to stop among these ill-tempered nomads, the camp was soon left behind. the most dignified of the bedouins was an old man, apparently the sheik or chief, who sat in front of the tents as immovable as a statue. he was holding his pipe with the bowl resting on the ground and riveted his eyes on the travellers, evidently meditating whether it was worth his while to demand tribute. [illustration: a bedouin sheik.] frank took a rapid note of the appearance of the sheik, so that he might know him again: "a large cloak of gray material, with the sleeves and skirt of a white caftan showing beneath it--cloak fastened at the neck by a clasp and cord with red tassels, a beard white as snow and not closely trimmed, and a head-dress of a _cafeeah_, or syrian kerchief, held in place by cords of twisted camel's-hair. a face browned by exposure and its natural hue, and a pair of eyes so keen that they might pierce a hole through a blanket." such was the bedouin sheik that our friends encountered. one of the boys asked the doctor if this was a part of the race of arabs that made it unsafe for travellers to go through their country. "yes," answered the doctor. "i do not know that this particular camp indulges in robbery, but the chances are that it does. the bedouins of syria and palestine have their own notions about the rules of life, and with the most of them robbery is not incompatible with honesty." the boys laughed at this idea, and then the doctor explained his meaning. [illustration: modern bedouins of mount sinai.] "you are aware," said he, "that among the indians of our western plains it is perfectly legitimate and honorable to steal horses; we might come nearer home and say that many respectable men in new york and other cities do not think they have done anything wrong when they persuade their friends to buy the stocks or other property that they wish to sell. the rules of honesty vary in different parts of the world, and the standard of one country or people will not always answer for another. "plundering travellers or tribes weaker than his own has been the practice of the bedouin from time immemorial. he considers it perfectly legitimate, and points with pride to the property he has stolen, provided he is in no danger of being seized for the theft. "he is always ready to be bought off, provided he can make more in that way than by stealing. sometimes the government lays a heavy hand on him, and compels him to abandon his practices; but as these people can always flee to the deserts, where regular troops cannot follow, it is very difficult to conquer them. some of the tribes have never been subdued, but live in perfect independence far away from the cities and towns. "the bedouin has the single virtue of hospitality, and a stranger who has been received in his tent is entirely safe so long as he remains there. the bedouin will protect him and his property, and instances of violation of the rules of hospitality are very rare. but it sometimes happens that he will find out what road his guest intends to travel, and then send his friends forward, or even go himself, to rob and perhaps murder the man who was the night before sleeping safely in his tent. there is a superstition among many of the arab tribes that if they eat salt with a stranger they are forbidden to harm him afterward; from this comes the remark you often hear about two persons having eaten salt together, and therefore they must be friends. "the arabs in this part of palestine," doctor bronson continued, "were formerly very bold robbers, and committed many outrages. they have been severely chastised on several occasions, but their evil practices have never been quite broken up. they claim to own the country, and therefore insist on their right to levy toll or tribute from everybody passing through it. this would not be so bad if the amount of toll was uniform, but their practice has been to take everything the traveller possesses, even to his clothing and sometimes his life. "of late years the business has been systematized, and the bedouins have made a compromise with the government, so that any traveller can have a safe-conduct through their country by paying for it. a sheik of the tribe with several of his followers lives in jerusalem; they are kept there as hostages for the good behavior of their brethren in the valley of the jordan, and before one of them can leave the city another must come there to take his place. in case a traveller under escort is robbed, the sheik must make good his loss. [illustration: scene in the wilderness.] "the price of a safe-conduct to the jordan and dead sea has been fixed at five francs for each person of a party, and the guides and servants are not to be counted. "when we came to jerusalem, ali went to the sheik and paid him thirty francs--five francs for each of us--for the safe-conduct for the party. an escort of one or two men will meet us at mar saba, and go with us the rest of the way. he is responsible for our safety, and his presence with us indicates that we have paid the proper black-mail, and are therefore not to be molested. [illustration: an arab guard in palestine.] "formerly it was necessary to engage a dozen or more of these fellows to act as a guard. it was really another and more expensive form of black-mail, as the men were of no actual use, and would run away if attacked, leaving the traveller to his fate. it made no difference to them whether he was killed or not; and as they had usually received a part of their pay in advance, it was not worth their while to stay and take the risk of being killed in his defence. "a great deal of nonsense has been written about the noble character of the bedouin arabs, their bravery, scrupulous honor, and other commendable qualities. of course there are exceptions, and it would be strange indeed if a people numbering many thousands should all be rascals. but, taken as a whole, the bedouins are a race of thieves, and their few redeeming traits are not sufficient to offset their bad qualities." [illustration: mar saba (from thomson's "the land and the book").] it was some time before sunset when they reached the convent of mar saba, and found their tents pitched a few hundred yards from the walls of the building. seen from the outside the edifice is more like a fortress than a religious establishment, as it has a series of bastions and towers, and its walls are thick enough to stand a long siege from anything except artillery. doctor bronson told the boys that the monastery was founded in the fifth century by st. sabas, or saba, and is therefore among the oldest buildings of the kind in the east. it has an exposed position in the wilderness, and has been captured several times and plundered, the last occasion being about fifty years ago. in the seventh century it was taken by the persians, and all the inmates were massacred; but the more modern captors have been satisfied with robbery, and sometimes the sale of the monks as slaves. ali had obtained a permit to visit the monastery from the greek superior at jerusalem. he told the travellers that they must stop when forty or fifty feet from the gate, and wait till the letter had been presented. a dozen monks came to the top of the walls and surveyed the party, while the letter was attached to a string and drawn up. the permit proved to be all right, and a small door was opened by which one after another the strangers were taken inside. no arab is ever admitted under any pretence, and consequently ali remained outside while the party was conducted through the place by one of the brethren who spoke french. [illustration: russian pilgrims in the holy land.] they saw the cavern where st. saba lived on friendly terms with a lion, the tomb where he was buried, the church, the bones of the monks killed by the persians, and the rooms occupied by the brethren, and also by pilgrims from the jordan on their way to jerusalem. a tall palm-tree bends over the summit of the roof of one of the towers. it is said to have been planted by st. saba in person, but, whether this be so or not, the tree is certainly of very great age. there are about sixty monks in the convent, the most of them russians, and all adherents of the greek church. they eat nothing but vegetables, and fast often, and the result is they are thin and feeble. when not engaged at their devotions they employ their time in carving ornaments, crosses, and the like, from olive-wood and mother-of-pearl, which are sold to visitors or sent to jerusalem. no woman is ever permitted to cross the threshold of mar saba, not even to escape the terrible storms which ravage the country at certain seasons. harriet martineau, ida pfeiffer, and other lady travellers tell how they were denied admission, and slept in a tower near the monastery, or in their tents in camp. the accommodations of the tower are very limited, and it is entered by a door which must be reached by a rope-ladder, since it is about twenty feet from the ground. as our friends completed their visit they gave a couple of francs to the brother who had conducted them through the place. the other brethren had spread their wares on the floor of the court-yard, and were waiting for the chance of selling something; but nobody wished to buy. as they gave the money to the monk he asked if it was for himself or the convent. when they said it was for himself he repeated the question in a loud voice, so that his companions could hear it and the answer which followed. another franc was then added "for the convent," and immediately each of the monks gathered his possessions from the floor, and disappeared into an inner room. the strangers were shown through the little door, and, after a short stroll among the desolate surroundings of the convent, they returned to their camp. [illustration: road to the dead sea.] the dragoman roused the party before daylight, and by the time the hills were fairly lighted up they were off for the dead sea. they descended to the valley of the kedron, which is overlooked by the towers of mar saba, and ascended the stream for a short distance to a suitable crossing-place, when they turned to the eastward. another encampment of bedouins was passed, and then another; the road lay among hills wilder and more desolate, if possible, than that of the day before, and in some places it was so rocky as to be really dangerous. on two or three occasions horses fell with their riders, but fortunately without doing any serious injury. frank had his foot jammed very hard against a rock around which he was passing, and the thickness of his boot barely saved him from injury. not a year passes without accidents of more or less severity in this part of the way, and our friends heard afterward of broken legs and arms among the tourists of the preceding year. the guides and tourist agencies take great pains to conceal these occurrences, and it is only through the consuls or other disinterested persons, apart from the victims and their friends, that accidents are ever heard of. they descended rapidly, and it was apparent to all that the dead sea was far below the level of jerusalem and bethlehem. [illustration: the dead sea from the north.] suddenly they came to a break in the hills, and before them lay the dead sea, its surface smooth as glass, and reflecting the rays of the sun with dazzling distinctness. on the opposite side were hills as steep as those they were descending, and away to the left was the valley of the jordan, with the famous river winding through it in numberless curves and zigzags that were shown by the trees fringing its banks. they were looking on the waste of waters that covers the buried cities of the plain. it seemed close at their feet; but as they proceeded they found how deceptive was their vision, as it was yet a long ride before its banks were reached. the boys were eager to stand upon the shores of this wonderful body of water, and as they rode along frank refreshed his own memory and that of his cousin by repeating the information he had stored up concerning it. "it is the lowest body of water in the world," said he; "i mean it is nearer the centre of the earth than any other. it is feet below the surface of the mediterranean, and feet lower than jerusalem, and it has been sounded in a good many places, and found to be of an average depth of feet." "i have heard all that," replied fred, "and more too. it is supposed to cover what was once a plain, and, according to tradition and the bible, the cities of sodom and gomorrah are under its waters. they were destroyed for the wickedness of their inhabitants, and the only one of them who was saved was lot." [illustration: map of the dead sea.] "you are right," responded frank; "and the name of the sea in arabic is _bahr lut_, or 'lot's lake.' its other names have been the salt sea, the sea of asphalt, the eastern sea, and the dead sea. it is forty-six miles long, and about ten broad at its widest part." farther conversation was prevented by a kicking-match among the horses, causing a commotion that lasted several minutes. as soon as it was ended the ride was resumed, and they reached a sloping stretch of ground between the hills and the water. there was an arab encampment not far from the shore, and the swarthy bedouins formed a picturesque addition to the scene. the boys were agreeably disappointed to find the shore of the dead sea the reverse of desolate; it is true there was not a great deal of vegetation, and the little that existed was not of a useful kind. nevertheless, where they had expected nothing would grow, they found plenty of bushes and reeds, which continued up to within a hundred feet or so of the water's edge. they halted and dismounted close to the shore, and ali brought a cup of water for the travellers to taste. they found it exceedingly bitter, and one of the boys asked the doctor the cause of this remarkable flavor. "the water," said he, "is intensely salt, containing twenty-six per cent. of solid matter, which is four per cent. more than great salt lake in utah. lake elton, in russia, is said to contain thirty per cent., and if so, it surpasses the dead sea, and is the only lake that does. "the solid elements in the water of the dead sea are principally chloride of sodium (common salt) and chloride of magnesium, and there is more of the latter than the former. it is the magnesium that gives the bitter taste; and the next ingredient is chloride of calcium, which gives it an oily feeling that you will perceive when you bathe in it. there are half a dozen other ingredients, but they are so small in quantity that it is not worth while to mention them." the eyes of the boys brightened at the suggestion of a bath in the dead sea, and they immediately consulted ali on the subject. the dragoman said it was easy enough, as they were in no danger of drowning, and could make a dressing, or, rather, an undressing room of the bushes a little farther along the shore, where they would not be disturbed by the arabs. the vote for a bath was carried almost unanimously. the doctor was the only one who declined the experiment, and, as he had been there before, he had no curiosity to satisfy. "be very careful not to get the water in your eyes," he said to the youths, as they entered the sea. "it will not do any serious harm, but will make them smart and burn very disagreeably for hours." they heeded his injunction, and limped over the flinty stones, which threatened to cut their feet at every step. once in the water they experienced a novel sensation; no effort was needed to keep them above the surface, and they floated very much as corks are seen to float in a basin of ordinary water. ali tossed an egg to them, and it floated with fully a third of its bulk exposed. they could not get their feet more than a few inches below the surface, and they found it more difficult to swim than they had supposed, in consequence of the great buoyancy of the water. they could paddle around with the greatest ease, but swimming was another affair. a few minutes of the bath was enough by way of experiment. there was a great sputtering when frank happened to get some of the water in his mouth. fred laughed at his cousin's mishap, but immediately wished he had not done so. while in the midst of an audible smile he unexpectedly rolled over, and caught more of the bitter waters than he had bargained for. as soon as he could speak he suggested that he had had bath enough, and, frank agreeing with him, they returned to the shore. the rest of the party were there already, and acting on the advice of ali they dried themselves speedily and vigorously with the towels he held in readiness. unless removed immediately, the water is apt to cause a prickling and burning sensation which continues several hours. it is sure to leave an oily feeling that is disagreeable but not painful, and does not usually disappear until a fresh-water bath is taken. this may be had in the jordan, and is taken by most travellers if time and circumstances permit. [illustration: lynch's expedition to the dead sea.] during the bath ali had spread out the mid-day lunch, and it was eaten with a hearty relish. the doctor embraced the opportunity to say it was not until that anybody discovered the dead sea to be lower than the mediterranean. some english surveyors ascertained it, and the matter attracted so much attention that ten years later an american expedition was sent to survey the jordan and the dead sea; it was commanded by lieutenant lynch, of the united states navy, and was thoroughly equipped for its work. [illustration: lynch's levelling party.] "lieutenant lynch," said the doctor, "landed at the bay of acre in march, , carried his boats on trucks drawn by camels over the mountains of lebanon, and launched them in the lake of gennesaret. from this lake the party descended the jordan to the dead sea, spent three weeks in a survey of that body of water, and then 'levelled' the route to the mediterranean, in order to settle the question of the relative heights. they found that no fish or living thing belongs to the water of the dead sea, and all fish from the mediterranean or the ocean die very soon after being placed in it. ducks swim in the water without injury, but it is fatal to them to be plunged beneath it. as it contains nothing for them to eat, they have no inducement to dive. [illustration: the cavern of usdum.] "at the southern end of the dead sea is the mountain of usdum, which contains a cavern three or four hundred feet deep, in which there are deposits of salt. there are other salt deposits in the neighborhood, and it is believed that the dead sea derives its saltness from the dissolving of these deposits, and also from the substances brought down by the river jordan." "every lake without any outlet is salt, is it not?" fred asked. "certainly," replied the doctor; "it is a rule of nature that has no exception. all water from springs, brooks, and rivers contains salt gathered from the earth, and sometimes the quantity is considerable. it is the slight amount of salt that makes water palatable; if you taste of pure distilled water you will find it 'flat,' and its purity is what makes it so. "the salt brought down from the land gradually accumulates; the water passes off by evaporation, but the salt remains. as time goes on the saltness of the water increases, so the scientific men tell us, and perhaps millions of years hence the ocean may be as strongly impregnated as the dead sea. who can tell?" chapter xxvi. from the dead sea to the jordan, jericho, and jerusalem.--the valley of the jordan. [illustration: reeds and rushes on the jordan.] it was a ride of less than two hours from the dead sea to the jordan; the ground was level and the horses in good spirits, so that the whole party indulged in the luxury of a gallop. the course of the jordan was indicated by trees and great masses of reeds, but the stream was so completely concealed by them that its waters were not revealed until rein was drawn at the bathing-place of the pilgrims. the boys could hardly restrain their impatience to reach the waters of the river that is so intimately connected with the history of christianity. of course they made immediate preparations for a bath, according to the custom of the great majority of visitors; the water was so cold that they remained in it only a few minutes, and were glad to resume their clothing and make a calm study of the scene. "the river at this point," wrote frank in his journal, "is about a hundred feet wide, and flows with a current so swift that we could hardly stand against it. we waded and swum to the other side; swimming was preferable to wading, as the bottom is composed of sharp stones, which are very disagreeable to walk upon. the guide said the stream was swollen by recent rains, and at least a foot deeper than at its ordinary stage. "there is a ford at this bathing-place, and another higher up. caravans and single travellers going from the east to the west bank, or _vice versa_, usually pass by one of these fords, and sometimes a large party may be seen here. it is not safe to venture on the other side without a strong guard, as the arabs are far worse than those between here and jerusalem, probably because they are not under so much restraint by the government. [illustration: an arab skirmish in the land of moab.] "several explorations have been attempted of the land of moab, as the country east of the jordan is called, but only a few of them have succeeded. in most instances parties have been compelled to return just after crossing the border, and before they had accomplished anything of what they went to see. the arabs are treacherous, and often violate their promises after they have received heavy backsheesh to permit travellers to go on without disturbance. if you want to know more of this region we advise you to read 'the land of moab,' by h. b. tristram, one of the few travellers who has explored it. another interesting work on this subject is 'the desert of the exodus,' by e. h. palmer, and don't forget 'the land and the book,' which we have already mentioned. "mr. tristram tells in his book how narrowly he escaped being robbed, and perhaps murdered, by one of the tribes that roam over the country. it often happens that there is a quarrel between two tribes, and when any parties from one encounter the other there is certain to be bloodshed. if strangers happen to be under the escort of the defeated party they must share its fate, and consequently it is not an easy matter to select a guard that can carry you through safely. "when mr. tristram's party started from hebron there were two tribes from which it was necessary to choose an escort, or rather to whom to pay black-mail. the choice fell upon the jehalin tribe, and, after a good deal of negotiation, a contract was made and signed with them. "hardly had they entered the land of moab when they met a large band of the beni atiyeh, a tribe with a very bad reputation, and the number was so great that it was nonsense to think of fighting them. the dragoman went forward to parley with them, and was stripped of his outer garments, satchel, money-bag, and belt, before he could speak a word; the sheik of the escort went at the same time and with better success, as he managed to get the ear of the chief of the atiyeh. two or three of the men of the escort who ventured to the front were knocked down, and for a little while there was a good prospect of a very serious result to the travellers. "it turned out that the beni atiyeh were on good terms with the jehalin, and on the payment of a heavy backsheesh they allowed the party to go on. it would have been far otherwise if mr. tristram had chosen his escort from the other tribe that offered its services, as there was a bitter quarrel between it and the beni atiyeh, and there would have been no chance of an escape. no mercy would have been shown to the travellers, and possibly the arabs would have justified their cruelty by referring to the old adage, 'a man is known by the company he keeps.' [illustration: bathing-place of the pilgrims (from thomson's "the land and the book").] "you must know there are two bathing-places on the jordan; one is visited by the latins and the other by the greeks, and each church claims that its bathing-place is the spot where christ was baptized by john. mr. thomson thinks that neither is correct, and that the scene of the baptism was considerably farther up the river than any of the present sites. he argues that, according to the historical record, christ came from galilee, and was baptized by john, and then returned to galilee; the road from galilee reaches the jordan much farther north than the present bathing-places, and though it is possible he came to this point it is hardly probable. [illustration: source of the jordan.] "the bank of the river is fringed with willow, tamarisk, and other trees and bushes, and there are several pretty spots here for forming a camp. we wanted to stay here for the night, but our guide had sent the tents by a short route from mar saba to the neighborhood of the ancient jericho, and after a halt of an hour or so we mounted our horses and rode away from the river. "doctor bronson says it is quite probable that the passage of the jordan by the israelites, described in joshua iii. and iv., occurred at the bathing-place we have visited, or certainly not far from it. according to the biblical account they passed the river 'right against jericho,' and this expression is supposed to mean that they crossed the jordan at the point nearest to that city. [illustration: passage of the israelites.] "during our halt one of our party read the account of this interesting event while the rest listened. it was not at all difficult for us to imagine the scene when the israelites came down from their camp in the hills of moab, and took their position on the banks of the jordan. here they halted for the night, and on the next day, when all was ready, the ark of the covenant, borne on the shoulders of the priests, was advanced to the edge of the river; as the feet of the bearers touched the water it receded, and in a few minutes the bed of the stream was dry. then the ark was carried to the middle of the channel, and it remained there in charge of the priests till the whole host had gone over. "when the last of the procession had passed, joshua called to the priests to bring the ark from the bed of the river, and they did so. the waters at once resumed their course, and the jordan flowed on as before. of course the monuments of stones which were erected by the israelites to commemorate their crossing disappeared hundreds of years ago, and we have only the geographical localities to guide us; but, as we heard the description of the event, and looked around us, we felt certain that the spot where the israelites crossed over jordan, after their escape from egypt, and their wanderings in the wilderness, could not be far away. [illustration] "before we go on to jericho let me say something about the famous river we have just visited. "the jordan is about a hundred miles long in a direct line, but its course is so crooked that the actual length of the stream is a great deal more; nobody has ever measured it accurately, and therefore i can't say how much it winds about. one authority says it is sixty-four miles in a direct line from the dead sea to the lake of tiberias, and two hundred miles by the windings of the river. the head-spring of the hasbany (the parent of the jordan) is seventeen hundred feet above the level of the mediterranean; the mouth of the jordan, where it enters the dead sea, is, therefore, about three thousand feet lower than its source, so the jordan has a great fall for so short a river. "the hasbany and several other streams unite in the lake of hooleh, and from the outlet of that lake the river is called the jordan. it has a rapid fall to the lake of tiberias; and as it goes out of that lake it begins its tortuous course, which can be surpassed by very few rivers in the world. between the lake of tiberias and the dead sea there are twenty-seven cascades or rapids; all of them are so great that it is quite impossible for boats to make the ascent, and it is not by any means safe to attempt to descend them. lieutenant lynch started with three boats, one of wood and the others of iron. the wooden boat was bought in the lake of tiberias, while the iron ones were brought from the united states. the iron boats were a good deal battered by the thumps they received during the voyage, but the exploring party brought them to the dead sea, and used them for completing their work. the wooden boat was ruined, and abandoned before half the journey had been accomplished. "the valley of the jordan is called the 'ghor' by the natives. the word means a depression or hollow, and the valley may be regarded as a plain sixty miles long, and from five to ten miles wide, enclosed by mountains. the mountains on both sides are very steep, and the valley of the jordan is not unlike some of the deep gorges or ravines in our western states and territories. it is broader near the dead sea than farther up. the land is generally fertile, and capable of supporting a larger population than it contains at present. according to the accounts in the old testament, it was far more productive in ancient times than it is to-day. it contains ruins of cities that once were populous, and it is very certain that the land of canaan has greatly diminished in importance since the children of israel came to it and settled. "there were then as now wandering tribes of shepherds, and their customs have changed very little in all the centuries that have passed; but there were more people living in settled places, and the biblical story shows that jericho was a walled town with gates, which were shut at night. the flax drying on the roof of rahab's house shows that that plant was cultivated, and the cord by which she let down the spies tells us very plainly that the people understood the art of spinning. we read the bible very carefully while in the jordan valley, and have derived a great many useful hints from it, and much information. "we wished we could have been here at the time of the annual visit of the pilgrims, which occurs at easter, and is a curious sight. there are pilgrims here in fair numbers through the whole year, and they all consider it a religious duty to bathe in the jordan. the great festival is in april, and at that time several thousand pilgrims leave jerusalem immediately after the close of the easter festivities and come down to the plain of jericho, where they encamp for the night. they come from all parts of europe, and there is a good representation from asia as well. you can see many varieties of costume, and hear a jargon of languages that might remind you of the tower of babel. "the camp is a scene of confusion, and long before morning a disorderly procession is formed, thousands of torches are waved, and the great crowd presses forward in order to enter the sacred stream at daybreak. hundreds of people are in the river at the same moment, and not a year passes without some of them being swept away and drowned in the swift current. men, women, and children are crowded together indiscriminately, and the wonder is that so few accidents occur. the whole ceremony is over in two or three hours, and then the pilgrims turn back from the jordan and return to jerusalem. [illustration: recent aspect of the plain of jericho.] "just as we left the jordan it began to rain, and we had a disagreeable ride to riha, which some writers consider the site of gilgal; others think it marks the position of ancient jericho; but the general opinion is that jericho was farther to the west. the modern jericho is a village of fifty or sixty houses, and its inhabitants are a degenerate race of people, who live by a little agriculture and by what they can beg or steal from visitors. we found our tents pitched a little out of the village, and were a good deal annoyed by the natives, who crowded around us and could not be driven away. the children begged for backsheesh, and the men wanted to amuse us with a 'fantasia,' or dance, but we had been told it was a stupid performance, and declined to witness it. [illustration: ain-es-sultan, or fountain of elisha (from thomson's "the land and the book").] "there is a tower near the village, which is called by some 'the house of zaccheus,' but the indications are that it was not built till the time of the crusades, long after zaccheus was laid in his grave. we did not have time to visit it, nor did we go to the ain-es-sultan, or sultan's spring, which is also known as the fountain of elisha. it is a fine spring, the water rather warm in temperature, as we are told, and varies but little in volume throughout the year. biblical students who have been here say there can be no doubt it is the very fountain which was healed by the prophet elisha, and is therefore well entitled to bear his name. there are several aqueducts by which the water was once carried over the plain, and used for irrigating the fields, but they are now so much ruined as to be of little consequence. "what a night we had in our camp! the rain ceased about sunset, but during the night it came on again, and fell as though a thunder-cloud had burst above us. it poured and poured, and not only did it rain, but the wind blew like a gale at sea. fred and i remembered what we had said at bethlehem the first night we slept in the tents. we concluded we were going to have all the storm we wanted, and more than once wished ourselves safely lodged in a solid house. "the ground was soaked with water, and became so soft that it would not hold our tent-pegs against the wind. the rain came in through the canvas, the pegs gave way, and about midnight down came the cold and sloppy cloth in our faces. "we shouted for help, and the dragoman came with his men and managed to fix things up a little, but it was slow and disagreeable work with the heavy rain falling, and the night as black as the inside of an ink-bottle. they had one miserable lantern that did little more than enable us to see the darkness, and by the time they had the tent arranged so that we could crawl under it we were wet nearly to the skin. "we tried to laugh it off, but 'twas no use trying. we couldn't either of us see the fun of it, and couldn't get to sleep again. there we lay till morning wondering what would happen next. "the doctor's tent went down like ours, but he had a thick water-proof coat and a large wrapper of the same material, so that he was not so badly off as we were. he didn't escape, though, nor did any of the others, and when daylight came we all looked as if the best thing would be to wring us out and hang us up to dry. we were a sorry looking breakfast-party, but pulled ourselves together and managed to eat something. fortunately the rain stopped, but there came a new trouble. "when we went into camp there was a little brook close by us which we were to cross in the morning. the heavy rain swelled this brook into a small torrent that was absolutely dangerous to ford, as one might easily be swept down with the current and drowned. "so we went up the bank about a mile, and while the horses were driven through the water our party walked over an old aqueduct which wasn't the safest bridge in the world, but a great deal better than no bridge at all. the channel of the aqueduct was about a foot wide, and the sides eighteen or twenty inches high; the whole structure was at least fifty feet above the torrent that dashed below us like the rapids of niagara. we walked very carefully, as the least misstep might have sent us tumbling over the side, with an excellent prospect of being killed by the fall or drowned in the roaring water. it is hardly necessary to say we were all heartily glad to be on the safe side of the stream. "we had a ride of five hours from this bridge to the gates of jerusalem, and such a five hours we do not care to have again. "before the end of the first hour it came on to rain, and by the middle of the second hour the rain had changed to snow. and with the rain and snow there was a high wind, and as we wound among the hills we had it in all directions, now in our faces, and a few minutes later blowing at our backs. "the guide repeatedly called our attention to places of scriptural or other interest. we tried to look at them, but i fear we were more concerned about the weather than with what lay around us. but we remember among other things that the route from jerusalem to jericho has the same character now that it had eighteen centuries ago, and we had an escort to protect us from falling among thieves. we halted a few minutes at the ruined khan which is said to be the site of the inn to which the good samaritan carried the wounded and plundered traveller whom he found by the way-side. "the guide told us that a few years ago an english traveller was robbed by the arabs at this very spot, and the scriptural description will exactly cover his case: 'they stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.' [illustration: the village of bethany.] "our road was steadily upward, as jerusalem is nearly three thousand seven hundred feet higher than the dead sea, and we were not far above the level of that body of water when we started from jericho. at several points we were on the old road built by the romans; we went by bethany, which we did not stop to look at, and wound around the mount of olives, and down through the valley of the brook kedron, which we crossed near gethsemane. then we entered jerusalem by the gate of the tribes, and rode along the nearly deserted streets to the door of the hotel. "we were all so benumbed and stiff with the cold that we needed assistance to descend from our horses, and we could not keep our steps straight as we entered the building. a good fire and a hot dinner brought us to ourselves again, and we laughed over our troubles and began to think they did not amount to much, after all. "it is very unpleasant to be soaked with rain and chilled with the cold, but somehow when you get dry and warm again you don't feel so badly. we shall forget all about the storm and its disagreeable features, but we'll remember the dead sea, the valley of the jordan, the site of jericho, bethany, the inn of the good samaritan, and a dozen other historic things we have seen since we left our camp at mar saba and descended into the deepest valley in the world. anyway we'll try to forget the storm, but i can't help shuddering just a little when i think of it--it was so cold, and the rain was so wet! "the rain and snow are still falling as i write in my journal in the public room of the hotel at jerusalem. we've sent our clothes to the kitchen to be dried, and we're dressed in such things as we've been able to borrow in the house, and a funny-looking group we are. the doctor has put on a coat much too short in the sleeves, and says he feels as though he had gone into a ready-made clothing store and been served with the first garment that came to hand. fred is nicely gotten up in an arab costume, fez and all; he's trying to speak the language, but isn't very successful. i'm in part of a suit belonging to one of the gentlemen of the palestine exploration fund, who happens to be stopping here; but the most conspicuous garment of my wardrobe is a large blanket, with the word 'tigre' on the outside in big letters. it once belonged to the french steamer of that name, and was left here by a traveller; i may be placarded as a tiger while wearing this blanket, but feel very far from what that beast is supposed to be." chapter xxvii. from jerusalem to nabulus.--historic places on the route. during the night after the incidents described in our last chapter the storm cleared away, and the sky at sunrise was without a cloud. everybody had slept well and recovered from the fatigue of the journey, and the exposure to rain and snow. frank and fred were quite ready to make a fresh start, and laughed over the troubles of the previous day as the merest trifle in the world. [illustration: the hotel-keeper.] doctor bronson had a long conference with the dragoman and the keeper of the hotel, together with the american consul, who happened to be stopping in the house. it resulted in an announcement that the party would start the following morning for damascus. of course the decision gave great delight to the youths. the doctor made the following explanation of the plan for the new journey: "ali tells me that the heavy storm we have just passed through will be in our favor, as there is a good prospect of fair weather to follow it for a week or ten days. it is not the right season for the 'long route,' as the ride from jerusalem to damascus is called, and the majority of travellers at this time of year prefer the 'short route.' "perhaps i may as well say here that if we followed the latter we would return to jaffa and take steamer for beyroot. there we land, and proceed by carriage-road to damascus, and when we have done with that famous city we go back to beyroot the way we came, and are through with syria. i had thought of taking the short route, but as we are now well accustomed to the ways of travel, and have proved our abilities to endure the severities of a winter storm, i am inclined to the long one. our american companions have left the whole arrangements in my hands, and i have decided that we will go through to damascus by the overland way." frank asked how much time they would take on the journey. "the ordinary time consumed in it," the doctor answered, "is seventeen days; it may be extended as much as we choose, since we hire the dragoman by the day, and he is to provide us with everything; and it may be shortened three or four days. i have arranged that he is to get us through in fourteen or fifteen days, and he will do so if we are not delayed by storms or accidents. "the best time of the year for this journey is in spring, between 'the early and the latter rain' which the bible mentions. the country is then in its best condition, the climate is delightful, and the chance of fine weather far better than now. but as we cannot suit the season to ourselves we will run the risk; with stout hearts and plenty of water-proof clothing we ought to go through without difficulty."[ ] [ ] the author begs to inform the reader that the incident of the storm between jericho and jerusalem was his own experience in a visit to the holy land. he did not make the overland journey between jerusalem and damascus, and consequently the description of the route followed by frank and fred is not given from personal observation. the afternoon was devoted to making a few purchases of articles likely to be needed on the journey, the completion of letters, and a few sights that had not been made during the first visit to the city. doctor bronson engaged a trusty man, who was recommended by the consul, to go to jaffa and take the baggage of the party to beyroot, where he would deliver it to the proprietor of the hotel to await their arrival. this was thought to be safer than ordering it sent forward as ordinary freight, and trusting to the agents of the steamer to deliver it. steamship agents in the levant are not worthy of the fullest confidence, as the writer of this book can bear witness. travellers are advised to look carefully after their own affairs, and be wary of the oleaginous tongues of those from whom they purchase tickets. as soon as the arrangements had been completed ali disappeared from the hotel, and was not again seen till evening. he was busy with his preparations for the journey, as it was necessary for him to hire additional horses, and secure a stock of provisions sufficient to carry them through to damascus with what he could purchase on the route. the pack-train, with the tents and provisions, was sent away in advance. the party had a long ride before it for the next day, and before nine o'clock everybody was in bed. [illustration: scene on the overland route from jerusalem.] they were off by daybreak, leaving the city by the damascus gate, which we have already seen in their company. they passed near the tombs of the kings, and descended into the valley of the brook kedron, which is here much smaller than where they crossed it at mar saba. they met a few natives on their way to the city, with trains of donkeys laden with vegetables and grain for sale in the markets of jerusalem, and in one place they were crowded against a rough wall by a line of camels that kept the road to themselves in the manner for which those animals are famous. the road, though used for centuries, is impassable for wheeled vehicles, and the beasts of burden that traverse it follow in the footsteps of those who preceded them ages and ages ago. in several places the route was over rocky ridges, where all the earth had been swept or washed away, leaving the ledges entirely bare. frank observed that the feet of the camels had worn broad holes in the rock; the doctor recalled to him the proverb hitherto quoted, that a continual dropping will wear away stone, and said the feet of the camels had dropped for hundreds of years in the same places, so that it was no wonder the stones were worn away. from jerusalem to nabulus is a ride of eleven hours; it is customary for travellers to pass the night at bireh or ramallah, as the majority of tourists are unwilling to make the entire journey in a single day. but our party had tested its ability to endure fatigue, and determined without hesitation to reach nabulus before night if possible. it was for this reason that an early start was made, and the halts along the road were few and short. [illustration: by babel's stream.] the farewell view of the holy city was taken from the side of the hill of scopus, which was reached by ascending from the valley of the kedron. its domes and minarets stood out clear and distinct under the deep-blue sky of palestine, and every member of the party was reluctant to turn away his eyes from the place which is sacred in the thoughts of every christian, and familiar to his ears since he first heard the stories of the crucifixion and the resurrection of the saviour of mankind. frank called to mind the words of the israelite by babel's stream: "if i forget thee, o jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. if i do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth." from the crest of scopus they looked down upon a broad plain or plateau, where the first view seemed to be one of desolation. limestone rocks were spread in ridges, one beyond the other, until they appeared to leave but little space for arable land. close observation showed that between every ridge and its neighbor there was a strip of soil which might be made productive with a little care and industry, and the sides of the hills and valleys were terraced till they sometimes resembled a series of broad steps. "this land is full of promise," one of the boys remarked. "yes," responded the doctor, "and by cultivation it can be made to answer the scriptural description. the land of promise was a land of 'vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil-olive, and honey,' as we read in the eighth chapter of deuteronomy. [illustration: the grapes of eshcol.] "observe what this land might be rather than what it is. the fig-tree and the olive would grow and bear fruit in the spaces between the ridges of rock, and the vines might clamber up the sides of the terraces, and be as luxuriant as they were in the days when the spies visited eshcol, and brought back the famous grapes described in the bible and represented in the books of our infancy." fred asked if such grapes were found at present, and where eshcol was supposed to be. [illustration: hebron.] "there is some doubt on that score," was the reply, "but it is generally believed that the brook of eshcol was in the neighborhood of hebron. there are extensive vineyards at hebron, and their grapes are larger and finer than in most places in the holy land. the clusters are often very long, but nobody in these modern days has ever seen them so large that it would require the strength of two men to carry one of them. "the bible does not say that it required their strength to carry this burden. read the passage in numbers xiii. , and you will find it says, they 'cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.' remember that a bunch of grapes cannot be carried in a sack like pomegranates and figs, but must be suspended, so as to preserve the fruit from injury. the spies had a long way to travel, and there was no other mode of transporting the fruit of the vines of eshcol than the one described." the guide called attention to the village of shafut, a little distance from the route, and said it was supposed by some to occupy the site of the ancient mizpeh. a little farther along on the other side of the road was a rounded hill, which has been identified by some writers as the site of nob, mentioned several times in the old testament. beyond it is tuliel-el-ful (hill of beans), where once stood gibeah, the scene of several important incidents described in judges, samuel, and other books of the bible. doctor bronson said it was quite probable that the meeting of david and jonathan took place in the valley between these two points, and the scriptural account certainly carries out his theory. they passed er-ram, which corresponds to the ramah of benjamin ( kings xv. ), and was formerly a populous city, but is now a miserable village. as they rode along, one of the boys recalled the murder of the descendants of saul, and the devotion of rizpah, who spread sack-cloth on the rocks, and watched by the bodies of her sons all through the summer days to prevent their being devoured by birds. "yes," responded fred; "and don't you remember the picture we saw at the centennial exhibition in philadelphia representing the scene?" frank remembered it perfectly, and said the painting and the engravings that have been made of it would now have a renewed interest for him since he had looked upon the spot where the incident happened. as they passed ramah, fred referred to the passage in the book of judges where deborah is said to have dwelt under a palm-tree "between ramah and bethel, in mount ephraim." very naturally he asked if they were near bethel. "we are not far from it," answered the doctor, "though it is not on our road. the village of betin, the ancient bethel, is a couple of miles from our route, and can be reached most easily from bireh. there is nothing of consequence to be seen there, and it is only for its historic associations that the place is worth visiting. it is a village of three to four hundred inhabitants, and they are no better than the average of the people we have thus far met. "there is another biblical site, too, a little off our road," the doctor continued; "i refer to seilun, the ancient shiloh. "in spite of the completeness of its description the site of shiloh was unknown for centuries, and was only identified in the last forty years. it is described in the book of judges as being 'on the north side of bethel, on the east of the highway that goeth up from bethel to shechem, and on the south of lebonah.' exactly in such a position there is a mass of ruins covering a considerable extent, and it is now agreed by biblical students that they are the ruins of shiloh. "now that i have told you what it was, perhaps you can say why shiloh was famous?" "i'll try," fred responded, and after a pause of some minutes he was ready to reply. he let his horse fall out of the line while thinking on the subject, and it is just possible he glanced into the guide-book he carried in his satchel. we may remark, by-the-way, that every traveller in the holy land has his guide-book in readiness, and if his memory is at fault at any time he has a good authority to refer to. it saves a vast amount of 'reading up;' and you sometimes find a man who makes a pretence of great learning, when the fact is he has been drawing freely from the portable authority in his possession. "shiloh was the place where the tabernacle of the lord was first set up permanently in canaan," said fred, "and the israelites came here to receive their shares of the promised land. the infant samuel was dedicated here to the lord by his mother, and it was at shiloh where eli dropped dead when he heard his sons had been killed in battle. there was a festival here in honor of the ark. it was held every year; and once while the maidens were dancing at this festival the benjamites rushed in suddenly and carried off two hundred of them. there were several other incidents of less importance in the history of shiloh, and it seems to have been destroyed long before the beginning of the christian era." "i know where you found all that," frank whispered; "and you ought to be very grateful to the man who hunted it out for you: 'murray's guide,' page ." "quite right," replied fred, "but some of it runs over on page ." with this candid acknowledgment of a fact which many persons seek to conceal, or even do worse about, they changed the subject of conversation. the author has in his possession a book of travels by a prominent member of the church, in which there are numerous pages and paragraphs taken bodily from other works, and especially from guide-books. its writer even goes so far as to say that all measurements given in his book were made by himself, and can be relied upon. it is observable that he agrees exactly with the guide-book, even in two or three instances where the latter is known to be at fault; and yet that man would probably refuse to tell a falsehood for a dollar! [illustration: street scene in bireh.] our friends halted an hour at bireh, the ancient beeroth, to rest their horses and partake of a much desired and well earned dinner. it was spread on the table of a little inn close to the entrance of the village, and the most of the materials composing it had been brought from jerusalem in the saddle-bags of the dragoman. bireh is on the summit of a ridge, and had been in sight for some time before the party drew rein at its gates. it is a considerable village, with a population of seven or eight hundred, nearly all of whom are moslems. there are the ruins of a church which was built by the knights templar when the crusaders held jerusalem. parts of the walls and roof are standing, and not far off is a khan which is supposed to have been a christian hospice when the knights lived here. [illustration: a native group at a fountain.] during the halt a hasty visit was paid to the church, and also to the khan, and a glance was taken among the ruins that lay scattered about. close to their halting-place was a mosque of much later date than the church, and there were groups of women and girls around a fountain which the mosque protects. the doctor remarked that beeroth was one of the four cities of the gibeonites whose people made a covenant with the israelites through false representations, and became hewers of wood and drawers of water for the conquerors of the land. on the road again, after saying farewell to bireh, the travellers had a ride of little more than an hour to ain yebrud. they passed many orchards of fig and olive trees, and found the country more productive in appearance, at least, than nearer jerusalem. the road now descended into a narrow and wild valley, with steep cliffs rising above on either side, and with numerous terraces which were formerly cultivated, but are now of little use. suddenly at a bend in the road they came to a spring which flowed from the side of a cliff. the cool appearance of the water brought them to a halt, and they dismounted. frank asked the name of the place. "this is ain el-haramiyeh," the guide answered. "which means?" "the robbers' spring." "it has borne this name for centuries," said doctor bronson, "and very properly too. this valley has long been considered a dangerous place, and we do not wish to remain long at the spring. hardly a year passes without a robbery in this vicinity, and not infrequently the plundered traveller is killed if he offers any resistance." having satisfied their thirst, the party resumed their saddles and rode on. at the very next bend in the road they met half a dozen arabs, who demanded backsheesh in a surly tone, and laid their hands menacingly on the long guns they were carrying. no attention was paid to their wishes, and in a few minutes they were left out of sight. they passed the branch of the road that leads to shiloh; the boys were desirous of visiting the place, but the doctor told them they could not well spare the time, and besides there was very little to be seen. "there is a heap of ruins," said he, "and the hills in the neighborhood are such masses of broken rocks that it is not easy to move about among them. travellers frequently miss their way among the rocks, and besides you would be liable to a good deal of annoyance from the natives. they are insolent in their demands for backsheesh, and flourish knives and guns in a very disagreeable way. if you show the least desire to conciliate them they increase their rudeness, and sometimes they resort to actual violence. so we won't go to shiloh." [illustration: beasts of burden.] ascending and descending from valley to ridge, and from ridge to valley, passing among terraces and through little orchards of fig and olive trees, winding among fields which are planted with corn in summer, looking now and then on flocks of goats carefully tended by their keepers as they fed on the hill-sides, meeting or passing little groups of natives, who eyed them longingly or suspiciously, and were suspiciously eyed in return, the party continued on its way. frank and fred thought it was not a good sign that all the men they met were armed, some with guns, some with pistols or knives, and many with all three weapons together. they asked the doctor about it, and he thus explained the matter: "i think i have told you before about the existence of blood-feuds not only in this country but in various parts of the world. we have them in america among our native indian races; they exist in france and italy, especially in the latter, where they are known as 'the vendetta.'" "i remember them," said fred, "but perhaps frank doesn't know." "in this part of the holy land there are blood-feuds that have lasted hundreds of years. a man of one tribe or family has been killed by a man of another--the losing party proceeds to take revenge by killing a person of the offending one, then the latter takes its revenge, and so the fight goes on. these feuds exist between tribes, villages, or families, and are perpetuated through centuries. every man goes armed, because he fears to be killed by some avenger of blood, and he is constantly on the lookout both to slay and to prevent being slain." "why don't they come to a sensible arrangement among themselves, and put an end to the quarrelling?" one of the boys asked. "it is a matter of religion with them," said the doctor, "and also of family pride. doubtless you could get one tribe to make an end of its feuds if another would do so _first_; but the great difficulty is to find the one who will be the first to act. these blood-feuds may be said to be commanded by the koran, and they existed in the time of the old testament. in fact, they were so numerous that the children of israel appointed six cities where any person who had killed another 'unawares and unwittingly' might take refuge from the avenger of blood. these cities are named in the twentieth chapter of joshua, and there is a fuller account of the customs of the time in this matter of blood revenge in the nineteenth chapter of deuteronomy. we are approaching one of the cities of refuge, and shall spend the night there. nabulus is the ancient shechem, which was one of the six places to which i just referred." [illustration: roof of a house in nabulus.] they were on the crest of a ridge looking down upon a plain bounded on its farthest side by a broken chain of mountains. in an opening between two mountains the guide indicated the position of nabulus, and far to the north was mount hermon; gerizim and ebal were the two mountains between which lay nabulus, and the rays of the declining sun bathed them with golden light of that peculiar richness rarely seen away from the tropics. the hills around the plain were terraced with orchards of olive-trees, while the broad stretch of level ground had every indication of fertility. taken as a whole, the scene was one of the prettiest that our friends had looked upon since leaving egypt. "we are in the land of ephraim," said the doctor, "and you can realize how much ephraim was blessed in comparison with judah and benjamin. the soil is more fertile, and the inhabitants have an easier life of it than in the neighboring districts: what was true of it in the days of the patriarchs is true at present. ephraim is indeed blessed with 'the good things of the ancient mountains.'" as they descended to the plain and crossed it in the direction of nabulus there was a manifest impatience on the part of the youths. the guide had told them they were coming to jacob's well, and their curiosity was roused to its highest point. they found a cistern about ten feet square hewn in the solid rock; the recent rains had partly filled it, but the guide said it was generally dry in summer. its depth is about eighty feet, but was formerly much greater. a church was built over it at the time of the crusades, but it is now in ruins, and a considerable part of the material is supposed to have fallen into the well. night was approaching. the lengthening shadows warned our friends not to tarry long on their way; but they rested while doctor bronson read in his clear, impressive voice the fourth chapter of john, containing the beautiful story of jesus at the well of jacob, and his conversation with the woman of samaria. a ride of less than half an hour brought them to the walls of nabulus; the white tents ready to receive them on the camping-ground outside the town were a welcome sight. [illustration: the woman of samaria.] chapter xxviii. from nabulus to nazareth, samaria, jenin, and the plain of esdraelon. "nabulus or nablous, the ancient shechem," wrote frank in his journal, "is nearly as large as jerusalem, though not so well situated. it has about thirteen thousand inhabitants, if the guide-book is to be trusted, and almost all of them are moslems. there are one hundred and fifty samaritans here, and five or six hundred christians belonging mostly to the greek church, and there are a few jews and other people not included in the above list. the town appears more prosperous and active than jerusalem, and it is evident that the people are more industrious, and rely less on what they can make out of strangers. [illustration: view of nabulus.] "we have walked through the town and looked at the bazaars, which are much like those of jerusalem and jaffa. the streets are so badly paved and full of dirt that we could easily believe we were again in the neighborhood of the tower of david and mount moriah. the guide told us that the town had considerable trade with the country east of the jordan, and a good deal of wool and cotton found its way from here to the seaboard, whence it was shipped to england and france. the country in the vicinity produces large quantities of olives, and there are more than twenty factories engaged in making soap from olive-oil. we passed one of these soap factories, and found the smells that arose from it were anything but agreeable. "seeing the olive-trees and the soap factories has made us desirous of knowing something about the manner of extracting the oil. here is what we have learned on the subject: "the custom of the country is not to allow any picking of the fruit of the tree until a day has been appointed by the authorities. if any olives fall to the ground before this date, they are gathered and preserved in brine or oil for eating, as they are the fattest olives from the trees, and fully ripe when they fall. "on the day appointed for the gathering of the olives a public crier goes out and announces it. then the people go to the orchards and gather the olives by beating or shaking the trees, very much as they gather the lower grades of apples in the new england states. the best olives are picked out for eating, and only the poorer ones are pressed for oil. "ten or twelve gallons of oil are often made from the product of a single tree, and an acre of good olive-trees will give a crop worth a hundred dollars. a good crop is only gathered every other year, and the olive seems to have its 'off season,' like the american apple and peach. [illustration: an ancient olive-press.] "we have seen several olive-presses, and they are very simple. there is a stone pan about six feet across and twelve inches deep, with a hole at one side for the escape of the oil. a roller of stone, with a hole through the centre for a long handle, is placed in the pan, and the apparatus is complete. [illustration: women working an olive-press.] "the olives are thrown into the pan, and then two men (or women) grasp the opposite ends of the handle and walk around in a circle; the weight of the roller crushes the olives, and after a while the oil flows slowly from the hole in the side of the pan. when the olives are crushed to a pulp, and no more oil will flow, the mass is mixed with water and placed in bags of coarse cloth. the remaining oil is forced out by treading with the feet, or by crushing in a press with heavy weights. the process of extracting oil from the olive was well known to the ancient inhabitants of the country, and is often mentioned in the bible. [illustration: ancient lamps (matt. xxv. ).] [illustration: modern lamps.] "a great deal of olive-oil is sent from palestine to other countries. it is an important article of food for the inhabitants, and takes the place of butter, and also of animal fat for cooking purposes. it is used for giving light, and is burnt in flat lamps of terra-cotta or other ware; some of the lamps are covered while others are open, and in either case there is a lip or projection at one side for the wick. in ancient times the wealthy inhabitants had lamps of silver and gold; and they are mentioned among the adornments of solomon's temple as having been made of the latter material. we have seen great numbers of these eastern lamps, of terra-cotta, tin, and occasionally of brass. the lamps carried by the ten virgins--'five of them were wise, and five were foolish'--were undoubtedly of the exact form as those of to-day. "so much for one of the industries of nabulus, and of the land of the bible generally. "we went to the great mosque, which was once a christian church, built by the crusaders, and afterward belonging to the knights of st. john. in another part of the town is the _jama-el-kadra_, a mosque which is asserted to stand on the spot where the brethren of joseph brought his coat to jacob. it was formerly a church, like the great mosque, and the guide pointed out some of the crosses of the crusaders that the moslems had not been able to obliterate altogether. then we went to the quarter of the samaritans, which was the most curious of all the sights of nabulus. "the origin of the samaritans is described in kings xvii. - , and the present sect at nabulus is supposed to be descended from them. two hundred years ago there were small bodies of them in cairo, damascus, and one or two other places, but the only one now in existence is that which we are describing. [illustration: samaritans bearing tribute--an assyrian sculpture ( kings xvii. ).] "they preserve their ancient faith and form of worship, and they have a temple on mount gerizim, above the town, where annually they celebrate the feast of the passover and eat of the paschal lamb. they showed us a copy of the pentateuch, which is claimed to be the oldest in existence. the high-priest who held and opened it says it was written by a grandson of aaron. there is good reason to doubt that it is more than a thousand years old, and the case containing it belongs to the fourteenth or fifteenth century. they would not let us unroll and examine it, and so we must accept the statement of others, who have had a better opportunity, that the parchment is fifteen inches wide and from twenty to thirty yards long, and contains the whole of the first five books of the old testament." there was not time to spare for the ascent of mount gerizim, which rises above nabulus, and is ascended chiefly for the view from the summit. the top of the mountain is covered with ruins, and the spot is pointed out where abraham was about to slay isaac when his hand was stopped by divine interposition. there have been jewish temples, roman castles, christian churches, and moslem mosques on mount gerizim, and, as frank states in his journal, the samaritans go there to celebrate the feast of the passover, and perform other ancient rites. the party made a late start from nabulus in the direction of jenin and nazareth. as they rode from their camp doctor bronson called the attention of the boys to the fact that the streams east of the town flowed into the mediterranean, while those to the west found their way into the jordan and the dead sea. the route lay through a region of pleasing valleys and plains not unlike those they had seen the day before, and for part of the way they followed an ancient road which the guide said belonged to the time of the romans, or might even be older by a few centuries. there was a succession of olive and fig orchards, interspersed with gardens and fields, and the terraces on the hill-sides showed that not a foot of arable soil had been overlooked. there were numerous villages clinging to the hill-sides, or nestled among the rocks, and altogether the landscape was full of picturesque effects. [illustration: sebustieh, the ancient samaria.] through scenes like these they made their way for two hours and more, when the guide called their attention to a village on the side of a broad hill. immediately in front of them was the ruin of a roman gate-way, with two of its arches standing, and not far from the gate-way was a group of natives with the ever present camel. old olive-trees were on the slopes and through the valley, and covered the hill where stood the village to which the guide pointed. "that is sebustieh," said the doctor, "a modern village on the site of ancient samaria." "i've been reading about it as we rode along," said fred. "it is the spot where king omri placed the capital of the kingdom of israel, and where ahab built the temple of baal after marrying jezebel, the daughter of the king of sidon. we can find much of the history of samaria in the books of the kings in the old testament. the names of the prophets elisha and elijah are connected with samaria, and it was here that king herod the great devoted much time and effort to make the most beautiful city of palestine." when fred had finished his account of samaria the travellers moved on. they reached the village in a quarter of an hour or so, and were taken at once to the ruined church of st. john, which is now used as a mosque. the inhabitants gathered around the door, and at first refused permission for the strangers to enter; but the dragoman had taken the precaution to bring a permit from the governor of nabulus, and to engage a soldier from the same official. the permit and the soldier had the effect of opening the doors, and also of keeping the natives in order. the modern residents of samaria have none of the qualities of the good samaritan of scriptural renown, and show no hesitation at the robbery of travellers when the latter are without protection. the tomb of john the baptist is pointed out in the space enclosed by the walls of the church, but the tradition concerning it is on very doubtful authority. the places of his imprisonment and execution are also shown, but there is no mention of them by the early writers until after the third century. the summit of the hill is covered with ruins, and there is an open space once surrounded with columns, of which fifteen are still in position, but without their capitals. partly down the hill are the remains of the colonnade erected by king herod, and intended to form the great street of the city. there were two rows of these columns about fifty feet apart, and they were more than half a mile in length: enough of the columns are standing to give an idea of the original magnificence of the place. [illustration: view of jenin, the ancient engannim.] leaving sebustieh, our friends continued their ride, and just about sunset came to jenin, where the tents were ready for them. it began to rain as they arrived, but as there was no wind, and the clouds soon broke away, nobody suffered any special inconvenience. frank was about to ask a question concerning their camping-place, when the doctor proceeded to give the desired information. "jenin," said he, "is the ancient engannim, and is just at the entrance of the plain of esdraelon. the plain is sometimes called the battle-field of palestine, and was probably the ancient plain of jezreel. the battle in which saul and jonathan his son were slain took place a little beyond here, near the modern village of zerin, the ancient jezreel." the evening was passed in reading about the battles that had taken place in the neighborhood, and in studying the map of the plain of esdraelon. when they left the wretched village the next morning, and looked upon the beautiful plain spread below them, the boys were full of enthusiasm about the region they were traversing, and showed an excellent knowledge of the positions indicated on the map. "that must be taanach," said frank, pointing to a rounded hill on the left, as they looked down the valley. "yes," replied the doctor, "that is taanach, and beyond it is megiddo, which you readily perceive is a strong point for an army to occupy." "that's what we read about last night," said fred. "taanach was one of the points where joash was held back in his attacks on the canaanites, and it was afterward the head-quarters of sisera, who also held megiddo. megiddo was where joash was killed in a battle with the egyptians, as we read in chronicles, chap. xxv., and back of it are the hills of manasseh." the road from jenin passed near the base of mount gilboa, and as our friends followed the ridge on which their track lay they found themselves on the water-shed between the dead sea and the mediterranean. they passed the village of zerin, the ancient jezreel, where jezebel was thrown to the dogs, and where ahab's palace is supposed to have stood. to the east of the village is the spring of harod and the fountain of jezreel, where saul's army made its last camp. it is on the slope of mount gilboa, and directly in front of the position where the philistines were posted before the battle. by going still farther to the north we come to endor, where saul had his interview with the witch. most of these points lay too far from the road to allow time for a visit, but they were visible from the high points of the route, or their positions were easily indicated. [illustration: map of the valley of esdraelon.] other battles than those of the bible were recalled by this ride over the plain, and among the hills that bordered it. the guide pointed out the spot where saladin defeated the hospitallers and templars when he conquered palestine, and also where napoleon bonaparte and kleber defeated a turkish army much larger than their own. the doctor said they were not far from where nebuchadnezzar's army was encamped when judith cut off the head of holofernes, and a little farther away was the scene of the defeat of the jews by the army of vespasian. "no wonder it is called the battle-field of palestine," said he, "when it has been the scene of so much warfare. no other part of the country has been traversed by so many armies as this, and in no other place have so many historic battles been fought. there is hardly an acre of the plain of esdraelon that has not been moistened by the blood of the victims of war. the soil is fertile, or would be if it were well cultivated, but it has shared the fate of other parts of palestine, and is suffering from neglect." at the suggestion of the guide they made a slight détour from their route in order to visit the village of nain, which is celebrated in scripture as the scene of the raising of the widow's son (luke vii. - ). there is nothing of interest in the village itself, and it is probably no larger in population than it was two thousand years ago. the hill-sides near it are fairly honey-combed with tombs, but hardly any of them are of modern date. mount tabor was in full view from the road for a considerable time, and so were other hills and mountains mentioned in sacred history. from the plain of esdraelon to nazareth the road wound through a broken country, and in many places it was quite steep. nazareth is about four hundred feet higher than the plain, and consequently the ascending parts of the route preponderated over the descents. the town is surrounded by hills, and is not visible until quite close at hand, in consequence of its secluded position. [illustration: the plan of nazareth. . new quarter of the latin convent; . church of the annunciation; . protestant church; . protestant parsonage; . protestant mission school; . protestant missionary's house: . convent of french nuns; . the "mensa christi;" . house of the mufti; . house of the turkish governor; . mosque; . mission hospital.] doctor bronson explained to his young companions that nazareth is not mentioned in the old testament, though some writers have attempted to identify it as having a history earlier than the christian era. according to the biblical account it was a small village at the time of our saviour's birth, and the name of nazarene was used in derision. the modern name of the place is en-nasira, and down to the time of constantine it was almost exclusively occupied by samaritan jews. its present population is estimated at six or eight thousand: nearly half the inhabitants are moslems, and the balance are separated into various christian sects, of which the orthodox greeks are the most numerous. the town is divided into the moslem quarter, the greek quarter, and the latin quarter, and the various christian sects are under the protection of foreign powers, though generally subject to turkish rule. [illustration: view of nazareth.] it was on saturday evening that our friends reached nazareth, and very properly they determined to remain there till monday. the tents were pitched in a little grove just outside the town, and in a picturesque position, where all the surroundings were agreeable to the eye. the guide offered to lodge them in the latin convent; but they preferred the freedom and comfort of the tents, and wisely concluded that a visit to the convent would be all they would need of it. so many pilgrims visit nazareth that both the greeks and latins have found it necessary to maintain establishments there for the benefit of their adherents. the poor are lodged gratuitously, but those who can afford to make payment are expected to do so at the same rate as in a hotel. the evening was passed in reading, by the light of candles, the story of the annunciation, as given in the new testament, and in commenting upon the identification of the spot by modern christians. doctor bronson said there could be no doubt whatever that this was the place described in the bible, though there might be some question as to the exact spot in nazareth where the event occurred. he said it was a curious circumstance that for three centuries after the birth of christ there was not a christian inhabitant in nazareth, and the first christian pilgrimage was made there not earlier than the sixth century. in the sixth or seventh century two churches were built there, and from that time the place has been a prominent one in the history of the religion of bethlehem. in good time next morning all were out of bed and ready to start for the latin convent, where service was to be held. we will let one of the youths tell the story of what they saw and heard: "the convent is supposed to be on the site of the house of the virgin mary; at any rate the latin monks press that claim for it, and it is not disputed by the greeks, though the latter say that the angel first appeared to mary at the fountain and not in her house. consequently, the greek church of the annunciation is over the fountain, while the latin one is above the site of the house where the virgin dwelt. "the latin convent is on the side of the hill, and is a prominent feature in the picture of nazareth. there are several buildings clustered together, and at first sight we were reminded of the church of the nativity at bethlehem and its massive surroundings. there is a high wall surrounding the buildings, and the gate through which we passed is heavy enough to resist the attack of any ordinary band of arabs. we entered a court-yard which was open to the sky, and then passed to another and smaller one directly in front of the church. the sacred building is about seventy feet by fifty, and was completed in its present form a century and a half ago. several churches have stood here, and the materials of each have been used in the erection of its successor, so that we may fairly believe that some parts of the first church of nazareth are to be seen here. "the interior of the building consists of a nave and aisles, formed by four piers that support the roof. the whole of the interior is covered with paintings and tapestry representing scenes in the saviour's life, and there is a fine organ and an altar dedicated to the angel gabriel. we did not spend much time over this part of the church, as we were all impatient to descend to the grotto of the annunciation, which is below the floor. "there is a stairway of fifteen marble steps between the first two columns as you enter the church, and down this stairway we went, after a brief inspection of the decorations of the walls and a glance at the high altar. [illustration: the annunciation.] "at the foot of the steps we entered the so-called 'chapel of the angels,' which contains shrines dedicated to st. joachim and the angel gabriel. beyond the shrines is an opening or passage leading to the chapel of the annunciation, which is an apartment fifteen feet by ten, as near as we could judge, and has a marble altar showing the spot where mary stood during the annunciation. a column near the entrance marks the position of the angel, and a little distance from it is a fragment of a column hanging from the roof, and said to be suspended by miraculous power. we wanted to examine it closely, but the monk in charge of the place hurried us on, and evidently did not wish a careful inspection of the hanging column. "beyond the chapel of the annunciation is the chapel of joseph, and farther on is a small cavern hewn from the solid rock, and said to have been the kitchen of mary. "the general arrangement of the altars, lamps, and decorations was a constant reminder of bethlehem, and when the monks began their service we found it was very nearly the same. as soon as the ceremony was over in the grotto it was announced that the hour for service in the church had arrived, and we all went to attend it. the congregation numbered two or three hundred persons, including the twenty-five or thirty italian and spanish monks in charge of the convent, and perhaps fifty pilgrims, while the balance was made up of our party and the latin christians living at nazareth. the notes of the organ sounded finely through the old church, and when we remembered that we were on the spot where the christian world believes the coming of our saviour was announced to his mother, we were deeply impressed with the solemnity of the occasion. "let me tell you here the story of the _santa casa_, or holy house, as we heard it from the monks, and as it is told in the history of the catholic church since the fifteenth century: "'the house in which mary lived was carried away by angels, who lifted it from its foundations and bore it away when the infidels conquered the country and began the expulsion of the christians. they carried it, in a.d. , to the heights overlooking finme, in hungary. it rested there about three years, and was then transported to the coast of italy, where it remained five or six months. a third and last removal occurred in the year or to the place where it now stands in the town of loretto, twelve miles south of ancona, and three miles from the sea-shore.' great numbers of pilgrims are said to go there every year to see it, and the building is carefully preserved from injury. the latin monks believe the story implicitly, and they point out the exact position which the house formerly occupied. "we went from the church to see the house and workshop of joseph, now fitted up as a chapel, and in possession of the latins; and then we visited the 'chapel of the table of christ,' where there is a table of solid rock, on which jesus and his disciples are said to have eaten frequently. from this place we went to the synagogue where he was teaching when the jews drove him out, and to the rock where they were about to cast him down. from there we went to the fountain of the virgin, where the greeks have their church of the annunciation. when we had seen this we were told that the round of the holy places of nazareth was complete, unless we wished to see the 'mount of the precipitation,' about two miles away. "we declined the journey, as there is a great deal of doubt concerning the accuracy of the tradition. doctor bronson said we should not miss the view from the hill back of nazareth, and so we climbed there a little before sunset and had a magnificent prospect. [illustration: the country near nazareth, with the town in the distance.] "the best point for the view was said to be neby ismail, and we certainly have seen nothing finer in all palestine. the hills are less barren than in most other parts of the country that we have visited, and the plains and valleys present an appearance of fertility. mounts tabor, hermon, and carmel were in the picture, and beyond the latter we had a glimpse of the blue waters of the mediterranean bounding the western horizon. then we looked down on the plain of esdraelon and on the upper valley of the jordan, and lingered as long as time would permit. i cannot begin to tell you of the thoughts and associations that crowded upon us in looking upon the place so intimately connected with the life of the saviour, and the scenes of so many other events that form a part of our bible history." chapter xxix. ascent of mount tabor.--around and on the sea of galilee. on monday morning the party made a good start in the direction of mount tabor and the sea of galilee. the tents were sent direct to the camping-ground which had been selected for the night, while the travellers made a detour to the summit of the historic mountain. they looked back from the crest of a ridge on the road, and had a fine view of nazareth. an hour's ride from this point through a wooded valley brought them to the foot of mount tabor, the _jebel-et-tur_ of the arabs, and a famous name in biblical history. unlike many of the mountains of palestine it is covered with trees to the summit, and the ruins scattered about its sides show that it has been the home of many people through numerous generations. "we had a zigzag ride up the side of mount tabor," said the youths, in their journal, "and made frequent stoppages for our horses to take breath. when we reached the top we found it was not a peak, but a sort of rounded ridge, half a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide. all the space on the summit is covered with ruins, and there have evidently been towns, temples, fortresses, and other buildings on this commanding spot. we learn from the bible (joshua xix. ) that tabor was occupied when the israelites first came into the country, and it is probable that there was a town here at that time. in another place (judges iv.) we learn that deborah ordered barak to gather an army here; and it was from tabor that the israelites marched when they defeated sisera. from that time down to the christian era tabor continued to be an important point, and was the scene of several battles. in the fourth century it was regarded as the scene of the transfiguration, and many pilgrimages were made to it by the early christians. hermits formerly dwelt here in caves, and subsisted on the charity of visitors. [illustration: home of a cave-hermit in palestine.] "several convents and churches were established on mount tabor, and the crusaders built a monastery on the summit, which was afterward destroyed by the infidels. there are two monasteries here now, but they are not of much consequence; one belongs to the latins and the other to the greeks, and, as we did not wish to show any partiality, we visited both of them. there is great hostility between the monks of the two establishments, and those who visit one are generally excluded from the other. each party claims that the scene of the transfiguration was on the spot where its own church stands. both these statements are generally disbelieved; and it is the opinion of the majority of those who have investigated the matter that the great event occurred elsewhere than on mount tabor. [illustration: mount tabor.] "our ride from nazareth had given us a good appetite, and we were quite ready for the lunch which ali brought for us in his saddle-bags. while engaged in satisfying our hunger we enjoyed the view from the summit of the mountain; it includes hermon and carmel--the latter almost hiding the thin strip of the mediterranean, and itself partly concealed by the nearer ranges of hills. looking to the east we saw a part of the lake of tiberias, and beyond it the chain of the hauran mountains; and, as we turned toward the southern horizon, the guide pointed out the mountains of gilead. apparently at our feet was the plain of esdraelon, with its ancient battle-fields, and on the hills around us were endor, nain, and half a dozen other villages of less importance. the deep valley of the jordan was revealed for a considerable distance, and we realized more than ever before how great is the depression where the river flows. the top of tabor is more than two thousand feet above the level of the mediterranean, while the surface of the lake is six hundred and forty feet below it. consequently, we looked down nearly two thousand seven hundred feet to the waters on whose banks we were to pass the night. "while descending mount tabor we disturbed several partridges and other birds, and one of us thought we had a glimpse of a fox darting among the trees. the guide said there were several kinds of game here, but nobody paid much attention to it, since it was not easy to get at. the arabs sometimes catch hares and partridges in traps, but the foxes are too cunning to be taken in that way. "down and down we went, and from tabor to tiberias it was a descending road the most of the way. we passed the _khan el-tujar_, or caravansary of the merchants, which is very much in ruins, but was evidently a strong place at the time of its erection, three hundred years ago. it was built by the pacha of damascus for the protection of the merchants from the robbers, who frequently plundered the caravans and made the road dangerous. a market is held here once a week, and the people from tiberias, nazareth, and other places in the neighborhood come to sell their wares, but we could not learn that they had much to sell. [illustration: distant view of kefr kenna.] "cana of galilee, where the water was turned into wine, is off our road, and we had to be satisfied with the indication of its position. it is now called kefr kenna, and has a population of five or six hundred, half of whom are moslems and the rest greek christians. the greeks have a church in which they show one of the jars or water-pots in which the miracle was performed. there is another kenna or cana between nazareth and mount carmel, and some authorities think it was the scene of the miracle, and not the one we have been talking about. [illustration: the city and lake of tiberias.] "as we rode down the hills we had a full view of the sea or lake of tiberias, which is also called the sea of galilee, and the sea or lake of gennesaret, and known to the arabs as _bahr tabariyeh_. it is smaller than you might suppose from its importance in history; it is thirteen miles long and less than seven in width, and in the midst of a region with very few inhabitants. as we looked at it, it seemed little more than a pond, and the hills beyond it were bare and desolate. the fertility of the region must be far less now than it was in the time of our saviour, and it is the general opinion that the country has undergone many changes. we passed the ruins of several villages and towns, and for nearly all the time of our journey the evidences were all around us that a great many people once lived here. "the most populous town on the banks of the lake is tiberias, but it has not more than two thousand inhabitants, and the majority of them have a poverty-stricken appearance. like all the people of palestine, they begged persistently for backsheesh, and would not leave us till we threatened to appeal to the governor and ask for a guard to protect us. we noticed that a great number of them were jews, and several spoke to us in german; this roused our curiosity, and we asked the doctor what it all meant. he explained it to us in this way: "'tiberias is like jerusalem in one respect--it is a sacred place with the jews, many of whom believe that the messiah will rise from the waters of the lake and establish his throne on one of the hills back of the little town. for this reason many jews of poland and germany make pilgrimages to tiberias, and some of them remain to pass their lives in the sacred spot. they are generally a worthless and lazy lot, and are supported by the charity of visitors and by money sent by wealthy jews of europe.' "more than half the inhabitants of tiberias are jews; the rest are moslems and christians in about equal proportions. the latins and greeks have churches here; one of them is dedicated to st. peter, and the miracle of the draught of the fishes is said to have taken place in front of the town. there was a terrible earthquake here in , which threw down large parts of the walls and killed great numbers of the people. there has been no attempt to repair the damages, and it would be easy to ride into tiberias without taking the trouble to enter by the gates. "our tents were pitched on a little cleared space outside the walls and close to the lake, and after it became dark we indulged in a swim in the waters of galilee. the next morning we went to the warm baths for which tiberias was once celebrated, and tried them for a little while; but the smell of sulphur was so strong that we did not much enjoy our visit. these baths were famous among the romans, and were believed to possess many curative qualities; the water is very salt and bitter to the taste, and is certainly disagreeable enough to be good for invalids, provided they can stand it. we put a thermometer into the water, and found its temperature ° fahrenheit. there are four springs altogether, and there is a building over the largest of them. the baths are taken almost entirely by strangers, as the residents of tiberias have an antipathy for water except for drinking purposes: they never bathe except when they tumble into the lake accidentally, or are thrown there by the visitors whom they annoy. "we spent an hour among the ruins of the ancient tiberias, which covered a much larger area than its modern successor. the city was founded by herod near the beginning of the christian era, and he called it tiberias in honor of the roman emperor of that name. it had a palace and a race-course, and, if we may judge by the extent of its ruins, it was a place of no ordinary importance. it was captured several times in the wars that devastated the country, but has never ceased to be regarded with special veneration by the jews. many pious jews come here to die: the location is unhealthy on account of fevers and other diseases, and consequently the mortality is great, and the town is exactly suited to their wants." of course the whole party was desirous of taking a voyage on the lake, and they sent ali to engage a boat with that object in view. according to the biblical account there were many vessels there during our saviour's time, but at present there are only three boats, and rarely more than two of these are afloat at once. the lake abounds in fish, and, if there was a sufficient population to buy and pay for the proceeds of the work, a dozen or a hundred fishermen could do a good business. but with nobody to eat them it would be idle to catch the fish; and as the natives do not understand sport for its own sake, the finny inhabitants are not seriously disturbed. ali secured a boat for the excursion, and it was arranged that the rest of the day should be spent on the lake. the saddle-horses were to go with the baggage-animals to tell hum, where the camp would be formed for the night. everybody was delighted with this arrangement, and the youths could hardly restrain their impatience to be off on the voyage over the sea of galilee. the boat was of the oriental pattern, and without any deck or awning to protect the travellers from the sun, which generally beats down on the waters with a good deal of energy. umbrellas were brought into requisition, and thus equipped, and with provisions to satisfy their hunger when the hour came for the mid-day meal, the six strangers and their dragoman took seats in the stern of the boat and pushed away from land. [illustration: map of the sea of galilee.] it was the plan of the party to make the circuit of the lake, and visit points of interest whenever the wind favored and it was safe to do so. ali told them that as they had no escort, and had no arrangements for paying backsheesh, for the plain reason that there was no one at tiberias with whom they could negotiate, it would not be judicious to land on the eastern shore. the country is in possession of the bedouins, who have no hesitation at plundering the traveller of all that he has about him, and then demanding a heavy backsheesh to let him go. on this statement of affairs it was unanimously agreed that nobody cared to land on the eastern shore. the boat followed the coast to the vicinity of kerak, which is close to the exit of the jordan, and then turned to the north and east in the direction of kalat el-hosn. on the maps this place is generally laid down as gamala; it is a heap of ruins, and has been without inhabitants since the city of gamala was destroyed by vespasian, and the surrounding region of gamalatis passed under his control. then they went northward past the ruins of kersa, or kheusa, situated in a narrow valley. a steep bank comes down to the lake close by kersa, and some authorities have endeavored to identify it as the place where the herd of swine ran down to the sea. there is no other point where there is so steep a bank as this coming down to the water. the theory of its identity is based entirely on its being the most convenient spot for a herd of swine to commit suicide. [illustration: magdala and plain of gennesaret.] from kersa they crossed the lake to magdala, or mejdel, whose chief claim to distinction arises from its having been the birthplace of mary magdalene. the town is principally in ruins, and there are only a few huts there occupied by miserable arabs, whose chief occupation is to beg for backsheesh. the region around is, or might be, fertile, but magdala is the only inhabited spot in the plain of gennesaret, and nobody cares to engage in agriculture of any sort. that the ground is fertile is proven by the abundance of thistles, weeds, and bushes with which it is covered, and the thickets of oleander and other trees, together with occasional clusters of palms. one of the boys said it seemed as though a curse rested on the land. doctor bronson assented to this view, and added that the turkish government had a great deal to do with the matter, as its exorbitant taxes on all kinds of industry was an effectual barrier to anything like honest work. as they sailed northward from magdala, doctor bronson pointed out a valley leading from the plain of gennesaret, and asked the guide what it was. ali replied that it was called wady haman. "i thought so," answered the doctor. "by going up that valley we might visit the caverns which are mentioned by josephus and other writers." frank asked for what these caverns were celebrated, and how large they were. "they are partly natural and partly artificial," was the reply, "and are large enough to shelter five or six hundred persons. the openings are protected by walls, and at every exposed point there is a bastion or something of the kind, so that the occupants could defend themselves with great ease. "they are mentioned in the bible, but more fully in the works of josephus, who calls them fortified caverns. they have been occupied at different times as resorts of robbers, or as strongholds of regular soldiers, and in either case it was a matter of great difficulty to take them. in the time of herod the great they were held by robbers, who plundered all the surrounding country, and made themselves so troublesome that the king determined to get rid of them. [illustration: herod's plan of attack.] "he sent his soldiers to attack them, but the position of the robbers was so strong that they repelled every assault. finally he ordered some strong boxes to be made, and suspended over the face of the cliff by means of iron chains, and when all was ready he filled the boxes with soldiers, and lowered them down in front of the caves. [illustration: battle with the robbers.] "the robbers were taken by surprise, but they quickly came to their senses, and made a desperate resistance. the soldiers were victorious; and the robbers that escaped death by the spear, or being thrown over the cliff, were soon made prisoners, and their business was broken up. at the present time the caves are unoccupied, except by a few beggars, who live upon what they get from visitors. "back of the caverns are the ruins of the ancient city of arbela, which is doubtless the beth-arbel mentioned in hosea x. . the ruins are overgrown with reeds and vines, and are not worth the time and trouble of visiting them." from magdala the boat made a straight course for the mouth of the jordan, and was carried rapidly forward by a strong breeze from the south. the dragoman said that the lake was liable to be swept by sudden winds, like the majority of inland waters surrounded by mountains, and he predicted that the favoring breeze they had just caught might leave them altogether by the time they reached the point for which they were heading. sure enough it did so; and as they entered the mouth of the river there was not enough to carry them against the current. the boatmen took to their oars, and in a little while they were a couple of miles from the lake and in front of the ruins of bethsaida. the ground for quite a distance is covered with the remains of dwellings, the most of them so overgrown with weeds and bushes that they must be sought for in order to be found. bethsaida means "house of fish," or "fish-marke;" and there was another village of the same name near capernaum, so that much confusion has arisen concerning them. it was probably near the bethsaida on the jordan, where we now are, that the miracle of feeding the multitude was performed, as described in the ninth chapter of luke, while it was to the other bethsaida that christ sent away his disciples, and went up into the mountain to pray. as the boat descended the river to reach the lake again doctor bronson read from the bible the account of the stilling of the tempest, and the events connected with it. all were agreed that the miracle must have been performed near the western shore, and close by capernaum, and the scriptural description seemed to tally exactly with the configuration of the land and lake. it was easy to imagine the scene, especially as the wind by which they had been blown from magdala had ceased entirely, and "there was a great calm." by steady rowing the boat was brought to tell hum a little before sunset, and the voyage around the sea of galilee was at an end. near tell hum the guide called the attention of the youths to a man on the shore standing motionless as a statue, and holding a scoop-net with a long handle. while they watched him he brought the net to the water with a rapid sweep, and then lifted it almost in the same motion. as he swung it to land a fish was seen vainly struggling to escape from the meshes of the net. [illustration: a galilee fishing-boat.] ali explained that they had witnessed one of the modes of fishing practised by the natives. they watch along the shore, and when a fish comes near enough he is secured by a rapid motion of the net, and it must be very rapid too. another plan of catching fish is to render them insensible by poison, and then gather them as they float on the surface of the water. europeans have some hesitation at eating fish caught in this way, but the natives are not so fastidious. sometimes fish are caught in traps in the mouths of the little streams flowing into the lake or along the shore, but nobody troubles himself about seeking in deep water. frank wanted to know what kinds of fish were taken in the lake, but the information he obtained was not very clear. ali questioned the boatmen, and, as near as he could make out, the fishes of the lake of tiberias are the _binni_, or carp, and the _mesht_, or _coracinus_, which belongs to the cat-fish family. the latter are the most abundant, and sufficient for the wants of a population much larger than exists at present near the lake. [illustration: ruins at tell hum.] they landed at tell hum, where they paid and dismissed the boatmen, and then strolled a short time among the ruins before going to their tents. a large town or city once stood here, and that it was an important place with the jews is shown by the ruins of their synagogue, which must have been an edifice of considerable extent and excellent proportions. one writer says it was among the finest buildings in palestine, and the fragments now on the ground reveal some admirable specimens of sculpture. frank and fred tried to take the measurements of a part of the wall of the building, but were unable to do so on account of the great number of weeds and vines that covered the ground. they found several blocks nine or ten feet long, and broad in proportion, that evidently formed a part of the foundations. doctor bronson told them that tell hum was thought by some to be the capernaum of the new testament; others believe capernaum was farther to the south, and make tell hum identical with chorazin. the latter theory is sustained by its proximity to bethsaida. the words of christ, "woe unto thee, chorazin! woe unto thee, bethsaida!" would seem to indicate that they were near each other. tell hum is about two miles from bethsaida, while nearly the same distance farther on is khan minyeh, which is claimed by several authorities to have been the capernaum of the new testament. as they sat in front of their tents while the sun was dipping below the horizon, our friends naturally talked of the country around them, and compared it with what it probably was two thousand years ago. the reflection was not a cheering one, and they were not at all sorry to change to a more agreeable topic. the full-moon rose over the eastern mountains. as it ascended, and threw its light on the lake, the ruggedness of the hills was softened, the placid waters became like a sheet of silver, the stars were reflected as in a mirror, and the sky was without a cloud. the picture was one to be long remembered, and each one of that little party regretted that the time was near for them to bid it farewell. [illustration: view of the lake from the western shore.] chapter xxx. from galilee to damascus.--a ride through dan and banias. [illustration: the rock partridge.] everybody was out of bed before daylight, and prepared for an early start. before the sun was up the tents had been folded and packed, and the travellers were in the saddle and riding away from tell hum. from the summit of a hill they looked back upon gennesaret, which lay far below them, with its waters sparkling in the sunlight, and its surface undisturbed by a single boat. then they rode on again. around them were the rugged hills of palestine, and every few minutes they disturbed the partridges that have their homes among the rocks. frank recalled to memory the passage in samuel, "as one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains." the guide said that in some parts of the country these birds are so abundant that they do a great deal of damage; they dig up and devour the freshly-sown wheat, and when the crops are ripening they feed upon the grain, and are often to be seen in large flocks. the road was rough and steep, and led steadily upward. frank thought that when the engineers laid it out they selected the worst places they could find, and fred replied that he did not believe it had any engineers at all. "even the mules and horses would have done better," fred continued. "you know it is said in america that the buffaloes were the first road-makers, as it has been found that the buffalo trails in the rocky mountains are always through the lowest passes, and avoid the roughest places. now if the beasts of burden in this country had laid out the roads they would have done better than the men who undertook the work." it was a weary ride along this road, and frequently the travellers dismounted, partly out of compassion for their horses, and partly because riding was dangerous where the rocks were worn smooth or moistened by recent rains. ruins of towns and villages were seen in several places, and some of the cliffs were pierced with caverns that formerly gave shelter to robbers or were the homes of hermits. three hours of climbing brought them to safed, which is one of the holy cities of the jews, and has a population of three or four thousand. the town is on a mountain, and commanded by a castle that is said to have been built in the time of the crusades, but is now sadly in ruins. down to the beginning of it was in good condition, and so were the houses where the people dwelt; the earthquake, on the first day of that year, wrought terrible destruction to safed, as it overthrew nearly all the buildings, and killed, according to the estimates, five thousand of the inhabitants. the town was divided into the christian, moslem, and jewish quarters; the jewish quarter suffered most, and it is said that four-fifths of those killed by the earthquake belonged to the religion of king solomon. mr. thomson, who visited safed soon after the earthquake, says not a single jewish house remained when the shocks were ended, and several persons were saved from the rubbish two or three days after the occurrence; they had been unable to extricate themselves, and suffered greatly from hunger and thirst. others were less fortunate, and perished of hunger beneath the fallen débris of the houses where they had resided. there was nothing of special interest in safed, as the town is nearly all modern, having been rebuilt since the earthquake. some authorities think safed was the "city set on a hill" which was referred to by christ in his sermon on the mount (matt. v. ). certainly the position would seem to justify such a belief, as it is visible for quite a distance from nearly all directions, and the view from it is a wide one. our friends halted briefly for a contemplation of the scene, which includes the lebanon and hermon ranges of mountains, the countries of samaria, carmel, and galilee to the sea-coast, the valley of the jordan, the land of gilead, moab and bashan, and the whole area of rugged hills in which the sea of tiberias is enclosed. they were reminded of the view from tabor, especially as they looked downward nearly three thousand feet before their vision reached the waters of deep galilee. the guide indicated many points of historic interest, and the list became so long that the attempt to remember everything was soon abandoned. [illustration: the plain of huleh.] from safed they rode on through a rough and desolate region, where they were often compelled to turn aside to avoid great masses of rock that filled the way. for quite a distance they were in sight of lake huleh, or merom, and the youths regretted that time did not permit them to visit the lake and make a voyage upon it. their regret was not very serious when doctor bronson told them that huleh was an insignificant body of water less than five miles long, and surrounded by a marsh, so that its banks were not easy of access. it is mentioned in the old testament as "the waters of merom," and it was on the bank of merom, or near it, that the events occurred which are mentioned in the eleventh chapter of joshua. [illustration: huts near lake huleh.] the lake is at the end of a plain twelve or fifteen miles long by four or five wide; this plain is cultivated by the arabs who dwell upon it, and by some speculators of damascus, who hire men to till the soil and allow them a share of the product. the ground is quite fertile, and has been long celebrated for the abundance of its yield. [illustration: an army of kedesh.] late in the afternoon they came to kedesh, the ancient kedesh-naphtali, where they were to pass the night. beyond the historic interest of the place, and the rains that were scattered for a considerable extent over the ground, kedesh offered no special attractions, as the modern village is neither large nor clean. the ruins show that there were some large buildings here, and by consulting their bibles and other books frank and fred learned that kedesh was the seat of a prince of canaan, and afterward belonged to the tribe of naphtali. barak, the famous general of deborah, was born here, and for several centuries his tomb was pointed out, as was also that of deborah, the prophetess. the boys had seen so many ruins that a brief inspection satisfied them, and they went to bed soon after dark. an early start was made from kedesh, as there was a point of interest five hours from that place, and the guide had suggested that they would halt there for their mid-day meal. the country was rough, and the road wound among the hills, with frequent ascents and descents; but many of the slopes were wooded, and the path was often enclosed by vines and other plants, that gave evidence of a fertile soil. in the early spring, when the flowers are opening, the air is filled with rich odors, and the traveller forgets the rugged hills of judea, and feasts his eyes on the beauty of the scenes that surround him. the party halted a few moments at hunin, a small village near a fortress which is said to have no history. nobody can tell when or by whom it was built; at any rate, there is no historical record of it, and the only opinions as to its antiquity are derived from the building itself. the foundations are very ancient, and the structure reveals the work of romans, saracens, crusaders, turks, and arabs. hunin has not been identified with any biblical spot, though doctor robinson thinks it may have been the beth-rehob mentioned in the eighteenth chapter of judges. from hunin they went down and down a long distance to the plain of huleh, and finally reached their halting-place; it bears the modern name of tell el-kady ("the hill of the judge"), and is undoubtedly the site of dan, frequently mentioned in the bible. "from dan to beersheba," said fred, as he slid from his saddle to the ground. "what is the meaning of that phrase which everybody knows?" "this was the most northern town of the israelite kingdom," replied the doctor, "and beersheba the most southern. to go from dan to beersheba was to go from one end of palestine to the other, just as we say in america, 'from maine to california,' or 'from boston to brownsville.'" "then we are at the northern end of palestine," said frank, "and close to the frontier of syria?" "exactly so," was the reply; "and to-morrow we shall bid farewell to what is called the holy land. we are only three miles from the boundary, and our camp to-night will be where we can throw a stone from one region into the other." with this understanding of their position the boys proceeded to examine the site of dan. while they were doing so the doctor explained that the word "dan" in hebrew means "judge," which is exactly the signification of the arabic "kady." the place is called "the hill," because it is a hill or mound shaped like the summit of a mountain, and about eighty feet higher than the surrounding plain. it is thought to have been once the crater of a volcano, and its shape certainly justifies that belief. the diameter of the cup or basin on the top of the mound is about half a mile; the whole area is covered with ruins, but they are so overgrown with vines and brush that an examination is difficult. frank was ready in a few moments with a brief account of dan, which he ran off very glibly, as follows: "the place was originally a phoenician colony under the name of laish, and was a populous city. a wandering band of danites captured it, and named it after the founder of their tribe; they set up a graven image which they had stolen, and, as they had also stolen a priest along with the idol, they had a good basis for a system of religion. "you can read in the eighteenth chapter of the book of judges how the danites captured laish, and stole their gods and the priest. you can read in genesis xiv. how abraham pursued the plunderers of sodom to dan, and recovered what they had stolen; and in the twelfth chapter of the first book of kings you will learn how jeroboam set up a golden calf in one of the temples of the danites, and established its worship. "but there is something which has been preserved down to our day," frank continued; "here is one of the sources of the jordan. the danites and the golden calf have been gone for many centuries, but the fountain of the jordan is not exhausted. it may say with the brook, in the words of the poet-- "'men may come and men may go, but i go on forever.'" following the directions of the guide, frank and his companions went to the western side of the mound, where they found a pool or basin about fifty yards across, in which the water bubbled as in a fast-flowing spring. it was, indeed, a spring, and the flow was large enough to form a stream thirty feet wide and two feet deep. the guide said it was the largest of all the sources of the jordan, but the stream it formed was not so long as that from banias, and the latter again is shorter than the hasbany, which rises near hasbeiyah. the stream rising at dan is called the lesser jordan on the maps, and unites with the greater jordan a few miles below, while all meet in lake huleh, as we have already learned. [illustration: head-spring of the jordan near hasbeiyah.] there is another spring inside the basin on the top of the hill, but it is much smaller than the great fountain. there was a fine oak-tree close to this spring, and it furnished a grateful shade to the travellers while they were taking their well-earned lunch. a halt of something more than an hour found them ready to move on, and it was an easy ride of three or four miles from dan to banias, or cesarea-philippi. [illustration] here they were at the source of the greater jordan, which issues from a cave and forms a brook about half the volume of that which has its source at dan. there are several mills on the brook, and just below the town is a large terebinth-tree, which forms an important feature in every picture of the place. it is the favorite resort of beggars and other idlers, and the traveller who halts beneath it is sure to be implored for backsheesh. [illustration: terebinth-tree at banias.] banias is in a picturesque spot; it is surrounded by mountains, and is at the base of a cone crowned by a castle, which is or was one of the strongest in all syria. the ruins of the city lie all around the base of the cone, and some of them show that the buildings were of great extent. the city was of phoenician origin, and contained temples dedicated to the worship of the heathen deity _pan_, from which it was named paneas. this afterward became banias, and in the time of the romans the worship of the greek god was continued. the name was changed to cesarea-philippi, first in honor of cæsar, and secondly to distinguish it from the other cesarea on the sea-coast. "we read in the new testament," said the doctor, "that christ came into the coasts of cesarea-philippi. here he asked his disciples, 'whom do men say that i, the son of man, am?' and then followed the question, 'whom say ye that i am?' "you know what peter replied to this. and then christ spoke the words that have become memorable in the history of the religion that he founded: "'thou art peter, and upon this rock i will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. and i will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.' "these words," the doctor continued, "have a greater significance than you might suppose. they are the foundation of the roman catholic church. peter, the disciple to whom they were spoken, became the head of the church, and the first pope. all his successors have been regarded as the inheritors of his divine authority; and the efforts of the catholic church, from the time of our saviour till the present, have been directed to the maintenance of the principles involved in this short passage of scripture. volumes have been written to sustain it, and other volumes to show its fallacy; but the words remain unchanged, and the power of the church still exists. "dean stanley and others maintain that the words refer to the rock or cliff on which the castle of banias stands, and certainly the position is a commanding one. another scriptural reference to the high mountain where jesus went with three of his disciples, 'and was transfigured before them,' is easy to understand when we look from the ruins of banias to the heights of mount hermon, which almost overshadow the source of the jordan." the next morning the party was off at daybreak to visit the castle of banias, which is known to the arabs as _kul'at-es-subeibeh_. it is about a thousand feet above the town, and, consequently, has a position that must have been of great importance before the invention of artillery. the path is narrow and difficult, and the spot is one of those where a hundred men could successfully defend themselves against an army. [illustration: substructions of the castle of banias.] a couple of hours were spent in the castle, and even at the end of this time there was a great deal that had not been seen. the castle is on the crest of a peak, and the space it occupies may be roughly set down as a thousand feet long by two hundred in width. there are great cisterns for holding water, so that a garrison could not be made to suffer by thirst, and there are immense store-rooms in the cellars for protection against a long siege. the walls are unusually thick and strong, and many of the hewn stones are ten or twelve feet long, and with proportional width and depth. taken altogether, the castle of banias is one of the wonders of palestine, and is better preserved than the majority of its fortresses or other works of the architect. [illustration: view from the castle of banias.] the view from the top of the principal tower is quite extensive; it is shut in on the north by the higher mountains, but is open at the south in the direction of the valley of the jordan. an opening in the mountains of bashan reveals the huleh morass, with patches of water, and the lake beyond it, while the chain of the mountains of galilee closes the view. farther down is the depression of the sea of galilee; and the spectator, whose imagination is easily set at work, can follow the tortuous course of the jordan till he reaches its termination over the buried cities of the plain. from banias to damascus, direct, is a ride of twelve hours. it was thought to be too great an undertaking for the party to make the entire distance in a single day, and therefore they decided to camp at artuz, which would shorten the journey to nine hours, and leave the remaining three hours for the next morning. it is a good plan to arrange one's journey so as to arrive in these eastern cities early in the day, and not at night. there is a good deal in favor of a pleasant impression of a city, and certainly this is not to be had in the hours of darkness, and when you are thoroughly fatigued by a long ride. there was nothing of special interest on the route, with the exception of the spot where paul was converted, as we read in the ninth chapter of the acts of the apostles. it is at the place where the traveller from tiberias gets his first view of damascus, with its domes and minarets rising from the fertile plain--dotted with villages set in rich orchards, and gardens watered by the pharpar and abana, flowing down from the mountains which guard them. the life-giving power of water is seen nowhere in all syria to better advantage than from this point, and it is no wonder that naaman exclaimed, "are not pharpar and abana, rivers of damascus, better than all the waters of israel?" there was little sleep in the tent of frank and fred that night, as the youths were impatient to be in damascus, the wonderful city of the east, about which they had read and dreamed, but until quite recently had never expected to see. here they were at last, beneath the shadows of hermon, the lofty ridge of anti-lebanon, and amid the gardens of artuz, which are the promises of the richness of the plain before them. the desert and the mountains are behind them, while in front is one of the oldest existing cities of the world, and one that has been little changed during the centuries of its existence. as was damascus two thousand years ago, so almost is the damascus of to-day. it is no wonder that the youths were sleepless that night; nor that they rose before the dawn, that they might see the rays of the rising sun gilding the minarets of damascus and spreading its effulgence over the fertile land. [illustration: a street in damascus.] chapter xxxi. sights and scenes in damascus. the party remained three days at damascus, and found the time none too great for seeing this wonderful city. frank devoted each evening to writing an account of what they had seen during the day, and we are at liberty to copy the greater part of his story: [illustration: general view of damascus.] "when we reached the city we went directly to dmitri's hotel, which is the only establishment of the kind in damascus. dmitri is a greek, and was formerly a dragoman. he knows the country very well, and his house is quite as comfortable as one could expect to find in this far-off place. the building was once the property of a wealthy resident of damascus, and is in the truly oriental style. there is a large court-yard with a fountain in the centre, and the rooms of the house mostly open from this court. when we speak of a fountain, remember we are talking of an oriental one, which is a large tank of stone with water flowing in at one side from a pipe and flowing out at the other. [illustration: interior of a house in damascus.] "on the right of the fountain there is an open recess, where it is pleasant to sit in a warm afternoon; it contains chairs and divans, and is altogether an attractive spot. on the opposite side of the court is the parlor, which we entered by an ordinary door. there is a marble floor about six feet wide, and as long as the room is broad, and on each side of this marble floor there are steps to the rest of the room, which is about two feet higher. the marble part is entirely bare, with a small fountain in the centre, but the rest is richly carpeted, and has plenty of divans and large chairs. the chairs do not properly belong here, as they are not oriental, but are kept out of regard for the wants of european visitors. "how high do you suppose the ceiling is in the centre of this parlor? "we had a curiosity to know, and so we measured it. dmitri supplied us with ladders and a cord, and after a good deal of trouble we ascertained that it lacked only a few inches of thirty feet! "we have been much interested in the house, as it is one of the best types we have seen of the oriental dwelling. there are finer houses than this in damascus, but it is not easy for a foreigner to see more of them than the outside walls. some of the houses have cost a great deal of money, even in this country where labor is very cheap. "having looked at the house, we will go into the streets and take a glance at the distinctive features of damascus. "to begin with, damascus is supposed to have a population of one hundred and ten to one hundred and twenty thousand. nobody can tell exactly, as the census is never taken as we take it in america, and quite probably nobody cares very much to know what it is. here is the most accurate statement of the subject that we can find: "eighty-nine thousand five hundred moslems, twelve thousand christians, five thousand jews, and about five thousand druses, bedouins, and other miscellaneous classifications. about half the christians belong to the greek orthodox church, and the rest are latins, maronites, syrians, and armenians. "as you are well aware, damascus is one of the oldest cities in the world. it is mentioned in the fifteenth chapter of genesis, and very often in other books of the bible, but the scriptural references do not tell us how old it is. the traditions of the jews, christians, and moslems concerning the origin of damascus do not agree, but by sifting them down, and harmonizing as much as possible, we may suppose it was founded by uz, the son of aram, and was a well-established city before the birth of abraham. the kings of syria lived here for more than three hundred years; one of them was conquered by king david, but the subjection did not last long. afterward it was conquered by the assyrians and added to their empire, and subsequently it was a possession of persia. "it would take several pages for me to tell you the history of damascus, and as it might be tedious, and you can find it in any good encyclopædia, we will take a jump of three thousand years or less and come down to our own times. the most exciting event of modern days in damascus was the massacre of the christians in , when five or six thousand people were killed for no other reason than their belief in the religion of bethlehem. the whole of the christian quarter was burnt, not a house being left uninjured. about half of it has been rebuilt, but some of the buildings are very frail, and it will be a long time before this portion of damascus resumes its former appearance. "our guide through the streets was a christian whose father was killed at the time of the massacre. the family managed to escape to the mountains, where they wandered for days, and were very near starvation. in addition to the thousands who were killed, there were many who died of wounds and starvation, while hundreds of women and children were sold into slavery. "we asked doctor bronson how it all happened, and he said it was an affair of international politics growing out of the crimean war, and the support that england gave to the turkish government against russia. the treaty of paris, after the crimean war, contained a clause which was intended to prevent foreign intervention in the affairs of turkey, and allow the sultan to control his christian subjects. as a moslem generally believes that the best thing to do with an adherent of any other religion than his own is to kill him, the result of this unhappy provision of the treaty was to cause the moslems to slaughter the christians among them. "the massacres began in the mountains of lebanon, and extended to damascus and other places. it is thought that not far from twenty thousand christians were butchered in syria during the month of july, . the turkish government permitted the inhuman work to go on, and in several cases its officers encouraged it, particularly at damascus and hasbeiyah. the news of the affair aroused the whole of europe. france sent an army to occupy the lebanon district, and protect the christians, and since that time there have been no repetitions of the dreadful scenes, though there is no feeling of friendliness between the christians and moslems. "so much for a bit of the history of damascus. the massacre of was not by any means the only one of which this city has been the scene. there was a greater than this when the conqueror tamerlane, in , captured the city, and, after plundering it, caused large numbers of the inhabitants to be killed. though many of the buildings were destroyed, they were soon rebuilt; and it is said to be a curious feature of damascus that it has prospered under all rulers and all forms of government. it has changed comparatively little in appearance, and when any part has been destroyed, by accident or in warfare, it rises again almost the same as before, though the reconstruction sometimes requires many years. "we followed the advice of our guide, who said that, as the weather was fine, we had best take advantage of it to go outside the city and see the walls and other curiosities. he went for donkeys, and, as soon as they came, off we started. "we started off in more ways than one, as every member of the party had a tumble before he had gone a mile. the little animals are not so large as their brethren of cairo, nor as sure of foot. they seemed to be fond of stumbling, and didn't care what the result was to their riders. fortunately their size saved us from any injury, as we had very little distance to fall from their backs to the ground. "we went first to bab-shurkey, or the eastern gate, which is one of the historic entrances of damascus. "it is not a very handsome piece of architecture, though it may have been so centuries ago. there was once a fine portal of roman construction, but it was walled up more than eight centuries ago, and has remained closed ever since. the entrance now used was formerly one of the side arches of the roman gate-way. we climbed to the top for a view of the city, and certainly the scene was a picturesque one, and amply repaid us for the trouble. "we looked along the 'street called straight,' by which st. paul entered damascus. it has the same name to-day as it had in paul's time, but is not exactly the same street. perhaps you wonder what i mean? "well, during the roman period, and down to the time the moslems took the city, this street was a hundred feet wide, and was divided by three rows of columns, corresponding to the three arches at the eastern gate. the two side arches have been built up, but not very regularly, and the street from being straight is crooked. it runs in a sort of wavy line from one side of the city to the other, and its houses are so close to each other in some places that you might shake hands from a window with your neighbor over the way. "there are several places where the opposite windows are not a yard apart, and as they project over the street it is easy to sit concealed and see everything that goes on below you. we went into one of the houses, and were permitted to look from a window, and very funny it seemed to be thus suspended in mid-air. "the most prominent objects in the view from the top of the gate were the desolate portions of the christian quarter which i have already mentioned. they lay quite near where we stood, and our guide indicated the position of the protestant and other churches that were burnt, and the mission schools and hospitals which met the same fate. farther along were the roofs and domes of the city. the great mosque was an important feature in the view, together with the battlements of the castle just behind it. "from the gate we went along the base of the walls, where we saw masonry of all ages from the romans down to the turks. the foundations are unmistakably roman, so the doctor says, and the highest part of the walls, which were built only a few years ago, are as unmistakably turkish. the guide showed us the place where st. paul escaped from damascus, as described in second corinthians, 'and through a window in a basket was i let down by the wall, and escaped.' the guide said there could be no doubt about the spot, as the window was there until a few years ago, when a moslem owner of the property ordered it to be filled with brick and closed! "not far from this place is the tomb of george the porter, who assisted paul to escape, and was martyred and canonized in consequence. a little farther on is the christian cemetery, and beyond it is the foreign cemetery, which contains several english and american graves. looking from the cemetery toward the city we noticed that there were houses on the walls, as in the time of the bible; it was easy to understand how paul was lowered from the wall, and how rahab, who dwelt on the town wall of jericho, let down the spies that had been exploring the promised land. "in several places the city has grown beyond the walls, and sometimes it is not easy to distinguish the interior from the exterior. this is particularly the case with the meidan, which is just outside the walls, and is quite a mile long by half a mile in width. compared with the rest of damascus the paint is hardly dry on it, as it is not two hundred years old, and many of its buildings have actually been erected within the present century. the principal street is about a hundred feet wide, and nearly straight. when the annual caravan to mecca sets out on its journey the scene is a magnificent one along this street, as there is a gay procession of thousands of people, preceded by the camel with the sacred canopy, and the officials and priests in their richest dress. our guide says the procession diminishes every year, as the journey can be made far more easily by steamers from beyroot than by land. it takes at least thirty days to go by land, and about a week or ten days by sea. "we went to the moslem cemetery, where we saw among other things the tombs of two of mohammed's wives and his daughter fatima. the cemetery reminded us of the burial-places of cairo, but we missed the splendor of the tombs of the mamelukes, and also of the tombs of the caliphs. [illustration: bedouin camp near damascus.] "we timed our excursion so that we should be at the salahiyeh hills, which overlook damascus from the east, a little before sunset. it is a ride of about an hour through a village and up a gentle road to a point from which damascus can be seen spread at the spectator's feet. "there lay the city embowered in its gardens, and tinted by the rays of the setting sun that changed every moment. it was more like a vision of paradise than anything we had seen in the country, and we realized the force of the remark attributed to mohammed, as he gazed upon damascus from these hills: "'man can enter paradise but once; if i pass into damascus i shall be excluded from the other paradise reserved for the faithful.' "according to the legend, he then turned away and never entered the city he had come so far to see. "the arabs regard damascus with reverence, and often speak of it as enthusiastically as did mohammed on the occasion i have mentioned. it is, indeed, a beautiful and an interesting city, and ranks next to cairo, which it greatly resembles in many things. something must be allowed for oriental exaggeration or we shall make too much of damascus; and doctor bronson says the city, from its position, is the cause of a great deal of the admiration bestowed upon it. we asked him how it was, and he explained it in this way: "bear in mind that damascus is in a fertile plain watered by the pharpar and abana, flowing from the mountains and never failing in any season of the year. these rivers are carried through damascus, and consequently the city has an abundance of water at all times. "now, bear again in mind that, though in a fertile plain, the city is on the edge of a desert, and the traveller who comes here from the east has traversed a region of barrenness. for days and days he has seen no trees or other green things, water has been scanty and poor, and he must take great precautions to save himself from perishing by thirst. is it any wonder that when he comes to damascus, in the midst of its luxuriant gardens, and sees the fountains flowing at every street-corner and sparkling in every dwelling, he must think he has entered paradise, or will doubt whether he is awake or dreaming? "as the sun went down behind the range of anti-lebanon we descended the hills and re-entered the city. there was nothing to be seen in the evening. damascus goes early to bed, and so went we. "next morning we were out in good season, and off for our round of sight-seeing. we visited the historic places of damascus, including the house of ananias the high-priest, and other buildings connected with st. paul's stay in the city; and we went outside of the eastern gate a short distance to the leper hospital, which is supposed to stand on the site of the house of naaman the leper. some of the patients were in front of the building, and were sad objects to look upon. some were blind, others were much swollen about the face, hands, feet, or limbs, and there was one whose face was covered with scales. the guide said that the edges of these scales when lifted revealed raw and inflamed flesh, and many of the patients were masses of sores. we did not wish to go inside, although we were assured that there was no danger of contracting the disease. [illustration: a scene in damascus.] "doctor bronson says this dreadful disease was once very common in europe, and nearly every city and town had its leper hospitals. from the sixth to the thirteenth centuries it was spread from one end of europe to the other, particularly after the wars of the crusades. an order of chivalry, under the name of the knights of st. lazarus (named after lazarus the beggar), had for its special mission the care of victims of leprosy, and after they were expelled from jerusalem in the twelfth century they established a hospital at paris. if you have been in paris you will remember the _gare st. lazare_, the terminal station of the western railway, which is close by the _rue st. lazare_, and a walk of five or six minutes from the grand opera house. the leper hospital of paris was in this neighborhood, and the name of the order of monks that founded it is preserved in the street and railway-station. "leprosy has almost entirely disappeared from europe; it is seen occasionally in scandinavia and italy, and a few cases have been reported in spain. it exists in the east, but is not so prevalent as it was a thousand years ago, and once in a while you will hear of a leper in america and the islands of the pacific ocean. doctor bronson says he was once invited by professor pardee, dean of the medical college of new york, to see a case of leprosy from one of the mountain counties of virginia. the patient was a negro, and, as far as the doctors could ascertain, he was suffering from leprosy of the same type as we find to-day in damascus. [illustration: portrait of abd-el-kadr.] "we passed the house of abd-el-kader, the arab chief who fought the french in algeria for a long time, but was finally conquered, and required to choose some place not in africa for his residence. he selected damascus, and has lived here ever since, with the exception of an occasional visit to paris, where he is always treated with a great deal of respect. at the time of the massacre in he sheltered a great many christians in his house, and did everything in his power to stop the bloodshed. when the war broke out between france and germany he offered his military services to the country that had conquered him, but the government did not think it good policy to accept them. "the bazaars of damascus are so much like those of cairo that it is unnecessary to describe them, as the picture of one will be almost identically that of the other. the mode of bargaining is the same; and if there is any difference at all in testing a stranger's patience it is in favor of damascus. "one of our party wanted to buy some of the silk handkerchiefs for which syria is famous, and we stopped in the silk bazaar for that purpose. the merchant asked twenty francs, and the buyer offered six; after chaffering for a full hour they met at twelve francs, and the transaction was closed. "the merchant then unrolled a piece of silk, which he assured us was of native manufacture. while he was praising it, and declaring he was offering it for half its value, he unrolled a little farther, when out dropped from the end of the roll a ticket with the name of a french manufacturer at lyons! "he took it in as hastily as he could, but was not quick enough to prevent our seeing and reading it. this confirmed what we had heard before, that a great deal of the silk sold in constantinople, cairo, beyroot, damascus, and other oriental places as native manufacture, is made in europe in imitation of the genuine article. the counterfeit is so well executed that it cannot be distinguished from the genuine except by an expert, and frequently the only difference is in favor of the finish of the european goods. "we went through one bazaar after another, and were offered all sorts of articles we did not want, together with a few that we did. what we most wanted were the genuine damascus blades, and we looked for them in the arms bazaar for quite a while. [illustration: sword-blades of damascus.] "they offered us a good many swords, but none that came up to the stories of the ancient weapons, which could be tied in a knot or doubled up into a loop without the least injury. they asked a hundred dollars for one, but fell slowly to twenty, and as this seemed too cheap for an article once worth at least a thousand dollars, we declined to buy. "while we were looking at these weapons doctor bronson told us of the original damascus blades, about which so much has been written. he said they were made in the early centuries of the christian era, and the art was lost when tamerlane carried the artisans away after his capture of the city. it was said they could be bent into many shapes, would cut through wood and iron without being marred or indented, and the old warriors frequently divided their victims in two from head to foot with a single stroke of one of these famous weapons. a good deal must be allowed for oriental exaggeration, but there is no doubt that the damascus blade was the finest ever constructed. it all depended upon the steel and the process of making it. "we asked the doctor if anybody in modern times had been able to produce anything like the swords of damascus. "'a great many attempts have been made,' said he, 'but none have completely succeeded. the nearest approach to success was by general anosoff, a russian officer in charge of the steel and iron works at zlatoust, in siberia. after many years of experiments he managed to produce weapons with nearly all the qualities of the original damascus blades; he succeeded in making damascus steel by four different processes, the most practical being that of melting iron in crucibles, with one-twelfth its weight of graphite, and some other things you can learn about in any good book on steel manufacture. the blades of general anosoff were superior to any other modern ones in toughness, elasticity, and keenness of edge, and they had those peculiar marks known as "watering," exactly like the ancient blades.' [illustration: damask goods.] "from the arms bazaar we went to the great mosque, and then to the citadel, passing on the way a shop devoted to the sale of those peculiar fabrics known as damask, which detained us a few minutes. damascus for centuries had the monopoly of the manufacture of this article, but it is now all over europe, and the city retains little more than the name. we asked to be shown the factory where it was made, but they said the workmen were out for a holiday, and the place was closed, but if we called around next week they could oblige us. of course they knew we would be off in a day or two, as nobody remains long here, and so we could only smile and thank them for their politeness. but we didn't buy. "the mosque occupies an area of five hundred feet by three hundred, and is an imposing building, on the whole, though inferior to some of the moslem edifices we saw at cairo. the central dome is a hundred and twenty feet high, and rests on four massive pillars; the shrine on the eastern side is elaborately carved, and there is a cave beneath it in which the head of john the baptist is said to be preserved in a golden casket. [illustration: attack on the citadel of damascus before the invention of gunpowder.] "back of the mosque is the citadel, which was once a strong fortress, but is now little better than a ruined pile of brick and stone. most of the rooms are unfit for occupation, and we were not allowed to go inside. the castle played a prominent part in the defence of damascus before the invention of artillery, but it is of no consequence now that we have gunpowder and the weapons for using it." [illustration: paul led into damascus.] chapter xxxii. damascus to beyroot.--the ruins of baalbec.--farewell. from damascus to beyroot there is the only good wagon road in all syria; it was built by a french company under a concession from the turkish government, and is a fine specimen of engineering skill. twice a day a diligence or stage-coach runs each way; the distance is nearly a hundred miles, and the journey is made in about thirteen hours. the company has its own freight-wagons, and sends a train out every day to carry merchandise at certain fixed rates. a heavy toll is levied on all parties using the road, whether for passengers or freight, or even for saddle-animals, and it is an odd sight to see trains of camels and horses plodding through the rocks and mud of the old bridle-path side by side with the macadamized road. [illustration: a caravan near damascus.] frank and fred wanted to travel by this modern road, but their enthusiasm was a trifle dampened by the suggestion of the doctor. "we are going from here to baalbec," said the doctor, "where we will see the ruins of the temple of the sun. the place is about twenty miles from the carriage-road, and will require an outfit of saddle-horses and a dragoman from shtora, the nearest point on the road. i have thought it best to arrange with ali to accompany us to baalbec, and from there to shtora, where he can leave us, and we can then have a ride on the company's route to the sea-coast. this will give you an experience of carriage travelling in syria, and put us to less trouble than any other plan we could adopt." of course there was no dissenting voice when the scheme of the good doctor was propounded, and the whole party announced its readiness to move whenever he gave the word. [illustration: the river among the rocks.] they started in the afternoon for a ride of about four hours to the fountain of fijeh, one of the sources of the abana. for an hour they followed the road of the french company, and then turned away to the right among chalky hills so rugged and bare as to have in places the appearance of snow. sometimes they looked down upon little valleys rich with orchards of olive and fig trees, and a moment later there was hardly a green thing to be seen. in many places the river wound among rocks so steep that a safe passage to the edge of the water was impossible to find. one of the villages that they passed was perched on a hill-side so abrupt that it was only to be reached by a winding path. the scenery was of the wildest character, and the boys were glad that the doctor had determined upon this route instead of the more prosaic one of the french company's road. the antiquity of damascus was shown by an engineering work between two of the villages near the barada; it is an ancient aqueduct which was evidently made to carry water from the fijeh fountain to damascus. the name of its builder is unknown, but tradition says it was made by zenobia, queen of palmyra, about the middle of the third century. it was never completed, and from the excellence of the water-supply of damascus it was evidently not needed. beyond this aqueduct they wound up a narrow valley or glen, and the greater part of the way were compelled to follow a path cut in the sloping rock. the guide pointed out a spot where the season before a traveller fell from his horse, and was so severely injured against the rocks that he lived only a few hours. the place was favorable to accidents, and it seemed to the boys a remarkable circumstance that a single week should pass in the season of travel without loss of life. the valley widened a little, but still retained its precipitous or sharply sloping sides; the widenings gave opportunities for fig and olive orchards to find a footing, and by-and-by they came to a small village, where the guide called a halt and the party dismounted. [illustration: the fijeh source of the abana.] they were at ain fijeh, or the fountain of fijeh, one of the sources of the abana. it has a right to be called the principal source, as it is much larger than any other, though at a lower elevation. frank and fred pronounced it one of the finest springs they had seen in the country, and recalled their visit to the source of the jordan at dan. the spring comes from a cave in a limestone rock, and pours out with a force which suggests a great pressure of water behind it. directly above the mouth of the cave are the remains of a temple, with portions of the walls standing, and there is a similar building, not quite so badly injured, a little way to the right. the fountain is large enough to form at once a stream three or four feet deep and twenty-five or thirty in width, which goes dashing over the rocks as though it had been flowing for miles down the side of a mountain. the banks of the stream are lined with bushes, and it is impossible to get a view of any distance through them owing to their density. the camp had been formed on the bank of the stream where there was an open space, and our friends slept through the night lulled by the murmurs of the waters, and the sighing of the wind among the trees that encircled their camping-ground. an early start was made in the morning for another ride among the cliffs of anti-lebanon. the route was much like that of the day before, and carried them to a higher elevation, where they often enjoyed views of great extent. they passed the ruins of abila, a roman city of considerable importance at the beginning of the christian era, and then they wound up and up till the ridge of the mountain was passed, and the descent began to the plain where baalbec stands. it was a long ride, and in some places a dreary one, and when they reached the famous temple of the sun the night had fallen, and the stars were out in the sky. we will call upon fred for a description of baalbec and its wonderful ruins: "we were very tired when we got to baalbec, and did not care much for ruins or anything else. but a good sleep refreshed us, and when we started out for our day's work you would not have suspected we were the worn-out travellers of the night before. that shows the effect of a good sleep in the pure air of the mountains of syria. "the pillars and columns of the temple that are still in position can be seen a long way off, and nobody needs the words of the guide to know what they are. our camp was right in the centre of the ruins, and so we had a view of them by night as we rode in among them. they seemed enormously large then, and, strange to say, they didn't appear much smaller when we had daylight for looking at them. the fact is they are immense, and the most stupendous thing we have seen since we left egypt. [illustration: the ruins of baalbec.] "nobody knows when these temples were built; but it is generally believed that the city to which they belonged was the heliopolis of the greeks and romans. there is no authentic history of the place earlier than the fourth century, but coins of heliopolis have been found of the second century, which show it was then a roman city. there are three temples here, and they bear the names of 'the great temple,' 'the temple of the sun,'and 'the circular temple.' we have been through them, or, rather, of what remains of them, and to say we have been impressed by their grandeur is to convey a very faint idea of our feelings. we have seen nothing in the country to compare with them, and our admiration for their builders is as great as it can possibly be. "it would take many pages for me to describe the courts, and porticos, and portals, and other parts or accessories of these temples at baalbec, and i should turn your head into an ant-hill of figures long before i could get through. you would be constantly reminded of what we told you of the temples of karnak and thebes, in egypt, and perhaps you might grow impatient before i reached the end. rather than run the risk of anything of the kind i'll jump all that, and come at once to what kept us in a string of exclamation points all the time we were walking among the ruins. "the great wonder of baalbec was the size of the stones used in the work of construction. wherever you go, whether in the vaulted arches beneath the platform, through the subterranean passages that were used as stables in the middle ages, or among the walls and the rows of columns in court and portico, the immensity of the stones takes away your breath. hewn stones twelve, fifteen, or twenty feet long, and proportionally wide and high, are in the walls, and as regularly laid up as though they were common bricks. "when you have become accustomed to these, the guide takes you to where there are blocks, not a few but many, varying from twenty-four to thirty feet long, and proportionally wide and deep. some of them are way up in the air at the tops of columns sixty or seventy feet high, and you can't help wondering what kind of machinery must have been used to get them there. "you get tired of saying 'here's another,' 'look at this,' 'see this one,' and similar expressions, and then you tell the guide as much. you are tired of seeing so many of these great blocks. "then he takes you round to the western wall, and points to a section of it. your eyes follow the direction of his hand. "in that wall, twenty feet above the ground, are three stones, lying end to end. they are thirteen feet square at the ends, and their respective lengths are sixty-three, sixty-three and three-quarters, and sixty-four feet. "stop and think how large one of the stones is. measure off sixty-four feet in the garden, and then look thirteen feet up the side of the house, and another thirteen feet along the ground; then you'll have some idea of these immense stones. mark twain says, in 'the innocents abroad,' that each of these stones is about as large as three street-cars placed end to end, but a third higher and wider than a street-car; or it might be better represented by two railway freight-cars of the largest pattern coupled together. "in the quarries whence these stones were taken, a mile from the temples, is another stone considerably larger, but it has never been moved or even detached from the bed-rock, and, therefore, doctor bronson says it doesn't count. "you ask how these stones were moved and laid into the walls and platforms. we'll tell you as soon as we find out. "the people that built these temples knew some things we don't know, just as the ancient egyptians did. but we can console ourselves with the reflection that we have many things of which they were ignorant. we have steamships and railways, the telephone and telegraph, glass in our windows, umbrellas, oysters on the half shell, ice-cream, ready-made-clothing stores, pug-dogs, and i don't know what else. we are far more comfortable than they were, and if we could only satisfy our curiosity about their modes of moving these enormous blocks of stone there would be nothing to envy them for. "so much for baalbec. we spent the forenoon there, and made a thorough examination of the ruins; then we had a substantial lunch and started for shtora, twenty miles away. our route was along the plain of buka, which lies between lebanon and anti-lebanon, and is a fertile strip of land from two to five miles wide. there are few trees on the plain, in spite of the fertility of the soil. rain had fallen the night before, and the soil was sticky, like that of some of our western prairies, so that lumps were continually forming on our horses' feet. we passed several villages, and also a good-sized town called zahleh; it lies at the foot of the slope of the lebanon mountain, and is surrounded with orchards and vineyards. "the guide said that zahleh was the most important wine-producing place in the lebanon district; he pointed out a wine-press close by the side of our road, and as we wanted to rest the horses a few moments, to say nothing of ourselves, we stopped long enough to look at it. [illustration: modern wine-press.] "it didn't take long for us to examine the machinery used for making wine. there was a wooden box, about ten feet square and four feet deep, standing on short posts, and having a ladder against the side. the box is filled with grapes, which are brought in baskets, and then half a dozen men climb up the ladder, steady themselves by means of cords hanging from the ceiling, and tread out the juice with their naked feet. the juice runs from a spout in one side-end of the box, and is caught in a tub, whence it is put into casks or jars and left to ferment. the ancient egyptians used almost identically the same sort of press, and the mode of preparing the wine has not been varied at all since the days of the bible. [illustration: bridge over the litany.] "our route was quite near the river litany, and once we crossed it on a bridge of a single arch, which was said to have been built long ago--how long ago we could not ascertain. the last three or four miles of our ride was along a carriage-road, and just at dusk we reached shtora, where we were to pass the night. "the hotel at shtora was kept by a greek with an italian wife, and they made us quite comfortable in a rough way. we had cots for beds and plenty of covering, and they gave us an excellent supper and an equally excellent breakfast. doctor bronson had arranged at damascus for a special carriage to be ready at shtora to carry us over the lebanon to beyroot; the carriage came while we were at supper, and the hotel-keeper, who was also agent of the road company, told us we could start at seven o'clock in the morning, and be in beyroot by two in the afternoon. "we were off at the hour named, and soon were climbing the eastern slope of the lebanon. up and up we went, the air growing colder as we ascended, and calling into use all the overcoats and wraps we could muster. from the zigzags of the road we looked down on the plain we had left: at times it seemed as though we could toss a pebble into the litany, which was reduced to a winding thread in the green carpet of buka. the mountain grew more and more desolate with every mile of our ascent, and when we stopped to change horses at the station we walked a long way in advance in an effort to get warm. "we had said good-bye to ali and his horses at shtora, and our only guide now was the arab driver, whose knowledge of french was confined to a few words. we tried in vain to learn the names of the places we were passing. we especially wanted to know if we were near the famous grove of the cedars of lebanon, but our efforts were unrewarded. [illustration: the cedars of lebanon.] "at the first station where we changed horses the manager, a frenchman, said the cedars were several miles to the north, over a rough and difficult road which was inaccessible to carriages. he said the grove was less than half a mile square, and contained about four hundred trees of all sizes. most of the trees are young, and not more than a dozen are of any great antiquity. the largest is about forty feet in circumference, and it is supposed to be the oldest; and there are thirty or forty which are each from three to five feet in diameter. "this is the grove from which the timber for solomon's temple is supposed to have been taken. there were formerly many cedar groves in syria, but the most of them have been cut down, or have disappeared from climatic causes. no care is taken of the few cedars that remain; visitors cut and hack them as much as they please. the arabs take the branches for fuel, and the goats nibble the young shoots so that no new trees can grow. in a hundred years, or perhaps less, the famous cedars of lebanon will have ceased to exist. "now we are on the summit of lebanon, five thousand six hundred feet above the level of the mediterranean! the sea is far below us, its dark-blue surface filling the western horizon, and between us and the water is the slope of lebanon and the belt of coast. the driver gathers his reins, turns down the brake a little--just enough to steady the carriage, but not sufficient to impede the progress of the horses. away they go at a rapid trot, and occasionally at a gallop. the ride was tedious as we slowly ascended the other side of lebanon, and this exhilarating speed is an admirable contrast. [illustration: view of beyroot, looking toward the harbor.] "down, and down, and down! the air grows warmer, the clouds that were hovering about the mountain-top are breaking, and the sunlight comes pouring through the rifts, warming our shivering frames and gilding the rocks with a tint of gold. the spots of green on the ground below us grow every minute till they develop into villages and orchards, and one, clinging at the edge of the sea, is larger than any of the others. the driver waves his hand toward this spot and pronounces the word 'beyroot.' there lies the city where our wanderings in palestine and syria will come to an end. "the mediterranean sparkled in the sunlight, its blue surface stippled with white sails or darkened by the trail of smoke from the funnels of a steamer. an irregular streak of foam marked where the waves broke along the beach and separated land from sea. in one hour of our descent the chill of winter was exchanged for the genial air of spring, and in another hour spring was turned to summer. oranges and citrons were on the trees, olives and figs abounded, the fields were luxuriant, and it seemed a dream that we had come so quickly from one climate to another. "we drove to the principal hotel, and our ride was at an end. after arranging our toilets, for which we found ample materials in the welcome trunks that had been sent from jaffa, we went out for a view of beyroot. "we found the streets were not unlike those of jaffa, jerusalem, or damascus in their general features, so far as the old part of the city is concerned. we had expected this, and therefore were not disappointed; but we had not expected to find the streets in the new part of beyroot as wide and handsome as they are. the place has an appearance of prosperity and activity more than any other we have seen since leaving alexandria; it has a large european population, and a good many factories, business houses of various kinds, and kindred establishments, all conducted by foreigners. the entire population is said to be more than eighty thousand, and some authorities declare it to be little, if any, short of one hundred thousand. about a third of the inhabitants are moslems; the remaining two-thirds include native christians, jews, druses, and a good many foreign nationalities. "beyroot is the ancient berytus, and some authorities identify it with berothah or berothai of the bible. it is a very old city, as we have no distinct record of the time when it was founded, and it is known to have been destroyed and rebuilt one hundred and forty years before the christian era. it has always been a fairly prosperous city, but the period of its greatest advance has been within the past twenty years. "we hired a carriage for a drive along the coast to nahr el-kelb--dog river--passing the spot where st. george killed the dragon. if you have any doubt about the truth of the story, you can be convinced by borrowing an english twenty-shilling piece and studying the picture of the performance represented on one side of the coin. dog river runs through a rocky ravine, and on its sides there are greek, roman, assyrian, and egyptian inscriptions. they are supposed to commemorate the occupation of the country by the armies of the various nations represented: the assyrian sculptures are estimated to date back at least twenty-five centuries, while the egyptian are of a period at least six hundred years older. [illustration: mission school in syria.] "we returned from dog river the way we came, and then drove to one of the mission schools of the city. beyroot is an important field of missionary enterprise, and one result is that the proportion of persons who cannot read and write is smaller than in any other city of syria. the american protestant mission has a fine array of buildings, and, in addition to the ordinary schools of instruction, it has a theological seminary and a literary and medical college; then it has a printing-office, where a great deal of useful matter is printed, including a weekly newspaper, and it has established schools in the villages of the lebanon and through other parts of the country. many famous men have been connected with this mission in the past fifty years, and their labors have been warmly appreciated by the supporters of the enterprise. "then there are the british syrian schools, supported by english donations, and there is a school maintained by the church of scotland. the french have several schools, orphan asylums, convents, and churches; the germans have a good representation in the same way; and the russians, italians, and greeks have not been behind the other nationalities of beyroot in providing educational advantages. it is probable that more money has been expended in beyroot in missionary enterprises than in any other city of its size in the entire east. [illustration: fountain at beyroot.] "i must not forget the beautiful bay on which the city stands. it is a fine body of water of semicircular shape, opening to the north; as you look from the anchorage the city seems to rise in a series of terraces till it reaches the enclosing hills backed by lofty lebanon. from any of the hills back of the town, or from the front of the old sea-wall, there is a splendid view over the water. our hotel veranda fronts on the bay, and we have greatly enjoyed the charming panorama it affords. "but here i must stop. frank has just come in to say that the steamer is smoking furiously at her anchorage, and we must go on board in half an hour. so, good-bye for the present. "and good-bye to egypt and the holy land. "we have enjoyed our journey ever and ever so much. we have seen many things of biblical, historical, and present interest, and we trust that the lessons they teach have not fallen on inattentive ears. "and, so trusting and believing, it is sad for us to write "the end." 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but a dull heavy fog lay on our eastern horizon, and limited our view. just as i was finishing my breakfast, the captain put his head down the hatchway, and let me know that the mountains could be seen. i ran on deck, and could see the faint outline of the top of mount lebanon, peering above a long line of fog that spread like a wide circle round the horizon. the upper part of the fog was breaking into irregular masses and rolling off; at times the mountain could at some points be seen very clearly; then, again, the fog or clouds would close in upon it, and hide it from our view. the highest parts of it were partially covered with snow. it lay, however, in parts and parcels; and often in long irregular forms. this was owing, most probably, to the form of the ground on which it lay; being most abundant in hollows, and on the north sides of ridges. great is the power of association. from my childhood, i have been taught to read the book of god, and prize its precious truths; and i bless god, and thank my dear and beloved parents, more for this, the religious instruction they gave me, and their prayers, than for all other benefits received through them; and they have not been few. mount lebanon i found often, very often, referred to in that best of all books; and, from the various ways in which it is introduced, it associates itself in my mind with many parts of scripture history; with some of its most touching incidents; with many of its most precious and consoling truths. how often in my boyhood, and even in more mature days, have i wished, like moses, that i could see that "goodly mountain and lebanon!" now, indeed and in truth, i saw it rising into view, and hoped before long to land at its foot, and in due time to traverse its ridges, visit its cedars, and drink of its pure snow waters. i was born and grew to manhood among mountains, and it is natural for me to love mountain scenery. a landscape is to my eye,--i was going to say, defective,--that does not give, at least, a glimpse of a mountain. i was often much struck with my feelings on this matter, during the ten or fifteen years i have spent in situations in which no mountains could be seen. when a journey of business or pleasure led me to the neighbourhood of mountains, they appeared to have a beauty and a charm in them, that rose paramount to all that the wide and extended plains could have. but never did i feel such pulsations of delight from beholding a single mountain as now from looking at that "goodly mountain and lebanon"--that lebanon so associated with patriarchs and prophets, with the land of promise, with the temple of the lord, and with those thousand things which give such ever newness and freshness to the oracles of god. as the day passed away, we drew nearer and nearer, but our winds were so light, that our approach was slow, and a peculiar haziness of weather much impeded our view of the changing aspect of the mountain. beyroot came in view towards night; but, owing to the lightness of wind, and that against us, we did not reach it until about sunrise next morning. beyroot lies at the south side of the river beyroot, which runs in from the mountains. the coast recedes at this place, and forms a wide, open, halfmoon-like kind of a bay. a small part of the town lying near the water appears pretty closely built; but much of the town, or very many houses, stand out over the gentle rise of the hill, with gardens connected with them. indeed, the whole face of the plain and ridge, on which the town stands, is quite covered with trees. the trees are not large, being many of them mulberry, almond, (the pride of china i think it is called), a few olive and apricot, &c. i have seen no place in the east that struck me more pleasantly than beyroot. the mountains behind it rise in succession. they have a good many trees on them, but are not entirely covered. they appear to be rather confined to spots as if planted by man, and cultivated for special purposes. with the help of a glass, i can see that, while a small growth is more generally spread over the side of the mountain, there are many places where a much larger growth may be seen. but i must omit farther notice of this until i have rambled over them, and ascertained their true character. we learned, on communicating with the shore, that there had been several cases of plague, that the quarantine was strict, and that we should have nearly two weeks' quarantine to pass, before we would be allowed to have free intercourse with the friends we hoped to find there. in the course of the day our consul came off, and informed us that he had procured for us a house in a healthy and airy part of the suburbs, in which we must pass our quarantine. mr. b. also, who is connected with the mission at this place, came off to see us. from him we learned that the rev. e. b. smith and lady had, within four or five days, left this for smyrna, partly on account of mrs. s.'s health, which has lately failed much; and that the other families were on the mountains, about three or four hours' ride from town. letter ii. _beyroot, june th, ._ we had hoped to get out of quarantine to-day, or at least to-morrow, when to our discomfort we heard that they had added four days to our time, owing to information which they had received from smyrna. there is no better way to manage such matters than patiently to wait until the time is out. but as they give me more of quarantine, i see not why i may not tell you more about it. through the kind agency of our consul we were not put in the lazaretto, which is said to be a miserable place at best, and worse now as the plague is there; but had a very comfortable house assigned us, to the west of the town, on the side of the hill, nearly a quarter of a mile from the walls. the whole side of the hill where we are is cut up in plots, which form gardens planted with trees, and here and there is a dwelling-house. we had all our baggage landed and carried by the _crew_ to our house, except a few boxes, which being wood were not infectious, and were carried by porters. two guardians are assigned us--one of them must be always at the house, to see that no person touches us, or any of our articles; the other we may send on errands, such as to do our marketing. they are not to touch us, nor we them. they bring us what we want, lay it down, and we take it. they bring us water, wood, jugs, pitchers, dishes, provisions, fruits: these are not infectious--but cloth, paper, &c. are. they bring us notes, papers, books; but we cannot send such articles without a special observance. for instance, if we wish to send a letter to any one, or a note not as big as your finger, with the name of any article on it which we may need, the guardian may not touch it. he takes a small box; you put it in; he takes it to the health-office, where it is smoked with sulphur, and then it may be received and read. or, you may write on a small board, or on a slate; the guardian may touch _them_. while there is care to avoid touching you or anything that conveys infection, there is, in other respects, a free intercourse. we received many visits--our friends come, and sit down, a few feet from us, and remain as long as they please, conversing with us, and thus helping to while away the time. they furnish us with any books that we may need, and we at the end of our quarantine can restore them. we are allowed to walk as much as we please, taking one of our guardians with us, who sees that we touch no one or anything that conveys infection; availing ourselves of this privilege, we have rambled about a good deal, and made ourselves acquainted with the neighbourhood. to the west and south-west, at a quarter of a mile from the town, commences what may be called _the sands_, which gave me a better idea of the _sands of the desert_ than anything i have before seen. the whole surface is a bed of fine sand. it includes the highest part of the promontory, and much, if not all the south-west side of it. there is, at places, occasionally, a weed or bush, but much of the surface is very fine sand, which is moved more or less by the wind; and as the wind blows much from the south, the sand has the appearance of approaching nearer and nearer the town--at the place where it stops, and the gardens begin, the sands are a good deal higher than the gardens, ten, fifteen, or twenty feet; and the bank advances, owing to the sand that is carried forward by the wind, and rolls down towards the gardens. some houses and fields have been covered, and others are in danger, and must soon be overwhelmed with it. the side of the hill next the city, and west of it, is all cut up into small plots; and much labour has been expended in making these plots level. the side of the hill is thus thrown into terraces one above another, but without any order or regularity. the plots are of various sizes and shapes. a stone wall is built up at the lower side, and the earth drawn to a level. on the tops of the wall is often planted the indian fig, or prickly pear, which abounds here. few of these gardens have either flowers or vegetables in them--have, in fact, little else beside mulberry-trees, with a few fig, olive, apricot, pomegranate, and other fruit-trees. from the appearance of the hill side, i am disposed to think, that it was once covered more with houses than it now is--that the levelling of the ground may, in part at least, have been made to fit it for houses, which have now disappeared. there are some old cisterns, pillars, &c., which indicate this. i have met with several things which struck me with some force, as illustrating scripture. the roofs of the houses are flat, and a way is made to ascend to the top, which is a most pleasant place for a walk in the cool of the evening. "samuel called saul to the top of the house."-- sam. ix. , . a number of the houses have a kind of a tent on the top, made of reeds, &c., in which they sit, and i believe sleep. "they spread absalom a tent on the top of the house."-- sam. xvi. . there is usually a small railing, or elevation, round the edge, to prevent any from falling over; and the law of moses required them to make a battlement for this purpose.--deut. xxii. . while some have tents on the top of the house, others have them out under the trees; and the fig-tree and the vine, having large shady leaves, are very favourable for this. thus they sit "under their vine and fig-tree." and where they do not use tents they are very fond of sitting out under the trees. they usually take out a straw mat or small carpet, which they spread down; sometimes on this they lay their beds, and sit on them. they have not feather beds, as we have, but a kind of wool mattress, which is easily folded up and removed. mr. and mrs. ----, who are of our party, are natives of this place, and hopefully pious. they often take out their mat, and spread it down under a tree, and spend much of the day there. in our walks we see many thus under the vines and fig-trees, whiling away their hours. almost every night we hear music and dancing at no great distance from us. the music is hardly worth the name--is a kind of _beating_, accompanied with some wind instrument, and serves to keep the time. the dancing, as it is called, is not much more than a slow walking, stooping, changing of position. it has none of that active and fatiguing action which dancing has in the western world. the men and women do not join together in it. it is done almost wholly by men; and often old men. the women sit by and look on. the sabbath night appears more especially a favourite time for this amusement. the promontory on which beyroot stands is low at the south-east side, where it joins the main land, and on that low part, which once may have been covered with water (making the promontory an island), there is much sand. on a part of this there are many pines; a few of them are large; and a large space is covered with small ones. there is some care taken of them, and persons are not allowed to pillage them. the larger ones are trimmed up very high, and have a large, flat, bushy top, which gives them a rather singular, but pretty appearance. the sycamore here is a different tree from that which bears the name with us. the wood is valuable, being hard and very durable. it is a low tree, with a thick body, many branches, shaped a little like the apple-tree, the leaf large. it bears a fruit which is to some extent valuable. one of the prophets said he was "a gatherer of sycamore fruit." it would seem that much of it was used, and gathering of it a business. there are few, if any, springs here, as we should call them--but wells; at least, in all my walks i have not seen any. there is a low place a little out of the city gate, where there are three or four wells. they are walled up, with a large flat area over them, in the middle of which is a hole, large enough to let down a bucket. there is no pump, or windlass, nor even a well-sweep; but a rope. the vessel used almost constantly for bringing water, is a large jug with two handles, and a small mouth. it may hold from two to four gallons. they tie the rope to the neck or to the handles, and let it down. it fills, and they draw it up. in passing these wells, especially in the evening or morning, you find a crowd of people drawing water. some have mules and donkeys on which they carry it--usually having four of these water-pots, two swung in a wooden frame on each side of the animal. the others carry the jar on their shoulders, or rather on the back, held over the shoulder; but one hand is raised to support it. you see no one carrying anything in his arms, as is the custom with us, but upon the head or shoulder when not too large, otherwise upon the back--even children are carried in this way--it is amusing to see the little things riding upon their parents' shoulders. there is no vessel attached to these wells; and thus we see the force of the saying of the woman, "thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep;" and thus rebecca came "out with her pitcher upon her shoulder." a large proportion of those whom we saw drawing water were females. the turks are usually a grave and silent people. they talk less than the greeks, and indeed than almost any other people that i have been among. it was therefore rather a novelty to meet with one who was of a different cast of temperament. both our guardians are young turks, i should think about twenty; and very good-looking. one of them is rather of a grave cast; a genuine turkish, but withal an unusually mild aspect. the other is as full of life and glee and innocent mischief as he can hold. the first day or two he did not show it much, except in occasionally playing off a little of his humour on his companion. he then began upon angelo, my maltese servant, whom i had engaged at smyrna. the maltese language is a dialect of the arabic, and they could therefore converse with him. our establishment having but two rooms, one of which being occupied by the ladies, and the other by the gentlemen, angelo had to take up his lodgings in the porch where some of the baggage was placed. the guardians slept in the yard under the tree. they pretended that they would do all sorts of bad things to him at night, and excited his fears not a little. on finding it out i interposed, and assured them, through an interpreter, that if they did not desist from thus working on his fears, i would report them to the police. they assured me they were only in fun, and would not trouble him. angelo had more spunk than i expected; he got a large knife to defend himself with--we took it from him. i told him to sleep in our room--he would not. i told him to sleep close to the door, which i left open; no, he would sleep at his selected place--and he did. when we walk out, one of our guardians always walks with us, and generally the lively and talkative one chooses that office. he amuses himself and us in various ways, and usually contrives to put in a claim for a boksheesh (a present) at the close of the walk. as he does not always get it, it is amusing to observe in how many ways he contrives to let us know that it would be very acceptable. at times when he does not get it, he pretends to his companion that he has; and thus has sport with him, in refusing to let him have any part of it. they are very obliging--i have seldom seen more perfect good-humour than they manifest. letter iii. _beyroot, july th, ._ i think i informed you that beyroot is a walled town, and has a strong garrison. it is held under ibrahim pasha, and for his father or step-father mahommed ali of egypt. ibrahim spends most of his time north of this at aleppo, tripoli, scanderoon, and tarsoos. he is erecting a palace not far from aleppo, and may possibly purpose making that his home. beyroot is the most important port on the coast, but still its trade is small. the walls are of considerable height, appear strong, and have several strong towers connected with them. the number of troops at this place i have not been able to ascertain with certainty; there must be several thousands, possibly from to . i have been equally unable to ascertain the population of the town and suburbs; nearly one-third of the population, i should think, live without the walls, in what is called the gardens. the houses without the walls are much more pleasant, at least in summer, than those within the town. they stand apart; have gardens and trees about them, are higher and much more cool. the town stands in a low spot, is much crowded with houses, has narrow filthy streets, and during the hot weather the heat is considerable, which causes sickness. the gates of the town are guarded, and at an early hour in the night all but one are closed. this one is kept open to a late hour. at the quay, or public landing-place, there is an immense number of old, broken pillars. the wall fronting the bay is for thirty, possibly fifty yards, composed almost wholly of them. most of them are more or less broken. many of them have been connected, no doubt, with buildings of consequence, as their high finish seems to indicate; a number of them are fine egyptian marble. they are of various sizes, but most of them of the largest kind. broken pieces of pillars and other work in marble are to be seen in many places about the town, both without and within the walls, all indicating that, at some period, this was the seat of wealth and taste, of luxury and splendour. * * * * * _brumanah, mount lebanon, july th, ._ after getting out of quarantine, and spending ten or twelve days in beyroot to see the place, i came up to this village, where the mission families are spending the summer months. it lies about three hours' ride from beyroot, on the top of one of the ridges which runs down from the main ridge of the lebanon towards the sea. it may be about one-third of the way to the top, and one-third of the height of jebal sun-neen, the highest point of mount lebanon. we have from bru-ma-nah a fair view of the mountains, as they rise above us, and run far to the north-east and south-west: a long sea coast spreads out before us--the town of beyroot--the shipping that lies off the town on the face of the smooth waters, all rise into view, and give a rich and beautiful variety to the prospect. nearly one-half of the village is composed of greeks, and the other half about equally divided between the druses and maronites. they all speak the arabic, which is indeed the vernacular language of this region. the people appear friendly, and but for the influence of the priests would, no doubt, give more proof of their friendship. the missionaries have opened a school among them, which promises to do good. the females wear what is called the tantoor on their heads. it is very like those tin horns which are often used by hunters to call their dogs; stage-drivers at times use them. the tantoor is a foot long; the largest part is fixed to the forehead, and by means of a small piece of wood, or some such thing, which passes over the head, and is fastened to the hair, the whole is made to stand upon the head like a horn. it usually leans forward, and reminds one of the figure of the unicorn. the horn is of silver, and has at times various ornamental devices engraved on it. the chief use of it seems to be to sustain the veil, which is universally worn by the women here. it is thrown over the horn, and hangs down over the shoulders. when men are present, they draw the veil with one hand close over the mouth, so as to cover the lower part of the face, leaving but one eye exposed. while they are thus careful to cover the face, they often, i might say usually, leave the breast most shamefully exposed. indeed, they seem to have pride in exposing that part of the body. sometime before i got out of quarantine, there was a death in the emeer family of this village; and, as is the custom, the people are not allowed to wash their clothes for forty days--as they are not much given to cleanliness at any time, this was an order grievously out of place. about the time i came up the people were most fearfully dirty. the days of restriction are, however, past, and it is thought the people have been using water. it is a rare evil for people to get habituated to--a disregard of cleanliness--for it is hard to correct the evil. most, if not all, of the houses here are of one story--a few, indeed, that stand on the hill-side, have a small room under the elevated side of the main floor. the floors are uniformly, as far as i have seen, made of clay, as also is the roof. they wet it and make it into a kind of mortar, and have a heavy stone roller with which to make it smooth. for the roof, pieces of timber are laid across, mostly a few strong beams, then across them smaller pieces of boards, and flat stones; and on these the earth is laid, in a wet state, and the roller made to pass over it, until with that and their feet they make it hard and smooth. all the roofs are flat, having some little channels to collect the water, and a low place at one side to let it off. there is a way of ascending to the top, which, in large houses, is a fine place for walking and taking the air. these roofs do very well in dry weather, but in the rainy season the water, it is said, comes through, and gives much annoyance to the inmates. the sides are usually made of stone, very coarsely put together; very little mortar is used--often none. they plaster the inside with clay, such as they use for making the floors; and give it a slight coat of whitewash. it is, to be sure, done in poor style; still the houses do pretty well for a summer residence. generally they have but one room, but occasionally they have two or three. these flat roofs and their earthen materials illustrate what was meant by the grass upon the house-tops--grass does often spring up in the wet season, but the heat of the sun withers it and it comes to nought. "shall men give into your bosom?"--the usual dress here, is a long robe, not much unlike a woman's gown. it is fastened about the waist with a girdle. this is a long, large piece, often as large, and even much larger than a sheet, but of a fine texture; usually of the shawl kind. they wrap this round them four or five times, forming a band from four inches to a foot wide, as the taste of each may be,--then give such a fastening to the end as each may choose. it is odd, and to us laughable to see them putting them on. i have seen them fasten the end of their long girdle to a door, post, or table--adjust its folds--regulate its width--put one end to their body, and turn round and round until they have wrapped it all to their liking. yea, i have seen them do it on the road. on my visit to nice, not long after i left that plain, i passed a man on the road who from some cause wished to adjust his girdle. possibly it was a preparation before he entered that city of ancient name. he had stopped, taken off his girdle, adjusted its width, arranged its folds, fastened one end of it to a bush, drew it out to its full length, applied the other end to his side, and holding it, turned round and round carefully, attending to its width and the adjustment of its folds. i felt strongly disposed to laugh, and had there been any one to join me in it, i doubt not should have laughed heartily, the danger of offending the gravity of the turk to the contrary notwithstanding. but there is no fun in laughing alone; and my old greek guide looked as grave as if he saw nothing amusing, in seeing a man winding himself in a shawl. but to the point i meant to illustrate. the part of the dress above the girdle having an opening, is used for stowing away all sorts of things; handkerchiefs, when they have any; bread, fruit, &c., nothing comes amiss; they put it into the bosom. as the receptacle goes all round the body, it is equal to three or four of those large pockets our great-grandmothers used to wear. letter iv. _bru-ma-nah, july d, ._ i have just returned from a tour of four days among the mountains. the ladies rode on donkeys, which are not much larger than the largest kind of sheep; they have great strength and a pleasant gait. they are also sure-footed, which in such rough roads is no small recommendation. i hired a mule, the owner of which, as is usual in such cases, went along to take care of his animal. the other two gentlemen had their own horses. it is not here as in europe, where you can find taverns and beds. there are no such things here. we, of course, had to take all things needful for eating and sleeping. we carried two tents--one for the ladies, the other for the gentlemen; our bedding, provisions, utensils for cooking, a pot, a pan, plates, knives, forks, spoons, coffee, tea-cups, sugar, salt, towels, &c. we required, of course, two or three mules to carry these, and a servant to take care of them and cook for us. although our plan was to take no more than was really necessary, we made quite a cavalcade. you have, no doubt, heard that coal has lately been found in the mountains near beyroot. the chief mine that is worked lies near a village called corneil, about three or four hours' ride from brumanah, and up near the main ridge of the mountain. our first object was to visit those mines which lay south-east of brumanah. we passed up the ridge on which brumanah stands, but gradually wound along its south-east side, until we reached the bottom of the ravine which separates it from the ridge which lies to the south. much of the higher part of the ridge on which brumanah stands is of the sandstone formation; it is, however, singularly mixed with patches of limestone. we found the ravine a most rugged and rocky one, and almost wholly of limestone. we saw many loose masses of green stone at the bottom, which must have been brought from some distance, as there was no appearance of that rock in sight. in crossing the next ridge, we passed a village, in the midst of a well-cultivated spot. there were more trees, and vines, and garden herbs, than i had seen at any of the villages that i had passed. the prince of this village has a pretty good-looking palace, of considerable size. we passed close by it, and as the people within assembled to see the party of franks, it gave us an opportunity to see them. after ascending about half way up this ridge, we again passed into the sandstone formation, which occupies the top, except some small locations of limestone, which appears in some strange way to have got out of its proper place. but of this hereafter. we passed over this ridge, and at the foot, near the lower part of the sandstone formation, we found the coal mines. mr. brattle, the english superintendant, received us most kindly, and took us through and showed us the mine. he has made four or five openings, and finds ample stores of coal. it is from three to four feet thick--dips a little into the mountain--has several considerable falls in the strata, which will require more labour in working it. there is another mine south of the next ridge, which is also now worked. the coal is not, however, as good as at the one we visited. none of the coal yet found is as good as the english coal, but most probably a further search may discover coal of a better quality. it is about ten or fifteen years since this coal was first discovered. several men were sent to examine it, but were not skilful, and did not report favourably. there was an attempt to work it a few years since, but no good resulted. at length mr. brattle, who is acquainted with the business, was induced to come out, and under his direction they are becoming more and more important. he labours under great disadvantages, from the absence of most of those aids and facilities which are so needful in carrying on such work. he has proved, or is proving, however, that they are valuable. this coal is carried on mules and donkeys to beyroot, over a most villanous road. were a good road made, and proper coal wagons used, it would greatly facilitate the matter. but that day is not yet come. there is no such thing as a wheeled conveyance here, at least i have seen none, nor the track of one of any description. there is a great irregularity in the sandstone strata near and above the coal, it is thrown about in all sorts of ways. but i shall have occasion to notice this repeatedly in my tour. after spending several hours at the mine, mr. brattle took us to his house at corneil (the old palace, the best house in the village), and entertained and lodged us with great kindness and hospitality. from the terrace of the palace, which looks towards beyroot, we had one of the most splendid views i have ever seen. we saw the sun set in the ocean behind cyprus; could distinctly see the island in the full blaze of the setting sun. it lies so far to the west, that it is only in peculiar states of the air it can be seen. corneil stands on a rocky knoll on the top of a ridge. at this place the limestone is thrown up, while both above and below on the ridge the sandstone prevails. it is surrounded with vines, mulberry, fig and other kinds of trees. but they stop here. this is the highest point on this part of the mountain where trees are seen. almost immediately after leaving corneil we saw no more trees, not even bushes, except occasionally a very low evergreen, which appeared to be a kind of thorn. it grows in bunches, spreads over the ground, but seldom rises above from six inches to a foot. occasionally we saw some heather and fern in wet places, and more frequently furze and thistle; a few low flowers appeared, and some other mountain plants that were new to me. the whole face of the mountain was bare rocks, rocks, rocks. the ridge on which corneil stands leads up to a very high point of the mountain called, if i recollect right, jebal knee-se. there are now, it is said, the remains of a church and monastery on the top. it was a place of some interest as an ecclesiastical establishment. it really must have looked like literally getting up, if not _to_ at least _towards_ heaven, to live upon the top of a mountain which is supposed to be from nine to ten thousand feet above the level of the sea. it was, no doubt, a monastic establishment. why it was deserted i know not. i felt a wish to visit it, but the labour would have been considerable, and as another point which lies several hours' ride north-east is still higher, and is the one that is usually ascended, and as we thought the ascent of one would be quite enough for our invalids, we passed round the foot of the high peak of jebal knee-se, and made for the top of the ridge, at a low place between jebal knee-se and jebal sun-neen. the upper part of jebal knee-se is regularly stratified limestone, and horizontal. it has many shells in it; we stopped and collected some fine specimens of four or five different kinds. about the middle of the day, we reached the top of the ridge of lebanon, at the low place between the two points before named. this place is above the limits of trees and cultivation. the mountain is barren even of bushes. there are, however, some of the smaller plants which i mentioned a few lines above. we had from this place a fine view of the bokar, or plain of celo-syria, which lies between lebanon and anti-lebanon. it is a long and narrow plain--narrow compared with its length. it may be from fifteen to twenty miles wide, but must be several hundred miles long. it looked like a dead level. we could see many villages in it, and groves of trees, and the green fields. it was a lovely sight. we pitched our tents on the top, and made our dinner, enjoying the delightful view which lay around us on all sides. the cultivation on the side next the plain ascended much higher up the mountain than it did on the north-western side. there were fields of grain but a short distance below us, so near indeed that one of our muleteers took down his mule, and let it feed on the grain, and even brought up a bundle of green wheat which he procured there. the place on which we pitched our tents was the upper part of the sandstone formation. there was a good deal of sandstone, breccia or puddingstone, but near us on all sides the limestone formation was seen. after the heat of the day was a little over, we set out north-east along the top of the mount for the sun-neen, the high point which is usually ascended, and on which the most snow is found. there is a little flat, or nearly flat, space along the top, on which we found a footpath, much beaten. all over these high places the sheep and goats and cattle are driven for the sake of pasture. we saw more flocks on these upper parts of the mountain than we did on the lower parts. not far from our encampment, we passed a place near the upper part of the sandstone formation, where strata of a peculiar character cropt out. it split easily into lamina as fine as paper; was peculiarly elastic. you might roll it up in rolls, and it would, when let loose, spring back to its former state. it burnt freely. you might almost make torches of it. it was, no doubt, bituminous shale. in some places it had more of these properties than others. the strata was of considerable thickness, as we could see on the sides of the hollow on which we found it. it lay on the north-west side, a little below the top of the ridge. most likely, as the strata was horizontal, it cropt out also on the south-east side next the plain of celo-syria. two or three hours brought us to the foot of jebal sun-neen, and up near the foot of the snows. here we selected a good spot, and again pitched our tents; intending to employ the next day in our ascent to the top and return to the same place. we found it much colder than it was in the lower parts of the mountain. we really needed fire; but it was with difficulty that wood enough could be procured to make our tea, much more to make a fire to warm half-a-dozen people in the open air. we had, however, expected this, and brought clothing accordingly, so that we did not suffer much. in the morning, we began the ascent; we rode nearly an hour, and took a donkey still farther for the benefit of the ladies; but then left all our animals, and betook ourselves in good earnest to the matter of ascending the mount. on the side which we ascended, between where we encamped and the top, are two or three offsets, then the mountain falls off and leaves a kind of level. these general levels have small ridges and round hills on them, and many deep valleys and sink-holes, or holes of that peculiar kind which abound in districts where a horizontal limestone stratum lies on the surface. in these deep sink-hole places, and in the valleys, and on the sides of the ridges, the snow was accumulated in great quantities, but it did not cover the whole surface of the mountain, as i had supposed it might. but a small part of the mountain had snow on it. it lay in patches, and possibly not over one-twentieth part was covered with it. i saw no ice--all was snow. from the action of the sun and wind, it was just hard enough to walk on with safety. the foot would sink in it one, two, or three inches--seldom more. i walked on it in my shoes without inconvenience. we were three hours in reaching the top--we proceeded slowly, and stopped frequently to allow the ladies rest. we found the summit much like the offset, which i have just described. there was what may be called a general level, of a mile or two across, with many rises in it, and full of deep holes of various shapes, some nearly round, others long and narrow. these were full of snow. it was usually much melted at one side, and the largest masses were, as a general thing, found lying on the west or south-west side of the hollow. what appeared most singular, was the fact, that for the most part, the outsides of this great cone appeared the highest--around it were the highest knolls, while the inner parts were lower, and its holes and sinks more deep. the rain and snow water does not seem to flow over and down the outside of the cone, but sinks in it, and finds its way out as it can. the whole upper part of the mount, from where we pitched our tents, which was near the sandstone formation, is limestone with its varieties. it lies horizontally, and is stratified with unusual regularity. this can be seen with great distinctness on the west side of the mount, where the deep hollow, in which a branch of the river beyroot heads, terminates against the cone, and makes a regular, steep, sloping descent of, i should think, from four to six thousand feet. near the top, on the west side, i saw a small spot of fine white marble--much of the rock, indeed, approximates to marble. high up, at the north-east corner, we found some limestone breccia, and saw, also, in various places, much arragonite, which is a peculiar and rare variety of crystallised limestone. but what gave us most interest were the shells which we found at many places as we ascended, and also on the top itself. we found some very fine specimens of them--four or more varieties. i procured several, nearly as large as a common conch shell; all of them were petrified. at various places on the side, and also on the summit, we saw rocks that appeared little else than a mass of shells. as to when and how they got there, i have at present but little to say. of one thing, however, i am fully satisfied, that they do not contradict the mosaic account. it is possible that they may, with other facts which are collecting, prove, finally, that in some points we have put a wrong construction on the mosaic account. thus it was when the newly received system of astronomy was first brought forward. it was assailed with more zeal than knowledge, by a certain class of religionists, who insisted that it was at variance with the bible, which said the sun rose and set; whereas, this new system made the sun stand still and the earth turn round,--and not only the anathemas of the church, but the fire and fagot were called into requisition, to maintain the good old received opinion, that the earth stood still for the quiet of man, and the sun, moon, and stars, which had nothing else to do, went round and round to give him light. it was, however, found out at last, that the truth in astronomy was not at war with truth in revelation--that the earth might turn round, and move at the same time in its orbit, without infringing, in the least, against the truths of the bible. thus, i doubt not, it will be found with the geological fossils, which are now accumulating, and some of them are truly singular. they will be found to coincide with revelation. i do fear, indeed, that some weak heads will be injured by these facts, and that some minds wishing to find occasion against religion, will eagerly seize these facts, and take it for granted that they are inconsistent with the bible account, and will throw off all regard for that most precious book. such persons ought to recollect that geology is a science that is yet in its _infancy_. that on some of the most important questions that bear on its relation to the mosaic account, there is not only a want of agreement among geologists, but much contrariety of opinion. farther, this eastern world, where the main examination ought to be made, has been but little examined; and still, the bible will admit of any explanation, in agreement with these facts, on the same principles on which explanations in common life are daily received. the view from the top of sun-neen was most splendid. we had a most extensive view of the bokar, as the celo-syria plain is now called. the great range of the anti-lebanon stretched along the farther side, running parallel to that of the lebanon. parts of the former had snow on them, and especially a high point that lay a good deal to the south. on the general range of the anti-lebanon, there was less snow; and i should think it a good deal lower than the lebanon. it has the same naked and rough appearance, and i am told is even more rough, more destitute of forests, and less occupied with villages. to the south, we could see as far as mount hermon and the mountains about the sea of tiberias. to the north, the plain ran out till it met the horizon. the whole plain of celo-syria appeared to be a dead level. the mountains rise from it as if they rose out of a sea. in this it reminded me of the plain of ephesus, which stretches up almost to smyrna. baalbec can be seen from sun-neen, but the state of the air was not favourable to a distant view on the plain. north of the point of sun-neen, on which we stood, the main ridge of the lebanon sinks a good deal, as it does on the south. beyond this low place, at a considerable distance, i should think a day's travel, say fifteen or twenty miles, it throws up another high point, or mass of mountains. on this last point, which may be about as high as the sun-neen, grow the famous cedars so much spoken of. our plan was to have extended our tour so as to visit them and baalbec, which stands nearly opposite them, on the other side of the plain, but some engagements and matters of duty did not allow all the company to proceed thus far. our descent from the top was much more easy and expeditious than our ascent, owing in part to an experiment we made with complete success. on the south side of the point a hollow ran up almost to the top; on the west side of this hollow was a large field of snow, which extended from near the top to the foot of what i have called the cone, or down to the second general level. we made a trial of how we could descend on the snow, and found that, by keeping near the edge, and walking with care, sticking the heel with a little force in it, we could get along with much more ease and expedition than we could over the rough and exceedingly rocky ground. our descent to our horses was soon accomplished; and just as the sun went down under the western wave, we arrived at our tents, a little tired it is true, but greatly gratified in having reached the top of that "goodly mountain and lebanon," perhaps the most interesting mountain in the world. while we were on the mount, the day, as it shone on us, was perfectly clear; the general state of the air, when we were shaded with an umbrella, or under the shade of a rock, was pleasant. the direct force of the sun was, however, warm. we were above the clouds, and had a most interesting view of their forming far, far below us, and especially on the sea. soon after mid-day they began to form on the far distant horizon over the sea, and continued to increase until a large part of it was covered; and about the time we reached the foot of the cone, where we had left our horses, the clouds exhibited a most brilliant spectacle. a small strip of the sea, near the foot of the mountain, had no clouds on it. it lay smooth, like a frozen lake. the remainder, in all directions as for as the eye could reach, was covered with immense masses of clouds, which appeared to us like hills of cotton or wool upon the waters. it reminded me of some of those great plains of the valley of the mississippi, covered with its immense forests, as seen from some high point of the alleghany or cumberland range, after the fall of a heavy snow. the clouds appeared about as high above the water as the western groves rise above the plain--the irregularity of hill and dale, and the fleecy whiteness of the clouds, as we looked upon the upper part, which was strongly illuminated by the sun, corresponded well with groves loaded with the new-fallen snow in all its virgin purity. to make the scene still more interesting, a wind set in from the sea, and drove the masses of clouds against the mountains. we saw the plains covered and again laid bare, as masses of clouds, like the irregular columns of an army, passed over it--drove against the mountains--rose higher and higher up its sides--and at last swept over us and by us in huge piles. it was not one large dense cloud, but a multitude of clouds of various sizes, and at different heights. the sun pouring its flood of light upon these masses, so various in height and density and rapidity of motion, presented the most brilliant and perpetually varying spectacle that i have ever seen. we had all the variety of tints and colouring that light and shade can make, and that ever-changing aspect which is presented by the kaleidoscope. there was, however, no rain; for while we often have clouds on these mountains, there has no rain fallen since i reached beyroot, which is now more than six weeks. we spent the night at the foot of the snows, where the former night was passed; and having packed our minerals, shells, and flowers, which we had collected, set off for bru-ma-nah. we took a more direct road than the one by which we came, as we wished to see as much of the mountain as possible. we passed along a great ridge that ran from our tents, at the foot of the cone, with various irregularities, on to bru-ma-nah. we found it much as the ridge on which the coal-pits of corneil are situate. the upper part of it much of the way is of the sandstone formation. on the higher part of this is a stratum of very fine puddingstone. almost everywhere, in this sandstone formation, we find petrified wood, much iron ore, iron stone, and at many places slate, and all the indications of coal. there can be no doubt that coal exists extensively in this formation; and, from the tour which we made, i should think that from one-sixth to one-fourth of this ridge was of the sandstone formation. it lies about midway up the mountain; has, generally considered, a horizontal position; but is at many places most singularly thrown out of its place. at the heads of hollows, and at the points of ridges, and often in other places, the limestone seems forced up, but retains its horizontal position: at other places, the sandstone is suddenly cut off, and begins again at a great distance above or below;--but my paper is full. letter v. _bru-ma-nah, aug. , ._ last saturday, i went down to beyroot, mainly to spend the sabbath with the small number of franks that usually meet at the american consul's for worship. i had been on the mountains about three weeks, and found the general temperature pleasant. the thermometer seldom rose to ° fahr. the direct action of the sun was, it is true, considerable, but i seldom, except when travelling, went out during the greatest heat of the day. i found the heat greater at beyroot; from five to eight, and at times ten or more degrees. still the thermometer does not give the whole difference. there is a closeness--an oppressive something in the air in the town that makes it more trying than the same degrees of heat would produce on the mountains. there is also a very manifest difference in the heat, and oppressive character of the air, in the town, and in what is called the gardens--the numerous dwellings that lie without the walls, and are scattered for several miles round the city, mentioned in a former letter. i have repeatedly witnessed since i came to the mountains an appearance in the setting sun which i never before saw, nor have i ever seen it noticed in books. in this dry season of the year we have but few clouds, and the sun usually clear; but in setting, it very often assumes strange and singular appearances. they begin about the time the lower part of the sun touches the line of the horizon. the lower part, at times, appears to _flatten up_; the upper, to _flatten down_; and at times, the sides _flatten in_--so that the disk of the sun forms nearly a square; it seldom, however, took this form. more frequently about the time that one-half of the disk is sunk below the horizon, a portion of the upper part of the remainder appears to separate from the body of the sun, and often assumes the form of an inverted cone, or rather that of a common washbowl, set on the sun, and at times separated from it by a black mark, of, say an inch in diameter. this crown-like appearance, at times, is distinctly visible after the disk of the sun has disappeared; at other times the body of the sun appeared to be surrounded with a groove and a band, giving it the appearance of the capital of a pillar. i have seen it again and again, as it sank under the line of the horizon, flatten down, and spread out horizontally, until in truth it did not look wider than a large walking staff, while it appeared nearly a yard in length--the length of the strip of luminous matter appeared really longer than the usual apparent width of the disk before it began to take the new form. but the most singular fact of all remains to be told. we have several times seen, for it is the most rare appearance, the sun appear distinctly under the horizon, after the luminous aspect was wholly gone. it appeared as a dark mass, nearly of the shape of the sun, but much larger. it seemed under the water, and gradually to sink deeper and deeper. this sinking of it below the line of the horizon causes it to appear to approach nearer the spectator. i saw it on one occasion most distinctly, when the distance of its upper edge appeared a full yard below the line of the horizon. it then gradually became fainter and fainter, until it disappeared. i am not sure that i am philosopher enough to account for these strange appearances. they do not appear every night; and seldom for two nights together are the forms the same. the general cause, i suppose, is the peculiar state of the body of air through which the rays of light from the setting sun reach us on the mountain. we are in a high, pure, and elastic atmosphere. at the foot of the mountain, and the plains on to beyroot, over which the rays pass, the earth must be greatly heated, and sends up a heated and rarefied body of air--then, farther on, is the ocean, which must keep the stratum of air over it cooler. to this i may add, that we see the sun set over cyprus. this island lies at the very edge of our horizon, as seen from bru-ma-nah; so distant that it is only at times that we can distinctly see it. now cyprus is an island of considerable size, and not having much growth is greatly heated by the action of the sun. this may, by the rarefied volume of air which it presents to the rays of the sun, tend still farther to vary their course. thus passing two or three warm and rare, and as many cold and dense strata, may be the cause of all the variety of phenomena above described. i leave it however for others to solve the problem. it will soon be two months since i reached beyroot, and few things have struck me more than the uniformity of the weather. there has not been a drop of rain. there has been scarcely any weather that we should call cloudy. true, some clouds do at times collect over the sea, and at times they rest on the mountain, but they are clouds without rain. they very seldom spread over the face of the heavens, so as to withhold the light of the sun; they are mostly confined to one part, and leave the remainder in its usual clearness. i have, again and again, been reminded of the fact, that one day is almost precisely like all the others. we have no opportunity to say "this is a fine day,"--all are fine. we may suppose that when there is for so long a period no rain, and when the sun, almost without exception, pours on the earth its full blaze of light and heat, the air would become very dry. it is so; but not to an unpleasant degree--at least _i_ am not sensible of any unpleasant effects from it. plants and vegetation do, it is true, feel it--they wither and droop; and those who wish to preserve them in their freshness and beauty, must resort to the means of watering them. but, as regards comfortable feeling from the air, i have found few places that were to be preferred to mount lebanon. the clearness of the air is a most striking characteristic of these regions. it is most striking, and is manifested in many things. it is seen in looking at the starry heavens. the stars are numerous, and the face of the heavens has a clearness in it, that makes the impression on the mind that we can see further into the deep and pathless abyss by which our little earth is surrounded than we can in other countries. it agrees in this with the italian sky, but is, i think, still more clear. this clearness of the air is also manifest in looking at distant objects. they appear much nearer than they really are. i am almost perpetually struck with this in looking from bru-ma-nah down to beyroot, and the long line of coast which lies to the north and south. when i stand on some one of the points of the ridge that runs out towards beyroot, as i often do, especially in my evening walks, the town appears so near, and the bay at such a short distance below me, that i can hardly get clear of the impression that i could throw a finger-stone into the bay. the ascent and descent, three or four times repeated, has, however, given the matter-of-fact proof that it takes nearly four hours of hard travel to pass the space that lies between bru-ma-nah and beyroot. the air, it is true, is not always equally pure and transparent; a dulness and obscurity, like that which is often observable in other countries, at times exist here. the air here is, i think, at least in the dry season, less liable to it; how the rainy seasons may affect the air in all these respects, i am not as yet prepared to say; as i have had no opportunity of making observations. but little dew falls at this place; and from all that i saw in beyroot, there is but little there, at least in the dry season; i have not noticed it in the form of drops on the leaves, indeed i have at this place hardly observed it in the form of dampness; a slight degree of this is observable in the evening after sunset. this is our usual hour for walking, and i have observed that our clothes were a little damp on our return. i was struck, however, with the fact, that the nights we were encamped at the foot of the cone of jebal sun-neen, there was an abundance of dew. our tents were wet; and the grass and vegetation, and even dust of the roads, bore witness to it. how it happened that there was so much of it up there, and so little of it down here, i leave for the wise to decide; possibly the cause may be in the neighbourhood of the fact, that the heat here and at beyroot is remarkably uniform. it varies but few degrees in the twenty-four hours; at our place of encampment, referred to, the variation was much greater; we had great heat by day and almost frost at night. the more usual and valuable produce of the mountains is the silk. much of their best ground is planted with the mulberry-tree, the leaf of which is used for feeding the worms. not much of the silk is manufactured here; most of it is exported to italy, france, and england. the principal grain grown here is the barley, and a kind of bearded wheat that looks much like it. i have not, however, travelled enough to make observation to much extent. they raise some tobacco--almost every one here, as you no doubt have heard, smokes--the pipe is everywhere one of the most common things seen; they have long handles, usually made of the cherry-tree; the finer kind are nearly as long as the owner is high, and are tipped with a mouth-piece of _amber_. they often use a kind of pipe called the nargely, in which the smoke is drawn through water. much of their time is spent in smoking and taking coffee. i am told that in the plains of the bokar' or celo-syria, a good deal of indian corn is grown. i have not seen any of it on the mountains, nor did i notice it on the plains of beyroot as i passed and repassed. the mountains do not raise bread-stuff sufficient for its own consumption; grain is brought from the plains. they appear to me, indeed, to live on very little up here; and i have often, while looking on their simple fare, thought of the poet's lines: "man wants but little here below, nor wants that little long." still a people may have too few wants, they may be too indifferent as to comforts and conveniences; and the absence of these excitements may lead to idleness and almost complete indifference towards all things. if it be not good for man to be alone, it is still worse for him to be idle; and he who in great kindness to man gave him the woman to be with him, in the same spirit of love gave him employment--to dress the garden and keep it. the devil, it is said, finds employment for idle people; and, even if that were not his peculiar business, the idleness of many must, i should think, put a sore temptation in the devil's way, to give them something to do. i have often heard the devil charged with tempting people, but i am inclined to think, that the temptation is not all on one side; i suspect that people often tempt the devil. had our first mother eve been attending to her domestic matters as she ought; or, in company with her goodman, been helping to take care of the garden, she would probably have escaped the evil into which she fell. but to return from this digression. the people of these mountains are greatly given to idleness; it may result, in part, from the kind of culture they pursue. the silkworm can employ but little of their time, and much of the remainder is unemployed. it would be better for them were they employed more constantly. the pasha, it is true, gives many of them employment in connexion with working the coal-mines, and taking coal to beyroot; and, while there may be hardship in the manner in which he presses them, with their mules and donkeys, into the service, i am not sure that in a more enlarged view of things it may not be to their advantage; were companies of the idlers kept at work constantly in making roads on the mountains, and keeping those made in good repair, the benefit to the whole region would be great indeed. but all improvements travel very slowly in these ends of the earth. i have long since read of the big-tailed sheep, but do not recollect seeing any until i reached this place. the sheep is about the usual size. on the rump and around the root of the tail, there is a large mass of soft loose flesh or fat, which appears to be but loosely connected with the body, except as kept in connexion with it by the skin. it hangs loose, and shakes about like the udder of a good milch cow, and altogether has a very singular appearance. i have not often, if at all, seen flocks of sheep on these mountains. the goats are often seen in flocks with their keeper, but the sheep are usually seen singly, or but two or three together, having a string about their necks, by which they are fastened when at the house, and led and managed when out at pasture. we may see them led about in the gardens and vineyards, and out on the mountain side, where a tuft of grass is to be found; a boy or girl is usually in attendance upon each sheep. in the evening, i have often seen them bringing the sheep to the springs and pools of water, and pour the water plentifully over them, i suppose to cool them. the sheep appear to take it very kindly, seemingly accustomed to it. the goats are much used for their milk. the cow is indeed used, and possibly its milk is considered the best, but the goat, as the more thrifty animal, is most easily kept, and suits the spare vegetation which is found on the mountains. they are seen in considerable numbers, and some of them have uncommonly long ears, which are of a speckled whitish colour, and hang down from eight to twelve inches. the camel is much used here as a beast of burden. it is a tall, raw-boned, long-legged, and long-necked animal, but of a patient, quiet spirit. it shares with the donkey and mule the hard service which the people of these lands exact of their cattle. i have been surprised to see what masses of timber they carry down from these mountains on the backs of camels--beams for houses, shipping, and all sorts of things. i have seen a beam from fifteen to twenty feet long, and from eight to ten, twelve, or fourteen inches in diameter, laid on the back of a camel, one end projecting forward before the head of the animal, and the other reaching far behind, and somehow fastened with ropes to the huge pack-saddle which he carries. thus loaded he is made to pass over roads, which require some fortitude for a man to ride, and pass up and down descents that are most fearful for such loads: one driver attends each, who may at the more dangerous passes take hold of the beam and aid in keeping it steady. the poor animal usually reaches his place of destination in safety with his lumber--i say usually, for at times, over-loaded or worn down with the length of the way, or missing his step, he falls, and is crushed to death by the merciless load upon his back. who has not heard of the scorpion? and yet who has seen one? it was not until after i reached beyroot that i saw one, and that occurred in a way that took me a good deal by surprise. one evening during our quarantine, the scorpion happening to be mentioned as a reptile that abounded, i expressed a wish to see one. this was reported to our guardians. the next morning, soon after i was out of bed, i was called to the porch, and to my no small surprise, mixed with some apprehension of danger, i saw one of the guardians having a handful of them,--literally a handful of scorpions. he may have had from six to ten of them. they were all small. they are a short reptile--these were about the size of a common locust; the body short and flat, with a tail rather longer than the body. the sting is in the tip of the tail. they strike forward with the tail. they appear rather a slow, dull animal, and do not appear eager to strike or do mischief. when held in the hand, they cannot strike, and the pressure of the hand appears to produce a dull, heavy disposition. the guardian handled them as he pleased--he took hold of the lower part of the tail, with a quick motion, and then held them close in his hand, piled one on the other. they have a way of taking them, i am told, by putting a stick to them that is covered with bees-wax. the scorpion strikes his tail in it, it sticks fast, and he is taken. their sting produces pain, it is said, but is not often, if ever, fatal. it is but seldom that persons are stung by them. and who has not heard of the chameleon, that wonderful animal that one traveller declared was blue, and another that it was black, and its owner asserted that it was green, but which, when produced, was of a different colour from any of those mentioned! the chameleon is not the only thing which has been made more marvellous by report than nature made it. it is a lizard, of a size rather larger than those little four-legged, long-tailed animals, that in the spring and summer are seen about old fences and trees, nearly the colour of the moccason snake. the chameleon is, in its usual colour, not unlike the above-mentioned lizard, rather lighter--more like the rattlesnake as to colour. it is a perfectly harmless reptile, may be handled at pleasure. it is rather slow in its motions, and when you touch it, it will swell and blow at a great rate, but does nothing else. as its passions are excited by handling, its colour is in a slight degree changeable, and it may be still more so when seen in different kinds of light. the change, however, has been much magnified; and were it not that "as changeable as a chameleon" has become a proverb, and every one expects something, hundreds of people might see and handle it, and not observe any change in its colour. they are often found about houses, and are said to be fond of flies--what their art of catching them may be, i know not; their motions appear too slow to make a living in that way. i had heard, long before coming to asia, fearful accounts of the annoyance i must expect from fleas, bed-bugs, and other similar sorts of gentry; i have as yet only come in contact with the fleas, and an occasional musquito. but really the number and pertinacity of the fleas will well make amends for the absence of the other tribes of annoying insects. i know not to what it may be owing, but the flea does seem to multiply in a way that is astonishing. they abound almost everywhere, and it appears to be a matter of impossibility to get wholly out of their reach. the evil may be increased by the earthen floor, and the peculiar character of their houses, and, above all, the unclean habits of the people; and as all the frank families have native servants, and are visited a good deal by the natives, it is not easy for those families to keep their houses free from the annoyance. i have heard, indeed, a very significant saying, that the king of the fleas resides at beyroot, and his pasha at jaffa. i suppose it signifies those are the favourite places with these light-footed gentry. the fruit season is now coming on, and we have some fine varieties of fruit brought to market. the district of country a little on this side of jaffa, is the place most famed for the water-melon. there are but few grown on these parts of the mountain. i have seen but few vines, and these bore a small and inferior kind. but the quantities that come from the vicinity of jaffa are very great; vessels arrive at beyroot almost daily with them. they are sold for a mere trifle. they are carried all through these mountains, and are a very fine fruit of the kind. i have never seen the plum any where to be compared with those here. they grow, however, near damascus. that place is famed for fruit of various kinds, and great quantities of it are brought to beyroot, and other towns on the coast. at this time of the year, when the fruit is ripe, it is a considerable business to carry fruit and supply the market. the plum to which i refer is nearly as large as a hen's egg, and has a fine rich pulp. it is of a deep red colour, and does credit to the land where it grows. the apricot abounds at damascus; and they are brought in large parcels for the supply of this market. it is a fine fruit. i have not seen many growing on this part of the mountain, nor have i seen the apple or the peach growing in very large quantities. the best used here are brought from damascus. i have not seen any apples to be compared with our best; the apple season, however, is not yet come. the grape grows well, and there are some fine vineyards. the grape that abounds most, as far as i have observed, is a large white grape. the single grape is often nearly as large as a partridge's egg. the branches contain a noble collection of these grapes, and more than once the large size of the bunch has made me think of the cluster which the spies took from eshcol, as a sample of the fruit of the land. some wine is made on these mountains, and of a very good kind, as is said, for i have not so far forgotten my temperance habits as to use, unless very occasionally, and under peculiar circumstances, the wines of any of the countries through which i pass. the wines, i am told, are peculiarly free from alcohol, and have, if any, but a very small portion of the intoxicating principle. they are not so strong as the well-made cider of the middle states. these mountaineers have a peculiar way of baking bread. they dig a hole in the ground, about the size of a large bottle--put a thick coat of plaster around the side and on the bottom, and then let it dry. it is very much in the shape of a large pot, a little bulging in the middle. a fire is made in the bottom of it, of small branches, and kept up until the sides are well heated; the flames are then suffered to go down, leaving the mass of coals in the bottom. they have the dough ready, and take a piece of it, about as large as a biscuit, and laying it on a board, press it out as large as a common-sized plate, and nearly as thin as the blade of a thick knife. they place it on a round pillow or cushion, (it is so thin it cannot be handled otherwise,) and strike it against the inside of this potlike place. it sticks, and in about one minute is baked. it is then taken off, and another put on. there are, usually, several women engaged at it at the same time, and they put them on with great quickness. you may see three or four of these wafer-like cakes sticking round the tan-moor, as it is called, at the same time, and changed for others every minute. they soon bake bread for a meal. letter vi. _beyroot, august th, ._ i have just returned from a tour to damascus, baalbec, and the far-famed cedars of lebanon, and will attempt a brief account of these places, and my adventures by the way. i had the company of mr. b----, angelo to cook for us, and a muleteer, who took care of our mules, and who ought to have been our guide, but who, on trial, was found not to know the way himself--a state of things not uncommon in this country--and did it not extend to higher matters than to find the road from one place to another, it would not be so bad; but from all i see and hear, it is most dolefully the case in the great matter of finding the way to everlasting life. guides there are many in religion, but few, if any, understand the way of salvation through our lord and saviour jesus christ. it is, indeed, astonishing how far the great mass of those who in these regions call themselves christians, have sunk in darkness and ignorance respecting the most plain and leading principles of the word of god. the priests are "blind leaders of the blind." as we set out for damascus, from bru-ma-nah on the mountain, we did not follow the usual road to damascus from beyroot, but took a more direct route. we made for the lower part of mount lebanon, between the sun-neen and jebal knee-se. i had before passed over part of this, on my tour to the sun-neen, some account of which i have already given you. part of our way, however, before reaching the top, was new, but did not differ much from what i had before seen. we passed a considerable village, where the jesuits are said to have a school. it is in a lovely, romantic spot, and near a most tremendous precipice. the descent from the top to the plain is much greater than i supposed, when on the top. it took us above two hours to reach zahle, which stands on the lower part of the mountain, and at some distance above the level of the plain. the side of the lebanon next the plain is not quite as rough and rocky as the other; in other respects it does not essentially differ. the cultivation may possibly extend farther up--the rock more disintegrated, and the strata not as distinctly marked,--the general course of the ridge was more regular and uniform. the road, as we approached zahle, was better than any i have seen on the mountains--it passed through a considerable extent of vineyards, and labour had been expended upon it--it was very passable, a rare thing in these parts. a little above zahle, and in and near it, a number of fine springs arose, and their effect on the vegetation was most striking; while the whole face of the mountain presented a most dry and parched aspect, with only here and there a bush to be seen, the heads of the little hollows about zahle--a small district near the town, and a narrow slip along the waters, widening as it approached the plain, were rich in verdure, and abounded with the lombardy poplar, the willow, the white walnut, and a variety of fruit-trees. you could trace most clearly where there was water by the vegetation which there covered the ground. yea, you could point out most distinctly where the water was carried along the hill sides, in trenches, by the verdure which covered the whole district below, while all above was almost destitute of vegetation. the rising of water above and near the town, being very considerable, and being carried along the hill sides, and extensively used in irrigation, a larger district about this town was covered with trees, and bore more marks of productiveness than any i have seen in these quarters. a little below the town were some mills on this water-course, and many lovely gardens lay on all sides. the town zahle contains from eight hundred to one thousand houses. they are crowded together, with narrow, crooked streets; and, like all other towns in this land, it has no claim to cleanliness. judging from what i saw, the houses are universally built of unburned brick, made with a good deal of _short straw_ mixed with them, no doubt to prevent them from breaking to pieces. the houses are of one story, have flat roofs, where people are often seen walking or lounging, and on which various things are deposited. it being about sundown when we entered the town, we made some inquiries for lodging. there are usually in the towns, and occasionally on the roads, houses built for the accommodation of travellers, called khans. they have rooms, but are entirely unfurnished, and the traveller is expected to provide for himself. they are beginning to keep, at some of them, the more necessary articles of food for man and beast, which the traveller may obtain at a reasonable price. having, in some of my former tours, been greatly annoyed with _fleas_, and knowing these khans are the very _head-quarters_ of such gentry, we were rather on the watch, and made inquiry before alighting, whether they had any fleas in their establishment? they assured us that they had "a _plenty_! _plenty!_" we declined stopping, and passed on amidst the laugh of the bystanders. it began, however, to grow dark about the time we got out of the town, and after passing down the stream, among the gardens, for some time, and not finding a place that offered a good encampment, we were constrained to put up at a house on the road side, and sleep in a kind of open court. we found, to our discomfort, that we had not much mended the matter. we were most grievously beset with fleas, which were as greedy as if it was the first frank blood they had tasted, and feared it might be the last. we found in the morning that we were in the immediate neighbourhood of a considerable body of the pasha's troops. their parade-ground was over against us; arranged along one side i counted thirty-six cannon drawn up, and as we passed, we saw a considerable number of artillery-men, five or six in a company, manoeuvring, each under the direction of an individual. several of these groups had a _little carriage_, not more than a foot long, a perfect toy, with a string to it, and were drawing it about and manoeuvring it in place of the cannon. it was laughable to see five or eight great awkward fellows pulling about a little toy, like a waggon, which a baby could have thrown about at pleasure. this is the egyptian version of european tactics. there was near this place, which was on the edge of the plain, a most noble threshing-floor. it was a large space of several acres, and there may have been from a dozen to twenty floors, without any partition between them. on some of them people were employed in threshing grain, others separating the straw and chaff from the wheat; on others lay great piles of grain, some clean, and others mixed with the chaff and straw. they separate the wheat by throwing it up and letting the wind blow the chaff away. of course they must wait for a wind. i saw no instrument to make wind. the threshing instrument is a board, about three feet in width, and six or eight feet in length; at the fore end it is turned up, a little like a sleigh. the board is about three inches in thickness. on the under side many holes are cut in it, from an inch and a half to two inches, and in these are fastened pieces of stone, flint, or iron; these project nearly an inch from the face of the board and serve as teeth, to tear the heads of the grain in pieces. oxen are fastened to the front of these boards, and driven round the floor, drawing this instrument after them. the driver of the oxen usually sits or stands on the instrument. this is the common threshing-machine in these countries. i see it everywhere--and i have seen no other. it would seem that it is the same instrument that was used in the days of the prophet, who speaks of a "new threshing instrument having teeth." the oxen are usually without muzzles, and often, as they pass round, take up a few straws and feed on them. "thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn." i do not recollect of ever seeing the horse used on the floor--the oxen very often. as we passed the threshing floor, in and around which were many cattle, i could not but notice a fact of which i had often heard and read, but had not before seen--the collecting the manure that fell from the cattle and preparing it for fuel. a female was employed in collecting it with her hands, working it into balls, and sticking it in flat cakes against the walls of the houses to dry--when dry, it was collected in piles and laid on the house-tops, or made in little stacks in the yard. when well dried it burns very well, and will make a fire sufficient to boil coffee. on some occasions, during our tour, we were glad to get it, and found it did very well. this throws light on a passage in jeremiah, where he is directed to prepare his food with fire made of human excrement--the prophet entreated, and was allowed to take cows' dung. this is a common kind of fuel in many parts of this country. the prophet was only directed to do as his people generally did. our course took us directly across the celebrated plain of celo-syria. it is nearly a dead level--we were about two hours and a half in crossing it, which, at three miles an hour, the usual rate of travelling on mules, will make it about eight miles wide. this is less than i stated in a former letter. i mentioned then what a gentleman who had crossed it gave as its supposed width. i now give what _i_ found it to be. it may, however, vary in width at different places, and no doubt does. there are very few trees on the plain. near the villages, and there are usually several in sight, some trees may be seen, and at a few of the villages are considerable groves of them. as regards the great body of the plain, not a tree or a bush is to be seen--not a fence--not a hedge--not a house, except at the few villages. on the plain, where we crossed, there was a little water. the stream which flowed in from zahle is parted and carried into the plain, and used in irrigation; and it would seem nearly if not wholly exhausted in this way. near the farther side of the plain, we passed several channels that contained water, but the amount was not great. the water had but a slow, dull current, and the ground being soft, we had a little difficulty in crossing, as we feared swamping. there appears to be a stream of water entering the plain from the anti-lebanon, a few miles north-east of zahle; for on that side of the plain we found most water; and when we entered the plain on our return from damascus, which was half a day's journey to the north-east, we saw scarcely any water, except this stream passing in--south-west. the channel shows that more water flows in at times, but it is never more than a small stream--never deserves the name of a river. much of the plain appeared to have been cultivated with small grain. it was now gathered about the threshing-floors, several of which were seen in different directions. i saw also several lots of indian corn, and a field that looked almost precisely like what with us is called broom-corn. it is, i believe, the millet, here called durah. the corn was a most diminutive kind, and the same is the case with all the corn i have seen in the east. it was beginning to tassel and silk, and yet its general height was not above four feet; with us such a field of corn would not be thought worth anything. it was, i believe, of the usual size and promise. we passed several fields of the castor-oil plant, and were informed, on inquiry, that they extract the oil from it. it did not seem to grow as well as i have seen it in other countries. we saw several encampments of bedouins on the plain. their tents are said to be made of goats' hair. they are black--"black as the tents of kedar," thought i. there were many flocks of sheep and goats about their tents. the bedouins look almost as black as their tents. they are a dirty-looking set. we spoke to several of them, and tried to get a drink of milk. they, however, were so indifferent and slow, and showed so little inclination to serve us, that we passed on. i noticed before one of their tents, a huge skin, suspended on forks. it either had been taken off the animal nearly whole, or had been sewed up. it was full of milk, which they were shaking, and thus churning it, making butter, or something of that sort. i did not much envy the eaters of it--but every man to his liking. the whole plain lay open; and as far as we could see, without any landmarks to point out the special property-rights, which particular persons may have to parts of it. there are no fences, nor hedges, nor even ditches, for the purpose of designating property. there are, it is true, channels cut in different directions through the plain for the purpose of irrigation; but only for that purpose. the flocks that wander over the plain, are under the care of keepers; whose business it is not to allow them to commit trespass on spots under cultivation; except there, the flocks go pretty much where they please, and eat whatever they can find; and really they appear to have a poor chance to find much; the above spots excepted. the anti-lebanon lies on the south-east side of this plain; and is very much such a mountain as lebanon. it is, perhaps, as a general thing, not quite so high. still, to the south of us it attains to a great elevation, and its upper part in that direction has much snow upon it. these two mountains, the lebanon and anti-lebanon, are nearly of the same appearance; and are nearly parallel to each other, having between them the plain, nearly level, of an average width of from six to ten miles, in the part that i have seen. our road, which was but a path for mules and donkeys, led us directly up the mountain, winding and crossing a hollow, that ran up to the top. the ascent was steep and fatiguing, and took us about three hours. there were a few thin bushes, and as we got up into the mountain we found a good many oak-trees--a few of them of the size of a small apple-tree, but most of them were only six or eight feet high. as we approached the top, these were discontinued; and over the whole of the upper part of the mountain, there was almost a total want of vegetation. a few stunted thistles and bunches of furze were almost the only vegetable growth to be seen. on the top of the anti-lebanon, where we crossed, there was a general level of four or five miles. possibly this may not be a fair sample of the width of the mountain, as we may have passed over an unusually wide place. as far, however, as we could see, there appeared to be a wider flat on the top than any i had seen on the lebanon. the rock, as far as i observed, was wholly limestone. it is all of the secondary formation, and appears to be of a softer kind than that which composes the great mass of the lebanon. it is much more affected by the action of the weather, and is greatly broken into fine pieces: this is the case on the top; we often passed over beds of fine broken stone almost like gravel. the stratum, from the yielding character of the rock, was not so clearly to be traced as on the lebanon. at some places, however, it could be seen; and the general position of the stratum approached the horizontal. there were, however, many deviations from it: i noticed several small locations which had the dip to a very considerable degree. this was especially the case in some small elevations, or secondary hills, next the plain. we had a pretty long, and part of the way a rough, descent to the narrow and beautiful valley of the bareda. the rock, as we descended, retained much of the character which it had on the top. there was, in places, much rock on the surface; tremendous precipices; piles of rock heaped on each other, as if mountains of earth had been washed away and all the rock left. in the plain, at the point where we reached it, is the town of zebdane. it is near the head of the plain, and is well watered by the upper springs of the river bareda, or bariade, as it is at times spelled on maps. the town has several hundred houses, mostly inhabited by mohammedans. the waters are here taken out of the bed of the river, and spread over the plain. there is quite a grove of trees in and near the village. the houses are not so crowded together as we often find them in other villages; many of them have gardens, which are filled with trees--the mulberry, poplar, willow, hickory, apple, plum, and other fruit-trees. much of the town is, indeed, well furnished with shade; and is a most lovely spot, in the midst of a dry, parched land. after six hours' exposure to the burning sun, the cool shades of zebdane, its flowing waters and rich gardens had powerful inducements to stop us. in truth, we needed both rest and refreshment. we had set out early from zahle, that we might cross the plain, and ascend the mountain before the heat of the day set in, intending to breakfast on or near the top of anti-lebanon; but when we reached the summit we found no water, and our muleteers had neglected to fill our leathern bags. there was no alternative but to go on. the burning sun on the top, added to the fatigue, made us all suffer for water; but none was found until we were close to zebdane. when about to begin our descent, however, we met several muleteers with mules loaded with fruit, which they were carrying probably to beyroot or tripoli: in the fruit season, much fruit is brought from damascus to beyroot, tripoli, and other places on the coast. supposing that the mules had fruit in their packs, i was casting in my mind how we could induce them to let us have some, especially for quenching our thirst, when the foremost muleteer, while yet eight or ten yards from me, put his hand into his bosom, took out a handful of apples, and, with a kind salutation, handed them to me. i know not that the apples were better than usual, but i know that i have seldom eaten apples with a finer relish; they were most refreshing. feeling much in need of our breakfast and rest, we passed through a part of zebdane, hoping that we could find a cool and comfortable place for both these purposes. we wished, in short, to get into some one of the gardens, and under its trees loaded with fruit, and near the cool streams of water we saw flowing through them, take our rest; but no one invited us in; and to one or two applications we received a refusal. we stopped under a large tree in the street, and were about spreading our carpet, when a very good-looking female came out of a garden near us, and very kindly invited us in. a stream of water ran through her garden; near it was a small fire, and preparations for washing. she had been washing clothes. a young female, whom i took to be her daughter, and a little boy, her son, were with her. although her clothes were rather soiled, they were of a texture that indicated wealth: both she and her daughter wore rich ornaments. the daughter had a clasp of silver on each arm, of an inch and a half in width; and two of gold, about three quarters of an inch wide; with rich ear-rings, &c. their manners had the ease and frankness of well-bred persons who have been much in company. they pointed out to us a good place to spread our carpets, gathered us some fruit, and sat down near us, and conversed pleasantly and cheerfully. they spoke of our clothes in a complimentary manner; said they would be very pretty, were it not that our pantaloons were too tight. this last was a hit at me mainly, as my companion, mr. b., had on the _persian_ pantaloons, which are of most ample dimensions. it was said with great good-humour, and even a little apparent blushing, by the good ladies. mr. b., who acted as interpreter, enjoyed the laugh at my expense not a little. i felt half inclined to retaliate on them--that even tight pantaloons were more modest than absolutely naked breasts. but mr. b. was not inclined to interpret it for me, and, on second thought, i let it pass. fashion is an odd thing! my pantaloons were of the ordinary size--what, indeed, many would call large; yet they were not thought modest by these good, oriental ladies, as showing too plainly the shape of the lower parts of the body; while _they themselves_ had their breasts almost wholly exposed! such is the fashion of the ladies here. indeed, i have often been not a little provoked at the exposure which females here make of the upper parts of their bodies: they cover their faces, and expose their breasts. but thus it is in the east, or in this part of it; and fashion has its influence here as well as in the western world. if there be no disputing about taste, there may be some little about fashion. when our breakfast was ready, we had quite a company of people to see us eat. we gave them but a poor sample of frank manners, as from necessity we had to eat _à-la-turque_, at least in part. they were much interested with the looks of our loaf of white sugar, and we had various applications for small pieces. but as it was a fast with them--that is among the greeks, and our visiters were mostly of that church--they did not eat the sugar we gave them, but laid it away until the fast should be over. the same took place with some sweet-bread we gave them. they would not let the little boy i mentioned eat what i gave him, but took it from him to keep until the season of fasting was over. i doubt whether he will ever get all of it. the valley in which zebdane is situate may be on an average from three quarters to a mile wide; there are several other villages in it; and it extends five or six miles in length. its general direction is from north-east to south-west, nearly parallel to the plain of the bokar. the parts of this plain that are irrigated by the waters of the bareda, and the several springs that rise along the foot of the mountains, appear productive, and are covered with vegetation, and a space for a mile below the town is covered with gardens and trees of various kinds. the remainder has rather a sterile and naked appearance. the mountain that lies south-east, has especially the most utterly barren aspect of any district that i have ever seen. above the little green spots, that along its foot mark the places where water rises, there is hardly a trace of vegetation to be seen, all a naked, sun-burnt surface, desolation could hardly be more desolate. the gardens about zebdane are almost universally inclosed with well-made hedges. the thorn is much used for this purpose. they are plaited together in such a way as to make a most ample defence. they have gates, which have also a kind of fastening, and are thus made very secure. they are the best hedges i have seen in the east. a similar protection, i observed, was in some degree extended to the fields of indian corn, the castor oil plant, and other spots under cultivation. we had a fine sample of irrigation here. the corn fields are from time to time covered with water. it is let in upon a field, and runs until the ground is well saturated, then turned off to another field, which, in its turn, gives place to another; and thus the water is transferred from field to field, and garden to garden, to the no small benefit of the trees, and vegetation of all kinds. nothing can thrive in these lands without being from time to time thus watered. the righteous man is well compared to a "tree planted by the rivers of waters." it is eastern imagery, to the life. about p. m. we left the garden, and took leave of the good lady who had received us with so much kindness. we made her a small present, which she very thankfully received, and intimated that at our return we might enjoy again the accommodation of her garden. a little more than an hour brought us to the end of the plain, where the bareda turns short to the east, and passes by a narrow and deep defile, through the mountain. the road follows the stream. the whole mountain, as seen on both sides of the pass, is of a peculiar character. the stratum of the rock is very irregular; at places it has the dip, but with much irregularity. the rock is limestone, of a very soft, yielding kind, and breaks to pieces readily from the action of the atmosphere. much of it is a very coarse kind of breccia--appears to have been broken into small pieces, and again combined with a soft cement. some of the pieces seem to have been subjected to the action of water, while in a separate state. but a great deal of the mountain has all the appearance of an immense mass of marl, and much of it is in a very soft state, so as to be easily reduced to a fine white dust. in some places the road is worn or cut ten, fifteen, or perhaps twenty feet, down through this marl-like rock. there are at some parts of the pass considerable precipices of rock on one or both sides, and on the face of some of these rocks and at a considerable height from the ground we saw the entrances of tombs. it must have been difficult to cut such holes in the face of the rock at such a height. near the end of the pass we crossed a good arched stone bridge, and soon found the valley beginning to open. the character of the rock continued the same, and the whole face of the country was peculiarly barren, except a narrow strip along the river. the waters of the river, even in the mountains, were taken out of its bed, wherever it could be done, and made to water a little space on both sides, which space was more or less covered with trees. we saw indeed in two places, channels cut across the face of the rock above the road, which i am of opinion was for the purpose of carrying the water thus high, that on clearing the pass, it might be used for watering a wide space of country on the eastern side. if this was the case, the neglect of modern times has let go to ruin what may formerly have given fertility to a wide district east of the mountain, now almost utterly barren. many things have fallen back greatly in this country. as the valley opened below the pass, the water was taken out, and made to keep nearly a horizontal course, along both sides of the channel, and used to water all the district between it and the former bed, and on this district were fields, corn, vines, fruit-trees, poplars, willows, and grass for the flocks of sheep and goats, and other domestic animals. we passed one or two small villages, and night began to set in. after looking in vain for the cover of a good tree, in such a situation as we wished, we spread our carpets on a little elevation about fifty yards from a small village, and made our beds for the night. a few of the villagers came to look at us; but they did not seem to have as much curiosity or politeness as our good friends at zebdane. they were rather a shabby set. about the time we had finished our supper and were going to bed, some cause of dissatisfaction among the villagers, or a family quarrel, took place; and for a short time there was a terrible strife of tongues. it died away in part, and i hoped was about to terminate; but was revived or continued mainly between one man and woman, as the voices indicated; and such a scold i have seldom heard. the woman appeared manifestly to have the advantage. her tongue was like a sharp sword. it must have been used before, or it could not have been wielded with such terrible power on the present occasion. i thought of the old saying, that "the tongue is the only instrument that grows sharper and sharper by daily use." the adversary, whether neighbour, or brother, or husband, i know not, but suspect it was the latter, appeared to feel that he had a losing case. he yielded, lowered his tone, let her do two-thirds, three-fourths, and, towards the last, a still larger portion of the talking. such a storm could not last always, it gradually passed away and the voices became silent. how many such storms daily take place on earth! but not one in heaven, no, not one! it was a mohammedan village, and this probably a mohammedan wife, maintaining her rights against an unkind or petulant husband. verily, we of the western world are far from the truth in the judgments we form about the domestic manners and intercourse of the mohammedans, and especially their mode of treating their wives. we not only take it for granted that the mohammedans believe their women have no souls, (which is not true,) but we suppose they have no rights, no privileges, and dare hardly look at their lords, much less speak to them, under fear of losing their heads. now, all this is wide of the mark. the mohammedan ladies have their rights, as well as our own fair ones, and know how to stand up for them--and the female tongue is fully as powerful an instrument in the east as it is in the west. judging from what i used to hear when a boy about the mohammedans, i should have expected to have seen this _fair one_ put in a sack and thrown in the river, or, as water is rather scarce here to be used for drowning _scolds_, i should at least have expected to have seen her head cut off, and her tongue nailed up in terror to others. but it was plain that the good lady was in no fear of such treatment; and the good people of the village, instead of coming to the relief of the man, were glad to keep out of harm's way; and the ruler of the town, if it had any, knew better than to intermeddle with other people's matters; and the man himself received a lesson which i hope may do him more good than it did me. "on that night could not the king sleep!" and so it was with me. whether it was owing to the train of thinking which the strife of tongues occasioned; or whether that angelo had made my tea too strong, which he is almost sure to do, for i can't get the notion out of his head that the stronger and the richer his dishes are, so much the better; or whether other and unknown causes tended to chase sleep from my eyes, i know not; but so it was, i could not sleep. and really it was worth remaining awake to look on the face of such a sky. we lay on the summit of a little hill; not a bush or a green leaf near us. we had a fair horizon, and one of the clearest skies that i ever saw. it seemed that i could see farther than usual into the deep abyss, over which the stars are scattered in wild, irregular, but beautiful confusion. i do not wonder that astronomy began in the east, and, admitting the very strong and general tendency of mankind to idolatry, i the less wonder that, in this eastern world, with such heavens nightly spread over them, there should have been so strong a tendency to the worship of the host of heaven. it has much more show of reason than the worship of stocks and stones, the work of men's hands. when we arose in the morning, there was a scarcely perceivable dampness on our bedding; but the dust in the road was not laid. the case was, however, different on our return. we slept out near zebdane, and not far from a district irrigated by the waters of the bareda. then our bedding was wet, and we all felt chilly. the dew was most copious. this was no doubt owing to the low situation, and its vicinity to a large district over which the water had been thrown. it was also near the trees and gardens which for a mile or two cover the plain. we had about four hours' ride from our place of lodging to damascus. our course was south-east, and, for the most part, we followed the course of the bareda. this stream runs in a channel depressed below the general level of the country. the country indeed rises into hills, and small mountains, all of which, without exception, are wholly destitute of trees. indeed, it is rare to see a bush on them under which a lamb could be shaded. there are a few stunted thistles, and furze, and an occasional tuft of grass. i have often noticed the fact, that the thistles, a small stunted thorn, and the furze, which has on it many prickles of a thorn-like character, are more uniformly to be found than any other plants. "thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee." it is even so in these eastern regions. they grow where nothing else will, but some places are too bad for them. the rock through this whole district is of a soft, friable nature. much of it has that puddingstone appearance, which i mentioned as abounding in the mountain through which we had just passed. i was inclined to think it that kind of limestone called aolite. many of the hills were so white, and washed so easily, that i doubted whether they did not belong to the chalk formation. they reminded me of the chalk cliffs of dover, and the general appearance of the chalk formation as seen near dover. when near the top of the last high range of hills, near damascus, we had, on looking back, the most striking view of a naked and barren district that i ever saw. the whole range of country, up to the top of the mountain through which we passed on leaving zebdane, and far to the north and south, was in full view; a range of fifteen or twenty miles in diameter, perhaps much more; and, except the little green strip that at some points could be seen along the river bareda, there appeared to be neither tree nor bush, nor any green thing. i called mr. b----'s attention to it, and asked him if he could point out, with the exception just made, one green thing--tree or bush. he could not. as the river runs in a deep channel, and the trees along it are small, it was only at a few places that their tops could be seen. a more dry, parched, desolate landscape i never saw. our approach to damascus was from the north-west. the general course of the plain on which it stands is north-east and south-west. the northern part, near damascus, is bounded by a high, steep, and precipitous mountain; the suburbs and gardens of the city extending close to its foot. it was not until we had reached the top of this range of mountains, from which the whole region we had passed over for the last five or six hours rose to view, that we saw on the other side, along the middle of a most noble plain, a wide district covered with verdure, fields, gardens, and a forest of trees, extending eastward towards the bahr-el-mrdj or sea of meadows, as far as the eye could reach. in the midst of this, encircled with gardens for miles around, rose the old, the famous city of damascus, with its many gilded domes glittering in the sun. the sight was most delightful and refreshing; and the more so from the absolute barrenness and desolation by which it was surrounded. damascus is a walled town; but on some sides the town has spread far beyond the walls, and forms extensive suburbs. the north-west side, through which we passed on entering the city, and in which most of the franks live, is thought to contain, if i recollect aright, nearly twenty thousand people. this, however, is the most populous part. the walls have once been of great strength, and were defended on many parts, if not entirely around, by a deep foss and rows of towers. they are now much out of repair. the gates are falling to pieces, or approaching that state. the foss is much filled up at many places, and the towers have lost their beauty and strength, and possibly in great part their use--_sic transit gloria mundi_. the streets are narrow, crooked, and miserably dirty. but little effort is made to remove filth and produce cleanliness. in truth, throughout this whole eastern world, the people appear to have very low ideas of neatness and cleanliness. while the city abounds with water, and a fountain of it is seen in most of the good houses, you meet with filth everywhere, and are often most grievously annoyed with the stench of dead animals in the roads and streets. some of the streets are paved, but in a very indifferent way, and from the great accumulation of dust they are not in a comfortable condition for passing over. some allowances, however, must be made for this abundance of dust in streets, roads, and open places, and even in the houses. it is now nearly three months since i reached beyroot, and not one drop of rain has fallen--the sun has not, with the exception of a few hours, been so covered with clouds as to be hid from sight--most of the days it has, without ceasing, poured its burning rays upon the earth. what marvel if the earth be _roasted_, and except when water abounds, be converted into dust! the roads are indeed dusty to a most uncomfortable degree. so are the streets--and we need not be surprised if the dust should find its way into courts, parlours, and even bed-rooms. one of the main streets, called straight, is shown as the one in which paul was found by ananias. i did not find a full agreement about its name, some saying it was so called, and others that this was its usual name. different names, it would seem, are given to different parts of it. most of the houses, when seen from the street, have an old and very shabby appearance. many of them are made up of patch-work--mud, wood, and stone. the mud, however, as the cheapest article, is most abundant. occasionally, you may see the lower part of the building of good hewn marble,--which soon gives place to a miserable patch-work kind of half stucco and half mortar. the door-frames are very often found of hewn stone, and sometimes arched, and this may be the only stone that you see in the building. the precise number of mosques in damascus i did not, while with those who could have informed me, think of asking. as i left the city, however, and ascended the mountain, which gives such a fine view of it, i made an attempt to count the minarets. i made about thirty; and possibly this may be an approximation to the true number. while under the guidance of the man who showed us the house of ananias, and the window through which paul made his escape, we were taken to see several other things, especially some graves, which were not far from the gate. in one of the large vaults, which was in part open, we could see the skeletons of various persons--their winding-sheets in part rotted off--the flesh all gone, and the whole exhibiting a spectacle most humbling to human nature. in health man is the most beautiful of animals, and in corruption the most loathsome. but death will lose its victory through christ, to the believer. we were also taken to the grave of the gate-keeper, who ought to have known how paul made his escape, but did not. while he watched the gate, paul, it would seem, by the help of some friends, escaped by the window. the poor gate-keeper knew and of course could tell nothing about the matter. but that very ignorance, as it was with the soldiers who kept peter, was brought in charge against him. he ought to have known, and was put to death for not knowing. the gate-keeper, however, has fared rather better than the soldiers. posterity has sainted him--has erected a neat tomb over him--put a paling around, and a cover over it. it is considered as a sacred place, and little offerings are deposited within the paling. i saw some pieces of money that were placed on the tomb. i had often heard, that with the papists, ignorance was the mother of devotion, but here it was the cause of saintship. when will the measure of folly, under the name of religion, have come to its full? bad as the falsely so-called christian saints may be, they are not so shameless as the living saints, which are at times seen--the mohammedan, men who have been to mecca, and set themselves up to be saints, are often seen here. i did not happen to see one at damascus, but saw one in beyroot, who passed about the streets and bazaars in a state of perfect nudity. with the most perfect shamelessness, they will pass among females, and even enter the houses and apartments of females, without so much as a fig leaf to cover their nakedness. their supposed holiness gives them great consequence; and at times and places of peculiar sanctity, at special processions and in the mosques, they put themselves forward and take the most honoured place. poor human nature! how low it can and will come down, where grace does not prevent. there are, just outside the walls of damascus, some mills, that looked better than any of the buildings of the sort i have seen in the east. they stand on the main channel of the river, and avail themselves of its waters to work their machinery. the bread of damascus is, for the east, good. one of our longest walks was in the after part of the day, along the river, and among the gardens and shady trees which line its borders: i could not but notice how the people were walking, sitting, or lying along the side of the stream, and how they appeared to enjoy its refreshing coolness. they were "beside the still waters." near the eastern side of the city i was much interested in meeting with a field of hemp. it was just beginning to blossom. it was the first, and i may add, the only field of hemp i have seen in the east. most of the houses have balconies, or places projecting out on the front, having windows at the three sides. they serve the double purpose of giving access to the air, and enabling the people to see what is going on in the streets. these are more or less common as fixtures in houses, all through this eastern world. the greater part of them have also courts that are open to the heavens; these in several of the best houses that i have visited were paved with marble, and had noble fountains of water in the centre. some have more than one fountain; and the house in which i lodged had one perpetually flowing in the room in which i slept. there is water enough to keep their houses and persons clean, would the people but use it. i was struck with the great contrast between the outside of the houses and the appearance within. without all looked old, rusty, and ready to fall to pieces; but within there was often a richness and beauty in the marble pavements, the gilded ceiling, and fanciful carvings, that was striking. to what this may be owing i know not. possibly, in part to avoid the oppressive exactions which all through these lands is apt to follow the track of wealth, or the outward show of it. noticing that the roofs and upper parts of many houses were greatly injured, and sadly in need of repairs, i inquired, and learned that last winter was one of very great severity at damascus,--that an unusual quantity of snow fell, and by its weight did great injury to the houses. their mode of building is not adapted for durability. their mud walls do not well stand the rainy season, however they may abide the dry. the wood they use for joists, and for supporting their flat mud roofs, is in great part the lombardy poplar and willow, which is their most abundant growth, except perhaps the mulberry. this wood they put in, full of sap, bark and all, and of course in a few years it must rot, and fall out of its place. when it is entirely defended from the air and moisture, it may last some time, but when, as in most cases, it is almost entirely exposed to both, no marvel if the house needs repairing nearly every year; and this i am told is not uncommon. the bazaars or streets, where the stores and shops are placed, are generally covered over, so as to exclude the sun. the streets not being more than ten or fifteen feet wide on an average, a roof is thrown across, at ten, fifteen, or twenty feet above--not a very close roof, but one that keeps out the sun, but lets the air have more or less circulation. all through these countries there is a great care to procure a shade from the scorching rays of the sun; for this purpose the streets are made narrow, and in many places are covered, so that those who pass may have shade. this narrowness of the streets, and the covering of them, does, it is true, give a closeness to them, and operates against a free circulation of the air; but this is supposed to be compensated, in part at least, by the protection they give from the direct action of the sun. i was taken to the house, as was said, where ananias dwelt. it is a kind of cellar,--a poor, miserable place; and i am sure that so good a man deserved a more comfortable residence. i doubt altogether whether it was his house. but i did not judge it worth while discussing the matter with the catholic priests, who claim the ownership of it, and show it. i also went to see the window through which paul is said to have been let down in a basket. it is over one of the gates. i had as little faith in this as the other. there is indeed, i think, strong evidence against it. i did not go out to the spot at which paul is said to have been converted. the day was hot, the distance considerable, and nothing marked the place. there is a thousand chances to one against it being the real place. the population of damascus is not certainly known. from all i could learn from several resident franks, it may be , ; and in the one hundred and seventy-three villages which lie round damascus there may be an equal number. a gentleman who has paid some attention to the matter, and has been some time a resident in the country, supposes the population of all syria to be about one million and a half. the chief data used in forming the estimate is the number of men, the heads of families, who pay the tax levied on such. they are about , in damascus, and may form one-fifth of the population. this, at least, gives an approximation--the best we have when no census is taken. the majority of the population is mohammedans, but the proportion i either did not get, or have forgotten it. there are a few jews, and some of all the various sects of christians found in these regions. damascus has long been considered by the mohammedans as one of their sacred cities; and it is not many years since when their bigotry was so great that christians had to use much caution to avoid its outbreakings. there is a great change in this respect. christians may now go about with little danger. we rode repeatedly through the crowded bazaars, and no one appeared to take the least offence; and generally gave their salaam with indications of kindness. still, it will sometimes show itself. it is not long since that mr. calman, a jewish missionary, when engaged in selling the scriptures, was taken up by the bigoted mohammedans, and for a time feared that he might be put to trouble, but was released without much difficulty. the main, if not the only river which waters the part of the plain where damascus stands, is the bareda. it rises near zebdane. we followed its course, as i have before informed you, until it entered the plain. there it is divided into three parts, which are led at a distance from each other for the purpose of watering the plain. from these channels a multitude of smaller ones are led in all directions, so that every part of the plain within reach of the water may, from time to time, receive its life-giving influence. the main channel passes through or near the city, and its waters are carried by pipes to every part of it. to the south and south-east other streams are said to enter and flow through the plain; but we did not visit those parts. they must be small streams. indeed the bareda is a small stream. it would with us be called a good mill stream. we would rather term it a creek than a river. it is mostly confined in a channel of eight or ten yards wide, and then may be waded without coming above the knee. much of the water of these rivers is exhausted in irrigation. they flow east, and after rendering a noble plain very fertile and productive for twenty or thirty miles, form a lake or marsh--they have no outlet. i wished much to ride eastward through this plain and see the country about the lake, but the time of the year and other causes prevented. it was the sickly season, and there was much sickness in damascus. visiting the city at such a time was not classed with a high degree of prudence and caution, while to have spent a week or so in exploring the plain, and visiting the many villages along the bareda, would have been considered almost madness--a tempting of providence. i therefore spent but one night and two days in damascus, and then hurried back to the high ground on the great mountain of lebanon--not, however, without a lingering purpose that when the heats of summer are passed, i may take damascus in my route again, and see more of its wide-spread plains, and thickly-planted villages. the whole country east of damascus, on the euphrates, is, i am told, much like what i have seen in the part already passed over. as a general thing, it is wholly destitute of trees and even bushes--and during the summer there is but little verdure; much of it is covered with sand. there are, however, spots where water is found, and at all these vegetation is produced. where these spots are of any size there are villages, and man contrives to live. these green spots are like small islands scattered over the face of the ocean, and may be found all the way to the euphrates, and down that stream past bagdad to the gulf. the ruins of palmyra lie two or three days' travel north-east of damascus. they have often been visited lately, and the danger is not great. still it is too great to be lightly hazarded. a party, of whom a friend of mine was one, were robbed in an attempt to go there about five months ago. a slight skirmish took place between them and a large party of arabs, in which they were overpowered and robbed; some were wounded, but happily none killed. indemnification has been had from the tribe who robbed them. an attempt is about being made to establish a regular communication between damascus and a point on the euphrates, beyond palmyra; which, if successful, will throw much more light on the interior of this region, and may make it an easy thing to visit that far-famed river, and the many antiquities that abound on its banks. damascus is a famous rendezvous for caravans. the caravans for mecca, bagdad, and various other places, either pass or start from this place. some had come in just before we were there, and others were preparing for their departure. this gave some activity to the business of the place. the shortness of my stay, for the reasons above assigned, did not allow me to see much of them. i had not time to go out to the edge of the desert, where they usually encamp, and there to see the grotesque appearance, the odd mixture, and pell-mell state of things produced by such assemblages of men of all nations, and such herding together of man and beast. damascus, and the region about it, is somewhat celebrated for its fruit of various kinds. the grapes were fine--the apricots good, and abundant--the plums the largest and finest i ever saw, being nearly as large as a hen's egg. i saw but few peaches, they are said to be good--the figs were fine of course--the apples indifferent. the white mulberry-tree is much cultivated in this section of the country, not for its fruit, which is but little esteemed, but for feeding the silk-worm. the silk forms a considerable branch of the damascus trade, and the manufacture of it carried on to some extent. the black mulberry is found in considerable quantities, and is cultivated for its delicious fruit. the white walnut is with the natives a favourite tree. the nut is rich and of a pleasant taste. the tree gives a fine shade, grows well near the water, and is larger than most of the other trees. the sycamore is found here. the plane-tree is also found, but not very common--this is often called the sycamore with us. there is a very large one in damascus near one of the gates. we measured it--thirty-six feet around. the karoob-tree is a variety of the locust. the fruit is the husks which the prodigal son would have eaten--a bean-like pod with a sweetish meat in it. letter vii. _beyroot, sept. th, ._ we left damascus by the same road by which we had entered it, and continued on the same way as far as zebdane. having already made some remarks on the characteristic features of this district, i will say no more about it. from zebdane, we kept up the valley, which ran a north-east direction. it becomes narrow very soon after leaving that place, the ridges from the mountains on both sides close in and often almost meet, leaving but a small portion of level ground. passing the sources of the streams, the quantity of water diminishes fast. the trees almost cease except at occasional spots, where care has been taken to plant them. the ground for about an hour's travel is rough; the plain then opens again to a considerable extent, and is more or less cultivated. there are a few houses; but this part is but poorly supplied with water, and without that the regions must be barren and desolate. we soon found ourselves passing over the highest part of the plain, and beginning to descend. in short, we found that this little plain was at the separating point of the head waters of the bareda which flows to damascus, and those of the el-kanne, which flows into the bokar through the anti-lebanon east of zahle. we soon came to the head branches of this last stream, which is formed of a set of most noble springs, rising in the middle of the plain. there is quite a cluster of them rising near each other, and throwing off enough water to turn a mill; fine, pure, cool water. as is usual, it is carried in channels through different parts of the plain. there is a little cluster of trees, and the whole district over which the water can be thrown is cultivated, and rich in verdure. a small village stands just below, and we found some females at the spring engaged in washing. for a small present they allowed us the use of their fire to prepare our food; and again a good deal of interest was excited to see the franks eat. the mountains continued very bare of trees, and shrubbery of every kind. in the few places where water rose, there were a few trees, all else was a barren, sunburnt surface. after passing the village, which was poor in its appearance, the plain became more barren and rough, and the cultivated district more and more narrow. at the end of half an hour it terminated at a rough, narrow pass, nearly due west, and directly through the anti-lebanon. we followed the waters through this pass. the sides were steep and high, and the rock thrown about in wild confusion. the dip of the rock was very variable at different places. along the stream were a few trees, and we saw several large flocks of sheep and goats, under the care of shepherds and their dogs. after following the pass for an hour and a half, it bore to the south-west; we left it, crossed a pretty high ridge to the north-west, and entered the bokar. on reaching the top, the plain opened to view, and we had been led to expect that we should find baalbec at the point where we entered the plain. but no baalbec was to be seen. we found, to our no little discomfort, that we had about two hours' ride northward, along a dry plain, under a burning sun, before we could reach this far-famed ruin. we passed several most extensive threshing-floors. their threshing instruments and mode of cleaning the grain, were the same as has been already described. i might add, that in bringing their grain to the floor, and in carrying away the straw, they use mules and donkeys, and at times the camel. i saw, in no instance, the use of a wheel-carriage. the only wheeled-carriages that i have seen in syria were those for cannon at zahle, and ten or fifteen carts which i saw at one time passing a street in damascus. these carts were of a coarse, strong kind, belonging to the pasha, and were then employed in carrying materials for the castle which he was repairing. our road lay over the ridges, at the foot of the mountains, along the eastern side of the plain. the soil over which we passed was thin. there was much rock on the surface, and in many places there were wide-spread masses of a very coarse puddingstone, that appeared to have once formed a huge bed of water-worn rock, bowlders, and pebbles, and owing to some cementing matter which had come over it, had become a solid rock. as we approached baalbec this rock discontinued, and gave place to a very thick stratum of massy limestone of a peculiar kind, which is mainly used in the walls of baalbec. baalbec stands near the foot of the anti-lebanon, a little above the general level of the plain. the ridges of the mountain lower down gradually, and spreading out, form a general level, which merges insensibly into that of the plain. it is on this elevated level that the ruins stand; about a mile from them, on the side of a hill, is the quarry that has furnished the stone for these stupendous buildings. a little to the east arises the finest set of springs that i have seen in syria. they boil up over a considerable surface, and send off a stream of water sufficient to set in operation various kinds of machinery, if applied to that purpose. the ground on which the ruins stand is nearly a dead level; a large district has been surrounded by walls, traces of them remain. the space covered by the ruins of the temple, or set of temples, and possibly theatre and other buildings, is about nine hundred feet long, and six hundred broad. the area is not, however, a regular parallelogram, there are off-sets at some of the towers--towers having apparently been added when the place was fortified, and converted into a fort. a foundation or platform of great thickness, i should say not less than ten feet, seems to have been laid over this large space, and upon this foundation the temples have been reared. the stones in this foundation and wall, as in the walls still higher, are many of them of a most enormous size; at the west and south-west corner especially, they are almost incredibly large. where all were so large, we did not think it worth while to measure very many. in one row, and that one at some distance from the ground, are three stones which we measured, and made them about seventy feet long each, and about fifteen feet wide. the thickness we could not certainly tell, but we inferred it to be about fourteen feet. these stones are much of the same shape and appearance, they are precisely like one which lies nearly cut out in the quarry, which we were, from its position, enabled to measure accurately. it was seventy feet six inches long, fourteen feet two inches thick, and seventeen feet nine inches wide at one end, and thirteen feet eight inches at the other. we were at once struck with its perfect likeness to the three stones in the wall; all of them were wider at one end than the other. i suppose that these four large stones, the three in the wall and the one in the quarry, were originally intended, either for obelisks, pillars, images, or some such thing; that their being now in the wall, is owing to a subsequent arrangement, when the place was converted into a fortress, and those stupendous outside walls put up, which now fill us with wonder. under these three immense stones are seven others, which almost equal those above them in width; their thickness also, judging from what is seen at the corner of the building, does not much fall short of a due proportion. in truth, they are upon a most gigantic scale. this row extends along the south-west side nearly one hundred yards, forming a most solid foundation, ten or twelve feet high, which, however, on this side, is not built upon out to the edge, the wall going up about twenty feet inward. the above-mentioned are the largest stones i saw in these ruins; but many others are enormous, and, as a general thing, they are very large. as a sample, i measured one of a large row of stones at the south-east corner of the most perfect building now standing, (it was a corner stone, which enabled me to ascertain the thickness,) and found it to be twenty-eight feet long, six feet six inches wide, and four feet six inches thick. i was not at all certain that i might not, on measuring, have found many still larger. the most perfect temple, now standing, is on the south-east side of the above wide foundation. it is one hundred and fifty-seven feet long, seventy-eight wide, and the walls now may be sixty-six feet high. we inferred its height from the length of one of the fallen pillars, with a row of which it was, and still is in part, surrounded. the pillar is forty-nine feet eight inches; the capital, six feet two inches; the entablature and the pediment may be ten; making--say sixty-six feet. these pillars formed a portico all round it--a covered way; the pillars being connected with the temple by enormously large stones resting one end on the pillars, and the other on the walls. the lower faces of these stones were most richly wrought with various devices. the pillars are six feet four inches in diameter at the bottom, and five feet eight inches at the top; most of them are in three pieces. the door of the temple is at the east; the pillars there are fluted; the porch before the door was wider than at the sides--a noble arch was sprung over it, and in the centre, and on the lower face of what is called the keystone, (a stone of most gigantic size,) was carved a majestic wide-spread eagle. this stone has sunk out of its place, and threatens to fall from the arch. a modern wall has been put up, about ten feet east of the door, and at the end of the walls, no doubt for the purpose of defence. in the inside of the building, and half sunk in the walls, are fluted pillars, and at the corners they are so cut as to appear double, the piece being one. at about fifteen or twenty feet from the west end, two noble fluted pillars have stood at some distance from the sides, evidently making part of a separation of a more sacred apartment. they are fallen, but enough remains to show that the sanctum sanctorum stood there. there is no roof on this building, and from the fact that there are no windows in it, and other reasons, it may be doubted whether it ever had one: on this, however, i hesitate to give an opinion. the south-east row of pillars belonging to this temple range with the wall that rose from the deep wide moat, by which the whole mass of buildings was surrounded. opposite this temple, on the north-west side of the foundation, are the remains of a still larger temple, or building of some kind. but a small part of it remains; along the north-west wall is a row of pillars, or rather parts of pillars, the spaces between which have been filled up with large stones, forming thus a solid wall. opposite this, and nearly half way to the temple, on the other side of the foundation, stands a row of pillars, now reduced to seven or eight, the remainder having fallen. they are about the size of those described--possibly they are larger. the foundation on which they stand must be eight or ten feet higher than that of the temple above described. these pillars have the capitals on, and are connected by their richly-carved and magnificent masses of entablature. how they have survived those convulsions which have prostrated their companions, i know not. the ruins which lie about, the broken rows of pillars and walls, show that this edifice has been of great extent. its sides, i am inclined to think, have not been solid walls, but composed of these rows of columns, and most probably the whole building has been open to the heavens. there is near the temple i have first described, and but a few yards from its north-east end, a large building with very high and strong walls. it projects out a good deal into the ditch, and has some loop-holes. it is, as the arabesque work about the door shows, an arabic or mohammedan building. it is badly lighted; it was used as a granary or magazine for the troops stationed here, and we were thus prevented from examining it. around the outside of the whole of the above wide foundation, and on the outer edge of it, a wall of most enormous stones is run up to a very great height; much of it, it is true, is fallen, but it was originally from forty to fifty feet high. at the corners were towers, and in various places loop-holes; at the east end a most stupendous archway ran far in, having its floor nearly on a level with the ground without. possibly there were two of them originally, but one was partly closed, leaving a small entrance. such great changes have been made on these ruins, by the fitting them up for a fort, that it is not easy to know what their original plan and uses were. the whole is surrounded by a deep wide ditch, which could be filled with water; it is now much filled up with rubbish. a wall has originally extended from the south-east, and possibly also from the north-east, across the narrow plain which lies between the ruins and the hill to the east. this wall, much of which remains, has been of great strength. on the side of the hill is a very large pediment, and about it lie many pieces of a stupendous column which once stood upon it. no mortar or cement was used in the construction of these works. the rock has been cut so smooth, and fitted so exactly, that it is impossible to insert the blade of a penknife between them. i had heard that there were large columns of egyptian granite among these ruins. i saw some fragments of small columns of that kind, but the large columns were all of the rock which abounds in the quarry near. there is, in an old mosque not far from these ruins, a number of columns of egyptian granite, but none of them of a very large kind. still they were large enough to start the inquiry how they could have been brought from egypt to this place--how could masses of rock, three feet in diameter and ten or fifteen feet long, be brought over mount lebanon, which is so steep and high that it is a great labour for man unloaded to pass? that it is the true egyptian granite, all who know that rock will at once admit--no such rock is found in syria. within the wall, and among the rubbish, is a small village. the houses are indifferent, and the population must be small. the christians live in one quarter, and the mohammedans in another. rather to our surprise, on reaching baalbec, we saw to the east of the ruins a number of tents, and other appearances of an encampment. we learned in due time that there was stationed here a body of four or five hundred egyptian troopers, and that they had made this their head-quarters for several years past. they lodged in tents separated a little from each other, so as to give room for fastening their horses. the tents were pitched in rows and the horses arranged with some regularity. all had a very pretty appearance. i was interested in the contrivance for feeding their horses. wood is not to be had here; and it would be labour for a turk to make a trough for his horse out of stone. they have found a softer material. they take earth, and making it into mortar, form a pile of about three feet in diameter, and nearly the same in height--the sides are then raised, leaving a place within like a mortar, in which the horse's food is placed. there are rows of these horse-troughs, as they may be called, all through the encampment, and the horses regularly fastened to them. as we walked round the ruins one morning to get an entire view, we passed near a tent, before which, under the shade of a tree, sat several turkish officers. from their dress, and some badges of honour which one or two of them had on their breasts, we took them for persons of some distinction. they kindly called us to come to the tent. they had two very good chairs, which they made us occupy, seating themselves _à-la-turque_. they entered freely into conversation, and made us take a cup of coffee, after which we pursued our walk. we had intended to take up our quarters among the ruins, but finding so many soldiers near, we did not deem it prudent. we therefore applied to the latin convent, but on pretence of being full they did not admit us. an offer was made us of a room in a house near the convent, but on examination it was so close, dark, and filthy, that we preferred taking up our lodgings on the top of the house. there we spread our carpets and spent two nights; we found it a very pleasant place. it was cool and pleasant, and no dew fell worth mentioning. the only inconvenience we experienced was, in dressing we were exposed to the gaze of all those who felt a wish to see how the franks put on their clothes, shave their beards, and do those other things that are usually done in one's chamber. our route from baalbec was to the far-famed cedars. they grow on the lebanon, and on the side next the sea. our road was directly across the plain, as the cedars are nearly opposite baalbec. it took us about two hours and a half to cross the plain. this, at the usual mode of counting, would make it nearly eight miles wide. we found scarcely any water in the plain; there was indeed a small dry channel, and not far from it a slight trace of water, which was led along so as to water some districts; the quantity was small, and must soon have been exhausted. the noble body of water which came from the set of springs near baalbec was separated near those ruins: one part was carried to one side, and the remainder to the other; a considerable district through which they flowed was rich with verdure. a pretty line of trees marked for a mile or two the tract of the plain through which the water passed, but at the end of a few miles they appeared to be exhausted. as the trees and richness of verdure ceased, the plain below assumed its dry and parched aspect. in these sunny plains the exhaustion of water must be very great; and i now the less marvel to find lakes which have no outlets, and rivers which are lost in the sand. they become exhausted. when we had nearly reached the foot of the lebanon, we saw a large solitary pillar standing in the plain. we saw no ruins near it. we were told by a peasant that it was just like the pillars in baalbec, but what it was doing there alone he was unable to tell. the ascent of mount lebanon was a most toilsome matter. we had to cross over one of the highest points of the mountain. there is another way which is more easy, but farther; we preferred crossing the highest place, as we might not cross here again, and wished to see the mountain in all its majesty. the first ridge which we ascended had more natural growth on it than any district i have seen in this country. it was pretty well covered with shrubs and low trees--most of them oak. the tops of most of the large ones had been cut off, i suppose for fuel. they appear to pursue a plan here, much followed in some parts of france, savoy, and italy, of cutting off the tops of the trees for fuel; and when the branches which shoot out have grown to the thickness of a man's arm, they are again cut off for the same purpose, and the same course still followed. the rock on this ridge was wholly limestone. as we approached the top of it, and near the foot of the main ridge, the rock was very soft and much broken from the action of the air upon it. this continued to be the character of the rock over most of the main ridge. in some parts it was broken very fine and formed beds of loose rock; in which our mules sunk as if it were a bed of sand. a little up the side of the main ridge rose a beautiful spring of clear water, which served to produce verdure over a small district below. there were a few trees and shrubs scattered over the ridge almost to its summit; but in these upper parts they were few and small, and far between. i saw a few stunted cedars among them. as we approached the top, we passed through several large banks of snow. the face of the mountain was not generally covered with it, but it lay in large masses or spots where, from some cause, the wind had thrown much of it together. streams of water flowed from them. when on the top we had satisfactory evidence that we were on one of the highest points of lebanon. the ridge was narrow at this part of the mountain; there was no snow on the very summit, nor was there much on the north-west side--much less than on the south-east, and much less on either than on the sun-neen, when i was there five weeks ago. the entire upper region was destitute of vegetation, not a bush to be seen, and but a small sample even of the thistle, which of all other plants appears the most tenacious of spreading itself everywhere. from this eminence we had a most extensive view to the west--the long, irregular slope of the mountain to the sea--the narrow plain along the coast--and the wide-spread mediterranean, till where the heavens appeared to come down and fence in the waters. but the object which among the first was sought for, was the cedars--the far-famed cedars of lebanon! where could they be? the lebanon, at this place, makes on the side next the sea a considerable bend, having the concave part next the sea. we stood opposite the deep and wide hollow that comes up from tripoli, and down which flows a stream, the head springs of which rose far below our feet. the mountain, both to our right and left, threw out high and long ridges towards the sea. we had a steep descent before us of, i should think, at least two thousand feet; on the sides of which not a bush was to be seen. then, there was a small level in which several springs of water took their rise; and from the lower side of this level another deep and rough hollow opened, with stupendous precipices on its sides. below this, and along the sides, we saw trees and a considerable village. near the middle of the little plain, at the foot of the steep descent below us, we saw a clump of trees, but they looked too few or too small for the cedars. they resembled a small orchard of evergreens. we found, however, on reaching the plain, that they were the cedars we sought. they stand in irregular groups, spread over several little stony knolls, and may possibly cover eight or ten acres of ground. they are not what with us is called the cedar, but a variety of the pine. it is a resinous tree bearing a cone. the wood is of a white pine-like appearance. we spread our carpets, and spent the night under one of the father-trees of this grove. it is not easy to decide how many old trees there are; eight or ten have a more venerable appearance than the remainder; still others approach them so nearly in size and marks of age, that it is difficult to say why one should be called old and the other young. i once thought of counting the grove, but from the irregularity of the ground, and the situation of the trees, this was no easy matter--especially for a man who had crossed the lebanon the same day. i counted, however, a small section, and am disposed to think that there may be from to trees that are more than a foot in diameter--possibly that may be above two feet--and about or that may be from three to four feet in diameter. a few we measured; the largest was feet in circumference--one --one --one , and one : these may serve as a sample. most of the large ones forked near the ground, and were rather assemblages of trees from the same root than a single tree. those of the third size had some of them fine, straight bodies, and ran up to a considerable height. we procured some specimens of the wood, and a sample of the cones, and then bid adieu to this much-talked-of grove. it is pretty certain that this grove did not furnish wood for solomon. it lies opposite tripoli, which is two days north of beyroot, and beyroot is north of tyre and sidon. it lies up far from the sea, and has a piece of country between it and the sea, as rough as can well be found anywhere. the grove does not appear to be diminishing, but rather increasing. i saw no stumps of fallen trees, and young ones are springing up. there is a kind of religious reverence for these trees among the neighbouring villagers. they have a singular appearance standing alone in the midst of a small plain on which no other trees grow, with no other trees above them, nor for a considerable space below. another singular fact is, that there is no water running among them. there is a stream on the side of the plain, but it comes not near them. the ground appears enriched with the leaves that fall from them, and looks precisely as the soil usually does in a pine grove. leaving the cedars, we passed down the valley; a most rough and steep descent. we passed a village well watered, surrounded with mulberry, poplar, willow and fruit trees of various kinds. the state of cultivation on both sides of the valley, for some distance down, was much better than i have usually seen in these mountains. several villages were in sight. i noticed that the females here had a new kind of horn. it was only about six inches long, but much larger than those worn at beyroot and bru-ma-nah. it was like the crown of a very small hat, with the front part a little enlarged like the mouth of a bowl. it is fastened on the top of the head, but a little back, and has much ornament upon it. in our descent we passed a sandstone formation; there were no pines upon it, as upon those formations near bru-ma-nah. near the mouth of this hollow, the rock becomes very irregular, and has the dip much more near the top. this is especially the case with the secondary ridges and the irregular hills which rise between the main ridge and the sea. there is a plain of some extent between tripoli, which stands on the sea-shore, and the foot of the mountain, interspersed with vineyards, fields, villages, and fine groves of olive. there is much rock on the surface; their mode is to throw the rock out of the fields and vineyards into the road, to the great annoyance of the traveller. we passed a very high rock in the middle of the plain which had a wide, high, flat face to the south--in that face i counted the mouths of nearly thirty tombs. most of them were from ten to twelve feet high. there was a house on the top, said to be a convent. we also passed an old city, which must once have been a place of great strength. the walls are nearly perfect and very strong. there are but few people in the city. it stands there almost alone. most of the houses within are gone, and cultivated spots occupy their place. it is said to be the city of gebal, ez. xxvii. , now called jebail. the plain along the coast is rough--has a few villages--several small rivers enter. on the banks of one, nahr el-kelb, or dog river, which has a good bridge over it, we saw some figures cut on the face of the rock. they are very ancient, and it is said that the persian arrow-head may be seen. i did not stop to examine them. they are too much defaced to be deciphered correctly. letter viii. _beyroot, september , ._ we have had a very pleasant visit at this place from the american squadron, consisting of the constitution, the united states, and the john adams, under the command of commodore elliott. the general regret was, that its stay was so short--less than one week. it is seldom that vessels of war, except those of mohammed ali, visit this place. the english, although they keep a large force in the mediterranean, have not sent one ship of war to this coast for several years, and the last one sent was of a very small size. the delaware, under commodore patterson, was here two years ago, and made a very good impression of american character and power. at that time the stay was longer, and i was told by a gentleman of the place, who had the best opportunity of knowing, that he supposed about forty thousand persons visited the ship during commodore patterson's visit. a very large number visited the vessels during the few days that they remained here under commodore elliott. i was on board the constitution on the sabbath, and present at public worship. several from beyroot attended, and it was pleasing to see full attendance of officers and men, and the perfect quiet and respectful attention which the crew exhibited. the youngest child of the american consul had not been baptized, and he expressed a wish to have it baptized on board the constitution, and by the chaplain of that vessel. this was done at his request, and the child named _washington_; and thus, as was pleasantly remarked to him, he has now a good _constitutional_ child. in the afternoon, the commodore and some of his officers attended worship on shore at the consul's, where service is regularly performed, usually by one of the american missionaries, or some other preacher of the gospel who may be present. the commanders and officers deserve great credit for the readiness they manifest to satisfy the natural but almost troublesome curiosity of the many who go off to see the vessels. it is really no little trouble to be employed from morning to night, and that from day to day, in receiving company after company--it may be having three or four companies on board at the same time--taking them through the ship, and showing and explaining to them whatever excites their notice. it is not to be wondered at, that in the public vessels of most of the european powers, this privilege is allowed but to a few. the american commanders have, very wisely, i think, adopted the plan of indulging and gratifying the curiosity of the people, although at the expense of trouble to themselves. the american flag is not much known as yet in these seas; the nation is not much known. of the few americans scattered around these shores, a considerable portion are the missionaries and their helpers, who are labouring to dispel the darkness that rests on these countries; to impart correct knowledge of religion and morals; to break the chains which gross superstition has here laid on the human mind, and to promote all kinds of useful knowledge and improvement. most of these missionaries are regularly educated men, and all of them of good repute as to morals and religion. from the peculiar state of superstition and bigotry in these countries--from a watchful jealousy of a corrupt and dominant priesthood, it must be expected that a jealousy will be felt towards missionaries, and efforts made to counteract their labours to do good. the occasional visits of the american squadron to those quarters where these benevolent men are labouring, the pleasant and profitable intercourse which the officers may have with the missionaries, and those among whom they labour, has a most kindly influence. so far as i have had an opportunity of learning, and my opportunities have extended to most of the mission stations, the visits of these public vessels have been most grateful to the missionaries. the commandants, and many of the officers, have manifested so much good will to missionaries as individuals, and such interest in the success of their efforts to improve the moral and religious condition of these countries, as encouraged them in their work, and is not without its good effect on those among whom they are labouring. letter ix. _beyroot, september , ._ yesterday, ibrahim pasha reached this place in an egyptian frigate from tripoli, on his way to the south. he landed about the middle of the day, under a salute from the forts, and was escorted by a body of troops to a large house outside the walls, and near the sands. in the afternoon, the american consul, who was about to call on the pasha, as is usual with the consuls on such occasions, was so kind as to call and take me with him. we found a company of soldiers before the door, and a number of officers and dignitaries of various kinds, in waiting. we were asked into a carpeted room, with a divan, that is, a low seat covered with cushions, on all sides. the pasha was seated in one corner; several consuls with their suites were in the act of leaving when we entered. he returned our salutations with an inclination of the head, and a slight motion of his hand to his breast, and pointed us to seats on the divan a few feet from him--the consul on his right and myself on his left. the pasha is a short man, but heavily built, and i should judge from his appearance that he has considerable muscular force. he has a coarse, homely, round face, but none of its features can be called striking. his skin is rather rough and coarse, and looks as if it would bear washing more frequently than it receives it, and would not be the worse if some soap were at times added to the water. this was the case also with his hands, which looked as if they had never known a glove. they were fleshy--the fingers short but thick, and indicated a powerful grasp. he wore the turkish dress, which, as you know, consists of a long robe open in front, and also at the sides from the knees down, showing the large loose trousers worn under them. his outside garment was of a flesh-coloured silk; the second, which showed itself at the breast, was striped silk. his girdle was a variegated cashmere shawl, forming a bandage round him of a foot in width. this shawl was not of the finest kind. he had a plain red fez on his head, with no other ornament upon it than the usual blue tassel. he wore plain stockings and a pair of red slippers. in truth, his whole dress was far inferior to that of a number of persons who came in and paid their respects to him while we were there. most of them, however, wore the large turkish cloak; he was without any. take him all in all, the man and the dress, and i think that at least one half of those who came in while we were there, were his equals, if not his superiors. he conversed freely, laughed a good deal, and several times very heartily. i could not understand enough of the conversation to know what things had the power of pleasing and amusing him. at times, i thought a sour and severe expression gathered on his countenance. he spoke with interest of the american squadron, and the politeness of commodore elliott in showing him everything about his vessel. he was evidently struck with the style and equipment of our vessels. he mentioned with much satisfaction some small present the commodore made him. the visiters were announced by an officer in waiting, and approached him usually one at a time. when they were turks, and possibly the case was the same with all but franks, they kneeled on one or both knees, making the turkish salutation, and kissed his hand, which he held out to them; then rose, repeating the application of the hand to the forehead and breast, and retired to the part of the room or divan to which he pointed them. the more respectable persons were invited to be seated. one of his objects in coming to beyroot is, to visit the coal-mines in this vicinity. he referred to this object, saying with a laugh that he was going to corneil to turn coal-merchant. he has for some time been trying to make the coal-mines of advantage to his close-run treasury; but he is a poor manager, and until he adopts a better plan he is not likely to make a fortune at the coal-trade. he has the mines worked mainly by mountaineers pressed into the service, who are, at the end of a few weeks or months, changed for others; and thus, as soon as they learn how to work, they are changed for those again who must be taught. ibrahim pasha is, however, a man of some force of character, and has a mind more fit, it is said, for the department of a soldier than that of a statesman. he has for many years led the armies of his father mohammed ali, and, in many contested fields, he has won laurels which do not fall on the head of every general. the regions of upper egypt, the plains of arabia, the land of palestine, the interior of asia minor, not to mention greece and the isles, have felt the desolation caused by his troops. it is said, however, that the father is the man who plans--that without him as the head, the son will make but a poor business of it; and those who thus consider the matter, infer, that when the father dies, the wide domain which now submits to his sway will fall in pieces, and become the prey of those who may have the power and skill to come in for the spoil. i know not how much ground for these opinions may exist--but one thing we know, that power acquired and perpetuated by crime, usually terminates in the ruin of those who have wielded it. with respect to his private character, i have not learned much; but part of what i have learned is not much to his credit. it is generally admitted that he is a very intemperate man, and often under the influence of strong drink. the turks, indeed, are, many of them, fond of ardent spirits, and the law of mohammed to the contrary, will, notwithstanding, take strong drink when they can get it. when among the ruins of baalbec, a soldier came, and for some time hung about us. we could not tell what the man wanted, at length he asked for spirits. we had none, and told him so, asking him if he was not ashamed to violate his religion in drinking what it forbids? oh, he said, he could not read,--he did not know what might be in the koran. i have at other times seen them drink, and do it with a great apparent relish. from all i see, i am inclined to the opinion that mohammedanism is fast losing its hold on thousands of its followers, all through these regions, and the same holds good with that corrupt system of christianity which prevails here. there are an increasing number who are having their eyes opened to see the grossness of its superstition--who see and understand more and more the tricks of the priesthood; and most of them, having no idea of pure, bible, protestant christianity, are likely to plunge into scepticism and downright infidelity. there is need of a tenfold increase of active effort, to spread abroad among these communities the pure word of truth--the knowledge of christ--the healing, purifying doctrines of the gospel. i have heard of several tricks of ibrahim pasha's, which show something of the man. it is an object constantly kept in view with him, to increase his army. this is done in great part by seizing persons, mostly young men and boys, and making soldiers of them. this is confined to the mohammedans. a report got out, however, that he intended to take a number of the ansairi for soldiers. they occupy a district of the mountains north of tripoli, and onward to aleppo. the ansairi took the alarm, and fled to their fastnesses and strong places in the mountains. his troops, that were in fact sent out as a press-gang to take them, returned with very few--it was a failure. then did the wily ibrahim set his trap, and use these few for the bait. he inquired who they were, and being answered that they were ansairi, he ordered them to be freed, saying that he did not want such--he wanted none for his armies but good mohammedans. the ansairi are a mongrel sort of turks, who have a strange medley of religious notions and practices, which are but partially known, and not, as yet, satisfactorily classed--neither christians, mohammedans, nor pagans, but a little of all. the liberated ansairi were greatly pleased at their escape, reported it to their brethren, who came down from their mountains, and were taken in great numbers. the person who related the fact saw nearly a thousand of them marched into aleppo in chains, to be drilled and trained for soldiers. the most important religious sects in this region are the greeks, maronites, druses, and mohammedans. the greeks are divided into the greek and the catholic greek. the greeks differ from the catholic or roman church in several things. one of the chief points of difference is about the procession of the holy spirit, which they hold to be from the son only, and not from the father and son, as held by the roman church, and in which the protestant churches are mostly agreed with the latter. the greek church allows the free use of the scriptures; rejects images in worship; but are madly set on the use of pictures. they reject the authority of the pope. the pope and his missionaries have long made most strenuous efforts to bring the greek church to an agreement with him and a subjection to his authority. they have for centuries employed missionaries and agents of all sorts to accomplish this. nor have these efforts been wholly without effect. throughout the east, where the greek church exists, there are a portion who have been prevailed on to admit the authority of the pope, and more or less modify their greek notions to a nearer conformity to the popish standard. these are called greek catholics. they are pretty numerous in many places, and have a good deal of influence all through these regions. the maronites take their name from an individual who somehow contrived to be the head of a party, and to leave it his name as an inheritance. they differ, i am told, but very little from the roman catholics; hardly as much as the distinctive character of their name would seem to indicate. it is not yet fully decided what the druses are. some assert that they are worshippers of the calf. they have a secret which is imparted only to a part of their people. this part is what may be called the enlightened--the initiated--the knowing--and they, like the freemasons among us, are most careful not to divulge the secret. they form a large part of the population of mount lebanon. they appear to be a quiet and well-disposed people, but it is not easy to find out what are their real religious principles and belief. they are charged by some with modifying, or pretending to modify, their opinions to suit those with whom they may be. with a mohammedan they are mohammedans, and with a christian they are almost, if not altogether christian. but in this they may plead the example of many who have gone before them, and modelled their creed to suit the circumstances of the times. the mohammedans are the followers of mohammed, who lived in the early part of the seventh century, and introduced a new religion. his system borrows some things from judaism, and some from christianity, but in many important matters differs from both. nor is it paganism, having a most decided aversion to idolatry. it would take more time than i can at present spare, to give a full account of it. it may suffice to say, that mohammed acknowledged the truth of the jewish religion--all the jewish prophets he received as prophets of the lord.--he admitted that jesus christ was a great prophet, yea, the greatest prophet that up to his time had come into the world, and that the religion he taught was the true religion. but he pretended that he himself was sent as the last and greatest of all prophets, and authorized to make such changes in the religion of the jews and christians as to justify its being called a new religion--and that his system as set forth in the koran is now, since he came, the only true religion. he made circumcision a rite in his system. they give much honour to the saints of the old testament, the church and the apostles. their worship is plain. they are wholly opposed to the use of images or pictures. their chief day of worship is friday. they pray much, have long fasts, allow a plurality of wives; but in practice this is not as common as many have supposed, and is confined to a comparatively small number. one of those things that immediately strikes the notice of a traveller in these regions, is the number of monasteries and religious houses, and the peculiarity of their situation. there may be eight or ten counted from beyroot; and how many may be within the range of twenty or thirty miles, i cannot well conjecture. from the number i passed in going to the top of lebanon, and returning from the cedars by tripoli, i must suppose them to be from one to two hundred. a friend of mine counted sixteen from a place near nahr-el-kelb; and a native assured me that from the top of a mountain near nahr-el-kelb, nearly one hundred could be seen. the number of houses for men is much greater than those for women. there must of course be a considerable number of monks, but it has occurred to me that the actual number is not as great as the number of houses would seem to indicate; many houses have but a scanty number of inmates. to the inquiry, which i have often made, whether the monastery system is not losing its hold on the public mind? it has generally been answered, that no very perceptible change could be noticed. i am still, however, of the opinion, that the system is not as favourably received as it was in times past; and i shall be greatly disappointed if it does not, and that before long, appear that the system is wearing out. general developments have been made, which show that these houses are seats of corruption and abomination, and that the best interests of the church and of society would be promoted by the system's coming to an end. beyroot has been the main seat of the palestine mission. this has been the usual residence of the missionaries, and here and in the vicinity most of their labours have been expended. good, no doubt, has been accomplished. it has been, however, a hard soil to cultivate. there are peculiar difficulties to be met with in the character, habits, and especially the ignorance and deep-rooted religious prejudices of the people. the arabic language, which is the one almost universally spoken here, is a language difficult to acquire so as to use it freely in preaching. of course, some time must be lost before a missionary can so master the language as to do much in clerical addresses to the people. a part of their efforts have been directed to schools, and in this place have made some progress. they had a number of schools, and were through them operating well on the minds of the people. about three months ago, at the same time that the movement was made against the missionaries in greece, smyrna, and the adjacent parts, a similar movement was made here, and the effect has been, the suspension of most of the common schools. i have no doubt that is a part of a wide-spread plan to counteract and break up, or render unavailing, if possible, all missionary operations in and around the mediterranean. i hope it will fail, and i doubt not but that it will. it may, however, make the missionary work more difficult, and, for a time, less productive of its desired fruit. i have no doubt the hand of the roman catholics is in the matter--for in all places and at all times they have greatly withstood missionary efforts. there is a mission press at this place. it has laboured under great difficulties for the want of many things to make complete their arabic fonte, and from the impossibility of procuring them here, and the delay in getting them from america or europe. the distribution of books is one of the ways of operating. something has been done and is still doing; but the watchful adversary is now opposing this mode of working. much suspicion is excited against their books, and from time to time we hear of some being burned. in a late tour we had some books with us, but found that in most of the villages the people had been warned against receiving them. all these things are to be expected. it is not to be supposed that the enemy will quietly see the light of the gospel poured upon his dark empire of ignorance and superstition. i should not wonder at an effort being made to add more severe measures than burning books and withdrawing children from school. indeed, there was an effort made about three months since, to drive the mission families from the mountains, where they had gone to spend the sickly season, and were about opening schools for the summer. the prince of the village, at the instigation, as he admitted, of the catholic priest, forbade his people to have any intercourse with them, to buy or to sell to them, and threatened to burn down the houses in which the missionaries might reside. the american consul laid the case before the emeer busheer, the head prince of the mountains, and claimed for them, as respectable, well-conducted american citizens, who had for health gone to the mountains for a few months, the right of protection usually enjoyed. the emeer sent an officer and inquired into the case--reversed the orders of the local prince, and assured them of his protection. it was a lesson which i hope the local authorities will not soon forget. the prince who made the attempt to oppress and oppose them had not long before become a catholic. the emeer busheer who protected them is not a catholic; he was until recently considered a moslem, but now professes to be a maronite christian. thus the lord can raise protectors and helpers from whom he pleases--make of stones children to abraham. a few nights since we had our attention called to a very pretty spectacle. as it began to grow dark, we observed bonfires lighted in the neighbourhood, and other tokens of festivity. we went to the terrace on the top of the house, which commanded a most extensive view of mount lebanon, a view of nearly thirty miles. along the whole range we could see the bonfires glaring. they looked, on the dark side of the mountain, like stars on the face of the deep blue vault of heaven. i made several attempts to count them; but it was much like counting the stars, which, when a boy, i often attempted to do, but almost always abandoned, before i reached a hundred, from a strange feeling of the difficulty of continuing the enumeration, when the objects lay thus without order. these bonfires were of all sizes, and were often marked by fitful blazes of light, as new fuel was thrown on them. others would glimmer and expire, while new ones would burst forth, and soon attain to the first magnitude, and then die away, or be subjects of those fitful flashes that indicated the addition of fresh fuel. on inquiry i learned that this was the feast of the cross, and that these illuminations and bonfires were in commemoration of the finding of the true cross by the empress helena. it is said that on her way to jerusalem she gave orders that preparation should be made that, in case she was successful in finding the cross, the event might be made known by bonfires, and thus the intelligence be communicated to constantinople. much of the religion of these people consists in such things. their fasts--their attending mass--their worshipping and kissing the pictures--keeping the holy days--and counting their beads, constitute the principal part of their religion. as to the pure service of the heart--faith that worketh by love--regeneration by the spirit--a new moral nature, effected through the word of truth under the agencies of the holy spirit, with most if not all the other elements of real genuine piety, they are almost wholly ignorant. it is, indeed, astonishing that a people, who have the book of god in their hands, should so long remain in utter darkness and ignorance of that spirituality which beams forth from all parts of it. this whole region is yet in the dark ages. let any one who wishes to form a correct idea of the state of things here, read a well-written account of the middle ages--the preliminary dissertation to robertson's history of charles the fifth, and hallam on the middle ages--and he will have before him the leading features of the state of the church and society now found here. the agreement will not, it is true, hold good in all points, but in the main there is a strong family likeness. may the lord soon raise up reformers!--and may the truth soon go forth as the light, and his revelation as a lamp that burneth! the reformation in europe was preceded by many things which betokened the coming of day; and there are many things now which bespeak the approach of a time of light, life, and salvation, for these regions that have long lain waste. the last ten years have witnessed great changes, and we hope the next ten will record still greater. you have often heard of the sherock, or siroc, as it is often spelled. the weather had become much cooler, but this strong south wind has brought it back to its greatest summer heat. it does not usually blow more than two or three days at a time; but we have had it now for four or five days, and it still continues. many persons complain much of it--"feel it in every nerve." it does not affect me, except as it makes the air warm and oppressive. last night, for some unknown cause, connected probably with the sherock, (which is made to bear the blame of all sorts of evils, and ought in fairness get credit for some good,) we had the most heavy dew at beyroot that i have seen in syria. this is the more remarkable, as the dews have usually been very light. it fell copiously soon after sunset, and this morning the earth looked as if a little shower of rain had fallen. there was also this morning, for the first time since i came to beyroot, a dense fog--one of the most dense i ever saw--this also is to be ascribed to the sherock, i suppose. yesterday i visited the ruins of dair-el-kollah, which lie near a village called bate-meiry, about three hours' ride from beyroot. they are of the same style of building as those of baalbec, but on a much smaller scale. it has most likely been an old temple. the stones are enormous, but not equal to the largest at baalbec. most of the wall has been thrown down, but one or two of the lower rows lie in their places. the stone is put together without cement, and the face, like those of baalbec, made so smooth, that you could not put a knife in the crack. the pillars before the building were large, but not equal to those of baalbec. they were composed of three pieces; the lower one, about twelve feet long, alone remains standing. the rock is a coarse marble, and i saw a few fragments of granite. these ruins are on the top of the secondary ridge, about half way to the top of mount lebanon; a church now stands on part of them. letter x. _jaffa, sept. th, ._ i have at length set out to make a tour through palestine, or at least a part of it, and will send you some brief notices of what may particularly engage my attention. the great heat which we felt in this country, particularly on the plains, induced me to defer my tour thus long, as i judged it not well to run unnecessary hazard in my eagerness to see the chosen land, and to visit the places referred to in the holy scriptures. the great heats of summer are now past, showers of rain have already fallen, and the driving up of clouds at one time from the north, and at another from the south, betoken the approach of those copious showers, which the earth, parched by a whole summer's sun, so much requires, and which man and beast need to refresh their exhausted system. we went on board a small vessel on the th, but the wind was so light that we were only off the sands, and still in sight of beyroot the next morning. during the next day we had very little wind, and made but slow progress. towards night, however, a wind sprang up, and we passed sidon, but at too great a distance to have a good view of it. i hope to obtain this on my return, as my plan is to return by land, for the purpose of seeing as much as i can of the country. the mountains appear to retain nearly the same height and appearance as those near beyroot. they seemed, however, to fall back from the sea and leave a wider plain along the coast, and to the south they appeared to decrease in height. night came on, and shut out the land from our observation. with the night, a fine wind arose, and began to pass rapidly to the south. about midnight we passed soor, the ancient tyre: we were thus unable to see it. it would have been pleasant to have seen it from the sea, and to have been able to make some observations on the plains and mountains, by which it is surrounded on the land side. we passed acre too early, and at too great a distance to see it distinctly. it has a wide plain to the east, and a little to the south-east the great plain of esdralon extends from the mediterranean to the sea of tiberias. having a most favourable wind, we passed on at a great rate, and just as the sun rose we passed the north end of mount carmel. it is a mountain, or hill as we should call it, a straight and regular ridge, eight or ten miles long, running north and south; on the top and side next us, almost wholly destitute of trees, and without cultivation. it has very little rock on the surface except near the north end--much less than lebanon, and appears favourable for cultivation. i should not have estimated carmel to be more than eight hundred or one thousand feet high. it is, however, usually said to be much higher. this ridge is separated from the branches of the lebanon by a part of the plain of esdralon. indeed, lebanon has come down from the great loftiness which it has near sidon, and has spread itself over the country in small ridges. carmel lies more west than the lebanon range. at its north end it forms an abrupt termination in a bold promontory. on the top of this promontory, and near the end, is a monastery belonging to the latins. there are a few monks there, how many i did not learn. it has an imposing appearance, but i could see no other human habitation near it. there is a plain of varied width between carmel and the shore. it is almost wholly destitute of trees, hardly a bush to be seen unless of a very small size. the plain varies in width from one to two miles. much of it, especially near the shore, was covered with sand. i saw no human being, or human habitation on it, except a few old ruins. a few miles south of the monastery there were considerable ruins on a sandy point that projects into the sea. it has, probably, been a fort. at the distance of eight or nine miles from the promontory, the ridge called carmel suddenly sinks down, and gives place to a wide-spread plain. near the south end of the mountain, they point out on the shore the site of the famous city cesarea, which is often mentioned in the new testament--the place where paul was detained a prisoner many years, and made his admirable defence before agrippa and festus. it was once a place of considerable importance, rose suddenly to much celebrity, and almost as suddenly declined, and for a long period has been in a state of utter desolation. i saw a few pillars standing, and some other remains of departed greatness. the plain which begins at the southern end of carmel, is the celebrated plain of sharon. we reached jaffa about the middle of the afternoon, having had a most expeditious sail from sidon. the wind had served us a good turn, in bringing us so soon to jaffa, but we now experienced another consequence not so pleasant; it still blew hard, and made the sea so rough that we could not land. the harbour of jaffa is not good, or rather there is no harbour worth the name. we had to anchor some miles out at sea, where there was a tremendous swell; there was no help, we had to bear it as we could. we landed the next morning, and were most kindly received by the american consul. he did all in his power to render us comfortable. jaffa stands on a sandy point, which projects a little distance into the sea. the ground at the point is more elevated than farther back. it is a walled town, with a double wall and fosse in some places, all, however, much out of repair. we saw but a few cannon on the part of the wall which we examined, and those small and in bad order. we passed a number of soldiers in our walks about the town, and found a strong guard at the gate. most of the houses have a very old appearance, few of them are good; the streets are narrow, crooked, and filthy, as in almost all the turkish towns i have visited. the houses are much crowded together, and cover a very small space, considering their number. this is the case with most of the turkish towns in the east, especially their walled towns on the coast. we visited the latin and greek convents, and were kindly received, and had coffee and sweetmeats handed us. the bazaars and shops appeared exceedingly poor, and to be scantily supplied with articles of merchandise. jaffa is a place of interest, chiefly, as being the sea-port nearest jerusalem, and the landing-place of a large number of pilgrims that annually resort, by thousands, to visit the holy places in and about jerusalem. it has also, in the noble plain of sharon, a most admirable back country. but what avails a country, however good, if there be not people to cultivate it, and if the government be so unwise and oppressive as to hold out no inducement for industry among the people? while looking at the city, we went without the walls as far as the grave-yard. i had noticed on the shore, and in the street, great quantities of a small but beautiful sea-shell, and at the grave-yard i found them very abundant, and put to a singular use. they were laid on the graves in great numbers, often forming quite a little mound on the top of the grave, and in many cases, a newly-formed stone, which is found at certain places on the shore, and which is in great part made up of these shells, was set up at the head and foot of the graves. it had a tasteful and pretty appearance. the place was pointed out to us at a distance, where bonaparte is said to have shot several thousand prisoners. he has been much blamed for it, and probably not without some cause. if, however, his own account, as i have seen it given, be true, that they had before been his prisoners, and had been set at large on parole, under engagement not again to take up arms against him; that they had broken parole and were again captured while fighting against him; if this were the case, he is, according to the laws of war, less to blame than many have supposed. not that i would justify him, but bad as he was, his opponents did not give him credit for the good he did, and made the most of his bad actions. had he lived until the present time, on the throne of france, the state of europe would probably have been twenty if not forty years in advance of what it now is, in knowledge and arts, in civil and religious liberty. those who have succeeded to the now divided power, which his powerful arm wielded, have laboured and still labour to hold the people back--to repress the spirit of enterprise and improvement, and especially repress and root out the spirit of freedom. letter xi. _october th, ._ we left jaffa in the afternoon for rumla, which lies about half way from jaffa to the commencement of the hill country, on the road to jerusalem--leaving the gate of jaffa, (and i may add, there is only one gate on the land side,) we took a north-east direction. the point of land on which jaffa stands, a kind of sandy knoll, is higher than the country back of it. we of course made a small descent, and for a considerable distance passed through gardens, enclosed lots and fields, many of them well filled with trees, as fig, orange, lemon, pomegranate, palm. the indian fig was much used for forming enclosures, and generally planted on a ridge of sand. it makes a very good fence, as the prickles with which it abounds prevent man or beast from coming much in contact with it. some of these gardens had wells and water-wheels, many of which were at work, mostly with oxen, raising water for the benefit of the trees and vegetables. there is much sand on the district that borders the coast, and in many places directly on the coast the sand has fairly taken possession--nothing is seen but fields of white sand. at the distance of half a mile from the shore, the ground is very little higher, i should think, than the surface of the water; and a number of things indicate that this low district was once a marsh, or at least much subjected to water. and now, in the rainy season, much water would collect on it were it not for its loose and sandy character, through which the water easily runs. the abundance of water, found at a very little distance below the surface, may arise from the fact that it is but little below the level of the sea; and the sandy character of the district allows the water to percolate freely, and thus supply what is taken up by man and vegetables. it may be nine or ten miles from jaffa to rumla. the road is good; it is over a plain, and except a little waving of the surface, forming slight elevations and depressions, such as we often find on the sea-coasts, and on the flat districts which border large rivers, one would say it was level. these elevations suggest the idea that the water may have once covered this plain; and in retiring gradually from it, left those graceful elevations and depressions which give a beautiful variety to its surface. but a small part, after passing the gardens, was cultivated. from time to time we passed portions that had been sown with grain--none of it, after leaving the gardens, was enclosed--all lay open. we passed several places where there were a few trees; they formed, however, but little green spots on the face of this wide-spread and noble plain. the greater part was destitute of verdure; the burning heats of summer having burned up the grass; the crops, except an occasional cotton field, being all gathered in. i think i saw no indian corn, although i had seen it on the bokar, but of a very diminutive kind. the cotton fields were few and small, and held out the promise of but a light crop. the plain is highly fertile, and if under proper cultivation would yield largely. the soil is rich, deep, and very free from rock, at least sufficiently so for all purposes of cultivation. we do not, indeed, often meet with a finer district of land; but it is thinly inhabited. rumla is a town of considerable size, and has some pretty good houses. it stands on a slight elevation, and commands a fine view of the plain out of which it rises. it is surrounded with gardens, many of which are protected by hedges of the indian fig. there are some olive groves about the town; other fruit-trees, and the palm, are also to be seen. around the present town are ruins, walls, cisterns, and other indications that the town was once spread over a much larger space than it now covers. it is supposed to be the ancient arimathea mentioned in the new testament, john xix. . the ancient lydda lies within a short distance of rumla, not above three or four miles; but i had not time to visit it, as my company were urgent to proceed. it is, i am told, a poor village, and has nothing to give it interest, unless it be the fact that is mentioned of it in acts, ix. , . i ought to have mentioned respecting rumla, that there is near the town a very remarkable tower, old, and of a singular structure, with some large apartments under ground connected with it. at what time it was built, by whom, and for what purpose, is not now known: probably, however, as a place of defence, and when built, the town extended to, if not beyond it. the history of many things in these regions is lost--irrecoverably lost--until that great day shall come when the whole history of man shall pass in review, and all shall be judged according to their works. the american squadron left jaffa only the day before we reached that place. the commodore and a party of officers visited jerusalem. a large party spent a night at rumla with the american consular agent, and had made him a present of a large and beautiful flag, with a notice of its presentation written on its border. if what was told me at jaffa be true, that some of the officers, on their return from jerusalem, rode from jerusalem to jaffa in five or six hours, it was a matter-of-fact proof that the distance is less than the old books of travel have stated. ten hours was named at jaffa as the usual time--that would make thirty miles, at the usual mode of counting three miles to the hour: this is probably the real distance. we spent a sabbath at rumla; but as there was no protestant worship, and i could not have received much if any benefit from attending a service in an unknown tongue, i remained in my room all day, and found, although thus alone, that the sabbath of the lord is a most wise and gracious appointment of heaven for the benefit of man. he needs times which may call his thoughts from worldly things, and consecrate them more especially to god, and the things that relate to the welfare of the soul. i have, therefore, whenever i could, in travelling, rested on the sabbath day, and found it good so to do. in almost every step i take in this country i find myself on ground referred to in scripture; and it is with no little interest i walk over places where the events recorded in god's word took place. but even in those scenes i find it good to observe the sabbath of the lord. i do not even go out to look at these places on the sabbath: the other six days may suffice for that. the lord's day is better spent as a day of rest and devotion. we left rumla on monday morning for jerusalem. our course was still a little south of east. the general character and condition of the plain was much as the part of it already described, with the difference that there was much less sand. indeed there was little, if any, to be seen--the soil was a fine, rich, black mould. the state of cultivation was rather better, but still only a small part was under the care of man. the country began more regularly to rise as we approached the hill country. the rise was however very gradual. irregular and rounded hills became more numerous, but none of them were steep. a road could pass over them in any direction; they were rather pleasant swells than hills. more stones and pebbles were mixed up with the soil, but not in quantities that would impede cultivation. in truth, this part of the plain, that is from rumla to the hills, forms one of the richest and most lovely districts that i have seen. we were above three hours in going from rumla to the hills, which would make the distance from jaffa about eighteen or twenty miles. the road however does not cross the plain at right angles, but declined considerably to the south. we passed no village worth naming. we did, indeed, pass a few huts at one or two places, but too few to deserve notice. we passed several places that appeared to have once been occupied, and saw several villages at a distance, but they appeared small. in short, the plain--the noble and celebrated plain of sharon, appears to be almost deserted; and while it has a fertility and extent, were it occupied and properly cultivated, sufficient to sustain a nation, it is now roamed over by a few flocks--has small patches of it cultivated, and here and there a small, poor village to sustain. with regard to trees, &c. the eastern part of the plain was on a par with the western. it was only on little spots, and at a great distance from each other, that a few olive and other trees were to be seen. they were mostly confined to the immediate vicinity of the villages, or where villages have once stood. while passing over the plain of sharon, it would have been out of all propriety not to have thought of the rose of sharon and the lily of the valley. i did think of them, and was on the watch for them; and so eager was i to get one, that could i have met with any sort of a flower that would in any fair way have admitted the name, i would most willingly have reported it, _but not one could i find_. i consoled myself, however, with the thought, that i only shared the disappointment which other travellers had experienced. for what traveller in these regions has not sought the rose of sharon, and the lily of the valley? and what one has been able to assure and satisfy the public that he has found them? as we approached the hills, the face of the plain became more uneven; the points of the ridges ran out irregularly, and more rocks began to appear on the surface. the line of hills is however more regular than is usual, and the transition from the plain to the hills is more gradual than is usually found on the borders of large plains. we passed over a low, rocky point of a ridge, and saw some ruins; and at one place the large hewn stones and broken pillars indicated buildings of some consequence. the hills are not continuous ridges, but knobs, not very high, nor very steep; the top rounded over. many of them are separated from each other almost to the base; but a greater number join at one or more sides, at various heights from their bases. taking the hollows, and the passages between the hills, (and in some places there are little level spots,) as the level of the country, i should say that the general level, as we pass east, rises; and the height of the hills above this general level, continues about the same for a great part of the way from the commencement of the hills to near jerusalem. this district is well called the "hill country of judea." nothing could better express it. they are usually in books called mountains; but their size, that is their height above the general level of the country, hardly entitles them to that appellation. they are rather hills than mountains. as we rode among the hills, we began to see a few small shrubs and bushes of oak. most of them, however, were small; few as high as a man on horseback. there were also, at some places in the hollows, where, during the rains, water flows, some bushes, thistles, and other kinds of vegetation, but small of size and few in number. as we passed farther in among the hills, the vegetation increased, both as to size and quantity; it however never amounted to much. we saw, from time to time, some orchards of olives, and a few scattering trees; as we approached the higher part of the hilly district, we saw some hills that were to some extent covered with the olives. still but a small, a very small part of the country was thus made to minister to the wants and comfort of man. as we advanced, the rock became more abundant; it was all limestone, mixed in some places with veins of flint; usually horizontal, and often projecting out on the sides of the hills, and much stratified; and the various strata being of different degrees of firmness, causing them to have a singular appearance. the soft stratum had in many places disintegrated, and formed a stratum of earth, which entirely concealed the rock; while the hard stratum formed a kind of wall, and in many places, from its regularity in thickness and direction round the side of the hill, it had much the appearance of having been the work of man. in some places again, where a hard stratum lay directly over a soft one, the crumbling away of the soft one formed a kind of natural cave under the hard one; places could be seen where a man might find shelter from the rain under rocks thus hollowed out by the wearing away of a soft rock, while its more sturdy fellow above held on to its proper size and shape. a ride of between two and three hours, from the time we entered the hill country, brought us to the higher part of the district. our road still lay along what may be called a hollow, and on each side of us the hills rose to a considerable size. we passed on this high district one or two villages. in one of them were some pretty good houses, and an old ruin, which, from its size and form, seemed once to have been a building of some importance. the country around this village was in a better state of cultivation; more trees, figs, and vines, than i had seen since leaving rumla. from a part of this high ground we had a most extensive and fine view of the seabord; the deep black sea, till where it met the sky; the white sand-hills along the shore, and the wide and long plain of sharon, extending as far as the eye could reach, to the north and south, and coming up to the hilly district, on the top of which we stood. the view was interesting, and especially so when we thought how often the pious israelites, when going up to the house of the lord, must have stopped at this place, and looked back on that rich and lovely part of their inheritance. the "flocks of sharon" was a term which then expressed much; but now few flocks feed there, and those of an inferior kind of cattle. after taking this, as i supposed, farewell-look at the plain of sharon, the sea-bord, and wide-spread ocean behind it, we set forward, and thought we must soon reach a point from which we could see jerusalem. we found, however, that we had to descend a hollow, wind along it for some distance, and then a long ascent to make, to gain about the same level from which we had taken our farewell-look at the vale and sea behind us. above half an hour must have been spent in doing this. this is said to be the valley of elah, where david slew the philistine. the precise spot where the engagement took place is not known. we now found ourselves on ground which was nearly as high as any near us. we had passed to our right, at some considerable distance, a cluster of buildings on the top of a hill, called the tomb of the maccabees. it looked like a fort, or place of defence, and was, as i am told, not long since, the residence of aboo goosh, who used to make free with the property of other people; in other words, was a notorious robber. but ibrahim pasha has taught such gentry a good lesson. he has nearly, if not wholly, put a stop to such practices; he has taken the matter into his own hands. what people have to spare, he himself takes, or has taken from them; and, indeed, much more than they are willing to part with; but as to every fellow who chooses taking for himself, as was the old way of doing things, why that is not now permitted. the time was, when a company could hardly have passed from rumla to jerusalem, as we did, without having been relieved of some of their cash, and perhaps clothes into the bargain. we passed a district where an immense quantity of stone had been quarried and removed; the refuse stone lay in piles, and the excavations showed that large quantities had been procured. the face of the high ridge, or kind of table land, over which we now passed, was almost wholly destitute of vegetation. a few thistles and an occasional small thorn-bush might be seen; but a more naked district i had not seen in the holy land. several miles to the right, i saw a hill or hills pretty well covered with trees of some sort--olives i thought from their looks; and at a greater distance on our left i saw several patches of trees on the side of a high and long ridge, and a small village or two near them; but more immediately about me, and over the whole face of the ridge which i was passing, all was naked--all was destitute of vegetation, except a small enclosed spot. i was struck not only with the absence of vegetation, but with the enormous quantity of rough rock that almost literally covered the face of the ground. much of it lay in irregular patches, projecting from eighteen inches to five or six feet above the little earth that could be seen. it really appeared as if the district was _given up_ to be _occupied by rocks_, to the exclusion of all other matter. we soon began a slight but gradual descent, and after a little, some towers came into view. these were the parts of jerusalem first seen. presently we saw the top of the walls--the minarets, the domes, and the whole city. jerusalem stands on the east side of a high, _flattish_ ridge, which runs nearly north and south. to the west of the city, and at some distance above, towards the top of the ridge, a small hollow begins, and running south-east, deepens rapidly, and forms the southern boundary of the city. this is the channel of the rivulet gihon. in it are the pools, the upper and lower; but it is only in wet weather that there is water in them. the lower part is called the valley of the son of hinnom. the brook kedron, or the valley in which the water would run, if there were any water,--for you must know except during the rains it is a dry channel, runs nearly north and south, and has a deep channel, with high steep banks. the valley or ravine of gihon falls into that of the kedron, nearly at right angles, with a high point forming the angle between them. on this point the city of jerusalem stands. it fills, or did originally, the space that lies between these two ravines, for some distance up both of them. the ground on which the city stands has a considerable declination to the east, and is on the side of a hill, on the lower end of the ridge, when it terminates abruptly at a deep ravine, both on the south and east. the site has other inequalities. at the south-east corner, next the gihon, was the highest point. that is the hill of zion. part of it is now without the walls, and used as a burying-ground. the missionaries have recently procured a small plot on mount zion for a burying-place, to be appropriated to protestants who may die at jerusalem. a little north of mount zion, and close on the bank of the kedron, is mount moriah, or an elevation so called. on this the temple stood, and on the same site now stands the mosque of st. omar. this elevation was formerly separated from mount zion by a considerable valley. it is now nearly filled up, at least that part within the walls, and much so without; still it is very perceptible without the walls, and especially at the pool of siloam, which lies at the junction of this ravine with the valley of the kedron. mount zion was once connected with mount moriah by a bridge or elevated causeway; but the filling up of the ground within the walls has covered it, or supplied its place. there is a large space around the mosque of st. omar which forms a fine promenade, but christians are not allowed to enter it. they are not allowed to enter the mosque, or at least this is the general understanding. in many cases, however, it has been entered lately; a party of english had been all through it, under the special protection of the governor, but a few days before my arrival. there is little doubt that in a few years, unless some reaction takes place, free admission will be allowed, and many other foolish and unreasonable customs and prejudices of the mohammedans will pass away. jerusalem has a high, strong wall around it, and is occupied by a large body of the pasha's troops. there are at present but four gates open and used, several having been walled up some time since. the jaffa gate, by which we entered; the zion gate being east of the jaffa, and on mount zion; st. stephen's gate, which opens next the valley of kedron and north of mount moriah; and the damascus gate, which lies on the north side of the city. the highest part of the city is a little west of the jaffa gate, at the point where the wall leaves the top of the hill near gihon, and runs north and north-east toward the kedron. letter xii. _jerusalem, ._ one of the first objects that we visited after our arrival was the church of the holy sepulchre. it so happened that the day after our arrival was one of the many days, which for some reason i know not what, is called a festa, and this church was opened. this was what we desired, as it is not accessible at all times. this church is said to be built over the place where our lord was buried; and it also includes the place where he was crucified--that is, it includes that part of calvary on which the crosses of our lord and the others who were crucified with him were fixed--and the garden in which joseph's tomb was placed. it ought, therefore, to have been _without_ the city, as our lord was crucified and interred without the city. heb. xiii. , and john xix. . the excuse for its being in the city is, that the city does not now occupy the same ground that it did at that time--its walls were farther west and north--and the present walls take in what the old walls, when those transactions took place, left out. it appears to me very manifest, that the places now shown as the places of crucifixion and interment, must have always been _within_ the city. a wall so run as to leave it out, would be located in a way that no wise builder would ever think of in running a wall to defend a city situated as jerusalem is. these places are not on a hill, but rather in a low place or hollow, and the wall in passing to the east of it would leave so much higher and better ground close to it on the west, and would so straiten the space between it and the ground occupied by the temple, and take so irregular and winding a route to enclose sufficient ground to hold the city, that i must believe that a wrong place has been fixed upon as the spot where those memorable things transpired. it is, however, a matter of trifling importance; we know they took place near jerusalem. there is no virtue in the spot where they took place more than in any other. but the poor, blind, superstitious people believe, and are taught to believe, that there is great, yea, saving virtue obtained in visiting these places. the church of the holy sepulchre is a large, and in some respects a good-looking building, especially the circular room with the large dome over the holy sepulchre, as seen from the inside, for it is surrounded with other buildings, and so connected with them without that it makes but a feeble impression. it needs to be large, as it contains a chapel for each of the christian sects which prevail in the east, as the greeks, latins, armenians, copts, syrians. we entered at the north side. there is a small open space before the door, which once belonged to the church, but most of the pillars are removed. the doors of the church are large, and there is usually one or more turks acting as door-keepers. as there are always monks and priests in the church to take care of it, attend to the lamps, perform the sacred offices, &c., there is a small opening through the door, by means of which food and other necessaries are passed to them at those times when the doors are shut. some monks and priests, it is said, spend weeks, and it may be months, in the church, without once going out of it; they no doubt think this a most meritorious act. immediately on passing the door of the church, we came to a large, flat, marble stone, a little elevated from the floor, having small marble pillars at the corners, and an ornamental covering above it. this is called the "stone of unction." it is pretended that the body of our lord was laid on it while he was anointed, or rather when he was taken from the cross, and rolled up in linen with the spices, by joseph and nicodemus. east of the "stone of unction," and within a few yards of it, there is an ascent of several steps, called the ascent of calvary; and on the top, which is called calvary, three holes were shown, said to be the holes of the three crosses, on which our lord and the two thieves were nailed. the middle one stands rather in advance of the other two. below this, in a cave-like place under the spot where the crosses stood, is shown the split in the rock caused by the earthquake, which took place at his death. these places are, however, so fenced about with metal plates, doors, bars of iron and wire network, that you can barely see and touch them, and that with a poor light; all arranged to prevent too close an examination--all adapted to increase the superstition and blind credulity of the people. the empress helena, constantine's mother, was the great patron of all the holy places, and built churches upon them. how she ascertained for a certainty the precise spots is not so clear; but that she selected certain spots and had churches erected on them is admitted. so great an advocate for such matters, ought of right to have some honour shown her. they have, therefore, east of calvary, and at a few yards' distance, prepared a chapel for her. it is a low, damp place, quite under ground, and does not do her much credit. it was down in this place, however, that she found the true cross, it is said, and an odd thing is told about her identifying it. three crosses were found, and the question was, to which one of the three was our lord nailed, for it would have been a fatal mistake to have selected for such deep veneration, amounting nearly to worship, the one on which the thief was nailed, instead of the one on which our lord hung. helena was not more zealous in hunting for places and things, than fertile in expedients to identify them. a child, either sick or dead, was brought and laid on the crosses, and strange to tell! it was made well when it touched a certain one. this was ample proof that it was the true cross. another thing was found in this place, now set apart as the chapel of helena. she found _adam's skull_, which came out of the rent made in the rock caused by the earthquake. how she identified it, the account, as i received it, did not relate. no doubt she contrived some way to do it. many such things are gravely told to the poor deluded pilgrims that resort here, and many believe them. and to tell all such folly and nonsense, and to fill their minds with them, is the business of the monks and priests, instead of teaching them the great leading truths of the word of god, and urging the nature and necessity of personal holiness and practical religion. we returned from the chapel of helena to the stone of unction. a wall is run up between this and the main body of the church, forming the place in which it lies into a kind of entry or antechamber. passing a few steps to the west, we turned short to the north, and found ourselves in the body of the church, which is large and nearly circular, with a large dome over it, and lighted chiefly from above. in the middle of this large room stands a small building called the holy sepulchre. it may be sixteen feet by ten, and ten or twelve feet high. it is divided into two rooms. the first, which is to the east, forms a kind of entry, and is entered at the east side. in the middle of this first room is a place or seat, not unlike a little table or stool. this stands on the place where the stone lay, after the angel had rolled it from the door and sat on it. there are twelve or fifteen lamps burning in this room; and through the walls are several holes, out of which the light or holy fire comes, while the bishop plays off that lying miracle to the poor deluded pilgrims. this miracle is performed at easter. the second room is the sepulchre. on the north side of it lies a large marble tombstone, about as high from the floor as a common tombstone would be. the remainder of the room is not much larger or wider than will allow two persons to pass each other with ease. in this room are about forty lamps, which, with those in the outer rooms, are the property of different leading sects, as the greeks, latins, and armenians. for much as they hate and quarrel with each other, matters are so arranged that each shall have a chapel in the church and lamps in the holy sepulchre. east of the holy sepulchre and separated by a slight partition, is the greek chapel. this is the best chapel of the establishment--is neatly fitted up, and has some pretty good paintings. in the middle there is a kind of pillar, and on the top of that is marked the _centre of the world_. how they found out the precise spot my guide did not tell me, nor who was the happy finder. possibly the good helena who found so many things, for she had a wonderful talent for such matters. to the north of the holy sepulchre lies the latin chapel. it is richly furnished, and possesses some antiques that are among the curious, such as the sword and spurs of godfrey of bouillon. this chapel has also a pretty good organ, and the organist was so polite as to play us several tunes. at the west end of the holy sepulchre, and in contact with it, is a small chapel for the copts. it is but a few feet square, and is like a shed or tent-like place, put up against the end of the sepulchre. this chapel stands, of course, within the large circular room in the middle of which the holy sepulchre is placed. to the west, and only separated by a slight wall, is a small chapel for the syrian christians. it is a small dark place, seldom if ever used. adjoining it is the tomb of nicodemus, a little dark hole quite in keeping with his fear of the day when he came to jesus by night; but as he afterwards came out openly in favour of his lord, he deserved a better tomb than they have allowed him. to the south of the holy sepulchre, but raised so as to permit the entrance to pass under it, is the chapel of the armenians. it does not equal that of the greeks or latins, but far exceeds the copts and syrians'. thus the large and nearly circular area with a dome over it, in the middle of which the holy sepulchre is placed, is surrounded with chapels, separated from it by single walls, through which they are entered from the large area. all this mass of building is called the church of the holy sepulchre. there are a number of other places pointed out, in and about it, as places at which some of the facts recorded are said to have taken place--as where the centurion stood, who declared his belief that jesus was the son of god. but i have said enough about these places. my memory was so burdened with these things, it would not be strange if i should have lost some on the way, and possibly i may have misplaced some of them, not designedly however, in giving this brief detail. there are nearly twenty convents in and about jerusalem. the greeks have, if i recollect aright, thirteen. most of them are, however, very small. their large one is directly adjoining the church of the holy sepulchre; and the top of the church (not the dome) may be used as a terrace for its inmates. from the top of the convent i passed over most of the top of the church, or of the chapels contained within its walls. this large monastery is able to receive and entertain many pilgrims--this is one design of those establishments. the latins have a very large monastic establishment. it covers several acres of ground; is so constructed as to be capable of making a good defence; is a strong fort. it is a community of itself, and has within it provision for carrying on all kinds of work. it has smiths, carpenters, shoemakers, tailors, millers, bakers, chandlers, and i know not how many other artisans within it. the armenians have a large establishment of a similar kind, which is said to be equally capacious, and in good condition. while these establishments no doubt are of use in the way of entertaining pilgrims, they are most corrupting; as it is their interest to promote superstition among the people. from their number, wealth, and influence, they are able to effect almost any object they please, and defeat any one that falls under their displeasure. they will, humanly speaking, be one of the greatest obstacles to all missionary efforts to spread the light of truth in jerusalem, and dispel those dark and foul superstitions that have long been gathering over these, so called, holy places. a few days after our arrival, we set out one morning to make a tour of the city. we went out at the jaffa gate, which is situate at the south side of the southern corner, and near the edge of the valley of gihon. up this ravine, a mile or more, is the upper pool of the fuller's field, mentioned in kings, xviii. . it is made by running a strong wall across the ravine, walling the sides and covering them with a water-proof cement. there was no running water in this ravine at present, nor is there often except in the rainy season. a little east of the jaffa gate is the lower pool. it is made in the same way as the upper pool. the wall is used as a bridge--the road passing the ravine on it. there is no water in this pool. the valley of the gihon becomes deeper as it passes eastward to where it meets the kedron. below the second pool it takes the name of the valley of the son of hinnom or tophet. it was formerly used for many unclean purposes--some of the most abhorrent kinds of idolatrous worship was once practised here--the burning of children to moloch, jer. vii. . the valley appears to have been much contracted by the great quantity of rubbish of all kinds which has been thrown into it from the city. a road from the jaffa gate passes down the valley, dividing at the lower pool. one part passes to the south side, and winding along the top of the bank for some distance, crosses the plain southward to bethlehem. the other winds down the valley until it reaches the bottom--then along the valley until it meets the one from the valley of kedron, following the course of the united valleys towards the dead sea. on the south side of the valley of hinnom, and near its junction with kedron, is the potter's field. it is a small parcel of ground near the top of the bank with an old ruined house on it. there was a small level spot thirty feet below the top of the bank, at the bottom of a thick stratum of horizontal rock. walls have been made enclosing a part of this--the face of the rock forming the south wall of the building. the roof, which is flat, is on a level with the top of the bank; and in it are a number of holes, through which they used to throw the dead bodies. it is not used now as a place of interment, and is fast going to ruin, part of the walls having fallen in. all along the south side of the valley are to be seen old tombs cut in the rock--some are of considerable size, having several rooms--some are so large as to be used by mules, donkeys, and other animals, as places of refuge from the noonday heat of the sun. at the junction of the valley of hinnom with that of the kedron, which is nearly at right angles--the hinnom running nearly east and the kedron nearly west--there is a level space of several acres, laid out in gardens, and well set with trees. these gardens and trees continue up the valley of the kedron, which is wider than that of the hinnom, for some distance; this rich and beautiful-looking spot, watered by the fountain of siloam, is called the _king's dale_. these valleys have all steep, high banks. to the east of the kedron lies mount olivet, which runs north and south, and is separated from the hill on which the city stands only by the deep, narrow valley of the kedron. mount olivet terminates abruptly, or rather a break is made through it nearly in a line with the valley of hinnom, bearing a little to the south of east. at the mouth of this new valley, which lets off the water (when there is any) to the eastward, is a small pool, and adjoining it is a kind of resting or lounging-place, now much neglected--and close by is the well of nehemiah, which is very deep, and we infer from indications about it, that formerly it was much used; but it is now almost entirely neglected. this is supposed by some to be the en-rogel in sam. xvii. . down this valley there are a number of gardens, and fig and olive trees. turning up the valley of the kedron, we passed some pretty gardens and lots of ground well set with the fig and other fruit trees. a few hundred yards brought us to the pool of siloam. it lies in the mouth of that little ravine i mentioned as separating mount zion from mount moriah, and is now much filled up within the walls, which cross it at some distance from its mouth. it has, no doubt, been much filled without the walls, still it is very manifest on the outside, and near its mouth. there is quite a high bluff on the moriah side, near the pool. this valley was formerly called the valley of the cheesemongers. it was over this valley that solomon is said to have made that splendid ascent to the house of god from mount zion, where his palace stood, that struck the queen of sheba with so much astonishment. kings, x. . the pool of siloam is small, not more than twenty or twenty-five feet long, and ten or twelve wide. it may be eight feet deep, with only eighteen or twenty inches of water in it. it is fed by the fountain of siloam, which rises about three hundred yards farther up the valley, and is taken under ground through the point of the hill which projects into the valley from mount moriah, and comes out at this place. the water passes through the pool, and is conveyed by a channel to the edge of the valley of the kedron, (for the pool is a little up the valley of the cheesemongers, say twenty-five or thirty yards,) then it passes through a set of troughs, where the people come to obtain water for themselves and their cattle. a considerable part of mount zion, the part which forms the point of the angle between the valley of hinnom and that of kedron, is not now included in the city. the wall no doubt formerly ran down the valley of the gihon to the point keeping close on the edge of the precipice, up the valley of the kedron, crossing the valley of the cheesemongers at the mouth, and keeping on the precipice, passed mount moriah. the remains of the basement of the wall that crossed the mouth of the valley of the cheesemongers may yet be seen, south of the pool of siloam, near the large trough into which the water flows from that pool. the present wall of the city leaves the edge of the bank of the valley a little east of the jaffa gate, and traversing for a little space the higher part of the hill of zion, but leaving a large part of it to the right, takes nearly a straight course across the upper part of the valley of the cheesemongers to mount moriah, leaving out most of this valley, and also the angle of mount moriah, which is between the valley of the kedron and the valley of the cheesemongers. much of this space is now made the depository of rubbish and filth of all sorts. the whole face of the hill, both on the gihon and the kedron side, is evidently much enlarged, and made to project into the valley, from the quantity of rubbish thrown over it. once it must have been a high and almost, if not altogether, a perpendicular bank, but now the rubbish has almost wholly hidden the face of the rock, being visible only in one or two spots; thus forming a steep but sloping bank of rich, soft earth. some parts of it are planted with trees, and portions are used for cultivating vegetables of various kinds. the present walls were, if i mistake not, built by caliph omar, the successor of the celebrated saladin, who warred so bravely against the crusaders, and wrested jerusalem and most of their possessions in palestine from them. we saw in the lower part of the wall on mount moriah, many rocks of a very large size; but none that equalled those at baalbec. the style of building in the walls at jerusalem reminded me of those parts of the walls of baalbec of a more recent erection, especially that on the east side and adjoining the great temple. a few hundred yards north of the pool of siloam, we came to the fountain of siloam. this is a small spring on the city side of the valley, and nearly opposite the corner of the city wall, where it meets the precipice, and includes the space occupied by the temple. milton therefore was nearly right when he spoke of "siloah's stream, that flowed fast by the oracle of god." this fountain is in a place like a cave, artificial, however, as all the appearances indicate. you descend eight or ten steps which lead down into the side of mount moriah--there you find a stream of indifferent water. the quantity of water is not large, and it is said that it has more water in it one part of the day than in the other, more, for example, in the morning than in the afternoon. what is the cause of this is not certainly known. possibly it may be the syphon form of the passage through which the water flows. there are many cases of syphon springs. it may, however, arise from some connexion which this fountain has with the water, brought by an aqueduct to the mosque of st. omar, on mount moriah. the quantity of water brought is too great to be all used in the service of the mosque, and as none flows from the platform, it has most likely some passage under ground, and may possibly find its way to the fountain of siloam. the depth of the fountain below the surface of the ground does not allow the water to flow off. a passage is cut on a level with the fountain, large enough to admit a man to walk erect for some distance. it passes into the hill, and under that high point of mount moriah which lies between the valley of the kedron and that of the cheesemongers, and comes out at the pool of siloam. when this work was done is not known. the part of mount olivet near and opposite mount moriah, is very much covered with jewish graves. it is the favourite jewish place of interment. the rock is horizontal, and in many spots next the valley, much of the face of the rock is bare. parts of the stratum are sufficiently thick to allow tombs to be cut in the face of it, and by hollowing the softer stratum, caves have been formed for the deposite of the dead. there is at one place a little village almost entirely made up of old tombs that have been altered more or less. near the fountain of siloam, are several sepulchral monuments of more distinction than the mixed multitude that cover the side of the mountains. the most remarkable are, the tomb or pillar of absalom, as it is called in sam. xviii. , that of zechariah, and jehoshaphat. the tomb of absalom is in the form of a house about twelve feet square, hewn out of a solid rock, except the top, which has a round cover of stones, neatly put together, and rising like a short cone. it is hollow, and appears originally to have had but one small entrance, high up in front, which was probably stopped with a stone made to fit it. several large holes have been broken through the sides. the side walls appear to have been from eighteen inches to two feet thick, leaving within quite a neat little room. it was probably designed as a place of interment for himself. he found one, however, in a very different place,--in a pit, and, instead of resting in the neat stone chamber he had prepared with so much care, he had a great pile of stones thrown on him. we saw here a striking sample of the arab custom of throwing stones at the graves of persons whom they abhor for their crimes. there are large piles of stones in and about this monument, which persons in passing have thrown at it, to express their hatred of absalom for his unnatural rebellion against his father. the stratum of rock at this place is much more thick and compact than is usually met with in these regions. the tomb of zechariah is much like that of absalom, and stands but a short distance south of it. the style of architecture is not precisely the same--there is no door to it that i could find, and of course could not ascertain whether it was hollow. there is behind it, in the open space that has been cut between it and the rock from which it is separated, a hole, which descends, but so winding that it is soon lost. it was so filled up that we could not descend it. it may have some connexion with the inside of this building, and have been intended for a secure place of interment. about half way between the pillar of absalom and the tomb of zechariah, is the tomb of jehoshaphat. the same compact rock is made use of, but it is of a different order of building. in this case, several large rooms are hewn out of rock connected with each other. a large front door or opening separated by pillars, and enriched with carved work, is cut in the face of the rock, eight or ten feet from the ground. the way of access is through a small, low hole, _at the outside_, near the tomb of zechariah. after entering a few feet the space becomes larger, soon you can walk erect. the passage ascends a little, and opens into a fine large room, in the front of which is the large door that i have described. this room is of course well lighted, and would make no uncomfortable habitation. from this front room, doors and passages lead to others that lie farther in the hill, and of course are dark, except the little light they may receive from the antechamber. i wonder that this place is not occupied as a residence, as it must, i think, be much better than any of the tombs a little to the south, that are thus occupied. three or four hundred yards north of absalom's pillar we came to the place pointed out as the "garden of gethsemane." it lies on the mount olivet side of the valley, not far from the bottom. there are four or five acres at this place, partly in the valley and partly on the foot of mount olivet, that have been laid out in gardens, and some of them are still cultivated. there are a number of olive-trees, some of them old and large. they point to one of the enclosures, as the garden of gethsemane, where our lord was in agony, and where judas led the band who took him. as is customary, the priest will tell you the precise spot where the disciples slept--where our lord withdrew--and where judas betrayed him. that somewhere here was the place where those transactions took place, is not unlikely, but it is all idle folly to pretend to be able to designate the precise spots. a little north of this is a chapel under ground, said to be the tomb of the virgin mary. it is near the valley, a little on the mount olivet side. a small part of the top of the building is above ground, but the great body is below. we descended a wide, noble flight of steps for ten or fifteen feet, and then we had a great display of lamps and other rich ornaments, with a large altar in front. at our right was a recess or little room, shown as the tomb of mary; and about half way up the steps were recesses on both sides, said to be tombs of--i forget whom--anna, perhaps, and other females mentioned in the gospels. when this place was made, or by whom, i am not able to say. it is, however, one of the best pieces of under-ground building that i have seen, and is in good keeping. but how all these good people were found, after centuries had passed away, is not for me to tell. the gate of st. stephen is nearly opposite the tomb of mary, and a road leads up from near the tomb to the gate. about two-thirds of the way from the gate to the bottom of the valley, they point out the place where stephen, the first martyr, was stoned. it is rather singular that they have erected no monument over it. it is designated by a ledge of rocks, which projects from the ground. mount olivet is higher than most of the ground on which the city stands--higher than mount moriah, and about as high as the ground above the jaffa gate on the top of the ridge. there are a few olive-trees scattered over the mount, but not as many as i had been led to suppose. there is a mosque near the top of it, nearly opposite mount moriah, and what is singular, there is a small church _in the inside of the mosque_. the mosque is not used at present, and was probably a part of the church formerly. the church is said to be built on the spot from which our lord ascended; and they gravely showed us what they said was his track, or the print of his foot. we know, however, that the ascent was nearer bethany, which lies on the east side of the mount. luke xxiv. . while the jews chose mount olivet as their burying-ground, the mohammedans love to inter their dead on mount moriah, outside the wall, and as near as they can to the mosque of st. omar. they extend these interments beyond the gate of st. stephen, as there is more room outside the walls, north of this place, for this purpose. thus the jews bury on mount olivet, the mohammedans on mount moriah, and north of it along the outside of the city walls, and the christians on mount zion. there may be other burying-grounds occupied by each of these classes of persons; but these appear to be the ones most in use at present. the north and west sides are the most assailable parts of the city. the wall there runs on ground nearly level; it is, however, high and strong. the rock for making it appears to have been raised from a space twenty or thirty feet outside the wall, and thus a pretty deep ditch has been formed, which gives much strength to the wall as a means of defence. there is north of the city an extensive grove of olives, and a few other trees. it seems to me almost certain, that the city must once have extended farther north and north-west. the old ruins and cisterns indicate that buildings have extended in that direction. i had often heard of the sepulchres of the kings, and took this occasion to visit them. they are about a mile north-west of the city wall. instead of being on the side of a hill as i expected, i found them on a level part of the plain. that part of the plain, as indeed is usual, is based on a horizontal stratum of rock. at this place the rock is more firm and compact than usual. a space, perhaps forty feet square, has been cut down fifteen or twenty feet, perhaps originally twenty-five or thirty feet, and the whole of the rock removed, leaving the sides regular and smooth, like the walls of a house. parallel to the south side, and at the distance of eight or ten feet, a graduated road has been made fifteen or twenty feet wide, on a moderate descent, which brings it down near the south-east corner, to nearly the same level with the floor within. a noble archway is hewn through this wall, wide enough to admit three or four men abreast. the whole is evidently much filled up--enough remains to show that it was well planned and well executed. within this house-like place that i have described, and at the western side, about eight feet of the upper part is covered with sculpture of various kinds, wrought on the face of the rock. it is rich, and of admirable execution. the part under this is hewn away, and a kind of portico made, twenty feet long, ten or twelve feet wide, and twelve feet high. i give these as the probable dimensions, as i did not measure them. at the south end of this portico, the rubbish, which had accumulated several feet, has been removed, and an opening was found cut through the solid rock. only so much of the rubbish was removed as would enable a person, by creeping, to enter. after creeping a few feet, we entered a room of considerable size, say twelve feet square. from this room doorways opened to another room, and from this to others; most of them on the same level, but some of the passages lead to rooms below, and, in one place, the hollow sound which the floor gave clearly showed that there were yet other excavations beneath. these rooms had niches all around for receiving the dead. originally these doorways had stone doors, with stone hinges. the place for hanging the doors was obvious, and we saw several of the broken doors made of a single stone slab. in one of the inner rooms we saw some richly carved covers of a sarcophagus; the sarcophagus itself was gone. the door of this room was lying there nearly entire; it was richly carved, and wrought in a kind of panel-work. the stone hinges were like those wooden hinges which we often meet with in cabins, stables, &c. on one side of the stone a piece is left at both ends to project out a few inches; holes are cut in the doorway of such a size as will receive these projections, the upper one made deep, the door put in, and made to turn on these points. these tombs, although called the tombs of the kings, are not believed to have been the place where the kings of judah were interred. we are told that they were usually buried in the city of david,--that is, on mount zion. chron. xxiv. . we know not why they are so called; possibly because they are the most remarkable sepulchres that are known in the vicinity. learning that at the distance of a mile or two to the north-west, on the same plain, there was a remarkable set of sepulchres, called the sepulchre of the judges, we concluded to visit them also. there are extensive beds of rock in this part of the plain, and in many places its upper surface is six, eight, and ten feet above the level of the soil. the rock is softer than that at the sepulchre of the kings, being of that soft, friable limestone, which, from the ease with which it is worked, is so much used in building. i could see that in all directions it had been quarried and removed. advantage was taken of a place where the rock rose eight or ten feet above the ground. it was cut so as to make a plain, smooth front. then a little porch-like place is hewn out, not unlike that described at the sepulchre of the kings, the rock being left above for a cover. a door was then cut in, with some rich carving over it. this led into a large room, around which were a number of niches for depositing the dead. doorways opened at the three sides to other rooms, and around these were niches--from these again to others. passing down through a hole in the corner of the first large room, we found that there was one under it of nearly the same size. it was in a less finished state than any of the others. it is usually said, that there are seventy or seventy-two of those niches for corpses--the number of judges in the jewish sanhedrim. we could not make out that number. we found sixty-eight or sixty-nine, if my memory be correct. many ruins are to be seen on this plain to the north and north-west of the city. there are many olive-trees scattered over it; and wherever the massy, compact limestone rises to a height and size that will admit of it, you are almost sure to see tombs cut in it. there are several pools in the city. about half way from the jaffa gate to the church of the holy sepulchre there is one of large dimensions; it is surrounded by houses, and is, i think, called the pool of hezekiah. an aqueduct can in part be traced from the upper gihon to the city in the direction of this pool, and possibly it may be the work of hezekiah, mentioned in chron. xxxii. . "he stopped the upper water-course of gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of david." the pool of bethesda lies near the gate of st. stephen, and almost adjoining the large open square, on which the mosque of st. omar now stands. it is now dry, and has not the appearance of often having water in it. it is a small place. several arched places are shown at one end, as a part of the five porches mentioned in the gospel. in truth, jerusalem is badly, very badly supplied with water. most of the houses have cisterns for rain water, but there is but little of good spring or running water. the fountain of siloam, which is small and not good, is the only spring i have seen in the neighbourhood of jerusalem. water is brought in for the use of the mosque of st. omar in pipes from the pools of solomon, not i think for general use. the streets of jerusalem are narrow and filthy; the houses have an old and weather-beaten appearance. there is one peculiarity about them which is rather singular. i saw something of it at jaffa and at rumla. the _dome roof_ is almost universal. to me it has a pretty appearance, and is a much better defence against rain than the flat roofs which are so universal at beyroot, and all the towns and villages in the northern part of syria. this mission find their chief employment in distributing books and conversing with the people, and find a good deal to encourage them in their work. there is an increasing disposition among the mohammedans to have intercourse with them, and to converse with them on the subject of religion. this is a promising circumstance. letter xiii. _jerusalem, october th, ._ we left jerusalem early on the morning of the th, for a visit to hebron. being informed that there might be some danger of robbery or evil treatment on the road, we applied to the governor for a guard, and received an order to the commandant at the pools of solomon, the place where the dangerous district begins, for a guard. we left the jaffa gate, and crossing the valley of gihon, passed down a pretty plain to the south of jerusalem towards bethlehem. this plain is very fertile, but does not appear to be under cultivation to any great extent. on several parts of it we saw orchards of olive and other trees. when near bethlehem we took the direct road to hebron, intending to visit that place on our return. in the vicinity of bethlehem is the tomb of the beloved rachel. it is a high, oblong mass of masonry, of an old and venerable appearance. a neat stone building with a dome has been erected over it. we saw an encampment of soldiers under the olive-trees to the west of bethlehem, and learned that ibrahim pasha had attempted to disarm a powerful tribe of arabs that reside near the dead sea; that they had proved refractory, and that he had ordered a considerable force to the neighbourhood, and directed some of the powerful tribes that acknowledge his authority to aid in the work. there were in the vicinity of bethlehem several thousand men, and the disarming of the tribe was going on. the whole district about bethlehem is exceedingly rocky; more so than usual in this rocky country. this continued the case most of the way to the pools. the country to our right, that is west of us, rose higher, and on the side of the ridge were several villages; most of them had pleasant groves of trees near them, and there were extensive districts abounding with the olive, and plains finely adapted for cultivation. the pools of solomon are situate about three miles from bethlehem, on the road to hebron. they lie in a ravine that runs east from a little plain surrounded on all other sides by moderately high hills. a small spring rises in this plain, and the water from it was probably made, formerly, to pass through the pools. at present, the water from the spring, or from some of them,--for there are probably more than one, although sealed up and conveyed away under ground in such a way that the water can be seen in but one or two places,--is conveyed in earthen pipes, set in rock, and under ground along the side of the pools, until it passes them, and is then made to unite with the old aqueduct that took the waters from the pools to the city. most probably the temple was supplied with waters in this way, and that the pools were made for this purpose. the distance direct is about nine miles, and must be increased by the windings necessary to find a water level. ibrahim pasha, since he took possession of this country, has had the aqueduct repaired. the pools are called the pools of solomon, but it is not with certainty known that he made them. they are in plan and structure much like the pools in the valley of gihon, called the upper and lower pool. they are three in number, and lie one below another; each may be about six hundred feet long, and three hundred broad. there is a large building adjoining them, which may have been intended for a khan. it is now occupied by the guard of soldiers that are usually stationed here. the order for a guard was safe in our pockets, but on reaching the place not a soldier was to be found--what were we to do? there were, counting our servant and muleteer, and one or two persons who had joined us on the way, as we supposed for the sake of enjoying our protection, six or seven of us and two brace of pistols--we did not therefore hesitate to push forward without a guard; and saw no cause to regret it. the district we now entered was more rough, rocky, and hilly, with less cultivation and more wood upon it, than any we had yet seen. the trees were small, not much higher than a man's head when mounted on a good horse. it looks much as if it had been stripped of its trees and the sprouts allowed to grow unmolested for about two years. much of the fuel that is used in jerusalem is obtained from this district. we met many mules and donkeys loaded with wood going to the city, and this, i may add, is the usual mode of transporting wood through this country. everything is packed on animals. wheel-carriages they have none. we also met a number of _females_ with _large parcels_ of wood on their backs, making their way towards the city. in some cases they must have to carry it from six to ten miles. what a labour for females! it is now, as in the days of old, the women and children sink under the wood. lam. v. . from many of the hills over which we passed, we had repeated views of the dead sea lying in a long narrow strip from north to south. for about two hours we passed through a district hilly and very rocky, and mostly covered with bushes. in many places these were so abundant as to justify the use of the word _thicket_. these are the places which are considered the most dangerous, as the robbers can conceal themselves, and thus with more ease perpetrate their crimes and escape pursuit. this whole region has once been under cultivation, and a portion of it is yet. that portion, however, is small. on the sides of the hills were the remains of terrace-work, and in many places old buildings and mounds of rock, which showed the labour of man. we saw several villages in the distance, and far to the east on a high hill, towns and other indications of inhabitants. we passed one of the largest and best springs in palestine. it rises at the foot of one of the thickest and softest strata of white limestone rock that i have seen. a number of tombs were cut in the face of this rock, which may have been eight or ten feet thick. on first seeing them i thought, from the soft character of the rock, that they might lead to extensive excavations, but on examination found this was not the case. we were now within an hour or two of hebron. the face of the country improved, more pains were taken to collect the loose rock into piles or fences, and more ground was under cultivation. many villages were seen, at a distance from our road. when about three miles from hebron we turned a little off our road to the west, to look for an old ruin which was said to be worth seeing. this led us on higher ground; and gave us a more extensive view of the country; and i was not a little surprised and pleased at having a fine view of the whole district to the west, embracing a part of the hill country of judea, the southern part of the plain of sharon, and the wide-spread mediterranean sea beyond it. i was, in fact, on the highest ridge of the hill country, which runs north and south, and could see below me the secondary ridges and hills, which extended about half-way to the sea, becoming lower and lower as they approached the plain--then the plain beyond, and the white sand-hills and banks along the shore. i fancied that i could see the south-east corner of the sea near el-arish, where it turns to the west--possibly this was fancy. the view, however, was most extensive and interesting, as i knew that my eyes were ranging over, not only a large and rich portion of the inheritance of the tribe of judah, but also part of the land of the philistines, those inveterate and powerful enemies of the people of god. oh! how often has the district which i now beheld, witnessed the mustering, and marching, and warfare of the philistine against israel, and the israelite against the philistine. we now entered a gently declining valley. the soil did not appear better than usual, but much care and labour had been bestowed on it, and evidences of this increased as we passed through to the south. the stones were gathered off--good stone fences were made along the road--the ground was well set with vines, and for miles we had nothing on either side of the road but a succession of vineyards loaded with the most delicious grapes. surely, thought i, this must be the valley of eshcol. it was here the spies procured the vine loaded with clusters, which they carried into the wilderness to the astonishment of the whole camp. if my conjecture was not entirely correct it was nearly so, if the jews of hebron are to be believed, for this, if not the valley of eshcol, terminates in that valley about a mile from hebron. this valley through which we passed became wider and more rich in its fruits until it joined the other valley, which comes in more from the west. this second valley is the widest, has a considerable breadth of level, rich soil finely cultivated, interspersed with trees, and covered with vineyards. this is called eshcol, as we learned from the jews with whom we lodged, and who took us out to see it. about a mile up this valley is pointed out the tree under which they say abraham received the angels, gen. xviii. - . it is the largest tree in the vicinity, is of the oak kind, which here grows low and sends out many branches, and looks at a little distance not unlike a large apple-tree. if it be the self-same tree under which abraham entertained the angels, it must have attained a good old age. i am, however, slow to believe it, although assured of it by a descendant of the patriarch. it may be a descendant of that tree thus honoured, either direct or collateral, but that it should have lived until now, does not agree with the great law of mortality which spares no living thing, neither man nor beast, animal nor vegetable, since death entered this world. these, however, are the plains of mamre, and the good old patriarch long sojourned, and somewhere on these plains his tent was pitched, his altar raised, and his worship went up with acceptance to the god who was "his shield and exceeding great reward." how many generations have passed away since that time, and yet his name is known, is dear to the people of these lands--seeing the "memory of the righteous is blessed!" abraham had his trials--he was ordered from the land of his nativity, and, although canaan was promised him, he was made to live as a stranger in it, and at the sufferance of others--while he saw the nations which possessed it building cities, increasing their defences, and using means to secure it as an inheritance for their children, he was not allowed to secure a foot of it, except a burying-place for himself and family; and although he was promised a numerous posterity, yet he saw himself and wife getting old, passing the age in which men become parents, and not one son born to them. yet he believed and loved and served god, and the event proved that not one word of god's promise fell to the ground. following this united valley a little to the south-east, we came to hebron. the country about it is better cultivated than any district i have seen. there are many enclosures and vineyards; olive groves and fig-trees abound. as we drew near the town, we passed several wells; these, we were told, were, one the well of jacob, one of isaac, and one the well of abraham; so each of the patriarchs has one. it at least shows their regard for the memory of these good men. hebron stands in the valley; but at a place where the two ridges, which bound it on either side, are not uniform, but rather like separate hills placed near each other. while most of the town stands in the valley, its edges rise in a small degree on four of the hills by which it is surrounded, but in the greatest degree on the hill to the south-east. the town has a very old appearance; the streets are narrow and dirty, and to a great extent arched over, especially the bazaars. few of the houses look well; they are placed uncomfortably close to each other, and are badly aired and lighted. the bazaars appeared poorly supplied with goods and provisions; and, on the whole, it was a poorer place than i was led to expect, from the improved state of the country around it. much the largest part of the population is mohammedan. there are few christians in hebron; we were told, but one family, and that was the family of the secretary of the governor. we had a letter to him, and expected to find lodgings with him, but to our regret he was not at home. while inquiring for him, the governor passed, and ascertaining that we were travellers, and were recommended to his secretary, he sent a soldier with us to introduce us to a respectable jewish family, who were ordered to take care of us. we were kindly received and provided for. they showed us the synagogue, which was near our lodgings. we found a school in operation in the synagogue; the scholars were reading in the hebrew bible. they showed us a most splendid roll of the law, which they had recently received. it was fixed on two rollers, so as to roll off the one as it rolled on to the other, leaving such a part exposed as might serve for the lesson to be read. the whole put nicely in a case, and fastened with clasps, and laid away in a closet not far from the reading-desk or pulpit. a few years ago, when ibrahim pasha's troops took hebron, they committed great outrages on the jews, by plundering them of all they could find. they broke into their synagogue, and opened all parts of it in which they thought anything could be found, mutilated and tore their roll of the law, and perpetrated many other enormities. hebron is esteemed by the jews as a sacred city; and they think it a great privilege to live here. they pretend that persons, when old, if they come and live at hebron, can renew their age. they need not go far for materials to correct the opinion; for some of them had about them ample proof that old age and all its infirmities come upon people at hebron as certainly and as fast as at other places. the great mosque, which was probably once a christian church, stands over, as we were told, the cave of machpelah. we were not allowed to enter it. it is a very large building, and the lower part contains stones of a very large size. it stands on the side of the hill, at the south-east part of the city. the palace of the governor joins it; and it is not improbable that the palace in which david reigned for seven years was in that quarter. near the mosque is a very large cistern, which the jew, who was our guide, pretended was sarah's bathing-house. it was, however, of much more modern formation; the declaration of the jew to the contrary notwithstanding. at the south end of the town is a fine pool. this is the pool, as is supposed, over which david hung the hands and feet of rechab and baanah, the murderers of ishbosheth. sam. iv. . it appears to have been formerly fed by a stream through a small aqueduct, that comes into it; but the stream is now dry, and the aqueduct out of order. a short distance to the north of this pool, is another of a smaller size; but the water in it does not appear as good, nor is it as much used. while rambling among the olive-trees that almost cover the hill to the south-west of the town, we came to the ruins of an old building, which must have been a place of some consequence formerly, but is now wholly deserted. our guide took us into it, and in one of the rooms showed us a small hole in the wall, which he told us was the tomb of jesse, the father of david. the jews, who were with us, certainly showed much reverence for the place, pulling off their shoes, and performing other acts of regard. whether this be the grave of jesse none can tell, nor is it worth much inquiry. it is not impossible that jesse may have died at hebron, notwithstanding bethlehem was his usual place of residence. when david came under the jealousy of saul, and was obliged to flee, his family fled with him, and david had to provide for and protect his father and mother. sam. xxii. - . it is not unlikely that while he reigned in hebron, and the sons of saul over the rest of israel, his family may have resided with him; jesse, who was an old man when david was anointed, may have finished his days while his son lived and reigned at hebron. i could not but notice in passing, some piles of wood of a larger kind than any i had seen in palestine. it was pine, and cut into pieces of four or five feet in length. many pieces were from a foot to eighteen inches in diameter, which, in this country, is large growth. i noticed also over their shops, and at other places, pine branches used as a protection from the sun. on inquiry i was told that, a few hours to the south-west, there was much wood of that kind. as the pine, in these countries at least, is seldom found except in sandy districts, there must be a sandstone formation in that quarter. hebron, indeed, lies far south in palestine, and on the borders of the wilderness, and probably the limestone formation terminates not far south of this, and gives place to the sandstone, which accounts for the immense regions of sand which are met with in that district. had time allowed, i would gladly have made a tour of a day or two to the south, and taken a glimpse of that waste, howling wilderness in which israel, for their rebellion, were made so long to wander. the peculiar circumstances of my companion, mr. b----, whose aid i needed as interpreter, imposed on us the necessity of limiting our time. there is a pretty good road from hebron to gaza and el-arish on to egypt, which may be traversed on a dromedary in four days. we wished on our return from hebron to take a route more to the east, and pass tekoah and the region of the dead sea. we learned, however, that that district was now in a troubled state, as the population on it were among those whom the pasha was disarming, and some of the more desperate were for keeping out of his reach, and might, in their ill-humour, injure those who fell in with them. as we had no guard, we thought it the part of prudence to keep out of harm's way, and accordingly returned as far as the pools of solomon by the same route we had traversed in going to hebron. from the pools we went down the hollow in which they are situate, and followed the course of the aqueduct. this led us over a new district, and brought us to bethlehem on the other side. the district over which we passed was exceedingly rough and rocky. the hollow, along the side of which we passed, became deep, rough, and had very little level space at the bottom, and the sides of the hills that bordered it really appeared given up to rocks and stones. the little earth, however, that was to be seen, was fertile, for the rock was a soft limestone, which always forms a good soil. about half way from the pools to bethlehem, we passed a place where the valley spread out so as to leave, for a few hundred yards, a strip of level land from twenty to fifty yards wide. this was divided into lots, and walls made across it to prevent the washing away of the earth. trees and garden herbs were planted, and the whole had a most pleasing appearance among the wilderness of rock by which it is surrounded. on the adjoining hill were a few low huts, some of them more in the ground than above it, where the owners of this green spot dwell. the hills in the immediate vicinity of bethlehem were finely terraced, and many olive and fig trees planted. i could not but notice the number and beauty of the watch-houses or little towers, which were placed in the vineyards--some of them were round and some square--made of stone, from ten to fifteen or twenty feet high. these serve as places from which a watch is kept on the vineyards during the season of the grape. it is common to watch in this way their gardens and fruit-trees, as otherwise they might be pillaged. reference is made to these towers in scripture, "as a cottage in a vineyard,"--"as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers," isaiah i. ; "built a tower in it," (_the vineyard_,) matt. xxi. . the ground on which bethlehem stands is rough and uneven. it is a poor-looking place, and has but a small population. it was swarming with the pasha's troops when we were there, and that, as well as other reasons, made our stay short. the principal object of attraction here is the church of the nativity. this is a large establishment, and includes in it both a monastery and church. it properly belongs to the latins, but is, in part, a joint concern, as the greeks have a chapel in it, and probably some of the other christian sects. they pretend to show you the place where our lord was born, and the manger in which he was laid. the church is built over them. they may be said to be under the level of the ground, and in a grotto, as almost all their holy places are. you descend ten or twelve feet, and approach the place of nativity through a narrow passage, which is paved, and the sides faced with polished marble. the place itself is small, and used somewhat as an altar,--a little recess in the wall. it is almost filled with lamps, which are kept always burning. the manger is a few yards to the right, on the other side of the passage. it is also very richly ornamented, lined in part with silk, and illuminated with many lamps. from these places a way leads into the latin and greek chapels. no sooner was our arrival announced than we were beset by a number of persons with all sorts of trinkets for sale, crosses, large pieces of mother-of-pearl, with the likeness of some holy person or thing carved on it, beads, and snuff-boxes. they followed us into the church, waylaid us in the passages, and beset us in the streets. a great part of the population are engaged in manufacturing such things, and they form the chief article of trade at this place. they were really troublesome in their efforts to induce us to buy, and they took care to ask a good price. when about to start, some of our party were detained in the church after i came out. i waited on my horse, and, as the day was hot, and the sun beat down with great power, i spread my umbrella over me. this excited the curiosity not only of the boys and common soldiers, of whom the place was full, but of some of the inferior officers. they gathered about me in crowds, and looked at the umbrella on all sides--wished to understand the mechanism for raising and letting it down--tried it, and held it over them. they examined my clothes, especially my shoes, and on the whole, gave the frank a pretty close examination as to his exterior. they exhibited great good-nature in doing it, and appeared much pleased with my willingness to gratify their curiosity. after leaving the town, we passed many soldiers and horsemen under the olive-trees which abound in the vicinity. one of the horsemen joined us in the ride, and took a hat from angelo, which he put on his own head, and caught hold of the umbrella of one of the company, and spread it over him, assuming in pleasantry great dignity, to the no little amusement of his companions. i have heard it said that the turks seldom laugh, and i believe they do laugh less than franks; yet i have met with several samples of the humorous and droll among them that was not a little amusing. on our return to jerusalem we learned that a french prince, one of the sons of louis philippe, the present king, had just arrived, escorted by the governor of rumla. the governor of jerusalem and a number of important personages had gone out to meet and welcome him; the catholics were especially assiduous in their attentions--as the french king, infidel as he is, is considered the protector of the catholic church in the eastern part of the mediterranean. there has also been a little excitement lately between the catholics and the greeks, as the catholics have attempted to take possession of some holy places (they say, only get back) which the greeks claim. the latins had contrived to get an order from mohammed ali, it was said, in favour of their taking them; but the greeks were not disposed to yield willingly what they had long possessed and considered as of right belonging to them. the presence of the son of louis philippe at such a time was important. the great quantity of rock on the surface, and the little earth that is at times to be seen, must at first strike the observer as a great objection to this country, and may lead to the inquiry, how could such a rocky land be called "the land flowing with milk and honey"--the glory of all lands? there are many districts that are sadly encumbered with rock, yet the soil among these rocks is of a very superior kind, and were the rock somewhat broken up, the large pieces piled and the small mixed with the soil, it might be made very productive. there is very striking proof of this in some districts, as that about hebron, which abounds with rock, and yet is covered with the most productive vineyards. as to such a rocky country being so spoken of in the days of the patriarchs, i suppose that it was in truth, at that time, the finest of lands; that the rock which now lies bare in so many places, was then all covered with earth of the richest kind, which has gradually disappeared in the wastings, and tillage, and pasturage, of four or five thousand years. the more i see of palestine, the more i am persuaded that it was once one of the first countries in the world. the time was, i doubt not, when all these rocks were covered with a fine vegetable mould. letter xiv. _jerusalem, oct. th_, . we have just returned from a visit to jericho, the jordan, and the dead sea, and i now set myself to the work of giving you a short account of these places. if you wish for a full and detailed account of these celebrated places, i must send you to books and the makers of them. my object is to give you such brief notices, as i have time to commit to paper. the rev. mr. lanneau of the jerusalem mission joined us, and made a very agreeable addition to our party; we took also two soldiers as a guard, this district being notorious for robbers. we left jerusalem by the gate of st. stephen, passing between the chapel of the virgin mary and the garden of gethsemane. we crossed mount olivet a little to the south of the church of the ascension, where there is a slight depression in the mount; the part south of this is called the mount of corruption. on it solomon built places for his heathen wives, to practise the heathen rites. they point out a place where they say he had a large establishment for these "_strange women_." the mount of corruption! very well named, when put to such uses; a very corrupt business it was--bad enough at any place, but still worse at the holy city, and by the ruler of the chosen people! solomon was, no doubt, a very wise man in some things, but he did not show it in his relation to females. in that respect he behaved very foolishly. it is the dictate of wisdom for a man to have one wife, it was thus intended by his maker; and he will be the happier and even the better man, all other things being equal, for being thus connected. if he uses a little wisdom in making his choice, and a little more in treating and taking care of his wife, as every good man ought to do, he will find, nine times out of ten, that his wife will be a great comfort and help to him, and do him good all the days of his life. but what is to be expected of the man who is so very foolish as to gather them about him by the score, yea, the hundred? and then, what a selection from all the idolatrous nations within his reach! i doubt not they were a _bad set, a very bad set of women_; but what right had he to expect a better from the quarter whence he obtained them? had he gone to some good old pious father of his own people, and married his well-raised, virtuous, and pious daughter, and confined himself to one wife as a wise man ought to do, and a good man would do, he might have been happy in the married life. but behaving as he did, there is no wonder that he was unhappy. it is not at all courteous and gallant in him, in these circumstances, to show his spite in making hard speeches about the ladies, as if there was no fault on his own side. mount olivet, where we crossed it, had a few trees on it, and a portion was laid out in gardens and vineyards, but a great deal of it evinced neglect. it has a wide, flat top, over which we passed for some time, before we began our descent. we had a pretty good view of the northern end of the dead sea, the valley of the jordan, and the mountains of moab, which run north and south, not far east of the jordan and the dead sea. these mountains do not appear to be very high; i should judge them to be about the height of the hills to the west of jerusalem. my attention was arrested by the apparent straightness of the range, and the uniform height of the ridge. the top of it, from the south to the north, as far as it could be seen with distinctness, appeared almost perfectly level. it forms a most beautiful eastern horizon to a person on the high grounds about jerusalem. on the eastern side of olivet, a little on the descent, is bethany, where lazarus and his sisters lived. it is a low, miserable village, containing only a few families, and most of these live in the lower rooms and cellars of old buildings. not one good house did i see in the village. it is little else than a mass of ruins. an old ruin is pointed out as the house of martha. we were shown the grave of lazarus; it is an excavation in the rock, narrow at the mouth, barely allowing a person to enter; we descended eight or ten steps, and there found a small room, in which was a place that served for an altar, on which service is at times performed. in one side of this room is a small _hollow place_, rude enough certainly, in which we were told the body of lazarus was deposited. the whole concern is certainly a very poor one, much less like a place of interment than many we had seen, but may have been intended for that purpose. our course was now nearly due east. we had a very steep descent to make on the eastern side of olivet. we found some cultivated ground, and a few olive and fig trees. among the limestone on the surface we saw many masses of silex, much of it of a variegated and fine kind, which had the appearance of the coarser kinds of agate. we passed from the mount of olives into a deep hollow, which runs east towards the valley of the jordan. near the head of this hollow is a spring of water, with a ruin in the vicinity, which appears to be a great stopping-place for those who are passing to and from jerusalem and jericho. we found there a company of arabs and muleteers. our road led us down the valley. the hills on both sides were steep, and the valley narrow. from this place there is a change in the character of the rock, and a corresponding one in the character of the soil and the aspect of the country. the rock becomes a friable limestone of the softest kind. this continues most of the way to the valley of the jordan. it is easily disintegrated, and of course but little of it appears on the surface. a fine-looking soil covers the face of the country, the hills are rounded over, and but few rocks are seen projecting out. those veins of silex, which i have mentioned, form an exception; and there are several of them, one above another, at a greater or less distance. they vary from two or three to twelve or eighteen inches in thickness; and, in some places, form a kind of cord-like appearance round the hills. while, however, the land looks more favourable for tillage, it does not show the evidences of it--far otherwise--we saw less and less of its surface under the care and cultivation of man, and fewer traces of a resident population; no villages, no houses, no vineyards nor olive trees, and but occasionally a spot that had been made to yield grain. about half-way from mount olivet to the plain of jordan, we passed a district that exhibited rather a singular aspect. the rock on both sides of the narrow valley down which we were passing, was thrown much out of the horizontal position, which is the general state of the rock in this district, and forced up in the middle, a rod or two it may be, and made to have much the appearance of a regularly-formed arch. it was manifest especially in the siliceous stratum before-mentioned. in some places you might count many of these arches along the side of the hill, on both sides of the valley, and in part corresponding with each other. they had all the appearance of having been formed by the action of some great force from below, acting partially on small locations. i noticed the same, but on a more extended scale, on the road by which i returned from the dead sea, which lay considerably to the south of this. it was, however, as far as i could judge, about the same distance from the valley of the jordan. it is, indeed, the same district, and may possibly exhibit a similar appearance both north and south to a much greater extent. it deserves an examination from some one who has leisure and the desire to gain a perfect knowledge of the geology of palestine. the west side of the valley of the jordan is bounded by a very high hill; it might well be called a mountain. it cannot be less than from to feet high. the rock of these hills is limestone, so very soft and white that i hesitated whether it did not more properly belong to the chalk formation. as the valleys approach this abrupt border of the plain, they cut deep into the earth, and some of them form most tremendous chasms. they reminded me much of the mouths of the streams in some parts of kentucky, and on the kanhawa. they are all destitute of trees, and hardly a bush is to be seen that would shade a goat. this nakedness of the banks and precipices gives them a wild appearance. on the sides of these deep chasms you occasionally see ledges of rock jutting out, and caves, either natural or artificial, entering under them--a noble place for thieves and robbers. the descent from the hills to the plain of jordan is abrupt and steep. to our left was a most tremendous gorge, with a small flow of water in it. the face of the hill towards the plain, was almost entirely destitute of vegetation, and deeply furrowed, from the washing of its soft and yielding soil. directly before us, and a short distance from the foot of the hill, we saw some ruins, and the remains of a wall which enclosed a considerable district. whether this was the remains of some old village or city, we could not tell, as our road turned north of it, towards jericho, and we had not time to visit it and examine it more minutely. we crossed the rivulet flowing out of the deep gorge to our left, as we descended the hills; on its banks were some old ruins, and, to our right, was a large and very high mound, which, from its regularity, had the appearance of being artificial, and was much like some of those large mounds that are seen in the valley of the mississippi. a few small trees adorned the banks of the rivulet within the gorge, and marked its course through the plain. this noble, wide-spread plain lay almost as much at waste, especially toward the hills, as if there was no man to till the ground. it had the appearance of having been fertile, and not wholly deprived of its fertility, but as worn a good deal with former usage. there was, as is usual with plains near water, a scattering of water-worn pebbles over it, but not so many as to be at all in the way of tillage. as we entered more on the plain, we passed some spots that bore marks of having yielded grain not long since. after travelling about three miles, we reached the village which is called jericho. just before entering it, we crossed a small brook which flows from the north-west, and has its rise in the fountain pointed out as that which elisha healed. kings, ii. . about this brook, and spreading out over the plain, were a number of bushes, mostly of the thorn kind, and not unlike what i have heard called the white thorn in some parts of the united states. the largest of them were about as high as a peach tree, but were rather a clump of branches growing out of one root, than branches from the same stem. they have many very sharp thorns on them. some of them bore an apple, of a whitish colour, larger than a grape. there was also another bush with prickles on it, which grew from four to five feet high. it bore a yellow fruit, about as large as the apricot, that looked very rich and pretty, enticing the appetite, but the taste was unpleasant and indescribably nauseous. when cut, they were soft and watery. the village called jericho, may stand about mid-way from the hills to the jordan. it is one of the most miserable villages that i ever saw. the houses are low, dirty, miserable places, hardly deserving the name. piles of rubbish, ashes, and filth, lie all about. there is one building now occupied by the soldiers stationed there, that has high and strong stone walls, but is much out of repair. the village has, however, some gardens about it, and a number of fig and other fruit trees. of the many palms which may once have decorated this city, but one remains. we encamped near the house used as a fort by the troops, under some fine spreading fig trees. there were some cattle in the village, but we were not able to procure any milk that was fit to drink; a small vessel which they sent to us, being so bad that we would not have it, but sent it back to the owner. we have usually found it difficult to procure milk. we set out in the morning to visit the fountain of elisha before we went down to the jordan. it lies about three miles north-west of jericho. as our guide did not know the way, we tried to engage a person from the village, and on inquiring for a boy, they told us they had no boys; all their boys and young men were taken for soldiers. they are all mohammedans in this village; and it is only mohammedans, or druses and ansairi, who are next-door neighbours to them, that the pasha honours with a forcible incorporation into his army--a happy deliverance for the christian. after some inquiry, a woman engaged to be our guide so far as to put us in the right road. the spring is a fine large one, near a small hill, half a mile in the plain. there were some appearances of ruins in the piles of stone that lay about its head. the water is clear, but not cold; there is a considerable spreading of the waters by means of small channels, and also from the level character of the ground. this district is for some extent covered with the thorn-bush i have mentioned, together with some intermixture of other growth. mount quarantania, which is one of the highest and roughest parts of that range of hills that border on the plain, has a peculiarly desolate appearance, and is full of holes and caves. this is the mountain into which, as the monks tell us, our lord was led, after his baptism, to be tempted of the devil. between its base and the fountain are a number of old walls and buildings, which indicate that a place of some consequence may once have been situate there. the french prince whom i have mentioned before as on a visit to palestine, we learned, had spent the night at the fountain with his retinue. he had come the day before from bethlehem to the dead sea, and from thence came up past jericho to the fountain of elisha, and was off this morning for jerusalem before we arrived. it would seem that even to unbelievers this land has a most intense interest; and well it may, for what land ever witnessed such wonders as have taken place in palestine? we took a south-east direction across the plain, which differed but little from the district we had already passed over, in the sterility of its aspect. this appearance may in part have been owing to the circumstances, that we were now at the close of the summer, and these plains had been parched with a six months burning sun, without the protection of a good covering of vegetable growth, and not favoured with a shower of rain. this was enough to parch the life out of almost anything. parts of the plain had been under tillage, and on some spots the stubble on the ground showed that a crop of grain had been gathered, but the greater part lay untilled. it no doubt serves, as much of the best lands of these regions do, for pasturage--a matter, in the estimation of the people of this country, equally, if not more important than land employed in tillage. this is not the season for flocks to be seen on the plains, as they are too much burned up; and i know not where they can find districts at present that are not. at the distance of a mile and a half from the jordan we made a descent of eight or ten feet. the descent was rather irregular, the edge of the strata much washed, and there were many irregular parcels of earth along the edge, that had resisted the wastings which had removed the strata to this extent. the whole surface of this part of the plain was very destitute of vegetation. at the distance of nearly three quarters of a mile we made another descent, nearly as great as the former; the edge of it had much the same washed and irregular appearance. the land on which we now entered had many of these irregular mounds of earth that i mentioned as lying along the water edge of the former descent. it looked as if the whole plain had once been on a level with the part above the first descent, and that a sweeping torrent, extending out to where the first bank is, had passed over it, and swept away about ten feet of earth, except a few hard spots near the edge; then, that another torrent had come down, reaching out only to the place where the second bank is, and within its range had carried off about ten or twelve feet of earth, leaving a large number of spots that resisted it; for the mounds between the first and second banks nearly agreed in height with the plain above that bank, while those below the second bank agreed in height with the land between the first and second banks. in the space between the second and third banks much of the ground looked as if it was often covered with water, like the dried mud on which water has long lain; this was not the general character of this district. there were at places many small bushes, and on some parts of it a pretty considerable crop of dry weeds. we made a third descent near the stream, of about the same depth. on and near this last bank, down to the water's edge, there were many bushes of various kinds; among them considerable quantities of the willow, "the willow of the water-courses." the jordan, where we visited it, may be twenty or twenty-five yards wide. it is, however, very various in its width, but i should think what i have given embraced its common width. it had a strong current at this place, and was very muddy; whether this is its usual colour, or was in consequence of a considerable fall of rain two days before, i am unable to say. after amusing ourselves in the water for some time, we thought it would not do to come away without crossing it. we swam to the other side, and cut some rods from the willows, on "the other side of jordan." we could have waded across, if it had not been for the rapidity of the current, which swept over a gravel bar into a deep hole. many lives, it is said, have been lost at this place. we, however, swam over and returned in safety. i gathered twelve stones from the jordan, and cut half a dozen stems from the willows that grew on its banks. we looked at the water, and the banks again and again, as if we were fearful we might forget how they looked; and at last, yet with reluctance, set off for the dead sea. we saw the jordan at the place usually visited by the pilgrims, three or four miles from its mouth. its course makes it enter the dead sea somewhat east of the middle of the plain. it may be that some visitors follow the course of the stream, and see it at its entrance; we, however, did not do this, but made for the dead sea, at a point about midway from the entrance of the jordan to the western side of the plain. i may here remark that the valley of the jordan appears to be very uniform in its width. the ranges of hills which border this valley or plain, run nearly parallel to each other. the dead sea fills up this valley nearly from ridge to ridge, leaving but a small border of land along its shores. in going from the jordan to the dead sea, for a considerable space, not a blade of grass or vegetation was to be seen. it was so soft and dusty, that the horses sank to their fetlocks; and in some places it was rendered uneven by the irregular mounds--many of which did not seem to know what vegetation is. whether this peculiar barrenness was owing to the unfavourable nature of the soil i know not; possibly this may be the case. i did not see any other indication of salt, which has been reported as found on the surface of the ground, until very near the sea. between this barren district and the dead sea, there was an evident change in the aspect of the ground--we found some dry grass and small bushes; and as we came nearer the shore the bushes increased in size and number, and some spots might be called thickets. we saw also a cane brake and a variety of other growth. to my very agreeable surprise, i found the shore fine, smooth, gravelly, and deepening very slowly, so that a person might wade in for some distance. there was along the shore drift-wood, most of it small, but still larger than any i had seen on the jordan. this would seem to indicate that somewhere on its shores there is more timber than we found in the spot we visited. the water was not only very salt but exceedingly bitter, as much so as most travellers have stated. the great density of the water was amply proved by its power to bear up the body. there is some truth in the saying, that it requires an effort to keep the feet and legs under, so as to use them with advantage in swimming. some writers have, however, stated the matter in rather too strong terms. i could lie on my back in the water, with my head, hands, and feet, all out at the same time, and remain thus as long as i pleased without making any motion whatever; this i could not do in any other water that i have been in. still it is carrying the matter too far and beyond the truth, when it is said to be so heavy, or so dead, that it never rises in waves, but always lies smooth and unruffled, let the wind blow as it will. the drift-wood thrown out is evidence to the contrary. the shore exhibited proof that but a day or two before the waves had run high; but the best proof of all was the ocular and sensible one that they were then chasing each other out on the shore, as they do in all other seas--true they did not run high, but then there was not much wind to make them. the water was so clear that the bottom could be seen with great distinctness. in wading in there was, at some places, more softness at the bottom than i was led to expect from the firm character of the shore. there were, however, some spots on the shore where the soil gave way under our feet, and exhibited a kind of quicksand, as i demonstrated by getting into one of them over my shoes. still the bank, the water, and the bottom, so far as i saw and tried it, had much less of the terrible, fearful, and unnatural, than i had expected. instead of that dark, gloomy, and turbid spread of water, that from my childhood i had imagined, it struck me as a very pleasant lake. it reminded me of the beautiful lake of nice. as to the deep and fearful gloom which many writers describe as hanging over it, i must think that it is mainly found in their imaginations. it is not wonderful that a place, which, for its great wickedness, was doomed to such a fearful catastrophe as were the cities which stood on this plain, should be long looked upon with fear and horror. it is a wise provision of our nature that it should be so. it operates, and no doubt is designed so to do, as a check to that fearful wickedness that calls down such a doom. it is not an uncommon thing for people to think that there is something fearful and gloomy in places where they know awful crimes have been perpetrated, and on this principle, perhaps, we may account for the fact that so many travellers have dwelt on the deep gloom which hung over the water, and the fearful desolation that reigned over the whole region. now to me it did not appear thus; the shore, the waters, and the lake, had a natural and even a pleasing appearance--the more so as, from my old habits of thinking, i expected something of the fearful, if not terrible. the district was, it is true, rather destitute of trees and vegetation; but not more so than many districts that i have seen; not more so than the district from mount olivet to the plain of jordan, and a very large district near damascus, which i noticed in a former letter. there are more small trees, bushes, canes, and other vegetable growth, for a quarter of a mile along the shore, than there are on some districts north-west of damascus, perhaps ten miles square, leaving out the narrow slips of land irrigated by the water of the bareda. there is quite a cluster of small trees or shrubs at a point on the edge of the water, where it is soft and swampy. the question whether there are any living things in these waters is one that i am not able to decide from my own observation. i saw none. there is a small island fifty or a hundred yards from the shore, rising six or eight feet above the level of the water, and appears to have some stones at the upper part of it. we thought we could see most distinctly another island, far to the south. as similar statements have often been made, and again contradicted, we looked at it the more carefully; and our conclusion was, notwithstanding all the declarations to the contrary, _it must be an island_, and one of considerable size, unless connected with the other shore by a very low neck of land, which the great distance prevented our seeing: this time will show. it is a singular fact, that a piece of water, which for ages has excited more intense interest than any other in the world, should yet be so little known, and so few should have been found who have made a serious attempt to explore it. there has not, as far as i know, been but one boat on the waters of the dead sea for ages, if from the days of abraham; there may have been in the days of the jewish nation, but i have not seen it confirmed by any writer. last year an intelligent irishman took a boat across from acre to the lake of tiberias, and after amusing himself with it on that lake, he passed down the jordan to the dead sea, and spent some days in exploring it. how far he went to the south, and what discoveries he made, is not known. he had the misfortune to be taken sick, owing in part, it was supposed, to his imprudence and useless exposure. with much difficulty he got back to jericho, and was then carried to jerusalem, where he died. he had taken but few notes, which were unintelligible to all but himself. when inquired of concerning his expedition on the dead sea, he declined answering until he should recover, when he would tell them all about it. but death closed up the communications for ever. the boat was taken out and carried up to jericho, as i have since learned. i did not know it was there, or i should have ascertained its fitness for another voyage. were some one, acquainted with navigating a small vessel, and capable of taking soundings and making a proper survey of the lake, to spend a month or two in doing it, and to publish a full account, with a correct map of the sea and the coast, he would confer a very great favour on the christian world. it would be so easy of execution, and of so universal interest when done, that i wonder that none of those men who long for public fame have not before now thought of it. it would be a curious matter, were some of the ruins of those ancient and devoted cities yet to be seen. several of the old authors have mentioned them as to be seen in their day, and it is a current report among the natives that they are now to be seen beneath the water. travellers now begin to pass to the eastern side of the dead sea, and visit kerek at its south-east corner, and petra the capital of ancient edom. on our return we took a course much more to the south, than the road by which we went down--having in view to visit and spend the night at a celebrated monastery, the san-saba, which lies south-east of jerusalem, and on the borders of the engedi region. we therefore ascended the hills near the north end of the dead sea. several beds of torrents lay in our route, which, although now dry, exhibited evidence that they do at times carry much water into the dead sea. we had a striking proof of how little the people here knew of the country out of the common track. in ascending the hills, which were high and steep, and of the same soft yielding character before described, we had near us, on our right, a very deep gorge. it struck me that this might be the kedron; and on asking our guides they at first hesitated, but after consultation, agreed that it was. we, however, found to our satisfaction before we reached jerusalem, that this could not be the case, as we left this hollow far to our right in passing over the hills; and still found that the kedron was on our left as we approached jerusalem. i could not but often think during the tour of the expression, "going up to jerusalem," and "going down to jericho." it is down, down, all the way to jericho; and up, up, all the way to jerusalem. having reached the top of the first steep ascent from the dead sea, we entered on a more gradual one, which continued for several hours' travel. our course was south-west--the dead sea lay to our left, and could be seen extending far to the south. the district we were passing over, was almost wholly without trees. there was a little grass, and some thistles, and an almost innumerable multitude of snails about the roots of the weeds and small thorn bushes. this district appeared to be used only for pasturage. we saw signs of sheep and goats, and passed one or two wells, that had recently been used for watering flocks. this whole district appeared fertile. the rock was a very soft limestone; but i saw no signs of cultivation, and not a village was to be seen. before we reached the monastery, the night came on--and our guides became doubtful as to the way. we passed a grave-yard, but when the people had lived, who had been interred, no one could tell. after hunting our way for some time, we concluded that we must be wrong, although our guide still insisted that we were going in the right direction. we ought to have yielded to him. the majority, however, were so confident that our course was wrong, that we turned back, and took another road, which we had passed; after following this for some time, we came to a full halt, as our muleteers affirmed that it was not the right way. while we were debating the merits of the case, the horse of one of our guard, who had alighted, got his foot fastened in some part of his harness, and taking fright at it, made a most ludicrous affray. the turkish soldier, who was previously out of humour with the guide, on account of his not knowing the way, now lost all patience; and while his horse was like to break his neck in floundering, he fell to beating the guide with the but-end of his gun. our whole case was unpleasant. we were lost, and our guard was likely, in his fury, to injure our guide. we loudly commanded the peace, and after a little, things began to look better. the horse broke the straps that had alarmed him. the soldier ceased beating our guide, and a muleteer, who had gone out to explore the road, returned with the assurance that he had found the right one, and that we were not far from the monastery. we again set out, and soon reached san-saba; but there new trials awaited us. it was now near midnight, and the gates were shut. we knocked loud and long before any one took notice of us; at last a small window, above one of the gates, was cautiously opened, and inquiry made who we were and what we wanted. it was too dark for them to see us distinctly; and in our eagerness to get the gate opened, we all talked and urged our suit, each in the language which he could best use--english, italian, turkish, arabic, and greek, were all put in requisition. the good fathers were evidently in doubt of us--who we could be, and wherefore come at such an untimely hour! all our entreaties did not move a bar of the gate. we pleaded, which was true, that we were suffering for water. a small jar of water was let down by a rope. this was soon emptied--it was let down a second and third time. this, in some degree, satisfied our present wants; but our animals were not supplied, except the horses of our guard, who poured water in their red caps and gave it to them to drink. the jar was drawn up, and the window shut, all our entreaties to the contrary notwithstanding. we had no alternative but to wait until morning. we were hungry, but our provisions were exhausted. we could not cook, for we had no water. we felt a good deal of displeasure at the fathers who thus refused us admittance. we lay down at the gate and waited for the morning. about sunrise, after seeing that we were franks, and but few in number, they opened the gates and gave us admittance. the superior apologised for their refusal to admit us in the night. he said most of the monks were absent, it being the season for making their wine--that there were but a few old men in the monastery--that the district about them was in a disturbed state--and they did not know who we were--they knew not but that it might be a stratagem of some freebooters to get in and rob the monastery--that had we sent them word from jerusalem that we were coming, they would at once have admitted us. i thought that there was much reason in what they said; and this, together with the readiness with which they provided us refreshments, and showed us all parts of their establishment, made me cordially forgive their seeming rough treatment in refusing to admit us before. the monastery of san-saba stands on a narrow, deep ravine. it takes in part of the ridge on both sides, and has a very high and strong wall, which crosses the ravine at two places, so as to include the valley for a considerable distance. in the valley within the walls, is a small spring, the only one that is near. on the hills are towers connected with the walls. there are many buildings within, and rooms sufficient to hold several thousand persons. there are a number of chapels, several of which are richly furnished, and they, as well as most of the greek monasteries in jerusalem, have lately received rich presents from russia. above twenty boxes were lately sent to the greek church in these regions, filled with rich chandeliers, censers, crosses, altar cloths, and priests' garments. they showed us a chapel, in which was a pile of human skulls, said to be of monks and martyrs. there was an altar before them, on which religious service seemed to be at times performed. most of the chapels had many pictures in them. the greeks make much use of pictures in their worship. i was especially struck with a picture of the last judgment. god was represented as an old man--a fiery stream came out from before him. the apostles were acting as judges--the dead were rising, and a halo of glory was around the head of the righteous--peter was opening the gates of heaven to the righteous, and the fiery stream was beating on the wicked, and forcing them into the mouth of a monstrous serpent. there were many artificial caves in the sides of the ravine on which san-saba stands. these were formerly inhabited by monks, it is said, but their number now not being great, they can find accommodation within the building. with the history of this monastery i have very little acquaintance. it is an old institution, but still in good repair. the whole district about san-saba, and from that to the dead sea, and i may add from that to near jerusalem, is unusually destitute of vegetation. in several places the rock had the dip, and not unfrequently veins of flint were seen in the limestone rock, and in many places the rock was nearly as white and soft as chalk. the whole district from the foot of mount olivet to the plains of jordan, and from the end of the dead sea to jerusalem, past san-saba, seems not to have been cultivated, at least in modern times. the soil appears good, but from some cause it lies neglected; while west and north of jerusalem, where the soil does not seem better, and where there is much more rock on the surface, there are many villages, and much of the ground is under tillage. to the south of san-saba, we saw the frank mountain. it rises much above the neighbouring hills--has a sugar-loaf appearance, and is said to have many ruins on and about it. still farther to the south, lie engedi and maon, and a second mount carmel, the one referred to in the life of david. sam. xxv. . letter xv. _nazareth, october , ._ we left jerusalem, and passed northward; and having in view to visit nabloos, samaria, tiberias, nazareth, and many other interesting localities, on our return to beyroot. our route led us near the tombs of the kings, and i could not but notice the immense quantities of loose stones that lay over the district west and north-west of jerusalem--most of them are small. they often form immense piles. what may have caused such banks of them is not known. possibly they indicate that buildings were once spread over this district--or it maybe that much rock has been taken from the upper stratum, and these piles are the refuse rock--or it may be that in the many sieges which jerusalem sustained, the besieging armies may have collected them for embankments, or for the purpose of defending their camps. to the north of jerusalem there are some fine orchards of olives. the country is rolling, but not too much so for cultivation; and we passed a succession of small plains, which were fertile and under tillage. at the distance of about six miles, we passed rama, the city of samuel the prophet. it stood to our left, and on one of the highest points of the hill country of judea. it is now a poor moslem village, surrounded with groves of olives and other fruit trees: the mediterranean sea, and a long stretch of the plains of sharon, may be seen from rama. near rama, and north-west of it, stands gibeon, the city of the ancient gibeonites, who made peace with israel under joshua, and practised a deception on them. (joshua ix.) it stands on the top of a small sugar-loaf hill, and is capable of being made a strong place. it is now a poor village--several other villages lay to our left, the names of which i do not now recollect. to our right we passed several villages, but most of them lay at some little distance from the road--as anathoth, the town of jeremiah, now a poor mohammedan village--geba, and gibeah of saul--michmash, where jonathan defeated the garrison of the philistines--rimmon, in which the benjamites found refuge when gideon was destroyed. (judges xx. .) at the distance of ten or twelve miles from jerusalem we came to beer, the town to which jotham is supposed to have fled from his brother abimelech. in approaching it, we passed over a fine plain, a part of which was under cultivation; near the town were orchards of olive and other fruit trees. we had intended to spend the night here, but we found several thousand turkish horsemen encamped on the plain near the town. they were spread over the whole district adjoining the springs; and men, horses, camels, and donkeys, mixed together in the most irregular manner. some of the officers and men had tents, but the majority of the army either had none or did not think it necessary to pitch them. the town, which is not large, was overrun with troops. we thought it, on the whole, not best to lodge with such company, and passed on to ain-brood. this led us past ancient bethel,--there is now a small village there, and many ruins that show that it has once been a place of considerable size. it stands near the top of the ridge, and commands a fine view of the adjacent country. it was here that abraham pitched his tent soon after entering the land of canaan--and from this place he was made to look north and south, and east and west; and was assured that all the land he saw should be given to him and his seed. (gen. xii. , and xiii. - .) and here jeroboam set up one of the golden calves, and induced israel to worship before it. ( kings, xii. .) the precise situation of it, which lies a little to the east, is not known. there are ruins in several places, but a doubt remains as to which is the site of the city first taken by the israelites on the hill country. the country about bethel is slightly diversified with small plains and ridges; it is fertile, and well adapted to tillage--olive orchards, fruit trees, and vineyards are more numerous than in most parts of palestine--the country is, moreover, better watered than the parts of the hill country that lie more to the south. it became dark before we reached ain-brood (_cold spring_). the village of that name stands a little off the road, on the top of a hill. it is a small place, and has nothing that distinguishes it, unless it be the excellent vineyards, and olive-orchards, and fruit trees with which it is surrounded: to which may be added that a good deal of labour has been expended in gathering off the stones, which abound on the surface, and forming low walls around these vineyards. in some places the rock had been broken up about as fine as would suit for a macadamized road, and earth mixed with it, and thus lots are prepared that produce fine grapes and fruit trees. as the night was clear, which is always the case in palestine during the summer, we did not take the trouble to hunt for lodgings; but getting over one of these low stone fences with our horses, we spread our carpets, and made our beds under a large fig-tree, and there spent the night. knowing that the company of troops that we had left at beer were moving northward, we concluded we would make an early start, and try and keep before them. in this, however, we were disappointed. we had not gone many miles before we saw some horsemen not far behind. we whipped up our animals, but it would not do; they gained on us continually: and in a few hours we had them pouring by us in all the confusion of the turkish march. they, however, were perfectly civil, and some of their officers entered pleasantly into conversation with us. they had been to the south of bethlehem, disarming a tribe of arabs that frequented the country near the south end of the dead sea; and having accomplished that service they were returning to the north, where most of them lived. they were much scattered, and altogether regardless of order on their march; and it was several hours before they all passed us. between ten and twelve o'clock we descended a long steep hill into a plain of some extent. near the foot of the hill was a spring, and when that came in view there was a kind of rush made for the water; and it was a striking spectacle to see such a body of horsemen pouring down the hill, each trying to be the first, or at least not the last, to water his horse, and obtain a portion for himself. we were willing to let the men of war be satisfied before we approached. they then rode to a fine growth of olive-trees that covered a part of the plain, and then separating themselves into small companies, dismounted and placed themselves and horses in the shade to pass the heat of the day. we pursued our journey and passed several villages, and one or two of a larger size than are usually met with. the country was more hilly, and intersected with deeper valleys, than it had been near jerusalem; but on the whole it was fertile, and a considerable portion set with vineyards and orchards, or bearing marks of cultivation. passing over a ridge from the plain in which we left the troops, we entered a wide plain, which ran north and south. the hills which bounded the plain on our left were of considerable height, and had several villages on their sides. on the east side of this plain, the hills were lower, and appeared to become still more so as we proceeded north. after several hours' travel along this plain, which was a fine one, and partly set with cotton, we reached a place where a small plain came in from the west at right angles. the hill on the north of this small plain is the ebal, and that on the south the gerezim, of the scriptures; and this is the place which moses pointed out as the place at which the law was to be read, while six tribes stood on the one side to say amen when the blessings were read, and six on the other side to say amen when the curses were read. (deut. xxvii. - .) i do not understand it as meaning that all the people stood on the top of the mountains; i suppose they were divided into two parts--one part stood on one side of the priests, who probably occupied the middle of the plain, and the other part on the other side, and occupied the sides of the mountains as far as might be necessary. the place is most admirably adapted for such a thing; possibly a more suitable place could not be found. in this plain the ancient sychar or shechem stood. it is now called nabloos. it may have , or , people; the most of them are moslems. at the mouth of the small plain is shown the piece of ground jacob bought when he came from padanaram, and which he, at his death, gave to his son joseph; (genesis xxxiii. ; john iv. .) there are some sepulchral monuments on it; and nearer the city they show what is called jacob's well. a little east of the town is a spring, the waters of which flow eastward; and close to the town, on the west side, is a fine spring, the waters of which flow west, and fall into the mediterranean. there are fine olive orchards, and other fruit trees about the town, and some fine gardens, especially on the west of the town. i saw at the gate of nabloos eight or ten lepers. they were covered with spots that looked like raw flesh; had a most disgusting appearance; they seemed to be shut out from the city, and were most importunate as beggars. they were the only lepers that i recollect to have seen in palestine. there are remains of an old christian church here, which must have been a most splendid building. the pillars, and other parts which remain, have a richness of workmanship about them that excels anything that i saw in palestine. not much of them, however, remains. there are many indications about the town, and on the mountains, that a large city once stood here. passing west along the narrow plain for a few miles, we then turned due north, and at the distance of eight or ten miles, we came to the site of ancient samaria, the capital of the kingdom of israel. the country around it is rocky, but very fertile. the rock is the soft limestone, which disintegrates so easily that very little is seen on the surface. there are about it more extensive orchards of olive and other fruit trees than are usually met with, and the whole aspect of the country is fine. samaria stood on a low, broad, sugar-loaf hill. it seems to have been terraced all round, and all the way to the top; but the terraces were so wide as to admit a row or rows of houses, and a street. these rose one above another, and, when filled with houses, must have had a fine appearance. all are now gone but a few ruins, piles of rock and rubbish, and a few pillars. this hill is surrounded with a narrow plain, except at the east side, where a low ridge connects it with some adjacent hills, which, at a little distance, border this plain. samaria was the seat of great wickedness while the capital of the kingdom of israel, and now it lies desolate. it deserves notice, that the capital of both the kingdoms of israel and judah stood on the hill country, and distant about forty miles from each other, and each of them about midway from the mediterranean to the jordan. jerusalem is on the highest ground, but samaria on the most fertile. north of samaria, we passed over a high hill. there is more brushwood on this hill than is usually met with, and among it some small oaks. on the north of this hill, the country presented a variegated, rolling surface, with more natural growth than usual, and a number of small villages and ruins. many of the small plains were very fertile, and we saw some fields of cotton. as it grew dark, we reached a fine spring of water, and about it grew a good many fig and olive trees. we spread our mats and made our beds under one of them, and there spent the night. a number of other travellers encamped at the same place, and all slept under the trees in the open air. next morning we pursued our route three or four hours northward, to the plain of esdralon; we passed over two or three plains of considerable extent, separated by hilly districts. the plains were very fertile, and on some of them cotton was growing. the hills were low, and on some of them were small villages, and ruins indicating that villages or towns had once stood there. in much of this district the rock was of that soft kind which i have often mentioned. many of these hills exhibited remains of the ancient terrace-work, and showed that, in days past, more labour was expended on them, and much more of them were cultivated, than at present. we at length approached the great plain of esdralon. a row of low hills, with small spaces between them, separated a strip of the plain to the south. this portion was especially rich; a good deal of it had the appearance of having once been under water. it looked like the bottom of a lake, from which the water had been removed. it being the latter part of the long dry season, the ground was so shaped in many places, that i really felt a fear that my animal might step in some of the cracks and fall, or break a limb. the soil, as seen in the edge of these cracks, seemed as rich as soil could be. we reached the edge of the great plain at a considerable town called jeneen. it stands on the point of a ridge, a little above the level of the plain. the similarity of the name made me think it might be the ancient jesreel. its distance from carmel would agree with this supposition, as ahab passed from carmel to jesreel in a part of a day, when elisha ran before his chariot. ( kings, xviii. - .) there are ruins about the town which indicate that it may have been larger in time past than it is now. there is near this village a large garden spot, well inclosed, and planted with various trees, which grow so thriftily as to show how easy it would be, with proper care, to raise trees of various kinds, in such quantities as greatly to contribute to the comfort and advantage of the population of this country. we passed from jeneen north-east across the plain. but a small part of it is cultivated--around its edge a few villages were to be seen, with their vineyards, olive and other trees about them. we saw some flocks and herds on the plain, but not in as great numbers as i had been led to expect. to our right the point of a ridge ran out considerably into the plain. this is mount gilboa, on which saul and his sons fell in battle against the philistines. bethshan, the village to which the philistines fastened their bodies, lies a few miles north-east of the end of this hill. the battle seems to have begun on the plain, and when overcome, israel fled to the hill, and then saul and his sons fell. i could not but notice, while looking on the mount from the plain, how it accorded with the statement, that the chariots and horsemen followed hard after saul on mount gilboa. the ascent from the plain is such that horsemen and chariots might pass up even to the top of this hill. the plain of esdralon may be thirty-five or thirty-six miles by forty. our course led us to the east of a rough and very rocky hill, that rises in the plain a little south-east of mount tabor. as soon as we passed the south-east corner of this hill we entered on a district that was evidently volcanic. the lava was very old, and much disintegrated, so as to make a most excellent soil. this continued all the way to the edge of the lake. we did, indeed, for a short distance, as we passed close by the foot of mount tabor, get off, for a short distance, the bed of lava. mount tabor did not to me appear volcanic. i did not, however, ascend it. it was saturday afternoon, and wishing to reach tiberias to spend the sabbath, i had not time to make the ascent. we, however, wound round nearly one-third of the mountain at its very foot, and examined the stone that cropt out, and the stone that had rolled down from its sides, and saw no signs of its being volcanic. how the matter may appear on its top i know not. there are ruins there, and as much lava lies on the plain a little east of tabor; and as it is used in the buildings of several villages, the fact that some of it may be found on the top of the tabor would not prove that the mountain was volcanic. it may have been taken up as building stone. tabor is a sugar-loaf hill, and rises to a considerable height. it is supposed that our lord was transfigured on this mountain. a small branch of the kishon rises north of the tabor, flows east of the mountain, washing its foot, and then runs south and west, and falls into the mediterranean sea at the north end of carmel. the kishon is at best a small stream; and the branch which we crossed at the foot of the tabor was about the size of a good spring. near tabor we passed a small village called nain, the place where christ brought to life the widow's son. leaving mount tabor, we passed over a high part of the plain, covered with disintegrated lava. part of this plain had been cultivated. it is, perhaps, the most fertile district in palestine. in many places the weeds were nearly as high as a man's head, a thing of rare occurrence in the east. the descent to the lake from the level of the plain is very considerable--i should think from five hundred to eight hundred feet, opposite the town of tiberias; at the southern end of the lake of course it is much less, as the plain lies like an inclined plane towards the south. it was night before we reached the town; but we were readily admitted by the guard of soldiers who kept the gates. we found some difficulty in finding a place to lodge in. after employing several persons to look for a place, and waiting some time, we were conducted to the court of the greek church, and told we might lodge there. it might be called a church-yard. it was a space before the church, inclosed with a wall, with a gate to it; but all open to the travellers. it was in part at least paved with rock. we found other travellers there, with their animals. as the air was mild, and there was no danger of rain, the case was not as bad as some might suppose. we had slept out every night since we left jerusalem--and in places not more comfortable than tiberias. it did indeed appear rather hard that in the heart of a walled and garrisoned town we could not find a house to lodge in. we found a great merry-making going on in the town. nearly the whole population were gathered before what we learned was the governor's palace. on inquiry we were informed that the merry-making was in honour of the circumcision of the governor's son. the moslem religion has borrowed the rite of circumcision from the jews; and they perform it on all their male children--at the age of thirteen, if i remember right. they usually honour this occasion with some festivities. they had various kinds of musical instruments--some that were bad enough in all reason. they had dancing; and some, especially the women, made a singular noise, somewhat like a short, shrill whistle. i was especially struck with one thing which took place. it was a procession of a considerable body of persons, who bore torches. i was told that they were jews, and did it in honour of the occasion. it reminded me of the parable of the virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. (matt. xxv.) in the morning of the sabbath, before we had dressed and finished our breakfast, the people began to come to church. our situation was even worse than it had been at baalbec, where we had to make our toilette on the house-top, in the face of all who chose to look at us. here we were, with men and women, and children, all crowding about us, and looking and thinking more, i fear, about us than they did about the church-service that was going on. we hurried and got things put to rights as soon as we could, and deemed it proper to be present at their service, although we could understand but little of it. it consisted of a great variety of prayers, and crossings, and bowing before the pictures and kissing them; and reading portions of god's word. there was a great want of reverence in the worshippers; and, for the most part, the reading was so hurried and indistinct, that not much of it could, i should think, be understood. the whole of the service was not performed by the priest himself; from time to time he called on some one to read portions of the service. at its close, the priest and a number of his people remained for some time, in part to look at us and talk to us. we asked him why he did not preach to the people, and instruct them in religion? he seemed surprised that we should think this necessary. we reminded him that the apostles preached and taught the people; at this he shrugged up his shoulders, and said somewhat significantly--"oh! that was before the church was regulated as it now is." this was getting out of the difficulty with more tact than we had expected from him. it must be a bad regulation, however, that sets aside the preaching of the gospel! as we were a good deal annoyed with the multitude of people that came into the court to see us, and as our baggage was not altogether safe unless we kept a watch over it, we requested the priest to allow us to take up our quarters in the church; which he permitted, on our engaging that we would take care that nothing was injured. this church is said to be the house of peter. it is an old building, with an arched roof, but has no just claims to an origin so early as the days of the apostles. there is, i think, another reason given why it is called the house of peter, that is, it stands on the place where our lord appeared to the disciples, and put the searching question to peter--"lovest thou me?" among those travellers who spent the night in the court of the church, was a sick man for whom we felt most deeply. he lived near constantinople, and had visited the holy land as a pilgrim. he had left a family at home; was well dressed; rode a good horse, and travelled with a company of the better sort of pilgrims. he had been unwell for several days; but as his company could not or would not stop, his great unwillingness to be left induced him to travel on, when under a raging fever. on sabbath morning he was utterly unable to rise--and seldom have i seen a person that more needed medical aid. we tried to do what we could for him; but i had not the medical knowledge which his case called for. while i stood over him and felt his pulse, he gazed on me with a brightening countenance; no doubt in the hope that i might give him relief. he tried to make me understand the nature and seat of his pain; but he spoke modern greek, and we had no one that could interpret; and, moreover, his case was one that was utterly beyond my skill. never did i feel so deeply my need of medical knowledge; never did i feel more deeply how impotent is man to save his fellow-man. when i turned from him in despair of doing anything that would at all benefit him, he seemed to read my feelings; and never did i see a deeper disappointment than was expressed in his looks. it seemed to say, you see i am dying, and yet you do not save me. we gave him some simples, which might possibly afford momentary relief. his company had left him. we prevailed on the greek priest to take him into his family, and had him conveyed there. what became of him i know not. there was little prospect of his living. the lake is a pretty sheet of clean, fresh water, about twelve miles long and six miles broad, of an oval shape. the water deepens very gradually on the western side where i visited it. i saw many small fish in it; but saw no means for taking them. it is said, however, that the jews have a fishery at the southern part, and take a good many. i saw but one boat on the lake. it would hold eight or ten men--it lay off the town--but i saw no one in it during the time i was there. the banks of the lake were more precipitous on the eastern than on the western side; and as it seems to have been on the eastern side that our lord healed the demoniac, and permitted the devils to enter the swine, i could not but think that it did argue that the swine were possessed, that the whole herd should leap from the top of such a precipice into the sea. the town of tiberias stands on the western side, about mid-way of the lake, and on the edge of the water; it is walled, and has a small garrison in it. the population is but a few thousand, possibly not above , . most of these are moslems; there are a few christians of the greek church, and a small number of jews. the whole district about the lake, as far as i saw it, is volcanic. the walls of the town, and of most of the houses are built of lava, and most of the rock that lies about the town, and the bottom of the lake is lava. there is a mixture of limestone among it; for the whole district is based on limestone. the volcanic district extends north of the lake, and also far to the east of the jordan, according to my best information. there were originally many towns about this lake--most of them have disappeared; and the very sites of chorasin, and bethsaida, and capernaum, on which the lord pronounced a woe, are not with certainty known. the jordan rises some distance to the north-east of tiberias, and passes through another small lake called the waters of merom. it was by it that joshua defeated the second confederacy of kings. (joshua ii. .) passing through this lake, the jordan enters the lake of tiberias at the north-east corner, and leaves it at the south end, and passes through the plain of jordan from sixty to eighty miles, and falls into the dead sea. there is no outlet to this sea. the waters are carried off, as is supposed, by evaporation. there is a fine district of country, it is said, about the waters of merom, and formerly the towns of cesarea and philippi stood there. north of lake tiberias, and on the top of a high mountain in sight, stands safet, a town of considerable size. this is one of the sacred cities of the jews; and more jews are found here than in any place in palestine. the whole district about it is volcanic, and has been a good deal disturbed by earthquakes. on the western side of the lake, and a mile or two south of the town, are some copious springs of warm salt water. they are so hot as to require to be tempered when used for bathing. there is a good bathing-house, and a considerable resort here for that purpose. on the east side of the lake, and a little from it, is another spring of warm water; and, if i was rightly informed, there is another west of the lake, and i think on some part of the hills near mount tabor. the whole district is a good deal subject to earthquakes, and gives evidence of internal fires. the road from tiberias to nazareth runs nearly west; and the distance maybe about twenty or twenty-five miles. at the distance of six or eight miles, we passed a low hill to our right, with two little elevations on it; this is called the mount of beatitudes. it would afford a very good place to take a seat and address a large assembly collected on the plain below. we cannot be certain, however, as to the sermon on the mount having been preached here. our road passed north of mount tabor, and the range of hills called the hills of nazareth. the plain over which we passed was fertile. it was uneven on its northern side, where the ridges of the anti-lebanon shut it in. we passed several villages, both to our right and left, but most of them were at a distance, and their names did not accord with those of the bible. but a small part of the plain was cultivated. a few miles before reaching nazareth, we came to cana of galilee, the place where our lord turned water into wine. it is a small village, and has nothing that gives it much interest, except the above fact. at a large well below the town, we saw a fine sample of their mode of drawing water, and pouring it into troughs, and allowing their flocks and herds to come up in succession and drink. thus the shepherds were engaged as we passed the well. they allowed us to ride up, and let our animals drink of the water which they had drawn. cana lies on the north side of the hills of nazareth, and nazareth lies on the south side, a mile or two farther to the west. this range of hills is not high, and nazareth is built on the side of it, and, in part, on a little level space that is somewhat elevated above the small plain that spreads out before it. a ridge of the hills runs to the south-east, so as nearly to shut out nazareth from a view of the great plain in which it stands. nazareth is one of the best built towns that i saw in palestine. at its east end, and on the edge of the little plain that lies before it, is a spring or well; and here, it is said, the angel appeared to mary; and here she often came, accompanied by the infant saviour, to draw water for family use. there is a church over the place that is shown as the house of mary, and adjoining it is a latin convent. we lodged in this convent, and were kindly entertained. there was a paper in our room, stating that the convent was authorised and required by the pope to receive all persons who were devoutly visiting the holy places, and entertain them three days; after which, it was expected, that such persons would pass on their way. the church was the best we saw in palestine; the organ was good, and well played; and the religious service was, on the whole, better conducted than any one i had seen in syria. near the middle of the church, a wide flight of stairs descends for about twelve or fourteen feet; there stands an altar. passing a door, we entered a small room, in which is another altar. on both of these, religious service appears at times to be performed. passing through another door, we were in a low cave, that has been hewn out of the soft limestone rock. the wall on all sides is rough; made so, perhaps, by the pilgrims breaking off pieces of the rock to carry home as holy earth. this is shown as the room in which mary lived and raised the infant saviour. it did not appear to me a comfortable place for a residence; and i could not but think that joseph must have loved his wife, and prized the privilege of raising the messiah, to such a degree as to have induced him to provide for them a more suitable place. the whole appearance of the place was, in my view, against its being the true locality. we know they lived at nazareth, but as to the precise spot, the bible is silent, and we are left in doubt. they show the synagogue in which our lord read the law; and, a little out of town, they show the precipice over which the enraged people wished to cast him. the situation of the town on the hill, and the height of the hill, agrees with the account recorded, but which is the precise spot may not be perfectly certain. they show also the shop in which joseph followed his trade, with some other things that need not be specified. letter xvi. _beyroot, oct. d, ._ we left nazareth by the same road that we entered it; but on reaching the top of the ridge north of the town we took a north-west direction into the plain which we had left, which is here broken with hills, and can hardly be said to be continuous. some of these hills are very much covered with rocks. after a few miles we passed, on the top of a hill on our left, the ruins of sefora, which was at one time a place of note. there is more natural growth on these hills than on those more to the east. this district is stony; but appears to have had more labour bestowed on it than most of those that are better adapted for cultivation. the plain of zebulun, a little farther on, is separated from the great plain by some hills, which are, however, not very high. it is a most lovely and fertile district. on one side of it were many olive-trees, and a part of it was cultivated with cotton. the cotton appeared to have had but little labour bestowed on it, and promised a corresponding small return, notwithstanding the fertility of the plain. between this place and the plain on the coast, and lying between acre and the hills, we crossed a considerable distance that was hilly; the hills were not very high, but spread pretty generally over the face of the country. most of them have more or less rocks on the surface, but, as a general thing, they are not so rocky as the country about jerusalem. from this low hilly district we entered the plain which lies east of acre, and spreads along the coast. this is a noble plain of considerable extent, and is generally exceedingly fertile. on entering this plain we saw acre, nearly before us, on the shore of the sea. a little to the right of the city, and out near the middle of the plain, were some good-looking buildings with gardens about them, and others partly finished. i have seldom seen a finer set of orange and lemon trees. there is an aqueduct that brings water from the hill, across the plains, to acre. this water is used for watering the gardens, which, we were given to understand, belong to ibrahim pasha. at some distance to our left, we had the north end of mount carmel in view, with the latin monastery on the top of it. between us and that point was a fine spread of plain, which might be called either the plain of acre or the plain of esdralon. this plain, as i have before stated, crosses the whole district from the lake of tiberias and the jordan to the mediterranean. it comes to the coast directly at the north end of carmel, and there the plain is a wide and noble one. the plain of esdralon, on the eastern side, is higher, except at the south-east corner near gilboa. it lies toward safet, a high, rolling table land, most of which is exceedingly rich. the lebanon, or rather the anti-lebanon, (for i think the lebanon may be considered as terminating north of the river leantes, which comes out of the bokar near soor,) lowers down at the high points near safet, and spreads its still lowering ridges towards the middle and western part of the plain, between the lake tiberias and the mediterranean. there are various hills, rather separated from each other, on the plain, which may be considered as belonging to it,--the tabor, the mount south of it, and the hills near nazareth; but the terminating ridges are more continuous, north and north-west of nazareth, and run down south, so as to narrow the western side of the plain of esdralon. i doubt not, indeed, that the mountains which rise south of the plain, and cover the whole middle district, from north of sebaste to south of hebron, forming the hill country of israel and judah, may with propriety be considered as the southern continuance of the great lebanon chain. it is there lowered down much, and is more spread out, and more like an elevated table land, with many low hills covering its general surface. it would have been highly satisfactory to me could i have proceeded to the north of safet, far enough at least to see the southern end of the plain of the bokar, and ascertain how the mountains, lebanon and anti-lebanon, dispose of themselves and their branches at that place, and in their further progress south. i am inclined to think, that our usual maps are not very accurate in their delineations of this northern district. acre stands on a sandy point which projects out in the mediterranean. it is strongly fortified, having a most stupendous wall, and a deep ditch. it is a place of great strength, and is under the keeping of a considerable body of the pasha's troops. there was some shipping there, but not much. the city is much crowded together; and to be comfortable ought to be spread over twice or thrice as much ground--the streets narrow and filthy--the bazaars poor, and badly supplied with goods. there is a large open square within the city, which appeared appropriated for the use of troops and cavalry. a new bazaar was pointed out, which was said to have been put up by the present pasha. it was, compared with the others, pretty good; but needed that comparison to make it pass muster. acre is interesting from its location on the coast--has a fine back country, and, under a proper government, might become a place of some importance. a great effort was made by the french, under buonaparte, to take this place. he attempted several times to carry it by assault, and it was mainly owing to the efforts of sir sidney smith that he failed. the name of smith is still held in great respect by the natives of this region. they say of him, that "his word was like the word of god--it never fell to the ground," that is, he always did what he said he would do. so true is it, that while people tell falsehoods themselves--and the people of this country have no little propensity that way--they still have a regard for those who are known to adhere strictly to the truth. this place was long held by the crusaders, and was one of the last places in palestine that was wrested from them; and there may be, and no doubt are, ruins in the town and vicinity that may be referred to the period of their power. i had not time, however, to make much research respecting them. the pasha has some public works going on here. we saw a good deal of timber in an open square, but did not learn the use it was intended for--probably for the building of a vessel, from its size and appearance. we lodged in the latin convent, which is a place of some size, and would contain many persons, though much out of repair. we found only two or three monks, and a lay brother, who appeared to act as steward, servant, factotum, &c. from acre we went along the coast, towards soor, the ancient tyre, which lies about twenty-five miles to the north. the first part of our route was over the noble plain by which acre is bounded on the west. it is, as to its general character, good; and ought, and would, if properly cultivated, richly supply acre with bread-stuff and many other necessary articles. much of it, however, lies in a neglected state. in several places there are small districts, that are more improved--a few garden spots that are beautiful, and several elevations near acre that have buildings or ruins on them, and were, probably, in the days of warfare, places of much more importance than they now are. about three hours' travel brought us to the termination of this beautiful plain, and we began to ascend a high promontory called capo blanco, or white cliff, from the whiteness of the rock of which it is composed. this is made up of the softest limestone i have ever seen, interspersed with nodules of flint. it was well for our nerves that a barrier had been left between us and the precipice, for sometimes there was a perpendicular descent from the road above, to the sea below, which was dashing and foaming at its base. from this point, or ridge of hills, we entered the plain of soor. this plain is narrow at first, but gradually spreads out, and presently has a wide extent, with a gentle rising of its eastern side into hills, with mountains towering beyond. the soil is rich and productive. there are some villages, on the hills, but none of any size. we passed several places near the shore where there had evidently once been villages; in one or two of these there were remains of walls and other relics of former habitations. as we approached soor, the mountains and hills fell back, making a kind of amphitheatre; rising more or less, as it approached the mountains; but forming a rich and valuable back country to this former mistress of the sea. night came on before we could reach soor, and a small part of the district nearest the town, was, of course, not subjected to that close inspection which, under other circumstances, it would have received. we passed a fine flow of water, on which there appeared to be mills or other buildings; but it was too dark to allow us a clear view of what they were. there are, it is said, several remains of ruins on the south of the town, which the darkness prevented our seeing. as we approached the town, there was a much wider border of sand along the coast. soor stands on the point of a projection that runs out, it may be, a half or three quarters of a mile into the sea. its outer part is broader and less covered with sand than the neck of land that joins it to the main land. about half way from the main land to the extreme point, a wall crosses the isthmus, and through a single gate in that wall, you enter the village which stands on the extreme point. the site of old tyre was, as we learn from history, on the main land. when hard pressed, the inhabitants, availing themselves of their shipping, moved their more valuable articles to this point, which was then an island, and there built a town, and escaped the capture which threatened them. this first capture of tyre, and the escape of the people with their riches to the island, is referred to in ezek. xxix. ; where the army of nebuchadnezzar is said "to have served a hard service, and yet to have got no wages"--failed to obtain the wealth of the captured city. the new city was also taken in after-times by alexander the great; and his army had a hard service. being on an island, and having command of the sea through their vessels, they braved the power of the grecian king for a time. but he resorted to a stratagem which was successful. he constructed a wide causeway from the main land to the island, and thus made a way for his soldiers, who soon took the city. for centuries past, as all travellers during that period assure us, it has been almost completely desolate. the old site on the main land is so now--not one house, and scarcely a vestige remains to mark the spot. it is scraped as a rock, and probably was thus treated by alexander, to get materials for the stupendous causeway he made. the city, on what was once an island, was also almost wholly forsaken, as many travellers assure us, and thus the prophecy has had its fulfilment. there is, however, a new village growing up on its site. it has much increased within a few years. there may be between one and two hundred houses, the quarter part of them very miserable things, but a few tolerably good for this region. the pasha has established some factories here, and the place is evidently reviving. three or four of the european powers have consuls residing here, and the americans have a consular agent. the old harbour, which once contained the first trading ships in the world, lies on the north side of the town, and was once surrounded by a strong wall, some small fragments of which still remain. the harbour is much filled up, so that only vessels of small burden can come within it. it does not, indeed, appear to have much trade of any kind. the water at the extreme point of the island is very shallow--a considerable space barely covered with water. there are some ruins on a part of this, and some fallen pillars--whether it was once covered with houses, i am unable to say. to the south, the water is deeper, but still so shallow as to oblige vessels to lie off at a considerable distance from the shore. the neck which joins the island to the main land is little else than a bed of sand. the part next the village, and without the wall i have mentioned, is full of old walls, mounds, cellars, and all the indications of having once been covered with houses. there are, indeed, one or two huge old buildings still standing on it. the part of this neck adjoining the main land is so low as to have considerable pools of water in it. we passed a number as we coasted along the edge of the sand from the south, on approaching the village. there is all the appearance that the water once came out to the steep bank at the edge; but the passage between the island and the main land being stopped, the sand, both to the north and south, has been thrown up so as to form a wide, flat beach, extending out near the island as far as what was formerly the east side of the island. the whole space here shows great changes. the most remarkable and interesting relic of antiquity which i saw at soor, was the remains of the church of origen. it stands at the south side of the village, and makes part of the wall at that place. much the larger part of it is fallen and removed. the remaining fragments show that it has been of very great size. there are a few small huts on the ground on which that part of the church that has been removed stood. there is some richly-wrought stone in the walls and about the stairs that run up at one part of the building. the stone is the soft spongy limestone which abounds on this coast, and i may add, through most of palestine. it is a stone that works easily, but wastes away under the action of water, and is especially liable to be saturated with water, and to form damp walls. no part of the ruins of this old and celebrated church more interested me, than the stupendous granite pillars which were once connected with it, but now lie on the ground, and some of them almost buried in it, and by the ruins which covered this quarter. these pillars were of the fine egyptian granite, of great length and thickness. they formed masses of stone of a most enormous weight. we seldom saw pillars of a larger size. there must have been some regard for christianity at tyre when its citizens erected this splendid edifice. but oh! what changes have passed over these lands since those days, when origen ministered here, and raised his voice to the thousands which this church was capable of holding. a deep darkness now rests on all these regions--the moslem rules, but his pride is humbled--his strength broken--and he appears conscious that the day of his glory is past, and not likely again to return! the few christians that are now found in these regions have lost the spirit of christianity. it is with them a body without a soul--a form, and a greatly altered form, without the spirit and power which makes it a transforming principle among mankind. but the darkness is passing away--rays of light are breaking upon these regions--and we doubt not the day is not far remote when the religion of christ will, in its enlightening and transforming power, revisit these regions, and make them revive and flourish like the garden of the lord. from soor we made our next stage to saida, the ancient sidon, which is so often mentioned in connection with tyre--"tyre and sidon." it is a day's travel distant. we found the northern part of the plain of soor not much different from the southern, which we have already described. in many places along this coast, there are old mounds of rubbish, or piles of stones, that bespeak former buildings. on the whole, ancient tyre had a fertile district adjoining it, and was, no doubt, more or less the seaport for the lower part of the great valley of the bokar, through the passage on the borders of the river leantes, which flows out of that valley and passes into the sea a little north of soor. the district of mountains that border the plain must also have contributed its share to the market of this port; for in these countries and among these nations, the mountain districts are often better cultivated than the plain, and are occupied by a more enterprising and efficient people. about midway from soor to saida, a ridge of hills comes into the shore, much like the one between acre and soor. the plain is superseded by a rough and hilly district. it is, for a short distance, exceedingly rough and rocky, and for a still greater space, the level along the shore is narrow and much covered with sand. gradually the plain opens, and spreads out to a considerable extent, and becomes one of the finest plains, when taken in connection with the low ridges of hills that bound it, and from the rising ground towards the mountains, that i have seen on the coast. the several ridges of low hills that lie between the level space along the shore and the high mountain range, are finely covered with a soft, rich soil; and have scattered over them more trees than we usually see on this part of the coast. the plain about soor was rather barren of trees--this was one of its greatest defects--that of saida is much better furnished. we passed several streams of water and some small villages, on the low hills to our right. the mulberry-tree, which we had but seldom seen to the south, here made its appearance. we passed some considerable districts covered with them. this shows the limits of the silk-making district. the culture of the mulberry, and raising the silkworm, is a main business all through these mountains about beyroot; how far north it may extend, i am not able to say; but we had ample proof in our tour that it is not much, if at all attended to in the land of palestine, properly so called. back of saida, among the low hills that border the foot of the lebanon range, lady hester stanhope has her residence. she was engaged to be married to sir john moore, who fell near corunna, in the peninsular war, in the contest which the english had with the french. that lady hester stanhope felt the affliction most deeply, may well be supposed; other matters tending to alienate her affections from england, she came to the east, and has for many years made her home in the mountains near saida. she has gained the affections of the native population, and has had great influence over them formerly; her power is now on the wane. she is occasionally visited by foreigners, but does not see all who would call on her, as some of them have made statements about her that gave her displeasure. saida, like most of the towns on this coast, stands on a sandy point that projects out a short distance into the sea. it is surrounded with gardens, and has more fruit trees about it, and a greater extent of groves, than any of the towns on the coast south of this, that i have visited. the plain about it appears peculiarly adapted to fruits. the town is walled, and has a garrison of soldiers. the houses are old, as you may suppose; the streets narrow, crooked, and dark, from the fact that many of them are, in many places, arched over; so much so, that you are nearly one half of your time passing under arches, which shut out all the light but that which comes in from the end of these narrow, crooked streets. i have often mentioned narrow, crooked streets, and once more repeat it, with the addition of _dark_. the bazaars and markets are much as those at soor and acre, poor, and badly supplied. on the whole, while the outside of the town had a most lovely appearance, the inside was the reverse. the harbour appeared mean, and not such as would give any recommendation to the place. the distance from saida to beyroot is between twenty and twenty-five miles. for some miles north of saida, the road is much covered with sand, and the whole district, until near beyroot, resembles that already described, some parts rocky, and others good, and well adapted to tillage. a few small villages are scattered along the coast. as we approached beyroot, we took a road through the olive-grove, and not by the sands. this gave me a more perfect knowledge of the extent of the plain, south-east of beyroot, and of the large orchards that lie in that quarter, covering miles, and bordering the lower part of the hills. the plain is more fertile, and more thickly settled, than i had at first supposed. we found our friends at beyroot well,--the mission families had returned from their summer residence on the mountains, and were engaged in carrying on their various operations in and about beyroot. at first view it appears a rather untoward circumstance that they have to resort to the mountains during a part of each summer. it must, no doubt, in some degree interrupt the thread of their operations; but the climate makes it necessary, especially until they are well acclimated. the evil, however, is not so great as might be expected. the mountains are full of villages; indeed, the mountains of lebanon are the most populous districts in these countries. the missionaries take their station in some of these villages, and when their number will admit they occupy two or more. there they usually open schools, mix with the people, distribute the scriptures and other books, talk and preach, as the nature of the case will admit. thus village after village becomes personally acquainted with the missionaries, and persons are brought within the hearing of the truth who might never be reached by the sound of the gospel were the missionaries always to remain in beyroot. thus what in one respect may seem an evil and a drawback to their work, in another is beneficial, and contributes to the furtherance of the gospel. i have much reason to bless god for his kind care over me during the tour i have now finished, and hope that i shall be led by it more and more to realise that it is only his hand that keepeth me, and maketh me to go out and come in in safety. letter xvii. _beyroot, december , ._ i think i have mentioned in several of my letters, that the mulberry tree is much cultivated in this region, principally for the raising of the silk-worm. at times vegetables are raised on the same lot, but generally nothing else is allowed to grow among them, and the weeds are carefully removed. the trees are planted in rows, and the plough is passed among them several times in the year. i now find that the tree serves another purpose, and one of some importance, though secondary to the making of silk. they gather the leaves from the trees in the fall and beginning of winter, to feed their sheep and cows. the first crop of leaves is eaten by the silk-worms; by the time the worms begin to spin their silken shrouds, the trees are nearly bare; the branches are then all cut close to the body of the tree, and used for fuel. in a few days new branches shoot out, which are soon covered with leaves. they gather the leaves with their hands, put them in baskets, and give them to their sheep and cows. they appear, indeed, to be the chief food of these animals for many months in the autumn and beginning of winter. the entire absence of rain during the long hot summer burns up what grass may have been on the ground in the spring and early part of the summer, but the mulberry trees, which have much care taken of them, and watered, when it can be done, by a channel from a stream, or by the hand, retain their greenness, and serve the important purpose of food for the cattle. so far as i have observed, they were always fed with the green leaves, at least i have not seen any dried and preserved in that state, excepting the fibres of the new leaves, that the silk-worm rejects, which are carefully collected and preserved for the animals. the mildness of the climate causes the leaf to retain its freshness much longer than it would in the northern and middle parts of the united states. we have entered on the month of december, and yet the leaf of the mulberry is as green and fresh as it was in midsummer; true, most of the trees near us are nearly bare, not, however, by the fall of the leaf, but by their having been gathered for the animals. the horses, mules, and donkeys, are fed with barley and straw, which is cut fine by their mode of threshing out the grain. for a few weeks in the spring of the year they are kept on the green barley. i have generally seen the camel fed on weeds, which are gathered for that purpose. i mentioned that some rain fell, about the time i set out on my tour to jerusalem. the showers were light, and but few of them. small showers fell from time to time during the month that i was travelling, but not in such quantities as to give us much annoyance. this was a matter greatly to our comfort, as we had to sleep nearly every night out under the canopy of heaven, and as we wished to travel without much incumbrance, we did not carry a tent with us. during the month of november there was a great increase of clouds and cloudy weather, but not much rain. there were, however, occasional showers, and some of them fell in snow on the upper parts of mount lebanon. it was not until the first part of the present month that it began to rain in good earnest, and for some days it has rained as if the "windows of heaven" were opened; great quantities of water have fallen, and the earth, thirsty from the long, dry summer, seems to drink it in as if it would never say--it is enough. still, i have not yet seen a long, cloudy period, as we often have in the united states, of many days and weeks, in which the sun is seldom seen. not a day has past in which it has not contrived to find some opening in the clouds through which to show itself. indeed, the rain generally comes in showers; large masses of black clouds are driven over us, often with strong winds accompanied with thunder and lightning, and pour down water as if from buckets; then there is an intermission, and possibly the sun shines forth, and then comes another cloud loaded with water, which it pours out and passes away. thus, "the clouds return after the rain." for a day or two the rains have ceased, and the weather is fine, a little colder and more chilly, as might be expected from the great fall of water, but not to the degree that i expected. the higher parts of mount lebanon are covered with snow. they have a singular appearance, two or three thousand feet of the top, especially the highest peak, called the sunneen, is covered with snow, while the lower parts are bare. snow may be found at all times on some of these high points, from whence it is brought down during the summer in considerable quantities, for the use of those who will pay the pretty good, though not unreasonable price, that is asked for it. the rains have caused the grass to spring forth, and whole districts that were before dry dust, or stubble, are now fresh with verdure. the face of the land looks like spring, so wonderfully does the rain operate to give beauty and fertility to the earth. the heat without the water will not do it, nor the water without some degree of heat; but when both are united, they make vegetation spring forth, and give food for man and beast. the troops which marched from this place to the houran, a few months since, have returned. it is now said they were sent there to aid in killing the young locusts, which had appeared in great numbers, and threatened to destroy the crops. last year the troops were thus employed towards aleppo, and with great advantage to the country. it is, however, a new kind of warfare for a regular army to be engaged in. it would be inexcusable in me to omit mentioning honey, an article still to be obtained in abundance, and which deserves notice for its delicious flavour. bees are kept in various parts of the country. milk can generally be obtained without much difficulty, although it may be said of it, as of honey, that the land does not literally "flow" with it. the arabs, i think, do not often use milk in a fresh state: they convert it into an article called lebban, not unlike bonny-clabber, and eat it with rice, bread, &c. some cheese is made, but of an inferior kind; it is generally white, and made in small pieces. a considerable quantity is imported from cyprus. the process of churning in skins i have before alluded to; most of the butter thus produced is boiled, and thereby converted into more of an oily substance. it is much used in cooking, but the arabs do not spread it upon their bread, as is our custom. in the spring, the produce of the churn can be procured in jerusalem and its vicinity without having been boiled; this, by picking out the hairs, washing thoroughly, and salting, can be made very palatable. the irish potato, as it is usually called, is grown about tripoli, and succeeds well. it is of a good size, dry, and of a good flavour. the sweet potato is not known in this country; this is much to be regretted, as there is reason to believe that the soil and climate would suit it, and it would be a most valuable addition to the vegetables already cultivated. i hope that some one will make an effort to introduce it. the principal vegetables are the cabbage, cauliflower, onion, cucumber, lettuce, and radish, which are all of an excellent quality; the coosa, a small kind of squash; beans of an inferior kind; bammey, a mucilaginous pod, which, when cooked with butter and the juice of a lemon or pomegranate, forms a very pleasant article; addice, a kind of bean much used in a dried state; turnips of a diminutive size and an inferior quality; bateinjan, a kind of egg-plant much esteemed by the natives; beets of a superior kind, and tomatoes of a rich and fine flavour. the first notice that i ever met with of the sugar-cane was in the account of the crusaders, who found it on this coast, and it is _here yet_. below sidon, there are places where it is cultivated, but not for making sugar. when ripe, it is cut and brought from time to time into the towns, and sold in the stalk. the people buy it and chew the stalk; children especially are fond of it. boat-loads of it are brought up to beyroot, and sold in the market. much of the sugar used here comes from france, and is the fine loaf-sugar made from the beet, and is sold cheap; brown sugar, the product of the west indies, may be occasionally procured. the flour which is used here comes in part from damascus, but more from the plain that lies between the lebanon and anti-lebanon. some of the wheat is grown on the mountains, and a good deal comes from about acre, and from some other quarters. much of the flour, however, is ground in the neighbourhood, and the bran separated from the flour with a common sieve. i know not that there is such a thing as a bolting-cloth in the whole country. meal made of indian corn is usually found in the market at beyroot, and is called smeed. it is much used in the frank families, not, however, in the form of bread, but in that of hasty-pudding, here called smeed. very good french flour may at times be had, and sometimes wheat is brought from constantinople, raised probably about the black sea. rice forms a considerable article of diet, and is brought from egypt. the principal meat used is mutton, which is certainly the best i have ever eaten. the beef is poor, and is not much prized by the natives; and pork is an abomination to most of the people in this land. i have seen a few swine, but am told they are kept by foreigners. the chickens are mostly small, and not much encumbered with fat. geese and turkeys are exceedingly rare. great quantities of sparrows are found in the towns, and they sometimes visit the houses, and build about them to such a degree as to become an annoyance. the singing of birds is not often heard in palestine; there are a few species of birds with a gaudy plumage, but their notes are not melodious. the sweet, plaintive note of the nightingale is sometimes heard, but oftener the harsh cawing of the crow. but few wild animals are now found in the country, excepting the jackals, immense numbers of which are found in this vicinity. they are gregarious, and a most noisy animal. they are like a small dog, with short, upright ears, and a short tail; all that i have seen were of a light-brown colour. we often hear them in the gardens and near our houses. the natives have a taste for flowers; the females cultivate a variety in pots, and are fond of ornamenting their turbans with them. they are generally decked with a profusion of them on their bridal days. they also place them about and upon the dead bodies of their friends, as mementos of affection. it is a common saying, that, in making their visits, they never go empty-handed. at such times, it is not uncommon for them to take from their pockets, an appendage with which each person seems to be furnished, either an orange, a sweet lemon, a few nuts, a piece of sugar-cane, or something of the kind, and present the person visited. at other times, they will bring you a beautiful nosegay of rosebuds, carnation pinks, geraniums, jessamines, &c., which they arrange and tie together very tastefully. a rich profusion of wild flowers are found in the spring. it is amusing to one not accustomed to the sight, to observe how partial the people are to a sitting posture. you may see the blacksmith sitting and hammering his iron; the carpenter sitting and hewing his wood, or planing his plank; the merchant sitting and selling his goods; and the women sitting and washing their clothes,--not sitting on chairs, or on benches, but _á-la-turque_, with their feet folded under them. having remained in palestine as long, and even longer than i originally intended, i was about preparing to leave this place for egypt, when mr. w. m. thomson, one of the missionaries, called on me as a committee, in behalf of the station. he informed me that he had held a consultation with mr. hebard about carrying on the mission work, and had come to the conclusion that part of it must be suspended for the present, unless i remained to assist them. they had little expectation that mr. bird, then in america, from the peculiar circumstances of his family, would be able to return; that mr. smith, then in smyrna, would probably visit the united states before his return to beyroot, and could not be expected back under a year or two; that he himself had just begun to preach in arabic, and that the labour of preparing for it, superintending the press, with other necessary calls, gave him full employment; that mr. hebard had the high school to superintend, and wished much to give a course of lectures on natural science, which the opposition now made to the school made it very important he should do; but that he could not do this, and keep up the english preaching, which many circumstances rendered it important should not be suspended; and in this state of things, they laid the case before me, to see if i would not remain and assist them. i considered the case as a strong one; and after looking at the whole matter, i have concluded that i will remain for a time. i may, therefore, write you again from this place. letter xviii. _beyroot, may th, ._ on the first day of the new year, (the orientals follow the old style, which is twelve days later,) about four o'clock p.m., while we were assembled at the mission-house, and engaged in celebrating the lord's supper, there was a very severe earthquake; at first a sudden shock, then a momentary pause, then a rocking motion, so that the arms of nearly every person were involuntarily extended to preserve their balance. it was preceded by a dull murmuring sound. the sound and motion seemed to proceed from the north. there had been for several days a haziness of the atmosphere which is unusual; no rain had fallen since the first of december, and the ground had become dry for this season of the year. the haziness increased considerably about the time of the first shock, and part of the sky was covered with a fleecy cloud, in some places of a dark appearance. this was very unusual in the region. there were several slight shocks during the night. it did not do much injury in beyroot, excepting cracking some of the houses; but safet, tiberias, and many other villages were almost entirely destroyed, and many lives lost. a meeting of the franks was held, to see what could be done for these suffering villages; a collection was made, and messrs. thomson and calman appointed as a committee to visit and aid them. i would gladly have accompanied them, and made observations for myself, but the circumstances of the mission rendered it inexpedient for mr. t. and myself to be absent at the same time. slight shocks of earthquakes were frequent for ten or twelve days, and the people were much alarmed. many have feared to sleep in their houses. a jew at damascus prophesied that the whole coast from sidon to antioch would be destroyed. the governor, believing, very properly, that he was an impostor, had him confined, and threatened to punish him if his predictions were not fulfilled. most of the jews left their houses, and encamped without the city. the attention of the english government has, for several years past, been much turned to the opening and maintaining a passage from some port in syria, through the valley of the euphrates to the east indies. two steam-boats, the _euphrates_ and _tigris_, were taken across from the mediterranean sea, near scanderoon, to the euphrates, at beer. they were carried in pieces on camels, and put together at beer, and the expedition, under the command of colonel chesney, proceeded, on their exploring tour down the river. the _tigris_, which was the smaller boat, was lost in a tornado; the _euphrates_ continued on her route, and the river was explored. the matter did not succeed quite as well as some of its more ardent advocates expected, but well enough to prove that it was practicable. large quantities of bitumen are found in that region, and the experiment was tried of substituting this for coal, as there is not much wood in the vicinity. it would not answer; it melted too rapidly. a person is now engaged in examining whether coal may not exist there. in the meantime mr. farren, the consul-general at damascus, using the great influence he has gained over some of the arabs, opened a direct communication with bagdad through the wilderness. he made use of dromedaries, and the mail passed in six or eight days. since mr. farren's recal, the post is continued under the present consul. there is thus a regular communication from beyroot to india, viâ damascus and bagdad. in a few years, i doubt not that steamboats will run regularly on the euphrates, and that a great travelling route will thus cross the most interesting part of the great valley of the euphrates, the ancient seat of early cities, kingdoms, and civilisation. this will, as it may be hoped, prepare the way for the spread of the gospel in the interior of asia. i have attended, by special request, an arab wedding, the parties being members of the greek church. the men and women were in separate apartments. in both rooms there was music from a rude drum, and the women kept up a singular hallooing, or kind of shrill cry. i was taken into the female apartment, and introduced to the bride. she was much adorned with gold and gold foil, her face and hands painted in the most fantastic manner; she kept her eyes closed, or nearly so, which she must do for several days. they made her put on cob-cobs, a kind of sandal nearly a foot high, and dance before us, or rather walk very slowly backwards and forwards, keeping time with the music; her hands were held up by an attendant, to be seen and admired. they then took her into another room to eat, after which the marriage ceremony commenced. the priest read the marriage service, during which he put a ring on the finger of each, with many crossings, and touching the head and breast, and afterwards he changed the rings; he then put a chaplet made of an olive branch with its leaves on the head of each, and after a similar crossing and touching the head and breast, the chaplets were changed; he then took a cup of wine, and made them both drink of it: this, with the priest's blessing, closed the marriage. the bride was then made to follow her husband to the place where the horses were fastened. her attendants led her, and her walk was as slow as you can well conceive,--a step, then a pause, then a very slow moving of the foot forward; she must show great reluctance, and be forced after her "well beloved." he seemed to give himself no trouble about her, but mounted his horse, and waited with his back towards her, until the signal should be given for starting. at last, by half carrying and half pushing her, the bride reached the horse brought to take her to her new home, and was mounted astride, as is the custom for females to ride here. the signal was given, and the bridegroom moved forward, accompanied by most of the male guests, while the females surrounded the bride, some on animals, others on foot. the music and screaming were kept up, and "the friend of the bridegroom" danced and played all sorts of odd tricks before him. it was his business to make sport for them. a pomegranate was given to the bride, which she breaks as she enters her husband's door, thus showing that she promises to be an obedient and dutiful wife. about dark, a few weeks ago, we were somewhat startled by a discharge of artillery from the castles about the town, one of which stands very near us. we were, however, soon told that it was meant to signify the commencement of the fast of the rammedan, a fast of the mohammedans. during the continuance of this fast they are not to eat, drink, or smoke, from sunrise to sunset. they may, however, eat and drink during the night, and they make amends for their abstinence during the day. many of them turn day into night, night into day, eating at sundown, midnight, and just before sunrise, and after making it a time of great revelry and wickedness. this fast is a moveable one, and passes round to all seasons of the year. when it falls in midsummer it must be a sore trial to abstain from water in these thirsty countries; they have, however, various ways of getting round the law of the fast, and in some degree modifying the deprivations it would cost them. all the systems of religion in the eastern world lay much stress on fasting, and with many it is carried to an idolatrous extent. they make a saviour of them. that this should be the case with systems that do not take god's word for the rule of their faith and practice, would not surprise us; but that those who call themselves _christians_, and profess to found their faith on god's word, and appeal to it as their rule, should do so, may well grieve us. it is true, that while the bible is in a general way acknowledged as the word of god, they do not appeal to it, but to the authority of the church; they have left the word of god,--have rendered it void, that they may "follow their own devices,"--that they may "keep their own traditions." the fasts of the christian sects are rather a distinction of meats, an abstinence from animal food, than fasts properly so called. the greeks, in accordance with all the oriental churches, observe wednesday and friday of each week. the papists, friday and saturday. in addition to these weekly fasts, they have others of many days in succession. during one of forty days' continuance, they are not allowed to eat until after twelve o'clock at noon. it is astonishing with what rigidity even small children observe these seasons. a few days since, some dervishes, or mohammedan priests, who have been on a pilgrimage to jerusalem, returned. they came back as holy men, and great crowds went out to see their wonders. i was assured by several persons who witnessed its performance, that boys threw themselves on the ground, in a row as close together as they could lie, with their faces to the earth, making a row of forty or fifty yards, and one of the priests paced his horse over them, the horse literally stepping on their backs. the boys jumped up very briskly, though some of them showed what they were unwilling to acknowledge, that they were slightly hurt. the fact may seem strange, but christians have tried the experiment, and succeeded as well as the moslems. some of the priests thrust spears and swords through their cheeks--a most unnatural thing. the people consider such things in the light of a miracle. i had a very pleasant interview not long since with dr. wilson, of scotland, who has just returned from a tour through palestine, and who went south as far as petra. at hebron he made a special contract with a sheik, who for about one hundred and fifty dollars took him and his party to petra and back, and left his own brother as a hostage with the governor, until they returned. petra is in a very rough district. the el-ghor is a wide valley, but much more elevated than i had supposed, much more so than the dead sea, possibly a thousand feet at the highest part. it is very destitute of vegetation, and this is especially the case with the country about mount hor, and petra. there is a district more to the south that is more fertile, and has a good many inhabitants on it. the antiquities at petra are most wonderful; a town hewn out in a sandstone rock, only one house of any size built above ground, and that a church. this building has been slightly injured by the late earthquake. there are most extensive excavations--a considerable town under ground; the tomb of aaron on mount hor is an excavation. the mount is a round sugar-loaf hill, with a small level on the top. we have had fearful accounts of the prevalence of cholera at jerusalem, aleppo, malta, and some other places; much fear is felt that it will visit us; may the lord preserve us from its ravages! a few days ago, a moolah, a mohammedan priest, died at this place. he was one of those who last spring made a pilgrimage to jerusalem, and on his return rode over the boys in the plain outside the town. after his death, the other priests pretended that his body would fly off to heaven, if they did not prevent it. they, therefore, had ropes tied to his body, and fastened them to other things, that the body might not get away. they held on to the ropes as they took the body to the grave-yard. on their way the bearers stopped several times, and would pull this way and that way, as if some invisible power would not let them go forward, and the pretence was, that the dead man was not willing to go that way, or to be buried. they at length, however, got him to the grave, put him in, and made great lamentation over him. this is a sample of the tricks they play to delude the people. i spent an hour on the th of last month, very pleasantly, with lord lindsay, who has travelled extensively in these countries. from egypt he passed mount sinai and the elanetic gulf--visited petra, bosrah, gerash, and most of palestine and palmyra. he says there are many ruins about bosrah; a roman road thirty feet wide runs from that place towards bagdad. it is in a good state of preservation, but not used. lord lindsay had the affliction to lose a brother, who travelled with him; if i mistake not, he died from what is called a stroke of the sun. means were used to preserve the body, and he took the corpse with him in the same vessel to england. letter xix. _beyroot, october th, ._ yesterday i returned with my family from the mountains, where we had been to recruit from the effects of the warm weather. for you must know, that after knocking about in a very extempore way for some time, i concluded it was better to go into partnership, and accordingly we commenced house-keeping for ourselves, early in march last. in doing this, i showed all my partiality for my own country, by passing by all the dark-eyed beauties of the east, and selecting one of the daughters of my own people. bhamdoon, the village at which we spent the summer, stands high on the mountains; only on one occasion before had any franks lived among them. about two-thirds of the people belong to the greek church. the remainder are maronites. we found the people friendly, but the maronites were less disposed to have intercourse with us than the greeks. we distributed a number of books in that and the adjacent villages, and almost every night some of the people came in to hear the scriptures read, and to be present at evening prayers. this was usually followed by conversation, which often lasted an hour or two. sometimes the number was so great, as to fill the room. hykel, my teacher, was almost always present, and took part in the conversation; not unfrequently curious and puzzling questions were asked, as what that light was, which is spoken of as separated from the darkness, in the first of genesis; and how the day and night were measured before the sun was made? they often showed a good deal of intelligence. to vary the exercises, i sometimes gave them tracts to read, and generally very good attention was paid to the reading of them. the old priest of the village was blind, and there was a monk assisting him, who was better informed than any of that order that i have met with. he visited us frequently, and read portions of the new testament with us, and commented on them. he often gave exhortations, or preached to the people. he, as well as the people, seemed to consider this as a matter that did him some credit. my knowledge of the language was not sufficient to enable me fully to understand all he said, but from what i could understand, i thought he was fond of giving curious and far-fetched interpretations. both he and the people seemed to rest on the outward form of religion, and to be strangers to its inward and spiritual power. the greek church stood near our house, and we often saw travellers in passing the church ride up to it, touch it with their hand, put that to their heads, cross themselves, and then pass on. the same was done by the villagers, and they would often kiss the stones a number of times. i witnessed a rite in this church that was new to me. i had been informed by one of the leading men, that our friend, the monk, would preach the next morning. i considered the information as a kind of invitation to attend, which i did. his sermon, as far as i could understand it, was not very instructive, but rather of the spiritualizing kind. it was, however, delivered with earnestness, and listened to with attention by a full house. at its close, prayers were read, and some bread produced and broken into very small pieces, and handed to the people in a plate. it was sought for with great eagerness, and many of the little boys were particularly pressing to receive it. i supposed at first that it was the lord's supper, but was told afterwards that it was not, but a representation of the body of the virgin mary. i made a second very pleasant trip to baalbec with mrs. p. and our two little girls. we had many opportunities of distributing books and tracts along the road. in most instances, as soon as it was known that we had books, our tent was surrounded by persons importuning for them. as soon as one was supplied, he would withdraw to a little distance, and set himself to reading in good earnest. the success of some encouraged others, and each had some particular reason to urge, why he should be supplied before the others. we were absent five days, and on our return, were welcomed with great joy by our good friends in the village. bhamdoon is surrounded with vineyards. the vines are, for the most part, allowed to lie on the ground. in a few places peculiarly situated, they are trained on supports, which raise them several feet above it. the grapes are of various kinds, most of them white and large. we are supplied with them most generously and munificently by the people. there are several houses that seem to be common property, where they express the juice of the grape. they have, along one side of the house, a row of large vats, into which the grapes are thrown; and beside these, stone troughs, into which the juice flows. men get in the vats, and tread the grapes with their feet. it is hard work, and their clothes are often stained with the grape. the figures found in scripture, taken from this, are true to the life. "i have trod the wine-press alone;" "i will stain all my raiment;" "the wine-press was trodden without the city." the juice that was extracted when i visited the press, was not made into wine, but into what is called dibbs. it resembles molasses. they take the juice from the troughs, put it into large boilers, and reduce it to one-half, possibly one-third of the original quantity. it is then removed to large earthen jars, and subjected to a process, not unlike churning, which is repeated for a few days, until it thickens. when properly churned, or beaten, but little separation of the particles takes place. it forms a very pleasant article for table use, and is decidedly preferable to molasses. we witnessed the process of making raisins. the grapes are collected and dipped in a weak ley, with which a small quantity of olive-oil has been mixed. they are then spread out on the ground, and several times a day this mixture is sprinkled over them. this is continued, for six, eight, or ten days, according to the dryness of the atmosphere, until the raisins are cured. they are then taken up, and while warm from the sun, put into jars and pressed down hard, and thus preserved for use or sale. there is, however, but little wine, raisins, or dibbs exported. most that is made is kept for family use. the salutations of these people are very similar to those of ancient times. in passing persons at work, as in cultivating their vineyards, or thrashing out grain, the usual form is "_salam-a-laykoom_," peace be unto you; and the answer is, "_a-laykoom-issalum_," upon you be peace. on entering a house, it is peace be upon you, or "_olloh makoom_," god be with you. in giving orders to servants, or requesting favours of friends, the answer generally given is, "_a-lah-rass-ee_," on my head be it. the women, in taking a quantity of flour from their store for a batch of bread, will precede it with a "_bismillee_," in the name of god. as a general thing the arabs may be said to be a polite people. the morning and evening salutations are always passed among the inmates of the same house; they will seldom pass you in the road without some kind word. when lights are brought, the servants will say, "good evening to you," and the company will say the same to one another. they have a great variety of salutations, forms of expression, and compliments suited to all the various circumstances of life, and these are familiar to all; to the youngest and the poorest, as well as to the prince. several bands of gipsies at different times visited our village. they came in companies of from ten to thirty, men, women, and children, mostly mounted on donkeys. they encamped in a thrashing-floor near by, which gave us an opportunity to observe their motions and learn their habits. they carry with them a few utensils for cooking, and a few articles with which they cover themselves at night. they will occasionally put up a rude tent to shelter them from the sun. some of them manufacture a few things, which they dispose of in their rambles. attached to each company are two or three who play on musical instruments, and amuse the people with their feats of jugglery. they have a language of their own, with which they converse among themselves, but are familiar with arabic. they are great beggars, and notorious thieves. the people are careful to secure their chickens and donkeys when the gipsies are in the neighbourhood. they do not remain long at one place,--here to-day and gone to-morrow. they stroll over the mountains in the summer, but remove farther south in winter. april , .--on the first sabbath of the present year, a druse family was baptised by the missionaries at this place. they had for two years been attentive to the instructions of the missionaries, and both the parents gave evidence of piety. they, with their six children, were baptized at the mission-house at the close of the arabic service. it was an interesting occasion, and excited a good deal of interest among those who are in the habit of attending the arabic preaching. there are several other druses, who are constant in their attendance at the sabbath school and arabic preaching, and profess a great desire to become christians. you are, no doubt, familiar with the account of asaad shidiak. i have learned several things about him lately, which to me, at least, had a considerable degree of painful interest. i have seen several persons who, as they declare, saw him during his imprisonment, and one who saw him after his death. he was of the maronite church, and from his intercourse with the missionaries he came to understand the corruption of his church, and the nature of true spiritual religion. this brought on him the displeasure of the dignitaries of that church. he was a man of learning and talents, and, with the truth on his side, he was too much in argument for any of them. after various attempts to bring him back to their corrupt system in vain, he was seized and imprisoned, and subjected to much cruel treatment. he held fast to the truth which he had learned. his faith was built on the bible. one of the individuals from whom i gained information about him said, he had a long conversation with him while in prison. he was shut up in a small room only a few feet square, the door walled up so as to leave but a small opening, like a window. he was loaded with chains, and his food handed to him through this small opening. he assured this person that his religious faith rested alone on the bible. his confinement was so close that it had become, with people generally, a matter of doubt whether he was dead or alive. thus it had been for some time before the egyptian government took possession of this country. some of the franks felt an intense interest in his fate. immediately after the fall of acre, which event secured to the egyptian government the control of this part of syria, an english merchant of this place by the name of todd, waited on the pasha, and made known the case of the imprisoned asaad, and asked and obtained authority to examine the convent where he was confined, and have him set at liberty if he were alive. todd visited the convent, and made some search, but asaad was not found. he was informed that he was dead, and was shown what was said to be his grave; this confirmed the opinion that he was dead. this movement on the part of todd was well meant; it may, however, be doubted, whether it was well managed. the news got out that he was about to visit the convent, and search for asaad. it was known on the mountains before he reached cannobeen. it is now declared, and pretty generally believed on the mountains, as i am told, that todd was over-reached in the matter, that asaad was then alive, but concealed when the examination was made. todd spent but a few hours in the convent, and that at night, and left the place with the full impression that asaad was dead. after this, it is said that the high ecclesiastics, fearing that the matter might be divulged that he was still living, had him destroyed. a sheik, who lives near the place, and who has since had a quarrel with the patriarch, has declared lately that asaad was destroyed not long after the search by todd, and that he saw the dead body before it was interred. how much truth there may be in this i know not; for truth is a thing that does not abound among this people. from the fact, however, that a wide-spread opinion on the mountains places his death subsequent to the search by todd, and ascribes it to violence, there is much reason to believe that it is correct. his case has evidently made a great impression on the people of the mountains. when i went to bhamdoon, i was almost immediately inquired of for the little book that told about asaad shidiak. i sent to beyroot, and procured some copies of a small arabic tract, written by asaad himself, giving a short account of his change of views, and discussions with the priests, up to near the time of his imprisonment. these were sought for with more eagerness than almost any book i had. the solicitations for it came principally from the maronites. it is, however, proscribed by their church; still i found that some of them would read it. a good-looking young man, who was evidently a pretty good scholar, would come to my room and read the book by the hour. he would not take it away for fear of the priest. and this reminds me of a case that was rather amusing, that took place not long before we went to the mountains. some of the maronite princes were down from the mountains, and one of them procured the tract containing the account of asaad shidiak, and a priest saw him reading it. this being strictly forbidden, the prince had a penance assigned him, as did also the servants who were within hearing at the time the book was read. he was directed to fast so long; make so many prostrations; and pay such a sum of money. the prince replied:--as to fasting, it made him sick, and he could not do it; and as to the prostrations, they gave him the back-ache, and he could not perform them; that the priest might, if he chose, make the attendants do it--and there was some money, throwing down a part of what was called for, which they might do what they pleased with. there are a good many indications that the power of the priesthood over the people is beginning to give way. the time, i hope, is near, when more of the people will dare to think for themselves, and follow the dictates of an enlightened conscience. a few months ago, a heavy conscription, as it may be called, was raised over the most, if not the whole of syria; and out of it has arisen the present war in the houran. this is the name now used to designate an extensive district east of the jordan. it embraces the country occupied by the tribes that lived east of that river--reuben, gad, and the half tribe of manasseh; the country of bashan, moab, and a district to the east, that is not much known to europeans. it is said to be a high country, and abounding with remains of cities. the egyptian government extends over this, but how far to the east i do not know. in raising soldiers, the pasha sent a body of troops out among these towns and villages, to take such as were fit for soldiers. the people, who have much of the arab character, did not like this, rose on the soldiers, and destroyed several hundred of them. the pasha then sent a considerable body of troops to destroy the towns and chastise the people. the people left their towns as the soldiers approached, and joined the arabs of the desert. they were joined by many from other parts of the country, and in all made a pretty imposing force. taking advantage of the rough and mountainous districts, they did not allow the troops of the pasha to bring them to a fair fight; and attacking his army in a situation that gave them the advantage, they have twice beaten his army; and on the last occasion, with a great loss to the pasha, both of men and munitions of war. the army of the pasha had to retreat towards damascus. there is much discontent with the pasha; and it need not cause much surprise if other movements of a rebellious character should follow the affair of the houran, especially if it be not soon put down. some slight indications of the kind have appeared at damascus; but several, suspected of causing it, had their heads taken off with little ceremony, and the matter seems to be stopped. should the pasha subdue the houran, it will produce a safer state of things to the east of the jordan than what has heretofore existed, and throw open a vast region that must have peculiar interest to the traveller, from the multitude of ruins that exist there, as well as the connexion which it has with many of the events of ancient and sacred history. on the evening of the first of april, we witnessed a most wonderful flight of locusts. they came like a dark cloud, filling the air for a long distance. the greater part of them were above the tops of the houses; but many flew lower, and passed through the tops of the mulberry trees. there had been a strong south-east wind for about twelve hours. they came from the east, and must, of course, have crossed the lebanon. their course was west; but as they approached the sea, i thought they varied, and passed more south-west, as if not willing to go out of sight of land. for about half an hour the air was full of them; afterwards their number decreased, but it was a long time before the last straggler had passed. about three days afterwards, we had them again from the south-west; the wind had changed, and now came from that quarter. they now seemed disposed to stop: the gardens and sands were full of them. they did not seem to eat anything, but were employed in depositing their eggs, which they place in the sands or earth. an acquaintance of mine, who has just returned from tripoli, states, that all the way from ji-bail to the river beyroot, a distance of nearly twenty miles, the locusts are thrown out on the shore in such numbers as to lie from eighteen inches to two feet deep--they have been drowned in the sea. the old locusts do not do much injury; it is the young ones, which will come out in a month or six weeks after the eggs are deposited in the sands, that eat so voraciously, and destroy all before them. i understand the emeer has issued an order for each person to collect about a quart of their eggs, as a means of destroying them, and thus preventing the destruction which the young locusts would make. letter xx. _jaffa, may st, ._ having concluded to return during the ensuing summer to the united states, and made my arrangements accordingly, i took passage from beyroot to this city, in a greek vessel, april th. the families of rev. messrs. thomson and hebard had preceded us, to attend the annual meeting of the mission, which was to be held at jerusalem. it was not without feelings of sorrow that i left beyroot. for about two years i had considered it my home, and excepting while making tours, which i occasionally did, i had remained there and on the adjacent mountains. i had preached a good deal to the english congregation at beyroot, and aided, in all the ways i could, the mission work. i had become acquainted with many of the natives, more particularly with those who maintained a friendly intercourse with the mission. i had enjoyed the acquaintance and friendship of the consuls and english residents, and could not bid them a final farewell without strong emotion. but circumstances made it indispensable, and we parted, expecting to see each other no more. we reached this place on the d, after a moderately short but rough passage. to our great discomfort, we found that the plague had broken out a few days before; the city was shut up, and we were not allowed to enter. at first we were not permitted to land; but after some entreaty we were permitted to land at the lazaret, under the watch of the health officers, who took us and our baggage into that building. there were some cases of plague in the lazaret, and it was the last place we wished to be in; and, moreover, our room had literally nothing in it. i wished to send word to the american consul, whose hospitality we had more than once experienced; hoping that he would be able to place us in a more comfortable situation, and was told that he was at his country-house, about two miles from town, and that we might go there if we chose; but that we must walk, as all the animals had been used by the pilgrims, who were returning in great numbers from jerusalem, and might be infected. after a most laborious walk through the sand, with our children--two of whom we were obliged to carry--we reached the house of the consul, but he was not there; his family being still in town and his house shut up. it was too late to return to the lazaret; and there was no alternative, but to lodge, without bed or supper, on the floor of an unfinished room that was designed for a kitchen. in the morning, the consul came out with his family, and our situation was made more comfortable. through his aid we had our baggage landed and conveyed to a place of safety, excepting what we wished to take with us; and having procured animals, we set off for rumla about sunset, which we reached about ten in the night. for once we resolved to make trial of the camel, and we all rode on them; but before we arrived at rumla, we were satisfied that the horse, the mule, and the donkey, are each and all to be preferred to the camel, as a riding animal. the motion of the camel is a long swinging motion, with rather a sudden stop at each step; for a little while it is pleasant, but soon becomes tiresome and at last painful. we were on our way at an early hour on the morning of the th, and reached jerusalem about five in the afternoon, where we were kindly entertained by mr. and mrs. nicolayson. we found the friends well. the sessions of the missionary meeting were drawing to a close. professor robinson, and the rev. messrs. smith and adger, had arrived some days before from egypt, _via_ suez and sinai. one object i had in view in revisiting jerusalem and its vicinity before i returned to the united states, was to correct, as far as i might be able, any errors that might exist in my former descriptions, and supply any defects which a second visit might suggest. i have not seen much that deserves special notice in the way of correction or addition. it struck me at the time that i visited the plain of jordan and the dead sea, that the descent from jerusalem to them was greater than that from jerusalem to the mediterranean. it is now a pretty well ascertained fact that the dead sea is lower than the mediterranean; and as the water of the latter sea is above thirty feet lower than the red sea, it must follow that the jordan never flowed through the el ghor into the elanetic gulf. count barteau, who has just returned from a visit to petra acaba, and an examination of the district between the south end of the dead sea and acaba, states that a high district crosses the el ghor, and causes the water to run north and south from it. dr. wilson and lord lindsay gave me substantially the same information. from some experiments it is estimated that the level of the dead sea is several hundred feet lower than those of the mediterranean. if a passage then were made connecting the red with the dead sea, the waters would flow into it, so as to cover all the plain of the jordan, and even raise the level of the waters of lake tiberias. the question will naturally be asked, where did the waters of the jordan flow to, before the destruction of the cities of the plain? what outlet did they find? the more common opinion heretofore has been, that before the overthrow of those cities there was no lake on the south end of the plain of jordan. the bible does not, however, say so, but rather intimates the reverse. the salt sea is mentioned before the account of the overthrow of sodom and gomorrah. it seems to me most likely that there was a lake at the south end of the plain, and that those cities were situate near its borders; their destruction was followed by the enlargement of the lake, and the ruin of some part of the plain on which they stood. it is indeed an almost universal opinion among the arabs, that some of the ruins of these cities may yet be seen. costigen found ruins, as his servant declared, which he took for the ruins of those cities; and count barteau states, that he saw at the south end of the lake old cisterns, and other things that indicated the former existence of towns. there is now not much doubt that we shall in due time have the facts so examined into and certified, as to add another proof to the many which have lately been given, of the verity and accuracy of the scriptural account of things. while at jerusalem, i had occasion to visit jaffa. i rode down past rumla, and reached jaffa in about ten hours. my horse was not a good one; the day was warm, and i did not ride fast. i infer, from the time spent on the road, that the distance must be at least thirty-five miles, and possibly forty. i returned by a road which separates from that of rumla, a few miles from jaffa, and passes over the plain farther to the north. it led us past several villages on the plain, among which was lydd, the ancient lydda, where peter healed eneas. it is a small village, but contains some better buildings than we usually meet with in such small towns. it is surrounded by extensive gardens and orchards of fruit-trees; and on the east side of the village is a good well, much resorted to for water. the plain of sharon on this road was very fertile, and more of it had been cultivated than is usual. the harvest was going on, and men, women, and children, were out in the fields: some reaping with the common reap-hook--some pulling up the grain with their hands--some binding up the grain in bundles--some carrying it on their shoulders, or on donkeys, or mules, or camels, to the thrashing-floor--and some thrashing out the grain by driving the cattle over it. they use a thrashing instrument not unlike a harrow. in its under side they have pieces of stone or iron fastened which serve as teeth. these instruments are dragged by the oxen over the grain, and thus separate it from the straw. after leaving the plain, our road followed a ridge for a considerable distance; a little west of the highest ground we passed two ruined villages at some distance from each other, that were called beth-horon. they are, i doubt not, the upper and the nether beth-horon. this opinion is, i think, confirmed by the account given of the defeat of the kings that were confederated against gibeon. it is said that israel "chased them along the way that goeth up to beth-horon; and it came to pass that as they were in the going down to beth-horon, that the lord threw down on them great hailstones from heaven." josh. x. , . beth-horon lies on the west side of the ridge, and gibeon lies on the east side, and at the distance of several miles from the top. the flight began from gibeon, and was first up to the top of the ridge on the road towards beth-horon; and from the top of the ridge it was down to beth-horon, and on this last part of the way, that the hailstones fell on them. until i saw the ground, i never understood the "_up_" and "_down_," as used in the record of this flight and pursuit. near gibeon i saw some sandstone, singularly mixed up with the limestone. it lay about in large masses, but i saw no continuous rock of it. the ancient gibeon is now a small-village, inhabited by a few mohammedan families. it stands on the summit of a round hill, and from the steepness of its sides is capable of being made very strong. there are various old ruins and some arches of great size running into the sides of the hill, forming rooms, in which various labours are now carried on. a little out of town is a spring in a cave, and below it, on the side of the hill, the remains of an old pool, which is probably the one beside which abner and joab, with their men, sat down before the battle in which asahel fell. the plague made its appearance in jerusalem shortly after our arrival. we did not pay much attention to it, excepting that we were more careful in passing about the city not to come in contact with the people. the monks from some of the religious houses left the city, and took refuge in other places. we found the monks at bethlehem keeping quarantine, and there was plague in some of the convents in the country. a health officer from jaffa visited the city on the th, and declared his intention to shut up the gates and prevent egress or ingress, until the plague abated. he gave us permission to leave, provided we would do it early the next day. having no wish to be shut up even in jerusalem, for a month or two, we made all possible haste to get ready to leave town the next morning. we found some difficulty in procuring animals, but at last succeeded, and bidding farewell to all our kind friends, and the missionary brethren resident there, we left the city and bent our course to rumla. our animals proved miserable creatures, and one of our muleteers gave us the slip and returned, leaving us to make our journey as best we could. we had been informed at jerusalem that we would not be permitted to enter rumla; but supposed that we should arrive in season to consult with the consular agent, and obtain lodging in the old tower, or some place in the vicinity. our mules were so intolerably bad, however, that it was dark when we approached rumla. to our frequent inquiries of the muleteer, as to where he was taking us, we received the reply, "to the water," and supposing that we would halt at some watering place near the town, we allowed him to proceed. finding from the length of the way that we must be taking the road to jaffa, we insisted on coming to an understanding of the matter. he had no idea of stopping, but intended to land us safe at jaffa that night; after a great deal of noise on both sides we prevailed on him to halt. he took us under an olive-tree near by, saying, what he supposed was true, that if he took us to the town they would cut his head off. angelo set off immediately, to see if he could gain admittance within the town. the children, worn out with the fatigue of the journey, had lost all patience, and were crying for their suppers. i seated them on the ground and began to search about in the dark for the remains of our luncheon, which there was much reason to fear the muleteer and his boy had eaten. presently mrs. p. began to shake with an ague fit, and called out to me that she should die with the cold if relief was not soon obtained. i had procured some wine at jerusalem, which i was taking home as a sample of the wines of palestine; and thinking this was a time, if ever, when its use would be justifiable, i succeeded in disengaging a bottle from our baggage and administered a quantity of it to those "who were ready to perish." drawing a small carpet from the saddle of the mule on which i rode, i covered up my little family, and with no enviable feelings waited the result. it was not long before the well-known voice of angelo hallooing in the distance broke upon my ear. he came with one of the consul's sons, who welcomed us to his father's house, assuring us there was no obstacle in the way of our admittance. thus our difficulties were removed, and we were most hospitably lodged for the night. the next day we arrived at the country-seat of our very kind consul at this place, who has furnished us with a room, and is assiduous in his attentions to promote our comfort and happiness. letter xxi. _alexandria, june st, ._ we left jaffa on may the th for this place. it was not without trouble and delay that we were able to obtain a passage. on our arrival at jaffa, in april, we found many vessels there. they were, we were told, waiting for pilgrims, who were at that time returning from jerusalem, where many attend during the great feasts. they were at that time coming down in crowds, and going off to the vessels: but before our return from jerusalem, in may, they were gone, and hardly a vessel remained at jaffa. possibly the fear of the plague, which prevailed at jaffa, had driven some away, and at the same time prevented others from coming. our wish was to take passage to damietta, and ascend the damietta branch of the nile to grand cairo, and come down the rosetta branch to alexandria. we found a vessel that was willing to take us to damietta, but before we had completed our bargain, the russian consul, whose family had lost many members by the plague, made, in his great eagerness to get away, so large an offer, as induced the captain to change his course, and immediately sail with the consul for smyrna. as we passed damietta, about a week afterwards, we spoke the same vessel, and learned that, soon after sailing, the consul took the plague and died, and the vessel put in at damietta. the consul fled from jaffa, but not from the plague or death--both met him on the way--how little do we foresee what a day may bring forth! after some delay a vessel came from beyroot, which offered to take us to this place, but asked about four times the usual price--there was no help--no other suitable vessel offered--and the captain said, which was true, that he would have to perform a long quarantine. a letter came to the consul, from several other travellers, to engage them a vessel, as they would be at jaffa in a few days; and it was agreed that i should pay one-half of the required sum, and those travellers the other, and the engagement was closed. through the kind attention of our consul, who spared no pains to promote our comfort, our arrangements were made, our baggage put on board, and our provisions and stores laid in. the plague added much to the trouble of doing this. on going on board we found it was a turkish vessel, and a turkish crew. the captain seemed to be much of a gentleman for a turk. he was polite, silent, and would sit all day smoking his pipe, and watching the working of his vessel. the crew also were sober, silent, and appeared to move about as if they had no care but to mind their own business. we had stipulated to have the sole use of the cabin, provided we should prefer it. on examining the premises, however, we decided on taking up our quarters on the deck, as plainly the cleanest and most comfortable place. the captain readily yielded to our wishes, and fitted up the long boat, which was on the deck, spreading a sail over it, and making quite a tent--in this we took up our abode. when the travellers referred to came on board, we recognised them as a party we had met a few miles this side of jerusalem. they had come from egypt to palestine through the wilderness, and were on their way to jerusalem as we left it. their cavalcade had attracted our attention, being all mounted on camels; and what looked rather oddly, two were on the same camel, in what are called baskets, sitting back to back--one facing to the right and the other to the left. the party consisted of two german officers, who belonged to king otho's army in greece--a frenchman and a swiss. the fact that we had no common language prevented our having as much intercourse with them as we should otherwise have had. they also took up their quarters on deck, the captain having put up an awning. as there was no danger of rain, the deck was decidedly the most comfortable place. while we could not fully understand the subject of their discourse, we were not a little amused during our voyage with the long and almost continual debates of our fellow-voyagers. it was all in great good-humour, but a set of more everlasting talkers and disputants i have seldom met with. there were several others on board, who came in without paying their part of the expense. this is almost always the case when a frank charters a vessel. i have heard of a captain, who had especially engaged not to take any one on board except the franks who had chartered his vessel, stowing away privately in the hold nearly a dozen who were never to be seen on deck. the captain of course gets a fee from such--it is so much clear gain. he first asks and gets a full price for his whole vessel, and then stows away as many persons and things as he can, on such terms as may be offered. we had a greek sea captain as a passenger--he was one of the most silent greeks i recollect to have met with, for, as a general thing, they are a talking, noisy people. he hardly ever spoke a word, and had little intercourse with any one except a greek servant. there was another, "old dominico," as we called him, who, oddly enough, passed himself off as one of my party, and not only went rent free, but ate of my bread. on reaching our consul's from jerusalem, we saw there a middle-aged man, who had much the appearance of a domestic, but in a frank dress. he seemed to turn his hand to anything--at times he was in the garden directing the water to the trees and plants--then again he was going with a mule or donkey and bringing home loads of grass for the animals--at one time called here and another there. on first seeing him, it struck me he might be a scotchman--but he knew no english--i then thought he must be an italian--he proved to be a genoese. he had been at jerusalem, and was living on the consul until he could get a passage from jaffa--and the consul, very properly, to keep him from rusting through mere idleness, was employing him in all sorts of ways, as occasions offered. when on the point of starting, the consul, who was probably willing to get clear of him, requested that dominico might so far be considered, as belonging to my party as to secure him a free passage; and, according to his own rule for managing such cases, advised that i should keep the old man in employ as far as i had anything that he could do. of course i assented. after getting all on board, and under sail, and the time for eating had come, angelo reported old dominico as minus all sorts of provisions for the voyage. i was fairly in for it. he belonged to my party, and must not be allowed to suffer. this however was an appendix to the matter that i had not looked for; and in laying in stores, for each party found themselves, (old dominico excepted,) i had not counted him--and no small eater was he. angelo was directed to give the old man his rations from my stores, and advised that he should give him something to do--make him cut the wood, kindle the fire, watch the coffee--do anything that would keep his hand in: for i hold that perfect idleness is not good for man or beast. and finding that the old man had a pretty good knack for pleasing children, many an hour were they permitted to while away with him, to his own as well as their amusement. the moslems are in their way a religious people. they are regular in saying their prayers at the prescribed times. they usually pray, wherever they may happen to be, when the proper time arrives. they do not retire to a secret place, but spread a small mat, and kneel and prostrate themselves on it--touch the ground with their forehead, facing towards mecca, and repeating at the same time, in a low and almost unintelligible voice, their forms of prayer. the fore-part of the deck was the place at which they performed their devotions. our winds being light, we did not lose sight of palestine for nearly twenty-four hours after we embarked. we had a pretty good view of the south part of the plain of sharon and of the hill country that rose behind it. several villages were seen, surrounded with their olive-trees, vineyards, and gardens. the land at last disappeared, and nothing but water was seen on all sides. our course brought us within sight of egypt, east of damietta. the coast was low, and seemed to be a bed of sand. to the south-east we saw some large buildings that appeared to rise out of the water. we learned that they were forts at the mouth of some inlet. as we passed to the west, our course brought us nearer the shore, and gave us a better view of it. the water had a greenish colour, and such a current set to the east, that during a calm that took place we had to cast out an anchor to prevent our being swept far to the east. in passing damietta, we saw several vessels lying off. the shallows and bars at the mouth of the river are such as to prevent vessels from entering, and cause much trouble and delay in loading and unloading at that place. large lighters are used in passing produce and merchandise to and from the shore. we could not see much of the town. it lies a little back, and the sand hills near the coast tended to prevent a good view of it. from all i could learn, it is a small place, and much on the decline. there are some strong forts at the mouth of the river, and so placed as to command the entrance. the implements of war are everywhere to be met with in the dominions of mohammed ali. groves of date-trees began to be seen on the coast. this is the tree of egypt, and is everywhere in egypt to be met with in greater numbers than any other tree. it has a singular appearance, and not unlike a spread umbrella. the stem is long, and of the same thickness, and has no branches until you reach the top,--then a large cluster of branches, which bend out and hang down their tops, so as to look much like the top of an open umbrella. they often are found together in groves or orchards, and make a very fine appearance. along the coast, and near the water, are many sand-hills. they almost line the coast--are of various shapes and sizes. most of them are composed of white, fine sand, and are utterly destitute of vegetation. in a few places i could see some small bushes about the base of some of them; and through the openings between the sand-hills we could see groves of palms in the interior. in a few places we saw villages; for the most part they appeared small. some of them had minarets, which indicated moslem places of worship; and in several places we saw the top of minarets where we could see neither the village nor the mosque to which they belonged. the minaret, i may here remark, is to the mosques what a steeple is to the church. instead of a bell to call to worship, the moolah (the mohammedan priest) mounts the minaret, proclaims the hour, and calls his people to prayer. the minaret rises higher above the mosque than the steeple usually does above the church. it is always white, and has a stairway up in the inside, by which the moolah ascends to the place from which he proclaims the hour and its accompanying duty. near the top is a door through which he comes out. a little platform runs all round the minaret, fenced in with a low railing. there is a cover over the top, which protects them in time of rain. if i may compare a small thing with a great, i would say that a minaret is much like a tall candlestick, with a long spermaceti candle in it, and an extinguisher on the top of the candle. they have a very pretty and tasteful appearance. the whole coast from east of damietta to the west of rosetta, bends like a bow, the convex part being next the mediterranean. it is caused, no doubt, in part at least, by the immense deposits which the nile makes of the mud, with which its waters are loaded. there are, however, some very deep bays on the coast, as the bay of aboukir. the coast about rosetta did not differ much from that about damietta. the mouth of the river is obstructed with bars, which is much in the way of its commerce. the town lies back, so that we had not a good view of it, at the distance at which we passed. there were once, i am told, many good houses here; the trade was much concentrated here; but since the canal has been made from atpi to alexandria, the trade has taken that direction, and alexandria has been built up at the expense of rosetta. all along this coast the current seemed to set eastward. we reached alexandria on the first of june. it stands on a point of land that projects considerably into the sea, and has a part that turns west like the upper part of a capital t. on this west point stands a palace of the pasha, to which he resorts in summer. there are two harbours, one on the east and the other on the west side of the town; and in each harbour is a lazaret. we had hoped, that as we had kept quarantine at jaffa--as our vessel had little intercourse with the shore, having come from beyroot, and as the health-officer promised he would state this on our papers, that we would have but little, if any, assigned us here. but we found that all availed not. we had twenty-one days assigned us, and all our entreaties availed not to lessen the number. the turks, for the most part, take things patiently, and in few things is it more wise to imitate them than in this. we had our place assigned us in the lazaret of the eastern harbour, and early the next morning the captain had us and all our baggage conveyed there. our fellow-passengers were all assigned to the same place, while the captain and his crew were allowed to perform their quarantine on board their vessel--one soldier being put with them to see that none left the vessel, and none entered it; while another soldier was assigned to us to have a similar watch over all our doings. on reaching the lazaret, we were a good deal disconcerted at finding that all men, women, and children, masters and servants, were to be put in one and the same room. who ever heard the like! i protested against it, but of what use to protest! we were told the rooms were scarce, and that this was their mode, to put all who had come in the same vessel in the same room. the room was large--about sixty by twenty. several years' experience had satisfied me that there was more trouble than profit in trying to get turks and arabs to think and reason as we do. i therefore set myself to make the best of the case, and set off to examine the premises. at and about the door of the room--for we were not in the open court before it--i met several of our voyagers, who, with much earnestness, urged me not to go in. angelo, who had just come out, earnestly advised me not to enter, and let me know that the place was literally overrun with fleas. i found them there in great numbers truly. but after having it swept again and again, and using other means to destroy them, we took possession. i had a strong cord stretched across, so as to cut off about one-third, and made a room about twenty feet square. on this cord we hung sheets, and blankets, and bed-spreads, and thus made a private and comfortable chamber. we procured a frame-work of palm wood that was a very good substitute for bedsteads--and some other articles of the first necessity, and did very well; for our room, as we found it, had not an article in it. our fellow-voyagers took possession of the other part of the room, and renewed their discussions and debates, which for a little had been suspended. the lazaret has a set of large rooms, formed into squares, and surrounded with high walls. attached to each room is a court, rather larger than the room, and open to the heavens. there is a tank of water in this court, and at one side, what is called a parletorio--a place with a kind of wood grating, through which they may see and converse with friends who call on them. those in quarantine have, during the day, free use of the court attached to their rooms, but at night they are locked up in their rooms, their guardian with them, and the key taken to the room of the head of the quarantine. there is a kind of market in the lazaret, or rather a shop is kept there, at which most of the common necessaries may be had, and at about a fair price. i engaged a man to send us bread and milk daily, and was well supplied. angelo as usual cooked for us and had the general management of our table, and continued to have it nearly as well furnished as when we were at beyroot, and at about the same expense. we were a few times allowed to walk out as far as the sea-side, but not without our guard. nor were we allowed to go more than a few rods from the walls. we much wished to take some walks in the vicinity, but this was not allowed. there was, however, nothing rude in their mode of denial. the lazaret is a new building, and not yet finished, and the work is still in progress. it is made of a soft limestone, which is brought in vessels and landed near the building. i observed that females were almost wholly employed in unloading the stone from these vessels, and the attendance on the workmen was chiefly, if not wholly, done by females. there were small companies of girls, from twelve to sixteen years of age, who carried stones and mortar. they usually went together, and sung and kept a kind of time. their singing was in a kind of response to each other, and was evidently, in part at least, extempore; as they often alluded to what they saw, and to what was taking place about them. it reminded me of what is called the corn-song, as sung by the slaves in the southern states. they seemed cheerful, and are said to receive some wages for their service. soon after we were in the lazaret, mr. gliddon, u. s. consul, called on us, and kindly tendered his aid in any way that might add to our comfort while thus shut up in the lazaret. to be twenty-one days shut up in a room was tiresome, but not so much so to us as might be expected. we had books--we read and wrote, and through the kindness of our consul and others we received files of papers, which let us know what was going on in that much-loved land, from which we had been so long absent, and to think now we were about to return. alexandria stands on the site of the old town of that name. the point of land which i have before mentioned, is pretty much covered with houses. the houses of the older part of the town are very inferior, but many of the buildings lately put up are in european style, and very good, and some splendid buildings. these stand, at least most of them, near the eastern harbour, and on a long street that runs south-east across the town. many of these new and elegant houses are occupied by europeans, of whom there are a considerable number in alexandria. there are many frank shops, and stores, and artists; and almost all kinds of european articles and goods may here be obtained. a little to the east of the frank quarter, as it may be called, stands cleopatra's needle. it is a granite obelisk--near it lies another on the ground. there is a large space on the south-east side of the city, that is not built on. it is a bed of ruins. in many places excavations have been made, and curious antiques found. the city is surrounded by a high and strong wall, with a deep fosse on the outside. the gates are always guarded with soldiers. the navy-yard and custom-house are on the western harbour; and in that harbour ride some noble vessels, and others are being built. the pasha and the sultan seem running a race in ship-building, and certainly each has done a good deal within a few years past. a little south of the town, and on a small elevation, stands pompey's pillar. it has so often been described that i may well pass it over, with the remark, that it is a large and beautiful shaft of solid rock. alexandria has been much revived of late, and is now the chief seaport of egypt. having selected it as the place for his navy-yard, and through the canal of mahmudieh opened a direct communication between alexandria and the nile at atpi, the trade has almost all centred at alexandria, to the ruin of rosetta. the population of alexandria may be from to , . the district about alexandria has, with few exceptions, a dry and burnt-up appearance. in a few places the date and the acacia trees are seen, but a large part of the surface has almost nothing on it. the pasha has shown a commendable degree of zeal for introducing the arts and improvements of europe into his dominions. he has manufactories, and artists, and schools, at alexandria and other places. his leading object in the whole seems to be, to promote and confirm his own power over the people that he now governs. he has intelligence enough to see that arts and improvements have given a decided advantage to those who possess them, and for the sake of those advantages he desires to be possessed of them. this has led him to employ many european artists and masters--has induced him to send a number of youth to europe to be educated there, and instructed in the various departments of useful knowledge. letter xxii. _cairo, june th, ._ wishing to make our tour up the nile as soon as we were relieved from quarantine, we had in part made our arrangements when that took place. on the st, we were called down to be inspected by the man of medical science, and were declared free from all suspicious symptoms, and entitled to mingle with the good people of the country, and travel where we pleased. it was farcical enough to see the man stand at the distance of ten or fifteen feet, and inspect our tongues, and make us move our arms, and then gravely decide that we were free from infection. our keepers, who, on the whole, had been kind and attentive, but careful not to touch us, now approached and gave us a cordial shake of the hand, and their congratulations on our restoration to freedom. each had to pay a small rent for the room. we had also several small fees to pay--as the board of our guardian. through the aid of our consul a boat had been engaged, and some other preparations made for our trip up the nile: deeming it best, after so long a delay, to lose no time in making our visit to this place. we found the boat in readiness, with such stores as were necessary; and the american flag floated in the air at the mast-head. this was to make known to all whom it might concern, that the boat was mine _pro tem._, and not to be searched or molested while under my protection. we were soon in readiness to leave. several persons, however, whose animals we had used in riding from the lazaret to the boat, and some who had brought us various articles, were to be paid. as i knew not what the usual prices were, i requested a janissary to give each what was right. he soon settled the matter, and paid them about one-third of what they demanded of me. thus, almost perpetually, these people try to extort from travellers more than is due, and especially if the traveller be a stranger among them. alexandria does not stand on the nile, but near thirty miles west of the rosetta branch of that river. a canal (the mahmudieh) connects the town on the western harbour with the river, not at its mouth, but at atfi. this place may be nearly sixty miles from alexandria, but not so far from the mouth of the river. this canal is the work of the pasha. owing to the bars and shallows at the mouth of the river, much difficulty was found in loading and unloading vessels; and the trade of egypt, which was carried on mainly through that branch, was much impeded. possibly a wish to build up alexandria, which was the best harbour for his navy, may have had its influence. the pasha resolved to open a canal from some point of the rosetta branch to alexandria. atfi was fixed on as the point. the course of the canal marked out, and multitudes of people from all the adjacent towns and villages, marched down to different parts of the line and set to work. the greater part had nothing to work with but their hands; but the soil was soft and no stone in it. in a few months the work was done, but it is said, many lives were lost through the hardships to which the people were subjected. sail-boats are used on the canal; but as the wind is not always fair, they at times use the tow-line, but men, and not animals, pull it. the boats that are on the canal do not pass into the river, nor those of the river into the canal. there must of course be another boat taken at atfi, and the baggage changed from one to the other. this consumes time and is attended with some expense. the country through which the canal passes is nearly a dead level, and, in some places, i should think, lower than the level of the river. the banks of the canal were from eight to twelve feet above the water. they were too high to allow us to have a good view of the country over them. at some places, however, they were lower, and at others, by stopping the boat, and ascending the bank, we had fine views of the rich meadows of egypt. for many miles after leaving alexandria, we passed a succession of houses and gardens, along the canal, that had a very pleasant appearance. several of them were fitted up in frank style, with glass windows, and other fixtures indicating european society. they may have been occupied, possibly owned, by europeans. connected with several of these houses, were extensive gardens, and in a good state of keeping. in addition to the palm tree, which is the tree of egypt, there were several other kinds along the canal, as the acacia. it is low, and not unlike the olive in its shape and size, but its bark and leaf approach more to the locust. it is pretty as a shady and ornamental tree, but i know not its other uses. there are, all along the canal, water-wheels at work, raising water for irrigating the adjacent gardens and fields. the mode of making them is simple: a channel is cut into the bank, so deep that the water will flow into it; a wheel is made to turn in this cut, being suspended over it; a rope, with a set of jars, passes over this wheel, and is turned by it. this is long enough to allow the jars to pass through the water and come up full, and, in turning, the water is poured into a cistern, and thence conveyed by small troughs to the place where it is needed. the wheels are usually worked by oxen. the number of wheels is very great, and most of them are constantly in motion through the day. we passed some villages near the canal, but none of much size. there were some of a larger size at a distance, as we concluded, from the minarets which we could see. in several places we saw water at a distance that looked like a lake. in passing up the canal, and the same was true after we entered the river, i could not but notice how the people and the animals loved to be in the water. the children and youth were seen in it, and the cattle seemed to have a passion, not only for wading in the water, but for lying down in it, so as often to cover their whole bodies, except a small part of their heads. this may, in part, have been to keep off the flies, but mainly, i judge, to enjoy the coolness which the water imparted to them. i never before understood the force of the expression in pharaoh's dream, where it is said, he "saw seven kine coming up out of the river." it is true to the life. they lie in the water until satisfied, then come up and feed on the low grounds or meadows near it. we had often heard dismal accounts of the annoyances met with in the boats of the nile; we were now to have a proof of them. on entering our boat we observed that it had recently been painted, and hoped that this betokened a deliverance from those gentry that so annoy frank travellers. but in this we were mistaken. no sooner were our lights put out, than they came upon us from their hiding-places in such numbers, as to make it one of the most trying nights we had ever passed. and especially did they assail our children. and whether it was that they liked their young blood better, or that the children, in their sound sleep, made less resistance, i know not, but so it was, that in the morning their faces were disfigured with bites, and their eyes so swollen that they could hardly see. fortunately, we were not doomed to spend another night in this boat. we reached atpi during the following day, in time to transfer ourselves and baggage to a river boat, which was about leaving for cairo. this boat was happily less infested with the gentry above referred to, and we made out pretty well as to sleeping. atpi is a small village at the place where the canal leaves the river. it has grown up since the canal was made. there are some stores and shops, and a number of persons who attend to the produce and goods that pass and repass from the canal to the river. we here procured a boat, and made other necessary arrangements. in all these boats we had to provide for ourselves, from the beds we slept on to the fuel with which we cooked our food. as necessary articles are not to be had at all places, and especially as the boat may not stop when you find yourself minus in some needful article, the only sure way is to keep a good stock on hand. we had our flag, as before, flying at the mast-head, and could not but feel a little national pride at the notice which it attracted. near atpi, on the eastern side of the river, is a considerable town, with some pretty good buildings, and among them some occupied as factories. there was also a large building on the western side, where the red fez, now so much used throughout turkey, are made. these manufactories are, we were told, public property. the government monopolizes all things in this land. the policy may well be questioned. possibly in no other way could they be so soon introduced. the average height of the banks of the nile may be from twelve to sixteen feet. fields of corn and sugar-cane were seen on the banks, but not in as great numbers as i had expected. this in part, however, was accounted for by the fact, that the time of the rise was at hand, and their crops were gathered off. the productiveness of egypt depends on the annual overflowing of the nile. the nile is the river, and the only river of egypt; and beside it, it is said, there is not a brook, not a spring, of running water in egypt. there are wells; for by digging down to nearly the level of the water in the nile, water may be obtained at any place. there is no rain in egypt. near the sea coast, as at alexandria, light showers may fall, but up in the country there are none. there may be cloudy weather during the winter, but no rain. once every year the nile rises so as to cover the greater part of the country. it begins in the latter part of june, and gradually continues for nearly two months, then gradually falls to its usual volume of water. the rise has now begun, but it is perceivable only to those who are acquainted with the river. the cause of this rise is supposed to be the great rains, and possibly melting of snows, in the high country in which its main stream rises; but the matter is not certain. as the nile falls, the grain is sown on the wet ground, and produces most abundantly. there are many canals, from four to six and eight feet deep, and wide enough to convey a considerable body of water. these pass off from the river, and from these, smaller channels pass in various directions, so as to divide much of the surface into lots or small fields. these were much more observable at some places than at others. the design of these channels, probably, was to bring the water more generally over the ground than it would otherwise come; or when the nile did not rise high enough to cover the field, the water, by means of these small canals, would pass in so many directions through the district, as, by percolation, to moisten the ground more generally than it otherwise would do. there were along the river a great many water-melons, cucumbers, and other vegetables. it reminded me of the complaint of israel, in the wilderness, that they were deprived of the melons and cucumbers of egypt. num. xi. . the nile winds a good deal. it has many of those long sweeps that characterise the ohio and mississippi; and as the whole country is alluvial, the water at those turns washes away the banks against which it strikes, while, on the opposite side of the river, a shoal or a sand bank is formed. in these places, and they increased as we ascended, considerable districts lay along the edge of the water, and only a few feet above it, and on them the vegetables above named, with many others, were raised in great numbers. there was usually a small place in these garden spots built to protect a person from the rain, whose office it is to prevent pillage, and sell the vegetables to boat-men and passengers; for almost all the travelling from alexandria to cairo is done in boats on the nile. it reminded me of the "cottage in a vineyard,"--"a lodge in a garden of cucumbers." a little more than half-way, from alexandria to cairo, on the western side of the river, we saw the end of a new and much larger canal, now being made in a more direct course to alexandria. it will probably intersect the mahmudieh canal, at some point south of alexandria. the southern end is near where the sands have almost covered the district west of the nile. whether it will pass into the sandy district, and thus reclaim some of it, and prevent the farther encroachments of the sand, i know not. there is no doubt that tillage extended much farther to the west, in some places, formerly, than at present. the canals and means of irrigation have been neglected, and the sands have spread over considerable districts; some of these might no doubt be reclaimed, were a proper mode followed with respect to them. this will hardly be done at present, as there are large parts of egypt now irrigated, that lie neglected; the population, with their idle habits, are not sufficient to cultivate the whole. for a considerable distance on the west of the river the sands from the desert covered the banks, and ran down to the edge of the water; it was a very white, fine sand, and easily moved by the wind. a little below the junction of the rosetta and damietta branches of the nile, which takes place twelve or fifteen miles below cairo, the pasha has begun a great work for the more perfect irrigation of the delta, or the district between the rivers which is thus called. the plan is to make a strong dam across both branches of the nile, and throw the water into a new channel, the bed of which shall be much more elevated, and thus bring the waters nearer the level of the country, and of course greatly facilitate the irrigation of the land at all seasons. the greater part of the most valuable land of egypt lies between the rivers. this part is called the delta from its likeness to the greek letter of that name, which is of a triangular form. a district of land on both sides of the triangle was cultivated and productive as far as the waters of the nile could be made to reach it; but beyond that, the long burning suns scorch up vegetation, and convert all into a waste of barren sand. at some distance in the interior, both to the east and west, water is found, and there vegetation exists, but these places are not in the valley of the nile. most of the villages we passed were poor and small; the houses for the most part made of mud or unburnt brick; sometimes the brick had straw in it. we saw several places where they had establishments for hatching eggs. this practice has long prevailed in egypt. they spread the eggs in layers on the floor; and have a way of subjecting them to such a degree and uniformity of heat as perfects the process of incubation. their fowls seemed to me to be inferior both as to size and flavour. the nile seemed to me to be about as large as the ohio at cincinnati. it was, however, at its lowest state when i saw it. the rise began while i was at cairo, but at first it is so slow, that a person not acquainted with the river would probably not observe it for several days. our boat, which was not as large as a common steam-boat, grounded several times in ascending the river. the boatmen would readily get out in the water and push her off. this was easily done, as there were no rocks in the river, but mud and sand banks. the boatmen are a shameless set and were often, and especially when in the water, in a state of perfect nudity, and this was the common condition of the multitudes which we saw bathing in the river. we had a daily wind up the river, which at times blew pretty strong. it usually began soon after sunrise, and increased as the day advanced. towards night it began to abate, and nearly ceased soon after sundown. the causes which give it this regularity we leave to be explained by those wise men in philosophy who feel bound to give reasons for all the phenomena of nature. during one or two months in the year it is said to change its direction, and blow the other way. i had several times in the south-west a fine view of the whirlwinds of the desert; several of them could often be seen at the same time. a thick column of dust and sand seemed to run up to the clouds, and then gradually disappear; at times they would pass with considerable rapidity; and while thus in quick motion, had a pretty, but rather singular appearance. while considerably below grand cairo, we had a view of the pyramids. their tapering points ran high in the air, and broke the smooth outline of our southern horizon. grand cairo stands on the western bank of the nile, and at the distance of above a mile from the river. one of its large suburbs, called bulack, is on the river, and may be considered its port. there the boats lie, and there much of the business of the town is transacted. for several miles before we reached cairo, we were passing gardens and country-houses, some of which are of a superior kind. cairo is rather an assemblage of towns than one great and continuous city; its parts lie contiguous to each other, as chance and caprice may have decided. close to the south-east side of it a range of hills rises, the first and almost the only hills that we saw in egypt--those back of the pyramids of gheza excepted--on a part of these hills the citadel is situate, which commands the city, and is a place of considerable strength. between the town and the river there lies a large open space--immense piles of rubbish disfigured some parts of it. the pasha is making improvements here that will add much to the beauty of this open space--he is levelling it, and with the rubbish filling up low places, and making wide, elevated roads across it in various directions, and having it planted with trees. a large canal crossed this place; many people were employed in cleaning it out, and putting it in order to receive the waters from the nile. there is also within the city, and before the palace, an open space of considerable size, which has lately had much labour bestowed on it. elevated roads or causeways are made round it and through it, and their edges set with trees, which give the whole a pretty appearance. the water from the nile, when at its height, is let into this square; but the elevated parts are designed to be above the waters, and afford pleasant walks for the idlers and loungers, which are found even in egypt. the pyramids, so much talked of, lie near grand cairo, and it would have argued a great want of curiosity not to have visited them when so near. a few days ago, we made a visit to those of gheza, which lie on the west side of the nile, and in full view of the city. we set off about six in the morning, and rode up the river to the upper part of old cairo; this took us about an hour. we then crossed the nile in boats, to a small old village called gheza, which gives its name to this cluster of pyramids. we then had the wide river bottom of the nile to cross; this took us about two hours. the river being low, there was no water in the several deep and wide canals that pass through this river bottom, and we were able to cross them. this shortened our ride much. we passed several remains of villages on this plain. as we drew near the last village, which seemed little better than a pile of ruins, several bedouin arabs came out, with nothing but a long shirt on, and ran as hard as they could until they met us, and urged us to employ them as our guides. it now appeared, that it was a race among themselves, on the plan that those who first reached us, were considered as having the right to be employed as a guide and get the pay. as we had a cawass with us, whom we brought from cairo to manage all such matters, and among other things to save us from the annoyance which these bedouins at times give travellers, we left it for him to make such a bargain with them as he thought best. he engaged one or two, and let the remainder know that we did not need their aid. we saw, at a distance on our right, a line of arches on the plain, and a bridge-like place over them, the uses of which we could not ascertain. the pyramids stand on the first rise after leaving the river flats. the ridge of that place may be from one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet. the ground on which the large one stands (the cheops) is nearly level. the pyramid is square, and stands to the four cardinal points. each side, its base is said to be seven hundred feet, while its height is only six hundred. it seems to be a solid mass of rock, excepting the small rooms which i shall presently mention. the plan on which it is built is singular. a large platform is laid down, seven hundred feet square--this is the first row; the stone is nearly three feet in thickness. a second row is laid on of a similar size. this row is not laid out to the edge of the other, but falls back all round about eighteen inches. the third and fourth and following rows are laid in the same manner--forming stairs. there are about two hundred rows of stones, which average nearly three feet in thickness, and terminate in a small flat at the top of about thirty feet square. the ascent is usually made at the north-east corner. about half-way up there is a small room, which seems designed as a resting place. there have evidently been some stones thrown from the top, a part of one row being left, and possibly one stone of a second row at the south-east corner. it took me not quite half an hour to ascend; this included the several stops in order to rest. from the top i had a most splendid view, as to space--grand cairo and all the villages and gardens about it; the valley of the nile far to the north; the several groups of pyramids, and the palm trees that lay to the south, and in the region of ancient memphis. the descent required about as much time, but was attended with less difficulty than the ascent. the whole, with the time spent on the top, occupied about an hour, and did not seem to have half the peril or labour that some have represented. the entrance to the interior is on the north side. we went to the mouth and examined it, but, on the whole, concluded we would not go in; the descent is long, and nothing to be seen within, but one or two empty rooms. while the rocks of which the pyramids are built, are limestone of the secondary formation, as is manifest from the shells in it, the passage is lined with polished egyptian granite; the same is said to be the case with the rooms. the entrance of the passage may be fifty feet above the ground, but it descends as one enters. a little to the south-west is a second pyramid, nearly as large as that of cheops. it is sharp at the top, and cannot, with ease, be ascended. to the south is a small one. there were in all directions tombs, many of them of most enormous size. the pyramids are in the midst of a large grave-yard. we went up the hill to the north-west some distance, and visited several rooms that were full of hieroglyphics. passing round the southern side of the pyramids, we examined several places where excavations had recently been made. some old monuments, that had been covered with sand, were laid bare; and, from the bottom of some deep well-like places, several most beautiful sarcophagi had been raised--two of black porphyry, beautifully polished, and covered with hieroglyphics, lay on the ground; others had probably been removed. we then visited the sphynx, and took our lunch under the shade of its head. it has a lion's body, in a couching posture, with the head and face of a nubian female, and is of most enormous dimensions. the head about ten feet in diameter. the height from the ground, and the length of the body, in proportion. it is hewn out of a rock, which is the soft limestone, and has much disintegrated; the features are much injured. the back is almost wholly covered with sand, which has blown in from the desert. as we crossed the low grounds to the river, on our return, we had a fine specimen of that wonderful phenomenon called the mirage. from some cause, the air near the ground assumes the appearance of water; the similarity is such, that persons are often deceived, and are confident that it is water, when seen at a little distance. we had crossed the plain about nine or ten o'clock a.m., and there was no appearance of water; but now, between one and two p.m., there were many places, at some distance, that had the precise appearance of water. in some cases, the spots that had this appearance were but a few inches, or one or two feet in width, and looked precisely like puddles of water after a rain: at other places whole acres seemed covered with water, and on several occasions, it was round the roots of trees; which seemed growing out of it. i had, on one or two occasions, seen the same as i came up the nile. at a considerable village on the western side of the river, just below where the sands come in so near the river, our boat stopped, and while the captain and part of the crew went into the village, i ascended the bank, and walked to a place at a little distance that was more elevated than the other parts of the plain. it gave me a fine view of the face of the country; but i was surprised to see, towards the north-west, an extensive portion, as far as the eye could reach, that appeared a lake of water. in several places there were clusters of palms growing out of it. i had not seen on any map a lake marked in that place, nor had i heard of any such thing. i wondered if it could be the mirage; the appearance was so perfectly like water, that it was hard to believe it could be anything else. on returning to the bank, i inquired of some one if it was water that i had seen, and was assured that there was no water in that direction, but that it was a curious appearance in the air. i will leave it to the philosopher to explain this matter. the ruins of what is said to be ancient heliopolis lie but a short distance from cairo; we did not, however, visit them; the remains above ground are so few, as hardly to repay the trouble of a ride to them. the sandy deserts are to the east and south of cairo, and the whole way from that city to suez on the red sea, a distance of about sixty miles, is a cheerless waste of barren sand. the remains of an old canal can be traced, it is said, most of the way from the nile, a little south of cairo, to suez, and it is supposed that it might be reopened. much has lately been said about the pasha's making a railroad from cairo to that point, and i was assured some materials for that purpose were brought from england; but nothing as yet has been done, and probably years will pass before the plan is carried into effect. we had several pleasant interviews with the mission families at cairo; less, however, than we had hoped, and would have had, but for the sickness of some of their number. they are mostly germans, in the employ of the church missionary society. their attention is principally, but not exclusively, directed to the christian sects in the country. miss h. has lately, at the special invitation of the pasha, opened a school in the harem, and is giving instruction to the females of the pasha's family. thus far it has been well received; what may be its result, time alone will show. about the time we reached cairo, several of the missionaries of the church missionary society, who had for some years been labouring in abyssinia, returned from that country. some difficulty had arisen, growing out of the intrigues of persons unfriendly to them, which made it advisable for them, for a time at least, to leave that country. it was hoped that before long they would be able to return and resume their labours. the pasha has a number of schools at this place, and various manufactories and establishments, which no doubt are doing good. whether the good will equal what has been expected from them, may be doubted. his improvements and innovations are certainly tending to produce changes in the moslem manners, habits, and modes of thinking, which will in part remove the obstacles in the way of introducing the gospel among them; "but he meaneth not so, neither does his heart think so." while the great body of the egyptians are moslems, there are a number of the christian sects to be found here--as the armenians, greeks, copts, latins, and perhaps some others. the state of all these sects is much like what it is through the east--the life and power of the gospel is not known. the church missionary society have for many years maintained a mission at grand cairo; they have distributed the scriptures and other books, published at their mission press at malta--conducted schools--talked and preached to the people. their success has been but moderate. at present, their schools are in a pretty prosperous condition, and their field of usefulness seems more encouraging. grand cairo is much the largest town in egypt, but its precise population is not known. a fire broke out in the frank quarter, (the place where most of the franks live,) a few days before we arrived, and destroyed several hundred houses and much property. the copts have a curious custom about making their patriarch. he is always taken from a particular monastic establishment. when chosen, he refuses to serve, and they literally beat him until he gives his consent. the abyssinians receive their patriarch from egypt; and after having been chosen, and even gone into abyssinia, he will refuse to serve, and deny that he is the person sent to be their patriarch, until they give him a sound drubbing, when he will agree to receive the office. there is a strange mixture of childish folly and weakness in such a practice. i was much struck with the immense numbers of water-carriers, employed in bringing water from the nile; some to deal out to individuals by the cupful, some to sell to families by the load, and others to water the streets before the houses of their employers. there were hundreds, and possibly thousands, thus employed. the common goat-skins, taken off nearly whole, and sewed up, excepting a small place, was the usual vessel. this they generally carried on their backs, but some used donkeys, and others had camels, with enormous leather bags, made much like saddle-bags, that would carry a barrel or more of water. the range of the thermometer at alexandria was from ° to °. there was great uniformity, except when a sherack prevailed, which raised it several degrees. we had one while in the lazaretta, which covered us with dust, and increased the heat six or eight degrees; it did not last long. as we ascended the river, there was a considerable rise of the thermometer; and at this place it stands from ° to °; and it is not so warm now, i am told, as is usual at this season. letter xxiii. _alexandria, july ._ a little before we left cairo on our return, i had a disagreement with the captain in whose boat i had gone up from atfi. on reaching cairo, i was induced, in part owing to the fire which was raging in the frank quarter of the town, to think i had better not take rooms in that quarter, as otherwise i might probably have done. the captain, who had been wishing to engage to take me back to atfi, expressed his willingness that i should remain in his boat, retain the use of his cabin, and he would take me back for what he received for bringing me up; and engaged to be ready to start back at the time i named. when the time drew near at which we were to set off, i found that he was not likely to be ready to go, as he had not discharged the loading which he brought up. it came also to my knowledge, through angelo, that he intended to make a special charge for the use of the cabin, which i fully understood was a part of the accommodation he was to find me. on inquiry, i found that thus it was; and the prospect was that i would be detained, as well as greatly overcharged. i told him, as we had misunderstood each other, we must have a new bargain. i would agree to the bargain as i understood it; but not as he now explained it. he declared he would not agree to it but as he understood it. i let him know i would leave his boat, paying him for the time i had used the cabin. on inquiry i found another boat was about to start at the time that i had fixed on, and made my arrangements to leave him. this took place near night, and the captain changed his tone, and declared i should not leave his boat. he would not allow his men to hand my baggage; forbade the men of the other boat that was hard by to set foot on his deck. the english consul was fully engaged with taking care of the effects of the franks who had been burned out; and, moreover, night came on, and we had no way to get word to him. i threatened the captain with a complaint through the consul; but he let me know he cared not for the consul. poor angelo was in a great fright. he always had a fear of the turks, and now all his fears came over him. i did not myself feel altogether comfortable. there i was with my wife and three little children, in the cabin of a boat, the captain and crew of which were turks, and had not only abused me, but positively refused to let me leave it. i had but one servant, and he was much frightened. there was no alternative; we had to stay and did stay that night, and that without any molestation. at the dawn of day, the crew were at work unloading, and getting ready to set off. i had no intention, however, of remaining in the power of a captain who had shown me so little respect. i found means to get word to a cawass of the consul's, who was often employed near where our boat lay; and through his interference had my baggage landed per force, paid the captain what the cawass said was right, and went on board the other boat with my family. when the captain found that leave him i would, he, turk-like, submitted to it with more quietness than i had expected. we were all glad to get out of the boat, after the dispute, and none of us more so than angelo, who did not seem to think his head was safe on his shoulders, until he was safely on board another boat. the vessel in which we took passage to atfi had two giraffes on board, destined for the united states. we did not see them until we went on board the boat. they are a mild and inoffensive animal, and feed on dates, bread, and hay. they were under the special care of a mustapha or janissary of the u. s. consul, who had engaged to accompany them to the united states. he had with him two arabs, for the twofold purpose of waiting on himself, and taking care of the giraffes. the wind up the river was so strong, that we found it much more difficult to get down than we had found it to ascend; and but for the energetic character of mustapha, who had special orders to be in alexandria by such a day, we would, in all probability, have had a long passage. he hurried, and scolded, and used his cowskin freely on the crew, hardly sparing the captain, with whom he had some terrible quarrels. the wind was much against us, and we had a few days that were most oppressively hot. at times we were obliged to lie by, and the wind covered us with dust and sand. we at last reached this place, but it took us nearly half as long again as it did to go up. we did not get back, however, without experiencing some of the evils of travelling in egypt. the hot winds and dust met with on our return, had given sore eyes to all our children. some of them could hardly see; and angelo, who had been our factotum in all our travels, was entirely laid up with the same complaint; and under this affliction his heart began to fail him as to the long voyage on which we were about to enter; and he fairly intimated that he felt like changing his purpose, and remaining in the east. he had lived with me above two years. in all my journeys, and travels, and residences, angelo never left me. he knew enough of english to understand the directions i gave him, and enough of arabic to have intercourse with the people. i always found him honest, and faithful, and attentive to my wants and interest. i tried again and again to teach him to read, but it really seemed that his talents did not lie that way; after going over the same lesson twenty times, he still could not make it out; and without losing his book, he gradually fell into the way of not using it. he was raised a catholic, as most of the maltese are, but had fallen out with his priest before he left smyrna, and seemed not inclined to have much to do with his church. he generally attended family worship, and either the english or arabic preaching, but showed a disposition to let little things keep him away. on the whole, he had less religious feeling than his advantages ought to have produced. he always showed much attachment to our children, was a good nurse, and the children loved him. from the early part of our acquaintance, he declared his wish to accompany me home; and up to the day of our reaching alexandria, i did not doubt that he would do so. i did not indeed see how we could do without him. but now his heart seemed to fail him; his eyes were grievously sore--and, possibly, as the time drew near, he may have had an increase of fears as to how he could live, where no one could understand his language. i am not sure, indeed, that a more special cause existed. he had manifested much kindness of feeling for a young female servant that had spent some time in our family before we left beyroot. i could not but think that the thoughts of having so many thousand miles between them, had an influence which he did not own, and possibly hardly admitted to his own mind. however that may be, he expressed a desire to remain, and we were able to make such arrangements as allowed of it. he continued his attention to the last day we stayed, and carried with him our best wishes and prayers, that he prove as good a servant of jesus christ as he has been to us; and meet us again, where all is love, and purity, and peace. the end. bradbury and evans, printers, whitefriars * * * * * transcriber's note: text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). small capital text has been replaced with all capitals. apparent minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed. the cover for the ebook version of this book was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.